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      Jay-Z and Mother Gloria Carter Honored at Brooklyn Public Library Gala

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      Senator Chuck Schumer, Mayor Eric Adams and other local dignitaries attended the library’s gala on Monday, which honored Jay-Z and his mother, Gloria Carter.On Monday night, at the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, adults in tieless suits and flowing dresses populated the Youth Wing, sitting near stacks of children’s books, some on children’s chairs, with drinks in hand for the library’s 24th annual gala.The benefit, which raised $1.5 million, honored Jay-Z and his mother, Gloria Carter, the co-founder and chief executive of the Shawn Carter Foundation. (She did not attend.)Nearby were pieces from “The Book of Hov” exhibit — like encased CDs, magazine covers, Grammy and Emmy Award statues, and a full-scale replica of a studio — which features artifacts tracing the artist’s decades-long career. The exhibit opened in July and was extended through Dec. 4, Jay-Z’s birthday.Above a scribbled chalkboard, a large rendering of a green dragon hovered over stacked glasses on a bar that served Ace of Spades champagne and D’Ussé cognac, the rapper’s brands.“You have experienced the multiple open bars inside of the public library. That’s how you get literacy done,” joked Baratunde Thurston, the writer and cultural critic, while hosting the event.Gayle KingJutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesDid you happen to get one of the Jay-Z-themed library cards and if you did, which one?“I wasn’t gonna say, but all of them.”Gayle KingGuests gathered in the library’s main lobby for cocktails and a buffet.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesLinda E. Johnson, the president and chief executive of the Brooklyn Public Library.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesNina Collins, the chair of the Board of Trustees at the Brooklyn Public Library.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesHundreds of guests spread onto the main floor for cocktails and a buffet of short ribs, roasted salmon and chicken with preserved lemon. The building’s information area was transformed into a cafeteria-like seating area.Xiomara Hall, a friend of Cassandra Metz, a library board member, flew in from Kansas City that morning after attending the last show on Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour.“This was my library growing up, and there was never a display or recognition of a Black artist that had an impact in this kind of a way, in this library, when I was growing up,” Ms. Hall said.“So it’s powerful for me to come back to my childhood library to see someone like him who’s also a Brooklyn native being honored like this.”Along with the exhibit, which came as New York City celebrated the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, the library has also introduced special edition “Book of Hov” library cards, with 13 cards designed with the rapper’s solo album covers.Since the exhibit started, more than 80,000 limited-edition cards have been issued and more than 20,000 new library accounts have been opened, according to library representatives.From left to right, Cassandra Metz and Xiomara Hall.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesXochitl Gonzalez, a writer and trustee of the Brooklyn Public Library.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesWhat do you think this collaboration means for the library and for Jay-Z?“It felt very cool and sweet to see this space transformed and taken over by somebody that was shaped by the same places that I was.”Xochitl GonzalezQuestloveJutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesJune Ambrose, a stylist.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesFor the evening remarks, guests moved outside to a covered structure along the library’s entrance as Questlove served as the D.J.In the front row of nearly 500 white folding chairs, Desiree Perez, the chief executive of Roc Nation, sat across from Linda E. Johnson, the president and chief executive of the library, and her husband, Bruce Ratner, the real estate developer. Clara Wu Tsai, the philanthropist and co-owner of the Brooklyn Nets, and Antonio Delgado, the lieutenant governor of New York, were also seated there.Waiting in an undisclosed location nearby, Jay-Z walked quietly from behind the stage into his seat.The singer, Victory, performed a song against the sirens and car horns from the Grand Army Plaza roundabout.Speeches from elected officials, and well-known Brooklynites, praising Jay-Z were peppered with references to his music.“As Senate majority leader, I got 99 problems,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, as the crowd cheered.“By the way,” Mr. Schumer said, “I live across the street and I wake up every morning reading your lyrics,” referring to some of Jay-Z’s lyrics plastered on the facade of the library’s entrance, in celebration of the exhibit.“ … but we all know that Jay-Z is a business, man,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.In a letter read by his sons, Jeremiah, 21, and Joshua, 19, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, who could not attend and sent his sons in his place, wrote that his children were inspired by “the life and times of Shawn Carter,” a nod to the rapper’s 1999 album.Senator Chuck SchumerJutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesFrom left to right, Joshua and Jeremiah Jeffries.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesLacey Schwartz Delgado and Lieutenant Governor of New York Antonio Delgado.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesMayor Eric Adams spoke next, presenting the award for Ms. Carter to Jay-Z, who sipped from a glass of champagne during the ceremony. The Shawn Carter Foundation recently donated $1.5 million to the library, in partnership with Michael Rubin, chief executive of the sports merchandise company, Fanatics, and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism founded by Robert Kraft.Mr. Adams said Jay-Z, and the exhibit, has played an important role in bringing a new generation of young people into the library.“Now, walking through those doors, you’re going to have young men and women walk in here only because you said it was alright,” Mr. Adams said.Taking the stage, Jay-Z, dressed in a Gucci tuxedo, said his mother had given him a “very bad excuse,” for why she did not attend.“She’d want to say she would have loved to be here with you guys. And she is incredibly honored. And it is overwhelming that her son is so incredible,” he continued, crediting his mother for telling him as a young child that he could be anything.As he spoke, police officers in uniform held up phones to record the speech.“I love you!” someone shouted from a crowd of about a dozen onlookers lining the police barricades along Flatbush Avenue.“And we love you,” he said, in response. “This is definitely Brooklyn.”Mayor Eric Adams presents the award to Jay-Z.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York TimesJay-Z reflected on the exhibit at the library, which was kept a secret from him.“I thought maybe it was like a small room, and it was more than what I deserved,” he said. “I walked in, and I saw this incredible display.”“And my grandma Hattie White got to see it,” he continued. “She just turned 98-years-old, and she’s seen a lot of things.”“That experience was just overwhelming,” he said. As the speeches ended, Jay-Z slipped upstairs as guests strolled back to the main floor of the library for passed plates of doughnuts where Questlove continued to D.J. As a parting gift, guests were given a copy of “Decoded,” Jay-Z’s 2010 memoir.“That was so much fun,” one attendee said as she walked inside. “That was Monday night. What am I supposed to do on Tuesday?”

