Latest news with #Bass
Western Telegraph
2 hours ago
- General
- Western Telegraph
The Dyffryn Arms, Pembrokeshire, named Pub of the Week
The Dyffryn Arms, affectionately known as "Bessie's," in Pontfaen, Pembrokeshire, is a one-room pub with no bar counter. Beer is served through a sliding hatch, and the absence of Wi-Fi and TV makes conversation the main form of entertainment. Built as a house in 1845, the pub was later converted and has remained a central part of the secluded valley community. (Image: Supplied) It is listed in CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors and boasts a Grade II Listed status. The pub's interior, featuring a mix of high-back settles and benches, is described as having "outstanding national historic importance" by CAMRA. The Dyffryn Arms is one of only two pubs in Wales that serves beer from the cask via a jug, and offers Bass poured from a jug and a variety of bottled beers. The pub has retained its old-world charm and welcoming atmosphere, with its lack of food service and outside toilets. (Image: Supplied) Until December 2023, the pub was run by Bessie Davies, who had worked there for 72 years, and it is now managed by her children. Over the decades, Bessie became a beloved figure in the community, with her dedicated service and warm hospitality earning her the admiration of both locals and visitors. The pub, lovingly known as 'Bessie's' in her honour, is a testament to her enduring legacy. The Dyffryn Arms is a proud representation of the Gwaun Valley community, which has lived in relative isolation for centuries and continues to uphold old Welsh traditions that have disappeared in most parts of the country. The pub's unique aesthetic and charismatic landlord have gained it a loyal following. The Dyffryn Arms is open every day of the week (11 am - 10 pm, Sunday-Friday; 1 pm - 10 pm Saturdays) and is cash-only.
New York Post
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Inside Eminem's drug-'fueled' recording of 'Kim' 25 years ago
True to one of his biggest hits, Eminem lost himself in the music. That's what happened during the making of 'Kim,' the hip-hop icon's most shocking song on his blockbuster album 'The Marshall Mathers LP,' which came out 25 years ago on May 23, 2000. The twisted murder fantasy about killing his then wife Kim Mathers became a horrorcore classic, with Eminem voicing both sides of the fatal blowup in graphic, gruesome detail. 9 Eminem shed his Slim Shady alter ego and revealed his true self on 'The Marshall Mathers LP.' Redferns Advertisement 9 'The Marshall Mathers LP' is the second-best-selling rap album of all time, after 'The Eminem Show.' Amazon 'Now bleed, bitch, bleed! Bleed, bitch, bleed! Bleed!' spits the enraged rapper after slitting Kim's throat. Producer Jeff Bass said that Eminem was 'f–king pissed off' about Kim — who wasn't letting him see their daughter Hailie at that time in their tumultuous relationship — when he came into the studio for one of the drug-'fueled' sessions. Advertisement 'So I came up with this very dark track, and then he literally went into the booth and started rapping about what we hear now on that record,' Bass told The Post. 'He came up with that probably in an hour.' And the recording session turned into a therapy session. 'He was able to get s—t off his chest that really bothered him personally,' said Bass. 'Obviously, he didn't kill anybody, but … there's some truth in some of it.' As the first song written for 'The Marshall Mathers LP' — which took its title from Eminem's real name — 'Kim' revealed a more personal side of the rapper who had adopted an alter ego for his previous album, 1999's 'The Slim Shady LP.' And while there were bigger hits such as 'The Real Slim Shady,' 'The Way I Am' and 'Stan' that helped propel his third studio LP to over 11 million sales in the US, the rawness of 'Kim' cut deep. 'It was not a radio record, but it was one of the most powerful records on this particular album,' said Bass. '[He] got to show the world another side of who he is.' Advertisement 9 'We would work in the studios for, like, 20 hours a day,' said producer Jeff Bass of recording 'The Marshall Mathers LP' with Eminem. Jeff Bass/Instagram 9 Eminem was married to Kim Mathers from 1999 to 2001 and then again for a few months in 2006. Getty Images But the track — which was a prequel to ' '97 Bonnie & Clyde' on 'The Slim Shady LP,' where Eminem and daughter Hailie dispose of Kim's corpse — scared Eminem's own label. 