More stories

  • in

    A 270-Year-Old Scottish Folk Fiddle Makes Its Carnegie Hall Debut

    The ornately decorated fiddle belonged to the dance master who taught Robert Burns. At Carnegie, it will cap “Scotland’s Hoolie in New York.”Of course there will be bagpipes on Saturday, the eve of Tartan Day, when Carnegie Hall will host a lineup of stars. Among the luminaries of Scottish traditional music will be Julie Fowlis, who was featured in the soundtrack to Disney’s “Brave”; and Dougie MacLean, the singer-songwriter whose “Caledonia” has became an anthem for Scottish sports fans.The event, “Scotland’s Hoolie in New York,” will also be the Carnegie Hall debut of an aging celebrity who flew into New York on Tuesday, accompanied by a personal bodyguard, before taking up residence at a high-security location on the Upper East Side. This V.I.P., unannounced on the program, is likely to bring goosebumps to listeners during the final performance of Robert Burns’s “Auld Lang Syne.”The surprise guest, considered a national treasure in Scotland, has never been seen wearing tartans. The dignitary in question is a 270-year-old folk fiddle, covered in what looks like full-body floral tattoos, which belonged to the dance master William Gregg. It was Gregg who taught a 17-year-old Burns dance steps. And it was Gregg whom the young poet sought out, as he later wrote, “to give my manners a brush.” While there is no direct evidence that Burns played this fiddle, its sound would have been on his mind when he composed the jigs, reels and gracefully tripping strathspeys that continue to resound in any space where Scottish music is celebrated.Reminiscent of Turkish or Persian art, the fiddle’s decorations remain something of a mystery. Kieran Dodds for The New York TimesToday, the instrument is among the most popular items on show at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, and it is a Scottish national treasure, said Suzanne Reid, the conservator for the National Trust for Scotland who accompanied the Gregg fiddle on its trans-Atlantic journey. She was nervously monitoring the humidity levels at Freeman’s Hindman auction house, where I was granted a brief private audience.“It is an integral part of Scottish identity,” the accordionist Gary Innes, who organized the Hoolie, said in an interview. “To have it played in the most famous concert hall built by a Scot” — Carnegie Hall’s construction was funded by the Scotland-born Andrew Carnegie — “is very special. It brings people together.” (Innes will also perform in the Hoolie with his folk-rock band Manran.)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

  • in

    Judge Declines to Revoke Young Thug’s Probation After Social Media Post

    The district attorney’s office in Fulton County, Ga., had cited a post in which the rapper referred to a gang investigator as the “Biggest liar in the DA office.”A judge declined on Thursday to revoke the probation of the Atlanta rapper Young Thug, born Jeffery Williams, after prosecutors moved to have him punished for a post on social media in which Mr. Williams referred to a local gang investigator as the “Biggest liar in the DA office.”In a brief ruling on Thursday, Fulton County Judge Paige Reese Whitaker declined the motion from the district attorney’s office of Fani T. Willis without explanation.Atlanta prosecutors had filed a motion on Wednesday arguing that Mr. Williams had violated the terms of his probation, writing that he “has engaged in conduct that directly threatens the safety of witnesses and prosecutors, compromises ongoing legal proceedings, and warrants immediate revocation of probation.”Mr. Williams, 33, pleaded guilty late last year to participation in criminal street gang activity, in addition to drug and weapons charges, ending his role in a sprawling racketeering trial that became the longest criminal proceeding in Georgia history. (The two of the six original defendants in the trial who refused plea deals were found not guilty of murder and conspiracy to violate the RICO act.)At the judge’s discretion, Mr. Williams, who had faced up to 120 years in prison if convicted, was sentenced to time served and 15 years of probation, with an additional 20 years of prison time possible if he violated the agreement. The strict terms of the probation barred Mr. Williams from metro Atlanta for 10 years; required him to undergo random searches and drug tests; and instructed him to refrain from promoting any gangs or associating with known members, potentially complicating his career as a touring rapper.In response to the filing by prosecutors on Wednesday, a lawyer for Mr. Williams, Brian Steel, said in a statement: “This motion is baseless. While intimidation and threats of violence are never appropriate, Jeffery Williams has done nothing wrong. We look forward to seeking a dismissal of this petition.”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

