Entertainment
Is ‘Blue Dot Fever’ a real problem for the concert industry?
Over the last few weeks, acts like Post Malone, Zayn, Meghan Trainor, the Pussycat Dolls and Kid Cudi have canceled major tour dates. Whatever their reasons behind the scenes (they range from finishing new music to spending time with family), some have cited “Blue Dot Fever” as a possible cause — a tour staring down too many unsold seats to make the numbers work.
It’s a tough environment for all but the biggest acts right now — gas is eye-wateringly expensive, fans’ concert habits changed post-COVID, ticket prices are higher than many would like, and social media fame doesn’t guarantee a crowd in person.
The Times spoke to Michael Kaminsky, the founder of music management firm KMGMT, Inc, a partner in the Vans Warped Tour and an instructor in USC’s music industry program, to gauge if “Blue Dot Fever” is real, what expenses acts are facing on the road now, and how a digital audience is no guarantee of a packed house anymore.
Is this phenomenon of “Blue Dot Fever” real, or is it just a coincidence for specific artists amid a tough economy?
I’ve represented artists for 20 years, and a lot’s changed. There used to be a lot of steps up the ladder — you’d play clubs at your band’s start, then theaters, then go onto bigger things. What I see now is the middle class eroding, and it’s harder for everyone there. Expenses are way up, some have tripled from even a few years ago.
For a lot of artists, it’s increasingly difficult to tour and have a healthy business. A lot of this is fans’ sensitivity to ticket prices, but kids also have a lot of options now, and going to concerts is not as ingrained in their culture.
Is this in part a generational shift for kids that grew up in the pandemic?
I meet a lot of 18- to 21-year-olds at my university. Growing up, kids going to concerts was a rite of passage. As a teen, friends took you to shows and it was cheap to learn to love live music. Over COVID-19, kids were not able to have that experience. Instead, it was making friends online.
Now, for lot of people, they’ll go to one or two big events a year, it’s like going on vacation for them. I’m a small part of a big festival (the Vans Warped Tour), and I’d say a third of people tell us it’s their first concert they’ve ever been to.
What feels different about the calculations acts have to make about touring now?
What I’m seeing is a lot of bands deciding not to tour in the first place. It’s too expensive, too risky, and there’s not as much upside as there used to be. You see some acts canceling tours, which is a bit systemic, but you’re also not seeing all the things behind that decision — the erosion of the middle class of artists and higher expenses.
Gas prices spiking has to play a role there.
It’s not just gas. A bus used to be $1,000 per day to rent, now it’s $3,000 per day. If you take one night off, for a midsized band, that’s very difficult to absorb now. You see bigger artists playing just 10 cities, but doing multiple nights. They’re essentially saying “If you want to see us, fly out.” That traditional way of thinking about touring is changing or has already changed.
You hear a lot griping about high ticket prices, but artists and promoters set those prices as a reflection of what their costs are. Is there a disconnect with fans’ expectations there?
It’s complex. If you’re Taylor Swift or Beyoncé, there’s still lots of profit to be made. But a big dilemma for artists is that fans feel like art needs to be accessible and valued as such, and tickets should be priced below what their value is to be fair. Then they watch tickets get bought by scalpers and flipped for multiples, so the person making the most money on a ticket is the scalper. But as soon as an artist charges fair value, fans get upset and say they’re being greedy.
It’s hard to watch the person doing the least work, who has not contributed anything to the tour, reaping the biggest rewards. You’re finally seeing artists saying “I can’t price a ticket just because it’s fair. I can’t price it below what someone will pay.”
At the advent of streaming, everyone said that you can make your money on tour. If touring is no longer profitable, how will artists survive? Is every band just a T-shirt company now?
Everyone wants to move to the superfan model. Everyone already pays $10-$15 month for streaming services, so there is new emphasis on merch and VIP experiences. What’s more exciting to me is seeing a whole new subculture develop — all-cash shows at nontraditional venues, and releasing your own music offline. We’re seeing a lot of analog consumption and fashion come back, which ties to an overall broader need for artists to endear themselves to fans, so they find more ways to appreciate meaningful art. We’re seeing the fringes of electronic music rise, and very heavy rock music rise. There’s a tidal change happening in youth culture that is tied to inaccessibility, a response to the devaluing of making art, that’s exciting to see.
