Our Clover Park School District Promising Futures Friday featured student this week is Harrison Preparatory School senior Gary Thomas.
Gary is nervous and excited about finishing up his senior year. Above all, he will miss his favorite class, choir. “I really love singing and have a passion for music,” he said.
Gary challenged himself this year by signing up for a class about film and media production. “I feel like I’m a pretty open-minded person, and I always like to try something new,” he said. “I didn’t think I was going to like film at first because I didn’t watch movies or anything, but I’ve learned that film has more layers to it than I thought, like scoring, cinematography and writing.”
After school, Gary focuses on his love of music by recording songs with beats produced by other Harrison Prep students. He recently released an album he worked on over winter break called, “Will You Be Back,” and was happy to see students and staff at the school celebrate his work. “After growing up in church choir, being in choir at school and seeing the success of amazing new Black artists like Giveon and Brent Faiyaz, I feel so motivated,” he said.
After graduating, Gary plans on pursuing his passion by studying music composition at Central Washington University, which has accepted his application, or Northwest University where he applied to study music production. “I really want to learn to produce music for myself, and schools like Northwest have a high job rate after graduation,” he said. “I’m driven and excited to see what comes next after graduation.”
Woman, Life, Freedom has become a protest slogan in Iran – and it’s also the name of a dance compilation made by Iranian DJs
You’re at an underground rave. The location’s a secret to everyone except the hundreds of people crammed inside.
All around you, people are dancing. The music is loud and the vibes are good.
But in Iran, raves aren’t just a night out. They’re an act of defiance.
A wave of protests has swept the country since September, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody.
Demonstrators – many of them women – want to get rid of Iran’s strict religious leaders and rules that limit what they can wear or do in public.
In response, the government has been cracking down on protests. Hundreds have been jailed. Some say they’ve been tortured for confessions and others have been sentenced to death.
The penalties for speaking out can be harsh, but Iranians are still finding ways to oppose the current system.
And one of those is dance music.
‘A huge risk’
“You would basically think that you are in a warehouse in Europe or in the US somewhere when you go into these underground parties,” says Aida.
“Because nothing really looks different.
“But it’s a huge risk for the people who attend, the people who organise and the DJs.”
Image caption,
DJ Aida says music and dancing are a sign of freedom
Aida, 30, is a DJ and music producer who was born in Iran and relocated to Canada aged 12.
She still has relatives and friends in the country, and watching from afar made her want to do something to help.
So Aida has teamed up with fellow DJ Nesa Azadikhah to produce Woman, Life, Freedom – an electronic compilation by a group of female Iranian women, producers and musicians.
They hope the album will raise awareness of the protest movement back home, and plan to donate the money it makes to organisations helping women in Iran.
Nesa left Iran, where she was born and raised, five months ago to tour Europe.
She has organised public events back home, but they couldn’t be too lively as dancing is regarded as an illegal, indecent act.
Nesa and Aida explain that smaller-scale shows involving ambient music and visuals are permitted as a “cultural experience”.
But both say dancing is a symbol of freedom for them.
Image source, Nesa Azadikhah
Image caption,
Nesa Azadikhah used to be based in Tehran until recently
Nesa’s first experience of going into a club was a feeling of being “without stress, with peace and freely listening”.
“It’s a really emotional experience because it’s something we really don’t have in Iran,” says Nesa.
“But at parties I feel that way all the time.
“I wish that this could be possible and that this could happen over there.”
Aida agrees: “When I go to clubs, and when I’m playing in clubs, and I’m thinking about Iran, it’s also a similar feeling.”
‘A better future’
Both Aida and Nesa expect their compilation will be heard in Iran and might even soundtrack an underground event.
“It will be listened to back home.
“There is dancing and there is life as we know it happening underground in Iran. And so maybe not publicly, but these things do happen,” says Aida.
But they also want it to make others feel the same way Nesa did on that first visit to a club.
“It’s also this sense of hope for a better future and hoping that this can change over there,” says Aida.
