So you're telling me out of all of Leonard Cohen's discography, they pulled the song that he compares him & his lover to Steve McQueen and Marlon Brando.. and lupe and Vaseline.. and made that music video.. and we still have those who doubt?

#trypod

Hey, haven't been around in awhile. I've been "busy" over at @petesmediadiary logging (once a week, usually Sundays) all the media I consume (plugtime over). But in honor of #trypod, a campaign to make people aware of podcasts, here comes a list of all of the podcasts that I listen to with a brief description of what the podcast is about: 12 Hour Day with J.D. and Connor -- Each episode is at least 12 hours long where the hosts hang out for a day. You follow them as they hang out, and do things around New York City. (Comes out a couple of times a year) Comedy Bang Bang -- Scott Aukerman hosts where each episode he has on a comedian and other odd people come in after a brief interview segment Mike and Tom Eat Snacks -- Each episode Michael Ian Black and Tom Cavanagh Pick a snack, Eat a snack, and Rate a snack. (Currently on extended hiatus, but worth listening to the back catalogue) The Indoor Kids -- Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V Gordon talk about video games and other stuff they are watching. (Also currently on hiatus, but might be coming back soon?) Womp It Up! -- Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham spun off their characters Marissa Wompler and Charlotte Listler from Comedy Bang Bang where Marissa has a senior project podcast from her schools library where they interview the schools faculty and other students. (Hopefully it will be back after Playing House season 3) Spontaneanation with Paul F Tompkins -- PFT has a chat with a celebrity guest and then he and some improvisors do a 30 minute long improv based on that conversation. Harmontown -- Dan Harmon has a mental breakdown on stage, and raps about having sex with your momma. The K Ohle with Kurt Braunohler -- No longer active, but it was a multi-format podcast that Kurt hosted. Pet-o-philia and Get Lost were the two best formats. Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People -- Chris Gethard takes a call from a random person and is not allowed to hang up for an hour. At the hour mark the call is ended. Surprisingly heartfelt and wonderful. My love of Gethard aside, this is a GREAT podcast. Hollywood Handbook -- Sean Clements and Hayes Davenport are two of Hollywood's elite and drop names on this red carpet we call showbiz. This is some of the hardest I have ever laughed. It does take some getting used to though. You will hate it for the first few episodes. Emotional Hangs -- Kurt Braunohler and Joe Derosa explore their friendship and break down adult friendships and try to be open and vulnerable with each other. Rose Buddies -- Griffin McElroy and his wife Rachel recap episodes of The Bachelor family of TV shows. (I have never watched an episode of The Bachelor Family of shows) You Made It Weird w/ Pete Holmes -- Pete talks about Comedy, Sex, and God with pretty much anyone (usually comedians) who will talk to him about it. (Harris Wittels #3 is one of the best episodes of a podcast I have ever heard. It's an episode where Harris is open and honest about his struggles with addiction, and he is so effortlessly funny about it too. Spoilers: While the episode ends hopeful and on a way that makes everything seem like Harris is going to turn it around, he died from an overdose less than a month after the episode was released) Who Charted? -- Howard Kremer and Kyla's Vilaysack count down the charts in Music and Movies every week. Pistol Shrimps Radio -- Matt Gourley and Mark McConville don't know anything about basketball, but that doesn't stop them from doing the play by play of a women's recreational basketball league in LA. The Worst Idea of All Time -- Guy Montgomery and Tim Batt watch and review the same movie once a week for an entire year. Year one: Grown Ups 2. Year 2: Sex and the City 2. Year 3: We Are Your Friends (currently still going) Doughboys -- Mike Mitchell and Nick Wiger review a different chain restaurant every week. My Favorite Murder -- every episode Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff each talk about a murder and go through the story of it. The Dollop -- Dave Anthony tells an American history story to his friend Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be. The Adventure Zone -- The McElroy brothers and daddy play dungeons and dragons together. It's some of the best storytelling you will ever hear and it's consistently incredibly funny. Never Not Funny -- Jimmy Pardo hosts a relaxed chat with a celebrity guest. Doug Loves Movies -- Doug Benson plays movie games with comedians and funny people. Totally Beverages (and Sometimes Hot Sauce) -- Andy Rosen and Intern Josh do blind shootouts of beverages trying to figure out which is which and guess their favorites. (I "produced" episode 100, so selfishly I would suggest that episode) CoolGames Inc. -- Griffin McElroy and Nick Robinson create a new video game every week. With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus -- Every week Lauren is the guest on a different host's made up podcast. How Did This Get Made? -- Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, and June Diane Raphael talk about a different (usually) bad movie. No Such Thing As A Fish -- Writers of British panel show QI talk about their four favourite facts of the week that they learned while researching for QI. Ding-Donger with Matt Braunger -- Matt Braunger hitchhikes into your life for 30 to 45 minutes each week as he tells you what's been going on with him. Thanks for picking him up! The Bugle -- Andy Zaltzman and a rotating group of co-hosts talk about what's been going on in the world over the past week. (Formerly co-hosted by John Oliver) Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction -- Comedians write erotic fan fiction about pop culture and read it in front of a live audience. Slumber Party with Alie and Georgia -- Alie Ward and Georgia Hardstark have a guest over and they play slumber party games. What Say You? -- Sal and Q from Impractical Jokers talk about whatever is on their minds. Cardboard! With Rich Sommer -- Rich Sommer (Harry Crane from Mad Men) talks about board games. Black List Table Reads -- Franklin Leonard produces "ear movies" each episode is a table read of an unproduced screenplay. Hound Tall with Moshe Kasher -- Moshe has an expert on a topic as well as three other comedians on stage to talk about the experts subject in a town hall style meeting. Post Pink -- Justin Linville and Robby (who's last name I've forgotten) talk about Weezer's releases since Pinkerton. U Talkin' U2 To Me? -- Scott Aukerman and Adam Scott talk about everything U2 related in the dumbest way possible. Tell Us How Your Dog Died -- David Kramer and David Stoll talk to a guest about how their dog died. Legitimately one of the best earwormiest theme songs ever. Even though there hasn't been an episode (and probably won't be any more) I still find myself singing the theme song to myself fairly often. 'Till Death Do Us Blart -- The McElroy brothers and the guys from The Worst Idea of All Time Review Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 every thanksgiving for the rest of eternity. In the event of one of their deaths they are to bequeath their spot to someone else who will take the mantle. FizzyBoys -- Don Finelli and Chris Gethard review a different soda every episode. The Ones Who Knock -- A podcast that recaps every episode of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul Decoding Westworld -- From the people who brought you The Ones Who Knock talk about Westworld. Analyze Phish -- Harris Wittels (rip) tries to convince Scott Aukerman that Phish is a good band. Andy Daly Podcast Pilot Project -- Andy Daly's many characters from Comedy Bang Bang each try to get their own podcast at earwolf. Each episode is the first episode of what their podcast would be. New Years Eve with Neil Hamburger -- Listen to Neil count down the new year! In Your Dreams with Chris Gethard -- Chris and Dream Analysis Expert Gary Richardson analyze the dreams of people who called in with a different guest each episode. End of podcasts that I'm subscribed to. Now onto podcasts that I am either working through their back catalogs, or listen to depending on the episode: My Brother, My Brother, and Me -- An advice show for the modern era, the McElroy brothers give their listeners (and Yahoo answers users) advice. Started listening in June, currently on episode 114 out of 346. Hard Nation -- A spoof on Right Wing Political talk shows. Brothers Mark and Pete Hard host a show with a different political guest (a comedian pretending to be a political figure) Dr. Gameshow -- Jo Firestone hosts a radio call in show where listeners submit their ideas for game shows and Jo has comedians play the games in studio. No longer active and the back catalog is disappearing. So get on this one quick if you want to listen. Jordan, Jesse, Go! -- Jordan Morris and Jesse Thorn talk with a different guest. (Guest dependent) Hopefully We Don't Break Up -- Couple Will Miles and Giulia Rozzi talk with other real life couples (usually at least one comedian) about their relationships. High and Mighty -- Jon Gabrus talks with a guest about something that they are both passionate about. (Guest and/or topic dependent) If I Were You -- Jake and Amir give advice to their listeners. (Guest dependent, but the Ben Schwartz, Jon Gabrus, Thomas Middleditch, And Rose McIver episodes are all must listens) The Adventures of Danny and Mike -- Danny Tamberelli and Mike Maronna (better known as Pete and Pete) go on a monthly adventure together. I Was There Too -- Matt Gourley talks to an actor with a small-ish role on a big movie. Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend -- Alison Rosen talks to a person of note. (Guest dependent) This Feels Terrible -- Erin McGathy talks to people about relationships and why they make people feel terrible. Fitzdog Radio -- Greg Fitzsimmons interviews (usually) another comedian. (Guest dependent) 100 Words or Less -- Interviews with musicians. (Guest dependent) Going Off Track -- Interviews with musicians. (Guest dependent) The Best Show with Tom Scharpling -- Tom Scharpling's long running radio talk show. I don't have enough time in my week to listen to this every week, but whenever I can squeeze it n it's always worth it. The JV Club -- Janet Varney interviews People about what they were like in their formative years and then plays M.A.S.H. with them. (Guest dependent) Put Your Hands Together -- The audio recording of the weekly standup show hosted by Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher. The Todd Glass Show -- Todd Glass has a guest and it's just non-stop bits. There we go. There are all of the podcasts that I listen to regularly (or at least check in with regularly). There should be something in there for everyone. You're a champion for reading all the way through this, and if you try one of these and like it, please let me know. I would be happy to talk about any of them.

