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hollenius · 5 years ago

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Super long interview that I wanted to show a friend earlier but was unable to...so I am hiding it under the cut. Covers everything from Forrest Gump to the influence of television to rock critics never escaping their English Major roots.

Rock Criticism and the Rocker: A Conversation With Peter Buck

(originally appearing in Anthony DeCurtis, Rocking My Life Away, 1998)

IN SEPTEMBER 1994 R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck kindly took time off from promoting R.E.M.'s Monster to do an interview with Anthony DeCurtis, who wanted an artist's perspective on rock criticism.

"Peter was an ideal candidate for the job," DeCurtis wrote in his introduction to the interview, "both because R.E.M. is the very definition of a critics' darling and because he has a sharp critical sensibility himself. He keeps up with the music and with the writing about the music and loves to talk about both. In addition, I've known Peter since before the release of R.E.M.'s first independent single in 1981, and have always held his intelligence, humor and passion for music in the highest regard. It's a pleasure to have any excuse to speak with him."

Buck and DeCurtis met in the bar of the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan, drank a glass of wine or two and talked for about an hour. "This conversation proceeds the way so many of our talks have. It begins with a focus, wanders through a variety of related topics and eventually meanders back to our original subject. It was a fun trip, and I hope you didn't have to be there."

ADC: You read a lot of rock writing. It must be a different experience to read about yourself than it is to read about other bands or to read a review of somebody else's record. What's the difference between what you want to see when you're reading something about R.E.M. and what you want to see when you're reading about somebody else?

PB: I do read a lot of music stuff, and I always have – it's not simply because I’m "in the business." And of course I always like to read about people who say controversial things and admit to drug problems and ornate sexual peccadillos. That's what you want to read – it just is. It's fun and exciting – and it's the last thing I want to have anything to do with my band.

The English press, especially, is focused completely on the personal. With the English magazines, it seems that if you sit in a room and you just want to talk about the music, they'll find a way to make it not about the music. Maybe it's because the magazines come out every week and you have to appeal on a flash level. I mean, a lot of the English press are closer to the Enquirer than to The New York Times. So every three years you get this generation of English bands who make absolutely great copy, and maybe not necessarily such great records.

Of course, when I read about R.E.M., I always want the writer to be a seasoned, knowledgeable person who respects and loves us and gives us the benefit of the doubt every step of the way – which isn't really what rock criticism is about.

What do you think it is about? What do you think it can do? Is it different from other kinds of criticism, like movie reviews or a book reviews?

I think it's closer to movie reviews. With book reviews, most likely the writers aren't going to be much more literate than the readers. But the readers of rock criticism are definitely different. The person who reads Rolling Stone or Melody Maker isn't the person who reads The New York Times Book Review. I read them both, but I'm one person.

Rock & roll is first and foremost kids' music. Even though most of us are adults and we write about adult things, the records are bought and the reviews are read by teenagers who don't necessarily know who Kafka is – or even which college they're going to go to. So rock criticism tends to be about minutiae in a lot of ways. It's about small things. Especially the English reviews – you can read reviews of a record without ever finding out what kind of music it is. That always blows my mind. They’ll review an album, talk about the lyrics and personalize what they want to make of the record, and not say, "And by the way, it's an album of polkas." You just don't know. Sometimes I'll read a review and think, "Gee, that sounds pretty interesting – this record is about alienation and identity." Then I'll actually listen to it and go, "Whoa, it sounds like the Doobie Brothers."

What kind of impact do you think rock criticism has?

Again – I could be completely wrong – but with book reviews, there's kind of a received critical opinion about things that people tend to stick to. I'll read several reviews of the same book and they won't differ that much. People know good writing and bad writing. Whereas with rock & roll, sometimes bad playing is good playing. I mean, you would never find a guy who writes books the way the Ramones make records. And if you did, you certainly couldn't appreciate it. And yet the Ramones made pretty perfect records. So with rock criticism, there aren't rules and laws that can be followed. It's basically "Do I like it? Do you like it?" As for the audience, I think three quarters of them just look at the picture and the headline and see how many stars it got. You get to the point where you wonder how many people are influenced to go out and buy the record because of what they read.

I think it's cumulative. I think that most seventeen-year-olds won't go out and buy a record they never heard because they read one article. But if they see articles everywhere, the picture everywhere, they heard the single – you know, that’s how Guns N' Roses happened. They were just everywhere all of a sudden. It's fascinating – I think about it all the time: What does this mean, the fact that we do these interviews, and they appear in the press, especially when it's in something like People, something that isn’t necessarily for people who like music. You wonder, who does this reach? Does anyone say, "God, I have to buy that record because these guys talked about their personal lives."

Do you approach those kinds of interviews differently? What is your preparation? Do you think, "This is going to appear here, and these people might be interested in this and might not be interested in that?" You're obviously not going talk about what kind of guitar strings you use to People.

No, not really. We have never actually talked to People – I don't know why. Generally we talk to the music media, although lately we've been doing things with Vogue and GQ and places like that. Still, the journalists for those stories seem to come from the same perspective – they're people who like music and get hired by those magazines to write about music. They tend to have to write more generally there. In Vogue, you have to explain when we got together and all that. So, for me, it's about understanding that it's going to be just the simple facts. Whereas Rolling Stone or Melody Maker has interviewed us every year since 1983, and I don't have to cover biographical data. I can feel a little freer free associating about what's going on with the new record or the new tour or whatever.

But we've never done a lot of press that was not music-oriented. I mean, Rod Stewart is a celebrity, and he gets celebrity things. We tend, at this point, to still get articles about music. Then there also are the specialist magazines, the guitar-player magazines, and that's something totally different. It's all right in those places to talk about effects and strings and picks, stuff that is boring to everyone in the world except the people who buy those magazines.

You were very influenced by rock criticism as a young person, but the cultural environment is different now from the way it was when you were growing up. Young people are much more likely to get most of their information from MTV and to a lesser extent maybe radio, and then magazines. Certainly when I was growing up, just to see a picture of a band was amazing. Now you've seen them a hundred times before you've heard three of their songs. Talk about the kind of impact that reading rock criticism had on you.

When I was growing up I lived in Georgia, and bands just didn't come down there. I mean, they really didn't. On TV – this is parenthetical – I remember when the New York Dolls were on Don Kirshner's rock concert in 1973. It was such a big event that a band I liked was going to be on TV that I had my three friends who also liked T. Rex and the Dolls over to my house. My parents had a basement, and we took old mattresses down there and brought the TV down and smuggled in a case of beer. I was about 16. We got drunk and watched the Dolls and it was an epochal event – real music on television. It wasn't just the usual suspects. Back then there were like two rock shows, and, you know, Helen Reddy would be hosting one. I remember that pretty specifically.

So I got a huge amount of information from the print media. I subscribed to the Village Voice for a couple of years, luckily enough for me, right when punk started happening in about '74, '75, '76. I always had access to the Voice. So I was reading Robert Christgau, and Lester Bangs writing about Blondie – I think he reviewed the first Blondie record. I found out about Television. I was buying those records the day they came out, which for Georgia was pretty different. I read Creem magazine. I hadn't discovered the English papers yet, because I don't think they came to Georgia in those days. Creem was a big one, because they liked Iggy and the Stooges. So I got turned onto a lot of stuff .

I lived in California for a year and a half when I was 12 and 13. There was a writer named John Mendelssohn, who was also in a band called Christopher Milk. He wrote for a magazine called Coast, which doesn't exist anymore, and he wrote articles about Iggy and the Stooges. I went out and bought the Christopher Milk records. This was like 1971. So I became a fan of Iggy, the Velvet Underground, the Nazz, Crazy Horse. I'd be the only 13-year-old on the block going, "I think I need to buy this Iggy and the Stooges record." The guys at the counter would be like, "You better wear rubber gloves when you hold this album, kid." So I got turned onto a lot of stuff that was really foreign to me through print.

Mendelssohn actually was a big influence on me, as well. He was one of the first writers whose byline I learned to recognize. Much later, he said something nice about me in print, while disparaging a number of people I know, which only made it better, of course.

Of course.

In real life we tried to work together a few times, but it didn't really work out.

He wrote like what he thought he was: a rock star. I bought the Christopher Milk records when I was 14, and thought they were kind of cool. And they are kind of cool, but you can read their influences pretty easily. He reviewed for Rolling Stone in the old days – I've seen his stuff in the collections. I started reading Rolling Stone when I was 13, but still that was 1971 or whatever. But his stuff in the collections is really fascinating.

But criticism helped me elucidate a lot of things. Living in Roswell, Georgia, in 1971, everyone liked the Allman Brothers. I can't tell you why – that’s all there was to it. It was a law. I didn't really have friends who could tell me why they liked something. I had two friends in Roswell who liked T. Rex, because they looked cool in make-up. I don't think it had anything to do with the way it sounded. It helps to have some kind of critical acumen about things when you're in a vacuum. I mean, completely in a vacuum. I had to define for myself why I thought T. Rex was cool and Sweet was less cool.

What do you think about the situation now? Does it make a difference if kids are not getting information from print, that they're getting their information visually, from television? At the same time, coverage of rock & roll is ubiquitous. Every newspaper has a rock critic, every TV show covers it, every news program covers it. Bands like Pavement play on the Tonight Show. How are people making sense of what's coming at them?

It seems that kids now are a lot more knowledgeable about the processes. MTV goes "backstage with so-and-so." I must admit to having been really naive about that kind of stuff. When I’d see a band open for another band at a place in Atlanta that held 300 people, I just assumed that the opening band had a Lear jet.

Right. Exactly.

And that a limo would pick them up and they’d probably have an orgy with teenage girls in the back of the car on the way to the show. That's what I assumed. Now I realize that the headliner probably arrived in a station wagon. Kids today have a real understanding of the mechanics of the business. They know about sound-checks. I didn't know about sound-checks, I figured you just played. They know how people make videos, how people make records. They understand what demo tapes are. I had never met anyone who had been in a band who had even had a single out, ever, until the mid-'70s, '76. I knew people who played in bands, but it was such a huge gap from playing Foghat covers to being one of the guys actually making records. You just assumed that gap was completely unbridgeable, that that would never be you or your friends. In a way it's really great that there's so much coverage now, because while the machine eats people up and spits them out, it still means that, well, Pavement is on Leno.

That wouldn't have happened 10 years ago. We were never on Johnny Carson. They would never take us. They would never take us right up until Jay was on. In '89, when everyone was fighting for us, they were like, "No, we're not really interested in having R.E.M. on." I can't say I blame them – we really weren’t that big and Johnny Carson had no knowledge of us. We weren't right for their audience. But Jay Leno probably listens to Pavement, or at least has heard of them. Still, I do think it's odd. When I was 13, 45-year-old guys didn't listen to what teenagers listened to. They just didn't. 45-year-old guys, their experience was 1953 or something.

Along those lines, it was pretty amazing a while ago when MTV threw a party for R.E.M.'s work for Rock the Vote and President Clinton sent a videotaped message to the band.

Yeah. I know.

I mean, the president...

...knows who we are.

An unthinkable thing.

You've got to remember that up until George Bush, you can guarantee that he never listened to anything. He didn't know who any of us were. He thought that Boy George was in U2.

Or even more incredibly, he denounced Elvis at the 1992 Republican convention. Who does this guy think his audience is? He's from Texas. Everybody in every state that is crucially important worships Elvis. And he referred to U2 as teeny-boppers, when they were calling the White House from the stage during the Zoo TV tour.

