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Metro
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Beyoncé's London Cowboy Carter show made me homesick for a US that doesn't exist
When Beyoncé sang the American national anthem on the first night of her London Cowboy Carter tour dates, I instinctively placed my cowboy hat over my heart, unsure whether I was pledging allegiance to the US flag or Beyoncé herself. As Tottenham Hotspur Stadium filled with (nearly) 62,000 Londoners in chaps, Levi's, cowboy boots, and the occasional bolo tie, I bizarrely felt more connected to the country I left nearly three years ago than I ever did during my final decade living there. That might be because Beyoncé presents a version of the American South not as it is, but as it could be: inclusive, textured, full of contradiction and pride, defiant of unjust power structures, and rooted in the stories of people who refused to disappear – no matter how hard the world tried to erase them. This defiance is nothing new for her. Beyoncé has long navigated the delicate balance between American patriotism and protest. She's been criticized for everything from her 2016 Super Bowl performance that paid tribute to the Black Panthers, to her support of Black Lives Matter, to the visual album Lemonade, which unapologetically explored infidelity, rage, and Black womanhood. And then there's the country music establishment, which has famously tried to keep Beyonce on the outside. Which is why this concert felt revolutionary in a time of political was reclaiming a genre, a flag, and a cultural identity, not just for herself, but for everyone who's ever been told they don't belong. While I was moved to tears repeatedly by this message, I did wonder if the concert didn't strike an interesting chord with a UK crowd. Could it be alienating to anyone who didn't grow up listening to Willie Nelson in the backseat of their daddy's pickup? Maybe. But it doesn't matter. Even if the images of pioneering black country singer Sister Rosetta Thorpe were lost on you or if you didn't immediately recognise a famous Texas line dance when it broke out on stage, the power of the performance could not be ignored. While the country album's contents take up almost half the set, there was something for everyone. Fans were treated to Crazy In Love, If I Were A Boy, Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It), a very short rendition of To the Left, Daddy Lessons from Lemonade, and several hits from Renaissance. It's a goose-bump-inducing pleasure just to watch her strut the length of the stage and flip her hair, so when she joins in the choreography, it feels like staggering generosity from a star with nothing left to prove. Perhaps the most moving moment of the show came when the singer stood completely motionless in a dress that, via projection, changed colors and designs in sync with the soaring notes of the song Daughter. It's a song that references the violence and toxic Christianity woven into the fabric of Southern culture, and when she sings:'Now I ripped your dress and you're all black and blue/ Look what you made me do..' it's with all the power and perspective of a Shakespearan monologue. So when a message that read, 'THIS IS THEATRE' later flashed across the screen, it felt undeniably true. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The pop diva spoke infrequently, but when she did, there was the delightful sense of a performer who no longer needs to worry about putting on airs or sticking too tightly to a script. Almost counterintuitively, becoming the most famous person in the world allows Beyoncé the freedom to be herself. She grinned at the crowd after every voice in the place shouted along to Box to the Left, giggling and saying into the mic: 'Did y'all know every world to that thang? Did that just happen like that?' One of the most talked-about moments of the night came during her performance of Protector. As she sang, her eldest daughter, Blue Ivy – who performs as a backup dancer throughout the show – stood just behind her. Then, to a roar of surprise and delight from the crowd, seven-year-old Rumi walked on stage and wrapped her arms around her mother in a tender hug. There had been speculation about whether Rumi would appear during the London shows, so the eruption of cheers visibly delighted the little girl, and Beyoncé's beaming smile read as nothing but genuine pride. With another artist, this level of family involvement might risk feeling gimmicky or even exploitative. But Beyoncé – who's long past the point of doing anything she doesn't want to – makes it feel like something else entirely: a mother sharing her passion with her daughters and loving them boldly, in front of the world. More Trending My only criticism worth mentioning has nothing to do with Beyonce or her crew. Bizarrely, given that it's a football stadium, the venue seemed startlingly unprepared for the crowd's exit. A chaotic queue system for the overground descended into confused chaos, and buses literally passed by crowds of concertgoers, unwilling or unable to take on the cowboy-hat-clad masses. But a two-and-a-half hour journey home is a small price to pay for a night that combined the best of stadium concerts, political commentary, theatre, and star power so bright it was almost blinding. Thanks to Beyonce, for the first time in a long time, I feel proud to be an American. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Beyonce suffers wardrobe malfunction as trousers drop mid-performance in London MORE: Traffic guitarist Dave Mason cancels all 2025 tour dates due to 'ongoing health issues' MORE: 'I saw Beyonce's most hot and provocative show yet – this flaw made it better'
Axios
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Axios
Hip hop collides with Silicon Valley in new SF musical "Co-Founders"
A new hip hop musical tells a uniquely Bay Area story: A young Oakland coder hacks her way into San Francisco's most competitive startup accelerator, intent on saving her home from gentrification. Driving the news: " Co-Founders" draws from the region's hip hop roots while incorporating traditions from soul, gospel, funk, jazz, R&B and more to pay homage to the people who make Silicon Valley what it is. Zoom in: The musical explores the tension underlying a Black woman trying to enter circles she's long been excluded from while investigating the perils of tech when it comes to grief. The brainchild of Ryan Nicole Austin, Beau Lewis and Adesha Adefela, "Co-Founders" is now playing at American Conservatory Theater's Strand Theater (1127 Market St.) through July 6. What they're saying: The fingerprint of historical figures like the Black Panthers is reflected in the music and parallels the grit needed to pave your way in the tech world, according to Austin. "That's where the synergy is with the spirit of the entrepreneur," she told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's like, 'Hey, I gotta make something out of nothing, and even though everything around me says no, I know that I have it within me to say yes.'" My thought bubble: This musical tackles head-on the intersections of tech, race and class, reminding us that seemingly siloed corners of the Bay are never as disparate as they seem. Fun fact: The production includes interactions between on-stage actors and a holographic avatar controlled by an actor backstage via live-motion capture.
