Zombie Skin, by Murp

Murp
Murp – from murp.bandcamp.com

America’s Got Talent is a televised American talent show competition on the NBC television network. It runs a season each year during the network’s summer schedule. The 4th episode of Season 8, devoted to auditions, aired on June 25, 2013 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. It featured a sensational performance by 6 years old Aaralyn O’Neil singing her black metal song “Zombie Skin,” accompanied by her 9 years old brother Isaiah (“Izzy”) on drums. Some members of the Jury were shocked by her raucous shrieking voice, while the public got enthusiastic. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Mark Twain on some sexual sins in the Bible

James Jacques Joseph Tissot - The Women of Midian Led Captive by the Hebrews
James Jacques Joseph Tissot – The Women of Midian Led Captive by the Hebrews (c.1896–1902) – from The Jewish Museum

Twain’s Letters From The Earth, written probably between 1904 and 1909, takes the form of a series of reports written for the archangels Gabriel and Michael by Satan, who has been exiled to Earth. This work, mocking the Bible and the cruelty of its teachings, was published only in 1962. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Ghiţă, by Cleopatra Stratan

Cleopatra Stratan - Ghiţă
Cleopatra Stratan – Ghiţă – from last.fm

The Moldovan-Romanian singer Cleopatra Stratan was born on October 6, 2002 in Chişinău, Moldova. Her father Pavel Stratan is a singer and musician. In 2006 she released her first album La vârsta de 3 ani (“At the age of 3”), which sold more than 150,000 in Romania. It included the hit “Ghiţă,” which reached number 1 in the Romanian Singles Chart. Then in 2008 she released her second album La vârsta de 5 ani (“At the age of 5”). CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Little girl, don’t be blue

Mary Cassatt - Little Girl in a Blue Armchair
Mary Cassatt – Little Girl in a Blue Armchair (1878)

The Scruffy Group was a band formed in 1965 by Jack Van Pelt (guitar) and Max Freeland (drums), two students at Ohio State University, who joined with two friends from their hometown Lima, Ohio: Jim Buehl (rhythm guitar) and Alan Ulrich (bass). The band moved to Strongsville, Ohio, where they played night concerts at the Skyline Inn. After being suggested to make a single, Jack Van Pelt composed the two songs “Little Girl” and “Do” in four hours. The band recorded them in a few hours at Audio Recording in Cleveland. The record was released in the summer of 1965 by Jimmy Testa’s Tema label, with “Little Girl” on the A side. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Jailbait, by Ted Nugent

Front cover of the album Intensities in 10 Cities by Ted Nugent
Front cover of the album Intensities in 10 Cities by Ted Nugent – from Vinyl Records and Album Cover Gallery, vinyl-records.nl

Theodore Anthony Nugent (born December 13, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Redford, Michigan. He started as the lead guitarist of the rock band The Amboy Dukes. After dissolving the band, he embarked on a successful solo career in the 1970s and 1980s. His second live album Intensities in 10 Cities consists of 10 songs recorded during the last ten dates of his 1980 tour; it was released on March 2, 1981. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight, by Spinal Tap

Spinal Tap
Spinal Tap – from Canal+

Spinal Tap is a made-up English heavy metal band created by the comedians and musicians of The T.V. Show on the American commercial broadcast television network ABC. The 1984 mock documentary film This is Spinal Tap gave a dramatised fictional history of this parodic band, which satirises in its image, sound, and lyrics some of the biggest bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The soundtrack of the film was released on March 2, 1984. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

The Cult of the Child, by Ernest Dowson

Elliott & Fry – Minnie Terry as Daisy Desmond
Elliott & Fry – Minnie Terry as Daisy Desmond (1889) – National Portrait Gallery

In 1889, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Prevention of Cruelty to, and Protection of, Children Act. An amendment had then been proposed to ban children under the age of 10 from acting on stage, which provoked a widespread opposition in public opinion. Dowson entered into the debate, arguing that children are natural actors, that their performance is always artistic. Moreover, they have a wonderful charm, of which spectators should not be deprived. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…