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      What’s on Your Fall Playlist?

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      Tell us which songs deliver sonic coziness for you.What makes a fall song? Sometimes it’s as obvious as Neil Young’s “Harvest.”Rune Hellestad/Corbis, via Getty ImagesDear listeners,I’m on vacation this week, so I won’t be sending out any new playlists. But many of you have been emailing to ask how you can listen to previous Amplifier playlists, and I’m happy to announce that we finally have them archived and updated here.So take this opportunity to catch up on any of the more than 50 installments of The Amplifier you may have missed. (No, I can’t believe I’ve already written that many either.) If you’re an overachiever who’s already listened to every single playlist? Honestly, I’m impressed. Reward yourself by revisiting some of your favorites!When I’m back, I’ll be sending out a very special autumn playlist, and I’d love to include some of your picks.What makes a fall song, you ask? Sometimes it’s so obvious, it’s in the title: Yo La Tengo’s “Autumn Sweater,” Neil Young’s “Harvest” or pretty much any rendition of “Autumn in New York.” But sometimes it’s more about a certain mood, or a general sonic atmosphere of coziness.So, what’s a song that feels like fall to you? Share your answers here. We may use your response in an upcoming newsletter.I’ll be back next Tuesday. As ever, thanks for reading and listening.Vacation, all I ever wanted,Lindsay More

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      Rod Wave Tops Olivia Rodrigo in Tight Race on Album Chart

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      The rapper and singer’s latest LP, “Nostalgia,” beat Rodrigo’s “Guts” to No. 1 by the equivalent of about 500 sales.Last week, the rapper and singer Rod Wave edged Olivia Rodrigo from the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s album chart by just a few thousand sales. This week he has done it again, but the margin was narrowed to a few hundred.Rod Wave’s “Nostalgia” logs its second week at No. 1 with the equivalent of 88,000 sales in the United States, while Rodrigo’s “Guts” comes in second place with 87,500, according to the tracking service Luminate, which supplies the data behind Billboard’s charts. (Luminate’s publicly disclosed data is rounded.)Of the total “equivalent” sales number for “Nostalgia” — a composite figure that reconciles an album’s popularity on streaming services with old-fashioned purchases of physical albums and downloads — nearly all were for streaming. Rod Wave’s album accounted for about 125 million streams and just 500 or so purchases as a complete unit.Doja Cat’s “Scarlet” opens at No. 4, with the equivalent of nearly 72,000 sales, including 88 million streams. On the Hot 100 singles chart, her song “Paint the Town Red” — featuring a prominent sample of Dionne Warwick’s 1964 hit “Walk on By” — returns to No. 1, logging its second time at the top.On the album chart, Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” is No. 3. The singer-songwriter Zach Bryan has two titles in the Top 10: His latest LP, “Zach Bryan,” falls two spots to No. 5 in its fifth week out, while a new five-song EP, “Boys of Faith,” with appearances by Bon Iver and Noah Kahan, arrives at No. 8. More

