Spain, a popular European vacation destination, is reviving pandemic-era mask rules in healthcare settings as influenza cases spike ahead of winter. Health officials report a sharp increase in flu infections, compounded by ongoing COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses. Hospitals face growing strain, prompting urgent preventative actions to shield vulnerable groups like the elderly and immunocompromised. […]

The post Tim Walz Says Calling Him Ret@rded is Inciting Violence Towards Him appeared first on SALTY.

Anthropic's CEO shared his thoughts on the economics of AI and the risk-taking of competitors, saying some were "YOLO-ing" with regard to spending.

I mean, it seems like he was right? I remember when reality singing competitions first burst onto the scene back in the early 2000s. Believe it or not, back then American Idol was the biggest show on TV. The first few seasons of the competition, Idol was a certified cultural phenomenon and gave us some massive superstars like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. It also inspired spinoffs like Nashville Star, which launched the careers of artists like Miranda Lambert, Chris Young and Kacey Musgraves, and of course, The Voice. These days though, these shows are largely irrelevant when it comes to launching music careers. I couldn’t tell you a single winner from the past decade of any of these shows, and winning is far from the guarantee of success that it once was. But even back when these shows were still semi-relevant, Eric Church made it clear that he wasn’t a fan. Church is a guy who built his career playing bars and dirty clubs, back before going viral on TikTok or winning a singing competition provided a shortcut to stardom. And after he became one of the biggest stars in country music on the back of his 2011 album Chief and mega-hit “Springsteen,” Church ruffled feathers with his comments on reality singing competitions during an interview with Rolling Stone: “Honestly, if Blake Shelton and Cee Lo Green turn around in a red chair, you got a deal? That’s crazy. I don’t know what would make an art­ist do that. You’re not an artist. Once your career becomes about some­thing other than the music, then that’s what it is. I’ll never make that mistake. I don’t care if I starve.” The comments didn’t sit well with artists like Miranda Lambert, who not only got her start on a TV singing competition but had also taken Church on tour as an opener back in 2010, something that she reminded Church of when she fired back: Thanks Eric Church for saying I'm not a real artist. Or @kelly_clarkson, @carrieunderwood & @KeithUrban. Your welcome for the tour in 2010. — Miranda Lambert (@mirandalambert) April 30, 2012 And Blake Shelton also expressed his disappointment with the comments from Church: “I wish I misunderstood this… Why? Just why?” All the backlash forced Church to go into damage control, clarifying that his comments weren’t directed at any of the artists who got their start on those shows, but were simply an observation that the shows present themselves as a shortcut to stardom that, in reality, doesn’t exist: “The comment I made to Rolling Stone was part of a larger commentary on these types of reality television shows and the perception they create, not the artists involved with the shows themselves. The shows make it appear that artists can shortcut their way to success. There are a lot of artists due to their own perseverance that have gone on to be successful after appearing on these shows, but the real obstacles come after the cameras stop rolling. Every artist has to follow up television appearances with dedication towards their craft, but these shows tend to gloss over that part and make it seem like you can be ordained into stardom. I have a lot of respect for what artists like Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, and my friend Miranda Lambert have gone on to accomplish. This piece was never intended to tear down any individual and I apologize to anybody I offended in trying to shed light on this issue. I am grateful for all of the artists and fans that have supported me along my journey and certainly did not mean for my comments to undermine their talent and achievements.” The feud didn’t last long, with Miranda later coming out and saying that she understands artists sometimes say things during interviews that come out wrong: “I think that anybody can get roped into a really bad interview situation, and I’ve had things printed about me that sounded way worse than they were. I know he said what he said, but it died off just like anything else that happens. Everybody loves to call it a feud. It’s not really a feud, it’s just, ‘Dude, you totally messed up, and you know it,’ and you move on.” And the two have even gone on to write together in recent years, penning the Jon Pardi & Lauren Alaina duet “Don’t Blame It On Whiskey” a couple years ago. Looking back at his comments now, it seems like he was on to something. I mean sure, there were a few artists who appeared on those shows who got famous, but I would venture to guess that most people don’t even realize Miranda Lambert or Chris Young were on a reality show. They didn’t become stars because they finished third on Nashville Star. They did it because they put in all the work afterwards that was required to get to where they are today – which is something that no reality show can replace, especially today.The post Remember When Eric Church Accidentally Started A Feud With Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton After His Comments On Reality Singing Competition Shows? first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Marc Thiessen shredded Democrats over their opposition to narco-terrorist strikes and their suggestions that these terrorists are imminent threats. Watch: I love how he lays out the facts with Obama’s drone strikes. . . .

