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UK Government Confirms July 19th Reopening Date—But 1 in 8 Nightclubs Have “Disappeared”
16 contentious months later, the UK government has confirmed its plan to lift lockdown measures on July 19th. But many questions about the return of nightclubs remain. According to Bloomberg, who cited data from CGA and Alix Partners’ Market Recovery Monitor, one in eight venues have “disappeared” since the onset of the pandemic—a ratio that is expected to worsen as COVID-19 cases surge. The clubs that remain face a dubious future as the number of coronavirus cases rises due to the delta variant. CNBC reports over 34,000 new cases were recorded in the UK on Monday, July 12th. In the wake of the UK government’s devastating delay on the lift of restrictions in June, the country’s clubbing scene—one of the world’s most historic nightlife sectors—was de...
Tom Hanks Curated a DJ Set to Celebrate His 65th Birthday: Listen
Tom Hanks has dipped his toes into the world of DJing. The legendary actor celebrated his 65th birthday by curating a special DJ set for his favorite radio station, Boss Radio 66. A testimonial from Hanks on the station’s website reads: “I have yet to hear a song on BR66 that I have not swooned over.” The celebratory DJ set, dubbed “Songs From The Back Of The Station Wagon,” was curated by Hanks himself and is chock full of 1960s surf rock, doo wop, and rock ‘n’ roll. Hanks even chimes in between the music, cracking jokes and musing about the classic tracks he selected. Vintage radio advertisements are also included, lending themselves to the aesthetic of the era of the music provided. Toward the end of the set, Hanks insists that “It’s gonna be...
Phoebe Bridgers Announces Fall 2021 U.S. Tour
One of the biggest and much-deserved breakout stars of 2020 was Phoebe Bridgers. Her latest album, Punisher, was (and is) terrific and in the process, she played SNL earlier in this year and managed to anger people who ridiculously criticized her for smashing a guitar. Keyword: ridiculous. Finally, a year after Punisher, Bridgers will be hitting the road in support of the album. The tour kicks off on Sept. 3 at the Pageant in St. Louis and the six-week jaunt will see Bridgers play festivals, theaters and in the case of her hometown show in Los Angeles, amphitheaters. Though she had a bunch of livestreams throughout the pandemic, this will be Bridgers’ first proper headlining show since a November 2019 show at London’s Roundhouse. To get tickets, you’ll have to sign up for Ti...
Jennifer Lopez, Concord and Skydance Team to Adapt Classic Musicals for TV, Film
The A-list actor and musician will have an option to star in one of the forthcoming productions. Concord, Skydance and Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions (co-run by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas) have teamed to co-develop original film/TV projects based on Concord’s theatrical catalog of musicals, the companies announced Monday (July 12). Representing a wide array of classic and modern theatrical catalogs, Concord controls works by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, George & Ira Gershwin and many more. Nuyorican Productions’ Lopez, Goldsmith-Thomas and Benny Medina will act as executive producers for the projects from the partnership along with Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Bill Bost and Concord’s Sophia Dilley and Scott Pascucci. Lopez will ...
Pop Smoke’s Second Posthumous Album Finally Has a Title
The Brooklyn native, né Bashar Barakah Jackson, died on Feb. 19, 2020, at age 20. Ahead of his death, Smoke released the fan-favorite mixtapes Meet the Woo and Meet the Woo 2. The latter debuted on Feb. 7, 2020, just two weeks before Pop Smoke was killed in a home invasion in Los Angeles. Released on July 3, 2020, Pop Smoke’s first studio album, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has charted for 52 weeks. It also gained international success, hitting No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums tally, where it charted for 45 weeks. Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon also charted in Greece, Germany, Australia and Italy. Ahead of his death, Pop Smoke starred in Eddie Huang’s drama film Boogie,...
‘Good’ & ‘Bad’ Still Best: Olivia Rodrigo & Ed Sheeran Hold Atop Billboard Global Charts
Billboard‘s two global charts (the latest of which are dated July 17) began last September and rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by MRC Data. The Billboard Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the U.S. Chart rankings are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations. ‘Good’ Scores Sixth Wee...
