“Jason Statham fights a shark.” Say the phrase aloud, let the words swirl around in your mouth like a fine wine. Better yet, let’s up the ante a bit: “Jason Statham, he of The Transporter and Crank movies, fights a giant, toothy, prehistoric shark.” There is so much promise in …
Read More »How Musicians Make Money — Or Don't at All — in 2018
The buzziest word in music this year is the one that used to be the most utterly boring. Copyright — ownership of songs and albums as creative works — is a riotous knot of rules and processes in the music industry, with the players much more numerous and entangled than …
Read More »Watch Stephen Colbert's Fake Action Trailer for Steven Seagal's New Role
Stephen Colbert opened The Late Show Monday with a hilarious fake trailer teasing the diplomatic jiu-jitsu Steven Seagal is sure to perform now that Russia has named him a special envoy to the United States. The trailer’s narrator cracked that Seagal would “seduce America with his knowledge of ripe melons …
Read More »'Sharp Objects' Director Jean-Marc Vallée on Amy Adams, Led Zeppelin and Episode 5's Big Reveal
HBO’s Sharp Objects, which just aired its fifth episode, is a classic kind of star vehicle for Amy Adams. She’s in nearly every scene (and other people tend to talk about her even when she’s not). Her character, reporter Camille Preaker, is perpetually drunk, a cutter who has carved a …
Read More »'Castle Rock' Recap: There Will Be Blood
Mass shootings, police brutality, the prison industrial complex, a telepath or two — OK, so Castle Rock isn’t strictly a case of art imitating life. But its very good fourth episode — “The Box” — contains enough real-world ugliness to make the supernatural stuff almost superfluous. (Almost.) It’s the clearest …
Read More »Flashback: Elvis Presley's 'Aloha From Hawaii' Marks His Final Truly Great Moment
Elvis Presley stayed on the road until the end of his life, playing his final show at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana less than two months before his death on August 16th, 1977. But with a handful of exceptions, the gigs he played in his last years were …
Read More »Jamiroquai Talk Coachella Comeback and What Became of the 'Virtual Insanity' Hat
British retro-future funk crew Jamiroquai had about three years as American alterna-pop icons. After frontman Jay Kay wriggled around the couch in the iconic 1996 trompe-l’œil “Virtual Insanity” clip, they nabbed four MTV Video Music Awards, a Saturday Night Live performance, a song on the Godzilla soundtrack and a 2:45 …
Read More »10 New Albums to Stream Now: 'Sorry to Bother You,' Vintage Live Dylan and More Editors' Picks
EDITORS’ PICK: The Coup, Sorry to Bother You: The Soundtrack Boots Riley’s feature-directing debut accompanied its surrealist depiction of life in Oakland during capitalist wartime with a clamorous, giddy score by hometown heroes Tune-Yards; the movie’s official soundtrack, which showcases his long-running hip-hop collective The Coup alongside other boldfaced names, …
Read More »Eric Church on Garth Brooks' Lip-Syncing: 'That Pissed Me Off'
Eric Church appears on the cover of Rolling Stone‘s August issue, and the “Desperate Man” singer doesn’t mince words when it comes to the art of performing country music. “We don’t use machines. We use instruments,” he tells Rolling Stone‘s Josh Eells. Which is why he was particularly irked when …
Read More »Mac Miller, Thundercat Unite for Fall Tour
Mac Millerrecruited Thundercat and Atlanta rapper J.I.D. as openers on his upcoming North American fall tour. The 26-date trek launches October 27th in San Francisco, California and concludes December 10th in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. General tickets go on sale Friday, July 27th at 10 a.m. local time via Live …
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