Free Republic

Stringed Instruments in History.

Country music star Jelly Roll revealed he once declined an invitation to meet with rapper and music mogul P Diddy. During an interview with Tana Mangeau on the CANCELLED podcast, the singer said he was given the opportunity to meet Diddy when he and the rapper were star guests on Jimmy Kimmel. “I will tell this story, and I’ll probably get in trouble for it. Not harping on it cause it’s a hot topic. But I did Kimmel the day Diddy did Kimmel,” he said. “This is the first time in my career, ever, where they said, ‘Do you want...

A music video of an older partial eclipse videoed from my backyard. The clouds act as a scrim for viewing.

Country music icon Morgan Wallen was allegedly arrested and charged with three felony counts early Monday morning after an incident at Eric Church’s Nashville bar. Wallen, 30, was reportedly arrested in downtown Nashville after witnesses say he threw a chair off the sixth-story roof of Church’s Broadway-based Chief’s Bar, according to Billboard. Wallen’s attorney, Worrick Robinson allegedly confirmed his client’s arrest, saying that “At 10:53p Sunday evening Morgan Wallen was arrested in downtown Nashville for reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct. He is cooperating fully with authorities.” Two Metro Nashville Police Department officers were standing on the street below the bar...

Country music singer and rapper Colt Ford was rushed to hospital shortly after his performance in Arizona on Thursday after suffering a heart attack. The “Dirt Road Anthem” star was playing at Dierks Bently’s Whiskey Row when he suddenly suffered a heart attack and is now in the intensive care unit at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa in critical condition. The singer, who has several No. 1 hits under his belt, has worked with other stars, including Jake Owen, Walker Hayes, Chase Rice, Toby Keith, Lady A, and Willie Nelson. The Blaze reported: It appears this is not the...

On April 8, for precisely four minutes and 27 seconds, the moon will pass in front of the sun blocking out all light — a total solar eclipse. The last time this kind of galactic display occurred was in 2017, and although eclipses like this do happen once every 18 months or so, they're usually not visible to people on land. Of course, what would a global scientific wonder be without an appropriate accompanying playlist? Below, we've laid out 30 Eclipse Songs to jam out to while the moon does its thing.

Excavations of bronze age burial sites have uncovered battle-scarred female archers, leading some archaeologists to posit that Amazons, the famed female warriors of Greek legend who are largely believed to be mythical, may have really existed. In Greek mythology, the Amazons were warrior women living northeast of ancient Greece during the late Bronze Age, between approximately 1900 and 1200 BC. The source of the Amazonian myths is Classical Greek literature in which they were first mentioned by Homer. As one of his 12 labors, Hercules has to get hold of the magic girdle of the Amazonian queen Hippolyte, and Achilles...

Kamala Harris' heavily tattooed stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, is selling her knitted art pieces for more than $5,000 each at her exhibition in a New York City cannabis store. Emhoff, 24, debuted her textile exhibition this week at Gotham NYC, a 'woman-owned legal cannabis concept store' on the city's Lower East Side. The vice president's daughter is asking $5,500 for a textile of her self-portrait, featuring her bright red nose and freckles on her forehead. Another piece, featuring two light-blue Gucci hair clips with a backdrop of red, comes with an eye-watering $4,500 price tag. 'This new art form kind of...

We look back to a time when jazz was the dominant form of popular music and could be heard emanating from radio stations and concert halls around the world.Nowadays, in the second decade of the 21st Century, jazz may seem to many a marginalized music. Of course, it goes without saying that there are still musicians who have risen out of the jazz ghetto, crossed over, and sold humungous amounts of records to the mainstream public – think Gregory Porter and Diana Krall, in recent times – but on the whole, jazz music no longer makes the bestseller lists. But...

Marvel and Disney are once again courting controversy by casting a female actress to take on the typically male “Fantastic Four” role of the Silver Surfer in the upcoming reboot. Actress Julia Garner has been picked to play a female version of the iconic comic book character and Herald of Galactus, Deadline magazine reported. Sources told the outlet that the Emmy-winning “Ozark” star will play the Shalla-Bal version of the Silver Surfer from the comics. Bounding Into Comics reported that Marvel Studios dived deep into the comic book lore to find justification to not use the Norrin-Radd version of the...

