#i did watch an interview where andrew says there /might/ be one lyrical reference but i can’t find it (message me if you know what he meant)

[dreamly]

i agree with a lot of music fans and journalists/critics/artists that “lockdown”/“pandemic”/“quarantine” albums usually aren’t great and also don’t do very well, but i do think there is one truly incredible (at least in quality i haven’t looked at numbers and tbh i don’t really care) and maybe not the most obvious exception (well maybe it is obvious but i don’t see this album talked about a lot since like the month it came out and i don’t think i’ve seen it talked about in the conversations about art inspired by covid-19/lockdowns). anyway can we play a little game where you guys guess what album it is (this might help me find more good music or at least music you think i’d like as well as be [hopefully] fun!)

[doomedandstoned]

MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS!

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

Art by Boyd Synnott

MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS are making lots of noise on the island state of Tasmania. This summer, the Hobart heavies Unleash The Beast with three freshly baked tracks, the first sounds to come from the band since the sudden loss of drummer Mick McCoy last year. 'Unleash The Beast' (2018) follows on the heels of the band's second EP, 'Kick It In The Guts' (2017), which was picked up Conan's label Black Bow Records.

Adrian Smith (vox, bass) and Baz Leek (guitar) welcome Brett “Bert” Pitfield (drums) to the fold, showing off a trio of new tracks recorded by the new line-up. I have to say, the band just keeps getting fiercer with every record. The first track and album namesake, "Unleash The Beast," kicks off with fits and starts and fuck-all fury ala Orange Goblin. Adrian's wicked, teeth-clenching vocals might remind you of Cathedral's Lee Dorrian or even Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe. While everything has that downtuned doom metal underbelly, Mountains of Madness are definitely showing their spiky metal bones here, as they morph from one stage of heavy evolution to the next.

I hate you. I'll make you smile. So says the Devil in "Satan Is Waitin." I'm fondest of this one, as it strikes quite a sinister tone. "Locked And Loaded" rounds out the lot with a bastard of creation that is half rambunctious rocker, half sludge metal savage. Don't miss the closing two-minute trek, where Baz breaks out into a gorgeously captured solo that reminded me of the humid summer vibes of Down's NOLA. The song concludes with a mighty, crashing crunch of chords, as the Beast finally sinks teeth into its bloody prey.

'Unleash The Beast' (2018) emerges the in early June and will be available in a fortnight here. In the meanwhile, you can stream it all right now exclusively on Doomed & Stoned!

Give ear...

Unleash The Beast by MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS

Baz Sounds Off!

The Mountains of Madness guitarist takes us into the band's beer-fueled days and fuzz-soaked nights Down Under.

Interview by Billy Goate | Concert Pics by Andrew Slaidins

Guitarist Baz Leek

First, let me congratulate you on last year's Black Bow Records issue of the EP, Kick It In The Guts. That record never lets up, does it? Just one hard hit after another.

Thanks. The EP was a lot of fun. It was produced by Psycroptic's Joe Haley, who was great to work with. We’re happy with the end result.

Big fan of Psycroptic, myself. How long have you known Joe Haley?

I used to go along and watch Psycroptic live years back, when they were young and first starting out. Joe used to visit a mutual friend’s place and we’d all link our Xboxes up. He would kick our asses. He’s a talented young lad.

With Joe's background being in technical metal, is he pretty exacting in the studio?

He is. If anything, we have to tell him to let our stuff be a little more fuzzy and raw. After working with us on both EPs, he understands what kind of sound we are after.

What’s something you take away from your sessions with him?

I think it would be just to be open and not shy in coming forward and stating what you want. He’s such an easygoing guy and more than happy to accommodate.

Wineglass Bay by Jess Maybury

You're all from Tasmania, which might as well be another planet for a good chunk of us reading. I hear it described as a place where nature is out to kill you. Not sure how true that is, but you do have some big ass spiders and the Tasmanian Devil.

(laughs) No, in actual fact, Tassie is a fairly quiet and mild place to live. Many of the bigger bands that tour Australia don’t include Tasmania on their tours, but that seems to be slowly changing a bit.

Cradle Mountain by Jai Moyle

Is there much of a heavy music scene, to speak of?

There is a pretty healthy metal scene down here. Most of the metal bands have their own styles and sounds, which is great. Bands like Psycroptic, Ruins, and Départe are worth checking out.

Mt. Wellington by Shane Mundy

How did Mountains of Madness get together?

Our former drummer Mick McCoy and I were jamming and writing. We were introduced to bassist and vocalist Adrian Smith, who was looking for bandmates to work on some stoner rock material he had written. We pretty much just merged our ideas and collaborated on the newer material.

The original Mountains of Madness line-up

You guys really had the wind knocked out of you recently with the death of a bandmate. How much do you feel comfortable sharing?

Late last year, we tragically lost our drummer, Mick. We’d played together previously and he was one of my best friends, so that was particularly hard for not only us, but also all of his friends and family.

I’m sure for many bands, a terrible happening like that would have been enough to sink the whole ship. How are you holding up?

I contemplated moving on to something different musically, but we decided we’d try doing a gig and see how it all went. A friend of ours, Brett “Bert” Pitfield, jumped in and is a really good fit for where we are at. We all look forward to moving forward with this lineup and have been working on some new material.

Former drummer Mick McCoy

Any fan of H.P. Lovecraft will get the reference in the band’s name, but do you have an overall interest in the Lovecraftian universe and explore it to any extent in your music?

Well, the name Mountains of Madness seemed a good fit. We were looking at having doomy elements to our music and living here in Hobart under a big, cold mountain seemed appropriate. We theme some designs and audio samples to Lovecraft, but that’s more for the band title. If anything, there is more of a Mad Max theme to Kick It In The Guts, but the Lovecraft universe is certainly an interest. However, I like the whole idea of the Cthulhu mythos and the associated cult. Such a great concept.

Singer & bassist Adrian Smith

You've got a new record coming out shortly.

Yes! Not long after Brett joined the band, we decided rather than go to ground and record an album, we'd punch out a few new songs. They were recorded at AAA Studios in Hobart and once again produced by Joe. We recorded it all pretty much live in studio, with a couple of extra guitar tracks added on. We were happy to leave some imperfections in there.

What's 'Unleash The Beast' all about?

Adrian writes all our lyrics. He pretty much gets an idea in his head and the rest just flows. We sometimes have a laugh at the lyrics not even making sense, but there aren’t too many weighty topics, lyrically. The concept for the new song "Satan Is Waitin," for instance, came about when Adrian saw a t-shirt design one of his nephews had done and decided he wanted to do a song about it. If anything, there’s more humour than something serious.

Drummer Brett Pitfield

What’s on your roadmap for the rest of the year?

We have a few cool shows in the works and, obviously, the new EP. We just wanted to keep the ball rolling, so went in with Joe and recorded them very no-fuss and raw.

Anything cool happening in Taz itself?

Something that might be of interest is the annual Dark Mofo Festival, which has attracted Boris, Sunn O))), Pallbearer, and Earth, to name a few. This year, Electric Wizard will be doing an Australia exclusive down here, which is quite unique. Dark Mofo is a weeklong festival where the city is taken over with art, concerts, and unique events. Hymns To The Dead is another feature, mainly attracting international black metal acts who, in years past, would never have come to Tasmania.

Follow The Band.

Get Their Music.

Milky Way by Benjamin Alldreidge

[jonathangroffcentral]

Bobby Darin Who? Jonathan Groff Gets It Now

Jonathan Groff, the star of “The Bobby Darin Story,” which will open the new season of the “Lyrics & Lyricists” series at the 92nd Street Y. Credit: Ike Edeani for The New York Times

By Elysa Gardner  Jan. 4, 2018 (x)

When he was first asked if he’d want to play Bobby Darin in an upcoming production in the long-running “Lyrics & Lyricists” series at the 92nd Street Y, Jonathan Groff wasn’t sure how to respond.

