#Kermit isn’t an artist himself for the most part

[innocet]

Nobody understands me except Kermit the frog

[gaiapaia]

Kermit and Friends: Roasted

Imagine you're watching a movie about a female talk show host. In the film, an ex co-worker from her past who fell madly in love with her started sending masturbation videos to her email address. The host would then play said videos on her show, with the approval of her former co-worker since he thinks it will bring them closer together.

Fast forward a month or so later, after realizing those masturbation videos didn't have the positive impact on the host as he hoped, the ex co-worker becomes enraged and threatens to chop the host's head off. And THEN, only days later, he calls her show to tell the host she's beautiful over and over again, and invites her out to lunch the next weekend. The host politely accepts.

Ladies and gentleman... this isn't a movie. This is Kermit and Friends.

Eric Riggs made his return to Kermit and Friends this week after we found out he threatened to slice poor Elisa’s head off. His main objective with joining the show was to invite Elisa and Andy Dick out to lunch. Andy was super excited about the invitation, completely forgetting just a month or so before Andy was the one Eric was threatening to kill. Will this lunch actually happen? I guess we’ll have to wait until next week to find out!

Thankfully Elisa had some protection on the show yesterday with her lawyer Dan. After having so many legal and harmful threats sent her way over the last few months, it only made sense for Elisa to lawyer up. However, I don’t think Elisa ever expected that everyone a part of the show would try to steal her lawyer away from Elisa!

It seems like everyone in the Kermit and Friends universe needs or wants a lawyer these days. T-Bob is still fighting his 911 abuse case. Dave Robinson wants to lock his noisy neighbors up. Andy needs a lawyer for all types of things he doesn’t think is appropriate to discuss on the show (God only knows how deep that goes). Barry Boss is looking for a lawyer to sue the Feds. And so on and so forth!

The best part of all this is that Dan isn’t actually a lawyer. No, Dan Jablons is a great actor who once played a lawyer on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Dan was so convincing that he had everyone begging him to represent them yesterday. What a talent! Hopefully we’ll get to see Dan again in the near future.

Elisa was joined by two other very special guests this week: Prodigy Coach Janel Jones and stand-up comedian roaster Alex Hooper.

Janel Jones is a 20 year Army veteran who’s made headlines by raising her son to dominate the stock market game. At the age of 13, her boy managed to hit 6 figures by investing in Tesla options. Pretty impressive!

Since Janel is in the Army and gets deployed in different countries often, she makes the most of her time with her kids when she’s home by developing their skills to be financially independent. Janel has done a heck of a job. If you would like to follow in her amazing footsteps, check out her Parenting a Prodigy course by clicking here.

Alex Hooper is most known for his appearances on America’s Got Talent where he roasted the hosts. If you watch Kermit and Friends regularly, you know how self-deprecating Elisa can be, so of course she loved having a big time roaster like this come on and poke fun at her. Elisa gleefully cracked up at every joke he made towards her. What a sport she is.

Alex was a blast though. His roasting isn’t mean-spirited at all, just lighthearted witty jokes and then he turns into a sweetheart if he senses you’re taking it a little too hard. That said, Alex is a roasting master so he’s not someone you want to trade jabs with. He even wrote a book on roasting called, Roast Yourself To Happiness: A Comedian’s Guide to Finding Joy by Embracing Your Flaws. Click here to order your copy today!

As mentioned, Andy Dick was back on the show this week. He’s still suffering from his broken ankle. If it’s really broken, he’s going to be suffering a long time since Andy just expects it to heal on its own rather than see a doctor.

We found out Andy had to cancel a trip to Las Vegas where he was due to have a meeting with the director of the upcoming film The Birthday Cake, Jimmy Giannopoulos. The thing is, Andy was planning on taking this vacation without his fiancé! You would think a fun trip to Vegas would be even more fun with a beautiful outgoing woman like Elisa by your side, and not to mention what it could do for Elisa’s career if she were a part of these big meetings Andy supposedly had. But alas, karma hit poor Andy with an ankle lock and kept him home, bedridden. What a shame.

