Author: GoneTrending

We’re just weeks removed from Jon Batiste announcing World Music Radio, his forthcoming album with a world-beating tracklist featuring the likes of Fireboy DML, Kenny G, Lana Del Rey, Lil Wayne, Jon Bellion, JID, and NewJeans. Batiste punctuated the news by releasing “Calling Your Name.” On Wednesday, July 12, the five-time Grammy winner waded further into his World Music Radio world, with “Drink Water” featuring Bellion and Fireboy DML.

“Traveling with my wife, leaning into the culturally diverse group of friends and family that make up my inner circle birthed the foundations for what is now World Music Radio – much of which was recorded in transit, hotel rooms, basements and on smartphones either abroad or near big bodies of water,” Batiste said in a statement.

The track delivers concise, valuable life advice atop an infectiously buoyant soundscape: “So take a deep breath, drink water / You know that these streets just now calm down / So take a deep breath, drink water / You know that these streets just now / Calm down or calm down or calm down / Whenever you feel like you might drown or calm down or calm down / You know that these streets just loud.”

Upon announcing World Music Radio in June, Batiste posted a lengthy Instagram caption explaining its origins and intended purpose:

“World Music Radio is a concept album that takes place in the interstellar regions of the universe. The listener is led through the album by an interstellar traveling griot named Billy Bob Bo Bob, who takes you sonically all around the world at the speed of light.

I created this album with a feeling of liberation in my life and a renewed sense of exploration of my personhood, my craft and of the world around me unlike anything I ever felt before.

This new album will fill your soul, open your heart and stretch your mind while expanding your vision of popular art. We really wanted to re-examine and redefine terms like world music as they exist in the culture…(more on the later)

A range of collaborations in locations all across the globe made this vision a reality.

There was a lot of joy in making this and it definitely translates to the listening experience, and now to you.

Exec produced this with my friends Jon Bellion and Ryan Lynn. More surprises to come so stay tuned. Welcome to World Music Radio.”

Listen to “Drink Water” above.

World Music Radio is out 8/18 via Verve/Interscope. Find more information here.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been trying to be a chaos agent for the Democratic Party, attempting to peel away potential Biden voters with conspiracy theory nonsense that makes him sound more Republican. But on Tuesday, the chaos came to him by way of some “loud, prolonged” farting.

As per Page Six, a press dinner held on New York’s Upper East Side that was meant to boost RFK Jr.’s presidential campaign went sideways when two attendees got into a nasty screaming match over climate change (curiously one of the subjects about which Kennedy doesn’t hold a wacko opinion). After someone asked Kennedy a question about the issue, the night’s host, gossip-columnist-turned-flak Doug Dechert, who was “apparently drunk,” screamed at the top of his lungs, “The climate hoax!”

Dechert’s outburst enraged octogenarian art critic Anthony Haden-Guest, who Page Six claims “appeared to have been sleeping happily for most of the dinner.” Evidently awoken by the shouting, Haden-Guest “suddenly opened his eyes” and called Dechert, apparently a longtime pal, a “miserable slob.” He also told him to shut up.

Dechert did not, continuing to rail loudly against the climate change “scam.” All the while, Haden-Guest called him things like “f*cking insane” and “insignificant.”

Eventually Dechert happened upon a new tack: He let a big one rip, all while yelling “I’m farting!”

All the while Kennedy watched on with a “steady composure.”

Another attendee, which included tried to steer the conversation elsewhere, bringing up his assassinated father. But the subject then improbably returned to climate change, prompting still more yelling.

Reached for comment the next day, Dechert told Page Six, “I apologize for using my flatulence as a medium of public commentary in your presence.” He also asked them to refer to him as a “gallivanting boulevardier” or a “beer-fueled sex rocket.”

Perhaps this could be a scene in a future season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, whose creator and star, Larry David, is none-too-happy that his onscreen ex-wife’s real-life husband is running for president.

(Via Page Six)

When the Los Angeles Lakers season ended after being swept in the Western Conference Finals by the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets, LeBron James teased out that he might be considering retirement after his 20th season in the league.

