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A long-running dispute over the estate of singer James Brown has finally been settled, an attorney involved in the mediation said on Friday.

David Black, an attorney representing Brown’s estate, confirmed to The Associated Press that the agreement was reached on July 9. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.

The estate had been in dispute since Brown’s death at age 74 on Christmas Day 2006, and extended beyond finance for a time into the ultimate disposition of his remains.

A key party in the dispute was Tomi Rae Hynie, a former partner and mother to one of Brown’s children, who once was locked out of his estate in a widely publicized moment of anguish. She claimed to be married to Brown, but evidence of that was scant.

In his will, Brown left the vast majority of his fortune to a trust, his personal effects to some of his children,...

Super Bowl Lv pitting the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers is Sunday, with the kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. Et/3:30 p.m. Pt on CBS.

CBS Sports, broadcasting its 21st Super Bowl, will have Jim Nantz and Tony Romo calling the game from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fl, along with sideline reporters Tracy Wolfson, Evan Washburn and Jay Feely and Gene Steratore.

The network said it is using 120 cameras to cover the game (12 with 8K and 4K capabilities), including the debut of the Trolley Cam which can go 65 mph and provide a vantage point equivalent to the eighth row of the stands.

How To Watch

In addition to the CBS broadcast, the game will be livestreamed on the network’s CBS All Access streaming service and digitally across CBS Sports, including unauthenticated at CBSSports.com and on the CBS Sports app for Ott devices and services,...

Typically the cold opens of “Saturday Night Live” parody the politics of the past week, but for its second show of 2021, the NBC late-night sketch comedy series looked ahead — to Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Kenan Thompson, who portrayed sportscaster James Brown in the sketch, which you can watch above, kicked things off acknowledging the complications of late, but that “today we come together in the spirit of football — and to murder millions of chickens for their delicious wings.”

However, given what the NFL has gone through in recent months with new Covid health and safety guidelines and a high volume of players testing position, that became part of the discussion for Thompson’s Brown, Chris Redd’s Nate Burleson, Mikey Day’s Phil Sims and Beck Bennett’s Boomer Esiason.

They also explored how companies advertising during the Super Bowl were planning to spread the word about the Covid vaccine...

Super Bowl banter and the flood of commercials that come with the big game took the spotlight for Saturday Night Live’s Feb. 6 cold open.

Kenan Thompson, who played sportscaster James Brown in the sketch, touched on the hard times experienced by many today due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, but noted “we come together in the spirit of football — and to murder millions of chickens for their delicious wings.”

Thompson’s Brown along with Chris Redd’s Nate Burleson, Mikey Day’s Phil Sims and Beck Bennett’s Boomer Esiason hit on how the NFL itself has pushed ...

Super Bowl banter and the flood of commercials that come with the big game took the spotlight for Saturday Night Live’s Feb. 6 cold open.

Kenan Thompson, who played sportscaster James Brown in the sketch, touched on the hard times experienced by many today due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, but noted “we come together in the spirit of football — and to murder millions of chickens for their delicious wings.”

Thompson’s Brown along with Chris Redd’s Nate Burleson, Mikey Day’s Phil Sims and Beck Bennett’s Boomer Esiason hit on how the NFL itself has pushed ...

Julio Perez IV’s music exploration works in reverse with his age. When he was a young teenager in the mid-‘80s, he was discovering the funk of the early ‘70s. When he was a college student in the ‘90s, he was getting exposed to ‘60s surf rock and ‘50s jazz. Current or classic, the film editor’s music obsession has stood him in good stead as his extensive knowledge comes into play on every project on which he works. This includes his most recent film, Sam Levinson’s “Malcolm & Marie,” starring Zendaya and John David Washington (read Variety‘s review here), which is now streaming on Netflix.

For “Malcolm & Marie,” Perez worked with his “Euphoria” music team, which includes music supervisor Jen Malone, composer (and hit singer-songwriter) Labrinth, and cinematographer Marcell Rev in addition to writer/director Levinson. From soul to funk, jazz, hip hop and R&b,...

Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up-close look at life on music’s A list. This edition features drummer Chester Thompson.

When Chester Thompson joined Genesis as a drummer for the Wind and Wuthering tour in 1977, he had every reason to think...