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      ‘Flora and Son’ and the Unspoken Truth About Songwriting

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      To one musician, John Carney’s films about budding artists mirror the joys and pitfalls of crafting tunes.The revered record producer Rick Rubin once asked me if I was ready for a change. My band Thursday was coming off our third album, “War All the Time.” We had just cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard album chart by producing anthems for the very same post-hardcore genre that we had helped to shape, but Rubin was clear: The creative clock was already ticking. At a certain point, staying the same meant fading away.With “Flora and Son” (streaming on Apple TV+), the writer-director John Carney arrives at a similar question. His scrappy debut, “Once” (2007), had been an unexpected sleeper hit: a no-budget, boy-loses-girl story familiar to every musician who’s ever picked up a guitar to try to win someone back. His second, “Begin Again” (2014), was a disappointing sophomore slump at the hands of the Hollywood movie machine, a situation that songwriters face at the hands of the major label machine. Think U2’s “October” or Bad Religion’s “Into the Unknown.” Where “Once” trusted the audience, “Begin Again” spoke every subtext aloud. Was the success of “Once” beginner’s luck or simply sparks cast off by one of its leads, Glen Hansard, Carney’s longtime bandmate in the Frames?A critical success, “Sing Street” (2016) answered one question by posing another: yes, Carney could successfully make movies about lovelorn boys with guitars, but was that all he was capable of? Would his next film be a total reinvention, or would the song remain the same? When Rick Rubin posed that similar question to me, I told him that I wanted our next record to be “less real and more true.” Indeed, much to the dismay of our audience, we abandoned our own realism and shot to the moon with “A City by the Light Divided,” produced by Dave Fridmann.Carney, for his part, wisely chooses to edit weakness and lean into strength with “Flora and Son,” delivering characters both real and true. Each has their own music motivations. Ian (Jack Reynor), Flora’s arrogant ex, sees musical stardom as a means to put his own interests above everyone around him. Even though his own quest for fame has been stunted, his faith is as bright as the image in the mirror. Flora’s son, Max (played by the relative newcomer Oren Kinlan), is a quick study. Watching more popular classmates get the attention of his crush through their YouTube rap videos, Max teaches himself GarageBand. Carney knows that we start on our own musical paths for external reasons — get the girl, make the money, tell the ex to shove it — but he also understands that the ones who stay with music must eventually find its home within our souls. Flora’s guitar teacher, Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), has internalized music as a sacred spiritual path, and Gordon-Levitt fills him with both the generosity of a devotee and the quiet pretension of a prematurely enlightened monk.Having produced several bands’ first albums, I hear enough of my own voice in Gordon-Levitt’s well, actuallys to want to pick up the phone and apologize for all the bad advice I’ve ever given (like telling My Chemical Romance that its breakout single, “I’m Not Okay,” was too pop). Still, Jeff is likable enough and provides contrast with Ian. Both men see themselves as has-beens, but Gordon-Levitt gives Jeff a hint of humility and a willingness to listen that separates him from Ian’s showy obstinance, suggesting that maybe we only become failed musicians once we stop learning to grow.Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard in “Once,” Carney’s initial hit.Searchlight PicturesCarney, too, has been willing to grow. After drawing fire for the lack of three-dimensional female characters in his movies (even when they are the leads), Eve Hewson’s Flora is a character for the ages. Within her first 10 minutes onscreen, she forgets her son’s birthday, hits on another woman’s boyfriend and alienates the one sympathetic friend in her orbit. She’s petty, selfish and entirely magnetic. Being the daughter of U2’s Bono — a heritage from which she takes none of the musicality and 110 percent of the rock star strut — Hewson is in the perfect position to point out musicians’ many absurdities, an eye roll at a time. I imagine she’s had good practice. So how does a cynical character like Flora find herself putting faith in music? For the most fundamental reason: What else does she have to believe in?Neither wholly good or bad, Flora is something better. She’s interesting, far too interesting to be stuck in a film whose whole plot hinges on the premise that an acoustic guitar found in a dumpster could change the lives of both a mother and child. So it’s a giant relief, at least, to watch Max dismiss the guitar out of hand. Later Flora, in a bout of drunken curiosity, scours YouTube to try to learn the instrument herself.Pitch is not a native language and the learning curve can be steep. I was worried that Carney and his songwriting partner, Gary Clark, would aim their songs at the wide open Irish sky as they did with “Sing Street,” but for Flora, they keep the songs as small as the escape key on her laptop. I never get the sense that Flora, a single mother with a bad attitude and a washed-up guitar teacher, is about to accidentally write “Hey Jude.” Instead, in a beautiful turn, Jeff shows an unimpressed Flora his own songs and she gives an unvarnished critique: The chorus is wrong, she tells him, and suggests alternate notes, better phrasing.Carney taps into a truth that most songwriters never pay heed to: Learn too much about music and you forget where the magic is. It’s in the listening, after all, not the playing; the singing of the chorus, not the turn of phrase on the notebook page. It’s easy to forget that a professional is one who does something for money, while an amateur is one who does that same thing for love. Flora never rises above amateur status as a singer, a mother, or even a friend. For all its fairy-tale golden guitar premise, “Flora and Son” delivers a message that’s much closer to the ground: We should all be so lucky as to remain amateurs in our own lives. More

