Month: March 2021

Categories
Entertainment

The Artists Dismantling the Limitations Between Rap and Poetry

The Artists Dismantling the Barriers Between Rap and Poetry

Rappers have an obvious advantage over side-born poets when it comes to rhythm. But also poets can shape the rhythm through stress patterns as well as through their lines on the page. Poets differ from prose writers in that they, not the typographer, choose where their lines should end, thus giving them the opportunity to play with a reader’s sense of time. Enjambment, when a syntactic unit overflows from one line to the next, is a fundamental poetic practice that empowers poets with the ability to create and re-shape meaning. In “Highest” from his upcoming “Somebody Else Sold the World” collection, 49-year-old Indianapolis poet Adrian Matejka rifles over Travis Scott’s 2019 hit “Highest in the Room,” but where Scott’s lines almost completely end – that is , dissolved in a complete phrase – Matejkas are mostly enjamged. Sometimes the effect is a syncopation: “This is / Machu Picchu high.” In other cases a picture is paused and then revived with a parable: “I raise / like the highest black hand in history class.” Still other times, Matejka enables a complex idea to unfold over several lines: “I rose like that Blood pressure of someone / black reproduced in the textbook / this monochromatic year. ”Matejka’s line breaks attest to a year of pandemic and racist violence and deny any effort to overcome the pain.

Moments like these show the reciprocity between rap and poetry, little formal things that have a big impact on meaning. “For me, it’s sound,” says 45-year-old Los Angeles-based poet Khadijah Queen of her work’s connection to hip-hop, although her poems also make use of silence. In her latest collection “Anodyne” (2020) she uses the entire page and writes not only with words but also with the space around it. Their lines dance, yes, but they also trip, cancel, pause, and begin in a way that’s reminiscent of an inventive MC playing a dozen different beats in a row.

Queen also understands her role, and that of her fellow poets and rappers, as necessarily engaged in civic work. She looks at Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, perhaps the most prominent black writer of the 19th century, who campaigned for the abolition of slavery and the rights of women and children on her platform. “Our job is to grasp what people feel in this time of contradiction: the difficulty and the beauty together. We are called to clearly recognize what is happening, ”says Queen. After the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and many others, rappers were also moved to express themselves through songs. Atlanta’s Lil Baby, 26 and one of the most successful emerging artists, released The Bigger Picture in June, in which he seriously deals with police brutality: “It doesn’t make sense; I’m only here to vent “In the past year, several other songs have expressed the anger and pain of Americans: Terrace Martin’s“ Pig Feet ”starring Denzel Curry, Daylyt, G Perico and Kamasi Washington; Noname’s “Song 33”; Meek Mills “Otherside of America”; YOUR “I can’t breathe”; Anderson .Paak’s “Lockdown”. For Queen and other black poets, hip-hop is not just beats and rhymes, but something more necessary as well. Hearing black voices speaking on their own terms creates refuge, especially at a time when blackness and blacks are besieged. “I love hip-hop because it emphasizes the use of black language as the standard,” she says. “It’s a space to be who you are without apologizing.”

Categories
Health

Will I would like proof of vaccine to journey overseas?

Will I need proof of vaccine to travel abroad?

As the adoption of vaccinations gains momentum around the world, attention is now turning to vaccines of a different kind: vaccination records.

Last week, the International Air Transport Association announced the launch of its new digital passport as a “way forward” for the resumption of quarantine-free international travel.

The app, which is being tested by 30 airlines, enables governments and airlines to collect, access and share encrypted information related to the passengers’ Covid-19 test and vaccination status before departure.

The International Chamber of Commerce and the World Economic Forum have developed similar apps – ICC AOKpass and CommonPass – that travelers can use to electronically document their medical status. Countries like Denmark and Sweden are introducing their own health passports, and even tech giants want to join.

What are digital health passes and will they allow a return to heaven this year?

What is a vaccination certificate?

A vaccination card, also known as a digital health card, is digital documentation that a person has been vaccinated against a virus, in this case Covid.

Stored on a phone or digital wallet, the data is usually presented as a QR code and can also indicate whether a person has tested negative for a virus.

Digital health passports are tested to validate people’s Covid-19 test and vaccination status.

