#[ he was a leader in some kingdom's army in the west blue

[soulsolid-a]

     head empty thinking about Brook’s first life

[kemetic-dreams]

Possessed: Voodoo’s Origins and Influence from the Blues to Britney

Blissed-out, ecstatic union with our divine selves ��� we seek it at raves and rock concerts, and in the desert with the Burning Man. I try to get there when I’m jamming with my band — but I didn’t realize until I wrote The Language of the Blues: From Alcorub to Zuzu how much this longing relates to West African spirituality, and the Voodoo concept of possession.

Vodou (the proper Kreyol/Creole spelling of Voodoo) is a neo-African religion that evolved in the New World from the 6000-year-old West African religion Vodun. This was the religion of many slaves brought from West Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean.

Vodun was brutally repressed by slave-owners, yet its powerful beats, ethics and aesthetics endured. We owe our concepts of cool, soul and rock and roll to it.

The roots of rock are in a West African word for dance — rak. As Michael Ventura wrote in his important essay on rock music, “Hear that Long Snake Moan”:

The Voodoo rite of possession by the god became the standard of American performance in rock’n’roll. Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, James Brown, Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Jim Morrison, Johnny Rotten, Prince — they let themselves be possessed not by any god they could name but by the spirit they felt in the music. Their behavior in this possession was something Western society had never before tolerated.

Vodou possession is not the hokey demon-possession of zombie movies; it’s a state of union with the divine achieved through drumming, dancing and singing. It’s becoming “filled with the Holy Ghost” in the Pentecostal Christian tradition or attaining yogic bliss through the practice of kirtan, singing the names of God — Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.

In the Yoruba culture of West Africa, being able to connect with one’s inner divinity is called coolness (itutu). In Yoruba morality, generosity indicates coolness and is the highest quality a person can exhibit. In American culture, we say that nice person is cool, or that a musician “has got soul.” We notice “Southern hospitality.”

The Trans-Atlantic slave trade carried these ideas to the New World, particularly as slavers burrowed inward from Senegambia on the West African coast to the Kingdom of Dahomey, a Vodun stronghold.

Dahomey spread across much of today’s Togo, Benin and Nigeria and was heavily involved in the slave trade. Vodun practitioners were shipped overseas by the thousands when the Fon people of Benin conquered their neighbors, the Ewe, in 1729. Many Fon were also kidnapped and traded into slavery in exchange for textiles, weapons, brass pots, Venetian beads and other European goods.

Vodun is a Fon-Ewe word meaning God or Great Spirit. This supreme creator was represented as the giant snake Dan carrying the universe in its coils. Today, in Haiti and American Vodou strongholds like New Orleans, Dan is worshiped as Damballah, the Grand Zombie (the Bantu word nzambi means God). He’s John Lee Hooker’s “Crawling Kingsnake”.

Branching off from this almighty God-force are spirit-gods called loa. During Vodou ceremonies, a loa may descend the center post of the temple to possess or “ride” a worshiper who has reached a sufficiently high state of consciousness. The morality implicit in this is stated in the Haitian proverb, “Great gods cannot ride little horses.”

Vodun practices like drumming were definitely noticed by nervous colonists who had imported fierce warriors and tribal priests to work their farms. After a deadly rebellion in the South Carolina colony in 1739, the colonists realized slaves were using talking drums to organize resistance. The Slave Act of 1740 in South Carolina barred slaves from using “drums, horns, or other loud instruments.” Other colonies followed suit with legislation like the severe Black Codes of Georgia.

Soon, religious repression was in full swing. Slaves caught praying were brutally penalized, as this excerpt from Peter Randolph’s “Slave Cabin to the Pulpit” recounts:

In some places, if the slaves are caught praying to God, they are whipped more than if they had committed a great crime. Sometimes, when a slave, on being whipped, calls upon God, he is forbidden to do so, under threat of having his throat cut, or brains blown out.

Vodun practitioners taken as slaves to plantations in Haiti, Cuba, Brazil, and Jamaica were also prohibited from practicing their religion. But enslaved Vodun priests arriving in the Catholic West Indies quickly grasped similarities between their tradition of appealing to loa to intercede with God, and Catholics praying to saints for intercession. By superimposing Catholic saints over the loa, slaves created the hybrid religions Santeria (saint worship) in the Spanish Islands, Vodou in Haiti and Candomblé in Brazil.

On Aug. 22, 1791, Haitian slaves revolted on a signal from Vodou priests, who consulted their oracle to determine which military strategies would succeed. The revolutionaries defeated Napoleon Bonaparte’s army and declared independence Jan. 1, 1804, establishing Haiti as the world’s first black republic. Freaked by a successful slave revolt, the United States and Western Europe slapped economic sanctions on Haiti, turning the prosperous colony into an impoverished state that could no longer sell the products of its fields.

In 1809, Vodou arrived in the United States en masse when Haitian slave owners who had fled to Cuba with their slaves were expelled. Most relocated from Cuba to New Orleans, nearly doubling the city’s size in one year. Today, 15 percent of New Orleans practices Vodou, and it’s popular in other U.S. cities with African and Haitian communities.

Among the arriving Haitians was Marie Laveau. She became the leader of New Orleans Vodou practitioners in 1820 when she was elected the human representative of the Grand Zombie. (Former White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers is descended from Marie Laveau.)

Laveau kept a python named Zombi, and danced with it on her shoulders while presiding over ceremonies. This image was appropriated, with other Vodou nods, for Britney Spears’s “I’m a Slave 4 U” performance at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards.

The sensationalistic 1884 book Haiti or the Black Republic by Sir Spencer St. John, slammed Vodou as an evil cult, with gruesome descriptions of human sacrifice and black magic — some of which had been extracted from Vodou priests via torture. It became a popular source for the Hollywood screenwriters who began churning out voodoo horror flicks in the 1930s.

The first musician to bring pop-Voodoo imagery to the stage was Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, who would rise from a coffin onstage with a bone in his nose. Hawkins had intended for his hit record “I Put A Spell On You”  to be a soulful ballad. But once the producer “brought in ribs and chicken and got everybody drunk, we came out with this weird version,” Hawkins admitted, adding “I found out I could do more destroying a song and screaming it to death.” Hawkins kicked off the undead craze among rockers like Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson.  

Meanwhile, despite the severe repression, Vodun practices crept into Southern black churches.  Descriptions of black Baptist church services in the late 1800s and early 1900s depict the congregation dancing in a circle in a “rock” or “ring shout” as they follow the deacon, who bears a standard.

It was the deacon’s job to whip parishioners into a frenzy of fainting and speaking in tongues called “rocking the church.” The concept of a deity “riding” with a worshiper transferred to these Christian churches, where the cry “Drop down chariot and let me ride!” was often heard, as well as “Ride on!” and “Ride on, King Jesus!” This became the solidarity shout, “Right on!”

Blues singers fronting big bands, like Joe Turner and Jimmy Rushing, copied the way church solo singers belted over the choir. The radio beamed this new “shouting blues” all over black America. It was picked up by country blues singers like Muddy Waters and T-Bone Walker, who had moved to Chicago and used it with their new electrified bands. These, in turn, inspired rockers like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones

Africans brought here as slaves carried with them incredibly strong aesthetic, ethical and cultural values that not only withstood the shock of their forced transplantation to the New World, but transformed and invigorated it. Their influence made us uniquely American. It’s why we respond to that Voodoo beat.

[underatedcharactersunite]

The Iron Queen

Summary - The Iron Queen is a legend, a myth even. However, Ivar the Boneless wants to prove her existance. When he does, it's almost as if Fate brings them together, so the two of them can become legendary together....

Pairing - Ivar the Boneless x Female Reader 

WordCount - 2, 919 

Warnings - Angst, mentions of upcoming battles.  

For @youbloodymadgenius 1K Writing Challenge. Congratulations!                                                          »»————-　♔　————-««

Before the Iron Queen became to be, she was a legendary warrior Princess. She was a ruthless and tactful warrior in every sense of the word. There was no weapon she couldn't master, sword, shield, bow and arrow, axe or spear. She could use it all and use them well. In many minds, she was the perfect warrior, a combination of talent and intelligence. Y/N was loved among the warriors alike.

However, that all changed when Y/N became the Iron Queen of Mountmead. Unlike the other Kings, Y/N's Father final wish was to abolish their eldest law. From this day forth, until the end of time, whether the firstborn child is a son or daughter, they would be heir to the throne. Y/N's Father adapted the law to give his only daughter and child the throne.

This angered the surrounding Kings and Lords. Their ideologies were simple. a woman was not fit to rule. A woman was far too emotional to make rational decisions. They were unfit to lead armies and clueless in battle strategy, so the death of the King of Mountmead brought the potential to expand their lands despite the crowing of a new Queen. They had no respect or loyalty to her. They saw Y/N as a weak and passive woman, but they didn't realise how wrong they were.

Within the first several months of her coronation, Y/N and her army encountered six different battles. In every battle, Y/N was there leading her army to defeat the enemies that threatened her people. She refused to be seen as weak.

These battles created and enforced the Queen. She was to be cool and calculating, skilled and intellectual. Y/N made certain she surrounded herself with her closest and loyal advisors. Ser Favian was the head of her Queensguard. He'd also been the head of her Father's Kingsguard. A man who had been there from the day her Father was coronated. Secondly, there was Ser Conadus, head of her army and key battle Strategist. Ser Conadus was also her loyal confidant. After all, he'd been there for every major milestone in her life. There was no circumstance or situation Y/N couldn't speak to Ser Conadus about.

As Ferocious as Y/N was on the battlefield, she still maintained kindness in her heart. She often walked the streets, discussing the issues that were arising and how they could be solved. Y/N was able to provide reassurance to her people. Y/N made time in her day as frequently as possible to see people, to converse with traders. She kept a brave face for them all.

Hidden behind that brave face laid the devasting truth. Life as her people knew it was threatened. The surrounding Lords and Kings made a collective decision to bring their armies together to create an army of the thousands. While the Great Army of Mountmead was no easy defeat. Their numbers were no-where near as large. Y/N didn't know how to solve their issues. Repeatedly, she reached out to offer a truce to the other Lords and Kings, but it was no luck. They all desired Mountmead for themselves and they believed they were going to take it from the Iron Queen. They shared no resources and implemented laws in their Kingdoms. If any person was caught trading with the Iron Queen or any member of Mountmead, they were executed without question. This restricted the Iron Queen to land. No boats, to sail in search of allies. They were stuck. All of them in mortal danger.

Unbeknownst, to Y/N someone, had been looking for her. As fate would have it, the idea of a legendary warrior Princess turned Queen had become a legendary story. It had spread through many Kingdoms and lands with several different variations. Most believed these tales of the Iron Queen to be nothing more than that, tales.

Except one, Ivar the Boneless believed different. Ivar believed the Iron Queen, Y/N of Mountmead, existed and, he was determined to find her. In the beginning, Ivar had no idea where to begin his search, so he sent scouts to the North, South, East and West. When they returned, they came up empty. However, Ivar refused to give in. Ivar proceeded to continue to send his Scouts out each time, further and in different directions. Each time they came up without sight of the Iron Queen.

This continued until one trip the scouts returned to Kattegat with news of the discovery. His latest scouting mission had been a success. With this new information, Ivar knew hr needed to act quickly. Instructing the scouts to gather his brothers into the Great Hall, he sat down and waited for them to arrive. Ivar waited and waited for his brothers when they finally walked in.

"How do I always arrive before you?" Ivar questioned as all of his brothers took their seats.

"Because you decided to meet us here Ivar." Ubbe retorted as he paid attention to his youngest brother.

"Ivar, why have you gathered us here?" Bjorn questioned.

"Because I have found the Iron Queen."

"Your lying!" Sigurd yelled as Ivar smirked. Ivar didn't mind being underestimated. Sigurd was only jealous, he hadn't been able to do it.

"Why would I lie, Sigurd? My scouts have drawn a map to her Kingdom, and I wish to go visit her because she is in terrible danger?"

"Is she as beautiful as they say she is?" Hvitserk questioned. All of his brothers turned to look at him.

"Ivar informs us the Iron Queen is in danger, and that is the first question you have, Hvitserk." Sigurd responds as Hvitserk shrugs."

"A man has to know these things, Sigurd."

"Yes, the Iron Queen is more beautiful than she's described as. However, if someone doesn't help her, then no-one is going to see her beauty in person."

"Why is she in danger? Ubbe questioned as he poured a horn of mead, taking a large sip.

"The surrounding Lords and Kings do not respect her as Queen. When they're from, they believe women are unable to lead and participate in the battle. Although Y/N has been in more battles than most of the surrounding Kings and Lords."

"You say she's been in many battles, so why is she in danger?"

"Because Ubbe, the surrounding Lords and Kings have grouped to create one large army. According to the scouts, the Iron Queen has a decent sized army, but not one large enough to defeat them."

"What's in it for us?" Why should we help a stranger?"

"Isn't it obvious, Bjorn? We go to the Iron Queen, offer ourselves as an ally in exchange for the first selection of any the lands we conquer."

"That seems to be a fair trade. Whatever lands we take can be used as a new settlement and a base for further exploration. I say we go."

"Thank you Hvitserk. Anyone else?"

"I am coming with you," Sigurd responds to Ivar's surprise.

"I will come just to keep an eye on all three of you. Perhaps we should extend the offer to Harald and Halfdan. They could be useful to us."

"That is a good idea, Ubbe. What says you, Bjorn?"

"I shall stay here, make sure Kattegat remains running smoothly. If the God's desire us to meet, it shall be."

That night the sons of Ragnar began to create plans to set sail to Mountmead and the Iron Queen. They set sail with a small part of their army, with the plan that more men would follow days later. Help was coming to the Iron Queen and she didn't even know it.

                                           »»————-　♔　————-««

Y/n had been in meetings all morning, they'd already attempted to plan out their defence attacks, but there was always a weak spot in their armour. There was no use, they simply needed more men. Men they didn't have.

"My Queen, we will figure it out. They haven't beaten us yet." One of the small council commented as Y/N examined the map once more.

"What we need is a miracle. Unfortunately, they don't happen often and early enough" It was as if someone was listening to her desires as Ser Favian came bursting through the door.

"My Queen, men have arrived on the shore. They hold no banner or sail. They don't appear to be apart of any of the surrounding threats."

"Lord Pollack, will you continue to lead this meeting in my absence. Ser Conadus will you accompany me to the Thron, Ser Favian will you gather some of the Queensguard to watch the remaining men. Bring the leaders to the throne room."

"Yes, of course, My Queen." They nodded and bowed respectfully as Y/N already stepped away from the meeting with Ser Conadus flanked her as she feared the worst.

"Nicholas, I don't think I can deal with any further setbacks. We're already at war on land, we can't compete with threats from the ocean as well."

"Relax my dear. ;Perhaps this is a beneficial meeting. You need to keep calm, just because we're at war doesn't mean everyone's a threat. Remember, your lessons." As the large, solid oak doors opened, someone announced the Iron Queen as she raised her head high, removing any emotion in her mind and gaze.

Although Y/N's attention was already directed towards one of the men in front of her. All of the men had knelt except one."

"I told you to kneel." Ser Favian attempted to force the man onto his knees, but Y/N noticed the glimmer of the buckle her pace quickened.

"Ser Favian, can you not see the restraints on his legs . Since when did we treat our guests so poorly." Ser Favian backed away immediately kneeling.

"I'm sorry, forgive Ser Favian it was a simple misunderstanding." Noticing a chair in the corner, Y/N walked over and picked up the chair and brought it up towards the man, placing it behind him.

That's when Y/N caught the first proper glimpse of the man. The piercing blue eyes, the muscular arms, his smirk etched onto his face as he observed your expression scan all over him. You hadn't glanced at his brothers, Harald or Halfdan or Floki. Just him.

Ivar was just as mesmerised by her as she was him. Y/N was just as beautiful as his scouts had told him she was. She was both assertive and confident. Ivar wanted to know her and no-one was going to stop him from getting what he know desired the most.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, My Queen. My name is Ivar the Boneless, these are my brothers, as well as Harald Finehair, Halfdan the Black and Floki. We are here to offer our services." Ivar confidently took ahold of Y/N's hand without, hesitating brought her knuckles up and brushed his lips against them. Ivar did not miss the way her eyes widened in shock, momentarily before her composure regained.

"Y/N lowered her head as she stepped back towards the steps to her throne once she was seated, she called for everyone to raise as she once more looked towards Ivar the Boneless.

"You wish to offer your services to me, and the Kingdom of Mountmead, why?"

"I believe together we could be an unstoppable force. We have all heard of your battles and the current threat that you have surrounding you. My Queen, we have the numbers you need." Tuning to Ser Conadus, Y/N examined his gaze as she attempted to read his expression.

"What would you receive in return for your men?"

"First choice of any land that is gained in the result of war." Truth be told, Y/N was beginning to run out of strategic options and perhaps Ivar and the rest of them was her only hope.

"I accept your terms Ivar the Boneless. Ser Favian will see that the rest of the men are given a warm place to sleep. Ser Conadus, would you see that Ivar the Boneless and the rest of his party settle in well."

"Wait my Queen, I have a gift for you." One of Ivar's brothers, called someone forward as they laid a box onto the ground, standing Y/N walked down the stairs as two of Y/N's guard lifted the lid. In the box, it appeared to be a shield with bright colours painted on it.

"Thank you-"

"Hvitserk, my Queen." Smiling, Y/N could already tell that Hvitserk that was the most mischievous out of all of the brothers.

"Thank you Hvitserk." Once more, another brother stepped forward, this time he insisted on carrying the box towards the Iron Queen. Once the lid was lifted it, it revealed a strange looking instrument.

“I an teach you to play it, if you’d like my Queen.” 

“Thank you, that would be lovely-” 

“Sigurd, my Queen.” 

“Thank you, Sigurd.” 

“My Queen, I have one last gift for you. Unfortunately, it does not fit through the castle walls.” Ivar’s voice broke Y/N’s concentration and soon the two of them were accompanied by Ser Conadus and Floki. As Y/N continued to walk silently, Y/N kept pace with Ivar as the two appeared to be heading to the docks. 

“Your Grace, why are people so threatened by a woman?” Floki questioned as Y/N turned towards Floki. 

“In these parts, a woman is believed to be unable to rule. Women are unable to rule because they believe they are unable to think clearly or learn the ways of War. According to them, they shouldn’t have to fight to take my Kingdom, I should bow and give it to them,” 

“We can’t let that happened now can we. Don’t worry Iron Wueen, we will bring them to their knees.” The four of them stepped onto the docks, Y/N glanced around them, wondering what it could be. 

“Turn around my Queen.” Turning around, there was a boat. It was unlike any boat Y/N had seen before stepping closer, was her gift on the boat? 

“What do you think my Queen?” Ivar questioned as Y/N was still unsure what Ivar had given her. Then it dawned on her. 

“The boat, it’s mine. I couldn’t possibly except it.” 

“Why not? The other boat builders refuse to build you a boat so Floki build you a boat. It could be one of many perhaps, if you so desired.” 

“I wouldn’t know the first thing about sailing or running  a boat.” 

“Don’t worry. we can show you, your Grace/” Floki replied as the wind blew while the flag gushed in the wind. 

“Thank you, both of you. You have no idea how important and appreciated this is for me and my Kingdom.” 

“You are more than welcome. I believe this is a start to a beautiful relationship.” 

                                »»————-　♔　————-««

The next few days, were manic, as new voices gave new insight and strategies. Their culture was vastly different from Y/N’s, they’re war and battle strategies gave Y/N a unique way of seeing the up and coming battle. 

One thing that Y/N noticed immediately was the high intensity of the sons of Ragnar sibling rivalry, specifically between Ivar and Sigurd.  

Each time she began a discussion with either one of them, she could practically feel the glares at the back of her head. It only proved her point, they were always trying to compete with one another. 

One morning in particular, Y/N had broken her fast early so she could take a peaceful morning walk, before chaos ensured. 

What should have been a peaceful walk turned into Sigurd following her around discussing how terrible his younger brother was/ Y/N kept quiet while she listened to Sigurd go on about how vicious his brother was. According to Sigurd, Ivar was a monster who had no right to be in her company. Sigurd told her to listen to his words carefully.

Y/N had listened to his words closely, except she’d drawn a completely different conclusion. It was clear to Y/N that Ivar did have his fair share of problems, he was often angry and nearly always had a sombre attitude. Except Y/N was able to dig through the initial layer and realise how much more there was to him. 

While Y/N had appreciated Sigurd’s advice, she’d informed him that she could make her own judgement on Ivar and the rest of them. When her and Sigurd parted ways, he warned her once more. 

                                »»————-　♔　————-««

Later that night as Y.N headed to her chambers, tired from yet another day of back to back small council meetings and war strategy meetings. Y/N had grown tired and in desperate need of sleep. 

Y/N should have known that nothing was ever that simple as she was walking past Ivar’s room, she heard a commotion. Barging through the door, she became quickly aware that Ivar was one the floor in some form of distress.” 

“Are you okay?” 

“I don’t need your help!” Ivar snapped, however, the Iron Queen knelt onto the ground beside him.” 

“Okay, then I shall sit with you then.” 

“Wouldn’t you rather spend time with my brother, Sigurd” Y/N rolled her eyes sitting down on the floor, she stretched her legs so they were diagonally with each other. 

“I gather you never heard the end of the conversation. If you had you would have heard myself inform Sigurd that I am capable of making my own decisions. For sometime now Ivar you had my curiosity but now you have my attention” Ivar smirked, this conversation was about to get interesting. 

