Showbiz Sandbox 468: A Rundown of This Year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees

November 10, 2019

Next year’s nominees for placement into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio include candidates considered in previous years, including Depeche Mode, Judas Priest and Todd Rundgren. They join new nominees such as Pat Benatar, Dave Matthews Band and Whitney Houston, among others. We speak with Sal Nunziato, a music blogger and drummer for the band The John Sally Ride, to get his encyclopedic thoughts on which of the nominees should actually get the nod.

We also discuss the pros and cons of streaming music services. There is no dispute that it’s great to have an archive of music, not to mention new releases, all available for listening within a few seconds. On the other hand, it’s also nice to support the music we really like by actually buying physical copies.

Meanwhile, the video game industry made some headlines this week after a Chinese team won the latest “League of Legends” world championship. At the same time the latest “Call of Duty” release has generated some controversy since it is set amidst the Syrian Civil War and depicts child soldiers, the killing of civilians, among many other issues.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why Woody Allen dropped his lawsuit against Amazon Studios, HBO Max sets its subscription price and technology is allowing filmmakers to cast the late James Dean in an upcoming movie.

Read more

Showbiz Sandbox 298: Predicting The 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

October 12, 2015

Among the 2016 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced this past week were legendary musical acts like The Smiths that will surely be inducted, unheralded backing groups such as the J.B.s that are a long shot and even a popular 1970s funk band, Chic, that has now been nominated ten times. The nominations that generated the most media discussion were probably for pop star Janet Jackson and N.W.A., the hip hop group which popularized gansta rap. We debate which of this year’s nominees are deserving of induction and which are real head scratchers.

Meanwhile government and film industry regulators in China agreed to allow greater oversight into their box office receipts through a public website. Only time will tell whether this was a symbolic gesture meant to assuage Hollywood studios or a true step toward more transparency.

We’ll also dip back into book publishing, where despite recent setbacks many companies are trying to launch all-you-can read subscription services.. Given the numbers revealed by Amazon for its Kindle Unlimited program, it appears authors don’t have much to gain.

Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including a lifetime achievement award for composer John Williams, the plans to adapt Nancy Drew for television and Woody Allen goes digital.

Read more