Rihanna Rings Like a Bell In the Night

Oh, sure, the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl, but Rihanna performed at the halftime show and that was the real highlight of the game.

For those who haven't been living under a rock lately - and for those who have listened only to rock (a rare and dwindling population) - Robyn Rihanna Fenty, a Barbadian pop diva, made a halftime appearance that many believed was actually a show that happened to be between the two halves of the Chiefs-Eagles game, complete with dancers in white hoodies and sweatpants and with Ms. Fenty herself in resplendent, royal red outfit that barely concealed what turned out to be a baby bump, revealing her pregnancy.  With her new clothing line gaining steam, her fans have dubbed her Queen Rihanna and officially solidified the dual matriarchy of Rihanna and Beyoncé over popular culture.

Oh yeah, and there was music involved in Sunday's night's show as well.  So I've been told.  

Meanwhile, with Rihanna having been hailed as a queen - quite odd for a singer whose homeland recently ditched the British monarch as its head of state - rock fans are wondering when an electric-guitar group will reign again as kings of the Super Bowl halftime show.  Uhh, guys?  How about never? After the Super Bowl halftime disasters that were Coldplay in 2017 and Maroon 5 in 2019, guitar rockers aren't even worthy enough to be pawns.   Take note: Former Trump White House physician, current Texas congressman, and noted white guy Ronny Jackson took to Twitter and bashed Rihanna for a slew of anti-Trump obscenities she made and said she was a poor choice for the Super Bowl halftime show, and the Rihanna Navy, as her fans are called, came out of their coves and sank Jackson with the sort of insults you'd expect from offended black women.  

Fans of hip-hop/R&B and pop acts have interesting names. Beyoncé fans are known as the Bey Hive, Taylor Swift fans are called Swifties, and Lady Gaga fans are called "Little Monsters."  You know what fans of heavy-guitar-rock are called?

MAGA Republicans. 

Back in the 1970s, they used to be called the Kiss Army. 😝

Goodness, Gracious, Barbados

The West Indian country of Barbados became a republic on Tuesday, having spent its first 55 years of independence as a realm of the British Commonwealth with the queen of Great Britain as their head of state and represented by a governor general.  The move to republicanism has been seen as a way of dissociating Barbados with the legacy of slavery - when it was a British colony, the British apparently carried out a slave system on the island for the sugar trade that was more brutal than the slave system in the American South - and most Barbadians are descended from slaves. There was an apology and regret about slavery and its legacy from Prince Charles, who attended and spoke at the ceremony for the new Barbadian government.  But another reason the Barbadians wanted to be a republic was because of national pride and a greater desire for self-determination.  Having a foreign monarch as a head of state can get in the way of all that.  

Dame Sandra Mason, the country's governor general, became the first president of Baraboss, and one of the new republic's first acts was to declare Barbados' own Robyn Rihanna Fenty, known professionally by her middle name, as a national hero.

Rihanna? A Barbadian national hero?  I've heard her sing.  In a country with a population half the size of that of Wyoming, I guess they can't do better.

At least Barbados knows when to let go of the mother country and assume full responsibility for its affairs of state.  Australia and Canada remain realms of the Commonwealth, each recognizing Queen Elizabeth II as their sovereign and each having governors general of their own.

Which isn't really necessary when Australia and Canada have national heroes such as, respectively, Courtney Barnett and Joni Mitchell.