  • in

    Bruce Springsteen Will Release Seven ‘Lost Albums’ in June

    The singer and songwriter announced a boxed set featuring 83 songs, of which 74 have never been officially released in any form.Bruce Springsteen is opening his vault — and unleashing seven “lost” LPs.On June 27, Springsteen will release “Tracks II: The Lost Albums,” a collection of 83 songs on seven CDs (or nine vinyl LPs), of which 74 have never been officially released in any form, according to an announcement from the star on Thursday.Fans have long known that Springsteen has withheld many songs throughout his career. Over the years the singer-songwriter has made stray comments about shelved or unfinished recordings, sometimes seeming to itch to get them completed and released.But even many Bruceologists may be surprised at the scale of “Tracks II,” which is organized as seven discrete projects from 1983 to 2018, each with its own production and stylistic approach. Among them are working tapes from Springsteen’s fruitful pre-“Born in the U.S.A.” period and a hip-hop-influenced album from the early 1990s.“‘The Lost Albums’ were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released,” Springsteen, 75, said in a statement.“LA Garage Sessions ’83” has 18 songs from the period when Springsteen was developing “Born in the U.S.A.,” his monster 1984 hit, a moment of transition from the raw solo demos that were released as “Nebraska” (1982). Many of those titles, like “Fugitive’s Dream” and “Don’t Back Down on Our Love,” have long circulated among fans as bootlegs, but are getting their first official release on “Tracks II.”“Streets of Philadelphia Sessions” peels back the curtain on another phase of Springsteen’s career. After using synthesizers and a drum machine to record “Streets of Philadelphia,” a solo song for Jonathan Demme’s 1993 film “Philadelphia” — which went on to win best original song at the Academy Awards — Springsteen continued to experiment with the format, and word filtered out about a dark LP with a “hip-hop edge.” But even after fully preparing it for release, Springsteen opted to hold the album back.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

