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adultalternative · 2 years ago

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2022 Best of is finally here. I had like three-quarters of the list figured out pretty early on, but just had a general playlist where I added people before I listened to them to try to get more artists in at once. Turned out that was a bad idea.

Renaissance- First new Beyonce era I could appreciate live due to it instantly being on streaming. It is hard to write a real review for this album, because this is a going out album and I am still quarantining, and I primarily listen to my year end albums in a Free for All shuffle mode, but Beyonce still finds a way to surprise people 9 years after her self-titled album. My favorite songs are Break My Soul, All Up In Your Mind, Virgo’s Groove, and Thique.

Las Ruinas- Rico Nasty swung big and it paid off. Rock, G-Funk, drum and bass (amongst other genres) all make appearances on this album. People seemed to constantly mention that it was a mixtape, and you can tell, but so what? I liked the different sounds and Rico was able to stand on her own in each song without getting lost. Gotsta Get Paid, Intrusive, Into the Dark, Black Punk and Easy are my favorite songs.

Giving the World Away- Hatchie was able to make an ethereal baggy album. Another casualty of still quarantining, as this album was meant to be listened to on your way back from nights out in quirky outdoor downtown cafes in the spring. Shoegaze guitars make an appearance throughout this album, too. My favorite songs are Giving the World Away, Till We Run Out of Air, Don't Leave Me in the Rain, and This Enchanted.

Unsoothing Interior- Vero went from a cute EP to directly commanding first chair at a reality show reunion with this album. While usually, 90’s inspired albums are power pop/sunnier alternative rock and sometimes grunge, Vero dip into shoegaze and noise rock. If you primarily like Kim Gordon’s songs on Sonic Youth, then this album is for you. I like the songs Cupid, Sex, Me & TV Shows, and Beluga the most.

Sometimes, Forever- Embarrassed to say this, but this is the first Soccer Mommy album that totally got me. Her usual guitar only sound is balanced with sonic experiments like the jazzy Unholy Affliction. Also, her lyrics got to me more with songs like Don’t Ask Me and Feel it All the Time.

Nova Twins- Fun, angry and brashy. I like Cleopatra and Antagonist.

Bronco- Austin Butler wasn’t the only Elvis impressionist this year. Orville Peck sanded down his edges to make a more general country album, with unfortunately, less commercial pay off than there could have been. Bronco and Outta Time are still highlights.

Skinty Fia- Fontaines DC continue to excel at dark and brooding alternative rock music. Jackie Down the Line, In ár gCroíthe go deo, and I Love You are my highlights.

Strawberry- Dreamy alternative dance music. Patience etc… and Happy Happy are the highlights, but with such a concise project, just listen to all of it.

Stumpwork- I never would have thought that post punk would be a genre that I would fast track to my best of list, but here we are. Dry Cleaning continues to soundtrack rainy day Sundays with their detached, spoken word vocals with their expressive guitars. I like Anna Calls from the Arctic, Liberty Logs, and Kwendy Kups.

Lady for Sale- In a year with both crossover and alternative country releases, this release with a throwback sound drew my attention the most. While I was initially just drawn to Lola Kirke, the actress from underrated Mistress America, making a countrypolitan album as a Brit, I was soon surprised by how good (and accurate) it was. I like Pink Sky and Falling in Love Again.

Hypnos- Ravyn Lenae continues to be ahead of her peers at such a young age. A good take on psychedelic R&B. My favorite songs are Venom and Inside Out.

SQUEEZE- Very unique mishmash of heavier, noisy, alternative music, and more mellow singer-songwriter music. Now that I’m thinking about it, it sort of reminds me of To Bring You My Love. I enjoy the epicness of The Greatest and the sadness in Tried to Understand.

SOS- Too late of a release (and not relevant enough in a quarantine lifestyle) for me to appreciate, but it did a good job at putting its foot in the door. I like Blind, Kill Bill, and Gone Girl.

Crash- Though Sucker and Charli could have been interpreted as pop compromise albums by some of the fans, this album definitely steals the title from either with no contest, but not in a bad way. I don’t really know how to describe this album, but it’s more Superlove and Doin’ It than Blame it On Your Love. Good Ones, Yuck, Lightning, and What You Think of Me are my favorite songs, although New Shapes is also good.

Coping Mechanism- Willow came back with an even rockier album. My favorite songs are Split, ur a stranger, and Maybe it’s my Fault.

Blue Rev- Alvvays went from a punchline for random indie bands with corny names to making a late in the year highlight for me out of nowhere. Great shoegaze in catchy pop formats for walks outside. I like Pharmacist, Easy On Your Own, and the Saint Etienne-esque Very Online Guy.

Traumazine- Megan thee Stallion had a rogue’s gallery that would be perfect for a 90’s kids action cartoon this year (Or the anime inspired visualizers for the songs on Youtube). Unfortunately, for her antagonists, you can’t keep Megan down. My favorite songs are Her, Anxiety, Red Wine, and Flip Flop.

American Gurl- Kilo Kish came back with a poppier version of her EPs. Good combination of poppy sheen and melodies but still experimental. My favorite songs are Death Fantasy, Choice Cowboy, and American Gurl.

Froge.mp3- A drum and bass album that came out of nowhere but very catchy and fun. I like the songs Words and on and on.

Black Girl Magic- Honey Dijon provides us with more house bops after working with Beyonce for Renaissance. My favorite songs are Everybody and Downtown.

Finally, New- While They Hate Change's Finally, New is called experimental hip hop, for me the drum and bass made it more accessible and memorable. Some Days I Hate My Voice is my favorite song.

Us Ephemeral- Very coherent electronic album. A little Toonami and a little Telepopmusik. The title track is my favorite song.

Kaitlin Butts- Short sweet to the point country music with the right amount of sadness. What else can she do and bored if I don’t do a great job at capturing the melancholy of being bored in a rural area without being prepared for the bigger pond yet.

SRSQ- Theatrical dream pop that makes me feel like I’m flying in the night. Used to Love, Saved for Summer, and Elan Vital are my favorites. It reminds me of Tamaryn but also Sky Ferreira.

Janky Star- I found Grace Ives too late in 2019 to include her in my best of (Or have her compete fairly), but Janky Star had a better chance this year. Grace makes cool music to dance to, good for either an imaginary pop up silent rave or by yourself in a kitchen while doing chores. Burn Bridges and Loose are my favorites.

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djfrankk · 2 years ago

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Jahresrückblick 2022

Finally: 10 mal Dancefloor. 30 Alben. 10 mal Radio. 1 mal alles andere (15.01.2023)

BEST TRACKS (DANCEFLOOR)

1. hudson mohawke – dance forever 2. beyonce – break my soul 3. donna savage – crush 4. romare – priestess 5. paula jets – jazzfest 6. marcel dettmann – suffice to predict 7. keke – thick8. kungs & boys noize – fashion 9. asther the producer & el completo rd – blim blim blam blam 10. nickodemus & qvln – werere (congafist percussao mix)

BEST ALBUMS

1. viagra boys – cave world 2. fontaines d.c. – skinty fia 3. meat wave – malgin hex 4. kamp & fid mella - 2urück 0hne 2ukunft 5. hudson mohawke – cry sugar 6. kode9 – escapology 7. hieroglyphic being – there is no acid in this house 8. cypress hill – back in black 9. preoccupations – arrangements 10. beach house - Once Twice Melody

11. suff daddy – basically sober 12. b.visible – pleasant clutter 13. leon vynehall - fabric presents Leon Vynehall 14. tsha – fabric presents tsha (dj mix) 15. theo parrish – dj-kicks (detroit forward) 16. romare – fantasy 17. loop – sonancy 18. danger mouse & black thought – cheat codes 19. beyoncé – renaissance 20. guerilla toss – famously alive

21. dälek – precipice 22. dead cross – dead cross II 22. santigold – spirituals 23. !!! – let it be blue 24. moderat - more d4ta 25. napalm death – resentment is always seismic - a final throw of throes [EP] 26. rosalia – motomami 27. ebow – canê 28. black midi – hellfire 29. die sterne – hallo euphoria 30. tv priest – my other people

BEST SONGS (INDIE, POP & RADIO) (zufällige reihenfolge) dead cross – love without love die sterne – gleich hinter krefeld m.i.a. – popular diana ross & tame impala – turn up the sunshine meat wave – complaint viagra boys – ain't no thief fontaines d.c. – i love you cari cari – zdarlight 1992 rosalia – chicken teriyaki cypress hill – the ride

AND ALSO … DJ/ELECTRONIC SET – CONCERT – protomatyr, rote fabrik, zürich FESTIVAL – keines, to be honest CLUB – gasthaus dopler TV – star trek lower decks, dope sick, we own this city RADIO – fm4 unlimited MOVIE – night mare alley MUSIC-VIDEO – MAGAZINE – trasher MUSIC-MAGAZINE – ox BOOK – wu-tang ist forever NOT BAD – sich ein jahr auf eine sache konzentrieren NOT GOOD – war 2022 – weniger arbeiten, mehr blog einträge

