Thanks to washing out of the Republican primary where he was once viewed as the biggest threat to Donald Trump before people realized he’s a weird little robot boy that doesn’t know how to interact with humans, Ron DeSantis has returned to Florida where things aren’t going much better for him.
During a press conference on Thursday morning, DeSantis got brutally zinged by journalist Corey Hill, who cleverly leveraged the governor’s rumored use of boot lifts to challenge his attacks on the transgender community.
“Governor DeSantis, you have spoken out against the ‘woke’ agenda of gender fluidity and also come out against gender-affirming care,” Hill said via The Advocate. “So I was hoping you could square your opposition to [gender affirming care] and people choosing their own gender identity with your frequent wearing of lifts and you hoping to choose your own height identity.”
Adding insult to injury, the crowd audibly laughed at DeSantis, who proceeded to do his awkward head-bob maneuver and attempted to move things along by responding, “Nice try, next!”
You can watch DeSantis get punked in real-time below:
My friend @NewsCHill just asked DeSantis how he can square his opposition to gender affirming care and people identifying with the gender of their choosing with his choice to wear heels to identify with the height of his choosing and the whole room laughed at DeSantis pic.twitter.com/pqovbUDOw4
Interestingly, DeSantis actually did soften some of his culture war rhetoric at the Thursday morning press conference. Now that’s he back in Florida and forced to deal with the book-banning storm he kicked up on the campaign trail, the governor has realized that the situation has gotten out of control. DeSantis announced plans to limit the process because people are objecting to “every single book under the sun.”
“We just want to make sure we’re not trying to incentivize frivolous objections or any type of games being played,” DeSantis said while addressing a concern that was evident from the start, but only just now coming home for the governor.
The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.
ITEM NUMBER ONE – We have a brawl on our hands
There’s a remake of Road House coming out soon. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an absolutely shredded UFC-adjacent guy who takes a security gig at a rough bar in the Florida Keys that is owned by Jessica Williams, which is as good a place to start as any, remake-wise. Connor McGregor is in there. Lots of people punch each other in the head and/or torso. There’s an aquatic explosion or two in the trailer. It looks like a fun time. Watch for yourself.
Unfortunately, everyone involved in the making of this movie now hates each other very much. Maybe not the cast, but definitely the director and the studio executives at Amazon who are responsible for distributing it and plan to drop it as a streaming exclusive in March. That’s actually what the issue is, whether it gets a theatrical release or not. It’s been an issue for a while. A producer got fired over it. Gyllenhaal and the director, Doug Liman, who also made the Bourne movies, flew out and screened the movie for Jeff Bezos on his yacht to try to convince him, and yes, please stop here and picture Jake Gyllenhaal and Jeff Bezos sitting on a mega-yacht watching Road House together. Just a big fiasco everywhere.
And it appears it has reached a resolution, with a big insider-y report in Variety confirming that it will not get that theatrical release. From that report:
Just as the maelstrom was dying down, Liman went nuclear with an open letter on Jan. 24, writing that he would boycott the film and claiming that “Amazon has no interest in supporting cinemas.”
The missive appears to be the final shot on a project fraught with discord. Ultimately, it’s left some with a bad taste. “It’s so disrespectful to everyone who worked hard on it,” says one person involved. “It’s a great big fun streaming movie.”
Two things worth noting here:
The italics in the last sentence there are theirs, not mine
Given everything that has taken place here, it might be the meanest use of italics I have ever seen
Oh hey. That thing in the blockquote about Liman boycotting his own film over this? That’s a thing that’s happening, too. He wrote a whole open letter about it in Deadline. You can hear how angry he is just reading the words to yourself in your own head. Look at this.
“The facts: I signed up to make a theatrical motion picture for MGM. Amazon bought MGM. Amazon said make a great film and we will see what happens. I made a great film.
We made Road House a “smash hit” – Amazon’s words not mine, btw. Road House tested higher than my biggest box office hit, Mr. and Mrs Smith. It tested higher than Bourne Identity, which spawned four sequels. I’m told the press response has been Amazon’s best since they bought MGM.”
It gets better.
“Because contrary to their public statements, Amazon has no interest in supporting cinemas. Amazon will exclusively stream Road House on Amazon’s Prime. Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using Road House to sell plumbing fixtures.”
Three notes in conclusion:
God, that’s a good line at the end, and one that maybe explains the devastating italics the Amazon executive used this week in retaliation
This isn’t quite the mess Coyote Vs. Acme is because at least this one is getting released somewhere, but it is another shot in the war between studios and creatives that seems to be waging in 2024
All due respect to everyone involved but it is a little funny that a bunch of very wealthy people are going to the mattresses in the press like this over a movie where Conor McGregor headbutts people in the trailer
So that’s what’s up with Road House.
