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Musicians have been oscillating between keeping busy and feeling a bit isolated since coronavirus stay-at-home orders came down in the month of March, 2020. It’s a real dichotomy between staying at home and being creative for most artists and musicians , finding that part of yourself, trying to improve, while staying relevant with fans. Whatever the chosen system is to get through this pandemic most performers are finding creative ways to stay on top of there game and in front of the paying audience. We have come to accept as a way of life, be it permanent or temporary, that music is and will be the last part of the recovery from a pandemic that is now being questioned as weather we should have, and still continue to shut down a once thriving economy. In the early days of March, when COVID-19 was just beginning to spread in the U.S. I watched the music scene transform in front of my eyes. From Instagram to TikTok, our new pop culture demands that stars be both accessible and vulnerable online amid the pandemic. In the weeks since social distancing began in earnest, there have been numerous articles written about how celebrities and musicians are basically losing it. The live music culture is in a weird place. All these livestreams  and all these posts are giving us a concentrated, heightened look at the new normal for the music culture.

We are firmly and deeply submerged in the age of livestreem performances as social media “influence.” on how we view and support live concerts and local acts. As more people are finding fame, notoriety and lucrative careers through “content” creation on platforms like Instagram and YouTube, the idea of what fame is — and who gets to be famous — has drastically shifted. Now, people are as inclined to be obsessed over there favorite local acts as they are over national acts. The contrast of our current music landscape with that of even 20 years ago is profound. It used to be that part of the luster for stars to resided in their carefully manufactured distance, now it’s practiced as the normal by the industry as a whole. t’s about staying relevant, by any means necessary. The internet has proven to be a powerful tool in harnessing the ability to keep people engaged. But we’ve entered a new reality, in which a harsh light shines on all this placating distraction and has further revealed the serious cracks in the foundation of American life.” Most of us are plugged in to the social media matrix and trying to figure it out. Our pop cultural landscape is just changing in fascinating, entertaining and often cringe-worthy ways.

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Governor Gavin Newsom of California on Thursday sent shockwaves through the West Coast when he officially ordered all 40 million of the state’s residents essentially shelter in place (meaning stay home unless buying basic necessities or seeking medical care). Perhaps surprisingly, among the “essential services” that he deemed will remain open — on top of pharmacies and food stores — was, marijuana dispensaries. Popular dispensary MedMen, which operates 33 stores in nine states including 12 in California, says it is operating with modified hours, but all stores remain open (except for one in Monterey Bay, Calif. which is closed due to local jurisdiction). “We are closely following recent guidelines released by each state and local jurisdiction, plus that of the CDC and the WHO in the best interest of our customers and employees and have adopted the recommended safety protocol.” “As of now, we have been deemed an essential business in the markets that have established protocol,” Christian Langbein, the company’s spokesperson says. In the two months since the first case of COVID-19 landed in the U.S., the nation’s private sector is a changed place. As a company seemingly unscathed by the coronavirus outbreak thus far, MedMen is in the minority.  Over half of America has closed all non-essential businesses, — from festivals, to theme parks, to cruise ships, all motor sports and professional sports teams  have hit pause on their seasons and the financial market may be on the verge of a crash.

But amid the colossal shifts, the cannabis industry seems poised to stay afloat.Denver-based Medicine Man, tells Yahoo Lifestyle that in the weeks since the coronavirus began spreading rapidly, its sales have actually escalated. Sally Van der Veer, the dispensary’s CEO says, “Our numbers are significantly higher than they would normally be this time of year,” “For the most part, we’re seeing customers who are grateful that we are open because they wouldn’t be able to get their medicine elsewhere..” They can be in and out in 30 seconds,” says Van der Veer. “On the floor of our dispensaries, we have tape to ensure that we’re maintaining six feet of distance between every customer. All our budtenders are wearing gloves and using hand sanitizer or washing their hands in between each transaction. ” Van der Veer says the distinction of “essential services” in the time of the coronavirus makes sense both for citizens and the state of the cannabis industry as a whole.

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Illinois is the 11th state to legalize cannabis for adult use. Vendors started the new year by bringing in nearly $3.2 million on the state’s first day of legal recreational cannabis sales. There were long lines and more than 77,000 transactions on Wednesday, according to former state Sen. Toi Hutchinson, who oversees the state’s new equity-focused recreational cannabis program for Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Alex Hanns @alexhanns NEWS: @ToiHutchinson announces first day adult-use cannabis sales figures in Illinois — $3,176,256.71 in sales  — 77,128 transactions
“Sales are great, but let’s never lose sight of the impact we’re having on families around the state. Pritzker’s office did not immediately provide the amount of tax revenue the state received from the sales. Illinois state taxes on cannabis products range from 10% to 25%, depending on the product’s concentration of THC. A first day of $3,176,256.71 in sales would bring in an estimated $317,000 for the state at a minimum, and about $794,000 at most, not including sales tax.

