#THE BLACK KEYS

[rolloroberson]

Human

It’s been 3 days has it, or 3 months, maybe it’s been 3 years,

It seems like you were by me last night…

So my daffy little heart begins thinking with its head

And misconstrues the expiration date on its emotions,

How human,

How unusual

I haven’t felt like a human for most my days,

My standards being what they are, or were,

It all just sort of ends in a heap at the bottom of an incline.

And today will become tomorrow,

And my daft little heart will go on persevering…

Uninterested in notions of likelihood and assurance,

Free of its own assumptions,

And too tired to do much of anything but move forward…

How human,

How daftly divine.

Rollo©️Roberson 2024

"Love seeketh not itself to please,

Nor for itself hath any care,

But for another gives its ease,

And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair.”-

William Blake “The Clod and the Pebble”

[tranquilitybasehotelcasino]

yahar

[cosmonautroger]

The Black Keys, El Camino, 2011

[fannyspammy]

We’re Okay

Adam Warlock x Reader

Summary: y/n & Adam disagree for the first time

Warnings: none ! just fluff :)

A/N: fifth part to the Firsts series! Sorry it took me so long to get the next part up! Had a super busy week :/ If you haven’t read the previous parts yet, my masterlist is here! (Can be read as a oneshot tho!)

taglist: @spderm4nnnn @nocturnest @joeysjaskier

[not my gif]

Adam loved everything y/n loved. Half because she was the one who introduced him to most things, and half because y/n just had good taste.

He loved all the different food she introduced him to, the books, the movies, the music. You listened to just about anything — classic crooners, r&b, pop throwbacks, show tunes.. you name it! Naturally, Adam listened to just about anything as well, but his favourites always featured a strong guitar.

Y/n nodded her head to the beat as The Black Keys filled her ears. They were one of her favourite groups, and one of the few she’d seen perform live on Terra before finding herself in space.

She was stretched over the couch, feet up on the arm rest on the side farthest from her, singing softly along to Everlasting Light.

“In me you can confide.. When no ones by your side.. Let me be your everlasting light.”

Adam walked in, cold drink in hand. “What’ya listenin’ to?” Y/n removed one of her earbuds and held it out for him to take. She retracted her legs to allow him to sit, and he pulled them back over his lap once he was settled in his spot. Taking the earbud, Adam immediately recognized the song and nodded his head in approval. Placing his drink on the coffee table, he leaned back into the pillows behind him, and they sat in contentment, singing along and creating actions to lyrics.

As the song ended, the rhythmic intro to Howlin’ For You began. “Oh, I love this one!” Adam stated. “Dan Auerbach.. what a legend.”

Y/n agreed, retelling the time she saw him live in concert. “His guitar solos were insane. Definitely my favourite guitarist.”

“Second favourite, you mean,” Adam said, shrugging lightly. Y/n raised an eyebrow and tilted her head in question. “After Adrian Belew, right?”

“Oh, I mean, he’s great, but Auerbach is still my favourite.”

Adam stared at her like he couldn’t believe the words that just came out of her mouth.

“You’re joking right? Adrian Belew is the greatest of all time!”

Y/n shrugged. “I dunno, I love his stuff too, but I think I just prefer the blues-y rock vibes over a lot of Adrian’s experimental stuff.”

Adam’s mouth was slightly agape now. “Oh c’mon. Oh Daddy? Pretty Pink Rose? I mean, the man played with David Bowie!” He was sitting up now, sharp eyebrows furrowed in frustration and hands out with his palms up in a ‘what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about’ manner.

Y/n sat up too, sensing more tension than she thought was necessary for such a trivial topic. “Babe, chill. So I don’t think Adrian Belew is the greatest of all time, so what? Why is it such a big deal to you?”

The golden man stood up now, throwing his hands down to his sides as he did. Her legs slid off his lap as he walked away from the couch, pacing a few steps away before turning around to face her again.

“Why isn’t it a bigger deal to you? How can you not think he’s the greatest guitarist of all time? He’s so clearly unmatched!”

Y/n rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. “Why is it so hard to accept that I prefer Auerbach’s style? I’m not saying Adrian isn’t great, it’s just personal preference! When it comes to the experimental stuff I can only listen in small doses. I prefer alternative. Why is that such a problem for you?”

“Because we always like the same things!” He shouted. Y/n was taken by surprise, eyebrows raised in shock before her expression softened into a more curious one. Adam sighed, rubbing his temple with his palm as he sat back down on the edge of the couch. “We… I always like everything you’ve shown me. Everything. I mean, I don’t think I’ve disagreed with you once since we met. What if it starts with this — I like Belew and you like Auerbach — and then it becomes other things? And then next thing you know we don’t agree on anything?”

