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When Kurt Vile was in his 20s, he was known around the Philadelphia music scene as “the CD-R guy,” an eccentric hustler constantly trying to get people to pay attention to his melancholy, lo-fi psych-folk songs dubbed on cheap circular plastic. But now that Vile is in his 40s and has firmly established a well-respected career as one of the most consistent and unique singer-songwriters in indie rock, he knows he doesn’t have to push so hard.

“I’m not too worried about anything really,” he tells me during a recent interview. “I feel like I’ve proved a lot on this album, to be honest. But at the same time, I have nothing to prove.”

The album to which he refers is (Watch My Moves), his eighth solo LP due on Friday. While Vile is justifiably proud of the record, he concedes that listeners might need to spend some time with it before it fully sinks in. In the 2010s, Vile earned comparisons to classic rockers like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty thanks to durably hooky indie hits like “Baby’s Arms,” “Wakin On A Pretty Day,” and “Pretty Pimpin.” But lately, he’s favored dreamier grooves and free-floating arrangements that let songs drift for several minutes, as if lost in a stoned reverie. The languid epics of 2018’s Bottle It In signaled this change in direction, and (Watch My Moves) fortifies it.

Over the course of 20 years, Vile has compiled a large catalog of collaborative albums and EPs, including 2017’s Lotta Sea Lice with Courtney Barnett and 2020’s thoroughly charming country-tinged effort Speed, Sound, Lonely KV, which featured the late John Prine. But when we met up to discuss his discography, purely for the sake of relative brevity, we opted to focus only on his solo albums, which Vile happily (and proudly) discussed.

Constant Hitmaker (2008)

I’m honestly pretty proud of all my phases. I’m not embarrassed about anything. It’s just a timeline for me, of what I was into and where I was at. I got a crazy photographic/audiographic memory. I can even see the albums. You see a lot of things at once. It’s pretty cool. The mind is a very psychedelic tool.

The way I’m talking now, I was talking the same way then. I’m talking the same game. That’s why on Constant Hitmaker, I was talking about writing hit songs. Songs like “Freeway” that could have been a hit. Should have been a hit. “Don’t Get Cute,” “Freeway,” “Breathin Out” — they’re all catchy pop songs. It was all the best songs on my previously released CD-Rs that not many people heard.

I like how it’s got a stretch of pop songs. Then it gets a little psychedelic, like an American folk/pop version of shoegaze music where it just goes up and down. If you listen to those segues and then you flash forward to the new record, they’re still there. They’ve always, ultimately, been there. But especially when you’re working from home, I feel like those things creep in a lot more. When you’re at home, you tend to play more weird synths on the fly. Or you’re just going about your day and you start messing around with something. Because it’s all your gear. Whereas if you go into the studio, you’re bringing everything. All already it’s gotten altered somehow. All of a sudden your brain got altered.

Whether it’s on your nice equipment or on a tape recorder upstairs or on a Zoom recorder or your iPhone, the one lesson I learned is, it doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, you can mix it all together. People don’t notice or care. Or if they do notice it often sounds cool if there’s a little hiss.

God Is Saying This To You … (2009)

Keith [Abrahamsson] at Mexican Summer, who put the record out, says there’s something special I was onto then, that I never did again. He’s right. Songs like “Beach On The Moon,” you can hear the melancholy in the lyrics. And you can hear the urgency in “My Sympathy” and that finger-picker “Songs For John In D.” I really think that I’ve come back to that. Because I can hear the same sound in my voice in “Flyin’ Like A Fast Train,” the same quick urgency. I feel like I’m there. I feel like I’m off the grid. I feel like my guard is completely down again. I do feel like I can tap into the past and the present and the future. I feel like I can do that now.

Constant Hitmaker came out, and then Keith got in touch with me and wanted to put out a record. I was like, “Oh, that sounds cool. I’ll have to go through my CD-Rs.” I was about to go on my first European tour ever, opening for The War On Drugs. I was in The War On Drugs, and I was opening as Kurt Vile.

God is Saying This to You … came out a little before Childish Prodigy. The Hunchback EP also came out in 2009. That was all a result of getting a bunch of offers. Matador definitely wasn’t too happy, I’d say, that they all came out at the same time. But it was like a freak perfect storm of coming out of that DIY, lo-fi scene. Putting out some obscure albums and then getting offers for more cool vinyl releases.

Childish Prodigy (2009)

I had most of Childish Prodigy in the can since 2007 or so, and I had been shopping it around with no luck. That was my “studio” album that I was saving for a bigger label. Except the more up-to-date song was “He’s Alright,” which is a great song. That got added at the last minute.

We got Matador to put it out, but we sent them the same record twice. We sent it once and I guess they heard it. Then we played a show in New York where they came to see if they wanted to sign that band Tyvek. But we opened and my manager Rennie sent them the record again. You want to hear the new Kurt Vile? Just playing dumb. Then they listened the second time.

