Category Archives: Hedonism

Theres a new novel by Pat Barker and, once again, she reflects on the cost of war to those already regarded as expendable. Reading The Women of Troy, I recalled interviewing her when her Second World War novel Noonday was published, and asking her about a particularly striking image, in which bedraggled troops returning to London are briefly glimpsed as though they might be survivors from Boudiccas army. From the point of view of the common soldier, she told me, one cockup is the same as another.

Sometimes, the past seems to come closer. Recently, I went to talk to the distinguished academic Dame Gillian Beer, who has written a short piece of memoir called Stations Without Signs, much of it focused on her experiences as an evacuee. We talked in the garden and, as Spitfires from the local war museum droned overhead, giving rich folk a taste of danger, she remembered two young brothers whose mother had ordered them to return to London to be with her. They didnt want to and, indeed, absconded back to the countryside. Once again, they were summoned back to the city where, months later, they were both killed by a bomb. I told Beer about my father, who had also taken to life outside the capital and been allowed to remain in Burnley for the duration. He never saw his mother again; she died while he was away. He was seven. But he was still alive. Evacuation from war, to state the obvious, works.

As does isolation. Until I left the Irish countryside for a spell of work in the UK a couple of weeks ago, I hadnt seen my closest friends for what felt like years, but we had all remained well. Reunited, we went a bit over the top. It seemed as though there were no treat too frivolous to mark the start of happier times, any reckless expense justified by the reassurance that we hadnt spent any money enjoying ourselves for ages. Staying with two beloved pals, I was touched that they had turned their spare room into a luxurious hotel suite, complete with lotions, potions and even a miniature of gin.

They had also furnished me with a fluffy robe, the full significance of which only became apparent when the visits greatest indulgence arrived an inflatable hot tub, hired for the week. Being in middle age, we are all on various health regimes to counter our crocked knees and rising cholesterol, but during the visit we threw caution to the winds and ate red meat and drank coffee after 6pm. We agreed that we cant keep up this kind of hedonism, but it was lovely while it lasted. One day, I met another friend, who is of a more ascetic cast of mind. When I regaled him with tales of the spa, he was horrified. My God, he cried, youve got a sex pond! And that, I fear, has pretty much ruined hot tubs for me, and now for you.

Returning home, I was bemused to find that little had changed. Specifically, a garden bench was still in the dining room, whither it had been brought to provide extra seating during a recent family lunch another reunion. Keeping my tone as non-judgmental as possible, I remarked to my cohabitant that I thought he might have found time to return it to the outside in my absence. He countered that it was impossible, because the cat had taken to sleeping on it and he couldnt bear to upset her.

What could I say? Our pets have kept us on the straight and narrow, sanity-wise, during lockdown and I suppose now its payback time. And she does look very comfortable. Well get used to it.

Alex Clark writes for the Observer and the Guardian

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A war evacuee shares her recollections... and reveals how well it works - The Guardian

The position of Opinions Editor is something I have been working up to over the summer by writing opinion articles on various niche interests of mine.

My favorite opinion articles I wrote were about fanart of the television show Hannibal that was hung in the U.S. Capitol and putting people of color back into the narrative of aesthetics. Both topics are things I am obsessed with and can talk about for odd lengths of time.

Over the summer I also worked on writing for Charleston City Council meetings. This felt like a step up from the Student Government articles I had been doing the previous year. My start at The Daily Eastern News as a reporter was, however, impeded by COVID-19 as I was stuck reporting on zoom meetings.

As for my major, my focus is a psychology major with a minor in journalism. What drew me to psychology was my interest in analysis and research. I also wanted to do something related to science but had to do something limited with math since my skills with it are not so great.

Currently, I am just gathering various kinds of experience to see what I would like to do after graduation. If I decide to go into journalism, then I would stop my education at the bachelors level.

However, if I were to pursue a job in psychology my options of consideration are to continue to a masters degree in clinical psychology here at Eastern. I would then continue to a doctorate program somewhere and go into research of abnormal psychology or child psychology.

The future is open though and climate change is real, so nothing is permanent.

I feel that my work at the Daily Eastern News would translate well into the writing required in the field of psychology, which was a major incentive to join. Both routes I can choose after graduation I still have developed skills along the way.

My hobbies include reading, and my favorite book right now is The Secret History. It is my favorite for its appeal to the dark academia aesthetic and themes of hedonism.

My favorite genre of movies is horror, specifically psychological horror which comes as no surprise at my major. I also love to play video games, one of which is Dead by Daylight. I do enjoy analysis videos on YouTube that I watch on a variety of topics like philosophy and politics.

As I go into my sophomore year, I am excited to be Opinions Editor for The News! I plan to feature a diverse range of opinions as I recruit a variety of staff to work along with us.

Helena Edwards is a sophomore journalism major. They can be reached at 581-2812 or at [emailprotected]

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Introduction to the 2021/2022 Opinions Editor The Daily Eastern News - The Daily Eastern News

The Shambino festival begins on Thursday and tickets are still available for the scaled down version of Shambala.

The four-day festival has been organised by the team behind Shambala and it is being held at the same Northamptonshire site where the latter would normally take place.

Due to the ongoing impact of the coronavirus, organisers again decided not to hold a regular Shambala festival this year, instead opting to hold Shambino for those who are keen to experience the event on a smaller scale.

Festival Co-founder Sid Sharma said: We were cautious when initially releasing tickets for Shambino and held back some while we worked through the implications of the Stage 4 announcement.

We now feel comfortable releasing a handful more tickets - though Shambino remains a third of the size of Shambala, so this really is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get all the magic of Shambala, distilled in an intimate, end of Summer knees up for a few thousand lucky people.

Designed as a dinky distillation of all things Shambala, Shambino has a capacity of 5,000.

It will still feature more than 100 acts performing across 10 stages with festival goers able to enjoy the likes of Steam Down, Snazzback, Wheel Up, HENGE, K.O.G and Maja Nela, Beth Rowley and Martha Tilston, The Nextmen, 2 Bad Mice, The Freestylers, DJ Dazee and Nicky Blackmarket.

