Tag: music

Kanye West to buy conservative social media platform Parler

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The rapper formerly known as Kanye West is offering to buy right-wing friendly social network Parler shortly after being booted off Twitter and Instagram for antisemitic posts.

Parlement Technologies, which owns the platform, and West, legally known as Ye, said the acquisition should be completed in the fourth quarter, but details like price were not revealed. Parlement Technologies said the agreement includes the use of private cloud services via Parlement’s private cloud and data center infrastructure.

Ye, was locked out of Twitter and Instagram a week ago over antisemitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies. In one post on Twitter, Ye said he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” according to internet archive records, making an apparent reference to the U.S. defense readiness condition scale known as DEFCON.

Ye is no stranger to controversy, once suggesting slavery was a choice and calling the COVID-19 vaccine “the mark of the beast.” Earlier this month, he was criticized for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his collection at Paris Fashion Week.

The potential purchase of Parler would give Ye control of a social media platform and a new outlet for his opinions with no gatekeeper.

“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Ye said in a prepared statement.

The acquisition could also breathe new life into Parler, which has struggled amid competition from other conservative-friendly platforms like Truth Social. Parler, which launched in August 2018, didn’t start picking up steam until 2020. But it was kicked offline following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. A month after the attack, Parler announced a relaunch. It returned to Google Play last month.

“This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech,” Parlement Technologies CEO George Farmer said in a prepared statement.

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October 17, 2022
2 shot, others hurt at Asian Doll college homecoming concert

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SALISBURY, N.C. (AP) — Two people were shot and others were injured as they fled gunfire that broke out at a North Carolina college homecoming concert featuring rapper Asian Doll on Saturday night, officials said.

Officers called to the campus of Livingstone College in Salisbury around 11 p.m. found two people shot and others who were hurt as attendees fled the gunfire, city officials said in a statement.

Video footage from the concert shows that a fight broke out while Asian Doll was on stage. One person, who isn’t a Livingstone student, then fired one or more shots, police and school officials said in a joint statement.

A male victim with a gunshot wound was flown to Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte, where he was in stable condition, and a female victim with a graze wound was treated at a local hospital and released, city spokesperson Linda McElroy said in a text on Sunday afternoon. She could not say whether the victims were adults.

No arrests had been made, McElroy said.

Livingstone, a private, historically Black school, is located in Salisbury, which is about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northeast of Charlotte.

The school’s priority is to ensure students’ mental health and evaluate public safety measures to create a safe environment, Livingstone President Dr. Anthony J. Davis said in a statement. The college is cooperating with police as they investigate, he said.

“I am saddened because our students, alumni, family and friends were exposed to this senseless act of violence,” Davis said.

The incident was not the only homecoming event to end in a shooting over the weekend. Early Sunday, four people were hurt, including three students, in a shooting during Clark Atlanta University’s homecoming outside a campus library as a DJ performed.

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October 17, 2022
Jerry Lee Lewis, Keith Whitley join the Country Hall of Fame

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Two artists who started their careers outside of country music were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame as early rock pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and bluegrass performer-turned-country star Keith Whitley joined the ranks.

Lewis, the 87-year-old artist nicknamed “The Killer,” was unable to attend the induction ceremony on Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee, due to guidance from his doctor. But his fellow country stars Hank Williams Jr. and Kris Kristofferson showed up in his stead to accept and honor the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.

Whitley’s widow, fellow country star Lorrie Morgan, accepted the medallion on his behalf during the ceremony featuring performances by Garth Brooks, Mickey Guyton, Chris Isaak, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert and Alabama. Also inducted this year was music executive Joe Galante, who had a key role in marketing country music to wider pop and rock audiences starting in the 1980s.

Lewis, from Ferriday, Louisiana, grew up on country music, but Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, turned him into a rockabilly star, with hits like “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire.”

Williams, who also helped induct Lewis into the Rock & Hall of Fame in 1986, recalled Lewis spending time at his home when he was a kid and listening to Lewis’ rock songs on the radio. He said Lewis taught him that entertaining was about more than skill.

“Jerry Lee doesn’t ask for your attention, he demands it,” Williams said. “He doesn’t take a stage, he commands it.”

In Memphis, Lewis played alongside Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash in the now famous Million Dollar Quartet. Lewis’ career was nearly derailed over the scandal arising from his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin, Myra, and he faced a backlash from fans during a tour in England in 1958, when crowds became combative.

Lewis was abandoned by concert promoters for several years before mounting a return to the country charts in the late 1960s. He had No. 1 hits on the Billboard Country Chart with “There Must Be More to Love Than This,” “Would You Take Another Chance on Me” and “Chantilly Lace.” His other top country singles included “What Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me),” ″She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye” and “To Make Love Sweeter for You.”

