Among all the sorry carnage and sad tales left by London's moronic looting fraternity over the last humiliating three days, perhaps the most devastating for music lovers was the huge fire that destroyed a Sony warehouse primarily used by distribution company PIAS.

A three-storey, 20,000 square metre storage home for music from XL Recordings, Beggars, Domino, Wall Of Sound, Warp Defected, Sunday Best and Big Brother among others, the warehouse was a temporary home for releases from all manner of indie labels and offshoots, and the extent of its destruction is starting to become tragically apparent.

While the full impact of last night's events is still emerging, numerous indies have confirmed massive losses, including Rough Trade, Angular Records, Chemikal Underground and Rock Action. Drownedinsound has a full list of labels that use the space. Beggars Chairman Martin Mills called it a "horrible" setback for the indie sector while support poured in from labels, musicians and music fans across Twitter. [NME]

Guardian also has an article about the unfortunate event.

In related news, M.I.A. managed to get her name back in the headlines after tweeting "im going down to the riots to hand out tea and mars bars #london". She has since removed the offensive Tweet.

words & pics by BBG

Wino, Al Cisneros, and Scott Kelly at Europa

"Due to the travel disruptions in the UK, Shrinebuilder have unfortunately had to cancel [tonight]'s show (Sunday 18th April) The band have tried every option and done everything in their power to get to London but will not be able to make it in time. It took a volcano to stop us playing the show! They sincerely apologise for this cancellation but will make it up to everyone later in the year. We will be re-scheduling the show and announcing the new date as soon as we can. Tickets will be available for refund at the point of purchase, or be valid for the re-scheduled date." [ATP]

Counting Roadburn, that's two cancelled shows for Shrinebuilder so far. Roadburn, Coachella and others are feeling the sting of Volcanofail 2010, but some cities actually have ADDED shows because of it. According to Volcom, Shrinebuilder (who are supposed to be in the UK) has been added to the bill at The National in Richmond tonight (4/18). They join Neurosis pals Mastodon with Betweeen The Buried and Me and Valient Thorr (that tour adds Baroness and plays Starland Ballroom on Wednesday). No word on the fate of the remainder of their European tour dates but it looks grim thus far. They're scheduled to play De Kreun in Kortrijk on Monday.

Shrinebuilder also played a surprise not-Roadburn show on Friday night (4/16) at Europa wth Thinning The Herd. As usual, Shrinebuilder were tight and focused, but with plenty of room to loosely riff over the doom proceedings. Scott Kelly remarked that they weren't "prepared to play their third NYC show in six months", so the set list was pretty similar to previous appearances (check out pics from LPR, a second set, and NYU). But the band did add a cover of "Effigy" by Creedence Clearwater Revival - the first time they had ever performed the song - to freshen things up. Video of that song, more pictures from the show, and the setlist, below...

Continue reading "Shrinebuilder played a surprise show @ Europa (pics), cancel London show, add one w/ Mastodon in Virginia (tonight)"

"PETA US has written to Michael Jackson's estate asking for the rights to the singer's first solo hit, "Ben," which was written for the 1972 film of the same name. This beautiful song is about the friendship between a lonely boy and a rat named Ben, and we hope it can be used to raise awareness about the plight of rats and other animals tormented in laboratory experiments." [PETA]

A tribute to Michael Jackson is taking place today at the Apollo Theater from 2-8pm. "The Reverend Al Sharpton and the president of the theater will give eulogies." People have been on line to get in to the Harlem venue since last night, and the outside of the Apollo has been a gathering place for Michael fans since the night he died. Nearby walls are adorned with personal messages.

AEG, the world's second largest concert promoter, stands to take some sort of hit from the cancellation of Michael's 50 London concerts. Yesterday they announced that, "full refunds, including the service fee charges, will be handed out to those who purchased from authorized resellers, including Ticketmaster, Viagogo, See or Ticketline. For detailed information on the how-to's of claiming the refund, fans are advised to go to MichaelJacksonLive.com from July 1, Wednesday."

AEG also released pictures taken by concert photographer Kevin Mazur at one of Michael's final rehearsals for the 50 shows. One of those pictures is above. A few more, and some old videos of Michael performing "Ben", below...

Continue reading "Michael Jackson tribute @ the Apollo today ++ final rehearsal pictures, London ticket refunds & BEN!"

Michael Jackson's planned 50-show run at the O2 Arena in London would have been the highest-grossing single concert engagement. Now it's a major problem for the promoter AEG Live.

More than $85 million worth of tickets have already been sold for the series of performances, which have the now sadly ironic title "This Is It." As much as $30 million has already been spent on production, according to sources close to the situation. So what's at stake for AEG, the world's second-largest concert promoter, can't be overstated.

Concert business executives have estimated that AEG paid Jackson an advance of as much as $10 million. That, plus the production costs, would mean AEG stands to lose as much as $40 million if nonappearance insurance isn't substantial enough to cover this contingency. For AEG, "it's either horrible or really horrible," a concert business executive says....

...AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips told Billboard May 12 that his company was well-insured. "We have one policy in place and we're negotiating for an even larger binder," said Phillips, who couldn't immediately be reached for comment regarding Jackson's death. "We have insured the production costs. In order to get the first part of the insurance in place, [Jackson] had to have a physical, and he passed it with flying colors." AEG CEO Tim Leiweke made similar comments in March at the Billboard Music & Money Symposium... [Billboard]

PREVIOUSLY: Michael Jackson fans gathering outside Apollo Theater

Jermaine Jackson (who Fox News called Randy) just spoke to news reporters. That Fox News video below...

Continue reading "'Fortune At Stake On Michael Jackson London Concerts'"