James said he had a lot to think about regarding his future, later confirming he was in fact talking about calling it a career. However, despite what should’ve been world-shattering news that James was considering retirement, very few people actually believed him. For one, he’s stated numerous times he wants to play with his son Bronny, who is potentially a 2024 Draft candidate after he spends a year at USC. Beyond that, James has carefully curated just about every big moment of his career, and retiring without any sort of grand goodbye — particularly given how much his partners like Nike would want to milk that — would be truly shocking.

Still, he got a couple days of the news cycle after the Lakers loss dedicated to his future, but it died down pretty quickly. On Wednesday night, if there was anyone with lingering doubt about his status for next year in L.A., he confirmed on the ESPY’s stage that he will not be retiring, noting that day won’t come until “the day I can’t give the game everything on the floor,” and “that day is not today.”

The retirement quote always felt like a 38-year-old dealing with a foot injury coming off a grueling season that was understandably contemplating in the moment whether it was worth it, but that it was a fleeting thought. James is keenly aware of his legacy and while he has the scoring record in hand, it feels like he’ll stick around until he can check that last box of playing with Bronny — and, he hopes, continuing to compete for titles in the process.

Grandaddy is maximizing the 20th anniversary of their 2003 album Sumday. This May, the indie-rockers announced Sumday Twunny, a four-LP box set including the remastered original album and a four-track demo version, Sumday: The Cassette Demos, and Sumday: Excess Baggage. That collection is slated for a September 1 release, but more information about Sumday: Excess Baggage arrived on Wednesday, July 12.

Per press release, August 25 brings a “special digital release of the Sumday: Excess Baggage, a thirteen-track collection of rarities and B-sides from the Sumday-era that unfolds like a lost Grandaddy album.” The lead single, “The Town Where I’m Livin Now,” and its accompanying video accompanied the news.

“I like making songs like this. Lots of bleak but sweet visuals. Everyday stuff available for everyone to see…but some of us just end up with the twisted work of documenting it,” Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle said in a statement.

Watch the documentary-style “The Town Where I’m Livin Now” video above, and check out the Sumday: Excess Baggage artwork and tracklist below.

1. “My Little Skateboarding Problem”
2. “Derek Spears”
3. “Gettin’ Jipped”
4. “The Town Where I’m Livin Now”
5. “Dearest Descrambler”
6. “Build A Box”
7. “Trouble With A Capital T (Muzak Version)”
8. “Sure It Worked”
9. “Running Cable at Shiva’s”
10. “Emit Anymore”
11. “I No How You Feel”
12. “The Rugged and Splintered Entertainment Center (A Gospel Hymn)”

Sumday: Excess Baggage Rarities Collection is out 8/25 via Dangerbird Records. Find more information here.

In late May, Uproxx‘s David Brendan Hall identified Genesis Owusu as “the strongest standout” among diverse acts at the 2023 Boston Calling Music Festival. The musician’s latest single from his forthcoming Struggler album, “Tied Up!,” amplifies his striking artistry.

“The Roach continues to run through an absurd world, trivially trying to make sense of it,” Owusu said in a statement. “Maybe looking internally, focusing inward instead of outward, will provide some guidance? Who knows.”

The accompanying video begins with Owusu in the corner of a boxing ring, but he quickly finds his way to the center. He grabs the microphone and sings, “I’m feeling tied up / Tied up / Tryna be a better man / Caught! / And I’m feeling fired up / Fired up / Hot than a ceiling fan.” Later in the song, Owusu nods toward the video’s imagery, “I’m fighting through life, I have no boxing gloves.”

The three-minute visual was made in collaboration with Lisa Reihana.

“Tied Up!” comes roughly two months after Owusu announced Struggler and released its lead single, “Leaving The Light.” A press release bills “Tied Up!” as Struggler‘s “magnum opus.”

Watch the “Tied Up!” video above, and check out the Ghanaian-Australian artist’s upcoming headlining tour dates below.

