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      Man Found Guilty in Shooting Death of Rapper Young Dolph

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      The man, Justin Johnson, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for the fatal 2021 shooting of Young Dolph, who was gunned down outside a Memphis cookie shop in broad daylight.A man was found guilty on Thursday and sentenced to life in prison in the 2021 shooting death of Young Dolph, an emerging Memphis rapper who was regarded as one of hip-hop’s most promising artists.The man, Justin Johnson, was accused of shooting Young Dolph, 36, outside a cookie shop in the rapper’s hometown, Memphis, in November 2021. The Associated Press reported that a co-defendant in the case had testified that Young Dolph’s killing was tied to a battle between rival record labels.After just four hours of deliberation, a jury found Mr. Johnson guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and of being a felon in possession of a firearm, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.In a statement, Steve Mulroy, the district attorney of Shelby County, said the case had generated “extra public interest because Young Dolph was a prominent and beloved member of the community.”“We will continue to fight hard to make sure that all of those responsible for his death are brought to justice,” Mr. Mulroy said.Justin Johnson in court in Memphis on Thursday.Pool photo by Mark WeberWe 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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      Nick Gravenites, Mainstay of the San Francisco Rock Scene, Dies at 85

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      A blues devotee from Chicago, he tasted fame in the late 1960s with the Electric Flag, a band that made its debut at Monterey but proved short-lived.Nick Gravenites, a Chicago-bred blues vocalist and guitarist who rose to prominence during the explosion of psychedelia in San Francisco in the 1960s as a founder of the hard-driving blues-rock band the Electric Flag and as a songwriter for Janis Joplin and others, died on Sept. 18 in Santa Rosa, Calif. He was 85.His son Tim Gravenites said he died in an assisted-living facility, where he was being treated for dementia and diabetes.Mr. Gravenites grew up on the South Side of Chicago, where he was part of a cadre of “white misfit kids,” as he put it on his website, who honed their craft watching Chicago blues masters like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf in local clubs. His colleagues included the singer and harmonica player Paul Butterfield and the guitarists Michael Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop; all four of them would go on to help fuel the white blues-rock boom that began in the 1960s.“Being a ‘bluesman’ is the total blues life,” Mr. Gravenites said in a 2005 interview with Sound Waves, a Connecticut lifestyle magazine. “It has to do with philosophy.”“The life in general doesn’t ask much from you in terms of personality,” he continued. “It doesn’t ask that you be a genius, or a saint.” Many bluesmen, he added, fell far short of sainthood: “They just ask that you be able to play the stuff. That’s all.”Mr. Gravenites sang with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. From left: Mr. Butterfield, Jerome Arnold, Mr. Gravenites, Sam Lay, Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield.David Gahr/Getty ImagesWe 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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      Lhasa’s Music Captivated Audiences Everywhere but Here

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      At Pop Montreal, tribute concerts on Sept. 29 and 30 will honor the memory of Lhasa de Sela, the American-born multilingual singer-songwriter.Montreal’s wide-ranging music scene has been one of its calling cards for decades, with border-crossing success stories like the ambitious rock band Arcade Fire, the arty electro-pop artist Grimes and the renowned post-rock modernists Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Yet one of the musicians most beloved there is the spellbinding Lhasa de Sela, who wrote and sang in English, French and Spanish, but remains largely unknown in the United States.She was usually referred to simply as Lhasa, and before she died of breast cancer in 2010 at 37, she became a platinum-selling recording artist in Canada, with genre-busting albums that synthesized Romani music, Mexican rancheras, Portuguese fados, Americana, chansons française and South American ballads, marrying them with mystical, romantic and intensely personal lyrics.In Europe, where Lhasa was a mainstay of the festival circuit, and lived in Marseilles for several years, she became a star on the strength of her intimate performances. But in the United States, where she was born and spent most of her childhood, Lhasa’s multilingual recordings proved too much of a marketing challenge for her American record companies, even after she toured with Sarah McLachlan’s traveling festival, Lilith Fair.Feist, Calexico, Juana Molina, Silvana Estrada and many other stars will perform in the tribute concerts that will cap this year’s Pop Montreal festival on Sept. 29 and 30. Their homage underscores an enduring love affair between a city and an artist who made just three otherworldly albums, including a last, self-titled album, all in English, that she hoped would finally establish her in her home country.Bia Krieger, the Brazilian-born, Montreal-based singer who was a friend of Lhasa’s, said, “Iconic is the right word” to describe her. “There’s a circle of people here that cherish her.”Lhasa is now even woven into the landscape of her old neighborhood, Mile End, which is anchored at its southern end by a huge mural of the singer created by a local artist, Annie Hamel, and, on the north by Parc Lhasa de Sela, a children’s playground the city erected in her memory.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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      NewJeans’s Complaints Against Hybe Brings Scrutiny to K-Pop’s New Releases

