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decolonize-the-left · 4 months

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser indicated that Israel could accept a U.S. plan for a revamped Palestinian Authority to govern the Gaza Strip after the war, a sign that the Israeli leader is easing his opposition to the idea.

Israel is aware of the desire of the international community and the countries of the region to integrate the Palestinian Authority the day after Hamas, and we make it clear that the matter will require a fundamental reform of the Palestinian Authority,” Tzachi Hanegbi, who heads Israel’s National Security Council, wrote in an opinion piece published Thursday on the Arabic-language news site Elaph.

"I'll agree to stop commiting genocide but only if you guys agree to my very specific conditions for the next leadership" is practically in the CIA handbook.

'destabilize a region then exploit the power vaccum and desperation it creates' is a play we've seen over and over again.

The question is why is Israel doing it?

Because it is a puppet state. It's serves the purpose of providing the USA someone to hide behind while they destabilize the region.

A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a state that is de jure independent but de facto completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.

Puppet states have nominal sovereignty, except that a foreign power effectively exercises control through economic or military support.

By leaving a local government in existence the outside power evades all responsibility, while at the same time successfully paralyzing the local government they tolerate.

"Why would the usa be using Israel to destabilize the middle east tho?"

An excellent question!

Short answer: using their own armies to carry out the plans is a surefire way to land themselves in a world war and so using Israel is an easy cop out.

The longer answer is very long.

So what "plans" are they trying to carry out, exactly, right?

Saving the Suez from "Islamist threats" "to secure freedom of navigation." You know, just like our Secretary of Defense said.

You know who else said that though? The plans outlined in Project 2025 by the Heritage Foundation. "The one that's gonna put queer people in detention centers?" Yeah that one. In fact our official are using a lot of the Same Exact Language and working found in Project2025.

Isn't that interesting?

Let's look at page 285, together.

Well, we've certainly seen headlines of this right? "Israel has a right to defend itself" and to take what it deems appropriate measures is how the USA has been avoiding calling Netanyahu a war criminal isn't it? A Google search will show Biden also has tried to block/stop Iran's nuclear development.

Very reassuring that they see the need for that for precaution, isn't it?

And sure maybe you could say this is a conspiracy theory, except US representatives are using the same EXACT language and Islamophobia to justify what's happening. Exhibit #1 the link to secretary of state, but don't worry. We're just warming up and he's not the only one.

Let's continue, we're almost to the part where it all comes together.

Translation: the Suez Canal brings Egypt billions of dollars a year and several parties (the countries listed) would prefer that money be funneled to them instead. The problem is that the aforementioned parties have been destabilizing the region for so long that establishing an alternate trade route through those territories would be seen as an act of aggression if not war.

The heritage foundation has always intended to call anyone who resists that plan a terrorist. Its their way of manufacturing consent to kill people.

And we can see Netanyahu and Biden both following that lead. "The terrorists are just such a giant threat, how could I possibly stop supporting Israel's fight against them?"

From Dec 10, 2023

So isn't it just so crazy that the countries and regions outlined there (US, Israel, India, Egypt, and Gulf States) are ALSO the countries who presented the IMEC at the G20 summit in September, just a month before Israel started it's genocide?

Oh, you don't know what the IMEC is or why it matters?

Well remember the Suez and how much income it brings in? Yeah well it's also regulated by the state, which means it can't be bought or bribed the same way that a canal owned privately could.

Which means that Egypt is the sole benefactor and controls who else gets to benefit. This often does not include the USA.

The USA does not like that.

Enter: the IMEC.

The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is a rail and shipping corridor that aims to boost regional development and economic interconnectivity between India, the USA, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and the European Union. The project consists of two corridors: the eastern corridor will connect India to the Arabian Gulf, and the northern corridor will connect the Gulf to Europe.

[..]Hence, there are technical limitations that the IMEC may face, not least in the Middle East due to its vast desert regions. The construction of railway lines and subsequent transportation of goods would be a difficult task requiring everything from the standardisation of the railway track gauges to the engine configurations. What’s more, one of the main link ports of the IMEC, Haifa, is in Israel, a country which is unstable at the moment due to the Palestinian freedom struggle.

It's how they intend to circumvent the Suez Canal entirely.

Unfortunately for them, Palestine exists. And as such, this creates a huge problem for them in building the IMEC through Palestine to Haifa. Especially since the resistance fighters through the entire middle east violently oppose the west's imperialism.

So something must be done. Again, we refer back to calling Anyone who questions Israel as an antisemitic terrorist as justification for killing Palestinians en masse. And for the ones they can't justify killing? Moving them.

Meaning that yeah. They planned for that, too.

And not even in secret.

Dated October 13, 2023

From November 7, 2023

What this suggests, as more of Project2025 comes true is that not only is the USA aiding and abetting this war to happen.

But that they are intentionally instigating and provoking action in the middle east.

They WANT headlines like this ⬇️ Because it sets up further justification and manufactured consent to continue their genocide in the name of money.

project2025 ALSO outlines every single group the USA sees as terrorists in the USA and also outlines how each country who provides them shelter should be stripped of aid.

They have already found and written excuses for the USA to get away with collective punishment across the whole middle east.

And finally.

The condition that I fully expect to be announced

For it to be defunded. And for more of an idea we can look to this Netanyahu quote from TheGuardian

Netanyahu also made clear he wanted Israel to retain overall security control after any conflict “with the ability to go in whenever we want in order to kill terrorists”. “There will be no Hamas. There will be no civilian authority that educates their children to hate Israel, to kill Israelis, to destroy the state of Israel. There can’t be an authority there that pays the families of murderers. There needs to be something else there,” he said.

Another puppet government that'll agree to do whatever Israel (and the USA) says, perhaps?

#how much have you been paying attention #palestine #gaza #free Gaza #free Palestine #Israel #india #project 2025 #reblog #boost

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louisupdates · 4 months

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It is confirmed that Louis Tomlinson will play at the Sziget Festival in Budapest, 7->12 Aug 2024.

LINK TO LOUIS’ PAGE

Louis Tomlinson is a singer and songwriter from Doncaster, UK. As a member of One Direction, Louis was part of one of the biggest musical groups of all time. Now solo, Louis is following his heart musically.

