M Is FOR MASHUP - February 2nd, 2022
Today Is No Mashups Day 2022
By DJ Useo
Okay, an agreement between the “forces that be” in the entertainment industry & the loosely organized bootleggers of the world has been reached. Starting today, & from now on, February 2nd is declared “No Mashups Day”. No penalty has been agreed upon so far, aside from “stern glances”.
Industry approved music remains welcome, & a short list of recommended non-mashup tracks follows:
01 - Bach - Toccata in D Minor
This track is still known as a floorfilla in many Eisenach, Germany clubs.
02 - Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
Says it’s like a rolling stone, but is it?
03 - Alvin & The Chipmunks - Witch Doctor
Warning. This song is known to harm the auditory cortex part of the brain. It also does a lot to warn you away from “music” like this to begin with.
04 - Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
Most of this song is lifted from an old Queen/David Bowie song. Isn’t that a mashup?
05 - Billy Ray Cyrus - Achy Breaky Heart
Not so much a song, as a form of punishment. Have you drunk too much booze? Listen to this & learn your lesson.
You might be wondering why bootleggers agreed to this new “holiday”. In return we get an “Only Mashups Day” next year! Woot! I can’t wait for that.
Everyone will have to listen to my novelty mashup "Animal Crackers Slip-stream" ( Mel Blanc vs Firebirds ) It’s 1940 Novelty vs 2000 Surf Rock!
( groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/2021/11/mel-blanc-vs-firebirds.html )
If you’re of a mind to resist celebrating this new business-sanctioned occasion, defy it with my new long mashup mix featuring 50 (!) mashups. “An Examination Of Bootleggers Musical Perceptions mix ( 50 Mashups )” does just what the title suggests, resulting in a thrilling audio experience.
( hearthis.at/vxmfxz7w/dj-useo-un-examen-des-perceptions-musicales-des-bootleggers-mix/ )
More new holidays will be announced as they are created. Catch you later.
- DJ Konrad Useo
groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/
from Bruce
Anecdotes
Friends
• Gonzo author Hunter S. Thompson had many friends on whom he could impose. One such friend was editor Shelby Sadler, who owns an excellent collection of reference books. He would often telephone her late at night or early in the morning and say something such as, “Shelby? Hunter. Tell me everything you know about the Rape of Nanking.” In 1989, she really, really impressed the hard-to-impress gonzo writer by immediately knowing the main symptom — “elongated filiform papillae” — of a rare disease he was asking about: black hairy tongue disease. Within 10 minutes she was able to fax him photographs of three different sufferers of the disease.
• Pablo Neruda and Rafael Alberti were both portly poets. They used to take walks together in Paris along the Seine and would use a complete set of the works of Victor Hugo in a bookstore to measure their girth. Mr. Alberti might say, “Good Heavens! I have already outgrown Volume V of Les Misérables!” And Mr. Neruda might reply, “I haven’t put on weight. My paunch juts out only as far as Notre-Dame de Paris.”
Gays and Lesbians
• When personal-finance guru Suze Orman realized that Kathy “KT” Travis was the right romantic partner for her, she did something extravagant. When Ms. Travis traveled back home, Ms. Orman sent her driver and car to meet her. The car was not empty: It was filled with gardenias — Ms. Travis’ favorite flower. After Ms. Travis had returned home, the doorbell rang. A deliveryman was outside, holding a bunch of Casablanca lilies and wanting to know where to put the rest of the flowers — Ms. Orman had bought all the flowers in stock at a flower shop. (By the way, Ms. Orman does not want anyone to buy flowers for her. Why not? She says, “They [flowers] die.”)
• Alison Bechdel, a lesbian, draws the cartoon Dykes to Look Out For and is the author of important graphic novels. She frequently receives fan letters, including letters from very young children. Once, she received a letter from a nine-year-old who was impressed by her straight mother’s lesbian friends and who wanted advice on how be a dyke. They corresponded for a while, and Ms. Bechdel explained that there is no single way to be a dyke. The nine-year-old’s straight mother was very happy that Ms. Bechdel and her daughter were corresponding.
• Before interviewing Edythe Eyde for a book about the life experiences of elderly lesbians, Zsa Zsa Gershick noticed she had a TV tuned to a daytime talk show about women with very large breasts. Seeing a woman with a size 44EEE chest, Ms. Gershick asked, “What in the world would anyone do with breasts that size?” Ms. Eyde winked and said, “Well, I don’t know about you, but when I was younger, I would have had a hell of a good time!”
• Gay African-American author James Baldwin did not believe in labels such as gay. When asked if he was gay, his usual reply was this: “I’ve loved a few men, and I’ve loved a few women.” He once said, “It seems to me, in the first place, that if one’s to live at all, one’s certainly got to get rid of the labels.”
• When the very effeminate Quentin Crisp, author of The Naked Civil Servant, decided to emigrate from London to New York, he went to the American Embassy to get a visa. While there, he was asked, “Are you a practicing homosexual?” He replied that he didn’t practice because he was already perfect.
