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Music News: Queen barred from Glastonbury over badger beef

Queen's Brian May thinks critters like these should be protected.
Queen's Brian May thinks critters like these should be protected.Sally Longstaff/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

by Jay Gabler

May 18, 2018

Downton Abbey actor Peter Egan is calling for a boycott of Glastonbury after festival founder Michael Eavis criticized Queen guitarist Brian May for speaking out against badger culling.

Let's unpack that. So, badger culling is the practice of killing badgers to fight bovine tuberculosis — which can be spread by badgers. May, Egan, and numerous others think the practice is cruel to badgers, and have argued that it shouldn't be done.

Eavis, a dairy farmer who owns the land on which the Glastonbury festival takes place, said about May that: "He's a danger to farming. He doesn't care about the badgers — he doesn't know anything about it at all." Eavis says he won't be booking Queen for the festival, which next happens in 2019.

That statement sent Egan to Twitter. (NME)

Marlon says MJ street naming announcement was "a mistake"

On Thursday, the City of Detroit announced that a block in its downtown area would be renamed Michael Jackson Avenue, with the surviving members of the Jackson 5 to perform and take part in an unveiling during Detroit Music Weekend next month.

Just one thing, though: Marlon Jackson says the street is actually supposed to be renamed in honor of all the brothers. "I think it is going to be that," he said. "There was a mistake."

There's a law against renaming Detroit streets for groups of people — as opposed to single individuals — but festival founder Vince Paul says he hopes to give each of the five their own street eventually. So, if Marlon is patient he may one day get to walk down Marlon Jackson Avenue in Detroit. (Billboard)

YouTube to launch paid streaming program

On Tuesday, YouTube will launch a multi-tier paid subscription music streaming service. Why would users pay for the free video service? Well, to avoid the ads, for one thing — and also to get "thousands of playlists, millions of licensed songs, albums and artist radio, video and [...] 'reimagined' mobile app and desktop players," reports Billboard. YouTube Premium will replace the existing YouTube Red, with additional video content available for a couple more bucks a month.

Mountain Goats inspire burlesque show

A burlesque show taking place on June 1 in New York City is called, appropriately, I Only Strip to the Mountain Goats. That's right, a series of burlesque performers will flamboyantly lose their clothes to the indie rock anthems of John Darnielle, who has given his blessing to the event — though it's unclear whether he'll actually attend. All proceeds will go to legal defense funds for abortion providers. (Pitchfork)

Whitney Houston documentary alleges abuse by cousin

Whitney, a new documentary about Whitney Houston, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday. The film includes claims by the late singer's brother and her longtime assistant that when Houston was young, she was molested by her cousin Dee Dee Warwick. Also a singer, Dee Dee Warwick was the sister of Dionne Warwick; Dee Dee Warwick died in 2008. The film suggests that the experiences led Houston to insist on bringing her daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown on tour with her, to protect the girl from suffering any similar treatment from anyone. Whitney opens nationwide on July 6. (Rolling Stone)