#this is when John largely stopped participating on George's song

[georgeharrisonsmiling]

[mithranqueersmusings]

Before This Dance Is Through VI

Chapter: 6/16

Rating: M (Smut Warning)

Summary: Ringo's being going through a dry spell for the last year or so and when he regretfully tells his best friend John, he insists on taking them to an all-male strip club for some "fun". Ringo isn't sure whether it's the alcohol, his desperation or a mixture of the two but he thinks he might be falling in love with a stripper.

Tags: AU - Strippers, Modern Setting, Smut, Slow Burn

Pairings: George Harrison/Ringo Starr, John Lennon/Paul McCartney

AO3 link here / Fic masterlist here

Ringo found himself getting excited for the following Tuesday, he'd be sitting at home watching the television and suddenly the image of Spike in a short skirt or wearing makeup would flash into his mind and he'd have to consciously calm himself. John tried to get him to go along to the club in the meantime, but Ringo refused for a multitude of reasons, although he wasn't sure which was the genuine one. Part of him was still a little nervous about facing Spike again, especially after how much alone time he'd been spending with his pictures. Another simply told him that he wanted to wait, it'd be more special that way, and he didn't really have the primal urge that John seemed to have that resulted in him ending up at the club almost every night.

In the days leading up to the event Ringo spent most of his time working. The school year was coming to an end which meant he was being called in for a mass amount of activity days. They weren't Ringo's favourite thing in the world, he much preferred earning his money by teaching students one-on-one but it definitely mixed things up a little. The day would mostly consist of younger children coming into a large hall where Ringo would talk for a little bit about drumming before the students got a chance to try it out themselves. It got a little chaotic at times, and Ringo felt relieved that he didn't have to bring his own kit in because these children were anything but predictable. Sometimes they'd result in one or two students expressing a real interest in drumming and so Ringo would give them one of his business cards to pass along to their parents; more often than not it wouldn't result in anything at all but on occasion he could get several new students from participating in a few of these activity days.

One aspect of these events that Ringo never enjoyed was the attention he got from the teachers. He'd gotten used to it by now: one of the younger female teachers asking to try it out and for Ringo to show them how to play - just an excuse to get him stood over them with a chance of their hands touching - but no matter how often it happened it didn't make it any less aggravating. While the children busied themselves with the array of instruments set out, Ringo often had no choice but to stand at the back and talk to whichever teacher was meant to be supervising them. The smalltalk wasn't the problem, usually it was quite refreshing to talk to someone else who worked with children, it was the awkward flirting that drove him up the wall. The worst was when they'd pretend to have a child interested in learning how to drum, or that they themselves were, but when Ringo would actually press for details it would amount to nothing. It was never the men that flirted with him, Ringo had started to think he was the only gay teacher in the area, and there had certainly been times he'd wished they had.

"You need to look gayer." John had pointed out.

"I'm going into a school, John, I can't rock up in a rainbow tank top covered in glitter." Ringo chuckled.

"Why not? Kids love glitter."

There was one male teacher in particular that Ringo had liked the look of, but he'd only met him the once; he taught English, or had it been art? The problem was that the female teachers would be so desperate to volunteer to stand in for Ringo's lesson with the students, even if they seemed to be aware there was no chance of anything actually happening, that he rarely got to see another man. Every time he went back to that same school he'd hoped to see that particular teacher again, yet he was always disappointed.

He was heading back home after completing a session at the local secondary school, the one he'd actually attended when he was younger, fairly exhausted from the energy of the children and massively exhausted from the persistency of the women. As he sank into the driver's seat of his car with a sigh, he swore he was going to buy a rainbow pin to attach to his jacket to ward off anything in the future. On his way home he stopped off at the record shop, partly to pick up something that'd improve his mood but mostly in the hopes that he'd see Spike again. He'd rather see him in an ordinary setting, without the dynamic that existed in the club, as strange as it had been at first. But luck was apparently not on his side today as there was no sign of Spike anywhere in the shop, he'd even browsed the clothes in the basement, which he'd never done before, just to increase the chances of bumping into him.

When Tuesday finally came around Ringo was in dire need of some intoxication, so much so that he went along with John's idea of beginning the drinking before they'd even sat down to eat dinner. Ringo cooked for the two of them while John sat in the kitchen waffling on about some new idea he was having for a story. It was unusual for them to be eating dinner over at John's place, but it was far closer to the club and Ringo definitely wasn't going to risk driving with how much alcohol he was planning on drinking.

"I'm surprised your oven isn't covered in cobwebs considering how little you use it." Ringo stated as he fried up some bacon.

"Why would I use the oven when I have a perfectly good microwave?" John mumbled in response, he was scrawling down ideas messily in a notebook.

"This is not a perfectly good microwave." Ringo chuckled as he gestured with the spatula.

"Calm down, Gordon Ramsay." John quipped.

"What are you even writing?" Ringo asked as he walked away from the oven.

"My mate's putting together some gay poetry book and asked me to write something for it." John explained without looking up "I should've finished it two days ago but I forgot."

"Maybe tonight will give you some inspiration." Ringo tried to read what John had already scribbled down but his handwriting was fairly intelligible.

"Don't tempt me. Paul's already said he won't accept any more poems as payment." John chuckled to himself.

"Any more?" Ringo raised his eyebrows.

"Long story." John finally looked up then and flashed Ringo a grin.

By the time they'd finished eating they were already quite drunk, John had begun blasting music from one of his many playlists.

"Sooooo." John leaned over the table slightly "How's Spike been treating you these last few days?"

Ringo felt his face reddening and he tried to tell himself it was just the alcohol "No complaints from me."

"Can I have a look?" John tilted his head and smiled.

"Er-" Ringo hesitated "I dunno."

"Oh come on!" John reached his hand forward teasingly "I'll give you the 20p or however much a day costs, if that's what you're so worried about."

Ringo didn't budge "Pay for it yourself if you wanna see."

"I'm the one who bloody told you about it in the first place, you twat." John huffed but he was still smiling "Is there something you're not telling me, Ringo?"

"What do you mean?" Ringo shuffled in his seat.

John's smile widened then he casually picked up his drink to take a sip "Nothing. Don't mind me."

The two of them managed to get over to the club in one piece, although John did stumble into the road a couple of times. It was considerably more busy than a normal Tuesday night, or so John claimed, and there were far more people clamoured outside smoking than there usually was. Ringo felt like he had to brace himself before stepping inside, closing his eyes for a second and taking in a deep breath. The amount of people inside was astounding and Ringo began to worry that this had been a bad idea after all. Music was blaring as loud as always, it was difficult to even think but luckily Ringo didn't really need to think when he had John by his side, pulling him over to the nearest bar. As they moved further into the club Ringo could finally see what all the fuss about, one of the strippers was walking around in tall heels with a transparent platform - the kind Ringo had seen in films - paired with a lilac skirt and a white bra. Ringo recognised the man under the makeup from when he'd been here before, he never found him particularly attractive but the sight of him like this definitely interested him at least a little.

"This is gonna be well confusing for my sexuality." Ringo stated as they moved away from the bar with their drinks in hand.

"Best of both worlds for me." John replied with a grin as he looked out amongst the crowd of people.

"So you're into girls again now, are you?" Ringo nudged John lightly.

John paused for a second then turned his head to face Ringo "What are you drinking?"

"Vodka coke, why?" Ringo furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Well you were drinking beers back at my place. You're into drinking vodka now?" John raised his eyebrows in turn.

"I don- Oh, I see. Point made." Ringo punctuated his sentence with a sip of his drink.

It was difficult to get a decent view of the main stage on which someone dressed as Madonna was doing a very graphic dance to 'Like a Prayer', Ringo had never really thought about the double meaning of that song until this moment, but considering it was neither Paul nor Spike they weren't entirely interested. Both of them were scoping around for any sign of their 'preferred' man but it was almost impossible to pinpoint anyone in such a mass of people, particularly when none of the dancers were particularly looking like themselves. John grabbed Ringo around the wrist and pulled him through the crowds until they were heading down to the back room, Ringo could recognise the rhythm of the distant song as Queen's 'I Want to Break Free'.

"I should've worn my Freddie outfit." John commented as they descended the stairs.

"Someone might've beaten you to it." Ringo chuckled.

"This is a strip club not a drag show, don't get it twisted." John shouted over the music as they walked through the door.

Ringo realised very quickly how very 'twisted' his expectations of tonight really had been when he caught a glimpse of what was happening on the stage. Upon hearing the song, Ringo had expected some crude recreation of the music video complete with fake moustaches and enormously large, and clearly fake, breasts. But no, he couldn't have been more wrong. Ringo stopped in his tracks in the doorway, his eyes widening and his throat feeling suddenly dry; John had to pull him forward with great force just to get them over to what few empty seats were left around the edge of the room.

"I told you this was the more alternative stuff." John said excitedly but it wasn't until he settled down on a stool that he realised "Wait... Is that-"

"Yes." Ringo replied bluntly, his mouth remaining slightly open after he'd finished speaking.

It was Spike. Of course it was Spike. Handcuffs were around his slim wrists, chaining him around the pole in the centre of the stage with his arms raised above his head. He wasn't wearing a wig but his face was painted quite beautifully, purple eye-shadow merged with dark eyeliner and a light peach lipstick, somehow he looked even more breathtaking than usual. The makeup was the least startling aspect of the whole thing, even the outfit wasn't what had stunned Ringo, although it was a definite contender; he wore a black laced-up corset which was pulled tightly around his slim frame connected to which were his stockings, on his feet he wore a velvet heel which buckled over his ankle. The sight was simply diabolical, the way his flat chest was still exposed and the hair of his underarms clearly visible alongside the femininity of his face and body. Even that wasn't the issue. The issue was that he wasn't alone on the stage, someone from the audience had stepped up and was slowly unlacing one of the threads of his corset. Ringo could see that a black skirt, almost a tutu, was lying discarded on the edge of the stage. When the realisation sunk in of exactly what was going on, Ringo wasn't sure he'd be able to get up again.

Spike had his characteristic grin on his painted lips as the man slowly pulled at the fabric keeping his corset in place, they were close enough that they easily could've kissed - and for a long time Ringo feared that they would. The man soon lost interest with the corset, giving Ringo a second to breathe in which he hoped the man was going to turn and leave, then moved his hand to run up Spike's clothed leg. He brushed his fingers over the thin material, gripping the back of Spike's thigh and lifting the leg up to wrap around his own waist. Ringo felt sick. If this had been anyone else, anyone else in the world, he wouldn't have cared, hell he probably would've been aroused by the whole thing. But it wasn't just anyone, it was Spike. The worst part was that he had no reason at all to be getting upset, this was his job and Ringo certainly wouldn't have been complaining had he been in the man's position.

"Is this even legal?" Ringo mumbled to John.

"Fuck knows." John's eyes were wide with excitement "Are you gonna go up there?"

"Me?" Ringo scoffed "Not very likely."

The man had continued running his hands over Spike's body, but as soon as his fingers crept up towards his crotch he was pushed away; it was light, clearly wanting to appear playful, but the man quickly got the message and hurried back to his seat somewhat embarrassed as though he'd fallen into some kind of trance. Now alone on the stage, Spike began scanning the audience - who were watching very intently - for someone else to help him 'break free'. While he waited he made a very enticing show of how bound to the pole he was, sinking down almost to the floor with his hands still raised high as he spread his knees out to draw attention to prominence lying in his tight underwear.

"I like this. Very clever. Why do the stripping when they can do it for you?" John was talking more to himself than to Ringo, who was barely listening.

Spike's eyes moved over to where the two of them were sitting and Ringo thought time must've stopped for at least a second. John took a moment or two to realise the eye contact but as soon as he did he was quick to move, shoving Ringo off of the stool and luckily onto his feet. Ringo was surprised his knees didn't give out immediately, but he was stable enough to turn around to glare at John who looked at him smugly.

"You can thank me later." John winked and then nudged Ringo towards the stage with his foot.

Fuck. Ringo prayed for the floor to swallow him up in that moment, it almost felt like it had when he saw Spike's expectant gaze looking directly at him. He wished he could've just sat back down but not only did he not want to make a fool of himself, but also he knew John wasn't going to allow that. Slowly he made his way over to the stage, fortunately the room was so small so it didn't take him long, meaning he didn't have to be so conscious of not only Spike's but also the whole room's eyes on him. He could hear his heart thumping in his ears, his breath was uneven and he had to consciously stop his hands from shaking. Spike's grin had grown, his eyes slightly squinting as Ringo approached him sheepishly. John had begun whooping from where he sat which spurred on a few others in the audience. The whole thing felt like some strange fever dream, perhaps even a nightmare.

Spike had gotten back up to his full height, usually he was only slightly taller than Ringo but now with the added platform of the heels he practically towered over him. Even in this submissive position, with his arms helplessly chained above him, Spike still oozed dominant energy as he watched Ringo fumble where he stood in front of him. Ringo had no idea what to do, his hands felt heavy and almost impossible to lift; watching someone strip was one thing, but actually stripping someone was something else entirely. Up close he looked even more stunning, a faint blush lying on his cheeks which accentuated his high cheekbones perfectly, his dark eyelashes elongated with mascara and sparse glitter dotted across his fair skin. Ringo never considered himself as someone particularly kinky, but he was feeling a rush he'd never felt before. He had no idea how long he'd been stood there, how long he'd been staring up at Spike who's teeth were beginning to show past his curled lips. It must've been long enough for Spike to worry that it would start getting awkward if he didn't do something, and do something he did.

