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OK, FREEPERS, LET'S START THIS CONTEST FOR THE GREATEST SONG OF THE '80S. The baseline for the contest is the top 7 hits of each year of the '80s, as compiled by BILLBOARD. This is not based on personal preferences, biases, prejudices, or counter-culture reactivity. The rules in general will be to vote for everything shown. No equivocating, ties, or omissions. Votes will only be counted if the "ballot" is complete. ROUND 1 We begin by using the #7 songs of each year and paring them from 10 songs to 4 (to set up brackets for the rest of the...

Friday, January 23, 2015 | 2:45 am EST Grant NBC News Launches Website For Black People… Good Idea? By: Grant (Breaking911 Newsroom) January 22, 2015 | 10:06 PM Ahhh, yes. The day has come, where black folks and white folks don’t have to read news from the same website. NBC news has a new website and social media accounts geared towards the African-American community. According to a letter from the editor: “NBCBLK covers stories by, for and about the black community. Our product is meant to elevate America’s conversation about black identity, politics, and culture. We share positive, solution-based journalism...

What does everyone think of a music play-off bracket-type poll for best songs of the '80s?

A week ago most people had never come across rapper Azealia Banks. She flew onto everyone’s radar on Saturday with just one tweet. It was as follows- And time to put death spells on cops who kill innocent civilians and think they can get away with it….. OKURRRRRR?!Immediately people began to respond on twitter with calls to the ancient magicks and the ancestors. People called Azealia a racist, and some Wiccans even chimed in with the three fold law. If there were any Pagans out there that thought they didn’t have “a nickel in this quarter,” they must admit they...

Sure, Sarah Palin can be quick to pounce when something rubs her wrong. But when Michael Moore and others take after the man behind box-office hit American Sniper it gets personal. "You're not fit to shine Chris Kyle's combat boots," the former Alaska governor and VP candidate wrote on her Facebook page Monday night after Moore, the liberal filmmaker, Tweeted that "snipers aren't heroes" – which many took as a reference to the Clint Eastwood film starring Bradley Cooper. It turns out that Palin and Kyle were friends. They met and bonded in 2011, when the retired Navy SEAL was...

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has raged for decades, and despite numerous attempts to broker peace, an end to the violence does not appear likely anytime soon. Opinions on both sides of the debate are fierce and passionate, and nearly everyone has feelings of some kind regarding the geo-political situation.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) The ABC daytime talk show host comes back feisty from a two-week hiatus and dominates the first portion of “Hot Topics” “The View” host Whoopi Goldberg wasted no time firing back Tuesday at Seth Rogen and director Michael Moore for their comments about film “American Sniper,” which surpassed $105 million in a record-breaking MLK-weekend box office. Rogen had tweeted that the Oscar-nominated film reminded him of a scene in “Inglourious Basterds.” Moore, meanwhile, tweeted that his father taught him “snipers are cowards.” “We stood behind you Seth with your movie, and we said you had the right to make...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)On Monday’s “The Daily Show,” host Jon Stewart scolded former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) for quitting his Saturday night Fox News show to take another shot at the White House as a Republican candidate. According to Stewart, Huckabee had made a mistake and should go to back to Fox News and be a show host. Partial transcript as follows: STEWART: I want to talk to you. This is — the book is called “God, Guns, Grits and Gravy.” You have a show on Fox News — you had a show. HUCKABEE: I had a show. STEWART: How long did you...

It's 2015 and the masses still haven't forgot about Michael Brown, Darren Wilson's non-indictment and the fact that #BlackLivesMatter, which is great. Public figures are still seeking answers, requesting justice and encouraging their fans to get involved. Fabolous is the latest celeb to make his way down to Ferguson, Missouri and show solidarity for the cause. Brother Shaheed, Myself, & Michael Brown Sr. Coming to St. Louis it was important to me as a Brother, as a Man & as a Father to go to Ferguson & see it for myself & to also meet Michael Brown Sr. His strength...

