"The genocide in Gaza is a defining ethical test for the global public health community, social scientists, and academic associations." - Break the selective silence on the genocide in Gaza, @thelancet.com www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

When @bengreenfuz.bsky.social‬ and I wrote our chapter for this great collection on Pub Rock, Amyl and The Sniffers were an up and coming band just about to release their second record... academic publishing eh! Unlikely to see them play in a pub these days... www.routledge.com/Pub-Rock-in-...

Discussing changes to how the ARIA Charts are compiled, with @hellharpy.bsky.social theconversation.com/the-aria-cha...

Grateful for this important work. Such analyses are great resources for teaching in media and communication. Further evidence the plummeting public trust in media and government, while tragic, is (1) rational and (2) cause for hope.

The International Sociological Association (ISA) has been concerned for some time and condemned the acts of violence that have occurred in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The VMDO Music Data & Insights Summit is next week, with support from RMIT's Music Industry Research Collective. I'll present an 'Australian live music research roundup' - sharing highlights from a wealth of recent studies and reports. www.vmdo.com.au/events/music...

On this day 8 April 1972, workers constructing the Sydney Opera House ejected management from the site and began running it themselves. With no bosses in the way, workers' job satisfaction soared, and the workers won huge wage increases, reduced working hours, and improved conditions.

Revisited this review – still mad 😅 and see the title was adopted for SRB's anthology. Are working-class characters allowed to be exceptional, or bound to exemplify grim statistics? Are middle-class stories judged as sociology texts? Love, an autodidact sydneyreviewofbooks.com/reviews/crit...

New article (open access) on the history of unionism among live musicians, in US, UK, Australia. With live music in the spotlight, there's an underrepresentation of the specific, collective interests of musicians as workers. Not always. How did it happen? (1/2) www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Art doesn't "bring us together" by reducing the scope of discourse to what's agreed by all. Art is where both difference and solidarity are expressed and explored, an endlessly prolonged debate that is crucial for democracy and humanity. That's how art brings us together.

I spoke with @spencerhowson.bsky.social on ABC Brisbane about the rise of "day clubbing" as people look to extend and expand music's place in their lives, and industry responds. (Last 10 mins) We ended on earlier live gigs. I prefer late, post-parent duties - but this seems unpopular...?

I spoke with Courtney Kruk at @brisbanetimes.bsky.social about men assaulting and harassing women at an Amyl & the Sniffers show, of all places. Excellent investigation and important voices here. www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/que...

New book review - Streaming Sounds: Musical Listening in the Digital Age by Michael James Walsh 👍👍 In the Journal of Sociology @sociologyaustralia.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Who employs the most musicians?🧵 TIL the US Army is the world's largest employer of musicians- some 6,500. For context, they're nearly largest employer full stop (after Indian MoD). But I expect other occupations (cleaning, catering) might be outsourced (?) while musicians are enlisted. (1/3)

Just picturing Žižek going gaga for this scene in the new Squid Game (and for good reason)

"we received, almost immediately, an apology from the organisers. The directive, they explained, had not originated from the staff, but had been circulated without their knowledge by someone in management. We should ignore the ban, they said."

A deeper dive into this test of live music planning laws, and the broader issues, with a range of voices. I'm happy to be included. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Brisbane's Spotify Wrapped results are distinguished by a taste for country music. I spoke to @brisbanetimes.bsky.social about this, and the sadly low showing of Australian artists in our national results www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/que...

The Australian PM shared his Spotify Wrapped, and News Corp headlines gloat that he's been 'slammed' (that bellicose cliché) on X for such frivolity. I'm reminded of something former PM Paul Keating said, which I wrote about a few years ago. peakmusicexperiences.wordpress.com/2019/12/07/p...

I spoke with @nedhammond.bsky.social at ABC about a music venue's appeal against a new development. The Triffid is protected by all Brisbane has - a Special Entertainment Precinct and an Amplified Music Venue Permit - so this is a case of putting them to the test. www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...

New publication: 'Youth Broadcasting and Music Festivals in Australia', with Ian Rogers, in the Cambridge Companion to Music in Australia. We explore what happened in the 1990s - the tandem rise of youth music media (esp Triple J) and all-ages festivals. 1/3 www.cambridge.org/core/books/a...

"All the English groups Act like peasants with free milk" - The Fall, 'CnCs Mithering' Recently I realised an angle to this much-cited lyric that I don't think I've seen mentioned. (The Annotated Fall website is down.) Peasants, famously, produce milk through their labour.

Author's copies of the Boodle book arrived today. This brings me joy. I read it last night. Found a typo. But I'm proud of this and it means a lot to me to have this out in the world, a book about one of New Zealand's best and my favourite NZ band and their landmark Boodle EP.

I have found starter packs very helpful in finding my way on Bluesky. I will share a few, including this first one I've joined. Like anyone, I've got a few intersecting interests - mine include sociology, music, culture, youth, policy...

Now live on Beat Connection: @tyburr.bsky.social's great Television/Tom Verlaine "Marquee Moon" guitar-solo supercut. michaelangelo.substack.com/p/bc102-tele...