[enigmasong]

Okay, so I’ve got this One Piece theory going and it’s about Brook being pretty sus (no, not in that way).

To start with:

that ‘leader of a battle convoy in a certain kingdom’ is something that is still waiting to come into play.

And that ‘certain kingdom/island’ is what Oda always uses when he doesn’t want to reveal an island name yet.

That’s the base line, but then:

Brook knows the Vinsmoke family name very well, to the point of terror, despite the fact that he’s from the West Blue and they’re only active in the North Blue and exist only as myth in the other blues (Nami says as much for the East Blue, but I didn’t feel like grabbing that panel).

Robin’s also from the West Blue and she has a reaction that’s more expectable. She only vaguely knows the name (and she could’ve easily heard it from Crocodile or the Revolutionary Army after leaving the WB) and doesn’t have the same visceral reaction Brook does.

And, while Chopper and Nami have pretty good reasons to join the stealth (HA!) mission to save Sanji - Pekoms would die from his injuries with Chopper and Luffy couldn’t navigate his way out of a community pool without Nami), Brook’s reason of ‘I feel really bad about Sanji being taken while I was around’ is a bit thinner on the ground.

---

Anyway, something, something, Brook is hiding something. Something involving the reasons why he left a position as a battle convoy leader in his home kingdom (which I suspect is a high position, close to the royal family) to turn pirate and Sanji’s family - grandparent, most likely.

Occam’s razor suggests Germa making a rare trip to a merc job in the WB, like what brought Sanji to the EB, and attacked Brook’s home kingdom, leaving Brook broken, having failed to protect his home and unable to die because of his power.

But, narratively speaking, I don’t expect it to be that shallow. A bases, yes, but as a start for some deeper connection between Brook and Sanji.

This is brings me out of speculating by connecting existing threads to assuming details wholesale, but it could involve Sanji’s mother, Sora. Assuming she was around the same age as Judge at the time of their marriage - and that she wasn’t entirely consenting in it - the timeline fits that she would’ve been a young child at the same as when Brook turned pirate.

And I can easily see the evil scientist rulers of Germa 66 being down for a little light child abduction for human experimentation fodder, especially going into Judge’s superhuman experimenting that he turned onto his own children.

I’m going to keep my hard theory to just ‘Germa attacked Brook’s kingdom’, but my soft theory is that Sora was someone Brook knew personally, either a member of the royal family he was sworn to protect or even his own family and she was taken by Germa as a child.

Edit: Perhaps this is long too late an addition to expect people to see it, but I’m including this expansion:

(Behold my lazy attempt at omitting an unneeded panel.)

We have a moment where the crew starts speculating on Sanji’s family and what that moment ends on is a quiet non-reaction from Brook. That is certainly an odd choice when you think about it.

[weavingthetapestry]

1130 AD: Slaughter at Stracathro

(Detail of Angus from Robert Edward’s map of 1678- Stracathro can be seen north of Brechin on the banks of the Esk. Clicking on the image should make it larger. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland)

In the year 1130, an army led by Angus, ruler of Moray, was defeated by forces loyal to David I, King of Scots, at the Battle of Stracathro. Although this engagement was recorded by a wide variety of medieval chroniclers and historians, few provide any details about the course of the battle or its background. Even the exact date is unclear. Nonetheless, Stracathro is often seen as a pivotal moment in the relationship between the powerful lords of Moray and the developing kingdom of Scotland, and an important flashpoint in the domestic politics of David I’s reign.

To make sense of the various surviving accounts of this battle, it is necessary to give some background information on Angus of Moray’s status. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, ‘Moray’ covered a much larger area than it does now. A territory which stretched from the north-east to Ross, its rulers often found themselves in competition with the neighbouring jarls of Orkney and the kings of Alba, the latter of whom were then expanding their territory to include Strathclyde and Lothian south of the Forth, forging what we would now recognise as the kingdom of Scotland. However it is unclear whether Moray’s lords were independent rulers or regional lieutenants of the kings of Alba. The current academic consensus seems to be in favour of the latter, with some historians calling the rulers of Moray ‘mormaers’ (literally ‘great steward’ but often seen as equivalent to ‘earl’). Nevertheless Moray’s medieval inhabitants may well have seen things differently. At any rate, the rulers of Moray were clearly powerful figures in the north, with a close (if often fraught) relationship with the rulers of what we now call Scotland.

This closeness increased in 1040 when Moray’s ruler, Mac Bethad Mac Findlaích (Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’) seized the throne of Alba. Mac Bethad had claimed Moray after his cousin Gillecomgain burned to death in 1032. He had also swiftly married Gillecomgain’s widow Gruoch* who was a granddaughter of Kenneth III, king of Alba. Some years later, Mac Bethad defeated the then king of Alba, Duncan I, in battle near Elgin, and claimed the throne of Alba. He ruled for seventeen years before his own death at Lumphanan in 1057, following his defeat by forces loyal to Duncan’s son Malcolm III. Mac Bethad was briefly succeeded by his stepson Lulach ‘fatuus’ (‘the simple’), son of Gillecomgain and Gruoch, before Lulach too was killed in 1058 and Malcolm III succeeded in wresting control of Scotland...

(The Laich of Moray in the Blaeu Atlas of 1654. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland)

(The shire of Moray is highlighted in blue and Angus (Forfarshire) in red. The old county system was only beginning to emerge in David I’s reign, and Moray in particular referred to a much larger province than shown here. The black spot shows the general location of Stracathro- I am no cartographer however, so this is only a rough guide. Template Source). 

No more kings of Alba would be drawn from the house of Moray after Lulach’s death. A short conflict between Malcolm III and Lulach’s son Máel Snechta did break out in 1078: Máel Snechta got the worst of it but may have reached an agreement with Malcolm, since his kinsmen continued to rule in Moray for some decades. After this no serious challenges came from Moray for over fifty years until 1130, when another descendant of Lulach- his daughter’s son Angus- was ruler of the province.

Although we know something of his maternal ancestry (his father is a complete mystery), Angus of Moray is still a rather obscure figure. Late mediaeval Irish annals call him ‘rí’ or ‘king’ of Moray. Conversely, contemporary Anglo-Norman sources, as well as the Chronicles of Melrose and Holyrood, and late mediaeval Scottish historians like John of Fordun, all use the Latin word ‘comes’, which implies that they saw Angus’ position as roughly equivalent to that of a count or earl. Some bias is to be expected from Anglo-Norman sources since they usually favoured the descendants of Malcolm III and St Margaret over other branches of the royal house. Nonetheless we lack convincing evidence that the early twelfth century rulers of Moray controlled an independent kingdom, though they might perhaps have been ‘subkings’. We do know that Angus had a reasonably good claim to rule over both Moray and Alba, and the men of Moray were clearly willing to support him in this. And yet there had been no recorded conflict for over fifty years, so why did Angus choose to make his move in 1130?

Perhaps the answer can be found in the internal politics of the Scottish royal house. By 1130, David I, the youngest son of Malcolm III by his second wife Margaret of Wessex, had worn the title ‘King of Scots’ for six years. Although history remembers David as an impressive and innovative monarch- one of those kings who ‘made’ Scotland- in the early years of his reign his power seems to have been centred on the southern provinces of Lothian and Strathclyde. His control of ‘Scotia’ or Alba- the traditional heartland of the kingdom north of the River Forth- was less certain, and he must have seemed a very distant figure in a place like Moray. He also had to contend with rivals for the throne, like Malcolm, the son of David’s older brother and predecessor Alexander I. Described by the contemporary Anglo-Norman chronicler Orderic Vitalis as illegitimate, in an age when this did not yet disqualify a man from kingship, Ailred of Rievaulx later called Malcolm, ‘the heir of his father’s hatred and persecution’.* He may have opposed his uncle David at the outset of the reign, though if so he was plainly unsuccessful. This was not to be the last of Malcom’s intrigues however, since he pops up again a few years later in the company of Angus of Moray, taking part in the invasion of Alba in 1130. Perhaps then Malcolm’s appearance in Moray meant that he was able to convince Angus to support his claim and that this provided the impetus for the invasion. However it must be said that, in general, Angus is presented as the real leader of the campaign. Most sources do not even seem to think Malcolm’s presence at Stracathro worth mentioning, while Orderic Vitalis wrote that Angus ‘entered Scotland with the intention of reducing the whole kingdom to subjection’, and merely notes that Malcolm accompanied the army.

(David I and his grandson Malcolm IV, in a twelfth century charter belonging to Kelso Abbey. Source- Wikimedia commons)

(The round tower at Brechin, a few miles south of Stracathro, was likely constructed in the twelfth century, if not earlier. It is one of only two such round towers in Scotland)

It is also worth bearing in mind that, at the time of the invasion of Alba, David I was probably hundreds of miles away in the south of England, attending the court of his brother-in-law King Henry I. Although David’s relationship with the English king had proven useful on many occasions, this time it might have provided Angus and his allies with the perfect opportunity to revolt. Perhaps his absence also provided motive: later twelfth century kings of Scots would occasionally face armed opposition to their prolonged absences from the realm, and it is possible that Angus sought to capitalise on any discontent. Whatever the ultimate cause of their revolt, the year 1130 saw Angus and Malcolm march south with an invasion force which is said to have been 5,000 strong.  

Contemporary sources do not tell us much about the course of the campaign. Only the late fourteenth century historian John of Fordun, who hailed from the Mearns himself and probably drew on earlier sources, gives a location for the sole recorded battle- Stracathro, near Brechin in Angus. This suggests that Angus of Moray’s army either headed south by one of the tracks over the Grampian mountains or, perhaps more likely, travelled east in the direction of Aberdeen and from there made its way down the low-lying strip of land between the Mounth and the coast. This last route would have covered roughly similar terrain to the modern A90 road and, although the landscape of long rolling fields sloping away towards the blue foothills of the Mounth in the west may have looked very different in the twelfth century, its strategic value for a mediaeval army on the move is readily apparent. The Romans had already marched across this ground a thousand years earlier, leaving the remains of a camp at Stracathro, and the conquering forces of Edward I of England would later follow a similar route north in 1296. It is also clear that, despite the sparse details given in contemporary sources, and despite David I’s posthumous legacy as a strong monarch, the 1130 invasion represented a serious crisis. In the absence of any recorded opposition, Angus and his supporters had been able to overrun the fertile east coast of ‘Scotia’, not far from the Tayside heartlands of the kingdom, and only forty miles or so from the traditional coronation site at Scone.

The men of Moray were only brought to a halt when King David’s constable Edward, son of Siward, hastily assembled an army and cut Angus’ force off a few miles north of Brechin. Orderic Vitalis, the contemporary writer who describes the battle in the greatest detail, tells us little about Edward other than that he was ‘a cousin of King David’ and the son of Siward who, according to various translations, was an ‘earl’ or ‘tribune’ of Mercia. Since his name and paternity indicate that he was of English stock, it is possible that Edward was one of the king’s maternal cousins, but theories abound as to his exact identity. Previously, several historians accepted the theory that he was the son of Siward Beorn (the earl of Northumbria who fought against Macbeth) and thus an uncle of David I’s queen Matilda. However this does not really tally with the few details Orderic provides, and any son of Siward Beorn would likely have been in his seventies in 1130. More recent writers, including David I’s most recent academic biographer, favour Ann Williams’ identification of Edward as a son of Siward, son of Aethelgar, a Shropshire thegn and therefore both of Mercian descent and, like David, a great-great grandson of Aethelred the Unready.

(View of Stracathro and the surrounding country in James Dorret’s map of 1750. I have coloured the kirk of Stracathro in red so it can be spotted more easily; again clicking on the image should expand it. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland)

The royal army clashed with Angus and his men at Stracathro. No source gives a blow-by-blow account of the battle but the result was clear. In a rout which the Irish Annals of Innisfallen described as the ‘Slaughter of the men of Moray in Scotland’**, Angus and most of his force were killed. We should be wary of mediaeval chroniclers’ tendency to play fast and loose with numbers, but the language which all sources use about the engagement indicates that the death toll was high, with the late mediaeval Annals of Ulster even claiming that as many as 4,000 of the men of Moray were killed- 80% of the force which Orderic Vitalis claimed Angus was able to put into the field. The Annals of Ulster also claimed that a thousand of the men of Scotland (or ‘alban’) died, but this number was later corrected to one hundred. Leaving the chroniclers’ suspiciously exact death tolls aside, it is clear that the battle of Stracathro was a catastrophe for the Moravians, and a blood-bath from which Angus’ co-commander Malcolm, the son of Alexander, was very lucky to escape. Fleeing soldiers from Angus’ shattered army were then chased back to Moray by the triumphant Edward and the Scots, who promptly established control over the province.

Both mediaeval chroniclers and more recent historians have traditionally made this annexation of Moray following the battle seem very easy. As Robert de Torigni neatly summed it up, ‘Angus, the earl of Moray, was killed; and David, the king of Scotland, held the earldom thenceforward’. Now the undisputed overlord of Moray, David I is then supposed to have set about a comprehensive programme of ‘feudalisation’, complete with reformed monastic orders, a reorganised diocesan system, royal burghs for controlling trade, and, of course, a new settler nobility. However, David’s most recent academic biographer, Richard Oram, has argued that this feudalisation of Moray may have been a slower process than is often implied, and that it took some time for David and his supporters to establish complete control over the old lordship. Indeed, although there was to be no more trouble from Moray until the reign of David’s grandson King William, the fact that rivals for the Scottish throne were still able to draw considerable support from the native nobility of the province in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries could indicate that the post-Stracathro reorganisation was not so complete as some writers have assumed.

Stracathro is now a quiet place. A century and a half after the battle the area witnessed another, less bloody, defeat when John Balliol and his council negotiated with the triumphant Edward I of England from the kirkyard of Stracathro in July 1296. But other than this Stracathro is probably best known for its community hospital and a Victorian walled garden. The Battle of Stracathro is not exactly the most famous event in the annals of Scottish history. In a county that is otherwise littered with carved stones which allegedly commemorate ancient battles, few traces of the twelfth-century skirmish remain. Two mounds near Ballownie farm used to be pointed out as the alleged burial site of the slain, and certain internet etymologies claim that the nearby place name ‘Auchenreoch’ can be interpreted as deriving from a term meaning ‘the field of great sorrow’***. But otherwise the battle of 1130 has not left much of a mark in the landscape. Modern perceptions of the battle are also influenced to a great extent by the accounts of Anglo-Norman chroniclers, who may well have downplayed the threat which Angus of Moray (and other twelfth century rivals for the throne) posed to the descendants of Malcolm III and St Margaret. Nonetheless the slaughter at Stracathro is worth commemorating: had the battle gone the other way, Scotland might have been a very different place today.

(Stracathro Mansion is not necessarily on the site of the battle, and the landscape has changed considerably in nine hundred years, even down to the way fields are ploughed. However this may at least give an idea of the surroundings of the north part of Angus, with the Mounth in the background. Reproduced under the Creative Commons License (source here) since I’m limited in the photos I can take personally right now for obvious reasons). 

Notes:

* Everybody’s favourite ‘Lady Macbeth’

**Not to be confused with Malcolm MacHeth

*** The original Irish says ‘Albain’

**** Though it must be said, I have my doubts

Selected Bibliography:

“The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy”, by Orderic Vitalis, Vol. III, translated by Thomas Forester

“Early Sources of Scottish History”, ed. A.O. Anderson

“Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores”, vol. 2, ed. Charles O’Conor

“Annala Uladh”, vol. II, edited and translated by B. Mac Carthy

“Chronicle of Melrose”, and the “Chronicle of Holyrood” trans. Rev. Joseph Stevenson in ‘The Church Historians of England’, vol. IV

“Scottish Annals From English Chroniclers”, ed. A.O. Anderson

“John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish Nation”, ed. W.F. Skene and trans. Felix Skene

“Kingship and Unity: Scotland 1000-1306″, G.W.S. Barrow

“The Kingship of the Scots”, A.A.M. Duncan

“Domination and Lordship: Scotland, 1070-1230″, Richard Oram

“David I”, Richard Oram

“’Soldiers Most Unfortunate’:  Gaelic and Scoto-Norse Opponents of the Canmore Dynasty, c.1100-c.1230”, R. Andrew MacDonald

“Companions of the Atheling”, G.W.S. Barrow in ‘Anglo-Norman Studies 25: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2002′

[hinamesh]

“Prince Aegon is a man grown, Princess” (Spoilers)

This post that I made on Reddit but I decided to share it here as well.  For those people who think Young Griff/Aegon was just a stupid boy.

It was Lemore who forced the water from your lungs after Griff had pulled you up. You [Tyrion] were as cold as ice, and your lips were blue. Yandry said we ought to throw you back, but the lad [Aegon] forbade it.

Here we've seen a glimpse of his compassionate side. Do not think of him like Joffrey, he gives Tyrion a chance to live on, showing him mercy.

Perhaps you should be the fool instead of me. Trust no one, my prince. Not your chainless maester, not your false father, not the gallant Duck nor the lovely Lemore nor these other fine friends who grew you from a bean. Above all, trust not the cheesemonger, nor the Spider, nor this little dragon queen you mean to marry. All that mistrust will sour your stomach and keep you awake by night, ’tis true, but better that than the long sleep that does not end.”

Meeting Tyrion is truly the turning point of his life. Because of Tyrion he learns to be doubtful and wary of the people around him, he stopped being the naive boy that he once was. As you can see in the future passage after Aegon met with Tyrion, he started to changed.

"I like the sound of that. My army.” A smile flashed across his [Aegon] face, then vanished. “Are they, though? They’re sellswords. Yollo [Tyrion] warned me to trust no one.”

He is not stupid and that naive anymore. He is starting to question stuffs. He didn't ignore Tyrion's advise and actually listen because his advise actually a good one. Showing a bit of his capability as the judge, a skill that needed for a future leader like him.

That dwarf had already planted enough doubts in his young head. “Not every man is what he seems, and a prince especially has good cause to be wary �� but go too far down that road, and the mistrust can poison you, make you sour and fearful.” King Aerys was one such. By the end, even Rhaegar saw that plain enough. “You would do best to walk a middle course. Let men earn your trust with leal service … but when they do, be generous and openhearted.”

The boy [Aegon] nodded. “I will remember.”

Fortunately JonCon was on his side, he gave him a wise advise to walk a middle course. I don't think Aegon will walk on the path where he will be distrustful towards everyone like Tyrion's advise, but he will try to be in the middle following JonCon's advise as he said that he will remembered that. This is showing his grown from a boy to a man grown. He has good skill of listening to what is good for him.

This proof with his next action in ADWD, to earn the men's trust.

“The demon road is death. We will lose half the company to desertion if we attempt that march, and bury half of those who remain beside the road. It grieves me to say it, but Magister Illyrio and his friends may have been unwise to put so much hope on this child queen.”

No, thought Griff, but they were most unwise to put their hopes on you.

And then Prince Aegon spoke. “Then put your hopes on me,” he said. “Daenerys is Prince Rhaegar’s sister, but I am Rhaegar’s son. I am the only dragon that you need.”

He is starting to take charge of his own path. The golden company did not just give their allegiance towards Aegon easily, it was Aegon who actually pursued their trust and won it himself, using his words. But some of you quick to dismissed this skill of his.

Griff put a black-gloved hand upon Prince Aegon’s shoulder. “Spoken boldly,” he said, “but think what you are saying.”

“I have,” the lad insisted. “Why should I go running to my aunt as if I were a beggar? My claim is better than her own. Let her come to me … in Westeros.”

Yes, some of you would say he was just being a brat here, but he was not. He was trying to recruit them onto his team, showing his confidence and claim. A bit of pride that a leader must have. And this was actually work. One of the golden company squires, Franklyn Flowers actually bite the idea.

Franklyn Flowers laughed. “I like it. Sail west, not east. Leave the little queen to her olives and seat Prince Aegon upon the Iron Throne. The boy has stones, give him that.”

Aegon is actually earned the man interest and manage to impress him in the process.

“Has the sun curdled your brains, Flowers? We need the girl. We need the marriage. If Daenerys accepts our princeling and takes him for her consort, the Seven Kingdoms will do the same. Without her, the lords will only mock his claim and brand him a fraud and a pretender. And how do you propose to get to Westeros? You heard Lysono. There are no ships to be had.”

“Which plan?” said Tristan Rivers. “The fat man’s plan? The one that changes every time the moon turns? First Viserys Targaryen was to join us with fifty thousand Dothraki screamers at his back. Then the Beggar King was dead, and it was to be the sister, a pliable young child queen who was on her way to Pentos with three new-hatched dragons. Instead the girl turns up on Slaver’s Bay and leaves a string of burning cities in her wake, and the fat man decides we should meet her by Volantis. Now that plan is in ruins as well.

He did not received a full approval of the idea immediately from the group, some did counter his idea, but the other started to question their original plan. Considering Aegon's idea more seriously.

“Prince Aegon,” said Tristan Rivers, “we are your men. Is this your wish, that we sail west instead of east?”

“It is,” Aegon replied eagerly. “If my aunt wants Meereen, she’s welcome to it. I will claim the Iron Throne by myself, with your swords and your allegiance. Move fast and strike hard, and we can win some easy victories before the Lannisters even know that we have landed. That will bring others to our cause.”

These words of his manage to bring the golden company to his cause. He managed to pursue them, they approved his idea, not Varys/Illyrio's plans. An important note that people often forget. It was Aegon who gave the decision for the path to Westeros not someone else.

