It’s a damn shame musicians stopped combining powers to raise money for charitable causes. I’m not talking telethons or some cause de célèbre which is nothing but a cash grab (shout out to Wyclef). I’m talking about singers joining forces and making music in hastily organized mobs to save the world. Remember Do The Muslim Kids Know It’s Christmas? How about We Are The World? Don’t give me that We Are The World 25 For Haiti mess. That’s lazy. Come with the original.
The lack of charity posse cuts stems from the fact that music no longer has selfless heroes. Everyone’s more concerned about making money for self through every available channel. Where are the Harry Belafontes and Bob Geldfofs of today?
We don’t need another hero? Wrong. We need another Dio. You read that right. Dio. How did I just found out about heavy metal’s contribution to the fight against famine called Hear N’ Aid? The word brilliant doesn’t do it justice. Witness the strength of Stars.
Dio. Dokken. Quiet Riot. Judas Priest. Queensrÿche. Y&T. Twisted Sister. W.A.S.P. Iron Maiden. Night Ranger? Whatever. A who’s who of heavy metal.
Stars has something like seven guitar solos. Not one. Not even two. Multiple solos donated to hungry African shorties. Throw some horns up for that.
Friday was the 28th anniversary of We Are The World. Has anyone asked the original USA for Africa participants whether they’d be interested in throwing a fundraiser for Dionne Warwick? Oof. Hear N’ Aid should have opened an IRA for… well, everyone involved. Last one standing gets the pot. Thanks for playing, Ronnie James Dio and Kevin DuBrow. We have some lovely parting gifts on your way home.
New to you heavy metal to start the morning. Now get out there and be somebody.
Note: Allow me to be serious for a moment. AllAfrica and USA for Africa are gearing up to commemorate the 30th anniversary of We Are The World. Harry Belafonte and Yvonne Chaka Chaka released a launch video to get the ball rolling. You can watch it here.
Oh Kegasus we barely knew ye. How will we remember our favorite party centaur? The Kentucky Derby Museum suggests a decanter of delicious bourbon. Brownest of the brown liquors. What’s that? You want me to drink you? I’m in the middle of writing a post.
The museum is releasing a Secretariat themed decanter right before the Kentucky Derby. That’s not the best part. It’ll be filled with Four Roses bourbon as picked by Penny Chenery, Secretariat’s owner. I’m not quite clear on why she owns a dead horse but I mind my own damn business and stay out of people’s personal affairs.
Kegasus would one up the Kentucky Derby by introducing a pony keg sized decanter of himself filled with Natty Boh. Just the sauce one needs before making the annual Preakness Toilet Run.
The commemorative drinking vessel is a brilliant idea that other sports should take up. Forget plastic cups or koozies. The Yankees could release a David Wells-shaped keg. The Argentine Football Association should put out a ceramic Maradona container that can hold your coke, mini-knife, credit cards and cash. The possibilities are endless.
Ramzan Kadyrov is a bloodthirsty autocrat put in place by Vladmir Putin to quash the Chechen insurgency. He kills mothers and children while torturing anyone suspected of being a Muslim militant. This is what many would have you believe. Look at him. Do you doubt Hilary Swank? Could a man who owns a tiger be that evil? That’s almost as ridiculous as calling an Italian a fascist.
Kadyrov finally ran up against an immovable object in the form of the Russian Football Union. The association banned Terek Grozny from playing in their stadium for one match after the Chechen president berated a referee over the PA system during a match.
Kadyrov, who is the club’s president as well as the leader of the troubled Russian republic, reacted angrily to referee Mikhail Vilkov’s dismissal of Terek captain Rizvan Utsiev during Sunday’s 0-0 draw at home to Rubin Kazan.
The local leader took control of the Grozny arena’s public address system to shout: “The referee is corrupt. You jerk!”
Kadyrov followed up by saying the jerk store ran out of Mikhails or something along those lines.
It’s much easier to defy Kadyrov from almost 1000 miles away in Moscow. One can only assume referee Mikhail Vilkov spent no time getting to the airport and leaving the province before being fed to a tiger or hunted by the president and his cronies.
Kadryov later apologized for his actions but excluded the referee. He instead invited him to a getaway at his dacha so they can talk things out over some homemade djepelgesh. Watch Surviving The Game, Mikhail. You don’t want none of what Ramzan got.
