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Donald Trump still thinks the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen from him and now, he’s blaming stairs.

During a wildly incoherent interview Monday evening with right-wing pandering network OAN, Trump chatted with host Dan Ball about the electoral loss he just can’t seem to move on from, but he had some new theories as to why the whole thing was rigged against him. In discussing the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, the twice-impeached former president claimed he would’ve handled the situation much better than his predecessor, President Joe Biden, and ended up calling into question his rival’s physical and mental fitness. Why? Because … stairs.

When he fell up the stairs, fell up the stairs three times, it was not on any program,” Trump rambled (via Raw Story). “If that was me, it would have been the biggest story for months, career-ending. It was never on the media, never on mainstream media, his trip. It’s okay, you can trip. Gerald Ford tripped, never lived it down. I would go very carefully down the stairs, I don’t want to trip. You don’t live it down with these people. With him, they never put it on.”

Trump had more than a few run-ins with the stairs leading up to the entrance of Air Force One that were, in fact, covered by the media at the time. He also regularly went on disjointed tangents during his many rallies and once bragged about taking a dementia test on-air, so the connection between his inability to confidently scale a few steps and his mental capacity to run an entire country seemed legitimate, like something the free press should investigate. How one stumble from Biden relates to a months-long plan to pull U.S. Forces out of the Middle East, one that was indirectly launched by Trump’s own negotiations with Taliban leaders, remains to be seen.

But this is Trump, so he’ll find a way to connect the red string on his ever-growing board of conspiracy theories eventually. This time, he’s using the negative coverage he got from “Stair-Gate” to somehow prove his suspicion of voter fraud. We’ll let him tell it:

Why do they protect them, and with Biden, there’s nothing — the people get it, ultimately the people get it,” Trump continued. “I got 75 million votes. I had the media totally against my, outside of yourself and a few others, I had the media against me as much as anyone has ever seen. No one has seen anything like it. I had the vicious Democrats, communists socialists, call them whatever the hell they are or they’ll impeach you if you sneeze, and just vicious what they do, and I had big tech against me, and I was told you can’t win if you have big tech. I had 75 million votes, more than any sitting president has ever gotten. They said he had 81 million, there’s no way he got 81 [million votes].”

What we’re getting from this heap of nonsense is that Trump thinks some bad coverage of his continuing battle with those Democrat-backed stairs proves the media is committed to protecting Biden, which is why they won’t admit the election was stolen? But hey, if you’re fluent in gibberish, feel free to offer a better translation.

(Via Raw Story)

Every year, nearly a quarter-million people flock to the California desert to attend Coachella. But amid the Instagram moments, celebrity sightings, and flower crown weaving, one California festival isn’t competing for your attention. Just an hour outside of the Coachella campgrounds is where the annual Desert Daze music festival is held. After making a name for themselves over the past decade, the resident psych-rock event has become the go-to anti-festival for those seeking a profound experience rather than a three-day bender.

Desert Daze started as a happy accident. Founded by Jjuujjuu musician Phil Pirrone and his wife Julie Edwards Pirrone, Desert Daze first began as Moon Block Party in 2012; An 11-day event in Pomona, CA hosting 120 bands across several venues. Pirrone doesn’t like to think of himself as a concert promoter, but he has been organizing shows and touring as a musician since his preteen days. “Somewhere around 2008, I started putting on outdoor events more officially. It was a natural extension of what I had already been doing,” Pirrone explained over the phone. Pirrone said the event started “organically,” with him and other musicians calling up their friends in bands and asking them to play — and they continue to maintain their DIY ethos to this day. Pirrone’s best friends still help run sound, assist with promotions, manage installation art, and even act as food and beverage director.

After the first year went off without a hitch, Pirrone was contacted by a roadhouse in the desert who asked him to put on the event the next year; thus Desert Daze was born. “It was a significant moment in our lives,” he said. “It was a turning point for us where the thing that we did as an extension of what we’ve been doing as a touring musician suddenly became our number one focus and it quickly became a career.” Since it began, Desert Daze has fluctuated in size. Some years, it’s been a one-day event. But as it’s grown in popularity, Desert Daze has become a multiple-stage, weekend-long festival complete with overnight campgrounds.

Desert Daze isn’t only focused on music — although, with acts like Tame Impala, Iggy Pop, and My Bloody Valentine over the years, the music is definitely the main draw. But more than that, Desert Daze is focused on creating an experience. Life-size art installations cover the festival grounds that attendees can interact with, some of which have been with the event from the very beginning. Various workshops and retreats have also become a major staple of the festival. A network of practitioners and healers called Mystic Bazaar puts on events that range from yoga and breath work to educational lectures. One year, Desert Daze even invited former death row inmate Damien Echols to speak about spirituality and the power of manifestation.

