Roger Taylor - ‘The Lot’ and ‘Fun on Earth’ - Pre-order Now! (or wait a bit)

I personally should say, wait until 'the rest of the world'  is getting a nice offer (amazon?).
But when there are people that have plenty of money and less patience...  this might be the runner for them

News Roger Taylor - ‘The Lot’ and ‘Fun on Earth’ - Pre-order Now! Order 'The Lot' or ‘Fun on Earth’ before 18th November 2013 from the Queen Online Store and you will be entered into a prize draw to win one of two unique one off framed artist proofs signed by Roger Taylor.   Roger Taylor's ‘the lot’ is the complete box set spanning his career and as the package says is THE LOT.   'The Lot' features 8 original CD albums and 4 compilation CD albums plus 1 DVD and includes an exclusive box set version of the brand new album 'Fun on Earth'. This deluxe set comes packaged in a hard case slipcase with a book holding the CD’s and DVD’s.   Click here to pre-order 'The Lot' box set.   Click here to pre-order Roger's new album 'Fun On Earth'   Roger Taylor - The Lot  - 8 Original Albums , 4 Compilation Discs, 1 DVD   1. Fun In Space 2. Strange Frontier 3. Happiness? 4. Electric Fire 5. Shove It (The Cross) 6. Mad: Bad: And Dangerous To Know (The Cross) 7. Blue Rock (The Cross) 8. Fun On Earth (New Album + 2 New Tracks For Box Only) 9. Roger Taylor Solo Singles 1 10. Roger Taylor Solo Singles 2 11. The Cross Singles 12. The Cross Singles 2 13. 1 DVD - Content –Promo Videos And Extras   Click here for full tracklistings   www.rogertaylorofficial.com www.facebook.com/rogertaylor www.twitter.com/officialRMT

Zoo .

A short article took my attention, and it did make my blood bubbling again.

The link goes to the news page of the Zoo in Wuppertal, where

a new polarbear did arrive

Appearantly the zoo is happy with it, a boy did come in and the mother of Wima now is transported to another zoo.  You can imagine next step, now those boy and girl (same age) are going to get friends.

I love to visit zoos, and the zoo in Wuppertal is a nice and modern one. But the place where the polar bears are captured is obviously out of date, originating in the early 70's or so, where it was the main purpose that the people could see the animals and nothing more. Also a small and very unfriendly place for any living to be, and sure for ice bears, who in the free nature walk many miles each day.

The modern art of Zoo-management has improved, and I think that many animals feel very at home there, even when there area is limited and when there are (too) many people watching them.  For example the area where the lions live in, in Wuppertal, is pretty good, they have a lot of space and can 'hide' for the curious visitors if they want.
Polar bears are a threathened specimen, and every newborn is a main attraction. 
The high 'hugability' is for many people enough to compensate the bad circumstances that the animals are kept in. 
As for a financial investment, the park has to live and manage anyway, it  might be a good move. But for the animals itselves it is questionable, if not unacceptable.  How long are we going to continue the exploitation of animals?  How much can we believe the policy of the Zoos in caring and showing the animals in their natural habitat, when the background is just a money making business?

On the sideline, I want to say something in advantage of this policy.  People are going to those attractions. New, rare, baby animals, they are hits and they bring a lot money.  As long as we humans continue in supporting this, also visiting the zoos when there is a new or newborn animal in this category,  that long the zoo's will not stop their animal unfriendly attitude, wrapped in nice messages as 'we research to save the animal brand for later generations'
Let us start to keep this kind of news out of publicity. When we dont see the messages at tv and internet, less people will be aware, so the 'urge'  for the animal-holders will be less.  And further let us continue to protest against these tortures.  We  are the voice for the animals. 

