Elliot Stabler won’t be leaving your television anytime soon. That was already the case because Law and Order: Special Victims Unit can basically be found on cable if you sneeze while holding a remote, but now the beloved Law and Order character appears he’ll get a new NBC drama of his own.

Deadline reported Tuesday that Christopher Meloni will reprise his Stabler character and star in a new drama based in New York:

The new series, which could be branded as part of the Law & Order franchise, is executive produced by Wolf, Arthur W. Forney and Peter Jankowski for Wolf Entertainment and Universal TV, a division of NBCUniversal Content Studios. I hear former Chicago P.D showrunner Matt Olmstead is being eyed as writer-showrunner.

Like Law & Order: SVU, headlined by Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson, the new drama is set in New York, allowing for potential seamless crossovers with SVU, set at another NYPD unit, and for Benson-Stabler reunions.

Meloni had placed Stabler on SVU for 12 seasons, but he “retired” from the police force when he was written off the show in 2012. Hargitay’s Benson continued on to anchor the show in the years since, and it’s unclear if the two will reunite in some way in the new series.

[via Deadline]

This was a difficult month, but at least there was good music — including two projects that few people actually believed were coming any time soon. Lil Uzi Vert and Jay Electronica released long-awaited albums, and both had surprises in store. Jay Electronica’s A Written Testimony featured Jay-Z, while the deluxe version of Lil Uzi Vert’s Eternal Atake was Luv Vs The World 2, an entirely new album. Elsewhere there were standout projects from young, up and coming acts like Megan Thee Stallion, Chika, and Jack Harlow, as well as strong offerings from vets like Jadakiss, Larry June, and Ransom.

Lil Uzi Vert — Eternal Atake

On the same timeline as the long-anticipated Jay Electronica debut album, Lil Uzi Vert dropped a similarly desired Eternal Atake. Uzi rocks out over a soundscape of synth-driven 808 bangers on the 18-track album, needling through earworm melodies like “Baby Pluto” and “Silly Watch” with a nimble flow encapsulating gems like “Anthony Davis, don’t deal with the Pelicans” and “Pop’s” catchy “Givenchy” refrain.

Uzi’s style is relatively light on substance, as precocious boasts and misogyny overshadow the vulnerability of “I’m Sorry” and “Urgency“ (with Syd The Kid). But he’s heavy on technique, which he displays as the sole rapper on the entire project. He gets a bad rap as a posterchild for mumble rap. But the reality is that the Philly native is just as sound a technician as many of the rappers that purists tout. Eternal Atake shows that Uzi is just too preoccupied with melody and left-of-center production to court convention — and fans love him for it.

Lil Uzi Vert — LUV Vs. The World 2

So many of Lil Uzi Vert’s biggest fans know nothing else but a rapidly churning media cycle. It’s likely that after listening to Eternal Atake, some of them were already clamoring for new music. That’s a pretty unfair predicament for any artist, but Uzi isn’t just any artist. True to his otherworldly nature, he hit his fans with another batch of work in the form of the 18-track LUV Vs. The World 2, the deluxe version of his Eternal Atake album.

He took fans back to his breakout project with the title, yet continued Eternal Atake’s impressive fusion of lyricism and melody — this time bringing along guests. He and Nav float over “Leaders.” Young Thug appears twice, on “Got The Guap” and the jolting “Strawberry Peels” with Gunna. LUV Vs. The World 2 was perhaps the quickest follow-up to a long-anticipated album ever, and it was well worth the pleasingly short wait.

Jay Electronica — A Written Testimony

March has been a jolt to everyone’s system. On the lighter end of the shock spectrum was a Jay Electronica solo album. Yes, you read that right. The long-mythologized MC finally delivered his debut project — and he brought along Jay-Z to boot. “My debut album featurin’ Hov, man, this is highway robbery,” he rhymed on “Ezekiel’s Wheel,” a bare-yet-mesmerizing track that typifies the album’s predominant theme of spiritual ascension.