USA: The Philippe Saisse Trio's hit-filled "The Body and Soul Sessions" gets remastered by Grammy winner Colin Leonard for release on vinyl, CD and digital on June 21

Back in “Sessions”

The Philippe Saisse Trio’s hit-filled “The Body and Soul Sessions” gets remastered by

Grammy winner Colin Leonard for release on vinyl, CD and digital on June 21.

LOS ANGELES (9 May 2019): An acoustic jazz trio and a multiple Grammy-winning mastering engineer who has plied his deft touch to records by Alessia Cara, Jay-Z, Justin Bieber, Khalid and others totaling over 100 million in album sales may seem like strange bedfellows at first. But keyboardist Philippe Saisse has a history with Colin Leonard dating back a few years and now calls upon him to master all his recording projects. Leonard had been itching to get into a vinyl release after having recently acquired a lathe cutting machine that presses vinyl albums thus Saisse’s idea to revisit his trio’s 2006 release, “The Body and Soul Sessions,” instantly intrigued Leonard. The remastered album drops June 21 for the first time on vinyl and will also be available as a CD and in digital form on the Bandar-Log Music label.       

An eclectic collection of a dozen pop, R&B and jazz covers, “The Body and Soul Sessions” spawned four singles, including No. 1 hits “Do It Again” and “September.” With Saisse’s spirited and nimble piano, Fender Rhodes and keyboards, David Finck’s bouncy and probing acoustic bass, and Scooter Warner’s crackling drum and percussion rhythms, Saisse describes the swinging, buoyant Goh Hotoda-produced set as “a fun, party record that was a really successful album.” Revamping the mix of contemporary and straight-ahead jazz for release on vinyl required editing and sacrifice.

“A vinyl album can only contain twenty minutes of music per side and the original album was fifty minutes long. We had to remove one song (“The Dolphin”) and edit each track to get the album down to forty minutes. As it turned out, the limitations of the technology actually made it a better, more concise album,” said Saisse, who first tapped Leonard to master his trio’s 2017 album, “On The Level.”

All twelve songs appearing on the original version will be on the CD and digital release of “The Body and Soul Sessions Remastered.” Later this month, the disc’s groovy, 1960s retro “Constant Rain” will be serviced to radio and online outlets for playlist adds.

Part of what inspired Saisse to reboot the album came from his desire to keep the good times going after working the past couple years with Grammy-winning guitar legend Nile Rodgers of Chic. Saisse wrote, produced and played keys on a song called “State of Mine” with Rodgers for the debut album by The Allen Carman Project, “Carmanology,” a project Saisse developed and produced with percussionist Gumbi Ortiz that was released last month. Rodgers liked the song so much that he included it on Chic’s 2018 album, “It’s About Time,” swapping out the original rhythm tracks for Chic’s rhythm section.