Maskot | Getty Images

Such documentation is not unprecedented. For decades, people traveling to certain countries have had to show physical “yellow cards” as proof of vaccination against diseases such as cholera, yellow fever and rubella.

However, this is the first time the industry has advocated an electronic alternative to improve auditability and bypass some of the delays caused by paper peers.

“Imagine the scene when 180,000 people present a piece of paper that needs review and validation,” said Mike Tansey, general manager at Accenture, referring to the number of daily passengers at Changi Airport in Singapore prior to Covid.

Do we need digital health passes to travel?

Tansey, who leads Accenture’s APAC Travel and Hospitality division, has worked with several major airlines on their digital health passport strategies, including three in the US and several in the Asia-Pacific region.

He told CNBC’s Global Traveler that these plans have “accelerated” since the vaccine was launched, and the need for such IDs is clear to him.

The obvious answer is yes we do.

Mike Tansey

General Manager, Travel and Hospitality, Accenture

“The obvious answer is’ yes,” Tansey said when asked if we would need digital health cards to resume the trip.

He called debates a “red herring”.

“Governments may not say you have to have one, but the effects of not will be so ridiculous that travel isn’t worth it,” he said, referring to extensive testing and “draconian” quarantines.

What are the security concerns?

Tansey is not alone. Other experts agree that digital health passes are the fastest, most effective way to resume international travel.

Jase Ramsey, professor of management at Florida Gulf Coast University’s Lutgert College of Business, agreed that the likelihood of adoption was “very high”. However, he noted that concerns about security and personal information could make consumers less willing to use digital health passports than their physical alternatives.

“As with any app that stores health records, there are privacy and fraud concerns,” said Ramsey.

Vaccination records electronically store medical information that is displayed as a QR code.

da-kuk | E + | Getty Images

Accredify is a Singapore-based document accreditation firm whose technology is used as part of the Singapore government mandated Covid-19 pre-travel health screening. It is claimed that the appeal of digital accreditation systems – like its own, which is based on the blockchain – is that they are tamper-proof and therefore cannot be forged.

“Medical documents that are privately and securely stored in the app are only accessible to users, so they can decide who and when to share their medical records with,” a spokesman said via email.

Traveler resistance can be overrated. A recent study by travel news website The Vacationer found that 73.6% of Americans surveyed would use a Covid health pass or app so airlines and border agencies can check their vaccination status and test results.

What are the challenges for health passports?

The success of digital health passports depends on the effectiveness of vaccines. Little is known about whether vaccines prevent the spread of Covid, although research is currently being carried out.

The World Health Organization has urged caution with health cards and urged the authorities and tour operators not to introduce proof of vaccination as a condition for international travel.

The effectiveness of vaccines in preventing transmission is not yet clear and global vaccine supplies are limited.

speaker

World health organization

“This is because the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing transmission is not yet clear and global vaccine supplies are limited,” said a WHO spokesman.

Coordinating the various existing and pending vaccination records in the market and ensuring that users’ certifications are linked to verified and approved medical facilities will prove to be a major challenge.

“For vaccine passports to be an internationally practical tool, there must be a standardized platform that crosses all borders – like the current passport system,” said Dr. Harry Severance, Assistant Professor at Duke University School of Medicine.

WHO works with agencies such as the International Air Transport Association and the International Civil Aviation Organization to develop standards for digital vaccination cards. It added that its position on health passports “will evolve as the evidence for existing and new Covid-19 vaccines is updated”.

What about the social impact?

Add to this, of course, the social, legal and political implications of a system based on unequal global access to vaccines and technology.

According to the WHO, around 3.6 billion people worldwide cannot access the Internet and more than 1.1 billion cannot officially prove their identity. For many, paper IDs remain essential.

Access to vaccinations is still far from fair around the world

Luis Alvarez | DigitalVision | Getty Images

“People from different countries, regions or communities may not have access to vaccines or Covid-19 tests,” said Dr. Sharona Hoffman, a bioethics professor at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine, noting that low-income countries may not get vaccinations until 2023 or beyond. “Policies that prevent them from traveling or using other services could be discriminatory and exacerbate socio-economic disparities.”

Such systems could also set a precedent for other groups that are also eager to reopen, such as B. Restaurants and Event Venues. In fact, Israel has already created a “green passport” to give vaccinated citizens access to public venues.

