Celine Dion breaks down in tears as she opens up in regards to the challenges she has confronted after being recognized with stiff individual syndrome (SPS) in a brand new trailer for her upcoming documentary.

Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Irene Taylor, I Am: Celine Dion will provide a behind-the-scenes have a look at the Canadian singer’s life since being recognized with the uncommon neurological situation and the lengths she has gone to to hold on performing. The 56-year-old cancelled her Las Vegas residency as a result of well being issues in 2021, earlier than revealing her SPS prognosis in December 2022 and cancelling her Braveness World Tour.

The trailer opens with a clip of Dion belting out a excessive word earlier than her voiceover says: “My voice is the conductor of my life. When your voice brings you pleasure, you are the very best of your self. I would like my instrument.”

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It then cuts to an emergency name being made earlier than the singer, who’s sat in a chair, says: “I have been recognized with a really uncommon neurological dysfunction and I wasn’t able to say something earlier than, however I am prepared now.” The teaser incorporates a host of video snippets of Dion commanding the stage throughout her exhibits and recording within the studio as she displays on her profession.

“It is not exhausting to do a present, . It is exhausting to cancel a present,” she says within the two-minute trailer. “I am working exhausting on a regular basis however I’ve to confess, it has been a battle.” A tearful Dion provides: “I miss it a lot. The individuals, I miss them.” If I am unable to run, I will stroll. If I am unable to stroll, I will crawl. I will not cease.”

The Prime Video documentary is billed as a “love letter to her followers” which can spotlight “the music that has guided her life whereas additionally showcasing the resilience of the human spirit”. The famous person, whose finest recognized hits embody My Coronary heart Will Go On, Assume Twice and It is All Coming Again To Me Now, has offered greater than 250 million albums throughout her 40-year profession.

Dion has additionally earned 5 Grammys, two Oscars and the Billboard Music Award lifetime achievement icon award. In a Vogue France cowl story launched final month she addressed returning to finish her world tour.

“For 4 years I have been saying to myself that I am not going again, that I am prepared, that I am not prepared… As issues stand, I am unable to stand right here and say to you ‘Sure, in 4 months’,” Dion instructed the journal. “I do not know… My physique will inform me. However, I do not simply need to wait. It is morally exhausting to stay from each day.”

“It is exhausting, I am working very exhausting and tomorrow shall be even tougher. Tomorrow is one other day. However there’s one factor that may by no means cease, and that is the need. It is the eagerness. It is the dream. It is the willpower,” she added.

The primary signs of SPS are muscle stiffening and spasming and there’s at present no treatment for the illness, however there are methods for it to be handled together with by using muscle sedatives and relaxants. Bodily and occupational remedy can also be a therapy route for individuals with SPS.

I Am: Celine Dion will stream globally on Prime Video on June 25.

I’ve by no means heard an Asian girl—actually not one in her eighties—cuss as exuberantly or regularly because the late filmmaker Dai Sil Kim Gibson. I image her throwing her head again, glass raised, cackling on the sound of her personal F-bombs, her wild hair shaking: kinetic iron spirals. She cooked like she lived and filmed, with feeling. She made one of the best bindaetok, or Korean mung bean pancakes, rushed, sizzling, and crusted. (Her secret ingredient: kimchi juice.)

She was additionally well-known for her Iowa Fried Rooster, based mostly on a dish made by her beloved husband’s mom, solely even higher, by all stories. (Right here, too, a tang of acid—lemon—made it fly.) From this riotous cook dinner, activist, writer, and keeper of historical past—Dai Sil, as she most popular to be known as by all—I realized two important storytelling classes which might be additionally dwelling classes, which modified my writing and me.

These classes start with the Korean phrase han, which has been known as an existentially Korean phenomenon of grief or anguish, one which defies translation—although these days, there was some contestation over the time period and what it means. In her e-book Silence Damaged, about Korean girls who had been systematically sexually enslaved by the Japanese in the course of the second World Conflict, Dai Sil defines han as: “lengthy sorrow and struggling turned inward.” “Lengthy” will not be confined to a single lifetime. It accrues in layers, grows in knots, individually but in addition probably over generations and handed down.

Dai Sil defines han as: “lengthy sorrow and struggling turned inward.” “Lengthy” will not be confined to a single lifetime. It accrues in layers, grows in knots, individually but in addition probably over generations and handed down.

Han saturates her work—whether or not Sa-I-Gu, her movie in regards to the Los Angeles riots; or A Forgotten Folks, about Koreans left behind on the Sakhalin Islands; or the movie model of Silence Damaged. In every of those documentaries, han haunts. And but, Dai Sil’s energy as a storyteller derives from her skill to see the people whose sufferings she tells, past their collective trauma.

