#old geezer 2016

[dittolicous]

i dont get hpw people can make jokes about biden being shitty right now, when its nearly guaranteed that its either him or trump who will be president.... and trump becomimg president again is just.... horrifying? like legitimately really fucking scary????? im terrified thinking about biden not doing well, not because i like biden (i do not) but because the other option is basically. a nuclear bomb.

its all fun and games until we have no one who can get enough votes or power to go up against trumps corruption. and im so fucking afraid of how we'll joke ourselves right into our graves

[starblightbindery]

Binder's Note for Forms by Trebia

How Forms fits in the long tradition of Star Wars fanfic.

My hope is that this project captures a snapshot in time from Star Wars fandom het shippers between December 2015 and December 2017, before the franchise confirmed any emotional intimacy—if you can call it that— between Rey and Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).

Trebia, then aged 24, wrote and published the first chapter of Forms on Archive of Our Own on December 18th, 2015—the exact release date of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. When posting this first chapter, Trebia noted, “I’m just working off of memory from the one viewing I saw last night.” The entirety of the fanfic was completed and posted an exact month later, making this fic historically significant in Star Wars fandom as one of the earliest published “Reylo” stories.

A serialized novella that was churned out in an astonishingly short time frame, Forms is notable for predicting many elements of The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019), including the Reylo Force bond, Rey walking away from her training with Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren pleading with Rey to join him, and Kylo Ren pushing his Force energy into Rey to save her life.

Throughout the story, Trebia mashed new and old Star Wars elements together—characters like the Mandalorians and Admiral Daala, settings like Illum and Kuat⁠—evincing her fondness for the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Forms has classic tropes from this franchise, like stealing a uniform to go undercover in an enemy base and the forced proximity of a “Slow Boat to Bespin.” Present in Forms are scads of fan theories from between the release of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. These included the theory that—echoing a Legends plot line from Dark Empire (1991) where somehow Palpatine returns and Luke Skywalker joins the dark side to try and take him down from the inside—Kylo Ren had strategic reasons for his apprenticeship to Snoke. Like many Reylo fan-works set in-universe, Trebia lends justification to his many antisocial acts, part of shipper efforts to make the character more self-relevant and sympathetic.

Forms weaves in tantalizing threads that were tossed around by fans and concept artists but ultimately not pursued, including Dark Rey, Stormpilot (Finn/Poe Dameron), and Rey's saberstaff. Trebia even predicted the Kuat Drive Yards plot line started in The Last Jedi (Rose Tico’s contempt for weapon's manufacturers on Canto Bight) and continued in the abandoned Episode IX: Duel of Fates script by Colin Trevorrow. Forms also addresses loose ends that probably should have been covered for a more cohesive nine film saga, like the Chosen One prophecy and direct interaction between Anakin Skywalker and Kylo Ren.

No discussion of Forms can be complete without also placing it in the context of Star Wars fandom in 2016. Reylo was a fringe pairing that made intuitive sense to many Star Wars fans, particularly women; however, prior to The Last Jedi, the ship was dwarfed by the popularity of slash ships like Finn/Poe and Kylo Ren/Hux. At the time, many fans theorized that Rey was Luke Skywalker’s long-lost daughter, making her Ben Solo’s first cousin, making Reylo an incest ship.

As noted on the Fanlore wiki, the tags on this fic changed over time. In addition to “Riding the bus to hell either way” Trebia joked with tags like “Possible incest?” and “Not incest until proven guilty in the court of law.” Following the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Trebia celebrated by replacing those tags with a celebratory “IT AIN’T INCEST.”

The story's strong influence in early Reylo fandom reflected a hunger for more Star Wars romances about the pull between light and dark. After all, the sequel trilogy did not set up Kylo Ren as a horned, alien-appearing monster or a wrinkled geezer. Unblemished by the ravages of the dark side, Kylo Ren was depicted with pillow lips and a fabulous, voluminous coiffure unencumbered by his helm (which really should have flattened it to his scalp.) The groundwork for a lightsider/darksider romance was previously explored in other Expanded Universe stories. At the forefront of these were watered down lightsider/darkside romances like the tepidly written romance between Luke Skywalker and former Palpatine agent Mara Jade. Given Mara Jade was hardly a champion of the dark side, there was no risk of corrupting Skywalker. But the Expanded Universe also boasted stories that played with this dynamic, like the twisted connection between Fable Astin and Jaalib Brandl by Patricia A. Jackson for the Star Wars Adventure Journal (1994), the conflict between Jaina Solo and Zekk in Kevin J. Anderson's Young Jedi Knights (1996),or the passion between Darth Revan and Bastila Shan in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003). In this respect, Forms and the rest of the Reylo fan fiction oeuvre continues the grand fan tradition of Star Wars villain fucking.

“Darksider and lightsider conflict is one of the most fascinating points of Star Wars,” Trebia said in 2016, when interviewed by Spencer Kornhaber for The Atlantic. “Rey and Kylo represent the fight to find the balance.” Yet, at the time, the fledgling “Reylo” ship was abhorred by affirmational Star Wars fans who despised the emphasis on shipping with a female gaze, as well as scorned by media commentators who found the ship to be “problematic.” In male-dominated, established fan spaces like Reddit and Jedi Council Forums, discussion of Reylo was effectively banned by moderators through the freezing of threads. In other fandom spaces like Twitter and Tumblr, discourse about Reylo mirrored larger purity culture. The ship became a convenient target for alt-right misogynists, and also for anti‑shippers concerned that the ship “romanticized abuse.” Productive and unproductive debate arose around media consumption construed as agreement or approval, whether a sympathetic Kylo Ren lends people to give more latitude to real-life white right-wing men with anger management problems (or if it's the other way around), and if shippers can tell the difference between a fictional antihero and the same dangerous thing in real life. Critiques of Reylo fandom also included the implicit racism inherent in the sidelining of John Boyega’s heroic character Finn in favor of white whiny fascist Kylo Ren. (It did not help that 2016 also saw the election where white American women voters decided to displace a competent Black man with a white whiny fascist.)

In the September 2020 issue of the Journal of Fandom Studies, Andrea Marshall notes that Reylo “fan fiction acts as a locus of resistance to gendered oppression as feminist authors construct selves that critique the source material and the fandom for gendered oppression within tropes and attitudes.” By having Rey actually interact with and befriend a woman other than Leia, Forms already improves on the source material. It's a delight to see Forms depict older women over age fifty who are plot-significant and interact which one another, if only because Star Wars movies are fairly gender regressive. On the other hand, Rey's strategy to convert Kylo back to the light is to uh, suck the badness out of him. It's Padmé Amidala logic—sure, he arranged the wholesale slaughter of an entire village, but he can also deftly finger you to orgasm! Granted, Star Wars is infamously a franchise of excuse making, where really shitty dudes manage to turn it around and do the right thing at the last minute. Forms also doesn't push all that hard to actively resist the neo-fascist allegory in the sequel trilogy, particularly in Trebia's appendix, which dissatisfactorily explains that all of the First Order war criminals in the story ended up as instructors in military academies. (Who would even hire them, Albus Dumbledore?!)

