Covidiots in music

He's probably at least flirting with flat earth theory, there is no end to human stupidity for sure

Dude has got to 60 and now only does "natural" drugs like dope and peyote since his massive meth bust. These might be some of his more coherent thoughts.

This is not rona-related but must be shared; he responded to someone in the comments on his post and...WOW.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8N6gM7WYAkCMjW.jpg

That’s a longstanding conspiracy theory. End of his post seems like some horseshoe business.

Ha ha HAARP was one of the first things I “researched” on the internet back in 1995

Cool you can order for your bday party now

Offer valid only in Russia.

Gimme Dat HAARP Boy

Joseph Arthur was a celebrated singer-songwriter with famous fans. Then he headed down the anti-vax rabbit-hole https://t.co/IPvsnv3P7t

— Glyn ap Myfyr (@Welshbeard) August 10, 2021

By going public with his anti-vaccination position, Arthur has aligned himself with a small group of like-minded musicians, including Eric Clapton, Morrissey, M.I.A. and Van Morrison.

Gonna be one shitty version of the Travelling Wilburys here

Arthur has always been an extremist in his actions, notes one former member of Arthur’s music team, who declined to be identified to protect their friendship. “He’s an addict, right? So he was either a full-on addict or full-on clean and very preachy. This is part of the extremes that he struggles with.”

This reminds me of an astute comment Nitsuh said years ago about when one of those books by whichever of the two Korn bros who found god came out, where some 'EXXXTREME' 90s bros in particular just stayed extreme when they were saved and all. And the cycle repeats.

Ah of course:

Helping Arthur spread the word is a publicist, Trevor FitzGibbon, who in 2015 closed his former PR firm, FitzGibbon Media, after a Huffington Post story reported on numerous sexual harassment accusations against him. He has denied the allegations.

Oh so he's the type of asshole that had a very mild case and recovered quickly so of course the only logical explanation is that everything else is fake or lies. Fuck that guy.

Maybe he should spend some time hanging around a Hindu temple. Worked for Ryan Adams.

Anyway, doofus wants segregation, they just should dedicate a few tiny islands as sanatoriums and let those assholes loose to live their free lives.

Apologies for link source but...

Chet Hanks goes on anti-vaxxer rant despite his parents' COVID battle https://t.co/532Fm7dOE4

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) August 10, 2021

he think he a rapper too

Chode Hanks

Just did an interview with an artist who said, as we were finishing up, "You know who would have a good perspective on this? Evan Parker. I can give you his contact info if you like." I demurred politely.

Can’t say Beck surprises me at all…

blind item https://t.co/6WyuQYIv67

— Gawker (@Gawker) August 10, 2021

Raised in scientology innit

He did a pretty half-assed job pretending to distance himself from Scientology a few years ago, but yeah, Scientology (go figure) is infamously anti-science/medicine. You've got your electric soup cans, what else do you need? Though to be fair, I wonder where control freak Tom Cruise falls on this spectrum. He reportedly visited a vaccination center in London to praise frontline workers back in March, but I also saw this:

Daily Beast writer Marlow Stern, citing a 2020 report in the Tampa Bay Times, suggested that Cruise’s rant could have been part of Scientology’s P.R. effort to portray itself as taking COVID-19 seriously, even as it continued to admit adherents to services and spiritual counseling sessions at its international headquarters in Clearwater, Florida.
A spokesman for the church told the Tampa Bay Times that it enforced social distancing and decontamination practices at its facilities, using the “most powerful and aggressive decontaminant available.”

So, volcano alien spirits it is, I guess.

The extent of Beck's Scientology beliefs have never been clear to me (pun not intended) - it's hard to tell if he just keeps most of it private - but I just brace for the worst. Unfortunately, if it's always been taught as an integral part of the "religion" he was raised under, there's not much anyone can do about it.

FWIW, this actually came up with Prince the other day when I was talking about the pushback from so many evangelicals against vaccines - that's a bit different because it's really a political split within those faiths (and sadly another case where reactionary politics try to frame their arguments as gospel when it's a warped interpretation of it). Prince drifted into the conversation because of the "new" album that was released. We thought Prince might've been part of the same pushback too, but it turns out Jehovah's Witnesses do not have any opposition against vaccines. (They did up until 1952 due to what turned out to be baseless concerns about blood contact.)

Wonder what they thought of When Doves Cry.

xxp I doubt Cruise’s aggressive dressing-down of M:I-7 crew last December was some 11th-dimensional Scientology PR move; I think he really didn’t want the filming shut down and production delayed (which it was anyway, more recently, after an outbreak on set). None of this speaks to the vaccine question, of course.

