NEWS
Saturday Night Live Lexus Skit Skewers Holiday Car Purchases as Deranged
‘Tis the season … for those luxury car commercials in which people with more money than you take advantage of year-end deals and gift their significant others a new Lexus, Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, or Audi for the holidays. As many folks have pointed out on social media in recent weeks, this is borderline psychopathic behavior. Who makes such a huge purchase without involving their life partner? Saturday Night Live jumped into the debate this weekend with the skit “December to Remember,” satirizing Lexus’s holiday deal branding and pointing out exactly why one doesn’t just go out and buy a Lexus and have it wrapped in a bow for Christmas. Okay, so the punchline for the skit is obvious—”Give the gift of Lexus, definitely talk it over first”—but...
High EQ: Next Mercedes EV Debuts in Early 2021, EQS Flagship Due by Mid-Year
Hear that gentle hum slowly rising to a steady whine? That’s the forthcoming tsunami of German-developed electric vehicles rushing toward the horizon as part of a global push toward electrification. Across the board, it seems every German automaker is finally shaking the diesel soot from its boots and gearing up sales skirmishes against one another—alongside a full-frontal assault on Tesla. As part of this rising wave, Mercedes-Benz just outlined its timetable for its EQ-line of EVs. Mercedes-Benz EQ: Crossovers Come First While Mercedes-Benz’s EQ sub-brand is technically already in production with the EQC, the company’s latest push for EQ is centered around new EVs built on a bespoke platform (as opposed to the EQC’s rejiggered GLC-Class bones), the first of which ...
Tulum’s Upcoming Zamna Festival is Feared to Be a Superspreader Event in the Making
Tulum is seemingly becoming a hub for in-person festivals amid the pandemic, and a reported lack of precautions is causing concern over repeated COVID-19 superspreader events. Even worse, the upcoming Zamna Festival is not your ordinary dance music event. The festival spans an astounding 17 days, according to The Daily Beast, and promises to be an “immersive electronic experience.” If recent past events are any indication, the adherence to social distancing and mask-wearing ordinances are unlikely. Zamna Festival, which is scheduled for December 31st through January 16th, has Tulum’s locals on alert, many of whom would bear the brunt of the effects of such events with superspreader potential. Art With Me, a recent five-day festival in the area that was like...
Visual Artist for Skrillex, Zedd Sells Digital Art Collection for $777,777
Beeple, one of the most prolific visual graphics artists in dance music, has sold a collection of digital artworks for an astounding $777,777 via auction. If you don’t know Beeple by name, there’s still a good chance you’ve seen his work at a dance music show. The designer has worked with the upper echelon of music producers including Skrillex, Zedd, deadmau5, and many more to develop mind-bending visuals and artwork. Over the weekend, numerous artwork auctions from the designer were hosted via Nifty Gateway, a budding marketplace for digital assets. With the advent of blockchain technology, true ownership of digital assets (referred to as “nifties” on the platform) is now a possibility. Participants bid on a variety of singular prints from Beeple, many ...
‘Bandcamp Fridays’ Raised $40 Million for Artists, Will Continue in 2021
In response to the pandemic earlier this year, Bandcamp waived its own revenue share on the first Friday of every month since March giving artists all proceeds from their sales. Today, the site revealed that artists earned $40 million from those dates and pledged to continue Bandcamp Fridays in 2021. The dates will be Feb. 5, March 5, April 2, and May 7, according to the site. While artists including Bjork and Peter Gabriel have music on Bandcamp, thousands of new and small bands across all genres use the platform to share music, and the Bandcamp website offered thanks to the nearly 800,000 fans who helped creators whose livelihoods were disrupted by the pandemic. In a letter, CEO Ethan Diamond explained that on Bandcamp Fridays, an average of 93 percent of money paid r...
St. Vincent Promises a ‘Tectonic Shift’ on Her Sixth Album, Due in Early 2021
St. Vincent’s new album, the follow-up to 2017’s MASSEDUCATION, is “locked and loaded,” ready for an early 2021 release, she revealed in a MOJO interview shared on Reddit. St. Vincent, born Annie Clark, joked to the British mag that, “I’m American so I will only use gun metaphors.” She told the publication to expect a “tectonic shift” on the yet-to-be-titled LP. “I felt I had gone as far as I could possibly go with angularity. I was interested in going back to the music I’ve listened to more than any other — Stevie Wonder records from the early ’70s, Sly and the Family Stone. I studied at the feet of those masters.” Additionally, Clark said future tours would be more scaled-down affairs. “My last tour was a whole bunch of production and high-concept video and razzle-dazzle and I ...