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      The breakout girl group went public with complaints against its parent company, Hybe, which has just released a new TV series and film about the control it exerts over stars.A huge part of the success of NewJeans — the most creatively promising new K-pop act of the past two years — has been its music videos: stylistically sophisticated, vividly colorful, palpably joyful. Starting with music that deploys top-shelf songwriting buoyed by production savvy about global microtrends, the group developed a singular aesthetic to go with it, drawing equally from high fashion, lived-in nostalgia and contemporary cuteness.So it was striking when, a couple of weeks ago, the group released a video performance unlike any that preceded it. In a live broadcast on a burner YouTube account, the group’s five members — Danielle, Haerin, Hanni, Hyein and Minji — spoke for almost 30 minutes about their dissatisfaction with their parent company, Hybe. They particularly focused on how it had de-emphasized the role of the group’s executive producer, Min Hee-jin, in their work.Here was a group putting its external image and its internal leverage at risk to argue for their creative lives. It is an infrequent scenario at this level in K-pop, a genre and business in which careful choreography — of music, visuals and star behavior — is crucial to the power of the art.This livestream, of course, was as art directed as any of the group’s technicolor music videos. The members dressed largely in black, speaking softly in an anonymous office. Out in the world, NewJeans is vibrant, dynamic and approachably fun; in this clip, which some fans speculated was secretly orchestrated by Min, the members were reduced to spiritless cogs, as if trapped and suffocated by the corporation itself.Min Hee-jin, NewJeans’ executive producer, called a news conference in April to dispute accusations of corporate malfeasance by her employer, Hybe.Chung Sung-Jun/Getty ImagesFor almost as long as K-pop has been a global force, it has been an exemplar of the controversial virtues of top-down control. American pop labels essentially abandoned this mode more than a decade ago, following the boy band and Britney-Christina era. The influence of social media in creating bottom-up hits and stars has all but invalidated the label-knows-best mode of creation. But K-pop’s commitment to that ethic persists, and has made exactitude into an artistic virtue.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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      Popcast: A Word With John Summit

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTubeThe dance music superstar John Summit has become one of the scene’s biggest forces in recent years with a big-tent approach to house music that bridges aficionados and weekend warriors.On this week’s Popcast, hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, Summit delves into his rise and the evolution of his career, from spinning at underground semi-legal parties to headlining Madison Square Garden and festivals around the world. Summit discusses his former life as an accountant, his reluctance to take EDM too far into the mainstream and what it’s like being turned away at the door of a nightclub.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. More

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      She Found a Home in Music. Now She’s the Composer for the King.

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      Errollyn Wallen, a Belize-born artist who has been named master of music by King Charles, discusses music as an escape, confronting racism and living by the sea.The call from Buckingham Palace came on a summer morning, when Errollyn Wallen, wearing a pink onesie with pom-pom trim, had just finished a breakfast of toast and marmalade at her seaside home in Scotland.A private secretary for the British royal family had phoned with momentous news: King Charles III wanted Wallen to serve as Master of the King’s Music, an honorary position roughly equivalent to that of poet laureate.Wallen, a composer and a pianist who was born in Belize, a former British colony, has spent her career challenging conventions in classical music.“I was astonished,” Wallen, 66, said in a recent Zoom interview. “I paused for a few moments, then cheerfully accepted.”Wallen, whose appointment was announced in August, is the first Black woman to serve in the role, which was created during the reign of King Charles I in the 17th century. While there are no fixed duties, Wallen is part of the royal household and will likely be called upon to compose pieces for special occasions, including weddings, jubilees and coronations. She is expected to hold the post for 10 years.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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      With Stickers on Phone Cameras, Clubs Defend the Party Vibe

