Rocknation
Rocknation's JournalIt's the Twelfth Annual Rocktivity/DU "You Call This NEWS?" Awards!
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Hello, and welcome yet again! First of all, sorry about the unscheduled delay of this year's ceremonies. The last time they were held late was out of respect to Gabby Giffords. This time, I got caught between being gentrified by my web host AND my internet service provider deciding to take a weekend vacation. But I am now comfortably settled in my new cyber-digs, and the ISP is giving me a one-month credit!
I suppose I should be depressed about the Republicans re-taking congress, but if anything, it puts us in that much better a position to bring more progressivism into the White House. And I hope Obama sees the wisdom of holding the line on net neutrality -- with the mainstream media in an even tighter right-wing grip, it's more important than ever that the netroots have room to blossom. So I'd like to dedicate this year's ceremony to Chuck Todd for media charlatanism below and beyond the call of duty -- from trying to compete with us with his First Read blog to directing politics at MSNBC to running the ratings of Meet the Press into the ground!
And now, on to 2014's other false media prophets -- unless you'd like to refresh your memories by going through the archives first:
[div style="text-align:center"]PREVIOUS AWARD WINNERS
2003 - Bush's Ancestor's Bank Seized (Grandad - Germany/Nazi)
2004 - Cheney May Help or Hinder Bush's Chances
[div style="text-align:center"]PREVIOUS AWARD CEREMONIES
2005 - U.S. Army Report: Military Lost Dominance In Iraq After Invasion
2006 - Iraq On Brink Of Becoming A Failed State
2007 - Iraqis Blame U.S. Invasion For Discord
2008 - Bush sees no recession coming
2009 - Bottled water sales dry up - Industry Asks 'Why?'
2010 - Former Head of FEMA says Bush Administration Downplayed Severity of Hurricane Katrina
2011 - Wal-Mart: Our Shoppers Are "Running Out Of Money"
2012 - CIA Docs Confirm: Cheney Is A Liar!
2013 - It's official: Pope has not abolished sin, says Vatican
[div class="excerpt" style="text-align:center;border: 2px #000000 ridge"]TWELFTH ANNUAL ROCKTIVITY DU/LBN "YOU CALL THIS NEWS?" AWARD WINNERS
[div style="text-align:center"]SPECIAL ACHEIVEMENT AWARD
The New York Times Just Issued the Best Correction You'll Read All Week
Media Source: Mother Jones.com
Posted by: N2doc
An earlier version of a summary with this article misstated the former title of Dick Cheney. He was vice president, not president.
Best Post (Other Than Mine): "Is Judith Miller running the paper?"
-- NYtoBush-Drop Dead
[div style="text-align:center"]SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS:
THE "YOU FORGOT THE 'NOT FROM THE ONION' DISCLAIMER" CATEGORY
Pimp sues Nike for $100 million for lack of warning label after beating victim with Jordans
Media Source: Oregon Live.com
Posted by: Alp227
Best Post (Other Than Mine): "I admire a pimp who's willing to beat his slaves on behalf of oppressed children."
-- Orrex
John Boehner’s Lawyer Quits Because Lawsuit Against Obama Could Harm His Credibility
Media Source: PoliticsUSA.com
Posted by: CatWoman
Best Posts (Other Than Mine):
"Bought to you by the party who claims to be against frivolous lawsuits."
-- Lob1
"Orly Taitz, please pick up the white courtesy phone..."
-- Jberryhill
[div style="text-align:center"]HONORABLE MENTION
43 House Republicans Are Suing President Obama For Being The President of the United States
Media Source: PoliticsUSA.com
Posted by: MrScorpio
Best Post (Other Than Mine): "The problem with the...GOP is real simple: There's a black man in the White House and he's NOT the butler."
-- Hobbit709
[div style="text-align:center"]HONORABLE MENTION:
THE "TO FIGURE THIS OUT, YOU HAD TO DO A FREAKING STUDY?" CATEGORY
Gun access tied to greater suicide, murder risk
Media Source: Yahoo.com
Posted by: Onehandle
Best Post (Other Than Mine): "Totally shocking to me that a piece of equipment designed to kill people makes it easier to kill people, including oneself. "
-- Truebluegreen
[div style="text-align:center"]THIRD RUNNER UP
Non-White Prisoners are more Profitable for Private Prisons
Media Source: AllGov.com
Posted by: The Straight Story
Best Post (Other Than Mine): "Oh, great. Another example of the white man getting passed over.."
-- Orrex
[div style="text-align:center"]SECOND RUNNER UP
Juan Williams Suggests Calls To Impeach Obama Have Racist Undertones
Media Source: Talking Points Memo.com
Posted by: Alp227
Best Post (Other Than Mine): "At long last, the Clue Bird has pooped on Juan Williams' head."
