1999.11.08 - MTV - Axl Rose: A conversation with Kurt Loder
by Blackstar on Thu Aug 09, 2018 5:51 am
It's been eight years since Guns N' Roses released an album, and that drought may be about to end.
Singer Axl Rose's new edition of GN'R, heavy in the industrial-crunch department, has a cut on the soundtrack of the new Arnold Schwarzenegger movie "End Of Days" and will be releasing a whole new album called "Chinese Democracy" sometime early in the next century, while the old Guns lineup, with guitarist Slash churning out the classic riffs, now exists only as a subject of lawsuits, apparently.
Axl Rose spoke with MTV News' Kurt Loder by phone from Los Angeles on Monday, November 8, and he had quite a bit of light to shed on all things Guns N' Roses...
The interview:
Loder: What have you been doing for the last six and a half years, since the last tour ended?
Rose: Trying to figure out how to make a record.
Loder: Ah, you already knew how to do that, right?
Rose: I originally wanted to make a traditional record or try to get back to an "Appetite [For Destruction]" thing or something, because that would have been a lot easier for me to do. I was involved in a lot of lawsuits for Guns N' Roses and in my own personal life, so I didn't have a lot of time to try and develop a new style or re-invent myself, so I was hoping to write a traditional thing, but I was not really allowed to do that.
Loder: What prevented you from doing, like, a traditional rock record?
Rose: Slash.
Loder: [Laughs] But you could have found another guitar player or something, right?
Rose: Well, not really.... Not to make a true Guns record. It's kind of like, I don't know, if you know somebody has a relationship, and there's difficulties in that, and Mr. or Mrs. Right doesn't kind of just stumble into their path, or they don't stumble across that person, they can't really get on with things. Somebody didn't come into my radar that would have really replaced Slash in a proper way.
Loder: Yeah.
Rose: And it really wasn't something we were trying to do. We were trying to make things work with Slash for a very, very long time... about three and a half years.
Loder: Wow. Jeez. That's a shame, because it seemed like such a tight unit. This live album seems like a farewell to that era.
Rose: It is exactly that. It's a farewell to that.... It was something we wanted to give to the public in a way of saying farewell. It was a very difficult thing to do, as listening to it and the people involved... [it] wasn't the most emotionally pleasant thing to do.
Loder: Is it fair to say that we may never be hearing this stuff ever again? This old material?
Rose: No, no, that's not true at all. In fact, actually, I have re-recorded "Appetite" and--
Loder: You re-recorded "Appetite For Destruction?"
Rose: Yes, I have.
Loder: The whole album?
Rose: Yes.
Loder: Whoa.
Rose: Well, with the exception of two songs, because we replaced those with "You Could Be Mine," and "Patience," and why do that? Well, we had to rehearse them anyway to be able to perform them live again, and there were a lot of recording techniques and certain subtle styles and drum fills and things like that that are kind of '80s signatures that subtly could use a little sprucing up... a little less reverb and a little less double bass and things like that.
Loder: Who are the musicians who have re-recorded "Appetite?"
Rose: Josh Freese on drums, Tommy Stinson on bass, Paul Tobias on guitar -- you guys know him as Paul Huge, that's how it's been written everywhere. It's Paul Tobias on guitar, and Robin Finck was on lead guitar, but that... that will stay on some of it. Robin's guitar will stay on some, but not all. I don't know what I'm going to do with it, exactly, when I would be putting that out. But you know, it has a lot of energy. Learning the old Guns songs and getting them up, you know, putting them on tape, really forced everybody to get them up to the quality that they needed to be at. Once the energy was figured out by the new guys, how much energy was needed to get the songs right, then it really helped in the writing and recording process of the new record.
Loder: At any time, were you thinking of keeping Duff [McKagan] or Matt Sorum or anybody on board too? Or was that all over from the beginning?
Rose: That was their choice to leave. Everybody that's gone did it by choice. Matt was fired, but Matt came in attempting to get fired and told many people so that night. So it's kind of like everybody left by choice. They really didn't think I was going to figure out a way to make a record, [and they] didn't want to help really make a record. Everybody kind of wanted what they wanted individually rather than what's in the best interest of the whole.
Loder: This "End of Days" track, "Oh My God," is real, real different. Have you been listening to [or] working with samples and stuff a lot? Has your whole musical approach changed?
Rose: No, not a lot, no. Basically, [I'm] listening to everything that's out there as far as music goes. That was a big difference between myself and Slash and Duff, is that I didn't hate everything new that came out. I really liked the Seattle movement. I like White Zombie. I like Nine Inch Nails, and I like hip-hop. I don't hate everything. I don't think everybody should be worshiping me 'cause I was around before them.
So once it was really understood by me that I'm really not going to be able to make the right old-style Guns N' Roses record, and if I try to take into consideration what Guns did on "Appetite," which was to kind of be a melting pot of a lot things that were going on, plus use past influences, I could make the right record if I used my influences from what I've been listening to that everybody else is listening to out there. So in that sense, I think it is like old Guns N' Roses as far as, like, the spirit and the attempt to throw all kinds of different styles together. If you get to the second guitar solo in "Oh My God," Paul's doing a very Izzy Stradlin-Aerosmith-type riff in the middle of the song, which is a completely different thing than everything else that's going on in the music, but yet it blends. There's a disco drum beat in the post-chorus, in the heaviest section of the song. We blended a lot of things.
Loder: How much stuff have you got for this new album? You've been working on this for a long time. Is there just tons of material?
Rose: We've been working on, I don't know, 70 songs.
Loder: Oh!
Rose: The record will be about, anywhere from 16 to 18 songs, but we recorded at least two albums' worth of material that is solidly recorded. But we are working on a lot more songs than that at the same time... in that way, what we're doing is exploring so, you know, you get a good idea, you save it, and then maybe you come back to it later, or maybe you get a good idea and you go, "That's really cool, but that's not what we're looking for. Okay, let's try something new." You know, basically taking the advance money for the record and actually spending it on the record.
Loder: [Laughs] Not always the case, obviously.
Rose: No, and I don't want to be in a situation again where I have to depend on other people and have [to] start all over. So we have material that we think is too advanced for old Guns fans to hear right now and they would completely hate, because we were exploring the use of computers [along with] everybody really playing their ass off and combining that, but trying to push the envelope a bit. It's like, "Hmm, I have to push the envelope a little too far. We'll wait on that." So we got a list of things.
Loder: Are you involved in computer music yourself? Are you playing guitar now?
Rose: A little of both, a little of both.
Loder: How's your guitar playing coming along now?
Rose: It's all right. I just wanted to be good enough to be able to contribute what was needed to this main album. It took working on the majority of these things and at least the couple albums' [worth] of material to figure out what should be on the first official Guns album. I wouldn't say it's like, you know, that we recorded a double album, or that we have all of our scraps to be the second one. There is a distinct difference in sound. The second leans probably a little more to aggressive electronica with full guitars, where the first one is definitely more guitar-based.
Loder: Do you find it difficult to capture with a new group of musicians that same sort of group feeling that the original Guns had?
Rose: No. No, not with the particular people involved. To be honest, it was a long time for me since Guns N' Roses as the old lineup had been fun, and the new guys have been a breath of fresh air. People are really excited about what we got. They're really proud of it, and it was, again, it was just time. I'm not trying to put the other guys down. It's like, I think people really wanted to do different things other than try to figure out the right record here for Guns N' Roses. But at the same time, Guns N' Roses was a big thing. How do you walk away from that? It's a very complicated thing, I think, for everybody involved.
Loder: I gather that on the record there's going to be a piano version of a Black Sabbath song? How did that work out?
Rose: Oh, that's on the live [album]. I just like the piano song ["It's Alright"] and the words, and when you play it for people, they had no idea it was a Black Sabbath song.
Loder: [Laughs]
Rose: So it was just kind of fun, and then it worked out as a intro to "November Rain" live, and it just so happened that [it] came out well on tape, so we were able to use it. Del James worked for a couple of years off and on going though every single show we did on DAT tape from the "Use Your Illusion" tour and then every available tape, and finding tapes, and finding people that have recorded things, so he could have in his mind what was recorded best from the entire time Guns N' Roses was together. There were a lot of difficulties where things weren't... when they were recorded, when they were fully recorded to 24, 48 tracks, it wasn't recorded that well at times, and so it took a long time to find what tracks were available to use, because we had never officially recorded a show to make a live album.
Loder: When you listen to that stuff back now, do you think, "Wow, that was a great band, that was a great time," or are your feelings clouded?
Rose: For me, when I hear certain things on the "Use Your Illusion" tour, I... on that record, it's... since I'm in it, I can hear a band dying. I can hear when Izzy was unconsciously over it. I can hear where the band was leaning away from what Guns N' Roses [had] originally been about.
People may have their favorite songs, and it may be on "Use Your Illusion," but most people do tend to lean towards "Appetite" as being the defining Guns N' Roses record, and I can hear how, in the sound, it was moving away from that there. There's just so much I was able to do in keeping that aspect together.
Loder: Are you thinking now about a stage show? Is it close enough to be thinking how you're gonna present this live, or is that still pretty much still in the future?
Rose: In ways. What we're doing is we're rehearsing with different guitar players, and we're still recording. I'm doing the vocals. I'm about three-quarters of the way through, and it's a very difficult process for me.
I write the vocals last, because I wanted to invent the music first and push the music to the level that I had to compete against it. That's kind of tough. It's like you got to go in against these new guys who kicked ass. You finally got the song musically where you wanted to, and then you have to figure out how to go in and kick its ass and be one person competing against this wall of sound.
Why I chose to do it that way is that, you know, I can sit and write poetry 'til hell freezes over, and getting attached to any particular set of words... I felt that I would write to those words in a dated fashion, and we really wouldn't get the best music. "Oh My God" is a perfect example. When we finally got "Oh My God" where it needed to be, then I got the right words to it. With "Appetite," I wrote a lot of the words first, but in, like, "Oh My God," I wrote the words second, but the music was written like "Appetite." We kept developing it until it we got it right. [With] "Appetite," everything had been worked on, and worked on, and worked on. That was not the case with "Use Your Illusion."
Loder: You got Dave Navarro to play on this. Have you always been a fan of his playing?
