Dre sort of apologises a little

Both Dr Dre and Apple have been forced to sort-of engage a bit with the allegations that Dre used to beat women up.

Dre had been ignoring these claims for years, but discovered that when someone makes a biopic about you and also ignores them, it becomes hard to pretend it didn't happen.

So, sit back and see how Dre tries to make amends for beating women up, and then ignoring them for decades:

"Twenty-five years ago I was a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life. However, none of this is an excuse for what I did. I’ve been married for 19 years and every day I’m working to be a better man for my family, seeking guidance along the way. I’m doing everything I can so I never resemble that man again.”

“I apologize to the women I’ve hurt. I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives.”

This raises a whole bunch of questions - Dre being a man of whom the world's most famous leading question, 'when did you stop beating your partners', can legitimately be asked.

More pressingly, if Dre deeply regrets what he did, isn't a bit of a coincidence that this regret has only just bubbled over into acknowledging that what your accusers have said is true the week after the movie came out?

And finally: even if your regret is heartfelt, why would you end it with the line about "all of our lives"? You think that the best way to say sort-of-sorry for beating women is to remind people that, hey, it's affected you too.

Apple, for their part, have popped out a statement which shrugs and says "well, he's never hit a woman so hard he cracked her ribs while he's been here":

“Dre has apologized for the mistakes he’s made in the past and he’s said that he’s not the same person that he was 25 years ago. We believe his sincerity and after working with him for a year and a half, we have every reason to believe that he has changed.”

What galls most here is the word "mistakes", as if repeatedly attacking women was a bit like speeding in a built-up area because you didn't see the sign.

Maybe Dre really is contrite. But it'd be easier to believe if we spoke about what it was he did then less than what he doesn't do now.

Skiibii: The Reggie Perrin of pop

Social media deciding to inflate 'someone being a bit queasy' into 'you are with the angles now XXXRIP' isn't anything new, but I think the case of Skiibii is something of a first.

Skiibii had a blackout, and went to hospital for a check-up. The hospital thought he was fine; the internet decided he was dead.

So far, not so unusual. But part of the reason why the web was already rummaging through Skiibii's cupboards muttering "dead men don't need season tickets" was that his manager had confirmed the death.

It looks like there was an attempt to turn the death-that-wasn't into a marketing triumph. Instead, it ended badly. PR Week reports that Skiibii is trying to clear up the mess:

Speaking to Cool FM alongside Skiibii, fellow artist KCee said he blamed their manager Soso Soberekon for allowing the rumours to escalate. "My so-called manager confirmed it, I put the blame on him," said KCee, going on to say: "We are going to treat him according to his mistake, and right now as I speak he is fired."

Soberekon this morning released a statement via his Instagram page offering an "unreserved apology to everyone". He said: "With my wealth of experience in the entertainment business, I would like to state that events leading to the above misinformation through my channel was due to a breakdown in communication."

Sacking might seem a little harsh, but if you're not sure if you're representing a person or a corpse, maybe management isn't really for you.

Gene Simmons is not a suspect

There's a raid on a house by police looking for child pornography. The house is owned by someone famous, but police go out of their way to stress that the suspect is not the famous person, nor a member of their family; and that the famous person is not a suspect.

The press still use the famous person's name at the front end of the headlines, and a massive photo of him.

It might not even be that someone from the house downloaded anything; it could just be the IP address. And Simmons wasn't even in the country when the alleged offence occurred.

But the AP report still ends with two lines about Simmons:

Phone and email messages to Simmons' publicist were not immediately returned.

The 65-year-old Simmons has been a central member of KISS since the early 1970s. His family was the subject of a reality TV series that aired for several years.

Yes, they were. But not the subject of the story you've just filed.

NOFX: pay to go away

What do you do when you see a hipster in your audience?

(This question shouldn't be attempted by Mumford And Sons.)

