HOT: Rally Crying
If there’s been a single day in the Trump presidency when the Prez didn’t insult someone — be it Debra Messing, Mitt Romney, whistleblowers or any of his other many real and perceived “foes” — it’s been a rare occurrence. At last night’s unhinged campaign rally in Minneapolis, a few of Trump’s barbs were aimed at beloved figures from the music world. In his usual obsessive ranting about Hillary Clinton, Trump again bragged about his election victory, saying he “didn’t need Beyoncé and Jay-Z,” which doesn’t at all sound like someone who really, really wanted the support of Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Recycling a popular taunt previously used on Marco Rubio and Adam Schiff, Trump also called another superstar Clinton supporter “little Bruce Springsteen.” (Or maybe it was “Liddle’”?) At least he hasn’t played “Born in the U.S.A.” at a rally yet. At his latest arena bitch-sesh, the president also managed to insult the estate of Minneapolis icon Prince. Organizers slipped “Purple Rain” into the rally playlist, which caused Prince’s estate to condemn Trump and share a letter they received last year from Trump’s campaign lawyers. After the estate sent a request that Trump never use any Prince music in any way, the lawyers wrote back saying, “We write to confirm that the Campaign will not use Prince’s music in connection with its activities going forward.” Like the insults, breaking promises and contractual agreements appears to be another trademark characteristic of Trump, Inc.
President Trump played Prince’s “Purple Rain” tonight at a campaign event in Minneapolis despite confirming a year ago that the campaign would not use Prince’s music. The Prince Estate will never give permission to President Trump to use Prince’s songs. pic.twitter.com/FuMUPzSWOe
— Prince (@prince) October 11, 2019
WARM: Free Lorde? Lorde Free
One of the more amusing types of large-scale internet pranks is when an inside joke blows up and completely confuses context-less outside observers. Sometimes its politically motivated, used to mock enemies — think “corncobbed” (on the left) or the “OK” hand gesture (on the right). But there are also lots of non-partisan examples outside of politics. Take, for example, the recent #FreeLORDE campaign. When news broke that New Zealand was considering a new policy that would fine parents who remove their children from school before they are 16, fans of New Zealand Pop superstar Lorde began making endless jokes about how, because she was under 16 when she left school, she’d somehow run afoul of this new “law” and was jailed. Meanwhile, the policy — widely criticized — never materialized. So Lorde is safe and free and probably cooking up stage set ideas for Kanye West or reviewing onion rings on Instagram. For now.
lorde in the cop car being taken into jail #FreeLORDE pic.twitter.com/tRRRpTgxNJ
— What Would Blair Do? (@__theyarenotyou) October 8, 2019
COLD: Farewell, iTunes
We've known it's been coming for a while now, but Apple took its next big step in killing off iTunes, the digital music (and, eventually, movie and TV) download platform that was introduced in 2001. In the latest operating system update for Mac computers, iTunes is gone, replaced by standalone apps for Podcasts, Apple TV and Music, which is connected to the company’s Apple Music streaming service. The deletion of iTunes is seen as a sign that — with the rise of streaming — downloading digital music (and purchasing it) is on its way out. You’ll still be able to store music in your Music app, but be careful — Apple backs up iTunes purchases with the Apple Music versions, but if you don’t have your settings set correctly, it can gobble up non-iTunes purchases (like, say, MP3 files not on Apple Music). Best bet is to back-up your files yourself, regularly. As a kinda of devious parting gift to iTunes, hackers recently inserted ransomware into the platform’s Windows application. Perhaps it was an inside job — a way for the company to show Mac users they’re way better off without iTunes anyway?