“That the sheer amount of talented people in Iran can freely really show their talent and explore their passion.
“The same as we can out here and not have to run into these issues, not have to risk their lives, not have to sacrifice their performances because of these restrictions and rules that exist.”
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Hannah Spearritt, who found fame as part of British pop group S Club 7, has revealed she’s now homeless and forced to sleep in an office with her two young children.
The singer, 41, told the Sun that she, her partner Adam Thomas, 42, and their two daughters Tea, four, and Tora, two, were given just two days to find a place to live after an eviction notice from their landlord around Christmas.
The eviction forced Spearritt to call in favors from friends after she and Thomas were told to either have a “crazy” $10,400 upfront payment for a short-term rental or move out.
“What screwed us is we didn’t have time to find another place,” she told the outlet. “We had somewhere over Christmas but ran out of time before we could move in.”
“It was just a couple of weeks. We filled the unopened café with our belongings — we were so lucky to have that storage space — but had nowhere to go.”
Spearritt, and her partner Adam Thomas, are forced to sleep in an office with their two young children.Instagram/@hannahspearritt
Spearritt, whose band pocketed $85 million in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, insists she wasn’t paid a fair amount in comparison to the revenue the band was raking in.
“People think we must all be millionaires but sadly it’s just not true,” Spearritt explained. “It was what it was and we enjoyed ourselves at the time.”
The singer partner added, “S Club 7’s manager Simon Fuller did well for himself didn’t he?”
S Club 7 dominated the pop music charts from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Getty Images
Fuller, who also managed the Spice Girls, is worth an estimated $600 million.
Meanwhile, Spearritt, who reportedly earned a salary of $190,000 a year during her time in the group, revealed she and her family are now sleeping in a friend’s business building — and using the office space as their living room.
“The kids’ beds were there and we had the crayons out. It was stressful,” she added.
The pair were given just two days to find a place to live after an eviction notice from their landlord around Christmas.Instagram/@hannahspearritt
Adding insult to injury, Spearritt has also been bed-found due to a recent illness — making their current living situation even more difficult.
The couple also had plans to open up a cafe of their own, however, they were forced to hit the brakes on their business ventures after being evicted.
S Club 7 dominated the pop music charts from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. The group’s most popular hits include “Don’t Stop Movin’,” “Bring It All Back,” and “Have You Ever.”
The group won “Best Breakthrough Band” at the annual BRIT awards in 2000 and launched a TV show in the US in 1999.
It’s taken Americans a long time to get there, but many now seem more willing to entertain a historical narrative that doesn’t fit into the Eurocentric old world/new world framework. Today, few American history books start with Columbus sailing the ocean blue in 1492.
Likewise, classical concerts are getting less tied down to the usual Western European suspects. Twin Cities audiences have a great opportunity to enjoy a program born of cultural cross-pollination this week. The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is barnstorming multiple metro-area venues with more than half a millennium full of music that eloquently explores the intersection of Spain and Latin America.
Curated by SPCO violinist Maureen Nelson, the concert proved a fascinating fast-paced transatlantic flight at St. Paul’s Ordway Concert Hall Friday night. Hopscotching across eras from the Renaissance to the classical to either end of the modern era, it proved a ceaselessly invigorating 80-minute, intermission-less offering.
While its centerpiece — and the evening’s high point — was an arrangement for string orchestra of contemporary American composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout,” the concert was a rewarding musical walkabout, as well, starting with a symphony by a lesser-known composer.
That would be Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, who probably earned his nickname, “The Spanish Mozart,” as much for his precociousness as his style. Alas, the Iberian wunderkind died at age 20. So, if the SPCO’s spirited interpretation of his lone symphony makes you hungry for more of his music, you won’t find that much of it, sad to say. But his symphony was quite a satisfying glimpse into his gifts, buoyed by some lovely woodwind work from flutist Julia Bogorad-Kogan and clarinetist Sang Yoon Kim.
