Aurelia Butler

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    Charli XCX and Other Musicians Show Support for Kamala Harris on Social Media

    Charli XCX, John Legend and other musicians posted messages supporting the vice president’s nomination, while fans remixed an old speech into pop hits on TikTok.Within hours of President Biden’s announcement that he would not seek re-election and would instead endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, social media exploded with support from the pop music world.As concerns about Mr. Biden’s electability have accelerated in recent months, Ms. Harris, who is 59, with a big, diverse family, seems to have energized digitally engaged voters in a way that Mr. Biden did not.Fans quickly started posting remixes on TikTok that incorporated audio from Ms. Harris’s speeches, along with her laugh, into songs by Charli XCX, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Chappell Roan, Mitski and Kim Petras.The snippet most often used is from a speech Ms. Harris gave in May 2023. She was addressing the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics and recalled an adage from her mother: “She would say to us, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?’”After pausing to laugh, Ms. Harris continued: “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” (The combination of a coconut emoji and a palm tree emoji has become shorthand to refer to Ms. Harris’s campaign.)Charli XCX, in a nod to her latest album, “Brat” — and its signature green album cover that has become a Gen Z emblem of the summer — set the tone (literally) Sunday night by posting: “kamala IS brat.” On X, formerly Twitter, the official Harris campaign account updated its header to match the color and typography of the album.The pop singer Kesha used the “coconut” quotation to open a pair of posts on TikTok, in which she takes a beat after the word “tree” before breaking into dance.Katy Perry, whose song “Roar” featured prominently in Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016, posted a montage of videos of Ms. Harris soundtracked by a remix that integrated the “coconut” quotation and clips of Ms. Harris laughing into Ms. Perry’s new single “Woman’s World.” “It’s a woman’s world, and you’re lucky to be living in it,” Ms. Perry sings.On Sunday, Cardi B reposted a selfie video recorded on June 30, in which she says, in an extended and profane message, that Ms. Harris should have been the Democratic nominee all along. “Been told y’all Kamala should’ve been the 2024 candidate,” she wrote in the caption. “Y’all be trying to play the Bronx education, baby this what I do!!!”And Tina Knowles, mother of Beyoncé and Solange, posted a photo of her and Ms. Harris with a caption that began: “New, youthful, sharp, energy!!!!”Other artists have thrown their weight behind Ms. Harris, who will face former President Donald J. Trump if she is the nominee. Janelle Monáe posted to her Instagram story a simple “I’m in,” and John Legend, who praised Mr. Biden at length, said of Ms. Harris, “She’s ready for this fight.” More

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    ‘Barbie’ Was Supposed to Change Hollywood. Many See ‘No Effect.’

    The film was a global phenomenon and seemed to herald a new era of embracing stories by, about and for women. What happened?When “Barbie” was released in 2023, it quickly became a phenomenon. It was the top box office film of the year, earning $1.4 billion worldwide, and it became Warner Bros.’s highest-grossing film ever, outpacing both “Dark Knight” movies, “Wonder Woman” and every chapter in the “Harry Potter” franchise.It was a DayGlo-pink rebuttal to decades of conventional Hollywood thinking, and its success seemed to herald a new paradigm for the film industry. Movies written and directed by women and focused on female protagonists could attract enormous audiences to multiplexes around the world.Yet in the 12 months since the movie’s release, little has changed in Hollywood. Buffeted by dual labor strikes that went on for months and a general retrenchment by entertainment companies trying to navigate the economics of the streaming era, the industry has retreated to its usual ways of doing business.The box office is down 17 percent from last year at this time, and studios spooked by a fickle audience (yes to “Twisters,” no to “Fall Guy”) are again questioning the reliability of the theatrical marketplace. Films released in 2023 featured the same number of girls or women in a leading role as in 2010, according to a report from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. Ask around Hollywood and the consensus seems to be that “Barbie” is a singular success, a gargantuan feat helmed by particular talents, the writer-director Greta Gerwig and the star Margot Robbie. Translation: Don’t expect a lot of movies like that in theaters anytime soon.“‘Barbie’ had no effect,” said Stacy L. Smith, the founder of the inclusion initiative, which studies inequality in Hollywood. “It’s perceived cognitively as a one-off. They have individuated the Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig success and haven’t thought about how their own decision-making could be different and inclusive to create a new path forward.“Like most things with this industry, they’re like, ‘Oh, this is neat and shiny,’ and then they go right back to the way they’ve always been.”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 New Era for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Begins