'Interscope [Records] called for a meeting, and they were like, 'What are we going to do with this? Now you're pushing the envelope,'' recalled Bass. 'And we're like, 'Well, it's freedom of speech, so we're allowed to say anything we want to say, right?'' Advertisement But 'Kim' was deemed too graphic to even be featured on the 'clean' version of 'The Marshall Mathers LP' — no amount of censoring was going to get rid of its murderous narrative. So the song was replaced by the 'South Park'-sampling 'The Kids' on the 'clean' version, leading many to buy that in addition to the explicit version in the days before streaming. 9 Eminem and longtime producer Dr. Dre won Best Rap Video at the 2000 VMAs for 'Forget About Dre.' FilmMagic, Inc 'Which is why I think it was so successful,' said Bass. 'It was brilliant.' But later in 2000, Kim sued Eminem for defamation over the song's lyrics, and they reached a settlement. 'Kim' was the third song that Eminem recorded about his ex-wife, who he was married to from 1999 to 2001 and then again in 2006 for only a few months. The first of those tunes was 'Searchin' ' on the rapper's 1996 indie debut 'Infinite,' which Bass also produced along with his brother Mark after they discovered Eminem in their hometown of Detroit. By the time they got to 'The Marshall Mathers LP,' they were in a nonstop groove. 9 Eminem performed at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards at NYC's Radio City Music Hall. Getty Images 'We would work in the studios for, like, 20 hours a day, and we would just come up with song after song after song after song,' said Bass, who shared production duties with Dr. Dre, Mel-Man and the 45 King. 'We just would keep creating to see what flowed together well on an album.' Advertisement But in addition to losing themselves in the music, they were also losing themselves in drugs. 'We were doing lots of drugs,' said Bass. 'It fueled what we were coming up with … We hadn't admitted yet that we were drug addicts. So to us, this was normal, just getting high, going in the studio, writing all this music, recording the music. Opioids — that was the choice of drug.' 9 'In my mind, it's always a possibility,' said producer Jeff Bass of possibly working with Eminem again. Jeff Bass/Instagram Bass would continue to work with Em on 2002's 'The Eminem Show,' producing and co-writing the hits 'Without Me,' 'Cleanin' Out My Closet' and 'Superman.' Advertisement 'We still were doing drugs, we were still doing all kinds of stupid s–t, but, you know, had major success,' he said. Then Bass produced and co-wrote Eminem's No. 1 smash 'Lose Yourself,' from his movie '8 Mile,' which won an Oscar for Best Original Song. 9 Eminem joined the Dr. Dre-led halftime show at the 2022 Super Bowl. Getty Images 'It was the biggest thing that I probably ever wrote,' he said. 'For me, musically, that was my pinnacle.' Advertisement After Bass took a break from working with Eminem on 2004's 'Encore,' the pair reunited for 2009's 'Relapse,' which would be their last album together. 'We were high, and it felt like s–t was just falling apart, but that was the drugs,' said Bass. 'And we didn't have a falling-out or anything. It was just creative differences.' Eminem released 'The Marshall Mathers LP 2' in 2013, but like most sequels, it didn't quite live up to the original. Still, Bass said, 'there's real nice, shining moments on that album.' 9 Eminem performed 'Stan' with Elton John at the 2001 Grammy Awards, where he won three trophies. Getty Images Advertisement Although Bass hasn't talked to Eminem 'in probably 17 years,' he doesn't rule out working together again. 'In my mind, it's always a possibility,' he said. 'And the funny thing is, our studios here in [Ferndale] Michigan are literally across the street from each other.' But they will always share in the legacy of 'The Marshall Mathers LP,' which is the second-best-selling rap album of all time — after 'The Eminem Show' — and is widely considered to be the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer's greatest work. 'At the end of the day, you know, it's a piece of work that will just be here in perpetuity, forever,' said Bass. 'It's a piece of history, which is amazing to be a part of.'