Fics like Forms led to “ship wars” discourse, which led to the publication of ozhawkauthor's “The Three Laws of Fandom” meta essay on January 1st, 2016. “Laws” is a bit of a misnomer since there is no enforcement body; the essay is more of a request for courtesy in fandom spaces. The laws were also meant to apply specifically to shipping, not fandom or media criticism as a whole. “It’s not up to you to decide what other people are allowed to like or not like, to create or not to create,” wrote ozhawkauthor. “That’s censorship. Don’t do it.”

For fans conscious of fandom history and the impact of censorship in spaces like FanFiction.net and Livejournal, ozhawkauthor's guidelines—(1) Don't like; don't read, (2) Your ship is not my ship, (3)Ship and let ship—felt intuitive. This is reflected in spaces like my bookbinding guild, Renegade, which—similar to Archive of Our Own—takes a hands off approach to policing content. This did not prevent widespread handwringing about Reylo content. Star Wars fan ughwhyben reflected on the “gigantic fandom that is suddenly experiencing a renaissance, where an influx of mainstream folk are trickling into (or running into) the fic side for possibly the first time right now and don’t have this training. It’s like we’re flickering back and forth between the modern evolution of fic side fannish culture and what things were like in, for example, 2001 when I first stumbled in.”

Decades ago, in May 1981, Lucasfilm reacted to the publication of “Slow Boat to Bespin” by Anne Elizabeth Zeek & Barbara Wenk by declaring a ban on smut in fan fiction. I've included in the errata of this binding a letter from 1981 written by the Star Wars fanclub president to circulating fanzines threatening legal action. While slash was also caught in this net—disproportionately targeted given non-explicit gay romance was not okay even though Star Wars has non-explicit het romance—it was this fairly tame (by fic standards) heteronormative fic, featuring Han Solo and Princess Leia, that signaled to Lucasfilm that smutty fanfic was no longer on the fringes and now needed to be addressed to protect the “wholesomeness” of the franchise. Subsequently, fanfic writers had to make a conscious decision to flout Lucasfilm’s policy and go forth with propagating their smut.

And, in 2016, of all the ships in all of fandom, it was the Reylo Star Wars pairing, featuring this specific heteronormative female power fantasy (of being able to leash a villain by the dick to drag him back to the light) that led to a communal reaffirmation of these fandom norms. In her interviews with the The Atlantic, Trebia directly quotes from the Three Laws of Fandom, endorsing “ship and let ship” as a basis for creating Reylo fanworks. “I am fully involved in the garbage compactor that is this pairing, and I love it,” Trebia said. “No matter what way it goes, I will stick with it.”

After studying early romance novels from the late 1600s and early 1700s, Ros Ballaster observed a polarity between didactic love fiction and amatory fiction. Didactic love stories are sweet—aspirational, moral, and idealized—while amatory fiction is spicy—erotic, transgressive, untethered from social sanction. We do see representations of didactic love in Reylo fan fiction, particularly in contemporary romance “Modern AUs” like Ali Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis (2021)where the Kylo's homicidal Sith rage is sanitized to a more socially-acceptable grumpy academic brooding. One can comfortably bring Adam Carlsen, Ph.D home to meet Mother. But certainly, the majority of Reylo fic written by fans gravitate towards and come with the self awareness of the amatory. For one, Trebia loudly proclaims in her Chapter Two author note: “MORE TRASH FOR THE TRASH GOD.”

Discourse over the “morality” of Reylo fan fiction tends to overlook the distinction between the didactic and the amatory. As compelling as the idea of a “Force dyad” is in fantasy, this relationship is not meant to be aspirational in a literal sense. Yet, readers of Reylo fiction were and continue to have to defend their interest in the archetype with disclaimers—yes, it's trash, yes, I know it's problematic—while men in fandom are not held to the same standards when it comes to “problematic” media they consume or enjoy, whether it's a Michael Bay blockbuster film or male-gaze pornography.

As Deborah Lutz notes, “The Dangerous Lover Romance” is a centuries old, conventional way to represent erotic desire and romantic love. The “sublimely tormented Byronic hero” is hardly groundbreaking, to the extent that Rian Johnson's depiction of Reylo in The Last Jedi subverts the trope—at the end of the film Rey isn't enchanted, she's repulsed. The same way Star Wars replicates Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey monomyth, Reylo stories like Forms reflect the broad appeal of the “how-the-turntables” Dangerous Lover romance—where the woman protagonist, initially subjugated by the debased, restless misanthrope, ends up subjugating him through her strength of will and the power of love. Trebia's Kylo even sports malevolent scars like so many Gothic male romantic leads before him—always on the face. In the Gothic romance, the heroine accesses socially undesirable aspects—power, rage, craving, desire—as expressed by her double, the Dangerous Lover. His presence in the story provides a basis for her disinhibition. The Reylo ship follows a well-trodden cultural script of transgressive female desire.

Forms the fan fiction novella is a notable cultural artefact reflecting a distinct period of time in Star Wars fandom. At the time, Reylo fanfic held all the promise of improved representation for women characters, crossed with the instinctual, regressive insistence that maintains a white male character in the forefront. Reylo fan fiction produced in early 2016 also led to the reification of anti-censorship values in fandom. Seven years later, a fandom that was once derided has gone fully mainstream, as fic writers like Ali Hazelwood, Ashley Poston, and Thea Guanzon top traditional publishing bestseller lists. What Trebia knocked out, hours after her introduction to the characters, is now it's own Star Wars literary tradition.

[darkofeden]

damn, this kinda feels like a nightmare I can’t wake up from.

Joe Biden is a decrepit old fuckin moron geezer who wasted his entire term in office, same thing with Kamala and then when Joe Biden finally dropped out unceremoniously she did absolutely nothing to separate herself from him so now we’re doing fucking 2016 part 2 and I’m just in awe with how fucking much the Democratic Party just absolutely loves losing. They’re fucking addicted to it. Couldn’t stop if they tried. They’re like Comcast from that one South Park episode. Can’t wait to receive a hundred of the same “oh my god how could we lose, also can you spare $100?” Emails I’m gonna get so I can then watch them blow it while still letting Israel fucking destroy Palestine and continue to sit by while the rest of country literally rots from within and then tweet about “man, someone should do something about (other horrible thing happening.)

No dog, YOU SHOULD DO SOMETHING. Absolute fucking morons. Just wasted all this fucking time so we could end up right fucking back where it started. The Democratic Party is a fucking joke.

Just fucking flabbergasted that between ok democrat and explosive diarrhea that I guess the people want explosive diarrhea. This country is already a fucking joke and I guess people want to continue to smear shit on the walls and erode our freedom and rights even more. So cool!!! So happy that I’ll never be able to be who I am!!! Don’t want to just fucking throw up and die at all!!!!!!!!!!

[jnwakeling]

wwiii??? why and wi knot, october 26th 2023 - day 15,999

Today we have the naming of parts Henry Reed. Tomorrow we have the naming of cats T.S. Eliot

for T.S. with love, thanks and gratitude

. . .

woke, wake and work - the period period period Pulitzer

World War III - Wake up Planet Earth (or press the Woke Sleep Button!) - Quit WORK instead Quommunism?

