It’s not looking good, Bard Bros.
Still, it could be worse. At least he didn’t release a song called “Zion” or “Victoria Nuland Will Lead Us to Victory”.
Predictive Models
Tag: music
Officially Denied
The Washington Post and a literal Rothschild assure us that the Red-Bearded Bard of Appalachia is a totally 100-percent genuine phenomenon, for reals.
Anthony’s meteoric rise has provoked its fair share of skepticism — and other theories. Some have accused him of being an industry plant, an artist who presents as independent but is secretly backed by rich and powerful insiders. Others have speculated that “Rich Men” was the product of “astroturfing,” a coordinated marketing or PR campaign pretending to be a grass-roots movement.
Rothschild doubts that’s the case. For one, it’s hard to purposefully make something go so viral, so quickly. And if the country music industry did have this power, it would probably go for someone “more marketable” than Anthony, he said.
“I don’t think there needs to be some kind of scheme or a scam to make this guy popular,” he said. “I think this is just the right thing, at the right time, for the right group of people.”
Oliver Anthony and the ‘mainstreaming’ of conspiracy theories, WASHINGTON POST, 20 August 2023
Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m sure convinced now!
Let’s consider for a moment some observational principles which Postcards pointed out concerning the signs of controlled opposition. Two in particular appear to be highly relevant in this case, in addition to another one that I added.
- Inexplicable popularity with conservatives.
- Irregular ties to suspicious folk.
- Connected to other manufactured creatures.
Read this paragraph from the Washington Post article with that last point in mind.
The most revealing window into Anthony’s worldview may be a YouTube playlist he curated, “Videos that make your noggin get bigger.” The list includes performances from Luciano Pavarotti and Hank Williams Sr., but it also features several talking heads popular among the far right — Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, Joe Rogan — as well as multiple clips putting forward the conspiracy theory that Jews were responsible for 9/11. Mike Rothschild, a journalist and author who covers conspiracy theories, doesn’t think these connections are incidental…
Yes, I think that is indeed a revealing window. And as a side note, speaking as an editor and writer, I think that playlist title is fake. It has the same sort of false Hollywood tone that the dialogue provided by those recounting events that never happened invariably does.
“And then he said, ‘don’t be bustin no caps on me, fool!'”
On a tangential note, some have asked what could be the point of pushing a controlled figure who even partially violates the mainstream Narrative. Read the whole Washington Post article, especially the last three paragraphs. One obvious objective would be to suck up the resources that would otherwise go to legitimate figures with the potential to seriously threaten the current Narrative.
They Want to Believe
No matter how many times they get burned, it’s child’s play to fool conservatives again and again. Even more than liberals, they see only what they want to see. It’s not a mystery how conservatives managed to have their country stolen right out from under them, as they don’t have the self-preservation skills of the average baby rabbit.
The reaction of a number of SGers to the observation that nothing goes viral that is not fake, manufactured, and unauthorized. Remember, these are SGers, not Gab users. They’re not stupid. But they’re susceptible to the right kind of rhetoric, which is to say, emotional manipulation.
- I place the odds that he’s “fake and gay” about the same as Owen being “fake and gay.” (Near 0)
- Many of the comments here lay bare how out of touch most people..left & right are with blue collar stiffs in rural America. Ive lived and worked around these types my whole life. I watched him sing, do the interviews. Hes real.
- I’m not much of a country music fan, but the song touched my soul and many, many others. He reminds me of Johnny Cash. A deeply flawed man, with a good voice, and an ability to reach the working class. They’re men. Not demons or saints.
- Pulling one quote out of context and condemning a man and decrying others on SG is dumb. On the whole he’s helpful, and over his head
- We have yet another decent, unaware person humiliated for pointing out even a small amount of truth. How does that help?
- Sounds very much like he wrote them. The great general “anthem” feel everyone can related, then the very specific reference to 5’3” 300 pounds and buying specific junkfood on EBT card comes across as a person “this ticks me off” experience.
