Daily Archives: February 4, 2021

Photo: Fernando Ortiz

Sludge-caked guitars, brutally slow tempos and unsettling premonitions of imminent doom rule the day onThe Event backed with Abuse, the latest from Nashville experi-metalers My Wall. Out Friday via drummer Carlos Ortizs No Sabes label, the 45-RPM 12-inch follows Aprils longformMine, which consisted of five trudging, gnarly tracks inspired by Sunn O))) and the mighty Electric Wizard among other nihilist noise-mongers, splayed across 46 minutes.

My Wall serves up a smaller dose of doom this time around, yet sounds even more troubled and feral than before. I want people to hear it and say That was bleak and fucked up, Ortiz tells theScene.To mark the release, the trio will perform a virtual gig from The 5 Spot Friday at 8 p.m. Below, hear the new tracks and put in an order via Bandcamp, and check out my talk with Ortiz, bassist Vaughn Walters and guitarist-vocalist Frank Hand.

Where are each of you from?

Vaughn Walters, bass: West Virginia.

Carlos Ortiz, drums: South Nashville.

Frank Hand, vocals and guitar: Born in Birmingham, but went to high school here in Nashville.

How did you discover the type of music My Wall plays?

FH: I was really into grunge growing up Nirvana, Soundgarden, Melvins, all that Northwest stuff. Bands like Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana, thered always be a song that was heavier than the others like the Pumpkins The Aeroplane Flies High, which is super heavy and slow basically a doom song. But when Id get on Pandora and type the titles of those songs in, it would just give me more 90s alternative stuff. No! I want wholebandslike thatThen, in college, I got turned onto Electric WizardsDopethroneand was like Whoa, OK,thisis what I was looking for.

VW: Give me something like Smashing Pumpkins, but more satanic. [laughs]

Is there a difference between doom and sludge, to you?

FH: I think doom is more broad, and sludge is generally dirtier closer to hardcore punk.

Carlos, you grew up here in Nashville. What was your musical upbringing like?

CO: My dad was always into rock music, 105.9 The Rock and stuff. The first shop I ever went to was Phonoluxe. Thirteen was when I really started getting into music that was heavier, faster, weirder collecting CDs and trying to learn every instrument I could. I just wanted to keep pushing my limits, my musicianship, as much as possible. But I didnt start taking drums seriously till way later, when I started my first band Negra and met Frank.

FH: I was in a band called Poodle when Carlos was in Negra. He and I were talking at a show and were like Where are all the doom bands in this town? We saw an opportunity, so we took it.

CO: I also had this band Magmar that was sort of an offshoot of Negra a bass-and-drums duo, Lightning Bolt-type thing. That was a different sort of heaviness, but my approach was the same letting as much out as I could, just at a different pace. With this band, I just want to be as aggressive and as heavy as I can, naturally.

How do you get yourself in the proper headspace to play music that is so intense?

FH: We all focus on mindfulness in our lives in some way.

VW: Where mindfulness meets nihilism.

FH: We all really like this type of music, [even] if some people find it depressing or whatever.

What do your families think? Too loud?

VW: Theres basically nobody who doesnt think its too loud. [laughs]

FH: Carlos mom got really concerned this one time while I was recording vocals in his shed.

CO: Yeah, she was grilling outside and he was going at it in there.

FH: It was one of these new ones, Abuse I think, and she thought something was really wrong, that someone was in real danger. She came in to check, and I could see it in her face. I had to talk her down in Spanish. Todo bien grabando. [Its OK, we were recording.]

Have you been happy with the response My Wall has received in Nashville up to now?

FH: From the people who give it a chance, yeah. Weve played a lot of shows at Bettys to four people. I love Bettys. Weve played there more than anywhere else, and really shaken that place.

Outside the band, whats some music thats helped get you through the last year?

VW: Sharon Van Ettens first record,Because I Was In Love.

CO: This label called Analog Africa, out of Hamburg, Germany. Theyve rediscoveredall this psychedelic cumbia, funk-soul stuff from Ghana and different sections of Africa. Sick label.

FH: I just picked up the Emma Swift record,Blonde on the Tracks. Listened to it earlier tonight and probably will again after this. Its perfect.

Read the original here:

My Wall: The Cream Interview - Nashville Scene

Is it true that it doesn't matter who wins, that our government has an agenda so firmly set in stone that it will tick on no matter which party is in power? (CBC)

This column is an opinion on the N.L. electionby William Ping, who lives in St. John's. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

When the Newfoundland and Labrador election wasannounced, I asked everyone I knew what were their main concerns for the upcoming race.