One of the most important British guitarists of all time, Ritchie Blackmore entered Rock history as a member of Deep Purple and Rainbow, becoming an influence on countless musicians worldwide. He was part of an extraordinary generation of guitar players who gained prominence in the late 60s and early 70s, contributing to the evolution of Hard Rock music. Throughout his career, he commented on and rated many of his peers, including Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page. How Ritchie Blackmore rates Jimmy Page as a guitarist Ritchie Blackmore respects Jimmy Page as a guitarist but also criticized him a few times. "I've said it before. (Page he's a strange guitar player. He's not the type of guy you can say is brilliant! No musical theory, but he has a way of writing good riffs, things like 'Kashmir' and some of the other Zeppelin stuff, his riffs were great! He's not a player I would attack. He puts down a very coloured construction to a song, he's a very colourful player of the guitar. It's pleasing to hear because I don't feel I have to be on my toes all the time and fence with somebody. He's not the fastest gunslinger in town, you know? You can get so fast that it gets silly, but Jimmy's not like that. There are a lot of guys doing that now, though, going berserk on the fretboard and I feel like telling them to settle down, say something, what is all this? It's like quoting Shakespeare at 100 miles per hour. It's like having sex for five minutes listening to some of these guys," Ritchie Blackmore told Kerrang magazine in 1985 after being asked to rate Page's playing. He was never really a big fan of Led Zeppelin, although he was a good friend of their late drummer John Bonham. Ritchie said he knew Page would be a star from the moment he saw him play Curiously, Page and Blackmore were born in the same village, and Clapton was not very far from them either. But Blackmore would only have the chance to meet the future Zeppelin guitarist in 1962 and later take part in a few studio sessions with him, when they were both still session guitarists. “I knew that he was going to be somebody then. Not only he was a good guitar player, he had that star quality there. There was something about him, he was very poised and confident. He was confident but not arrogant. So I thought ‘he’s gonna go somewhere’ that guy, you know. He knows what he is doing.” “He was way ahead most guitar players, he was really good, he knew he was good too. (Also), he wasn’t arrogant but he was very comfortable within himself. Then 64 or 65, I met up with him, we did a couple of sessions actually with him,” Ritchie Blackmore said in an interview for his documentary “Ritchie Blackmore Story” (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). Blackmore thinks Jimmy Page is a great writer and producer The musician had already said in the 70s that he was not too “struck on Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton.” However, in an interview with Guitar Player, when asked if it bothered him that he was not always placed in the same category as Page, Beck and Clapton, he said that he does not like to promote himself, and that this was one of the reasons why. But he also said that they were all good people and that Page was a great writer and producer. "No (doesn't bother me). I'm an introvert, as my father would say. I tend to be very withdrawn, I don't sell myself. I don't think Jeff Beck does either, I think Jimmy Page does and Eric does. They tend to push themselves out there a bit more, although they're all great people. A lot more falls on Eric because he can sing well, and Pagey is such a great writer and producer. Jeff is probably one of my favorite players." He continued: "This man just hits notes and you think, How come that note's not on my guitar? And he gets this incredible sustain for no reason. He's so fresh, so un-show business. That's what I love about Jeff," Blackmore said. Then he agreed with the interviewer that Zeppelin was not a strong band when playing live because "they didn't swing", with Blackmore crediting that to John Bonham's drum playing. Talking about how he was one of the first rock guitarists to play "very long lines", Blackmore recalled a question Jimmy Page asked him. "That's an interesting point. Pagey once asked me, "Where do you get all those runs from?" I developed it from Les Paul, Jimmy Bryant, Chet Atkins and Wes Montgomery. I wasn't listening to rock when I started out. The Beatles were around, but no one took that seriously — except for billions of record buyers! They're still a great band, but you couldn't learn anything instrumentally from them. Pretty little tunes, though," he said in 1996. Blackmore already praised a few Led Zeppelin songs and was influenced by them Although he already said he was not a big fan of Led Zeppelin, Blackmore admitted he was influenced by what they did and it was the main inspiration for Deep Purple to become heavier. The result was their groundbreaking album "Deep Purple in Rock" (1970), which was the start of their most successful phase. “Zeppelin, I liked their hard approach when they came out and did ‘Whole Lotta Love’. I immediately tuned in with that type of style because before when we were fiddling around with orchestras, I thought: something’s wrong. “I’m not giving all that I can. Thanks to them for the inspiration. They got it from Jeff Beck, who got it from the Small Faces,” Ritchie Blackmore told Trouser Press. The Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist also liked "Kashmir", from their 1975 album "Physical Graffiti", saying it was incredible and it helped to sophisticate Rock. “I think Van Halen are interesting. I don’t particularly like them as a band. But there is a lot of movement, a lot of colour to the material they produce. Led Zeppelin too, now they probably defined the term ‘sophisticated rock’. Things like ‘Kashmir’, the certain, the certain scales they would hit… that was incredible,” Ritchie Blackmore told Kerrang! in 1984. Jimmy Page was the reason why Blackmore didn’t play a Les Paul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtVKz0rv4cg&pp=ygUdbGVkIHplcHBlbGluIHRoZSBzb25nIHJlbWFpbnM%3D Curiously, Jimmy Page was the reason why Blackmore didn't end up playing the Les Paul guitar model. According to him, he always wanted to have a Black Les Paul, just like one he saw the British guitarist Albert Lee playing in the 60s. However, after Led Zeppelin achieved fame, suddenly everyone was buying that model and as he said answering fans' questions in 1996, he never liked to do what everyone was doing. "I always wanted a black Les Paul and nobody I knew had one, (they were) very expensive guitars. So I went to London, I was playing with a band called The Savages at the time. I saw this guitarist, he was playing a black Les Paul. He was a brilliant guitar player and his name is Albert Lee. I thought: 'That's the guitar for me!' But unfortunately, Jimmy Page took it up with Led Zeppelin a little bit later and that put me off. Not because Jimmy played it, because it then became the fashionable guitar to play, the Les Paul. I'm really not one to be in cahoots with fashion, if I can help it. But they are very good guitars. It's pretty heavy, if you got a bad back like I do," Ritchie Blackmore said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).The post How Ritchie Blackmore rates Jimmy Page as a guitarist appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.