I refuse to believe that David Bowie is dead…just doesn’t seem like something he would do. Also, fuck earth.

good shit, dude. and thanks again for turning me on to russian circles. rather than write a review of last night’s show, i’ll do one in .gif form.

I wonder if Bowie knew that “Blackstar” would be his last will and testament? Now I can’t hear these songs as anything other than a man writing his own epitaph, taking one last journey into the unknown. Who else would have the courage and imagination to turn his death into a final encore?

Haven’t upvoted in so long. But more importantly, I also haven’t downvoted. Help me hate, Scott. Help me hate.

dude even died cool. you never saw him sick or frail….released a killer album, broadway play, crazy video and then disappeared into the ether. even in death he show’s us how to be cool.

I was thinking this morning. I listened to a huge chunk of Bowie’s catalogue last week. I was listening to his new album all weekend. I’m sure many of his fans were doing the same thing. It was like a Last Supper before our relationship with the music would inevitably change. He was able to say goodbye to his fans without the maudlin sentimentality that goes with overly conscious farewells. What a way to go.

If anyone’s still having voting errors we’re working on it!

I haven’t voted in hours. My trigger finger is so fucking itchy.

UPDATE: The itchy finger was a different issue. Fixed now.

http://www.allblackrecordingcompany.bigcartel.com/product/sunbather-font

I suppose you could call this a “variation on a theme”. Another way to describe it would be “A fucking rip off a cool concept”.

i don’t love it either. few good tracks and the rest are head scratchers for me. i don’t hate it but was expecting more, given the reception.

‘dollar days’ is a jam though…

I just got that as well. And then I immediately “got” that the partial style font used is something Deafheaven employed on Sunbather and that Bowie ripped that concept off wholesale.

And since I’m here…..I f’ing hate this album. I dig some Bowie and get that he’s an idol and all that shit. This is just not for me.

It’s not that cool of a concept. It’s ubiquitous and old hat. You need to get out more. I could effortlessly find any number of typographical design treatments that use this approach. I could start by digging through old copies of Raygun. Also, you realize Bowie didn’t design his own album art? You’re just flailing in your search for new ways to be a contrarian rube.

With all due respect to Kendrick Lamar, isn’t he a mega-popular American recording artist rapping and speaking about his adult and childhood depression from dealing with the torment of being deprived of experiencing and enjoying an ‘Average Joe’ American kid childhood by his “living wild” VIOLENT FELON family members?

Reading his raps and public interviews Kendrick laments that he never experienced Safe Streets in a peaceful neighborhood for him, his three siblings, his many cousins, school classmates and neighborhood friends to travel and play on.

I’m not hating on, Kendrick. I genuinely feel sorry for him or any child witnessing his “living wild” family members or neighbors playing with shotguns and selling dope in front of the home six-year-old Kendrick, his siblings and cousins were suppose to feel safe in.

I am guessing the torment young Kendrick’s mind experienced flip-flopping between the values his educators were trying to instill, and the values he was ‘forced under duress’ to comply with in his “living wild” family environment and in his community’s ‘Street Hustle’ culture would cause a thoughtful, caring, gentle person to become depressed, angry and frustrated.

I admire that Kendrick has half-walked away from that life. I understand why he is reluctant to fully walk way from the Gangsta ‘community/people harming’ culture that is the foundation for his tormented life, as well as his wealth and fame.

If he listened to President Obama’s (aka America’s Premier Presidential & Parental Figure) remarks about Violent Felons having access to guns and mentioning six-year-old children becoming victims of gun violence, I wondered what thoughts crossed Kendrick’s mind?

Considering the community and people harming anti-social lifestyle his “living wild” Violent Felon caretakers chose for him to witness and experience during a critical period of his emotional development, I wonder if Kendrick views himself as a victim of gun violence?

Clearly, if Kendrick Lamar desires to become a common person genuinely deserving of the title “The Chosen One,” in my mind his focus should be on finding ways to help kids avoid the torment he experienced as a child.

Kendrick still has a few realities to squarely face and painful truths to accept and reveal. Once he has, I’m hopeful he will make the right choices.

During a January 20, 2011 LAWeekly interview (Google search) Kendrick told the interviewer:

*”Lamar’s parents moved from Chicago to Compton in 1984 with all of $500 in their pockets. “My mom’s one of 13 [THIRTEEN] siblings, and they all got SIX kids, and till I was 13 everybody was in Compton,” he says.”*

*”I’m 6 years old, seein’ my uncles playing with shotguns, sellin’ dope in front of the apartment.”*

*”My moms and pops never said nothing, ’cause they were young and living wild, too. I got about 15 stories like ‘Average Joe.'”*

Kendrick Lamar Talks About ‘u,’ His Depression & Suicidal Thoughts (Pt. 2) | MTV Video News April 2015

*(NY Times May 18, 2015 – Rise in Suicide by Black Children Surprises Researchers)*
___________________
Robert K. Ross, MD, President and CEO of The California Endowment, gives a compelling overview of the role that exposure to childhood trauma plays in the lives of *troubled* and chronically ill Americans.

Peace.

That combination of Iggy and Smashmouth