Month: May 2023

BERLIN (AP) — Police in Berlin said Friday (May 26) that they have opened an investigation of Roger Waters on suspicion of incitement over a costume the Pink Floyd co-founder wore when he performed in the German capital last week.

Images on social media showed Waters firing an imitation machine gun while dressed in a long black coat with a red armband. Police confirmed that an investigation was opened over suspicions that the context of the costume could constitute a glorification, justification or approval of Nazi rule and therefore a disturbance of the public peace.

Once the police investigation is concluded, the case will be handed to Berlin prosecutors, who would decide whether to pursue any charges.

Waters has drawn ire for his support of the BDS movement, which calls for boycotts and sanctions against Israel. He has rejected accusations of antisemitism.

Authorities in Frankfurt tried to prevent a concert there scheduled for May 28, but Waters challenged that move successfully in a local court. In Munich, the city council said it had explored possibilities of banning a concert but concluded that it wasn’t legally possible to cancel a contract with the organizer. His appearance there on Sunday was accompanied by a protest attended by the local Jewish community’s leader.

Last year, the Polish city of Krakow canceled gigs by Waters because of his sympathetic stance toward Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Tina Turner accomplished so much in her 50-year career that her presence on the all-star charity single “We Are the World” didn’t get a lot of attention following her death on Wednesday at age 83. But she was a featured vocalist on that high-profile single, which was recorded at A&M Studios in Hollywood on Jan. 28, 1985 – right after that year’s American Music Awards.

Turner was the first female voice listeners heard on the recording by a collective of 44 singers (21 featured vocalists and 23 additional artists in the chorus) dubbed USA for Africa (short for United Support of Artists for Africa). The smash logged four weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in April and May 1985. It won the Grammy for record of the year in February 1986, one year after Turner won in that marquee category for her comeback smash “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”

With Turner’s death, just one month after the death of musician and activist Harry Belafonte — who was the main driving force behind “We Are the World” — 10 of the singers on the smash have passed on. The first to die was Waylon Jennings in 2002, followed by Ray Charles in 2004 and June Pointer of The Pointer Sisters in 2006.

Michael Jackson, who co-wrote the song with Lionel Richie and was featured on the recording, died in 2009, followed by Al Jarreau in 2017, James Ingram in 2019 and Kenny Rogers in 2020. Rogers was managed in his 1980s heyday by Ken Kragen, who Belafonte enlisted to bring the vision to life. Kragen died in 2021.

Anita Pointer of The Pointer Sisters died in December 2022, followed by Belafonte on April 25, and now Turner.

Jackson and Richie won Grammys for song of the year for co-writing the song, but none of the artists on the recording were awarded Grammys. The Recording Academy elected to give the record of the year prize, and another the recording won – best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal – only to the single’s producer, Quincy Jones. Jones won a third Grammy on the night as video producer of “We Are the World – The Video Event,” which won best music video, short form. (The video director, Tom Trbovich, also won in that category).

Jones and Richie are still living, as are most of the other participants. The other singers on the record included: Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Bob Dylan, Lindsey Buckingham, Sheila E., Jeffrey Osborne, Smokey Robinson, Ruth Pointer of The Pointer Sisters and Daryl Hall and John Oates.

Also: Huey Lewis and five past or present members of his band, The News; Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler, who had co-hosted the first MTV Video Music Awards in September 1984; Bob Geldof, the driving force behind the 1984 U.K. charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” which inspired this American response; and five of Jackson’s siblings – but not Janet, who broke through with Control the following year.

Detroit’s beloved electronic music festival, Movement, returns to Hart Plaza tomorrow (May 27) for its 21st edition. While the fest’s 30,000 attendees partake in sets by Basement Jaxx, Skrillex, Kaskade, Kevin Saundreson, DJ Minx and many more, employees of Paxahau—the local independent rave promoter that’s produced Movement since 2006—will spend the weekend like they always do: taking notes on how to improve for next year. 

In 2000, the house and techno (with a little bit of hip-hop) fest became, along with Ultra and EDC, among the first few dance music festivals to launch in the U.S. It was the first to put its locally forged genre, techno, on a stage. 

Yet unlike Ultra and EDC, which are now synonymous with EDM and all its glitzy commercial fanfare, Movement has remained rather minimalist in its approach—it’s really still all about the music, sans fireworks and mega-stages.