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      I Started Playing My Sax Outdoors. Then the Fans Came.

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      When your rehearsal space is the bank of the Hudson, the audience is a bit unconventional.It was Year 2 of the pandemic, in the spring, that I hit on the idea of having my high school saxophone refurbished. My 48-year-old horn came back from the repair shop in Midtown Manhattan a week later. I put it together in my Upper West Side apartment and … for the love of God, it was loud. A couple of days later, I saw my downstairs neighbor in the lobby, and he asked, “Is that a sax I hear?” He professed to be OK with my rudimentary jazz stylings, but I was uncomfortable.My building is directly adjacent to Riverside Park. The day after that encounter, I walked 10 minutes down to the bank of the Hudson, found an arrangement of boulders where I could put my case and started to improvise to some 1960s soul jazz playing through my headphones. I was loud. Gloriously, triumphantly loud. Within minutes, bike riders and strolling couples stopped to listen. Some took photos. After that, I took my sax to the park almost every day. Over the next few weeks and on through this summer, paddleboarders, canoers and motorboats on the river hove to the shore to listen for a few minutes. When the traffic on the nearby West Side Highway ground to a halt, I got a round of applause. I had at least two cameos on Instagram.I find it hard to practice inside now, even in my building, where the jazz pianist and composer Billy Strayhorn once lived. It’s inhibiting. I miss the expansiveness of playing outside. And I’ve found nature surprisingly attentive, despite the noise. Robins and sparrows — and only one word is possible here — flock to me as if I’m St. Francis of C Minor. Squirrels stand on their hind legs and fix me with hard stares, like miniature critics. My most cherished fan, though, was Zippy, a goose with whom I had a prior relationship. (My wife is known as the Goose Lady of Riverside Park, but that’s a subject for another essay.) One summer day, Zippy and his extended family were paddling south down the Hudson but then circled back and flew up to the riverbank next to me. Zippy sat there quietly for the next 45 minutes until I packed up to head home. There is nothing more satisfying than entertaining a goose you’re fond of.But, of course, it’s the interactions with people that mean the most. Little kids in matching T-shirts on day-camp outings are delighted. They clap for the noisy man. The guy with the wild hair, eating a sandwich on a nearby bench, loved it too. “Do you know Hall and Oates?” he asked. “You should learn ‘Maneater.’ You could make a lot of dough playing that. Hey, if you need some grub, that church on 99th is pretty good.” I wasn’t sure if I looked like I could use a square meal or just sounded like it.Robins and sparrows — and only one word is possible here — flock to me as if I’m St. Francis of C Minor. To be honest, I stink. This is not humble-bragging. I’m just realistic about my abilities. I imagine that for many people, what I’m playing sounds “jazzy.” (Common questions from passers-by: “Are you professional?” “Do you play in a club someplace?”) But if I showed up at Smalls, the Greenwich Village jazz spot, for one of their jam sessions, and someone said, “Let’s do ‘How High the Moon’ in D flat,” it wouldn’t take more than a few measures for the drummer to toss one of his cymbals at me. (It happened to Charlie Parker in Kansas City in the 1930s, although he went on to great things.) I’m OK with simple chord progressions or, better yet, just wailing to a Jimmy Smith recording. But I still can’t throw in those diminished-seventh licks or tritone substitutions at will. It’s shocking, really, how little I have progressed since fourth grade. I don’t care. When I play outdoors, perfection is neither possible nor expected.In 1960, Sonny Rollins, already one of the greatest tenor-sax players ever, quit recording and appearing in public so he could concentrate on getting better. He was living on the Lower East Side. He tried to practice in a closet (I’ve been there). Still too loud. There was a pregnant neighbor. “I felt real guilty,” he said, according to a 2022 biography. So he walked over to the Williamsburg Bridge and played outside day and night until he returned two years later with an LP called “The Bridge.” I’m not Sonny Rollins, but I can hear progress.I can be pretty jumpy in public. It’s New York: You pay attention (and a sax is not cheap). I was playing a few weeks ago at another spot I like, just off the main path that runs through the upper park. My sax case and music were on a stone wall. At some point, I noticed a man squatting a few feet behind me, fumbling through some kind of bag. I thought, Here we go! He stood up and lurched over to me, his hand raised. And then he said, “Do you want me to put it there?” indicating my open case. He had a few coins in his hand. This guy wasn’t in good shape — maybe under the influence of something, maybe just struggling with life — but he wanted to share what he had.I said: “That’s really nice of you, but I’m just practicing. Keep that for yourself.”“You sure?”“Yeah, I’m sure.” I did two taps on my heart.“I love what you’re doing,” he said, quite emotionally. He gave me a soul shake and then brought me in for a bro hug. “I love you, man.”“I love you too, man,” I said.Really, what I should do is go to the park with a case full of dollar bills and pass them out to the people (and geese) who stop to listen, because I owe them for a music lesson I didn’t know I needed.Harvey Dickson has been a staff editor at The Times since 1997, for the last 16 years at the magazine. He has also worked at The International Herald Tribune in Paris. More

