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When the Austin, Texas band Sun June released their standout sophomore album Somewhere last February, it came during a standstill in the live music industry. Vaccines were still months away from being widely available in the US and many cities were still in lockdown, meaning Sun June celebrated their album’s release from their homes. But now that live music is back, Sun June hopes to bring Somewhere (and a little extra!) to the road next year with a deluxe version of their LP.

The band returned Tuesday to drop the brand-new track “Easy,” a wistful tune that’s drenched in sunny guitars and poetically details memory, a wish for the simpler times, and a dissolving relationship. The new single officially heralds Somewhere +3, the upcoming deluxe album that boasts three unreleased tracks.

In a statement about the new song, vocalist Laura Colwell explained her inspiration behind its lyrics:

“‘Easy’ is a romantic struggle song. It’s about love and partnership and longstanding arguments that are hard to get past. We started working on it after quarantine was lifted. Everyone had been cloistered alone for months, so frustration was easy to tap into. At the same time, it was joyous and cathartic to play together again, so the song came out upbeat and optimistic too. We loved getting to return to Good Danny’s studio to record — it was easy to find the sounds we wanted and get back into the Somewhere vibe.”

Listen to Sun June’s “Easy” above.

Somewhere +3 is out 1/14/2022 via Run For Cover.

If Bravo ever decides to bring back The Real Housewives of D.C., they might want to consider making Mitch McConnell an honorary cast member as he seems to live for stirring sh*t up. As Politico reports, ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl’s new book Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show reveals that the then-Senate majority leader—who seemed firmly on board the Trump train throughout his presidency—actively worked to have Donald be disinvited from incoming president Joe Biden’s inauguration.

According to Politico, McConnell’s push to exclude Trump from any of Biden’s inaugural events came in the wake of the January 6th insurrection when, as Karl writes, McConnell “felt he could not give Trump another opportunity to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.”

To add insult to injury, McConnell reportedly wanted the disinvite to be made official with a letter from the four top leaders in Congress, but House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wasn’t into it. Ultimately, however, it didn’t matter. As McConnell pushed to involve more people in the disinvitation, word made its way to Trump about what was going on, and he wasn’t about to be embarrassed in front of the world. So he beat them to the punch and tweeted (back when he was allowed to do that) that he had no plans to attend the inauguration—or even be around by the time the Bidens arrived at the White House.

As Meridith McGraw writes for Politico:

Karl also reports that in late May, Trump critic Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) texted McConnell to say she believed Senate Republicans made a mistake by blocking the creation of a bipartisan commission to examine Jan. 6. A month later, McConnell called Cheney to say she should move on, and that challenging Trump would only hurt Republicans in the upcoming elections and jeopardize her own reelection campaign.

(Via Politico)

The human mind will do incredible things when you place it in different physical locations. This is the concept that Big Thief has explored in creating their newly announced album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. The band spent five months moving between Upstate New York, California’s Topanga Canyon, the Colorado Rockies, and then Tucson, Arizona, trying to capture the different facets of Adrianne Lenker’s songwriting and pinpointing the nuance of the band’s affecting sound.

They plucked 20 of the 45 songs from those sessions to appear on the new double LP, which comes out on February 11th and is produced by drummer James Krivchenia. The result not only aims to capture the essence of the band, but to also reflect the inspiration of each unique locale. For example, “Certainty” and “Sparrow” came from the sessions in grassy Upstate New York, whereas album opener “Change” was rooted in the the Rockies. “Little Things” and the newly released “Time Escaping” came out of the natural psychedelia of Topanga Canyon. According to Lenker, putting a finger on what defines the band is a group was a little more supernatural than expected, as she said in a statement:

“One of the things that bonds us together as a band is pure magic. I think we all have the same guide and none of us have ever spoken what it is because we couldn’t name it, but somehow, we are all going for the same thing, and when we hit it… we all know it’s it, but none of us to this day, or maybe ever, will be able to articulate in words what the ‘it’ is. Something about it is magic to me.”