My first, important lesson from Dai Sil on this theme got here to me as a narrative. I assisted her—and her expensive buddy and frequent filmic collaborator, Charles Burnett—on location in Korea on the movie model of Silence Damaged. However I used to be not current for his or her early interviews of the “Halmeonis,” or grandmothers, as Dai Sil most popular to name the previous “consolation girls”—a horrible euphemism she purposefully deployed. (I honor her phrase selection right here, wishing solely that I knew the person names of the ladies, as she had. Names are so usually the primary issues to go when tales are handed down, particularly in translation.)

Dai Sil instructed me of how, when she initially approached the “Halmeonis,” lots of them had already been interviewed earlier than—repeatedly—and would launch into what had turn into a recitation of trauma. Dai Sil discovered this unsettling and remembered asking one specific Halmeoni if she may inform one thing of what she knew and cherished and did in her life earlier than the camps.

“You wish to find out about my childhood?” The Halmeoni was at first incredulous. Nobody had expressed such curiosity in who she was earlier than the occasions that got here to outline her, at the very least within the public eye. However Dai Sil acknowledged the fullness of who this girl was, and in doing so, obtained and represented the fullness of her story.

The Halmeonis, regardless of lots of them having repeatedly spoken to the press—may very well be specific about who they instructed their tales to, who they needed to be within the room. When a younger male manufacturing assistant entered the area, one Halmeoni, Dai Sil recalled, pointed to him and commanded: “Out.” She was positive that he was of Japanese ancestry and was furious at his presence, even when Dai Sil promised her he was of Korean ancestry. One other Halmeoni questioned why Charles Burnett was directing the mission. What did this American filmmaker find out about their story? That he was Black didn’t enter into the equation: What they cared about was that he was American, not Korean. That is when Dai Sil mentioned, gently: “His folks have identified han, Halmeoni.” And with this quiet utterance, a phrase grew to become a bridge, by which these women admitted an unknown traveler into their world.

I’ve returned to those tales repeatedly as I’ve labored by myself telling of the story of two people whose experiences and historical past lie far outdoors my very own—Ellen and William Craft—in my newest e-book, Grasp Slave Husband Spouse. Dai Sil’s oral historical past interviews have jogged my memory of the significance of making an attempt to see who the Crafts had been earlier than and after the unforgettable escape from slavery that has come to outline them—the fullness of who they’re. And her phrase—“His folks have identified han”—gave me a framework for beholding the fullness of their expertise, what got here earlier than them, what they carried, and what they handed on. (By the way, it might be Charles Burnett who would introduce me to a descendant of the Crafts, a great-great-granddaughter, Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely.)

Then, too, there was one other operative Korean phrase, additionally thought of a translation problem: jung. Approximations embrace love or affection or sympathy or attachment, however it, like han, is seasoned in layers, and it’s advanced. You may hate somebody and really feel jung for them. You may really feel jung regardless of your self. Jung, too, inhabits and haunts.

Each of those ideas, han and jung, guided my understanding of the Crafts and their story: on the one hand, the saturated struggling, unbound by time or lifetime, on the opposite, the jung that introduced the Crafts collectively not solely with one another however with their folks and their world, making it attainable and vital for them to hold on. This is the reason my authentic title for the e-book learn: Grasp Slave Husband Spouse: An American Love Story. Solely in my head, it was American Jung story.

Purists might say that these expressions are uniquely Korean. Or, that as a Korean American writing in English, I’m not getting them proper, that they’re in translation.

Purists might say that these expressions are uniquely Korean. Or, that as a Korean American writing in English, I’m not getting them proper, that they’re in translation. Only a taste, a mode, a aptitude, like my cooking isn’t “actually” Korean, like Dai Sil’s rooster isn’t “actually” Iowa. I’m fairly positive I do know what Dai Sil Ajuma—from whom I realized about one phrase, han, whereas feeling, deeply, the opposite, jung—would say to that, and it’s not printable. However I can freely conjure the gesture, as Daisil, along with her husband Don chuckling beside her, hoots and raises her glass.

______________________

Ilyon Woo’s Grasp Slave Husband Spouse is accessible now.

24 Might 2024, 10:41

Celine Dion has shared tearful particulars of her well being struggles in new footage for a documentary about her prognosis of Stiff Individual Syndrome.

The star, 56, was been battling the devastating neurological situation since she was identified in 2022.

The singer has been filming a documentary I Am: Celine Dion which is to be launched subsequent month.

Within the new footage the singer will be seen tearfully vowing how she’s going to ‘crawl’ to her exhibits slightly than be defeated by the situation.

“I’ve been identified with a really uncommon neurological dysfunction and I wasn’t able to say something earlier than,” she says.

“However I’m prepared now.”

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“It’s not exhausting to do a present, it’s exhausting to cancel a present,” she stated via tears.

“I’m working exhausting daily however I’ve to confess, it’s been a battle. I miss it a lot, the folks, I miss them.”