Isaak delivered a rollicking version of “Great Balls of Fire” during the ceremony and 85-year-old actor and singer Kristofferson made a rare public appearance to help unveil Lewis’ plaque, which will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame rotunda.

Morgan was moved to tears during her speech, noting that her late husband would feel so undeserving of the honor. Whitley’s first work as a musician was in bluegrass, when he and Ricky Skaggs started playing as teenagers in Ralph Stanley’s band, the Clinch Mountain Boys.

“My whole family, we’ve all missed him together and all the fans who loved Keith and visited his gravesite all the time,” she said.

That bluegrass background made Whitley stand out as a country singer in the 1980s, where he brought tender emotion and incredible vocal range to hits including “When You Say Nothing at All” and “I’m No Stranger to the Rain.”

But his career was ended too short, spanning just four years and seven months on the Billboard charts before his 1989 death from alcohol poisoning at age 34. But the singer from Sandy Hook, Kentucky, continued to influence numerous country singers who came up alongside him, including Brooks, who praised his pure country singing and authenticity.

“Truth, honesty. The guy could outsing 99 percent of us,” Brooks said.

Galante was the head of RCA Nashville in his 30s and both Morgan and Whitley were among the hit artists that he brought to success, including Clint Black, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Vince Gill, The Judds, Martina McBride and more. He helped the band Alabama achieve crossover success with multi-platinum hits.

“I was a label head, but I was a huge fan of their music,” Galante said. “And it’s all about the music at the end of the day.”

__

Online:

https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/

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October 17, 2022
Jerry Lee Lewis, Keith Whitley join the Country Hall of Fame

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Two artists who started their careers outside of country music were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame as early rock pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and bluegrass performer-turned-country star Keith Whitley joined the ranks.

Lewis, the 87-year-old artist nicknamed “The Killer,” was unable to attend the induction ceremony on Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee, due to guidance from his doctor. But his fellow country stars Hank Williams Jr. and Kris Kristofferson showed up in his stead to accept and honor the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.

Whitley’s widow, fellow country star Lorrie Morgan, accepted the medallion on his behalf during the ceremony featuring performances by Garth Brooks, Mickey Guyton, Chris Isaak, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert and Alabama. Also inducted this year was music executive Joe Galante, who had a key role in marketing country music to wider pop and rock audiences starting in the 1980s.

Lewis, from Ferriday, Louisiana, grew up on country music, but Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee, turned him into a rockabilly star, with hits like “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire.”

Williams, who also helped induct Lewis into the Rock & Hall of Fame in 1986, recalled Lewis spending time at his home when he was a kid and listening to Lewis’ rock songs on the radio. He said Lewis taught him that entertaining was about more than skill.

“Jerry Lee doesn’t ask for your attention, he demands it,” Williams said. “He doesn’t take a stage, he commands it.”

In Memphis, Lewis played alongside Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash in the now famous Million Dollar Quartet. Lewis’ career was nearly derailed over the scandal arising from his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin, Myra, and he faced a backlash from fans during a tour in England in 1958, when crowds became combative.

Lewis was abandoned by concert promoters for several years before mounting a return to the country charts in the late 1960s. He had No. 1 hits on the Billboard Country Chart with “There Must Be More to Love Than This,” “Would You Take Another Chance on Me” and “Chantilly Lace.” His other top country singles included “What Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me),” ″She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye” and “To Make Love Sweeter for You.”

Isaak delivered a rollicking version of “Great Balls of Fire” during the ceremony and 85-year-old actor and singer Kristofferson made a rare public appearance to help unveil Lewis’ plaque, which will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame rotunda.

Morgan was moved to tears during her speech, noting that her late husband would feel so undeserving of the honor. Whitley’s first work as a musician was in bluegrass, when he and Ricky Skaggs started playing as teenagers in Ralph Stanley’s band, the Clinch Mountain Boys.

“My whole family, we’ve all missed him together and all the fans who loved Keith and visited his gravesite all the time,” she said.

That bluegrass background made Whitley stand out as a country singer in the 1980s, where he brought tender emotion and incredible vocal range to hits including “When You Say Nothing at All” and “I’m No Stranger to the Rain.”

But his career was ended too short, spanning just four years and seven months on the Billboard charts before his 1989 death from alcohol poisoning at age 34. But the singer from Sandy Hook, Kentucky, continued to influence numerous country singers who came up alongside him, including Brooks, who praised his pure country singing and authenticity.

“Truth, honesty. The guy could outsing 99 percent of us,” Brooks said.

