In 2019, Slate’s Ashley Feinberg uncovered that Republican senator and one-time presidential hopeful Mitt Romney had been maintaining a secret Twitter account under the Master of Disguise-ass name of Pierre Delecto. “Of the 257 tweets the account has liked over the last eight years, 30 of them came from the official @SenatorRomney account, 28 came from the official @MittRomney account, seven were tweets quoting either the @SenatoryRomney or @MittRomney accounts, and three included a direct mention of one or the other,” Feinberg reported. Romney later fessed up (“C’est moi,” he said) and made the account private, but he’s back to his mysterious ways:
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney reportedly likes to go incognito while in Palm Beach, Florida. The Utah conservative has been wearing hats while dining out in the wealthy oceanside enclave, where he has a vacation home, in an effort to disguise himself, a family friend told the authors of the new book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future.
“If he were recognized by Trump supporters there, there was a good chance he would be harassed,” authors Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns wrote. Palm Beach is the home of Mar-a-Lago, former-president Donald Trump’s beloved club where he spends most of his time wandering aimlessly (even if his neighbors don’t want him there).
The hat is a good start for a disguise, but if Mitt really wants to go undercover, he needs a fake mustache. A Ted Lasso fan, of all people, should know this.
Melody’s Echo Chamber, the project of French musician Melody Prochet, became a staple among neo-psychedelia listeners with her 2012 self-titled debut album. Though she’s only dropped two albums since, her latest being the just-released Emotional Eternal, Prochet prioritizes enchanting melodies and spellbinding songs that examine the world with childlike wonder.
Prochet’s playfulness on Emotional Eternal is no accident; The album was written after she gave birth to her daughter and was overcome with a renewed bliss. Songs like “Looking Backward” call back to her early days with swirling chords and fuzzy vocal treatment, while others like “Alma” lean into groovy compositions and emotive strings.
Ahead of the release of Emotional Eternal, Prochet tells Uproxx about her love of collaboration, crashing on tour with a lot of smelly men, and why she always performs barefoot in our latest Q&A.
What are four words you would use to describe your music?
Echoes of the Unknown
It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
I just saw Only The Earth Is Eternal movie; the spiritual testament of a wise old man from Montana, my favorite poet Jim Harrisson; I personally love envisioning the natural world taking over temples and skyscrapers and the sound of silence.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?
It’s been in Pioneertown, at Pappy’s and Harriet, between two Coachella weekends. It was very special. I’ve enjoyed touring in America the most I think, it was epic, the natural sanctuaries are mind-blowing and the crowds were insanely welcoming and had the best energy (with Mexico).
Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?
It was actually several encounters that shaped the sound of the music I love to create, I love to create in a collaborative way, it is a kind of spiritual experience I often have shared with special people I deeply trust and connect to in a special vibrational way. I guess living in all those beautiful foreign otherworlds, all those magical landscapes and places for a bubble of time were inspiring.
Where did you eat the best meal of your life?
The last great meal I remember was on the Elephantine Island in Egypt, we stayed at a Nubian man’s guest house. It was absolute magic and the food heavenly, I have no idea how the vegetable tasted so good, he cultivated his veggies on the Nile. It was a small oasis in the desert.
What album do you know every word to?
Radiohead’s and Broadcast albums, they were two obsessions of mine being younger.
What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?
Dungen in Malmo, Silver Apples in Stockholm, Flaming Lips down South Western Australia
What is the best outfit for performing and why?
Bare feet. I saw my former producer do it and I tried and loved the feeling of getting grounded and so I don’t think I’ve ever performed with shoes on.
Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?
I guess Chris Daddy Dave on IG, legendary drummer who always post great snippets of Groove and also hilarious content of church services and animals.
What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?
That must have been “Hallogallo” by Neu!
What’s the last thing you Googled?
“Ethiopian tribe dig pits to turn water out of steam”
What album makes for the perfect gift?
Emotional Eternal
Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?
Tour bus with lots of smelly men.
What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?
I don’t have one but my childhood best friend turned into a brilliant tattoo artist (Silly Jane) and I loved her drawings and the symbol of asking her to make a piece for my previous album Bon Voyage‘s artwork.
What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?
World music, any kind of folklore, for example I love Turkish music, Bulgarian choirs, Ethiopian music.
What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
The experience of creating music with such special people has been a great gift I’ve been given, I’m grateful to them all. But I think having children is the highlight of my life as challenging as it can be.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
Dance into the Unknown.
What’s the last show you went to?
Egyptian musicians in Luxor.
What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?