Knock three times before entering 20th Century???

Rule of thumb: Always keep a spare and always have a third party First Amendment

Dot the i's and cross the t's

. . .

Wakeling: shouldn't this name be on on the C.I.A. Blacklist Walter White?

Wake up humanity?! Global hypnosis warning…question climate change.

I came back with supporting evidence Langley, January 6th, wakefulness and sleep, doctors, death row, rotten row, psychiatry and Mediterranean Medication…

. . .

E.L. Doctorow Dr. Black Knight? "Former President Barack Obama called him "one of America's greatest novelists""

Mind games, mind control techniques and psychological torture Mr./Mrs./Ms. Psychologist-in-Chief, sir or madam…

Let the games begin?

. . .

Wakeling Wakering Walklin Wakeland Wakelin Wakefield Wake up and calm down . . .

Great and Little Wakering

Wakeling St, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Wakeling Rd, Denton, Manchester, UK

Wake Island, Marshall Islands, Pacific Storm cigarettes, Zimbabwe

Wakefield place names globally, Boston Tea Party

. . .

Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) aka E. L. Doctorow

References (via Wikipedia):

Wakefield (January 14th 2008, The New Yorker)

Wakefield (2016 movie)

Homer & Langley (2009)

The Book of Daniel (1971)

Daniel (1983 movie)

Bryan Craston (stars in Wakefield, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul et al.)

. . .

Doughnuts and Guitars Richard

Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Dr. David Livingstone

"Dr. Livingstone I presume?" Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

Israel and the Star of David

Biblical story of Jonathan and King David (Old Testament?) and the Book of Jonah?

Taylor Swift?

The Star of David and the Flower of Life, Ancient Egypt?

The road goes ever on and on Frodo and Uncle Sam Samwise

. . .

Biblical story of Jonathan and King Doctor David Livingstone I presume…?

. . .

The Gaza Strip and The Las Vegas Strip? Nude modelling?

. . .

The Great Pyramid of Gaza Strip… Any pyramids in Las Vegas?

. . .

Giza and Gaza old water geezer, sir

. . .

The Las Vegas Strip raises the stakes U2! Achtung Baby (1991 album)

. . .

A top secret map of the Middle East

. . .

A #TOPSECRET map of the #MiddleEast @CIA Mr. President Biden sir.

… Secret Agent Basra Reed Warbler…

#SaudiArabia - mother #Jordan - self #Lebanon - sister #Qatar - father #Israel - brother

#CIA #FactCheck #deadhand #perimeter #nucleardisarmament

Via #NorthKorea Trump

Tweet or twit? Family therapy Virginia Satir.

. . .

Any other business Washington, Langley et al.?

Pulitzer Prize winning journalism Mr. President Biden? War makes no dollars or sense folks.

Play soccer instead Ted Lasso!

Bruce David Grobbelaar and Paul John Gascoigne aka Gazza?

Where to from here and et tu, Brute America?

. . .

Duty period Commitment period MISSION PERIOD

Question mark

More questions than answers Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[cksmart-world]

SMART BOMB

The Completely Unnecessary News Analysis

by Christopher Smart

March 28, 2023

JACK DANIELS: OUR WHISKEY IS NOT DOG POOP

The Supreme Court just couldn't seem to suss it out. VIP Products came up with a dog chew toy parody called Bad Spaniels shaped like a bottle of Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey. The chew toy is labeled, “Old No. 2 on your Tennessee carpet.” And while Jack is 40 proof, Bad Spaniels claims it's 43% POO BY VOL. The whiskey company was not amused and sued, claiming trademark infringement. It's attorney argued that, "Jack Daniel's loves dogs and appreciates a good joke... But doesn't want its customers associating its fine whiskey with dog poop.” The justices seemed befuddled. A chew toy as a parody of a whiskey bottle? “I just don't get it,” said Justice Elena Kagan. Nor was Kagan buying the argument from VIP's attorney that the chew toy had First Amendment protection. “This is not a political T-shirt. It’s not a film. It’s not an artistic photograph,” Kagan said. “It's a dog toy.” Is Jack just shit or legendary whiskey? Do chew toys have First Amendment rights or could tipsy drinkers bight into them after one too many. While senators grilled Supreme Court nominees Neil M. Gorsuch, Bret Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett on Roe v. Wade, no one thought to ask about parody versus the First Amendment. Our future could rest on their ruling — shooters anyone?

CAUGHT WITH HIS PANTS DOWN: MICHELANGELO'S DAVID

So-called great works of art are OK as long as they aren't, you-know, lewd and suggestive. We don't want our kids asking a bunch of embarrassing questions, like, daddy, what's that. And we don't want some woke so-called “educators” taking on parental duties — they could even screw up the birds and bees. Sure, you can see a bit of Mona Lisa's cleavage, but that can always be touched up with a Sharpie. And look at the “Girl With the Golden Earring” — true, she's got suggestive ears, but you can't even see her front. So we have to give a big God-bless-you to the Tallahassee Classical School Board for firing that principal who during a so-called Renaissance art lesson showed a nude depiction of Michelangelo's David with his junk hanging out and everything. So what if it's famous; for us, it's nothing but pornography. Those Tallahassee parents had every right to go totally bonkers. David for chrissakes. Those so-called “educators” want to “educate” our kids — but we know that's code for wokeness indoctrination. Is it any wonder we want to take over schools so our kids don't learn about stuff like racism and sexual orientation or how Eve ate the apple of knowledge. It could get them to asking more difficult questions. “Daddy, what's the apple of knowledge.” Oh Lord, help us.

GWENETH PALTROW: BANGER OR BANGEE

Tragedy: movie star and an old geezer collide on a ski slope. Gweneth Paltrow, the Oscar-winner for “Shakespeare In Love,” testified in Utah's 3rd District Court that in 2016 someone's skis appeared between hers coming from behind. Oh my gawd, she thought, I'm being sexually assaulted at Deer Valley in my new designer ski pants. To scream or not to scream, that is the question. “[Y]ou skied into my F-ing back,” she bellowed at Terry Sanderson. The drama unfolded at the Park City trial where Sanderson, 76, is seeking $300,000 in damages, claiming that Paltrow skied into him causing brain damage and broken ribs. Twas not nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune than to take arms against the rich bitch. For the production's costume Paltrow wore a $600 cardigan, gold necklace chains worth $65,000, a $595 turtle neck and $1,200 boots. “I doubt not then but innocence shall make false accusations blush and tyranny tremble at patience,” she testified. But Sanderson's attorney wasn't buying it. “False face must hide what the false heart doth know.” And so it goes — can justice prevail after six long years. It echoes Shakespeare: “Things without all remedy should be without regard: what's done is done.” Twas ever thus — for little people anyway.

