Aurelia Butler

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    Johnny Mathis Is Retiring From Touring After Almost 70 Years of Crooning

    Mr. Mathis, 89, a pioneer of romantic ballads, is leaving the stage because of his age and memory problems, his website said.Johnny Mathis, a pop music singer and one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, said this week that he would perform only four more live concerts before retiring from touring after nearly 70 years.Known for his “velvet voice” on romantic ballads like “It’s Not for Me to Say” and “Wonderful! Wonderful!” Mr. Mathis has been singing standards and soft rock since his teenage years, but he started touring professionally after his debut album was released in 1956.Mr. Mathis, 89, will pick up the microphone for shows in April and May, but his concerts scheduled for the summer and fall have been canceled.“It’s with sincere regret that due to Mr. Mathis’s age and memory issues which have accelerated, we are announcing his retirement from touring and live concerts,” a statement posted on his website said.Mr. Mathis’s final concert is scheduled for May 18 at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, N.J. The other concerts are April 10 in Shippensburg, Pa.; April 26 in Shipshewana, Ind.; and May 10 in Santa Rosa, Calif.Some tickets remain available for his final concerts, his website noted, and refunds will be issued for the ones that were canceled.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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    Sean Kingston and His Mother Are Convicted in $1 Million Fraud Scheme

    Mr. Kingston, who is best known for his 2007 hit single “Beautiful Girls,” and his mother were charged with defrauding sellers of high-end vehicles, jewelry and other goods, prosecutors said.A jury in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., convicted the rapper Sean Kingston and his mother on Friday in a scheme involving more than $1 million worth of fraud, according to prosecutors.Mr. Kingston, 35, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, and his mother, Janice Turner, 62, both of Southwest Ranches, Fla., had been charged with five counts of wire fraud.They essentially took possession of high-end vehicles, jewelry and other goods by pretending to have paid for them through the use of fraudulent documents, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida.Each faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each count, prosecutors said. The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced in July.Ms. Turner, who testified during the trial, was taken into federal custody on Friday. Her lawyer, Humberto Dominguez, said on Saturday morning that they will appeal the verdict.Mr. Kingston, who did not testify, was allowed to post bond of a home valued at $500,000 and $200,000 in cash, but will remain in home detention with electronic monitoring. His lawyer, Zeljka Bozanic, said on Saturday that she was thankful that Mr. Kingston was allowed to remain out on bond but added that they will also file an appeal.As a 17-year-old, Mr. Kingston became known for his debut single, “Beautiful Girls,” which used a sample from Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me.” It was ranked at No. 1 for four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2007.“He spent his childhood in Jamaica, which gave him his stage name and his command of patois,” the critic Kelefa Sanneh wrote in The New York Times in 2007, “but his version of thug love (‘Girl, I know it’s rough, but come with me/We can take a trip to the ’hood’) makes it sound as if he’s trying too hard, or not hard enough.”Mr. Kingston’s home in Southwest Ranches, Fla., west of Fort Lauderdale.Amy Beth Bennett/The South Florida Sun Sentinel, via Associated PressAccording to prosecutors, Mr. Kingston and Ms. Turner “unjustly enriched themselves” by falsely claiming that they had executed bank wire or other monetary transfers as payment for vehicles, jewelry and other high-end items when no such transfers had taken place.It added up to a property haul of more than $1 million, prosecutors said.Mr. Kingston and Ms. Turner were accused of an “organized scheme to defraud” establishments, including a car dealership and a jeweler, of more than $50,000, according to arrest warrants for them.Mr. Kingston and Ms. Turner were also accused of stealing a Cadillac Escalade from the dealership and $480,000 in jewelry from an individual, according to the warrants.Ms. Turner pleaded guilty in 2006 to charges of bank fraud and filing fraudulent loan applications and was sentenced to 16 months in prison, according to court records. She was released in March 2007. More

