The Weekly Town Crier (03/20/20)

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All the week's news that's fit to cry about (03/20/20)

Read “Genesis Breyer P-Orridge Dead at 70 The Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV co-founder was diagnosed with leukemia in 2017” at Pitchfork.

Read/Listen to “Survey: White Evangelicals See Trump As 'Honest' And 'Morally Upstanding'“ at NPR. And stay tuned for more news from the Isaiah 5:20 channel soon!

Read “White Christians: Trump May Not Be a Good Person, But He Is a Good President New Pew Research data details the mixed feelings among Trump’s faithful supporters” at Christianity Today.

Read “Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to ‘flatten the curve’ at Washington Post.

  • Read “America Is a Sham Policy changes in reaction to the coronavirus reveal how absurd so many of our rules are to begin with” at Salon.

  • Browse “Coronavirus: Updated List of Tours and Festivals Canceled or Postponed Due to COVID-19” at Pitchfork.

    • Read “Record Store Day 2020 Postponed Due to Coronavirus Concerns The global music event has been moved from April to June” at Pitchfork.

    • Read “Coronavirus Should Be a Turning Point for the Music Industry” at Vulture.

  • Read “Trump Dissolved Pandemic Response Team Because He Doesn't Like Having People Around "When You Don't Need Them" at Paste.

  • Read “He Has 17,700 Bottles Of Hand Sanitizer And Nowhere To Sell Them. Amazon cracked down on coronavirus price gouging. Now while the rest of the world searches, some sellers are holding stockpiles of sanitizer and masks.

  • Read “Racist Attacks Against Asians Continue to Rise as the Coronavirus Threat Grows” at People.

  • Read/Listen to “When School Is The Safest Place For Kids; Concerns Over School Closures For Low-Income Students” at KJZZ.

  • Read “AMC Theatres to Close All U.S. Locations as Cinemas Across the Country Go Dark” at Hollywood Reporter.

    • Read “NBCUniversal Breaks Theatrical Window, Will Make Movies Available On Demand Immediately” at Hollywood Reporter.

  • Read “Amazon Will Cease Stocking Vinyl Records Due to Coronavirus The retail giant needs to make room on its shelves for more essential items” at Consequence of Sound.

    • Read “Bandcamp Waives Revenue Shares to Support Musicians During COVID-19 Outbreak The platform will not collect their cut of sales for 24 hours on March 20 in an attempt to “put much needed money directly into artists’ pockets” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Coronavirus Could Decimate Touring Musicians’ Livelihoods” at Rolling Stone.

  • Read “America begins drinking at home With states and cities shutting down bars and restaurants, the government response to the coronavirus outbreak enters a new phase” at Politico.

  • Read “Need to stock your pantry? These L.A. restaurants are temporarily flipping to corner stores.” at Time Out.

  • Read “Russia deploying coronavirus disinformation to sow panic in West, EU document says” at MSN.

Read “Moog and Korg make synth apps free to help musicians stuck at home” at Engadget.

In honor of Phil Lesh’s 80th birthday listen to the official “In The Phil Zone” mix from the Grateful Dead at Spotify.

Download the new John McLaughlin, Shankar Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain album for free at Bandcamp.

Read “You can now download over 300,000 books from the NYPL for free” at Time Out.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/13/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/13/20).

Read “Jazz Pianist McCoy Tyner 1938 – 2020” at Jam Base.

Read “Rosalind P. Walter, the first 'Rosie the Riveter', dies at 95” at Upworthy.

Read “Rolls-Royce promotes exclusive Mass with pope — for $155,000” at Religion News Service.

  • Read “Rolls-Royce offer for private Pope Francis meeting ‘does not exist anymore’” at Catholic News Agency.

Read “All Non-Consensual Sex Will Be Considered Rape Under Spain’s New Law The "only yes means yes" law aims to ban all sexual violence in the country” at Global Citizen.

Read “‘This is absolutely abhorrent’: Nazi flag at Sanders rally sparks outcry, concerns about safety” at Washington Post.

Read “Gender study finds 90% of people are biased against women” at BBC News.

Read/Watch “Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years in prison” at Yahoo.

Read “Chelsea Manning Is Freed” at Common Dreams.

Read “Child homelessness highest in more than decade, feds say” at New York Post.

Read/Listen to “When Xenophobia Spreads Like A Virus” at NPR.

  • Read/watch “Costco Will Stop Offering Free Samples & Our Shopping Trips Will Not Be the Same” at Yahoo.

  • Read “Televangelist Jim Bakker Ordered to Stop Selling Fake Coronavirus Cure” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Italy suspends mortgage payments during coronavirus shutdown” at The HIll.

  • Read “Austin’s South by Southwest Festival Canceled Due to Coronavirus” at The Wall Street Journal.

  • Read “Coachella Moved to October 2020 Due to Coronavirus” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Postponed” at Spin.

  • Browse “Coronavirus: Cancellations and Postponements” at Relix.

  • Read “Trump's mismanagement helped fuel coronavirus crisis” at Politico.

  • Read “Arizona Governor Declares State of Emergency on Coronavirus, With Nine Cases So Far” at Phoenix New Times.

  • Read “Tom Hanks Tests Positive for Coronavirus While Working on Elvis Presley Movie” at Pitchfork.

Read “Mandatory vasectomy at 50 or after 3 kids? Alabama bill proposes it” at 12 News.

Read “Virginia General Assembly passes bill capping monthly costs of insulin to $50” at 12 News.

Read “Trump administration quietly cuts funding to the nation’s poorest schools” at Yahoo News.

Read “GOP-appointed judge orders unredacted copy of Mueller report as he questions Barr’s “credibility” A federal judge calls out Barr for making “distorted” and “misleading” statements about Robert Mueller’s findings” at Salon.

Read “Michael Bloomberg Drops Out Of Primary After Reportedly Spending More Than $500 Million” at Forbes.

Read/Listen to “What Democratic Socialism Means In The U.S.” at WBUR.

Read “The Body Politic Electric: Walt Whitman on Women’s Centrality to Democracy” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Federal Court Sides With House In Fight Over Mueller Grand Jury Materials” at NPR.

Read “Wu-Tang Clan Are for the Infants: New Wu-Tang Lullaby Album Coming in April It's the 100th album by Rockabye Baby” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Woman-Owned Record Shop Sonidos! Wants To Build An Inclusive Corner In The Region’s Vinyl Scene” at DCist.

Read “Remembering Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous 10 Years Later A look at the unlikely triumphs of the Virginia singer/songwriter's eerily beautiful music” at Spin.

Read “When We Celebrate John Coltrane, We Celebrate McCoy Tyner, Too” at Rolling Stone.

Read “After 25 Years, Jimmy Eat World Isn’t Just Surviving” at Christ and Pop Culture.

Read “On hobbies, habits, and creative work Musician Stephen Malkmus on the value of chill music in crazy times, the pleasures of falling into old man mode, and understanding the ways your creative process evolves over time” at The Creative Independent.

Read “My father said I should be looking after the cows': the first female Tuareg guitarist” at The Guardian.

Read “Tony Iommi Says Michael Bolton Once Auditioned for Black Sabbath Bolton has consistently dismissed the story as a rumour” at Exclaim.

Read “Stephen Malkmus on His New Folk Album, Pavement Reunion, Bernie Sanders, And More” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Wilco and Sleater-Kinney Announce Tour The rock giants will play shows together this summer” at Pitchfork.

Read “How does Nationals closer Sean Doolittle stay calm in big moments? The Grateful Dead” at NBC Sports.

Watch “Dawes Covers Grateful Dead Live at Relix” at Youtube.

Read “The Kids in the Hall Revived by Amazon for New Season Lorne Michaels will return as executive producer for an eight-episode run” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Substance Summit: A Previously Unseen Fax From Hunter S. Thompson To Keith Richards” at Ranker.

Read “Mister Rogers Thought Farts Were Hilarious — And Often ‘Ripped One’ To Amuse His Wife” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “How a Potato Is Fueling the Fight to Protect a National Monument Indigenous farmers in Utah are championing an ancient spud” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Origins of GORP” at REI.

Read “This Brave Man Protests Annoying Everyday Things With Funny Signs” at Sad and Useless.

Read “In Palestine, Protecting One of the World’s Oldest Olive Trees Is a 24/7 Job Salah Abu Ali often sleeps beneath his ancient charge” at Atlas Obscura.

The Weekly Town Crier (03/06/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (03/07/20).

Read “Pioneering theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson dies at 96” at PBS News Hour.

Read “R.I.P. James Lipton, Host of Inside the Actors Studio Dead at 93” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Churchgoers turn their backs on Bloomberg during service” at CNN.

Read “Three Cheers for Socialism Christian Love & Political Practice” by David Bentley Hart at Commonweal Magazine.

Read “5 Reasons Capitalism is not Christian” at Mike Frost.

Read “A church returns land to American Indians “This is decolonized land,” a young woman said. “This is a liberated zone” at Christian Century.

Read “Confederate Flags, Symbols Officially Banned From All Marine Corps Installations at The Root.

Read “Virginia becomes first Southern state to pass an LGBTQ nondiscrimination law Lawmakers approve Virginia Values Act, sending it to Gov. Ralph Northam for his signature into law” at Metro Weekly.

Read “Trump’s Praise for Modi on India’s ‘Incredible’ Religious Freedom Doesn’t Match Our Research The Evangelical Fellowship of India documents 300-plus cases of Christian persecution by Hindu nationalists each year. Muslims have it even worse” at Christianity Today.

Read “How to talk to your kids about race: This video nails it 'The worst conversation adults can have with kids about race is no conversation at all” at Click Orlando.

Read “Tucson mayor, councilwoman: No Confederate flags at rodeo parade” at AZ Central.

Read “Research Ties Historic Black Names to Longer Life In late 1800s and early 1900s, African-American men with distinctively black names lived longer than their peers, new study finds” at Wall Street Journal.

Read/Listen to “'Whiplash' Of LGBTQ Protections And Rights, From Obama To Trump” at NPR.

Read “Someone is using cat stickers to cover racism in Manchester” at The Manc.

Read “Rush Limbaugh is under fire for claiming the coronavirus is a 'common cold' being 'weaponized' to bring down Trump” at Insider.

Read “Corona Beer Is Losing Millions To Coronavirus To be clear, you cannot get Coronavirus from drinking Mexican beer” at Fatherly.

Read “Chris Matthews Retires From MSNBC” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “No, You Do Not Need Face Masks To Prevent Coronavirus—They Might Increase Your Infection Risk” at Forbes.

  • Read “Born-again Christians immune from Coronavirus says NZ pastor” at Free Thinker.

  • Read “Nigerian prophet to embark on journey to China to battle coronavirus” at Legit.

  • Read “Bill and Melinda Gates Pledge $100 Million to Coronavirus Response” at Global Citizen.

  • Read “America's patchwork, for-profit healthcare system poised to worsen coronavirus outbreak Those with poor insurance have a financial disincentive to seek medical help — which will only worsen the crisis” at Salon.

Read “Bloom: A Touching Animated Short Film about Depression and What It Takes to Recover the Light of Being” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Australian Associated Press: News agency to close after 85 years” at BBC.

Read “Black Engineer Invents Gloves That Turn Sign Language into Audible Speech” at Black Business.

Read “Fox News Analyst Brit Hume Got A Hilarious Lesson On Why You Should Close Your Tabs When Taking A Screenshot Of Your Internet Browser” at Comic Sands.

Read “Should Economy Air Travelers Have The Right To Sit Next To Their Kids?” at WBUR.

Read “Apple to Pay Upwards of $500 Million for Intentionally Slowing Old iPhones Apple might owe you $25” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “School policy forbids kids from saying 'no' when asked to dance One mom is fighting back on behalf of her 11-year-old daughter” at Today.

Read “Pro-Life Democrats Remind Candidates They Exist Ahead of the South Carolina primary, religious voters’ push for a “diversity of opinions” on abortion gets little reception from presidential hopefuls” at Christianity Today.

Read “Sanders can’t lead the Democrats if his campaign treats them like the enemy What Bernie needs to learn from Biden” at Vox.

Consider Jello Biafra’s 2020 Presidential Endorsement(s).

  • Read “Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum Endorses Bernie Sanders in Rare Public Statement” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Kim Gordon’s New Bernie Sanders Ad Is an Absurd Recipe Video “What’s Cooking America?” encourages voters in Super Tuesday states to vote for Sanders” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Cedric Bixler-Zavala Denounces Former Bandmate Beto O’Rourke for Endorsing Joe Biden Former The Mars Volta and Foss member instead announced his support for Bernie Sanders” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Pete Buttigieg To Suspend Presidential Campaign” at NPR.

  • Read “Klobuchar is ending her presidential bid, will endorse Biden” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Elizabeth Warren, Once a Front-Runner, Drops Out of Presidential Race” at New York Times.

  • Read/Listen/Consider “Are Women Candidates Held To A Different Standard Than Men?” at WBUR.

Read “Rep. John Lewis: “We Must…Vote Like We Never, Ever Voted Before” at News and Guts.

Read “Trump suggests his supporters vote in another Democratic primary, this time in South Carolina” at CNN.

Read “Arizona House passes bill that would allow police at polling stations” at KTAR. Welcome to the Police State you never wanted.

Read “How Voters Psych Themselves Out and Choose the Wrong Candidate” at Psych Central.

Read “Texas Has Closed Hundreds of Polling Stations—Most of Them in Places Where Black and Latinx Populations Are Growing” at The Root.

Read “How Going To A Dead & Company Concert With A Stranger Helped Me Heal After Losing My Son “I hate crowds and loud rock music, but I was being offered a gift: the chance to learn more about my son all these years after he was taken from me” at Huff Post.

Wonder “Why So Many Medieval Manuscripts Depict Violent Rabbits?” at Sad and Useless.

Read “Public Enemy Part Ways With Flavor Flav Flavor Flav recently issued a cease and desist over Public Enemy performing at a Bernie Sanders rally in Los Angeles” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Public Enemy “did not part ways w/ Flavor Flav over his political views,” they say” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” Remains Private Property, Court Rules” at Pitchfork.

Read “Going Deep With Damien Jurado” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Thom Yorke Announces Rare Solo Acoustic Performance Massive Attack invited him to open at All Points East” at Pitchfork.

Read “Skate or die! How skate-punk took over the world” at Louder Sound.

Read “Elkhorn” by Scott Elingburg at Analogue.

Read “Garcia Peoples and live taping in New York” at Wired.

Read/Listen to “Zia Records Turns 40: How The Phoenix Record Store Has Survived Revolutionary Music Industry Changes” at KJZZ.

Read “A Radical Act: Canadian Musicians in Conversation About Being Sober in an Industry Built on Booze” at Exclaim.

Watch “Bob Weir And Wolf Bros: Tiny Desk Concert” at NPR.

Read “The Archive Of Contemporary Music — And Its 3 Million Recordings — Is Leaving NY” at NPR.

Read “Genesis Set to Reunite For Arena Tour: Report Phil Collins, Tony Banks, and Mike Rutherford are getting back together for the first time in 13 years” at Consequence of Sound.

Mine the rich depths of “sweetblahg 2019 year in review”.

Read “It's hopeful and generous': Thurston Moore's experimental record shop” at The Guardian.

Read “MELVINS' BUZZ OSBORNE: 10 ALBUMS THAT MADE ME From David Bowie to Redd Kross, sludge-grunge stalwart shares stories behind records that shaped his life” at Revolver.

Read “Genesis Reunite for Tour The classic '80s lineup gets back together for several UK dates” at Pitchfork.

Read “Schitt’s Creek Cast to Take Final Bow with Farewell Tour The beloved series is currently in its sixth and final season” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Garth Brooks elicits wrath of Trump supporters after wearing Barry Sanders jersey Unfortunately for Brooks, Barry Sanders shares a last name with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Hillary Clinton to start a podcast” at CNN.

Read “Post Malone Says He Gets Face Tattoos Because He’s Insecure About His Looks "I'm a ugly-ass motherf*cker," the rapper admitted” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “I Read My Way Out: My Year Of Reading Copiously and Therapeutically.”

See “Smithsonian Places 2.8 Million Historic Images Into the Public Domain” at My Modern.net.

Read “The most massive explosion since the Big Bang was just spotted in deep space” at BGR.

Read “The Exiled Prince Behind Los Angeles’s Only Fresh-Pasta Food Truck Bend the macaro-knee” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “Sorry, Texas and New Mexico. Arizona loves Mexican food the most, website says” at AZ Central.

Read “Brits, Beers, and Blokes: An Oral History of George & Dragon English Pub” at Phoenix New Times.

Read/Listen to “'Not One Drop Of Blood': Cattle Mysteriously Mutilated In Oregon” at NPR.

The Weekly Town Crier (02/28/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/28/20).

Read “Monkees Singer and Bassist Peter Tork Dead at 77” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Katherine Johnson, one of NASA's 'Hidden Figures,' dies at 101” at 12 News.

Read “Mazzy Star’s David Roback Dead at 61 The producer and instrumentalist also co-founded the bands Rain Parade and Opal” at Pitchfork.

Read “Clive Cussler, million-selling adventure writer, dies at 88 Clive Cussler was an adventure writer and real-life thrill-seeker” at 12 News.

Read “This Political Moment: A Way Forward in a Divided Age. Conflict is opportunity, my friend says optimistically.”

Read “SEC Charges Son of John MacArthur & Grace to You Board Member with Fraud” at Julie Roys.

Read “Internal report finds that L’Arche founder Jean Vanier engaged in decades of sexual misconduct” at America Magazine.

Read “Why Christ wouldn't aspire to ‘Christic Manhood’” at Religion News Service.

Read “Misogyny in Baptist Higher Education” at Baptist Voices.

Read “I Really Want to Skip Church” at Mockingbird. "As much as I’d love to tell people: 'Church should be your excuse for missing everything else,' I’m acutely aware of two things: (1) Church might be the reason you are missing love, grace, and mercy in your life; and (2) Church might be a lot more work than you can handle at the moment."

Read “Must Pro-Life Mean Pro-Trump? We have placed too much faith in the political calculus and not enough faith in God’s power” at Christianity Today.

Read “The “Music from Saharan WhatsApp” Series is an Experiment in Immediacy” at Bandcamp and browse my own posts about “Music from Saharan WhatsApp.”

Read “Conservative columnist and political commentator David Brooks awarded Calvin University’s Kuyper Prize” at MLive.

Read “Pope Francis: Give Up Trolling For Lent” at Sojourners.

Read “25 Black Theologians Who Have Grown Our Faith Scholars and authors reflect on the significance of African American leaders in the church” at Christianity Today.

Read “Dialoguing Across Difference: Abortion & Big Tent Theology” at Red Letter Christians.

Read “How Stephen Miller Manipulates Donald Trump To Further His Immigration Obsession. Donald Trump’s senior adviser has been the true driving force behind this Administration’s racist agenda. How far will he go?”

Read “Women and Girls Contribute Trillions of Dollars in Unpaid Labor Every Year The world’s 22 richest men have more wealth than all of the women in Africa” at Global Citizen.

Read “Howard Thurman’s contemplative nonviolence The pastor and mentor to Martin Luther King formed a vision of resistance around prayer, not politics” at Christian Century.

Read “White Supremacist Group Arrested for Murder Plot, Found to Have More Targets in Mind Than Previously Known” at The Root.

Read “Survivors of Japanese Internment Speak Out Against Immigrant Detention” at Our Prism.

Read “Harvey Weinstein Taken to Hospital for Chest Pains Hours after being found guilty of rape” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “America's Mental Health Crisis Hidden Behind Bars” at NPR.

Read “Religion may be good for your health! People of faith are less likely to fall or feel ill compared to non-believers, official stats reveal” at Daily Mail.

Read “New Zealand Has Lifted 18,400 Children out of Poverty: Report” at Global Citizen.

Read “9th Circuit Denies Request To Vacate Arpaio Guilty Verdict” at KJZZ.

Read “The Last Slave Ship Survivor Gave an Interview in the 1930s. It Just Surfaced” at History.

Read “Colonialism’s Cages: When Indigenous People Were Placed In Human Zoos” at All That’s Interesting.

Read “What is döstädning, or Swedish Death Cleaning, and why is it causing such a decluttering buzz?” at Yahoo News.

Read “It’s Time to Let the Five Stages of Grief Die The five stages of grief are ingrained in our cultural consciousness as the natural progression of emotions one experiences after the death of a loved one. However, it turns out that this model is not science-based, does not well describe most people's experiences, and was never even meant to apply to the bereaved” at McGill.

Read “Supreme Court Pipeline Fight Could Disrupt How The Appalachian Trail Is Run” at NPR.

  • Read “The Forest Service says the Appalachian Trail isn’t “land” in a pipeline fight at SCOTUS” at Quartz.

Read “Inspired by Little Free Libraries, a free pantry helps feed hungry neighbors in St. Paul” at Star Tribune.

Read “How To Give Advice: Less Fixing, More Listening” at NPR.

Read “Steve Jobs' signature is the star of retro Apple gear collection at auction An original 1983 Apple Macintosh is going for $25,000” at CNet.

Read “Korn’s Brian “Head” Welch Opens Wellness Spas Inspired by the Rigors of Touring” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Italy Just Became the First Country to Require Schools to Teach Climate Change” at Global Citizen.

Browse “The Worst Things Michael Bloomberg Has Said About Women” at The Cut.

Read “Nevada Democratic Party asks caucus volunteers to sign confidentiality agreements” at CNN.

Read “Buttigieg Warns Against Sanders As The Democratic Nominee” at NPR.

Read “Admiral William McRaven: We Should Be Frightened, Deeply Afraid” at News and Guts. “When good men and women can’t speak the truth, when facts are inconvenient, when integrity and character no longer matter, when presidential ego and self-preservation are more important than national security — then there is nothing left to stop the triumph of evil.”

Read “Pompeo appeared to coordinate with Giuliani on Ukraine, new documents show” at Yahoo News.

Read “With An Election On The Horizon, Older Adults Get Help Spotting Fake News” at NPR.

Read “The Trump Era Proves That Women’s Studies Matters” at Ms. Magazine.

Read “'It's About Time': House Approves Historic Bill Making Lynching A Federal Crime” at NPR.

Read “Why Millennials Refuse to Let Go of Physical Media The last generation to know life before the internet hasn't fully switched over to streaming” at Inside Hook.

Read “Public Enemy Will Perform at Bernie Sanders’ Los Angeles Rally” at Paste.

Read “And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out Turns 20” at Stereogum.

Read “Robbie Robertson (The Band) Talks with M.C. Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger) on the Talkhouse Podcast They talk road-dogging with Dylan, scoring for Scorsese, and creating the seminal Music from Big Pink” at Talk House.

Read “Jerry Lee Lewis Returns to Music: ‘I Thought I Would Never Play Again’ After a stroke last year robbed him of use of his right hand, the Rock and Roll legend thought his piano-playing days were over. Now, at 84, he just recorded a new album” at Rolling Stone.

Read “For the Record(s): There's No Shame in Owning a Crosley” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Rebecca Foon Gets Honest and Raw with the Gorgeous 'Waxing Moon' at PopMatters.

Read “Mavis Staples Reflects on the Stax Years: Watch New Episode of 'Memphis Masters' at Billboard.

Read “Don Letts: ‘Punk was a refuge from racism’” at The Guardian.

Watch ‘Wetlands Preserved: The Story of an Activist Nightclub’ with Bob Weir, Phish, The Roots and More” at Relix.

Read “Yeasayer Suing Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd Over Black Panther Song A new lawsuit alleges that “Pray For Me” infringes on the band’s 2007 song “Sunrise” at Pitchfork.

Read “The “Music from Saharan WhatsApp” Series is an Experiment in Immediacy” at Bandcamp and browse my own posts about “Music From Saharan WhatsApp.”