Galante was the head of RCA Nashville in his 30s and both Morgan and Whitley were among the hit artists that he brought to success, including Clint Black, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Vince Gill, The Judds, Martina McBride and more. He helped the band Alabama achieve crossover success with multi-platinum hits.

“I was a label head, but I was a huge fan of their music,” Galante said. “And it’s all about the music at the end of the day.”

——

Online:

https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/

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October 16, 2022
Ralph Lauren draws A-list Hollywood crowd for sumptuous show

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SAN MARINO, Calif. (AP) — Bronx-born Ralph Lauren, a quintessential New Yorker, had never staged a runway show on the West Coast before. So clearly, with his first show in sunny California, he was going to go big — or, well, stay home.

Big he went, staging a sumptuous display of his well-honed ethos of casual luxury, with strong Western accents like cowboy hats and boots, against a setting sun at the grand Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, near Los Angeles.

Rivaling his lavish 50th anniversary show in New York’s Central Park in 2018, Thursday’s extravaganza brought in a slew of movie stars — including newlyweds Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck — to watch more than 120 models strut the runway, including some adorable tots in Lauren’s childrenswear who had the fashionable crowd gasping with delight.

“We’re in show business,” the 83-year-old designer said simply in a post-show interview, standing next to the endlessly long, candlelit tables where guests dined post-show on Polo Bar burgers, grilled branzino and other specialties from his restaurant in New York.

Lauren explained that early on, he had felt LA wasn’t his style, but that changed and he finally decided, “OK let’s do something in LA, but let’s do it great.”

Always a celebrity magnet, Lauren brought out a slice of A-list Hollywood with Lopez and Affleck, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, Sylvester Stallone, John Legend, Diane Keaton, Jessica Chastain, Laura Dern, Chris Pine and James Marsden, to name a few.

The intimate affair for some 200 people began with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres like tuna tartare on a patio overlooking the lush lawns and gardens of the Huntington, which once housed Gilded Age tycoon Henry Huntington. Celebrity guests mingled along with TikTok influencers and Lauren customers.

As the sun sank lower, guests were summoned to the tiled entrance of the museum, where models strutted to a soundtrack of California-themed songs like “California Dreamin.”

There were plenty of cowboy hats, worn-in jeans and boots to begin with, gradually morphing into fancier wear like long, bright skirts and slinky cut-out gowns for the women.

A gasp traveled through the crowd as two small children appeared, each holding one hand of their accompanying adult, dressed in classic Lauren looks of tweed jackets, sweater vests, pinstriped button-downs and white shorts.

More children followed, including a little boy in bright green trousers who stole the moment by insisting on high-fiving everyone he passed.

The show, which featured designs from several Ralph Lauren lines including menswear and childrenswear, finished with the models all returning to gather on the patio, joined by Lauren as he emerged to cheers.

Over dinner, Kushton and Kunis chatted with Legend, who said in an interview before the show that Lauren is “obviously an icon in the fashion business and has meant so much to style for such a long time.”

Lopez noted that Lauren had dressed her and Affleck for their recent nuptials. “Ralph did our wedding, so we’ve become quite close,” the pop star said. ”And we really love his aesthetic.”

And singer Maggie Rogers noted she had grown up as a fan of the brand. “I have been watching them for the last couple of years and to me they represent such a timeless American style, and I always try and bring that … classic thing to my music,” she said. “So it feels like the perfect match.”

The show’s soundtrack ended with a song that seemed to acknowledge Lauren’s divided feelings, geographically speaking. “Well I’m New York City born and raised,” went the Neil Diamond song “I Am … I Said,” “but nowadays I’m lost between two shores. L.A.’s fine, but it ain’t home. New York’s home but it ain’t mine no more.”

___

Associated Press journalist Krysta Fauria contributed to this report.

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October 16, 2022
Wynton Marsalis joins forces with Michigan Marching Band

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Wynton Marsalis has done just about everything in the world of music.

One thing he hasn’t, however, is team up his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with a college marching band — until now.

“I’ve never seen a jazz band like ours play with a marching band, where the actual music we’re playing is integrated into the music the band is playing,” Marsalis said during one of his many stops this week in Ann Arbor, where the Grammy and Pulitzer winner is taking part in a weeklong residency at the University of Michigan.

On Thursday, the 60-year-old Marsalis and members of the JLCO strode onto the Michigan Marching Band’s practice field to rehearse for Saturday’s show. They’ll play during the Michigan football team’s game against Penn State at the 107,000-seat Michigan Stadium.

The legendary trumpeter opened the rehearsal with a solo that was met with raucous applause from those who packed the field. Afterward, Marsalis was surrounded by band members and others who waited patiently to pose for a picture with him.

