‘No Rain, No Flowers' Review: The Black Keys Attempt a Reset
Yes, at one point there was a minor feud with Jack White of fellow Midwestern blues-inspired garage-rock duo the White Stripes, and Mr. Carney has posted playfully confrontational rhetoric online from time to time. But personality has taken a backseat to music through most of the group's career, so it was odd for its members to be at the center of controversy. From its title on down, 'No Rain, No Flowers' (Easy Eye Sound/Warner), the band's 13th album, out now, feels like an attempt to get back on track. It comes across as the Black Keys retreating to a place of comfort, as it imbues its rock with a bit more pop while adding a fashionable smidgen of psychedelia.
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Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Gaza's young musicians sing and play in the ruins of war
Gaza's young musicians sing and play in the ruins of war GAZA CITY (Reuters) -A boy's lilting song filled the tent in Gaza City, above an instrumental melody and backing singers' quiet harmonies, soft music that floated into streets these days more attuned to the deadly beat of bombs and bullets. The young students were taking part in a lesson given on August 4 by teachers from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, who have continued classes from displacement camps and shattered buildings even after Israel's bombardments forced them to abandon the school's main building in the city. "When I play I feel like I'm flying away," said Rifan al-Qassas, 15, who started learning the oud, an Arab lute, when she was nine. She hopes to one day play abroad. "Music gives me hope and eases my fear," she said. Al-Qassas hopes to one day play abroad, she said during a weekend class at the heavily shelled Gaza College, a school in Gaza City. Israel's military again pounded parts of the city on August 12, with more than 120 people killed over the past few days, Gazan health authorities say. The conservatory was founded in the West Bank and had been a cultural lifeline for Gaza ever since it opened a branch there 13 years ago, teaching classical music along with popular genres, until Israel launched its war on the Mediterranean enclave in response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks. Before the fighting, Israel sometimes granted the best students exit permits to travel outside Gaza to play in the Palestine Youth Orchestra, the conservatory's touring ensemble. Others performed inside Gaza, giving concerts in both Arabic and Western traditions. After 22 months of bombardment, some of the students are now dead, said Suhail Khoury, the conservatory's president, including 14-year-old violinist Lubna Alyaan, killed along with her family early in the war. The school's old home lies in ruins, according to a video released in January by a teacher. Walls had collapsed and rooms were littered with debris. A grand piano had disappeared. Reuters asked the Israeli military about the damage. The military declined to comment without more details, which Reuters could not establish. During last week's session, over a dozen students gathered under the tent's rustling plastic sheets to practice on instruments carefully preserved through the war and to join together in song and music. "No fig leaf will wither inside us," the boy sang, a line from a popular lament about Palestinian loss through generations of displacement since the 1948 creation of Israel. Three female students practised the song Greensleeves on guitar outside the tent, while another group of boys were tapping out rhythms on Middle Eastern hand drums. Few instruments have survived the fighting, said Fouad Khader, who coordinates the revived classes for the conservatory. Teachers have bought some from other displaced people for the students to use. But some of these have been smashed during bombardment, he said. Instructors have experimented with making their own percussion instruments from empty cans and containers to train children, Khader said. A BROAD SMILE Early last year, Ahmed Abu Amsha, a guitar and violin teacher with a big beard and a broad smile, was among the first of the conservatory's scattered teachers and students who began offering classes again, playing guitar in the evenings among the tents of displaced people in the south of Gaza, where much of the 2.1 million population had been forced to move by Israeli evacuation orders and bombing. Then, after a ceasefire began in January, Abu Amsha, 43, was among the tens of thousands of people who moved back north to Gaza City, much of which has been flattened by Israeli bombing. For the past six months, he has been living and working in the city's central district, along with colleagues teaching oud, guitar, hand drums and the ney, a reed flute, to students able to reach them in the tents or shell-pocked buildings of Gaza