Month: October 2021

Before the pandemic hit, Band Of Horses leader Ben Bridwell had already penned most of the songs that would end up on the band’s sixth album. He was going through changes in his life, his relationships and grappling with how the pick of the pieces that didn’t seem to fit. Naturally, Things Are Great, the band’s first in over five years that’s set to drop on January 15, is incredibly autobiographical.

But Bridwell couldn’t do it all alone. While he co-produced every song on the album, Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle and indie rock stalwart producers Dave Fridmann and Dave Sardy helped produce the album as well. With the album due out early next year, the band has released the lead single, “Crutch,” which stands atop handsome guitars and Bridwell doing his best to smile through tough times.

Bridwell shared a statement on the song, saying:

“I think like a lot of my songs, ‘Crutch’ starts with something from my real life. Obviously ‘Crutch’ means some of the things that I was dependent on. My relationship for one. I think I wanted to say, ‘I’ve got a crush on you,’ and I thought it was funny how relationships also feel like crutches. I feel like everybody has had a time when nothing goes right and you still have to carry on. I think that feeling hits you in this song even if you don’t know what the specifics are.”

Listen to “Crutch” above and below, find the Things Are Great art and tracklist, as well as Band Of Horses’ upcoming tour dates.

1. “Warning Signs”
2. “Crutch”
3. “Tragedy Of The Commons”
4. “In The Hard Times”
5. “In Need Of Repair”
6. “Aftermath”
7. “Lights”
8. “Ice Night We’re Having”
9. “You Are Nice To Me”
10. “Coalinga”

10/18 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Made
10/19 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Made
10/20 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Made
11/04 — Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom *
11/07 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater *
11/08 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre *
11/10 — San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic *
11/12 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Palladium
11/13 — San Diego, CA @ SOMA *
11/14 — Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues *

* with Miya Folick

Things Are Great is out 1/15/2022 via BMG. Pre-order it here.

Dua Lipa has a lot of fans, a fact evidenced, for example, by two recent chart feats: On the current Billboard Hot 100, “Levitating” became her longest-running song on the chart, and she helped Elton John get his first top-40 hit since 1999. Lipa has one fan in particular that she herself is a huge fans of: an 80-year-old grandfather.

The Lipa-loving octogenarian is the subject of a viral new TikTok video, which has quickly racked up over 3.1 million views as of this post. In the clip from a TikTok user named Kadie Bernstein, her grandfather is given an 80th birthday gift. As he reads the card and realizes he’s been gifted Lipa concert tickets, his jaw drops, his smile spreads, and he repeatedly exclaims, “Are you sh*tting me?!”

It’s a delightful video, and Lipa herself caught wind of it. She re-shared it on her Instagram Story yesterday and wrote, “OMG THIS MELTS MY HEART!!!,” followed by some heart emojis.

After that, Bernstein shared a video of her talking with her grandfather on FaceTime, telling him that Lipa posted about him. He was gleeful, saying with a laugh, “Five minutes of fame is the greatest thing to ever happen.” In another follow-up video, he responds to a comment from SiriusXM asking what his favorite Lipa song is. In the video, he says he has to think about it and doesn’t give an answer, but he’s quoted in the caption as saying, “My favorite dance song is ‘That kind of woman’ from Future Nostalgia. Then, I love ‘Boys will be Boys.’”

Check out all the videos above and below.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Donald Trump is the kind of person who only understands absolutes. So, in his mind, getting a “positive” test result for genital warts would likely be reason to celebrate. And when it comes to numbers, bigger is already better. Even if the integer in question is, say, the number of people who came out on your behalf to launch a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol Building.

On Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel shared that yet another Trump tell-all is getting ready to hit bookshelves. Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show is written by Jonathan Karl, ABC News’s chief Washington correspondent, and full of fascinating little tidbits about Trump’s final days as the 45th POTUS. Among the gems it digs up, according to Kimmel?

“Karl says that during the riot on January 6th, Trump was bragging about the size of the crowd that stormed the Capitol. Of course he was! Is there anything he won’t brag about? It’s like bragging about the size of your tumor… It’s not good. Someday he’ll be looking up from the bowels of Hell, elbowing his buddy Jeffrey Epstein, saying, ‘Can you believe how many people are dancing on my grave right now?’

Size matters so much to him. It’s almost as if he’s insecure about something.”

