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After a five-year hiatus, Pretty Lights is hitting the road this summer. Today (April 4), the electronic producer took to social media to announce a return to the stage via his upcoming Soundship Spacesystem tour.

“I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time and am immensely grateful to be healthy and happy and surrounded by amazing people,” he said in a tweet. “I feel recharged and more ready than ever to launch a new vision of PL music and live events.”

Lights’ last shows came in 2018 by way of a series of performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, which sold out for two nights. Afterward, he wiped his social media clean and remained mum on the platforms. He made brief appearances in 2020 to express support for George Floyd, but has remained relatively reclusive. Upon the announcement, he has not explained his absence.

To accompany the announcement, Lights shared a video revealing the dates, and shared a preview of new music.

You can watch the video above and see the tour dates below. Fans can sign up for a presale here.

08/04-06 — Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom
08/10-12 — Dillon, CO @ Dillon Amphitheatre
08/24-26 — Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern
09/14-16 — Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
09/22-24 — Redmond, OR @ Cascade Equinox Festival
09/29-30 — New York City, NY @ The Brooklyn Mirage
10/19-21 — Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed
10/26-31 — Live Oak, FL @ Hulaween
11/03-04 — Pelham, TN @ The Caverns
11/09-11 — San Franciso, CA @ The Warfield
12/01-02 — New Orleans, LA @ Mardi Gras World

Succession‘s series finale is still weeks (and one wedding) away, but Alan Ruck, who plays Connor Roy on the HBO series, teased what fans can expect.

“I think the show ends in a perfect Succession fashion. I think it’s very satisfying. I think it will also make people crazy. But that’s what our show does,” he told Collider. He’s right: this is a dramatic reenactment of what I look like during every episode.

Ruck also shared if the cast was clued into the endgame. “We knew a few things, from the beginning of the season,” he revealed. “Way back in June, we knew a couple of things, but mostly, it was a need to know basis. Some characters were clued in about what was gonna happen with them, but if people didn’t need to know, we were allowed to discover it, as it happened.”

In plotting the final season, creator Jesse Armstrong had the word “natural” in mind. As in, “I hope people, when they see this season, will feel that it has a natural shape to it,” he told Variety. “That’s how I pitched it to my writers’ room, kind of hoping I’d get argued out of it so we’d see a way to do more seasons, because I love working with these people. I think there’s a feeling of completeness and rightness to the shape of the show.”

I won’t be complete until Connor Roy becomes president. Or he gets two percent of the vote. That one’s probably more likely.

(Via Collider)

Out of all of the absurd celebrity health trends, few have been as concerning as Ozempic. The weight loss drug with drastic (and dangerous) side effects has been making the rounds in Hollywood as a handful of stars have been admitting to using the drug, which is intended for diabetes patients, to shed pounds.

While few celebrities have been open about taking the drug, it seems like it’s commonly prescribed by Hollywood doctors. Comedian Chelsea Handler said her doctor just “hands it out to anybody” (seems like a great idea!) and now there have been ads showing up promoting the drug as “a weekly shot to lose weight.” Even though it seems like some celebrities swear by Ozempic, others are speaking out against the off-label uses drug.

Sophie Turner, who has been open about her struggle with an eating disorder in the past, reposted an image of ads that have been boasting the drug, adding a “WTF” to the original post.

This isn’t the first time Turner has spoken out against harrowing Hollywood beauty standards, as she has admitted to feeling suicidal as a teen while working on Game of Thrones due to the pressures of the industry. “I was too aware of my body at a young age,” Turned said in a 2019 interview with The Times UK. “It took over my mind, it was all I would think about – calorie counting, everything.”

The original tweet was reposted by model Charli Howard, who posted a lengthy comment blasting the drug and the ads. “Posters like this are problematic in a lot of ways, especially from a fatphobic standpoint. You only need to Google a few articles to see what celebrities are meant to be taking it. The poster is shot in an artistic way,” the model explained. “I worry we’re falling back into toxic times – and truly hope young women won’t take drastic measures. You have one body: please take care of it.”

Between Ozempic and the dreaded buccal fat removal trend, social media is a pretty dangerous place for anyone who is just trying to exist without altering their entire person. Luckily, it seems like everyone is on board with hating these new ads. And that is the one thing that can unite New Yorkers!

