Aurelia Butler

More stories

  • 113 Shares99 Views

    in Movies

    Ariana Greenblatt on the ‘Stupid’ Movie That Inspires Her

    “It’s a big part of my personality,” admitted the actress, who broke through in “Barbie” and is now in the sci-fi film “Borderlands.”After playing America Ferrera’s defiant daughter in “Barbie,” Ariana Greenblatt has lots of mentor options. There’s Margot Robbie (“so cool”). Michael Cera (“I love him so much”). Greta Gerwig (“yeeessss”).But her go-to vibe check? That remains her older brother, Gavin, who is studying fashion design.“All my looks are approved by him,” Greenblatt, 16, said in a phone interview from her home in Los Angeles, where she lives with her family and two rescue dogs, Luna and Foxy. “He has such great style.”He also served as the vetter on another important project: “Borderlands,” a film adaptation of the sci-fi video game in which Greenblatt plays the demolitions expert Tiny Tina.“I called him to fact-check: ‘Is this video game cool?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, I play it all the time,’” Greenblatt said. “That was my green light to move forward.”While she watched her dogs try to catch a squirrel, Greenblatt, who is now filming “Now You See Me 3” in Budapest, discussed the item that’s her must-have on the road, why she thinks everyone should read “The Outsiders” and her dream writing project. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.1‘The Outsiders’At first I was mad that I had to read it in school, but I really connected with it. My favorite character is either Darry or Sodapop — he was so cute in the movie! When Dally got shot at the end, it made me sob. Wait, there’s a musical? Now I have to see it!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

  • 150 Shares179 Views

    in Music

    Mísia, Who Brought a Modern Flair to Fado Music, Dies at 69

    With her smoky voice and her high-fashion look, the self-proclaimed “punk of fado” found stardom by shaking up a venerable Portuguese genre.Mísia, an acclaimed singer who helped modernize fado, a traditional Portuguese music known for wistful songs of fate, loss and regret, with a runway-ready style sense and an eclectic approach that earned her the label “anarchist of fado,” died on July 27 in Lisbon. She was 69.Her death was announced by Dalila Rodrigues, Portugal’s minister of culture, who called Mísia “a fundamental voice in the renewal of fado.” News reports said the cause was cancer.Fado — the name is derived from the Latin word fatum, meaning fate — is an urban folk music spiced with Arabic and other global influences that arose in the 19th century in the grittiest quarters of Lisbon. Marked by a minor-key plaintiveness, the music is rich with feelings of longing and resignation.Like the American blues, fado long functioned as the song of the disenfranchised, a search for transcendence amid struggle. “It was sung in the taverns and the houses of prostitution,” Mísia said in a 2000 interview with the American arts magazine Bomb, “where a lot of sailors and rough people, people who had a hard life, went to hear the music.” Fado, she added, “was the shouting of the people with no power.”Fado is also known for its theatrical, if spare, presentation: stylized, almost ritualistic performances by vocalists typically dressed in black, accompanied by traditional instruments like the Portuguese guitarra, a 12-string guitar dating to the 13th century.Her ascent to global success began with the release of her critically acclaimed debut album, called simply “Mísia,” in 1991; she eventually performed in the esteemed music halls of New York, London and Tokyo and attracted a particularly avid following in France.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

  • 125 Shares139 Views

    in Music

    Tim Walz’s Jam: Dylan, Prince, the Replacements and Hüsker Dü

    Kamala Harris’s running mate is a rock fan with an affinity for Minnesota artists including Bob Dylan, Prince, the Replacements and Hüsker Dü.When Beto O’Rourke and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota served in Congress together in the 2010s, they would go on early morning jogs and talk about their shared love of music from Minnesota, from icons like Bob Dylan and Prince to the indie rock ferment the Twin Cities produced in the 1980s, including the Replacements and Hüsker Dü.“Music would come up a lot,” Mr. O’Rourke recalled of those runs when they were both serving on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. (He also said that Mr. Walz, a native Nebraskan, seemed impervious to Washington winters, wearing T-shirts and shorts.)Mr. Walz’s affinity for rock comes up often enough, vouched for by enough sources, to appear deep-seated. By all appearances, the governor, whom Vice President Kamala Harris selected on Tuesday as her running mate, truly loves his dad rock.Three years ago Mr. Walz wished Bob Dylan — born in Duluth, raised in Hibbing — a happy 80th birthday on social media, identifying “Forever Young” as a favorite Dylan tune (Walz posted the slow version, not the up-tempo one). Last year Mr. Walz used purple ink to sign a law honoring the Minneapolis native Prince, the artist behind the 1984 album and movie “Purple Rain,” by renaming a stretch of Highway 5 the “Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway.”Mr. Walz periodically texts about upcoming rock concerts in the Twin Cities or Mr. O’Rourke’s hometown, El Paso. “I love that he has got one of the most intense jobs in the world, all these things on his plate, but he finds time to reach out, to listen to music, to go to concerts,” Mr. O’Rourke, a onetime presidential hopeful, said in an interview.Mr. Walz, 60, is also a fan of Bruce Springsteen. Patrick Murphy, a former Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania who at one point was Mr. Walz’s roommate in Washington, recalled how Mr. Walz urged him to delve deeper into the Springsteen catalog.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