True to Shambala form, the four-day programme is bursting with workshops, kids activities, debates and interactive, immersive nonsense, from old favourites like Power Ballad Yoga and the legendary Carnival Parade.

Festival-goers can expect venues and areas including Chai Wallahs, The Enchanted Woods, Sankofa's, Playtopia, The Carnival, The Roots Yard, Barrio, The Healing Meadow, Police Rave Unit and Dance Workshops as well as takeovers from the likes of Swingamajig, Rebel Soul, The Social Club, The Phantom Laundry and Compass Presents.

Shambino will also host The Shambolympics, with chaotically creative and delightfully daft games from sock wrestling to drag relay racing, interpretive dance racing and disco dodgeball all culminating in The Sunday Finals, where one team will be crowned Shamolympic gold medal champions.

Shambala has always stayed true to its principle of purposeful hedonism over its long history.

This means throwing the best party, with as little impact on the environment and inspiring people to make a difference.

The event will be meat and fish free and festival goers will need to bring their own water bottle and mug.

Boutique camping is available too for those who want to treat this as their staycation of the summer. From fancy tipis - kitted out with plush trimmings to pre-pitched salvaged tents from sustainable camping gear gurus Camplight.

Shambino takes place from Thursday, August 26 to Sunday, August 29.

Tier 3 tickets for adults cost 149 and a 40 Community Indemnity Pledge.

Concessions are available for different age groups.

For more information, visit https://shambino.org/before-you-book

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Shambala team return with mini festival Shambino this week - Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Fish dart across mosaic floors and into the ruined villas, where holidaying Romans once drank, plotted and flirted in the party town of Baiae.

Italy, home of the ancient Roman Empire, can show you a new dimension about what it is like to go diving back in time with the Underwater Archaeological Park of Baia near Naples in Southern Italy.

Statues that once decorated luxury abodes in this beachside resort are now playgrounds for crabs off the coast of Italy, where divers can explore ruins of palaces and domed bathhouses built for emperors.

Baia, in the Phlegrean Fields, in the province of Naples, at the time of the ancient Romans became a thriving health and holiday location, near the important commercial port of Portus Julius and the base of the military fleet of Capo Miseno.

Due to the eruption of the Vesuvius Volcano, Pompeii was buried in ashes, and Herculaneum was swallowed by mud. However, it is a different seismic phenomenon that brought Baia underwater: bradyseism. Unlike earthquakes which move mostly horizontally, bradyseism makes the ground move upward or downward.

Baiae was once a popular coastal resort famous for its idyllic location and therapeutic mineral springs. Some described it as a den of licentiousness and vice" and a "vortex of luxury". Baiaes hedonism was as notorious as that of Las Vegas today. Seven emperors, including Augustus and Nero, had villas there, as did Julius Caesar and his rival Marc Antoine.

But Baiae wasnt just a spa retreat. It was a party town, a place for Romans to bathe and banquet, flirt, and frolic. In one of his many elegies to his lover and muse Cynthia, even the poet Sextus Propertius, no great prude, wrote despairingly in 25BC:But you must quickly leave degenerate Baiae;these beaches bring divorce to many,beaches for long the enemy of decent girls.A curse on Baiaes water, loves disgrace!bbc.com/travel

To protect all this, in 2002 the Archaeological Marine Park of Baia was created with an incomparable historical and cultural value. There are 7 underwater sites, ranging from 5 to a maximum of 13 meters of depth.

There are paved roads flanked with buildings, magnificent villas owned by the elite Roman families, dozens of marble statues, and bath complexes. Most of the buildings have collapsed walls but the different rooms are discernable.

Visitors can view the crumbled structures and amazingly preserved statuary of the city through glass-bottomed boats, snorkeling, or even scuba dives which allow people to actually swim amongst the copious ruins. While the city is no longer a resort, its waters still hold wonders.

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Discover Baiae: Imperial Capital of Debauchery at The Bottom of The Sea - Al-Bawaba

In The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis wrote of a fundamental quandary facing modern Westerners: We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. How, he asks, can we expect people to exhibit virtues which they have never been taught? How can we require honor from men without chests?

The 14th-century romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written before the great deconstruction of Christian virtues in the modern mind. But the film adaptation, The Green Knight, could not be a more post-Christian, more 2021 storyfor it is a film about honor full of men without chests, distributed to an audience that has been raised to disdain the search for greatness.

One might question whether in our society so full of quislings and tyrants it is really honor and chivalry that need debunking. But pushing that question aside, even to deconstruct honor meaningfully, a narrative must understand it. The Green Knight does not. Part moody fantasy and part impenetrable A24 art film,The Green Knight evokes honor culture only aesthetically, and thus it fails even at deconstruction, for it is impossible to effectively deconstruct a culture you do not comprehend.

The story begins on a snowy Christmas day, when the Green Knight (Ralph Ineson) bursts into King Arthurs court. The knight bids some warrior to strike him down, and sinceand this is a notable choiceArthur (Sean Harris) is too frail and aged to take up the challenge, the kings young nephew Gawain (Dev Patel) responds in his stead.

Remember, croaks the haggard legend, Arthur, it is only a game.

There is but one condition for this contest: The challenger must be willing to take the same blow he deals the Green Knight one year later, at the knights chapel in the forest. Gawain, not the worlds greatest long-term thinker, lops off the immortal knights head, thereby signing his own death warrant. Months later, having procrastinated in drinking and whoring, he begins an episodic and dark journey to meet his doom.

Despite its neglect of the interior worlds of its characters, The Green Knight excels at exterior worldbuilding. Its cinematography beautifully establishes a strange and hostile outside world glimpsed through the windows of claustrophobic dwellings. Gawain's Britain is at once unmapped and very possibly unmappable. Giants and talking animals and haunted houses abound. Around every corner is something elemental and hostile. Nature is the antagonist, and man is the pest that entropy and time will exterminate.

