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Music News: Haim fire agent over gender pay disparity

Haim perform at the Palace Theatre, St. Paul, in May 2018.
Haim perform at the Palace Theatre, St. Paul, in May 2018.Emmet Kowler for MPR

by Jay Gabler

June 13, 2018

Haim say they fired their booking agent after discovering they were paid only a tenth of what a male musician earned to play a certain festival. "We had been told that our fee was very low because you played at the festival in the hope you'd get played on the radio," Danielle Haim said in an interview with an Italian magazine. "We didn't think twice about it, but we later found out that someone was getting paid 10 times more than us. And because of that we fired our agent." (Consequence of Sound)

Cobain memorabilia possibly destroyed

A museum in Kurt Cobain’s hometown has been destroyed by fire, and artifacts relating to the late Nirvana frontman may have gone up in smoke. Items related to Cobain in the Aberdeen Museum of History included "a couch he slept on at a friend's home for the fall of 1985, a bench from outside his home in Seattle and posters, artwork and band T-shirts," reports NPR. It's unclear at this time whether any of that material was damaged, but damage to the museum as a whole was extensive after fire broke out on Saturday.

U2 pay tribute to Bourdain

At the Apollo Theater in New York on Monday night, U2 invited the Sun Ra Arkestra out for a surprise appearance on four songs — and dedicated "Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," a song originally written in tribute to Michael Hutchence (INXS), to Anthony Bourdain.

"We lost a lot of inspiring, useful people and gained a few useless people" recently, said Bono onstage. "And now this great storyteller, who I'm sure has stories he couldn't tell us. So for Anthony Bourdain, and his friends and family, this is a song inspired by a great friend of ours. His name is Michael Hutchence." (Billboard)

Menudo reuniting

NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys, and New Edition have reunited — now it's time for Menudo, the Puerto Rican boy band that helped launch Ricky Martin to fame in the 1980s. After prevailing in a legal battle to reclaim the rights to their name from a former band member, Menudo are planning a comeback and a 40th anniversary concert, reports Billboard. Details have yet to be announced.

Eight-year-old channels Bonham

Too bad John Bonham couldn't live to see eight-year-old Yoyoka Soma joyfully replicate his part in Led Zeppelin’s "Good Times Bad Times." The Japanese youngster has been drumming for 75% of her life, and plays in a rock band with members of her family. (Billboard)