Replatformed in Gothenburg

I'm pleased to announce that the show will go on in Gothenburg, at the Gaza solidarity encampment on the campus. And then Oslo, Lillehammer, Trondheim, Gavle, Copenhagen, Reykjavik, Portland...

Troll farms and cancelation dramas and sectarian thinking, oh my! Life goes on, and I’m pleased to announce we’ll be playing tomorrow in Gothenburg after all. Dress warmly, it’ll be an outdoor event at the Gaza solidarity encampment!

After that we play in Oslo, Lillehammer, Trondheim, Gavle, and Copenhagen, before flying to (and playing in) Reykjavik, and then to the US, where we’ll be playing in Boston, Massachusetts, and both Portland, Maine, and Portland, Oregon.

Have you been having problems with doing things like using the Invite feature on Facebook Events? Or adding a Facebook Event to your Facebook Page? I have been almost completely blocked from using these features for many months now. I keep thinking it’s a technical problem, or my old age, but increasingly I realize this is not the case. I’m being shadowbanned, or whatever the appropriate term might be. Whether I use a very recent-model smartphone or a laptop, these features don’t work about 95% of the time I try to use them, for many months now.

To me, this just emphasizes the reality that we can’t depend on these corporate social media platforms as our means of communication. As I travel and meet people who missed a gig because they didn’t hear about it and they wish they had, it becomes more and more clear how much of a problem all of these platforms are — including Gmail, whose Promotions folder has meant most people don’t see newsletters like this one anymore. Neither do people see anything about my gigs coming up on their Facebook feeds, and it’s not much better on other corporate social media platforms.

I can tell that not many people are hearing about these gigs coming up. If they were, there would be more of a hum of activity involving people messaging me about things related to me coming to their town. It’s happening, but not as much as it would normally be. I attribute this mainly to my failure to get the word out effectively that this tour is happening, and my inability to effectively promote gigs in various towns through any of the means available to me, from a distance.

Any efforts anyone might make to contact people individually or in groups, and let them know about gigs coming up in their towns, would be most appreciated, and would likely make the difference between having a full house in a small venue or not. Info about all of the upcoming gigs can be found at davidrovics.com/tour — including, for what little it’s worth, Facebook Event pages for most for most of them, now including the one at the Joe Hill House in Gavle, Sweden, as well as shows coming right up in Norway.

The new gig in Gothenburg isn’t a paying gig. That one was canceled. Gigs that seemed likely to happen in Belgium also didn’t happen due to similar activities, in that case not ones aimed at me, but the same kind of shit aimed at a Belgian organizer, over other nonsense. Anyone who is able to help compensate for these financial losses is, as usual, most welcome to join my Community-Supported Art program or make a donation, and help me be less impacted by such charades.

What remains of the ongoing tour is on the graphic below, which you are very welcome to download and share widely!