  • in

    Gracie Abrams on Her Skin Essentials and Favorite Hair Bows

    Plus: wild hops in Venice, a Catherine Opie exhibition in New York and more recommendations from T Magazine.Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. Each week, we share things we’re eating, wearing, listening to or coveting now. Sign up here to find us in your inbox every Wednesday, along with monthly travel and beauty guides, and the latest stories from our print issues. And you can always reach us at tmagazine@nytimes.com.Step by StepGracie Abrams’s Beauty RoutineLeft: The singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams, who is a global brand partner of Hourglass Cosmetics. Right, clockwise from top left: Cyklar Sensorial body wash, $35, cyklar.com; Chanel bow barrette, $525, chanel.com; Oribe Gold Lust Repair & Restore shampoo, $53, oribe.com; Jan Marini Skin Research C-ESTA face serum, $133, janmarini.com; Hourglass 1.5MM mechanical gel eye liner, $21, hourglasscosmetics.com; Egyptian Magic all-purpose skin cream, $39, egyptianmagic.com; Osea Undaria Algae body oil, $84, oseamalibu.com; Hourglass Veil Hydrating skin tint, $49, hourglasscosmetics.com; Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle cream blush, $28, fentybeauty.com.Left: Ben Hassett, courtesy of Hourglass Cosmetics. Right: courtesy of the brandsI like to wake up between 6 and 7 a.m., but when I’m touring, it’s anywhere from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sleep is a constant question mark because time zones are never consistent. I got lucky this past leg of the tour in Europe and the U.K. Our bus was great, and I got the same duvet that I have at home, which was especially comforting. A morning shower — really hot and then really cold — is the thing that fixes my brain quickly. At home I hang eucalyptus from the shower head because it smells nice in the steam. My friend Claudia [Sulewski] has this company called Cyklar, and I put all of her body washes in a row. I do a pump of each. She also launched a suction-y tool for lymphatic drainage, which I like to use. I have an Oribe shampoo that my hairstylist gave me, but I’m not too picky about that. I’ve surrendered to putting on a hat and walking out the door and letting my hair be what it is. I love the Osea algae body oil, and my most used body moisturizer is the Nivea one with almond oil, which kind of smells like sunscreen to me. I’ve always got Egyptian Magic [skin cream] in every bathroom, too.I’ve had a very temperamental relationship with my skin after developing cystic acne in college. At the end of the day, it’s skin — but it can feel like the end of the world if it hurts to put your face against your pillow. Facials with Shar [Hassani] helped me get my acne under control. She’s a wizard. I use mostly all Jan Marini skin care: the vitamin C serum C-ESTA, a hyaluronic acid serum, the Transformation cream and at night something called Age Intervention Duality, which has basically eradicated breakouts and is a holy grail product for me. The Hourglass Veil skin tint is part of my skin care routine at this point — it makes me feel and look even. The Vanish concealer is my favorite for spot-treating. I’m a blush freak. As a pale girl, I’m like, how do I make myself look like I have any life in me? I love Fenty Beauty’s cream blush in the shade Summertime Wine. To fill in my brows, I use Hourglass’s Arch pencil in Dark Brunette, and then Göt2b brow gel for hold. Mascara onstage is a must, but on a daily basis, I’ve just been curling my lashes and using Hourglass’s gel eyeliner in Canyon in the waterline at the top. For haircuts I go to Bobby Eliot, who’s a legend and an angel, and on tour, I work with genius hairstylist Arbana Dollani. She crocheted my hair for one show with silver thread. Hair bows have become a symbol of the community, which is very sweet, and I have this collection of bows that people have very generously made or gifted me. Sandy Liang has some great ones, and Chanel too. In my nighttime routine, I appreciate another scalding and then freezing shower. I like knowing that I’m getting all of the venue dirt and sweat off my body at the end of the day. Then it’s about bringing the adrenaline down. I drink a lot of tea. I like a CBD tincture. Journaling is quite crucial for me. This is corny, but on tour, I cuddle with my friends and we play cards. It’s very wholesome and mellow.In SeasonWhere to Eat the Wild Hops That Grow Around the Venetian LagoonLeft: bruscandoli, or wild hops, foraged from the banks of Venice’s lagoon, are a local and seasonal delicacy. Right: Ristorante Riviera is one of a handful of restaurants in Venice that offer dishes featuring bruscandoli when it’s in season.Left: istock/Getty Images Plus. Right: Matthias Scholz/Alamy One of life’s greatest luxuries is to eat that thing in that place, knowing you can’t get it anywhere else: the bruscandoli, or wild hops, in Venice are a case in point. These are the most tender early shoots of a plant that grows along the banks of the lagoon. You can find hops in other parts of Italy, but they won’t be called bruscandoli (the Italian name is luppolo selvatico) and they won’t have the distinctive flavor the Venetian variety draw from the salty lagoon soil. Visit Venice in springtime, and you might be lucky enough to catch the ephemeral bruscandoli season (typically no more than a couple of weeks between the end of March and the beginning of May — last year it was around the last week of March), when you’ll see bundles of the greens for sale at the Rialto market, as well as at vegetable stalls and barges dotted around town. You eat only the tips of the plant and cook it as you would wild asparagus, blanching it in boiling water or pan frying it, then seasoning it with a dash of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt. Bruscandoli also work well in a creamy risotto, layered into frittata or as the base for a brothy soup, minestra di bruscandoli. Harry’s Bar makes an excellent risotto con bruscandoli, as does Al Covo, a cozy, family-run establishment hidden away in the city’s Castello quarter. And if you’re looking for the incomparable combination of spring sunshine, waterside views and some variation on the theme of bruscandoli for lunch, then you can’t beat a table at Ristorante Riviera on the Zattere waterfront.Stay HereThe Southern California Beach Hotel Where Breakfast Comes With ChampagneLeft: the lobby living room at Le Petit Pali Laguna Beach, a hotel that opened this week in the coastal Orange County, Calif., town. Right: the hotel pool.Caylon HackwithSince its founding in 2007, the Los Angeles-based hotel group Palisociety has opened boutique properties across the U.S., many of which are in renovated midcentury inns and motels. Their latest, which opened on April 1, is Le Petit Pali Laguna Beach. The 41-room Southern California hotel is in a two-story structure built in the early 1960s along a stretch of Highway 1 that’s within view of the Pacific Ocean. Le Petit Pali sets itself apart with a whimsical aesthetic: Grass cloth wall coverings and vintage rattan furniture mix with antiques, floral-patterned throw pillows and navy-and-blue striped beds that evoke a beach club cabana. (Speaking of which, Treasure Island Beach and Goff Cove — two of the area’s most popular spots for swimming — are within easy walking distance.) And while there is no restaurant here (Palisociety’s “Le Petit” concept is modeled after a bed-and-breakfast), guests are treated to a morning spread with an abundance of eggs, locally made pastries from nearby Rye Goods, Marmalade Grove preserves and seasonal fruit, plus champagne and mimosas. From $350 a night, lepetitpali.com.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