I ended up only watching amazing documentaries on the computer because I am free from the city and the TV. I still love going to the movie theater.
What’s one of your hidden talents?
I love to write and cultivate poetry in secrecy.
Emotional Eternal is out now via Domino. Get it here.
Some of the aritsts covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Tulsa, Oklahoma to be blunt, has had it rough as far as Hollywood is concerned. Long after being the setting for S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, the city was reduced to a place where TV characters were banished. That happened on Justified (squirrelly Gary left Kentucky and was tracked down by Wynn Duffy and Quarles while giving a motivational speech at a Tulsa hotel) and on Friends (Chandler got banished in T-Town by his workplace, where Salma Blair tried to seduce him, so strange). Years passed, and finally, Tulsa became the setting for HBO’s Watchmen and an episode of Lovecraft Country. It’s not usually a place where good things are depicted onscreen, but things are looking up for Bill Hader’s hometown.
Currently, FX’s Reservation Dogs (which usually films near Muskogee) has been filming scenes in Tulsa, and oh hey, Sylvester Stallone is in the city to shoot the authentically-named Tulsa King. The series is one of the newest projects from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, and Sly has been spotted while staying at a downtown hotel, and he’s filming up a storm as a New York mob capo who somehow ends up in Tulsa. Here’s a first look at Stallone as Dwight “The General” Manfred for Paramount+. He’s standing in front of the city’s perpetual construction as well as the Boston Avenue Methodist Church
“He’s a lifetime gangster. He took the fall for the bosses and went to prison for 25 years, kept his mouth shut, and now he comes out. Next thing you know, he’s in Tulsa. He has to now start a new life, create a gang. They want him to be an earner. That’s when the fun begins.”
As of now, Tulsa King hasn’t publicized a release date, but there’s plenty more coming from Sheridan, too. In addition to the O.G. Yellowstone series, there’s also the 1883 spinoff as well as the forthcoming 6666 and 1932. Stallone’s show will be outside the universe proper, as will Zoe Saldana in Lioness and Billy Bob Thornton in Land Man. And if you want more “vintage” Sheridan, you can always go back and revisit him as Charming Deputy Chief David Hale in Sons Of Anarchy. RIP to Hale and Opie!
The producer of the strangest but most iconic reality showThe Circle is teaming up with Alan Cumming for Peacock‘s latest reality series. The Tony award-winning actor (who has recently been searching for his beloved chimpanzee) will host and produce the series for the streaming service.
The Traitors will be set in a remote castle among the Scottish Highlands, as contestants work as a team to complete harrowing and dramatic missions in order to earn money. The catch (there always is one!) is that three of the contestants are traits who attempt to manipulate the gameplay and send others home so they can keep the $250,000 price themselves. The 10-episode series is expected to go into production later this month.
Jenny Groom, EVP of Unscripted Content, told Deadline: “We can’t think of a better person to serve as puppet master of this series than Alan Cumming. His wit and eccentricity will add the perfect layer of comedy to this thrilling world of high stakes deception.” Studio Lambert CEO Stephen Lambert added, “In a game of secrecy, suspicion and plot twists, who better to take the helm and guide our game players through the drama and challenging missions than our very own Scot, Alan Cumming.”
We already know Cummings can play a deceiving mastermind who controls minions from a remote castle, so his hosting duty will come as no surprise to his loyal fans, or Spy Kids enthusiasts.
While preparing to present the trailer for her highly-anticipated movie Don’t Worry Darling starring Harry Styles and Florence Pugh, Olivia Wilde was served with legal papers from ex Jason Sudeikis. The two split in 2020, and have two kids together.
The move confused those in attendance, though Wilde calmly took the papers and continued with her presentation. Wilde has been linked with Styles for the past year and was recently seen attending his Coachella set. The two allegedly began dating while Wilde was directing the film.
A source told Page Six that the whole ordeal was confusing and inappropriate, and sent Wilde reeling. “Olivia was confused when she was handed the envelope, and she was even more confused when she opened it,” the source shared.
The source added, “It seemed unthinkable to her, and it took a moment to set in, but as mortifying as it was, she did not want to give a reaction. She was there to introduce a project that is near and dear to her heart, and for someone to try to take that moment from her — whether it be Jason, a process server or anyone else — was beyond inappropriate.”
Sedeikis’ team insists the Ted Lasso actor had no knowledge of when and where the papers would be served, which can be at the descretion of the legal team that was hired.