It all seemed to happen in a heartbeat, Spike turning himself around and bending downwards so that his bare arse - he was wearing yet another thong, which Ringo had quickly noticed - grazed against Ringo's crotch. Ringo let out a small gasp, bordering on a moan, as he watched Spike's tongue dart over his sharp tooth. He hadn't realised that an erection had already been growing since he'd laid eyes on Spike like this, but the sudden contact make him very aware of how hard he was getting. It sent a bolt of adrenaline through Ringo's body and he was sure to make use of it, he didn't want to stand there like an idiot as much as it would've been the easiest thing to do, so began imitating what he'd seen the previous man doing and started unlacing the ribbon of Spike's corset. While he did this, or attempted to at least, Spike continued to move his hips and dip down slightly on the pole but never quite made contact. Both the ribbon and Spike's skin were soft to the touch, the silky feeling of the material put Ringo at ease somewhat. His fingers must've been quite cold because every time they brushed against Spike's skin he let out a quiet noise, Ringo didn't think he was aware he was even doing it. The unravelling had been far easier than Ringo had expected it to be, his desperation in the moment probably helped considerably, and soon the corset fell off of Spike's chest with ease. Ringo held it in his hand for a second and wasn't sure what to do with it: the skirt had clearly been tossed aside without much care but Ringo really didn't want to look inconsiderate like the previous man had. Spike seemed to notice Ringo's momentary dilemma and gestured slightly with his head for Ringo to throw it, which he did quite erratically. John let out a loud cheer at this and Ringo was suddenly very aware of his presence on the stage; had John been silent this entire time or had his brain just blocked it all out? It was enough of a falter in his mindset that Ringo decided it was best he got back to his seat. As much as he'd love to pick off each item of clothing piece by piece until there was nothing left, this alone had almost been overwhelming and he didn't want to risk looking like an idiot.

Ringo flashed a nervous smile to Spike who was still watching him with that same intense gaze, then hurried off the stage to clutch his drink eagerly. For a moment Ringo thought he saw a hint of disappointment in Spike's eyes as he turned away, and that when he got back to his seat Spike had been looking at him while he'd been walking, but he wasn't sure. John gripped Ringo with both hands and shook him excitedly, a massive grin on his face.

"I told you tonight was going to be the one! And it's only just getting started." John giggled as he finally let go of Ringo.

As much as Ringo didn't like to admit when John was right, though it happened far more than anyone would've expected, his words in that moment couldn't have been truer. The night was only getting started, what followed was nothing Ringo could've anticipated.

[freddiesaysalright]

My Man Part IV

A Ben!Roger Taylor x Reader Fic

Summary: Reader is a Broadway actress currently starring in a West End production of Funny Girl. She’s a widow, thanks to the Vietnam War, but it’s a well-kept secret. She also wants everyone to think she doesn’t care for rock music. She met Roger Taylor when he brought his date backstage. They didn’t start off great, but a party at Freddie’s turned them around. Now, they’re friends.

Word Count: 2.1K 

Tag List: @bohemian-war @kittygirlno @rebelrebelyourefaceisamess @rockyroadthepastryarchy @goodoldfashionedloverboyy @jennyggggrrr @discodeacygotmorerhythm @x1975sos  If you’d like to be added, let me know!

Part I   Part II   Part III

Over the coming weeks, your time with Roger became as sacred to you as the hours you were on stage each night. He was so open and fun and passionate, and he brought that out of you whether you realized it or not. In the years after losing George, you became a ghost. A shadow of a woman who went through the motions. You only showed energy on stage. With Roger, you were alive. You were an active participant in your spirit flourishing. Even Gary told you that your Fanny Brice was improved. You sang more soulfully, your jokes hit harder, and your tears meant more.

You could not place when exactly Roger had done this for you. But you guessed it was the slow chipping away at the wall around your heart. It had taken years to build. Now came this idiot drummer with a good smile and wicked humor. It made you incredibly happy but more conflicted than ever.

You could not deny your attraction to him after that first of several erotic dreams about him. Even when you were awake and he touched your arm or hugged you, you thought about what it would be like. Not only to make love to him, but to be his. To give him your heart completely.

Then you remembered George. True, it had been years, but he was the only man you’d ever been with. And you thought the love you shared with him was once in a lifetime. When he died, you told yourself there was no way you could ever feel that again. But with Roger, you felt the butterflies and the happiness. It was less hopeful than with George, since you were terrified of being hurt more than ever. Your heart was beaten and battered and you did not think you could take it if you lost Roger too. All the emotions would hit you at once and you’d get so overwhelmed. Weirdly enough, the person to calm you down was always Roger.

You also hung out with the band a lot. They were always popping over to each others’ places and spending time, even outside the studio. It was very sweet.

One day, you were at Roger’s and he was playing around on the drums. You liked to watch him play because his focus was incredible. You got to see how seriously he took his craft. It reminded you of all your late nights going over lines or pushing your voice to hit a note just once more. You had never realized how much went into drumming before.

“How do you do that?” you wondered aloud.

He stopped. “Do what?”

“Look so effortlessly talented.”

His brow furrowed. “Are you joking?”

“No!” you assured him. “You just make it look so easy.”

“It’s not,” he replied, smiling a little. “But don’t you think you do the same thing?”

“I don’t look like I’m having nearly as much fun,” you said.

“I disagree.”

“Could you teach me?” you asked suddenly.

His face lit up like the Fourth of July. “Hell yeah!”

He beckoned you over and let you take a seat behind the drum set. He stood behind you and guided you through a couple beats from Queen songs. You struggled through it, often doing the same thing with both hands.

Chuckling, he said, “Let me help you.”

He wrapped his hands around yours and moved them for you, slowly. His touch was soft and warm and you could feel his breath on your neck as he leaned over you. It sent a shiver down your spine.

Then he watched you attempt it again. You couldn’t help but notice the way he bit his lip watching you play. After a few more tries, you got it on your own.

“I nailed it!” you cried, excitedly. “But seriously, I don’t know how you do this.”

“Years of practice,” he returned. “Just like you, I expect.”

“That’s true.”

“Can you teach me something?” he asked, a sly look on his face.

“What could I possibly teach you?” you returned.

“Teach me to dance,” he said.

“I suppose I can try,” you agreed. “Move the couch back and I’ll move the coffee table.”

You did so, and it left ample space for the pair of you. He met you in the center of the room, and you were barely a foot from one another. You moved to adjust his arms for his frame before coming to stand in front of him again.

“Have you ever done the foxtrot?” you asked.

“Never in my life,” he told you.

“Okay,” you said with a laugh. “It’s not too difficult, I swear.”

You showed him the basic steps; what to do on which count and how to hold his frame. You felt a bit flushed at times when he was holding you so close. You took a turn about the room, and he finished with dipping you, causing you to laugh.

“Very good!” you praised as he led you upright again.

“Have I swept you off your feet?” he teased.

You rolled your eyes.

“I’ll just have to keep working on it then,” he said.

“Let’s put the furniture back,” you said.

Just when his living room was returned to its usual state, the door burst open. In walked Freddie, John, and Brian. They looked at Roger expectantly.

“What is it, guys?” he asked.

“Did either of you read the latest issue of In Tune?” Brian asked.

In Tune was a gossip magazine specifically about musicians. It was generally considered garbage, and yet they still sold out on shelves. Even a fake scandal was better than nothing, apparently.

“No,” you answered. “My eyes happen to be attached to my brain.”

Roger sniggered. John tossed you the magazine.

“You two made the front page,” he said.

“What?!” you gasped, looking at the cover.

It was true. There was a photo of you and Roger leaving a movie theater. The headline read, “Roger Taylor’s New Flame! A Secret Wedding?” In the corner, they had placed a close up of your left hand where your wedding ring was visible.

“Alright, Y/N, front page!” Roger joked, offering his hand for a high five.

You gave it to him, grinning. “Tony’s be damned, this is the greatest accomplishment of my life!”

They all laughed.

“How did you find this?” you asked.

“Saw it on the news stand,” Brian explained.

“I was just so thrilled they weren’t talking about me for once,” Freddie added.

“Did you read the article?” you wondered.

“No, we figured we’d wait and share that with you,” Freddie said.

You checked the cover and saw that the story was on page thirteen. Eagerly, you flipped to it and began to read aloud; “Roger Taylor, drummer for the infamous rock band Queen, was spotted coming out of a London cinema with a mystery lady last weekend. We suspect the pair eloped and have been together for months, as Taylor has not been seen in public with the usual amount of bimbos around him - now, that’s rude - for several weeks. Also, the new woman wears a plain band on her left ring finger. Could it be the playboy drummer has settled down at last? We intend to find out more! - Ugh it just goes on about women you’ve taken out before.”

“Do they really not know you’re the star of a West End show?” John wondered, taking the magazine and scanning it. “That seems rather ignorant.”

“That’s In Tune for you,” you said. “All about the rock stars and disco divas. Nothing about us poor, untalented Broadway performers.”

“It does mention you were seeing Grease,” John pointed out.

“Well, that is vital information,” Brian said.

Freddie looked at Roger. “Really? Grease?”

“She likes musicals!” Roger returned indignantly. “Also it was a cheap, late night showing.”

“A right Prince Charming, you are,” Brian remarked.

“Shut up,” Roger retorted.

“Really, you’d think you could splurge for the new Mrs,” you chimed in.

“Alright, next time I’ll take you to Paris,” he said. “How’s that for romance?”

“Can we still go see Grease though?” you said through a laugh.

“Sorry, but John Travolta’s head is too large for his body and it freaks me out,” he replied.

You giggled. “What the hell?”

“It’s just a thing,” he said with a shrug.

“My darlings, we’ve got to be at the studio,” Freddie interrupted. “We’re already late.”

“Only ‘cause we picked you up first,” John said.

Freddie grinned and then looked at you. “Would you like to come along?”

You shook your head. “I’ve got to get home before I head to the theater.”

“Want me to walk you home, Y/N?” Roger offered.

“No, thanks, I can make it,” you said.

“Have a good show,” he told you.

“Break a leg, darling,” Freddie said. “And come have dinner with us when it’s over.”

“You’ve got it, Mr. Mercury,” you promised.

You left after hugging them all. As you walked, you reflected. Each time you left Roger, your guilt subsided a little. You felt lighter than air as you entered your own flat. But your thoughts were interrupted when your phone rang.

“Hello?” you answered.

“Y/N,” the voice on the other end of the line was your agent, Stephen. “Are you busy?”

“Not at all, what’s up?” you asked.

“I’ve got incredible news for you,” he said. “There’s a production of Oklahoma in the works for here on West End, and the director is in town today. He called me and asked if you’d be willing to try for the part of Laurie!”

You nearly dropped your phone. Laurie was your dream role. The one that made you want to be an actress in the first place.

“You still there?” he asked.

“Yes,” you said, a little breathless. “I’m just - you know how I feel about that role!”

“I do, dear!” he returned. “I’m so excited for you! Can you meet him tomorrow at his hotel room?”

You froze. Meeting a stranger at his hotel room seemed odd. It was far from professional. You normally met a director or producer at a theater if they didn’t have an office.

“Is everything okay?” Stephen asked. “I know it’s a bit unorthodox, but he’s heading to America in three days to meet with the guy he wants for Curly. If you want me to tell him you can’t - ”

“Don’t be silly, I’ll go there,” you said, trying to sound more easy about it than you were.

“Great, I’ll let him know,” he said. “He wants to meet at two.”

He gave you the address and you wrote it down. You thanked Stephen and when you hung up, you squealed.

“I’m going to be Laurie!” you cried, pumping your fist in the air.

Later that night, you met up with Roger and the guys for dinner like you promised. As soon as you got to the restaurant, you ran to Roger and leapt into his arms. He spun you around and kissed your cheek.

“What’s got into you?” he wondered.

“I got the best news before the show tonight,” you said.

You explained to them what your agent said and they congratulated you. Roger was silent, though.

“What?” you asked.

“I don’t like the idea of you meeting him in a hotel room,” he said. “It’s sketchy.”

“Come on, Rog, you heard what she said,” Brian said, comfortingly. “It’s an unusual circumstance. I’m sure they’ll meet again properly, but she’s got to get her foot in the door.”

“Thank you, Mr. May,” you said, and then turned back to Roger. “Can’t you just be supportive?”

He frowned but agreed. “Of course. Congrats, Y/N.”

“Thank you,” you returned, but the tension remained the rest of the night.

When dinner was over, Roger did walk you home. As you fell in step beside him, his silence made you crazy. It felt childish but you refused to be the first one to speak. If he had a problem with how you handled your career, that was on him. You had nothing to apologize for.

“Can I see that address again?” he said, coming to an abrupt stop.

It was an odd way to begin an apology, but you obliged. You fetched the slip of paper from your bag and handed it to him.

“This is right around the corner from the studio,” he said. “Will you come by afterward and tell me how it goes?”

You beamed. “Of course I will!”

“Wonderful,” he returned and then gave you the directions. “You will be careful, won’t you?”

“You know me,” you said. “I’m always careful. Plus, I’m a grown woman. I don’t need protecting. Okay?”

With an irritated sigh he said, “Okay.”

“Thank you,” you returned. “Now, get me home, I’m getting cold.”

He didn’t reply, but took you under his arm for the rest of the walk.  