At least far fewer people are falling for the Red-Bearded Bard of Appalachia than fell for the Sobbing Sage of Toronto a few years ago. Of course, it won’t be long before the anons figure out everything from who actually wrote the song to who paid for its recording and who funded the viral marketing campaign. This sort of thing isn’t new, by the way. I remember the WaxTrax executives talking about how seriously they were annoyed by Warner Bros. very successful, but deceptive launch of Guns ‘n Roses as an indy rock band on a fake independent label called Uzi Suicide.
That’s another reason to turn down a record deal that most people don’t appear to have considered. You can’t sign one if you’ve already got one.
The initial conclusion appears to be that this is a Conservative Inc. campaign. If so, then my guess is that it’s ultimately intended as an anti-Trump play. So, watch to see whose presidential campaign the Bard of Appalachia appears at for potential confirmation.
There was nothing authentic about this song’s rise to popularity.
Jason Howerton seems to be the key player involved in the astroturfing campaign. He’s the CEO of Reach Digital, which helps “media companies and political influencers grow their social media footprint exponentially.”
Jason was one of the first accounts heavily promoting this song as he provided a background on Oliver Anthony and his faith. Jason indicates that Oliver Anthony had been contacted to record the song. Jason also admits he even covered the cost to produce the record.
So who wrote the song? And how did so many big right wing-accounts have the video ready to post simultaneously?
You can like the song, and like its message without gaslighting us into believing this was an authentic viral hit by a simple country man with a mic and a guitar.
“Launch a product, get over 1.3 million hits” overnight was the article Mr. Howerton shared on Linkedln. This was another Conservative Inc AstroTurf campaign
Always be skeptical of the things that appeal to you. No one gets fooled by that which they hate or to which they are indifferent. People get fooled by that which makes them feel good.
UPDATE: The Bard is not exactly a rock-ribbed conservative himself.
Fake Man South of Richmond
Are they actually faking the non-ticket takers now?
Promoted algorithm boosted “based” red beard hillbilly song guy was faking his accent and says diversity is our strength.
Never forget that it’s strategic doctrine for a certain group to always seek to control the opposition. And it’s also customary for that controlled opposition to use apparent euphemisms in the place of direct and more commonly-used labels. Hence “great architect” and “rich men north of Richmond” and so forth.
Now, I don’t have an opinion on whatever the guy’s name is because a) I don’t listen to country music, b) I purposefully avoid whatever the latest conservative enthusiasm is because it’s usually stupid, insipid, or fake, and c) absolutely nothing is going to save the United States, not a politician, not a law, and definitely not a singer. Not even the Second Coming will save a state that is no longer a nation.
Anyhow, it appears that Big Bear continues to bat 1.000. The lesson, as always, is this: everything viral is manufactured. Everything. Nothing goes viral in the mainstream without preparation, authorization, and approval.
From SG: Will you retards learn from this or will you ONCE AGAIN fall for the next obvious ticket taker that says some mildly true things? I’m gonna guess the second thing.
UPDATE: Big Bear explains in more detail.
The #1 way the (((rich men north of Richmond))) undercut the wages of the people Oliver Anthony is impersonating is mass migration.
The fact he said America is a melting pot and “diversity is our strength” means he’s fake. And by fake I mean he’s an ad campaign. An actor. Not authentic. Kind of like Mickey Mouse at Disney.
It isn’t “white supremacy” that makes the demographic hes impersonating hate migrants, it’s the fact the migrants destroy their ability to make a living.
The songs first line is “I’ve been selling my soul.” If you people don’t get better at recognizing this stuff, according to their religion they have a right and duty to turn you into cattle and cull you if they want.
No one who’s ever chanted “build the wall” would ever say “diversity is our strength.” It’s physically not possible
Cyberpunk: The Revival
The Original Cyberpunk is celebrating 40 years of an original American literary style by putting together a special edition of Stupefying Stories dedicated to cyberpunk.
The question here for SF writers is: okay, posit that our students now all have Rocketbooks. We know what it’s designed to do and how it’s supposed to be used. Now, how will our characters misuse it, for things they aren’t supposed to do?