College. They also go into kindergartens for sessions with small children. Teachers are also offering music lessons in southern and central Gaza with 12 musicians and three singing tutors instructing nearly 600 students across the enclave in June, the conservatory said. Abu Amsha said teachers and parents of students were currently "deeply concerned" about being uprooted again after the Israeli cabinet's August 8 decision to take control of Gaza City. Israel has not said when it will launch the new offensive. HUNGER AND FATIGUE Outside the music teachers' tent, Gaza City lay in a mass of crumbling concrete, nearly all residents crammed into shelters or camps with hardly any food, clean water or medical aid. The students and teachers say they have to overcome their weakness from food shortages to attend the classes. Britain, Canada, Australia and several of their European allies said on August 12 that "famine was unfolding before our eyes" in Gaza. Israel disputes malnutrition figures for the Hamas-run enclave. Sarah al-Suwairki, 20, said sometimes hunger and tiredness mean she cannot manage the short walk to her two music classes each week, but she loves learning the guitar. "I love discovering new genres, but more specifically rock. I am very into rock," she said. Palestinian health authorities say Israel's military campaign has killed more than 61,000 people, including more than 1,400 going to aid points to get food. Israel says Hamas is responsible for the suffering after it started the war, the latest in decades of conflict, with the October 2023 attack from Gaza when its gunmen killed 1,200 people and seized 250 hostages according to Israeli tallies. MUSIC THERAPY In a surviving upstairs room at Gaza College, the walls pocked with shrapnel scars, the windows blown out, three girls and a boy sit for a guitar class. Their teacher Mohammed Abu Mahadi, 32, said he thought music could help heal Gazans psychologically from the pain of bombardments, loss and shortages. "What I do here is make children happy from music because it is one of the best ways for expressing feelings," he said. Elizabeth Coombes, who directs a music therapy programme at Britain's University of South Wales and has done research with Palestinians in the West Bank, also said the project could help young people deal with trauma and stress and strengthen their sense of belonging. "For children who have been very badly traumatised or living in conflict zones, the properties of music itself can really help and support people," she said. Ismail Daoud, 45, who teaches the oud, said the war had stripped people of their creativity and imagination, their lives reduced to securing basics like food and water. Returning to art was an escape and a reminder of a larger humanity. "The instrument represents the soul of the player, it represents his companion, his entity and his friend," he said. "Music is a glimmer of hope that all our children and people hold onto in darkness," he said.
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Now Jimmy Fallon Is Using Taylor Swift To Suggest Trump Had Sinister Ties To Epstein
Jimmy Fallon is on a roll in taunting President Donald Trump with sexual jokes ― and some are making insinuations about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. (Watch the video below.) On Wednesday the 'Tonight Show' host was back at it again, using Taylor Swift songs to sum up the president's Friday meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Fallon got a big response for noting that Americans are worried that Trump isn't ready for the talks to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine 'since his mind is basically a giant 'Blank Space.' ' Then the comedian waded into very sensitive territory. 'Also, he's distracted by the Epstein scandal. He'll tell Putin it's been a 'Cruel Summer' because everyone thinks 'I Did Something Bad' but I swear everyone on the island was '22.′' 'Oooooh,' the audience reacted in he-really-went-there fashion. Fast-forward to 1:50 for the Swift-Trump bit: To be clear, Trump reportedly has never been investigated over anything involving the late Epstein. The sex offender's hobnobbing with celebrities and politicians has generated high interest in what government files potentially contain about them. And while Trump was reportedly told by Attorney General Pam Bondi that he is mentioned in the files, the context is not publicly known. Trump brought some suspicion on himself by suddenly declaring the files to be a hoax. But some Republicans are backing a bipartisan House push for the release of all the files related to Epstein. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) appears to be hindering the process. Fallon has taunted Trump for a while on his about-face on the Epstein front. On Monday the host noted that the president had hoped for a 'trilateral meeting' of peace talks involving Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy. 