While musicians are coping with a change of pace as venues around the country have been shuttered, Nashville rockers Bully are looking to other artists’ music for solace. The group’s lead vocalist, Alicia Bognanno, teamed up with Sub Pop to pull from the iconic label’s lengthy catalog and create a physical 7-inch and cassette release of covers.

For the first cover, Bognanno chose to rework Nirvana’s 1989 classic “About A Girl,” which originally appeared on the band’s debut album Bleach. The singer keeps the song’s charged instrumentals and grumbling vocal delivery while adding her recognizable cadence. Bognanno’s second cover moves away from ’90s-era grunge into contemporary music. Bully selected a single from the infamously masked cowboy’s debut album, Pony. The singer infuses her style into a rendition of Orville Peck’s “Turn To Hate.”

In a statement, Bognanno explained her reasoning behind releasing the covers: “Normally during this time I’d be running around trying to promote the upcoming record and rehearsing to get ready to tour again but given the circumstances, I’m trying to work with what I can do at home alone. I picked a couple Sub Pop songs to cover to release something in the meantime. I played everything on these songs (for better or worse haha) and tracked them in my living room. Gotta do what ya gotta to spice it up sometimes.”

Listen to Bognanno cover “About A Girl” and “Turn To Hate” above.

About A Girl/Turn To Hate is out now via Sub Pop. Get it here.

Following the success of the Parks and Recreation reunion special, which raised funds for Feeding America, the cast of Community announced that it, too, would reunite for a virtual table read benefiting charities that are battling hunger during the ongoing health crisis.

The plan was for the cast to read the season five episode “Cooperative Polygraphy,” which featured Walton Goggins executing the will of Chevy Chase’s recently deceased character Pierce Hawthorne. There was just one small problem: Goggins was booked. Fortunately, the cast was able to find a substitute with The Mandalorian and Games of Throne star Pedro Pascal, who shared a screenshot from the reunion on his Instagram with the following caption:

Subbing for the irreplaceable @waltongogginsbonafide for a #Community table read benefiting @wckitchen & @frontlinefoods airing on Sony’s YouTube channel May 18th, 2pm. Fantasy fulfillment during a pandemic. Slap me, I deserve it.

You can see Pascal’s Instagram post below:

Of course, Pascal couldn’t officially join the cast without being roasted by Community co-creator Dan Harmon, who took a few potshots at Pascal’s biggest roles in an Instagram post announcing Goggins couldn’t make the table read:

Today we Zoom a special reunion table read of the Community episode in which Pierce bestows frozen sperm from his grave. The incredible Walton Goggins can’t make it so Pedro Pascal will play Pierce’s lawyer. He’s on some Disney show where Boba Fett’s in college with Yoda’s niece. In keeping with that theme, the part of Troy will be played by Lando. Yes, for real, the whole gang is back together. We got Horse Girl, we got Card Shark, we got ‘em all.

Harmon also joked about not streaming the virtual table read live because of Yvette Nicole Brown’s penchant for going on Area 51 rants. You can read his full announcement below:

The Community table read will premiere May 18 at 5 pm EST on Sony Pictures TV’s Community YouTube page.

(Via Pedro Pascal on Instagram)

Is The New Mutants the most cursed movie of all-time? The X-Men spin-off was announced five years ago today — it was originally scheduled to come out on April 13, 2018, but the release date was pushed back to February 22, 2019, then August 2, 2019, and finally April 3, 2020. Then that whole global pandemic thing happened. And is still happening, but Disney (which now owns 20th Century Studios) is confident that theaters will re-open this summer, as The New Mutants has a new release date: August 28.

“We’re back,” a tweet from the New Mutants official Twitter account reads, although it might as well say, “We’re back, and we’re not going straight to Disney+ or Hulu.”

Earlier this year, or maybe it was seven years ago, who knows at this point, Maisie Williams, who plays Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane), offered an explanation for the numerous delays. “It was a lot to do with the merger, I think it [the film] had a really bad rep and people thought there was going to be something wrong with it,” the Game of Thrones star said. “But I honestly think it was just really badly affected by something that was out of our control.” Gotta appreciate that positive-spin hustle.

Directed by Josh Boone, The New Mutants also stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga, Blu Hunt, and Henry Zaga.

