Killings in Charleston, South Carolina

I need to write something about unfolding events in America as I understand a young man has been arrested for the shooting of nine innocent people. My thoughts go out to the people of Charleston, South Carolina and all its townsfolk and most especially the families and loved ones of the people so senselessly shot in the past hours. 

I am deeply troubled by a country that has shot and killed more of its own people than it has in wars it has waged elsewhere. I am deeply troubled by how many of these people shot in recent times may be people of colour. I am deeply troubled by the actions of someone seemingly given a firearm on their 21st birthday.  I was given a watch. 

I do not share the faith of those shot down in their church, I am an atheist. I do not share your culture and ethnic background, I am white and about as Caucasian as it is possible to be and from Britain. What I do share is your absolute right to be safe wherever you chose to bow your heads in prayer, to believe whatsoever you choose to believe and I will defend your right to do so with the very last breath in my body. I will not however take up arms against my enemy, that is his foolishness and clearly his gravest mistake for in killing others of whatever birthright or origin, he is unaware he is killing his brother, in the greatest ignorance imaginable he does not understand the truth that he is merely killing himself.

I find I am deeply disturbed by seemingly how fast youngsters appear to be being brainwashed by Isil or Isis terrorists so completely where once a young man described as a 'loving, kind and caring and affable teenager' turns into someone prepared to commit suicide by blowing themselves up in the business of killing innocent people in the name of supposed faith. I am also moved to the very marrow by what I read from this one young man's family The family of ISIS suicide bomber Talha Asmal (17) have spoken about their natural 'utter devastation and heartbreak' also went on to say something I found profoundly moving. Bravely and sanely put at an extraordinary time of such levels of distress few of us could imagine. 

 "As a family we would like to take this opportunity to unequivocally state that Isis are not Islam. They do not represent in any way, shape or form Islam and Muslims and we are no longer prepared to allow a barbaric group like Isis to hijack our faith" 

That is dignity!

Hell hath no fury like . . . . . .journalists and Twitter feeds . . . . . 

Ever get the feeling you have been played?

Ahh the power of the press, yellow journalism and the strength of mass reactionary drone's following social media. Twitter . . .What IS the past participle of tweet? Oh yeah that's TWAT!

On the strength of reporting someone high up in Academe saying something really silly at a conference this professor (Prof Tim Hunt) has lost several jobs. Now of course that someone says something stupid at conference is no rarity (whatever your gender eh ladies? Ever do anything daft at conference?.) but tweeting comments in seconds and accusing them of being "Victorian" (ooh BURN!) is a sign of the times and of course there are digital ezines likely to pick up the snot rag and run with it. Note 'Vagenda' . . . . See what they did there? SO funny! 

Start a hashtag #disconcertinglysexy. There then followed an outcry from these women of science who could scarcely have reacted more predictably. Dance dance DANCE! You know NOT looking distractingly sexy in photos . . Ha ha ha SO funny

I know let's keep the pressure up until the Nobel Laureate Professor has no jobs at all! Completely unemployed! let's see if we can make them do that by morning shall we?

Ha ha ha ha . . . . . .

But he didn't actually say women were "distractingly sexy"? No we did! Better sound bite. Oh is that exactly fair? Who cares? Well he talked about falling in love not sex. Meh! He talked about women needing to be tougher and furthering their position in Science and maybe it would help to have segregated labs! Wasn't that ironic? Wasn't he trying to be funny? You know like the damp wet rag who called him Victorian?

Well yeah but that's beside the point the game is to see whether first we can get him to lose ALL his jobs and a side plate of 'can we get it on the front page of the papers'?

Job done! How many points did I get? What can we play next!

First one to get a topless photo of the 'girl' who took her kecks off on a sacred mountain!

First interview? Nah! Too easy . . . . . . . 