When all of them began to speak at once, Griff knew the tide had turned. This is a side of Aegon I never saw before. It was not the prudent course, but he was tired of prudence, sick of secrets, weary of waiting.

The side that JonCon himself never have seen before, Aegon capability as a leader who manage to bring men follow his wishes and idea. The tide had turned because of him, he was the one who responsible for the changing plan not JonCon/Illyrio/Varys. I think that was an impressive side of him that we must take note for the future books.

One by one, the men of the Golden Company rose, knelt, and laid their swords at the feet of his young prince[Aegon]. The last to do so was Homeless Harry Strickland, blistered feet and all.

When they knelt before him, it was Aegon's succeed, he earned the men trust. He didn't even ask nor order them to bow and kneel at him, they were doing it because they wanted to.

A solid man, and true, Connington thought as he watched Duck dismount, but not worthy of the Kingsguard. He had tried his best to dissuade the prince from giving Duckfield that cloak, pointing out that the honor might best be held in reserve for warriors of greater renown whose fealty would add luster to their cause, and the younger sons of great lords whose support they would need in the coming struggle, but the boy [Aegon] would not be moved. "Duck will die for me if need be,” he had said, “and that’s all I require in my Kingsguard. The Kingslayer was a warrior of great renown, and the son of a great lord as well.”

This passage again shows that he isn't just a stupid boy, he learns from history and not that naive anymore. He knows what will protect him and not. A man grown who has his own belief and thought of what's right and wrong.

No, I want Duck to stay.” The prince sat. “We’ve been talking with Strickland and Flowers. They told us about this attack on Storm’s End that you’re planning.”

Jon Connington did not let his fury show. “And did Homeless Harry try to persuade you to delay it?”“He did, actually,” the prince said, “but I won’t. Harry’s an old maid, isn’t he? You have the right of it, my lord. I want the attack to go ahead … with one change. I mean to lead it.”

Again, he is not Joffrey who cowardly hides himself behind his army, Aegon takes the initiative to lead himself, ready to risk his own life. (Spoiler TWOW) He does sucessfully doing so based on Arianne II TWOW, where they manage to take Storm's End. I think Lysono Maar has seen his bravery to the point he quicks to defend him from her insult by saying "Prince Aegon is a man grown." which I think as a reader should not dismissed it easily and give him some space to develop as a character.

Bonus, a chapter that showing a glimpse of his fighting skill..

When they fought with mace or blunted longaxe, Ser Rolly’s greater size and strength would quickly overwhelm his charge with swords the contests were more even. Neither man had taken up a shield this morning, so it was a game of slash and parry, back and forth across the deck. The river rang to the sounds of their combat. Young Griff landed more blows, though Duck’s were harder. After a while, the bigger man began to tire. His cuts came a little slower, a little lower. Young Griff turned them all and launched a furious attack that forced Ser Rolly back. When they reached the stern, the lad tied up their blades and slammed a shoulder into Duck, and the big man went into the river

So stop saying he was just a stupid feign boy, he is a character that still growing and hasn’t shown his full potential yet. So please give him a chance to show that in the next book. This person is Dany’s future rival and do you think GRRM will write him as just a lame character? No, I think he won't just throw this chance easily, he will sure use this to make the plot more thicken.

[thecleverdame]

The Oath - 6

Parings: Dark!Alpha!Sam x Omega!Reader

Story Master List

Summary: After an unsuccessful escape attempt, the reader finds herself taken as a spoil of war. She ends up in the bed of a ruthless Alpha, the son of John Winchester, leader of the kingdom of Gilead. She struggles to conceal her true identity and navigate a society where being an Omega means nothing more than serving at the pleasure of powerful men.

Warnings: non-con, sexual assault, rape, attempted suicide, sexual slavery, branding, torture, ownership, voyeurism, anal play, smut, violence, and murder.

Sam is dark in this story. If any of the warnings are triggers for you, I would suggest skipping this one. Please read and heed all the warnings.

Beta: ilikaicalie

Support my Patreon and get access to exclusive stories.  CLICK HERE

-

Days turn into weeks, and weeks into a month. Time passes and you fall into a rhythm that’s at the very least predictable. Your situation is not as terrifying when you know what’s coming next. Days are spent on the trail, the entire regiment moving south toward the border of Gilead and Argos. It’s slow-moving. You’re not sure how far you travel each day but it can’t be more than a dozen miles, give or take. The snow slows everything, the men freeze and the carts and carriages are continually stuck, having to be dug out again and again. 

The nights are just as routine. Sam’s expectations are clear and you find it’s easier and easier to give yourself to him. Opening your legs and closing your eyes as he takes pleasure for himself, forcing that same pleasure onto you even when you beg him to stop. 

You’ve grown emotionally numb to all of it. Compartmentalizing feelings is a coping skill you learned as a child, and you put this skillset to use as your time with the Winchesters goes on.  

Being with Sam brings an innate sense of safety. You’re his, everyone knows it, there’s not a man in the regiment that would entertain the thought of laying a hand on you. While he’s certainly not gentle, he does seem to take pride in making sure you always get what you need, before and after he’s had his way with you. His main concern is keeping you in pristine condition.

You’ve become accustomed to a certain level of care as this mighty caravan moves through the countryside. 

It’s the same routine each night. As soon as the tents are erected, the servants pour you a bath, wash your skin and hair. You’re served sweet fruits before dinner and there’s always plenty of wine and other libations at the ready. By the time the Winchester brothers arrive for the evening meal, you’re typically well into this choreographed nightly ritual. 

Tonight they’re nowhere to be found. You’re alone as the night wears on. Dinner is served and you eat alone, then sit by the fire looking around at the vast array of belongings. They carry a whole life with them on the road. 

There’s a map spread out over the table that is reset daily by the cartographer, whose sole job is to ensure the troop’s movements are accurately represented. You study the markers, sorting out who’s who. John Winchester's men are everywhere, spread far and wide across the entire continent. You didn’t realize they had conquered so extensively. News from distant lands had stopped coming in nearly a year ago. You knew it was bad but you had no clue the scope of their domination. 

Half the map is swathed in red, indicating they’ve successfully overtaken each area. You search from top to bottom until you find your family’s colors, the blue and red of the all too familiar crest. Your father is still fighting, and it looks as if he’s joined up with several different kingdoms. They’re amassing to the south, it must be where Sam and Dean are headed. 

Your heart skips a beat. Up until this point you’ve done a good job keeping thoughts of your family at bay. You do everything within your power to avoid letting the memories of your former home whirl to life, it’s too painful. But this sparks something, an inkling stirring in the back of your brain. A meager seed of hope. 

Sam, Dean and the soldiers are heading right for your father’s army. Your hands shake, trembling with a surging anxiety. What this means, you have no idea. You know the chance of ever seeing your father, uncle or sisters again is nearly nonexistent. And even if by some miracle you were able to get to him, it’s unlikely you’d be welcomed back into the fold. You’ve been defiled by a Winchester. How could anyone overlook the shame you would bring on every member of the royal family? 

Turning attention back to the map, you trail a finger up the winding blue line of the Longtree River, moving further and further north until you find your current location. 

A solid blue marker is labeled as Sam and Dean and to the west is a massive legion of men under their father’s crest. John Winchester. It looks like you may get the chance to meet the man who started all this death and destruction. There are smaller pockets of resistance outlying around the edges and you lean in closer to get a better look. 

“What are you doing?” Sam booms, standing just inside the tent. 

“I was just,” you back away from the table as the Alpha makes a beeline for you. “I’m sorry I was just looking. I-” Your voice is cut off as his hand wraps around your neck, squeezing tight. 

“What were you looking for?” he hisses, pushing you backward, his gripping tightening. You sputter, gasping for air and pulling at his hand with your one working arm. 

“P-please,” you rasp, mouth gaping open like a fish on dry land. “I-I-”

“What?” His jaw is tight, anger brimming in his eyes. You’ve yet to see this side of him, but now you understand the rumors. Another minute of this and he’ll squeeze the very life right out of you. 

“Huhh,” you make a strangled sound, eyes rolling back in your skull as he lets go, gripping your jaw instead, forcing you to look at him. “I-I was just l-looking at the figures. I watched the man set them up,” you whisper. “I wondered what they were.” Tears fall down your cheeks as you shake in terror. 

You’ve become complacent. Perhaps this is the reminder you needed. Sam Winchester is a murderer and a tyrant. And he’ll kill you just as easily as fuck you. 

“What are they?” he asks, face inches away, his nose scrunching in anger. “Tell me, what did you find Omega?”

“I don’t know!” You cry out the first of many lies in hopes of abating his wrath. You search your brain, a simple village girl wouldn’t know how to read the labels on the map, much less battle markers. “I was just looking at the figurines and the drawings on the paper. I’m sorry if I saw something I shouldn’t have!” 

“This is not for you!” He turns your head toward the table, pointing with his other hand. “You need to know your place. You don’t see. You don’t hear. You just are. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” you nod frantically. 

His anger is logical. This information is invaluable. If a person wanted to subvert the Winchester cause this map would do the most damage. If you were in fact a spy, this would be the holy grail of information. You should have been more careful. 

“I didn’t know. I’ll do better, Alpha.” He lets you go and you slink backward, holding your throat. 

“I don’t give second warnings. Tread carefully, Omega.”

“I will, I promise.” You watch as he pours himself a drink and takes a seat at the table as if the whole encounter has drained him. Legs give way as you sink to the floor. Tomorrow there will likely be a handprint in black and blue across your throat. You’ve felt his strength before, but this is a wake-up call. You can’t become comfortable. Sam would snap your neck without a second thought if you gave him a reason. 

When you look up he’s watching you, his face now indifferent. He sighs, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his legs. What rage overtook him is gone just as fast as it came. 

“You are not allowed to look at the maps,” he explains calmly. “No maps, no books, no letters you may come across. And you never repeat a word you hear between Dean and me.”

“I understand...but I can’t read.” Books have been one of the great loves of your life, but Sam doesn’t need to know that. 

“Good, less temptation to be curious.” He stares at you a moment longer before downing the rest of his wine and pouring more. There’s a shout in the distance and Sam smiles, pointing at you. “Get yourself up. We have a guest.”

You manage to get to your feet just in time for Dean and the woman trailing him. There’s a clanking of metal and you look at the chain around her left ankle. She’s an Omega, you can smell her instantly. She’s a few years younger than you, but old enough that her scent is sickeningly strong. She looks around wildly from both Alphas to you. 

Dean’s brought back women before. Always Betas, never for more than an hour and definitely not in chains. 

“Brought you a friend,” Dean chuckles, winking at you. He takes the end of the chain and secures it around one of the thick poles holding up the tent, before clicking the heavy lock shut. “Gotta be careful with this one. She’s a runner.” 

“So was she.” Sam grunts in your direction as you stand frozen, still reeling from his assault. 

“You see what happens?” Dean places a hand at the back of the girl’s neck, both of them looking at you. She looks more angry than scared, an indication she doesn’t understand where she is. She should be pissing herself. “Don’t make me break your arm like hers.”

You’re the cautionary tale. The example to keep her in check. 

“One of your countrymen.” Dean goes on, appraising her from head to toe. 

You suck in a breath at the thought. She doesn’t know who you are. Few commoners had the occasion to see you for more than a few minutes during a parade through town and even less would recognize you now. But there’s no sense in tempting fate. Nothing good can come of familiarity. The moment you open your mouth you could say something that might cast doubt on the backstory you’ve created. 

You look from her to Sam, taking a step closer to your Alpha. 

“You see how good she is?” Dean explains. “You’d do well to follow her example.” 

“I thought you were riding ahead to the scout camp?” Sam asks, picking a hunk of bread off the table.

“I am. I’ll be back in a few hours. I can’t take her with me, can I?” Dean cocks his head, checking his flash before nodding to the new Omega. “Make sure she doesn’t go anywhere.”

Sam is about to protest, but before he has the chance Dean is gone. Sam moves on as if this is nothing out of the ordinary. 

“You’re there.” Sam points to Dean’s bed. “Stay quiet. No talking. I don’t want to know you’re here.”

“Let me go,” she grits out, anger seeping from her pores. You snap to attention waiting for his reaction. 

“You’re not going anywhere.” Sam snuffs out one torch after the next until the fire is the only light in the tent. “Lay down, shut your mouth and be quiet. You’ll sleep if you’re smart.”

“I’ll kill you both!” She yanks at the chain attached to her leg, glaring at Sam. 

“You should do what he says.” You speak up, offering advice you hope will keep her alive. “Stop talking and lay down.” 

Her eyes go wild, staring at you in surprise. 

Sam tugs at the back of your dress, pulling at the ties until you’re able to step out. You can feel her watching from across the room. Hidden in the shadows of Dean’s bed, she’s about to understand exactly what’s expected from her. 

Sam is already stark naked, the muscles of his back flexing as he pulls back the cover on the bed. 

“In,” he gestures. 

You lay down on your back as he slides in beside you. A hand comes down on your belly and you flinch, looking up at him in horror at your reaction. 

“I scared you, little bird.” He rubs his palm over your naked hip. His eyes fall to your neck, bruises already forming. 

“You hurt me,” you whisper back. “I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to look. You could have just told me. I always follow your rules.”

“Yes, you do.” His hand moves upward, tracing the underside of your breast. “And now you’ll know next time. Do you know what the penalty for an Omega caught reading is?”

“No,” you whisper, scared of the answer. “What?”

“Your eyes. Both of them plucked out.” His thumb brushes over your nipple, feeling it harden under his touch. 

“But I couldn’t even read it,” you reiterate, yet again. 

“It doesn’t matter. If anyone else found you inspecting that map, you’d be blind for the rest of your life. I wouldn’t have any say in it.”

“Oh,” you’re silent as he rubs the pad of his thumb over the hard peak of your nipple, swirling in small circles. 

“Lucky for you, I believe in my own brand of discipline. Don’t let me catch you again. Are we clear?” He waits for you to nod in confirmation. “Good. Now turn onto your stomach.” 

[newstfionline]

Saturday, July 10, 2021

Billionaire Blastoff (AP) Two billionaires are putting everything on the line this month to ride their own rockets into space. Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson is due to take off Sunday from New Mexico, launching with two pilots and three other employees aboard a rocket plane carried aloft by a double-fuselage aircraft. Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos departs nine days later from West Texas, blasting off in a fully automated capsule with three guests: his brother, an 82-year-old female aviation pioneer who’s waited six decades for a shot at space and the winner of a $28 million charity auction. They will go 55 miles to 66 miles (88 kilometers to 106 kilometers) up.

Severe heat wave builds across Western U.S. after nation’s hottest June on record (Washington Post) Last week, a “thousand-year” heat wave baked the Pacific Northwest and adjacent British Columbia with widespread highs topping 100 degrees, resulting in a death toll in the hundreds. Lytton, Canada, climbed to 121 degrees and established new national records three days in a row before the town burned in heat-intensified wildfires. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Friday that the heat wave helped the United States clinch its hottest June on record. Eight states had their hottest Junes, including Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah. These four states are at the heart of yet another heat wave developing in the West that could challenge records and bring dangerously hot temperatures. It will mark the third punishing heat wave in the West this summer, including last week’s in the Pacific Northwest and a record-breaking event in mid-June. This heat wave will not likely be as extreme as the event in the Pacific Northwest, but temperatures could challenge all-time highs around Las Vegas, Redding, Calif., and Sacramento and a few other places between California’s Central Valley and southern Nevada.

Political Crisis in Haiti Deepens Over Rival Claims to Power (NYT) The political storm in Haiti intensified on Thursday as two competing prime ministers claimed the right to run the country, setting up an extraordinary power struggle over who had the legal authority to govern after the brazen assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in his home the day before. Haiti’s interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, says he has taken command of the police and the army, declaring a “state of siege” that essentially put the country under martial law. But constitutional experts questioned his right to impose it, and his claim to power was quickly challenged by a rival. Two days before his death, Mr. Moïse had appointed a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon who was supposed to take up the role this week and told a local newspaper that he was the rightful prime minister instead. The dueling claims created a volatile political crisis that left constitutional experts confused and diplomats worried about a broad societal collapse that could ignite violence or prompt Haitians to flee the country en masse, as they have after natural disasters, coups or other periods of deep instability.

Brexit bill (Reuters) Brexit’s unfortunate fallout continues. The European Union has said that the United Kingdom is liable to pay 47.5 billion euros ($56.2 billion) to the E.U. as part of its post-Brexit financial settlement. The E.U.’s consolidated budget report for 2020 said the money is owed under a series of articles which both sides agreed to as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. The amount is significantly higher than the U.K. expected. Its Office for Budget Responsibility predicted in its March 2018 economic and fiscal outlook report that the bill would amount to 41.4 billion euros ($49 billion). Britain and the E.U. were in a 47-year relationship, and the divorce has been dicey. It took more than four years of acrimonious negotiations and lingering mistrust before the two finally struck a trade and cooperation agreement at the end of December.

Thailand to impose tighter restrictions to slow virus spread (Reuters) Thailand will announce new travel restrictions, mall closures and curbs on gatherings in the capital Bangkok and surrounding provinces starting next week, in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, two government sources told Reuters. The government will issue a stay-home order from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. for 14 days and bar gatherings of more than five people in the capital and high-risk areas, the sources said.

China’s gaming curfew (Foreign Policy) Chinese gaming giant Tencent will begin using facial recognition technology to prevent minors playing mobile video games past a nationwide gaming curfew. China established the 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. curfew in 2019 to combat gaming addiction—deemed a mental health disorder in 2018 by the World Health Organization. Chinese children and teenagers had been circumventing the nighttime ban by using adult’s credentials to log in to the gaming service, prompting the technological intervention.

Biden Accelerates Withdrawal Timetable (Foreign Policy) U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, despite the Taliban’s rapid territorial gains in recent weeks. In a White House address, Biden said that all combat troops would leave Afghanistan by August 31, even earlier than a Sept. 11 deadline he set back in April. Heading off criticism from some conservatives, who have called for a small combat troop presence to remain in the country, Biden—a long-time skeptic of prolonged U.S. involvement in Afghanistan—questioned the cost of such a move. “Let me ask those who want us to stay: How many more—how many thousands more Americans, daughters and sons—are you willing to risk?” Biden said. “I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome.” Although nearly all U.S. troops are set to depart Afghanistan by August, a substantial number—roughly 650—will remain in the country to provide security for the U.S. embassy and Kabul’s international airport.

Drone attacks by Iraqi militias reflect Iran’s waning hold (AP) Iran’s expeditionary Quds Force commander brought one main directive for Iraqi militia faction leaders long beholden to Tehran, when he gathered with them in Baghdad last month: Maintain calm, until after nuclear talks between Iran and the United States. But he was met with defiance. One of the six faction leaders spoke up in their meeting: They could not stay quiet while the death of his predecessor Qassim Soleimani and senior Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a U.S. drone strike went unavenged. Militia attacks have only been increasing against the U.S. in military bases in both Iraq and Syria. Three missile attacks in the last week alone resulted in minor injuries, stoking fears of escalation. There have been at least eight drone attacks targeting the U.S. presence since Biden took office in January, as well as 17 rocket attacks, according to coalition officials. The attacks are blamed on the Iranian-backed militias that make up the bulk of Iraq’s state-supported Popular Mobilization Forces. The Biden administration has responded by twice targeting Iraqi militia groups operating inside Syria, including close to the Iraqi border.

Israel levels family home of alleged Palestinian attacker (AP) Israel on Thursday demolished the family home of a Palestinian-American man accused of carrying out a deadly attack on Israelis in the occupied West Bank, rejecting pleas from his estranged wife that he rarely lived in the house, which she shared with their three children. The demolition drew a rebuke from the United States, which is opposed to punitive home demolitions and has taken a more critical line toward Israel’s policies in the occupied West Bank since President Joe Biden took office this year. “The home of an entire family should not be demolished for the actions of one individual,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price. “There is a critical need to lower the temperature in the West Bank. Punitive demolitions exacerbate tensions at a time when everyone should be focused on principally ensuring calm.”

Religion (Public Religion Research Institute) A new survey of 50,334 Americans over the course of 2020 tracked how religion in the United States has continued to change over recent years. According to the survey, 36 percent of those 18 to 29 years old considered themselves unaffiliated with a religion, substantially higher than the 23 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds who considered themselves as much in 2006, and the 10 percent who were unaffiliated in 1986. That’s also double the rate of religiously unaffiliated compared to those aged 50 to 64. Still, a majority—54 percent—of those 18 to 29 are Christians, though that’s down from the 70 percent of all Americans.

Laughter can make you more productive at work (CNBC) Being inundated with bad news and working from home, for some alone, during the coronavirus pandemic has made it harder than ever for workers to find the time for laughter, but experts argue that it can really make a difference when it comes to productivity. Daniel Sgroi, an economics professor at the U.K.’s University of Warwick, told CNBC via telephone that laughter can trigger the activation of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, both of which are considered mood-boosting hormones. Sgroi explained that laughter “fast tracks networks in the brain to help you concentrate and focus,” working as the equivalent of a productivity boost. Research that Sgroi co-authored, published in 2015, found evidence of a link between happiness and productivity. One of the techniques used in his study was to use comedy to make participants laugh and be happier, which he said boosted productivity by up to 12%. “So it’s almost like being happy generates more time,” he said, explaining that someone who is happy might be able to do in one hour what it takes someone who is less happy to do in an hour and 20 minutes.

