A year ago, the guitar was in dire straits. With songs like Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode,” Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings,” Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” and Panic! At the Disco’s “High Hopes” among the most consumed of 2019, programmed beats and horns were the sonic flavors of popular music. Sure, there were outliers — the Jonas Brothers’
Month: December 2020
Following Thursday’s announcement of rapper MF Doom’s death on Oct. 31, musicians and industry professionals took to social media to remember his career. No cause of death was provided in a post written by his wife, only that the hip-hop artist had “transitioned.” Brooklyn-based rapper Kota mourned his death, writing, “2020 had to do us
Daniel Dumile, best know as the rapper and producer MF Doom, died on October 31, his wife announced on the artist’s Instagram page on Thursday afternoon. He was 49. “To Dumile. The greatest husband, father, teacher, student, business partner, lover and friend I could ever ask for,” his wife wrote. “Thank you for all the
Times Square in New York City will be closed to the public this New Year’s Eve — but you’ll be able to live-stream the festivities, including the famous 2021 ball drop and musical performances, for free. The six-hour Times Square 2021 Webcast will kick off at 6 p.m. ET on Dec. 31 with the ball
Despite this year’s best efforts, 2020 will in fact still end at midnight on Dec. 31. To mark the occasion, multiple broadcast networks are still planning to hold their annual New Years Eve specials on Thursday night as the ball drops over Times Square in New York City. But like everything else this year, those
Dawn Wells, the “Gilligan’s Island” star who died Dec. 30 at the age of 82, was always considerate of the show’s super fans, as she demonstrated on an episode of Netflix 2019 dating show “Love on the Spectrum.” The series focuses on young adults on the autism spectrum as they navigate the dating world. In
Voice actor Tom Kane, known for his work on various entries in the “Star Wars” franchise, suffered a stroke two months ago that left him largely unable to speak, according to a Facebook post written by his daughter. “He had a left side stroke that gave him right sided weakness and damage to the speech
Academy Award winner Jared Leto credits his success in the entertainment industry to several factors – one being stubbornness. “I’ve been really fortunate, and you know, I’ve just been really stubborn,” he revealed on Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast. “I think eventually, people are like, ‘OK, well, fine. He’s here, we might as well just let
The pandemic may have cancelled live performances and moviegoing for most of 2020, but for film-music buffs, that just meant more time at home listening to their favorite music, including many releases of music never before heard outside their original cinematic contexts. “There is still an unquenchable thirst for classic scores, both previously unreleased and
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” will stay dark next week amid the growing alarm about rising COVID-19 infection rates in Los Angeles County and the rest of California. The syndicated daytime talk show has been airing reruns since Dec. 10 when DeGeneres announced that she had contracted coronavirus. The show had hoped to resume production on
While 2020 has wreaked havoc on society in more ways than one, one small bright spot were several brilliant series and films offerings that helped us make it through this year. Offering everything from escapism to honest portrayals of everyday life, these are the movies and films that helped us make it through the year.
Phyllis McGuire, the lead singer and last remaining member of the 1950s trio known as the McGuire Sisters, died in her Las Vegas home on Tuesday, according to The New York Times. She was 89. McGuire’s death was confirmed to the Times by the Palm Eastern Mortuary, but no cause of death was announced. “I
The selfie mode has two faces in “Sweat,” a hard, glistening study of life on the hamster wheel of Instagram celebrity, in which influence and inconsequence aren’t quite the opposites they seem. Swedish writer-director Magnus van Horn’s aggressively accomplished sophomore feature takes as its subject an outwardly easy target for satirical character study — young,
During an exceptionally scary year, genre fans were able to find solace in a creative batch of horror movies. In a sign of the times, many titles mimicked the isolation of quarantine, with protagonists trapped deep in the ocean (“Underwater”), at a snowy retreat (“The Lodge”), in an Airbnb from hell (“The Rental”) or even
Ticketmaster agreed to pay a $10 million criminal fine to avoid prosecution over charges that it illegally accessed systems of a startup rival to steal proprietary info in an attempt to “choke off” the smaller company’s business, federal authorities said. On Wednesday, the ticketing giant entered a three-year deferred prosecution agreement in federal court in
“1917” cinematographer Roger Deakins, “Phantom Thread” actor Lesley Manville and “Line of Duty” creator Jed Mercurio are among those in the arts named in Britain’s New Year honors list. Deakins, Oscar winner for “1917” and “Blade Runner 2049,” and Oscar nominated for 13 other movies, has been made a Knight Bachelor for his services to
The title “Gaza Mon Amour” carries threatening echoes of those cutesy auteur short anthologies (“Paris je t’aime,” “New York, I Love You”) in which assorted drifting souls find love in the same scenic city streets. Happily, Palestinian twin filmmakers Arab and Tarzan Nasser’s entirely self-contained feature is nothing so slick or glib, though it boasts
To wrap up a tumultuous year in the absence of live music, many artists are returning to the virtual stage to celebrate the new year with their fans. Pay-per-view concerts providing an incentive to stay in include shows by BTS, Justin Bieber, Jason Isbell, the Avett Brothers, Bob Weir, Melissa Etheridge, Michael Franti and more.