It’s hard to nail Bakar down — in terms of genre, style, and, in his early days, even by a name. With each of the London-bred singer’s songs, he wants the listener to cherish the moment in which they are hearing and feeling it. On Bakar’s debut album, February’s Nobody’s Home, each track unfolds like the pages of a book, detailing his most cherished moments, lining in Hampstead, Camden, and Chalk Hill.
We get a glimpse of Bakar’s day-to-day life in the video for “NW3,” the title of which refers to the postal code of London’s Hampstead district. Whether he’s alone on a rooftop, enjoying a meal with friends, or smoking in his flat, Bakar finds solace in each moment, often getting lost in time, dancing throughout.
But before Bakar, born Abubakar Baker Shariff-Farr, “found the answer” in “NW,” he released much of his music on Soundcloud beginning in 2015, anonymously. Oftentimes, he would upload vocal freestyles over samples of King Krule and Bombay Bicycle Club, many of his raw, unfiltered lyrics opening windows to his soul. One of these tracks is 2016’s “Sharing Is Caring,” on which, he reels over a love lost.
“Hope that you believe like how I believe / Gave you my love, you sold it back to me / Play with love too much, you might lose it / Smoked my last Camel but we can twos it,” Bakar sings, as adlibbed hums and coos give the song a forlorn and haunting element.
The influence of Kid Cudi and Dev Hynes is present in Bakar’s work, the latter of which Bakar has been a fan of since Hynes’ Lightspeed Champion days. Hynes released his most recent album as Lightspeed Champion in 2010, and Bakar says Hynes and Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke were among his favorite artists during his adolescence. As Bakar is wont to live in the moment, these are probably the closest hints we’ll ever get in regards to his actual age. In a 2018 interview with Wonderland, following the release of his debut mixtape, Badkid Bakar said his age was “infinity.”
A year after that interview, Bakar would release an EP called Will You Be My Yellow?, which contained the breakthrough hit, “Hell N Back.” Like Bakar himself, his music is ageless, as he remarks on a tumultuous relationship over jazzy horns and subtle drum patterns.
“Could you tell where my head was at when you found me? Me and you went to hell and back just to find peace,” he sings, delivering soft, silky vocals, with his soulful, British accent still audible throughout.
“Hell N Back” became a sleeper hit in the United States, reaching the top of the Adult Alternative Charts 27 weeks after its release, breaking the record for the longest climb to No. 1. Bakar had actually begun the process of writing Nobody’s Home before he wrote Will You Be My Yellow?, but the timing of the ideas he had conceived and the work he wanted to put out just wasn’t right.
“Will You be My Yellow? started picking up — you know, that song ‘Hell N Back’ started going crazy,” Bakar said in an interview with Document Journal. “It bought me some time, basically, to figure out the record. A couple songs [from my first try] were really potent. They stood the test of time. When I came back to Nobody’s Home in 2020, I was ready, long story short. I was so ready — the way the world was, all the topics, Palestine, this, that.”
On his proper debut, Bakar offers a collection of tracks that are both timely and timeless. He shares anecdotes of love and heartbreak, both romantic and familial. On a particular track, “Youthenasia,” he explores the dark parts of fame, and how his status has affected his role in his family.
“It’s like lately feel the pressure, I’ve been feelin’ nauseous / Lately like my mama has become my daughter / I wouldn’t change it for the world, man, this sh*t is awesome / I ain’t seen my dad in fifteen years, who would’ve thought it?,” he rap-sings over a thumping drum loop.
As the son of an immigrant mother from Tanzania, Bakar examines racial injustice on the track “The Mission,” while expressing a desire to create wealth for the generations of his family after him.
“All I ever hear is people talking about how bad nepotism is,” Bakar says in the song. “Do you know how badly I want some nepotism in my life?”
Since his breakthrough, Bakar has found fans in collaborators Dominic Fike, Kenny Beats, and Benee, as well as the late Virgil Abloh, the artistic creative director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection. Abloh even designed a special edition cover for Bakar’s Nobody’s Home. Though Bakar’s rise in the US may seem less rapid compared to that of the TikTok hitmakers of our time, his music, both old and new, still sounds fresh and timely, whether you were to have your first listen today, or months from now.
In the midst of all this, filmmaker Charlie Minn has been working on a documentary that’s (maybe insensitively) called Concert Crush: The Travis Scott Festival Tragedy. In a recent interview with Page Six, Minn said, “Travis Scott to me is a punk. In my opinion, he is a criminal. Ten people died. How do we get around that?”
