Month: March 2021

Last year’s festival season was a total wash thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, it’s starting to look like 2021 may face a similar fate. LiveNation’s CEO seems to think big concerts can return this summer, but others don’t seem as optimistic. Earlier this year, Glastonbury announced that it would not put on a 2021 festival. A week ago, Boston Calling also announced that they were canceling their 2021 event. Now, another festival has closed its doors for 2021: Primavera Sound.

In a post titled “We will dance in 2022,” organizers wrote today:

“It is with great sadness that we must announce that the 20th anniversary of Primavera Sound Barcelona is postponed until 2022 due to force majeure.

We have tried everything, but we have now made this very painful decision due to the uncertainty surrounding the legal framework for large events on the original dates of the festival — from June 2nd to 6th –, which, added to the restrictions that currently exist, mean that we cannot work normally on the preparation of the festival nor ensure that, once the date arrives, it can be celebrated.

Thank you to all the artists, agencies, sponsors, production companies and workers involved in everything necessary to hold Primavera Sound. And to the attendees, our family, thank you for your faith and love. We owe you the best edition of Primavera Sound, and we are already working on it.

Like last year, we are going to offer all ticket holders the possibility to keep their tickets for next year. It will also be possible to request a refund of the ticket from Wednesday, June 2nd, which is when the Primavera Sound Barcelona 2022 line-up will be revealed.

We will make it doubly good next year.

Until then, take good care of yourself. See you soon.”

This year’s lineup was set to include Pavement, The Strokes, Bad Bunny, Tyler The Creator, Charli XCX, Tame Impala, FKA Twigs, Jamie xx, and Gorillaz, among others.

Check out the announcement below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

“Demon sperm” doctor defender Tucker Carlson has found “the biggest story there is.” It’s the ultimate case of cancel culture, the Fox News host’s favorite topic of late: the entire human race being canceled. “So, we spent the last year hearing about a health crisis, a pandemic, but there are a lot health crisis,” he said during Monday’s episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight. “This may be the biggest one: falling testosterone levels, which have completely reshaped our society, and falling sperm counts which may make it impossible to continue the human race. Why is this happening? Probably because of chemicals in our environment.” Carlson quoted a study that said sperm counts have dropped 59 percent between 1973 and 2011. “At this pace sperm counts will reach zero by 2045,” he added. “No one talks about this. Everybody should be.”

Everyone should be talking about climate change, too, but that’s apparently “systemic racism in the sky” invented by the democrats, so sperm it is! At least it’s better than ranting about Potato Head or spreading “insanely obvious” lies about the Texas blackout, but naturally, things quickly devolved into… anti-pot propaganda?

Carlson welcomed Marc Siegel, the Fox News doctor who spread false theories about the coronavirus, to the show. “I’m actually more concerned about something right now, Tucker, that also involves falling sperm counts. And that’s lockdown libido,” he said. That’s as obnoxious as people who say “horizontal mambo” instead of “sex,” but go on:

“Lockdown libido occurs when everybody is shut down for too long. You know what they do? They gain weight. They get obese. You know what obesity does? Drives down testosterone and sperm counts. You drink more alcohol. You know what alcohol does? It makes estrogen out of testosterone, your sperm counts drop. Smoking cigarettes, which everyone is doing more and more. Smoking cigarettes drives down sperm counts. Vaping.”

But the biggest culprit of all: “Smoking marijuana. Drives down sperm count. So you’re at home, you’re not even looking at your loved one because despair, the depression has replaced romance. There’s gonna be no baby bump coming out of this pandemic.” A 2019 study from the Fertility Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital determined that “there was no significant difference in sperm concentrations between current and former marijuana smokers,” while research conducted by Harvard found that men who have smoked pot at some point in their life actually had “significantly higher concentrations of sperm” than those who haven’t. Seth Rogen can breathe a sigh of relief.

You can watch the Tucker Carlson Tonight segment here.

(Via the Wrap)

Annie Clark has been tight lipped about her upcoming St. Vincent album, which is believed to be titled Daddy’s Home, a title she has not officially confirmed yet. Today, though, she has shared a new teaser for the record via a minute-long video.

In the clip, Clark runs through an old decrepit building, picks up a ringing vintage-style phone, and is greeted by a voice that says, “Hello, Annie.” The words “Daddy’s Home” are then displayed on the screen, as well as a phone number, 1-833-77-DADDY. When calling the number, a recording plays, which says, “She’s back, in a new role like you’ve never seen here before. Featuring the new single, ‘Pay Your Way In Pain.’ Nobody expected it, nobody believed it and nobody could stop it. Daddy’s home.”

She recently spoke about the musical inspiration for the album, saying, “I would say it’s the sound of being down and out downtown in New York, 1973. Glamour that hasn’t slept for three days. […] I went back to these records that I probably listened to more in my life than at any other time. Music made in New York from 1971 to ’76, typically post-flower child, kick the hippie idealism out of it, America’s in a recession but pre-disco, the sort of gritty, raw, wiggly nihilistic part of that. It’s not a glamorous time, there’s a lot of dirt under the fingernails. It was really about feel and vibe but with song and stories.”