This is dramatically and effectively evoked on screenan impressive feat given the films slim budget of $15 million. And this middle section, as nave squire Gawain stumbles from one perilous side quest to another, is the best part of the story. He lands in a version of the legend of St. Winifred, where he must help the headless lady to retrieve her skull. He meets a talking fox and encounters alarming scavengers on a smoking battlefield. The film threatens to be fun. But The Green Knights lack of interior worldbuilding and its grim tone drag it back into ponderous emptiness.

The films central problem is that it is about a questtraditionally an archetypal series of moral tests illustrating the search for wisdombut Gawains experiences never seem to amount to much of anything. Indeed, whether the quest itself is worth pursuing is very much up for debate. "Why do you need greatness? Isn't goodness enough?" asks Gawains prostitute mistress, Essel (Alicia Vikander). A wise question, but one posed by a woman whose own characterboth in personality and in virtueis not clear. What does goodness mean to Essel? Presumably were supposed to fill in the blanks with our own ideas of goodness and greatnessand assume that the two are somehow inherently opposed. To seek greatness is inherently to disdain goodness.

This strikes me as a very modern, secular, andtrope-wisefemale point of view that carries with it several unexamined assumptions. Its not that this is a bad plot device, but it must be executed well. A a woman asking the hero to abandon his ambitious ways and commit to humble civilian life is a common trope in films critiquing honor culture.

The greatest treatments of the theme in American film are in classic Hollywood Westerns, which offer a valuable contrast to post-Christian myths like The Green Knight. (Indeed, in a sense the Western is the American Arthurian myth. Robert B. Pippin, paraphrasing a German commentator, writes, the Greek had their Iliad; the Jews the Hebrews Bible; the British the Arthurian legends. The Americans have John Ford.)

The classic Western reveres the honorable man in the wilderness (while also being far more critical of the archetype than is commonly assumedsee The Gunfighter, The Big Country, The Searchers, etc.) It sees in him qualities of integrity and character, not simply a performative martyr complex.

This ethos could not clash more dramatically with modern mores. Many of the major on-screen stories of the last five years feature a beat where an ambitious male hero is humbled by a woman. Hamilton, The Greatest Showman, The Last Jedi, Minari, Enola Holmes, Loki, On the Rocks, Knives Out. I like and even love some of those stories, but the inherent badness of male ambition has become so axiomatic in modern storytelling that some films dont even bother to explain why it is that this ambition is bad. In The Last Jedi, for instance, acts of derring-do by men are condemned while similar actions by women are lauded. The film never offers a plausible philosophy to distinguish between these actions. Similarly, The Green Knight shirks its responsibility to define terms.

John Fords Westerns offer an excellent contrast, clearly defining the terms and the values of the honor cultures they examine. In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Ford portrays a town ruled by a cruel tyrannous outlaw who can only be ousted by a dangerous man cut from the same clothspurred by an eastern lawyer bearing the virtues of truth and courage. Competence and virtue are both necessary to achieve peace, though the conclusion also hints that civilization and the post-honor world can only be brought about by betraying the honor code. In this complex web of characters, Ford intends us to love both the civilized man and the honorable, uncivilized gunfighter, for each has his virtues.

In many Westerns, men motivated by martial virtues of honor, heroismthe values required in a violent state of naturemust be domesticated by women, who value commitment, politessethe virtues of civilization. This is essentially the story of The Green Knight (sort oftheres also plenty of symbolism in the rather muddy film that presents femininity as wild uncivilized Paganism). But while Ford sees the dark side of honor culture, he also recognized that there is something admirable in acts of great courage and willpower, in the courageous self-definition of a brave man in the wild.

Green Knight director David Lowery doesnt offer us anything like this nuanced reflection on honor and civilization. For him, pursuit of honor is simply hedonism. There is no conception that with achievement of honor could come self-respect or even salvation. Gawain speaks of honor, but what does honor mean to him? Keeping a promise? Yes, this, at least. But dimly we intuit that there must be more to the virtuous life than simply winding one's weary way to the doorstep of the grim reaper. Gawain does not start asking these questions until late in his plodding way.

The films treatment of Christianity is important in this calculus. Christ is born are the first words of the film, spoken in a brothel, a nest of hedonism and thoughtless lust. For Lowery, Christianity is simply shorthand for all that is safe and civilized and decadent. In an interview, Lowery said that Arthur is the only character to reference Christianity, and analogizes this to rot at the heart of that court. While Gawain is not an articulate hero, his conception of honorthe thing driving him out to finish his questis surely shaped by the Christian milieu of his youth. His desire to be a legend like his uncle is inspired by hearing of the legend of his uncle, a Christian hero.

In paralleling Christianity and honor, the film is onto something. Christians are able to conceive of honor as the search for integrity, a quality which ultimately finds its only reward in Gods approval. All I want is to enter my house justified, says the protagonist in one of my favorite Westerns, Sam Peckinpahs Ride the High Country. This line is meant to explain why the man pursues honor even against his own physical self-interest. And it echoes Christs parable of the humble tax collector, who, Christ says, went down to his house justified for he had pleased God. All I want, then, is to enter my Fathers house justified. If there is no God, then such honor-seeking really is mere vainglory. We should rather live practical, compromised lives that dont take extraordinary risks for nonexistent spiritual rewards.

It is no surprise that the post-Christian Green Knight cannot conceive of spiritual rewards and does not think of honor-seeking in terms of integrity. Very modern, the film can see greatness only through the lens of oppression. Gawains striving for legendary status must really be a brutal, selfish process in which he gives little heed to those he leaves behind. His lust and vitality and ambition are the forces which propel him through the film.

To be fair, there is half of a good critique here. Using smuggled Christian virtues, Gawain comes to understand that the consequence of a hedonistic, nihilistic society (represented in the film by red, the color of lust) is death and horror (represented by green, the color of the plants that will one day blanket your bones). Abuse and unchecked desire lead to deaththe wages of sin. The Green Knight, therefore, accurately diagnoses the problem (using Christian virtues that it does not name), but gropes blindly for a solution. Seeking something older, the ancient virtuesit can only find paganism, blood sacrifice, oblivion. Oneness with an uncaring natural world instead of hard-bought reconciliation with a loving god.