Y/n stared at him intently as he explained himself. He looked like a sad puppy, eyes round and lips in a pout. She stifled a chuckle as she realized what he was saying. Leaning forward, knees bent up to her chest, she placed her hands on his thigh. He looked at where she touched him before looking into her eyes. “Adam, it’s okay for us to disagree!”

He looked at her sheepishly. “It is?”

“Yes, silly,” y/n smiled at him, amused. “It’s sweet that you’re concerned about us growing apart, but every couple disagrees on some things. And usually over more important things than who the best guitarist is.”

Adam relaxed and scooted closer, bringing his hands to rest on the back of her calves. His thumbs rubbed her shins gently. “So.. we’re okay then?”

Y/n smiled. “Yes, you idiot, we’re okay.”

Adam sighed in relief. He adjusted his position so he was resting his head on her knees, an arm hooked around her leg to hug it close to him. Y/n melted at the sight him — a powerful man who could single-handedly bring down an army, so soft and delicate with her.

She brought a hand to his head and stroked through his hair before placing a kiss on his forehead. He snuggled closer at her show of affection and y/n smiled once again.

“We’re okay.”

[dreamings-free]

It's not just the Black Keys. Why are so many big tours selling poorly? Stereogum | June 11, 2024 | by Zach Schonfeld

long (and US focused) but still quite interesting article on the current state of concert touring, why tours are getting cancelled or downsized, and what's up with ticket pricing. (my selected excerpts/highlights under the cut)

[excerpt, all highlights mine]

[Eric Renner Brown, a senior editor at Billboard] adds, “I do think [The Black Keys] are an artist that can fill those rooms still. I think the demand is there in terms of people who want to see Black Keys. But perhaps at that price point, the demand was not there.”

Ostensibly, agents and promoters should have access to data that can give them a better sense of demand. But they often place outsized importance on raw streaming numbers.

“The data is very confusing,” says the anonymous booking agent. “There’s a lot of passive listeners for data. You can have millions upon millions of streams, but that doesn’t mean it’s gonna turn into tickets. The opposite is, there are some artists who don’t have many streams at all and they can sell like 2,000, 3,000 tickets.”

[..]

It’s worth noting that the Black Keys have released four albums since returning from hiatus in 2019, and toured arenas as recently as 2022. This may be a case of oversaturating the market.

The band’s 2019 and 2022 arena runs weren’t exactly sold out. In between, the band left their longtime manager in 2021, signing with Irving Azoff and Steve Moir at Full Stop Management. Some sources speculate that Azoff, a former CEO of Ticketmaster, may have encouraged ambitious touring plans. On Thursday, Billboard reported that the group has now parted ways with Azoff and Moir. (The management company did not respond to a request for comment.)

“Essentially, you have some very big managers that are out of touch with the granular finesse and nuance of ticketing,” says another anonymous booking agent. “And they have these large expectations and they tell their agents what they want. And the agents are probably texting each other on the side, going, ‘This man is out of his fucking mind.’ But they do it anyway because, in the case of Black Keys, they’re not gonna challenge Irving Azoff.”

[..]

One contributing factor to instability in the touring industry is the rising cost of… well, everything. It’s part of why ticket prices are so high; it’s also part of the reason some acts are backing out of touring commitments.

Bands at all levels have been sounding the alarm about this for years. In 2022, for instance, Animal Collective canceled European tour dates and explained, “We simply could not make a budget for this tour that did not lose money even if everything went as well as it could.”

Industry insiders say that’s not uncommon. “Everything is ridiculously expensive,” says a tour manager who works with major acts and asked not to be named. “There’s not enough gear for everyone to share, so the vendors are having to pay high amounts for equipment. A single bus for a six-week tour can cost $100,000. Multiple that by multiple buses, and then trucks, and then crews are at a minimum, so they’re getting top rate right now because there’s not enough crews.”

COVID, of course, exacerbated this crunch. “What happened after the pandemic is, everyone was ready to tour at once,” the tour manager says. “There’s not enough gear to cover all of that. A lot of bands have had to cancel tours because they don’t have gear or they couldn’t afford the gear,” the tour manager continued. “I was on a tour with somebody last year where we had to book a private jet because there were no buses available. For the first week of the tour, we had to charter planes.”

