Month: August 2023

Donald Trump has spent most of his life evading comeuppance. The worst things that have ever happened to him are him losing re-election — and failing in his attempt to overturn democracy. His reward is that he’s back on top with GOP voters, who seem to love him even more with each and every indictment he Hoovers up. They must adore him more than ever after Tuesday’s news that he received his third indictment in only a handful of months. Thing is, this time it might actually go terribly for him.

As per The Daily Beast, the judge assigned his latest case, which involves his actions around Jan. 6, is none other than Tanya Chutkan. Who? She’s no household name. What she is is an Obama-appointee with a strong record in the D.C. public defender’s office who was voted in unanimously in 2014. She’s also a fast worker.

But there’s more. As of last month Judge Chutkan has overseen 31 convicted Jan. 6 rioters. In nine cases she went above the recommended sentencing. She matched the recommendations 14 times. With misdemeanors in which the prosecution was not seeking jail time, she sentenced jail time anyway, between 14 and 45 days.

For some context, judges have gone with the recommended sentencing 80 percent of the time.

Judge Chutkan is not above offering stern lectures to Jan. 6 rioters. When handing sobbing defendant Robert Palmer what was then the harshest sentence yet in December of 2021, here’s what she told him:

“It has to be made clear that trying to violently overthrow the government, trying to stop the peaceful transition of power and assaulting law enforcement officers in that effort is going to be met with absolutely certain punishment. Not staying at home. Not watching Netflix. Not doing what you were doing before you got arrested.”

Oh, and she has a history with Trump.

In November of 2021, Trump twice tried to block the National Archives from turning over records to the Jan. 6 committee, once while invoking executive privilege. Judge Chutkan wasn’t having either attempt. In denying his second claim, she wrote, “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.”

Then again, he might not need Judge Chutkan to keep him from becoming president all over again.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Spirit Of The Beehive are one of the most cinematic, riveting indie rock bands around, esteemed for, among other things, their most recent album, 2021’s Entertainment, Death. They lean toward the reverb-drenched shoegaze vibe of Ovlov or Hotline TNT, but have a disorienting, chaotic edge. The band just announced a new EP arriving soon called I’m So Lucky, as well as some tour dates. The singles “Tapeworm” and “Natural Devotion 2″ are out now.

The EP follows the end of the relationship between the members Zack Schwartz Rivka Ravede. They were together for over 10 years. “For the first three or four months after it ended, it was pretty rough,” Schwartz said in a statement. “I don’t know if anybody was sure we would continue doing the band. But then we sorted it out slowly and we just all wanted to get back to work.”

Listen to “Tapeworm” and “Natural Devotion 2″ above.

Find the tour dates below.

09/05 — Cleveland, OH @ Mahall’s
09/06 — Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
09/08 — Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
09/09 — Arden, DE @ Arden Gild Hall
09/10 — Baltimore, MD @ Current Space
09/12 — Kingston, NY @ Tubbys
09/14 — Brattleboro, VT @ The Stone Church
09/15 — Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right

I’m So Lucky is out 9/1 on Saddle Creek. Find more information here.

Back in April, Jamie Foxx suffered a mysterious medical emergency. He and his family still haven’t made public what happened to him, but it was serious stuff. The Oscar-winning actor and musician only started opening up about it recently, saying he went to “hell and back.” Whatever occurred, it sounds like he got more than a little help from his sister.

On Tuesday, Foxx took to Instagram to wish his sibling Deidra Dixon big wishes on her birthday. He called her “magical” and “beautiful” and a “courageous lioness.” He also thanked her for playing a big part in saving his life.

“And without you I would not be here… had you not made the decisions that you made I would’ve lost my life,” he wrote. “I love you forever and ever happy birthday sis.”

In his first big video about his experiences, which he released in late July, Foxx credited his family with helping with his recovery — including ensuring he got the privacy he needed to get better.

“And y’all know they kept it air tight. They didn’t let nothing out. They protected me,” he said at the time. “And that’s what I hope that everyone can have in moments like these.”

It’s not just Foxx’s family who’ve come to bat for him. Ice-T smacked down conspiracy theories that Foxx has been “replaced” by a clone or an AI or some dumb nonsense. “People would rather believe that Jamie is now a Clone or Ai, than the man was just seriously sick and damn near died… Cause he doesn’t look EXACTLY the same???” the rapper and actor wrote. “YOU look different after a bad cold! Smh weirdos..”

Besides, he’s already healthy enough again to help rescue some stranger’s purse.

(Via The Daily Beast)

Earlier this year, Jawbreaker opened up for AFI to help them celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their album Sing It Sorrow. Jawbreaker are ready to play headlining performances after announcing a headlining tour this fall with Joyce Manor and Grumpster as openers.

