A pair of long-running animated series made significant casting changes Friday to promote inclusivity: Voice actor Mike Henry announced he would leave the role of Cleveland Brown on Family Guy to allow a black actor to play the character, and The Simpsonspromised that, going forward, white actors would not voice …
Read More »Meet the Music Industry's New Black Music Action Coalition
An array of artists, producers, songwriters, managers, record label representatives, attorneys, and other music executives formed the nonprofit Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) on Monday. In alliance with #TheShowMustBePaused, the group wants to ensure that the music business — which is arguably kept afloat by black music and black creators …
Read More »Elton John Praises Secondary School Cover of His Song 'I'm Still Standing'
School may be out, but music teachers are still bringing good cheer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ben Millington, an instructor at England’s Telford Priory School, led his students in a lockdown cover of Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing,” which he edited together as a music video and uploaded to YouTube …
Read More »Lady Gaga Collaborator Morgan Kibby Discusses 'Chromatica' Interludes
In between the propulsive house and electronica beats, Lady Gaga‘s Chromatica is strung together by three orchestral interludes, each feeding into the songs that follow them. The three are perfect palate cleansers, composed by Gaga and former M83 member Morgan Kibby, who connected through Chromatica executive producer BloodPop. “I must …
Read More »Beyoncé Seeks Justice for Breonna Taylor in Open Letter to Kentucky Attorney General
Beyoncé has penned an open letter to the Attorney General of Kentucky to seek justice for Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT in Louisville who was killed in an unannounced police raid on her boyfriend’s apartment. The police officers involved in the shooting have not been charged in Taylor’s death. “It …
Read More »10 Things We Learned From Bob Dylan's Latest Interview
Bob Dylan‘s Q&A with the New York Times on Friday marks his first major interview in three years, following a conversation with Bill Flanagan on his own website in 2017. In it, he tells historian Douglas Brinkley about his upcoming album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, including the sprawling, 17-minute closer …
Read More »Weed Dispensaries, Destroyed and Looted in Late-Night Unrest, Face Uncertain Future
Cannabis shops that were broken into during the last weekend of May in the wave of civil unrest following the brutal killing of George Floyd are reeling from the financial toll. Though several have said they supported the protests, the burglaries and looting perpetrated by a number of individuals has …
Read More »How the Music Industry Can Keep Its Promises From Blackout Tuesday
It’s been a whole week since the music business held a “blackout” to discuss measures against racism, in response to the killing of George Floyd and other black victims of police brutality. So where are those measures? “I thought it was a good symbolic gesture, a show of silence,” Chuck …
Read More »The Nashville Protest Became a Riot. I Was Caught in the Crowd
Ryan Culwell tapped into a sense of national angst on his incisive 2018 album, The Last American, but it was nothing like the fever-pitch emotion he experienced firsthand on Saturday when riots broke out in Nashville following a peaceful protest against police brutality and the killing of George Floyd in …
Read More »Drive-in Concerts Are the Latest Test for Concert Promoters. But Will They Last?
For the first time since the pandemic sidelined live music in the U.S. in March, veteran DJ D-Nice finally had the chance to play an in-person live gig. D-Nice, who’s been a mainstay amid safer-at-home regulations with his popular Club Quarantine Instagram Live Sessions, flew out to Hallandale Beach, Florida …
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