Be a Tourist: Events around town May 2-4
Steven Michael Quezada starred on the Emmy Award-winning series Breaking Bad as DEA agent Gomez. Steven is not just an actor, he is a major touring comedian and has appeared on HBO, Showtime, and has performed on the new Arsenio Hall show. For more information, click here.
For the first time ever in the region, the Erie Zoo is lighting up the night with Glow Wild: The Chinese Lantern Festival, produced by Hanart Culture! From April 17 to June 15, the zoo will transform into a dazzling world of larger-than-life, handcrafted lantern displays, breathtaking cultural performances, and a magical evening experience like no other. For more information, click here.
In 2018, The Boys in the Band made its Broadway debut at the Booth Theatre in an unprecedented production featuring a cast of entirely out-and-proud gay actors. This new edition contains both the original two-act script and the one-act Broadway version, as well as an introduction by celebrated playwright Tony Kushner. For more information, click here.
The Erie SeaWolves face off against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. On Friday, there will be fireworks, and the theme is 'cartoon night.' Saturday is the back-to-back champions hat giveaway, and Sunday is Fauxback Fun Day! For more information and tickets, click here.
Helping his father run the family business (a struggling small-town funeral home) has gotten in the way of Harry Gibson's love life. For more information, click here.
Enjoy appetizers, dessert, live acoustic music, and a splash of bubbly. For more information, click here.
An epic day of fun and learning as they honor Earth Day, World Oceans Day, and Endangered Species Day all in one exciting event! Help them support the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' (AZA) initiative to create a greener, healthier planet for all who call it home. For more information, click here.
This new symphonic tribute to the Fab Four features top vocalists and expert rock musicians with new arrangements by Grammy-winner Jeff Tyzik, transcribed from the original master recordings at Abbey Road. With rare and previously unseen videos and photos projected before and during the concert, REVOLUTION will take audience members on a musical and visual journey through the archives of one of the greatest bands of all time. For more information, click here.
Browse a wonderful selection of vendors dedicated to promoting health and wellness, offering everything from natural skincare, local honey, handmade crafts, wellness services, and more. This is the perfect opportunity for mothers and all women to enjoy a day of shopping, self-care, and pampering in a lovely setting. For more information, click here.
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Hypebeast
21 minutes ago
- Hypebeast
Kaytranada: Waves of Rhythm
This article originally appeared in Hypebeast Magazine Issue 35: The Wavelength Issue. Whether we inspect the behavioral mechanisms that propel the cosmological motions of the universe or the spiritual shifts within us, the wave is nature's most fundamental rhythm. One either learns the power of its force—or drowns beneath it. For the two-time Grammy-winning artist KAYTRANADA, success—as producer, DJ, and now singer—has been predicated on a profound understanding and manipulation of how the waves flow. This mastery has been both self-evident and continuously evolving throughout his career, as reflected through his production's maturation. Sonic alchemy appears on the track 'Feel a Way,' from 2024's TIMELESS , where his adroit ears transmute the quotidian into gold. It is a seemingly effortless feat in chopping samples to fit his swinging grooves. Here, he takes an innocuous sound, a drag-of-a-joint, from an obscure Jack Margolis record and transforms it into a slinking percussive loop. This is the kind of aural latticing that might be lost on casual listeners, but in perceiving its sonic nature, one realizes how each part of the whole is important—where, in this instance, the sample texturally accentuates the song's salient and hazy ambiance. Throughout KAYTRANADA's process, sounds are expertly flipped, stretched, and run through an effect bus, ultimately becoming his LPs or loosies. Those recordings are then tightly curated onto unassuming flash drives. Tracks are spun on CDJs from a sleek, lectern-like station; his DJ sets become gatherings where the 32-year-old, Port-au-Prince-born artist can commune with the energy his music stirs in the crowd. His sets unfold as