[cheriechanstories]

Tale of the Demon Hero

Author's Note: Please don't try to plagiarize, illegally copy this story or even try to distribute a soft copy. If you do, may Karma find you. Bleh! Thank you!

WARNING: All characters appearing in this work are purely fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The Author highly appreciates the readers' feedback, comments and suggestions and open for criticisms for this story. Thank you and enjoy reading. And..."This story is probably the best the writer can offer and the worst that you can read." 

                                                 Prologue

Long ago, far beyond the horizon, was an island that mysteriously sprang up after the "Great Earthquake". This mysterious island was said to be guarded by the "Seven Mythical Beasts". The Seven Mythical Beasts of Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, Shadow and Time provide "elemental magic" that gives life and prosperity in the entire island. After knowing what the island can give, greedy humans decided to explore the ocean just to find it. But, after years of searching, these foreign explorers went back to their country empty-handed.

But a man never gave up, continued his journey beyond the vast ocean and found the mysterious island. The "Seven Mythical Beasts" tried to deceive the man to leave the island but the man proposed a deal. In exchange of letting him alive, he will take care of the island and promised that he will never let anyone invade or find it again.

The "Seven Mythical Beasts" were hesitant at first to trust the words of a human but they finally decided to agree with the deal in one condition, he will do everything to help them prevent the "Great Collision of the Two Worlds " Prophecy from happening or they will bring catastrophe as a punishment on the entire island. The man agreed and the deal was made. After that the "Seven Mythical Beasts" were nowhere to be found.

A decade later, this mysterious island now called "Alementalia" prospered and the man who became the "First Founding Father of Alementalia" and his Council founded the "Main Island" and "Four Villages" that presents the "First Four Alementalian magic": Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. The Villages are divided according to the "Alementalian magic" its people can control.

First, is "Aethyria" or "The Village of the Mysterious Mountain Hikers." Element: Earth. Aethyria is located at the North Region of the Main Island. A village surrounded by huge mountain ranges covered with rich, endless, green forests. Aethyria is known for its famous mining sites and animal sanctuaries. "Aethyrians" are mostly working as "Mountain Hikers", "Earth Miners" and "Forest Guardians."

Second is "Fireiya" or "The Village of Red Blacksmiths. Element: Fire. "Fireiya" is located at the South region of the Main Island. A village surrounded by big and active volcanoes, known for their famous Blacksmiths in forging metal weapons and have the best arsenals in the Main Island. Fireiyans are mostly working as "Blacksmiths" and "Shop Owners".

Third is "Iytheria" or "The Village of the Brave Sky Warriors" Element: Air. "Iytheria" is located at the East Region of the Main Island. A hidden village surrounded by huge windmills used to generate electricity in the entire village and power up hydroelectric water dams in the Main Island. Iytherians are mostly working as "Sky Soldiers" to preserve peace and order in the village.

Lastly, "Wathyria" or "The Village of Mischievous Mafias. Element: Water. "Wathyria" is located at the West Region of the Main Island, a popular island village surrounded by the vast, blue ocean. Wathyria is also known for its best trade ports and delicious seafood dishes. "Wathyrians" are mostly working as "Fishermen", "Fishmonger" some of them as "Mafias for hire".

The "Main Island" is found in the center of Alementalia. It acts as the capital city of the entire Kingdom of Alementalia. The Imperial Court Head Quarters (I.C HQ) is found in the "Main Island." I.C.HQ is a heavily guarded, castle like fortress that has a court room and underground prison rooms. Criminals are brought and locked up in their designated underground prison room during their court trials. There are also dangerous, unknown and wild creatures or beasts that were brought, locked up and killed inside those underground prison for creating havoc around Alementalia.

The Imperial Council (I.C.), the Council is composed of the twelve (12) chosen leaders which were also the persons who govern their selected villages. Each village has three (3) representatives attending every Council Meeting. The Council acts as the judges or jury during criminals' court trials and they also uphold the rules to serve and protect the people living in the entire Alementalia. The I.C HQ has an "Imperial Army" who devoted their lives in protecting the I.C HQ.

The Imperial Army (I.A.) composed of highly-trained and selected persons who work at the I.C. HQ as "Imperial Soldiers". Every year, the I.C. recommends 25 exceptional students from the Imperial Academy (I. Academy) who will be training under the guide of the strongest Imperial Captains and Trainers for at least six months. Each person that received a short, white envelope with a black stamp has the chance to become an "Imperial Soldier" and serve for their selected village and for the I.C. HQ.

 Inside the Imperial Academy

Building A, Rooftop A

                                                ‘As I fell sleep

                                              On such fine day

                                               I heard a voice

                                           Asking for my help.

                              Was it from a dream or a nightmare?'

 "Hey! Rai! Rai? RAI! Wake up, sleepy head. Our afternoon class is about start." Hikaru said as he finally found Rai sleeping on the rooftop, again. "Uh? Who are you?" Rai said as she slowly opened her eyes and immediately doze off.

"Hey! Come on. Seriously? How can you sleep that FAST?!" he said, poking Rai's face with his pencil. "O-okay! That's enough. I am awake." she said, shoving his pencil away from her face. "Here. I will help you to get up." He said as he offered his right hand to help her get up. "Thank you." She cheerfully replied, making him blush.

"S-so, tell me.. How can you really sleep that FAST?" Hikaru said as he curiously asked Rai. "I had a dream." Rai said as she rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Dream? What kind of dream?" he asked. "Uh? I do not remember but it is not a dream, I guess." She replied.

"I think you are just really sleepy, Rai. Let's go." He said as he chuckled, opened the door and went out of the rooftop. "Hey! Hikaru, wait for me." she said as she ran away and went out of the rooftop. 

[antoine-roquentin]

Shortly before last April’s vote, Mr Trump declared that the US would formally recognise Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights from Syria. The seizure of the 1,800-square-kilometre territory in 1967 remains illegal under international law. And days before the most recent ballot in September, Mr Trump publicly alluded to the possibility of a US-Israeli defence pact.

Now US officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have hinted that the US peace plan could be published in the run-up to the March election. Israeli officials have been saying much the same to local media since an unexpected visit this month by Avi Berkowitz, Mr Trump’s new aide overseeing the peace plan. This prompted Mr Gantz, the prime minister’s main challenger, to condemn any such move as “blatant interference” in the election.

In fact, until recently, Mr Netanyahu had been reluctant for the so-called “deal of the century” to be published because it would be unlikely to satisfy the settlers’ most extreme demands. He had feared that disappointment might drive some Likud voters further to the right, towards smaller, even more hardline parties. But Mr Netanyahu is now in such precarious political and legal straits that he appears ready to gamble. Publication of the peace plan could attract some more uncompromising Blue and White voters to his side. They may prefer a seasoned player like Mr Netanyahu to manage White House expectations, rather than a politically inexperienced former army general like Mr Gantz.

Furthermore, the settler parties that could steal votes from Likud as a result of a Trump “peace” initiative are the lynchpin of the coalition Mr Netanyahu needs to maintain his grip on power. Netanyahu’s own party may not gain more seats but overall his far-right bloc could prosper, ultimately securing Mr Netanyahu the election and immunity from prosecution.

The key issue on which Mr Netanyahu and Mr Trump appear to agree is on annexing the bulk of the West Bank – territories categorised in the Oslo accords as Area C, the backbone of any future Palestinian state. Before the September election, Mr Netanyahu announced plans to annex the Jordan Valley, the West Bank’s vast agricultural basin – presumably with Mr Trump’s blessing. Mr Pompeo offered his apparent backing in November by claiming that Israeli settlements in the West Bank were not necessarily “inconsistent with international law”. With that as a cue, Mr Netanyahu’s government convened a panel this month to draft an official proposal to annex the Jordan Valley.

Naftali Bennett, the defence minister and a settler leader, revealed last week that Israel was creating seven new “nature reserves” on Palestinian land. Another 12 existing Israeli-seized sites are to be expanded. Israel would annex Area C “within a short time”, Mr Bennett added. On Saturday, he also ordered the army to bar from the West Bank prominent Israeli left-wing activists who demonstrate alongside Palestinians against land thefts by the settlers and the army. He equated these non-violent protesters with extremist settler groups that have assaulted Palestinians and torched their olive groves and homes.

Referring to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the Palestinian foreign ministry warned that establishment of the nature reserves would “speed up [Mr Bennett’s] appearance before the ICC as a war criminal.” Nonetheless, the settler right is growing ever bolder on the annexation issue – as evidenced by Israel’s increasingly fraught ties with neighbouring Jordan.

King Abullah II recently declared relations with Israel at an “all-time low”. Meanwhile, Ephraim Halevy, a former head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, blamed Israel for showing “contempt towards Jordan” and creating a crisis that jeopardised the two countries’ 1994 peace treaty, a legacy of the Oslo peace process.

If Israel annexes large swaths of the West Bank, stymying Palestinian statehood, that could unleash waves of unrest among the kingdom’s majority population – Palestinians made refugees by Israel during the 1948 and 1967 wars. It could also provoke a mass exodus of West Bank Palestinians into Jordan. Senior Jordanian officials recently told a former Israeli journalist, Ori Nir, that they viewed annexation as an “existential threat” to their country.

In November the Jordanian military conducted a drill against an invasion on its western flank – from Israel’s direction – that included the mock blowing up of bridges over the River Jordan. The Israeli right would be only too delighted to see King Abdullah in trouble. It has long harboured a dream of engineering the destruction of Hashemite rule as a way to transform Jordan, instead of the occupied territories, into the locus of a Palestinian state.

According to Israeli analysts, the right perceives itself as at a historic crossroads. It can annex most of the West Bank and impose an unmistakeable apartheid rule over a restless, rebellious Palestinian population. Or it can realise its Greater Israel ambitions by helping to topple the Hashemite kingdom and encourage the West Bank’s Palestinians to disperse into Jordan.

[blackkudos]

Little Richard

Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), better known as Little Richard, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An influential figure in popular music, Richard's most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his dynamic music and charismatic showmanship laid the foundation for rock and roll, leading him to be given the nickname "The Innovator, The Originator, and The Architect of Rock and Roll". Characterized by his frenetic piano playing and raspy singing voice, Richard's music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk. He influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to hip hop, and his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations to come.

"Tutti Frutti" (1955), one of Richard's signature songs, became an instant hit, reaching No. 2 on Billboard Rhythm and Blues Best-Sellers chart and crossing over to the pop charts in both the United States and overseas in the United Kingdom. It reached No. 21 on the US Billboard Top 100 and No. 29 on the UK singles chart. Richard's next hit single, "Long Tall Sally" (1956), hit No. 1 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues Best-Sellers chart and No. 13 on the Billboard Top 100 while reaching the top ten in the UK. Following his success, Richard built up his backup band, The Upsetters, with the addition of saxophonists Clifford "Gene" Burks and leader Grady Gaines, bassist Olsie "Baysee" Robinson and guitarist Nathaniel "Buster" Douglas. Richard's critically acclaimed debut album Here's Little Richard (1957) peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Top LPs chart.

In 1962, concert promoter Don Arden persuaded Little Richard to tour Europe after telling him his records were still selling well there even though they were not in the US. Having heard of Richard's European tour, Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, asked Arden to allow the band to open for Richard on some tour dates, to which he agreed. The first show for which the Beatles opened was at New Brighton's Tower Ballroom that October. During this time, Richard advised the group on how to perform his songs and taught Paul McCartney his distinctive vocalizations. In the fall of 1963, Richard agreed to rescue a sagging tour featuring The Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley and The Rolling Stones. At the end of that tour, Richard was given his own TV special for Granada Television titled The Little Richard Spectacular.

Richard was honored by many institutions. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of its first group of inductees in 1986. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. In 2015, Richard received a Rhapsody & Rhythm Award from the National Museum of African American Music for his key role in the formation of popular music genres and helping to bring an end to the racial divide on the music charts and in concert in the mid-1950s changing American culture significantly. "Tutti Frutti" was included in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2010, which stated that his "unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music".

Early life

Richard Wayne Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, on December 5, 1932, the third of 12 children of Leva Mae (née Stewart) and Charles "Bud" Penniman. His father was a church deacon who sold bootlegged moonshine on the side and owned a nightclub called the Tip In Inn. His mother was a member of Macon's New Hope Baptist Church. Initially, his first name was supposed to have been "Ricardo", but an error resulted in "Richard" instead. The Penniman children were raised in a neighborhood of Macon called Pleasant Hill. In childhood, he was nicknamed "Lil' Richard" by his family because of his small and skinny frame. A mischievous child who played pranks on neighbors, Penniman began singing in church at a young age. Possibly as a result of complications at birth, he had a slight deformity that left one of his legs shorter than the other. This produced an unusual gait, and he was mocked for his allegedly effeminate appearance.

Penniman's family was very religious and joined various A.M.E., Baptist, and Pentecostal churches, with some family members becoming ministers. He enjoyed the Pentecostal churches the most, because of their charismatic worship and live music. He later recalled that people in his neighborhood sang gospel songs throughout the day during segregation to keep a positive outlook, because "there was so much poverty, so much prejudice in those days". He had observed that people sang "to feel their connection with God" and to wash their trials and burdens away. Gifted with a loud singing voice, Penniman recalled that he was "always changing the key upwards" and that they once stopped him from singing in church for "screaming and hollering" so loud, earning him the nickname "War Hawk". As a child, he would "beat on the steps of the house, and on tin cans and pots and pans, or whatever" while singing, which annoyed neighbors.

Penniman's initial musical influences were gospel performers such as Brother Joe May, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson, and Marion Williams. May, a singing evangelist who was known as "the Thunderbolt of the Middle West" because of his phenomenal range and vocal power, inspired Penniman to become a preacher. Penniman attended Macon's Hudson High School, where he was a below-average student. He eventually learned to play alto saxophone, joining his school's marching band while in fifth grade. While in high school, he got a part-time job at Macon City Auditorium for local secular and gospel concert promoter Clint Brantley. He sold Coca-Cola to crowds during concerts of star performers of the day such as Cab Calloway, Lucky Millinder, and his favorite singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Music career

Beginnings (1947–1955)

In October 1947, Sister Rosetta Tharpe overheard 14-year-old Penniman singing her songs before a performance at the Macon City Auditorium. She invited him to open her show. After the show, Tharpe paid him, inspiring him to become a professional performer. Penniman stated that he was inspired to play the piano after he heard Ike Turner's piano intro on "Rocket 88." In 1949, he began performing in Doctor Nubillo's traveling show. Penniman was inspired to wear turbans and capes in his career by Nubillo, who also "carried a black stick and exhibited something he called 'the devil's child' - the dried-up body of a baby with claw feet like a bird and horns on its head." Nubillo told Penniman he was "gonna be famous" but that he would have to "go where the grass is greener."

Before entering the tenth grade, Penniman left his family home and joined Dr. Hudson's Medicine Show in 1949, performing Louis Jordan's "Caldonia". Penniman recalled the song was the first secular R&B song he learned, since his family had strict rules against playing R&B music, which they considered "devil music." Penniman also performed in drag during this time, performing under the name "Princess LaVonne". In 1950, Penniman joined his first musical band, Buster Brown's Orchestra, where Brown gave him the name Little Richard. Performing in the minstrel show circuit, Penniman, in and out of drag, performed for various vaudeville acts such as Sugarfoot Sam from Alabam, the Tidy Jolly Steppers, the King Brothers Circus and Broadway Follies. Having settled in Atlanta, Georgia at this point, Penniman began listening to rhythm and blues and frequented Atlanta clubs, including the Harlem Theater and the Royal Peacock where he saw performers such as Roy Brown and Billy Wright onstage. Penniman was further influenced by Brown's and Wright's flashy style of showmanship and was even more influenced by Wright's flamboyant persona and showmanship. Inspired by Brown and Wright, Penniman decided to become a rhythm and blues singer and after befriending Wright, began to learn how to be an entertainer from him, and began adapting a pompadour hairdo similar to Wright's, as well as styling a pencil mustache, using Wright's brand of facial pancake makeup and wearing flashier clothes.

Impressed by his singing voice, Wright put him in contact with Zenas Sears, a local DJ. Sears recorded Penniman at his station, backed by Wright's band. The recordings led to a contract that year with RCA Victor. Penniman recorded a total of eight sides for RCA Victor, including the blues ballad, "Every Hour," which became his first single and a hit in Georgia. The release of "Every Hour" improved his relationship with his father, who began regularly playing the song on his nightclub jukebox. Shortly after the release of "Every Hour", Penniman was hired to front Perry Welch and His Orchestra and played at clubs and army bases for $100 a week. After a year with RCA Victor, Penniman left the label in February 1952 after his records there failed to become national hits. That same month, Penniman's father Bud was killed after a confrontation outside his club. Penniman continued to perform during this time and Clint Brantley agreed to manage Penniman's career. Moving to Houston, he formed a band called the Tempo Toppers, performing as part of blues package tours in Southern clubs such as Club Tijuana in New Orleans and Club Matinee in Houston. Penniman signed with Don Robey's Peacock Records in February 1953, recording eight sides, including four with Johnny Otis and his band that were unreleased at the time. Like his venture with RCA Victor, none of Penniman's Peacock singles charted despite Penniman's growing reputation for his high energy antics onstage. Penniman began complaining of monetary issues with Robey, resulting in Penniman getting knocked out by Robey during a scuffle. Disillusioned by the record business, Penniman returned to Macon in 1954 and, struggling with poverty, settled for work as a dishwasher for Greyhound Lines. That year, he disbanded the Tempo Toppers and formed a harder-driving rhythm and blues band, the Upsetters, which included drummer Charles Connor and saxophonist Wilbert "Lee Diamond" Smith and toured under Brantley's management. The band supported R&B singer Christine Kittrell on some recordings, then began to tour successfully, even without a bass guitarist, forcing drummer Connor to thump "real hard" on his bass drum in order to get a "bass fiddle effect." Around this time, Penniman signed a contract to tour with fellow R&B singer Little Johnny Taylor.

At the suggestion of Lloyd Price, Penniman sent a demo to Price's label, Specialty Records, in February 1955. Months passed before Penniman got a call from the label. Finally, in September of that year, Specialty owner Art Rupe loaned Penniman money to buy out of his Peacock contract and set him to work with producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell. Upon hearing Penniman's demo, Blackwell felt Penniman was Specialty's answer to Ray Charles, however, Penniman told him he preferred the sound of Fats Domino. Blackwell sent him to New Orleans where he recorded at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studios, recording there with several of Domino's session musicians, including drummer Earl Palmer and saxophonist Lee Allen. Initially, Penniman's recordings that month failed to produce much inspiration or interest. Frustrated, Blackwell and Penniman went to relax at the Dew Drop Inn nightclub. According to Blackwell, Penniman then launched into a risqué dirty blues he titled "Tutti Frutti". Blackwell said he felt the song had hit potential and hired songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie to replace some of Little Richard's sexual lyrics with less controversial words. Recorded in three takes in September 1955, "Tutti Frutti" was released as a single that November.

Initial success and conversion (1955–1962)

"Tutti Frutti" became an instant hit, reaching No. 2 on Billboard magazine's Rhythm and Blues Best-Sellers chart and crossing over to the pop charts in both the United States and overseas in the United Kingdom. It reached No. 21 on the Billboard Top 100 in America and No. 29 on the British singles chart, eventually selling a million copies.

Penniman's next hit single, "Long Tall Sally" (1956), hit number one on the R&B chart and number 13 on the Top 100 while reaching the top ten in Britain. Like "Tutti Frutti", it sold over a million copies. Following his success, Little Richard built up his backup band, The Upsetters, with the addition of saxophonists Clifford "Gene" Burks and leader Grady Gaines, bassist Olsie "Baysee" Robinson and guitarist Nathaniel "Buster" Douglas. Penniman began performing on package tours across the United States. Art Rupe described the differences between Penniman and a similar hitmaker of the early rock and roll period by stating that, while "the similarities between Little Richard and Fats Domino for recording purposes were close", Penniman would sometimes stand up at the piano while he was recording and that onstage, where Domino was "plodding, very slow", Penniman was "very dynamic, completely uninhibited, unpredictable, wild. So the band took on the ambience of the vocalist."

Penniman's performances, like most early rock and roll shows, resulted in integrated audience reaction during an era where public places were divided into "white" and "colored" domains. In these package tours, Penniman and other artists such as Fats Domino and Chuck Berry would enable audiences of both races to enter the building, albeit still segregated (e.g. blacks on the balcony and whites on the main floor). As his bandleader at the time, H.B. Barnum, explained, Penniman's performances enabled audiences to come together to dance. Despite broadcasts on TV from local supremacist groups such as the North Alabama White Citizens Council warning that rock and roll "brings the races together," Penniman's popularity was helping to shatter the myth that black performers could not successfully perform at "white-only venues," especially in the South where racism was most overt. Penniman's high-energy antics included lifting his leg while playing the piano, climbing on top of his piano, running on and off the stage and throwing his souvenirs to the audience. Penniman also began using capes and suits studded with multi-colored precious stones and sequins. Penniman said he began to be more flamboyant onstage so no one would think he was "after the white girls".

