Category: News

This article originally appeared on 10.23.17

A stunning photo of an African-American woman confronting police at a Black Lives Matter rally blazed across social media this weekend, with some calling it a touchstone image that will stand as a powerful symbol for many years to come.

The photo, captured by Jonathan Bachman of Reuters, comes from a Black Lives Matter rally outside Baton Rouge police HQ this weekend. Police in full riot armor are shown descending on a poised, well-dressed woman, apparently about to be cuffed.

Her name is Leshia Evans, according to the Daily Mail, a 28-year-old nurse from New York who had not been to a protest rally before this one. The AP says Evans was arrested for blocking a public roadway shortly after the image was taken.

DeRay McKesson, one of the most prominent voices of the Black Lives Matter movement, was also arrested at Saturday’s rally. McKesson was released after 16 hours in a cell; he told the New York Times that he felt Saturday’s mass arrests were unlawful, as the protesters were peacefully assembled on the side of the highway.

“What we saw in Baton Rouge was a police department that chose to provoke protesters to create, like, a context of conflict they could exploit,” said McKesson. Over 100 other protesters were also arrested Saturday.

The protests were a direct response to the killing of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge last week, after two officers shot him repeatedly outside a Baton Rouge convenience store. Shortly after Sterling’s death, a school cafeteria worker was shot and killed by police in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. And at a protest rally in Dallas following Falcon Heights, five police officers were killed by snipers.

Last week’s violence is already proving to be an intensely raw and revealing piece of American history. Bachman’s photo will surely be one of the images that lasts.

Jonathan Bachman’s #BatonRouge protest photo will become as iconic as “woman in red” during 2013 protests in Turkey. https://t.co/igMnWOdL4g

— Matt Sandiford (@catsbegrey)
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When you see this image you think thank God America won the Cold War and defeated tyranny
(JONATHAN BACHMAN/REUTERS) https://t.co/ryVd3lGqIw

— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks)
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For anyone who has even a modicum of respect for the earth and the environment, the idea of dumping trash on the side of a highway is unconscionable. Who does such a thing? There’s no excuse for littering like that, right?

That’s what I would have thought before reading this Twitter thread by Glen Cantrell, but now…I don’t know. While it pains me to think of polluting an area with trash, this might be the one exception where I’d be like, “Oh heck yeah. I can totally see why someone would do that.”

Cantrell starts by explaining that his mother was not an activist, then goes on to describe a deliberately illegal act of defiance and subterfuge she invited him to join without his knowledge.

“My mother didn’t have an activist bone in her body,” Cantrel wrote. “Not one. But once, when I was visiting from school, she woke me up and told me to help her load up the truck with barn trash.”

She didn’t tell him where they were going.

“My family is from the Ozarks, mom lived in a little farm town outside Springfield. We hit 65 and drove south from there. Through Branson, past Table Rock, not slowing down until we hit the Arkansas border,” he wrote.

“Mom pulls off right past the state line, in front of one of those Adopt-a-Highway signs,” he continued. “‘Look,’ she points toward the sign. Her face is set. I’m a little scared. It’s THAT face. All moms have it. You know the one. I read the sign. ‘The next mile has been adopted by…'”

“… The Grand Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (there was also some dumb ass sounding chapter name)”. I get it now. Remem… https://t.co/ixVqJIawhx

— Glen Cantrell (@SnarkyLibruhl)
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“‘… The Grand Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (there was also some dumb ass sounding chapter name).’ I get it now. Remember, the ‘not an activist bone in her body’ bit from the first tweet in this thread? There’s a ‘but.’ And, it was the KKK.”

Ah. There it is.

Cantrell explained that his mother’s feelings about the KKK went beyond hatred. “It was more than that,” he wrote, “scarier, even.”

