Aurelia Butler

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    At Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s Trial, Talk of Baby Oil, Guns and a Guest: Kanye West

    The rapper formerly known as Kanye West, one of the few celebrities to publicly defend Mr. Combs, was denied access to the courtroom and briefly watched on closed-circuit video.At about 11:20 a.m. on Friday, there was a commotion at the entrance to the Federal District courthouse in Lower Manhattan when Ye, the rapper and provocateur formerly known as Kanye West, entered the building where Sean Combs is standing trial.Ye, wearing sunglasses and a white denim jacket and pants, was accompanied by Mr. Combs’s son Christian. When he was asked by a reporter if he was there to support Mr. Combs, Ye said yes — though he stayed in the courthouse for only about 30 minutes, and was never seated in the courtroom.For months, Ye has been one of the only major celebrities to offer public support for Mr. Combs, who is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors have said that employees of Mr. Combs, including security staff, worked on his behalf as part of a “criminal enterprise” to commit a variety of crimes, including kidnapping, arson and obstruction of justice. Mr. Combs has pleaded not guilty.The presence of Ye — who has become a pariah in the music industry in recent years for issuing brazen antisemitic comments — was brief, but it electrified the building.When he tried to enter the 26th-floor courtroom where Mr. Combs’s trial was underway, Ye was told that he was not on the approved list for the day, which is held by court officers and includes reporters and members of the public who arrive early.So Ye was directed to a mostly empty overflow room three floors down. There, with Christian Combs and Charlucci Finney, a friend of Mr. Combs, Ye watched a closed-circuit video feed as the proceedings were set to resume after a break.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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    Foday Musa Suso, 75, Dies; Ambitious Ambassador for West African Music

    A master of the kora who worked with Herbie Hancock and Philip Glass, his career was powered as much by experimentation as by reverence for tradition.Foday Musa Suso, a griot, kora virtuoso, multi-instrumentalist and composer whose work with artists like Herbie Hancock and Philip Glass helped thrust West African musical traditions into conversation with the world, died on May 25 in his native Gambia. He was 75.The percussionist Stefan Monssen, a mentee of Mr. Suso’s, confirmed the death, in a hospital. He did not specify a cause, but said Mr. Suso had been in ill health in recent years after suffering a stroke.Mr. Suso was born into a long line of griots, the caste of musician-storytellers who are traditionally responsible for retaining oral histories in the areas of West Africa where the Mande languages are spoken. He traced his lineage back to Jeli Madi Wlen Suso, who is said to have invented the kora centuries ago by attaching 21 strings and a cowhide to a large calabash gourd.Mr. Suso was the rare musician who learned to play in the various regional styles of griots from around West Africa. In a tribute published in Gambia’s major newspaper, The Standard, Justice Ebrima Jaiteh of the country’s high court wrote, “Jali Foday was more than a musician, he was a living archive, a teacher, and a symbol of continuity in a rapidly changing world.” (The honorific “Jali” refers to Mr. Suso’s status as a griot.)And yet Mr. Suso’s career was powered as much by his will to expand as by reverence for tradition.He added three bass strings to his kora’s traditional 21, allowing him to hold a steady beat and make its sound more danceable — and therefore more appealing to young listeners in the 1970s.He wrote many of his own compositions. He also learned to play more than a dozen other instruments, including the balafon (an African predecessor of the xylophone), kalimba (also known as the thumb piano), nyanyer (a one-stringed violin-like instrument), ngoni (an early West African banjo) and talking drum. After moving to the United States, he began experimenting with electronic instruments 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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    Arthur Hamilton, Who Wrote the Enduring ‘Cry Me a River,’ Dies at 98

    A hit for Julie London in 1955, it was later recorded by — among many others — Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand and Michael Bublé, who praised it for its “darkness.”Arthur Hamilton, a composer best known for the enduring torch song “Cry Me a River,” which has been recorded by hundreds of artists, died on May 20 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 98.His death was announced this month by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and the Society of Composers & LyricistsMr. Hamilton’s long career included an Oscar nomination for best original song. But his most famous composition by far was “Cry Me a River.”It was one of the three songs he wrote for the 1955 film “Pete Kelly’s Blues,” which starred Jack Webb as a jazz musician fighting mobsters in Prohibition-era Kansas City, Mo. At the time, Mr. Webb was also playing his most famous role, Sergeant Joe Friday, on the television series “Dragnet” (1951-59).Peggy Lee, who played an alcoholic performer in the film, sang Mr. Hamilton’s “Sing a Rainbow” and “He Needs Me.” Ella Fitzgerald, who was also in the film, sang “Cry Me a River,” but her rendition was cut by Mr. Webb, who was also the director and producer.“Arthur said to me that the irony was that when Ella recorded it” — years later, for her 1961 album “Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!” — “he thought she made one of the greatest recordings of it ever,” Michael Feinstein, the singer and pianist, said in an interview. “But Jack felt she didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to do it justice.”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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    The Musical Mysteries Brian Wilson Left Behind