 New Nepalese Earthquake

NEWSFLASH

The second earthquake in Nepal strike between Kathmandu and Mount Everest. picture by Luca Galuzzi

Terrible news just coming in of a further Earthquake today of 7.3 - Reuters reporting 29 dead (increasing numbers doubled as I write) and hundreds injured, tremors felt in India, Dhakar Bangladesh and Tibet
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/12/us-quake-nepal-idUSKBN0NX0JO20150512
One can't help but wonder at the terror and trials the Nepalese people face. When I was feeling sorry for myself and somewhat depressed at the election news. Bemoaning the outcome of a mere quarter of the British voting population putting a Conservative government in place over the majority of us again we can but reflect that at least we are safe from such terrible natural disasters

BBC and The Politicians!

The Evan Davis Interviews

The interviews on the BBC with the heads of the political parties as quizzed by Evan Davis have been shallow, one dimensional, and Davis largely irritating and rude. I felt when he took over the Newsnight chalice that I should like Davis but comments on his sudden emergence on the Beeb's 'entertainment' rosta should have forewarned me perhaps, like his Newsnight predecessor quiz show host Jeremy Paxman, Davis has come from second rate TV entertainment (the truly dreadful Dragons Den!) 

These scheduled interviews with the party political heads the BBC decided to shoot in what looks like a foyer or a mezzanine landing by the toilets near the coffee machine. Ever reminiscent of the comedy John Morton's hilarious 'W1A' and one wonders if they couldn't use the 'Frankie Howerd' room or or show up in Anna Rampton's 'Head of BBC Better' offices!? That they have shot in the 'no nonsense' landing seems to suggest a practical 'truth saying' all nuts and no bolts but this could not be farther from that. It is still an interview 'set' with blue background for the PM, red for Ed, a strangely pink hue to the underlay carpet floor for the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon whilst Nigel Farage seems set against a cross between red and blue (subtle that!) so the purple reflects the prose of the interview which was amongst the most crass of the lot.

 

 

Davis seems to have a shockingly poor budget, 'shoes like dead pigs noses' to paraphrase Ian Dury, seemingly the same ones each time and a crumpled and shabbily pressed cheap suit, the turn ups noticeably poorly hung and sewn badly and look for all that wardrobe must have had to take them up in a hurry, he generally looks like he could do with either a good wash or a good nights sleep and preferably both! 

 

An earlier performance with Nick Clegg had him showing off short socks and an embarrassingly pallid expanse of skinny white leg. The treatment of Nigel Farage was little short of facile, rude and crass and fortunately analysed much better elsewhere but it shocked me. If Davis wrote the questions he should be ashamed of himself. I expected better though I am beginning to wonder why.

The BBC or Davis himself clearly thinks it is the school of tenacious interviewing that thinks it merely gritty to interrupt, raise your voice, bluster, hector, and most irritatingly, talk across people incessantly and show scant regard for eye contact and the most revealing camera shots show Evans looking at his notes (flash card idiot boards?) rather than any active listening to the replies given by the MPs involved. 

Rude and ignorant he started the interrogation of SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, by asking if "When she was in Scotland she would ask people to vote SNP and in England to vote Labour, how does she equate this inconsistency?" which frankly is a question a school pupil of scarcely double figures could work out why it is clearly no such thing. At that point I would have walked out until they got an adult to talk to me! 

Let's have Kirsty Wark, Stephen Sackur or someone with at least some gravitas a la David Dimbleby whom it is presumabley beneath by now and at least someone with some clout who doesn't have to resport to shouting across folk and some basic interview technique or even a vague empathy with their subject!

Coming close to the end with Sturgeon he wondered out loud 'Are you the most powerful woman in the UK?' This it seemed to me is the question of a primary school sandpit! 

Very very poor indeed.

"Closing Time"

&

"Private Conversation"

Another from a series of favourite songs and this is exceptional in that whilst the quality of the video may be home spun the sound is excellent and my hero Lyle Lovett is here accompanied by Nanci Griffith





 The last set at Austin City Limits Studio 6a was a celebration and how better to end the thing after 36 years than Lyle singing 'Closing Time'



To finish on an upbeat I started looking to find other favourite Lovett songs and this one is great
live on Letterman in '96 'Private Conversation" I defy you not to choogle your buns!



get them and more here. . . . buy a fistful you won't go wrong, I've got all of 'em and I Love 'em!