This week, some US states decided to lift mask mandates, which could exacerbate this problem.

“As one community moves in this direction, many, many more will follow. As decisions like this are made across the country, you may find that ‘carding’ vaccines becomes the standard,” Severance said.

What could this mean for the future of travel?

Ultimately, resumption of international travel will depend as much on countries’ willingness to reopen as it does on existing travel verification technology.

In the Asia-Pacific region, where borders remain largely closed to tourists, governments may lean towards bilateral agreements or “travel bubbles” with select neighbors before opening further, Accenture’s Tansey said.

An internationally recognized system of health passports … will potentially enable us to survive an impending pandemic.

Harry Severance

Duke University School of Medicine

“The The reality … is that we are six months away from meaningful air travel, “he said.” Agreements are only made with one or two locations at a time. “

However, with much of the technology in place and society moving towards an increasingly digitized future, today’s developments in digital health passports could better prepare the travel industry – and society – for potential turmoil.

“As we evolve into an internationally recognized system of monitoring health passports (or) etc, it will be a facet of a downstream preparedness system that may allow us to survive an impending pandemic that may have worse dynamics than Covid- 19. ” “said Severance.

Categories
Business

YouTube Removes Myanmar Army Channels

YouTube Removes Myanmar Military Channels

YouTube said Friday that it had deleted five television channels operated by Myanmar’s military from its platform. It was the latest in a series of moves by American internet giants to reduce the military’s online footprint since it took power in a coup last month.

The company – a unit of Alphabet that also owns Google – said in a statement that it removed the channels and videos based on its community guidelines, but without disclosing what rules the military broke. The channels blocked included the government-run radio and television in Myanmar and the military-owned Myawaddy Media, both of which broadcast news, sports, military propaganda and battle anthems.

The removal came at the end of the bloodiest week of protests since the overthrow of Myanmar’s fragile democratic government on February 1. More than 30 people were killed on Wednesday as security forces used increasingly brutal means to quell protests against the coup. At least one person, a 20-year-old man who was shot in the neck, was killed in a protest Friday in Mandalay city.

Myanmar’s post-coup policy also played out digitally. Protesters have used social media sites to schedule demonstrations, distribute memes deciphering the generals’ takeover, and share videos about police and military violence.

The military, in turn, has stormed telecommunications data centers and blocked social media sites. Sometimes it completely cut off internet access. When they can get online, many people in the country have turned to special software to bypass the blocks and log into sites like Facebook.

In the weeks since the coup, internet companies have slowly tightened controls on the military. Last week, Facebook said it would block all military pages on its website and reduce advertising by military-owned companies in one of the most direct interventions in any country’s politics to date.

The shutdown of YouTube appeared to be on the verge of a broader ban on Facebook. A YouTube spokesperson didn’t respond to questions about whether Alphabet would take further action against the military, such as canceling it. B. Blocking their companies’ access to ads, as was the case with Facebook. The move from YouTube was previously reported by Reuters.

The coup and subsequent protests have placed American internet companies in an increasingly familiar, if uncomfortable position as political arbiter in struggles for democracy and human rights far removed from their homeland. Nationalist leaders around the world, from the Philippines to India to the US, have used Facebook and other platforms to spread disinformation and incite violence.

Myanmar had already become a test case for dealing with some of the internet’s most dangerous excesses. For example, Facebook has been heavily criticized for how the military used the platform to promote hatred against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar, the victims of an ethnic cleansing campaign carried out by the military.

Myanmar only joined the global internet after the generals who had controlled the country for years relaxed their hold about a decade ago. Since then, people in Myanmar have gone into online life with great enthusiasm. Sites like YouTube and Facebook have become town squares for a country that went online late.

Although the military has been persistent in its approach to internet blocs since the coup, it has years of experience with online disinformation. For example, while it perpetrated atrocities against the Rohingya, members of the military were the main actors behind a systematic campaign on Facebook that humiliated the mostly Muslim ethnic group as illegally living in Myanmar, despite many having been there for generations.

Internet companies have tried to show that they were aware of the military’s tactics. During the campaign leading up to the national elections in Myanmar last year, Alphabet shut down two YouTube channels that were alleged to be linked to influencing operations that support the party formed by the former military junta. After the election, the company dropped 34 more military-related YouTube channels. In the past few months, another 20 such channels and 160 videos have been cut for violating policies related to hate speech, harassment and violent content.