Stadium Concerts Are Back: Inside Garth Brooks’ Huge Show at Las Vegas’ ‘Death Star’
Brooks took great pride in being a post-pandemic trailblazer, embracing the challenge of delivering a pivotal show for both fans and the industry. “To every musician out there, all I can say is get back in the game because it’s the greatest feeling in the world,” Brooks said during the concert, at one point getting on his hands and knees to thank the audience. The 28-song set, which is a continuation of what fans saw on his derailed 2020 tour, had Brooks and the crowd in a perpetual two-hour state of elation. He banged through all his hits and a few monumental covers including Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” Bonnie Tyler’s “Mom” and George Strait...
Pop Smoke’s Newly Revealed ‘FAITH’ Cover Art Honors The Late Game-Changing Rapper
Following the announcement of the album’s July 16 release date, Pop Smoke‘s manager, Steven Victor, has taken to social media to share the album artwork for the rapper’s posthumous record, FAITH. “FAITH album cover,” he wrote on Instagram under a gallery featuring both a promotional video and the album’s cover art. The visual spotlights Smoke’s industry-shifting legacy in rap, featuring a slew of his venue-packed performances, snippets of new music and a clip from a radio interview he did with HOT 97, in which he lauds his top-shelf artistry in classic hip-hop form, before concluding with a date that reads July 16. The soon-to-be-released posthumous album will include a total of 17 tracks with a final entry, titled “Outro,” previously teased via Apple Music. Though there is not m...
WILLOW Is Finally Ready for Her Rock Era
There’s not much that Willow Smith hasn’t done. Actor? Check. Talk show host? Check. Artist? Check. But at 20, the artist who goes simply by WILLOW, is ready to try something new: being a rock star. But her foray into the genre is nothing less than authentic. Even since the release of her debut single “Whip My Hair” in 2010 — a catchy ode to individualism — her message has been the same: “Be yourself, do it, unapologetically and inspire other people to do it, too,” WILLOW tells SPIN over the phone from an undisclosed location in Malibu. And that has remained as her entire foundation for making music. If you’re surprised by WILLOW’s pivot to punk-rock, you haven’t been paying attention. Truthfully, rock has run in her family. In the early 2000s, WILLOW’s mother, actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, ...
Tom Scharpling Is in a Garden State of Mind
One would think that the “hook” of Tom Scharpling’s memoir, It Never Ends would be the fact that he a) was institutionalized for depression and eventually reinvented himself and b) changed his last name from Giuliano — combining the names of two polarizing heroes: Al Sharpton, who Tom admired for his willingness to be a champion for minorities while putting New York on blast for its racism and corruption, and Garry Shandling, whose deadpan, unflappable wit was an early influence on Tom’s comedic sensibility — as a community college student in Middlesex County, New Jersey. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg for Scharpling, who has quietly influenced and bridged the gap between alternative rock and comedy over the last 25-plus years through the music videos he’s directed, the televi...
Taika Waititi Reveals ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Is the “Craziest” Film He Has Ever Made
Taika Waititi has officially called his upcoming Marvel film, Thor: Love And Thunder the “craziest” film he has ever made. In a recent interview, the director spoke about the film, teasing audiences of what they can expect. He shared, “Well, just between (me and) you and the readers, I’ve done some crazy shit in my life. I’ve lived, like, 10 lifetimes. But it’s the craziest film I’ve ever done.” He adds, “If you wrote down all the elements of this film, it shouldn’t make sense. It’s almost like it shouldn’t be made. If you walked into a room and said, ‘I want this and this and this.’ Who’s in it? ‘These people.’ What are you going to call it? ‘Love And Thunder.’ I mean, you’d never work again. Maybe I won’t after this.” Waititi did drop a hint that the new film is expected to be more emoti...
Netflix Drops Fear-Facing First Trailer for ‘The Witcher’ Season Two
Netflix has unveiled the first official trailer for The Witcher season 2, following its announcement that the show will return to the streaming platform on December 17, during its inaugural WitcherCon event. In June, Netflix shared a short, 10-second clip introducing the upcoming season, though details on what to expect from the upcoming installment were sparse. Now, this latest trailer provides a substantial look at the plot’s continuation on the fantasy drama series, focusing primarily on Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) and the exiled Princess Cirilla’s long-awaited union and their fearful quest for safety at Kaer Morhen, the stronghold of the Witchers. “At the end of Season 1, we have what I think is one of the sort of most emotional scenes that we’ve done, which is Geralt and Ciri ...