The University Musical Society, a nonprofit affiliated with the University of Michigan and one of the oldest performing arts presenters in the country, brought Marsalis and his orchestra to southeast Michigan for the residency. It includes a pair of concerts at the school’s Hill Auditorium as well as masterclasses and workshops, plus a performance for K-12 students and a visit to a federal prison.

And, of course, the halftime show at the Big House.

“Hopefully, you are going to win the game. We know the music is going to be good,” Marsalis jabbed at Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel during a lecture and discussion earlier in the week at the Michigan Theater.

“That’s the plan,” Manuel said.

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October 16, 2022
2 shot, others hurt at Asian Doll college homecoming concert

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SALISBURY, N.C. — Two people were shot and others were injured as they fled gunfire that broke out at a North Carolina college homecoming concert featuring rapper Asian Doll on Saturday night, officials said.

Officers called to the campus of Livingstone College in Salisbury around 11 p.m. found two people shot and others who were hurt as attendees fled the gunfire, city officials said in a statement.

Video footage from the concert shows that a fight broke out while Asian Doll was on stage. One person, who isn’t a Livingstone student, then fired one or more shots, police and school officials said in a joint statement.

A male victim with a gunshot wound was flown to Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte, where he was in stable condition, and a female victim with a graze wound was treated at a local hospital and released, city spokesperson Linda McElroy said in a text on Sunday afternoon. She could not say whether the victims were adults.

No arrests had been made, McElroy said.

Livingstone, a private, historically Black school, is located in Salisbury, which is about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northeast of Charlotte.

The school’s priority is to ensure students’ mental health and evaluate public safety measures to create a safe environment, Livingstone President Dr. Anthony J. Davis said in a statement. The college is cooperating with police as they investigate, he said.

“I am saddened because our students, alumni, family and friends were exposed to this senseless act of violence,” Davis said.

The incident was not the only homecoming event to end in a shooting over the weekend. Early Sunday, four people were hurt, including three students, in a shooting during Clark Atlanta University’s homecoming outside a campus library as a DJ performed.

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October 16, 2022
10/15: CBS Saturday Morning

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10/15: CBS Saturday Morning – CBS News

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Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker debate in Georgia; Meet alternative musician Bartees Strange.

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October 16, 2022
Saturday Sessions: Bartees Strange performs

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Saturday Sessions: Bartees Strange performs “Mulholland Drive” – CBS News

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After spending years in New York playing on train cars and with a wide range of bands, Bartees Strange has now settled in Washington, D.C., where he’s made a name for himself in music and honed his alternative sound. For Saturday Sessions, Bartees Strange performs “Mulholland Drive.”

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October 15, 2022
Meet alternative musician Bartees Strange

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Meet alternative musician Bartees Strange – CBS News

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“CBS Saturday Morning” co-host Jeff Glor sits down with the Washington, D.C.-based musician, Bartees Strange, to discuss his religious upbringing and the future of his career.

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October 15, 2022
The queen of rock and roll is now a Barbie | CNN

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CNN
—

What’s a Barbie got to do with it?

Tina Turner, the iconic singer known as the “Queen of Rock and Roll,” has now been immortalized with a Barbie doll in her honor.

The doll was inspired by Turner’s Grammy-winning hit, “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” The Barbie depicts Turner’s outfit from the song’s music video, wearing a black mini dress, denim jacket and drop earrings, along with her famous hairstyle.

The Tina Turner doll is available for $55 on Mattel’s website. It was designed to celebrate the singer’s “unmatched career,” according to an Instagram post from the official Barbie account.

Turner joins other trailblazing women who have been honored with Barbies, like businesswoman and philanthropist Madame C.J. Walker, primatologist Jane Goodall and actress and transgender rights activist Laverne Cox.

“What’s Love Got to Do With It” was released in 1984. The song, taken from Turner’s fifth solo album, received three awards at the 1985 Grammys and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012.

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October 15, 2022
BTS reunite for free concert to support South Korea’s World Expo bid | CNN

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K-pop boy band BTS reunited on Saturday for a concert in Busan in support of South Korea’s bid to host the World Expo 2030 in the southern port city.

The free concert – titled “BTS Yet To Come in Busan” – drew an audience of about 52,000 people to a stadium, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

A total of 100,000 were expected to visit the stadium and other areas, according to Busan Metropolitan City authorities, with some fans watching the event live on large screens set up at several places around Busan.

The concert followed the seven-member band’s announcement of a break in June from group musical activities to pursue solo projects, raising questions about the band’s future.

With BTS’ oldest member, Jin, who is turning 30 next year, facing South Korea’s mandatory military service, the country’s defense minister said in August that BTS might still be able to perform overseas while serving in the military.