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    How to Live in the Mall

    Want your living space a stone’s throw from the Aéropostale and Hot Topic? A new documentary, “Secret Mall Apartment,” will show you the way.When the artist Michael Townsend first told the documentarian Jeremy Workman about the time he and his friends lived in a secret apartment tucked inside the Providence Place Mall, Workman thought he was being punked. Then Townsend pulled out a cracked iPad to show Workman some grainy video. “I just was dumbfounded and blown away,” Workman said in a video interview alongside Townsend. “Then I was, like, instantly, ‘I got to figure out how I could convince him to let me make a documentary on this.’”The result is the new film “Secret Mall Apartment,” which recounts how, between 2003 and 2007, eight artists created a homey apartment in an abandoned space in a shopping center. Using footage the residents had filmed on a tiny camera, Workman places the stunt in the context of the rapid gentrification happening at the top of the 21st century while at the same time relying on some heist-movie conventions. So how did they do it? Here are six steps.1. Find an abandoned space.The Providence Place Mall, in Rhode Island, home to an architectural anomaly, an unused space that caught the eye of an artist while construction was going on.Jeremy WorkmanWhen the mall was being built, Townsend noticed what he called a “nowhere space,” an “anomaly in the architecture” that served no purpose. So when Townsend and his friends decided to camp out at the mall after seeing an ad teasing that the place was so well stocked that it had everything a person needed to live, he sought out that corner as a place to sleep. How did Townsend clock it in the first place? He credited that to a fixation with the notion of space that arose as the mall was going up, part of the gentrification of his Providence, R.I., neighborhood that also resulted in the artists’ space where he lived being demolished.“It’s not just losing the home, it’s also losing historical vertebrae of the neighborhood,” Townsend said. As for the mall, “You couldn’t help but internalize that there was a lot of dead space in that structure,” he said. And thus, the notion of an apartment was born.2. Get a couch.“If you can pick one thing you’re going to move into a space, I’d pick a couch over a mattress, any day,” Michael Townsend said of the apartment where, from left, Colin Bliss and Greta Scheing are relaxing.Michael TownsendWe 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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    Lucy Dacus on the Art of Frames (and Busting Out of Them)

    The singer and songwriter chats about the movies (“Paris, Texas”), music (SZA) and books (“Healing Back Pain”) that shape her world as she releases her fourth LP.In the music video for “Ankles,” the first single from Lucy Dacus’s fourth studio album, the singer plays a pleasure-seeking Victorian-era damsel that has escaped from a painting to gallivant around Paris. Her foil is a stern museum guard trying to corral her back into her frame.Dacus came up with the idea as a way to reflect the push and pull between curiosity and restraint in the song. Also, she said, “The song is pretty horny, so it’s not like I was going to recreate what happens.”For Dacus, frames have become a recurring motif. She used one in a video for a song from her second album, “Historian,” when she was a rising indie singer-songwriter. And she poses in one on the album cover for her latest LP, “Forever Is a Feeling.”“Framing is such a huge part of art,” Dacus said. “What are you putting in the confines of the frame? What are you filling in time? What are you putting in front of people?”The shape of “Forever Is a Feeling” emerged when Dacus realized she was writing songs about love. (Then she wrote more of them.) It’s her first solo album since boygenius — the indie-rock supergroup she formed with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker — grew to an arena-size, Grammy-winning band. (Dacus recently revealed that Baker is the subject of one of those love songs.)In a phone interview before flying to Paris to perform, Dacus shared the cultural essentials that help fill her life. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.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 These 17 Movies Before They Leave Netflix in April

