Claudio and Chondra Sanchez Release EP

Chonny and Clyde

Claudio from Coheed And Cambria and his wife, Chondra Echert Sanchez, have teamed up to release a new EP called Celisti. They recently sat down with PopWrapped to talk about the process:

We had been sitting on these songs and dabbling with a few more that we’ve been working on and we asked ourselves, “What do we do with these? What is the project? Is it a full-length album, an EP?” And then this event happened on the end of all of these horrible events. We had the earthquake in Mexico, the impending storms in Houston and Florida, all of these things. It just felt like people had been financially tapped out from trying to help these disasters because there were so many. These things happened at a time when Puerto Rico needed as much relief as they could possibly get. For us, there’s a heritage piece — Claudio’s father is from Bayamón and has family down there. Bigger than that, we wanted to figure out how to help a cause that desperately needs help.

The EP can be purchased on Bandcamp and proceeds will go to hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

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ACLU Defending Blogger From Defamation Claim by Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

The ACLU is defending a blogger from a defamation claim by Taylor Swift. From today’s press release:

On Sep. 5, PopFront editor Meghan Herning wrote a post titled “Swiftly to the alt-right: Taylor subtly gets the lower case kkk in formation.” The post is a mix of political speech and critical commentary, and discusses the resurgence of white supremacy and the fact that some white supremacists have embraced Swift. It also provides a critical interpretation of some of Swift’s music, lyrics, and videos. The post ends by calling on Swift to personally denounce white supremacy, saying “silence in the face of injustice means support for the oppressor.”

On Oct. 25, Herning received an intimidating letter from Swift and her attorney labeling the blog post as defamatory and demanding that she issue a retraction, remove the story from all media sources, and cease and desist. The letter threatened a lawsuit.

Seems like a lot of money to pay lawyers instead of just saying “white supremacy is really fucking bad.”

Morrissey Cancels Show

Morrissey

Morrissey canceled an outdoor show in California over the weekend because the on stage heater broke and it was too cold.

I’m wondering if “Morrissey cancels” are the two words I’ve typed together the most often over the course of writing about music. Probably.

Arcade Fire Reportedly Playing to Smaller Crowds Than Expected

Arcade Fire

The Globe and Mail are reporting that Arcade Fire are having trouble filling arenas on their current tour:

Blame it on the new album or the marketing campaign for it, or on ticket prices and the popularity of rock music in 2017. Whatever the case, Arcade Fire is struggling to fill arenas on its North American tour.

Just 4,263 fans showed up for the Canadian band’s Quebec City show, 4,004 in Tampa, 5,614 in Austin, Tex., and 5,051 in Dallas, Billboard and Pollstar boxscore figures show. All of the venues have a capacity to seat roughly 10,000 to 20,000 people.

The Beatles Announce Christmas Box Set

The Beatles

The Beatles will be releasing a limited edition box set for Christmas. Billboard reports:

[T]hey will be releasing a limited-edition box set of their Christmas holiday messages, originally given only to fan club members on flexi-discs from 1963 to 1969.

The limited edition set will include seven 7-inch colored vinyl singles, one for each of the seven messages. The Christmas records have never been given general release as a set before, though one was made available as part of The Beatles Rock Band video game.

Pre-orders are up on Amazon.

CMA Awards Apologize for Their Media Guidelines

Country Music

The CMA Awards have rescinded their media guidelines that asked press not to focus on politics, guns, or the recent Las Vegas shooting. After backlash from artists like Brad Paisley, Ryan Adams, and Maren Morris, they issued the following statement:

CMA apologizes for the recently distributed restrictions in the CMA Awards media guidelines, which have since been lifted. The sentiment was not to infringe and was created with the best of intentions to honor and celebrate Country Music.

Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino on Explosion of Sexual Assault Allegations in Hollywood

Best Coast

Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, writing for Billboard:

Thanks to my band, Best Coast, I am a girl with a guitar, but I am also a girl with a voice.

A powerful one that I am not afraid to use.

I am sick and tired of sitting around and seeing my peers shake their heads and say “me too.” And while I know it’s so important to share our stories of assault and harassment so that the rest of the world feels less alone I am utterly heartbroken that we have to keep discussing this. How does this keep happening? When do we finally say “enough is enough” and hold these men accountable for their evil actions? When will a firing or a stint in rehab not be the solution to this problem? When will this problem no longer be a problem?

‘Twilight Zone’ Reboot From Jordan Peele in the Works

TV

The Hollywood Reporter:

CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves on Thursday announced during the company’s earnings call that CBS All Access is readying a new take on the iconic sci-fi anthology. It’s unclear at the moment if it’s a straight-to-series order or just development.

The Rod Serling-created series ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959-1964. Producers CBS Television Studios retained the rights to the cult classic and will executive produce the new take. Sources say the show hails from Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw banner, with Marco Ramirez (Netflix Marvel dramas The Defenders and Daredevil, Sons of Anarchy) is set to pen the script and serve as showrunner. CBS All Access declined comment on Peele and Ramirez’s involvement as official details have not yet been revealed beyond Moonves’ initial announcement.

Crystal Castles’ Ethan Kath Sues Alice Glass

Alice Glass

TMZ is reporting that Ethan Kath has sued former Crystal Castles’ bandmate Alice Glass:

Ethan Kath, a member of the band Crystal Castles, has filed a defamation lawsuit against a former member who claimed he raped her.

Ethan had dated Alice Glass — then a member of the duo — but they broke up and Glass went on the attack. She claimed he stole royalties from her, and then she started making rumblings he was physically and sexually abusive. According to the defamation lawsuit, Ethan’s fired off a cease and desist letter and she backed down.

A Rogue Twitter Employee Shut Down Donald Trump’s Account

Twitter

Casey Newton, writing for The Verge:

President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, @realdonaldtrump, disappeared from the site for around 11 beautiful minutes shortly before 7PM ET. It was not initially clear what happened to the account, and Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a series of tweets issued by Twitter’s Government and Elections team, the company first blamed “human error,” then attributed the move on a rogue employee who used their last day on the job to boot the president off the service.

It was one of the best 11 minute stretches of 2017.

Lonely Benson Launch New Album Pre-Order

Kickstarter

Lonely Benson have launched a Kickstarter for their new album:

Just watching the news these days is enough to give anyone a nervous breakdown, let alone what personal issues someone might be dealing with. That’s why I’ve set out to create music that helps people chill. […] With this new approach to my music I started working with a good friend and producer Will Pugh. We began recording and intentionally stayed away from abrasive sounds like crash cymbals and distorted guitars. We focused in on sounds that were soft and round, to give it that pleasant vibe.