The sculpture garden in Secret Project Robot's former space on Melrose. The new location's "smaller but more intimate" sculpture garden is under development with the help of Kathleen Dycaico and Monica Mirabile.

Bushwick’s Secret Project Robot Is Reopening

The DIY venue will reopen on Broadway in Bushwick, near the Kosciuszko St J stop. Its eight partners have stated that the venue is “entirely self funded” by them, and will only hire artists, helping to “keep artists thriving in a New York City landscape that is less than financially friendly to the creative.” The reopening date is set for May 4th- details here!
The Latest Rockstar Species Is Named After Radiohead

Revealed soon after the Pink Floyd-inspired shrimp, there’s a new species of ant named after Radiohead. Sericomyrmex radioheadi is a type of silky ant which have figured out how to grow their own food. These creatures live in the Amazon and farm fungus gardens for nourishment. Why Radiohead? Ana Ješovnik, one of the authors of a Zookeys study on the insects, stated they wanted to honor their music, and “acknowledge the conservation efforts of the band members, especially in raising climate-change awareness." Read more here.

RIP Jonathan Demme

Demme was a revered film director who directed, among other classics, the Talking Heads live concert doc Stop Making Sense. David Byrne posted an essay in tribute to the filmmaker on his website, noting that Demme helped him when he was developing True Stories and highlighting his good taste in and love for music: “Jonathan was also a huge music fan—that’s obvious in his films too…He’d find ways to slip a reggae artist’s song or a Haitian recording into a narrative film in ways that were often joyous and unexpected.” Read the whole thing here.

Other Highlights

New music from PJ Harvey, Blondie, HAIM & Prince, the controversy over Radiohead's Tel Aviv performance, Ja Rule’s FYRE Fest was a very meme-able disaster, Neil Young's new "extreme" streaming service, good news for Kesha, and how women are influencing music festivals.

NEWS ROUNDUPSecret Project Robot, The Radiohead Ant and More