ITEM NUMBER TWO – Put Dakota Johnson on every press tour
SONY
The reviews for Madame Web came in earlier this week and… look. They’re not good. They’re actually very bad. I haven’t seen a collective critical pile-on like this since… I don’t know, Morbius? Go read a bunch of them this weekend. They are so mean. One review I saw compared the movie to the Chernobyl disaster, which, okay, the context was about horrible incidents involving radiation and how a radioactive spider bit the main character in this movie, but still. People died in Chernobyl! A lot of them! Think about how bad a movie has to be for someone to say that. It almost makes me want to see it more. This is probably a character flaw on my part.
There is a silver lining in it all, though, even with the disastrous reviews and projections: It gave us a full-on Dakota Johnson press tour. That’s not nothing. Dakota Johnson press tours are a chaotic little treasure and, yes, we can link to the Ellen thing again here, as we are obligated to do in these situations. But she’s still out here spinning gold. She was asked in one interview to name the movies in the MCU Spider-Man trilogy and the titles she guessed were “Spider-Man: Here He Comes, Spider-Man: And He’s Back, and The Goblet of Spider-Man.” That’s just beautiful.
It gets better. Please go read this interview she did with L’Officiel. I’m going to blockquote some highlights but I need you to read the whole thing. I mean, this is the very first question and answer.
MARISA MELTZER: I’ve heard you like to eat a popsicle while taking a bath.
DAKOTA JOHNSON: Have you done that? It’s a fabulous activity. A popsicle and a hot bath is a sensational experience.
“A popsicle and a hot bath is a sensational experience.” I suspect that sentence is going to stay with me for a while.
It gets better. Here she is discussing the process of making movies.
I am discovering that it’s really f-cking bleak in this industry. It is majorly disheartening. The people who run streaming platforms don’t trust creative people or artists to know what’s going to work, and that is just going to make us implode. It’s really heartbreaking. It’s just f-cking so hard. It’s so hard to get anything made.
Please imagine the marketing team for Madame Web reading this interview after presumably giving her weeks of talking points to hit and avoid. They have bigger problems on their hands now, but I suspect they sighed deeply enough to blow out a candle.
Finally, there was this, where she discussed the viral quote from earlier in this same press tour (lol) about sleeping 14 hours a day.
I said I could easily sleep 14 hours. I didn’t say that I sleep 14 hours every night. I have a job. There’s no way that I could do my job and do that. So clearly something is amiss with that. I do love sleeping, but I didn’t say that. I think I’m beginning to understand that sarcasm doesn’t translate to journalists these days, or embellishment. I just have to be more literal, I guess.
Bless her. Put her on every press tour. Even ones for movies she’s not in. Let her do the press tour for the next Mission: Impossible movie. Ask her about submarines. And Tom Cruise. I need you to know that I am very serious about this.
Anyway, if you were worried at all that this Madame Web business is getting to her too much, well…
Dakota Johnson says she hasn’t seen ‘MADAME WEB’ yet.
ITEM NUMBER THREE – Tell me more about The John Wick Experience
LIONSGATE
Welllllll guess what: Something called “The John Wick Experience” is coming to Vegas. Which is funny. Because the character arc of John Wick — his own actual experience, if you will — involves his beloved wife dying and the puppy dog she got him to remember her by getting murdered by a snotty little wannabe kingpin. I hope that’s not what happens at this thing. I hope they do not just like kill your spouse and dog and hand you a gun. That would be bad.
Guests will step through the doors of the Las Vegas Continental and into the fantastical world of the billion-plus grossing franchise movies, where they will navigate a high stakes adventure as well as visit a themed bar and retail shop open to the general public.
Okay, yeah. That sounds more reasonable.
Each group of guests will be tasked with specific missions, playing out in unique ways with characters, mythology and iconography from the Wick universe. The adventures entail rubbing elbows with Continental staff, assassins, crime bosses, or other curious guests like themselves within the relative safety of the Continental.
On one hand, yes, fine, sure. This seems like a thing we can do. People love these movies. I love these movies. Not enough to fly to Vegas specifically for this but, like, if I was already there, maybe.
But on the other hand, if you are someone who is thinking about going to this, please just know that there will absolutely, 100 percent, be a few very excited dudes in line outside dressed like John Wick and quoting the movie a lot. There’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose. I’m glad those dudes are having fun. But I just want you to be prepared for that before you show up.
ITEM NUMBER FOUR – Rebecca Ferguson seems like a fun lady
We can get out of this one in four bullet points:
This is a video from the Dune 2 press tour where a correspondent from Nerdist asks Rebecca Ferguson about the Dune popcorn bucket that went viral a few weeks ago for reasons the people who created it probably did not enjoy
Rebecca Ferguson seems like an extremely fun person
As my colleague Josh Kurp noted in our work chat, you need to hear the way the word “Googling” sounds in her British accent
I don’t know why she has a toothpick but I support her decision here regardless
Get her and Dakota Johnson on a podcast at once.