  • in

    What’s His Age Again? Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus (Now 53) Looks Back.

    In early March, Mark Hoppus, the singer and bassist for the long-running pop-punk trio Blink-182, and his wife, Skye, were special guests at a Sotheby’s modern and contemporary art auction in London. The sale featured a piece from their collection, a rare Banksy titled “Crude Oil (Vettriano),” up alongside works by Yoshitomo Nara, Gerhard Richter and Vincent van Gogh.“It was such rarefied air that we’ve never been a part of before,” Hoppus recalled at his home a week later, outfitted in chunky black glasses, a Dinosaur Jr. long-sleeve T-shirt, navy blue Dickies and Gucci Mickey Mouse sneakers. The painting sold for nearly $5.5 million, part of which will go to charity.It would have been hard to predict such a highfalutin turn for Hoppus back in 1999, when Blink-182 released its magnum opus, “Enema of the State,” which catapulted the band to MTV “Total Request Live” stardom and sold five million copies domestically. The video for the album’s first single, the jocular “What’s My Age Again?,” famously features the band members running unclothed through the streets of Los Angeles. (“Naked dudes are so ridiculous,” Hoppus said. “It just looks comical to me.”) Blink-182 followed up that LP with its first No. 1 album, “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket,” two years later.Despite Blink-182’s reputation for high jinks, naughty puns and charmingly adolescent hits like “All the Small Things,” Hoppus is remarkably thoughtful in person. Jim Adkins, whose group, Jimmy Eat World, supported Blink-182 and Green Day on a 2002 tour, said in an interview that Hoppus exhibited “human empathy.”“I know ‘Mark from Blink-182 is emotionally mature’ might seem like an oxymoron if you don’t know him,” Adkins admitted, “but I would say that.”Blink-182, from left: Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker and Tom DeLonge in 1999.Lester Cohen/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

  • in

    Joe DePugh, Pitcher Who Inspired Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Glory Days,’ Dead at 75

    A gifted athlete, he gave a clumsy teenage Bruce Springsteen his first nickname, Saddie. Years later, the Boss returned the favor, memorializing him in a song.Joe DePugh, the Little League teammate of Bruce Springsteen who inspired the rocker’s hit song “Glory Days,” a rousing, bittersweet anthem to their hardscrabble childhoods in Freehold, N.J., where time passed by “in the wink of a young girl’s eye,” died on Friday in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 75.The cause of death, in a hospice facility, was metastatic prostate cancer, his brother Paul said.In the early 1960s, before Mr. Springsteen became the Boss, he was a clumsy baseball player whose athletic abilities were so sad that Joe, the team’s star pitcher, gave him the nickname Saddie.“Bruce lost this big game for us one year,” Mr. DePugh told The Palm Beach Post in 2011. “We stuck him out in right field all the time, where you think he’s out of harm’s way. But this important game, we had a bunch of guys missing, and we had to play him.”In the last inning, Saddie dropped an easy fly ball.“Actually, it hit him on the head,” Mr. DePugh said, “and we lost the game.”They remained friends in high school, bonding over their turbulent home lives and their distant, alcoholic fathers. After graduation, Saddie took off to play rock ’n’ roll in bars and nightclubs. Joe, who excelled at multiple sports, tried out for the Los Angeles Dodgers but wound up playing basketball at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.In 1973, when they had been out of touch for years, these two boyhood friends bumped into each other at the Headliner, a roadside bar in Neptune, near the Jersey Shore. Mr. Springsteen was walking in; Mr. DePugh was walking out.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

