Latest news with #Graceland
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Paul Simon's quiet power remains strong in San Francisco concert
Witnessing singer-songwriters mature over decades can often reveal the true substance of their work. For Paul Simon, his light, nuanced tenor — that first emerged as part of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel to help define the sound of the 1960s — has changed into something lower and softer at age 83. It commands that you lean in at times. His growl is like the grain of the wood barrels that age whiskey. It colors and underlines Simon's abilities as a songwriter, the stunning poetry that's been a part of American culture for seven decades. More Information Davies Symphony Hall Setlist Act 1: 'The Lord' 'Love Is Like A Braid' 'My Professional Opinion' 'Your Forgiveness' 'Trail of Volcanoes' 'The Sacred Harp' 'Wait' Act 2: 'Graceland' 'Slip Slidin' Away' 'Train in the Distance' 'Homeward Bound' (Simon & Garfunkel song) 'The Late Great Johnny Ace' 'St. Judy's Comet' 'Under African Skies' 'Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War' 'Rewrite' 'Spirit Voices' 'Mother and Child Reunion' 'Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard' Encore One: 'Father and Daughter' '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover' 'The Boxer' (Simon & Garfunkel song) Encore Two: 'The Sound of Silence' (Simon & Garfunkel song) That lived-in voice, shaped by time and experience, met a fitting match in the intimate setting of Davies Symphony Hall where Simon — onstage just a few weeks after his emergency back surgery — performed the first of three shows on Saturday, July 19, as part of his A Quiet Celebration tour in support of his latest album, 'Seven Psalms.' One of the most affecting moments of the two hour-long concert came when he sang 'Homeward Bound.' About a young man who seeks his calling in the world but eventually feels the pull back to where he came from, the song has a different poignancy. You feels the miles he's traveled in his voice, and there's a new wisdom Simon now imbues into the 1966 Simon & Garfunkel classic. Tears welled in the eyes of many in the largely baby boomer audience. It was a moment that made clear that some great storytellers and their material can get better with age. A member of the Rock & Roll and Grammy Halls of Fame, Simon helped form the soundtrack of 1960s counterculture with folk-rock hits written with Art Garfunkel, including 'The Sound of Silence' and 'Mrs. Robinson' — the latter forever tied to the Bay Area thanks to its use in the 1967 film 'The Graduate,' where it plays as Dustin Hoffman drives across the Bay Bridge. Albums 'Graceland' (1986) with its Southern African influences and 'The Rhythm of the Saints' (1990) drawing from Brazilian folk traditions were best sellers and artistic successes. 'This tour is the first opportunity I've had performing with my band since before COVID,' he told the audience referring to his excellent ensemble that included Caleb Burhans (viola), Jamey Haddad (percussion), Gyan Riley (guitar), Mick Rossi (piano, keys), Andy Snitzer (saxophone), Nancy Stagnitta (flute), Mark Stewart (guitar), Eugene Friesen (cello), Steve Gadd (drums) and Bakithi Kumalo (bass) Then he went on to explaining the first act of the evening would be his 'Seven Psalms' showcase; he promised 'the greatest hits' would come later. The 'Seven Psalms' acoustic set was performed on a mostly dark stage, the lighting suggesting a campfire. The material, inspired by the Book of Psalms, is nuanced and reflective, with a quiet intensity. The opening track, 'The Lord,' set the mood with lyrics like 'Tribal voices old and young. Celebrations a history of families sung. The endlеss river flows.' It conjured a sense of looking back, tinged with melancholy but also with a sense of eternity. The night came alive in a new way when singer Edie Brickell, Simon's wife, took to the stage for a transcendent 'The Sacred Harp.' The bends and curves of Brickell's voice gently wounds its way around Simon's lyrics, her sweetness giving lovely contrast to Simon's rougher sounds. The couple finished the first act with 'Wait,' whose lyrics — 'I'm not ready. I'm just packing my gear. Wait. My hand's steady. My mind is still clear' — remind you that 'Seven Psalms' is a powerful late-career album by Simon that contemplates bigger mortal themes. Act two began with a spirited 'Graceland,' the title track from Simon's seventh solo studio album released in 1986. 