Wir brauchen Ihre Stimme

Liebe Unterstützerinnen und Unterstützer, vor einigen Tagen haben wir Sie darum gebeten, unsere Aktion für die Abschaffung der Todesstrafe in Trinidad & Tobago und Barbados zu unterstützen. Über 8000 Menschen haben sich bereits an der Aktion beteiligt.  Es ist uns wichtig, dass auch Sie die Aktion unterstützen, denn es gibt erste Anzeichen dafür, dass die Appelle Wirkung zeigen. Laut Medienberichten hat der Premierminister von Barbados angedeutet, dass das Parlament sich bald mit einem Gesetz zur Abschaffung der zwingenden Todesstrafe in Mordfällen beschäftigen könnte.  Gleichzeitig gab der Generalstaatsanwalt von Trinidad & Tobago bekannt, dass der Opposition ein Gesetzentwurf zur Anwendung der Todesstrafe zur Kommentierung übergeben worden ist. Er strebe an, diesen Entwurf in den nächsten Monaten ins Parlament einzubringen.  Diese positiven Entwicklungen zeigen, dass unsere Aktionen gehört werden und wir damit zu Veränderungen in Barbados und Trinidad & Tobago beitragen können. Je mehr Menschen mitmachen, desto mehr können wir bewegen. Nehmen auch Sie sich einen kurzen Moment Zeit und beteiligen Sie sich an unserer Aktion. Jede Stimme zählt! Hier geht es zur Aktion - jetzt mitmachen: http://www.amnesty.de/karibik Vielen Dank für Ihren Einsatz! Mit freundlichen Grüßen Ihr Kampagnen-Team von Amnesty International in Deutschland

Nederland krijgt de zwarte piet

deze is voor de hollanders.

Als je hem deelt,  laat de naam en copyright onder het gedicht staan.

Nederland krijgt de zwarte piet

Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet

Welke hollander kent ze niet?

En ook ver buiten de nederlandse grenzen

Zijn ze geliefd bij kleine en grote mensen

De vreugde van dit volksfeest

Wordt dit jaar ruw verstoord

Door iemand die waarschijnlijk nooit kind is geweest

Of wiens kind in hem is vermoord

Er zijn inmiddels heel wat mensen

Die deze mierenneuker(s) verwensen

Bemoei je toch met je eigen zaken

En laat je medemens lopen, desnoods over de daken

Als je het niet wil vieren, doe dat dan niet

Maar geef Sinterklaas niet de zwarte Piet

Nooit was Zwarte Piet gediscrimineerd

Zijn huidskleur, door zon en roet verweerd

Was nooit een probleem

Maar door deze zeurpieten, wordt het er een

Ze schakelen zelfs de Verenigde Naties in

Net een klein kind, dreinen, want het krijgt niet zijn zin

Piet moet zwart, en daarmee is alles gezegd

En wie dat niet begrijpt, die moet het nog maar eens worden uitgelegd

En voor de zwartkijkers, die het maar niet willen leren

Is er een oplossing: emigreren

(c) 22- 10 - 2013  Saturnnl voor DreamsUnlimited.

Publikatie zonder toestemming is niet toegestaan 

Brian May & Kerry Ellis team with Virginia Mckenna for 'Nothing Really Has Changed' - Track To Benefit Badger Vaccination Fund