[superrichlads]

“I always work off the motto of, ‘if you think you’re working hard, there’s always someone else who’s working harder’… there is nothing easy about the sport or music industries, and you have to work so hard to be successful.” - Niall Horan

On The Loose: released official fourth single from Flicker, including a radio edit, lyric video (rip), official video, behind the scenes video, Basic Tape remix, Slenderbodies remix, acoustic version, acoustic video, and vertical video So Long: performed unreleased song on piano throughout Flicker World Tour dates Mirrors EP: released on vinyl for Record Store Day 2018 Seeing Blind: released acoustic video, live video, and radio single in Australia Finally Free: released song for Smallfoot soundtrack and live video recorded at the Greek Theatre, Los Angeles Flicker (song): released as a radio single in the Netherlands Flicker featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra: released live album in Ireland, featuring nine songs including an official live version of previously unreleased song So Long

81 tour dates: across Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and the Americas, playing arenas, amphitheatres, state/regional fairs, and large theatres Featured opening acts & special guests: including Wild Youth (Killarney), Julia Michaels (Europe), RuthAnne (Dublin), Lewis Capaldi (Glasgow), Hailee Steinfeld (London), Maren Morris (NZ, Australia, the Americas), Jayda (Manila), Ming Bridges (Singapore), Sugar Me (Tokyo) Setlist: featured 14-15 original songs and 3-4 covers Regular covers: Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen), Crying in the Club (Camila Cabello), Drag Me Down and Fool’s Gold (One Direction) Covers for select tour dates: Dancing in the Moonlight (Thin Lizzy - Dublin night 1), Where the Street’s Have No Name (U2 - Dublin night 2), Won’t Back Down (Tom Petty - Greek Theatre LA, Red Rocks & others), New York State of Mind (Billy Joel - Jones Beach Theater, Long Island), Life in the Fast Lane (Eagles - final September tour dates) Filmed Red Rocks show: for potential future release Top 50 worldwide tours of 2018: selling more than 445,000 tickets

BBC Biggest Weekend: played a six-song set on the second day of the festival in Swansea Reputation Tour: special guest for Taylor Swift’s first night at Wembley Stadium, performing Slow Hands together RTÉ Concert Orchestra special: performed nine songs from the Flicker album for broadcast in Ireland, later broadcast in France & South Africa Sounds Like Friday Night: performed acoustic version of On The Loose & interview  New York State Fair: played the headline show on the final day of the fair Official livestream: of Flicker World Tour Amsterdam show, in partnership with Live Nation, for a global streaming audience Late Late Show: performed Slow Hands on London episode Virtual reality concert: made London Flicker Sessions show available on MelodyVR platform

Sounds Like Friday Night: interview on BBC RTE: interview with Eoghan McDermott, as part of RTE Concert Orchestra Special The Project: interview on Australian TV The Voice Australia: guest mentor with Delta Goodrem Today Show: interview on Australian TV Sunrise: interview on Australian TV Studio 10: interview on Australian TV Late Late Show: guest on London show, brief appearance on show in October

TalkSport: co-hosted breakfast radio show in January & September Dubai Desert Classic: played in Pro-Am with Rory McIlroy and a competition winner, and participated in a golf clinic, helping two of his Modest! Golf clients gain entry to the pro event US Golf Masters: ambassador for Drive, Chip & Putt competition Ladies golf: signed Maguire sisters to Modest! Golf, announced Ladies event for NI Open in 2019 Ryder Cup: played in celebrity match & Team Europe ambassador BMW PGA Championship: played in Pro-Am with the winner of a BBC Children in Need charity auction Sky Sports British Masters: played in Pro-Am Interviews: ESPN, SkySports, BBC Radio 5, Golf Channel, Bunkered, Ladies European Tour, The Irish Times, Golf Magic, among others LUFC: provoked an infamous Twitter clapback from Leeds United Modest! Golf: supported four players who have secured tour cards for 2019

Irish referendum: supported the yes vote to legalise abortion March for Our Lives: supported cousin’s participation in march for gun control US politics: publicly denounced Trump (again) US mid-term elections: urged US citizens to vote

Horan & Rose: hosted the second edition of the charity gala & golf event, upping the total money raised for charity to £1.5 million to date Charity t-shirt: released second charity t-shirt raising funds for Cancer Research UK and the Kate & Justin Rose Foundation Rays of Sunshine: hosted teens at Flicker World Tour London soundcheck & show, donated Jingle Bell Ball Santa shirt for charity raffle Charity auctions: donated items for multiple fundraisers, including a signed guitar & VIP concert experience for a Grammy auction raising $4,500 for Musicares Foundation; signed boots to a Small Steps charity auction, raising £1,130; signed artwork; signed guitar to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation auction, raising €4,000 Anti-bullying Week: supported efforts to stop cyber-bullying on Twitter Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr: supported Brazilian football superstar’s work providing education for kids in Praia Grande, Brazil World Cancer Day: supported Cancer Research UK’s Unity Band initiative LauraLynn Hospice: spent time with kids in hospice care before Flicker World Tour Dublin show

BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw: how real are these Niall Horan ‘facts’?, can Niall Horan remember his own lyrics? BBC Radio 1 Biggest Weekend: when Niall Horan met Shawn Mendes BBC Radio 1 Biggest Weekend with Matt & Mollie: Niall Horan answers questions he’s never been asked before EW: Niall Horan listens to Dua Lipa, Springsteen and more on tour - check out his exclusive playlist Billboard Pop Shop podcast: Niall Horan on new song 'Finally Free,' 'disappearing' after tour to work on next album & 8 Years of One Direction MORE FM: Niall Horan talks about his “intimate” connection with NZ The Edge afternoons with Jono, Ben & Sharon: Niall Horan talks about being mates with Dan Carter The Edge 30: Niall Horan says NZ is his favourite country to perform in Nova 969 Smallzy’s Surgery: could new Niall Horan music be on the way? Nova 969 Smallzy's Surgery: Smallzy’s backstage tour with Niall Horan Nova 969 Fitzy & Wippa: exclusive chat On Air with Ryan Seacrest: Niall Horan recalls best Flicker World Tour moments so far FUN 107 The Michael Rock Show: Niall Horan surprising secret to great hair Walk 97.5 Christina Kay: interview Coup de Main: interview - Niall Horan on his upcoming NZ show, recording live, and honesty in writing ‘Flicker’  Coup de Main cover story: interview - eye to eye with Niall Horan GQ Italia cover story: Niall Horan: my life after One Direction George Ezra & Friends the podcast: Series 2, Episode 1 Zeit Leo: "I get restless very quickly." Singer Niall Horan has a slight obsessive-compulsive disorder. How music helps him, he tells here.

GQ Italia: Music Issue cover shoot Paul Smith: guest at Paris fashion show and spent time with the designer in his studio Revista GQ: Niall Horan is, right now, the only person who knows how to wear a shirt with undershirt as it’s done in 2018 Fashion Bean: best-dressed men of the week

US RIAA certifications: Slow Hands 3 x platinum, This Town 2 x platinum UK Official Charts certifications: Flicker x gold Australia ARIA certifications: Slow Hands 5 x platinum, Flicker x gold Canada Gold/Platinum certifications: Slow Hands 5 x platinum, Too Much To Ask x platinum Chile certification: Flicker x platinum Songwriting awards: BMI London Pop Awards Song for Slow Hands, BMI Los Angeles Award Winning Songs for Slow Hands & This Town  Spotify milestone: Flicker surpassed 1 billion streams in June 2018 Billboard #1s: achieved his 9th solo Billboard chart number 1, with Too Much To Ask reaching #1 on the Dance Club Songs Chart Billboard Year-End 2018: achieved album, song, radio, social and artist entries on the year-end charts US radio: On the Loose became Niall's fourth Top 20 single on Hot AC radio, and fourth single to chart on Mainstream Pop, Hot AC & AC radio formats, reaching #22 on pop radio Hollywood Music in Media Awards: Finally Free nominated for Original Song - Animated Film RTE Choice Music Prize: Slow Hands nominated for Irish Song of the Year iHeartRadio Awards 2018: winner of Best New Pop Artist & Best Lyrics (Slow Hands)

April: using soundchecks to come up with ideas October: wrote a tune on the piano November: ‘3 days into making tunes and it’s feeling good !!!!!’, ‘exciting watching ideas come to life in the studio’, in the studio with Julian Bunetta & John Ryan in Los Angeles I / II / III / IV, RuthAnne Cunningham tells CelebMix she will be writing with Niall for NH2 December: ‘exciting week of writing’, writing session with Jamie Scott, Mike Needle & Dan Bryer in London, ‘very much in writing mode’

Everyone loved Niall: and Niall loved everyone, but especially Hailee Steinfeld, whom he quietly dated while avoiding the media circus which often surrounds celeb relationships.

Soundcheck Q&A and Meet & Greets: made fan engagement a central part of his Flicker World Tour experience Golf events: made time for fans who came out to see him play at pro-am events Maintained boundaries: called out fans for taking creep shots & obnoxious behaviour Calmed audiences: and looked out for the wellbeing of fans at his shows, especially in Latin America Twitter & Instagram: read and responded to fan tweets and questions with a mixture of sincerity, gratitude, brutal honesty, and humour Jade: made one young fan’s night (/life) by inviting her up on stage to dance at the Allentown Fair show

Baby Marit: melted hearts everywhere offering reassurance to two new dads

[multipleservicelisting]

Biden’s Inauguration Will Feature Tom Hanks and Others

So many people thronged President Andrew Jackson’s inaugural reception that he was said to have escaped the White House through a window. President John F. Kennedy enlisted a Rat Pack friend, Frank Sinatra, to arrange the entertainment when he took office. And, well, the Obamas danced to Beyoncé.

The transfer of presidential power in the United States has always been a signature political event, but over the centuries it has developed into a major cultural touchstone as well — a swirl of parades, parties and performances shedding light every four years on the nation’s culture, the tastes of its leaders and the images they seek to project.

But with the coronavirus pandemic entering a deadlier phase, and Washington on edge after the riot at the Capitol and warnings of yet more security threats, the inauguration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will be different by necessity. It will join a long line of national events — big sports games, the Democratic National Convention, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and New Year’s Eve in Times Square — that have been forced to scale down and adapt to a socially distant, remote world.

On Wednesday, Mr. Biden’s inaugural committee announced that it would hold a prime time television event Jan. 20 featuring celebrities including Tom Hanks, Justin Timberlake and Jon Bon Jovi that aims to “showcase the American people’s resilience, heroism, and unified commitment to coming together as a nation to heal and rebuild.”

With crowds urged to stay home so as not to spread the virus even before a violent mob had tried to block the certification of the election, Mr. Biden’s inauguration promises to take on a different look, tone and feel from those of his predecessors.

“All inaugural activities follow a pretty standard series of events,” said Lina Mann, a historian at the White House Historical Association. “You have the parade, you have being at the Capitol, you have the speeches, you have oaths, and then, of course, you have inaugural balls. Those have been standard for over 200 years. This will definitely look a lot different than that.”

So, as the country prepares to usher in the Biden era with a series of atypical inaugural events conceived to meet the dire needs of the day, here is a look at how politics has crossed with culture at some of the history-making inaugural moments of the past.

From Dolley Madison to Teddy Roosevelt

It was the glittering ball that Dolley Madison held in 1809 at the inauguration of her husband, James — the first inaugural ball held in the new capital, Washington — that helped set the standard for making inaugurations into social events.

Two decades later, President Andrew Jackson allowed an estimated 20,000 people to attend a public reception tied to his inauguration. That turned out to be a few too many attendees, prompting his reported escape through a White House window.

Throngs also marred the ball that President Ulysses S. Grant had reluctantly agreed to hold in 1869. A reporter for The New York Times filed a postscript to his article about the chaos and the crowds at “2 o’clock a.m.” It opened: “The scene at the ball now baffles all description.”

And at President Theodore Roosevelt’s second inauguration, the parade playlist featured “There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight,” and among the marchers were cowboys; Native Americans, including Geronimo; delegations from Puerto Rico and the Philippines; and Harvard undergrads. “If there was any considerable type of American life not represented in the three hours and a half of effervescent enthusiasm that boiled its way up the avenue,” The Times wrote, “it is not easily remembered.”

J.F.K. and Reagan enlist star power

President John F. Kennedy was able to enlist an A-lister to produce his inaugural concert and a gala: Sinatra.

Ms. Mann, the historian, said that she viewed the entertainment at Kennedy’s inauguration — featuring Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Leonard Bernstein, Sidney Poitier, Ethel Merman, Harry Belafonte and other huge stars — as a “big moment” that would set the stage for the type of glamorous, multipart inaugural blowouts American have come to expect.

Despite a blizzard that disrupted the festivities, one contemporary report described the gala as “perhaps one of the most stunning assemblies of theatrical talent ever brought together through a single show.”

Twenty years later, President Ronald Reagan, a former Hollywood actor, found himself attending no fewer than eight balls, rubbing shoulders with stars like Charlton Heston, as Tony Bennett, Lou Rawls and Ray Charles performed.

“The aura of big money was everywhere,” The Times wrote. “Expensive gowns by James Galanos, Bill Blass and Oscar de la Renta, unprecedented $100 tickets to dance to the music of Count Basie and other big bands.”

A Clinton mega concert

In the years that followed, most presidents held some type of inaugural concert and leaned on performers to add layers of musical symbolism to their inaugurations. President Bill Clinton’s team took things to a level that recalled the fanfare of the Kennedy and Reagan celebrations.

In 1993, the Clinton team deployed the likes of Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Kathleen Battle, Kenny G. and Ray Charles for a mega concert at the Lincoln Memorial which, the critic Jon Pareles wrote in The Times, “promised unity through crossover.”

With Bush, performing grows political

If the 2001 events honoring the inauguration of President George W. Bush had somewhat less star power — The Times described the feel as “almost anti-Hollywood” — they still featured pop superstars and country singers including Ricky Martin and Jessica Simpson.

And, in a taste of things to come, the question of whether or not to perform was increasingly seen as a political decision.

“This is a very partisan act,” Robi Draco Rosa, a friend of Mr. Martin and the writer of hit songs like “Livin’ la Vida Loca,” said at the time. “This is a betrayal of everything that every Puerto Rican should stand for.”

Obama leans on music as he breaks barriers

President Barack Obama attended 10 inaugural balls in 2009, but one stood out: the Neighborhood Ball. “Michelle was a chocolate-brown vision in her flowing white gown, and at our first stop I took her in my arms and spun her around and whispered silly things in her ear as we danced to a sublime rendition of ‘At Last’ sung by Beyoncé,” he wrote in his recently released memoir, “A Promised Land.”

It was another star-studded inaugural. Aretha Franklin sang “My Country, ’Tis of Thee” at the swearing-in ceremony. Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Usher, Mary J. Blige, Jay-Z and Kanye West all had parts to play in the events, too.

“Mr. Obama’s inaugural events, which strove to involve everyone, were suffused with African-American soul like the rest of American pop culture,” Mr. Pareles wrote in The Times.

Some artists rebuff Trump, others draw scorn

In the run-up to President Trump’s inauguration, the news centered as much on the stars who decided not to perform as those who agreed to.