If you're in NOFX, you try to buy your way out of the terrible situation. The now-defunct NME reports:

The band were playing at the Cunard Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia when frontman Fat Mike spotted a fan on the front row who was wearing a tie-dye shirt and sporting a beard.

Fat Mike offered him cash to leave the gig immediately. "You have no business being here,” the singer said "I will pay you $100 (£64) to leave this show. Are you gonna stand in front and bother me all day with your fucking tie-dye shirt and your beard?"

The man didn't leave - presumably his people weren't going to be able to get his comedy penny farthing from valet parking for another hour - but after hearty negotiations, he accepted twenty dollars to take his shirt off and have that escorted from the venue.

Embed and breakfast man: Kate Nash

To offset the bad taste of Hollywood deciding to not let Dre beating a woman up spoil a good story, here's Kate Nash talking to Broadly:

Left out of Compton

There's showbiz for you. One moment, you're a threat to the status quo, with the President worrying over your lyrics. The next, you've been assimilated into a Hollywood biopic.

So it is that NWA, who once threatened revolution in the streets find themselves atop the multiplexes. It shouldn't be much of a surprise - after all, we're several years past the time Eazy-E took lunch with President Bush at a Republican fundraiser:

The good people of Compton, though, won't be able to see their neighbourhood's moment in the sun - Compton doesn't have a cinema.

Although that's not quite as isolating as Digital Spy tries to make it sound. Because...

Dr Dre and Ice Cube fans will have to journey 4 miles east to Paramount's Bianchi Stadium theatre to witness their city depicted on-screen.

A four mile trip to the cinema isn't exactly onerous, is it? People in the suburbs of Brighton have to travel further than that to get to the pictures, and nobody's suggesting Straight Outta Withdean is going to get green lit soon.

More worryingly is the excising of Dre's treatment of women. Dre beat Dee Barnes, and she wonders why this isn't mentioned in the biopic:

That event isn’t depicted in Straight Outta Compton, but I don’t think it should have been, either. The truth is too ugly for a general audience. I didn’t want to see a depiction of me getting beat up, just like I didn’t want to see a depiction of Dre beating up Michel’le, his one-time girlfriend who recently summed up their relationship this way: “I was just a quiet girlfriend who got beat on and told to sit down and shut up.”

But what should have been addressed is that it occurred. When I was sitting there in the theater, and the movie’s timeline skipped by my attack without a glance, I was like, “Uhhh, what happened?” Like many of the women that knew and worked with N.W.A., I found myself a casualty of Straight Outta Compton’s revisionist history.

Hollywood likes its gritty stories. But just not with too much reality. After all, you don't want your heroes to be unrelatable, right?

iTunes Music festival upgrades with new interface

The long-running iTunes music festival - an event which mostly exists so the music industry can be gently reminded who is in charge here - is being rebranded this year as the Apple Music festival.

Amongst the acts: Florence and One Direction. 1D playing the Roundhouse is an interesting way to create the maximum number of upset excluded fans in one go.

Children to permanently work around age ratings, government announces

The entirely pyrrhic move of making pop videos display age ratings (or, rather, some pop videos on a couple of platforms) has achieved whatever low bar of success it was aiming for, and will now have its pointless life extended permanently, the government has announced.

So far, the BBFC has rated a massive 132 videos from the estimated 10 million plus music videos (about one third of videos on YouTube are music videos of one type or another; Quora estimates there's more than 80 million videos on the service).

I'm assuming the idea is that you're so unlikely to find an age rating on a video that you'd forget the way your workaround the requirement to prove your age by the next time you come across one.

The equally vapid labelling will apply to Vevo as well.

Managerobit: Jazz Summers

Jazz Summers, manager and label owner, has died.

There's a statement from his company, Big Life management:

Jazz Summers, the legendary music manager, has died aged seventy-one. He had been living with lung cancer for over two years. The music industry has lost one of its most vibrant, most notorious and most brilliant characters. A champion of new music, a non-conformist and a visionary, Jazz Summers will be greatly missed.