Lana Del Rey Performs on The Tonight Show in First TV Appearance in Eight Years
Lana Del Rey performed “Let Me Love You Like A Woman” for the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. But that wasn’t the most noteworthy element of her socially-distanced performance. The Tonight Show’s Twitter account wrote that the singer was “Making her first U.S. TV appearance in 9 years.” Though the math doesn’t technically check out (Del Rey performed on SNL in January 2012), it has been a long time since the singer-songwriter appeared since that critically-panned performance. As for the song itself, it had a full complement of back-up singers along with Del Rey’s band and was filmed on an old-timey bar-themed set. Check out Del Rey’s performance of “Let Me Love You Like a Woman on the Tonight Show below. [embedded content] “Let Me Love You Like A Woman,” will appear on D...
Ann Reinking, Tony-Winning ‘Chicago’ Choreographer, Dies at 71
Trained as a ballet dancer, Reinking was known for her bold style of dance epitomized by her work in the revival of the Kander and Ebb musical “Chicago,” complete with net stockings, chair dancing and plenty of pelvic thrusts. Reinking co-starred as Roxie Hart along with Bebe Neuwirth’s Velma, and created the choreography “in the style of Bob Fosse,” the show’s original director and choreographer who died in 1987. She and Fosse worked together for 15 years and she was also his lover for several of them. “I’m beyond words to hear of the sudden and untimely passing of my dear friend Ann Reinking. The world has lost such a beautiful soul and talent,” said Chita Rivera. “I loved sharing the stage with her whenever we could. Her spirit and razzle-dazzle will be with me forever.” Reinking’s work...
Lana Del Rey Takes the Vintage Route With ‘Fallon’ Performance: Watch
Lana Del Rey has had creative year, despite the pandemic. There was the spoken word release Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass, and its accompanying book. Her sixth studio album Chemtrails over the Country Club was announced and was ready to go, but was pushed back to 2021. Blame the health crisis for that. She also unveiled a new set of “American standards and classics,” which should arrive ahead of Santa. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
Megan Thee Stallion & James Corden Wish You A Very Ratchet Christmas
“Naughty, got a thicc body/ Rosy red cheeks/ People think he’s Pavarotti/ He would never slip on a roof while it’s snowing b–ch/ There’s you mom, mistletoe, you know it/ Ah, I’m a Santa, Jolly, happy, merry/ Face is plump and hairy/ Sacks of gifts I carry,” Meg added, with Corden joining in on the reworked chorus. The bit had it all: ugly sweaters, PS5s and a special, pop-up surprise if you sit on rappin’ Santa’s lap. “I’m a Santa/ Call me Krissy Kringle/ Make your North Pole tingle,” Corden rhymed as Meghan rode a giant wooden horse, tongue out. “Bells are gonna jingle, b—ch/ They jingle, b–ch.” Watch “Savage Santa” below. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Date...
Roc Nation to Launch Publishing Imprint With Books From Lil Uzi Vert, Meek Mill
Under a new partnership with Random House, Roc Lit 101 will also put out titles by Yo Gotti, Fat Joe and music journalist Danyel Smith. Roc Nation is getting into the book publishing business via a new partnership with Random House, the companies announced today. The new imprint, which is rolling out under the name Roc Lit 101, will be dedicated to publishing books “at the dynamic intersection of entertainment and genre-defying literature, including exhilarating, innovative work from some of the biggest artists and most imaginative and incisive writers of our time on a wide range of subjects such as music, sports, pop culture, activism, and art,” according to a release. The imprint will be overseen by Chris Jackson, publisher and editor-in-chief of Random House imprint One World Books, and...
HHW Gaming: Electronic Arts Reaches Agreement To Drop A Billy On “DiRT” Developer Codemasters
Source: Chesnot / Getty Electronic Arts backed up the Brink’s Truck in a move that it hopes will pay off in the end with the development of quality racing game titles. EA announced today (Dec.14) that it has reached a deal to purchase the UK-based game studio Codemasters for an astounding $1.2 billion. The move sent shocks throughout the gaming world because it was believed that Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive was initially working on acquiring the DiRT developer for $994 million; that deal didn’t happen. In a statement, EA confirmed the acquisition stating: “We believe there is a deeply compelling opportunity in bringing together Codemasters and Electronic Arts to create amazing and innovative new racing games for fans. Our industry is growing, the racing category is gr...