Both Jay’s take turns digging deep and eschewing the for spiritual supremacy. Jay Electronica also answers what took him so long on several tracks, including most incisively on “Ezekiel’s Wheel” where he rhymes, “Some ask me ‘Jay, man, why come for so many years you been exempt?’ / ‘Cause familiarity don’t breed gratitude, just contempt.” That nugget is just one of many strewn throughout the 10-track project that doesn’t care to meet expectations as much as explain why such constructs are so limiting.

Megan Thee Stallion — Suga

Megan Thee Stallion has been at the top of the news cycle for over a month as she fought Carl Crawford and his 1501 label for alleged unfair compensation. Lost in the debate about whether she’s in the right or wrong is the reality of why she’s in such a hot-button position: her immense talent. Megan is one of the rap game’s most captivating personas. The confident, sexually liberated bangers that dominated her Fever album were the fulcrum of 2019’s #HotGirlSummer.

She decided to embrace her a mellow alter-ego on Suga, a project where she tempered the high-octane bangers to show off the versatility of her skillset. There’s the breezy “B.I.T.C.H.,” where she rhymes “Why you wanna play with me? You know I’m undefeated / A real hot girl know how to keep a n**** heated,” and “Hit My Phone” with Kehlani, which both showcase her songwriting ability and a more measured delivery. She’s clarified project isn’t her debut album, but it’s another strong progression that stokes even more anticipation for her official introduction to stardom.

Jadakiss — Ignatius

With album titles like Kiss The Game Goodbye, Kiss Of Death, The Last Kiss, and Top 5 Dead Or Alive, Jada played on his name and mythos. But Ignatius is an entirely different kind of commemoration. The entire project is a tribute to his late friend and Ruff Ryders A&R Ignatius “Icepick Jay” Jackson, who died in 2017. Jadakiss’ focus on celebrating his friend helped ground the album. From reflective songs like “Closure” and “Pearly Gates,” to features with artists Icepick Jay liked such as Pusha T (the sinister “Huntin Season”) and 2 Chainz (“Angels Gettin Pedicured”), the album flows with a cohesion that is seldom seen on Jadakiss albums. Ignatius one of his stronger bodies of work, and another example of a veteran MC coming through with a late-career renaissance.

Chika — Industry Games

There have been countless gifted lyricists who became renowned for online freestyles but were unable to hone their focus on a song, much less an album. But Chika isn’t one of those rappers. Her pinpoint lyricism and well-rounded artistry permeate Industry Games, her debut EP. “I’m about to change the world, that’s my only mission,” she rhymes on the intro track, then spends the next six songs inching toward that goal a captivating couplet at a time. Chika is a sharp MC, but she can also jump into R&B mode, as project standout “Songs About You” exhibits. The bars are there. The vocals are there. It’s all there. These days, there’s not much to do but play Industry Games on repeat and wonder how a 23-year-old can be such a complete artist.

Larry June — Adjust To The Game

Larry June offered up another helping of smooth cruising music on Adjust To The Game, a 10-track project. The Bay Area MC worked with a bevy of producers such as Cardo and Sledgren on the project, but the songs converged into one lush soundscape that feels like enjoying a sunny day — during a time when we’d all love to do that. June is the laidback narrator he always is, confident enough to tell you, “if you see me out take a picture b*tch, it’s a rare occasion” on “Organic Secrets” but vulnerable enough to admit “dark days I was by myself, them was cold times / Still lowkey traumatized but I keep a smile” on “Organic Dip.” The second you’re able to step outside in good conscience hit the streets and play Adjust To The Game.

Jack Harlow — Sweet Action

Jack Harlow decided to split the difference of a Friday the 13th birthday by releasing Sweet Action, a seven-song EP. The project is a solid introduction to the 22-year-old Kentucky MC who many more rap fans will be getting acquainted within the near future. Sweet Action is buoyed by “What’s Poppin,” the catchy single which reached the No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. With blunt song titles like “I Wanna See Some Ass,” it should be no surprise that the bulk of the project is about Harlow’s conquests, but he manages to delve into his lothario nature without being outright crass.

