Today I learned that Van Halen have that rider in their contract about “a bowl of M&Ms with all the brown ones removed” in order to know at a glance if the promoter read the entire contract. And the reason they do THAT is because they once had a stage collapse because a promoter hadn’t read the proper way to set up all the specific technical stuff.
So if the band goes in the dressing room or catering and sees brown M&Ms, they know they have to double-check the stage setup for safety.
Ok so I’ve been playing for 18 years and i’m a string teacher. Can i just say how IMPORTANT it is for young kids to see a BLACK, MALE-PRESENTING PERSON playing, nae, SHREDDING on a violin? I’ve know maybe 5 black people who played stringed instruments throughout my schooling and teaching (predumably because i’m an upper middle class white woman). In districts where the population is predominantly black, funding is always low, so the instruments are crappy. Kids quit, or the program is dismantled. I’ve seen very few professional string players who are black.
Obviously there are black string players. We just don’t see them because they “don’t look like” string players.
This person is the real deal. They were clearly classically trained, and seems to have some fiddle training as well. How cool is that?
“all star” by smash mouth, but only using the sounds and beats on my synth (and also anthony “ten second songs” vincent on some other instruments) these titles are getting too long
How many people are gonna have this as either their new wallpaper/icon/lockscreen/etc.?
ABSOLUTELY NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON.
hey quick question why must humans experience suffering?
It strikes me that the lyrics to “Mr. Sandman” are inordinately concerned with ensuring that the resulting man of our dreams has only the customary complement of various anatomic features.
“Two lips”?
“A pair of eyes”?
As opposed to what?
“Two lips like roses and clover,” as opposed to “a gaping, lipless maw that I suppose smells like roses,” “two leathery black lips, dripping with blood,” or “six lips arranged such that the mouth looks like a three-leaf clover when fully opened.”
“A pair of eyes with a come-hither gleam,” as opposed to “one eye, hypnotic and unblinking, which will rob you of your free will upon first eye contact,” “two eyes that barely bother to look at me, and really don’t care if I’m around or not,” or “six hundred eyes nested in a body of pure flame, like the angels of old, that no mere mortal can resist.”
Honestly, I’m not sure they were specific enough about the sheer banality they’re hoping to receive here. They didn’t specify the number of arms and legs, for example, so they could totally end up with a centaur or a mermaid. And that line about “lots of wavy hair like Liberace,” which entirely fails to specify where that hair should be? Might as well be asking for a particularly well-groomed Sasquatch at that point.
Just saying. If you’re going to ask a supernatural being for a favor, be very specific, because it probably won’t make the same basic assumptions about desirability that you do.
To be fair, we can’t say for certain that the vocalist wouldn’t be perfectly happy with a well-coiffed Sasquatch.
when i was a breeze i blew four dozen trees every morning to strengthen my gales and now that i’m grown i just raze them with ease, so i’m seven times bigger than wales!
do y’all wanna here about some ridiculous celebrity drama my family is caught up in right now because I am LAUGHING
OKAY SO I’ve mentioned on here before that my uncle owns a business that caters for a bunch of concerts (see: me almost accidentally killing Will Smith, me accidentally getting a private concert from Leslie Odom Jr, my mom eating dinner with Ed Sheeran, my cousin trying to hook up with someone who tours with Panic at the Disco, my mom getting backstage when Woody Harrelson was denied access, etc) but anyway. It’s a really successful business! He knows a ton of random celebrities, and apparently now Netflix is interested in making a docu-drama about when he toured with the Grateful Dead a million years ago???? So that’s fun.
Anyway. Upcoming is Jay-Z’s big concert on the parkway- and for years my uncle always worked it. Because he’s like, a highly recommended company and he’s Right There, so it was just natural for him to work it. But then, last year, he decided my uncle was charging too much money.
Two Things:
My uncle FAMOUSLY undercharges people!! A couple years ago, Kevin Hart did a huge comedy special for HBO and my uncle worked it- when he got the bill, Kevin Hart literally told my uncle he wasn’t charging enough money, paid what he believed to be the correct amount of money, and then tipped an obscene amount of money, leaving my uncle with like 10k more than he was expecting, and that’s the story of the time my uncle Survived The Winter
AM I SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE JAY-Z CAN’T AFFORD IT??? He’s Jay-Z! Isn’t he a billionaire! Isn’t he married to Beyoncé! He can definitely afford to feed concert performers and workers! Like dude!
