Irving Plaza It's Good To Have You Back

Live Nation, the owners of the music club that sits at 15th Street and Irving Place have finally come to their senses. They are restoring the name Irving Plaza to the club that they renamed: the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza in 2007. That's as catchy as the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim.

According to the NY Times, Kevin Morrow who is president of Live Nation's NY division said, “Since I’ve been here I haven’t had anyone say to me, ‘What a great idea that was,’ ” he said, referring to the Fillmore name. “Almost everybody I talk to in the New York music scene, one of their first experiences was at Irving Plaza. And I’m really excited to be able to bring back to the New York music scene what people have overwhelmingly desired.”

The Fillmore East was originally south of Irving Plaza at 2nd Ave and 6th Street. Both venues shared a tradition of housing Yiddish theater. The original Fillmore was only open for a few years, closing in 1971.

I have spent many a nights at Irving seeing a wide swath of wonderful shows: John Hiatt (this year), Radiohead, Los Lobos, INXS, The Ramones and on many many occasions David Johansen. I was a student at Fordham University in the late 70's/early 80's and used to D train it into Manhattan to see shows all the time. David let me in on the back staircase secret which allowed me to get into the club for free. Never remembering my name, David always referred to me as Fordham. He must have taken pity on a music loving college student. The first time he turned me on to the stairs was during his soundcheck. He said have a seat and put me at big table with Deborah Harry sitting directly opposite me. There are about 5 of us in the venue at that point, besides the band. Oh the rock gods were circling my head that night. Don't bother trying to find this stairwell. It's not accessible anymore.

Biggest Selling Vinyl Record of 2008

Hypebot posted this graph which has Radiohead bookending the top 10 selling vinyl records of the past year. If anyone is thinking about waxing poetically on the comeback of vinyl, just look at the numbers and think twice about the impact. As I've written before, vinyl does not make a dent in sales number. In Rainbows sold 25,800 copies. Rolling Stone's article proclaims that vinyl sales almost doubled in 2008 and that "vinyl is still experiencing a renaissance". I would hardly call this news. With more layoffs at labels and more artists releasing records on their own (Radiohead), vinyl sales will not help music's bottom line rebound. When it does and it enables artists to make a living making music, then it's news.

Musicians Unite: UK Leads The Way

Frank Sinatra tried to unionize US musicians. He found no other takers and eventually dropped the cause. Many, Many years later in the UK, musicians are banding together to gain control of their rights and not have the record companies negotiate the deals for them. Radiohead, Billy Bragg and Robbie Williams are just a few name that have signed on. According to the Featured Artists' Coalition's website:

The Featured Artists' Coalition campaigns for the protection of performers' and musicians' rights. We want all artists to have more control of their music and a much fairer share of the profits it generates in the digital age. We speak with one voice to help artists strike a new bargain with record companies, digital distributors and others, and are campaigning for specific changes.

Their manifesto, states that it's now time that the musicians take control of their destiny in this digital age. Radiohead is leading the charge. They are the first major artist to forgo a major record label on their latest release and feel that they should not have to live by rules that were dictated by the labels, which are not supporting their interest. Musicians that are interested can join the cause. Will the US follow?

Copyright Holder Vs Performer

In an interesting twist in the world of copyright, Radiohead the writers of the song Creep are telling YouTubers to repost Prince's version of their song. Prince performed it at the Coachella Music Festival, fans recorded it and posted it. Prince is holding dear his own copyrights by asking everyone to cease posting unauthorized video of him, including his performance of Creep. In this case, he doesn't own the copyright. Lead singer of Radiohead Tom Yorke was quoted by the AP as saying "Tell him to unblock it. It's our ... song."