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Which track from your 1971 Yamasuki album ‘Le Monde Fabuleux des Yamasuki’ did Arctic Monkeys’ Matt Helders include on his 2008 ‘Late Night Tales’ DJ mix album?

“I wasn’t aware of this. Could it be ‘Kono Samourai’?

WRONG. It’s ‘Yama Yama’. ‘Le Monde Fabuleux des Yamasuki’ was an ambitious pseudo-Japanese concept album of pop songs…

“At the time, there was a television series called Kung Fu starring David Carradine, and my writing and production partner Jean Kluger and I decided to do something with karate. I wanted to have the special shout of death [kiai] that a karate master uses before he kills somebody on an album. I don’t speak Japanese, so I bought an English-Japanese dictionary, chose the poetic phrases in English and learned the pronunciation phonetically, before teaching the children’s choir the lyrics in Japanese. Even in Japan, they didn’t think it was strange. It must have been a good accent! We hired a Belgium karate master, who wore his traditional outfit and delivered his shout of death. He was in front of me opposite the microphone in the studio and his arm kept brushing millimetres past my face, so I was a little frightened I’d end up dead! But it was fun.”

Which girl group released a cover of ‘Aie a Mwana’ (the best-known title of a song written by yourself and Jean Kluger) as their debut single?

“Bananarama.”

CORRECT.

“And that song is how they got their name as well. I did the lyrics in Swahili, even though I don’t speak the language. I asked the guy I was working with who helped with the lyrics to tell me phrases, and I chose the ones that sounded good. When the single was first released there was a transportation strike, so it flopped because it wasn’t distributed. When I later met Bananarama, I told them I was the godfather of their band and they laughed. Funnily, it was the favourite song of the dictator of the Congo at the time – he told me it was the most popular song in his country.”

Did you enjoy the Bananarama cover?

“No, I thought it was awful! They didn’t know how to sing at the time. [Pause] I’m joking! It was fun. They originally thought it was Swahili folk song, so I was happy with that.”

Which English football team’s fans used the Gibson Brothers’ 1978 hit ‘Cuba’ (which you wrote) as a chant, changing the lyrics to be about central midfielder Thiago Alcântara?

“I’ve never heard of this. I’m learning a lot of things I don’t know about my songs. Which team was it?”

WRONG. Liverpool.

“I need to look that up!”

What was it like working with the Gibson Brothers?

“Good. They were real brothers. I used to work with them as musicians, and one day they came to my house with a demo of ‘Come to America’ and I thought it was great. We were trying to find a name for them and I said, ‘If you were a girl band, it would be easier – we’d call you the Fender Sisters. So we went with Gibson because it was the name of another guitar brand that everybody would recognise. Alex [Francfort], their keyboardist and vocalist, had learned Japanese at school in Paris and told me they spent weeks learning the ‘Le Monde Fabuleux des Yamasuki’ track ‘Aieaoa’ there! When ‘Cuba’ the album was released [in 1979], it only received one review in France which said: ‘If you have this record in your hands, the only thing you should do is throw it in the trash bin!’”

Your son is Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter. But what was the first-ever record cover he appeared on? (Clue: it’s produced by you)

“I remember that he did a couple of record covers. He designed some artwork on a Macintosh paint programme of a dancefloor with coloured squares and I used it for a dance song [‘Ottawan Megamix’ in 1989]. It was so early that I had to get in touch with a little company that had just started in California called Photoshop to get it off the computer so I could use it.”

WRONG. Even earlier, in 1977, he was pictured as a child in a pushchair on the cover of Soul Iberica Band’s ‘Baby Sitter’.

“Ahhh yes! The cover of ‘Baby Sitter’ was taken in the garden next to my house, with the babysitter pushing him in a stroller when he was aged around two or three. ‘Baby Sitter’ was a big disco hit in Japan.”

Did you always know that Thomas would follow in your footsteps?