    A few popular franchises are leaving this month for U.S. subscribers, including the first three “Karate Kid” movies. Catch these before they leave.Several noteworthy franchises — including family classics, sports favorites and buddy comedies — are leaving Netflix in the United States this month, alongside some thoughtful sci-fi, rowdy female-fronted comedies, a hit horror reboot and more. (Dates reflect the first day titles are unavailable and are subject to change.)‘Elysium’ (April 1)Stream it here.After the surprise success (and Academy Award nominations) of his brainy 2009 science fiction-action hybrid “District 9,” the writer and director Neill Blomkamp leveled up — bigger budget, bigger studio, bigger stars (including Matt Damon and Jodie Foster) — for this dystopian future tale. Damon stars as Max, an Everyman doing his best in a bombed-out Los Angeles circa 2154, trying to save his own life when he is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. Blomkamp can’t quite recapture the explosive propulsion of his debut feature, but Damon is a sturdy hero, and the director creates a convincingly junky future.‘Happy Feet’ / ‘Happy Feet Two’ (April 1)Stream “Happy Feet” here and “Happy Feet Two” here.George Miller boasts one of the most strikingly split personalities of his filmmaking generation, veering between blistering action epics like the “Mad Max” series and warm family efforts like the “Babe” films and these charming animated tales of a tap-dancing penguin named Mumble. He is voiced with charisma and sensitivity by Elijah Wood, who makes the character a stand-in for every outcast kid who harbored a special talent. Robin Williams provides his signature wild wit in support, while Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman delight as Mumble’s not-always-supportive parents.‘Interstellar’ (April 1)Stream it here.When Christopher Nolan directs a space epic, you can be certain it won’t be just a space epic. His 2014 blockbuster isn’t merely science fiction; it is a thought-provoking and often heartbreaking rumination on mortality, family and the sacrifices we don’t regret until it’s too late. Matthew McConaughey turns in one of his most sensitive performances to date as an astronaut sent on a complex mission of alien communication, while Anne Hathaway turns what could have been a drab sidekick role into a wrenching portrait of regret.‘The Karate Kid I, II and III’ (April 1)Stream “The Karate Kid” here, “The Karate Kid Part II” here and “The Karate Kid Part III” here.The popularity of the spinoff series “Cobra Kai” has made the “Karate Kid” movies a fairly dependable presence on Netflix; one hopes their disappearance will be short-lived. The 1984 original remains one of cinema’s great underdog movies, as Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) moves to sunny Southern California from New Jersey, falls hard for a rich girl (Elisabeth Shue) and gets on the wrong side of a school bully (William Zabka), ultimately seeking out the unconventional martial arts training of the mysterious Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita). The 1987 sequel and 1989 three-quel offer diminishing returns, but even at its weakest, the series is carried by the charisma and camaraderie of Macchio and Morita.‘Miss Congeniality’ (April 1)Stream it here.Sandra Bullock crafts one of her most physically inventive performances — all thrown elbows and twisted ankles — as Gracie Hart, a messy and clumsy yet brilliant F.B.I. Special Agent who must go undercover as a beauty pageant contestant to foil a terrorist plot. Bullock gives the goofy premise her all, almost convincing us that she is an ugly duckling before the inevitable glam reveal; Michael Caine and William Shatner gleefully steal scenes as her makeover master and the pageant’s memorable emcee.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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    New Songs From Mumford & Sons, Maren Morris, Lucy Dacus and More

    Hear tracks by Mumford & Sons, Mon Laferte, the Swell Season 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.Maren Morris, ‘Carry Me Through’Equal parts self-help, Elton John and secular gospel, “Carry On” puts robust piano chords and a choir behind Maren Morris as she works on finding the will to heal herself. She’s taking full responsibility. “Yeah, I got friends around / Plenty of hands held out,” she sings. “But I’m still the one who has to choose to carry me through.” The music gives her ample reinforcement, and by the end she’s vowing, “I’ll get there.”Mumford & Sons, ‘Truth’Mumford & Sons get a strong infusion of Southern rock in “Truth” from the band’s new album, “Rushmere.” Over a bluesy, sinewy riff, Marcus Mumford declares, “I was born to believe the truth is all there is” and insists, “I refuse to offer myself up to men who lie.” The track intensifies — with percussion, guitars, handclaps and choral harmonies — as the singer’s desperation grows: “Don’t leave the liars in the honest places,” he pleads as it ends.Timbaland, ‘Azonto Bounce’Timbaland, the producer whose sounds and techniques transformed 1990s hip-hop, has suprise-released an album, “Timbo Progression,” that visits entirely unexpected territory: West African music, with a vintage sound. Azonto is a dance and music style from Ghana; Timbaland’s version, with its mid-tempo beat and modal horn lines, also hints at Fela Kuti’s 1970s Afrobeat. There’s little information with the album — Timbaland is credited as “programmer” — but the groove is undeniable.Pablo Alboran, ‘Clickbait’The Spanish pop songwriter Pablo Alboran usually deals in romance. But “Clickbait” confronts a different class of relationships: the parasocial ones online. “Many say they know me, but they have no idea who I am,” he complains in Spanish, with an Auto-Tuned edge. In Spanglish, he continues, “Flash flash, mucho clickbait, mucho fake.” It’s a choppy track that jump-cuts between a minor-chorded ballad and pounding drums, then unites them. Alboran sings about people with “poison in their hearts,” and he’s willing to break character to fight back.Tortoise, ‘Oganesson’Since its formation in 1990, the Chicago instrumental band Tortoise has been blending jazz, rock, Minimalism, electronics and improvisation. Its first new track since 2016 is “Oganesson,” named for a synthetic, very short-lived element with atomic number 118. It’s an off-kilter, 7/4 funk tune with a spy-movie ambience: laconic guitar chords, plinks of distorted vibraphone and a hopscotching bass line. Perhaps the stretch of noise at the end represents atomic decay.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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    10 Wild Clips to Help You Understand Andy Kaufman’s Greatness

