HOT: Sweater Business
Just like Wu-Tang Clan, rapper 2 Chainz has made a rare, one-of-a-kind item that will cost whoever wants it major cash. Unlike Wu-Tang, it’s not an album of never-released material, and it isn’t being sold to the highest bidder — 2 Chainz’s offer would be better for you if you’re looking for something to wear to a Las Vegas strip club on Christmas morning. The rapper is offering a 2 Chainz “Ugly Christmas Sweater” (the most baffling music merch trend since the artist-branded thong) for $90,000. The proclaimed “World’s Most Expensivest Ugly Christmas Sweater” includes 50 carats of diamonds and 250 grams of gold and can be purchased through the MC’s web shop (or you can buy this similar-looking one for $20).. But sorry husky or petite rich 2 Chainz fans — the one sweater is a large. Proceeds from the sale will go to an unspecified charity (probably his own, which was actually inspired by Xmas sweater sales and does a lot of good work).
WARM: Cleaning Up a Bot Mess
Even if you are a Trump devotee, if you’re a live music fanatic, you can now say, “Thanks, Obama,” without irony. The president recently signed the Better Online Ticket Sales Act into law, which aims to make it much easier for actual music fans to buy tickets when they go on sale. If you’ve tried to order tickets online or on the phone for popular shows in the past couple of years, you know it’s nearly impossible. That’s largely due to the ticket resale market’s use of tech tricks (little buy-worms called “bots”) to purchase large amounts of tickets and resell them (at a vastly inflated price, usually). The new law will make such tactics illegal.
COLD: Dim Stars for Inauguration
Donald Trump’s people were reportedly having such a hard time finding bigly stars to perform at his inauguration next month that they were offering ambassadorships in exchange for their services. Trump’s camp denied the report and, perhaps to counter the rumor, announced that they indeed already had a yuuge artist lined up to perform — Jackie Evancho, a 16-year-old vocalist who came in second in the TV singing competition America’s Got Talent in 2010, and possibly opera singer Andrea Bocelli. Alas, Bocelli’s appearance was just a false rumor. I’m sure Vince Neil would still be up for it.
This article appears in Dec 14-21, 2016.