While Desert Daze remains true to its roots, Pirrone has noticed how the festival landscape has shifted in the past decade. Venture capitalists set out to start festivals to turn a profit rather than build a community — and that’s why Pirrone sees Desert Daze as the anti-festival. “It’s not a job,” he said. “It’s our life and the Desert Daze community is life and we work for that community.” To him, “business venture” is the very last thing that defines Desert Daze. “I feel like a public servant, straight up,” he said. “We’re not putting out fires and saving people’s lives. But we are enriching their lives. We are inspiring them. We are giving them profound moments, profound learning experiences where they can extract something from the experience and inject it into their everyday life.”

This year, Desert Daze will look a little different from previous iterations. Though it will still be located on the sandy shores of Lake Perris, organizers are making sure Desert Daze is returning in a way that prioritizes health and safety. For one, they’ve pushed the dates back to the weekend of November 12-14 2021. While headliners Toro Y Moi, The War On Drugs, Kamasi Washington, and Japanese Breakfast mean indie music-lovers will still get their fix of reverb pedals, this year’s event has been scaled back from three stages to just one. The festival’s capacity has been a bit restricted and all the performances will take place at night, meaning this year’s art installations will involve much more trippy lighting projections. They’re even trying to incorporate some film elements into their artists’ sets, though they’ve opted out of livestreams over the past year.

Even with this year’s changes, rejuvenating workshops will take over the campground during the day to ensure that attendees leave feeling connected to themselves, their community, and the universe. And that connection is what Pirrone is most looking forward to after over a year without live music. “When we’re together, that’s what we live for,” Pirrone said. “We feel like we know the people who come to Desert Daze and some of them feel like they know me. I walk around the festival site and people are calling my name. I’m taking pictures with people. I give them high fives. These are my people, and I’m their people. That’s what I looked forward to most — being back with them.”

Check out the rest of Uproxx’s 2021 Music Festival Preview here.

As summer draws to a close, it’s nice to get a reminder that the weather is still technically warm and we could, if we wanted to, find an above-ground pool to laze around in for a few hours. Which brings me to a new offering from singer/songwriter Andy Shauf called “Spanish On The Beach,” which he’ll likely play on his upcoming tour.

Over strummed guitar and hazy clarinet, Shauf tells a story about a couple taking a vacation on an all-inclusive resort (how very White Lotus of him). During their stay, the song’s narrator proposes to Judy, which some listeners might remember as the character from the singer’s last album, 2020’s The Neon Skyline.

“It’s the same theme as the story ended up being at the Skyline but the narrator’s life is a little bit booze-fueled,” Shauf says in a statement about the song. “And this vacation is kind of like the first stop on the way to destruction.”

Meanwhile, the track’s lyric video is simple but oddly ASMR-like, which is to say, it features a lone, sunglasses-wearing rubber ducky bobbing along in an above-ground pool, which is what we should all be doing.

Check out “Spanish On The Beach” above.

Elton John has spent a lot of time working with other artists over the past year or so, and now he’s commemorating that era with The Lockdown Sessions, a new album consisting of collaborations. While the project, which is set for release on October 22, is billed as a new album, it is like a compilation in ways, as it features previously released songs on which John is featured, like Gorillaz’s “The Pink Phantom” and Miley Cyrus’ cover of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters.”

Aside from the aforementioned, the album features collaborations with Brandi Carlile, Charlie Puth, Dua Lipa, Eddie Vedder, Lil Nas X, Nicki Minaj, Rina Sawayama, SG Lewis, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Surfaces, Years & Years, Young Thug, and others.

John says of the project:

“The last thing I expected to do during lockdown was make an album. But, as the pandemic went on, one‐off projects kept cropping up. Some of the recording sessions had to be done remotely, via Zoom, which I’d obviously never done before. Some of the sessions were recorded under very stringent safety regulations: working with another artist, but separated by glass screens. But all the tracks I worked on were really interesting and diverse, stuff that was completely different to anything I’m known for, stuff that took me out of my comfort zone into completely new territory. And I realized there was something weirdly familiar about working like this. At the start of my career, in the late 60s, I worked as a session musician. Working with different artists during lockdown reminded me of that. I’d come full circle: I was a session musician again. And it was still a blast.”

Check out the The Lockdown Sessions art and tracklist below.