Jazz Summers was a master of artist development. His ability to hear a song and recognize its power and potential brought him huge success across several decades.

Jazz managed Wham!, Lisa Stansfield, Soul II Soul, The Verve, Badly Drawn Boy, Snow Patrol, Klaxons, La Roux, Scissor Sisters and London Grammar among many others.

His artists have sold over sixty million albums and seventy two million singles around the world including over one hundred Top 40 hits in the past forty years.

Jazz was born on March 15th 1944. He enrolled in military school aged twelve and joined the army aged fifteen. He served as a radiographer, spending time in Hong Kong and Malaysia.

In 1985, in partnership with Simon Napier-Bell, Jazz helped Wham! to become the first western pop group to tour China. Summers was crucial in breaking the band in America and established a reputation as an expert in the American market. A reputation that would be strengthened by his work with Snow Patrol and La Roux.

Summers formed his own management company Big Life in partnership with Tim Parry in 1986. They also ran Big Life Records, which featured hundreds of releases from artists including The Orb, Yazz, Coldcut, De La Soul and The Soup Dragons.

In 2003, Jazz was awarded the prestigious Peter Grant Award and in 2007, the Strat Award at the Music Week Awards.

Big Life will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year. It continues to prosper.

Summers was an active campaigner for artists’ rights. As chairman of the MMF (Music Managers’ Forum) he was vocal in many issues affecting artists, including the extension of copyright, secondary ticketing, and VPL. He was also prominent in setting up the Featured Artists’ Coalition and Julie’s Bicycle, a not-for-profit organisation working on sustainability in the creative industries.

In September 2013 Summers’ autobiography ‘Big Life’ was published to critical acclaim.

Jazz is survived by his wife Dianna, his daughters Katie, Rio and Georgia, his granddaughters Claire, Lila and Rose and his brother Don.

It wasn't, naturally, all clambering up the ladders - in 1999, the Big Life record label went into receivership and was eventually purchased by Universal. But before they folded, they released Mega City 4 and KMFDM records, and anyone would be happy with that.

And while 'taking Wham to China' might not sound very much of a big deal, it's worth recalling what a huge coup that was at the time (one minute in):

This week just gone

On this day: Most read-pieces

2014: Jonathan Ross picks up swing shifts at Radio 2; Mail goes into meltdown
2013: One Direction fans fly into panic when similarities between Best Song Ever and Baba O'Riley
2012: Lennon's house goes on the market for £15million. Imagine, eh?
2011: Vampire Weekend released from cover copyright spat
2010: Stonewall's idea of a gay icon is Will Young

These were the new releases:


Robyn & La Bagatelle Magique - Love Is Free



Iris Dement - The Trackless Woods

Download The Trackless Woods



HolySiz - My Name Is

Download My Name Is



Mac DeMarco - Another One

Download Another One



Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy



Jesus And Mary Chain - Psychocandy Live

Download Psychocandy Live



Ivy Levan - No Good

Download No Good

Embed and breakfast man: Revolver

Apparently, before yesterday, this wasn't on YouTube:

And if that seems unlikely, here's someone who should know saying it's a first:

REVOLVER - Crimson - first time on Youtube! https://t.co/a8rD8sMA1m via @YouTube

— Mat Flint (@matflint) August 15, 2015

Montana life not so great: Miley wasn't happy

It's easy to forget when watching Miley Cyrus trudging through tropes that were probably best left alone just what a horrible childhood she had.

She reminds us in Marie Claire this month:

Covering the September issue of Marie Claire, the former Disney star opened up to the magazine about how she came to question her physical appearance after years of being "told for so long what a girl is supposed to be from being on that show."

"From the time I was 11, it was, 'You're a pop star! That means you have to be blonde, and you have to have long hair, and you have to put on some glittery tight thing,' " she said. "Meanwhile, I'm this fragile little girl playing a 16-year-old in a wig and a ton of makeup. It was like Toddlers & Tiaras. I had f—ing flippers."