Knxwledge, WT15​.​8_,

March was a busy month for Knxwledge. The prolific producer released his 1988 beat tape as well as HX​.​PRT14_ and WT15​.​8_. HX​.​PRT14_ is a display of his soulful production tied to R&B tracks, while the latter is another intriguing mashup of his creative chops with bars. He pulls even more emotion out of G-Herbo’s heartfelt “Funk Master Flex freestyle” on “realgun_,” then gives Jay-Z’s “Song Cry” a cavernous 80’s remix with “songkry.” He even gives new pathos to Quavo’s “Big Bro” lyrics on “bigbrotro_,” making the Migos rhymer’s cool boasts sound like urgent pleas. Knxwledge once again displays his production acumen, drawing different energy from a range of beloved songs.

Ransom — Director’s Cut EP

Nowadays, the recipe for gritty rappers like Ransom is as simple as ever: get with a dope producer and spit your ass off. The internet has evened the playing field, and there’s no need for spitters to waste bars on radio-appeasing singles or even rap choruses. One can just show off over a batch of glorious beats like Ransom did on Director’s Cut, a 4-track EP with -based producer Nicholas Craven. Ransom sticks to the script with Tarantino-like imagery such as, “fire biscuit, blood on the wall lookin’ like hieroglyphics” on “Pulp Fiction.” Craven provides Ransom with a soulful soundscape that reawakens old R&B records for murderous scribes.

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

Myles Turner is balancing on one socked foot, bent at the knee, his eyes, behind wire framed glasses, pinned unblinking at the phone recording him. He starts dribbling a basketball against the wood floor of his front hallway. The ball bounces from the floor to where his hand is waiting poised at his knee to hammer it down again. It’s loud. After about thirty seconds he stands and says this is when you’d switch the leg you were balancing on, and the arm doing the dribbling, he then tells everyone to stay safe and urges, “Please, don’t break anything in your parents house.”

It’s one of over 231 short videos NBA and WNBA players and coaches have contributed to Jr. NBA at Home, a free and interactive content series launched under NBA Together that streams across the Jr. NBA, NBA, and NBA cares accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. More than 25 members of the NBA community have so far provided basketball skill drills tailor-made by the pros to be done individually and within limited space.

Other drills include Larry Nance Jr. showing the correct form for lunges in his foyer, Duncan Robinson practicing shooting form while lying on his couch, Matisse Thybulle doing a side-to-side and between the legs move, his fine art of ball handling and two large format paintings on full display, Jewell Loyd with a home workout that would put most professional trainers to shame and Muggsy Bogues doing a ball bouncing drill in his basement rec room.

The videos are all focused on skill-building exercises, some deceptively simple until you start doing them, that can be repeated, perfected, and built around other drills. It’s a tangible tool kit for kids (or even adults) who are missing their friends and teams, as the absence of the social aspect of the game is felt as much as its physical outlet. Aside from all sharing an endearing DIY quality, the videos also offer a glimpse into the lives of the NBA community who are very visibly going through the same thing. Players who seem initially shy at filming themselves quickly settle into confidence in the first steps of a drill they are demonstrating, while others appear relieved for the outlet.

David Krichavsky, Head of Youth Development for the NBA, admitted the Jr. NBA at Home program is a “very organic” fit for the NBA and WNBA community, especially players, for a number of reasons.

“One, they are stuck inside and looking to stay fit, like so many of us. So they’re facing the same challenges that the kids we’re trying to reach are facing,” he said over the phone from his home in New York City. “It’s like, ‘Gosh, this is a lot of time indoors, I’m not able to do the things that I love. How do I continue to work on my basketball skills? How do I continue to stay fit?’ And so it’s a very natural thing for them.”