Following the international success of his 2020 debut album, Walls, 2022 saw Louis release his second album, Faith In The Future. The acclaimed album went to No.1 in the UK, Spain and Belgium and Top 5 in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and across Europe, with combined sales of 2million+ across both albums. Following the release of Faith In The Future, Louis embarked on a huge 100 date global tour spanning most of 2023, visiting North America, Europe, United Kingdom & Ireland with Asia, Australia and South America to come in 2024. Louis has also announced a run of festivals appearances through summer 2024.

During 2023 Louis released his critically acclaimed feature length documentary, All Of Those Voices, which hit cinemas in over 60 countries, and featured global red carpet premieres in Tokyo, London, Mexico City and a live streamed event from Los Angeles. Autumn 2023 saw the Documentary launch on streaming exclusively on Paramount+ globally.

In 2021, Louis was listed in the Guinness Book Of World Records for breaking the record for the most livestreamed concert by a solo male artist, hosting one of the biggest live stream concert events ever held, selling over 160,000 tickets to fans in over 110 countries and raising funds for several important charities and touring crew affected by the pandemic.

Following the huge success of the festival’s 2021 debut, August also saw the return of Louis’ highly successful self-curated event, The Away From Home Festival. The one-day event was staged last year at the stunning Marenostrum Fuengirola in Malaga, Spain, hosting 18,000 fans and selling out in just 24 hours with a line-up of some of the best new British bands. This year saw Louis take the festival to the coast of Italy, hosting it in Lido Di Camaiore, with Blossoms, The Cribs and HotWax headlining the bill in the lead up to his own performance to close out the festival.

#louis tomlinson #sziget festival #12.12.2023 #festival louis

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tomorrowxtogether · 16 days

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Tomorrow X Together on new music, US tour: 'Never expected' fans to show 'this much love'

Members of Tomorrow X Together, the wildly popular K-pop group, have come of age during a rapid ascension in the music industry. Quickly after the quintet debuted in 2019, they started winning top awards and peaking on both Korean and American charts. Last year, the group's third album hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200, they headlined Lollapalooza and won a MTV Music Video Award.

Since their beginning, TXT's music has kept to the narrative of a boy's journey through life. As the members themselves have matured in the spotlight, the process of growing up has been influential for the discography.

Just as people reach reflection points on the cusp of moving from one part of life into the next, TXT's newest release, "minisode 3: TOMORROW," finds the guys contemplating their past and hoping for the future.

"This album is all about being reminded of the promises of the past and going on a search for 'you' who I shared a promise with," Taehyun, 22, told USA TODAY.

'minisode 3: TOMORROW' furthers Tomorrow X Together's narrative

This album is Tomorrow X Together's third under the "minisode" title. These releases have always been a bridge that connects the larger chapters in quintet's music.

As for "minisode 3: TOMORROW", it speaks about life and reality, said Soobin, 23, the group's leader.

The new album references Tomorrow X Together's prior moments, highlighting how nostalgia intersects with growth.

"We had a look back on some of the lyrics of our past songs and the music videos like 'Nap of a star'," said Taehyun. Lyrics in the lead single "Deja Vu" also give nods to some of the group's first singles "9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)" and "CROWN".

With this album, the members wanted to capture their unique identifying quality: Storytelling.

Over the years, the members have become more involved in the creative process, said Hueningkai, 21. "As we try and channel our honest, personal stories into the album, I think it helps me realize more and more who I am as an artist."

Understanding Tomorrow X Together's creative process

The members have become more ambitious when it comes to sharing their perspectives within their songs. "Rather than drawing inspiration from an outside source, I think it provided us with an opportunity to look back on our own lives," said Soobin.

"It's a crucial part that we cannot miss out on in order to make sure our stories more compelling and convincing," said Taehyun.

In particular "Deja Vu" is full of impact, said Beomgyu, 23, exhibiting "how much we've grown and how far we've come." The song infuses rage and emo rock, underscoring TXT's versatile sonic range.

Tomorrow X Together US tour, reflecting on debut anniversary

In support the latest release, TXT is set to embark on its third US tour May 14. The group will be performing in eight cities including Los Angeles, New York City and Washington D.C.

The members are looking forward to seeing their fans and visiting cities they haven't been to yet. As for the shows, Beomgyu said there's "so much in store," adding, "I'm excited to show you guys what we have prepared."

The group celebrated its half-decade anniversary March 4. The last five years have been filled with many accomplishments and accolades. Stand-outs included performing at stadiums for Soobin to attending and performing at the MTV VMAs for Beomgyu.

For Yeonjun, 24, he is thankful the members have made it safely to this point and he hopes to continue this in the future.

"The most important thing would be that we will still be together all the members and our beloved MOA," said Yeonjun. "My hope is that a decade into our debut, we would still be dancing and singing in front of our fans together."

On theme with "minisode 3: TOMORROW" and its reflection of the past, the members are proud of how far they have come.

"I never expected that I would end up receiving this much love and I think it's a huge blessing and I'm so grateful for that," said Yeonjun.

#txt #tomorrow x together #240402 #article #usa today #soobin #yeonjun #beomgyu #taehyun #hueningkai #minisode 3 #minisode 3 tomorrow

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letrune · 1 year

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This came to me in a dream

Neil Cicierega ran for president of the USA and won. His first thing on his inauguration is to walk in while Hail to the Chief plays, then start to dance while the song seamlessly transitions into a song called Neilquest, composed by himself. He steps on the podium, and starts introducing his team while the song goes.

His Minister of Interior (just go with it) is Weird Al Yankovic, the song stops for a polka solo as he goes up, sings his part of “e pluribus unum” and while playing on, steps back.

His Minister of Foreign Affairs is The Stupendium, who shows up with what can be best described as a supervillain song before, mid-sentence, he realises that it is not him getting nominated as Administrator of Planet Earth, so he switches songs and delivers a pun-filled inauguration speech.

Some reporter shouted “wait, you can not do that, you break the laws!” Neil replied: “But I did during song, here’s the new set! Now you can see what I don’t regret!” “But how will you make good decisions, none of these guys are politicians!” “I will listen to top level advisors. What? You did not expected me to do such?”