Michigan, which implemented recreational marijuana in December, saw about $221,000 in sales on its first day, according to the Detroit Free Press. Colorado, one of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, saw a little more than $1 million in sales on its first day of legalization in 2014. The whopping $3.2 million spent in Illinois on Wednesday greatly surpasses first-day sales in other states where recreational cannabis is legal. Hutchinson said on Wednesday. “Today is a historic new day, and as we move forward with growing this industry, I thank all those who worked hard to make the launch a success and will continue to dedicate themselves to expanding opportunities and righting the wrongs of the past.” “As we start a new decade, Illinois has achieved a monumental milestone ― launching the legalization of cannabis in a way that includes communities left behind for far too long, creates good jobs and expunges thousands of records for those who have lost out on opportunities and ends prohibition.” Under the state’s law, Illinois residents who are 21 and older are allowed to possess up to 30 grams of cannabis, and nonresidents can possess up to 15 grams.

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If ever anyone deserved to have a few stiff shots right now, it’s the social media team at Tito’s Vodka. The Texas-based distillery’s social media team probably needs a few stiff shots. Since Monday, Twitter users have suggested using the Austin, Texas-based distillery’s product to make hand sanitizer.  The tweets range from the possibly serious to the probably not serious at all, yet in all cases, Tito’s social media team responded with the same consistent message: Please. Just. Don’t.  Here’s the warning the brand was forced to issue in tweet after tweet:

Some people were happy Tito’s was so frank that its vodka lacked coronavirus-fighting capabilities. Marin Sarah @MarionBurr5; Thanks Igor for that public service announcement. Before I head to the Liquor storeI need to know which adult beverages are over 60% just in case I run out of Purell. Others offered alternative beverages to rid their hands of germs. Russell Borogove @mister_borogove; Bacardi 151 not only works as hand sanitizer, but when burned with liquid oxygen it makes a fair rocket engine fuel; the Redstone rocket that put the first American in space used 75%/25% ethanol/water: Micheal Hodapp @michealhodapp; thought there was a simple solution, Replying to @TitosVodka @cpmaher17; Perhaps you can consider the development of a special edition in response to this crisis? Meanwhile, some people knew who the real heroes were, God bless you, social media person who has to keep tweeting this all day. You deserve a raise. A Tito’s spokesperson told HuffPost that the company wanted to set the record straight “as soon as we saw the incorrect articles and social posts.”

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Over the past several months, seven people have died and nearly 400 others have gotten sick after using vape pens containing either nicotine or THC, the chemical in cannabis that makes you high. It’s causing a nationwide moral panic: Michigan’s governor enacted regulations that could result in 17-year-olds being hit with six-month jail sentences for every Juul pod in their possession. President Donald Trump has called for a similar nationwide ban on all flavored e-cigarettes. The demand for cannabis vapes has exploded over the past few years, and the illicit market has kept up with the trend. Consumers like vaping because it is more discreet and convenient than rolling a joint or carrying around a bong. Sellers like vapes too because the profit margins tend to be higher — especially on the illicit market, where sellers can save on costs by heavily diluting the THC oil. This haphazard “do something” approach ignores the fact that several of the people who got sick from vaping used pens filled with THC oil, which is already illegal in most states and under federal law. “Banning things — have we not learned that doesn’t curb use?” asked Jeffrey Raber, a chemist who founded a cannabis lab-testing facility in Los Angeles. Public health officials have not yet specified how many deaths and illnesses are linked to cannabis vape products — but there is only one known case involving a person who purchased a THC vape pen from a legal cannabis dispensary. Several of the other cases appear to involve people who bought illicit vapes, which are not subject to any regulations or testing.

California now has the most rigorous testing requirements: Every cannabis product sold in a licensed dispensary is tested for 66 types of pesticides, heavy metals, microbial pathogens and potency. A more effective way to prevent people from using marijuana vape pens that could kill them or make them sick would be to legalize weed so that consumers could have the option to buy regulated, lab-tested products. The public health benefit of legalizing and regulating marijuana is not hypothetical — it’s already happened in states that have done it. Back in 2017, before California’s testing requirements went into effect, around 70% of clients that submitted their product to cannabis-testing lab Cannasafe failed to meet standards the lab was using at the time, according to Antonio Frazier, the lab’s vice president of operations. These days, only 3-6% of Cannasafe’s clients fail to meet the state’s testing regulations. that’s because failing these testing requirements is a huge pain for cannabis companies. Products have to be quarantined. The manufacturer can either destroy the entire batch or submit a “corrective action plan” to the California Department of Public Health, which decides whether or not to approve the plan. “Our fail rate was much higher when no one was required to do it the right way,” Frazier said. “Without regulation, people aren’t going to do what’s right. This has been true in almost all industries.” Legalization and regulation isn’t a perfect solution. There is still a thriving illicit market in California for consumers who don’t want to pay dispensary prices or who live far away from licensed stores.

