Latest news with #PromisedLand
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Farewell tour? As Bruce Springsteen says, he 'ain't going anywhere'
An insight into the discipline it takes to deliver a high-quality show was provided by Springsteen himself, in his autobiography Born to Run. After his long-term saxophone player, Clarence ('The Big Man') Clemons, died in 2011, Springsteen eventually got around to auditioning Clemons's nephew, Jake, for the role. Jake, however, arrived an hour late, having got lost en route, and then said he 'sort of' knew the handful of songs Springsteen had sent him. "Lesson number one", The Boss, evidently unimpressed, records in the book: in the E Street Band they don't 'sort of' do anything. "James Brown was my father, god and hero as bandleader. Sam Moore was also a great inspiration. At their best, these were men whose lives forbade them to f--- around with the thing that was lifting them up. On the bandstand, with their bands, they gave NO QUARTER!" And then Springsteen wrote this: "People always asked me how the band played like it did night after night, almost murderously consistent, never stagnant and always full balls to the wall. "There are two answers. One is they loved and respected their jobs, one another, their leader and the audience. The other is ...because I MADE them! Do not underestimate the second answer. I need Jake to understand them both". Bruce SpringsteenNow, in 2025, he and the E Streeters – with Jake on sax – are on the road again, playing a string of 16 European dates. The shows are as high-energy and as life-affirming as they ever were. The set-lists range far and wide over Springsteen's peerless collection of great songs. The most recent, from Lille, includes No Surrender, Promised Land, The River, House of a Thousand Guitars, Letter to You, The Rising, Thunder Road, with the encores ranging from Born in the USA to Born to Run and Dancing in the Dark. Two years ago, when the band was touring the US and Europe, there were whispers to the effect that it wouldn't be a surprise if Springsteen, then 73, were to quit life on the road. One respected critic was bowled over by the relentless energy on display at a gig in Barcelona. Yet for how much longer, he wondered, could Springsteen and his crew pull off this trick? As uplifting as the show was, there had been an underlying poignancy to proceedings, "a sense that this is reluctantly, defiantly, yet inevitably coming to an end. If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing the greatest rock star of our time with the greatest rock and roll band in the world, I would urge you to catch this tour when it arrives on our shores. Right now, Springsteen is undeniably still the Boss. But I have a sneaking suspicion that this tour might be him handing in his notice". Springsteen gave such notions short shrift, telling a Philadelphia audience in August 2024: 'We've been around 50 f***ing years and we ain't quitting!' he said. 'We ain't doing no farewell tour bulls***! Jesus Christ! No farewell tour for the E Street Band! Hell no. Farewell to what? Thousands of people screaming your name? Yeah, I wanna quit that. That's it. That's all it takes. I ain't goin' anywhere.' The current leg of the Land of Hope and Dreams tour, which kicked off with three dates at Manchester's Co-Op arena in mid-May, will cap a tour that began in February 2023. The current run of 130 dates has sold in excess of four million tickets. At the opening date in Manchester Springsteen made headlines with an impassioned verbal assault on the Trump White House. 'In my home', he declared, 'the America I love, the America I've written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration. Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience, to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring'. US authorities under Trump, he added, were 'persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent'. In America, the richest men 'are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world's poorest children to sickness and death ... In my country, they're taking sadistic pleasure in the pain that they inflict on loyal American workers'. Historic civil-rights legislation was being rolled back, he continued. Great allies were being abandoned, and leading universities were being defunded. Springsteen quickly issued a six-track digital EP containing those words, and four songs – Land of Hope and Dreams, Long Walk Home, My City of Ruins and Bob Dylan's Chimes of Freedom – from the concert. Read more Trump responded in characteristically thin-skinned fashion, saying: "This dried out 'prune' of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country". He later demanded a 'major investigation' into Springsteen, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey and Bono, alleging that