an emotionally-pendulous journey. Bodies in the crowd ripple in waves and screams as his careful choreography guides every listener's pulse to his whim. That is craft at work. If it truly takes ten years to become a renowned household name, KAYTRANADA's fifteen-plus have turned him into a cultural fixture. Even a cursory search reveals how trusted he is in the industry, evidenced by an extensive list of credits: from Kali Uchis and PinkPantheress to Mach-Hommy, Aminé, and many other titans. But you don't even need to look; just listen. Whether you're a diehard fan or not, his influence on modern music is ubiquitous. That's not to say he has single-handedly created 'the sound.' He's undeniably a product of his upbringing on the internet, shaped by torchbearers like J Dilla and Madlib. But rest assured, if you hear a bouncy, staccato bass line accented by bright, jazzy synth chords, KAYTRANADA is likely the foundational driver behind those 'type beats.' Yet, even as he appears culturally buoyant, seemingly steady while the industry is engrossed with what's en vogue, his emotional buoyancy is another story. KAYTRANADA, or the public-facing persona many know, is informed by Louis Kevin Celestin, the person. And artistry is nothing without introspection. In conversation, KAYTRANADA describes TIMELESS as one of his most expressive and unencumbered projects to date, explaining that achieving solidity as an artist required an evaluation of his ongoing relationship with existentialism. And through this reflection, KAYTRANADA learned to embrace what we can't control—that we must surrender to the flow of uncertainty. HYPEBEAST: First off, congrats on the three latest Grammy nods. You've been nominated eight times now. How do you mentally process that? What's changed since your first nominations? KAYTRANADA: I feel good. I'm not putting all my attention on it, though, because it'll be disappointing if I lose. I'm nominated alongside some heavy hitters, and it's a toss-up. But they're all amazing peers. Whoever wins, it'll make sense. So yeah, I'm not trying to put my heart into it. Whatever happens, I'm not going to overreact. The core of that sounds like radical acceptance, which reminds me of a Creole proverb I learned: 'Dlo pa janbe trou.' To me, it feels like it's about resilience and understanding that we can't control all hardships, but we can control how we move through them. TIMELESS has that feeling. Yeah, I saw that when I was making this album—especially across the years since Bubba . The pandemic and moving to LA coincided with so many changes. Big life changes. I had to accept that when it comes to making music, it doesn't have to be so important that I feel a need to prove myself or stand out against other albums. I was overthinking a lot while making TIMELESS , wondering, 'How can I top my last one?' It got ridiculous. Eventually, I realized I really don't care. I'm just going to express how I felt in those times. That time of evolution and acceptance—giving up control and letting things be—translates into the album. I'm in an acceptance mood, taking things for how they are. That's connected to a quote from you about how it was hard to be yourself in your salad days while still innovating. What parts of your earlier self did you hold onto, and what did you let go of to embrace this evolution? Like I said, I had a lot of controlling thoughts—overthinking and comparing myself to my peers. That kind of thinking kills creativity: How can I be better than everybody else? That felt ridiculous, but you see how a generation was influenced by people like Kanye saying he and his music are better than everyone else. It led people to believe they needed to think the same. I realized that was a manipulation tactic: Why do I need to be better? Therapy showed me a lot: self-discovery, self-love. I always loved myself, but I never knew it was so important to care for yourself in that explicit way. That wasn't taught to me. After winning a Grammy in 2021, I went through things I didn't comprehend until therapy. I just had to go through a lot of old traumas. I get it, especially in a Black family. The idea is to be great first, then worry about trauma later—or not at all. Perfectionism creeps in. Eventually, we realize we can't keep measuring ourselves against everyone else. We need our own standard, our own lane. Yeah. Growing up Haitian, my mom was always like, 'You can do better than that. I was top of the class, so you can be too.' But I had trouble in school—bad grades, shy, found it boring. No