I guess U2 met with Clinton, and Bush said, "Well, George Clinton... " – great, George Clinton – "Well, Bill Clinton can talk to Boy George all he wants to." I'm sure someone thought that was a funny line, but it showed how out of touch he is. It's going to be a long time before I'm as old as the president. But it's really weird to think that those guys grew up and probably dated people who listened to the Grateful Dead and dropped acid.

Getting back to the earlier question, there's a sense now that everybody knows everything. Everybody knows what producers do. Everybody knows how a studio works. Everybody knows the kind of stuff that used to be specialist knowledge.

It's funny how that works. I was reading some article, this was years ago, it might have been in Rolling Stone. I think Ahmet Ertegun was cutting some record in Memphis, and he thought, "Let's get some kids off the street to hear what they think," and they brought some kids off the street. The first guy goes, "Man, I think this mix is EQ'd wrong. I think it's too high-endy." Ahmet says, "What the fuck are you talking about, mix, EQ? I pull some kid off the street and you tell me how to EQ a record?"

That is certainly the way it is now. In a way it's good. It demystifies it a lot. Kids understand more of what's going on. Think about Green Day for a minute – they're 22 and this is their 3rd record. They were in bands when they were 14 and put out their own record when the lead singer was 17. They're heirs to a tradition: you're 16, you're a punk, you write punk songs, you make your own record on a small label, you tour. I think they’re all just legal-age for drinking now, after 5 years in the business. I just didn't have any awareness that you could do that when I was that age. I was kind of trying to write songs when I was 17, but I didn't know what I was doing.

The flip side of everyday people having specialist knowledge is that cult phenomena become totally mainstream. So someone like William Burroughs has become like a rock star.

That blows my mind, and this gets back to the media thing. William Burroughs is not the best writer in the world. People have a teenage fascination for his writing. I think he's interesting and has said some interesting stuff. He's gay or at least bisexual, a guy who was a junkie for 40 years, way outside of society. And he's selling sports shoes right now! You turn the TV on and go, "What marketing whiz decided that an octogenarian ex-drug addict avowed homosexual beatnik is the guy to sell tennis shoes to 17-year-olds?" For me, it's totally great. But that was unthinkable 20 years ago. 20 years ago, if they did sell tennis shoes on TV–

It would be a tennis player–

Or a basketball player. And he would have to be white, of course.

Well, we've drifted off from rock criticism to the media in general, though, obviously, they are connected. But it simultaneously seems that everything is closed down and everything is wide open. In a sense, there really does seem not to be any outside anymore. There's no real underground or counterculture that's thriving and really represents some kind of alternative stream. Maybe there never was. But on the other hand, it seems like consequently you do get William Burroughs in an advertisement. Everything is all up in the air, and no one knows exactly where things are.

Again, I hate to go back to when I was a kid, but all through the '70s, Patti Smith was considered weird and scary, and she wouldn't have been in People no matter how many records she sold. Part of the reason for that is that the generation in control of things in the '70s grew up in the '40s and '50s, and they just didn't get it and didn't understand it and felt threatened by it. Anyone who's involved in the music industry now grew up in the '60s or the '70s even, and a lot of barriers did come down in those times. David Geffen is not going to be terrified of something new. He's seen it all. He probably dropped acid and ran around naked at Woodstock. David Geffen, what is he, maybe 52? When I was a kid, a 52-year-old man would send you off to Vietnam and get you killed. Now 52-year-old guys, they're probably listening to whatever's happening and going, "God, that's really great. I wish I'd signed them."

So in a way it's good, because since everything is acceptable, the only thing that gradates things is cash. Everyone knows you can make money off this stuff, and anything can get in the back door. Anything. So GG Allen would have been on the cover of People if he'd sold a million records – it has nothing to do with how good or bad you are. And he would have made great copy. I'm actually surprised they didn't do an article about him.

Rock & roll is a demented, mindless business where there aren’t principles you can follow. Rules that you think are hard and fast all of a sudden go right out the window. I think that's great. The fact that there is no outside anymore is cool because anything can really influence the culture then. Of course, most of the stuff that sells millions and millions tends to be lowest common denominator.

That's true of anything, though. That's true of books or movies, as well. Underground now has almost nothing to do with style; it only has to do with content. So if you're writing about some alienated 25-year-old kid who's a junkie, even if you're the most cliched writer who ever lived, you're underground. Whereas somebody who's stylistically adventurous but writing about a more conventional subject is regarded as mainstream. It's become almost a more conservative environment than in the past in a funny way, because then it was about stylistic innovation. So James Joyce writes Ulysses, and it's just about a guy walking around Dublin, except in terms of its style and language. And that's a revolution. Whereas now, it's solely content-driven.

Having gone through my teenage years, I know that the writing that appeals to teenagers tends not to be of the highest order. I can't tell you how many 20-year-olds I know think Charles Bukowski is the best writer ever.

Perfect example.

He is the one. And I've read most of his stuff. I don't care for the poems. But I like it for what it is. But what it is is just kind of–

It's one riff.

Yeah, it's the same book. I've read a couple of books, and I go, "Is this the same one I read before? Is he still working at the post office now?" I like the stuff near the end of his life when he was just this old drunken sot celebrity. Hollywood was pretty interesting. But all these kids will routinely name people who are not great writers, but who write about alienation or drugs or homosexuality or whatever. Whereas it's funny, any bookstore you go to now, there's a gay novelist section, which is totally fascinating and cool. Gay kids aren't reading it because it's not about being alienated. Most of it has to do with the past it seems to me, the things I've read. It's making sense of –

Finding your identity as a gay person.

And putting yourself in perspective. A lot of the ones I've read seem to deal with childhood. That doesn’t seem revolutionary and wild. You get these teenagers as often as not gay or bisexual and they're going to read Bukowski, who’s really kind of an old fart reactionary. And they’ll go, "Man, this guy is totally wild." Why, because he drank and worked at the post office? I drink. I was a janitor.

Talk about the first times you were written about? Did it throw you to see yourself represented and discussed in that way? How is it different from seeing your picture or seeing yourself on tv?

I remember our first reviews. We’d just played around Georgia, so college juniors were writing about us and I was like, "This isn't the real deal." We were being written about in the Red and Black, the University of Georgia newspaper, and then the hippy alternative paper. We weren't on the cover of Rolling Stone. But I remember the first time I actually read an article about us, and I looked at it and I was like, "This is weird." I read it a couple of times and I was like, "God, I was there. I remember that." It was a review of the show that we did the day before. It's kind of off-putting.

Some of the English things were kind of odd. Those were around '83. We just came out of nowhere and we got really amazing reviews. Nobody should get reviews like that. One magazine reviewed our album twice, because the first guy didn't say it was the best album ever made. The editor went back and said, "I just want people to know how good this really is." And the first guy had given it the highest rating you could get – but that was not quite good enough. I appreciate that, because they were really on a mission to find new things to be excited about. But I had read these magazines, and I always tended to think that the people in them were to some degree – not special – but somehow validated. This must mean they're famous and big.

Someone sent me the Allan Jones review of Murmur in Melody Maker, which was really good. But I was driving a van with no air conditioning to be 6th on the bill to the Police in Philadelphia. It was 110 degrees and we were also doing a gig that night somewhere else. I was like, "God, this doesn't validate us, because we're still poor and starving." I remember, we played Philadelphia, it was 100 degrees, and there were 90,000 people there. We went on, I think it was 1:00 in the afternoon, and it was so hot I threw up afterwards. And then someone gave me the Alan Jones review and I'm reading it in the van on the way to the next gig and I was like "Man, I wish I had an ice cold beer right now." In a way it's kind of distancing. Immediately, I thought, "Well, this isn't like the stuff I read when I was a kid." Because once you're in that position, unless you're a really shallow person, when you see yourself on the cover of a magazine, you don't feel validated. I mean, I don't. I try not to even read them anymore. I don't want to read about myself that much. It's just like anything else. You want something really bad, and then when you get it, you realize that it doesn't mean as much as you think it should.

The first time I published something in Rolling Stone, I literally thought that people would recognize me on the street. And then you realize it's on the stand for two weeks, a few of your friends see it and then it's over.

And you go on.

It was strange.

You know, what validates people to the outside world is television. When I was living in Athens, I used to walk downtown by the Coca-Cola plant everyday, and everyday there were the same fat guys with pot bellies. I had short hair and I'd wear sunglasses and a trench coat, and they'd be like, "Hey faggot, hey faggot, blow me, faggot." And I'd blow them kisses as I walked by – I wasn't going to let them drive me off the street. Then we appeared on David Letterman. I was home about a month later, walked down the street. The same guys who'd been going, "Hey, faggot," were like "Hey, I saw you on David Letterman. Way to go man, hey, cool." I liked it better when they were yelling "Hey fag."

At least it was sincere.

Yeah, it was real. Now it's like I'm a famous guy who was on David Letterman. And, again, being on TV, we did David Letterman that afternoon, then we played Maxwell's the next night. I was glad we were on TV, though. I thought it was kind of cool.

I remember seeing that performance.

I was the first person I knew who had ever been on TV – I guess maybe the B-52s were on Saturday Night Live. This is when there wasn't a world of difference between us and Pylon and Love Tractor. We all had record deals, we all had records out. R.E.M. worked harder.

And all the Athens bands got written about all the time.

Yeah, it wasn't that big of a difference. We'd go to parties, and if you liked Pylon better, then Pylon were the coolest people at the party. And then all of a sudden, being on Letterman made a big difference. We were perceived as big-time because we got on TV. To me, again, we were in the middle of a tour – taping that TV show was like having a night off. We played two songs and were done by 6:00, and then we played Maxwell's the next night. But to the world, by which I mean, people on airplanes – because you always get "Who are you guys?" Obviously we're not a bowling team. In an airport, you always get people who walk up and ask, "Are you a band? Do we know you?" "Well no, not really." "Have you done anything I might have heard on the radio?" "No." "Have you been on TV?" "Well, yeah, we were on David Letterman once." And they'd go, "Wow!" They don't know who we are, never heard any of our songs, but I was on David Letterman.

I remember the first time I appeared on one of the morning shows. To the superintendent of my building I had just been another tenant – I might get my faucet fixed 6 months from now if I asked politely. But that night I was coming in at about 1:00 in the morning from being out, bleary-eyed. The super comes out of his apartment with his wife – they had waited up for me to get home, because they had seen me on Good Morning America. I had no idea how significant television was. The degree to which it penetrates is amazing.

TV does penetrate in a way that print never does. Nobody remembers the TV shows, though. I remember reviews of things that made me go out and buy the record. Steve Seimels used to write about Patti Smith with a mission. He wrote for Stereo Review, which my father subscribed to. We didn't even have a stereo, basically, but we subscribed to Stereo Review. We had a mono, and I had a little Close'n'Play. But I think the Patti Smith piece was in 1973, because he was just raving that this woman was going to be bigger than god. So I was fascinated. I had Horses on order before it was out, because I'd read reviews of the shows. I was 17. I was like, "Maybe I'll run away and go to New York." In a way, I wish I had. That kind of stuff can reach into your life – criticism can really change something and give you a perspective. Whereas with television, well, there it is. It is what it is. So with TV, it's almost like a celebration of celebrity-hood. You're not going to get any depth out of it. It's just a flat image. Whereas with print, I mean, I've read reviews that are better than the records.

Oh, well, that's very often true.

I'll buy the record, and go, "This guy loved this record so much that he produced a piece of art about it that is better than the record." I remember a review of Prefab Sprout that was just great. I bought the record and I kind of liked it. But if I hadn't read that review – let's just say I didn't get what the reviewer got out of it.