That, to me, remains the core question of cyberpunk. What makes a technology disruptive isn’t using it in the way the people who created it intended it should be used. Those people can only think of the right way to use a thing. The disruption comes later, when the people who grew up living with that technology start thinking of all the wrong ways to use it. When this happens, they come up with misuses the creators never dreamed might be possible, because the creators lack the fluency of someone who has grown up speaking the language of the thing.
So in 1980 I asked myself: in this bright and shiny high-tech future that’s coming in fast and hard, how are socially maladjusted younger people—let’s call them “punks”—living at the bottom of the socioeconomic food chain, going to misuse this tech to get an edge over the eloi living above them?
Then I wrote a story that tried to explore one possible answer to this question.
Sidebar: Do I really need to explain again how between 1980 and 1982 this story was read and rejected by every short-fiction editor then working in SF publishing, and it most often came back with the standard, “Nice try kid, real close,” quasi-personal brush-off so often given to young and unknown writers?
Cyberpunk science fiction blossomed brilliantly and failed rapidly in the late 1980s to early 1990s, because the same thing happened to cyberpunk as happens to every other successful new thing in any branch of pop culture. At first it was a wonderful breath of fresh air into a stale and dying genre, as scores of new people with new talents and new ideas flooded into writing SF. Then publishers fixated on the commercial success of Neuromancer, and in a few short years cyberpunk fiction went from being something unexpected, fresh, and wildly original to being a trendy fashion statement—to being the flavor of the month—to being a hoary trope, complete with a set of stylistic markers and time-honored forms as immutable as an IEEE standard, to which one must pay heed if one is to write True Cyberpunk. It became, for the most part, Neuromancer fanfic, and the market was soon glutted with an enormous amount of “me too” work that copied the style of the genre’s pioneers but added nothing new to the vocabulary.
Whereupon cyberpunk fiction, as a genre, suffocated on its own vomit and died.
Now it’s 2023, and the 40th anniversary of the first magazine publication of “Cyberpunk” is fast approaching. It feels necessary to do something to mark the occasion, so right now we’re reading submissions for an all-cyberpunk issue of Stupefying Stories. No grand ambitions, this time. No book proposals. To do something like Cyberpunk 2.0 now would require either the backing of a major publisher, which I’m unlikely to get, or a Kickstarter campaign the likes of which I have neither the time, patience, or knowledge to run. Even if we were to start working on it right now, we couldn’t possibly have Cyberpunk 2.0 finished and released before the summer of 2024.
So a special issue of Stupefying Stories it is, then. And what I would truly, deeply, dearly love to see in my submissions inbox are at least a few stories that don’t try to recapitulate the 1980s vision of cyberpunk, but instead start fresh, from the baseline of now.
Like many writers my age, some of my earliest attempts at fiction were heavily influenced by Burning Chrome(1), Count Zero(2), and Mona Lisa Overdrive, though most of them were never finished and none survived the transition from my Mac SE through the various PCs I’ve owned.
But I’ll be making a submission to the Cyberpunk Special Edition, and if you’re one of the established or aspiring authors in the wider Castalia community and its tangential environs, I hope you will too.
(1) This was very nearly the name of a certain techno band.
(2) Yep. That was indeed the reference. We were recording soundtracks to books before we were doing them for games and movies.
Success is not Real
At least, not in the entertainment industry. The main reason to follow CDAN is not to keep up on celebrities, but rather, to see through the illusion that is presented to the world by their makers.
This one named flash in the pan A/A- list singer is not playing ball like the label and her people are wanting. I think she thinks that she is big enough now to not need them. That is not the way the industry plant thing works. You do as you are told, or your career goes away very very quickly. She was thrust upon the world right before COVID for one reason and she served her purpose.
Lizzo
And now, five months later, the woman’s career is being methodically demolished, precisely as predicted.
The rise and fall of Lizzo: How HAS the pop icon gone from being a champion of body positivity and feminism to the verge of cancellation for sexual harassment and body shaming?
THE DAILY MAIL, 2 August 2023
Anyone who is tempted to take the ticket would do well to reflect upon the observable fact that the success it provides is manufactured, the fame it provides is ephemeral, the money it provides is on loan, and the control that comes with it is absolute.