News Brian May & Kerry Ellis team with Virginia Mckenna for 'Nothing Really Has Changed' - Track To Benefit Badger Vaccination Fund Queen guitarist Brian May is launching a new music video, collaborating not only with his long-time singing partner Kerry Ellis, but also with legendary British screen actress Virginia McKenna.   The track is a haunting version of Virginia McKenna’s original song “Nothing Really Has Changed”.   The release of the track forms part of May’s hard-fought campaign to oppose the continued slaughter of thousands of Britain’s badgers under the Government’s ‘roll out’ of the cull which would see the killing of thousands of mostly healthy animals.     It was recorded during Ellis and May’s live performance at the recent Montreux Jazz Festival, as part of their ‘Acoustic By Candlelight’ tour, and the video for the song is now available to view on YouTube here and to buy on iTunes here. All profits from the sale of this track will go to the 'Sponsor Badger Vaccination Fund'. Viewers can also donate to the Fund on YouTube.     Both compassionate animal rights campaigners, May and Virginia McKenna met at a Hay-on-Wye literary festival some years ago, where they were both presenting lectures.   They were drawn together through the wildlife work of Virginia’s BORN FREE Foundation, formed in 1984 to fight for to keep the world’s wild animals in the wild, and May’s Save-Me campaign, created as a voice for Britain’s wildlife, especially foxes and badgers, both threatened under the present government’s agendas.   Impressed by the work being done by the BORN FREE foundation to fight animal exploitation and to protect and conserve threatened species, particularly Africa’s magnificent lions, May and Ellis flew out to work in Virginia’s South African reserve, Shamwari; and Virginia reciprocated by committing her energies to supporting Save-Me’s campaign to save Britain’s badgers.  This created a permanent bond between the two campaigns,  both now signatories to Team Badger.    May and singing partner Kerry Ellis have played two highly successful UK concert tours to promote and benefit the Born Free Foundation.   Now Virginia’s song, recorded by May and Ellis, is being released to highlight the plight of the badgers whose families have been devastated by the recent ‘pilot’ badger culls in West Somerset and Gloucestershire.   May comments: “The so-called trials are going ahead despite fierce public opinion, under conditions of secrecy -  nobody is allowed in the areas of the cull, and no photographs may be taken - and with absolutely no form of public accountability. The Government continues to ignore the whole scientific community, and the view of the public.  The cull is a disaster as was predicted; it was never on the cards that culling could eradicate bTB – only vaccination can do that.  Nobody benefits – certainly not the farmers, or the taxpayer.   The Government has plunged, blinkered into this mess. So, after all this, what will have changed ?”   Virginia’s song, ‘Nothing Really Has Changed’ is the perfect message for this time.   Says May: “Virginia McKenna wrote this beautiful song about 30 years ago. It never really saw the light of day, and when we all met up in Africa, Virginia said it would be fantastic if Kerry could sing it, and I could make an arrangement to make that happen.  We performed it on tour with a background of badger rescuees, and it perfectly conveys the sadness of the pointless and barbaric killing of these highly intelligent native animals."   Virginia McKenna, through films including “Carve Her Name In Pride”, “A Town Like Alice” and “Born Free”, became a household name and one of Britain’s most loved actresses. She says: “ How touched I am that the visuals behind my song, ‘Nothing Really has Changed’ are images of one of the world's most beautiful creatures. A creature that is being controversially killed, in parts of our country, under conditions of secrecy.  It is almost impossible to believe that, one day, badgers and their families may no longer roam the countryside - their home, just as much as it is ours. Should this happen, it may look, but it will never be, the same. Once it has gone you can never put nature back, and badgers will not be the only losers.”   Click here for Sponsor Badger Vaccination.

Forbidden music - Entartete Musik

Yes, the tickets. 

 it was a long time ago for us that we were to a concert, and this was an unique opportunity to see one of our idols, die toten Hosen.
Die Toten Hosen are Germans most popular punk/rock group and after 30 years still, or betgter said, finally, top of the charts.  A week ago they did end their last tour and did announce that they will stop with concerts for a longer time.
The (3) evenings this weekend in die Tonhalle in Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf, the city where the group did grow up) are bonus and have not much to do with the normal rock party that the group usuallly makes.  A symphony orchestra with another kind of music, should make this evening something special, a kind of memorial.

75 years ago, in 1938, the regime of Hitler did decide to ban a part of the music, because it was not (political) correct. Many jewish composers were forbidden and he state did control more and more as well the (culture) life of the people.
  

75 years ago there was an exhibition about  'entarte musik', also the music that was (in the eyes of the nazi's) uncorrect.

Tonight, 75 years later, a few of those pieces are performed, together with some popular songs from the present, that most likely shuold be banned as well under that dictatorship.Because of the mix from classic and rock, the audience was mixed in the same way as well. The Tonhalle is a marbelous (round) theatre and it is for everyone possible to have a good view at stage.

At  the introduction from the entire orchestra, we were smiling about the enthusiasm of the conductor. He did jump around while conducting, talking abot charisma.

After that  we got the first song of 'die Hosen',

Moorsoldaten,  (also soldiers in swamp). 

The songs were talked together partially by Campino, the singer of die toten Hosen.   The group always had a strong political opinion and in that light they are the perfect  partner for this kind of events.
The talks did not only intresting as for backgrounds, but as well necesssarily in a technical way. The stage was small, well, better said, filled til the corners with musicians. The baand had only a small corner aside (at our side of the 'bühne'  Between the songs a part of the musicians in the orchestra did come up and get off the stage, to make place for others.