Post script — Well Wilson, rehab isn't nearly as fun as it's cracked up to be — but here we are. Folks may not know that the staff here at Smart Bomb has been in rehab for a time getting it together. And boy howdy does the world look a lot different from this vantage. People outside are rushing around, going crazy. Everything is a big deal and everyone has anxiety headaches. They've got deadlines and quotas and itchy bosses who have to make their numbers for idiots on high who live in pink and blue bubbles. There's snow and commuter traffic and the kid doesn't know what sex to be. It's little wonder they don't pay much mind to the apocalypse. And should they look up, they're bombarded with pressing news: Ukraine, China, Russia, taxes, Fox News, the Orange Monster. Maybe the end of the world doesn't seem so bad after all. You're right Wilson, they should change their lifestyle. Move to San Diego and sell $10 sunglasses on the beach. Steal away to Tahiti and paint topless women like Gauguin. Find a little ski town and become a barista or bartender. The money's not great but the extra-curricular sex ain't' bad — and you don't have to pay taxes on it. How do you spell S-U-C-C-E-S-S.

No Wilson, we aren't in that kind of rehab. We're in a place where not-so-young people go to get their legs and backs fixed while wondering how long they can keep up a youthful charade. It's challenging but nothing compared to a job with a sociopathic boss. Want to get away? Give the band some Narcon, Wilson, and take us on outa here:

Everybody's talkin' at me I don't hear a word they're sayin' Only the echoes of my mind People stoppin', starin' I can't see their faces Only the shadows of their eyes I'm going where the sun keeps shinin' Through the pourin' rain Going where the weather suits my clothes Bankin' off of the northeast winds Sailin' on a summer breeze And skippin' over the ocean like a stone

Wah, wah-wah-wah-wah Wah-wah-wah-wah, wah-wah-wah Wah I'm going where the sun keeps shinin' Through the pourin' rain Going where the weather suits my clothes Bankin' off of the northeast winds Sailin' on a summer breeze And skippin' over the ocean like a stone Everybody's talkin' at me Can't hear a word they're sayin' Only the echoes of my mind

(Everybody’s Talkin’ — Harry Nilsson)

[brn1029]

On this date in music history….I’ve cut out all the bullshit about Megan theee stallion and all that other crap…

March 9th

2020 - Keith Olsen

American record producer Keith Olsen died age 74. He worked with many artists including Rick Springfield, Fleetwood Mac, Ozzy Osbourne, the Grateful Dead, Whitesnake, Pat Benatar, Heart, Santana, Foreigner, Scorpions, Magnum, Journey, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Joe Walsh, and Eric Burdon & the Animals.

2016 - Pop Records

A study by The Journal of Advanced Nursing reported that pop records set a bad example by portraying ageing and old people in a negative light, focusing on dying and physical decline. Researchers trawled the musical archives from the 1930s to the present day for any tracks mentioning old age. The majority, 55 out of 76 songs, focused on 'bad' aspects of ageing. The Beatles and Elton John featured on the 'negative list', along with Pulp and The Who.

2012 - Jerry Lee Lewis

76-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis married for the seventh time when he wed his caregiver Judith Brown. Lewis split from his sixth wife, Kerrie McCarver, in 2004 after twenty years of marriage. Brown, who was 14 years younger than Lewis, was previously married to the star's cousin Rusty.

2007 - Brad Delp

Brad Delp lead singer of US rock band Boston committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in at his home in the New Hampshire town of Atkinson. He died from the smoke of two charcoal grills he’d lit inside his sealed master bathroom. He was found by police lying on a pillow on his bathroom floor with a note paper-clipped to his shirt which read: "Mr. Brad Delp. I am a lonely soul." Boston had the 1977 UK No.22 single 'More Than A Feeling' and the 1986 US No.1 single 'Amanda.'

1987 - U2

U2 released their fifth studio album The Joshua Tree which features the singles 'Where The Streets Have No Name', and 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For'. The album became the fastest selling in UK history and the first album to sell over a million CDs, spending a total of 201 weeks on the UK chart. It topped the charts in over 20 countries and became U2's first US No.1 album.

1971 - Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin appeared at Leeds University, Leeds, England, during their 'Back To The Clubs' tour. This was the first tour which saw Zeppelin performing 'Stairway To Heaven', 'Black Dog' and 'Going To California.'

1970 - Black Sabbath

Having recently changed their name from Earth to Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward made their concert debut at The Roundhouse, London.

1968 - Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan started a ten week run at No.1 on the UK chart with John Wesley Harding. The album marked Dylan's return to acoustic music after three albums of electric rock music and was exceptionally well received by critics, also reaching No.2 on the US charts. The commercial performance was considered remarkable, considering that Dylan had made Columbia Records release the album without much publicity.

1967 - Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd and The Thoughts appeared at The Marquee Club London, England. The Marquee club has often been defined as 'the most important venue in the history of pop music', not only for having been the scene of the development of modern music culture in London, but also for having been an essential meeting point for some of the most important artists in rock music.

[milesbutterball]

Hello Friends!

We would normally start off by saying Happy New Year, but it’s a bit too late for that (says Larry David) so instead, we’ll just say — may 2023 be everything you want it to be!

A GIANT thank you to everyone who supported us during our end-of-year drive. Your goodies will be arriving shortly, and your appreciation is fuel to keep the fire of great independent radio burning bright during these cold winter days!

We’ve compiled some of our Favorite Records of 2022 so you can make sure you didn’t miss anything. As always, your source for the latest and greatest, as well as “new to you” selections from years past.

ON THE AIR! PROGRAMMING UPDATES

A few updates to the WXNA broadcast schedule that we hope you'll be excited about as we are!

1. DJ Leanne is back! After a few months off for rest and relaxation, X-Posure is returning to the airwaves at its regular time slot -- Wednesdays at 2 p.m. Tune in for new music discoveries, old favorites, and of course, live interviews with artists!

2. Fans of Pop Geezer's "The Cabaret" have no reason to fret. Although he's exiting the stage on Wednesdays to make room for the return of X-Posure, he's back in the footlights on Fridays mornings at 7. Just one more reason to TGIF!

3. A big welcome to DJ Wizard and her mentor, DJ Trevor, who have joined the rotation of DJs on the Teen Power Radio Hour! DJ Wizard is bringing an exciting selection of Indigenous Music, so don't miss it on Saturdays at 2 p.m.

As with all of WXNA programs, you can latch on to the archive of any show you miss at wxnafm.org!

MEET YOUR WIZARD!

DJ Ed, host of Eighties Schmeighties

Born: Atlanta, Georgia

Home: Nashville, Tennessee

Drafted into WXNA: 2016

Spins: Left (always left)

Fades: Lefter

"I think I discovered independent radio growing up in Atlanta listening to the college radio station from Georgia State, 88.5 I think. Then when I went to school in Mobile, Alabama I was shocked to find out there was a very tiny college radio station, all of 10 watts. (Shout out to WTOH!) It was such a small-wattage station they didn't care whether or not we followed FCC rules. That's something I had to learn when I became a DJ at WXNA. Hey, you're not a real DJ unless you've been suspended at least once! I love being the selector on Eighties Schmeighties. It beats therapy!"

Most played song: “Clampdown” by The Clash

Vinyl, CD or mp3? All of the above. Whatever works. Love vinyl, but not a fetishist.

