Entertainment

Ricky Gardiner, a guitarist for Iggy Pop and David Bowie, has died. Iggy Pop and producer Tony Visconti shared the news on social media on Monday (May 16), with the former writing, “Dearest Ricky, lovely, lovely man, shirtless in your coveralls, nicest guy who ever played guitar. Thanks for the memories and the songs, rest eternal in peace.” A cause of death was not disclosed, but Gardiner’s longtime friend Visconti noted that the guitarist had been living with Parkinson’s disease. Ricky Gardiner was 73 years old. Gardiner is best known for his close collaboration with Iggy Pop, with whom he co-wrote “The Passenger.” He recounted the song’s origins in a 2005 interview with The Independent, describing how he came up with the song’s famous melody in Berlin. “It was certainly a case of the ch...

Sun Ra House, the three-story Philadelphia building that has been a cradle for Sun Ra’s evolving Arkestra outfit since the 1960s, has been listed as a historic landmark in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. The building at 5626 Morton Street, also known as the Arkestral Institute of Sun Ra, reportedly still houses a number of Arkestra members, including current bandleader Marshall Allen. Allen had lived in the house since 1968. In 2021, he reported that the building had partially collapsed. On May 13, the Philadelphia Historical Commission unanimously voted to grant the protected status, a representative for the register said. As a result of the designation, the Historical Commission will ensure any adjustments to the building meet historic preservation standards, as well as adv...

Stephen Andrew Walter, one of three men charged in connection with Mac Miller’s death from a drug overdose, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison on charges of fentanyl distribution, Rolling Stone reports and Walter’s attorney has confirmed. Walter had previously agreed to a 17-year sentence as part of a plea agreement last year, but U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II rejected the plea on the grounds that Walter continued to sell the oxycontin pills that caused Miller’s overdose even after his death. Walter’s attorney William S. Harris told Pitchfork that his client did not know Miller and learned of his death upon his own arrest, and did not know the pills he sold to his co-defendant Cameron James Pettit—which Pettit later sold to Miller—contained fentanyl, but does not pl...