Rose: I've always been a fan of Dave Navarro, to the point that when we got signed, I had a Jane's Addiction demo tape [laughs] and was actually trying to convince the record company, "No, no, no, no, I suck. We suck. These guys rock!" And I was trying to get Tom Zutaut, at the time [at Geffen], to sign Jane's Addiction, and he was actually in negotiations to sign them at one point. I was just into Jane's Addiction.
At the time... when we first put out "Appetite," it didn't go over so well, and MTV and John Cannelli there are really what broke us. I think you guys aired "Welcome to the Jungle" three times... [dramatically] going on your fourth now!
Rose: That's really what finally got the public to find some interest in Guns N' Roses, and there was a lot less [interest] for Jane's Addiction. Where now, I think, we would consider Jane's Addiction one of the great rock and roll bands in the last however many years. They were a great band, they were a bit ahead of their time. I was a very big fan of them, and Dave.
Dave's a great guitar player. It's a different style. It's not like Guns N' Roses. It's not blues-based, and it's not all that Guns N' Roses is, and that was done on purpose. There will be elements of blues-based things on the new Guns record. It's a very diverse record. There's a lot of hip-hop beats, there's straight-ahead rock. But if someone says, "Hip-hop beats," what do you mean by that? Well, Radiohead uses beats that are similar to hip-hop beats. There's actual, "official" hip-hop beats and then there's "Radiohead-style" hip-hop beats, there's rock beats. Like I say, "Oh My God" has a disco beat in it. I read a review where somebody caught that. That made me laugh.
Loder: What's been knocking you out yourself lately? Is there anything today that you think is better than Jane's Addiction was back in the day?
Rose: I don't know about, like, as far as aggressive goes, but I really like the new Fiona Apple.
Loder: Really?
Rose: You know, I liked the last record, I like the new one. Who do I listen to that's aggressive? I think that the "End Of Days" soundtrack is a lot of fun. Limp Bizkit is fun. The White Zombie stuff is fun.
Loder: Do you think that stuff can be done in that old sort of [GN'R] style, that blues-based style, or do you think that's just over?
Rose: No, no, I don't think any style of music's over. I mean, look at [Lou Bega's] "Mambo #5."
Loder: True.
Rose: You could find ways to blend all kind of things. It really just takes the right song. I don't personally believe that was the interest of Guns or Slash, I don't believe the right song was the interest. I mean, what people don't know is, the [Slash's] Snakepit album, that is the Guns N' Roses album. I just wouldn't do it.
Rose: Oh, yeah! Duff walked out on it, and I walked out on it, because I wasn't allowed to be any part of it. It's like, "No, you do this, that's how it is." And I didn't believe in it. I thought that there were riffs and parts and some ideas, I thought, that needed to be developed. I had no problem working on it, or working with it, but you know, as is, I think I'm with the public on that one.
Loder: Yeah, apparently so. Obviously, you've been working on all this music for the last six years. What else have you been doing? Do you go out a lot? Do you see shows?
Rose: You know I... I pretty much stay to myself, and that's about it.
Loder: Just kind of hang around the house?
Rose: [Laughs] I just, you know, I pretty much work on this record and, and that's about it. It takes a lot of time. I'm not a computer-savvy or technical type of person, yet I'm involved with it everyday, so it takes me a while.
Loder: Do you have a computer setup at home? Are you online?
Rose: Yeah, I have a full studio, and that causes me great pain and pleasure.
Loder: [Laughs] What are the painful parts, when it crashes?
Rose: Yeah. Just, you know, basically my inadequacy with modern machinery.
Loder: You're going to call this album "Chinese Democracy." What is the meaning of that, since there is no Chinese democracy, of course?
Rose: Well, there's a lot of Chinese democracy movements, and it's something that there's a lot of talk about, and it's something that will be nice to see. It could also just be like an ironic statement. I don't know, I just like the sound of it.
Loder: When do you think we will actually see this album? Is it possible to say early next year?
Rose: We're hoping. Yes, definitely, everything seems to be going well. Robin's departure was abrupt, sudden, you know, not expected...
Loder: He just wanted to get back to Nine Inch Nails, right?
Rose: [continuing] ... but at the same time, it's turned out to be a good thing. We've been able to push some of the guitar parts a step farther, that had he been here, it's not something that would have been considered, and I wouldn't have been rude enough to attempt to do that. Robin did a great job, but we've been able to up the ante a little bit. Dave came in and did something great on "Oh My God," and we've had a few other people come in, so that was a setback for a while, but then it's turned out to be a good thing.
Loder: People that hear "Oh My God," they might say that, "Gee, the new Guns is all this sound," but I think that what you're saying is that it's a bunch of different kinds of sounds.
Rose: It's a lot of different sounds. There's some other really heavy songs, there's a lot of aggressive songs, but they're all in different styles and different sounds. It is truly a melting pot.
I go back to listening to Queen -- you know, we're still hoping to have Brian May come in and do some tracks, and I got a fax today that he's coming in -- Queen had all kinds of different-style songs on their records, and that's something that I like. 'Cause I do listen to a lot of things, and I really don't like being pigeonholed to that degree, and it's something that Guns N' Roses seem to share [with Queen] a bit. With "Appetite," even though it seems to have the same sound, if you really go back, you can pull all the little parts from different influences. That's not really the case by the time we're on "Use Your Illusion." People are kind of set in their ways. ["Chinese Democracy"] is coming from all over the place.
Loder: Have you actually brought in any hip-hop guys to sort of, like, examine the roots of the rhythm now? Has Dr. Dre stopped by or anything?
Rose: No, we haven't done anything like that. It's been thought of, but it's kind of [like] we would really be wasting somebody else's time, as we're trying to figure out how to develop this ourselves. Maybe if it were to get closer to, say, mastering or mixing, maybe there could be something someone else could add to it.
Loder: Have you thought about maybe taking the boys out and playing on New Year's Eve or something? Are we gonna see you before...
Rose: Nah.
Loder: : No? None of that?
Rose: Nah!
Loder: Why not?
Rose: Na-nah-na-nah!
Loder: [Laughs] It could be fun.
Rose: [Laughs]
Loder: Where are you going to be on New Year's Eve?
Rose: Have no idea.
Loder: So we'll see you some time this new year, right? You will be around?
Rose: Yeah, we'll be around. I'm not working on all this to keep it buried. We plan on getting out there and doing it right. The new guys are a lot of fun, and like I say, we will be continuing to look for and or decide who the official new guitar player will be, but it's not that important to the band at this time, as that person's not really needed. There's not a whole lot for them to do at this time in regards to recording, as we've recorded [a] majority of material.
Loder: But you continue to audition, right?
Rose: Yes, we do. Yes, we do, and there's some people who have done a really great job. It's just not something we're prepared to make a complete decision on at this time.
Loder: Okay, well, we're dying to hear this stuff. I hope you get it out sometime real soon.
Rose: All right, man. Later.
Re: 1999.11.08 - MTV - Axl Rose: A conversation with Kurt Loder
by Soulmonster on Tue Mar 10, 2020 3:40 pm
The video doesn't correspond to the transcript. I assume the transcript is from a longer video that has now gone missing?
by Blackstar on Tue Mar 10, 2020 3:47 pm
@Soulmonster wrote: The video doesn't correspond to the transcript. I assume the transcript is from a longer video that has now gone missing?
Yes, this video is a recap of the interview.
I think the full interview used to be on youtube, but I can't find it now.
Ah, great thing we got the transcript then, because this is pure gold.
Yeah, thankfully MTV had published the transcript besides the video, so at least we've got that.
by Soulmonster on Sat Mar 14, 2020 7:18 am
Duff would later comment on this interview:
I want to say something against that MTV interview. He said the he likes the Seattle sound, but Slash and me hated the new music that comes out. It's stupid, but let me defend myself. I'm the one who brought ICE-T or Killing Joke etc. in the band and listened to other kind of music. I'm not a country boy from Indiana. I'm from Seattle!
Burrn! Magazine, December 1999; translated from Japanese
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Government is set to make an announcement on South Africa’s lockdown restrictions this week, as the country continues to battle with a second wave of Covid-19 cases.
South Africa moved to an adjusted level 3 lockdown on 28 December, including further restrictions on the sale of alcohol, a stricter curfew and limits on gatherings.
President Cyril Ramaphosa in his announcement at the end of December said that these level 3 restrictions will remain in place until 15 January (Friday) at which time they will be reviewed based on the Covid-19 situation in the country.
In an interview this weekend, Ramaphosa said that the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) met last week to discuss the pandemic, with further provincial meetings held on Sunday.
The president said that government was concerned about the continuing spike in infections.
"Cabinet will look at some of the recommendations coming from our natjoints and health department. It is then that we will be able to make an announcement to the nation," he said.
In the initial stages of the virus, we locked down the country to prepare our health systems. Our health system is robust and it did withstand the infections then. But now this is now the second wave and we have a different variant."
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is also likely to extend the country’s state of disaster by a further month as it is set to end this week.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, health experts said that another spike in Covid-19 cases could be reduced if Gauteng is moved to lockdown level 4 for a period of 21 days.
They cited concerns around an anticipated influx of holidaymakers heading back home at the end of the festive season, which could lead to a spike in cases in the country over the next three to six weeks.
The University of Kwa-Zulu Natal’s Professor Mosa Moshabela said the effects of holiday travel were already being felt in Limpopo and Mpumalanga due to cross-border travel.
He said both the western Cape and KZN were approaching their peaks already, but Gauteng was still lagging behind.
"The most important thing right now is to stop new infections. Every new infection we prevent is less pressure on our limited resources – hospital beds, oxygen and our healthcare workers. If Gauteng has to move to level 4 for 21 days to prevent new infections, they should do it. We need everything at our disposal to stop new infections."
"Gauteng is so densely populated it’s already a superspreader event by design. I worry that cases in Gauteng are going to rise much higher than the peaks in KZN and the Western Cape, as we’ve already seen in the first surge.," he said.
Fullview has reported that some government officials are pushing for a level 4 lockdown at a national level, while other officials have called for the relaxation of some restrictions.
Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Police Minister Bheki Cele have recommended the country move to virus alert level 4 for 30 days, two people familiar with the matter said. They asked not to be identified as no decision has been taken.
Other officials concerned about the impact harsher restrictions might have on the economy called for the relaxation of measures including the ban on alcohol sales and the closing of the nation’s beaches, the people said.
On Sunday South Africa reported 17,421 new cases, taking the total reported to 1,231,597. Deaths have reached 33,163 (a daily increase of 339), while recoveries have climbed to 966,368, leaving the country with a balance of 232,066 active cases.
More in this category: « COVID-19 Daily Update: SA's coronavirus cases rise to 1 231 597,with total deaths of 33 163. Livestream: State Capture Inquiry resumes to hear mining-related evidence. »