Elton John turned down Mr. Trump’s invitation to play at his inauguration. Andrea Bocelli, who had been rumored to perform, ended up not appearing as the inaugural team struggled to book performers. The Rockettes participated, but only after becoming engulfed in controversy when a dancer complained that she was being forced to perform.

In the end, the inaugural featured some big names including Toby Keith, 3 Doors Down and Lee Greenwood, some of whom participated in a “Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration.” The critic Jon Caramanica wrote in The Times that it “veered between jingoism and vaudevillian fluff and largely ignored the contribution of African-Americans to popular music (which is to say, almost all of popular music).”

Now Mr. Biden, a man who has wanted to be president for decades, is preparing to write his own entry into inaugural history. His version will lack the exuberant parades and glittering indoor balls of past celebrations. But the task before him is as challenging as ever: to unify, and entertain, a jittery, divided American public.

Kitty Bennett contributed research.

from Multiple Service Listing https://ift.tt/3bD87yV

[lovemesomesurveys]

5,000 Question Survey--part thirty

2801. The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. But what was the question? It’s like Meatloaf’s song... what won’t he do for love? Maybe that’s the answer that is floating in the wind. We have to catch it.

2802. Suggest three new diary circles that you would find interesting: I don’t use LiveJournal. 2803. Buttons or Knobs? Buttons. 2804. What is a juggalo? Fans of Insane Clown Posse. 2805. Are you a fan of Crass? I’m not familiar with them.

2806. If you were going to write a short note to yourself and then put it away and read it in ten years, what would it say? I don’t know. Something deep and inspiring. 2807. When someone does something that is wrong do you believe that they know in their hearts that they are wrong but they push it down into their subconcious and rationalize away their guilt? Generally speaking. There are good people who make bad decisions. It doesn’t make them bad people.  There are some people who are bad people and either don’t know right from wrong, or don’t care.

When have you done this (if you say never then you are doing it right now)? Lying about certain things. 2808. How can a person have sex with someone they don't love? Because sex doesn’t equate love.

Have YOU ever? No. 2809. What are the paradoxes in your head (that is when you believe two conflicting things to be true)? Oh, I’m sure there are many. Of course I can’t think of a specific example right now. 2810. What does each set of two words suggest to you? pale gravity: little mornings: spiritual machines: eccentric being: pray attention: yellow lectures: 2811. What movie would be AWESOME in 3D? The Stars Wars films. 2812. Why is it important to write and think clearly? Well, for me it helps me get out and sort through my thoughts. 2813. A girl and her boyfriend are hanging out. It is obvious they are together. Another guy schmoozes between them and starts hitting on the girl. The boyfriend tells this guy to back off. The guy just keeps bothering the girl. Do you think the boyfriend would be justified in hitting this intrusive guy? No. They should try and get away from the guy. If he keeps bothering them after they’ve asked him to stop, it’s harassment. It wouldn’t help the boyfriend at all to hit the guy. Unless he was doing so out of self-defense. A girl and her boyfriend are hanging out. It is obvious they are together. Another GIRL(lesbian) schmoozes between them and starts hitting on the first girl. The boyfriend tells this girl to back off. The girl just keeps bothering the first girl. Do you think the boyfriend would be justified in hitting this intrusive girl? I don’t think he would be justified in hitting either person. If you answered yes to one situation and no to the other one why the double standard? -- 2814. What do you think of the name Prue? I don’t really like it. 2815. What would you spend your last dollar on? Hmm. I don’t know. Probably food. I could get something for that. 2816. Have you ever won an ebay auction? I’ve never participated in one.

If yes for what? -- 2817. Would you like it if Blockuster had a drivethrough?? Blockbuster no longer exists. 2819. When was the last time you taught someone somthing and what was it? I’m not sure. 2820. Why do adults and teens not understand each other? Different mentalities. 2821. Are you afraid? I am. Of a lot of things. 

2822. Do you trust large drug corporations? There’s some sketchiness going on.

Do you trust the Food and Drug administration? I do follow what it is said on food and medication products, so I guess I do. 2823. If a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound? It’s too late to get philosophical.

Do you define sound as sound waves or as the reaction between the soundwaves and your ears? Uhhh. I know that has something to do with the previous question, though. 

2824. Who is full of shit? Well... 2825. Four of the five senses are routed through a special area to the brain. One sense goes right to the brain and so is a powerful sense involved with memory and emotion. Which sense do you feel this is? 2826. Are you on a ship of fools or a carousel? A carousel. 2827. What is your bathing suit like? I don’t have one. 2828. Whose line is it, anyway? Mine. 2829. Are you more likely to answer a signed in note or a nsi note? What. 2830. To be or not to be. That is the question. What is the answer? To be. 2831. Does beauty exist as a defineable standard or is beauty in the eyes of the beholder? Beauty is subjective.

Why do you think it is that so many people have the same idea of who and what is beautiful? Because that is what we’re told.

Where do standards for judgeing beauty come from? Society and personal preferences. 2832. Would a war with Iraq help or harm american economy? War is extremely costly. 2833. What is the first thing you would do if you saw a nuclear explosion in the distance? Uh I’d be terrified to say the least. I’d run the other direction and try to seek shelter or something. 2834. Would you like to be cryogenically frozen? No. 2835. Think of the person you love the most. Would you be willing to murder a stranger in order to save that person's life? Why or why not? I think if my loved one was about to be murdered I would have to do what I could to save their life. 2836. Imagine no possetions. I wonder if you can? Okay John Lennon. 2837. How messed up is: your hair? It’s not that bad.

your room? I have clothes I need to put away, but otherwise it’s clean.

your car? I don’t have my own car. I don’t drive.

your life? Now that’s a mess. 2838. What are you running out of? I feel like I’m running out of time. 2839. What do you live for? My family. I would like to start living for me, too. 2840. How did you decide it was worth living for? They are my everything. 2841. Do you consider some people to be too: traditional? conformist? avant-garde? smart? stuck up? modern? beautiful? ugly? obsessed? emotional? petty? sneaky? fat? thin? 2842. By what criteria do you judge others? By their actions and how they are towards me. 2843. Do you look at people's words and actions or the underlying reasons for those words and actions? I guess a bit of all of that. 2844. Which would you rather collect: simpsons action figures? kiss gear? anything with a smiley? horror movies? 2845. Do you fight for your rights? To party? 2846. Would you rather be a construction worker or a crossing guard? Crossing guard. I couldn’t do construction work. It would be rather difficult for me. 2847. What is enought o satisfy you in life? Coffee is pretty satisfying. 2848. Do you think you have more, less, or average life experiance for your age? Less in a lot of ways. 2849. Why go to college? To try and get a degree to help you hopefully start your career.

Have you considered joining a cult instead? No thank you. 2850. What's the last lie you told? I’m not sure. I don’t make a habit out of it.

2851. What celebrity has the sexiest voice of females? I don’t know.

males? Alexander Skarsgard. 2852. You are having a party and can invite three celebrities of your choice. The WILL come. Who do you invite? Alexander Skarsgard, Melissa McCarthy, and Emma Stone. 2853. Where did you come from? From my mom.

Where are you now? I’m here.

Where are you going? To bed. 2854. What would you imagine the playboy mansion is like? Big, loud, and crazy. 2855. Do you blow your nose loudly in public? No. I’m self-conscious about that. I don’t even like having to cough or sneeze in public. Especially if it’s a cough or sneeze attack. I don’t understand people who obnoxiously blow their nose in public. People would do that in class during lectures and exams like really? 2856. Do you help others every day? Not everyday. 2857. Bono or Chris Tucker? I don’t follow either one. 2858. Is it lonely being alone in your head? Yes. 2859. What is the worst poverty you have ever seen? My city has a lot of homeless people. 2860. Has anyone ever told you that more than 2 billion people live on less than two dollars a day? I think I have heard something similar.

What do you think of that? It’s insane. Sad. Horrible. 2861. Add a sentance to the story: Once upon a time there was a man named Arthur and he was brushing his teeth when all of a sudden he saw a bright rainbow utside. So he goes out the back door to take a look and he finds an elf who says 2862. Be honest.. do you generally listen or wait for your turn to talk? I wait my turn. Although, sometimes if we’re talking about something I’m excited or animated about in some way, I may not always wait my turn. 2863. How many fingers do you type with? I don’t type the right way. I type with my two index fingers. Haha.  I type very fast that way, though. 2864. What does 'you think you know but you have no idea' mean? Where did it come from as a common phrase? It’s just that you may think you know everything about something or someone, but there’s more to it than that. Or perhaps that you’re wrong entirely. 2865. Do you think it's important to give up liberties in order to protect freedom? Such as? 2866. Do you think George Bush was elected in a legal way? Yes. 2867. Imagine you were dying of a disease...you only had a certain amount of time left with your mte, parents or children. What would you leave behind for them to remember you by? Gahh. I don’t know. :/ I don’t have much to leave behind.

How would you feel if there were drugs to help you live, only you couldn't afford them? I would feel horrible. Sad. Angry.

How would you feel if people were trying to sell you the drugs at a lower cost but the drug companies made sure they couldn't because that would cut their profits? It would just be a horrible situation all around.

This senario is going on Right Now.The country is Africa. The disease is aids. The drug is azp (and others). The people are Africans who are very poor and have aids. The large drug corporations won't sell the drugs at a price they can afford or allow smaller companies to either. Is this acceptable? Ughhh. :( It’s not fair at all.

What are you going to do about it? I don’t know. :/ 2868. Would you ever BUY a new ring for your cell phone that plays a couple of notes of your favorite song? I have done that a few times. 2869. What has completely moved you? I’m not sure. 2870. If for your next birthday you had a novelty kids birthday party what games would you play at it? I don’t know. Fun ones.

2871. How can you keep open toed sandles from rubbing against your toes and making them blistered and raw? If it’s that bad maybe not wear them at all? 2872. What happens to socks when they disappear in the drier? Good question. One my mom is trying to figure because that always happens to her socks. It’s pretty bad, actually. Like wtf happens to them? She has that problem the most in our household. 2873. What is the quality of humanity all about? I don’t know. 2874. True or false - All homophobes are inherently evil.: Not all, I don’t think. They’re very misinformed, misguided, and close minded.  Some were taught to be that way and don’t know anything else. If they’re willing to be open minded and educate themselves about it, then I don’t think they’re a bad person. If they refuse and remain stuck in their ways, well, that’s a different story. 2875. Is there anything, besides love, that money can't buy? Immortality. 2876. How is your soul? I don’t know, my dude. 2877. What are you committed to? My family. 2879. Are you photogenic? Nooo. 2880. Can you define these words off the top of your head as if you were talking to someone who didn't know what they were? rain: cold: green: sand: 2881. Why aren't you naked (or are you)? Because I don’t live alone, it’s cold, and I’d feel very, very uncomfortable. 2882. Do you think anoyone is all good or all evil? No. 2883. Go outside a sec. how many animals are in your yard? It’s 2AM, I’m not going outside. As far as I know, there aren’t any animals in my yard. There shouldn’t be anyone...

Did you count yourself? why or why not? 2884. What household appliance drags you down? None of them drag me down. 2885. try this..write a list of six possibilities of things you could do after you are off the computer. Make sure that at lease ONE thing is something you would be unlikely to ever do. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Now grab a dice (if you have none ask someone to pick a number between 1 and 6) and decide what you will do by flipping it. Then do it! 2886. Which of the following doesn't belong with the others and why? a. garden b. love c. magazine d. death

They all could relate in some way. 2887. How old are you? What age do you feel mentally? I don’t know.

emotionaly? -- spiritualy?

-- 2888. Who do you think is more wise: your mailman or a person who has been living on the streets for 12 years? They both could be wise.

2889. Do you kiss on the first date? If it feels right. 2890. Would you ever want to be oon: a dating show(which)? No.

a game show(which)? Maybe. Like Family Feud.

the news(why)? I have been. When my accident happened. 2891. How much money would it take to get you to: strip to nuthing but a bright orange thong (for guys, orange thongs an string bikini top for girls)and wrestle another person of the same sex in a thong in a pool of jello? Omg... I don’t know. I would be so incredibly self-conscious... I would die.

participate in a contest where you drink alcohol as fast as you can until you puke? Zero. I don’t drink anymore, I couldn’t chug alcohol, I couldn’t drink a lot, I don’t want to get sick because of it. I’ve been there a couple times... not fun.

sit absolutely still for 2 hours, in nothing but a towel, covered in plaster of paris? A plaster of paris?

Walk around at your school in bondage gear asking people to spank you on the ass with a huge dead octopus tenticle? Yikessss. I’m really not bold enough for this stuff.

pick your nose and eat it? BLECH.

smash potatoes with your head? Gahhh. 2892. Who deserves an appology? Uhh a lot of people, I don’t know. 2893. What wins the award as stupidst lyric you can think of? Oh, there’s many I’m sure. 2894. Where do you most like to be massaged? I wouldn’t know. 2895. Is your face clear? No, but it’s not bad. 2896. Finish this phrase in a humorous way.. Friends don't let friends... I don’t knowww. I need to go to bed. 2897. What present would you bring to the birthday party of an aquaintance? Hmm. I don’t know. Depends on the person. I’d try and figure out something they like. Something simple, but nice. 2898. Is your game on? Nope. 2899. What would a song for the deaf be like? They feel the vibrations of it. It’s a whole different experience for them.

How about a painting for the blind? I’ve seen videos of that. They can differentiate between the colors still and “see” things a lot differently. It’s pretty interesting. 2900. What is a sure-fire way to get noticed? Act obnoxious?

[newyorktheater]

Michael R. Jackson

One of the acceptance speeches, for Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, by winner Michael R. Jackson: “whenever we get to the other side of whatever this is, I feel like theater will still be home for me.”