He was part of one of the greatest stage routines in show business, helping James Brown overcome his passions, cloaking the singer in a cape and leading him slowly away from the pain of the stage. Only to watch as Mr. Brown repeatedly threw off the garment and raced back to the microphone.

Danny Ray was the name of the cape handler. His death was announced Wednesday by the James Brown estate, where he was termed “The second hardest-working man in show business.” He was 85 and died of natural causes, according to the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia.

Ray was part of Brown’s cape routine for 45 years, assisting him on the song “Please, Please, Please.” The Godfather of Soul would collapse in a paroxysm of feigned grief during the song, being led away by a solicitous Ray, who draped the singer in a cape. Brown would take a few steps,...

Danny Ray, James Brown’s longtime emcee and “cape man,” has died at the age of 85.

Ray, a staple at the Godfather of Soul’s legendary live shows, died Tuesday night of natural causes, the Richmond Country coroner confirmed to the Augusta Chronicle.

“The James Brown estate mourns the passing of Mr. Danny Ray, the legendary emcee and cape man for James Brown.” the estate said in a statement. “Ray worked with Brown from 1960 until the music legend’s death on Christmas day 2006. He became famous for draping a cape...

Norah O’Donnell will sit down with President Joe Biden for his first network television interview since taking office, with plans to air ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday.

The interview will air at 4 Pm Et, before Super Bowl kickoff in Tampa between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The interview will be taped at the White House, and portions also will air on CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell on Friday and on Sunday on Face the Nation.

It’s become a tradition for the network with rights to the Super Bowl to feature an interview with the president in advance of the game. Last February, Fox featured Sean Hannity’s interview with then-President Donald Trump.

CBS News is sending a team of correspondents to Tampa for the game. They include James Brown, host of The Super Bowl Today and CBS News’ special correspondent, as well...

President Joe Biden’s first formal interview as the Commander-in-Chief will take place during a uniquely American event: the Super Bowl.

Biden will sit down at the White House with “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell, preserving a recent tradition that has the occupant of the Oval Office take a few minutes to speak with the news division of the network airing the Big Game. But it will not be broadcast live, as it was under President Barack Obama, who helped make the Super Bowl meeting a mainstay element of the extravaganza.

CBS will televise Super Bowl Lv, featuring the Kansas City Chiefs taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on Sunday, February 7, with hours of pre-game coverage that kicks off at 11:30 a.m. The interview with Biden is slated to appear in the 4 p.m. hour.

CBS News says it will offer excerpts from the interview...

Chadwick Boseman’s tragic death at the age of 43 shocked the world on August 28, 2020. The talented young actor, best known around the world for his portrayal of the superhero Black Panther, broke into Hollywood through a series of portrayals of black historical figures. Boseman was a versatile actor, capable of playing his roles with both a dignified stoicism and a manic energy. In honor of the late actor’s memory, let’s take a look back at his greatest film roles in our ranked photo gallery.

SEEWill Chadwick Boseman break Oscar record held by James Dean?

Boseman began his career as a theater actor and director, and shortly after starred in several small television roles, culminating in a recurring role on the show “Persons Unknown.” The actor got his big break when he was cast as baseball star Jackie Robinson in the biopic “42,” and was subsequently cast as singer James Brown in another biopic,...

Usually the annual American Cinematheque tribute puts a bunch of Hollywood folks in black tie in a hotel ballroom to ingest rubber chicken and champagne. This year’s Spike Lee award show was a streamlined virtual affair hosted by “Inside Man” star Jodie Foster, who conducted a charming interview with Lee over the course of an evening interspersed by films clips and memories from such collaborators as actors Delroy Lindo and Angela Bassett, cinematographers Ernest Dickerson and Ellen Kuras, costume designer Ruth E. Carter, and production designer Wynn Thomas.

Brooklyn-based Lee, who is 63, has directed 25 features and documentaries plus countless commercials, collecting Emmys, BAFTAs, Cannes and critics awards along the way, including last year’s Adapted Screenplay Oscar for “BlacKkKlansman.”

“If you love what you are doing you can delay father time,” Lee said. “I’ve got some more joints to make. This award is not just for me but...