“Never. His mother wanted him to learn piano and his teacher was in the Opera of Paris. After a while, I asked him if Thomas was any good, and the teacher replied: ‘He’s OK, but he has a great sense of rhythm that makes people want to dance’. When Thomas met [Daft Punk bandmate] Guy-Manuel, their common love was cinema. I think Thomas only came to the studio with me once which is good, because otherwise he would have learned to produce in a normal way and lost what made Daft Punk unique.”

Which band did you once intend to send a letter to asking if you could join them?

“The Beatles.”

CORRECT.

“I didn’t send the letter, but I did songs because of The Beatles, especially Paul McCartney. My brother used to live in Brighton, so I used to get the Beatles records before normal people in France. I was creative at the time and really thought I could bring something to the band, so wrote a letter to them [Laughs].”

Did you ever meet Paul McCartney?

“Yes. I was there when Daft Punk won and performed at the Grammys [in 2014]: during the show, Paul McCartney was singing along and clapping his hands. Afterwards, I saw that Thomas was talking to him for over 20 minutes. I said: ‘What did you talk about?’. He responded: ‘We talked about music. He asked me if I’d like to do a song with him’. I thought: ‘Oh my God!’ So Thomas introduced me to him. That Grammy awards was a special moment for me as a father. I saw Quincy Jones arrive in a wheelchair, and during ‘Get Lucky’, which Daft Punk performed with Stevie Wonder, he stood up and danced. I felt like: ‘Lord, it’s a miracle!’ I was proud.”

What number did Ottawan’s ‘D.I.S.C.O.’ reach on the UK charts in 1980?

“Maybe Number Two?”

CORRECT. Unexpectedly, it was your protest song following the infamous “disco sucks” Disco Demolition Night of 1979 in Chicago, where a mass destruction of disco records took place in a stadium.

“When they burned disco records in America, it was like Nazi Germany burning books with Jewish writers – those books are still read today. And disco still survives today, and is stronger than ever.  The people burning those records were like Trump fans now; it was a homophobic and racist movement. Disco was music made by gay and Black people, so these stupid prejudiced people wanted to use their songs to attack them. So I did ‘D.I.S.C.O’ as a retaliation to say, ‘We’ll see if disco is dead…’.”

On which two Daft Punk albums do you receive a credit?

“It must be the first two.”

CORRECT. On ‘Homework’, you receive a credit ‘for [providing] previous advice’ and on ‘Discovery’, you’re credited under the heading of ‘Design. Concept. Art Direction’.

“When the band started they were in their 20s, so I helped and advised them so that they got total artistic and financial freedom and stayed owners of everything they do. And I’m glad because I think there’s too much interference between the time an artist thinks of a project and when it’s distributed: it arrives distorted. One of the reasons for Daft Punk’s success is that they did exactly what they wanted and it came to the public exactly, unfiltered, from their minds.”

Did Thomas ever rebel against your musical taste?

“He did something worse than that! [Laughs] They did those first two Daft Punk albums in his bedroom next to my room. At the beginning, they were experimenting and I thought it was really special. I didn’t always understand it, and would say: ‘When will you write a song on top of it?’, not realising it was meant to be an instrumental. But whenever I said I liked something, they’d drop that song and I’d never hear it again! I was the benchmark: if I liked it, it wasn’t good enough! So in the end, I stopped commenting! [Laughs]”.

Ironically, it was hearing Daft Punk that made you want to give up making dance music yourself…

“I was doing dance music and when I heard Daft Punk, I said: ‘No, it’s a new generation coming. I cannot compete with this music’. At the time, I also had a big fight with the French authors’ society [about Jewish composers who had their intellectual property rights, and attendant earnings, stripped from them during the Nazi occupation of France] so the idea of writing a song and the rights going to them? I wasn’t into that.”

Was there ever any discussion of uniting the generations and collaborating on a track with Daft Punk?

“No. I was never involved with them artistically and I would never dare to ask to collaborate on a track together.”

What is the name of the 2007 single by Erykah Badu that samples ‘Kono Samourai’?

