Roo clouds of holocaust

This is one of the damnedest photos of a musician I’ve ever seen. I am told that this is Douglas P. from Death in June (minus that damn stupid mask he usually wears), and I am also told that, despite him somehow looking like he’s been photoshopped into it, it’s an actual photo of him with, frankly, two kangaroos behind him engaging in biff. I find it utterly perplexing but I’m so happy to have discovered it (thanks, Pinterest). Doug would never have encountered such a scene in the Europa he’s so fond of…

Victor goes west

Victor Willis, frontman of Village People, dies age 74

Victor Willis, the lead singer of the Village People, has died age 74. The group shared the news in a statement: “Victor passed on Monday 30 June 2026 of a short but aggressive illness,” they said. “Privacy is requested.”
The writer of what were widely accepted as canonical gay anthems in YMCA and Macho Man – also performed in costumes of hyper-masculine male stereotypes – Willis refuted the idea that YMCA was a gay anthem and threatened to sue “each and every news organisation” that made the claim.
“As I’ve said numerous times in the past, that is a false assumption based on the fact that my writing partner was gay, and some (not all) of Village People were gay, and that the first Village People album was totally about gay life,” he said in 2024. […]
Willis had a flip-flopping approach to Donald Trump’s use of YMCA in his campaigns and pageantry. After approving its use for Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, Willis retracted his support as the Black Lives Matter movement came to prominence, but then changed his tune again.
He repeatedly said he was ideologically opposed to Trump – and in 2024 supported Kamala Harris – but admitted the that president’s use of the track had “greatly benefited the song”. In 2025, the Village People performed at the Turning Point USA ball to mark the president’s second inauguration, as well as the pre-inauguration rally.
On Wednesday, Trump posted a tribute to Willis on Truth Social, writing: “He was a great and happy guy who loved that I used his groups song, YMCA, at my Rallies. We will think of Victor every time YMCA is played, like today, and all throughout this July Fourth Birthday week.”

Well, I hope that whatever money he made from the song’s latter-day resurgence was worth the loss of his soul.

And further furthermore!

Oh, when I saw this I couldn’t not preserve it here. This comes via Bluesky from one Philip N. Cohen, all credit to whom; he did admit in another post that he thought there might actually have been about 2000 people there in total at the whole State Fair, but goddamn they clearly weren’t all there for this particular bit of it. Someone else commented on another of brother Philip’s photos from the day:

WOOF. I saw this after someone else posted… this on Threads and wondered what the eleven stars on it might mean:

How interesting. Someone else in the thread noticed a certain… similarity:

Eeeeeh.

Now, I gather the first picture is actually an AI image of the sort that cuntface posts on Truth Social all the time rather than an actual defacement of the White House, and the possibility of overreading the image is obviously real; I saw Snopes commenting on another photo of the State Fair saying it was a real picture of hardly anyone being there (similar to the one I posted yesterday) but also nothing it might not necessarily be representative of the entire event. So Krasnov and his eagle might not mean much either; sometimes an eagle with eleven stars is just, etc.

But, as yet another person in that thread noted, there are people in the administration for whom details like this do matter and are quite important. If Trump doesn’t know, they do. Consequently we can’t really rule out that it is perfectly intentional… and they could claim plausible deniably cos the Parteiadler‘s head looks to its left but Krasnovadler looks the other way. See? No similarity whatsoever…

And furthermore…

In fairness, this is indeed a very fine view, from the top of a ferris wheel it would have to be, but the problem is what’s not visible, i.e. the thousands of people not attending the State Fair. This is a picture of an absence. Erstwhile Superman Dean Cain is a full-bore MAGA shit, too, so he presumably meant this picture as, you know, promo if not propaganda. This is him trying to pretend this isn’t a picture of an absence. This is a picture of all the people staying home that day. It’s like an advert against the State Fair. Which, to be sure, is appropriate for a president against the United States…

Meanwhile, as America melts down…

So the Freedom 250 mob’s next trick, the Great American State Fair, has so far proven to be yet another debacle… you’ll recall all those musicians that were supposed to perform at it but who pulled it when they realised what the gig was? You may also recall Mushroom Cock basically said fuck ’em, he’d just hold a rally himself instead, and that’s pretty much what he actually did…

