#Dixie Brands (CO)

[pixies-and-poets]

Donkey kong tropical freeze is such a bad game, it's not even really about playing or having fun, it's just strictly super technical and all about inhumanly perfect timing. It seems like a game designed for a cpu that has all the perfect inputs already programmed into it. Playing it as a human player is like... oh, sorry, but you didn't wait until literally the very last frame to jump off the last platform, so now your jump won't be able to cover the distance to the next platform. Sorry, try the last 2 minutes of gameplay you just did all over again! Like what kind of weird ass game devs think that's what makes a game good? Instead of filling a game with nothing but ridiculously challenging platforming that demands inhuman precision, just find ways to make it creative and interesting. I swear so many professional game devs come off like those stupid kids in mario maker who just make stupidly impossible levels where theres some secret shortcut only they know about like "hehe nobody will beat MY level" and its embarrassing. Whatever happened to the old donkey kong style of game where I remember swimming around as a cool swordfish and not worrying about my every input at rapid speed like I'm playing dance dance revolution on expert, but just exploring and enjoying the music and collecting bananas and having fun? The elitist direction of this series is so depressing.

This ask made my eyes bulge when I first saw the preview, but... while I don't necessarily agree with you, I'm gonna meet you where you are.

Tropical Freeze is a game that I think I respect more than I actually enjoy. Its music is incredible, its enemy team is about as fun as can be without actually being Kremlings, its levels are beautiful and you can play as Dixie again, AND Cranky (and now Funky). I don't know if you thought I'd find this ask insulting but I've only ever played the game twice to my memory, and I don't have a huge amount of personal attachment to it. Once, as co-op when the game was brand new, and again when it came out on Switch I did Funky Mode. Whereas I play the original SNES trilogy at least once a year. (edit: actually I'm pretty sure I've done Funky Mode twice)

Because it's been so long since I did the "normal" game, and because I played co-op, I don't have a strong remembrance of how difficult it actually is. But I do remember it being quite hard for us both. If I'm good at any games in the world, I'm fucking good at the old DKCs. I used to speedrun them, I grew up with and was molded by them. And while Retro Studio's work is built off of them, there's a slightly different feel and weight to its demands that are just different enough that I can no longer innately be an expert. (Side note, if you want a game that actually feels more similar to the old games, check out Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair!! It's great!)

So I get where you're coming from, I really do. I think TF is a masterpiece. I say that, anyway, so... Why do I never feel the urge to replay it? But honestly I think that's down to how the game feels overall, its length and level design, its overlong bosses, and not due to its difficulty, which is neither here nor there for me. ...and the fucking rocket barrel levels, I kind of hate them.

See, I do appreciate a good challenge and have played games since that I would consider far more demanding than TF. Of course many of them are indie games, or classic games. Tropical Freeze is pretty hard for a mainstream Nintendo game of the modern era, but lots of people out there love a good challenge and I think it's a good thing that Nintendo/Retro respect their players enough to issue one. Unfortunately, people who want to chill with the silly cartoon animals might end up being frustrated, BUT! That's what Funky Mode is for. It really was a genius idea. Funky Mode is like, so much more fun IMO, it really does replicate the feel I get with the original DKCs, allowing you to go faster and be more confident even if you're not that familiar with TF's level layouts. Even then, it's not totally easy- you still have to be somewhat careful and pay attention, but you can get through the game a lot faster.

And I do want to say, while TF may be the most difficult DKC game, the originals were no walk in the park either. I don't know your experience with how much you've played them, but like I said, for ME they seem easy- after all these years- but I've been around streaming communities, and communities that specifically like to do challenges and casual races, for a long time now. I've seen so many people struggle getting through DKC, DKC2 or DKC3 for the first time. I've seen people give up on doing it without save states. I've seen extremely skilled gamers get frustrated when attempting speed or challenge runs, which granted is a special case, but they have hours and hours of practice and the game meets them there and still kicks them. The DKC series has always been on the harder side, compared to something like Mario which would be the average. I know someone who, like me, has DKC2 as his favorite game ever... but still struggles while playing it. So your description of the older games seems a little rose-tinted. Maybe the early levels were all fun times collecting bananas, but tell me how much peace and vibes you really had in Snow Barrel Blast or Poison Pond or Lightning Lookout or Koindozer Klamber or Parrot Chute Panic or Toxic Tower or- (and that's not even to mention lost world levels)

TF has become a fan darling, but it's ok to not like it. That said, I think its Switch release crafted it into an ideal: a legit challenge for those who want one, and a different mode for those who just want to storm through and yet without it being a totally babymode no-brainer experience. I would like to see any future games offer a balance similar to this, if we ever get them.

....they really do gotta bring Enguarde back though, that's the important thing. I'm not kidding.

[wherewhereare]

Brent Grace

Brett Grace is a famous socialite, writer, and creative consultant from the United States. He is the son of Robert S. McElvaine, famous author and the Elizabeth Chisholm Professor of Arts and Letters and Chair of the Department of History at Millsaps College, and his wife, Anne. Grace has attracted international attention for his socialite lifestyle. He is known for his appearance in music videos for artists such as Beck, Gwen Stefani, No Doubt, Shakespears Sister, Holly Miranda, and Billy Corgan. He rose to fame for his amazing talent and skills.

Brett Grace and Sophie Muller are longtime friends who have worked together on several music videos. According to Grace’s biography on Wikitia1, he met Muller through his friendship with British supermodel Georgia May Jagger, who is also a co-owner of Bleach London, a brand that Grace has consulted for. Grace and Muller have collaborated on music videos for artists such as Beck, Gwen Stefani, and No Doubt. Grace played the role of young Beck in the music video for “Heart is a Drum” from the album Morning Phase, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2015. The video was directed by Muller and Giovanni Ribisi2. Grace also appeared in Muller’s videos for “Settle Down” by No Doubt and “Spark the Fire” by Gwen Stefani3.

Brett Grace and Gwen Stefani know each other through their mutual friend and collaborator Sophie Muller,

Grace, coincidental to the prior Beck video, played “Young Beck” in the musician’s 2014 video for “Heart is a Drum,” directed by Grace’s friend Sophie Muller (Grace also makes cameo appearances in videos Muller helmed for No Doubt’s “Settle Down,” and Gwen Stefani’s “Spark The Fire”).

In 2016, Grace contributed to Muller’s work on The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks) DCX MMXVI Live tour and subsequent DVD as a researcher.

(12) Gwen Stefani, Brett Grace, Georgia May Jagger - YouTube

Grace has appeared in two Beck music videos: "Gamma Ray," directed by Autumn de Wilde in 2008, and most notably, he played Young Beck in Beck's music video for "Heart is a Drum," directed by Sophie Muller and Giovanni Ribisi in 2014. He also made a cameo appearance hanging out with Gwen Stefani in her 2014 music video "Spark The Fire," directed by Sophie Muller.[5]

[fashioneditswebsite]

Futuristic fashion or alien invasion? Prada presents weirdly wonderful new collection

Prada went wacky at Milan Fashion Week with alien headpieces and deconstructed workwear. Ground control to Miuccia Prada. The Italian label’s latest collection has given traditional fashion a futuristic space-age spin. Prada’s spring/summer 2025 womenswear collection featured a star-studded front row, including actor Carey Mulligan, TikTok creator Dixie D’Amelio, and the K-Pop boy band Enhypen, who are ambassadors of the label. Fans were screaming outside as K-pop boyband ENHYPEN entered the building (Luca Bruno/AP) Miuccia Prada has been leading the brand for 46 years and is known for predicting future fashion trends. Moreover, this collection was certainly no different... The co-creative directors, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons blend nostalgic workwear with sharp metallics and dynamic silhouettes. Space-age aesthetics were paired with more traditional skirts and loafers (Luca Bruno/AP) Avant-garde alien headwear and silver studded skirts paired with A-line overcoats from the sixties and pussy-bow blouses from the Eighties. Pussy-bow blouses were paired with alien headpieces (Luca Bruno/AP) The collection featured metal spoons fashioned into tops paired with tailored wool coats. Models wore suit trousers tucked into patent orange Wellington-like boots. Additionally, the collection had a disconcerting dystopian feel. The minimal workwear presented was not polished but rather scruffy, with upturned collars and crumpled trench coats.. It’s perhaps a commentary on the end of the office, with remote working and digital drifting being today’s preference. Spaceship-style bucket hats were presented throughout the show (Luca Bruno/AP) Alongside the alien sunglasses and hole-embellished bucket hats, the collection had a sense of ethereality – adding a more delicate, otherworldly character. Leggings and bodysuits were swathed in sheer skirts and gowns, providing a gossamer fineness that lifted the ensembles and allowed them to drift down the runway. The model’s sheer dress was adorned with feathers (Luca Bruno/AP) Miuccia Prada revived some of the label’s classics, including flat leather sandals from 1996 and platform Oxfords from 2011. Pairing these with circular-cut, transparent leather garments blurred the lines between past and present designs. The season captured a unique balance between reality and fantasy, playing with contrasts in form and function. Furthermore, Prada and Simons offered another fresh take on the label’s enduring legacy. Read the full article

[ptbf2002]

#10 Danger Mouse (Danger Mouse)

#9 Fluffy (Harvey Street Kids/Harvey Girls Forever!)