10/12 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
10/13 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
10/14 — Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch
10/15 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Thunderbird Music Hall
10/17 — Toronto, ON @ The Velvet Underground
10/18 — Montreal, QC @ Le Studio TD
10/19 — Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
10/20 — Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
10/21 — Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
10/25 — Washington, DC @ Union Stage
10/27 — Charlotte, NC @ Visulite Theatre
10/28 — Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
10/29 — Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
10/31 — Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room & Garage
11/01 — Dallas, TX @ The Studio at The Factory
11/03 — Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
11/06 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
11/07 — San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
11/09 — Seattle, WA @ Neumos
11/10 — Portland, OR @ Star Theatre
11/11 — Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
11/15 — London, UK @ Heaven
11/16 — Paris, FR @ Café de la Danse
11/17 – Berlin, DE @ Hole44
12/01 — Perth, AUS @ Ice Cream Factory
12/08 — Melbourne, AUS @ Festival Hall
12/09 — Canberra, AUS @ UC Refectory
12/14 — Brisbane, AUS @ Fortitude Music Hall
12/15 — Sydney, AUS @ Hordern Pavilion
12/16 – Adelaide, AUS @ Hindley St Music Hall

Struggler is out 8/18 via Ourness/AWAL. Find more information here.

Earlier this month, there was a strange (but luckily untrue) rumor about two of the stars (one of them the creator) of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Perez Hilton claimed that Rob McElhenney and Kaitlin Olson, who married in 2008, were splitting up. It wasn’t true and Olson found a hilarious way to shoot the story dead. Not long came after an even more unexpected — but also true — story about McElhenney.

On Tuesday, the actor and show producer, also of Mythic Quest, took to Twitter to reveal something unusual he recently learned. “I was recently diagnosed with a host of neurodevelopmental disorders and learning disabilities,” he wrote. “At 46!”

He went on, saying, “It’s not something I would normally talk about publicly but I figured there are others who struggle with similar things and I wanted to remind you that you’re not alone. You’re not stupid. You’re not ‘bad’. It might feel that way sometimes. But it’s not true.”

According to Learning Disabilities Association of America, adults with LD can either be born with it acquire it “later in life.”

It’s not clear what kinds of disorders and learning disabilities McElhenney had, but he promised to go into the “full diagnosis/prognosis” on an episode of the It’s Always Sunny Podcast that will drop in two weeks. Stay tuned.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

In April, Kid Rock made his anti-trans and generally bigoted stance clear after Bud Light and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, aligned with Dylan Mulvaney. “Grandpa is feeling a little frisky today. Let me say something to all you and be as clear and concise as possible,” the musician said in a video posted on April 3, showing him wearing a MAGA hat and shooting his gun at Bud Light products. “F*ck Bud Light. F*ck Anheuser-Busch. Have a terrific day.”

This week, CNN published a video report on the ongoing controversy. CNN’s Ryan Young visited Nashville, where Garth Brooks and Kid Rock have neighboring bars.

“Despite the online bravado and talk of a boycott, Bud Light was available when CNN stopped in recently. It is not clear if the ban had been lifted or if there ever had been one to begin with,” Young said about Rock’s Big Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse.

“Billboard was unable to reach anyone at Rock’s restaurant by phone or email for comment at press time, but a quick check of its online menu revealed that Budweiser, Bud Light and Bud Light Lime were listed under the domestic beer section,” Billboard additionally reported on Wednesday, July 12.

In June, Garth Brooks explained to Billboard that his yet-to-open Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk would serve “every brand of beer” and emphasized that “inclusiveness is always going to be me.”

Jason Isbell directly responded to Kid Rock’s transphobia, tweeting, “Is this one of those three words you wish you could say to your teenage self things” and “This is finally how we get him. Leave no bigoted beers to drink.”

Mulvaney addressed the Bud Light backlash in a June TikTok. Watch it below.

@dylanmulvaney

Trans people like beer too. 🏳️‍⚧️🍻

♬ original sound – Dylan Mulvaney

The Drums’ single”I Want It All” which was released in April, is going to wind up in an unexpected place. On Wednesday, July 12, it was announced that the band’s founding member, Jonny Pierce, is releasing Jonny, his sixth solo album. Among the 16 tracks is, as it happens, “I Want It All.”

In the album’s cover art, Pierce establishes its vulnerable tone: It features a black-and-white photo of his bare bottom. That vibe can also be heard in the poignant lyricism of his latest single, “Better.”