“If I can’t run, I’ll stroll. If I can’t stroll, I’ll crawl. However I gained’t cease,” she added.

Celine was pressured to cancel a number of dates in 2022 when she was first identified.

She later introduced the cancellation of her complete world tour in Might 2023.

Followers have informed of their devastation after viewing the quick clip forward of the discharge of the documentary.

One stated: “I won’t be able to deal with this documentary about Celine Dion. I might want to take a day to simply cry as a result of the trailer is already making need to sob. I LOVE Celine.”

“Celine Dion made me cry and her documentary isn’t even out but,” one viewer wrote on X/Twitter.

One other commented: “After watching the trailer I feel us followers are going to be in for one hell of an emotional rollercoaster… she is such a power of nature and I’m so pleased with her and to be her fan!”

“Celine Dion’s energy and resilience to endure is really inspiring,” one other viewer posted. “We love you Celine!”

Within the trailer as she undergoes remedy and remedy for her situation.

She says: “I’m working exhausting daily. However I’ve to confess, it’s been a battle.

I Am: Celine Dion might be out there to stream on Prime Video from 25 June.

A brand new trailer for Tim Burton’s long-awaited Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has supplied followers a glimpse of latest characters performed by Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci and Justin Theroux. See it under!

The movie, which is ready to be launched in cinemas on 6 September, is the sequel to Burton’s beloved 1988 horror comedy Beetlejuice. The brand new trailer confirms the dying of Deetz household patriach Charles, who was performed by Jeffrey Jones within the unique film.

The sequel sees Winona Ryder reprise her function as Lydia Deetz, who’s now an grownup with a daughter of her personal, Astrid, performed by Wednesday breakout star Jenna Ortega.

Within the wake of Charles’ dying, Astrid summons Beetlejuice, performed as soon as once more by Michael Keaton in one of many actor’s iconic roles.

 

Purple Lobster, America’s largest seafood chain recognized for its shrimp and Cheddar Bay biscuits, has filed for chapter.

Its seafood eating places are in sizzling water after a sequence of dangerous selections by a parade of executives, together with an ill-fated promotion for all-you-can-eat-shrimp beginning at $20.

Nearly 580 areas within the U.S. and Canada are anticipated to remain open by way of the method, using about 36,000 staff. Final week, dozens of different Purple Lobster areas closed abruptly. Their complete contents — together with freezers, ovens, cubicles and lobster tanks — have already been auctioned off.

The fireplace sale was a precursor to a long-expected chapter submitting, wherein Purple Lobster plans to promote “considerably all of its property.” Since March, the chain has been run by CEO Jonathan Tibus, often called a corporate-restructuring skilled.

Purple Lobster’s troubles embody “a tough macroeconomic surroundings, a bloated and underperforming restaurant footprint, failed or ill-advised strategic initiatives, and elevated competitors throughout the restaurant trade,” Tibus wrote in court docket paperwork.

Model disaster meets possession crises

Purple Lobster, now the biggest seafood chain, didn’t get cooked only recently. It has struggled for a decade as diners have pulled away from massive casual-dining chains.

In that world, Purple Lobster was one of many originals. It began in 1968 and exploded by way of the Eighties and Nineties, internet hosting generations of Individuals for celebrations and dates — with many cracking their very first lobsters at its tables.

In recent times, marked by rising inflation, Purple Lobster has been dropping out on each ends: to more energizing, nicer, extra native eating places; and to the rising tide of cheaper, faster spots, like Shake Shack or Surfside Taco.

And through this cultural shift, Purple Lobster’s funds have floundered.

A non-public fairness agency purchased the chain ten years in the past from Darden Eating places, which owns rivals Olive Backyard and LongHorn Steakhouse. The agency, Golden Gate Capital, funded the deal partly by promoting Purple Lobster’s actual property.

That meant the chain needed to begin paying hire. That’s now a significant monetary think about Purple Lobster’s chapter submitting, which asks the court docket to reject 108 leases, letting the corporate abandon these areas.

Since 2020, Purple Lobster has been run by its largest shareholder: Thai Union Group, a seafood provider additionally behind the Hen of the Sea model. And the chapter submitting lays a lot blame on Thai Union and ex-CEO Paul Kenny.

After huge monetary losses through the pandemic, adopted by will increase within the prices of meals and wages, Thai Union pursued in depth cost-cutting at Purple Lobster. The chain was run by a conveyor belt of executives; it had no CEO for a 12 months.

The chapter submitting alleges that Thai Union interfered with every day operations and even pushed out two rival suppliers of breaded shrimp, securing a costlier unique deal for itself.

All-you-can-eat shrimp fiasco

Then got here a reboot concept that become a jumbo catastrophe: Final Infinite Shrimp. Purple Lobster took its basic promotion and made it everlasting, with costs initially beginning at $20.

