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from Big O

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JONI MITCHELL TO RELEASE HER LIVE SHOW RECORDED BY JIMI HENDRIX!!!

Joni Mitchell is set to release the recordings of two sets at a Canadian coffee shop that were recorded by Jimi Hendrix, reported Uncut UK. The singer's performances at Ottawa's Le Hibou Coffee House were captured by Hendrix in March 1968 during a two-week residency by Mitchell ahead of the release of her debut album, Song To A Seagull. Hendrix had performed at the nearby Capitol Theatre earlier that evening, and even noted plans to record her performance in his diary. The recording, which will feature on Mitchell's upcoming collection Joni Mitchell Archives Vol 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) was captured while Hendrix sat on the floor at the front of the stage. The collection will be released on October 29.

Recalling the performance in the new collection's sleeve notes, Mitchell said: "They came and told me, 'Jimi Hendrix is here, and he's at the front door.' I went to meet him. He had a large box.

"He said to me, 'My name is Jimi Hendrix. I'm on the same label as you. Reprise Records.' We were both signed about the same time. He said, 'I'd like to record your show. Do you mind?' I said, 'No, not at all.' There was a large reel-to-reel tape recorder in the box.

"The stage was only about a foot off the ground. He knelt at edge of the stage, with a microphone, at my feet. All during the show, he kept twisting knobs. He was engineering it, I don't know what he was controlling, volume? He was watching the needles or something, messing with knobs. He beautifully recorded this tape. Of course I played part of the show to him. He was right below me."

Hendrix's tape was stolen a few days later and presumed to be lost, but it recently resurfaced in a private collection donated to the Library and Archives Canada (LAC), and returned to Mitchell.

THE BLACK WIDOW IS ANGRY!

Scarlett Johansson launched a legal battle against Disney following the company's decision to release Black Widow on its streaming service at the same time it landed in cinemas. The lawsuit, filed July 29 in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that the move has heavily impacted ticket sales of the Avengers spinoff. Attorneys representing Johansson allege that the decision to simultaneously release the film on Disney+ represented a breach of contract. Disney has responded July 29 saying, "There is no merit whatsoever to this filing... Disney has fully complied with Ms Johansson's contract and, furthermore, the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the US$20 million she has received to date." $20?!?!! Sheesh! Guess it's called greed!

The decision to take legal action is in part connected to Johansson's compensation for her lead appearance in the film, according to Variety, which included bonuses tied into its box office performance. The Wall Street Journal claims that an estimated total of $50 million were lost in bonuses as a result of the move.

The sum is certainly not "Monopoly money".

To date Marvel’s ‘Black Widow’ has grossed $200 Million Globally

Hope local girl Florence Pugh the 'sidekicks' is on a hefty whack too! She is looking rather good

local gal Florence Pugh!

Flo in Black Widow

THIS WEEK'S WTF MOMENT

CAN HISTORY VIOLATE 'COMMUNITY STANDARDS'?

A Twitter and Instagram site called '100YearsAgoLive' was blocked last week for its post of Hitler's election. The owner of the site, Manny Marotta, was told his posts violated "community guidelines." When he appealed the decision, they rejected him again, saying his content went against their guidelines on "violence or dangerous organizations".

Since the beginning of the "content moderation" movement, a major problem has become apparent. Human beings simply create too much content on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram for other human beings to review. Machines have proven able to identify clearly inappropriate content like child pornography (though even there the algorithms occasionally stumbled, as in the case of Facebook's removal of the famous "Running Girl" photo).

But asking computer programs to sort out the subtleties of different types of speech - differences between commentary and advocacy, criticism and incitement, reporting and participation - has proven a disaster. A theme running through nearly all of the "Meet the Censored" articles is this problem of algorithmic censorship systematically throwing out babies with bathwater.

