Weekly Skews

Live Nation's predatory grip on live music is finally cracking — and a homegrown, hyper-local music scene is rising up to take its place. Matt sits down with longtime music publicist and industry expert Devon Léger to talk festival season, why the corporate giants are getting pinched, and how Live Nation's monopoly playbook (own the venues, the artists, the tickets, then jack up prices) is running into real backlash. They get into the surprising forces reshaping the industry — from Gen Z drinking less to indie festivals outlasting the Coachellas of the world — plus how house concerts, co-op venues, and immigrant music scenes are quietly building a more sustainable future for live music. If you're feeling discouraged, Devon's prescription is simple: go to a show.
Follow Devon's work: Seattle Picks on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seattlepicks_206 Seattle Picks on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@seattlepicks Hearth Music: https://www.hearthmusic.com KITHFOLK newsletter: https://hearthmusic.substack.com

This episode is sponsored by ZBiotics. Go to https://www.zbiotics.com/SKEW now. You'll get 15% off your first order when you use SKEW at checkout
Weekly Skews is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. If you believe religious freedom is supposed to protect everybody, not be weaponized to turn away good families, visit https://www.au.org/crooked to learn more and become a member today.

RFK Jr. “Yeah yeah, we’ll get to the measles outbreaks, but first what’s up with raccoon penis bones?” The FBI director apparently cries at work, but don’t worry, it’s only because he’s blackout drunk. Trump considers giving himself an Iran War medal. Then, we get into the insane goings on with influencers on the right, where the real ones are self-immolating at the same time they’re being replaced by A.I.
This episode is sponsored by ZBiotics. Go to https://www.zbiotics.com/SKEW now. You'll get 15% off your first order when you use SKEW at checkout
Weekly Skews is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. If you believe religious freedom is supposed to protect everybody, not be weaponized to turn away good families, visit https://www.au.org/crooked to learn more and become a member today.

There’s a chimpanzee war. Sound dumb? You’ll never guess. Then we get into JD Vance’s global catastrophe of a week, starting with failed low-effort negotiations with Iran while the Secretary of State got drunk in Miami. Then, we talk about the election results in Hungary, where the people basically voted for JD and the rest of the MAGA Dweeb Wing to go eat rocks. It was a campaign with an insane amount of propaganda, meddling, and a pretty weird sex abuse scandal involving the new Prime Minister’s ex-wife. Join us.
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist. Sign up and get 10%  https://www.betterhelp.com/skews 
This episode is sponsored by ZBiotics. Go to https://www.zbiotics.com/SKEW  now. You'll get 15% off your first order when you use SKEW at checkout

Matt sits down again with Joe Sudbay, host of State of the States on SiriusXM, to check in on what's actually happening in American politics right now — and why you have to look at the state and local level to see it clearly. Since the beginning of 2025, Democrats have flipped 30 Republican state legislative seats while Republicans haven't picked up a single Democratic one. Joe breaks down the pattern of overperformance showing up in special elections from Iowa to Florida to Georgia, why state legislative candidates are connecting with voters in ways that DC politicians can't, and how all of that local organizing and candidate recruitment is building toward something big in 2026.

JD Vance has a new book about his journey through forty-eleven religions before he arrived at the correct one, Catholicism-Where-You-Hate-the-Pope. Then Mark and Trae talk about the president threatening war crimes in internet posts where he sarcastically converts to Islam. Then, a fun discussion with scientist, small business owner, and Congressional candidate Dr. Michaela Barnett about running for office because you’re mad as hell and no one else is doing it.
Weekly Skews is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
If you believe religious freedom is supposed to protect everybody, not be weaponized to turn away good families, visit https://www.au.org/crooked to learn more and become a member today. 
This episode is sponsored by ZBiotics. Go to https://www.zbiotics.com/SKEW  now. You'll get 15% off your first order when you use SKEW at checkout
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist. Sign up and get 10%  https://www.betterhelp.com/skews