#viagra boys #cave world #hudson mohawke #dance #dancing #beyonce #donna savage #fontaines d.c.#meat wave #kamp #hieroglyphic being #dead cross #fm4 unlimited #album review #trasher #ox #protomartyr

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hellagay87 · 2 years ago

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So hey, here are my favorite musics of 2022! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4YtPNqT7zI9kLUj88pJdiM?si=vtaHgJwiRiigDcWB-LJxzg Beyoncé, “RENAISSANCE” Hippo Campus, “LP3” Methyl Ethel, “Are You Haunted?” The Weeknd, “Dawn FM” The 1975, “Being Funny In A Foreign Language” Years & Years, “Night Call” Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, “When the Lights Go” Taylor Swift, “Midnights” Drake, “Honestly, Nevermind” SZA, “SOS” Father John Misty, “Chloë and the Next 20th Century” Florence + The Machine, “Dance Fever” Perfume Genius, “Ugly Season” The Knocks, “HISTORY” DRAMA, “Don’t Wait Up” The Smile, “A Light For Attracting Attention” Mitski, “Laurel Hell” Charli XCX, “CRASH” Yumi Zouma, “Present Tense” Lizzo, “Special” Nilüfer Yanya, “PAINLESS” Empress Of, “Save Me” Post Malone, “Twelve Carat Toothache” Maggie Rogers, “Surrender” Megan Thee Stallion, “Traumatize” Daniel Rossen, “You Belong There” Arcade Fire, “WE” Kendrick Lamar, “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” MUNA, “MUNA” Kim Petras, “Slut Pop” Weyes Blood, “And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow” TOPS, “Empty Seats” Beach House, “Once Twice Melody” Spoon, “Lucifer On The Sofa” Ben Macklin & Le Flex, “By The Way” Blue Hawaii, “My Bestfriend’s House” Gryffin, “Scandalous” Broken Bells, “INTO THE BLUE” Porij, “Baby Face” Jenny Hval, “Classic Objects” Panic! At The Disco, “Don’t Let The Light Go Out” Muse, “Kill Or Be Killed” Phoenix, “Alpha Zulu” Brijean, “Angelo” Harry Styles, “Harry’s House” IDK, “Simple.” Del Water Gap, “Del Water Gap” Future Islands, “King of Sweden” https://www.instagram.com/p/CnXnn8JyZ4y/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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theredbackpack · 1 year ago

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I saw Tisakorean live last week. I did not pay attention to the openers until right before the show started, but was blown away at the lineup: Texas Boyz, Yung Nation, and Trill Sammy with Dice Soho were the big names. Across these acts, you can draw a line from them to Tisakorean's new music. It was an incredible blend of circa-2011 blog-rap nostalgia that called to mind in the best way my nights at small sweaty clubs seeing eight rappers in a row over the course of four hours.

I don't know if you've seen the videos of Soulja Boy snapping, but I clocked it as a reaction to what Tisakorean is doing. It speaks to a trend/zeitgeist: concurrent to this is the embarrassing efforts to make "indie sleaze" a thing, which confusingly throws all manner of sounds and aesthetics anywhere from about 2004 to 2010 into a blender. The Dare kinda sound like LCD Soundsystem but they also remind me of mid-'00s detritus like The Bravery. I sense the same era rap music creeping on the margins: Homer Radio featured a slew of snap/dance music in a recent episode (#23, from April); indie sleaze nostalgia combined with "blog rap" podcasts point toward an endpoint destined to go just a few eras backward in time; the fact that 2003 was twenty years ago; this Druski skit that dropped the day I drafted this; and yes, Tisakorean's masterful album, Let Me Update My Status.

When Tisa appeared on the national stage in 2018, I thought he was riding the wave of a trend: regional dance rap that consisted of artists like Splurge and 10kcaash, alongside future footnotes like Lil Tecca. His 2019 debut, A Guide to Being a Partying Freshman, was met with a mixture of shrugs to light praise. A fun collaboration with Chance the Rapper seemed to seal his fate as a guy who would burn bright and hot but not for long.

The first time I thought "he has something" was 2020's "Bate Onna Bo" which weaved through so many movements in the span of four minutes it had to be the work of a musician with a real vision. By 2021 we got "Old School Cash" and "Silly Dude" and it was clear he was following his instincts and making the exact kind of music he wanted to make. This came to a head in 2022 with his EP 1st Round Pick and "Backseat," which was my favorite song of the year. Sometimes that's as far as an artist can go. But he pressed on: Let Me Update My Status underlines my thought that Tisakorean is an era-defining rapper in a time when artists make interminably long albums to game the streaming algorithm then disappear off the planet.

It may seem premature to call Tisakorean era-defining but that's where I landed. I don't mean he's sold the most albums or had the most hits, but in this age where you can have a few songs and leave no impact, that he's had an audience since 2018 is huge: that he's produced great music since at least 2020 is even more impressive. (While I never disliked his earliest music, it hits a lot better now in the context of his career arc.) A lot of people who liked "The Mop" may not be following him now, but artists who shed casual fans are probably doing something noteworthy. No one is good for three years, let alone five. I like Travis Porter more than your average person, but I'd argue at best they had a three year imperial phase. Now anyone starting a twitter reply with "buddy" doesn't know they exist.

The Atlanta snap/swag sound and movement from 2006 through about 2009 was a singular moment that came just as regional music was cresting (Houston famously in 2005, Three 6 Mafia won the Oscar in 2006), before blogs, before Drake. Early Gucci Mane was popping off and OJ da Juiceman became a household name within this precarious window. But as soon as all cool regional stuff became fodder for rappers on major labels and young hypebeasts like ASAP Rocky to absorb, it was over, which is why it's due for a renaissance.

It's getting harder to imagine life before smartphones, before omnipresent internet and connectivity, before literally every aspect of our lives was managed by at most three or four corporations. Kevin Durant's iconic BlackPlanet page might as well be the Dead Sea Scrolls as a relic of his personality expressed through that era of the internet. But any means of original expression becomes unlikelier as we get funneled into pre-ordained ways of being our ourselves, of consuming art and media and sports, to the fabric of our thoughts.

A few years ago Matty Healy described his life pre-internet the best I've heard it. It's not about the changes it brought, but that he cannot remember what it was like to live without it. He cannot remember what it felt like to feel things before the internet, and what it felt like to not have to think about the internet as he felt things, and that his life and experiences still had meaning. And this inability to remember will render us more vulnerable to exploitation, and feeling like we are not connected to our true selves.

It used to feel different to feel alone, to feel sad, happy, etc, without thinking about how to broadcast it. Even if you don't put yourself online like that, there's an inkling to want to. I took a ton of pictures and videos at the Tisa show and I put some in my stories, but I found I didn't want to share them permanently. They are for me.

Let Me Update My Status is a masterpiece in perfecting sounds from snap to crunk to mid-aughts Neptunes. It's a callback to a simpler time, which is nearly impossible to do without some subconscious argument we also need to return to simpler, regressive politics. What makes the album so invigorating is how thoroughly it plumbs the era as an aesthetic and sound, not just as an excuse to make goofy videos. Its accomplishment is how it demonstrates snap music as an organic form that was never a response to anything: it was not conservative in its values, instead it was a truly original and innovative Black American artform that took time to receive the respect it deserved. (Quick aside: yes there were people who always loved it and it was popular for a reason, but it was not considered a given until years later.)

In Kelefa Sanneh's Major Labels he says in spite of the liberal ideology at the heart of punk music, it was a conservative movement because art that aspires to either simplicity in its content (songs as political statements) or as a "return to form" (three chords and 4/4 time) is reactionary. The real-world impact of punk as ostensibly progressive expression was what came after it; it's Minor Threat and Green Day but also skinhead music. When mid-'10s revisionism took hold and people rightfully concluded "D4L were important" it took forgettable Big Sean and Kid Ink albums to get there; it took the critical adulation upon the arrival of artists as disparate as Kendrick Lamar, Future, and Waka Flocka Flame to get there; it took time to get there, to see what had shaped everything that preceded the moment as vital to the culture.

Tisakorean’s delirious ode to snap music locates within a specific timeframe from the past an emotional center and palette, finding new entry points into the sound, blending homemade beats with experimental forms as well as hyperpop to fashion an immersive triumph. There’s nothing one-dimensional about Let Me Update My Status and it also doesn’t conjure any Bush-era feelings of excess or doom, which it might do if it used nostalgia as a gimmick. I love Let Me Update My Status because it sounds exactly like how 2007 felt, and for me 2007 was a good year to be alive, using the internet not because I had to but because I wanted to.

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Finally, Found Me Volume Two, released with my creative brother Fat Tony, released in February. Buy one here. It continues to be my favorite thing I do. I wrote about Lil Yachty for NPR. Read that here. I started a Linktree and will add to it when necessary; bookmark/follow me here.