    The Beach Boys mastermind has been the subject of pop scholarship and major boxed sets, but some corners of his oeuvre remain unreleased.Though Brian Wilson was one of pop’s most studied artists, he largely remained an enigma. The Beach Boys leader, whose death at 82 was announced this week, made music for the masses with an artisan’s eye for detail. While his biography was well known, questions about what drove him to the top of the charts — and ultimately deep into darkness — could never definitively be answered.Since the start of the CD era, Wilson’s legacy has been burnished by a series of deep-dive archival efforts, including the 1993 “Good Vibrations” boxed set, the revelatory “Pet Sounds Sessions” collection from 1996, a series of early 2000s reissues focused on the band’s Brother label years, and ultimately the holy grail: the release of his abandoned mid-60s masterwork, “Smile,” in 2011.“Everything Brian created is worth hearing and it all has a kind of historical value in terms of understanding his life,” said David Leaf, the Beach Boys historian who published “Smile: The Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Brian Wilson” this spring.In more recent years, that effort has continued with sets focused on the Beach Boys’ overlooked and often deceptively strange 1970s work. “These projects continue to come out with all this new and unheard material,” said the author Peter Ames Carlin, who wrote a 2006 biography of Wilson, “Catch a Wave.” “It’s a testament to just how creative and prolific Brian was — despite the many ups and downs of his life.”Even with the consistent release of music from the vaults, there are fascinating corners of Wilson’s oeuvre that have yet to see the light of day. Here’s a rundown.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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    Action Movies to Stream Now: ‘Exterritorial,’ ‘Fear Below’ and More

    This month’s picks include a gaslit mother, a hungry shark, vengeful French cops, and more.‘Exterritorial’Stream it on Netflix.Sara (Jeanne Goursaud), a German war veteran, is moving to the United States with her son, Josh (Rickson Guy da Silva), to accept a job when he is abducted in the consulate. Although Sara begs for help, the consulate’s smarmy security officer, Eric (Dougray Scott), claims her son was never with her.Like “Flightplan,” another film about a mother searching for her missing child, “Exterritorial,” written and directed by Christian Zübert, makes gaslighting a juicy subject for an action thriller. In her pursuit, which is often slowed by her post-traumatic stress disorder, Sara discovers a secret drug ring and an imprisoned whistle-blower (Lera Abova). An expert in hand-to-hand combat, Sara also engages in bone-rattling scrums with consulate personnel. The oppressively white and bright setting, the psychological angst felt by Sara, and Zübert’s insistence on long takes make “Exterritorial” succeed as a frustrating fight for recognition.‘Fear Below’Rent or buy on most major platforms.In the director Matthew Holmes’s striking shark movie “Fear Below,” a diving team — Clara (Hermione Corfield), Jimmy (Jacob Junior Nayinggul) and Ernie (Arthur Angel) — is hired by a rugged gangster named Dylan (Jake Ryan) to salvage boxes of gold bars trapped in a truck at the bottom of a deep and dirty river. It’s a simple job complicated by a deadly female bull shark circling the treasure.“Fear Below” is both politically conscious — using its 1940s Australian background to comment on the sexism and racism of the era — and downright thrilling. While the wrathful Dylan is an easy-to-hate heel, the shark is commandingly elusive. The dingy water means the bloodthirsty predator can appear anytime, and the extreme close-ups in the divers’ helmets adds to the limited visibility. The two angles combine for a shark movie that ends with a crunch.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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    7 Father’s Day Movies to Watch in Theaters