Antwayn Hopper, Larry Owens (in front) as Usher

Larry Owens as Usher in Michael R. Jackson’s A Strange Loop at Playwrights Horizons in 2019

L Morgan Lee, James Jackson, Jr., Jason Veasey, Larry Owens (plaid shirt), Antwayn Hopper, John-Michael Lyles in “A Strange Loop”

“Michael Jackson” is not just “the King of Pop” anymore, but also “the Pulitzer winning playwright.” After decades working in obscurity, Michael R. Jackson – or as he puts it, the living Michael Jackson – has gotten one accolade after another in the last few weeks for “A Strange Loop,” a musical that marked the Off-Broadway debut in 2019 of this talented composer, playwright, lyricist and vocal arranger. He began writing “A Strange Loop,”  as he points out in the Q and A interview with me below, shortly after 9/11, and it was not produced until the Trump era — 18 years later!

Jackson had moved from Detroit to New York to become a soap opera writer, but somehow got sidetracked into theater, getting a BFA in Playwriting and an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. “A Strange Loop” is inspired by his own life, but closer to what he calls an “emotional autobiography” than an actual one. It focuses on a character named Usher, a heavyset, queer, black man who works as an usher for “The Lion King,” while struggling to create a musical about a heavyset, queer, black man who is struggling to write a musical about….. This dizzying set-up features six performers who portray Usher’s Inner Thoughts, as well as all the characters in his life, including parents who don’t get him. When I saw it at Playwrights Horizons, I found the musical rich with 18 tuneful songs, skit-like episodes,  witticisms, mini-parodies, complex layers of erudition, and knowing allusions.

On May 4th, ten months after the end of its run at Playwrights Horizon, Jackson won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for the musical,  the first time the prize for drama had been given to a black writer for a musical, and the first time in Pulitzer history that a musical had won without a run on Broadway.  Indeed, producers planned to take it to Broadway, stopping first at Woolly Mammoth Theater this September. Thanks to the pandemic, the D.C. theater has rescheduled for the summer of 2021, with Broadway plans uncertain.

“I don’t know when you’ll be able to see it, as COVID-19 has everybody guessing when we’ll be able to be together,” he told me.

Meanwhile, during the shut down,  Jackson has also been given the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Off Broadway Alliance Award , The Dramatist Guild’s Hull-Warriner Award – and most recently the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Drama.

He is working on a new musical called “White Girl In Danger” with the Vineyard Theatre, which he has described as “a dark musical comedy about Keesha Gibbs, an African-American teen who lives in the ‘blackground’ of an all white world of a 90s era melodrama and seeks to prove she’s just as much of a protagonist/heroine as Meagan, Maegan, and Megan, the white girls who battle issues such as drugs, alcohol, abusive boyfriends, eating disorders, and finally a serial killer who has been murdering the town’s white girls one by one.”

Jackson also has been busy giving acceptance speeches, participating in panel discussions, and agreeing to interviews, including with me. It seemed like a good time for a Q and A (very slightly edited.)

These feel like surreal times — pandemic, Depression, high-profile race-based killings, worldwide demonstrations, Trump teargassing peaceful protesters to hold a Bible aloft as a prop….. How are you processing it all?

I am processing it all by focusing on my self-preservation and adhering to social distancing and wearing a mask when out of doors in light of COVID-19.

 How do you feel “A Strange Loop” speaks to these times in specific ways?

“A Strange Loop” was begun in the first Bush term not that long after September 11th 2001 and continued to develop over the next Bush term and two Obama terms until it was produced in the Trump era. It’s about what it means to be a self in general and what it means to be a black queer self in particular so its message of self-love and self-acceptance and yet also self-disavowal both speaks to these times specifically and not at all.

When you talk about “these times,” do you mean the Trump era, or do you mean the days since the death of George Floyd? 

When I say “these days” I just mean the present. The musical speaks to these days specifically because the character is about someone who is at war with who he is which is shaped by his experiences as a black, queer man/artist. His Thoughts threaten to overwhelm him with feelings of doubt and self-loathing. He comes out of the other side of that realizing that nothing is actually wrong with him. From my perspective, that is a message for our time.

I suppose we need to clarify here: The musical is obviously inspired by your own life. How much do you as the creator intend us to see Usher as an Everyman reflective of the era

I intend for you to meet Usher wherever you are and to think about your self and your perception of yourself and a black, queer man perceiving himself. He’s both an Everyman and he is himself.

At the risk of sounding like the parents in the show, I am curious as to why you think it took you 18 years to finish “A Strange Loop”

Because I needed to figure out nothing was wrong with me in order to know what the show was actually about. The world is constantly feeding us negative ideas about ourselves and it just took me a while to figure that out.

In a recent interview, you said “we need to have a national conversation about taste and discernment.” What do you mean by this?

I meant that there’s a lot of shitty partisan art out there that is more interested in its appearance of speaking to social justice than doing what art actually does well, which is entertain and provoke thought, emotion and/or empathy, particularly in the theater but not only in the theater. Art is about being particular and having a point of view that you are trying to communicate. Your taste and discernment are key at communicating a point of view. I feel that being lost and I would like to fight to preserve and deepen it.

 Do you feel there is a specific racism connected to the theater world that’s distinct from the world at large? Same question vis a vis homophobia?

Theater sits within capitalism. Capitalism is racist therefore theater is not immune to racism. Homophobia exists within capitalism too therefore theater is not immune however many of the gatekeepers of theater are gay and white and therefore not exempt from being racist in part because they are helping guiding the hands of a capitalist system that is racist. So pick your poison.

If somebody came to you in all sincerity asking for a starter list of ten works of theater to understand where you’re coming from, what would you include?

The Adding Machine by Josh Schmidt

Waiting For Lefty by Clifford Odets

The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin by Kirsten Childs

Passing Strange by Stew

Bootycandy by Robert O’Hara

In Trousers by William Finn

Hair by Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Galt MacDermott

Blue Window by Craig Lucas

Jackie O by Wayne Koestenbaum and Michael Daugherty

Follies by James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim

  Q and A with Michael Jackson: “A Strange Loop” and A Strange Time "Michael Jackson" is not just "the King of Pop" anymore, but also "the Pulitzer winning playwright." After decades working in obscurity, Michael R.

[an-ephemeral-blog]

Linkspam #5

Top Links

How to Survive America's Kill List by Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone - an American citizen’s fight to escape assassination by the US executive branch:

The question before Collyer would challenge the most gifted legal mind. At issue is the fact that America, in the wake of 9/11, has become two countries.  One is a democracy, visible to the population and governed by the lofty laws and rules and constitutional principles we learned about in Schoolhouse Rock.  The second nation is an authoritarian state-within-a-state, governed exclusively by the executive branch. In this parallel world, all rights redound to a bureaucracy that may kill anyone it pleases at any time, restrained only by the inclinations of the executive.  Essentially, Kareem’s lawyers are appealing to the first America – Collyer’s courtroom – to force the second, secret America to hear him out.

Nobody seems to know what would happen if Kareem or Zaidan tried to come to court, another thing that makes this case uniquely bizarre. Would Kareem be allowed to walk in and take a seat at the plaintiff’s table? Would he be placed under arrest outside the courthouse? Stuffed in the trunk of a Crown Victoria at the airport?

America’s Uncivil Protests Are Straight Out of Latin America by Omar G. Encarnación at Foreign Policy:

Two central questions are raised by the arrival of the escrache on U.S. shores: Do they work, and are they any good for democracy? Based on the Latin American experience and that of Spain, where escraches became a massive political headache in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the answer to the first question is a resounding yes. The tactic can serve to raise societal awareness about moral wrongs; it can also promote solidarity across a variety of causes. Most important, however, it can lead to a change in policy and even transform politics. The answer to the second question is less clear: The escrache is an unambiguous assault on civility — but it’s also a telling sign that something is already very rotten in the body politic.

The Queer Art of Failing Better by Laurie Penny at the Baffler:

Give a man a makeover and you fix him for a day; teach a man that masculinity under late capitalism is a toxic pyramid scheme that is slowly killing him just like it’s killing the world, and you might just fix a sucking hole in the future.

In the age of Trump, can Mr. Rogers help us manage our anger? by David Dark at America Magazine:

As he nears the end of his testimony, he asks if he might recite a song whose title is the question of the hour (maybe every hour): “What do you do with the mad that you feel?” It is as if he has treated everyone present to a psychic blast of blessedness. Rogers pauses to note that the question was purloined from a child struggling with this very issue aloud. We each have the power to stop, stop, stop, Rogers instructs, as he gently strikes the table, when we have planned something, in word or action, that will go badly for ourselves and others. There is something deep within us—an inner resource, our intuition, our core—that can come to our aid when we need it most. Our feelings, we can access the realization at any moment, are mentionable and manageable. We can become what we are supposed to be.

Other Favorites

Science

A Pottery Barn rule for scientific journals by Sanjay Srivastava at his personal blog - “Once a journal has published a study, it becomes responsible for publishing direct replications of that study.”  Best paired with Reproducibility meets accountability: introducing the replications initiative at Royal Society Open Science.

The day when three NASA astronauts staged a strike in space by Michael Hiltzik at the LA Times

The Evolution of High-Speed Throwing by Neil Thomas Roach at their personal blog

MTurk vs. The Lab: Either Way We Need Big Samples by Joe Simmons at Data Colada - brb emailing this to every researcher I know

The Science Wars Redux by Michael Bérubé at Democracy - on the Sokal hoak, postermodernism, objectivity, multiplicity, and the way the right has appropriated leftist critique

After the methods crisis, the theory crisis by Tom Stafford at Mind Hacks - a recommendation of a list of recommendations ;)

Spoiled Science: How a seemingly innocent blog post led to serious doubts about Cornell’s famous food laboratory by Tom Bartlett at the Chronicle

Tech

The woman who taught internet strangers to actually care for one another by Claire Evans at Quartz - “Rather than deputized members of our own community, they are a precarious workforce on the front lines of digital trauma.” On digital community moderation and how it’s changed over the last thirty years.

ASLCore: stress/strain curve zoom levels by Mel Chua - on the art and science of translating engineering terms into ASL

UTC is enough for everyone, right? by Zach Holman - a history of time and programming with time

Saving a non-profit six figures a year using Squarespace, Airtable and Glitch.com by Danilo Campos at Future Fluent

Kara Swisher interviews Mark Zuckerberg for ReCode

IP addresses & routing by Julia Evans at their personal blog

Out-of-the-Silicon-Valley-funding-box by Hallie Montoya Tansey at their personal blog

Reading postmortems by Dan Luu at their personal blog

CSS Utility Classes and Separation of Concerns by Adam Wathan at their personal blog - via Julia Evans

Careful with negative assertions by Ned Batchelder at his personal blog - included largely for Jonathan Hartley’s comment 

On Testing by Bill Sempf at his personal blog - this is basically just a roundup of testing jokes made on Twitter but I love it

Politics

From Charleston to Pittsburgh, an Arc of Premeditated American Tragedy by Jelani Cobb at the New Yorker

Putting a Face (Mine) to the Risks Posed by GOP Games on Mueller Investigation by Marcy Wheeler at emptywheel

How Contemporary Antitrust Robs Workers of Power by Sandeep Vaheesan at Law and Political Economy

Sorry to Bother You by Liza Featherstone at The Baffler - participation in modern politics

The junk debt that tanked the economy? It’s back in a big way. by Steven Pearlstein at the Washington Post - collateralized loan obligations are the new subprime mortages

‘Red’ America is an illusion. Postindustrial towns go for Democrats. and This is why Democrats lose in ‘rural’ postindustrial America by Jonathan Rodden in the Washington Post

John Roberts and the Second Redemption Court by Adam Serwer at the Atlantic

History

A two-part podcast on the only successful coup d’etat in American history by Stuff You Missed In History Class

Follow up: UNC's Football Stadium: Memorial to the Leader of a White Supremacist Massacre by Craig Calcaterra at their personal blog

When It’s Too Late to Stop Fascism, According to Stefan Zweig by George Prochnik at the New Yorker - Zweig was an Austrian who fled Europe in 1941, so this is a reflection on the rise of Nazism in particular

A twitter thread by Kevin Kruse on how the Democrats and Republicans changed their positions on civil rights

What Civil Rights History Can Teach Kavanaugh’s Critics by Blair Kelly in the New York Times

Misc

Pyramid Scheme by Ilana Gershon at Allegra Lab - how organizational structure can facilitate abuse

David Graeber’s Debt: My First 5,000 Words by Aaron Bady at the New Inquiry  - I have never read Debt but I’ve practically made a hobby of reading critiques and reviews.  I like this one a lot, although the best quote is too long for this linkspam.

Here, have a somewhat meandering but very interesting Twitter thread by Malka Older about charity, stigma and formal systems of aid.

Black Educators Share Their Thoughts on What Happens When White Women Cry in Schools by Kelli Seaton at Philly’s 7th Ward

White Women Aren’t Afraid of Black People. They Want Power. by Stacey Patton at Dame

Foreign Key by Sumana Harihareswara at their personal blog - in which racism causes people to hallucinate accents

Augmenting Long-term Memory by Michael Nielsen at Y Combinator Research - I have started using the tool, Anki, that Nielsen recommends in this post, and have no regrets thus far

How Complex Systems Fail by Richard Cook

Women’s Anticipation of the Employment Effects of Motherhood: Evidence and Implications by Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism

What is it like to be a man? by Phil Christman at Hedgehog Review - reflections on masculinity

Autism from the inside by Katherine May at Aeon

Popular Religion and Participatory Culture by Henry Jenkins in conversation with Sarah McFarland Taylor and Diane Winston - I particularly liked Sarah McFarland Taylor’s section and her discussion of plausibility structures

What It Takes to Be a Trial Lawyer If You’re Not a Man by Lara Bazelon at the Atlantic

Three philosophical schools by siderea at her personal blog

Jacob Levy’s Liberalism of Tragedy by Adam Gurri at Liberal Currents

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/can-nra-keep-country-music-stars-muzzled-las-vegas-shooting/

Can NRA keep country music stars muzzled after Las Vegas shooting?