But ANYWAY, he like. Proposed a lower price??? And my uncle was like “that’s enough to get maybe half a hoagie from Wawa and one can of soda for everyone working” lmao that’s how bad the price cut Jay-Z wanted was. I’ve worked for my uncle before- usually backstage there’s like an Array of main course meals, snacks, desserts, and drinks (water/soda/alcohol). Just a shit-ton of food, most of it prepared by his own company. Plenty in case people wanted second helpings. But with this proposed price drop, the best they could budget was half a sandwich and a can of soda like!!! Come on.
So he refuses to do it, so Jay-Z just…either Creates his own catering team on the spot, or used whoever he uses when he goes on tour, idk, but they agreed to that budget and my uncle moves on with life.
Except EVERYONE who worked that concert ended up complaining about the catering! lmao
So NOW he’s trying to get my uncle back this year (the concert is like…this weekend, mind you) but my uncle isn’t answering any calls because he’s currently hanging out….with Ozzy Osbourne.
They’re old friends because my uncle toured with him Back In The Day, and during most of the tour Ozzy was terrified of my uncle, because, like, the drugs made him think he was trying to steal his family or something, but by the end of the tour he had practically fallen in love with him, and when he learned my uncle was leaving he reportedly demanded “You’re LEAVING me??? Why??? Did Sharon do this?!?!?!” and listen idk they’re still friends and Ozzy’s still in love with him. Ozzy’s got a concert in the city or surrounding area right now, so my uncle’s out working that.
Now, the other thing about my uncle- remember how I said he famously under charges? Well he also famously over pays his workers, and like half of them are assholes who take advantage of that, so despite the fact he runs a hugely successful business and should be rich and with money to spare, he’s actually just…a terrible business man who is always borrowing money off people. Specifically, my mother and grandmother. Like, he’ll get a job, and then be like ‘oh shit! 5000 dollars short!’ and they have to transfer money into his account (my mom works in banking and handles pretty much the whole families money) and wait until he gets paid for the job to get the money back, it’s ridiculous. But because of this, my mom is more involved with this company than she’d like to be.
Now my uncle has this business partner, except he’s not really a partner because he refuses to let my uncle pay him, and he’s this aging hippie who I’ve never seen not high, and he may or may not live in his car, but he’s also Super Fucking Rich, but he’s not a dealer so no one knows for sure where the money is coming from, my mom went to high school with him and says he’s literally always been like this- but anyway, he ALWAYS has my uncle’s phone for some reason. You wanna call your uncle and wish him a happy birthday? Nope, it’s Victor, fuck you. Literally ALWAYS has his phone unless my uncle takes it so he can call his mother or sister for money lmao. But so that means…if the Hippie Friend needs to get in touch with my uncle….he has no way of doing that. So hippie friend, armed with my uncles Only Phone and access to his email, is getting a barrage of messages from Jay-Z’s people trying to hire him by??? fucking tomorrow??? to cater a weekend long event??? and the Aging Hippie is like ‘maybe his sister can get a hold of him!’ so he calls my mom- with my uncle’s phone- to tell her she needs to get in contact with my uncle- who does not have a phone on him right now- because Jay-Z wants to pay him money finally- ‘how will I be able to tell him that Victor’ – ‘well you can just leave a voicemail he checks those a lot’ – ‘you are using his phone Victor’ – ‘well we can hang up so you can call him’ – ‘VICTOR’-
so basically my uncle’s blowing off Jay-Z to flirt with Ozzy Osbourne, and I think that’s rather iconic of him
AZHSJSSK UPDATE:
Jay-Z just went with his own people like last year and the food is SO BAD- reportedly stale sandwiches with expired ingredients and brownies that are so rock hard they’re impossible to eat safely- and we know this because the STAGE HANDS STRAIGHT UP CALLED MY UNCLE!! WHO FINALLY HAS HIS PHONE BACK!! Like the people who handle the stage and lights and sound and are used to his catering literally called him to complain, to beg him to come Fix This, and he’s like ‘this is LITERALLY not my job??’
So now they’re demanding to just. Order food like from a pizza place or something and they want Jay-Z to reimburse them for that- but Jay-Z doesn’t want to reimburse them if they order edible food….except stage hands are literally in a Union and legally, if they turn the stage dark, no rehearsals or show setup is allowed to happen- So straight up if Jay-Z doesn’t just buy these dudes pizza they’re threatning to darken the stage so nothing can happen- the show starts Tomorrow
So now because my uncle is off getting lit with Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Jay-Z’s workers are threatening to strike on the EVE of his big music festival…I’m screaming
Steel Phoenix Studios 