Usually the annual American Cinematheque tribute puts a bunch of Hollywood folks in black tie in a hotel ballroom to ingest rubber chicken and champagne. This year’s Spike Lee award show was a streamlined virtual affair hosted by “Inside Man” star Jodie Foster, who conducted a charming interview with Lee over the course of an evening interspersed by films clips and memories from such collaborators as actors Delroy Lindo and Angela Bassett, cinematographers Ernest Dickerson and Ellen Kuras, costume designer Ruth E. Carter, and production designer Wynn Thomas.

Brooklyn-based Lee, who is 63, has directed 25 features and documentaries plus countless commercials, collecting Emmys, BAFTAs, Cannes and critics awards along the way, including last year’s Adapted Screenplay Oscar for “BlacKkKlansman.”

“If you love what you are doing you can delay father time,” Lee said. “I’ve got some more joints to make. This award is not just for me but...

Storied filmmaker Spike Lee is the latest in a long line of auteurs to be awarded honors by the American Cinematheque.

The ceremony celebrating Lee’s more than three decade-career was presented virtually due to the ongoing pandemic. A collage of images from some of his most iconic “joints”, as well as a few personal photos of Lee with his wife Tonya, and children Satchel and Jackson and at a basketball game (presumably the filmmaker’s beloved Knicks) with Denzel Washington, served as the backdrop for the 34th annual event.

Past American Cinematheque honors recipient Jodie Foster hosted the broadcast, asking her “Inside Man” director, “It’s gotta be crazy to be honored for lifetime achievement. Does it seem like it’s been that long? Do you feel like you’re 100 years old?”

“If you love what you’re doing, you can delay Father Time,” Lee replied, “So I’ve...

Having been a high-profile filmmaker for four decades, Spike Lee has had his fair share of projects fall apart. Films like his biopics about James Brown, Joe Louis, and Jackie Robinson or even “Inside Man 2” were all floated around at various points in Lee’s career but ultimately never came together. We even wrote about 10 of these projects back in 2013.

Continue reading ‘The Messenger’: Spike Lee Describes Pulling The Plug On Unproduced 1984 Film As “A Complete Disaster” at The Playlist.

The late Chadwick Boseman will be honored as Hero for the Ages at the MTV Movie & TV Awards: Greatest of All Time retrospective special.

Don Cheadle and Robert Downey Jr. will present the posthumous award, which honors a star whose heroism on-screen was only surpassed by the true hero they were off-screen. Hosted by Vanessa Hudgens, the 90-minute special premieres Sunday, December 6th 8pm Et/Pt. It will honor the biggest and best moments in film and TV from the 80s until now.

A SAG award-winning actor, Boseman landed his first major role in Persons Unknown, but his breakout performance came in 2013 for his portrayal of baseball player Jackie Robinson in Warner Bros’ 42. He went on to star as singer James Brown in Get on Up and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in Marshall. He made history as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first Black superhero to headline a feature with Black Panther.

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) Gotham Awards will honor the late Chadwick Boseman with a posthumous Actor Tribute and Viola Davis with an Actress Tribute. The Gotham Awards are the first major awards ceremony of the season and will be celebrating its 30th Anniversary with its ceremony on January 11, 2021. The awards show will be presented live from Cipriani Wall Street New York in a hybrid format featuring virtual interactive tables.

“Chadwick Boseman was an incredibly talented actor whose significance and impact onscreen and kindness offscreen will never be forgotten,” said Jeffrey Sharp, Executive Director of IFP. We at IFP are forever indebted to him for all of his contributions to our organization, his legacy in providing mentorship and we are proud to honor him and all of his historical and groundbreaking contributions with this tribute.”

He continued, “Viola Davis is a force within the industry, acting in some of the...

Chadwick Boseman arrives on the red carpet of The 90th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, March 4, 2018.

In honor of his birthday today, Marvel Studios has updated the iconic Marvel Studios title ahead of Black Panther on Disney+ with a special presentation dedicated to Chadwick Boseman.

Long live the King. #WakandaForever pic.twitter.com/dtNEjGvYRm

— Black Panther (@theblackpanther) November 29, 2020

From Marvel:

It’s been over two months since the untimely and sudden passing of the great Chadwick Boseman on August 28, 2020, at the age of 43, following a four-year battle with colon cancer. Today, on what would have been his 44th birthday, we pay respects to our King.