The French-born, Los Angeles-based Saisse was a Grammy nominee for his 2011’s contemporary jazz outing, “At World’s Edge.” His first recording date was 40 years ago with jazz fusion guitar giant Al Di Meola with whom he has continued to tour throughout the years. Saisse launched his solo recording career in 1988 with “Valerian.” The busy keyboardist-composer-producer has forged a unique and diverse career working with superstars David Bowie and The Rolling Stones, touring the globe in astute power trio PSP with Simon Phillips and Pino Palladino, and crafting tracks and albums for contemporary/smooth jazz royalty Dave Koz, Kirk Whalum, Peter White, Rick Braun, Marc Antoine, and BWB among many more. Known for his sweeping arrangements and cinematic compositions, Saisse pens music for film, video games, commercials and television such as “Madam Secretary” and the Jesse Owens biopic, “Race.”       

“The Body and Soul Sessions Remastered” contains the following songs:

“Do It Again”

“September”

“Lady Madonna”

“Harley Davidson”

“Lovely Day”

“Fire and Rain”

“Constant Rain”

“The Dolphin”

“Comment Te Dire Adieu”

“Body and Soul”

“We’re All Alone”

“If I Ever Lose This Heaven”

                      For additional information, please visit https://www.philippesaisse.com.

Rick Scott

Great Scott P.R.oductions

Music – Sports – Entertainment - Causes

Marina del Rey, CA USA

310.306.0375

www.greatscottpr.com

via Blogger http://bit.ly/2KqQYeq

Let’s talk about money

There’s a taboo that we shouldn’t talk about money.

Sure, knowing what your neighbour earns may breed resentment and you probably don’t want to ask the waiting staff what they earn before calculating the tip. But now accountants are calling on people to start talking about money in order to benefit charities.

In the UK, a programme called Gift Aid exists where a donation to a registered charity or community amateur sports club (CASC) can be ‘gift aided’. This means the charity or CASC can claim 20% on top of whatever donation you make from the tax authorities.

But research from HMRC has revealed that charities miss out on £560 million of Gift Aid every year due to a lack of awareness of how the scheme works.

The vast majority of the UK population aged 16 or over (95%) have given to charity in the past 12 months generating £8.91 billion in charitable donations, however Gift Aid  was added to just over half (52%) of the total value of donations and the Gift Aid amount claimed back by charities amounts to £1.16 billion.

And some recent charity campaigns have shown the impact these donations could have.

A Morden father has made his late wife’s parting wish a reality, raising £30,000 for her favourite charity with a re-recording of the Sounds of Blackness single “Hold on Change is Coming”.

Much-loved mother of two, Ruth Merriman, had a dream before she died from Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma – for her friends and family to record her favourite song to help raise funds for Jigsaw4U, a charity which helps children in difficulty.

Ruth’s simple idea saw local schools, choirs, musicians and dance groups taking part in a project that smashed Ruth and husband John’s hoped-for target of £3,000 within just two days of Ruth’s tragic death on 9th March.

Once Ruth had announced her wish, music studio owner and producer John set up a Just Giving page and then got to work on the single, with much of the new recording taking place at the family business, Crown Lane Studio in Morden, southwest London.

The new version of this beautifully uplifting song along with a moving video was released on Monday 25th March to coincide with Ruth’s funeral on what would have been her 39th birthday.

Members of the Kingswood community in South Gloucestershire have raised over £10,000 for two charities after completing an eight-hour cycling challenge.

Over 40 people turned up to Kingswood Active Lifestyle Centre last month to pedal alongside indoor cycling instructor Lisa Leonard (46), with nine completing  the full eight-hour challenge.

The funds raised will now be donated to Cancer Research UK and Bowel Cancer UK, which hold sentimental value for Lisa and members of her cycling class.

So if you know anyone in the UK, please do talk to them about money. Donating it with Gift Aid at any rate.

Picture: Merriman family.

This post first appeared on Grit Daily.

from WordPress http://bit.ly/2JaJ9Zs via IFTTT

Indigenous Space and Decolonizing Prison Abolition

Indigenous Spaces + Decolonizing Prison Abolition

(Sean Swain starts at 05min, 12 sec)

Ni Frontieres Ni Prisons on No New Migrant Prison in Laval, Canada

(starts 12min, 08sec)

Today we have a two part show! In the first part we are presenting a conversation with someone from Ni Frontiers Ni Prison, which is a group in so called Canada that is resisting the proposed construction of a new migrant prison in Laval, a town just outside of Montreal. This is a transcript of the original audio, read for the show by Grier, shout out to him! In this interview we talk about the prison and what it would mean for people who’d be most affected by it, the general rise of far right sentiment in so called Canada, and many more topics.

The interviewee names the place they are based as occupied Tio'tia:ke (jo-jahg’-eh), which is the original indigenous name for so called Montreal, the colonizer name. The naming of indigenous land will continue throughout the interview with various locations in the name of decolonization, though Tio'tia:ke is the one which will be the most prominent.

As an audio note to all those paying attention, a fridge turns on midway through the interview then turns back off nearing the end, we’ve tried to minimize the background noise but it’s still somewhat noticeable.

Music for the intro and outro by A Tribe Called Red with Stadium Pow Wow.

Contact

To get in touch with this group you can email them at [email protected] and for updates and further ways to get involved you can find them at facebook.com/nifrontiersniprison, or follow the link to visit the clearing house of information and pieces about this resistance. If you would like a zine copy of the transcript to this show, you can email us at [email protected] or [email protected].

Some links to historical events mentioned by our guest relating to Canada's' treatment of immigrants and refugees:

"Chinese Head Tax", a policy which "meant to discourage Chinese people from entering Canada after the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway", a government project which I conjecture used a bunch of precarious and immigrant labor in order to complete.