A taste of Latin American flavors finding their way into European music came courtesy of a woodwind quintet version of Maurice Ravel’s “Piece en Forme de Habanera.” But far more involving was Frank’s piece, each of its six movements inspired by a different Andean instrument or ensemble. I’ve heard the original string quartet version before, but this arrangement was more richly textured, both sonically and emotionally, especially during Nelson’s fiery solos on the “Tarqueada” movement and the sorrowful “Chasqui.”
Nelson was both composer and concertmaster for her concert-closing “Renaissance Suite,” which adapted three songs from the late 15th and early 16th centuries from the pens of Pedro Guerrero, Josquin des Prez and Nelson’s own take on a Peruvian dance.
And it served a welcome reminder that other interesting things were happening in 1492, such as des Prez writing some moving heartbroken laments and laying a foundation for the next century of European music.
Rob Hubbard is a Twin Cities classical music writer. Reach him at wordhub@yahoo.com.
The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
What: Works by Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, Maurice Ravel, Gabriela Lena Frank and Maureen Nelson
When and where: 8 p.m. Sat., Ordway Concert Hall, 345 Washington St., St. Paul; 7:30 p.m. Tues., Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, 12650 Johnny Cake Ridge Road, Apple Valley; 7:30 p.m. Thurs., Temple Israel, 2323 Fremont Av. S., Mpls.; 8 p.m. Fri., Wayzata Community Church, 125 Wayzata Blvd. E., Wayzata; 8 p.m. Feb. 4, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, 900 Summit Av., St. Paul
Tickets: Free-$50, available at 651-291-1144 or thespco.org
ATOKA, Okla. (KFOR) – Just when you thought she couldn’t fit anything else on her plate, you can now add “restaurant owner” to Reba McEntire’s resume.
“This has been a dream come true,” Reba told visitors during the restaurant’s grand opening on Thursday afternoon. “It has just turned out to be something that was way beyond my imagination.”
Shelley Johnson, an employee at Reba’s Place, said the place was buzzing with excitement on opening day.
“Everybody loves it,” Johnson said. “Everybody loves her.”
The three-story dining, bar, entertainment and retail venue is located in Atoka, about 12 miles south from Reba’s hometown of Chockie.
“I get another excuse to get to come home to our state,” said Reba. “It’s going to help our town, it’s going to help the community, it’s going to bring jobs in.”
The restaurant’s “soft opening” was held earlier this month. So far, Reba’s Place has drawn a crowd from all over the country to eat and check out the memorabilia all throughout the building.
“We’ve had people come from Florida, from Wyoming,” said Johnson. “I sat a couple that was here from Winsconsin the other day. It’s pretty amazing.”
The menu is said to be inspired by the food Reba grew up with in Southeast Oklahoma, as well as choices inspired from cities and regions associated with her career, like Nashville, Tennessee. Items include “slow smoked Choctaw beef brisket,” a Nashville-style hot chicken sandwich, and a “Southern charcuterie board” featuring country ham and boiled peanut hummus, among other apps and entrees.
Fans at Thursday night’s grand opening didn’t have to turn on the radio to hear Reba’s music, as she surprised guests with a performance.
“It’s music that helped build this place,” said Reba.
Directly before Reba took the stage, Janie Dillard, the senior executive officer of the Choctaw Nation’s division of commerce, also made sure to give Reba plenty of credit.
“Her hands are all over this property here tonight,” Dillard told diners at Thursday’s event. “She says, ‘The team did this, the team did that.’ No, she’s a woman very involved. She’s a savvy businesswoman. She’s picked out every dish you’ve got on your table tonight. She’s picked out every color. Draperies, color schemes, color palettes. Everything. She’s been so engaged.
“She’s on every call. We don’t have a call without her being on there,” Dillard said.
Reba’s Place is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., according to the restaurant’s website.
Last week, I had the enormous pleasure of catching up with the legendary Radiohead drummer Philip Selway. Beyond the percussive talents that brought him to prominence in the 1990s, Selway has long taken an interest in songwriting. Though many of us are used to seeing him perched behind the toms, Selway likes to use the guitar as his primary songwriting conduit.