(Via Page Six)

Marjorie Taylor Greene must be having the time of her life today, despite her claims to the contrary. She is now beefing with NYC Mayor Eric Adams after he called her out (“while you are in town be on your best behavior”) ahead of her planned protest of Donald Trump’s arrest. Adams apparently wasn’t swayed to be hospitable by Greene’s 60 Minutes profile, and the congresswoman from Georgia proceeded to act like she’d never been in New York City while making a Batman reference and complaining that the city is awash in crime. She, of course, blames Adams for everything in New York, and that apparently includes her failed protesting.

Newsweek reports that Greene was booed by counterprotesters who yelled at the “liar” lawmaker. As revealed by The Daily Beast, Greene made a “barely audible” speech (due to whistles that The Daily Beast notes were reportedly handed out by a Trump supporter) before swiftly leaving the protest scene.

From there, Greene hopped right a vehicle and into phone call mode for Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast. In this video clip posted by federal lawyer Ron Filipkowski, Greene called Mayor Adams “a thug” who “threatened” her with “Antifa to bring their whistles, pots and pans, to drown me out.” She would now like “an apology.”

The event’s “pandemonium” was revealed in photos and video footage posted to Twitter by Buzzfeed News’ David Mack:

Actor Michael Rapaport was also apparently present and can be seen adding to the chorus of detractors. Greene looks pretty darn happy, though.

The women in Donald Trump‘s life found different ways to handle his pending arrest, and neither involved publicly supporting the former president. Following her tepid public statement on Instagram, Ivanka Trump reportedly made a secret visit to Mar-a-Lago where she somehow managed to slip into the resort without being photographed.

According to Page Six, Ivanka privately visited Trump on Sunday before leaving to stay at a condo owned by Jared Kushner’s parents. The former president was later seen playing golf, so it wasn’t exactly a long visit. However, it is notable given Ivanka has publicly backed away from his 2024 campaign, and Trump has openly trashed all of his kids in the press. Also, again, Ivanka’s statement on his indictment was three short sentences posted to a now-deleted Instagram Story.

As for Melania, she’s continuing to stay far away from Trump’s legal predicament. The former First Lady has reportedly been living a Donald-free life at Mar-a-Lago, and apparently, she wasn’t about to let his arrest change that. According to The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, Melania was not onboard Trump’s private jet that was dubbed “Con Air” as it flew from Florida to New York City on Monday.

Instead, Trump brought his son Eric on the flight, who probably doesn’t talk as much as the constantly rambling Don Jr., so big day for Eric!

(Via Page Six, Maggie Haberman on Twitter)

Sbtrkt is getting ready to share his new album The Rat Road in May. After releasing the lead single “Waiting” featuring Teezo Touchdown, the masked musician is back with “Days Go By” featuring Toro y Moi.

“As humans, our moods are changeable,” Aaron Jerome said about the song in a statement, according to The Fader. “We are still able to laugh amidst this collective anxiety. I’m tapping into how we feel about our role in climate change and the future, the politics of Britain, but also the music industry. You need all your wits about you to not get screwed over.”

At four and a half minutes, the song is trippy and groovy throughout while Toro Y Moi reflects on the monotony of life: “I called just to see if you could still go out / Nothing was open so we just stayed in.”

He also announced a few live performances to celebrate the new material. They’ll be his first shows in 8 years, taking place in New York City, London, and Los Angeles.

Listen to “Days Go By” above and check out the dates below.

05/25 — London, UK @ HERE at Outernet
06/07 — New York, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
06/13 — Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
06/14 — Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey

The Rat Road is out 5/5 via AWAL Recordings. Find more information here.

“We’re gonna be fine, kiddo.”

These were the words used to bring rookie pilot Taylor Hash back down to safety after a harrowing flight gone wrong.

The 21-year-old had taken off in a small, two-seat, single-engine Diamond DA20-C1 aircraft after it passed a pre-flight inspection. From what Hash could tell, this would be a routine training flight like any other.

As she told FOX 2 News, “I got in the plane, started the engine up, called on the radio and asked for clearance to taxi to the runway. Everything was perfectly fine.”

Luckily for Hash, another pilot had his eyes to the sky, and was able to see that everything was definitely not fine.

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Chris Yates saw that Hash’s plane had lost its nose wheel tire after taking off from the runway, which would have made landing the aircraft extremely dangerous. Yates immediately alerted air traffic control (ATC), who then contacted Hash.

Sensing that the student pilot needed further guidance—and perhaps a calming presence—Yates spoke to Hash directly.