Despite the blockades, activists in Myanmar complain that tech companies are still slow to break down disinformation and violent content. The official pages of several television channels that had been switched off by YouTube had already been blocked by Facebook. And since Facebook’s major ban on military sites, a number of replacement sites appear to have sprung up to replace those that were removed.

Categories
Politics

U.S. imposes extra sanctions on Myanmar, calls on China to assist finish coup

U.S. imposes more sanctions on Myanmar, calls on China to help end coup

Police are running towards protesters to disperse a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on March 3, 2021.

STR | AFP | Getty Images

The United States imposed trade sanctions on the military regime in Myanmar Thursday, a day after security forces killed dozens of people on the deadliest day of violence since a coup last month ousted civilian leaders and sparked nationwide protests.

The Ministry of Commerce imposes export controls on the Myanmar Ministry of Defense and Home Affairs and two companies closely related to the military – Myanmar Economic Corporation and Myanmar Economic Holding Limited. Myanmar is now also subject to trade restrictions on certain sensitive items destined for military use.

“The trade is examining possible additional measures that are justified by the actions of the military,” warned the department in a press release on Thursday afternoon. “The US government will continue to hold the perpetrators of the coup responsible for their actions.”

According to the United Nations, security forces in Myanmar killed at least 38 protesters on Wednesday. The violence is part of a campaign by the military to crush nationwide demonstrations calling for the release of civilian leaders who were ousted from power and imprisoned on February 1.

Myanmar nationals hold a candlelight vigil outside the United Nations to commemorate anti-coup protesters killed in Myanmar, Bangkok, Thailand on March 4, 2021.

Lauren DeCicca | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The Myanmar authorities have also approached members of the press reporting on the protests. Associate press journalist Thein Zaw and five other media representatives were arrested and charged with violating a public order law earlier this week.

State Department spokesman Ned Price urged the regime to exercise “maximum restraint” and warned the military that the US would take further action to hold it accountable for the detention of journalists and violence against demonstrators.

“This recent escalation of violence shows that the juntas are totally disregarding their own people,” Price said at a press conference Thursday.

“As I said, we will continue to work with the international community to take meaningful action against those responsible. The United States will take additional measures,” Price said before Commerce announced the new trade sanctions.

Myanmar nationals hold a candlelight vigil outside the United Nations to commemorate anti-coup protesters killed in Myanmar, Bangkok, Thailand on March 4, 2021.

Lauren DeCicca | Getty Images News | Getty Images

President Joe Biden issued executive orders last month imposing sanctions on the military leaders who led the coup. The New York Federal Reserve blocked an attempt by the country’s military to move $ 1 billion in funds days after it came to power, according to a Reuters report.

The Foreign Ministry on Thursday again urged China to use its influence in Myanmar to help restore civilian rule to the country. US and Chinese officials have spoken several times about the situation in Myanmar since the February 1 coup, Price said.

“We have urged the Chinese to play a constructive role in using their influence on the Burmese military to end this coup,” Price said.

China, which has close ties with Myanmar, last month prevented the United Nations Security Council from issuing a statement condemning the coup.

Burmese activists have said they are determined to continue participating in protests in support of democracy despite the violence.

“We know that we can always be shot with sharp bullets, but there is no point in staying alive under the junta. That’s why we choose this dangerous route to escape,” activist Maung Saungkha told Reuters.

Categories
World News

She Was a Star of New Palestinian Music. Then She Performed Beside the Mosque.

She Was a Star of New Palestinian Music. Then She Played Beside the Mosque.

“People on the conservative side saw this as an example of the weakness and absence of the Palestinian Authority and the impotence of the Palestinian state,” said Sari Nusseibeh, a Palestinian intellectual and former head of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. Although Palestinian society accepted diversity again, it has become more conservative in recent years as the struggle for statehood faltered and some Palestinians turned to tradition and religion to preserve their identity, said Prof. Nusseibeh.

Ms. Abdulhadi was born on the eve of a more hopeful time in October 1990. Her family had been in exile in Jordan since 1969 after the Israeli authorities expelled her grandmother, Issam Abdulhadi, a leading activist for women’s rights.