#8 Gadget Hackwrench (Chip And Dale: Rescue Rangers)

#7 Pixie And Dixie (Hanna-Barbera)

#6 Remy (Ratatouille)

#5 Speedy Gonzalez (Looney Tunes)

#4 Fievel Mousekewitz (An American Tail)

#3 Nibbles *Tuffy* Mouse (Tom And Jerry)

#2 Mickey Mouse (Disney)

And #1 Jerry Mouse (Tom And Jerry)

Original: https://www.deviantart.com/frogwoodproductions/art/Top-10-Mice-and-Rats-Meme-310830668

Danger Mouse Belongs To Brian Cosgrove, Mark Hall, Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. Cosgrove Hall Films, Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick Entertainment, Ltd. Boat Rocker Media Inc. Thames Television, Pearson Television, FremantleMedia, Fremantle Limited, ITV 1, ITV Studios Global Distribution, ITV Studios Limited, And ITV plc

Danger Mouse (2015 TV series) Belongs To Brian Cosgrove, Mark Hall, Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick Entertainment, CHF Entertainment, FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment, Fremantle Limited, Boulder Media Limited, Boat Rocker Media Inc. CBBC Production, Windmill Lane Studios, CBBC, BBC Television, BBC Worldwide Ltd. BBC Studios Ltd. And British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Harvey Street Kids/Harvey Girls Forever! Belongs To Alfred Harvey, Emily Brundige, Dave Enterprises, Digital Emation, Inc. NE4U, Inc. The Harvey Entertainment Company, Classic Media, LLC, DreamWorks Classics, DreamWorks Animation Television, DreamWorks Animation LLC, Universal Pictures, Universal City Studios LLC, NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, NBCUniversal Media Group, NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Comcast Corporation And Netflix Inc.

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (TV series) Belongs To Bill Justice, Tad Stones, Alan Zaslove, Sunwoo & Company Co., Ltd. TMS Entertainment Co., Ltd. Disney Animation Japan Inc. Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. Disney Television Animation, Disney Channel, Disney Branded Television, Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Disney Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Inc. And The Walt Disney Company

The Huckleberry Hound Show Belongs To William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Kellogg's Company, Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. Worldvision Enterprises, Inc. Taft Broadcasting Company,  Spelling Television Inc. Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Media Ventures, Inc. CBS Studios, Inc. CBS Entertainment Group, Paramount Global, Turner Program Services, Turner Entertainment Company, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution Warner Bros. Television Studios, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia, And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks Belongs To William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. Worldvision Enterprises, Inc. Taft Broadcasting Company,  Spelling Television Inc. Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Media Ventures, Inc. CBS Studios, Inc. CBS Entertainment Group, Paramount Global, Turner Program Services, Turner Entertainment Company, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution Warner Bros. Television Studios, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia, And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

Ratatouille (film) Belongs To Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird, PIXAR Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures, The Walt Disney Studios, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Disney Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Inc. And The Walt Disney Company

Looney Tunes Belongs To Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Ben Hardaway, Robert McKimson, Bob Clampett, Bob Givens Harman-Ising Productions, Leon Schlesinger Productions, Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, Format Productions, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Animation, The Vitaphone Corporation, Vitagraph Company of America, Turner Entertainment Company, Warner Bros. Animation Inc. Kids' WB! The WB, The WB Television Network, Inc. Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC. Tribune Media Company, Nexstar Media Group, Inc. Cartoon Network, Boomerang, The Cartoon Network, Inc. Warner Bros. Discovery Networks, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Warner Bros. Television Studios, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia, And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

An American Tail Belongs To David Kirschner, Judy Freudberg, Tony Geiss, Don Bluth Productions, Bluth Group, Sullivan Bluth Studios Ireland Limited, Don Bluth Ireland Limited, Screen Animation Ireland Limited, Don Bluth Entertainment, FOX Animation Studios, Amblimation, Amblin Entertainment, Inc. Amblin Partners, LLC. DreamWorks Animation LLC, Universal Pictures, Universal City Studios LLC, NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, NBCUniversal Media Group, NBCUniversal Media, LLC, And Comcast Corporation

Mickey Mouse (film series) Belongs To Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, Floyd Gottfredson, Celebrity Productions, RKO Radio Pictures Inc. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. Sony Pictures Releasing, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Sony Entertainment, Inc. Sony Corporation of America, Sony Group Corporation, United Artists Corporation, United Artists Releasing, LLC, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. MGM Holdings, Inc. Amazon MGM Studios, Amazon.com, Inc. Walt Disney Studio, Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures, The Walt Disney Studios, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Disney Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Inc. And The Walt Disney Company

Tom and Jerry Belongs To William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. Fil-Cartoons, Mr. Big Cartoons, Bardel Entertainment, Inc. Baer Animation Company, CNK International, Seoul Movie Co., Ltd. Toon City Animation Inc. Yearim Productions Co., Ltd. Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd. Rough Draft Korea Co. Ltd. Rough Draft Studios, Inc. Lotto Animation, Inc. Renegade Animation, PIP Animation Services Inc. Slap Happy Cartoons Inc. Digital eMation, Inc. Duncan Studio, Rembrandt Films, Sib Tower 12, Inc. MGM Animation/Visual Arts, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Cartoon Studio, Harman-Ising Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. MGM Holdings, Inc. Amazon MGM Studios, Amazon.com, Inc. Turner Entertainment Company, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. Warner Bros. Animation Inc. Kids' WB! The WB, The WB Television Network, Inc. Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC. Tribune Media Company, Nexstar Media Group, Inc. Cartoon Network, Boomerang, The Cartoon Network, Inc. Warner Bros. Discovery Networks, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Warner Bros. Television Studios, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia, And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

[krispyweiss]

Old Crow Medicine Show with Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway at Rose Music Center at the Heights, Huber Heights, Ohio, July 9, 2024

The combined power of Old Crow Medicine Show and Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway covering “Helpless” and “The Weight” was the perfect ending to three hours of virtually perfect performance from both the headlining and opening acts.

Though Tuttle is the driver, her Golden Highway is in every sense a band. And she shifted effortlessly from group leader to temporary Old Crow Medicine Show woman across multiple occurrences of cross-pollination July 9 in Southwest Ohio.

During the encore, Tuttle fronted the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young track and co-led the latter Band number. It capped a night of collaboration that began when OCMS’ Ketch Secor joined Tuttle & Golden Highway during their rapturously received opening set and continued as Tuttle and her bandmates rotated on and off stage to expand the headliners, touring as a sextet rather than the seven-piece that began the year, to as many as 11 players. Like the lineup, augmented by a baton-twirling roadie who also played squeezebox on a few numbers, the setlist and presentation differed from the Old Crows’ January show an hour up the road in Columbus.

It was a Tuesday in a two-thirds full Rose Music Center in Huber Heights, Ohio. But Secor repeatedly said it felt like Saturday. And from the standing ovations Tuttle & Golden Highway earned during their hourlong opening set to OCMS’ two-hour, dancing-in-the-aisles show, it did seem like the weekend was in full swing.

Equal parts tent revival, vaudeville show, hoedown, comedy act and rock ‘n’ roll extravaganza, an Old Crow Medicine Show show is for the audience a bit like being an in-play pinball as band members switch instruments - three musicians manned the kit - styles and genres as easily as regular folks swap hats.

So it went that OCMS played CSNY’s “Ohio” and dedicated it to an audience member new to the concertgoing experience; mocked Morgan Wallen’s country bonafides while gathered, unplugged, around a single, old-time mic; engaged in three-fiddle reels with help from Golden Highway’s Brownyn Keith-Hynes; and preached the healing power of music, weed and community when the musicians briefly stopped rushing around the large stage festooned with a backdrop emblazoned with an OCMS-branded big-top.

Secor cracked wise with Southwest Ohio - O-H-Ten, he calls the state - banter about breeze coming off the interstate between rambunctious originals like “Tell it to Me,” “Alabama High Test” and “Dixie Avenue;” and covers like “Great Balls of Fire,” “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (with Tuttle) and an Dayton-centric version of “Hang on Sloopy.”

And, yes, OCMS played “Wagon Wheel.”