-- The Velveteen Ocelot
[div style="text-align:center"]FIRST RUNNER UP
Corey Knowlton, who won auction to kill endangered black rhino, now fears for his life
Media Source: Raw Story
Posted by: Judi Lynn
Best Post (Other Than Mine): "How's it feel, f*cker?"
-- Tabasco
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AND THE WINNERS OF THE TWELFTH ANNUAL
ROCKTIVITY/DU "YOU CALL THIS NEWS?" AWARDS:
(State) trooper wants job back because raping that girl was just a ‘moral mistake’
Media Source: RawStory.com
Posted by: DonViejo
Best Post (Other Than Mine): "In related news, the estate of Adolf Eichmann has petitioned..."
-- Loaded Liberal Dem
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Congrats to all the posters and commenters, and that goes double for Alp 227 for winning twice and Judi Lynn for winning her second! And for this year, let's send the bar bill for the after party to Elizabeth Warren -- since she's not running, she'll need SOMETHING to do with the money being raised to draft her!
rocktivity
Terri Schiavo was not persistently vegetative: she was as dead as a dinosaur.
...The blue areas are remaining brain tissue but most of the scan shows black areas which are essentially fluid (cerebrospinal fluid). The normal body reaction to irreversibly damaged tissue is to replace it with fluid and this is clearly what has happened after Mrs. Schiavo suffered severe anoxic damage to her cerebral cortex. Most of what remains of her brain is essentially a fluid filled sac surrounded by a thin shell of brain tissue rather then the solid structure we normally associate with a brain...
At the time, Terri Schiavo was neither persisting, vegetating nor pining for her native Florida Everglades; she had passed on. She was no more; she had ceased to be. She had expired and gone to meet her maker: Terri was late. She was a stiff, bereft of life and resting in peace. If she hadn't been impaled by feeding tubes, she'd be pushing up the daisies. Her metabolic processes were history; she was off the twig. She had kicked the bucket, shuffled off her mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisible -- " target="_blank">SHE WAS AN EX-TERRI!
rocktivity
Beats driving on four bare rims with sparks blazing
Which I've seen on Cops as well as witnessed personally -- the car was heading for the Holland Tunnel between New York City and New Jersey!
His fourth DUI -- what does he have planned for an encore?
This took place near the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, and the driver claims she was rear-ended -- presumably by one of the planes?
rocktivity
For me, this is only the SECOND best swimmer's reaction ever
Summer Sanders once thought she'd finished so far out of the money she didn't even look at the leaderboard as she held on to the edge of the pool. The camera stayed on her as she caught her breath and finally started looking for her name -- on the lower part of the board. You could see her confusion mounting: Had she been disqualified? Had she simply skipped over her name? But she finally looked all the way up, and her freakout was epic! "I thought I'd finished fourth," she explained afterward.
Congrats, Alia!
rocktivity
DING DING DING! Rocktivity, you're our grand prize winner!!!!
"Disintermediating the labels" -- is that the legal term for "We are no longer ON a record label because our last album proved that Queensryche minus Tate equals zero, so we've gone into desperation mode"?
I was wrong about that. But I wasn't wrong about this:
...(S)eeing as (new singer) Todd (Le Torre) won't be getting anything out of the holding company, is it unreasonable to conclude that "generating" HIS income will depend on the crowdfunding?
I've dug up original singer Geoff Tate's side of the story:
(W)e had a gig in Sao Paolo, and before the show we had a meeting...They said that they weren't planning on replacing me, but they had just fired our manager, our office assistant and one of our guitar techs, who all happened to be my family members...They had worked for us for ten years...
Of the 144 songs that Queensryche has released, I've written 116...I'm a 25 percent holder in our companies... (They want to) cut me out...split (my) 25 percent...and hire some young guy that's gonna work for a weekly wage...
And this from Queensryche's label Century Media:
(Tate)...can only refer to himself as the "Original Lead Singer of Queensrÿche or "Formerly of Queensrÿche" for a period of two years...(after which)...he can(not) mention Queensrÿche at all...As of September 1 (2014), there will be only one Queensrÿche entity (who) will continue to perform selections from their entire musical catalog including songs from Operation: Mindcrime...
But if they still have a record deal, WHY are the remaining members of Queensryche trying to raise $2 million AND doing crowdfunding? Proof yet again that the simplest explanation tends to be the right one: Buying out Tate most likely included giving him the rights to most if not all of their entire back catalog -- and they are just plain flat broke!
If (what's left of) Queensryche no longer have either publishing income or the bandmembers who generated that income, that leaves the band's name as their sole asset (which in turn makes their eliminating their newest members from the holding company extra inexcusable). Tate, meanwhile, has already signed a record deal, putting his ex-esteemed colleagues just one Operation Mindcrime Live album away from being the world's best Queensryche tribute band.