I'm presuming here she meant that she had massive tantrums, rather than webbed feet. I think. Although if Disney had decided she should have webbed feet, you can bet that excess skin would have been grafted on pretty swiftly.

Cyrus admitted that she began to develop body-image issues from how she was portrayed falsely on the Disney Channel series, telling the magazine, "I was made to look like someone that I wasn't, which probably caused some body dysmorphia because I had been made pretty every day for so long, and then when I wasn't on that show, it was like, 'Who the f— am I?' "

She added, "When you look at retouched, perfect photos, you feel like shit. They lighten black girls' skin. They smooth out wrinkles. Even when I get stuck on Instagram wondering, 'Why don't I look like that?' it's a total bummer. It's crazy what people have decided we're all supposed to be."

So, having felt this weight, Miley's not going to play along with those rules:

Despite societal pressure, the pop singer told Marie Claire she won't be conforming to traditional beauty standards.

"I'm probably never going to be the face of a traditional beauty company unless they want a weed-smoking, liberal-ass freak," she said. "But my dream was never to sell lip gloss. My dream is to save the world."

Which is both a wonderful sentiment, and also sort-of hard to square with the announcement last week that Cyrus has signed on for a second run of promotional work with Estee Lauder's MAC cosmetics brand.

Listen with No Rock: Nada Surf

Coming shortly from Nada Surf is an album which records their March 2014 Seattle gig. They're thrown us a bone in the shape of this track:

Tom Jones now telling Elvis anecdotes down the Job Centre

Tom "Bloody" Jones isn't a happy man. He was fully expecting to continue his judging role on The Voice - which effectively means sitting in a chair for fifteen weeks, occasionally jerking awake to say "Bob Dylan used to deliver my Ocado order in the 60s", before slumping back into a slumber. He'd even been practising trying to watch Will I Am's "antics" without allowing his face to betray the complete depth of his contempt.

But it's not to be. The BBC have decided that Sir Tom needn't bother himself this year. His place on the panel has gone to Boy George. (The now-absent Rita Ora has been replaced by Paloma Faith, which will have the same result you'd have got if Ora had spent the summer break doing a correspondence course.)

Tom isn't happy, though. The Telegraph hears his pain:

Writing on his official Facebook and Twitter pages, Sir Tom revealed he had not chosen to leave of his own accord, accusing executives of lacking basic respect.

He said: "In good faith, as part of the team, I’d put the time in my schedule to be involved in Series 5, as I’ve done for the last 4 years. I’ve supported the show and the BBC since the beginning.

"I was told yesterday, with no consultation or conversation of any kind, that I would not be returning.

Having been through plenty of transformations throughout the years, I support and admire creative change. But being informed, as a matter of duty and respect, is an important part of creative relationships.

"This sub-standard behaviour from the executives is very disappointing.

"I will always admire the courage of the performers who participate in the show, as well as all the production staff who worked tirelessly to make a great family viewing experience for the audience at home. I wish the show well."

Someone who has been part of The Voice for four years being surprised at something sub-standard happening in the production team really does suggest Tom spent most of the time sleeping, doesn't it?

I'm afraid I'm about to make you feel very old indeed

We have now reached the point in human history where people are writing nostalgia pieces about Jessica Simpson:

Get ready to throw it way, way back. In the early '00s, Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson were a total power couple and gave us all of our relationship goals.

Way, way back? I've got jars of Miracle Whip in the cupboard that predate Jessica Simpson.

Can it really be not only long enough to justify the looking back, but also the development of such rose tinted spectacles for the look back?

Columbia House closes its doors, windows

The Britannia Music Club - Buy CDs for almost nothing, and then be beholden to buy crappier CDs at full price forever more - gave up the ghost in the UK back in 2007. Astonishingly, its US equivalent, Columbia House, has been battling on in the face of the internet. "Has" is the operative word, though, as it's finally sunk under the weight of its USD63million debt.

