This year’s Country Music Awards took place Wednesday evening, which saw the biggest names in country music taking the stage to perform their hits. But one name in particular was missing from the ceremony: Morgan Wallen. Though the mullet-sporting singer’s recent album Dangerous was up for Album Of The Year last night, he was banned from attending the event altogether after this year’s scandal that caught him using a racial slur on camera. Wallen ended up losing the award and he took to social media to react to the whole ordeal shortly thereafter.
Wallen’s Dangerous album was up for an Album Of The Year award alongside Carly Pearce’s 29, Chris Stapleton’s Starting Over, Brothers Osbourne’s Skeletons, and Eric Church’s Heart. Each of the artists nominated for the award performed their music at some point during the night, except, of course, for Wallen. Chris Stapleton ended up taking home the Album Of The Year award over Wallen, but the singer still had words of gratitude.
Wallen shared his reaction to the loss on Twitter, showing love to his fans and his faith. “I wake up every morning and thank the Lord for my blessings. Tomorrow morning will be no different. I love y’all,” he wrote.
I wake up every morning and thank the Lord for my blessings. Tomorrow morning will be no different. I love y’all
The last time we got a solo album from Jack White was 2018, with Boarding House Reach. Now, White has revealed he’s ending that drought in a big way next year: He’s releasing a new album, Fear Of The Dawn, on April 8, 2022. Then, a few months after that, on July 22, he’s dropping yet another new album, Entering Heaven Alive.
The news is accompanied by a new video for “Taking Me Back,” White’s rocking recent single that premiered last month in a trailer for Call Of Duty: Vanguard. As for the clip, it’s black and white with blue highlights, which really put the focus on White’s newly-colored hair. White co-directed the visual alongside Lauren Dunn.
Watch the “Taking Me Back” video above. Below, find the art and tracklist for Fear Of The Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive.
Fear Of The Dawn
Third Man Records
1. “Taking Me Back”
2. “Fear Of The Dawn”
3. “The White Raven”
4. “Hi-De-Ho (with Q-Tip)”
5. “Eosophobia”
6. “Into The Twilight”
7. “Dusk”
8. “What’s The Trick?”
9. “That Was Then (This Is Now)”
10. “Eosophobia (Reprise)”
11. “Morning, Noon And Night”
12. “Shedding My Velvet
Entering Heaven Alive
Third Man Records
1. “A Tip From You To Me”
2. “All Along The Way”
3. “Help Me Along”
4. “Love Is Selfish”
5. “I’ve Got You Surrounded (With My Love)”
6. “Queen Of The Bees”
7. “A Tree On Fire From Within”
8. “If I Die Tomorrow”
9. “Please God, Don’t Tell Anyone”
10. “A Madman From Manhattan”
11. “Taking Me Back (Gently)”
Fear Of The Dawn is out 4/8/2022 via Third Man Records. Pre-order it here.
Entering Heaven Alive is out 7/22/2022 via Third Man Records. Pre-order it here.
Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
10. (tie) The World According to Jeff Goldbum (Disney Plus)
NatGeo
The delightfully quirky Jeff Goldblum is here with more of his delightfully quirky show, in which he pursues delightfully intellectual questions while everyone keeps dropping “The Fly” jokes. After exploring the origins of ice cream (you must watch that episode), denim, recreational vehicles and more, he’s about to leap into your heart for another round of episodes, this time while exploring magic, fireworks, monsters, dogs, and dance. Watch it on Disney Plus.
If you find yourself commiserating with Penn Badgley’s obsessive serial killer Joe Goldberg when You’s third season drops this week, don’t take it personally. Relocating to a small town and having to interact with mommy bloggers and uber-masculine tech-daddies sounds like hell, sure, but it’s what he deserves. The show’s latest installment picks up where season two left off — with Joe and his new wife Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti at her best here) moving to the suburbs and trying to curb the worst of their shared homicidal tendencies. A new baby, new romantic distractions, anti-vaxxers, feminist wine retreats, and bro trips that end rather bloody all threaten their planned quiet life. And really, no amount of couple’s therapy can save a marriage when one spouse is constantly fantasizing about murdering the other. Happily ever after just isn’t in the cards for these two — but more dead bodies piling up in their basement certainly is. Watch it on Netflix.