San Francisco Chronicle
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: ‘Words for My Comrades' defines the complex politics of rapper Tupac Shakur
It's possible rapper Tupac Shakur first formulated his distaste for police brutality while still inside the womb. That's because his mother, Black Panther member Afeni Shakur, was heavily pregnant with him when she served as her own defense in New York City's infamous Panther 21 trial. How that baby would come to be revered as a titan of West Coast hip-hop — as well as a modern figurehead for revolution — serves as the premise for author Dean Van Nguyen's insightful new work examining Tupac Shakur's politics and socioeconomic experiences. In 'Words for My Comrades: The Political History of Tupac Shakur,' Van Nguyen contextualizes the hallowed lyrics of Shakur's music by contrasting a personal biography of the rapper with relevant history lessons on, among others, the Black Panthers and Malcolm X. Raised in poverty and educated by a mother who regularly risked everything in support of her beliefs, Shakur's upbringing somehow managed to place him in the epicenter of the burgeoning hip-hop movement. He died in 1996 at age 25. His life was never easy, but Shakur's presence in New York City, then the Bay Area via Marin City, marked fateful chapters in his story. Enlightening scenes include a spotlight on Shakur's brief time as a student at San Rafael's Tamalpais High School, with teacher Barbara Owens recalling the budding actor's singular talent for bringing Shakespeare to life. 'You will never, in your lifetime, hear 'Othello' as well as you just heard it now,' she recalls telling her classroom after one such memorable performance. It can be slightly difficult to follow the threads of Van Nguyen's narrative as it frequently jumps from the biographical to the historical to explain how figures like Black Panther cofounder Bobby Seale and moments like the 1966 Hunter's Point uprising in San Francisco ultimately informed Shakur's work. Other elements are presented with more ambiguity. Van Nguyen spends little time covering the more unsavory elements of Tupac's timeline, including his involvement in the accidental shooting death of a six-year-old boy in Marin City in 1992 and the sexual assault charges he faced in 1995. Both earn brief mentions in the text, but Van Nguyen fails to elucidate on whether either incident made a lasting impact on Shakur or his music. Following his Bay Area years, he ultimately anchored in Los Angeles and launched his career as a dual-threat rapper and actor. The fiery notions contained in his verses — in which Shakur forcefully argued against capitalism, police brutality and imperialism — first took flame in the form of real-life events. At one point, Van Nguyen recalls how the rapper abruptly left the set of John Singleton's film 'Poetic Justice' in 1992 following the announcement of a 'not guilty' verdict in the trial of the LAPD officers who beat Rodney King. 'Singleton later heard stories of Tupac driving down Wilshire Boulevard shooting out windows,' Van Nguyen writes. Shakur also saw firsthand the ravages inflicted by crack cocaine when his mother temporarily succumbed to the drug, forcing the 19-year-old to fully take control of his own life. Ultimately, Afeni would reconnect with her Black Panther family in New York and overcome her addiction, once again proving her uncanny capacity for resilience, but the chapter left lasting scars on the younger Shakur. It was all these elements — including extreme poverty — coupled with an inextinguishable pride that led her son to become a deity in the world of rap as well as a lasting symbol of resistance. From referencing Malcolm X's 'The Ballot or the Bullet' speech in his 1993 song 'Holla If Ya Hear Me' to the roles Tupac's music has continued to play in modern protests, like those waged in honor of George Floyd in 2020, it's obvious categorizing his contributions solely under the guise of music is, to Van Nguyen, a failure to recognize all that the late rapper gave and continues to give us. Once again, it all begins with the rapper's birth, when he was temporarily named Lesane Parish Crooks as a means of avoiding detection from government agencies eager to track the offspring of a high-ranking Black Panther member. By his first birthday, his title had been rightfully restored, with Afeni naming her son in honor of Tupac Amaru II, an Andean rebel who died fighting against Spanish colonial rule. 'The name proved to be a chilling prophecy that came to be,' Van Nguyen writes, 'but as Afeni explained, 'I wanted him to have the name of revolutionary, Indigenous people in the world. I wanted him to know he was part of a world culture and not just from a neighborhood.''
