Aurelia Butler

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    Mac Gayden, Stellar Nashville Guitarist and Songwriter, Dies at 83

    Heard on Bob Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde” among other albums, he also sang and was a writer of the perennial “Everlasting Love.”Mac Gayden, the co-writer of the pop evergreen “Everlasting Love” and an innovative guitarist who recorded with Bob Dylan and helped establish Nashville as a recording hub for artists working outside the bounds of country music, died on Wednesday at his home in Nashville. He was 83.His cousin Tommye Maddox Working said the cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease.Strangely enough, Mr. Gayden’s most illustrious achievement — his percussive electric guitar work on “Absolutely Sweet Marie,” a track on Mr. Dylan’s 1966 opus, “Blonde on Blonde,” most of which was recorded in Nashville — went uncredited for decades. It was only recently, when a new generation of researchers discovered the omission, that he received his due.Mr. Gayden, who was self-taught, had a knack for inventing just the right rhythm or mood for an arrangement. In the late 1960s and early ’70s, when Nashville was just beginning to break out of its conventional country bubble, he had a particular affinity for collaborating with cultural outsiders, among them Linda Ronstadt and the Pointer Sisters.“Mac Gayden was a genius, genius, genius — the best guitar player I ever heard,” Bob Johnston, the producer of “Blonde on Blonde,” was quoted as saying in “Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City,” a 2015 exhibition at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.Mr. Gayden in 2015 at the opening of the exhibition “Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City” at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.Jason Davis/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and MuseumOn J.J. Cale’s 1971 Top 40 single “Crazy Mama,” Mr. Gayden played bluesy slide guitar with a wah-wah pedal, creating an uncanny sound later employed to droll effect on the Steve Miller Band’s chart-topping 1973 pop hit “The Joker.” Decades later, the steel guitarist Robert Randolph, a Pentecostal-bred star in jam-band circles, adopted the technique as well.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    In Hudson, N.Y., Even the Opera Is Locavore

    The director R.B. Schlather gathered the cast of Handel’s “Giulio Cesare” for a quick pep talk before running through the opera last weekend. Not all the costumes were ready, and not everyone in the orchestra could be there, but they were about to see whether the show they had been rehearsing for several weeks even worked.“You’re getting to go through this thing for the first time,” Schlather told them, speaking also to the creative team and crew of his new “Cesare” production, which opens at Hudson Hall in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday. “Don’t worry. I encourage you today to just go for it.”There was a bit of applause from the balcony: The rehearsal was open to the public, and some locals had shown up to get a taste of the work in progress. Staff of the production and hall left their perches to say hello to people they knew, some of whom were just passing through with their to-go coffees, shopping bags and dogs.Boundaries between artists and audiences aren’t always so porous, but in Hudson, locals are as represented onstage as off. Partly out of necessity, but also because of Schlather’s ethos, opera here is something more like community theater, executed at the level of a major company.R.B. Schlather, center, the director of “Cesare,” talking to musicians, from left, Coleman Itzkoff, Clay Zeller Townson and Elliot Figg.Lauren Lancaster for The New York TimesSome of the “Cesare” performers are commuting from a residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park nearby; others are just driving in from their houses. When they come together, it’s in a luxurious way that would be unimaginable 120 miles south in New York City. The artists have more freedom and, crucially, more time.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Lana Del Rey’s Foreboding Lullaby, and 7 More New Songs

    Hear tracks by Madison McFerrin, Ana Tijoux, Matmos and others.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.Lana Del Rey, ‘Bluebird’“Bluebird” — the latest single from Lana Del Rey’s country-infused 10th album — has a homey, retro sound: a relaxed waltz tempo, acoustic guitar picking, dulcet strings and an innocent warble in her voice. Behind it is worry. She’s warning someone — a child? a friend? — to escape while they can, while she stays behind to shield them from abuse: “We both shouldn’t be dealing with him,” she sings. It’s an alarm that’s delivered as a lullaby: “Find a way to fly,” she urges, oh so sweetly. “Just shoot for the sun, ’til I can finally run.”Madison McFerrin, ‘I Don’t’Madison McFerrin transmutes a failed engagement into a wry but dramatic self-assessment: “Did I make a mistake in choosing who / to say ‘I do’ to?” she sings with crisp syllables. Syncopated piano chords and sympathetic backing vocals hint at the archness of a show tune, but a crescendo of distorted electric guitars suggests some feelings still unresolved.Grumpy featuring Claire Rousay and Pink Must, ‘Harmony’A mid-tempo, boom-chunk beat is the only relatively stable component of “Harmony,” a collaboration by four electronics-loving experimenters from pop’s fringe. (Pink Must is a duo.) “Harmony” is a hyperpop ballad that somehow stays winsome despite its filtered, pitch-shifted, overlapping vocals, warped instrumental sounds and angular bits of melody. “When I pray for harmony, it’s for you,” Grumpy sings, no matter how skewed the harmonies are at the moment.Morgan Wallen featuring Post Malone, ‘I Ain’t Comin’ Back’Released on Good Friday, “I Ain’t Comin’ Back” offers peak posturing and allusions to faith, along with brand placements for booze, tobacco and a vintage car. “There’s a lot of reasons I ain’t Jesus, but the main one is that I ain’t comin’ back,” Morgan Wallen and Post Malone sing with sullen pride. There’s some clever wordplay — “Go throw your pebbles, I’ll be somewhere getting stoned,” Malone taunts — but sour self-righteousness prevails.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    New Pornographers Drummer Is Charged With Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Imagery