Under a 2019 revision of the law, globally recognized K-pop stars were allowed to put off their service until 30. Military service is hugely controversial in South Korea where all able-bodied men aged between 18 and 28 must fulfill their duties as part of efforts to defend against nuclear-armed North Korea.

“If the seven BTS members feel the same way and if you guys have faith in us, we will overcome whatever happens to us in the future and we will perform with you guys and make music. Please have faith in us,” BTS leader RM told fans during the concert, without elaborating further.

Four countries – South Korea, Italy, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia – have submitted competing candidatures to organize World Expo 2030, according to the expo organizing body Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). The host country of the World Expo 2030 is expected to be elected next year.

In July, BTS were made official ambassadors for the World Expo 2030 in Busan, over 300 km (190 miles) southeast of capital Seoul.

BTS made their debut in June 2013 and became a worldwide sensation with its upbeat hits and social campaigns aimed at empowering young people.

Last year, BTS became the first Asian band to win artist of the year at the American Music Awards. The group met US President Joe Biden at the White House in May to discuss hate crimes targeting Asians.

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October 15, 2022
Reunited once again, Pavement is more popular than ever

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NEW YORK (AP) — Four sold-out shows at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre. A new band member and an expanded live set. Momentum from unlikely followers gained while the band was on hiatus.

Pavement, reunited for the first time in 12 years, is back at it — again — and more popular than ever.

Pavement was once the ’90s quintessential indie rock band, effusing an air of equal parts defiance and nonchalance, half-singing erudite lyrics while flashing an in-the-know glance.

“It’s pretty amazing to see the energy that people — or Pavement fans, I suppose — have for this band, over 30 years since its inception,” said percussionist Bob Nastanovich. “I mean, it’s not like we weren’t liked. We’ve always had very loyal fans. In droves seems to be the different aspect.”

Launched in Stockton, California, in the late 1980s by guitarist/singer Stephen Malkmus, guitarist Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg and studio owner/drummer Gary Young, Pavement referenced everything from Swell Maps to The Eagles in their songs. But it was always more about how they translated those influences into their own sonic language.

Throughout their 10-year run, during which they grew to include Nastanovich, bassist Mark Ibold and drummer Steve West, they released five albums and earned cult status among fans. They were loved for their loose approach, tangled resonance, shrouded pop sensibility and seemingly off-the-cuff mindset in live shows.

Still, aside from the semi-hit “Cut Your Hair,” they never got too big, and the band split up at the turn of the century as Malkmus set off on his own career, now nine albums deep. His guitar playing has moved into master-class territory, and he now runs a tighter ship on stage with his band The Jicks.

After years of indicating they would never get back together, Pavement reconvened for a world tour in 2010, and then went separate ways again. Kannberg has stayed in bands and released his own music and that of others, while West is a stonemason in Richmond, Virginia, and Ibold is a bartender in Brooklyn.

Nastanovich, based in Des Moines, Iowa, has a podcast called “3 Songs” and works in horse racing. To prove to people in the racing industry that he was in Pavement, he sometimes had to Google the band and show them pictures.

But then something unexpected happened: TikTok. “Harness Your Hopes” — a B-side released in 1999 — went viral with more than 10 million views of people dancing, lip-syncing or posting about the song. It’s also the top Pavement track on Spotify.

“Maybe in hindsight it would have been a successful single, but it’s always good to let your audience figure out what your hits are,” Nastanovich said.

Malkmus joked during one of the recent Brooklyn shows that no one told the band members back in the day that “Harness Your Hopes” was a hit. Adds Nastanovich, “It’s kind of nice to have sort of a funny song that we play every night that makes people smile and dance.”

The band also added a new member, keyboardist Rebecca Cole, also of the band Wild Flag. “She is a very good vibe, and she allows us to play about 15 to 20 more songs well than what we played in 2010,” said Nastanovich.

An international museum exhibition, “Pavements 1933-2022,” opened at a gallery in lower Manhattan this month tracing the band’s history though flyers, artwork, notebooks and videos. A few advertisements showed the band’s reach — and depth — in the 1990s. There’s Malkmus strumming a broom like a guitar for Apple’s “Think Different” campaign, a play on their “Wowee Zowee” album cover art for Absolut Vodka, and promotions for “Got Milk?” and America’s Libraries.

Younger artists Snail Mail, Lucy Dacus and Soccer Mommy played Pavement songs at the exhibition.

“More than anything else, it seems like the people who care about the band are very genuine and it’s just interesting to see such an amazing span of ages,” Nastanovich enthused. “It’s just amazing to me that over the past 12 years, Pavement has for some reason continued to gather steam.”

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October 15, 2022
Kanye West canceled? Here’s why it probably won’t happen | CNN

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CNN
—

Kanye West has had so many controversies you may have forgotten a few.