Freedman - Penalty proved decisive
Dougie Freedman says he has no complaints about the penalty decision that ultimately proved decisive in the weekend’s game at Ipswich.
After a scramble in the area Andrew Lonergan upended David McGoldrick who duly slammed home the resulting spot kick.
All that after an encouraging opening 45 minutes in which Bolton’s attacking play impressed, with Lukas Jutkiewicz the focal point of the frontline.
“Once again we’re on the end of a very disappointing result,” the manager said after the game.
“Not for the first time we felt we were by far the better side in the opening 45 minutes. We competed very well and created four or five opportunities and it was a shame we didn’t take any of those.
“At the start of the second half a rush of blood and a rash decision was the difference between the two teams. Aside from that, there wasn’t a lot in it.
“We have no complaints about the penalty decision. That small moment won the game for Ipswich.
“Unfortunately, that’s the way things have been going for us recently.
“A disappointing thing from our point of view was the fact that we didn’t really create that much in the final 20 minutes when we were chasing the game.
“It’s obviously a concern that we’re not winning games of football at this moment in time, but we’ve got a group of good players here.
“We can’t let our heads go down. We have to make sure we keep the performance and commitment levels up.
“We have a number of big games at home coming up this month and we have to be right at it from the off.”


An evening of comedy & laughter
Slideshow tribute to ‘comedian’s comedian’ https://www.jimmycricket.co.uk/wp-content/themes/blade/images/empty/thumbnail.jpg 150 150 mhamer mhamer https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e3e9e71d9bef1ab16642587b224d590b?s=96&d=mm&r=g October 20, 2013 October 20, 2013
Slideshow tribute to ‘comedian’s comedian’
Johnnie Casson enjoys his own memories of Norman Collier. Pictures courtesy of OlsenParker photography
Jimmy Cricket was among several top entertainers who paid their last respects to legendary comedian Norman Collier in a special tribute show.
The event, called An evening of Comedy and Laughter, took place at the New Theatre in Hull in September.
It included Northern Irish funnyman Jimmy plus fellow stars Tom O’ Connor, Syd Little (of Little and Large), ventriloquist Roger De Courcey (plus Nookie Bear), Johnnie Casson and Robin Grumbleweed.
Norman, who died in March this year aged 87, was born and bred in Hull and for most of his life lived in the nearby town of Brough.
He achieved popularity following television appearances in the 1970s and was best known for his ‘faulty microphone’ routine and his chicken impressions.
Norman was highly regarded by many fellow comics, including Frank Carson and Les Dawson, and was described by Jimmy Tarbuck as ‘the comedian’s comedian’.
Read more about Norman here.
The show was hosted by Norman’s son-in-law, John Ainsley, who was also the main organiser of the event.
Jimmy pays tribute
Jimmy Cricket said: “Suffice to say the theatre was packed to the rafters and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
“A sizeable amount of money was raised which will be given to Norman’s widow, Lucy.”
Enjoy some nostalgia and watch Jimmy and Norman performing a chicken sketch together.
All pictures in the slideshow below are courtesy of OlsenParker photography which is based in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire.
https://www.jimmycricket.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/norman_collier1.mp4
Tribute to the late, great Norman Collier https://www.jimmycricket.co.uk/wp-content/themes/blade/images/empty/thumbnail.jpg 150 150 mhamer mhamer https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e3e9e71d9bef1ab16642587b224d590b?s=96&d=mm&r=g September 15, 2013 September 15, 2013
Tribute to the late, great Norman Collier
Jimmy Cricket is among a host of comedy greats paying tribute to the legendary Norman Collier on Monday night (16 September).
The show, An Evening of Comedy & Laughter to celebrate the life of Norman Collier, takes place at the New Theatre, Kingston Square, in Hull.
The comedian, who died in March this year aged 87, was born and bred in Hull and for most of his life lived in the nearby town of Brough.
He achieved popularity following television appearances in the 1970s. He was best known for his ‘faulty microphone’ routine and for his chicken impressions. Read more about him here.
This memorial event has been put together by John Ainslie, Norman’s son-in-law, and the line-up of entertainers taking part in the show includes comedians Tom O’Connor and Johnnie Casson, comic duo Little and Large, and ventriloquist Roger De Courcey with Nookie Bear.
Jimmy said: “Such a line-up is a really fitting tribute to Norman Collier, who was one of the nation’s finest comedians and who especially had a great talent for visual comedy.”