ITEM NUMBER FIVE – DUDE, GO WATCH BOTTOMS
I have been yammering about how good Bottoms is for months now, ever since I rented it on a whim one weekend last fall and proceeded to laugh for 90 minutes straight. “It’s so good!” I shouted. “It’s got Ayo Edebiri from The Bear in it!” I yelled. “Marshawn Lynch plays the faculty advisor of an all-girl high school fight club that two teens start in the hopes of hooking up with their cheerleader crushes!” I screeched. I get excited sometimes.
A bunch of people listened to me and watched it, which was helpful for both my emotional well-being and my vocal cords, but some people were very adamant about holding out until they could watch it on one of the streaming services they already pay for. Well, guess what: It’s streaming now. It’s on Prime Video. You can watch it for free on the same website where you purchase the plumbing fixtures the Road House guys were yelling about.
Here, for the record, is the official description of the movie, which comes from the creative team of Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennot.
In this refreshingly unique comedy, two girls, PJ and Josie, start a fight club as a way to lose their virginities to cheerleaders. And their bizarre plan works! The fight club gains traction, and soon the most popular girls in school are beating each other up in the name of self-defense. But PJ and Josie find themselves in over their heads and in need of a way out before their plan is exposed.
And here’s a blockquote from, uh, me, where I tried to explain how weird and wonderful it is.
This is the hardest part to explain. The closest I’ve come to getting there is “it somehow is both an earnest movie about high school and also a satire of a movie about high school.” It’s weird. In a good way. So, like, yes, it is a little bit “every high school movie you’ve ever seen about horny teens trying to hook up” but also, like, the high school football hero gets served steak at lunch while everyone else eats slop. The teachers and students just casually swear at each other. There are, like, murders and property damage and it’s all just fine. You kind of have to accept the universe the movie exists inside and then proceed from there.
WATCH BOTTOMS
IT’S GOOD
IT’S STREAMING
YOU HAVE NO MORE EXCUSES
THANK YOU
READER MAIL
If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.
From Sara:
I’m sure a million people have sent this to you but I need to be sure you saw Walton Goggins’ Instagram post with Timothy Olyphant. Boyd and Raylan! I’m not sure how I would’ve reacted if I saw the two of them on the sidewalk together like this but I suspect there would be at least a little squealing.
Okay, first of all, this is the Instagram post Sara was talking about, which you have to scroll through a little to get to the squeal-worthy image.
Jordan Mackampa’s sophomore album Welcome Home, Kid! will be one to remember in 2024.
Through 14 songs, listeners will be whisked away on a soulful journey that is rejuvenating. Welcome Home, Kid! is the British-Congolese singer’s coming out party, and boy is it a good time. “Proud Of You” keeps you light on your feet with a giddy dance that’s a perfect match for the song’s fluttering piano keys and roaring trumpet. “Step By Step” and “Blaccjack The Mac” take you to church with glorious trumpets, lively drums, and the energy that only a family cookout can provide.
I’ll go out on a limb here and say Mackampa’s Welcome Home, Kid! will go down as one of 2024’s best R&B releases. Along with production that adds fuel to the spirit, Welcome Home, Kid! celebrates the moment that things start to make a little more sense. It captures the applause that comes when you’ve finally discovered your purpose after doing the nitty-gritty work to get there. In his second coming as an artist, Jordan is back home – at least in the figurative sense – where he belongs.
With Welcome Home, Kid! available in just a few hours, Uproxx caught up with Jordan Mackampa to talk about his early music memories, who he’d play on The Bear, and more for our Uproxx Music 20 Q&A.
What is your earliest memory of music?
My mum dancing in our kitchen and me clinging onto her legs as she moved.
Who inspired you to take music seriously?
My music and performing arts teachers.
Do you know how to play an instrument? If so, which one? If not, which instrument do you want to learn how to play?
I play few at the moment, I’d love to learn a horned instrument next like a trumpet, just need to find a quiet play to practice that doesn’t annoy my neighbours.
What was your first job?
I was the world’s worst door-to-door salesman, asking folks to give me their credit card details at the most inconvenient times of the day, in return for a £9.99 ‘Lovefilm’ subscription.
What is your most prized possession?
My hard drive.
What is your biggest fear?
Hahahaha, no way I’m sharing that on the internet.
Who is on your R&B afrobeats Mt. Rushmore?
Jazmine Sullivan, Miguel, Frank Ocean, Lianne La Havas.
You get 24 hours to yourself to do anything you want, with unlimited resources: What are you doing? And spare no details!