Gifts
• For a while, Garry Wills and William F. Buckley were friends, and for a while, they were not friends. (By the time Mr. Buckley died, they were friends again.) When they were friends, Mr. Buckley gave Mr. Wills affectionately inscribed copies of his books. When they were not friends, Mr. Wills needed to reduce the size of his library so he could move it into smaller quarters, and he invited a used-bookstore owner to look at his books and buy what he wanted. The used-bookstore owner wanted, among other books, the books that Mr. Buckley had inscribed. Friends of Mr. Buckley used to find the books in the used bookstore, buy them, and send them to Mr. Wills along with a note berating him because he sold the gifts.
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
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Presenting
Michael Egan
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "What You’re Doing to Me"
Two-Sided Single: GHOSTS
Artist: Craig Buchanan
Artist Location: Birmingham, UK
Info:
“Craig Buchanan is a British musician & songwriter, raised in Birmingham, UK. Now lives in NM, USA. He has done production work for Iain Clarke, who plays on Craig’s recent material.”
Visit Craig Buchaanan's Artist Page on Spotify
Visit Craig Buchanan's Artist Page on Apple
Visit Craig Buchanan's Artist Page on YouTube
Price: $1 (USD) for two-sided single; tracks cannot be purchased separately
Genre: Alternative.
Links:
GHOSTS
Craig Buchanan on Bandcamp
Craig Buchanan on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
"Moral Panic"
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Twofer
New Rule: How the Left Was Lost | Real Time (HBO)
Bill slams this ridiculous new era of mind-numbing partisanship, where simply speaking truth to your own party can make you an instant hero to the other side.
Andrew Tobias: Winning Words
A lot of it comes down to how we phrase things. We have so much common ground.
Other Links:
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Some Guy Suggests
Twofer
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another extra foggy night.
'My Friend Neil'
Graham Nash
Graham Nash has joined the growing chorus of artists removing their music from Spotify to protest misinformation about vaccines disseminated by the platform’s Joe Rogan Experience. The move comes just one week after Nash’s former Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmate Neil Young demanded the streaming platform remove his catalog for the same reason.
“Having heard the Covid disinformation spread by Joe Rogan on Spotify, I completely agree with and support my friend Neil Young and I am requesting that my solo recordings be removed from the service,” Nash said in a statement of solidarity with his friend and longtime bandmate.
In Nash’s statement, he cites the scores of doctors who signed a letter last month urging Spotify do more about Covid misinformation following Rogan’s podcast episode featuring Dr. Robert Malone, which contained false statements about the Covid vaccine. Last year, Spotify bought the rights to Rogan’s podcast in a reported $100 million deal — and the company has since received staunch criticism over its responsibility to moderate the content it owns.
“There is a difference between being open to varying viewpoints on a matter and knowingly spreading false information which some 270 medical professionals have derided as not only false but dangerous,” Nash said. “Likewise, there is a difference between misinformation, in which one is unaware that what is being said is false, versus disinformation which is knowingly false and intended to mislead and sway public opinion.
David Crosby also united with his former bandmates in lambasting Spotify. When asked if he would join in the call to remove music from the service, Crosby responded on Twitter, “I no longer control it or I would in support of Neil.” Last March, the musician sold his catalog to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group.
Graham Nash
The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis
Waitlist
Perhaps as perturbed as we are about Wordle succumbing to capitalist machinations, the universe has provided us with a new, equally pure and nice distraction to take its place: As reported yesterday in the Washington Post, an 8-year-old in Idaho recently pulled a reverse-heist for his handwritten book, sneaking it into his local public library and planting it within the children’s section shelves.
After confessing the caper to his mother, the two returned to the branch a few days later to see what became of it, only to find The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis already gone.
As it turned out, Helbig’s 81-page handwritten and illustrated epic about “putting an exploding star on his Christmas tree and being catapulted back to the first Thanksgiving and the North Pole” was already a hit with the librarians (to be fair, that sounds like a badass plot for a children’s book). One of the staff had even already read it to their own 6-year-old son, who reviewed it as “one of the funniest books he’d ever known.”
Taking things to previously unknown realms of cuteness, the library went ahead and catalogued Helbig’s opus within the branch’s graphic novel section. Following a local news outlet’s coverage of the situation, patrons have since flocked to read the “Crismis” saga... only to be put on a massive waitlist that technically could last for years—as of this past Saturday, Helbig’s book had 55 people waiting to get their hands on it.
Waitlist
Farewell Concert
Bob Saget
Beloved comedian and actor Bob Saget, who notably starred as the patriarch on ABC’s Full House, died Jan. 9 at age 65. Since that day, friends and family have found various ways to honor his legacy. One such way is through music and comedy as Saget’s wife Kelly, daughters and friends put together a farewell concert for Saget at the Comedy Store–the very place Saget built his career.
Produced by Mike Binder and hosted by comedian Jeff Ross, actor John Stamos and musician John Mayer, the show included performances by Jim Carrey, Chris Rock, Darren Criss, Jon Lovitz, Michael Keaton, Seth Green, Jodi Sweeten, Byron Allen, and more, brought their collective talents to honor America’s favorite Dad. Stamos and Mayer, both pallbearers at Bob’s funeral, formed an impromptu house band that played alongside Ross and the other comics gentle riffing of the life and legacy of their lost friend.
