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They say celebrities die twice: once when they stop breathing, and a second time when their name becomes a winning answer on Pointless. It is a mark of the gameshows ubiquity. First appearing on BBC Two in 2009, Pointless reverse-engineered the Family Fortunes formula, polling the public in 100-second bursts to see how many examples of a subject they could provide (People who married into the royal family etc). Pairs of contestants then compete to provide the least obvious answers, like greedy pigs sniffing out obscure knowledge truffles, in exchange for 250 being added to the jackpot for each pointless one. A loving tribute, then, to how poorly we can recall types of tree, or remember the periodic table.

Presided over affably by the comedian and part-time opera singer Alexander Armstrong with Richard brother of one of Suede Osman impressively avoiding haughty condescension as the know-it-all sidekick, Pointless appeals to our inner pedant, amplifying quiz-based dopamine surges by cherishing rarer (and, by extension, better) knowledge. In an age when we spend hours Googling and then immediately forgetting things, the Pointless jackpot incentivises the retention of irrelevant info. Half-remembering Scorsese films, European capitals and Things Rick Astley Is Never Gonna Do suddenly became worth if not big, then respectable, bucks.

However, the formats original final round one all-or-nothing question, requiring a perfectly pointless zero left most contestants stumped, with the rolling jackpot gaining another 1,000. But when you won, you won: father and son David and Jonathan Hammond Williams took home the biggest pot 24,750 in March 2013; a handsome reward for namechecking the Enrique Iglesias banger Maybe.

Three months after this triumph, however, the show tweaked its final round. Previously, contestants would select a category (Jazz; Golf; Mars etc), getting one question in return (Name: Miles Davis records; Holes at Augusta; Rocks etc). The categories now, however, yield three questions, contestants picking and choosing which to answer. Victories became more frequent but less impressive. Less likely to keep rolling over, the prize money now meanders around the 3,000 mark, and the regularity with which perfect zeroes are scored only reminds us that theres a lot the British public doesnt know.

Contrastingly, the finale of tea-time ITV rival The Chase remains barrelling anarchy, where contestants spend two minutes answering as many questions as possible, before a professional (usually) demolishes their total in seek-and-destroy fashion. Unlike Pointless, challengers rarely leave with the cash, but when they do it feels epic. In making victory an inevitability, Pointless has diluted its dramatic satisfaction, leaving behind a tensionless tea party: 45 leisurely minutes of anodyne pleasantries, a participatory prize and a thanks for coming.

Watching a pair of contestants halve a grand instead of having a pop at immortality over on ITV seems, well

Continued here:
Less than zero: how Pointlesss tweaked finale made fools of us all - The Guardian

The days leading up to the US Memorial Day weekend is usually filled with hype for superstar releases, but in the age of COVID-19, those records were conspicuous by their absence. The good news is that it gives other acts a chance to be heard.

Like everyone else, the Tea Party is hunkered down, waiting for the coronavirus to go away. Since theyre all in isolation, why not cover that Joy Division song? It was a multi-time zone with Jeff Martin on the east coast of Australia, Stuart Chatwood in Vancouver, and Jeff Burrows in Windsor. Not only did they make the song work, but they also shot a video using iPhone footage from all three places. Technology, right?

This past Monday with the third anniversary of the death of Soundgardens Chris Cornell. As a way of remembering Chris, Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless teamed up with Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron to cover this song that appeared on the King Animal album in 2012. Like so many other songs these days, this was recorded with each of the players in their own quarantined environment.

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Another lockdown song. Having already had a hit with the studio version of RWLYD, Monowhales decided to rework the song in an acoustic -ish version with each member in their own self-isolated space. The result is something a little darker and more somber version of the original.

After a little while off the gridtheir last album was New World Alphabet in 2017USS returns with a new single. Theres more where this came from, but were not sure when well get it. By the way, it took Ash and the Human Kebab more than three years to get this song into a form they liked.