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz will get an award from a Hollywood honor society despite objections from some of its liberal members, insiders said Monday. The Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors had seemingly settled on one of its American Spirit Awards going to Cruz until some members threatened to quit over the selection because they deemed him too partisan. Some members of the organization met Monday to discuss the situation and decided that Cruz would get the award, and the senator is expected to attend a ceremony in April and address the group. As is customary, the Caucus will also...

General Douglas MacArthur, in his farewell speech given to the Corps of Cadets at West Point on May 12, 1962, spoke of duty, honor and country and what these words entail for the professional soldier. General MacArthur spoke of the bloody battles and the heroic sacrifices made by the soldier on countless battlefields. But he added, "This does not mean that you are warmongers. On the contrary, the soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war." This point is not understood by everyone. It is least understood...

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS CONTENT THAT MAY TRIGGER ANYONE WHO IS OFFENDED BY RACIAL SLURS AND ENJOYS MUSIC.If you don’t know who Azealia Banks is, there are only two explanations: 1.You’re a racist.2.Just kidding, that was it. She’s a rapper/singer/whatever who’s less known for her music than for her feuds, or “beefs,” with more popular and/or talented artists. She picks fights with people like Iggy Azalea, Eminem, Lady Gaga, and then a bunch of other people you’ve never heard of because of #1 above. Banks has been forced to do this for publicity purposes, because her music sounds like...

Since August, when unarmed teenager Michael Brown was killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo., young people have rallied in the streets of Ferguson, New York, Oakland, Los Angeles and other cities across the nation and the world. In Long Beach, young people recently began organizing around the slogan #BlackLivesMatter, a campaign born in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted of murder charges. Throughout, music has been an undeniable part of the protests, the latest reminder that when used the right way, music can inspire social change. “Music can be considered the heartbeat of social...

We got the 'ouisiana boogie and the... delta blues! We got country swing and rockabilly too! We got jazz country western and Chicago blues! It's the greatest music that you ever knew! It's American music!

Azealia Banks is ready to end her music career to take on a new mission – tracking down the descendants of slave traders and making them pay reparations. The 23-year-old rapper revealed her new passion after posting an article about the DeWolf family, who traded slaves from 1769 through 1820. “I wonder where the descendants of the ‘DeWolf’ family are today. they should all have their houses burned and their finances seized,” Azealia tweeted. “This generation of young black kids needs to make a CONCERTED effort to seek out living descendants of major slave trading families. They Owe us Money.”(continued)

The disclosure that a song making fun of Michael Brown—the young man shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson last August—was played at a party at an Elks Lodge in Glendale California has inspired the Los Angeles Police Department to open an investigation. “Michael Brown has become an icon of the Black Community,” LAPD information officer Jesus Santos asserted. “Many see him as a martyr who died defending the rights of their race. White people have no right to mock him. We need to find out who is behind this song and bring him or her to justice.” Santos speculated...

Bible students are ever hopeful that Hollywood moviemakers will produce compelling, dramatic, visually stimulating and factual films for some of the Old Testament’s best-known heroes and heroines. That is never going to happen! The extensively advertised and marketed 2014 movies—Noah and Exodus: Gods and Kings—prove this point. Many people were greatly disappointed by Darren Aronofsky’s film Noah. It will be ditto with Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings. When I saw Noah, I thought, Shame on you, Mr. Aronofsky. Seeing Exodus: God’s and Kings, I thought, Shame on me for staying until the end. Not Much Bible in Noah Aronofsky...

I’m not convinced that I can possibly improve upon this particular entry from Christmas Eves past, so I’ll continue this journal’s little tradition. For all who celebrate, and for anyone sorely in need of extra cheer this and any such season, today’s offerings are dedicated, as always. Columbia Workshop: The Plot to Overthrow Christmas (CBS, 24 December 1942) Set in hell, delivered in verse (some of it, admittedly, is a little on the awkward side but the archness of the delivery and the quality of the bulk makes up for it), some of history’s most notorious villains to that point...