It was my new sound. I just knew that was where I was at. It is where Adam [Granduciel] worked with Jeff Ziegler for the first time. Jeff did all of Slave Ambient and some of Lost In The Dream. But that connection first started from Adam working with me on Childish Prodigy. In September 2005, me and Adam took a couple of weeks off our jobs to record. We got songs like “Overnite Religion” and “Blackberry Song.” Those were the throwbacks that made it onto Childish Prodigy. But they felt the same. They had that same psychedelic sort of thing.

I like that Childish Prodigy is the closest to a punk record I’ve made. It’s like a psychedelic punk record that also has some blues. There’s some Charley Patton-style finger-picking and delivery in songs like “Dead Alive.” But there’s also noise and stuff like that. That’s definitely an underrated record, if you’re talking in Pitchfork terms. But I know it became Kim Gordon’s favorite record. I know it became Bradford Cox’s favorite record. I know it was an influential record.

Smoke Ring For My Halo (2011)

I was noticing getting more shows and taking all the offers I could. And I could see a difference in my fans. I remember playing Primavera Fest and the European people just screaming out for me. It was surreal, but it was beautiful. But that’s a melancholy record and I think it’s my only conventional style “classic” record. The closest version to some kind of classic rock record

It’s also got a lot of folk. Folk music was probably my biggest influence then. Like Bert Jansch and John Martyn. Definitely into Joni Mitchell and things like that. There’s a Joni Mitchell delivery on “Ghost Town,” it’s got “The Last Time I Saw Richard” vibes. I wrote “On Tour” on this early bare-bones tour. It was a tough tour for the band to go on. I enjoyed it, but not everybody in the band enjoyed it. There were some disagreements. Then I remember I was feeling sensitive after a fight. I wrote “On Tour” backstage. Lord Of The Flies. “Watch out for this one, he’ll stab you in the back for fun. I’m just playing. I know you man. Most of the time.”

But “Baby’s Arms,” that should have been a hit. That was an older song. It sounded cinematic. That song really is a special tune. There’s no beating around the bush with that one.

Wakin On A Pretty Daze (2013)

I guess you could say that’s my epic classic record. It’s fully produced by John Agnello, same as Smoke Ring. But we spent more time in the studio. I had big ideas. I was on the road a lot for Smoke Ring. Those were the kind of songs I was writing at soundcheck. “Wakin On A Pretty Day.” “Was All Talk” — they got a lot of parts to them.

I was just liking the idea of classic ’70s songs on the radio that you want to play over and over again, except you don’t have to press play. You don’t have to start it over as many times, because the songs are longer. I didn’t necessarily think “Wakin On A Pretty Day” would be 10 minutes long. I didn’t think “Goldtone” was going to be 10 minutes. But I just knew they had a hypnotic quality, like a dolphin or something. Go under the water, come up for air. I wanted to make it seem disorienting, and I pulled it off.

John Agnello was there to capture us rocking out. That’s the only thing you can really do, just rock out. Just play those clubs and play loud and rock it out. Maybe that’s part of why there are so many guitar solos on that record. But I don’t think about it that way. On B’lieve I’m Goin’ Down, I kept removing the guitar solos because something was bothering me about overdubbing. I just like to be live more and if it’s not live, I wanted to be playing with people while we overdubbed together.

B’lieve I’m Goin’ Down (2015)

We didn’t use a conventional producer. We didn’t know what we were going to do. My bandmate Rob did a lot of the engineering. And also my drummer Kyle, who has a home studio in Athens, we used him for certain tracks. Then I went out to the desert to reconnect with Farmer Dave Scher from Beachwood Sparks and All Night Radio. He’s my California buddy. He’s a character. He played a lot on Wakin. We went out to L.A. for the first time on Wakin for some of the sessions and brought John with us. Then Stella [Mozgowa] showed up and she saved that record. So, I knew I wanted to go out to the desert and record and have Stella come, and Farmer Dave and Rob. I feel like I wrote “Wheelhouse” right as soon as I showed up in the desert. I don’t think it was even written.

With that record, I think it was me knowing I can’t just do one thing. I know I have strengths here with the Violators, but I also have these other friends I want to play with. The more West Coast thing. But at some point we hit a wall. Around that time, I recorded the song “All In A Daze Work” and it’s just solo acoustic. It had that heartbreak vibe in it. We went out to L.A. again to try to keep the flame burning. That’s when, coincidentally, Rob Schnapf got in touch with Chris Lombardi at the label. He was like, “I’d like to work with Kurt.” I was like, “Oh wow. The dude that worked on Mellow Gold wants to work with me.” Then while I was out there, totally inspired, I wrote “Pretty Pimpin.” It’s been my biggest hit yet.

