#also the video of me playing the piano at the pastor's house

[chrlotpony]

it's all fun in games until you remember you are part of lost media😞

[musicarenagh]

In My Eyes: Wolfgang Hildebrandt’s Vision of Love and Positivity Wolfgang Hildebrandt, who is equally famous as a musical performer and record producer in Germany and across the globe, is also a celebrated actor and a philanthropist. He started his musical education at an early age when he learned to play the piano and the guitar when he was six years old, following his father’s instructions in Euskirchen, Germany. Promoting world peace through music Wagner had another great opportunity in his early career as lead singer of a German Military Band. However, in 1997 he went for EMI Records where he started a brilliant Carrier where he has worked with different artists and performed for different personalities including Pope John Paul II and Nelson Mandela among others. Wolfgang’s virtuous cause of employing music as a form of positive influence is seen in his piece “Let’s Build A House of Peace” that he created in the aftermath of 9/11. His new release “In My Eyes’ yet again proves that he has not lost the flame and has gone up another level. This fun song using elements of easy listening music, country, and pop was composed alongside Swedish songwriter India Perez. May perhaps be due to its catchy lyrics, which promotes love, positivity, and hope, Wilkoszki has developed an engaging and creative music video with the help of AI to create cartoon-like wonder. Welcome to the show where we’ll immerse ourselves in Wolfgang’s success story, learn more about his music production and discover the stories behind the tracks. Listen to In My Eyes https://open.spotify.com/track/4rkvC0SDkJ3AOgLoNxJIJU Follow Wolfgang Hildebrandt on Facebook Spotify Youtube Instagram Tiktok Where do you find inspiration? I believe in God and I love to process everyday situations in my songs. What was the role of music in the early years of your life? At a very young age, I was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King's speech. Every person, regardless of their origin or race, should have the right to live their dream. That was a great motivation for me to give my music the appropriate lyrics. Faith in Jesus Christ has always accompanied me and has always been a part of my musical work. Are you from a musical or artistic family? My father was a businessman but singing and guitar was his hobby. He taught me everything and later I was in the church choir in the Protestant church and I learned a lot there. I felt at a young age that God had given me the talent to sing. Who inspired you to be a part of the music industry? I was inspired by the music of 8-time Grammy winner and owner of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, gospel singer, composer and pastor Andrae Crouch. Later we met several times in Los Angeles and became close friends and worked together on music. How did you learn to sing/write/to play? My father taught me the basic chords on the guitar, but I eventually developed it myself. I always had a voice and received this talent from God and I am still very grateful for it today. What was the first concert that you ever went to and who did you see perform? The first concert I attended was by Sir Cliff Richard. How could you describe your music? Music that comes from the heart, is very melodic, is then processed to match the lyrics and thus I draw the listener into my spell Describe your creative process. I usually take my guitar or sit at the piano and work on a topic that concerns me. These are usually topics that have been on my mind for a long time. But it is important to me that I try to spread a positive message at the end of the song, usually in the chorus. [caption id="attachment_56610" align="alignnone" width="720"] These are usually topics that have been on my mind for a long time.[/caption] What is your main inspiration? Despite all the problems you have, you still have to convey something positive. For me, the basis for this was Dr. Martin Luther King's speech "I have a dream." What musician do you admire most and why? As a Christian, I was very enthusiastic about Andrae Crouch.

But I always loved country music as well as gospel music. First and foremost, of course, was Johnny Cash. Did your style evolve since the beginning of your career? Of course, my musical style and of course my singing have continued to develop. I went to Andrae Crouch's church in Los Angeles a lot and the singing of the colored community there always inspired me. I once sang along to Andrae Crouch for fun. God made a mistake with me, I would have preferred to have dark skin. https://youtu.be/inQqve7_EiU Who do you see as your main competitor? I have no main competitors or rivals. I am a very tolerant person and we can only learn from each other. I have absolutely no competitive spirit. What are your interests outside of music? What I really enjoy doing, and have done so many times, is giving speeches about peace. I was very proud that I was able to give several peace speeches at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and I am also the official ambassador for World Peace Day in Berlin. If it wasn't a music career, what would you be doing? Either a lawyer or a priest What is the biggest problem you have encountered in the journey of music? I have never actually encountered any problems, but I have had interesting experiences. For example, I love Africa and have performed there several times. It was always a special experience. I have already performed for the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg and for Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town, South Africa, I gave a private concert. I also gave several concerts in Windhoek, Namibia. Connecting people and building a future together taught me a lot in Africa, and I also incorporated that into music. Later, I also sent my electric piano to a church in Namibia and gave it to them. I love African music. If you could change one thing in the music industry, what would it be? I wish Spotify didn't have such power. Artists should earn much more from their songs and not just be fobbed off with percentages. https://open.spotify.com/artist/23yAvDS9krAz97hRXCngp8?si=rjKSWOCzQNWJNM_cCzImMg Why did you choose this as the title of this project? I wanted to write a love song that everyone could identify with. The song IN MY EYES is also reflected in the video. "In My Eyes” is more than just a musical creative effort; it's a vibrant celebration of love, joy, and escapism. Crafted by Wolfgang Hildebrandt, an artist who understands the power of music to uplift and transport, this infectious track is designed to ignite a sense of excitement and elation in its listeners. With pulsating beats and catchy melodies, it invites you to let loose and lose yourself in its rhythm. Behind the scenes, the collaborative effort shines through, with the artist joining forces with songwriter India Perez (actress & model) to craft lyrics that resonate universally. Rooted in the desire to create a love song that transcends boundaries, "In My Eyes" effortlessly bridges cultural divides, reminding us that music is a universal language that knows no barriers. The accompanying "In My Eyes" music video, a labor of love and AI creativity, amplifies the song's message of positivity and hope. Through innovative comic-style visuals featuring characters and musicians with luminous, oversized eyes, it captures the essence of joy and inspiration. Actress Rosemary Rittner's presence adds an extra layer of charm, bringing the song's lyrics to life. It's fabulous eye candy for a song that speaks to the power of love, and gives voice to the voiceless in a world where music serves as the salve, a prescription to help those yearning for human connection. What are your plans for the coming months? I hope that my song IN MY EYES touches people, that they have fun and dance. I'm only concentrating on this song right now. Do you have any artistic collaboration plans Yes, there could be a very interesting duet in January 2025, but I can't say anything about that yet. What message would you like to give to your fans I wish you all

good health and a life worth living and if you enjoy my song IN MY EYES, then click on the YouTube video, Instagram or TikTok and share it. I would be very happy about it. Today is the day, not tomorrow not next week, today is the day to make a difference.

[blackkudos]

B.Slade

Anthony Charles Williams II (born May 16, 1975), better known by his stage name B.Slade, formerly known under the gospel moniker Tonéx ( TOH-nay), is an American singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, dancer, producer, and activist from San Diego, CA. He has gone by various names and aliases, but his primary stage name of choice had for years been "Tonéx". In 2010, he began using the stage name B.Slade in order to rebrand himself.

Williams has released several hundred songs on dozens of albums over the span of his career, while producing several others for both gospel and secular artists. He has won six Stellar Awards, a GMA Award, and received 2 Grammy nominations: one for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album for his 2004 gold album, Out the Box and another in 2009 for Best Urban/Soul Alternative Performance for his single, "Blend", from his 2009 mainstream (albeit theoretically Gospel) album, Unspoken.

Known more for his gospel recordings, his musical efforts have been known to blend a smorgasbord of styles, including pop, R&B, jazz, soul, funk, hip hop, rock, Latin, electro, punk and trance. His primary influences include Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Prince, Michael Jackson, Walter Hawkins, David Bowie, and Janet Jackson. His distinct sound and eclectic style of music led him to give his music its own genre per se, calling it "Nureau".

Life and music career

Early life

Born in 1975, Williams grew up in the San Diego, California area. His father, Anthony Williams, was Senior Pastor of the Truth Apostolic Community Church in suburban Spring Valley and served as a district elder in the California District Council of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW). His mother, E. B. Williams, was a licensed minister in the PAW and served the church as Assistant Pastor. Anthony was the youngest of the Williams' six boys. Gospel music was the preferred choice at home, but other sounds made their way into Williams' environment. His father played saxophone for James Brown and Jackie Wilson, his mother sang in various girl groups, and his older brothers sneaked funk and R&B recordings into the house. By age 10, he had recorded an album of his own at home (produced by Virgil Brookins). Deciding early on a musical career, he took the name "Tonex" by the time he was 13, sometimes spelling it "Tonéx"; at the age of 16 he and his parents hired his first personal manager, Benjamin Jimerson (aka Benjamin Jimerson-Phillips) in 1991. Jimerson, who has since become a relatively successful movie producer, stated: "From the first moment I saw Tonex and he sang his first note, I realized I was dealing with a young man destined to become a major celebrity."

1996–2000: Early career

Rescue was still a small label, and Pronounced Toe-Nay was issued in a limited production run and distributed mostly from the back of Williams' car. Young gospel fans, however, quickly caught on to the innovative variety of music on Pronounced Toe-Nay. The album's producer, T. Boy, was an alter ego of Tonex himself. The album was divided by style into seven sections: hip-hop/rap, retro/funk, the future, jazz, mellow grooves, soul/gospel, and bonus tracks. In the recordings of Kirk Franklin and others, hip-hop had previously made inroads into gospel music, but this kind of wild eclectic mix was completely new. At the time, the digital reproduction of music was in its infancy, and rare copies of the album became prized possessions. Pronounced Toe-Nay garnered the attention of the producers at the 14th Annual Stellar Awards and placed him on the billing, and that performance by Tonéx made such a bold statement and had such an impact, it has been compared to the impact Michael Jackson made on the Motown 25th Anniversary Special back in 1983 when he introduced the moonwalk to the world.

2000–2004: As a rising gospel artist

By this time, national labels had come calling. Tonéx was signed to an unusual three-way deal that affiliated him with the successful and growing gospel label Verity, the pop imprint Zomba, and the durable hip-hop label Tommy Boy. Tonéx made his national debut with a re-release of his most successful independent album Pronounced Toe-Nay in 2000. His first high-profile television appearance was performing a medley of "Trinity" and "One Good Reason" on the Stellar Awards, which was a coup as Tonéx was a relative unknown at the time. He has dubbed his particular genre-spanning musical style "nureau."

Upon its release, Pronounced Toe-Nay bore 5 different record label logos: Rescue Records, the independent label that originally released the album; Mo' Soule Steppyn Records, Tonéx's then-active vanity imprint label; Tommy Boy Gospel, the label to which Tonéx was signed as an artist; Verity Records, the label to which his independent label Rescue Records sold his album's masters; and Jive Records, the mainstream umbrella over Verity Records. All of the material was produced, arranged, composed and performed by Tonéx, with guest appearances from his mother E.B. Williams, and the rapper Big J.

Some executives wanted to develop Tonéx's career in a secular direction, but he turned them down and kept to religious themes. "There are a lot of people who do similar things to what I do in R&B but I wanted to use gospel lyrics," he explained in an interview quoted on the Sphinx Management Web site.

After going through numerous revisions, his second album O2 was released in 2002. According to Tonéx, the title of his second album referred to the year of release, to the element oxygen, and to the album's status as his second major recording. O2 matched the stylistic eclecticism of Pronounced Toe-Nay, with each track diverging completely from the one before. The album spawned a major Christian radio hit in "God Has Not 4Got", a Stellar Award-winning song that displayed Tonéx's ability to create traditional choral gospel music as well as innovative pop fusions. USA TODAY gave it 3 stars (3 out of 4). The music video for the single "Bout A Thang" received heavy rotation on BET and MTV Australia, and featured energetic hip-hop dance and an urban image not usually associated with Gospel artists. O2 also featured a love song, "You", directed toward the artist's then-wife Yvette Williams (née Graham), a vocalist who at times went by the name Ms. Tonéx.

Becoming known to the wider contemporary Christian music community as a result of several music industry awards and award nominations, Tonéx went on tour with contemporary gospel artists Trin-i-Tee 5:7 and Men of Standard after the release of O2. Tonéx was moved up from opening act to headliner as audiences reacted enthusiastically to his music and his high falsetto voice. He performed once more at the Stellar Awards early in 2004 and won several awards.

Even though O2 brought him more mainstream success, Tonéx said that this album was not what he had in mind for release. He continued to release independent projects via the internet that showcased even more of his versatile creativity. Probably his most acclaimed of these works, Tonéx released Oak Park 92105 in 2003 on his now defunct Nureau Underground website in 2003, stating it was this album that he intended to release after Pronounced Toe-Nay, and not O2. Oak Park 92105 was a double album that mainly dealt with Tonéx's life growing up in the Oak Park community nestled in the eastern tip of southeast San Diego, California. It was eventually re-released on iTunes in 2005 with some new songs; however, the album did not come without controversy, as Tonéx opted to include a "parental advisory: explicit lyrics" notice on the front cover of the album, making it the first album by a Christian-based artist to carry the notice. Tonéx said the "explicit lyrics" notice is not a result of "cussing" on a record but rather content that "might be a little too deep for children."

2004–2006: Out The Box and accolade

His 2004 live double CD Out The Box earned him the most widespread acclaim so far. Divided into segments ranging from traditional gospel and praise anthems to splashes of urban dance, rock, and hip-hop, the ambitious Out The Box was a sprawling double disc set with 36 tracks, which included innovative intros, interludes, and a number of studio tracks. The supporting cast included a 10-piece band, 4 dancers, a 16-voice ensemble, and a 40-voice choir. Notable guest appearances on the album included Kirk Franklin, who plays piano in the live version of "God Has Not 4Got" and appears as an artist on "Since Jesus Came", and frequent Prince percussionist Sheila E, who appears on the Latin-flavored "Todos Juntos".

Out The Box debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Top Gospel Album Chart in September 2004, appeared on Billboard's Top 200 and Top R&B Chart, was No. 5 on the Contemporary Christian Chart, and to date has sold over 500,000 copies. He also netted a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album the following year, and had another bonafide Christian radio hit with the ballad "Make Me Over". In 2005, Tonéx won a total of six Stellar Awards including "Artist of the Year" for Out The Box.