Los Angeles Times
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
The California crusades of commie-turned-conservative David Horowitz
Good morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day. I'm metro columnist Gustavo Arellano, writing from Orange County, California — not the one in Florida, New York or North Carolina. If there were a Mt. Rushmore of people who exemplified the California art of reinvention, author and commentator David Horowitz would be the face furthest on the right. The son of bona fide communists died last week at 86 as one of the most consequential figures in the modern-day conservative movement. He supported the Iraq war, accused Muslim activists of supporting a second Holocaust against Jews and claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump — and that's just a piece of lint on the ball of whine that was Horowitz's career (I'm a columnist, so I'm allowed to have opinions). The raspy-voiced provocateur reveled in demonizing his opponents. He perfected the politics of grievance and victimization — ironic, since that was the cudgel Horowitz accused opponents of employing — and relied on straw man arguments so much that I'm sure the Scarecrow from 'The Wizard of Oz' is wondering where his royalties are. He perfected his craft in the Golden State. His 1996 autobiography 'Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey' tracked the evolution of a red-diaper baby from working as an editor for the pioneering progressive magazine Ramparts and palling around with the Black Panthers to identifying himself as a 'Lefty for Reagan' to waging well-funded wars through his Center for the Study of Popular Culture (now called the David Horowitz Freedom Center) against anything with the slightest patina of liberalism. Long before the likes of Andrew Breitbart and my fellow former Daily Bruin columnist Ben Shapiro figured out that politics is downstream from culture, Horowitz was busy trying to conquer that realm. He assailed Hollywood while also offering salons for conservatives in the industry. He was a prolific writer of books and articles, and someone who lectured across the country with the zest of a circus barker. He especially tried to change the hearts and minds of young adults — or at least troll them. One of Horowitz's favored fronts was university campuses. He defended fraternities at Cal State Northridge and Occidental College accused of racism and sexism in the name of free speech. That's how I first heard of his work: As a student activist at Chapman University in the early 1990s, I wondered why so many of my friends loathed the guy who used to do the 'Fight Back!' consumer-fraud show my parents so enjoyed when I was a kid (their David Horowitz wasn't mine, alas). I was a senior in 2001 when Horowitz pulled off one of his most notorious collegiate projects. That spring, he approached student newspapers across the country and offered to buy full-page ads attacking reparations for Black Americans. Those who didn't take his money were accused by his supporters of squelching free speech; those who did were attacked by progressives for platforming a person they felt was a racist and inevitably apologized. The move made national headlines and allowed Horowitz to harrumph about wokeness before wokeness was even a term. 'I see the left as being at war with human nature,' he told The Times in a 1997 profile. 'The left thinks you can change people profoundly.' That same piece said opponents dismissed Horowitz as a 'bitter graybeard loon,' with legendary Times columnist and fellow Ramparts alum Robert Scheer sneering that Horowitz was 'fighting battles that most people don't care about anymore.' Well, we live in Horowitz's world now. His motto of 'begin every confrontation by punching progressives in the mouth' is gospel in the Trump White House. And his most famous acolyte has the president's ear: Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. The teenage Miller invited Horowitz to speak at Santa Monica High School in the early aughts, entranced by his bromides against multiculturalism. Horowitz returned the favor by publishing Miller's essay 'How I Changed My Left-Wing High School' in his FrontPage Magazine. Miller then started a chapter of Horowitz's Students for Academic Freedom at Duke as an undergrad. This ping-pong of flattery culminated with Horowitz connecting Miller to jobs on Capitol Hill before he joined Trump's 2016 campaign — and here we are. New polling has some bad news for Newsom The Real ID deadline is finally here The LAPD is investigating killings that went undiscovered Botched California State Bar tests L.A.'s $1-billion budget deficit National Endowment for the Arts cuts Facing an existential threat from President Trump, the NEA canceled grants for L.A. Theatre Works, L.A. Chamber Orchestra and other groups. The grant cancellations marked the latest salvo in Trump's battle to claim the landscape of American arts and culture, including his takeover of the Kennedy Center. What else is going on Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here. After the Eaton fire, they didn't think prom would happen. Now these teens are ready to dance. About 175 students from John Muir High School in Pasadena lost their homes in the January fire. For many, prom night offered a rare sense of normalcy. Other must reads How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Pan-Pacific Auditorium, exterior detail (Wurdeman & Becket, 1935) ,formerly at 7600 Beverly Blvd., photographed in 1988. Going out Staying in Lisa says: 'To work walking distance from where I live.' RW says: 'People won't believe a problem until they can see it.' Eve says: 'If everyone likes you, you aren't doing your job.' Email us at essentialcalifornia@ , and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. Show us your favorite place in California! Send us photos you have taken of spots in California that are special — natural or human-made — and tell us why they're important to you. Today's great photo is from Getty Images' Evan Agostini of Janelle Monae at Monday night's Met gala. Have a great day, from the Essential California team Gustavo Arellano, California columnist Karim Doumar, head of newsletters Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
