Aurelia Butler

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    in Music

    Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Will Remain Jailed Until Judge Rules on Third Bail Request

    A federal judge is still weighing the music mogul’s arguments that he should be freed while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges.Sean Combs, the embattled music mogul who has been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering, will remain in jail after a federal judge on Friday said he would continue to weigh arguments about Mr. Combs’s release.Judge Arun Subramanian said at a hearing that he would decide next week on Mr. Combs’s third and latest request to be released on bail.That means that Mr. Combs will, at least for now, stay at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a hulking federal facility on the Brooklyn waterfront; his trial is scheduled for May. Mr. Combs, 55, has been detained since his arrest two months ago after a nearly 10-month federal investigation. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.Mr. Combs, in tan jail clothes, entered the courtroom smiling, and mouthed “love you” to his mother and six of his children.The central question of the hearing was whether he could be trusted to follow his lawyers’ commands and follow the specifications of his release if granted bail. Prosecutors have accused Mr. Combs of contacting grand jury witnesses, paying a potential witness to make a statement in his favor and attempting to use three-way phone calls from jail to contact associates whom prosecutors consider part of his “criminal enterprise.”The judge queried both sides closely, noting some evidence that Mr. Combs had not fully obeyed his lawyers, while also indicating some skepticism of the government’s argument that he was trying to obstruct the case from jail. (That included an allegation that Mr. Combs had orchestrated a social media post on his birthday that prosecutors said was intended to influence potential jurors.)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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    A Playlist That’s as Cool as Kim Deal

    Hear tracks from her first solo album, the Breeders, Pixies and more.Chantal Anderson for The New York TimesDear listeners,Today marks an occasion four decades in the making: the indie-rock icon Kim Deal, at age 63, is releasing her first ever solo album, a collection of woozy pop ballads and distorted rockers titled “Nobody Loves You More.”Deal is best known as the bassist of Pixies (and an indelible backing vocalist: “Where Is My Mind?” just wouldn’t be the same without her high, haunting “oohs”) and the frontwoman of the Breeders (the ’90s themselves just wouldn’t have been the same without the inventive and infectious sound of “Last Splash”). Her voice is inimitable; in her recently published profile of Deal, my editor Caryn Ganz describes it quite vividly as sounding “like cotton candy cut with paint thinner.”A lot of people in rock bands want to seem cool, and they will spend much of their energy (and wardrobe budgets) attempting to telegraph their coolness to the audience: think tattoos, tight leather and lots of posturing. Kim Deal has always been the other kind of cool. She’s not in-your-face about it. She smiles more often than she sneers. She seems to have an innate sort of self-acceptance of who she is and does not care what you think at all.Tanya Donelly, who started the Breeders with Deal, once recalled catching some early Pixies shows, when Deal would often come straight from work and play bass in “skirt-suits and office pumps.” Everyone else in the scene was trying to dress as outrageously as possible, she said, “and meanwhile the coolest person there is dressed like a secretary. I have to say, in a day it changed my perception of what was cool.”*In honor of her debut solo album, today’s playlist is a tribute to Kim Deal’s particular kind of cool. In addition to a few tracks from the new album, it places some of her best-known songs alongside deeper cuts from bands like the Amps, Sonic Youth and This Mortal Coil. I hope it inspires you to check out “Nobody Loves You More” in its entirety; it’s truly worth the wait.Let’s have a ball,Lindsay*In one of my favorite moments from Ganz’s profile, a dissenting opinion comes from Kim’s twin and fellow Breeder Kelley Deal: “She’s not that [expletive] cool to me.” Leave it to a sister to keep your ego in check!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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    Jack Harlow Expands His Romantic Options, and 7 More New Songs

    Hear tracks by Horsegirl, Tyla, Amber Mark 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.Jack Harlow, ‘Hello Miss Johnson’The Kentucky rapper Jack Harlow sounds positively smitten on his first solo single of the year, the smooth-talking “Hello Miss Johnson.” Over a bossanova-style beat produced by his younger brother, Clay Harlow, and Aksel Arvid, Harlow chronicles a whirlwind courtship — “Let’s go to Nice and give your sister a niece” — punctuated by several chivalrous phone calls to his girl’s mother, which function as the song’s chorus. “Hello Miss Johnson, you know why I’m calling,” he raps, an obvious musical nod to Outkast. But, ever the charmer, Harlow can’t stop himself from a little maternal flirtation while he’s still on the line: “Correct me if I’m wrong, but was it you that gave to her the eyes I be lost in?” If things don’t work out with the daughter, perhaps he knows who to call. LINDSAY ZOLADZ​​Amber Mark, ‘Wait So Yeah’Pillowy, bountifully layered oohs and ahs surround Amber Mark’s invitation to spend the night in “Wait So Yeah” from a new EP, “Loosies.” The ticking, programmed beat and the profusion of looped, multitracked vocal harmonies make her recording expertise sound like romantic anticipation. JON PARELESTyla, ‘Tears’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