Listen to “Time Escaping” above and check out the Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You album artwork and tracklist below, as well as Big Thief’s 2022 tour dates.

1. “Change”
2. “Time Escaping”
3. “Spud Infinity”
4. “Certainty”
5. “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You”
6. “Sparrow”
7. “Little Things”
8. “Heavy Bend”
9. “Flower Of Blood”
10. “Blurred View”
11. “Red Moon”
12. “Dried Roses”
13. “No Reason”
14. “Wake Me Up To Drive”
15. “Promise Is A Pendulum”
16. “12,000 Lines”
17. “Simulation Swarm”
18. “Love Love Love”
19. “The Only Place”
20. “Blue Lightning”

01/31/2022 — Lille, FR @ L’Aéronef
02/01/2022 — Paris, FR @ La Cigale
02/04/2022 — Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey
02/05/2022 — Barcelona, ES @ Sala Apolo
02/07/2022 — Lyon, FR @ Le Transbordeur
02/08/2022 — Strasbourg, FR @ La Laiterie Artefact
02/09/2022 — Zurich, CH @ Kaufleuten
02/10/2022 — Munich, DE @ Cafe Muffathalle
02/12/2022 — Prague, CZ @ MeetFactory
02/13/2022 — Berlin, DE @ Huxleys Neue Welt
02/15/2022 — Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA
02/16/2022 — Hamburg, DE @ Fabrik
02/18/2022 — Cologne, DE @ Live Music Hall
02/19/2022 — Brussels, BE @ Cirque Royal
02/21/2022 — Utrecht, NL @ Tivoli Vredgenburg
02/22/2022 — Groningen, NL @ De Oosterpoort
02/24/2022 — Manchester, GB @ Manchester Academy
02/25/2022 — Glasgow, GB @ Barrowland Ballroom
02/26/2022 — Dublin, IE @ The National Stadium
02/27/2022 — Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy Bristol
03/02/2022 — London, GB @ 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
03/03/2022 — London, GB @ 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
03/04/2022 — London, GB @ 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
04/12/2022 — Ithaca, NY @ State Theatre
04/16/2022 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
04/18/2022 — Montreal, QUE @ L’Olympia
04/19/2022 — Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
04/21/2022 — Washington, DC @ The Anthem
04/22/2022 — Cleveland, OH @ Agora Ballroom
04/23/2022 — Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
04/25/2022 — Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
04/26/2022 — Milwaukee, WI @ The Pabst Theater
04/27/2022 — St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
04/29/2022 — Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
04/30/2022 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
05/02/2022 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
05/03/2022 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
05/04/2022 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
05/07/2022 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre
05/10/2022 — Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theatre
05/11/2022 — Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theatre
05/12/2022 — San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park
05/14/2022 — Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s
06/09/2022 — Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound 2022
06/10-12/2022 — Berlin, DE @ Tempelhof Sounds

Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You is out 02/11/22 via 4AD. Pre-order it here.

Add Corey Lewandowski to the list of Donald Trump toadies who had a falling out with their leader then opted to spill their behind-the-scenes tales of what it’s really like in MAGA Land. In Lewandowski’s case, he confessed them to ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl. And what he revealed was essentially that everyone, including Trump, knew he had lost the 2020 election—but that the then-president’s supersized and hypersensitive ego just wouldn’t allow him to admit it, which is how “The Big Lie” was born, as Karl explains in his new book, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, as Insider reports.

In the days following the 2020 election and Joe Biden being declared president last November, Karl spoke with Lewandowski, who was Trump’s campaign manager for the 2016 election, but reportedly ousted from Trump’s circle of trust just a few months back when he was hit with claims of sexual harassment… and oddly bragged about being a murderer. At the time of their conversation, Trump was making it clear that he was not about to concede the election, which didn’t seem to surprise Lewandowski in the slightest.