Thai Union later cited this as the principle reason behind its $11 million loss that quarter. The purpose was to get extra folks within the door, which did occur. However many diners then stayed for hours, selecting at plate after plate of shrimp dishes and — critically — shopping for little else.

Thai Union CEO Thiraphong Chansiri later mentioned the ordeal left him scarred.

“Different folks cease consuming beef, I’m going to cease consuming lobster,” he instructed traders.

In January, Thai Union washed its palms of Purple Lobster. The house owners mentioned they might basically abandon their stake within the chain, setting the restaurant firm on a path to chapter.

On this week’s Chapter 11 submitting, Purple Lobster says it has a prearranged bid, often called a “stalking horse” bid, from its lenders to purchase out the chain, except it receives the next rival bid.

A brand new trailer for Tim Burton’s long-awaited Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has supplied followers a glimpse of recent characters performed by Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci and Justin Theroux.

The movie, which is about to be launched in cinemas on 6 September, is the sequel to Burton’s beloved 1988 horror comedy Beetlejuice.

The brand new trailer confirms the loss of life of Deetz household patriach Charles, who was performed by Jeffrey Jones within the authentic film.

The sequel sees Winona Ryder reprise her function as Lydia Deetz, who’s now an grownup with a daughter of her personal, Astrid, performed by Wednesday breakout star Jenna Ortega.

Within the wake of Charles’ loss of life, Astrid summons Beetlejuice, performed as soon as once more by Michael Keaton in one of many actor’s iconic roles.

Schitt’s Creek star Catherine O’Hara additionally returns as Lydia’s mom Delia Deetz.

Newcomers to the forged embrace Bellucci, who performs Beetlejuice’s spouse, Dafoe, who performs the sinister Wolf Jackson, and Justin Theroux as a personality named Rory.

Home of the Dragon’s Arthur Conti additionally joins the forged to make his function movie debut.

Earlier this 12 months, Burton revealed that the sequel was impressed by his personal journey “from cool teenager to lame grownup”.

The Edward Scissorhands director, 65, informed Leisure Weekly that getting Keaton again into the long-lasting costume and make-up was “a bizarre out-of-body expertise”.

“He simply received again into it,” Burton stated. “It was form of scary for any individual who was possibly not that overly keen on doing it. It was such an exquisite factor for me to see all of the forged, however he, kind of like demon possession, simply went proper again into it.”

He added that he and Keaton had mentioned a sequel for years, however that “except it felt proper, he had no burning need to do it.”

Burton continued: “I believe all of us felt the identical manner. It solely made sense if it had an emotional hook.”

He stated they discovered that hook in Ortega’s character Astrid.

“I so recognized with the Lydia character, however then you definately get to all these years later, and you’re taking your individual journey, going from cool teenager to lame grownup, backwards and forwards once more,” defined Burton. “That made it emotional, gave it a basis. In order that was the factor that actually actually received me into it.”

Final 12 months, Burton informed The Impartial that engaged on the Beetlejuice sequel had reawakened his love for film-making.

“On this final one, Beetlejuice 2, I actually loved it,” he stated. “I attempted to strip every part and return to the fundamentals of working with good individuals and actors and puppets. It was form of like going again to why I favored making motion pictures.”

(AP) – Crimson Lobster, the informal eating chain that introduced seafood to the plenty with innovations like popcorn shrimp and “infinite” seafood offers, has filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety.

The 56-year-old chain made the submitting late Sunday, days after shuttering dozens of eating places.

“This restructuring is one of the best path ahead for Crimson Lobster. It permits us to deal with a number of monetary and operational challenges and emerge stronger and re-focused on our development,” CEO Jonathan Tibus mentioned. Tibus, a company restructuring skilled, took the highest publish on the chain in March.

Crimson Lobster mentioned its 600 eating places would proceed to function by the chapter proceedings, that are meant to simplify operations, shut places and pursue a sale. As a part of the submitting, Crimson Lobster entered right into a so-called “stalking horse” settlement, that means it plans to promote its enterprise to an entity shaped and managed by its lenders.

Based on courtroom filings, Crimson Lobster has 551 U.S. eating places, 27 eating places in Canada and 27 franchised places in Mexico, Japan, Ecuador and Thailand. The corporate mentioned it has 36,000 workers within the U.S. and Canada.

Aaron Allen, the founding father of restaurant consulting agency Aaron Allen & Associates, mentioned Monday that the chapter was the end result of 20 years of bother at Crimson Lobster, which has struggled with growing competitors from quicker, cheaper chains like Chipotle and Panera.

Typically, Crimson Lobster would decrease its costs to compete, a transfer that was typically disastrous. In 2003, the corporate misplaced tens of millions of {dollars} on an all-you-can-eat “Countless Crab” promotion when crab costs rose, Allen mentioned. Twenty years later, the chain did the identical factor with an “Final Countless Shrimp” promotion.