Fave WXNA shows: Free Association, Works Progress Radio Hour, Reggae University, and Punk Not Punks

Pinch-me moment: Interviewing some great artists such as Kosmo Vinyl and Vanessa Briscoe Hay.

When I die: Enjoy Every Sandwich...

UPCOMING EVENTS

Let’s get warm together in these winter months the best way we know how — spinning records at one of the hottest spots in town, Vinyl Tap. Join us for a night of music and mischief in East Nashville on the last Friday of the month from 8 to late. Next one is scheduled for February 24!

Come see us!

Sincerely,

The WXNA Fam

[gaymer-hag-stan]

When Was Each Tekken Character Born?

Although we don’t have exact dates, we can actually figure out the year during which each character was born in based on the years the games themselves take place in. 

First of all, based on the game’s manual itself, we know that Tekken 1 takes place in the year of its console release and Tekken 7 sorta also confirms this based on the date of the Mishima Zaibatsu’s formation, so Tekken 1 takes place in 1995. Tekken 2 is set two years after that so 1997. Tekken 3 is set nineteen years after the events of Tekken 2 so that means 2016. Finally, all the other games from Tekken 4 all the way to Tekken 7 take place two years after 3, meaning we’ve been frozen in 2018 since 2001 when 4 came out, which in turn means the Tekken universe never got to experience COVID lol. Maybe that’s why they never changed the year again xD

So, with those dates established, let’s move on to the characters!

Paul Phoenix, Marshall Law, Lee Chaolan, Baek Doo San

Paul and Law were 25 years old during the first tournament so that means they were born in 1970. Lee is the same age as these old geezers but we can clearly see who got the good genes as he still looks fucking 30 lol. Baek is also apparently the same age as these guys though he arguably looks older than all of them and looked that way even all the way back in Tekken 2

Nina Williams, Jun Kazama

Tekken’s number 1 female fighter was 20 years old when she first appeared in Tekken 1 so that means she was born in 1975. One of the biggest mysteries in the series, Jun, was herself born in 1975 as she was 22 years old in Tekken 2

Kazuya Mishima

The original game’s protagonist was 26 years old when he defeated his father in the original game, placing his date of birth sometime in 1969

Ling Xiaoyu, Miharu Hirano

Tekken’s other prominent leading lady was 16 and still in school when she started kicking ass in Tekken 3 so that means she’s a 2000 baby. Something interesting about Xiaoyu is that she’s in her last year of high school from T4 to T6 and, since for the first time ever she doesn’t have her trademark Mishima Polytech school uniform in Tekken 7, this could mean that she finally graduated?? Her bestie Miharu who made her debut in Tekken 4 is also the same age as her

King II

King II was 28 years old when Armor King I finished training him and he was ready to officially succeed the original King so that means he was born in 1988. 

Hwoarang, Steve Fox, Jin Kazama

Hwoarang and his eternal rival Jin are 19 by the time they meet each other in the third tournament so that means they were born in 1997. Steve joined during the fourth tournament which is set two years after the third, and he was, and still is, 21, meaning he was also born in 1997

Lei Wulong

Super cop was 26 in 1997 so that means he was born in 1971

Heihachi Mishima

Heihachi was 52 years old when he lost the Zaibatsu to his son so that would mean he was born in 1943

Jane’s JACK, Feng Wei, Sergei Dragunov, Miguel Caballero Rojo, Tekken 1 JACK

Although he has a different body each time, the JACK robot that saved Jane was 5 years old by Tekken 2 when he found her. Ever since he got destroyed after the second tournament, Jane made it her life’s goal to save him and has been trasnfering his data to the prototype of each new JACK model from Tekken 3 onwards, meaning JACK-2, GUN JACK, JACK-5, 6 and 7 are, essentially, the same “person”. That means Jane’s JACK has existed ever since 1992. Alternatively, the moment that particular JACK-2 unit decided to develop a conscience and save Jane can be considered his “birth” year so, 1997. Feng and Dragunov are, to my surprise, only 26 years old (although they both look dangerously close to 40), so that means they were born in 1992 as well, which is sus if you ask me. Miguel is also 26 but he arguably actually looks the part. The JACK robot that fought in the original tournament shares the same year of creation as Jane’s JACK, but not the same conscisnce

Bryan Fury

Bryan was 29 years old when he started wreaking havoc in the series for the first time, during the events of the third tournament so that means he was born in 1987

Craig Marduk, Prototype JACK, Fahkumram

Marduk is currently 28 so that means he was born in 1990 and the prototype of the JACK series of robots was also brought into the world of Tekken that years as well. Newcomer Fahkumram is also 28, one of the three Tekken 7 newcomers who have their ages revealed

Christie Monteiro, Leo Kliesen

Christie and Leo are both 19 throughout their appearances in the series so that makes their year of birth 1999

Asuka Kazama

Miss Kazama is 17 years old so she was born in 2001

Eddy Gordo, Lidia Sobieska

Eddy was born in 1989 as he is 27 by the time he gets out of prison to fight in the third tournament. I’m not 100% sure about Lidia’s because her bio simply says she was 29 when she became prime minister of Poland, but the very next sentence says that she requested Heihachi Mishima removes the Tekken force soldiers he had stationed in Poland with him instead inviting her to the seventh King of Iron Fist Tournament so, while not 100% clear, it is heavily implied that her back and forth with Heihachi happens shortly after her election as prime minister

Julia Chang

Julia was born in 1998 and is 18 years old in Tekken 3, her debut game

Lili

Lili is 16 years old so that means she was born in 2002, interestingly, the year when Tekken 4 was released and started the in-game 2018 year that we’ve been stuck in ever since

King I, Bruce Irvin

The original masked wrestler was 30 during the events of the original King of Iron Fist so that means he was born in 1965. Two years later, Bruce joined the ranks of Kazuya’s Tekken Force so that means these two share a birth year

Michelle Chang, Anna Williams

Michelle and Anna were 18 years old when they joined the fight as part of the oiginal cast so they were both born in 1977

Ganryu

Ganryu was 32 in Tekken 1 so that means he was born in 1963

Kuma II

The original Kuma’s son is 8 years old in Tekken 3 so he was born in 2008

Wang Jinrei

Wang is already 82 years old and still kicking in Tekken 1 so he was born all the way back in 1913!

Bob, Forest Law

Mister Robert and Law Jr. are 27 years old, placing their dates of birth somewhere during 1991

Zafina

The myserious assassin may not have a confirmed place of birth but she does have a confirmed age of 23 years, making her year of birth 1995

Panda

Xiaoyu’s pet-bodyguard is 7 years old in Tekken and was thus born in 2009, although in Tekken 5 she tells Kuma that she’s “too old for him”...

Eliza

Eliza is 1.000 (and 4 months!) old during the T4-T7 timeline so that means she was born sometime in 1018

So there you have it! If you’ve made it this far congratulations! If your favourite character is missing then that means they don’t have an official age stated, most notably the majority of the Tekken 7 newbies. Some have speculated ages, like Lars being “around 28″ or Leroy being “over 50″ but these are too vague to take into account I think

[marshmallowprotection]

Holy fuck Kait I'm

I am Thinking

So Isekai au, right? Except!!!! Spice is taken back to 2016, when the game takes place

And after getting shot n all that, they wake up back in 2022. And the real kicker?