I have kids who come through our school and their aspirations are not to play club shows. They want to play backrooms at record stores with 500 kids paying $15 and it’s only prominently advertised in a Discord group. They’re listening to music on cassette. Kids are sick of this AI-accelerated push, and they want to enjoy real art again, and see an appreciation for it as political and subversive.
Is it damaging for artists’ careers to pull down dates over low sales? You see some acts being more candid about that, which is surprising and honest.
When artists are having these problems, they know why these tickets come down. That’s OK, the economy has changed, culture has changed and there’s not much you can do about that. They’re pushed into it.
I’m sure it’s embarrassing, but I don’t know if fans think so. Yet a big part of being famous is people acting like they’re famous. You need momentum and hits to stay famous.
These are obviously fraught times politically and economically. How do these macro-level challenges impact on touring?
It’s getting very hard. I have a lot of tours on sale now, and the day the Iran war started, my daily ticket counts took a huge dip. Gas was up, and even for low-priced tickets it was difficult for people to say that three months from now they’ll have money, so they’re not gonna buy a ticket.
Even with all these new digital metrics and tools, is it getting harder to know what an act’s real, ticket-buying audience is?
It’s extremely difficult to tell what will move tickets. You can have a hit song or be huge on TikTok and sell zero tickets, but I’ve got artists who have played for 20 years, and put them in the right rooms and price appropriately, they’ll sell out.
Tickets are more disconnected from album sales than ever before. Some artists stream like crazy and can’t sell, others stream low numbers but super-serve a touring audience and have fans that want to come back over and over. Data can make you informed, but it takes a smart, dedicated team with history and knowledge.
There are lots of new tools, but there’s still an old-school mentality that’s resistant to new tools. I’m excited by whats happening with the next generation that communicates differently, and you can go to where they are.
All these seem like compounding trends for all but the biggest acts. How do you keep a fan base invested in seeing you live?
At the end of the day, people value art and artists need to value fans equally. More than ever, it’s very important to build and find unique relationships. It isn’t just putting out a song and having them perform. Be respectful, be appreciative. You have to find new ways to speak to them. All my artists make 100% of their living from being artists. Part of that job is understanding the fan base and showing that you value them, and every time you show up you knock their socks off and keep them coming back.
Mr. Reset and The Society of Turnbuckle and Bone is a gripping sci fi horror/comedy featuring Vinny Pacifico, who is an ex-Ring of Honor Wrestler. What’s it about? What did we think about it? Read on for our spoiler free review!
But first? Take a look at the trailer!
Synopsis
Former Ring of Honor talent Vinny Pacifico stars as a rising indie wrestler lured by the promise of fame and fortune into a dark world of intense trials and sacrifice.
Rob Ryzin (ex-AEW), Bobby Fish (ex-NXT), Nick “Percy Watson” McNeil (ex-NXT), and Nick “Jamie Stanley” Stuible also star alongside writer-director Jedi Koszewski.
From The Press Release
The spectacle of professional wrestling grapples with psychological dread in Mr. Reset and The Society of Turnbuckle & Bone.
Full of gauzy, gorgeous imagery, a kaleidoscope palette, and themes that blend science fiction, body horror, and dark comedy, the surreal horror film explores a secret society that manipulates the wrestling industry from behind the scenes under the enigmatic Mr. Reset’s watchful eye.
Produced by Audacity Complex Studios, the film strips away the glitz of sports entertainment to reveal its psychological toll, while never shying away from the darkly comic moments that lurk in the industry’s shadows.
“This project holds special meaning for me because it brings together two of my greatest passions: horror and professional wrestling,” Pacifico commented. “Through this story, I’ve had the privilege of exploring authentic experiences within a fictional framework and shedding light on growing up in the entertainment industry.”
Here’s a look at the poster art!
My Thoughts
If you like movies that have a horror/conspiracy feel to them with a hint of creepy, this is the movie for you. The cast did a phenomenal job, and the storytelling was spot on. It also had a touch of breaking the 4th wall in there. This is a great film with a lot of drama, horror, and bad decisions. I will give a PSA to anyone who is sensitive to lights as it switches back and forth a lot. I like the news element to the movie and how it goes from 1st person to 4th person.
Final Thoughts
I wouldn’t recommend this movie to anyone under 13 because of the nature of the film and the tricks it can play on your mind. Also, it has body horror which younger viewers might not be able to handle. The gore and the trauma in the movie play on your mind and is not for the faint of heart. Excellent storytelling and the director did a phenomenal job. I highly recommend this B-list movie with a 9/10 for me based on the bizarreness of it and the great storytelling. Sometimes you need a reset.