Komagata Maru Incident, the historic entry denial of a group of Indian refugees seeking entry into Canada on the Japanese steamship Komagata Maru in 1914, resulting in the death of 20 Sikh people at the hands of the then occupying British government.

"None Is Too Many" policy for Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust, an anti Semitic stance that put people who were fleeing Nazi terror in further danger and possible death.

Robert Free on the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center

(starts at 38min, 04sec)

Next we’ll hear an interview with Robert Free, a long-term Seattle, WA resident and Tewa (pronounced tay-oh-wa) Native American. We discuss the history of the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center, a cultural and resource center for urban Native Americans in Seattle and the surrounding communities. The Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center was established after a series of protests and occupations in 1970 of Fort Lawton, an army base that had previously occupied the park. Robert Free discusses the influencing factors of that time, some of the finer points of the occupations, as well as the implications of protesting and occupation on stolen native land.

More info on the Daybreak center can be found at https://unitedindians.org/daybreak-star-center/

Some of the names and events mentioned in this chat you may recognize from our February 17th, 2019, episode of The Final Straw when we had the pleasure to speak with Paulette D’auteuil, about the case of long-term American Indian Movement activist Leonard Peltier. More info on Peltier’s case can be found at whoisleonardpeltier.info

  Coming Up...

Next week we hope to bring you a conversation with support crew for incarcerated former military whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who is now imprisoned for refusing to testify before a Grand Jury. More on her case can be found at https://xychelsea.is including links for donating towards her fundraising goal for legal costs aiming at 150 thousand smackeroos.

  Announcements

Free Masonique Saunders!

From her support website:

On December 7, 2018, Columbus police murdered 16 year old Julius Ervin Tate Jr.. On December 13, they arrested his 16 year old girlfriend, Masonique Saunders, charging her with the murder they committed.

Masonique is being charged with aggravated robbery and felony murder, and is currently being held in juvenile detention. The police have alleged that Julius attempted to rob, and pulled a gun on a police officer, and that Masonique was involved in said robbery. Felony murder means that if you commit a felony and someone dies as a result of that crime you can be charged with their murder.

We believe that these charges are unjust, and demand the freedom of this 16 year old Black girl and justice for the family of Julius Tate!

To help Masonique and her family, donate to her GoFundMe.

Donate to the Tate family here.

  BRABC events

A quick reminder, if you’re in the Asheville area this coming week, Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross is hosting two events. On Friday, April 4th from 6:30 to 8pm at Firestorm, (as we do every first Friday of the month) BRABC will show the latest episode of Trouble, by sub.Media. Episode 19 focuses on Technology and Social Control. After the ½ hour video we’ll turn chairs around and have a discussion of the film for those who’d like. Then, on Sunday, April 6th from 5-7pm as BRABC does every first Sunday of the month, we’ll be hosting a monthly letter writing event. We’ll provide names, addresses, backstories, postage and stationary.

Prisoners we’ll focus on are longterm political prisoners from Black liberation, to Earth and Animal Liberation, to anti-police violence activists caught up in prison whose birthdays are coming up or who are facing severe repression. Or, just come and write a letter you’ve been meaning to write to someone else. It’s a nice environ for that sort of thing.

  Extinction Rebellion week of action

The movement to halt and roll back human driven climate change called Extinction Rebellion is planning some upcoming events in the so-called U.S. in line with a worldwide call for action over the week of April 15-22nd. Check out https://extinctionrebellion.us/rebellion-week for info and ways to plug in. If you’re in the L.A. area, see our shownotes for a fedbook link to some of their upcoming events. And remember, practice good security culture by not giving up as little info as possible. Keeping your info more secure today ensures your ability to fight with less hindrance tomorrow!

  Marius Mason Moved

Anarchist political prisoner Marius Mason has been moved to a prison in Connecticut, a change viewed as a success by his supporters as he’s closer to family by hundreds of miles. If you’d like to write him a letter to welcome him to his new place, consider writing him at the following site, but make sure to address it as follows:

Marie (Marius) Mason 04672-061 FCI DANBURY Route 37 Danbury, CT 06811

  Fire at the Highlander

Now, here’s a statement by the Highlander Research and Education Center outside of New Market, TN, about the fire early on March 29, 2019:

“Early this morning, officials responded to a serious fire on the grounds of the Highlander Research and Education Center, one of the nation’s oldest social justice institutions that provides training and education for emerging and existing movements throughout the South, Appalachia, and the world.

As of 6am, the main office building was completely engulfed and destroyed. One of ten structures on approximately 200 acres, the building housed the offices of the organization’s leadership and staff. Highlander’s staff released the following statement:

“Highlander has been a movement home for nearly 87 years and has weathered many storms. This is no different. Several people were on the grounds at the time of the fire, but thankfully no one was inside the structure and no one was injured.

“While we are physically unhurt, we are saddened about the loss of our main office. The fire destroyed decades of historic documents, speeches, artifacts and memorabilia from movements of all kinds, including the Civil Rights Movement. A fuller assessment of the damage will be forthcoming once we are cleared to enter the remains of the building.

“We are grateful for the support of the many movements who are now showing up for us in this critical time. This has been a space for training, strategy and respite for decades and it will continue to be for decades to come.

Fire officials are working to determine the cause as quickly as possible and we are monitoring the investigation closely.” --Ash-Lee Woodward Henderson and Rev. Allyn Maxfield-Steele, Co-Executive Directors, Highlander Research and Education Center.

Highlander has played a critical role in the Civil Rights Movement, training and supporting the work of a number of movement activists: Rosa Parks prior to her historic role in the Montgomery Bus Boycot, members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Septima Clark, Anne Braden, Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, Hollis Watkins, Bernard Lafayette, Ralph Abernathy and John Lewis.”

Highlander will provide ongoing updates via their fedbook page and questions can be directed to Chelsea Fuller, [email protected].

Police Killing of Danquirs Franklin

On March 25, 2019, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Wende Kerl shot and killed Danquirs Franklin in the parking lot of the Burger King on Beatties Ford Rd in Charlotte. Police narratives posit that Mr Franklin was armed and posing a threat, while eye witnesses say that Danquirs Franklin interceded against an armed man bothering an employee and that the armed man ran away before the police arrived, who then shot the first black man they encountered. Friends at Charlotte Uprising have been holding vigil and fundraising for Danquirs Franklin’s family as the police’s actions leave his child fatherless. More can be found at the Charlotte Uprising twitter and fedbook pages. Rise In Power, Danquirs.

