You know how annoying it is when your Amazon package isn’t delivered on time? Imagine how pissed-off officials in Northern Virginia must be now that Amazon says it will be late in building its big HQ2 development. While the landmark Helix, a 350 foot tower resembling the Poop Emoji with an outdoor spiral of landscaped trees will be built as scheduled, other buildings on the sprawling development are on hold. So much for the vaunted local economic benefits the retail giant promised in return for big tax incentives.
You may recall that saner jurisdictions rejected the HQ2 project. Northern Virginia neighborhoods under the retail behemoth’s footprint are so embarrassed they’re changing their names.
More:
“Amazon says it is pausing construction at HQ2 in Arlington,” Teo Armus and Rachel Lerman, Washington Post
“Amazon pauses construction of 2nd headquarters in Virginia, dubbed ‘HQ2’,” Max Zahn, ABC News
“The Lie Behind Amazon’s HQ2 Sweepstakes Becomes Clear,” Davi Dayen, American Prospect
“Amazon suspends Virginia HQ2 construction in latest cost-cutting move,” Emma Roth, The Verge
Update:
“As Amazon’s HQ2 Stalls, Incentives Have, Too,” Sarah Holder and Linda Poon, Bloomberg CityLab
Image (“Amazon HQ2 Helix Concept, after Jan Luyken and Willem Goeree, 1682″) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Maybe there are supply chain problems with the sandwich’s many non-pork components, like: ammonium sulfate, polysorbate 80, sodium benzoate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oils, calcium sulfate, ammonium sulfate, soy flour, sodium stearoyl lactylate, ascorbic acid, mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, monocalcium phosphate, calcium peroxide, calcium propionate,high fructose corn syrup, xanthan gum, and sodium benzoate. And let’s not forget azodicarbonamide, used to make yoga mats.
Nota Bene: The farewell tour kicks off on Halloween, so it may be more “trick” than “treat.” The McRib may rise from the dead like the zombie meat it is in years to come.
More:
“McDonald’s McRib coming back for a ‘farewell tour,'” Kelly Tyko, Axios
In Tennessee, especially the Nashville area, the number of vinyl plants will rise from two to five overall this year. Through June of this year, vinyl records made $570 million in revenue, up 22 percent year-over-year. Demand hasn’t abated.
More:
“Can Tennessee Solve America’s Vinyl Shortage?” Lyndsey Havens, Billboard
US Vinyl Sales Rise 22% In First Half of 2022,” Aprol Claire Welsh, DJ Mag
A new new company with a familiar name was incorporated in Delaware on September 15th: Trump Organization II LLC. It registered to do business in New York State on September 21st, the same day that state’s attorney general filed a 220-page fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump, his family, and the original Trump Organization, the umbrella company for the former president’s real-estate and golf resorts. NY AG James has filed court papers to prevent Trump from sheltering assests by shifting them from Trump Org I to Trump Org II in a corporate shell game.
More:
“Trump Forms New Company, Drawing Scrutiny From N.Y. Attorney General,” Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich and William K. Rashbaum, New York Times
“Trump Organization II Mocked as Court Filings Reveal New Delaware Company,” Zoe Strozewski, Newsweek
“Trump Organization assets should be frozen, New York attorney general asks court,” Max Jaeger, Politico
In 2021, U.S. vinyl albums outsold CDs for the first time in 30 years, even though CD sales increased, too.
According to data from the MRC and Billboard, 38.3 per cent of all album sales in the country last year were in vinyl format, accounting for over 50 per cent of all physical album sales (41.72 million sales out of a total of 82.79 million).
2021 vinyl album sales went up by 51.4 per cent to 41.72 million compared to 2020.
Vinyl is more expensive than other formats, so who’s buying LPs? The most devoted fans of artists like Adele, Taylor Swift, and Olivia Rodrigo want these large physical tokens.
More:
“Vinyl outsold CDs in the US for the first time in decades,” Scott Nover, Quartz
“As superstars cash in on vinyl LP boom, small labels and manufacturers struggle to meet demand,” Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times
“Sales of vinyl records surpassed those of CDs in the U.S. for the first time since 1986, marking a key turning point for the format’s nostalgia-fueled resurgence.
People spent $232.1 million on limited-play and extended-play records in the first half of the year, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, eclipsing the $129.9 million they spent on compact discs.
Vinyl was the most popular way people listened to music throughout the 1970s and the early 1980s, at which point it gave way to tape cassettes — followed by CDs and digital formats. Each new format was more convenient than the last and suppressed interest in vinyl.”
— “Vinyl-Record Sales Top Compact Discs for First Time in 34 Years,” Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg
More:
“Vinyl outsells CDs for the first time since the 1980s,” Nick Reilly, NME
“Vinyl Is Poised to Outsell CDs For the First Time Since 1986,” Elias Leight, Rolling Stone
For the past decade, guitars have been a glut on the market, seen as boomer relics of rock music’s bygone ages. COVID home confinement has changed that:
“A half-year into a pandemic that has threatened to sink entire industries, people are turning to the guitar as a quarantine companion and psychological salve, spurring a surge in sales for some of the most storied companies (Fender, Gibson, Martin, Taylor) that has shocked even industry veterans.
‘I would never have predicted that we would be looking at having a record year,’ said Andy Mooney, the chief executive of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, the Los Angeles-based guitar giant that has equipped Rock & Roll Hall of Famers since Buddy Holly strapped on a 1954 sunburst Fender Stratocaster back in the tail-fin 1950s.”
— “Guitars Are Back, Baby!” Alex Williams, New York Times
Image (“The Electric Guitar Lesson, after Renoir”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
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