'Slip Slidin' Away' (1977) and 'Train in the Distance'(1983) are among the songs that feel very different in Simon's mature vocals. The lightness on these and others are gone, but a new character colors them. The ayahuasca-inspired 'Spirit Voices' (Simon joked about the song's source in one of his sparse addresses to the audience) was another smooth, joyful highlight of the second act. So was the concluding 'Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard' from his 1972 self-titled album, which has become such a shorthand for a certain kind of cool in pop culture (especially after its use by Wes Anderson in his 2001 film 'The Royal Tenenbaums') that it got a roar from the crowd. For his encores, Simon was joined by his band to sing 'Father and Daughter,' from the soundtrack to 2002 animated film 'The Wild Thornberries,' followed by '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover' (1975) and the Simon & Garfunkel hit 'The Boxer'(1970). Then, on stage by himself, he performed 'The Sound of Silence,' a fittingly gentle way to bid us goodnight.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Thirty books we'll be talking about for the rest of 2025
The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century by Tim Weiner (July 17) From the War on Terror to Russian interference, disinformation, cyber ops and moral quagmires, The Mission promises a deep dive into how the CIA has (and hasn't) adapted to a world far messier than the Cold War chessboard. Drawing on interviews with former CIA directors, station chiefs, and scores of top spies it asks: What does intelligence look like when truth itself is contested? Mark Twain by Ron Chernow (August 19) Ron Chernow, the biographer whose Alexander Hamilton launched a Broadway juggernaut, turns to America's original literary celebrity: Mark Twain. Expect the same sweeping research that defined Chernow's work on Grant and Washington, and fresh insight into Twain as the first modern superstar – a man who shaped how writers could court fame while skewering it. Loading Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (August 19) Scholar Nicholas Boggs gives readers an intimate new portrait of James Baldwin – not just as an icon of American letters, but as a man who loved, grieved and changed the lives of those around him. This hybrid work braids biography, memoir and cultural history into a tender reckoning with Baldwin's enduring power. All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation by Elizabeth Gilbert (September 9) In her first non-fiction book in a decade, Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert charts the messy aftermath of grief, transformation and desire. All the Way to the River is billed as an unflinching reckoning with heartbreak, spiritual seeking and the deep currents that carry us where we least expect. Waiting for Britney Spears by Jeff Weiss (September 16) Journalist Jeff Weiss dives headlong into the fever dream of 2000s celebrity culture with this bracing cultural study of Britney Spears and the paparazzi machine that consumed her and of which she was a part. Part tabloid archaeology, part drug-fuelled noir, Weiss lays bare how complicity, obsession and profit worked in concert to devour a pop star in real time. Fly, Wild Swans by Jung Chang (September 16) Jung Chang, whose Wild Swans remains a landmark of twentieth-century memoir, returns with a sweeping new personal history that traces the echoes of her family's story across the changing face of modern China. Fly, Wild Swans is set to be a searching look at what it means to witness – and survive – generational upheaval. Softly, as I Leave You by Priscilla Presley (September 23) Decades after Elvis and Me, Priscilla Presley returns with a memoir that promises new insights about her life alongside – and beyond – the King of Rock and Roll. Expect reflections on her role as guardian of Elvis's legacy, but also her path to independence and the woman she became after Graceland's gates closed behind her. Good Things by Samin Nosrat (September 23) Nearly a decade after Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat became an instant classic, Samin Nosrat returns with Good Things, a joyful collection of more than 125 new recipes and kitchen rituals she cooks for herself and the people she loves. Expect simple, delicious dishes, gorgeously photographed and brought to life with playful infographics. Generous, precise and warm-hearted, this book feels like an invitation to savour the everyday moments that make good food truly good. Elizabeth Harrower: The Woman in the Watch Tower by Susan Wyndham (October 1) This much-awaited biography peels back the layers on Australian literary legend Elizabeth Harrower, who died in 2020 after decades as an enigmatic figure. The former Sydney Morning Herald literary editor explores Harrower's fiercely private life, complicated friendships and searingly sharp fiction. It's one of two biographies set to hit shelves this year, with Helen Trinca's Looking for Elizabeth