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Yes, he started as a rapper, but MGK has moved to a more pop-punk space with this album, thanks in part to Blink-182s Travis Barker who produced this album. Guests included Yungblud, blackbear, and Young Thug. Well find out more about this new director when the album is released on July 17.

2020 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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5 songs you must hear this week: 25 May 2020 - Globalnews.ca

If things had gone according to plan, Tea Party fans in Canada would have flocked to the Saints and Sinners Tour, which would also feature The Headstones, Ian Thornley, and Moist. Yeah, thats not gonna happen.

When the tour was announced on Facebook Live earlier this year (I was the host for that), I spent some time with an extremely jetlagged Jeff Martinhes just landed from Australiawho told me that there was new music coming from the band later in 2020.

This, however, is not the music he was talking about. Let me explain.

According to Stuart Chatwood, the idea of doing some classic covers began last October when the band performed a MusicHeals.ca charity event in Vancouver. Morrissey had been in town the night before and knowing that the organizer of the event was a huge Mozzer fan, the Tea Party put together an acoustic set featuring his music. The crowd reaction was amazing.

People loved the covers so much that when Stuarts wife suggested that they issue some of these songs and donate the proceeds to charity. The new Tea Party EP was put on hold so some of these songs could be recorded.

Fast-forward to March as the world was being shut down by the coronavirus. Jeff Martin called Stuart from Australia. Hows your isolation coming along, my friend?

Whoa. That immediately led to the Joy Division song. I quote from Stuart whos still in his basement lockdown in Vancouver.

Alarm bells went off. What a great song to hear during these times and what a great song for us to cover. Most of the Joy Division catalogue has idiosyncratic intrinsic qualities to it that make covering the material impossible as the spark and the unique context of late 1970s England would be lacking.

I grew up in Lancashire, England, in the 1970s not far from Macclesfield outside Manchester so I had an infinity and had followed the Factory records story including some heroes of mine like Peter Hook, Bernard Summer, and Tony Wilson as soon as I discovered the existence of the movement. For us, it was Perry Thompson, a former Toronto resident and our Grade 10 art teacher in Windsor, who had brought the knowledge of lesser-known obscure post-punk outfits to our attention.

At the time I would travel home the UK every summer so I knew of Blue Monday, but I didnt know the back story and the greatness and tragedy of Joy Division, whose singer Ian Curtis ended his tormented life on the eve of their first tour of the Americas. I was fortunate enough to hang out with Peter Hook backstage at a few of the shows we shared together at the Big Day Out in Australia. He is full of stories and is a gregarious friendly individual.

One story is how the track Isolation was semi-finished and somewhat thrown together towards the end of the Closer sessions. As a listener, you can hear this when listened comparatively to the other tracks. I felt this gave us an opportunity to approach the cover.

Its a bit difficult with Jeff Martin living in a jungle in Australia, Jeff Burrows in Windsor, and myself being in Vancouver but it all came together quickly.

Jeff Martin sent a guitar and a vocal to Jeff Burrows and myself and the drums were cut in Windsor at SLR Studios with Marty Bak, the hardest working guy in show-business in the area. Jeff Martin and I added our parts. Jeff Martin mixed it and I did a quick mastering and then we set it loose.

It was a blast to rediscover our roots. The song was fun and full of energy. In high school we were post-punk disciples. I followed Paul Weller and The Jam into a mod moment, Jeff Burrows followed Talk Talk and Jeff Martin followed Robert Smith. We met in the middle with Ian McCulloch and his band Echo and the Bunnymen followed closely by the Psychedelic Furs and the Clash.

Director Bill Blair, a friend of the bands from Australia who specializes in epic drone footage hounded us to help out. We shared the fact that wed be doing everything for free while raising money forConquer COVID-19and the Canadian Mental Health Association and he was onboard. [Note that this past Monday (May 18) was the 40th anniversary of the death of JD singer Ian Curtis. Depressed, ravaged by drugs and guilt, he hanged himself in his kitchen, just hours before the band was supposed to leave on their first North American tour.]