Old news articles from 2016, talking about the Mint Eye cult from South Korea :)c

Time Travel and merging universes! The audacity! I think the whiplash would be seeing how much older Saeran is after all that time, and I'm just thinking you're going to find him to say, "Wow! What a geezer!" as soon as you see him.

[howaminotinthestrokesyet]

Wherever They May Roam: Jason Newsted

Jason Newsted was born on March 4, 1963 in Battle Creek, Michigan. His family would relocate to Kalamazoo when he was 14. His early family life would take place on a farm. The guitarist essentially was raised initially as a country boy. He would later say this in an interview. "It's where I learned about life – seeing a baby cow born right in front of your eyes when you're eight years old is pretty intense…I was from a very strong family and I was raised to be a strong, pure Americana farm boy." His mother began teaching him piano at the age of nine, but at the age of 14 he switched instruments to the bass guitar. Some of his musical heroes ironically included the same ones as a Cliff Burton like Lemmy Kilmister, Geezer Butler, and Geddy Lee. His inspiration for switching to bass came after listening to Gene Simmons of Kiss on an album. In 1981, Newsted left Michigan with the hopes of starting a band in California. He and a friend made it as far as Phoenix, not California. He helped to start a band called Dogz, which later became Flotsam and Jetsam in 1983. They specialized in the newly found genre of thrash metal. One of the bands that they looked up to at that time was none other than Metalica. Their debut album was released in 1986 on Metal Blade Records entitled Doomsday For the Deceiver. At that time, Newsted not only played bass, but he was also the primary songwriter and lyricist for the band. That same year, Metallica auditioned new bass guitarists following the tragic death of Cliff Burton. Although Flotsam and Jetsam had a bright future, Newsted decided that he would try out for Metallica. The bassist competed against 50 other guitarists auditioning for the job. They included bass players from other established bands like Trestament, Megadeth, Blind Illusion, and Heathen. Newsted would be the last one to audition, so in preparation he had learned most of the songs that the band would be playing for their next tour with Ozzy Osbourne. Upon walking into the audition, the bass player handed Lars Ulrich a list of all the songs he knew how to play. Metallica named Newsted their new bass player at a second meeting, where they had even invited his parents. His mother would say to him that day, “You are the one. Please, be safe."

His first live performance with the band would take place in July 1986 in Reseda, California. His first recording with the band would occur on the 598 EP: Garage Days Revisted followed by his first feature length album, And Justice For All. This became a less than auspicious debut for Newsted as the album’s bass could barely be heard at all causing Ulrich and Hetfield to complain at length about the production quality related to the mixing of the album. Newsted would go on to perform bass guitar on Metallica, Garage Inc., Load, Reload, and three live albums. He sang backing vocals on the tracks for “Creeping Death,” “Whiplash,” and “Seek and Destroy.” The guitarist co-wrote the songs “Blackened” and “My Friend For Misery” during his tenure with the band. His last performance with Metallica took place in November 2000 at the MTV Movie Awards.

On January 17, 2001, Jason Newsted announced his resignation from Metallica. The backstory to this will be discussed at length in my article on the St. Anger album. Newsted had wanted to pursue a side project called Echo Brain, but James Hetfield was quite vocal as to the fact that the band should reject any thought about such a thing. In a 2009 interview, he looked back at his decision to quit. “I tell you very honestly, one billion percent, I have never regretted leaving Metallica. It was the right thing for everyone. It was the right thing to do for the camp. That's it. I've never told anyone that I wanted to go back or anything like that—not once. I made up my mind. It was not an easy thing to do, but it was something I had to do. I thought about it very much before I pulled the trigger and because of that, I have never looked back. The past is where it's supposed to be." The aftermath of all this along with Hetfield going into rehab almost led to the break up of Metallica. Despite all this drama, the bassist remained good friends with the band even appearing on stage with them over the years including side-by-side with his replacement Robert Trujillo at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2009. The guitarist was subsequently inducted into the Hall of Fame with the rest of the group that night.

In 2002, Newsted joined the thrash metal group from Canada Voivod as their newest bass player. He would appear with them at Ozz Fest 2003. On that same tour, he filled in as the bass player for Ozzy Osbourne‘s band ironically because their bass player Robert Trujillo had left to join Metallica as Newsted’s replacement. He had discussed possibly making an album with Ozzy Osbourne, but following the completion of the tour these plans never saw the light of day. Jason went on to record two albums with Voivod, Katorz and Infini. For the latter album, the band’s website noted that Newstead played all the bass parts on that particular album. Sandwiched in between the release of these albums was his participation in a super group called Supernova. This was only meant to be temporary as it was based on a television show creating a new band using recognized musicians to find a new lead singer. In the fall of 2006, the guitarist injured his shoulder trying to move an amp head in his studio. This would lead to a hiatus from playing as he endured a lengthy rehab. Two things came out of this rehab, positive and negative. On the plus side, his girlfriend later his wife artist Nicole Leigh Smith encouraged him to begin painting, This is a hobby the guitarist still continues to this day. His first gallery showing took place in 2010 with many of his original paintings being sold. Newstead said that his artwork is quite similar to his music, crazy and colorful. On the negative side, Newsted relapsed into his addiction to pain killers, which he had struggled with earlier in his career. The good news is the guitarist has said that he has not touched a painkiller since 2010. More recently, Newstead has been involved in three other projects. In 2010, he participated in a super group called WhoCares, which included Ian Gillian, keyboardist Jon Lord from Deep Purple, guitarist Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath, second guitarist Mikko Lindström from HIM, and drummer Nicko McBrain from Iron Maiden. The group created two tracks for charity including “Out of My Mind” and “Holy Water,” which was sold online. In 2012, he formed his own group called Newstead, which would go on to release an EP and a debut album called Heavy Metal Music. Any reference to the group has faded away since 2014 as the guitarist noted the project became a little too costly as he had to put up most of the money for it. “It cost me an awful lot of money – hundreds of thousands of dollars to take the Newsted band around to the 22 countries we played." In 2016, the guitarist formed an acoustic group call Jason Newsted and the Chop House Band. The group has performed a variety of live dates in small venues around the country in the past few years.

[randomvarious]

A - “Old Folks” Crossing All Over! Volume 11 Song released in 1999. Compilation released in 2000. Pop-Punk / Alternative Rock

When UK prog rock band Grand Designs decided to change their name to A in 1993, they were probably thinking something along the lines of, “this is great! We’ll be at the front of every CD and record bin in every music store now!” And it was definitely a clever idea, if that was indeed their intention back then, but unfortunately, it was one that had a total lack of foresight, too. Just try to search for “A old folks” on Spotify today. The song’s definitely there, but you’ll have a hell of a time trying to find it if you can’t remember the album that it was on. Likewise, searching for “A” under the artists category is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, too.