I assign and edit reviews all the time, and when they come in I often find myself thinking, "If only the record were as good as this." Rather than write what we think of as a review, they, as you say, create a piece of art about it. Since a magazine is about writing, I feel torn. Part of me is a person who, for so many years, was reading magazines and going out to buy those records with my spare money, and coming back and saying, "Man, this is disappointing." But then I'm also thinking, "Well, this is beautifully written, it's got some interesting ideas in it. It's 75% true." It's something I struggle with. I remember I had somebody review a Madonna record, and she attributed all these sophisticated cultural motives to Madonna. I said, "Look, I've spoken to Madonna, and I can tell you that none of what you're saying would ever have occurred to her in a hundred years. You can say that her record affects you in a certain way, or functions in the culture in a certain way, but it doesn't mean that she intended that. Your response is perfectly valid, but I'm not going to let you say she intended it because I know for a fact that that's not true."

I must say, we get away with that sometimes. When I feel the worst about the band, I think, "We're not as good as people think we are." Inevitably, then I'll read a review and someone will get something out of one of our songs that is totally unintentional. This is a good example: on Monster, 'I Don't Sleep, I Dream'. That's not an unintentional song, it's about sex and identity. I think it's supposed to be a little funnier than people think it is, but whatever. We couldn't think of a way of ending it, and for some reason we decided the bridge should be at the end of the song and we didn't want to fade it, so we just cut the tape. And Vic Garbarini was explaining why the song ends that suddenly, and he says, "The song is a dream state and when the tape gets cut, that's when you wake up." And I went, "You know, Vic, that's totally great. I never would have thought of that." I guess unconsciously, we knew we wanted a fast ending to jerk you out of it, but I would never have associated that with sleeping and waking.

But I think that's a valid reading.

It's a valid point, and I said, "Vic, you can say that if you want to, but you'd be imputing more conscious motive than we put into it. We couldn't think of a way to end it, so we just cut the tape."

It seems to me that that's one of differences between art and criticism. An academic friend of mine once said that he was sure that Bob Dylan had read all of Ezra Pound. I said that I thought he had probably read the table of contents and flipped through a collection of Pound's poems while hanging out at Allen Ginsberg's apartment one day. Artists, people writing songs or poems, don't really have to be responsbile to anything else when they're writing. What you want is something that gives you a vibe, something you can then take and do what you want with. So in a certain way critics both overvalue and undervalue what artists do. They overvalue it by attributing every conceivable intention to it. And they undervalue it because, essentially what they're saying is, that person thinks exactly the way I do. But they don't.

I would say probably 80% of the people who write rock criticism went to college and majored in English.

So their writing centers totally on lyrics.

And they are more comfortable finding meanings than letting things be. In academic circles, you can't write a paper that says, "Well, it is what it is." So you tend to explicate things that should just stand as they are. Every lyricist, every single one, throws in lines that don't mean anything to flesh out a space, or just because they sound good. Like, in 'Crush With Eyeliner' on Monster, there's that line "My kiss breath turpentine." That doesn't mean anything. I mean, it's evocative. It sounds great. It's stuck in there to fill the space. It doesn't take away from the song, but it doesn't have any literal meaning. If you were to find some literal meaning in it, that's your literal meaning. But English majors tend to think that everything means something.

One of my favorite discussions about that was in James Joyce’s Ulysses apparently they found – do you remember reading this a few years ago? – they found some proofs? It turns out that people had been explaining what certain sections meant that turned out to be misprints. They had attributed full meaning to them – and that was not what was on the page. They had managed to explain typos as part of the process. You can just go too far with that.

Again, in academic circles, letting things be what they are is not a concern. You're either into the semiotics aspect of it, or you're deconstructing it. I've read real clever deconstructions of TV shows. I mean, like, the Village Voice has a TV critic. But I've met the people who do TV shows, and I know they're sitting there thinking, "We can sell a million dollars worth of Buick ads if we do this." That is what it's about. I'm not saying there isn't some good work on TV occasionally. But I've learned never to watch television, because what's on TV sucks. But I do read TV criticism, and every year I'll read something about a show that says, "This is a ground-breaking innovative show." And you turn it on and you go, "Wait a minute. It's a television show about cops." I just don't care if it's a really good television show about cops. There's a million of them.

Still, you can analyze television from a cultural perspective, even though attributing anything to the writers of those shows is ridiculous. There are reasons why a studio would spend tens of millions of dollars to make a particular kind of movie, for example. Take Forrest Gump. It's brilliant, in a certain way. It's not brilliant as a work of art, but it manages to hit every hot button of American culture for the last 25 years without coming down anywhere or taking any positions at all, thereby not alienating one person who would be willing to spend 8 dollars to see it. So you get the Vietnam war, race, child abuse, AIDS – all of these things that you would think, "No one could ever do that without alienating somebody." It's perfectly nuanced.

I had some real problems with that movie – it's a feel-good movie about the most horrific catastrophes that have befallen the country. And the guy who gets through it is really stupid, and it's all OK with him. He just walks through, leaving a pile of dead bodies every step of the way. Not that any of it's his fault, but the fact is here's this millionaire who's happy in his stupidity. How many people have to die for him to get to that place? How many people have to be victims of really awful circumstances?

The ultimate conservative message of the movie is that knowledge only fucks you up. The message is, "Your mother's aphorisms – that's all you need to get through life, Hallmark Card messages." Still, can you imagine the script meetings as that movie was being put together? Somebody must continually have been saying: "If we show the protesters this way, we also have to show the protesters that way. If we show this kind of political figure, we need to show that kind of political figure." Even down to the end where the question is raised, "Are we drifting through life without any kind of destiny? Or do we really have something that we're being propelled toward? Well, the answer is both." Well, of course it's both. Because, from a marketing perspective, you don't want any one person who believes one way or the other to leave the theater and not tell 20 of their friends to go see the movie – and that goes for every other issue in the movie, too.

It's certainly an odd movie. The messages in it were kind of scary. It's like, "Don't worry, be happy. Things will work out OK." And the fact is, they don't work out OK. There's a whole other movie in the Louisiana kid who gets killed in Vietnam and his family. What did they do? They were lucky enough that someone gave them a check for 10 million dollars, but does that ever happen in real life? No. For me, the movie also didn't really work as entertainment, so philosophically, it doesn't really matter what it is. Forgetting all the theories about what the movie's about and why, I think it should have been 30 minutes shorter. That's my main critical carp about it. After Vietnam, it just started to get real slow.

Early on, before you began to sell a lot of records, R.E.M. were sustained by the response you were getting, both from critics and also just people who would go to your shows. How do you respond to writing about you now? You said before that you don't necessarily read all of it. What are your feelings about it?

It is different. When we started out, we didn’t make any money, and we didn't really care. The critics who were in our peer group at the time – they were 21, and we were 21 or 22, or whatever – could write these long passionate stories that would reach the 30 people in Pittsburgh who wanted to see us. And when you're not getting any financial rewards and have no comfort level, it makes it worthwhile to have your fans, whether they're critics or the people who come to the shows, as few as they are on occasion, to be really intense about it. I was always proud that we might get 40 people, but they'd be like, "Wow, you're the best band in America – I can't believe you're only playing to 40 people." That is sustaining. I have a lot of friends who've quit bands that were doing OK because they were nobody's favorite band. That was probably what happened to Guadalcanal Diary. They were slogging all over the world making OK money, but it wasn't like a celebration. The critics only gave the records 3 stars. Fans would come and maybe leave before the encore. It's hard to sustain it if you don't really feel that you're reaching people.

At our level, it's such a huge machine. It's odd, because I know it really affects some people, but if you sell 10 million records, the odds are a huge portion of those people are gonna play it a couple of times, then file it under R. I mean, you can't change every person's life. It's different now. We get really good reviews, but the stakes are not as high. The record company’s stakes are higher, because we're talking about millions of dollars in marketing. But they're not as high for us, because we're being compensated financially – which is not the main reason we do this, by any stretch of the imagination. But we're making these records, we know their worth. The reviews now for us, all they can do is hurt the sales marginally. If every reviewer says, "This record really stinks," we'll still sell several million.

But, I mean, I want to get good reviews. I'd prefer to get good reviews and maybe sell a few less copies, because critics still tend to be my peer group. They're the people who listen to the same amount of music I do and get excited about new discoveries, but also have some kind of critical acuity to put things in perspective. That's why I get a kick out of the English mags, because they're always hiring a new generation of kids to write. They always have 23-year-olds who've never heard of the Beatles.

There's actually an economic reason for that. Those publications pay so badly that only young people will write for them.

It changes the way the music business is over there. Here people still can remember Talking Heads when they were a brand new band. I mean, forget the Beatles – Talking Heads. Over there, they'll review things that are in every conceivable way not all that important or exciting, but they're brand new, and the writer is 21 years old and going nuts, so the Manic Street Preachers are the best band ever. Which is kind of good – you get people excited. But there is a lack of critical background. You read these things – "This performance by the Manic Street Preachers was the best performance ever." You read a real lot of those. Guys who are third on the bill get that. And then you buy the records and go, "This is second-rate Clash."

In a way, it's nice to have the press have an adversarial relationship to the bands because it keeps you on your toes. You can't get away with doing the same-old. The criticism you could make about American criticism is that established favorites get more latitude in making not-good records. I don't think that's happened to us yet, because we don't have any bad records. But certainly there are plenty of artists who make records that nobody really cares that much about, but because they’re who they are, they'll get 4 stars and a big treatment and a big article about their personal lives. Whereas if it was a first record by a new band, it would be, "This is pretty OK. It’s not that great." You don't tend to get that in England so much. Since they're a bit younger, they're totally willing to say how awful and old-fashioned we are.

I'll tell you why it works the way it does over here. Critics get excited about the opportunity to say something about a band they've loved for a long time and maybe rarely have had the chance to write about. So even if the new album by R.E.M. or U2 or whomever isn't their best work, it may well be that writer's best chance to say something about them. So between their desire to hang a bunch of major ideas on the album and their general enthusiasm about having the chance to do it, the review sometimes ends up sounding more positive than even the writer believes it should be.

It's understandable, and, certainly, history tends to color the present. I can't tell you how many records I've got where, if I were to divorce the band from its past work, I would go, "This isn't very good." But if you're fond of what the band does and willing to find the things you like – even if what you say is, "Well, there's two good songs, and the rest just sounds pleasant" – you're letting them get away with a lot.

It's also true that if you really like a band, almost nothing they do is uninteresting to you. You might like it or not, but after a while, if you're inside it, everything reveals something. And sometimes, because the bad records are less artful, they're more revealing. They open things up in a way, because the good stuff transcends category, and you don't necessarily know where it came from. But when you hear the 3 bad versions of a song, you go, "Oh, right, that was an attempt to do this, and that's how they failed, and that's how it works when it works." So if you like the best stuff, even the bad records can be intriguing.

Again, in England, they tend to go the other way. They don't have a lot of perspective on the past. You read reviews of solo records from guys in bands that never were all that good, and they treat it like this is the most amazing thing in the world. And you listen to it and realize, "It sounds kind of like Tom Waits." And yet Tom Waits was totally unhip over there until recently. Again, I'm one of those guys who buys records because of reviews, and I can't tell you how often there is a disparity between the rave review and the actual record that you listen to and go, "Well, that's just not there. This is a second-rate selection of imitative songs that sound kind of like Nick Cave."