First things first, I’m clearing all student debts everywhere and repurposing that money into affordable housing, healthcare & education systems, with a mandatory course on a selection of Bell Hook’s work. Secondly, I’m giving Palestine back to the Palestinians as well as every other country fighting for their freedom. Not long after that, I’m decriminalising sex work & any incarceration charges for marijuana. Lastly, I’d put together my dream show so I can watch Childish Gambino & Kirk Franklin go back to back.
What are your three most used emojis?
.
What’s a feature you need to secure before you die?
If you could appear in a future season of a current TV show, which one would it be and why?
The Bear, I could play Marcus’ brother or a new love interest for Sydney — I’m open to both.
Which celebrity do you admire or respect for their personality and why?
Damson Idris, I feel like in an alternative universe somewhere we’re good friends who have discourse all the time, over where the best Jamaican food in London is.
Share your opinion on something no one could ever change your mind about.
Songs In The Key of Life isn’t Stevie Wonder’s best album.
What is the best song you’ve ever heard in your life and what do you love about it?
“Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza” by Mac Miller. I love how instantly I’m trapped in that nostalgic feeling so quickly.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform, and what’s a city you’re excited to perform in for the first time?
London’s always gonna be a favourite because it’s home, New York is fun too. Europe is taking the top spot right now though, especially Germany & the Netherlands.
You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location where it would be held.
Chance The Rapper only doing Acid Rap/Coloring Book songs, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler The Creator, Kaytramine, and Dijon. Gimme a field with an open bar/taco stand & I’m comfy.
What would you be doing now if it weren’t for music?
I’d be a chef running my own 24hr diner.
If you could see five years into the future or go five years into the past, which one would you pick and why?
Past, so I could reassure myself that we’ll be ok.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
Don’t break your back keeping bonds that don’t feed you.
It’s 2050. The world hasn’t ended, and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
As someone who poured all they had, into everything they did.
Welcome Home, Kid! is out 2/16 via AWAL Recordings Ltd. Find out more information here.
Last week, Vampire Weekend stirred from their slumber with some fantastic news: Only God Was Above Us, their first album since 2019’s Father Of The Bride, is on the way. The project is set for release on April 5, and now they’ve preceded that drop with even more welcomed dispatches: The band is going on tour, and they just released two new songs, “Capricorn” and “Gen-X Cops” (the latter of which shares its title with a 1999 Hong Kong action movie).
Each song, both of which represent the band’s first new music in five years, got a video today, too. The “Capricorn” visual offers a look at a seemingly post-apocalyptic city in a state of disrepair, before singer Ezra Koenig is revealed to be performing for a group in a concert hall. The “Gen-X Cops” visual has a similar aesthetic and setting.
Listen to the songs above and find Vampire Weekend’s upcoming tour dates below.
Vampire Weekend 2024 Tour Dates: Only God Was Above Us Tour
04/08 — Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheater
04/27 — New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
05/10 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Block Party
05/30 — Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound Barcelona
06/06 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall =
06/07 — Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory =
06/09 — Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Financial Theatre =
06/10 — San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre =
06/12 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl %&
06/15 — Berkeley, CA @ William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre >
06/16 — Berkeley, CA @ William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre >
06/18 — Burnaby, British Columbia @ Deer Lake Park >
06/19 — Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater >
06/20 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena >
06/22 — Bonner, MT @ KettleHouse Amphitheater
06/23 — Bonner, MT @ KettleHouse Amphitheater
07/19 — Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
07/22 — Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theatre +
07/23 — Lincoln, NE @ Pinewood Bowl Theater +
07/25 — Maryland Heights, MO @ Saint Louis Music Park +
07/26 — Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island *+
07/27 — Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island *+
07/30 — Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory +
08/01 — Milwaukee, WI @ BMO Pavilion +
08/03 — St. Charles, IA @ Hinterland Music Festival
09/19 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center !
09/20 — Cincinnati, OH @ The Icon Festival Stage at Smale Park !
09/21 — Indianapolis, IN @ Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park !
09/23 — Rochester Hills, MI @ Meadow Brook Amphitheatre !
09/24 — Toronto, Ontario @ Budweiser Stage !
09/25 — Laval, Quebec @ Place Bell !
09/27 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden !
09/28 — Philadelphia, PA @ TD Pavilion at The Mann !
09/30 — Washington, D.C. @ The Anthem !
10/02 — Charlottesville, VA @ Ting Pavilion !
10/05 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden ^~
10/06 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden #~
10/08 — Wilmington, NC @ Live Oak Bank Pavilion !
10/09 — Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater !
10/11 — Nashville, TN @ Ascend Amphitheater !
10/12 — Atlanta, GA @ Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park !
10/13 — Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit !
10/15 — St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre !
10/17 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center !
= with LA LOM
% with The English Beat
& with Voodoo Glow Skull
> with Mike Gordon
< with Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
+ with Ra Ra Riot
* with Princess
! with Cults
^ with Mark Ronson
~ with Turnstiles
# with The Brothers Macklovitch
Only God Was Above Us is out April 5 via Columbia. Find more information here.