out now. Surviving Climate Anxiety by Thomas Doherty (October 7) A leading voice in environmental psychology, Dr Thomas Doherty addresses the escalating mental health crisis fuelled by climate change. In Surviving Climate Anxiety, he presents a timely psychological framework for confronting eco-anxiety, offering readers practical strategies to process environmental distress, cultivate resilience, and engage constructively with our climate-altered world. Paper Girl by Beth Macy (October 7) Beth Macy, acclaimed for Dopesick and Raising Lazarus, turns her trademark blend of deep reporting and narrative compassion on her own past. Paper Girl chronicles the changes in Urbana, Ohio, where Macy grew up as a paper girl, delivering the local newspaper. Expect vivid storytelling from one of America's fiercest chroniclers of inequality, addiction and resilience. Unapologetically Ita by Ita Buttrose (October 28) Pioneering editor and former ABC chair Ita Buttrose reflects on her time in Australia's media from battling sexism in boardrooms, fronting the ABC through controversies and refusing, in her 80s, to fade quietly from Australia's cultural conversation. Publishers are promising the memoir is frank, intimate and razor-sharp. Cue the next Asher Keddie miniseries. The Mushroom Tapes by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein (November 4) Loading Three of Australia's sharpest non-fiction writers collaborate to tackle the murder case that has gripped the nation. The Mushroom Tapes sees Helen Garner (This House of Grief), Chloe Hooper (The Tall Man) and Sarah Krasnostein (The Trauma Cleaner) join forces in the Latrobe Valley courtroom – and in conversation. Fungi fever doesn't end there – Greg Haddrick's Mushroom Murders and Duncan McNab's Recipe for Murder will also sprout on shelves this spring. Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood (November 4) The literary legend's mind roams free in Book of Lives, a playful, elliptical memoir that refuses the conventional timeline. Instead, the grand dame of speculative fiction is set to offer fragments – dreams, diaries, mini-essays – that explore mortality, mischief and the many selves she's inhabited as poet, novelist, critic and constant observer of our species. Joy Ride by Susan Orlean (November 4) Beloved New Yorker writer and author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book, Susan Orlean is often called a national treasure for good reason. In Joy Ride, her most personal work yet, Orlean turns her sharp eye and boundless curiosity inward, charting a life spent chasing stories — from tiger owners to ten-year-olds, Saturday nights to Mt. Fuji. Part memoir, part masterclass in living a creative life, it promises to be a warm, witty reminder to find wonder in the everyday.
The Age
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Thirty books we'll be talking about for the rest of 2025
The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century by Tim Weiner (July 17) From the War on Terror to Russian interference, disinformation, cyber ops and moral quagmires, The Mission promises a deep dive into how the CIA has (and hasn't) adapted to a world far messier than the Cold War chessboard. Drawing on interviews with former CIA directors, station chiefs, and scores of top spies it asks: What does intelligence look like when truth itself is contested? Mark Twain by Ron Chernow (August 19) Ron Chernow, the biographer whose Alexander Hamilton launched a Broadway juggernaut, turns to America's original literary celebrity: Mark Twain. Expect the same sweeping research that defined Chernow's work on Grant and Washington, and fresh insight into Twain as the first modern superstar – a man who shaped how writers could court fame while skewering it. Loading Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (August 19) Scholar Nicholas Boggs gives readers an intimate new portrait of James Baldwin – not just as an icon of American letters, but as a man who loved, grieved and changed the lives of those around him. This hybrid work braids biography, memoir and cultural history into a tender reckoning with Baldwin's enduring power. All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation by Elizabeth Gilbert (September 9) In her first non-fiction book in a decade, Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert charts the messy aftermath of grief, transformation and desire. All the Way to the River is billed as an unflinching reckoning with heartbreak, spiritual seeking and the deep currents that carry us where we least expect. Waiting for Britney Spears by Jeff Weiss (September 16) Journalist Jeff Weiss dives headlong into the fever dream of 2000s celebrity culture with this bracing cultural study of Britney Spears and the