Mr. Reset and The Society of Turnbuckle and Bone on VOD now!
Paul Avery, a journeyman actor best known for his role on “All My Children,” and his wife, Sheila, have died following a house fire. He was 81 and she was 77.
The couple’s death was confirmed by their daughters Parker Sanchez and Kyle Avery, who said the fire broke out in their home in Blairstown, N.J., early last Tuesday morning. While firefighters were able to reach Paul and Sheila inside the Mohican Road home, the couple succumbed to smoke inhalation.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Paul had a recurring role playing Hughie the bartender at Foxy’s on the ABC daytime soap “All My Children” for 12 years. He also acted in the 1978 film “Superman,” “Three’s Company,” “Soap,” and appeared in more than 300 commercials. He also acted in theater productions and produced plays in both New York and Los Angeles.
According to his daughters, the actor joked that his “elastic face” landed him multiple national commercials that ran concurrently. Casting directors looking for a “Paul Avery type” would turn the actor away because he was in too many commercials.
“He had a teeny tiny part — one line in Superman — but boy did he make a meal out of that,” Sanchez joked.
Kyle Avery added that at the Oscars, they played a clip from “Superman” that featured Paul reciting his line.
“His good friend ran into the kitchen and made him an Oscar out of tinfoil and handed it to him,” she said. “But I think the thing that he was proudest of was that he could make a living as an actor.”
Paul Avery was born Oct. 8, 1941; and Sheila Avery was born May 22, 1949. Paul was raised in Indianapolis, served in the Vietnam War in his 20s and moved to Los Angeles and then New York by his late 20s to try to make it as an actor. Sheila was raised in Kansas City, Mo., and moved to New York where she worked as a registered nurse but also had a background in theater.
She studied the craft in college, performed on a USO tour in Vietnam and worked as a costume mistress.
According to the couple’s daughters, the two brought their Midwest charm and sensibilities to the East Coast.
The couple met while living in an apartment building filled with other journeymen actors in the late 1970s.
“They were all part of this theater community, people who would go from regional theater to regional theater with the season,” Kyle Avery said. “They were a whole troupe of people who’d be in New York for part of the year, but then they’d go and be in Lakewood, Ohio, or Kansas City or Chicago, just following the theater.”
Sheila was previously married to John Quincy Bruce Jr., also an actor in the New York theater community and the father of Sanchez. Sheila and Paul got together in 1982 and married in 1984. They celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary in April.
Paul was a jack-of-all-trades and master of many. He was a small plane pilot who often flew into a tiny airport in Blairstown, N.J., which is how the couple discovered the town they’d call home. There, they opened a bookstore, Cabbages and Kings. Paul also launched a magazine: the Warren County Companion. According to the couple’s daughters, Paul was the first internet service provider in town. He also penned film reviews for the New Jersey Herald and some for the New York Times as well.
Sheila found what her daughters called the “perfect job,” which brought together her work as a registered nurse and background in theater: speaking in schools about domestic violence and sexual assault. She also became a counselor who worked with survivors, and a trainer who worked with volunteers, teaching them how to interact with victims.
“People who took her training 20 years ago have been contacting us and saying, ‘Your mother changed the way I thought about the world, she is the basis for my feminism,’” Sanchez said. “It’s been so fascinating to hear the ripple effects of young women who took that training from her, and who are now middle-aged women who are still thinking about her.”
The daughters said that their parents were community icons who were dedicated to service. “They had a sense of duty to the people around them,” Kyle Avery said.
“They loved to throw parties,” Sanchez said. “They hosted an annual event called Faux Giving and they would have these insane traditions, like we would have a head-measuring contest and measure the circumference of people’s heads, and then a winner gets to eat their pie first, and a badge.
“Whoever had the smallest head, everyone there would shout, ‘Pin head! Pin head!’ at this person, and it was the silliest thing in the world, but everyone who attended that event, even if they came one time, would talk about it forever.”
Kyle Avery added, “They were incredibly memorable.”
“They were community builders, they were people who wanted to nourish you in every way, and they were so good at it.”
They are survived by their children: Kyle Avery; Parker Sanchez and her husband, Pablo; Paul Avery’s son from a previous relationship, Stuart Sutherland; and their grandchildren, Avery, Duncan and Liana.
The Get Out, 2026.
Directed by Derek Borte.