    Joseph Seiders, who joined the band in 2014, is accused of recording boys who were using a restaurant bathroom.Joseph Seiders, the drummer for the indie power-pop group the New Pornographers, was arrested this month in Southern California on charges of possession of child sexual abuse imagery and other crimes, the authorities said.Mr. Seiders, 44, was taken into custody on April 9 after an employee at a Chick-fil-A restaurant called the police and said a man was entering and exiting the bathroom with underage boys, according to a news release from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office.Two days earlier, the police were called to the same restaurant after an 11-year-old boy said a man had recorded him on a cellphone while he used the bathroom.After Mr. Seiders was arrested, search warrants were issued for his home, vehicle and cellphone, the police said. He was then charged with possession of child pornography, annoying/molesting a child, invasion of privacy and attempted invasion of privacy.Mr. Seiders, whose bail was set at $1 million and remains incarcerated, is due in court next week, according to jail records. It is unclear if he has a lawyer.“Everyone in the band is absolutely shocked, horrified and devastated by the news of the charges against Joe Seiders — and we have immediately severed all ties with him,” a spokesman for the New Pornographers said in a statement on Friday. “Our hearts go out to everyone who has been impacted by his actions.”The spokesman said there was nothing to report about how the arrest might change the band’s upcoming plans.Mr. Seiders joined the New Pornographers in 2014 — 17 years after the band formed — and has appeared on recent projects alongside the singer and songwriter Neko Case, the guitarist A.C. Newman and the bassist John Collins. Their latest song, “Ballad of the Last Payphone,” was released this month. More

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    5 Free Movies to Stream on Tubi, Plex and PlutoTV

    In films like Andrew Haigh’s “Weekend,” you’ll find new beginnings in time for spring. Here’s a rundown of what’s currently on Tubi, Plex and PlutoTV.Spring, with its blooms and many unfurlings, is a time of awakening. Yet birth and renewal also means being confronted with the cold light of day.The early seconds of Josephine Decker’s 2018 film “Madeline’s Madeline” opens on a theater exercise that doubles as a kind of transformation for its teenage protagonist. “What you are experiencing is just a metaphor,” she’s assured. But what it represents will prove to be confusing and brutal; growing into the world often is.Spring, of course, also welcomes the budding of new romance. In the films from this month, you’ll recognize the sudden possibilities of love, in its wonder and its terror, along with the prickly realities of coming of age. For these (mostly) young characters, it’s a season of change. Watching them, one can only hope they make it out the other end intact.‘Weekend’ (2011)Stream it on PlutoTV.The fleeting encounter is an age-old archetype kept alive by the most romantic, and perhaps idealized, corners of our imagination. But in this story of a two-night stand by Andrew Haigh (“All of Us Strangers”), a brief connection is rendered achingly deep and real.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    13 Songs You Didn’t Know Were Big Hits Right Now

    Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeThe Billboard Hot 100 chart is a weekly measurement of success that draws upon various reporting sources — radio play, streaming, paid downloads — in hopes of capturing what music is truly popular in a given week.Looking at the chart dated April 19, 2025, there are the obvious heavy hitters: Morgan Wallen, Drake, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Bruno Mars and so on. But there are also plenty of songs and artists who function outside of the usual fame apparatuses.Take Locash, the long-running country band. Or Brandon Lake, the Christian worship singer. Or Sleep Token, the alternative metal band. There are songs that are popular on TikTok, and songs used on reality television. And there are some songs that are so popular that they’re practically invisible.On this week’s Popcast, a deep listen to the songs on the current Hot 100 that might surprise you, along with a conversation on how fame is built (or invented) in the modern era and the discovery of some sleeper gems.Connect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. More