A milestone anniversary like 250 years of independence calls for the epic vision of a John F Kennedy, the immaculate timing of a Ronald Reagan or the soaring oratory of a Barack Obama. What it got instead on Wednesday was an 80-year-old convicted criminal who appeared in Home Alone 2 and seems hellbent on dividing the nation.
Donald Trump, speaking at the kick off of the Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, did not meet the moment with poetry, a moonshot or a promise to bind up the nation’s wounds. Instead he went small. Very small. […]
But most dismal of all was the way in which the president, whose war in Iran has pushed consumer prices to a three-year high and his approval rating to new lows, turned a national celebration – and potential moment of unity – into just another Trump campaign rally.
Cabinet members and the House of Representatives speaker, Mike Johnson, were in attendance, but Democrats were nowhere to be seen. Among the crowd, along with US flags and America 250 caps, it was not hard to spot Maga hats or other Trump gear. Liberals were as scarce as vegans at a Texas barbecue. […]
But perhaps most sinister of all was the insight into what this anniversary really means to Trump (or his id, Stephen Miller). He described the US as “superior to any nation that’s ever been built, no matter how many years it took” and insisted: “We are the ones who are carrying forward the light of western civilisation.” (The far right loves to use the phrase “western civilisation” as a proxy for white Christian nationalism.)

And the booth representing North Carolina at the Fair evidently had a particular vision about its place in the nation:

A video board in the North Carolina exhibit at the Great American State Fair on Washington’s National Mall drew some unwanted attention Friday by displaying a Confederate flag.
Late Friday afternoon the video was removed.
“On Friday, we became aware of an unapproved image in a video displayed inside the North Carolina Pavilion,” a spokesperson for the North Carolina pavilion/exhibit said in a statement. “As soon as we were made aware, we immediately removed the video and began reviewing how it occurred. Our focus remains on celebrating America’s 250th birthday and North Carolina’s role in our nation’s history.”

Apparently North Carolina couldn’t be bothered actually doing anything for this State Fair thing, so they had it assembled by private sponsors. I think someone needs to become public now. Maine’s booth is almost as minimal, though less racist:

The funniest thing to (not) happen so far, though, is probably Vanilla Ice’s performance on Friday, which got called off due to the threat of wild weather that never actually manifested:

Some observers quickly took to speculating that the threat of low attendance was the real reason for the cancellation, since Freedom 250’s website promises that events will go on “rain or shine.” There were indeed weather issues heading into Friday evening in D.C., although how serious they were was up for debate.
“Tonight, a few evening storms— not everybody sees rain tonight,” said a weather forecaster for D.C.’s NBC4. “It’s not like widespread thunderstorms moving through; we’re really not having any concern for severe weather,” she added, predicting “scattered showers” and a possibility of lightning in the early morning hours. Weather sites show no measurable rain showed up in Washington during the evening.
Vanilla Ice had been posting earlier in the day from the site, showing a panoramic view of the massive stage and huge lawn and referring to the proceedings as “once in a lifetime.” “We’re all gonna come together and be teenagers for the night!” A typical response read: “So awesome you didn’t bow down to the woke mob. Liberals think they control people and they think people aren’t allowed to use their freedom to perform where they want. Kudos to you and Flo Rida for standing your ground.”

I suppose this means weather is liberal now cos it cancelled him…Still, at least someone was getting something out of the whole experience:

The MAGA live-streamer known as Manny was taken into custody by DC police on Thursday afternoon after being seen allegedly pleasuring himself during a Cirque Mechanics performance.
Gian Rachtelli, 54, was reported by three different witnesses on the National Mall and charged with one count of lewd, indecent or obscene acts.
One witness said she saw the streamer dressed as Uncle Sam “doing inappropriate things during a performance” at around 3:50pm, per a police report.
“He returned for the second show, and I saw him with his hand in his pants likely doing what we all thought he was doing,” a witness told cops.
“I was approached by a female member of the acrobat team who had noticed an older white male that was making her & other female performers uncomfortable,” a second witness reported.
“They informed me that they noticed him making lewd gestures in his pants (as if he was attempting to/masturbating) while they were performing.”