Bluegrass legend Tony Rice died on Christmas Day at age 69. To properly memorialize his prowess and spirit, Variety turned to one of his truest acolytes and a recognized contemporary great — Chris Eldridge, of Punch Brothers and Infamous Stringdusters fame (pictured above with Rice in 2001) — who penned the following tribute to his
Exclusive Kylie Jenner says she’s getting harassed by a man who allegedly keeps sneaking into her neighborhood looking for her … so, a judge is granting her a protective order. Kylie request for a temporary restraining order against a guy named Justin Bergquist was approved Wednesday, and not a day too soon for her because
“FOX 11 Special Report” co-host Dr. Drew Pinsky announced Tuesday that he tested positive for COVID-19. Pinsky shared the news on Instagram, adding that his fever is down and he has been feeling better. After revealing his diagnosis, Pinsky has also taken a number of videos to update followers of his condition. “I was supposed
A federal judge has denied WME’s bid to resume representing writers while its lawsuit against the Writers Guild of America plays out in court. Judge Andre Birotte of California’s Central District ruled Wednesday that he did not have the authority to issue the preliminary injunction sought by WME because the guild’s actions in this case
Alto Reed, the longtime saxophone player for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, died Wednesday of complications from colon cancer. He was 72. Reed’s notable performances with the Silver Bullet Band include the introduction to “Turn the Page” and his saxophone solo in “Old Time Rock and Roll.” On stage, Reed was Seger’s visual
In 2020, the shortest route to a major label deal was undoubtedly TikTok. Thanks to the app’s music-centric platform and algorithm, its stars have come to define an “overnight success” — a term that was once used to deride a career boost, but is now simply a fact. In the last year, breakout artists like
The 2019 Viacom-CBS merger will undergo strict legal scrutiny now that a Delaware Chancery Court judge has allowed a lawsuit to proceed from shareholders who say they were shortchanged in the transaction because of pressure applied by ViacomCBS controlling shareholder Shari Redstone. Judge Joseph Slights ruled that the plaintiffs made a credible enough case, or
WME fired back at the WGA on Wednesday, faulting the union for failing to engage in negotiations to settle the fight that has kept WME from representing writers for nearly two years. WME issued a lengthy statement in response to a letter sent Tuesday evening to WGA members by the guild’s negotiating committee in which
“Jeopardy!” all-star Ken Jennings, who’s set to guest host the quiz show beginning on Jan. 11, has apologized after tweets with ableist messaging resurfaced earlier this year. “I just wanted to own up to the fact that over the years on Twitter, I’ve definitely tweeted some unartful and insensitive things,” he wrote in the first
The NBA delivered its most watched opener since 2012 last week. Over the Dec. 22-25 stretch, the league’s national telecasts across TNT, ESPN and TBS were up 67% from the previous season’s opening week — averaging 3.4 million total viewers vs. 2.0 million in 2019’s October opening week, according to Nielsen data. TNT’s Dec. 22
With 2020 officially getting kicked to the curb on Thursday night (Dec. 31), Ryan Seacrest is hoping to set the stage for a better year when he interviews President-Elect Joe Biden and wife Jill Biden just before the ball drops at midnight as part of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest.” “We
UFC fans are going to pay more to catch the promoter’s premiere fights on Disney’s ESPN Plus streaming sports package next year. As of Jan. 8, 2021, the price of UFC pay-per-view events on ESPN Plus — the exclusive home of the mixed martial arts fights in the U.S. — will increase by $5 apiece,
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