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      It’s standard practice in Berlin, and camera covering is catching on in London, Ibiza and New York as clubs seek to protect an anything-goes atmosphere.On a recent Sunday afternoon, the line outside Berghain, the Berlin techno club, stretched for hours. Hundreds of visitors, sweating in black outfits, lined the dusty path to the door, hoping to be allowed into the former power station, which is known worldwide for its tough door policy, starry D.J. lineups and hedonistic parties lasting nearly 36 hours.The club is also notorious because, despite its reputation as one of the world’s pre-eminent techno venues, its parties aren’t documented online. Clubgoers are warned at the door that photos and videos are banned: Any violation will result in expulsion. To ensure compliance, door staff place stickers on the front and back of patrons’ smartphones, covering their cameras.Although this may seem excessive to visitors, such camera policies have become standard practice in Berlin clubs as a crucial tool for maintaining an anything-goes atmosphere, and clubs elsewhere are increasingly following Berlin’s lead.Respected venues, including Fabric in London and Radion in Amsterdam have all brought in similar sticker rules in recent years. Pikes Ibiza, on the Spanish island famous for its nightlife, announced last month that all visitors must now cover their cameras, so that “what happens at Pikes stays at Pikes.”Téa Abashidze, a founder of Basement, a Brooklyn techno club that has been stickering visitors’ phones since 2019, said in an email that it was part of a “cultural shift” toward “genuine, distraction-free experiences.” The club rigorously enforced the rule, she said, sometimes throwing several rule-breakers out per night.On a recent Sunday night, people lining up to enter R.S.O. were uniformly in support of the club’s stickering policy.Gordon Welters 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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      Jack DeJohnette, One of Jazz’s Great Drummers, Has a Surprise

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      At 82, the musician known for his work with Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett will perform a rare solo concert on his first instrument: the piano.In the early 1960s, Jack DeJohnette, a pianist from Chicago, took a weeklong gig at the Showboat club in Philadelphia with the saxophonist Eddie Harris and played his second instrument: the drums. (A bandmate had left a set at his house.) At one point, Harris, an older player whose career was starting to gain steam, took DeJohnette aside.“Eddie said to me, he said, ‘Man, you play nice piano,’” DeJohnette recalled last month, sitting at the kitchen table of the cabin-style home near Woodstock, N.Y., where he and his wife, Lydia, have lived for around 50 years. “‘But something about your drumming — you’re a natural on drums. And you’ve got to decide which one’s going to be your main instrument.’”To anyone who has followed jazz the past 50-plus years, his eventual choice will be obvious. DeJohnette, now 82, is drumming royalty.Starting in the mid-60s, he fearlessly tackled the era’s new hybrid sounds, anchoring a quartet led by the saxophonist and flutist Charles Lloyd that became a surprise crossover success. He then moved on to the game-changing early fusion outfits of Miles Davis, who wrote in his autobiography that DeJohnette “gave me a certain deep groove that I just loved to play over.” Later, he excelled in a wide variety of contexts, including the state-of-the-art traditionalism of Keith Jarrett’s so-called Standards Trio — which endured for more than three decades — and the expansive explorations of the trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, summoning hurtling energy or impressionistic calm as needed.“He is in the pantheon of our greatest drummers,” Lloyd wrote of DeJohnette in an email. “From the first time we played together there was a deep simpatico.” In a phone interview, Jarrett, who also shared time with DeJohnette in Lloyd’s and Davis’s bands, described the drummer’s contributions as “just a natural flow of what needed to be done.”As his reputation on drums grew, DeJohnette never stopped playing piano, a fact he will underscore at a rare solo concert on Sept. 28 at the Woodstock Playhouse, where he will perform on the instrument. As heard on “Return,” a 2016 vinyl-only LP that was his first unaccompanied piano full-length and featured mostly his own compositions, his style is unhurried and luminous, technically sound but primarily focused on finely honed mood-setting.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