The fact that this clown is also a MAGA influencer is just icing on the whole shit cake. And this fucking thing still has two more weeks to run. I’d feel sorry for American taxpayers, cos it’s their money being wasted on this shitshow, but tens of millions of those American taxpayers voted for Krasnov to do shit like this, so I’m reserving my sympathy for the ones who didn’t…

The 2000… well, 100 Year Old Man

He made it too!

It was a joy to see David Attenborough make it to his century, and I’m equally delighted to see Mel Brooks also make it to his. From the article:

In his youth, Brooks’ preferred method of making a noise was playing the drums and he was actually taught the instrument by Buddy Rich. Neither could possibly have known at the time that they would both go on to have seismic effects on the two great American artforms: comedy and jazz. That youth, like so many others, was interrupted by Adolf Hitler. The teenage Brooks joined the army and participated in the Battle of the Bulge. If one is looking to understand the artist’s fearlessness or his utter commitment to mocking Nazis for the remainder of his days, those war years provide ample explanation. It may also explain his assertion that “comedy is the opposite of death”. […]
He is the son of immigrants who fought the Nazis and ultimately triumphed in every area of showbusiness. He is the American dream made flesh. Brooks might not live to be 2,000, but 100 years looked equally implausible when he served in the 78th Infantry division. When asked the secret to a long life after a screening of Blazing Saddles I attended in London years ago, this icon of American entertainment offered some sage advice he has evidently lived by: “Don’t die.”

Eminently good advice that Mel has clearly taken seriously. Happy 100th, sir.

Grey Room #4

A selection of late 60s to mid-70s tunes for you this week.

    1. Fat Mattress – Magic Forest (1969) – 00:00
    2. Mellow Candle – Silversong (1972) – 03:31
    3. Bulldog Breed – Austin Osmanspare (1969) – 07:47
    4. Iggy & The Stooges – Penetration (1973) – 10:38
    5. David Bowie – Right (1975) – 15:12
    6. William DeVaughn – Be Thankful for What You Get (1974) – 19:17
    7. MC5 – Future/Now (1971) – 22:36
    8. The Who – Blue Red and Grey (1975) – 28:50
    9. Buffalo – Dead Forever (1972) – 32:23
    10. The Velvet Underground – Rock and Roll (live, 1969) – 38:00
    11. The JBs – The Grunt Parts 1 & 2 (1970) – 43:58
    12. Roxy Music – Editions of You (1973) – 47:27
    13. The Pretty Things – Talkin’ About the Good Times (1968) – 51:07
    14. Lothar and the Hand People – Machines (1968) – 55:58

Coulthart vs. AI

There was an interesting interview with John Coulthart a couple of weeks ago, where he says some things about AI I thought were worth preserving here:

We’re still waiting for all these developments to settle down so it’s foolish to try and prognosticate too much but it’s obvious that much of the argument in favour of AI art has been lost. The term “slop” became widespread at such a speed that it’s going to be difficult for the slop merchants to popularise their products in any other way, although I’m sure they’ll continue to make the attempt. I also think getting anyone to respect AI art will be very difficult. […]
On a more abstract level it’s been interesting seeing how quickly so much AI art has achieved a kind of mannerist sameness, a digital mulch that makes so much of the stuff look as though it’s extruded from the same pipe. “Slop” is very apt in this context. […] The slop machines don’t know about this because they don’t know what art is, and neither, it seems, do the engineers who program them. They’re asking people to accept the replacement of boundless human creativity with the world’s most expensive clip-art generator.

I think that last line is the real killer here, plus he’s equally dead on about that sort of sameness AI has attained. Which isn’t really surprising, though, cos AI was bound to feed off its own productions along with all the other stuff on the Internet it devours to make those productions in the first place… it’s not so much how quickly the term “slop” caught on so much as it is how quickly it became slop that is surprising.