In a 2010 interview with the BBC, Alan Rickman talked about the importance of listening as an actor:
You only speak because you wish to respond to something you’ve heard. So the notion of an actor going away and looking at a speech they have in their bedroom alone at night is a complete nonsense to me. What you have to say is completely incidental. All I want to see from an actor is the intensity and accuracy of their listening. And then what you have to say will become automatic.
Brendan Carey took footage from the 1970 animated movie The Aristocats and dubbed over Lizzo’s Truth Hurts to make this tiny masterpiece worthy of a mini Oscar.
The golden age of album cover design doesn’t have a specific start and end date, but many regard the late 1960s to 1970s as one of the field’s most exciting times. From the psychedelic rock covers of the ’60s to glistening airbrush covers of the ’70s, the era was a kaleidoscope of colors worthy of placement in modern art museums.
But there’s one genre of cover so ubiquitous it almost flew under the radar. The covers typically featured a wide shot of the artist sitting on a throne-like wicker chair, like a king or queen. Usually, the artist looked casual and relaxed; sometimes props would sit around them to decorate the scene. No matter what, the oversized woven chair was the main feature. This was the peacock chair album cover, and it was everywhere: Dolly Parton, Al Green, and Cher all sat in it.
The Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down” was recorded in 1969 during the Let It Be sessions. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The band recorded the song with Billy Preston, and the single release with “Get Back” was credited to “the Beatles with Billy Preston.”
Adele’s “Skyfall” received various accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Original Song, Brit Award for British Single of the Year, Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Song, Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media, thus making it the first Bond theme to win all the aforementioned awards. During the 85th Academy Awards, Adele performed the song live for the first time.
I got room in my fumes (Yeah)
She fill my mind up with ideas
I’m the highest in the room (It’s lit)
Hope I make it outta here (Let’s go)
All photos by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her at minismemories@hotmail.com
The Harry Potter novels and films that followed them have become global treasures, staples of pop culture that rival Star Wars, The Simpsons, and others that have lasted over time because of their depth of story and the way they resonated with their audience.
The thing about iconic pop culture stories is that they often spawn fan theories about the stories themselves. Some of them are absolutely insane and hold no water, but there is definitely a fair share that sound not only intriguing but entirely possible.
With Harry Potter, these are just a few of the fan theories that have stood out from the rest and, like the Harry Potter font itself, made for interesting talking points among those fans of the wizarding world.
The author of the stories, JK Rowling, has talked about how there are thousands of students at Hogwarts. Since then, fans of the stories have tried to do the math: if there are 1000 students at the great and historical school, then there should be around 35 students in each house during each yet. Yet there are only 10 Gryffindors during Harry’s year.
There have been discussions about whether this is simply an oversight by Rowling or if there is perhaps more to it. One fan seems to think that this is because the Class of 1998 would have been conceived during Voldemort’s peak reign of power.
Essentially, this means that there was something of a baby wizard drought for a few years that would have led to smaller class sizes. It’s certainly intriguing and definitely possible, but it is not probable and likely an oversight by Rowling in her stories.
The one that really seems a bit far-fetched is that Harry’s freckled friend is the one and only Albus Dumbledore, who has gone back in time. The idea stems from the chess scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. In that scene, Ron plays both a knight and a king — these are the symbolic roles that Dumbledore and Ron play in the war that is to come.
The initial theory is somewhat plausible, but there is circumstantial and superficial “evidence” — like the long nose, fondness for sweets, etc. — that the author tries to piece together to make the comparison. This is one of those theories that certainly sounds interesting but is a bit too far-fetched to hold water.
Neville Longbottom, the bumbling, hapless youth that spent his time at Hogwarts screwing up spells at every opportunity, has been the subject of much debate. Because of his ineptitude with spells, it seemed that he was a bit of a clod, but he managed to hold his own by mastering the Shield Charm behind only Hermione and even held up during several duels with Death Eaters.
Because of one constant tenet between the books and the movie — the wizard chooses the wand — many believe that Neville wasn’t so bad at magic, he simply chose the wrong wand. Neville inherited his father’s wand as his father had no use for it any longer.
There are many that believe that the Death Eater who broke Neville’s wand actually did him huge favour as that wand was holding him back. It is supported by the fact that Neville began to increase his magical prowess over the years and even to lead Dumbledore’s Army when Harry was absent.
This is one of those theories that certainly has all of the supporting arguments but ultimately falls into the “we will never know” category.
This one gets a little complicated, so strap in. There are the three objects that represent the Deathly Hallows: these are real magical objects that were held in possession of the Peverell brothers and were sought after in the centuries that followed their deaths.
Since Dumbledore is the only wizard to have possessed all three of the objects: he gives Harry the cloak, then the stone, and is then stripped of the Elder Wand. He is directly or indirectly responsible in the deaths of Snape and Voldemort and even meets Harry when he “dies”.
There are a lot of backstories worth looking into for this one, and it certainly is interesting, but there are a lot of conclusions that need to be jumped to and a lot of assumptions that need to be made. Still, it’s an interesting one.