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    The ‘Pride & Prejudice’ Hand Flex: One Gesture and the Web Is Still Swooning

    Say “hand flex” to a fan of the 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice” and they will know exactly what you mean.The gesture comes early in the director Joe Wright’s sumptuous version of the story. Keira Knightley’s bold Elizabeth Bennet is leaving Netherfield Park after picking up her ill sister Jane (Rosamund Pike). The reserved Mr. Darcy, played by Matthew Macfadyen, helps Elizabeth into a carriage. She had previously overheard Darcy insult her, calling her “tolerable,” and the tension between them is palpable. But when he touches her, something happens. She looks down, her gaze lingering on his gesture. As he walks away, the camera captures Darcy’s hand. His fingers stretch outward like an impulsive, unconscious tic. Her touch is almost too intense for him to handle.In the nearly 20 years since the film came out, the hand flex has become perhaps the defining beat from Wright’s take on the novel. It’s the subject of countless social-media posts, critical essays and TikTok dissertations. Search “hand flex” on TikTok or X and you’ll find the term even being applied to scenes from other films and TV shows. “This is my equivalent of the hand flex” is shorthand for “this tiny gesture gives me butterflies.”The word I kept encountering when talking to people and reading about the hand flex is “yearning.” Darcy, in the early phases of the story, keeps up a mask around Elizabeth, but his subconscious actions reveal just how much he desires her. To many, it’s devastatingly hot. And now, for the anniversary rerelease of “Pride & Prejudice” on April 20, the hand flex is commemorated with official merchandise.

    @lassoedmoon My first enamel pin design dedicated to our true Roman Empire The Hand Flex™️ #prideandprejudice #enamelpins #ethicallymade #smallbusiness ♬ Marianelli: Dawn – From “Pride & Prejudice” Soundtrack – Jean-Yves Thibaudet

    @mimiharlowrobinson Reply to @yahaira.corona THE HAND FLEX 2! #EnvisionGreatness #OverShareInYourUnderwear #prideandprejudice #prideandprejudice2005 #mrdarcy #janeausten ♬ Once Upon a December by Alexander Joseph – Alexander Joseph We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    John Cena Confronts His Final WrestleMania

    As his in-ring career draws to a close, the most popular star in W.W.E. is trying out a new role: the bad guy.John Cena knew his time was up.For more than 20 years, Cena was a symbol of excellence and inevitability in professional wrestling. Cast as the ultimate good-guy character in World Wrestling Entertainment, he was Superman in jorts — a 16-time world champion and perhaps the last of the monocultural, crossover stars, following the likes of Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and the Rock.But even in the world of sports entertainment, Superman doesn’t live forever. And Cena remembered a promise he had made to the audience: When I get a step slow, I’m out.“And I’m a step slow,” he said.The realization kicked in a couple of years ago. Cena was down 15 pounds from his ideal in-ring weight. He couldn’t lift as much. He no longer looked like Mark Wahlberg ate Mark Wahlberg. It was time.“It is not from lack of trying. I’m just [expletive] old,” said Cena, who turns 48 this month. “I’ve never been the best wrestler out there — I know who I am and my capabilities. So, when I can feel myself getting a little slower, it’s time to go.”Cena says this inside a trailer on a movie set one snowy Sunday morning in early April near Cierne, a small Slovakian village near the border of Poland and the Czech Republic. He is roughly 6,000 miles away from Las Vegas, where on Sunday he will face Cody Rhodes in the main event at WrestleMania, Cena’s 17th and final time participating in W.W.E.’s flagship spectacle. A victory would make him the most decorated champion in the history of professional wrestling. But a set like this has become Cena’s work space as much as the squared circle over the years. He’s here filming “Matchbox,” the latest toy-brand-comes-to-life franchise with blockbuster ambitions, and Cena is the top-billed star. He makes sense in that role because even for people who don’t know an Attitude Adjustment from a People’s Elbow, Cena has become a household name.He’s been in action franchises (as Vin Diesel’s brother in the “Fast and Furious” movies), sex comedies (a buff boyfriend who is awful at dirty talk in “Trainwreck”) and world-conquering blockbusters (Mermaid Ken in “Barbie”). He’s a top-selling rap artist (that’s him on the mic for his enduring entrance music) and has made memorable appearances on “Saturday Night Live.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More