In 1971, David Bowie was at a crossroads. His third album, The Man Who Sold the World, hadn’t been received as the star-making breakthrough he thought it would be. His wife, Angela, was getting impatient regarding his lack of fame and fortune. The singles has barely charted. It had stiffed …
Read More »Obama Publishes Account of Firing Gen. McChrystal On the Same Day McChrystal Briefs Biden
President-elect Joe Biden, whose transition team is still being stonewalled by a Trump administration unwilling to relinquish its grip on power, was briefed today by a group of outside advisers on matters of national security. Among those experts were several Obama administration alumni, including former U.N. Ambassador Samatha Power, retired …
Read More »Trevor Noah Dismisses Donald Trump's Futile Voter Fraud Claims on 'Daily Show'
Trevor Noah hammered home the ridiculousness of Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the 2020 presidential election, as well as his baseless claims of voter fraud, on The Daily Show Monday, November 9th. Over the past few days, Trump surrogates have been spouting an array of evidence-free claims that Republican votes …
Read More »Watch Dave Chappelle's Incisive Post-Election 'SNL' Monologue
As he did four years earlier, Dave Chappelle returned to Saturday Night Live for the series’ first post-presidential election episode, with the comedian once again delivering a timely, powerful monologue. “This morning after the results came in, I got a text from a friend of mine in London, she said …
Read More »Chuck D, EarthGang Talk Bob Marley's Influence in 'Freedom Fighter'
Chuck D and EarthGang discuss Bob Marley‘s influence and impact in Freedom Fighter, the seventh addition to Legacy, the documentary series honoring the late reggae legend. The video reaches nearly 40 minutes, containing footage of Marley’s performances interspersed with interviews with Ziggy Marley, 2 Chainz, LL Cool J, and several …
Read More »Lenny Kravitz Finally Explains Why He Dropped Out of the Marvin Gaye Biopic
At this point, you could make a compelling film about all the aborted attempts to make a compelling film about Marvin Gaye. In 2008, F. Gary Gray (Friday, Straight Outta Compton) signed on to helm a movie called Marvin. In subsequent years, Cameron Crowe, Jamie Foxx, Scott Rudin and, most …
Read More »Julien Baker is Still Learning
Julien Baker stops herself to apologize. “I don’t know why I’m now telling you the footnotes of my thesis,” she says, with a typical dose of self-consciousness. It makes perfect sense that Baker has slipped into full academic mode, talking about jazz and “the subjectivities of language” — because, lately, …
Read More »'The Queen's Gambit': A Female Bobby Fischer Keeps Her Challengers in Check
In the great 1993 chess movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, elementary-school-age prodigy Josh finds himself caught between two mentors: Bruce Pandolfini, an aloof master of the game who favors a slow and risk-averse approach to the board, and Vinnie, who hustles tourists in the park and is always encouraging Josh …
Read More »'Wildflowers & All the Rest' Expands and Illuminates Tom Petty's Classic 1994 Album
“Sometimes you gotta trust yourself,” Tom Petty sings on “California,” one of the many alternative tracks that never made the original release of Petty’s 1994 masterpiece Wildflowers. “California” is no new revelation: it’s one of several songs from the Wildflowers sessions that, strangely enough, would appear two years later on …
Read More »Promoters of Controversial Chainsmokers Concert Fined $20,000
The promoters behind a Chainsmokers concert in the Hamptons in New York this summer — which drew criticism for seeming to violate social distancing and other Covid-19 guidelines — have been fined $20,000. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the fines for In the Know Experiences and Invisible Noise on …
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