    As a comic book series to honor the Turtles’ 40th anniversary debuts, here’s a look back at their milestones.The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are getting a new comic book series Wednesday, from IDW Publishing, to commemorate their 40th anniversary. Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo have come a long way from their early comics days as turtles who, after being exposed to a mysterious green ooze, turned into sewer-dwelling heroes. They made the leap to animation, video games and merchandise. Here’s a look at some significant moments in Turtle history — and a glimpse at what lies ahead.WHERE IT BEGANThe cover of the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, from 1984. “We took our favorite things and kind of put it into a blender,” a creator, Kevin Eastman, said.Kevin Eastman/IDW PublishingThe Turtles were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, two die-hard comic book fans in New Hampshire whose influences included ninjas by Frank Miller, the X-Men and the work of the comic book artist Jack Kirby. In imagining the Turtles, “we took our favorite things and kind of put it into a blender,” Eastman said in a phone interview, adding that they never thought the Turtles would be such a huge success. There is no “To Be Continued” at the end of the first issue, which was published in 1984, because “we never thought there’d be a second,” Eastman said. (They were wrong, of course. They both eventually quit their day jobs to focus on the Turtles.)THE FIRST ANIMATED SERIESThe animated series introduced the Turtles’ love of pizza.ParamountThe “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” animated TV series came out in December 1987, and it aired until 1996. It took a lighter tone than the comic, making it more suitable for younger audiences. In another instance of how far-fetched the success seemed at the time, Eastman recalled proudly telling his mother about the series, which would premiere around Christmas. But, he said in the interview, she didn’t believe him until she read it in TV Guide. The cartoon helped cement Turtles as a cultural and commercial phenomenon — and added pizza to their routine. And “by 1990, if you wanted to have a complete Ninja Turtles day, you could wake up in Turtles bedsheets wearing your Turtles pajamas, have your Turtles toothbrush and eat your cereal out of a Turtles bowl,” said Andrew Farago, the curator of the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco and the author of a Turtles visual history.FEMALE TURTLESJennika went from human enemy to turtle ally.Brahm Revel/IDW PublishingWe 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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    Review: A Lost Opera Returns, and Shouldn’t Be Lost Again

    Teatro Nuovo is giving Carolina Uccelli’s pioneering “Anna di Resburgo” its first performances since its premiere in 1835.Luck has a lot to do with legacy in music, and Carolina Uccelli didn’t have much of it.That’s why you may not recognize the name of this Italian composer, who was born in Florence in 1810 and died there in 1858. She was a promising talent, encouraged by Rossini, and had a first opera, “Saul,” under her belt by the time she was 20.Then came her second opera, “Anna di Resburgo,” in 1835. It had the misfortune of premiering in Naples a month after Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor.” Both featured a strong-willed soprano, and took place in the countryside of Scotland. But “Lucia” was a masterpiece written by a composer at the height of his powers, while “Anna” was the work of a beginner, not to mention a woman. (Few sophomore outings become classics; there’s a reason you almost never hear Wagner’s “Das Liebesverbot.”)“Anna” was given just two performances before closing. Uccelli went on to write songs and tour with her daughter, Emma. She didn’t, however, compose another opera. The score for “Saul” was lost, and “Anna” went on to languish in a Neapolitan library.That is, until it was picked up by Will Crutchfield, the invaluable bel canto specialist and founder of Teatro Nuovo, which at Montclair State University on Saturday gave the first known performance of “Anna di Resburgo” since 1835. Crutchfield tracked down the score, transcribed its 600 pages of chicken scratches and programmed it for his company, which is giving the opera a fantastic concert showing in repertory with Bellini’s more-famous “I Capuleti e i Montecchi.”“Anna” travels to the Rose Theater in Manhattan on Wednesday. If you’re an opera lover, get a ticket. So rare is it to see this art form’s lost history return to life with such care and expertise. Most important is the revelation that Uccelli never deserved to be overlooked; she may have been a beginner, but she was good.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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    Alex Izenberg Was Almost a Teen Rock Star. His Second Chance Is Here.

    On his 12th birthday, in April 2003, Alex Izenberg went to Guitar Center to jam.He was the prankster of his Los Angeles public school, a high-strung and mischievous kid who hated class but loved rock ’n’ roll. He dressed the part, too — a small, cherub-faced boy with a poofy brown mop tucked beneath a top hat, a black Stratocaster slung across a velvet vest. At Guitar Center, his friends marveled at his best Hendrix, and he attracted a famous listener, too.“I’m checking out, and I think, ‘Whoever’s playing has a really cool tone, a great feel,’” Linda Perry, the former 4 Non Blondes singer and pop songwriter, remembered in a phone interview. “I’m expecting to see some older dude, seasoned. But I see this dorky little kid in high-water pants and big glasses. I was in love.”Perry wanted to know everything: Were Izenberg’s parents musicians? Where’d he learn to play? Did he have that rig at home? When Izenberg chuckled and said no, Perry bought it for him, plunking down $5,000 for a “fiesta red” Fender Relic and a Marshall amp. She left her number, too, so he started calling, imploring her to see his preteen trio, Din Caliber. “It was a mini-Zeppelin or Beatles, all virtuoso-type geniuses,” she said. “I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to take you guys in.’”“Life doesn’t always make sense; oftentimes, it doesn’t,” Izenberg said.Peyton Fulford for The New York TimesIzenberg raced down a trail of teenage stardom. He shifted to home-school to focus on music. Perry introduced the band to a producer. The group changed its name to Paper Zoo, cut an EP for her label and toured with Roger Daltrey in 2009. But at 18, Izenberg left the band because its retro-rock no longer excited him like the indie-rock that had become an obsession — Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Fleet Foxes.Bad news soon ballooned. His longtime girlfriend left. His parents split, and lost their house. He moved in with his grandmother. And there, in the speckles of the popcorn ceiling and in the reflection of the TV screen, he began seeing faces. In 2012, at 21, Izenberg was diagnosed with schizophrenia.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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    Leslie Uggams of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Is a Fan of Nat King Cole and Billie Eilish