    Whether you’re in the mood for dragons or a new Wes Anderson, theaters this weekend are filled with fatherly flicks.It’s tough being a dad, but you can at least be assured that you don’t have to contend with fire-breathing dragons, rooftop body slams or assassination attempts (we hope).Instead, you can enjoy watching other dads — and surrogate dads — confront those thrills this month in theaters.Here’s a roundup of what to watch with the father figure in your life.The Heartwarming‘How to Train Your Dragon’Hiccup isn’t like the other vikings. He can barely lift a battle ax, much less wield one; he’d rather tinker than trade insults with his peers, and he’s more clumsy than courageous. He is, in other words, tough for his manly-man village chief father (played by Gerard Butler), to love. But when he unexpectedly vaults to the top of his dragon-fighting training class — using mysterious means — his father is over the moon. However, when Hiccup suggests NOT killing dragons? Cue the shame. In theaters.‘Elio’Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) with Glordon (Remy Edgerly) in “Elio.”Pixar/Disney/Pixar, via Associated PressWhen your dad is a warlord, and you just want to make him proud — preferably without the need for intergalactic conquest — well, it’s not easy for either father or son. But that’s the case among Glordon, a sluglike purple alien with no eyelids, and his dad, the fearsome space ruler Lord Grigon, in the latest Pixar film “Elio.”When Glordon and the titular protagonist, 11-year-old Elio, who must negotiate with Lord Grigon to prevent him from destroying the universe, become fast friends, loyalties will be tested. Will Glordon’s dad come around when his son is kidnapped and agrees to be used as a bargaining chip? Or will he abandon the kid to fate? (Yes, this one isn’t quite out yet, but no one says you can’t buy your dad advance tickets!) In theaters June 20.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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    Wayne Lewis, Singer With the R&B Mainstay Atlantic Starr, Dies at 68

    The group reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987 with the ballad “Always” and went on to leave a lasting impression on modern-day artists.Wayne Lewis, the dapper vocalist and keyboardist who was a founder of the group Atlantic Starr, a fixture of the 1980s rhythm and blues scene, died on June 5 in Queens. He was 68.His brother Jonathan Lewis confirmed the death but did not specify a cause. He said that Wayne Lewis collapsed while running on a treadmill at a gym and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.A suave performer with piercing eyes and a rollicking sense of humor, Mr. Lewis served as one of the singers and songwriters of Atlantic Starr, whose ballad “Always” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1987 and whose other hits included “Secret Lovers” and “Circles.” The band was nominated for three Soul Train Awards and an American Music Award.Writing with his brothers Jonathan and David, Mr. Lewis translated the universal emotions of love, lust and heartbreak into evocative verses backed by lush arrangements. His performances of the sentimental soul ballad “Send for Me,” released in 1980, became a calling card.Fluent in the sartorial language of showbiz, Mr. Lewis meticulously color-coordinated the group’s outfits, Jonathan Lewis said. His own suits — flashy, textured and patterned — were often showstoppers.Reviewing a concert for The Washington Post in 1982, Mike Joyce noted the “pop sheen romanticism” at the heart of Atlantic Starr’s music. As Wayne and David Lewis took center stage, he observed, they brought with them “a heartthrob appeal akin to the Jacksons’.”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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    Watch Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal Spark in ‘Materialists’

    The writer and director Celine Song narrates a sequence from her film, which also features Chris Evans.In “Anatomy of a Scene,” we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series on Fridays. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel.A meet-cute, an intriguing drink order and a stealth character in the background make for a clever scene in Celine Song’s latest film, “Materialists.” Narrating this sequence, the writer-director said she chose this particular scene to discuss for this series “because it’s the first scene that I wrote.”In it, Harry, played by Pedro Pascal, is at the reception following his brother’s wedding. He rearranges his name card so he can sit next to Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a matchmaker he quickly starts to hit on.Discussing the scene, Song said she wanted the camera to settle on a long two-shot, in which Lucy and Harry have a thoughtful conversation.“This really reflects how incredible my actors are,” she said, “because we’re really treating them like they’re theater actors having to have a whole conversation while sitting in this two-shot.”During that discussion, Song adds to the narrative with a background moment, a quick introduction of the film’s third lead, John (Chris Evans), who walks through the frame while the two are talking.“I really did want the sound design and the way that he walks by to be something that is maybe not easy to spot in the first watch, but it’s a bit of a secret.”That moment pays off when Lucy tells Harry her drink order toward the end of the scene.Read the “Materialists” review.Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics’ Picks and more. More