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Los Angeles made big promises for the Olympics. Can it deliver by 2028?
LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles officials brimmed with confidence a decade ago as they urged the International Olympic Committee to make the city the first in the U.S. to host the Summer Olympics since 1996. 'Follow the sun,' they said in the official bid for the Games in 2015. Los Angeles promised terrific weather, a $1 billion Olympic Village to house athletes, a state-of-the-art transit system that would allow for a car-free Olympics and a ready-to-go network of stadiums and arenas. But three years before the opening of the 2028 Summer Olympics, those ambitious promises have been scaled back, supplanted by obstacles that are threatening to undercut preparations for an event that would test this city's wits and resources even in the best of times. Los Angeles is struggling to recover from the calamitous fires in January, and is girding for a shortage of workers and supplies just as preparations for the Games reach their height. The city government is confronting a projected deficit of nearly $1 billion, and the mayor is facing the threat of a tough reelection campaign. The Trump administration has been antagonistic to this overwhelmingly Democratic city and state, raising concerns about whether the federal government will come through on all of the $4 billion in funding promised for Olympics security and transportation. Economists fear that a recession may be on the horizon that could, along with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, dampen ticket sales from overseas visitors. 'I assume they are competent enough to pull it off -- we have the infrastructure built,' said Joel Kotkin, a fellow in urban studies at Chapman University in Orange County. 'But I can't for the life of me see why you would want to put your effort there. Given what the city and the region now face, why would you want to put more stress on it?' The city's mayor, Karen Bass, and Casey Wasserman, chair of the Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee, said they were confident the Games would be a success and a needed boost for the city, as it recovers from the wounds of this past year. 'Our goal as an Olympics is to make LA a better city than it was before the Olympics,' Wasserman said. Still, Bass acknowledged there were reasons for worry: that the fires might divert the attention of city officials from the Olympics; that President Donald Trump might cut off urgently needed funds; that the federal crackdown on immigration, along with the competition for workers, could create a last-minute crunch. 'I think it is appropriate to be concerned,' Bass said in an interview. 'It just presents us challenges that we have to overcome. But what I'm often reminded of is the condition of the city in 1984, in '83, when we were in a very, very serious recession, and the economic outlook was very, very bleak. And we were able to come out of it in a major way.' The 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles were widely hailed as a triumph, in no small part because of Peter Ueberroth, the sports executive who was the chair of the Los Angeles Olympics, as well as Tom Bradley, who served as the mayor from 1973 to 1993. Ueberroth was named man of the year by Time magazine based on the success of that Olympics. From the Super Bowl to the Oscars, Los Angeles has plenty of experience with high-profile spectacles. The city will also host World Cup matches in 2026 and the Super Bowl in 2027. City officials said those would amount to a practice run for the monthlong back-to-back Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Summer Games will far exceed those other major events in scope, attendance and duration. The Games will cost close to $7 billion to stage, and are expected to draw more than 10,000 athletes and potentially millions of tourists, all of whom have to be housed, fed and moved to over 40 venues across the vast expanse of the Los Angeles region. 'The Olympics is hosting seven Super Bowls a day for 30 days,' Wasserman said. The success of 1984 was invoked by Eric M. Garcetti, who was the city's mayor from 2013 to 2022, as he pitched the Olympics to the world while seeking to reassure many of his constituents that the Games would be a lift for Los Angeles' economy and global reputation. But that vision presented by Garcetti and other city officials 10 years ago proved, in many cases, to be more ambitious than the final plan. The $1 billion Olympic Village, which would have been turned into permanent housing, was abandoned because of its cost; the athletes will instead be housed at dormitories at the University of California, Los Angeles. The volleyball competition will take place at the Alamitos Beach in Long Beach, rather than on the beach at Santa Monica, famous for its pier and Ferris wheel. The Santa Monica city government, facing a projected five-year deficit, backed out. Canoe slalom, originally envisioned to be played at Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area in Encino, a 30-minute drive from downtown Los Angeles, has been moved 1,300 miles away to Oklahoma City, where an established slalom canoe venue course is already in place. And it has become clear that one of the central selling points of locating the Games in Los Angeles -- the events would be staged at existing venues without massive amounts of construction -- also means there will be little visible legacy of the 2028 Games. 