While Andy was stuck in bed, he got one of his many roommates, Eric, to show off his paintings. Eric is actually a pleasant artist unlike the other artist Elisa is used to dealing with. If you would like to check out some of Eric’s artwork and possibly buy a piece from him, check out his Instagram by clicking here. 

Sigmond once again blessed KAF with his presence, bringing his partner Wappy onto the program. They were supposed to do a duet together but unfortunately Sigmond got cold feet and backed out. Instead, Wappy would do a solo piece that genuinely impressed myself and the entire audience watching. Very talented guy. Check out Wappy and Sigmond’s Soundcloud page by clicking here.

Another special musical guest this week was Rebekah, who was booked by none other than Tall, Dark, and A Handful. She did an absolutely beautiful performance of an original song she wrote called Bygones Be Bygones. You can watch her music video for it by clicking here.

However, not to sound like Gonzo, who is unbelievably infatuated with the person I’m about to mention, but I must say the best musical performance this week came from Mr. Karaoke King himself, Johnny B. He performed a karaoke version of Bobby Darin’s Mack the Knife that had Andy Dick in Heaven as he laid in bed singing along while all of Kermit’s beautiful friends danced to the music. It was a wonderful sight to behold.

You could tell Elisa had a blast during yesterday’s show. When she has fun, everyone has fun. That’s ultimately what the show is for me, so yesterday’s Kermit and Friends episode was perfect. Elisa’s pacing and timing with each guest was flawless, and the show flew by like it was only a half hour long. After Kermit and Friends yesterday, Elisa went on a karaoke bus ride throughout the city with her friends, which you could see on her Instagram stories. The joy on Elisa’s face during those stories, during Kermit and Friends yesterday... that is how I want Elisa’s life to always be. Here’s hoping. 🙏

[sinceileftyoublog]

Newport Folk Festival: 7/26-7/28

Brandi Carlile and Dolly Parton sing “I Will Always Love You”

BY MICHAEL KINGSBAKER

Another Newport Folk Festival has come and gone, and yes, it still is the greatest music festival in the world, and it is still my favorite weekend of the year. This year, for the first time in its 60-year history, the festival had an all female-led Saturday night headliner, arguably had its two biggest appearances to date, covered an entire masterpiece album, premiered the biggest female country supergroup ever, and finally found the heir apparent to Pete Seeger on what would be his 100th birth year.

After Pete Seeger passed away in 2014, a gaping hole was left at the Newport Folk Festival. Seeger had been around the festival since its inception, and while festival producer Jay Sweet has captained the ship incredibly since taking over in 2008, the question has remained: Who would hold the seat that Seeger did for years? The musical ambassador of the people and of the music of the Newport Folk Festival? That question was answered loud and clear this year, as Brandi Carlile cemented her rightful seat. Last year was a precursor, when she performed from her Grammy Award-winning album By the Way, I Forgive You and guest performed with Mumford and Sons and during the Change is Gonna Come set. This year, she got handed the keys to the car and packed a Saturday night headlining slot full of talent from the past and present, culminating in a 5-song set from none other than Dolly Parton. Now, Jay Sweet has pulled some pretty big acts during his 12 years on the festival, but he didn’t pull Dolly--Brandi did! She also premiered her new country super group The Highwomen, an all-female answer to The Highwaymen. The former’s reworking of the latter’s namesake song absolutely took my breath away (and was just released), and then Carlile closed out her weekend singing Pete Seeger's classic song "If I Had a Hammer" with Alynda Segarra from Hurray For The Riff Raff.

