Massive Atlanta art piece depicts trailblazing astronaut

ATLANTA - Some young aspiring astronauts got an out-of-this-world experience in Downtown Atlanta on Monday.

"I want to be somebody who designs the rocket ships," said Ryan Sumner-Lee.

The six-year-old met three trailblazing astronauts who are women at the unveiling of a giant "earthwork" honoring astronaut Stephanie Wilson at Woodruff Park. The gigantic portrait of Wilson was constructed out of dirt, grass, and other organic materials. More than a thousand galactic paintings created by Atlanta-area students surrounded the piece.

Civilian astronaut Dr. Sian Proctor just returned to the planet a few weeks ago. On the SpaceX mission Inspiration4, Proctor became the fourth Black woman to go to space and the first to pilot a spacecraft.

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/massive-atlanta-art-piece-depicts-trailblazing-astronaut

Across Michigan, local Republican Party officials are replacing their county canvassing board members, spurring concerns that the newcomers won’t be interested in certifying future elections in the battleground state.

GOP officials are supposed to nominate 3 people for a canvassing board position.

In Macomb County, they nominated one, Nancy Tiseo, who previously tweeted that Donald Trump should suspend meetings of the Electoral College and have military tribunals investigate fraud claims.

“We’re speechless,” prog-rock legends say of 15-minute performance that included “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight” and tribute to Neil Peart



The Ohio State University Marching Band staged a halftime salute to Rush — and paid tribute to the band’s late drummer Neil Peart — during the Buckeyes football team’s home game Saturday versus Maryland.

The marching band delivered renditions of Rush’s “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight,” “Red Barchetta,” “Fly by Night” and more. Ohio State News reports that for the performance — to capture Peart’s “sonic impact” — the Buckeyes band added expanded their percussion section by adding 20 toms and 20 extra cymbals mounted on four racks.

Almost as impressive as the marching band’s arrangements of the prog-rock classics were the formations the band created on the field: During the halftime show, the marching band spelled out “2112” and “YYZ” — which the OSU crew also performed — as well as creating a three-piece stick figure band complete with Peart’s Rush drumhead.

The 15-minute halftime performance earned the seal of approval from Rush themselves, who tweeted simply, “We’re speechless.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ohio-state-marching-bandhalftime-salute-rush-1239932/

Cambel McLaughlin thought he was being punked. An unapologetic opponent of lockdowns and Covid-19 vaccine skeptic — he is, as he puts it, “pro-medical choice”— the 27-year-old Brit is founder of Jam for Freedom, a group of U.K. musicians that plays for free in public spaces, spreading the anti-lockdown word and sometimes singing songs with lyrics like “You can stick your poison vaccine up your arse.” For their efforts, Jam for Freedom are often hassled by police, and McLaughlin himself says he was arrested for what he calls “breach of Covid regulations” during one show.

This past spring, the car the group used to transport its gear was rendered nearly unusable after an accident, so McLaughlin started a GoFundMe page to help pay for transportation, gas, and legal fees. And one day this past spring, he was shocked to see a £1,000 donation on the site from Eric Clapton.

“I’m, like, this could be fake,” McLaughlin recalls. But when McLaughlin emailed the account listed with the donation, he received a text from the 76-year-old British guitar hero himself. “It was something complimentary, along the lines of, ‘Hey, it’s Eric — great work you’re doing,’?” McLaughlin says. The two later talked by phone, and before McLaughlin knew it, Clapton offered his family’s white, six-person VW Transporter van as a temporary replacement for Jam for Freedom’s wheels. He also gave them a chunk of money (McLaughlin declines to say how much) to buy a new van — and said he might even sit in with the group at some point. Thanks to Clapton’s assistance, Jam for Freedom are now free to spread their message all over the U.K.

In the past, Clapton has been reluctant to voice his political views. As he told Rolling Stone in 1968, “What I’m doing now is just my way of thinking, but if it gets into a paper somewhere, people will say that what I’m saying is the way they ought to think. Which is wrong, because I’m only a musician. If they dig my music, that’s great, but they don’t have to know what’s going on in my head.”

But in recent months Clapton has himself become a leading vaccine skeptic, part of a community that Dr. Anthony Fauci has said is “part of the problem — because you’re allowing yourself to be a vehicle for the virus to be spreading to someone else.” And while never explicitly condemning the lockdown, he’s said “live music might never recover” and joined Van Morrison for three songs that amount to lockdown protest anthems. By way of a friend’s social media account, he’s also detailed what he called his “disastrous” experience after receiving two AstraZeneca shots (“propaganda said the vaccine was safe for everyone,” he wrote).

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/eric-clapton-vaccine-lockdown-racist-comments-1239027/

The Empire State Building will be illuminated in red, white and blue on Saturday to celebrate Fox News’ 25th anniversary.

Fox, which turned 25 years old on Thursday, also hosted a town hall commemorating the two and a half decades that Fox has been on the air, including messages from 136 employees who worked at the network since its onset.

The town hall, which was hosted by Fox Corporation Executive Chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch, CEO Suzanne Scott and FOX News Media President Jay Wallace, featured a video message from Fox Corp. Chairman and the channel's founder's Rupert Murdoch.

“25 years ago we took a big chance on a new news network – first we had to build a professional staff and equipment with studios, then came the biggest problem - getting full distribution. But we felt there was an audience waiting for it,” Murdoch said in a video message. “And we found out millions of Americans whose views and tastes were not reflected on CNN, the long-term monopoly. Nobody thought they could be challenged. Well, we all know what happened. More than 130 of you have been with us every step of the way.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/575841-empire-state-building-to-illuminate-in-red-white-and-blue-for-foxs-25th