A s a kid growing up in the small Texas town of Navasota, Jose Alfaro spent his summers playing in the pastures and creeks near his home, examining bugs and frogs, crawfish and turtles. “It was one of those towns where tractors hold up traffic,” he says. Trains slowed things …
Read More »In Praise of Oasis' 'Be Here Now,' A Flop To Remember
Happy 25th birthday to Be Here Now, Oasis’ third album and one of the most notorious bombs in rock history. The boozing, brawling Manchester lads were on top of the world in 1997, coming off two perfect albums, Definitely Maybe and (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? But on August 21, …
Read More »Dr. Oz's Gaffe-Filled Senate Campaign: How to Self-Destruct in 7 Easy Steps
Mehmet Oz‘s bid for Senate is not going well. The TV doctor-turned-MAGA diehard is trailing his Democratic opponent, John Fetterman, in the polls by double digits. Former President Donald Trump, whose endorsement propelled Oz to a narrow victory in the Republican primary, even appears to be souring on the congressional …
Read More »A Missing Musician, a Broken Family, and a Bag of Bones: Inside a 40-Year Murder Mystery
T his story begins in 1982 with less than half a man — a pile of bones discovered under a layer of February snow, his broken skull smiling up at an adolescent worker behind his family’s factory. The bones were far from home, discarded in small-town Twinsburg, Ohio, which got …
Read More »Deleted Ice Scene in 'Almost Famous' Inspired a New Duet for the Broadway Musical
Almost Famous is so beloved that even its deleted scenes are widely known — from Frances McDormand cringing to “Stairway to Heaven” to the radio station scene with Kyle Gass. Now, lines from the intimate ice cube scene with Penny Lane and Russell Hammond are being used in a duet …
Read More »Nathan Fielder to Get a Second Shot at Human Connection With Season Two of 'The Rehearsal'
Nathan Fielder will get another chance to manufacture some human connection — and keep putting himself through the emotional ringer — now that The Rehearsal has been renewed for a second season. HBO announced the news Friday, Aug. 19, ahead of the final episode of the show’s celebrated first season. …
Read More »Panic! At the Disco's 'Viva Las Vengeance' Is an Audacious Classic-Rock Throwback…With a Heart!
Ever since he was a hypersyllabic, top-hat-clad emo-pop upstart in the mid-2000s, Brendon Urie has always been about the grand gesture. His project Panic! At the Disco, which began as a band with his childhood friends and has evolved into a solo venture, has trafficked in big moves, whether it’s …
Read More »The Worst Songs Ever, From 'Blurred Lines' to 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Bitch'
There’s one thing we’re still sure of: Robin Thicke’s odious “Blurred Lines” is high on the list of the worst songs ever made. And for that matter, Leah Kate’s nursery-rhyme-biting, Olivia Rodrigo-aping TikTok irritant “Twinkle Twinkle Little Bitch” is definitely this year’s contribution. But in 2022, where all canons have …
Read More »Lindsey Buckingham Will Return to the Road This Fall
Lindsey Buckingham is hitting the road again. A year after releasing his self-titled album, the former Fleetwood Mac guitarist is making stops across Europe and the United Kingdom, before another U.S. trek this fall. “As promised, we’re coming back on our US tour,” Buckingham tweeted Friday. The run kicks off …
Read More »'House of the Dragon' Is 'Game of Thrones' Minus the Fire
The massive sprawl of Game of Thrones could be both blessing and curse. The HBO fantasy epic had a seemingly bottomless and varied well of colorful characters and places from which to draw stories, and to keep the audience from growing tired of any one corner of its fictional world. …
Read More »