The tension between singer Harun Tekin and Harun Tekin the goalkeeper has to be intense. It’s probably something along the lines of the beef between Initech’s Michael Bolton and the milquetoast crooner Michael Bolton who, with his inoffensive covers of soul hits, brings suburban moms to their knees without the negro aggression. The hostility may go in one direction because the more famous one doesn’t know the other but that doesn’t make it less valid. Why take out your frustration on a fax machine when you can smash a living, breathing pitch invader? Allow Buraspor’s Tekin to show us the way.
Note: Why must assclowns always add terrible music to video clips? I wish Jack Dalton was still alive to mete out justice on them and their ilk. Now get off my lawn.
“Calling all cars. Calling all cars. Be on the lookout for a fat, silver and black guy with spikes wearing a silver and black helmet, silver and black jersey, Mardi Gras beads and Doc Martins. Last seen in section 105 heading east. He’s bad.”
The Oakland Coliseum or whatever the pit where the Raiders and A’s play is called isn’t a cafe so it’s probably off Rand Paul’s radar. That’s great news for Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern who wants to employ drones in his jurisdiction. It’s bombs away on cafes and homeless people.
On October 25, Sheriff Ahern sent a letter to AEG Vice President Chris Wright, who is the facilities manager at the Coliseum and Arena, asking to test a product made by Intelligence Based Integrated Security Systems Inc., known as IBIS2. The patent-pending surveillance system from IBIS2 uses “intelligent video” technology that has civil libertarians on their guard.
… IBIS2 sought to conduct a field test in Oakland because of the bad-boy image of Raiders’ fans. “If you ask ten NFL fans which team they associate with violence, they’ll most likely say the Raiders,” said Kephart. He cited two shootings at a pre-season game between the Raiders and San Francisco 49ers as another reason for wanting to test his system in the Bay Area. It should be noted, however, that those shootings occurred at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
… Ahern’s October 25 letter to AEG strongly indicated that the technology would be used for both license-plate and facial recognition. Ahern wrote that IBIS2′s product would be used “in or around sports venues,” including parking lots, and would provide law enforcement with the capability for “instant data retrieval resulting in preemptive action.” Ahern also wrote that the system could “be utilized to detect persons of interest, wanted criminals, parole and probation violators, state certified gang members, and repeat fan violence offenders.” Such detection capabilities likely could not be derived from reading license plates alone.
That’ll work real well in the Black Hole. It’s hard to see how IBIS2′s facial recognition technology would do any good inside the stadium. Ahern would be better off arresting whole sections of fans if his deputies want to deal the blow back. Unfortunately for them, the Black Hole doesn’t consist of defenseless, homeless people.
The idea that the Sheriff’s Department would use the system to preemptively track people for reasons outside of incidents in the area of the stadium should give pause to anyone concerned about privacy rights. Let’s not talk about cases of mistaken identity yet. There are matters of law enforcement misusing information gleaned for other purposes. The public has no idea how much or what kind of data would be stored let alone what it would be used for by Alameda County or any other local, state or federal agency with access to it. The possibilities for abuse outweigh any potential gains from arbitrary surveillance especially from a department already dealing with several abuse of power scandals.
Fortunately AEG refused to test the system on their property. Professional sports venues already have the ability to use video to find people who commit crimes within the confines of their property. There’s no reason to expand to the use of facial recognition technology by outside law enforcement. Teams can hand over video footage to police on an as-needed basis. Fans willingly accept that their image can be used by teams and respective leagues once they enter the stadium or arena. However the expectation of most law-abiding people is that any footage will be used solely for entertainment purposes unless an incident requiring law enforcement intervention takes place. They doesn’t attend a game thinking that their face will be stored in some unknown location for whatever use some random sheriff sees fit.
Maybe Raiders fans should consider themselves lucky. John Yoo would advocate drone bombing potential criminals during games. “I am the law!” On the other hand death would prevent them from seeing Carson Palmer throw another pick-6. Cowboys fans must be salivating over this possibility.
Here’s your musical reference. A pox on you if you didn’t get it.
Sheriff Ahern is a no good scavenger when it comes to the retention of personal data. A catfish vulture even. Say facial recognition and do the wop!