2006–2010: Controversy, turbulence, and retirement from gospel

In July 2004, his father died, forcing him to take on the responsibility of becoming senior pastor of their family's church in his stead. He also divorced his wife of 5 years, Yvette. In 2006, Verity Records sued Williams for one million dollars citing breach of contract. Subsequently, Tonéx announced that he would retire from the Gospel music industry, frustrated by politics and mistreatment. Following the announcement, Kirk Franklin posted a personal blog on his own website sympathizing with the artist feeling "the weight of an industry that is only built to make money, not heal broken souls." He continued releasing music independently, using MySpace as his primary vehicle for promotion.

In March 2007, a reconciliation with Zomba Label Group was announced, which would be a joint venture for his Nureau Ink label. The deal was struck under the auspices of new Zomba president "Jazzy" Jordan (who previously had guided the careers of R. Kelly and Salt-N-Pepa). With a new record deal under his belt, he was preparing to release a double disc set titled Stereotype: Steel & Velvet, which was slated to be released on September 11, 2007, and was purportedly supposed to do for his career what Thriller did for Michael Jackson and what Purple Rain did for Prince. However, in June 2007, another split with Zomba was announced, fueled by his leaking of the vitriolic and profanity-laden song "The Naked Truth", along with several similarly themed blogs and videos. Tonéx cited label frustration as one of the reasons he leaked the song, and he soon faced much scrutiny within the Gospel arena for the explicit language and the angry tone of the song and its subsequent blogs. He later would close down his social networking sites for several months before resurfacing on the web in January 2008.

Recreating a softer gospel-friendly image, Williams changed his stage name to Ton3x (or TON3X) in 2008. He left the Verity Records family and signed under the umbrella of Battery Records, a label imprint of Sony/BMG. His only Battery Records release was the album Unspoken, released on March 17, 2009. The first single from that album, entitled "Blend", was unexpectedly nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance, despite very little promotional/financial support from Sony/Battery and garnered the artist his first non-gospel Grammy nomination. That year, he would also present awards at the Grammy pre-telecast, including the first two awards given to Lady Gaga, who was already backstage preparing for her show-opening performance.

In September 2009, The Word Network aired an appearance of Tonéx on The Lexi Show. Starting out as another promotional tool for his music, the interview unexpectedly changed directions, leading to Williams candidly expressing his views on sexuality and revealing his own same-sex attraction. Though his sexual orientation had already been highly speculated within the African American and gospel communities, the unapologetic tone of these revelations were condemned by conservative Christians, and bookings and appearances were universally cancelled, eventually leading to Williams being excommunicated. The artist would later say that he was "caught off guard" by the show's line of questioning but that he answered every question truthfully.

On December 29, 2009, Tonéx's website, as well as his Twitter and Facebook accounts, reported that the artist's mother, Evangelist and vocalist E.B. Williams, had died the day before. Williams would soon end his pastoral duties at his family's church.

On June 9, 2010, Tonéx announced what would be his final mixtape, the digital-only release The Parking Lot. The mixtape was also distributed in NYC that night after what would be his final performance. On June 15, 2010, the brand Tonéx/TON3X was officially and permanently retired. A "Tonéx Vault" was created on Bandcamp to share rare and previously unreleased material like the shelved Verity project, Gosp0p.

2010–2013: Rebirth as B.Slade and a return to independence

Recreating himself as an out indie R&B/glam pop artist, the artist formerly known as Tonéx underwent a re-branding, dubbing himself B.Slade and using digital media to release his new music and philosophies. The name change was inspired by the character Brian Slade from the art film Velvet Goldmine. Though he continues to receive much resistance from his past, conservative gospel fans, his new-found transparency and honest lyrics have helped him carve a niche in the LGBT music genre, which itself is slowly gaining acceptance in the mainstream field. Albums announced and partially produced under the Tonéx brand like A Brilliant Catastrophe, his Michael and Janet Jackson tribute mixtape, and the long-awaited, aforementioned Stereotype were all officially released during this time. B.Slade performed "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" as a tribute to disco singer Sylvester at the 7th Annual OUTMUSIC Awards. His full-length album Diesel, was released via his own label Suxxess Records on July 19, 2011.

After completing his stint in the musical The Who's Tommy in the summer of 2011, B.Slade began work on his next concept album, Knowing. An ambitious "pop opera" narrating a dystopian take on the future of the major record label monopoly, the album will serve as a soundtrack that the artist plans to turn into a feature film musical. Knowing was scheduled for a release on Christmas Day 2011 (another album entitled Stealth was released on this day instead), but after a few delays was released discretely in memory of Whitney Houston on February 11, 2012.

In the fall of 2012, B.Slade embarked on his "Sex, Drugs and Sushi US Tour", doing shows in Chicago, New York and taking residency at the WitZend in Venice, LA during the months of September and November. He was nominated for four awards at the 8th Annual OUTMUSIC Awards, winning one for Best R&B/Soul Song. He released another album, Stunt B%$@H, on January 25, 2013.

2014–present

2014 saw a resurgence from the artist as a viable mainstream producer and songwriter, placing songs on albums from Sheila E. (Icon) and Faith Evans (Incomparable). He also wrote and co-produced Angie Fisher's smash hit single, "I.R.S.". The song was instantly a runaway hit upon debut on Stevie Wonder's L.A.-based radio station KJLH, before going nationwide and peaking at No. 29 on Billboard's Adult R&B chart shortly thereafter. "I.R.S." was nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, garnering Fisher her first Grammy nod and giving him his third. He is currently working with Fisher on her debut album from Hidden Beach Records.

In 2015, he co-wrote several songs on Elijah Blake's debut album, including the smash hit "I Just Wanna..." (which peaked at No. 23 on Billboard's Hot R&B Songs chart) and its title track, "Shadows & Diamonds". He also wrote and arranged the song "Unhappy" from Jordin Sparks' third album, Right Here Right Now, and produced comeback singles from Tisha Campbell-Martin and Chaka Khan. He was also a singer, writer and producer on Snoop Dogg's acclaimed 2016 Gospel compilation album, Bible of Love.

Acting and musical theatre

Along with the many changes made by Williams in 2008, a foray into acting became part of his long list of endeavors. Williams made his film debut in the 2008 Charlie Murphy comedy The Hustle, which was released to home video in 2011. In September 2008, he played the role of James "Thunder" Early in a San Diego production of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. Later in 2008 and early 2009, Williams played the character of Rolin in Princess & The Black Eyed Pea at the Lyceum Theater in San Diego. In 2011, he played the starring role in San Diego Repertory Theatre's production of The Who's Tommy, His performance earned him the Craig Noel Award for Best Male Lead Performance in a Musical.

TV and movie soundtracks

Williams sang and produced the opening song for the hit UPN television series One on One. His production was featured on the song "Off We Go" from the J. Lo/Ben Affleck film Gigli and in BET Films original movie The Walk starring Eva Marcille. "Cry No More" from the album Pronounced Toe-Nay was featured in the HBO film Prison Song starring Q-Tip and Mary J. Blige, while the track "The Good Song 2005", a remake of the song "The Good Song", was included on the soundtrack of the action movie xXx: State of the Union starring Ice Cube. B.Slade's song "Don't Wake Me" was featured on the second episode of the 2013 BET series Second Generation Wayans. In 2013, he produced the score for the 44th Annual NAACP Image Awards telecast. In 2014, Williams produced and co-wrote the theme song to OWN (The Oprah Winfrey Network) series, Flex & Shanice, starring Flex Alexander and Shanice Wilson, and guest-starred on a number of episodes. The first season of the series garnered two singles written & produced by B.Slade, "Gotta Blame Me" and "We Can Fly". He also performed the theme song for Bounce TV's sitcom One Love.

Media appearances

In 2005, Williams co-hosted the 20th Annual Stellar Awards with Donnie McClurkin and Yolanda Adams. As "DJ Tonéx" he hosted his own syndicated contemporary gospel radio show in partnership with SupeRadio Networks and Blue Sky Productions entitled Club Virtue from 2005 to 2007. He also briefly hosted the BET J (now BET Her) show Lifted which blended positive secular and gospel music programming. In 2010, The New Yorker published a lengthy article on the artist, highlighting his journey as one of the first major gospel artists to come out.

Public image

Williams' appearance has included extremely conservative suits with close cropped hair, outlandish, flamboyant garb with feather boas, fur coats, punk-inspired multi-colored hairstyles, Sanjaya-like headpieces, Stevie Wonder-style dreadlocks and also platform shoes, that brought to mind the "glam" rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s. As Tonéx, his image raised eyebrows in the conservative gospel and contemporary Christian music communities, and he eventually took the sharper edges off his look for a short time. But he made no apologies. "It wasn't me trying to make a statement; I've always been different," he told George Varga of the San Diego Union-Tribune. "And it really worked. Out of church, people are always asking me what my tattoos mean."

[caveatauditor]

Best albums of 2018

A marvelous year! Just because Drake albums are long and boring doesn’t mean the album is dead, you know.

1. Bali Baby, Baylor Swift

This 8-song EP, a fusion of SoundCloud rap, emo confessional, and glitzy synthpop, rocks harder and weirder than anything I heard all year. The spiky synthesizers, bent guitars, drum crunches, scratchy screeches, Bali’s garbled wails, and plastic bubblegum surface combine several modes of abrasion, as the Atlanta rapper hides a harrowing breakup saga beneath bucketloads of noise and the crackling electricity sets her bleeding heart ablaze. “Candy” and “Electrical” are neon new wave ballads distorted into fragility through harshness. Whenever she gets a handle on something, the beat goes squelch and sends her reeling. Oh, to be loud, obnoxious, and heartbroken. She’s been putting out fire with gasoline.

2. Ariana Grande, Sweetener

“Snuggle jams,” tweeted Austin Brown. We all needed snuggles this year! Although “Thank U, Next” and Thank U, Next have somewhat eclipsed the confectionary sugarbomb Instagram’s newly crowned Most Followed Woman released six months earlier, said sugarbomb continues to sparkle. Tired of flaunting her multioctave voice, Ariana leans into her breathy lower register and discovers her capacity for play. Tired of secondhand funk pastiche, Pharrell invents a sunny electrobouncy sound that abounds with pattering percussion, thwocks, squiggles, splashes of electronic color. Contextualized by the devastating, mournful grace of “Breathin” and “No Tears Left to Cry”, her joy feels urgent, beautiful, earned. Behold an album of exquisitely honeyed lightness. I love Sweetener because it’s the musical equivalent of booping someone on the nose.

3. BTS, Love Yourself: Tear

Because they both flatter and subvert even the most boring aspects of contemporary American pop, they broke through in America where countless Korean stars couldn’t, although that didn’t stop BoA and Girls Generation from trying. (I hope we haven’t forgotten BoA’s excellent self-titled English-language album, which includes the funniest Britney impersonations ever recorded.) Slow, moody, blank--these adjectives don’t quite describe BTS, thankfully, but they have reclaimed a rather empty pop style as a site for cognitively dissonant structural innovations, and thus offer hope that said pop style needn’t be so empty. Dense and streamlined simultaneously, stuffing all sorts of wacky noises into what Anglophone hitmakers have defined as a spare, echoey sonic template, these tracks are hard to wrap your ear around at first, but what noises! I could listen to the plinky little drumclicks in “Anpanman” forever.

4. Jonghyun, Poet Artist

“Take the Dive” and “Only One You Need” should play like standard romantic invitations and instead break a cold sweat in sheer terror. On “Hashtag” he’s content to whisper as long as the electric piano matches the beat in his head. “I’m So Curious” coaxes him into a sublimely cozy erotic space. The lightest and most delicate of pop-R&B exercises, shivering beneath an immaculately chilly surface, Jonghyun’s second and final album is beautiful and makes me sad. Rest in peace. 

5. J Balvin, Vibras

The year’s solidest and bounciest Latin trap album is more sweetly melodic than the genre’s norm, but also harsher, which is disorienting. These beats, assembling lumbering, mechanical tanks out of looped vocal samples, clinky xylophones, keyboard scramble, and Balvin’s dreamy drone, are impossible to play in the background; I’ve tried. Maybe those blessed souls who can multitask with music on would feel differently, but every time I play this album I get sucked in, paralyzed by the chopped-up airhorns in “Ambiente”, the guitar strummed through a wind tunnel in “Brillo” (a duet with Rosalia!), the drums beeping in “Ahora”, the angel of death moaning inarticulately throughout “Cuando Tu Quieras”. If I also don’t understand how the hell clubgoers can dance to this music, please understand my bewilderment as admiration.

6. Playboi Carti, Die Lit

The debut was sufficiently spare to retain a semblance of pop functionality; this one’s a shoegaze record, the sound of rap abstracted into a gorgeous blur. The average Carti song is a single giant, repeated, woozy keyboard hook, glitching and jittering around the edges, a transmission from the hazy corner of the subconscious where bliss keels over into numbness and the senses conflate. The rapping is minimal; he chooses his sounds phonetically, not semantically, and gladly disappears beneath the relentless aqueous whoosh. Lyrics, guest features, tempo changes, coherent thoughts--if these things exist, they get swept up too. After years of hearing people moan on the radio about washing pain away with stimulants and such, here’s what it means to be insensate. Although the album wanders a little toward the end, who cares when it’s all one hypnotic song?

7. US Girls, In a Poem Unlimited

The music on this remarkable art-pop document assembles a creepy rubberoid disco groove from shards of glass, sleek rhythm guitar, controlled blasts of distortion, sordid saxophone; Meghan Remy treats white funk as industrial noise. The lyrics compile situation after situation in which women are abused, including a song where St. Peter rapes the narrator before letting her into heaven. Is this what “dialectic” means?

8. Haru Nemuri, Harutosyura

So raucous in the way it arranges sugary keyboard splashes, so catchy in the way it explodes with carefully timed bursts of electric noise, Haru Nemuri’s debut confounds categories. The Japanese noise-pop eccentric crams all the sounds she loves--raw guitars, bubbly synthesizers, anguished screams, conspicuous digital edits--into a glitchy hall of mirrors. For fans of certain video game soundtracks and experimental classical compositions, this is the music you’ve been imagining your whole life; for ordinary pop fans it’s merely the wackiest of syntheses. Either way, Harutosyura is gloriously loud, burning with a fierce rock grandiosity that’s unexpected, hence awesome. When “Harutosyura” gets artificially sped up into a chipmunked vacuum, pauses a moment, and comes back rocking harder than ever, she spirals ever closer to infinite refraction.