It was an enjoyable concert, there was symbiose between the classical orchestra and the band, and there was a variety of music, from opera to rock and between.
Music of Kurt Weil,  lyrics of Erich Kästner (an often underestimated writer, who did more then just writing 'youth books', and the nice children choir. The story behind it is that the chldren were about to sing, and the lyrics were obviously so changed that they should motivate 'the people' to join 'the flights' (as in the army)  or to join the flights to the concentration camps. 

Before the pause Campino (the singer of die toten Hosen) did read a piece of prozac, what was written and used in the concentration camps:  'A survvor from Warschaw'

Very impressive, 
After the break the first piece of music was one of Max Brüch, a jewish composer. 

It gave me goose bumps, realizing that this man was haunted, and the reason what for he was (we all know that). This piece of music is for years one of my favorites and this evening it was played on a cello. The recording here is closer to the original composition, but the warm cello, the virtuosity with what it was played, made it realy a highlight.

Max Bruch - Kol Nidrei (opus 47(

There is too many to say, too many that I can forget. But the message is so clear. The way that people did manipulate (public) opinions is scary and horrible. Such should NEVER happen again

Alabama Song

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The lyrics for the "Alabama Song" are in English (albeit specifically idiosyncratic English) and are performed in that language even when the opera is performed in its original German. The English text was made by Brecht’s close collaborator, Elisabeth Hauptmann, on the author’s behalf. The text dates back to 1925.^[4]The "Alabama Song" (also known as "Whisky Bar," "Moon over Alabama," or "Moon of Alabama") was originally published as a poem in Bertolt Brecht'sHauspostille (1927). It was set to music by Kurt Weill for the 1927 "Songspiel" Mahagonny and used again in Weill's and Brecht's 1930 opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. In the latter, it is performed by the character Jenny and her fellow prostitutes in the first act. Musically it contains elements of foxtrot and blues. The song was first performed and recorded by the Viennese actress and dancer Lotte Lenya (Weill's wife).^[1] She first publicly sang the song as the character Jessie in the 1927 Baden-Baden Festival performance of Mahagonny Songspiel. Lenya first recorded the song in 1930 for the Ultraphon record label. This recording was released to coincide with the Leipzig premiere of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny despite the fact that Lenya was not a member of the cast.^[2] Lenya continued to perform and record the song throughout her life. Later Lenya recordings include one made in 1955 ("Lotte Lenya singt Kurt Weill" released in the United States as "Berlin Theater Songs").

The song was recorded in 1966 by the rock group The Doors, listed as "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar).". The lead singer of The Doors, Jim Morrison, changed the second verse from:

"Show us the way to the next pretty boy" to "Show me the way to the next little girl".

Before the (2) encores, the 'Hosen'  did play the title song for this concert, wilkommen in deutschland (welcome in germany). A song written a few years ago, when the 'right extremism#  was florishing pretty well in ertain parts of Germany.

The conclusion:  we did have a wonderful evening out. We should do it more!

On a wider scale this concert clearly gave us the message, to learn from the history, so that next generations still feel welcome in our country. No matter where that country is.

And our regional newspaper did spend a huge article on the concert, complete with a big picture at the main page

here is the article, in german, of course 

Zoom

Foto: dpa, Jan-Philipp Strobel

Ein ungewöhnlicher Spielort für die Toten Hosen: In insgesamt drei Gedenkkonzerten erinnert die Punkband zusammen mit den Sinfonikern der Robert Schumann Hochschule an die Musik, die vor 75 Jahren in der Düsseldorfer NS-Propagandaausstellung "Entartete Musik" von den Nazis geächtet wurde. 

------------------------

'WILLKOMMEN IN DEUTSCHLAND - VOR 75 JAHREN: „ENTARTETE MUSIK“'

Nur eine Woche nach dem Tourabschluss vor insgesamt  über 90.000 Menschen haben wir es in der Düsseldorfer Tonhalle etwas ruhiger angehen lassen. Mit dem Gedenkkonzert „Willkommen in Deutschland“ erinnerten wir gemeinsam mit dem Sinfonieorchester der Robert Schumann Hochschule an von den Nazis geächtete und verfolgte Komponisten. Der geschichtliche Hintergrund: Vor 75 Jahren war die musikalische Avantgarde mit der NS-Propagandaschau „Entartete Musik“ in Düsseldorf diffamiert worden.

Alle Fotos: Carla Meurer.