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      Secretary of State Blinken Plays the Guitar to Launch “Music Diplomacy” Initiative

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      A viral video of Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken introduced Americans to the guitar geek hidden within.It’s usually not a good sign when video of a senior government official singing goes viral on social media, where the crowds are as tough as they come.But when Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken picked up a black Fender guitar at a State Department event on Wednesday night and joined a band for Muddy Waters’s “Hoochie Coochie Man,” the response on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, where the video has been watched more than eight million times, drew positive reviews — and more than a little shock.“I had. NO. Idea,” said one X user, who used an expletive to express her amazement, in the video’s most-viewed reply.To be sure, there was also snark of the don’t-quit-your-day-job variety, and some tut-tutting about decorum (“Ukraine is on fire and Blinken is playing the guitar,” one user said). But on the whole, Mr. Blinken’s soulful baritone and crunchy blues chords, showcased at an event promoting a State Department “music diplomacy” initiative that was attended by the Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, escaped the dreaded label of cringecore.Perhaps more interesting was the understandable surprise that America’s top diplomat has a rock ’n’ roll bone in his body. Mr. Blinken, 61, is unfailingly soft-spoken and so formal that he wore his suit jacket — buttoned, no less — for the jam.Music is Mr. Blinken’s greatest nonpolitical passion. He once told Rolling Stone magazine that “the thread that runs throughout my life is probably music,” and said that hearing his parents play “A Hard Day’s Night” by the Beatles as a child was a thunderbolt that has defined him ever since. “I remember being absolutely hooked,” Mr. Blinken said in an interview last week.His great guitar love is Eric Clapton, whom Mr. Blinken reports having seen live about 75 times.Mr. Clapton’s bluesy style and frequent covers led Mr. Blinken to discover the electric blues greats like B.B. King, Otis Rush and Luther Allison. One of them discovered him back: While living in Paris with his family at the age of 16, Mr. Blinken worked his way to the front of the stage during a performance by Mr. King, singing along with the lyrics he had memorized completely.“He sees me, I guess, and at the end he comes to the edge of the stage and bends down, and gives me his guitar pick,” Mr. Blinken said, sounding as though his mind remains slightly blown.As a young man, well before people called him “Mr. Secretary” and bodyguards followed him everywhere, Mr. Blinken played in bands and collected at least a half dozen guitars, including a high-end Martin acoustic “that I don’t deserve,” he said. Years of noodling at home with a four-track culminated in his release of three singles on Spotify, under the moniker Ablinken. (Say that out loud slowly for dad-joke effect.)The Spotify songs, which have collectively been streamed about 150,000 times — watch out, Harry Styles — show off a blues-rock sound with Everyman lyrics that bear no relation to the government official who talks about multilateral engagement and “diplomatic variable geometry.” (“And then I came home to you/But you said, ‘Let’s just be friends, yeah’” he sings over staccato electric chords in “Lip Service.”)Mr. Blinken noted that he had recorded and uploaded the songs between 2018 and 2020, during the Trump era, when he was out of government and unsure whether he would return. “I had little idea that there would be another run at government, or a public career of any kind,” he said. “And so when the president put me forward for this job, there they were.”The songs, which he has labeled “wonk rock,” occasionally pop up in