Read “Neil Young wants to tour historic venues but is struggling to find many still in operation He thinks that new arenas feel “soulless" at NME.

Read “One of Rock’s Most Doomed Romances Started on the Floor of Portland’s Scuzziest Punk Club No one at Satyricon who saw the two tangled bodies grappling in front of the jukebox could’ve known what they were witnessing” at Williamette Week.

Read “'It sounded like the future': behind Miles Davis's greatest album On the 50th anniversary of Bitches Brew, one of the contributing musicians and the director of a new documentary share their thoughts on the record” at The Guardian.

Read “New Order and Pet Shop Boys Announce Co-Headlining Tour The new wave legends will play 11 shows together this fall” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “City Of Liverpool To Open Memorial Garden In Honor Of George Harrison” at Live For Live Music.

Read “This black female musician you may not know has written songs you probably do’ at Good Morning America.

Read “RZA Shares New EP of Guided Meditation Songs” at Pitchfork.

Read “Revisiting Talk Talk, A Band Worried About Being A 'Laughing Stock'" at NPR.

Read “'She exists out of time': Umm Kulthum, Arab music's eternal star” at The Guardian.

Read “Heavy Rain: The Exodus of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry” at Please Kill Me.

Watch “More Than 400 Classic Korean Films Free Online Thanks to the Korean Film Archive” at Open Culture.

Read “Sinclair stations are airing a dramatic special fearmongering about socialism, and it’s hosted by former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka” at Media Matters.

Read “The One Where the Friends Reunion Is Officially Happening on HBO Max” at Vulture.

Read “'Just Mercy' Wins Big At NAACP Image Awards” at BET.

Read “Daredevil 'Mad' Mike Hughes Killed In Crash Of Homemade Rocket” at NPR.

Read “Greg Kinnear to Make Broadway Debut as Atticus Finch in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'" at Hollywood Reporter.

Read “We’re gonna do economic activity—without money!”: Inside the criminal glamour of the San Francisco Diggers with Kent Minault” at Diggers Docs.

Read “Turkish Trash Collectors Built a Library of Discarded Books” at Global Citizen.

See “Thousands of life jackets worn by refugees attached to pillars at Minneapolis Institute of Art” at Twin Cities Pioneer Press.

Read “Surrealism Was a Decidedly Feminine Movement. So Why Have So Many of Its Great Women Artists Been Forgotten?” at Art Net.

Read “Scientists Found a Plastic Grocery Bag in the Ocean's Deepest Trench The bag was spotted in the Mariana Trench at a depth of 36,000 feet” at Global Citizen.

Read “An Iceberg Triple The Size Of San Francisco Breaks Off Antarctica's Most Endangered Glacier” at WBUR.

Read “Survival Of The Friendliest: How Our Close Friendships Help Us Thrive” at NPR.

Read “A New Theory On Time Indicates Present And Future Exist Simultaneously” at Science Philes.

Read “This 8-Year-Old Mexican Girl Won a Prize for Making a Solar Heater From Recycled Objects” at Global Citizen.

Read “You Cannot Heal Your Way Out of Being Human And you were never meant to” at Human Parts.

Read “A woman took 550 times the usual dose of LSD, with surprisingly positive consequences” at CNN.

Read “The Planet Is Doomed Unless We Stop Eating So Much Meat, UN Warns” at Global Citizen.

Read “Supermarkets in Thailand Are Replacing Plastic Packaging With Banana Leaves” at Global Citizen.

Read “C.S. Lewis’s Greatest Fiction Was Convincing American Kids That They Would Like Turkish Delight What would the perfect fantasy treat look like? Depending on where you’re from, probably not this” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Creepy Small Town In Arizona With Insane Paranormal Activity” at Only In Your State.

Read “Arizona Leads The Nation In Auto Glass Insurance Claims” at KJZZ.

Read “The 25 Best Places To Eat & Drink In Phoenix” at The Infatuation.

Read “Students walk out of Centennial High School after former principal resigns” at 12 News.

The Weekly Town Crier (02/21/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/14/20).

Read “DJ and producer Andrew Weatherall has died” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Pete Buttigieg On Faith ‘As A Source of Unity’ And Its Role In The 2020 Election.”

Read “James Cone looked evil in the face and refused to let it crush his hope Antiblackness is outrageous, but it does not have the last word” at Christian Century.

Read/watch “Christians surprise Pride parade marchers with signs apologizing for anti-LGBTQ views” at 10tv.

Read “Will the Real Pro-Life Political Party Please Stand Up?” by Shane Claiborne at Red Letter Christians.

Read “There is beauty and joy at the end of life, too” at Globe And Mail.

Read “Deliver Us, Lord, From the Startup Life In the Midwest, Christian entrepreneurs are searching for relief from the corrosive grind of company-building—while some faith leaders preach the gospel of crushing it” at Wired.

Read “Trump critic Russell Moore, ERLC to face scrutiny by Southern Baptists” at Religion News Service.

Read “First Asian American sheriff in California vows to protect immigrants from Trump policies” at AZ Central.

Read “The No. 1 reason you’re still broke even if you received a pay raise last year” at Market Watch. “When adjusted for cost of living increases, real wages actually declined 1.3% since the end of 2017.”

Read “At the border, “law and order” looks a lot like chaos Trump’s new policies are creating confusion and misery” at Christian Century.

Read/Watch “Why Trump’s outreach to black voters is raising ethical questions” at PBS News Hour. “"It seems like the president suggested that the scholarship for Janiyah Davis was part of a government program. But then we found out that it was paid for by the personal charity of one of his employees," says Donald Sherman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.”

Read “Trump Administration To Waive Contracting Laws To Build Border Wall” at KJZZ.

Read “Primary Season Is Here And 'Hispandering' Is Back” at NPR.

Read “The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Will Officially Become a Part of Oklahoma School Curriculum Beginning in the Fall” at The Root.

Read “There Is Not Some Separation Between Jesus and Justice.' How Rev. William J. Barber II Uses His Faith to Fight for the Poor” at Time.

Read “Psychology shows it’s a big mistake to base our self-worth on our professional achievements” at Quartz.

Read “Boy Scouts seek bankruptcy under wave of new sex abuse lawsuits” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “If we can't stop active shooter drills, let's at least do them without traumatizing kids” at AZ Central.

Read “US ranks lower than 38 other countries when it comes to children's wellbeing, new report says” at CNN.

Read “A Second School in California Will Be Named After Michelle Obama Michelle Obama Elementary School opens its doors in August” at Global Citizen.

Read “Arizona charter school principal pleads guilty in $2.5 million enrollment scheme” at AZ Central.

Read “Trump Calls For End To Student Loan Forgiveness Program” at Forbes.

Read “To promote success in schools, focus on teacher well-being” at Brookings.

Read “Children stage mass-walkout after teachers were forced to quit for being gay” at Metro.

Read/Watch “Poverty is a winning issue for 2020” at CNN.

Read “'Just Plain Ugly': Proposed Executive Order Takes Aim At Modern Architecture” at NPR.

Read “1,100 Former DOJ Employees Call On Barr To Resign After Intervening In Stone Case” at NPR.

  • Read “Federal judges' association calls emergency meeting after DOJ intervenes in case of Trump ally Roger Stone” at USA Today.

Read “2.5M Pounds Of Radioactive Waste Illegally Dumped In Oregon Landfill” at OPB.

Read “Greece Elected an Environmentalist as Its First Woman President Katerina Sakellaropoulou gained support across party lines” at Global Citizen.

Read “Bloomberg set to debate in Nevada after qualifying in new poll” at The Hill.

Read “Trump Commutes Sentence Of Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich” at NPR.

  • Read “Trump Threatens to Sue ‘Everyone All Over the Place’ Another morning, another Twitter outburst” at Rolling Stone.

  • Read “How Much Has the Government Spent at Trump’s Properties? It Won’t Say” at ProPublica.

Read “Japan’s Lost-and-Found System Is Insanely Good” at City Lab.

Read “The Next Smithsonian Might Be A Women's History Museum” at NPR.

Read “The gloriously unhinged progressive pushback against the Babylon Bee The humor may or may not be to your taste but it’s hardly about to bring the republic crashing down in a slurry of ignorance” at Spectator USA.

Read “Court Records Confirm Works From Nirvana, Elton John And Others Damaged In 2008 Fire” at NPR.

Read “Grateful Dead To Release 15-CD ‘June 1976’ Box Set” at Jambands.com.

Read “New Adventures with The Kernal” at Sound And Soul.

Read “Facing Hearing Loss, Huey Lewis Releases What 'May Be' His Last Album” at NPR.

Read “New Musical ‘Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Story’ to Open in London in 2021” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Day The Music Became Carbon-Neutral” at The New Yorker.

Read “An Attempt To Explain The “Difficult” Neil Young Records” at Vinyl Me Please.

Read “Neil Young Pens Open Letter to Donald Trump: ‘You Are a Disgrace to My Country’ Now an American citizen, Young rails against the president” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Henry Rollins To Voice Tri-Klops In Netflix’s He-Man Reboot” at Stereogum.

Read “Feature-Length Ronnie James Dio Documentary Is Being Made The film is being produced by BMG and will span the singer's illustrious career” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Watch More Than 400 Classic Korean Films Free Online Thanks to the Korean Film Archive” at Open Culture.

Read “The Original Renegade A 14-year-old in Atlanta created one of the biggest dances on the internet. But nobody really knows that” at New York Times.

Read “LeBron James to release his first children's book this summer” at Entertainment Weekly.

See “This Graffiti Artist Makes Walls Appear Transparent Using Nothing But Spray Paint” at Bored Panda.

See “Portraits of “Most Beautiful Chickens on the Planet” Capture Their Underrated Beauty” at My Modern Net.

Read “Improving the prognosis of health care in the USA” at Science Direct.

Read “Scientists detect an unexplainable radio signal from outer space that repeats every 16 days” at AZ Central.

Read “Generations of Handwritten Mexican Cookbooks Are Now Online North America’s largest-known Mexican cookbook collection inspires both tears and restaurant dishes” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Arpaio Leads in Sheriff’s Race Cash, But Just 1 in 8 of His Donors Are Arizonans” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Lawmaker would ban students from listing dormitories on voter registration” at AZ Central.

Read “Caverns Grotto In a 345-million-year-old cave that's 200 feet underground, dinner awaits.” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “7 Arizona Locations On Pier 1 Imports Store Closing List” at KJZZ.

Read “Arizona Governor, GOP Lawmakers End Sanctuary City Ban Push” at KJZZ.

The Weekly Town Crier (02/14/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/14/20).

Read “Wes Wilson, Psychedelic Poster Pioneer, Dies at 82 His work announced concerts by the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and more — to those who could read them.” at New York Times.

Read/Listen to “Robert Conrad, star of TV's 'The Wild, Wild West,' dies at 84” at 12 News.

Read “Joseph Shabalala, Ladysmith Black Mambazo founder, dies aged 78” at The Guardian.

Read “Lyle Mays, Evocative Pianist Who Helped Define The Pat Metheny Group, Is Dead at 66” at WBGO.

Read “Acts 29 CEO Removed Amid 'Accusations of Abusive Leadership' Steve Timmis was acclaimed for his model of close church community. But former members claim that inside The Crowded House, he resorted to bullying and control” Christianity Today.

Read “Christian activist to sue NFL because Shakira and J-Lo performances endangered his eternal soul” at Raw Story.

Read “Can Christianity be a counterforce to finance capitalism? “Religious vocation sits very uneasily with individual self-advancement.” at Christian Century.

Read “After a Backlash, Nashville’s Belmont University Says It Will Let Non-Christian Art Professors Teach After All Watkins College of Art, which is being absorbed, was originally told that Belmont had a firm no non-Christians policy” at Artnet.

Read “A German Jew Vows To Fight On To Remove Anti-Semitic Sculpture After Court Defeat” at NPR.

Read “John Ortberg Investigated After Church Volunteer Confessed Attraction to Minors Menlo Church said the senior pastor showed “poor judgment” in allowing the member to work with children and failing to notify other staff” at Christianity Today.

Read/Listen to “Brené Brown Strong Back, Soft Front, Wild Heart” at On Being.

Read “Despite Stigma, More Divorced Evangelicals Are Going to Church Their attendance outpaces other traditions, but still lags far behind married evangelicals” at Christianity Today.

Read “Breaking Out of the White Evangelical Echo Chamber Putting faithful witness ahead of political expediency starts with changing surroundings, words, and friendships” at Christianity Today.

Read “Ron Carpenter was promised $6.25M retirement payout in transition plan with John Gray, court docs say” at Christian Post.

Read World Magazine’s opinion piece “The gospel according to Pete Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks often of his religion—but he tailors it to fit his politics, and it focuses on works over faith.”

Read “Billie Eilish Can Help Us Understand Teenage Anxiety The Grammy-award winning teen’s dark music can help us have necessary conversations with our children” at Christianity Today.

Read “Pope Francis Won't Allow Married Men As Priests, Women As Deacons” at NPR.

Read “Time To Delete Your Church’s Facebook Page?” “"Seventy percent of U.S. adults use Facebook, so the platform has effectively made itself the public square. Facebook is that worst possible spawn of the capitalist system—an unregulated monopoly” at Sojourners.

Read “Are Nationalism and Populism the Cure for What Ails the West? The “strong gods” of old are knocking at the door. We ought to be wary of letting them inside” at Christianity Today.

Read “Barbie debuts Rosa Parks doll as part of series honoring iconic women” at AL.com.

Read “Police Offering Drug Recovery Help: 'We Can't Arrest Our Way Out Of This Problem'“ at NPR.

Read “Masked white nationalists march in Washington with police escort” Yahoo News.

Read “Trump ‘Is Not a Racist’ Because the ‘People Who Wash Dishes’ at Mar-a-Lago ‘Love Him,’ Says Ben Carson “The people who drive the cars and park the cars at Mar-a-Lago, they love him, because he’s kind and compassionate,” the housing secretary said” at Rolling Stone.

Read “In The 1920s, 1 In 3 Eligible Men In Dallas Were KKK Members” at WBUR.

Read “Virginia lawmakers approve Confederate statue removal bills” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Many Mississippi prisoners kept locked up past release dates due to housing shortage” at Mississippi Today.

Read “Pakistan Court Rules That Men Can Marry Underage Girls After They've Had Their First Period The ruling comes in direct violation of the Child Marriage Restraint Act” at Global Citizen.

Read “Are Gun Owners Happier And Do They Sleep Better? UA Study Says No” at KJZZ.

Read “After Flint Water Crisis, Number Of Students With Special Education Needs Spikes” at WBUR.

Read/Listen to “World's 1st 3D Printed Neighborhood Being Built In Mexico” at WBUR.

Read “QAnon’ conspiracy theory creeps into mainstream politics” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Navy Pilot Who Filmed the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO Speaks: ‘It Wasn’t Behaving by the Normal Laws of Physics’” at The Intelligencer.

Read “The Age of Decadence Cut the drama. The real story of the West in the 21st century is one of stalemate and stagnation.” at New York Times.

Read “"You wouldn't think you'd go to jail over medical bills": County in rural Kansas is jailing people over unpaid medical debt” at CBS News.

Read “Trump says Coronavirus will be gone by April when the weather gets warmer, doesn't offer scientific explanation” at AZ Central.

Read “Nearly 1 in 3 American workers run out of money before payday—even those earning over $100,000” at CNBC.

Read “Not welcome: Gay students, parents are denied service in Florida’s publicly funded voucher schools” at Orlando Sentinel.

Read “President Trump Is Trying to Eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts—Again—in His Just-Released 2021 Budget Proposal” at Artnet.

Read “Trump administration moves ahead on shrinking Utah monuments” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Trump Charges Secret Service up to $650 a Night for a Room in His Properties Add this to the long list of the president’s grifts” at Rolling Stone.

Read “'Not Guilty': Trump Acquitted On 2 Articles Of Impeachment As Historic Trial Closes” at NPR.

  • Read “Trump fires key impeachment witnesses Sondland, Lt. Col. Vindman in purge The officials provided critical testimony during the House inquiry into the president's conduct with Ukraine” at NBC News.

Read “Mike Bloomberg Is Paying ‘Influencers’ to Make Him Seem Cool” at Daily Beast.

Read “Pelosi Delivers Another Resistance Meme, and Nothing Else The House Speaker theatrically ripped up a speech that she gave Trump a platform to deliver” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Trump’s New Budget Goes After Social Safety Net Programs The budget calls for cuts to Medicaid and food stamps while asking tax-payers to pay billions for the president’s wall” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Tech Entrepreneur Andrew Yang Drops Out Of 2020 Presidential Race” at NPR.

Read “Barr takes control of legal matters of interest to Trump, including Stone sentencing Attorney General William Barr's intervention in Roger Stone's case wasn't the first time senior political appointees reached into a case involving an ex-Trump aide, officials say” at NBC News.

  • Read “William Barr Supported Pardons In An Earlier D.C. 'Witch Hunt': Iran-Contra” at NPR.

Read “Senate GOP blocks three election security bills” at The Hill.

Read “The Great Affordability Crisis Breaking America In one of the best decades the American economy has ever recorded, families were bled dry” at The Atlantic.

Read/Listen to “The Day America Went Dry: Looking Back At Prohibition 100 Years Later” at WBUR.

Read “Good Looks Alone Do Not Make You Attractive: There’s Much More To It…We live in a world where many like to think that attractiveness is all about having good looks and a cool taste for fashion” at I Heart Intelligence.

Read “Who decides what words mean Bound by rules, yet constantly changing, language might be the ultimate self-regulating system, with nobody in charge” at Aeon.

Read/Listen to “Antarctica just hit 64.9 degrees - its highest temperature ever recorded” at WHAS11.

Read “Bill & Melinda Gates Add Climate Change and Gender Equality to Foundation's Priorities” at Global Citizen.

Read “Native burial sites blown up for US border wall” at BBC.

Read/Listen to “Capturing The Undersung Blues People Of The Rural South” at NPR.

Read “10 Songs by The Clash That Made Films Better Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, and Judd Apatow are all fans” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Devastating” Manufacturing Plant Fire Threatens Worldwide Vinyl Record Supply Third Man Records’ Ben Blackwell says the destruction of Apollo Masters’ California facility “will present a problem for the vinyl industry worldwide” at Pitchfork.

Read “Fan designs impressive Tool LEGO set that has a chance to be manufactured” at Consequence of Sound.

Read/Watch/Listen to “Family Of Bob Marley Releases New Animated Video For “Redemption Song” at Live For Live Music.

Read “Sufjan Stevens Announces New Album With His Stepfather Lowell, Shares Song” at Pitchfork.

Read/Listen to “For Bob Marley's 75th Birthday, Ziggy Marley Reflects On His Father's Legacy” at NPR.

Read “Blind Faith: The Meteoric Rise & Rapid Fall Of Clapton, Baker, Winwood, And Grech’s 1969 Supergroup” at Live For Live Music.

Read/Listen to “Fascination, Friendship And Desire: Kathleen Hanna On The Reign Of 'Rebel Girl' at NPR’s American Anthem series.

Watch “A Brief History of Dad Rock” by Pitchfork.

Read “Putting their necks on the line one gig at a time” at the Sydney Morning Herald.

Browse “5 Movie Soundtracks That Rescued Great Musicians From Obscurity” at Pitchfork.

Read “Take one: lost Dave Brubeck tapes reveal jazz hit originally sounded like ‘a bad student band’ at The Guardian.

Read “Nina Simone’s rare 1982 album, Fodder On My Wings, to be reissued Until now, the album's commercial availability has been sporadic at best” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Voice Offers A Sonic Refuge” at NPR. “Last year, a live recording of a performance from late Pakistani vocal master Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was released from the archives after 35 years. The album, 'Live at WOMAD 1985,' captures Khan at his vocal prime and at his most traditional, performing in the South Asian musical style of qawwali.”

See “John Frusciante Perform With Red Hot Chili Peppers Members for First Time Since Reunion” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Yo La Tengo on the Pros and Cons of Being a Self-Managed Band” at Spotify.

Read “Pussy Riot Say Russian Police Shut Down Video Shoot, Citing “Gay Propaganda” The “БЕСИТ / RAGE” shoot was thwarted at a cost of $15,000, the group says” at Pitchfork.

Read “Kamasi Washington releasing new concert film from Apollo Theater” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Bauhaus, Morrissey, Blondie, Devo, Bunnymen, P-Furs & lots more playing LA’s Cruel World fest at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Heavy Metal, Year One: The Inside Story of Black Sabbath’s Groundbreaking Debut Half a century since Ozzy Osbourne first bellowed, “What is this that stands before me?” the band and their collaborators look back on the album that kick-started a worldwide movement” at Rolling Stone.

Read “RPM Records: Sustainable Vinyl Pressing In Europe!” at Discogs.

Read “Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Stephen Stills and More Will Perform at ‘Light Up The Blues’ Autism Benefit” at Jambands.

Read “Carol Kaye: The Boss of the Bass Guitar” at Please Kill Me.

Read “Bassist Admits to Burning Churches to “Raise His Profile as a Black Metal Musician” Holden Matthews will be sentenced to at least 10 years in prison on May 22nd” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “A Code Switch Playlist For Black History Month” at NPR.

Read “Remembering Richard Flower, an unsung player in the Gin Blossoms' origin story” at AZ Central.

Read ‘The Whole System Collapsed’: Inside the Music Industry’s Ongoing Distribution Crisis ‘It’s amazing how a company most have never heard of can bring the U.S. music industry to its knees,’ said one label exec struggling to get his artists’ records into stores” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Universal Confirms Nirvana, Beck, Sonic Youth, Elton John Masters Damaged in Warehouse Fire Works by Soundgarden, R.E.M., Jimmy Eat World, and others were also lost in the 2008 blaze” at Pitchfork.

Browse “8 Pitchfork Staffers on Their Favorite Music Moments in Recent Movies” at Pitchfork.

Read “Netflix reveals the 9 shows and movies it's pulled at the request of the world's governments” at News.AV Club.

Read “Be Kind. Please Rewind: An Ode to the VCR” at Pop Matters.

Read “The Rise Of The Single-Shot Movie In A Hyper-Edited World” at NPR. “Once editing was invented, one-shot movies seemed primitive. But in the past 20 years, the number of one-shot feature films rose 500%.”

Let's unpack this whimsical, detailed poster for Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch” at AV Club.

Read “Disney Didn’t Just Buy ‘Hamilton’ for $75 Million; It Bought a Potential Franchise Disney wants to bring the Lin-Manuel Miranda brand under the same corporate umbrella as Marvel and "Star Wars." at Indie Wire.

Read “Keith Richards quits smoking The Rolling Stones guitarist admitted that kicking heroin was easier than stopping smoking” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Famous Authors Are Writing Books for a Time Capsule Library None of Us Will Ever See” at Bookish Buzz.

Read “Finally, Van Gogh Gets His Own Action Figure, And Yes, You Can Detach His Ear” at Demilked.

Read “President Trump Wants to Make ‘Federal Buildings Beautiful Again’ With a New Executive Order That Echoes Fascist History” at Artnet.

Read “Thorncrown Chapel This futuristically sylvan church is a glass-enclosed marvel of modern architecture” at Atlas Obscura.

See “Someone In Bulgaria Is Putting Googly Eyes On Broken Street Objects, And It’s Even Better Than Fixing Things” at Bored Panda.

Read “A Small Pennsylvania Museum Just Discovered It Has Owned a Rembrandt for 70 Years Without Knowing It” at Artnet.

Read “Foucault Pendulum at the Franklin Institute A daily replay of the experiment that proved the rotation of the Earth” at Atlas Obscura. “The four-story Foucault pendulum at the Franklin Institute has now been swinging for more than 80 years.”