Overall, this year’s festival was fiercely female, showcasing talents from multiple generations from Parton and Judy Collins, Sheryl Crow, and Linda Perry to Carlile, Rhiannon Giddens, Maggie Rogers, and Yola. The collaboration sets, which really gained steam with the Dylan 65' Revisited set 3 years ago, continued this year and actually tripled, with the Saturday night All-Female Collaboration, along with a last minute addition of a complete cover of Graham Nash's "Song for Beginners" led by Kyle Craft with an all-star cast of Newport favorites. Finally, on Sunday, Pete Seeger was celebrated with set entitled "If I Had a Song" where audiences were given song books with which to sing along. It opened with Jim James singing “The Rainbow Connection” with perhaps the second biggest star to ever appear at the Newport Folk Festival in Kermit the Frog. I was also pleased to see that Our Native Daughters were asked to participate in the Seeger Celebration, singing the Seeger tune "If You Miss Me at The Back of The Bus" and joining Mavis Staples and Hozier for "Keep Your Eyes on The Prize". Two years ago, for the SPEAK OUT set at Newport (intended to be a platform for artists to speak out about issues of our times), I was critical of the set’s lack of diversity. I noted that both Rhiannon Giddens and Alynda Segarra gave the most topical and stirring performances of that festival but were absent at that finale. Well, this year, they both hit the stage and had their voices heard with songs of protest to make up for lost time.

It's good to know this incredible festival is in good hands and has its ears open. I'm already looking forward to next July. Until then, here's a few photos to pass the time.

Newport is always a place to make discoveries. Saturday morning, the audience was woken up to the raucous duo of Illiterate Light.

Liz Cooper & The Stampede bent over backwards (literally) to electrify the audience at the Quad on Friday with their psychedelic soundscape.

Recent Tony Award winner Anais Mitchell and The Milk Carton Kids at The Harbor Stage, singing Graham Nash's "Simple Man" as part of the Songs for Beginners set.

After a last minute dropout from Noname due to illness, Festival producer Jay Sweet was left with a hole at the Harbor Stage on Saturday. After tweeting about the brilliance of Graham Nash's album Songs for Beginners and the responses it garnered, an idea sparked. A supergroup of Newport faithful led by Kyle Craft, including Hiss Golden Messenger, Lake Street Dive, Amy Ray, The Tallest Man on Earth, and more played the album from start to end. I think we may have just started a new Newport tradition--might I suggest Neil Young's Harvest next year?

Lukas Nelson and The Promise of The Real rocked the Quad Stage on Friday, closing the set with a rendition of Neil Young's "Rockin’ in the Free World" but slowed things down with reminders to Turn Off the News (Build a Garden), and song about an ex named Georgia that made performing with his father singing "Georgia On My Mind" every night a little tricky.

British singer-songwriter Yola was everywhere at the Newport Folk Festival, performing her own set at the Harbor stage as well as at the Quad with both The Highwomen and Dawes. Here, she takes the stage at the Fort during The Collaboration with the First Ladies of Bluegrass covering The Eurythmics’ "Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves".

After appearing last year as a guest to Mumford & Sons and others, this year, Maggie Rogers got the Fort stage all to herself to dance in and out of her sound equipment and share her debut album Heard It in a Past Life with Newport.

Every year, there's an act that brings Quad to its feet and doesn't let them sit back down. This year, Jupiter & Okwess invited everyone to fill in the fire lanes, and a 45-minute dance party ensued, capping off with a collaboration with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Phosporescent returned to the Quad stage with hypnotic grooves and chill vibes, keeping all the heads bobbing inside the old fort.

I'm With Her returned, bringing their sweet blend of harmonies bridging old-time music to the present, including covers of The Vampire Weekend and Joni Mitchell.

This year was all about the women, and the fellas came to support. Jason Isbell, who generally headlines festivals like these, wasn't even given a microphone. Here, Amanda Shires (who happens to be his wife) allows him to share a few thoughts as they introduced a song they co-wrote, "If She Ever Leaves Me", dubbed the first gay country song, which was sung moments later by Brandi Carlile.

Each year, the festival producer comes out to the early birds waiting for the gates to open to welcome them back and remind them to BE PRESENT, BE KIND, BE OPEN, and BE TOGETHER. There isn't a place in the world that's easier to do those four things.

It's always fun to see what surprise guests will show up to the festival that aren't officially listed. This year’s guests included Jim James, Kermit The Frog, Dolly Parton, James Taylor...you know that this list might end up being bigger than the actual lineup. Here's surprise guest Tallest Man on Earth, who joined both the Songs for Beginners set as well as The Cooks in the Kitchen.