paparazzi machine that consumed her and of which she was a part. Part tabloid archaeology, part drug-fuelled noir, Weiss lays bare how complicity, obsession and profit worked in concert to devour a pop star in real time. Fly, Wild Swans by Jung Chang (September 16) Jung Chang, whose Wild Swans remains a landmark of twentieth-century memoir, returns with a sweeping new personal history that traces the echoes of her family's story across the changing face of modern China. Fly, Wild Swans is set to be a searching look at what it means to witness – and survive – generational upheaval. Softly, as I Leave You by Priscilla Presley (September 23) Decades after Elvis and Me, Priscilla Presley returns with a memoir that promises new insights about her life alongside – and beyond – the King of Rock and Roll. Expect reflections on her role as guardian of Elvis's legacy, but also her path to independence and the woman she became after Graceland's gates closed behind her. Good Things by Samin Nosrat (September 23) Nearly a decade after Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat became an instant classic, Samin Nosrat returns with Good Things, a joyful collection of more than 125 new recipes and kitchen rituals she cooks for herself and the people she loves. Expect simple, delicious dishes, gorgeously photographed and brought to life with playful infographics. Generous, precise and warm-hearted, this book feels like an invitation to savour the everyday moments that make good food truly good. Elizabeth Harrower: The Woman in the Watch Tower by Susan Wyndham (October 1) This much-awaited biography peels back the layers on Australian literary legend Elizabeth Harrower, who died in 2020 after decades as an enigmatic figure. The former Sydney Morning Herald literary editor explores Harrower's fiercely private life, complicated friendships and searingly sharp fiction. It's one of two biographies set to hit shelves this year, with Helen Trinca's Looking for Elizabeth out now. Surviving Climate Anxiety by Thomas Doherty (October 7) A leading voice in environmental psychology, Dr Thomas Doherty addresses the escalating mental health crisis fuelled by climate change. In Surviving Climate Anxiety, he presents a timely psychological framework for confronting eco-anxiety, offering readers practical strategies to process environmental distress, cultivate resilience, and engage constructively with our climate-altered world. Paper Girl by Beth Macy (October 7) Beth Macy, acclaimed for Dopesick and Raising Lazarus, turns her trademark blend of deep reporting and narrative compassion on her own past. Paper Girl chronicles the changes in Urbana, Ohio, where Macy grew up as a paper girl, delivering the local newspaper. Expect vivid storytelling from one of America's fiercest chroniclers of inequality, addiction and resilience. Unapologetically Ita by Ita Buttrose (October 28) Pioneering editor and former ABC chair Ita Buttrose reflects on her time in Australia's media from battling sexism in boardrooms, fronting the ABC through controversies and refusing, in her 80s, to fade quietly from Australia's cultural conversation. Publishers are promising the memoir is frank, intimate and razor-sharp. Cue the next Asher Keddie miniseries. The Mushroom Tapes by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein (November 4) Loading Three of Australia's sharpest non-fiction writers collaborate to tackle the murder case that has gripped the nation. The Mushroom Tapes sees Helen Garner (This House of Grief), Chloe Hooper (The Tall Man) and Sarah Krasnostein (The Trauma Cleaner) join forces in the Latrobe Valley courtroom – and in conversation. Fungi fever doesn't end there – Greg Haddrick's Mushroom Murders and Duncan McNab's Recipe for Murder will also sprout on shelves this spring. Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood (November 4) The literary legend's mind roams free in Book of Lives, a playful, elliptical memoir that refuses the conventional timeline. Instead, the grand dame of speculative fiction is set to offer fragments – dreams, diaries, mini-essays – that explore mortality, mischief and the many selves she's inhabited as poet, novelist, critic and constant observer of our species. Joy Ride by Susan Orlean (November 4) Beloved New Yorker writer and author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book, Susan Orlean is often called a national treasure for good reason. In Joy Ride, her most personal work yet, Orlean turns her sharp eye and boundless curiosity inward, charting a life spent chasing stories — from tiger owners to ten-year-olds, Saturday nights to Mt. Fuji. Part memoir, part masterclass in living a creative life, it promises to be a warm, witty reminder to find wonder in the everyday.
