- One is a respected British indie rock band with several
solid albums to its name and one is an animated assemblage of fictional rockers
who have quite a following of their own…so why not put them together for a
special collaborative project? That’s going down for members of Gorillaz and
Klaxons, who are teaming up for an album of some sort and revealed the news at
an event held at Abbey Road Studios to launch Stella McCartney’s first menswear
collection. It was a big-name event with performances by DMC of Run DMC,
Beastie Boys’ Mike D, Texas’ Sharleen Spiteri and The Gossip’s Beth Ditto and
each of them performed with a band put together by Gorillaz guitarist Jeff
Wootton and Klaxons singer/bassist Jamie Reynolds. After setting the stage for those
stars, Wootton and Reynolds revealed that they’ve been working on a
collaborative project since August, with plans to release their creation next
year. “We’re taking different backgrounds and cultures and trying to push music
forward,” Wootton said. “It’s a perfect time now with what’s going on in the
world and everything else. Me and Jamie have great chemistry together and it’s
really magical. It’s very fast. You think of great bands like The Smiths and
it’s always fast. This has certainly been like that. Even being asked to play
tonight, it feels like something’s bubbling.” Hearing what these two come up
with should be fun and maybe they can even find a place for some of their
bandmates to join in on the effort with them…….
- Nigeria is a poor place to begin with, so when life
becomes even harder for its homeless residents, that’s cause for concern. Concern
is in plentiful supply at the moment after as 30,000 people in Nigeria's
commercial capital of Lagos were left homeless after their community was set
ablaze and demolished this past week. Authorities aren't sure how the fire
began in the Otodo Gbame community, but residents told the London-based rights
group that police officers blocked them from trying to put it out. That sounds
a bit suspicious, as does the fact that those same residents police soon returned
with a demolition team. Oh, and there’s also the fact that Lagos officials have
warned that makeshift waterfront settlements pose a "security threat"
and must be razed, so this fire conveniently pushes that process forward much
faster than it otherwise would have moved. What no one is debating is that this
is a process that could affect hundreds of thousands of people, so clearly
there has to be an answer beyond arson, er, an accidental fire that clears the
shanty town. According to Amnesty International, a Lagos court granted an
interim injunction last week against demolitions in communities, including
Otodo Gbame, so it appears that rather than accept the court’s ruling and find
another path, the powers that be (allegedly) decide to literally blaze their
own trail right through the homes of some of their nation’s poorest and most
destitute people. In a truly futile gesture with great intentions, Amnesty
International said those made homeless should be given alternative
accommodations. That won't actually happen, at least not at the hand of the
local powers that be, but it’s a nice thought………
- The Olympics: The gift that keeps on giving pain,
disappointment and resentment long after they’re over. The truth of the Games
is that they create a sizeable financial hole that lasts years after the
festivities end and the most recent example of that phenomenon comes from Rio
de Janeiro, where two months after the Summer Olympics, hundreds of workers
still haven't been paid and are planning to sue the local organizing committee
to get their money. These aren’t just grunt laborers who helped build the
insanely expensive venues for the Olympics, either; among those who haven’t
been paid are about 100 freelance contractors who worked as stadium announcers,
show producers and DJs, and several hundred others who worked for the Olympic
News Service, which produced written summaries about the sports and athletes at
the Olympics and subsequent Paralympics. Rocky Bester, a South African
freelance show producer. Bester, a spokesman for the 100 contractors, has
become a spokesman for the group. "I'm working with a legal firm that is
already representing someone involved with Rio 2016, so they have a pretty good
handle what is going on," Bester said. He noted that there have been
issues following other Olympics with regards to such workers getting paid, but
this time, the workers feel like they’re totally in the dark and are being
treated with a "basic lack of respect." Ever the responsible,
proactive group, Rio Olympic officials blamed the delays on late payments from
their own sponsors, the Rio city hall and the International Olympic Committee.
Given that the entire state in which Rio is located is in a financial crisis,
the hopes for this one getting cleaned up any time soon aren't high……….
- The American judicial system has long been in the habit of
wrongly incarcerating people for crimes they didn’t commit. This is one of
those times when people who may have actually committed the crimes for which
they were jailed are getting a raw deal and it’s happening in Shelby County,
Tennessee. That’s where dozens of convicted criminals are being held when,
according to their sentences, they should be free. The culprit in their
extended detentions is a new system the county jail switched to Nov. 1, with
the transition expected to be completed
by Nov. 7. Instead, major problems have plagued the changeover and several days
later, inmates and families who expected to be reunited are still apart and
according to some affected families, they’ve been told that there won't be any
updates on the situation until Nov. 15. Some inmates have been released since
the new system was put in place, but even they claim that their releases
occurred later than they were supposed to. Those who have made it out claim
that the jail is extremely overcrowded, with some people sleeping on floors or
in chairs. Some have claimed that their normal means for calling their families
while behind bards aren’t working and until the problems are fixed, jail
employees must do everything manually. For now, inmates have to wait and be as
patient as possible. "Just be patient. I know it's frustrating to
everybody, not just to us. I'm sorry that it's happening," SCSO Public
Information Officer Earle Farrell said. One possible solution Sheriff Bill
Oldham is considering is running the old system and the new system at the same
time to see if it will help jump-start progress, but at this point, even that
seems to be a long shot…….
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