“I know she used it, but I don’t know the name of the song!”

WRONG. It’s ‘The Healer’.

“Yes! I was surprised, but glad it was used by modern artists. When I saw that Yamasuki was used in an episode of Fargo, that was rewarding also.”

Which famous singer inspired the title of your Soul Iberica Band track ‘I’m Looking For Jeremy’?

“I know that! It was Nina Simone.”

CORRECT. According to Jean Kluger, “a woman in [a] terrible state, who we later realised happened to be Nina Simone, was constantly looking for Abraham. We just changed the name.”

“It was Jean Kluger who had this experience, and I was not there in the studio when it happened.”

It’s one of 20 tracks included on your recent career-spanning compilation ‘The Vaults of Zagora Records Mastermind (1971-1984)’.

“When I was sent the tracklist the label had selected, I had to go on YouTube to verify some tracks to see if I was really involved in them – because I couldn’t remember them at all! [Laughs]. Some I remembered, but others… like when I saw the title of ‘Voyager II’, I thought: ‘Are you sure?!’ But listening back to these tracks, some of which are over 40 years old, I was surprised at how good and present they sounded. Some sound better than some tracks recorded today because they were recorded live on analogue tape. I also realised how serious I was about having fun with my projects.”

In 2021, MC Blitzy, Luis Fonsi and Nicole Scherzinger recorded a variation on Ottawan’s ‘D.I.S.C.O’  with which title?

“It was for a mobile games company. ‘She’s Bingo’?”

CORRECT.

“I win!”

The verdict: 6/10

“I’m very happy, because my memory’s better than I thought! I assumed I’d only get two or three. I will have a good day today!”

‘Vaults of Zagora Records Mastermind (1971-1984)’ is available now via Because Music.

The post Daniel Vangarde: “When I heard Daft Punk, I said: ‘I cannot compete with this music’ appeared first on NME.

Atari CEO Wade Rosen has made a bid to acquire the company after it reported financial issues.

READ MORE: How Atari’s new CEO is pressing continue for the software company

The company recently reported “a liquidity shortfall and additional financing requirements” in it’s half-year financial report, according to PC Gamer.

In a press release, Atari said that that a “friendly offer” had been “initiated to acquire control and increase the managing shareholder’s capacity to support the Company’s development ambitions”.

It continued that Atari’s CEO “intends to further strengthen his interest in Atari’s capital in order to support the Company with rolling out its transformation strategy”.

Wade Rosen. Credit: Press.

In Atari’s half-year financial report, published September 30, 2022, the company shared that “consolidated net income showed a loss of €5.4m for the period compared to a loss of €3.5m in H1 21/22”, citing “uncertain macro-environment” for games and the blockchain.

Speaking to NME ahead of the Atari’s 50th anniversary, Rosen recently spoke about how as a “pop culture brand… appearances in TV, movies, licensing etc, [Atari’s] never been stronger.”

He continued that the perception that games company no longer makes games, is something he’s keen to correct.

“Licensing is a big part of Atari, but we’re also focusing on making premium games for modern platforms.” replies Rosen, “[Scepticism] is understandable, but everybody at Atari today loves games – and they love making Atari games.

“We’re not trying to be anything that we’re not. We’re not trying to compete with companies that we can’t compete with… we’re just trying to make great Atari games.”

The post Atari CEO makes offer to acquire games publisher amid financial struggles appeared first on NME.