Right. Or Van Morrison. Or the Velvet Underground. I wanted to ask you one last question about R.E.M. Ever since you began to sell records, there's been a subtheme of negative writing about the band, a small backlash. But, apart from that, you've always been treated very generously by critics. Even in the English press, you've been immune to the kinds of attacks virtually every other band that's attained your level of success has undergone. Obviously, you believe the albums are good, but, as you know, that sometimes has nothing to do with it. So, setting aside the quality of the albums, why do you think R.E.M. have been treated so well?

In 1989, there was a period there when some magazines stuck by us, but a couple, one of which is not in business anymore, looked for someone who didn't like the record to assign it to. I talked to people who told me about this, and I'm not saying it's bad. It's fine, because the editor didn't feel it was a strong record. But I was talking to someone who told him, "I like that record." And there were plenty of people who would have written good reviews of it. They consciously wanted someone who wouldn't. They sent the non-believers to the shows. And that's fine. If we can only show people who like us that we're good, then maybe we're not that good. But they picked people who didn't like us. I accept that. I understood it, and I don't mind.

Funnily enough, then we stayed off the road and consciously turned our backs on what people expected us to be – a multi-platinum, billion-dollar touring machine. We could have turned into Pink Floyd if we’d done a tour after the Green tour. I think it was surprising to people that we just said, "OK, we're going to make a couple of weird acoustic records, and we're not going to tour." We then sold a boatload of records. But the idea is that we thought we were kissing our career good-bye to take some time to do what we wanted to do. Every record has been something we wanted to do. But we wanted to distance ourselves from the machinery a bit. And I think that was such a surprising move that we got a fair amount of respect for it.

I mean, Automatic for the People, for instance. It's a really good record. It's maybe the best that we've done. But it sold for almost two years in England. For like a year and a half it was on the charts, in the top ten. Everyone used it as a hallmark. I think we won Band of the Year in some magazine, and we didn't even do anything. We didn't tour, we did videos, we didn't do press, hardly. I think part of it is just that we took the unexpected choice at a point when most people would have gone for the throat and done a huge triumphant stadium tour, and the big rock record. I think it was great for us not to do that, but critically, I think that's why the press has stuck with us. Because at the point when amost any other band would have said, "OK, now, this is gonna be the big moment," we walked away from it.

It turns out record-wise it was the best thing we could have ever done. Band-wise it was the best thing we could have ever done. But that's not what everyone told us at the time. Our manager had meetings with us about how we were going to have to lay people off. We have a pension plan; were we going to have to cut our pension plan? The record company people were like, "Well, you're not going to sell a million records ever again if you don't tour." And, you know, they loved the records. But it was not the way to go about it. And we all made the decision, "We'll take a salary cut if we need to. We'll cut the pension this year, if it comes to that, that's cool." Then we sold 10 million records. In part, that's why we've been seen as pretty hip, because we didn't embrace success. I like it, I like being successful. But I did it exactly on my own terms.

One last question: You have plenty of friends who are writers and critics, which contradicts the idea that that relationship is adversarial. What do you have in common?

I do have a lot of friends who are critics, because our interests are the same. If you name a band that's at our level, I doubt there are that many of them who buy as many records and listen to as much different music and read as many fanzines as I do. It’s just something I'm fascinated by. I still read those mimeographed fanzines – there's a bunch of them that are really cool. I look for 7-inches on obscure labels and go to little punk clubs to see bands. And at the shows I go to, I see music critics. In Seattle, I see two of the four critics really often. I don't see the guys from Mudhoney or Nirvana there. Those are my friends and my peer group, but musicians tend to not go out and do this kind of stuff so much. Thurston does, I see Thurston Moore at shows, and we have a lot of things in common. But I see critics all the time. It's part of the world I'm involved in. It has to do with getting advance cassettes and being excited about new bands and seeing what's happening. So it's natural that you’d be friends with these people. Not all of them – there's a lot of people I disagree with. But especially in Seattle, I keep seeing the same two critics at every show I go to. I think it's interesting that they're there. They'll write a review, and I'm there because I'm digging it. But we're there for the same reason.

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blackkudos · 6 years ago

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Eric Benét

Eric Benét Jordan (born October 15, 1966), known professionally as Eric Benét, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, who has received a total of four Grammy nominations to date for his musical work.

Biography

Benét was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is the youngest of five siblings.

Benét sang with a Top 100-style group called Gerard in the late 1980s. Benét, his sister Lisa, and his cousin George Nash Jr. formed a band called Benét and released a self-titled album in 1992, and it went on to sell over 100,000 copies. Two years later, Eric Benét broke onto the music scene with his solo career and signed with Warner Bros. Records, releasing his debut solo album, True to Myself in 1996. His second album, A Day in the Life, was released in 1999 and featured his smash hit "Spend My Life With You (featuring Tamia)". The song rose to #1 on the US Billboard R&B charts (for 3 weeks), was certified gold, and nominated for a 2000 Grammy Award for "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group". The album also won a Soul Train Music Award for "Best R&B/Soul Album, Male".

Benét's career, however, was interrupted by a series of personal tragedies. His father died of cancer. In addition his girlfriend, Tami Marie Stauff, died on April 24, 1993, from injuries suffered in an automobile accident, leaving Eric a single father to their one-year-old daughter, India (born 1991). Mom Joyce Jordan.

He married actress Halle Berry in January 2001, but by early October 2003 they had separated, with the divorce finalized in January 2005.

On July 31, 2011, he married Prince's ex-wife, Manuela Testolini, who gave birth to their first child, a girl named Lucia Bella, on December 21, 2011. They welcomed their second daughter together, Amoura Luna, in July 2014.

Career

In 1994, Benét signed with Warner Bros. Records, releasing his solo debut album, True to Myself in 1996. Individual songs from the album were successful, including the top-ten R&B hits "Spiritual Thang", "Femininity" and "Let's Stay Together", which originally appeared on the soundtrack of the film A Thin Line Between Love and Hate.

In between albums, Eric collaborated with his then-labelmates Somethin' for the People on their 1997 album This Time It's Personalsinging leads on the single "Act Like You Want It". His next album, A Day in the Life, was released in 1999. Its first single, "Georgy Porgy (featuring Faith Evans)" received significant airplay, but the second single, "Spend My Life With You (featuring Tamia)", became a smash hit. "Spend My Life With You" rose to number one on the American R&B charts, was certified gold, and nominated for a 2000 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group. The album, A Day in the Life also won a Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Album, Male.

Benét also recorded for Earth, Wind, and Fire's 30th anniversary CD. He contributed vocals to the post-Katrina charity single, "Heart of America" along with Michael McDonald, Wynonna Judd, and Terry Dexter. He has also lent his vocals to many jazz albums for such artists as Wayman Tisdale, George Duke, Chris Botti, Jeff Lorber, Boney James, etc.

Benét recorded his following album Better and Better in 2001, but Warner Bros. rejected to release this album and forced him to stay in the R&B genre. Due to the controversy about music style and creative freedom, Benét changed to Reprise-distributed label Friday Records and recorded his next album, Hurricane. Thus Hurricane became his third (released) studio album on June 21, 2005 in the US. "I Wanna Be Loved" was the song that received the most airplay. The single reached number two on the Urban Adult Contemporary chart.

His fourth album Love & Life was released on September 9, 2008. It debuted at number eleven on the Billboard 200 and number two on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, making this his own highest peak position since A Day in the Life in 1999. The first single "You're the Only One" is also his first top 20 hit on the R&B chart in two years.

Lost in Time was Benét's fifth studio album which was released in the US on November 30, 2010. The first single "Sometimes I Cry" reached number one on the Hot Adult R&B Songs Chart. With its musical direction representing Benet's homage to the sweet soul sound of the early to mid-1970s, the album featured duets with Faith Evans; Chrisette Michelle; Ledisi; and Eddie Levert of The O'Jays.

On June 5, 2012 Eric then released his latest album The One. It was the first album released on Benét's newly formed record label Jordan House Records, which he created in partnership with EMI. "Real Love" was the first single off The One and was the #1 added song to Urban AC when shipped to radio in October 2011.

In 2013 Eric Benet's 6th studio album, The One, won him the SoulTracks Readers' Choice Award for Best Male Vocalist. The Onedelivered 3 big hit tracks including 'Runnin,' 'Real Love,' and 'Harriett Jones.'

In April 2014, Benet signed R&B singer-songwriter Calvin Richardson and Goapele to his imprint along with BMG/Primary Wave Music to release their upcoming albums in the US.

In 2014, Eric Benet released an international album, The Other One, teaming up with the European production collective, The Afropeans to revisit his 2012 album The One.

Later that year, he then released an album of classic cover songs, exclusively distributed in Japan, titled, From E to U, Vol. 1.

In April 2016, he announced a new single "Sunshine" set to premiere on May 13, ahead of his eighth studio album due in the fall.

On October 7, 2016 Benét released his eponymous seventh studio album and first major album release since 2012's "The One", the album featured guest appearances from Tamia, Arturo Sandoval and MC Lyte.

Acting career

Benét has also been active as an actor; he had a recurring role on For Your Love (TV series) (1998–2002). He made his film debut alongside Mariah Carey in Glitter (2001). He has a recurring role on the MTV scripted show Kaya (2007) where he plays a music producer. Benet appeared on Half & Half in which he portrayed Reece Wilcox in 2005.

His second feature film role Trinity Goodheart premiered at the American Black Film Festival on July 9, 2011 and is set to premiere on GMC on August 20, 2011.

In Fall of 2013, Eric Benet brought his talents to the television screen when he appeared on the second season of BET's hit television show, The Real Husbands of Hollywood. Benet introduced the world to his comedic skills as a guest star alongside Kevin Hart, Bobby Brown, and Boris Kodjoe. The Real Husbands of Hollywood is filmed in a style similar to that of Bravo's popular television series, The Real Housewives.

Discography

Albums

True to Myself (1996)

A Day in the Life (1999)

Better and Better (2001) (unreleased)

Hurricane (2005)

Love & Life (2008)

Lost in Time (2010)

The One (2012)

Eric Benét (2016)

Compilations

The Other One (2014)

From E to U: Volume 1 (2014)

Awards and nominations

Black Reel Awards

Grammy Award

NAACP Image Award

http://wikipedia.thetimetube.com/?q=Eric+Ben%C3%A9t&lang=en

#Eric Benét

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Hulu New Releases: October 2021

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We’re deep into the fall TV season, which means it’s time to keep the new show faucet going. With its list of new releases for October 2021, Hulu is bringing several new original series to the table.

The biggest Hulu original this month is undoubtedly Dopesick. This miniseries starring Michael Keaton premieres Oct. 13, is based on a book, and covers the U.S. opioid crisis in heartbreaking depth. To counterbalance that bleakness a bit, Hulu is also making a go of some food programming this month. Baking competition Baker’s Dozen premieres on Oct. 7. That will be followed by David Chang’s The Next Thing You Eat on Oct. 21.

There’s not much to speak of in terms of original Hulu movies in October 2021. The addiction documentary Jacinta premieres on Oct. 8 and should be an appropriate companion to Dopesick. The first of the month features the usual rush of library films including Star Trek, The Hunger Games, Total Recall, and The Village.

October is also a good time to catch up on some recent underappreciated TV. The full series of Castle (Oct. 6) and Champaign ILL (Oct. 12) are both set to arrive.

Here is everything else coming to Hulu this month.

