Cleveland Party unity remains a big issue as the Republican National Convention nears the halfway point in Cleveland, and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan tried to emphasize that Tuesday morning in a talk with North Carolina"s convention delegation.
"How many of you had in your mind, at the beginning of this campaign, perhaps another candidate?" Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, asked the crowd.
When a number of hands shot up showing a large contingent wasn"t initially supportive of Donald Trump, Ryan, who himself was slow to embrace the presumptive presidential nominee, said simply, "Fine."
Then, he tried a sports analogy that quickly fell flat.
"OK, how many of you are for N.C. State primarily? How many support North Carolina?" he asked. "One of our teams from our state goes to the championship, we root for them, right?"
When that suggestion was greeted with a resounding "no," Ryan winced. "Come on, work with me here. Good grief," he said.
Mary Forrester, a Ted Cruz delegate from Gaston County, said she would support Trump, as will delegate Joyce Cotten of Pittsboro.
"We have differences of opinion. We fight for those differences," Forrester said of the division within the GOP that was displayed Monday during a rules fight on the convention floor.
"I think Donald Trump is the answer," Cotten said. "If people have reservations, I think he"s going to be a good leader. He"s a businessman, and at this time, in my mind, that"s what we need."
"We are to the point where this is a binary choice," Ryan told the North Carolina delegation. "If you"re not voting for the Republican, then you are helping the Democrat."
Larry Schug, a Cruz delegate from Zebulon, said he doesn"t buy that argument.
"I"m not voting for Hillary Clinton," Schug said.
He said he just doesn"t believe Trump is a conservative, so he"s not ready to jump on the bandwagon.
"If the Republican Party, the establishment of the Republican Party, wants to force their ways down our throat, I can"t stand for it," Schug said.
"We usually do the right thing after we"ve tried everything else," Forrester said of the GOP. "So, I feel like that we will come together."
The Dublin-raised guitarist, with Third Eye Blind since 2010, didn"t know anything about the band when he agreed to join.
Third Eye Blind(Photo: Stephen Albanese)
OSHKOSH - Kryz Reid, a guitarist born and raised in Dublin, accepted an invite to join his buddy"s band in the U.S. in2010.
He knew very little about the group were they called Three Doors Down? or was it Three Blind Mice? but all Reid cared about was getting to play with his friend, drummer Brad Hargreaves, for a living.
"I went and learned all the songs by ear by listening to the records," said Reid, now in his seventh year playing alongside Hargreaves. "And then about four months later,when I did kind of the first big gig with them in Los Angeles at Loyola (Marymount)University, there was a huge crowd and they were all singing along and I go, "Jesus, Brad"s band, theyre pretty big.""
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Having grown up in Ireland, Reid had somehow made it through the late 1990s and early 2000s without getting acquainted with the music of Third Eye Blind.
And it wasn"t until after he"d agreed to join the band that hitslike "Semi-Charmed Life," "How"s It Going to Be," "Jumper" and "Never Let You Go"came into his life. It didn"t take long for him to learnhow impossible that soundsto many music fans on this side of the Atlantic.
"I know that sounds amazing to everybody in America," he said. "I was home (in Ireland) even like last summer. ...I was home for a couple weeks and I ran into a mate I hadn"t seen in years and he was like, "What are you up to now? What are you doing these days?" I said Im in the states, you know, Im in a band. "Whats the name of the band?" "Were called Third Eye Blind.""
"Cool, cool," the friend said. "Have you got a demo?"
Third Eye Blind, who"ve sold more than 12 million records since their breakthrough self-titled debut in 1997, land in Oshkosh Mondayto play the opening night concert at EAA AirVenture. The show immediately follows the afternoon air show on theBoeing Centennial Plaza.
Since the multi-platinum"Third Eye Blind," the band"s output includes four more studio albums, including 2015"s "Dopamine." The lineup has been shuffled that"s how Reid jumped in back in 2010 but two constants have remained Hargreaves and the band"s singer and primary creative force, Stephan Jenkins.
"I didnt know who Stephan was," Reid recalled. "It"s funny, years later I realized I"d seen Stephan on "MTV Cribs." After Id known him for probably fouror fiveyears, one day Im just looking at him and I go, "MTV Cribs!" It"s bizarre but even when I watched that I didnt know who he was, justsome guy in some band."
Third Eye Blind has re-energized in recent years, solidifying its lineup and changing course after Jenkins announced in 2012 that the next album would be the band"s last. "Dopamine" arrived last summer and already Jenkins and company are finishing up an EP that likely will land before the end of 2016. Reid said they"re already plotting another EP after that.
They"ve also loaded up the tour itinerary for the summer, including stops at major festivals like Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza,Outside Lands, Reading and Leeds. As they near the two decade mark on their most widely-known songs, the band may be getting a boost from a little late "90s nostalgia. That allows them to play to the broadest of crowds where, for instance, many of the people at the show have gathered to see an air show first and a concert second.