Read “The name you’re given as a child might affect the shape of your face” at Quartz.

Read/hear “The Trump Administration Is 'Silencing Science,' Environmental Law Expert Says” at WBUR.

Read “For Kid's Coughs, Swap The Over-The-Counter Syrups For Honey” at NPR.

Read “Researchers Link Autism To A System That Insulates Brain Wiring” at NPR.

Read “'Ghost' DNA In West Africans Complicates Story Of Human Origins” at NPR.

Read “Mad Honey This hallucinogenic honey can sell for over $60 a pound on the black market. This pollinated honey can pack a hallucinogenic punch” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “How Dried Cod Became a Norwegian Staple and an Italian Delicacy” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “All About Books and Comics is Closing in April” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “O'odham sacred site near Lukeville blasted for border wall construction” at AZ Central.

Read “President Trump hosting rally in Phoenix February 19” at 12 News.

Read “'No One Claims Responsibility': Amid Rising Homelessness, Phoenix and Its Largest Shelter Are Out of Sync” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “The Whole Family Will Love A Trip To This Bigfoot-Themed Restaurant In Arizona” at Only In Your State.

Read “Poll: Arizona Voters Support Tougher Gun Laws By 8:1 Margin” at KJZZ.

Read “Rep. Raul Grijalva: Border Wall Construction Doing Irreparable Damage” at KJZZ.


The Weekly Town Crier (02/07/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (02/07/20).

Read “Gang of Four’s Andy Gill Dead at 64” at Pitchfork.

Read “Ivan Král, Patti Smith Group Member, Dead at 71” at Pitchfork.

Read “Kirk Douglas, Hollywood Icon and Spartacus Star, Dies at 103” at People.

Read “For Those Who Feel Betrayed By Christianity” at Sojourners. "Since the election of President Donald Trump, many Christians are asking: How could so many Christ-followers agree with actions that are so decisively un-Christlike?"

Read “Christians are Supposed to Care About People” at John Pavlovitz. “I never once see a Jesus brandishing a “Don’t Tread On Me” bravado in the face of dire need. I don’t see him lecturing the poor and the afflicted to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” I can’t find him inviting war or celebrating bloodshed or reveling in loss of life for any reason.”

Read “Evangelicalism Is Dead. We Need A New Label For Our Faith” at Sojourners.

Read “State of the Church” at Barna.

Read “Faith formation in my world religions classroom Each year a Hindu priest asks my students to “worship our own, but respect all.” They find the second part easier” at Christian Century.

Read “Christian Nonprofits Reeling from Trump Cuts to Foreign Aid Work in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador was starting to bring change, agencies say” at Christianity Today.

Read “Richard Rohr Reorders the Universe” at New Yorker.”The seventy-six-year-old Franciscan friar Richard Rohr believes that Christianity isn’t the only path to salvation.”

Read “Capitalism Is Incompatible With Christianity” at Sojourners.

Read “Pope Francis Turned a Roman Palace Into a Homeless Shelter” at Global Citizen.

Read “U.S. Showing ‘Many’ Genocide Warning Signs Under Trump, Expert Says: ‘I Am Very, Very Worried” at Newsweek.

Read “Greensboro Sit-In: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know” at Heavy.

Read “Before the Bus, Rosa Parks Was a Sexual Assault Investigator Why has history left out this piece of Rosa Parks' story?” at History.com.

Read “US judge in Tucson overturns convictions of 4 border-aid volunteers” at AZ Central.

Read “Investors Buy Old Hotel and Convert It into 139 Mini-Apartments for the Homeless” at Black Business.

Read “Finland's Women-Led Government Has Equalized Family Leave: 7 Months For Each Parent” at NPR.

Read “Watch: News Anchor Shows Americans Real Size of Wealth Gap—Using American Pie” at Common Dreams.

Read “How Chaos at Chain Pharmacies Is Putting Patients at Risk” at New York Times.

Read “E.B. White’s Beautiful Letter to a Man Who Had Lost Faith in Humanity What sailors teach us about hope and the resilience of the human spirit” at Brain Pickings. "As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate."

Read “Steve Wozniak: When Apple got ‘big money’ Steve Jobs’ personality ‘changed’” at CNBC.

Read “Report: Where Parents Have More Choice, Schools Appear To Become More Segregated” at WBUR.

Read “J.Lo and A-Rod Just Donated a Year’s Worth of Meals to a Tennessee School” at Global Citizen.

Read “Excess Teacher Responsibilities are Stealing Bonding Time with Students” at Bored Teachers.

Read “It's official: Trump's tax cuts were an economic bust” at Business Insider.

Read “Trump administration ‘rolling back women’s rights by 50 years’ by changing definitions of domestic violence and sexual assault” at The Independent.

Read “Senate rejects witnesses in Trump trial, ensuring acquittal” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Which Republicans Had the Worst Excuses for Ending the Impeachment Trial With No Witnesses?” at Slate.

  • Read “Voting to acquit this noxious criminal is the point of no return for the Republican Party” at Salon.

  • Read “Sen. Kyrsten Sinema votes to convict President Trump on impeachment charges” at AZ Central.

  • Read “Mitt Romney: ‘Dishonesty Is Donald Trump’s Hallmark.”How Mitt Romney Decided Trump Is Guilty” at Sojourners.

    • Read “How Mitt Romney Decided Trump Is Guilty” at The Atlantic.

Read “Trump extends travel ban to 6 countries — but is OK with selling arms to those same places” at NBC News.

Read “Trump's sexual assault allegations: The full list of women who have accused the President” at The Independent.

Read “The Downfall of the Republican Party To see men and women who had a positive vision beaten down and broken by Trump is a poignant thing” at The Atlantic.

Read “'It was a total mess': Caucusing is long over, but Iowa still doesn't have a winner” at USA Today.

Read/listen to “'No Longer A Friend': Ukrainians Are Losing Faith In The U.S.” at NPR.

Read “Trump Administration Loosens Obama-Era Restrictions On Land Mine Use” at NPR.

Read “Pelosi rips up Trump’s State of the Union speech” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Attorney General Barr Issues New Rules For Politically Sensitive Investigations” at NPR.

Read “Rush Limbaugh Says He Has Been Diagnosed With Advanced Lung Cancer” at NPR.

  • Read “Trump Honors Rush Limbaugh With Presidential Medal Of Freedom” at News and Guts.

Read “Gen X Will Not Go Quietly” at Gen.Medium.

Read “Fully Armed Rally-Goers Enter Kentucky’s Capitol Building With Zero Resistance” at Rolling Stone.

Read: “The Reading Room: Where Politics and Country Music Collide” at No Depression.

Watch “Vampire Weekend Perform at Bernie Sanders Rally” at Pitchfork.

Read “Country music is ‘dead’: Icon Loretta Lynn trashes modern hits” at Lexington Herald Leader.

Watch “The Velvet Underground Played At My High School” at PBS.

Read “Read between the lines with Mike Doughty” and Aarik Danielson at Columbia Daily Tribune.

Read “From White Supremacy To Opioids, Drive-By Truckers Confronts 'The Unraveling' at NPR.

Read “Built To Spill Announce Daniel Johnston Covers Album” at Stereogum.

Read “Remembering Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, & The Big Bopper On ‘The Day The Music Died’ In 1959 (02/03) at Live For Live Music.

Read “Spike Lee To Direct Film Version Of ‘David Byrne’s American Utopia’ Stage Show” at Deadline.

Read “Soundgarden countersue Vicky Cornell over ownership of final Chris Cornell recordings” at Consequence of Sound.

Consider “Television’s Punk Epic “Marquee Moon,” 40 Years Later” at Pitchfork.

Read “ABBA intend to release new music in 2020 The iconic Swedish group's first material in over 30 years” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “In conversation: When Elvis Costello met Tom Waits” at Far Out Magazine.

Read “David Byrne to Appear as Musical Guest on ‘Saturday Night Live’” at Jambands.

Read “Prominent Malian Musician Alleges That TSA Destroyed His Instrument” at NPR. “Delicate and complex, koras can stand more than 4 feet tall. In a statement on Ballaké Sissoko's Facebook, an ethnomusicologist deemed the custom-made style irreplaceable.”

Read “Brian Wilson Opposes Mike Love’s Beach Boys Show at Trophy Hunting Convention Wilson points fans toward a Change.org petition that calls to boycott the Beach Boys until their performance is canceled” at Pitchfork.

Read “Pee-wee Herman's "Dark" Reboot: Paul Reubens Is Ready to Stage a Comeback” at Hollywood Reporter.

Browse “74 Ways Characters Die in Shakespeare’s Plays Shown in a Handy Infographic: From Snakebites to Lack of Sleep” at Open Culture.

See “Super High-Resolution Photo of the Sun Reveals It Looks Like ... Corn” at Mental Floss.

Read “15,372 Scientists Just Signed a Letter Calling Climate Change Impact ‘Catastrophic’” at Global Citizen.

Read “Record-breaking astronaut Christina Koch returns to Earth after 328 days in space” at 12 News.

Read “The Art and Science of Kashmir’s Pink Tea Green tea becomes rosy with the addition of a special ingredient” at Atlas Obscura.

Browse “Haunted by Cybersects A freaky tour of the extant websites of 1990s cults” at Baffler.

Read “Arizona Quietly Sells 16,810 Acres to Freeport-McMoRan for Mining Waste” at Phoenix New Times.

The Weekly Town Crier (01/31/20)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/31/20).

Read “Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers Legend, Dead at 41 Basketball great and 13-year-old daughter Gianna among five dead in helicopter crash near Calabasas, California” at Rolling Stone.

Read “You Are Here Bonhoeffer on the ‘Stupidity’ That Led to Hitler’s Rise Americans today might do well to heed Bonhoeffer’s warning” at Intellectual Takeout.

Read “In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace An update on America's changing religious landscape” at Pew Forum. “Catholics are no longer a majority among U.S. Latinos.”

Read “The Art of Grieving: A Spiritual Practice for our Time” at Missio Alliance.

Get Ordained Free as a Dudeist Minister” at Dudeism.

Read “Trump’s spiritual adviser called for ‘all satanic pregnancies to miscarry.’ It was a metaphor, she says” at Washington Post. Behold, Trump’s version of “Pro-Life”.

Read “The Tanzanian Court Just Banned Child Marriage in the Country For Good” at Global Citizen.

Read “Our problem isn’t just loneliness—it’s species loneliness How human isolation from the rest of the world keeps us from thriving” at Christian Century.

Read “75 Years After Auschwitz Liberation, Survivors Urge World To Remember” at NPR.

Read “Portion of US border wall in California falls over in high winds and lands on Mexican side” at CNN.

Read “Children With Parents Who Are Addicted To Their Cell Phones Affect Children's Development” at Healthy Holistic Living.

Read/Watch “Space Force logo tweeted by Trump bears uncanny resemblance to 'Star Trek' insignia” at CNN.

Read “Single-use plastic: China to ban bags and other items” at BBC.

Read “4 Reasons Why Slowing Down Will Actually Make You More Successful” at Inc.

Read “We Are Drowning in a Devolved World: An Open Letter from Devo Following the band's Rock Hall nomination, founder Gerald Casale reflects on its dystopian legacy in the age of Trump” at Vice.

Read “Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need” at Scoop.

Read “Heard but Not Seen Black music in white spaces.” at Slate.

Read “United States Spend Ten Times More On Fossil Fuel Subsidies Than Education” at Forbes.

Read “Trump is attracting a new crop of big donors, including many who have never given before” at Washington Post. “It’s like insurance that is going to help save the country. . . . It’s for me and my grandkids and the next generations. Trump’s vaunted political money machine is helping drive record sums to the Republican National Committee, and not just from the same donors who supported him in 2016. Enticed by exclusive gatherings and ecstatic about the president’s tax cuts, an eclectic new crop of donors is going all in, giving five and six figures to support his reelection.”

Read “44 Years Ago, Shirley Chisholm Became the First Black Woman to Run For President” at Smithsonian Magazine.

Read “Pompeo steps up attacks on NPR reporter, but doesn't deny her account The secretary of state on Saturday attacked the correspondent who reported that he had cursed and berated her over questioning about Ukraine, but did not directly challenge those claims.” at NBC.

  • Read “State Department drops NPR from Pompeo trip after Ukraine dust-up” at CNN Business.

  • Read “NPR Seeks 'Clarification' From State Department About Reporter Dropped From Trip” at NPR.

Read “Supreme Court order allows Trump’s new green card rule to take effect” at PBS News Hour.

Read “2,500-Year-Old Chariot Found – Complete with Rider And Horses” at Archeology World.

Read the (satirical?) piece “Band Member With Kid Subtly Adds Girl Scout Cookies to Merch Table” at The Hard Times.

Attention Grateful Dead fans: “Ever wanted to quickly find every performance of a Grateful Dead song, along with the song played before/after? Or maybe only the ones from a certain year, band lineup, guest musician, etc? Now you can! Get it here (FREE)”.

Read “Neil Young is Now a US Citizen: Here’s 5 Versions of “Rockin’ In The Free World” at Relix.

Read “Neil Young says that the MacBook Pro has “Fisher-Price” audio quality and calls it “a piece of crap” at Music Radar.

Read “Mick Fleetwood on His Peter Green Tribute Show, Future Plans, and Lindsey Buckingham “Lindsey’s legacy is alive and well, and as it should be,” says the drummer. “It will never be taken away, and never be down-spoken by any of us” at Rolling Stone.

Watch the First Teaser for Beastie Boys and Spike Jonze’s New Documentary” at Pitchfork.

Read “Ozzy Osbourne: ‘I Think About Death But I Don’t Worry About It’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The New Pornographers Censor Their Name for New Kids’ Shirts” at Pitchfork.

Browse Clickhole’s list of “5 Episodes Of ‘Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives’ Where Guy Fieri Clearly Just Stopped Into The Restaurant Because He Desperately Needed To Use The Bathroom.”

Browse “Super Bowl Halftime Shows Ranked: From Worst to Best” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Check Out Washington Nationals Pitcher Sean Doolittle’s Phish-Inspired Wilson Glove” at Relix.

Read “In 2019, more Americans went to the library than to the movies. Yes, really.” at LitHub.

Read “Why You Should Surround Yourself With More Books Than You'll Ever Have Time to Read'“ at Inc.

Read “Classic Children’s Books Now Digitized and Put Online: Revisit Vintage Works from the 19th & 20th Centuries” at Open Culture.

Say Hi, How Are You To Houston's New Mural Honoring Daniel Johnston” at Houston Press.

See “Perfectly Timed Photo Frames a Solar Eclipse Around a Man Leading a Camel in the Desert” at My Modern Met.

Read “Psychology still skews western and affluent. Can it be fixed? Critics have argued that these biases present an imperfect view of the human mind. Why is it so hard to correct?” at Salon.

Read “Ask Ethan: How Can We See 46.1 Billion Light-Years Away In A 13.8 Billion Year Old Universe?” at Forbes.

Read “Germany is turning 62 military bases into wildlife sanctuaries 'We are fortunate that we can now give these places back to nature' at The Independent.

Read “Eat Like a 1970s Radical With ‘The People’s Philadelphia Cookbook’ The 1976 book included contributions from the Black Power and Gay Liberation movements” at Gastro Obscura.

Read “'Penis Man' Graffiti Artist Arrested by '25 Heavily Armed SWAT Officers' at Phoenix New Times.

Read “World’s first Atari-themed hotel will open in Phoenix” at AZ Weekend.

Read “Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin Architecture School Is Shutting Down” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Federal court says Arizona 'ballot harvesting' law discriminates against minority voters” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (01/24/20)

newertowncrier.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/24/20).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Stream/download an introductory mix of Sacred Steel music.

Browse all my favorite music of 2019.

  • Listen to Volume 01 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 02 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 03 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 04 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

Read “Singer-songwriter David Olney dies on stage at age 71” at CNN.

Read “Jazz Saxophone Legend Jimmy Heath Has Died” at NPR.

Read “Terry Jones, Monty Python Co-Founder and Comedy Polymath, Dead at 77” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Jim Lehrer, journalist who co-founded PBS' nightly newscast, dead at 85” at NBC.

Read “When Your Theology of Pain Is Painfully Bad” at Mockingbird.

Read “The Heresy of Christian Nationalism” at John Pavlovitz.

Read “Kindness, kinship, and the boundaries of justice The virtue of kindness depends on who we see as kin” at Christian Century.

Read “70% of people in local jails are not convicted of any crime” at Prison Policy.

Read “Depressive realism We keep chasing happiness, but true clarity comes from depression and existential angst. Admit that life is hell, and be free” at Aeon. “What if depression is the collapse of the illusions that help us cope with a truly depressing reality?”

Read “Indiana's Oldest State Worker Is Retiring At 102: 'I've Been A Pretty Lucky Guy'" at NPR.

Read “The Mysterious “Order of the Odd Fellows” that frankly, belongs in a Wes Anderson Movie” at Messyness Chic. “A secret society that outnumbered the Freemasons at one point. But had you ever heard of them??”

Read “Patagonia’s CEO is donating company’s entire $10M Trump tax cut to fight climate change.” at Upworthy.

Read “If the National Archives Blurs Anti-Trump Speech From Its Exhibits, Is It Really an Archive?” at The Root.

Read “The National Archives Has Apologized For Altering A Photo To Remove Criticisms Of Trump” at Buzzfeed.

Read “Italy passes law to send unsold food to charities instead of dumpsters Italy joins growing list of countries looking to end food-waste” at Global Citizen.

Read “Richmond Gun Rally: Thousands Of Gun Owners Converge On Virginia Capitol On MLK Day” at NPR.

Read “Football and Brain Trauma – Recommended Books” at Englewood Review of Books.

Read “Why Do You Think They Cross the Border?” by John Pavlovitz.

Read “High School Transforms Hallways Into Iconic Book Covers” at For Reading Addicts.

Read “Trump Administration to Roll Back Obama School Lunch Rules” at News and Guts.

Read “Pelosi impeachment manager is calling for McConnell’s recusal from Trump Senate trial” at Miami Herald.

  • Read/watch “Lev Parnas remarks on role of Devin Nunes in Trump Ukraine Scheme” at MSNBC.

Read “NRA Was 'Foreign Asset' To Russia Ahead of 2016, New Senate Report Reveals” at NPR.

Read “Trump’s Plan to Reduce Trade Deficit Falters as It Hits an All-Time High Instead” at Fortune.

Read “In a break with convention, the editorial board has chosen to endorse two separate Democratic candidates for president” at New York Times.

Read “Wiggles member Greg Page goes into cardiac arrest during reunion concert” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “M.I.A. receives M.B.E. from Prince William” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Without Small Venues, the UK Doesn't Have a Music Industry How many more have to be railroaded by rent hikes and property developers before we lose our grassroots scenes completely?” at Vice.

Read “Nick Cave says Kanye West is currently “our greatest artist” "There is no musician on Earth that is as committed to their own derangement as Kanye" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Radiohead Add Rarities to Streaming Services in Online Archive Launch The Radiohead Public Library corrals band trivia, visuals, HD performances, rare songs and merchandise, and more” at PItchfork.

Read “The Wall of Sound The untold story of the Grateful Dead's short-lived mega PA, arguably the largest, most technologically innovative sound system ever built” at Vice.

Read “Why We Need MTV Now More Than Ever The struggle to find music in a world with too many options and not enough community” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Aerosmith Drummer Sues Band for Excluding Him Ahead of Grammys” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Josh Klinghoffer on Red Hot Chili Peppers Exit: ‘Complete Shock But Not a Surprise’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “‘Punky Brewster’ Is Coming Back to Traumatize a Whole New Generation” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Quentin Tarantino plans to write and direct Bounty Law series He also teases his tenth movie may have a connection to his first” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Joe Pera Talks With You’ Is the Best Thing Adult Swim Has Ever Done The comedian plays a gentle, Mr. Rogers-like figure who navigates our anxiety-ridden world with unfailing kindness” at Vice.

Read “Ozzy Osbourne Reveals Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis” at Rolling Stone.

Read “A vending machine for books” at Bookish Buzz.

Read: The Secrets of The ‘80’s New York Art Scene - As Told By John Lurie.”

Read “Hoverboarding dentist found guilty of 'unlawful dental acts' at NBC.

Read “In 1930s New York, the Mayor Took on the Mafia by Banning Artichokes” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Ranking says Phoenix is a top 50 city in the world, top 20 large city in the US” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (01/10/20)

newtowncrier.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/10/20).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Stream/download an introductory mix of Sacred Steel music.

Browse all my favorite music of 2019.

  • Listen to Volume 01 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 02 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 03 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 04 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

Read “Author of ‘Prozac Nation’ Elizabeth Wurtzel Dead at 52” at Rolling Stone.

Read “American Christianity Has Failed" at Sojourners.

Read “Todd Bentley Investigation Finds ‘Steady Pattern’ of Immoral Conduct The edgy Canadian preacher was declared unfit for ministry due to credible allegations of adultery, sexting, and substance abuse spanning the past 15 years” at Christianity Today.

Read “On the Assault of James Cone & Black Liberation Theology” at The Witness SBC.

Read “Last call for aging white evangelicals: The political marriage to Trump will collapse. What then?” at Baptist News.

Read “Outspoken Chinese Pastor Wang Yi Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison” at Christianity Today.

Read/watch “Millennials are leaving organized religion. Here’s where some are finding community” at PBS News Hour.

Read “The MAGA Church (Teaser) It is clear that in exchange for power and money these “pastors” have been tasked with recasting Trump’s absurdities and moral failures as nothing short of prophetic divinity.”

Read “Montana Court Reverses $35 Million Child Abuse Verdict Against Jehovah's Witnesses” at NPR.

Read/Listen to “'Your Body Being Used': Where Prisoners Who Can't Vote Fill Voting Districts” at NPR.

Read/Watch “A Phoenix researcher interviewed 100 homeless people. Here's what she found can help them” at AZ Central.

Read “How to Be a Better White Person in 2020” at The Root.

Read “White evangelicals' attacks on James Cone are about power, not truth” at Religion News Service.

Read “India Rules Sex With a Child Bride Is Always Rape in a Massive Win for Girls’ Rights” at Global Citizen.

Read “Children of color projected to be majority of U.S. youth this year” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Facing Unprecedented Anti-Semitic Attacks, New York Jews Are Learning To Fight Back—Literally” at NPR. “ Across New York City, anti-Semitic hate crimes went up 26 percent in 2019, according to the NYPD. That's prompting some Jews to take matters into their own fists.”

Read “U.S. imposes visa bans on International Criminal Court investigators - Pompeo” at Reuters.

Read “Patti Smith wrote Greta Thunberg a poem for her 17th birthday” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Climate Skeptic Meat Loaf Says Greta Thunberg is ‘Brainwashed’ at Bloomberg.

Read “A belief in meritocracy is not only false: it’s bad for you” at Aeon.

Read “Terry Gilliam: “I’m tired of white men being blamed for everything wrong with the world” Terry Gilliam sneered at #MeToo and defended white men in a controversial new interview” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Advantage of Not Fitting In Being an outsider lets you invent your own systems” at Forge/Medium.

Read/Watch “The culture of masculinity and its negative impacts on men” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Intellectual humility: the importance of knowing you might be wrong” at Vox.

Read “Vermont bill would ban people under 21 from having cellphones” at 12 News.

Read “Diapers and feminine hygiene products are now tax-free in California” at The Hill.

Read/Listen to “How The CIA Overthrew Iran's Democracy In 4 Days” at NPR.

  • Read “War With Iran” at Truth Dig. ““So why go to war with Iran? Why walk away from a nuclear agreement that Iran did not violate? Why demonize a government that is the mortal enemy of the Taliban, along with other jihadist groups, including al-Qaida and Islamic State? Why shatter the de facto alliance we have with Iran in Iraq and Afghanistan? Why further destabilize a region already dangerously volatile?”