#tisakorean

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keikigoodbetter · 2 years ago

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....howdy, everyone! Looooong time no see 😅😅

I’m sitting in my room right now, waiting as a friend drives over to spend the last few hours of 2022 with me, and I thought I’d try to put down a few of my thoughts as I reflect on the year. It’s been a while since I checked in for real with y’all and for that I am very sorry. (fwiw I dropped contact with quite a few folks irl too, so it wasn’t just you lol)

2022 repeatedly hit my blindside and hit it HARD. I spent a lot of the year in reaction-mode as surprises both good and bad kept coming at me fast; this year had some of the worst lows of my life, but also some of the best highs. It was overwhelming, to say the least.

At the risk of being too personal, here’s an overview of some of My Notable 2022 Moments:

Start the year about 8 months into a really good headspace, to the point where my psychiatrist agrees that if I’m still A-ok by springtime then I can likely step off my antidepressants!!

Help move my Grandma out of her home and into a memory care facility

Have surgery

May 7: Go dancing with friends I haven’t seen in years, to celebrate being alive and together and that I’ve finally finished my degree

May 10: Find out my parents have filed for divorce and will be selling my childhood home, that our family build by hand, by the end of the summer

May 14: GRADUATE COLLEGE!

May 15: One of my best friends goes in for surgery because her pain-management implant is no longer functional. There are complications and she needs 3 more surgeries before the month is over

Return to martial arts after years away

Help babysit the very sweet toddler-age child of someone I went to gradeschool with. (Have an existential breakdown about how old I suddenly am and how unlikely it is at this point that I’ll get to be a mom)

All summer: help clear out my Grandma’s things from her house, move my dad’s things to his new house, move the rest of our family’s things to my mom’s new house, and do repairs and cleaning at our old house

Have to start reminding myself again to get out of bed and eat and not walk into traffic

A best friend flies in from out-of-state to go with me to a disco night

See the Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup Championship Parade!

Make a great costume and go to the Renaissance Festival in drag

Officially move out of our house; August and September are time soup

A friend from college that I’ve dearly missed moves back to Colorado

SEE MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE LIVE

My brother gets injured

Our house sells

TWO of my job applications that I was really excited for pan out and I’m asked to interview for both of them. The one I like better calls and offers me the position within 3 days! I’m going to start part-time at the local library in January!!! 😭😆

I spend an amazing afternoon with a friend on a maybe-a-date... 👀

I see many friends and family and have a wonderful holiday season

....Realize I might feel ok again soon

(and, as usual, I also saw a lot of great concerts this year!)

....WHEW. Like I said, it was A Lot All The Time. Sorry to overshare 😅 but I just - idk - I feel like I need to write it down somewhere so there’s a record of all the shit that I experienced in the last 12 months. And I feel like some of you are my legit friends and might care about some of these developments? lol idk 😅 sorry if that’s presumptuous.

Anyways, all this to say that I know I’m not particularly an outlier and that most people have crazy things happen all the time. That’s life! But I hope that if you had a rough year (like me), that things turn around for you soon (also like me?). There is always the promise of something wonderful happening just as much as there is the risk of something terrible; and I think growing up is learning to balance the threat of those two extremes without falling down for too long when a new circumstance hits you.

I grew so much in the last year and for the first time in a long time I’m actually excited about what the future might look like for me! 2023 will be hard and full of new challenges, but I think I’ll be ok. And I think you all will be, too.

💖💖💖

All of my love, forever and ever,

#howdy everybody #I did miss talking to you and I promise to be better next year!!#Also if you ever want to chat pls just let me know I'm ALWAYS lurking even if I'm not posting #Anyways happy New Years and blessings to all of you for the year ahead <3 #My life #2022 #Happy New Year

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webnewsify1 · 2 years ago

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Beyoncé’s Complete Setlist for Stockholm Opening Night of Renaissance Tour

Beyoncé commenced her long-awaited Renaissance World Tour with an opening show at Stockholm’s Friends Arena. The concert featured dazzling robotic dancing arms, a tribute to Britney Spears' music and more, which surprised and delighted her fans. Her setlist was also impressive, consisting of 37 songs spanning her illustrious career with a heavy focus on her 2022 album, Renaissance. The first night of the tour included all 16 tracks from Renaissance, 3 songs from 2003's Dangerously in Love, 3 from 2006's B'Day, 1 from 2008's I Am... Sasha Fierce, 5 from 2011's 4, 3 from 2013's Beyoncé, 2 from 2016's Lemonade, along with other hits from Destiny's Child, Lion King: The Gift and her popular collaborations. The Renaissance World Tour is scheduled to run in Europe till July 9. London, Barcelona, Brussels, and Amsterdam are the further stops before heading to Toronto. After that, the tour will go to the United States where it starts in Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field and stops in various places such as Chicago, East Rutherford, N.J., Atlanta, Houston, and more, before concluding the tour on Sept. 27 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. The complete setlist of the opening night in Stockholm, Sweden can be found below. - Dangerously in Love - Flaws and All - "1+1" / "I'd Rather Go Blind" / "I'm Goin' Down" - I Care - I'm That Girl - Cozy - Alien Superstar" / "Sweet Dreams - Lift Off - 7/11 - Cuff It - Energy - Break My Soul - Formation - Diva - Run the World (Girls) - My Power - Savage (Remix) - Black Parade - Church Girl - Get Me Bodied - Before I Let Go - Rather Die Young - Crazy in Love - Green Light - Love on Top - Freedom - Plastic Off the Sofa - Virgo's Groove - "Naughty Girl" / "Say My Name" / "Rocket" - Move - Heated - Thique - All Up in Your Mind - Drunk in Love - America Has a Problem - Pure/Honey - Summer Renaissance Read the full article

#beyonce singer tour internationaltour music song renaissance stockholm concert robotic fans webnewsify

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biglisbonnews · 2 years ago

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Check Out Andrew Makadsi's 'New York, New York' DJ Set Honey Dijon had a massive 2022. It's pretty difficult to top the high of being featured on Beyoncé's Renaissance — but the DJ and producer couldn't leave the year behind without throwing an unforgettable party to cap things off. Related | Honey Dijon Premieres Sex Positive 'La Femme Fantastique' VideoHoney enlisted the help of Andrew Makadsi (who DJs under the simple "Makadsi") as a supporting act. Raised in Lebanon and mothered by New York City, Makadsi is perhaps best known for his creative direction, but he knows how to spin tracks, too — so on December 16, 2022, he took to the Knockdown Center in Queens to do just that. Makadsi's genre-bending sound draws inspiration from Chicago to Beirut.The event, which was dubbed "Honey Dijon Presents: New York, New York," sold out soon after being announced; the week of the party, it seemed everyone in NYC was scrambling to find leftover tickets."The night of December 16 will be stamped in my memory forever, a dance floor I will never forget," Makadsi tells PAPER. "It was the perfect ending for 2022. I got to share the decks with a dear friend, collaborator and legend, Honey Dijon."If you managed to snag a ticket to the event, we have good news: You can now relive Makadsi's blow-out set as many times as you'd like, as he's just released a newly mastered version of the set. And if you couldn't make it that night — well, you'd better put on some good headphones and hit the play button, below.Photography: Julian Dakkouk https://www.papermag.com/andrew-makadsi-honey-dijon-2659138670.html

#Matt Wille #PAPER #The Blind Machine #Andrew makadsi #Dj #Honey dijon #Knockdown center #Music #Nyc #Party #Makadsi

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dankusner · 14 days ago

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Actor and Drag Star Shangela Accused of Multiple Sexual Assaults

Ben Shimkus

Shangela was a breakthrough star.

With her sharp-tongued retorts, viral catchphrases, and distinctive Southern accent, the gregarious Texas drag queen quickly rose to become one of RuPaul’s Drag Race’s most beloved contestants.

“[It’s] like ‘Angela’ with an ‘S-H,’” she explained on the show. “The debutantess of the Deep South.”

Despite an early Season Two elimination when the queen was in her late twenties, a more polished version of the future star returned to the runway for two other installments in the show’s franchise.

Drag Race fans often complain that she was robbed of the crown during her appearance on the show’s All Stars spinoff.

“She’s amazing. We’ve actually put her on the show, like, three times?” RuPaul told Andy Cohen in 2022.

“She’s a fabulous queen.”

Shangela subsequently built an image as a self-affirming queer activist.

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“In order to make it through this life, you are going to have to be your biggest cheerleader,” Shangela wrote in a 2021 op-ed.

“Be kind to yourself. Take care of your mind, soul, and body. And motivate yourself to keep going.”

Queer culture embraced the drag star’s compassionate branding.

A headline-grabbing performance for GLAAD, sold-out touring productions, and top billing at Pride events cemented her status as one of the most visible queer people in pop culture, projecting her into historically nonrepresentative spaces.

She appeared in the film A Star Is Born with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper and the television series Dancing With the Stars, attended Beyoncé’s Renaissance red-carpet movie premiere, and received a White House invitation for the signing of the Respect for Marriage Act.

Facing a wave of conservative anti-drag and anti-LGBTQ+ laws across the U.S., followers have flocked to Shangela for motivation in a dark time for the queer community.