“Let’s do this”, she said, adding, “watch out for cops and white sheets.”The entire truck load of garbage went in t… https://t.co/kI3UshNgMz

— Glen Cantrell (@SnarkyLibruhl)
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They emptied an entire truck load of garbage under the KKK’s adopt-a-highway sign, then his mother ripped every bag open and kicked the trash around to mix it “with all the others who’d done the same.”

Cantrell and his mom drove home in silence, feeling “lighter somehow.” They never really talked about it again.

Mom wasn’t political or outspoken. But, that day, she inspired me. Maybe I’m thinking about this today because “Don… https://t.co/8oeQQkzjUJ

— Glen Cantrell (@SnarkyLibruhl)
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“Mom wasn’t political or outspoken,” Cantrell wrote. “But, that day, she inspired me.”

Cantrell shared that the 8th anniversary of his mom’s death was coming up, which may have prompted this memory (along with the response to Texas’s recent legislation). What a fitting tribute it is to share her secret little slice of “good trouble” with the world.

Drake and Kanye West have a history of longstanding beef that was at one point squashed, but has seemingly intensified around their respective albums. Kanye West dropped his buzz-worthy album Donda just a week before Drake’s equally-anticipated LP Certified Lover Boy. While Donda dominated streaming services upon its release, it looks as though Drake’s album reportedly out-performed Kanye’s.

It’s no secret that both Donda and Certified Lover Boy saw massive debut weeks. According to Kanye’s team, Donda had over 180 million streams in 24 hours, breaking both Spotify and Apple Music’s single-day streaming record for 2021. But a week later, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy took the top streaming slot in just a few days, per a report from Rolling Stone. According to Alpha Data, the analytics provider Rolling Stone uses to calculate their charts, Certified Lover Boy saw 430 million in the three days following its release. By comparison, Donda received under 423 million streams in its first eight days.

Even though Certified Lover Boy saw more streams than Donda, Kanye’s album was still a success by all accounts. The LP debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, selling 309,000 units in its first week and leaving Kanye tied with Eminem for the most-consecutive No. 1 albums.

Eddie Vedder has announced a new solo album, Earthling (via Seattle Surf/Republic, release date TBD), plus a lead single titled “Long Way,” which comes produced by Andrew Watt. Over a strong driving rhythm, “Long Way” is a tight, expansive track, featuring sharp guitar solos and the Pearl Jam singer sounding rather like Bruce Springsteen. In addition, Vedder has announced a pre-order of a limited-edition 7-inch vinyl with “Long Way” and a soon-to-be-released song, “The Haves.”

Speaking of The Boss, Bruce shared some words of wisdom with Vedder last year in regards to playing solo shows. “He gave this one gem of advice that just changed everything – because I was saying I was making mistakes in those first few mini-gigs,” Vedder recalled on a podcast called Daddy Issues. “He said, ‘There’s real power when there’s just one person up there. It’s terrifying, for the audience even. It’s a tight-wire act. There’s just something, an intimacy in it, and there’s a power in it.’”

Moving forward, Vedder will be performing at a handful of festival dates with Pearl Jam, including Sea.Hear.Now. Festival on September 18, Ohana Festival on October 26, and again during Ohana Festival’s Encore Weekend on October 1 and 2. Also, Vedder will also be performing a solo set at Ohana Festival on September 25.

Listen to “Long Way” above, and pre-order the limited-edition 7-inch here via Pearl Jam’s Ten Club.

One of the largest Confederate monuments in America just became the most chopped up monument, and people are loving it. Thanks to an order from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, the Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond was finally removed on Wednesday morning. As a crowd gathered to watch, the statue was lifted off of its pedestal, prompting cheers and applause.

However, while the crowd erupted into jubilant celebration, the team tasked with removing the statue now found themselves faced with a problem: How the heck to get red of this thing. While getting the statue down wasn’t an issue, Lee essentially had to be sawed off his horse at the waist, which solved the problem of how to haul it away, but that was just one part of the logistical nightmare. Via the Associated Press:

The job was overseen by Team Henry Enterprises, led by Devon Henry, a Black executive who faced death threats after his company’s role in removing Richmond’s other Confederate statuary was made public last year. He said the Lee statue posed their most complex challenge.