“He knows it is over,” Lewandowski told Karl. “He just wants to create enough doubt about Biden’s victory so that when he leaves he can say he didn’t lose and that it was stolen from him.”

Sadly, Trump’s inability to accept and/or acknowledge failure, despite having much experience with it, has had far-reaching consequences. To this day, more than a year later, Trump has still not conceded the election and has continued to run amok with his “rigged election” lies. As Insider notes, several recent polls have shown that a majority of Republicans really do believe the narrative that Trump concocted about the presidency being stolen from him. They also cited a recent NPR poll which determined that only one-third of Republicans polled “said they trust elections in the country either a great deal or a good amount.” And all because of one man’s unwillingness to accept defeat.

Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show is out today.

(Via Insider)

After abruptly abandoning her seat on the panel in 2017, paving the way for Meghan McCain‘s reign of terror, former The View co-host Jedediah Bila returned to the daytime talk show for the first time on Tuesday to promote her new book. It did not go well.

While not uncommon these days, Bila was conducting her interview remotely, but it didn’t take long for Joy Behar to point out why that was the case: Bila wasn’t allowed in the studio because she’s unvaccinated. Not only that, but she claimed to have “sky-high, multi-tier, multi-faceted natural immunity.”

Once that “information” was out the in open, Bila, who recently left Fox News back in May, began railing against vaccine mandates, and her talking points about natural immunity got so out of hand, that Sunny Hostin started calling for the whole interview to be shut down.

Via Mediaite:

Bila defended herself by referring to the CDC’s warning that transmission is possible for vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Sunny Hostin shook her head at Bila’s argument and told her “I don’t understand why you would prioritize your personal freedom over the health and safety of others.”

“I don’t think we should allow this kind of misinformation on our air,” Hostin told Bila straight-up. “I’m really sorry, my friend. I’m really sorry.”

At that point, Whoopi Goldberg stepped in to end the segment because they were running out of time. However, things got very awkward when Whoopi let the audience know they’d all be receiving copies of Bila’s book despite the tense exchange that just went down. As always, Whoopi’s face said it all as The View cut to commercial.

(Via Mediaite)

Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s favorite podcast host, Steve Bannon, languishes in jail after turning himself in on criminal contempt charges (related to Jan. 6), and she’s telling the world that she’s got his back. That’s to be expected, since not too many other outlets will let the QAnon cheerleader ramble to her heart’s content these days. Recently, Greene told Bannon that she doesn’t want anything to do with politics (although she did not promise). She is, however, here for Bannon and fully supports him after he freely admitted that he helpped to plot the failed MAGA coup.

Greene, of course, is very angry about a report that linked her to the insurrection, and she’s made a huge deal out of visiting Jan. 6 rioters in jail while vowing to enact prison reform (basically on her own). So, she’s very sympathetic to Bannon, and while speaking with Newsmax, the lawmaker that’s been disavowed by CrossFit went on the record to declare that she’s “Team Bannon all the way.”

She also declared, “They have picked on the wrong guy… because Steve Bannon will not go quietly.”

The thing is, Steve Bannon kind of did go quietly, given that he refused to appear in front of the House Select Committee (that’s investigating Jan. 6) when he was summoned by subpoena. Further, the former Trump chief strategist turned himself in at the FBI Washington Field Office while wearing a smirk, and he simply told reporters that he’d be “going on the offense.” To add even more vagueness to the equation, Bannon vowed, “This is going to be the misdemeanor from hell.”

No word yet on whether Marjorie Taylor Greene is planning to visit Bannon behind bars, but if it happens, she’ll surely tell the world what happens.

Being able to point to a list of notable alumni has long been a source of pride for many colleges and universities, and a way to woo prospective students to apply. Then there are the notorious alumni… For the same reason the University of Washington doesn’t readily promote itself as Ted Bundy’s alma mater, students at Syracuse University would rather not have Rudy Giuliani associated with their school—particularly as his degree is an honorary one. As such, The College Post reports that the university’s Student Association and Student Bar Association are currently petitioning the school to revoke the honorary doctorate that was bestowed upon Giuliani by Syracuse’s College of Law.