In an audio clip of their exchange posted to Youtube by FSX Aviation, Yates can be heard introducing himself to Hash.

“Taylor, this is Chris. My daughter’s name is Taylor, and I taught her to fly,” he told her over the radio. “We’re gonna be just fine, kiddo.”

Yates and ATC talked Hash through the next steps (“Keep that stick all the way back,” “Pull that nose off for as long as you can,” “Nice and slow, nice and straight,”) until Hash successfully landed, with the nose of the plane tilted towards the ground.

Pretty intense for Hash’s “third solo ever,” but luckily she was in good hands.

Hash shared with FOX 2 that listening to the clip and hearing Yates’ comforting words still makes her emotional.

“Just having someone to have a conversation with me, and not be so official with the aviation language—it was just calming. It was perfect and just what I needed in that moment,” she said.

Hash also asserted that while she told herself she was “done” flying during the height of her stress, she most assuredly will be flying again.

Today, in “Yes please, I would like that, right now” news: Aminé and Kaytranada are doing an album together. It’s apparently called, fittingly, Kaytraminé, and this writer is rightly having a bit of a meltdown knowing that it’s “coming soon” and not “already out.” So far, all the information we have is this trailer video, which sees Kaytra manipulating a midi controller with each trigger pad set for a different syllable in each artist’s name. He presses them in order to create their individual names before combining them into the portmanteau. Then, a little clip of music plays and I want it right now, please and thank you.

It’s the first new project Aminé has announced since the Portland rapper released TwoPointFive back in November 2021. That album was a placeholder mixtape between the release of Limbo and Aminé’s eventual third studio album. Whether this project with Kaytranada will be a side project or that third album remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Kaytranada has been much more visible lately despite his relatively quiet position behind the boards. He’s been producing for a number of rising stars in the industry, including Ravyn Lenae, Joyce Wrice, and PinkPantheress. Additionally, IDK teased a second installment of his Simple joint project with Kaytra in November. There’s plenty to look forward to from the prolific producer, so stay tuned.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) fell hard. For some in the financial realm, there was a great cloud of paranoia sweeping over the land, a fear that this could domino effect the global economy into a recession much like 2008. For others, just chilling, trying out a new Smoky Negroni Cocktail and brainstorming where to find the best grilled chicken sandwich, the reaction might be: “What the hell is The Silicon Valley Bank?”

As the name suggests, it’s a popular bank in Silicon Valley, and it’s known for sponsoring startups and tech innovation. And, well, a few weeks ago it got pulverized. Billions lost, and news outlets claim social media had a large role to play in it. It was even labeled as the first ever “Twitter-fueled run on a bank,” a fascinating technological phenomenon.

This was the bombshell news of March, so let’s explain what happened in simple English.

WHAT IS SVB?

Silicon Valley isn’t just known as the place for world-changing tech innovation, it’s also a hub for all kinds of startups. That’s why it’s the “Capital” of Venture capital (privately investing in startups). SVB is a startup/tech-friendly bank, and thus, many of the entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley take their businesses to SVB.

In fact, PBS reported, “SVB claimed to have approximately half of all U.S. venture-backed tech and life science companies, and more than 2,500 venture capital funds as its customers.” 2020 became a golden age for startups, the result being that these businesses gave SBV a lot of money. But why was it a golden age?

THE COVID OPPORTUNITY:

TLDR; Covid really F-d up everything, and torched the economy. It turns out, a strategy to heal a barren economy is to make borrowing money easy (Lowering Interest Rates). Because, if you can borrow money for cheap, the idea is that people are much more likely to go get a big loan, build/plant something and help the fields flourish with money again. Outlined by CNBC, that’s what the government did, lower interest rates, basically to zero.

What happened next? According to Forbes, LOTS of companies took the opportunity to take part in a ” Startup Frenzy,” and, as we mentioned, SVB was a hub for this. What does one do when they get a lot of money? Naturally, they might try to make more money.

LOOSE BANKING:

When one puts money in the bank, it’s not just sitting in a vault. Banks are deploying that money in hopes it multiplies. To the criticism of many politicians like Elizabeth Warren, some banks, like SVB, are not policed that heavily and can more freely deploy cash to make a profit. One strategy to make a profit is buying Treasuries (IOUs from the government). These IOUs are appealing because the government guarantees to pay you back in full IF you wait (sometimes a few months, sometimes a few years, and sometimes a decade, there are different types.) While you wait, the government pays out some returns (a low-interest rate means small returns, a high-interest rate means bigger returns).