  • 88 Shares189 Views

    in Music

    A Musical Tour of Tim Walz’s Minnesota

    The state is a hotbed of corrosive underground rock, birthplace of two acclaimed icons, home to a lively hip-hop scene and a bedrock of ’80s pop and funk.Minnesota royalty: Prince.Chris Pizzello/R-PIZZELLO, via Associated PressDear listeners,On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that she had chosen a running mate: Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota. The news cast a spotlight not only on Walz, but on Minnesota’s culture — and in particular its rich, varied musical history.Walz is an avowed music fan himself, with a special appreciation for local record stores and artists who hail from the state. My colleague Marc Tracy delves into this side of Walz in a piece published this morning, in which he suggests that the Gen X governor’s fandom of Twin Cities indie-rock legends like the Replacements and Hüsker Dü has “signaled a changing of the generational guard.” Adds Michael Azerrad, author of the ’80s rock tome “Our Band Could Be Your Life,” “It makes sense that our post-Boomer politicians would be into indie rock.”But Minnesota, of course, is more than just a hotbed of corrosive underground rock. It’s also the birthplace of two of the greatest American musicians of the last century (Duluth’s Bob Dylan and Minneapolis’s Prince), home to a lively hip-hop scene that produced a recent superstar (the Detroit expat Lizzo), and the locus of the wildly influential “Minneapolis sound” (practiced by groups like the Time) that reverberated throughout ’80s pop and funk.Today’s playlist is a celebration of the many sounds of Minnesota, and it features all the aforementioned artists plus the heartland revivalists the Hold Steady, the grunge hell-raisers Babes in Toyland and the alt-country mainstays the Jayhawks. To quote Prince — in whose honor Walz renamed a stretch of Minnesota highway last year — “Rock ’n’ roll is alive! (And it lives in Minneapolis).”Sure as the Land of a Thousand Lakes is sometimes made of snow,LindsayListen along while you read.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

  • 138 Shares179 Views

    in Music

    Shawn Mendes Returns Full of Questions, and 8 More New Songs

    Hear tracks by Leon Bridges, Ravyn Lenae, Kelsea Ballerini 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.Shawn Mendes, ‘Why Why Why’“I stepped off the stage with nothing left,” Shawn Mendes sings, referencing his headline-generating 2022 decision to cancel a scheduled world tour and focus on his mental health. The stomping, acoustic-guitar driven “Why Why Why,” from his forthcoming album “Shawn,” represents a new level of candor and pathos from the 26-year-old pop star, who has returned to the spotlight but admits he still doesn’t have all the answers: “I don’t know why, why, why, why,” he croons as the instrumentation builds around him, offering fleeting catharsis in the form of a folksy, singalong chorus. LINDSAY ZOLADZLeon Bridges, ‘Peaceful Place’Leon Bridges, the singer and songwriter based in Texas, sets aside past troubles to enjoy unexpected contentment in “Peaceful Place.” His recent collaborations with Khruangbin have moved him away from soul revivalism toward hybrid, open-ended grooves. “Peaceful Place” hints at funk and Nigerian Afrobeat, with a steady-ticking beat and a hopping bass line as he reassures everyone, “I found something no one can take away.” JON PARELESRavyn Lenae, ‘Genius’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