“The truth that they might have this sort of company amnesia is an interesting case examine in company meals service,” Allen mentioned.

He mentioned Crimson Lobster had extra success within the mid-2000s, when it repositioned itself as an upscale restaurant. It raised costs and renovated shops. However it nonetheless struggled with rising lease and labor prices and altering client tastes.

“This slow-moving prepare wreck has been in movement for 20 years now,” Allen mentioned.

Orlando, Florida-based Crimson Lobster mentioned in courtroom filings that its annual visitor counts had been down 30% from 2019. The chain misplaced $76 million in 2023.

The chain was based by Invoice Darden, who wished to make seafood eating places extra accessible and inexpensive for households.

Darden received his begin within the restaurant enterprise in Waycross, Georgia, in 1938, when he opened The Inexperienced Frog. He boldly refused to segregate the restaurant’s patrons by race, which went in opposition to state legal guidelines on the time. When he opened the primary Crimson Lobster close to Orlando in 1968, he once more invited clients to sit down wherever they selected.

Darden offered Crimson Lobster to Normal Mills in 1970, and he continued to run eating places as a Normal Mills government. Normal Mills later went on to kind Darden Eating places, which owns Olive Backyard and different chains. Darden Eating places was spun off from Normal Mills in 1995.

Crimson Lobster had legions of followers for dishes like lobster linguini and its buttery Cheddar Bay biscuits.

“There isn’t a one of-woman-born who doesn’t like Crimson Lobster cheddar biscuits. Anybody who claims in any other case is a liar and a Socialist,” comic and actress Tina Fey wrote in her memoir “Bossypants.”

However the restaurant had bother maintaining with rivals and bringing in youthful clients. Darden Eating places offered Crimson Lobster to a non-public fairness agency in 2014. Thai Union Group, one of many world’s largest seafood suppliers, first invested in Crimson Lobster in 2016 and upped its stake in 2020.

Then final fall, Crimson Lobster misplaced tens of millions of {dollars} on its “Final Countless Shrimp” promotion, which charged $20 for all-you-can-eat shrimp deal.

“We knew the worth was low cost, however the thought was to carry extra site visitors within the eating places,” Ludovic Garnier, the chief monetary officer of Thai Union Group, mentioned in an earnings name with buyers.

Garnier mentioned the deal did work, and restaurant site visitors elevated. However extra company opted for the $20 deal than Crimson Lobster anticipated, and “we don’t earn some huge cash at $20,” he mentioned. For the primary 9 months of 2023, Thai Union Group reported a $19 million loss from Crimson Lobster.

In January, Thai Union Group introduced its intention to exit its minority funding in Crimson Lobster. CEO Thiraphong Chansiri mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic, trade headwinds and rising working prices had hit the eating chain arduous and prompted “extended damaging monetary contributions to Thai Union and its shareholders.”

Restaurant liquidator TAGeX Manufacturers introduced final week that it will be auctioning off the tools of over 50 Crimson Lobster places that had been not too long ago closed. The shop closures span throughout greater than 20 states — lowering Crimson Lobster’s presence in cities like Denver, San Antonio, Indianapolis and Sacramento, California.

Allen expects Crimson Lobster’s restaurant footprint to shrink by one-third to one-half as a part of the chapter course of. Many potential consumers simply need the chain’s actual property, Allen mentioned.

“Most certainly whoever buys it isn’t going to need to repair up Crimson Lobster,” he mentioned.

Crimson Lobster mentioned within the courtroom submitting that it has greater than 100,000 collectors and estimated property between $1 billion and $10 billion. The corporate’s estimated liabilities are between $1 billion and $10 billion.

Copyright 2024 The Related Press. All rights reserved.

When Damon McMahon, aka Amen Dunes, ran by means of the record of individuals he had in thoughts to speak to about Dying Jokes, his first album launch in six years, he thought-about the standard suspects: Whoopi Goldberg, Martin Shkreli, Tom Cruise. However Dunes, a longtime comedy buff, landed on the comic and actress Patti Harrison, drawn to the summary and infrequently absurd approach she lampoons modern tradition. Musicians and comedians, he posited, may need extra in frequent than you’d suppose. Additionally featured on his new document is an array of comedy titans, together with Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor, whose stand-up clips are interpolated. “This album is me attempting to speak about all this shit that nobody needs to speak about, all of the little stuff that goes on between the traces,” he advised Harrison on a Zoom name earlier this month. “It’s my model of being political.” In dialog, the 2 discuss Tim & Eric, the state of the music business, and deal with the Angophile allegations. 

———

AMEN DUNES: Hey, Patti.

PATTI HARRISON: Hey. Can I name you Damon?

DUNES: Yeah.