Yeah, I just figure if he was willing to yell at the crew for not being safe, and he has not backed down on his outburst, and yet has not come out and demanded everybody on the shoot be vaccinated, as others have on other shoots and shows, makes me think he is ambivalent at best about actual vaccination. Like, it's Tom Cruise. If he wanted everybody to be vaccinated we would all probably know it.

That’s an interesting question, I don’t know what the protocols are for UK film productions or if vaccines can be mandated on set there (I can poke around, pun intended).

I was under the impression that Hollywood productions generally required masks (with dismissals already reported for those who refused to comply), social distancing, and a "bubble" organization in terms of how living quarters are set up for crew members, etc. Vaccine requirements are a relatively new thing - I think the recent Sean Penn story was the first time any star demanding it was reported.

Yeah a deal w/the guilds was reached in July that currently runs thru October (Netflix then became the first studio to require vaccinations on all U.S. productions).

Going back to the UK (and M:I), here's a recent article that says:

Inevitably, the numerous production shutdowns have led to talk of mandatory vaccination on set, especially with Netflix in the U.S. already instituting a vaccination mandate for actors and any crew working in close proximity with them. In the U.K., many are in favor of such measures but complex employment legislation likely makes it unenforceable.

Maybe not a Covidiot but Louise Wener following Cernovich, Lozza Fox, Hartley-Brewer, Peterson, Darren Grimes, a bunch of Speccie writers, lots of Trump family members, all the famous Terfs etc. Quite a shock that.

She used to go on about how much she loved PJ O'Rourke in the mid-90s so not a *huge* surprise, however anyone following Darren Grimes has to be a bit thick.

i am totally unsurprised to hear that about louise werner.

Oh her – yeah I thought she was notably "conservative" when her band first appeared, like that was their hook in the press?

(I know very little about UK rock, but 1995 is my core year so I read all that stuff)

I think i must’ve sleepwalked through the 90s.

Oh her – yeah I thought she was notably "conservative" when her band first appeared, like that was their hook in the press?

yes, i think it was, but i am now wondering why on earth i was reading sleeper interviews back then?

I read Select cover-to-cover from 95 to 96, that's my reason

yes, i think it was, but i am now wondering why on earth i was reading sleeper interviews back then?

every music mag had to run SOME kind of text alongside their three-page spreads of four nigh-identical photos of Ms Wener, you kept reading them to try and figure out why

Nothing surprises me about Louise Wener. Sleeper were absolutely fucking shite too. One of the worst bands of that era.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/18/luke-haines-britpop-louise-wener

Always remembered her review of Luke Haines' book, the thrust of which was basically "I was actually more interesting than Luke Haines, also Tom Verlaine played a [squints at notes] Fender Jaguar", and it was like, yeah he's a bit of a reactionary dickhead too but at least his band was good

Chet Haze the least-surprising addition possible

Chet Hanks speaks on the Covid-19 vaccine despite both his parents getting Covid: "You ain’t stickin’ me with that motherf-’ needle. It’s the motherf-n’ flu. Get over it, okay?"
WATCH: https://t.co/kEetNqqclk pic.twitter.com/MjKpDVHezz

— Complex (@Complex) August 10, 2021

Neil Kulkarni's review of a Sleeper live gig (included, amusingly, on an old Sleeper fan site) remains perfect

http://sleeper.weheartmusic.com/gigography/1995/birmingham-digbeth-insti-09-oct-1995

God, what is the story with Chet Hanks?

I wish I had read that Sleeper review sooner.

Chet Hanks to Howard Stern:

"Howie... Do you have any idea how badly I am going to assault you when I see you... You can't run from me forever knock knees ... Howie... Listen. One day, maybe tomorrow, maybe 10 years from now, I am going to see you in person, and I am going to hurt you... I hope you travel with security!!! PLEASE have me on the show."

Chet Hanks, there's a cautionary tale.

Tom Hanks: “My son Colin was born when I was very young, as well as my daughter (Elizabeth), but that means we have this gestalt understanding because they remember when their dad was just a guy trying to, you know, make the rent. My other kids (like Chet), they were born after I had established a beachhead in every way. And so their lives were just different.”

Chet Hanks was born in 1990. Rita Wilson was in Bonfire of the Vanities with Bruce Willis that same year. Just saying...

— Rayya (@rayyago) March 28, 2021

Jason Aldean

https://tasteofcountry.com/jason-aldean-maskless-crowd-in-new-york/

"This is our first weekend back and who knows what's going to happen next week," he remarked. "But, you know the coolest thing about all this, the coolest thing to me right now is that I'm looking out, seeing all you guys, and I don't see one f---ing mask."

Was he celebrating that we've made it over that hurdle or just ruing their existence because freedom?

Was he celebrating that we've made it over that hurdle or just ruing their existence because freedom?

The latter. He's a real knuckle-walker.

Knuckle Walker is a great name for a country singer.