Bottle It In (2018)

I’m really proud of Bottle It In. It’s a transitional record. That was all about being out there on the road and capturing a feeling on tape and continuing with trying to do the live thing. I had the keyboards prerecorded. I knew the lyrics. But I showed up in L.A. basically after playing with The Sadies at Stagecoach. They’re really good friends of mine. Dallas [Good] just passed away. Insane.

The title track, you can’t touch it. That’s as close as I can get to spiritual jazz with a rock element. I have a Mellotron horn solo that happens in the middle. All that happened live. Then you listen back, you’re like, wow, it’s going to be tough to edit this down because it’s got so much feeling. “Bassackwards” is similar. It’s just a hypnotic groove with the lyrics. It’s some kind of folky shoegaze thing where I just go in and I bob my head up and down. Sometimes I come up for air. Sometimes I go to outer space and then I come back. There’s lots of really cool production on that record. You got to spend time with it. But I revisited it early in the pandemic and I’m really proud of it for sure. Deep record.

(Watch My Moves) (2022)

It’s been a weird couple years, but I liked it. I built a studio here. Luckily I had a few songs in the can. Well, more than a few. But three songs made it that were in the can before the pandemic hit. If I had to start a record from scratch on a new label just in my home studio, that’d be weird. Because I like to have my worlds overlap from the previous phase, ideally. When the record was finally due, I actually panicked and booked more time with Rob Schnapf in L.A., just because he has an established studio. I love working with Rob. I went there over this past summer three times in two-week increments. It ended up being an even split between studios.

Now, even after the record’s finally turned in, I’ve been working. It’s even more comfortable. It’s just like, learning how to fake yourself out so that it’s the most natural laidback scenario possible. There was some good tension, I guess. I feel like the studio was not quite ready and I had to rush to get it ready. Then I wasn’t necessarily comfortable in it right away when Rob got here. But then by the time he left, I was totally comfortable. I like when nobody’s here.

“Exploding Stones” was really just a demo that I had recorded. I had the Violators play over top of it one morning when I was feeling too out of it. It was the first time we had reconnected since the pandemic, when people were comfortable being around each other without it being too weird. Next thing you know, we added all these synths to it pretty quick. That was the first song to really have some promise when we got back together.

I’ve always loved that Springsteen song “Wages Of Sin.” There are certain songs on Tracks in particular — “Janey Don’t You Lose Heart,” “Restless Nights.” More recently, one that I rediscovered was “Sad Eyes.” That’s when I got back into “Wages Of Sin.” We recorded a version of that with Jeff Ziegler back in 2007, the original Violators, including Adam. But I was always wanting to revisit that. I turned my bandmate Kyle, my drummer, onto it. He really got into it on the Bottle It In tour. He was like, “Oh, we could do our own version of that.”

I think my records are always enough of something new in my evolution. I’ve always got new things to say. I just think I’m emitting my personality and being comfortable where I’m at in my life. It’s a little bit cocky, and sometimes funny. But it’s also confidently played with dreamy chords, and it just puts you in the zone. All those things that I’ve become a master of, it’s what I’m doing and I’m cranking it out from my own house at this point. It’s just the way it is.

Basically, I just want it to be as honest as possible. I want the songs to creep up to me. In the older days, I used to think too much. Oh, why am I not writing? Am I going to write a good song? None of that matters, because now I like when I’m not writing. I like to be present in whatever I’m doing and then the music comes through inspiration. If you just go about your day, inspiration’s going to strike. I’m not too worried about anything really. I feel like I’ve proved a lot on this album, to be honest. But at the same time, I have nothing to prove.

There are plenty of music awards out there but perhaps the most prestigious is a work being selected for preservation in the Library Of Congress’ National Recording Registry; Recordings are selected after being deemed “worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical, or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage.” It’s a major achievement, as only 600 recordings have ever been honored.

That total counts the newly announced selections for 2022, which include Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory, Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), and Alicia Keys’ Songs In A Minor, among noteworthy others.

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden says, “The National Recording Registry reflects the diverse music and voices that have shaped our nation’s history and culture through recorded sound. The national library is proud to help preserve these recordings, and we welcome the public’s input. We received about 1,000 public nominations this year for recordings to add to the registry.”

Keys also noted, “I’m so honored and grateful that Songs In A Minor, the entire album, gets to be recognized as such a powerful body of work that is just going to be timeless.

Find the full list of 2022 selections below and read more about them here.