. ... . ..

Show playlist.

Check out this episode!

12 Of The Most Shocking Entertainment Stories Of 2016

New Post has been published on https://entertainmentguideto.com/must-see/12-of-the-most-shocking-entertainment-stories-of-2016/

12 Of The Most Shocking Entertainment Stories Of 2016

Over the past 12 months, the world has thrown some pretty hard punches our way, often leaving us all in a state of shock or disbelief.

In January, we lost music legend David Bowie, and a few months later, Prince followed him to the stars. Then, Hollywood’s most famous union fell apart. Yep, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie split, and it wasn’t pretty. Of course, no year would be complete without some Kardashian kontroversies, and 2016 was full of them. 

Check out our list below for 12 of the year’s most shocking moments in entertainment. 

1. (and 2.) David Bowie and Prince die

Getty/Canva

David Bowie’s January death was one of the most shocking of the year, and boy, did it set the tone. The legendary musician, who brought Aladdin Sane to life, died at the age of 69 after a battle with cancer many had no idea he wasfighting.

Then in April, Prince was found deadat the age of 57 at his Paisley Park compound. It was determined the music icon died of a Fentanyl overdose.

Bowie’s and Prince’s deaths shook the world, but the stars were just two of the many — including Leonard Cohen, Alan Rickman, Alexis Arquette and Muhammad Ali— we had to say goodbye to this year. To say it was rough is a major understatement.

3. Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian become a couple

Leon Bennett via Getty Images

Just when we thought the Kardashians couldn’t do anything more to shock us, the sole brother in the family went ahead and started a relationship with Blac Chyna, anex-girlfriend of rapper Tyga, who’s dating Rob’s half sister Kylie Jenner. Oh, and don’t forget Chyna and Tyga have a son together. When these two got together, the relationshiphad drama (and ratings) written all over it.

4. Then they announce their pregnancy and engagement

A photo posted by Blac Chyna (@blacchyna) on May 6, 2016 at 11:14am PDT

After about two months of dating, Rob and Chyna decided to get engaged, a decision they reportedly kept secret from the rest of the Kardashian krew. And since that wasn’t enough,they couple then got pregnant andscoreda deal for their very own E! docuseries. In November, they welcomed their baby girl, Dream, into the world.

Rob and Chyna continue to fill our newsfeeds with plenty of drama — earlier this month it appeared they had split after what seemed like an extremely messy altercation, which just so happened to play out right before their E! baby special episode aired. Convenient coincidence or Kris Jenner master plan? You decide.

5. Michael Strahan leaves “Live with Kelly”

Mark Davis via Getty Images

In April, Michael Strahan announced his departure from “Live with Michael and Kelly,” much to the surprise of viewers and, it appeared, his co-host Kelly Ripa. After the news broke, Ripa didn’t show up toworkfor a week, with people speculating she had been blindsided by the whole thing. The events surrounding Strahan’s departure caused quite the controversy in the TV world, and brought up plenty of conversations about respect and fair treatment in the workplace.

6. Calvin Harris and Taylor Swift split

Raymond Hall via Getty Images

This summer, Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris had to go and crush our #swangoals and break up.

Things didn’t seem to end well. The couple clearlyhad some bad blood between them, as evidenced by their public dispute over Harris’ track “This Is What You Came For.” Swift co-wrote the song, initially under a pseudonym, but after she decided to take her credit where credit was due, Harris got shady on Twitter and called out his ex’s (rumored) mean girl tendencies.

7. #HIDDLESWIFT emerges

Newspix via Getty Images

Only a few weeks after Swift and Harris called it quits, the “Wildest Dreams” singer started a highly publicized relationship (and/or publicity stunt) with British actor Tom Hiddleston. Naturally, people on the internet lost it, especially when these totally natural, not-staged-at-all photos of the couple taking selfies on the beach emerged online. The relationship was short-lived, but at least we’ll always have this photo of Hiddleston wearing an “I heart TS” tank top at the beach.

8. Amber Heard accuses Johnny Depp of domestic abuse

John Shearer via Getty Images

In May, Amber Heard filed for divorce from Johnny Depp. The couple was only married for 15 months, and given the outcome of so many Hollywood relationships, the split wasn’t all that surprising.

Whatdidshock us, though, was when Heard came out and accused Depp of verbal and physical abuse. The actress shared photos of the injuriesshe suffered as a result of the alleged abuse and, in recent months, has spoken out about her experiences with domestic violence. Depp has denied the claims and the two are still in the middle of an extremely messy divorce settlement.

9. The #KimExposedTaylorParty takes over Twitter

Kevin Mazur via Getty Images

The long-standing feud between Swift and rapper Kanye West picked up steam this year after West released his song “Famous.” The track includes the lyrics, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that bitch famous,” which we all knew was a reference to the “Bad Blood” singer. Ye claimed he spoke to Swift about the song and lyrics, leading us to believe she was in on the joke. But TSwizzle said otherwise, claiming she had no idea she was going to be called a “bitch” in the song. That’s when Kim Kardashian stepped in.

The wife of Pablo posted a video on Snapchat that seemed to prove her husband’s claims. The rapper and pop star clearly did have a conversation about the song, though it still remains unclear if she knew about the “that bitch” line. Regardless, the tape’s release exposed Swift as a liar (in at least one regard) and people on theinternet had a field day, sharing memes and inviting everyone to the #KimExposedTaylorParty.

Swift responded to the drama with the help of the handy iPhone Notes app,saying “I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009.”

You can read all about the Greatest Celebrity Feud of Our Time righthere.