'LA is not quite ready to be a mega-event capital and welcome all these people,' said Alissa Walker, editor of Torched, a newsletter examining the city's preparations for the Olympics. 'And what do we get out of it?' In their original bid, Los Angeles officials -- aware of the city's reputation for traffic -- raised the idea of this being a car-free Olympics. Early plans pledged to have '100% of ticketed spectators travel to competition venues by public transport, walking or cycling.' Now, Bass and Wasserman have played down the notion of a carless Olympics. 'What is meant by that is not that there will be no cars during the Olympics, but that if you want to go to a venue, take public transportation,' Bass said. 'It's going to be too difficult to support a car.' Some of the transit improvements envisioned a decade ago have not been completed. Monica Rodriguez, a Los Angeles City Council member who traveled to Paris last year for the Olympics and who is a frequent critic of Bass, said the Olympics preparations have been 'a little behind.' As an example, she pointed to one unfinished part of the region's $120 billion rail expansion plan: the East San Fernando Light Rail. Those transit projects that will be completed, including an electric train, or people mover, on a 2.25-mile track serving Los Angeles International Airport, will meet the Olympic deadline because the original 2024 date of the Games slipped to 2028. (Los Angeles originally bid for the 2024 Games; the IOC, in an unusual dual announcement, gave the 2024 Games to Paris and the 2028 Games to Los Angeles). Jules Boykoff, a government and politics professor at Pacific University in Oregon who has written extensively about the Olympics, said that Los Angeles was facing a 'triple whammy' as host of these Games: the fires, the budget crisis and the 'Trump wild card factor.' Any one of those factors, he said, could complicate preparations for the Olympics. 'Every hour that City Hall staff puts toward the Olympics really doesn't go toward wildfire recovery,' Boykoff said. Paul Krekorian, who is overseeing the city's role in preparing for the Olympics, said the fires would not distract from the city's efforts. He, too, noted that the nation was mired in the Great Depression leading up to the 1932 Olympics, which Los Angeles also hosted, and a recession before the 1984 Olympics. 'We're used to having to deal with challenges and succeeding despite that,' Krekorian said. For Los Angeles officials who are struggling with the city's own financial problems, a key question is whether Wasserman's committee will meet its target of raising $7.1 billion in corporate sponsorships, contributions and ticket sales. Should it fall short, the city will be responsible for covering the first $270 million of any gap, with the state -- facing its own $12 billion deficit -- responsible for the next $270 million. Wasserman said he had obtained commitments of $5.1 billion from benefactors and corporate sponsors and was confident that the rest of the $7.1 billion would come in ticket sales. Asked about the committee's fundraising efforts, Bass responded: 'We will be ready for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and we expect that LA28 will be successful in its fundraising efforts.' Her predecessor, Garcetti, said that he attended the 1984 Olympics at the age of 13 and watched Carl Lewis, the track and field star, deliver one of the best performances of his career. (He won four gold medals that year.) Garcetti said he was as confident that the Summer Games would be a success as he was when he campaigned for them years ago. He predicted that Los Angeles would be able to use the stage of the Olympics to present a story of recovery. 'LA is the city of comeback stories,' Garcetti said. 'It's a script that writes and rewrites itself. Forget the Olympics. Whether it's earthquakes, riots, civil unrest, fires. The rising from the ashes -- quite literally this time -- is the story waiting to be told.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Copyright 2025
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
LA's mayor declared a homelessness emergency. Now, some at City Hall want to move past it
LOS ANGELES – It was the first and possibly the most dramatic act by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass after she took office: declaring a city emergency on homelessness. That move, backed by the City Council, gave Bass the power to award no-bid contracts to nonprofit groups and to rent hotels and motels for interim homeless housing. It also allowed Bass to waive regulations limiting the size and scale of certain types of affordable housing. Now, two and a half years into Bass' tenure, some on the council are looking to reassert their authority, by rescinding the homelessness emergency declaration. Councilmember Tim McOsker said he wants to return city government to its normal processes and procedures, as spelled out in the City Charter. Leases, contracts and other decisions related to