While the Medicine men were chatty, Golden Highway left the talking to the music as the five members - fiddler Keith-Hynes, banjoist Kyle Tuttle, the namesake guitarist, bassist Shelby Means and mandolin man Dominick Leslie - lined the front of the stage and struck rock-star poses between leg kicks and head bangs to match Tuttle and Means’ sequined miniskirts.

Tuttle covered Juice Newton’s “Queen of Hearts” and the Rolling Stones’ “She’s a Rainbow,” celebrated individualism on “Crooked Tree” and sung about weed on “Down Home Dispensary,” “San Joaquin” and “Dooley’s Farm.” The latter featured a lengthy mid-song jam that one might expect at a Billy Strings gig and led to the first of two standing ovations for the openers. The second lasted so long that stage music began playing over the PA to prevent an encore and avoid cutting into the Medicine men’s slot.

As it went, OCMS was one of a few bands that could’ve followed Tuttle & Golden Highway and held its own.

See more photos on Sound Bites’ Facebook page.

Grade card: Old Crow Medicine Show with Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway at Rose Music Center - 7/9/24 - A

7/10/24

[ama2024]

https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/114713-global-wool-carpet-market

Unlock Wool Carpet Market Study by Key Business Segments

Advance Market Analytics released a new market study on Global Wool Carpet Market Research report which presents a complete assessment of the Market and contains a future trend, current growth factors, attentive opinions, facts, and industry validated market data. The research study provides estimates for Global Wool Carpet Forecast till 2029*.

Wool is one of the mainly used natural fibers in the carpeting sector. Despite the availability of many other synthetic materials used for making carpets, wool carpet has its own niche market in the marketplace and persists to be a great fiber option. These are spun from wool, and later on, turned into yarns. These wool carpets have popularity due to its feature of being eco-friendly and hypoallergenic, also wool is stain-resistant and has a preferable texture that many homeowners desire. Wool carpets are highly durable and flame-resistant as they are natural fibers and can also help in regulating the temperature than other carpets made of synthetic fiber. These wool carpets are a great choice for decorating the floors and would also provide a luxurious and royalty feeling every time whenever felt. Wool is one of the mainly used natural fibers in the carpeting sector. Despite the availability of many other synthetic materials used for making carpets, wool carpet has its own niche market in the marketplace and persists to be a great fiber option. These are spun from wool, and later on, turned into yarns. These wool carpets have popularity due to its feature of being eco-friendly and hypoallergenic, also wool is stain-resistant and has a preferable texture that many homeowners desire. Wool carpets are highly durable and flame-resistant as they are natural fibers and can also help in regulating the temperature than other carpets made of synthetic fiber. These wool carpets are a great choice for decorating the floors and would also provide a luxurious and royalty feeling every time whenever felt.

Key Players included in the Research Coverage of Wool Carpet Market are:

ORIENTAL WEAVERS (Egypt), MAC CARPET (Egypt), ERDEMOGLU DIS TICARET A.S (Turkey), Desso Aviation (Netherlands), AeroSea Carpet (United States), ITC Natural Luxury Flooring (Netherlands), Shaw Industries Group, Inc (United States), Beaulieu (Canada), Balta Industries NV (Belgium), The Dixie Group, Inc (United States), Brintons Carpets Limited (United Kingdom), Dongsheng Group (China), Hendricksen Natürlich Flooring, Inc (United States), Binzhou Orient Carpet Co., Ltd. (China)

What's Trending in Market: Growing Trend of Westernization, Standards of Living and Higher Disposable Incomes Increasing Number of Affluent Consumers Is also enhancing the Demand for Wool Carpets The Growing Attraction for Creative and Decorative Products

Challenges: High Competition among the Key Players Threats from Machine Made Carpets

Opportunities: Increase in the Research and Development initiatives by the Manufacturers is also boosting the growth of the Wool Carpet market Technological Advancements for Creation of New Types with Innovative Wool Carpets with New Features Rise in the Emerging Markets in Developing Countries

Market Growth Drivers: Increasing Renovation & Remodeling Activities in Asian countries Growing Urbanization & Globalization has increased the Market Demand for Wool Carpet A Rise in Inclination of Customer towards Interior Decoration

The Global Wool Carpet Market segments and Market Data Break Down by Type (Hand-Woven Wool Carpet, Machine-Woven Wool Carpet), Application (Residence, Hotels, Office, Others), Pattern (Plain, Textured, Striped, Printed), Shape (Round, Oval, Square, Customized), Distribution Channels (Online, Branded Stores, Specialty Stores, Hypermarkets, Others), Material (Sheep Hair, Camel Hair, Angora Wool, Mohair, Cashmere Wool)

Get inside Scoop of the report, request for free sample @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/114713-global-wool-carpet-market

To comprehend Global Wool Carpet market dynamics in the world mainly, the worldwide Wool Carpet market is analyzed across major global regions. AMA also provides customized specific regional and country-level reports for the following areas.

• North America: United States, Canada, and Mexico.

• South & Central America: Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Brazil.

• Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Turkey, Egypt and South Africa.

• Europe: United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands and Russia.

• Asia-Pacific: India, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia.

[biglisbonnews]

Runway Stunts, Condoms, Tom Ford Throwbacks: Inside Milan Fashion Week Another week of Milan shows have wrapped, where we saw the sophomore runway outings of Maximilian Davis at Ferragamo, Rhuigi Villaseñor at Bally, Marco de Vincenzo at Etro and Filippo Grazioli at Missoni, each designer crystalizing their vision for their respective heritage houses. Gucci's show was designed by an in-house team as we await the new designer's debut in September. And Versace won't show until March in Los Angeles just before the Oscars. Below, a recap of the biggest standouts of Milan Fashion Week.Avavav Had Clothes Falling Apart on the RunwayDesigner Beate Karlsson has been using her Avavav shows as commentary on fashion and its relationship with wealth, fakeness and failure. After last season's stunt, where models stumbled and fell down the runway on purpose, her sophomore Milan runway outing has the clothes literally tearing and coming apart the model's body as a commentary on fashion's seriousness and ideas around bad quality and shame."It’s a way of showing authenticity and strength," Karlsson says. "I wanted to create a moment of embarrassment and shame to see if it can coexist with, or even generate luxury."BTS' RM Makes Surprise Front Row Cameo at Bottega VenetaBTS' leader RM made a surprise front row appearance at the Bottega Veneta show, sitting next to Kelela in an understated look from the brand's Spring 2023 show. Could he be the Italian label's next brand ambassador from the K-pop group as its members continue to go solo? (Dior, Louis Vuitton and Valentino have each signed on Jimin, J-Hope and Suga, respectively.) Models Go Crowd-Surfing at SunneiSunnei sure loves a good ol' fashion stunt. After having twins walk its last show (where one sibling came out from the audience with the other emerging from backstage), the brand had it models (who were its employees) walk an elevated platform runway, turn their back and drop into the audience concert-style as they crowd-surfed away. The show notes said of the performance: "Each season, the aim is to forge an interaction between [Sunnei designers] Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo, guests, models and location."Gucci Brought Back Those Tom Ford-Era Horsebit BagsWith its new creative director not presenting her first collection until September, Gucci's Fall 2023 was entrusted to their in-house studio team. This season they sent out looks inspired by several chapters of the brand's history, with plenty of Tom Ford-isms and a few of Alessandro Michele's codes mixed in between. Speaking of Tom Ford, the horsebit handbags he introduced for the brand in 2003 got the oversized update here in bold colors with curvy corners. Some styles also come with built-in gloves for your fingers.GCDS Made Shows That Look Like ClawsWhile a lot of the attention at the GCDS show was directed at VIPs like Dua Lipa (and Bella Thorne, and Dixie D'Amelio, and Aron Piper), the accessories Guiliano Calza showed on the runway deserved just as much buzz. There were metallic chrome boots, bags with telephone-shaped handles and cat-shaped crystal balls. But the standouts by far were the heel-less platform shoes, including one in the shape of a paw with claws sticking out. "The collection relies on the face-off of the sweet and the darkly seductive, with accessories blowing the claws of domestic felines to human proportions, turning them into sensual weapons," the show notes said of the shows. Purr!Diesel Teamed Up With Durex CondomsThe show invite to Diesel's Fall 2023 show featured a co-branded condom with Durex, hinting at a possible collab to come, and sure enough, the set featured a giant pile of boxed condoms in the middle of the space — 200,000 to be exact. (Some of the looks on the runway also featured Durex logos.)The brand said an additional 300,000 Durex condoms would be handed out for free in April in Diesel stores globally. “Sex positivity is something amazingm" Dieswel's Glenn Martens said. "We like to play at Diesel, and we are serious about it. Have fun, respect each other, be safe. For Sucsexful Living!” Tomo Koizumi Made His Milan Fashion Week DebutJapanese wunderkind Tomo Koizumi, known for his exaggerated tulle confections, made his Milan Fashion Week debut with a collection that showed off his knack for manipulating tulle into colorful, couture gowns. Koizumi is the latest emerging designer to show at Milan thanks to Dolce & Gabbana's program, following past names like Miss Sohee and Matty Bovan. He even used some of the brand's fabrics from past Alta Moda collections and reworked them into his signature tulle looks. https://www.papermag.com/milan-fashion-week-fall-2023-2659472848.html

[globalradiancereview]

Ryan Reynolds for Gin and George Clooney for Tequilla, Are female celebrities investing in wine?