Karl also writes about how it was Trump’s staff who, after hours of pleading with the then-outgoing president, finally got him to agree to make a video telling the Capitol rioters to step down and stop what they were doing. “The book says they had to do multiple takes of the video because he kept forgetting to tell them to stop ransacking the Capitol,” Kimmel explained, adding, “I’d love to see the outtakes of that one.” Wouldn’t we all?

You can watch the full clip above.

Most horror franchises get worse as the sequels pile up. I speak from experience, having recently watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. But the Scream series is the rare exception to the rule. OK, maybe Scream 3 isn’t great (although I think it’s better than its reputation), but Scream is a masterpiece, Scream 2 is a clever in-on-the-joke sequel, and Scream 4 is one of the few good reboots.

Can the fifth Scream movie, confusingly titled Scream, keep it up?

Scream is the first movie in the series to not be directed by horror movie legend Wes Craven, who passed away in 2015. Ready or Not‘s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett were handed the keys (knife?) to the kingdom, while Kevin Williamson, who wrote three of the first four films, is attached as an executive producer. Also back: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, and Roger L. Jackson (Ghostface himself), who are joined by newcomers Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Dylan Minnette, Mikey Madison, Sonia Ben Ammar, and Kyle Gallner.

Here’s the official plot synopsis:

Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, a new killer has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past.

Scream comes out on January 14, 2022.

If you can’t laugh at yourself, get Steve Bannon and his closet full of skeletons to laugh at you, too. That’s the mantra Rudy Giuliani seemed to be employing on Monday, when he appeared as a guest on Bannon’s War Room podcast. After Rudy shared his opinion that Christopher Columbus gets a bad rap, Raw Story reports that the longtime Trump allies spent part of their interview mocking the House committee that’s investigating the January 6th insurrection on the Capitol that left five people dead because… hardy har har—death and delusion and traitorism are funny.

Rudy—who looked as if he was calling in from the TARDIS, or the afterlife—was telling Bannon about a mobster he once prosecuted: “I convicted him, he got 100 years in jail, but he got one of those mafia suites, where he could conduct business, get Italian food, and he was conducting his business from prison. And it was all tape-recorded.”

While it’s entirely possible that Giuliani is conflating real life with that famous Italian-dinner-in-prison scene from Goodfellas, Bannon couldn’t help but jump in with some jokes, and ask if that was the suite Rudy would be occupying when the Jan. 6 committee locked him up. Rudy—seemingly oblivious to the fact that he could very well end up being on the inside of a prison cell looking out—joked right back to Bannon:

“I don’t intend to go without you. I mean, I’m going with you and a couple other guys that sound interesting. And I’m counting on your being able to get it hooked up. We’ll do radio and television all day.”

Sadly, that could be a best-case scenario for Giuliani, New York City’s disgraced former mayor.

(Via Raw Story)

Wyoming has had a major role in Kanye West’s recent history due to the time he’s spent recording his latest projects there. Now, though, it looks like he’s moving on from his first Wyoming property, Monster Lake Ranch: TMZ and People report that West has listed the property for $11 million, which is $3 million less than he paid when he bought it in September 2019.

A realtor.com listing for the property (which went up 21 hours ago as of this post) notes the lot has 3,888 acres of land in Cody, Wyoming. The listing also notes, “The once in a lifetime property contains a BLM lease, equipment sheds, equine facility, livestock corrals, and hay meadows. The lodge, commercial kitchen, go cart track, and trophy trout fishing bring commercial opportunities. The views of the sandstone cliffs and Absaroka mountains make it a premier Wyoming ranch investment.”

This doesn’t mean West is done with Wyoming, though. Shortly after buying Monster Lake Ranch, in November 2019, he purchased another Wyoming property, Bighorn Mountain Ranch. The 6,713-acre property had a listing price of $14.495 million and is located outside of Greybull, less than 100 miles away from the Cody ranch. At the time, he reportedly also bought a warehouse in Cody.

In 2018, West recorded a handful of projects as part of what became known as the “Wyoming Sessions”: his own Ye, Teyana Taylor‘s KTSE, Pusha T‘s Daytona, Nas’ Nasir, and his and Kid Cudi’s Kids See Ghosts. Later, West’s most recent album, Donda, was partially recorded at Bighorn Mountain Ranch.

Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson’s feud has been a non-stop source of entertainment (and an excuse to use the “come at me, bro” photo from Fast Five above) for five years now, ever since The Rock called out his male Fast and Furious co-stars for being “candy asses.” He was referring to Diesel specifically, who… you should just read the feud timeline here. It’s messy and involves Tyrese referring to himself as “just a passionate film critic.” I love it. Recently, Diesel claimed his “tough love” approach with Johnson was akin to method acting, to which The Rock replied, “I laughed and I laughed hard.”