In 2016, Radiohead released their exquisite ninth studio album, A Moon Shaped Pool, which signified the band’s leap from ‘great’ to ‘legendary’. When inducting Radiohead into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, David Byrne, the former frontman of Talking Heads, described the album as “cinematic, sort of like a movie in your head, in my head anyway”.
Sadly, A Moon Shaped Pool was the last album we heard from the Oxford-born group, and after the 2018 touring campaign came to its conclusion, Radiohead began an indefinite hiatus. The members have since dispersed to work on respective solo endeavours, with Jonny Greenwood continuing to assert a cinematic presence with his breathtaking film scores. In 2020, he reunited with Thom Yorke to establish The Smile, a side project featuring Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner.
In recent weeks, Selway has dropped mild hints at a potential Radiohead reunion. “We’re going to get together at the start of [2023],” he told Spin. “And I’m sure we’re going to start looking at other ideas for what comes next.” However, beyond this “get-together”, all is conjecture. Radiohead fans could simply be given a Hail To The Thief 20th-anniversary reissue and told to wait a couple more years.
Fortunately, if that were the case, we have The Smile’s astonishing debut album of last year to tide us over, and if you’ve already worn that record out, Selway has a little gift for us too. In October last year, the drummer released ‘Check For Signs of Life’, the first single to preview his forthcoming album, Strange Dance. This was followed up by a second single, ‘Picking Up Pieces’, just after New Year celebrations tapered off in January.
The full album arrives on February 24th via Bella Union, and if the singles are anything to go by, it’s going to be a cracker. Instead of twiddling our thumbs for a month in anticipation, we thought it was high time we became better acquainted with Selway.
As our video call began, Selway mentioned that he had been busy all morning rehearsing with his band for the upcoming tour of the UK and Europe in support of Strange Dance. Having agreed that the weather this winter has been utterly abysmal, even by British standards, we got down to the nitty-gritty, namely, discussing the forthcoming album and, of course, a few questions concerning Radiohead.
Philip Selway discusses Radiohead and new music:
Far Out: What made you want to start playing the drums?
Selway: “Going back a long time, when I was about two or three, my godmother bought me a little toy drum for Christmas, unbeknownst to my parents – they put it in with Santas goods, of course. And I found it at about two or three o’clock in the morning, and I woke up the house banging this drum. I very much shied or, you know, shuffled away from drums after that, but it stuck with me.”
But several years later, you would return to drumming with a real kit…
“I was a bit geeky about it; I would get all the drum manufacturer catalogues and that kind of thing and just sit there looking at drums all the time. When I really started getting into music, which would have been when I was about 12 – I guess that’s when I started buying records – the thing that really caught me was songwriting at that point. And so I started to try and learn the guitar and started trying to write stuff at the same time as drumming. So the package came all at the same time for me.”
Did you have any drumming icons in your youth?
“I guess the first one would have been Stewart Copeland of The Police. I’m still dazzled by what he’s done over the years. He just had that kind of complexity in there and this drive, a real energy to what he was doing. I got into music around that new-wave era, so just after punk. So it was very much drummers from that period, people like Dave Ruffy from The Ruts, Stephen Morris from Joy Division and New Order. That’s really what influenced me at the time.
“Clive Deamer in Radiohead! I’ve long loved his drumming. When we were looking to expand the drumming arsenal in the live stuff for Radiohead, we approached him and asked him if he would and [I remember] being completely made up when he agreed to do it.
“Glen Kochi from Wilco and Valentina Magaletti, who’s just done all the drumming for me on Strange Dance. I’m very lucky with the drummers I’ve got to work with!”
Can you pick out a particular song that influenced your early passion for the drums?
“Killing Joke, a song of theirs called ‘Follow the Leaders’ and the drumming on that – shamefully, I don’t know the name of the drummer in Killing Joke [Paul Ferguson] – but that was a big inspiration too, that song made me want to play the drums actually.”
