Hasta La Gadget!

If you have Windows 7 on your computer or laptop, and you want to keep it instead of upgrading to Windows 10, you should read this. Microsoft may force the Windows 10 upgrade on your computer without your knowledge or permission. In this post I’ll tell you want you can do to stop this forced Windows 10 upgrade from happening.

I wouldn’t have believed that Microsoft would actually force people to upgrade to Windows 10, except it happened to me this weekend on Saturday afternoon. We’ve been getting the annoying pop-up notice on our Windows 7 laptop asking us if we wanted to upgrade to Window 10 for the past year. We always have said NO. But on Saturday, my daughter turned on the laptop to do some schoolwork, and then called to me in the kitchen, “Hey Dad, the laptop just shutdown and says it’s installing Windows 10. I swear I didn’t do anything. It just happened.”

I walked over and looked at our laptop, and sure enough, the screen said it was downloading and installing Windows 10 and DO NOT POWER OFF THE COMPUTER. I didn’t want to damage the computer, so I wasn’t willing to kill the power. Instead we watched helplessly for about the next 2 hours as our laptop was taken over and Windows 10 was slowly installed. During this time, I went online on our other (Windows 7) computer and did a quick google search for “Windows 10 forced update”. I learned that many people are reporting the same thing (for example, here and here). It appears that as a courtesy Microsoft is scheduling your computer to automatically update to Windows 10 at a specific time without your knowledge or permission. Unless you find out in advance and disable it, at some random time, out of the blue Microsoft may take control of your computer and automatically start the Windows 10 “upgrade”. It may be in the middle of the night, or during the day in the middle of a critical project you’re working on.

WHAT YOU CAN DO IF THIS HAPPENS TO YOU.
I need my laptop and computer to stay on Windows 7 to run old programs and external hardware I have for work. I do NOT want either of our computers “upgraded” to Windows 10. While our laptop was “upgrading” I searched online and found a tip that after Windows 10 was finally installed, it would ask me to accept the Windows 10 Terms and Conditions, and I could at that point decline the update. Sure enough, about two hours later, the “upgrade” finally finished and our laptop started up under Windows 10. The screen provided a lot of legalese (Microsoft Windows 10 terms and conditions), and then asked me to click ACCEPT or DECLINE. I clicked DECLINE. It then asked me if I was sure I wanted to decline the amazing Windows 10 experience. I said yes. It told me it would attempt to revert back to Windows 7. It took an hour, much of which time the screen was blank and I was pulling out the little hair I have left, but eventually our laptop was back to Windows 7. So if this forced upgrade happens to you, you should be given the opportunity to decline the terms and conditions, and your computer should be able to revert back to Windows 7.

HOW YOU CAN STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING TO YOU.
After this happened, I found two programs that say they can disable the automatic Windows 10 upgrade on your computer. The first program is Never 10. I used it. You don’t actually install the program, it just resets your computer setting to disable the Windows 10 update. But then I decided I wanted more protection, and I also wanted to delete the already downloaded Windows 10 upgrade files on our laptop. I had been warned the computer would just keep trying to install the now downloaded Windows 10 update. So I found and downloaded GWX Control Panel (both programs mentioned here are free). It’s kind of crazy to think I need to install a third party program to keep Microsoft from taking over my computer and forcing an unwanted, unauthorized update on me. Crazy.

WHY IS MICROSOFT DOING THIS?
I’m not sure, but I’m guessing it is all about the money. Microsoft may be giving away “free” upgrades to Windows 10, but they clearly plan to monetize Windows 10 after they get it installed on your computer. It could be through personal data collection, additional targeted advertising, pushing “premium” subscriptions, or a variety of other means. The more machines they convert to Windows 10, the more money they can make down the road. But what surprises me is how they are doing this. It’s one thing if people freely decide to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10. It’s an entirely different thing if they are tricked and forced into upgrading. Why would Microsoft risk the negative publicity and backlash from doing this? It’s frankly shocking, and as I wrote above, I wouldn’t believe they are actually doing this, except that it happened to us, and that’s why I wanted to warn you. I use my Windows 7 computer to make a living doing design work. I often have tight deadlines. I can’t imagine having my computer taken over for three hours in the middle of the day when I’m working on a project that has to be finished that day. What kind of corporation would take over someone’s computer? In addition, anytime you upgrade an operating system, you risk turning the computer you use to make a living into a big useless paperweight. Why would a corporation force this risk on me without my permission? From the articles and comments I found online, I am not the only angry, upset person.