Only the baby boomer generation prefers wine to beer and liquor. The wine business has failed to attract millennials and is suffering with Generation X, as cocktails prepared with spirits such as whiskey and tequila are booming, stealing market share from wine in a saturated market.

However, numerous female movie and music stars, like Elizabeth Banks, Mary J. Blige, The Chicks (originally The Dixie Chicks), Cameron Diaz, and Reese Witherspoon, are endorsing wine labels.

Celebrities have traditionally exploited their names and faces to promote alcohol products, but when George Clooney sold his tequila company Casamigos to drinks conglomerate Diageo for roughly $1 billion in 2017, he established the modern model for cashing in on spirits.

"Acting used to be how I paid the rent," Clooney told The Sunday Times when the arrangement was announced.

This sparked a gold rush of celebrity entrepreneurs wanting to replicate his success and cash in on the premium spirits and cocktails boom, from David Beckham's scotch to Ryan Reynolds' gin and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's tequila.

However, it has primarily been male celebrities who have benefited from this recipe. Despite outliers like Vera Wang's Chopin Vodka and Kendall Jenner's 818 Tequila, the brands remain largely male, following a pattern seen in the broader alcohol business.

Now, a new generation of female celebrities is attempting to revitalise an ailing beverage: wine.

Now, a new generation of female celebrities is attempting to revitalise an ailing beverage: wine.

The Covid-19 pandemic advanced numerous developments in the alcohol industry, but expensive spirits in categories often promoted by celebrities were among the biggest winners.

According to the Distilled Spirits Council, luxury spirits rose 43 per cent in the previous year, led mostly by tequila and American whiskey, with a 2021′s growth rate finishing at more than double the prior five-year average rate.

Although the United States has the world's largest wine industry, and products such as prosecco and champagne continue to prosper, American consumers are drinking less wine overall than they were twenty years ago.

According to Rob McMillan, executive vice president of Silicon Valley Bank and a well-known wine industry expert, the wine industry has remained committed to techniques that have historically been successful without adequately addressing how the consumer has fundamentally transformed.

"That's the main threat," McMillan explained. "You can't replace this group of folks who think wine is absolutely beautiful." It is their favoured alcoholic beverage, and everyone who follows them does as well to some extent, but they classify wine alongside beer, spirits, ready-to-drink cocktails, and weed."

Female celebrity-backed wine brands have sought to distinguish themselves from other wine products by emphasising aspects that appeal to younger consumers.

Female celebrities have sought to develop a niche within the wine market that caters to younger customers by emphasising size, reduced alcohol content, online purchasing, price point, and brand ownership that includes women as well as BIPOC and LGBTQ+ individuals.

With organic white and rosé wines in four-packs of 250ml cans that don't require a corkscrew or glassware, Diaz and Katherine Power, co-owners of the Avaline wine brand, have leaned trends in accessibility and portability, as well as health and wellness.

Along with being more environmentally friendly, the canned wine concept, with its smaller quantities, makes it easier to consume wine alone, as there is no need to open a 750 ml bottle, following in the footsteps of the thriving RTD (ready-to-drink) market.

With her canned wine effort, Archer Roose wine, actress and producer Elizabeth Banks promote sustainability as well as packaging and price accessibility.

The Chicks, who are known for standing up for themselves as women in the music industry and challenging the established quo, have recently entered the wine market with their Gaslighter Wine label, which has received outstanding industry ratings for their rosé. The marketing campaign begins with phrases like "own your power," "say your truth," and "tell your truth." "Don't let them deceive you," even the corks said.

According to Marco Fantinel, CEO of the winery that produces Mary J. Blige's label, the Sun Goddess label emphasises variety. Fantinel stated that Sun Goddess "hopes to throw a light on the wine industry" by offering "greater chances for women and BIPOC representation."

Celebrity women in wine can provide the exposure and financial backing needed for fresh growth in a wine business that is becoming more approachable, inexpensive, and forward-thinking while preserving quality.

Though the day has not yet come for this star side hustle to rival its alcohol counterpart's billion-dollar headline.

[cannabisbusinessexecutive]

Cannabis Trade Federation Announces Full Board, Readies Inclusive Membership Options

Cannabis Trade Federation Announces Full Board, Readies Inclusive Membership Options

What started with the formation of the New Federalism Fund back in March of 2017, has taken on increasing momentum as the Cannabis Trade Federation (CTF) has clearly emerged as the professional “Voice of the Cannabis Industry”. After many months of building a formidable team to represent the Cannabis Industry’s interests at the federal level on Capitol Hill, CTF, which was founded on 4/20/2018…

[starliightxo]

Brie Aliyah Ramsey

Academy: Diamond Bridge (LA)

Course(s): modelling, music production/song writing

Parents: npc

Sexuality: bisexual

Before the abduction/Personality:

Before Brie disappeared, she was fairly well known on tour. She was bubbly, outgoing and very loud at parties. She could befriend anyone and talk about anything. She had a bit of a party girl reputation and one for sleeping around. She was always seen making out with someone new at parties but she was never in one place for long. She was a wildcard. Ready to meet new people, we new places and try new things. She'd find a way to work with any one no matter what subject they studied. She was a social butterfly.

Career:

Modelling is her main passion, she's all over it. She got ahead pretty quickly as one of the very few girls willing to be photographed topless. She'd had no shame and bags if confidence to spare. She was ready for anything. But her love for modelling never stopped her exploring other areas. Modelling remains her number one but from all the things she dabbled in, she's kept going with music production and song writing, mainly through Paramore which is where she started after producing and co-writing Ain't It Fun.

The Abduction:

(under read more because super triggering including sexual assault, abuse, rape, pornography)

Plots ~ Open & Taken:

TAKEN:

Amelia - A really close friend and work buddy. Amelia was the one who got Brie into music production and song writing and they produced songs together and have many more in the works before Brie disappeared. 

Astrea - really good friends but with benefits. They got closer on tour. They're polar opposites; Brie is more what you see is what you get, but Astrea is a lot more calculated and thinks carefully about how she comes across. Brie took an interest and after a chase, they were both hooked and genuinely loved hanging out with each other.

Harlow - they’re modelling friends but it isn’t exactly a deep connection, it’s all about messing around, partying and having fun on set and nights out. The type of friends you discuss outfits with and drag out to parties if they’re not feeling it.

Fleur & Dixie - Modelling friends but definitely with a lot more depth. They grew up quite close after Brie got a modelling job with Anastasia's brand along with the girls. They have similar public images and thrice for each other on nights out, they're a group to watch. It's definitely boosted Brie's socialite status being linked with the girls and although it's obvious, Brie loves them and they know that's not the reason they became friends in the first place

Addy - someone she hypes up and always tries to shed some of her confidence onto

Anthony - as a teacher at the academy, Anthony although wasn't involved in her abduction, he now knows the ins and outs of what happened and has been assigned to keep an eye on Brie and make sure she sticks to the fake story.

Flynn - her ex from first year/high school. They didn't get very far in the relationship before they left for different uni's and drifted as a couple but they ended on good terms. So good that even now, they look out for each other and Brie even encourages him with this crush he has on Lottie

Lucie - once upon a time, before the kidnapping, brie was definitely part of "the girls" but since being back, she's cut them and that lifestyle off; shying away from it immensely and only trusting very few. Lucie, a social climber, has been trying her best to coax brie back and convince the other girls to do the same. Not because she cares all that much, but because of the publicity surrounding brie and the disappearance is a great opportunity.

OPEN:

A simple one night stand (Male or female) - She would have had many of these but maybe it was the most recent and it hit them very hard because they were questioned by police and the public after them leaving an event together was pictured and gossiped about. 

Music work friend - I want to make it specific so a song they’ve released that she produced or co-wrote please! This could obviously be more than one person/band etc and it could be that someone worked with her but she bugged them A LOT and would have called it off if the song hadn’t done so well so maybe they had mixed feelings about her disappearance. 