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Wasps are forming massive “super nests,” (Hail the new insect overlords) with thousands of insects ready to sting, according to agricultural experts in Alabama. These super nests can be attached to cars, inside garages and sheds, in or on the ground, or on homes. The Alabama Cooperative Extension System warned of nests the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, with as many as 15,000 wasps inside ― up to four times the size of normal nest. Imagine a colony of yellow jackets the size of a car, filled with thousands of stinging insects. Now, imagine more than 90 nests in the state. It happened in 2006 and an Alabama Extension entomologist says 2019 may mirror 2006. The winter freeze usually kills off most colonies. But that doesn’t always happen ― and when a colony survives the winter, a super nest can form. “The queens are the only ones who have an antifreeze compound in their blood,” Charles Ray, an entomologist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, told The New York Times. He said climate change is one reason for the survival of so many colonies: So normally, a surviving queen will have to start a colony from scratch in the spring. With our climate becoming warmer, there might be multiple surviving queens producing more than 20,000 eggs each.

“Any place where it’s good shelter, where it doesn’t freeze, the colony probably won’t die off,” Clint Hester of Stark Exterminators told the station. “So you have the new ones, plus the old workers and double the size of the colony in just one year.” The Alabama Extension said this year is already outpacing 2006, when some 90 of these massive super nests were found in the state. WFSA, the NBC station in Montgomery, said 15 have been found this year so far. WSB, the ABC station in Atlanta, said Georgia officials are already watching out for these super nests, warning in particular of yellow jackets, an aggressive wasp that often forms nests in the ground. Stark warned people not to mess with the massive nests themselves, but to call in an expert. UGA expert says if you see 2 in your yard, there may be 2-thousand nearby. And while Alabama seems to be where the nests are concentrated ― so far ― neighboring states are also concerned. “Yellow jackets will defend the nest to the death, fighting tooth and nail,” University of Georgia agricultural agent James Murphy, who is investigating the Alabama super nests, told the station. “And unlike bees, they can sting multiple times.” The Alabama Extension said every sting increases your chances of becoming sensitive to the venom and suffering a reaction, which in some cases can be fatal. If you are confused about the different types of wasps and what to do when you find a nest, The Alabama Extension shared a primer: Knowing the basic information about these insects may reduce your chances of getting stung. #Wasps #Summer #WaspStings #YellowJackets #Hornets

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Merman Tail

There’s something for every pop, including merman tails, marijuana vending machines and, of course, preserved racehorse poop. My rule for fatherhood is simple: A dad should take parenting seriously, but not himself. And he shouldn’t take his Father’s Day gifts seriously either. Of course, a lot of families didn’t get the memo, which means more work for HuffPost Weird News. As we do every year, we’ve combed the internet for wacky gifts sure to please the strange dads in your life. You don’t have to thank us ― save it for your dad. If your dad wants to make a big splash this summer, he need only wear a merman tail around the pool. Luggage Featuring Your Dad’s Ugly Mug – close-up of Pop’s face – Vulcan Earbuds – look like Mr. Spock while listening to music – A Pot for Pot – Pot Vending Machine

sculpture of “Star Trek” Capt. Jean-Luc Picard – stretch Donald Trump – Beef Jerky Bouquet, Does your dad have a beef about getting flowers? He won’t if the petals are made from beef jerky. Mmmmmm – Joe Namath Action Figure (Not A Doll) – Unicorn Taco Holder – Tuxedo Onesie – Pokemon Ball Waffle Iron – Portable Pizza Oven – Preserved Horse Turds –

Skin Tag Remover – Portable Solar Generator – Darth Vader Blazer – Customized Coloring Pages – Banana Whiskey As Father’s Day gifts go, no one can deny that banana-flavored booze can be quite appealing. Chocolate Peanut Butter Pizza – Kangaroo Pouch Shirt – Just trust this kangaroo-inspired shirt to do the heavy lifting while Dad’s hands can hold something just as valuable as his new infant, namely cocktails and remotes. Most Appropriate Father’s Day Card Ever –

Yes, you can spend a lot of money on weird gifts for Dad, but sometimes a simple tacit acknowledgement is all that’s needed.

