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The trial for the three men accused of murdering Memphis rapper Young Dolph is set to begin after nearly two years. According to local news, the jury selection was completed, and the trial — which was initially set for June 3, but delayed after the defense counsel asked for more time for everyone’s experts to review information — begins today (September 23). The trial was also subject to a change of venue, bringing in a jury from outside Shelby County due to the heavy media coverage of the murder around Dolph’s hometown.

The three men are Justin Johnson and Cornelius Smith Jr., who prosecutors say executed the hit on Dolph outside Makeda’s Cookies, as ordered by Hernandez Govan. Johnson and Smith were both arrested in January 2022, and each faces a charge of first-degree murder, as well as other associated felonies including theft of property between $10,000-$60,000, and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Govan was arrested in November 2022. All three men have pled not guilty to the charges against them.

A fourth man, Shundale Barnett, was also arrested in January 2022, but released on bail, and went missing shortly thereafter. Jemarcus Johnson, a fifth conspirator, pled guilty to three counts of accessory after-the-fact, and is expected to testify against the others in exchange for having his conspiracy to murder charge dropped.

The National is frequently praised as an exceptional live band (here’s Uproxx’s Philip Cosores doing just that, for example). Now, they’re unveiling what a press release dubs “the definitive live document of The National”: Rome a new live album.

The album was recorded live on June 3, 2024 at Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone in Rome, Italy. The 21-track project is set for release on December 13. If you’re a member of the band’s Cherry Tree fan club, there’s an opportunity to buy “an exclusive, tricolor triple-LP featuring five additional songs.”

The band has offered a taste of the album today (September 23), though, via NTL RM EP I, which includes four songs from the album: “I Need My Girl,” “Lemonworld,” “The Geese of Beverly Road,” and “Lit Up.” Check that out below.

Find the Rome cover art and tracklist below.

The National’s Rome Album Cover Artwork

The National’s Rome Tracklist

01. “Runaway”
02. “Eucalyptus”
03. “Tropic Morning News”
04. “New Order T-Shirt”
05. “Don’t Swallow The Cap”
06. “Bloodbuzz Ohio”
07. “The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness”
08. “I Need My Girl”
09. “Lemonworld”
10. “The Geese Of Beverly Road”
11. “Lit Up”
12. “Alien”
13. “Humiliation”
14. “Murder Me Rachael”
15. “England”
16. “Graceless”
17. “Fake Empire”
18. “Smoke Detector”
19. “Mr November”
20. “Terrible Love”
21. “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks”

Rome is out 12/13 via 4AD. Find more information here.

Coldplay’s Chris Martin made a “special appearance” at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, September 21.

That was not Martin’s most memorable performance of the weekend, as he ducked into Dino’s Lounge in Las Vegas for karaoke.

According to fan-taken video cited by Billboard, Martin disguised himself by wearing glasses and a wig — and held a pink balloon? — while singing “All My Love” from Coldplay’s forthcoming Moon Music album.

Dino’s posted two videos on Instagram. One shows Martin thanking everyone from the stage and proclaiming “Dino’s forever.” The other one shows Martin ripping off his glasses and wig to confirm that, yes, he is Chris Martin.

“THANK YOU CHRIS MARTIN @coldplay FOR CHOOSING US TO RECORD YOUR MUSIC VIDEO WITH,” Dino’s captioned the latter Instagram video. “SUCH A VIRAL MOMENT. BIGGEST SURPRISE OF THE YEAR. Thank you again for being such a cool dude. Good luck on the new album & we hope to see you in the future.”

Was Martin’s karaoke set filmed for the “All My Love” music video? Did Martin film the “All My Love” video and then celebrate with an impromptu karaoke performance? It’s unclear, but apparently, a Coldplay music video was shot at Dino’s.

Coldplay is set to release Moon Music on October 4. The album will serve as the iconic British band’s 10th LP.

Perfume Genius’ third album Too Bright was one of 2014’s most esteemed albums, and now that it has turned a decade old, Perfume Genius has reissued the project. A vinyl reissue was released on September 20, but there’s more.

As of today (September 23), the version of the album available on streaming and DSPs has three bonus tracks: “Story Of Love,” “My Place,” and “When U Need Someone.”

Perfume Genius is also in the midst of a quick anniversary tour, on which he’s performing the album in its entirety. It kicked off on September 16 and has a few dates remaining.

Listen to one of the new songs, “Story Of Love,” above. Check out the Too Bright reissue tracklist below, along with Perfume Genius’ upcoming tour dates.

Perfume Genius’ Too Bright Reissue Tracklist

1. “I Decline”
2. “Queen”
3. “Fool”
4. “No Good”
5. “My Body”
6. “Don’t Let Them In”
7. “Grid”
8. “Longpig”
9. “I’m A Mother”
10. “Too Bright”
11. “All Along”
12. “Story Of Love” *
13. “My Place” *
14. “When U Need Someone” *

* bonus track on DSP version

Perfume Genius’ 2024 Tour Dates: Too Bright 10th Anniversary Tour

09/24 — San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
09/26 — Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever
09/27 — Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever

Too Bright (10th Anniversary) is out now via Matador Records. Find more information here.