When the program was initially rolled out, it was with the intent to offer 30 days of original content to young people under the Jr. NBA umbrella. With the current shifting landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic globally, Krichavsky says another thing his team has been focused on is adapting as they go. Developing content in real time as much as developing content that can be used in the future, with an eye to the metrics of coronavirus spread as a guide.

“As the pandemic evolves, we’re going to continue with the program, continue to generate content. It’s very much a global view. The Jr. NBA program reaches 6 million boys and girls currently in 72 different countries around the world, and one of the things that the experts are seeing is that the pandemic may crest in certain areas as it’s falling in other areas,” Krichavsky says.

On a domestic level, that spread is occurring throughout the U.S., with certain regions hit harder and future peaks predicted while the rate of infection drops off in other areas. This will be the case globally, and Krichavsky is adamant about producing content in as many languages as possible to reach kids all over the world, “We’re developing as much content as we can in multiple languages, and so we’ll continue with this as long as we need to.”

Sourcing continued content won’t be difficult because as Krichavsky put it, “content’s pouring in” from players and the broader NBA community. “Word of mouth is spreading from player to player, from team to team, and so the response there has been tremendous.”

Partially that is because initiatives like Jr. NBA are so intrinsic to the league that players have always been involved in its efforts, if only under less anxious circumstances. But at a more intimate level, the league was one of the first to be publicly hit and thereby tied to COVID-19, with Rudy Gobert being the first player to test positive and games grinding to a halt as a result — with more than 10 positive tests around the league since. The awareness that caused and the way it made many, including those in politics, sit up and pay attention to the encroaching pandemic, was a needed public shift in perception of what was to come.

Because of that, the NBA community and its players were some of the first advocates in safety measures that have now become colloquial. Social distancing, practicing careful hygiene, self isolation, under the NBA Together banner these practices were pressed upon basketball fans by their favourite players, or in some cases more largely. When Steph Curry did an Instagram Live with Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Curry asked pertinent questions when it came to spread of COVID-19 and spoke incredibly candidly on the concerns that people had. It was a clear moment of leadership and another example of how, inadvertently or not, the NBA has stepped up in a time when others, including some of the the highest elected officials, are prone to outburst and weird, pedantic waffling.

“There’s definitely an ethos that’s part of the DNA of the NBA community to make sure that we’re part of the response during challenging times, and it is very much natural.” Krichavsky says of the leadership and response the league has shown so far in the pandemic, “A lot of these initiatives come from our players, they recognize the power of the platforms they have, whether it’s NBA players or WNBA players or our coaching community.”

Asked by Dime why initiatives like NBA Together are so important in this moment, Krichavsky acknowledge the nuance of this time and how connected we all still are and must remember to be.

“Certainly providing relief to those who are on the front lines as we’re trying to do through some of the charitable contributions is of critical importance right now,” Krichavsky said. “Trying to inspire acts of caring is of critical importance… But I think the name of the campaign, NBA Together, probably brings it all together in that it’s really creating a sense of connectedness at a time when we’re all struggling with the isolation that’s inherent to this situation.”

Writ so large it can be difficult to zero in on maintaining a healthy day-to-day, in mind and body, but that’s where we return to Myles Turner, balancing on one foot in his hallway and bouncing a basketball. As much as they are focused on kids, the exercises are challenging, and can provide a needed distraction and outlet for anyone, including me, who almost wiped out in my hall.

“Some of them are very hard,” Krichavsky laughs, maybe too kindly on my behalf. “I not only have tried them but have participated along with my daughters, who serve as guinea pigs for a lot of the drills. Some of the dribbling drills in particular I’ve struggled through myself.”

Aside from difficulty, Krichavsky recognizes another tiny drawback — the same thing that Turner bashfully blurted like a postscript in his Jr. NBA at Home video — “We’re hoping that there’s not a social media backlash from parents who have broken appliances at home, but we haven’t heard anything yet.”

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

Late-night shows largely went on hiatus a few weeks ago to protect their crews and audiences, but they’re finding a way to get the job done, regardless.