HARRISON: I didn’t know for those who needed me to name you Dunes, which I’m completely satisfied to do. I don’t need to lifeless title you. Effectively, thanks for having me on. Actual fast, what impressed you to ask me to be the primary interview you probably did?

DUNES: That’s a very good query. Really, the primary query is, what are we doing? Are we supposed to simply discuss random stuff? 

HARRISON: I did an interview for Interview Journal as soon as that was profiling me. I used to be in the identical boat the place I believed it was about two artists interviewing one another equally. The one who interviewed me was Tim Heidecker. So I’m the Tim Heidecker right here. I’m interviewing you and we’re going to discover no matter you need to discuss, actually. It doesn’t must be about your new album. I believe that’s an thrilling factor to speak about, however you would additionally discuss any illnesses or something that you just’re presently combating.

DUNES: I’m very, very, very sick and I’m dying.

HARRISON: That’s TMI and I can not maintain area with you on that.

DUNES: I believed we’d simply randomly discuss, which may go very flawed.

HARRISON: The dialog may veer into one thing that’s deeply painful for each of us, after which we may spiral about it in a approach that makes us lose observe of time–

DUNES: An outpouring.

HARRISON: A gradual outpouring of interior bile and abscesses leaking into the general public sphere. 

DUNES: They had been like, “Who ought to we ask?” So I requested about all these ridiculous folks.

HARRISON: Whoopi Goldberg? Martin Shkreli?

DUNES: Yeah, precisely.

HARRISON: Benito Mussolini.

DUNES: Tom Cruise. Yeah. Anyway, I’m a giant comedy fan, however I’m very choosy about it. I used to be a extreme Tim & Eric fan for a few years. My brother’s a giant comedy individual and through the years he would all the time be like, “Test this out,” however nothing would evaluate. Tim & Eric was all I used to be serious about. Then he confirmed me I Suppose You Ought to Depart [with Tom Robinson], and also you had a scene the place you had been a wealthy enterprise individual or one thing.

HARRISON: I don’t know what you’re speaking about.

DUNES: And I’ll simply say, I discover that this world may be very conservative and that artists are very conservative and they’re copycats or simply fucking need consideration. Issues aren’t in a terrific state. I noticed your efficiency and I used to be like, “She has some kind of absurdity in her that’s not feigned or pressured.” It was not the usual expression. I simply actually admired it. 

HARRISON: That’s very nice to listen to and thanks for saying that.

DUNES: I imply it, as a result of particularly with comedy there’s simply quite a lot of pale performances on the market, you understand what I imply? I believe actually good comedians have a sensibility… I imply, I may get extra nerdy and analytical, however I don’t must.

HARRISON: I agree with you about that. I may discuss all day concerning the symbiosis of comedians and musicians and the way they usually covet what one another have in the best way that they’re in a position to specific, in order that they actually admire one another. I really feel like quite a lot of musicians I do know don’t actually like to speak about music, they need to discuss different stuff.

DUNES: Yeah, precisely.

HARRISON: When you begin as a honest earnest musician and you place out music and other people fall in love with the expression, if they arrive to your reside present and also you’re humorous on stage, it’s one of the best discovery for the fan as a result of they’re like, “Whoa, this individual isn’t solely a very good musician, they’re additionally actually personable and humorous.” But when a comic is like, “I need to begin both releasing earnest music, or I need to begin being a honest, dramatic actor,” persons are like, “What’s your dumb ass doing?”

DUNES: It’s true. I don’t know why that’s. 

HARRISON: Anyway, I’m going to pivot. I need to ask, the place are you from?

DUNES: I used to be born in Philadelphia. These are good, let’s maintain it boring.

HARRISON: Okay, I’ve to be sincere. After I noticed your image, I assumed you had been Scottish.

DUNES: That’s cool. I’m an Anglophile, I suppose.

HARRISON: Yeah, it’s the hair. And also you appear stoic. I watched a few your music movies and I really feel like you will have a stoic-ness that feels knowledgeable by the ache and the power of the Scotch. However anyway, let’s discuss your album. It’s out in the present day on Sub Pop, and that’s actually thrilling. Big congratulations to you, Damon, aka Dunes.

DUNES: Thanks.

HARRISON: How do you’re feeling about an album launch day? 

DUNES: I imply, I’ve been doing this for therefore lengthy. I’ve so many emotions concerning the music business generally. I had quite a lot of fiery emotions in these latest months, witnessing the musical panorama. I haven’t put an album out for six years and I’ve been placing albums out for 22 years. It’s very completely different now and it’s very disappointing and disturbing the best way the world works nowadays with artwork. When you requested me a month in the past, I’d have been like, “I’m going to stop making music. I don’t actually need to do that anymore,” in virtually all sincerity. However now, folks have sat with this album and I’ve executed these interviews and I’ve had some direct fan interplay stuff and it’s been heartwarming. Interviews have been deeper and other people have understood extra. I really feel some kind of gratification from placing this out. While you hearken to the playback or to a recording of one thing you probably did, you’re like, “That was so superb, I really feel gratified.” Then it comes out into the world and it’s filtered by means of advertising and fucking digital platforms and all that fucking nastiness. That fucks it up, for me. Anyway, I really feel balanced in the present day, however I all the time have combined emotions about it.