his official life. They have been blared from speakers at overseas events, including before he addressed embassy employees in San José, the capital of Costa Rica, in June 2021. A Finnish radio station broadcast one when Mr. Blinken visited Helsinki in June to deliver a speech about the war in Ukraine.Mr. Blinken’s former band, which has played under the name of Cash Bar Wedding, was pretty cool, at least by the standards of Washington. His bandmates included Eli Attie, a former speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore who went on to be a writer for “The West Wing,” and Jay Carney, a onetime spokesman for President Biden when Mr. Biden was vice president.Mr. Carney called the band mostly “an excuse to hang out and talk about music.” But the group was serious enough to take semiregular trips to music meccas like New Orleans, booking studios for a day of writing and recording songs.“As to the quality of the songs we created, let’s just say, mistakes were made!” said Mr. Carney, now head of policy and communications for Airbnb. They have jammed with indie-rock legends like Alex Chilton of Big Star, Grant Hart of Hüsker Dü and Aimee Mann.“Tony is actually a fine guitarist and songwriter,” Mr. Carney said. “We’re worried his State Department gig is a sign that he’s ditching us to launch a solo career.”Many foreign diplomats and leaders have clearly done their homework: No fewer than eight have given Mr. Blinken guitars or accessories like guitar straps as customary gifts (which he must purchase if he wants to keep). From Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, came a blue acoustic guitar with an engraving of U.S. and Israeli flags. Another guitar was offered by Qin Gang, the Chinese foreign minister who mysteriously disappeared this summer.In an interview, Mr. Blinken recalled a special rapport with Japan’s former foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, a skilled pianist, guitar player and Beatles nut. “We totally bonded over music,” Mr. Blinken said, calling it “a constant refrain in our diplomatic discourse.”Mr. Blinken with Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan’s former foreign minister, left, and Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, during the Group of 7 meeting in April.Pool photo by Andrew HarnikThat discourse could get nerdy. Invoking a famous Beatles track, Mr. Blinken recalled “bad pun references like, ‘This policy’s going to be a long and winding road.’”In April, Mr. Hayashi hosted a meeting of the Group of 7 foreign ministers in Hiroshima, Japan. When the ministers convened one evening after official business was concluded, Mr. Blinken produced a small travel guitar he sometimes takes on foreign trips. Mr. Hayashi brought his own. With the help of a karaoke machine, they strummed chords as the other ministers, briefly forgetting matters like Ukraine and climate change, joyously sang along.“It’s a wonderfully bonding thing to forget about the weight of the world for a couple of hours and come together just as friends with a common passion for music,” Mr. Blinken said.He noted that the United States has used music as a diplomatic tool for decades. Amid competition with the Soviet Union for global influence in the 1950s, the State Department sponsored foreign tours for jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.Today’s version lacks that star power: Mr. Blinken’s new initiative includes a mentorship program for foreign music professionals that works in partnership with the Recording Academy, the organization that stages the Grammy Awards. English classes taught abroad by the State Department, which are hugely popular overseas, will now incorporate popular music lyrics.“Music is the most powerful connecter,” Mr. Blinken said. “It transcends virtually any kind of barrier you can think of.” More

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      ‘We Taylor-gated’: Taylor Swift Fans Descend on a Jets Game