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NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Police Department used a photo of Woody Harrelson in its facial recognition program in an attempt to identify a beer thief who looked like the actor, according to a report published Thursday. The NYPD also used a photo of a New York Knicks player to search its database for a man wanted for a Brooklyn assault, the report said. Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy and Technology highlighted the April 2017 episode in “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” a report on what it says are flawed practices in law enforcement’s use of facial recognition. The report says security footage of the thief was too pixelated and produced no matches while high-quality images of Harrelson, a three-time Oscar nominee, returned several possible matches and led to one arrest. “The stakes are too high in criminal investigations to rely on unreliable — or wrong — inputs,” Georgetown researcher Clare Garvie wrote. The NYPD said it has been deliberate and responsible in its use of facial recognition and that the technology is merely a means of producing leads, including in homicide, rape and robbery cases. The Georgetown report says facial recognition has helped the NYPD crack about 2,900 cases in more than five years of using the technology.

“It is one thing for a company to build a face recognition system designed to help individuals find their celebrity doppelgänger or painting lookalike for entertainment purposes. It’s quite another to use these techniques to identify criminal suspects, who may be deprived of their liberty and ultimately prosecuted based on the match.” “No one has ever been arrested on the basis of a facial recognition match alone,” Sgt. Jessica McRorie said in a statement. “As with any lead, further investigation is always needed to develop probable cause to arrest.” McRorie says the department is constantly reassessing its procedures and is in the process of reviewing its existing facial recognition protocols. “We compare images from crime scenes to arrest photos in law enforcement records,” McRorie said. “We do not engage in mass or random collection of facial records from NYPD camera systems, the internet, or social media.” A message was left with a representative for Harrelson.

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Wildlife authorities in Northern Australia probably did a double take after this sighting along a highway: a three-eyed snake. Rangers discovered the 16-inch baby carpet python in March, just outside of a town called Humpty Doo, according to a Facebook post. It was generally agreed that the eye likely developed very early during the embryonic stage of development. It is extremely unlikely that this is from environmental factors and is almost certainly a natural occurrence as malformed reptiles are relatively common. An X-ray of the creature showed it was especially unusual in that it had one skull with an additional eye socket and three functioning eyes, not two separate heads forged together. Prof Bryan Fry speculated the third eye might have been “the last little bit of a twin that’s been absorbed.” The three-eyed snake was nicknamed ― what else? Monty Python.

Snake expert Prof Bryan Fry of the University of Queensland told the BBC that mutations such as an extra eye are a natural part of evolution. “Every baby has a mutation of some sort ― this one is just particularly coarse and misshapen,” Fry said. “I haven’t seen a three-eyed snake before, but we have a two-headed carpet python in our lab ― it’s just a different kind of mutation, like what we see with Siamese twins.” “It’s remarkable it was able to survive so long in the wild with its deformity, and he was struggling to feed before he died last week,” Ranger Ray Chatto told News.com.au. Although the Facebook post showing the three-eyed snake attracted lots of attention, at least one commenter didn’t think the animal was the weirdest part of the story. “Not even disturbed by the three eyed snake … just incredibly amused that there’s a place called Humpty Doo,” Alysha Day wrote.

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LOS ANGELES ( apnews.com ) — The rock band Guns N’ Roses is accusing a Colorado brewery of piggybacking off their fame to sell beer and merchandise. The complaint says oskarblues.com applied to trademark Guns ‘N’ Rosé last year and abandoned the effort after the band objected. The band filed a trademark infringement lawsuit Thursday against Colorado-based Oskar Blues Brewery, which sells Guns ‘N’ Rosé beer and merchandise and bandannas the group says are associated with singer Axl Rose. The lawsuit says the brewery is still selling the beer and the merchandise. Guns N’ Roses performs with singer Myles Kennedy after induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Sunday, April 15, 2012, in Cleveland. Axl Rose has now returned to the band and is preforming on their present world tour.

Oskar Blues marketing director Kyle Ingram did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment. The Oskar Blues website describes the beer as, “a crisp AF, subtly hopped rosé-style ale brewed with prickly pear and hibiscus.” DISRUPTING THE STATUS QUO SINCE 2002 in the funky little town of Lyons, Colorado, we shattered craft beer convention by stuffing our voluminously hopped mutha of a brew, Dale’s Pale Ale, into a portable, crushable, infinitely recyclable can. Craft beer in a can stays fresher for longer, and it’s easy to pack in (and pack out) on any soul-saving adventure. We now operate breweries in Colorado, North Carolina and Texas to provide craft beer in a can to all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and 17 other countries. The band wants a court order blocking the brewery from misappropriating its name, destroying the products and turning over profits from Guns ‘N’ Rosé and other monetary awards.

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