Lydia Lunch is a true radical in every sense of the word. A high priestess of punk, she arrived in New York when she was just 16 in the mid-’70s and made a name for herself downtown with her band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. That group became synonymous with the hugely influential No Wave movement and launched Lunch’s multifaceted career of over 40 years as an actor, performance poet, writer, public speaker, solo artist, and frontwoman for her subsequent bands 8-Eyed Spy, 13.13, Shotgun...

Lil Nas X has transcended to new levels of queer cowboy greatness with his latest performance, a soulful rendition of Dolly Parton’s 1973 classic song, “Jolene.” In celebration of his debut album, Montero, Lil Nas took over BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge with a small band and a flower-adorned mic stand to work some country magic. His cover of “Jolene” invokes the same Western profundity of his first hit, “Old Town Road,” but with a newfound sense of depth and self-awareness. As he sings “Jolene”’s lyrical tale...

DATING & NEW YORK Written and directed by Jonah Feingold Out September 10 In a world where meeting a potential partner in-person seems almost impossible, Dating & New York dramatizes today’s most common method for mingling-hooking up on dating apps. The romantic comedy follows Milo (Jaboukie Young-White from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah) and Wendy (Francesca Reale from Stranger Things) as they embark on a casual, friends with benefits relationship- no feelings, just sex. Writer/ director Jonah Feingold presents their story as a modernized fairy tale set in New York City with imagery...

Rosa Brooks was tear-gassed in utero. As the 1960s became the ’70s, her mother, left-wing activist and journalist Barbara Ehrenreich, was pregnant and protesting against the Vietnam War when she was gassed by police. Ehrenreich passed her rebellious streak down to Brooks, now 51, who grew to ask herself: How do I rebel against a rebel? Decades later, Brooks was working as a tenured law professor at Georgetown and driving her kids around the Virginia suburbs. But a sense of subversion infiltrated her days. So, in the polarized period between the election...

    Becoming a mother has been long identified as a woman’s main “role” amongst patriarchs, but motherhood is certainly not for everyone, nor does it come easy to many. In a video for Vogue, Musician Grimes, 33, challenged the expected role of the “mother” when she revealed that her 16-month-old son X Æ A-Xii, X for short, with Elon Musk, calls her by her first name.    Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher, told the camera: Being a mother feels weird to say. For some reason I don’t Identify...

Michaela Coel continues to get her flowers, nabbing her first-ever Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for I May Destroy You, this past Sunday.  Coel, who created, wrote, co-directed, and starred in the 12-episode sexual assault drama, is the first Black woman to ever win in this category. She even received a congratulatory stamp of approval from the queen of TV herself, Shonda Rhimes:    Yes!!!! @MichaelaCoel won! More than well-deserved!!!!! — shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) September 20, 2021   In I May Destroy You, Coel...

After a year of cancelled music festivals and travel, musicians and attendees of the Bottlerock Napa Valley Music Festival were thrilled to drink wine together, dance together and enjoy a little bit of normalcy for three days from Sept 3-5.  This was the first music festival/live music event I personally attended since before the pandemic and I was not the only one.  I am one of those people who covers live music regularly. For the past couple of years I have had the privilege of covering...

  LANGUAGE LESSONS Written and directed by Natalie Morales Out September 10 Natalie Morales, the actor, has been gracing our screens for more than a decade (Parks & Recreation, Battle of the Sexes, Dead to Me), but Morales the director is having a moment: Language Lessons, which she co-wrote and stars in with Mark Duplass, is one of the two features she helmed during lockdown. It’s the quiet, intimate flipside to Plan B, the chaotic quest movie she directed for Hulu, and both are must-sees. Much of Language Lessons’...

On September 8th, at the 78th annual Venice International Film Festival, Jamie Lee Curtis received the Lifetime Achievement Award. In anticipation of the final two installments in the Halloween franchise, Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022), Curtis will be reprising her role as protagonist Laurie Strode.  When asked about Curtis’ career, Alberto Barbera, Festival Director, stated: “To date, her extraordinary four-decade career reminds us that true talent, combined with intelligence, wit, endurance, and sheer grit, are the hallmarks of this true and unforgettable star.” The...

After the success of her HBO TV series I May Destroy You, which explored issues of sexual assault, consent, and their intersection with race, British actress and screenwriter Michaela Coel is continuing her work on these very important topics. This past September 7th she released her first book, Misfits: A Personal Manifesto. From her experience with racism at a very young age to the traumas of sexual assault, Misfits is a touching look at Michaela Coel’s life and work as a “misfist”.  Shiny purple and orange...