9. Erin Lee, Love Song

This strange album comprises ten instrumental pieces for unaccompanied acoustic guitar, plucking out pastoral melodies with a vaguely Mediterranean flavor, like music that might appear in a historical romantic drama featuring sailors, grapes, wine, and such. One could reasonably dismiss this music, but I can’t stop playing it--as with film scores and Snail’s House albums, there are certain qualities that make an instrumental melody intrinsically sentimental, and I’d love to know what they are. In the calmly strummed “My Hometown Harbor”, the sun sets over the water, the boats dock, shouts ring out from the pub several blocks down, and there’s danger in the air. 

10. Ashley Monroe, Sparrow

“I’m good at leaving,” Ashley Monroe once sang, and these restless songs about departure and existential longing translate the impulse behind Joni Mitchell’s Hejira into country music, where it belongs. Country is the ideal genre for confessions of solitude and rootlessness because it’s supposed to imply rootedness, tradition, community; the juxtaposition conveys a sense of profound rupture. Monroe’s velvet moan and Dave Cobb’s theatrical string arrangements are exemplary bedmates. Hidden beneath a soft, warm glow lies the year’s loneliest album.

11. Gazelle Twin, Pastoral

When I first heard this crunchy slab of avant-dance music, the shrieks and chalkboard scratches and keyboards used as percussive elements jarred; it took several listens to notice that some of the scratches are digitally altered harpsichords, that flutes and sleigh bells adorn the otherwise turbulent tracks, and that Elizabeth Bernholz’s artificially growled lyrics repurpose quotes from Blake and English folk songs into angry social commentary. The segue between “Dance of the Peddlers” and “Hobby Horse” still terrifies me. If the idea of an ironic, politically-minded fusion of electronic dissonance, English folk, and classical music sounds mannered and absurd, you’re not wrong, but that idea’s musical realization is a whirlwind of rage and menace.

12. Amnesia Scanner, Another Life

This Finnish, Berlin-based pair of electronica producers have scored gallery openings and reportedly have many thoughts about technology and modern life, so I don’t doubt they have their avant-credentials in order. What I’m certain of is that these are the funniest EDM squelches I’ve heard in ages--distorted drops, vocoded shrieks, percussive jackhammers, digitally mediated farts and belches, not to mention outrageously catchy hooks. If the hyperactive musical splatter is intended to convey the sensory overload of our modern dystopian age, it also satisfies my own longing for music that bristles with noises, kitsch, stimulus.

13. Ski Mask the Slump God, Stokeley

In 2009, the Albuquerque emo-rap group Brokencyde combined maximalist crunk with bloodcurdling screamo choruses, and were widely panned as a record low point in pop music history. “Even if I caught Prince Harry and Gary Glitter adorned in Nazi regalia defecating through my grandmother’s letterbox I would still consider making them listen to this album too severe a punishment,” claimed one NME review. A decade later, the same exact music is now considered the surreal, groundbreaking, SoundCloud-warped future. Be careful who you mock, lest their ghost come back to haunt you.

14. Rosalia, El Mal Querer

Rosalia’s flamenco-R&B uses cool, exact technological control, sparse electrobeats and syncopated handclaps, to modulate a ferocious natural force, i.e. her singing. A modern adaptation of the anonymous 13th-century novel Flamenca, El Mal Querer is a wild exercise in vocal melodrama, especially because she’s always messing with her voice electronically. Layering her sighs over each other in the endless echo chamber that is “Pienso En Tu Mira”, looping a single note into an isolated stutter in “De Aqui No Sales”, showing off her melisma in “Reniego”, she understands how expression must be filtered through media and is inevitably distorted.

15. Noname, Room 25

The Chicago rapper’s fluttery jazz beats, wispy strings, woodwinds, and hushed rhymes are so calm and thoughtful the music sounds more like slam poetry with accompaniment than any conventional style of rap. By describing love, sadness, police violence, and the banality of daily life in the same cautiously awestruck tone, she depicts an internal resilience that comes into being through the act of aspiration. I love how slight this album is--her modest quietude is a splash of cold water in the face.

16. Sunmi, Warning

The former Wonder Girl refashions herself as a defiant siren-heroine, insisting “Get away out of my face” over electrobeats that crest and surge with military efficiency. Although the singles from this 7-song EP got the attention, her most exquisitely sheathed stiletto is “Curve”, whose bent jazz piano complements a chorus of staccato whispers that should sound inviting and instead exude menace. 

17. Hailu Mergia, Lala Belu

After several reissues of his ‘80s music by Awesome Tapes From Africa, here’s the Ethiopian jazz keyboardist’s first album in forever, looking back on a genre of retro-futurist cocktail music whose benevolent visions of a utopian clubland didn’t come to pass, for how could they, but are ready to be reclaimed. Over relaxed drum shuffles, friendly plinky piano, billowing organ, Mergia coaxes weird noises from skewed, accordionesque synthesizers and dreams about parties where such music could play.

18. Haruru Inu Love Dog Tenshi, Lost Lost Dust Dream

The next time you hear someone complain about SoundCloud rap, please direct them to this eerie, plaintive, whispered exercise in polished incongruence. “I’m Dreaming” captures the moment when you’re still asleep but trying to wake up, straining to clear the clouds from your brain.

19. Camp Cope, How to Socialise and Make Friends

With hundreds of lo-fi Bandcamp mixtapes bouncing around out there, I can’t explain why one guitar band moves me rather than another, but there’s an emotional rawness to this album that rivets. Partially it’s the rhythm guitar sound, which skips along with syncopated flatness and resilience. Partially it’s the sharpness of Georgia Maq’s voice, and the way she uses drawn-out vowels to focus and redirect her sustained roars. Partially it’s the songwriting, which finds an antidote to the world’s grossness in friendship, community, quiet moments of kindness. If you’re exhausted and fed up after a lifetime of taking shit, venting your feelings to the simple clunk of loud guitar music is a pleasure precisely because it’s simple and clunky. “Get it all out/put it in a song,” she insists, endorsing and providing a cathartic fury.

20. Bhad Bhabie, 15

Danielle Bregoli’s ebullient chirps are joyfully defiant only insofar as defiance is a front for insecurity. Aggressive trap beats turned covertly melancholy long ago, but in this context the sadness is unmistakable. Everyone is a public figure in the age of social media, so her anxiety over existing in the public sphere is at once quotidian and heightened. This album is scarier than anyone expected.

[titansaints]

⛄ - Do you have a favourite holiday? ♫ - Do you listen to music when you write? If yes, what kind of music, if no, why not? ♪ - Do you play any instruments?

I'd love to say halloween but i was never really allowed to do much related to halloween unless i was staying at a friends house for it. we lived in a bad neighborhood so trick or treating was a no. my mom's a pastor so spooky stuff was also a no. i went trick or treating a couple times when i stayed at friends houses during that time. christmas and easter are always stressful bc well. . . pastor's kid. i love gifts don't get me wrong. however growing up it was many nights staying at the church trying to get things ready. so umm. . . god what's one i actually enjoy? um. . . ig the anniversary of girls generation's debut, 8/5. i. don't do much i just sit around and listen to their discography. but its nice.

i do! sometimes. if i'm listening to music its usually lofi or something in another language where i can tune it out a bit more though most of the time i just have youtube videos in the background.

i used to play piano! unfortunately my grandmother was paying for them and she died when i was really young, so i haven't played since. i did ask for some sheet music last christmas and got it so i'm hoping to put money towards repairing our old piano and tuning it so i can learn again. and does messing around in garage band count? lol

[needtobreathe-throughsmoke]

Small-Town Swagger

Posted On March 6, 2018 Posted In

Charleston Living Magazine Mar-Apr 2018

South Carolina band NEEDTOBREATHE soars in popularity, but keeps their goals focused on family bonds and giving back to the community

By TERI ERRICO GRIFFIS

In today’s music scene, it’s a breath of fresh air to find a group who plays, just for the love of it. Not for the Grammy (though they were nominated), not for the screaming fans (though they have those, too), but for the joy of the art and the thrill of how far they can push the creation process. The biggest band you’ve never heard of—NEEDTOBREATHE is a band that values family, their South Carolina roots and that they have a platform to bring attention to life-changing charities, such as Charleston-based OneWorld Health.

“It’s been an interesting ride,” says Bear Rinehart, who grew up in Possum Kingdom, S.C., with brother and bandmate, Bo (guitar).

We met Bear, lead singer, guitarist and pianist, on a recent Tuesday morning in Mount Pleasant’s Collective Café, sitting undisturbed at a sunlit table. “There’s been a lot of times where it might have made sense to move to Nashville or New York. But we love it here in South Carolina,” he says noting he and his brother, as well as bandmate Seth Bolt (bass) still live here. Fourth band member Josh Lovelace (keys) lives in Knoxville, Tenn. “It’s cool to come here in the morning where there aren’t so many other musicians here, or people may not know me and what I do.”

To stay as close to home as possible, the band, who’s been together nearly 15 years, even built a studio in Summerville. “It’s in a neighborhood. It looks like a suburban home, so no one knows it’s there, but we can play our music as loud as we want, and nobody can hear us,” Rinehart laughs.

Rinehart and his brother grew up in a house full of music. Their mother was a piano teacher and their father traveled with southern gospel artists Roy Clark and Glen Campbell—he was also a pastor. As a result, the brothers were only allowed to listen to Christian music.

“My dad was aware what the road was like, and told us, you cannot [pursue music] until you finish school,” says Rinehart, who graduated from Furman University with a political science degree—and was recently honored as a distinguished alumnus. “I think we got a little later start than we probably would have because of my dad. Which is probably a good thing!”

Making Something Beautiful

From their first album Daylight, released in late 2006, to their latest H A R D L O V E, the band’s music continues to evolve with every release.

“Every time we make a record we want it to be completely different and shocking. We were big fans of Beck and Jack White and all the musicians who had fans that didn’t care where they headed on each record,” Rinehart says. “We always had a plan to be the band that would be around for 20 years, but we knew to be like that, things had to change constantly. That’s why the records have shifted. And the next record may be totally different from what people are expecting it will be.”

Their seventh record is already in the works, Rinehart notes, with the band currently writing music—and hoping to tease some new sounds out from it this year.

Back when they began more than a decade ago, Rinehart said the band “in our small-town minds” always believed they’d be the biggest band in the world—they just had no idea what that meant. Over the years, they have opened for Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, as well as Taylor Swift. Their song “More Time” was featured on the P.S. I Love You soundtrack, they were interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine and sold out Red Rocks Amphitheatre. But while they celebrated the milestones, they remain humble and unchanged, not giving in to the pressure to out-do each benchmark.

Rinehart continues, “Our goals aren’t monetary or radio-based. It’s a more artistic thing. We always talk about the swagger we have as musicians and it comes from changing our game constantly. Doing things we’re not necessarily good at right away or at least taking the risks and experiencing them.”

Bringing the People Together

Years ago, Rinehart met the founders of Charleston-based OneWorld Health, which provides quality, affordable healthcare to the communities around the world that need it most—primarily with self-sustaining medical clinics. The musician offered to edit a video for them and in doing so watched nearly 15 hours of footage. “I felt like I’d been on the trips with them,” he says. Then he actually went on one to Africa and his eyes opened.

“They had a program to fix something that would work on a long-term solution and I thought, ‘How can we help?’” Rinehart says. “So we started selling T-shirts and posters where the proceeds went to them. Then a golf tournament. Now it’s a dollar on a ticket for anybody that ever comes to see us play. We’re really proud of what we’ve been able to do, because we’ve stayed consistent with OneWorld Health.”

In February, NEEDTOBREATHE headed to Nicaragua for the grand opening of their second NEEDTOBREATHE Medical Center in Jinotega. The first NEEDTOBREATHE Medical Center was opened one year ago in Tola. Both medical centers were funded in part by fan donations and ticket sales. “The clinic in Tola is now seeing almost 500 patients a week. It’s really crazy to think that these buildings are going to be there in that community for a long time—probably after I’m gone. It’s a legacy that we all have,” says Rinehart.

Supporting the bigger picture also grounds the band. “It gets tough on the road. And the reason to make music, for one is to inspire the people, and this is part of it,” he explains. “There can be some lonely nights away from your family, and having something much bigger that you’re working for alongside your own success and own job is critical,” Rinehart notes, adding even his wife, a nurse, has gotten involved and joined him on OneWorld trips overseas.

In addition to ticket and merchandise sales, NEEDTOBREATHE works with the Commonwealth Cares Foundation on Daniel Island to organize an annual celebrity golf tournament—held this year on April 23 at Daniel Island Golf Club. Just years ago, Rinehart and his band mates were calling friends to come to Charleston for a weekend and scrambling for auction items the night before, asking fellow musicians if they’d donate meet-and-greets or tickets. Today, nearly 250 people participate in the two-day NEEDTOBREATHE Classic, with businesses eager to pay tens of thousands of dollars to sponsor. “It has grown tremendously, and people love the experience,” Rinehart says.

The tournament includes master golfers, musicians and athletes. To date, NEEDTOBREATHE has raised more than $1 million for OneWorld Health through the Classic, fan donations, and ticket sales.

While it’s serious business, the tournament is also fun—just what the band needs after coming off a 43-city, 53-show tour, including Red Rocks Amphitheater, a bucket list goal of the band’s. (Playing Carnegie Hall is another dream they’d love to check.)

So what’s next? A fall tour, for starters. “We’re excited and have a lot of ideas and venues we’re working on. It’s going to be a big blow out tour,” Rinehart says.

Tour, tournament, albums and fans—come what may, the heart of the band remains where it began: with family. “When you get to a certain level, you realize however big this band gets, it’s not going to be your definition of success anymore. How close you are to your family is the true measure of success, at least for us.”

[nordicicequeen]

Tagged!

Rules: Answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you are contractually obligated to know better.

@misskiku tagged me! I love you honeybun! I miss you!