What’s your favourite song to drum to from the Radiohead oeuvre?
“I love ‘Bodysnatchers’ [from In Rainbows]; that’s always an absolute joy to play because you can really let loose on that. ’15 Step’! That’s a good one to play [too].
“A song that we didn’t play for an absolute age was off of OK Computer, and it’s the song ‘Let Down’; I love playing that one. Whenever I hear that track, it’s kind of like a time tunnel for me; it takes me right back into actually recording it, and I can see it quite vividly when I hear that track, and I can feel what I was feeling at the time. And actually, when we play that live, that all comes back out again.”
(Credit: Press)
What songs from the new album, Strange Dance, are you most excited for your fans to hear?
“The two tracks that have gone out already, so ‘Check For Signs of Life’ and ‘Picking Up Pieces’, I was keen to share those. I think the title track itself as well, ‘Strange Dance’. That song has actually been around for me in one form or another for quite a while. It was written on guitar originally, and so the chords have been there for ten or about 15 years, but I just never knew what to do with it.
“You have all these disparate elements, you have orchestral elements in there, and you have incredible stuff on guitar from [Portishead’s] Adrian Utley, and I had Hannah Peel in there. They’re each very distinctive in their own right, but when they all knit together as well, it feels as though that one’s got a real life of its own. I love that one. It’s also probably the lowest register I’ve ever sung; maybe that was a Tom Waits thing as well, I don’t know.”
What artists influenced your work on Strange Dance?
“So I was really lucky with this one. The artists who influenced me, the musical voices that I wanted, were the musicians I wanted to work with as well. That’s why I approached them, so it’s Quinta, Adrian Utley, Hannah Peel, and then Laura Moody, who does all the string arrangements. They were all the elements I saw in the bigger soundscape of the music. So yeah, that doesn’t happen very often. Rarely, you have your dream team wish list, and they all say, ‘Yes.’”
What late legend would you work with if you could?
“I would love to have done some kind of drumming along with Charlie Watts, another one of my idols.
“I was very lucky to get to drum for Ringo Starr at one point as well, which was because I’d been doing an interview with him in New York, and he was doing a show that evening. He very kindly invited me to go along and drum for him on a couple of songs. That was just mind-blowing, sitting down behind Ringo’s kit and him out front doing his thing.
“It was one of those bizarre and wonderful twists and turns that life can take sometimes.”
Were you ever considered for the drumming role in The Smile?
“Not that I knew of. I think for all of us when we do stuff outside of Radiohead, we try and bring in those different voices because I think it brings up different elements of what you do as a musician. So I completely get why they wanted to work with Tom Skinner on this one; he is an amazing drummer. There’s a lovely dynamic between that trio, and so that was a really, really good call on their part.”
With regard to recent Radiohead reunion rumours, what would you like to put on the table at the meeting this year?
“Going into a Radiohead meeting, it’s probably best to go in with an open mind – that’s how I go in there with them. I would love for us to – if it works for everybody and we’re doing it for the right reasons – make music together again in one form or another. Beyond that, I can’t really say at the moment, but it’s a very important musical relationship to me and to all of us. I think, also, it’s been good taking some time for other projects as well.”
During the Kid A sessions, the emergence of drum machines posed an ostensible threat to the human drummer role. Did you manage to get involved creatively beyond your role as a drummer?
“It was interesting doing the Kid A – Amnesiac reissue [Kid A Mnesia, 2021] because we went back through the vaults again, listening to rehearsal recordings, and there’s so much stuff that you forget. But no, within Radiohead, my role is very much within the drumming, percussive side of things, which is a wonderful position to occupy. In terms of the overall take on stuff, we will all sit down and discuss it together, and we’ll pitch in with our ideas or comments on what’s happening.”
As a Radiohead fan, it seems that Thom Yorke writes all of the music before bringing it to the rest of the band, but in reality, is the writing often more of a collaborative effort?