Love Life ended up being the HBO Max original show to launch the service, and a new anthologized story is upon us with Anna Kendrick’s Darby passing the baton to a new unlucky-in-love protagonist, Marcus, who will be portrayed by William Jackson Harper (i.e., Jacked Chidi in The Good Place). Darby’s still in the show a little bit, but she got married, so this is all about Marcus finding himself launched from a long-term relationship and into the hell hole known as the dating world. Godspeed, Marcus. Watch it on HBO Max.
Are you in the mood for an intense survival epic and psychological horror story with plenty of coming-of-age touches? How about all of that with Juliette Lewis and Christina Ricci starring as the adult versions of two female athletes who were irretrievably shaken by their experiences after a plane crash in the wilderness? Sure, that sounds like a stressful description, but it’s also a hell of a watch. Not to mention another reason not to hop onto an airplane these days. Watch it on Showtime.
Dexter Morgan, who’s arguably TV’s most beloved serial killer of all time (sorry, Hannibal fans), is back, baby. The new season is a bloody good time for all and works hard to erase the sins of the lumberjack past. Ghosts of the past rear their heads, and it’s going to be a trip to see how Dexter can survive having to tend to something else beyond his inner war and that dumb hurricane. Dexter’s out of his element, and it’s so much fun to watch. Watch it on Showtime.
It’s a mitzvah in a world like this to turn the other cheek, bite the tongue, and generally disregard the impoliteness, ridiculousness, and stupidity of others. But wow, what a lift. Perhaps that’s why it’s so freeing to see Larry David and a cavalcade of stars and familiar faces push against the minutiae of polite culture with serial honesty. Who else could reject someone’s plea to pray for a sick relative without getting stabbed or mock the fakery of gazing deeply into someone’s eyes during a toast when all you want to do is freaking eat? Larry is no hero. He’s an asshole, but he’s our asshole and he’s back for another round of Curb. Watch it on HBO.
Before his new Disney+ series drops, Jeremy Renner is rolling out this gritty drama that tasks him with doing what he does best on screen: busting heads and playing an unlikable a**hole. We kid (sort of). Renner’s Mike McLusky heads up a family of power brokers who keep the crime-infested city of Kingstown in check, a family that includes Dianne West and Kyle Chandler. Their unique, fairly violent version of checks-and-balances is quickly coming to an end though as McLusky predicts new gangs and powerful figures are poised to throw the town into chaos and start a bloody war. Bad for Hawkeye, good for us. Watch it on Paramount Plus.
Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell reunite for this Apple TV+ tragicomedy based on a popular podcast, which itself is based on a true story about a hapless middle-aged businessman and the charismatic, conniving therapist who manipulates him for nearly 30 years. Ferrell plays the first of the duo, a man named Marty who can’t order a deli sandwich without shaking in his boots. He’s inherited a garment business from his dead parents and his brash sister (the always terrific Kathryn Hahn) demands he visit a therapist to get a handle on his self-confidence issues before they tank the family business. Enter Rudd, still charming as hell but with a sinister layer hiding underneath that practiced likability. As Marty’s shrink, Dr. Ike Herschkopf, Rudd channels the vibes of both a cult leader and a conman, draining Marty of his money, his happiness, and his will to live over their decades-long friendship. It’s easy to find the lighter moments in this bizarre tale, but both Rudd and Ferrell play against type to bring a pervading sense of melancholy to the whole thing. The moral of the story? Be careful who your shrink is. Watch it on Apple TV+.
Narcos is back once again, with stories about real-life drug cartels and the DEA agents who are after them, many of whom have pretty tremendous mustaches, including, as pictured above, Scoot McNairy. The third season of the Mexico-based spinoff picks up where season two left off, with various cartels at war and a very young El Chapo starting to make a name for himself. It’s a good time. Violent and sad and intense in parts, but still, good. Watch it on Netflix.
Big Mouth returns for a fifth season of hormone monsters, musical numbers, and talking pillows. Along with returning cast members Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Maya Rudolph, Jason Mantzoukas, Ayo Edebiri, Jordan Peele, and Richard Kind, season five also features new characters voiced by Pamela Adlon, Keke Palmer, Kumail Nanjiani, and Chloe Fineman. Watch it on Netflix.