Kamala Harris, his beaten opponent last year, had broken campaign-finance law by paying the first three for their endorsements. Springsteen, for his part, has been supported by such musicians as Neil Young, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, and Tom Morello. Bono, asked by US TV host Jimmy Kimmel for his take on the spat between Springsteen and Trump, said: 'I think there's only one 'Boss' in America'. In a guest essay in the New York Times, Eric Alterman, author of a book about Springsteen, noted Trump's 'petty rage' at the musician for his Manchester remarks, adding: "Perhaps Mr. Trump worried that a simple, uncompromised patriotic message on offer from a man who is arguably the nation's most beloved male rock star would break through to his fans". In Springsteen's native New Jersey, a tribute band that plays his songs had to find a new venue for a gig after the owner of the original venue cancelled, saying he was worried about Springsteen's remarks about Trump. The European gigs by the E Street Band have been rapturously received, with Uncut magazine's reviewer, Dave Simpson, observing that Springsteen delivered "what must surely be the most politically-charged show of his career. As he stands just feet from the front rows, video screens show the singer's face furrow with concentration as he delivers every line with passion, precision and often venom. "Springsteen is 75 years old now. His hair is greyer and wirier. He no longer plays guitar on his back or does knee slides across the stage like he did in his youth, but he's still more than capable of helming a powerhouse two and a half hour show which never once loses fire, brimstone or focus. The main members of the E Street Band are now in their 70s too, but with saxophonist Jake Clemons replacing his late, legendary uncle Clarence, they roar away as inimitably as ever". In the meantime, a huge, nine-LP/seven-CD box set, Tracks II: The Lost Albums, covering Springsteen's career between 1983 and 2018, will be released on June 27. The never-before-released albums contain no fewer than 83 songs. A companion offering – Lost And Found: Selections from The Lost Albums — will feature 20 songs from across the collection, and will also go on sale on June 27. * Springsteen and the E Street Band play Liverpool's Anfield stadium on June 4 and 7.
Scroll.in
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
Short fiction: A middle-aged man quits his job to become an Elvis Presley impersonator
Karthik caressed the fabric as if it were the cheek of a loved one. He used the back of his palm, allowing the cloth to shift and slide against his fingers, pulling his hand away guiltily when he noticed the grime beneath his fingernails. Sheathed in plastic, the outfit hung at the back of an olive-green Godrej cupboard, tucked to the right and out of sight. He should have washed his hands. He hoped it still glimmered the way it had when he had set eyes on it a little over a decade ago at Chagganlal Dresswallah's store in Juhu. It had felt like a summoning, his eyes settling on a corner of its sleeve as it peeked out from a waving mass of hot pink and turquoise. It had cost more than his monthly salary at the time, and he remembered the salesman stifling a bored smile as he handed over the clothes and pointed to a cashier at the front of the store. What could a dark-skinned boy want an Elvis Presley costume for? He could have his answer today, Karthik thought grimly, if they were to meet. Pushing the outfit aside as he reached for a plaid shirt, he recalled the first time he had heard the voice of the King. It was 'Love Me Tender', requested in all probability by some teenager on Saturday Date, the radio show he used to tune into religiously, the way their Christian neighbours went to church on Sundays. He remembered how surprisingly crisp it had sounded in his one-room apartment, pouring out of a new Murphy set that glowed dimly in their poorly lit room. That was when his father was still around, months before he disappeared into the dusty sands of Bahrain, lost either to an industrial accident or the arms of another woman. Karthik would never know because his mother never mentioned her husband again. All that remained of him were two sweaters – his other clothing exchanged for steel utensils – and a faded wedding photograph placed within the folds of a fancy sari she would never wear. His father must have purchased the radio as one of those final displays of largesse – overcompensation for an inability to connect with his wife and son. Other memories rose gently to the surface as Karthik buttoned up his shirt: talent competitions at school, Diwali parties at the office, his arm swirling in imaginary circles as he went down on one knee while miming Presley's hits. The lyrics to 'Hound Dog' came to mind and the more obscure 