Watch the teaser above.

Nearly a year ago, Sam Raimi was confirmed to be helming Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, which seemed like a natural fit because of his previous Marvel-involved directing (2002’s Spider-Man and two sequels). However, this also prompted some enthused speculation that Raimi’s Evil Dead pedigree would lead to some sort of “Groovy” cameo from Ash actor Bruce Campbell. This sounded at once implausible and not-so-farfetched at the time, but fast forward to a few days ago, and it appears as though Campbell’s suggesting his involvement.

“Boy, it was a blast, working in a certain city, with a certain director on a certain movie with a certain actor,” Groovy Bruce tweeted over the weekend. “it sure was!”

It sure looks like Campbell’s teasing at least a cameo in Doctor Strange 2. He could surely be trolling, but chainsaw-wielding jokes aside (and there are plenty in reply to that tweet), this sounds like a no-brainer, really. Raimi popped him into all three of his Spider-Man movies, and the two have also collaborated within Starz’s Ash vs. Evil Dead series, along with a few other assorted projects. This could definitely happen, or not! No matter what happens, brace yourselves for the “Bruce Campbell is Mephisto” theories because they’re already starting….

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will arrive on March 25, 2022.

DaniLeigh found herself in the middle of a some controversy after she previewed a short snippet of her unreleased track “Yellow Bone,” which she said was dedicated to all the “light skin baddies.” Fans slammed the song as colorist and pressed DaniLeigh to apologize, which only made things worse. Rather than giving the heartfelt apology her listeners wanted, DaniLeigh instead ranted about cancel culture while saying she’s sorry if she “offended” anyone.

Though the initial controversy was ignited several weeks ago, DaniLeigh is still not letting up on critics, which landed her in a Twitter feud with Atlanta rapper Akbar V. Akbar V slammed DaniLeigh as “racist” and the tiff ensued from there.

Akbar V then addressed DaniLeigh’s colorist controversy. “i want u to stop color shaming cause i really wasn’t being funny,” she wrote, continuing to say that Black women go through enough and don’t need someone saying colorist things in a nonchalant manner. DaniLeigh responded that she never “intended” to make fun of anyone: “I never intended to make fun of anyone… as artist people will take ur words and interpret them how they want .. I now know .. yellow bone is what he want .. wasn’t the right thing to say.. but I wasn’t saying it to shame someone .. especially they color..”

Akbar V continued to press DaniLeigh for an apology.

The argument eventually turned to a discussion of DaniLeigh’s race. “Well everyone is calling me a white girl and I ain’t no f*cking white girl … I’m Dominican… with a whole bunch of sh*t in me.”

Replying to another tweet, DaniLeigh defended herself by saying she’s 39 percent West African.

See DaniLeigh’s Twitter exchange with Akbar V above.

The Nets opened a brief two-game Texas road trip on Monday night in San Antonio, and with two minutes to play it looked like they would pull away for a comfortable victory behind another sensational performance from James Harden.

However, the Spurs went on a 10-0 run to close the game and force overtime, culminating in an absolutely wild final sequence. After getting an offensive rebound from a James Harden miss, the Nets had a sideout as the Spurs gave their foul to give with just under 16 seconds to play. Kyrie Irving took the ball and after being harassed by Dejounte Murray, drove into the lane and, thanks to a sweet Euro-step, had a wide open layup. Somehow it bounced out and, from there, chaos ensued.

Murray races downcourt and runs into James Harden, falling down and losing control of the ball while the clock steadily counts down, but somehow recovers it, gets to his feet, and hoists a game-tying 21-footer just before the buzzer. It was a sensational play by Murray to get the shot off and pushed the game to overtime, where the Nets once again ran out to a big lead early as the Spurs offense went cold. Kyrie Irving atoned for his missed game-winner in regulation with a big three to open the period and Brooklyn ran away for a 124-113 win that required some extra time than they were hoping for.

Along with Tiger King, The Queen’s Gambit, and baking, Sarah Cooper has been one of the breakout stars of the pandemic. The comic rose to fame for her TikTok videos, in which she lip synched along to otherwise interminable Donald Trump speeches, finding both comedy and weird bits of sad humanity in someone who’s been largely absent from public life the last month-plus. Cooper wasn’t sad to see him go, and she was smart enough to show she has range. Now she even has her own show, which won’t — far as we know — involve impersonating a former world leader.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, CBS picked up an untitled comedy from Cooper, which is based on her book How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men’s Feelings. The show’s pilot was written by Cooper and Cindy Chupack (Modern Family, Divorce), who will also serve as showrunner. As per THR, the show “revolves around three women at different stages in their careers at a male-dominated company help each other navigate modern gender politics in their professional and personal lives.”