Mr. Groff, who became a Broadway star at 21 in the 2006 production of “Spring Awakening,” knew little about the entertainer and songwriter who, in a tragically brief career, was one of the biggest pop stars and most accomplished performers of the late 1950s and early 60s.

“My only reference point was seeing the movie with Kevin Spacey,” Mr. Groff explained during a recent interview, referring to the 2004 biopic “Beyond the Sea,” which earned lukewarm reviews and flopped at the box office, even well before accusations of sexual misconduct abruptly derailed Mr. Spacey’s career. (Mr. Spacey’s lugubrious performance of Darin’s “The Curtain Falls” at the end of last year’s Tony Awards did little to help that singer’s faded reputation.)

But the morning after Ted Chapin, the new “Lyrics & Lyricists” producer, mentioned Darin’s name to him over a post-theater dinner, Mr. Groff was hooked.

“I went on YouTube,” said Mr. Groff, speaking before an early rehearsal at the Y, where “The Bobby Darin Story” will kick off the new “Lyrics” season from Jan. 20 to 22. “I watched all these TV performances, from the beginning to the end of his career, and I was blown away by his versatility. The rock & roll and the standards, the dancing, the folk songs. The duets with George Burns and Judy Garland. His life was insane.”

Bobby Darin performing on “American Bandstand” in 1959. Credit: ABC Photo Archives, via Getty Images

Mr. Groff — also known for his cheekily effete, Tony-nominated performance of King George III in “Hamilton,” and TV roles in “Glee,” “Looking” and “Mindhunter” — was discussing his new “obsession” with the show’s director Alex Timbers, the music director Andy Einhorn and Mr. Chapin.

Mr. Timbers, the director of “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” and “Here Lies Love,” was brought into the project by Mr. Groff. The two had met last spring to discuss another collaboration, but couldn’t coordinate their schedules.

Mr. Timbers said he was intrigued by the chance to reconsider the performer’s career. “It’s interesting to ask if Bobby Darin’s legacy has been negatively impacted by the fact you couldn’t put him in a box,” said Mr. Timbers. “He was always chasing the next wave in music. In one of our first conversations, we were talking about people like Madonna, how she was ahead of the whole EDM thing with ‘Ray of Light.’ Or U2, when they released ‘Pop.’ ”

If Darin’s singing could seem slicker and less distinctive than that of his more celebrated contemporaries, his range was indeed expansive, encompassing rock (“Splish Splash”), lush and jazzy pop (“Dream Lover,” “Beyond The Sea”) and show tunes and songbook staples (“Mack the Knife,” most famously).

He also ventured into film acting, founded a record label and music publishing company, and, as his political awareness grew, crafted “Simple Song of Freedom,” a pacifist anthem for the Vietnam era.

Darin pursued goals like he was running out of time — “like he had a stopwatch on his life,” noted Mr. Timbers. And with good reason: childhood bouts with rheumatic fever had left the performer’s heart severely weakened; he would die at 37. He nonetheless proceeded at a breakneck pace: marrying movie sweetheart Sandra Dee; collecting an Oscar nomination; holding court at the Copacabana and in Las Vegas; campaigning for Bobby Kennedy before returning to nightclubs.

“It’s an extraordinary trajectory for a guy who was told he’d be dead by the age of 15,” said Mr. Timbers.

If Darin’s singing could seem slicker and less distinctive than that of his more celebrated contemporaries, his range was indeed expansive, encompassing rock (“Splish Splash”), lush and jazzy pop (“Dream Lover,” “Beyond The Sea”) and show tunes and songbook staples (“Mack the Knife,” most famously).

He also ventured into film acting, founded a record label and music publishing company, and, as his political awareness grew, crafted “Simple Song of Freedom,” a pacifist anthem for the Vietnam era.

Darin pursued goals like he was running out of time — “like he had a stopwatch on his life,” noted Mr. Timbers. And with good reason: childhood bouts with rheumatic fever had left the performer’s heart severely weakened; he would die at 37. He nonetheless proceeded at a breakneck pace: marrying movie sweetheart Sandra Dee; collecting an Oscar nomination; holding court at the Copacabana and in Las Vegas; campaigning for Bobby Kennedy before returning to nightclubs.

“It’s an extraordinary trajectory for a guy who was told he’d be dead by the age of 15,” said Mr. Timbers.

While Darin was prolific in the studio, evidence suggests his live performances could be looser, and swing harder. In the “Mack the Knife” captured on “Darin At the Copa,” his voice sounds grittier than on the hit single, and his syncopation is more playful.

“As with so many great performers,” said Mr. Einhorn, “there was clearly something about being in the room with him, this great kinetic energy. That’s often where you discovered what he could really bring to the music.”

From left, the creative team of “The Bobby Darin Story”: the director Alex Timbers; the producer Ted Chapin (back to camera); the music director Andy Einhorn; and Mr. Groff, who performs the title role. Credit: Ike Edeani for The New York Times

While in Australia in 2016, Mr. Chapin caught the jukebox outing “Dream Lover: The Bobby Darin Musical” and began to think that Darin’s work might an attractive subject for the “Lyrics” series. “There was so much about his story I didn’t know,” he said.

Though “Lyrics” shows have focused more on writers known for their work in theater — the new season will include tributes to Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser and Lynn Ahrens — Mr. Chapin said he thought, “Well, Bobby Darin did write his own songs, so there is that aspect to it.”

After getting the blessing of the “Dream Lover” producers (who hold worldwide rights to Darin’s story, via his estate), Mr. Chapin assembled his team and hunkered down. Getting rights to the songs Darin had written, of which there are 160 titles, proved tougher than expected: “I could get my hands on only 25 of them. One piece I actually bought on eBay for $35.”

Like previous installments of the “Lyrics” series, “The Bobby Darin Story” will not be a book musical. (Nor are the creators banking on a fuller production.) But there will be something of a narrative line, written by Mr. Chapin, as well as other performers joining Mr. Groff to tell the story of Darin’s roller coaster life, which included a “midlife meltdown,” in Mr. Chapin’s words, precipitated by the late-in-life discovery that the woman he thought was his older sister was actually his mother.

“There aren’t characters speaking dialogue, having conversations on stage,” Mr. Timbers said. “It will show emotion through music, and narration. That section toward the end of Darin’s life, this sort of downward spiral, could have been tricky in musical theater, where it can become less exhilarating when you don’t have a protagonist making choices, taking positive action. But Ted has been able to focus on the coolest, juiciest stuff about Bobby Darin.”

Mr. Groff’s own research has included “Dream Lovers,” an unsparing account of Darin and Ms. Dee’s lives together written by their son, Dodd Darin.

“There’s this quote that basically says that after all the things Bobby Darin did, in the end, he felt most powerful and most alive and most himself performing in a nightclub setting,” Mr. Groff said.

Mr. Timbers added: “He lived a gritty, driven life. He hurt people along the way and people hurt him.

“It would be easy to do a hagiography, a scrubbed-clean look at the meteoric rise of a pop sensation who bottoms out in midcareer and then has a resurgence. But I think this will be more ornery and strange and idiosyncratic. As befits Bobby Darin.”

A version of this article appears in print on January 7, 2018, on Page AR4 of the New York edition with the headline: Look Out, Old Macky’s Back. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

[demitgibbs]

Native Engager: Tori Amos Talks Gay Mentors, Gets Political

Tori Amos’ mind is one of the greatest wonders of the music world. For over three decades, via an oeuvre as unpredictable as the muses that guide her, that very mind has been a trove of lyrical salvation and a divine mélange of eccentricities, insight, imagination and, as I discovered during our illuminating exchange, even Mean Girls references.