Just listen to this excerpt from Twitter Spaces chat, wherein Elon Musk discusses Twitter’s engineering challenges with technically-inclined people. He knows that “velocity” is needed, and he knows that the complexity of “the stack” inhibits this. But he has absolutely no technical understanding whatsoever beyond this, and is made a fool of by Netflix engineer Ian Brown asking him to explain these things in context: “tell me what’s so crazy about the stack; just describe it and how rewriting will gain you velocity.” — Read the rest

An individual who identified herself as “Mistress” and two associates—all in full BDSM regalia—addressed the Fort Lauderdale City Commission yesterday to ask that Broward County use $250,000 of a $1 million fund allotted for a yard waste processing plant to instead build a dungeon. — Read the rest

When Charlie Cox enters a room, he doesn’t seem like a killer. That’s probably a good thing for him in day-to-day life, but it does make you wonder how he’s wound up playing the roles he has. The British actor’s biggest roles to date are as ex-IRA enforcer Owen in Boardwalk Empire and the title character in Marvel‘s Daredevil – both men unafraid of beating a man to within an inch of his life, or beyond it. And now he’s playing an MI6 boss involved in some very shady business. They say you have to watch the quiet ones. Charlie Cox is one of those quiet ones.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, I was doing a very confusing social media thing,” Cox gasps as he crosses a vast conference room at speed. He’s all of five minutes late. There’s no air of mystery to Cox. Quite the opposite. He’s immediately friendly and greets every question as if he can’t wait to answer it. We’re in Netflix’s head office, marooned in a room with seats for 20 (“it feels like one of us is here to be fired”) because he’s promoting a new show, Treason, for the streamer. He plays Adam, Deputy Director of MI6, who’s bumped up to the top job when his boss (Ciaran Hinds) is poisoned.

“A hero does the right thing at great cost to themselves”

It’s a show about which we can say very little, because big twists occur roughly every four minutes, but given the title, it’s not revealing too much to say that Adam makes some highly questionable decisions in episode one, breaking laws he’s sworn to uphold, which will have major repercussions for both him and his country. It’s hard to say whether Adam, who should be in jail, is a good guy or not. “I went back and forth on this,” says Cox. “I ended up feeling that what makes him a hero is that he’s able to ultimately do the right thing at great cost to himself. And he’s able to admit to and recognise past failings. I think that is the essence of modern day heroes, because nobody’s perfect.” It’s a very kind interpretation, though the law may see things differently, m’lud.

Cox works in the role for the same reason he’s so terrific as Daredevil. He has such a nice guy air about him that it’s intriguing when he behaves in any other way. “[He makes me] think of Tom Hanks and Harrison Ford,” says Treason’s creator Matt Charmon, who co-wrote the Tom Hanks-starring Bridge Of Spies. “These are guys that have a deep morality to them, a sort of trust. I think Charlie has that too. When he starts to wander away from what you think he is, you think, ‘Wait, was I wrong? How far is this guy going to go?’ It’s exciting to play with that expectation.”

CREDIT: Netflix

Treason is a spy show with lots of double-crossing and murder, but it’s less concerned with what goes on in the field than what happens to your personal life when you give everything to protect your country. “I really responded to the family element,” says Cox, who has two kids of his own. “The thing that shocked me into paying attention is that these big things happen to Adam early on and rather than them escalating into some car chase or explosion… we keep going back to how this man’s life affects his loved ones.” Treason has Cox playing a different kind of MI6 agent, one who’s mainly fighting battles with his own conscience.

Watching Treason, you might think this is an actor making a canny audition for a bigger spy series. Think again. Cox isn’t interested in playing James Bond. “Is my name even on the list?” he says, with genuine curiosity. “You’re the first person I’ve heard that from.” We’re actually not, he quickly admits. “Someone brought this up the other day and they told me there are odds [for who will play the next Bond]. Then she said, ‘Not for you, sadly.’”

Charlie Cox in upcoming Netflix miniseries ‘Treason’. CREDIT: Netflix

He’s right – yet somehow there are odds for 69-year-old journeyman actor Colm Meaney (300-1) – and that’s fine because he doesn’t want to do it. “The honest truth is that I think there are better candidates out there than me,” he says. “The Bond itch has been scratched a little bit for me with Treason but also particularly by Daredevil. Playing a superhero is not so different.” He doesn’t think the Bond producers should be asking him, a middle-aged white man, anyway. “I think they should do something different – and I think you know what I mean. It would be a really good time and opportunity to do that.”