1. “Harlem Strut” — James P. Johnson (1921)
2. Franklin D. Roosevelt: Complete Presidential Speeches (1933-1945)
3. “Walking The Floor Over You” — Ernest Tubb (1941) (single)
4. “On A Note Of Triumph” (May 8, 1945)
5. “Jesus Gave Me Water” — The Soul Stirrers (1950) (single)
6. Ellington At Newport — Duke Ellington (1956) (album)
7. We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite — Max Roach (1960) (album)
8. “The Christmas Song” — Nat King Cole (1961) (single)
9. Tonight’s The Night — The Shirelles (1961) (album)
10. “Moon River” — Andy Williams (1962) (single)
11. In C — Terry Riley (1968) (album)
12. “It’s A Small World” — The Disneyland Boys Choir (1964) (single)
13. “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” — The Four Tops (1966) (single)
14. Hank Aaron’s 715th Career Home Run (April 8, 1974)
15. “Bohemian Rhapsody” — Queen (1975) (single)
16. “Don’t Stop Believin’” — Journey (1981) (single)
17. Canciones de Mi Padre — Linda Ronstadt (1987) (album)
18. Nick Of Time — Bonnie Raitt (1989) (album)
19. The Low End Theory — A Tribe Called Quest (1991) (album)
20. Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) — Wu-Tang Clan (1993) (album)
21. Buena Vista Social Club (1997) (album)
22. “Livin’ La Vida Loca” — Ricky Martin (1999) (single)
23. Songs In A Minor — Alicia Keys (2001) (album)
24. WNYC broadcasts for the day of 9/11 (September 11, 2001)
25. WTF With Marc Maron (Guest: Robin Williams) (April 26, 2010)

When shows stick the landing of a perfect first season, I always have mixed feelings about them continuing. That’s especially the case if an ending (and the season as a whole) feels so flawlessly swift, with not an ounce of fat in sight and in its cadence, and it wraps up so satisfyingly that a worthy followup seems impossible. That was my fear with this season of The Flight Attendant, since the first one achieved such an effective amount of turbulence. That’s why I worried about the upcoming Russian Doll followup, too, and it’s why I wasn’t crushed to not see another season of Watchmen, and to be frank, I would have been alright to not have more of The Flight Attendant.

How could this show, as gleefully dark and funny and surreal and absurd as it was, possibly sustain the same level of success? I mean, my god, this series — meant to only be a limited series, as based upon Chris Bohjalian’s book of the same name — started off with a horribly bloody murder, following an ill-advised, boozy one-night stand, and it just barreled into more mayhem from there. Mystery abounded, and Cassie had her butt saved by numerous parties, including Shane (Griffin Matthews), who revealed himself as a CIA asset by season’s end. And the source material was a pitch-perfect vehicle for Cuoco to finally strut her charismatic stuff and prove that she was underrated as a power player, post-Big Bang Theory, as more than the voice of animated Harley Quinn.

Now, I know that I’m a worrier, so naturally, I had apprehension about a second season. But there were a lot of reasons to worry, including the story going off-book, but also, Cassie got sober. That changes a lot, meaning, is she still capable of attracting such chaos? And could it be done convincingly? Well, yes. That’s where one must remember that the first season found some of its wildest moments in Cassie’s head, when she got all hallucinatory. This also, paradoxically, lent a sense of balance to the chaos that swirled around her. She visited her past trauma, and she talked with the dead guy, and it was kind-of therapy for the audience, too, since the show otherwise may have been too absurd to convincingly process without that inner discussion. There was some closure there, so with this second round, something similar needed to fill the void.

Without spoiling too much, the show does go there again, and it pulls off the twisted feat. Cassie’s inner life is as active as ever, and in fact, it’s hyperactive in a way that no one would want to endure. Furthermore, Shane set Cassie up with a side gig for the CIA, so there’s spy drama and never any possibility for a dull moment, even more so than with the first season, which focused on a smaller scope in terms of Cassie’s ass being grass. While attempting to go on the straight and narrow, Cassie discovers another nefarious plot, coupled with plenty of mystery, to keep her on her toes, as the story jets toward new shenanigans all over the globe (including in Iceland).

Yep, one thing that this show does super well is that it places characters into scenarios and surroundings that are exceedingly more glamorous and adventurous than a flight attendant could realistically experience, side gigs and all. And that continues here, although not as much flight-attending happens as during the last season, and unfortunately (at least in the first six episodes), there’s not enough of Shane and Rosie Perez’s Megan (who is back on her bullsh*t when we do see her again), but there is a new character (played by Mae Martin) who I want to hang out with sometime.

Also, I am pleased to report an abundance of Zosia Mamet’s Annie on the scene. She’s a mess of defense mechanisms and trying to put her life back together, and she’s somehow even more self-defeating than Cassie. Zosia’s terrific, and Deniz Akdeniz still does best as Max by allowing the ladies to shine over him. That’s another thing I love most about this show (and one that’s amplified in this round), which is that most male characters act in furtherance of the ladies’ journeys, and it never feels like things were painstakingly plotted out that way. It’s simply how the story rolls in an organic way, and this show achieves perhaps one of the smoothest executions of this feat.