HARRISON: Do the fiery emotions across the shift within the music business pertain to TikTok and social media’s integration into the music business and the inventive business at massive, I’d dare say?

DUNES: Yeah, undoubtedly. I’ve all the time made very introspective music, and this album is definitely very outwardly contrarian content material. It’s my model of being political. It’s partly about what occurs when every little thing that we’re is smashed and filtered by means of the fucking digital realm. This album is about that and it was very bizarre to expertise that through the launch.

 

HARRISON: I completely relate to that feeling. I’ve quite a lot of pals who work in music and once I watch the best way that younger persons are pressured to advertise their very own music by making these movies of them sitting of their automobile, lip-syncing their personal music… I’ve a deep underground bunker of hundreds of cringe TikToks of individuals self-promoting their music which can be so humorous and in addition devastating on the identical time that I’ll by no means share publicly apart from between my pals, as a result of I understand how laborious it’s to place your self on the market. I simply surprise what the sustainability of that’s for artists. I can’t think about how a lot you most likely really feel it, being within the business. I clocked that within the lyrics in your album and I simply watched the video for “Across the World” and there was a line that was basically, “We’re attempting to face up and struggle again, however we’re doing it inside their programs that they supply for us. We’re utilizing their instruments and their means.” 

DUNES: Yeah.

HARRISON: The music video is so—and I apologize for utilizing this phrase about your work—epic. There’s a hugeness to it, quite a lot of discovered footage. With the movies and the album itself, it looks as if there’s quite a lot of ambiance through the use of radio frequency. You mentioned it’s been six years. I noticed that 2018 was when Freedom got here out?

DUNES: Yeah.

HARRISON: What’s been happening together with your music life since 2018? You mentioned you had been even eager about quitting music…

DUNES: I imply, I used to make artwork for artwork’s sake… Equally, I really feel like your work and possibly your stand-up has a kind of contentious, difficult high quality to it, too. Your comedy feels prefer it’s partaking with the fucking issues of the world, even when abstractly. So anyway, in the previous few years, it broke my coronary heart to see what was happening on the planet. And I began making this album and these songs they usually got here on their very own. I don’t sit down with a pen and write out what’s in my head. I sit down an instrument and I begin taking part in when the temper strikes me, after which these lyrics simply come out. All this began popping out that was commenting on what I used to be seeing round me. So as a substitute of being introspective, it was very outward and important. 

HARRISON: I undoubtedly suppose that the lockdown of all of it, even pre-lockdown, how a lot stuff was happening throughout Trump’s presidency… I believe the best way that we’re uncovered to the horrifying information of the world actually skyrocketed the publicity stage. There’s a stage of trauma that comes with that mentally. 

DUNES: Yeah, completely. This album is me attempting to speak about all this shit that nobody needs to speak about, all of the little stuff that goes on between the traces. That shit, such as you mentioned, trauma through the pandemic, that’s one thing that individuals simply faux didn’t even occur. I’m not speaking concerning the pandemic itself, however the heightened ratcheting up of our emotional lives was consultant of one thing that had been happening since Trump was elected. It reached this breaking level and the entire world was like, “Nah, this simply doesn’t fucking matter. Simply maintain making shit, maintain making content material or go carry out for the world.” I’m a really delicate individual. My music has all the time been very delicate and for the primary time, I used to be actually affected by it. So I’m speaking about all that stuff on this album. However what I found was folks noticed this album, which is fucking insane. At first it was like, “Oh yeah, it’s one other piece of content material. I’m not going to trouble to learn into it or ask questions or give it some thought in any respect.” It was simply one other swipe on their Instagram feed or one thing. It was a world feeling like, “Wow, folks don’t give a fuck. They only need to have their mouths fed they usually simply need stimulation. They don’t need to cease and query something.” That’s a part of what I’m speaking about on this document.

HARRISON: Loads of that resonates with me so deeply. We’re educated to try this versus the larger programs that situation folks to be that approach, like all of the algorithms and the best way the apps are designed to fireplace your mind up in sure methods and shorten your consideration span. And that’s unhealthy for artwork, that’s unhealthy for you, that’s unhealthy for me.  However I do suppose there are folks on the market who’re nonetheless aching for the Dunes expertise they usually’ve been ready for it for a very long time. So I believe it’s an unbelievable reward even when folks’s brains are a little bit scrambled by being on-line on a regular basis. Can I ask you one final query? What made you decide on the title Dying Jokes for the album?