'Last time Trump had a trilateral meeting was on Epstein Island,' Fallon cracked. On Tuesday, he again parlayed monologue chatter about the summit into another naughty dig at the commander in chief. 'Trump said that in his meeting with Putin, he will know probably in the first two minutes whether a deal is possible,' the host said. 'It's reassuring when a president talks about ending a war like a Tinder date.' 'Yep,' Fallon continued, 'Trump says that he'll know in two minutes, which makes sense because, according to Stormy Daniels, two minutes is plenty.' Related... A Funny Thing Happened To Ratings When Jimmy Fallon Had Fox News Host As Guest Jimmy Fallon Again Talks Dirty About Trump And We're Here For It Jimmy Fallon's Filthy Trump Burn Over Putin Meeting Gets A 'Whoa' From Audience
WIRED
23 minutes ago
- WIRED
The b-Vibe 360 Plug Backdoor Vibrator Is Beginner-Friendly
I love it when a b-Vibe product comes my way, even if it's a P-spot vibrator, like the b-Vibe 360 Plug. I don't have a prostate, but my partner does, so it makes for a lot of fun to use together when we want to add some anal play to the mix. I gave it a try too (it's called due diligence), to check things out while fully knowing our experiences will differ, but that adds to the intimacy in the moment and the aftercare that follows. Like all b-Vibe sex toys, the 360 Plug is made from body-safe silicone and is ultra-smooth to the touch. However, this doesn't mean you can skip the lube. When it comes to putting anything in the backdoor—body-safe materials with a flared base—lube must always be part of the equation to prevent friction that leads to microtears. According to my partner, lube made for an easy entry that was both comfortable and pleasurable. Good Vibes Courtesy of b-Vibe When we turned on the vibrator with the remote—far easier than most app controls—there was a lot of stimulation going on. Not only does the 360 Plug's shaft and head vibrate, but so does the base that sits perfectly snug against the perianal zone. It was here that we realized why it's called the 360 Plug: the head oscillates, which gives the prostate one hell of a massage. As the person in charge of the remote control (it works up to 30 feet away), we experimented with the six speeds for the rotating head and the six vibration patterns for the perianal zone, and my partner found his happy place somewhere in the middle, with a steady pulse that kept the pleasure uninterrupted. My partner, who doesn't regularly put things in his butt, felt that the 360 Plug could be thicker, with a bigger head. As much as he thought the vibration selection was great, due to the size of the shaft, he was more satisfied with the vibrations stimulating his perianal zone, making that his favorite part of the toy. Because of its size, he declared it great for beginners, noting that people who aren't new to anal aren't going to be impressed with its 'diminutive stature.' He also noted that a bigger shaft and equally bigger head would require less angling and fumbling for one to locate their prostate, which can be tricky for newbies, as it took him a bit. If it had more weight, it would have been even more enjoyable. I suggested that next time he could try the b-Vibe Snug Plug 7, which is a whopping 1.3 pounds and 2.5 inches in diameter. Suddenly, he wasn't so chatty about size. For Folks With Vulvas Courtesy of b-Vibe I can't put my stamp of approval on something I haven't personally tried, even if it wasn't technically designed for my body, so I also gave the 360 Plug a try. I agree with my partner that, with enough lube, it slides in effortlessly and comfortably. Although I don't have a prostate, I did find that the rotating head and vibrating shaft felt good, but not in the same way that my partner did for anatomical reasons. While he thought the internal part should be bigger, I thought it was the ideal size for anal play, and the vibrator for the perianal area did feel pleasant, because the vibrations are strong enough that the rumbling made its way to my vulva. Not my clitoris, just the general area. In other words, if you have a vulva and you're looking for anal play, the 360 Plug could be for you. It's whisper-quiet and 100 percent waterproof. Unfortunately, it only has a one-hour run time and takes two hours to charge. If the charging time is longer than the run time, that always makes me pause, because it should be the other way around. The magnetic proprietary plug can also be an issue if you're prone to losing things, because once it's gone, you need to buy a replacement. It has some minor annoyances, but the b-Vibe 360 Plug is a good, almost great anal vibrator that any gender can enjoy if anal play is on the menu. While those with prostates will find it most enjoyable, anyone who loves some buzz action in their butt can find pleasure too.