The country music industry and the National Rifle Association (NRA) has had a very close interconnected relationship for the past decade with stars such as Blake Shelton, Lee Brice, and Florida Georgia Line. The NRA Country director stated in 2015 that it's no surprise about the connection as "most of their members love country music." When singer Meghan Linsey first started her country duo Steel Magnolia, a partnership with the National Rifle Association was suggested as a way to grow their audience. The proposal, which she refused, was a commonplace example of how intertwined gun ownership is with country music. The mass shooting on the final day of Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas has emboldened some country musicians to call for gun control, even as many others declined to weigh in. Plenty of artists avoid the issue because there’s a real risk of backlash as gun lobbyists have bolstered a connection between the patriotic themes found in country music to gun ownership in recent years. “I just feel like you’re so censored as a country artist,” said Linsey, an independent musician who took a knee after singing the national anthem at an NFL football game. “I feel like the labels like to keep you that way. They don’t want you to speak out. They don’t want you to say things that would upset country music listeners.” She added: “People worry about being Dixie Chick-ed.” The Dixie Chicks still loom large as a lesson in country music politics. The hugely popular group was boycotted after lead singer Natalie Maines criticized then-President George W. Bush on the eve of the Iraq War in 2003. The National Rifle Association has further strengthened the relationship between guns and country music with its lifestyle and music brand called NRA Country. NRA Country has sought to tie the music to gun-linked activities like hunting or outdoor sports, but without mention of political issues. Since about 2010, the NRA Country brand has been placed on country music tours and concerts, merchandise, an album called “This Is NRA Country,” a music video and more. It features performers such as Hank Williams Jr. and Trace Adkins. It’s unclear how much the NRA has spent on the brand, and representatives of the group did not respond to requests for information from The Associated Press. Country duo Big & Rich, who have performed at NRA-sponsored events, were at the festival just hours before Stephen Paddock began firing from his room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. They said it wasn’t the weapons that were the problem, but the man using them. “I think if a man has ill will in his heart, then there’s weapons everywhere,” Big Kenny said. “I mean he can pick up a -- anything -- make a bomb, put it in his shoe. We have somebody trying to blow up stuff on trains constantly.” The shooting changed the mind of Caleb Keeter, a guitarist for the Josh Abbott Band, who was among those at the festival during the attack. He wrote in a widely shared tweet that he had been a lifelong Second Amendment supporter: “I cannot express how wrong I was.” Keeter said that a single man laid waste to a city because of “access to an insane amount of firepower.” Paddock had 23 guns in his room, some of which had attachments that allow a semi-automatic rifle to mimic a fully automatic weapon. Others, including Jennifer Nettles of the band Sugarland and Sheryl Crow, have joined the call for gun control. But there are risks. When country artists have in the past tried to wade into gun politics, it can turn into a no-win situation. Tim McGraw had to defend his participation in a benefit concert for victims of a mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut after criticism from gun rights advocates. His opening act, Billy Currington, pulled out of the performance over the controversy. “As a gun owner, I support gun ownership; I also believe that with gun ownership comes the responsibility of education and safety — most certainly when it relates to what we value most, our children,” McGraw said in a statement in 2015. “I can’t imagine anyone who disagrees with that.” Many artists expressed grief over the Las Vegas killings without wading into politics. Alongside her husband Vince Gill, Amy Grant led a prayer at a vigil in Nashville on Monday, a day after the shooting, while Maren Morris released a song called “Dear Hate,” in which she but declares “love conquers all.” Eric Church angrily said “no amount of bullets” was going to take away his memories of those fans killed, before debuting a song written in memory of the victims called “Why Not Me.” John Osborne of the duo Brothers Osborne was in tears on national radio talking about the deaths of fans who they considered family. Keith Urban struggled to talk about the shooting to his 9-year-old daughter. Jason Aldean, who was on stage at the festival when the shooter opened fire, said, “This world is becoming the kind of place I am afraid to raise my children in.” Many others have donated to funds set up to help the victims and countless other selfless acts have brought the community even closer to support one another. Singer Rosanne Cash, a longtime gun control advocate, called on the country music community to do more in an op-ed in the New York Times. “It is no longer enough to separate yourself quietly,” Cash wrote. “The laws the N.R.A. would pass are a threat to you, your fans, and to the concerts and festivals we enjoy.” Now, less than a week after the deadliest shooting in modern American history took place at a country music festival – 58 people were killed and more than 500 were wounded at Las Vegas’ Route 91 Harvest fest by an attacker firing from 32 floors above – country artists seem, at least for the moment, less willing to openly embrace the NRA. Media outlets attempted to contact 37 of the artists featured on the web site of NRA Country, the organization's music-affiliated offshoot. Three of those acts – Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett, and Luke Combs – clarified that they have no ongoing partnership with the organization. Representatives for several artists, such as Blackberry Smoke and Sunny Sweeney, declined to comment; reps for more than two-dozen artists – including Justin Moore, Hank Williams Jr., and Jon Pardi – did not respond. After more than 24 hours, only one group, the Nashville duo Love & Theft, would confirm they remain partnered with the organization. "What you're seeing with the country music community right now is that everybody is just laying low," says Don Cusic, professor of music industry history at Belmont University in Nashville. "They are stalling for time." Over the past week, several of the organization's most successful artists have decided to clarify that they are not presently affiliated with NRA Country, including Florida Georgia Line, the platinum-selling bro-country duo behind hits like "Cruise," and Thomas Rhett, the fast-rising country superstar whose song "Die a Happy Man" was one of the single biggest hit country songs of 2016. Both artists partnered with NRA Country in 2013 as the organization's featured Artist of the Month, participating in a variety of promotional campaigns, including ticket giveaways, videos, and lyric contests. As one of the genre's most prominent stars, Blake Shelton has long been one of NRA Country's flagship artists, hosting shooting events in 2011 and 2012. "This is about a right that I want to support and that I believe in," he said of a skeet shoot event in 2012, "and if I can have fun while doing that, that's even better." NRA Country has continued to promote their partnership with Shelton in recent years, even though last year Shelton's representative declined to clarify his relationship to the organization (He was removed from NRA Country's website not long after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting). But this week, the representative finally did clarify: "Blake does not have a partnership with the NRA." The NRA and NRA Country did not respond to a request for comment. NRA Country has fostered close commercial ties with many of country music's biggest stars in recent years and has been seen as a valuable platform for up-and-coming country acts. Its biggest promotional tool is the organization's Featured Artist of the Month campaign; the sponsorship encourages country artists to have their name associated with the NRA in exchange for the advertising of an artist's new album amongst the promotional channels of the NRA, which boasts millions of dues-paying members. Its platforms include NRATV, the organization's digital television network, and American Rifleman, the NRA's flagship publication. The Featured Artist Campaign has brought about successful partnerships in recent years with up-and-coming artists like Chase Rice and Lee Brice. Those artists were among those who did not respond when asked if they are still involved with the NRA. The apparent hesitance comes after Rosanne Cash urged artists to disavow the organization in a New York Times op-ed Tuesday morning. "I encourage more artists in country and American roots music to end your silence," she said. "The laws the N.R.A. would pass are a threat to you, your fans, and to the concerts and festivals we enjoy." Caleb Keeter, guitarist for the Josh Abbott band, a group who performed in Las Vegas this past weekend, spoke out the day after the shooting on Twitter. "Until the events of last night, I cannot express how wrong I was," said Keeter, a self-described second-amendment supporter. Most haven't gone that far, instead offering ambiguous expressions of frustration with the status quo of gun violence. "It is beyond time for our country, and the world, to unite and do whatever we can to stop all this madness," Kid Rock tweeted on Monday. The last time NRA Country faced any degree of scrutiny came after 2012's Sandy Hook elementary-school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Within several months of Newtown, the names of the organization's two most popular partnered artists – Luke Bryan and Shelton – were removed from NRA Country's website. In recent years, however, NRA Country has experienced some degree of success at making continual inroads with the mainstream country music industry. NRA Country has found new ways to access some of country's biggest names via indirect channels like its recent online TV show, "On Location." The show, hosted by an NRA-supported up-and-coming country singer named Morgan Mills, has succeeded in expanding the NRA's visibility and exaggerating NRA Country's mainstream viability in Nashville by scoring red-carpet interviews and face-time with artists – including Tanya Tucker, Lauren Alaina, and Cole Swindell – who are otherwise not associated with the organization. Although many of NRA Country's artists remain unproven niche genre artists with little national visibility, over the last two years the organization has fostered early promotional partnerships with upstarts Jon Pardi and Luke Combs, partnerships that have paid off for the organization as the singers have become two of the industry's biggest breakout stars. When young artists like Pardi and Combs go on to become major names in country music long after partnering with NRA Country, the organization enjoys the credibility-boosting stamp of approval that comes with listing those artist’s names as "Featured Artists" on its website. This week a representative for Combs confirmed that the singer is "not an officially partnered artist with NRA Country." Rather, his affiliation with the group, like the other featured artists, is only for a set period of time. In Combs' case, it was November 2015. In the coming months, Cusic speculates that the decision to partner with NRA Country for new artists may become that much more difficult. "I don't think anybody is going to be making that decision in the short term," he says. "In the beginning stages of a career, it's an advantage to have an organization like the NRA behind you. The problem is, when something this controversial comes along, then it flips." On Monday morning, NRA Country's website listed 39 artists who have partnered with the organization over the years. As of press time, the number of NRA Country partnered artists on the site had shrunk to 37. The names of Thomas Rhett and Florida Georgia Line were nowhere to be found.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

[96thdayofrage]

Women’s Rights and Social Justice: Julia Ward Howe’s 1870 Mother’s Day Proclamation, A Day of Peace

(An Anti-War Manifesto Lamenting the Dead, Dying and Soul-Sickened Soldiers Returning from the Killing Fields)

Forty-seven years ago, the disastrous human and economic consequences of the American Civil War were becoming increasingly apparent, especially to certain thoughtful wise women who had seen their testosterone-laden loved ones eagerly march off to that “inglorious” war 5 years earlier. Those men and women, as is still the case today, had no idea of the psychological and spiritual devastation that comes from killing fellow humans until it was too late. But the well-hidden truth hit them when they saw their loved ones come home, changed forever. Some came home dead, some were just physically wounded but all were spiritually deadened.

That “patriotic” war basically ended in mutual exhaustion in 1865. The Northern foot-soldiers (who were numerically stronger) did not feel gleeful over the hollow victory” – just relief. Many Civil War-era women, including Howe, had actually willingly participated in the flag-waving fervor that war–mongers and war-profiteers can easily manufacture. Pro-war propaganda has always been directed at poor and working class men who must be duped into doing the soul-damning dirty work of killing and being killed.

Julia Ward Howe, author of the Mother’s Day Proclamation of 1870, was a life-long abolitionist and therefore, early on, she was a supporter of the Union Army’s anti-slavery rationale for going to war to prevent the pro-slavery politicians and industrialists in the Confederate South from seceding from the union over the slavery issue.

Howe was a compassionate and well-educated middle child of an upper class family. She was also a poet who, in the early days of the Civil War, had written “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” using many biblically-based lyrics. Howe had intended her song to be sung as an abolitionist song; however, because of some of the militant-sounding lyrics and the eminently marchable tune, it was rapidly adopted by Union Army propagandists as its most inspiring war song, a reality that Howe likely regretted when the mass slaughter of the world’s first “total war” became clear to her.

Howe wrote the “Battle Hymn” in one sitting (in the early hours of November 18, 1861), but she soon became a pacifist and an antiwar activist. At the time she wrote the song, the Civil War was just starting and had not yet degenerated into the wholesale slaughter that was made possible by the technological advances in weaponry (mainly artillery and rifled muskets that were more accurate) that would make cavalry charges, the bayonet and the sword obsolete.

Back then the Press Didn’t Censor out ALL the Horrors of War

Howe’s evolution from cheerleader for war to anti-war activism came about after she witnessed the mutual mass slaughter of the War Between the States (1861 – 1865). By the time she proposed a national day of mourning for the victims of all wars, she had also become aware of the carnage that was occurring overseas in the Franco-Prussian War, which had started in July of 1870.

That war, won by Germany, was brief, but close to 100,000 soldiers were killed in action and another 100,000 were severely wounded. As is tragically normal for warrior nations of all historical eras, nobody thought to count up the psychological and spiritual casualties or either soldiers or civilians. But Howe understood. Her awareness of the realities of war was possible because war correspondents were allowed to write about the barbaric nature of modern war, which horrified sensitive humans like Howe.

It hadn’t taken too long for peace-loving, justice-oriented and compassionate observers to recognize that war was indeed, the equivalent of hell on earth. Howe understood what Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman had meant when he uttered his famous statement about the satanic nature of war. Sherman’s statement indicted his era’s “Chicken Hawks*”:

“I confess without shame that I am sick and tired of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have never heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is Hell.”

*Chicken Hawks are flag-waving war-mongering political or economic leaders who have never experienced the gruesome realities of combat war and yet have no problems promoting militarism and sending somebody else’s sons and daughters off “into harm’s way”. Recent examples include Republicans like Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, Condolezza Rice, Mitch McConnell, Newt Gingrich, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Eliot Abrams, Rudy Guiliani, Rick Santorum, Phil Gramm, and many Democrats as well, including Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The list of Chicken Hawk elites also includes many right-wing journalists and reporters who particularly love to beat the war drum, but who also avoided serving in the military themselves, including Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Charles Krauthammer, George Will, Bill Kristol, Rush Limbaugh, etc, etc.

Women throughout history have witnessed their sons and husbands returning home broken in body, mind and spirit. Those psychologically traumatized veterans, no matter on what side of the battle line they fought, and whether they claimed some sort of hollow victory or not, were all equally defeated when the war ended. And most of them never regarded themselves as heroes until somebody else insisted on the designation. Their bodies and brains had been forever changed and they knew it. And in their hearts they knew that war was not glorious.

Soldiers’ Heart: the Civil War-era’s PTSD

The unexpected development for many of the mothers of the returning Civil War soldiers was the fact that, while many of the veterans came home showing no physical scars, most of them were still disabled mentally, and many of them actually got progressively worse after coming home. In cases of combat-induced trauma the healing effect of time doesn’t work like it can work in less serious types of trauma.