“It won’t transport in this height, so we need to lift the rider off the horse and transport it that way. From a thickness standpoint, we don’t know how long it will take. Are there iron supports? It’s a total mystery,” Henry said Wednesday.

While the demolition crew gets to work transforming the Confederate general into a pile of rubble, people on Twitter joined in the celebratory mood as the statue’s removal started to trend as videos from the event bounced across social media. You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Associated Press)

In sports events nobody asked for: Someone, somewhere, somehow decided that hiring Donald Trump and his shouty son Don Jr. to provide color commentary during this weekend’s Evander Holyfield-Vitor Belfort geriatic boxing match is a thing that some people might want to see and hear. It’s not exactly the classiest of post-Oval Office gigs for the former POTUS, but we wouldn’t expect any less.

According to The Wrap, the Trump-Trump take on the fight is being billed as an “alternate telecast”:

The Trumps’ fight commentary will be one of two options for people shelling out $49.95 to watch 58-year-old Holyfield and 44-year-old Vitor Belfort beat each other up. Longtime HBO fight commentator Jim Lampley will call the official telecast alongside former welterweight world champion Shawn Porter. Either way, the event will stream on FITE.TV.

“I love great fighters and great fights,” Trump said in a press release. “I look forward to seeing both this Saturday night and sharing my thoughts ringside. You won’t want to miss this special event.”

In addition to discussing what’s happening in the ring, there’s no doubt that Trump-squared will be taking a few swipes of their own—at the fake news, Joe Biden, the COVID pandemic, and pretty much any other topic that Trump Sr. has been banned from talking about on just about every major social media platform.

While offering punch-by-punch commentary during a boxing match might seem like an unusual way for a former president to spend the 20th anniversary of 9/11, it certainly beats the time when, shortly after the terrorist attacks, he bragged that with the World Trade Center towers out of the way, his building was now the tallest in downtown Manhattan.

(Via The Wrap)

Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker performance (for portraying the deeply disturbed Arthur Fleck) won him an Oscar, but that obviously wasn’t his first tango with the Academy Awards. He scored nominations for Walk The Line, The Master, and Gladiator, and it’s fairly evident from the looks of the above trailer that, at minimum, he’ll receive another nomination in short order. In A24’s C’Mon C’Mon, however, he tackles a very different type of story as a normal dude. No really, though, he plays an uncle who forges a relationship with his nephew that changes both their lives.

The synopsis calls this film a “delicate and deeply moving story about the connections between adults and children,” as well as an examination of the ties between generations. Joaquin’s accompanied by Woody Norman, who’s no newcomer to Hollywood (although this is his first feature film) despite his young age, in what looks to be an affecting story, and given that this is A24, one can expect plenty more than what’s simply appearing on the surface in this film, as directed by Academy Award nominated screenwriter Mike Mills (20th Century Women) that also stars Gaby Hoffman.

The trailer gives us a glimpse of the black-and-white visuals of the cinematography from Robbie Ryan and editing from Jennifer Vecchiarello, all of which add up to a “moving meditation” from A24, which doesn’t miss, although where they’re aiming tends to keep everyone on their toes.

C’Mon C’Mon comes to theaters in November.

Jack Antonoff has become a major part of the Lorde universe, as he played a big role in bringing her two latest albums, Melodrama and Solar Power, to life. This is a partnership that Lorde sees continuing for the foreseeable future.

Lorde discussed her work with Antonoff in a new Vogue cover story, explaining that both she and Antonoff realize their partnership will be long-lasting: “Jack listens really well. He’s in therapy. He’s good to talk to about the kinds of things that people writing deep sh*t into a song want to talk about. I think there’s an understanding with us that we’re going to do this for a really long time, and it’s going to be one of the great relationships of both of our lives.”