The loss of the late Boseman and the legacy he leaves behind, especially for the Black and African American communities, is immeasurable. Throughout his career, Boseman highlighted the history and power of Black legends, such as Jackie Robinson, James Brown,...

The history of the Rocky franchise has been a long and winding road, marked by huge tonal and stylistic changes that have yielded mixed results. The first installment was an intimate drama about the American Dream with boxing used as just one of many subplots to tell the story of journeyman boxer Rocky Balboa, receiving widespread critical acclaim and going on to win three Academy Awards from ten nominations, including Best Picture.

From there, the series succumbed to 1980s excess as the following sequels got consistently bigger in scale and further from reality, but with the notable exception of the fifth entry, all of them were hugely entertaining in their own way before Stallone once again reinvented the character by returning to his dramatic roots with first Rocky Balboa and then the two Creed spinoffs, all of which were big box office hits.

However, Rocky IV remains arguably the most popular among the fanbase,...

Before the Bee Gees spread disco fever across radio waves, dance floors and movie screens, they were somewhat less known for their exquisite pop ballads. And they had a different lead singer: Robin Gibb, who died at the age of 62 on May 20, 2012. Unlike big brother Barry Gibb’s smooth, seductive falsetto – which propelled Seventies strobe-light classics like “Stayin’ Alive,” “Jive Talkin’,” and “Night Fever” — Robin’s lead vocals were warbly, yet soulful, elevating woeful anthems of sinking ships, collapsing caves and lovers strolling to the electric chair. Morrissey fans, recognize!

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” opens with a thundering blues performance and ends with a gut punch. Both moments inject fresh energy and righteous fury into the 1982 August Wilson play that launched his 10-part Pittsburgh Cycle, but in between, the movie hews to more familiar turf. , director George C. Wolfe’s reverential adaptation livens up the material with sizzling color and vivid closeups. Save for a few digressions, however, Wolfe and screenwriter Ruben Santiago-Hudson have put the play into the movie, rather than vice versa.

For Wilson devotees and newbies alike, that’s a sturdy enough combo to let this bittersweet ode to the Mother of Blues strut its stuff. The second adaptation of the Pittsburgh Cycle following Denzel Washington’s sturdy “Fences” treatment (he serves as a producer here), “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” embodies the frustrations of Black artists in a society rigged against them, with the boisterous singer and...

We know Donnie Yen can move, showing off some of his dazzling martial arts skills in the “Ip Man” films and most recently “Mulan,” but we didn’t know the 58-year-old actor could move like that.

In a video posted to his Instagram, Yen matches up moves while breakdancing with a Chinese champion street dancer Yen identified as “David,” locking and popping with the best of them.

“Never too old to dance, locking with David, the current China street dance champion with some James Brown,” Yen said in the post. “By the way, the second movie in my career was a breakdance movie! Yes that’s real Og!”

That movie he’s referring to is 1985’s “Mismatched Couples,” a comedy and action film in which Yen played a breakdancer dealing with some jealous rivals, a poor opera star and even a lunatic who all cause problems for him.

Yen was last seen in “Mulan,...

Winners for the 2020 New Zealand Television Awards were announced today, with the event becoming of the few physical screen award ceremonies to be held during the pandemic.

The Luminaries, produced by Southern Light Films and Working Title TV, was the big winner in the drama craft categories with multiple wins including Best Script: Drama for Eleanor Catton, who adapted her Man Booker Prize-winning book for television, Best Director: Drama for Claire McCarthy, Best Cinematographer: Drama for Denson Baker, Best Production Design for Felicity Abbott and Daniel Birt, Best Costume Design for Edward K. Gibbon, Best Makeup Design for Jane O’Kane and Best Post Production Design for Alana Cotton. Lead actor Himesh Patel, who played Emery Staines in the series, won the award for Best Actor.

Taika Waititi, Paul Yates, Jemaine Clement won the Best Comedy award for season 2 of their Wellington Paranormal, while Yates also won Best Script: Comedy for the same program.

Exclusive: They say you can’t take on City Hall, but someone forgot to tell Sir Lady Java.

Now Pose star Hailie Sahar and Genius: Aretha director Anthony Hemingway have teamed to bring the onetime performer and long-time LGBTQ activist’s story to life on the big screen.