I rely on our two computer for work and my kids need them for school. Windows 7 works just fine. I don’t know if Windows 10 would work with my old programs or hardware, nor do I want or need to risk finding out. I do not want to upgrade to Windows 10. Ironically, about a year ago, I wrote a blog post about what I thought was the best TV commercial in 2015, which was the Introducing Microsoft Windows 10 TV commercial because it had the absolutely cutest little adorable kids (one of them is in the picture above on the left). Up until yesterday, I was a fan of Microsoft. My first computer was a Mac, but after that I’ve always used Microsoft. I tend to stick with the operating system that works, and kept 95, and then XP for a long time. I’m fine with Windows 7. I’ll upgrade when I’m ready, and when I need to. I don’t want to be forced to upgrade.

I still can’t believe Microsoft actually did this. The next time I buy a new computer, I’m not sure what I’ll get…

image credit:
boy on left – original Microsoft Introducing Windows 10 TV commercial 2015
boy on right – Milca Mulders, freeimages.com/photographer/milca-30809

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Anti-transgender advocates may have friends in the KKK.

Fliers bearing the white supremacy group’s name have been found in Alabama, with the leaflets urging residents to join them in standing up against the transgender community and “boycott this abomination,” authorities said.

A resident of Dothan contacted police Monday after finding one of the fliers at his door. It was one of at least two fliers found, Dothan Police Captain William Benny told The Huffington Post.

A copy of the flier, obtained by the Dothan Eagle, identifies transgender individuals as an “abomination according to the Kings James Bible,” specifically Deuteronomy 22:5. That passage speaks out against individuals wearing clothing of the opposite gender.

The flier goes on to accuse transgender individuals of “jeopardizing the safety of bathrooms all across the nation for our women and children. This needs to STOP.” 

Benny noted that the leaflet’s content is protected by the First Amendment right to free speech, “no matter how vile it is.” Still, he said they notified the FBI over it potentially promoting a hate crime. 

Why the homes were chosen is unclear, he said.

“There’s nothing that stands out in that neighborhood that would make me think of something like that,” Benny said while referencing the LGBT community.

“There have been no other complaints. I’m hoping that this is just an isolated incident,” he added. “Maybe somebody did it and thought it could be a joke; we really don’t know.”

He also said that, to his knowledge, there are no active KKK chapters nearby.

“Years ago there was one in a town about 20 miles away” but it has since dissolved, he said.

Contact info printed on the fliers direct individuals to the KKK’s national hotline and website where they express anti-homosexual views. The fliers’ authenticity could not be independently confirmed by HuffPost Tuesday. A request for comment from the KKK, via their hotline number, was not immediately returned.

The KKK’s suspected involvement comes amid rising controversy following a North Carolina law that forbids transgender individuals from using restrooms that don’t match their birth gender.

Some critics — notably the American Family Association, which has been declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, like the KKK — say they support the state’s HB2 law out of fear that some people may misuse transgender bathroom rights to harm others.

The Obama administration is challenging the law, calling it blatant discrimination.

h/t Dothan Eagle

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Making your first feature documentary is hard, and it’s a process that you rarely get a close look at. This is why I decided to start documenting my own struggle as a filmmaker.

About three years ago I started working on my debut feature doc called The Pearl Of Africa. Making it seems to be impossible, which I why I decided to create a vlog about my struggle to make the film.

The Pearl Of Africa is a story about love, hate and being transgender, in one of the worlds most transphobic places, Uganda.

The film has been selected to Hot Docs, one of the world’s largest documentary festivals. In this episode, we’re screening the film for the first time in Toronto. But making the film, and having the world premiere is only half the battle, here’s why…

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August Darnell a/k/a Kid Creole

The breakout hit from the first Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band album in 1976 was “Cherchez la Femme,” a sublime dance hit that even appealed to people who hated disco.