1. Elton John and Dua Lipa — “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)”
2. Elton John, Young Thug and Nicki Minaj — “Always Love You”
3. Surfaces — “Learn To Fly” Feat. Elton John
4. Elton John and Charlie Puth — “After All ”
5. Rina Sawayama and Elton John — “Chosen Family”
6. Gorillaz — “The Pink Phantom” Feat. Elton John and 6lack
7. Elton John and Years And Years — “It’s a sin (global reach mix)”
8. Miley Cyrus — “Nothing Else Matters” Feat. Watt, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo, and Chad Smith
9. Elton John and SG Lewis — “Orbit”
10. Elton John and Brandi Carlile — “Simple Things”
11. Jimmie Allen and Elton John — “Beauty In The Bones”
12. Lil Nas X — “One Of Me” Feat. Elton John
13. Elton John and Eddie Vedder — “E-Ticket”
14. Elton John and Stevie Wonder — “Finish Line”
15. Elton John and Stevie Nicks — “Stolen Car”
16. Glen Campbell and Elton John — “I’m Not Gonna Miss You”

The Lockdown Sessions is out 10/22 via Interscope. Pre-order it here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer is a star-studded affair with appearances from Tom Holland (Peter Parker), Zendaya (“my MJ”), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Marisa Tomei (Aunt May), Benedict Wong (Wong), Willem Dafoe’s laugh (Green Goblin), and Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus, sadly not singing Fiddler). But much of the discussion around the trailer is about someone who isn’t in it at all.

Some Spider-Man fans are convinced that it’s Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock interrogating Peter Parker in the trailer. These same people also believe that the Daredevil actor canceled an appearance at San Antonio’s Celebrity Fan Fest in July to be in the movie.

Let’s hear it from the man himself.

“I can promise you those are not my forearms,” Cox confirms exclusively with ComicBook.com.

A very normal statement. Cox previously told Comic Book that he — and his forearms — aren’t in any scene in the movie. “I hadn’t heard those rumors, but it’s certainly not with my Daredevil. I’m not involved in it. If that’s true, it’s not with me. It’s with another actor,” he said, although he does “love the idea of Jessica and Matt showing up in the background or Matt as a lawyer advising Peter Parker. That’d be really, really cool.”

Assuming Cox is telling the truth, somewhere out there is an anonymous actor who can’t say that it’s his forearms in the trailer because he signed an NDA and he doesn’t want Disney to sue him, his kids, his grandkids, and his great-grandkids. Movie magic, baby!

Spider-Man: No Way Home opens on December 21.

(Via Comic Book)

Damon Albarn is currently readying his second solo album, The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows, which arrives on November 12 via Transgressive Records and follows 2014’s Everyday Robots. So far, the Gorillaz leader shared its title track and a follow-up, “Polaris.” Now, Albarn has shared a mellow new single, “Particles,” which was reportedly inspired by a conversation the singer had about the pandemic with a fellow passenger on a flight to Reykjavik.

Albarn, who also just released a new Gorillaz EP, previously said of the album, “I organized musicians, string players, three bass trombones, some percussion, and keyboards into an interesting arrangement. […] I took some of these real-time, extreme elemental experiences [of Iceland] and then tried to develop more formal pop songs with that as my source. I wanted to see where that would take me. Sometimes it took me down to Uruguay and Montevideo. Other times I went to Iran, Iceland, or Devon. With travel being curtailed, it was kind of nice to be able to make a record that put me strangely in those places for a moment or two.”

Listen to “Particles” above.

Albarn’s The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream is out 11/12 via Transgressive Records. Pre-order it here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

As if Hurricane Ida itself wasn’t horrific enough, Louisianians are now facing a new dilemma: navigating all the various hazards it created. While power outages and demolished buildings each come with their own unique set of challenges, a heartbreaking story has drawn attention to just how dangerous a simple walk down your street could be post-hurricane.

According to NBC News, a 71 year-old man was walking in the floodwaters outside his home in Slidell, Louisiana when he was attacked by an alligator. In a recounting of the events given by the victim’s wife, she told authorities she was inside their home when she heard a commotion, and rushed outside to witness her husband being attacked by a gator, which bit off one of the man’s arms. Following the attack, she was able to bring him in a bit closer to their home, where she then ran to retrieve first aid for his severed limb. However, upon returning to her husband, his body was nowhere to be found, leading officials to presume the man had been finished off by the gator.

According to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office:

When she [..] realized the severity of his injuries, she immediately got into her pirogue and went to higher ground, which was approximately a mile away, to get help. When she returned, her husband was no longer lying on the steps. STPSO used high water vehicles and flatboats in an attempt to locate the victim, but as of this time all attempts have been futile.

The tragic event serves as an unfortunate reminder that humans were not the only living things displaced during hurricane Ida, and flooded areas are now particularly hazardous to trek through. St. Tammy Parish Sheriff Randy Smith went on to urge residents to be “extra vigilant” when walking in flooded areas, as “wildlife has been displaced as well during this storm and alligators and other animals may have moved closer into neighborhoods.”