“This is a labor of love that all of us clustered around since we were young,” Paxahau Founder Jason Huvaere says of the company’s tight-knit team of OG ravers. “Detroit techno culture is what we committed to years ago, it’s second nature. The sustainable business part is another thing.”

But in an increasingly difficult landscape for independent event promoters, Paxahau is still turning a profit. The company is run by a team of 15 year-round, full-time employees across four departments: marketing and communications, production, talent, and creative. During Movement, they bring in an event staff of 350 to help bring the event to life. 

Before taking over the festival as producer in 2006, Paxahau was first connected to Movement by throwing its afterparties. It stays true to that early ethos by now hosting its official afterparties, many in collaboration with labels, artists and other promoters. The company also hosts dance events at their partner venues throughout the year—Magic Stick, TV Lounge and Spot Lite, and for events over 1,500 people, at Detroit’s Masonic and Russell Industrial Center. Last year, they hosted 56 shows.

But like the other independent dance festivals across the country that survived the COVID shutdown (Southern California’s Lightning in a Bottle and CRSSD, Elements in Pennsylvania and Florida’s jam-band infused Hulaween among them), Movement has faced the existential threat of continually rising production costs – from cryo to porta-potty rentals.

“It was like a generation lost,” Huvaere says of people working in event production and other related jobs. He cites a 25 percent increase in production costs, a drastic uptick unheard of in prior years, and a continued rising of prices. 

To offset this, Paxahau had to raise 2023 ticket prices but remain focused on fair rates, with three-day tier two GA passes going for $279 plus fees. (By comparison, Ultra’s 2024 tier two weekend GA price is set at $400 and Goldenvoice’s Portola 2023, a two-day fest, tier two GA passes are $360. Passes for the three-day Elements go for $289.)

A big reason Movement still exists at all is because the loyalty of its fanbase. Huvaere calls the third of Movement 2020 ticket-holders that held onto their passes (instead of requesting refunds) after the festival was cancelled during the pandemic as the main reason the festival survived. “I don’t know that I heard any other story in all of my conference calls, shared emails and comparing notes [with other festival organizers] that had that kind of a response,” he says.

A partnership with Twitch, who reached out to Paxahau early in the pandemic about doing exclusive livestreams on their platform, also provided a lifeline to both the company and the rich pool of Detroit artists that participated, including Detroit residents DJ Holographic, Eddie Fowlkes, Juan Atkins and many more. (Movement itself is not livestreamed, although select sets are recorded for later release.) 1.2 million unique viewers from the U.S., Canada, England, Germany, Russia and beyond tuned into the Paxahau Twitch channel during the lockdown to get their Detroit house and techno fix.

Surprisingly, livestreaming DJ sets is at the core of how Paxahau was born. Back in 1998, when the Detroit underground electronic scene was getting snuffed out by the police and the internet, Paxahau turned to the burgeoning world wide web to transmit techno. While it’s now easy to livestream a DJ set from anywhere with a decent internet connection, back in the dial-up days, Paxahau had to install an ISDN line, build a server rack and use Winamp software to create what was then called “a Shoutcast.” 

Fans with their Shoutcast server address could type it into their Winamp and tune in, and Paxahau would celebrate when they had 12 simultaneous listeners. When a club called Motor started regularly booking dance music, Paxahau wired up the club and began livestreaming from there. 

By 2000, they started producing parties again and in 2006 became the torchbearers for Movement when techno forefather Kevin Saunderson dropped out of hosting the sixth Movement festival after doing so the year prior. Paxahau was set to co-produce Saunderson’s stage at the fest, so they reached out to the City of Detroit and petitioned to run the event and keep it alive. 

“The event at that time was a mess,” says Huavere. “It lost money six years in a row and had had three different producers. We wanted to do whatever we could to stabilize it, and the city wanted to do whatever they could to identify the stabilizing agent to it.”

While Paxahau got help that first year via “some great relationships that all came together to help us,” after that, they committed as Movement’s sole producers. “Fast forward a few years after that experience, we had a couple of rainstorms, wind storms, cancellations and mishaps – there’s all kinds of things that beat up festival promoters, and we definitely got beat up,” says Huavere. But “over time, through the natural process of evolution, the festival itself has come of age, and we’ve come of age.”