So after this, we got to see the new cabinet, and the equality board got an interview. They were mostly experts from minority groups, except for one token WASP Republican, Tucker Carlson, who was sitting in a soundproofed corner. The team included Mr Clinton, Loius Rossmann’s cat, who was on the board that made the right to repair legal. Most newspapers had the headline “We got a Clinton in the White House, and he is the best so far”.

Turned out, listening to experts IS helping because in a few days, while the Cicierega cabinet was keeping the news busy, the experts managed to implement laws to stop global warming and fix the economy. I wish I know how.

I think my dreams found a better timeline than this one.

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revengeismygender · 1 year

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I can’t stop thinking about the extremely misleading post that was circulating last week about the train derailment in Ohio and the amount of people who believed it whole cloth and went into a panic (understandably — the post was terrifying if you hadn’t heard about the crash previously). I’m not trying to shit on OP who has dealt with enough and apologized/admitted that the post was misleading or the people who got scared, I’m just disturbed by the amount of people (some of whom lived in Ohio!!) unaware of something that had been in the news for a week+ at that point.

And I want to be clear, I’m not blaming anyone for not having the spoons to engage in the 24-hour disaster news cycle where you’re bombarded with bad news every second of every day. I can’t do that either. But people, you have to stop getting your news from Twitter and tumblr. You just do. SO,

here are some low spoons ways to know wtf is going on.

*disclaimer* none of these sources are perfect or without bias and I’m not claiming they are. Every news organization is influenced by who owns it, the government it exists under, etc. also, this is a very US focused list bc I am in the US. Other people please feel free to add helpful resources from your country.

NPR’s Up First podcast: this podcast is literally like 10 mins long and just runs through essential US and international headlines.

NY Times The Daily: this one is a little longer (25-ish mins) and hones in on a theme, though it does touch on other news.

Vox’s Today Explained: this podcast runs through the highlights of what happened that day in about 20 mins.

CNN/Daily Beast Cheat Sheet: read through top headlines of the day covering a variety of topics. There are links to articles if you want to know more but you get a blurb about each regardless.

NY Times Morning Newsletter: this comes to your email and is free unlike other Times content. Though there are links to articles that are behind a paywall, all you really need to get started is the headlines and blurbs in the newsletter itself and you can always start googling from there if you feel the need.

USA Today Short List: similar to the NY Times morning newsletter but this one comes in the evening. No paywall, easily digestible headlines and highlight blurbs.

I’m not saying you need to have google alerts turned on for every single news source. I’m not saying you need to camp out in front of cable news for 8 hours a day like your grandpa, or even watch it twice a day like your dad. I’m not saying you can’t learn some piece of world news from a Destiel meme every now and then.

But engaging for 10-15 mins a day with the basics of what’s going on in the world is very helpful in that at the very least it stops you from panicking about a “media blackout about the worst disaster since Chernobyl” since you will have seen it in 5 news sources already and know that it couldn’t possibly be true.

#news #US news #reality vs unreality #Ohio train derailment

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slavghoul · 2 years

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A really nice article from this month's Classic Rock (6/2022) focusing on the atmosphere of Ghost shows and what Tobias is like on stage versus in private.

THE GREAT PRETENDER

The choral wells of Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere Mei, Deus drift through the audience at Manchester Arena. It’s Saturday night, the mood is high and a cathedral is being built on stage. Behind the curtain, eye catch glimpses of the sort of theatre normally associated with the Iron Maidens, Rammsteins and Alice Coopers of this world. Giant steps. High walls and arches. Ornate stained glass window backdrops. More dry ice than Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights video, dotted with a scattering of men in hard hats. Stonehenge this is not.

The curtain drops. The opening guitar glitter of Kaisarion bursts into our faces. Punters wearing nuns’ habits, crucifixes and corpse paint gaze up like children in a sweet shop, while Nameless Ghouls in gas masks are illuminated by cracking pyrotechnics. As riffs and drum thunder roll out like groovy cavalry, marrying heavy mystique with Def Leppard-sized hooks, it’s easy to see why Metallica and Dave Grohl are fans. The most rapturous applause, though, is reserved for their mercurial leader. An impishly charismatic figure, masked by black-and- white face paint. Hair slicked back with grey. Microphone in hand. Part Victorian military dandy, part Joel Grey’s MC from Cabaret in tight black skinny jeans and black leather gloves, Papa Emeritus IV strides, skips and gesticulates with the precision and campery of a seasoned Broadway star. And although there are thousands watching, those painted eyes of his have an oddly penetrative, Mona Lisa-esque effect. All-seeing. It’s as if he’s looking at you. Welcome to the Ghost show.

A few hours earlier we’re in a Grade Il-listed hotel on Manchester's Oxford Road, lifting an armchair with a short, polite Swedish guy in a band T-shirt. Silver chains clink at his wrists. A skull ring hulks round one finger. His generously spiked hair is jet-black, contrasting with almost bloodless skin. He could have wandered in from one of the rock pubs across the road.

"Master,” Tobias Forge says with a smile, pulling back his jacket, when asked about the T-shirt. “They’re an American eighties death metal band. They’re not very good, but they're cool!”

It’s surreal to think that this is the man who will slink across the stage as Papa Emeritus IV tonight (the latest incarnation of Forge’s fictitious, ecclesiastical one-man dynasty). The 41-year-old conductor at the heart of the 700 cues, 45 or so crew members and four tour buses that make up the Ghost experience; a production that, in some ways, feels more akin to the Cirque Du Soleil than to a rock show. It’s a globetrotting colossus, following its doomy, cultish origins in Linkoping, Sweden in 2006.

“Some people prefer ad-hoc rock bands like Pearl Jam or Springsteen, who come up on stage in whatever they wore on the street and just start playing,” he says, quickly adding: "which I love; I love Pearl Jam, I love Bruce Springsteen. But that’s not what we do. We don’t improvise that much. A lot of the show is free-form, which makes it edgy, but there’s still a script.”

