Decades after she and Rita Marley toured with Bob Marley, Marcia Griffiths still does a good impression of the woman she calls Sister Rita marching into her late husband’s dressing room after a show. “’Come on, come on — time to go!’” Griffiths says with a laugh, slapping her hands …
Read More »Joni Mitchell, Berry Gordy, Lorne Michaels to Receive Kennedy Center Honors
The Kennedy Center has announced a new class of inductees. Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, Motown Records founder Berry Gordy,Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, entertainer Bette Midler, and bass baritone Justino Díaz will be honored at this year’s ceremony. The 2021 Kennedy Center Honors will return to its usual time and …
Read More »The Biggest Albums of 2021 So Far: Pop Strikes Back
For the past four years or so, the story has been that pop music is dying, comatose, or at the very least, suffering a yearslong debilitating hangover. In 2017, rap overtook pop;2018 killed the pop star. Last year around this time, hip-hop dominated our midyear rankings of the biggest albums. …
Read More »The Rise and Fall of the Proud Boys
& ldquo;Let’s take the fucking Capitol.” A burly, bearded man in a ballistic vest and a baseball cap that says “God, Guns, and Trump” is trying to rally members of the crowd. The man’s name is Daniel Lyons Scott, but he goes by Milkshake. It’s around noon on January 6th, …
Read More »Rage Against the Machine, Serj Tankian, Roger Waters Sign Letter Asking Artists to Boycott Israel
Rage Against the Machine, Serj Tankian, Roger Waters, Run the Jewels and Patti Smith are among the 600 musicians who have signed an open letter asking fellow artists to boycott performing in Israel until there is a “free Palestine.” The Musicians for Palestine letter was also signed by the Strokes’ …
Read More »George Floyd's Murder Showed Our Pain to America. His Killer's Conviction Gives Many of Us a Shred of Hope
The government center in downtown Minneapolis — where people gathered outside after the guilty verdict was brought down on Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd — is sandwiched between skyscrapers. I look up at the buildings, taking in their pointless grandeur. I don’t often find myself in this …
Read More »Voter Suppression Is Violence
As he prepared to make State Bill 202 law on Thursday, it seemed that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was shielding himself. Six white men in suits flanked him, three each on his left and right, and a portrait of a plantation hung on the wall behind him. The only way …
Read More »Is Texas' Disaster a Harbinger of America's Future?
A few days before Texas went dark, Elon Musk appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience to tout the wonders of the Lone Star State. Both Rogan and Musk have recently moved to Austin, part of a wave of privileged migrants who have come to Texas for lax regulation, low taxes, …
Read More »Why Trump Isn't Being Charged With Treason
Here we go again! After having two presidential impeachment trials in the United States’ first 231 years, the Senate is now about to start its second trial of Donald Trump in just over 12 months. While we all developed great expertise from taking the 2020 class Trump Impeachment 101, there …
Read More »Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Said Something Genuine, So Of Course Men Reacted Poorly
On Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took to Instagram Live, as she frequently does to address her followers directly, to speak publicly in detail for the first time about her experience being barricaded in her office during the January 6th Capitol insurrection. On her Live, she recounted in terrifying detail …
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