Conan — Team Coco is shooting through an iPhone with guest Sophie Turner, who’s promoting her new Quibi show, Survive.

The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Demi Lovato, Jonathan Van Ness

Jimmy Kimmel Live! – Samuel L. Jackson, Sean Paul featuring Tove Lo

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Guests TBA

Full Frontal With Samantha Bee — Back on Wednesday!

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Senator Elizabeth Warren

A Little Late With Lilly Singh — Natalya Neidhart, Alexa Bliss

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah — Noah’s reporting live from his couch, and naturally, the subject of the night will be the ongoing pandemic and social distancing.

Here’s the rest of the evening’s notable programming:

NCIS (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) — A hostage situation following a jewelry robbery challenges the team when the situation moves to a nearby diner.

Empire (FOX, 9:00 p.m.) — Cookie makes a shocking discovery while digging into finances, and that leads to conflict with Giselle. Meanwhile, wedding day fears are on tap for Teri over Andre’s temper. Girl, don’t do it.

FBI: Most Wanted (CBS, 10:00 p.m.) — A former counter-intelligence officer that leaked classified information is on the loose after he attacked his former partners.

For Life (ABC, 10:00 p.m.) — An inmate’s fighting for the right to marry his dying love while Anya’s marriage with Safiya might be in trouble.

The country with the world’s largest economy, which until a few weeks ago had been on an upward trajectory for the past 11 years straight, is struggling to figure out what to do with its population of people experiencing homelessness during a global pandemic.

In Las Vegas, home to one of the world’s top 10 hotel-rooms-per-capita cities, the “answer” this week was socially distanced lines in a concrete parking lot. Seriously.

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After a homeless shelter closed due to a man testing positive for coronavirus, people from the shelter were moved to the parking lot where officials laid out a grid of painted lines to keep people from sleeping too close to one another on the ground.

According to the AP, city spokesman Jace Radke that the parking lot “open-air shelter” on the city-owned property was an “emergency situation.”

“The marked squares are to help meet social distancing requirements,” Radke said. “We’ll continue to provide this temporary respite, while practicing necessary social distancing, for anyone who is suffering from homelessness.”

The city said they tried to offer carpeting, but it couldn’t be sanitized and they didn’t have enough mats for everyone.

Around 208 people slept in the parking lot Monday night, while thousands of hotel rooms across the city sat empty.

The treatment of people experiencing homelessness when we are not experiencing a global pandemic is already in need of serious adjustment. But to make people sleep in a parking lot when there are rooms and beds available that would keep them safely away from one another is just gross.

The city tweeted that there is a new shelter being constructed, which is expected to be finished on April 6.

Couldn’t the city or state incentivize hotels to allow people without homes to stay in empty rooms temporarily? Where are the billionaires offering to pay for hotel rooms if hotels aren’t willing to offer them up themselves? How can one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, one that loves to tout its own greatness, not rally its vast resources in every state to help protect some of its most vulnerable during a health crisis?

We know it’s possible. California’s governor has pledged thousands of hotel rooms to help keep people experiencing homelessness safe and healthy during the pandemic. It’s not like Las Vegas is packed with tourists like it usually is. Although hotels in resorts are allowed to stay open for emergency purposes, casinos have been shut down. There are undoubtedly far more empty hotel rooms than there are people needing shelter and social distance in Las Vegas right now.

Get it together, folks. We all know that the issue of homelessness is complicated and permanent solutions are complex, but right now, the immediate needs and the immediate solutions are pretty straightforward. We’re all making huge shifts in our ideas of “normal,” so let’s shift our thinking about people experiencing homelessness. What if we see them as people first? What if we see their need for shelter as a vital public health issue? What if we see the humanitarian solution that’s sitting right in front of us as the right one?

Let’s prove that we’re really all in this together.

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Melbourne-based indie rock outfit Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever became disillusioned after returning home from a lengthy global tour that promoted their debut record, Hope Downs. Rather than letting it get them down, the band turned to introspection and morphed the uneasy feeling into music. The result is their upcoming effort Sideways To New Italy. The band announced their sophomore record with the noisy single “She’s There” alongside a driving visual.