Knowing how tenacious these services were pursuing hapless members for their quota of coins were, you'd really hope that the creditors of Columbia House will pursue the company beyond the grave.

Bookmarks: Rocky Horror

There's a really splendid piece by Simon Price at The Quietus which considers Rocky Horror in the round. I'm not totally convinced - I think it's as much 'exotic package holiday in other people's identity' as 'first swim' - but Price's case is strong nevertheless:

Rocky Horror indubitably provides a 'safe space', an adult creche where transgressive behaviour and cross-dressing are accepted, nay, encouraged. Rocky Horror is a set of stabilisers on your sex bike, a pair of water wings for your first swim in the sea of depravity. But is that such a terrible thing?

This week just gone

As we enter The Summer Without The NME, here's the most-read NME-related stories ever:

1. NME Awards shortlist [2009]
2. Russell Brand outgunned by Monkeys at NME Awards [2006]
3. The NME points fingers at file-sharing services [2008]
4. Conor McNicholas relaunches NME; says Coldplay sound like The Stone Roses [2008]
5. Arctic Monkeys win all the prizes [could be any year; this is 2008]
6. NME Awards nominations [2006]
7. That time they added McCartney to a prize when he turned up [2004]
8. NME Awards virtually a rerun of last year's [2008]
9. NME makesover again [2005]
10. Kerrang overtakes NME. Again.


These were this week's most interesting new releases:


Astrid Williamson - We Go To Dream

Download We Go To Dream



The Strands - The Magical World Of...

Download Magical World Of...

Backing up is now illegal

The decision of the High Court to make it illegal again to rip a CD you've purchased for money to play on a device of your choosing we've covered before. There's another sting to the judgement, though, as Consequence Of Sound have discovered. If you store your legally purchased music on your computer, and you back up your hard drive, you're a criminal, chummy:

the Government spokesperson went on to add that, “… It includes creating back-ups without permission from the copyright holder as this necessarily involves an act of copying.” In other words, if you legally purchase digital media online, you are now not legally allowed to back up that information on an external hard drive of any sort. In the long run, that means if your computer were to crash or get stolen, your only allowable course of action would be to re-purchase all your music and movies.

(I'm sure Apple and Amazon would both point out that if you buy through them, your purchase is recorded and free to download again at any time.)

Backing up your computer is now illegal. Good work, everybody.

Lenny Kravitz attempts to claim human rights for his penis

You'll have heard about Lenny Kravitz trousers ripping "unexpectedly" while onstage in Sweden. Suddenly, in Stockholm, his stock was no longer homed. Delighted fans snapped away. They only snapped with cameras - if they'd been snapping with shearing tools, Kravitz would have something to complain about.

But he's nonetheless upset that his trouser disintegration has exposed his penis to a mixture of acclaim, derision and lack of interest. And, to be fair, he has a right to be upset. Providing he doesn't overplay his hand.

He's overplaying his hand. And also overplaying his cock:

Today, The Metro reports that Kravitz's legal team have warned about the images, stating that they breach their "clients' copyright, human rights, right-of-publicity and performer's rights".

It's not clear if Kravitz's penis has a separate legal team, or, indeed if it is considered a performer in its own right.

Of course Kravitz has the right to ask people not to gawp around after his accident; but does he have to be such a cock about it?

Bookmarks: Cilla Black

Andy Medhurst's piece on Cilla Black concedes she was square, but suggests that was her superpower:

In many ways, her achievements were most notable for establishing continuities between different eras. Despite being vaulted into prominence by the earthquake of Merseybeat, which shook a nation out of post-war deference by insisting on the new, the now and the young, she was within a few years drawing on entertainment codes honed in earlier decades. This led some to lament her supposed co-option by conservatism but the shift now looks more shrewd: a fusion of novelty and tradition that fashioned her into the unlikeliest of hybrids, a pop art Gracie Fields.