Everyone’s favorite collection of monsters is back, once again, this time for a slightly delayed third season. Things left off with the Roy family in turmoil, as always, although this time from friendly fire, thanks to noted screw-up and amateur rapper Kendall making a big move. The new season should get ugly in the best possible way, so hop on board week-to-week if you’re already a fan or load up a binge and get caught up to see what everyone’s yammering about all fall. Watch it on HBO Max.
Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish movies available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
The Velvet Underground is one of the most influential bands of all-time. But unlike other iconic 1960s groups like, say, the Beatles, there’s not a ton of footage of Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Moe Tucker performing. To get around this, director Todd Haynes has made a documentary that captures the “idea” of the VU rather than a Wikipedia summary. Don’t walk, but “run run run” to watch The Velvet Underground! Watch it on Apple TV+.
This is a surprisingly star-studded — Ellie Kemper! Rob Delaney! Kenan Thompson! — addition to the Home Alone franchise, written by SNL veterans Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell. The plot remains the same: A 10-year-old boy gets left behind when his parents head off to Tokyo and he has to defend his house from various bumbling criminals. The reviews so far are… not great, but it might be worth a go if you’re looking for a nostalgia blast to the face or something to watch with younger kids. Order yourself a large cheese pizza first. Watch it on Disney Plus.
The spooky business all gets rebooted here, with the franchise focusing in on a collection of teens, one of whom is on a mission to discover what happened to her mother. Does she uncover a secret? Is the secret described in the preview materials as “a terriying truth”? Buddy, you know it is. We’ve all see enough of these movies to know that. But it doesn’t make them any less fun. Watch it on Paramount+.
What we have here is Benedict Cumberbatch as an eccentric old-timey artist whose — and we’re just going to go ahead and quote Amazon’s summary because there’s no improving on this phrasing — “playful, psychedlic pictures transformed the public’s perceptions of cats forever.” Yeah. And Claire Foy is in there, too. It’s a whole thing. Watch it on Amazon Prime.
Netflix bet on dead with Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, and that bet apparently paid off handsomely, which is a good thing because there’s already a prequel in the can. Matthias Schweighöfer returns to the franchise as Dieter, a then-bank teller who’s recruited by Nathalie Emmanuel (who promises “a life less ordinary”) to begin his heisting career. Of course, this prequel isn’t entirely devoid of zombies, but the focus is on those safes, which are cracking. Watch it on Netflix.
You like Turner and Hooch, right? Of course you do. Tom Hanks + a dog = good ’80s movie. OK, well, what if Turner and Hooch was set in the post-apocalyptic future… and instead of working as a cop, Tom Hanks is one of the last people on Earth and he travels the planet with his dog and a robot… and the movie was directed by the guy who did the awesome “Hardhome” and “Battle of the Bastards” episodes of Game of Thrones. It’s Finch time. Watch it on Apple TV+.
In the mood for a critically-acclaimed new drama? Good news: Passing is on Netflix. The film, shot in black-and-white and starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, is the directorial debut from Rebecca Hall. It tells the story of two women who live in New York, both of whom are Black but one of whom has lighter skin and passes as white, with twists and turns and tragedy unfolding throughout. It’s a heavier watch than some of the other options out there, but hey, you could use a little culture. Watch it on Netflix.
At long last, Dune is here. Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction epic starring everyone you like (including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, and Jason Momoa) should probably be seen on the biggest screen possible. But it’ll still look darn good at home. Watch it on HBO Max.
Jeymes Samuel’s slick, stylish Netflix Western is a “pick your fighter” lineup of gun-slinging, swag-dripping Black cowboys ready to dust off the history books and give us a more accurate, diverse representation of the Old West. Jonathan Majors is having a hell of a year and here, he imbues the deadly Nat Love with some impressive comedic beats that make it easy to root for the vengeance-minded outlaw – unless, of course, you’re swayed by the prospect of Regina King riding a horse and f*cking sh*t up in every scene. (Who wouldn’t be?) Idris Elba, LaKeith Stanfield, and Zazie Beetz round out the main cast members with the most things to do on screen and all of the shoot-outs and train robberies and saloon fights are timed perfectly to an eclectic mix of Reggae/Dancehall bangers produced by Samuel and collaborator Jay-Z. This ain’t your grandpa’s Western, and really, that’s kind of the point. Watch it on Netflix.