Chicago Tribune
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Griffith student places second in state with doc on disability rights activist
A Griffith High School student recently placed second in Indiana's National History Day competition, which helped her documentary on a disability rights activist advance to the national competition. 'I was so proud of myself and everyone that helped me with it,' Natalie Wadkins, a junior at Griffith High School, said. 'I hope people take away that inclusion starts with them.' In the 10-minute documentary, Wadkins highlights the work of Kitty Cone, who was born with muscular dystrophy, and her fight for federal approval of Section 504 part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which stated that any program receiving federal funding couldn't exclude or discriminate against people with disabilities, Wadkins said. The law wasn't enforced for four years, Wadkins said, which sparked anger and frustration among people with disabilities, Wadkins said. So, Cone and other activists organized a sit-in at the San Francisco Federal Building, she said. The 504 sit-in began April 5, 1977, and the activists remained in the building for nearly a month, making it the longest sit-in inside a federal building in U.S. history, Wadkins said. Cone was a key component of the sit-in, Wadkins said, as she organized resources, like beds and first-aid, and connected with members of other organizations, like the Black Panthers, to grow the movement for the sit-in and disability rights. Ultimately, on April 28, 1977, the government implemented Section 504, Wadkins said. But, activists like Cone continued to push for expanded rights for people with disabilities, like the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, she said. After the sit-in, Cone went on to advocate for better accessibility, work protections and representation for people with disabilities, Wadkins said. Wadkins, who is the vice president of Griffith High School's Best Buddies program, said she chose to research the 504 sit-in because the topic of disability rights is important to her. As a member of Best Buddies, Wadkins said she spends time with students with intellectual disabilities. 'I see the barriers that they face,' Wadkins said. 'Best Buddies has shown me how important inclusion and advocacy are in real life, just every day. It's made me want to highlight the leaders that made their lives better.' Wadkins worked on the documentary for National History Day as part of her Advanced Placement U.S. History class. Wadkins began researching the 504 sit-in by reading books and articles, and listening to first-hand accounts of the sit-in, she said. Then, she wrote the script for the documentary and began gathering historical photos, video and audio clips, Wadkins said. As she edited the documentary together, Wadkins said she focused on pacing, emotional impact and accuracy. The National History Day competition begins at the district level, Wadkins said, and four students advance to the state level. Wadkins said four students submitted entries for the district level, so they all advanced to state. At the state level, Wadkins said her documentary was up against eight other documentaries. The judges had to choose four documentaries to advance to the final round, she said. When her documentary ended, Wadkins said one of the three judges sat back and said, 'wow.' They told her they liked how she put closed captions in the documentary, which provided accessibility for the hearing impaired. 'They said they enjoyed that I practice what I preach,' Wadkins said. 'They were really inspired by my passion and drive to this topic.' By placing second at the state level, Wadkins advanced to the national competition. Wadkins said she and another student from Indiana will go to the University of Maryland in June to compete. Griffith Public Schools Superintendent Leah Dumezich applauded Wadkins' accomplishment. 'Natalie is an example of a student who achieves in the classroom and out of the classroom,' Dumezich said in an email. 'She has demonstrated integrity, self-discipline, and genuine leadership qualities. We are very proud of her and wish her the best of luck.' Julie Larson, an English and Language Arts teacher at Griffith High School, said she helped Wadkins with editing the documentary. Larson said Wadkins found a topic that's 'really unique to talk about.' 'You can tell that there's passion there for her topic,' Larson said. 'I'm just thrilled for her.' At the national competition, Wadkins and thousands of other students will present their projects in various categories over the course of preliminary and final rounds. Wadkins said she's excited to advance to the national level, and she hopes her documentary will have an even greater impact at that level of the competition. 'I'm really excited. I'm grateful,' Wadkins said. 'Even if I don't win, I just want to educate more people on the topic.' akukulka@