  • 113 Shares169 Views

    in Movies

    Jonathan Majors Settles Assault and Defamation Lawsuit by Ex-Girlfriend

    Mr. Majors was criminally convicted last year of assaulting and harassing Grace Jabbari, who then sued him in March.The actor Jonathan Majors and his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari have settled the assault and defamation lawsuit that she filed against him in March, a lawyer for Ms. Jabbari announced on Friday.Mr. Majors, a formerly ascendant Hollywood star known for his work in “Creed III” and “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” was criminally convicted last year of assaulting and harassing Ms. Jabbari, a British dancer and movement coach who was his girlfriend for two years. In April, he was sentenced to probation and a year of domestic violence counseling.The civil suit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York, was dropped in a court filing on Thursday by lawyers for both sides. The lawsuit said Mr. Majors had been violent toward Ms. Jabbari in New York, Los Angeles and London, including in one instance that left her with a head injury. It also said that he had repeatedly threatened to kill her.“Grace Jabbari has exhibited tremendous courage throughout this very long and difficult process,” her lawyer, Brittany Henderson, said in a statement. “As a result of her commitment to justice, the lawsuit that she filed against Jonathan Majors has been favorably settled. We hope that she can finally put this chapter behind her and move forward with her head held high.”Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.A lawyer for Mr. Majors did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In an interview after Mr. Majors’s criminal conviction, the actor told ABC, speaking of Ms. Jabbari, that “I was reckless with her heart, not with her body.” He added, “My hands have never struck a woman.”Ms. Jabbari’s lawsuit said that his interview was part of what it called “an extensive media campaign smearing” her. His goal, the suit said, was “convincing the world that Grace is not a victim of domestic abuse.”In February, in an article in The New York Times, two other previous girlfriends of Mr. Majors accused him of being controlling and emotionally abusive, and one accused him of being physically violent. Mr. Majors denied that he physically abused anyone.After Mr. Majors was convicted, Marvel Studios parted ways with the actor, who had been the villain Kang the Conqueror in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” with plans to reprise that role. Over the summer, Mr. Majors was cast as the lead in an independent movie, his first role since the conviction. More

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    6 New Documentaries Our Critics Are Talking About This Week

    Whether you’re a casual viewer or certified fan of the genre, our reviewers think these documentaries are worth knowing about.Critic’s pickRevisiting a life through photographs.Sheila Turner Seed in the documentary “A Photographic Memory.”Capariva Films‘A Photographic Memory’Rachel Elizabeth Seed’s mother, Sheila Turner Seed, died when she was 42 and Rachel was 18 months old. In this documentary, she seeks to connect with her mother through her photography.From our review:It’s a film that captures the unsettling sensation of reaching middle age, knowing the length of the road ahead is uncertain but certainly shorter than it’s ever been, and not being able to see past the age your parent was upon death.In theaters. Read the full review.Critic’s pickReviving the story of an apartheid photographer.A photograph by Ernest Cole, as seen in a new a documentary directed by Raoul Peck.Ernest Cole/Magnolia Pictures ‘Ernest Cole: Lost and Found’The South African apartheid photographer Ernest Cole died in 1990 in Manhattan after he was exiled — this documentary, directed by Raoul Peck, reviews some of the photos featured in his 1967 photo book “House of Bondage.”From our review:Peck makes use of keen observations excerpted from Cole’s writings and moves fluidly between stills (compassionate toward their subjects, damning of the subjugators) as well as quietly captivating photos he took of street life in Harlem and rural life during a road trip to the South in the 1960s and ’70s. The result is an elegantly wrought documentary that pulls off the trick of leaving viewers sated yet also craving more.In theaters. Read the full review.Critic’s pickObserving the making of a Jewish identity.Amichai Lau-Lavie, the subject of the documentary “Sabbath Queen.”Simcha Leib Productions/Roco Films‘Sabbath Queen’Directed by Sandi DuBowski, this film follows the story of Amichai Lau-Lavie, an Israel-born gay man who was ordained as a rabbi in 2016.From our review:How he went from the Radical Faeries’ joyous, transgressive vision of queerness — which led to creating his drag alter ego, Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross — to embracing Conservative Judaism is the subject of Sandi DuBowski’s fascinating look at the act of questioning yourself and your family, your surroundings and your decisions.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 Movies