Red Notice may be making its Netflix debut (after an initial theatrical drop last week), but there’s still a cost for admission outside your subscription fee; a requirement that you unplug your brain a little and let the reliance (or overreliance) on cliches, exotic locales, and movie megastar charms wash over you. If you want to do that owing to a desire for Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Nic Cage Stealing The Declaration Of Independence nostalgias, cool. You’re going to going to get a lot out of Gal Gadot having just so much fun with a villainous turn as a master thief while Ryan Reynolds and The Rock bumble, banter, and double-cross through a sort of buddy-cop routine while globetrotting in pursuit of McGuffin-y antiquities. Just don’t look for much more. Watch it on Netflix.
Instead of eating too much stuffing (jk there’s no such thing as too much stuffing) and watching football, Mike Lindell will spend his Thanksgiving futilely attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Sounds… fun? “I cannot wait to drop this Supreme Court case the Tuesday at 9 a.m. before Thanksgiving and the whole world is going to be watching all this unfold over Thanksgiving,” he previously told Steve Bannon. “We’re going to do a marathon from Wednesday night of Thanksgiving all the way to Sunday.”
Can’t you do a Turkey Trot like the rest of us?
This week, Lindell shared a teaser of his Thanksgiving week broadcast, including an interview with Donald Trump wearing an ill-fitting tuxedo. “You go back to November 4 and we all lived this Twilight Zone… There’s an old saying, y’know, if a tree falls in the forest and no one heard it, did it really fall? Well, then the media tells us there is no forest,” the pillow lord said in the clip. “We were all living in this Twilight Zone and you were living there with us, but then you had all the betrayals and attacks on you that escalated to a whole another level.” He also regurgitated something Trump’s son Eric told him once, and said that he’s been “praying” for the ex-president to “have strength.”
Here it is:
Mike Lindell releases a short teaser of his ‘exclusive blockbuster interview’ with Trump. This is what he says will be so earth shattering that when he plays it the week of Thanksgiving, the American people will rise up and demand Trump’s reinstatement. This isn’t inspiring me. pic.twitter.com/0VB0MChBT5
I’ve never done a blockbuster interview with a former president from what appears to be a hotel conference room, but I think, were I to do one, I’d probably look at a screen at some point and say: “Burn that fucking tape; get a desk for these guys, asap.” https://t.co/P6cLF54BCV
The interview will be a flop. It will be made fun of on national tv and every social media. Trump will blame Lindell for the awful questions/rambling/editing/energy of the thing and publicly throw one of his loudest allies under the bus
Following Tucker Carlson’s emergency back surgery (and leaked remarks on opioids), the Fox News host was back in propaganda mode on Wednesday night. To that end, GOP Rep. Mike Turner found himself explaining — to a highly influential far-right talking head — why Republicans in Congress (including Turner) have implored President Biden to line up military aid for Ukraine. This took place after Politico published satellite images that revealed Russian forces preparing to take action at the Russia-Ukraine border. And Tucker declared that he was “totally confused” about why the U.S. would want to help the Ukraine rather than stand with Russia. Oh boy.
“Why would we take Ukraine’s side and not Russia’s side?” Tucker asked in that way that he usually wants to sound rhetorical. “It’s a sincere question. If you’re looking at America’s perspective, why? …. Who’s got the energy reserves? Who’s the major player in world affairs? Who’s the potential counterbalance against China. I’m totally confused.”
“I’m totally confused” — Tucker Carlson wonder why the US would be allies with Ukraine instead of Russia, since Russia has more energy reservers. Rep. Mike Turner reminds him that we’re supposed to be on the side of democracies. Carlson responds by saying, “I guess” pic.twitter.com/XIXfJXKsML
To that, Turner opened up his metaphorical text book and let Tucker know that the U.S. stands for democracies, rather than authoritarian regimes that are trying to control democracies, via Mediaite:
“Maybe if you get out a map and you look to see where the Black Sea is and Romania, where we have our missile defense system, with Greece, and Turkey, the entrance to the Black Sea and then from there you look at what the conflicts have already been on Russia’s areas there. Ukraine is a democracy. Russia is an authoritarian regime that is seeking to impose its will upon a validly elected democracy in Ukraine and we’re on the side of democracy. That’s what people were chasing those planes Afghanistan and wouldn’t be chasing Russian ones.”