Penniman claims that a show at Baltimore's Royal Theatre in June 1956 led to women throwing their undergarments onstage at him, resulting in other female fans repeating the action, saying it was "the first time" that had happened to any artist. Penniman's show would stop several times that night due to fans being restrained from jumping off the balcony and then rushing to the stage to touch Penniman. Overall, Penniman would produce seven singles in the United States alone in 1956, with five of them also charting in the UK, including "Slippin' and Slidin'", "Rip It Up", "Ready Teddy", "The Girl Can't Help It" and "Lucille". Immediately after releasing "Tutti Frutti", which was then protocol for the industry, "safer" white recording artists such as Pat Boone re-recorded the song, sending the song to the top twenty of the charts, several positions higher than Penniman's. At the same time, fellow rock and roll peers such as Elvis Presley and Bill Haley also recorded Penniman's songs later in the year. Befriending Alan Freed, Freed eventually put him in his "rock and roll" movies such as Don't Knock the Rock and Mister Rock and Roll. In 1957, Penniman was giving a larger singing role in the film, The Girl Can't Help It. That year, he scored more hit success with songs such as "Jenny, Jenny" and "Keep A-Knockin'" the latter becoming his first top ten single on the Billboard Top 100. By the time he left Specialty in 1959, Penniman had scored a total of nine top 40 pop singles and seventeen top 40 R&B singles.

Penniman performed at the famed twelfth Cavalcade of Jazz held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on September 2, 1956. Also performing that day were Dinah Washington, The Mel Williams Dots, Julie Stevens, Chuck Higgin's Orchestra, Bo Rhambo, Willie Hayden & Five Black Birds, The Premiers, Gerald Wilson and His 20-Pc. Recording Orchestra and Jerry Gray and his Orchestra.

Shortly after the release of "Tutti Frutti", Penniman relocated to Los Angeles. After achieving success as a recording artist and live performer, Penniman settled at a wealthy, formerly predominantly white neighborhood, living close to black celebrities such as boxer Joe Louis. Penniman's first album, Here's Little Richard, was released by Specialty in May 1957 and peaked at number thirteen on the Billboard Top LPs chart. Similar to most albums released during that era, the album featured six released singles and "filler" tracks. In early 1958, Specialty released his second album, Little Richard, which didn't chart. In October 1957, Penniman embarked on a package tour in Australia with Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran. During the middle of the tour, he shocked the public by announcing he was following a life in the ministry. Penniman would claim in his autobiography that during a flight from Melbourne to Sydney that his plane was experiencing some difficulty and he claimed to have seen the plane's red hot engines and felt angels were "holding it up". At the end of his Sydney performance, Penniman saw a bright red fireball flying across the sky above him and claimed he was "deeply shaken". Though it was eventually told to him that it was the launching of the first artificial Earth satellite Sputnik 1, Penniman claimed he took it as a "sign from God" to repent from performing secular music and his wild lifestyle at the time.

Returning to the States ten days earlier than expected, Penniman read news of his original flight having crashed into the Pacific Ocean as a further sign to "do as God wanted". After a "farewell performance" at the Apollo Theater and a "final" recording session with Specialty later that month, Penniman enrolled at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, to study theology. Despite his claims of spiritual rebirth, Penniman admitted his reasons for leaving were more monetary. During his tenure at Specialty, despite earning millions for the label, Penniman complained that he did not know the label had cut the percentage of royalties he was to earn for his recordings. Specialty continued to release Penniman recordings, including "Good Golly, Miss Molly" and his unique version of “Kansas City”, until 1960. Finally ending his contract with the label, Penniman agreed to relinquish any royalties for his material. In 1958, Penniman formed the Little Richard Evangelistic Team, traveling across the country to preach. A month after his conversion, Penniman met Ernestine Harvin, a secretary from Washington, D.C., and the couple married on July 11, 1959. Penniman ventured into gospel music, first recording for End Records, before signing with Mercury Records in 1961, where he eventually released King of the Gospel Singers, in 1962, produced by Quincy Jones, who later remarked that Penniman's vocals impressed him more than any other vocalist he had worked with. His childhood heroine, Mahalia Jackson, wrote in the liner notes of the album that Penniman "sang gospel the way it should be sung". While Penniman was no longer charting in the US, some of his gospel songs such as "He's Not Just a Soldier" and "He Got What He Wanted", reached the pop charts in the US and the UK.

Return to secular music (1962–1979)

In 1962, concert promoter Don Arden persuaded Little Richard to tour Europe after telling him his records were still selling well there. With fellow rock singer Sam Cooke as an opening act, Penniman, who featured a teenage Billy Preston in his gospel band, figured it was a gospel tour and, after Cooke's delayed arrival forced him to cancel his show on the opening date, performed only gospel material on the show, leading to boos from the audience expecting Penniman to sing his rock and roll hits. The following night, Penniman viewed Cooke's well-received performance. Bringing back his competitive drive, Penniman and Preston warmed up in darkness before launching into "Long Tall Sally", resulting in frenetic, hysterical responses from the audience. A show at Mansfield's Granada Theatre ended early after fans rushed the stage. Hearing of Penniman's shows, Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, asked Don Arden to allow his band to open for Penniman on some tour dates, to which he agreed. The first show for which the Beatles opened was at New Brighton's Tower Ballroom that October. The following month they, along with Swedish singer Jerry Williams and his band The Violents, opened for Little Richard at the Star-Club in Hamburg. During this time, Little Richard advised the group on how to perform his songs and taught Paul McCartney his distinctive vocalizations. Back in the US, Little Richard recorded six rock and roll songs with the Upsetters for Little Star Records, under the name "World Famous Upsetters", hoping this would keep his options open in maintaining his position as a minister.

In the fall of 1963, Penniman was called by a concert promoter to rescue a sagging tour featuring The Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley and The Rolling Stones. Penniman agreed and helped to save the tour from flopping. At the end of that tour, Penniman was given his own TV special for Granada Television titled The Little Richard Spectacular. The special became a rating hit and after 60,000 fan letters, was rebroadcast twice. In 1964, now openly re-embracing rock and roll again, Penniman released "Bama Lama Bama Loo" on Specialty Records. Due to his UK exposure, the song reached the top twenty there but only climbed to number 82 in his native country. Later in the year, he signed with Vee-Jay Records, then on its dying legs, to release his "comeback" album, Little Richard Is Back. Due to the arrival of the Beatles and other British bands as well as the rise of soul labels such as Motown and Stax Records and the popularity of James Brown, Penniman's new releases were not well promoted or well received by radio stations. In November 1964, Jimi Hendrix joined Penniman's Upsetters band as a full member. In the Spring of 1965, Penniman took Hendrix and Billy Preston to a New York studio where they recorded the Don Covay soul ballad, "I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Got Me)", which became a number 12 R&B hit.

Hendrix and Penniman clashed over the spotlight, Hendrix's tardiness, wardrobe and Hendrix's stage antics. Hendrix also complained over not being properly paid by Penniman. In July 1965, Richard's Brother Charles fired Jimi [This is possibly incorrect. Jimi wrote to his father, Al Hendrix, that he quit Little Richard over money problems - he was owed 1,000 dollars.] Hendrix then rejoined The Isley Brothers' band, the IB Specials. Penniman later signed with Modern Records, releasing a modest charter, "Do You Feel It?" before leaving for Okeh Records in early 1966. Two poorly produced albums were released over time, first a live album, cut at the Domino, in Atlanta, Georgia. Okeh paired Penniman with his old friend, Larry Williams, who produced two albums on Penniman, including the studio release, The Explosive Little Richard, which produced the modest charters "Poor Dog" and "Commandments of Love". His second Okeh album, Little Richard's Greatest Hits Recorded Live!, returned him to the album charts. In 1967, Penniman signed with Brunswick Records but after clashing with the label over musical direction, he left the label the following year.

Penniman felt that producers on his labels worked in not promoting his records during this period. Later, he claimed they kept trying to push him to records similar to Motown and felt he wasn't treated with appropriate respect. Little Richard often performed in dingy clubs and lounges with little support from his label. While Penniman managed to perform in huge venues overseas such as England and France, Penniman was forced to perform in the Chitlin' Circuit. Penniman's flamboyant look, while a hit during the 1950s, failed to help his labels to promote him to more conservative black record buyers. Penniman later claimed that his decision to "backslide" from his ministry, led religious clergymen to protest his new recordings. Making matters worse, Penniman said, was his insistence on performing in front of integrated audiences at the time of the black liberation movement shortly after the Watts riots and the formation of the Black Panthers prevented many black radio disk jockeys in certain areas of the country, including Los Angeles, to play his music. Now acting as his manager, Larry Williams convinced Penniman to focus on his live shows. By 1968, he had ditched the Upsetters for his new backup band, the Crown Jewels, performing on the Canadian TV show, "Where It's At". Penniman was also featured on the Monkees TV special 33⅓ Revolutions per Monkee in April 1969. Williams booked Penniman shows in Las Vegas casinos and resorts, leading Penniman to adopt a wilder flamboyant and androgynous look, inspired by the success of his former backing guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Penniman was soon booked at rock festivals such as the Atlantic City Pop Festival where he stole the show from headliner Janis Joplin. Penniman produced a similar show stealer at the Toronto Pop Festival with John Lennon as the headliner. These successes brought Little Richard to talk shows such as the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and the Dick Cavett Show, making him a major celebrity again.

Responding to his reputation as a successful concert performer, Reprise Records signed Penniman in 1970 where he released the album, The Rill Thing, with the philosophical single, "Freedom Blues", becoming his biggest charted single in years. In May 1970, Penniman made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Despite the success of "Freedom Blues", none of Penniman's other Reprise singles charted with the exception of "Greenwood, Mississippi", a swamp rock original by guitar hero, Travis Wammack, who incidentally played on the track. It charted only briefly on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box pop chart, also on the Billboard Country charts; made a strong showing on WWRL in New York, before disappearing. Penniman became a featured guest instrumentalist and vocalist on recordings by acts such as Delaney and Bonnie, Joey Covington and Joe Walsh and was prominently featured on Canned Heat's 1972 hit single, "Rockin' with the King". To keep up with his finances and bookings, Penniman and three of his brothers formed a management company, Bud Hole Incorporated. By 1972, Penniman had entered the rock and roll revival circuit, and that year, he co-headlined the London Rock and Roll Show at Wembley Stadium with fellow peer Chuck Berry where he'd come on stage and announce himself "the king of rock and roll", fittingly also the title of his 1971 album with Reprise and told the packed audience there to "let it all hang out"; Penniman, however, was booed during the show when he climbed on top of his piano and stopped singing; he also seemed to ignore much of the crowd. To make matters worse, he showed up with just five musicians and struggled through low lighting and bad microphones. When the concert film documenting the show came out, his performance was considered generally strong, though his fans noticed a drop in energy and vocal artistry. Two songs he performed did not make the final cut of the film. The following year, he recorded a charting soul ballad, "In the Middle of the Night", released with proceeds donated to victims of tornadoes that had caused damage in 12 states. In 1976, Penniman re-recorded eighteen of his classic rock and roll hits in Nashville for K-Tel Records, in high tech stereo recreations, with a single featuring live versions of "Good Golly Miss Molly" and "Rip It Up" reaching the UK singles chart. Penniman's performances began to take a toll by 1973, however, suffering from voice problems and quirky marathon renditions. Penniman later admitted that he was heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol at the time. By 1977, worn out from years of abuse and wild partying as well as a string of personal tragedies, Penniman quit rock and roll again and returned to evangelism, releasing one gospel album, God's Beautiful City, in 1979.

Comeback (1984–1999)

In 1984, Penniman filed a $112 million lawsuit against Specialty Records; Art Rupe and his publishing company, Venice Music; and ATV Music for not paying royalties to him after he left the label in 1959. The suit was settled out of court in 1986. According to some reports, Michael Jackson allegedly gave him monetary compensation for his work when he co-owned (with Sony-ATV) songs by the Beatles and Little Richard. In 1985, Charles White released the singer's authorized biography, Quasar of Rock: The Life and Times of Little Richard, which returned Penniman to the spotlight. Penniman returned to show business in what Rolling Stone would refer to as a "formidable comeback" following the book's release.

Reconciling his roles as evangelist and rock and roll musician for the first time, Penniman stated that the genre could be used for good or evil. After accepting a role in the film Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Little Richard and Billy Preston penned the faith-based rock and roll song "Great Gosh A'Mighty" for its soundtrack. Little Richard won critical acclaim for his film role, and the song found success on the American and British charts. The hit led to the release of the album Lifetime Friend (1986) on Warner Bros. Records, with songs deemed "messages in rhythm", including a gospel rap track. In addition to a version of "Great Gosh A'Mighty", cut in England, the album featured two singles that charted in the UK, "Somebody's Comin'" and "Operator". Penniman spent much of the rest of the decade as a guest on TV shows and appearing in films, winning new fans with what was referred to as his "unique comedic timing". In 1989, Penniman provided rhythmic preaching and background vocals on the extended live version of the U2–B.B. King hit "When Love Comes to Town". That same year, Little Richard returned to singing his classic hits following a performance of "Lucille" at an AIDS benefit concert.

In 1990, Penniman contributed a spoken-word rap on Living Colour's hit song, "Elvis Is Dead", from their album Time's Up. That same year he appeared in a cameo for the music video of Cinderella's "Shelter Me". The following year, he was one of the featured performers on the hit single and video "Voices That Care" that was produced to help boost the morale of US troops involved in Operation Desert Storm. He also recorded a rock and roll version of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" that year that led to a deal with Disney Records, resulting in the release of a hit 1992 children's album, Shake It All About.

In 1994, Penniman sang the theme song to the award-winning PBS Kids and TLC animated television series The Magic School Bus based on the book series created by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen and published by Scholastic Corporation. He also opened Wrestlemania X from Madison Square Garden on March 20 that year miming to his reworked rendition of "America the Beautiful".

Throughout the 1990s, Penniman performed around the world and appeared on TV, film, and tracks with other artists, including Jon Bon Jovi, Elton John and Solomon Burke. In 1992 he released his final album, Little Richard Meets Masayoshi Takanaka featuring members of Richard's then current touring band.

Later years (2000–2020)

In 2000, Penniman's life was dramatized for the biographical film Little Richard, which focused on his early years, including his heyday, his religious conversion and his return to secular music in the early 1960s. Penniman was played by Leon, who earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for his performance in this role. In 2002, Penniman contributed to the Johnny Cash tribute album, Kindred Spirits: A Tribute to the Songs of Johnny Cash. In 2004–2005, he released two sets of unreleased and rare cuts, from the Okeh label 1966/67 and the Reprise label 1970/72. Included was the full “Southern Child” album, produced and composed mostly by Richard, scheduled for release in 1972, but shelved. In 2006, Little Richard was featured in a popular advertisement for the GEICO brand. A 2005 recording of his duet vocals with Jerry Lee Lewis on a cover of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" was included on Lewis's 2006 album, Last Man Standing. The same year, Penniman was a guest judge on the TV series Celebrity Duets. Penniman and Lewis performed alongside John Fogerty at the 2008 Grammy Awards in a tribute to the two artists considered to be cornerstones of rock and roll by the NARAS. That same year, Penniman appeared on radio host Don Imus' benefit album for sick children, The Imus Ranch Record. In June 2010, Little Richard recorded a gospel track for an upcoming tribute album to songwriting legend Dottie Rambo. In 2009, Penniman was Inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame in a concert in New Orleans, attended by Fats Domino.

Throughout the first decade of the new millennium, Penniman kept up a stringent touring schedule, performing primarily in the United States and Europe. However, sciatic nerve pain in his left leg and then replacement of the involved hip began affecting the frequency of his performances by 2010. Despite his health problems, Penniman continued to perform to receptive audiences and critics. Rolling Stone reported that at a performance at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C., in June 2012, Penniman was "still full of fire, still a master showman, his voice still loaded with deep gospel and raunchy power." Little Richard performed a full 90-minute show at the Pensacola Interstate Fair in Pensacola, Florida, in October 2012, at the age of 79, and headlined at the Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas during Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend in March 2013. In September 2013, Rolling Stone published an interview with Penniman who admitted that he would be retiring from performing. "I am done, in a sense, because I don't feel like doing anything right now." He told in the magazine adding, "I think my legacy should be that when I started in showbusiness there wasn't no such thing as rock'n'roll. When I started with 'Tutti Frutti', that's when rock really started rocking."

In 2014, actor Brandon Mychal Smith received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Penniman in the James Brown biographical drama film Get on Up. Mick Jagger co-produced the motion picture. In June 2015, Penniman appeared before a paying audience, clad in sparkly boots and a brightly colored jacket at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville to receive the Rhapsody & Rhythm Award from and raise funds for the National Museum of African American Music. It was reported that he charmed the crowd by reminiscing about his early days working in Nashville nightclubs. In May 2016, the National Museum of African American Music issued a press release indicating that Penniman was one of the key artists and music industry leaders that attended its 3rd annual Celebration of Legends Luncheon in Nashville honoring Shirley Caesar, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff with Rhapsody & Rhythm Awards. In 2016, a new CD was released on Hitman Records, California (I'm Comin') with released and previously unreleased material from the 1970s, including an a cappella version of his 1975 single release, "Try To Help Your Brother". On September 6, 2017, Penniman participated in a long television interview, for the Christian Three Angels Broadcasting Network, clean-shaven and without make-up and dressed in a blue paisley coat and tie, in a wheelchair and proceeded to discuss his lifelong Christian faith.

On October 23, 2019, Penniman addressed the audience after appearing to receive the Distinguished Artist Award at the 2019 Tennessee Governor's Arts Awards at the Governor's Residence in Nashville, Tennessee.

On May 09, 2020, Penniman passed away at the age of 87 years old.

Personal life

Relationships and family

Around 1956, Penniman became involved with Audrey Robinson, a 16-year-old college student, originally from Savannah, Georgia. Penniman and Robinson quickly got acquainted despite Robinson not being a fan of rock and roll music. Penniman claimed in his 1984 autobiography that he invited other men to have sexual encounters with her in groups and claimed to have once invited Buddy Holly to have sex with her; Robinson denied those claims. Penniman proposed marriage to Robinson shortly before he converted but Robinson refused. Robinson later became known under the name Lee Angel and became a stripper and socialite. Penniman reconnected with Robinson in the 1960s, though she left him again after his drug abuse worsened. Robinson was interviewed for Penniman's 1985 BBC documentary on the South Bank Show and denied Penniman's claims as they went back and forth. According to Robinson, Penniman would use her to buy food in white-only fast food stores as he could not enter any due to the color of his skin.

Penniman met his only wife, Ernestine Harvin, at an evangelical rally in October 1957. They began dating that year and wed on July 12, 1959, in California. According to Harvin, she and Little Richard initially enjoyed a happy marriage with "normal" sexual relations. Harvin claimed when the marriage ended in divorce in 1964, it was due to her husband's celebrity status, noting that it had made life difficult for her. Penniman would claim the marriage fell apart due to his being a neglectful husband and his sexuality. Both Robinson and Harvin denied Penniman's claims that he was gay and Penniman believed they did not know it because he was "such a pumper in those days". During the marriage, Penniman and Harvin adopted a one-year-old boy, Danny Jones, from a late church associate. Little Richard and his son remained close, with Jones often acting as one of his bodyguards. Ernestine later married Mcdonald Campbell in Santa Barbara, California, on March 23, 1975.

Sexuality

Penniman said in 1984 that he played with just girls as a child and was subjected to homophobic jokes and ridicule because of his manner of walk and talk. His father brutally punished him whenever he caught him wearing his mother's makeup and clothing. The singer said he had been sexually involved with both sexes as a teenager. Because of his effeminate mannerisms, his father kicked him out of their family home at 15. In 1985, on The South Bank Show, Penniman explained, "my daddy put me out of the house. He said he wanted seven boys, and I had spoiled it, because I was gay."

Penniman first got involved in voyeurism in his early twenties, when a female friend would drive him around and pick up men who would allow him to watch them have sex in the backseat of cars. Penniman's activity caught the attention of Macon police in 1955 and he was arrested after a gas station attendant in Macon reported sexual activity in a car Penniman was occupying with a heterosexual couple. Cited on a sexual misconduct charge, he spent three days in jail and was temporarily banned from performing in Macon, Georgia.

In the early 1950s, Penniman became acquainted with openly gay musician Billy Wright, who helped in establishing Penniman's look, advising him to use pancake makeup on his face and wear his hair in a long-haired pompadour style similar to his. As Penniman got used to the makeup, he ordered his band, the Upsetters, to wear the makeup too, to gain entry into predominantly white venues during performances, later stating, "I wore the make-up so that white men wouldn't think I was after the white girls. It made things easier for me, plus it was colorful too." In 2000, Richard told Jet magazine, "I figure if being called a sissy would make me famous, let them say what they want to." Penniman's look, however, still attracted female audiences, who would send him naked photos and their phone numbers. Groupies began throwing undergarments at Penniman during performances.

During Penniman's heyday, his obsession with voyeurism carried on with his girlfriend Audrey Robinson. Penniman later wrote that Robinson would have sex with men while she sexually stimulated Penniman. Despite saying he was "born again" after leaving rock and roll for the church in 1957, Penniman left Oakwood College after exposing himself to a male student. After the incident was reported to the student's father, Penniman withdrew from the college. In 1962, Penniman was arrested for spying on men urinating in toilets at a Trailways bus station in Long Beach, California. Audrey Robinson disputed Penniman's claims of homosexuality in 1985. After re-embracing rock and roll in the mid-1960s, he began participating in orgies and continued to be a voyeur. In his 1984 book, while demeaning homosexuality as "unnatural" and "contagious", he told Charles White he was "omnisexual". In 1995, Little Richard told Penthouse that he always knew he was gay, saying "I've been gay all my life". In 2007, Mojo Magazine referred to Little Richard as "bisexual". In October 2017, Penniman once again denounced homosexuality in an interview with Three Angels Broadcasting Network, calling homosexual and transgender identity "unnatural affection" that goes against "the way God wants you to live".