“I’ll forever cherish this moment,” Shangela wrote to her 1.6 million Instagram followers about her SAG Award red-carpet appearance in 2019.

“I’ve had to showcase our LGBTQ+ fabulosity in many spaces that don’t always have equal representation.”

But behind the curtain — in hotel rooms and apartments — four people allege to Rolling Stone that Darius Jeremy (“DJ”) Pierce, the man behind the famous drag persona, either sexually assaulted them or attempted to have sex with them when they were too inebriated to consent.

A fifth person claims Pierce attempted anal penetration in a bathroom closet despite rejecting his advances.

The allegations against the 43-year-old Pierce mirror elements laid out in a recently settled civil lawsuit against the drag star by a former colleague.

(Neither Drag Race nor RuPaul are implicated in any of Rolling Stone‘s findings.)

According to court documents, Pierce was accused of raping a production assistant from We’re Here — a television show bringing one-night-only drag shows to small communities across the U.S. — after purchasing several drinks for them.

In a legal letter to Rolling Stone, Pierce, through his lawyer Andrew Brettler, called the allegations “false and unsupported by any evidence or reliable witness testimony,” claiming that there were “significant problems with purported accusers’ accounts.”

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Brettler asserted that Pierce “adamantly denies ever engaging in nonconsensual sex.”

This investigation, which began in November 2022, is based on 16 months of research, court documents, and interviews with several accusers.

Over the course of reporting, Rolling Stone uncovered a previously unreported police complaint, filed in Los Angeles, and multiple independent accusations spanning several years alleging sexually coercive and assaultive behavior by the drag star.

Five people independently described nights out with Pierce when they were between the ages of 18 and 23.

All five said that Pierce, nearly double their age and fresh off headline-grabbing spots on the silver screen and awards-show red carpets, drank with them through the late hours of the night and into the morning.

The accusers all said they were acutely aware of Shangela’s celebrity status — three people said they were aspiring drag queens.

One of the sources claimed they got so drunk they vomited in a hotel bed moments before they were allegedly assaulted in the same sheets.

Nearly all accusers said it took them at least months to process their alleged sexual assault.

The alleged interactions span from 2012 to 2018 in Louisiana, Texas, California, and the United Kingdom.

Pierce has maintained his innocence but admitted to meeting with four of the sources on the dates of the alleged assaults.

Pierce said he does not remember the fifth accuser.

Controversy around the drag star initially erupted last May when a production assistant named Daniel McGarrigle, working on HBO’s We’re Here, filed a civil lawsuit against Pierce and his employer Buckingham Television, alleging rape in Los Angeles after having filed a police report against the star in Ruston, Louisiana.

McGarrigle v Pierce

Initial shockwaves rippled through drag-related social media, with the Los Angeles Times breaking the story.

(A rep for Buckingham did not reply to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment. However, a HBO rep said in May 2023 that Buckingham “received a complaint late summer 2021 regarding an incident that was alleged to have occurred in early 2020. Buckingham and HBO take the safety and well-being of personnel on our shows very seriously, and Buckingham immediately launched an investigation. The investigation concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support these allegations.”)

McGarrigle, 40, alleged in the lawsuit he “threw up” from drinks provided by Pierce before he woke up to the drag star “rubbing his penis against his buttocks, attempting to insert himself into his anus.”

The lawsuit claimed Pierce thrust inside of McGarrigle while saying, “I know you want it, and you’re going to take it.”

All parties reached a settlement in February and the case was dismissed, Rolling Stone can confirm, though details remain undisclosed.

(Pierce did not respond to questions about the civil lawsuit.)

“This case has been resolved, and the defendants and their counsel acted in good faith,” Daniel M. Gilleon, McGarrigle’s lawyer, tells Rolling Stone.

“As such, I feel it would be inappropriate to discuss this matter or its resolution. I don’t know anything about the new allegations, but I certainly recognize the courage it takes for a victim to come forward.”

Three sources who spoke to Rolling Stone had spoken to BuzzFeed News, which was set to publish their allegations last year.

(McGarrigle also spoke to BuzzFeed News but declined to participate in this article.)

When the Pulitzer Prize-winning publication shuttered in April 2023, the investigation into Pierce was never published.

Two more accusers stepped forward during Rolling Stone’s continued reporting.

All five sources who spoke to Rolling Stone identify as queer and have participated in or watched drag shows.

Citing anti-drag and anti-trans laws across conservative states in the U.S., they all grappled with the decision to come forward with their allegations.

But, they all said, they want Pierce — not the queer community — to bear accountability for the allegations.

“I’m very confident I was clear with my no’s. I was declining advances. He still kept trying anyway” —Edward Ramirez

One of the sources who spoke exclusively to Rolling Stone — a 27-year-old named Helmer — filed a second police report against Pierce.

Helmer, who was 20 at the time of the alleged assault and is only using his first name out of fear of employment retaliation, filed the complaint in Los Angeles on June 1, 2023, though due to a procedural error, the police department didn’t return his report until Dec. 20.

(The LAPD did not respond to a request for comment.)

In the complaint, Helmer told police he was motivated to report his allegations after he “read articles published by the Los Angeles Times that indicated Pierce was suspected of conducting similar sex crimes with other victims.”

He told police he met Pierce in 2017 while working at a popular Los Angeles bar, where Helmer said he and Pierce exchanged numbers and social media accounts.

“I’m thinking we should hang out,” Pierce, then 36, told Helmer in Instagram direct messages reviewed by Rolling Stone.

“Let me take u to a late dinner.”

The two exchanged direct messages and went out for drinks the following night, Helmer told police.

After they met, the complaint states, “Pierce bought a ‘Mojito’ for [Helmer]. [He] stated he does not drink ‘Mojito’s’ [sic] but continued to have it out of respect for Pierce.”

Helmer told police he “does not have any recollection of the events that occurred after he drank the Mojito.”

According to the complaint, Helmer recalled “waking up completely naked on a bed and believed to be at Pierce’s residence.”

“[Helmer] asked Pierce what happened last night and why he was naked,” the complaint said.

“Pierce responded with, ‘We had sex, and there was another guy involved that you brought in.’ [Helmer] asked who that other guy was, and Pierce stated he did not know, ‘but you were really into it.’”

Helmer told police it “took him a few days to realize that he was sexually assaulted,” and by the time he came to the realization, he “believed he did not have enough evidence” to report the incident to authorities. Instead, he confided in two people: his roommate, Jay, and his current boyfriend, Josh, in 2017.

(Rolling Stone spoke to Jay and Josh, who are using their first names only to protect Helmer’s anonymity.)

Both recounted hearing details of Helmer’s allegation — including the mojito, the alleged sexual assault, and the second person present that night.

“I saw this young, sweet, scared, 20-year-old boy breaking down in front of me, and I was crushed for him,” Josh tells Rolling Stone about Helmer’s first time opening up to him.

Josh said he was proud of Helmer’s decision to file the police report.

“[Helmer] did this fucking scary thing in this scary sheriff’s station at night. It was the moment I [watched] the boy I hugged in my bed crying in 2017 [turn into] a man who could stand in his truth and live past it with no shame.”

Brettler calls Helmer’s accusation “absurd,” claiming that Pierce and Helmer “went back to Mr. Pierce’s house where they engaged in consensual sex with a third man who they met at the bar.”

“Critically, [Helmer] continued to contact Mr. Pierce in the months following the encounter,” Brettler writes.

“[Helmer] never once mentioned that Mr. Pierce mistreated him, let alone sexually assaulted him.”

On May 4, 2017, less than two months after the alleged assault, Helmer texted Pierce to ask for help in finding an apartment.

Helmer said the texts were sent in desperation after breaking up with his then-boyfriend, whom he had lived with.

“I’m looking pretty urgently,” Helmer said in the text message to Pierce.

“My plans fell through last night, and I need a place to live.”

Regarding Helmer’s police report, Brettler adds that “no one from law enforcement has ever contacted Mr. Pierce or his representatives about [Helmer’s] bogus claims.”

“It’s not like I was in control of anything that was going on. It was very animalistic, taking advantage of someone” –Zein Checri

Helmer’s police complaint echoed allegations from four other people who spoke to Rolling Stone.

Edward Ramirez, 27, claimed Pierce assaulted him after a night out in Texas in 2018.

Rolling Stone reviewed Instagram conversations between Pierce and Ramirez.

They met at a bar on Sept. 10 and discussed plans to hang out again on the evening of Sept. 11 into the early morning.

But Ramirez, who was then 21 years old, said the night of the 11th took a turn out of his control.

He initially posted his allegations on ATRL, an internet blog space for celebrity culture and analysis, to describe his night. “

[Pierce] shoved me on the floor in a closet and tried to penetrate me,” Ramirez wrote three days after the alleged assault.

“Honestly, had he just asked, I probably would’ve had consensual sex with him. But getting shoved into a closet and thrown on the floor was just uncomfortable and seemed like an abuse of power.”

“I’m very confident I was clear with my ‘nos.’ I was declining advances,” Ramirez tells Rolling Stone.