HomeWalker, Alice
Biography of Alice Walker
Alice Walker was born on February 9, 1944, in Putnam County, Georgia. She is an accomplished American poet, novelist, and activist. Walker was the eighth and youngest child of Minnie Tallulah Grant Walker and Willie Lee Walker. Her father was a poor sharecropper who once remarked that Alice was "wonderful at math but a terrible farmer." In the summer of 1952, Walker was blinded in her right eye by a BB gun pellet while playing with her brother. Alice grew up in an environment rife with racism and poverty, which, along with her passion for gender issues, remains a large part of her narratives.
To help send her to college, Walker's mother worked eleven-hour days as a maid for a meager seventeen dollars per week. Walker flourished in an academic environment. After two years at Spelman College, she received a scholarship to Sarah Lawrence College in New York. She became one of a chosen few young black students to attend the prestigious school. Walker was involved with many civil-rights demonstrations, and in 1962, she was invited to the home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
After graduating in 1965, Walker became a social worker and teacher, while remaining heavily invested and involved in the Civil Rights Movement. As a writer in residence at Jackson State College and Tougaloo College, she taught poetry while working on her own poetry and fiction. She contributed to groundbreaking feminist Ms. magazine in the late '60s, writing a piece about the unappreciated work of African-American author Zora Neale Hurston. Her first novel, The Third Life of Grange Copeland, was published in 1970. Meridian, Walker's second novel, was published six years later.
Walker wrote the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple (1982), for which she won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The novel was adapted into an acclaimed film directed by Steven Spielberg in 1985, starring Whoopi Goldberg as protagonist Celie Harris. The novel and film trace Celie's life in the early-20th-century American south, and her struggles with poverty, racism, sexism, and violence, along with the female friendship that empowers her.
Walker's work can be found in many popular anthologies of American fiction and poetry. She continues to be a prominent social and political activist.
Study Guides on Works by Alice Walker
Alice Walker: Poetry Alice Walker
Alice Walker is an African-American writer and active political advocate, known for her good-great works in fiction, non-fiction and poetry itself. She was born in 1944 in a small rural town in central Georgia, where her parents used to farmed the...
The Color Purple Alice Walker
In her preface to the Tenth Anniversary Edition of The Color Purple, Walker explains: “This book is the book in which I was able to express a new spiritual awareness, a rebirth into strong feelings of Oneness I realized I had experienced and taken...
Everyday Use Alice Walker
Everyday Use was first published in 1973 as part of the short story collection In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. These stories span multi-generational periods and interconnect Black women from the American South, New York City and...
The Flowers Alice Walker
"The Flowers" is a short story written by Alice Walker, published in 1973 as part of the collection In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. It is only two pages long—565 words total. "The Flowers" describes the carefree life of Myop, a...
In Love & Trouble: Stories of Black Women Alice Walker
In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women is a collection of short stories written by the famous author Alice Walker. Alice Walker is an American writer, poet, and activist. She has written many books about black people and their sufferings. She...
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose Alice Walker
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens is Alice Walker's 1983 collection of 36 essays composed from 1966 and 1982. At the start of the collection, Walker coins the term "womanist", which refers to a black feminist or other feminist of color. The text...
Meridian Alice Walker
Alice Walker set to work on a new novel shortly after filing for divorce from her husband in 1976. In the three years since the publication of her short story collection In Love and Trouble, Walker had become a contributing editor at Ms. Magazine,...
The Temple of My Familiar Alice Walker
The Temple of My Familiar is a novel written by Alice Walker. It was published in 1989. The novel intertwines multiple narratives that are all intertwined with each other in the struggle to find moral truth. The narrator guides the reader through...


Encouraging the next generation of designers...
Tim Weston, Head of Design and Technology at Oakham School, has teamed up with black+blum to launch a NEW national product design competition for children aged 11–14. As well as having the chance to win an iPad, pupils who take part will also be able to develop their design-thinking skills – which are hugely in demand in tomorrow’s job market!
"We want to encourage and inspire the next generation of British product designers and engineers,” says Tim, who together with Dan Black, Co-Founder & Lead Designer at black+blum, created the competition. “Dan and I believe passionately in giving children the opportunity to think about product design and to foster design-thinking from an early age and we hope this competition will go some way to achieving this.”
The competition challenges children aged 11–14 to make food and drink ‘on-the-go’ products for their peers – to come up with solutions for how black+blum could expand its adult lunch range into the teen market. It encourages pupils to develop their consumer research skills, test their creativity and to create a mood board of their unique product idea. The competition also provides an opportunity for teenagers to really think about healthy eating and ways to reduce food and packaging waste – two things that are central to black+blum’s philosophy.
Oakham School’s renowned Design Technology Department regularly holds competitions for its pupils, to encourage and inspire pupils to design products. Having already successfully run a similar competition earlier this year for pupils at Oakham, Tim and Dan honed the idea further, to launch it onto a national stage and to enable as many pupils aged 11–14 to take part.
The competition ends on 30 April 2021 and there is a first prize of an iPad and runner up prizes of black+blum lunch boxes and water bottles. The design brief can be found here – which we hope you will share widely – so that many pupils across the country can benefit from taking part.


Q&A: Joan Rivers Reveals How She's Stayed in Show Business
By Star Staff, February 28, 2014
Credit: Photo by: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
Awards season is a busy time for Fashion Police host Joan Rivers, and she’ll have a lot of style judging to do after the Oscars this Sunday! Of course, the week leading up to the Academy Awards still means time to party, even for the busy 80-year-old, and on Wednesday, she attended Global Green USA’s 11th Annual Pre-Oscar Party.
Star was on the red carpet and caught up with Joan about the big show and how she’s managed to stay relevant in show business after so many years. Of course, the funny lady couldn’t get through our entire interview without cracking a few jokes, too!
How do you stay environmentally friendly?
How can you not if you have any kind of a conscious? You reuse your towels a little bit more, you unplug your TVs when you’re not watching them, you reuse plastic bags. I mean, just use your head! Plastic surgery is very good, too.
How have you managed to stay in show business for so long?
I have made sure to reinvent myself and my career every four years, at least. That’s the trick and that’s the secret. You have to in this business! In our business, you just always have to keep thinking ahead. It’s a very temperamental business.
Who do you get most excited to see on the Oscars red carpet?
I like to see the great ones. Meryl Streep works it. Tom Hanks after the way he was in Captain Phillips, in that last scene. The ones that really are actors. I really get crazy about the actors. I’m also really looking forward to seeing Shirley Temple. I should come early!
What is your favorite red carpet moment to date?
Julia Roberts came up to me and she’s got great humor. She came up to me on the red carpet about eight years ago and said, “Take a look and say it to my face!” And you just love her for that. Say it to my face!


Looper column: ‘AKA Jane Roe’: The Norma McCorvey story
FX Networks (a Walt Disney Company) is about to release the documentary “AKA Jane Roe,” the story of Norma McCorvey, the woman whose challenge of Texas law led to the 1973 U.S. Court ruling that struck down many state and federal abortion laws.
Ms. McCorvey was 21, unmarried and pregnant for the third time when she was referred to lawyers Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, who were looking for a way to challenge and overturn Texas’s abortion laws. That was in 1969. Long before the case reached the Supreme Court, McCorvey’s baby had been born and given up for adoption.
In the mid-1990s, McCorvey made a very public conversion to Christianity, was baptized in a nationally televised event, left her job at an abortion clinic and became a very public anti-abortion advocate. She published a book in 1998, recounting her conversion and continued protesting abortion for more than two decades.
A few months before her death, however, she made another highly publicized, filmed for television “deathbed confession,” as she called it, saying that her anti-abortion advocacy was all an act. She said she was paid handsomely (FX puts is around $500,000) to say the things she had said and claimed it made no difference to her whether “a young woman wants to have an abortion.”
Ms. McCorvey went on to say proudly that she was “a good actress,” then added, “Of course, I am not acting now.” But who knows? She had played the actress so frequently in her life, it is possible she could no longer tell whether she was acting or not.
Before being referred to the lawyers who took her case to the Supreme Court, McCorvey tried to get a legal abortion by claiming she had been gang-raped by a group of black men. The investigation, however, was dropped for lack of evidence, and McCorvey later admitted it was all an act.
It would be easy to attack Ms. McCorvey’s character, but that would be a mistake. She was a person, created and loved by God, who had been subjected to abuse and manipulation throughout her life. Her mother was an alcoholic, reputed to be violent. Her father abandoned the family. She was made a ward of the state at age 11 and was repeatedly institutionalized.
McCorvey was misused again and again. Her mother tricked her into giving up her daughter for adoption. Her attorneys took her case because they saw her as a tool for overturning abortion laws. The evangelical Christians she met in the mid-90s saw her as a tool for reversing Roe v. Wade. Did the executives at Disney see her as a tool for bolstering ratings?
Mercenary TV executives and lawyers are so common as to be cliché. It is the religious people in this story who sadden and repulse me. Somehow, they thought it was morally acceptable to manipulate a woman who had been manipulated her entire life. They thought they could somehow exploit a human being in the name of Jesus.
What they did was outrageous. It was sinful. The Rev. Rob Schenck, who has himself made a very public about-face on abortion, was one of those involved. He now says: “I knew what we were doing … and I wondered: ‘Is she playing us?’ What I didn’t have the guts to say was: ‘Because I know … we’re playing her.’”
I oppose abortion and expect that future Americans (including the irreligious) will too. They will look on this period in our history with bewilderment and think it barbaric: the bad old days of racial hatred, wars, and millions upon millions of elective abortions.
Abortion stains our history. Nevertheless, if it took but a single lie or act of exploitation to end abortion, it would be wrong to do so. Jesus himself would not do it. Abortion will never be legislated out of existence, though legislation is needed. It will never be shamed out of existence - that has already been tried. It will only be loved out of existence and that is the work of the church.
I wonder: What would Norman McCorvey’s life have been like had she been loved at age 11 rather than institutionalized? No one knows but, perhaps, things would have been different.