matter how hard I tried, getting an A was tough. My mom would say, 'Why can't you get an A-plus? Why come back with a C-minus or B-plus?' It was always, You can do better. That bled into my music. I had to break myself from those chains. I feel that. My mom used to say, 'This is an A household.' I think sometimes our close collaborators can become a chosen family. That can bring 'family-like' clashes. TIMELESS has a lot of collaborators—a broad spectrum of voices. Despite that, it's cohesive. How did you maintain harmony while navigating creative disagreements? That definitely happened. Early on, I struggled to give feedback to artists. I wasn't great at saying, 'Hey, try this.' Sometimes I didn't trust my ideas, or I wasn't sure I had the idea. So I'd let them do their thing while I made the music. It still felt collaborative, but I got a bit more comfortable speaking up by the end of creating the album. I'm shy, and sometimes I feel my ideas aren't the best. Maybe I'm still healing from past trauma where collaborators told me my ideas sucked. That shattered me and made me not want to speak up. But sometimes their ideas are better—so it's about merging ideas. I never want it 100% me or them. I'd rather have a 50/50 approach to show it's truly collaborative. From a listener's perspective, it's hard to imagine you struggling with that, especially with the album's cohesive flow. And it also marks the return of your brother Lou Phelps as a featured artist. Family can be comforting but also tricky. How did that relationship influence you two musically this time around? It's been a journey. There were moments when we disagreed. As The Celestics, our second project was Supreme Laziness . Around that time, I was blowing up with my electronic stuff, but Lou was still trying to 'make it.' In a family, there can be entitlement. He assumed it would be easy— just drop an album, it'll go fine. But headlines made it seem like 'it was just KAYTRANADA and his brother.' That bothered him—and me. I wanted him to have his own shine. Early on, it was easy to give him my opinions, but he'd shut them down, wanting to prove himself. So I'd think, Never mind, do you. Even if I said, 'I'd change this idea,' he'd get defensive. That was something we had to go through. During the pandemic, he had an epiphany: 'Damn, man, all this time you were trying to help me be better.' Subconsciously, I agreed. He wasn't on my previous albums either, though he wanted to be, which was a scandal for my mom. She asked, 'Why not put your brother on?' But it didn't feel right until now. Lou was ready, and 'Call You Up' was just a demo of his that I grabbed for the album. This journey took understanding, communicating better, and maturity. We still collaborate. The Celestics haven't broken up. Lou's always been around. In both of your growth processes, you saw that family is family, and we just need to let them have space to be them. Exactly. Lots of patience and maturity. There's a vulnerability in that which extends to TIMELESS and its danceability. I told a homie some tracks feel like 'crying while dancing on the dance floor.' How'd you balance emotional weight while giving people something to move to? Life experiences, plus my favorite disco and boogie songs are often heartbreak anthems that are still upbeat. 'You broke my heart, but I'm going to be okay,' type songs. Think heavy instrumentation, bass, strings, drums — like seven or eight minutes, giving you a breakdown that feels so emotional. That's what inspired me. That was always my type of music. I've always loved danceable sad songs, with big chords and heavy drums but also a vulnerable message. Also, on TIMELESS , I explored more R&B, so some songs lean purely that way. That emotion also comes through on 'Stepped On,' where you follow in the footsteps of J Dilla and Madlib's Quasimoto by putting your voice on the track. What made you express yourself that way — where you're even more vulnerable than being behind the track? Pure self-expression. Nobody else has the melodies or ideas I have for my music, except maybe my brother. My beats are upbeat, but I don't always want house-style vocals. Sometimes I want it off-grid, like Raekwon or Q-Tip. In today's industry, people are often on the beat or even ahead of it, so I decided to do it myself. Also, as a Black gay man, I asked, What would I sing about? On 'Stepped On,' I wrote about a breakup and my personality as a yes-man—just feeling stepped on. The lyrics came easily. Being on tour with The Weeknd pushed me, too. I thought, I'm going to try to write a song for The Weeknd to challenge myself. During Bubba , I had demos singing with Thundercat playing bass; I wasn't confident, but everyone said, 'You sound good, Kevin.' I was like, really? Eventually, outside compliments—and compliments from somebody I was dating—pushed me to take it seriously. Now I have more demos stashed. 