homelessness would again be taken up at public meetings, with council members receiving testimony, taking written input and ultimately voting. "Let's come back to why these processes exist," McOsker said in an interview. "They exist so the public can be made aware of what we're doing with public dollars." McOsker said that, even if the declaration is rescinded, the city will need to address "the remainder of this crisis." For example, he said, the homeless services that the city currently provides could become permanent. The city could also push county agencies - which provide public health, mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment - to do more, McOsker said. Bass, for her part, pushed back on McOsker's efforts this week, saying through an aide that the emergency declaration "has resulted in homelessness decreasing for the first time in years, bucking statewide and nationwide trends." "The Mayor encourages Council to resist the urge of returning to failed policies that saw homelessness explode in Los Angeles," said Bass spokesperson Clara Karger. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, also known as LAHSA, reported last summer that homelessness declined by 2.2% in the city of L.A., the first decrease in several years. The number of unsheltered homeless people - those who live in interim housing, such as hotels and motels, but do not have a permanent residence - dropped by more than 10% to 29,275, down from 32,680. The push from McOsker and at least some of his colleagues comes at a pivotal time. Last month, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted to pull more than $300 million from LAHSA, the city-county agency that provides an array of services to the unhoused population. Meanwhile, the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, which has been battling the city in court over its response to the crisis, is pushing for a federal judge to place the city's homelessness initiatives into a receivership. Matthew Umhofer, an attorney for the alliance, said the city has "very little to show" for its emergency declaration in terms of progress on the streets. "It's our view that a state of emergency around homelessness is appropriate, but that the city is not engaged in conduct that reflects the seriousness of the crisis - and is not doing what it needs to do in order to solve the crisis," he said. Inside Safe, Bass' signature program to bring homeless people indoors, has moved 4,316 people into interim housing since it began in 2022, according to a LAHSA dashboard covering the period ending April 30. Of that total, nearly 1,040 went into permanent housing, while nearly 1,600 returned to homelessness. Council members voted this week to extend the mayor's homelessness emergency declaration for another 90 days, with McOsker casting the lone dissenting vote. However, they have also begun taking preliminary steps toward ending the declaration. Last week, while approving the city budget, the council created a new bureau within the Los Angeles Housing Department to monitor spending on homeless services. On Tuesday, the council asked city policy analysts to provide strategies to ensure that nonprofit homeless service providers are paid on a timely basis, "even if there is no longer a declared emergency." The following day, McOsker and Councilmember Nithya Raman - who heads the council's housing and homeless committee - co-authored a proposal asking city policy analysts to report back in 60 days with a plan addressing the "operational, legal and fiscal impacts" of terminating the emergency declaration. That proposal, also signed by Councilmembers John Lee and Ysabel Jurado, now heads to Raman's committee for deliberations. While some on the council have already voiced support for repealing the emergency declaration, others say they are open to the idea - but only if there is a seamless transition. "I want to make sure that if we do wind it down, that we do it responsibly," said Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who represents the southwest San Fernando Valley. Blumenfield wants to protect Executive Directive 1, which was issued by Bass shortly after she declared the local emergency, by enshrining its provisions into city law. The directive lifts height limits and other planning restrictions for 100% affordable housing developments, which charge rents below market rates. Raman said the city must confront a number of issues stemming from the homelessness crisis, such as improving data collection. But she, too, voiced interest in exploring the end of the emergency declaration. "This is also an extremely important conversation, and it is one I am eager to have," she said. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
L.A.'s mayor declared a homelessness emergency. Now, some at City Hall want to move past it
