Classic Metal Class This Saturday - The Ethics of Farewell Tours

Right now, due to Covid-19, tours and even one-off concerts are largely on hold.  But there's already talk of tours starting up once we eventually find a way to deal with the pandemic.  And some of those tours - you can guarantee it - are going to be carried out by metal bands that already did their farewell tour (in some cases, more than one!)

Some time back, we examined the question "Farewell Tours - Can You Repeat Them?" This was provoked by one of Dee Snyder's interviews, in which he criticized bands that, after announcing and doing a farewell tour, went back out on tour again, making a solid case for this practice being unethical on a number of counts.

Snyder has been a consistent voice and example on this issue, and weighed in on it in a number of interviews over this last year (for example here and here).  Eddie Trunk also weighed in recently with a quip.

The only band I can now think of that did a Farewell tour and has yet to ever play together since is @TwistedSisterNY .. so they are now on the clock haha. And they played 100% live and real right till the end !

Last year, Chris Krovatin authored a good piece on the topic of farewell tours in Kerrang!

So my co-host of Classic Metal Class - Scott Tarulli - and I decided that this would be a good topic to examine in depth for session six. You can join us on Zoom for the session this Saturday, Noon Central Time.  

We'll be recording the session, and we'll be reading and responding to questions and comments from the participants - so if you're there, your contributions will make their way into the class video.

Inaugural Post: A New (but Old) Metal Renaissance

This new blog represents a project that those who know me well also know I've long been thinking about -- and talking about -- a forum where elements from my public and professional persona and my more private passions can be brought together, juxtaposed, integrated.  More than half my life at this point, I've worked as a philosopher.  And, nearly all of my life, I've been a metalhead.

Until now, with exceptions of a few posts in my main blog, Orexis Dianoētikē -- where I've reflected on heavy metal music in terms of memory, affectivity, temporality -- I've maintained separation between these two equally vital, similarly important spheres.  But today -- which marks my 43rd birthday -- I'm embarking upon something novel for me as a public philosopher, bringing my longstanding love for heavy metal out of the shadows, away from the periphery, and into the limelight, onto the stage.  I've decided that I need a place to write down -- and work out further -- thoughts, reflections, realizations, puzzles and paradoxes that I've partly and privately shared with friends, family, colleagues -- and with my wife and partner, in whom I'm fortunate enough to find someone who enjoys both classic metal and philosophy as passionately as I do.