Directed by Nick McKinlay in the band’s hometown of Melbourne, the visual shakily follows guitarist Joe White on a run through a town. In a statement, the band described the feeling they were aiming to represent in the visual: “We tried to convey that feeling in a dream where you need to be somewhere, and you don’t really know why, but you are determined to overcome every obstacle to get there,” they said.

Guitarist Fran Keaney added in a statement that they want their new music to sound distinctly hopeful: “I wanted to write songs that I could use as some sort of bedrock of hopefulness to stand on, something to be proud of,” says Keaney. “A lot of the songs on the new record are reaching forward and trying to imagine an idyll of home and love.” Bassist Joe Russo continued, “We tried to make these little nods to our friends and loved ones, to stay loyal to our old selves.”

Listen to “She’s There” above. Below, find Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s Sideways To New Italy album art and tracklist.

1. “The Second Of The First”
2. “Falling Thunder”
3. “She’s There”
4. “Beautiful Steven”
5. “The Only One”
6. “Cars In Space”
7. “Cameo”
8. “Not Tonight”
9. “Sunglasses At The Wedding”
10. “The Cool Change”

Sideways To New Italy is out 5/6 via Sub Pop. Pre-order it here.

The poorest, most at-risk communities are always the ones that suffer the most in a crisis like this one. In the United States, that often means Indigenous people. The hundreds of Indian Nations across the U.S. are some of the most resource-deprived, food insecure, and medically isolated communities in the country. With government funding for these communities falling short in the best of times, it’s no shock that people on reservations are in desperate need right now.

Enter chef Brian Yazzie. Chef Yazzie — who’s from Navajo Nation but calls Minneapolis-St. Paul home — decided to spend his time during the lockdown feeding at-risk and quarantined Indigenous elders in his community. He teamed up with the Minneapolis American Indian Center, which is closed due to the virus but offered him a professional kitchen and stocked pantry. As the pandemic has progressed, Yazzie and a team of chefs, cooks, and drivers have been making hundreds of meals for their elders and delivering them, free of charge.

We caught up with Yazzie — one of our favorite chefs and a Travel Hot List contributor — to talk about what motivated him to take up his chef’s knife to feed Indigenous elders and how you can help keep the food flowing.

So I have been following you on Instagram and you’re doing a lot of cooking right now. You’re volunteering and feeding people in need. Can you walk us through how you started cooking at the American Indian Center?

I’ve been in self-isolation or self-quarantine about two weeks, and after two weeks of not having any type of symptoms, the first thing that came to mind as a chef was our elders, especially in the Native communities. I thought about the Twin Cities area, because I’ve seen a lot of well-known chefs here who are helping everyone in general. They’re setting up their restaurants or their food trucks and making meals so their food doesn’t go to waste.

I did notice while looking through all the media and the stuff they’re doing that there were no specific connections to the Native communities. So as being a servant to the community myself, I felt like I should use my platform and do something.

How did you get this ball rolling?

Instead of being home and not being able to do anything, I felt like I should jump into the community and helping where I can. So I made a couple of phone calls the Sunday before last. I connected with a chef friend of mine who’s the executive chef at Gatherings Café, which is inside the Minneapolis American Indian Center. His name is Ben Shendo. He’s Pueblo from New Mexico. I connected with him and I asked if their café was still open and if they’re doing anything to feed the community because I know right now sales are down for restaurants and cafés. Or non-existent. And we both believe that no food should go to waste. From there, he redirected me to Mary Lagarde, who is the Minneapolis American Indian Center’s director.

Lagarde informed me that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota provided her with a grant to help start up a project to start feeding the elderly in South Minneapolis. And she was just looking for someone to lead the Gatherings Café staff to start this project up as soon as possible and start feeding the community.

How long did it take to get your first meals out?