“He still kept trying anyway. When I shared the story initially, I was showing grace and mercy that I wouldn’t have shown had I taken more time to process what happened.”

Unlike the other accusers, Ramirez says he provided his own drinks throughout the night.

He adds he didn’t go to the police because he distrusted police authorities in Texas as a Black queer man.

Pierce’s initial defense to BuzzFeed News alleged that any accusers coming forward were motivated by McGarrigle in an attempt to strengthen his civil lawsuit.

But Ramirez, who says he has never spoken to or met McGarrigle, posted his allegations in 2018, four years before McGarrigle initially came forward.

(In his letter to Rolling Stone, Pierce, through his attorney, did not address the settlement or his previous accusations regarding other sources’ connection, or lack thereof, with McGarrigle.)

Pierce and Ramirez also texted after spending the night together.

“Are you still in Dallas?” Ramirez wrote Pierce on Sept. 16, less than four days after the alleged assault.

Ramirez tells Rolling Stone the message was sent to try and coordinate a meeting between Pierce and a drag-queen friend of Ramirez’s.

“So ur going to bed or r we hanging out,” Pierce, who was 37 at the time, asked Ramirez in a text at 4 a.m. on Sept. 17.

Ramirez responded, “Lol hanging out where!! It’s 4am haha.”

Ramirez tells Rolling Stone he believed the messages were a “polite rejection” of Pierce’s continued advances.

Brettler supplied Rolling Stone with three witness statements that could “attest that Mr. Pierce and Mr. Ramirez were never alone together” that night.

(Brettler also supplied a fourth witness to dispute the account of another accuser, Zein Checri.)

The witnesses say they socialized with Pierce and Ramirez in a small apartment.

“During the time spent at my apartment, there were no incidents that I observed or was made aware of which could be construed as sexual assault or any form of misconduct,” one witness tells Rolling Stone.

“The apartment was small and we were all hanging together until we all left,” another witness tells Rolling Stone.

“[Shangela] is one of the kindest, most generous, and hardworking drag queens in the business. And it’s really disgusting to see how people are trying to attack her with these untrue stories.”

Ramirez consistently told Rolling Stone that the alleged assault occurred in a walk-in closet in the bathroom as people were leaving for the night.

CHECRI, 24, ALLEGES Pierce also attempted anal penetration against his will.

“It was very animalistic, taking advantage of someone,” Checri, a London-based musician, says about the alleged encounter in November 2017, when he was 18.

Checri said he met Pierce, then 37, while clubbing in London. Promoters invited Checri and Pierce to an event called “Hype Hop” — a weekly show at London’s Cirque le Soir nightclub – during Pierce’s birthday week.

Checri alleges Pierce was buying rounds of drinks for a group of people, including Checri.

Checri and Pierce confirmed that they both returned to Pierce’s hotel room at the Clermont London Hotel with a group of people.

After the other guests left, Checri and Pierce were alone in the room.

Darius Pierce AKA Shangela attends the Academy Awards in 2019.

Eventually, Checri alleged, he was so intoxicated he could not consent to any sexual activity.

Checri claims he eventually threw up in Pierce’s bed.

He claims Pierce made an attempt to insert his penis moments later.

“I just remember very clearly a sequence of events, which was me being on the bed,” Checri says.

“Then being sick on the bed, everywhere. [I remember] feeling it, and seeing it, and smelling it. I very viscerally remember that. And then, whilst that was happening, like, an attempt at penetration.

“I was so ill that I was throwing up in the bed. It’s not like I was in control of anything that was going on,” Checri adds.

“I felt so humiliated by the fact that I felt like an accessory that was available at a certain time.”

Checri told two friends about his encounter, who corroborated his account to Rolling Stone.

Checri says he didn’t go to the authorities because of a lack of trust in the police.

“I noticed that he had gone quite reserved and withdrawn,” one friend tells Rolling Stone.

“It seems like he was totally overwhelmed in the moment. Whether it was physically or through other means, he just fully was not in control, and his agency was taken away from him. It really, really shook him up.”

In a letter to Rolling Stone, Brettler contends that Checri “was the one who pursued a physical relationship with Mr. Pierce — not the other way around.”

“While alcohol was consumed,” Brettler writes, “no one was visibly intoxicated, or impaired to the point that they could not make decisions for themselves.”

In Pierce’s account, as provided by Brettler, Checri and Pierce “made out” before falling asleep and “both men were fully clothed.”

“Mr. Pierce was awakened in the early morning hours to the sound of Mr. Checri vomiting in the bed,” Brettler writes.

“Mr. Pierce then encouraged Mr. Checri to go home. Embarrassed and apologetic, Mr. Checri gathered his belongings and left. Apart from cuddling in bed together before falling asleep, Messrs. Pierce and Checri were not intimate, and did not have sex.“

One witness provided by Brettler tells Rolling Stone he was with Checri and Pierce before he “left to my room next door, and shortly after received a call from [Pierce] asking for help.”

The witness defended Pierce, saying he kicked Checri out after he vomited on the bed.

“Shangela was someone that I looked up to, rooted for, and was inspired by. But what happened to me wasn’t OK.” —RoyLee Soliz

A fourth accuser, Zachary, 32, also claimed he was jolted awake during a deep inebriation, as Pierce and another man forcefully attempted anal insertion.

“Last thing I remember [at the club] is being told [by Pierce] we were doing two more shots,” Zachary, who was then 23, said about a night with Pierce at Southern Decadence, a six-day event in New Orleans celebrating queer culture during Labor Day weekend in 2015.

Zachary said that he met Pierce at a meet-and-greet following a performance.

(Zachary requested Rolling Stone only use his first name, citing the need to protect his mental health.)

Zachary says Pierce, who was 34 at the time, insisted they drink after the meet-and-greet, where he claims Pierce supplied Zachary with drinks until Zachary said he blacked out.

Zachary says he woke up to Pierce and an unidentified man attempting to penetrate him.

“I heard Shangela say, ‘Stick it in him,’ and I quickly said ‘No,’” Zachary recalls.

“I am pretty sure that [the unidentified man] didn’t do anything, but I passed out again, so I am not positive.”

Zachary, a self-described Drag Race fan and part-time drag queen, says he was originally enamored with Shangela’s celebrity and was starstruck when Shangela showered him with so much attention.

But in 2022, McGarrigle initially posted his allegations on Instagram, and Zachary says he saw the post when McGarrigle’s allegations circulated around social media.

There were many similarities with McGarrigle’s alleged interactions with Pierce, he says.

“It happened to me seven years ago, and I never really thought anything of it. I played it off as a ‘celebrity’ [encounter],” Zachary says.

“I read Danny’s story and [realized] it was something [bigger]. When [Danny’s story] matched almost identically to what happened to me, I was like, ‘Oh, OK. So, that was not great.’”

Two of Zachary’s friends corroborated claims that they all met Pierce at a meet-and-greet and that he provided multiple drinks to Zachary.

When Zachary recounted details of his night the following morning, the friends told Zachary that elements of his description of the night sounded like assault.

They said that, at the time, Zachary remained starstruck as a fan.

“He told us about the night, and at first, he was excited.

He was like, ‘I got to hang out with Shangela,’” one of Zachary’s friends, who was with him through part of the night, tells Rolling Stone.

The friend says he watched Pierce provide Zachary two shots after a night where they were already heavily drinking.

“[Zachary] was maybe 130 pounds at that point. He didn’t need a lot to get drunk. Anything after that was probably too much.”

Brettler says the duo “engaged in consensual sexual acts before falling asleep.”

Zachary and Pierce continued texting each other through April 2016, exchanging pictures of Zachary in drag and talking about potential future hangouts.

“At no time did Zachary ever accuse Mr. Pierce of wrongdoing or any inappropriate conduct,” Brettler writes.

Zachary does not refute his own attempts to maintain a relationship with Pierce after the sexual interaction.

He said that he wanted Pierce’s input as a young drag queen, despite his friends’ attempts to convince him that his night sounded like assault.

IN APRIL 2012, RoyLee Soliz, 32, alleges they met Pierce at a meet-and-greet, this time after a performance at Texas A&M University at Kingsville for a Pride event. Soliz, who was 20 at the time, says Pierce invited them to join him for a non-school-affiliated show at a club called Vault in Corpus Christi.

Soliz says that Pierce, who was then 31 and fresh off two straight appearances on Drag Race, supplied drinks throughout the night, and they ended up in Pierce’s Courtyard Marriott hotel room.

Soliz says they accepted an offer to stay for the night, given Pierce’s status in the queer community.

“Shangela was someone that I looked up to, rooted for, and was inspired by,” Soliz says.

“But what happened to me wasn’t OK, and I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.”

At first, Soliz claims everything seemed to be going well — so well that they told Pierce they wanted to become a drag queen one day.

Pierce applied some makeup and gave Soliz a wig to try on.

Soliz says they initially thought that it was a moment of budding friendship.

But Soliz says that after drinking with Pierce, they passed out in Pierce’s hotel room.

