#WhatsHappening for August 20, 2019

Hi, kids. Hope you're all doing well.

Other than the raging motherfucker of a sinus headache, I'm good. In the words of Peter Green, "world keeps on turning."

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A new musical inspired by Soul Train is in the work, with producers hoping for a Broadway premiere in 2021.

Produced by Questlove, Tony Cornelius, Anthony E. Zuiker, Shawn Gee, Devin Keudell, Matthew Weaver, Jeffrey Tick, and Richard Gay- the show will focus on Soul Train creator Don Cornelius, who started his career as a disc jockey before bringing the show to TV audiences in 1970. Dominique Morisseau is writing the script, while Camille A. Brown will choreograph (and you know there's gonna be some fly-ass moves), and Apollo Theater producer Kamilah Forbes will direct.

"To me, Soul Train, is the story between Don Cornelius and the dancers that built that show," said Morisseau. "I thought it would be so interesting to tell the story of the dancers and Don, in connection and in contrast and in contradiction and in conflict with each other."

Cornelius was host of the show for 23 years, until his health forced him to step down. He would later commit suicide.

Morisseau likened Cornelius to Shakespeare's "Hamlet. He is his best friend and his own worst enemy." She said the series gave her "a sense of pride and self-affirmation for who I was in the greater American culture."

Soul Train left the airwaves in 2006.

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A study by researchers at MacQuarie University in Australia has found that- contrary to what the lyrics might suggest- death meal "fans are nice people.They're not going to go out and hurt someone."

Professor Bill Thompson says his research also found that fans of the genre aren't "desensitized" to violent imagery. Thompson and his colleagues have been studying the emotional effects of music for decades.

"Many people enjoy sad music, and that's a bit of a paradox - why would we want to make ourselves sad?" he asked. "The same can be said of music with aggressive or violent themes. For us, it's a psychological paradox... we're curious, and at the same time we recognize that violence in the media is a socially significant issue."

Bloodbath lead singer Nick Holmes, whose band's music was used in the study calls his lyrics "harmless fun, as the study proved... "basically an aural version of an 80s horror film".

"The majority of death metal fans are intelligent, thoughtful people who just have a passion for the music," he said. "It's the equivalent of people who are obsessed with horror movies or even battle re-enactments."

The study's results led Thompson to call "joy and empowerment" the "dominant emotional response to this music... And I think ... that's an amazing thing."

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Attorneys for HBO have asked a judge to dismiss the $100 million lawsuit filed against them by the estate of Michael Jackson over the Leaving Neverland documentary.

The Dan Reed-directed documentary, which divided viewers The estate filed the suit before the film debuted on HBO while protesting Jackson's innocence. The suit alleges that the film constitutes a breach of a non-disparagement clause in an agreement signed by two of the alleged victims that appeared in the documentary. The motion from HBO's lawyers came after a federal judge rejected a motion from the estate to send the case to arbitration, with the network claiming the film is protected under the First Amendment and the California Code of Civil Procedure.

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Borrowed from Dave's Music Database.

Birthdays today include: Demi Lovato (27); Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit (49); KRS-One (54); John Hiatt (67); Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin (71); James Pankow of Chicago (72); and Ralf Hütter of Kraftwerk (72).

#MusicalBirthdays