This story originally ran in the July 2020 issue of Rolling Stone. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II walks into a downtown Oakland diner carrying a half-dozen shoeboxes stacked to his chin and makes his way — carefully — to a booth. He’s barely gotten settled when a fortysomething dude at the next …
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In a move that seemed as inevitable as death and/or taxes, Taylor Swift has joined TikTok. Her first post — scored by British MC Dave’s “Screwface Capital” — gives an overview of her recent releases and teases the upcoming “Taylor’s Version” re-release ofRed. “Lots going on at the moment,” she …
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James McMurtry wants to make one thing clear: His songs are not about him. “Oh, no, there’s none of that,” the songwriter says, scoffing at the very notion. “I don’t do autobiography. My songs are made up.” McMurtry is talking about The Horses and The Hounds, his stunning new record, …
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Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey is using federal virus relief funds as a carrot to convince schools not to protect children from getting infected with Covid-19. This week, Ducey set up a $163 million school grant program that will only go to schools that have not instituted a mask mandate, …
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Neil Young took to his Archives website on Wednesday to announce his withdrawal from Farm Aid 2021, taking place next month in Hartford, Connecticut. Young, who is a Farm Aid board member alongside Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews, explained that he’s pulling out of the sold out benefit …
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Ji-Yoon Kim’s young daughter Ju-Ju has an important question: Why does her mother, who runs the English department at a prestigious New England liberal arts college, use the title of “Doctor.” Ji-Yoon tries explaining how her love of literature led to a Ph.D. and a career in academia, but Ju-Ju …
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Sometimes, a show gets to lead the zeitgeist, and sometimes it’s just part of a trend. The new Hulu miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers falls into the latter category — though, actually, it’s an example of multiple recent prestige-TV trends. The series represents the third collaboration between star Nicole Kidman and …
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From 1978 until her retirement in 2013, Nanci Griffith, who died August 13th at age 68, included numerous cover songs in her repertoire from writers as diverse as Nick Lowe and Paul Carrack (“Battlefield”) to Guy Clark (“Desperados Waiting for a Train”) and Julie Gold, whose “From a Distance” had …
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San Francisco Mayor London Breed has issued a vaccination mandate to enter indoor venues in the city, as Associated Press reports. The announcement made on Thursday requires proof of full vaccination at indoor restaurants, bars, gyms and entertainment venues. The news comes in the wake of growing concern over the …
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Jamie Miller’s “Here’s Your Perfect” is a plinking piano ballad that swells quickly to arena size, and it’s possible that the song will be performed in arenas before long. Miller released the song at the end of April, and it debuted on Spotify’s Global Viral chart less than a month …
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