  • Browse “The history of US-Iran relations: A timeline” at PRI’s The World. “In 1953, the CIA helped orchestrate a coup that laid the groundwork for future hostilities between the US and Iran. But in 1967, it was the US that gave Iran a 5-megawatt nuclear reactor and weapons-grade enriched uranium fuel. Here's a look at the long and complex history of US-Iranian relations.”

  • Read “Pence Falsely Links Soleimani to 9/11 Attacks to Justify Assassination” at Slate.

  • Read “Iraqi parliament calls on government to expel U.S. troops over Soleimani killing” at Axios.

  • Read “None of Trump’s Iran Policy Makes Sense. All of It Is Dangerous” at Rolling Stone.

  • Read “War With Iran Is Nothing To Worry About, Men Who Launched Iraq War Promise” at Huff Post.

Read “White House Withholds 20 Emails Between Two Trump Aides on Ukraine Aid It contends the release of the documents sought by The Times would “inhibit the frank and candid exchange of views” in government decision-making” at The New York Times.

  • Read “Bolton ‘prepared to testify’ if subpoenaed in Senate trial” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Defamation lawsuit from Trump's sexual misconduct accuser is put on hold Summer Zervos was a contestant on "The Apprentice" and says Trump made unwanted sexual contact with her” at Salon.

  • Read “Much Of The World Doesn't Trust President Trump, Pew Survey Finds” at NPR.

Read “Appeals Court Allows Trump To Divert $3.6 Billion In Military Funds For Border Wall” at NPR.

Read/Listen to “Stanford Researchers Bring Together People With Different Political Views” at WBUR.

Read “Chinese Tech Giant Tencent Wants A Piece Of The World's Most Successful Record Label” at NPR.

Browse “In Remembrance: Tributes to Ten Notable People Who Died in 2019” at Englewood Review of Books.

Read “Linda Ronstadt sees 'great parallels' between Donald Trump's America and Hitler's Germany” at AZ Central.

Read “Prince Harry, Meghan Markle ‘Step Back’ From Royal Family Decision comes amid family tensions, legal battle with British press” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The ‘warspeak’ permeating everyday language puts us all in the trenches” at The Conversation.

Read “Coachella reveals 2020 lineup” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Rod Stewart Faces Battery Count After Scuffle With Security Guard on New Year’s Eve Singer and eldest son considered “primary aggressors” in incident at Florida resort” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Dave Grohl Reunites With Nirvana Members For Special Performance Beck, St. Vincent and Grohl’s daughter Violet perform alongside Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear at 2020 Art of Elysium Gala” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Mickey Hart Remembers Robert Hunter” at Relix.

Read “How Music Copyright Lawsuits Are Scaring Away New Hits” at Rolling Stone.

Read/Watch “the sound shirt lets deaf people feel music on their skin” at Design Boom.

Read “Bonnaroo 2020 Lineup & Interview with Bryan Benson of AC Entertainment” at Relix.

Read “The Endless Potential Of The Pedal Steel Guitar, An Odd Duck By Any Measure” at NPR.

Read/Listen to “How Bill Graham's Nazi Escape Might Explain His Fillmore Apples” at KQED.

Read “Hear A Previously Unreleased Version Of David Bowie's 'The Man Who Sold The World'“ at Rolling Stone.

Read “Prince Is Getting an All-Star Grammy Tribute Concert” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Venetian ice cream maker with a 26,000-strong record collection” at Vinyl Factory. “Using a different sound system for every genre in his collection, Carlo Pistacchi is one of the biggest reggae collectors in Italy.”

Read “Artist to Watch: Revealing the Mystery Man Behind Rose City Band” at Vortex. Listen to “‘Fear Song’ by Rose City Band from the album Rose City Band” on Volume 01 of my 04-volume 2019 year-end music wrap-up.

Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for the “25 Most Anticipated TV

Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for the “25 Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2020.”

Read “Timothée Chalamet to play Bob Dylan in new James Mangold movie” at AV Club.

Read “The 2020 Oscars Will Be Hostless Again” at Rolling Stone.

Read “William Tyler Scores New A24 Film First Cow: Watch the Trailer” at Pitchfork.

Read “Lori Loughlin hires prison coach, learns martial arts "She's knuckling down, learning the lingo, and practicing martial arts" at Consequence of Sound.

Read “FEC Commissioner Rips Facebook Over Political Ad Policy: 'This Will Not Do' at NPR. “The FEC commissioner is blasting Facebook's policy to continue allowing political ads to target its users — saying Facebook's "weak plan suggests the company has no idea how seriously it is hurting democracy.

Read “Rumi, Caught Between The U.S. And Iran.”

Read “Czech grandma transforms small village into her own art gallery” at My Positive Outlooks.

Read/Listen to “Making Art Is Good For Your Health. Here's How To Start A Habit” at NPR.

Read “The World Is Using Natural Resources Faster Than Ever Before” at Global Citizen.

Read “Africa's Most Ancient Trees Are Dying Due to Climate Change” at Global Citizen.

Read “Why Newfoundland Is Turning Its Moose Into Bologna” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Prickly Symbolism of Cactus Fruit in Israel and Palestine On different sides of border checkpoints, different views of a sweet treat” at Atlas Obscura.

See “There's Now A Tote Bag That Looks Just Like An Office Binder Clip, For Extreme Office Nerds” at Oddity Mall.

The Weekly Town Crier (01/03/20)

newtowncrier.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (01/03/20).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Stream/download an introductory mix of Sacred Steel music.

Browse all my favorite music of 2019.

  • Listen to Volume 01 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 02 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 03 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

  • Listen to Volume 04 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

Read/Hear “The Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions Read by Bob Dylan” at Open Culture.

Read “Lee Mendelson, ‘Peanuts’ Producer and ‘Christmas Time Is Here’ Co-Writer, Dead at 86” at Rolling Stone.

Read “R.I.P. Don Imus, veteran radio broadcaster dies at 79” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Broadway Legend Jerry Herman Is Dead At 88” at NPR.

Read “Cult Rockabilly Star Sleepy LaBeef Dead at 84” at Pitchfork.

Read “R.I.P. Jack Sheldon, Schoolhouse Rock! singer and jazz musician dead at 88” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “When a Dragon Tried to Eat Jesus: The Nativity Story We Don’t Talk About” at Mockingbird.

Read “There’s No Shame When A Miracle Doesn’t Come” at Christianity Today. “God didn’t #WakeUpOlive, but the gospel teaches Christ’s solidarity with suffering.”

Read “Trump campaign selects Apostolic Miami megachurch for evangelicals campaign roll-out” at Yahoo News.

  • Read “The Evangelical War Over Impeachment Has Been A Long Time Coming” at Talking Points Memo.

Read “11 Nigerian Christians Executed in ISIS Christmas Video” at Christianity Today.

Read “Conservative Protestant Men Are Still Resisting Porn Sociological data suggests that churchgoing men engage pornography at a vastly lower rate than others” at Christianity Today.

Read “Greece's first and only crematorium opens despite pushback from the church” at PRI.

Read “Why Christianity Has Thrived in the U.S.” at Time. “Between 1870 and 1960, Christianity declined across Europe. But not in the U.S.” Hint: “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.”

Read “Christianity Today’s Editorial May Be Watershed Moment For 2020” at Sojourners.

Read “I and Thou: A Bigfoot Encounter It’s possible, even likely, that somehow all of us, even those among us who pay close attention, have missed something” at Guernica Magazine.

Read “Churches Are Saving Ethiopia’s Last Remaining Native Trees” at Christianity Today.

Read “Good Guys’ Carrying Guns & a Savior Who Carried a Cross” at Red Letter Christians.

Read “Has family become an idol? The Bible gives no sense that the family is an end in itself” at Christian Century.

Read “The Strangeness of Grief” at New Yorker. “We are never finished with grief. It is part of the fabric of living. Love makes memories and life precious; the grief that comes to us is proportionate to that love and is inescapable.”

Read “Mexican police chief arrested in connection to Mormon family massacre” at 12 News.

Read “Ex-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn fled Japan ‘hiding in double bass case on private jet’ while awaiting trial for corruption” at The Sun.

In headlines that feel like we shouldn’t have to deal with in 2020: Read “West Virginia Governor Approves Firing All Cadets Who Posed In Nazi-Like Salute Photo” at NPR.

Read “Buttigieg Getting Dragged For Saying Constitution Signers Didn't Know Slavery Was Bad” at The Root.

Read “Illinois governor clears thousands of marijuana convictions” at PBS News Hour.

Read "'The Slaves Dread New Year's Day the Worst': The Grim History of January 1” at Time Magazine.

Read “Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu seeks immunity from corruption charges” at PBS News Hour.

Read “U.S. launched Baghdad airstrike that killed Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani” at AZ Central.

Read “Trump Vs. Toilets (And Showers, Dishwashers And Light Bulbs)” at NPR.

Read “People Can't Even Agree On When The Decade Ends” at NPR.

Read “Why Am I Unhappy? Because All American Men Are Getting Sadder” at Fatherly.

Read “Boomers, Take It from Woody or Iron Man: It’s Time to Pass the Torch This summer’s blockbusters showcase the importance of transferring wisdom between generations” at Christianity Today.

Read “The world's 500 wealthiest people gained $1.2 trillion this year, boosting their collective net worth 25% to $5.9 trillion” at Bloomberg.

Read “How to Talk to Someone Whose Opinions You Can’t Stand It’s a family gathering, not a debate you need to win” at Forge.

Read “US mass killings hit a record high in 2019: 'This seems to be the age of mass shootings'“ at AZ Central.

Read “It's OK to not be OK. So go ahead and cry in public, if that's what you need to do. Life is full of breaking points after thousands of personal apocalypses. You have to learn to forgive yourself for yours” at NBC News.

Read “With Births Down, the U.S. Sees the Slowest Population Growth Rate in a Century” at Time.

Read “The Death of Truth: “Both Sides” Don’t Deserve Our Consideration” at Theology Corner.

Read “OxyContin Billionaire Granted Patent for Opioid Addiction Treatment” at Fortune.

Read/watch “Greyhound offers free bus ticket home to runaway kids” at Fox 4 News.

Read “Italy passes law to send unsold food to charities instead of dumpsters” at Global Citizen.

Read “Stop Believing in Free Shipping How retailers hide the costs of delivery—and why we’re such suckers for their ploys” at The Atlantic.

Read “No Test Left Behind How Pearson Made a Killing on the US Testing Craze” at Talking Points Memo.

Read “Virginia School District To Give Students One Day Off Per Year For 'Civic Engagement'“ at NPR. “Starting next month, students in Virginia's Fairfax County — one of the largest school district in the country — can take one day off per school year to engage in political activism.”

Read “Don’t assume that every student had a fun or warm holiday break” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Public support for Trump conviction at all-time high, poll finds” at Yahoo.

  • Read “Fed study finds Trump tariffs backfired” at Market Watch.

  • Read “The Louder the Monkey, the Smaller Its Balls, Study Finds Howler monkeys can be well-endowed in the voice box or the family jewels, but not both” at Vice. Yes, I put in the “politics” section.

  • Read “A Gangster in the White House” at The Atlantic. “The President tweeted the name of the presumed Whistle-Blower in the Ukraine scandal–demonstrating that he is unrepentant and determined to break the law again.”

  • Read “Germans think Trump is more dangerous than Kim Jong Un and Putin” at DW.

Read “Anger and Anguish From The Navy SEALs Who Turned In Edward Gallagher" at New York Times.

  • Read “Eddie Gallagher ‘Is Freaking Evil’ Says Fellow Navy SEAL in R

Read “Eddie Gallagher ‘Is Freaking Evil’ Says Fellow Navy SEAL in Rolling Stone.

Read “Treasury will again borrow $1 trillion to pay for tax cuts, spending” at Axios.

Read “Spotify Becomes Latest Tech Company To Hit Pause On Political Ads” at NPR.

Read “Civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis diagnosed with Stage IV cancer” at 12 News.

Read “NC voter ID law written with ‘discriminatory intent,’ says judge who just struck it down” at News Observer. “Federal judge just struck down NC’s voter ID law: “North Carolina has a sordid history of racial discrimination & voter suppression stretching back to the time of slavery, through the era of Jim Crow, and, crucially, continuing up to the present day.”

Read “Farmers Got Billions From Taxpayers In 2019, And Hardly Anyone Objected” a NPR. AKA: Welcome to ‘Murica’s Socialism.

Read “After 2 Years, Trump Tax Cuts Have Failed To Deliver On GOP's Promises” at NPR.

Read Washington Post’s opinion piece: “Wake up, Republicans. Your party stands for all the wrong things now.”

Read “Intended to induce awe': codpiece thrusts itself back into fashion Designers’ embrace of 16th-century accessory forms part of revival of Tudor power dressing” at The Guardian.

Read “Judge orders Alex Jones to pay $100,000 in Sandy Hook case” at PBS News Hour.

2019 Year-End Round-Ups continue to roll in.

  • Browse “NPR Music's 25 Best Albums Of 2019.”

  • Browse Magnet’s Top 25 Albums of 2019.

  • Browse “Stinkweeds’ Top 25 of 2019: The “Shop Favorites”.

  • Browse Barack Obama’s Favorite Music of 2019 at Twitter.

  • Browse the full list of my favorite 2019 music.

    • Listen to Volume 01 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

    • Listen to Volume 02 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

    • Listen to Volume 03 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

    • Listen to Volume 04 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

Read “From Digable Planets to Knife Knights: The Many Faces of Ishmael Butler” at Pitchfork.

Read “Kim Gordon on five of her favorite breakup songs Read More: Kim Gordon on five of her favorite breakup songs” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “A Conversation With Brian Eno About Ambient Music The unceasingly curious composer on chance, minimalism, and the politics of form” at Pitchfork.

Read “Watch the Berlin era Nick Cave documentary “Stranger in a Strange land” at Post-Punk.

Read Esquire’s profile of Mdou Moctar: “The Hendrix of the Sahara.” Listen to “Tarha” by Mdou Moctar on Episode 43 of the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow. Listen to "‘Wiwasharnine’ by Mdou Moctar from the album Ilana (The Creator) in Volume 01 of my 2019 year-end music wrap-up.

Read “40 Years of Goth: Essential Albums from the Genre’s Beginnings” at Post-Punk.

Read “Nick Cave on PJ Harvey breaking up with him: “I was so surprised I almost dropped my syringe.” Read More: Nick Cave on PJ Harvey breaking up with him: “I was so surprised I almost dropped my syringe” at Brooklyn Vegan.

  • Read “An Essential Guide to Nick Cave” at Exclaim.

Read “Bo Diddley’s Essential Tips for Surviving Life & the Music Business” at Open Culture.

Read “Death Row Records is now owned by toy company Hasbro The maker of Monopoly and Transformers acquired the label's catalog in its purchase of Entertainment One” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Rare Rolling Stones Outtakes Appear on YouTube in Copyright-Extending Release” at Variety.

Read “Watch Dead & Company Get Interviewed By Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on New Year’s Eve” at Relix.

Read “He has spoken: Jon Favreau confirms season 2 of The Mandalorian” at AV Club.

Read “Daniel Day-Lewis Called Adam Sandler to Congratulate Him on His Uncut Gems Performance” at Esquire.

Read “How Space Ghost Coast to Coast Changed Cartoon Network Forever A perfect nerd storm of late-'90s sarcasm, twisted nostalgia, and surrealist delights” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Kurt Vonnegut on 8 'shapes' of stories” Big Think.

Read “Toddlers engage more with print books than tablets” at ABC News.

Read “Dolly Parton's Charity Just Donated Its 100 Millionth Book to Kids” at Global Citizen.

Read “100+ Museums Turn Their Collections Into Free Downloadable Coloring Books” at My Modern.

BrowseRolling Stone’s Favorite Photos of 2019.”

Read “For almost every common medical service, patients and insurance companies in the U.S. pay higher prices compared to the rest of the world, an international survey found” at New York Times.

Read “When Wasps Are Given Colored Paper, They Build Rainbow Nests” at Bored Panda.

Read “Humanity Has Killed 83% of All Wild Mammals and Half of All Plants” at Global Citizen.

Read “Psychedelic Drugs: Researchers experimenting with active agent in magic mushrooms to treat addiction, depression and anxiety” at CBS News.

Read “6 Bricks Under: Vienna Cemetery Introduces Funeral LEGO Sets” at Cult of Weird.

See “Tortoises eating berries” at 41 Strange on Twitter.

Read “How Chinese Artisans Turn Dead Cicadas Into ‘Hairy Monkeys’ These traditional handicrafts require exoskeletons, magnolia buds, and a steady hand” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Ruins of Aleister Crowley’s Cursed House on Loch Ness for Sale” at Cult of Weird.

Read “According To FBI Statistics, These Are The 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Arizona For 2020” at Only In Your State.

Read “U-Haul to stop hiring smokers and nicotine users in Arizona, 20 other states” at AZ Central.

Read “Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Phoenix is closing. Here's what we know” at AZ Central.

The Weekly Town Crier (12/20/19)

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All the week’s News that’s fit to cry about (12/13/19).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Stream/download an introductory mix of Sacred Steel music.

Browse all my favorite music of 2019.

Read “R.I.P. Danny Aiello, Do the Right Thing actor dies at 86” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Flamin’ Groovies Singer Roy Loney Dead at 73” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Anna Karina, Singer and French New Wave Actress, Dead at 79” at Pitchfork.

Read “Observing Advent Makes Me Feel Less Alone Following the rituals of the church calendar remind me that my life is part of the larger story of God’s creation, redemption, and restoration” at Christianity Today.

Read “Is Trumpism a cult? A new book from a former cult member makes the case” at Vox.

Read the opinion piece: “The False God of Conservative Christianity” at Evangelicals for Social Action. “here's a religion whose savior was a refugee, yet it rejects refugees. Whose God embraces sojourners, yet it deports immigrants. Whose parishioners worship someone called the Prince of Peace, yet they defend violence and are pro-war. Whose hero was an ethnic minority, yet they're complicit in white supremacy. Whose Christ was unlawfully arrested and killed by a governing empire, yet it has become nationalistic and oppressive.”

Read “Mormon Church has misled members on $100 billion tax-exempt investment fund, whistleblower alleges” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Mormons pulling 400,000 youths out of struggling Boy Scouts” at KTAR.

Read “How long is the sermon? Study ranks Christian churches” at AP News.

Read “The Risky Business of Letting the Government Define a Religion Trump's executive order undermines the freedom of Jewish self-definition” at Sojourners.

Read “Don’t Panic About Nones Who Stop Believing” at Church Life Journal.

Read “Who was the Buddha? When we strip away the myths, such as his princely youth in a palace, a surprising picture of this enigmatic sage emerges” at Aeon.

Read “Christian influencer couple wants to resurrect young daughter who died, seeks $100k in crowdfunding” at Boing Boing.

Read ““Sort-Of Socialist” Church Pastor Accused of Sexual Misconduct” at Juicy Ecumenism.

Read “Chicago’s Top Prosecutor Tosses Out More Than 1,000 Marijuana Convictions Ahead of State Legalization Law” at The Root.

Read “Krispy Kreme, Panera Bread owner to give $5M to Holocaust survivors over family's Nazi ties The Reimann family learned that their ancestors used forced laborers in their factory under the Nazis during World War II” at NBC News.

Read “Gambian minister brought Myanmar to The Hague ‘in the name of humanity’” at PRI. “25 years after the Rwandan tragedy, here we are again, not doing anything to stop another ongoing genocide in Myanmar.”

Read “Dolly Parton statue may replace KKK leader memorial at Tennessee Capitol” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Wyoming Students Showed Up to Class in Bootleg KKK Robes Because of Course They Did: 'This Is Taught Behavior” at The Root.

Read “ICE Denied Arizona Detainees Proper Medical and Psychiatric Care” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Despite Trump’s vow to revive the death penalty, support for capital punishment shrank in 2019” at Washington Post.

Read/watch “Texas judge sues after being warned for refusing to perform same-sex marriages” at 12 News.

Read “New Research Identifies Possible Mass Graves From 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre” at NPR.

  • Read “We changed how we refer to the 'Tulsa Race Riot.' Here's why” at Tulsa World.

Read “Why a Small Offense Shouldn’t Have Life-Altering Consequence Opinion: Nearly 10 years ago, I was arrested and detained in jail for 45 days after failing to appear in court for a low-level, non-violent offense. Today, I’m fighting so that others don’t have to go through what I did” at Texas Observer.

Read “Americans are drowning in medical debt, so this nonprofit is buying — and forgiving — it” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Amazon is delivering half its own packages as it becomes a serious rival to FedEx and UPS” at The Verge.

Read “Baby boomers are the most sensitive generation, new study says — and it shows exactly what the world is getting wrong about millennials” at Business Insider.

Read “President Obama: A world ruled by women would improve "just about everything” at Salon. “I'm absolutely confident that for two years, if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything... living standards and outcomes.”

Read “United States to fund gun-violence research after 20-year freeze Government spending deal includes $25 million for studies of firearm safety” at Nature.

Read “Why Some Men Still Dress Like They’re 16. It’s not because they’re lazy” at Slate.

Read “Archaeologists Discover Ancient Greek Royal Tombs Dating Back 3,500 Years” at NPR.

Read “Facebook, Instagram ban influencers from promoting guns and vaping” at Engadget.

Read “Germany bans gay ‘conversion therapy’ for minors” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Wakanda (fake Marvel country) listed as US trade partner on USDA website The fictional home of "Black Panther" appeared on an agricultural tariff tracker maintained by the USDA, NBC News reports” at 12 News.

Read “‘We are sending more foster kids to prison than college’” at Kansas City.com.

Read/Listen to “Fewer Students Are Going To College. Here's Why That Matters” at NPR.

Read “House Judiciary Committee Approves 2 Articles Of Impeachment Against Trump” at NPR.

  • Read “McConnell indicates he’ll let Trump’s lawyers dictate Trump’s impeachment trial” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Arizona Republican in denial about core impeachment detail” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Bill Barr is serving notice to DOJ officials that he’ll ruin them if they investigate Trump” at Raw Story.

  • Read “Dem. rep. expected to leave party over impeachment” at MSNBC.

  • Read “750+ historians add their voices on Impeachment” at Medium. “President Trump’s numerous and flagrant abuses of power are precisely what the Framers had in mind as grounds for impeaching and removing a president.”

  • Read “Russia’s State TV Calls Trump Their ‘Agent’ at The Daily Beast. “Russian commentators note, rightly, that “sooner or later, the Democrats will come back into power," and they’re already joking about offering Trump asylum.”

  • Read “President Trump Sends Pelosi Letter Protesting ‘Partisan Impeachment Charade’ at NPR.

  • Read “Matthews: This isn't a fact finding mission, it's a roll-call vote to see what party you're in” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Trump Should Be Removed from Office. It’s time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was” at Christianity Today.

    • Read “Wake up, everybody: a response to the impeachment of Donald Trump from the AME Church” at Religion News Service. “"We take no solace in the fact that God's revelation about Trump's lack of Constitutional character and his divisive and destructive policies would push our nation away from democracy and toward dictatorship were right."

    • Read “If Trump is impeached, it will be hard for Senate Republicans to vote to convict him They need to do it anyway” at Christian Century.

    • Read as Franklin Graham tells the New York Times “My father (founder of the magazine) would be embarrassed ... There’s a liberal element within the evangelical movement. Christianity Today represents that.”

  • Read “Vladimir Putin Backs Trump, Calling Impeachment Charges ‘Completely Made Up” at NPR.

  • Read “To avoid removal, Trump only needs senators representing 7 percent of the country to support him” at Washington Post.

Read “Trump May Not Debate 2020 Democratic Nominee” at News and Guts.