'Stepped On' was my test to see if people would like it, and it worked. In previous interviews, you've mentioned referencing punk, new wave, noise and genres known for being subversive and pushing sonic and cultural boundaries. How did they become tools for you to push your own or society's boundaries? In those genres, you don't need a perfect singer. It's purely self-expression, often dark, nighttime vibes. I found a link to some sub-genres of hip-hop—Dilla, Black Milk, Madlib—because they'd sample synthy new wave tracks, making them sound funky, electronic, but still hip-hop. When I started searching for those samples, I really listened and realized, They're just expressing themselves with synths and drum machines. They're not trying to stand out by doing something over-the-top or calling in extra producers. They're just being themselves. That was inspiring. I wanted that formula for my vocals: no rigid approach, just expression. Right, it's about letting go of those boundaries. In a way, you're paying homage to new wave/noise's ethos: Get on a track, say what you need to say, and move on. Exactly. TIMELESS is like a time capsule. Listening to those '80s and '90s artists, they'd just make an album—12 songs, here's how I feel. It could be their best album, their worst, or mid. Who cares? It's how they express themselves. I want my future albums to be that way, too. Not, 'Oh my God, gotta create the biggest album and do the biggest rollout.' No, just express yourself. Don't overthink it. Frankie Knuckles once quoted Robert Owens, saying, 'Give me roses while they're dead because I can't use them when I lay.' As an artist whose evolution has been visible, do you think you're getting the recognition you deserve, or is it too early to call? I'm still learning. I also feel not everyone hears what I'm doing—listeners can be lazy, skimming tracks too fast, creating quick judgments. So a part of me feels I have something to prove, but at the same time, I don't. Music is self-expression. I do it for myself and the people who are waiting for more—not for those who don't like it.
Black America Web
22 minutes ago
- Black America Web
Broadway's Patti LuPone Apologizes For Shading Black Actresses & Calling Kecia Lewis A 'B-tch' As Social Media Roasts Her
Broadway beef is not something you generally hear about outside of New York City theater circles, but this week it went viral after comments made by theater icon Patti LuPone. In a interview with The New Yorker, just before her guest appearance on the third season of HBO Max' And Just LIke That, LuPone shared her opinion about Audra McDonald, a four-time Tony Award winner currently onstage in the Broadway revival of Gypsy. LuPone, a three-time Tony winner best known for her role as Eva Perón in Evita, also commented on actress Kecia Lewis, a Tony winner for Hell's Kitchen, leading observers to wonder just what her problem was with the actresses. Turns out there's some backstory with Lewis. When the 76-year-old actress was starring in a play called The Roommate with Mia Farrow, she complained that the sound cues from Hell's Kitchen, showing in the neighboring theater, were bleeding through their shared wall. After the production adjusted the sound, LuPone sent flowers to the show and cast. That prompted Lewis to share in an IG post that she considered LuPone's request to be a 'microaggression' and accused her of bullying. When asked about it in The New Yorker piece, LuPone said, 'Here's the problem. She calls herself a veteran? Let's find out how many Broadway shows Kecia Lewis has done, because she doesn't know what the f-ck she's talking about,' she said. 'She's done seven. I've done thirty-one. Don't call yourself a vet, bitch.' (Per the article, Lewis has ten credits, LuPone has 30). McDonald caught a stray apparently for liking Lewis' post and adding emojis in agreement. That prompted LuPone to say, 'And I thought, 'You should know better.' That's typical of Audra. She's not a friend.' In a CBS This Morning interview with Gayle King, McDonald seemed confused since it doesn't appear she ever thought they were friends. When she was asked about any 'beef' with LuPone, McDonald said that she hadn't seen or spoken to her in over a decade. View this post on Instagram A post shared by CBS Mornings (@cbsmornings) But it didn't end there – when asked how LuPone felt about McDonald's performance as Momma Rose, the lead character in Gypsy, which LuPone also won a Tony for, The New Yorker article reports she sat in silence, then looked out the window and said, 'What a wonderful day.' McDonald is the first Black actress to play the role on Broadway. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Patti LuPone (@pattilupone) But now, after the backlash, LuPone has had a change of heart. She apologized for her remarks on social media, saying, 'I regret my flippant and emotional responses during this interview, which were inappropriate, and I am devastated that my behavior has offended others and has run counter to what we hold dear in this community,' she said in her post. 'I hope to have the chance to speak to Audra and Kecia personally to offer my sincere apologies.' The apology came after an open letter signed by 600 Broadway stars and insiders asking that LuPone be disinvited from the upcoming Tony Awards, saying her comments were a 'blatant act of racialized disrespect.' They also characterized her comments about McDonald as the opposite of the values of the theater community. 'To publicly attack a woman who has contributed to this art form with such excellence, leadership, and grace — and to discredit the legacy of Audra McDonald, the most nominated and awarded performer in Tony Award history — is not simply a personal offense,' the letter said. 'It is a public affront to the values of collaboration, equity, and mutual respect that our theater community claims to uphold.' LuPone agreed, saying, 'From middle school drama clubs to professional stages, theatre has always been about lifting each other up and welcoming those who feel they don't belong anywhere else. I made a mistake, I take full responsibility for it, and I am committed to making this right. Our entire theatre community deserves better.' Apology or not, social media is roasting her. See the reactions below. Broadway's Patti LuPone Apologizes For Shading Black Actresses & Calling Kecia Lewis A 'B-tch' As Social Media Roasts Her was originally published on Patti LuPone had to wait 28 years for her second Tony. Meanwhile, Nathan Lane once introduced Audra McDonald as 'the woman who wins a Tony every time she leaves her house.' — Jeremy Fassler (@J_fassler) May 27, 2025 i hate patti lupone and have for years. she plays the victim in every scenario, when in actuality, she is the one who is choosing to make enemies with kind, talented people. she's not a diva or an icon, she's just a rude old lady who thinks she's gods gift to theatre. — Maddie (@MaddieTillem) May 26, 2025 Finally caught up on the Patti Lupone drama and let me just say.. you'd never see Bernadette Peters saying some fuckass bullshit. Bernadette is MY bway diva — S🤍 (@HeavyMtlHookr) May 28, 2025 not to turn this into a joke but Patti LuPone apologizing for something is actually an apocalypse indicator — Rod (@bitchfromkalos) May 31, 2025 Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Harvey Weinstein Defense Rests In NYC Rape Retrial; Closing Arguments Now, Then Case Goes To Jury
Harvey Weinstein is one crucial step closer to learning what his fate will be at the hands of the jury in his New York rape retrial. After a morning session in front of Judge Curtis Farber haggling over material that may or may not go to the jury (it won't), Weinstein's Arthur Aidala-led defense rested its case – without calling its client to testify for himself. Moving deftly, the proceedings are now in closing arguments, with Aidala pleading Weinstein's merits before the jurors. More from Deadline Harvey Weinstein Won't Testify In His Own Defense In NYC Sex Crimes Retrial; Jury Deliberations May Start Tuesday Patricia Clarkson Recalls Harvey Weinstein Telling Her She'd "Never Work Again" Harvey Weinstein's Move For Mistrial Fails On Second Day Of Rape Retrial - Update Closing arguments from the defense and the Manhattan District Attorney's office are expect to go on for a few hours, but the plan is the jury will have the case by the end of the day. At that point, the seven-woman, five-man panel will go behind closed doors to come to their verdict. The 73-year-old once powerful producer will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars if the jury hearing his retrial in New York convicts him on any of the three charges against him. Back in 2020, in Weinstein's now dismissed