And along with that idea of trying to increase attention through a name change came the idea of completely altering their sound as well; out with the prog and in with a way more commercially appealing, highly entertaining, dumb blend of alterna-rock, pop-punk, and post-grunge. This, in the long run, proved to be a much better idea for A, because even though their music isn’t very easy to find for streaming purposes, there’s still a clamoring for A out there in the UK; they haven’t released an album in over fifteen years, but they still headline their own short, mid-sized-venue national tours every now and then. Plus, that name and style change appears to be what landed them their first major label record contract with the UK division of Warner Bros. back in ‘96 in the first place.

But A’s music never really made it across the pond, and I think songs like 1999’s “Old Folks” might be a shining example as to why. American radio stations and MTV just weren’t gonna play a song that both absurdly and tongue-in-cheekily celebrates the idea of old people dying:

You did a war, and now you’re poor And like your friends, you’re gonna get it in the end…

The old folks are losers They can’t work computers They die in December time Fall down for no reason The churches are heaving The old folks, they lived their life

Now, it’s obvious that this was just stupid shock value stuff that A were doing, but still, even in a mid-to-late 90s era that had a lot of content that espoused a mantra of “kids rule and parents drool,” I can see how this would clearly be considered a bridge way too far for Americans. We’ll pour slime on our parents’ heads and play elaborate pranks on them all day long, but ridiculing our parents’ parents, even in obvious jest, is just a kind of thing that is firmly verboten. Plus, making fun of veterans of war and churches, like this song does, is stuff that goes beyond the third rail, especially in late 90s America, when the loud voice of an Evangelical “moral majority” still had a considerable amount of influence on what went over the airwaves, although that influence was clearly on the wane by this time, and then finally gasped its final breath in 2016 with the election of Donald Trump. And then of course, there’s also Poe’s Law, which hadn’t been fully articulated by 1999, but still definitely applied, arguing that unless clearly stated, people will always mistake parody of extreme views for sincerity.

But that’s why I love this song. It’s all things stupid and unnecessarily mean in a time when you just couldn’t really get away with shit like that, and it’s also catchy. “Old Folks” has a totally innocent and sanitized, mall-punk kind of sound, with harmonized backup vocal cooing that smooths its edges, but its lyrics are just so over-the-top offensive that it kneecaps itself from ever being able to sniff at any serious amount of airplay. It’s a total poke in the eye to this glossy, parent-approved, non-threatening strain of tweenage-marketed pop-punk that was on the rise while also being its own self-inflicted wound.

A had the perfect opportunity laid at their feet: a major label contract, a highly accessible name, and a type of sound that could’ve blared throughout thousands of Hot Topics the world over, and they took that opportunity and were like, “it’s actually awesome when geezers croak,” and that’s a kind of hustle that I think you just ultimately have to respect.

Here’s the music video, too, which has a bunch of geriatrics in it and is pretty clearly set in California:

[omfgtrump]

The Tale of Two Viruses: Part 19

To witness The Don double down on White Supremacy this week was not surprising, but still unnerving. He continues to promulgate the strong-man trope that the great white man in the White House is all that stands between the American people and total chaos.

And why not? He rode that horse to victory in 2016 and with people out on the streets protesting police brutality, inequality and that Black Lives Matter, it is time for the white man to put down the dangerous insurrection.

He decried the tearing down of monuments that were specifically built to memorialize the confederacy’s embrace of slavery, threatening to have anyone involved arrested and prosecuted.

He is opposed to the military changing the names of bases which glorify the confederacy.

He retweeted a video of one of his supporters at a retirement community in Florida yelling “White power!” during what appeared to be an angry clash over the president and race among white residents in the community. He deleted the tweet about three hours after posting it, and a White House spokesman said Mr. Trump had not heard the man make the “white power” statement.

The president thought the old geezer yelled “white powder,” said an aide who requested anonymity. “You know, like baking soda or flour. The man was trying to bake a cake and he was out of baking soda, so he yelled it out rather than knocking on his neighbor’s door to increase his chances of someone lending him some. Old people just need their cake!”

When asked why The Don didn’t condemn the sentiment once he understood what his supporter said, the aide replied: “He’s a white supremacist, silly!”

The Don also retweeted a photo of a couple from an affluent part of St. Louis sporting weapons at protesters. The same aide explained that: “Hey look, you are sitting on your porch minding your own business and a bunch of black people are walking nearby. What would you do?”

The confluence of his White Supremacy and narcissism was on full display at the 4th of July celebration at the foot of Mt. Rushmore. In the face of a pandemic, The Don, with the blessing of the South Dakota governor, decided to hold this event on land that was purloined from Native Americans; and to add to the spectacle, he insisted on fireworks in the pine forest around Rushmore in the middle of fire season. I will give him credit for one thing: He didn’t say his greatness would make him the 5th president to be carved in to the mountain. (Buy you know it took every once of restraint not to!) But that didn’t stop his campaign of producing a photo with his image on to the monument.

The two things that are known to slow the spread of the virus, social distancing and wearing masks, were completely absent from the event. Like with his rally in Tulsa during Juneteenth, at a site 1 mile from the horrific destruction of the Greenwood neighborhood known as Black Wall Street, The Don poured salt on the nation’s deep wounds, flouting White Supremacy.

“Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children. Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.”

And to that I say damn straight we are! Our history of slavery?  Poor Jefferson Davis toppling to the ground? Poor white people with all the power who don’t want to share it? Time to tell the truth to our children about the atrocities perpetrated on Native Americans and black and brown people? A violent wave of crime in our city? You mean the police killing black men?

In the face of a raging pandemic across the country, The Don barely mentioned the tragic deaths and the devastating health crisis during his rally. He continues to live in a fantasy land; just two days before the event at Rushmore, he declared that the virus is “going to sort of just disappear, I hope.”

Can someone explain what “sort of disappear” means? Is that what happens during a magic trick when something miraculously vanishes in plain sight, even though you know it is somewhere? Have you ever heard a doctor say: “I think you sort of have cancer”? While you hope and “sort of” our country has no plan to deal with the pandemic. 130,000 deaths and counting and you act like a child who covers his eyes when he doesn’t want to see things and pretend it is not there.

Guess what Don? The virus is not going to “sort of ” disappear, nor will the will of the people.  The virus is your greatest stain (among many) and your delusion and denial of this horrendous wrecking ball of death will be the wrecking ball that brings down your presidency.

Your denial of the meaning of the protests and of America’s great stain of slavery,  and your delusion that like a plantation owner of yore, you can eradicate it, is the wrecking ball that brings down your presidency.

A great reckoning is coming! “But I know, but I know, a change is gotta to come. Ooo, yes it is.” Amen!

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2ZKZryW via IFTTT

[herrvanderweil]

(( Hello. I'm Roxy, the mun for this German DILF man with spiked dyed jet black hair reporting, giving you a brief summary of this character here, Eric Vanderweil.

Born in East Germany, Eric didn't have an easy early life. Running away from a less-than ideal family at the ripe age of 11, the young Eric survived by doing odd jobs for people here and there for scraps of food and a floor to lay on. Finding music - most of which were illegal at the time - his only comfort, he would sneak in music records, smuggle musical instruments, and hide from the authorities as he played with his rock band underground...which only worked for so long, as he was soon captured, imprisoned, and went through things he still will not talk about in full detail to this day...

