American Catholics are showing strong support for their newly elected spiritual leader, Pope Leo XIV, just one month after his election to the papacy. A new survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC…

ChatGPT seems to have pushed some users towards delusional or conspiratorial thinking, according to a recent feature in The New York Times.

Such a cruel and heartbreaking disease. Unfortunately most people know all too well what it’s like to have to watch a loved one slowly fade away as they battle with Alzheimer’s. It’s the most common cause of dementia, affecting 1 in 9 people over the age of 65, and it’s estimated that over 7 million people are living with it right now in the United States. It’s also a subject that’s been touched on quite a few times in country music, with songs like “Numbers On The Cars” by Riley Green or “Ellsworth” by Rascal Flatts touching on the pain of watching someone you love slowly lose their mind to the cruel disease. And back in 2015, Eric Church performed a song describing his own personal battle with watching his grandfather suffer from Alzheimer’s. Church’s grandfather was the police chief of Granite Falls, North Carolina, and was the inspiration for the name of his Chief album (which has since become Church’s nickname too). But during an appearance at CRS, Church became emotional recalling the pain of seeing his grandfather battle with Alzheimer’s and slowly slip away: “This is probably a bad decision but I’m gonna play something nobody’s heard and I’m still writing and I still write songs and I don’t know if it’ll ever be cut or anything, but I just wanna play something new, I feel like. When I was 10… 9 or 10 years old my grandfather, who the Chief album was named after, got Alzheimer’s which is a horrible disease. And the hardest issue I had with it was continuing to have a relationship when you see that person don’t remember you. And I was scared of it, I feared it, and this song kind of addresses that. It’s not exactly a party number but, see what you think.” The gut-wrenching song captures all the emotion of watching a loved one struggle with the heartbreaking disease, from realizing that he doesn’t even recognize you to being thankful that they’re still here at all. And as someone who watched my own grandfather suffer with the disease and being able to relate so much to the story, it’s gut-wrenching. While Church never recorded the song, titled “I Know Who He Is,” it was eventually released by William Michael Morgan on his 2016 debut album Vinyl. Casey Beathard is listed as the sole songwriter on the track, so it’s not clear how much of a hand Church had in writing it, but Beathard is one of his frequent collaborators who’s written some of his biggest hits (as well as some of his best album cuts). And William Michael Morgan is an incredible, traditional country artist who more than does the song justice. I always thought he was going to be a superstar and never feel like he really got a fair shake after making his debut at the height of “bro-country.” But it’s a shame that Church never recorded the song for one of his own albums, because it’s clearly a personal one to him. Maybe someday we’ll get a version from the Chief, but until then at least we have his live performance and this studio version from William Michael Morgan. The post If You’ve Ever Had To Watch A Parent Battle With Alzheimer’s, This Unreleased Eric Church Song Will Break You first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