I heard a variety of responses;people were concerned with taxes or the vaccine rollout, or even the province's over-reliance on oil and gas. But the one sentiment I heard from everybody was, "It doesn't matter who wins, everything will be the same anyway."

I'll admit, I can feel that way too.

Would the turnover to a new regime create an impact we could actually feel? My first instinct would be to say "no," and then point toour national neighbours to the south and say, "Now that's where the results of an election matter."

Butsurely this must be wrongheaded, short-sighted thinking.

Is it true that it doesn't matter who wins, that our government has an agenda so firmly set in stone that it will tick on no matter which party is in power?

I think back to the election of Dwight Ball in 2015 and the calamitous fallout when the province's budget was announced in 2016. None of us can forget the protests following that budget, with angry public confrontations and posters ordering Ball's resignation taped to poles throughout the city.

While the blame fell squarely on the shoulders of Ball, then finance minister Cathy Bennett and the Liberal party, was there really anything else they could do?

The economy they inherited already had its drastic pitfalls and their onslaught of taxes was perhaps the only way out of it. That said, there was an unfair advantage given to Newfoundland's upper class: the Bay-geoisie, if you will.

But if Paul Davis and the PC Party had been re-elected in 2015, would it have not been his face on the posters when the eventual budget was announced?Would we have not blamed him for the same things?

And what of the epic boondoggle that is Muskrat Falls? The disastrous project remains to be the root of many problems in the province, and while the Danny Williams-led government can be made to blame, it must be noted that it is unlikely that this project would have unfolded exactly the same way under the leadership of another party.

After all, every premier since Frank Moores in 1972 had attempted to start a Lower Churchill project and none had succeeded until Williams. If another governing body had been the one to establish the project, perhaps things could have unfolded differently.

Conjecture like this is admittedly somewhat pointless. Not only is there little value in fixating on what could have been but also we must consider that sometimes defining moments during a premiership are not related to campaign promises or the issues we are thinking about on voting day.

Sometimes the lastingeffects of government are related to decisions and problems that none of us could have seen coming.

Certainly two years ago, none of us would've said, "I think Dwight Ball will handle the upcoming global pandemic well."

It is entirely possible that if the government were in someone else's hands that our response to the dangers of the novel coronavirus could have gone more poorly. The province's well-handled response to COVID, greatly aided by the isolation of our province formerly something that rarely worked in our favour can likely be just as credited to the efforts of Dr. Janice Fitzgerald and John Haggie, perhaps even more so thanBall.

The efficiently managed COVIDresponse is certainly one major boon for Furey and the Liberal party in this election, although the spectre of the Moya Greene report looms large over this election.

Even when defending the as-yet non-existent report, Furey makes its unknown nature sound scary, saying in turn that there is no "frightful" budget ahead and that there is "no bogeyman" hiding in the pages of Greene's report.

Of course, we have heard this song and dance before, when Ball was on the campaign trail promising no job cuts as well as future tax cuts. Furey's opposition leader,Ches Crosbie, is leaning on the "secret" nature of the report, with his campaign website alleging that the report contains plans to have "deep cuts" to services like "ferries and hospitals" while simultaneously alleging that the Liberals have "no plan."

While I agree with Crosbie's general suspicion of the Greene report, I think his attack lines fall flat, as we know them to be both contradictory and opportunistic. Crosbie's own suggested plans include tax cuts for big businesses like Loblaws, the same company that has already besmirched their local employees of an extra two dollars an hour. Indeed, it would appear that no matter which party wins, the Bay-geoisie will continue to profit.

So does the election matter? Would the candidates affect our lives if elected?

Despite the nihilism, of course the answer is yes, elections matter, and yes, different governing bodies will lead to different outcomes for the province.

While there would likely be no immediately felt change at the moment a regime changes, the change can be felt over time.

When Muskrat Falls comes online and power bills spike, we will have finally felt what it meant to have Williams as premier, albeit not until several years after he left office.What are we, the average citizens, to do about it?

Perhaps the way forward is for citizens to raise issues and push the candidates towardideas and goals that we desire.

Take for example, Furey's recent suggestion that school washrooms should provide tampons to whoever may need the product. This is a common-sense initiative, and although it does carry the potential to be divisive, when prodded on the matter Crosbie said he"probably" could support it. An underwhelming support of the issue, yes, but at the very least the issue is now part of the conversation.