first Empire State rape case, the jury then took about five days to come to a verdict of guilty on two of five counts: third-degree rape and a first-degree criminal sexual act. In March of that year, an openly shocked Weinstein was sentenced to 23-years in state prison by now pink slipped New York Supreme Court Judge James Burke. In this retrial, while the single count of third degree rape that Weinstein is facing carries a maximum sentence of four years, each count of first-degree criminal sexual act carries a maximum sentence of 25 years. As well as the numerous cases of assaulting well-known actresses and models over the decades, prosecutors in the most benign way say Weinstein used his power and influence as an Oscar-winning producer and mini-studio boss to lure young women into his orbit. Offering what were almost always false promises of work and careers in film and television, Weinstein then often violently raped them or forced them into other unwanted sexual encounters. Fronted by the flamboyant Aidala, Weinstein's defense has sought to prove that the relationships between Weinstein and his accusers were long-running, consensual and mutually exploitive –-a 'friends with benefits' arrangement, as Aidala said in opening arguments, where sex was traded for access to Weinstein's professional network. Jurors in the rape and sexual assault retrial heard from two accusers, Jessica Mann and Miriam Haley, who also testified in graphic detail against Weinstein five years ago in his first criminal trial in New York. A third accuser testifying in the retrial, Kaja Sokola, was not part of the 2020 case: Sokola's accusation, that Weinstein assaulted her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2006, was the basis of a new charge — first-degree criminal sexual act — added to a revised grand jury indictment of the Pulp Fiction producer. Prosecutors secured the indictment last September, after Weinstein's 2020 conviction and 23-year prison sentence were overturned in April of 2024. A New York Court of Appeals ruled that the judge overseeing Weinstein's first trial, James Burke, had deprived the defendant of a fair trial by allowing uncharged testimony from other women who told jurors that Weinstein had sexually abused them. 'The court compounded that error when it ruled that defendant, who had no criminal history, could be cross examined about those allegations as well as numerous allegations of misconduct that portrayed defendant in a highly prejudicial light,' according to the 4-3 ruling. Weinstein did not testify at his first trial. The potential hazards of a wide-ranging cross examination were apparently a factor in his decision over the weekend to also not take the stand at the retrial. 'He wanted to testify, and we respect that instinct,' Weinstein's longtime spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told Deadline on Monday. 'At this stage, doing so would subject him to scrutiny far beyond the scope of the current charges — raising issues that could unfairly damage his credibility. Our position is one of caution, not evasion.' Weinstein remains in custody in New York because of his 2022 criminal conviction in Los Angeles. He s appealing that conviction and 16-year prison sentence for raping and assaulting a woman, identified only as Jane Doe, in 2013. Weinstein has denied ever committing rape or coercing anyone sexually. In a jailhouse interview last month with right-wing commentator Candace Owens, he said, 'I swear that before God and the people watching now and on my family. I'm wrongfully accused. But justice has to know the difference between what is immoral and what is illegal.' Since this retrial started in late April, the ailing Weinstein has shuttled between a downtown Manhattan courthouse and the jail wing of a nearby hospital, Bellevue. Citing his various ailments, as he has in previous trials at pivotal points, the once acclaimed producer has lobbied hard to stay out of New York's infamous Rikers Island jail, telling Judge Farber the conditions there are life-threatening. Farber decided in the first week of the retrial to allow Weinstein to stay at the historic hospital during the proceedings. On the subject of his medical needs ,Weinstein underwent emergency heart surgery in September and was diagnosed with cancer in October. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About 'Nobody Wants This' Season 2 So Far List Of Hollywood & Media Layoffs From Paramount To Warner Bros Discovery To CNN & More Everything We Know About 'Happy Gilmore 2' So Far