"Theres always a group of what we call super-fans who will be there at these shows," Reid said. "They work it out. They have this amazing community amongst themselves where they all chat and talk and they get together and they pool the car rides, they fly places and rent houses for the weekend the highlight of the weekend is the show."
This time around, the wide-swath audience that"ll take in the AirVenture gig might get a little bonus surprise. One the locals might appreciate, at least.
"We have a song about a girl from Oshkosh actually," Reidsaid, "(It"s) called "Sherri is a Stoner." Its about this girl that was dating one of our crew guys before. She started as this regular-type girl, house-wifey type, and she was a nice girl and all this but she liked to smoke weed."
"She actually came out with us on tour with us for a few dates to work merchandise because we needed a few extra hands. And we were on stage in soundcheck and she walked across the venue the venue was empty and Stephan started singing "Sherri is a stoner." I just started playing these chords and we wrote this song, "Sherri is a Stoner." We went into the studio and we just loved it so much, Stephan wrote a whole song lyrically after all that. "From Oshkosh, Wisconsin" is actually the lyrics. Well probably play that."
Shane Nyman: 920-996-7223, snyman@postcrescent.com or on Twitter @shanenyman
If you go
What: EAA AirVenture opening night concert featuring Third Eye Blind
When: Performance follows the afternoon air show on Monday
Where:Boeing Centennial Plaza, EAA AirVenture grounds, Oshkosh
Cost: Free with AirVenture admission
More: EAA AirVenture runs July 25-31 in Oshkosh. Other concerts include Survivor (July 26) and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (July 29). For more information, visiteaa.org/airventure.
Melania Trump may haveplagiarized First Lady Michelle Obamaon Monday in her Republican National Convention Speech, but did the wife of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump also Rickroll the audience?
The meme, which involves sending unsuspecting viewers to the video for Rick Astleys Never Gonna Give You Up. It appears Ms. Trump is no stranger to the song
He will never, ever give up, she said about Donald Trumpduring her RNC speech. And most importantly, he will never, ever let you down.
To compare, the refrain for Astleys 1987 smash hit begins with: Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down.
YouTube user The Swog Blog posted a comparison/contrast video of Melania Trumps Monday moment and the music video.
Astleys reps did not immediately respond to EWs request for comment.
Show People With Paul Wontorek Interview: Tony Winner Laura Benanti
Actress Laura Benanti isnt a household name beyondlive theater, recent credits include a role as a troubled country singer on Nashville and Supergirls mom on the CBS show. But her appearance on Tuesdays The Late Show might change that.
In a skit mocking the plagiarism scandal surrounding aspiring first lady Melania Trump, hostStephen Colbert introduced the politicians wife and invited her to make some remarks. Benanti, who has previously discussed her resemblance to the former model, appeared behind a podium, wearing a replica of Melania Trumps bell-sleeved sheath. Benanti, a Broadway mainstay, delivered well-known lines, from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air to Dr. Seuss. The lip-pursing, cautious movements and Eastern European accent were dead-on.
Looking like and being able to give a comedic, yet faithful, impersonation of a political figure in a closely watched election can prove very good for ones career.
TakeTina Fey, who captured former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin in perfect send-up fashion on Saturday Night Live. She was already a well-known quantity, but her Palin impression is widely credited withboosting her fame. Fey, though, offered a word of caution about politician impersonations.
Some may argue that exploiting Governor Palin and her family helped bring attention to my low-rated TV show, Fey wrote in her memoir, Bossypants, of her NBC sitcom 30 Rock. I am proud to say you are wrong. My TV show still enjoys very low ratings. In fact, I think the Palin stuff may have hurt the TV show.
UPDATED at noon Tuesday:Kander"s campaign announced today he won"t attend the convention, citing scheduling conflicts.
ST. LOUIS Jason Kander, the Democrat challenging U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., this fall, said Monday he still hasn"t decided whether he will attend next week"s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
"It"s really a scheduling question," Kander said, when askedduring an unrelated campaign event downtown. "We"re looking right now to see if it fits in the schedule."
You don"t have to be a raving cynic to wonder about that explanation. National political conventions are what other items on a candidate"s agenda are scheduled around, not vice-versa.
The fact that Blunt is skipping this week"s Republican National Convention in Cleveland has been widely interpreted as an attempt atkeeping presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump at arm"s length. It appears Kander is at least considering the same tactic with presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who isn"t popular in Missouri.
Kander, who is currently Missouri"s secretary of state,said he will decide in the next few days whether he"s going.
Nationally, polls have consistently shown Trump and Clinton to be, respectively, the least-popular and second-least-popular nominees in modern presidential history.
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