As you can see in the video below that Emmy winner Hemingway has put together, Good Trouble alum Sahar is slated to play the famed female impersonator – and Sir Lady Java very much approves:

Called a “trailblazer” and “a cultural icon” by Hemingway in the video, Sir Lady Java was a frequent presence on the Los Angeles nightclub circuit back in the 1960s. In that time of discrimination, she shared the stage with Sammy Davis Jr, Redd Foxx, Lena Horne, Richard Pryor and James Brown until the LAPD decided to shut her down in 1967 with what was known as “Rule Number...

“If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry,’” John Lennon proclaimed on The Mike Douglas Show in 1972. “In the 1950s, a whole generation worshipped his music, and when you see him today, past and present all come together, and the message is Hail, Hail Rock and Roll.’” The two idols then kicked off into Berry’s song “Memphis, Tennessee.” Chuck Berry: The Original King Of Rock ‘N’ Roll is the first-ever feature-length documentary on the duck-walking electric guitarist and songwriter. It’s been playing, like any good rock and roll film, at special drive-in events across the country. The film will be available on VOD platforms and on Blu-ray on November 27.

In the same class as James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley, “The first-ever Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee crossed...

Star of stage and screen Jenna Ushkowitz joins Josh and Joe to discuss her favorite musical biopics.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Gremlins (1984)

Back To The Future (1985)

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Sixteen Candles (1984)

Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)

National Treasure (2004)

The Sound of Music (1965)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Star Wars (1977)

La Bamba (1987)

Selena (1997)

The Buddy Holly Story (1978)

De-Lovely (2004)

Night and Day (1946)

All That Jazz (1979)

A Chorus Line (1985)

Star 80 (1983)

Psycho (1960)

Evita (1996)

Love and Mercy (2014)

Grace of My Heart (1996)

Get On Up (2014)

Ray (2004)

What’s Love Got To Do With It? (1993)

El Norte (1983)

The Wedding Planner (2001)

Out of Sight (1998)

Hustlers (2019)

Sweet Charity (1969)

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Chicago (2002)

Moulin Rouge (1952)

Roxie Hart (1942)

The Greatest Showman (2017)

Other Notable Items

Glee TV series (2009-2015)

The Tony Awards

The Emmy Awards

The Academy Awards

Pee Wee’s Playhouse (1986-1990)

Eric Stoltz

Harry Potter film series

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Dark Knight trilogy

Christopher Nolan

Julie Andrews...

Pete Rock looked to James Brown when making his new “Say It Again” video.

The hip-hop producer told Complex that he took inspiration from the funk legend’s “Say It Again, I’m Black and I’m Proud.” The clip shows the hip-hop producer playing records, hitting the studio with a rotating crew of musicians and holding a sign that reads “I Am a Man” in an outdoor basketball court.

The grooving, atmospheric “Say It Again” highlights Rock’s upcoming LP PeteStrumentals 3, out December 11th. It’s the third installment...

Darius McCrary has signed with Cgem Talent.

McCrary recently played James Brown in the BET series American Soul, appeared as Otis Leecan in Lee Daniels’ Star on Fox, and on the Umc streaming series Monagmy as the series regular Connor, where he also serves as executive producer. McCrary is currently developing the launch his own television and film production company, slated for a 2021 release.

Before that, McCrary was best known for his role as Edward “Eddie” Winslow, the oldest child of Carl and Harriette Winslow on ABC’s Family Matters, which ran from 1989–1998. His resume includes the role of Scam in the 1987 comedy Big Shots, voice work as “Jazz” in the 2007 Transformers reboot, and the role of photographer Malcolm Winters on the CBS daytime drama The Young and the Restless from 2009 to 2011. McCrary is repped by Chris Giovanni at Cgem Talent.

The Cadillac Three lean into their funky, jammy side for a surprise new album. Arriving Friday, Tabasco & Sweet Tea furthers the inspired jams the Nashville trio explored in select songs on their last album, Country Fuzz.

Over 11 tracks mostly recorded on the band’s bus prior to quarantine, the group celebrates the topics they know best: booze, weed, hot girls, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. But it’s the left-field musical stylings that distinguish this record from TC3’s past four LPs, which were fleshed out by grungy country-rock.

View this post...