Hulu New Releases – October 2021

October 1 Big Sky: Season 2 Premiere (ABC) Cake: Season 5 Premiere (FXX) Grey’s Anatomy: Season 18 Premiere (ABC) Station 19: Season 5 Premiere (ABC) The Bachelorette: Complete Season 13 (ABC) A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) Air Force One (1997) Ali (2001) Blippi’s Spooky Spells Halloween (2021) Boxcar Bertha (1972) Cedar Rapids (2009) Chasing Papi (2003) Class (1983) Clifford (1994) Clockstoppers (2002) Code 46 (2004) Crimson Tide (1995) Date Night (2010) Dead of Winter (1987) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2011) Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (1993) Dr. No (1962) Edge of the World (2021) Escape from Alcatraz (1979) Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave (2000) Flatliners (1990) From Russia with Love (1964) Goldeneye (1995) Goldfinger (1964) Happy Feet (2006) Happy Feet Two (2011) The Holiday (2006) House of Games (1987) The Hunger Games (2012) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (2014) The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015) Hunt for the Skinwalker (2018) Intersection (1994) Licence to Kill (1989) Light It Up (1999) Lost In Space (1998) The Love Guru (2008) Mad Max (1980) Madhouse (2004) The Mask of Zorro (1998) Maze (2017) Mean Creek (2004) Meet The Spartans (2008) My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) The Offence (1973) Peeples (2013) The Perfect Holiday (2007) Queen of the Damned (2002) Racing with the Moon (1984) The Recruit (2003) Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985) Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) Road Trip (2000) Rushmore (1999) The Saint (1997) Signs (2002) Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) Sleepless In Seattle (1993) Snatch (2000) Species (1995) Species II (1998) Species III (2004) Species: The Awakening (2007) The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Star Trek: Generations (1994) Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) Still (2018) Sweet Home Alabama (2002) Sweet Land (2006) The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) Teen Wolf (1985) Theater of Blood (1973) Tooth Fairy (2010) Total Recall (2012) The Untouchables (1987) Victor Frankenstein (2015) Vigilante Force (1976) The Village (2004) The Vow (2012) Waitress (2007) What About Bob? (1991) When A Man Loves A Woman (1994) Within (2016) Wolves at the Door (2016) Wrong Turn 2 (2007) October 3 Saturday Night Live: Season 47 Premiere (NBC) Finding Your Feet (2018) October 4 America’s Funniest Home Videos: Season 32 Premiere (ABC) Maggie’s Plan (2015) The Program (1993) Unfaithful (2002) October 6 Castle: Complete Series (ABC) October 7 Baker’s Dozen: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original) October 8 Jacinta (2021) (Hulu Original) Cannabis Evolution (2019) October 9 Shark Tank: Season 13 Premiere (ABC) October 10 G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) Rogue Hostage (2021) October 11 Gunda (2020) Madonna and the Breakfast Club (2019) October 12 Champaign ILL: Complete Series (Sony) The Loneliest Whale (2021) October 13 Dopesick: Series Premiere (Hulu Original) CHiPS (2017) October 14 Real Housewives of Orange County: Complete Season 15 (Bravo) Censor (2021) Out of Death (2020) October 15 America’s Book of Secrets: Complete Season 2 (History) Beyond Oak Island: Complete Season 1 (History) Beyond Scared Straight: Complete Seasons 4, 5, 6 (A&E) Hoarders: Complete Season 3 (A&E) Little Women: Atlanta: Complete Seasons 1, 2 (Lifetime) Married at First Sight: Couples Cam: Complete Season 10 (Lifetime) Marrying Millions: Complete Season 2 (Lifetime) Nightwatch: Complete Season 1 (A&E) Seven Year Switch: Complete Season 3 (Lifetime) Swamp People: Complete Seasons 1, 2 (History) A Murder to Remember (2020) Cheer Camp Killer (2020) Miss India America (2015) Sleepwalker (2017)

October 16 Home Sweet Home: Series Premiere (NBC) October 18 Dream Horse (2020) October 20 The Bachelorette: Season 18 Premiere (ABC) Queens: Series Premiere (ABC) October 21 The Next Thing You Eat: Complete Season 1 (Hulu Original) The Evil Next Door (2021) October 22 The Blacklist: Season 9 Premiere (NBC) Gaia (2020) October 23 The Marksman (2021) Silent Night (2021) October 25 Come Away (2020) October 26 Maybe Next Year (2020) October 27 For Madmen Only (2021) October 28 First Date (2021) Smelliville (2021) October 30 Catfish: The TV Show: Complete Season 8D (MTV) October 31 Spirit Untamed (2021)

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Leaving Hulu – October 2021

October 16 The Skeleton Twins (2014) October 23 An American Haunting (2006) October 25 The Artist (2011) October 26 Good Deeds (2012) October 30 Slumdog Millionaire (2008) October 31 12 Years a Slave (2013) 21 (2008) 30 Days Of Night (2007) 30 Minutes Or Less (2011) 71 (2015) Air Force One (1997) Ali (2001) An Elephant’s Journey (2018) Are We There Yet? (2005) Attack The Block (2011) Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest (2011) Blast From The Past (1999) Bound (1996) Boxcar Bertha (1972) Chaplin (1992) Class (1983) Clifford (1994) Code 46 (2004) Dead of Winter (1987) Dr. No (1962) El Dorado (1967) Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave (2000) The Final Girls (2015) First Knight (1995) Flatliners (1990) Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974) Freelancers (2012) From Russia with Love (1964) Fun in Acapulco (1963) Goldeneye (1995) Goldfinger (1964) Hanging Up (2000) Hondo (1953) Hoosiers (1986) The Hot Chick (2002) House of Games (1987) Hud (1963) I Spit On Your Grave (2010) I Spit On Your Grave 2 (2013) I Spit On Your Grave 3 (2015) The Indian in the Cupboard (1995) The Last Stand (2013) Licence to Kill (1989) Mad Max (1980) Madhouse (2004) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) The Manchurian Candidate (2004) The Mask of Zorro (1998) McLintock! (Producer’s Cut) (1963) Mud (2013) New Year’s Eve (2011) The Offence (1973) Paws P.I. (2018) Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) The Perfect Holiday (2007) Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985) Revolutionary Road (2008) Road Trip (2000) Romy And Michele’s High School Reunion (1997) Rules of Engagement (2000) Rushmore (1999) Safe (2012) Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) Sleepless In Seattle (1993) Snatch (2000) Spare Parts (2015) The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) Species (1995) Species II (1998) Species III (2004) Species: The Awakening (2007) The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) Sweet Land (2006) The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) Teen Wolf (1985) The Thin Red Line (1998) Theater of Blood (1973) They Came Together (2014) To Die For (1995) Total Recall (2012) Transcendence (2014) Under The Tuscan Sun (2003) Vigilante Force (1976) Walking Tall (1973) Watchmen (2009) We Were Soldiers (2002) What About Bob? (1991) White Nights (1985)

The post Hulu New Releases: October 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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detainedengineers · 3 years ago

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10 Popular Self-made Bollywood Stars who Really Empower the Industry

Shining Stars who broke the chain of Nepotism

Well, it’s interesting to know that unlike other self-made Bollywood stars some famous actors and actresses were cast by their own family support in the industry. Although some newly added stars kids achieved good rank by their super creative acts, some had lost their existence after a few movies they worked in. But if some aspirant, belongs to a non-filmy forefather’s background and wants to be a star in the Bollywood industry then can easily resume their confidence, energy, and positivity for being an outsider by getting more about our top-rated stars those stills breaking Nepotism belief in Bollywood.

Not even today but from the beginning of days of Bollywood’s top film directors had felt some pressures over their shoulder to complete big-budget movies with newly added Star’s kids, and sometimes it was audiences first wish seeing these kids on the screen. The Time-after-time industry is overwhelmed by such pressure over its backbone, but let me tell you that abilities and skills are God-gifted and we can say this by analyzing many real stories of self-made Bollywood stars who were from the alien world for this Industry.

Well, it’s a big reality for the world that appears after the biggest shocking news about Sushant Singh Rajput and his shocking death became the biggest controversial element in entire Bollywood. The media raised the truth about Nepotism and invest more time to investigate how non-filmy-background artists facing so much bad behavior in the industry. We are here today, came with some self-made bollywood stars and their inspirational stories that will show that being an outsider is not unfortunate for many newcomers.

Let’s see more about our favorite actors and actresses whether they are ‘Super Star’s Kids’ or ‘Self-made Bollywood Stars’?

Shahrukh Khan

Who can overlook Sharukh Khan’s life and marvelous Bollywood journey that he started from his first TV role in Dil Dariya (1988) and in Fauji (1989)? And he got his first big break in ‘Deewana’ that changed his life completely. Who had thought that a Delhi college passed out and a newly married person would be a superstar in the future? His inspirations still enlighten the dreams of thousands of acting lovers of common families or those who still believe that a person needs a link in the acting industry. Millions of Bollywood newcomers take Shahrukh’s life journey as a big inspiration for themselves whenever they feel unmotivated.

Apart from ‘Dil To Pagal Hai‘, ‘Yes Boss‘, and ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge‘, his two big achievements by the negative role played in the movies — Baazigar and Darr are inspirations for new artists that anyone can mark their acting sign even by his negative role in the movie as a tagline of an ‘Anti-Hero’. This means we can inspire millions through our best work whether it’s negative or positive. He is the super example of self-made Bollywood stars.

Anushka Sharma

Born in Ayodhya, brought up in Bangalore, Anushka Sharma started her career journey in Mumbai as a fashion model in 2007, but she never thought her first successful romantic movie dragged her foot to the top-rated actress in Bollywood and would find a husband as a player of all time in history.

Anushka’s journey can easily say to millions that when there is will then there is hope for you and you have to believe that anything can happen in your life, and you can achieve anything if you wish for it, you can be the next self-made Bollywood stars like her. ‘NH10‘ and ‘Sui Dhaaga’ are some short budget films that show her amazing confidence along with her incredible acting skills.

We must say, non-filmy-family’s actors and actresses, like Anushka Sharma, are never afraid of losing their high-ranking position in the industries and they do what their heart wants nailing their acting abilities and inspire their followers.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, a name that we have to remember whenever we saw a new ad popping over pocket screens. Many times, we never paid attention to some commercial tv ads that were truly a part of today’s big stars’ struggling life because they had non-filmy-forefathers, but when we start learning more about our self-made Bollywood stars some of their short roles in ads and songs make us believe that hard work is everything to achieve our aim. Along with his gangster’s appearances in Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), and Raman Raghav 2.0, he acted as common Indians in ‘The Lunchbox’ (2013) and ‘Manto’ (2018).

Nawazuddin’s life stories are no less than an inspiration for millions of newcomers. Yes, he had started his career as a commercial ad personality but Nobody can believe that this gangster-looking tough guy had been selling medicines to a chemist in Vadodara for a year. If such a chemist guy breaks the chain of Nepotism why can’t anyone?

Aishwarya Rai

Miss world crown was at the head of Aishwarya Rai in 1994, but no one knows that she had been doing her acting lessons in her college before her Miss world achievement. ‘Kandukondain Kandukondain’, ‘Chokher Bali’, ‘Raincoat’, and ‘Provoked‘ all these dramas and short movies in different languages explain that she never minds showing her appearances in versatile look.

Since she was very curious and unfearful towards her goal, she gave her best and amazing performances in Dhoom 2, Mohabbatein, Jodhaa Akbar, and many more. It’s very interesting for all her fans to know that her own family was backing her up in her early movies, made her like other famous self-made Bollywood stars, and her movie: ‘Dil Ka Rishta’ (2003) was co-produced by her brother and co-written by her mother.