10. Kim Kardashian is robbed in Paris

NurPhoto via Getty Images

On Oct. 3, Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in her Paris apartment. Naturally, herfamily and followers were shocked. Kanye West even abruptly ended a concert as soon as he found out about the news. After the traumatic event, it was clear Kardashianwas shaken.Since the robbery — what was surely a terrifying experience — the reality star has been mostly absent on social media, leaving her followers missing her presence online. To top it all off, West was hospitalized in November and rumors that the couple may split continue to swirl (thoughwe don’t believe them).

11. Brangelina calls it quits

Jason LaVeris via Getty Images

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Hollywood’s former golden couple, called it quits this year, much to the surprise of literally everyone. We were convinced these two were going to stick it out for the long haul, but we were wrong. Jolie cited irreconcilable differences in her filing,but sources claimed the separation had to do with Pitt’s parenting methods and marijuana use. Before we knew it, Pitt was being investigated by theLos Angeles County Department of Children and Family Servicesfor an instance of alleged child abuseand Jolie and her kids were being interviewed by the FBI.

12. Beyonc drops “Lemonade”

Beyonc pulled a Beyonc and dropped another stunning visual album, “Lemonade.” Regular folk and celebrities alikelost it. The album,a powerful ode to black women everywhere,touched on topics likeinfidelity, grief, love, joy, relationships, womanhood and blackness.It also seemingly aired out Jay Z’s dirty laundry, but of course, we’ll never know who Becky with the good hair reallyis.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Amy Winehouse is going on tour, as reported by Reuters last week.

A hologram of the artist, who died in July 2011, will tour North America next year. Her father Mitch Winehouse is the primary caretaker of her estate, and says he’s been working with Las Vegas-based company Base Entertainment’s nascent hologram studio to make sure that this digital Winehouse is an accurate recreation. And, as is always the case when a new hologram of a dead celebrity is announced, the reaction from fans has been mixed.

“Like she hasn’t been exploited enough??! Let her rest in peace and stop tarnishing her legacy,” one wrote on Twitter. Fair!

“People are mad about Amy Winehouse’s hologram tour. Can’t relate, I never got to see Amy perform live AND it’s raising money to help the Amy Winehouse Foundation which provides rehab facilities for young people who can’t afford them,” wrote another. Also fair!

What is not fair is that we are forced to consider, yet again, whether the dead celebrity hologram industry is just a niche technological novelty that will soon go out of fashion, or the future of entertainment.

It’s been six years since Tupac Shakur (then 12 years dead) appeared on stage at Coachella to perform alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre.

This hologram, created by special effects company Digital Domain, was not a hologram. It was a trick of light founded on 150-year-old theater prop standard called “Pepper’s Ghost,” which uses glass and some knowledge of refraction to create an otherworldly-looking figure. It was invented by British scientists Henry Dircks and John Henry Pepper, and first used to add a “real ghost” to an 1862 production of Charles Dickens’ other creepy Christmas novella, The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain.

In a May feature for Wired, Jimi Famurewa called it a “low-tech piece of razzmatazz” and pointed out that it is still in use in Disney World’s Haunted Mansion ride and in stage productions of the horrible musical adaptation of the 1990 film Ghost.

The technologies that enable detailed 3D modeling, capture super-intimate facial tics, and allow neural nets to mimic highly-specific manners of speaking have evolved plenty over the past couple of years. But the technology behind projecting those images to create the illusion of a three-dimensional body has evolved very little since its invention. The biggest change: In 1995, German inventor Uwe Maass patented a version of it that swapped glass for — basically — Saran wrap, and subbed in HD video.

It was this basic tech that was used to make Tupac, married with Digital Domain’s cutting-edge CGI capabilities. The company was, at the time, best known for fabricating Brad Pitt’s face in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and for being owned by James Cameron, though it had actually been purchased by dot-com millionaire (and Michael Bay’s college roommate) John Textor in 2006.

Textor’s company won a special award at Cannes Lions for the Tupac hologram that June, and filed for bankruptcy three months later after Textor was sued for $80 million by the state of Florida.

Tupac Shakur’s “hologram” at Coachella Christopher Polk/Getty Images

In 2015, Rolling Stone’s Andrew Leonard chronicled the bitter (and very spicy!) war between the two biggest hologram companies: Hologram USA and Pulse Evolution. Hologram USA is owned by Greek billionaire Alki David; it was responsible for the Whitney Houston hologram tour that was shot down by her family in 2016, and it was also responsible for the breach of contract lawsuit filed against Whitney Houston’s family in 2017.

It owns the exclusive rights to resurrect Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, Billie Holiday, and Jackie Wilson, and it is managing Chicago rapper Chief Keef’s current tour, which he is not attending because only his hologram is attending, and because he is legally not allowed to go to London.

Pulse Evolution is made up of the leftover parts of Digital Domain and it owns the rights to the digitally-enabled ghosts of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and Selena. Hologram USA sued the company for patent violation days before Pulse was set to debut its biggest accomplishment: Michael Jackson performing a previously-unreleased song at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards. In March 2016, Pulse settled with Hologram USA for an undisclosed sum.

Base Hologram, which is working on the Winehouse tour, is actually a relatively new and minor player in the world of dead celebrity holograms. The company, which is best known for producing Vegas staples such as Magic Mike Live, Phantom, and Criss Angel’s “Mindfreak” magic show, partnered with laser projection company Epson to launch its hologram division in January of this year. It has plans for nationwide tours, like with Winehouse, and for permanent theatrical residences.

The January press release announcing Base Hologram’s existence promised that the new company would represent “one of the most aggressive and unique approaches” to the field. Executive producer Marty Tudor told Vox in an email that his company’s tours use “cutting-edge proprietary techniques” to combine audio with “digital and laser imaging, CGI techniques, and spectacular showmanship.”

This claim was put to the test with the Roy Orbison production, which debuted in LA earlier this month, and was reviewed positively by the Los Angeles Times. Orbison’s son also told the paper that his father would have liked the show, having been tickled by the holographic Princess Leia in Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope.

Last year, in a longform consideration of the question of whether the government could commission a CGI Donald Trump to perform the president’s duties whenever he was busy with other concerns — such as golf, or television, or not feeling like it — New York Magazine’s Brian Feldman spoke to “digital facial expert” Mike Seymour, a special effects industry blogger and associate lecturer at the University of Sydney.