 Steve Earle

Just revisiting old classic songs that have a stayed with me through the years like old friends and a good pair of shoes. This is the wonderment that is Steve Earle and I have been following all that he has done since his début album over here the fine fine album 'Guitar Town' which grabbed me by the collar stood me up against the wall and shook me

Here he is doing an all time favourite song that resonates as true now as it did then . . . .

Steve Earle - My Old Friend The Blues

Turn it up and buy the album(s)

Matt Andersen

One of the very great joys of being a member of a music forum apart from the sense of community of like minded shared interests with folk and perhaps only second to them being run by folks who put you in touch with downloads of ROIO's of some fine fine mewsic, is when you get introduced to new talent by other members. People and artists that you have never heard of who then proceed to blow you away. Canadian Matt Andersen is one such as these. (It seems to happen with quite a lot of Canadians!?)

Firstly check out his version of the classic Kris Kristoffersen number 'Me and Bobby McGee'


THen check this from the side bar at Youtube the beautiful 'Drift Away'

BIG O NEWSLETTER

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OH S***!: THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE, JAY-Z'S TIDAL IS ALREADY A FLOP

April 21, 2015: Two weeks after Tidal briefly cracked the U.S. iPhone top 20 download chart, the app has crashed out of the top 700. Apparently American consumers have limited empathy towards Beyonce and Nicki. Soon after the launch fiasco, Tidal's CEO was kicked out in a "streamlining" move.  The new CEO Peter Tonstad, a former consultant for the Norwegian Ministry of Environment, has his work cut out for him.

To make matters worse for Tidal, its main rivals are now surging. On April 20th, Pandora and Spotify occupied positions No. 3 and No. 4 on the U.S. iPhone revenue chart, respectively. This was the first time two music streaming services have hit the top 4 in sales simultaneously. In order to achieve the feat, Pandora and Spotify had to push Candy Crush Saga out of U.S. iPhone top 4 revenue chart, which is a remarkable achievement.

As a matter of fact, something curious can be seen in Spotify's download performance right after Tidal's media campaign started bashing its allegedly meager payouts. Spotify surged back into the iPad top 40 download chart on March 31st, right when Tidal's anti-Spotify invective hit its peak in American media. This had not happened since November 2014.

It looks like Tidal's attacks on Spotify and Pandora actually managed to increase public awareness of the services, boosting Spotify's download performance in particular at the end of March. And now, a few weeks later, the combined revenue performance of the two music apps is hitting a new milestone. To add insult to injury, Beats Music has started cracking U.S. iPhone top 20 revenue chart.

Tidal is now facing no fewer than three deep-pocketed rival music apps and they're all minting money and riding strong momentum. The new CEO must somehow find a way to mop up after the ill-advised March launch and find a way to reposition Tidal in a crowded marketŠ preferably by not trying to make consumers feel bad for multimillionaires. Or giving its rivals extra attention. - bgr.com (click here)

 

THE HORROR... THE HORROR

Reports in the April 19, 2015 Daily Mirror suggest that Noel and Liam Gallagher have reached a 'gentleman's agreement' to reform Oasis next year. There has seemingly been a thawing in the pair's relationship lately. Last month saw Liam taking to Twitter to post a photo of himself holding a backstage pass to one of Noel's gigs, who in turn has publicly encouraged his younger sibling to record a solo album. 

The Mirror reported a 'well-placed source' saying: "It's early days in terms of the details, but Noel and Liam are back on good terms and ready to give things another go. Nothing is signed but it's what you might call a gentlemen's agreement between them. Ultimately they're family and whatever has gone on before can be sorted out - they're very close beneath all the bluster."

Which brother is going broke fast?