Last Wednesday Sony began contacting a number of companies, including Google, to ask if we’d be able to make their movie, "The Interview," available online. We'd had a similar thought and were eager to help—though given everything that’s happened, the security implications were very much at the front of our minds. Of course it was tempting to hope that something else would happen to ensure this movie saw the light of day. But after discussing all the issues, Sony and Google agreed that we could not sit on the sidelines and allow a handful of people to determine the limits of...

Bruce Willis' Favorite Russian Bank Collapses By Mark Thompson December 22, 2014 LONDON (CNNMoney) Russia's financial crisis has defeated Bruce Willis. His favorite Russian bank has just collapsed. The Hollywood hard man has been promoting Russia's Trust Bank for four years, and recently starred in a TV commercial with the catch phrase "Trust me, Trust Bank." "In this ad for Trust Bank, I wanted to play a hero rescuing people trapped in a burning elevator. We just wanted to tell you about our terrific loans," says the star of the 'Die Hard' series of movies. Clearly it's a message that's...

Hi folks. I consider myself a "student" of oldies (1950s-early 1960s), but I'm having a terrible brain freeze on this one. There is a song I've heard over the years, but I cannot recall the name or the artist. I have almost no clues for you to go on, but I know that some music-history fans consider that a challenge! Here goes: 1. Song had a slow tempo -- a ballad or very much like one. Very soaring vocals by the solo singer. 2. Male singer with great range. The comparisons that spring to mind are Perry Como and Bobby...

West Coast hip hop rapper The Game sends a tweet to the NYPD officers shot dead in their vehicle. Handsome Ass Nigga ✔ @thegame I guess y'all "can't breathe" either. #RIPEricGarner #AllLivesMatter @ Brighton & Hove, UK http://instagram.com/p/w2H2PJGot1/ 4:41 PM - 20 Dec 2014 329 Retweets 198 favorites Not surprisingly, many are condemning the tweet, and a lot of those tweets are from fans, some of which are now proclaiming to be ex-fans in light of the cold-hearted message directed at the slain police officers. @thegame wow I use to be a huge fan of your music. I will NEVER...

  TRIGGER WARNING* This has to be the best real estate deal since Whitewater.  Through a complex series of events that even our 24-hour news junkies have trouble following, Al Sharpton will now get to produce rap music in Cuba, while the U.S. sets up its embassy on the current site of North Korea’s diplomatic mission in Havana.  And Kim Jong Un will get to share a Cohiba cigar with Dennis Rodman, Al Sharpton, Amy Pascal and President Obama. It’s all in this one infographic.   Sony Pictures greenlights a film titled The Interview, a comedy which depicts the assassination...

This is of course about the upcoming movie "The Interview." My wife and I saw this preview the day before it got pulled, and it's a shame because it looks like it's REALLY funny!Also, the reaction across the political spectrum has been unified in a way we rarely see.

Yesterday, moments before the North Korea "hacking" tragicomedy escalated into full retard mode with Sony pulling The Interview, or a movie that absent the attention would certainly be a flop, Wired released an article titled: "North Korea Almost Certainly Did Not Hack Sony" (title subsequently changed to the one below as can be seen in the URL alias "http://www.wired.com/2014/12/north-korea-did-not-hack-sony-probs"), which however, and for the better, retains its content as it is quite critical in debunking the latest government "certainty."

Now they're canceling 'The Interview' because North Korea threw a hissy fit? Man, this is such an embarrassment. I have no idea if this movie is any good or not. It sounds pretty stupid and it has Seth Rogen in it, so I doubt we're dealing with Citizen Kane here. Still, that fat little psycho in North Korea deserves to be ruthlessly insulted. Mocking genocidal maniacs is as American as apple pie. I'm all for it. As long as we remember that, as enjoyable as it is to make fun of this puffy dimwit, there really isn't anything funny about...

Sony’s capitulation in the face of threats by unidentified sources, who are presumed to support the odious Kim dynasty, serves to confirm what most of us have known for some time. Namely, the extent of allowable political discourse in popular culture is inextricably linked to the willingness of the objects of political criticism to violently suppress that criticism. Or, at the very least, intimate the unpleasant nature of the response in store for those willing to offer a dissenting voice. An interview the iconic Indo-British author and apostate Salman Rushdie did with Irshad Manji several years ago is worth watching...