    Creating New Cinematic Languages, Without Words

    “Flow” is the latest dialogue-free animated film to look to movement and sound to express its characters’ emotions.Like Noah’s Ark minus the humans, a vessel carrying an odd bunch of creatures is afloat after a flood in the immersive computer-animated film “Flow.” Led by a black cat, the group faces the dangers of nature together, often struggling to get along yet communicating entirely without dialogue.It’s the second wordless feature from the Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis, who argues that animation is more expressive than live action.“You can use that expressiveness to convey things usually said with words,” he said in a recent video interview.We see how the animals behave — including a stoic capybara, a cheerful dog, a regal secretary bird and a rambunctious lemur — Zilbalodis added, and that’s our way into understanding the characters.The winner of the audience award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the world’s most prominent event for the medium, “Flow” is now the Latvian Oscar entry for best international feature film, a category for films not in English — an ironic designation, given that it’s a wordless fable.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 Fleeting Comforts of the Celebrity Look-Alike Contest

    It may be a coincidence that the celebrity look-alike competition returned to prominence just as American citizens were voting in what some called “the most significant presidential election in our lifetimes.” But once it happened, the appeal was obvious. Here was a different kind of democratic event: a totally insignificant one, in which attractive men with slightly off-kilter features were lined up in public and ranked by the roaring crowd.At the first contest, which convened a flock of Timothée Chalamet doubles in Manhattan last month, the New York Police Department showed up, deemed it an “unscheduled demonstration” and arrested four people. It was, in fact, only the police presence that made the event feel anything like a protest — as if the crowd were truly fighting for the right to be meaningless and absurd.In the coming weeks, as President-elect Trump revved up for his second term, doppelgängers were crowned of Jeremy Allen White in Chicago, Paul Mescal in Dublin, Dev Patel in San Francisco and Harry Styles in London. It was as if each city were electing its boyfriend. It all provided a populist diversion, though one with diminishing returns.These events have been comforting in their modesty. They are typically publicized with posters on lampposts, staged in public parks and accompanied by meager prizes. The Mescal double won 20 euro “or three pints”; the White winner received $50 and a pack of Marlboro Reds.Despite the stingy rewards, the contestants are frequently impressive — men seizing a long-awaited opportunity to put a useless talent to work. Each contest unfolds like a human scavenger hunt. The winner is a kind of modern Cinderella, the one unsung city boy who happens to slip perfectly into a fuzzy Willy Wonka hat or the blue chef’s apron worn by the star of “The Bear.”Part of what makes the searches feel pleasantly trivial is that they center on male celebrities (though not all of the contestants have been men). A Zendaya look-alike contest held in Oakland, Calif., this week is the rare exception. The public ranking of women risks activating an ugly history; it makes the apolitical political again. But also: Mimicking Hollywood femininity may require a degree of effort that intensifies the proceedings. The contest could inspire feats of makeup application, hairstyling, boob tape. The masculine look-alike, on the other hand, must simply exist. He’s just waiting to be discovered.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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    How One Man’s Tale of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sex Tapes Landed Him in Court

    Courtney Burgess, a one-time music industry bit player, said he had videos showing encounters involving celebrities. Prosecutors recently subpoenaed him.In federal court, the music mogul Sean Combs is facing a sweeping indictment that accuses him of running a criminal enterprise that engaged in sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.Online, a cottage industry of amateur sleuths, speculators and self-described past associates have accused him, often with little grounding, of far worse.After Mr. Combs was charged in September, the social media theorizing about rampant celebrity debauchery and additional victims only grew more feverish and conspiratorial. Soon, a man began showing up on true crime podcasts claiming he had been given videos that showed sexual encounters involving Mr. Combs and a variety of other stars, including some he said looked to be inebriated and underage.Media outlets have received anonymous emails offering to negotiate deals to provide the supposed footage, but none have published any images and it remains unclear whether such videos even exist.Yet in a startling twist that brought the internet rumor mill into the U.S. court system, prosecutors recently subpoenaed Courtney Burgess, the man who said he had the explosive videos, to testify in front of a grand jury considering additional charges against Mr. Combs.The surfacing of Mr. Burgess, a one-time music industry bit player, has only amped up the circuslike frenzy surrounding the case. With much of the investigation shrouded in secrecy, it is unclear whether the prosecutors view Mr. Burgess as a possible new witness — the keeper of a smoking gun — or simply wanted to test the online bluster of someone seeking to be part of the action.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