Detroit’s downtown has also changed drastically over the last 20-plus years, with its renaissance finally taking hold around 2008. Billions of dollars have gone into restoring once long-abandoned historical buildings in the area, with the city’s downtown now filled with hotels, bars and restaurants. Huvaere says the city has supported Movement from the beginning and that “techno culture is very celebrated by city residents and staffers.”

Movement’s ticket revenue is meant to match the cost of throwing the festival, with merch and beverage sales, along with the funds generated by partnerships, allowing them to turn a profit. Their annual festival budget is designed to match the audience size, typically 30,000 attendees each day, although this number can be impacted by the heavy rains common during spring in Michigan.

Corporate partners—many of whom Paxahau has worked with for years—are an important part of what keep the festival thriving. (“If we didn’t have sponsors, you’d notice,” Huavere says.) Larger partners like Red Bulls and JARS Cannabis underwrite the costs of building certain stages, while online music gear superstore Sweetwater hosts the Movement studio, a tent providing fans and DJs with hands-on learning about how electronic music is made. 

For Paxahua, it’s essential that sponsoring brands are aligned with the vibe of the fests. The festival doesn’t actually even have a sales team, with all of these relationships established organically over the years, with a focus on long-term partnerships. 

Above all, promoting Detroit dance music and supporting local artists is the most important thing Paxahau and Movement continue to do. “We have all been working together for almost 30 years. This is all one big organism, one big family,” Huavere asserts. Paxahau has hosted events with Craig and Saunderson – who Huavere says have long been “actively promoting their brand and Detroit all over the world” – since the company’s earliest days, and both techno legends often do stage takeovers at the fest.

For Paxahau, supporting the next generation of Detroit talent is also an “absolute duty,” with rising stars DJ Holographic and Henry Brooks among the acts the team saw play in small local venues and knew just had it.

“Watching these artists develop over time and seeing them play in front of a larger and larger crowd and seeing the way that crowd reacts,” Huavere says, “that’s probably one of the best parts about this project, being part of and feeling that evolution.”

Part of the beauty of attending Movement as an out-of-town house and techno lover is experiencing the city, culture and people that made techno. Many of its founders and early innovators are still active on the scene, sharing their music and wisdom with the next generation of ravers and DJs. So too is Movement an excellent place to be reminded of, and educated on, dance music’s roots as a Black, queer urban American artform. 

Bigger companies have expressed interest in acquiring Paxahau, but with Movement’s position as one of the few remaining indie dance festivals, Huavere is grateful to not have to adhere to a business structure that doesn’t align with the company’s values and vision. 

“One of the great things about [Paxahau’s] culture is we aren’t goal-focused, but direction-focused,” he says. “It’s always been about the trajectory, the journey, the emotion. It’s never been about, ‘I need to get this thing done,’ or ‘I need to get this thing acquired.’ For the future, I just want to preserve that.”

Lindsay Lohan is continuing to soak up her baby bliss. The Mean Girls actress shared a picture of her baby bump on Thursday (May 25).

The snap features Lohan reclining in a black bathing suit and aviator sunglasses, smiling at the camera. She captioned the photo with a smiling, sunglasses-wearing emoji.

Her account followers shared their delight in the comments. “You’re exuding such love, peace, and happiness! Truly happy to see this!” one person wrote. Another user added, “Absolutely glowing! Don’t know why this reminds me of The Parent Trap when Halle is by the pool but it does! You look amazing.”

The new photo is the latest pregnancy snap Lohan has shared. In April, the star — who is expecting her first child with husband Bader Shammas, whom she tagged in her new Instagram photo — showed off her bump on two separate occasions, the first while wearing a crochet maxi dress, and the other while posing in photos with her close friends and family.

Following Lohan’s pregnancy announcement in March, her mother, Dina, shed some light on how the “Confessions of a Broken Heart” singer is feeling about becoming a mom. “Lindsay has always loved kids, because I love kids and my mother loves kids; I’m one of four,” Dina explained at the time. “We have a big family, so she’s always wanted children. And she’s so maternal. Isabelle, her niece, just runs to her when she sees her.”

“She’s been trying and then it happened, that little stick came up positive,” Dina added. “It’s the right time for her, and Bader is an angel. Her husband is so sweet and they’re just so happy. They’re just really happy and ready.”

See Lindsay’s new baby bump photo below.

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