Detection of desperation mode accomplished: I love the smell of vindication in the morning.
rocktivity
Queenryche "missed" when they "divested" themselves of their most valuable "assets."
You're absolutely right about it being so much harder to be a rookie non-Top-40 act these days, and for the need for a new paradigm. The problem with Queensryche's paradigm is that without singer Geoff Tate (and original lead guitarist/co-composer Chris DeGarmo), it comes across more like something that the Kramer character on the Seinfeld show would have come up with. Anything you invest in is supposed to have inherent growth potential -- where is Queensryche's?
If a Bon Jovi or a Rolling Stones or a Judas Priest were doing this because they had lost their record deals, didn't want to invest their own money, and most important, still had their most profitable members, this career move would be intelligible, at least: investing in those bands would be a gamble worth taking.
rocktivity
(Not from the Onion) Got a net worth of $2M and $50K to spare? You can buy stock in Queensryche!
For a minimum investment of $50,000, fans who pass an independent accreditation process can purchase an equity ownership stake from a private consolidated holding company that entitles them to "a fixed percentage" of future revenue...An internal board of directors comprising drummer Scott Rockenfield, bassist Eddie Jackson and guitarist Michael Wilton and band counsel Thomas Osinski will oversee the corporation.
"Traditionally, a band would not go into their personal pockets" to...bankroll and control a recording-and-touring effort, (the) securities attorney...said. "They would go to Capitol Records" or the like, which would dictate the project and give them an advance but "also take a huge swipe of the money...By disintermediating the labels, we're leaving more money on the table both for the band and people who invest."
QUEENSRŸCHE's latest, self-titled album sold around 13,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 23 on The Billboard 200 chart. The record arrived in stores on June 25, 2013 via Century Media Records...
Queensrÿche was in legal turmoil for almost two years after lead singer Geoff Tate split with three other original members and both groups claimed the name. Once that dispute was settled in April, the three who got to keep the Queensrÿche name — Eddie Jackson, Scott Rockenfield, Michael Wilton — added singer Todd LaTorre and guitarist Parker Lundgren, and began planning the stock sale.
"Disintermediating the labels" -- is that the legal term for "We are no longer ON a record label because our last album proved that Queensryche minus Tate equals zero, so we've gone into desperation mode"? And why is the lawyer getting a full share of the holding company while the band's newest members get nothing? Why not cut the equity pie five ways with LaTorre and Lundgren splitting a slice?
If this were a band that sucked, I'd be schadenfreude-ing my head off. But Queensryche was one of the better ones -- what a crying shame. Meanwhile, Geoff Tate is selling wine and producing compilation albums. All he has to do is wait for Queensryche's implosion to complete, re-hire lead guitarist Chris DeGarmo, record some new material, offer it to a record label along with a tour of Operation Mindcrime plus other Queensryche classics, and mourn all the way to the bank.
rocktivity
You're right -- Time to post my DU Thanksgiving traditions
A classic one:
A new one:
And a carol:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
rocktivity
Rumors about Kristen began when her then-band Sugarland hooked up with Bon Jovi
rumors that I resented greatly because they seemed to be based on her not being as "hot"-looking as her bandmate Jennifer Nettles:
In 2006, Hall alleged that she left Sugarland to "stay home and write songs," but that was hard to swallow. They would be peddling their second album as the opening act for Kenny Chesney; a song Nettles did with Bon Jovi was shooting up the pop, rock, AND country charts; and both bands joined up for a TV special: Sugarland were about to "arrive." Was Hall "advised" that her "image" -- perceived or real -- would "hold the band back"? Was she threatened with being outed? Was she promised to be spared the "you'll never work in this town again" routine if she left quietly? And why did she have to sue for her share of Sugarland's profits? (The suit was settled in 2010.)
2016 Update: Nettles, who married in 2011 and now has a child, says she's finding HERSELF to be the subject of gay rumors!
rocktivity
DING DING DING! Mackerel, you're our grand prize winner!
Someone should have helped set-up the accounts first off and taken a lot of the temptation away...And the court should have assigned that "someone" to supervise the deal, rather than "depend" on her, the lawyer, her mother, or the baby daddy. Why did they give her so much time anyway? The deadline should have been the week after she got the crowdfunding money, if not sooner.
(T)hose who donated to her may not donate to another in a similar circumstance in the future...
Yes -- Taylor's children are the real losers in this, along with the children of those whose parents would do the right thing if they were to get the opportunity to stand in Taylor's shoes.
rocktivity
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: New Jersey
Home country: USA
Member since: 2001
Number of posts: 45,013