Gunna, who had an unexpectedly great 2023, is back with another new single, suggesting he has no plans of resting on his laurels this year. After promising new music would be coming “soon,” he has delivered with “Bittersweet,” an introspective hymn that expresses his paranoia and the stress that comes along with success. Over a slow-simmering guitar riff from producers Dystinkt Beats and 1SRAEL, Gunna laments the bumps in the road he’s experienced and warns listeners of the pitfalls that face anyone pursuing similar goals.
“Fans say when I rap, they hear the pain in my rhythm,” he intones. “Keeping them far back until I know they agenda / All these n****s capping like the man in the middle / They gon’ mеntion Wunna cause the views’ll bе bigger.”
Stephen A. Smith is taking on Shannon Sharpe at the Celebrity Game this All-Star weekend. No, the two are not going to play basketball against one another — the two First Take personalities are coaching the teams that will go head-to-head on Friday night in Indianapolis, which promises to be some pretty terrific television, because that’s usually what happens when you put Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe in front of a camera.
In a delightful bit of irony, Smith is actually coaching the team that features a player from the Dallas Cowboys: star edge rusher Micah Parsons. And according to Molly Qerim, Smith and Parsons were involved in an incident at practice that unintentionally (we presume) ended in Smith needing to go to the hospital.
Molly Qerim opens First Take by revealing that a Micah Parsons crossover during practice for the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game sent Stephen A. Smith to the hospital pic.twitter.com/fnBnNtpGHo
“This was not confirmed by Adrian Wojnarowski, but this is what I was told by Stephen A,” Qerim said. “If he wants to change the story when he gets here, that’s fine. But this is what I understand: Stephen A. Smith is one of the coaches in the Celebrity All-Star Game tonight, alongside our guy Shannon Sharpe, it’s gonna be epic TV … Yesterday, SA had to get out there, get out to Naptown early, and they had a practice.
“So, he started messing around with Micah Parsons, of all people, one of the guys on his team, obviously a Dallas Cowboy,” Qerim continued. “Micah crossed him over and all I know is Stephen A’s at the hospital right now getting x-rays. So, I’ll let him tell you the rest of the details when he gets here.”
There is, however, a twist in this tale: Smith says this did not happen. As he tells it, he slipped on some sweat and needed to go to the hospital, and the story of Parsons crossing him up is not true.
“Molly Qerim is a pathological liar,” Smith said. “That did not happen to me, she made the whole thing up, that’s number one. Crossed over by a Cowboy? By Micah Parsons? Are you kidding me? … They had the practice last night, and Shannon didn’t show up. So I go there, cause I got to scout my team, cause I got to see I’ma play and who I’ma put on the bench, cause I’m not losing this game tonight, ok? And the next thing you know, that damn Micah Parsons is on the basketball court acting like he’s trying to sack quarterbacks and stuff, and pushing people around.
“So, after that, they were sitting up there, and he and I were shooting around, shooting against one another,” he continued. “And it was some sweat on the floor, and I literally — I was about to just pull up, just shooting — I literally bust my ass. I mean, feet flying in the everything, go BOW. You understand what I’m saying? I got up, it was like I was sliding into third base or something, it was that bad.”
Tim Legler made it a point to say that Smith could not use sweat on the floor as an excuse here. I’ll be honest: I am choosing to believe Molly on this one, because a member of the Cowboys crossing him up and taking him out like that would be incredibly funny and proof that the universe has an incredible sense of humor.
The Only God Was Above Us tour will have the band playing 39 dates over the course of 2024, including multiple festivals, a sold-out show in Austin, Texas, during the eclipse, and three “two-show engagements” where they’ll play on both Saturday night and Sunday morning in California, Montana, and New York.
Opening acts include LA LOM, The English Beat, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Mike Gordon, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Ra Ra Riot, Princess ft. Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum, Cults, a DJ set by Mark Ronson, Turnstiles (a Billy Joel cover band, not to be confused with Turnstile), and The Brothers Macklovitch.
How To Buy Tickets For Vampire Weekend’s 2024 Tour
If you’re a Citibank member, you have access to presale tickets through the Citi Entertainment program from Tuesday, February 20 at 10 a.m. local time until Thursday, February 22 at 10 p.m. local time (find out more here). Everyone else is welcome to sign up for pre-sales on the band’s website. Those tickets go on sale on Wednesday, February 21 at 10 a.m. local time, followed by the general sale on Friday, February 23 at 10 a.m. local time.