MORE HORRIBLE TALES

 

It has been revealed by Lou Reed's wife that David Bowie thinks her husband's 2011 collaboration with Metallica, 'Lulu', is his "greatest work". During Laurie Anderson's speech at Reed's induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on April 18, 2015, the late singer's widow said that consensus on the record is changing. "One of [Lou's] last projects was his album with Metallica," she said. "And this was really challenging, and I have a hard time with it. There are many struggles and so much radiance. And after Lou's death, David Bowie made a big point of saying to me, 'Listen, this is Lou's greatest work. This is his masterpiece. Just wait, it will be like 'Berlin'. It will take everyone a while to catch up.'"

Anderson added: "I've been reading the lyrics and it is so fierce. It's written by a man who understood fear and rage and venom and terror and revenge and love. And it is raging." Reed was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on April 18, 2015.

He lied.

ALBINI'S TURN TO SCOLD TIDAL

In an interview in Vulture, Albini has raised doubts over Jay Z's TIDAL and calling it a "budget version of Pono", Neil Young's high-definition music player. "Historically, every time there's been a new technological progression, there's been a new convenience format [for listening to music]," Albini is quoted as saying. "So the question is, is it possible for something to be more convenient than streaming? And the answer is obviously yes. If you want your music to play at the push of a button, convenience is going to trump sound quality 100 percent of the time."

"It's for the same reason that if you had a screen that displayed paintings in your living room, very few serious art enthusiasts would care for such a screen despite the fact that it might show you very high-resolution images of artworks. They want to own a piece of art that is a direct connection to the person who made it. Having an HD screen in your house that would display artwork might have a market, but it's not the same market as people who are interested in owning art."

Albini continues that the growing number of streaming services, each with exclusive content, may mean that music fans seek alternate means of consuming music. "The for-pay services are deluding themselves by trying to establish a permanent monetization of something that's in flux. The internet provides access to materials and things. Creating these little streaming fiefdoms where certain streaming services have certain artists and certain streaming services have other artists is a crippled use of the internet. If the internet has demonstrated anything over the years, it's that it has a way of breaking limitations placed on its content."

Last year, Steve Albini called online music sharing the best thing since punk rock. "The single best thing that has happened in my lifetime in music, after punk rock, is being able to share music, globally for free. That's an incredible development," he said.

THIS WEEK'S WTF MOMENT

And this citation earns the local government US$2,000. May the force be with you.

SAN ANTONIO WOMAN FINED $2,000 FOR FEEDING HOMELESS PEOPLE

According to the San Antonio Express News, April 16, 2015 do-gooder Joan Cheever was in Maverick Park serving a meal that included lamb meatballs, spaghetti, a garden salad and a vegetable soup, when San Antonio police cited her for violating the city code, because she transported the food to the park in a vehicle other than the mobile truck for which she has a food permit.

"I told the officer that we cook dinner in the truck and then we put it in health-department-approved catering equipment, like every caterer or restaurant-delivery service in this town, and then serve it. And he said, 'You can't do that.'"

David Martin Davies, host of "The Source" on Texas Public Radio, witnessed and recorded Cheever's Tuesday night encounter with the police officers.

"She seemed aware going into it that there was a change in the way the police were acting, and something like this might be coming," Davies said, adding, "She's unabashed. She's not going to back down."

Cheever is scheduled to go before the Municipal Court on June 23, but she remained defiant after receiving the citation, arguing that under the 1999 Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, she has a right to serve food to the homeless because she considers it a free exercise of her religion.  "This is how I pray," she told the local NBC affiliate, "when I cook this food and deliver it to the people who are less fortunate." - Zero Hedge (click here)

THE LAST WORD ON '420'

"In celebration of 420, here's an interlude from my 8th studio album that I call James Joint."

- Rihanna, April 21, 2015. Listen to James Joint here.

Wikipedia says, "420, 4:20, or 4/20 (pronounced four-twenty) is a code-term that refers to the consumption of cannabis and by extension, as a way to identify oneself with cannabis subculture or simply cannabis itself. Observances based on the number 420 include smoking cannabis around the time 4:20 p.m (16:20) on any given day, as well as smoking and celebrating cannabis on the date April 20." Why, what CAN she mean?!