Having released a gloriously grandiose new album, Impera, Ghost returned to the live circuit this year as co-headliners with Volbeat in the USA, causing some political “head-butting” when Ghost went on second every night. As Forge implies, they are not so much ‘hard to follow'-’ as logistically impossible. Now; at the start of this European tour, they’re very much on top - with Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats and Twin Temple in support slots.

“Co-billing for us is not necessarily a great thing,” Forge reasons, carefully. “What we’re doing is not compatible with many other bands. Not necessarily the sound; I don’t see a problem for a fan to absorb both. But if it’s going to be a forty-five-minute changeover, is that great for the crowd that paid for these tickets? I can order ten courses I really like, but I can only eat one. I’m not sure it’s doing the desired trick.”

There’s a cool flash of fanaticism about Forge, just detectable behind his approachable demeanour. He looks you straight in the eye. He pauses to consider his answers. During our conversation he’ll compare putting on a show to a football season, making a film, running a restaurant and going to war. All are analogies he’s used before, and all support the sense of auteurship that ripples through the Ghost world (as well as echoing Forge’s own fondness for sports, Stanley Kubrick and good food).

But there are other sides to him. The geeky classic-rock lover, who watches live Queen and Iron Maiden clips to get pumped before shows. The guy who on tour goes out to football and hockey games. The arty urbanite with friends in music, film and amusement parks back home in Stockholm. The happily married father of teenage twins, who binge-watched The Sopranos, Game Of Thrones and Stranger Things with his family over lockdown. The reluctant frontman who, if he had his way, would be Ghost’s guitarist.

“But that’s like complaining about not being the general because you got to be the king instead. I would have felt more fluid being the guitar player, but the difference would have been that, mask or no mask, my on-stage persona would have been closer to my real one - my actual one, my private one - than it is nowadays.”

Over at the arena, the gap between those personas increases. As Impera's lead single Call Me Little Sunshine starts up, Papa returns in glittering cardinal's robes. He looks like a Christmas tree. Freddie Mercury via the Vatican. Liberace for the holy orders.

Back home, conversely, Forge marvels at the chops of friends like Fredrik Akesson, Opeth’s lead guitarist who played on Impera, embellishing the whole record with splashes of virtuosic, 80s-rocking flair.

“I mourn the fact I get to play the guitar so little over the course of my life, because I love playing,” Forge says, twisting his skull ring, “and I think I am a better musician than I am a singer. I just happen to be a good singer in Ghost.”

A self-described jack of all trades, the place you're most likely to find Forge, on tour, is behind a drum kit. Backstage he pounds through Top 40 hits as part of a mobile workout regimen. Foreigner’s Urgent, Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas, Lenny Kravitz’s Are You Gonna Go My Way? and The Guess Who’s American Woman are all on his go-to list.

In the past he relished the travel aspect of band life, ducking out to explore new sites and record shops. So much so that it began to tire him out, pre-show. Now, he mostly sticks to a strict routine of workouts and walking with audiobooks - most recently Jan Guillou’s Carl Hamilton series, Sweden’s politically astute answer to James Bond.

“Ten books, eighteen hours,” he says. “That’s good for ten thousand steps, and you can do calls when you’re walking.”

On stage the seven Nameless Ghouls are in similar ship shape, darting from the menace of From The Pinnacle To The Pit to a galloping Spillways - complete with guitar duels, knowing glances and gestures. Even without facial expressions their performances feel characterful, not to mention being shit-hot on a technical level. It says a lot about them, as people, that they’re happy to be in this group anonymously.

For almost a decade Forge was similarly hidden. He spoke to journalists from behind curtains or masks. Officially he only revealed his identity in 2017, following a lawsuit from ex-bandmates. These days, living in a celebrity-heavy pocket of Stockholm (the Skarsgard acting dynasty are among his neighbours) he’s relatively undisturbed, except for any passing rock fans who recognize him from video interviews on YouTube, and a few Google images. How does that level of visibility sit with him? Does he enjoy doing interviews, for instance, while unmasked?

“I guess from a therapeutic point of view, speaking so much about yourself, your background and your motivation of why you’re doing this, it does have a cathartic function. But I definitely reach a point each day where I don’t want to talk any more. As much as people think that as an artist you like to revel in yourself...” he catches himself. “Look, I’m an exhibitionist, of course, but I definitely get to a point where I get really bummed talking about myself after a while.”

Perhaps this explains the desire to inhabit other personas, and makes sense of his latent acting ambitions.

“Yes,” he says with a laugh when asked if there are specific characters he’d love to play, “but I can’t say because it's part of how I view myself, and that might not rhyme with the rest. As an actor you are working with your physical attributes as your currency, so I know being five foot nine, white, with a certain body shape, I couldn’t do everything on the menu.”

In the Ghost universe, Forge bypasses such restrictions, starring in it and directing the various other parts. Mid-set at Manchester Arena, the audience’s mouths stretch into grins as Papa Nihil - an ancient ‘mentor’ cardinal in aviators - is wheeled out in an open coffin. This was not expected. Supposedly they killed him off in Mexico just before the first lockdown, but here he is, ‘reanimated’ by stage hands to deliver Miasma's saxophone solo. It’s all very Alice Cooper, with a dash of Benny Hill.

“I like to compare it to running a restaurant, because people...” Forge searches for the words. “You grew tired of your quiche or whatever a long time ago, even if it’s your grandma’s recipe, but people expect it to taste the same every night because they don’t come in and eat it every day. They expect the quiche to taste the way it did, because they brought two friends with them.”

So what dish would Ghost be?

“Because of the mixed nature of the music that’s combined,” he muses, “I guess it’s a calzone, with sushi in it, with cream on top.”

As the hits keep on coming, they make good on that sushi-calzone-with-cream-on-top concept. The Ghouls storm into Kraken-sized riffer Cirice, and Papa Emeritus reappears in bat wings – because why not? There are smoke jets, more dry ice, new robes, a fancy hat that (at certain angles) looks a bit like antlers... And then come the flames. Big ones. Fucking loads of them, giving the pyromaniac crews behind Slipknot and Rammstein a run for their money, before leading into He Is - a satirical yet stirring singalong with ABBA in its veins, completed following the suicide of Forge’s friend Selim Lemouchi (of Dutch occult rockers The Devil’s Blood) in 2014. Four years previously, his music-loving older brother died suddenly, the same day the first Ghost songs were released. Death runs deep in this music - in the fortitude it’s taken Forge to run with it.