It’s really great example of her family support and because of it, she got so many awards in life. Two ‘Filmfare Awards’, ‘Padma Shri’ by the Government of India in 2009, and ‘Ordre des Arts et des Lettres‘ by the Government of France in 2012 are enough to show her achievement along with the top dream girls of millions of hearts at her career peak time.

Aishwarya’s life decisions are incredibly important for every Bollywood newcomer because she had taken a very wise step to be miss world in 1994 before to be a gorgeous-looking actress in Bollywood, and this is very inspirational and thoughtful.

Manoj Bajpayee

Manoj Bajpayee, a face that has become the best villain in town was once the struggling actor in low-grade Bollywood movies, but he has put his competitors in the dust today. However, he is super busy in versatile roles, today, he started his career with just a one-minute role in 1994.

It’s really hard for newcomers to stay positive in the industry with just one minute of acting role-play, but he achieves a big name as self-made Bollywood stars in the industry after getting many short roles in his early life acting career.

Bajpayee is also known for his versatile performance as a villain, supporting actor, and lead actor. Three National Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards, and two Asia Pacific Screen Awards are enough to show his incredible acting abilities without any back supports.

Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra, once appeared as a proposed girl in Salman khan’s movie, ‘Mujhse Shaadi Karogi‘ finally became the wife of Nick Jones (non-Indian blood) but her miss world of 2000 achievement can be a good inspiration for all acting girls.

Priyanka first appeared in a Tamil movie, Thamizhan in 2002, but she never looked back after her first breakthrough and she worked in different movies with some controversial characters, like a troubled model in ‘Fashion‘ and a negative role in ‘Aitraaz‘ and ‘7 Khoon Maaf‘.

Not only in Bollywood but she like other self-made Bollywood stars has done some fantastic roles in Hollywood with big names like Dwayne Johnson, and this can be a big inspiration for every newcomer.

Pankaj Tripathi

Like all students of an acting school, Pankaj Tripathi nailed his skills and dreamt to be a big star one day, but his early age role as a girl is still very interesting for his fans. Pankaj Tripathi came to fame just after his two early worthy roles for his acting career: the first is a commercial ad for Tata Tea, and the second is in the movie — Run.

Kaleen Bhaiyya of Mirzapur, Pankaj Tripathi, has a management degree in Hospitality from the Institute of Hotel Management, Hajipur. So, don’t worry if you’re willing to be a star and have a different degree with you, you’re not going to be bad about your dreams. All you need to be focus and action towards your real work happiness as he did. He is one of them who are most deserving self-made Bollywood stars.

You can also see here 10 Most Popular Stars From Ott Platforms in India

Madhuri Dixit

Madhuri Dixit had never thought that she would be called a Dhak Dhak girl for millions, but soon she broke many hearts after getting married who was totally alien to her fans. By profession, her husband was a doctor and that was unexpected for her millions of Fans. she worked with all three Khans, Big B, Anil Kapoor, but never felt uncomfortable working with the fresh faces of Bollywood, and complete more than 70 films.

She got her first leading role in the drama, Abodh, but she received her first breakout in 1988 with the movie, Tejab featured with Anil Kapoor, and her all-time favorite dancing moves at the song of ‘Ek do, teen‘, which made her profile as inspirational self-made Bollywood stars, today.

Ayushmann Khurrana

Ayushmann Khurrana an actor that has never found any shame working as a TV host, a singer who never thought his acting skills were always better than his songs, and a father of two still looks newly passed out from a reputed urban college. Anshuman Khurana made his mark as a self-made Bollywood stars with his widely watched movie ‘Vicky Donor‘, but it is an interesting element for his fans that Anshuman has won the second season of the reality television show ‘MTV Roadies’ in 2004.

However, Khurana’s performance in Andhadhun and a cop role in Article 15 won him two back-to-back Filmfare Critics’ Awards for Best Actor, he still doesn’t mind working in short movies or such plays that inspire society and anyone who still worries about being an outsider in the industry.

Deepika Padukone

Deepika is one of the highest-paid actresses in Bollywood at present, but as a teenager, her first wish was to win in the national level badminton championship.

She started as a badminton player because her father was a badminton player, and soon after she become a fashion model, and without any hesitations, she started her acting career in 2006 to be the next superstar like others self-made Bollywood stars with a Kannada film, ‘Aishwarya‘, ‘Om Shanti Om‘ become the biggest part of her career and being an outsider in the industry, she was never afraid of working the big roles in many remarkable movies like, ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani‘, ‘Bajirao Mastani‘, and ‘Chennai Express.

Padukone’s next big desire is to be the top-rated Hollywood actress, and for that, she already spread her career wings from the action movie ‘XXX: Return of Xander Cage‘. However, it will be totally humorous for every badminton player if you ask them acting just even a short Vlog, but Deepika had transformed her life and her entire career by shifting every good opportunity in life.

You also can see here Top 10 Best Must Watch Indian Web Series

Read more about Bigg-Boss Winners: CLICK HERE..

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#news #_lmsid:a0Vd0000003sA7XEAU #_uuid:b0c562f7-deee-3899-86f2-d98fdba0eb46 #lists #_author:Wendy Geller #gay kisses #iconic gay tv kisses #_revsp:yahoo.com/tv

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gillespialfredoe01806ld · 7 years ago

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MTV’s ‘Real World’ House in San Francisco Available for Unreal Price of $7M

Google Maps

The building in San Francisco‘s Russian Hill neighborhood is a detached triplex from 1925 that was completely redone about 10 years ago after a fire tore through the structure.

The aftermath of those flames mean you won’t feel any 1990s-era vibes with this property, as it’s significantly changed since the MTV staple aired. Sorry, Gen Xers.

Living room

realtor.com

Limestone patio

realtor.com

Kitchen

realtor.com

Rooftop deck

realtor.com

Bay view

realtor.com

What you will get: three completely renovated units, including new flooring, walls, updated kitchens, and baths. The exterior even got a face- lift, with re-sided limestone.

The middle flat features a living room with small balconies, a remodeled kitchen with dining area, two bedrooms, and remodeled bathrooms.

The upper unit boasts a great room with living and dining area, a remodeled kitchen, two bedrooms, two full remodeled baths, and direct access to a 1,500-square-foot deck with major views.

A buyer could purchase the building as an investment and rent out all the apartments, or even combine the top two and rent out the lower one, suggests Ahlberg.

The building is just steps from the famously crooked part of Lombard Street, and includes a five-car garage.

The post MTV’s ‘Real World’ House in San Francisco Available for Unreal Price of $7M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

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dc408dxtr · 8 years ago

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DC ExtraTime on Tumblr: Before They Were MTV Stars - When Nelly Met Jerry

FROM DCBLOG: http://dc408dxtr.blogspot.com/2017/04/dc-socialpulse-challenge-invasion-caged.html

Back in January, we looked back at the time when two fairly recent MTV alums: Trey from Real World St. Thomas and two Challenges, and Ryan from Are You The One? Season 1, tried their hand at winning themselves some more money after winning some money on MTV when the two went on CBS game shows The Price is Right and Let's Make A Deal. There, Trey went to TPIR under his actual name of Walter and won a surfboard, and Ryan went to LMAD wearing the same, signature Aladdin outfit he wore to one of the matchup ceremonies from that original AYTO season.

Well, you can add a third person from the Trifecta to that list, which also brings us to a piece of 90's nostalgia that's still with us today, and worthy for us to share with you in this first piece of ExtraTime this weekend and this latest edition of Before They Were MTV Stars. And if you're into daytime television, then you know that there are a lot of talk shows that air each and every day, and one of them is our co-subject.

Jerry Springer may have been born in London to two Jewish refugees who escaped from Poland to Germany, but it's safe to say he is one of America's greatest treasures. After serving as a campaign adviser to Robert Kennedy before his assassination and being a lawyer, Jerry turned to politics and in 1971 was elected to Cincinnati's city council. He was forced out three years later when he admitted to have hired a prostitute, but won back his seat the following year, which then turned into him becoming mayor in 1977, then running for governor of Ohio and two times for a U.S. Senate seat.

In the '80s, local NBC affiliate WLWT hired Springer as first a political reporter and commentator, but then became its main news anchor. During his tenure, he occupied a spot once held by Cincinnati's best-known newscaster Al Schottelkotte and then by George Clooney's dad Nick: #1 in the ratings. Much in the same manner as it is today, the final segment in each newscast gave Jerry a chance to do commentary which would morph into his "Final Thought." And it ended with the same phrase at the end of each newscast and show since: "Take care of yourself, and each other."

In 1991 came another bold venture: The Jerry Springer Show. WLWT developed the show and format to match that of the iconic talk show Donahue...both of which were produced by the station's then-parent company, Multimedia, Inc. It began in much the same manner as the show of the longtime talk veteran in being more focused on politics and current issues, playing off the subject matter of Jerry's commentaries... and where Jesse Jackson, gun politics and family reunions were the norm. They even shared both the hair style and glasses, too.

A year after Springer left the anchor desk to focus on his talk show, in 1994 new executive producer Richard Dominick shifted the format to more tabloid topics and sensationalism. Out went serious topics and highbrow issues... in came controversial subjects like prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, being a cross-dresser and being part of a hate group, all featuring everyday people like you and I. Being a '90s guy, I remember watching Jerry's show every day during those summer school breaks off and seeing highlights of it on E!'s Talk Soup, and couldn't get enough watching all this unfold.

Also in were the kind of stuff that's par for the course in reality TV nowadays: plenty of screaming and on-stage violence, plus sights of the bald head of security guard Steve Wilkos, and the audience chanting "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!" The result: enormous viewership that rivaled (and in some cities, out-rated) Oprah, and substantial attention that even led to a short-lived commentary gig in Chicago. There was even a musical on London and the U.K. based on the talk show itself, with Jerry's role played by Harvey Keitel.

Around doing a show still around some 26 years and 3,900 episodes later and as he's into his 70's, Jerry also served as one of the many who have hosted the summer sensation America's Got Talent over the course of that NBC show's past decade on-air. He's also done some talk show work for the jolly old folks over in Britain, and yes, he's also one of the hundreds who have also competed on one of that country's great TV exports: Dancing with the Stars when he appeared in 2006. He even hosts a show on WWE Network, and even recorded an album of country covers (if you can believe that).

This brings us to why we brought up Jerry in this bit: for five years, Jerry hosted a show on the Game Show Network called Baggage. Like AYTO, it was a dating game show and was one the highest-rated original show in its five seasons on the air on a niche network that has shown just about every TV game show since it went on the air more than two decades ago. Baggage gave three contestants an opportunity to win a date, much like the show that gave the world these romantic game shows, The Dating Game. There was a catch to all this: the contestants brought on set three suitcases: small, medium and large cases with a proposition that is either unique, weird, gross or embarrassing depending upon the story. This necessary piece of travel gear came to represent the "baggage" they had to confess and to defend, and the bigger the case was meant the bigger of these secrets, and likely the most hilarious or shocking the revelation. The three players were then played down to a single one, and the date would then have to reveal something if they wanted the date.

For one of those five seasons Baggage was on GSN, the show went on the road to colleges across the U.S., and in one of those episodes of Baggage on the Road it went to Austin, Texas. It also happened to be home base for Nelson, and he auditioned to be one of those contestants to try their luck on going on a date, just as it was for fellow AYTO alums Brittany and Scali on The Choice.