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      Football fans mingled with Swifties, on public transit, in the parking lot and at the game. Everyone was dressed for the occasion.It was a standing-room-only crowd gathered in the aisles of a New Jersey Transit train from New York’s Penn Station to New Jersey at 5 p.m. on Sunday evening.Multiple groups of friends were overheard asking the same question: Was this because of Taylor Swift?By now most Americans are well-versed with the Ms. Swift effect. Wherever she goes, whether it’s to perform or even just eat dinner, fans follow. Once word leaked that she might make an appearance at MetLife Stadium for a football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Jets to cheer on her rumored new boyfriend, Kansas City’s All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce, it was assumed the crowds would show up en masse. The fact that tickets to the game and Mr. Kelce’s jersey — he sports No. 87 for the Chiefs — showed notable increases in sales (and cost), according to multiple media outlets, only confirmed those suspicions.Ms. Swift did indeed show up at the game and watched it from a private suite with friends Sophie Turner, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and Hugh Jackman. People in the stadium who were close enough to see the celebrities spent much of the game gawking and taking photos. (Ms. Swift waved to fans multiple times.)Hana Kim and Courtney Takahashi were unable to secure tickets for the Eras Tour, but they snapped up tickets for Sunday’s Jets game.Elaine Gitles, who is a fan of the Chiefs and Ms. Swift, was ahead of the curve with a Kelce T-shirt she purchased after last season’s Super Bowl.On the train, two Jets fans couldn’t believe their good fortune. “We have four season tickets, and we sold two for $90,” said Michael Callaghan, 30, who lives in Kips Bay. “They were going for $50 before Taylor was going.”“We should get Swift bracelets that say Jets on them,” quipped his friend, Ryan Dwyer, 36, who lives on the Upper West Side.At Secaucus Junction, where travelers from Penn Station have to transfer to get a train to the Meadowlands, strangers were joking with one another about whether they were fans of football or Ms. Swift.Sean Patrick and Tom Wagner wanted to dress up for the occasion. They failed to secure sweatshirts large enough, but made things work with masking tape and a marker.When Elaine Gitles, 26, who works for a software company and lives in the East Village, was showing off her red T-shirt that said “Travis Kelce is Hot,” an older man in a green Jets jersey yelled, “It’s a great Taylor Swift jersey.”Ms. Gitles clarified that she’s a Chiefs fan, and she bought the shirt when her team won the Super Bowl last season. But she’s not mad about being labeled a Swiftie (as Ms. Swift’s fans are nicknamed), since she is one of those as well.“I went to Eras three times,” Ms. Gitles said of Swift’s wildly successful Eras Tour. “It’s the best coincidence of all time that my favorite musical artist is joining the best football team of all time.” (She also shared the lyrics she came up with that Ms. Swift could sing if her relationship to Mr. Kelce falls through: “He played the field like he played me. A travesty.”)To get ready for Halloween, and Sunday’s game, Caye Schnackel had a bedazzled jersey overnighted to her that features Mr. Kelce’s No. 87.While some fans sported replica jerseys for Mr. Kelce, other fans improvised, making their own for Ms. Swift.Other people who stopped to chat in Secaucus were Hana Kim, 24, and Courtney Takahashi, 25, both special education teachers in Westchester. The duo couldn’t afford tickets for Ms. Swift’s concert at the MetLife Stadium in May, so they sat in the parking lot outside the stadium and listened to the whole thing from their cars instead. “We Taylorgated,” said Ms. Takahashi.“We bought football tickets as soon as the news came out,” said Ms. Takahashi. “I don’t even care if we see her. Just being in her presence, breathing the same air, feeling her vibe, that is good enough for me.”Outside the stadium, as some fans were tailgating with grills and coolers of beer, others were brainstorming the best way to get a peek at Ms. Swift.“I’ve been looking at social media, waiting to see if we could see which box she was in and if we could see her,” said Shae Mermis, 33, who lives in Crown Heights and was at the game with her girlfriend and parents.Stella Fee, 44, and her daughter, Zoe Fee, decided they would hang out on the V.I.P. level. “We are season ticket holders in the level below, so we are allowed to go up a floor to where the boxes are,” she said.Fans close enough to see Ms. Swift in the stands worked hard to get her attention, and she waved to at least a few of them.Fans had varying ideas for appropriate game day outfits.As soon as she saw Ms. Swift in Mr. Kelce’s box last week at the Chiefs game in Kansas City, Caye Schnackel, 26, a fashion designer who lives in Brooklyn, decided she and her boyfriend would have to dress as the celebrity couple for Halloween. “I looked at him and said, ‘I am going to be Taylor, and you are going to be Kelce,’ and that was that,” she said.Joseph Kacinski wore a blonde wig and a jersey with Mr. Kelce’s number.Scarlett Reilly brought a sign with Mr. Kelce’s number, 87, and what Ms. Swift says is her lucky number, 13.She found the perfect outfit at Nova Lee Boutique — a bright red jersey with 87 written on it, made entirely of sequins — and had it overnighted so she could get it in time to wear to Sunday’s game in addition to Halloween.“I’m just so obsessed with Travis now,” she said. “I am so jealous of Taylor. I am going to try and win him over today.” (Her boyfriend, Krzysztof Miezgiel, who was next to her, just laughed.)Lexi Gordon dressed to look like Ms. Swift and took selfies with Jets fans.Sean Patrick, 47, went to a T-shirt printing company at a local mall the morning of the game to try and get the saying, “Where’s Taylor?” printed, but he was told it wouldn’t be ready in time. His friend, Tom Wagner, 59, from Manahawkin, N.Y., went to Walmart and bought the largest pink sweatshirt he could find but it still didn’t fit. So they decided to take pink masking tape, write phrases about Taylor Swift on it with a marker, and attach them to football jerseys.The pair spent four hours tailgating in the parking lot, making pulled pork and chicken on four different grills and watching other football games on a television they set up with a portable satellite dish. “We had about 50 people come up to us and ask to take photos,” said Mr. Wagner. “I’ve never had more fun at a Jets game in my life.”“The atmosphere is crazy,” he added. “I’ve never seen a team bring a crowd like this.”T-shirts from Ms. Swift’s “Eras Tour” broke up the traditional football jerseys. More