“I just remember trying to sleep and closing my mouth when she tried to put her penis in my mouth,” Soliz says.

“I really didn’t have any strength to tell her to stop or that I didn’t want to have sex with her.… She had gotten me so drunk that I couldn’t say no, and I was in no way mentally OK enough to feel strong or demand her to stop what she was doing.

“I remember I woke up, felt so nasty, and just got in the shower and walked out of that hotel thinking it was my fault for being drunk and staying the night,” Soliz adds.

Soliz says that Pierce had left the hotel before they had woken up but left a letter on the hotel notepad.

Soliz supplied a picture of the letter, which was reviewed by Rolling Stone.

“Good morning — didn’t want to wake you. Keep in touch!” read the letter, signed by “DJ/Shangela.”

“Mr. Pierce has no recollection of meeting RoyLee Soliz, nor does he recognize that individual’s name,” Brettler writes.

“While Mr. Pierce does not necessarily dispute that he met with Mx. Soliz more than a decade ago, he adamantly denies ever engaging in nonconsensual sex of any kind with them, or anyone else.”

“[Pierce is] a huge spokesperson for a community in which they have hurt quite a few people. It is a big relief that, finally, this conversation is starting to happen” –Zein Checri

Another person, Joel, tells Rolling Stone he began working as an off-the-books assistant for Pierce in January 2018.

They remained friends until they stopped communicating in November 2022.

Joel says he and Pierce had a sexual relationship while he simultaneously helped Pierce with various tasks, including packing suitcases, getting ready for events, and packaging merchandise for fans.

“I didn’t have any options at that point,” Joel, who tells Rolling Stone he was unhoused at the time, said.

“I was still living on my friend’s couch. I was without a job, so I was just like, ‘OK, I’m just getting networking gains out of this.’”

At various points, Joel (who is using his first name only, citing his tumultuous relationship with his family over his own drag persona) says he watched Pierce drink with numerous young, skinny men and would tell Joel how attractive the men were.

He tells Rolling Stone he witnessed men — mostly in their early twenties — go with Pierce to the star’s hotel rooms, hot tubs, and friends’ apartments.

“DJ liked to drink,” he says about Pierce.

“The name of the game was how many people could he get drunk. How many people could he get to come to the afterparty in his hotel room, and then they’d still be drinking there.”

In a letter to Rolling Stone, Brettler writes that Pierce was “not surprised” that Joel spoke to Rolling Stone, asserting that “he is not credible; he only wants attention.”

Pierce did not address Joel’s accusations, but disputed that Joel worked for him after 2018.

“At no time after 2018 was [Joel] employed by Mr. Pierce, or any entity affiliated with him,” Brettler writes.

Brettler claims Joel had previously lied about his work and that the two had dated beginning in 2018.

(Joel disputes Pierce’s characterization that they were dating, claiming that “never once was a relationship discussed.”)

After the pair parted ways, according to Brettler, Joel would send “unsolicited selfies and videos of himself posing provocatively and/or engaging in various sex acts” to Pierce.

“As recently as Nov. 3, 2022, [Joel] sent friendly, if not flirtatious, text messages to Mr. Pierce,” Brettler writes, “attaching videos from the night they first met and expressing well-wishes…. [Joel’s] after-the-fact attempt to paint Mr. Pierce as a predator is entirely inconsistent with his private communications with Mr. Pierce.“

THE WEIGHT OF conservative anti-drag bills bothered nearly every source in Rolling Stone’s investigation.

They all spoke out against anti-drag bills, anticipating their allegations could be used as a misguided cudgel for conservative censorship of drag queens.

“I’ve done a lot of story hours myself, and everything that’s being said about it [is] the furthest from the truth,” Zachary adds.

“Drag queens across the country are going out to these places and doing really wonderful things for their communities. [They’re] doing drag-queen story hours to help kids accept themselves, just to accept love.”

“I see people firsthand who are suffering,” Joel adds of drag performers in conservative states.

Instead, everyone who stepped forward with allegations wants Pierce to shoulder accountability as they fight back against homophobic legislation.

“[Pierce is] a huge spokesperson for a community in which they have hurt quite a few people. I would hope that people take this kind of thing seriously,” Checri says.

“It is a big relief that, finally, this conversation is starting to happen.”

#Youtube

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granvarones · 25 days ago

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house music all night long!” declared new york hip-hop group jungle brothers on their seminal 1988 hip-house track “i’ll house you.” it was one of the first non-chicago based house song to become a club hit. by the release of “i’ll house you,” house music had been soundtracking Black, Latine and queer clubs in chicago for almost a decade.

emerging in chicago clubs at the start of 1980s, pioneering DJ and producer, the late greats frankie knuckles, helped to create a sound that combined the use of drum machines, synthesizers with the soul and essence of disco. house music born and out of that an entire world that served as a lifetime for LGBTQ communities.

this is the world that honey dijon was born into. the chicago born and raised icon, honey dijon has become one of the most influential DJs and house music historians of a generation. and today (and everyday beyond), we celebrate honey dijon!

Honey Dijon’s rise to global acclaim as a DJ and producer is a testament to the power of House music and Black Girl Magic. Honey Dijon’s journey as a Black trans woman in the music industry is a continuation of the lineage of House music, the significance of Black and Latine LGBTQ club culture and resistance – especially trans resistance.

Born and raised in Chicago, just as House music was burgeoning, Honey Dijon grew up surrounded by the sounds and mixes by legendary Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy, two pioneers who helped shaped the genre’s sound and culture. Inspired as young person by the refuge and freedom of expression House music provided, Honey Dijon dived into her passion for DJing.

By the late 1990s, Honey Dijon became a fixture in both the Chicago and New York club scene. She then began to craft and produce her own music which led to a string of notable releases including “The Best of Both Worlds” (2017) and “Black Girl Magic” (2022).

Honey Dijon further cemented her iconic status when she co-produced both “Cozy” and “Alien Superstar” on Beyoncé’s 2022 album, “Renaissance,” which garnered Honey a Grammy Award when the album won Best Dance/Electronic Album.

Honey Dijon has performed and DJed all over the world while sharing the history of a genre that was born out of the struggles and triumphs of marginalized communities. Honey Dijon carries that legacy forward, using her platform to resist erasure and oppression. By performing on some of the world’s biggest stages, she forces mainstream culture to reckon with the unapologetic presence and contributions of Black trans and queer people.

youtube

As attacks on transgender rights increase, particularly in the United States, Honey Dijon continues to represent the radical joy and freedom that House music was built on. Her DJ sets are not just performances—they are a call to action, an offering to community, and that Black Girl Magic creates space for the marginalized to be celebrated on and off the dance floor!

LEARNING MORE:

Listen to Honey Dijon’s “Black Girl Magic” on music streaming platforms

Watch “Pump Up The Volume: History of House Music”

Read “Do You Remember House: Chicago’s Queer of Color Underground” by Micah Salkind

#granvarones #queer #gay #storytelling #lgbtqia #lgbtq history month #honey dijon #Youtube

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nerdynachodaze · 2 months ago

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Time Capsule: Beyonce's Renaissance, 2022

At midnight on July 29th, 2022 Beyoncé dropped her long-awaited album, Renaissance. That summer I was in a twitter GC ran by a guy I fucking hated but I befriended everyone else so I stayed for them.

I broke the news to them that Renaissance was a part I of a trilogy, and I'll never forget the night Break My Soul dropped, but when it was finally time for Renaissance me and the 20+ gay ppl in my phone went NUTTY

I was dancing around my room doing the poor man's Vogue and replaying "Cuff It" four times while me and my friends gushed about our favorite tracks until 4 am. Best night ever!

(life lesson for the youngin's: there's no one more fun to talk about Bey with than gay ppl lol)

#beyonce #renaissance #nostalgia #time capsule #time #early 2000s #fear of missing out #2010s #2020s #2000s kid #past #present #future

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lavelled · 4 months ago

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charming sibling tapestry.

Harrow:

KING BUYS LUXE CONDO UNIT 11A AT THE CANADIAN CONSULATE OF NEW YORK.

Did Daddy’s unfavorite son get his very own rape room?

A young hockey player angered you.

Lots of people don’t like you. Move your swivel chair. They say you’re ostracized poison.

Your response to me was prohibiting me from seeing my dead cult when this is over. Little absurdist rape-recruit criminal. Shouldn’t you be tantrum throwing or rewatching Fight Club?

For years, regal elegance has trended online. Cheaply achieved. I wouldn’t flaunt performance art to the unsuspecting public on a worldwide platform, for profit, with no artistic entity to sell, with a man who clearly didn’t love me. The stepping back as senior royals to enjoy private life in California is him realizing oh wait the hands-tied, pathological-lying ruse is catching up to me. Don’t get me wrong: they still cash in. British and Hollywood fans have been in a steady decline, thankfully.

In spoiler-filled Xotel Harry, we’ve lifted digital camouflaging for Archillect, Murat Pak, Piers Morgan, narrating English football in UK time, and Elon Musk. Typing martyr today? Soulless. You tweeted: Put Never Went To Therapy On My Gravestone when I left the cave site. Google musk never gone to therapy Feb 28.