Even if he were asked, it’s hard to see where Cox would find the time. He’s about to be busy for at least the next year, returning to the defining role of his career, pulling on the Daredevil cowl once more.

“‘Daredevil’ will be dark on Disney+, but it probably won’t be as gory”

Cox first played Matt Murdock, the small-time New York lawyer who has a sideline as a leather-clad crime fighter despite being blind, in Netflix’s series, which ran for three seasons from 2015-18. Well-received critically and commercially, it was a great moment in Cox’s career, and one he thought was done, until he got a call a couple of years ago. “Kevin Feige [head of Marvel Studios] called and said, ‘We’d like to bring you into the MCU’,” says Cox.

To try to simplify a complex situation: Netflix’s Marvel shows – Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Punisher, Iron Fist, The Defenders – exist outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, made before the arrival of Disney+. When Disney started its own streaming service, with its own shows made in-house, Netflix lost the rights to show anything Marvel and the MCU basically pretended those shows and characters didn’t exist. Daredevil is, so far, the only character Feige has welcomed from the Netflix universe. “I was over the moon,” says Cox. “I love this character.” Feige gave Murdock a cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home and a guest spot on She-Hulk. “He said, ‘After that, we’re not sure. We’ll see’.”

Charlie Cox as Daredevil. CREDIT: Alamy/Disney

The reception to both was so good that Daredevil will now return in 2024 in his own Disney+ show, Daredevil: Born Again. Cox is excited about exploring another version of the character. “This has to be a reincarnation, it has to be different, otherwise why are we doing it?” he says. The episode of She-Hulk, in which he had a one-night stand with the title character, showed Murdock as “quick-witted and funny and charismatic and carefree at times,” which is very different from the brooding Netflix version. “My opinion is this character works best when he’s geared towards a slightly more mature audience. My instinct is that on Disney+ it will be dark but it probably won’t be as gory.” He knows there are people who will be hoping for simply a continuation of the previous series. “I would say to those people, we’ve done that. Let’s take the things that really worked, but can we broaden? Can we appeal to a slightly younger audience without losing what we’ve learned about what works?”

Marvel is putting a lot of faith in Daredevil: Born Again. So much faith that they’re giving it a massive 18 episodes. That’s a number unheard of in streaming shows. Other Marvel shows on Disney+ have got no more than nine. “They said to me, ‘We’re going to be shooting in 2023’,” says Cox. “I said, ‘Great, when?’ They said, ‘All 2023’. I start shooting in February and finish in December.” Aside from the fact he’ll be in production all year in New York, Cox says he knows little of what the show will entail. He says he hasn’t seen any scripts or outlines, which feels hard to believe, but he says it very convincingly.

“I was told ‘Stardust’ would lead to big things but none of that happened”

“I’m fascinated to discover why they’ve chosen to do 18,” he says. “I’m imagining there’s going to be an element to it that is like the old-school procedural show. Not necessarily case-of-the-week, but something where we go really deep into Matt Murdock the lawyer and get to see what his life is like. If that’s done right and he really gets his hands dirty with that world… I think there’s something quite interesting about that, to spend a lot of time in a superhero’s day-to-day life and you really earn the moments when he suits up.”

As evidently excited as he is about Daredevil’s return, there’s a note of caution in Cox’s answers. “You said earlier that I could be busy for years, and I thought, ‘Yeah, maybe. Hopefully’,” he says. “But if this show next year doesn’t hit the spot, then that might be it. Then it’s back to…” He doesn’t finish that thought. He’s not expressing any doubt in Marvel’s ability to make the series work, but protecting himself from great expectations. He’s not taking his big return for granted. Because he’s made that mistake before.