1.Nicknames: In high school I was called Sunshine, because I was just one big fucking ray of sunshine. My mother used to call me Ladybug. My sister calls me Hedor, it wasn’t a nickname at first as it was just how she said my name Heather as a child, but it’s a nickname now.

2.Gender: Female

3.Star sign: Libra

4.Height: 4’ 11”

5.Time: 12:36 PM

6.Birthday: September 26th

7. Favorite bands: Too many to list! But to name a few Breaking Benjamin, AC/DC, Queen, Evanscence, and MCR.

8.Favorite solo artists: I don’t really ever listen to solo artists. At least not enough to have a favorite.

9.Song stuck in my head: Nothing right now. I do however have my Pandora on since I’ll be doing homework after this and this is playing: https://youtu.be/7zEm-U1hC7E (Always by Saliva)

10.Last movie I watched: Ummm Halloween (original)

11.Last show I watched: The Good Doctor

12.When did I create my blog: Last year sometime I think, maybe the year before.

13.What do I post/reblog: MysticMessenger mostly, but anything that catches my fancy.

14.Last thing I googled: Guide for Turing Test, I downloaded the game last night and got stuck because of an unexplained game mechanic.

15.Other blogs: Don’t have one.

16.Do I get asks: From time to time. I love them and wish I got more.

17. Why I choose my URL: It’s a call back to a Hetalia OC. I made up a personified country for a country that doesn’t exist. She was a Nordic country, female, and had ice magic. So Nordicicequeen was born. She was also created before Frozen came out.

18.Following: 97 blogs.

19.Followers: 106!? How even? Like I’m an idiot with an internet connection, why you people following me? Still I love you all and would like to get to know you.

20. Average hours of sleep: Depends. There are days I don’t sleep, there are also days that I sleep upward of 16+ hours. But an average day would be like 3-6 hours.

21: Lucky number: 17

22.Instruments: I can play the clarinet. I can also kinda play the piano, meaning I have no training but I can play by ear a bit. Well enough to find middle C at least.

23.What I’m wearing: Graphic tee, pajama pants, and my glasses. I just woke up.

24.Dream job: Video Game coder. I love code and video games so yeah.

25.Dream trip: I’d like to see the Nordic countries, Japan, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, Australia

26.Favourite food:Medium Rare Steak! Hot Cinnamon Candy! Chips, Burgers, Fries, Tacos, Chinese!

27.Nationality: American

28. Favourite song right now: Ummmmm... it’s not a recent song, but I heard it again recently and I was like: YES!!! The song is: https://youtu.be/WPpDyIJdasg (Change (In the House of Flies) by Deftones)

29.Last book I read: Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman. He’s a teaching pastor at one of the branches of my church. The book is about the difference between being a fan of Jesus and a follower of Jesus. How we should strive to be followers instead of fans.

30. Top Three Fictional Universes You’d Want to Join: Pokémon. 💯 I want to be trainer. Like yes sign me the fuck up!

Hetalia. I already mentioned I have an OC for the show, but also politics would be so much better if it was done with the characters from Hetalia.

MysticMessenger. Cause seriously who doesn’t want to be MC?

oh gosh now I have to tag people??? not going to tag 20 but… @casualpastelgay @yoosungshoodie @fromthedeskofelizabeththird @anyway-i-love-vanderwood @akimbo628 @promiscuous-jalapeno @juminssi Do it if you want.

[ourmilitarymomentstblr]

What We’re Learning – 7-13 April

Learning April 7-13 2018

7 – Saturday – I got groceries and the boys went to a Kids’ Deployment Line.  You can read about their experience here, and grocery shopping went the same except I got extra things for the toddler we are fostering.  We will be picking him up Monday.

8 – Sunday – We went to church at Canyon Lake United Methodist Church.  It was our second visit there, and we wanted to try out their Sunday School.  Price and Wesley went to their classes, but we couldn’t find an adult class for the rest of us.  Ron and I think we are going to join their class for couples, but their Young Adult class (for Chyna) meets on Sunday evenings and they don’t have a traditional class yet.  We also met the pastor who will be moving to their church in July, and he said they would be starting a lot more activities for young adults.  So for now, we will continue attending here and try out their Sunday school classes.  After church Ron and I went to the Air and Space Museum because we haven’t had a chance to look around at everything.  It was nice to just get to walk around and take our time looking at things without having to wonder where the kids are and if they’re ready to leave.

9 – Monday – Monday was really hectic… Price and I finished our babysitting job, Wesley had piano and gymnastics, and we picked up E and brought him to our house for the first time.

10 – Tuesday – E had a checkup.  He is 2 years old and they thought he needed to be evaluated for speech therapy.  His speech is a little behind, but not enough that they recommend services, so we just keep trying to learn how he says certain words and make sure he understands what we are saying.  We are all having a great time getting to know him and play with him.

11 – Wednesday – 4-H Leader meeting, piano for Wesley, and Dgroup for Me today.  It was a good day with lots of playing outside for E!

12 – Thursday – I took E grocery shopping after taking him to play at the play area in the library on base.  It is great for toddlers and after he realized I wasn’t leaving him, he played really well.

13 – Friday – SNOW, SNOW, and more SNOW!

Listening

Here are the things our family is listening to.  I’m either listening by myself or with anyone who happens to be around while I’m listening.  I am going to do a more detailed post just about the podcasts that I love listening to.  This is just a quick list of the podcasts that I listened to this week(usually while I’m cooking or when I’m driving and recently while I’m waiting for E to fall asleep at nap-time).

    Podcasts:

Presidential Podcast – This one has an episode for each US President.  They were published in 2016, so I’m catching up… I listened to the episodes about Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding…

The most memorable one was Harding.  I had no idea about all of his affairs or that he had no problem with everyone knowing about them.  Including a 15 year affair with his best friend’s wife.  CRAZINESS!  I have absolutely no respect for him or anything that he did because if you are dishonest in your marriage, then I’m assuming you are dishonest in all aspects of your life.  The craziest quote from the podcast is Harding talking to the press… THE PRESS!! and he said, “it’s a good thing I’m not a woman or I would be pregnant all the time… I just can’t say no!”  SERIOUSLY!?!?!  This man is despicable!

The Bible Project has a podcast where they discuss topics that they make youtube videos about.  I’m going back to the beginning of their podcasts to catch up, so these are old ones that I’m just discovering… I love how they make me think and change the way I think about things in the bible and the new things I learn.  I listened to the Wisdom Writings, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes Part 1, Ecclesiastes Part 2, God and Money,

Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me (John Kasich)

I love this podcast because it makes me laugh every time.  John Kasich is the governor of Ohio and maybe putting his name in to run for President.  It was weird to hear people talking about Presidential elections again.

Relevant – This week was just as good as usual.

Andy Stanley – I love listening to him preach.  He

Read Aloud Revival –

Reading Aloud to 8-12 years old – I just discovered this podcast, and I bought her new book and read it.  It’s great, and I always love hearing about new books… especially children’s books.

Stuff You Missed in History Class

I listen to nearly every one of these… if it’s something I know I’m not interested in, I skip it, but for the most part, I love them.

Henry “Box” Brown – if you don’t know the story of this man, you should listen to this podcast or at least do a google search.  He was a slave and came up with the idea of mailing himself to a free state.  Someone helped him get in a box, nailed it shut, and mailed him.  He made it and was free.  It is a fantastic story.

Eldridge Gerry (Mandering) – This is the story of how gerrymandering got its name.  It was really interesting and I enjoyed learning something I didn’t know anything about.

Stuff You Should Know

Landmines – I didn’t realize the impact that landmines still have on communities and people around the world.  It was cool to hear about some of the ways people are coming up with to find and destroy landmines.

Paramedics – I almost skipped this episode, but I’m glad I didn’t.  I didn’t know that EMTs can’t break the skin of a person… even to give a shot. And I’ve never thought about it, but paramedics always walk up to a scene.  They do this so they can bring calm to the situation and assess the situation as they approach,

Sorta Awesome

100 Ways to Save Money – This was a good episode where Meg interviews someone who has just written a book about quick and easy ways to save money to be able to stay home, or even just to save some money while you are home.

Satellite Sisters – I love this podcast for all of the laughs and just joy that I get from listening.

The Productive Woman

I haven’t been listening to this podcast very long, but I like that I learn something every time I listen.  She is nothing like me, but the productivity things she discusses always show me something I can learn from it.  This episode was about cleaning up your email and some good ideas for handling your email and not letting your email handle you.

Part-Time Genius

I recently added this podcast as well, and I really like how short it is and I always learn something I didn’t know before.

Hawaii (lots of info on the 50th state… new fact for me… Hawaii 5-0 is named that because Hawaii was the 50th state.  Police came to be known as 5-0 because of this TV show)

9 Classic toys that are different now… I didn’t know that Silly Putty doesn’t pick up newsprint anymore… not because of the silly putty, but because newsprint is different now.

Modern Homemakers – I like listening to Donna Otto who hosts this show.  I don’t always agree with her, but I like listening to what she has to say.

Lightweight Journaling – this one was about some easy and quick ways to begin journaling if you’ve never done it before or can’t seem to keep doing it.

Passion City Church – I listen to their Sunday Service every week.

That Sounds Fun – This is a show by Annie F Downs.  She is new to Relevant, so I decided to check out her podcast.  I really like it!

Bob Goff… she interviewed him on the show and the more I hear about him the more I think I need to go get his books and read them.  I’ve added them to my wish list.

I Hate Green Beans – This is a new podcast they I’m trying out.  I’ve only listened to one full episode.  She has a whole series about the Bachelor TV show, and since I hate those “reality” shows and think they are helping to create a culture that I don’t like, I wasn’t sure if I would like her podcast.  I’ve only listened to this one about Cinderella stories and so far, so good…

Cinderella Stories – This one was really a fluff show that didn’t require me to use much brain power… sometimes that can be a good thing.

Reading

 Books

Treasure Hunters 1-2 (Wesley)

Wesley and I read together at night (or during the day if he wants to play video games and listen

Mercury’s War

This is my audio book series… I listen for maybe 20-30 minutes at night before I fall asleep… I’m not even sure I’m awake for the whole book… it doesn’t require a lot of listening. (NOT FOR CHILDREN!)

Witches (Kids)

We read this on nights when Ron is gone for our normal reading time.  It is one of Roald Dahl books and Wesley loves it.  It is taking us a long time to finish it because Ron isn’t gone very often.

Farmer Boy (Family)

We read this one during family reading time every night when everyone is  home (this doesn’t happen often with Chyna working, Ron doing Jujitsu, and my dgroup, but we do it every night when we are all home)

The Hate U Give (Chyna)

We also have individual reading time at night from 9-10 and Chyna and I decided to read a book together.  I have only been reading this book during this time (and I also read to Wesley during this time) so Cshe’s finished with it and I’m in the middle somewhere.  But we still say we are reading it “together”.

Who is Julius Caesar? (Price)

Price wanted to learn more about Julius Caesar and I did too, so we are reading some books together.  This one only happens sporadically, but we both like it when it does.

Loki’s Wolves (Library)

This is the latest book in my library read-through challenge.  I’m loving it, but I just don’t have much time to read it.  I take it everywhere with me so when I get a free minute, I read it.  I’m almost done and there is another book in the series that I’m excited to read.

Bible: (I’m reading through the Bible with my sister-in-law, Ron, and my friends Kim and Cristina.  We use the Bible App and I love that we can send messages to each other as we read.  It holds me accountable and it’s nice to get different perspectives as I read something I may have read many times before.

Luke 7:11-35… This is the first time I’ve thought more about why John the Baptist has to remain in prison and I think it might be because John had a lot of followers and if he was out teaching and preaching and Jesus was out teaching and preaching, it could’ve taken some of the emphasis away from Jesus and maybe caused confusion… John’s purpose was to point the way, and he had done that, so he needed to be out of the way so Jesus could do his ministry…

Watching

 YouTube

Simple History (Trench Clubs (WWI), Fake Trees (WWI),

Price introduced me to Simple History, so we watch these videos and discuss what we thought was cool about them or what we learned watching them.

Super Carlin Brothers (Dumbledore’s Long Name)

The boys both watch these guys… they talk about anything nerdy!

  Which the boys love, and I do too… I always learn something I didn’t know before about whatever they are talking about.

SoCraftastic (Wreck This Journal)

This channel is just for me.  She does all kinds of crafty things that I like to pretend I want to do

  I don’t actually want to do them, but I like watching her do them.  Especially her series on Wreck this Journal… She’s just bubbly and I like watching her videos.

US National Archives (National Park Plans, Celebrate the 100th Birthday of First Lady Betty Ford)

I don’t watch everything the National Archives puts out because some of them are really long.  Except for a long one about all of the First Ladies (because I’m obsessed), but that was last week, so it doesn’t count

  I liked the short one about Betty Ford for her birthday, and I love the National Parks so it was good to learn about the plans for each park and how they were drawn up.

Knowledgehub (Fast Food History)

I didn’t know how fast food became… well… fast food.  This one was great!

  With Family

Supernatural: Season 1: Ep 2 and 3

After family reading time, we watch one episode of whatever TV show we are all watching together.  We have watched all episodes of Psych (our favorite thing ever!!!) and we just finished FireFly, so we picked Supernatural as our next one.  We only pick a series that none of us have seen, and we are loving this one so far.  I sometimes jump and scream which everyone else thinks is so funny

  I know this one will take a while too because it’s such a long series.

Cars 3

When we aren’t all home at night, we can’t watch our TV show, so we sometimes watch a movie.  Since E came into our home, we’ve decided to watch animated movies during this time.  The first one we picked was Cars 3.  It had the added benefit that Chyna hadn’t seen it either.

What we learned??

  We had a great week and had so much fun welcoming a toddler into the house.  It’s been hard getting blog posts written, so that’s why I wanted to go to this weekly check-in… just some random pictures from the week.

The post What We’re Learning – 7-13 April appeared first on Our Military Moments.

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Thanksgiving!

What is Thanksgiving really about?

     Thanksgiving should be a day to share a meal with loved ones and be a little more thankful. I spend my Thanksgiving being thankful to God for giving me the opportunity to share a meal with my family. This important for us to know so we are able to have a great Thanksgiving day that can be filled love and happiness.