    The actress, nominated for an Emmy and Golden Globe for her performance in “Roots,” is still going strong with appearances in the TV series “Fallout” and the upcoming movie “Deadpool & Wolverine.”The veteran singer and actress Leslie Uggams likes to be busy.“Even when I’m home and I get to relax,” she said in a phone interview from her home in New York, “I have to be doing something — cooking, doing a puzzle — something.”The 81-year-old has kept busy since she made her debut at age 6 as Ethel Waters’s niece in the 1950s sitcom “Beulah.” The career that followed included an adolescence spent singing and dancing at the Apollo Theater; hosting her own televised variety show in 1969 (Sammy Davis Jr. and Dick Van Dyke were among her guests); winning a lead actress Tony in 1968 for the musical “Hallelujah, Baby!”; and earning an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination for portraying Kizzy in the 1977 mini-series “Roots.”Keeping ever current, Uggams appeared in the 2023 film “American Fiction,” performed in “Jelly’s Last Jam” at New York City Center last winter, then did a cabaret run at 54 Below.”After seven decades, I am still going strong,” she said.Uggams’s latest role, as the Vault official Betty Pearson on the TV series “Fallout,” has attracted a new wave of sci-fi devotees. (“I’m getting a lot of fan mail about Betty.”) And she’s returning as the feisty, foul-mouthed Blind Al in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” opening July 26.“I am still riding the wave,” Uggams said, while reminiscing about her family, the author of “Roots” and the way the Apollo toughened her up as a performer. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.1Alex Haley, ‘Roots’ AuthorHe changed my life, not just because of being cast in “Roots.” He gave me and the world an understanding of ancestry and the importance of knowing our true history, not just what’s taught (or not taught) in schools.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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    Bernice Johnson Reagon, a Musical Voice for Civil Rights, Is Dead at 81

    A singer, composer, curator and founder of the vocal group Sweet Honey in the Rock, she provided a gospel soundtrack for the civil rights movement.Bernice Johnson Reagon, whose stirring gospel voice helped provide the soundtrack of the civil rights movement, then went on to become a cultural historian, a curator at the Smithsonian Institution and the founder of the women’s a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, died on Tuesday in Washington. She was 81.Her death, in a hospital, was confirmed by her daughter, Toshi Reagon, who did not give a cause.Bernice Reagon, the daughter of a Baptist preacher in Albany, Ga., grew up in a church without a piano, and the first music she absorbed, rooted in spirituals and hymns, was performed by human voices to the accompaniment of clapping and foot stomping.She was an original member in 1962 of the Freedom Singers, a vocal quartet that provided anthems of defiance for civil rights protesters preparing to confront the police or as they were hauled away to jail. The Freedom Singers were associated with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which sent them across the South as well as to the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island in 1963.Ms. Reagon once wrote, “I sang and heard the freedom songs and saw them pull together sections of the Black community at times when other means of communication were ineffective.”She went on to earn a doctorate in American history from Howard University in 1975 and to direct the Black American Culture Program at the Smithsonian. There, she amassed a collection of blues, gospel and spiritual music and presented that heritage to the public.During one gospel music presentation, in the 1980s, Ms. Reagon encouraged the audience to hum and sing along with the performers. “And if you can’t do that, grunt or sigh a little,” she instructed.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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    Happy Traum, Mainstay of the Folk Music World, Dies at 86

    A noted guitarist and banjo player, he emerged from the same Greenwich Village folk-revival scene as his friend and sometime collaborator Bob Dylan.Happy Traum, a celebrated folk singer, guitarist and banjo player who was a mainstay of the Greenwich Village coffeehouse scene of the early 1960s, recorded with Bob Dylan and had an influential career as a music instructor, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 86.His wife, Jane Traum, said he died of pancreatic cancer in a physical rehabilitation facility after undergoing surgery for the disease. He lived in Woodstock, N.Y.Known for his easy vocal approach and his prowess as a finger-style guitarist and five-string banjo player, the Bronx-bred Mr. Traum was an enduring presence in the folk world for more than six decades.“Revered by most in the musical know, he is easily one of the most significant acoustic-roots musicians and guitar pickers of his — and many other — generations,” Blues magazine observed in the introduction to a 2016 interview with Mr. Traum.Will Hermes of Rolling Stone described him as a “folk revivalist straight out of ‘Inside Llewyn Davis,’” a reference to the Coen brothers’ 2013 folk-world odyssey, in a four-star review of Mr. Traum’s album “Just for the Love of It.” It was the seventh of eight albums he released as a leader, starting with “Relax Your Mind” in 1975.In the late 1960s, Mr. Traum performed in a highly regarded duo with his younger brother, Artie Traum. The brothers performed at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island in 1969, toured the world and released five albums, starting with “Happy and Artie Traum” in 1970. Artie Traum died of liver cancer in 2008.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