Dug In 1844
New York Boasts Oldest Subway Ever
It took New York history buff Bob Diamond eight months of research and some crawling around in dark spooky places, but in 1980, after hearing about its possible existence on a radio show, he found a sealed-up railway tunnel under Brooklyn.
Since then, the half-mile-long tunnel with its standard gauge railroad tracks, has gone on the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest subway tunnel in the world, even though it was never built for subway use.
Diamond promoted the project and got some backing. The Brooklyn Historic Railway Association was formed in 1982 to preserve, publicize and provide public access to the historic tunnel. In 1989 the tunnel was registered as a protected historic site by the National Register of Historic Places.
Known as the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel, it was built in 1844 to allow the Long Island Railroad trains operating between Boston and New York to safely enter the city without killing people and animals in the street. Or so the story is told.
Diamond gave up his studies as an engineering student to devote his life to restoring and maintaining the tunnel. But in recent years he has been battling with the city over efforts to build a proper entrance, to continue offering public tours and even entering the tunnel. It has been a legal fight apparently involving safety issues since the site is located directly below one of the busiest hubs of the city.
The trains followed the tunnel under the riverfront area that is now Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill, now among the more densely populated parts of the city. The concept of driving a steam engine and train through an underground tunnel was so new to the railroads in 1944 it was said a man riding a horse always preceded the train through the dark tunnel.
The tunnel was sealed in 1861 after Brooklyn banned steam locomotives within city limits. Sealed with it, Diamond believes, was an historic circa-1836 “Hicksville” steam locomotive that was retired from service in 1848 and parked in an adjoining tunnel that Diamond was never able to enter. A scan by a magnetometer in 2011 revealed a massive metallic object the size of a steam engine located where Diamond believes it was buried. Excavation of the site has been denied by the city.
To get to the tunnel, Diamond persuaded the local gas company to open a manhole at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Court Street. Equipped with an oxygen tank, he found his way through a two-foot gap under the street and crawled about 50 feet where he reached a concrete wall, plugged with bricks and stones. He used a crowbar to open a way through and entered a giant chamber. Diamond and his friends build a staircase leading down into the tunnel from there to accommodate visitors.
Between 1982 and 2010, before the city banned access to the tunnel, Diamond offered public tours. It is said that thousands of people, including local police and fire fighters, followed him into the abyss. To get there, everyone entered the manhole, climbed down a ladder, then crawled through the shaft, then through a tiny doorway that opened to the staircase.
Diamond has always sought to restore a public entrance to the tunnel, restore the passageway and make it part of a new trolley line, and build a museum around the tunnel’s history. Digging up the historic locomotive would be part of the museum.
It appears that modern political issues, fear of litigation and other matters are preventing Diamond’s dream from becoming reality.


Photo: Win McNamee/Getty ImagesPhoto: Win McNamee/Getty Images
“They Pray to the Money”; House Republicans Decry Speaker John Boehner’s Lobbyist-Friendly Congress
Two House Republicans who joined the attempted ouster of Speaker John Boehner last week say their main issue is how much he caters to moneyed interests.
Last week’s surprise bid by a group of House Republicans to oust Speaker John Boehner wasn’t about Boehner’s ideology, two members of the would-be rebellion said in a radio interview Thursday. It was about how Boehner uses congressional power to raise money over the interests of individual legislators.
“He’s not a policy leader. He’s a political leader. He knows how to raise money,” Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., told North Carolina radio host Tyler Cralle. “We have allowed the money to control policy in Washington, D.C.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., another lawmaker who tried to oust Boehner, said the media is wrong to portray the fight as the Tea Party versus the establishment, or some other ideological battle.
“The lobbyists in Washington, D.C. are not ideologues. They have no ideology,” Massie said with a laugh. Cralle suggested that lobbyists do believe in making money. “Well, that’s their god, too, that’s what they pray to, the money,” Massie said.
The fundamental issue, Massie continued, is about who has the power in Congress. Massie argued that the Founding Fathers never intended for the American people to be “represented by the moneyed class in Washington, D.C.”
Listen to Massie and Jones explain their opposition to Boehner on the Tyler Cralle show below:
When Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., offered a controversial resolution on July 28 that condemned Speaker Boehner for seeking to “consolidate power and centralize decisionmaking, bypassing the majority,” it came as a surprise, and many members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus were quick to ridicule it as a waste of time. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., a member of the caucus, called it the “dumbest idea I’ve seen here.”
The resolution did attract support from a handful of legislators, including Massie, Jones, and Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla.
Earlier this year, Massie alleged that GOP leaders had distributed a “do not give list” to lobbyists in order to choke off campaign funding to lawmakers perceived as disloyal to Speaker Boehner.
Massie, who voted against electing Boehner as speaker in January, has also upset party leaders with his push to end surveillance programs. Massie joined with fellow civil libertarian Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., to stand guard in the House of Representatives to ensure that provisions of the Patriot Act expired on June 1. They promised to object to any short-term extension of the program.
Jones is one of the few Republican lawmakers in office who has consistently voted in favor of greater campaign finance disclosure and stronger regulations for the financial industry, and the only House GOP member to vote this year to support publicly financed elections. Jones is known for his sharp criticism of foreign wars and the influence of money in politics.
Last year, GOP leaders backed a campaign by a Wall Street consultant named Taylor Griffin to run against Jones in the Republican primary. Though over $1 million in Super PAC and dark money campaign funds flooded the district in support of Griffin, Jones prevailed. Jones is expected to face another establishment-backed candidate next year.


Rush CEO Receives 2020 President’s Science and Technology Medal
Dr. K. Ranga Rama Krishnan honored for leading medical school and helping found medical centre
Home Rush Content Hub Rush CEO Receives 2020 President’s Science and Technology Medal
Research December 22, 2020
Dr. K. Ranga Rama Krishnan, CEO of Rush University System for Health, has been awarded the President's Science and Technology Award, Singapore’s highest honor for research scientists and engineers.
Presented by the president of Singapore, Halimah Yacob, the award recognizes and celebrates outstanding contributions to research and development in Singapore. Recognized for his central role in laying the foundations for the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre, Krishnan also was honored for his leadership during his tenure as dean of the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore from 2008 to 2015.
The award also highlights Krishnan’s work in strengthening academic medicine and translational and clinical research, as well as the promotion of technology transfer and entrepreneurship to enhance health and support economic development in Singapore.
The President’s Science and Technology Medal is awarded to outstanding individuals who have made distinguished, sustained and exceptional contributions and played a strategic role in the development of Singapore through the promotion and management of research and development. The prestige of the President’s award underpins Singapore’s efforts to raise the level of excellence in research and strengthen the growing community of scientific talent in Singapore.