But they're not done yet.

The metallic crunch of Mummy Dust is swiftly offset by Papa donning a blue sparkly jacket. “Let me hear you say ‘oomph’!” he roars into the audience, followed by what might be “did you feel it in your pants?!” - but it’s hard to tell through the make-up and an accent that sounds increasingly Compare The Meerkat-esque.

Indeed, for all Papa’s suave qualities his stage banter comes with an enchantingly befuddled edge; somewhere between a swashbuckling lothario and a slightly mad pensioner, but less creepy than that sounds. Is this the same softly spoken Scandi guy who chatted earlier about doing his 10,000 steps and watching hockey games?

“We’ve had a good hang!” he declares, by way of a pre-encore ‘farewell’. “I hope you leave feeling... well hung?!”

From there it’s time for a dynamite brace of Enter Sandman (they provided a version for Metallica’s Blacklist guest covers album last year) and Dance Macabre - the least metal song ever recorded by a band with such a metal-friendly image as Ghost.

“Just one more?” Papa shouts to the whooping masses. “And then you go out into the Manchester night, and either you fuck someone, or you go fuck yourself! How about that?”

With that, the band nail an addictive Square Hammer, and the cheers shoot up by several decibels.

Back at the hotel, just before he disappears to gear up for the evening ahead, Tobias Forge considers how it feels when he steps on stage. Transformed. Ready.

“I would say phenomenal,” he replies. “It’s one of the few moments where I don’t think about much else. Most of the time I am thinking of something else. I’m worrying about all kinds of stuff at the same time. The best nights are when you flow through them, and the worst nights are when you think: ‘Oh shit, I forgot the last step, I need to go back,’ and you start thinking about it.”

If that happens tonight, they hide it well. Curtain calls arc taken to the pastoral strains of Emmylou Harris's Sorrow In The Wind, and as Papa and the Ghouls wave, blow kisses and throw plectrums into the adoring audience there’s something reassuringly innocent about it all.

When children learn the truth about Santa Claus, they often keep believing anyway because they want to. They play along with stockings by the chimney, or Dad/Uncle Pete/whoever in the red suit, because it’s more fun that way. The same thing happens with Ghost. Ultimately it’s make-believe. A mystery with a sparkling rock soundtrack.

‘Fun’ can feel like a dismissive term. But as we’ve been reminded tonight, there is power in fun. Power in big, rousing guitars. Power in brilliantly entertaining spectacles. Not least of all, in recent times, fun offers cathartic escape like little else. The means to smile instinctively. Restoration for anyone who’s ever felt crushed by life.

“I would put on Live After Death before going on stage because it takes me near to the dream, rather than thinking of the practical nature of today,” Forge reasons. “That’s what it’s all about. All we’re doing is dreaming.”

Fistfulls of 'Ghost dollars' are scattered by roadies as house lights go up, the smell of burning permeates the arena and, finally, we wake up.

#the band ghost #interview #tobias forge

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in-death-we-fall · 1 year

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Fishnets and Formaldehyde

Hammer went backstage on the Murderdolls sell-out pre-Xmas UK tour last month to die alright. Terry Bezer advised on lippy and eyeliner. Compact shots: Awais

(google docs) Thanks @incredizort for sharing your collection

The last 12 months have been one helluva year for one Mr Joey Jordison. Slipknot have gone strength to strength – the Iowan nontet (sic) embarked on arguably the biggest stage spectacle ever seen with their debut British arena tour and the subsequent ‘Disasterpiece’ (sic) DVD release. Before that of course were the triumphant stints at this year’s Reading and Leeds festivals. And, oh yeah, he’s also managed to get a whole other band to a similar status of credibility.

The switch from drummer to guitar god for the Murderdolls was all too easy for Joey – reflected by their glorious position in the Metal Hammer reader’s Poll (p.58) for their outstanding ‘Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls’ album. Not to mention those awesome live shows that helped build that solid fanbase at monumental speed through relentless touring in the band’s self-titled ‘Mobile Morgue’.

“Whenever you start a band you want people to go apeshit,” explains vocalist Wednesday 13 backstage just before the band hit the stage the night of their crowning glory at the London Forum in December. “But in the UK I can’t believe we’re already headlining a place this huge, so it was kind of shocking, but at the same time it was something I was hoping would happen.”

To say it has simply ‘happened’ for the Murderdolls in the UK would be selling the band’s achievements something short. An incredibly successful UK debut at the Garage, a stint supporting Papa Roach across Europe where they consistently blew the headliners clean off of the stage, and now with a sell-out British tour to their name, the Murderdolls bandwagon quickly turned into far more than just a side project featuring one of metal’s biggest stars.

“Maybe when we first started out people were perhaps just turning up to see me,” admits Joey somewhat coyly, “And there was a hell of a lot of Slipknot shirts in the audience at first, but as time’s gone on, it’s become more and more about the Murderdolls as a whole.

“I think we’re providing a fun outlet and a lot of kids aren’t used to that, hearing depressing lyrics all about war, politics, childhood trauma and bad parenting all the time. It’s a different circumstance to hear a band singing about grave robbing, killing your wife on your wedding day and killing Miss America. I mean if you’re relating to a song that’s called ‘Grave Robbing USA’, you’ve got a fucking problem, because our songs are written with a dark humour attitude and it’s just about having fun. Kids’ll leave our shows with smiles all over their faces and be saying ‘Man, I had so much fun at that show’ and maybe they’re not used to that because of a trend that’s going on right now.”

Agreed. That fun atmosphere of the band’s shows remains unrivalled in the world of rock music right now. Witness vocalist Wednesday 13 whipping the crowd into a frenzy on top of the monitors thrusting a red and black umbrella adorned with the word ‘Fuck’, throughout new song ‘I Love To Say Fuck’. Hear the squeals of excitement that greet the opening to typically twisted Murderdolls romance story, ‘Love At First Fright’. Or witness Joey’s camp homage to Marilyn Manson as he comes on for the encore in a pseudo SS Grüppenfuhrer’s get-up. (Whether the little guy knows the irony of the situation as the Forum infamously played host to Moseley’s 1930’s fascist rallies – and that giant eagles adorn each side of the stage tonight — is anyone’s guess). Just a few examples of how the ‘Dolls expertly plaster shit-eating grins across 1,000 baying audience members’ faces with style and ease.