  • in

    Rare Beatles Audition Tape Surfaces in a Vancouver Record Shop

    The recording appears to be from the band’s 1962 audition for Decca Records, which notably rejected the group.The tape sat unremarkably on a shelf behind the counter, collecting dust for five, maybe 10 years — so much time that Rob Frith says he lost track.Frith, 69, could not seem to recall how it had found its way to Neptoon Records, his store in Vancouver, British Columbia, which in its 44 years has become a repository for tens of thousands of vinyl records and other musical relics.The label on the cardboard box said it was a Beatles demo tape, but, having heard enough bootleg recordings over the decades, Frith was skeptical until he enlisted a disc jockey friend, Larry Hennessey, to load it onto his vintage tape player a few weeks ago.It was just before midnight on March 11 when they pushed play on the mystery tape. From the opening guitar riff and the intonation of a 21-year-old John Lennon, Frith said he could not believe his ears as he listened to the Beatles performing a cover of the Motown hit “Money (That’s What I Want).”“Right away, we’re all kind of looking at each other,” Frith said. “It seems like the Beatles are in the room. That’s how clear it is.”Frith said the tape appeared to be a professionally edited recording of the Beatles’ New Year’s Day 1962 audition for Decca Records in London, a session that notably ended with the band’s rejection.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

  • in

    5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Billie Holiday

    Billie Holiday is one of the foremost vocalists in jazz, whose emotional depth and unique phrasing inspired generations of singers to experiment with form and pitch fluctuation. Nicknamed “Lady Day” by the saxophonist Lester Young, her star brightened in the 1930s behind a string of hit songs and notable live performances in Harlem. In what was the hottest jazz scene in the country, Holiday stood out, and in 1937 she joined the famed Count Basie Orchestra; a year later, the clarinetist Artie Shaw asked her to join his orchestra, making Holiday the first Black woman to work with a white big band.Billie Holiday in the spotlight.Charles Hewitt/Getty ImagesHoliday’s legend grew in the late ’30s during her residency at the Café Society in Manhattan. She was introduced to “Strange Fruit,” a song by Abel Meeropol about lynching in the American South based on a poem he had written. Barney Josephson, the proprietor of Café Society, heard the song and brought it to Holiday, who first performed it there in 1939. It was a watershed moment for the singer: It’s not only the most famous song in her repertoire, it’s considered one of the most important in history, the track’s vivid imagery a strong indictment of racism in the country. Holiday was officially a star after the recording of “Strange Fruit,” and followed it with an impressive run of tracks in the early ’40s that cemented her fame.While there’s been a notion to only associate Holiday with pain and struggle, these accounts have dimmed her light as a firebrand artist whose creative bravery encouraged others to take similar risks. We asked 10 musicians and writers to share their favorite Holiday songs: Enjoy listening to their choices, check out the playlists and be sure to leave your own selections in the comments.◆ ◆ ◆‘Autumn in New York’José James, vocalistWithin the first two seconds of this song it’s impossible not to be drawn into the spell of Billie Holiday’s voice. Sailing confidently over lush chords by the pianist Oscar Peterson, Holiday pulls back the curtain on the beating heart of everyone who has loved, lost, loved again and (finally) lost themselves in that great city. A superb storyteller, Holiday explores every nuance of Vernon Duke’s paean to autumnal introspection in the city that never sleeps. Through her knowing delivery, every detail becomes vivid, cinematic: couples holding hands in Central Park, clouds reflecting off endless steel buildings, sundown in Greenwich Village, the wry smile of the maître d’hôtel at the Ritz, a lipstick-stained empty cocktail glass left behind at the bar. Billie was queen of it all, one of the highest-paid Black entertainers of her time, who left no stone unturned on her journey toward the self. This is beyond jazz singing; this is mastery in its highest form. With this song, Billie takes her place among the greatest of all balladeer improvisers in the jazz canon, creating the definitive version of an American classic.▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTubeWe 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