Before last year’s political turn of events, the piano virtuoso took a summer road trip through North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains to reconnect to her familial roots, setting into motion her nature-influenced 15th studio album, Native Invader. Featuring some of her best music in years, as influenced by these divisive times and a speech-crippling stroke her mother suffered in January, the album’s emotional core is resilient and healing despite “a cluster of hostile humans who side with their warlords of hate,” as she brazenly sings, calling for us to “rehumanize.”

Amos, 54, took me to every remote corner of her meandering mind during our recent interview, name-dropping everyone from Persephone to Regina George and the two gay men who helped transform her into the Tori Amos. But there’s more: “the new invasion of the body snatchers,” exercising to rap, being postmenopausal in 2017 America, the prospect of a Vegas show with hot male dancers and also Washington D.C., the “underworld” where she launched her career, unknowingly performing for political players who would set the stage for crucial issues Amos and the entire country are now facing.

I am feeling grateful to have gone to bed the last few nights with Native Invader being the last thing I heard.

Oh, good. I’m glad it took you to dreamland.

And it’s very possible it will be taking me to dreamland for the next few years, if you know what I’m saying.

(Laughs) Well, the “Dream King” is on there too in “Mary’s Eyes,” so everybody can go to dreamland.

You talk about being a “safe place” on the album’s comforting second song, “Wings,” and since the beginning of your career, you have been that safe place for many gay men, myself included.

Well, they were a safe place for me when I was 13. Then, when I was 16 I just happened to work at a place not far from the White House, which is very core to Native Invader because I cut my teeth professionally playing in the belly of the beast in Washington, if you see what I mean. Lobbyists, people in different departments; it was the Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, and so on and so forth. You gotta figure that anybody in Congress might have been rolling through those doors. That’s just the establishments that I was working in when I was 16. But anyway, my point to you is… there was a point. What were we talking about?

WATCH:

You were talking about safe places, and you said that as a teenager the gay community was your safe place.

Yes, there was one waiter that was a bit of a… I won’t say a bully, but he was one of those guys at the time, because you’ve gotta imagine I was 16, so what was that, 1979? So, you know, longer hair, mustache. He was always pushing me to think about all the bad things that could happen and his foil was this beautiful gay man called Joey. Joey was just the most supportive kind, and he would admonish Ray and Ray was macho. He was a macho gay guy, but probably in very protective mode.

So did Joey make you feel special?

Joey taught me how to sit. Joey taught me how to walk. Joey walked me through my crushes. And Ray would be chiding all the time and explaining why I would never get that guy. Ray made Regina George look like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.

What song did your gay audiences most connect with then?

They would ask me for all kinds of things. It was more about them realizing I needed training. Not with Joey and Ray. I was kind of a pro by then. But at 13, when I was in (a gay bar called) Mr. Henry’s in Georgetown, which was across town, that was sacred. That wasn’t the Congress set, although you have to figure some head of something was sneaking in there (laughs). [But the gay community] was more about, “Oh, you need to learn this song. You need to learn that.” They would say, “OK, learn these songs and come back next week,” because they were helping me fill out my repertoire. They were really pushing me on more popular songs. I had Joni Mitchell covered. I had Elton John covered. I had The Beatles covered. So, they were asking me for things that I didn’t have in my repertoire. I can’t remember now (which songs), but I do remember them giving me loads of requests for the next week and then I would go and learn them all and then they’d give me more.

And not much has changed in that regard.

(Laughs) Yes, yes. Nothing has changed!

Can you tell me about the conversations you were having with people in the LGBTQ community that led to the songs on Native Invader?

I will tell you specifically what was going on with the people that I know who are a part of the LGBTQ community, but there were messages coming through friends of friends – acquaintances and then friends – because Putin is not the only one with a back channel on planet Earth. You with me? So, that means somebody who might be a civil servant or somebody who might be working in the intelligence community or somebody who might be a part of the science community will get to somebody who will get to somebody whose mother will then get to somebody who gets to me. So that’s how it works. Does Tori understand that this is going on? Does she understand the super PACs? Does she understand that this movement has been going on since 1980 when one of the Koch brothers was running on a ticket as a vice president against Reagan and then clearly the penny dropped that one doesn’t need to be president to be one of the American oligarchs that is possibly running Washington? I didn’t come up with this myself! I’m a piano player! I mean, come on, everybody knows, I’m a conduit. (Laughs)

Going back to the messages from people in the LGBTQ community: How did those influence Native Invader?

One of the things that I was being told by somebody who is very much in that community was that (he was being) consumed by the energy that was out there – an attacking, bullying energy. And the news cycle. This person got to me personally and sat me down and said, “I’m losing friends.” I said, “To what?” This was a specific person, a gay man, and he said to me, “I’m losing them to a force. It’s terrifying because it’s zombie-like.” And it wasn’t funny. There were tears in the eyes. It wasn’t a zombie joke. You know, everybody likes a good zombie joke. (My daughter) Tash being one of them. But this wasn’t funny. And I said, “OK, this is fascinating, this is a different invasion of the body snatchers.” And there were, again, tears rolling down his face. He said, “I can’t explain it.” I said, “It’s like they’re being emotionally cannibalized – is that correct?” He said, “OK, keep going.”

How did that particular conversation work itself into the album?

It’s a thread, not a song, through the album.

Had you ever considered a more direct approach to the current political landscape you’re addressing on this album, perhaps in the same vein as “Yo George” from American Doll Posse? Why not just call this album or a song on the album “Yo Donald”?

No, because that would be weak. Let’s walk this through. The great thing about being non-reactive, postmenopausal, which cannot be possessed until you have experienced it, you absolutely cannot get this one thing; all the younger women cannot have this with all the money in the world, do you know why? Because they bleed. When you sit at the metaphorical fire, Chris, and you don’t bleed, what is it? It’s called containment. That is the state of being.

The issues are not about one name. The issues are about a movement and the master showman is a distraction. Don’t give it the energy. There are no conundrums there. You don’t need quantum physics, which I don’t know, but I like the phrase. “Alice In Quantumland” this is not. There is no mystery.

The best thing that the community can do: treat it with neutrality. Don’t give it energy. Apply your energy elsewhere and do your research, because there are things going on around us with Democracy. You have to ask yourself, little by little, what’s going on at the EPA, what’s going on at the Department of the Interior – that’s far more interesting.

You offer far more light than one might imagine from an album that’s rooted in the chaos of our current political climate. I wonder how the overall mood of the album took shape and whether you ever felt like you had to stop yourself from going too dark.

I think “Climb” is dark. “Climb” is probably the darkest place, and that is a very dark place.

WATCH:

What do you think an album about this past election would’ve sounded like if Tori of Boys for Pele or From the Choirgirl Hotel wrote it?

Well, look, those albums can be played and are relevant now. Pele is relevant now because Pele is railing against the patriarchy, but Native Invader is invading concepts like freedom that have been hijacked by some of these super PACs, by these think tanks. Again, don’t get distracted by people who are mainly in the news cycle all the time. You’ve gotta understand, if for some reason they walked away and decided to just not be in that position anymore, you still have a movement to deal with. These seeds go back. (Supreme Court Justice Neil) Gorsuch’s mother was head of the EPA in the ’80s. Not that he can’t be a fair judge, not that he didn’t learn, not that he doesn’t have integrity – he might have integrity. But what we have to understand is the EPA was big corp in the ’80s. I was playing piano bar for those people as a teenager and Joey and Ray would say, “Do you know who so and so is?” And I’d say, “What? What are you talking about?” I didn’t know at the time that I was playing for some of these players that planted that seed. I was right in the middle of it all. It’s sort of like Persephone. I was living the Persephone myth. I had no idea I was in the underworld.