In another Instagram post, Nelly captioned, "Everybody tune in to the show called "Baggage on the Road", featuring Jerry Springer as the Host and me as one of the contestants. It's a Blessing and I thank him everyday for each opportunity that I have received to reach my Dreams🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏✈️✈️✈️🎬🎬🎬🎬🎥🎥🎥🎥🎥📺📺📺 #GGG #Family #PhotoOfTheDay #Dreams #Love #Selfie" This also happened to be one of his few TV appearances before he made it onto Are You The One: years before that, he also appeared on a drama called The Lying Game, and took a selfie from the set of ABC's American Crime.

We do not have a video of Nelson's actual appearance on the show, but embedded below is one of those promos for Baggage on the Road, which still airs on Game Show Network in reruns (the channel is, by the way, a favorite of my younger brother), and beneath that is a screen cap from the show's Twitter account which shows the actual answer inside his suitcase in which he admits that, "I'm a sex addict." Quite fitting for someone we saw in Hawaii and then here on Invasion seeing him go under covers with Latoya in the Shelter.

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#The Challenge #The Challenge Invasion #Nelson #Nelson Thomas #Jerry Springer #AYTO #Are You The One

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faithisaverb · 8 years ago

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Nirvana & hidden pain.

Day 30: Nirvana & hidden pain.

Today’s song is “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” by Nirvana from their 1994 album MTV Unplugged in New York.

The song was the final song from the band’s performance on the MTV show Unplugged, which had popular bands perform their sets acoustically, often to very interesting results. This episode debuted on MTV in December of 1993. I remember my friend Brian had taped it, and then recorded the audio of it onto a cassette, which I listened to a lot. Nirvana was one of my favorite bands, and this was something new. Bootlegs were hard to get, and they were expensive (and I was only 13, so I’d have to convince my parents to drive me into Iowa City to spend $30 on a CD that may or may not sound like garbage). This tape was like my own bootleg, which only cost me a blank tape, and it was beautiful and different sounding than other Nirvana stuff.

I even went out and bought a Lead Belly album (the folk blues legend from the 1930’s who has the definitive version of this song which Nirvana was covering).

I particularly loved this last song. It was haunting and simple, yet it built to this huge crescendo (the only time in the whole recording that Kurt Cobain went into his “rock” voice), and then it slams on the breaks for this odd moment – which I’ll get to in a minute – before concluding.

Five months later, I came home from school, turned on MTV (since no one was home), and saw that Kurt Cobain had killed himself.

I picked today’s song not just because it’s a great song, but for one specific moment in the song. The odd moment. It comes right at the end of the song. Just as Cobain is screaming out the last lines, almost in agony, the whole song comes to an abrupt stop. Cobain gives out a pained sounding howl on the line “…the whole…”

And then…

For no more than one second (this is at 4:14 mark in the video below), his expression completely changes, and he opens his eyes and stares, letting out a very heavy and anguished audible sigh. In this moment, you can see clear eyed pain. Then, as quickly as it appeared, he falls back into the song and it is performance again. When I saw the report that he died, I immediately thought of that moment. I remember when I watched the show, the rest of the song was a performance, but that one second was an eerie level of honesty. His face goes from one of interpretation of the lyrics to the steely gaze of honest pain, then back into the performance.

Cobain struggled greatly with drug use, chronic pain, and bouts of depression, and he did not know how to handle the celebrity that he did not ask for.

In retrospect, his suicide was seen as something that was less of a surprise given all of the signs. But at the time, no one appreciated those signs. It’s always easy to see things after the fact. No one at the time thought this would happen. On that day in April 1994, I don’t remember anyone being anything other than shocked. Depression, both clinical depression and the simple emotional suffering that we endure, is something that we quickly learn to hide. It can be overwhelming and all encompassing. It affects how you view everything, how you hear everything, and how you process everything. Inside you can be screaming for someone to reach out to help, yet also resenting anyone who would offer. It is toxic. It can envelop you like a cloud that only you can see, and you don’t know how long it will stay. The real danger of depression is that it is fueled by an utter loss of hope. The more depressed we find ourselves, the less hope we have, and then we cycle into a downward spiral.

Lent is, at its heart, a season of hope. It is a season of preparing for something that has been promised. It is hoping and trusting in the claim by Christ that this is not the end. More than any other Christian season, Lent and Easter demonstrate the idea of Christian hope, that our whole faith is based on a foundation of hope. Paul tells us that we have a foundation of faith, hope, and love. Love is the greatest, because once we see God face to face, we will no longer need faith and hope because we will be living in the immediate reality of God’s love.

So Hope is huge. As the church, we need to remember this, because it is the main thing that we can offer to the world. Because of our hope, we can have faith in God, and because of our faith in God, we cha have love for the world. Everyone you meet is carrying an unseen, heavy load of pain. For some, it is a load that is seasonal, one that is manageable and has a clear end date. For many, though, this load is chronic, overwhelming, and overpowering. Many people are able to hide this enough that we don’t intervene. Yet sometimes, the veil drops and we come face to face with their pain, if only for a second. Know that we all carry pain. Love the people around you knowing that the pain that they carry with them is greater than what they are willing to reveal to you.

Let us be people who know the beauty of hope, the grace of a God who loves us enough to take on our pain. And let us spread this message of hope to everyone. There are people who suffer silently in your life that you would never expect were in pain.

We must live in hope, and share it like it’s the antidote to pain.

We must build our faith in a God that loves us so much that all our pain will be taken.

And we must love everyone like their life depends on it.

(Watch this video if you aren’t sure what it is, or what to do about it)

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If you are suffering right now, if you are surrounded by a cloud of pain that you cannot see an escape from, please tell someone. Let them in.

Know that you are loved by more people than you know, and that you are loved more than you will ever know by the God who created the universe. Know that you are important. Know that you are not alone.

This is not the end. Even though it doesn’t seem like it at times, I have it on good authority: everything is going to be okay.

See the video of today’s song below. Click here to see the full Lenten playlist.

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#lent2017

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blackkudos · 6 years ago

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Cornel West

Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, author, public intellectual, and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America. West is an outspoken voice in American leftist politics, and as such has been critical of many center-left figures, including President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. He has held professorships at Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, Union Theological Seminary, and the University of Paris during his career. He is also a frequent commentator on politics and social issues in many media outlets.

From 2010 through 2013, West co-hosted a radio program with Tavis Smiley, called Smiley and West. He has also been featured in several documentaries, and made appearances in Hollywood films such as The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, providing commentary for both films. West has also made several spoken word and hip hop albums, and due to his work, has been named MTV's Artist of the Week. He has also been portrayed on Saturday Night Live by Kenan Thompson.

The son of a Baptist minister, West's work focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society and the means by which people act and react to their "radical conditionedness." Self-styling himself as a radical democrat socialist, West draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, including Christianity, the black church, Marxism, neopragmatism, and transcendentalism. Among his most influential books are Race Matters (1994) and Democracy Matters (2004).

Early life

West was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and grew up in Sacramento, California, where he graduated from John F. Kennedy High School. His mother, Irene (Bias), was a teacher and principal, and his father, Clifton Louis West Jr., was a general contractor for the Defense Department. Irene B. West Elementary School in Elk Grove, California, is named for his mother.

As a young man, West marched in civil rights demonstrations and organized protests demanding black studies courses at his high school, where he was class president. He later wrote that, in his youth, he admired "the sincere black militancy of Malcolm X, the defiant rage of the Black Panther Party, and the livid black theology of James Cone."

In 1970, after graduating from high school, he enrolled at Harvard College and took classes from philosophers Robert Nozick and Stanley Cavell. In 1973, West graduated from Harvard magna cum laude in Near Eastern languages and civilization. He credits Harvard with exposing him to a broader range of ideas, influenced by his professors as well as the Black Panther Party. West says his Christianity prevented him from joining the BPP, instead choosing to work in local breakfast, prison, and church programs. After completing his undergraduate work at Harvard, West enrolled at Princeton University where he received a Ph.D in 1980, becoming the first African American to graduate from Princeton with a Ph.D. in philosophy. At Princeton, West was heavily influenced by Richard Rorty's neopragmatism. Rorty remained a close friend and colleague of West's for many years following West's graduation. The title of West's dissertation was Ethics, historicism and the Marxist tradition, which was later revised and published under the title The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought.

Career

Academic appointments

In his late-20s, he returned to Harvard as a W. E. B. Du Bois Fellow before becoming an Assistant Professor at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. In 1984, he went to Yale Divinity School in what eventually became a joint appointment in American Studies. While at Yale, he participated in campus protests for a clerical labor union and divestment from apartheid South Africa. One of the protests resulted in his being arrested and jailed. As punishment, the University administration canceled his leave for the spring term in 1987, leading him to commute from Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, where he was teaching two classes, across the Atlantic Ocean to the University of Paris.

He then returned to Union for one year before going to Princeton to become a professor of Religion and director of the Program in African-American Studies from 1988 to 1994. After Princeton, he accepted an appointment as professor of African-American studies at Harvard University, with a joint appointment at the Harvard Divinity School. West taught one of the University's most popular courses, an introductory class on African-American studies. In 1998, he was appointed the first Alphonse Fletcher University Professor. West utilized this new position to teach in not only African-American studies, but also in divinity, religion, and philosophy. West left Harvard after a widely publicized dispute with then-President Lawrence Summers in 2002. That year, West returned to Princeton, where he helped create "one of the world’s leading centers for African-American studies" according to Shirley Tilghman, Princeton's president in 2011. In 2012, West left Princeton and returned to the seminary where he began his teaching career, Union Theological Seminary. His departure from Princeton, unlike his departure from Harvard, was on good terms and he remains an emeritus professor at Princeton.

The recipient of more than 20 honorary degrees and an American Book Award, he has written or contributed to over twenty published books. West is a long-time member of the Democratic Socialists of America, for which he now serves as an honorary chair. He is also a co-founder of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. West is on the advisory board of the International Bridges to Justice.

In 2008, he received a special recognition from the World Cultural Council.

West is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and its World Policy Council, a think tank whose purpose is to expand Alpha Phi Alpha's involvement in politics and social and current policy to encompass international concerns.

In 1995, The New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier charged him with opportunism, crass showmanship, and lack of scholarly seriousness. Wieseltier specifically dismissed West's books as "almost completely worthless" because, he said, they are "noisy, tedious, slippery ... sectarian, humorless, pedantic and self-endeared." Nonetheless, West remains a widely cited scholar in the popular press.

In November 2016, Harvard announced that West would be returning to the university to hold a joint appointment at the Harvard Divinity School and the Harvard Department of African and African-American Studies.

Entertainment career

West appears as Councillor West in both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions and also provides the voice for this character in the video game Enter the Matrix. In addition, West provides philosophical commentary on all three Matrix films in The Ultimate Matrix Collection, along with integral theorist Ken Wilber.

He has made several appearances in documentary films also, such as the 2008 film Examined Life, a documentary featuring several academics discussing philosophy in real-world contexts. West, "driving through Manhattan, . . . compares philosophy to jazz and blues, reminding us how intense and invigorating a life of the mind can be." He also appears in conversation with Bill Withers in the Bill Withers documentary, Still Bill.

West has made frequent appearances on the political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher.

A character based on West and events in his career appeared in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode Anti-Thesis, significant for introducing the recurring villain character Nicole Wallace.

In May 2012, West guest-starred in the sixth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, "What Will Happen to the Gang Next Year?".

On the musical front, West recorded a recitation of John Mellencamp's song "Jim Crow" for inclusion on the singer's box set On the Rural Route 7609 in 2009.