Vampire Weekend 2024 Tour Dates: Only God Was Above Us Tour
04/08 — Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheater
04/27 — New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
05/10 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Block Party
05/30 — Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound Barcelona
06/06 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall =
06/07 — Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory =
06/09 — Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Financial Theatre =
06/10 — San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre =
06/12 — Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl %&
06/15 — Berkeley, CA @ William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre >
06/16 — Berkeley, CA @ William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre >
06/18 — Burnaby, British Columbia @ Deer Lake Park >
06/19 — Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater >
06/20 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena >
06/22 — Bonner, MT @ KettleHouse Amphitheater
06/23 — Bonner, MT @ KettleHouse Amphitheater
07/19 — Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
07/22 — Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theatre +
07/23 — Lincoln, NE @ Pinewood Bowl Theater +
07/25 — Maryland Heights, MO @ Saint Louis Music Park +
07/26 — Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island *+
07/27 — Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island *+
07/30 — Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory +
08/01 — Milwaukee, WI @ BMO Pavilion +
08/03 — St. Charles, IA @ Hinterland Music Festival
09/19 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center !
09/20 — Cincinnati, OH @ The Icon Festival Stage at Smale Park !
09/21 — Indianapolis, IN @ Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park !
09/23 — Rochester Hills, MI @ Meadow Brook Amphitheatre !
09/24 — Toronto, Ontario @ Budweiser Stage !
09/25 — Laval, Quebec @ Place Bell !
09/27 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden !
09/28 — Philadelphia, PA @ TD Pavilion at The Mann !
09/30 — Washington, D.C. @ The Anthem !
10/02 — Charlottesville, VA @ Ting Pavilion !
10/05 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden ^~
10/06 — New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden #~
10/08 — Wilmington, NC @ Live Oak Bank Pavilion !
10/09 — Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater !
10/11 — Nashville, TN @ Ascend Amphitheater !
10/12 — Atlanta, GA @ Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park !
10/13 — Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit !
10/15 — St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre !
10/17 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center !
= with LA LOM
% with The English Beat
& with Voodoo Glow Skull
> with Mike Gordon
< with Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
+ with Ra Ra Riot
* with Princess
! with Cults
^ with Mark Ronson
~ with Turnstiles
# with The Brothers Macklovitch
Only God Was Above Us is out April 5 via Columbia. Find more information here.
The Kansas City Chiefs are the official Super LVIII champions. Throughout the season, fans cheered the team on at home or in person at games, including Taylor Swift. The “Karma” singer’s presence has ruffled many feathers due to the “excessive camera time” she received. However, she managed to win over the hearts of the Chiefs Kingdom.
So, when a longtime Chiefs fan was tragically killed at the Super Bowl LVIII celebration parade on February 15, Swift reportedly took action with her wallet. According to the Kansas City Star, during the public party for supporters, shots rang out, injuring 21 people and killing one. Chiefs superfan Lisa Lopez-Galvan was confirmed as the incident’s sole fatality. The loved ones of Lopez-Galvan launched a GoFundMe to help raise money for her surviving two children and husband. After which fans noticed a $100,000 donation split into two parts had been credited to Taylor Swift.
Initially, the campaign sought to raise $75,000. Swift’s supposed donation fulfilled that goal with a $25,000 surplus. As of today (February 16), the campaign has brought in a total of $192,393, which continues to climb. Swift hasn’t released a statement confirming if she did, in fact, make the monetary contribution, but the family and loved ones of Lisa Lopez-Galvan are grateful either way.
The Kansas City Chiefs organization did release a statement regarding the shooting. Read the organization’s complete statement below.
We are truly saddened by the senseless act of violence that occurred outside of Union States at the conclusion of today’s parade and rally. Our hearts go out to the victims, their families, and all of Kansas City. We are in close communication with the Mayor’s office as well as the Kansas City Police Department.
At this time, we have confirmed that all of our players, coaches, staff, and their families are safe and accounted for. We thank the local law enforcement officers and first responders who were on-scene to assist.
There aren’t that many things we consider to be indisputably, universally courageous. Running into a burning building, that’s up there. Plenty of things get offhandedly referred to as brave — eating really spicy food, going out in public in pajamas — but are definitely not. To perform in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest is likely not high on many people’s list of what constitutes as courageous, but it’s a hill I will stubbornly camp out on. Until recently, it was a lonely hill, but when three-time Dunk Contest Champion Nate Robinson joins you on the hill, it’s lonely no longer.
Robinson has been appointed AT&T’s Chief Dunk Officer (CDO) of this year’s contest, in part because he’s the only person to have won the Dunk Contest three times and because to watch Robinson play basketball is to recognize a consummate showman.
Over his 11 seasons in the NBA (plus two stints overseas and one in the G League), Robinson made the most of what appeared to be a unique and direct manipulation of gravity through his game. Whether weaving through traffic in limbo slants with his torso gone one way and his legs another, darting into the paint after he’d faked out a team’s entire defense (he went under and through Sebastian Telfair’s legs once to make a layup), jack-knifing his 5’9 frame way up into the air for obscene blocks and perfectly timed alley-oop dunks, taking breezy fadeaways from way out, Robinson understood that what he didn’t have in size he could easily make up for in energy and a keen sense of the game as, well, a game.
