Aurelia Butler

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    My Working Relationship With Diddy in the Music Industry

    A thing happened between Sean Combs and me. Unlike what he has been accused of over the last eight months, what occurred between us was not sexual. It was professional — demonstrative of the way dynamic and domineering men moved in our heyday. Combs and I worked together a lot. Competed, in our way. So often I thought I came out on top. I was mistaken. I had reason to fear for my life. What happened was insidious. It broke my brain. I forgot the worst of it for 27 years.It was July 1997. In the fading smoke of the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., I was named editor in chief of a music magazine called Vibe. Started by Quincy Jones and Time Inc. in 1992, the magazine chronicled Black music and culture with rigor and beauty, 10 issues a year, for an audience that was relentlessly underserved. When I took over, we thought hip-hop might have died with our heroes, and we were determined not only to keep it alive but also to give it the cultural credit it was due.Hip-hop was both in mourning and in marketing meetings. Combs, Biggie’s creative partner and label boss, was the personification of this dichotomy. His Bad Boy Records was having a $100 million year — much due to the work of Biggie and Mase, as well as Combs’s own debut album, “No Way Out,” which was anchored by the blockbuster Biggie tribute “I’ll Be Missing You” featuring Faith Evans. Other singles, “It’s All About the Benjamins” and “Been Around the World,” functioned as a score for hip-hop’s megawatt moment — its commercial evolution and international expansion. (“No Way Out” would go on to sell over seven million copies.) So I wanted Combs on the cover of Vibe’s December 1997/January 1998 double issue. And I wanted him to wear white feathered wings.Faith Evans and Sean Combs filming the 1997 video for “I’ll Be Missing You,” in memory of the Notorious B.I.G., Evans’s husband. Mychal Watts/Associated PressMy point of reference was the poster for “Heaven Can Wait,” a 1978 film starring Warren Beatty. The movie is about a quarterback who dies before his time and is reincarnated as an idiosyncratic and callous billionaire. Vibe’s working cover line for Sacha Jenkins’s article was “The Good, the Bad and the Puffy.” Not so elegant, but it would work if the fashion director Emil Wilbekin and I got Combs (then known as Puffy, or Puff Daddy) to put on the angel wings. And if we also got a shot that looked even slightly mischievous, we could do a split run of the cover — one with heavenly signifiers and another with hellish ones. Possible cover line: “Bad Boy, Bad Boy, Whatcha Gonna Do?”The photo shoot took place in Manhattan in September 1997. I had probably said hello to Combs at an event, but the shoot was the first time I was around him for an extended period. Either it was a crowded set or I just felt claustrophobic. I wore yoga pants and an oversize T-shirt. I remember wanting to minimize my bust more than my bra was already doing. I remember cajoling. And I remember knowing that as a Black woman, I was in a no-win situation: to fail was to live up to my male bosses’ low expectations, and to succeed was to invite their resentment. That day, Combs was begrudgingly compliant. We finally got him to shrug on the white feathered wings.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 Movie About Brian Eno Is Never the Same Twice Thanks to Software

    Thanks to a software program, the length, structure and contents of the movie are reconfigured each time it’s shown. It’s the only way the musician would agree to the project.Gary Hustwit had a simple wish: to make a documentary about the visionary musician Brian Eno. When that wasn’t possible, he devised a far less simple approach. He made 52 quintillion documentaries about Eno.At a time when it seems like there’s a movie about every band that’s recorded even a 45, Hustwit’s “Eno,” opening Friday, is unlike any other portrait of a musician. It’s not even a portrait, because it isn’t fixed or static. Instead, Hustwit used a proprietary software program that reconfigures the length, structure and contents of the movie.“Every time it plays, it’s a different movie,” Hustwit told an audience in May at the film’s New York premiere. “I’m surprised every time I see it.”His collaborator, the digital artist and programmer Brendan Dawes, explained that because of the variables, including 30 hours of interviews with Eno and 500 hours of film from his personal archive, there are 52 quintillion possible versions of the movie. (A quintillion is a billion billion.) “That’s going to be a really big box set,” Dawes quipped at the premiere.Movie theaters are still guided by “a 130-year-old technical constraint,” Hustwit said over lunch the next day at a Chelsea restaurant. “We can use technology as a structural tool to do interesting things with the narrative. This idea that a film has to be set in stone and always linear is obsolete, I think. There’s another possible path here for filmmaking going forward.”At some showings of “Eno,” Hustwit brings the machine with the Brain One software for the film.Brandon Schulman for 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

