- This is a trend that should definitely catch on. Artists
looking to create buzz and move product by pricing their new album at an
insanely low cost is something that music fans can get with and record labels
hate….which makes it a good idea. Julian Casablancas is
best known as a member of The Strokes, but he is now branching out beyond his
main band and his solo career and releasing an album with his side project Julian
Casablancas + The Voidz. The newly formed rock outfit will release their
debut album on Sept. 23. It will be titled “Tyranny,” which is Casablancas’ first non-Strokes release since
his 2009 solo album “Phrazes for the Young.” Befitting a band with no track
record of its own and a need to win fans over quickly, the project will be
released on Casablancas’ own Cult Records label for the low, low
pre-order price of $3.87. Yes, the idea of pre-ordering an album in the digital
age, when there is an infinite supply of said album thanks to its non-physical
form, is still absurd. But getting a possibly solid album from a band you can
claim to have discovered before all of your hipster friends for a mere $3.87 is
a great opportunity. For those who don’t know, The Voidz consist of Jeramy
Gritter and Amir Yaghmai on guitar, Jeff Kite on keyboards, Jake Bercovici on
bass and Alex Carapetis on drums. "Tyranny has come in many forms
throughout history. Now, the good of business is put above anything else, as
corporations have become the new ruling body,” Casablancas said. “Most decisions seem to be made like ones of a
medieval king: whatever makes profit while ignoring and repressing the truth
about whatever suffering it may cause (like pop music, for that matter).”
Although snippets of the album have been scarce, it will reportedly be heavily
influenced by world underground music from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as
hardcore and punk………..
- Bad news, Bolivia. No, it’s not that your cocaine
production is dipping because law enforcement is cracking down and keeping
entrepreneurial farms from cranking out the raw materials necessary to craft
top –notch Bolivian marching powder. Sure, the United Nations says the area
under coca cultivation in Bolivia fell last year to its lowest in 12 years —
down 9 percent from 2012. However, the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime cannot
draw a direct line between those numbers and decreased cocaine production from
the South American nation. Bolivia remains the No. 3 coca producer in the world
and that’s good news for a world where credit cards, bathroom mirrors and
hookers’ stomachs lined with white powder always signal a good time. Additionally,
the U.N. doesn’t have the ability to measure potential cocaine production in
Bolivia, or in Peru, which allegedly displaced Colombia as the world's top
cocaine producer in 2012. The battle to churn out the most cocaine ingredients
is a heated one and while Tony Montana may not be real, the money to be made by
growing the Colombian nose candy definitely is – and it is spectacular. If you
believe the U.N., Bolivia's coca crop was down to 29 square miles last year,
just 11.5 square miles more than Bolivia's government claims is necessary to
satisfy traditional demand – i.e. uses that do not involve some nose
candy-loving degenerate hoovering the finished product off Bambi the stripper’s
ass. The Man would have you believe that Peru’s coca crop is also in decline,
but that could merely be because coca growers are getting smarter about where
they plant their prized product………
- New Milwaukee
Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry is still getting used to owning an NBA franchise. Eventually,
he’ll realize that anyone connected with a professional sports franchise is
supposed to disseminate only non-informative information and lies when it comes
to their plans for an upcoming draft. Perhaps Lasry is doing just that, but it
doesn’t seem that way when he comes out publicly and declares that his team
will not select top center prospect Joel Embiid with the second pick in this
week’s NBA draft after the former Kansas big man has surgery to repair a stress
fracture in his foot. Embiid was the consensus top pick among most experts
before the injury, sustained during training last week, despite lingering back
issues from his time at Kansas. But the prospect of a 21-year-old 7-footer with
a bad back and a busted-up foot seems to have pushed Embiid from the top of the
draft order and virtually no one expects Cleveland to select him with
the top pick. The Cavs will likely take either
Duke's Jabari Parker or Kansas' Andrew Wiggins and the Bucks, according to
Lasry, will select whichever of the two is left. His stance stems from the fact
that a franchise that had a league-worst 15-67 record last season is looking
for immediate help. "I think it's hard to take Embiid," Lasry said. "I
think he's a phenomenal individual, but with the injury and not knowing how
severe or long it will take to recover, I think for us today we're going to
want somebody who's going to help us on Day One." Lasry and fellow New
York investment firm executive Wesley Edens bought the Bucks this spring for $550
million from former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl and their team recently had Wiggins in
for a workout. "A lot is going to be dependent on what Cleveland
does," Lasry said. "But I would tell you right now it's probably
either going to be ... one or the other." Whomever they pick, the Bucks
badly need a home run to help build fan interest and public support as they seek
public financing to help build a new arena to replace the BMO Harris Bradley
Center…….
- It’s a real, pungent problem with a surprisingly simple solution.
San
Francisco has 3,500 homeless people who call its streets home and like any
transients, these people have a difficult time staying clean on a daily basis.
Even in major cities, there are inevitably a limited number of homeless
shelters and facilities where the indigent can go to wash up, scrub down and
groom themselves. Fortunately, there are people like Doniece Sandoval who are
not only aware of the problem, but willing and able to do something about it.
Sandoval’s assistance looks from the outside like a typical big-city food
truck, motoring the streets to provide daytime nourishment to the hungry
masses. Inside, it proves to be a very different story. There is no kitchen, no
oven, no microwave, no refrigerator and no freezer. Instead, the vehicle known
as a Lava Mae is built to handle the cleaning needs of men and women for whom a
hot shower and a shave are a rare luxury. Sandoval hatched the idea of
converting old Muni buses into showers two years ago and the concept has grown
steadily from there. “Each of our buses has two complete bathrooms with a
shower, sink, toilet and changing room,” Sandoval said. “It’s been in idea
stage for so long, to actually see the result is unbelievable.” The shower
buses run off city fire hydrants after Sandoval reached a deal with the city to
use and pay for the water. San Francisco once had 10 city shower facilities,
but that number has dwindled to seven, forcing the homeless to put their names
on waiting lists just to clean up. “With hygiene comes dignity, and with
dignity comes opportunity,” Sandoval added. “So hopefully, it will open other
doors for people.” The biggest hurdle right now is money, as it costs $75,000
to convert a city bus to a Lava Mae bus. The plan has spawned franchises in Singapore
and Brazil and Sandoval hopes to see it grow much further……….
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