The sold-out event is giving proceeds to the Scleroderma Research Foundation, a cause dear to Bob’s heart as his sister died of the disease. The evening ended with a raucous audience sing-along led by Bob’s wife, Kelly Saget, and his daughters Aubrey and Lara. The ode, in homage to Bob’s salty sense of humor, was “My Dog Licked My Balls.”
Bob Saget
Publisher Pauses Printing
Anne Frank
Last month, we reported on a new hypothesis about who might have betrayed the hiding place of Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis in 1944, which ultimately led to the death of Anne and most of her family. The new suspect: a local Jewish leader named Arnold van den Bergh, who may have handed over lists of addresses where fellow Jews were hiding in order to protect his own family. The theory was featured in a segment on 60 Minutes and is described in detail in a new book by Rosemary Sullivan: The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation.
The news caused a stir, given that the named suspect was also Jewish. It also raised the hackles of historians who expressed skepticism about the hypothesis. Now, Reuters is reporting that the book's Dutch publisher, Ambo Anthos, has suspended printing for a second run of the book after questions were raised about the shoddiness of the research, per an internal email that the news service acquired.
The email was addressed to all of Ambo Anthos' authors. The publisher wrote it should have taken a more "critical stance" on the new book. "We await the answers from the researchers to the questions that have emerged and are delaying the decision to print another run," the email read. "We offer our sincere apologies to anyone who might feel offended by the book."
Others who have questioned the research include the foundation set up by Otto Frank, the Anne Frank Fund, which insisted Sullivan's book was "full of errors." Historian Erik Somers of the Dutch NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide studies praised the extensiveness of the investigation. But he thought the anonymous note was not quite the slam dunk Pankoke et al. thought it was and said the team had made certain assumptions about Jewish institutions in Amsterdam during World War II that were contradicted by other historical research.
Anne Frank
Suspended
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from “The View” for two weeks after facing wide criticism for her remarks that the Holocaust was “not about race.”
Goldberg’s suspension was announced in a statement released by ABC News public relations on Tuesday night.
“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments,” reads a statement attributed to Kim Godwin, president at ABC News. “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.”
Goldberg’s comments on “The View” on Monday reached the highest level of decision makers at Disney. According to sources, Peter Rice, the chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content, was consulted on the public fallout for Goldberg.
Whoopi Goldberg
Aggressive Anti-Union Strategy
New York Times
Internal documents and Slack messages obtained by the Guardian reveal senior executives at the New York Times are heavily leaning on workers to vote no in a union election for more than 600 tech employees.
Meredith Kopit Levien, the chief executive of the New York Times Company, wrote a memo on 19 January circulated to staff titled “Why a Tech Union Isn’t Right for Us” on the tech workers’ union election at XFun, the group within the New York Times responsible for product development operations.
“In short, we don’t believe unionizing in XFun is the right move. But that’s not because I’m anti-union,” said Kopit Levien.
She emphasized the relationship between management and workers, alleging the relationship would be disrupted by a union, and that the New York Times’ diversity, equity and inclusion goals would also be disrupted by a union.
In Slack messages, Times chief product officer Alexandra Hardiman and chief growth officer Hannah Yang posted messages urging workers to vote no in the union election. Yang reshared Kopit Leviten’s letter to workers, prompting workers to see it on the company’s internal election resources hub.
New York Times
Rising Magma
Three Sisters
The Pacific Northwest is well known for its stunning summits and plentiful peaks, but are the mountains moving?
In a USGS Hazard Notification statement Monday, Cascades Volcano Observatory announced their scientists have tracked an increased rate of ground uplift in the Three Sisters volcanic region.
Using satellite radar images and GPS units, USGS scientists have tracked an increased rate of uplift for a 12-mile diameter region, 3 miles west of the South Sister volcano. According to USGS, the data suggests the ground rose 0.9 inches (2.2 cm) from June 2020 to August 2021.
While the catalyst for the current uplift is unconfirmed, geologists have been able to credit previous soil shifts at the South Sister location to small pulses of magma accumulating approximately 4 miles below the earth’s surface.
Three Sisters
Royal Souvenirs Have Misprint
'Platinum Jubbly'
A spelling mistake on thousands of pieces of Platinum Jubilee merchandising, calling it the "Platinum Jubbly", is proving a challenge for souvenir sellers.
The cups and plates were meant to mark the Queen's 70-year reign.
Clearance website boss Karl Baxter said - "in classic Del Boy-style" - he will pitch them as collectors' items.
More than 10,000 pieces of the jubilee memorabilia were produced in China and sent to be sold in the UK - except for the slight problem of a misprint, which says "the Platinum Jubbly of Queen Elizabeth II".
The Platinum Jubilee will be marked with a four-day holiday in June, with concerts, parties, pageants - and maybe some jubilee bubbly.
'Platinum Jubbly'
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