Switching gears to your tour in support of Native Invader, which of the rare “girls” are itching to be played this go ’round?

Yeah, that’s fair enough. I haven’t figured it out yet, and if you guys and ladies have any ideas then it’s always welcome, because I think it’s gonna be very collaborative this tour. I think it’ll be an exchange of ideas and building. Every night will be different. When I’m alone I can really do that; there’s flexibility to it. Also, I really don’t know for how much longer I can hold a one-woman show. It’s really demanding. The physicality is beyond explaining, to myself. But it gives me a flexibility. And these times – things are happening every day that I need to be able to throw out a whole show and do a whole different one, if need must.

No more one-woman shows?

I’m talking about a one-woman show. I’m not talking about not performing. I would love to have, you know, hot male dancers.

Ha! I would love for you to have hot male dancers.

Maybe that’s the Vegas show.

You’ve been known to cover some classics on tour but also some modern pop, like Rihanna’s “We Found Love.” Are there any pop songs from the last few years you think might fit the vibe of this tour?

Yeah, maybe. And maybe I need to look at some rap. It’s my niece – my niece is Kelsey (Dobyns) and any time we do a little work out she makes me do it to rap. I have no idea what any of the rap is that I’ve heard. I’ve heard all kinds of rap. She’s throwing these beats down and I don’t know what I’m listening to.

WATCH:

Are you a fan of any of it?

No. I’m not a fan of rap. All the rappers know I’m not a fan, however, I can look at the rap and say, “This is well produced,” and put my producer hat on and say, “I like the flow of this, the language; I like the rhythm. Yeah, I’m into it.” But I’m a melody person. So, I appreciate the form and I respect it, but I want Freddie (Mercury). I want a melody. I want “Killer Queen.” I want “Somebody to Love.”

And as we’ve established, hot male dancers.

And hot male dancers! I’m a flaming queen, what can I say?

As editor of Q Syndicate, the international LGBT wire service, Chris Azzopardi has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. Reach him via his website at chris-azzopardi.com and on Twitter (@chrisazzopardi).

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2017/09/21/native-engager-tori-amos-talks-gay-mentors-gets-political/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.tumblr.com/post/165583506625

[cynthiajayusa]

Native Engager: Tori Amos Talks Gay Mentors, Gets Political

Tori Amos’ mind is one of the greatest wonders of the music world. For over three decades, via an oeuvre as unpredictable as the muses that guide her, that very mind has been a trove of lyrical salvation and a divine mélange of eccentricities, insight, imagination and, as I discovered during our illuminating exchange, even Mean Girls references.

Before last year’s political turn of events, the piano virtuoso took a summer road trip through North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains to reconnect to her familial roots, setting into motion her nature-influenced 15th studio album, Native Invader. Featuring some of her best music in years, as influenced by these divisive times and a speech-crippling stroke her mother suffered in January, the album’s emotional core is resilient and healing despite “a cluster of hostile humans who side with their warlords of hate,” as she brazenly sings, calling for us to “rehumanize.”

Amos, 54, took me to every remote corner of her meandering mind during our recent interview, name-dropping everyone from Persephone to Regina George and the two gay men who helped transform her into the Tori Amos. But there’s more: “the new invasion of the body snatchers,” exercising to rap, being postmenopausal in 2017 America, the prospect of a Vegas show with hot male dancers and also Washington D.C., the “underworld” where she launched her career, unknowingly performing for political players who would set the stage for crucial issues Amos and the entire country are now facing.

I am feeling grateful to have gone to bed the last few nights with Native Invader being the last thing I heard.

Oh, good. I’m glad it took you to dreamland.

And it’s very possible it will be taking me to dreamland for the next few years, if you know what I’m saying.

(Laughs) Well, the “Dream King” is on there too in “Mary’s Eyes,” so everybody can go to dreamland.

You talk about being a “safe place” on the album’s comforting second song, “Wings,” and since the beginning of your career, you have been that safe place for many gay men, myself included.

Well, they were a safe place for me when I was 13. Then, when I was 16 I just happened to work at a place not far from the White House, which is very core to Native Invader because I cut my teeth professionally playing in the belly of the beast in Washington, if you see what I mean. Lobbyists, people in different departments; it was the Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, and so on and so forth. You gotta figure that anybody in Congress might have been rolling through those doors. That’s just the establishments that I was working in when I was 16. But anyway, my point to you is… there was a point. What were we talking about?

WATCH:

You were talking about safe places, and you said that as a teenager the gay community was your safe place.

Yes, there was one waiter that was a bit of a… I won’t say a bully, but he was one of those guys at the time, because you’ve gotta imagine I was 16, so what was that, 1979? So, you know, longer hair, mustache. He was always pushing me to think about all the bad things that could happen and his foil was this beautiful gay man called Joey. Joey was just the most supportive kind, and he would admonish Ray and Ray was macho. He was a macho gay guy, but probably in very protective mode.

So did Joey make you feel special?

Joey taught me how to sit. Joey taught me how to walk. Joey walked me through my crushes. And Ray would be chiding all the time and explaining why I would never get that guy. Ray made Regina George look like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.

What song did your gay audiences most connect with then?

They would ask me for all kinds of things. It was more about them realizing I needed training. Not with Joey and Ray. I was kind of a pro by then. But at 13, when I was in (a gay bar called) Mr. Henry’s in Georgetown, which was across town, that was sacred. That wasn’t the Congress set, although you have to figure some head of something was sneaking in there (laughs). [But the gay community] was more about, “Oh, you need to learn this song. You need to learn that.” They would say, “OK, learn these songs and come back next week,” because they were helping me fill out my repertoire. They were really pushing me on more popular songs. I had Joni Mitchell covered. I had Elton John covered. I had The Beatles covered. So, they were asking me for things that I didn’t have in my repertoire. I can’t remember now (which songs), but I do remember them giving me loads of requests for the next week and then I would go and learn them all and then they’d give me more.

And not much has changed in that regard.

(Laughs) Yes, yes. Nothing has changed!

Can you tell me about the conversations you were having with people in the LGBTQ community that led to the songs on Native Invader?

I will tell you specifically what was going on with the people that I know who are a part of the LGBTQ community, but there were messages coming through friends of friends – acquaintances and then friends – because Putin is not the only one with a back channel on planet Earth. You with me? So, that means somebody who might be a civil servant or somebody who might be working in the intelligence community or somebody who might be a part of the science community will get to somebody who will get to somebody whose mother will then get to somebody who gets to me. So that’s how it works. Does Tori understand that this is going on? Does she understand the super PACs? Does she understand that this movement has been going on since 1980 when one of the Koch brothers was running on a ticket as a vice president against Reagan and then clearly the penny dropped that one doesn’t need to be president to be one of the American oligarchs that is possibly running Washington? I didn’t come up with this myself! I’m a piano player! I mean, come on, everybody knows, I’m a conduit. (Laughs)

Going back to the messages from people in the LGBTQ community: How did those influence Native Invader?

One of the things that I was being told by somebody who is very much in that community was that (he was being) consumed by the energy that was out there – an attacking, bullying energy. And the news cycle. This person got to me personally and sat me down and said, “I’m losing friends.” I said, “To what?” This was a specific person, a gay man, and he said to me, “I’m losing them to a force. It’s terrifying because it’s zombie-like.” And it wasn’t funny. There were tears in the eyes. It wasn’t a zombie joke. You know, everybody likes a good zombie joke. (My daughter) Tash being one of them. But this wasn’t funny. And I said, “OK, this is fascinating, this is a different invasion of the body snatchers.” And there were, again, tears rolling down his face. He said, “I can’t explain it.” I said, “It’s like they’re being emotionally cannibalized – is that correct?” He said, “OK, keep going.”