But as peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians gained momentum in the early 1990s, Israel allowed certain exiled leaders to return with their families with a gesture of goodwill. Among them were Issam and her family including young Sama and her older brother and sister. Her father Saad is a publisher and event manager, and her mother Samira Hulaileh runs a forum for business women. She met for this interview at her home on the hill when Ms. Hulaileh was serving homemade lamb dumplings.

As a child, Ms. Abdulhadi was always a trailblazer. With her grandmother, she successfully campaigned for her headmaster to turn her into a girls’ soccer team (she later played for the national team). As a teenager, she organized hip-hop battles and breakdancing events, and acquaintances from that time remember her as a strong presence.

“It was the same feeling you still have today,” said Derrar Ghanem, a contemporary who later also helped build Ramallah’s electronic music scene. “She comes in and you think, ‘Who is that?'”

Ms. Abdulhadi began experimenting as a DJ in the middle of the second intifada, the Palestinian uprising that killed around 1,000 Israelis and 3,000 Palestinians in the early 2000s. She used her father’s sound equipment to play music at friends’ events.

Categories
Business

Airways altering enterprise to reply post-pandemic demand for holidays

Airlines changing business to answer post-pandemic demand for holidays

A picture taken on February 28, 2021 shows palm trees on the empty “Promenade des Anglais” in Nice on the French Riviera.

VALERY HACHE | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON – Airlines in Europe see sunshine and beaches as their way to make money again.

The sector has been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic and people have been advised to stay home. Lufthansa announced on Thursday that the number of passengers had decreased by 75% between 2019 and 2020. This underscores the devastating impact many airlines have had since the Covid hit.

However, they are currently examining ways to adjust business models as economies seek to reopen in the coming months.

“European airlines will focus on vacation travel,” Adrian Yanoshik, a stock analyst at Berenberg, told CNBC on Wednesday. “This is a tactical answer. You follow the flow of people,” he said.

Given the easing of restrictions in European economies, people are expected to try to go on vacation as soon as possible after about a year at home. In contrast, it takes longer for business trips to recover.

I think we’ll see a little less business travel and more vacation travel.

Rickard Gustafson

CEO of Scandinavian Airlines

“Will I be making the one-day trip from London to New York for a three-hour meeting? Probably not, so this will have some impact on business travel,” Keith Barr, CEO of IHG Hotels & Resorts, told CNBC’s “Squawk” Box Europe “last Month.

Rickard Gustafson, CEO of Scandinavian Airlines, also expects “some significant changes in the dynamics of the (airline) market”.

“I think we’ll see a little less business travel and more vacation travel,” he told CNBC. “We have to adapt our operations more to the seasonality than we do today,” he added.

Low-cost airlines like Ryanair and easyJet have always tempted customers to take breaks in sunny European destinations like Greece, Spain and Italy. However, more airlines such as Lufthansa and British Airways, which traditionally cater to those who travel for work, could do the same.

“Business travel will be above 2019 levels by the end of the decade,” Stephen Furlong, senior analyst at wealth management firm Davy, told CNBC on the phone, adding that vacation travel, on the other hand, could snap back “very quickly”.

Another mix of cabins

Business travel has led airlines to develop business class, premium seats and loyalty cards. However, as part of a new focus on leisure, analysts expect a different aircraft layout.

“You will get a cabin reconfiguration,” said Furlong, mentioning that business class will be a much smaller part of the aircraft. “The size of the plane is (also) smaller,” he added.

When you consider how low-cost airlines have traditionally organized their aircraft, the focus is far less on premium customers. In fact, for example, Ryanair does not have a frequent flyer loyalty card.

People sit on the “Castel” beach along the “Promenade des Anglais” on the French Riviera in Nice, southern France.

VALERY HACHE | AFP | Getty Images

“This is probably a temporary phenomenon. You will focus on business (travel) again,” said Yanoshik from Berenberg.

However, as more airlines focus on vacation travel in the short to medium term, he added that ticket prices “will be weak”.

Vaccination records

European airlines hope vaccine passports will be used to restore lost businesses this year.

The idea of ​​a vaccination pass is still debated by European politicians, but the travel industry sees it as a must that some trips can return during this summer season.