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The talking point: Johnson v Johnson is much more than just a family affair
By Joe Ridge (@JoeRidge87)
As soon as Lee Johnson was appointed Oldham manager on March 18 fans and journalists alike were checking the fixture list to see if and when he would come up against his dad Gary, the Yeovil manager.
Well, that date arrives on Tuesday evening when Gary's Glovers travel to Boundary Park for their npower League One clash with Lee's Latics.
Yes, it's father v son, Johnson and Johnson, a headline-writer's dream - but there is much more to this fixture than the family connotations. It falls at a pivotal time of the season for both sides.
Promotion dream: Gary Johnson has Yeovil challenging at the top of League One
Oldham are in serious danger of relegation into the fourth tier. They are just two points clear of Scunthorpe, who occupy the final relegation place.
They do have a game in hand on the Iron, but they have a tougher run-in. Oldham's final two games of the season are away from home - at Shrewsbury and Leyton Orient - and next up at Boundary Park it is Crawley, who have lost just one game in 11, on Saturday.
The toughest game of the lot though, on paper at least, will be on Tuesday night.
Yeovil have been the surprise package in League One this year. The perennial strugglers sit fourth in the table and are just five points from Bournemouth in the second automatic promotion place with a game in hand.
With a trip to already-relegated Bury on the last day coming after they welcome mid-table Crewe to Huish Park next week, promotion is a real possibility for the Somerset club.
A draw won't suit either Johnson.
Scunthorpe will be hopeful of three points at Bury on Tuesday night and Yeovil's promotion rivals Sheffield United, Brentford and Swindon can all add three points to their tallies on the same night.
For all the quirks that this fixture throws up, at least one Johnson will have their season hanging on tenterhooks by the end of the night.
That is not to say that Yeovil expected a promotion challenge by any stretch of the imagination, but having set the pace all season long they will not want to fall at the final hurdle.
Relegation battle: Lee (kicking ball) is in his first managerial post
Gary's side will be favourites heading into the game. Yeovil have won their last three fixtures and possess the league's top scorer in Paddy Madden.
Lee - the youngest manager in England at 31 - has got off to a solid if not spectacular start at Boundary Park. Oldham have picked up eight points from a possible 18 under his stewardship, but his only two wins have come against the bottom two sides in League One, Bury and Hartlepool.
Another twist in the tale is Lee's status as a Yeovil legend. He made 191 appearances for the club as a midfielder between 2001 and 2006 and was instrumental in their rise from non-league to League One, where they have remained since.
Gary, 57, is seeing his stock rise once more after he endured torrid times at both Peterborough and Northampton.
The man who took a Bristol City side including Lee to the Championship play-off final in 2008 appears to have found his mojo again - how ironic it would be if it was his son who was to throw a spanner in the works.
Lee said of his Dad recently: 'I've lived with my dad for 20 years as a manager and I've lived through almost every decision he's made.'
They will certainly be living through each other's decisions on Tuesday night.
April 15, 2013 Comments (0) | Permalink


Lou Mitchell's, Chicago, Illinois
Lou Mitchell's restaurant has earned it's nickname "the first stop on the Mother Road" due it's huge popularity with Route 66 roadies. Many folks stop at Lou Mitchell's for a good breakfast and a caffeine injection prior to heading off on their Route 66 adventure. The restaurant is known for it's quality food and generous portions making it popular with locals and tourists alike.
In 1958 the restaurant added a new service that embodied their sense of fun - free donut holes for all and boxes of milk duds for the ladies and children! There's often a line waiting out of the door but don't worry, the line moves fast and the free donut holes really help!
Established in 1949, Lou Mitchell's is a true icon of Route 66. With the obvious exceptions of the kitchen and bathrooms, the interior has been largely preserved in it's original style. The dining area retains it's original black and white terrazo flooring and most of the dining and counter areas remain unchanged.
Since Lou Mitchell’s is known for its breakfast and lunch you'll find that it's not open past 4pm on any given day. The lunch service begins at 10.30am but the breakfast can be ordered at any time.
Lou Mitchell's was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
Visit their website.


FIFA launches internal probe
Soccer’s world governing body FIFA has launched an internal investigation of alleged corruption, two people familiar with the matter said, in a development that may signal greater cooperation with criminal probes by U.S. and Swiss authorities.
Members of FIFA’s executive committee were briefed on the internal investigation at a closed-door meeting in Zurich last month, said the sources, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a U.S. law firm, is conducting the investigation, which is running parallel to the probes by authorities in the United States and Switzerland, the sources said. The results of the investigation are expected to be shared with the authorities, they added.
FIFA was thrown into turmoil in May when U.S. prosecutors announced the indictment of nine current and former soccer officials, many of whom had FIFA positions, and five sports marketing executives. Prosecutors said the 14 corrupted the sport by agreeing to more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks for media and marketing rights.
It was previously known only that FIFA had hired Quinn Emanuel to represent its interests during the U.S. and Swiss investigations. Reuters was not able to determine what stage the internal investigation had reached or how long it would take.
FIFA is cooperating with authorities and will not comment on ongoing investigations, said a spokeswoman for the Zurich-based organization.
“We are dedicated to improving the organization, and will continue to strengthen FIFA’s governance and accountability. Our work in this area continuously evolves, and we are focused on achieving the highest standards for the international football community,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.
Representatives with the world’s six continental soccer confederations either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment. Top former officials from the two confederations in the Americas are among those who have been indicted by the U.S.
In the corporate world, an internal investigation like this is a common practice if a company could be the target of U.S. prosecutors. By launching its own investigation, often run by a big law firm, a company can try to show it is committed to cooperating with authorities and wants to get to the bottom of a problem.
“One thing to understand about these internal investigations is how de rigueur they are. Really, every company does them,” said Michael Fine, an anti-bribery and compliance expert at the New York consulting firm LRN.
In exchange for voluntarily disclosing wrongdoing, a company may get treated more leniently when the U.S. Justice Department is deciding whether to bring charges and seek fines, according to official guidelines published by the department.
U.S. authorities have said their investigation is continuing and that additional people could be indicted. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on FIFA’s internal investigation.
WORLD CUP AWARDS
The Swiss criminal investigation into possible corruption in soccer is specifically targeting the award of the World Cup hosting rights to Russia for 2018 and to Qatar for 2022. It is at an earlier stage than the U.S. investigation.
Quinn Emanuel lawyers in their presentation to FIFA’s executive committee last month made clear that they are reporting to FIFA’s general counsel, Marco Villiger, not to FIFA President Sepp Blatter or Secretary General Jerome Valcke, the sources said. Villiger has been the director of legal affairs at FIFA since 2007 and previously was the head of disciplinary matters.
It is not clear how the election of a new FIFA president at a meeting scheduled for February would affect the internal investigation.
Blatter and Valcke have both been widely criticized for their handling of the corruption crisis enveloping FIFA, and Blatter has said he will not run in the February election. Swiss prosecutors have said Blatter and Valcke may be summoned for questioning, and sources have told Reuters that the FBI is examining their stewardship of FIFA as part of its probe.
Blatter is fully cooperating with the internal investigation, his U.S. lawyer Richard Cullen said. A lawyer for Valcke did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Although authorities have so far described FIFA as a victim of the alleged corruption, the organization itself could still be added as a defendant at the discretion of prosecutors, especially if they believe FIFA is not fully cooperating as a victim would, according to lawyers with expertise in complex criminal cases.
A senior U.S. prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell, said in a speech in April before the FIFA case became public that generally the government expects cooperation to be timely and complete.
“We expect cooperating companies to identify culpable individuals – including senior executives if they were involved – and provide the facts about their wrongdoing,” Caldwell said.
FIFA had a rocky experience with an earlier internal investigation by Michael Garcia of Kirkland & Ellis, another U.S. law firm. Garcia quit his job as FIFA’s ethics investigator in December in protest at the way FIFA handled his report on allegations of corruption in awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Garcia’s report, which has not been made public, had limited evidentiary value for authorities because Garcia had no subpoena power and did not take sworn testimony, a source told Reuters in June.
U.S. prosecutors could eventually turn to a court-appointed monitor to try to ensure that FIFA cleans up its act, a tactic they have used with organizations as diverse as major banks and labor unions, according to attorneys with expertise in such matters.(Reuters)
US vows to end graft in FIFA
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Donald Trump Jr. (Source:Donald Trump Jr. / Twitter)
At the Wednesday rally in Washington D.C., shortly before seditionists stormed the Capitol and rioted at the suggestion of the President, Donald Trump Jr. needlessly attacked transgender athletes in an expletive-ridden speech, NBC News reports.
Trump Jr. thanked those in attendance for "being in this fight with us... standing up to the bullshit" — presumably a reference to his father's loss of the Presidency in the most recent, and found to be legitimate, Presidential election.
He then pivoted toward negative remarks about a recent study on transgender athletes that found, according to NBC News, "transgender women retain an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers even after a year of hormone treatment."
Inaccurately claiming the study was funded by Democrats — a standard of the Trumps' approach to vilifying for their supporters anything remotely liberal — Trump Jr. further misled the seditionists by saying, "They spent money on a study that came to the incredible conclusion yesterday that trans women playing female sports have a competitive advantage."
"No shit! Who could have seen that coming?"
A report published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, NBC New says, "showed transgender women were able to do 10 percent more pushups and 6 percent more situps in the first two years after starting estrogen and testosterone blockers."
Timothy Roberts, lead author of the study, said neither the Democratic Party nor anyone else had funded the report. "This was done in addition to our normal duties as a service to our patients." Data was gathered by Roberts and colleagues from existing "medical records and fitness test evaluations of U.S. Air Force members who started or continued transition-related treatment while still in service," NBC notes.
Saying he was flattered Trump Jr. chose "to recognize and promote our work," Roberts also said "There's a whole lot of people playing recreational sports, and very few people get to be pros, so just let them play." Furthermore, Roberts added, "I encourage everyone to read the article for a more nuanced view of our findings."
At the same rally, Trump Jr. complained that the U.S. is giving "$10 million to Pakistan on gender studies ... and billions elsewhere that is driven by the insanity of the left."
"Nobody cares how you identify, but you don't have to do the nonsense that follows," he said and then asked why feminists weren't up in arms, "as men are dominating women's sports" — Trump Jr.'s reference to "men" an intentional, and again standard for the Trumps and anti-LGBTQ Republicans, misgendering of trans people.