He played surging with joy and watching him, you couldn’t help but feel it coursing through you, too.
“When I played basketball, when I was on the court, nothing made me happier,” Robinson says brightly, on a call with Dime ahead of All-Star Weekend. “I didn’t think about anything that was going on in my life, anything bad or anything that I was stressing [about]. I enjoyed my moment in that time, right then and there, and nothing else was going to derail me from enjoying basketball.”
During his playing career, Robinson faced criticism from other players and occasionally from the media, along with complaints that he didn’t take things seriously enough. He was playful, he worked the crowd, and he stood out because he didn’t fit in. He wasn’t immune to the commentary, but it never mattered. The way he saw it, he could only be himself.
“At some point we’re all going to mature in our lives, no matter if it’s now, earlier years, middle, or late in life. You’re gonna mature. But one thing my mother and my father always told me is be yourself, and if they don’t like who you are — excuse my language — then f*ck ‘em.” He says simply. “They don’t like you, okay, that’s on them. You’re going to be the person God made you to be and who we raised you to be, which is respectful, always trying to make people smile, and being the light of the situation or the time. Be the life of the party; be a reason why somebody smiles. And that’s what I wanted to do.”
It’s that spark of joy — and showmanship — that Robinson wants to see injected back into the Dunk Contest, an event he’s watched go through its ebbs and flows in popularity. For him, the night has always represented a jumping-off point, often for the tectonic, league-shifting careers we still talk about.
“The Dunk Contest, some of the greatest players of all time have done it,” Robinson says. “Dr. J, Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan, Spud Webb, Zach LaVine — the guys that you see now — Vince Carter, Jason Richardson — so many greats — Tracy McGrady! They made their names — Kobe Bryant as well — in the Dunk Contest as rookies first, as young guys. And then they solidified being a Hall of Famer and All-Star and all that stuff.”
In Robinson’s mind, the wane of the contest as a genuine runway to career success and standing out in a league stacked with pros has come with the rise of social media.
“Nobody wants to be a meme, nobody wants to get embarrassed. Once the internet started popping off, it was kind of hard. You can’t do anything silly, you can’t tarnish your legacy-type deal,” Robinson says. “If people weren’t so cruel and mean on social media, because they can say what they want and post what they want, and add their own two-cents, I think it hinders guys to want to do something like this, because they don’t want to lose and they don’t want to look silly.”
It seems silly, out of context, that athletes at this level would be embarrassed by much on the floor. Within the contextual fabric of our contemporary always logged-on lives, where people can see anything and nothing that happens within the internet’s indeterminable reach goes away, it makes sense. The current cohort of Dunk Contest-eligible athletes has never known a life without social media and its looming shadow.
That’s where the courage comes in. To go out in front of an arena audience, in front of your peers, where everyone has their phones up and recording and ready, is a visual hurdle Robinson and the dunkers of his day didn’t have to deal with. Even Shaq’s giant camcorder seemed subtle in comparison. Mulling over the courage it must take, Robinson adamantly interjects.
“Yeah! Because imagine, it’s going to be forever,” he says. “When you mess up, or do something crazy like, say somebody tried to jump over somebody and their shorts got caught on the back of their head and they fall — it’ll be a meme forever. That’s how they’re going to be remembered, and I think they don’t want to do that.”
Robinson draws an apt parallel between Michael Jordan, the person who is still debated fiercely as being the greatest of all time, and Crying Jordan, the meme. He notes that some people don’t know Jordan as anything other than the meme.
“When I grew up playing, he made me want to play basketball. He made it cool to be a guy that can work hard and you can do anything you want to do,” Robinson recalls, referring to the ‘Be Like Mike’ commercials. “Now, with social media, it makes it a little awkward because people want to be so negative. Not like a bullying thing, but just being negative, it doesn’t get you anywhere.”
Social media’s not going anywhere, but there is one place Robinson can beam his brand of levity onto. In his role as inaugural CDO, Robinson will provide his expert analysis on what it takes to win the Dunk Contest, leading up to and during the main event on All-Star Saturday Night through AT&T’s social channels. He’ll also chat with this year’s contestants and help them prep, all of whom he’s excited to watch but with a couple standouts.
“I’m actually interested in seeing what Jaime Jaquez Jr. can do. I’ve never seen him do any kind of dunk. I know he can ball, and he’s a real good hooper, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him dunk on anybody before so for him to be in the Dunk Contest is a surprise,” Robinson admits. “And of course, Mac McClung, to see if he’s topping what he did last year. If he can top what he did last year, he has it in the bag.”