  • Read “Trump says he'll do debates, but may bypa

  • Read “Vladimir Putin Backs Trump, Calling Impeachment Charges ‘Completely Made Up” at NPR.

Read “Trump May Not Debate 2020 Democratic Nominee” at News and Guts.

  • Read “Trump says he'll do debates, but may bypa”

  • Read “Vladimir Putin Backs Trump, Calling Impeachment Charges ‘Completely Made Up” at NPR.

Read “Trump May Not Debate 2020 Democratic Nominee” at News and Guts.

  • Read “Trump says he'll do debates, but may bypass commission that runs them” at 12 News.

Read “You Don’t Know Bernie” at Buzzfeed News. “Bernie Sanders — the guy who admits he can be grumpy and “nasty” and a “real son of a bitch,” the guy who’s known for giving the same speech over and over again — that guy is trying to win this campaign, maybe his last, by making people feel less alone.”

Read “U.S. Government Loses 2 Border Fence Funding Lawsuits” at KJZZ.

  • Read “Fox News poll finds a wealth tax is far more popular than Trump's wall” at The Week.

Read “New Kentucky Governor Restores Voting Rights to More Than 100,000 Formerly Incarcerated” at The Root.

  • Read “Pardons by Former Kentucky Governor Spark Outrage and Calls for Investigation” at Rolling Stone.

Read/watch as PBS News Hour wonders “Should the federal government be able to negotiate the prices of prescription drugs?”

Read “Appeals court strikes down ACA's individual mandate” at Axios.

Read as Rolling Stone wonders “What Do We Do With the Afghanistan Papers? Are Americans ignoring the revelation that their government lied to them, again, for decades about another endless war? Or have they mastered their ability to process their anger about such injustices?”

  • Read “The Whole Damn Thing Was A Lie” at Sojourners. “A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.”

Read “This is How a Society Dies America and Britain are Textbook Examples of a New, Gruesome Phenomeon: Rich Nations Self-Destructing Into Poor Failed States” at Eand.

  • Read “‘This Feels Worse Than Trump’: Artists Voice Anguish After Boris Johnson’s Landslide Victory in the British General Election” at Artnet.

Read “Trump's War Pardons Are Sabotaging the Military Justice System Victims of America's war crimes had little means of accountability. Now, even that is being eviscerated” at ACLU.

Read “Mitch McConnell is in ‘Literal Violation of the oath’ he must take for impeachment trial, says government professor” at Newsweek.

  • Watch “Sen. Sherrod Brown says there’s “increasing talk” that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should recuse himself in an impeachment trial: “He doesn’t have respect for the institution, although you’d think the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate would” at MSNBC.

Read “Georgia purge removes nearly 309,000 voter registrations” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Conservative Radio Show Cancelled After Host Wishes a ‘Nice School Shooting’ Would Replace Impeachment Coverage” at The Root.

Read “Why Dyeing My Hair and Tattooing My Body Are Forms of Self-Care” at The Mighty.

Read “Grace at SantaLand: Why David Sedaris Is My Favorite Advent Reading” at Mockingbird.

Read “Opinion: Should It Be Illegal To Sleep Outside?” at NPR.

Read “Why Are So Many Gen Z Kids Becoming Furries? Furry influencers on TikTok are bringing the long-misunderstood subculture to a whole new generation” at Rolling Stone.

The 2019 “Best Of” Lists keep rolling in:

  • Read “Our 50 favourite albums of 2019” at Vinyl Factory.

  • Read “NPR Music Staff Picks: The Best Albums Of 2019” at NPR.

  • Browse “Aquarium Drunkard :: 2019 Year In Review".

  • Browse “J.C. Mosquito’s Best of 2019” at Something Else Reviews.

  • Browse the full list of my favorite 2019 music.

    • Listen to Volume 01 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

    • Listen to Volume 02 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

    • Listen to Volume 03 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

    • Listen to Volume 04 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

Read “Jerry Garcia’s “Alligator” Guitar Sells for $420,000” at Jambands.com.

Read “The Clash: How London Calling still inspires 40 years on” at BBC.

  • Read “The Clash’s ‘London Calling’: 10 Things You Didn’t Know” at Rolling Stone.

  • Read “The Clash Never Failed Their Influences” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “The Clash Started a Rebellion by Defying Labels” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “You've Never Heard 'London Calling'?!” at NPR.

ReadAt The End Of The End of The Decade Lists“ by Marty Sartini Garner at The Outline. “Era-specific album lists are only really interesting because of the implicit arguments they make. I wrote about how this year’s Best Albums of the Decade lists upheld our cultural hegemony and highlight some problems with music criticism.”

Read “Yeasayer Call It Quits The Brooklyn indie band released its final album, Erotic Reruns, earlier this year” at Pitchfork.

Read “Here’s the most popular YouTube music video of the decade” at KTAR.

Read “Kanye West’s Opera Mary Coming to New York City” at Pitchfork.

Read “Remembering Joseph Hoo-Kim – the legendary roots producer and Channel One founder.”

Read “Hiss Golden Messenger review – songwriter is an anchor in a rudderless world” at The Guardian.

Read “'He was a musical warlock': reflecting on Frank Zappa's greatest album at 50” at The Guardian.

Read “Cox Communications Hit With $1 Billion Verdict in Music Copyright Suit” at Variety.

Listen “to the Full Version of The Smiths’ Historic First Recording “I Want A Boy For My Birthday” at Post-Punk.

Read “YouTube Plays Will Now Count Toward the Billboard Album Charts” at Pitchfork.

Read “Lee “Scratch” Perry’s first #1 on Billboard in 60yr Career” at Yardhype.

Read “'It's a Total Nightmare': Problems at Direct Shot Distributing Have Made New Vinyl and CDs Scarce” at Billboard.

Read “Radiohead upload their entire discography to YouTube” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “DC’s Legendary Punk Label Dischord Records Makes Its Entire Music Catalog Free to Stream Online” at Open Culture.

Read PBS’ profile of Tinariwen: “How this nomadic music group is bridging cultural divides.”

  • Watch a short profile of Tinariwen here at Holiday at the Sea: 'We made a career out of roaming'.

  • See Amadjar by Tinariwen on my 2019 Favorite music wrap-up.

Read “US Justice Department Reportedly Preparing Legal Action Against Live Nation” at Steregum.

Read “Chasing Ephemera: Entering the World of the Necks Michael McKinney offers an extensive guide to the veteran jazz trio at Passion of the Weiss.

Read “Ivan Conti’s Free-Thinking Samba Legacy” at Bandcamp and listen to “Aroeira” by Ivan 'Mamão' Conti on Episode 39 of the Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Read “John Frusciante Rejoins Red Hot Chili Peppers” at Relix.

Read “Iggy Pop, Public Enemy, Roberta Flack, Isaac Hayes, More Get Lifetime Achievement Grammys” at Pitchfork.

Read “Bill Kreutzmann Talks Hawaii Home, Jerry Garcia, More In Rare New Interview” at Live For Live Music.

Browse “An introduction to Parliament-Funkadelic in 10 records” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Are Podcasts Threatening the Growth of the Music Industry?” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Insane hardcore show at a Denny’s restaurant gives new meaning to Super Slam: Watch The young promoter launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay for damages” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “George Benson: The Album That Changed My Life” at Jazzwise.

Read “Greta Thunberg Documentary Coming to Hulu in 2020” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Adam Driver Walks Out of NPR ‘Fresh Air’ Interview Over ‘Marriage Story’ Clip” at Daily Beast.

Read “Star Wars,' The Trilogy That NPR Turned Into Radio Drama” at NPR. “A long time ago, in an NPR far, far away, the network produced three radio dramas based on the original "Star Wars" trilogy.”

Read “Chris Frantz Talking Heads Memoir ‘Remain In Love’ Set For May 2020 Release” at Jambase.

Browse “17 Home Libraries That Look Like Something Out Of A Fairytale” at Bookish Buzz.

Read “In Acknowledgement of Acknowledgements: Dispelling the myth of the solitary genius” at Comment.

Read “Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers to Release Young Adult Novel About a Supernatural Dog” at Paste Magazine.

Read “The Far Side is officially online for the first time, with new comics to come” at The Verge.

Read “If Jane Austen Got Feedback From Some Guy In A Writing Workshop” at Buzzfeed. “Also, why five sisters? How about just two? Combine Jane and Kitty. Or, better, make one of the sisters a brother (named "Jim," maybe?), and then he could be the narrator who mentions his sisters from time to time! Like Hamlet!”

ReadGo Ahead in the Rain Will Make You Love A Tribe Called Quest Even More” at Pitchfork. “That insistence on evolving alongside the music we cherish is the book’s most rewarding sentiment.”

See “This Artist Turns Precious Moments Figurines Into Your Worst Nightmire” at Best Products.

Read “Salvador Dalí’s Tarot Cards Get Re-Issued: The Occult Meets Surrealism in a Classic Tarot Card Deck” at Open Culture.

Read “This new exhibit explores the work of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “With exhibit on Abraham, Episcopal cathedral in Boston organizes interfaith conversation” at Christian Century.

See “The Psychedelic Beauty of Destroyed CDs” at Wired.

Read “The Smithsonian Just Opened a Manila Envelope and Discovered Four Yayoi Kusama Paintings It Had No Idea Existed” at Artnet.

Read “The Milky Way Sounds Like a Wacky Jazz Ensemble An astronomer translated the sounds of galactic gases into a piece of music” at Atlas Obscura.

Browse “All the Species Declared Extinct This Decade” at Gizmodo.

Read “In Our Brutal Modern World, Science Shows Our Brains Need Craft More Than Ever” at Science Alert.

Read “Invasive insect never-before seen in U.S. discovered at Port of Nogales The bug that was found during an inspection is part of the family of leafhoppers” at 12 News.

Read “Singing Mozart in the MRI shows how overtone singers can hit two notes at once” Aeon.

Read “How a White Lie Gave Japan KFC for Christmas One cunning business maneuver created a tradition and saved a franchise” at Atlas Obscura.

Browse Hop Culture’s picks for “The 20 Best Beer Label Designs of 2019.”

Read “The Return of Japan’s Female Sake Brewers Pushed out of brewing more than a century ago, they’re making a comeback” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Ancient Egyptian 'head cone mystery' solved by archaeologists Researchers have long speculated about the purpose and meaning of pointy “head cones” depicted in Egyptian art. Now they’ve actually found the real thing” at National Geographic.

Read “The Story Behind ‘Green Boots’ Tsewang Paljor, Mount Everest’s Most Famous Dead Body” at All That’s Interesting.

See “Glowworm Tunnel An abandoned railroad tunnel is now filled with bioluminescent bugs” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Why monsters haunt Christmas in Europe but not America” at QZ.

Read “Inside the New York Public Library’s Last, Secret Apartments” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Red light cameras still going away, but speed radars may stay in Phoenix” at KTAR.

Read “Barrio Brewing Company turns over business to employees” at KOLD.

Read “SuperShuttle to end service to Phoenix airports in 3 weeks” at KTAR.

Read “Once affordable, Phoenix rents among fastest rising in US” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (12/13/19)

Town  Crier.jpg

All the week’s News that’s fit to cry about (12/13/19).

Question for the three of you who browse this list each week: when compiling the list each week, I use headers to (very broadly) categorize the different sections. Would you prefer that I left those in so that you can jump to different sections, or do you like just scrolling?

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Stream/download an introductory mix of Sacred Steel music.

Browse all my favorite music of 2019.

Read “Sesame Street puppeteer Caroll Spinney dies at age 85: at PBS.

Read “Rapper Juice WRLD Dead at 21” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Roxette’s Marie Fredriksson Dead at 61” at Pitchfork.

Read “The White Evangelical Persecution Complex” at Red Letter Christians.

Read “Want to Get Into the Christmas Spirit? Face the Darkness How I fell in love with the season of Advent” by Tish Harrison Warren at New York Times.

Read “GREAT JOB INTERNET Finally, a Christian alternative to the wicked heresy of the "Cha Cha Slide" at AV Club.

Read “Biblical Literalism among American Protestants Pastors, denominational leaders, and curious Christians need to be reassured—American Christianity is not becoming more liberal” at Christianity Today.

Read as Fathom wonders “Where was Jesus before Advent? If Jesus is eternal, can we find him in the Old Testament?”

Read “Behind the Rise of Evangelical Women “Influencers” at Religion and Politics.

Read “Misusing Romans 13 To Embrace Theocracy” at Sojourners.

Read “The Sort-Of Socialist Church Is Taking A Radical Approach To Christianity Jubilee Baptist is a quasi-socialist, anti-racist, LGBTQ-affirming church conducting a bold experiment: focusing on debt, work, and freedom from oppression instead of fear and moralism” at Buzzfeed News.

Read “Pastor Who Sermonized That Jews Are Going to Hell Was Trump’s Pick to Speak at White House Hanukkah Reception” at The Root.

Read “Is the “final judgment” really final? What the Bible doesn't say about hell” at Christian Century.

Read “Arizona will continue to resettle refugees, Gov. Doug Ducey tells Trump administration” at AZ Central.

Read “Merkel Tours Auschwitz With 'Sense Of Shame' And Warns Of Resurgent Anti-Semitism” at NPR.

Read “Papa John’s Founder Blames His Use of the N-Word on Kanye and Colonel Sanders” at The Root.

Read “India Prepares to Block Naturalization for Muslims A bill establishing a religious test for immigration to India is expected to pass Parliament, a major step for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist agenda.” at New York Times.

Read “How Do We Know When Research Participants Truly Give Consent? Following news about research that used data collected from Uighurs, scientific publishers want to create new consent guidelines. But it’s complicated” at Slate.

Read “A University’s Betrayal of Historical Truth The University of North Carolina agreed to pay the Sons of Confederate Veterans $2.5 million—a sum that rivals the endowment of its history department” at The Atlantic.

Read “New Statue Unveiled In Response To Richmond's Confederate Monuments” at NPR.

Read “Nikki Haley gets the history of the Confederate flag very wrong” at Washington Post.

Read “CRACK VS. HEROIN An unfair system arrested millions of blacks, urged compassion for whites” at App.

Read “Principal Who Allegedly Banned Black History Month Accuses Black Teachers of Reverse Racism. Teachers Accuse Her of Original Recipe Racism” at The Root.

Read “This Is What Racism Sounds Like in the Banking Industry A JPMorgan employee and a customer secretly recorded their conversations with bank employees” at New York Times. ““We’re in Arizona. I don’t have to tell you about what the demographics are in Arizona. They don’t see people like you a lot.”

Read “Kansas City Chooses Free Public Transit” at The Appeal.

Read “Houston police chief criticizes McConnell and Senate Republicans over guns: 'Whose side are you on?' at CNN.

Read “Why You Need to Schedule Some Alone Time” at Rewire.

Read “Hiking Wheelchair Opens Up Outdoor Lifestyle To People With Serious Disabilities” at NPR.

Read “This town is giving families $500 a month. The results are remarkable: Recipients have used the money to apply for better jobs, spend more time with their children, or save for better housing” at The Guardian.

Read “Father Books 6 Flights To Stay With His Flight Attendant Daughter On Christmas” at Bored Panda.

Read “Socialism is as American as apple pie. Yes, really” at The Guardian.

Read “Former Top Mexican Security Official Arrested On Cocaine Trafficking Charges” at NPR.

Read “MLB to Stop Testing Minor League Players for Weed” at Now This.

Read “Merriam-Webster Singles Out Nonbinary 'They' For Word Of The Year Honors” at NPR.

Read “Goodell says league has 'moved on' from Kaepernick special workout at Reuters. ““This was about creating an opportunity. We created that opportunity. It was a unique opportunity, a credible opportunity, and he chose not to take it. I understand that ... We've moved on.”

Read “Greta Thunberg: TIME's Person of the Year 2019” at Time.

  • Read “Brazil's President Calls Greta Thunberg a 'Brat'“ at Time.

  • Read “Trump mocks 16-year-old Greta Thunberg a day after she is named Time’s Person of the Year” at Washington Post.

Hear “Controversial Versions of “The Star Spangled Banner” by Igor Stravinsky, Jimi Hendrix, José Feliciano & John Philip Sousa” at Open Culture.

Read “FCC votes to set up a 3-digit suicide hotline number like 911” at 12 News.

Read “We Teach Children, Not Curriculum” at The Educator’s Room.

Read “Lawsuit Claims SAT And ACT Are Illegal In California Admissions” at NPR.

Read “Betsy DeVos Overruled Education Dept. Findings On Defrauded Student Borrowers” at NPR.

  • Read “Congresswoman Tells Betsy DeVos, You Are ‘Out to Destroy Public Education’ at Rolling Stone. “I’ve had some honest disagreements with my friends in the Republican Party on how to move education forward but I have never, not one time, believed they were out to destroy public education until I met you.”

Read “Judiciary Committee releases report outlining constitutional grounds for impeachment The report aims to define what the framers of the Constitution meant by an impeachable offense” at 12 News.

  • Read as the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board declares ‘We’ve seen enough. Trump should be impeached.”

  • Read “Legal Scholars Conclude President Trump Engaged In Impeachable Conduct” at News and Guts.

  • Read “We need to stop reacting to Trump—and start responding. There’s a big difference” at America Magazine.

  • Read “AP Fact Check: Trump and the people he forgets he knew” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “The Trump campaign has over $1 million in outstanding bills from American cities” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Articles Of Impeachment Against President Trump” at NPR.

  • Read “Trump pays $2 million in damages ordered by judge over misuse of charity funds, according to NY attorney general” at Washington Post.

  • Read “The Case For Impeachment Is Overwhelming” at American Conservative. “The president doesn’t have a credible line of defense left. That is why his apologists in Congress and elsewhere have been reduced to making increasingly absurd and desperate claims."

Read “Judge says South Carolina GOP allowed to cancel its 2020 primary” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Medicare chief asked taxpayers to cover stolen jewelry” at Politico.

Read “Millions in military aid at center of impeachment hasn’t reached Ukraine” at Los Angeles Times.

Read “Trump’s border wall threatens an Arizona oasis with a long, diverse history: Many observers fear that a 30-foot wall along the Arizona border with Mexico will harm wildlife, lower the water table and destroy archaeological treasures” at PBS News Hour.Buzzfeed.

  • Read “US Border Officials Are Issuing Fake Court Notices To Keep Out Immigrants Who Have Won Asylum” at Buzzfeed News.

  • Read “Under Trump, immigrants face increasingly long and complicated road to citizenship” at PRI.

  • Read “$400M Arizona border wall contract under review for potential impropriety” at KTAR.

  • Read “Doctors Say They Were Arrested Trying to Give Flu Vaccines to Detained Migrants” at Now This.

Read “U.S. Backs Out of U.N. Meeting on Human Rights Situation in North Korea” at Time.

Read “At 34, Finland's Sanna Marin Set To Become World's Youngest Sitting Prime Minister” at NPR.

Read “Explosive investigative report says U.S. government misled public on war in Afghanistan” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Trusting the News Media in the Trump Era Partisan dynamics overshadow other factors in Americans’ evaluations of the news media” at Journalism.org.

Read “A new U.N. report argues many of the street protests popping up around the globe are driven by a growing sense that societies are rigged to favor the powerful — and trap the masses in low-wage, dead-end lives” at NPR.

  • Read “Bolton Tweets Criticism of Trump Admin. Blocking UN Meeting on North Korea” at News and Guts.

Read “Russian Foreign Minister Invited To White House; Claims No Election Interference In 2016” at News and Guts.

Read “Homeowner Leaves Snacks For Amazon Delivery Guy And His Reaction Is Too Pure” at Bored Panda.

Read “Low-income communities are being decimated by fines.”

Read “Solange Is Very First Recipient of Lena Horne Award, Donating $100,000 Prize to Houston Charity” at The Root.

Read “Why Are Cops Around the World Using This Outlandish Mind-Reading Tool?” at ProPublica.

Read “The Mistake I Made With My Grieving Friend The author of We Need to Talk reveals how she learned to help — and not help — a friend with loss” at Huffington Post.

Read “A North Dakota county was poised to be first to bar refugees under Trump’s executive order. Residents said no” at Washington Post.

The “Best Of” Lists continue to roll in:

  • Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “The 50 Best Songs of 2019.”

    • Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “40 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2019.”

  • Browse “2019 Year End Lists: John Darnielle, the Mountain Goats” at Merge Records.

  • Browse Pitchork’s picks for “The 100 Best Songs of 2019.”

    • Browse Pitchfork’s picks for “The 50 Best Albums of 2019.”

  • Browse PopMatters’ picks for “The 70 Best Albums of 2019.”

    • Browse PopMatters’ picks for “The Best Jazz of 2019.”

  • Browse Paste’s picks for “The 50 Best Songs of 2019.”

  • Browse NPR’s picks for “The Best Songs of 2019 So Far.”

    • Browse NPR’s picks for “Best Music Of 2019.”

  • Browse “Steven Hyden’s Favorite Albums of 2019” at Uproxx.

  • Browse Vice’s picks for “The 100 Best Albums of 2019.”

  • Browse “RSTB Best of 2019” at Raven Sings The Blues.

  • Browse my list of 2019 Favorite music

    • Listen to Volume 01 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

    • Listen to Volume 02 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

    • Listen to Volume 03 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

    • Listen to Volume 04 of my 2019 Year-End Playlist

Read as Time names Lizzo “Entertainer of the Year.”

Take “A Deep Dive Into Tom Waits’ Best Rare and Unreleased Material” with Tyler Wilcox at Pitchfork.

Read “Warren Ellis on the transformative power of music” at Sydney Morning Herald.

Read “Spotlight: Garcia Peoples” at Relix.

Read “How five friends from Phoenix came to rule the world as Alice Cooper” at AZ Central.

Read “Hall and Oates announce 2020 tour dates Including shows with Squeeze” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “A Conversation With Jeff Lynne Of ELO” at NPR.

Read “ASCAP launches health and wellness program for musicians A report earlier this year revealed that 73% of musicians suffer from mental illness” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “A Show About Spotify Is Coming to Netflix The scripted series will tell the story of Spotify’s creation” at Pitchfork.

Read “Dinosaur Jr. are in the studio making a new album” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Chris Cornell’s Widow Sues Soundgarden Over Unreleased Recordings” at Rolling Stone.

Revisit at 1980 Relix interview with Robert Hunter about some of the band’s most memorable songs.

Read “Nils Lofgren: Back on the Horse” at Premier Guitar.

Read “The story of Ghanaian highlife legend Ebo Taylor’s “lost tapes” in his own words” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “How Ryley Walker Survived Addiction, Mental Illness, And Self-Destruction In 2019” at Uproxx.

Read “The Raincoats / 40th Anniversary :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “In Memoriam: Bands We Lost In 2019” at Stereogum.

Read “‘Let It Bleed’: Why the Stones’ Nastiest Masterpiece Feels Right on Time” at Rolling Stone. “Their 1969 classic remains the band’s darkest LP, and that’s why it sounds perfect right now.”

Read “David Bowie immersive live experience to be held at National Space Centre planetarium” at NME.

Read “Talking Heads Create Official Instagram Account Stoking Rumors Surrounding “Remain in Light” 40th Anniversary” at Post-Punk.

  • Read “This is not your beautiful Talking Heads reunion, David Byrne confirms” at AV Club.

Read “40 Reasons We Still Love The Clash’s London Calling The band's masterpiece remains a glowing torch in a world of fear, injustice, and oppression” at Consequence of Sound.

TV and Movies get Year-End Lists too:

  • Browse Consequence of Sound’s picks for the “Top 25 Films of 2019.”

  • Browse “The 20 worst films of 2019” at AV Club.

  • Browse Think Christian’s picks for “The Best TV of 2019.”

Read “Redbox no longer lets you rent video games” at CNet.