Listen to the gorgeous Irish singing quartet “Celtic Woman” sing the beautiful Christmas classic “O Holy Night” at Slane Castle, in Ireland, in a version that was never broadcast on television or released on DVD. Try to not get chills.

EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE, SO HERE’S BARACK OBAMA AWKWARDLY DANCING WITH SANTA By Emily Zanotti on 12.5.14 Is it just me, or has this been the longest week in history? Literally, everything is terrible. I don't even know why.

So Darius Rucker sings "White Christmas" during NBC's Rockerfeller Center tree lighting show and (probably most likely liberal) ignorance strikes again."Surreal," "ironic," "awkward," "total fail," are just a few of the words used in tweets (from the Twitchy link above) describing the performance.Perhaps it's inevitable that the further away we get from certain pop culture iconography the more out of touch the current generation becomes with it. That must be the case here...it has to be. (for the sake of my sanity I'm just going to keep telling myself this)One of the most famous disasters in history, the sinking of the...

youtube.com/watch?v=KiETwztU3cAAlexander Courage, Dolorous Theme, "The Waltons", Season 5, # 8 "The Wedding", Part 2 (November 4, 1976) The Waltons marked a departure from Hollywood's deprecation of Southern culture, customary since the advent of movie sound. Contrary to the Lil' Abner/Jubilation T. Cornpone approach, Alexander Courage's vastly underappreciated treatment of musical themes are of unknown, literal authenticity. The approach in this piece seems a combination of Cecil Sharp and Frederick Delius. 

It's a video, there is no transcript beyond unintelligible grunts. As for the state of things, whatever. But doing my part to celebrate Western Civilization. This sSene from Black Friday 2014 in New Pakistan (formerly "Great Britain" is therefore accompanied by Frédéric Chopin - Prelude in E-Minor (Opus 28 Number 4). And for humblegunner types, Chopin actually passed away quite a while ago, and this music is in the public domain ; )

Following the grand jury’s decision to not indict Darren Wilson, a white police officer in Ferguson, MO who shot and killed an unarmed Black teen named Michael Brown, racial tensions are running high which has prompted a number of African-Americans to call for a financial boycott of the historical “Black Friday” sales which are highly profitable for retailers during the holiday season. Joining the call for a boycott is Grammy award winning singer Toni Braxton. The sultry singer took to her Facebook page on Tuesday to post a meme with an image of slaves that reads: “DID YOU KNOW: Black...

Well, sorry, I wasn't quite correct last time. This time I followed through. This is the straight poop. Audacity is free, open source, cross-platform software for recording and editing sounds.   "Audacity is available for Windows, Mac, Linux; and other operating systems. Check their feature list, wiki, and forum."  Audacity is a great success, a user-community produced and managed application program that does what it's supposed to. Years ago you used to have to pay for this software, now it's free, but you have to invest your time in learning how to use it. The worst rub is the learning curve. So many times,...

Is Turner Classic Movies back on Dish ?

It’s been some time since Roy Clark could bound out onto a stage like a puppy just turned loose, brandishing an electric guitar and a joyous smile, ready to captivate a crowd with his personality and talent. Friday night, it took him a number of slow and careful steps, and the assistance of a cane and a couple of colleagues, to make his way to a chair on the small stage of Tulsa’s Spotlight Theater. Once he settled himself, Clark said, “I have to be careful I don’t...,” and he gave audience a comically knowing look, “...make an entrance. Which...

This video allows you to test yourself to see if you like 440 Hz or 432 Hz better. You won't know which sample is which. Listen to each and see if you like one better than the other or if one feels better to you than the other and draw your own conclusions.

Kate Davis sings All About The Bass For Acoustic Jazz fans.