It is up to the citizens to push and direct the conversations that the party leaders are having, and while our future seems to be one of precarity and hollow campaign promises, we must engage in democracy.

For despite all the campaign attack lines, there is one thing we know to be true: the province is in dire financial straits and big changes will have to be made. Changes that will likely please few.

No matter who winner is, the province loses.

Money, that is.

Indeed, that's all there ever is.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

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Does the election even matter? Here are my reasons to silence your inner nihilist - CBC.ca

The institutions are functioning. This phrase has been repeated, with or without a question mark, in the United States for over four years and, since the end of the military dictatorship, it has not been used as much in Brazil.

Its hard to believe the institutions are working when we wake up to news that a rogue QAnon spokesperson manages to hold the Republican leadership hostage in the House in Washington, and that a distraught extremist has won the leadership of the powerful Constitution and Justice Commission in Brasilia.

The functioning of the institutions does not depend solely on the independence of the three powers. In the American case, more than two centuries of unbroken constitutional rule have been crucial in stemming the lawless wickedness of Donald Trump. He had neither the time nor the competence to undermine the entire institutional apparatus of the federal government. But he has tried and achieved successes that will mark the legislature and the bench, in addition to Joe Bidens tenure.

The funeral ceremony at the Capitol Roundabout on Wednesday (3), when MPs and Senators paid tribute to policeman Brian Sicknick, murdered during Trumps invasion of the House, spoke of the contrast to the violence and chaos that reigned supreme in the same room. , January 6th. A sign that the institutions are functioning?

The presence of Republican leader Mitch McConnell at the roundabout does not eclipse the fact that he has spent the past two weeks maneuvering to obstruct the Senate committee scrutiny that Democrats have rightfully won at the polls. The nihilism of the party is still personified by the leadership of McConnell, who, despite hating Trump, decided the former president was a useful idiot.

The tenuous Democratic control of the Senate 50 seats plus Vice President Kamala Harris tie-breaker vote at a time when the Republican Party does not decide whether it wants to be the bunch of lunatics and renegades that instigated the Capitol breach , makes it more urgent. question: does the Senate work?

In the mythology of American exceptionalism, a clich coined in the 19th century describes the Senate as the greatest deliberative body in the world. No one demoralized this pride more than McConnell himself by declaring in 2010 that his only mission was to make Barack Obama president for one term.

The composition of the Senate is often criticized as a guarantee of minority power, a modern Republican electoral project since the years of Richard Nixon. Since every state, regardless of its population, has the same right to send two senators to Washington, the 50 Democratic senators today represent 41 million more Americans than the 50 Republican senators.

Tuesday (9) we will have another opportunity to ask ourselves whether the Senate serves American democracy or the power projects of its members. Unfortunately, there is no suspense in sight. It will be impossible to rally Republican voices to condemn Donald Trump in the second and unprecedented impeachment trial.

If in the first trial a year ago hypocrisy was barely disguised as absolving the presidents criminality, this time the senators who insisted Biden stole the election are more difficult.

How can a large deliberative body go unpunished for a president who launched the terrorist invasion, which barely claimed the lives of its members?

LINK PRESENT: Did you like this column? The subscriber can release five free accesses from any link per day. Just click on the blue F below.

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Trump's impunity is another sign of the degradation of the US Senate 02/03/2021 Lcia Guimares KSU | The Sentinel Newspaper - KSU | The Sentinel...

