Aurelia Butler

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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

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    Ani DiFranco Documentary Shows Her First Time Writing a Song With Another Artist

    The film “1-800-ON-HER-OWN” follows the fiercely independent artist as she tries a career first: writing a song with another artist.Ani DiFranco’s approach to her music career has always had a stripped-down, D.I.Y. vibe. In fact, Dana Flor’s new documentary about the singer, “1-800-ON-HER-OWN” (in theaters) draws its name from the phone number for DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records, the label she founded in 1990 so she wouldn’t have to work with a major company. It was an unusual thing for anyone to do back then, but especially for a 20-year-old female artist whose songs lay somewhere between folk and punk. That’s just her style.The documentary mimics that handmade aesthetic, sometimes accidentally. The major arc follows DiFranco, now in her 50s and a mother of two, as she tries out collaboration as she never has before. Arriving as a guest of honor at a songwriting retreat held by Justin Vernon (a.k.a. the frontman of the band Bon Iver), she confesses that she’s never written a song with anyone else in her entire career. Yes, DiFranco has often worked with others — she toured with a band, and the label was run by a team — but her solo songwriting and a more recent solo tour have sometimes felt lonely.DiFranco talks throughout the film about her career and her memories, often while sitting in a car. But while the film starts out conventionally, seeming as if it will focus, as she puts it, on finding “some other way to be home more and still be an artist,” it soon pivots. When the pandemic strikes, being home more is not a choice — it’s just life.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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    Francis Davis, Sharp-Eared Jazz Critic and Husband of Terry Gross, Dies at 78

    He wrote prolifically about various aspects of the arts and popular culture. But he kept his focus on jazz, celebrating its past while worrying about its future.Francis Davis, a prolific jazz critic with a sharp eye and ear for music’s cultural context, died on Monday at his home in Philadelphia. He was 78.His wife, Terry Gross, the host of the NPR program “Fresh Air,” said the cause was emphysema and complications of Parkinson’s disease.As a contributing editor at The Atlantic for more than a quarter-century and a columnist at The Village Voice for even longer, Mr. Davis wrote hundreds of articles on music, film, television and popular culture, focusing on jazz — an art form he both celebrated and bemoaned, worried that its future would not live up to its past. (He also wrote for The New York Times and other publications.)His specialty was teasing meaning from the sounds he heard, situating them in America’s history, culture and society. That approach, and the fluency of his writing, made him one of the most influential writers on jazz in the 1980s and beyond, drawing a wide readership and praise from other critics. The cultural figures and artifacts he took on — Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, “Seinfeld,” Billie Holiday, the director William Wyler — amount to a group portrait of America in the postwar years, largely in the pages of The Atlantic.One reviewer wrote of “Jazz and Its Discontents” (2004), one of seven books Mr. Davis published, that his “insights, investigations and opinions” were “funny, fierce and fair.”Da Capo Press“He is a sensitive, knowledgeable, perceptive, imaginative critic, and even when he’s moping he’s a pleasure to read,” The Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley wrote of Mr. Davis’s 1990 collection, “Outcats: Jazz Composers, Instrumentalists, and Singers.”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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    Overlooked No More: Ethel Lina White, Master of Suspense Who Inspired Hitchcock

    A powerhouse of the genre, she published around 100 short stories and 17 novels, one of which was adapted into the acclaimed film “The Lady Vanishes.”This article is part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.Before Alfred Hitchcock made his name in Hollywood, he turned to the work of the British suspense novelist Ethel Lina White.White was a powerhouse of the genre in the 1930s, publishing more than 100 short stories and 17 novels, three of which were adapted into films, most notably Hitchcock’s “The Lady Vanishes” (1938). That movie, filmed in England, was named one of the top 100 films of the 20th century by the British Film Institute. It won Hitchcock the best director award from the New York Film Critics Circle — one of the few awards he would ever win for his directing — and it was the last film he made in England before he moved to Los Angeles.Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Lady Vanishes” (1938), about a woman’s search for another woman she meets on a train ride across Europe, was based on White’s book “The Wheel Spins.” Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, via LMPC/Getty Images“The Lady Vanishes” was based on White’s book “The Wheel Spins” (1936), a masterwork of horror and suspense that follows Iris Carr, an Englishwoman on holiday, who suffers a head injury before embarking on a train ride across Europe, where she engages in conversation with another Englishwoman, Miss Froy. When Miss Froy disappears, everyone on the train disavows any knowledge of the woman’s existence. “The Wheel Spins” cleverly puts the screws to poor Iris, teetering between sanity and madness as her continued investigations threaten to reveal an overarching conspiracy.By the time “The Wheel Spins” was published in 1936, White had already made her name in the mystery genre. “She took a style in its infancy and added so many threads of classical literature to it,” one scholar wrote.Collins Crime ClubWe 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