To that, Tucker did not sound convinced, but he sort-of agreed. “I guess I’m for democracy in other countries,” he skeptically responded. “I guess?”
From there, Tucker claimed, “I’m really for America.” He added, “I just think that our interest is in counterbalancing the actual threat, which is China. And the only other country with any throw weight that might help us do that is Russia. And our continuation of the Cold War has pushed Russia toward China, and that does not serve our interests in any way. Does it?”
Tucker’s really knee-deep in that Russian propaganda. With that said, let the record reflect that Marco Rubio, who might be the most anti-China lawmaker out there, has condemned Russia’s ongoing aggression with Ukraine. Maybe Rubio should pop in as a Tucker guest, too.
Finding a unique place to stay around Bardstown, Kentucky — the world’s bourbon capital — is weirdly hard to do. There are some chain hotels and a handful of Airbnbs and … that’s pretty much it. There’s a real dearth of options for anyone looking for a bespoke and one-of-a-kind experience in the heart of bourbon country. That’s why the brand-new The Samuels House (the family behind Maker’s Mark) just outside of Bardstown is such a needed addition to the local scene.
Before we get into the details of the property, let’s get into the history of the house a little bit. The house was built by the Samuels family in 1820. The Samuels were pivotal figures in the area. They hosted the surrender of the James Gang guerillas after the Civil War at the house, for instance. The house was the home to generations of the family while also being a meeting place for the Beams and Van Winkle clans who were also making bourbon in the area back in the day. In short, this is real, living Kentucky and bourbon history under one roof.
Add in that it’s in horse country (the property is a small two-acre horse farm), and you have something that oozes everything you want from a Kentucky trip. The house today — which opened in September of 2021 — is also an altar to one of the most important women in bourbon history but let’s get into that while we list why this place is so dope.
WHY IT’S AWESOME:
The Samuels House
It’s hard to find anything that even comes close to this experience in Kentucky. The Samuels House is a bit of a time machine on its own. When you walk into the dining room (off the kitchen), you’re greeted with a mural that was painted in the late 1800s by a member of the family that maps out what the area around Bardstown was like around the Civil War. You could spend 30 minutes just taking in this old piece of folk art before even getting drawn into the rest of the history on display in the house.
A true highlight is the centerpiece of the family room. Above the mantle, a portrait of Marjorie “Margie” Samuels draws you in. Margie was one of the most important figures in Kentucky bourbon in the 20th century and was instrumental in creating Maker’s Mark as we know it today. She came up with the name, designed the label, and even implemented the iconic red wax dip. Below her portrait, you’ll see the original deep fryer she used to melt the wax for bottle dipping. The house really is a celebration of Samuels’ family history in Kentucky and bourbon, but it’s Margie who’s the star of the show as one of the greatest women in the industry.
All of this is before you even get into the property, rooms, and rest of the experience. We’re really only scratching the surface here. There’s a deep history to the James brothers/gang, horse racing, and an awesome collection of Maker’s bottles that we could go on and on about. Instead, we think you should go and experience all of this yourself. If you have the extra cash, you can get Bill Samuels, Jr., one of bourbon’s true icons, to come over and give you a private talk about all of this for an extra $750.
IN-HOUSE FOOD + DRINK:
The Samuels House
The kitchen is fitted out with the best of the best appliances and kitchenware. Generally, this is more of an Airbnb situation where you can cater your own food. If that’s not your jam, the house offers an in-house chef who’ll prepare a three-course dinner paired with three bourbon cocktails for $150 to $225/person depending on how many people you’re with and the time of the week.
The food is locally sourced, leans into farm-style cooking, and, of course, comes with classic Maker’s Manhattans and old fashioneds that are crafted with style.
When it comes to drinks, the house has a bar that’s stocked with some seriously good booze, a high-end ice maker, and hand-blown glassware for your cocktail needs.
AMENITIES:
The Samuels House
Parlor room with custom-crafted bar and 50+ historic bottles of family-produced whisky on display.
Stocked chef’s kitchen with gas range, fridge with premium whisky icemaker.