Visually speaking, The Flight Attendant is still a stunner, too, and I recall thinking that the first season felt like a sunshine-splashed, Kaley Cuoco-starring version of Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. The morbid humor was there, of course, the opening animation sequences threw off the same vibe as the Netflix show, and Michelle Gomez (who portrayed Madame Satan for Sabrina) was on hand for seemingly nefarious reasons. In actuality, the show’s aesthetic actually takes inspiration from the 1990s Cowboy Bebop movie. Those sliding frames and disjoined visuals only accentuate the story that’s meant to never let you let that guard down, and the signature visual cue feels comforting while also signaling that one should never feel too comfy in this universe. The smallest details, like Cassie’s ringtone, still act as a bridge to the familiar; all of it a chaotic work of art.

More than anything, this season feels like Kaley Cuoco is having such a good time toying with our expectations of her. She must have seen those articles that marveled at her post-Big Bang Theory success. So, let’s just say that The Flight Attendant continues what we’re used to from the show, but it also subverts the very subversive expectations laid out in the first season. And I marvel at how the powers that be really let Cuoco, as an executive producer, really take the ball and run with it. She’s no mere hired gun, and she’s helped to engineer this show into what it is today, from being one of HBO Max’s canaries in the coal mine into a staple for the streaming service.

I mean, sure, it’s great to have that massive WB archive and some tried-and-true franchises (Game of Thrones) promising to pump out followups, but damn, I have to say that HBO Max is really about pushing original stories with unapologetic ladies. There’s Jean Smart getting her leading-lady due in Hacks (can we get a crossover?) and Kaley Cuoco proving that the bubbly blonde archetype is worth smashing into smithereens. Likewise, she’s stumbling through Hitchcockian visuals and playing against the icy blonde and saying screw convention, and screw the idea of sticking for-or-against type. Cassie and pals are going up against something much darker than they could have ever fathomed dealing with this season, and fortunately, The Flight Attendant never feels heavy and remains a blast.

‘The Flight Attendant’ takes a second (weekly) voyage on April 21.

With the Minnesota Timberwolves and Brooklyn Nets punching their tickets to the NBA Playoffs in Tuesday night’s play-in games, 14 of the 16 playoff seeds are locked in.

The final two will be decided on Friday, when the winners of the 9/10 games on Wednesday meet the Cavaliers and Clippers respectively for the 8-seeds in each conference. While those final spots are still up for grabs, the NBA wanted to give teams and fans time to prepare for their upcoming series, releasing the complete schedule (with some TBDs still out there) for the guaranteed games (1-4) in the first round.

EAST

1. Miami Heat vs. 8. East 8th Seed

Game 1: Sunday (4/17) 1:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 2: Tuesday (4/19) TBD (TBD)
Game 3: Friday (4/22) TBD (ESPN)
Game 4: Sunday (4/24) 7:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 5: Tuesday (4/26) TBD (TBD)
Game 6: Thursday (4/28) TBD (TBD)
Game 7: Saturday (4/30) TBD (TBD)

2. Boston Celtics vs. 7. Brooklyn Nets

Game 1: Sunday (4/17) 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 2: Wednesday (4/20) 7:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 3: Saturday (4/23) TBD (ESPN)
Game 4: Monday (4/25) TBD (TBD)
Game 5: Wednesday (4/27) TBD (TBD)
Game 6: Friday (4/29) TBD (TBD)
Game 7: Sunday (5/1) TBD (TBD)

3. Milwaukee Bucks vs. 6. Chicago Bulls

Game 1: Sunday (4/17) 6:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 2: Wednesday (4/20) 9:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 3: Friday (4/22) 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 4: Sunday (4/24) 1:00 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 5: Wednesday (4/27) TBD (TBD)
Game 6: Friday (4/29) TBD (TBD)
Game 7: Sunday (5/1) TBD (TBD)

4. Philadelphia 76ers vs. 5. Toronto Raptors

Game 1: Saturday (4/16) 6:00 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 2: Monday (4/18) 7:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 3: Thursday (4/20) 8:00 p.m. ET (NBATV)
Game 4: Saturday (4/23) 2:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 5: Monday (4/25) TBD (TBD)
Game 6: Thursday (4/28) TBD (TBD)
Game 7: Saturday (4/30) TBD (TBD

WEST

1. Phoenix Suns vs. 8. West 8th Seed

Game 1: Sunday (4/17) 9:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 2: Tuesday (4/19) 10:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 3: Friday (4/22) TBD (ESPN)
Game 4: Sunday (4/24) 9:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 5: Tuesday (4/26) TBD (TBD)
Game 6: Thursday (4/28) TBD (TBD)
Game 7: Saturday (4/30) TBD (TBD)