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    New York Philharmonic Chief Abruptly Steps Down Amid Tensions

    Gary Ginstling, the orchestra’s president and chief executive, is leaving after just a year on the job.Gary Ginstling, the New York Philharmonic’s president and chief executive, abruptly resigned on Thursday after just a year on the job, leaving the orchestra in limbo as it grapples with challenges including heated labor talks and an investigation into its workplace culture after two players were accused of misconduct.Behind the scenes, there were rising tensions between Ginstling and the Philharmonic’s board, staff and musicians, according to someone familiar with the situation who was granted anonymity to describe private conversations. The person said Ginstling also had disagreements with the star conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who, in a major coup, was tapped to become the Philharmonic’s next music and artistic director.Some Philharmonic employees found Ginstling to be opaque, the individual said, and they complained that he was away from New York during critical moments, including at times when the administration was dealing with an outcry among musicians over the players accused of misconduct. Ginstling, 58, the former executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, maintained a home near the capital, where his family lives, and had been shuttling between there and New York, where he rented an apartment. (A friend said that he only spent weekends away from New York, and worked long hours for the orchestra.)A final flare-up occurred during an orchestra tour in China this summer, the individual said, with some players blaming Ginstling for several logistical problems. The orchestra had trouble fitting all of its musicians onstage at an opera house in Guangzhou. A planned speech from the stage by the American ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, was unexpectedly scrapped. (He later spoke at a reception for the orchestra.) In the end, large swaths of the opera house, which seats more than 1,800 people, were empty, an embarrassment for an ensemble of the Philharmonic’s caliber.In a statement released by the Philharmonic, Ginstling said: “The New York Philharmonic is an extraordinary institution, and it has been an honor to be a part of it. However, it has become clear to me that the institution needs a different type of leadership, and I have tendered my resignation.”He declined to comment further in a message on Thursday.The Philharmonic said that it would convene a “transition leadership team” that includes the chairmen of the Philharmonic’s board, Peter W. May and Oscar L. Tang, and Ginstling’s predecessor, Deborah Borda, who had held the post from 2017 until last year.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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    Stream Shelley Duvall’s Greatest Performances: ‘The Shining,’ ‘Popeye’ and More

    In “The Shining,” “Popeye” and more, her unusual presence jumps off the screen. That’s true even in small roles in “Annie Hall” and “Time Bandits.”Shelley Duvall, who died on Thursday at 75, had one of the most thrilling and complicated careers in modern cinema history. Discovered by the director Robert Altman, who became her greatest collaborator, Duvall fell into acting almost by accident. But her screen presence was so beguiling and irresistible that she became one of the defining stars of the 1970s and ’80s.Her layered and detailed performances in the likes of “3 Women” and “The Shining” made her a celebrated star. And yet she never fit easily into Hollywood, remaining always decidedly herself. In later life, Duvall retreated from acting and the public eye, but left behind a remarkable and diverse body of work. Here’s where you can stream some of her best.1970‘Brewster McCloud’Buy or rent on most major platforms.Duvall in her first onscreen role, as an optimistic tour guide in “Brewster McCloud.”MGMWhen Duvall was discovered by Robert Altman and the actor and casting director Bert Remsen, in Houston, she had no intention of becoming a performer. “I wanted to be a great scientist, not an actress. Madame Curie was my heroine,” she once told Roger Ebert. But Altman and Remsen had other plans, putting her in their strange delight of a movie about a boy, played by Bud Cort, who lives in the Houston Astrodome and wants to build wings to fly. Once she appears onscreen as the tour guide Suzanne, it’s clear she is one of the most unusual presences ever to grace the screen. With her oversize eyelashes, a staple of her personal style that highlighted her features, she’s intriguingly cheerful as she chirps away about diarrhea. Her optimism seduces Cort’s Brewster, and with him the audience, even if she turns out to be fickle.1971‘McCabe & Mrs. Miller’Stream on Tubi; buy or rent on most major platforms.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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    Shelley Duvall, Star of ‘The Shining’ and ‘Nashville,’ Dies at 75