Rivals - Another model who maybe hated Brie because of the amount of confidence she had and the amount of work she got because of it, maybe she got given a few jobs that they really wanted and they resented her. Again it’s up to you how they feel now she’s back

Someone she was flirting with at the after party (male or female) - before she she left, she could have been pursuing someone but it could be that after a bathroom break she came out to see them making out with someone else and that’s what made her leave when she did. She’ll lowkey blame them now. 

The Abduction: 

Brie was abducted by somebody employed by the academies for the tour, specifically, a mentor involved in photography. He knew Brie obviously from her modelling career and had worked with her a lot and after enlisting a few other people to help in the abduction, including a personal driver, Brie got into a car she thought was safe, ready to leave the party and head back to her room. She never got there. 

It was an abduction based on sexual abuse and someone with wider motives, but Brie didn’t last long enough to discover what could have happened and what they had planned. During the week she was away, she was held tied up in a basement in a place she didn’t know, drugged, abused and assaulted repeatedly by various men. These assaults were filmed. 

Brie was never meant to be let go. But since the tour has resumed, her captives have agreed it would be way too risky to keep their job on the tour and keep her hidden. They agreed to release her but not after they were sure she had the story straight. As far as the police, public and everyone around her are concerned, Brie simply wondered off that night and after too much to drink, doesn’t have much memory of it. She stayed away because she got really sick afterwards and upon realising she was a missing person, chose to come back. If she told the truth, the recordings of what really happened were going to be released; ruining her career, her reputation, her life. Her friends and family will see her in a way that horrified her. She was completely brain washed and terrified. 

[fashioneditswebsite]

Futuristic fashion or alien invasion? Prada presents weirdly wonderful new collection

Prada went wacky at Milan Fashion Week with alien headpieces and deconstructed workwear. Ground control to Miuccia Prada. The Italian label’s latest collection has given traditional fashion a futuristic space-age spin. Prada’s spring/summer 2025 womenswear collection featured a star-studded front row, including actor Carey Mulligan, TikTok creator Dixie D’Amelio, and the K-Pop boy band Enhypen, who are ambassadors of the label. Fans were screaming outside as K-pop boyband ENHYPEN entered the building (Luca Bruno/AP) Miuccia Prada has been leading the brand for 46 years and is known for predicting future fashion trends. Moreover, this collection was certainly no different... The co-creative directors, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons blend nostalgic workwear with sharp metallics and dynamic silhouettes. Space-age aesthetics were paired with more traditional skirts and loafers (Luca Bruno/AP) Avant-garde alien headwear and silver studded skirts paired with A-line overcoats from the sixties and pussy-bow blouses from the Eighties. Pussy-bow blouses were paired with alien headpieces (Luca Bruno/AP) The collection featured metal spoons fashioned into tops paired with tailored wool coats. Models wore suit trousers tucked into patent orange Wellington-like boots. Additionally, the collection had a disconcerting dystopian feel. The minimal workwear presented was not polished but rather scruffy, with upturned collars and crumpled trench coats.. It’s perhaps a commentary on the end of the office, with remote working and digital drifting being today’s preference. Spaceship-style bucket hats were presented throughout the show (Luca Bruno/AP) Alongside the alien sunglasses and hole-embellished bucket hats, the collection had a sense of ethereality – adding a more delicate, otherworldly character. Leggings and bodysuits were swathed in sheer skirts and gowns, providing a gossamer fineness that lifted the ensembles and allowed them to drift down the runway. The model’s sheer dress was adorned with feathers (Luca Bruno/AP) Miuccia Prada revived some of the label’s classics, including flat leather sandals from 1996 and platform Oxfords from 2011. Pairing these with circular-cut, transparent leather garments blurred the lines between past and present designs. The season captured a unique balance between reality and fantasy, playing with contrasts in form and function. Furthermore, Prada and Simons offered another fresh take on the label’s enduring legacy. Read the full article

[iwanthermidnightz]

“Not a shot. Not a single chance. Not a snowball’s chance in hell.”

Taylor Swift — who, at 30, has reached a Zen state of cheerful realism — laughs as she leans into a pillow she’s placed over her crossed legs inside her suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, leaning further still into her infinitesimal odds of winning a Golden Globe, which will zero out when she heads down to the televised ball in a few hours.

Never mind whether or not the tune she co-wrote, “Beautiful Ghosts,” might actually have been worthy of a trophy for best original song (or shortlisted for an Oscar, which it was not). Since the Globe nominations were revealed, voters could hardly have been immune to how quickly the film it’s a part of, “Cats,” in which she also co-stars, became a whipping boy for jokes about costly Hollywood miscalculations and creative disasters. Not that you’ll hear Swift utter a discouraging word about it all. “I’m happy to be here, happy to be nominated, and I had a really great time working on that weird-ass movie,” she declares. “I’m not gonna retroactively decide that it wasn’t the best experience. I never would have met Andrew Lloyd Webber or gotten to see how he works, and now he’s my buddy. I got to work with the sickest dancers and performers. No complaints.”

If this leads you to believe that the pop superstar is in the business of sugarcoating things, consider her other new movie — a vastly more significant documentary that presents Swift not just sans digital fur but without a whole lot of the varnish of the celebrity-industrial complex. The Netflix-produced “Taylor Swift: Miss Americana” has a prestige slot as the Jan. 23 opening night gala premiere of the Sundance Film Festival before it reaches the world as a day-and-date theatrical release and potential streaming monster on Jan. 31.

The doc spends much of its opening act juxtaposing the joys of creation with the aggravations of global stardom — the grist of many a pop doc, if rendered in especially intimate detail — before taking a more provocative turn in its last reel to focus more tightly on how and why Swift became a political animal. It’s the story of an earnest young woman with a self-described “good girl” fixation working through her last remaining fears of being shamed as she comes to embrace her claws, and her causes.

Given that the film portrays how gradually, and sometimes reluctantly, Swift came to place herself into service as a social commentator, “Miss Americana” is a portrait of the birth of an activist. Director Lana Wilson sets the movie up so that it pivots on a couple of big letdowns for its subject. The first comes early in the film, and early in the morning, when Swift’s publicist calls to update her on how many of the top three Grammy categories her 2017 album “Reputation” is nominated for: zilch. She’s clearly bummed about the record’s brushoff by the awards’ nominating committee, as just about anyone who’d previously won album of the year twice would be, and determinedly tells her rep that she’s just going to make a better record.

But she suffers what feels like a more meaningful blow toward the end of the film. In the fall of 2018, Swift finally comes out of the closet politically to intervene on behalf of Democrats in a midterm election in her home state of Tennessee. As the Washington Post put it, this announcement “fell like a hammer across the Trump-worshipping subforums of the far-right Internet, where people had convinced themselves… that the world-famous pop star was a secret MAGA fan.” Donald Trump goes on camera to smirk that he now likes Swift’s music a little less. The singer is successful in enlisting tens of thousands of young people to register to vote, but her senatorial candidate of choice, Democrat Phil Bredesen, loses to Republican Marsha Blackburn, whom she’d called out as a flagrant enemy of feminism and gay rights.

“Definitely, that was a bigger disappointment for me,” Swift says, pitting the midterm snub against the Grammy snub. “I think what’s going on out in the world is bigger than who gets a prize at the party.”

It was not always thus for Swift — as the detractors who dragged her for staying quiet during the last presidential election eagerly pointed out. If you had to pick the most embarrassing or regrettable moment in “Miss Americana,” it might be the TV clip from “The Late Show With David Letterman” in which the host brings up politics and gets Swift to essentially advocate the “Shut up and sing” mantra. As the studio audience roars approval of her vow to stay apolitical, Letterman gives her what now looks like history’s most dated fist bump.

Thinking back on it, Swift is incredulous. “Every time I didn’t speak up about politics as a young person, I was applauded for it,” she says. “It was wild. I said, ‘I’m a 22-year-old girl — people don’t want to hear what I have to say about politics.’ And people would just be like, ‘Yeahhhhh!’”

At that point, Swift was already starting to record isolated pop tracks, taking baby steps that would soon turn into full strides away from her initial genre. But whether she had designs on switching lanes or not, the lesson of the Dixie Chicks’ forced exile after Natalie Maines’ comment against then-President George W. Bush had branded itself onto her brain at an earlier age, when she’d just planted her young-teen flag in Nashville and overheard a lot of the lamentations of older Music Row songwriters about how the Chicks had thrown it all away.

“I saw how one comment ended such a powerful reign, and it terrified me,” says Swift. “These days, with social media, people can be so mad about something one day and then forget what they were mad about a couple weeks later. That’s fake outrage. But what happened to the Dixie Chicks was real outrage. I registered it — that you’re always one comment away from being done being able to make music.”