The band is kicking off their run at the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, WA and ending in Orlando, FL. It will go through most of September, stopping in several cities in Texas, as well as Boston, Cincinnati, Denver, and more.

Last year, Jawbreaker went on a tour for the 25th anniversary of their classic record Dear You, where they were joined by a variety of openers, including Jawbox, Team Dresch, Best Coast, The Linda Lindas, Descendents, Face To Face, Built To Spill, Smoking Popes, and Worriers. Comedians Kyle Kinane, Irene Tu, and Chris Gethard also made appearances.

Find the tour dates below.

09/03 — Seattle, WA @ Bumbershoot Festival
09/09 — Denver, CO @ 1234Fest @ The JunkYard
09/12 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
09/14 – San Antonio, TX @ The Aztec Theater
09/15 – Dallas, TX @ The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
09/16 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s
09/19 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
09/20 – Cincinnati, OH @ The Andrew J Brady Music Center
09/22 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
09/23 – Camden, NJ @ 1234Fest @ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
09/25 – Orlando, FL @ House of Blues

Earlier this year, Jawbreaker opened up for AFI to help them celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their album Sing It Sorrow. Jawbreaker are ready to play headlining performances after announcing a headlining tour this fall with Joyce Manor and Grumpster as openers.

The band is kicking off their run at the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, WA and ending in Orlando, FL. It will go through most of September, stopping in several cities in Texas, as well as Boston, Cincinnati, Denver, and more.

Last year, Jawbreaker went on a tour for the 25th anniversary of their classic record Dear You, where they were joined by a variety of openers, including Jawbox, Team Dresch, Best Coast, The Linda Lindas, Descendents, Face To Face, Built To Spill, Smoking Popes, and Worriers. Comedians Kyle Kinane, Irene Tu, and Chris Gethard also made appearances.

Find the tour dates below.

09/03 — Seattle, WA @ Bumbershoot Festival
09/09 — Denver, CO @ 1234Fest @ The JunkYard
09/12 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
09/14 – San Antonio, TX @ The Aztec Theater
09/15 – Dallas, TX @ The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
09/16 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s
09/19 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
09/20 – Cincinnati, OH @ The Andrew J Brady Music Center
09/22 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
09/23 – Camden, NJ @ 1234Fest @ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
09/25 – Orlando, FL @ House of Blues

Who doesn’t love Barbie? Well, the far right don’t, but that was inevitable. What is likely the summer’s biggest money-gobbler has become a worldwide cultural phenomenon — all the more incredible when you consider its director/co-writer Greta Gerwig’s follow-up to her acclaimed take on Little Women. But it’s running into some problems in one part of the world over reasons that might not even be accurate.

As per Variety, Vox Cinemas, which is Warner Bros.’ distributing partner in the Middle East, was set to release the films locally on July 19 — two days earlier than everyone else. It’s since been delayed till the end of August. Why? Because censors opposed to some alleged LBTQIA+ narration and dialogue.

You might be asking yourself: Where was there LGBTQIA+ narration or dialogue in Barbie? It has a strong queer sensibility, as well as some LGBTQIA+ cast members. But as star Margot Robbie pointed out, the doll characters don’t “actually have sexual orientations.” Barbie herself points out in the film that they don’t even have genitals.

For now, though, Warner Bros. has been hashing it out with censors over their requested edits. Variety reports that it’s unlikely Warners will comply, which means their monster hit won’t play in at least some Middle Eastern countries, including the region’s top market, Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Egypt.

The Middle East has a history of banning films with LGBTQIA+ content from release. That happened to last year’s Lightyear, which featured a brief scene of two adult women kissing. Earlier this summer Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was denied release because it featured a poster reading “Protect Trans Lives.”

In the meantime, Barbie is almost certainly going to cross the $1 billion mark.

(Via Variety)

The Bleached Festival is about to debut. Taking place on August 4 and 5 in San Diego, the music festival was curated by Tight Knit and Fngrs Crssd. Headliners include Joji and Leon Bridges, while other big names include Omar Apollo, Caroline Polachek, Surf Curse, and Remi Wolf.

Unfortunately, PinkPantheress had to drop off the lineup due to hearing concerns. “I have been advised by doctors and my team to take a break from performances in order to preserve my quality of hearing,” she wrote in a statement. “I am so devastated that I am not able to perform, but I am doing everything in my power to get better so I can continue to do what I love.”

The set times for the festival are out now. Many fans have expressed disappointment about Joji and Surf Curse playing at the same time. Choose wisely, concertgoers.

Find the schedule below.