Hozier returned for his 3rd appearance, singing a duet with Mavis Staples for their song "Nina Cried Power". He also gave over the stage to Brandi Carlile during his set for her to sing her hit “The Joke”. Here, he joins with Lake Street Dive for a cover of Sly & The Family Stone’s "Everyday People".

Jade Bird had her own solo set at The Fort stage but joined in on The Collaboration, seen here singing "What's Up" with Linda Perry and Brandi Carlile.

Phil Cook has become a regular staple at the festival. His love and respect for the musicians and the music played at the festival has endeared himself to both fans and musicians alike. For his set, Cooks in the Kitchen, Phil, who always seems up for a collaboration, was joined by his brother Brad as well as Tallest Man on The Earth’s Kristian Matsson, Amy Ray of The Indigo Girls, and Anais Mitchell.

Molly Tuttle, who had her own set with guitarist Billy Strings, joined The First Ladies of Bluegrass, Courtney Marie Andrews, and others for a cover of “Big Yellow Taxi” at the Collaboration Set Saturday.

Just a man, his guitar, and a huge open stage. Jeff Tweedy charmed the audience at the Fort on Saturday claiming he wanted to "hug you with his sad shit."

Rhiannon Giddens returned to the Newport Folk Festival with the most powerful and gut-wrenching set of the festival, joined by Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell to form the group Our Native Daughters, singing songs addressing American historical issues that have influenced the identity of black women. This marked only their 6th live performance, performing in Connecticut a week earlier for the first time. Emotions were overflowing both on stage and in the audience, as each artist (each of whom played multiple instruments) took turns singing songs of sorrow, hope, anger, and joy. It was an experience like no other at the festival.

Linda Perry leading a sing along of "What's Up" at The Collaboration, asking the audience to sing so high, "I wanna touch the fucking stars!" Later, she was on Facebook Live for the introduction of Dolly Parton.

There was a bit of a 90's renaissance at this year’s festival with appearances from Amy Ray, Linda Perry, and former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss. Sheryl Crow, who had her own set at the Fort on Friday and later joined The Highwomen that day at the Quad, got in on the fun at The Collaboration on Saturday, performing "If It Makes You Happy" with Maren Morris and "Strong Enough" with Maggie Rogers and Yola.

Newport always does a great job of honoring those who led the way. This year, we saw Judy Collins hit many stages and share stories about a young Bob Dylan writing “Mr. Tambourine Man” on her porch, as well as recalling Stephen Stills singing her "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", to which she replied "It's a good song, but it won't get me back." Here, she shares the story of a friend discovering Joni Mitchell and bringing her "Both Sides Now", which was sung moments later with Brandi Carlile.

Couples take in the If I Had A Song set at sunset on Sunday, which included a duet from Kermit the Frog and Jim James as well as a serenade to Judy Collins from Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes), Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats), and James Mercer (The Shins), singing “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”.

Newport Folk Festival marked the inaugural performance of The Highwomen. Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires, and Natalie Hemby, here joined by Yola, opened their set to a powerful reworking of “The Highwaymen”, made famous by Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash. The Highwomen’s version, written by Carlile, Shires, and Jimmy Webb (the original songwriter) honors the stories of courageous female revolutionaries and includes an additional 5th verse:

  "We are The Highwomen / Singing stories still untold / We carry the sons, you can only hold / We are the daughters of the silent generations / You sent our hearts to die alone in foreign nations / It may return to us as tiny drops of rain / But we will still remain.”

A stage full of Newport Folk ladies, including Brandi Carlile, Rachael Price, Maggie Rogers, and Sheryl Crow, bow down to the one and only Dolly Parton. I've seen Roger Waters, Jack White, My Morning Jacket, Jackson Browne, Beck, Levon Helm, and Mumford & Sons headline the Festival. This was the biggest of all the Saturday night headliners.