Military veterans with combat-induced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) all too commonly have trouble functioning in society after the war. Many become severely depressed and/or anxious and suffer disabling daytime flashbacks of the original trauma (called nightmares when they occur in their sleep, but which are commonly misdiagnosed by psychiatrists as hallucinations – thus accounting for the falsely high incidence of “schizophrenia” among Vietnam vets). May military vets have serious insomnia (and thus sleep deprivation), serious concentration problems and are frequently develop drug addictions (to both illicit drugs and prescription drugs). Many combat-induced PTSD victims become suicidal, homicidal and/or turn to a life of crime (all these behaviors are seriously potentiated by the use of brain-altering addictive drugs or during the process of withdrawing from them).

It is a fact that some of the most infamous post-Civil War outlaws, train robbers, bank robbers and serial killers of the late 1800s got their start as Civil War soldiers (the members of the James and Younger gangs are good examples).

America has never known what to do with the large numbers of traumatized veterans that come home after any of their wars, and in the Civil War, the first “veterans homes” were constructed specifically for the care of invalided ex-soldiers who were “made crazy” by the war. Without the nation’s help, these victims would have otherwise been homeless, despairing, jobless, helpless and likely to starve to death.

Many of these unfortunate veterans were diagnosed as having “Soldiers’ Heart”, also known in the Civil War era as “Nostalgia”, a commonly incurable malady, that, after World War I came to be known as “shell shock”. After World War II the disorder was known as “combat fatigue”, and after the Vietnam War it was known as “post-traumatic stress disorder”.

Howe’s Call to Action for Mothers

Julia Ward Howe was a humanist who cared about suffering people. She was also a feminist, a social justice activist and a suffragette, and it was because of her anti-war commitment that she wrote the famous “Mother’s Day Proclamation” five years after the end of the Civil War, which resulted in a total of 600,000 dead American soldiers, with no accurate count of the probably much larger number of those soldiers who were wounded, missing in action or committed suicide after the war was over.

The Mother’s Day Proclamation was partly a lament for the useless deaths and partly a call to stop future wars. The call to action was not directed at men, most of whom would have refused to admit, because of their masculine pride, that their dead buddies had died in vain. Rather, the call was directed at women, who were more thoughtful, humane and compassionate than the more violence-prone male members of the species.

The Intent of Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation has Been Conveniently Forgotten

Sadly, Howe’s original call for mothers to protest against war on a regular basis has been struck from the consciousness of our capitalist, corporate-controlled media, militarized and war-profiteering society. Howe’s call has been watered-down to a sentimental shadow of its original intent. And the war-weary world and its innocent children are increasingly suffering because of it.

Mother’s Day in America was officially established in 1914 (May 9) as an annual holiday, but no mention was made by President Wilson that Howe wanted the day dedicated as a day of peace. Wilson instead said it was to commemorate America’s mothers.

And so Mother’s Day eventually became commercialized into just another profit-making holiday for corporations, with no regard for its original intent (pro-peace/anti-war). So now, just like most American holidays (especially including the originally religious ones like Easter and Christmas), Mother’s Day has been commercially exploited. What was originally a call to mobilize outraged mothers to keep their duped sons and husbands from going off half-cocked to kill and die for some corporate war profiteer or other, has become just another opportunity for commercial enterprises to enhance their bottom lines. Mention of its original purpose is a rarity.

One wonders what “irrelevant agencies” Howe was talking about in line two of her Proclamation below. Surely she meant the predecessors of America’s modern-day militarists, politicians, bankers, media moguls, sociopathic corporatists and various bureaucratic agencies that have been royally messing things up all over the world.

Think of all the nations that America’s military has bombed, invaded, and occupied with many of them then being economically colonized by our predatory financial corporations. Think of all the countries around the world that our CIA has destabilized and helped to overthrow. Think of all the foreign national elections that our American Deep State has covertly influenced so that they will conform to our “national interests” (meaning, of course, mainly American “business interests”).

Here is a list of all the nations that America has bombed, just since World War II: China 1945-46, Korea 1950-53, China 1950-53, Guatemala 1954, Indonesia 1958, Cuba 1959-60, Guatemala 1960, Belgian Congo 1964, Guatemala 1964, Dominican Republic 1965-66, Peru 1965, Laos 1964-73, Vietnam 1961-73, Cambodia 1969-70, Guatemala 1967-69, Lebanon 1982-84, Grenada 1983-84, Libya 1986, El Salvador 1981-92, Nicaragua 1981-90, Iran 1987-88, Libya 1989, Panama 1989-90, Iraq 1991, Kuwait 1991, Somalia 1992-94, Bosnia 1995, Iran 1998, Sudan 1998, Afghanistan 1998, Yugoslavia – Serbia 1999, Afghanistan 2001 – ?, Iraq 2003 – ?, Somalia 2001, 2011, Pakistan 2009 – ?, Yemen 2009, 2011, 2016 – ?, Libya 2011, Syria 2015 – ?. The list of CIA covert operations is much longer.

When Will We (Males) Ever Learn?

Note in Howe’s manifesto below how strongly she felt about wives and mothers never again having to be put in the position of applauding their soldier-husbands or soldier-sons when they came home from war “reeking of carnage”. Howe clearly felt that mothers should never again let war-making, war-profiteering institutions make killers out of their sons who they had raised to be ethical, humane citizens with a love for humankind. The prevention of such “reeking of carnage” is so much simpler than the never-ending attempts to somehow reverse the often untreatable consequences of the horrors of combat war. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and all that.

Let the people of good will begin again to promote the peacemaking vision of Julia Ward Howe and her female cohorts a century and a half ago. Given America’s current chaotic time of perpetual war, there is no time to lose. A good place to begin would be this Mother’s Day, May 13, 2017, perhaps followed up by a boycott of the upcoming, highly militarized, war-promoting Duluth Air Show (featuring the US Navy Blue Angels, and various war planes including an F-35, an F-16 and Canadian Air Force fighter jet ) partially designed to interest impressionable young boys into someday joining the military but with no information about the above-mentioned consequences of participating in war.

Dr. Kohls is a retired physician from the Duluth, MN, USA who writes about issues of war, peace and mental health.

*     *     *

Julia Ward Howe’s 1870 Mother’s Day Proclamation

“Arise then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or tears!

“Say firmly: ‘We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies.

“Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.

“Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy and patience.

“We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

“From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, ‘Disarm, disarm’

“The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor does violence indicate possession.

“As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

“Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar but of God.

“In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions and the great and general interests of peace.”

The original source of this article is Global Research Copyright © Dr. Gary G. Kohls, Global Research, 2017

[econobitch]

UNDERSTANDING THE RIGHT IN AMERICAN HISTORY. Trump’s campaign was surreal and an intellectual embarrassment, and political experts of all stripes told us he could never become president. That wasn’t how the story was supposed to end. National Review devoted an issue to writing Trump out of the conservative movement; an editor there, Jonah Goldberg, even became a leader of the “Never Trump” crusade. But Trump won — and conservative intellectuals quickly embraced a man who exploited the same brutish energies that Buckley had supposedly banished, with Goldberg explaining simply that Never Trump “was about the G.O.P. primary and the general election, not the presidency.” The professional guardians of America’s past, in short, had made a mistake. We advanced a narrative of the American right that was far too constricted to anticipate the rise of a man like Trump. Historians, of course, are not called upon to be seers. Our professional canons warn us against presentism — we are supposed to weigh the evidence of the past on its own terms — but at the same time, the questions we ask are conditioned by the present. That is, ultimately, what we are called upon to explain. Which poses a question: If Donald Trump is the latest chapter of conservatism’s story, might historians have been telling that story wrong? [...] Trump’s connection to this alternate right-wing genealogy is not just rhetorical. In 1927, 1,000 hooded Klansmen fought police in Queens in what The Times reported as a “free for all.” One of those arrested at the scene was the president’s father, Fred Trump. (Trump’s role in the melee is unclear; the charge — “refusing to disperse” — was later dropped.) In the 1950s, Woody Guthrie, at the time a resident of the Beach Haven housing complex the elder Trump built near Coney Island, wrote a song about “Old Man Trump” and the “Racial hate/He stirred up/In the bloodpot of human hearts/When he drawed/That color line” in one of his housing developments. In 1973, when Donald Trump was working at Fred’s side, both father and son were named in a federal housing-discrimination suit. The family settled with the Justice Department in the face of evidence that black applicants were told units were not available even as whites were welcomed with open arms. The 1960s and ’70s New York in which Donald Trump came of age, as much as Klan-ridden Indiana in the 1920s or Barry Goldwater’s Arizona in the 1950s, was at conservatism’s cutting edge, setting the emotional tone for a politics of rage. In 1966, when Trump was 20, Mayor John Lindsay placed civilians on a board to more effectively monitor police abuse. The president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association — responding, “I am sick and tired of giving in to minority groups and their gripes and their shouting” — led a referendum effort to dissolve the board that won 63 percent of the vote. Two years later, fights between supporters and protesters of George Wallace at a Madison Square Garden rally grew so violent that, The New Republic observed, “never again will you read about Berlin in the ’30s without remembering this wild confrontation here of two irrational forces.” The rest of the country followed New York’s lead. In 1970, after the shooting deaths of four students during antiwar protests at Kent State University in Ohio, a Gallup poll found that 58 percent of Americans blamed the students for their own deaths. (“If they didn’t do what the Guards told them, they should have been mowed down,” one parent of Kent State students told an interviewer.) Days later, hundreds of construction workers from the World Trade Center site beat antiwar protesters at City Hall with their hard hats. (“It was just like Iwo Jima,” an impressed witness remarked.) That year, reports the historian Katherine Scott, 76 percent of Americans “said they did not support the First Amendment right to assemble and dissent from government policies.” In 1973, the reporter Gail Sheehy joined a group of blue-collar workers watching the Watergate hearings in a bar in Astoria, Queens. “If I was Nixon,” one of them said, “I’d shoot every one of them.” (Who “they” were went unspecified.) This was around the time when New Yorkers were leaping to their feet and cheering during screenings of “Death Wish,” a hit movie about a liberal architect, played by Charles Bronson, who shoots muggers at point-blank range. At an October 2015 rally near Nashville, Donald Trump told his supporters: “I have a license to carry in New York, can you believe that? Nobody knows that. Somebody attacks me, oh, they’re gonna be shocked.” He imitated a cowboy-style quick draw, and an appreciative crowd shouted out the name of Bronson’s then-41-year-old film: “ ‘Death Wish’!” In 1989, a young white woman was raped in Central Park. Five teenagers, four black and one Latino, confessed to participating in the crime. At the height of the controversy, Donald Trump took out full-page ads in all the major New York daily papers calling for the return of the death penalty. It was later proved the police had essentially tortured the five into their confessions, and they were eventually cleared by DNA evidence. Trump, however, continues to insist upon their guilt. That confidence resonates deeply with what the sociologist Lawrence Rosenthal calls New York’s “hard-hat populism” — an attitude, Rosenthal hypothesizes, that Trump learned working alongside the tradesmen in his father’s real estate empire. But the case itself also resonates deeply with narratives dating back to the first Ku Klux Klan of white womanhood defiled by dark savages. Trump’s public call for the supposed perpetrators’ hides, no matter the proof of guilt or innocence, mimics the rituals of Southern lynchings. When Trump vowed on the campaign trail to Make America Great Again, he was generally unclear about when exactly it stopped being great. The Vanderbilt University historian Jefferson Cowie tells a story that points to a possible answer. In his book “The Great Exception,” he suggests that what historians considered the main event in 20th century American political development — the rise and consolidation of the “New Deal order” — was in fact an anomaly, made politically possible by a convergence of political factors. One of those was immigration. At the beginning of the 20th century, millions of impoverished immigrants, mostly Catholic and Jewish, entered an overwhelmingly Protestant country. It was only when that demographic transformation was suspended by the 1924 Immigration Act that majorities of Americans proved willing to vote for many liberal policies. In 1965, Congress once more allowed large-scale immigration to the United States — and it is no accident that this date coincides with the increasing conservative backlash against liberalism itself, now that its spoils would be more widely distributed among nonwhites. The liberalization of immigration law is an obsession of the alt-right. Trump has echoed their rage. “We’ve admitted 59 million immigrants to the United States between 1965 and 2015,” he noted last summer, with rare specificity. “ ‘Come on in, anybody. Just come on in.’ Not anymore.” This was a stark contrast to Reagan, who venerated immigrants, proudly signing a 1986 bill, sponsored by the conservative Republican senator Alan Simpson, that granted many undocumented immigrants citizenship. Shortly before announcing his 1980 presidential run, Reagan even boasted of his wish “to create, literally, a common market situation here in the Americas with an open border between ourselves and Mexico.” But on immigration, at least, it is Trump, not Reagan, who is the apotheosis of the brand of conservatism that now prevails. A puzzle remains. If Donald Trump was elected as a Marine Le Pen-style — or Hiram Evans-style — herrenvolk republican, what are we to make of the fact that he placed so many bankers and billionaires in his cabinet, and has relentlessly pursued so many 1-percent-friendly policies? More to the point, what are we to the make of the fact that his supporters don’t seem to mind? Here, however, Trump is far from unique. The history of bait-and-switch between conservative electioneering and conservative governance is another rich seam that calls out for fresh scholarly excavation: not of how conservative voters see their leaders, but of the neglected history of how conservative leaders see their voters. In their 1987 book, “Right Turn,” the political scientists Joel Rogers and Thomas Ferguson presented public-opinion data demonstrating that Reagan’s crusade against activist government, which was widely understood to be the source of his popularity, was not, in fact, particularly popular. For example, when Reagan was re-elected in 1984, only 35 percent of voters favored significant cuts in social programs to reduce the deficit. Much excellent scholarship, well worth revisiting in the age of Trump, suggests an explanation for Reagan’s subsequent success at cutting back social programs in the face of hostile public opinion: It was business leaders, not the general public, who moved to the right, and they became increasingly aggressive and skilled in manipulating the political process behind the scenes. But another answer hides in plain sight. The often-cynical negotiation between populist electioneering and plutocratic governance on the right has long been not so much a matter of policy as it has been a matter of show business. The media scholar Tim Raphael, in his 2009 book, “The President Electric: Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Performance,” calls the three-minute commercials that interrupted episodes of The General Electric Theater — starring Reagan and his family in their state-of-the-art Pacific Palisades home, outfitted for them by G.E. — television’s first “reality show.” For the California voters who soon made him governor, the ads created a sense of Reagan as a certain kind of character: the kindly paterfamilias, a trustworthy and nonthreatening guardian of the white middle-class suburban enclave. Years later, the producers of “The Apprentice” carefully crafted a Trump character who was the quintessence of steely resolve and all-knowing mastery. American voters noticed. Linda Lucchese, a Trump convention delegate from Illinois who had never previously been involved in politics, told me that she watched “The Apprentice” and decided that Trump would make a perfect president. “All those celebrities,” she told me: “They showed him respect.” It is a short leap from advertising and reality TV to darker forms of manipulation. Consider the parallels since the 1970s between conservative activism and the traditional techniques of con men. Direct-mail pioneers like Richard Viguerie created hair-on-fire campaign-fund-raising letters about civilization on the verge of collapse. One 1979 pitch warned that “federal and state legislatures are literally flooded with proposed laws that are aimed at total confiscation of firearms from law-abiding citizens.” Another, from the 1990s, warned that “babies are being harvested and sold on the black market by Planned Parenthood clinics.” Recipients of these alarming missives sent checks to battle phony crises, and what they got in return was very real tax cuts for the rich. Note also the more recent connection between Republican politics and “multilevel marketing” operations like Amway (Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is the wife of Amway’s former president and the daughter-in-law of its co-founder); and how easily some of these marketing schemes shade into the promotion of dubious miracle cures (Ben Carson, secretary of housing and urban development, with “glyconutrients”; Mike Huckabee shilling for a “solution kit” to “reverse” diabetes; Trump himself taking on a short-lived nutritional-supplements multilevel marketing scheme in 2009). The dubious grifting of Donald Trump, in short, is a part of the structure of conservative history. Future historians won’t find all that much of a foundation for Trumpism in the grim essays of William F. Buckley, the scrupulous constitutionalist principles of Barry Goldwater or the bright-eyed optimism of Ronald Reagan. They’ll need instead to study conservative history’s political surrealists and intellectual embarrassments, its con artists and tribunes of white rage. It will not be a pleasant story. But if those historians are to construct new arguments to make sense of Trump, the first step may be to risk being impolite.