“When he received his honorary degree back in 1989, he might have portrayed the values or initiatives of the school then,” Mazzy Kaila, executive president of the Student Bar Association told The Daily Orange, Syracuse’s student newspaper. “I don’t think there’s any room for that now.”

It’s not the first time that Syracuse students have taken issue with the disgraced former mayor of New York City, whose own license to practice law in the state of New York has been suspended. According to The College Post, “Giuliani first faced a backlash at SU when he was invited to be the commencement speaker in 2002. The then-mayor of New York City faced flak for his policing practices following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.”

Nor would rescinding Rudy’s degree be unprecedented. As the face of Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, Giuliani’s professionalism—and at times, his sobriety—have been called into question as he’s pushed The Big Lie. On January 12, 2021, less than a week after the insurrection on the Capitol, Vermont’s Middlebury College took back its 2005 honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Rudy, and in August, Philadelphia’s Drexel University revoked the honorary degree its law school granted to Giuliani back in 2009.

“He has been suspended for his law license, and undermined our elections, and has advocated for really, really absurd things,” Student Association president David Bruen told The College Post. “He still has an honorary degree from this university. And I think the longer that lasts, the more it kind of devalues an honorary degree from the College of Law.”

Now it’s up to the school’s administration to take further action.

(Via The College Post)

Break out the pumpkin pasties and butterbeer, something wickedly wonderful this way comes. To help celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Warner Bros. has announced a massive Harry Potter reunion special is coming to HBO Max (via The Wrap). Debuting at midnight on New Year’s Eve, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is billed to be an in-depth retrospective featuring never-before-seen footage, and best of all, Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) will all be in attendance.

According to HBO’s description, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will be an “enchanting making-of story through all-new in-depth interviews and cast conversations, inviting fans on a magical first-person journey through one of the most beloved film franchises of all time.” However, there is always the hope Warner Bros. could announce new Harry Potter projects are in the works, such as a reboot Radcliffe recently joked about or perhaps even an adaptation of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Tom Ascheim, president of Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics, called the special not merely retrospective, but a tribute to “everyone whose lives were touched by this cultural phenomenon.”

“It has been an incredible journey since the debut of the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone film, and witnessing how it has evolved into this remarkable interconnected universe has been magical to say the least. This retrospective is a tribute to everyone whose lives were touched by this cultural phenomenon — from the talented cast and crew who poured their heart and soul into this extraordinary film franchise to the passionate fans who continue to keep the Wizarding World spirit alive 20 years later.”

In addition to the film’s “golden trio,” filmmaker Chris Columbus — the director behind the first two Harry Potter films — and over a dozen other main cast members will also make appearances on the special. Among those confirmed so far are Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Imelda Staunton, Tom Felton, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Mark Williams, Bonnie Wright, Alfred Enoch, Matthew Lewis, Evanna Lynch, and Ian Hart, though others are rumored to be coming.

Following its HBO Max premiere, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will also air on both TBS and Cartoon Network in spring 2022, just ahead of the theatrical release of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, the third installment in the ongoing Fantastic Beasts prequel series.

DeMar DeRozan has been on a tear to start the 2021-22 season, as the former All-Star has found a comfortable new home in Chicago, averaging 26.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.1 assists on 51.0/37.1/87.3 shooting splits through 14 games with the Bulls.

That stellar play has helped lift the Bulls to a 10-4 record and done nothing to dissuade those in Chicago from proclaiming that the Bulls are, in fact, back. However, DeRozan wasn’t initially planning on joining the Bulls, instead hoping for a homecoming in Los Angeles, as the Compton native sought to get back to his roots this offseason. DeRozan spoke with Yahoo’s Chris Haynes after his 38-point performance in a blowout of the Lakers on Monday — which followed a 35-point effort to beat the Clippers on Sunday — and said while there’s no hard feelings with the Lakers, he felt it was a “done deal” that he’d end up there in a sign-and-trade this summer.