“We’re definitely a touring band,” states Wednesday defiantly. “That’s the whole thing about us: we never grew up in the same town and we hadn’t been practicing in our mum’s garage for years and years – it was just a thing where we met and just learned to be a better band by playing onstage every night.

“If you’ve seen the show before you’ll know that everyone is running around, giving their all. We just try to get better and better and I think we’ve definitely progressed into a live band. Right now, I’d say we’re one of the best live bands currently on the scene.”

Consolidated by the band’s three minute anthems of aggravating slabs of punk rock fury, the shows are doubtless an excuse for everyone to let loose and have a good time. Something that must clearly be out of the ordinary for Joey when you consider his day job…

“Fuck yeah,” laughs the drummer-come guitar god Jordison. “I didn’t ever want to come out playing drums with fast double bass drums and being real heavy wearing my mask and shit. I thought it was really important that the kids could see that I do play guitar and that I write a lot of Slipknot’s material.

“It’s just been fucking fun. I’m having a blast. With this band, I don’t care how many fans we get. Slipknot was definitely geared towards getting as many people to listen to us as possible while still maintaining that ‘fuck everyone’ attitude but here I just get to go wild and have a good time.”

The doubt that will be hanging inside many a ghoul’s head will be concerning the future of the Murderdolls and how long the good times will continue to roll. With the Slipknot engine ready to fire up any week now, to begin work on their much-anticipated fourth album, is there any chance that the Murderdolls will be a brief flash in the pan, or are the band in it for the long haul?

“This is absolutely a long-term project,” Joey says reassuringly. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, man. I’ve got to do some Slipknot stuff next year with the recording of the album but then we’re going to go out again after that. There’ll probably be three or four months of leeway time and then we’ll go back out on tour again. Me and Wednesday have already begun writing for the next album already and I can’t wait to get back out again even though we haven’t finished touring this album yet!”

Photo captions:

Because you’re worth it

“Spare any change for some Loreal guv?”

“Hmm. Too much emulsion?”

“Oh. My. God. I think I see a blackhead. Oh, hi Eric!”

Wednesday: dressed to kill

“Bah! These raspberry ripple stains will never come out!”

Acey: most dreaded

Is it raining men yet?

School’s out for ever!

Wednesday falls for the old mascara-swapped-for-road-tar gag

Eric Griffin: Nikki Sixx’s very own Mini Me

#murderdolls #joey jordison #wednesday 13 #ben graves #eric griffin #acey slade #interview #if anyone knows which issue of metal hammer this was lemme know #if you saw it the first time i posted no you didn't #(when there's too many words tumblr freaks out and every edit further borks everything because we inhabit a very functional webbed site)

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herrlindemann · 2 years

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POP Corn - October 2004

Open your eyes, here we come! The heavy rockers from Rammstein have shot their way to the top in 10 years with scandals and shock actions. From 1.11. they are on tour with their new bombast show.

Even the choice of the band name was a provocation: in Ramstein, 1988, two fighter jets collided during a flight demonstration and caused a fireball that cost the lives of 70 people. The town of Ramstein became a symbol of the most terrible air disaster in German history. When Till Lindemann and his boys christened their band Rammstein in January 1994, the scandal was complete. But the music style and the lyrics of the band from Berlin caused a real stir: martial marching rock, aggressive fire shows, crass Teutonic lyrics, bizarre videos. Rammstein were therefore repeatedly labeled as Nazis. A US journalist wrote indignantly: "A song like 'Links 234' is reminiscent of soldiers, Nazis and wars!” Although the band managed to dispel the Nazi allegations, the scam is clear to critics: "Rammstein are literally playing with fire," says an insider. “They want to shock and use the scandal for their career.” As controversial and provocative as Rammstein are, their success proves them right. The cult band is very popular even in America. “We worked hard for our success” says Till. That's correct! In 1994 the group won a band competition and was allowed to record a CD. With numerous live performances, they initially gained an ever-growing fan base in East Germany. The big breakthrough came with the album "Herzeleid" released on September 24, 1995. Three tours followed and the first MTV appearance on March 27, 1996. But when guitarist Richard was photographed bloodied for a rock magazine, MTV refused to play Rammstein songs. The boys take revenge: Backstage at an open air event in June 1997, they tie an MTV employee to a chair and ignite a smoke bomb under him. There's a new stir in June 1997: the single "Du Hast" is boycotted in the USA because the title is translated as "Du hasst (you hate)". That doesn't bother the US fans: After the release of the second album "Sehnsucht" Rammstein go on tour first in Europe and then in America in 1997 and are celebrated as a cold start. Their spectacular fire show made headlines: singer Till tumbled across the stage in flames to "Rammstein ein Mensch brennt" Despite the shock show, the band received an ECHO in 1998 for "best video" and a COMET for "best live band". In September 1998 there was rioting on stage again: for the number "Bück dich" Till strapped on a plastic penis and pretended that it was being popped by Flake. America is outraged, the authorities in the state of Utah are threatening to arrest him. Rammstein fled the country, but were caught on the US tour in 1999: the police arrested Till and Flake for the "Penis Show". After a night in jail, both are sentenced to $100 in fines and 6 months probation. Rammstein continue to provoke: The video for "Live aus Berlin" ends up on the index in 1999 because of the "Bück dich" performance, the Catholic Church protests against the album "Mutter" (2001) because the cover shows a fetus with ulcers. Last coup of the Rammstein riot: The current hit "Mein Teil" is inspired by the beastly cannibal from Rothenburg. But this time there was no great outrage. Till was even really disappointed that the corresponding video was not banned by VIVA and MTV.