 Things we have learned this week . . . . . . . .(or have we?)

 

We (yes I say we . . . . . As a member of the human race ‘we’ . . . . ) OK then Assad's governing forces in Syria are dropping Chlorine Barrel bombs on HIS OWN people!

Syrian towns report chlorine barrel bombs dropped in one night last week at night (7.45, 8.45, 10.30pm) causing death, pain and chemical burns. I thought we collectively had agreed to stop chemical warfare? I thought we had agreed not to use barrel bombs? Let alone on civilians?! Let alone on children?! Russia's Mr Putin asked for proof as to who is dropping them. Who does he think is dropping them from helicopters? Only the Assad Government forces HAVE helicopters!

 

 >> <<

I read with horror and of a murder trial which has begun into the case of a 15-year-old highly vulnerable girl whose body has never been found but a 60-year-old man appears to have abducted and murdered her after "forcing" an accomplice [then 46] to practice necrophilia on the child's body.

Are we living in the times of Jack The Ripper? The times of child brothels and opium dens? It's so difficult to tell . . . . . . quite how you force someone to practice necrophilia is beyond me but the whole case is extremely distressing. The child's father was murdered himself two years back allegedly over an argument over a twenty pound note it would seem. The perp having groomed this poor girl for some considerable time prior to killing her after he had finished with her but why has it taken since 2007 to bring this to court? I despair and no longer feel like I understand the world around me!

 >> <<

It has also caught my eye that arsonists are believed to be responsible for lighting upwards of more than. 400  fires in Wales during the first two weeks of April!

49 of which in the first 12 hours of the month. 

Worst affected areas for reasons best known to someone else are the Rhondda (Cynon Taff), which has seen 145 fires and the home of my favourite cheese Caerphilly with 58. Welsh rarebit anyone?! 

Sorry!

This is actually no joke and seems astonishing to me. They have cost South Wales Fire Service thus far about £795,000

Goebbels

On an even more serious note perhaps in response to the fact that the Estate of Joseph Goebbels has issued a writ against Random House for using Hitler's henchman's diaries, all of the living relatives of those who perished at the hands of the dread Nazi minister should counter sue for the loss and continued distress such actions engender? Just a thought

 

The family of Adolf Hitler's minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels, pictured (above) in September 1934, is suing a publisher for royalties over a biography that used extracts from his diaries

 

 >> <<

 

Speaking of little Hitlers, on a lighter note I am intrigued to read my neighbour (sic) Mr Richard Branson is not a fan of the tie and is given so he says, to "carrying a pair of scissors to cut off the tie of any unsuspecting wearer". I am a fan of one of the only sartorial fashion statements we men are able to display some individuality in without breaking the scruff barrier he so casually discards turning up to meetings looking like he is on perpetual holiday in Magaluf and I have tie designs by Raoul Dufy, Andy Warhol, Magritte and MC Escher so if I should bump into Mr Branson wielding a pair of scissors he better look out for he is liable to have them end up sticking out of his sartorially challenged neck!

http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/why-it%E2%80%99s-time-to-say-bye-to-the-tie

Drizzle with a Wriggle?

A rain of earthworms has reportedly been sighted in Norway!?

Viewed by some as a precursor to the 'end of days', ("Repent! Repent!") it is thought the earthworms reportedly numbering some several hundred had probably been lifted by tornados and deposited on the snow-laden ground in several locations. Sightings of flying earthworms have been coming in from Lindas, Suidal, near Bergen, and as far a field as Femunden on the Swedish border. 

The household cleaner with the unlikely name of "Cillit Bang!" (sold in some countries as Easy-Off Bam or Easy-Off Bang "Easy Off Bang? Are you sure?!) whose UK advertisements are presented by the legendary "Barry Scott", a brashly enthusiastic shouty man pillock if ever there was one ... . .  I learned today is not his real name but is played by 'actor' Neil Burgess!  You just can't believe anything you see on tele any more! 

Is nothing sacred!?