Rocking fillers: Live music Christmas gift guide
Classic concert posters
Is there anything in the history of rock music art as magnificent as Kate Burness’s poster for the Stones’ 1973 show at Cardiff Castle, depicting a dragon with an unfortunate case of Mick Jagger-mouth?
This particular print is sadly sold out, but there are plenty more to choose from at Classic Posters, including the Doors, the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, the Beatles and the Who.
No Pasta No Show
No Pasta No Show: My 40 Years of Live Music in Italy, Barley Arts founder Claudio Trotta’s new autobiography, is part memoir by a promoter responsible for more than 15,000 live events over five decades, and part history of the Italian concert business.
Or, in the words of Rock Rebel Magazine, “the story of 40 years of live music in Italy: a gallery of unforgettable characters and their stories”. Get it for €16.92 from Amazon.
Sleep Safe tape
At your tenth show this week? In a dingy basement surrounded by drunk students when you’d much rather be at home in bed with your wife/husband/cuddle pillow? Treat yourself to 40 winks mid-gig with these extremely convincing stick-on fake eyes.
Just £5 from Wish.com… for the agent who has everything.
Ticket Masters
Dean Budnick and Josh Baron’s Ticket Masters – subtitled The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped – chronicles the history and growth of the modern live music industry, with a particular focus on the changing, often controversial, ticketing market.
A 2011 Maclean’s review calls the book a “fascinating insider’s portrait of the music business once all of the pulsing lights, fog machines and sound equipment have been turned off”.
Musical Ruler
Wanted to be a rock star but lacked the musical talent? Never fear: Dan Wieden’s Musical Ruler offers you the chance to “become a musician in just a few hours!”
For just £5.99, the stationery maestro will guide you through “the highs, the lows and a variety of twanging thrills” of “modern ruler playing” – perfect for the failed musician in your life.
Isolate ear plugs
Starting at just £24.99, Flare Audio’s aluminium Isolate ear protectors promise to shield your ear drums from permanent hearing damage by blocking loud noise – such as live music – while still allowing you to ‘hear’ in detail through bone conduction.
Muse’s tour director, Glen Rowe, describes them as “bloody brilliant”, while legendary producer Tony Visconti (Bowie/T. Rex/Morrissey) says they’re “the best plugs I’ve ever used”. High praise indeed.
Desk Tape Series
If you want to raise money for a worthy music-related cause this Christmas, you could do worse than ARCA’s Desk Tape Series.
ARCA advocates for road crew, which it describes as the “backbone of Australian music”, especially those in crisis. All proceeds from the sale of the recordings will be used to assist road crew: The roadie who worked on the show will receive 80% of the profit, with 20% being retained by ARCA for its charitable Roadies Fund.
Emperor Palpatine mask
What better way to celebrate ILMC’s close encounters-themed 30th anniversary than with this truly horrifying silicone mask of the most evil man in the galaxy, Star Wars’s Darth Sidious/Sheev Palpatine?
It’s yours for just £517.90 from Ireland’s Madhouse FX Studio. Just make sure you let your colleagues know if you’ve ordered one – one Sith lord in the Royal Garden Hotel is probably more than enough…
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New Desk Tape Series to raise funds for Oz roadies
The Australian Road Crew Association (ARCA) this Friday releases the first Desk Tape Series live recording, the latest initiative in its efforts to raise funds for roadies down under.
ARCA – which recently received a donation of A$10,000 (US$7,680) from Frontier Touring, and last year secured a commitment from Chugg Entertainment to donate 5¢ from every ticket sold – advocates for road crew, which it describes as the “backbone of Australian music”, especially those in crisis. A recent study revealed Australians working in the music industry disproportionately suffer from poor metal health, with roadies especially at risk: according to charity Entertainment Assist, road crew experienced suicide ideation at a rate almost nine times that of the general public in 2016.
The Desk Tape Series draws on 40 years’ worth of live recordings amassed by roadies, and kicks on Friday 10 November with a Redgum show recorded at Melkweg (1,500-cap.) in Amsterdam in 1985.
“Each release acknowledges just how important roadies have been to making our industry a stand-out success”
Future tapes, available on CD/digitally or limited-edition cassette via Black Box Recordings, will include shows by Men at Work, the Church, Crowded House, Midnight Oil and more.
All proceeds from the sale of the recordings will be used to assist road crew: The roadie who worked on the show will receive 80% of the profit, with 20% being retained by ARCA for its charitable Roadies Fund.
“Each release acknowledges just how important roadies have been to making our live performance industry a stand-out success,” says ARCA. “They offer recognition to the engineers who documented this wealth of genuine Australian music history.”
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