#Rammstein #Till Lindemann #Flake #Flake Lorenz #Paul Landers #Christoph Schneider #Oliver Riedel #Richard Kruspe #2004 #translation #*#*scans

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thelensofyashunews · 1 month

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Rich Amiri Announces Tour as "One Call" Continues to Climb Charts

With his effortless flexes and velvety, soulful vocals, Rich Amiri is one of the most exciting rising artists in music today. The Internet Money/10K Projects signee has a bonafide hit on his hands, with the Billboard Hot 100-charting "One Call." Capitalizing on his massive hit, which held at #60 on the Hot 100 this week, the 20-year-old artist announces the "Fabulous Tour," embarking this April.

Criss-crossing North America for 18 dates, the upcoming "Fabulous Tour" is Rich Amiri's first-ever national headlining tour. Featuring support from his fellow SoundCloud wunderkind Jaydes, the tour kicks off in Toronto, CA on April 18, passing through NYC (May 3), Atlanta (May 8), and more before ending in Los Angeles on May 23. Amiri warmed up for the tour in February with a homecoming show in his native Boston and a performance opening for his mentor Lil Tecca in New York City. Rich will join Lil Tecca on dates on four West Coast dates later this month (see below). Tickets for Rich Amiri's shows can be purchased at RichAmiri.com, while tickets for his performances opening for Lil Tecca HERE

A highlight from his late-2023 album GHETTO FABULOUS, Rich Amiri's "One Call" has become one of the biggest rap hits of 2024 so far. It made its Billboard Hot 100 debut during the week of February 10th, entering the chart at #79, and has since spent 5 weeks on the chart with a #60 peak. Produced by Rio Leyva (of Internet Money) and Zuko, the song has racked up over 100 million streams on Spotify, including over 6 million streams in the last week to reach #19 on the service's Top Songs - USA chart, plus 7.4 million views on its music video. "One Call" gained viral traction on TikTok, inspiring nearly 1 million combined video creations and peaking at #2 on Billboard's TikTok Top 50 chart. Rich Amiri recently spoke about "One Call" and his rapid rise in an interview with HYPEBEAST.

Spanning 14 tracks, GHETTO FABULOUS features some of Internet Money's most luxurious production to date–Rio Leyva takes the helm behind boards, with credits on 12 of the project's 14 tracks, welcoming contributions from IM fellows like founder Taz Taylor, Census, and ThankYouWill, plus unaffiliated associates like Zuko and maxvon. Shouldering the load with no features necessary, Amiri takes advantage of the room-enveloping production, his bellowing bass cutting through the cavernous atmosphere with commanding authority and unpredictable melodics. Beyond "One Call," the album is home to hit singles like "Ain't Nothing" (12.6 million Spotify streams), "Codeine Crazy" (5.7 million Spotify streams) and "Outta There" (5.8 million Spotify streams). GHETTO FABULOUS is available everywhere via Internet Money Records/10K Projects.

Stay tuned for more music and videos from Rich Amiri coming soon, and check him out live on March 17th at Rolling Loud California.

Buy Rich Amiri concert tickets at RichAmiri.com

#rich amiri #jaydes #underground rapper #underground artist #underground music #underground #rapper #music #youtube #spotify #artist #musician #soundcloud #culture #rap #art #one call #ghetto fabulous #ghetto fabolous

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gsirvitor · 1 year

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You will get chipped. It’s just a matter of time.

In the aftermath of a Wisconsin firm embedding microchips in employees last week to ditch company badges and corporate logons, the Internet has entered into full-throated debate.

Religious activists are so appalled, they’ve been penning nasty 1-star reviews of the company, Three Square Market, on Google, Glassdoor and social media.

On the flip side, seemingly everyone else wants to know: Is this what real life is going to be like soon at work? Will I be chipped?

“It will happen to everybody,” says Noelle Chesley, 49, associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “But not this year, and not in 2018. Maybe not my generation, but certainly that of my kids.”

Gene Munster, an investor and analyst at Loup Ventures, is an advocate for augmented reality, virtual reality and other new technologies. He thinks embedded chips in human bodies is 50 years away. “In 10 years, Facebook, Google, Apple and Tesla will not have their employees chipped,” he says. “You’ll see some extreme forward-looking tech people adopting it, but not large companies.”

The idea of being chipped has too “much negative connotation” today, but by 2067 “we will have been desensitized by the social stigma,” Munster says.

For now, Three Square Market, or 32M, hasn’t offered concrete benefits for getting chipped beyond badge and log-on stats. Munster says it was a “PR stunt” for the company to get attention to its product and it certainly succeeded, getting the small start-up air play on CBS, NBC and ABC, and generating headlines worldwide. The company, which sells corporate cafeteria kiosks designed to replace vending machines, would like the kiosks to handle cashless transactions.

This would go beyond paying with your smartphone. Instead, chipped customers would simply wave their hands in lieu of Apple Pay and other mobile-payment systems.

The benefits don’t stop there. In the future, consumers could zip through airport scanners sans passport or drivers license; open doors; start cars; and operate home automation systems. All of it, if the technology pans out, with the simple wave of a hand.

The embedded chip is not a GPS tracker, which is what many critics initially feared. However, analysts believe future chips will track our every move.

For example, pets for years have been embedded with chips to store their name and owner contact. Indeed, 32M isn’t the first company to embed chips in employees. In 2001, Applied Digital Solutions installed the “VeriChip” to access medical records but the company eventually changed hands and stopped selling the chip in 2010.

In Sweden, BioHax says nearly 3,000 customers have had its chip embedded to do many things, including ride the national rail system without having to show the conductor a ticket.

In the U.S., Dangerous Things, a Seattle-based firm, says it has sold “tens of thousands” of chips to consumers via its website. The chip and installation cost about $200.

After years of being a subculture, “the time is now” for chips to be more commonly used, says Amal Graafstra, founder of Dangerous Things. “We’re going to start to see chip implants get the same realm of acceptance as piercings and tattoos do now.”

In other words, they’ll be more visible, but not mainstream yet.

“It becomes part of you the way a cellphone does,” Graafstra says. “You can never forget it, and you can’t lose it. And you have the capability to communicate with machines in a way you couldn’t before.”

But after what we saw in Wisconsin last week, what’s next for the U.S. workforce? A nation of workers chipping into their pods at Federal Express, General Electric, IBM, Microsoft and other top corporations?