“IATA is pushing extremely hard within the industry,” Andrew Lobbenberg, equity analyst at HSBC, told CNBC.

The International Air Transport Association is currently working on a passport, a digital platform where passengers can upload their health information. She has asked the EU heads of state and government to introduce vaccination records so that customers can feel safe again.

Vaccination records “will be part of the reopening of air traffic,” said Lobbenberg.

Categories
Health

China topics some vacationers to anal swabs, angering international governments.

China subjects some travelers to anal swabs, angering foreign governments.

China is requiring some travelers arriving from overseas to receive an invasive anal swab test as part of its coronavirus containment measures, which has outraged and shocked several foreign governments.

Japanese officials said Monday they had formally asked China to exclude Japanese citizens from the test, adding that some who received it complained of “psychological distress”. And the US State Department most recently said it registered a protest with the Chinese government after some of its diplomats were forced to undergo anal swabs, despite Chinese officials denying it.

It is not clear how many such swabs have been administered or who is subject to them. Chinese state media have acknowledged that some arrivals in cities like Beijing and Shanghai are required for the tests, although reports said requirements may vary depending on whether travelers were rated as high-risk.

Chinese experts have suggested that traces of the virus could survive longer in the anus than in the respiratory tract, and that samples of the former could prevent false negative results. China has put some of the toughest containment measures in the world, including blocking most foreign arrivals, and has largely suppressed the epidemic.

Lu Hongzhou, an infectious disease specialist at Fudan University in Shanghai, told the state-controlled tabloid Global Times that nasal or throat swabs could cause “nasty reactions” that could result in below-average samples. He admitted that stool samples could replace anal swabs to avoid similar discomfort.

Other experts – including in China – have questioned the need for anal testing. The Global Times quoted another expert, Yang Zhanqiu, as saying that nasal and throat swabs are still most effective because the virus is transmitted through the airways.

Benjamin Cowling, professor of public health at the University of Hong Kong, said in an interview that even if someone tested positive on an anal swab but not a breath swab, he or she probably wouldn’t be very contagious.

“The value of detecting people with the virus is in stopping transmission,” said Professor Cowling. “If someone has an infection but is not contagious to anyone, we didn’t have to recognize that person.”

A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said this week the government will make “science-based adjustments” to its containment policies.

Professor Cowling said he did not know what the scientific rationale for the existing policy was. “I suppose there is some evidence leading to this decision, but I haven’t seen that evidence,” he said.

Categories
Business

Henry Goldrich, Gear Guru to Rock Stars, Is Lifeless at 88

Henry Goldrich, Gear Guru to Rock Stars, Is Dead at 88

When asked about his musical skills, Henry Goldrich would often say, “I play the cash register.”

Its stage was Manny’s Music in Manhattan, where Mr. Goldrich, the longtime owner, provided gear for a generation of rock stars. But even though he was selling instead of jingling, Mr. Goldrich secured an important role in rock by combining famous musicians with state-of-the-art equipment.

“Henry was the superstar for these guys,” said his son Judd. “He was the first to get equipment they’d never seen before.”

Mr. Goldrich died on February 16 at his home in Boca Raton, Florida. He was 88 years old.

His death was confirmed by his other son, Ian, who said he was in frail but stable health.

Manny’s, which closed in 2009 after 74 years in business, has long been the largest and most famous of the music stores on the West 48th Street Block, known as Music Row.

It was opened by Mr. Goldrich’s father Manny in 1935 and has been a second home for Henry since he was a child when he was hit by swing star business customers. Ella Fitzgerald would babysit for him at the store when his parents went out for lunch, Ian Goldrich said.

By 1968, when his father died at the age of 62, Henry Goldrich had largely taken over the business and turned the business into an equipment mecca and meeting place for world-famous artists.

He did this by expanding his inventory of the latest equipment and strengthening relationships with suppliers who helped him keep high quality instruments and new products in stock.

At a time before rock stars were getting the latest gear straight from manufacturers, Manny’s was favored by top musicians looking for and trying out new gear.

These included two 1960s guitar gods, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, whom Ian Goldrich said his father recommended the wah-wah pedal, an electronic device that immediately became an integral part of both musicians’ approaches. He added that Hendrix would buy dozens of guitars on credit and have Mr. Goldrich tune them to the guitarist’s discerning preferences.