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      Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ Film Coming to Movie Theaters

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      The singer’s blockbuster tour ended over the weekend without the release of a visual component. But a “Renaissance” film will be released in December, she announced on Monday.Beyoncé’s 56-show Renaissance World Tour ended over the weekend without the release of any much-anticipated visual component tied to the singer’s shimmering 2022 dance album. Beyoncé, however, may have had a plan all along: “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” will be released in movie theaters on Dec. 1, the singer announced on Monday, immediately following the tour’s final show in Kansas City, Mo.“Be careful what you ask for, ’cause I just might comply,” Beyoncé — whose two previous solo releases, her 2013 self-titled album and “Lemonade,” from 2016, were billed as “visual albums” — wrote on Instagram, quoting the “Renaissance” song “All Up in Your Mind.”The singer has previously released concert films, documentaries and extravagant music video collections via DVD (“I Am…Yours,” 2009), HBO (“Life Is but a Dream,” 2013, and “Lemonade,” 2016) and Netflix’s streaming service (“Homecoming,” 2019). But the release of the “Renaissance” film to theaters around the country follows a similar strategy deployed by Taylor Swift, who headlined the summer’s other culture-dominating blockbuster tour, and whose Eras Tour concert film is due out in theaters on Oct. 13.The two headliners are estimated to have generated more than $9 billion in economic activity combined, with each tour nearly matching the revenues of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, after adjusting for inflation.The “Renaissance” film will track the tour’s journey from its opening in Stockholm in May to its finale on Oct. 1. “It is about Beyoncé’s intention, hard work, involvement in every aspect of the production, her creative mind and purpose to create her legacy and master her craft,” according to an announcement. Tickets are on sale now.“When I am performing, I am nothing but free,” Beyoncé says in the trailer. “My goal for this tour was to create a place where everyone is free, and no one is judged.” The preview also includes behind-the-scenes footage of the singer rehearsing with her daughter Blue Ivy Carter, who performed on the tour, and interacting with her husband, Jay-Z, and the couple’s young twins.Writing in The New York Times upon the tour’s North American beginning, the critic Lindsay Zoladz said, “The show’s look — as projected in diamond-sharp definition onto a panoramic screen — conjured Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’ by way of the 1990 drag ball documentary ‘Paris Is Burning.’” The critic Wesley Morris, writing about the album, a tribute to Black and queer dance music, said of Beyoncé: “The range of her voice nears the galactic; the imagination powering it qualifies as cinema.” More