[taetaesbffaaf]

(OP of tae qn) OKAYY i read your tae post / i love how your conclusion is like / well i know this much facts about him / but well, fuck / we don't know nothing don't we / but i really love your "tae is an old soul" and that he has intense artistic sensibilities read on tae / because / i can't feel that completely but i feel that ON SOME LEVEL you have something there. sometimes i feel like as a fan, i fail tae, because i get tired of him sometimes and switch off, whereas park jimin is so human

(OP of taeqn part 2) that I adore him, because he’s so failiable and so empathetic that I. love his face. but i loved tae right at first (and he STILL, amazingly! remains at bias spot, unshaken and unmoved), and i just try to understand, understand, understand - the hardest part of loving tae is that sometimes you don’t love tae! (whereas park jimin loveable 24/7 killing myself now jump of the cliff kind of love) but i. of everyone. tae had my heart. and thats the struggle of tae fans(OP of taeqn pt3) (could write a cypher at this point) the struggle of tae fans is that we fell hopelessly and irrevocably in love with him, and then we realised that tae was so much bigger than we first loved him for. and its so hard to expand our love! maybe that’s why God gave him that face - to compensate his ultra-alienness to normal people. i struggle everyday with loving kim taehyung. but it pulls at me in a good way, an emphatetic way, and i think “i first fell in love with him. still am(OP cypher pt4) dude i just sat here and i was like "thank you so much for ANSWERING my ask” like i learnt so much about tae and I finally. finally. got one step further in understanding my love/ambivalent relationship with my bias. I really - I really had a breakthrough with that. thanks okay. thanks.

I have a LOT of feedback for these asks so…here i go….First of all, I’m not one of those people who gets tired of Taehyung or wants to switch him off. And I would disagree that Park Jimin is any more ‘human’ in any way over Kim Taehyung. kajldsfkjasdf I Disagree again with the statement that the hardest part of loving tae is that sometimes you don’t. …i really…wish…people…would…stop…acting…like…taehyung…is…that…weird. and if i have to hear one more person use even close to the word ‘alien’ when talking about him imma kermit. i don’t think Taehyung is that strange? At least, not in the way lots of people seem to think. Truth is People tend to think that Taehyung is high energy and wild as fuck. In reality he’s somewhat guarded, a little bit low energy with bursts of wild that come and go depending upon how happy or positive he seems to be feeling. He’s not that strange, I mean, he’s definiltey not as calm and mellow as Yoongi but he’s pretty close. Sure he has a pension for singing along with music, randomly picking up a vlive just to chat with fans (aKA sit in front of us and act a lil goofy while he’s eating pudding) but honestly, that boy isn’t much weirder than I am at the end of the day.Taehyung doesn’t LIKE being called out on his personality. He doesn’t LIKE being considered alien-like. He just wants to be able to be himself in front of people without feeling like he’s somehow being looked at like he’s strange.You’re talking about a boy who stutters when put on the spot because he doesn’t want t mess up and wants to say the right thing. A guy who shares his favorite things only to be told that they’re weird and hes weird for liking them. Who laughs and acts genuine, and is told that his genuine personality is too strange.Is he quirky and eccentric? Yes? But I don’t really think he’s that strange idk. I think that with Taehyung, he seems very strange at first, but once you get to know him, it’s endearing and honestly, it’s not quite as much as you thought it was at first. The truth is, if you pay attention to Taehyung at any given moment, especially recently, in a crowd he’s most likely to be just as reserved as Namjoon or Yoongi, and when he’s alone, he has off and on bursts of quiet and calm, just hanging out and listening to music with us, and some high energy goof sessions that I don’t think are really that ‘ultra-alien’ when you take everything, the WHOLE of him, into account. :”)I’m really sensitive about people saying things about Taehyung’s personality that imply that he’s weird, strange, annoying, or stupid/vapid/air headed, because the truth is, he’s literally so far from all of those things…….. I’m happy to answer any ask about Taehyung and I’m happy to hear peoples thoughts about Taehyung even if they differ from mine. Truth is, I’ve never really talked to many Taehyung stans eVER, maybe like? 1? 2 other Tae stans? So Idk how most people view him or felt about him early on versus now.It’s interesting to hear other perspectives at the very least~