Daily Mail
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Elvis' ex meets her old American Idol honcho boyfriend for dinner in Malibu as they share a warm embrace
Former flames Priscilla Presley and Nigel Lythgoe, 75, were seen exiting a dinner date in Malibu on Wednesday evening. Elvis Presley's former wife looked lovely at 80-years-old in a black blouse with sheer sleeves and wide-legged black slacks. Lythgoe, who produced American Idol, looked casual in a graphic t-shirt, jeans and a white sports coat. Priscilla and Nigel dated from 2006 to 2009 after meeting while American Idol was being filmed at Graceland. According to a 2011 interview with Lythgoe, Priscilla had recently broken up with her boyfriend and he freshly separated from his now ex-wife Bonne Lythgoe. He said he really needed therapy, but having dinners with Priscilla was more enjoyable. 'She was just finishing a relationship,' the So You Think You Can Dance host told the Daily Mail in 2011. 'She got me through a lot. The divorce devastated me.' He added: 'I tried a therapist but it didn't work for me. It was easier to go out to dinners with Priscilla. We had many nights of talking.' 'The divorce devastated me. I hadn't necessarily been a good boy through the 34 years,' he said. 'We'd had our ups and downs – other relationships. But we stuck together. After 34 years I guess I didn't think we'd ever split up. It was terribly, terribly hard.' And it seems that Priscilla and Nigel were not intimate with each other while they dated. 'I don't have to sleep with all my girlfriends,' he said. 'I can't because two of them wouldn't like to know about the other one. I believe a good sex life makes you healthy, but I don't think I can pin myself down to one person at the moment.' Lythgoe got the name 'Nasty Nigel' after he devastated a contestant while he was a judge on the series Pop Stars. He told told contestant Kym Marsh: 'Christmas may be gone but I see the goose is still fat,' causing her to cry. Meanwhile, Priscilla is embroiled in an ongoing elder abuse lawsuit in which she claims her business partners stole $1million from her. In the latest move in the case against Brigitte Kruse, Kevin Fialko, Vahe Sislyan and Lynn Walker Wright, Priscilla won the right to have the proceedings heard in California rather than Florida Priscilla's latest nightmare allegedly began when she met Kruse, who ran a business selling Elvis memorabilia through an auction house, the filing claimed. She claimed Kruse convinced her to discard her former financial advisors who they said were 'deceitful and incompetent', before allegedly convincing her to sign contracts and form companies under her name. But under this guise, Priscilla was allegedly signing away 80 percent of her income to Kruse and her associates. Priscilla claimed the group left her with minority shares in companies they created which profited off her 'name, image and likeness'. The lawsuit also names Priscilla Presley Partners, LLC. The lawsuit alleges $500,000 in funds from the 2023 biopic Priscilla, which starred Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny, was also misappropriated and branded Kruse a 'con artist and pathological liar'. Priscilla also claimed the group 'torpedoed' a deal for the star to get an ownership interest in Cilla cosmetics company, but instead settled for $300,000, which allegedly went straight into their bank accounts. In the most recent filing, Priscilla revealed the jaw-dropping amount the group is said to have stolen from her – more than $1million from '34 paid appearances worldwide' that were collected in just a year. Priscilla, who divorced Elvis in 1973, four years before his death, also alleged that Kruse and her associates had begun a 'barraging' campaign against her 'contractual partners, associates, personal assistants and family members' with cease and desist letters in an attempt to stop them from doing business with her. Florida-based Kruse, who auctioned multiple Elvis-owned items including the gun he bought in 1973 after he was attacked onstage, has also taken her own measures against Priscilla with a lawsuit filed in February for breach of contract. According to the memorabilia dealer, she was Priscilla's financial savior, swooping in when she was '60 days away from financial collapse' and had outstanding tax debts of $700,000.
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Travel + Leisure
07-07-2025
- Travel + Leisure
Time to Hit the Road
There's something about summer that just feels like the perfect time to hit the open road—and in a country like the U.S., there's truly something for every kind of traveler. You could take a smooth jaunt along California's stunning coastal highways or zip through the red rock canyons of Utah. Or, you could take a sonically inspired journey through the heart of America's musical soul and spend a few days exploring Tennessee, with stops in Graceland, Dollywood, and the Great Smoky Mountains. If you're seeking something a bit more international, there are plenty of prime routes in Mexico to consider as well. Whatever kind of adventure you're after, Travel + Leisure has the inspiration to spark your next trip.