Forty years later, the songwriter August Darnell (later of Kid Creole and the Coconuts fame, always a huge UK draw) is staging a lifelong dream with Cherchez la Femme The Musical at Manhattan’s famed La Mama Theater in the East Village.

Incorporating songs from both the Dr. Buzzard and Kid Creole catalogues, the show opened last Friday night and runs through June 12. He hopes to bring the show, which is somewhat but not entirely based on his experiences as a band leader, in the future to the West End.

The New York Times called the show “more screwball comedy than band saga.”

Darnell has been living in Europe and more recently Maui, Hawaii, since the early 1990s when he “escaped” New York City. “Now when I come back I see what attracted me to the place in the first when I grew up as a youngster in the Bronx,” he says, in an exclusive interview down the block from where the show is rehearsing.

“[NYC’s] the greatest place in the world for opportunities, competition for doing your craft, walking the streets and being your own person, not worrying about how you look or how you dress.” But he marvels how expensive a hotel room is today when he used to get a suite for $150 at the Mayflower, which no longer exists.

Sitting in with us is Darnell’s wife Eva Tudor-Jones, who became a 19-year-old Coconut soon after she met in 1997 Darnell on a touring musical, Oh! What A Night, they were both working on in Blackpool, England. Small world, indeed. Among the cast of the show was my mate John Altman (EastEnders’ Nasty Nick Cotton). Tudor-Jones recently became the Coconut with the longest tenure, 19 years. She’s also executive producer of Cherchez la Femme The Musical, for which Darnell’s first wife/former Coconut Adriana Kaegi handled costume design.

Darnell insists the show is not autobiographical. Its main character, Caufy Keeps, is a womanizing bandleader, who cancels a big tour to search for the love of his life in Haiti, but despite published reports, it’s not from where Darnell hails. Caufy’s backup singers are called The Lemondrops.

“It’s fiction. You borrow from here and there. Sure, Caufy might dress like me in the show. There are a lot of in-jokes in the show. People who know me will smile. The character Stingy is definitely not my brother Stony.”

Scene from the musical: (l-r) Skyler Volpe (Deliciosa); Isaac Gay (Caufy Keeps); and CB Murray (Stingy Brim), photo courtesy of dis COMPANY

Regarding the difference being a bandleader and mounting a musical, Darnell says the latter is “one hundred and twenty-six times harder than doing a tour. That’s because I’ve done the band thing for so long. Putting the band together in the early days wasn’t easy because the music was so eclectic. You had to find guys who were skilled at R&B, reggae, calypso and jazz, some many different facets of music. Then we formed the template, which can be picked up musicians. It took a lot of auditions to get that first great band in New York.”

UK charters of Kid Creole and The Coconuts

He formed Kid Creole and The Coconuts in 1980 after being tired of his now-deceased brother Stony Browder insisting Dowdell only write lyrics and play bass.

Darnell thinks Browder would have frowned upon the new show because he thought musicals were “quite boring. He’d say, ‘Little brother, you’re wasting your time.’ He was a crazy guy and lived his entire life with a guitar in his hands from the moment he woke up in the morning to when he went to sleep at night. He always had a melody in his mind. Stony was obsessed with music. Whereas for me, music was just a vehicle to another avenue. Sometimes I go two or three years without thinking about picking up a guitar, and I still live a very healthy life.”

A fashion plate even today at 65, the always-dapper Darnell admits, “We were interested in those days more in the look than whether they can they play the music. We wanted a good-looking band. But as time passed we got rid of the people that couldn’t play. What was left was a great band and great musicians. I was so lucky to have these guys.”

It was Darnell’s idea to make the first words of “Cherchez la Femme” back in ’76: “Tommy Mottola lives on the road / He lost his lady two months ago…” At the time, the future Sony Music mogul was the Savannah Band’s manager.

“Nothing was true about it at the time,” Darnell notes, of the lyrics. “Funny thing [Mottola] was honored because it was a hit record.” He came to a reading of the musical last year. “He stayed for Act One and said it was just too hot in the room and left,” he adds.

