- Fans of free labor much, indie rock stars Arcade Fire? Win
Butler and friends are working on a new album and the Montreal-based band
played their first headline show in over three months with their slot at the
New Orleans festival Voodoo Music + Arts Experience and during their set, they
recorded their audience singing a melody from a new song. During their
headlining set and with Butler yelling, “F*ck British Petroleum, alluding to
the Gulf oil spill of recent years and the oil company’s compensation payment
to the state, the crowd joined in happily. One day after playing a few new
songs during an intimate secret set at Voodoo Music, the self-important rockers
didn’t work any of that new material into their headlining set. However, that
didn’t stop Butler from take the opportunity to invite the band’s audience to
contribute to a new song. He shamelessly pandered to the audience by asking
them “if they’d like to be on a record,” his offer was met with raucous cheers.
In response, the frontman asked the crowd to repeat a simple melody with the
plan to use the audio in the final recording of a forthcoming new song. Despite
Arcade Fire being one of the most pretentious indie bands in a genre full of
them, it was actually a cool moment and would be even cooler if everyone who
attended the show would get a code giving them a free download of that new
track when it’s finally released……..
- Irony, thy current home is Nigeria. So often, the African
nation is the digital setting for scammers trying to get unsuspecting saps to
send their life savings to a fictional Nigerian prince who will use that money
to unlock his inheritance and repay them and then some. But this time, the
scamming shoe is on the other foot as the governor of the Nigerian state most
devastated by Boko Haram's Islamic uprising is accusing some U.N. and
international aid agencies of misusing funds meant for refugees. Borno Gov.
Kashim Shettima is throwing around weight allegations like a Venice Beach
musclehead tossing around 50-pound dumbbells for warmups, claiming that the
United Nations has spent $50 million on unnecessary bulletproof cars. As if
bulletproof cars can ever be unnecessary….but let’s humor the man. The U.N.
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the vehicles were
provided by donors, not funds for refugees, but that argument hasn’t swayed
Shettima, who says the presence of 500 U.N. workers and expenditure of $334
million in Borno is "questionable" for its lack of impact. It sounds
like this guy is bitter than international forces are usurping control in his
region and using this topic as a means of displacing his anger. He also claims Nigeria
is not getting needed international support and warns that if the country with
its nearly 200 million people implodes, it could spark a dire migration crisis.
Left unaddressed are allegations that Nigerian agencies are stealing food meant
for starving refugees, but it’s always easier to point the finger at the evil
foreigners than to acknowledge that blame lies within your own borders……..
- Why apologize for being (brutally) honest, Texas defensive
end Breckyn Hager? Hager is the guy who no one knew prior to this week, right
up til the moment he explained that the Longhorns' approach on defense this
week in preparing to face prolific Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes II is
simple: hurt him. This wasn’t a simple slip wherein a football player channeled
something a coach told him in a moment of testosterone-fueled macho attitude.
No, Hager repeated the mantra several times while breaking down the best way to
stop Mahomes, the nation's No. 1 passer and a quarterback who has tormented
Texas in the past. "I say injure
that quarterback," Hager said. "That's the mentality right now. We've
got to take him out. We know he's banged up, and we've just got to get after
him." Amazingly enough, his words didn’t go over well in a world where
protecting players from the built-in, life-altering phycial damage inherent in
football has become a focal point and a few hours later, there was Hager,
issuing an apology. "I want to apologize for what I said earlier today at
our press conference," he said. "I play hard and it's our team's goal
to get pressure on the quarterback, hit him and disrupt the offense. When I go
out there I want to play my most aggressive game, but I'm not trying to do
anything to physically injure someone. I have too much respect for Patrick
Mahomes and every quarterback I play against to ever do that.” He explained
that his coaches urge he and his fellow defensive linemen to make their
presence felt and pressure the quarterback, but nothing more……..
- The list of people supporting comically terrible
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump continues to get weirder and
weirder. Let’s face it - there are a lot of bigots, racists, xenophobes and
extremists supporting this kook, but a new one has emerged and while her choice
of candidates to support is terrible, her circumstances make her worthy of
empathy. This unidentified homeless woman is becoming a YouTube sensation after
a video of her protecting Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
went viral and while Trump is a total joke of a presidential candidate, to this
poor woman, a relatively meaningless sidewalk monument that has been bestowed
on many a D-lister is something worth defending with her time, energy and
effort. Videos of her from the scene of Trump’s star show her in the middle of
a heated discussion about President Barack Obama, of whom she does not approve,
and depict her making sure no additional damage occurs to the star after a man
took a sledgehammer to it, damaging the display. In addition to her protecting
the star, the woman also placed pro-Trump signs and posters in the area around
it and in the attack, those displays were ripped up and thrown on the ground.
It appears that this woman doesn’t have very much in life and after Trump loses
next Tuesday, she’ll likely go back to the relatively unknown existence she
lived before she became an Internet video sensation. Here’s hoping that when
Trump loses, he takes some of his billions of dollars and uses them to help
this woman get the personal, financial, job and mental help she needs to turn
her life around………
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