Seymour told him: “This technology is growing nearly daily and deep learning and neural nets are contributing not only to modeling and facial tracking, but soon to fine detail, high-frequency animation also. The actual computer rendering of the face has already become remarkably complex, producing digital skin that accurately represents the way light both reflects off skin and is partially absorbed and scattered.”

[embedded content]

There are also private research labs that can create 3D models of a human face using just one high-quality reference image, Seymour told Feldman, and it’s only a matter of time until that technology is commercially available.

But to make Winehouse’s hologram (or light creature, I guess), Tudor tells Vox that Base will just have to hire an actress who resembles her physically to don a motion-capture suit and create a bank of movements. Tudor didn’t mention if Winehouse ever had a 3D scan taken of her face, but it seems unlikely, so his company will also have to work through an elaborate process to make a digital recreation of that. Given that she was a very famous person who was photographed literally thousands of times, it may be tedious, but it won’t be difficult.

Famurewa’s Wired piece explains how the Tupac team “[Worked] around round the clock for two months in a room plastered with pictures of the rapper,” making “an entire bank of facial movements and expressions” to pull from when sequencing the entire pre-programmed Coachella performance. The VFX team basically just used the bank to piece together a video that bounced of some mirrors and translucent foils to make it look 3D; what seemed very high-tech and futuristic was actually just very labor intensive.

Making digital recreations of dead celebrities who can talk and ad lib during a show is also fairly easy now, thanks to chatbots modeled using artificial intelligence. All it requires really is that these companies can find and license a large enough sample of the person talking.

The big question is how to obtain all the materials you need to make a dead celebrity hologram. The legal issues around that rights and archives gathering are still pretty murky.

For example: One of the more notable legal battles in this space happened in 2012, when Marilyn Monroe’s estate threatened to sue obscure startup Digicon Media, which had patented “VM2 — The Virtual Marilyn, the first visual actress to live and work from Cyberspace.” Digicon claimed that Virtual Marilyn — who you can still visit on an incredibly retro, net art-heavy website — “did not in any way infringe upon the purported IP rights that were asserted by the Estate.” Digicon eventually gave up on its plans to have VM2 perform live, and seems to have stopped making new work.

In general, to create a hologram of a dead musician, any entertainment company first has to license the artist’s music and videos the same way it would to use those things in any other, more traditional show. It also has to license any images of the celebrity’s likeness necessary to create the visual recreation, which likely means dealing with the family or estate of the celebrity in question. From there, a contract has to be drawn up between all of the relevant parties to figure out how to dole out the profits.

VM2 — Virtual Marilyn! Digicon Media

But that’s not exactly the end of it! A celebrity’s likeness is subject to copyright and trademark, and something else that’s even slippier: “right to publicity.” This is similar to a normal person’s right to privacy, and means that while a person is living, they hold the primary right to make money off of their own existence and face and voice and even mannerisms. But after they die, what happens to that right depends entirely on the state they lived in.

There are 23 states in which a right to publicity lives on postmortem, and the time frames vary widely, from 10 years in Washington to 100 in Oklahoma. In California, the right to publicity is held by the person’s family or estate for 70 years. In New York, it doesn’t currently exist at all, with the right to publicity halting at the moment of death. Nearly every year, a bill is proposed that would extend the right to publicity in New York to 40 years after a person’s death — primarily to guarantee that a celebrity’s family or estate would be able to profit off of it.

As more of a legal scaffolding is built up around the still relatively niche industry, it will become more and more expensive for those looking to get in the business of buying up life rights and putting on new shows.

When Justin Timberlake hinted that he may perform with a hologram of Prince at last year’s Super Bowl, Prince fans furiously circulated gossipy tidbits about how much Prince hated Timberlake, and wouldn’t have wanted to share a stage with him, even from the grave. They also circulated a quote from a 1998 interview with Guitar World, in which Prince responded to a question about whether he would ever perform with a holographic version of say … Duke Ellington:

“That’s the most demonic thing imaginable. Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing… it really is demonic. And I am not a demon.”

But holograms have been normalized, significantly, since 1998. Even before the Tupac performance — landmark primarily because of its shock value and the intimacy of the details programmed into its performance (like thanking the audience for applause, and interacting with the other performers) — Kate Moss walked as a hologram at an Alexander McQueen show in 2006, Will.i.am appeared as a very confused hologram on CNN in 2008, Frank Sinatra performed with Alicia Keys at the 2008 Grammys, Elvis Presley performed with Celine Dion on American Idol in 2009, and Mariah Carey showed up to a T-Mobile event in Poland in 2011.

Not all of these people were dead, obviously, but the “wow!” of making any famous person appear to be someplace they couldn’t actually physically be still dimmed a little more with each instance. When Feist — best known at the time as one of many indistinguishable members of Broken Social Scene — “performed” in three Canadian cities at the same time in 2013, the possibility of holographic concert tours that would be easy and weird and possibly profitable seemed fairly close. Yet, no real pop star has tried it.

Japanese virtual pop star Hatsune Miku went on her first wildly successful tour of North America in 2016; fans paid as much to see her as they did to see Taylor Swift the summer before. Not because they love the surprise of a hologram, but because they love her music and this is the form in which she exists. It hardly even seems odd.

[embedded content]

And then, last year, The Verge’s Lauren Goode reported on startup 8i, asking if holograms are “the future of how we capture memories.” The New Zealand and LA-based company has been working on setting up studios that resemble classic department store family photo studios, but use an arrangement of 41 cameras and proprietary software to render holographic video vignettes of whoever steps inside.

“Everybody wants holograms of their kids,” Nicole St. Jean, 8i’s vice president of content, told Goode. And chief executive Steve Raymond promised her, “People are going to want to put their loved ones into their phones for lots of reasons… [It] will become something you can just buy on Amazon and have it installed in your living room and make it at home.” The point of improving the technology isn’t to make anyone think the holograms are real, but to make them feel a more irresistible and automatic emotional connection. You don’t love a pricey computer-generated “vignette;” you love your toddler.