Watch a teaser for Hulu's Hillary Clinton docuseries” at AV Club.

Read “Prince’s Purple Rain Added to National Film Registry The Library of Congress has also archived She’s Gotta Have It, Clerks, The Last Waltz, and more” at Pitchfork.

Read “New Matrix film gets 2021 release, will open on same weekend as John Wick 4” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The TV Club, 2019 Entry 4: TV isn’t dead, but it’s not getting livelier.” at Slate.

Read “Elon Musk wins defamation lawsuit over tweets against caver in Thailand rescue” at 12 News.

Read “Miss Universe 2019 Is Young, Gifted And An Outspoken Believer In 'Black Girl Magic'“ at NPR.

Read “Bill Cosby Loses Appeal of Sex Assault Conviction” at Variety.

Read the Chili’s menu interpreted by Cormac McCarthy at McSweeny’s.

Read “This Library Bar In Indiana Is Every Book Nerd’s Paradise” at Bookish Buzz.

Check Out these Miniature Book Houses” at Bookish Buzz.

Browse “40 Of The Worst Newspaper Headlines To Make You Facepalm At The Stupidity” at Bored Panda.

Browse “Christianity Today's 2020 Book Awards” at Christianity Today.

Read as Bookish Buzz wonders “Seriously Though, How Did the Most Beautiful Library in America Get Demolished?”

Read “A Q&A with Justin McRoberts” by Aarik Danielsen at Fathom Magazine.

Read “A Gardener Found a Stolen Gustav Klimt Painting Tucked Behind a Secret Panel—in the Very Building It Was Stolen From” at Artnet.

Read “Revive Dying Coral Reefs, Study Finds” at Forbes.

Read “Plants 'Scream' in the Face of Stress: A new study suggests that plants that are stressed by drought or physical damage may emit ultrasonic squeals” at Live Science.

Read “Scientists discover how gene mutation causes autism and intellectual disability” at 12 News.

Read “Earth's magnetic song recorded for the first time during a solar storm” at Phys Org.

Read “ACA Insurers In The Supreme Court: Why Consumers Should Pay Attention” at NPR.

Read as Boing Boing wonders “Where are all the time travelers?”

Read “Weak potato harvest could cause French fry shortage across U.S., report says” at WSBT.

Read “St. Nicholas: The story behind Santa Claus” at CNN.

Read “The Story Behind Vintage "Shiny Brite" Christmas Ornaments” at Crackerjack 23.

Read “Someone Is Putting Tiny Cowboy Hats On Pigeons Around Las Vegas” at Unilad.

Read “The Time a Nazi Mad Scientist Built a Real Movie Villain Island Lair in Argentina” at Mysterious Universe.

Read “20-foot ‘Indescribably beautiful’ leg lamp inflatable appears at ‘A Christmas Story’ house” at Local 10.

Read “Man whose farts 'can kill mosquitoes six metres away hired to create new repellent'“ at The Mirror.

Read “Arizona man registers swarm of bees as emotional support animals” at New York Post.

Read “EPA Data: Phoenix Has Highest Levels in U.S. of Carcinogenic Gas Ethylene Oxide” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Laws allowing U.S government to force Native American children into boarding schools still in force” at AZ Family.

Read “Versace to open store at Scottsdale Fashion Square mall in 2020” at ABC 15.

Read “Beer Price Could Double By End Of Month If Tax Break Expires” at KJZZ. “The Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act could expire at the end of the month. Over the past two years, the act lowered federal excise taxes for breweries, wineries and distilleries. This allowed producers to use money they saved in taxes on their operations.”

Read “Ducey-Appointed Nursing Board Member Said 'Minorities' Are 'Trying to Change Us'“ at Phoenix New Times.

The Weekly Town Crier (11/29/19)

Town  Crier.jpg

All the week’s News that’s fit to cry about (11/29/19).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Stream/download an introductory mix of Sacred Steel music.

R.I.P. Michael J. Pollard (05/30/39 - 11/21/19)

Read “A barbershop births a church of drug users, ex-cons, and homeless folks” at Christian Century.

Read “The Democratic Candidates’ Favorite Bible Verses” at Christianity Tod

Read “Grief Is Messy and Complicated How you support a friend in the midst of it doesn’t have to be” at Slate.

Read “Two Leading Republicans Praise God For Bringing Us Trump” at Rolling Stone

Read “Wayne Grudem Changes Mind About Divorce in Cases of Abuse Leading complementarian theologian says he no longer believes the Bible offers only two justifiable reasons for ending a marriage” at Christianity Today.

Read “High school outcasts: An increasing number of public school districts across the country are giving the boot to faith-based, pro-life, and politically conservative student groups” at World Magazine.

Read “A Hope for Thanksgiving: Assigning Grace Instead of Malice: I was saddened several years back to read some stuff that John Mayer said in an article for Rolling Stone magazine. He was basically racist and misogynist all in the same breath. It was heartbreaking for me... And then he announced his sobriety from alcohol. And I guess I thought, "there it is” at Mockingbird.

Read “Jim Wallis: White Nationalism Is Not Just Racist, It’s Anti-Christ at Sojourners.

Read “How local governments punish poor people with fines” at Christian Century.

Read “Uganda’s Escalating LGBT Crackdown Feels Eerily Familiar” at World Politics Review.

Read “Black male teachers have positive influence on students of all races’ at The State.

Read “What mercy in the criminal justice system could look like” at Christian Century.

Read “ICE arrests 90 more students at fake university in Michigan” at Detroit Free Press. “In early 2016, ICE created a fake university, built out a website saying it was authentic, and recruited an accreditation organization to vouch for it. Foreign students signed up, came here, and were arrested by ICE for ... attending a fake university.”

Read “Why are rural white Americans willing to prioritize cultural whiteness above all else?” at Christian Century.

Read “Philosopher Jacques Derrida Interviews Jazz Legend Ornette Coleman: Talk Improvisation, Language & Racism (1997)” at Open Culture.

Read/Listen to “Forgiving Student Debt Would Boost Economy, Economists Say” at NPR.

Read “Kenya Installs The First Solar Power Plant That Transforms Ocean Water Into Drinking Water” at Bored Panda.

Read “Saudade: the untranslatable word for the presence of absence” at Aeon.

Meet “Rachael Li, 9, Youngest Female US Chess Master Ever” at US Chess.

Read “Why Child Care Is So Ridiculously Expensive Three broad reasons obtaining care for kids now costs as much as buying a brand new Hyundai Elantra each year” at The Atlantic.

Read “Most Americans would pay more to avoid using plastic, poll says” at PBS News Hour.

Read “3 kids. 2 paychecks. No home. South of San Francisco, in a fertile corner of California that feeds much of the country, working families are sleeping in shelters and parking lots” at The California Sunday Magazine: In Salinas, CA, you can’t afford to rent an apartment if you make less than $30/hr.

Read “Profitable Giants Like Amazon Pay $0 in Corporate Taxes. Some Voters Are Sick of It.” at New York Times.

Read “The Road That Brought Conservatives and Republicans to This Point” at National Review.

Read/watch “'Not kings!': Judge issues stinging rebuke to Trump's impeachment stonewall” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Trump was briefed on whistleblower complaint before Ukraine aid was released” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Mike Pompeo Says Ukraine, 2016 Election Interference Should Be Investigated” at NPR.

  • Read/Watch “Nunes now implicated in Ukraine scandal” at MSNBC.

Read “State Dept. releases docs that show how Giuliani's smear campaign against Yovanovitch reached Pompeo” at MSNBC.

  • Read “Giuliani Once Again Says He Has “Insurance” if Trump Throws Him “Under the Bus” at Slate.

Read “Diplomats question why U.S. military aid to Lebanon is being withheld” at PBS News Hour.

Read “The War-Crimes President When violence is directed at those Trump’s supporters hate and fear, they see such excesses not as crimes but as virtues” at The Atlantic.

Read “Navy Is Said to Proceed With Disciplinary Plans Against Edward Gallagher Top military officials threatened to resign or be fired if their plans to remove Chief Gallagher from the SEALs were halted by President Trump, administration officials said” at New York Times.

  • Read “Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer Forced Out Amid Controversy Over SEAL Case” at NPR.

Read “White House directed block of Armenian genocide resolution” at Axios.

Read “Trump Tax Records Reveal New Inconsistencies — This Time for Trump Tower” at Pro Publica.

As Michael Bloomberg enters the presidential race, read Boing Boing’s response: “Peak billionaire: a billionaire tries to purchase a party nomination to outflank anti-billionaires so he can run against another billionaire.”

Read “Sarah Huckabee Sanders: ‘I’ve Been Called’ to be the Next Governor of Arkansas” at The Root.

Read “Sacha Baron Cohen says what we all know: Facebook is profiting from Nazism” at AV Club.

Read “J.K. Rowling and Quentin Tarantino swear by pen and paper, and even science agrees that writing can make you more productive” at Business Insider.

See “The 2019 Beard & Mustache Championship In 30 Pictures” at Bored Panda.

Read “Pope Francis, In Visit To Hiroshima, Says Possession Of Nuclear Weapons Is 'Immoral'“ at NPR.

Read “Imagination is ancient” at Aeon.

Hear “U2’s Meditative New Song ‘Ahimsa’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Neil Young’s unreleased album Homegrown will finally see light in 2020” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Is There Anything We Can All Agree On? Yes: Dolly Parton. At 73, the enigmatic country star is captivating a whole new generation and riding high as the subject of a podcast and the inspiration behind a Netflix series” at New York Times.

Read “Circle Jerks Tease 2020 Reunion Tour to Celebrate 40th Anniversary” at Rolling Stone.

Read “They Might Be Giants announce Flood 30th anniversary tour” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Tom Waits Challenged Our Preconceived Notions (Again) With ‘Glitter and Doom Live’ at Something Else Reviews.

Read “Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets says they've recaptured the chaos as reunion tour comes home” at AZ Central.

Read “Somebody paid Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath to break up with their boyfriend via Cameo” at AV Club.

Read “Jimmy Fallon Expresses His Love For Dead & Company On ‘The Tonight Show’ Following First Show At MSG” at Live For Live Music.

Read “Joe Henry Shares a Romantic 'Gospel' In the Wake of Cancer Diagnosis” at Billboard.

  • Read “Joe Henry and the Art of Disappearing Into a Song” at New York Times.

Read “Billboard Announces New Rules For Merchandise/Album Bundles” at Stereogum. The effort is an attempt to prevent artists from manipulating the charts.

Read “Beck Is Home Twenty-six years into his career, the musician visits the Los Angeles of his youth and says goodbye to the past.” at New Yorker.

  • Read “Beck Fears He Lost Entire Unreleased Albums In The Universal Warehouse Fire” at Stereogum.

  • Read “Beck: "I'm Not a Scientologist: After declaring 15 years ago, "Yeah — I'm a Scientologist," the singer takes an abrupt turn away from the organization following a divorce from second-generation Scientologist Marissa Ribisi” at Hollywood Reporter.

    • Read “Beck distancing himself from Scientology was a “pussy move,” Leah Remini says” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read/Listen to “Song You Need to Know: Leonard Cohen, ‘Puppets’” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Cornershop Announce First Album in 8 Years, Share New Song: Listen” at Pitchfork.

Read “Arlo Guthrie Looks Back on 50 Years of ‘Alice’s Restaurant” at Rolling Stone.

Read “In U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,' A Restless Search For Meaning” at NPR.

Read “Jeff Tweedy’s Chicago Home Reportedly Struck By Gunfire” at Stereogum.

Read “Morrissey to Release 13th Album “I Am Not A Dog On A Chain” in 2020” at Post-Punk.

Read ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Producer Lands Authorized Michael Jackson Biopic” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Martin Scorsese working on documentary about 1970s New York City music scene” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Martin Scorsese has spent his entire career searching for God” at Vox. For Scorsese, Alissa Wilkinson writes for Vox, "people are imbued with both a human spirit and a spark of the divine; we’re not Jesus, but we’re 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 him, and what he struggled with, we struggle with, too."

Read “Christopher Walken Told Will Ferrell That the "More Cowbell" Sketch Ruined His Life” at Exclaim.

Read “Bill Cosby says he has “no remorse” in first interview from prison "It’s all a set up. That whole jury thing. They were imposters” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Uncertain Future of the World’s Largest Secondhand Book Market” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Charles M. Schulz, Civil Rights, and the Previously Unseen Art of Peanuts” at Brain Pickings.

Browse “40 Children's Books Celebrating Native American and Indigenous Mighty Girls” at A Mighty Girl.

  • Browse “25 Books by Indigenous Authors You Should Be Reading” at Evangelicals For Social Justice.

Read “Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart Drums to Own Beat in Mind-Blowing Paintings” at Broward/Palm Beach New Times.

Read “A Museum in Wales Had a Botticelli Right Under Their Noses and Didn’t Realize It Until This Helpful TV Art Detective Told Them” at Artnet.

Read “Thieves Stole Up to a Billion Dollars Worth of Jewels From Dresden’s Famed Treasure Museum, Escaping in a Limousine” at Artnet.

Read “FDA Calls Psychedelic Psilocybin a 'Breakthrough Therapy' for Severe Depression” at Live Science.

  • Read “A Single Dose Of Ketamine Might Help Heavy Drinkers, Study Finds” at NPR.

Read “How Your Negative Emotions Can Literally Make You Sick” at Medium.

Read “The Science of Gratitude (Won’t Make You Grateful)” at Mockingbird.

Read “2020 will be a defining year for America” at The Guardian.

Read “New Belgium Will be Acquired by Kirin-Owned Lion Little World Beverages” at Paste Magazine.

Read “A South African Couple Has Turned Elephant Dung Into Award-Winning Gin” Atlas Obscura.

Read “World's best sushi restaurant dropped from Michelin Guide after refusing to serve public” at The Telegraph.

Read “You Can Get a Full-Course Christmas Dinner in One Can” at Cosmopolitan.

Read/Watch “Bisbee library named best small library in nation” at KVOA.

Browse “Holiday Gifts: 5 Ways to Support Arts and Culture While You Shop” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “GOP proposal would increase in-state tuition at ASU, UA, NAU” at Arizona Mirror.

Read “Homeless Man Arrested for a Felony for Stealing a Burrito” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Arizona saw children’s obesity drop after WIC required healthier foods” at Cronkite News.

Read “Pat McMahon Is Just Getting Started” at Phoenix New Times.

Read Glendale police officer suspended for punching man in face during traffic stop” at 12 News.

Read “This Arizona Husband-and-Wife Team Wants to Make a 4,000-Year-Old Product the Hottest Holiday Drink Superstition Meadery founders Jeff and Jen Herbert are betting you'll love mead, an alcoholic beverage that dates back to ancient times” at Inc.

The Weekly Town Crier (11/22/19)

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All the week’s News that’s fit to cry about (11/22/19).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Read “Howard Thurman’s contemplative nonviolence The pastor and mentor to Martin Luther King formed a vision of resistance around prayer, not politics” at Christian Century.

Read the Washington Post’s opinion piece: “Jesus isn’t interested in America’s two-party division: Sadly, many want Jesus to be the personal chaplain to a Republican emperor, or else, Jesus is invoked to sanction a Jacobin purge on anyone suspected of not progressive enough. Jesus is re-created in either the image of Caesar or Che Guevara.”

Read “Scripture and Neuroscience Agree: It Helps to Lament in Community Through song, liturgy, and communion, the body of Christ inhabits the suffering experienced by its weakest members” at Christianity Today.

Read “Christianity is declining at a rapid pace, but Americans still hold positive views about religion’s role in society” at Washington Post.

Read “What Research Tells Us About the ‘Seal’ of Believer’s Baptism A new study suggests that the rite doesn’t bind young Christians to a certain level of faith commitment, but to a faith community” at Christianity Today.

Read “Kanye West calls himself 'the greatest artist that God has ever created' at Joel Osteen service” at AZ Central.

Read “Why Black Protestants and Evangelicals Still Preach Politics” at Christianity Today.

Read “The Real Battle (Between Atheism and Christianity) Is Always Emotional” at Mockingbird: “Disproofs of God’s existence are about as effective in creating atheists as proofs are in creating believers. Such arguments are shadow boxing. The real battle is always emotional."

Read “Chick-fil-A Says It Will Stop Donating to Anti-LGBTQ Organizations” at Advocate.

Read/Listen to “'Who Is An Evangelical?' Looks At History Of Evangelical Christians And The GOP” at NPR.

  • Read “U.S. Adults See Evangelicals Through a Political Lens” at Barna.

Read/watch “How these Oregon teachers are fighting back against white nationalism” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Paige Patterson feared backslide after election of first black SBC president” at Religion News Service.

Read “Scott Warren, Who Provided Humanitarian Aid To Immigrants, Found Not Guilty On Harboring Charges” at Sojourners.

Read the opinion piece: “Kanye West is spreading the gospel of white evangelicals: Like other black conservatives, the rapper and designer downplays racism while promoting bootstrap virtue-signaling” at The Guardian.

Read “Michael Bloomberg apologises for 'stop-and-frisk' policy” at BBC.

Read the opinion piece: “Enough Thanksgiving Myths. Schools Should Teach Indigenous History” at TruthOut.

Read “Trump’s new refugee limits are senseless and destructive” at Christian Century.

  • Read “U.S. has world's highest rate of children in detention: U.N. study” at Reuters.

  • Read “U.N. Expert Faults U.S. For 'Inhuman Treatment' And High Incarceration Of Children” at NPR.

Read “Bound By Statute: In Mississippi, Jim Crow era laws result in a high rate of black kids charged as adults” at Reveal.

Read “Why 1,200 people who never took a life are condemned to die in Pa. prisons” at Inquirer.

Read/Listen to “Jeffrey Epstein's Prison Guards Are Indicted On Federal Charges” at NPR.

Read “U.S. income inequality at highest level in 50 years, economic gap growing in heartland” at NBC News.

Read “Israeli PM Netanyahu indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust” at NBC News.

Read “After decades of pushing bachelor’s degrees, U.S. needs more tradespeople” at PBS.

Read “Our legislators’ silence is a failure of moral courage” at Christian Century.

Read/Watch “70% of Americans say Trump’s actions tied to Ukraine were wrong” at ABC.

Read “The White House Just Released A Log Of Trump's First Call with Zelenskiy: The log differs from what the White House originally said about the call in a brief readout” at NPR.

  • Read “Trump attacks impeachment witness Marie Yovanovitch on Twitter” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Democrats invite Trump to testify in impeachment inquiry” at PBS News Hour

  • Read Sarah Kendzior’s opinion piece: “Why the Trump impeachment hearings need to go beyond Ukraine” at Globe and Mail.

  • Read “Trump ‘Will Strongly Consider’ Testifying in Impeachment Probe, as New Poll Shows 70% Disapprove of His Ukraine Actions As the president defends his actions, however, the American people seem unconvinced” at Rolling Stone.

  • Read “House Looking Into Whether Trump Lied to Mueller During Russia Investigation” at News and Guts.

  • Read “Trump’s Retribution Against the Washington Post Owner Is His Gravest Abuse of Power” at New York magazine.

  • Read “Chief justice orders delay in House fight for Trump financial records” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “I Followed the Directions of the President’: Read Gordon Sondland’s Explosive Impeachment Testimony” at Rolling Stone.

    • Read/Watch “Sondland says Pence knew about concerns over the hold on military aid to Ukraine” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Trump Brags About Opening Apple Plant In Texas That’s Been Producing Computers Since 2013” at News and Guts.

Read “Roger Stone, Political Operative And Trump Aide, Guilty In False Statements Trial” at NPR.

  • Browse “Everyone Charged in the 2016 Election Investigations” at New York Times.

  • Read “Prosecutors in Giuliani investigation interested in talking to Ukrainian energy company” at CNN.

Read “Over 75 Members Of Congress To Stephen Miller: Resign From White House Now” at Huff Post.

  • Read/Listen to “Stephen Miller And White Supremacy: the book mentioned in Stephen Miller's leaked emails. What is it? And why is it important to white power movements?” at NPR.

  • Read “Stephen Miller planted anti-Rubio stories in Breitbart during 2016 campaign, leaked emails show” at NBC News.

Read “Trump Retreats From Flavor Ban for E-Cigarettes Advisers say the president pulled back from proposed restrictions intended to curb teenage vaping after he was warned of the political fallout among voters” at New York Times.

Read “Bill Barr's fascist manifesto: Is this man the real threat to American democracy?” at Salon.

Read “No One Believes Anything’: Voters Worn Out by a Fog of Political News Paying attention to the impeachment inquiry and other developments means having to figure out what is true, false or spin. Many Americans are throwing up their hands and tuning it all out” at New York Times.

Read “In Major Shift, U.S. Declares West Bank Settlements Do Not Violate International Law” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Trump advisory board member: Women should strive to be “handmaidens,” stay out of the workplace Trump surrogate Clarence Mason Weaver on women: “We don’t care how smart you are. We don’t care how strong you are” at Media Matters.

Read “What ending DACA could cost the U.S. economy” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Social Security Does Not Add To The Federal Deficit” at Forbes.

Read ‘You’re Done:’ Conservative Radio Host Fired Mid-Show for Criticizing Trump “I call things as I see them,” Craig Silverman wrote” at Rolling Stone, and remember, friends, that forced patriotism is fascism.

Read “Nikki Haley Used System for Unclassified Material to Send ‘Confidential’ Information” and wonder . . . but her e-mails . . . with the rest of us at The Daily Beast.

Read “Democrats in Congress reauthorize Patriot Act, again” at Boing Boing.

Read “Whatever Happened To Reality Winner? Reality Winner’s mom, Billie J. Winner-Davis, speaks out about her daughter and the effort to #FreeRealityWinner” at Rantt Media.

Read “Democrat Edwards wins reelection in conservative Louisiana” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Pete Buttigieg and Jim Wallis Discuss Christianity in Politics” at Juicy Ecumenism.

  • Watch “Mayor Pete surges ahead in Iowa polling” at MSNBC.

  • Read “The Generous Gospel of Mayor Pete Buttigieg talks with ‘Rolling Stone’ about faith, the religious left, and what the Mike Pences of the world get wrong” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Possible pay-to-play scheme for ambassador role in Trump administration uncovered by CBS News Emails obtained by CBS News show Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the Bahamas was asked by the RNC to donate half a million dollars as his confirmation in the Senate hung in the balance” at CBS.

Read “Amazon will pay $0 in taxes on $11,200,000,000 in profit for 2018” at Yahoo Finance.

Read “Two people showed up for ‘Straight Pride’ in Dallas. Yes, two” at Metro Weekly.

Read “Meth. We’re on It’: South Dakota’s Anti-Meth Campaign Raises Eyebrows” at New York Times.

Read "25 Years of Wilco: Tracing the Band’s Live Evolution Through Their Best Bootlegs” at Pitchfork.

Read “The kids of Wu-Tang Clan have formed their own Wu-Tang Clan” at AV Club.

Read “Church builds huge baby Jesus statue — that looks like Phil Collins” at New York Post.

See “Inside the vinyl archives of Berlin’s biggest music library” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Spotify Announces Its Own Award Show” at Pitchfork.

Read “David Bazan talks about his music and watching Christianity be “co-opted by authoritarianism” at Vox: "For me, it’s heartbreaking over and over again. You just think, “Surely now they can see. Surely now they can see.” What do I do with that? Knowing that certain people that I love deeply, and depended on, are just going to go to their graves being stooges for fascism and authoritarianism? That’s still something I’m trying to make sense of."

Read “Chris Martin Says Coldplay Won’t Tour for Environmental Reasons” at Pitchfork.