As last year’s winner, the bar was already high for McClung. Winner repeats in recent years have been rare. Aaron Gordon gave it his all three times and finished as runner-up twice. What’s more, McClung was dubbed the savior of the Dunk Contest last year.
Robinson admits it’s tough to beat anybody, let alone yourself, but asked whether he ever psyched himself out thinking about it pre-Contest and he chuckles, “Nahhh, you just gotta go in there and follow the dunk that you want to do, save your real good dunks for the championship rounds, and be creative. Get the crowd on your side, by dancing or involving fans. That’s how you win. You get the fans on your side.”
What about clues, though, feints or giveaways that a dunk is going to be a dud or a showstopper? Do those exist, and can experts like Robinson clock them before someone has even started their run to the basket? Or are all dunks a mystery to everyone but the dunker?
“You really don’t know. You just gotta wait at the edge of your seat and you gotta hope that each dunker can bring a certain kind of creativity,” he concedes, but he does have tips. “You gotta have some swag. You gotta tap into your, I don’t know if it’s acting skills or showmanship, but you gotta be a showman. You gotta bring something to life.
For me, I always use big arms when I’m going. If I throw a lob to myself, I would just throw it as high as I can and see how high I can get up to dunk it, and then throw your body any kind of weird way and just do something. [Laughs.] You just try to do something that’s never been done and you hope you make it.”
Robinson has made a lot out of making the most. In his career, for those in-game, precisely timed alley-oop dunks he was a master at, he preferred bad passes from teammates over precise ones. The bad passes made for better dunks.
“Sometimes the bad lobs are the best lobs — to me,” Robinson says, in something that can be borrowed as a mantra. “The bad alley-oops are the best ones. The worst ones that they can throw are the best ones, ‘cause it makes you turn your body a certain way, makes you jump a little higher, makes you reach back, makes you do something.”
In one of the most personal struggles he’s faced, Robinson’s also taken the bad and inverted it. A kidney issue he was first diagnosed with in 2006 when playing for the Knicks worsened in 2018. He needs a transplant and undergoes dialysis three times a week to manage his condition, but his struggle has only sharpened his perspective, one of determined positivity.
“I use it every day,” Robinson says of his positivity, “Every day is a choice to be happy. I choose to be happy. I choose to wake up happy, and thankful. God has blessed me with so much, how can I not be happy? Even when things like this are happening with my kidneys, I can’t be mad.”
What helps him is thinking outside himself, of people younger than him struggling with the same diagnosis.
“You know how many kids are in high school that have kidney failure?” Robinson asks. “And they want to play sports, and they want to do the things they want to do, and they can’t at their full capacity because they’re sick. I know what they’re going through. It’s hard. But I want to be the reason, like, if Nate Robinson can do it, then I can do it. That’s how I look at it.”
To be brave in the face of the unknown even when the physical toll brings you low, to strive to improve the situations of other people — this is courage. It’s easier to understand Robinson’s joy and love for an event that puts courage on display through much lower stakes despite its high-flying flare. He’s always maintained his sense of levity, working on it, tuning it up.
To that end, dunks are the perfect alchemy of joy and courage, going in tandem. For Robinson, whom the motion always appeared to flow and look like a reflex for, the fuel never ran out.
“When you’re a dunker, you dunk so many times,” Robinson says. “You’ve missed so many, and you’ve made so many. And now you’re practicing with nobody around, just throwing the ball up in the air. You just gotta lose yourself inside the Dunk Contest and what you’re doing. Just have fun like a kid in a candy store.”
Doja Cat, more than most people in her shoes, likes to get silly and have fun. Case in point: She recently guested on The Therapy Gecko Podcast, in which a man in a gecko costume (non-therapist comedian Lyle Drescher) fields calls from viewers/listeners (the show is recorded live on Twitch). Doja went full-boar, too, putting on her own gecko costume.
In one clip from the show, Drescher asks Doja if she likes Celsius, the caffeinated energy drink brand. She explained that she “just can’t drink it” and that the beverage nearly got her into a feud. She explained, “I was singing a song and doing a voice of somebody else with the… I filmed myself doing the song in a crazy voice, and it was my really bad impression of that person. And people took it super wrong. They thought that I was trying to cause drama and issues, when really I was just being a f*cking asshole. I was being dumb.”
Doja Cat talks to the Therapy Gecko about the time she almost beefed with another artist after doing an impression of them. pic.twitter.com/StxDIKFzUk
Elsewhere during the chat, Doja also revealed that the title of an upcoming deluxe edition of Scarlet will be titled Scarlet 2: Claude Frollo, named after the character from The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.
In a 2023 interview, Drescher explained the origin of his offbeat show, saying, “I started streaming myself on Reddit as a gecko taking phone calls, and the streams would go on to the front page of Reddit. My expectation was that I would be living here and my mom’s basement doing this forever, but it has gone much better than I thought it would.”
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