How did that particular conversation work itself into the album?

It’s a thread, not a song, through the album.

Had you ever considered a more direct approach to the current political landscape you’re addressing on this album, perhaps in the same vein as “Yo George” from American Doll Posse? Why not just call this album or a song on the album “Yo Donald”?

No, because that would be weak. Let’s walk this through. The great thing about being non-reactive, postmenopausal, which cannot be possessed until you have experienced it, you absolutely cannot get this one thing; all the younger women cannot have this with all the money in the world, do you know why? Because they bleed. When you sit at the metaphorical fire, Chris, and you don’t bleed, what is it? It’s called containment. That is the state of being.

The issues are not about one name. The issues are about a movement and the master showman is a distraction. Don’t give it the energy. There are no conundrums there. You don’t need quantum physics, which I don’t know, but I like the phrase. “Alice In Quantumland” this is not. There is no mystery.

The best thing that the community can do: treat it with neutrality. Don’t give it energy. Apply your energy elsewhere and do your research, because there are things going on around us with Democracy. You have to ask yourself, little by little, what’s going on at the EPA, what’s going on at the Department of the Interior – that’s far more interesting.

You offer far more light than one might imagine from an album that’s rooted in the chaos of our current political climate. I wonder how the overall mood of the album took shape and whether you ever felt like you had to stop yourself from going too dark.

I think “Climb” is dark. “Climb” is probably the darkest place, and that is a very dark place.

WATCH:

What do you think an album about this past election would’ve sounded like if Tori of Boys for Pele or From the Choirgirl Hotel wrote it?

Well, look, those albums can be played and are relevant now. Pele is relevant now because Pele is railing against the patriarchy, but Native Invader is invading concepts like freedom that have been hijacked by some of these super PACs, by these think tanks. Again, don’t get distracted by people who are mainly in the news cycle all the time. You’ve gotta understand, if for some reason they walked away and decided to just not be in that position anymore, you still have a movement to deal with. These seeds go back. (Supreme Court Justice Neil) Gorsuch’s mother was head of the EPA in the ’80s. Not that he can’t be a fair judge, not that he didn’t learn, not that he doesn’t have integrity – he might have integrity. But what we have to understand is the EPA was big corp in the ’80s. I was playing piano bar for those people as a teenager and Joey and Ray would say, “Do you know who so and so is?” And I’d say, “What? What are you talking about?” I didn’t know at the time that I was playing for some of these players that planted that seed. I was right in the middle of it all. It’s sort of like Persephone. I was living the Persephone myth. I had no idea I was in the underworld.

Switching gears to your tour in support of Native Invader, which of the rare “girls” are itching to be played this go ’round?

Yeah, that’s fair enough. I haven’t figured it out yet, and if you guys and ladies have any ideas then it’s always welcome, because I think it’s gonna be very collaborative this tour. I think it’ll be an exchange of ideas and building. Every night will be different. When I’m alone I can really do that; there’s flexibility to it. Also, I really don’t know for how much longer I can hold a one-woman show. It’s really demanding. The physicality is beyond explaining, to myself. But it gives me a flexibility. And these times – things are happening every day that I need to be able to throw out a whole show and do a whole different one, if need must.

No more one-woman shows?

I’m talking about a one-woman show. I’m not talking about not performing. I would love to have, you know, hot male dancers.

Ha! I would love for you to have hot male dancers.

Maybe that’s the Vegas show.

You’ve been known to cover some classics on tour but also some modern pop, like Rihanna’s “We Found Love.” Are there any pop songs from the last few years you think might fit the vibe of this tour?

Yeah, maybe. And maybe I need to look at some rap. It’s my niece – my niece is Kelsey (Dobyns) and any time we do a little work out she makes me do it to rap. I have no idea what any of the rap is that I’ve heard. I’ve heard all kinds of rap. She’s throwing these beats down and I don’t know what I’m listening to.

WATCH:

Are you a fan of any of it?

No. I’m not a fan of rap. All the rappers know I’m not a fan, however, I can look at the rap and say, “This is well produced,” and put my producer hat on and say, “I like the flow of this, the language; I like the rhythm. Yeah, I’m into it.” But I’m a melody person. So, I appreciate the form and I respect it, but I want Freddie (Mercury). I want a melody. I want “Killer Queen.” I want “Somebody to Love.”

And as we’ve established, hot male dancers.

And hot male dancers! I’m a flaming queen, what can I say?

As editor of Q Syndicate, the international LGBT wire service, Chris Azzopardi has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. Reach him via his website at chris-azzopardi.com and on Twitter (@chrisazzopardi).

  source https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2017/09/21/native-engager-tori-amos-talks-gay-mentors-gets-political/ from Hot Spots Magazine http://hotspotsmagazin.blogspot.com/2017/09/native-engager-tori-amos-talks-gay.html

[hotspotsmagazine]

Native Engager: Tori Amos Talks Gay Mentors, Gets Political

Tori Amos’ mind is one of the greatest wonders of the music world. For over three decades, via an oeuvre as unpredictable as the muses that guide her, that very mind has been a trove of lyrical salvation and a divine mélange of eccentricities, insight, imagination and, as I discovered during our illuminating exchange, even Mean Girls references.

Before last year’s political turn of events, the piano virtuoso took a summer road trip through North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains to reconnect to her familial roots, setting into motion her nature-influenced 15th studio album, Native Invader. Featuring some of her best music in years, as influenced by these divisive times and a speech-crippling stroke her mother suffered in January, the album’s emotional core is resilient and healing despite “a cluster of hostile humans who side with their warlords of hate,” as she brazenly sings, calling for us to “rehumanize.”

Amos, 54, took me to every remote corner of her meandering mind during our recent interview, name-dropping everyone from Persephone to Regina George and the two gay men who helped transform her into the Tori Amos. But there’s more: “the new invasion of the body snatchers,” exercising to rap, being postmenopausal in 2017 America, the prospect of a Vegas show with hot male dancers and also Washington D.C., the “underworld” where she launched her career, unknowingly performing for political players who would set the stage for crucial issues Amos and the entire country are now facing.

I am feeling grateful to have gone to bed the last few nights with Native Invader being the last thing I heard.

Oh, good. I’m glad it took you to dreamland.

And it’s very possible it will be taking me to dreamland for the next few years, if you know what I’m saying.

(Laughs) Well, the “Dream King” is on there too in “Mary’s Eyes,” so everybody can go to dreamland.

You talk about being a “safe place” on the album’s comforting second song, “Wings,” and since the beginning of your career, you have been that safe place for many gay men, myself included.

Well, they were a safe place for me when I was 13. Then, when I was 16 I just happened to work at a place not far from the White House, which is very core to Native Invader because I cut my teeth professionally playing in the belly of the beast in Washington, if you see what I mean. Lobbyists, people in different departments; it was the Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, and so on and so forth. You gotta figure that anybody in Congress might have been rolling through those doors. That’s just the establishments that I was working in when I was 16. But anyway, my point to you is… there was a point. What were we talking about?

WATCH:

You were talking about safe places, and you said that as a teenager the gay community was your safe place.

Yes, there was one waiter that was a bit of a… I won’t say a bully, but he was one of those guys at the time, because you’ve gotta imagine I was 16, so what was that, 1979? So, you know, longer hair, mustache. He was always pushing me to think about all the bad things that could happen and his foil was this beautiful gay man called Joey. Joey was just the most supportive kind, and he would admonish Ray and Ray was macho. He was a macho gay guy, but probably in very protective mode.

So did Joey make you feel special?

Joey taught me how to sit. Joey taught me how to walk. Joey walked me through my crushes. And Ray would be chiding all the time and explaining why I would never get that guy. Ray made Regina George look like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.