Many rock and pop classics were either played or written on instruments sold by Mr. Goldrich.

John Sebastian, founder of Lovin ‘Spoonful, recalled in an interview how Mr. Goldrich helped him choose the Gibson J-45 in the mid-1960s, which he used for early spoonful recordings such as “Do you believe in magic?” Used.

Mr. Goldrich similarly compared James Taylor to a quality Martin acoustic guitar early in his career, his son Ian said. And Sting used the Fender Stratocaster Mr. Goldrich sold him to compose “Message in a Bottle” and many other hits for the police before donating them to the Smithsonian Institution.

In 1970 he sold Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour the black 1969 Stratocaster, which he played on many of the band’s landmark recordings. It auctioned in 2019 for a record $ 3,975,000.

Pete Townshend of The Who ordered dozens of expensive electric guitars from Mr. Goldrich, who was not happy when he heard of the guitarist’s fondness for destroying his instrument on stage for the theatrical effect.

“It was a good deal,” said Ian Goldrich, “but my father was upset that Pete broke all the guitars he sold him.”

Unlike many of his flamboyant Rockstar clients, Mr. Goodrich always conventionally wore a sports coat and maintained a dull demeanor that reassured his clients.

“He had a gruff personality; He treated them all equally, ”said Ian Goldrich. “He would tell Bob Dylan, ‘Sit in the back and I’ll be with you in a minute.'”

There was the day in 1985 – it was Black Friday and the store was full – that Mick Jagger and David Bowie stopped by together and caused a commotion that stopped sales. An annoyed Mr. Goldrich quickly sold them their items and rushed them out.

“My dad said, ‘What are you doing here today?'” Ian recalled. “He didn’t kick her out, but he wasn’t happy.”

When the band Guns N ‘Roses asked to shoot part of the video for their 1989 hit “Paradise City” in the store, Ian Goldrich agreed, his father reluctantly agreed, and said, “OK, but we’re not closing for them . ”

Mr. Goldrich told Harry Chapin in 1972 that his new song “Taxi” was almost seven minutes too long to be a hit. (It hit the top 40 and is now considered a classic.) And he told Paul Simon, who bought his first guitar at Manny’s as a boy, that he thought Simon and Garfunkel were a “bad name” for a group.

But he also advised new stars in a fatherly way not to waste their newfound wealth.

“He would take her aside and say, ‘You make money now – how are you going to take care of it?'” Said Ian Goldrich.

Henry Jerome Goldrich was born on May 15, 1932 to Manny and Julia Goldrich and grew up in Brooklyn and Hewlett on Long Island. After graduating from Adelphi College, he served in the Korean Army in the mid-1950s and then worked full time at Manny’s.

His father opened the store on West 48th Street, a location he chose because it was close to Broadway theaters and 52nd Street jazz clubs, as well as numerous recording studios and the Brill Building, a music publishing hub. In 1999, Mr. Goldrich sold Manny’s to Sam Ash Music, a rival business that largely retained its staff until Manny’s closed in 2009.

In addition to his sons, Mr. Goldrich survived his wife Judi. his daughter Holly Goldrich; seven grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

Mr. Goldrich often used his prominent clientele to market the shop. “He saw the value of these people in the store and it made the business safe,” said his son Judd.

When a young Eric Clapton, then with the Cream group, was stuck in New York with no money to fly home to England, he offered Mr. Goldrich his amplifiers to raise funds.

“He said, ‘I’ll buy them from you as long as you stencil them with the Cream logo,” said Ian.

Then there was the wall of fame of the business, thousands of signed promotional photos of famous customers representing a who’s who of pop music. Mr. Goldrich helped maintain the photos, many of which were registered for him, and often prevented his staff from stacking goods in front of them.

In a video interview, Mr Taylor described how intrigued by the photos as a teenager and proud when his own were added. “It was kind of inside-out, not as celebrated as a Grammy or a gold record or a position on the charts,” he said. “But you would definitely have arrived if you were locked in on this wall.”

Mr. Goldrich became close friends with many musicians, including Who’s bassist John Entwistle, who visited Judd’s Bar Mitzvah in New Jersey and housed the Goldrich family in his Gothic mansion in England. Ian remembered the band’s drummer, Keith Moon, sitting on his father’s lap, drinking cognac at a screening of the film “Tommy”.