In the meantime, there’s a Tom Cruise marathon of cinema. Syfy. Disney. Animal Planet. I haven’t seen, A Few Good Men, since 1992. Sharp Sorkin dialogue. In minute seven, Tom’s in Washington, DC in a baseball team uniform, Boston Red Sox cap, playing SOFTBALL, and dropping effortlessly hip references to oregano. That’s me! Those are my letters. He did read them. You were 8.

Far from the entertainment business, your family of high principles did this because unlimited access to wealth and privilege can be toilsome. I don’t know what it’s like to be born into such elevated social status. If I cobbled together the trappings of royal life for a babied prince, I’d get that the necessary detachment and trafficking saved you from shocking abuse.

Skydiving, English football, tennis matches. Premiere of movie, Spice World, in the somber year of 1997. A three-pronged holiday ski trip in Whistler, Canada in 1998. Regular family trips to Klosters Ski Resort in Switzerland. Romantic ski vacation in exclusive resort in Kazakhstan. Endless photog evidence of you leaving London nightclubs. On a motorcycle in South Africa. First pitch at Mets game. Stag parties. Caught naked in a VIP suite in Las Vegas. Sprinting with Usain Bolt in Jamaica. Charity polo matches. Meeting Rihanna in Barbados on World Aids Day. Visiting Casablanca to promote girls’ education. Videotaping a challenge to the Obamas. Taping heartfelt message to Elton John. Speech at the United Nations for Nelson Mandela Day. Chairing Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World. Spouses accepting Kennedy Human Rights Award for leadership to dismantle structural racism. Meeting human rights icon, Desmond Tutu. Date night at The Lion King premiere. Obstacle course race with James Corden. Super Bowl 2022 with your cousin. Chat show and podcast interviews for Book. Hosting The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection in LA. Katy Perry concert. Beyoncé Renaissance concert.

Seems stifling.

My life has been a little different.

When the British press published cavorting Vegas pictures in 2012 titled, Heir It Is, why are you in a Let’s Get Wild Lauren’s Bachelorette shirt? Are you not admitting to being my older male cousin by proxy, locking up a little girl for arranged marital sex?

What is it about music that is lightning crashes, would you capture it, genie in a bottle, can’t find a better man, dearly beloved, guess the fortune teller’s right, the club isn’t the best place, shut up and dance, it’s gonna be me. Your vinyl-shaped rapey spinster schoolchild code is caught in youtubing stories full of tellers.

Welcome to the Internet—Bo Burnham. Toby Keith—How Do You Like Me Now. Bad Wolves—Zombie. Skillet—Monster. Avenged Sevenfold—Hail To The King. Avicii with Aloe Blacc—Wake Me Up—Tim Bergling traveled to Muscat, Oman to fatally wound himself 5 years later.

#reading #books

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pizzacentral · 10 months ago

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2023 ANNUAL FAVORITES

Hello! Welcome back to my annual year-end list of favorite things. I think it was actually a really strong year for new movies, music, and games, so I'm going to get to the point fairly quickly here. It was a year where I was lucky to have a good amount of time to take in new media, and I am thankful for that. Here's what I enjoyed most!

As always, any media that was widely released in the calendar year 2023 (that I personally consumed within the calendar year 2023) was eligible. This was ranked on January 1st, 2024, and remains unchanged since then (no matter what I end up thinking about it in the future.)

Favorite Films

I watched 105 movies that were widely released in 2023 this year, up from 96 in 2022. 67 of those were in a movie theater, up from 40 last year. Actually, streaming movies slipped through the cracks more this year, as I prioritized watching films in one sitting instead of in chunks during my commute to work.

It was pretty difficult to make a top twenty-five list this year, least of all to cull it down to ten, so it is with apologies to everything else that I present my favorites. By the way, if you'd like to hear me talk about these movies, give Cinema Bums a listen.

10. Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé

9. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

8. Eileen

7. How To Blow Up a Pipeline

6. Oppenheimer

5. BlackBerry

4. American Fiction

3. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

2. The Killer

1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Favorite Records

I feel like I listened to less records this year than I'd have liked to, but when I look at this list, I know pretty much all the words to every song on every album (and had to cut probably five others that I felt the same way about). So that's not bad!

10. KAYTRAMINÉ - Aminé and Kaytranada

9. In the End It Always Does - The Japanese House

8. the record - boygenius

7. So Much (For) Stardust - Fall Out Boy

6. The People's Champ - Quinn XCII

5. GUTS - Olivia Rodrigo

4. And the Charm - Avalon Emerson

3. Desire, I Want To Turn into You - Caroline Polachek

2. The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess - Chappell Roan

1. Something To Give Each Other - Troye Sivan

Favorite Songs

As always, any song on one of my Favorite Records was not eligible to be included on my Favorite Songs list. I've probably listened to singles and playlists more than records recently, and the shortlist for this category was over a hundred songs long. That list may have contained some more adventurous cuts, but these were the ones that meant the most to me.

10. "Psychedelic Switch" - Carly Rae Jepsen

9. "Ant Pile" - Dominic Fike

8. "Coping On Unemployment" - Del Water Gap

7. "ALÉRGICA" - Paty B

6. "Even When I'm Not With You" - Pierce the Veil

5. "All Dogs Go To Hell" - Chase Rice

4. "A&W" - Lana Del Rey

3. "Outskirts" - Sam Hunt

2. "Dance the Night" - Dua Lipa

1. "Co-Star" - Amaarae

Favorite TV Shows

Probably not as great of a year for the handful of TV shows I watch as 2022 was, but I think the top three here are really good!

5. Loki (Season 2)

4. Ahsoka (Season 1)

3. Poker Face (Season 1)

2. The Last of Us (Season 1)

1. I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (Season 3)

Favorite Video Games

These are all for the Nintendo Switch. In 2024, I hope to finally play Persona 5 Royal on Switch, then finally get a Steam Deck and play Marvel's Spider-Man, and then get a Switch 2 when it comes out. Maybe those plans are kind of in conflict with my plans to spend more time writing.

5. Vampire Survivors

4. Suika Game

3. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

2. Metroid Prime Remastered

1. Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Favorite Theater

I thought this would be fun to add as its own category this year, since I live in New York City and have somewhat okay luck at winning the lottery for shows!

5. Shucked (Broadway)

4. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Broadway)

3. Camelot (Broadway)

2. The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (Off-Broadway)

1. Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Off-Broadway)

Assorted Favorites

Stop Making Sense (Remastered Theatrical Run and Remastered Album)

Joe Pera: Slow and Steady (Comedy Special)

Blank Check's 8th Anniversary Live Show

"Ana Fabrega: One Hour" (Live Show)

To a T Reveal Trailer

Movie Trailers: Somebody I Used To Know, Past Lives, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Maestro

That's all for this one. Happy New Year!

#feature #favorites #film #films #music #records #songs #tv #video games #theatre #broadway #2023

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jzontheazarian · 1 year ago

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The Ultimate Self Care Playlist for 2023: Featuring KAYTRANADA, Beyonce, Tyla and More

December is a time to unwind and enjoy some music that nourishes your soul. From uplifting anthems to calming melodies, these songs will make you feel good about yourself and your life.

Welcome to “Self Care Picks,” your go-to playlist for self-love and self-care.

Here are our picks for this month:

‘Lover/Friend’ - Rochelle Jordan’s voice is the perfect complement to KAYTRANADA’s smooth and sultry production, as they create a late night gem that elevates the passion to new heights. The track explores the dilemma of being more than friends or not, with clever and captivating lyrics. Jordan harmonizes with the beat, which features KAYTRANADA’s signature dance bop baseline, and brings the track to life. Even in a tough situation, the song offers a rare moment of tranquility and joy.

youtube

‘Fine By Myself’ - He’s one of the warmest voices out of London this year, but Odeal doesn’t need anyone else to make him happy. In his latest album, he explores the themes of solitude, self-love, and sacrifice. He sings about the joys of being comfortable in his own skin, as well as the challenges of letting go of a lover who doesn’t understand him. Odeal is not afraid to break hearts, as long as he stays true to himself. This is the story of a man who knows how to be alone, and loves it.