Yesterday (September 22) marked the one-year anniversary of Chappell Roan’s debut album, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, which became a hit in 2024 as Roan rose to pop stardom. Roan has been candid discussing the ups and downs of her newfound fame, and she acknowledged them once again in a post celebrating her album’s anniversary yesterday.

The X (formerly Twitter) post reads:

“1 year of The Rise & Fall of a Midwest Princess
my life has been changed forever [heart hands emoji] this has been amazing and hard and beautiful and eye opening and empowering and transformative and every emotion ever. Thank you thank you thank you for everything. Thank you for showing up for this project and believing in me.

Ps
this is not just me making this happen,
This is a team of people working their asses off day and night to keep this afloat. I am so lucky and feel so loved [bouquet emoji]

Xoxo
Chappell.”

The post also includes a photo of Roan holding a vinyl copy of the album in front of a wall covered in posters about the album.

Also this weekend, Roan performed in London, where she was delighted to see a fan filming with a Nintendo DS (technically, original DS models didn’t have cameras, so the fun would have had to have had a DSi, 3DS, or 2DS system.)

Find the post here.

This post contains spoilers for The Substance

That wild ending of The Substance was a delight to watch, but “torture” to actually make.

“It was torture,” star Margaret Qualley told USA Today. “I had this awesome team of prosthetic artists that put it on me and took it off of me and got me through the day and made me laugh a couple of times while I was just on the brink of panic.”

[Final warning for spoilers]

In Coralie Fargeat’s new film, Demi Moore‘s Elisabeth Sparkle injects herself with a drug known as “the substance” in which she becomes a younger, more “perfect” version of herself, Sue, played by Qualley. The one catch: they have to switch bodies every seven days. Sue doesn’t play along after she becomes famous, however, and by the end of the film, Elisabeth and Sue have turned into a grotesque, Toxic Avenger-like monster known as Monstro Elisasue.

Qualley continued, “I only have one eye. I can’t hear anything. I can’t move my arms. I’ve got these retainers in that are like too huge, they just kind of cut everything. It was grueling to embody. But the purity of the soul at that moment was so refreshing because I’d been playing [Sue] for four-and-a-half months by that point, who was really hard to relate to. Like really soulless, man.” The suit actually caused acne to break out on her face, but “honestly,” she said, “I kind of loved the way that looked so it was OK.”

The Substance is out in theaters now.

(Via USA Today)

In August, Lizzo said she’s taking a “gap year.” One thing she seems to be doing during this period is working through her weight-loss journey. Now, she’s seeing a sign that indicates people are noticing how her body is changing.

A September 20 Instagram carousel post from Lizzo includes a video of her striking poses with the on-screen text, “When you finally get ozempic allegations after 5 months of weight training and calorie deficit.” The video is set to a trending audio, a clip from Django Unchained, of Christoph Waltz’s character Dr. King Schultz taking a gulp of beer before saying, “It’s like a reward.” The implication there is apparently that Lizzo takes that type of feedback as a compliment, as an indication that people are noticing her weight loss.

The post also includes a screenshot of an interaction Lizzo had with an Instagram user. The user commented on one of Lizzo’s posts, “did she use ozempic or did she snort coke.” Lizzo responded, “whyyyy do u follow me? [crying emojis].”

This comes after Lizzo was the subject of an Ozempic-related joke on South Park earlier this year. She said about that at the time, “That’s crazy. I just feel like, ‘Damn. I’m really that b*tch.’ I’m really that b*tch. I really showed the world how to love yourself and not give a f*ck to the point where these men in Colorado know who the f*ck I am. And put it on their cartoon, that’s been around for 25 years. I’m really that b*tch. And I showed y’all how to not give a f*ck and I’m going to keep showing y’all not to give a f*ck.”

The Las Vegas Aces didn’t enter the 2024 WNBA Playoffs as the title favorite for the first time in a few years, as the back-to-back champs only landed the 4-seed and were second on the odds sheet behind the New York Liberty as Game 1s tipped off on Sunday.

The Liberty took care of business with relative ease against the Dream in their Game 1 to open the day, but the Aces needed a much bigger effort to get past the Storm in the nightcap in Vegas. Seattle came out with terrific intensity on both ends of the floor and built an 18-9 lead after the first quarter, holding Vegas to 2-of-18 shooting in the opening frame, while Nneka Ogwumike got off to a strong start to lead Seattle offensively as they turned defense into offense.