Outlined by this CNN article, once SVB got their hands on a boatload of money from entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, they started gambling billions on these IOUs. Then something went wrong.

THE “OH SH*T” MOMENT:

Remember that strategy about making the fields flourish with money? It turns out, that barren field can get overgrown with weeds — AKA too much money AKA inflation. A method to “burn the field” is for the government to increase the interest rate. That’s what happened in 2022 and it was abrupt. Two things happened:

1. It became much harder for these tech companies to get easy access to cash and stay afloat. As their stock prices started dropping, these companies were forced to withdraw funds from their bank accounts at SVB to keep daily operations going.
2. When the interest rate went up, the IOUs that SVB had spent a fortune buying lost a ton of value. But that’s okay! As long as they waited it out, the money would be paid back, and all would be right and dandy. Except…

When these companies under fire pulled up to the bank and said, “Hey I kinda need my money right now, things are getting tough.” SVB was like, “Ah, the thing is, we kinda made a deal/bet with the gov, and if we back out now, we’re gonna lose a lot of money.”

Too bad, SVB had to sell their IOUs and take a big loss — a huge loss actually: billions of customer dollars. Then, the rest of the companies using SVB realized, “Oh, sh*t, I might lose my money. Time to bail.” And then, panic ensued.

THE CLIMAX: SPONSORED BY TWITTER

According to CNN, “multiple prominent venture capitalists took to Twitter and used their large platforms to raise alarms about the situation, sometimes typing in all caps. Some investors urged startups to rethink where they kept their cash.”

What happened then, was an old-fashioned run on the bank, only this time, the power of social media allowed the panic to spread like wildfire. Additionally, modern banking apps allowed people to react fast and withdraw money with the click of a button. The result: “42 Billion dollars of funds were withdrawn in a single day. House Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry later described it as “the first Twitter-fueled bank run.”

SVB couldn’t return everyone’s money and government regulators (The FDIC) seized control of it. This was deemed the biggest bank failure in the US since the financial crisis of 2008 and sent ripples across the economy, causing the collapse of both Credit Suisse in Switzerland and US lender Signature Bank.

THE AFTERMATH:

While many customers panicked, on March 12th, CNN reported that regulators would insure that customers would regain access to their funds, and worked hard to put SVB up for sale. There was speculation about who would buy SVB (even Elon Musk threw his hat in the ring) but the government made it clear they wanted another bank, not an individual, to purchase it.

The BBC reported that on Sunday, March 27th, First Citizens purchased “$72bn of SVB’s assets at a discount of $16.5bn – a deal that will make the bank one of the 25 biggest in the US.” This put a close to the SVB saga. As they say, all’s well that ends well.

GOING FORWARD:

Beyond the financial hindsight of this whole fiasco, outlined in this Boston Globe article, a huge takeaway from all this is the power of social media. The ability to seamlessly spread information has completely changed the scope of things in the last few decades; it’s now easier to connect, educate, and access the lexicon of the human experience. But just as lowering and raising interest rates has its pros and cons, so too does powerful interconnectivity enabled by technology. In the grand scheme of things, lightning-quick mass media is still relatively new, and we just got a first taste of a seismic financial panic — fueled, in part, by an app. It’s a powerful new modern phenomenon and its impact will only continue to evolve.

How would you spend your final moments before arrested? Maybe eat your favorite meal, or talk to your loved ones, or pet a cute dog or cat. All good options. If you’re Donald Trump, and you’re turning yourself over to the authorities after a grand jury voted to indict you, you do none of these things.

Instead, you post on your failing social media platform.

“Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!” Trump wrote on Truth Social moments before the first president to be impeached twice became the first president to be arraigned on criminal charges.

Trump arrived at Manhattan Criminal Court at 1:24 p.m. on Tuesday where he was met with both supporters and counterprotesters who have clashed throughout the historic day… He is scheduled to appear in-person before Judge Juan Merchan for his arraignment at 2:15 p.m. on what is expected to be almost three dozen charges.

Maybe this was all a ploy to bring more attention to the Trump Media & Technology Group-owned Truth Social. It could use the help: Trump’s net worth plummeted from $3.2 billion last year to $2.5 billion today because “barely anyone uses Truth Social,” according to Forbes.

I’m sure the few users on there are being very chill at the moment.

(Via the Independent)