Vince Gill’s 1989 release When I Call Your Name rocketed his career to a new level and introduced him to many new fans who found his easygoing charisma was just as appealing as his prodigious vocal and instrumental skills. His third full-length solo album, and first for MCA Records, established the Oklahoma-bred singer-songwriter-guitarist as one of country’s most beloved and respected performers, garnering him his first Gold record on the strength of four hit singles: the album’s title track, which reached Number 2 on Billboard‘s country singles chart, the Number 3 country hit “Never Knew Lonely,” “Never Alone” (which Gill co-wrote with Rosanne Cash) and “Oklahoma Swing” (a duet with Reba McEntire). The album, which has since been certified double platinum, earned Gill two Country Music Association Awards, including Single Of The Year, and won him his first GRAMMY Award for “Best Country Vocal Performance, Male.”
On November 15, MCA Nashville/UMe will commemorate the 30th anniversary of When I Call Your Name, just one day after its original release thirty years ago, with a sparkling new vinyl edition of this influential collection. In addition to a standard black vinyl version, the album will also be available in a distinctive limited-edition pressing on metallic gold vinyl, which will be available exclusively online from uDiscover and the UMGN Store. These vinyl editions mark the first time the album has been back on vinyl since its initial release.
Produced by noted veteran Tony Brown, When I Call Your Name features guest appearances by Emmylou Harris and Patty Loveless, with whom Gill had worked with in his career, and instrumental support from such notable players as keyboardist Barry Beckett, bassist Willie Weeks, and guitarists Randy Scruggs and Fred Tackett.
When I Call Your Name ignited a stellar career that continues to this day, with Gill remaining one of country’s most celebrated artists. He’s won 21 GRAMMY® awards, has a wall of Country Music Association trophies, placed ten albums on the Billboard charts and scored a dozen hit singles. When I Call Your Name took Vince Gill’s career to the next level and made him a household name, and his legions of fans can now reexperience this classic collection on vinyl.
WHEN I CALL YOUR NAMEÂ TRACK LISTING
SIDE A
1. Never Alone
2. Sight For Sore Eyes
3. Oh Girl (You Know Where To Find Me)
4. Oklahoma Swing
5. When I Call Your Name
SIDE B
1. Ridin’ The Rodeo
2. Never Knew Lonely
3. We Don’t Dance
4. We Could Have Been
5. Rita Ballou
Recorded in 1982, not long after she moved to Paris, Fodder On My Wings was one of Nina Simone’s favorite albums yet has remained one of her most obscure. Originally recorded for a small French label and only sporadically available since its initial release, Fodder On My Wings will be reissued in a variety of formats including CD and LP, as well as widely available digitally for the first time, in both standard and hi-res audio, on November 22 via Verve/UMe. The original album will be expanded with three bonus tracks from the recording sessions from a rare French reissue released in 1988. The effervescent opening track “I Sing Just To Know That I’m Alive,” a song that Simone often performed live in her later years, is available now to stream and as an instant grat download with digital preorder.
A lesser-known but important part of Simone’s musical history, Fodder On My Wings contains deeply personal songs, including the aforementioned, “I Sing Just To Know That I’m Alive” and “I Was Just A Stupid Dog To Them,” as well a searing lyrical improvisation about the death of her father on “Alone Again (Naturally).” At the time she recorded the album, Simone was living in France and extremely lonely; her mental illness was worsening and her family life was fractured. It’s out of this despair that one of the many album standouts, the near title track “Fodder In Her Wings,” was birthed. As Pitchfork wrote in their list of 33 of Simone’s most iconic songs, the composition “captured with startling intimacy the pain of this period, and she returned to it frequently through the next decade, cutting another studio version three years later (the synth-heavy take on Nina’s Back!) and including it on several live albums, including an awe-inspiring performance on 1987’s Let It Be Me,” continuing, “Simone’s vocal makes a song of weariness and defeat carry an air of defiance, a wise word from someone who survived to tell the tale.”
Over the years, the album has been reevaluated and has received its due as a significant work in Simone’s prolific catalog. In a 2005 review of the album, Jazz Times hailed the record and especially her emotional performance on “Alone Again (Naturally),” writing: “At the core of the album is a rare, powerful example of Simone with all masks stripped away: Her personal pain explodes to the surface as she reworks Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” into a diatribe about her dying father that bravely progresses from venomously embittered to cautiously conciliatory.”
Recorded at a time when Simone was feeling rejuvenated by her surroundings and by the African musicians she met in her newly adopted France, Fodder On My Wings is an essential Simone album that is making a long-overdue reappearance and can now be heard however you prefer to listen to music.
FODDER ON MY WINGSÂ TRACK LISTINGS
VINYL
SIDE A
1. I Sing Just To Know That I’m Alive
2. Fodder In Her Wings
3. Vous êtes seuls, mais je désire être avec vous
4. Il y a un baume à Gilhead
5. Liberian Calypso
6. Alone Again (Naturally)
SIDE B
1. I Was Just A Stupid Dog To Them
2. Color Is A Beautiful Thing
3. Le peuple en Suisse
4. Heaven Belongs To You
5. Thandewye
6. Stop
7. They Took My Hand
CD/DIGITAL
1. I Sing Just To Know That I’m Alive
2. Fodder In Her Wings
3. Vous êtes seuls, mais je désire être avec vous
4 Il y a un baume à Gilhead
5. Liberian Calypso
6. Alone Again (Naturally)
7. I Was Just A Stupid Dog To Them
8. Color Is A Beautiful Thing
9. Le Peuple en Suisse
10. Heaven Belongs To You
11. Thandewye
12. Stop
13. They Took My Hand
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Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.
Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com
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