A few photos of Mostly Autumn’s September tour, from the shows at The Met in Bury, and from the final night of the tour at The Komedia in Bath three weeks later.
I managed to see the band five times in total on the tour, including back to back dates at The Spirit of 66 in Verviers in Belgium, and De Boerderij in Zoetermeer in The Netherlands, the first time I’ve actually travelled abroad to see the band. The band were on consistently great form throughout the tour.
There are a lot more photos from these two gigs in my photo gallery.
Sankara, the rock band formed from former members of The Reasoning and The Bluehorses are about to release the debut full-length album. They’re having an official launch on 17th November at The Buffalo Bar in Cardiff. I’ve reviewed the album, titled “Guided by Degrees” over on Trebuchet Magazine. As I say in the review, it’s a solid piece of work, which ought to establish Sankara as a band who mean business.
Yes, an Arkansas Republican election candidate really does believe in executing rebellious children. From Charlie Fuqua’s book “God’s Law”
The maintenance of civil order in society rests on the foundation of family discipline. Therefore, a child who disrespects his parents must be permanently removed from society in a way that gives an example to all other children of the importance of respect for parents. The death penalty for rebellioius children is not something to be taken lightly. The guidelines for administering the death penalty to rebellious children are given in Deut 21:18-21:
Well, I say “book”, it looks like more a self-published stream-of-consciousness screed than something from a reputable publisher. Quotes like that give one a glimpse into the dark heart of the Dominionist movement, that element of the US religious right that wants to turn their nation into a totalitarian theocracy based on strict Old Testament law. I do wonder if Fuqua’s desire to solve the “Muslim problem” by expelling everyone of that faith from the country is because he thinks Sharia law is dangerously liberal. It’s all frightening stuff, although it’s hard to tell from this side of the Atlantic how widespread such thinking is.
What’s disturbing is this extremist lunatic is running for election with Republican support. They also have guy in the same election who appears to be pro-slavery. Yes I am aware that the US has a quite different electroral and party system to Britain, where central parties can veto candidates whose views are so out of line with the party’s values that they become an electoral liabilty.
So, for anyone in the US reading this: just how widespread is Fuqua’s thinking?
Rock is frequently a fight between the lead singer and the lead guitarist for the spotlight. Not, of course, a literal fight, especially if it involves David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore and a plate of spaghetti. But it’s a dynamic of the lead guitar and the lead vocal as a foil for one another that’s a big part of what makes rock exciting for me.
It’s also why I find a lot of “indie” and “alternative” guitar music less interesting, because they tend to relegate the guitar to a supporting role, with the vocals as the only source of melody and everything else purely for rhythm. It’s possibly why it’s hard for a band to do a successful indie/rock crossover, because audiences want different things. Many indie and alternative fans loathe guitar solos with a passion. Strip out the solos to appease them without putting anything else in their place, and rock fans will find the results unsatisfying.
Of course, some metal has gone the other way and marginalised the vocals in favour of the guitars. Where are today’s Ronnie Dios and Rob Halfords?
Who saw that coming?
Another chapter of the Nightwish story has ended today. Nightwish and Anette Olzon have decided to part company, in mutual understanding, for the good of all parties involved.
In recent times it has become increasingly obvious that the direction and the needs of the band were in conflict, and this has led to a division from which we cannot recover.
Nightwish has no intention of cancelling any upcoming shows, and as a result we have decided to bring in a substitute vocalist starting in Seattle 1.10.2012. Her name is Floor Jansen from The Netherlands (ex-After Forever, ReVamp), and she has graciously stepped in to help us complete the Imaginaerum world tour.
We are all strongly committed to this journey, this vehicle of spirit, and we are sure that this will lead to a brighter future for everyone.
We forever remain excited about the adventures to come, and we are extremely proud of the two beautiful albums and the wonderful shows we shared together.
If you look at Anette’s blog, it’s not a happy picture that emerges. She had been forced to miss a gig due to a quite serious illness, and the show went ahead with a stand-in singer rather than cancelling the gig. The fall-out from that led to her parting company with the band just days later, although it’s difficult to escape the conclusion that trouble may have been brewing for a while, and this was just the final straw.
It retrospect, it’s probably a good thing Olivia Sparnenn didn’t get the gig when she auditioned, if that’s how Tuomas Holopainen treats his singers.
Update: It gets worse. According to Prog Magazine, they’d already made the decision to replace Anette Olzen with Floor Jansen some time ago, without Anette’s knowledge. Showbiz can be a nasty business.
The long-awaited new EP by Crimson Sky is finally on its way. This will be the first release from the lineup of the band that made their live debut in March this year, with Jane Setter on lead vocals and Moray McDonald on keyboards.
As posted by Martin Leamon on Facebook earlier today
Our new EP is called Dawn and it will be uploaded to our distributor for iTunes, emusic, etc, on Monday, as soon as I have a date for the “digital” release I will post it here.
The CD version will be sent for duplication next week as well.
We might have to wait for a couple of weeks for these to be ready.The track listing is as follows;
1. Crimson Sky
2. The Sea (2012 Version)
3. The Park
4. After The Rain (2012 Version)Tracks 1 and 3 are new songs and 2 and 4 are totally new and reworked versions of our old songs recorded by the current CS line up.
The recording was done at Outhouse Studios earlier this year and was produced by Ben Humphreys and James Billinge, and mixed by John Mitchell.
Artwork by Sara Fincham-Majumdar
Crimson Sky Logo by Lesley Lee
Photography by Neil PalfreymanA big thank you to all our fans and friends, for sticking with us and being so patience
There will be an official launch gig for the EP on Sunday 4th November 2012 at South Street Arts Centre, Reading. Details for both the gig and ordering the EP will be on www.crimsonsky.me.uk/.
A trailer for Karnataka’s new live DVD, filmed at The Met Theatre in Bury earlier this year. It’s available now from www.karnataka.org.uk. The band are currently embarking on an extensive tour throughout the UK. They’re well worth seeing live.
Mashable have found a bug in Facebook that means you can create wall posts that can’t be deleted.
You can reproduce this by posting something, quite possibly something rude and offensive, on a friends wall, then defriending and blocking them. Blocking them means neither of you can see each other’s posts and walls, and neither of you can see the post. But it remains visible to anyone else who can see the former friends’s wall. Because neither of you can see it, neither of you can delete it either.
Is this a bug?
I would say that it is, and would log it as a defect were I working as a tester for Facebook. Techically it’s a missed requirement rather than simple coding error, but the potential unexpected consequence could be quite serious. There’s quite a lot of potential for malicious misuse of this.
Stories like this are the reason why, despite being a Christian, I have absolutely no time for the so-called “Pro-Life” movement. Strong moral principles are a fine thing, but when they end up causing this level of life-destroying suffering, the only word I can come up with is “Evil”. Seriously, just go and read it.
To my eyes there is something profoundly wrong with the idea that it’s acceptable to sacrifice the well-being of completely blameless individuals for the sake of some nebulously-defined “greater good”. And no amount of bogus ‘slippery slope’ arguments will change that. It’s the same logic that justifies executing an innocent man on the grounds that it still serves as a deterrent to crime, something I’ve actually heard rightwing types advocate.
There is a dark sociopathy about this form of Conservatism.