DUNES: Effectively, I occur to have a non secular follow, and there’s this Hindu concept of Vedanta, which is basically that this little being on this physique isn’t your complete actuality, not your true identification in a nutshell. They kind of tease that dying is a fantastic, virtually unreal cycle of types. So through the pandemic, I used to be confronted with my clinging to this little factor whereas remembering that I don’t have to be so connected and terrified. These songs had been like my dying jokes. When you hearken to the lyrics and stuff, they’re kind of speaking about my music outliving me and reminding me to not be so hung up on myself. That’s what I meant by dying jokes. 

HARRISON: Effectively, I ought to have requested that query proper on the prime as a substitute of claiming that I believed you had been Scottish.

DUNES: However basically, on the finish of two years making this album, I found that what I used to be speaking about was the impact that this world has on inventive expression and the power to be contentious and take dangers in your artwork making. And the way it kind of put a stranglehold on so many individuals. Such as you mentioned, it’s not people, however these programs which can be kind of in place that we form of give up to affect being dangerous, on making a joke or making artwork or dialoguing. There’s all these comedians within the album. I don’t know for those who observed Lenny Bruce all through the document, and Richard Pryor and George Carlin. There’s all types of comedians in there and basically, they’re like social irritants. They’re like people who find themselves antagonizing and upsetting folks to fucking wake the fuck up and suppose twice about what they kind of blindly undergo. There’s different folks like J Dilla and this well-known French girl on the finish–

HARRISON: The Statue of Liberty?

DUNES: She’s not in there. She will be able to’t discuss as a result of I couldn’t pattern her.

HARRISON: She can discuss, she’s simply shy. 

DUNES: Patti, thanks a lot for doing this.

HARRISON: Yeah, after all. Thanks and congratulations.

ATLANTA (Could 22, 2024) —Atlanta United as we speak introduced a multi-year partnership with the Metropolitan Atlanta Speedy Transit Authority (MARTA). To have fun the launch of the brand new partnership, followers can obtain a co-branded t-shirt and a collectible Atlanta United Breeze Card loaded with a roundtrip fare by buying the MARTA Ticket Pack to the membership’s June 2 match towards Charlotte FC.

“We’re thrilled to associate with an iconic Atlanta firm akin to MARTA, which has been a key participant in our supporters’ matchday routine for years,” stated Atlanta United President and CEO Garth Lagerwey. “This collaboration represents our dedication to enhancing the matchday expertise, and likewise contributes to our preparations forward of main worldwide soccer competitions as Atlanta captures the eye of the world within the coming years.”

Highlights of the partnership embody a co-branded attire assortment slated to launch later this 12 months together with social media promotion, in-stadium branding, digital advertising and radio promoting. Mercedes-Benz Stadium is inside strolling distance of each GWCC/CNN and Vine Metropolis rail stations, and in 2023, a median of 17,000 followers rode MARTA to Atlanta United house matches.

“Since Atlanta United launched in 2017, MARTA has been an integral a part of the matchday expertise, offering an environment friendly, cheap option to get to the motion,” stated MARTA Common Supervisor and CEO Collie Greenwood. “This model partnership will assist MARTA foster deeper engagement and reference to our clients, whereas additionally supporting Atlanta’s emergence because the nation’s soccer capital.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), rating member of the Senate Overseas Relations Committee, Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), and John Thune (R-S.D.) at this time issued the next assertion in response to the Worldwide Legal Court docket (ICC) saying the choice to use for arrest warrants for democratically-elected Israeli officers:

“These actions by the ICC jeopardize efforts to result in sustainable peace within the Center East.  It places in danger delicate negotiations to convey house hostages, together with Individuals, and surge humanitarian help.

“The applying for arrest warrants additionally attracts a false equivalence between Israel with its longstanding dedication to the rule of legislation, and Hamas’ theocratic, autocratic, and unaccountable rule over Gaza. To state the apparent: Israel is a functioning democracy, whereas Hamas is a terrorist group.

“Representatives of the ICC had been imagined to be in Israel at this time to arrange conferences between Israeli officers and ICC Prosecutor Khan’s group subsequent week to debate allegations and considerations. This was a course of we inspired, as it’s according to the precept of complementarity.

“The ICC’s precipitous motion in making use of for arrest warrants on this occasion runs opposite to the promotion of rule of legislation globally; Israel has a protracted historical past as a functioning democracy, with an impartial judiciary and army justice system. We’ve got nice confidence within the Israeli judicial system’s means to manage justice. The precept of complementarity must be honored, permitting a nation’s authorized system to behave first.

 “Performing at this time with out participating the Israeli authorities on these particular considerations calls into query the unbiased strategy ICC investigations are imagined to have.

“We’ll proceed to work in a bipartisan method to strenuously object to the ICC’s actions in opposition to our ally, Israel, and take applicable steps to assist Israel and defend American personnel from future ICC motion.”

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