Numerous Samuels family artifacts and pieces of bourbon history on display for the first time.
Dining room with custom-designed dinnerware and glassware, adorned with the 200-year-old original mural.
Covered porch with outdoor dining area.
Basement media room and game lounge.
Stone patio featuring a gas grill and fire pit.
Whole-home WiFi.
Nearly 3500 sq ft of space (main level, upper level, and basement).
Set on 2-acres of mature oak trees surrounded by horse pasture.
Ensuite bathrooms.
100 percent Turkish cotton towels.
Aveda bath products.
Iron/Ironing board.
Hairdryer.
Smart TVs with cable access and streaming capabilities.
ROOM TYPES:
The Samuels House
There are three bedrooms. Two bedrooms come with king beds, a fireplace, and old-school wardrobes. Another bedroom has a queen bed with its own bathroom as well. You can also get two single beds, meaning a crew of eight can stay in the house.
THE BEST THING TO DO WITHIN A 15 MINUTE WALK:
Unsplash
Since you’re smack-dab in the middle of farm country, your best bet is to walk the property. You’ll be around horses, donkeys, and mules that roam the two-plus acres. Truly, it’s postcard picturesque Kentucky horse country.
If you’re hankering for a little pizza, you can walk to Hometown Pizza. It’s about a mile away. Other than that, it’s all farms, folks.
THE BEST THING TO DO/EAT/DRINK WITHIN A $10 CAB RIDE:
Visit Bardstown
Bardstown — the bourbon capital of the world — is a ten-minute cab/drive away. If you arrive earlier in the day, the whole town smells like fermenting grains. It’s a sweet and warming smell that really endears you to the town immediately.
Beyond the smell of the air, there are tons of food, bars, shopping, and liquor stores. It’s a bit of a right of passage to grab lunch at Mammy’s Kitchen (get the fried pickles, fried green tomatoes, and any of their awesome dinner plates). After you fill up on all that Southern hospitality at Mammy’s, head across to the street to the Old Talbott Tavern, which is the oldest watering hole in the state. There’s a gift shop in the foyer with a dive bar to the right. You’ll see buses of bourbon tourists drop in for a drink, but you’ll also have access to an incredible bourbon list with accessible prices. The bartenders also make a killer Manhattan with any bourbon you want. It’s a kitschy fun good time.
BED GAME:
The Samuels House
8/10 — The beds are Tempur-Pedic and solid enough to give you a good night’s sleep. The linens are premium Comphy sheets made from a quilted microfiber twill. They’re top quality but not mind-blowing.
SEXINESS RATING:
The Samuels House
7/10 — It really depends on your vibe. There’s a very “museum” aspect to this property. That being said, if you want to chill on a small horse farm in bourbon country with a James gang revolver on the wall, this is 100 percent going to be sexy to you.
INSTAGRAMABILITY:
The Samuels House
9/10 — The area is like a bloody postcard with horses munching on the green grass next to those iconic horse fences with an 1800s brick house as your backdrop. Add in that you’ll see antique bottles of bourbon that certain corners of IG will salivate over and you have a very IG-friendly spot.
BEST SEASON TO VISIT:
The Samuels House
It’s always time to drink bourbon and dig into its history. That being said, the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in Bardstown is every September and the primmest of times to stay at this house.
IF I HAD TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ONE THING:
The Samuels House
It’s really remote and not walkable or reachable without a car. You need a car to get around Kentucky’s bourbon country anyway, but once you’re at this house, you’re there to stay.
BOOK HERE:
The Samuels House
$1,000 to $1,500 per night based on double occupancy and season.
Click here to see the availability calendar for the next six months.
MORE PHOTOS:
The Samuels HouseThe Samuels HouseThe Samuels HouseThe Samuels HouseThe Samuels HouseThe Samuels House
Idles are as idle as a bouncer named Tiny is tiny. Cue up a concert video on YouTube and you’ll see that the British post-punk outfit is anything but lazy or purposeless. Rather, they are in constant motion, a whirling dervish of sweaty head-banging, literal chest-beating, and half-naked Angus Young-style guitar theatrics. You’ll also understand how and why Idles have become one of the world’s most popular indie-rock bands. Few acts at the moment are as straight-forward about wanting to be perceived as great.