2. Memphis Grizzlies vs. 7. Minnesota Timberwolves

Game 1: Saturday (4/16) 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 2: Tuesday (4/19) TBD (TBD)
Game 3: Thursday (4/21) 7:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 4: Saturday (4/23) TBD (ESPN)
Game 5: Tuesday (4/26) TBD (TBD)
Game 6: Friday (4/29) TBD (TBD)
Game 7: Sunday (5/1) TBD (TBD)

3. Golden State Warriors vs. 6. Denver Nuggets

Game 1: Saturday (4/16) 8:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 2: Monday (4/18) 10:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 3: Thursday (4/21) 10:00 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 4: Sunday (4/24) 3:30 p.m. ET (ABC)
Game 5: Wednesday (4/27) TBD (TBD)
Game 6: Friday (4/29) TBD (TBD)
Game 7: Sunday (5/1) TBD (TBD)

4. Dallas Mavericks vs. 5. Utah Jazz

Game 1: Saturday (4/16) 1:00 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Game 2: Monday (4/18) 8:30 p.m. ET (NBATV)
Game 3: Thursday (4/21) 9:00 p.m. ET (NBATV)
Game 4: Saturday (4/23) 4:30 p.m. ET (TNT)
Game 5: Monday (4/25) TBD (TBD)
Game 6: Thursday (4/28) TBD (TBD)
Game 7: Saturday (4/30) TBD (TBD)

The Minnesota Timberwolves punched their ticket to the NBA Playoffs on Tuesday night with a thrilling fourth quarter comeback against the Clippers, led by Anthony Edwards, D’Angelo Russell, and Patrick Beverley.

The game, fittingly, ended with Beverley hustling an offensive rebound on a missed free throw with the Wolves up five, and he ran to the corner and launched the ball in the air, starting a massive celebration in Minnesota. Beverley jumped on the scorers table and fired his jersey into the crowd, going absolutely wild as the Wolves reached the playoffs for the first time since 2018. As TNT cut back to the Atlanta studios, the Inside the NBA crew couldn’t keep their composure when discussing the celebration in Minnesota, as Shaq, Chuck, Kenny, and even Ernie couldn’t help but poke some fun at how hard Minnesota was celebrating their play-in win.

They would then put “We Are The Champions” over the video of the celebration, per Shaq’s request, sending them into hysterics again, and later gave them their own “One Shining Moment.”

The Timberwolves absolutely should enjoy the win and no one in the Target Center wants to hear about them celebrating too hard — and they shouldn’t. However, it was the exact type of moment that is perfect for the Inside crew to have some fun with. The best part is that, usually, it’s Shaq and Chuck leading the way, but this time Kenny was the one who was laughing the most and Ernie even got some jokes in about it all being a bit much.

The Wolves will have to bring themselves back down to earth in the next few days and get ready for what should be a highly entertaining series against the Grizzlies, starting on Saturday.

The Minnesota Timberwolves finished the 2020-21 campaign with a 23-49 record and, even with optimism of improvement in 2021-22, the Wolves were not widely projected as a playoff team. On Tuesday, the Wolves cemented their place in the Western Conference Playoffs, outlasting the L.A. Clippers by a 109-104 margin in the Play-In Tournament to earn the No. 7 seed and set up a best-of-seven clash with the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Wolves threw the first punch in the form of a 7-2 run. Anthony Edwards made his first three shots to give his team the lead and signal what was to come in a productive first half.

Almost immediately, the Clippers seized control, scoring 10 consecutive points. The Wolves didn’t scratch for almost four minutes, and L.A. led for the lion’s share of the first half.

The Clippers led by as many as nine points in the opening quarter, taking advantage of a cold start from Karl-Anthony Towns and virtually everyone by Edwards on the Minnesota side. Even with a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Jaden McDaniels, the Wolves trailed by six points after 12 minutes.

Minnesota shot 36 percent with eight turnovers in the opening period. Fortunately, the Wolves also caused six turnovers in what was a chaotic quarter, and that chaos continued, particularly when it came to whistles. There were 29 (!) fouls called in the first half of the game, creating a stop-and-start atmosphere, but there was also strong three-point shooting early in the game. The two teams combined to shoot 13-of-21 from three-point range in the first 17 minutes, even with Towns missing his first seven shots and picking up four fouls for Minnesota.

Fortunately for the Wolves, Edwards continued to churn, scoring 15 points in his first 13 minutes of action.

Still, the Clippers led by a 44-36 margin and L.A. led for quite some time. However, the Wolves closed strong behind D’Angelo Russell. Russell scored nine straight points as part of a 17-4 run that turned a deficit into a lead for Minnesota.

Within that run, the Clippers didn’t make a field goal for more than seven full minutes, though L.A. did bury a three-pointer in the final seconds of the second quarter to bring the visitors back within two points. Aside from the back-and-forth nature of the proceedings, foul trouble was a major story, with Towns (four), Edwards (three), Patrick Beverley (three) and Reggie Jackson (three) all facing issues into the break.