A Christian vision of humanity is profoundly different. Man is not simply an animal, subject to the same decay, violence and entropy as a fox or a tree. Man has an eternal soul and thus is part of a rich narrative in which, by exhibiting moral virtues, even at great cost, he can rise above the great mass of humanity living and dying mindlessly.

And in this great narrative, a man might even dare to live to be a legend. In The Green Knight, true honor is bought only through utter self-effacement. This is not to dismiss the possibility of an honorable death, but to acknowledge that embracing oblivion through death is not a virtue in a Christian honor culture. Death, after all, is not oblivion. It is not the final word. We are, at the end of the day, more than just our red passions or our green decay.

Kneeling before the knights axe, weak-kneed Gawain asks, desperately, Is this all there is? Christmas bells ring dimly in the background as if in answer.

But all we hear is the Green Knight, a kindly executioner, rumbling in response, "What else ought there be?"

Read more:

'The Green Knight' Has No Chest - by Hannah Long - The Dispatch

For more than 40 years, Caf Del Mar has done sunsets better than anyone else in Ibiza and, some would say, better than anyone else in the Mediterranean. Its blissed-out, occasionally bland house music has endured while so much of the island has changed over the decades, Ibiza has variously been a destination for escapism, hedonism and now increasingly narcissism, but Caf Del Mars winning formula has remained the same.

Even now in the era of Covid-19, the experience is broadly unaltered, with al fresco tables under billowing blue and white awnings, soothing music accompanying the extraordinary dusk. The difference now is that there simply isnt the scramble for tables during a visit in mid-July, I walked through the place an hour before sunset and was amazed to find it largely empty. I really thought itd be harder to get a table, said Ryan Mulligan, who was visiting with fiance Jade from Wigan while the Balearic Islands were on the green list. Its quite nice, really, kind of feels like we have it to ourselves.

A 10-minute walk away, the islands notorious West End was similarly subdued. There were a few occupied tables outside The Highlander bar, but it was far from the raucous, sometimes riotous Scottish atmosphere for which it has become famous.

While Ibizan tourism restarted, the owners here decided to keep an eye on the situation, to see how things evolved before committing to another reopening. We saw what happened last year as things unfolded and thought it wasnt very prudent to just open again at the first chance, then have to close again, Calvin Scoular, a 10-year veteran of the bar and island, told me. We want folk to trust us. We think its a bit naive to just pick a date and promise youll be back open. So, we decided to stay closed and see what was happening before we did it.

Crowds arriving to watch Euro 2020 matches helped get the place busy again, but with the islands nightclubs still closed, a nightlife curfew of 2am and dancing prohibited, Calvin was realistic about what might be possible for the rest of the season. Id say were hopeful, he explained, but you cant kid yourself on and think its going to go back to normal. Aside from the vaccines, to me its pretty similar to how it was last year when the cases rise, you have to be responsible.

The situation remains perilous. During my time on the island, there was another major wobble as the Balearics moved from the UKs green list to amber, with rumours that it was going to bypass that altogether and land on the dreaded red list.

This uncertainty affects even the largest operators on the island, including leisure behemoth, Palladium Hotel Group. The owners of the now ubiquitous Ushuaa brand have aggressively expanded over the last decade, buying up huge chunks of the best real estate around Ibizas popular Playa den Bossa close to the airport. Nonetheless, it has felt the pinch over the last 18 months.

In the short term, the pandemic has forced us to be very flexible, nimble and reactive, said the groups chief sales officer Sergio Zertuche, explaining that the launch of three new hotels was delayed by the pandemic. [We] closed all hotels at the start of the pandemic last year and we were able to take advantage of government support schemes in each source market to support staff. We had to respond quickly to a whole raft of government guidelines, often with little or no prior notice. Last summer, we had to concentrate our efforts on fewer hotels and bring forward the end-of-season dates in areas where there just was not a sustained level of visitors.

He was a little more bullish than others about the rest of the 2021 season, but still sounded understandably cautious: All our hotels have good occupancy levels, but as we have seen over the past year, travel restrictions can be put in place at very short notice and they can be difficult to predict, he told me. Provided that vaccination rates continue to grow across Europe, were confident that well be able to welcome guests throughout the season.

What now feel like familiar Covid protocols have been brought in across the Palladium portfolio, with increased digitisation, enhanced cleaning measures and more flexible booking policies. In the end, however, even hotels as slick and ordinarily sought-after as the Ushuaa Beach Hotel are at the vagaries of various nations traffic light systems and individual Covid responses.

On the last night of my visit, I ate in the hotels excellent Montauk Steakhouse, though for the first 20 minutes or so I had it to myself. Social distancing certainly wasnt an issue. Eventually some other revellers filtered in and with no clubs to go to, they seemed happy to spend their money on a lavish steak dinner instead. In the quiet restaurant, one couple from Wales Facetimed people at home to let them know, loudly, how great it was to be away before their ribeyes arrived, then took out their phones to snap pictures of the meal, as though everything was totallynormal.

Jet2Holidays offers three nights at Ushuaa Ibiza Beach Hotel in September 2021 from 651 per person, based on two travelling, room only. Price includes return flights from London Stansted, departing 1 September.

More informationUK arrivals to the Balearic Islands must present proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test.

Spain (including the Balearic Islands) is on the DfT amber list.

Balearic Islands tourist office

Link:

Ibiza clubs might be closed, but the Balearic Island is adapting to another pandemic summer - iNews

TheRolling Stonesfirst played inPrague 31 years ago, on August 18, 1990, at Strahov Stadium.

It was a special moment for Czechoslovaks, who could finally see live on stage stars they had only read about and whose music they knew from bootleg cassettes.

The date is no accident: it almost coincides with the twenty-second anniversary of the Soviet invasion of 1968. And everybody is in disbelief, stuck in that electric moment that always precedes the unimaginable.

When suddenly the dense darkness is pierced by a cone of light. Silence breaks down into a roar. And like a mirage personified, Keith Richards, in blue jeans and a pink jacket, begins to caress his guitar strings. The first notes of Start Me Up set the stadium on fire, tearing the years of silence and oppression to shreds with the wild power of the London sound.

