It’s probably no coincidence that a number of states began rolling back lockdown restrictions right around Memorial Day. While some businesses have committed to continuing operating cautiously within local health guidelines, others have been throwing caution dangerously to the wind. That includes rapper and restaurateur 2 Chainz, whose Atlanta eatery Escobar Restaurant & Tapas was so packed on Monday that police had to shut it down. As TMZ reports, Georgia State Police drove by Escobar on Monday night and noticed it “was rather loud, busy, and occupied to be operating as a restaurant at that time of night.” A look at the establishment’s Instagram Stories reveals more than food service was indeed going on, as there are clips of people dancing, receiving bottle service with sparklers, an...
In a week full of Big Yikes celebrity controversies, Jimmy Fallon has entered the fray. The current Tonight Show host is facing heaps of criticism on social media for a resurfaced clip of him performing in blackface on a 2000 episode of Saturday Night Live. In the 20-year-old sketch, Fallon impersonates comic Chris Rock — blackface, accent, and all — as his cast mate Darrell Hammond laughs and plays along. In the clip that began going viral early Tuesday, Fallon, who is white, riffs on the lack of black representation on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and jokes about Rick James smoking crack while recording “Super Freak”. Naturally, people are reacting angrily, and the hashtag #jimmyfallonisoverparty is currently trending on Twitter. Watch the clip below to see just how far Fallon too...
Richard Herd as Mr. Wilhelm on Seinfeld Richard Herd, the veteran character actor who played George’s boss Mr. Wilhelm on Seinfeld, has died at the age of 87. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Herd passed away Tuesday, May 26th, at his home in Los Angeles from cancer-related causes. Between 1995 and 1998, Herd appeared in 11 episodes of Seinfeld, playing Matt Wilhelm, George Constanza’s boss at the New York Yankees. Mr. Wilhelm’s first appearance came on the season 6 episode “The Jimmy”, and his character was central to the plot of several other memorable episodes, including “The Wink”, “The Hot Tub”, ‘The Checks”, “The Bottle Deposit”, and “The Millennium”. Herd later reprised the role for the series’ finale episode. Aside from Seinfeld, Herd was known for his roles in various Star Tre...
Benny and Josh Safdie, the brothers behind the instant cult favorite Uncut Gems, have signed a two-year, first-look deal with HBO. As THR reports, they’ll create new projects under their own banner of Elara Pictures. Two longtime Safdie collaborators, producer Sebastian Bear-McClard and writer Ronald Bronstein, are also along for the anxiety-inducing ride. All of their HBO efforts will be executive produced by A24, which had previously worked with the Safdie’s on Uncut Gems and Good Time. A24 has lately developed a robust relationship with Home Box Office, including producing the new hit Euphoria. Interestingly, THR notes that the deal allows for A24 and Elara to partner up for “select projects outside of the HBO first look.” For now it’s unclear wh...
Electronic artist Jayda G has announced a new EP, Both of Us / Are U Down. It will be available as a 12-inch and digitally on July 3rd via Ninja Tunes, and as a preview, Jayda has released the music video for the lead single and title track, “Both of Us”. Born in the small town of Grand Forks, British Columbia, Jayda Guy began her DJ career in 2013 after moving to Vancouver to get her masters in Resource and Environmental Management. In 2019, she released her debut album, Significant Changes, an effort that set her on a path to stardom and opened doors on the international festival circuit. Featuring the title tracks and a pair of remixes, the Both of Us / Are U Down EP is her first new release since Significant Changes. Apparently, Jayda G hadn’t been considering another project...
Joyce Manor have announced a new rarities album called Songs from Northern Torrance. It’s due out digitally this coming Friday, May 29th, with a vinyl release to follow on September 19th. Named after the band’s hometown of Torrance, a city about 20 miles south of Los Angeles, the album collects early material from the band when it was just starting out as an acoustic duo. Dating back to 2008-2010, the recordings previously only existed in a live setting, or on rare demo CDs. Among the included tracks are “DFHP?”, which originally came out on a split release with Summer Vacation, and “Who Gave You a Baby”, a song that later appeared on a Hard Times charity compilation. The entirety of Joyce Manor’s self-released Constant Headache EP also appears on the final tracklist. Editors’ P...
It’s been over 20 years since the birth of Gorillaz, and co-creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett are celebrating the visual side of the project with a giant “almanac” due out this October. The Gorillaz Almanac, published by Z2 Comics, will contain over 120 pages of full-color illustrations by Hewlett, including exclusive new artwork, games, puzzles, and the first-ever comic strip to star the virtual band members: 2D, Noodle, Murdoc Niccals and Russel Hobbs. Appearances from guests spanning multiple eras of Gorillaz are also promised. The standard edition of the book comes packaged with a CD copy of “season one” of their 2020 Song Machine project, which has thus far produced tracks like “Momentary Bliss” (featuring slowthai and Slaves), “Désolé” featuring Fatoumata Diawara, and “Ari...
The latest episode of Killing Eve contained a cryptic cover of Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” by previously unknown band Jack Leopards and the Dolphin Club. Via Pitchfork, a trail of clues suggest that the song actually comes from Swift and Jack Antonoff, while Swift’s brother Austin may be the vocalist. T-Swift left the first breadcrumb herself, when she tweeted about being “VERY STOKED” for the cover by Jack Leopards and the Dolphin Club. Jack Antonoff, a co-writer of the original version of “Look What You Made Me Do”, is listed in the credits as a producer, along with a certain Nils Sjöberg. Swifties will recall Sjöberg as the pseudonym Taylor used for her co-writing role on Calvin Harris and Rihanna’s “This Is What You Came For.” But what about Austin? There are tw...
Chicago band Whitney has released a new cover of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” featuring the searing guest vocals of Waxahatchee. As if that weren’t enough, Whitney has also served up a version of the R&B classic “Rain” by SWV. While these two covers come from very different sonic backgrounds, together they help demonstrate the range of Whitney’s rock and country-soul sound. Drummer/vocalist Julien Ehrlich brings “Take Me Home, Country Roads” up an octave, allowing his relaxed tenor to float above those iconic southern riffs. For Waxahatchee, aka Katie Crutchfield, this kind of melody is her bread and butter. Her voice obliterates his when they join together for the chorus. But this happens when one half of the duet has a bigger natural instrument than the other, and the ...
Electronic composer Nicolas Jaar isn’t letting 2020 get him down. Already this year he’s released his latest album, Cenizas; dropped an effort under his Against All Logic moniker, 2017-2019; and shared a bunch of unreleased A.A.L. music during a livestream mix. Now, Jaar has announced another new LP, Telas, and debuted not only the first song, “Telahora”, but an additional non-album track called “All One”. Jaar detailed Telas, which means “Veils,” both on his website and during a takeover of Palestine-based internet radio station Radio Al Hara. Due out July 17th on Other People/Mama Records, the album is, at its core, an hour-long piece of music broken into four parts: “Telahora”, “Telencima”, “Telahumo”, and “Telallás”. Joining Jaar in the music making are cellist...