Read “Nick Cave announces new autobiography and exhibition, ‘Stranger Than Kindness’ Read More: Nick Cave announces new autobiography and exhibition, ‘Stranger Than Kindness’ at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Trump’s Denials Turned into a Ramones Song: “I WANT NOTHING. I WANT NOTHING. I WANT NO QUID PRO QUO.” at Open Culture.

Read “How Countries Around the World Fund Music—and Why It Matters As President Trump eyes abolishing federal arts funding in the U.S., a survey of tax-supported music from Australia to Iceland reveals a complex, shifting landscape” at Pitchfork.

Read “How Poison frontman Bret Michaels went from glam-metal icon to Humanitarian of the Year” at AZ Central.

Read “Flying teapots and electric Camembert: the story of Gong, prog's trippiest band” at The Guardian.

Read “Noel Gallagher wants to play guitar for The Smiths if they ever reunite” at NME.

Read “Tiddas honoured for their fierce, bold, pioneering music” at The Age and listen to "Inanay" by Tiddas on Episode 05 of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Browse “Portrait of the Artist: An Oral History of David Berman at UVA” at Virginia.edu.

Read “Janet Weiss talks leaving Sleater-Kinney: “the new record was made sort of without me” Read More: Janet Weiss talks leaving Sleater-Kinney: “the new record was made sort of without me” at Brooklyn Vegan: “"I said, ‘am I just the drummer now?’ They said yes. And I said, ‘can you tell me if I am still a creative equal in the band?’ And they said no. So, I left."

Read “KISS played a show for great white sharks, but no sharks showed up” at Consequence of Sound.

Watch “Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart plays the rhythm of the universe” at PBS.

Read “'One of the Best Yet' Is Another Gang Starr Classic” at PopMatters.

Read “Neil Young Will No Longer Use Facebook Because Of Its “Obvious Commitments” To Republicans” at Stereogum.

Read “Why Your Favorite Alt-Rock Legends Are Remixing Their Old Albums” at Vice.

Read “Wu-Tang Clan are getting their very own amusement park in South Korea” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “How Wes Anderson Perfected the Music-Nerd Soundtrack (from 2018)” at Pitchfork.

Read “That Time Michael Bolton Wrote a Song With Bob Dylan” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Lunachicks are back, announce first show in over a decade Read More: Lunachicks are back, announce first show in over a decade” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read/Listen to “Pete Townshend On Creativity, 'The Age Of Anxiety' And The Who's New Record” at NPR.

Read “Bonnie "Prince" Billy on Recording Others' Songs, Mourning David Berman and Long-Awaited 'I Made a Place' at Exclaim.

Read as Grimes tells NME “I think live music is going to be obsolete soon”.

Read “Bon Iver Share First Official Music Video Since 2012” at Pitchfork.

Read “‘Blurryface’ by Twenty One Pilots is the biggest-selling rock album of the decade” at NME.

Read “A new Gorillaz documentary is coming to theaters for one night only” at AV Club.

Read “The Timetravellin' Bob Dylan: On 'Bringing It All Back Home'“ at PopMatters.

Read “Taylor Swift Is Fighting With Her Former Record Label Again” at Spin.

Read “'Tis Already The Season To Argue About 'Baby, It's Cold Outside'“ at NPR.

Read “The Beatles: Abbey Road Changed Music History Forever” at Den Of Geek.

Browse “A Brief Guide to Metal In China” at Bandcamp.

Read “Kanye Announces Nebuchadnezzar Opera” at Pitchfork.

  • Read “Kanye West put the wrong emperor on his Nebuchadnezzar opera invite It features Persian emperor Darius the Great, not the Babylonian king” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Kanye West teases Jesus Is King Part II with Dr. Dre” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Joe Henry's Next Second Chance” at NPR: “I'm not going to hide with this," Joe Henry said. "We're called to bear witness." Almost a year to the day since a grim diagnosis, Henry has released 'The Gospel According to Water,' an album as emotionally nuanced as he's ever made.”

Read “Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Poison Set 2020 Stadium Tour” at Rolling Stone.

See “AIR Studio Ruins: George Martin's Caribbean recording studio now rots within the shadow of an active volcano” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “How Do We Live With Music Made by Problematic Artists?” at Pitchfork.

Read “Nicolas Cage in talks to play Nicolas Cage in movie about Nicolas Cage” at CNet.

Read “How an Internet Obsession Resurrected a Creepy, Long-Lost Sesame Street Cartoon” at Slate.

Read “John Mulaney made a kids variety special with David Byrne & more for Netflix Read More: John Mulaney made a kids variety special with David Byrne & more for Netflix” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Bob's Burgers Movie Has Been Pulled from Disney's Release Schedule” at Paste.

Read “‘Sesame Street’ Is Highlighting a Forgotten Skill: Failing” at Forge.

Read “Beautiful Day' Director On Mister Rogers' 'Radical Notion': Telling Kids The Truth” at NPR.

Read “How The ‘Dora the Explorer’ Effect Helped Usher in a New Wave of Inclusive Animation” at Variety.

Read “Justice Department to change how studios distribute films by revoking decades-old rules Wiping out the Paramount consent decrees could completely alter the theater industry” at Consequence of Sound: “Under the new rules, a Netflix Multiplex, or a new Amazon subscription tier that includes two screenings a month in an actual cinema could come to fruition.”

Read “Todd Phillips to write and direct Joker sequel, wants to do more DC Comics origins movies” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Alan Moore: why I turned my back on Hollywood” at Guardian.

Read “Jay-Z says Colin Kaepernick turned his ‘legitimate workout’ into publicity stunt” at NY Daily News.

Read “'Our friendship was intimate on all levels': Robyn Crawford on her love for Whitney Houston” at The Guardian.

Read “Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium: A Forgotten Treasure at the Intersection of Science and Poetry” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Pizza Hut’s ‘Little Free Libraries’ Look Exactly Like Mini Pizza Huts” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Wendell Berry on Delight as a Force of Resistance to Consumerism, the Key to Mirth Under Hardship, and the Measure of a Rich Life” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Proust on Why We Read “The end of a book’s wisdom appears to us as merely the start of our own, so that at the moment when the book has told us everything it can, it gives rise to the feeling that it has told us nothing” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Traveler Restaurant This small-town Connecticut restaurant gives each diner a free book from its vast library” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “The Guerrilla Girls Are Targeting MoMA Trustees Tied to Jeffrey Epstein With an Ad on a Phone Booth Outside the Museum” at Art.net.

Read “120,000 Ribbons Hover Where The Berlin Wall Once Stood To Mark The 30-Year Anniversary Of Its Fall” at Bored Panda.

Read “Police Foiled a Brazen Thief Who Tried Sneak Out of a London Museum With Two Rembrandts in Tow” at Art.net.

ReadComic Sans Turns 25: Graphic Designer Vincent Connare Explains Why He Created the Most Hated Font in the World” at Open Culture.

Read “Baltimore Museum of Art will only acquire works from women next year: ‘You have to do something radical’" at Baltimore Sun.

Read “A Three-Story Mural Keith Haring Created for a Catholic Youth Center Sold for $3.9 Million—to the Chagrin of the Artist’s Foundation” at Art.net.

Read “Download 576 Free Art Books from The Metropolitan Museum of Art” at Open Culture.

Read “Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos: An Illustrated Celebration of How the Pioneering Artist’s Love of Animals Shaped Her Character” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Amid Criticism and Controversy, the Guggenheim Museum Hires Its First Full-Time Black Curator” at The Root.

Read “Donald Trump’s Crazy Handwriting Is Now A Free Font Called Tiny Hand” at Fast Company.

Read/Watch “Why overuse of antibiotics is a massive, ‘staggering’ problem in health care” at PBS News Hour.

Read “It’s impossible to see the world as it is, argues a cognitive neuroscientist” at Aeon.

Read “An Oceanographer’s Amazing Algorithm That Removes Blue-Green Visual Distortion From Underwater Photos” at Laughing Squid.

Read “Scientists develop slippery toilet coating to stop poo sticking Spray-on surface could prevent bacteria building up and reduce household water use” at The Guardian.

Read “NASA Makes Their Entire Media Library Publicly Accessible and Copyright Free” at DIY Photography.

See “Excellent animation explains how an escalator works” at Boing Boing.

Read “60% of world's wildlife has been wiped out since 1970” at CBC.

See the “Paste Eater's Grave” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Serial Killer Goblins May Be On the Loose in Zimbabwe” at Mysterious Universe.

See “Museum of Miniature Books” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “Bainbridge Township police: Man said he fired gun because he thought Bigfoot was trying to enter his home” at Cleveland 19.

Read “Arizona is the only state with an English-only education law. It's time to repeal it” at AZ Central.

Read “Arizona Man to Plead Guilty to Illegally Making Ammunition Bought by Las Vegas Shooter” at Time.

Read “Lyft announces plan to end service at Phoenix airport due to proposed fee” at KTAR.

Read “Amazon opens first physical bookstore in Arizona at Scottsdale Quarter” at AZ Central.

Read “Oscar Mayer Wienermobile to make stops in Valley this weekend” at KTAR.

Read “‘We need to act fast’: Statewide forum focuses on climate solutions for Arizona” at AZ Central.

Read “Tent city's closure saving Maricopa County millions” at AZ Family.

Read/Watch “Flyer for white supremacy group found in downtown Phoenix” at 12 News.

Read “Protesters want Valley Metro to stop police sweeps for light rail fares” at KTAR.

Read “Arizona Lawmaker Wants Armed Vets in Schools, Slams Funding For Counselors” at Phoenix New Times: “Arizona State Representative Jay Lawrence told New Times that "a couple Green Berets" at a school could deter a "bad actor" or possibly serve more mundane school functions, like breaking up fights.”

Read “Country’s 1st car-free neighborhood coming to Tempe in 2020” at KTAR.

The Weekly Town Crier (11/15/19)

Town  Crier.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (11/08/19 Edition).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

R.I.P. Robert Freeman, Beatles photographer dies at 82

Read “Kanye West’s ‘Jesus Is King’ Sparks Biblical Searches” at Facts & Trends.

Read “What Freud Can Teach Us About Trump And His Christian Supporters” at Sojourners.

Read/Watch “Still teaching at 95, Jimmy Carter draws devotees to church His message is unfailingly about Jesus, not Jimmy Carter” at 12 News.

Read “PC(USA) Stated Clerk responds to questions on Trump’s membership: Donald Trump was baptized in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). However, there is no factual evidence that Mr. Trump currently holds membership in any local congregation. Therefore, the discipline process that would be necessary to remove him from membership is not applicable” at PCUSA.org.

Read “Paula White and the Mainstreaming of American Pentecostalism” at Red Letter Christians.

Read “Respect for pastors is at an all-time low. What would help? Nobody wants to be irrelevant. Yet how much can pastors really do to reverse the increasing lack of interest in organized religion and religious practice that shapes attitudes toward clergy?" at Christian Century.

Read “Why Jesus Followers Should Be Prison Abolitionists” at Red Letter Christians.

Read “Debt Is Holding Black Americans Hostage To break free, we need an honest conversation about reparations and forgiveness on a mass scale” at The Nation.

Read “I Went to Mexico to Meet Asylum-Seekers Trapped at the Border. This Is What I Saw” at ACLU.

Read “#EatingASandwichWhileBlack: Commuters Hold Protest After Cop Detains Black Man for 'Illegally Eating' at BART Station” at The Root.

Read “Trump ended DACA. This woman is suing to keep the program alive” at PRI.

Read “Second Trial Against Activist Who Helped Migrants To Begin” at KJZZ.

Read “The cursing president: Donald Trump is the first president to make C-SPAN unsuitable viewing for children” at The Week.

Read “Researchers Reveal Kids Who Get More Hugs Have More Developed Brains” at Healthy Food House.

Read “You Can Get A Master's In Medical Cannabis In Maryland” at NPR.

Read “Can I Get A Witness? The righteously, radical Campbellite core of Nashville by David Dark at Southern Foodways.

Read “The Alarming Message of Mattel’s “Gender-Neutral” Dolls” at Slate.

Read/Watch: “Mural of activist Greta Thunberg going up in San Francisco” at 12 News.

Read “Experts Worry Active Shooter Drills In Schools Could Be Traumatic For Students” at NPR.

Read “Indigenous people blocked Ecuador oil auction in growing fight to save Amazon” at Salon.

Read “Criminals may be banned from being near guns in New Zealand” at 12 News.

Read “Federal Court Rules That Border Officers Can’t Arbitrarily Search Our Electronic Devices” at ACLU.

Read “Demon Screens: For the last twelve years, social media, handheld devices, and video games have swept into teens’ lives like a tidal wave” at First Things.

Read/Listen to “Who Will Decide On The Dalai Lama's Successor — His Supporters Or Beijing?” at NPR.

Read “Nike designed a pair of comfortable sneakers just for medical workers, and all of the profits will go to a children's hospital” at Insider.

Read/Listen to “Detroit Public School Students Allege They Were Deprived Access To Literacy In Lawsuit: Many days were spent in freezing or mold-infested classrooms watching movies, sometimes without a teacher even in the room, plaintiffs allege. Textbooks were outdated. Lunch food was expired” at WBUR’s Here and Now.

Read: “Supreme Court Wrestles With Consequences for Piracy by State Governments” at The Hollywood Reporter.

Read “What We Learned From Reading Thousands Of Pages Of Impeachment Inquiry Transcripts” at NPR.

  • Read “Lawyer for Ukraine whistleblower sends White House cease and desist letter to stop Trump’s attacks” at CNN.

  • Read “Trump says he might attend Russia Victory Day events in May” at Reuters.

    Read “Impeaching Trump Is Imperative to Preserving Our Democracy: Trump’s first abuse of trust is the one our founders feared most: inviting a foreign power to interfere with our democracy,” at Time.

  • Read “The Whistleblower Complaint Has Largely Been Corroborated. Here's How” at NPR.

  • Read “What you learned about the impeachment hearing depended on what channel you watched” at Washington Post.

  • Read “Trump Asks Supreme Court to Bar Release of His Tax Returns” at New York Times (just as one with nothing to hide does).

Read the New York Times opinion piece: “Multibillion-dollar fortunes are often called excessive and decadent. But here’s something they’re rarely called but ought to be: anti-democratic. These fortunes will destroy our democracy,"

Read “University of Florida student president faces impeachment after paying $50,000 for Don Jr. visit Michael Murphy is accused of using $50,000 of mandatory student fees "to further enrich" Trump and his girlfriend” at Salon.

Read “Trump adviser Stephen Miller injected white nationalist agenda into Breitbart, investigation reveals” at The Guardian.

  • Read “Stephen Miller’s Affinity for White Nationalism Revealed in Leaked Emails” at Southern Poverty Law Center.

Read “Supreme Court Allows Sandy Hook Families' Case Against Remington Arms To Proceed” at NPR.

Read “Elijah Cummings' Widow Announces She's Running For His U.S. House Seat” at NPR.

Read “U.S. budget deficit surges to $134.5 billion in October” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Trump Official Punished Public Servant Over Her Iranian Heritage” at NPR.

Read “Tindersticks :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview.”

Read “Fox & Friends is throwing its support behind Kanye West’s presidential candidacy "When our current president announced that he was running, a lot of people laughed too" at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Kanye West WIll Appear At Joel Osteen’s Sunday Service . . . Choir In Tow” at TMZ.

Read “Neil Young Says U.S. Citizenship Application Delayed By Marijuana Use” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Neil Young Wants You to Hear His Unreleased Music Before You Die “It’s a race against time,” Young writes of his ambitious plan to release a huge cache of unreleased albums to his fans in 2020” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Why David Byrne Became a U.S. Citizen After Six Decades” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Jeff Tweedy: Learning to Love the Music You Hate'“ at That Eric Alper.

Read “Dolly Parton: A Seeker and a Poor Sinful Creature” at Christianity Today.

Read “A Subversive History: An Interview with Music Historian Ted Gioia” at Image Journal.

Read “Spike Lee to direct hip-hop version of Romeo and Juliet” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “The Internet Archive Is Digitizing & Preserving Over 100,000 Vinyl Records: Hear 750 Full Albums Now” at Open Culture.

Read “The Spotify Blacklist Continues ⁠— Artist Faces Retaliation After Magazine Exclusive” at Digital Music News.

Read “Moby is an animal rights advocate, and he now has giant arm tattoos to prove it” at Consequence of Sound.

Hear “Iggy Pop, Frank Black Cover Jazz Great Mose Allison for New Tribute Album” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Lijadu Sisters: the Nigerian twins who fought the elite with funk” at The Guardian and listen to “Orere Elejigbo” by Lijadu Sisters on Episode 17 of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Read “Meat Puppets & Mudhoney announce 2020 co-headlining tour Read More: Meat Puppets & Mudhoney announce 2020 co-headlining tour” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “The Monkees Announce 2020 Tour Dates, New Live Album” at Rolling Stone.

Browse “Ryley Walker :: A Roundup” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “Rod Stewart Spent More Than Twenty Years Building a Model Train Railroad” at Flood.

Browse Crack Magazine’s picks for the top 100 albums of the decade.

Read “Andy Partridge Looks Back at XTC” at Culture Sonar.

Browse “The Story of Outlaw Country in 33 Songs” at Pitchfork.

Read “Grateful Dead Announce Soundtrack Featuring Rare Live Recordings To Accompany Forthcoming Graphic Novel’ at Live For Live Music.

Read “Black Crowes Reunite, Plot 2020 ‘Shake Your Money Maker’ Tour” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Silence, presence, and challenging conventions – thoughts on John Cage’s 4’33”' at Crosseyed Pianist.

Read “Trump Opens New Portal to Hell By Promoting #MAGACHALLENGE Rap Contest on Twitter” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Country Music Veteran Trent Reznor Nabs His First CMA Award” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Michael Jackson’s Estate Acquires Sly and the Family Stone’s Catalogue” at Vulture.

Read “When Christ Came for Kanye” at Think Christian.

  • Read “Kanye’s ‘Jesus Is King’ is Superficially Gospel” at Sojourners.

Watch “a new film celebrating 30 years of record shop and label Mr Bongo” at Vinyl Factory.

Read “Robert Johnson Biopic Reportedly In The Works From Oscar-Winning ‘Spider-Man’ Director” at Live For Live Music.

Read “Hall & Oates announce 2020 tour, dates w/ Squeeze & KT Tunstall Read More: Hall & Oates announce 2020 tour, dates w/ Squeeze & KT Tunstall” at Brooklyn Vegan.

Read “Bob Weir & Wolf Bros Announce Early-2020 Tour Dates” at JamBase.

Read “'Sesame Street' celebrates 50 years on the air” at 12 News.

Read “Kevin Feige: Disney buying Marvel was the 'greatest thing that ever happened to us' "If Disney hadn't bought us, you wouldn't have seen the movies we've made since then” at CNet.

Read ‘Michael Jackson’s Simpsons episode kept off of Disney+” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Zoinks, Scooby-Doo gets a new origin story in this trailer for Scoob!” at AV Club.

Read “NBC renews Brooklyn Nine-Nine for season 8” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Werner Herzog on Why He Didn’t Need to See ‘Star Wars’ Films for ‘The Mandalorian’ Role” at Variety.

Read “Disney+ warns viewers about past racism, but not as well as Warner Bros. 53 Disney’s 1941 Dumbo is a prime example” at The Verge.

Read “Keanu Reeves plays a Sage named Sage in first trailer for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Noel Fielding is writing a new Netflix series about a magical record player” at NME.

Read “The Day Dostoyevsky Discovered the Meaning of Life in a Dream” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Graphic Adaptation Of 'Heart Of Darkness' Takes On Canonical Racism, Artfully” at NPR.

Read “Woman Turned 110-Year-Old Dead Tree Into A Free Little Library For The Neighborhood And It Looks Magical” at Bookish Buzz.

Read “A Group of Middle Eastern Artists Was Denied Entry to the US to Attend the Opening of Their Own MoMA PS1 Show” at Artnet.

Read “Artists are turning the U.S.-Mexico border fence into the world’s longest peace-themed mural” at Inhabit.

Read “A New Museum Dedicated to Picasso and Giacometti Is Launching in Beijing Next Year” at Artnet.

Read: “Wine Kills Germs That Cause Sore Throats and Dental Plaque, Says Awesome Study” at Maxim.

Read “A Tiny Species That Looks Part-Deer, Part-Mouse Was Missing for Nearly 30 Years. Scientists Just Found It” at Live Science.

Read “This nightmare fish with a human face is reminding people of Dreamcast's Seaman” at AV Club.

Read “I Thought Being a Health Care Reporter Would Make Cancer Easier. I Was Wrong. Nothing can prepare you for the immense number of complicated, sometimes life-or-death decisions the disease forces you to make about your own treatment” at Politico.

Read “Speech-Language Pathologist Teaches Her Dog to Communicate Through a Custom Button Talking Board” at Laughing Squid.

Read: “Two Guys In Mexico Just Created Vegan Leather From Cactus” at VegNews.

  • Read “Wu Tang Clan Is Making Vegan Wallets Made Of Bananas” at Truth Theory.

Read “Overactive Brain Has Been Linked to a Shorter Life Want to live longer? Quiet your mind” at Medium.

Read “Bob Dylan's Heaven's Door 'Bootleg Series' Is a Rare 26-Year-old Whisky Finished in Japanese Oak Barrels: The 111.5 proof whisky comes in a bottle adorned with a Dylan painting and inside a collectible leather journal” at Maxim.

Read: “EPA Data: Phoenix Has Highest Levels in U.S. of Carcinogenic Gas Ethylene Oxide” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Arizona school districts suing e-cigarette maker Juul” at KTAR.

Read “Andy Warpigs on Building a Local Music Community” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “Federal judge says Arizona prisons too broadly censor publications inmates can see” at Tucson.com.

Read “How the Disney/Fox Merger Is Affecting Local Independent Movie Theaters” at Phoenix New Times.

The Weekly Town Crier (11/08/19)

Town  Crier.jpg

All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (11/08/19 Edition).

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Read “Televangelist Paula White, Trump's spiritual adviser, joins White House staff” at The Hill.

  • Read “Paula White: Christians will 'stand accountable before God' if they vote against Trump” at Christian Century.

Read “James MacDonald ‘biblically disqualified’ for ministry, says Harvest Bible” at Religion News Service.

Read “In bondage to guns Life in America has been changed by gun culture” at Christian Century.

Read “This Church Model Thrives in Post-Christian Contexts Missional communities seek to broaden our understanding of what it means to be a local church” at Christianity Today.

Read “John Crist Cancels 2019 Tour Dates After Reports of Sexting, Harassment, Manipulation” at Charisma News.

Read “Armenian Orthodox Leader: ‘We May Forgive One Day, But We Will Never Forget” at Christianity Today.

Read “Language Barriors: A Study in Christianese” at The AXPX.

Read '“I can think of no good thing that has happened to evangelicalism as a result of its alliance to the Republican party. All I can think of are negative things” by Scot McKnight at The Way of Improvement.

Read “Prosecutors Want Migrant Helper Banned From Speaking About Trump at Trial” at Phoenix New Times.

Read “New Jersey Seminary to Pay $27 Million in Reparations for Ties to Slavery” at The Atlanta Voice.

Read World Relief’s press release: “World Relief Laments Zero Refugee Admissions in October 2019 Leading refugee resettlement organization urges administration to resume refugee admissions as soon as possible.”

Read “Oklahoma Set to Release 462 Inmates Monday in Largest-Ever Single-Day U.S. Mass Commutation” at Time.

Read “Judge Rules Florida Cannot Bar Voters With Felony Convictions Who Are Unable to Pay Costs” at EJI.

Read “Judge won’t block Mississippi’s Jim Crow-era election system” at PBS.

Read “Inmates Saved Homes in the Kincade Fire. They’ll Face an Uphill Battle Getting Firefighting Jobs After Release” at KQED.