Before I even knew what a "meme" was, I remember discovering the most incredible ones and knowing exactly who crafted them. Since then, many of their names have escaped me in the span of time. As I reflect on over 20 years since joining FR, I'm reminded of members who are no longer with us (due to bans or departures) but whose art shaped much of our common history. Calling all our long-standing members! Do any of you recall specific names or have memorable examples from our community's golden era, spanning from the late 1990s to 2010? Share your stories...

A team of scientists from the University of Tokyo has revealed a major breakthrough that allows them to create realistic 3D holographic displays using an ordinary iPhone screen. While conventional approaches to holography involve complex and expensive laser emitters that have limited their practical use, the researchers behind this novel approach say their work could lead to dramatic improvements in holographic displays for virtual reality applications, including gaming, training, and even advanced military applications. 3D HOLOGRAPHIC DISPLAYS LIMITED BY COST AND COMPLEXITY In science fiction, holograms are used for anything from basic communications to advanced military weaponry. In the real...

Famous comedian and actor Joe Flaherty died at 82 years of age, having previously experienced a short illness. His death was confirmed by his daughter, Tuesday, according to Global News. Flaherty is reportedly best known for his role as Harold Weir in the cult favorite NBC comedy series, “Freaks and Geeks,” as well as his unforgettable character opposite Adam Sandler, in “Happy Gilmore.” News of his passing traveled quickly, as friends, colleagues and loved ones took to social media to pay tribute to a beloved actor, gone too soon. “No one could have played the role of Donald like Joe...

Famous “Law and Order” and “Charlotte” actress, Angie Harmon, said an Instacart delivery man shot and killed her dog. Harmon wrote a lengthy post to her Instagram account Monday detailing the horror that allegedly happened at her front door. “This Easter weekend a man delivering groceries for Instacart shot & killed our precious Oliver,” she wrote. “He got out of his car, delivered the food & THEN shot our dog.” The actress posted a video and photographs of her small dog as she paid tribute to her beloved family pet. Harmon went on to share more details with her 584,000...

Cartoon Network made sure to post in celebration of the Transgender Day of Visibility on Sunday, but made no mention of the fact that Easter Sunday also fell on March 31st this year — this despite the fact that 1.6 million Americans over 13 identify as transgender, and over 200 million identify as Christian and presumably celebrate Easter. In a post on Instagram, the cable channel’s official account shared a picture of what appeared to be a rainbow in just the colors of the pink, white, and blue transgender pride flag. The same picture appeared several times in a carousel...

Former MTV star Connor Smith has been arrested in Florida for child sex crimes following a year-long search. Law enforcement tracked down Smith on Thursday at a residence in Clearwater, Florida. The officer arrested Smith, 33, on an open warrant originating from Lake County, Illinois. The warrant was issued in February 2023. Page Six reported: The former reality star went on the run after allegedly being caught interacting with an undercover officer who was posing as a minor for “several weeks” online. At the time, Illinois police claimed Smith had sent explicit videos and images of himself to the officer,...

my wife bought this a while back and it was put up. I found it today. i compleley broke down

Former President Donald Trump posted a video on social media showing a hog-tied President Joe Biden painted on the tailgate of a passing truck. The video was posted from Trump's ride back to his private jet after attending the wake of slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller, who was murdered on duty earlier this week. The clip, posted to Trump's Truth Social account with only a caption showing the date and that it was on Long Island, was set to mournful piano as cars displaying their love for Trump rode down the highway. A rendering of the current president hog-tied was...

Marian Zazeela, an artist whose abstract drawings and light installations envisioned dream states, died at her home in New York at 83 on Thursday. The MELA Foundation, an organization she cofounded with her partner, the artist La Monte Young, announced her passing on Friday, saying she died of natural causes while sleeping. Zazeela produced work that did not fit neatly within the confines of any movement, even as it flirted with the aesthetics of Minimalism. By her own admission, she produced “borderline art,” a term she favorited for work that “‘borders’ and challenges the conventional distinction between decorative and fine...

Pattie Boyd has sold her private collection of artifacts, which included the original painting from the cover of 1970's Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, as well as various items from her marriages to George Harrison and Eric Clapton. The painting, titled La Jeune Fille au Bouquet and created by Emile Theeodore Frandsen in the mid '50s, was acquired by Clapton directly via the artist's son in 1970. Clapton later gifted it to Harrison in the late '70s, who in turn gifted to Boyd in the late '80s. Boyd has now sold the painting for $2.5 million. Boyd's collection, which...