Drug use

During his initial heyday in the 1950s rock and roll scene, Penniman was a teetotaler abstaining from alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Penniman often fined bandmates for drug and alcohol use during this era. By the mid-1960s, however, Penniman began drinking heavy amounts of alcohol and smoking cigarettes and marijuana. By 1972, he had developed an addiction to cocaine. He later lamented during that period, "They should have called me Lil Cocaine, I was sniffing so much of that stuff!" By 1975, he had developed addictions to both heroin and PCP, otherwise known as "angel dust". His drug and alcohol use began to affect his professional career and personal life. "I lost my reasoning", he later recalled.

He said of his cocaine addiction that he did whatever he could to use cocaine. Penniman admitted that his addictions to cocaine, PCP and heroin were costing him as much as $1,000 a day. In 1977, longtime friend Larry Williams once showed up with a gun and threatened to kill him for failing to pay his drug debt. Penniman later mentioned that this was the most fearful moment of his life because Williams's own drug addiction made him wildly unpredictable. Penniman did, however, also acknowledge that he and Williams were "very close friends" and when reminiscing of the drug-fueled clash, he recalled thinking "I knew he loved me – I hoped he did!" Within that same year, Penniman had several devastating personal experiences, including his brother Tony's death of a heart attack, the accidental shooting of his nephew that he loved like a son, and the murder of two close personal friends – one a valet at "the heroin man's house." The combination of these experiences convinced the singer to give up drugs including alcohol, along with rock and roll, and return to the ministry.

Religion

Penniman's family had deep evangelical (Baptist and African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME)) Christian roots, including two uncles and a grandfather who were preachers. He also took part in Macon's Pentecostal churches, which were his favorites mainly due to their music, charismatic praise, dancing in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. At age 10, influenced by Pentecostalism, Little Richard would go around saying he was a faith healer, singing gospel music to people who were feeling sick and touching them. He later recalled that they would often indicate that they felt better after he prayed for them and would sometimes give him money. Little Richard had aspirations of being a preacher due to the influence of singing evangelist Brother Joe May.

After he was born again in 1957, Penniman enrolled at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama, a mostly black Seventh-day Adventist college, to study theology. Little Richard returned to secular music in the early 1960s. He was eventually ordained a minister in 1970 and resumed evangelical activities in 1977. Penniman represented Memorial Bibles International and sold their Black Heritage Bible, which highlighted the Book's many black characters. As a preacher, he evangelized in small churches and packed auditoriums of 20,000 or more. His preaching focused on uniting the races and bringing lost souls to repentance through God's love. In 1984, Penniman's mother, Leva Mae, died following a period of illness. Only a few months prior to her death, Penniman promised her that he would remain a Christian.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Penniman officiated at celebrity weddings. In 2006, Little Richard wedded twenty couples who won a contest in one ceremony. The musician used his experience and knowledge as a minister and elder statesman of rock and roll to preach at funerals of musical friends such as Wilson Pickett and Ike Turner. At a benefit concert in 2009 to raise funds to help rebuild children's playgrounds destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, Penniman asked guest of honor Fats Domino to pray with him and others. His assistants handed out inspirational booklets at the concert, which was a common practice at Penniman's shows. Penniman told a Howard Theatre, Washington, D.C. audience in June 2012, "I know this is not Church, but get close to the Lord. The world is getting close to the end. Get close to the Lord." In 2013, Penniman elaborated on his spiritual philosophies, stating "God talked to me the other night. He said He's getting ready to come. The world's getting ready to end and He's coming, wrapped in flames of fire with a rainbow around his throne." Rolling Stone reported his apocalyptic prophesies generated snickers from some audience members as well as cheers of support. Penniman responded to the laughter by stating: "When I talk to you about [Jesus], I'm not playing. I'm almost 81 years old. Without God, I wouldn't be here."

In 2017, he came back to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and was rebaptized. 3ABN interviewed Penniman, and later he shared his personal testimony at 3ABN Fall Camp Meeting 2017.

Health problems

In October 1985, Penniman returned to the United States from England, where he had finished recording his album Lifetime Friend, to film a guest spot on the show, Miami Vice. Following the taping, he accidentally crashed his sports car into a telephone pole in West Hollywood, California. He suffered a broken right leg, broken ribs and head and facial injuries. His recovery from the accident took several months. His accident prevented him from being able to attend the inaugural Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in January 1986 where he was one of several inductees. He instead supplied a recorded message.

In 2007, Little Richard began having problems walking due to sciatica in his left leg, requiring him to use crutches. In November 2009, he entered a hospital to have replacement surgery on his left hip. Despite returning to performance the following year, Penniman's problems with his hip continued and he has since been brought onstage by wheelchair. He has told fans that his surgery has his hip "breaking inside" and refuses to have further work on it. On September 30, 2013, he revealed to CeeLo Green at a Recording Academy fundraiser that he had suffered a heart attack at his home the week prior and stated he used aspirin and had his son turn the air conditioner on, which his doctor confirmed had saved his life. Little Richard stated, "Jesus had something for me. He brought me through".

On April 28, 2016, Little Richard's friend, Bootsy Collins, stated on his Facebook page that, "he is not in the best of health so I ask all the Funkateers to lift him up." Reports subsequently began being published on the internet stating that Little Richard was in grave health and that his family were gathering at his bedside. On May 3, 2016, Rolling Stone reported that Little Richard and his lawyer provided a health information update in which Richard stated, "not only is my family not gathering around me because I'm ill, but I'm still singing. I don't perform like I used to, but I have my singing voice, I walk around, I had hip surgery a while ago but I'm healthy.'" His lawyer also reported: "He's 83. I don't know how many 83-year-olds still get up and rock it out every week, but in light of the rumors, I wanted to tell you that he's vivacious and conversant about a ton of different things and he's still very active in a daily routine." Even though Penniman continued to sing in his eighties, he kept away from the stage. His last concert was on August 25, 2014 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Death

Little Richard's death on May 9, 2020, was announced by his son, Danny Penniman. The cause was not disclosed.

Legacy

Music

Penniman was nicknamed "The Innovator, The Originator, and The Architect of Rock and Roll". His music and performance style had a pivotal effect on the shape of the sound and style of popular music genres of the 20th century. As a rock and roll pioneer, Penniman embodied its spirit more flamboyantly than any other performer. Penniman's raspy shouting style gave the genre one of its most identifiable and influential vocal sounds and his fusion of boogie-woogie, New Orleans R&B and gospel music blazed its rhythmic trail.

Combining elements of boogie, gospel, and blues, Little Richard introduced several of rock music's most characteristic musical features, including its loud volume and vocal style emphasizing power, and its distinctive beat and rhythm. He departed from boogie-woogie's shuffle rhythm and introduced a new distinctive rock beat, where the beat division is even at all tempos. He reinforced the new rock rhythm with a two-handed approach, playing patterns with his right hand, with the rhythm typically popping out in the piano's high register. His new rhythm, which he introduced with "Tutti Frutti" (1955), became the basis for the standard rock beat, which was later consolidated by Chuck Berry. "Lucille" (1957) foreshadowed the rhythmic feel of 1960s classic rock in several ways, including its heavy bassline, slower tempo, strong rock beat played by the entire band, and verse–chorus form similar to blues.

Penniman's voice was able to generate croons, wails, and screams unprecedented in popular music. He was cited by two of soul music's pioneers, Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, as contributing to that genre's early development. Redding stated that most of his music was patterned after Penniman's, referring to his 1953 recording "Directly From My Heart To You" as the personification of soul, and that he had "done a lot for [him] and [his] soul brothers in the music business." Cooke said in 1962 that Penniman had done "so much for our music". Cooke had a top 40 hit in 1963 with his cover of Penniman's 1956 hit "Send Me Some Loving".

James Brown and others credited Little Richard and his mid-1950s backing band, The Upsetters, with having been the first to put the funk in the rock beat. This innovation sparked the transition from 1950s rock and roll to 1960s funk.

Penniman's hits of the mid-1950s, such as "Tutti Frutti", "Long Tall Sally", "Keep A-Knockin'" and "Good Golly Miss Molly", were generally characterized by playful lyrics with sexually suggestive connotations. AllMusic writer Richie Unterberger stated that Little Richard "merged the fire of gospel with New Orleans R&B, pounding the piano and wailing with gleeful abandon", and that while "other R&B greats of the early 1950s had been moving in a similar direction, none of them matched the sheer electricity of Richard's vocals. With his high-speed deliveries, ecstatic trills, and the overjoyed force of personality in his singing, he was crucial in upping the voltage from high-powered R&B into the similar, yet different, guise of rock and roll." Due to his innovative music and style, he's often widely acknowledged as the "architect of rock and roll".

Emphasizing the folk influences on Little Richard, English professor W.T. Lhamon Jr. wrote, "His songs were literally good booty. They were the repressed stuff of underground lore. And in Little Richard they found a vehicle prepared to bear their chocked energy, at least for his capsulated moment."

Ray Charles introduced him at a concert in 1988 as "a man that started a kind of music that set the pace for a lot of what's happening today." Rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley called Penniman "one of a kind" and "a show business genius" that "influenced so many in the music business". Penniman's contemporaries, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, all recorded covers of his works. Taken by his music and style, and personally covering four of Little Richard's tunes on his own two breakthrough albums in 1956, Presley told Little Richard in 1969 that his music was an inspiration to him and that he was "the greatest". Pat Boone noted in 1984, "no one person has been more imitated than Little Richard". As they wrote about him for their Man of the Year – Legend category in 2010, GQ magazine stated that Little Richard "is, without question, the boldest and most influential of the founding fathers of rock'n'roll". R&B pioneer Johnny Otis stated that "Little Richard is twice as valid artistically and important historically as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones put together."

Society

In addition to his musical style, Penniman was cited as one of the first crossover black artists, reaching audiences of all races. His music and concerts broke the color line, drawing blacks and whites together despite attempts to sustain segregation. As H.B. Barnum explained in Quasar of Rock, Little Richard "opened the door. He brought the races together." Barnum described Little Richard's music as not being "boy-meets-girl-girl-meets-boy things, they were fun records, all fun. And they had a lot to say sociologically in our country and the world." Barnum also stated that Penniman's "charisma was a whole new thing to the music business", explaining that "he would burst onto the stage from anywhere, and you wouldn't be able to hear anything but the roar of the audience. He might come out and walk on the piano. He might go out into the audience." Barnum also stated that Penniman was innovative in that he would wear colorful capes, blouse shirts, makeup and suits studded with multi-colored precious stones and sequins, and that he also brought flickering stage lighting from his show business experience into performance venues where rock and roll artists performed. In 2015, the National Museum of African American Music honored Penniman for helping to shatter the color line on the music charts changing American culture forever.

"Little Richard was always my main man. How hard must it have been for him: gay, black and singing in the South? But his records are a joyous good time from beginning to end." – Lemmy, Motörhead

Influence

Penniman influenced generations of performers across musical genres. James Brown and Otis Redding both idolized him. Brown allegedly came up with the Famous Flames debut hit, "Please, Please, Please", after Richard had written the words on a napkin. Redding started his professional career with Little Richard's band, The Upsetters. He first entered a talent show performing Penniman's "Heeby Jeebies", winning for 15 consecutive weeks. Ike Turner claimed most of Tina Turner's early vocal delivery was based on Little Richard, something Penniman himself reiterated in the introduction of Turner's autobiography, Takin' Back My Name. Bob Dylan first performed covers of Penniman's songs on piano in high school with his rock and roll group, the Golden Chords; in 1959 when leaving school, he wrote in his yearbook under "Ambition": "to join Little Richard". Jimi Hendrix was influenced in appearance (clothing and hairstyle/mustache) and sound by Penniman. He was quoted in 1966 saying, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice." Others influenced by Penniman early on in their lives included Bob Seger and John Fogerty. Michael Jackson admitted that Penniman had been a huge influence on him prior to the release of Off the Wall. Rock critics noted similarities between Prince's androgynous look, music and vocal style and Little Richard's.

The origins of Cliff Richard's name change from Harry Webb was seen as a partial tribute to his musical hero Little Richard and singer Rick Richards. Several members of The Beatles were heavily influenced by Penniman, including Paul McCartney and George Harrison. McCartney idolized him in school and later used his recordings as inspiration for his uptempo rockers, such as "I'm Down." "Long Tall Sally" was the first song McCartney performed in public. McCartney would later state, "I could do Little Richard's voice, which is a wild, hoarse, screaming thing. It's like an out-of-body experience. You have to leave your current sensibilities and go about a foot above your head to sing it." During the Beatles' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Harrison commented, "thank you all very much, especially the rock 'n' rollers, an' Little Richard there, if it wasn't for (gesturing to Little Richard), it was all his fault, really." Upon hearing "Long Tall Sally" in 1956, John Lennon later commented that he was so impressed that he "couldn't speak". Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were also profoundly influenced by Little Richard, with Jagger citing him as his introduction to R&B music and referring to him as "the originator and my first idol". Penniman was an early vocal influence on Rod Stewart. David Bowie called Little Richard his "inspiration" stating upon listening to "Tutti Frutti" that he "heard God".

After opening for him with his band Bluesology, pianist Reginald Dwight was inspired to be a "rock and roll piano player", later changing his name to Elton John. Farrokh Bulsara performed covers of Little Richard's songs as a teen, before finding fame as Freddie Mercury, frontman for Queen. Lou Reed referred to Penniman as his "rock and roll hero", deriving inspiration from "the soulful, primal force" of the sound Penniman and his saxophonist made on "Long Tall Sally." Reed later stated, "I don't know why and I don't care, but I wanted to go to wherever that sound was and make a life." Patti Smith said, "To me, Little Richard was a person that was able to focus a certain physical, anarchistic, and spiritual energy into a form which we call rock 'n' roll ... I understood it as something that had to do with my future. When I was a little girl, Santa Claus didn't turn me on. Easter Bunny didn't turn me on. God turned me on. Little Richard turned me on." The music of Deep Purple and Motörhead was also heavily influenced by Little Richard, as well as that of AC/DC. The latter's early lead vocalist and co-songwriter Bon Scott idolized Little Richard and aspired to sing like him, its lead guitarist and co-songwriter Angus Young was first inspired to play guitar after listening to Penniman's music, and rhythm guitarist and co-writer Malcolm Young derived his signature sound from playing his guitar like Penniman's piano. Later performers such as Mystikal, André "André 3000" Benjamin of Outkast and Bruno Mars were cited by critics as having emulated Penniman's style in their own works. Mystikal's rap vocal delivery was compared to Penniman's. André 3000's vocals in Outkast's hit, "Hey Ya!", were compared to an "indie rock Little Richard". Bruno Mars admitted Little Richard was one of his earliest influences. Mars' song, "Runaway Baby" from his album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans was cited by The New York Times as "channeling Little Richard". Prior to his passing in 2017, Audioslave's and Soundgarden's frontman Chris Cornell traced his musical influences back to Penniman via The Beatles.

Honors

In 2007, an eclectic panel of renowned recording artists voted "Tutti Frutti" number one on Mojo's The Top 100 Records That Changed The World, hailing the recording as "the sound of the birth of rock and roll." In April 2012, Rolling Stone magazine declared that the song "still has the most inspired rock lyric on record." The same recording was inducted to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2010, with the library claiming the "unique vocalizing over the irresistible beat announced a new era in music".

In 2010, Time Magazine listed Here's Little Richard as one of the 100 Greatest and Most Influential Albums of All Time. Rolling Stone listed his Here's Little Richard at number fifty on the magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. He was ranked eighth on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Rolling Stone listed three of Little Richard's recordings, "The Girl Can't Help It", "Long Tall Sally" and "Tutti Frutti", on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Two of the latter songs and "Good Golly, Miss Molly" were listed on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

The UK issue of GQ named Penniman its Man of the Year in its Legend category in 2010.

Penniman appeared in person to receive an honorary degree from his hometown's Mercer University on May 11, 2013. The day before the doctorate of humanities degree was to be bestowed upon him, the mayor of Macon announced that one of Little Richard's childhood homes, an historic site, will be moved to a rejuvenated section of that city's Pleasant Hill district. It will be restored and named the Little Richard Penniman – Pleasant Hill Resource House, a meeting place where local history and artifacts will be displayed as provided by residents.

In early 2019, Maggie Gonzalez, a resident of Macon, Georgia, began an online campaign proposing that a statue of Little Richard be erected in downtown Macon, taking the place of a Confederate memorial that currently occupies the space. Georgia law forbids the tearing down of Confederate statues, though they can be relocated; Gonzalez has proposed that it could be moved to nearby Rose Hill Cemetery.

Awards

Although Penniman hasn't won a competitive Grammy Award, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. His album Here's Little Richard and three of his songs ("Tutti Frutti," "Lucille" and "Long Tall Sally") are inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Penniman has received the various awards for his key role in the formation of popular music genres.

1956: He received the Cashbox Triple Crown Award for "Long Tall Sally" in 1956.

1984: He was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

1986: He was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the initial class of inductees chosen for that honor.

1990: He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1994: He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

1997: He received the American Music Award of Merit.

2002: Along with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, he was honored as one of the first group of BMI icons at the 50th Annual BMI Pop Awards.

2002: He was inducted into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame.

2003: He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

2006: He was inducted into the Apollo Theater Hall of Fame.

2008: He received a star on Nashville's Music City Walk of Fame.

2009: He was inducted to the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

2010: He received a plaque on the theater's Walk of Fame.

2015: He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

2015: He was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame.

2015: He received the Rhapsody & Rhythm Award from the National Museum of African American Music.

2019: He received the Distinguished Artist Award at the 2019 Tennessee Governor's Arts Awards.

[ancienthinduism]

8 captivating HINDU GODS the ‘WEST’ might not know about !

1. AYYAPPA : Protector of natural law

Lord Ayyappan, or simply Ayyappa (also spelled as Ayappa), is a Hindu deity worshipped mainly in South India,. Ayyappa is believed to have been born out of the union between Lord Shiva and the mythical enchantress Mohini, who is regarded as an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Therefore, Ayyappa is also known as "Hariharan Puthiran" or "Hariharputhra," which literally means the son of both "Hari," or Vishnu, and "Haran," or Shiva. Ayyappa is also commonly known as "Manikandan" .  

 According to the legend of his birth, his divine parents tied a golden bell (mani) around his neck (kandan) soon after his birth. As the legend goes, when Shiva and Mohini abandoned the baby on the banks of the Pampa river, King Rajashekhara, “the childless monarch of Pandalam”, found the newborn Ayyappa, accepted him as a divine gift, and adopted him as his own son. Due to evil manipulations of his step mother, he went to forest and killed demoness Mahishi and came to kingdom riding on tiger for giving milk of tiger to his step mother. After that he went to dense forest and disappeared. Upon the instructions of Ayyappa, King built temple for Ayyappa in Sabarimalai. Sabarimalai means Sabari- the devotee of Ayyappa and malai- the hill. Sabari, the devotee of Ayyappa had become a hill for the place of stay for Ayyappa. The most famous Lord Ayyappan shrine or temple is located at Sabarimala, on the hills of Pathanamthitta in Kerala,India.It is estimated over 50 million people reach the temple every year to seek blessings of the Lord Ayyappa on the day of Makar-Sankranthi or Pongal. Lord Ayyappa is believed to have laid down strict religious adherence to receive his blessings. The devotees should observe a 41-day penance before visiting him in the temple.

2. KALI : the dark mother goddess of Hinduism

The love between the Divine Mother and her human children is a unique relationship. Kali, the Dark Mother is one such deity with whom devotees have a very loving and intimate bond, in spite of her fearful appearance. In this relationship, the worshipper becomes a child and Kali assumes the form of the ever-caring mother.

Kali is represented with perhaps the fiercest features amongst all the world's deities. She has four arms, with a sword in one hand and the head of a demon in another. The other two hands bless her worshippers, and say, "fear not"! She has two dead heads for her earrings, a string of skulls as a necklace, and a girdle made of human hands as her clothing. Her tongue protrudes from her mouth, her eyes are red, and her face and breasts are sullied with blood. She stands with one foot on the thigh, and another on the chest of her husband, Shiva.

Kali's fierce form is strewed with  captivating symbols. Her black complexion symbolizes her all-embracing and transcendental nature. Says the Mahanirvana Tantra: "Just as all colors disappear in black, so all names and forms disappear in her". Her nudity is primeval, fundamental, and transparent like Nature — the earth, sea, and sky. Her three eyes represent past, present, and future, — the three modes of time — an attribute that lies in the very name Kali ('Kala' in Sanskrit means time).

In the eyes of westerners, Kali is a goddess dark of mind, body and soul, a mysterious goddess of death and destruction. However her story is far more complex and far-reaching; she cannot be easily fitted into a typical western narrative of good verses evil, and in fact transcends both.

Kali's guises and names are diverse. Shyama, Adya Ma, Tara Ma, and Dakshina Kalika, Chamundi are popular forms. Then there is Bhadra Kali, who is gentle, Shyamashana Kali, who lives only in the cremation ground, and so on. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Vamakhyapa, and Ramprasad are some of the legendary devotees of Kali. One thing was common to these saints — all of them loved the goddess as intimately as they loved their own mother. 