The History

     According Graham Woodlief and Barbara Ramos gave a lecture at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture uncovering the misconceptions of the history of The first thanksgiving. In their lecture, they talk how most Americans are usually taught that the first thanksgiving has to with the Pilgrims in Massachusetts in 1621. But in their research the first Thanksgiving was a year earlier by a group of Englishmen landed at Berkeley Hundred on the James River in Virginia. The ship Margaret was sailed by Captain John Woodlief and thirty-seven men sailed from Bristol, England. They reached Berkeley Hundred in December 4, 1619. They were were grateful they had found a land in which they could grow their crops. So, they decided to make it a day to give thanks to God. In the lecture, Woodlief explains how the Berkeley celebration was more religious. They were most focused on prayer than the festival of food in Massachusetts by Plymouth Pilgrims in Massachusetts. 

Today, most people celebrate Thanksgiving by sharing a meal with their family. In the traditional meals I have seen, have included things like turkey, stuffing, potatoes, corn, pumpkin and apples. According to a ‘New York Times’ article The American Thanksgiving asked 15 families across the country to show them their holiday dishes that can show their heritage and traditions. Diane Yang from Junction city, Wisconsin makes a Egg roll filling, used to stuff the turkey for her thanksgiving dinner. Her parents found asylum in the U.S. after fleeing Laos and says, “In November it is time of new rice which causes feasting. By happy coincidence, Americans, too, celebrate the fall harvest.”

Thanksgiving 2018 

   Thanksgiving for me has always been an happy time of year. Since, I was a child I have always spend every single thanksgiving day at church with my family. I have always been taught that it should celebrated as a day to give thanks to our Lord, Jesus Christ. In the Bible, Psalm 95:2-3 says, “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.” I had always played my flute with my brother accompanying on piano with traditional christian songs. But this year, due to the passing of my pastor  earlier this year, we have a new pastor and he decided not to have a thanksgiving service. So, my family decided to make a thanksgiving lunch. I had a “Caldo de Pabo” which translates to Turkey Soup. I was able to catch up with all my  family updates and laugh. 

In the afternoon, I went to dinner to my boyfriends’ grandparents house to have even more food and talk. It was really fun being able to hear all the stories they had of my boyfriend Zac. His grandpa had made his own whip cream and added to the pie. It was an amazing dinner. 

The last four years I have participated in the ‘Cincinnati Fall Feast’ as a spanish translator. This is my favorite memory of thanksgiving because I am able to volunteer and help people who are in need in the Cincinnati area. The event offers free services for those in need.

Many services include:

Free Coats

Free Haircuts

Free Health Clinic

Free Vision Screenings

Free Pediatric Dental Checkups

Free Flu Shots

Free Books for All Ages

Live Music - Great local bands entertain throughout the day

Kidzone - Games, Puzzles, Crafts, Inflatable Play Areas, A Petting Zoo and more

Big Screen TVs - Watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade and Football Games

     I am able to help people who don’t usually speak english receive benefits that would cost them a lot of money for free. The thanksgiving of 2017, I had met a lady about 50 years old who wasn’t able to speak english receive a vision screening. She got a pair glasses that she said she thought had needed but for last 10 years had been avoiding because she didn’t have insurance and money. It truly was an amazing and memorable moment. She was incredibly happy and so grateful.

What Thanksgiving Means to Me

     Thanksgiving should be a day to share a meal with loved ones and to be a little more thankful for everything. I spend my Thanksgiving being thankful to God for giving me the opportunity to share a meal with my family. Many people believe the same thing or like to think it’s a day you get to eat a lot of food, which can also be the case. But we need to understand the importance of Thanksgiving because we never know when will be the next time we get to spend time with them. Many people don’t have privilege to share a meal with their loved ones due to financial status, sickness or even death. So, it is important to cherish the meal we get to spend with our loved ones.

Works Cited

“Cincy Event.” Fall Feast, fallfeast.org/fallfeast-event/.

Desantis, Produced Alicia, et al. “The American Thanksgiving.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Nov. 2016, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/16/dining/thanksgiving-dinner-in-america.html.

“Psalm 95:2-3 - Let Us Come before Him with Thanksgiving and Ex...” Bible Study Tools, Salem Web Network, www.biblestudytools.com/psalms/passage/?q=psalm+95:2-3.

“Virginia Museum of History & Culture.” Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom | Virginia Museum of History & Culture Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, www.virginiahistory.org/read-watch-listen/video-and-audio/first-thanksgiving.

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B.Slade

Anthony Charles Williams II (born May 16, 1975), better known by his stage name B.Slade, formerly known under the gospel moniker Tonéx (/ˈtoʊneɪ/ TOH-nay), is an American singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, dancer, producer, and activist from San Diego, CA. He has gone by various names and aliases, but his primary stage name of choice had for years been "Tonéx". In 2010, he began using the stage name B.Slade in order to rebrand himself.

Williams has released several hundred songs on dozens of albums over the span of his career, while producing several others for both gospel and secular artists. He has won six Stellar Awards, a GMA Award, and received 2 Grammy nominations: one for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album for his 2004 gold album, Out the Box and another in 2009 for Best Urban/Soul Alternative Performance for his single, "Blend", from his 2009 mainstream (albeit theoretically Gospel) album, Unspoken.

Known more for his gospel recordings, his musical efforts have been known to blend a smorgasbord of styles, including pop, R&B, jazz, soul, funk, hip hop, rock, latin, electro, punk and trance. His primary influences include Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Prince, Michael Jackson, Walter Hawkins, David Bowie, and Janet Jackson. His distinct sound and eclectic style of music led him to give his music its own genre per se, calling it "Nureau".

Life and music career

Early life

Born in 1975, Williams grew up in the San Diego, California area. His father, Dr. Anthony Williams, was Senior Pastor of the Truth Apostolic Community Church in suburban Spring Valley and served as a district elder in the California District Council of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (PAW). His mother, Dr. E.B. Williams, was a licensed minister in the PAW and served the church as Assistant Pastor. Anthony was the youngest of the Williams' six boys. Gospel music was the preferred choice at home, but other sounds made their way into Williams' environment. His father played saxophone for James Brown and Jackie Wilson, his mother sang in various girl groups, and his older brothers sneaked funk and R&B recordings into the house. By age 10, he had recorded an album of his own at home (produced by Virgil Brookins). Deciding early on a musical career, he took the name "Tonex" by the time he was 13, sometimes spelling it "Tonéx"; at the age of 16 he and his parents Pastor A.C. Williams and Dr. E.B. Williams hired his first personal manager, Benjamin Jimerson (aka Benjamin Jimerson-Phillips) in 1991. Jimerson, who has since become a relatively successful movie producer, stated: "From the first moment I saw Tonex and he sang his first note, I realized I was dealing with a young man destined to become a major celebrity."

1996 – 2000: Early career

Rescue was still a small label, and Pronounced Toe-Nay was issued in a limited production run and distributed mostly from the back of Williams' car. Young gospel fans, however, quickly caught on to the innovative variety of music on Pronounced Toe-Nay. The album's producer, T. Boy, was an alter ego of Tonex himself. The album was divided by style into seven sections: hip-hop/rap, retro/funk, the future, jazz, mellow grooves, soul/gospel, and bonus tracks. In the recordings of Kirk Franklin and others, hip-hop had previously made inroads into gospel music, but this kind of wild eclectic mix was completely new. At the time, the digital reproduction of music was in its infancy, and rare copies of the album became prized possessions. Pronounced Toe-Nay garnered the attention of the producers at the 14th Annual Stellar Awards and placed him on the billing, and that performance by Tonéx made such a bold statement and had such an impact, it has been compared to the impact Michael Jackson made on the Motown 25th Anniversary Special back in 1983 when he introduced the moonwalk to the world.

2000 – 2004: As a rising gospel artist

By this time, national labels had come calling. Tonéx was signed to an unusual three-way deal that affiliated him with the successful and growing gospel label Verity, the pop imprint Zomba, and the durable hip-hop label Tommy Boy. Tonéx made his national debut with a re-release of his most successful independent album Pronounced Toe-Nay in 2000. His first high-profile television appearance was performing a medley of "Trinity" and "One Good Reason" on the Stellar Awards, which was a coup as Tonéx was a relative unknown at the time. He has dubbed his particular genre-spanning musical style "nureau."

Upon its release, Pronounced Toe-Nay bore 5 different record label logos: Rescue Records, the independent label that originally released the album; Mo' Soule Steppyn Records, Tonéx's then-active vanity imprint label; Tommy Boy Gospel, the label to which Tonéx was signed as an artist; Verity Records, the label to which his independent label Rescue Records sold his album's masters; and Jive Records, the mainstream umbrella over Verity Records. All of the material was produced, arranged, composed and performed by Tonéx, with guest appearances from his mother E.B. Williams, and the rapper Big J.

Some executives wanted to develop Tonéx's career in a secular direction, but he turned them down and kept to religious themes. "There are a lot of people who do similar things to what I do in R&B but I wanted to use gospel lyrics," he explained in an interview quoted on the Sphinx Management Web site.

After going through numerous revisions, his second album O2 was released in 2002. According to Tonéx, the title of his second album referred to the year of release, to the element oxygen, and to the album's status as his second major recording. O2 matched the stylistic eclecticism of Pronounced Toe-Nay, with each track diverging completely from the one before. The album spawned a major Christian radio hit in "God Has Not 4Got", a Stellar Award-winning song that displayed Tonéx's ability to create traditional choral gospel music as well as innovative pop fusions. USA TODAY gave it 3 stars (3 out of 4). The music video for the single "Bout A Thang" received heavy rotation on BET and MTV Australia, and featured energetic hip-hop dance and an urban image not usually associated with Gospel artists. O2 also featured a love song, "You", directed toward the artist's then-wife Yvette Williams (née Graham), a vocalist who at times went by the name Ms. Tonéx.

Becoming known to the wider contemporary Christian music community as a result of several music industry awards and award nominations, Tonéx went on tour with contemporary gospel artists Trin-i-Tee 5:7 and Men of Standard after the release of O2. Tonéx was moved up from opening act to headliner as audiences reacted enthusiastically to his music and his high falsetto voice. He performed once more at the Stellar Awards early in 2004 and won several awards.

Even though O2 brought him more mainstream success, Tonéx said that this album was not what he had in mind for release. He continued to release independent projects via the internet that showcased even more of his versatile creativity. Probably his most acclaimed of these works, Tonéx released Oak Park 92105 in 2003 on his now defunct Nureau Underground website in 2003, stating it was this album that he intended to release after Pronounced Toe-Nay, and not O2. Oak Park 92105 was a double album that mainly dealt with Tonéx's life growing up in the Oak Park community nestled in the eastern tip of southeast San Diego, California. It was eventually re-released on iTunes in 2005 with some new songs; however, the album did not come without controversy, as Tonéx opted to include a "parental advisory: explicit lyrics" notice on the front cover of the album, making it the first album by a Christian-based artist to carry the notice. Tonéx said the "explicit lyrics" notice is not a result of "cussing" on a record but rather content that "might be a little too deep for children."

2004 – 2006: Out The Box and accolade

His 2004 live double CD Out The Box earned him the most widespread acclaim so far. Divided into segments ranging from traditional gospel and praise anthems to splashes of urban dance, rock, and hip-hop, the ambitious Out The Box was a sprawling double disc set with 36 tracks, which included innovative intros, interludes, and a number of studio tracks. The supporting cast included a 10-piece band, 4 dancers, a 16-voice ensemble, and a 40-voice choir. Notable guest appearances on the album included Kirk Franklin, who plays piano in the live version of "God Has Not 4Got" and appears as an artist on "Since Jesus Came", and frequent Prince percussionist Sheila E, who appears on the Latin-flavored "Todos Juntos".

Out The Box debuted at #1 on the Billboard magazine Top Gospel Album Chart in September 2004, appeared on Billboard’s Top 200 and Top R&B Chart, was #5 on the Contemporary Christian Chart, and to date has sold over 500,000 copies. He also netted a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album the following year, and had another bonafide Christian radio hit with the ballad "Make Me Over". In 2005, Tonéx won a total of six Stellar Awards including "Artist of the Year" for Out The Box.

2006 – 2010: Controversy, turbulence, and retirement from gospel

In July 2004, his father died, forcing him to take on the responsibility of becoming senior pastor of their family's church in his stead. He also divorced his wife of 5 years, Yvette. In 2006, Verity Records sued Williams for one million dollars citing breach of contract. Subsequently, Tonéx announced that he would retire from the Gospel music industry, frustrated by politics and mistreatment. Following the announcement, Kirk Franklin posted a personal blog on his own website sympathizing with the artist feeling "the weight of an industry that is only built to make money, not heal broken souls." He continued releasing music independently, using MySpace as his primary vehicle for promotion.

In March 2007, a reconciliation with Zomba Label Group was announced, which would be a joint venture for his Nureau Ink label. The deal was struck under the auspices of new Zomba president "Jazzy" Jordan (who previously had guided the careers of R. Kelly and Salt-N-Pepa). With a new record deal under his belt, he was preparing to release a double disc set titled Stereotype: Steel & Velvet, which was slated to be released on September 11, 2007, and was purportedly supposed to do for his career what Thriller did for Michael Jackson and what Purple Rain did for Prince. However, in June 2007, another split with Zomba was announced, fueled by his leaking of the vitriolic and profanity-laden song "The Naked Truth", along with several similarly themed blogs and videos. Tonéx cited label frustration as one of the reasons he leaked the song, and he soon faced much scrutiny within the Gospel arena for the explicit language and the angry tone of the song and its subsequent blogs. He later would close down his social networking sites for several months before resurfacing on the web in January 2008.

Recreating a softer gospel-friendly image, Williams changed his stage name to Ton3x (or TON3X) in 2008. He left the Verity Records family and signed under the umbrella of Battery Records, a label imprint of Sony/BMG. His only Battery Records release was the album Unspoken, released on March 17, 2009. The first single from that album, entitled "Blend", was unexpectedly nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance, despite very little promotional/financial support from Sony/Battery and garnered the artist his first non-gospel Grammy nomination. That year, he would also present awards at the Grammy pre-telecast, including the first 2 awards given to Lady Gaga, who was already backstage preparing for her show-opening performance.