Saturday

Upstage

12:00-12:30 — Benjamin Carter
1:00-1:30 — Subtle Orange
2:00-2:45 — Lily Meola
3:15-4:00 — Riovaz
4:30-5:15 — Aluna
5:45-6:30 — Jeremy Zucker
7:00-7:45 — Stephen Sanchez
8:15-9:00 — Remi Wolf
9:30-11:00 — Leon Bridges

Downstage

12:00-1:15 — Adam Salter
1:45-2:30 — Sam Austins
3:00-3:45 — Rainsford
5:30-6:30 — The Jungle Giants
7:00-8:00 — Inner Wave
8:30-9:30 — Dayglow
10:00-11:00 — Channel Tres

Sunday

Upstage

12:00-12:45 — Bel
1:15-2:00 — Blondshell
2:30-3:15 — Badbadnotgood
3:45-4:30 — Cannons
5:00-5:45 — Lizzy McAlpine
6:15-7:00 — Caroline Polachek
7:30-8:30 — Omar Apollo
9:10-10:00 — Joji

Downstage

12:00-12:20 — King Isis
12:50-1:30 — Binki
2:00-240 — Bülow
3:10-3:50 — Cat Burns
4:20-5:00 — Maude Latour
5:30-6:15 — Ethel Cain
6:45-7:30 — Lovejoy
8:00-8:45 — Yves Tumor
9:15-10:00 — Surf Curse

Donald Trump and his cronies and supporters weren’t exactly happy Tuesday. That’s when the big guy scored his third indictment in only a handful of months, this time over his actions involving what became the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Fox News hosts melted down. The Trump team put out a statement comparing prosecutors to Nazis. And the sitting president? He just went to the movies.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, less than an hour after Trump’s latest indictment went live, the White House press office revealed that Joe Biden wasn’t going to do much to contribute to the issue’s discourse. Instead, he was going to hide out from the world and all the rightwing freak-outs for a good three hours. That’s to say he was off to see Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

It’s not clear if he was renting out a movie theater or simply having a copy sent to the White House screening room, where several past presidents have sat watching cinema. (Did you know each president’s screening logs are made public? Nixon’s watchlist is a predictably fascinating portal into his strange mind.) Alas, he probably didn’t see it the way Nolan intended, on glorious 70mm IMAX film, as no theater in D.C. can handle that. Maybe he flew to New York City and saw it at the one city showing it that way in town.

It’s also unlikely he’ll be doing “Barbenheimer,” as it’s a bit late for anyone to be spend five hours watching movies. After all, he needs that time to figure out how to save student debt relief.

So rant and rave all you want, fans of a guy who’s probably going to try and throw a bunch of loyal cronies under the bus to save his hide. Biden’s busy watching a film about the inventor of a technology Trump should never have access to using again.

(Via THR)

Donald Trump and his cronies and supporters weren’t exactly happy Tuesday. That’s when the big guy scored his third indictment in only a handful of months, this time over his actions involving what became the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Fox News hosts melted down. The Trump team put out a statement comparing prosecutors to Nazis. And the sitting president? He just went to the movies.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, less than an hour after Trump’s latest indictment went live, the White House press office revealed that Joe Biden wasn’t going to do much to contribute to the issue’s discourse. Instead, he was going to hide out from the world and all the rightwing freak-outs for a good three hours. That’s to say he was off to see Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

It’s not clear if he was renting out a movie theater or simply having a copy sent to the White House screening room, where several past presidents have sat watching cinema. (Did you know each president’s screening logs are made public? Nixon’s watchlist is a predictably fascinating portal into his strange mind.) Alas, he probably didn’t see it the way Nolan intended, on glorious 70mm IMAX film, as no theater in D.C. can handle that. Maybe he flew to New York City and saw it at the one city showing it that way in town.

It’s also unlikely he’ll be doing “Barbenheimer,” as it’s a bit late for anyone to be spend five hours watching movies. After all, he needs that time to figure out how to save student debt relief.

So rant and rave all you want, fans of a guy who’s probably going to try and throw a bunch of loyal cronies under the bus to save his hide. Biden’s busy watching a film about the inventor of a technology Trump should never have access to using again.

(Via THR)

In February, Karol G shared her new album Mañana Será Bonito, which had hits like “TQG” with Shakira and “Provenza.” It became the first all-Spanish-language record by a woman to land atop the charts. Now, she’s back with a surprise LP called Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season).

“.. This Tour wouldn’t be the same without the end of this story,” she wrote on social media, the translation provided by Instagram. It comes with a very pink teaser clip.

This announcement follows the release of “S91.” In the video, she teased Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season), saying it was coming soon.

In our interview with the pop star about Mañana Será Bonito, she discussed the meaning of the title. “It’s a very personal album,” she said. “It was made at a moment in my life where there were incredible things happening, but I was experiencing internal turmoil and destruction that was very strong and very strange for me. I had a very dark moment in my life where the only thing I could do was turn to my family and my friends. I understood after that life wanted to show me that what I should value the most is having my family and my friends by my side.”

Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season) is out 8/11 on Universal Music Latino. Find more information here.