Viola Davis is the first Black actress to win a Tony, Primetime Emmy and Oscar. Could a Grammy be in her future to complete that Egot? On the basis of this morning’s Netflix presentation of five clips from Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, its December 18 release of the film version of August Wilson’s first play in his Century Cycle of 10 plays, it could be possible. Although as director George C. Wolfe explained in a 40-minute conversation with Davis and moderator Nelson George, the musical aspects of this great blues story set in 1924 Chicago was indeed a collaboration led by the great Branford Marsalis, and included bringing in another singer to augment Davis’ own vocals on some of the songs.

That said, another Oscar nomination seems entirely possible for Davis, who won her Supporting Actress Academy Award, and a Tony on Broadway, for her performance opposite Denzel Washington in...

For their 15th album, Public Enemy are back on Def Jam, the powerhouse label they helped build with their golden-age hip-hop classics. It’s a well-timed return to the center of the industry. The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has seen a reawakening of the protest radicalism that Pe originally brought to rap, from Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” to Lil Baby’s “The Bigger Picture” to DaBaby’s BLM remix of “Rockstar.” So when they ask, “Is rap still the black CNN?” — embodying the voice of the music...

We’re now almost a month removed from Chadwick Boseman‘s tragic death and millions of people around the globe are still reeling. The Black Panther star was an inspiration to so many, admired and respected by his peers in Hollywood and no doubt had a very long and exciting career ahead of him.

And now, as we continue to mourn, more and more tributes are pouring out in all different forms. Earlier this week, the Emmys showed some love for the actor and today, we have a rather stunning mural that’s been painted at Anaheim’s Downtown Disney in his honor.

Seen in the gallery below, this gorgeous piece of work comes courtesy of concept artist and former Disney Imagineer Nikkolas Smith, who shared the following in the inscription:

“As a former Disney Imagineer, I had the honor of working on a major children’s hospital initiative and...

Disney honored Chadwick Boseman on Thursday by unveiling a new mural of the Black Panther star at Anaheim’s Downtown Disney. The installation was created by concept artist and former Disney Imagineer Nikkolas Smith.

The inscription on the mural reads:

“As a former Disney Imagineer, I had the honor of working on a major children’s hospital initiative and Avengers Campus as my final two assignments. Seeing Chadwick’s heart for people in-person, and later discovering his courageous battle with cancer, I was inspired to create this tribute to honor his life and legacy. To us, he was and will always be T’Challa. Long Live The King.”

Boseman died August 28 at age 43 after a four-year battle with colon cancer. The actor, in addition to being part of Disney’s Marvel family, also played Thurgood Marshall, James Brown and Jackie Robinson in biopics. His death sent shockwaves around Hollywood and his global fan base,...

By 1987, Prince was as much an authority on love and sex as the era’s foremost expert, Dr. Ruth, so it’s curious that he composed two songs titled “Love and Sex” around that time and never officially released either. The first, a horny, synthy rave-up, finally came out three years ago on the artist’s posthumous Purple Rain box set, and now the second and more romantic “Love and Sex” has finally emerged on a supersized Sign ‘O’ the Times collection. “Look at us, two children in a grownup world playing around,...

Roy Head, the rocker known for his 1965 smash “Treat Her Right,” died Monday at his home in Porter, Texas, family members reported. He was 79.

“Treat Her Right” reached No. 2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the R&b chart in 1965; the rave-up was kept out of the top pop spot only by the Beatles’ “Yesterday.” The song was repopularized last year by Quentin Tarantino’s use of it for the credit sequence music in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” It was also featured in the 1991 film “The Commitments.”

Wood found renewed renown as the father of Sundance Head, the winner of season 11 of “The Voice.” The younger Head sang “Treat Her Right” as a duet with his coach, Blake Shelton, on an episode of the show in 2016.

Billy Gibbons of Zz Top paid tribute to Head as a “rock ’n’ soul phenomenon who had been one of our early and continuing inspirations.

The 2020 Emmy Awards were unlike any in history due to Covid-19, but they rose above the restrictions and delivered a very entertaining show. Jimmy Kimmel hosted from a deserted Staples Arena with participants appearing via video conference from their homes, as many poked fun at the unusual arrangement.