Maybe the most transfixing scene in “Miss Americana” is one where Swift argues with her father and other members of her team about the statement she’s about to release coming out against Blackburn and — it’s clear from her references to White House opposition to the Equality Act — Donald Trump too. The comments were so spontaneous that Wilson wasn’t there to film the moment, but the director had asked people to turn on the camera if anything interesting transpired, and here it most certainly did.

“For 12 years, we’ve not got involved in politics or religion,” an unnamed associate says to Swift, suggesting that going down the road of standing against a president as well as Republican gubernatorial and Senate candidates could have the effect of halving her audience on tour. Her father chimes in: “I’ve read the entire [statement] and … right now, I’m terrified. I’m the guy that went out and bought armored cars.”

“I needed to get to a point where I was ready, able and willing to call out bullshit rather than just smiling my way through it.” TAYLOR SWIFT

But Swift is adamant about pressing the button to send a nearly internet-breaking Instagram post, saying that Blackburn has voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act as well as LGBTQ-friendly bills: “I can’t see another commercial [with] her disguising these policies behind the words ‘Tennessee Christian values.’ I live in Tennessee. I am Christian. That’s not what we stand for.” Pushing back tears, she laments not having come out against Trump two years earlier, “but I can’t change that. … I need to be on the right side of history. … Dad, I need you to forgive me for doing it, because I’m doing it.”

Says Swift now, “This was a situation where, from a humanity perspective, and from what my moral compass was telling me I needed to do, I knew I was right, and I really didn’t care about repercussions.” She understands why she faced such heated opposition in the room: “My dad is terrified of threats against my safety and my life, and he has to see how many stalkers we deal with on a daily basis, and know that this is his kid. It’s where he comes from.”

Swift was recently announced as the recipient of a Vanguard Award from GLAAD, and she name-checked the org in her basher-bashing single “You Need to Calm Down,” which was released as one of the teaser tracks for last fall’s more outwardly directed and socially conscious “Lover” album. Part of her politicization, she says, is feeling it would be hypocritical to hang out with her gay friends while leaving them to their own devices politically. In the film, she says, “I think it is so frilly and spineless of me to stand onstage and go ‘Happy Pride Month, you guys,’ and then not say this, when someone’s literally coming for their neck.”

A year and a half later, she elaborates: “To celebrate but not advocate felt wrong for me. Using my voice to try to advocate was the only choice to make. Because I’ve talked about equality and sung about it in songs like ‘Welcome to New York,’ but we are at a point where human rights are being violated. When you’re saying that certain people can be kicked out of a restaurant because of who they love or how they identify, and these are actual policies that certain politicians vocally stand behind, and they disguise them as family values, that is sinister. So, so dark.”

Her increasing alignment with the LGBTQ community wasn’t the only thing raising her consciousness to a breaking — i.e., speaking — point. So did the sexual assault trial in which judgment was rendered that she had been groped by a DJ in a backstage photo op (for financial restitution, Swift had asked for $1).

Her experience with the trial was crucial, she says, in finding herself “needing to speak up about beliefs I’d always had, because it felt like an opportunity to shed light on what those trials are like. I experienced it as a person with extreme privilege, so I can only imagine what it’s like when you don’t have that. And I think one theme that ended up emerging in the film is what happens when you are not just a people pleaser but someone who’s always been respectful of authority figures, doing what you were supposed to do, being polite at all costs. I still think it’s important to be polite, but not at all costs,” she says. “Not when you’re being pushed beyond your limits, and not when people are walking all over you. I needed to get to a point where I was ready, able and willing to call out bulls— rather than just smiling my way through it.”

That came into play when Kanye West stepped into her life and publicly shamed her a second time. In the video Kim Kardashian released in 2016, you can hear the people-pleasing Swift on the other end of the line sheepishly thanking him for letting her know about the “Me and Taylor might still have sex” line he plans to include about her in a song — only to regret it later when the eventual track also includes the claim “Why? I made that bitch famous.” The boast, of course, referred back to the moment when he interrupted her and stole her spotlight at the MTV VMAs six years earlier as she was in the middle of an acceptance speech. West’s is not a name that ever publicly escapes Swift’s lips, so it might be surprising to fans that these events are recapped in “Miss Americana,” although Swift says the filmic decisions were all up to the director, who explains that Swift’s reaction to the episode was important to include.

“With the 2009 VMAs, it surprised me that when she talked about how the whole crowd was booing, she thought that they were booing her, and how devastating that was,” says Wilson. “That was something I hadn’t thought about or heard before, and made it much more relatable and understandable to anyone.”

“I see the movie as looking at the flip side of being America’s sweetheart.” LANA WILSON, DIRECTOR OF “TAYLOR SWIFT: MISS AMERICANA”

Swift acknowledges how formative both incidents have been in her life, for ill and good. “As a teenager who had only been in country music, attending my very first pop awards show,” she says now, “somebody stood up and sent me the message: ‘You are not respected here. You shouldn’t be here on this stage.’ That message was received, and it burrowed into my psyche more than anyone knew. … That can push you one of two ways: I could have just curled up and decided I’m never going to one of those events ever again, or it could make me work harder than anyone expects me to, and try things no one expected, and crave that respect — and hopefully one day get it.

“But then when that person who sparked all of those feelings comes back into your life, as he did in 2015, and I felt like I finally got that respect (from West), but then soon realized that for him it was about him creating some revisionist history where he was right all along, and it was correct, right and decent for him to get up and do that to a teenage girl…” She sighs. “I understand why Lana put it in.”

Adds the woman who started her recent “Lover” album with a West-allusive romp that’s pointedly called “I Forgot That You Existed”: “I don’t think too hard about this stuff now.”

What’s not in the film is any mention of her other most famous nemeses — Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta of Big Machine Records, with whom she’s scrapped publicly for several months. “The Big Machine stuff happened pretty late in our process,” says Wilson. “We weren’t that far from picture lock. But there’s also not much to say that isn’t publicly known. I feel like Taylor’s put the story out there in her own words already, and it’s been widely covered. I was interested in telling the story that hadn’t been told before, that would be surprising and emotionally powerful to audiences whether they were music industry people or not.”

Still, the way Swift has been willing to stand up politically for others parallels the manner in which she stood up for herself in regard to Braun, et al., at the recent Billboard Women in Music Awards, where she gave an altogether blistering speech, naming names and taking no prisoners, going after the men who now control her six-album Big Machine back catalog. Certainly Swift was aware that, along with supporters, there were many friends and business associates of Braun among the VIPs in the Hollywood Palladium who would not be pleased with what this very reformed people-pleaser had to say.

One thing everyone who was in the room agrees on is that you could hear a pin drop as Swift used the speech to get even bolder about the meat of these disputes. Some would say it’s because they were riveted by her boldness in speaking truth to power, others because they just felt uncomfortable. Says one fellow honoree who works in a high position in the industry (and who’s worked with some high-profile Braun clients): “People were excited for her at the beginning of the speech. But once she started going in a negative direction at an event that is supposed to be celebrating accomplishments and rah-rah for women, I felt it fell flat with a good portion of the room, because it wasn’t the appropriate place to be saying it.”

Wasn’t it intimidating for Swift, knowing she might be polarizing an auditorium full of the most powerful people in the business? “Well, I do sleep well at night knowing that I’m right,” she responds, “and knowing that in 10 years it will have been a good thing that I spoke about artists’ rights to their art, and that we bring up conversations like: Should record deals maybe be for a shorter term, or how are we really helping artists if we’re not giving them the first right of refusal to purchase their work if they want to?”

“Obviously, anytime you’re standing up against or for anything, you’re never going to receive unanimous praise. But that’s what forces you to be brave. And that’s what’s different about the way I live my life now.” (Braun’s camp did not respond to a request for comment.)

One thing Taylor Swift can’t bend to her determined will is her family’s health. She revealed a few years ago that her mother, Andrea, a beloved figure among the thousands of fans who’ve met her at road shows, is battling breast cancer. Swift addressed the uncertainty of that struggle in an anguished song on her latest album, “Soon You’ll Get Better.” Many who view “Miss Americana” will look for signs of how her mom is doing. The subject comes up in a section of the film that includes a relatively light-hearted scene in in which it’s shown that one of Andrea Swift’s ways of saying “eff you” to cancer recently was to break the mold and bring a canine — her “cancer dog” — into a famously feline-friendly family.

The real answer may come in Swift’s touring activity for “Lover.” Whereas typically she’d spend nine months in the year after an album release on the road, she plans to limit herself to four stadium dates in America this summer and a trip around the festival circuit in Europe. This may not be 100% for personal reasons: “I wanted to be able to perform in places that I hadn’t performed in as much, and to do things I hadn’t done before, like Glastonbury,” she says. “I feel like I haven’t done festivals, really, since early in my career — they’re fun and bring people together in a really cool way. But I also wanted to be able to work as much as I can handle right now, with everything that’s going on at home. And I wanted to figure out a way that I could do both those things.”