Prince was a big fan of Kid Creole and the Coconuts and he used to come to their gigs in Europe before his Purple Rain breakthrough, looking on enviously in the wings. “Prince couldn’t understand why weren’t big in the US,” Darnell says, and even gave the band a song, “The Sex of It,” which Darnell didn’t want to record in the first place because the album was done. Sony insisted, Darnell acquiesced, and it flopped anyway. Kid Creole was dropped a year later.

Mottola, who discovered the Savannah Band and was their manager during their breakthrough, didn’t intervene, according to Darnell, because he was too busy with then-wife Mariah Carey, and Gloria Estefan, who, by the way had a hit with “Cherchez la Femme.”

US hit in 1976

Darnell will miss a few of the La Mama performances to play a few Kid Creole gigs this summer in England, Italy, France and Holland, which is necessary to help pay for the production, which is mostly self-financed. Now when he plays in Europe, it’s a European-based band because it’s too expensive to fly musicians over from the US. Last year Kid Creole and the Coconuts played at B.B. King’s in Manhattan, the first time it played New York in more than 15 years.

Darnell spent four years honing the musical’s story with British expat/rock journalist Vivien Goldman, known as the “Punk Professor” for teaching music appreciation courses at NYU.

For the creative team, Darnell lined up some New York theatre professionals, such as director Angie Kristic (an Anglophile who’s producing and directing the upcoming UK film King’s Cross) and choreographer Kindra Reevey (who’s toured with the likes of Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson). Darnell laments he wasn’t able to raise enough money for a live band, which would have required another $30,000.

Among the 15-member cast, Darnell promises some “triple threats” (dance, sing and act). “Everybody mounting a musical has the same problem. Am I going to sacrifice the dancing or singing or acting? We’ve been very lucky to find some great at everything.”

Cherchez la Femme The Musical ensemble

It’s no wonder that on the first Dr. Buzzard record, Darnell is credited on the back cover with “screenplay.” He smiles and admits he thought about doing a show like this in the mid-1970s.

Since Kid Creole was always more popular in the UK than the US, Darnell’s next goal is to bring Cherchez la Femme The Musical to London, and after that, perhaps a Hollywood film of the production. He also has four other musicals written and ready to go.

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It’s been almost thirty years since Tiffany Renee Darwish, or better known to the public as just Tiffany, covered Tommy James and the Shondells, “I think We’re Alone Now” and shot to superstardom, and the tune is still stuck in fans heads and hearts. More popular than even “Call Me Maybe” at the time, Tiffany’s catchy chords and raspy voice has resonated deeply with a devoted fan base that spans generations- and if the latest reboots of all things 80’s and 90’s have proved anything, it’s that millennials are loyal fans to the things that warm their nostalgic hearts.

With the major anniversary of her first big hit coming up, Tiffany is back on tour with her new album; A Million Miles, and she couldn’t be more excited to spend time in the studio, produce- a new experience for her that she’s thrilled about- and perform for her fans- which she says is her favorite part of the gig. If there were any doubts to the statement or thoughts that she could be pandering, that is put to rest by how long she spends with each fan during her meet in greet after the show and how much they love her. She is simply a breath of fresh air as she speaks, still the vibrant Tiffany who put on the shows in shopping malls as she gushes in her raspy voice about how much she adores her fans right back, her advice toward young stars, spending all that time in malls, who she admires in the business, and more!

You have such a big millennial following of fans that adore you. This generation is so nostalgic for their youths- especially right now- why do you think that is?
“I think you could be individual- everyone was coming on the scene for the very first time. People ranged from conservative, I was more conservative, to wild- like Cyndi Lauper or Adam Ant- I’m a huge Adam Ant fan. Self-expression was huge. Cell phones were just started. Everything felt like it was on fire. Now everyone seems more jaded. Even the way they promoted shows- there was more excitement and more build up. The world really knew how to be excited for things before and it made things feel more celebratory.”

You were really lucky to reach super-stardom before twitter and social media, which can be really cruel to a lot of young stars today. What are your thoughts on this?
“I’m not big on the cattiness of social media- it’s not my thing. I think some people like it, it’s a soap opera. Some people feel it helps their career- I really don’t want that to be that way to boost my career- to be hurtful. I’m not a bully. I try and keep it positive- I’m not a hater. If we don’t get along- that’s fine. We don’t need to be in each others space.”