Bill Cosby was asked on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday whether he had anything to say about the resurgence of allegations that he sexually assaulted multiple women years ago. He didn't. Instead, he shook his head, and refused to say a word. Cosby's long comedy career and pedestal as one of America's favorite TV dads have been overshadowed in recent days, as the allegations have gained new attention, though they are not new. One of his accusers wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post on Thursday, an attempt at a Cosby meme generator was overrun with negative comments and Cosby's scheduled...

Today I'm reading the Saturday New York Post, and there's still a front-page story on KK's booty exposure -days after the repellant publicity stunt- THEN the next 'big' story is what her sister thinks of what she did: 'If you've got it, flaunt it', says Kourtney... Yes, it's difficult for even the most fervent First Amendment advocate not to feel the need to deport the all the Kardashians and scrape American media clean of any reference to 'news' regarding these people, which was never anything more than chewing gum for the mind anyway... the flavor is gone in 30 seconds, then on to...

Is the movie 'Song of the South' racist...of course not!...Have a Zippy Doo Dah Day! Is censorship of Hollywood motion pictures a thing of the past, or… Is it still alive and well in the movie industry today against movies that are not politically correct? There are many who find some ‘R’ rated Hollywood movies of today equally offensive but I don’t think Hollywood is listening. Why would an old wonderful family motion picture offend anyone starring an African-American man whose stories fascinate both Black and White children? Some call Walt Disney’s 1946 family classic ‘Song of the South’ racist....

This is kinda interesting, seeing the English repel repeated assaults,  then the Prussians came-in from the east and hit the French flank: 'Every puppy has his day, everybody has to pay...' (click pic to play Stonewall Jackson) BritishBattles.com   Reddit   YouTube

Christopher Nolan's Interstellar took first place on Friday, though family moviegoers should drive Disney Animation's Big Hero 6 to a weekend win. After two days in limited release, Interstellar expanded to 3,561 locations and earned an estimated $17 million. That's well below Inception's $21.8 million debut, though it is at least roughly on par with Gravity's $17.5 million start last year. Interstellar's audience was split evenly between men (52 percent) and women, and skewed much older (75 percent were at least 25 years of age). They awarded the movie a "B+" CinemaScore, which is in line with Inception.

Health care workers are facing more than a few hurdles in their battle to combat the deadly Ebola outbreak that’s sweeping across Africa, and countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone have been hit particularly hard. A lack of electricity in the West African nations has made battling the disease even more dangerous, and now Waka Flocka Flame is teaming up with WakaWaka, to help deliver portable solar-powered lights to these countries. Camille van Gestel, the CEO of WakaWaka, started a kickstarter campaign to raise enough money to send lights and medical packets to health care workers on the front lines....

Something cheerful for a cheerful day.

MUSIC | U2 pans for wisdom in Songs of Innocence “There is only one thing … worse than being talked about,” says a character in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, “and that is not being talked about.” The Irish rockers U2 and their partners at Apple tested that idea by placing free copies of U2’s latest album, Songs of Innocence (Island), in the accounts of iTunes subscribers on Sept. 9—a date, coincidentally, that also marked the 124th birthday of Colonel Harland Sanders and the 48th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Can someone explain to me who Mark Levin is always taking pot shots at at the beginning of his show? Is it Michael Savage? If so, what's the deal between the two? I rarely ever get to listen to Savage at work.

Known best for his 2011 political, concept album, L.A. Riot, Thurz is partnering up with Red Bull Sound Select to release his new project, Designer EP, next week. While his previous release was darker in nature, his latest endeavor is a bit more eclectic and bouncy, almost reminiscent of his music during his days with U-N-I. And before the project hits e-shelves, Thurz came on Talking Points to chop it up about all the transgressions happening in Ferguson, the OG status of the Acura Legend, his appreciation for Outkast, and why Kanye West is the best artist of the last...

An American from Wink, Texas: From the 1966 MGM album "The Orbison Way" The sun on the rim of the hill Overlooking all that I love Lights up every leaf and blade Birds circling high above With trembling hand I reach down and say This is my land This land will pass on to my child When he's grown To love it as much as I For all the sons gone by And when he's a man He'll do what he can For this my land This is my land When young men die in glory And for freedom take...