Acts are thus incentivized to book bigger venues to recoup the costs of touring. The catch-22 is that bigger venues necessitate more elaborate stage production, which makes for a more expensive tour.

“There’s the expectation to have that production,” says the tour manager. “If people went back to having just two trusses of lights and a P.A. and no frills, it was just about the music, they can afford to tour. But everyone wants to see those flashing lights. Everyone wants to see that video.”

“So much of the economics of these big tours is completely invisible to fans and consumers,” says Kevin Erickson, director of Future of Music Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group. “You can sell out a tour and come back in the red if there was a cost overrun or a miscalculation.”

For mid-level acts with sizable followings, these frustrations are compounded by a lack of suitable mid-sized venues.

“For a band that maybe has assessed its demand in the market to be in the 8K range or something for capacity, where are they going to go if that sort of venue doesn’t exist?” says Brown. “And if, say, the local theater that seats 3K or 4K can’t accommodate two or three nights, it can only put them for one night on the tour routing. That’s a real concern.”

[..]

At the end of the day, it all comes back to price. The average ticket price for one of the top 100 tours rose from $91.86 to $122.84 between 2019 and 2023. Concerts are too damn expensive, and there’s a growing sense of consumer frustration with shows that cost as much as airline tickets.

-> read the full article here on Stereogum.com

[outa-focus]

Likewise!

[vespervinyl]

The Black Keys - Ohio Players - 2024

[asoftenderlove]

THE WHITE BOYS COOKED WITH THESE

[lowcountry-gothic]

All Together Now: 25 Years of Photographing American Music by David McClister

[bellamer]

10 songs from my personal playlist that I think Jason Todd would listen to

1. Dragonfly by Dana and Alden

2. It Will Come Back by Hozier

3. Run Away With Me Cold War Kids

4. Grace by Jeff Buckley

5. Don’t Fuck With My Money by Mystery Skulls

6. Dream Brother by Jeff Buckley

7. Deceptacon by Le Tigre

8. 21st Century Schizoid Man by King Crimson

9. Lonely Boy by The Black Keys

10. Marceline by Vista Kicks

[tethyssol]

jason doodle with the hc that his fav band is the black keys

[rhapsodynew]

#Music from A to Z

GRAMMYS 2025 (Part 2)

in the nomination Best Rock Performance:

Now and Then nominated for 2 Grammy nominations-2025: "Best Rock Performance" and "Record of the Year"

The Beatles song, restored with the help of AI, was nominated for a Grammy.

The Beatles received a Grammy Award nomination almost 50 years after the breakup. Their latest song Now and Then, completed with the help of artificial intelligence, is up for an award in the "Record of the Year" category. Released in 2023, the track started by John Lennon in the 70s was restored using machine learning technology developed by director Peter Jackson's team, which allowed Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to complete the recording, which is more than 40 years old, The Verge reported.

In addition to the main nomination, Now and Then is also presented for "Best Rock Performance", where it competes with bands such as Green Day and Pearl Jam. The song meets the requirements of the Grammy Awards, which allow the participation of recordings with AI elements, while the main condition remains the human contribution to the creative component.

The ceremony, which will announce whether The Beatles will win their new awards, will be held on February 2, 2025.

• «Beautiful People (Stay High)» — The Black Keys

• «The American Dream Is Killing Me» — Green Day

"It's rude and emotional. Funny and disturbing. It's laughing at pain, crying in happiness," the band commented on the atmosphere of the album "Saviors".

• «Gift Horse» — IDLES

• «Dark Matter» — Pearl Jam

The fact that Pearl Jam are the most successful team of the so-called "big four grunge" (although it is clear from the very first album that it is not grunge at all) is easily explained. The band has never broken up, they have no problems with alcohol and drugs, and the music is the most diverse and in constant and consistently successful search compared to all the other values. We add here a high level of discipline and skill, stability in the release of albums, as well as a conditional "mainstream" sound. That's the whole recipe.

• «Broken Man» — St. Vincent

 "I needed to delve deeper into the search for my own sound dictionary. I like to think about [the record] As for post-plague pop music, it has a lot about heaven and hell - metaphorical kinds. Which is quite appropriate, because sitting alone in the studio for so many hours, I would say, is such a version of hell."

Best Rock Song:

To be continued....

[oldmanpeace]

[i-sat-bythe0cean]

[unholy-cvlt]

HOWLIN' FOR YOU

I must admit

I can't explain

Any of these thoughts

Racing through my brain

It's true

Baby I'm howlin' for you

[vespervinyl]

The Black Keys - Brothers - 2010