Much as it was at times in the first half, the start of the second half was ugly and grueling. Neither team was able to establish a rhythm offensively and, fittingly, the game was knotted at 63-63 midway through the third quarter. Towns finally established some sort of positive baseline but, as quickly as that occurred, the All-Star center picked up his fifth foul and had to sit with 3:47 remaining in the third.

With Towns on the bench, Paul George found his stride. L.A.’s leading scorer exploded for 12 points in three minutes, including a trio of three-pointers, and George was a significant part of the Clippers taking a seven-point lead at 80-73.

George scored 17 points in the third quarter alone, fueling much of the success for the Clippers, but L.A. led by only five points with 12 minutes remaining. The margin was eight in the waning seconds of the period, but Minnesota’s Malik Beasley connected on a buzzer-beating three-pointer that felt significant for the Wolves.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Clippers stagnated a bit on offense, but Terance Mann made sure that hiccup did not come at a cost. Mann blocked two shots in a hurry, including a spectacular rejection, and finished a dunk to help the Clippers build a 10-point advantage.

Minnesota would not fade, though, as the Wolves scored the next seven points, even with Towns fouling out with more than seven minutes remaining. Overall, the Wolves put together a 16-2 run, erasing what seemed to be a comfortable Clippers lead and giving Minnesota a 99-95 lead with four minutes to go.

The Clippers scored only two points for more than five minutes and, when L.A. finally broke that drought with a three-pointer by Batum, Edwards answered with a triple of his own to neutralize its effect. From there, Russell continued his highly productive night with an enormous jumper, giving the Wolves a six-point edge with 1:56 to go.

Following empty trips on both sides, the Clippers badly needed a bucket to stay in touch, and George obliged with a three-pointer. Russell missed on the other end, prying the door open for L.A., but Jackson was unable to finish a driving attempt at the rim. Edwards drew a foul on the other end, extending the lead to 106-101 with 38.5 seconds on the clock. The Clippers then came up empty after a timeout, further cementing control for Minnesota.

L.A. did make a dent when George made a deep triple with 12.5 seconds remaining, but the Wolves were always in a favorable position, ultimately escaping with a five-point win. On a night in which Towns was a complete non-factor, Russell and Edwards combined for 59 points, carrying Minnesota’s offense to overall effectiveness. Beverley was an A-plus irritant while also pulling down 11 rebounds, and Beasley delivered 12 points and a trio of three-pointers off the bench.

Though it is clear that they will need considerably more from Towns moving forward, the Wolves now have three days to prepare for Game 1 against the Grizzlies on Saturday. On the other side, the Clippers must regroup in a hurry and return home to L.A. to face either the New Orleans Pelicans or the San Antonio Spurs for a chance to earn a playoff berth on Friday.

In a less auto-curated moment (the ‘90s) where new wasn’t the main prerequisite for what movies got put in front of people’s faces there lived a show that trafficked in modified smut and over-the-top hijinks. USA’s Up All Night was, upon reflection, a nearly pointless exercise on paper, tacking on a few segments with a host onto a collection of often schlocky movies. In truth, it was probably only nominally more expensive than leaving the test pattern to run deep into the evening hours on Fridays and Saturday nights for USA, then a nascent basic cable channel, but the finished product was entertaining as hell and mildly wildly educational, lasting nine years in some form or another.

How the thing rose to a place of prominence in the hearts of insomniacs is no mystery. Up All Night was often the embodiment of the bargain bin at the video store, usually filled with laughably bad acting, writing, and effects, all presented with ample snark (and cheesy comedy bits) by hosts Rhonda Shear and the just-passed Gilbert Gottfried; cheap thrills made poorly in such a way that you couldn’t look away. Because what else were you going to do?

With few options on few channels, you forced yourself to watch and find the charm within the margins, expanding a palette in ways that maybe don’t jive with the classic definition of a film connoisseur’s formative journey. But why not? Can’t you learn as much from bad movies as good ones? If a movie makes you feel something – even if it’s not the intended emotion – isn’t that the point? A point, at least.

Gottfried’s professional legacy is going to be dotted with appraisals of him as a comic’s comic, someone who dedicated his later years to interviews with comedians on his podcast with Frank Santopadre and his earlier career to getting a lot of mileage out of his signature voice and manner, beginning with a brief stint on SNL right after the original cast had fled. ‘80s and ‘90s kids will remember him from Problem Child, Aladdin, and one million guest spots on literally every sitcom from the era (a Wings arc! Living Single! Herman’s Head!)

Maybe you know him from seeing your parents watching him troll people on Hollywood Squares, hearing him kill on Howard Stern, or from his telling of The Aristocrats joke. Regardless, Gottfried’s talent (and voice) cut through a crowd, allowing him to make an impact. He will be missed for all of the above and so much more (184 acting and voice acting credits not counting memorable late-night guest spots), but to me, this weird show deserves specific attention.