When Wired spoke to celebrity estate manager Jeff Jampol earlier this year, he said that the technology itself was basically worthless: “You can’t move around it, it can’t interact with you other than from a distance. It’s the equivalent of a used VHS tape.”

The novelty of a “hologram,” he argued, would wear off, and only our emotional ties to dead celebrities we’ve loved would remain to keep us interested in a dusty, hokey experiment. If the intensity of feeling that comes with the unexpected intimacy of these tricks of light wears off, this entire hotly debated industry will be little more than a couple-decade trend — as forgettable and inconsequential as the once-beloved VHS.

Original Source -> No industry is weirder than the dead celebrity hologram industry

via The Conservative Brief

Chuck Berry, pioneer rock’n’roll guitarist, dies at age of 90

Police in St Louis confirm death of musician who was a key figure in the birth of modern popular music

The legendary guitarist Chuck Berry, who merged blues and swing into the phenomenon of early rocknroll, died on Saturday aged 90, according to Missouri police.

St Charles County police said in a post on Facebook they responded to a medical emergency at a home at approximately 12.40pm local time.

Inside the home, first responders observed an unresponsive man and immediately administered lifesaving techniques, the police department said. Unfortunately, the 90-year-old man could not be revived and was pronounced deceased at 1.26pm.

Officer Nate Bolin confirmed to the Guardian that Berry, whose full name was Charles Edward Anderson Berry Sr, had died.

The department said Berrys family has requested privacy during this time of bereavement.

Musicians of all genres and ages paid tribute to Berry. Chuck Berry was rocks greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock n roll writer who ever lived, said Bruce Springsteen, who played with one of Berrys pick-up bands before achieving his own fame.

Thou Shall Have No Other Rock Gods Before Him, the drummer and producer Questlove wrote. His lyrics shone above others & threw a strange light on the American dream, said Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger. Chuck you were amazing [and] your music is engraved inside us forever.

Berry was born the son of a deacon in a middle-class neighborhood of St Louis in 1926, and picked up the guitar in high school, playing at parties and developing his flourishes as a performer. He later said that it was during childhood that he began his signature dance, eventually dubbed the duck walk for its bent knees and stutter step.

As a teenager he was arrested for attempted robbery and served three years in reform school, after which he worked in an assembly line at a General Motors factory.

Chuck Berry seen circa 1958. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

He turned to music full-time in the 1950s, when he formed a trio with a dummer, Ebby Harding, and keyboardist Johnnie Johnson, with whom he rose through St Louis clubs while working on the side as a hairdresser.

His break came in 1955 when he met blues musician Muddy Waters and producer Leonard Chess in Chicago, and for the rest of the decade Berry blended the country and blues songs of the south with pop sensibilities starting to echo on the radio.

He recorded some of his most famous hits in the 1950s, including Rock & Roll Music, Roll Over Beethoven, Johnny B Goode, Maybellene and School Days.

Berrys music was a hugely influential figure for generations of rock musicians who followed him, many of whom recognized him during their lifetimes. If you had to give rocknroll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry, John Lennon famously said.

On Saturday, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr wrote on Twitter: RIP. And peace and love Chuck Berry Mr rocknroll music.

John Lennon (@johnlennon)

“If you had to give Rock ‘n’ Roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry” John Lennon (with Chuck Berry) Mike Douglas TV Show, 1972 http://pic.twitter.com/ViJtLblEwt

March 18, 2017

The Rolling Stones guitarist Kieth Richards developed a contentious relationship with Berry, whom the rock star idolized. Richards said Berry punched him for touching his guitar in the 1960s and later apologized. In an incident recorded in the 1987 film Hail! Hail! Rock n Roll, Berry and Richards bickered in rehearsal over playing lead. The younger guitarist eventually backed down.

In the same film, Berry recalled a squabble with another rock legend, Jerry Lee Lewis. We got in a fight thats when we become friends, Berry said. He whupped my butt. Asked how the fight started, Lewis answered: He said he was king of rock and roll, I said I was.

When Berry was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a year earlier, Richards spoke in his honor.

Its very difficult for me to talk about Chuck Berry cause I lifted every lick he ever played, Richards said. This is the gentleman who started it all, as far as Im concerned.

In 1959, Berry was arrested in St Louis on charges relating to a 14-year-old girl, whom authorities said he had transported across state lines for the purposes of prostitution.

He was convicted two years later, after an initial conviction was dismissed because of a judges repeated racial slurs, and spent 20 months in prison, an experience which his friends said changed the musicians demeanor.

Remembering a 1964 tour with Berry, the guitarist Carl Perkins told a journalist he never saw a man so changed. He had been an easygoing guy before, the kinda guy whod jam in dressing rooms, sit and swap licks and jokes, Perkins said. In England he was cold, real distant and bitter.

It wasnt just jail. It was those years of one-nighters: grinding it out like that can kill a man. But I figure it was mostly jail.

Chuck Berry poses with President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair in June 1997. Photograph: White House/AFP/Getty Images

In 1972, he released his only No1 single, My Ding-a-Ling. He continued playing sporadic concerts, often with the most famous rock stars of each era. Alongside his continued success, though, Berry continued running afoul of authorities.

In 1979 he faced tax evasion charges, for which he served four months in prison. In 1990, police raided his home and found marijuana, weapons and videos of women using a restroom: 59 women accused him that year of planting a video camera in the bathroom at his Missouri restaurant. He plead guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge and settled the class action for a reported $1.2m in 1994.

Berry continued touring through his 60s, 70s and 80s, although his health sometimes forced him to cancel shows or, once, to be escorted off stage. In 2000, he received the Kennedy Center Honors Award from Bill Clinton, at whose inauguration he had performed in 1993.

In 2016, he announced his first studio album since 1979, to be titled Chuck and featuring his children on guitar and harmonica.

My darlin Im growing old, Berry said in a press release for the record, speaking to Toddy Berry, his wife of 68 years. Ive worked on this record for a long time. Now I can hang up my shoes!

Read more: http://ift.tt/2n1MGy3

from Chuck Berry, pioneer rock’n’roll guitarist, dies at age of 90