Ryan Adams has a plan

It's been a while since Ryan Adams recorded something memorable. I'm sure there's been something this century, but nothing springs to m... actually, that means it wasn't memorable, doesn't it?

Still, all that's about to change as about to release an album full of top quality material.

One hitch, though. Not his songs:

Adams is covering a singer with a country past of her own: Taylor Swift. Today Adams announced on Twitter and Instagram that he’s recording a cover of her hit 2014 album 1989. The 28-second clip of “Welcome to New York” that Adams shared sounds like a big improvement over the original: With heavy guitar backing and Springsteenian vocal harmonies, Adams makes 1989’s weakest track sound like a bona-fide rock anthem.

It's not actually better, but it's better than anything else Adams has done recently.

How famous is Sam Smith? Not that famous, it turns out

I don't think I'm the only person who sees Sam Smith as a placeholder pop star - filling the space on bills; turning up; doing the job; but not an actual supernova pop star. You couldn't imagine a That'll Be The Day style movie being made about him; the biography isn't going to be a Hammer Of The Gods affair. More a Paintbrush Cheap From Homebase tale.

This impression doesn't go away with the discovery that people who had gone to see him at Red Rocks actually recognised him while he was mucking about before the show.

That's all a bit awkward, but at least we know the answer to the philosophical conundrum 'if Sam Smith is not on stage with a light shining on him, does he even exist?'

Chris versus Christ

It turns out that it's not just any old fight that Chris Brown has picked in The Philippines - oh, no, he's taking on Jesus himself:

Brown has become embroiled in a disagreement with Church of Christ following a gig which was meant to take place on New Year's Eve 2014. Brown pulled out of the gig but, according to the church who helped fund the gig, he was paid $1m (£645,000) for his time.

I know what you're thinking: what the hell is a church doing paying Chris Brown anything at all for a gig, never mind a million dollars. Perhaps Brown kept the money to teach the church not to get involved in this sort of the deal. They do say the Lord moves in mysterious ways...

Pharrell Williams Woolworths deal attracts crowds

Pharrell is off to play South Africa. A few years back, choosing to play South Africa would have brought out massive crowds demanding the event be boycotted.

And, actually, that's what's happening this time, as Pharrell has done a deal with Woolworths. Because the South African retailer sources some of its stock from Israel, Woolworths has been a target for protests from Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Against Israel. And because Pharrell is co-promoting a thing with Woolworths, he's now become part of the target:

“He is about to face the biggest backlash any artist has faced in South Africa in over 30 years, since the days of apartheid,” said Braam Hanekom, a BDS South Africa board member.

“He is walking into a very angry, unhappy environment because he has chosen to walk with Woolworths,” Hanekom told Reuters after the City of Cape Town denied an application by thousands to protest at Pharrell's first concert on September 21.

The rejection of the protest request won't stop the protests; it just means they're going to take a different form.

Legendobit: Cilla Black

It's been announced this morning that Cilla Black has died. It feels weird that this time yesterday I was writing about her being on the NME cover in 1986.

She had an astonishing career - not the only person who had the good fortune to be born in Liverpool at just the right time to catch a rising tide, but with the personality to take that advantage and turn it into whatever was needed to work.

Singer; presenter; presenter who sang her own theme tune. There were many Cillas. But my Cilla - and I say this without any side - is this my Cilla, the Cilla I first encountered. Advertising Cilla:

(Actually, the one that has been banging round my head for nearly 40 years was 'I know it's not just me/ all my friends agree', but that doesn't seem to be online.)

There's not many current pop stars who could convincingly push a slightly nasty chocolate cube into a stranger's mouth and not come across as creepy; and much as I love Charli XCX, I couldn't really picture her working a sofa with Bob Carolgees on one side and a pair of twins who hadn't seen each other in twenty years on the other.

Bear Grylls might think he knows something about survival, but Cilla's career shows what survival really looks like.