In September 2009, The Word Network aired an appearance of Tonéx on The Lexi Show. Starting out as another promotional tool for his music, the interview unexpectedly changed directions, leading to Williams candidly expressing his views on sexuality and revealing his own same-sex attraction. Though his sexual orientation had already been highly speculated within the African American and gospel communities, the unapologetic tone of these revelations were condemned by conservative Christians, and bookings and appearances were universally cancelled, eventually leading to Williams being excommunicated. The artist would later say that he was "caught off guard" by the show's line of questioning but that he answered every question truthfully.

On December 29, 2009, Tonéx's website, as well as his Twitter and Facebook accounts, reported that the artist's mother, Evangelist and vocalist E.B. Williams, had died the day before. Williams would soon end his pastoral duties at his family's church.

On June 9, 2010, Tonéx announced what would be his final mixtape, the digital-only release The Parking Lot. The mixtape was also distributed in NYC that night after what would be his final performance. On June 15, 2010, the brand Tonéx/TON3X was officially and permanently retired. A "Tonéx Vault" was created on Bandcamp to share rare and previously unreleased material like the shelved Verity project, Gosp0p.

2010 – 2013: Rebirth as B.Slade and a return to independence

Recreating himself as an out indie R&B/glam pop artist, the artist formerly known as Tonéx underwent a re-branding, dubbing himself B.Slade and using digital media to release his new music and philosophies. The name change was inspired by the character Brian Slade from the art film Velvet Goldmine. Though he continues to receive much resistance from his past, conservative gospel fans, his new-found transparency and honest lyrics have helped him carve a niche in the LGBT music genre, which itself is slowly gaining acceptance in the mainstream field. Albums announced and partially produced under the Tonéx brand like A Brilliant Catastrophe, his Michael and Janet Jackson tribute mixtape, and the long-awaited, aforementioned Stereotype were all officially released during this time. B.Slade performed "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" as a tribute to disco singer Sylvester at the 7th Annual OUTMUSIC Awards. His full-length album Diesel, was released via his own label Suxxess Records on July 19, 2011.

After completing his stint in the musical The Who's Tommy in the summer of 2011, B.Slade began work on his next concept album, Knowing. An ambitious "pop opera" narrating a dystopian take on the future of the major record label monopoly, the album will serve as a soundtrack that the artist plans to turn into a feature film musical. Knowing was scheduled for a release on Christmas Day 2011 (another album entitled Stealth was released on this day instead), but after a few delays was released discretely in memory of Whitney Houston on February 11, 2012.

In the fall of 2012, B.Slade embarked on his "Sex, Drugs and Sushi US Tour", doing shows in Chicago, New York and taking residency at the WitZend in Venice, LA during the months of September and November. He was nominated for four awards at the 8th Annual OUTMUSIC Awards, winning one for Best R&B/Soul Song. He released another album, Stunt B%$@H, on January 25, 2013.

2014 - present

2014 saw a resurgence from the artist as a viable mainstream producer and songwriter, placing songs on albums from Sheila E. (Icon) and Faith Evans (Incomparable). B.Slade also wrote and co-produced Angie Fisher's smash hit single, "I.R.S.". The song was instantly a runaway hit upon debut on Stevie Wonder's L.A.-based radio station KJLH, before going nationwide and peaking at #29 on Billboard's Adult R&B chart shortly thereafter. "I.R.S." was nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, garnering Ms. Fisher her first Grammy nod and giving B.Slade his third. He is currently working with Ms. Fisher on her debut album from Hidden Beach Records.

In 2015, B.Slade co-wrote several songs on Elijah Blake's debut album, including the smash hit "I Just Wanna..." (which peaked at #23 on Billboard's Hot R&B Songs chart) and its title track, "Shadows & Diamonds". He also wrote and arranged the song "Unhappy" from Jordin Sparks' third album, Right Here, Right Now, and produced comeback singles from Tisha Campbell-Martin and Chaka Khan.

Acting and musical theatre

Along with the many changes made by Williams in 2008, a foray into acting became part of his long list of endeavors. Williams made his film debut in the 2008 Charlie Murphy comedy The Hustle, which was released to home video in 2011. In September 2008, he played the role of James "Thunder" Early in a San Diego production of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. Later in 2008 and early 2009, Williams played the character of Rolin in Princess & The Black Eyed Pea at the Lyceum Theater in San Diego. In 2011, he played the starring role in San Diego Repertory Theatre's production of The Who's Tommy, His performance earned him the Craig Noel Award for Best Male Lead Performance in a Musical.

TV and movie soundtracks

Williams sang and produced the opening song for the hit UPN TV series One on One. His production was featured on the song "Off We Go" from the J. Lo/Ben Affleck film Gigli and in BET Films original movie The Walk starring Eva Marcille. "Cry No More" from the album Pronounced Toe-Nay was featured in the HBO film Prison Song starring Q-Tip and Mary J. Blige, while the track "The Good Song 2005", a remake of the song "The Good Song", was included on the soundtrack of the action movie xXx: State of the Union starring Ice Cube. B.Slade's song "Don't Wake Me" was featured on the second episode of the 2013 BET series Second Generation Wayans. In 2013, he produced the score for the 44th Annual NAACP Image Awards telecast. In 2014, Williams produced and co-wrote the theme song to OWN (The Oprah Winfrey Network) series, Flex & Shanice, starring Flex Alexander and Shanice Wilson, and guest-starred on a number of episodes. The first season of the series garnered two singles written & produced by B.Slade, "Gotta Blame Me" and "We Can Fly". He also performed the theme song for Bounce TV's sitcom One Love.

Media appearances

In 2005, Williams co-hosted the 20th Annual Stellar Awards with Donnie McClurkin and Yolanda Adams. As "DJ Tonéx" he hosted his own syndicated contemporary gospel radio show in partnership with SupeRadio Networks and Blue Sky Productions entitled Club Virtue from 2005 to 2007. He also briefly hosted the BET J (now Centric) show Lifted which blended positive secular and gospel music programming. In 2010, The New Yorker published a lengthy article on the artist, highlighting his journey as one of the first major gospel artists to come out.

Public image

Williams' appearance has included extremely conservative suits with close cropped hair, outlandish, flamboyant garb with feather boas, fur coats, punk-inspired multi-colored hairstyles, Sanjaya-like headpieces, Stevie Wonder-style dreadlocks and also platform shoes, that brought to mind the "glam" rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s. As Tonéx, his image raised eyebrows in the conservative gospel and contemporary Christian music communities, and he eventually took the sharper edges off his look for a short time. But he made no apologies. "It wasn't me trying to make a statement; I've always been different," he told George Varga of the San Diego Union-Tribune. "And it really worked. Out of church, people are always asking me what my tattoos mean."

Wikipedia

[meanwhileinoz]

People On Reddit Share The Dark Secrets That Could Destroy Their Marriages

We’ve all got secrets.

Things we are afraid to tell anybody. People will judge you, especially if your secret is messed up.

That is why we have the Internet. To post our secrets anonymously, facing no criticism and getting it off our chests as well. A Reddit thread revealed people sharing their darkest secrets, which could potentially ruin their lives. Read them below:

“Years ago my gf (we’ll call deb) and I were out with her friend (we’ll call Sara). This one day Sara had to pin unlock her phone each time to take one of many pictures….out the corner of my eye I saw her pin. I saved it in a note. Months later sara and deb were at my place and went to the pool. Sara left her phone indoors. I used her password and hit jackpot. Nudes, videos, message logs with some guy she was talking (well call jeff) to, along with tons of dick picks and videos of him jacking off…

With this goldmine of pics and vids I concocted a slow plan…..very slow. Slowly I broke off with deb but kept in touch with sara. I then created a alter ego online (we’ll call it Vanessa). For months I worked this identity so it looked real. This identity started following Sara on all social media (Sara accepted any friend requests). Vanessa blackmailed jeff. Jeff was given 2 days to stop talking to sara or his dick picks got leaked. He was chicken sh*t and dropped her like a hot potato. But Sara was strong willed…when Vanessa threatened sara to stop talking to jeff or her pics get leaked she protested…so I knew I had to change tactics. Vanessa disappeared for a while until I could get Sara’s phone in my hands for a bit. One day sara was over and ‘lost’ her phone at my place. I ‘found’ it for her the next day…. Not before I installed a spy app that let me keep track of her everything. A few weeks later Vanessa came back but now armed with the conversations sara was having with everyone. While tracking Sara’s reactions and suspicions, I made it show that Vanessa wasnt real….

Now all my friends know me as being pretty tech literate. One day im talking with Sara and she breaks down crying telling me how she been long distance sexting this guy and somebody hacked his or her phone and now shes being blackmailed by some stranger she doesn’t know. So she askes me if I could help her. Long ending short I made it look like jeff was Vanessa. I made it look like he created this person so that he could blackmail Sara into f*cked up sex stuff. Sara left him and guess who was the hero? Me. I caught ‘Vanessa.’ Sara was now safe because of me. Once we blackmailed the guy, ‘Vanessa’ disappeared… You know…for realism. Sara and I now had this tragedy…this hurdle that we overcame together. We started dating not long after. She was never going back to long distance relationships and wanted to try local….4 years later were married.”

  “My father never had anything other than boys, and my mother always wanted a girl. Try as they might, they just had tons of boys. When I was 6 they adopted a girl of also 6. Everyone was pleased, and she was quickly included into the family by everyone and we all took an immediate shine to her. Especially me.

We started playing ‘doctor’ at 9. This progressed to fooling around by our early teens, and into actual sex shortly thereafter. We’re both over 30 now. We have sex whenever we see each other. We also like to pretend we are twins when we do have sex. We’ve both had our shares of girlfriends and boyfriends, but we always kept it up even while in those relationships. She’s actually married now.

We still have sex about 2 times a month, more when the family gets together for holidays. I can’t even imagine the bricks that would be sh*t if anyone ever found out. It’s been close a few times, especially when we were younger, but nobody’s ever caught on.

  #3 From a divorce lawyer who goes by TheLadyInReddit:

“Client is an elderly gentleman, some type of retired professional. His son is a pastor. Everything about his situation seemed very normal in terms of income, property, etc. However, it turns out he had a pretty serious porn hobby and he was concerned his wife might find out and use it against him in the divorce. However, as I mentioned above, I assured him that was pretty run-of-the-mill these days and unlikely to affect anything. He then asks if I feel the same knowing the porn is not ‘mainstream.’ I asked what he means and he looks very nervous. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t referencing CP, so I pushed him on it.

The guy was into goats.”

  “My friend inherited a beautiful diamond engagement ring. The stone was worth $20K. His fiance was thrilled to receive it and flaunt it. Now his wife of 25 years, it’s still one of her most precious possessions.

Only I (and you 4 million) know that she does not own the original diamond. My friend sold the stone for $15K and an equal sized, substitute diamond on the day he picked it up from being sized to fit her…

The value of the ring was learned at appraisal, and was actually appraised a bit higher. The $20K was the number he knew he could get from a wholesaler in the district. It is still insured for the higher amount. The stone that was substituted is a diamond – and I couldn’t tell the difference. The money was mostly used to clear debts.”

“I’m an atheist. I’m also a deacon in an evangelical church. I’m not exactly proud of it but I try do my part to convince people to live like Jesus because even if he wasn’t god, he certainly had some good ideas about loving other people.

The problem for me is my family. I’m married with a one kid and another on the way. I believe that such a revelation would be devastating for my wife. I’ve tried to tell her in subtle ways but I can’t bring myself to just come out and say the truth. I love my wife and I don’t wish to harm her emotionally in that way.”

  “I am a gay man married to a woman who has no idea I am gay.

How is my life? It’s great. It’s pleasant. I have two beautiful children who I love more than anything. I have a successful job and a lovely home. My wife is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. So that is my life.

Myself, however, the way I feel inside is not so good. I feel disgusted with who I am. Growing up in a Catholic household had me living in fear of being banished by my family for revealing my sexuality. That’s not something I’m afraid will happen, that is something that is a well known fact in my family. I would love more than anything to be honest to everyone. I am a coward though…

As ridiculous as it sounds I thought that getting married and settling down etc would make these feelings I had about being gay go away. Before meeting her I was constantly struggling with the fact that I might be gay. My upbringing made me believe that being gay was wrong and so I always tried to convince myself that that’s not who I was. For awhile it worked. I think I wanted so bad to be straight that I just made myself believe I was. I got married to my wife at 23 and for a short time after our wedding I was relieved. I thought ‘Yes, I knew it. I knew I just had to find someone who would clear all this up for me!’ That just came crashing down. We started having sex more to try and get pregnant and that caused me realise [sic] that I am a gay man. I’m not remaining in the closet because I’m too scared of my wife’s reaction. In fact she would probably be the most forgiving. I have decided not to come out because of my family. I’m not exaggerating when I say that they will disown me. They wouldn’t think twice about it. I wouldn’t be happy. I would be lost. Now that I have children that just scares me even more. I wouldn’t ser [sic] them much at all and that’s not an option for me… There are many things I wish I had done differently but I do not regret any of my choices because they’ve all led me to where I am today. My son and daughter are these amazing little people. I live in a great house with a loving and sweet little family. Our marriage (sham marriage as some people have pointed out) is a good one despite my sexuality. Our marriage is healthier than some that I know about and hear about. I have accepted that I may never come out and I’ve learnt to be okay with that. I will consider going to therapy too. This is the most I have ever talked about it. Up until now I have not told a soul and so I have really swept everything under the rug. It is amazing what you can block out if you really try.”

  “I once helped out my a female friend’s family by taking care of their cat for a week. Every day for a week, I would go over there and snoop around their house. I found my friend’s diary, and proceeded to read the entire thing. I used this information to get her to like me, and she is currently my wife.”

  “I have lesbian sex with my best friend about once a month. Neither of us say anything to our husbands. We drink a good bottle of wine, get tipsy, get nasty, and fall asleep. When we wake up, we laugh, kiss, and go about our lives.”

“No ones going to probably find this comment, but I have an addiction to prostitutes. I can’t control myself. I’m also married and my wife has no idea. I spent $2000 on our credit card while she was overseas for 3 weeks. I lied and told her that I had a gambling problem, that’s why I spent so much. Little does she know, I was bringing hookers home.”