Read “We have the tools and technology to work less and live better: The British economist, John Maynard Keynes, predicted that by 2030 society would have advanced so far that we would only need to work 15 hours a week. And he was right. In more economically developed countries, we now have the technology and tools for everyone to work less and live prosperous lives, So why are 30-40 hour weeks still standard in the workplace?” at Aeon.

Read “Google Buys Fitbit For $2.1 Billion, Pledges To Protect Health Data” at NPR.

  • Read “Google bought Fitbit. What does that mean for your data privacy?” at PBS News Hour.

Read “Microsoft Japan Says 4-Day Workweek Boosted Workers' Productivity By 40%” at NPR.

Read “Why is Facebook rebranding? PR experts have some theories Is the (now all-caps) FACEBOOK trying to distract from negative news, or avoid being dismantled by regulators?” at Salon.

Read “All modern humans originated in northern Botswana, study says” at CNN.

Read “Reports: US launches review of China-owned video app TikTok TikTok says it cannot comment on ongoing regulatory processes but earning the trust of U.S. users and regulators is its highest priority” at 12 News.

Read “Australian Anti-Vaxx Mom Allegedly Gave Out Lollipops Infected With Chickenpox” at Daily Caller.

Read “The Hoarding of the American Dream In a new book, a Brookings scholar argues that the upper-middle class has enriched itself and harmed economic mobility” at The Atlantic.

Read “Chinese Government Assigning Han Men to Live and Sleep with Uighur Women Whose Husbands Have Been Detained: Report” at National Review.

Consider “Are new accreditation rules for online education streamlined or ripe for abuse?” at News Hour.

Read “LeBron James is adding safe housing to the school he founded in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, so students have a stable place to live while they get their education” at CNN.

Read “Millennials earn 20% less than baby boomers did—despite being better educated” at CNBC.

Read Politico’s piece: “Why the Impeachment Fight Is Even Scarier Than You Think: Political scientists have a term for what the United States is witnessing right now. It’s called 'regime cleavage,' a division within the population marked by conflict about the foundations of the governing system itself.”

  • Read “No credible defense of Trump’s Ukraine conduct, says GOP strategist” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “America once led anti-corruption fight. Now self-dealing Trump is kleptocrats' role model” at USA Today.

  • Read “A president who thinks he can do whatever he wants Trump’s position is not that the facts will vindicate him. It’s that they don’t matter” at Christian Century.

  • Read “E. Jean Carroll sues Trump for allegedly defaming her over rape accusations” at Raw Story.

  • Read/Watch “Trump vows ‘no more’ federal aid to California as devastating wildfires continue to burn” at The Guardian.

  • Read “Judge orders Trump to pay $2 million for misusing his charitable foundation” at PBS News Hour.

  • Read “Appeals Court Rules Trump's Accountants Must Turn Over Tax Records” at NPR.

  • Read “Tuesday's Elections Show Impeachment Might Not Boost GOP As Much As It Hoped” at NPR.

Read “Campaign says Biden is the “only” one who doesn't need to win Iowa as polls find him in fourth place” at Salon

Consider “How Fear Has Become A Political Strategy” with Sojourners.

Read “Fox News feeds viewers "an alternative reality void of the facts and the truth": ex-GOP congressman” at Salon.

Read “How Mike Pence’s Office Meddled in Foreign Aid to Reroute Money to Favored Christian Groups — ProPublica Officials at USAID warned that favoring Christian groups in Iraq could be unconstitutional and inflame religious tensions. When one colleague lost her job, they said she had been “Penced” at ProPublica.

Read “Children were told to ‘build the wall’ at White House Halloween party” at Yahoo. In the words of David Dark: “There are so many ways to hate God.”

Read “Smugglers Are Sawing Through Trump’s Border Wall” at Washington Post.

Read “US judge blocks Trump's immigrant health insurance rule” at BBC.

Read “There won't be a Republican Party" if GOP does not diversify, outgoing Rep. Will Hurd says” at Salon.

Read “Jeff Sessions: Ex-attorney general to make Alabama Senate bid” at BBC.

Read “Beto O’Rourke Is Dropping Out of the Presidential Race” at New York Times.

Read as Axios considers “The racial wealth gap among 2020 Democrats: The country's racial wealth gap is underlying what we're seeing in the race for the White House — where a diverse field of Democratic candidates is trailing three white front-runners.”

Read California fires show it’s private enterprise, not government, that can’t get things right” at Los Angeles Times.

Read Los Angeles Times’ opinion piece: “Gun control may be the big winner in Virginia’s elections.”

Read Jambase’s report: “Rage Against The Machine To Reportedly Reunite In 2020.”

  • Read Consequence of Sound’s report: “Confirmed: Rage Against the Machine will reunite in 2020 The band will headline Coachella and play a trio of shows along the Mexican border.”

  • ReadProphets of Rage announce breakup in wake of Rage Against the Machine’s reunion” at Consequence of Sound.

  • Read “Remember When Rage Against the Machine Protested Arizona’s ‘Racist’ Law? In 2010, the band played L.A. for the first time in a decade to raise money to fight Arizona's controversial immigration law” at Spin.

  • Read “RZA Pitching Rage Against the Machine/Wu Tang Clan Co-Headlining Tour” at Metal Injection.

Read “Kanye West’s ‘Jesus Is King’ Soared To No. 1, But He Can’t Afford Another Album Like It” at Forbes.

  • Read “Kanye West, Heretic by Nature, Finds God” at New York Times.

ReadDavid Byrne on Finding Happiness Among Chaos, His ‘American Utopia’ Broadway Residency” at Rolling Stone.

Browse “A Guide to Will Oldham’s Various Personas” at Bandcamp.

ReadDave Matthews on Boyd Tinsley at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: “He should be around, if he’s up for it” at Jambands.com.

Read XL8R’s report: “Jim O’Rourke Locks in Four-CD Box Set, ‘To Magnetize Money and Catch A Roving Eye’.”

See “a Lego Chris Stapleton Slay a Dragon in ‘Second One to Know’ Video” at Rolling Stone.

Read “Selling Your Record Collection To Move On In Life The Focus Of New Documentary Based At Dusty Groove” at Block Club Chicago.

Browse Stereogum’s picks for “The 100 Best Albums Of The 2010s.”

Browse Consequence of Sound’s picks for the “Top 100 Albums of the 2010s.”

Browse the (rightly) unranked “Decade / 2010-19” at Aquarium Drunkard.

Read “A Long-Lost Lou Reed Tape With a Surprise: Andy Warhol Lyrics The cassette, discovered at the Andy Warhol Museum, finds the Velvet Underground musician performing snippets from his mentor’s 1975 book” at New York Times.

Read “‘The Wall’ Artist Gerald Scarfe on Selling His Pink Floyd Archive” at Rolling Stone.

ReadThurston Moore: ‘I was a nerd and a dork at school’" at The Guardian.

Read “A Legendary Collaboration Continues: Neil Young And Crazy Horse Reunite For 'Colorado' at NPR.

Watch/read “Why music has such profound effects on the brain” at PBS News Hour.

Read “How Melvins Invented Sludge: ‘Ugly Spawn of Punk and Metal” at Revolver.

Consider “why traditional Persian music should be known to the world” at The Conversation.

Read “In the Room at Nirvana’s ‘MTV Unplugged in New York’ at Rolling Stone.

ReadSmashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan announces new solo album” at NME.

Read How R.E.M.’s ‘Monster’ Signaled The End Of Alternative Rock” at Uproxx.

  • Watch “R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe on Trump’s ‘hate speech,’ corporate ownership of the press” at MSNBC.

Read “Morning Glory on the Vine’: See Joni Mitchell’s Rare Paintings and Handwritten Lyrics Legendary singer once gifted the book to close friends in 1971” at Rolling Stone.

WatchGrateful Dead’s Bob Weir, Phil Lesh More Discuss ‘American Beauty’ On Album’s 49th Anniversary” at Live For Live Music.

  • ReadJerry Garcia Alligator Guitar & Comic Book Collection Among Items Going Up For Auction” at Jam Base.

Read “Two Decades In, Matt Pond PA Has Become Collected Lakes” at Magnet.

Read “DJ Premier Has a Lot to Say About Gang Starr’s First New Album in 16 Years” at Rolling Stone.

Read “How streaming killed underground micro-labels The vital role once held by small record labels has all but vanished, writes Arachnidiscs Recordings founder Jakob Rehlinger” at Now Toronto.

ReadNeil Young Turned Down ‘Millions’ for ‘Harvest’ Tour “Everyone who played on Harvest is dead,” he said. “I don’t want to do that” at Rolling Stone.

Read “The Car Cassette Adapter Was an Unsung Hero at the Dawn of the Digital Age” at Vice.

Read “Sofar, So Bad A global startup aims to exploit the underground music scene” at The Baffler.

Read “Ant-Man 3’ Moving Forward With Director Peyton Reed” at Variety.

ReadLady Gaga to star in new Gucci murder movie from Ridley Scott The pop star will portray Patrizia Reggiani, who was convicted of arranging the assassination of her husband Maurizio Gucci” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Ozy Media Raises $35 Million to Expand in TV, Podcasts and Live Events” at Variety.

Read “Yes, please: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse 2 is coming in April of 2022” at AV Club.

Read “Martin Scorsese: I Said Marvel Movies Aren’t Cinema. Let Me Explain. Cinema is an art form that brings you the unexpected. In superhero movies, nothing is at risk, a director says” at New York Times.

Read “Pixar’s first trailer for Soul is full of jazz music and existential questions: Watch Starring Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey, with music provided by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “David Letterman Apologizes for Sexism During His Late-Night Days” at Vulture.

Read Book Riot’s piece: “Philip Roth Left $2 Million To His Hometown Library.”

Browse “Some of the Coolest Bookstores to Visit Around the World” at Bookish Buzz.

Read “America’s First Banned Book Really Ticked Off the Plymouth Puritans The author, known as the “Lord of Misrule,” had the audacity to erect a maypole in Massachusetts” at Atlas Obscura.

Read “9-Year-Old Kid Who Kept Getting In Trouble For Doodling In Class Gets A Job Decorating A Restaurant With His Drawings” at Bored Panda.

Read/Listen to “The Lasting Legacy Of Bob Ross And His Colorful World Of 'Happy Accidents'" at NPR.

Read “Banksy’s Former Dealer Is Releasing a Book of Never-Before-Seen Photos of the Street Artist in Action” at Artnet.

Read “Art Class Instead Of Jail: New Program Lets Young Offenders Take Free Art Classes Rather Than Spend Time in the Criminal System” at Open Culture.

Read “Octopuses Are Building Underwater ‘Cities’" at Discover.

Read/Listen to “How Deep Sleep May Help The Brain Clear Alzheimer's Toxins” at NPR.

Read “17 Retro Happy Meal Toys Are Returning to McDonald's Next Week McDonald's is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Happy Meal by bringing back some classics for a limited time” at Food and Wine.

Read “Triangle UFOs May Be a Secret Triangular Stealth Drone the Air Force is Hiding” at Mysterious Universe.

Read “Mysterious Green Ghost Crop Circles Appear in the UK” at Mysterious Universe.

Read AZ Central’s report: “Judge Dismisses Joe Arpaio’s lawsuit against CNN, Huffpost, Rolling Stone: Joe Arpaio has lost his battle against three national media outlets after he claimed they had published false information about him.”

Read “Whole Foods with ‘pub-style’ eatery opens today in downtown Tempe” at Mouth by Mouthwest.

Read “You can now stroll this Arizona mall with beer, wine or hard drinks in hand” at AZ Central.

Read “Arizona Prosecutor Commissions Report That Argues Against Leniency For Teens Who Commit Crimes. Report attempts to discredit decades of research on the adolescent mind” at The Appeal.

Read “Arpaio aides ignored order to halt sweeps” at Associated Press.

Read “Is Grand Avenue Changing? Locals ask if the quirky neighborhood will go the way of Roosevelt Row” at Phoenix New Times.

Read KJZZ’s report: “Anti-Semitic Swastika Posters Found On ASU Tempe Campus.”

Meet “Matthew and Kristina Frosch” of Peoria Artisan Brewery at Voyage Phoenix.

The Weekly Town Crier (09/13/19)

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All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about. 09/13/19 Edition.

Browse all the Weekly Town Crier posts so far.

Listen to all 52 episodes of The Global Elite Music Radio Podcast Supershow.

Listen to a mix of artists who have performed Habañero Collective house shows.

Browse the Musical Worldview posts.

Read “Jerry Falwell Jr. Shows How the Advance of Christendom Can Harm Christianity” by David French at National Review. Read my piece: “Americans: Stop Confusing Your Personal Cultural Values With Christianity.”

Read “Why Nobody in Hollywood Has Any Friends” at Hollywood Reporter.

R.I.P. Daniel Johnston.

R.I.P. Jarrid Wilson.

Read “Nodding To The Shadow” by Richard Rohr.

Read: “‘Simply Unacceptable’: 145 Executives Demand Senate Action on Gun Violence” at New York Times.

Read CNN’s report: “Publix joins retailers asking customers not to openly carry guns into its stores.”

Consider “The coming death of just about every rock legend” at The Week.

Read NME’s report: “The Rolling Stones are releasing a hefty deluxe ‘Let It Bleed’ 50th anniversary boxset.”

Listen as “R.E.M. Share Unreleased Song “Fascinating” to Support Hurricane Dorian Relief” at PItchfork.

ReadSammy Brue – The Folk Rock Kid” at Salt Lake Magazine.

Read about “Wallace and Ladmo's Musical Mastermind” at Phoenix New Times.

Read PBS’ report: “Trudeau says Canada will take refugees banned by U.S.'“

Read ArtNet’s report: “Artist David Hockney Is Moving to France Because It’s Illegal to Smoke Practically Anywhere in America.”

Listen as “Wynonna Judd & Cass McCombs Form Duo The Frothy Pit, Share New Song “The Child” at Stereogum.

Read “A Shared Place Wendell Berry’s lifelong dissent” at The Nation.

Read/Watch “Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey to talk all things The Office on new podcast Co-stars and real-life best friends will break down episodes and reveal behind-the-scenes trivia on Office Ladies” at Consequence of Sound.

Browse “The Music That Made Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy” at Pitchfork.

Read “Dan Brown's Desire Path: Our Arts & Music Columnist's new band is quite good” at VoidLive. Browse my post about One Eleven Heavy here.

Read Christianity Today’s report: “Is American Christianity on Its Last Legs? The Data Say Otherwise.”

Read “Sounds emanating love – the story of Arvo Pärt” at Estonian World.

See “The photographer shooting a 30-year timelapse of New York's skyline” at CNN.

See the “Evolution of Picasso’s Iconic Self-Portraits From Age 15 to 90” at mymodern.net.

Watch Chance the Rapper and Smino Perform “Eternal” on “Ellen” at Pitchfork.

WatchChance the Rapper Explain How Jesus Inspires Him to Serve His Community” at Relevant.

Read “Buttigieg Talks Being a Pro-Choice Christian” at Relevant.

ReadSun Ra Applies to NASA’s Art Program: When the Inventor of Space Jazz Applied to Make Space Art” at Open Culture.

Listen to “Jemar Tisby on Race and the American Church” at Fuller Seminary.

Read Paste’s Op-Ed: “Brewery Taprooms: Please Allow Half Pours. I’m Begging You.”

Read: “Rob Stoner :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview.”

Read “Let’s bring back the Sabbath as a radical act against ‘total work’” at Aeon.

Read “It's Soul Music Without The Sex': Fat Possum Records' Bruce Watson Goes Gospel” at NPR’s World Cafe.

Watch the new trailer for the Michael Hutchence documentary ‘Mystify’ at NME.

Read “I Was Always Trying To Get Better”: Sonny Rollins On A Life In Jazz” at Udiscovermusic.

Read PBS News’ Hour’s report: “Share of uninsured Americans rises for 1st time in a decade.”

Read “Robert Del Naja on the technological world of Massive Attack” at Dazed Digital.

Discover “Ancient Sufi Dance: Rumi's Whirling Dervishes” at Culture Trip.

Listen to Kim Gordon’s New Song “Air BnB” at Pitchfork.

Watch “this young musician shred “Voodoo Child” on a Korean gayageum” at AV Club.

Read jambands.com’s report: “moe. Announce First Studio Album in 5 Years.”

Read “Pastor and Writer Jarrid Wilson Has Died By Suicide” at Relevant.

Hear a new Matt Valentine song “Light Speed>” at Raven Sings The Blues.

Read “What I Learned From Aquarius Records, A Record Store For Big Ears” at NPR’s “All Songs Considered.”

Watch on MSNBC as Morning “Joe asks Mayor Pete about Jesus Christ being his lord and personal savior.”

Read Pitchfork’s piece: “Neko Case on Her New Album, Her House Burning Down, and Her Futuristic Feminism.”

Read: “Tennessee Senator calls higher education a 'liberal breeding ground,' calls to remove it all together.”

Hear Mary Oliver read “Her Beloved Poem “Wild Geese” at Brain Pickings.

Read “NRA Sues San Francisco Over ‘Terrorist Organization’ Designation’ at Rolling Stone.

Read “Live After Death: Inside Music’s Booming New Hologram Touring Industry” at Rolling Stone.

Read PopSugar’s report: “Schitt's Creek Season 5 Will Drop on Netflix in October.”

Read about Bonnie “Prince” Billy returning with his first new album of music in 8 years and watch the video for the new song “At The Back Of The Pit” at Stereogum.

Read: Jimmie Rodgers: “How an American country music pioneer entered African mythology” at Aeon.

Read: “Original Bauhaus lineup to reunite for first time in 13 years” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “They Don’t Think There Is Any America Left” What a researcher found when she interviewed black, white, and Latino working-class residents of a struggling coal town.“They Don’t Think There Is Any America Left” What a researcher found when she interviewed black, white, and Latino working-class residents of a struggling coal town” at Slate.

Hear “Hear U2 Discuss The Making of The Unforgettable Fire on This Day in 1987” at Paste Magazine.

Listen to a Spotify mix of my friend Justin McRoberts’ music.

Read Stereogum’s report: “Jack O’Connell To Star In Biopic About Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder.”

Read Rolling Stone’s report “We’re Only Beginning to See the Consequences of the Bush-Era Assault on Civil Liberties.”

Read Stereogum’s report: “Courtney Love Says She Turned Down $100,000 To Attend Opioid Heiress’ Fashion Show.”

Read/Watch David Hasselhoff Covers The Lords of The New Church’s “Open Your Eyes” for New Album Full of Post-Punk Covers” at Post-Punk.com.

Read “Bahamians Fleeing to U.S. Turned Away Following Sudden Policy Change” at Relevant.

Visit PopSugar’s piece: “If You Think I'm Gonna Spend All My Money on These Golden Girl Chia Pets, You're So Right.”

Read “Religious conservatives voice fears that a Democratic president will lead them to 'martyrdom'“ at Yahoo, then read my piece “Americans: Stop Confusing Your Personal Cultural Values With Christianity.”

Read/Watch “The culture of masculinity and its negative impacts on men” at PBS.

Read Sojourners piece: “Margaret Atwood On Christianity, ‘The Handmaids Tale,’ And What Faithful Activism Looks Like Today.”

StreamMiles Davis’ unreleased ’80s album Rubberband” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Love Is Not a Battlefield, and Neither Is Jeni’s: An Afternoon Eating Ice Cream With Hanif Abdurraqib” at The Ringer.

Read “Frances Bean Cobain Launches ‘Kurt Was Here’ Clothing Collection” at Rolling Stone.

ReadBob Dylan announces 2019 US tour dates The 28-date outing launches in October” at Consequence of Sound.

Read “Mark Twain on Racism, How Religion Is Used to Justify Injustice, and What His Mother Taught Him About Compassion” at Brain Pickings.

Read “Why ‘Wichita Lineman’ Contains the Greatest Musical Couplet Ever Written” at Lit Hub.

WatchSinéad O’Connor makes epic return on Ireland’s Late Late Show” at Consequence of Sound.

ReadTool’s Maynard James Keenan Addresses Justin Bieber Beef” at Stereogum.

Read an Op-Ed at Relevant: “A Christian Case for Prison Abolition.”

Uh oh! “White Claw announces nationwide shortage.”

Read Christianity Today’s report: “LifeWay’s Stores Are Closing. But Its Christian Books Will Be in More Stores Than Ever.”

Imagine being able to afford these turntables.

Read about the beef stews that’s been simmering for 45 years.

Stream or download a mix that I’ve been listening to in the car during Summer 2019.

Read Consequence of Sound’s report: “Vinyl sales on track to earn more than CDs for first time in over 30 years.”

Read Relevant’s piece: “Scientists: The Loch Ness Monster Might Just Be a Dumb Old Eel.”

Read Salon’s report that the “GOP poised to cancel caucuses and primaries in four states in spite of Trump challengers.”

Read Spin’s report that “Neil Young Announces New Book on the History of Pono.”

Read Christianity Today’s piece: “Meet the Dutch Christians Who Saved Their Jewish Neighbors from the Nazis.”

Read as Eric Trump teaches us how to do good journalism.

Hear Wilco “Debut Four New Originals in Norway” at Jambands.com.

Read Katelyn Beaty’s review of Chris Arnade’s book Dignity: “Proximity Over Punditry.”

Read the New York Times opinion piece: “That Assault Weapon Ban? It Really Did Work.”

Read Sojourners’ piece asking us to remember “When American Christians were Socialists.”

Read Huffpost’s piece: “Pete Buttigieg: GOP Will Face A ‘Reckoning’ As Christians Realize Its Hypocrisy.”

Hear “Three Songs From Pernice Brothers’ First Album In 9 Years Spread The Feeling” at stereogum.

Read “The Literary Canon Is Mostly White. Here’s an Alternative Latin American Reading List” at remezcla.

Read Consequence of Sound’s piece: “Judas Priest’s Rob Halford announces holiday album, unveils new song “Donner and Blitzen.”

Read Relevant’s piece: “So, These Glasses Will Physically ‘Nudge’ You If You Stop Paying Attention in Class.”

Here Is Sleater-Kinney's New Drummer” at Exclaim!

Read NPR’s report: “CDC Says Number Of Possible Cases Of Vaping-Related Lung Illness Has Doubled.”

Read Christianity Today’s report: “Baptist College Handbook Authorizes ‘Full Access’ to Students’ Social Media Accounts.”

Read Billboard’s piece: “New Grateful Dead Photography Book Offers Deep Dive Into Jerry Garcia's Life.”

Read about the four-story roastery Starbucks is opening in Chicago.

Read 12News’ report: “Cars with back seat alert systems could help prevent kids left in hot cars.”

Read “A ‘Sabbatical’ From Church? One woman's story of how a break from church has helped remind her of what church is really all about” at Relevant.

Watch Dave Matthews for a solo set at NPR’s Tiny Desk.

Read Aldi’s statement on Twitter: “At ALDI, the safety of our employees, customers and the community is our highest priority. Alongside many other businesses, we are asking that our customers refrain from openly displaying firearms in any of our stores, except for authorized law enforcement personnel.”

ReadChance the Rapper Postpones Tour Following Birth of Second Daughter” at Pitchfork.

Follow KJZZ’s series: “Tracing The Migrant Journey.”

Read “‘Someone’s Gotta Tell the Freakin’ Truth’: Jerry Falwell’s Aides Break Their Silence” at Politico.

Read and consider “Brotopia: breaking up the church’s boys club” at Mike Frost.net.

Read: “Survey: 45 Percent of College Students Don’t Think ‘In God We Trust’ Belongs on U.S. Money” at Relevant.

Read Jambands.com’s report: ““There’s A Reward: A Celebration of the Life & Music of Neal Casal” Will Feature Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Circles Around the Sun, Joe Russo, Dave Dreiwitz, Dave Schools and More.”