Latest news with #Weird
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
Man makes baffling historical discovery in house he's lived in his whole life
After discovering an unusual hat on top of a cupboard in the house he has lived in his whole life, a man sought advice from others to work out what the many badges attached to it might mean A man has sought the help of historians after he discovered an unusual artefact tucked away in the house he has lived in his entire life. He took to Reddit to share three snaps of a khaki-coloured hat featuring several badges and a patch embroidered with the letters 'CA'. It's not the first time someone has made a haunting discovery at home, so the man went online for advice. "Found this hat on top of a cabinet at my house I've lived in my whole life," the man penned in the Weird subreddit. "I have no idea where it came from." He went on to add: "I've lived in this house 10+ years and this just appeared randomly. My family and I have no idea where it came from." Badges included that of tanks, an eagle, stars and a hammer and sickle, which prompted several Reddit users to share their theories, many of who were quick to point out it may have been of Russian origin. "A unique find, well done," one person praised. A second added: "Looks similar to my pop's VFW [Veterans of Foreign War] hat, but foreign." Others offered more detailed information, however. "This is a Soviet military side cap used as organiser for pins and stuff," one person explained. "In the first photo there are a sleeve patch, collar tabs and pins of various Soviet Army branches and a souvenir pin from the Kremlin. The pin with the eagle appears to be from a Russian military uniform. In the second photo there's a shoulder mark. CA stands for Soviet Army." Whilst a second agreed, explaining in more detail: "In the context of military uniforms, 'CA' on epaulettes typically refers to the Soviet Army (Sovetskaya Armiya). The letters 'CA' are the Cyrillic abbreviation for 'Soviet Army'. "Epaulettes are ornamental shoulder pieces, often found on military and other formal uniforms. In the case of the Soviet Army, they were used to denote rank and branch of service. "The letters "CA" were present on the epaulettes of most enlisted personnel. The garrison cap is also Soviet make." Meanwhile a third person, while agreeing, questioned the hat's authenticity. "It's a pilotka, I have one from when I went on holiday to Moscow years ago," they said. "They tend to be sold in the touristy areas of the city by street vendors and loaded with old athletic badges and stuff." After the Soviet Union was dissolved in December 1991, the newly formed Russian Federation adopted its own military structure and abolished 'CA' from uniforms. This was due to the 'Russian Army' replacing the 'Soviet Army'. On May 7, 1992, meanwhile, Russian President, Boris Yeltsin signed a decree creating the Ministry of Defence and placing all Soviet troops on Russian territory under Russian control.
Atlantic
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
Weird, Wonderful Photos From the Archives
Also, be sure to see previous editions of this informal series: Weird, Wonderful Photos From the Archives, and Weird, Wonderful Photos From Another Era.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Yungblud Confronts His Insecurities on ‘Idols': This ‘Was Almost My Last Chance'
Yungblud initially tried to make Idols right after his album 2020 Weird! hit Number One — but it didn't come together at the time. Instead, he ended up working on Yungblud, his self-titled record from 2022 that, in his view, came together partially by 'letting too many opinions in.' 'I was always discouraged from making [Idols] because Weird was so commercially successful,' he tells Rolling Stone. 'Everyone was like, 'No, we need to keep the momentum going.' When Yungblud came out, I stood on top of a hotel room in New York and I went, 'Fuck, I've repeated myself.' I almost made an album with the poster boy of what people said Yungblud was.' More from Rolling Stone Yungblud Really Really Really Swings Big on the Charmingly Overwrought 'Idols' Lola Young Sets Release Date for New Album 'I'm Only F-cking Myself' The Band Camino Preview New Album 'NeverAlways' With Double Song Release After some much-needed self-reflection, he finally completed Idols, out Friday, at a 'really pivotal time' in his life. 'I really asked myself, 'Am I fucking happy?'' he recalls. 'I was falling into a cycle of giving a fuck what people thought.' Idols is his attempt at making 'something classic,' not a record you'll overplay and then move on from but something you'll 'put on once a week for the rest of your life.' It pushes his sound into new sonic territory and introduces a more mature Yungblud who looks inward. 'If it sounded like the past, I failed. Fuck that. There are so many pastiche rock bands out there. That's why rock's been dead for so long,' he says. 'I didn't want to adhere to a time period… If it felt too specific to this moment, then I failed. And it would cringe me out.' As a young artist, he says, 'you want to be the photograph on the wall,' pointing to icons like Freddie Mercury and Mick Jagger. The album, instead, reflects a journey of self-fulfillment and the realization that 'we never give ourselves enough credit for our own individuality.' 