In a video interview, Mr. Goldrich described how he sold an electric violin to the violinist Itzhak Perlman. When Mr. Perlman tried to negotiate, Mr. Goldrich parried by asking if he had ever lowered his performance fee.

“He said:” It’s different, I am a talent, “recalled Mr. Goldrich.” I said: ‘I am also a talent in my own way.’ “

This talent was evident in Mr. Sebastian when he asked Mr. Goldrich to allow him to test his inventory of Gibson acoustic guitars in a warehouse.

“Henry’s known prickly demeanor subsided slightly,” recalled Sebastian and agreed to open early the next morning to let him in.

“He knew exactly what I wanted,” he said. “And I’ll be damned if I don’t catch Henry smiling as he wrote the bill.”

Categories
Politics

Motion on Stimulus Invoice Halts as Senate Clerks Learn All 628 Pages Aloud

Action on Stimulus Bill Halts as Senate Clerks Read All 628 Pages Aloud

When asked when the trial would end, Indiana Republican Senator Mike Braun remarked, “I think we’re just a prisoner of time here.”

Mr. Merlino and a small group of colleagues started a fast, modulated pace and started the reading marathon at 3:21 p.m. (For comparison: the sixth book in the Harry Potter series is 652 pages.)

Sometimes they would walk across the podium with a small lectern and recite the text in a largely empty chamber. You spoke to a busy carousel of stenographers, ground staff, the Chamber presiding Democrat, and Mr. Johnson, who had to stay on the ground – or find a like-minded Republican to spell him to keep Democrats from stopping the process and keep going.

At 7:21 p.m. the group had reached Page 219.

It was unclear what precedent there was, according to the Senate Historian’s Office, for reading such a large bill, since the Congressional report does not tell how much time is spent reading bills.

The Senate has provided funding to employ at least one employee since 1789. Nearly a dozen people now share responsibility for recording Senate minutes, reading laws, calling the list, and other procedural duties.

“The positions are setbacks from pre-Xerox machines and the immediate availability of hard copies or now digital copies of laws,” said Paul Hays, who was a reader in-house for nearly two decades in the 1990s. “You have to try to find a balance between the sound of a robot and that of a lawyer.”

After reading everything from the impeachment ruling on former President Bill Clinton to a lengthy presidential message from former President Ronald Reagan that lasted about 35 minutes, Mr Hays acknowledged that a clear reading may not help complete understanding.

Categories
Health

Altria asks FDA to unfold the phrase that nicotine does not trigger most cancers

Altria asks FDA to spread the word that nicotine doesn't cause cancer

A Marlboro cigarette.

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Marlboro’s parent, Altria, has asked the Food and Drug Administration to help spread the word that nicotine doesn’t cause cancer.

CNBC received a copy of a letter Altria sent to the FDA on Thursday asking the agency to spread the word about nicotine as part of a proposed publicity campaign about the risks of tobacco use.

“We received the letter and we will respond directly to the company,” FDA spokeswoman Alison Hunt told CNBC in an email.

Altria was not immediately available to comment on the matter.

In the February 25 letter signed by Paige C. Magness, senior vice president of Regulatory Affairs, Altria cited government studies on misperceptions about nicotine. It was said that eliminating such misperceptions would help traditional smokers switch to non-flammable methods of using nicotine, which may be less risky than products containing smoke.

Bloomberg News first reported the letter Thursday.

While the vast majority of Altria’s revenue comes from the sale of cigarettes and cigars, the company is also involved in vaping firm Juul and the nicotine pouch brand On! Involves and markets IQOS, a smokeless tobacco product that heats tobacco instead of burning it in the United States

There are at least 60 carcinogens in cigarette smoke, but these newer products deliver nicotine without the smoke.

As the regulator of Altria, the FDA can determine what claims it can make of its products. The FDA has allowed Altria to market IQOS in a way that would reduce the exposure of users to harmful chemicals than cigarette smoke.

Nicotine is the addicting ingredient to tobacco and it can have other negative health effects. In its report, Bloomberg said studies have shown that nicotine can affect brain development and birth outcomes, and in large doses acts as an agricultural poison.