    The standup, who’s the subject of a new documentary, expanded the ambition of comedy. These videos show how far ahead of his time he was.Andy Kaufman became one of the most influential comedians ever in a brief amount of time — really only a decade, from his first national television appearance to his death from lung cancer in 1984 at 35. In between, his comic stunts blurred the lines of reality and fiction and found a variety of ways to provoke audiences and upend expectations, while doing more than any club performer to expand the conceptual ambition of comedy, turning stand-up into performance art. What makes this even more remarkable is that he did almost none of it via regular roles in movies or high-profile television, with the exception of the sitcom “Taxi.”And yet, Kaufman and his many characters were a constant presence in popular culture, clubs and wrestling matches and on talk and variety shows, many of which are long forgotten. These bits have lived on the internet, divorced from the context in which they appeared. Now on YouTube, the Andy Kaufman rabbit hole is deep and packed with pleasures. A new documentary on his life, “Thank You Very Much,” was made by artists who clearly spent a long time exploring it. Here are 10 of the best examples that show how Kaufman broke from the past and anticipated the future.Foreign ManThe first Kaufman character to break out was the tentative, thick-accented immigrant from the Caspian Sea known as Foreign Man, an antecedent to Borat but sweeter, more sensitive and deluded. He mangled Borscht Belt jokes that fizzle like this one-liner: “My wife’s cooking is so bad, it’s terrible.” Before he turned into Latka Gravas on “Taxi,” Foreign Man showed up in short sets on shows like “Van Dyke and Company.” In one of the first, Foreign Man loses a Fonzie look-alike contest, becoming upset at Dick Van Dyke, who, unlike some television hosts who interacted with him (see Dinah Shore), clearly delights in Kaufman. To make things right, the host offers him the opportunity to tell some jokes. Playing an overly enthusiastic innocent with a shaky grasp on English and an even looser grasp on American humor, Kaufman fumbles through some bits and a terrible Ed McMahon impression. Somehow his errors endear him to the audience. Kaufman’s large, anime-like eyes do a lot of the work.Celebrity InterviewerSilence. Kaufman uses it as well as any comedian, building suspense, tension and most of all, awkwardness. On his ABC special taped in 1977 but broadcast two years later, he used that technique magnificently in a spoof of a disastrous talk-show interview that anticipated everything from “The Eric Andre Show” to “Between Two Ferns.” As the host, looking down on his guest, the “Laverne & Shirley” star Cindy Williams, from a desk towering high above her, (a disparity he would take to more extreme heights later in his career), he stops talking entirely, and the banter ends. Then the camera moves from him to her and back again, unease building. It’s almost a minute of dead air but seems much longer. Then he asks: “You have hobbies? You have any diseases?”Bongo PlayerWe 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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    With ‘The Life List,’ Sofia Carson Is a Go-To Netflix Star

    Sofia Carson had just come back to earth.On a recent March morning, the actress-singer awoke at 3 to take a sunrise hot-air balloon ride over the rolling hills of Temecula, Calif. The adventure had been arranged by Netflix as a promotional stunt for the streamer’s new film, “The Life List,” in which Carson stars as a languishing teacher who must complete her childhood bucket list before she can receive the inheritance left to her by her mother (played by Connie Britton).Now back at her hotel, Carson delicately adjusted her black turtleneck as she settled in front of her laptop for our video interview.“It was really special,” she said of the skyward voyage. “I wasn’t scared at all.”In fact, Carson seems to belong in another realm entirely.“I’m 10 years into my career,” Carson said, “yet, it still feels, and I say this with my heart, that it’s just the beginning.”Kobe Wagstaff for The New York TimesUnlike many millennial stars, the 31-year-old doesn’t share much about her private life in interviews or get too candid with her nearly 20 million Instagram followers. Her red carpet looks are a parade of opulent gowns and elbow-length gloves. She cites Audrey Hepburn as her “end-all be-all inspiration.” Even her given name, Sofia Lauren — like the actress Sophia Loren — is partly a tribute to Old Hollywood royalty.It’s an elegant persona for an actress who not long ago was known primarily for her role as Evie, the blue-haired teenage daughter of the Evil Queen in Disney Channel’s “Descendants” TV movies. That wildly popular musical franchise spawned lunchboxes, dolls, throw pillows and endless merchandise featuring Carson’s likeness.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