This call was last Sunday, and we had a meeting the following day. We had a meeting in person, so I ran through the logistics with them of what amount of grant they had, the volunteers and the staff we picked. And then the following day, on Tuesday, is when we jumped into action and started cooking. The first thing we did is utilize all the ingredients within the Gatherings Café’s inventory before anything went to waste.

And during that time last week, I started reaching out to people through social media, asking for donations or funds. The response was overwhelming. I have a chef friend named Patrick McDonald. He made a couple of calls and he was able to connect me with Idaho Potato Company and a lot of other companies who have food and are able to provide.

Also, a lot of individuals started donating funds. Today, we just received a delivery from Twin Cities Food Justice, a nonprofit organization that is focusing on not just food justice, but trying to ensure that no food goes to waste. They donated a good amount of produce and bread as well.

So walk me through your day. How are you meal planning? How are you executing? Is it tough keeping people safe?

For sure. The first thing we do when we come in is we make sure the core group of volunteers doesn’t have any symptoms at all. We have a temperature gauge and we check the people coming in and we have face masks and gloves that are being donated daily by local community members. We make sure to check everyone before we start cutting up the food.

The next thing we do is have a small meeting to bring everyone up to date. Then we look at the inventory that we have, because right now we don’t have a set menu. We have different ingredients coming in daily. So we can’t sit down and create a menu. We look at the ingredients that we have and we start creating the menu from there. Then we all spread out in the kitchen with each of us focusing on their station like making bread or making salads or on the flat top cooking up or chopping up meat.

How are you getting these meals to the people who need them?

We have two drop off locations in South Minneapolis. One is at a little apartment complex in South Minneapolis that’s specifically reserved for the Indigenous community. And the second is a public location where elders can go to pick up their food from 11:30 and 12:30. So around 10:30 is when we start packaging the food in to-go containers. We have two volunteer drivers who pull up to the side of the door. They’re not allowed to come into the building for safety reasons. So we walk the boxes in their trucks.

I don’t want to get into politics of why this is even necessary, but how long do you feel like this is going to be necessary and how worried are you that the money or the food might stop coming in?

Yeah, so the grant provided by Blue Cross Blue Shield Minnesota is supposed to cover us for four to five weeks. In reality, I’d say it’s enough to cover us for three to four weeks. But donations are coming in, so that will definitely extend our ability to cook and deliver food.

What is the best way to support you guys right now?

I wouldn’t recommend people sending canned food, frozen, or heavy bulk food, especially if they’re out of state. But if they do have dried ingredients as in corn, beans, squash, or dried spices or salt, that can be mailed in or delivered. Our drop off point right now is at the Minneapolis American Indian Center.

We’re also receiving funds that we can use once or twice a week to go to the local co-op or reach out to the local Native vendors and purchase from those individuals before we go out to chain markets like Target or Walmart. We’re still trying to keep in balance with the community and the Native food vendors.

You want to make sure that people are able to sustain themselves to make the food in the first place and then pass it on to people who need the food.

Definitely.

I kind of feel like, I don’t mean this glibly, but you’re sort of on the front line feeding people who are in need of meals. What are you seeing out there? Do you have a sense of calm that people are getting fed, or is it sort of giving you a sense of worry that things are getting worse?

I have a sense that this is still building up in a negative way. Our Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, in his daily briefing he expressed that — with statistics from the University of Minnesota Health Department — about 80 percent of Minnesotans will be affected by the coronavirus before it flattens the curve unless people self-quarantine and stay home. So I definitely believe this is just the beginning. It’s definitely overwhelming, but I believe it is just the beginning.

It’s tough out there. Do you think this is bringing awareness to the food insecurity in Indian Country? I mean, my rez out in Washington doesn’t even have a grocery store, only a gas station “food mart.” They have to drive 20 minutes on a good day to get to a grocery store.

I feel like there is an awareness that there is a need for what we’re doing. It’s definitely all positive from what I have been seeing up here in Minnesota.

Have you heard from your family back in Navajo? How are they holding up?