'This album was almost like my last chance,' he says. 'If I hadn't been sure of what I was making, I don't think there would've been a way back for me. I made a fucking incredible album when I was 19 — 21st Century Liability. I got so much bigger than I ever expected to get. And then the mainstream finds you and you become insecure about things you didn't know existed.' The cover is intentionally 'statementless,' showing Yungblud in a submissive pose, with his body pulling away from title Idols. 'I've been too wounded by this shit. I don't want to be up front and center anymore, for the time being,' he says. 'I want to get out of the line of fire, I want protect myself.' From London, Yungblud breaks down five songs from his new album Idols I was listening to a lot of theater and a lot opera. If you look at Zeppelin, the Who, the Rolling Stones, it is all derivative from Bach and Vivaldi and Chopin but on electric guitars. If you listen to Zepplin melodies, it's classical music and John Bonham's drumming is classic percussive shit mixed with the blues, but from a perspective of theater that tell a story through music. In the video, I start with 'hello, is there anyone there?' and it goes through this journey of self-discovery and one step into heaven and a reclamation — but first you have to go through all this bullshit… and I arrive at the end of the mountain. I'm not questioning shit. It's very religious, but in discovery and a search for meaning. This album is about the idea of idolism, and this song came from me facing people leaving the fanbase. If you know Yungblud, it's a tight community, and I would see people almost outgrow it. I really wrote this as a love letter to my fanbase. And people who have left been like, you were once a part of the greatest parade, and you can go, you can come, but I will think of you. I will dream of you, I will do this for you every day until I am not here anymore. It was a really gutting song. It's about how we lift something up onto a pedestal and rip it down and then lift it up and rip down again because it's entertainment. We like to build fairy tales to enhance our own lives. I looked at what everyone had to say. 'I can't like Yungblud anymore, I'm not 17.' It's interesting because I hadn't grown. That's why I needed space. I needed to fucking grow. I stagnated in time. I'm frozen in a statue of what I as for the first iteration of my career. I just started getting singing lessons to hit those notes at the end. If I didn't call the album Idols, I would call it Change, because it's been the biggest transition point as a human being in my life. I remember writing this song at nighttime, about 2 a.m. The song came out, and I remember just crying my fucking eyes out to my producer Mati Schwartz, We were having a conversation about how every point in my life, when I feel happy about how I feel in my head, everything fucking changes again. Why does someone die? Why do I have to leave my house? Why do I fall out of love? Why does everything change? I learned through this song that there is beauty in the uncomfortable and that there's something to learn more than ever in the uncomfortable. The more uncomfortable you can be, the harder you feel anything. At the time, I wreaked of insecurity, because I took people saying, 'Your music's shit.' All I had cared about was the one guy in the fucking pub who believes I'm inauthentic, and it was dimming my light. I was allowing these people to make me quieter, to make me more insecure, to make me more hesitant… On the song, I was talking to a 19-year-old, going like, you ain't fucking ready for this shit. And 'Why, at 26, are you so confused and insecure? You get to do what you love,' and by the end of the song I check my fucking chest, and I go, 'Does that look like a good shot? You missed.' I'm still here. I'm still around, and I got my spunk and bite back. Fuck, I love this song. I was walking down the banks of the River Thames in London, and I was wondering: how many people have walked where I have walked? How many ghosts have walked where I have walked? It was this image of ghosts passing me, or someone in 20 years or 100 years passing me. 'Choose life and don't forget to live. Don't forget to feel the air on your face. Don't forget to fucking enjoy every experience you feel.' It's really cool to be alive — it's confusing and it hurts, but it's a beautiful thing. I wanted to stay there in London forever. It's the point in the album where I start to win as the protagonist. I'm gonna get through it. The end is a three-and-a-half-minute outro inspired by The King and I… the music had this waltzing, temptress thing. I wanted to make stadium rock [at the end of 'Ghosts,'] so I said fuck it — I put all my mates in the studio, and I wanted to [imagine] Wembley Stadium, River Plate Stadium. I wanna get something that's gonna make people move, and then it's gonna build musically. It's an insane rock outro to get a stadium shaking. I want to envision that stadium with me when you have your headphones in. When you are in a room full of 25,000 people outdoors, and you're all there for a mutual reason, I have never felt calmer — even if the music is sporadic and mental. I felt calm. That's why we did that with the