“When I finished Jonny, I listened to it, and I heard my soul reflected back at me,” Pierce said in a statement. “It is devastating and triumphant, it is lost and found, it is confused and certain, it is wise and foolish. It is male and female, it is hard and gentle. To encapsulate ones’ whole self in an album, to honor each and every part of you — even the parts that feel at odds with each other, is to make something deeply human, and because my religion is humanism, the album becomes a sacred place for me to worship. Each feeling a different pew, each song a hymn to the human heart.”

The press release also describes Jonny as “a love letter to a galaxy of Pierce’s younger selves” and “a reclamation a lifetime in the making.”

Listen to “Better” above, and check out the Jonny album art as well as its tracklist and The Drums’ tour dates below.

1. “I Want It All”
2. “Isolette”
3. “I’m Still Scared”
4. “Better”
5. “Harms”
6. “Little Jonny”
7. “Plastic Envelope”
8. “Protect Him Always”
9. “Be Gentle”
10. “Dying”
11. “Green Grass”
12. “Obvious”
13. “The Flowers”
14. “Teach My Body”
15. “Pool God”
16. “I Used to Want To Die”

07/12/2023 — San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
07/14/2023 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Shrine
07/15/2023 — Las Vegas, NV @ Area 15
07/16/2023 — Phoenix, AZ @ Van Buren
07/17/2023 — El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace
07/19/2023 — Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre
07/20/2023 — Austin, TX @ Mohawk
07/21/2023 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
07/22/2023 — New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
07/24/2023 — Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
07/25/2023 — Nashville, TN @ Basement East
07/27/2023 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
07/28/2023 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
07/29/2023 — Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
07/31/2023 — Boston, MA @ Royale
08/03/2023 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
08/05/2023 — Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew’s Hall
08/06/2023 — Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
08/08/2023 — Chicago, IL @ Metro
08/09/2023 — Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity
08/11/2023 — Denver, CO @ Bluebird
08/12/2023 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Psych Lake City at Urban Lounge
08/14/2023 — Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
08/15/2023 — Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club
08/16/2023 — Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
08/18/2023 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom

Jonny is out 10/13 via ANTI- Records. Find more information here.

Film and TV may be largely on hiatus during the ever-escalating WGA strike, but that doesn’t mean awards have to cease. On Wednesday, this year’s Emmy nominations were announced, and among the lucky ones was Jessica Williams for Apple TV+’s Shrinking. Uproxx’s Brian Grubb called her the “funniest part of the show, for sure, and a barrel of charisma that pops off the screen.” Good for her! And good for the novel way she celebrated the occasion.

Deadline rang up Williams after she earned her first-ever Emmy nom, but she was a little busy at the time.

“What was great about playing Gaby—sorry, I’m getting ready to go picket while talking to you at the same time,” she told the publication.

She did continue, though:

“What was great about Gaby was knowing how they wanted her to counterbalance Harrison [Ford’s] character [Dr. Paul Rhoades] and Jason [Segal’s] character [Jimmy Laird] while she also has her own life and her own stuff going on … So [to bring her to life], I just worked backward. I knew her beats in general but she was also someone who says what she thinks and wears her heart on her sleeve. Harrison, Jason and Christa Miller were great scene partners so I always felt supported, and that I had the freedom to be Gaby.”

On Shrinking, Williams plays a therapist at a center dedicated to cognitive behavioral therapy, alongside Segel’s protagonist, Jimmy. It’s a funny, at times heavy show, and it gives Williams the chance to car karaoke with Harrison Ford, who plays a senior therapist at the center who has Parkinson’s.

You can stream Shrinking on Apple TV+

(Via Deadline)

Dating has certainly evolved over the years—we’ve gone from courtship being purely a financial arrangement (not that this trend has ever truly died) to knights jousting for a lady’s favor, to casual hookups … and now, romance is primarily found through an app more than anything else.

Technology used for meeting that special someone has become so advanced that you can base your search entirely upon specific interests. Like … oddly specific interests. Think a fellow cat person would be the purrfect match? There’s an app for that. Wish to “love long and prosper” with a fellow Trekkie? There’s an app for that too.