Then he appears, the baronet, the fury, the icon, in a red sprint coat, it is Mick Jagger, who bolts from one side of the stage to the other, shakes and introduces himself shouting: Dobr veer, Praha!.

For days a slogan had been circulating in the city: Tanks are rolling out, the Stones are rolling in. A slogan possessing the strength of a furious chorus, of a successful liberation.

With the sound of the Soviet tank tracks gone, now it is the electric guitars that do the vibrating: music, hedonism and transgression. And the irreverent tongue of the Stones, symbol of a cheeky lifestyle, dominated the Old Town for days.

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VIDEO: The Rolling Stones Played in Prague 31 Years Ago Today - Prague Morning

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Illustration: Iris Gottlieb

For more than 20 years, Insane Clown Posse has convened an annual festival known as much for its mayhem as its music, and in just a few days, this years Gathering of the Juggalos will kick off its 2021 edition in Ohio. ICPs songs are hyperviolent and profane; their stage show features grotesque clown makeup and blasting the audience with their favorite drink, Faygo soda. Theyve even filed (and lost) lawsuits against the government to stop the FBI from designating their fandom said Juggalos as a loosely organized gang.

Insane Clown Posse: Down With the Clown, Fuck the World, Miracles.

Musically, mainstream critics have rejected them: The Guardian has called ICP a magnet for ignorance and Blender once ranked them No. 1 on its list of the 50 Worst Artists in Music History. But Switched on Pop host Nate Sloan became fascinated with Insane Clown Posse after watching the 2011 documentary American Juggalo, a film that helped him realize theres more to the group and its fans than he previously thought.

For the second episode of our summer-festival series, we dig into the sound of Insane Clown Posse to ask, Is their music really as bad and offensive as all the critics say, and whats the public missing that ICPs fans are hearing? To find out, Nate Sloan asked someone who knows firsthand: journalist Nathan Rabin, the author of two books on ICP and a Juggalo convert.

Heres an excerpt from that interview, with the full audio below.

You became interested in ICP and Juggalo culture as a disinterested reporter, or maybe even as a slightly biased reporter. Now, youve come to embrace this band from ironically to unironically. What broke you down and turned you from a dismissive observer into an enthusiastic participant?When I started writing about Insane Clown Posse, the scope of the book and the title of it was going to be Confessions of a Pop-Culture Masochist. The idea was that I would be this hipster, with-it guy from The Onion going to cast a snarky judgment on all of these weirdos. I went in being like, Maybe this will be scary. Maybe these people will beat me. There was a threatening, angry aura about it. And instead, it was the exact opposite.

These people were having the best time of their lives, and theyd rather be at the Gathering than anywhere else in the world. People are very accepting, and theres also theres a sentimentality to ICP that people dont necessarily expect. The theme of this years Gathering is Luv rises from the ash like the butterfly.

Not what you would expect from the most hated band in the world. A lot of people judge Juggalos without really knowing anything about them. I was one of those people and then I had to experience it myself in order to have a richer understanding of what the whole scene is about.

Lets talk a little bit about the music of ICP. Is there one song that has pride of place at the Gathering of the Juggalos, that captures the spirit of the event and that fans look forward to every year? And if so, why does it resonate with people?The music of Insane Clown Posse was designed to be performed live. Its not necessarily headphones music. The idea is you sing these songs out loud with your friends, and you celebrate being there, you celebrate being together, you celebrate being outsiders. And if I had to say one song, its probably Down With the Clown.

Violent J [one-half of ICP, alongside Shaggy 2 Dope] has a great line: The colder it is on the outside, the warmer it is on the inside, and it is never warmer than it is at the Gathering of the Juggalos Down With the Clown.

Why did Faygo soda become a staple of Juggalo culture, and why does this soft drink mean so much to Juggalos?Part of the whole aesthetic of ICP and the Gathering is to romanticize being broke and to romanticize being poor and to romanticize just barely getting by. The whole embrace of Faygo is fetishizing things that are cheap. [Plus, Faygo and the ICP are both from Detroit.] Its much cheaper than Coca-Cola. Its much cheaper than Pepsi. Its got crazy colors and flavors like Redpop and Moon Mist and all of these different things. I think thats also part of the Gathering, that youre getting to experience your childhood again but only the good parts and at a place where being an outsider is cool and accepted and not something to be ashamed of.

On your most recent trip to the Gathering, you wrote, The Gathering of the Juggalos is still a cesspool of depravity, of nakedness and open drug use and gleeful profanity, but it has become a very nice cesspool of depravity. It is defined as much by its sincerity as its hedonism. Its a rare open space for men, scraggly, bearded, manly men, to express love and appreciation for other men without fear of being judged soft or weak. I love that description. But it also makes me wonder who can be part of this community. Is it just men? Is it just white people? Which seem to be the majority of the fans. When Tila Tequila performed in 2010, she was harassed and physically abused by fans. Juggalos have even been classified as a loosely organized gang by the FBI.I think people go to the Gathering expecting something crazy and hostile, and they find something much different and much more accepting. I mean, part of me is just sort of bracing myself and hoping for the best, but I also have been very happy to see that the vibe has changed considerably over the last 11 years or so.

I think Juggalos have grown up. I think ICP has grown up. Theyre less about shock and transgression and more about being responsible fathers of the subculture and to these people who look to them for a community. I cant imagine a Tila Tequila incident happening today.

I think this is also a space where there are a lot of badass female Juggalos who confidently assert their space. And I feel like it definitely has become less leering, less pervy. More family oriented and a lot more diverse than people necessarily think. There are a lot more, uh, Juggalos of color.

There are not a lot of disabled Juggalos, which is telling because Gathering is great, but its not terribly wheelchair accessible. And there are also a lot more queer Juggalos than people might expect. And also, Juggalos are not gang members. Despite what the FBI might say, theyve been very misunderstood.

What do you think other music festivals could learn from the Gathering of the Juggalos?For a band that are very good businessmen, theres kind of a nicely anti-capitalist streak going through pretty much everything Insane Clown Posse does, including the Gathering of the Juggalos.