A lot of stars today rush to grow up, but you kept your image very wholesome while in your teen years- your songs were featured on Full House, and you did voice-work in The Jetsons. Was that a conscious effort?
“I was definitely exposed to stuff- it’s all there for you, I had drivers always and there was alcohol and parties and peer pressure- but I always respected that I had a platform. Not to say I’m perfect- and there are definitely times I fell off that platform. But, what I get to do is such a tremendous gift- and I really love it and never took it for granted. Not many people get to say they want to be a singer and it happens- I was so lucky and I knew it. I always thought to myself; ‘All I really need is someone to snap a picture and then I have a fan out there thinking I let them down’…so I really took it very seriously.”

What advice do you have to young artists who are experiencing these invasive attacks on their privacy now?
“I think it’s different for them because it’s so much more intrusive- and it’s not just the press, which is scary. You start to worry about who you can trust in your camp- who is out to get you from your own team, or even your friends- and that’s hard. In the end, and this is the truth, the people you can trust most are your fans- because they love you for you, and they are real with you and want you to be real with them. They are the ones that are going to be with you for the long haul. The media will always pick you up and spit you out- it’s the rise and fall and nature of the beast. But the fans who love you will love you no matter what- so make sure you love them.”

Are there any young artists you particularly admire?
“I admire anyone who does this cause it’s hard– and I admire that they are living their lives artistically and in the public eye. But, that said, I can definitely say I have strong admiration for Taylor Swift. Not just for her artistry, but also for her image. I think that Taylor really sets an example that is positive for young girls and I have a lot of God-daughters, and there wasn’t a lot of people I was feeling too great about letting them look up to and I really like that she came along. She’s an excellent inspiration for young women- and she treats her fans amazing. She shines a great light for them. There are others too, of course, but she really sticks out for me.”
(We know Taylor Swift loves to bring people up for surprise duets in her concerts- time for them to duet “I Think It’s Alone Now!”)

Your hit “I Think We’re Alone Now” is a cover of Tommy James and The Shondells original. Did you ever get a chance to sing with him?
“No, I never did! And I would love to! We’ve spoken on the phone, but never performed the song together!”
(Add Tommy James to the Taylor Swift/Tiffany performance- stat!)

You’re extremely dedicated to LGBTQ rights and play a lot of pride events. Talk about how that cause became close to you.
“As I mentioned, I do have a strong bond with my fans and I have a big LGBTQ fan-base- so it’s the music that brought us together and hearing people’s stories, and the more I listened to their stories of how they struggled and felt hurt being in the public eye and how they related to my music for their own personal reasons I felt that bond- and then even more at home I realized how much I could relate because I was constantly being judged in the public eye and then when I was going home I would whither through an emancipation process- which so many of these fans understood, or were going through. So, I was a teenager just like so many of them were who were struggling with the same home life and identity issues and it really was such a deep bond that will bring you together- and again- the fans are the people that you learn out of everyone you can trust.”

Spending so much time in shopping malls on tour when you were young gave you a sense of shopping- you opened your own boutique! Talk about that.
“It unfortunately just closed because I didn’t feel I could give it my 100% while I was touring this year. ‘Shopping with Tiffany’ is a big part of it- and I work with women from size 2 to 22 and I really like being with them and helping them feel beautiful. I will pick it back up again- in a neighborhood outside of Nashville. Nashville is changing. Nashville is cool- but I need something a little more funky.”

What’s next for you?
“Right now I’m ready to tour internationally- and so excited- this is my first time doing this in a while. So excited to be producing. If something came up where I could act or do more voice-over work, I would love to pop in and do it- especially if it were sci-fi- I’m a huge sci-fi fan! But right now, more than anything, I can’t wait to perform A Million Miles for all the fans that have always been there and show them what I’ve been up to.”

And judging by the warm reception from Tiffany’s fans? The feeling is more than mutual. If the stars of today want a long-lasting and loving relationship with their fans? They should certainly follow Tiffany’s eloquent advice. We could use more class acts like her.

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