    Her lithesome features and quirky screen presence made her a popular figure in 1970s movies, particularly Robert Altman’s.Shelley Duvall, whose lithesome features and quirky screen personality made her one of the biggest film stars of the 1970s and early ’80s, appearing in a string of movies by the director Robert Altman and, perhaps most memorably, opposite Jack Nicholson in “The Shining,” died on Thursday at her home in Blanco, Texas. She was 75.A family spokesman said the cause was complications of diabetes.Ms. Duvall wasn’t planning on a film career when she met Mr. Altman while he was filming “Brewster McCloud” (1970); she had thrown a party to sell her husband’s artwork, and members of his film crew were in attendance. Taken with her, they introduced her to Mr. Altman, a director with his own reputation for oddball movies and offbeat casting. He immediately asked her to join the cast, despite her lack of training.Ms. Duvall with Bud Cort in Mr. Altman’s “Brewster McCloud” (1970), her first film. She wasn’t planning on a film career when she met Mr. Altman, but he cast her despite her lack of training.Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, via Everett CollectionShe said yes — and went on to appear in an unbroken string of five more Altman movies: “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” (1971), “Thieves Like Us” (1974), “Nashville” (1975), “Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson” (1976) and “3 Women” (1977). She also starred as Olive Oyl opposite Robin Williams in Mr. Altman’s “Popeye” (1980).“I thought: boy, if it’s this easy, why doesn’t everybody act?” Ms. Duval told The New York Times in April.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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    Shelley Duvall: A Life in Pictures

    Shelley Duvall, who died on Thursday at the age of 75, captivated Hollywood with her raw honesty, intuitive acting and winsome Texas drawl. She was nicknamed “Texas Twiggy” for her sharp fashion sense and became a regular presence in 1970s celebrity photos.Though she retired from show business in 2002, a new generation has remade her as a cult figure for the quirky and misunderstood. Here are some snapshots from her life and career.Duvall signing autographs. She wasn’t planning on a film career but she became the go-to actress for roles that called for an out-of-the-ordinary performance.Art Zelin/Getty ImagesDuvall with Robert Altman, the director who helped launch her career, beginning with “Brewster McCloud” (1970). She went on to appear in many more Altman films, including “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” (1971), “Nashville” (1975) and “3 Women” (1977).Gilbert Tourte/Gamma-Rapho, via Getty ImagesDuvall dancing at Studio 54. She lived the life of a celebrity in the 1970s and 1980s, dating Paul Simon and Ringo Starr.Guy Marineau/WWD and Penske Media, via Getty ImagesAltman directed Duvall and Sissy Spacek in “3 Women.” Here they attend a screening of the film at Cannes.Jean-Jacques Levy/Associated PressBeside jury president and Italian director Roberto Rossellini, Duvall displays her award for best actress at Cannes in 1977 for her performance in “3 Women.”Jean-Jacques Levy/Associated PressThree actresses who worked with Robert Altman: Geraldine Chaplin (“Nashville”), Lauren Hutton (“A Wedding”) and Duvall at a party honoring the director in New York.Getty ImagesThe film critic Pauline Kael called her the “female Buster Keaton.” On casting Duvall in “The Shining,” Stanley Kubrick told her, “I like the way you cry.”Reg Innell/Toronto Star, via Getty ImagesDuvall with Ringo Starr en route to his home in Monte Carlo.PA Images, via Getty ImagesSitting between Paul Simon and James Taylor, Duvall greets Arnold Schwarzenegger at a screening in 1977.Sal Traina/WWD and Penske Media, via Getty ImagesWith Simon and Gilda Radner. Duvall hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 1977.Getty ImagesDuvall with Jack Nicholson, her co-star in “The Shining.” Critics at the time picked her performance apart, and she was nominated for a Razzie award for worst actress. But something in the authenticity of her reactions, her otherworldliness, resonated with audiences.Robin Platzer/Getty ImagesTerry Gilliam (far left) directed Duvall in “Time Bandits” (1981).Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection, via Getty ImagesDuvall at a Hollywood party in 1982.Judy Graeme/WWD and Penske Media, via Getty ImagesRobin Williams with Duvall, who played Olive Oyl to his Popeye in the comedy from 1980.Fairchild Archive/WWD/Penske Media, via Getty ImagesAndy Warhol with Duvall in New York City. He put her on the cover of Interview magazine.Sonia Moskowitz/Getty ImagesDuvall at a cast party for “Faerie Tale Theatre,” one of the many children’s television shows she produced starting in the mid-’80s. Episodes featured Robin Williams, Christopher Reeve, Carol Kane and Mick Jagger, among other stars.Bob Riha, Jr./Getty ImagesDuvall produced the 1990 Disney television musical “Mother Goose Rock ‘n’ Rhyme,” where she met Dan Gilroy, who composed and performed some of the soundtrack and became her longtime partner. Vinnie Zuffante/Getty ImagesDuvall in 2024. She spent many decades away from Hollywood, living in small-town Texas, but had recently started acting again.Katherine Squier for The New York Times More