What song did your gay audiences most connect with then?

They would ask me for all kinds of things. It was more about them realizing I needed training. Not with Joey and Ray. I was kind of a pro by then. But at 13, when I was in (a gay bar called) Mr. Henry’s in Georgetown, which was across town, that was sacred. That wasn’t the Congress set, although you have to figure some head of something was sneaking in there (laughs). [But the gay community] was more about, “Oh, you need to learn this song. You need to learn that.” They would say, “OK, learn these songs and come back next week,” because they were helping me fill out my repertoire. They were really pushing me on more popular songs. I had Joni Mitchell covered. I had Elton John covered. I had The Beatles covered. So, they were asking me for things that I didn’t have in my repertoire. I can’t remember now (which songs), but I do remember them giving me loads of requests for the next week and then I would go and learn them all and then they’d give me more.

And not much has changed in that regard.

(Laughs) Yes, yes. Nothing has changed!

Can you tell me about the conversations you were having with people in the LGBTQ community that led to the songs on Native Invader?

I will tell you specifically what was going on with the people that I know who are a part of the LGBTQ community, but there were messages coming through friends of friends – acquaintances and then friends – because Putin is not the only one with a back channel on planet Earth. You with me? So, that means somebody who might be a civil servant or somebody who might be working in the intelligence community or somebody who might be a part of the science community will get to somebody who will get to somebody whose mother will then get to somebody who gets to me. So that’s how it works. Does Tori understand that this is going on? Does she understand the super PACs? Does she understand that this movement has been going on since 1980 when one of the Koch brothers was running on a ticket as a vice president against Reagan and then clearly the penny dropped that one doesn’t need to be president to be one of the American oligarchs that is possibly running Washington? I didn’t come up with this myself! I’m a piano player! I mean, come on, everybody knows, I’m a conduit. (Laughs)

Going back to the messages from people in the LGBTQ community: How did those influence Native Invader?

One of the things that I was being told by somebody who is very much in that community was that (he was being) consumed by the energy that was out there – an attacking, bullying energy. And the news cycle. This person got to me personally and sat me down and said, “I’m losing friends.” I said, “To what?” This was a specific person, a gay man, and he said to me, “I’m losing them to a force. It’s terrifying because it’s zombie-like.” And it wasn’t funny. There were tears in the eyes. It wasn’t a zombie joke. You know, everybody likes a good zombie joke. (My daughter) Tash being one of them. But this wasn’t funny. And I said, “OK, this is fascinating, this is a different invasion of the body snatchers.” And there were, again, tears rolling down his face. He said, “I can’t explain it.” I said, “It’s like they’re being emotionally cannibalized – is that correct?” He said, “OK, keep going.”

How did that particular conversation work itself into the album?

It’s a thread, not a song, through the album.

Had you ever considered a more direct approach to the current political landscape you’re addressing on this album, perhaps in the same vein as “Yo George” from American Doll Posse? Why not just call this album or a song on the album “Yo Donald”?

No, because that would be weak. Let’s walk this through. The great thing about being non-reactive, postmenopausal, which cannot be possessed until you have experienced it, you absolutely cannot get this one thing; all the younger women cannot have this with all the money in the world, do you know why? Because they bleed. When you sit at the metaphorical fire, Chris, and you don’t bleed, what is it? It’s called containment. That is the state of being.

The issues are not about one name. The issues are about a movement and the master showman is a distraction. Don’t give it the energy. There are no conundrums there. You don’t need quantum physics, which I don’t know, but I like the phrase. “Alice In Quantumland” this is not. There is no mystery.

The best thing that the community can do: treat it with neutrality. Don’t give it energy. Apply your energy elsewhere and do your research, because there are things going on around us with Democracy. You have to ask yourself, little by little, what’s going on at the EPA, what’s going on at the Department of the Interior – that’s far more interesting.

You offer far more light than one might imagine from an album that’s rooted in the chaos of our current political climate. I wonder how the overall mood of the album took shape and whether you ever felt like you had to stop yourself from going too dark.

I think “Climb” is dark. “Climb” is probably the darkest place, and that is a very dark place.

WATCH:

What do you think an album about this past election would’ve sounded like if Tori of Boys for Pele or From the Choirgirl Hotel wrote it?

Well, look, those albums can be played and are relevant now. Pele is relevant now because Pele is railing against the patriarchy, but Native Invader is invading concepts like freedom that have been hijacked by some of these super PACs, by these think tanks. Again, don’t get distracted by people who are mainly in the news cycle all the time. You’ve gotta understand, if for some reason they walked away and decided to just not be in that position anymore, you still have a movement to deal with. These seeds go back. (Supreme Court Justice Neil) Gorsuch’s mother was head of the EPA in the ’80s. Not that he can’t be a fair judge, not that he didn’t learn, not that he doesn’t have integrity – he might have integrity. But what we have to understand is the EPA was big corp in the ’80s. I was playing piano bar for those people as a teenager and Joey and Ray would say, “Do you know who so and so is?” And I’d say, “What? What are you talking about?” I didn’t know at the time that I was playing for some of these players that planted that seed. I was right in the middle of it all. It’s sort of like Persephone. I was living the Persephone myth. I had no idea I was in the underworld.

Switching gears to your tour in support of Native Invader, which of the rare “girls” are itching to be played this go ’round?

Yeah, that’s fair enough. I haven’t figured it out yet, and if you guys and ladies have any ideas then it’s always welcome, because I think it’s gonna be very collaborative this tour. I think it’ll be an exchange of ideas and building. Every night will be different. When I’m alone I can really do that; there’s flexibility to it. Also, I really don’t know for how much longer I can hold a one-woman show. It’s really demanding. The physicality is beyond explaining, to myself. But it gives me a flexibility. And these times – things are happening every day that I need to be able to throw out a whole show and do a whole different one, if need must.

No more one-woman shows?

I’m talking about a one-woman show. I’m not talking about not performing. I would love to have, you know, hot male dancers.

Ha! I would love for you to have hot male dancers.

Maybe that’s the Vegas show.

You’ve been known to cover some classics on tour but also some modern pop, like Rihanna’s “We Found Love.” Are there any pop songs from the last few years you think might fit the vibe of this tour?

Yeah, maybe. And maybe I need to look at some rap. It’s my niece – my niece is Kelsey (Dobyns) and any time we do a little work out she makes me do it to rap. I have no idea what any of the rap is that I’ve heard. I’ve heard all kinds of rap. She’s throwing these beats down and I don’t know what I’m listening to.

WATCH:

Are you a fan of any of it?

No. I’m not a fan of rap. All the rappers know I’m not a fan, however, I can look at the rap and say, “This is well produced,” and put my producer hat on and say, “I like the flow of this, the language; I like the rhythm. Yeah, I’m into it.” But I’m a melody person. So, I appreciate the form and I respect it, but I want Freddie (Mercury). I want a melody. I want “Killer Queen.” I want “Somebody to Love.”

And as we’ve established, hot male dancers.

And hot male dancers! I’m a flaming queen, what can I say?

As editor of Q Syndicate, the international LGBT wire service, Chris Azzopardi has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. Reach him via his website at chris-azzopardi.com and on Twitter (@chrisazzopardi).

  from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2017/09/21/native-engager-tori-amos-talks-gay-mentors-gets-political/

[furynewsnetwork]

LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST:

By Andrew Follett

Comedian Bill Nye’s new Netflix TV show “Bill Nye Saves the Earth” was harshly criticized in the media for being too mean and political.

Even the left-leaning news site Vox called the show “unapologetically political” and said Nye’s “approach could use some refinement.” A CNN contributor described the show as having “a few structural miscalculations” and accused Nye of “preaching to the choir.”