Vanity Fair spoke to the Jungle Cruise actor about his definition for “candy ass” (“A candy ass is something you don’t want to be. And the best way that I can describe a candy ass is: Life is so much easier, I have found, when you are not full of sh*t. And a candy ass is completely full of sh*t”) and whether something happened on the set of The Fate of the Furious in August 2016 for him to post what he did.

“Nothing specific happened, just the same old shit,” he says. “And that just wasn’t my best day.”

Because of what happened, I ask, or because he chose to share it on Instagram?

“Chose to share it.”

Johnson continued, “It caused a firestorm. Yet interestingly enough… [it was] as if every single crew member found their way to me and either quietly thanked me or sent me a note. But, yeah, it wasn’t my best day, sharing that. I shouldn’t have shared that. Because at the end of the day, that goes against my DNA. I don’t share things like that. And I take care of that kind of bullsh*t away from the public. They don’t need to know that. That’s why I say it wasn’t my best day.” He clarified that “I meant what I said,” but “to express it publicly was not the right thing to do.” I respectfully disagree.

But these days are probably over:

(Via Vanity Fair)

Today is Indigenous Peoples Day, and to honor the occasion, Oregon-based indie rockers Portugal The Man partnered with a member of the Umatilla Tribe in Northeastern Oregon, Acosia Red Elk, to help inspire their audience pay attention. “Our friend and PTM Foundation Community Advisory Board member Josué Rivas was telling us about his friend, Acosia Red Elk, who is practiced in the art of movement and sound and how it heals the body,” said Zachary Carothers of Portugal The Man. “We then got to hear, see and experience her and her work firsthand and were blown away. Acosia Red Elk is an incredible person and we are really honored that we get to help tell her story this year for Indigenous Peoples Day.”

Along with the Portugal The Man Foundation, the band is sharing a short film called Movement Is Medicine that features Acosia Red Elk, and was created in partnership with directors Josué Rivas and Aaron Brown. They’re also sharing a new edition of their “Water Is Life” Grant Program Tee that features Acosia Red Elk, and 100% of the proceeds from the sale will support their foundation’s Water Is Life grant program. Past grant recipients include DigDeep’s Navajo Water Project and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in Portugal. The Man’s home state of Oregon.

Check out the short video above and pick up a shirt right here.

On Monday, word broke that Ben Simmons and the 76ers were “working on a resolution” that would bring the three-time All-Star back to the team, ending his holdout before the regular season got started.

It was a pretty significant change of heart from Simmons, who had reportedly been adamant he was done in Philly, but as the reality of missing out on game checks and getting fined set in, he seemed to recognize a trade wasn’t coming in the immediate and he was about to lose out on a lot of money — with no option to get that money back. While reports said the two sides were progressing in talks, nothing seemed imminent with the Sixers set to host the Nets on Monday night for preseason action, but in the middle of the game, Simmons apparently arrived in town to take a COVID-19 test and enter himself into the necessary league protocols to return to the team.

That was a surprise to many, including the Sixers, who according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski had no indication Simmons was going to show up in Philly on Monday night until he strolled up for his test.

It would be really funny if Simmons just rolled up, George Costanza style, pretending none of the drama of the last few months ever happened and just jumped right back in. That seems unlikely, as part of the discussions between the two sides has reportedly been about whether the star will actually play or not once back with the team. Still, Simmons is, suddenly, back in town for now and this saga figures to only get stranger from here.

Demi Lovato is no stranger to the struggles of addiction, and they’ve been open about their struggles with the disease, both in their music and in a recent documentary that shared shocking details about their recent relapse. This past weekend, they released a new song that takes a look at the other side of the issue — losing someone you love to addiction.

Their new track, “Unforgettable (Tommy’s Song),” is dedicated to Tommy Trussell III, a close friend who lost the battle with addiction. The song was released on Saturday because it marked the two years anniversary since Tommy passed. In a press release, Lovato said that all the proceeds from the song will go to the Voices Project founded by Ryan Hampton. Check out their full statement on the new track below and hear it for yourself up top.

“Two years ago I lost someone who meant so much to me. His name was Tommy and he was such a beautiful, special man. I wrote this song the day after I found out that he had lost his battle with addiction. This disease is extremely cunning and powerful… I’m beyond grateful and proud to announce all net proceeds of this song will be going to the Voices Project founded by Ryan Hampton. If you know anyone who is struggling please call 1-800-662-HELP.”