We have an exclusive page dedicated to this beautiful & fearless mother goddess .click here - OM SHAKTI - Om Krim Kali

3. KARTHIKEYA : the hindu god of WAR 

Kartikeya, the god of war and general of the army of the gods, is known for his extraordinary strength. He is known by many names , some of which are - Murugan, Subramanyam,Skanda,Vel etc.

Lord Kartikeya is said to be one of the most beautiful looking and handsome gods. He is often described as exuding boyish charm and yet with a serious face. Often depicted as a calm and serene character, he has a face that resembled the radiance of the full moon.  A demon named Tarakasura was given a boon by Lord Brahma himself that he would only be killed by someone who is as strong as Lord Shiva which would only be his son. It is believed that Lord Kartikeya or Murugan manifested for the sole purpose of killing Tarakasura. 

Kartikeya’s other name, Shadanana, which means ‘one with six heads’ corresponds to the five senses and the mind. The six heads also stand for his virtues enables him to see in all the directions - an important attribute that ensures that he counters all kinds blows that can hit him.The war imagery and the six heads of Kartikeya indicate that if humans wish to lead themselves efficiently through the battle of life, they must always be alert lest they are shown the wrong path by crafty people with the six demonic vices: kaama (sex), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (passion), mada (ego) and matsarya (jealousy).

Kartikeya carries in one hand a spear and his other hand is always blessing devotees. His vehicle is a peacock, a pious bird that grips with its feet a serpent, which symbolizes the ego and desires of people. The peacock represents the destroyer of harmful habits and the conqueror of sensual desires. The symbolism of Kartikeya thus points to the ways and means of reaching perfection in life. He is an embodiment of perfection, a brave leader of God's forces, and a war God, who was created to destroy the demons, representing the negative tendencies in human beings. 

4. DHANVANTARI : the one who heals

Known as a physician of the Devas, Dhanvantari is a celebrated god amongst the practitioners of Ayurveda. . In Sanatana-dharma (Hinduism), praying to Dhanvantari is supposed to bring sound health for worshippers.

It is said that Dhanvantari was deputed by Lord Indra to take the science of Ayurveda to the mortals. Also to be noted, Dhanvantari is seen as an avatar of Lord Vishnu in Hinduism.  Bhagavata Purana states that Dhanvantari appeared when the ocean was churned by the gods and demons in search of the elixir of life ( nectar), Dhanvantari came out of it holding the  bowl of nectar in his hands. “Dhanus” denotes the science of surgeries and is only indicative. Thus, Dhanvantari is someone who has seen the end of it. “Dhanvan” also might mean a desert, according to Rigveda – V.36.1.  Thus Dhanvantari, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, with a pot of nectar in his hand is like prapaa (oasis) in the desert of worldly existence.”

Lord Dhanvantari is an outstanding personality in the history of Ayurveda. He was the physician of the Gods (in both the Vedas and Puranas) and an excellent surgeon. It is also believed that Dhanvantari promulgated the practise of Ayurveda. According to the Charaka Samhita, the knowledge of Ayurveda is eternal and is revealed in each of the cycles of creation of the universe. When needed, Lord Vishnu himself incarnates as Lord Dhanvantari and reestablishes the tradition of Ayurveda in the world to help relieve some of humanity’s suffering.

Lord Dhanvantari is known as the father of Ayurveda, since he was the first divine incarnation to impart its wisdom amongst humans. It is written in the scriptures that, “One who remembers the name of Dhanvantari can be released from all disease.” Lord Dhanvantari is worshipped all over India as the God of Medicine. On the day of Dhanteras, birthday celebrations of Dhanvantari, the God of health, take place in an enthusiastic and delightful atmosphere. Dhanvatari Jayanti is celebrated throughout India by the practitioners of Ayurveda, the Indian traditional medicine.

5. KAMA ~ Hindu god of LOVE

Valentine's day on 14th February is celebrated by Indians  with lot of fervour, while not many are aware of Lord Kamadeva or Manmatha , the God of Love in Hindu mythology. Indians do not worship Lord Kamadeva or celebrate his birthday since “love” is not expressed openly or is considered taboo among conservative Indians though ironically the younger generation celebrate “love” associating it with Valentine's Day - a concept borrowed from the western world. “Love” has been expressed in ancient temples built centuries ago, like Khajuraho or Belur-Halebeedu, but are labelled as erotic and not generally discussed in the open since it is considered inappropriate to do so .

Kamadeva is portrayed as young, handsome man with wings carrying a bow and arrows. His bow is made of sugarcane with a cord of honeybees, and arrows of sweet-smelling Ashoka tree flowers, white and blue lotus flowers, Jasmine and Mango tree flowers. Lord Kamdeva is seen sitting on a Parrot.

It is believed that Lord Shiva burned Kamadeva on the day of Holi. Down south in India ,people worship Kamadeva-the Love-god for his extreme sacrifice on the day of Holi. Like Cupid is the God of love for the west and Ero’s for the Greeks , Kamadeva is the Hindu deity of love. His wife is “Rati” - goddess love, carnal desire, lust, passion and sexual pleasure . Lord Kamadeva, is the incarnation of Pradyumna and son of Goddess Sri though spiritually Vaishnavas believe him to be Lord Krishna.The meaning of the name Kama-deva is 'divine love' or 'God of love'. Vishnu Purana and Bhagavata Purana say Kamadeva is Vishnu. Sometimes he is also called Shiva and is described as "Prayaschita padyata" in Sanskrit. Kama is also a name for Agni (Fire God)

We could say confidently, that only a handful out of 100 people who celebrate V-Day, will know about the 3rd Century Roman saint in whose name V-day is celebrated. challenge yourself - do you know ?

6. VARUNA : lord of the oceans 

 In the Vedas, he has been described as the supreme, all knowing deity who created Heavens, Earth and Air. He is believed to be omnipresent and omniscient. As the word Varuna means “he who covers”, Lord Varuna is believed to be someone who encompasses the whole world. Thus, he is generally worshipped as personication of sky. But it is believed that he is also the controller of rivers, streams, lakes, oceans and other reservoirs of water, thus giving him the title of “God of the Oceans”.

Lord Varuna is believed to be son of Sage Kashyapa. As he is said to have originated from Aditi, the mother of Gods, he is also acknowledged as Aditya. According to the Vedas, he has thousand eyes which help him to oversee the whole world. He is often pictured as riding a chariot drawn by seven swans while holding the lotus, noose, conch and vessel of gems along with an umbrella held over his head. But some temples in Indian subcontinent have depicted him as riding on a crocodile. 

As being able to oversee the world with his thousand eyes, Lord Varuna is often also associated with moral law and community affairs.  He is also said to be the keeper of cosmic order, a force called “rta” which means justice. As being the one who enforces law, he is worshipped as keeper of divine order and enforcer of contracts.

Hindus worship Lord Varuna in different forms and ways. A legend associated with the festival of Rakhi is that of the worship offered to the sea god, Lord Varuna. On the Raksha Bandhan day, devotees offer coconuts to him.  He is said to keep watch over the various demons of the ocean. Nevertheless, Lord Varuna is still worshipped as the guardian of western direction.Lord Varuna’s worship is also considered to be vital part of the ritual ‘Sandhyavandanam’.

7. GARUDA : the messenger of gods

Garuda is the king of the birds and often acts as a messenger between the gods . Garuda has the head, wings, talons and beak of an eagle and the body and limbs of a man. He is said to have a white face, red wings and a golden body.

Garuda was the son of a great sage, Kashyapa. Since he was the son of the great sage, his wings had a peculiar quality in that every time they moved, verses from the Holy Vedas would be heard. The very presence of Garuda was thus a blessing and benediction. His immense powers were also a gift conferred upon his father the Valkhilya rishis, supernatural beings of miniscule size and immense spiritual accomplishments.

Garuda is said to have been born hungry, and while he was permitted to feast upon the natives, he accidentally swallowed and spit out a Brahmin, a member of the higher class that he was forbidden to touch. Still hungry, Garuda went on many escapades and every time he sat on a branch, it broke.  One time as Garuda caught a branch from falling, in fear that it might kill a Brahmin, Lord Vishnu spied him and asked what he was doing. (Lord Vishnu is one of the Hindu Trinity Godhead:  Brahma-the Creator, Vishnu-the Sustainer, and Siva-the Transformer.) Garuda told Vishnu that no tree or mountain seemed able to hold his weight, whereupon Vishnu offered him his arm to sit on and did not waiver at the weight.When Garuda was still hungry after eating, Vishnu offered him the flesh of his arm. After Garuda ate from Vishnu’s arm, there was no wound at all. Garuda bowed his head to Vishnu, realizing his divine nature and became Vishnu’s heroic friend for all time. In many Indian epics, Garuda carries Vishnu, and mostly serves him as his vehicle.

Garuda is known for his service, his concern for others and his impressive speed and strength. Among his many names, he is called “Chirad, the long eater” and “Garuda, the carrier of immense weight.” 

8. YAMA 

Yama, in hinduism, the god of the dead. The Vedas describe him as the first man who died, blazing the path of mortality down which all humans have since followed. He is the guardian of the south (the region of death) and presides over the resting place of the dead, which is located under the earth. In the Vedas, Yama was represented as a cheerful king of the departed ancestors, not as a punisher of sins, but in later mythology he became known as the just judge (Dharmaraja) who weighs the good and evil deeds of the dead and determines retribution. He is described as majestic in appearance, green or black, with red eyes and red garments. He carries a noose and a mace, which may be ornamented with a skull, and rides a buffalo.

Yama is the one who decides whether the souls of the dead shall come to heaven (Svarga) or to Naraka, where the souls of the wicked humans have to wait for their sins to be burned away so they can be reborn.In his abode, Yama decides about punishment and estimates the value of the actions for which the dead were responsible before their lives came to the end.

In the Tibetan beliefs, Yama is portrayed as the symbol of annihilation; he is a terrible monster crushing the wheel of life - unmercifully. In Hindu mythology, he is considered the benevolent god of the dead who treated humans friendly and well, but later, his attitude to humans significantly changes and he is portrayed as a frightening judge and punisher of human wrongdoings.

if you like to see more such posts on our page  , comment & let us know !  

[m2mtl]

(ENG Translation) Fake Cinderella - Chapter 9

Chapter 9 raw (click for the link)

t/n: Heya. Here’s my second release, I’ll try to translate as much as I can while I’m still not that busy. Again, if you find any inaccurate translations (since I usually just make sense of the literal translation by google or systran then rephrase it in a better way), typos or other errors, kindly do point it out. Thanks~ 

Also, another chapter of the manga was recently released, and I was just wondering if you wanted to retain my translation of the names or the manga’s since it differs slightly (i.e., Alterie = Arthirea, Nadir = Nigel). And that’s it, enjoy~ 

(7/28/19) t/n: Rephrased some things to make it clearer.

Previous chapter -  TOC

----------

9. The Duke of Elsevert

"Her Royal Highness,"  

Upon the call, my mind returns to reality.  

In front of me was Count Stasen. This elder knight, who was a strong-bodied warrior, was a man of a few words.  

Still, there is a feeling of security that is somewhat strange but reliable. It's really puzzling that this person was also a scholar with the title "Vera."

Thin golden hair, which is believed to be of those from the north... Many people in the north have silver or light gold hair. The color of their eyes are mostly light blue - the count's is also light blue.  

(The stranger thing [t/n: pun not intended] is that such a person is the leader of my knight escorts)

"Your Royal Highness, it is the schedule for your return to the royal capital."

On his knees, he handed it over with both hands.  

I received it.

"Thank you. I will be in your care."

His eyes widened and he looked somewhat surprised; he stared but immediately went out. Because it was sudden, everyone is busy preparing for our return.

After waking up, I usually only interacted with the maids, but after the incident I began to look closely at the knight escorts. It seems a person has been on the escort mission so as not to be very noticeable until now, but after the "falling incident" and the "attempted poisoning," it seems he can no longer stay that way.  

(Don't run away)

That person did not run back to the Imperial Palace, which seems to be safer than here.

The killing intent directed at me... I was clearly aware of it.

So far, I have not completely acknowledged the murderous intent. Although I was told that I was being targeted, it didn't feel real.

However, now it's different.  

(My enemy)

An enemy who is aiming for my life.

The fact that you are aiming for my life, it may not yet be known for sure.  

But now, I am clearly aware that I am in danger everyday.

I used to go to work, then from work to my home; sometimes I went to hang out or rant to my friends. It was a routine far away from worrying about dangers to my life.  

(Retaliation)

I am not a saint.

I’m not a cutesy character that starts to cry when I get tired.  

When you hit my right cheek, I would hit back. I know it's unwise, but I'm the type to fight back.  

Being alive, that will be my best revenge.  

But that alone is not enough.

Because, Ellelucia is no longer here.  

(It does not matter if this is misplaced anger. It's fine even if it's an outburst of anger.)  

I will do it if I can do it.  

I remembered the terrorist attack that happened in the United States. The Great Powers fell into the mud. A vicious cycle in which retaliation calls for revenge... a toxic cycle.

But I can't keep doing nothing anymore.

(But I am still weak ... and these hands are still too small...)

That's why, I cannot pass down judgement with my own hands. To do the same things they do... I cannot kill people with these hands.  

I think it is impossible for anyone who has lived in the ordinary 21st Century Japan to carry it out, no matter how much you hate that person, no matter how much you want to kill.

What I can do... that is...

(To find the real mastermind)

He isn't the soup cook who was regarded as the perpetrator.

There was another criminal who did it... it wasn't that cook.  

The ones who carried out the orders, of course, would also be guilty.

But, the person who ordered to kill me.

That person is the real culprit.

(Put the mastermind in court)

That was what I thought of as revenge.

I can only do my best indirectly.  

That's how I'll move to my goal.

(For now, I'll just gather information)

I can't collect information directly by myself, and it's a shame I have no memory of the falling incident.  

Alterie may have seen the culprit.

If I had remembered, I might have solved the problem at once along with this case.

I wish I could go around hearing from all kinds of people like in detective stories, but if I do so, I'll stand out and I can't let the information spread to outsiders.

In fact, I suspected at first that the falling incident might have been Alterie's suicide.

(Because...)

It's because she felt somewhat empty deep inside her heart, which is probably why she was called Puppet Princess.

Even if you didn't exactly jump off yourself, you might have been aware that it was a dangerous place but still went anyway... and then perhaps you may have tried to do it.  

The balcony above the lake is windy. It's even more so at night. Alterie is so light that easy to lose balance there... a not-so unintentional accident.  

(But now I can say that was not the case)

As "Alterie" gradually comes back to me, it seemed to me that wasn't what happened.  

Still, it doesn't mean I understand everything that is in Alterie's heart. I only have this vague feeling.

But if I give it some thought, I can understand even if it's just a bit.  

The knowledge I have received from Alterie is what she studied and learned diligently.

(For what purpose...?)

I think it is a proof of her efforts to be worthy of being the crown princess.

If so, such a child would probably not go to a dangerous place by herself.

Because she was well aware of how important her position is to the kingdom.  

Now it's clear that the fall was not an accident.  

(That's why... I won't run away)

I won't run away and hide somewhere safe.

(It's just that, because this place is not my territory, I'm going back home)

Even though the enemy knows me, I do not know neither the shadow nor shape of the enemy.

So at least, I want a home advantage.

Even so, it's an overwhelming disadvantage.

(But I decided not to run away)

It's alright. I'm not going to jump into danger.

I will not waste the efforts of Alterie up until now.

I am the crown princess.

(I will just pay them back what I owe)

Self defense is essential.

Even if the defense is a little excessive, it will be within acceptable limits. Probably.  

The next day, after finishing all the arrangements, I received that the usual morning greetings from the duke.

At the side, maids aside from Lilia were busy carrying the luggage to the carriage. All the knight escorts were also ready, except for the two at the back.  

"There was a danger of poisoning. Normal escorts are not enough. We are returning on such a short notice... contact the Imperial Palace and receive instructions from the Crown Prince."

Duke Elsevert fiercely objected when I told him that I was going back to the palace.

I still have a lot to explain as to why I’m returning to the palace.  

Well, I understand how he feels. If I return as is without explaining, it would create a big fuss.  

"I'm going home."

Still, I clearly told him once more.

The duke was shocked as he stared at me.  

It's probably because it's the first time Alterie expressed her intentions like this.  

Perhaps, he hasn't heard her speak up before.  

"I am going back to the Palace."

I repeated while looking straight into the duke's blue eyes.  

His eyes looked blue even with the light.

(Oh...)

The color of my eyes, I knew I inherited it from this person.

"... Do you doubt Elsevert?"

The duke asked, as if squeezing out his voice.  

His eyes were turned away... For the first time, I thought that I was truly facing him.

I felt the weight with which he said those words.

He seemed exhausted.  

I believe he was a person who is very concerned about appearances.

His short beard is well kept and his platinum blond hair is shiny. There are no wrinkles in his thin and fashionable long coat.

Although he seemed younger than his age of forty-four, his eyes looked empty. He's like an old man in despair and resignation.

I answered, hoping that my words will reach him.

"No."

It was not clear if it was the duke, the ladies-in-waiting or the knight escort who inhaled sharply. Or maybe it was all of them.

But either way, I saw that they properly understood my answer.  

I dare not say why.

I do not want to do or say anything unnecessary while I still do not know where the true criminal's eyes are hidden.

So far, my only advantage while I am far away from home is while Alterie is a 12-year-old girl, she has the experiences from my 33 years of living.

At best, you're likely to think that I am still a twelve-year-old naive princess.

"Understood... at the very least, may you permit my son to escort you?"

The duke did not refer to anyone in particular. It's just that he said it in a beseeching tone.  

I tilt my head. The duke's son will be an escort?

"The sons of the duke, Lord Dior and Lord Rael, are both part of the Eastern Division."

Lilia explained.

The national army of Dardinia is roughly divided into six divisions. There's the central division and the divisions in the east, west, north and south; then there's the Imperial Guards. (t/n: Just guessed this since it literally translated to "Konoe Division") On the other hand, each aristocrat had a private army. It was not strange that Duke's sons were working in the Eastern Division, as Elsevert was chief for the east.

The Dardinian nobility are just ordinary people except for the legitimate heirs. The second son and so on only have the opportunity of becoming either a priest or a military man.

"I'll allow it."

I nodded and stood up.

The duke bowed with a somewhat relieved expression.

To be honest, no matter how many times we meet, I never recognize him to be my father. Still, I somehow felt that I was connected to this person.

"Thank you for helping me."

"It's no problem. I wish you good health as you go on your way, Your Royal Highness."

The duke says, and as he stands before me, he prays for my safety during the travel.

I nodded in response to that.  

It wasn't as if everything was resolved in that instance.  

I can never forget how my heart aches when I think of my mother.  

However, I felt like I was getting there.  

And perhaps, the duke as well.  

When it was time to leave, the duke came to send us off.  

The duke's figure remained on the drawbridge of the castle until my carriage was out of sight.  

----------

Previous Chapter -  TOC

[mst3kproject]

Dawn of the Mummy

Like Horrors of Spider Island, this is a movie predicated on putting a bunch of attractive women in a dangerous situation so that we can watch them run around and scream, and like Devil Fish, they’re all Italian but we’re not supposed to notice.  The director, Frank Agrama, is best known for the Robotech movies, and most of the actors were never in anything else (one of them did play a victim in Bloodsucking Freaks), so it can fairly be said to star nobody and feature nothing.  Boy, it sucks.

Long ago, the evil Pharaoh Sefreman rode around Egypt being an utter bastard because he was a god incarnate and he could do that. He wanted to continue doing it after his death, too, so a priestess puts a curse on his tomb – if his treasure is ever stolen, Sefreman and his armies will rise and kill!

Thousands of years later, a bunch of robbers blast the tomb open despite the dire warnings of the wicked queen from Snow White.  It’s not them who end up angering the mummy, however, it’s a bunch of models and their photographer, who decide that an undiscovered tomb is the perfect place to hold an impromptu photoshoot.  After way too much pointless dithering, Sefreman makes with the rising and killing, culminating in a full-on zombie feeding frenzy.

The leader of the three robbers is a guy named Rick.  It’s been a while since we had a Rick.  The actor playing him, Barry Sattles, overacts so hard in every scene that you’ll be looking for tooth marks in the rocks.  The guy who dubbed his voice is even worse.

And that’s just one tasty morsel of the delicious cheese platter that is this movie.  The ancient Egyptians dress in taffeta and gold lame.  The dubbing is atrocious.  Sefreman’s ‘treasure’ is a bunch of cheap souvenirs with a layer of gold spray paint.  People running through wide open desert can’t seem to keep ahead of slowly shuffling zombies. The music is intrusive and both it and the accents are obnoxious stereotypes – the end credits in particular are set to a cartoonified ‘Egyptiany’ piece that reminds me of the theme from Killer Klowns from Outer Space.  If I had to pick a stinger I don’t think I could do it.  I mean, there’s the wicked queen popping into shot screaming, there’s the guy getting attacked by a rat, there’s the lady wandering through the tomb wailing about how lost she is, there’s Rick screaming Sefreman’s name over and over… it’s hilarious.

There’s not much of a plot through the middle part of the film – just Sefreman and his minions wandering around eating people and horses.  Occasionally there are hints of story, like one of the models falling in love with Rick (why!?) or the photographer’s desire to be famous, but these never really amount to anything.  The climax is a total free-for-all, as zombies invade the streets of the town and crash Omar the Hookah Guy’s wedding! This is plenty amusing, but would be more so if we had a better idea what the hell was going on.