Starring Russell Crowe, Luke Evans, Aaron Paul, Teresa Palmer, Nina Dobrev, Daniel Zovatto, Kartiah Vergara, Josh McConville, Yasmin Kassim, Benedict Hardie, Christian Perez, Cameron Leonard, Cory Beeston, and Ever Love Hope.
SYNOPSIS:
A nightclub owner is on the verge of leaving his dangerous past behind for retirement. After masked gunmen rob him and he finds himself squeezed by ruthless cartels, a mysterious newcomer arrives with an interest in buying the business.
Before even getting into what co-writer/director Derek Borte’s The Get Out is about, it must be said that if Russell Crowe is in a movie, he is putting on a European accent. Simply put, this is what he does now, and how his fascination with playing Albanians and other nationalities would be more interesting than almost anything in this mostly generic, certainly overcrowded Los Angeles crime tale of fighting one’s way out of that dangerous life to live peacefully alongside a loved one.
To be fair, The Get Out is based on a novel called Strip by Thomas Perry (with screenwriters Derek Borte and Daniel Forte adapting), so it’s possible that the character in that book just happened to be Albanian and that this is actually inspired casting; go get the kooky guy who can’t help himself from playing quirky, offbeat, and violent Europeans (this is essentially the Russell Crowe from Kraven the Hunter). The reality is that, whatever the reasoning behind the decision, it mostly amounts to an otherwise legendary actor (at least he knows Gladiator II sucked and isn’t afraid to voice it) delivering another campy performance that unsurprisingly works even less once the film bizarrely shifts from crime comedy to more grounded action with mostly meaningless stakes (since whatever makes this novel a complex and breathtaking piece of crime fiction isn’t to be found here).
Manco Kapak (Russell Crowe) is a nightclub owner (it was once a strip club but changed to reflect politically correct times, which mostly sounds like a change from the novel and an acknowledgment of that) connected to the cartel (Daniel Zavatto) with a rigid system in place to keep operations functional. It turns out that the only threat to that falling apart is his own physical health, as he suffers a cardiac incident while sexually intimate with his much younger girlfriend, Sunny (Teresa Palmer). This is also what prompts him and her to consider selling the nightclub to an interested buyer, Joe Carver (Luke Evans), leaving that life behind, fleeing the country, and living out the rest of their days in solitude, with no one hunting them down.
Not only do Manco and Joe struggle to come to a financial agreement that feels respectful to the former, but a crooked police detective (Josh McConville) discreetly tasks miserable adjunct professor Jeff (Aaron Paul), who already breaks the law in what he believes to be victimless crimes in writing academic papers to help undeserving youngsters receive a free ticket into prestigious colleges. to mug the nightclub owner and steal the cash that he is carrying to bring to the cartel. The gist is that Jeff failed to get the detective’s son into the college of his choosing, and that, for some reason, the answer is to keep stealing the money necessary from Manco.
Since Manco never takes his gun out of his car’s glove compartment (even after his girlfriend and confidants suggest he start holstering it), getting the jump on him is simple time and again (Jeff is forced to do this on more than one occasion). However, a wrinkle is thrown into all of this when Point Break-obsessed bank teller Carrie (Nina Dobrev) astutely catches on that something is up with his deposits, pushing her way into the con. It also turns out that Carrie is a risk-taker, excited and turned on by crime, which mostly causes Jeff to freak out as he just wants his part in all of this to be over, but is, of course, more than happy to pull over to a motel at Carrie’s request when robbing Manco has made her horny.
The adventures of this mismatched, dopey Bonnie and Clyde are the most fun there is to be had here, with the clashing personalities of Aaron Paul and Nina Dobrev playing off each other well. Their journey takes them in a direction that has less and less to do with Manco and more to do with Carrie getting it over her head, which is amusing and makes for a far more engaging movie than everything else here. She even gets her own blooper reel that might have more laughs in it than the previous 90 minutes.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has seen a movie before that all of these characters are on a collision course to face a reckoning with one another and the reckless and questionable choices they have made to hopefully enrich their lives. However, there is far too much happening in The Get Out, coupled with poor characterization and a gradual shift in tone from a comedic playfulness that already doesn’t work, to violence that also doesn’t work because there isn’t much to care about. Again, there is a much more interesting movie in the oddball-comedic Bonnie and Clyde duo. Put Aaron Paul and Nina Dobrev in a Point Break remake, and you have a better movie than that actual remake and The Get Out.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
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