Steve Knopper, writing at GQ:
Every hardcore band you loved in the ’80s and beyond, from Black Flag to Minutemen to Fugazi, had one unfortunate thing in common: Nazi skinheads occasionally stormed their concerts, stomped their fans, gave Hitler salutes in lieu of applauding, and generally turned a communal experience into one full of hatred and conflict. […]
Here’s an oral history on how punks took back their scene.
This is great.
Tyler Hayden, writing for the Santa Barbra Independent:
Michael Davenport, a Santa Barbara resident and former bassist for the punk rock band The Ataris, was indicted last month on federal conspiracy and fraud charges for allegedly operating a nationwide telemarketing real estate scam that cheated approximately 100,000 people out of $27 million between 2009 and 2016.
Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional is on the latest episode of the Rock Sound Podcast. He talks a lot about growing up in the emo/pop-punk scene, and how it’s changed:
The part that I don’t feel connected with was when certain bands started to use their songs as a platform to brag, about how much money they had or how wonderful they were. That’s when I checked out. When I say we got knocked down a peg, I think it’s maybe a better choice of words to say we got knocked off our perch a little bit. We weren’t played on the radio – we were kind of whipping boys who were made fun of.
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. day and it’s worth re-reading some of his speeches:
This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today’s mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up.
Amy Wang, writing at The Washington Post:
Around 8:05 a.m., the Hawaii emergency employee initiated the internal test, according to a timeline released by the state. From a drop-down menu on a computer program, he saw two options: “Test missile alert” and “Missile alert.” He was supposed to choose the former; as much of the world now knows, he chose the latter, an initiation of a real-life missile alert.
The Greatest Showman soundtrack is once again the number one album in the country this week:
The soundtrack to the musical drama film The Greatest Showman scores a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, as the set earned 104,000 equivalent album units (down 3 percent) in the week ending Jan. 11, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 70,000 were in traditional album sales (down 10 percent).
Dolores O’Riordan, the lead singer of The Cranberries, has passed away. She was 46.
The band’s publicist confirmed O’Riordan’s death in a brief statement, “Irish and international singer Dolores O’Riordan has died suddenly in London today. She was 46 years old. The lead singer with the Irish band The Cranberries was in London for a short recording session.”
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Amazon is celebrating the Golden Globes win for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel by streaming it for free this weekend. This was one of my favorite shows last year, I highly recommend it.
Natalie Jarvey, writing for The Hollywood Reporter:
YouTube has put its original projects with Logan Paul on hold following widespread criticism over a video he posted Dec. 31 that featured images of a suicide victim.
The Google-owned streamer announced the action 11 days after the video was first published. (Paul removed it from his channel a day after he posted it after he faced a backlash over his treatment of mental health issues.)
Tither-Kaplan is one of five women who, in interviews with The Times, accused Franco, 39, of behavior they found to be inappropriate or sexually exploitative. Four were his students, and another said he was her mentor.
In some cases, they said they believed Franco could offer them career advancement, and acquiesced to his wishes even when they were uncomfortable.
Lily Hay Newman, writing at Wired:
These redirects can show up seemingly out of the blue when you’re in a mobile browser like Chrome, or even when you’re using a service like Facebook or Twitter and navigating to a page through one of their in-app browsers. Suddenly you go from loading a news article to wriggling away from an intrusive ad. What enables these ad redirects to haunt virtually any browser or app at any time, rather than just the sketchy backwaters in which they used to roam? Third-party ad servers that either don’t vet ad submissions properly for the JavaScript components that could cause redirects, or get duped by innocent-looking ads that hide their sketchy code.
Not a day goes by that I don’t get pitched some variation of these kinds of ads for this website. They promise thousands of dollars a month in revenue, and it seems like a lot of big websites are saying yes to these third party ad networks. I think it’s killing the internet.
Paramore sat down with MusicFeeds:
There are nights where I think it’s harder or we’ll be playing and I’ll sing a line that I haven’t thought about in a while and it’ll hit me differently. But I think that’s good. I mean, I’m only speaking for myself here but I think that’s healthy. You sort of have to sort of look in the mirror every now and then and really reflect on what it is you said about your life and the difference in maybe how you feel now. And in a lot of ways, I think it’s been healing for all of us to get out and play these songs for people.
Lena Dunham and Jack Antonoff have decided to separate:
The actress took to Instagram Tuesday (Jan 5) to share an inspirational quote about new beginnings. The blue text against a soft pink background reads, “Starting over is the beautiful moment where you choose to love yourself.”