Alongside Sienna Miller in ‘Stardust’, his big break. CREDIT: Alamy

Back in the early 2000s, Charlie Cox was just an unknown actor. He’d done some minor bits in TV and Movies. He was doing fine. Then, suddenly, at 24, he was cast as the lead in Matthew Vaughn’s 2007 fantasy Stardust, opposite Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Claire Danes and Sienna Miller. Cox was told this was it, the big time. “I’d been on a nice trajectory as an actor, doing little cameos in some interesting movies. Then I had this leap and became the lead of a big studio film,” he says. “I was told by so many people what that would mean and what it would lead to. None of those things happened.”

His big break came to nothing. A year later Cox was unemployed. “The doors did not all open,” he says. “I didn’t know what was going to happen to my career. I almost felt worse off [than if Stardust hadn’t happened]. When you’re up-and-coming, everyone’s interested, but when you’ve had the moment and it hasn’t translated into anything… people look for someone else. There was a period of time when I felt like I couldn’t get arrested.”

In HBO’s hit series ‘Boardwalk Empire’. CREDIT: HBO/Alamy

Frustrated at his lack of progression, Cox decided to take himself out of the Hollywood game for a couple of years, travelling around Africa and India. He went back to acting in theatre. Then he was offered a lifeline. “Boardwalk Empire came along and they offered me three episodes,” he says. The Martin Scorsese-produced, Steve Buscemi-starring gangster series was very high profile. Even a fleeting role would be good for the CV. “I thought, at least if I go into an audition room I can reference this and they’ll know what I’m talking about.” It became much more than a notable hit on his CV. The showrunners liked the character and Cox so much that he wound up appearing in 23 episodes. His run ended, bloodily, in 2012. It was a big enough role that a casting director noticed him when they were considering actors for Daredevil. If he hadn’t said yes to those three episodes, we probably wouldn’t be speaking now.

The commercial and critical success of Daredevil raised Cox’s profile hugely. The big time was calling once again. “I remember thinking, ‘Well, this has been such a success that even when it does end, I’m sure there will be other opportunities’. And there were, but not as many as you’d think. Not the right things.” He’s delighted with the work he’s been able to do, including King of Thieves with Michael Caine and, of course, Treason, but there hasn’t been a glut of projects.

“There were opportunities after ‘Daredevil’, but not the right ones”

He doesn’t say this to moan, but to illustrate why he doesn’t take anything for granted. “You have to do everything in your power to enjoy the moments of success when you’re experiencing them,” he says. It also explains why he’s returning to play Daredevil. He’s not so proud and precious that he feels anything negative about returning to past glories. “I’m incredibly grateful Daredevil’s coming back,” he says. “I love playing this character. How much longer at my age can I play the lead in a superhero film or TV show? Not very long, probably.”

On the day we meet, in mid-December, Cox is two days off his 40th birthday. He’s feeling OK about it, he says. He’s not yet fully in training to play Daredevil again, but he knows it’s going to be tougher than when he was in his mid-thirties. “I don’t remember the last time I didn’t have any [physical] issues,” he laughs. “My shoulder’s done. My knees are in bad shape. My back’s gone.” He guffaws. He says he’s now just used to the fact his body makes a lot of cracks and crunches when he moves around, but he sees plenty of action actors who don’t let a few noisy bones slow them down. “I was at a comic book convention a couple of weekends ago and Jean-Claude Van Damme was there,” he says. “I thought, ‘his body must be making a lot of noise. When he walks around you must be able to hear him!’”

Cox’s joints might be a little louder these days, but he bears all that wear and tear proudly. He’s been knocked about most of his career, both physically and figuratively, and he’s always pulled himself back up, ready to go again. He’s at the highest point in his career right now, the leading man he always wanted to be. What comes after this, he doesn’t know, but he’s gripping his latest chance tightly as he can, determined to enjoy every minute. Whatever the industry wants to throw at him after that, he’s ready for it. Don’t let the nice guy exterior fool you. He’s got plenty of fight.

‘Treason’ streams on Netflix from December 26

The post Charlie Cox: “If the ‘Daredevil’ reboot doesn’t hit the spot, then that might be it” appeared first on NME.