No matter the changes, one thing remains the same—dating is awkward. It’s got all the unspoken formalities of a job interview, disguised as innocent fun. The balance between playing it too cool and too eager is hard to find even for the smoothest among us, and usually results in total embarrassment. Even if we aren’t the ones committing those embarrassing acts ourselves, we are often the reluctant witness to them.

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Terrible dates might not always be fun in the moment, but they can be just as important as the good ones. They can teach us a lot about ourselves and what qualities we want in a partner. And at the very least, they can teach us to embrace social clumsiness with a sense of humor.

Jimmy Fallon recently asked his “Tonight Show” audience on Twitter to share a “funny or embarrassing first date story” for his ever popular #Hashtags segment. The best part—some of these awful first dates ended in marriage. There’s hope for us all.

Below, find 15 stories that are truly the best of the worst. How do some of your first dates compare?

1. “After a nice dinner, she invited me to her house. On the way up, inside the elevator, I decided to push the button to stop between floors and give her a kiss… She had a phobia of closed spaces and she smacked my face as a reflex, two punches after we were kissing and laughing.” – @PanqueAlgarvio

2. “His jeans were so tight he couldn’t sit down. Stood at a bar stool the whole time.” – @onlyintheozarks

3. “Waiting 4 my date when an older couple asked me for a ride. my date came up and said sure! We drove them home & they asked us to come in. Date said “sure”. I pulled him back & asked why he wanted to hang w/strangers. He said ‘sh@t! YOU DON’T KNOW THEM!?’ We bolted!” – @natashaham75

4. “Before the date, we had been chatting about books we liked and I talked about a great book I just read. We went on the date. I loaned her the book. She ghosted me.” – @thenextbarstool

5. “The worst first date I ever had was when my date locked his keys in the car and I had a curfew so he had to break his car window out to get me home on time. Didn’t think I’d ever see him again but we wound up married.” – @csleblan

6. “First date movie ‘Basic Instinct’ not realizing how suggestive it was. We just thought it was a mystery thriller! We left the movie discussing how each character could have actually murdered someone. We’re married now.” – @Southrnbell_Amy

7. “First date with my ex husband was a double date with his parents. The preview for ‘Speed Racer’ came on, and she leaned over me to say to her son, ‘You know what your dad’s nickname in the bedroom is?’” – @theostoria

8. “A friend asked me on a double date as a blind date with his date’s friend. I went to the bathroom and came back just in time to hear my date say to her friend, ‘why do I get the ugly one?’ I said good night to all three and headed home, leaving her w/the bill.” – @StevenTrustum

9. “He loved cheese. I was subjected to a 2 hour conversation/lecture about cheese, and why cottage cheese is not cheese!” – @Optimist_Eeyore

10. “He took me to an Asian fish market. We walked around looking at live & dead fish for a while. I don’t like seeing dead animals & I don’t eat seafood. Then we sat on a curb & he pulled out a ziplock bag of pineapple for us to share. I don’t like pineapple.” – @markayhali

11. “My cousin set up a first date for me with a family friend. During a break from dinner, Mr. Man follows me into the ladies’ room, comes up close and says in a low voice, ‘I shave my butt.’ Can’t remember what I said in response but the evening ended abruptly.” – @carli_zarzana

12. “I once took out my high school crush to a sports bar and ordered the spiciest wings there in an attempt to impress her. Not only was she not impressed. The next morning I woke up with heartburn.” –@Dmonster38

13. “My date showed up with his bestie and girlfriend, and they talked through dinner about people I don’t know. Walking to the car, he gave me a wedgie because he thought he hadn’t been paying enough attention to me.” – @surrealDazey

14. “I was taking my date home and was pulled over by the police for speeding. When the cop came to my car, she jumped out and told him she had to get home. She walked home and I never heard from her again. I’m not sure who’s #WorstFirstDate it was mine or hers!” – @eastriverbear

15. “After an evening of dancing with a first date, leaving the dance hall, I had to take a quick pee break. Rushing out to the parking lot, I see a lady, I grab her and swoop her around, and plant a big wet kiss on the lips. She was another guy’s wife. Oops!” – @seadogskamore

This article originally appeared on 9.22.22