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Greetings,

Sun Tzu, philosopher and author of "The Art of War," once wrote: The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

If you've kept a keen eye on the Observer website, or this newsletter, then you'll know that I have a not-entirely-one-sided beef with Kid Rock.

Since our great snafu, I've remained quiet because, unfortunately, I don't get paid to write open letters to the Detroit Cowboy all day. Anyways, it seems I've won yet another battle, this time without even trying. 

My archenemy was scheduled to play MAGA Fest in Kentucky (with special guest star Dog the Bounty Hunter) on Saturday. The entire event was supposed to be free, relying on the profits of exclusive $1,000 tickets to break even. They reportedly sold a grand total of six of those VIP tickets, and the event was canceled, leading to a quote I will personally be referencing weekly:

"I want to tell you something: Rich people, as a whole, suck...,"  said MAGA Fest organizer Eric Deters in a since-deleted video on Facebook. "Out of all these people that have money that I interact with, who I do favors for all day long. They ask me for something, I never say no. I never said no to these people... None of these people will ever, ever, ever get a favor from me again, ever."

Deters said there's no animosity between him and the headliner, which is probably good because Bobby Shazam has already got to deal with me. Once again, I'll be relying on others' words to prove my point here.

As the Dalai Lama once said: 

"Don't ever mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance or my kindness for weakness." 

His Holiness went on to say something about compassion and tolerance, but that really doesn't apply here. So the moral of the story is that if you're going to throw a festival, you should book an artist people actually want to see. And if you're planning on making an enemy of me, be careful. 

With great contempt and wishes of misfortune to Kid Rock, and with love and compassion to everyone else,

— Alyssa Fields, Associate Music & Culture Editor

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"Diamonds on the Chorus" - Baby Snakes and the Electric Co.

Five years ago, Jeff Saenz came into contact with a downed power line. He was electrocuted with more than 7,500 volts and lost his left hand and his right arm. Lucky to be alive, Saenz, a career musician and producer, is releasing original music for the first time ever. "Diamonds on the Chorus" is the third single from his upcoming album, "Ouroboros," out Oct. 23. Earlier this year, I was lucky to watch Saenz perform some of the album live. Soon enough, you'll be seeing much more of Saenz and learning all about his debut (wink).

Know a band, musician or venue we should feature? Use the contact button at the top of this email.

In the next few days

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