It was the first and possibly the most dramatic act by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass after she took office: declaring a city emergency on homelessness. That move, backed by the City Council, gave Bass the power to award no-bid contracts to nonprofit groups and to rent hotels and motels for interim homeless housing. It also allowed Bass to waive regulations limiting the size and scale of certain types of affordable housing. Now, two and a half years into Bass' tenure, some on the council are looking to reassert their authority, by rescinding the homelessness emergency declaration. Councilmember Tim McOsker said he wants to return city government to its normal processes and procedures, as spelled out in the City Charter. Leases, contracts and other decisions related to homelessness would again be taken up at public meetings, with council members receiving testimony, taking written input and ultimately voting. "Let's come back to why these processes exist," McOsker said in an interview. "They exist so the public can be made aware of what we're doing with public dollars." McOsker said that, even if the declaration is rescinded, the city will need to address "the remainder of this crisis." For example, he said, the homeless services that the city currently provides could become permanent. The city could also push county agencies — which provide public health, mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment — to do more, McOsker said. Read more: An emergency declaration gives Karen Bass new powers. How will she use them? Bass, for her part, pushed back on McOsker's efforts this week, saying through an aide that the emergency declaration "has resulted in homelessness decreasing for the first time in years, bucking statewide and nationwide trends." "The Mayor encourages Council to resist the urge of returning to failed policies that saw homelessness explode in Los Angeles," said Bass spokesperson Clara Karger. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, also known as LAHSA, reported last summer that homelessness declined by 2.2% in the city of L.A., the first decrease in several years. The number of unsheltered homeless people — those who live in interim housing, such as hotels and motels, but do not have a permanent residence — dropped by more than 10% to 29,275, down from 32,680. The push from McOsker and at least some of his colleagues comes at a pivotal time. Last month, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted to pull more than $300 million from LAHSA, the city-county agency that provides an array of services to the unhoused population. Meanwhile, the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, which has been battling the city in court over its response to the crisis, is pushing for a federal judge to place the city's homelessness initiatives into a receivership. Matthew Umhofer, an attorney for the alliance, said the city has "very little to show" for its emergency declaration in terms of progress on the streets. "It's our view that a state of emergency around homelessness is appropriate, but that the city is not engaged in conduct that reflects the seriousness of the crisis — and is not doing what it needs to do in order to solve the crisis," he said. Inside Safe, Bass' signature program to bring homeless people indoors, has moved 4,316 people into interim housing since it began in 2022, according to a LAHSA dashboard covering the period ending April 30. Of that total, nearly 1,040 went into permanent housing, while nearly 1,600 returned to homelessness. Read more: County supervisors create new homeless agency, despite warnings from L.A. mayor Council members voted this week to extend the mayor's homelessness emergency declaration for another 90 days, with McOsker casting the lone dissenting vote. However, they have also begun taking preliminary steps toward ending the declaration. Last week, while approving the city budget, the council created a new bureau within the Los Angeles Housing Department to monitor spending on homeless services. On Tuesday, the council asked city policy analysts to provide strategies to ensure that nonprofit homeless service providers are paid on a timely basis, "even if there is no longer a declared emergency." The following day, McOsker and Councilmember Nithya Raman — who heads the council's housing and homeless committee — co-authored a proposal asking city policy analysts to report back in 60 days with a plan addressing the "operational, legal and fiscal impacts" of terminating the emergency declaration. That proposal, also signed by Councilmembers John Lee and Ysabel Jurado, now heads to Raman's committee for deliberations. While some on the council have already voiced support for repealing the emergency declaration, others say they are open to the idea — but only if there is a seamless transition. "I want to make sure that if we do wind it down, that we do it responsibly," said Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who represents the southwest San Fernando Valley. Blumenfield wants to protect Executive Directive 1, which was issued by Bass shortly after she declared the local emergency, by enshrining its provisions into city law. The directive lifts height limits and other planning restrictions for 100% affordable housing developments, which charge rents below market rates. Raman said the city must confront a number of issues stemming from the homelessness crisis, such as improving data collection. But she, too, voiced interest in exploring the end of the emergency declaration. "This is also an extremely important conversation, and it is one I am eager to have," she said. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