There was a lot to unpack in the deluge of news this week about GameStop, the stock market, Reddit groups, trading apps and hedge funds. If it all seemed like too much, we can't blame you for tuning out.While we don't know just how the so-called Reddit rebellion will change the future of investing, it's safe to say Wall Street will never be the same.Here are five key things you need to know about Wall Street's wild week.1. IT'S A DAVID VS GOLIATH STORYAt the heart of the GameStop saga is a struggle between two drastically different groups of investors: A band of amateur day traders versus a bunch of Wall Street pros known as short-sellers.The Davids, in this case, are the mostly young day traders who congregate on the Reddit page WallStreetBets aka the Reddit army, or the Reddit mob, depending on your point of view. "They have seen the rich get extremely rich by taking advantage of cheap money, and they want to get their piece as well," said Richard Fisher, the former president of the Dallas Federal Reserve.Their mission has two main goals: Drive up stock prices to score profits for themselves, and at the same time, force the establishment investors to abandon bearish bets against struggling companies such as GameStop, AMC, Macy's and several others.The Goliaths are mostly hedge funds who are shorting those stocks in other words, big-shot investors placing bets that those shares will crash. They are also the Wall Street elite upon whom millions of investors rely to make smart decisions to boost their portfolios. But working in an industry associated with the house-of-cards system that created the 2008 financial crisis, these giants are not exactly beloved. Posts on the WallStreetBets subreddit openly relish watching short-sellers lose billions of dollars.2. HOW THE GAMESTOP RALLY STARTEDThe WallStreetBets community, which now boasts some 5 million followers, has been around since 2012. Describing itself as if "4chan found a Bloomberg terminal," the forum's giddy nihilism, inscrutable language and acerbic memes have fueled a war on a perceived corrupted mainstream.The group noticed that GameStop, the struggling brick-and-mortar video game retailer, was heavily shorted by hedge funds. (The consensus on Wall Street seemed to be that GameStop would soon go the way of Blockbuster.)Reddit investors took a different view from the short-sellers, however, and began buying up shares of the company that they believed were undervalued.3. WHY IT BLEW UPAlthough it had been building for a while, the rally really took off on Monday, Jan. 11, when GameStop announced three new directors would join its board, including Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen. Investors liked Cohen brought digital experience to the table, something GameStop desperately needs, as video games go digital and malls continue their unrelenting slump into irrelevance.GameStop's stock rose a little less than 13% that day. But this wasn't a normal, momentary stock surge. Two days later, it rose 57%. Then 27%...and so on. The Reddit crowd also drove huge jumps in AMC, BlackBerry, Macy's and other stocks that were heavily shorted.As of Friday, GameStop's stock was up a jaw-dropping 1,587% since the beginning of January.For perspective: One year ago, a single share cost about $4. It's now about $150.The surge ultimately had little or nothing to do with GameStop's strength as a business. As investors following the Reddit group bought a ton of GameStop options, short-sellers were forced to buy shares to cover their losing bids thus boosting the share price even further. This is what's known as a short squeeze.Millions of people, including Elon Musk, chimed in.It quickly became "a populist uprising armed with no-fee brokerage accounts instead of pitchforks," as CNN's Christine Romans put it. And the only ones crying foul were the "sophisticated" Wall Street players."The irony is delicious," Romans writes. "An online flash mob beats Wall Street insiders at their own game." 4. THE ROBINHOOD BACKLASHOn Tuesday, GameStop was the most traded stock on the planet. Then Robinhood crashed the party.Thursday morning, citing extreme volatility, the free trading app favored by millions of amateur investors suspended trading of the red-hot Reddit darlings. That left the WSB crowd with just two options: hold or sell. Meanwhile institutional investors, who don't need Robinhood to execute trades, were able to carry on.GameStop shares lost more than 44% of their value on Thursday after surging nearly 40% at one point earlier in the day.The backlash was swift. Those who'd been minting money on their GameStop stock positions were, to put it mildly, furious. The consensus on social media seemed to be that Robinhood, which built its brand on "democratizing" investing, appeared to be caving to pressure from powerful institutions on Wall Street.Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the decision "unacceptable." One Reddit user swiftly filed a class-action lawsuit, claiming Robinhood rigged the market against its customers.Robinhood relented Thursday night, saying it would resume "limited" buys on the stocks the next day. It also tapped $1 billion in cash from its private investors, signaling it was short on cash.On Friday morning, the GameStop euphoria was back. The stock opened up roughly 100%.5. THE BUBBLE WILL BURST...EVENTUALLYThere's an argument to be made that GameStop was undervalued, but hardly anyone believes that GameStop, BlackBerry, Macy's, AMC or any of the other companies that the Reddit crowd is promoting have the fundamentals to support such sky-high prices. At some point, reality will set in.But that's the problem with bubbles get out too early, and you lose at a chance to cash out on top. So GameStop keeps surging ... until it doesn't."Someone is going to get hurt," said Fisher, the former Dallas Fed president. "As happens with crowd behavior, you end up having people come in at the end at a very high price and getting burned."The Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency that regulates Wall Street, said it will "closely review" actions by trading platforms to restrict transactions.

There was a lot to unpack in the deluge of news this week about GameStop, the stock market, Reddit groups, trading apps and hedge funds. If it all seemed like too much, we can't blame you for tuning out.

While we don't know just how the so-called Reddit rebellion will change the future of investing, it's safe to say Wall Street will never be the same.

Here are five key things you need to know about Wall Street's wild week.

At the heart of the GameStop saga is a struggle between two drastically different groups of investors: A band of amateur day traders versus a bunch of Wall Street pros known as short-sellers.