From his infamous interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards to his early embrace of former President Trump and his “Make America Great Again” agenda, the artist, designer and entrepreneur is, perhaps, best known for being a provocateur.

The latest calls to cancel West, who legally changed his name to Ye, may be the most intense yet.

After he wore and featured “White Lives Matter” (The Anti-Defamation League categorizes the phrase as a “hate slogan” used by White supremacist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan) apparel in his recent Paris fashion show, there was new outcry against West.

“Kanye’s actions are just so dangerous and irresponsible. I don’t care how great his music is, we have to stop supporting someone who uses their platform so irresponsibly,” TV host, professor and former CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill posted on social media.

Another lightening rod came earlier this week, when West’s Twitter and Instagram accounts were restricted for violating policies following posts that were criticized as antisemitic. Days later, it was announced that his episode of the YouTube series “The Shop: Uninterrupted” would not release because he used his appearance “to reiterate more hate speech and very ugly stereotypes.”

This has led some to suggest that West’s career has crashed and burned and there’s no coming back from it all. But here’s why that’s not necessarily the case:

For all the talk of “cancel culture,” we now live in an era where bad behavior, especially by public figures, garners all of the outrage – until it doesn’t.

Not only do we live in a society that moves fairly quickly from scandal to scandal, racism and cruelty to others no longer live in the shadows.

So while plenty of people have condemned West for his actions and comments, there are many who support both because they agree with him.

Then there is the fame factor.

Star power has only increased in recent years, especially because social media fosters a sense of intimacy between artists and their followers.

“West’s celebrity status has kept us watching and listening mostly because we’re keenly aware that so many others are also paying attention,” Washington Post senior critic-at-large Robin Givhan recently wrote.

“And each time he says something indecipherable or cruel, we recoil as if we are shocked anew, as if he has not been terrible before,” she continued. “We respond as if we believe that fame is a preventive to terrible behavior, that those who know they’re being watched will aim to be on their best behavior rather than using all that attention as an enticement to acting out.”

West has been very clear about his admiration for Trump, and the two men do seem to share an approach to communication.

West recently said in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he “started to really feel this need to express myself on another level when Trump was running for office and I liked him.”

West said he was warned against supporting Trump, telling Carlson people told him “my career would be over, my life would be over.”

Instead, West earned new fans from some of the same people who also support the former president.

After conservative author and ACT! for America founder Brigitte Gabriel tweeted her support for West, one of her followers responded, “I used to judge him quite harshly. I’m finding new respect for him now.”

It’s long been debated whether one can embrace the art without supporting the artist. West has a history of coming out on the winning side of that question.

There were calls to boycott West in 2018 after comments he made about the history of slavery in the United States.

“When you hear about slavery for 400 years,” West said during an interview with TMZ. “For 400 years? That sounds like a choice.”

Yet, a month later, all seven tracks on his “Ye” album debuted on Billboard’s Top 40 chart.

There have been several other controversies since that have not stopped West from achieving mass success with his fashion and sneaker lines.

And while West terminated his relationship with the Gap in September, and Adidas has put their partnership with him under review, he entered the public consciousness nearly two decades ago through music that people will likely continue to return to.

The first words West speaks on his first hit, “Through the Wire,” in retrospect, may have been prescient: “They can’t stop me from rapping can they?”

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October 15, 2022
TikTok reportedly plans to expand into music streaming service

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TikTok reportedly plans to expand into music streaming service – CBS News

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TikTok is reportedly looking to expand into the e-commerce and music world. Those close to negotiations say parent company ByteDance is aiming to integrate a service into the app that will rival Spotify or Apple Music. Business Insider senior media reporter Dan Whateley joins CBS News’ Errol Barnett and Elaine Quijano to tell us more.

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October 14, 2022
Dolly Parton donation strategy: ‘I just give from my heart’

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NEW YORK — Dolly Parton laughs at the idea that she is some sort of secret philanthropist.

Sure, social media sleuths did piece together this week that the country superstar had been quietly paying for the band uniforms of many Tennessee high schools for years. And yes, it did take decades for her to reveal that she used the songwriting royalties she earned from Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You” to purchase a strip mall in Nashville to support the surrounding Black neighborhood in her honor. Oh, and it did eventually come out that Parton had donated $1 million for research that helped create the Moderna vaccine for COVID-19.

“I don’t do it for attention,” she told The Associated Press in an interview, shortly before she received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy at Gotham Hall in New York City Thursday night. “But look! I’m getting a lot of attention by doing it.”

In fact, Parton believes she gets too much attention for her philanthropic work – which ranges from promoting childhood literacy to supporting those affected by natural disasters and providing numerous college scholarships through her Dollywood Foundation.