  “I’m a guy with a foot fetish. And I -never- told my wife even though she has amazing feet. BUT it gets worse – I have a weird twist to my foot fetish. I’m really into ‘pedal pumping’ (i guess that’s the closest way to describe it) and I’m mortified to tell her or anyone else, and never have. When I was a little kid we spent a LOT of time at church during the week for mom’s choir practice and there was a decent looking piano player lady who would kick off her shoes and play the piano barefoot. And even though I knew nothing of my sexuality, I remember Saturday afternoons, being up on the stage/pulpit during boring choir practice, laying on the carpet, playing with Matchbox cars and trying not to make it seem glaringly obvious that I was transfixed watching this lady’s bare foot pushing on that piano pedal…

I was totally transfixed, and it continues to this day. Women playing pianos, organs, driving barefoot, using a sewing machine barefoot. My fantasies usually always involve me imagining myself as the pedal, and the woman has a sexy bare, nylon, or sock clad foot. If it’s a smelly foot even better. I feel guilty and stupid to this day. Why on earth would a fetish like that develop when I was a prepubescent kid?”

  “When i was in 8th grade i fell in love with my girlfriend. I never thought it would be possible for someone so young could have such strong feelings. The relationship didn’t last more than three months because my mom and step-dad divorced and i had to move. I thought about her every day since i moved away. I met another person and have been married for 20 years now. I have four kids and have no complaints about my wife. Five years ago through social media i was able to correspond with 8th grade girlfriend. It turns out that she still has feelings for me too. I have been faithful to my wife for our entire marriage but want more than anything to be with my first love.”

http://ift.tt/2xOOyzD

[independentartistbuzz]

Indie 5-0: Janet Blair

Today, April 7,  songstress Janet Blair unleashes her album debut, Songs for the Waiting. Releasing two critically acclaimed pieces from the record, "Creation's Song," and "Eternity Grows," we experience an artist that is making a name for herself on her own terms. Janet brought her yellow upright piano to the middle of White Sands, New Mexico to capture her single and album art, which shows the essence of the record as a whole. Blair never fails to explore an array of emotions, taking the listener through journeys of tragedy and triumph. We had the pleasure of speaking with Janet Blair on her new release, which you will find in an exclusive Indie 5-0, below.

1. Your debut, Songs for the Waiting, contains very deep subject manner, that not only tells a story, but shares real, personal experiences. What was the songwriting process for the record like?

I feel like I have been drop-kicked into songwriting.  As a classically-trained oboist, I am bemused at the path in which my life has turned. Songwriting came to me through a period of deep grief three years ago.  Desperate grief squeezed a song out of my soul - my first song, "For Shania".  From that point on, I began writing as a means of processing my life.  Usually this happens late at night when the house is beautifully quiet and my two beautiful girls are long asleep.  The process of songwriting takes a lot of different shapes: Some songs come to me quickly in one session, whereas others I have to revisit and refine over multiple sessions. Eight of the songs on the album were written over the course of two years and two of the songs were composed while recording at Gray Matters Studio in Nashville.

2. Your new single, "Creation's Song," has a spiritual and heartfelt meaning to it. Can you tell us about that story, and how does religion play a part?

“Creation's Song” is about quieting our hearts to hear God's song.  Ultimately, I believe that God made this world good, but we chose to reject Him as our King.  We spend so much energy devising our own schemes and setting ourselves up as king, we forget that there is a king on the throne, whose plans will not fail.  The song is inspired by one of my favorite verses: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."  We can rest in His identity, not ours.

3. When creating Songs for the Waiting, how long did it take you to write and record the album? The first song I wrote for Songs for the Waiting was "For Shania" in July 2014.  At this point, I fell in love with songwriting.  When I had gathered enough material for a full concert, I started seeking out producers, and in Spring 2016, met Matthew Odmark, a guitarist from Jars of Clay.  We recorded for three weeks in Gray Matters Studio in Nashville.  We ended up using eight of the songs I had written in the past two years and then I wrote two new songs in the first week in the studio.  The new songs are "Belong" and "Jesusland."

4. You're new video for "Eternity Grows," is vibrant and fantastic! What was the inspiration behind the storyline of the piece?

Thank you!  This music video was a lot of fun to shoot!  For the storyline, we played with the concept of our expectations vs. our realities.  For the verses, we drew from the lyrics mentioned in the song and that shaped out the verses.  Then we thought about how we would play with the idea of putting our expectations down low.  We shot the first chorus at the Rio Grande Theatre with me in my grand, gorgeous purple gown and then had it cut to the empty theatre with a handful of kids playing in the audience.  The bridge was an imagining of what a perfect day would look like:  eating cake and wine in bed, right?  And the final chorus was my favorite - jumping on the bed with two-year-olds.

5. You are known for your 'yellow piano.' Can you tell us the story behind it?

The story of my pianos are testimonies of generosity to me.  But to tell them, I have to back you up a little in my history.  I played piano in high school and was fairly accomplished at it, but when I went to music school, I decided to focus on oboe.  I really love orchestral music.  (Listen to some Beethoven Symphony 3 or any Brahms symphony. Does it get better? Answer: "No, it does not.")  So, I didn't actually own a piano upon graduating from college.  I always wanted one, but the cost was prohibitive.  One day at church, one of the pastor's came up to me and asked, "Do you know anyone who would want a piano?" "Yes! me!"  So, I inherited the beautiful, barely played piano of his wife, who was struggling with Alzheimers. This the smaller piano I use in concerts.  We actually have designed a platform for it, so I can stand and play at the same time.  

The piano that is on my album cover was also given to me by a wonderful guitarist at church. It was her mother's piano and it was over a hundred years old and no one in her family wanted it.  It was quite out of tune, etc.  My husband and I fully gutted that thing (removed the 200+ lb  harp!) for the photos you see at White Sands and around Las Cruces. Then we painted it with that yellow chalk paint. Even taking out the cast iron harp, that piano is a beast to haul, so we had a lot of wonderful friends help move it for the photos!

[lipwak]

VHS #318

VHS #318 Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey, Quincy Jones - In the Pocket (PBS American Masters), two performers at the Bottom Line, Gordon Lightfoot - Live In Reno (a few cuts), John Lennon in NYC 1972 (an edited version), Lowell Blues - Words of Jack Kerouac and A Night In New Orleans - Preservation Hall *** Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey 2 hrs, s, w/ commercials2001 I'm Going Upstairs - John Lee Hooker, Stones, Chuck Berry - You Can't Catch Me, Mike Love, Louis Jordan - Let The Goodtimes Roll, his boyhood home, his father played accordion and piano, Sam Phillips, Memphis, BB King, Otis Rush, gospel service, Clarence Fountain (Blind Boys of Alabama), Muddy Water’s cousin Pastor Willie Morgenfield, Wilson Pickett, Dockery Farm, Charley Patton, Oh Death - Charley Patton, Papa Charley Jackson - Salty Dog, Howlin Wolf - Spoonful, Hometown Skiffle, Pt. 1 - The Paramount All Stars, skiffle, Lonnie Donegan, Rock Island Line, Taj Mahal, Leadbelly, Take This Hammer (https://youtu.be/nmGjxWKLo7M), Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, the old country rock, Blind Willie McTell, Piano Red, Leroy Carr, Tampa Red, Fats Waller, Bessie Smith, hospital where Bessie Smith died, Robert Johnson, Wyman has small hands, Clapton, Stones - Love in Vain, Elmore James, Mick Fleetwood, Dust My Broom, blues cool you out, white blues and country, Jimmie Rodgers, folk blues, Taj blew him away, Giant Step, Ry Cooder, Rising Sons, Long John Baldry as DJ played Hooker and was first blues album he bought, (Leslie Neilsen Medicare commercial https://youtu.be/zrgRHGP20xg), Junior Parker, Mystery Train in one take, Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, Ike Turner, Howlin Wolf, The London Sessions record, Little Red Rooster only #1 blues song?, https://youtu.be/byGOCdMUqSw, Son House, Big Bill Morgenfield, Bo Diddley, We're Gonna Get Married - Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Lazy Lester, https://youtu.be/9E65donSgJs, talking with Buddy Guy, WDIA, Pepitcon tonic, T-Bone Walker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Recordings he picked out but not all that we hear in the documentary: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZKlISxKzgHE9Tcgl-w4psz812u24y-gO *** Quincy Jones - In the Pocket American Masters1:30, s See the whole thing here: https://youtu.be/lcn_myAiQeASee also Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones on VHS #169. Might have some of the same footage. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/quincy-jones-the-story-of-an-american-musician/636/ Oprah, Maya Angelou, Bill Clinton, Sidney Poitier, visits boyhood home, remembers radio, Clark Terry, first chart he gave Clark wasn’t very good, Dr Billy Taylor, Lionel Hampton, Jeri jones (former wife), Paris, Nadia Boulanger, Jolie Jones, Benny Carter, Count Basie, Lil’ Darling slow tempo his, 30-piece band stuck in Paris, Lesly Gore, film scores, The Pawnbroker, In Cold Blood, w/ Henry Mancini, can black men write film music?, In The Heat of the Night, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Peggy Lipton, fusion, Walking In Space, went into coma, aneurism, got married inbetween the two operations, The Wiz, Michael Jackson, Sidney Lumet, w/ Bruce Swedien doing Thriller, at A&R with Frank Sinatra (The Making of An Album footage), USA For Africa, discovered Oprah, Halcion, rap, at  Clinton inauguration, Clinton. *** In their Own Words - Dan Bern and Marti Jones Host - Rita Houston, The Bottom Line1/2 hr Dan Bern - Fifth Beatle (https://youtu.be/JFnIj8zGedc) Not this clip. Marti Jones - You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (Dusty Springfield) *** Gordon Lightfoot - Live in Reno Baby, Step Back (https://youtu.be/8YuP3Zu0M_w) This clip.Fading Away (https://youtu.be/56TbE8a3QMA) This clip.Shadows (https://youtu.be/x9IbBC5Dt_8) This clip.if You Could Read My Mind (https://youtu.be/b35XdQxvVJ0) This clip. *** John Lennon - Live in NYC 

Hear the whole thing here: https://youtu.be/9FSV9pLRsEo

New York City It's So Hard Woman Is The Nigger Of The World Sisters, O Sisters Well, Well, Well Instant Karma (We All Shine On) Mother Born In A Prison Come Together Imagine Cold Turkey Hound DogGive Peace A Chance *** Lowell Blues - Words of Jack Kerouac 1/2 hr w/ beautiful video See the whole thing(?) here: https://youtu.be/sSy8jn6Yiss Reading #1 Birth - Willie Loco AlexanderReading #2 Wrinkly Tar - Robert Creeley Reading #3 The Mills - David AmramReading #4 Now a door slams - Carolyn Cassady Reading #5 The Merrimac - Johnny Depp Reading #6 The Flood - Roger Brunelle Reading #7 The Library - Joyce Johnson Reading #8 Nursery Rhyme - Willie Alexander Reading #9 The Library - Carolyn Cassady Reading #10 Death - Roger Brunelle Reading #11 Grotto - Gregory Corso Transcript here: https://www.journeyman.tv/film_documents/1236/transcript/ *** A Night In New Orleans - Preservation Hall 1 hr2000 See the whole thing here: https://youtu.be/Hh2Oj-3DnAY Panama Rag Mama Don't 'Low Basin Street Blues Tiger Rag St. Louis Blues There's an Old Spinning Wheel in the Parlor Little Liza Lane Just a Closer Walk With Thee, Narvin sings this. When the Saints Go Marchin’ In Ben Jaffe - bassDavid Grillier - clarinetJoseph Lastie Jr. - drums Rickie Monie - pianoFrank Demond - tromboneWendell Brunious - trumpetNarvin Kimball - banjo

[stormyrecords-blog]