Listening notes for the top shows, from Vultures critic Nick Quah.

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The Beauty and the Horror of Insane Clown Posses Gathering of the Juggalos - Vulture

Every Wednesday morning, Artnet News brings youThe Gray Market. The column decodes important stories from the previous weekand offers unparalleled insight into the inner workings of the art industry in the process.

This week, testing the line between talking about it, and being about it

Corralling the publics attention for anything is murderously hard in the neverending monsoon of distraction that is life in the social-media-and-disinformation era, and the challenge only increases in the art world, where nearly everything is subjective. In short: godspeed you, art press pros. And to your many clients and in-house employers: I understand why youre alchemizing increasingly elaborate preview events, video walkthroughs, and other spectacles to try to focus attention on your program. When the competition cranks the volume, the obvious response is to amp up your own output.

Amid this sound clash, its all the more noteworthy when two New York art dealers with significant solo track records announce their new joint gallery with not much more than a passing remark and a shrug. That was how the art world at large learned about Egan and Rosen just four days before the premiere of its inaugural exhibition on July 29. The Upper East Side project is an alliance between Mike Egan, the founder of the bleeding-edge gallery Ramiken, and Meredith Rosen, whose namesake space has toggled between tech-forward world-building, conceptual provocations, and of-the-moment themes expressed in traditional media.

Its plausible that even some plugged-in readers are only learning that Egan and Rosen exists right now because its partners tossed most of the conventional How to Launch a Gallery in 2021 playbook into the gutter. The founders decided to open in whats traditionally seen as a sweat-soaked dead zone on the art-world calendar.Then they messaged it via a single email with no follow-up (or at least none that Im aware of).

The email included one small embedded image, a few line items of basic info (location, hours of operation, etc.), and a two-sentence description of their debut exhibition, Otto Dix / Andra Ursua. The show pairs a selection of Dixs wartime sketches (one of them anticipating his revered Der Krieg cycle) and portraits of Weimar Germanys trauma-haunted hedonism with drawings from Ursuas Man From the Internet series, adapted from online images of a decaying victim of Russias war against Chechnya in the 1990s.

Andra Ursua, Man From the Internet 73 (2016). Courtesy of Egan and Rosen, New York.

The gallerys website hosts even less content. In comparison, the 12 posts on its Instagram as of publication time feel like acts of lurid exhibitionism, which is even more ironic given that several are accompanied by either no caption at all or just the hashtag #ottodix. The account had 277 followers when I filed this piece, meaning 276 other than me. If I didnt know better, I would have bet the gallery would have attracted hundreds, if not thousands, more virtual fans based purely on the presence of Ursua, whose most recentshow of ethereal sculptures with Ramiken was one of the most universally admired New York exhibitions of 2019. (The artist signed with David Zwirner last summer.)

(If youre wondering, Ramikens Instagram has an audience of more than 3,000, and Meredith Rosen Gallery has just shy of 31,000, meaning only a splinter group of the cofounders pre-existing fans have followed the trail of breadcrumbs to Egan and Rosens social presence to date.)

The week of the partnerships debut, I reached out to Rosen to confirm whether it was a full-on merger of her gallery and Egans, or a new venture that would co-exist independent of her namesake space and Ramiken. Her answer was the latter (which I noted in that weeks edition of the Back Room). After another two weeks passed with Egan and Rosen seeming satisfied to continue hiding in plain sight, curiosity prodded me into seeing if they would elaborate on what, exactly, theyre up to with their space on 78th Street. The result is the interview below, conducted by email over the weekend. (Questions and answers have been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.)

It should surprise no one that Egan and Rosen were selective about the details they divulged. But I think their answers at least bring the gallery into soft focus as a shape-shifting child of productive internal tensions and mutual disinterest in the rote professionalization that has defined too much of the art world lately. In other words, Egan and Rosen seems intent on being a gallery where the bestand nearly the onlyway to understand whats going on is to actually go. In an art trade that too often feels like a high-velocity, high-decibel assembly line clamoring for your attention, theres more than a little wisdom in that approach.

Otto Dix, Grenade Crater in a House (1916). Courtesy of Egan and Rosen, New York.

Lets start here: Instead of a full-fledged merger that marries your two programs together in all aspects, Egan and Rosen is a separate venture the two of you are operating independent of Meredith Rosen Gallery and Ramiken. It has its own space and (unless Im missing it) no gallery roster to speak of. How would you define the parameters of, and the concept shaping, Egan and Rosen? In other words, whats the overall vision, and how do some of the organizational details work (e.g. Will every show be a joint programming decision? Will you team up for art fairs or offsite projects? Do you just share all costs and sales proceeds equally?)

Meredith: Every show is a joint programming decision. We plan to do it all, fairs included.

Mike: I went diving to look at these pre-Roman sculptures, submerged off the coast of Naples, and it turned me on to a certain kind of algal existence, and I thought about how we could be like that algae, and as time floods our existence with meaning, perhaps we have to start breathing water, and grow on this shipwreck we call civilization. In ancient sculpture from the Ukraine river valleys, the goddess culture where the sculpture itself is the real thing, there is no representation or false movebecause representation leads to perfectionism.

So we do represent artists, but were not going to list them online. Now with these things in mind, a lovely punk gallery with charming manners and a thirst for blood makes a lot of sense on the Upper East Side right now. Everybody is going to love it. The gallery is set up so we can do the shows we want to do. I feel that Met energy, that Neue Galerie breakfast magic.

Each of you are now running two businesses: Egan and Rosen, and then your pre-existing spaces yourselves. That seems to fly in the face of the conventional wisdom that teaming up with another dealer is valuable in large part because it allows you to share resources and costs to make the very hard job of running a gallery somewhat easier. Why did you decide that this arrangement was the best way to join forces?

Mike: We both agreed that there were certain things that were becoming necessary to do, and this was going to be the gallery to do those things. We share some of the same hallucinations. Similar delusions too. Different pathos. Different addictions, but complementary: coffee vs. psilocybin. Economically, its very simple, and we both like the math of paid artists.

