#WhatsHappening for June 27, 2018

Happy hump day, friends. Hope your week is going well. If it's not, look on the bright side- the weekend is only two days away and- for many of you, next week will be a short one!

Ya know, at first glance, Blood Orange Sparkling Water seems like something I'd enjoy. The reality is quite different- it's fucking terrible.

I see where Joe Jackson died earlier today. Let the revisionist history begin.

Actually, The Onion probably put it best:

I think I've mentioned before that I'm not really a comic book guy, but that I enjoy the hell out of the majority of the comic book movies. That part of the geek in me is glad to see that the DOJ has given preliminary approval to the Fox-Disney merger. Too bad Avengers 4 is already well into shooting- because it'd be awesome to see the X-Men on the battlefield.

A Los Angeles jury has found in favor of former Beats business partner Steven Lamar and agreed with his assertion that he was due royalties on all generations of the company's Studio headphone line.

In a verdict that's surely already in the process of being appealed, the jury ordered Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine to pay Lamar $25 million as a result of the breach of contract suit, deciding that Lamar had fulfilled his contractual duties to the company. Iovine and Dre argued that Lamar was only entitled to royalties from the first headphone model.

Personally, I like my $22 JVC earbuds. I had Beats software on one of my laptops and never noticed even a little bit of sound improvement, so I can't imagine paying the outrageous price they ask for the headphones.

The Prince estate has signed a deal with Sony Music Entertainment for exclusive distribution rights to 35 Prince's previously released albums. 

The gives SME's Legacy Recordings division the immediate worldwide rights to Prince catalog released between 1995-2010, with other eras following in years to come. 

Among the titles included in the first phase are The Gold Experience, Emancipation, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, The Rainbow Children, 3121, Musicology, and Planet Earth .

Additional album titles from the 2014-2015 are included in the deal, beginning in 2019 and Prince's non-soundtrack albums (everything but Purple Rain, Under the Cherry Moon, and Graffiti Bridge) join the deal in 2021.

Birthdays today include: Margo Timmins of Cowboy Junkies (57); Lorrie Morgan (59); Gilson Lavis of Squeeze (67); Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys (76); and Music Box Dancer artist Frank Mills (76). #MusicalBirthdays

#WhatsHappening for June 24, 2018

Good Sunday afternoon, friends and neighbors. Hope you're all having a fantastic weekend and staying cool! Thanks to a very annoying headache that seems to be vacillating between tension and migraine- along with just a general malaise- I'm spending my Sunday watching season two of Luke Cage. I'm still enjoying the series, but- much like season one- I'm finding the widespread use of a certain racist pejorative unpleasant, and it's coming from quite a few characters I'd think would be averse to its usage.

I'm not sure if you guys know what I do during the week as my "regular" job, but I work in the sign industry. I've had a hand (literally) in every facet of the business- from back in the day when signs were painted plywood to today's digital signs (think the modern scoreboards at your local ballpark/stadium) and pretty much everything in between.

And, as I'd be the first to tell you, I'm far from perfect.That said, I don't recall ever fucking one up like this. I feel sorry for everybody involved- from the designer to the installer, because they all went home with their asses sore after the boss saw this one. Then again, patrons were probably so busy grumbling about over-priced, mediocre food that they didn't even notice the goof.

Don't forget to join us this Saturday for a star-spangled edition of Saturday Night Karaoke, live and loud at the Iron Horse Tavern in Historic Downtown Norcross. We start the party at 10pm.

A source "close to the family" has told Billboard Joe Jackson has been hospitalized in Las Vegas, battling a terminal cancer. TMZ says the oft-maligned father of one of pop's best known family of musical giants is resting and surrounded by his wife, "some" of his children, and grandchildren.

After five years of trying, Kenny Rogers has finally sold his Atlanta-area home for just shy of $2.4 million. 

Rogers bought the six-bedroom house in 2012 and had initially asked nearly $5 million for the property, which includes eight full bathrooms, four half-baths, 10 fireplaces, a double-island, eat-in kitchen, a conservatory, a game room with full bar, a movie theater with stadium seating, and 13,000 square feet of space. Oh yeah, there's a one-bedroom/one-bathroom apartment above the garage for visitors or live-in staff, too.

No word on whether bad plastic surgery was included in the deal

Birthdays today include: Mario Calire of The Wallflowers (45); Glenn Medeiros (48); Curt Smith of Tears For Fears (57); Andy McCluskey of O.M.D. (59); Astro of UB40 (61); Jeff Cease of The Black Crowes (61); John Illsley of Dire Straits (69); Jeff Beck (74); and Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac (76). #MusicalBirthdays