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    In ‘The Shining,’ Shelley Duvall Was a Perfect Gothic Heroine

    Her performance was perhaps misunderstood at the time, just as the narrative surrounding her life would be later.If Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” was a twist on the centuries-old Gothic horror genre, there was no one better suited to play a modern Gothic heroine than Shelley Duvall. Duvall, who died Thursday at 75, was in her late 20s when she shot the role of Wendy Torrance, put-upon wife of blocked writer Jack (Jack Nicholson). The pair have holed up with their young son in the Overlook Hotel, working as winter caretakers.But something evil is afoot. The Overlook is less hotel than haunted house, saddled with the weight of inexplicable and violent history. Wendy is virtually trapped there, a small woman often alone in a rambling, dangerous building full of secrets. It might be more accurate to call the Overlook a monster, one that pushes its monstrousness onto its inhabitants. And it is Wendy, not Jack, who successfully resists in the end.The Gothic heroine, the woman trapped in the menacing haunted home, must exhibit courage in the face of danger, remaining resolute while also being susceptible to the evil that lurks around every corner. Without that tension, we wouldn’t be kept in suspense. In the film, Duvall is waifish, eyes wide, hair flat and scraggly, and it’s hard not to believe she’s going to die. Her only objective is to save her son, Danny, from his father, who — we learn early on — previously broke Danny’s arm in an alcoholic rage. This evil she is fighting is malevolent and abusive and real, a threat she has seen in action before, only now it carries an ax.The Wendy of Kubrick’s 1980 movie is a different kind of woman than the Wendy of Stephen King’s earlier novel — she’s more vulnerable, more frightened. King complained that the movie’s version was “basically just there to scream and be stupid and that’s not the woman that I wrote about.” Duvall was cited as a weak point in many of the film’s mixed reviews and nominated for a Razzie for worst actress.Yet her work in “The Shining” has grown in critical esteem in recent years; today it can feel as if detractors simply weren’t expecting how unsettling it would be to witness her performance of abject terror. There’s a strangeness to it: Her eyes are both huge and heavy-lidded, her mouth equally able to draw into a rosebud or spread wide for a shriek. Throughout the film, her affect is almost that of a china doll, terrified of being shattered. She appears afraid to breathe, barely able to speak.Duvall’s work in the film has grown in critical esteem in recent years. Warner Bros. Inc, via Associated PressWe 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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    ‘Inside Out 2’ Passes $1.25 Billion Mark and Is Pixar’s Biggest Movie Ever

    The animated film about a young teenage girl and her complex emotions has passed the $1.25 billion mark globally and is expected to keep growing.Emotions are running wild at the box office this summer. Pixar’s newest animated feature, “Inside Out 2,” passed the $1.25 billion mark globally on Wednesday, making it the studio’s highest-grossing film of all time, not adjusted for inflation. It has raked in $543 million domestically and $708 million internationally.“Incredibles 2,” which earned $1.24 billion worldwide in 2018, was previously in the top spot for Pixar, which is owned by Disney.“Inside Out 2” is also the most successful film of 2024 so far and the fourth highest-grossing animated movie ever — behind “Frozen” (2013), “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (2023) and “Frozen II” (2019). Its profits are poised to keep climbing as it is released in more countries, including Japan.“Inside Out 2,” Pixar’s 28th movie, continues the story of Riley as she turns 13 years old and grapples with puberty and her bevy of personified emotions, now including anxiety.Directed by Kelsey Mann, the movie has a voice cast that includes Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Tony Hale, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Ayo Edebiri and Yvette Nicole Brown.It opened on June 14 to rave reviews from critics and audiences, who bestowed it with an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls, the same score as “Inside Out,” which made about $860 million globally in 2015. The sequel also surpassed opening weekend box office predictions, collecting about $155 million in the United States and Canada, about 70 percent more than anticipated.Since last year’s “Barbenheimer” phenomenon — when “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” opened simultaneously on July 21 — the box office has been generally sluggish, without a single film achieving phenomenon status like Greta Gerwig’s smash or Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-dominating hit. “Inside Out 2” has filled that gap and is the first movie to clear the billion-dollar hurdle since “Barbie.”It was a crucial win for Pixar, which has had a wobbly run since the coronavirus pandemic started keeping audiences home in March 2020. Its film “Onward” was released in theaters on March 6, 2020, and its next three movies — “Soul,” “Turning Red” and “Luca” — went straight to the Disney+ streaming service.Last year, the original Pixar movie “Elemental” had a weak start but managed to reverse course, eventually collecting about $500 million worldwide. More