Experts contend consumers will latch onto chips before companies do.

Chesley says corporations are slower to respond to massive change and that there will be an age issue. Younger employees will be more open to it, while older workers will balk. “Most employers who have inter-generational workforces might phase it in slowly,” she says. “I can’t imagine people my age and older being enthusiastic about having devices put into their bodies.”

Adds Alec Levenson, a researcher at University of Southern California’s Center for Effective Organizations, “The vast majority of people will not put up with this.”

Three Square Market said the chips are voluntary, but Chesley says that if a company announces a plan to be chipped, the expectation is that you will get chipped — or risk losing out on advancement, raises and being a team player.

“That’s what we’re worried about,” says Bryan Allen, chief of staff for state Rep. Tina Davis (D), who is introducing a bill in Pennsylvania to outlaw mandatory chip embedding. “If the tech is out there, what’s to stop an employer from saying either you do this, or you can’t work here anymore.”

Several states have passed similar laws, while one state recently saw a similar bill die in committee. “I see this as a worker’s rights issue,” says Nevada state Sen. Becky Harris (R), who isn’t giving up. “This is the wrong place to be moving,” she says.

Should future corporations dive in to chipping their employees, they will have huge issues of “trust” to contend with, says Kent Grayson, a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

“You’ve got to have a lot of trust to put one of those in your body,” Grayson says. Workers will need assurances the chip is healthy, can’t be hacked, and its information is private, he says.

Meanwhile, religious advocates have taken to social media to express their displeasure about chipping, flooding 32M’s Facebook page with comments like “boycott,” “completely unnecessary” and “deplorable.” On 32M’s Google page, Amy Cosari a minister in Hager City, Wisc., urges employees to remove the chip.

“When Jesus was raised, he was raised body and soul, and it was him, not zombie, not a ghost and we are raised up in the same way,” Cosari wrote. “Employees of 32Market, you are not a walking debit card.”

Get used to it, counsels Chesley.

Ten years ago, employees didn’t look at corporate e-mail over the weekend. Now they we do, “whether we like it or not,” he says.

Be it wearable technology or an embedded chip, the always on-always connected chip is going to be part of our lives, she says.

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justwannaflex · 2 months

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(—) ★ spotted!! LUKAS WALKER on the cover of this week’s most recent tabloid! many say that the 27 year old looks like JOSHA STRADOWSKI, but i don’t really see it. while the ACTOR is known for being PASSIONATE my inside sources say that they have a tendency to be RESENTFUL i swear, every time i think of them, i hear the song WHATEVER IT TAKES BY IMAGINE DRAGONS {he / cismale}

Headline

Whatever it takes. 'Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins. I do whatever it takes. 'Cause I love how it feels when I break the chains. Whatever it takes. Yeah, take me to the top I'm ready for. Whatever it takes. 'Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins. I do what it takes

Stats

name: lukas walker

age: 27

nicknames: tba

date of birth: 1996

place of birth: armour (USA)

nationality : american

gender identity: cis man (he/him)

sexuality: bisexual

family : tba

occupation: actor & former baseball player

career claim: tba

net worth :

spoken languages : english

positive traits:

negative traits:

characters/celebrities inspo: tba

Bio

tw: car accident

Born in a tiny town, Armour South Dakota, nothing destined Lukas for stardom. The most the farm kid had expected had been to move to Sioux Falls and find a job there in the big city. But destiny had other plans for him.

Lukas was raised on a farm by parents who taught him the meaning of hard-work. He was always a very active child and loved all sports. His grandfather, George, was a big fan of baseball and played with Lukas a lot while he was still in shape. Once a year for Lukas' birthday, George would take his grandson to the Canaries game in Sioux Falls. It was a moment Lukas cherished and some of his best memories.

Lukas showed real talent for baseball and decided to pursue it as a career. He enrolled on scholarship to South Dakota State University where he played for the Jackrabbits. After two years, he was drafted as a non-roster pitcher for the Sioux Falls Canaries and dropped out of college. After a few months a roster Canaries' pitcher left for New York, Lukas took his spot. While his team never won anything major, he made a name for himself. He was offered a position in the Los Angeles Dodgers and took it. Once again, he rose up on the roster.

It was a bit difficult to adjust to life in LA and all the people and his own celebrity. Lukas was played more than once off the field. Even if he missed South Dakota, it was a dream to play for the LA Dodgers. George was so proud of his grandson. Lukas won everything there was to win with the Dodgers both as a player and as a team member. He dated an actress and was at the top of his game until one day he lost everything.

After a night out with his teammates, he got into a car accident. The drunk driver recovered but not Lukas. He underwent two surgeries but was not able to go back to professional level and had to stop his career. Baseball had always been everything to him. It had been his whole life and he did not know what to be without it. So he spiralled out. His girlfriend eventually left him, not able to deal with the man Lukas was becoming.

As an attempt to get his girl back, he auditioned for Riverdale and ended up cast as the lead Archie Andrews. Lukas quickly realised that his plan had not been the brightest. He hoped that the show would get cancelled as he hated it but much to his dismay Riverdale became popular. Lukas is under contract and has to star in it and promote it despite how much he dislikes it (imagine a Robert Pattinson hating on twilight kind of vibes).

Baseball career

Lukas used to be a pitcher for the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits (2014-2016), then for the Sioux Falls Canaries(2016-2018) and finally for the Los Angeles Dodgers (2018-2021). In 2021 he injured himself and after several surgeries was not able to recover and had to end his career.

CLUBS

South Dakota State University Jackrabbits (2014-2016)

Sioux Falls Canaries(2016-2018)

Los Angeles Dodgers (2018-2021)

TEAM AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENT

World Series (2020)

NL Championship Series (2018, 2020)

NL Division Series (2018, 2020)

NL Wild Card Series (2020)

SOLO AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENT

Rookie of the Year Award (2017)

MVP (2018)

Cy Young Award (2020)

Gold glove Award (2020)

Silver Slugger Award (2019)

Acting career

Since 2022 he portrays Archie Andrews on Riverdale.

#hillzintro #lukas.about #the bio wrote itself #i'll touch it up later

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