Though The Last Dance often comes down on the side of Michael Jordan in the various controversies of his career, the way the national media reacted to Jordan’s baseball career clearly crossed a line. In the film, Jordan explains how part of his reasoning for retiring in 1993 was the emotional exhaustion of being one of the most famous athletes on the planet for a decade. None of that slowed down when Jordan joined up with the White Sox AA affiliate that year, though, and it even prompted a seething article from Sports Illustrated entitled “Bag It, Michael.”

The story criticizes Jordan for attempting to play baseball, with the sub-headline “Jordan and the White Sox are embarrassing baseball.” The reporter who wrote the story all those years ago regrets doing so.

In a recent episode of the ESPN Daily podcast, writer Steve Wulf told host Mina Kimes, “I think he was rightly insulted. He wasn’t out to embarrass baseball. He was out to pursue a dream that we thought at the time was delusional, but we should not have come down on him that hard.”

In The Last Dance, Jordan reiterates that he was never interviewed for the story, though Wulf still says he got the sense from reporting on the White Sox that there was resentment about Jordan trying baseball. Of course, it’s wild to write a whole story criticizing a player as famous and accessible as Jordan without interviewing, well, Jordan.

While Wulf’s regret is notable, it only added fuel to the fire that pushed Jordan away from the game the first time and fed into the ridiculous way superstar athletes are often covered.

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Results, ya love to see ’em.

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I spy with my little eye…

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Snorting ants…Trying to dose the president…Hanging with Charles Manson…

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For some time, artists from The DMV area (DC-Maryland-Virginia) have had to contend with questions about their national status. Despite being a wellspring of talent from Wale to Phil Ade to GoldLink and more, DMV artists can’t seem to shake the sense that they keep being overlooked on the national stage. However, that may change soon — ironically, as a side effect of an area native’s attempt to highlight the region’s basketball talent.

This Friday, the Kevin Durant-produced documentary Basketball County: Something In The Water will air on Showtime, highlighting the DMV area’s history of rearing high-level performers in hoops — including Durant himself — but thanks to music supervisor IDK, who broke out last year with his album Is He Real?, The DMV’s musical talent is getting some shine too. Today, IDK shared the first single from the upcoming soundtrack, “495,” which is a PG County-praising posse cut featuring fellow regional stars Rico Nasty, YungManny, Big Flock, Big Jam, and Weensey. It’s co-produced by IDK with Juicy J and Acyde of No Vacancy Inn.

In a press release, IDK said of the track, “The purpose of this song was to basically create unity amongst the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. This is one of the first times I’ve seen the DMV on one song; it just felt really authentic when we put it together. We have elements of go-go by having Weensey from Backyard Band in there, we have Rico Nasty representing for the women, Big Jam and Big Flock. Big Jam from VA, and Big Flock from PG, Maryland. It’s just a great feeling to have all these people on one track. The goal for me and Kevin with this project is to bring unity while telling our story in an authentic way.”

Listen to the song above and catch Basketball County: Something In The Water this Friday, May 15 at 9pm ET/PT on Showtime.

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

Last month, John Legend ushered in a new era with the rhythmic and uplifting single “Bigger Love.” Legend follows the single’s release by compiling several fan-recorded clips and turning it into an inspiring visual. Along with sharing the video, Legend has announced that his full-length record is arriving soon.

Directed by Mishka Kornai, the visual is composed of clips submitted by fans from around the world. The resulting video takes viewers on an earnest journey through personal messages, video calls, and social media videos that prove we are all still connected with each other. Legend appears in the video alongside his with Chrissy Teigen and their two adorable children.

In a statement, Legend said his “Bigger Love” video aimed to showcase that holding onto hope and resilience is still possible during this time:

“This video was made to celebrate our shared love, hope and resilience. We’re all using technology to stay in touch and finding creative ways to cope and we wanted the video to be a big musical hug for people around the world who are finding ways to stay connected to family, help their neighbors, and make time for a needed dance break despite the crazy circumstances we find ourselves in.”

The visual arrives alongside Legend’s album announcement. Titled Bigger Love, Legend’s album is slated to arrive on June 19. While the eponymous single is the only solo song Legend has released thus far, the singer is sure to share more music ahead of the album’s full release.

Watch John Legend’s “Bigger Love” video above.

Bigger Love is out 6/19 via Columbia. Pre-order it here.