I would like to repeat some of the titles of films that ran on the show, mixed in with airings of more mainstream fare like Blues Brothers, Sixteen Candles, and The Evil Dead.

A Polish Vampire in Burbank
Roller Blade Warriors
The Malibu Bikini Shop
Getting Lucky
Vegas In Space

The writeup on TVDB (which cataloged a bunch of these episode titles) for Getting Lucky mentions a leprechaun in a beer bottle who doles out wishes. Now, I have zero recollection of that film or if I’ve ever seen that episode (sort of the point of these empty calorie things), but while your definition of art and my own may vary, can’t we agree that, from that synopsis alone, watching that movie sounds like it might be one hell of a weird experience? Particularly because it was made at a time before B-movies got more in on the joke, went meta, and lost some of their spirit.

Don’t get me wrong, an appreciation for the art and craft of movie-making is a wonderful thing to possess, but getting joy out of goofy horror comedies or incredibad acting in horrifically edited softcore films has a value that shouldn’t be ignored. It’s the root of things like Mystery Science Theater and Up All Night, a little club where we can waste time and have a few laughs at things that aren’t taking themselves too seriously. What a wonderful thing to be remembered for being a part of.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt didn’t do too many big projects for a bit there, but now he’s back and busier than ever. He had a plum role in The Trial of the Chicago 7, earned cheers for playing Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick in Super Pumped, and is even voicing Jiminy Cricket in Robert Zemeckis’ Tom Hanks-starring Pinocchio. Now this: As per Variety, he’s reuniting with a director who gave him one of his best roles.

That person is Rian Johnson, whose breakthrough, 2005’s high school neo-noir Brick, starred the former child star as a kind of teenage Philip Marlowe. Now he’s joining the cast of Poker Face, Johnson’s new Peacock series that stars Natasha Lyonne as a detective solving a new murder each episode. (For those who’ve wanted the always delightful Russian Doll co-creator/star in a modern day Columbo reboot, sounds like this may wind up being the closest thing.)

When Gordon-Levitt appeared in Brick, he was coming off the child abuse drama Mysterious Skin, which helped him transition from 3rd Rock from the Sun into more adult roles. Ever since he’s done small roles in Johnson’s movies since — a quickie cameo in The Brothers Bloom, an uncredited voice in Knives Out — and though details on Gordon-Levitt’s role are currently under wraps, it seems like this time it’ll be a full-blown reunion for two people who over the last decade-and-a-half have accomplished so much.

(Via Variety)

Lute’s big league start happened back in 2017 with his debut album’s release on Dreamville. West 1996 Pt. 2, which is the sequel to his 2012 mixtape, arrived two years after Lute joined the J. Cole-led squad. Names like EarthGang, Cam O’bi, Elevator Jay, and more appeared on the project which served as a great start to his Dreamville. Lute’s next album would take a while to arrive but it finally dropped towards the end of 2021 with Gold Mouf. Like his debut, Gold Mouf was another strong release from Lute, and six months after its release, he continues to promote the project with a brand new video.

He teams up with BJ The Chicago Kid in a new visual for “Changes.” The song is one of many great tracks from Gold Louf, and in the video, Lute and BJ take a moment to address those who’ve let money negatively affect them. They deliver their thoughts from an underground tunnel and on a nearby street while making sure their message is delivered with precision.

The new video arrives after Lute made a couple of contributions to Dreamville’s D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape where he appears on “Starting 5” and “Like Wine.” As for BJ The Chicago Kid, the video arrives after he dropped two EPs in 2021. The first with 4 Am and the second was Three.

You can watch the video for “Changes” above.

Gold Mouf is out now via Dreamville and Interscope. You can stream it here.

The Minnesota Timberwolves hosted their first postseason game (not yet the playoffs, however) since 2018 on Tuesday night as the Clippers came to town for the play-in tournament to see who would get the 7-seed in the Western Conference and a first round series against the Memphis Grizzlies.

It was a game that featured a sloppy start, with the Wolves offense stuck in the mud against a physical L.A. defense and the Clippers marching to the free throw line and putting Minnesota in deep foul trouble on the other end. However, things turned around in the second quarter after one of the most bizarre stoppages of play I can recall in a playoff game, as a woman ran onto the court and apparently glued her hand to the floor in an act of protest of…something that the TNT broadcast didn’t know.

Security (and Patrick Beverley) walked over to see the commotion and eventually pried her hand off of the court.

The aftermath was a white hand print they tried to buff out of the floor and thankfully there wasn’t a significant delay.

Glue Lady proved to be some good luck for the Timberwolves, who rallied from seven down at the time to take the lead going into halftime, as the bizarre situation seemed to possibly calm down a Wolves team that was overly amped up coming out of the gates.