The Davids, in this case, are the mostly young day traders who congregate on the Reddit page WallStreetBets aka the Reddit army, or the Reddit mob, depending on your point of view. "They have seen the rich get extremely rich by taking advantage of cheap money, and they want to get their piece as well," said Richard Fisher, the former president of the Dallas Federal Reserve.

Their mission has two main goals: Drive up stock prices to score profits for themselves, and at the same time, force the establishment investors to abandon bearish bets against struggling companies such as GameStop, AMC, Macy's and several others.

The Goliaths are mostly hedge funds who are shorting those stocks in other words, big-shot investors placing bets that those shares will crash. They are also the Wall Street elite upon whom millions of investors rely to make smart decisions to boost their portfolios. But working in an industry associated with the house-of-cards system that created the 2008 financial crisis, these giants are not exactly beloved. Posts on the WallStreetBets subreddit openly relish watching short-sellers lose billions of dollars.

The WallStreetBets community, which now boasts some 5 million followers, has been around since 2012. Describing itself as if "4chan found a Bloomberg terminal," the forum's giddy nihilism, inscrutable language and acerbic memes have fueled a war on a perceived corrupted mainstream.

The group noticed that GameStop, the struggling brick-and-mortar video game retailer, was heavily shorted by hedge funds. (The consensus on Wall Street seemed to be that GameStop would soon go the way of Blockbuster.)

Reddit investors took a different view from the short-sellers, however, and began buying up shares of the company that they believed were undervalued.

Although it had been building for a while, the rally really took off on Monday, Jan. 11, when GameStop announced three new directors would join its board, including Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen. Investors liked Cohen brought digital experience to the table, something GameStop desperately needs, as video games go digital and malls continue their unrelenting slump into irrelevance.

GameStop's stock rose a little less than 13% that day. But this wasn't a normal, momentary stock surge. Two days later, it rose 57%. Then 27%...and so on. The Reddit crowd also drove huge jumps in AMC, BlackBerry, Macy's and other stocks that were heavily shorted.

As of Friday, GameStop's stock was up a jaw-dropping 1,587% since the beginning of January.

For perspective: One year ago, a single share cost about $4. It's now about $150.

The surge ultimately had little or nothing to do with GameStop's strength as a business. As investors following the Reddit group bought a ton of GameStop options, short-sellers were forced to buy shares to cover their losing bids thus boosting the share price even further. This is what's known as a short squeeze.

Millions of people, including Elon Musk, chimed in.

It quickly became "a populist uprising armed with no-fee brokerage accounts instead of pitchforks," as CNN's Christine Romans put it. And the only ones crying foul were the "sophisticated" Wall Street players.

"The irony is delicious," Romans writes. "An online flash mob beats Wall Street insiders at their own game."

On Tuesday, GameStop was the most traded stock on the planet. Then Robinhood crashed the party.

Thursday morning, citing extreme volatility, the free trading app favored by millions of amateur investors suspended trading of the red-hot Reddit darlings. That left the WSB crowd with just two options: hold or sell. Meanwhile institutional investors, who don't need Robinhood to execute trades, were able to carry on.

GameStop shares lost more than 44% of their value on Thursday after surging nearly 40% at one point earlier in the day.

The backlash was swift. Those who'd been minting money on their GameStop stock positions were, to put it mildly, furious. The consensus on social media seemed to be that Robinhood, which built its brand on "democratizing" investing, appeared to be caving to pressure from powerful institutions on Wall Street.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the decision "unacceptable." One Reddit user swiftly filed a class-action lawsuit, claiming Robinhood rigged the market against its customers.

Robinhood relented Thursday night, saying it would resume "limited" buys on the stocks the next day. It also tapped $1 billion in cash from its private investors, signaling it was short on cash.

On Friday morning, the GameStop euphoria was back. The stock opened up roughly 100%.

There's an argument to be made that GameStop was undervalued, but hardly anyone believes that GameStop, BlackBerry, Macy's, AMC or any of the other companies that the Reddit crowd is promoting have the fundamentals to support such sky-high prices. At some point, reality will set in.

But that's the problem with bubbles get out too early, and you lose at a chance to cash out on top. So GameStop keeps surging ... until it doesn't.

"Someone is going to get hurt," said Fisher, the former Dallas Fed president. "As happens with crowd behavior, you end up having people come in at the end at a very high price and getting burned."

The Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency that regulates Wall Street, said it will "closely review" actions by trading platforms to restrict transactions.

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Confused about this GameStop saga? Here are the 5 things you need to know - WAPT Jackson