Therein also lies the problem. Idles aspire to the mix of political righteousness and musical bluntness that once caused people to call The Clash “the only band that matters.” And you can see surprising manifestations of that ambition when scores of backward hat-donning lads swarm in mosh pits and sing along with frontman Joe Talbot on lyrics like, “My blood brother is an immigrant / a beautiful immigrant.” No other successful rock band is doing that right now. But do good intentions — or simply good messaging — equal good rock ‘n’ roll? Four albums into their career, including the new Crawler out Friday, Idles haven’t yet made a persuasive case.
Comparing Idles to The Clash flatters them too much. By this point, The Clash were making Sandinista!, a flawed classic of uncommon imagination that a meat-and-potatoes guitar-and-bark band like Idles couldn’t even conceive of attempting. More and more, I find myself instead likening them to Mumford And Sons, with generic post-punk signifiers subbed in for the old-timey folk garb. But whereas Mumford offered listeners a reductive version of musical purity upon their rise in the late aughts and early 2010s, Idles deal in ideological purity during the fraught post-Trump/post-Brexit era of the late ’10s and early ’20s.
Otherwise their trajectories are pretty similar. Both bands came to prominence in large part due to their live performances, in which they utilize a highly energetic and infectious musical attack in the service of big, shout-y choruses and do-or-die emotionalism while wholly jettisoning nuance or the quieter end of the dynamic range. Mumford won an audience by delivering knockout performances on TV award shows, while Idles have wowed audiences with blistering appearances at music festivals. These relatively compact presentations suit them, concentrating all that energy in a tight time frame before it can become tiresome.
This kind of music is so heightened that is bound to elicit equally charged reactions. Some will hear it as rousing and even potentially life-changing music; others will find it strident to the point of irritation. I fall in the latter camp for both Mumford and Idles. For me they share the same essential weakness — they are musically one-dimensional, and they are relentless about hammering that solitary dimension with aggressive force. When every song is an anthem, it’s like eating a meal where each course is a piece of chocolate cake. Even a treat will eventually make you sick when consumed in large doses. Similarly, a single-minded focus on making EVERY. SINGLE. GESTURE. HUGE. will feel bludgeoning over the course of an album.
I wonder if Idles, on some level, agree with this. When they’ve been dragged by critics in the past, it’s been for their lyrics, which can read like Madlibs from the most zombified corners of lefty Twitter. (The line from “Grounds” where Talbot sings, “Saying my race and class ain’t suitable / So I raise my pink fist and say, ‘Black is beautiful’” might be their most notoriously wince-inducing.) But I would argue their music has been more of an issue. Crawler is the Idles album I’ve enjoyed more than the others precisely because it varies up their musical approach ever so slightly, which in the sonically monochromatic world of Idles albums registers as a seismic shift. Instead of starting each song at 11, they’re now experimenting with launching at an 8 or 9. It’s the first time I can remember having a moment to breathe while listening to this otherwise suffocating band.
Crawler immediately sets itself apart from the rest of Idles’ catalog on the album-opening track “MTT 420 RR,” in which Talbot for the first time on record actually … sings. You could even call it a croon, in the undead cool guy style of Mark Lanegan. The song also establishes the album’s thematic thread — Talbot describes a car accident (“The swell of heaven on my dashboard / I can see my spinal cord rip high”) that prompts fresh appreciation for being alive. This is bookended by concluding song “The End,” where Talbot quotes Trotsky’s famous pre-execution axiom (“In spite of everything, life is beautiful”) as an aspirational mantra in an uncertain and often ugly world.
Yes, this is a band that quotes Trotsky. But there are other parts of Crawler that I would tentatively classify as fun. “When The Lights Come On” is another example of Idles down-shifting from their usual bulged-neck hectoring, affecting a moody posture that approximates Interpol after a year’s worth of daily gym visits. “The Beachland Ballroom” is slow-building R&B torch song that extends the classic soul influence that first appeared with the cover of Solomon Burke’s “Cry To Me” on 2018’s Joy As An Act Of Resistance. Meanwhile “The New Sensation” is a genuine dance party song, with Talbot imploring us to “shake it to the snare and get down to the kick / shake your tiny tooshie like you don’t give a shit.”