Cooper’s ascent has been meteoric, but she didn’t rest with the shtick that made her famous. She quickly nabbed a gig guest hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! and she parlayed that into a Netflix special. Now this.

(Via THR)

Over the weekend, former president Donald Trump busted out the Greatest Hits while delivering the keynote at CPAC, chief among them the biggest lie from his bundle (arguably): that the 2020 election was stolen from him. It’s the nonsense that helped get him permanently booted from much of social media, including his favorite, Twitter. And repeating the fib can still affect those closest to him, including Rudy Giuliani, who just got temporarily suspended from YouTube for a second time.

According to Bloomberg, the 45th president’s personal lawyer — and, lest you forget, the extremely former “America’s Mayor” — was again busted for spreading the kind of misinformation he’s been peddling since his client lost in early November of last year.

“We removed content from the Rudy W. Giuliani channel for violating our sale of regulated goods policy, which prohibits content facilitating the use of nicotine, and our presidential election integrity policy,” read a statement from a YouTube spokeswoman. “Additionally, in accordance with our long standing strikes system, we issued a strike against the Rudy W. Giuliani channel, which temporarily restricts uploading or live-streaming.”

What is YouTube’s strike system, pray tell? Bloomberg reports that the video sharing site “revokes a user’s uploading privileges for two weeks if they violate the company’s content policies for the second time within a 90-day period.” So if, after his return in a fortnight, Giuliani posts some more drivel that’s been laughed out of even courts lorded over by Trump appointees, it’s three strikes and he’s out. Luckily Rudy has a well-documented and greatly respected sense of self-control.

(Via Bloomberg)

The Philadelphia 76ers entered Monday evening’s matchup against the Indiana Pacers with the best record in the Eastern Conference. Much of that dominance can be traced to the stellar play of Joel Embiid, with the All-NBA center mounting a serious charge in the NBA MVP race as the All-Star break nears. In this particular game, Embiid was matched up heavily against Myles Turner, who leads the NBA in blocked shots and is performing at a high level for the Pacers.

While Embiid and Turner didn’t square off for the entirety of the 27 minutes in which Embiid played, he was thoroughly dominant, scoring 24 points (on 10-of-17 shooting), pulling down 13 rebounds and dishing out five assists in what became a 130-114 victory.

That kind of effort wasn’t out of the ordinary for Embiid this season and, after the game, he provided a quote that made the rounds in a hurry. Embiid indicated his respect for Turner but, at the same time, made it clear that he has “dominated” that individual battle through the years. Respectfully, of course.

To be fair to Turner, few players have good numbers against Embiid, and he is a unique force in the modern NBA. However, Embiid entered the night averaging 28.4 points and 12.6 rebounds per game in 10 contests against Indiana in his career, and that speaks for itself. Ironically, Embiid’s scoring average against the Pacers will actually drop after this game, largely because the 76ers led comfortably and he was able to sit, but it is safe to say that Embiid left his mark on the floor and then again on the podium after the final buzzer.

Movie theaters have been mostly without new product for almost a year now, with the pandemic driving major studios to put most of their big released either on hold or dump them on their respective streamers. That may change soon. Vaccines are rolling out, slowly if not quite steadily. And theaters that had long been closed in New York City are reopening this weekend. From the sound of it, Disney is ready to return to normal — sort of, not entirely.

As per Deadline, Bob Chapek, the mega-corporation’s CEO, spoke about the company’s future during a virtual investment conference, in which he addressed how the pandemic has permanently altered how they’ll handle movie releases. Not that they’re planning on releasing everything on Disney+ (or, in the case of non-family friendly fare, other services), as they have the last year. But there will still be some changes.

“The consumer is probably more impatient than they’ve ever been before,” Chapek said, “particularly since now they’ve had the luxury of an entire year of getting titles at home pretty much when they want them. So, I’m not sure there’s going back. But we certainly don’t want to do anything like cut the legs off a theatrical exhibition run.”

That said, he thinks moviegoers won’t have much of a tolerance for a title, say, being out of theatrical for months” before being made available in homes, as has long been the custom.

That tradition, mind you, has been slowly dying anyway. In the early days of home video, one would have to wait a year, sometimes more, for movies to hit video rental stores. Then it shrunk to about six months. In the last handful of years, it’s gotten even shorter. It’s not clear how short a theatrical-to-streamer window Chapek is eyeing, or which films will hit theaters first. (Presumably their pricier “live-action remakes,” like last year’s Mulan, will look to make some movie theater scratch first before becoming part of a monthly subscription streamer.)

It’s also unclear when this would take effect, especially as the vaccine rollout is still in the relative early days. For now, though, it’s blockbusters will occupy a middle ground, getting “Premier access” in theaters and on Disney+. Indeed, their latest, the animated opus Raya and the Last Dragon, is about to become one of the first new movies released in New York City theaters in just shy of a year.

(Via Deadline)