A lot of the olds who comment here are talking about Andy Williams, who died yesterday.
I always admired the way he stood by Claudine Longet after she shot Spider Sabitch.
by DougJ| 56 Comments
This post is in: Music, Get off my grass you damned kids
A lot of the olds who comment here are talking about Andy Williams, who died yesterday.
I always admired the way he stood by Claudine Longet after she shot Spider Sabitch.
by John Cole| 30 Comments
This post is in: Music
Always loved Stan Ridgway and Wall of Voodoo. Here is one of my favorites:
I also always loved this one:
And, of course, there is the quintessential Wall of Voodoo song:
I have a very eclectic taste in music, I know, but I have spent many hundreds of hours listening to Ridgway.
by DougJ| 41 Comments
This post is in: Music, Open Threads
Heard this song for the first time at the end of that awful Jesse and Celeste movie, though I heard the Biz Markie take on it a million billion times back in the day.
Talk about whatever.
by DougJ| 123 Comments
This post is in: Music, Open Threads
They play the song “All This Love” by DeBarge at my grocery store a lot. I always thought it was sung by a woman until I googled it. Similarly, I heard the song “Hold On” by the Alabama Shakes on the radio a bunch recently, and I thought it was sung by a man (I thought it was Jack White) until I googled it.
So, what are the best songs where you can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman singing it?
This post is in: Activist Judges!, Foreign Affairs, Music, Vagina Outrage
__
__
Per the genteel NYTimes, “Russian Band Given 2-Year Term for Stunt Deriding Putin“:
MOSCOW — A Moscow judge handed down stiff prison sentences of two years on Friday afternoon for three young women who staged a protest against Vladimir V. Putin in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior last February and whose jailing and trial on hooliganism charges have generated worldwide criticism of constraints on political speech in Russia
While a guilty verdict against the three women, members of a band called Pussy Riot, was widely expected, suspense had built over how severe a punishment they would receive. Prosecutors had demanded three-year prison terms, but President Putin had weighed in on the side of leniency. …
The case has become a touchstone in the political conflict that began in Russia after disputed parliamentary elections last December. That is partly because of the sympathetic appearance of the defendants — two are mothers of young children — partly because their group uses music to carry its message, and because it has pitted them against a united power-structure: the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church.
As the judge read the lengthy verdict, hundreds of demonstrators had gathered outside the courthouse and shouted, “Free Pussy Riot!” …
Near the start of the highly anticipated proceedings, the judge said that Pussy Riot’s so-called punk prayer in Moscow’s main cathedral had amounted to the crime of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred. She repeated that charge on Friday in her verdict. Because the women acted as a group, the maximum sentence under the law is seven years in prison….
As the trial opened, the women — Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, and Maria Alyokhina, 24 — apologized, saying they had never intended to offend the Orthodox Church but rather sought to make a political statement against Mr. Putin and against the church patriarch, Kirill I, for supporting Mr. Putin in his campaign for a third term as president.
But prosecutors and lawyers for religious people who where described as victims of the stunt said the women were motivated by religious hatred. The defendants were accused of committing “moral harm” and even of practicing Satanism …
Emily Nokes at Seattle’s Stranger has a timeline on “Everything You Need to Know About Vladimir Putin’s Least Favorite Feminists“:
… Pussy Riot has no formal membership, tries to operate anonymously, and cites the riot grrrl movement as inspiration. According to a member of the collective: “We developed what they did in the 1990s, although in an absolutely different context and with an exaggerated political stance, which leads to all of our performances being illegal—we’ll never gig in a club or special musical space.”…
July 30: The Pussy Riot trial begins. The prosecutor demands three years in a labor camp for each defendant. The defense reports that the women have not been allowed adequate food, sleep, or medical attention. During appearances in court, they are kept in a glass and wood cage, watched by a “rotating cast of guard dogs… lest the three women try to run away from the glass ‘aquarium’ in which they are locked during the trial,” the New Yorker reports. Court sessions often last more than 10 hours.
August 3: There are reports of journalists being kept out of the courtroom. According to the Russian Legal Information Agency: “During the trial, the defense attorneys have also not had the opportunity to meet with their clients confidentially. The court has dismissed all of the defense’s appeals, and has not allowed witnesses for the defense or members of the press or the public to testify.”
August 6: The prosecution calls “injured parties” as witnesses, such as church security guards, a candle keeper, church cleaners, and a treasurer. According to the New Yorker, witnesses testify to being “profoundly offended” by the “loud, inappropriate” color of Pussy Riot’s dresses, their lack of sleeves, etc., and the candle keeper says, “They basically spat in my face, in my soul, in my Lord’s soul.” Even though the women performed for less than one minute in balaclavas and tights while the church was empty, a witness claims to have identified one of the women “by her calf muscles.” Rolling Stone reports that a real estate agent who also testifies watched the performance online and feels that “Pussy Riot declared war on God, Christianity, and the government.”…
And in another country, Rick Santorum has a peak sexual experience.
The group’s defense website is here.
Song of the Week (Foreign Politics Edition)Post + Comments (81)
by $8 blue check mistermix| 130 Comments
This post is in: Music
This is Antony, the trans lead singer of Antony and the Johnsons covering Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide. I probably have a higher tolerance for strange covers than average, even the new fad of indie covers of big hits from the past 20-30 years, but this one just made me laugh. Here’s an open thread to share the strangest covers you’ve found lately, or anything else.
This post is in: Because of wow., Music, Science & Technology
__
Not gonna happen from this household; we were prepared to drive 45 minutes out to the beach, away from the worst of the ambient light, but the sky’s milky-opaque with cloud cover.
__
__
Late Night Open Thread: Count Those Perseid Meteorites, Techies…Post + Comments (52)