[mtwy]

The Virgin Tour

Public Hall Cleveland, OH May 16th 1985

SOLD OUT

Madonna

By John Downing (The Pittsburgh Press)

CLEVELAND - The Madonna look was so widespread on the floor of Cleveland’s Public Hall that the reigning truclent trollop of rock imagery would have been indistinguishable had she chosen to mingle with her clone fans.

Raised on her MTV videos, haughty 13-year-old girls came dressed in fingerless black lace gloves, large gold crosses, black boots, black miniskirts, hairdos seemingly nurtured in a hamper, clunky discount-store bracelets, black or white fishnet hose and - most important of all - half-tops that exposed a sellout crowd of 10,000 bellybuttons.

Boy George has trimmed his dreadlocks to a crew cut. Michael Jackson is taking a breather and playing with his odd pets after producing the biggest-selling album in history. Cyndi Lauper seems to be concentrating more on wrestling than writing. The purple prince of passion has retired to Minneapolis.

Madonna Louise Ciccone, 26, daughter of Richester, owns the market - at least this season. Four years ago, she was trying to push demo tapes on New York City disc jockeys.

Now, seats for her 28-city tour sell faster than Saabs in Shadyside. For her Los Angeles concert, 17,000 tickets were consumed in 45 minutes. Tickets for three shows in the 5,800 seat Radio City Music Hall went in 20 minutes.

For her Tuesday night Civic Arena concert, about 13,000 tickets were available (seats behind the stage were not put on sale) and were all gone in “a couple of hours,” says promoter Rich Engler of DiCesare-Engler Productions.

“This is the fastest-selling female in my and my partner’s history, and we’ve dealt with Linda Ronstadt, Bette Midler, and Liza Minnelli. It’s a real history-maker that way. This is no put down, but females usually are slower sales. This is a real turnaround.”

The story was the same in Cleveland. And outside the hall, moments before showtime May 16, scalpers were hawking $14 tickets for almost $50 apiece. Clerks were vending plain white $22 T-shirts bearing the face of the new queen, the one with the BoyToy belt buckle and the let-me-get-to-know-you-quickly leer.

So what’s the attraction?

“Deceiving people is fun,” said Ranee Stambaugh, a 19-year-old from Youngstown, Ohio, who drove to the show with three girlfriends. “She acts like a wild lady, and I think it’s kinda fun to do the same thing.”

Before she stopped giving interviews, Madonna told reporters the early criticism of her sultry stage and video persona represented sexism. After all, no one ever complained about the bump and grind routines of Mick Jagger or Rod Stewart or David Lee Roth.

Yet, even Jim Morrison seemed subtle than Madonna - particularly when she made a lewd proposition to the few males in the audience, while sitting on a boom box before beginning “Everybody.”

Other than perfunctory questions about how the overwhelming female teenage and white audience was feeling, Madonna did not talk much to her fans. Her only ovation to the town came before her second song, “Holiday,” from the first of her two albums.

“I don’t see why Cleveland has such a bad reputation,” said the woman who is thriving on a bad reputation. “You are one rockin’ audience.”

Although she didn’t visit the ground floor, Madonna seemed to be everywhere else, flanked much of the time during the 75-minute, 12-song show by two young male dancers.

She hstarted the program by gliding down one of three long stair cases - which surrounded the five-piece backup band - and emerging in green and red laser light while singing “Condition.” 

Her escorts joined her soon after and participated in a well-rehearsed and tightly choreographed dance routine. Though there were few miscues, there was a decided lack of spontaneity - rather like a good areobics teacher going through the same sequence for the 1,000th time.

Moving solo, Madonna climbed a tall speaker where she writhed and wriggled on her side to “Gambler,” jumped down to the stage again and then crooned “Borderline” lying flat on her back.

The highlights were “Starlight,” which she sang enveloped by amber light from the top step of the center stairway, and “Like a Virgin,” which she does in a white wedding gown, as her second encore.

Madonna followers will be thrilled by the production because they will hear all her hits - moderate Motown without a solitary edge of genuine passion - done just like the records. And they will see the woman who invented that new look, the one which permits them to dress up as pouty tramps and still be thought of as people.

On the other hand, there are no surprises at all. The back-up quintet uses too much synthetic rhythm and is permitted only one short jam - which comes while Madonna makes the first of two clothing changes.

This group is average, so average that Madonna never introduces the members and uses them more like props - she crawls through the lead guitarist’s legs and clings to his knee during “Burning Up” - than like partners in music.

Madonna’s voice is stronger than on record, but it’s still nothing to compare with contemporary songbirds like Sade, Alison Moyet or Tina Turner. In fact, her voice is a lot like her. She teases a lot, but never really delivers.

[themusicenthusiast]

Wednesday, March 8th, 2017 – Let It Be Brings the Generations Together with a Stunning Look Back at The Beatles Milestone Moments

There are cover bands and there are tribute acts, the difference between the two being that the former will play a wide array of music while the latter strives to mimic one certain band. However, on occasion, a group exists that makes such classification seem trivial and antiquated, as they exceed expectations and push the boundaries, blurring the lines between the perceptions that surround tribute bands and the reality of what they’re capable of achieving given the right mix of talent and execution of their performance. That became readily apparent this night in Dallas at the Music Hall at Fair Park as the curtain opened on Let It Be for the second night of a total of sixteen shows they’ll be doing at the venue over the course of twelve days. People came to the Music Hall in droves on this Wednesday night to see what they would soon be hailing as one of the greatest Beatles tribute bands ever. It was a diverse crowd, the bulk of the patrons being children of the fifties and sixties who had witnessed all The Beatles milestone moments first hand, no doubt hoping for some nostalgia. However, plenty of twenty and thirty-somethings packed in as well (along with a few kids in tow with their parents), all curious about getting some sort of experience that may have been comparable to the real thing. It sure felt as if everyone had been transported back in time thanks in part to two large screens placed on either side of the stage. The appearance made them look as if they were TV sets of sixties, two simple knobs being the only controls on them. For the time being they showed various commercials from that period, which was quite entertaining in itself. Then, as 7:35 rolled around and the lights dimmed, the trip back in time was completed, stopping in February of 1964, to a time when Americans where cheering a British invasion. The Music Hall was seemingly converted into a certain theatre in New York, the voice of Ed Sullivan welcoming out four young men from Liverpool, England who were making their television debut in America.

That was the brilliance of the next 64-minutes, as Let It Be traversed a brief sampling of highlights that The Beatles experienced over the course of the next several years, beginning with that landmark late night talk show appearance. The stage looked the part, as did the four musicians, who were convincing enough that it only seemed right when they made remarks in the first person, as if they genuinely were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They sounded like the pioneering rock band to boot as they performed a handful of cuts from that era, doing some beloved ones, like "I Want to Hold Your Hand". The British accents were even quite uncanny as they powered through the first segment, occasionally bantering with the spectators as Let It Be broke everyone in and prepared them for what was to come. Beatlemania was in full effect when the curtain opened next, hordes of screaming fans filling Shea Stadium more than a year after their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Archival footage depicted all of the hysteria of the day; and when next the band was seen, there was a true glimmer of wonder and amazement in their eye, as if they actually were performing in front of a sea of thousands and thousands, a bit taken aback by the turnout. The cast of Let it Be were going full throttle at that point, hits like “Help!” ensuring the audience was completely enamored with the music, and thus, when they encouraged everyone to stand and dance along (like when doing the “Twist and Shout”), the concertgoers were quite receptive to it. The young and young at heart were happy to get on their feet and sway from side to side or clap along, the four musicians taking turns in leading the motions and getting everyone participating. The collective favorite portion of the night came when Let It Be embraced the alter ego that The Beatles created in 1967, sporting those lush and vivid colored suits of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, looking identical to that album cover. With another half dozen songs, they took everyone through a “trip”, the visuals that accompanied the music being reflective of the psychedelic days, looking abstract yet playing out cohesively. The title track was one of the most rocking of the night, the cast appearing completely renewed as they tackled one of The Beatles’ best releases, hitting a few more high-energy numbers, while also putting the piano to use during “When I’m Sixty Four”, turning that beautiful number into a sing-along. Abbey Road was the final backdrop, the footage that bridged the segments together establishing that the Vietnam War was in full swing, and so, too, were the protesters, letting their governments know how strongly they disagreed with what was going on. It was a brief set that more than anything promoted peace and unity. From the Lennon lookalike (who, with every progression, was becoming the spitting image of the singer) singing “…Come together, and stop the war!” during “Come Together”, to the insightful lyrics of “The End”, they left everyone in a chipper mood from riding a glorious wave of nostalgia. But what if there had been more? What if music’s most famous quartet had officially reconciled and joined forces on stage one last time? That was what Let It Be focused on upon resuming after a brief intermission, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr doing a reunion show in 1980, doubling as a way for Lennon to ring in his fortieth year of life. With a second act that spanned another hour, that was when Let It Be transcended to something even greater than it had been, the musicians seeming to have a little more freedom as they kept things true to how The Beatles might have done it but were also able to let more of their own talents shine. It was an extraordinary glimpse of what might have been, encompassing songs from each of the members’ solo careers (“You enjoyed your ‘wings’, didn’t you?” ‘Harrison’ ribbed) and a trove of songs that audiences never got to hear live. While delving into the expansive catalog The Beatles built, Let It Be also revisited some of the earlier works and gave them a reimagined twist. (The mostly acoustic rendition of “Here Comes the Sun” was sheer divinity, and it was but one of a few stripped-down versions.) Just a couple of other highlights from act two included “My Guitar Gently Weeps” (the sizzling guitar solo was something to behold and had everyone in the room roaring); while “Back in the U.S.S.R.” was pure dynamite. Of course, they also played the title track in which the band derived their name from, and, oh, what an ethereal experience “Let it Be” provided. After the obligatory encore that any show, let alone a ‘reunion’ concert would just have to have, the cast made their way to the front of the stage, basking in the fanfare and expressing their gratitude to everybody. They had earned the standing ovation they received; Neil Candelora (Paul McCartney), JT Curtis (George Harrison), Michael Gagliano (John Lennon) and Chris McBurney (Ringo Starr) each getting a formal introduction, as did “The Fifth Beatle” Daniel A. Weiss, who had provided much of the additional instruments throughout the career spanning set. Let It Be made everyone feel as if they were reliving some of the most significant days of rock ‘n’ roll history by one of the bands whose legacy will last for many generations to come. For those who came hoping for a nostalgic experience, well, they got it in spades, the spirit of the late sixties being alive and well. Through the songs and the performance Let It Be even projected the innocence of those days, when life was a bit simpler than it is now. And for those who were born just a few decades too late to see those young men from Liverpool who became a global phenomenon, then they got the next greatest experience on this night. Authentic. If only one word could be used to summarize Let It Be than that would be it. More than merely playing the songs, they convincingly made it feel as if they were indeed the creators behind them, playing everything with conviction and passion. They captured the spirit of every mile marker of the illustrious career as they journeyed from the relatively humble beginnings to imagining what would have been a reunion concert for the ages, had it only happened. Yet on this night, it did, as they shouldered the weight so barely any imagination was required to picture John, Paul, George, and Ringo on stage for a proper farewell. They captured the essence of The Beatles, and regardless of if you’re an avid fan or just a casual listener that is familiar with a few of the hits, this is a show that will have you spellbound from start to finish. Far more than just a performance it was an experience and a definite must-see for any lover of music. Let It Be will be at the Music Hall at Fair Park through Sunday, March 19th. For a complete list of shows and info on tickets, visit HERE. Afterwards, they head over to Fort Worth and the Bass Performance Hall from March 21st through the 26th. More info on those shows can be found HERE.