This week just gone

Ten years old: The most popular stories from August 2010:

1. The AC Chart and the Fresh 40 Chart will save music
2. Louise Who Used To Be In Eternal now advertising bread
3. Melissa Etheridge now cancer-free
4. Tatu announce plans to work with Sting, Dave Stewart, Richard Carpenter
5. Marilyn Manson asks 'what about Harry Potter?'
6. Jon Brookes reveals new Charlatans album will sound like The Charlatans
7. Nico movie cast
8. Liam Gallagher marries well
9. Portugal give U2 a massive award
10. The odd world of Avril Lavigne dress-up dolls

These came out over a week ago now:


Gwenno - Y Dydd Olaf

Download Y Dydd Olaf



Hannah Peel - Rebox 2

Download Rebox 2



Ducktails - Saint Catherine

Download St Catherine

Morrissey patted down, touched up

Disappointingly, the official TSA blog has kept quiet about Morrissey's claims that his penis was fondled by a security screener at San Francisco airport - although they do report twelve people around the US trying to take bear mace through in their carry-ons. You've got to be one hell of a nervous flier to think you need to be prepared in case there's a bear on the plane, surely?

The TSA have denied that anyone groped Mozzer, though:

A TSA spokesperson said in a statement to Rolling Stone magazine Thursday that after reviewing closed-circuit TV footage of the encounter, the officer in question appeared to have “followed standard operating procedures in the screening of this individual.”

"TSA takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and strives to treat every passenger with dignity and respect," TSA spokesperson Mike England said in the statement.

That respect thing must be difficult when you're faced with someone who thinks it's okay to climb aboard with a can or two of bear incapacitant - or the dozens of yahoos who want to take their loaded guns to have with them as they fly.

The appearance of Morrissey in this story shouldn't shift the focus away from the TSA, as this isn't the first time screeners have been accused of sexually assaulting travellers. It's not even the second time. Depressingly, allegations of sexual assault by screeners are incredibly common.

In fact, if you travel through Denver in 2014, you'd be lucky if it hasn't happened to you. It was quite the thing:

According to law enforcement reports obtained during the CBS4 investigation, a male TSA screener told a female colleague in 2014 that he “gropes” male passengers who come through the screening area at DIA.

“He related that when a male he finds attractive comes to be screened by the scanning machine he will alert another TSA screener to indicate to the scanning computer that the party being screened is a female. When the screener does this, the scanning machine will indicate an anomaly in the genital area and this allows (the male TSA screener) to conduct a pat-down search of that area.”

It took three months from the TSA in Denver being told about this before they did anything about it.

And that's just the top of the pile. Some allegations have been revealed following a FOI request, and they make pretty grim reading:

The female TSO then proceeded to roughly feel of [sic] her breast including her nipples. The TSO didn’t go under her arms or along her sides. She indicated that she did not receive a proper pat down. The search was limited to her breast… Two other individuals came over to where the supervisor and gentleman were and they began laughing. The caller indicated that the incident was not the business of the other two officers and not a show for them. The caller indicated that even the Supervisor, along with the others, began to roar with laughter.

So when Morrissey says he was assaulted at the screening point, the only surprising part of that story is that Morrissey wants to leave San Francisco. Everything else is too grimly believable.

Twittergem: Tiffany

Not every artist would be delighted to hear their old work is going for fifty cents in a bargain bin, which is why Tiffany is to be cherished:

Great little find 50 cents #Promo USA cd @tiffanytunes here in Sydney pic.twitter.com/rAxL36a8np

— Andy Lindley (@andylinners) August 1, 2015

Countryobit: Lynn Anderson

When I was growing up, my parents listened to Radio 2, so Lynn Anderson's Rose Garden was a fundamental part of my childhood. What I didn't know about her, until today's obituaries, was that she appeared in Starsky And Hutch:

Lynn Anderson died following a heart attack on July 30th. She was 67.