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From Client Advisor to Senior Merchandising Manager
H I feel as though all these experiences have really made me who I am. They've built on each other.
My name is Rebecca.
I started my career 15 years ago in Columbus, Ohio. I started out as a client advisor for the store there part-time.
I was kind of the weekend closer person because I was in school for full-time during the week. It was a great experience because when I was there, I had all those moments of high traffic clienteling coming in. I was able to build a lot of strong relationships. I think that's when I first realized what luxury was.
From Colombus, I've held a few different roles. I think my next major city I went to was Chicago. Then a few years after Chicago, I made my way up to New York.
When I moved to New York for Vuitton, I actually came in as a Team Universe Manager for a men's store. I opened the first men's store we had here in North America. That was amazing.
I think always when I do mobility and I changed roles that the first three months are a little challenging. It's very exciting as much as it can be a bit uncomfortable to start over or to move to a city. For example, when I moved to Chicago, I knew no one. I just picked up and moved from Ohio to Chicago for this new experience. Not only was I learning the ins and outs of a new store, a new team, but then I was also really learning my new life. I feel now as change comes, whether it's within my personal or my professional life, I'm usually pretty receptive.
I managed a project that we worked on the collaboration with Supreme. From a merchandising standpoint, I was the lead of the project.
We were quite transparent on things. Because we did this collaboration with an outside streetwear brand, we had to be more agile. Everything was a bit top secret until the last moment. It made it very, very fun. It was definitely something that I will never forget.
I've really tried to work hard on taking advantage of every moment, not only whether it's having fun in a team building situation, or staying very late nights in a buying session while we're in Paris, or working with a VIC client. I feel as though all these experiences have really made me who I am. They've built on each other.
I think sometimes when we think about mobility, and when we hear about mobility with outside companies, it's very fast moving. Mobility happens in these companies within a year, within eight months, within two years maximum. That's not always the case in Vuitton. I actually appreciate that because I think we get to learn our roles much better. I feel very lucky because I have retail experience for 11 years I was in store. Now, I've also had corporate experience through merchandising, where I get to work with many different teams.
It's a very unique and diverse role that I'm now in that I feel as though it could take me anywhere. I can't say what my next step will be, but I'm sure it will be equally as exciting to what I've experienced so far.
Rebecca, Merchandising Manager
From Store Manager to Retail Trainer
If you have a track record of proven performance, if you’re hungry to learn and to improve, then you should raise your hand. I took that seriously and I thought “I think he’s talking to me”.
My name is Aaron.
I started my career at Louis Vuitton in November of 2010, so a week before Thanksgiving, as the store manager for the shops at the Bravern in Seattle, Washington.
It was a smaller intimate team, I was one of seven and really, really enjoyed delving into Louis Vuitton. It’s something the magic that you feel when you first start working there but I got to experience a lot in those first three years.
I remember we had a sales meeting in San Francisco in 2013, and we had a general session, and one of the store managers stood up and ask about mobility. Mr. Burke said, “I hear what you’re saying sometimes you will have to move away from your friends and your family to grow yourself and stretch yourself. (…) If you have a track record of proven performance, if you’re hungry to learn and to improve, then you should raise your hand.” I took that seriously and I thought “I think he’s talking to me”. I went home, and I raise my hand and through conversations and some interviewing I took a position in San Francisco as the team manager for leather goods and accessories.
I was in San Francisco for about two years, and then I had an opportunity to come to the corporate side. I always felt that as a store manager we train and we coach on the daily basis, but I thought it would be interesting to focus that energy full time as a retail learning manager, so I audition for the position and I got the job and I moved again to Los Angeles. I keep making jokes at this rate I’m going to – if I keep moving south I’m going to be in Mexico, I’m going to keep moving further down. I’m very happy in LA and so I’ve been the retail learning manager in base out of LA for the west coast since 2015.
The stores are such a vibrant fast fanatic places and to understand the business right there in the frontlines with our clients, with our store teams gave me tremendous insight when it comes to being a retail learning manager. Is the training relevant? Will this work? How will this scale?
Things happen, and sometimes I have to correct or pivot it different way to make sure that the learning is really happening.
There’s a lot of magic when it comes to training, there’s that sugar high that you get, and it will wear off.
I love unlocking potential through facilitation, I love it when the light bulbs go on and people see how they can go further with something.
Aaron, Senior Retail Learning Manager
From London to Tokyo
I’ve never felt like it’s been almost 15 years being in this Maison. There’s never a moment where you think “this is not possible or it’s impossible”.
My name is Mayuko. My current position is Vice President for Merchandising and VM (Visual Merchandising).
So this means managing two departments.
The first one involves really starting from the first part of the product cycle, where we see the products in the showroom in Paris, and we work on what is best for Japan in terms of product offer, what we want to do in terms of strategy. So, of course, we receive the general strategy and what we want to do as a brand, but then we try to filter, and we digest things, we try to see what that means for our zone. And then after the buys and assortments being made in Paris, we take that back into Japan where we work also with the Visual Merchandising team to see how that will roll out in store.
I started my career in 2003 in the New Bond Street store in London.
I was extremely lucky to work within the Watch & Jewelry team, the Visual Merchandising team, the after-sales team and the leather goods team. So it was an extremely fulfilling challenge, and really created the base of my career within Louis Vuitton.
The journey has been extremely smooth, and yet full of different things happening along the way. So first starting from New Bond Street in the store, this was for about six months, and then I was in the head office in London, and I was representing the UK, Scandinavia and Ireland for Regional Products Merchandising Manager. After one year, I was in the Paris office, in the Europe zone, where I had many different experiences: first within the ready-to-wear team, and then working in the accessories team, where we built merchandising and accessories, which was not existent then, and then moving on to leather goods. That’s when I was also weighing out the fact that I’m Japanese, and I’d actually never lived in Japan before, so due to personal reasons, I wanted to be closer to my family.
And what was quite amazing is that of course we are LVMH, we are Louis Vuitton, so there was this amazing chance to be able to move by mobility, which is how I moved into Louis Vuitton Japan, to become Merchandising Manager for leather goods.
And then there was an opportunity within LVMH still, but in FENDI, this time in Hong Kong, when I then moved back after a year to Tokyo, within a brand outside of LVMH.
However, 2½ years ago there was this wonderful opportunity to be the Vice President of Merchandising here, which I gladly took because it’s really maximizing the experiences that I’ve had so far within all product categories. So this is how I came back to Louis Vuitton in Tokyo.
What keeps me excited within Louis Vuitton is that you’re on a treadmill; it doesn’t stop. I’ve never felt like it’s been almost 15 years being in this Maison. I guess we go through so many changes, so many different things happening, so many new challenges coming on board, that we really do never stop.
There’s never a moment where you think “this is not possible or it’s impossible”, because there’s always a way to then look at something differently. There’s no set career plan in the sense that once you join the Maison you start with A and then it’s B, C, D. It depends on what happens afterwards to then determine what could be the path.
Obviously, when you spend more than ten years in a company or when you work extremely closely - because sometimes in the showrooms in Paris, for example during the buying sessions, we are together from 8 o’clock in the morning until midnight - it’s extremely tough mentally and physically. So that’s when you have that one moment when you’re parting, when you have your farewell goodbyes, that you really have made not only solid professional relationships, but really good friendships: a lot of trust, a lot of connections with people beyond just Louis Vuitton and merchandising.
Mayuko, Vice President Merchandising, Louis Vuitton Japan
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Spanish International