Nye, who is well-known for hosting a children’s TV show in the 1990s, left his objective ”Science Guy” persona behind in favor of becoming political. He goes outside the realm of hard science to attack Christians, global warming skeptics and environmentalists.

1. Bill Nye The Gov’t Should Tax You For Having Kids Guy

On his new Netflix TV show Nye asked a bioethicist panelist, “Should we have policies that penalize people for having extra kids in the developed world?”

Nye suggested that having “extra” children is a wasteful extravagance that allegedly contributes to global warming. When the panelist responded that policy-makers should at least consider punishing people for having children, Nye excitedly replied, “Well, ‘at least consider it’ is like, ‘do it!’”

Nye did not specify the exact number of acceptable children, and so it is unclear if his own siblings would count as “extra kids” or not. Nye has a brother and a sister.

2. Bill Nye The Ice Cream Orgy Guy

Nye’s TV show also featured a cartoon sequence that depicted different sexual identities as different flavors of ice cream.

A talking vanilla ice cream cone, seemingly representing a Christian who believes in conventional monogamous heterosexuality, tries to convince other ice cream flavors to “pretend” that they are also vanilla-flavored. After some arguing, the other ice cream flavors eventually seduce the vanilla character into taking part in an orgy involving every flavor imaginable.

“We are of course enlightened and forward-thinking,” said Nye on his show when introducing the animated segment. “But not everyone sees it that way. But there are lots of flavors to sexuality.” While the segment mocked “conversion therapy” for gays, it featured the aggressive conversion of the straight character into a pansexual orgy enthusiast.

3. Bill Nye The Trans Sex Rap Song Guy

It is unclear why Bill Nye thought a rap song titled, “My Sex Junk” would be a good idea or how he convinced comedienne Rachel Bloom of the award-winning TV show “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” to participate.

Nye described the song about sexuality as “very special” and “cool,” on his TV show preceding Bloom’s performance. The song’s chorus proclaims, “My sex junk is so much more than either/or,” in reference to the belief that there are more than two biological sexes. “Sexuality’s a spectrum. Everyone is on it,” and “Who enjoys a fleshlight in the cold moonlight?” are examples of some of the other lyrics.

The rap has been described as “the most cringy [sic] music performance in human history.”

4. Bill Nye The Jail Climate Skeptics Guy

Some of Nye’s controversial moments predate his new TV show.

Last year, he suggested during a video interview that throwing global warming “deniers” in prison was an understandable and perhaps sensible idea.

Nye was asked by Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) interviewer Marc Morano if he agrees with other green activists that the government should throw global warming skeptics into jail as criminals.

“Well, we’ll see what happens,” Nye replied. “Was it appropriate to jail the guys from Enron? Was it appropriate to jail people from the cigarette industry who insisted that this addictive product was not addictive, and so on?”

Nye was being interviewed for  “Climate Hustle,” an upcoming documentary skeptical of global warming that premieres nationwide next month.

When asked if his proposal would prevent scientists with alternative ideas from publishing their research, Nye responded, “That there is a chilling effect on scientists who are in extreme doubt about climate change — I think is good.”

“In these cases, for me, as a taxpayer and voter, the introduction of this extreme doubt about climate change is affecting my quality of life as a public citizen,” Nye said. “So I can see why people are very concerned about this and are pursuing criminal investigations.”

5. Bill Nye The Married For Only Two Months Then Sued His Ex-Wife Guy

Nye was married for two months in 2006 to a woman he later accused of stalking him and pouring poison over his garden.

Nye met his ex-wife, author and oboist Blair Tindall, after reading a book she wrote book about orchestra performers. Celebrity pastor Reverend Rick Warren officiated Nye’s wedding while famed musician Yo-Yo Ma played the cello.

After annulling the marriage, Nye filed a restraining order against Tindall on the grounds that she allegedly trespassed on his garden and covered it in a “toxic” liquid solvent. According to the filing, Nye feared that Tindall might try to throw the toxic substance on his face. He also sought to have Tindall pay thousands of dollars worth of legal fees.

“Bill Nye was the love of my life. I’m surprised he has taken this action against me,” Tindall told TMZ in 2012.“I have no funds to pay him, and he is a very wealthy man, so I’m not sure where this is coming from.”

6: Bill Nye The Abortion Non Sequitur Guy

Nye has suggested that Christians believe every single instance of sex inevitably leads to pregnancy. He alleges this is in the Bible and that proponents of the pro-life position are mostly scientifically ignorant white men who suffer from this delusion. Nye claimed on “Big Think” that being pro-life “reflects a deep lack of scientific understanding.”

“You have a lot of guys of European descent passing [pro-life] laws based on ignorance,” said Nye. “Sorry guys. I know that what was written, or by your interpretation was written, in a book five thousand years ago, fifty centuries ago, makes you think that when a man and a woman have sexual intercourse they always have a baby.”

Nye thinks scientific knowledge proves that fertilized eggs are not human and therefore abortion is morally acceptable. Specifically, he says a fertilized egg does not develop into a baby unless after fertilization it attaches to the wall of the uterus or womb. Many eggs become fertilized but do not end up attaching to the uterine wall. Nye believes that somehow knowledge of the high rate of pre-implantation spontaneous abortions leads to the conclusion that induced abortion after implantation is fine.

The National Review characterized Nye’s argument as an example of a “non sequitur,” a logical fallacy where the alleged conclusion does not actually follow from what was stated.

7: Bill Nye The Flip-Flop On Genetic Engineering Guy

An episode of Nye’s current TV show, called “More Food, Less Hype,” expresses support for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture. The CEO of the agrobusiness Monsanto appeared as a guest and pointed out that even insulin is the result of genetic modification.

Nye wasn’t always a fan of GMOs and only became supportive of them in 2015.

In his book “Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation,” Nye argued that “GMOs may carry environmental risks that we can never rule out with certainty.” An episode of Nye’s previous one-season TV show “The Eyes of Nye” also presents GMOs in a negative light.

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The post Bill Nye The Gaffe Guy: His 7 Most Cringeworthy Moments appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

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[sinceileftyoublog]

Årabrot Interview: Speaking in Tongues

BY JORDAN MAINZER

On Norwegian Gothic, Kjetil Nernes and Karin Park preach the gospel of Årabrot. The Norwegian band’s 9th full-length is, according to the band, the logical culmination of the noise they’ve been peddling for almost two decades. Recorded and centered around the Swedish church where Nernes and Park live, Norwegian Gothic takes equal thematic influence and reference from Theodore Adorno as it does David Bowie, its aesthetic filled with psychedelic folk and ecstatic rock and roll. 

Just take a look at the two-part video series associated with the record, encompassing three songs. On “Kinks of the Heart”, Nernes, dressed in his suspenders and wide-brimmed hat, and Park, pregnant in a flowing white dress, come to a town with a bible-looking book with the band’s name printed on the cover. They quickly round up a few townsfolk and cause them to reflect and act on their innermost desires, from sexual promiscuity to cross-dressing, over crackly guitar riffs and hard-charging drums. Part II is the sharp dance-punk synth jam “Hailstones For Rain” and washy, saxophone-laden “The Moon is Dead”, where Årabrot and their newfound cabal go to a local church--in actuality, the church where Nernes and Park live--to speak in rock and roll tongues to enrapture the crowd and later celebrate the summer solstice in a haunted-looking mansion, Nernes and Park nude as other folks dance around them.