“I think your perception of Thom as the principal songwriter… Yeah, that’s been at the heart of what we’ve done. Sometimes, what he does may not have changed a huge amount when it’s a finished product. But I think the character of the band is how the five of us fit, that interplay between us. I mean, we’ve all learned to play our instruments together, basically. So when it’s working at its best, it’s a very unified way of working. I think you’ve got distinctive voices in there, but each one just influences the other so much.”
Watch Philip Selway drum for Ringo Starr at New York City’s Beacon Theatre in 2017, and hear the latest single from Strange Dance, below.
The recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled the technology to create outputs that were not possible before. Music is one of the most impressive examples of this, as AI has been able to create songs from text descriptions and is even capable of replicating existing pieces of music. Google has recently published a research paper titled MusicLM: Generating Music From Text.
AI has been used to generate music for some time now with examples such as Google’s AudioML and OpenAI’s Jukebox. In the early days, the technology was limited to generating basic music loops or simple melodies.
However, as technology has improved, AI has been able to create more complex songs, with elements that are more in line with traditional music composition. This has opened up a whole new world of possibilities, as AI can now be used to generate music in any desired genre with the help of MusicLM’s vast training model and database consisting of over 2,80,000 hours of music.
Google has been one of the main players in the AI-generated music scene. The company has developed algorithms that are capable of creating complete pieces of music based on a text description. For example, users can describe a genre, such as jazz, and the AI will generate a complete piece of music in that style.
Also read: This social media app for giving compliments is going viral among teens
Google’s AI-generated music tools are an impressive showcase of the power of AI. With the right algorithms, AI can create complex pieces of music in any genre. The technology also has a lot of potential applications, such as in film and game soundtracks, or as a tool for composers to use when writing new pieces.
However, MusicLM isn’t without limitations from strange vocals and sounds to copyright issues with current works of music.
“We acknowledge the risk of potential misappropriation of creative content associated to the use case. We strongly emphasize the need for more future work in tackling these risks associated to music generation,” co-authors of the paper wrote.
Also read: Move over ChatGPT, Microsoft’s new AI tool is helping developers code faster
We all know that our sense of taste plays a huge role in how we perceive food, but did you know that our sense of hearing can also have a significant impact on our experience of flavor? The science behind how sounds and music affect the way we perceive food is truly fascinating.
Recent studies have shown that the sounds we hear while eating can influence our perception of sweetness, saltiness, and overall taste. For example, the sound of a crunch when biting into a crisp apple can enhance the perception of its sweetness. Similarly, the sound of a sizzle when biting into a hot and juicy steak can enhance the perception of its savoriness. These sounds, known as “oral-somatosensory,” are able to stimulate the brain in a way that enhances the overall taste experience.
But it’s not just the sounds of food that can affect our perception of flavor. Background music can also play a role. A systematic review of research literature by Oxford professor Charles Spence found that individuals tended to rate a sweet drink as sweeter and more pleasant when they were listening to happy, upbeat music, while they rated the same drink as less sweet and less pleasant when they were listening to sad, slow music. Spence discovered similar results in wine tasting, noting that “the change and fluctuations of musical parameters (such as tempo, musical mode, and timbre) specifically altered the perception of a wine’s taste (particularly sweetness and bitterness) and smell (i.e., which scent of the wine’s bouquet emerged the most).”
The tempo and volume of music can also affect our perception of food. Fast-paced music is found to increase our perception of sweetness and saltiness, while slower jams have the opposite effect. Similarly, louder music is found to increase our perception of sweetness and saltiness, while softer music has the opposite effect.
But why does this happen? It is believed that the emotional state triggered by the music we hear plays a role in how we perceive food. Happy and upbeat music can make us feel more positive and relaxed, which in turn can make food taste sweeter and more pleasant. On the other hand, sad and slow music can make us feel negative and stressed, which can make food taste less sweet and less pleasant.
