Kinky Friedman cracks a mischievous smile as a fan hands him a Kinky Friedman Talking Action Figure. Surrounded by a smattering of onlookers, Friedman, cigar in mouth, leans down and presses the button on the toy, a remnant from the country singer’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign in Texas. “If you elect …
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Earlier this week, Blake Shelton shared details of his headlining 2019 Friends and Heroes Tour, during which he’ll hit the road with CMA New Artist of the Year nominee Lauren Alaina and some very special guests: the Bellamy Brothers, John Anderson and his “Hillbilly Bone” singing partner Trace Adkins. In …
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The 20-year-old Dominican-American singer Yashua returned on Friday with“Todo Es Igual,” an impressive track that smolders with some of the same melancholy intensity as Drake’s “Passionfruit.” The beat, produced by Manuel Lara and Robbie Meza, places a ping-ponging melody next to pitter-patter percussion. Each verse slopes slowly upward, but each …
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This art-noise conglomerate was one of the grisliest, most intense groups to emerge from the underground metal scene when it fell apart in 2009. But what set Daughters apart was the unnerving nature of their menace — you truly didn’t know what frontman Alexis Marshall might say or do. The …
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Few producers and songwriters have a more impressive resume than Jermaine Dupri. When Kriss Kross’ “Jump” topped the Hot 100 in 1992, Dupri became the youngest studio-wiz in history to craft a Number One hit. That gave him the chance to helm his own label, So So Def, which he …
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Both an arthouse model of an old-school Lifetime movie and an unexpectedly tender take on A-list social-issue melodramas, Maryam Keshavarz’s Viper Club starts with Susan Sarandon‘s frazzled, desperate mother looking directly into the camera. Or rather, “a” camera — one being held by folks out of frame, coaching her on …
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Just as American performers use phases of the Beatles or Prince as references, Vicente García can frame much of his career in the context of the veteran Dominican star Juan Luis Guerra. “Melodrama was was really influenced by Juan Luis’ bachata mixed with ideas from other parts of the world, …
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Hot 8 Brass Band add a funky swagger to Joy Division‘s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” in the New Orleans group’s new version of the 1980 post-punk song. The octet adapt the original’s melancholy vocal melody and churning bass line into punctuated horn blasts and rumbling tuba. The band paired …
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The U.S. Secret Service confirmed Wednesday that it intercepted explosive devices sent to the homes of Bill and Hillary Clinton and Michelle and Barack Obama. CNN’s New York bureau was evacuated after a suspicious package was discovered in the mailroom shortly after the Secret Service’s announcement. A third package, addressed …
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Kate Bornstein is a world renowned performance artist, and the award-winning author of Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest Of Us. She recently co-starred in the Broadway production of Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men. I was born in 1948, just under a year after Donald Trump was …
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