Interviews Lotus Crush
Rock n' roll veterans Lotus Crush best known from The Voice, Driveblind, Candlebox and Jimmy’s Chicken Shack, released their sophomore album "Rabbit Hole", with great success. Frontman vocalist Terry McDermott discusses the album and some backstory on the band.
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Terry: Pete and Scott are best known for being founding members of a multi-platinum American rock band: Candlebox. When I came to the US I was in a band called Driveblind from my hometown, Aberdeen, Scotland. We were on Geffen Records and I think we toured 10 months in 2006. Four of them were with Candlebox. That’s how I met Pete and Scott. We were kind of “Candlewho?” since we were from the UK and missed the fact these guys were selling millions and millions of records. When I saw these guys play for the first time when we joined the tour, I knew they were the real deal. Pete shared some demos he’d knocked together for another project he had going and I instantly heard overtones of The Verve, Pink Floyd and The Shore. We found a common love of these bands when we talked more and I guess that was the seed for Lotus Crush. Island Styles and Mark Mattrey have joined more recently but both are serious players. Real bad ass musicians. Mark played bass on all of Rabbit Hole and came highly recommended by the co-producer. He was so bloody good we asked him to join the band.
2. Why did you pick the name Lotus Crush?
Terry: We tossed the hand grenade of naming the band around FOREVER. I think all bands do, but when we recorded our first album Half Light Morning, there were all kinds of talented friends chipping in here and there to help move the record on. All with same attitude, all hopelessly addicted to making music and scraping by. We joked about the Lotus eaters of Greek mythology being a good analogy for the poor souls we counted ourselves amongst. A “crush” would you believe, is also a group of something. Hence, Lotus Crush.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
Terry: The band was formed in Seattle, the label is based in Seattle and most of the members are from Seattle. Which I get a kick out of, because I never imagined when I was coming up in Scotland that I’d be in a Seattle band. I spend a lot of time up there and have done since Pete and I formed the band. It’s kind of like a weird second home and I have people there that I think of like family. I love the musical vibrancy of the city. It’s co-operative but with healthy competition. And of course it has a glittering history of producing great music. I’ve caught a few killer acts up there. I remember seeing Cody Beebe and thinking “ok….this place has got some players.” I think the best live rock show I’ve ever seen was in Seattle, but it was Scottish band Biffy Clyro at The Crocodile Cafe so my country gets that point not Seattle. Ha!
4. How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Terry: We’re half indie band, half space rock band. You can hear all the influences like Floyd and The Verve in there, and I think in more recent years I’ve personally been shaped by harder edge British indie bands. I’ve yet seen someone sum us up and thought “yeah….that’s it” so I love when people toss names out there.
5. What can people expect from Rabbit Hole, why should they be interested and check it out?
Terry: This is the best record I’ve ever been part of. It felt like it HAD to happen. Sometimes the timing sucks and you’ve got great songs but not the opportunity to make a great record. In this case we got both. I wanted to talk about the fucked up world we live in and the elephant in the room about the world turning to shit….and other such light hearted topics. I think the musical vision, coupled with the content is pretty damn concise and the way we wanted it to be. Oh….and it SOUNDS awesome.
6. Do you play live as well? What do you have planned in terms of shows and touring, if any?
Terry: I’m typing this in between packing for our European tour. We’ll get a few weeks off and then we tour the US. We’ve got a second video coming out around then too (Death From Above). It’s going to be a busy year. The people in our team are all believers. They’ve heard the record. They know what we’re trying to bring to the audience out there. Have songs. Will travel.
7. What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
Terry: We’re a Scottish/American misfit creature of a band with a bizarre roller coaster past and these are real songs. This is a real album. That might sound obvious, but I’m tired of hearing style over content. I’ll take the Pepsi challenge with anything out there. I don’t believe we dropped the ball on a single song. There’s heart and soul all over them. If you don’t like it we’ll give you your money back* (*that last bit was actually a lie).
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
Terry: We plan to be the Scottish/American touring equivalent of Cain from the TV show Kung Fu. We’re just going to roam the earth but instead of using martial arts to fight injustice, we’re bringing songs about how much deep shit we’re all in to people’s ears. That’s kind of the plan.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Terry: You need not roam the earth. We’re on all digital retailers, Spotify, Pandora etc. @lotuscrush for Twitter, Facebook.com/lotuscrushmusic for FB. You get the deal. Cheers!
12:00 PM Natalie
Labels: Interviews Lotus Crush


Triple H: Biography, Age, Family, Net Worth and More
Posted by Ogunyomi Samuel September 1, 2020
Mikel Obi Net Worth and Biography
Triple H is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the world of wrestling. He is a loved pro wrestler and has been in the wrestling entertainment industry for decades.
Triple H have thrived in the WWE starting from his legendary entrance to his body build and perseverance. In this article we will let you know all about Tripple H biography, net worth and many more.
Triple H Profile
Triple H Age
Triple H Education
Triple H Career
Triple H Relationship
Triple H Achievement
Triple H Net Worth
Full Name: Paul Michael Levesque
State of Origin: New Hampshire
State of Residence: Weston, Connecticut, United States
Occupation: Professional wrestler, actor and a businessman.
Triple H was born on the 27th of July, 1969 in Nashua, New Hampshire. His parents Paul Levesque Sr. and Patricia Levesque are white Americans with Canadian French roots. He is the brother of Lynn and the only son of Paul Levesque Sr and Patricia Levesque.
Triple H went to Nashua South High School. During his school years he was very athletic. He was a member of his school baseball and basketball team and he graduated in 1987.
At the age of 14 Triple H was already involved in his bodybuilding training and shortly after his graduation from high school, he got involved in a lot of bodybuilding competitions.
At the age of 19 Triple H won the 1988 Mr. Teenage New Hampshire competition and got a job as a gym manager in Nashua. During the period of his gym job, he came in contact with the world champion powerlifter Ted Arcidi, who worked at WWE.
His relationship with Ted finally led to his introduction to a former wrestler Killer Kowalski, who had professional wrestling school in Malden, Massachusetts. He enrolled in the wrestling school and was trained by Kowalski.
His first match was on March 24, 1992, when he wrestled and defeated Tony Roy under the ring name of Terra Ryzing at the International Wrestling Federation (IWF).
He kept wrestling and in 1994, he signed a contract with the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and adopted the name “Jean-Paul Lévesque”.
In 1995, Triple H signed up with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and adopted the name “Hunter Hearst Helmsley” which changed to “Triple H”.
During his wrestling career in WWF, Triple H achieved a lot of industry fame after co-founding the mind-blowing D-Generation X stable, which was a major element of the “Attitude Era” in the 1990s.
Triple H wrote and released a book towards the end of 2004, he titled it “Making The Game: Triple H’s Approach to a Better Body”. This book is about bodybuilding advice, memoirs, autobiography and other information.
Apart from wrestling, Triple H has starred in a hand full of movies such as Blade Trinity, Relative Strangers, The Chaperone, Inside Out and Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery.
Others are WWE Power Series, Surf Up: Wavemania, Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon, Robot Chicken, Blue Pacific and many more.
Triple H together with his wife started off a Connor’s Cure cancer fund in honor of Connor “The Crusher” Michalek, a WWE fan who died of cancer at the age of eight.
Triple was in a romantic relationship with Joan Chyna Lauren ( female wrestler) from 1996 to 2000. However their relationship came to an end due to her mental health problems and her unwillingness towards having kids.
Triple H is a legend when it comes to the world of wrestling has won a number of championships in his career with his Pedigree legendary finishing move.
Triple H has been a five-time Intercontinental Champion, a three-time world tag team champion (two World Tag Team Championship reigns, and one Unified WWE Tag Team Championship reign).
Triple H has won a two-time European Champion, and a fourteen-time world champion. Triple H is a the company’s seventh Triple Crown Champion and second Grand Slam Champion.
Triple H is also a two-time Royal Rumble match winner, and a King of the Ring tournament winner.
Triple H was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017 for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America
Triple H was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame for the Class of 2015. Tripple also won the Metal Hammer’s Spirit of Lemmy Award in the following year.
Triple H has an estimated net worth of $40 million.
Tags: Wrestler
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