outro. Part two is the dark and downward spiral to the inevitable realization that I'm not going to be here forever. Mortality. So when you find yourself, when you love yourself… Who are you going to share that with? Part two talks about my mother, it talks about my family, it talks about the love of my life that I broke up with in pursuit of myself. Part two is almost contradictory to part one's idea. This is a massive moment for me because this is the first song I've ever put on an album that I didn't write. Mati had written this song for me seven years ago when he met me. And he saw me starting to take off, and he knew. It's probably been the most understanding thing about myself I've ever read, and I didn't even write it. It made me fucking cry my eyes out because no one has ever understood me more in my entire life. When you make art from your soul or your heart, it can never be intellectualized, because it pours from that thing—you don't know why it's there, what makes you feel. It's yours. He basically just said to me, 'All you are is a self-fulfilling prophecy, a product of your temptation. You live in your imagination… All you are is the self-filling odyssey. Tell me what inspired you lately, and maybe I'll remember you vaguely.' Everyone's always asked me, 'Who are you, what are you?' And always my answer to them is, 'When?' Instead of being afraid of the change, I've embraced it and used it as inspiration. It was mental that he wrote that. On this album, I had to alleviate my ego. It was more of an artistic statement to include it, and I don't want to change anything about it. The song was perfect as it was written. Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rick Derringer, Singer of ‘Hang on Sloopy,' Writer of ‘Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo' and ‘Real American' Wrestling Theme, Dies at 77
Rick Derringer, whose six-decade career spanned teen stardom as lead singer of the '60s smash 'Hang on Sloopy,' a '70s solo hit with 'Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo,' session work with artists from Steely Dan to Barbra Streisand, and extensive work as a writer and producer of wrestling themes like Hulk Hogan's seemingly ageless 'Real American,' has died, according to an announcement from his caretaker, Tony Wilson, and Guitar Player magazine. Wilson's post states that Derringer died Monday evening in Ormond Beach, Fl. No cause of death was announced although Derringer had been in ill health in recent months; he was 77. A fiery and remarkably versatile guitarist, a strong singer and a high-profile presence on New York's rock scene of the '70s and '80s, Derringer also produced the Edgar Winter Group's 1972 smash single 'Frankenstein' and served as the band's guitarist for several years; worked closely with Winter's brother Johnny as a guitarist and producer; produced 'Weird' Al Yankovic's first album; and even gave Patti Smith her first major credit, on the song 'Jump' from Derringer's 1973 debut solo album, 'All-American Boy.' His eponymous band released several albums and toured heavily throughout the mid and late '70s — the band's final major incarnation featured Neil Giraldo, who immediately afterward scored major success as Pat Benatar's cowriter and guitarist (and husband to this day). Derringer and his first wife, Liz, were also members of Andy Warhol's extended circle and frequently appeared in rock magazines of the era. In his later years he worked extensively with singer Cyndi Lauper and wrote and produced many popular theme songs for wrestlers, including Hulk Hogan's 'Real American,' which has the curious legacy of being used as a theme song by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Born Richard Dean Zehringer in Ohio in 1947, the young Derringer received a guitar for his ninth birthday and began playing local gigs with his uncle, a country musician, before he was in high school. As a teen he formed a band called the McCoys with his brother Randy. In the summer of 1965 the songwriting-production team the Strangeloves — comprised of Richard Gottehrer, Jerry Goldstein and Bob Feldman, who'd scored a major hit with 'I Want Candy' — hired the group as a backing band and soon after enlisted them to record a cover of the song 'My Girl Sloopy,' originally released by the Vibrations the previous year. With the title altered to 'Hang on Sloopy,' the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 that summer — replacing Barry McGuire's grim 'Eve of Destruction' — around the time Derringer (still working under his born name) turned 18. The hit has become a kind of theme song for Derringer's home state and, in a foretelling of his later years making music for professional sports, has been a staple of Ohio State football game for decades. The McCoys, who opened for the Rolling Stones on their first major North American tour, had minor follow-up hits but did not repeat that success, and began working with blues guitarist Johnny Winter in the late 1960s and, later, his brother Edgar, touring with both and playing on and producing their albums. The partnership with Edgar produced a massive single with 1972's 'Frankenstein,' an instrumental the band had been playing around with for years; the title came from the look of the master tape, which had so many segments spliced