...The Berlin Wall tumbling down showed him the light, and free at last, Eric, with hard work and just a little bit of cheating around, managed to start a metal band called Bad Gimmick, which became well-known worldwide in 1994 and reached its peak at 2016 with its final album. Disbanding in good terms, Eric still wanted to peruse in his art...and that's where WWE came in.

Having collaborated many times with the company and becoming good friends with Jim Johnston, when the man was told to step down from his position, he gave good name and the offer to Eric to become the producer in his place, which the German gladly accepted and took it all from there.

As a widower with no tolerance for bullshit professional etiquette who refuses to take off his nail polish and eyeliner for any reason, it might sound like Vanderweil is a difficult man to work with he is...but those who know him will say he's the opposite, while he's far from being a joyful and chipper one, Eric who wanders between WWE and NXT grounds has plenty of advice, free cigarettes, tea, painkillers, and warm hugs for anyone who needs it. Being through a lot in life, he sees himself as a father figure for people who lacks...or wants to replace one.

The 50-year old Eric is open for any and all kinds of relationships and plots. He's prone to either comfort or angst being an old geezer, so, if you have any of that, or have other ideas, DM me and we can certainly discuss things...or just scream as we fangirl/boy over something together. It's your choice. ))

[krispyweiss]

Sound Opinion: ”No Hard Feelings,” Geezers, But You Haven’t Been Listening

When crotchety old geezers - people Sound Bites’ age and older - complain that no one writes good music anymore, it becomes immediately obvious they haven’t been listening to the Avett Brothers.

(This is true of any number of other artists - think Ruthie Foster, I’m With Her, the Steep Canyon Rangers and Ryley Walker - as well. But given the Avetts just released a clip of “No Hard Feelings” from the documentary “May it Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers,” they’re the focus here).

The video finds the band in studio with producer Rick Rubin laying down the track for 2016’s True Sadness. And while the song’s lilting melody is soul-crushing in its own way - with cello and violin adding to the plaintive atmosphere - the seeking, questioning lyrics are soul-lifting.

When my body won’t hold me anymore and it finally lets me free/will I be ready?/when my feet won’t walk another mile and my lips give their last kiss goodbye/will my hands be steady?

This is a 21st-century composition that could just as easily predate the Age of Enlightenment in its religiousity and pondering of the age-old questions: “What does it all mean?” and “Does it mean anything at all?”

When the sun hangs low in the west/and the light in my chest/won’t be kept held at bay any longer/when the jealousy fades away/and it’s ash and dust for cash and lust/and it’s just hallelujah/and love in thoughts and love in the words/love in the songs they sing in the church/and no hard feelings

A good song?

”No Hard Feelings” is an amazing song, full of grace, maturity and all of the doubt and wonderment that makes us a part of the same human family.

You don’t have to revere - or even like - the Avett Brothers, although if you don’t, Sound Bites would seriously question your taste in music. But if you can listen to a song like “No Hard Feelings” - or any number of Avetts tracks - and still say with a straight face that no one writes good music anymore, that’s on you.

And you are, indeed, a crotchety old geezer.

2/27/18

[schwermetallisch]

Artist: My Inner Circle Title: Echo Of Hearts Genre: Melodic Metal Release Date: 3rd May  2019 Label: LCC Music The next band is named MY INNER CIRCLE, formed in 2016 in Potsdam, Germany and they play Melodic Metal with male and female vocals. The five-piece mix Power Metal, Metalcore, Alternative and Symphonic Metal. Instrumentally this is really solid but the vocals of both Norbert and Lea sound uninspired and lack emotion, the whole fairy-tale background mixed with Metalcore riffs surely hits home if you are a fan of those (if you are a grumpy old geezer like me that likes old-school metal and is not a big fan of symphonic metal or female vocals at all it becomes a bit complex). I can state one thing: the production is well made and I am sure there is an audience for this kind of music but it is not for me as I love stuff like MANOWAR, METALLICA and other bands that express their anger and machismo in a unique way, MY INNER CIRCLE will sell a million tickets at a goth festival but most of my readers and fans of the genres I usually review will have their problems with this I guess. Conclusion: If you like NIGHTWISH or Symphonic Metal in general you might dig this, if you love stuff like SLAYER this won’t please you. Rating: 5 / 10 #schwermetallisch #reviews #picoftheday #nwothm #nwobhm #heavymetal #metal #rock #music #metalhead #hardrock #thrashmetal #metalguy #metalmusic #metalband #doom #metalheads #headbanger #powermetal #guitarist #concert #rockmusic #heavymetalmusic #speedmetal #blacksabbath #ironmaiden #doommetal #metallica #band #reviewoftheday (hier: Neumühl, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAID7sXi0Cl/?igshid=1tl11sb5eht3f

[sakamichidiary]

Wakatsuki Yumi Calls Akimoto Manatsu Out on Her Loud Snoring

Show: Downtown DX MC: Matsumoto Hitoshi, Hamada Masatoshi Air date: September 9th, 2016

Within Nogizaka46, Akimoto Manatsu is one the most idol-like in her behaviour, as she often tries to act overly cute (this hilariously backfires on occasion, when other members call her out on it). She even has her own virtual "idol switch" that she turns on before appearing in public, to make sure she mentally enters idol mode where she can appeal to fans. The only blemish in her otherwise quasi-immaculate idol image is her snoring habit which was exposed here.

Hamada Masatoshi: We've received a complaint addressed to Nogizaka46's Akimoto-san, from fellow member Wakatsuki Yumi.

*dramatic music plays*

Hamada: *reading Wakatsuki's letter* "In any case, Manatsu's snoring is terrible and everyone is troubled by it! Especially when we have work that involves overnight stays, I'm often paired in the same room as her and to be honest, it's really been hard on me. Her snoring sounds like my father's. It's really loud and bothers me. How can an idol snore like this?"

Akimoto Manatsu: When I went to Guam with other members for work, it was a four night trip where we were together in the same room. On all four nights, my snoring was apparently really something...

Hamada: They couldn't sleep, huh?

Manatsu: That's what I was told afterwards...

Hamada: Ijiri, you know about this too, right?

Okada Ijiri: Yes! On a show where we appeared together, there was a segment where we told Nogizaka46 members that it was OK for them to sleep for a 30 minute period.

Matsumoto Hitoshi: What kind of show is that?!

*crowd laughs*

Ijiri: It was part of an episode where all we wanted them to do was sleep. She [pointing to Manatsu] fell soundly asleep after about 15 minutes, and was really snoring loudly.

Hamada: Was she really snoring?

Ijiri: Yes she was!

Manatsu: Yes, that's right...

Hamada: We actually have a recording of your snoring on that show!

[A 15 second video clip of NOGIBINGO!5 is shown where we hear Manatsu repeatedly snoring loudly. In the video, Ijiri-san whispers that she sounds like a bullfrog.]

Ijiri: She was really making this sound!

Manatsu: Aaaah, this is embarrassing! 😣

Ijiri: She sounded like a bullfrog!

Matsumoto: You sound like an authentic old geezer!

Manatsu: That's right 😓