The tone was generally upbeat, but the Emmys’ tribute to notable industry figures that have died over the last year proved to be quite moving. It was soundtracked by H.E.R. covering Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” and honored Glee star Naya Rivera, presenter Regis Philbin and Big Bird performer Caroll Spinney (among many others). Most impactful, though, was the appearance of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, whose death last month after secretly battling cancer shocked and saddened the world. The montage concluded with footage of Boseman delivering a speech against a backdrop of the Wakandan Ancestral Plane while shooting stars passed through the sky.

In a focused media blast, former R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe lambasted President Trump as a “bloviating puff-adder sack of lies” during an appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” on Wednesday and the Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s Covid-19 response in an op-ed in the Guardian Thursday morning.

During the Meyers appearance, which you can watch below, Stipe says, rather immortally, “He started as a failed midtown real estate developer, then became a successful reality TV star. Now we get this bloviating, puff-adder sack of lies. What next?”

He talked about music as well, nothing that while he’s only recorded intermittently since R.E.M. split in 2011, he’s now writing and composing music by himself for the first time: “I found it weirdly satisfying. I can’t say that it’s much like R.E.M., but I’m really happy with where it’s gone.

Michael Stipe appeared on Late Night to talk Donald Trump, R.E.M. in the Reagan Era and his late friend, Hal Willner.

Stipe first traced Trump’s rise to President: “He started as a failed midtown real estate developer, then became a successful reality TV star,” he said. “Now we get this bloviating, puff-adder sack of lies. What next?”

He also looked back on how he first got into politics, particularly when R.E.M. began and they were touring in Europe during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. “We had to,...

It’s one thing to be a “woman in country,” and another to be a female artist writing powerfully and emotionally about women in the country… the whole country. That’s what Mickey Guyton does in “What Are You Gonna Tell Her?,” a stark but soaring ballad that is country music’s song of the year, whether any awards ever acknowledge it as such or not.

Guyton’s song was released too recently to be eligible for this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards. The ACMs’ producers were determined to find a slot on the telecast anyway for what has up till this point in the year been a cult or niche song at best, figuring that it would provide a compelling television moment regardless of the song’s unfamiliarity, and maybe even Guyton’s, to the vast majority of viewers. As much as showcasing a gut-punch song, the...

Charli Xcx, Laura Jane Grace, David Lynch and more will appear during Bonnaroo’s 2020 Virtual Roo-Ality festival, streaming September 24th through 26th on YouTube.

The event will boast a mix of original programming, new performances and a handful of classic sets from the Bonnaroo archives, including the full-length streaming premiere of what turned out to be the Beastie Boys’ final live show at Bonnaroo 2009. A complete schedule will be announced soon.

Artists set to partake in Virtual Roo-Ality include Jamila Woods, Ashley McBryde, Nathaniel Rateliff, Denzel Curry, Tank and the Bangas,...

“You don’t miss a kiss until the lips are gone.” That’s how Bootsy Collins describes making music by himself, ever since Covid-19 forced him and the musicians he wishes he could jam with into quarantine. “I think we took for granted the freedom that we had to be together and do things together,” he says. “I think that taking that away for now made everybody realize what we’ve been missing.”

That longing to collaborate is what fueled Collins during the creation of his upcoming new album, The Power of the One,...

Exclusive: Norman Reedus is doubling down at AMC.

Less than a week after it was announced that The Walking Dead star would be fronting his own spinoff of the cabler’s zombie apocalypse series with Melissa McBride, Reedus has now signed a first look development deal with AMC Studios.

Set to run for two years, the agreement with the AMC Network’s unit comes as Reedus has formed his own bigbaldhead production shingle.

Partnering with Brillstein Entertainment’s JoAnne Colonna and former AMC Scripted Programming VP Amanda Verdon to run bigbaldhead, Reedus has already lined up an adaptation of Aftershock Comics’ Undone By Blood, in which he will likely star, as well as EP.. Taking a new spin on the Western genre, the Undone By Blood TV series will have writers Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler as Co-EPs and Aftershock’s Jon and Lee Kramer as EPs, along with Verdon and Colonna.

“The Apollo,” Roger Ross Williams’ documentary on the historic Harlem theater, has won the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Non-Fiction Special.

Williams’ documentary centered on the widespread influence of Harlem’s Apollo Theater, which helped launch the careers of celebrated artists such as Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, and others. Williams, who won an Oscar for directing the short film “Music by Prudence,” spoke about the difficulty of encompassing the storied theater’s history into a concise documentary during a screening in Los Angeles in late 2019.