Is being able to be there for her mother the main concern? “Yeah, that’s it. That’s the reason,” she says. “I mean, we don’t know what is going to happen. We don’t know what treatment we’re going to choose. It just was the decision to make at the time, for right now, for what’s going on.”

In her case, it’s as if her manager had taken seriously ill as well as the person she’s always been closest to, all at once. “Everyone loves their mom; everyone’s got an important mom,” she allows. “But for me, she’s really the guiding force. Almost every decision I make, I talk to her about it first. So obviously it was a really big deal to ever speak about her illness.” During filming, when Andrea’s breast cancer had returned for a second time, “she was going through chemo, and that’s a hard enough thing for a person to go through.” Then it got harder. Speaking about this latest development publicly for the first time, Swift quietly reveals: “While she was going through treatment, they found a brain tumor. And the symptoms of what a person goes through when they have a brain tumor is nothing like what we’ve ever been through with her cancer before. So it’s just been a really hard time for us as a family.”

Compared with that, nearly any other topic the movie might address would pale. But it finds weightiness in addressing other kinds of unhealthiness, like the physical expectations that are placed on women in general and celebrity women specifically, Swift being no exception. In this department, she has her own heroines. “I love people like Jameela Jamil, because he way she speaks about body image, it’s almost like she speaks in a hook. Women are held to such a ridiculous standard of beauty, and we’re seeing so much on social media that makes us feel like we are less than, or we’re not what we should be, that you kind of need a mantra to repeat in your head when you start to have unhealthy thoughts. I swear the way Jameela speaks is like lyrics — it gets stuck in my head and it calms me down.”

Swift’s collaborator in this messaging, Wilson, was on a list of potential directors Netflix gave her when she expressed interest in possibly doing a documentary to follow the concert special that premiered on the service just over a year ago. You could discern a feminist message, if you chose to, in the fact that Swift chose a director most well known for a documentary about abortion providers, “After Tiller.” Swift says she was most impressed, though, that Wilson’s docs look for nuance and subtlety in addressing subjects that do lend themselves to soapboxes, and their first conversation was about their mutual desire to avoid “propaganda” in any form.

If there’s a feminist agenda in “Miss Americana,” Wilson and Swift wanted it to emerge naturally, although the director admits it was pretty blatant from the outset, given that she set up the film (which is co-produced by Morgan Neville, the director’s “sounding board”) with an all-female crew. Or nearly all-female, says Wilson, laughing, “I will say that we did always have male production assistants, because I like trying to show people that men can fetch coffee for women.”

Adds Wilson, “When I started filming, it was before she’d come out politically. She knew that she was coming out of a very dark period, and wanted collaborate on something that captured what she was going through and that was really raw and honest and emotionally intimate.” The political awakening, the director says, “was a profound decision for her to make. In that, I saw this feminist coming of age story that I personally connected with, and that I really think women and girls around the world will see themselves in.”

“The bigger your career gets, the more you struggle with the idea that a lot of people see you the same way they see an iPhone or a Starbucks.” TAYLOR SWIFT

The film borrows its title from a song on the “Lover” album, “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince,” that’s maybe the one fully allegorical song Swift has ever released — and, in its fashion, is a great protest song. The entire lyric is a metaphor for how Swift grew up as an unblinking patriot and has had to reluctantly leave behind her naiveté in the age of Trump. Her partner on that track, as well as other message songs like “You Need to Calm Down” and “The Man,” was a co-writer and co-producer new to her stable of collaborators this time around, Joel Little.

With the song “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince,” although the lyrics are cloaked in metaphor, “We like to think it was a very clear statement,” Little says. “There are lots of little hidden messages within that song that are all pointing toward the way that she thinks and feels about politics and the United States. I love that it uses a lot of classic Taylor Swift imagery, in terms of the songwriting topics of high school and cheerleaders, as a clever nod to what she’s done in the past, but tied in with a heavy political message.”

“Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince” doesn’t actually appear in the documentary, but the director says the film’s title is understood by fans as an obvious reference to political themes in the number. “Even if you don’t know the song,” Wilson says, “I see the movie as looking at the flip side of being America’s sweetheart, so I like how the title evokes that too.”

The doc doesn’t lack for its own protest songs though. In the wake of her midterm disappointment, Swift is seen writing an anthem for millennials who might have come away disillusioned with the political process. That previously unheard song, “Only the Young,” is seen being demo-ed before it plays in full over the end credits; it’ll be released as a digital single in conjunction with the doc. Key lyric: ““You did all that you could do / The game was rigged, the ref got tricked/ The wrong ones think they’re right / We were outnumbered — this time.”

“One thing I think is amazing about her,” says Wilson, “is that she goes to the studio and to songwriting as a place to process what she’s going through. I loved how, when she got the Grammy news (about “Reputation”), this isn’t someone who’s going to feel sorry for herself or say ‘That wasn’t right.’ She’s like, ‘Okay, I’m going to work even harder.’ You see her strength of character in that moment when she gets that news. And then with the election results, I loved how she channeled so many of her thoughts and feelings into ‘Only the Young.’ It was a great way to kind of show how stuff that happens in her life goes directly into the songs; you get to witness that in both cases.

So is the film aimed at satisfying the fan base or teasing the unconvinced hordes who might dial it up as a free stream? “I think it’s a little bit of both,” Swift says. “I chose Netflix because it’s a very vast, accessible medium to people who are just like, ‘Hey, what’s this? I’m bored.’ I love that, because I do so many things that cater specifically to fans that like my music, I think it’s important to put yourself out there to people who don’t care at all about you.”

In the wake of the last round of Kanye-gate, stung by the backlash of those who took his side, Swift took a three-year break from interviews. The mantra of her 2017 album “Reputation” and subsequent tour was “No explanations.” But her Beyoncé-style press blackout was a passing phase. With “Lover” and now, especially, the documentary, she could hardly be more about the explanations. Although this interview is the only one she currently plans to do about the documentary, it’s clear that she’s come back into a season of openness, and that she considers it her natural habitat.

“I really like the whole discussion around music. And during ‘Reputation,’ it never felt like it was ever going to be about music, no matter what I said or did,” she says. “I approach albums differently, in how I want to show them to the world or what I feel comfortable with at that time in my life.” Being more transparent “feels great with this album. I really feel like I could just keep making stuff — it’s that vibe right now. I don’t think I’ve ever written this much. That’s exhibited in ‘Lover’ having the most songs that I’ve ever had on an album” (18, to be exact). “But even after I made the album, I kept writing and going in the studio. That’s a new thing I’ve experienced this time around. That openness kind of feels like you finally got the lid off a jar you’ve been working at for years.”

Cipher-dom never could have stood for long for someone who’s established herself as one of the most accomplished confessional singer-songwriters in pop history. “I don’t really operate very well as an enigma,” she says. “It’s not fulfilling to me. It works really well in a lot of pop careers, but I think that it makes me feel completely unable to do what I had gotten in this to do, which is to communicate to people. I live for the feeling of standing on a stage and saying, ‘I feel this way,’ and the crowd responding with ‘We do too!’ And me being like, ‘Really?’ And they’re like, ‘Yes!’”

Swift believes talking things up again isn’t a form of giving in to narcissism — it’s a way of warding off commodification.

“The bigger your career gets, the more you struggle with the idea that a lot of people see you the same way they see an iPhone or a Starbucks,” she muses. “They’ve been inundated with your name in the media, and you become a brand. That’s inevitable for me, but I do think that it’s really necessary to feel like I can still communicate with people. And as a songwriter, it’s really important to still feel human and process things in a human way. The through line of all that is humanity, and reaching out and talking to people and having them see things that aren’t cute.