together that the musicians said it resembled the horror-movie character's stitches. The song, produced by Derringer, topped the Billboard Hot 100 in May of 1973; he went on to replace Ronnie Montrose in the band shortly after and remained the Edgar Winter Group's guitarist and producer for the next three years. Also in 1973, Derringer enjoyed his first solo hit with 'Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo' (which has had such a long life that it was used in the fourth season of 'Stranger Things') and, after leaving Winter, launched his self-titled solo band, which toured extensively throughout the decade and released several albums; their concerts were heavy on guitar dueling and showmanship, and climaxed with Derringer and his second guitarist dramatically throwing their guitars to each other from opposite sides of the stage. Throughout the 1970s and '80s Derringer also worked extensively as a session musician, playing on albums by Steely Dan (including 'Countdown to Ecstasy,' 'Katy Lied' and 'Gaucho'), Todd Rundgren, Kiss and even Barbra Streisand. In the early 1980s he soloed on two massive singles written by Meatloaf mastermind Jim Steinman: Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' and Air Supply's 'Making Love Out of Nothing at All.' In the mid-1980s he began working with singer Cyndi Lauper, touring in her band and playing on three of her albums (including the hit 'True Colors'), but perhaps more significant was the fact that it led to his entrée into the world of professional wrestling. In 1985, he produced the World Wrestling Federation's 'The Wrestling Album,' which consisted primarily mostly of pro wrestlers' theme songs, many of which he co-wrote. Most notable among these was Hulk Hogan's theme song 'Real American,' which was used by President Barack Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner when unveiling his birth certificate; as a campaign song by Hillary Clinton; and, inevitably, frequently by President Donald Trump. In his later years he toured with Ringo Starr's All Starr Band as well as Peter Frampton, Carmine Appice and others, aligned with conservative causes and released several Christian-themed albums with his wife, Jenda. Best of Variety 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Weezer's first show was opening for Keanu Reeves' band Dogstar. Now the John Wick star is set to play a villain in the Buddy Holly hitmakers' forthcoming mockumentary
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The lovable alt-rock rogues in Weezer used their recent Coachella show to announce to the world that a Weezer movie was in the works – and now, completing what might be one of rock n' roll's wildest full circle moments, Keanu Reeves has been cast as the film's villain. Details about the feature length film have been few and far between so far, with the band's ever-charming frontman Rivers Cuomo simply stating the band were working on a 'Weezer movie back in L.A.' However, a report from film insider Jeff Sneider has since surfaced with more details. A la This Is Spinal Tap, which is set for a sequel later this year, the film is set to be a mockumentary. It's also been described as a cross between cult classic rock flick Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Weird Al Yankovic biopic, Weird. As for the barmy full-circle moment Reeves' casting creates, it can be traced right back to the beginning of the band's journeyman career. Weezer's first-ever show saw them supporting bassist Reeves' power trio Dogstar way back in 1992. Over 30 years later, the tables turned when the reformed Dogstar opened for Weezer in 2024, when Cuomo and co celebrated the 20th anniversary of their self-titled LP, also known as the Blue Album. Weezer also featured on the soundtrack to the third Bill & Ted film, which stars Reeves and counts Mastodon and Lamb of God among those who contributed to the film's aural drama. Reeves even confessed to having jams on set with his co-star Alex Winter, who plays Bill. The three-decade spanning 'rivalry' between the two bands is believed to form a key part of the plot, with the band set to star on the silver screen alongside Reeves, and other musically inclined actors like Juliette Lewis, and Eric Andre, as well as Jackass star Johnny Knoxville. It will be co-directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, and David Leitch has been tapped up as the film's producer. As per website Vinyl Me Please, band historian and unofficial member Karl Koch is also playing a key role in production. He recently organized a private merch signing event from which genuine fan interactions may be weaved into the film's narrative. After getting his old band back together, Reeves linked up with Fender for a stunning custom Precision bass loaded with a one-of-a-kind wiring feature that Fender chiefs couldn't believe hadn't been thought of before. Discussing his love for the low-end with Guitar World last year, he said, 'Whenever I would listen to music, I was attracted to the bass and lower registers. I loved the physicality of the bass, the weight, the strings. And just trying to sit in with the drums and guitar.' There is no slated release date for the film at the time of writing, but when it's out, you can bet Guitar World will be first in line.