As of right now, the victim’s name has not been disclosed. In addition to the missing man, at least four people in Louisiana and Mississippi have died following Hurricane Ida, one of the strongest storms to ever hit the region. Here’s hoping the in the coming days we don’t see too much of an increase in that, folks stay safe, and demolished areas start to be rebuilt.

MTV announced today that Justin Bieber will be joining the list of performers at the upcoming 2021 MTV VMAs, which are taking place on September 12 live from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The last time Bieber performed at the VMAs was in 2015 when he sang Purpose track “What Do You Mean?” This year, Bieber has seven VMA nominations, including Video Of The Year and Artist Of The Year. He released his sixth studio album Justice earlier this year.

Speaking to Vogue earlier this year about Justice, Bieber said, “I named [the album] Justice because there’s so much injustice in this world and there has been since the beginning of time […] My name [Justin] actually means justice, so there’s that. I’m really honored to play a small part and be able to make music that inspires and can uplift people in this time.”

Other artists performing at the 2021 ceremony are Kacey Musgraves, Chloe Bailey, Doja Cat (who is also hosting), Sean Mendes, Twenty One Pilots, Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo, Lorde, Machine Gun Kelly, and Camila Cabello. MTV also announced that Foo Fighters would receive a special Global Icon Award this year.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Ben Simmons trade rumors are heating back up after a report indicated he told the Philadelphia 76ers he wants to play elsewhere so badly that he is not going to show up to training camp. One of the teams listed among the favorites to bring him on board is the Sacramento Kings, but there appears to be a bit of a gulf between what Philly wants and what Sacramento will give up.

According to Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee, the Sixers want to get back one of the Kings’ two young standout guards, De’Aaron Fox or Tyrese Haliburton, in a potential deal. The issue: Sacramento does not want to part ways with them, and instead has its eyes on a different deal.

As for Sacramento, sources have suggested the 76ers would only be willing to consider an offer that includes De’Aaron Fox or Tyrese Haliburton. The Kings are unlikely to part with either player, but they can offer Buddy Hield, a prolific 3-point shooter who would space the floor for Joel Embiid; Marvin Bagley III, a former No. 2 pick who has yet to reach his potential; and other assets, including multiple first-round draft picks.

Hield’s name always seems to pop up in trade rumblings when the Kings are involved, and while he’s by no means a bad player, all the reporting around a Simmons trade seems to indicate that they’re setting their sights on an All-Star-level player. Hield’s shooting would do well in Philly, and betting on Bagley’s talent along with a collection of picks is understandable. The disconnect appears to be that the Sixers want all of that in addition to Fox or Haliburton, and don’t view that package as nearly enough to convince them to part way with Simmons, at least for now.

For a self-purported advocate of free speech, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) seems mighty fearful of people hearing what she has to say. At least what she has to say in private, and especially as it pertains to the events surrounding the January 6th insurrection on the Capitol. On Tuesday night, crackpot met even-more-cracked-pot when Greene—a politician with essentially zero power—spoke with Tucker Carlson, where she essentially threatened the country’s telecommunications with extinction should they decide to abide by Congressional requests for said documents.

According to Mediaite:

That committee is reportedly seeking phone records and other data from devices owned by certain members of Congress as part of the investigation. Its stated reason is to ascertain whether those members were coordinating with any of the rioters, as well as to understand the nature of any communications with the White House that day.
While it may seem like a fairly standard request in such an inquiry, Greene and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy seem to be running scared—and running their mouths off.

“I think it’s outrageous,” Greene told Carlson. “This is leading us into waters we’ve never been in in America. You see, America was never meant to be a communist country. But these are the tactics that Democrats are wanting to use.”

With all due respect to Greene (ok, not really), we’ll take our history lessons from someone who acknowledges that the Holocaust actually happened. And has a firm understanding of the definition of communism.

In many ways, Greene is simply regurgitating what House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had already said earlier in the day when he issued a statement threatening: “If these companies comply with the Democrat order to turn over private information, they are in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the United States. If companies still choose to violate federal law, a Republican majority will not forget and will stand with Americans to hold them fully accountable under the law.”

But Carlson, for one, seems to think that people should take Greene seriously. Seriously?

“Well, yeah!” Carlson said in reply to Greene’s pathetic attempt to sound tough. “I mean, demanding your text messages if they don’t like your politics? Now we’ve been tough on Kevin McCarthy for being weak. That statement is not weak. That statement is a flat-out promise, threat, whatever you want to call it. If you do this, there are consequences.”

Greene’s ominous reply? “These telecommunications companies, if they go along with this, they will be shut down. And that’s a promise.”

(Via Mediaite)