Another theory is that the tempo and volume of music can affect our eating pace. Faster-tempo music and louder music can make us eat faster, which can increase our perception of sweetness and saltiness. Similarly, slower-tempo music and softer music can make us eat slower, which can decrease our perception of sweetness and saltiness.
Chefs around the world have begun to take note of these studies and incorporate audio as a part of the culinary experience(s) in their restaurants. The most well-known example of the same is a dish known as “The Sound of the Sea,” which was created by Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal with help from his Experimental Kitchen. The dish utilizes the science of sensory memories to enhance the flavor and experience of the food. The dish itself consists of sashimi, tapioca “sand,” and seafoam presented in a conch shell, along with an iPod preloaded with recordings of ocean waves and gulls chirping.
The sound evokes memories of being by the sea and adds to the perception of the freshness of the fish, as well as the overall emotional experience. This dish is a signature offering at The Fat Duck restaurant and has generated significant worldwide attention.
The science behind how sounds and music affect the way we perceive food is still being studied, but one thing is for sure: the relationship between sound and taste is complex and multi-dimensional. Restaurants and food manufacturers are starting to take notice of this phenomenon and are incorporating it into their businesses. Some restaurants play specific music to enhance the taste of their dishes, while food manufacturers are experimenting with packaging designs that contain QR codes that direct to songs or playlists that are meant to be played while the consumer relishes the product.
The integration of sound and music into the dining experience can have a significant impact on how we perceive food. From the ambient noise in a restaurant to the specific sounds paired with a dish, the audio environment can alter our perception of sweetness, saltiness, and overall taste. As our understanding of this relationship grows, it will be interesting to see how chefs and food manufacturers continue to utilize sound in their creations. The next time you cook a nice meal, take the time to pick a song you like to go with it; it might just change the way you perceive the dish.
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Classical music will be played at a branch of McDonald’s in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour among youths, according to a report.
The music of composer and pianist Beethoven and others could soon be heard at the fast food chain in Wrexham, north Wales.
Staff there are said to be keen to make the switch from pop songs to discourage groups of youths from gathering and causing trouble.
It comes after they were hit with coins during a clash involving around 20 people, The Sun reported.
The branch will also turn off its free WiFi during the evening, with the classical music playing from 5pm.
Police Inspector Luke Hughes told the paper: “Unless we have some local and unruly Beethoven enthusiasts, it should discourage some issues.”
It is not the first time a McDonald’s restaurant has used classical music as a way to tackle anti-social behaviour.
A branch in Shepherds Bush, west London, brought in the measures and said that it had seen a reduction in incidents.
McDonald’s in Wrexham, north Wales
(Google)
There were 71 reports of crime in or near the branch on Uxbridge Road in 2017 but this dropped significantly when classical music was played, according to the manager.
Atul Pathak, whose company runs 31 restaurants in the capital, said at the time: “Working together with the police and the local council in Shepherd’s Bush to help them with combating persistent anti-social behaviour, we thought that playing classical music at certain times of the day would help to set a different and calmer tone.
“It is working really well and has been positively received by many customers, so much so that we are giving real consideration as to where else we might introduce it.”
Transport for London also plays classical music at some Tube stations in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Eight-time Grammy winner Chris Stapleton will become the latest country artist to usher in the Super Bowl, with a performance at Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, Feb. 12 on FOX, just prior to the game’s kickoff at 6:30 p.m. ET at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Stapleton is known for his bluesy, supple vocal delivery as well as his songwriting chops (in addition to his own material, he’s written hits for Kenny Chesney, Josh Turner and Darius Rucker, among others). He’s also the reigning CMA male vocalist of the year, having won in the category six times. This year’s Super Bowl pregame performance lineup also includes R&B artist Babyface performing “America The Beautiful,” while Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Rihanna is this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show performer.
Stapleton is the third consecutive country singer to handle national anthem duties prior to the big game since 2021–Eric Church joined Jazmine Sullivan for a rendition of the anthem in 2021, while Mickey Guyton performed the national anthem last year.
Here, Billboard looks back at other country music artists who have performed the national anthem throughout the years.