And in the end, the taker of the ticket is always cast from the high horse, dismissed and disrespected. Look at the likes of Robert de Niro or Jack Nicholsen now, and envy them, if you can.
The Ticket’s Not Free
Oprah Winfrey: You’re going to be such a big star, Rita!
Rita Ora: Ohmigosh, that’s wonderful, Oprah. Thank you so much for believing in me!
Oprah Winfrey: Oh, I do, honey. You’ve got what it takes. Now, have you met my friend Harvey?
Babymetal is Back
In a big way. MONOCHROME is the best song since Yui Mizuno left the band. As usual, the live version is even better than the studio version. It’s got a bit of KARATE in it, a bit of NO RAIN, NO RAINBOW, and the same anthemic feel as THE ONE and ROAD OF RESISTANCE. Kobametal clearly knew he was onto something with this one, as it even has a beautiful piano version that shows off Suzuka Nakamoto’s unbelievable voice as she records the entire song live in one take.
UPDATE: How could you not love Japan? Turns out they do originals too, although more metal than Band-Maid’s hard rock. Not that Band-Maid has been idle of late.
This is Why They Take the Ticket
The Prince of This World protects his favorites:
Kevin Spacey said he is ‘humbled’ after being dramatically cleared of sexually assaulting four men today following a high-profile trial in which Sir Elton John gave evidence in his defence.
The double Oscar winner, who marks his 64th birthday today, was overcome with emotion when the jury at London’s Southwark Crown Court returned not guilty verdicts on all counts.
Spacey was accused of abusing his fame and power to carry out nine sex attacks on four men during his tenure as artistic director of the Old Vic theatre. But he insisted the claims were ‘madness’ and accused the claimants of ‘lying for money’.
Perhaps justice was served and an innocent man was spared unmerited punishment. But I doubt it. I doubt it very much indeed.
But that’s not to say that the ticket-takers don’t pay the price for their “success”; the much-troubled Sinead O’Connor is dead at 56. I ran into her once at The Perimeter in Minneapolis, I think it was 1991. I was surprised at a) how small she was, and, b) how unfortunate her profile was. But I always respected the way she absolutely crushed the song Prince originally wrote for The Family.
Attention is not Success
If at first you don’t succeed, just tell everyone that you meant to fail:
Jered Threatin, known by the mononym “Threatin”, is a solo artist, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Los Angeles, CA. He gained notoriety in 2018 following a publicity stunt on his “Breaking the World Tour” where he manipulated social media numbers, ticket sales, and fabricated a number of fake businesses to fool venues and music industry professionals into booking a European tour where he performed in a sequence of empty rooms. This hoax successfully displayed the music industry’s reliance on social media numbers and image. During the event Threatin released a public statement; “What is Fake News? I turned an empty room into an international headline. If you are reading this you are part of the illusion.” The stunt became a viral sensation and obtained mainstream media coverage from The New York Times, BBC News, Variety, The Guardian, NME, Rolling Stone Magazine, and many other major publications.
That’s his version, anyhow. This is how an uninterested party described it.
The short version is this guy faked having a major band to book a “European Tour” and no one showed up. Then people proceeded to make documentaries & news stories about this once the venues were upset with being tricked. When you read his website he spins it as all a publicity stunt to “expose how venues rely on bad social media information.” A.K.A. “jokes on YOU! I WANTED no one to show up to my shows!” haha.
Now, there is truth to the wisdom in turning lemons into lemonaide. And few business plans survive contact with the market intact. One has only to consider the convoluted paths to success of Marufuku Co. Ltd., the Connecticut Leather Company, or even, on a much more modest scale, Castalia Library, to understand the wisdom of flexible ambition.
But media attention is not synonymous with success. Any natural disaster attracts more media attention than even the biggest success. The difference can be seen in whether the course has actually been changed or if it is claimed that the obviously inadvertent deviation was the original objective all along.
And if there is one thing that we have learned over time, it is that gammas are always going to gamma and their jokes are always on you.