new arrivals 3-1-17

stormy records13306 michigan avedearborn, mi 48126 313-581-9322 hello friends of stormy!!great used jazz lps in this week - django, herbie, miles, and a bunch of meat and potatoes rock and roll, with added dashes of experimental and sound effects lps. moog, kodak - it's bee a good week for interesting used lps!! in TODAY Goblin - Profondo Rosso (LP)  $32.99Goblin - Suspiria (LP)  $32.99Goblin - Tenebre (LP) $32.99goblin soundtracks for horror films back in stock!! always a spine tingling listen!! Coil - Astral Disaster (LP)  $26.99In 1998, Coil were invited to record at Sun Dial’s studios beneath the London Bridge Hop Exchange—a studio originally know as Samurai Studios, originally built and owned by Iron Maiden. The premises in Victorian times was an old debtors prison which had three underground levels, and still had the original chains, manacles and wrought iron doors from the old prison. This caught the attention of John Balance, who was very keen to record there. Coil spent a number of days recording at the studio during Halloween 1998. With Gary Ramon’s help, they developed a number of tracks, some of which resulted in this LP. Ramon produced and mixed the Astral Disaster recordings, as well as playing guitar and sitar on these sessions. A version of the album was later remixed by the band and released on their own label—but the Prescription mixes as released in 1999 are unique. This rare album was part of the legendary subscription-only Prescription label album series in the late 1990’s, issued in an edition of 99 signed and numbered copies, long since sold out. (If you are wondering, originals fetch £700+). This is the first time the album is being released officially since 1999. Taken from the original masters, this reissue comes with original sleeve artwork, insert, and the facsimile signatures of John Balance and Peter Christopherson that came with the first issue. Yellow vinyl limited edition of possibly the rarest of all Coil recordingsRecorded in 1998 at Sun Dial studios, in the bowels of a Victorian era debtor’s prison Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (2xLP)  $44.99Fire Walk With Me is an altogether more brooding affair than the Twin Peaks series soundtrack. Badalamenti won a grammy for the title track of this LP and it’s not hard to see why- it’s dangerous, and bursting with smokey jazz thanks to Jimmy Scott. We went back to the master tapes in the Warner Archives and had this recut to fit across two LPs as the score clocks in at 51 minutes. It sounds incredible and punchy, but super nuanced too.Director approved artworkComposer approved audioSleeve notes by film critic Mark Kermode (approved by David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti)Vinyl re-master by Tal Miller at Warner ArchivesLaquers cut by David Cheppa at Plush Vinyl2 × 180G Cherry Pie vinyl425gsm Gatefold sleeve housed inside a bespoke black die cut outer jacket with black spot varnish finish, complete with obi strip Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks (Original Soundtrack) (LP) - 2nd Pressing  $32.99“I’m glad that after 25 years, Death Waltz Recording Company has re-released the original soundtrack for Twin Peaks for a new audience to enjoy. This is my defining work as a composer and I’m happy it will get a fresh listen” – Angelo Badalamenti 2016 Hayes McMullan - Every Day Seem Like Murder Here (LP)  $31.99Bluesman. Sharecropper. Church deacon. Civil Rights activist. Hayes McMullan should be a name on every Blues aficionados’ short-list and thanks to the preservation fieldwork carried out by one of the genre’s greatest researchers some 50 years ago – it might soon be. Born in 1902, Hayes McMullan was discovered by the renowned American roots scholar, collector and documentarian Gayle Dean Wardlow. Wardlow, author of the seminal blues anthology Chasin’ That Devil Music – Searching for the Blues, may be most famous for uncovering Robert Johnson’s death certificate in 1968, finally revealing clues to the bluesman’s mysterious and much disputed demise. Moreover, in his tireless and committed mission to preserve the Blues for future generations, he captured McMullan’s raw talent on tape and on paper. Wardlow recorded these sessions, transcribed the songs and now, writes the sleeve-notes for this landmark release. Wardlow and McMullan met by chance on one of the former’s record-hunting trips, in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, in 1967. Having introduced himself to McMullan on a hunch, it turned out this unassuming elderly man had not only heard of Wardlow’s idol, Charley Patton, but had played alongside him in the 1920s, as part of a brief musical journey that took him from the plantation to the open roads and juke joints of the Depression-era South. Striking up a friendship that was deemed unorthodox in 1960’s Mississippi, Wardlow traveled to McMullan’s sharecropper’s shack and convinced him to play guitar for the first time since he quit the Blues for the Church in the 30’s. “Hayes was playing like no one I had ever heard,” Wardlow writes with amazement. Wardlow visited McMullan on a handful of occasions, always taking his recorder, a guitar and some whiskey with him. It was during these visits that Wardlow captured – with surprising clarity – the songs that make up Everyday Seem Like Murder Here. Hayes McMullan passed away at the age of 84 in 1986, his talent and legacy largely unknown. “Reflecting now on our brief time together, I marvel at the small glimpse of something much larger I was lucky to have captured,” writes Wardlow. “The few old snapshots I took, the handful of tunes we recorded, and his brilliant performance of “Hurry Sundown” captured on film are all that’s left of the musical legacy of Hayes McMullan, sharecropper, deacon, and—unbeknownst to so many for so long—reluctant bluesman.” Konami Kukeiha Club - Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest OST (LP)  $27.99Mondo is proud to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Castlevania franchise with the premiere vinyl release of the original soundtrack to the 1987 Famicom / Nintendo Entertainment System sequel: Simon’s Quest. Featuring both the NES and FAMICOM versions of all 9 BMG tracks from the game. Musically, Simon’s Quest is the origin of one of the most popular of Castlevania BMG, “Bloody Tears.” A staple of the sonic landscape for the series, here it is as the soundtrack to your daylight encounters across the dangerous Transylvanian landscape. It is one of the catchiest 8-Bit tunes to ever come out of this era of Konami games and an example of the best of what Video Game Music has to offer. IN ON THURSDAY RUSSELL, ARTHURInstrumentals 2LP  $34.99"Remastered double LP with 12 page booklet including liner notes by Tim Lawrence, Ernie Brooks and Arthur Russell. All material previously released on the Audika CD compilation First Thought Best Thought (2006). Before disco, and before the transcendent echoes, Arthur wanted to be a composer. His journey began in 1972, leaving home in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Heading west to Northern California, Arthur studied Indian classical composition at the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music followed by western orchestral music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, before ending two years later in New York at the Manhattan School of Music. Traversing the popular and the serious, Arthur composed Instrumentals in 1974, inspired by the photography of his Buddhist teacher, Yuko Nonomura, as Arthur described, 'I was awakened, or re-awakened to the bright-sound and magical qualities of the bubblegum and easy-listening currents in American popular music.' Initially intended to be performed in one 48 hour cycle, Instrumentals was in fact only performed in excerpts a handful of times as a work in progress. The legendary performances captured live in New York at The Kitchen (1975 and 1978) and Franklin St. Arts Center (1977) feature the cream of that eras downtown new music scene including Ernie Brooks, Rhys Chatham, Julius Eastman, Jon Gibson, Peter Gordon, Garrett List, Andy Paley, Bill Ruyle, Dave Van Tieghem, and Peter Zummo. Pitchfork lauded Instrumentals Vol. 1 as a masterpiece and one of Arthur's 'greatest achievements'. Americana touching on Copeland, Ives, and maybe even Brian Wilson. Instrumentals Vol. 2 is a moving, deeply pastoral work performed by the CETA Orchestra and conducted by Julius Eastman. Also included are two of Arthur's most elusive compositions, 'Reach One', and 'Sketch For Face Of Helen'. Recorded live in 1975 at Phill Niblock's Experimental Intermedia Foundation, 'Reach One' is a minimal, hypnotic ambient soundscape written and performed for two Fender Rhodes pianos. 'Sketch For Face Of Helen' was inspired by Arthur's work with friend and composer Arnold Dreyblatt, recorded with an electronic tone generator, keyboard and ambient recordings of a rumbling tugboat from the Hudson River. For this remastered vinyl edition, a key part of Arthur's musical life has been restored. The sparkling, multidimensional results take the listener closer to Arthur's coast-to-coast journey: his iconoclastic determination to combine pop and art music; and his desire to make music that would resonate in the present and, ultimately, across time." BROTZMANN/VAN HOVE/BENNINK PLUS ALBERT MANGELSDORFFElements LP   $34.99Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971 (FMP 0030). 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue. "What reveals itself in the über energetics on display here is the ability of one quartet to take so much for granted and yet express so much in the process. Van Hove, for instance, shuns all conventions in his approach to the piano: he quotes Liszt and Schubert as well as Ellington and Peterson then wipes all of them out with his elbows as if erasing a chalkboard. His 'Florence Nightingale' is a perfect example. Texturally, he creates diversions from the fury while never disengaging from it. Brötzmann and Mangelsdorff are out and out challenging each other to see who can destroy their instruments first, and Han Bennick is the most proactive percussionist in jazz history. His use of anything and everything while simultaneously playing a trap kit that creates time is astonishing. Elsewhere, on Brötzmann's 'Elements,' African percussion and slow, long opened tonal drones by Mangelsdorff create a backdrop for the other two to explore without rushing in. Brötzmann enters almost tenderly, looking for a room to exit out of, but engaging himself in the microtonalities created by the rhythm section. Van Hove's long augmented chords create a mode for not opening but splintering that exit and Brötzmann ushers the band through in a hurry heading for the outer reaches of the possible. . . . one of the best documents of the period on any continent." --Thom Jurek, AllMusic, 1991 BROTZMANN/VAN HOVE/BENNINK PLUS ALBERT MANGELSDORFFCouscouss de la Mauresque  $34.99Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971 (FMP 0040). 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue. "Brötzmann's regular trio was joined by the trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, one of the most respected German jazz musicians, who has managed to keep abreast of musical developments for more than a decade. Those who remember him only for those fine early-sixties albums (like Tension, on German CBS) will be in for a shock, because he's updated his playing all the way. On 'Couscouss De La Mauresque', for instance, his tonal distortions rival those of Paul Rutherford, as he backs Brötzmann's wailing with a rip-snorting obligato. He has the advantage of being a virtuous technician, so that some of his wilder flights are truly breathtaking. . . . Mangelsdorff's technique doesn't hinder his fire, either, and he's well able to stand up to the rest of this very hairy band. Van Hove and Bennink obviously know each other inside out by now, and you'll hear few more exciting passages of music than their interlude during the trombonist's solo on 'Couscouss'. Bennink is getting further into textures every day, and on this album makes great play with his steel-drum and many unidentifiable implements, thus giving the music a great deal of variety. If you wanted to buy just one of these records, it would be very hard to choose because the level is so high throughout." --Richard Williams, Melody Maker, February 5, 1972 BROTZMANN/VAN HOVE/BENNINK PLUS ALBERT MANGELSDORFFThe End  $34.99Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971 (FMP 0050). 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue. "The great thing about this trilogy/set is how naturally everything flows. . . . each subdividing of the group, each solo excursion, feels smooth and logical, as though the player(s) in question had nodded to the others as if to say 'Gimme a minute here, I've got an idea,' and received assent in response. There's all the ferocity any free jazz diehard could ask for, but it never goes on so long that it becomes schtick, and it's always countered by passages that are genuinely beautiful in the most conventional, you-could-play-this-for-your-mom sense. Even without Mangelsdorff, Brötzmann, Van Hove and Bennink were a remarkably empathetic and attuned team, and when he joined them (and these records document their second and third times playing together, ever), everyone's game was raised." --Phil Freeman, Burning Ambulance, 2013 Dominatrix: Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight LP $19.992017 edition. "The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight has a long and storied history among connoisseurs of '80s New York dance music. Combining catchy, deadpan synth-pop and classic '80s electro hallmarks with the provocative edge of leather-and-lace sex culture, it remains a worldwide dancefloor staple to this day. Despite its popularity, little has been known about the song's background. The brainchild of producer Stuart Argabright (nee Arbright, a member of the groups Ike Yard and Death Comet Crew); alongside DJ and remixer Ivan Ivan; Kenneth Lockie (from Cowboys International, and early Death Comet Crew); and vocalist Claudia Summers; the song's dominating female subject was based on a person whom Arbright had dated. The song -- and a banned-by-MTV video that today could be mistaken for a Victoria's Secret commercial -- became a club smash at famed Danceteria and other urban meccas. But, despite some leather-clad live dates in 1984, the group itself was short-lived. This special Get On Down vinyl edition is sure to be coveted by fans and collectors. Beyond four original mixes of the song (12", Chants, Dominant and Beat Me) that fans know and love -- this full-length LP includes the newly unearthed song 'Play It Safe' and the rarely heard, hypnotic 'City That Never Sleeps,' in addition to the rare 1984 'Scratch Mix' of the original title song, with cuts by the legendary DJ Red Alert. The deluxe vinyl package is accompanied by a 16-page glossy booklet with text by writer Dave Tompkins and input from Argabright and Ivan Ivan. Additionally, fans will be thrilled into submission by visuals and press clips relating to the original release on Arthur Baker's Street Wise Records; the song's provocative video; as well as the dominatrix culture in New York City at the time which inspired this unlikely smash hit." Moondog: Viking Of Sixth 2LP $26.992017 repress, originally released in 2005. Tremendous gatefold presentation and one of HJR's most impressive documents to date. "The first overview of Moondog's amazing artistic life -- including recordings spanning from 1949 till 1995, with numerous 78s and various other vanished records revived for the first time (not to mention a couple of Weegee photographs!)." JULIE'S HAIRCUTInvocation And Ritual Dance Of My Demon Twin   $18.99Julie's Haircut - Italy's premiere psychedelic explorers - create a deep-end approach to sonic innovation on Invocation And Ritual Dance Of My Demon Twin, their debut release for Rocket Recordings. Seven albums into their mission, the band find themselves at a new plateau of small-hours elucidation and revelation that may summon the specters of the wayward squall of early Mercury Rev, the shamanic allure of Dead Skeletons, the freedom of Miles Davis, the repetition of Can, or the wild soundscapes of Amon Düül II to some, yet essentially sound like no one but themselves. The result is a record built on trance-like repetitions that grows to a mantric intensity, summoning atmospheres redolent of the psychic and surreal transgressions of its title - a double-helix tribute to both Frank Zappa and Kenneth Anger. Coruscating guitar overload and jazz-tinged blow-out collide amidst hypnotic soundscapes like the shamanically inclined "The Fire Sermon" and the eleven-minute motorik magnificence of the curtain-raiser, "Zukunft". Atmospheric restraint, glacial texture, and immersive groove play as large a part in this blinding and beatific sound world as droning darkness or overheated amp tubes. Lucier, A: Music On Long Thin Wire CD $14.991992 release. First released on Lovely Music in 1980. A 50-foot length of taut wire passes through the poles of a large magnet and is driven by an oscillator; the vibrations of the wire are miked at either end, amplified, and broadcast in stereo. The thin wire is set vibrating four times at four different frequencies; what results is not the low drone one might expect from a long, vibrating wire, but a complexity of evocative, ethereal chords. Music On A Long Thin Wire is a classic example of Alvin Lucier's investigations into the physics of sound and the sonic properties of natural processes. CHRISTIANSEN, HENNING  $29.99Opus 67 Strategygetarts A Symphony, Hommage A Richard Demarco LPOpus 67 Strategygetarts A Symphony, Hommage Á Richard Demarco is a previously unissued recording by Henning Christiansen from 1971. In 1970, the Richard Demarco Gallery in collaboration with the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf organized the exhibition, Strategy: Get Arts. This celebration of art from Düsseldorf was held at the Edinburgh College of Art during the Edinburgh International Festival. The title of the exhibition was a palindrome created by André Thomkins and featured works by Joseph Beuys, Claus Böhmler, George Brecht, Henning Christiansen, Robert Filliou, Dorothy Iannone, Mauricio Kagel, and Dieter Roth amongst others. Opus 67 Strategygetarts A Symphony, Hommage Á Richard Demarco was sent to Richard Demarco as a gift following the exhibition. Having returned to Denmark, Christiansen, along with sound technician Peter Sakse, created Strategygetarts, a sound collage incorporating field recordings from urban spaces, supermarkets, a boxing game, etc. The sole "musical" element is a piano motif which repeatedly punctuates the recordings. The first side moves forwards, the flip back. A reverse groove will set you straight. Opus 67 Strategygetarts A Symphony, Hommage Á Richard Demarco comes in a high-gloss sleeve, featuring two original artworks by Henning Christiansen; Edition of 500.