Årabrot have fully embraced the idea of Norwegian Gothic as a statement for a while. The record was written starting in 2017, a year before their last full-length, Who Do You Love, was released. (Earlier this year, they also released an EP from the Who Do You Love sessions.) It was eventually recorded with producer Jaime Gomez Arellano (who Nernes calls “Gomez”) in London last year right before lockdown. There, they tracked drums, bass, and guitar before returning to the church for Park’s synthesizers, Hammond organ, mellotron, vocals, and overdubs. So while the album also features a number of other collaborators, like Jaga Jazzist’s Lars Horntveth, the spookiness of the church contextualizes the drama of the record, from the Kyuss-like opening guitars of “Carnival of Love” to the strings of “The Rule of Silence” and theatrical vocals of “Feel It On”. There’s also a number of spoken interludes, namely “The Voice” and album closer “You’re Not That Special”, that act as not just breaks or a comedown but, as they were culled from real-life thought provoking conversations the band had with friends, gives the album some substantial meat to back its purported philosophical influence.

Årabrot are holding out hope for some festival dates, like ArcTanGent in the UK in August, though I get the sense that, for once, their live streams so far are expertly curated displays of both Norwegian Gothic and Norwegian Gothic. Watching them perform “Hallucinational” from their church, Park’s spiritual singing and organ playing centering the band as much as the skulls that encircle them, I feel like I’m watching a production rather than a live show, yet one distilled to its raw emotion, and not just because it’s acoustic. Dressed in the same outfits as the characters from the short film, I’m unsure what’s an act and what’s not. What could be more gothic?

A couple months ago, I spoke with Nernes over the phone about Norwegian Gothic, which is out this Friday via Pelagic Records. Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: You say that Norwegian Gothic represents the culmination or combination of everything you’ve done so far. What about it makes it such a good summation of what you do as a band?

Kjetil Nernes: As a musician and an artist, you might say, I have a pretty specific idea of how I want things to sound and be. Usually, it’s really hard--it’s a goal you have far ahead in front of you, and you just aim to that goal. It’s really hard to get to that goal right away. It’s a process: You need to make a few albums, for example, to come closer to your main goal, and finally, it comes together. I felt like Norwegian Gothic was like that, for the past 10 years, or even for my whole career. We kind of reached that one goal we’ve had for a really long time. It has to do with songwriting, how it actually sounds, the lyrics, a number of factors. It’s also important to reach the next goal, too--it’s a never-ending process, in many ways. It doesn’t stop here.

SILY: What else makes Norwegian Gothic unique as compared to your other records?

KN: The fact that we brought in a producer for the first time made a big difference. We had Gomez. He made a big difference, for sure. Karin’s been a part of the band on and off for 10 years, but she was much more involved here, which made a big difference from the previous ones. When you’ve done as many albums as I’ve done and been involved in as many projects as I have, you get a little feeling for when things turn out slightly different from all the other times. I had that feeling with this one. I also had that feeling with The Gospel that was released some years ago.

SILY: The Gospel is my favorite record of yours, so it’s interesting to hear you compare it to this one...What about the song “Carnival of Love” made you want to open the album with it?

KN: That is an interesting question because me, Karin, and Gomez were debating back and forth about that for a long time. There were a number of different options. Maybe you agree with me: I feel that there a quite a few songs that could have opened the album. We could have chosen a faster and shorter song, and it would have been a little bit of a different vibe to the album. We had a friend who was involved at the time, and he really got a kick out of “Carnival of Love”, and that made us decide to open with it.

SILY: How do you generally approach sequencing, and was there a different way you approached it here?

KN: Usually, you get a feeling. Sometimes, the label or the management comes with a suggestion. They usually decide the singles--which songs to promote. When you pick out the singles, usually you put them very early on, especially these days, even though I personally prefer to put them somewhere else. Back in the day, if you look at David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, all of the hits end the album. Many of the bands in the 60′s did the same thing: The main single was very far out in the album. Nowadays, the attention span is maybe a bit different so they’re usually earlier on. From there, you just listen to the songs and get a feeling, but on this one, it was particularly hard. Doing The Gospel was incredibly easy. This one took days of back and forth, and we had a lot of different ways of approaching it.

SILY: There are a lot of cinematic aspects on this record, from the strings to the spoken word interludes. Do you think about your records in a cinematic sense?

KN: Maybe. I do see a lot of films and am inspired by films and thinking of an album as a way of traveling through something. That may be what you’re referring to, too. I enjoy albums, and I particularly love albums that make you feel like you’re on a journey. That’s very often my starting point for making albums.

SILY: As much genre territory as this album traverses, “Hailstones For Rain” is an aesthetic standout. Can you tell me about the arrangement and instrumentation of that song?

KN: It does stand out. The label saw it as a very psychedelic song. I didn’t think of it that way. It started with me writing this specific rhythm inspired by some of the stuff The Residents were doing in the late 70′s. They had these weird sort of synthesizer rhythms with basslines on top. It just developed when we played it a lot. Karin added the jazzy theme on top of it. Further on, Lars Horntveth from Jaga Jazzist is playing saxophone, and there are two synthesizers going, and later, Anders Møller is playing percussion on it. It just develops. It’s a rhythmical thing. It turned out pretty interesting, that track.

SILY: How did the interludes come about? Who’s speaking, and what’s the inspiration behind the words they’re saying?

KN: Me and Karin had finished a tour with Boris. We did a week of traveling around the UK and visiting friends two years ago. I was interviewing my friend, and it started out with me saying to him, “Why the hell do we do this?” I got some really good conversations out of it. The first one on the record is Karin before “Hallucinational”, talking about her experience before writing it. The second one is with the writer John Doran, the cofounder of The Quietus. The final one is Andrew Liles, who is part of Current 93 and Nurse With Wound. “You’re Not That Special”: That’s his words.

SILY: I really like the panning in the vocals on that last one. It’s a disorienting way to end the album...You mentioned the label thought “Hailstones For Rain” was psychedelic. For me, the true psychedelic song is “Deadlock”.

KN: Yes. Exactly. I would say the same. I agree--the label is German. [laughs] Germans usually have a different way of approaching things.

SILY: What’s the inspiration behind the album title?

KN: I have a good friend who used to be in Chicago; he used to work for Chicago Mastering [Service], Jason Ward. He sent me an email a few years ago where he described our music as Norwegian Gothic, so I wrote it down. Over the years, there have been a lot of questions like, “What is Årabrot? What is it all about?” I came to the conclusion when I started writing the songs for this album that [“Norwegian Gothic”] felt right describing these genres and as a title. He was also being tongue-in-cheek about [Grant Wood’s painting] American Gothic because we live in a church and kind of look like the people in the painting. I forgot to Google the title after we started the whole process of recording, and I discovered my friends in Ulver have a song called “Norwegian Gothic” and had released it as a single or an EP and have released t-shirts for it. I was like, “Oh no!” [laughs] I did talk to them, and they were totally fine with it. Maybe it’s a good reference point, too, Årabrot and Ulver.

SILY: What’s the story behind the album art?

KN: We did a live session in the church on the summer solstice--Midsommar. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the movie Midsommar.

SILY: I have.

KN: So you know it’s quite big in Sweden. It’s a special day in Scandinavia. The sun is out all day. In Norway, not so much, but in Sweden, it’s a big day, and they dance around the maypole, and there are all these parties going around. This year, we did a live stream, and because there were travel restrictions, we did this live acoustic set. By the end of the session, we did some photos, and literally, exactly on the time of the summer solstice at whatever time--2:00 in the morning or something--that photo was taken by this photographer on his iPhone. He was really tired and getting really grumpy and sour, and Karin asked, “Take one more photo!” We just stood there in that circle with the skulls and stuff. There was some magic to that moment, so he took the photo. Karin was also 6 months pregnant at the time, and you can see her holding her belly. 

SILY: Is there anything you’ve been listening to, watching, or reading lately that’s caught your attention?

KN: The last two Clipping. albums, the film Corpus Christi, and the book Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley by Richard Kaczynski.