“I get paid more attention than maybe some others that are doing more than me,” Parton said, adding that she hopes that attention inspires more people to help others.

In her Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy speech, Parton said she doesn’t really have a strategy for her donations.

“I just give from my heart,” she said. “I never know what I’m going to do or why I’m gonna do it. I just see a need and if I can fill it, then I will.”

One need Parton does focus on filling is fostering a love of reading in children. Her Imagination Library initiative sends a free book every month to children under five whose parents request them. Currently, Parton sends out about 2 million free books each month.

“This actually started because my father could not read and write and I saw how crippling that could be,” she said. “My dad was a very smart man. And I often wondered what he could have done had he been able to read and write. So that is the inspiration.”

That program continues to expand. And last month, the state of California partnered with Imagination Library to make the program available to the millions of children under five in the state.

“That is a big deal,” she said. “That’s a lot of children. And we’re so honored and proud to have all the communities that make that happen because I get a lot of glory for the work a whole lot of people are doing.”

Parton said she’ll accept that attention because it furthers the cause. “I’m proud to be the voice out there doing what I can to get more books into the hands of more children,” she said.

Eric Isaacs, president of the Carnegie Institution for Science and a member of the medal selection committee, said Parton is a “tremendous example” of someone who understands the importance of philanthropy.

“Everyone knows her music,” he said. “They might know Dollywood for entertainment, more broadly. But now they’re going to know her for her philanthropy, which I’m not sure they have before.”

If Parton didn’t make philanthropy a priority in her life, it could be difficult to balance it with all her other pursuits.

She released “Run, Rose, Run,” a best-selling novel co-written with James Patterson, in March. She filmed the holiday movie “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas” with Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus and Jimmy Fallon for NBC. And she will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Nov. 5, alongside Eminem, Lionel Richie and Pat Benatar – an honor she initially declined, but then graciously accepted.

“I’m ready to rock,” she said, adding that she has already written a new song, especially for that ceremony in Los Angeles.

But Parton is also ready to expand her philanthropic work. This year, she launched the Care More initiative at her Dollywood Parks and Resorts, which gives employees a day off to volunteer at a nonprofit of their choice.

“I think it’s important for everyone to do their share to help their fellow man,” she said. “This world is so crazy. I don’t think we even know what we’re doing to each other and to this world.”

Parton says she hopes the day of service will let people realize that “when you help somebody, it helps them, but it can help you more.”

“That’s what we should do as human beings,” she said. “I never quite understood why we have to let religion and politics and things like that stand in the way of just being good human beings. I think it’s important from that standpoint just to feel like you’re doing your part, doing something decent and good and right.”

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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October 14, 2022
Ye and JPMorgan Chase ending their banking relationship

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JPMorgan Chase and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West are ending their business relationship, but the breakup is not a result of the controversy over the hip-hop star’s recent antisemitic comments.

The letter ending West’s relationship with JPMorgan was tweeted Wednesday by conservative activist Candace Owens, who has been seen publicly at events with the rapper, who is now legally known as Ye.

While Owens claimed that JPMorgan did not disclose the reason for severing ties, the letter was sent to West on Sept. 20, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak about it publicly. The decision was made after Ye publicly said he was going to cut off ties with the bank. JPMorgan is giving West 60 days from the date of the letter to find a new banking relationship.

Earlier this month, Ye and Owens drew attention after the pair attended a Paris fashion show while wearing shirts with the phrase “White Lives Matter” on the back. The phrase has been adopted and promoted by white supremacist groups and sympathizers, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Social media companies Twitter and Instagram have blocked Ye’s accounts from posting in recent days due to his antisemitic comments, saying the remarks violated company policy.

West told Bloomberg News on Sept. 12 that he planned on cutting many of his corporate ties, saying that “It’s time for me to go it alone.” In that interview, he also criticized JPMorgan for not giving him access to Jamie Dimon, the bank’s CEO and chairman.

While Ye is wealthy from his hip-hop career, he also controls a popular fashion and shoe line under Yeezy Brands. In that interview with Bloomberg, he said he also planned to cut relationships with his corporate suppliers as well.

In September, West prematurely severed his shoe and clothing deal with Gap, claiming that the retailer hadn’ met certain contractual obligations. Ye and the retailer in 2020 struck what was expected to be a 10-year deal under which he designed Yeezy-branded merchandise to be sold in Gap stores.

In 2021, Bloomberg ranked him as the wealthiest Black American, pegging his net worth at $6 billion. Between $3.2 billion and $4.7 billion of that net worth comes from West’s partnerships with Gap and Adidas, according to investment bank UBS.