In 2010, he completed recording with the Cornel West Theory, a hip hop band endorsed by West. He has also released several hip-hop/soul/spoken word albums. In 2001, West released his first album, Sketches of My Culture. Street Knowledge followed in 2004. In 2007, West released Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations, his third album which included collaborations with the likes of Prince, Talib Kweli, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, KRS-One, and the late Gerald Levert. West appeared on Immortal Technique's song "Sign of the Times", which appeared on the 2011 album The Martyr. In 2012, he was featured on Brother Ali's song "Letter to My Countrymen", which appeared on the album Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color.

Dispute with Lawrence Summers

In 2000, economist and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers became president of Harvard. Soon after, Summers held a private meeting with West, where he reportedly rebuked West for missing too many classes, contributing to grade inflation, neglecting serious scholarship, and spending too much time on his economically profitable projects. Summers reportedly suggested that West produce an academic book befitting his professorial position, as his recent output had consisted primarily of co-written and edited volumes. According to some reports, Summers also objected to West's production of a CD, the critically panned Sketches of My Culture, and to his political campaigning, including an alleged three weeks to promote Bill Bradley's presidential campaign. West contended he had missed only one class during his tenure at Harvard "in order to give a keynote address at a Harvard-sponsored conference on AIDS." Summers also allegedly suggested that since West held the rank of Harvard University Professor and thus reported directly to the President, he should meet with Summers regularly to discuss the progress of his academic production.

Summers refused to comment on the details of his conversation with West, except to express hope that West would remain at Harvard. Soon after, West was hospitalized for prostate cancer. West complained that Summers failed to send him get-well wishes until weeks after his surgery, whereas newly installed Princeton president Shirley Tilghman had contacted him frequently before and after his treatment.

In 2002 West left Harvard University to return to Princeton. West lashed out at Summers in public interviews, calling him "the Ariel Sharon of higher education" on NPR's Tavis Smiley Show. In response to these remarks, five Princeton faculty members, led by professor of molecular biology Jacques Robert Fresco, said they looked with "strong disfavor upon his characterization" of Summers and that "such an analogy carries innuendoes and implications... that many on the Princeton faculty find highly inappropriate, indeed repugnant and intolerable."

Harvard University's undergraduate student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, suggested in October 2002 that the premise of Law and Order: Criminal Intent episode "Anti-Thesis" was based on West's conflicts with Summers.

Activism

Views on race in the United States

West has called the U.S. a "racist patriarchal" nation where white supremacy continues to define everyday life. "White America," he writes, "has been historically weak-willed in ensuring racial justice and has continued to resist fully accepting the humanity of blacks." This has resulted, he says, in the creation of many "degraded and oppressed people hungry for identity, meaning, and self-worth." West attributes most of the black community's problems to "existential angst derive[d] from the lived experience of ontological wounds and emotional scars inflicted by white supremacist beliefs and images permeating U.S. society and culture."

In West's view, the September 11 attacks gave white Americans a glimpse of what it means to be a black person in the United States—feeling "unsafe, unprotected, subject to random violence, and hatred" for who they are. "The ugly terrorist attacks on innocent civilians on 9/11," he said, "plunged the whole country into the blues."

West was arrested on October 13, 2014, while protesting against the shooting of Michael Brown and participating in Ferguson October, and again on August 10, 2015, while demonstrating outside a courthouse in St. Louis on the one-year anniversary of Brown's death. The 2015 documentary film #Bars4Justice includes footage of West demonstrating and being arrested in Ferguson.

Politics

West has described himself as a "non-Marxist socialist" (partly because he does not view Marxism and Christianity as reconcilable) and serves as honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, which he has described as "the first multiracial, socialist organization close enough to my politics that I could join". He also described himself as a "radical democrat, suspicious of all forms of authority" on the Matrix-themed documentary The Burly Man Chronicles.

West believes that "the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's ugly totalitarian regime was desirable," but that the war in Iraq was the result of "dishonest manipulation" on the part of the Bush administration. He asserts that Bush Administration hawks "are not simply conservative elites and right-wing ideologues", but rather are "evangelical nihilists – drunk with power and driven by grand delusions of American domination of the world". He adds, "We are [now] experiencing the sad gangsterization of America, an unbridled grasp at power, wealth, and status." Viewing capitalism as the root cause of these alleged American lusts, West warns, "Free-market fundamentalism trivializes the concern for public interest. It puts fear and insecurity in the hearts of anxiety-ridden workers. It also makes money-driven, poll-obsessed elected officials deferential to corporate goals of profit – often at the cost of the common good."

West has been involved with such projects as the Million Man March and Russell Simmons's Hip-Hop Summit, and worked with such public figures as Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton, whose 2004 presidential campaign West advised.

In 2000, West worked as a senior advisor to Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley. When Bradley lost in the primaries, West became a prominent endorser of Ralph Nader, even speaking at some Nader rallies. Some Greens sought to draft West to run as a presidential candidate in 2004. West declined, citing his active participation in the Al Sharpton campaign. West, along with other prominent Nader 2000 supporters, signed the "Vote to Stop Bush" statement urging progressive voters in swing states to vote for John Kerry, despite strong disagreements with many of Kerry's policies.

In April 2002 West and Rabbi Michael Lerner performed civil disobedience by sitting in the street in front of the U.S. State Department "in solidarity with suffering Palestinian and Israeli brothers and sisters." West said, "We must keep in touch with the humanity of both sides." In May 2007 West joined a demonstration against "injustices faced by the Palestinian people resulting from the Israeli occupation" and "to bring attention to this 40-year travesty of justice". In 2011, West called on the University of Arizona to divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

West also serves as co-chair of the Tikkun Community. He co-chaired the National Parenting Organization's Task Force on Parent Empowerment and participated in President Clinton's National Conversation on Race. He has publicly endorsed In These Times magazine by calling it: "The most creative and challenging news magazine of the American left". He is also a contributing editor for Sojourners Magazine.

West supports People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in its Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign, aimed at eliminating what PETA describes as KFC's inhumane treatment of chickens. West is quoted on PETA flyers: "Although most people don't know chickens as well as they know cats and dogs, chickens are interesting individuals with personalities and interests every bit as developed as the dogs and cats with whom many of us share our lives."

In 2008, West contributed his insights on the current global issue of modernized slavery and human trafficking in the documentary Call+Response. West is a member of the Campaign for Peace and Democracy.

In 2011, West addressed his frustration about some critics of the Occupy Wall Street, who remark about the movement's lack of a clear and unified message. West replied by saying:

It's impossible to translate the issue of the greed of Wall Street into one demand, or two demands. We're talking about a democratic awakening...you're talking about raising political consciousness so it spills over all parts of the country, so people can begin to see what's going on through a set of different lens, and then you begin to highlight what the more detailed demands would be. Because in the end we're really talking about what Martin King would call a revolution: A transfer of power from oligarchs to everyday people of all colors. And that is a step by step process.

On October 16, 2011, West was in Washington, D.C., participating in the Occupy D.C. protests on the steps of the Supreme Court over the court's decision in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case the previous year. Five days later, he was arrested during an Occupy Wall Street protest in Harlem against the New York Police Department's stop and frisk policy.

Views on Barack Obama

West has often spoken about the lack of adequate black leadership and how it leads to doubt within black communities as to their political potential to ensure change. Cornel West publicly supported 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama. He spoke to over 1,000 of his supporters at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, on November 29, 2007.

West criticized President Obama when Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, saying that it would be difficult for Obama to be "a war president with a peace prize". West further retracted his support for Obama in an April 2011 interview, stating that Obama is "a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black muppet of corporate plutocrats. And now he has become head of the American killing machine and is proud of it." In November 2012, West said in an interview that he considered Obama a "Rockefeller Republican in blackface."

Melissa Harris-Perry, a professor of political science at Tulane University, criticized what she described as the "utter hilarity" of West's statements, writing that his comments are a "classic projection of his own comfortably ensconced life at Harvard and Princeton Universities" and that West "offers thin criticism of president Obama and stunning insight into the delicate ego of the self-appointed black leadership class". West later called Harris-Perry a "fake and a fraud".

In 2011, West participated in a "Poverty Tour" with Tavis Smiley, his co-host on the Public Radio International program Smiley & West. The tour became a two-part special on their radio program as well as a five-night special on the PBS television program Tavis Smiley. They recounted their experience on the tour in their 2012 bestselling book The Rich and the Rest of Us. The stated aim of the tour was to highlight the plight of the impoverished population of the United States prior to the 2012 Presidential Election, whose candidates West and Smiley stated had ignored the plight of the poor.

In 2014, West gave an interview slamming Obama, calling him a "counterfeit" who posed as a progressive. West defined Obama's presidency as "a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency, a national security presidency."

2016 presidential election

In 2015, West expressed his support for Democratic contender Bernie Sanders during an interview on CNN Tonight. West argued that Sanders' plans to divert wealth from Wall Street elites to the poorest members of society would be beneficial for the African-American community. On August 24, 2015, West tweeted, "I endorse Brother @BernieSanders because he is a long-distance runner with integrity in the struggle for justice for over 50 years."

In July 2016, after Sanders exited the presidential race, West endorsed Green Party nominee Jill Stein and her running mate Ajamu Baraka.

Following the victory of Donald Trump, West contended in an op-ed for The Guardian that white working and middle class voters "rejected the economic neglect of neoliberal policies and the self-righteous arrogance of elites," yet "supported a candidate who appeared to blame their social misery on minorities, and who alienated Mexican immigrants, Muslims, black people, Jews, gay people, women and China in the process."

Published works

"Black Theology and Marxist Thought" (1979) – essay

Prophesy Deliverance! An Afro-American Revolutionary Christianity (1982)

Post-Analytic Philosophy, edited with John Rajchman (1985)

Prophetic Fragments (1988)

The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy of Pragmatism (1989)

Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life (with bell hooks, 1991)

The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought (1991)

Prophetic Thought in Postmodern Times: Beyond Eurocentrism and Multiculturalism (1993)

Race Matters (1994)

Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America (1994)

Jews and Blacks: A Dialogue on Race, Religion, and Culture in America (with rabbi Michael Lerner, 1995)

The Future of the Race (with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 1996)

Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black America (1997)

The War Against Parents: What We Can Do For America's Beleaguered Moms and Dads (with Sylvia Ann Hewlett, 1998)

The Future of American Progressivism (with Roberto Unger, 1998)

The African-American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Century (with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 2000)

Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism (2004)

Commentary on The Matrix, Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions; see The Ultimate Matrix Collection (with Ken Wilber, 2004)

Hope on a Tightrope: Words & Wisdom (2008)

Brother West: Living & Loving Out Loud (2009)

The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto (with Tavis Smiley, 2012)

Pro+Agonist: The Art of Opposition (2012)

Black Prophetic Fire (2014)

Filmography

Film

Street Fight (2005)

The Matrix Reloaded (2003) ... Councilor West

The Matrix Revolutions (2003) ... Councilor West

Examined Life (2008)

#Bars4Justice (2015)...Himself

Television

"What Will Happen to the Gang Next Year?" (2012)

Discography

Albums

Sketches of My Culture (2001)

Street Knowledge (2004)

Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations (2007) (with BMWMB)

Guest appearances

E-40 - "Born in the Struggle" from Revenue Retrievin': Overtime Shift (2011)

Bootsy Collins - "Freedumb" from Tha Funk Capital of the World (2011)

Immortal Technique - "Sign of the Times" from The Martyr (2011)

Brother Ali - "Letter to My Countrymen" from Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color (2012)

Terence Blanchard - Choices (2009)

Terence Blanchard - Breathless (2015)

Wikipedia

#Cornel West #06-02

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