Andra Ursua, Man From the Internet 72 (2016). Courtesy of Egan and Rosen, New York.

Boring question, but Im required by journalistic law to ask: Did the pandemic and its after-effects play any role in convincing the two of you to launch Egan and Rosen when and where you did? If so, how? If not, why did you feel this summer was the right moment?

Mike: I was on the mainland when the vid popped off. Luckily, I got out, and Meredith saved me, pulled me out the gutter, and showed me this space with leopard print carpet that I fell in love with, and I really just dont want to disappoint her. So Im gonna work really hard, and Ive shared all my client info with her. And it turns out we both sell to the exact same 300 people.

Is the current Egan and Rosen space on 78th Street going to be the gallerys permanent location, at least for the time being? Either way, what aspects convinced you both it was the right location? Its obviously right around the corner from your gallery, Meredith, but the U.E.S. is a very different context than people tend to associate with Ramiken, Mike.

Meredith: Yes, 11 East 78th Street is the permanent location for Egan and Rosen.

Mike: Im not killing giant rats anymore like I was in 2009 down on Clinton Street. I had a gallery in Nichols Canyon in Los Angeles that was perfect, but only seven people came. Then I was squatting in a penthouse on 81st Street for a year and a half, but the parties got too big.

The Egan and Rosen space is perfect. Meredith found it. When it comes to galleries, the space just has to come at the right time and do the shows it was meant to do. Our vibe is: Go to the Met, then come to Egan and Rosen. Thats an art experience I can believe in.

Mike Egan, Lo peor es pedir (2021). Courtesy of Meredith Rosen Gallery, New York.

Meredith, this spring you did a solo show of Mikes artwork, a polaroid series of Lana Del Reys face that he warped by contorting his body while wearing a t-shirt with her image. What was your relationship like prior to that exhibition? How, if at all, do you think the experience of working together on a dealer-to-artist level has (or will) factor into your partnership as co-dealers/co-exhibitors? (Mike, this question is just as much for you as Meredith. It was just weird to introduce it differently than this.)

Meredith: Artists whole lives are continuous with their work. Mike as an artist informs Mike as a dealer. We had a great experience working together on Lana. The show sold out very quickly and had an unbelievable response from the public. Im looking forward to his next show at M.R.G.

Mike: I can be a difficult person, but every second of my show at Merediths gallery was joyful. I desperately need to learn how she does that. I was a big fan of Tina Braeggers paintings, and that made me want to show with Meredith. A gallery show next to the Met is a dream come true for every artist.

Technically speaking, Egan and Rosen qualifies as an expansion of sorts in a gallery business that has for years now gravitated toward the idea that the default solution is bigger, faster, more. At the same time, based on what I know of you and your respective careers, I suspect expansion is a somewhat lazy way of framing what youre aiming to achieve with the new venture. What do you think working together on Egan and Rosen can help you do first and foremost for the artists youll work with, but also for your own goals, in the art world as it exists in 2021?

Meredith: Working with artists is the thing I love about being an art dealer. Egan and Rosen is a space without constraints: secondary, primary, historical, special projects, just good shows. There are no rules, and we thrive on that. Its exciting to me to create something new, something that doesnt fit in pre-existing categories. The great thing about working with artists is theyre always pushing themselves to the next frontier, and I feel the same way as a gallerist.

Mike: Im a collector, and this job feeds my need to acquire. I have a Dix etching from Der Krieg and a Man from the Internet next to each other in my apartment. This gallery is how I form my collection philosophy, and working with Meredith on the gallery puts the art I want in reach.

If theres a goal other than to do the shows we each want to see, its to make a gallery that people love, or love to hate. I care about the work. I also care about the artists and the love of their fans. I dont have any other goals. All the structures in the art world are less than a hundred years old, and in a hundred years there will be completely different ones. Were supplying the future with the raw materials for their new art world.

Otto Dix, Reclining Female Nude, Half Figure (1929). Courtesy of Egan and Rosen, New York.

Can you give me any hints of whats coming up for the gallery in the future?

Meredith: In September, were opening a show of two paintings from the mid-90s by Takako Yamaguchi from her Smoking Women series.

And there you have it, folks. A small part of me wishes I could give you some grander takeaway about what to expect from Egan and Rosen, but the larger part of me is convinced that my inability to do so is the most promising sign of all.

Thats all for this week. Til next time, remember: show, dont tell is advice that applies to more than just writing and making movies.

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Coffee and Psilocybin: Why Two Seemingly Very Different Art Dealers Just Went Into Business Together (and Other Insights) - artnet News

The romance of music and film is one of the finest love stories around. Just like bed and breakfast or fish and chips, this audio-visual duo has been an award-winning partnership since the dawn of time. The relationship between cinema and music can be traced by historians right back to the amphitheatres of ancient Greece and Rome.

Humanity has clearly always been aware of the deeply emotive impact of audio-visual experiences, as the number of times music and acting have come together over the course of history is innumerable. Since the advent of film at the onset of the twentieth century, the relationship between it and music has been explored extensively. The number of iconic films that equally classic scores or soundtracks have matched is dizzying.

Auteurs such as AlfredHitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Michael Mann have all been masters of putting music to film. In fact, the latters use of green and blue and an atmospheric soundtrack in his 1986 masterpiece,Manhunter,exemplifies the meaning of diegetic. Moreover, Hitchcock and Kubrick were early masters in western cinema of understanding the impact of music in augmenting a visual experience.

If we cast our minds back, many classic examples spring to mind. Tim Burtons work with Danny Elfman has been a defining element in establishing his unusual cinematic universe, and Hans Zimmers work in the blockbusters of Christopher Nolan and Ridley Scott have majestically matched their directors visual expenditure.

Furthermore, Steven Spielbergs long partnership with composer John Williams has been nothing short of ground-breaking. In fact, Williams contribution to cinema has been so impactful that franchises such as Harry Potter and Star Wars would not be the same without their iconic audio reference point.