“How do you take 85 years and sort of whittle it down to 90 minutes? Really difficult task, right? So I started thinking about what does our music mean to us as Black people? And what is the stage of the Apollo representing? And no matter if it was Billie Holiday singing ‘Strange Fruit,’ which was a protest song at the time that was banned in radio stations,...

(L-r) Samantha Collins, Jessie Mangum and Laura Scrivano.

While she was studying at the UK’s National Film and Television School six years ago, Australian-British screenwriter Samantha Collins wrote a screenplay about an Australian woman who goes to London in search of her missing sister.

Collins began developing the psychological drama a couple of years ago with another UK-based Aussie expat, producer Jessie Mangum.

Both women admired the works of London-based Italian-Australian filmmaker Laura Scrivano, particularly her short film Alice which starred Sarah Snook, and invited her to join the project.

Now entitled My Sister Ellie, it’s among 13 projects selected for Attagirl, the feature film development lab for female and non-binary creative teams.

Collins’ screenplay follows an Australian woman who abandons her life for a British winter, determined to bring home her pregnant sister, the surrogate of her unborn child. Clutching at clues trailing from London to the Kent coast,...

Frederick “Toots” Hibbert, who died Friday at age 77, wasn’t just a pioneer and key popularizer of Jamaican music; he was also an essential bridge between the worlds of ska, rocksteady, reggae, and the great American R&b tradition. His vocal delivery, raspy yet gorgeously supple, and poignant way of writing — “I realized it’s like you’re writing a letter to a girl; it’s got to sound like you mean it!” he told Rolling Stone recently of his craft — placed him firmly in the tradition of legends like Ray Charles and Sam Cooke,...

For anyone growing up in the 1970s or Eighties, the ensemble funk of Kool & the Gang — whose co-founder and chief songwriter Ronald “Khalis” Bell died on Wednesday at age 68 — was irresistible and inescapable. The group released a platinum- or gold-certified album every year between 1979 and 1984, in addition to launching a series of immaculately arranged, eminently danceable Top 40 hits that made their way to the ears of a young Mark Ronson.

As Ronson developed into a DJ-producer-multi-instrumentalist steeped in soul, funk, and hip-hop, he acquired an intense appreciation for Bell’s group,...

Throughout Emmy season, IndieWire will be evaluating the top contenders for TV’s most prestigious prize, and it all starts here. At the bottom of this page are IndieWire TV Critic and Deputy Editor Ben Travers’ predictions for Best Documentary or Nonfiction Special. This article will be updated throughout the coming months, along with all our predictions, to reflect an up-to-the-minute state of the race. Make sure to keep checking IndieWire for the latest coverage on the 2020 Emmys, including breaking news, analysis, interviews, podcasts, FYC event coverage, reviews of all the awards contenders, and more. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be given out the week of September 14. The 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will take place virtually on Sunday, September 20. (See our awards calendar for a more detailed breakdown of important dates.) ABC is broadcasting the ceremony.

Last Year’s Winner: “Leaving Neverland”

Still Eligible: No.

Hot Streak: In the last 10 years,...

Ronald “Khalis” Bell, the singer, songwriter and saxophonist whose group Kool & the Gang became one of the most celebrated and musically eclectic funk bands in the 1970s and beyond, died Wednesday at his U.S. Virgin Islands home at the age of 68, a rep confirmed to Rolling Stone. A cause of death was not disclosed.

Over the course of 23 albums, starting with 1969’s Kool and the Gang through the 2013 Christmas album Kool for the Holidays, the band morphed from upstart jazz unit to chart-topping funk-soul ensemble to smooth pop group...

Since writing “Woodstock” inside a New York City hotel room, Joni Mitchell’s counterculture anthem has been covered repeatedly throughout the last 50 years, most famously with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s electrifying version on Déjà Vu.

Now, a folky rendition by Bonnie Raitt has been unearthed, recorded at a March 27th, 1971, performance at Syracuse University’s Jabberwocky Club. Raitt was just 21 and eight months away from dropping her self-titled debut. Unlike many covers of Mitchell’s spiritual song, Raitt’s is stripped-down and acoustic, using solely her voice to...