P hoebe Bridgers was in grade school in Pasadena, California, when she heard Metallica’s music in the PlayStation 2 game Test Drive: Off-Road Wide Open. “I was a kid in the early 2000s, so it was kind of a gift when a band that you just got into has an …
Read More »'Succession' Star Jeremy Strong: TV's Number One Son of Anarchy
Jeremy Strong is not a broken man. He comes from a good family full of empathy — his mom a hospice nurse, his father a social worker. He went to Yale and picked up tips from Daniel Day-Lewis while serving as the actor’s assistant. Strong knows what he’s doing. Professionally, …
Read More »Against All Odds, Live Concerts Are Coming Back This Fall
Scotty McCreery didn’t have any idea he was playing the Ryman Auditorium’s last pre-pandemic show. For the most part, his March 11th performance at the historic Nashville venue was business as usual, with the country singer turning in a full set of hits for a lively, enthusiastic audience out front. …
Read More »Lin-Manuel Miranda on 'Hamilton,' Freestyle Love Supreme and What Comes Next
Lin-Manuel Miranda is currently living in the past. Or maybe it’s that, at this particular moment in time, the past just seems to keep catching up with him, tapping him on the shoulder, nudging him in the ribs. The 40-year-old playwright/actor/director/producer has spent the previous week watching Hamilton — the …
Read More »Police Unions Wield Massive Power in American Politics — For Now
When he was fired, arrested, and charged with the murder of George Floyd, Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin belonged to a union. Officer Brett Hankison still enjoys union membership, despite being terminated by the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department over the killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor. Unlike other public sector unions …
Read More »Rising Tides, Troubled Waters: The Future of Our Ocean
The blob went unnoticed at first. In the summer of 2013, a high-pressure ridge settled over a Texas-size area in the northern Pacific, pushing the sky down over the ocean like an invisible lid. The winds died down, and the water became weirdly calm. Without waves and wind to break …
Read More »Elton John's Living-Room Concert: Corona You Feel the Love Tonight?
“Here we are, all together at home,” Elton John announced cheerily at the start of his star-studded Living Room Concert for America on Sunday night. “And since we’re all hunkered down together, we thought we’d put together a little show for you, from our homes to yours.” It was a …
Read More »How Bernie Sanders Built a Musical Movement
Jack White had never formally endorsed a presidential candidate before this past October, when he performed at a rally for Bernie Sanders. “I’m not really politically affiliated too much,” White said during the performance at his high school alma mater in Detroit. “I just listen to the issues.” White was …
Read More »Meet the Kids Who Won't Let Coronavirus Cancel Spring Break
“5, 4, 3, 2, 1,” a raucous crowd shouts. Two college-age women, tanned and lithe in thong two-piece swimsuits, start playfully wrestling, the waves crashing down around them as they tumble around in the sand. Throngs of people mill around them, holding Solo cups and taking video on their phones, …
Read More »Mayor Pete's Middle Path
Pete Buttigieg has returned to the scene of the crime, or at least the site of what some progressives see as his original sin. He is back at Stevens High School in Claremont, New Hampshire, on a desultory Saturday in January. The ancient gym walls were bathed in red, white, …
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