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‘My House’ - Just when you thought she couldn’t get any hotter, Beyonce surprises us with a new song that adds to her 2022 masterpiece ‘RENAISSANCE’. The song, produced by The Dream, showcases Beyonce’s versatility and passion for music, as she raps and sings with confidence and flair. She also throws some shade at the media who constantly criticize her, while celebrating her roots and her crew. This is Beyonce at her best: spicy, sassy, and unstoppable.

youtube

‘On and On’ - She’s the new sensation who has taken the music world by storm. With her catchy lyrics, captivating voice, and irresistible charm, Tyla is the artist who makes us feel nostalgic for the 2000s era of music. Her latest single is a love story that we can’t get enough of, as Tyla has a whole EP of diverse songs that showcase her talent and versatility, and we can’t wait to hear them all. Not only a rising star, but also a proud ambassador of South African music, as she infuses her songs with elements of her culture and heritage. She has a big vision and a big heart, and she’s ready to share them with the world and we’re here for it.

youtube

‘Simple’ - With a voice that captivates and a style that intrigues, Raiche is a storyteller who crafts songs with grace and flair. She dives into a musical adventure, soaring above the stereotypes that try to confine her. Her latest project, ‘Loveland’, is a testament to her passion and talent. It is a love letter to her fans, a gift of pure joy and beauty that will resonate for years to come. In this album, she explores the themes of love, identity, and empowerment, with a blend of soul, R&B, and pop. Each song is a gem, shining with emotion and authenticity. Raiche is a rising star who is not afraid to share her story and her heart with the world.

youtube

Other songs we loved:

‘Proud of You’ - Kotrell

‘Better With You’ - Mannywellz / Pink Sweat$

‘I Might’ve Done That’ - Maurice Moore

‘For The Streets’ - Inayah

‘Right Back In It’ - Leela James / Kevin Ross

Self-Care Spotlight Presented by AZARIAN Cares: ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ - Piff Marti

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Plus stay caught up on ‘First on Audiomack’ with new reviews uploaded weekly. You can listen to this month’s “Self Care Picks” on Audiomack and YouTube Music.

#beyonce #kaytranada #tyla #self care #Youtube

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randomrecommendsmusic · 1 year ago

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Radio Sept 2022 - May 2023

This is where I am going to put my radio shows from my last radio season with WFNM radio. (Click here to go back to the main post)

Shows

Intro Show Sept 2022 (finished! need to put the page here!)

Songs That Remind Me of THOSE Girls From High School (finished! need to put the page here!)

Recent Releases Sept 2022 (finished! need to put the page here!)

Broken Hearts and Shattered Knees (finished! need to put the page here!)

Chill Out (finished! need to put the page here!)

Disney Night (finished! need to put the page here!)

Begin Again (finished! need to put the page here!)

Spooky Season (finished! need to put the page here!)

Taylor Swift Eras (finished! need to put the page here!)

Indie Music and Independent Artists (finished! need to put the page here!)

Decades (finished! need to put the page here!)

Music from the Life is Strange Series (finished! need to put the page here!)

Happy Holidays (finished! need to put the page here!)

What's Going On??? (finished! need to put the page here!)

Dreaming of a Sweet Baboo (finished! need to put the page here!)

Brutal - Rock of All Kinds (finished! need to put the page here!)

Blues, Jazz and Swing - Music from the 20s and 30s (Decades Series) (finished! need to put the page here!)

Big Band and DooWoop - Music from the 40s and 50s (Decades) (finished! need to put the page here!)

Let's Put On a Show - Music from On and Off-Broadway (finished! need to put the page here!)

Motown, The British Invasion, and Disco - Music from the 60s and 70s (Decades) (finished! need to put the page here!)

The Birth of Electro Dance Pop, Grunge Rock, and Modern Pop - Music from the 80s and 90s (Decades) (finished! need to put the page here!)

Classic Country (finished! need to put the page here!)

Nostalgic Pop, Electronic, and the Pop Renaissance - Music from the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s (finished! need to put the page here!)

Radio Rewind 2022 - 2023 (finished! need to put the page here!)

(Click here to go back to the main post)

#apple music #broadcasting #music #playlists #radio #radio dj #spotify #youtube

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agkrakow · 2 years ago

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It is little past midnight, I see the lights, at the castle, the old glassworks, the churches and the synagogues. They remind me of the Middle Ages, renaissance, communism and I don´t like it. All those glorious failed success stories. Success. Mistake, nobody seems to care about. Just as the sun is rising, I have decided to leave. Turning around, the first rays of sunshine blind two of my eyes, looking into the future. The other two now clearly discern other stranger´s eyes and the future those eyes saw during the night, still resonating, becomes the past. Confusedly, I close all my four eyes.

Open my two ears.

hear

1000 people talking

about everything, everywhere, anytime

a fruitful chaos, a new beginning

like alibaba

jack mas baby

that he abandoned when it reached adulthood

jack mama a confused parent

with plans for 102 years, but only 30 to live

after public, private

night

listen

14400 tons of watervapour

breath out

condense

drip

get visible

write me a note

crack the glass

communism scattered on the floor

capitalism in the air

invariance, resonance

where the hell are we? come on, dance [1]

What kind of bird are you? [2]

a moth

I want to see the light, I want to be the light.

Clonk

like a confused daguerreotype [3]

he is flat

plain

straight

sleek

slick

slippery

clean

polished

outright

unruffled

suave

silken

like a door

a door like Janus?

turn around

bye, hi

don´t be so harsh

raw?

tough!

wild?

hard!

stark?

throaty!

choke

I am a sponge,

Bonemarrow

dripping in oil

warm, white, wealthy

a new color [4]

the shadow gathering [5]

no name

there never would be

rightly so [4]

255, 0, 0

Contraction [5]

red

stop

green

speed of light

turning gold to red

and silver to white [6]

evening

love

marry

neither possession, nor command [7]

a state of solid [8]

sound

and sick

confusedly together [9]

giggle

a scattered smile

sporadic joy

hick-up

hook-up

rather dead than spotted [10]

rather seen and potted

porcelain

the ermine

titles of honor

occasion of trouble

order of subjects

wealth

object loved or hated [11]

sellthe

house s

ellthec

ar sell

thekids [12]

sub-sub-urbia [13]

blind eyed purlieu [14]

botany of dream [15]

children, scream, cry but they don´t sing [16]

sweet air

sleepless nights

salty breakfast

secret good byes

2 ears

2 mouths

a lot of love

less listening

Janus?

never one

never another

always seeing

mistrustfully [15]

surprisedly

he remembers me

and can´t turn

he has no back

I turn mine on him

talking now to Jim

for janus´ sake,

he´s looking to the future

seeing me, his mistake

seeing

Krakow,

crack ouch

listen,

Jack, wow

[1] Brooks, Quick, Margiela artisanal 2022 collection: And where the hell are we? Come on, dance.

[2] Max Ernst, Écritures: Interrogation au second degré / What kind of bird are you? / Êtes-vous niniche? / Un petit bleu? / Un ami? / Un vrai? / Gai? / Parisienne? / Un peu de calme

[3] Marx, Collected Works: At the same time the shadow gathered color, like a confused daguerreotype.

[4] Handke, Crossing the Sierra de Gredos: All colors seemed to be gathered here, and the objects also revealed a new color—which had existed nowhere in the world until this morning—which had never before been seen by a human eye— and for which there was also no name and never would be—and rightly so.

[5] Einstein, The Meaning of Relativity: By multiplying all the components of the first tensor by all the components of the second tensor: Contraction.

[6] Deleuze Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus: These plaques constitute traits of expression of pure speed, carried on objects that are themselves mobile and moving. The relation between them is not that of form matter but of motif support, where the earth is no longer anything more than ground (sol), where there is no longer even any ground at all because the support is as mobile as the motif.They lend colors the speed of light, turning gold to red and silver to white light.

[7] Hobbes, Leviathan: These simple Passions called Appetite, Desire, Love, Aversion, Hate, Joy, and griefe, have their names for divers considerations diversified. As first, when they one succeed another, they are diversly called from the opinion men have of the likelihood of attaining what they desire. Secondly, from the object loved or hated.Thirdly, from the consideration of many of them together.Fourthly, from the Alteration or succession it selfe. Hope For Appetite with an opinion of attaining, is called HOPE. Despaire The same, without such opinion, DESPAIRE.

[8] Hegel, The Science of Logic: Water, in cooling, does not become hard a bit at a time, as if it became first like a porridge and would then gradually harden to the consistency of ice, but is hard all at once; it can persist in fluid state even at freezing temperature if it stands still, but then the least disturbance brings it to the state of solid.

[9] Michelet, The History of France Vol 2: Sound and sick would dance confusedly together.

[10] Moore, Complete Poems: Then the ermine: “rather dead than spotted”; and believe it despite reason to think not, I saw a bat by daylight; hard to credit but I knew that I was right.

[11] Hobbes, Leviathan: offices [Titles] of Honour, by occasion of trouble, and for reasons of good and peacable government, were turned into meer Titles; serving for the most part, to distinguish the precedence, place, and order of subjects in the Common-wealth: and men were made Dukes, Counts, Marquises, and Barons of Places, wherein they had neither possession, nor command

[12] Christopher Wool, Apocalypse Now

[13] Hovestadt, Bühlmann, Michael, A Genius Planet

[14] Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities: Do you keep the rest of the city out of these blind eyed purlieus? How difficult and how unpalatable. Do you invite the rest of the city in? How difficult and how impossible.

[15] Borges, Collected Fictions: One of them was holding a branch (which belonged, no doubt, to the simple botany of dreams); another, with a sweeping gesture, held out a hand that was a claw; one of Janus' faces looked mistrustfully at Thoth's curved beak.

[16] Derrida, Of Grammatology: Children scream, cry, but they don't sing.

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