“The reason he deserves criticism and jail time, he knew there was a problem,” he further explained. “He acknowledged an ambulance in the crowd. He noticed people passed out and stopped the show on three occasions. I’m not saying he knew people were dead, but he knew there was a problem. An ambulance is not an ice cream truck.”
The documentary is playing in select theaters in Texas starting today for just one week. It’s also available to stream online.
The Dallas Cowboys opted to grab some reinforcements for their offensive line during the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. The team picked 24th overall and decided to select Tulsa tackle Tyler Smith, a gigantic lineman who could step in right away and plug a hole for the team at left guard.
The team was quite high on selecting Smith, something we learned thanks to Jerry Jones’ perpetual flair for the dramatic that can sometimes come back to bite him. During the team’s press conference in the aftermath of his selection, Jones explained that Smith was the highest-ranked guard on their board over a pair of other players, Boston College’s Zion Johnson and Texas A&M’s Kenyon Green, by holding up the team’s draft board and revealing it to the media.
To prove to reporters that the Cowboys had Tyler Smith ranked higher on their board than Kenyon Green and Zion Johnson, Jerry Jones showed a copy of the team’s draft board.
Everyone up on the dais seemed to laugh at it, even though Jones’ son and Cowboys CEO Stephen Jones had to tell him on a few occasions to put the sheet of paper down. Anyway, if you see any team jump in front of the Cowboys before they pick next — the 56th overall pick — you can probably assume it is because they managed to decipher whatever this sheet of paper said and realized Dallas was going to pick a guy they wanted.
After the Phoenix Suns ended New Orleans’ 2021-22 season Thursday night with a 115-109 Game 6 victory, the Pelicans conducted exit interviews on Friday. During Zion Williamson‘s interview, he was asked about signing a potential contract extension, given he just wrapped up his third year in the NBA and will be eligible for an extension this summer.
Amid a confusing, unfortunate, injury plagued season, Williamson’s media appearances were understandably quite limited as he missed the entire year. Words can only stretch so far without actions, but this sort of resounding positivity about inking another long-term deal is certainly interesting after the last seven months.
Williamson, of course, is well within his right to exercise his agency and aim to play wherever he wishes. Nonetheless, it would be very enjoyable to watch him find consistent health to suit up for this young, fun, and talented Pelicans squad. Hopefully, he’s able to return to the court soon and make good on all the promise he carries. His offensive talents would provide a necessary punch to a team that sometimes got bogged down in the half-court.
He was tremendous in 2020-21 and it would be great to see him ink a new deal while reminding everyone why he’s such a tremendous star at just 21 years old. His comments Friday indicate contentment in New Orleans and the next few months could further reinforce that.
MAGA cheerleaders Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene both lean to the far right, and both of them love to troll on Twitter. They also teamed up to heckle President Biden while he discussed his dead son, Beau, and Boebert later tried to defend herself to little avail. Yet as it turns out (according to a new report from Politico), Boebert actually doesn’t like being associated with Greene, and things are getting ugly between the two GOP-ers.
An intended distancing makes sense for Boebert, who already is so controversial that she has no guaranteed path to reelection in Colorado. Greene is even more extreme in her behavior, having called for “marshall law” after Trump’s election loss and having actually tried to link Satan and the Catholic Church, and there’s a decent chance she’ll be barred from ballots altogether. Also, Boebert would absolutely like to remain friends with Ted Cruz, who is super conservative but still falls within his party lines without publicly pushing conspiracy theories.
That’s Greene’s behavior, for sure, and Politico summed up the budding animosity between Boebert (“who’s seen as more of a party team player” and “detests” any public linking of herself with the the QAnon congressman) and Greene. They reportedly clashed during a House Freedom Caucus held near the U.S. Capitol “over Greene’s appearance at a February event organized by a known white nationalist.” Here’s more:
Their confrontation grew so heated that at least one onlooker feared the Greene-Boebert back-and-forth might escalate beyond the verbal cage match had another board member not stepped in to de-escalate, according to a GOP lawmaker who was granted anonymity to describe what happened. The incident was confirmed by three people connected to the Freedom Caucus, whose members largely avoided public criticism of Greene and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) at the time and focused their discontent on the event organizer, Nick Fuentes.
Yep, when you’re a Republican who’s lost Lauren Boebert, that says a lot. She loves to anger people and dabble in controversy, but she draws the line at the QAnon cult-mindset and rambling about “Jewish Space Lasers.” Actually, it sounds like (as far as Congress goes) only Matt Gaetz really likes to hang with Greene, and since we all have heard what Matt Gaetz has been up to, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement. Also, making Lauren Boebert look more mainstream is certainly quite a feat.
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