The two-year-old Meta Quest 2 is now faster due to a surprise performance boost in the headset’s latest update. Meta boosted the maximum frequency from 490 MHz to 525 MHz, giving all Quest 2 headsets up to 7 percent more performance. 

“No integration or coding is needed to start reaping the benefits of this improvement — the dynamic clocking system will automatically increase the frequency as it detects that your app would benefit from it,” Meta wrote. To get the extra speed, all you’ll need to do is either a doff/don (take it off and put it back on) or sleep cycle by clicking the power button twice.

What’s more, if you have dynamic foveation enabled in your app, the GPU will boost from 490 MHz to 525 MHz to maintain higher visual quality rather than increasing foveation (foveation lowers image detail depending on what you’re looking at). The result should be better overall image quality. 

Quest 2 owners will benefit from the extra speed with no app changes, but developers could also update apps, using the extra power to boost resolution. In any case, it makes the headset more useful in the final year of its lifespan, with the Quest 3 set to launch next year. 

Journey‘s Neal Schon has filed a cease and desist to his bandmate Jonathan Cain over a performance at Donald Trump‘s Mar-A-Lago resort.

Last month, Cain performed the band’s iconic hit ‘Don’t Stop Believin” at the Florida complex with politicians and Trump acolytes Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Kari Lake.

In a letter to Cain – whose wife Paula White-Cain is a former spiritual advisor to Trump – Schon’s lawyer wrote (via The Guardian): “Although Mr. Cain is free to express his personal beliefs and associations, when he does that on behalf of Journey or for the band, such conduct is extremely deleterious to the Journey brand as it polarises the band’s fans and outreach. Journey is not, and should not be, political.

“Mr. Cain’s unauthorised affiliation of Journey with the politics of Donald Trump has the band’s fans up in arms, as is demonstrated by a sample of the attached emails and Twitter comments.

“This has caused, and continues to cause, irreparable harm to the Journey brand, its fan base and earning potential, especially in light of the forthcoming tour.”

“Mr. Cain has no right to use Journey for politics…” the letter added. “He should not be capitalising on Journey’s brand to promote his personal political or religious agenda to the detriment of the band.”

In response, Cain said: “Schon is just frustrated that he keeps losing in court and is now falsely claiming the song has been used at political rallies.”

Former US President Donald Trump speaks during an event at his Mar-a-Lago home on November 15, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida CREDIT: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

This new development is far from the first legal battle within Journey. Schon sued Cain last month over allegations that he was refused access to the band’s credit card, with Cain responding by alleging that Schon added over $1million (£830,000) in personal expenses to the card in question.

Also, Steve Perry, who fronted Journey from 1977 to 1998 and sang on many of their most well-known hits, is attempting to stop his former bandmates from owning trademarks to the names of some of the band’s biggest songs.

As Billboard reports, Journey’s two biggest mainstays – Schon and Cain – hold the trademarks to many of the band’s hits, including ‘Anyway You Want It’, ‘Wheel In The Sky’ and ‘Open Arms’, through their Freedom JN LLC company.

The trademarks covers the use of those titles on merchandise such as T-shirts, hoodies and other apparel, making it easier for Schon and Cain to sue anyone infringing the trademark by selling items bearing those titles.

However, in a petition filed by Perry to the US Patent and Trademark Office on September 11, the singer argued that Schon and Cain’s trademark goes against a partnership agreement the trio signed requiring unanimous consent for any business relating to the trademarked songs, and that he had not provided that consent. As such, he has asked the agency to invalidate 20 of the pair’s trademark registrations.

The post Journey’s Neal Schon files cease and desist to bandmate Jonathan Cain over performance at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago appeared first on NME.

Four South Korean films have been invited to screen at the upcoming Palm Springs International Film Festival, including Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave. 

READ MORE: Decision To Leave review: the year’s most addictive K-drama so far

The Korea Herald reported yesterday (December 21) that a total of four Korean films have been selected to be screened at the film festival, among the 134 films handpicked from 64 countries across the globe.