Of course, outside of film, there exist many musical acts whose music can best be described as cinematic and whose work has gone a great way in enlarging the impact of cinema. One would argue that the definitive example of cinematic music isRadiohead. Initially teasing their cinematic journey on their sophomore album,The Bends,in 1995, the band built on this sentiment with each release. Come 1997, with the release of what many regard as their magnum opus,OK Computer,the band would truly heed their cinematic clout and even explicitly mention it with Exit Music (For a Film).

Following the turn of the millennium, Radiohead would utilise technology to craft cerebral and forward-thinking music. Of course, this adherence to constantly pushing the boundaries has earned them many fans from across lifes spectrum, including in cinema. Most famously, they have a long-standing relationship with celebrated American director Paul Thomas Anderson (PTA), with the colourful director even filming a couple of the bands music videos. On the flip side, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood has returned the favour by penning the award-winning soundtracks to some of Andersons best-loved films, includingThe Phantom Thread, Inherent Vice and There Will Be Blood.

However, there have also been countless occasions where other filmmakers have used Radioheads music to a great effect. This is a trend that shows no signs of abating, as it seems everyone agrees that Radiohead and cinema are a match made in heaven.

Join us then as we list the five best moments Radiohead made films better.

Alfonso Cuarns 2006 sci-fi action thriller is widely respected as a brilliant film. Not only is it hailed as the best film of 2006, but it is revered for its cautionary twists and visceral camera work, namely its single-shot sequences. Starring Clive Owen and Michael Caine, the hit was equally as inspired by KubricksA Clockwork Orangeas it was Pink Floyds 1977 album,Animals.

Considering it was taking partial inspiration from such a classic album, who can be surprised that the film utilises music to a brilliant effect. Cuarns use of sound and music perfectly captures the films themes of dystopia, social unrest, loss and global infertility. Using a wide range of music from King Crimson to Aphex Twin to Kode9, the film continues to find new fans owing to its use of music.

However, the films stand-out audio-visual pairing comes when Radioheads Life in a Glasshouse from 2001sAmnesiacis quietly played amidst the banal chit-chat between Clive Owens protagonist Theo and Michael Caines weed dealer, Jasper. As Theo tries Jaspers new strain of weed, the two discuss the worlds impending doom. The use of the song perfectly matches the distortion/disassociation felt by Theo as the effects of the green plant coarse through his veins when he curses: fuck me, thats strong. The unhinged melody of Thom Yorkes vocals and the horns sliding atonality match the films suspicious themes and the feelings embodied by its characters.

Canadian directorDenis Villeneuveis a self-proclaimed number one fan of the Oxford outfit. He has used Radiohead in two of his films, 2010sIncendiesand 2013sPrisoners. It was in the former that his use of Radiohead really caught our attention. His inclusion of You and Whose Army? and Like Spinning Plates in the middle-eastern based drama,Incendies,has now entered a somewhat classic bracket.

The films opening scene uses You and Whose Army? to such a great effect that the two are almost now inextricably linked. Critic David Ehrlich wrote that the film expertly exploits Radiohead tracks for the multiplicity of their meaning, empowering the image by dislocating viewers from it. Villeneuve even admitted that he had written the song specifically into the script of the emotive drama to make it clear to the viewer that it would be a westerners point of view about this world.

The haunting montage of the films introduction, backed by the subterranean feel of the song, will stay with you for days.

This entry isso1995. The inclusion of Radioheads acoustic version of their 1995 hit Fake Plastic Trees perfectly captures the ubiquitous alternative spirit of the era. This contemporary take on Jane Austens 1995 classic novelEmma,is hailed as an iconic coming of age comedy for many reasons.

One of these reasons is its self-awareness. Yuck! The maudlin music of the university station is what Alicia Silverstones protagonist Cher proclaims to herself as the downbeat redux of the melancholic original is played. The song and film are definitive reflections of the era, and together they make a classic coupling. Radiohead were, at the time, considered one of the hottest alt-rock acts around, a moniker they would do everything in their power to ditch over the coming decade. But that doesnt make their inclusion here any less poignant.

The song soundtracks the everso nineties conversation between Cher and Paul Rudds Josh about being cool, something that today seems laughably outdated. Flannel shirts et al., the Dinner with Josh scene is a classic throwback to a bygone era where pop culture was at its height. Radiohead also pops up in the film again with their classic grower, My Iron Lung.

The 2001 American sci-fi-come-psychological thriller byCameron Croweis an ambitious yet incoherent take on the original Spanish film, Alejandro Amenbars 1997 offering,Open Your Eyes. A fast mixture of science fiction, warped reality, and a sprinkling of romance, its most memorable part is its opening.

The opening scenes are a visual montage brilliantly matched by the icy futurism of Radioheads Everything In Its Right Place from 2000sKid A. Crowes then-wife, Nancy Wilson, who scored the film, said she spent nine months working on the films music, which was done through experimentation with sound collages. She said: We were trying to balance out the heaviness of the story with sugary pop-culture music.

Wilson managed this to a great effect in the films introduction.

Featuring Tom Cruise amongst the urban iconography of New York, the repetition of the line open your eyes is a perfect nod to the films dystopian and unconscious themes, set out effectively by Radioheads hypnotic masterpiece.

Originally released as the B-Side to Radioheads 1996 single Street Spirit (Fade Out), Talk Show Host was popularised by Baz Luhrmanns inclusion of it in his cult classicRomeo + Julietin October that year. Although Nellee Hooper remixed it for the soundtrack, its inclusion is nonetheless effective.

Talk Show Host is a brilliant song in itself and in the way that it bridges that gap betweenThe BendsandOK Computer,just as Blow Out had done in hinting what was to come onThe BendsafterPablo Honey. The trip-hoppy feel of the song perfectly matches the hazy, modern film adaptation of Shakespeares classic tragedy.

The beat is slow-burning, and it reflects the hedonism inherent to the film and the era in the mid-nineties. It wraps you up in the excitement of the romance between our star-crossed lovers.

Thom Yorkes lyrics also capture the modern spin on the destructive war between the Montague and Capulet families: You want me? / Fucking well come and find me / Ill be waiting / with a gun and a pack of sandwiches.

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Five times Radiohead made films better with their music - Far Out Magazine