Before Donald Trump got himself infected with the coronavirus, he had firmly secured his place as the worst president in American history. Now, after mocking Joe Biden at their first debate for mask wearing, Trump has proved to be a reckless superspreader, risking the lives of donors at a New …
Read More »Listen: Trump Admits on Tape He Deliberately Downplayed Covid-19
President Trump deliberately downplayed the severity of the coronavirus despite knowing in early February that the virus was “deadly.” according to a new book from Bob Woodward. “I wanted to always play it down,” he told Woodward on March 19th, according to audio obtained by CNN. “I still like playing …
Read More »'We Are Freestyle Love Supreme': Before 'Hamilton,' There Was a Supergroup
In 2005, Andrew Fried met a group of young men who he’d seen perform a somewhat unclassifiable stage show. They took elements of Second City/UCB-style comedy, starting with gathering suggestions from the audience; scraps of paper with words were dropped into pails stationed at the front of the theater. Then …
Read More »Welcome to 'Chromatica': Inside Lady Gaga's Triumphant Dance Floor Return
On the Chromatica track “Free Woman,” Lady Gaga sings with conviction: “This is my dance floor I fought for.” She’s not exaggerating; her sixth album is, in many ways, about the journey that paved the way for the pop superstar’s triumphant return to dance music. “I think that the beginning …
Read More »The Coronavirus Is Also Attacking the Ballot Box
The pandemic is a black light on America, bringing our imperfections into sharper relief. One of them is how we elect presidents. As I write, we are planning to do it the same way we always have come November, even though Americans will likely still be sick and dying throughout …
Read More »Music Videos Were Facing Extinction — Then YouTube Happened
“YouTube at 15” is our package of stories to celebrate the streaming site’s anniversary. It’s hard to imagine, but there really was a time before makeup tutorials, conspiracy explainers, on-demand music videos — really, viral videos at large. Since it’s become such a ubiquitous part of culture, we set out …
Read More »Inside Spike Jonze's 'Beastie Boys' Book
Spike Jonze’s lengthy collaboration and friendship with the Beastie Boysis the focus of an upcoming photo book,and ahead of the March 17th release of the director’s Beastie Boys, Jonze previews his first-ever photo book with a dozen photographs of the iconic trio. [Find the Book Here] In this exclusive gallery …
Read More »The 'Best Popular Movie' Oscar: WTF Is the Academy Thinking?
For 90 years, Hollywood has been celebrating itself by handing out Academy Awards — and for almost as long, people have been debating what, if anything, constitutes a “Best” Picture. The Oscars are a hopelessly biased and flawed system — the voters skew older, most aren’t nearly adventurous enough in …
Read More »'It Just Went to the Dark Side': David Guetta Talks Avicii Death, All-Star Tribute Concert
About eight months before the death of EDM superstar Avicii, his friend and French DJ colleague David Guetta received an urgent message from Avicii’s then-manager. “It was a little bit of a crisis, to be honest,” Guetta says. “His manager called me and said, ‘I don’t know what to do …
Read More »Is This Bruce Springsteen's Single Greatest Live Moment?
Bruce Springsteen has played somewhere in the ballpark of 2,600 concerts since signing to Columbia Records in 1972. Many of the ones before Born to Run came out in 1975 have been lost to history, but the vast majority since have been bootlegged and traded within fan circles. Five years …
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