Talbot has signaled his awareness of how some critics pilloried their previous album, Ultra Mono, for the trite sloganeering that dot their songs. He’s suggested Crawler is more of a “storyteller” album. But Idles have a way of embarrassing themselves even when they ditch the #resistance buzzwords. (Writing songs about “tiny tooshies,” at best, is a lateral move.)
What Crawler ultimately fails to rectify is their lack of depth. As a lyricist, Talbot deals in platitudes and non-sequiturs, and then he hollers those words like a psychotic gym teacher admonishing his students for not climbing the ropes fast enough. If he aspires to storytelling on Crawler, he rarely lands on a narrative that is insightful or even coherent. As he sings in “Car Crash” — have I mentioned the album’s common theme yet? — “I chewed up your story, some tush between my teeth / The fear’s gargantuan, don’t like what I can see / Racist prick on the right side, no one to trust on the left / So I put my foot on overdrive, close my eyes and press.” Whatever else can be said of Crawler, it is certainly the year’s most “tush”-heavy album.
Then again, I suspect that the album format is not Idles’ ideal or even primary vehicle. On stage, the antics of guitarist Mark Bowen and the flailing, hyperactive rhythm section offset Talbot’s heavy-handed admonishments. And in that arena they can be truly thrilling. At a music festival, you can also walk away once you get your fill. With Idles, that tends to not take very long at all.
Last month, the Jonas Brothers announced they have a new Netflix comedy special, Jonas Brothers Family Roast, set to premiere on November 23. Now, a first look at the program has been shared and it’s a great preview, as it features Pete Davidson — who knows his way around a roast — not holding back as he goes after the Jo-Bros.
The clip shows an interaction between host Keenan Thompson and his Saturday Night Live castmate, who is in the audience wearing an “I [heart] Jonas” shirt. Davidson declares, “I’m a huge fan! I listen to the Jonas Brothers every time I’m in a supermarket.”
He then offers some backhanded praise for Nick’s acting career, saying, “I mean, show some respect, OK? Nick’s a legit actor now. He’s won everything from a Kids’ Choice Award to a Teen Choice Award.” The teaser concludes with Davidson taking a jab at Kevin, saying, “Did you know Nick even had a hit called ‘Jealous’? Though it would have been way more believable if Kevin was singing it.”
Netflix describes the special, “Jonas Brothers Family Roast is a one of a kind comedy special of epic proportions that celebrates the universal truth that no one can get under your skin quite like your own family. You’ll see the multi-platinum global superstars the Jonas Brothers like you’ve never seen them before through sketches, songs, games, and special guests — all to give them a roasting they’ll never forget.”
Check out the teaser clip above and in case you missed it, find the Jonas Brothers Family Roast announcement video below.
While Mike Pence has been notably reluctant to take Donald Trump to task for the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building even though it put the former vice president and his family’s life in danger as rioters chanted, “Hang Mike Pence,” his staff is reportedly not so eager to forget the violent insurrection and are showing signs of cooperating with the House select committee investigation.
While talking to Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night, CNN reporter Jamie Gangel revealed that Pence’s team may flip on Trump and provide damaging evidence to the January 6 committee. Via Raw Story:
“We’ve heard from the beginning that Pence staffers were very angry, both in the lead-up to January 6th and that day,” she said. “And that, certainly, I think, is playing a role into how and why they’re engaging with the committee.”
Gangel went on to say that the Pence staffers “have texts, e-mails, other documents that could be of interest” that could be of interest to the committee’s work.
Journalist Carl Bernstein, who famously broke the Watergate scandal while working for the Washington Post, opined on Thursday morning that the latest revelation that Pence’s team is cooperating is clearly important because even if they’re not top principals, they might be “some aides to the aides.” Here’s what Bernstein told CNN’s Jon Berman via Raw Story:
Even in the Republican Party there are still people who believe in the Constitution, despite the fact that the party has been taken over by craven Republicans and made the party of Trumpism and authoritarianism, but there are people there, and it is the job of the press, the job of this committee, particularly the press, to find a witness or several witnesses, perhaps among Pence’s aides.
According to Bernstein, the press and Congress needs to “unravel this conspiracy” before Republicans gain control in the midterms and “try to shut down this investigation.”
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