[ledenews]

Little Feat “Can’t Be Satisfied” Tour Coming to Wheeling 

Legendary rock group Little Feat will perform at the Capitol Theatre on October 22, 2024. Joining the group will be special guest Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel.  Tickets for the performance go on sale Friday, May 10th at 10:00 am ET. A special venue pre-sale is available on Thursday, May 9th from 10:00 am until 10:00 pm using the code CAPITOL.  The members of Little Feat emerged from the pandemic with their sense of humor, chops, and collective joy in playing intact.  Over the past three years, they’ve focused tours on their epic live album Waiting for Columbus and re-issues of their second through fourth albums (Sailin’ Shoes, Dixie Chicken, and  Feats Don’t Fail Me Now.)  Audience response has been rapturous.  The band builds on a deep, over 50-year history.  Little Feat used a combination of elite musicianship and brilliant, idiosyncratic songwriting to create a repertoire that transcends all boundaries.  California rock, funk, folk, jazz, country and rockabilly mixed with New Orleans swamp boogie led to a powerful sound that has kept the audience dancing for decades. Their groove – in songs like “Dixie Chicken,” “Spanish Moon,” “Fat Man in the Bathtub,” and “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” – was so infectious it allowed them to endure and press on even when losing their founder, Lowell George, and founding drummer, Richie Hayward.  They’re in top form now with Scott Sharrard on lead/vox and Tony Leone on drums/vox, and with founder Bill Payne on keys/vox, Fred Tackett on guitars/vox, Kenny Gradney on bass, and Sam Clayton on percussion/vox. Now it’s time for something new.  Their creativity has been renewed, and 2024 will see the release of the brand-new Sam’s Place, in which Feat backs their linchpin conga player, Sam Clayton, on vocals.  The album features a new song, “Milk Man,” by Sam, Scott, and Fred. There’s a live version of “Got My Mojo Working.”  Sam and Bonnie Raitt duet on Muddy’s “Long Distance Call.”   Sam’s Place scratches a deep itch.  Sam added, “I'm very happy because I was never expecting anything like that.  I mean, I have wanted to, but I just wasn't expecting it to come to the fruition.  It was a long wait, but it’s satisfying.”   By the time Duane Betts began working on Wild & Precious Life — his triumphant debut solo album — he’d already spent two decades creating his own version of guitar-slinging, story-driven American rock & roll. The years leading up to Wild & Precious Life‘s creation were a whirlwind. Duane cut his teeth with the bands Backbone69 and Whitestarr, then spent the better part of ten years playing guitar alongside his father — legendary Allman Brothers co-founder Dickey Betts — as a member of Dickey Betts & Great Southern. He’d also travel the world as a touring member of Dawes before releasing an EP of his own songs, Sketches of American Music, in 2018. As the decade drew to a close, Duane co-founded The Allman Betts Band, releasing two records in 2019 and 2020. Tickets are available for the Capitol Theatre performance at CapitolTheatreWheeling.com, the WesBanco Arena Box Office or by calling 304-233-7000. Read the full article

[justforbooks]

Michael McClure obituary

By Michael Hrebeniak

US writer who saw himself and his fellow Beat poets as the literary wing of the green movement

Michael McClure was one of the six poets who took part in the reading on 7 October 1955 at the Six Gallery in San Francisco that announced the arrival of the Beat generation. Performing his poem For the Death of a Hundred Whales, which commemorated an act of slaughter by bored GIs stationed at an Icelandic Nato base, McClure declared his dominant concern with the animal consciousness in man rendered dormant by industrialisation.

Describing the ethos of that night, a watershed in American culture at which Allen Ginsberg first presented Howl, McClure, who has died aged 87, wrote: “We were locked in the cold war and the Asian debacle. The country had the feeling of martial law … We saw that the art of poetry was essentially dead – killed by war, by academies, by neglect, by lack of love, and by disinterest. We knew we could bring it back to life … We wanted voice and we wanted vision.”

His first book, Passage (1956), testified to his belief that the Beats comprised the “literary wing” of the green movement. The next decade saw McClure in part catalyse the transition from Beat to hippy, frequently writing under the influence of psychotropics and performing Blakean melodies on his autoharp, most notably at the Gathering of the Tribes for a Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in 1967, the apex of the counterculture movement.

“Poetry is a muscular principle and a revolution for the body-spirit and intellect and ear,” he proclaimed on the cover of his 1964 collection, Ghost Tantras. “There are no laws but living changing ones, and any system is a touch of death.” Inside the book lay a blazing series of poems with no prior literary blueprint, representing McClure’s faith in the imaginative act to renew man’s “meat-spirit”, and bring to form a meeting between the realms of ethnopoetics, biology and ritual.

In 1966 he was filmed reading from the work to the lions at San Francisco Zoo, the poet handsome and fearless – “a defining moment in 20th-century poetry”, according to Jerome Rothenberg.

Throughout this era McClure straddled the Haight-Ashbury scene, pulling energies exuberantly towards him and revelling in Dionysian conflict. “JESUS HOW I HATE THE MIDDLE COURSE!” he roared in the poem Love Lion (1970). Accordingly he rode with the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels, fascinated by notions of charismatic allegiance and destructive power, and collaborated with its secretary, Freewheelin’ Frank, on his autobiography.

McClure also co-wrote the lyrics for Janis Joplin’s 1970 song Oh Lord, Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes-Benz, and made an explosive contribution to American theatre with darkly absurdist plays such as The Beard (1965) and Josephine: The Mouse Singer (1980). The former, which orbited a seduction scene in hell between Billy “the Kid” Bonney and Jean Harlow, attracted the charge of “lewd and dissolute conduct in a public place” after its opening performances by the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop in 1965, before moving to Los Angeles, where the police arrested the entire cast every night during its two-week run.

Prior to this, Jack Kerouac had dramatised McClure in his 1962 novel Big Sur as the “handsome but faintly ‘decadent’ Rimbaud-type personality,” Pat McLear, with “a goddamn HAWK on his shoulder”. But a measure of McClure’s appeal beyond Beat limits was the endorsement of his work by the Nobel prizewinning scientist Francis Crick, who acknowledged his shared position within McClure’s “private world of personal reactions and the biological world, [while] in between, above and below, stands man, the howling mammal, contrived out of ‘meat’ by chance and necessity.”

Crick included two lines from McClure’s Peyote Poem (1959) - “THIS IS THE POWERFUL KNOWLEDGE / we smile with it” – in his 1966 book Of Molecules and Men: proof to the poet of “the important, yet little known reaching out from science to poetry and from poetry to science that was part of the Beat movement.”

Born in Marysville, Kansas, Michael was the son of Marion (nee Dixie Johnston) and Thomas McClure. Soon afterwards they divorced, and Michael, partly raised by his maternal grandfather, grew up in Seattle, where he immersed himself in an American wilderness ethic extending back to Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Returning to Kansas to study at Wichita University, he became part of an informal group that included the experimental film-maker Stan Brakhage, the actor Dennis Hopper and the painter Bruce Conner.

After marrying Joanna Kinnison in 1954, he headed for San Francisco, initially intending to study painting with Clyfford Still and Mark Rothko at the Art Institute, only to discover that they had decamped the previous year. Instead he apprenticed himself as a poet to Robert Duncan, a radiant core of the city’s emerging renaissance, and to Charles Olson, then rector of Black Mountain College. Olson spoke of the poem in terms of “speed,” “kinetics”, and “energy transference” from subject to poet to reader, and this awakened McClure’s sense of art’s capacity for healing and liberation. Seizing, too, on Jackson Pollock’s desire to let a work’s “life come through” in the act of making, McClure set about translating his “swinging loops of paint” into the “spiritual autobiography and gesture” of poetry. The results were soon aired at the Six Gallery reading.

McClure joined the faculty of the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland in 1971, the year that he attended the UN Environmental Conference in Stockholm, along with the poet Gary Snyder, the visionary technologist Stewart Brand and the naturalist Sterling Bunnell. Having previously collaborated with Jim Morrison, lead singer of the Doors, McClure began working with the group’s keyboardist Ray Manzarek and the composer Terry Riley in a bid to return to a “common tribal dancing ground whether we were poets, or painters, or sculptors”. With Manzarek he released a live album of performance pieces, Love Lion, in 1993.

With the encouragement of his second wife, the sculptor Amy Evans, whom he married in 1997, McClure became progressively concerned with recording of Zen Buddhist states of being in his poetry, words moving as breath and gliding spaciously down a page.

“Many of us who began to write in the 50s were desperados,” McClure later recalled. “And in the teeth of the times we were outlaws. But now anyone with deep human or humane feelings is something like an outlaw.” McClure nonetheless maintained an unswerving commitment to “the discovery of the materiality of consciousness, whether in the sound of a car starting, the tension of a shoulder muscle, or the floating of an owl feather in the breeze,” through many collections of verse, essays and recordings.

He is survived by Amy and by a daughter, Jane, from his first marriage, which ended in divorce, and two grandchildren.

• Michael McClure, poet, playwright and essayist, born 20 October 1932; died 4 May 2020

© 2020 Guardian News

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[cannabisbusinessexecutive]

A Note From Dixie Brands CEO, Chuck Smith

A Note From Dixie Brands CEO, Chuck Smith

The Dixie Elixirs brand was founded over 10 years ago as a pioneer in the cannabis industry.  Recently, the national conversation about racism and injustice has focused our attention to the pain the Dixie name can cause due to the historical context of the word. 

We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Black community, and we stand firmly against racism and injustice. To stay true to…