The piece also notes that Lorde and Antonoff first met “in early 2014 when he brought her a can of pineapple juice at a Grammy party.”

Meanwhile, the story also includes a laudatory quote from fellow Antonoff collaborator Clairo, who says of Lorde, “We’re probably less than two years apart, but she’s my mom. Even from a distance, you feel her presence, like she’s watching over you. I think she’s had this effect on so many young people. I think she’s made a lot of people feel understood and comfortable in whatever state they’re in.”

Check out the full feature here.

In all of the furor over many of the Verzuz battles over the past year and a half, one potential matchup has been posed more than almost any other for obvious reasons: Jay-Z vs. Nas. However, it’s also the one that seems unlikeliest — both for, again, the obvious reasons (they are both incredibly busy with other things) and for some not-so-obvious ones. Longtime Jay-Z affiliate Memphis Bleek gave his own reason, however, and it’s got Twitter in a tizzy debating whether or not he might be right.

In an interview with Bally Sports Network’s Brandon “Scoop” Robinson, Bleek explained why he thinks a Jay-Z and Nas Verzuz is out of the question: Because, in his opinion, Nas doesn’t have enough hits for a hits battle. “It’s no comparison,” he started. “It’s just that Nas don’t have enough songs to compete. No disrespect to him, he just don’t. Jay can battle someone with just his B Sides Concert catalog and it’d still be better than people’s A sides.” While it’s understandable that Bleek would hold such reverence for his former mentor, some on Twitter were quick to try to rebut his claims, offering examples of Nas’ worthiness to compete with Jay. Some even went as far as impugning Bleek’s catalog.

Some, however, agreed with him, pointing out Nas’ suspect beat choices over the past 20 years, while others gave more measured responses allowing Nas to “compete” but not to “win” in a hypothetical Verzuz. For what it’s worth, in those battles where it truly seemed a win or a loss was at stake, many of the obvious picks wound up flustered by poor sequencing choices and their opponents’ willingness to outperform them — see: The LOX vs. Diplomats, just a few weeks ago. However, as mentioned, it’s probably not a likely matchup just because Jay and Nas seem to have no interest. Check out more replies below though, and feel free to weigh in on Twitter.

In all of the furor over many of the Verzuz battles over the past year and a half, one potential matchup has been posed more than almost any other for obvious reasons: Jay-Z vs. Nas. However, it’s also the one that seems unlikeliest — both for, again, the obvious reasons (they are both incredibly busy with other things) and for some not-so-obvious ones. Longtime Jay-Z affiliate Memphis Bleek gave his own reason, however, and it’s got Twitter in a tizzy debating whether or not he might be right.

In an interview with Bally Sports Network’s Brandon “Scoop” Robinson, Bleek explained why he thinks a Jay-Z and Nas Verzuz is out of the question: Because, in his opinion, Nas doesn’t have enough hits for a hits battle. “It’s no comparison,” he started. “It’s just that Nas don’t have enough songs to compete. No disrespect to him, he just don’t. Jay can battle someone with just his B Sides Concert catalog and it’d still be better than people’s A sides.” While it’s understandable that Bleek would hold such reverence for his former mentor, some on Twitter were quick to try to rebut his claims, offering examples of Nas’ worthiness to compete with Jay. Some even went as far as impugning Bleek’s catalog.

Some, however, agreed with him, pointing out Nas’ suspect beat choices over the past 20 years, while others gave more measured responses allowing Nas to “compete” but not to “win” in a hypothetical Verzuz. For what it’s worth, in those battles where it truly seemed a win or a loss was at stake, many of the obvious picks wound up flustered by poor sequencing choices and their opponents’ willingness to outperform them — see: The LOX vs. Diplomats, just a few weeks ago. However, as mentioned, it’s probably not a likely matchup just because Jay and Nas seem to have no interest. Check out more replies below though, and feel free to weigh in on Twitter.