  • 163 Shares99 Views

    in Music

    Facing Turmoil at Home, Young Artists Find a Musical Haven in New York

    As the tour boat in New York Harbor approached the Statue of Liberty, Miranda Marín, a 12-year-old violinist from Venezuela, turned to a group of friends gathered near the bow and jumped up and down.“We’re here!” she shouted, taking pictures of the statue’s crown. “Can you believe it?”Marín, along with more than 160 members of the National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela, had come to New York for a weeklong festival that ended on Wednesday at Carnegie Hall. The festival, known as World Orchestra Week, featured more than 700 student musicians from 38 countries, including China, Nigeria, Germany, Afghanistan, Israel, Ukraine and the United States.When they were not practicing Beethoven, Ginastera or folk music, the young artists toured New York by boat, bus and subway, venturing out for pizza and ice cream. The Venezuelans held a dance party and played a card game called caída on a Circle Line cruise. The Afghan students toured the Juilliard School and the United Nations and visited the top of Rockefeller Center.The National Children’s Symphony of Venezuela.Graham Dickie/The New York TimesGraham Dickie/The New York TimesGustavo Dudamel, the renowned conductor from Venezuela, led the National Children’s Symphony. “This is the Venezuela that we want,” he said from the podium.Graham Dickie/The New York TimesWe 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

  • 138 Shares199 Views

    in Music

    Travis Scott Is Accused of Assaulting a Security Guard in Paris

    The rapper, who was in France for the Olympics, was taken into police custody at the George V hotel, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.The star rapper Travis Scott was detained on Friday in Paris, where he was visiting for the Summer Olympics, after a conflict with a security guard at a luxury hotel, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.The prosecutor’s office said Mr. Scott, 33, whose real name is Jacques Bermon Webster II, had assaulted a security guard at the George V hotel, in the city’s Eighth Arrondissement.“The security guard had intervened to separate the rapper from his bodyguard,” the office said in a statement.There are no known charges against Mr. Scott. It was unclear later Friday whether he was still in custody. The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had referred the case to the judicial police.Representatives for Mr. Scott said in a statement, “We are in direct communication with the local Parisian authorities to swiftly resolve this matter and will provide updates when appropriate.”Mr. Scott, a multiplatinum artist in the United States with a string of No. 1 albums, was arrested this summer in Miami Beach, Fla., after what the police called a disturbance on a yacht. He was charged with trespassing and disorderly intoxication. His lawyer said at the time that he had been “briefly detained due to a misunderstanding.”On Thursday night, Mr. Scott had posted on Instagram from the crowd of the men’s basketball game between the United States and Serbia, snapping photos of the American stars LeBron James and Stephen Curry.In 2021, 10 fans died as a result of a crowd crush at Mr. Scott’s Astroworld festival in Houston, his hometown. A grand jury declined to indict Mr. Scott and others who oversaw the festival, and settlements have been reached in the lawsuits over the deaths.Aurelien Breeden More

  • 138 Shares169 Views

    in Music

    3rd Teenager Arrested Over Planned Attack on Taylor Swift’s Vienna Concerts

    The authorities said the 18-year-old was connected to the main suspect and had recently sworn allegiance to the Islamic State.The authorities in Vienna have arrested a third teenager in connection with a foiled terrorist attack on a Taylor Swift concert in the city this week. They say they believe that the man, an 18-year-old connected to the main suspect, was not part of the plan but had been in touch with the plotters and had recently sworn allegiance to the Islamic State.Ms. Swift was scheduled to stage three concerts in Vienna starting Thursday through Saturday, but all three performances were canceled after the authorities arrested two teenagers over a plan to attack the sold-out, 50,000-seat stadium. Chancellor Karl Nehammer of Austria said the plot had been designed to leave a “trail of blood.”Since arresting two other teenagers on Wednesday, the authorities have been racing to investigate the planned attack, although after what the police said was a full confession by the main suspect, they said there was no longer an imminent danger.The police are looking into a network of people around the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian citizen of North Macedonian descent who they said had radicalized himself online and sworn allegiance to the Islamic State. Citing privacy rules, the authorities have declined to publicly name the suspects, but they said that both teenagers arrested on Wednesday were born in Austria and held Austrian citizenship.During a raid on the main suspect’s house on Wednesday, the police said, officers found chemicals used to make bombs, as well as explosives, timers, machetes, knives and a functioning police siren, which investigators believe he planned to use to gain access to or move around the area around the stadium.The concert cancellations affected about 200,000 Taylor Swift fans, some of whom had traveled to Europe from other continents to see her perform as part of her Eras Tour. Ms. Swift has not commented publicly on the cancellations.A 15-year-old boy who was held for questioning on Wednesday about the plot has been released and is being treated as a witness, the police said. They said that they had determined he was not part of the plot but that he knew many of its details and had helped corroborate some key elements of the main suspect’s confession. More