It’s something very different on my reservation right now. In the matter of, I believe, a week and a half since the first positive testing, there are 105 cases on my reservation now. And, you know, we’re the largest tribe in the U.S. So they’re doing what they can with the task force. They’re having people stay at home. But you have to realize then that home falls in third world poverty status where the nearest grocery store or gas station is about 45 minutes to an hour away for most folks. A lot of elders are living in the backcountry — where over half of them don’t even have running water or electricity. They need community members to help elders daily. And, you know, they’re putting their lives on the line to do that.

You can donate food by sending or dropping off at Minneapolis American Indian Center at 1530 E Franklin Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55404. You can also contact Chef Yazzie directly to donate food or money by emailing him at [email protected] or hitting his PayPal.

Like many artists, Foo Fighters were forced to postpone tour dates recently. They pushed back their 25th anniversary “van tour,” and at the time, not all of the new dates were locked in. Now, though, the tour is once again fully booked, and all eleven dates have been rescheduled. The shows were originally set to take place in April and May, but now they will be happening in October and December.

When initially announcing the postponement, Dave Grohl wrote, “Hi, this is Dave. Remember me? The guy who wouldn’t even postpone a show when my g*ddamn leg was falling off? Well… playing a gig with a sock full of broken bones is one thing, but playing a show when YOUR health and safety is in jeopardy is another… We f*ckin’ love you guys. So let’s do this right and rain check sh*t. The album is done, and it’s f*ckin’ killer. The lights and stage are in the trucks, ready to go. The SECOND we are given the go ahead, we’ll come tear sh*t up like we always do. Promise.”

Check out the rescheduled dates below.

10/01 — Hamilton, ON @ FirstOntario Centre
10/03 — Cleveland, OH @ Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
10/05 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
10/09 — Knoxville, TN @ Thompson-Boling Arena
10/07 — Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena
10/13 — Cincinnati, OH @ Heritage Bank Center
10/15 — Green Bay, WI @ Resch Center
10/17 — Wichita, KS @ INTRUST Bank Arena
12/01 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Chesapeake Energy Arena
12/03 — Albuquerque, NM @ Santa Ana Star Center
12/05 — Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Arena

In case you thought the outrageous story behind Netflix’s Tiger King couldn’t get any weirder, a new detail has emerged with a surprising celebrity connection. This time, though, it’s not Britney Spears.

According to Vulture, the seven alligators and one crocodile that died in a suspected arson fire featured in the Netflix series had belonged to Michael Jackson. A manager for Joe’s Oklahoma zoo reportedly acquired the reptiles when Neverland Ranch closed down, and Exotic took dubious care of them. It’s not a good sign when you’re describing an animal “boiling alive in a towering inferno” in a YouTube video.

As for the suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire that burnt down the crocodile enclosure with Jackson’s alligators inside, and more conveniently, the production studio for “Joe Exotic TV,” the docuseries seems to suggest that Exotic (real name: Joseph Maldonado-Passage) could have been behind the arson despite blaming animal activists. Via PopSugar:

Could Joe Exotic have set the fire himself? Or pay someone off to do it? According to his staff, he went to a funeral during the time of the fire. Returning to the wreckage, he offered a $10,000 reward for information about the arsonist. He blamed animal activists (and, of course, [Carole] Baskin). But was this all set up by Maldonado-Passage as a publicity stunt? It’s possible. This could’ve been a ploy to spite [“Joe Exotic TV” producer Rick] Kirkham or destroy incriminating evidence of animal abuse and other illicit activities on tape. Plus, the fire could’ve been a set-up for sympathetic people to give him money — after all, Baskin’s lawsuit drained him.

For the record, the case has yet to be solved by authorities, but you can watch the original The Oklahoman news report below where Joe Exotic is referred to as “Joe Schreibvogel” because, again, this story never stops getting weirder. As for how police knew the fire was an arson, deputies could still smell the gas when they arrived on the scene, so whoever did it was looking for the most bang for their buck.

(Via Vulture)