Alternative Music
The Story Behind “The Glamorous Life,” Sheila E.’s Classic Pop Collab with Prince
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | RSS “The Glamorous Life” proved to be a major solo breakout for Sheila E. in 1984. The classic pop track was one of her man collaborations with the legendary Prince, but Sheila E. already had a long history of playing with legends. In fact, her professional career began at only 15, when her father (a percussionist himself) asked her to fill in for him as part of Santana’s band before a crowd of thousands in a night she describes as a true “out of body experience.” Advertisement From that point forward, this Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient fearlessly forged forged new pathways in the male-dominated world of per...
Neil Diamond Makes Rare Appearance to Sing “Sweet Caroline” at Fenway Park: Watch
Good times never seemed so good at Fenway Park Saturday (June 18th), when Neil Diamond made a rare live appearance to sing his 1969 hit “Sweet Caroline” in person. The musician went out to the ball game to promote the long-delayed opening of his new musical Neil Diamond: A Beautiful Noise, joined in the stands by the play’s star Will Swenson. “Sweet Caroline” has been an 8th inning staple at Sox games since the tradition began 25 years ago, and Diamond has even come to Fenway to sing it himself twice before — once in 2010 and again in 2013. But this most recent cameo marked an especially momentous occasion, as the soft-rocker retired from touring in 2018 due to a Parkinson’s diagnosis. Even with the Sox down 10-2 against the St. Louis Cardinals, Fenway was overflowing with fans e...
Neil Diamond Makes Rare Appearance to Sing “Sweet Caroline” at Fenway Park: Watch
Good times never seemed so good at Fenway Park Saturday (June 18th), when Neil Diamond made a rare live appearance to sing his 1969 hit “Sweet Caroline” in person. The musician went out to the ball game to promote the long-delayed opening of his new musical Neil Diamond: A Beautiful Noise, joined in the stands by the play’s star Will Swenson. “Sweet Caroline” has been an 8th inning staple at Sox games since the tradition began 25 years ago, and Diamond has even come to Fenway to sing it himself twice before — once in 2010 and again in 2013. But this most recent cameo marked an especially momentous occasion, as the soft-rocker retired from touring in 2018 due to a Parkinson’s diagnosis. Even with the Sox down 10-2 against the St. Louis Cardinals, Fenway was overflowing with fans e...
Clipse Reunite During Pharrell Williams’ Something in the Water Set: Watch
Clipse took the stage for their long-anticipated reunion during Pharrell Williams‘ headlining set at Something in the Water on Saturday night, June 18th. The hip-hop duo first joined fellow special guests Justin Timberlake during the all-star set to contribute their guest verse on the pop star’s 2002 debut solo single “Like I Love You” before running through four of their own hits: “Mr. Me Too” off 2006’s Hell Hath No Fury, Birdman collab “What Happened to That Boy,” Lord Willin’ deep cut “Cot Damn,” and their debut single, 2002’s “Grindin’.” The four-song medley marked the first time brothers Pusha T and No Malice had performed together in 12 years. Over the course of the headlining show, Pharrell also showed off both his greatest solo hits as a producer and his work with the Neptunes, fr...
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Announce They’re Dropping “3 More Albums This Year”
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard took to social media on Friday, June 17th to share their ambitious plans for the rest of 2022. And here’s a hint: there’s a lot more music on the way. “[Three] more albums this year,” the rockers tweeted, sending their loyal fans into hysterics in the comments and replies. “I just threw up and shit myself,” one tweeted upon seeing the news, while another responded, “Just fell to my fucking knees inside a walmart.” Releasing three more studio sets by year’s end will put King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s output for 2022 on par with their record for 2017, in which they dropped five albums: Flying Microtonal Banana, Murder of the Universe, the collaborative Sketches of Brunswick East with Mild High Club, the self-released Polygondwanaland, and eleventh hou...
Crash, Million Dollar Baby Screenwriter Paul Haggis Arrested for Sexual Assault
Paul Haggis was arrested in Italy for sexual assaulting an anonymous woman who pressed charges against the Oscar-winning Canadian screenwriter. Variety reports that Haggis — known for his work on films like 2004’s Crash and Million Dollar Baby — was charged with forcing a non-Italian woman to undergo sexual intercourse over the course of two days in Ostuni, Italy. Per an Italian police report, Haggis took the alleged victim to the Papola Casale airport in nearby Brindisi, where she was left early Friday morning despite her “precarious physical and psychological conditions.” The report adds that airport staff and border police assisted the woman by giving her first aid and accompanying her to the offices of the Italian squadra mobile police unit. She was then taken to a hospital in Bri...
Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett Arrested for DUI After Bonnaroo
Tennessee secretary of state Tre Hargett was arrested for driving under the influence late Friday night while leaving Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, Associated Press reports. “On Friday night after leaving the Bonnaroo Music Festival, I was stopped by the Tullahoma Police Department and subsequently arrested for DUI,” Hargett said in a statement Saturday. “Driving Under the Influence is a serious matter, and I regret the circumstances that led to my arrest. I respect law enforcement and will trust the legal process as we move forward.” Per jail records, Hargett was booked into the Coffee County Jail shortly after midnight Saturday and released a few hours later. He’s scheduled to appear in court on July 14th. Advertisement Related Video Hargett, a Republica...
Jack Antonoff’s Bonnaroo SuperJam featured Carly Rae Jepsen, CHVRCHES, Japanese Breakfast & More: Setlist
Jack Antonoff trotted out a cavalcade of surprises and special guests during his Bonnaroo SuperJam set on Saturday night (June 18). Titled “Jack Antonoff 1984,” the Bleachers frontman’s show at Great Stage Park was dedicated to his birth year, and kicked off with a cover of Van Halen’s “Jump” courtesy of Claud. Next, CHVRCHES frontwoman Lauren Mayberry hit the stage for a pair of Madonna covers — “Like a Virgin” and “Material Girl” — just thirty minutes before she and her bandmates were scheduled perform their own set over on the Which stage, followed by Goose’s Rick Mitarotonda helping Antonoff cover Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life” and a-ha’s “Take on Me.” Advertisement Related Video More surprises came about halfway through the 15-song setlist, when Britt Daniel of Spoon made an appearance to...
Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck Share Cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs”: Stream
Like it or not, Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck have a collaborative album on the way, and now, they’ve dropped the latest preview, a cover of “Venus in Furs” by The Velvet Underground. Whereas the original is notable for John Cale’s electric viola and Moe Tucker’s bass drum and tambourine shake backbeat, Depp and Beck’s take is more straightforward and sludges forward with fuzzed-out guitar and bleary vocals. Listen to it below. In addition to their Velvet Underground cover, Depp and Beck’s upcoming album, 18, will feature them taking on songs by The Beach Boys, Marvin Gaye, and The Everly Brothers. It will also contain two Depp originals, including the previously released “This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr.” Advertisement Related Video “I haven’t had another creative partner like him fo...
Alex G Announces New Album God Save the Animals, Shares “Runner”: Stream
Alex G-has announced that his next proper studio album will be out September 23rd via Domino. It’s called God Save the Animals, and he’s previewing the record with the new single “Runner.” Alex G tends to loosely envelop his albums in broad metaphors and concepts, and God Save the Animals is no different. Though he references “God” multiple times on the record, he uses the term to embody faith as a whole and a means of connection among the human race rather than a strict religious doctrine. Longtime fans will also note that the album sheds Alex of his typical homespun grit, as he’s opted to use proper studios and a larger team of engineers for the first time. The result means God Save the Animals might objectively be his most high-quality record yet, but it still includes the odd...
Steve Albini Wins Second World Series of Poker Event
Steve Albini has once again emerged victorious at the World Series of Poker, taking home his second gold bracelet after winning the $1,5000 H.O.R.S.E. event on June 18th. The legendary producer and engineer earned $196,089 in prize money after beating out a field of 773 of the best poker players in the world. In an interview with WSOP.com, Albini compared his experience this year to the first time he won a gold bracelet in 2018. Despite now being a two-time winner, the rock luminary almost brushed off the accomplishment by saying it felt like another fluke. “I was all in a million times in this tournament,” Albini said. “In the Stud tournament, the bracelet that I won in 2018, I was never all in in that tournament. I was never short of chips. But it still felt like I kind of fluk...
Heat Stars Robert De Niro and Al Pacino Reveal the Origins of the “Great Ass” Scene
It’s easy to forget with two and a half decades’ worth of hindsight, but Michael Mann’s Heat was not received as an instant classic upon its initial release. That’s true of many films, of course, but Heat also wasn’t exactly under the radar in its day: a big-budget, big-studio Oscar-season crime picture hyping up the first actual pairing of titans Al Pacino and Robert De Niro (they had previously only shared the screen via the dissolves of The Godfather, Part II). In December 1995, Mann’s film was a success, but a moderate one: Decent reviews, some of which expressed disappointment by how long the movie keeps its stars apart. Respectable box office that was nonetheless significantly lower than the grosses for Jumanji. Incredibly, zero Oscar nominations. Now Heat is more or less canonized, ...