“I felt like going to the Lakers was a done deal and that we were going to figure it out. I was going to come home,” DeRozan told Yahoo Sports after scoring a game-high 38 points to lead the Bulls to a 121-103 victory at Staples Center. “The business side of things just didn’t work out. A couple of things didn’t align. It didn’t work out. It’s just part of the business, part of the game. My next option was definitely Chicago. So, looking back at it, it worked out well.

What changed was the Lakers shifted their attention from DeRozan to Russell Westbrook when the latter made his push to leave Washington, turning all of their assets over to the Wizards in the process (who have gotten off to a similar hot start to the Bulls at 10-3). For DeRozan, he understands the Lakers wanting to add Russ but says he once again has learned a lesson about assuming anything in the world of NBA transactions.

“Nah, Russ is a Hall of Fame player,” DeRozan told Yahoo Sports. “It’s hard to turn down that caliber of player. I can’t speak for the Lakers, but they went with what they felt was best for them. And all due respect to them. No hard feelings. No animosity, but I just look at it as part of the game. A deal is never done until it’s done. I learned that. It just didn’t work out. I’m just happy I’m in Chicago.”

It’s certainly interesting to wonder what the Lakers look like with DeRozan rather than Westbrook, particularly if it also would’ve allowed them to land someone else — i.e., whether DeRozan’s addition would’ve been part of a larger plan that also could’ve netted Buddy Hield or even Kyle Lowry. Whether DeRozan would’ve gotten off to the kind of start he has in Chicago is a different question entirely, but for the Bulls and DeRozan, the Lakers passing on the former All-Star has certainly worked out in their favor early on. That makes two possibly “should-be” Lakers that are currently starring for the Bulls, as Alex Caruso has spoken openly about how he tried to return to L.A., only for the Lakers to refuse to come close to the offer from Chicago.

All of this will only add to Laker fan frustration that is simmering after an 8-7 start, but only time will tell if the Lakers made the wrong choice to make them a title contender again.

Two weeks ago, QAnon believers were left disappointed after John F. Kennedy, Jr. — a guy who’s been dead for 22 years — failed to make an appearance at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Members of the group expected the late son of former President John F. Kennedy to reveal his death was just a ruse and that he’d been working in secret to bring down the “deep state” for more than two decades. His resurrection was supposed to end with JFK, Jr. — a staunch Democrat during his lifetime — reinstating Donald Trump as president.

One would think that a failed prophecy might convince some of these people to at least go back home and get on with their lives but, according to a new report from Vice, dozens of QAnon followers are still in Dallas, weeks after the expected reveal, and they’re still waiting for JFK, Jr. to pop up.

The group gathered once more at the Plaza after Michael Brian Protzman, the demolition worker who first used a heavily-altered version of the Hebrew numerology system known as Gematria to predict Kennedy’s comeback, told QAnon followers that his prophecy was actually meant to come true on Monday evening according to the Julian calendar — which is what they should’ve been following from the beginning, according to him.

In videos of the event shared on social media, dozens of adults and some young children can be seen saying the Lord’s Prayer in a circle on the grounds before breaking into a rendition of “We Are The World.” The group lingered long into the night despite JFK, Jr. once again failing to appear.

According to sources who spoke to Vice, over 1,000 people showed up for the first predicted resurrection and, though numbers have dwindled, dozens are still staying at a Hyatt in Dallas awaiting word from Protzman, who may be planning to make the city his group’s home base and is asking for donations from QAnon followers to cover food and hotel expenses for this trip. Photos of Protzman walking around the hotel with a literal tin foil on his head were shared to Telegram at one point.

No word yet on how Protzman and his followers are handling the latest failed resurrection.

(Via Vice)