California Dreams Went Hard #90saesthetic

The Who were a fundamental part of the evolution of Rock and Roll music, and the band's guitarist and main songwriter, Pete Townshend, was always the central figure. Alongside Keith Moon, John Entwistle, and Roger Daltrey, he helped the band find its perfect sound. Townshend had the chance to be part of that revolution and to witness up close all the amazing artists who emerged in the wake of what American Blues and Rock musicians had started in the 1950s. Over the years, he spoke about many artists from that era, and there is one guitarist he said was so good it felt like he was from another planet. The guitarist that Pete Townshend said was from another planet That guitarist is Jimi Hendrix, who Pete Townshend had the chance to meet and hang out with. He praised the musician recalling, in an interview at the New York Public Library in 2012, the funny story of the 1967 Monterey Festival, in which The Who didn't want to play after Hendrix like the promoters planned. (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) "We were invited and then I heard that Jimi (Hendrix) was going to appear. When we got there, for some reason we hadn't taken our big Marshall amps. Jimi had taken his, we hired some amplifiers over there. We were always doing things on the cheap and then Derek gave me the running order. It was that Jimi went on before The Who. I took Derek aside and I said: 'This is wrong'. He said: 'What you mean?'" "I said: 'Jimi Hendrix got to be the most profoundly important artist of this generation. I was thinking kind of in terms of  music variety. You know, the artist that closes the show is the most important. I wanted Jimi to be higher up on the list and he said: 'Oh, it doesn't matter'. I said: 'It does, I don't think it would be appropriate for The Who to follow Jimi Hendrix, he should be on after us." Pete Townshend continued: "He said: 'Come and talk to Jimi'. Jimi had just taken some very, very powerful LSD and he was standing on a chair playing. He was such an amazing player, if you saw Jimi Hendrix perform you would know what I mean. If you didn't, well, I'm sorry. Because he was something else, it's ok to hear the records but God, this guy in the flesh was just from another planet. He had the skills of a Shaman." "I never quite understood how he did what he did. He seemed to be able to come alive, create light and color. I never, ever took LSD to watch Jimi play, I was far too terrified just in my normal skin. But I used to see stuff, I think I'm slightly psychic, there's no question about that. But (he) was just the most incredible performer, elegant, graceful and beautiful. (...) When he was on stage he looked like a god." Afterwards, when Pete and the concert organizer talked with Jimi, The Who's member said he was a bit worried about going after him on stage. Hendrix's answer was: "Yeah, I would be" (laughs). But then they tossed a coin and Jimi lost, so he played after the band. Pete Townshend said no one could play like Jimi Hendrix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5Lvc1a76dU&pp=ygUVamltaSBoZW5kcml4IG1vbnRlcmV5 Jimi Hendrix changed the course of guitar playing and was responsible for how Rock, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal evolved in the following years. Obviously, being a huge inspiration for countless artists, many musicians tried to emulate his playing and to try to sound like him. However, as Pete Townshend told Guitar.com, he believes no one could play like the late guitarist. “Hendrix, although he played single lines, he was such an elegant, remarkable, decorative player as well, and just in a different league, I think. I’d like to say I was influenced by him. But who in their right mind would back that up today – even some of the shredders of the modern world – and say they could cover what he does?” “And even if you can, you can’t make it speak the way he did, and of course, the other thing, which is not shared often, which is unless you were there, you kind of missed 80 to 90 per cent of where the magic was. He was just such an extraordinary presence once he walked onto the stage with a guitar. It was kind of weird. It was almost like he was some kind of angelic, seismic, metaphysical force, who seemed to have light rays coming out of him, and then, as soon as he walked offstage, it would switch off.” “He was an extraordinary presence. And that definitely made what he did as a player penetrate in a soulful way as well as musically. So those early recordings – they were great, of course – but I always felt they were missing something. Like they’re missing one bite of magic,” Jimi Hendrix said. How Townshend met Jimi Hendrix Pete first had the chance to see Hendrix in England when the musician was promoting his first album "Are You Experienced". At the time he was managed by The Animals bassist Chas Chandler. Townshend told Rolling Stone in 2019, that it was a cosmic experience seeing him. He described him as a brilliant, wonderful and inventive guitar player. “Yeah, well, that was a cosmic experience. It was at Blaze’s, at a nightclub in London. He was really amazing. I think you had to have seen Jimi Hendrix to really understand what he was about. I met him, of course, because he was on our record label. He’d come to the studio, he came with his manager Chas Chandler who was the bass player of The Animals. Chas had left and gone into management, discovered Jimi Hendrix, put a band together." Pete Townshend continued: "Jimi was unfamiliar with the kind of way Cream and The Who work on stage with their equipment. He asked for some advice about amplifiers. So I said, ‘Well, I’ve been using Marshall, and I found this new amp, the high-watt, I would suggest you buy one of each.’ So he did. I think on Marshall but, anyway, he started to play, and of course, he was a brilliant player, a wonderful player – very inventive." "But he had the most beautiful voice. He wasn’t a great singer, but he had a beautiful voice, a smokey voice, you know, really sexy voice. And when I’ve seen him in the studio, he had this military jacket that I suppose was supposed to evoke the hippy era. It was covered in dust and dandruff, it just looked scruffy. I thought, ‘Well, this guy might turn out to be okay,” Pete Townshend said. Jimi Hendrix tragically passed away in 1970 at the age of 27. His amazing career as a musician lasted only 8 years, starting in 1962 and being a sideman for other artists, including Little Richard for a while. It was only in 1967 that the musician had the chance to release his first album with his own band. With the group he only had the chance to release four albums during his lifetime. The post The guitarist that Pete Townshend said was from another planet appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.

Mustache ? Daddy Issues | Tré Lamb #standupcomedy

Mail carriers become fixtures in the communities they serve and are often the first people to realize something is wrong when it comes to elderly community members. Sometimes mail carriers are the only people elderly community members interact with on a regular basis so it's not uncommon for them to become like extended family. Home health aids and even pets become familiar with the regular mail carrier, looking forward to daily hellos. A North Texas mailman, Ian Burke worked the same route for two years, becoming familiar with the people that resided in the homes. During that time he got to know a wheelchair bound Vietnam veteran and is dog Floyd, who was just a puppy when Burke first met him. As life goes, things change which resulted in the mailman being assigned a new route while a college took his old one. This change lasted for about a year before Burke was delivered some unfortunate news. black and white short coated medium sized dog lying on green grass during daytime Photo by Bianca Ackermann on Unsplash The mail carrier that took over Burke's route informed him that the elderly man passed away leaving his dog all alone. He shared with his coworker that the dog was in the Denton Animal Shelter and was currently up for adoption. Burke knew exactly what he needed to do. The mailman couldn't let the dog go home with strangers so he hopped in his car first thing in the morning to stand outside of the shelter waiting for it to open. He was going to be Floyd's new owner, there was no doubt in his mind that the dog belonged with him, but would Floyd still be there? Would the pooch still remember the mailman after a whole year of him being away? After all, they only had brief interactions each week."I went down to the shelter at about 10 AM is when they opened, I got there at 9:50 to make sure I was first in line. I kinda felt responsible to take care of him. I think he [the previous owner] would be pleased to know that his former mailman is taking good care of his dog," Burke tells KENS 5. "It's probably one of the best things that the postal service inadvertently issued me."Burke is hopeful that sharing his story will encourage other people to look for dogs at their local animal shelter, though he knows his bond with Floyd is unique. Man shares a joyful moment with his dog in a sunny field.Photo credit: Canva"I don't take it lightly, you know, like that this is just some random dog that I'm adopting. This is a dog that was loved and cherished by a former customer of mine," Burke explains to the outlet before recalling the first time he met Floyd, "and he got out the door and he charged at me, right, a little puppy."Animal shelters are often overcrowded and not every animal that comes through their doors are strays. When a pet owner dies and there's no instructions or agreement in place on who will care for the animal, they can wind up in the shelter. Thankfully for Floyd, a forever home was someone that has known him since he was a puppy. The duo were able to pick right up where they left off like they were always meant to be together.

His first creative foray.