The result is this amazing video featuring people in Isolation with their only accompaniment, their phone. It features footage from Sydney, Byron Bay, Berlin, Vancouver, Windsor amongst other locations. Were extremely happy to share it with you now.

Look for a second track to drop any given Sunday from nowhint, hint.

Continue reading here:
Heres the world premiere of Tea Partys cover of Joy Divisions Isolation - A Journal of Musical Things

During the coronavirus crisis, many far-right Trumpistas and Tea Party Republicans have managed to politicize mask wearing equating face masks with liberals, progressives, Democrats and Never Trump conservatives. Not wearing a mask, in some Trumpian and Tea Party circles, has come to be viewed as a defiance of liberalism and an assertion of MAGA values. But one Republican who ran into problems when he refused to wear a mask wasIllinois State Rep. Darren Bailey, who was thrown out of a legislative session on Wednesday, May 20.

The session was held at the Bank of Springfield Center, which has become a temporary home for the Illinois House of Representatives. The House has voted to make mask wearing mandatory during legislative sessions, but when Bailey showed up on May 20, he refused to wear one asserting, "I will not, thank you."

The House, according to theChicago Tribune, voted on a motion to throw Bailey out of the session, and it passed 81-27. After that, Bailey was escorted out.

Bailey has been vehemently critical of the stay-at-home order that Democratic Gov. Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued in response to the coronavirus pandemic which, according to researchers atJohns Hopkins University in Baltimore, has killed more than 328,600 people worldwide and over 93,400 in the United States (as of early Thursday morning, May 21). And Pritzker hasn't been shy about calling Bailey out for his antics.

Pritzker asserted, "The representative has shown a callous disregard for life, callous disregard for people's health. You just (ask) a doctor (to) tell you why people wear masks in the first place. It's to protect others. So clearly, the representative has no interest in protecting others."

The rest is here:
Republican lawmaker booted from legislative session for refusing to wear a mask - Salon

InYourArea Community

As the Covid-19 pandemic ensues, Marie Curie has moved their famous fundraising event online to address the devastating effect the virus has had on the charity sector.

Submitted by Karen Levesconte

In an effort to raise vital funding amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Marie Curie, the terminal illness care charity, has moved their 'Blooming Great Tea Party' online to counteract the calamitous effect that the virus has had on the charity's income.

The charity is calling for participants to host their own 'Blooming Virtual Tea Party' from home to help support frontline nurses and to stay connected with loved ones during the crisis.

Marie Curie cares for people with terminal illnesses, as well as people with Covid-19, and is helping protect the NHS by keeping patients away from hospitals.

Despite its efforts, Marie Curie had to cancel its Great Daffodil Appeal in March and close all of its charity shops.

The charity's celebrity ambassador, Mel Giedroyc, is encouraging everyone to download Zoom, Skype or Houseparty to connect with loved ones and raise the vital funding that Marie Curie requires.

Cake lover and tea party extraordinaire, Mel Giedroyc said: You can bake it, fake it, brew it or stew it.

"Marie Curie needs to raise a massive 2.5 million each week to care for the tens of thousands of people who need its nursing and hospice care".

Paula Hanford, Marie Curies fundraising manager for the North West of England maintains that all of the funding that is raised by the virtual tea party will be utilised to assist people at the end of their lives.

Paula said: We rely on the support of the amazing public to ensure our nurses can keep caring for people.

"While the coronavirus crisis has badly impacted our fundraising events, we hope by going virtual well be able to raise the vital funds we need to keep supporting people in our communities across the North West.

If you would like to register as a Blooming Virtual Tea Party host, visit the website here.

Marie Curie's Liverpool hospice is located on Speke Road, Woolton.

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Marie Curie's Blooming Great Tea Party moved online - In Your Area