Sefreman is finally defeated by two of the models and a couple of guys from the town, who lure him into a shed full of dynamite and blow him up.  This actually isn’t a bad ending.  I’m pleased that they didn’t decide to try to turn Rick into the hero, and that the women didn’t need personality transplants in order to save the day.  After the shack blows, they squeal and jump up and down and hug each other – which is exactly what we would expect from the characters we’ve been following this entire movie.  Omar’s wedding is a fun choice of climax, since we get to see some Egyptian culture, and there’s even a sort of subplot in which it’s rather heavily implied that he’s got to marry this girl in a hurry because she’s already pregnant.

I do have many questions about the old woman I’ve been referring to as the wicked queen.  How does she know where Sefreman’s tomb is when supposedly everybody who did know was killed?  She’s played by the same actress as the high priestess who sealed him up – is she supposed to be a descendant?  Maybe even the same person, immortal for some reason?  Why does Sefreman kill her when she immediately swears her devotion to him? Why does she talk about Sefreman ‘reclaiming his kingdom’ when that was never mentioned in the curse?  All the curse was supposed to do was keep his treasure safe.  The best I can say about her is that she’s slightly more explicable and relevant than the pet shop hobo from Hellraiser… but that’s a low bar.

So what is this movie about, besides the obvious ‘mummy killing women’ level?  I don’t think it’s really meant to be about anything.  Dawn of the Mummy is just a monster movie, but it carries with it a certain amount of baggage from its genre. Mummy movies in general are about the West’s unease with archaeology.

Archaeologists dig up all kinds of things, of course, but tombs are a major subset, because the dead bodies of our ancestors are a wealth of information about how they lived.  Modern science can tell where people grew up, what their diet was like, what diseases they suffered from, the colour of their hair and eyes, and all kinds of other things… but there’s still the fact that you have to dig up somebody’s dead body to get there.  Some people are okay with the idea that their mortal remains might be a subject of study in centuries to come.  Other people are not.

The Egyptians would almost certainly have been horrified by what has become of their dead.  Mummies were meant to remain in their tombs for all eternity so that the souls of the departed would have a home, with their grave goods to take care of them.  A mummy in a museum, separated from its context, means a soul that is alone and penniless in a foreign place.  If they could have put curses and booby-traps in their tombs to prevent this, they would have.  What does that mean for archaeologists?  Do we have the right to disrespect these people’s wishes, just because they’ve been dead for a really long time?

Archaeologists will frequently lament the fact that their profession is also basically destructive – once you’ve dug something up and taken it apart, it will never be pristine again.  Modern archaeology takes great care to preserve as much as possible so that people in the future, who will presumably have better techniques, can still learn something, too.  Dawn of the Mummy sort of deals with this, as we see two groups of people who have no interest in preserving what they’ve found. Rick and his friends blow holes in it looking for a treasure chamber, and the models are in their own way nearly as destructive.

Dawn of the Mummy devotes significant attention to the fact that light is damaging to artefacts.  Mummies on display in museums are always under dim light, because bright light will degrade the wrappings and tissues that have spent millennia in darkness. But the first thing the photographers do is set up a bunch of bright lights, and we see shots of icky blue fluid bubbling out of the mummy’s wrappings where this hits it.  I wondered if this is supposed to be what activates the curse – since the title is Dawn of the Mummy, maybe the magic mistakes it for sunlight falling on him?  If so, the writing should have taken care of that I wouldn’t have to sit and figure it out.

The models also touch everything they come across, leaning on walls and statues covered with thousand-year-old paint, getting makeup all over everything and probably sweat, too, as they constantly complain about how hot it is in there. The movie never entertains the possibility of actual archaeologists finding Sefreman’s tomb, but any who did would find it hopelessly compromised.

Mummy movies are also about imperialism, which is inextricably tied to archaeology.  Modern Egyptology in particular began when Napoleon’s troops raided the country for stuff they thought was pretty, and as I discussed in my review of The Pumaman, a lot of this is still kicking around in museums, private collections, and garage sales, with no provenance or context.  Archaeology derives from treasure-hunting, embodied in Rick – he’s not here for knowledge, he’s here for wealth.  The models are not really any different.  They want images of this exotic place that will please their audience, without much caring about the context behind them.

The mummy, with his magical powers and undead army, is a punishment for this greed, and represents the west’s constant fear that conquered peoples will fight back.  You see this in those facebook graphs talking about how white people will become a minority in America unless we make abortion illegal.  Why should that be a problem?  Because we’re afraid we will be treated as we have treated others. Sefreman’s magic is completely unknown to the Americans and they have no defense against it.

Of course, none of this is actually relevant in Dawn of the Mummy.  These themes are inherent in the premise, but they’re not part of the story this particular movie is telling.  The result, with its Styrofoam tomb art and ostentatious overacting, is great to make fun of but impossible to take seriously – perfect material for some do-it yourself MST3K.

[samspicturesandwords]

Next Assassin’s Creed Game

Predictions about the next Assassin’s Creed game

(Please note that I am not a journalist and I have no insider info about the Assassin’s Creed series or Ubisoft. This is all speculation for fun. Also, FYI this is not a history paper! I am looking up some facts and dates, but also just discussing things I’ve read and heard before and am hoping I’ve remembered correctly. Don’t take this as a good source of history. I apologize for any mistakes this post may contain and encourage you to do your own research into the topics mentioned if you’re interested in them. Sources I consulted for the history I discuss here include Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia.)

It’s a safe bet that the Assassin’s creed series will be around for a while yet, but what’s less certain is the form that the next installment will take. It has long been rumored that there will be title set in ancient Rome, and it seems likely that the next release will be exactly that – Rome would be a nice way to close out a loose “trilogy” of games set in the classical/Hellenistic Mediterranean after Egypt and Greece. But the history of Rome is long and complex.

In early times, Rome was a kingdom; it then became a republic from 509 BCE to 27 BCE, and then an empire that stood until the late 400s AD (in the west – the eastern half survived much longer). The period between the traditional date of the city’s founding in 753 BCE and the fall of the western part of the empire around 476-480 covers more than 1,200 years, and though the empire is long gone, Rome itself still remains, a beautiful and remarkable city I have had the pleasure of visiting. Obviously, a lot changed over more than one thousand years of Roman history, and saying that a game is set in Rome or the Roman Empire would be quite vague, so I’ll attempt to narrow it down.

I once thought that an Assassin’s Creed game set in ancient Rome would likely make Julius Caesar the main antagonist, because (spoilers for Origins and for real history!) he was famously assassinated after becoming something of an autocrat in what was supposed to be a republic. In Brotherhood, players can find the armor and writings of Brutus, one of the conspirators who killed Caesar. It could be fun to play as Brutus, or, as I suspected, to at least have him as a major character, as a way to tie the game to Ezio’s story. However, as those of us who have played Origins know, Caesar is assassinated by Aya at the end of that game, so it would make little sense to re-visit that exact time period since Caesar has already been used as an antagonist.

What if we look back further in history? My best guess now is that an Assassin’s Creed game set in Rome will take place during the second Punic war, which raged from 218-201 BCE. It was a particularly fierce and dramatic conflict fought between Rome and Carthage, a state founded by in north Africa by Phoenicians. Rome had defeated them once before – we are talking about the second Punic war here after all. Although their earlier loss had undoubtedly weakened Carthage, by the time of the second war with Rome they were still formidable.

While there may be no Romans from this period who are as famous to us today as some later emperors are, this is the war Hannibal Barca fought in. Most of you have probably at least heard of his daring invasion of Italy, in which he and his army, including elephants, crossed the Alps to attack the Romans from the north. Hannibal was a great military leader and has a lot of name recognition (more than Scipio Africanus does these days at least). Imagine fighting an army of Phoenician soldiers, their ranks bolstered by northern “Barbarians” who had joined the cause, and by a bunch of elephants. Elephants were already present as optional bosses in Origins, but imagine if they were integrated into field battles like the conquest battles of Odyssey. Historically, Hannibal had a fairly limited number of elephants at his disposal during his invasion, but they could appear as occasional bosses during story missions.

The Battle of Cannae, in particular, is one of the most famous battles in all of history and saw Hannibal defeat a larger Roman force. It could be a spectacular set piece.

One strike against my theory is that some prominent works of Roman architecture, like the Coliseum, were built after this time period, and would therefore have to be omitted if any semblance of historical accuracy was being observed. Then again, many of us already climbed the Coliseum and the Pantheon as Ezio in the Renaissance and wouldn’t miss them too much if they don’t show up in this game.

What would gameplay be like in this setting? Well, probably similar to the last two games in many respects. One way they could differentiate melee combat could be to re-introduce shields, which were present in Origins and absent (for the player character at least) in Odyssey. Shields were very important to Roman infantry (though as Blue from Overly Sarcastic Productions on YouTube has pointed out in his video “Historical Realism Review: Assassin's Creed Odyssey,” shields are an odd omission in that game, so who knows). The Romans also made use of javelins – could they be integrated, perhaps having higher damage than bows but also a shorter range?

Speaking of Blue from OSP, in the same video he mentions that it was unrealistic to see Greeks fighting in a disorganized melee when they actually relied so heavily on the phalanx formation. He said that he wished the game had been able to “bridge the gap” between a rigid formation and a “Battle royale.” In the unrelated game “Ryse: Son of Rome,” battles are split between sections in formation and sections of free-for-all fighting on your own. The latter type of gameplay is by far more common, but there are a few points at which the player character forms up with other soldiers and commands them to advance, brace behind shields to withstand incoming arrows, or throw javelins. An Assassin’s Creed game could do something similar, with some story missions embedding the player within a formation of soldiers and controlling them as a unit. This type of combat would likely be less engaging than the freer one-person army whirling through the battlefield, but it could be used occasionally in story missions to show a more realistic version of combat tactics at the time and to change up the pace of gameplay.

Naval combat could return with a twist: why not give the player’s ship a corvus? This Roman innovation is a type of spiked drawbridge that could be swung down onto a nearby enemy ship, allowing the Roman infantry to storm across and capture the vessel rather than destroy it. Historically, the Romans used the corvus in the first Punic war and it fell out of favour before the time we’re examining, but it is historically possible that at least the player’s ship could make use of this existing technology. Then naval battles could become deeper (no pun intended): players could decide whether to ram an enemy vessel or set it ablaze with flaming arrows, or attach the ships and engage in melee combat. Boarding already exists in Assassin’s Creed games, but the corvus could be a way to differentiate boarding a ship from destroying it. In Odyssey, boarding was only possible once a ship had been disabled and was nearly sinking from battle damage. What if in the next game, ramming or burning an enemy vessel would destroy it, while using the corvus would allow it to be not only boarded and raided, but captured? Troops on board your ship could be a resource, expended to board and subsequently sail enemy ships. I can imagine a system in which it was possible to capture enemy ships during battle, have your soldiers take control of them, and then have those ships assist you as AI companions. Maybe only one or two ships could be taken over before you run out of troops, and maybe they’d only assist until the battle was over, or perhaps they’d have to be manually dismissed to regain your full count of troops onboard your own ship. I think this would add a new dimension to naval combat.

The nation struggle system is likely to return, especially if the game is set during a period of intense warfare. I have written the preceding sections under the assumption that the player character would be on the Roman side. I do not know, of course, if the player character would be loyal to one side or the other, and if so, to which. I hope that they will fight for one side, because being a mercenary with no allegiance or real moral code irritated me in Odyssey. I feel that if the protagonist is loyal to one side, it will likely be Rome, partly because Rome would actually feel like the underdog in this conflict in which their territory is invaded, and partly because of Eurocentrism and the greater pop-culture familiarity with Rome compared to Carthage. Maybe we’d even go back to a system with two playable characters, like in Syndicate, but this time with one on each side of the conflict, but that might be too complicated to implement.

And now, just for fun, what could the title for this hypothetical Roman Assassin’s Creed game be? I’ve seen “Assassin’s Creed Legion” floated as a possibility by someone online. I also think that “Empire,” the rumoured title of Origins, could be appropriate. What do you think?

Again, I only looked up a few things here (and hoped I’m remembering the rest correctly), so I apologize if I’ve gotten some historical facts wrong. I mean, I’m just spitballing about what a video game might be, I’m not doing much research. Thanks for taking the time to read. I’d love to hear your theories and hopes for the game as well!

[writing-after-the-disaster]

Hisham Aidi writes:

Exactly 20 years ago I was running around Cairo trying to find people who had met Malcolm X. I spoke to Jamal al-Banna (liberation theologian, trade unionist & youngest brother of Hasan al Banna) and David Du Bois (journalist, Maoist & jazzhead and step-son of W.E.B. Du Bois. They were both very helpful in making sense of MX's thought.

(The image below is from Al Bilad, a Saudi newspaper (in July 1964) -- it's one of my favorite interviews with MX, where the interviewer tells Hajj Shabazz – I don’t understand why you describe yourself as black, when you’re actually “wheat-colored;” MX laughs and proceeds to explain the “one drop rule” and how race works in America.

In this long-acoming essay, I discuss the globalization of MX's image over the last 20 years; MX's time in Egypt, Ghana, and Saudi; his interest in setting up a branch of Al-Azhar in Harlem & how in Sept 1964 (following months of training) he was appointed an official representative of the (Salafi) Muslim World League and hoped to make Muslim Mosque Inc a "legal branch of the Muslim World League" - also in Harlem; also discussed -- the controversy surrounding the 2011 Marable biography, and the once published - now off the market - slightly redacted travel diary of MX.

==================

"‘I have difficulty praying. My big toe is not used to it,’ Malcolm told his diary on April 20, 1964 shortly after arriving in Mecca. Having recently left the Nation of Islam with their practices, he was still acclimating to sitting on his knees during prayer. Despite the pain, the following day he embarks on the journey to Mount Arafat, part of the hajj pilgrimage, joining ‘hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, all colors, buses, car, camel, donkey & foot.’ Mecca, he writes, is surrounded by the: "cruelest looking mts [mountains] I’ve ever seen. They seem to be made of the waste material from a blast furnace. No vegetation on them at all. The houses are old & modern. Some sections of the city are no different than when the Prophet Abraham was here over 4000 [years ago] – other sections look like a Miami suburb.

Wandering among the pilgrims, he describes the rituals, the seven stones cast at the devil, the circumambulating of the kaaba, and observes,‘This would be an anthropologist’s paradise.’

The diaries also provide a firsthand account of Malcolm’s travels in Egypt, Ghana, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia in 1964. There’s Malcolm crossing Tahrir Square to buy some lemonade at Groppi’s, a still-existing pastry shop; then he’s buying pajamas, picking up vitamin C tablets (because he’s feeling kind of “woozy”), going to the movies, and so on.

Malcolm X is a powerful optic through which to understand America’s post-war ascendance and expansion into the Middle East. His is the perspective of a ghetto-dweller who has transcended the borders drawn around him.‘[A]s though I had stepped out of prison,’ he writes, when he travels abroad. The diaries – several notebooks of single-spaced hand- writing – show an anthropologist’s eye. Malcolm comments on the landscape, the politics, cultural and religious differences, with humorous asides. When a friend arrives late, he quips, ‘Arab time!!’ At one point, he observes, ‘The worst most dangerous habit among Arab Muslims is cigarettes. They smoke constantly, even on the Hajj.’ There are also personal reflections on his mood, health and intense solitude.The words ‘lonesome’ and ‘alone’ appear on almost every other page. His thoughts on Saudi Arabia support the standard narrative that the hajj was transformative.

Yet the diaries show something else: when not in Arabia, Malcolm seemed to enjoy being away from his role as a religious leader, and away from religious strictures as well.Whether in Ghana, Guinea, Kenya or Egypt, he immerses himself in the cultural life of these newly independent states, and the younger Malcolm, the music aficionado, resurfaces, as he frequents night-clubs and dance centers again. In Nairobi, he goes to see his friend Gee Gee sing at the Equator Club, and then accompanies Vice-president Oginga Odinga to a party at the Goan Institute of Dance. (‘The PM is a good dancer, remarkably for his age,’ he writes.) In Guinea, he attends a wedding party, then goes to a nightclub and,‘watche[s] some Americans from the Ship-hope try to dance.’ He rejoices in seeing newly independent states shunt aside European colonial music and celebrate their own musical traditions. In Accra – accompanied by Maya Angelou – he attends a party at the Ghana Press Club and enjoys ‘Highlife,’ which would become the country’s national music (Angelou 1986, 134). But it’s mostly in Egypt, which he saw as the bridge between Africa and Asia, a key player in the Non-Aligned Movement, that he spent the most time and experienced the most cultural immersion.

The story of Egyptian jazz dates back to the Harlem Renaissance, when African-American musicians who had settled in Paris, ventured east. In December 1921, Eugene Bullard, the Georgia-born military pilot, drummer and prize fighter, traveled from Paris to Alexandria, Egypt. For six months, he played with the jazz ensemble at the Hotel Claridge, and fought two fights while in Egypt (Lloyd 2000, 79). A decade later, the blues singer Alberta Hunter followed suit, singing in Istanbul and Cairo (Shack 2001, 43). The trumpeter and vocalist Bill Coleman would live in Cairo from 1939 to 1940, leading the Harlem Rhythmakers/Swing Stars. As Islam began to take hold in American cities and within jazz circles, Muslim jazz musicians would journey to Egypt. In 1932, an African-American Muslim with a saxophone turned up in Cairo, saying that he was working his way to Mecca (Berger 1964). With America’s post-war ascent, jazz would spread around the world carried by servicemen, Hollywood and Voice of America broadcasts. In 1958, the bassist Jamil Nasir, trumpeter Idrees Sulieman, and pianist Oscar Dennard traveled to Tangier, where a VOA relay station would broadcast Willis Conover’s Jazz Hour to listeners behind the Iron Cur- tain, where they recorded an album. They then went on to Cairo. In the Egyptian capital, the thirty-two-year-old Dennard would fall ill and die from typhoid fever; he would be buried in the city, his grave a regular stop for visiting jazz musicians.

All to say, by the time David Du Bois arrived in Cairo in 1960, there was already a local jazz scene and the State Department had launched its jazz diplomacy tours aimed at countering Soviet propaganda. Du Bois and his friends – with the support of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture – would try to create a music culture different from that sponsored by the US government. The Egyptian government was also leery of the jazz tours, and turned back ‘jambassador’ Dizzy Gillespie at Cairo airport in 1956 following the Suez War.

This was the buoyant cultural moment that Malcolm X encounters when he arrives in July 1964. Egypt is flourishing culturally, a regional leader in music, cinema and litera- ture. Malcolm’s diary entries from Egypt confirm the events and personalities described in Du Bois’ novel. David Du Bois is working as an announcer at Radio Cairo, and lobbying Egyptian officials to have his father���s books – especially Black Flame Trilogy – translated. (Black Boy by Richard Wright was the only work of African-American literature available in Arabic, he would write to his mother in November 1960; he wanted the government to translate Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun and Langston Hughes’ primer on jazz.) The local jazz scene was feeding off musical trends in the US, as American jazz artists wrote compositions in honor of Africa and Afro-Asian solidarity. Malcolm would soak up the scene in Cairo and Alexandria, attending weddings and concerts, socializing at Cairo’s elite social clubs, sailing down the Nile to the Valley of Kings. It’s in Cairo that he meets Fifi, a Swiss woman who works for the UN, and who is quite smitten by him. All along, of course, he is networking with regime officials and scholars hoping to build a branch of Al-Azhar in Harlem.When he travels from Cairo to Saudi Arabia for hajj, he is struck by how culturally barren the kingdom is compared to Egypt.

The diaries in effect show a man who has landed smack in the middle of the ‘Arab Cold War’ of the early 1960s, which pitted Nasser’s Egypt and her socialist allies against Saudi Arabia and the conservative monarchies backed by the US. As part of the Non-Aligned Movement, Nasser had stepped up his rhetorical attacks on American-allied monarchies in the region, through Radio Cairo, denouncing the royals for their social conservatism and alliance with the West. Music was at the heart of this propaganda effort, as top musicians were enlisted to sing the praises of ‘our destiny’ and ‘historical leader.’ And the expat jazz artists were solidly on the Egyptian side. One of the musicians, saxophonist Othman Karim, would set up the Cairo Jazz Quartet and record a track called ‘Yayeesh Nasser’ (‘Long Live Nasser’) (Du Bois 1964, 47). Karim would go on to collaborate with Salah Ragab, a young drummer and major in the Egyptian army, who would become Egypt’s most famous jazz musician, working with Sun Ra and Randy Weston.2 When Malcolm X arrives in Cairo, he negotiates this cultural tug of war, hanging with the ‘bros’ but also listening to jazz with Morroe Berger, a Princeton Arabist, expert on Black Muslims and organizer of State Department jazz tours. This contest is subtly rendered in Du Bois’ novel. Both Ragab and Karim make appearances – as characters named Salah Janin and Muhammad X – performing at the Cairo Jazz Combo.The Saudis would soon respond to Nasser’s cultural diplomacy, creating a radio station with religious broadcasts. In 1964, they launched their own ideological offensive, setting up the Muslim World League, to mobilize various Islamist groups to counter the spread of socialism and secular Arab nationalism."

Hisham Aidi, “Du Bois, Ghana and Cairo Jazz: The Geo-Politics of Malcolm X” https://www.academia.edu/36710145/Du_Bois_Ghana_and_Cairo_Jazz_The_Geo-Politics_of_Malcolm_X