The Aces would quickly battle back and the game settled into a back-and-forth affair, with Seattle leading by four at the half despite an extremely quiet first 20 minutes from the unanimous MVP, A’ja Wilson. Unsurprisingly, she woke up in the third quarter to score 15 in the period by herself, helping the Aces close the gap down to one heading into the fourth.

The story of the second half — and especially the fourth quarter — was Vegas ratcheting up the defensive pressure as they engulfed the Seattle offense. Wilson led the way with five blocks, while Tiffany Hayes had five steals off the bench, as the Aces took advantage of the physicality being allowed in the game and put the clamps on the Storm.

In the fourth quarter, Seattle did not make a shot, as their only two points in the quarter came on a pair of Skylar Diggins-Smith free throws with four minutes to go. In total, Seattle went 0-for-12 from the field in the fourth, as the Aces put on a masterclass defensively to cause the Storm to completely stagnate. On the other end, it wasn’t perfect from the Aces, but Chelsea Gray took over late with some big buckets to put the game on ice.

Gray finished with 16 points and seven assists, providing some welcome support for Wilson’s 21-point, 8-rebound, 5-block effort. Jackie Young chipped in 12 points, but Hayes was the saving grace for the Aces with 20 points and the aforementioned five steals off the bench, injecting some needed life into the Vegas backcourt with Kelsey Plum ice cold (1-of-8) on the night.

For the Storm, Ogwumike finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, but all of her scoring came in the first half, while Diggins-Smith led the team with 16 points and 8 assists. Gabby Williams added 14 points and 8 rebounds, but as a team the Storm shot just 36.8 percent from the field, as they could not find a rhythm against the Vegas defense. Figuring out how to crack that code will determine whether the Storm can force the series to Seattle for a Game 3, because the defending champs had far from their A-game offensively on Sunday night but still came out on top.

It’s a pretty good time to be a fan of the Tennessee Volunteers football team. The Vols are 4-0 to start the year, have risen up to No. 5 in the country in the most recent AP Poll, and are fresh off of a 25-15 win over Oklahoma in Norman. They’re rock solid on both sides of the football, and they have one of the most promising young signal callers in the sport in first-year starter Nico Iamaleava.

After the Vols picked up that win in Norman on Saturday, the team returned to Knoxville and had several members of the program join Morgan Wallen as he walked out to a raucous crowd in Neyland Stadium for a concert. This included Iamaleava, starting receiver Bru McCoy, and head coach Josh Heupel. But the thing that got the crowd to erupt was Peyton Manning dressing up in a full uniform and joining the group — he even had a helmet, which he threw on at one point.

Manning, of course, is one of the greatest players in Tennessee football history, and has never been shy about how much he loves his Vols. I would love to know how hard it was to talk him into doing this, although my hunch is that it was not very difficult at all.

The first two games of the WNBA Playoffs saw the top seeds send a message reminding folks why they are the class of the league, as the Liberty and Sun took care of business at home in convincing fashion in their Game 1s.

It looked as though the 2-seeded Minnesota Lynx would follow suit in their opener against the 7-seeded Phoenix Mercury, as they were on fire early in the game and jumped out to as big as a 23-point first half lead behind the MVP runner-up, Napheesa Collier. As has been the case all season, Collier was the focal point for the Lynx offense and delivered to the tune of 38 points on 11-of-19 shooting (3-of-5 from three), as she gave the Mercury fits both inside and out.

However, the veteran Mercury were not going to go quietly, and they steadily chipped away at Minnesota’s lead after that early onslaught. They trimmed the lead to 14 at the half and single digits going into the fourth quarter, as they upped their defensive intensity and followed Natasha Cloud’s lead offensively, as she piled up 33 points and 10 assists to lead the charge for Phoenix to get back into the game. Late in the fourth, Cloud got to the rim and put the Mercury on top, fully erasing that 23-point deficit and creating some tension in the Target Center for the home squad.

The Lynx would show their resolve, closing the game on an 11-3 run that featured a wild sequence in which a block on one end ultimately led to the dagger three by Bridget Carleton that gave Minnesota a six-point lead with 39 seconds to play.

They would ice it from there in what became a 102-95 victory, but if there were any question as to whether the Lynx would get pushed by Phoenix in this first round, that got answered in a big way in Game 1. Along with Cloud’s huge game, Diana Taurasi poured in five threes on her way to 21 points, while Kahleah Copper added 16 points to help the Mercury make it a game in Minnesota. Ultimately, the Lynx just had more firepower down the stretch, as Collier dominated, Kayla McBride added 20 points, and Courtney Williams (9 points, 8 assists) made some clutch plays late.

The Lynx will certainly feel like they made that game more interesting than it needed to be, but getting a win and holding home court in Game 1 of a three-game series is the most important thing as a favorite and they did that. Now the task is how to maintain their level for four quarters in Game 2, while Phoenix will be looking to avoid another slow start and see if they can go toe-to-toe with the Lynx for all 40 minutes on Wednesday.