All four films – Decision To Leave, Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Broker, July Jung’s Next Sohee and Kim Jung-eun’s Gyeong-ah’s Daughter – will be shown throughout the 10-day affair, slated to take place from January 6 to 16, 2023. Decision To Leave has also been nominated for best international feature film at the festival, under the Award Buzz category.

Per The Korea Herald, Palm Springs International Film Festival organisers shared that a “special jury of international film critics will review international nominees for best international feature film of the year, as well as for best actor, best actress and best screenplay.”

Starring The King’s Letters actor Park Hae-il and China’s Tang Wei (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Decision To Leave is a slow-burn mystery romance centred on a detective who gets dispatched to investigate the scene of a man’s death. When he calls in the man’s wife to have her confirm his identity, he notices something peculiar about her. He begins falling for her as he carries out a separate investigation into who she really is.

Earlier today (December 22), Decision To Leave was also spotted on the 2023 Oscars shortlist for International Film Feature, becoming one of only 15 films selected out of submissions from 92 countries. From each shortlist, only five nominees will be selected for the award, which will be announced officially on January 24, 2023.

Decision To Leave first debuted at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, where director Park was awarded the festival’s coveted Best Director prize. Park is well known for helming acclaimed Korean films including the bloody Vengeance Trilogy – comprising Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance – and The Handmaiden, as well as the 2013 English psychological thriller film Stoker. 

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Kate Bush has shared her hopes for an end to the conflict in Ukraine in her 2022 Christmas message.

READ MORE: Kate Bush’s best on-screen syncs – from Stranger Things to ‘Being Human’

The singer, who called for a pay rise for doctors and nurses in her 2021 Christmas message, has shared a new post on her website titled ‘Merry Christmas’, in which she reflects on how life has continued to be “incredibly frightening” after the pandemic.

“Every year seems to fly by a little faster. They say this happens as you get older, but there’s no doubt that the speed of life is accelerating at a greater rate than ever,” she opened the message.

“I don’t think any of us have ever known a year like this one. Life became incredibly frightening in the pandemic, but just as we think it might be over soon, it seems to keep going.

Kate Bush in the 1970s. Credit: Chris Walter/WireImage

“It’s a bombardment,” she continued, “the horrific war in Ukraine, the famines, the droughts, the floods…  and we lost our Queen. Many of my friends were surprised at how upset they were at her death especially as we aren’t royalists, but I think her passing became a focus for grief, for unexpressed loss that so many people had felt during the pandemic.”

The singer also reflected on the renewed popularity of her 1985 single ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’ after it appeared in the fourth season of Stranger Things, going on to break three Guinness World Records and as well as being the most-streamed song on the planet at one point.

“It’s been a crazy, roller coaster year for me. I still reel from the success of RUTH, being the No 1 track of this summer,” Bush continued. “What an honour! It was really exciting to see it doing so well globally, but especially here in the UK and Australia; and also to see it making it all the way to No 3 in the US. It was such a great feeling to see so many of the younger generation enjoying the song. It seems that quite a lot of them thought I was a new artist! I love that!”

She also thanked everyone who “supported the track and made it a hit”.

The message continued: “I wonder where on earth we’ll all be at the end of next year? I hope the war will end. I hope that the nurses will be in a position where they are appreciated – they should be cherished. Let’s all hope that next year will be better than this one. I keep thinking about hope and how it was the last to fly out of Pandora’s box. Sometimes it’s all that seems to glow in the dark times we find ourselves in right now.”

Bush concluded: “I used a little robin in some of my Christmas gifts to friends this year. I felt that this humble little bird, which symbolises Christmas could also symbolise hope in the context of Emily Dickinson’s beautiful words: Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.

“I‘d like to think that this Christmas when joy is so hard to find, hope will perch in all our souls. Merry Christmas!”

Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ was among the most streamed songs in the UK this year, also ranking number six in the Top 10 most popular songs in the UK on TikTok for 2022.

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