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October 14, 2022
CARMELITE SISTERS of the MOST SACRED HEART of LOS ANGELES RELEASE NEW ANGELIC ALBUM: ‘Adoration From Carmel’

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Press Release
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Oct 14, 2022

LOS ANGELES, October 14, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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The Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles are sharing their singing with the wider world, through a heartwarming new album: Adoration from Carmel: Eucharistic Hymns from the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles. Released through De Montfort-Sophia Music Group and recorded in the beautiful acoustics of the community’s St. Joseph chapel at Santa Teresita, in the City of Angels, the album features the Sisters singing pieces both a cappella and arranged with a seven-piece chamber ensemble. The repertoire, having flowed from the Sisters’ daily prayer together, has an intimate, timeless, radiant feel – ideally captured by top producer-engineer Brad Michel, winner of multiple Grammy and Gramophone awards.

“Rare traits these days, not only in popular music but also in the culture at large” -Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal describes the music of the Carmelite Sisters as “sung with unalloyed joy and a sweetness – rare traits these days, not only in popular music but also in the culture at large.”

Link to View EPK

Brad Michel – who has shepherded hundreds of acclaimed classical recordings into the world over the past 30-plus years – had this to say of Adoration from Carmel, “What makes a performance of music truly sound good is a cohesive spirit, which is deeply evident with this group, they have the willing ability to listen and work together…so that the sound of the music is like silk. Even if you’re just listening through a TV soundbar at home or on headphones traveling, the recording is compatible with Apple Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos so that you can get that immersive effect.”

Mother Gloria Torres points out that singing marks the passing of the days for the Carmelite Sisters, as well as a vision beyond daily existence. “From the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun, there are moments through the day for us when we sing. We know life is so much bigger than our own little world, and we want to unite our voice with that of eternity.”

www.CarmeliteSistersocd.com

SophiaMusicGroup.com

Media Contact:

Monica Fitzgibbons | 310.849.1686

monica@fitzpr.com

Source: De Montfort-Sophia Music Group

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October 14, 2022
Banking breakup between Ye, JPMorgan planned for weeks

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JPMorgan Chase and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West are ending their business relationship, but the breakup is not a result of the controversy over the hip-hop star’s recent antisemitic comments

NEW YORK — JPMorgan Chase and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West are ending their business relationship, but the breakup is not a result of the controversy over the hip-hop star’s recent antisemitic comments.

The letter ending West’s relationship with JPMorgan was tweeted Wednesday by conservative activist Candice Owens, who has been seen publicly at events with the rapper, who is now legally known as Ye.

While Owens claimed that JPMorgan did not disclose the reason for severing ties, the letter was sent to West on Sept. 20, according to a bank spokesperson. The decision was made after Ye publicly said he was going to cut off ties with the bank. JPMorgan is giving West 60 days from the date of the letter to find a new banking relationship.

West told Bloomberg News on Sept 12 that he planned on cutting much of its corporate ties, saying he “It’s time for me to go it alone.” In that interview, he also criticized JPMorgan for not giving Ye access to Jamie Dimon, the bank’s CEO and chairman.

While Ye is wealthy from his hip-hop career, he also controls a popular fashion and shoe line under Yeezy Brands. In that interview with Bloomberg, he said he also planned to cut relationships with his corporate suppliers as well.

Social media giants Twitter and Instagram have blocked Ye’s accounts from posting in recent days due to his antisemitic comments.

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October 13, 2022
Silk Sonic not submitting ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’ for Grammy consideration | CNN

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CNN
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The Grammy Awards ceremony in 2023 will be an evening without Silk Sonic among the nominees.

The duo has decided not to submit their album, “An Evening With Silk Sonic,” for consideration, according to a statement via Billboard.

Silk Sonic won four Grammy Awards earlier this year for the track “Leave the Door Open,” including record of the year and song of the year. They also performed at the ceremony.

In the statement, Bruno Mars, who is in the duo with Anderson .Paak, explained their decision not to submit their debut album, which was released in November 2021 and would have been eligible for the 2023 Grammys race.

“Andy and I, and everyone that worked on this project, won the moment the world responded to first single ‘Leave the Door Open.’ Everything else was just icing on the cake,” he said, according to the publication. “We thank the Grammys for allowing us to perform on their platform — not once, but twice — and awarding us at last year’s ceremony. We’d be crazy to ask for anything more.”

CNN has reached out to the duo’s representatives for further comment.

He added: “We truly put our all on this record, but Silk Sonic would like to gracefully, humbly and most importantly, sexually, bow out of submitting our album this year.”

Mars left the door open for the duo to “celebrate with everyone” and “partake in the party,” presumably making reference to the ceremony.

“Thank you for letting Silk Sonic Thrive,” he said.

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October 13, 2022