Whether it's YouTube cracking down on videographer Ford Fischer for covering events involving Holocaust deniers or white supremacists, the same platform zapping footage of the January 6 riots shot by Jon Farina of Status Coup, or Matt Orfalea being punished for violating a "criminal organizations policy" for a spoof coffee commercial involving a mass-murderer, Internet carriers have consistently shown they cannot or will not distinguish between, say, being a Nazi and criticizing one, joking about one, even warning about one.

The frightening thing about the '100YearsAgoLive' incident is that it's not hard to see this becoming a trend, where history itself is deemed to violate common decency. The whole idea of historical education is to prevent future horrors via graphic warnings from the past. Survivors of the Holocaust have always been adamant that we must "Never Forget," that places such as Auschwitz must never be buried or hidden away but instead displayed prominently, made into lasting cultural artifacts whose purpose is to be so conspicuous as to prevent the natural human impulse to whitewash our sadly expansive history of evil.

In the name of combating hate speech, violence, conspiracy theory, etc, internet platforms are removing not just advocacy, but knowledge, in a wide-ranging effort that may help the companies create a more frictionless, commercially successful product, but will impede the past from chastening the present. If the aim is preventing the spread of hateful ideas, nothing could be more counter-productive than cleaning away the record of their real-world impact. - Matt Taibbi from TK News. Read the full report here.

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READING ROOM

FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE, BOYCOTT NETFLIX'S 'HIT AND RUN'

The best defender of apartheid Israel is not that ferocious bully, AIPAC. It is, and it always has been, Hollywood. The entertainment industry creates soft, smooth propaganda which is easy to digest, in a compelling dramatic form.

"It's not propaganda. It's just TV. Good TV."

For those who loved "Fauda," we present Spoilers - for the next installment of Netflix Apartheid TV - "Hit and Run." Premiering August 6.

"Hit and Run" is a nine-episode action-thriller. IMDb says, "A happily married man's life is turned upside down when his wife is killed in a mysterious hit-and-run accident in Tel Aviv." Netflix promos tell us that the man is an Israeli tour guide, Segev. Segev will become "caught up in a dangerous web of secrets and intrigue stretching from New York to Tel Aviv."

"Hit and Run" is a successor to "Fauda," which was produced entirely in Israel, by Israeli television companies. "Fauda" was exotic, absorbing entertainment. Netflix bought the rights and streamed it. "Fauda" was an international commercial success. It was also easy-to-swallow, pro-occupation, propaganda. While it portrayed some Palestinians as almost human, "Fauda" reinforced the basic premises of Israeli apartheid.

Netflix was ready to take the next step - a US-Israeli co-production, shot in both countries.

I support the cultural boycott of Israel. I see the ideological underpinnings of dramas like "Fauda" and "Hit and Run" as false premises for injustice. But of equal importance is the simple fact of the collaboration between the entertainment industries of both countries. In my opinion, this mutual embedding normalizes the brutal occupation of Palestine and normalizes Israel's regime of violent apartheid.

Read the rest of Dave Clennon's essay at Counterpunch.

Dave Clennon is a long-time actor and political agitator, probably best known for portraying the advertising mogul Miles Drentell on ABC's  thirtysomething. His performance as Miles earned him an Emmy nomination. His more recent projects include Syriana, Grey's Anatomy and Weeds. He won an Emmy for his performance in an episode of HBO's Dream On. Long-time fans of John Carpenter's classic The Thing treasure his delivery of the line - after seeing a mind-blowing human-to-monster transformation - "You gotta be fuckin' kidding."

GET A JAB, SAYS SIR PAUL

Paul McCartney has encouraged his fans and followers on social media to get vaccinated against coronavirus. McCartney posted a picture August 2 of himself getting vaccinated.*

* and as frequent visitor Jobe in his Floppy Boots hopped off the Voodoo Wagon long enough too ask

"Quite why HAS Sir Paul waited until the 2nd August 2021 to get his vaccination!?!?

Has he been hanging around with Eric and Van again!? ha ha ha ha ha ha . . . . . good call Brother Jobe!  . . . . just thought at this rate Clapton will have had his jab before Macca!?!?

What's THAT all about!?

         

Is it just me or are Morrisons going down the drain?