'Promised Land'. Then, the reactions to his impressions, silent astonishment giving way to laughter and derision. He stopped dressing and breathed heavily. Elvis Presley had died in 1977, and no one would stand the idea of him being resurrected by a South Indian impersonator. That wouldn't stop him, though, no matter how much they laughed. It was all he had left. The sounds of Kalina rushed in from the outside as if a window was suddenly flung open. He would be late if he didn't leave quickly. To think of the past was an exercise in frustration, he reminded himself, shutting the cupboard and getting on with the business of living. Walking into his office at KC & Sons Bathroom Fittings in Lower Parel an hour later, he felt his shoulders droop in a familiar fashion. They fell in step with how time always appeared to slow down within these premises, taking on the texture of molasses. The company had moved to the area decades before large malls and fine dining restaurants appeared, at a time when everyone would drive past that dismal corner of Bombay without stopping. Now, KC & Sons owned the building. Moving into his cubicle, Karthik turned on his computer and double-clicked the day's first Excel sheet. Voices rose and fell around him, conversations broken by a loud remark or an inappropriate joke. He didn't look up. He had no illusions of how dispensable his role in the accounts department was, but it was all he had known. This was where he had worked for almost three decades now, the first company he had applied to after graduating with a degree in commerce. It allowed his mother to finally stop running a tiffin service to pay for his education. He had spent years with his eyes fixed on columns and rows. Colleagues, who had long moved to better jobs, would ask him about girlfriends or an arranged marriage, then stopped joking about his sexuality when it became apparent that he was happy to share a room with just his mother and a music collection. The day wore on, like a thousand others before it, where nothing happened. Ten minutes before 5 pm, Karthik walked into the manager's office to announce his resignation. There was a surprise because he had offered no warning signs. He was as reliable as the furniture, a blind spot meant to stay until retirement before fading away with an engraved watch and a framed certificate of appreciation. He gave no reasons and politely refused to reconsider. A notice period of a month would have to be served, and he acquiesced, smiling half-heartedly as he walked out. None of the sights or sounds on the ride home registered as he thought about the rest of his evening. It had been three months since his mother passed, snatched away along with millions of others by a virus that had laughed in the faces of those it left behind. Their corner of the world had always been joyless, but the gloom seemed to deepen after her absence. He lay awake on most nights in the weeks that followed, staring at the ceiling as shadows cast by passing cars flitted across the paint. Where there should have been loneliness or a hint of abandonment, there was only emptiness, like a stomach grown accustomed to the lack of food. The only bright thing lay in his cupboard, waiting to be set free. Unlocking the door, Karthik stepped inside and began undoing his shirt. He thought about rumours from the 1980s of Elvis being alive and appearing at fast-food restaurants across America. The sightings had died down in the years since. There had never been a resurrection reported from Asia. Stepping out of his trousers, he placed them on the back of a chair and waited as his eyes adjusted to the dark room. He then walked in his socks and underwear, his upper lip curling slowly upwards. 'Wise men say,' he hummed, 'only fools rush in …' Opening the cupboard, he reached for the outfit and removed its covering sheet. The shirt and trousers were white, with gold sequins stitched onto every inch. They didn't shine as brightly as he remembered them but still twinkled in the reflected streetlight, distracting him into silence. Shutting the steel door, he put them on slowly and stood before the mirror, squinting as he tied the cape. The dark glasses would go on later, with mascara and whitening cream purchased a week ago. Turning to his stereo system that stood in a corner, Karthik reached for a cassette from the top of a pile. He knew what it was from where it had been placed the night before. Sliding it in, he pressed play and turned up the volume before walking back to the mirror. Outside, the late evening had begun its slow shuffle into another restless night, the streets thinning out and emptying like water from a cracked plastic bottle as neighbours and stragglers walked home. Karthik closed his eyes and shut it all out, creating a bubble of silence in which he alone lay cocooned. He imagined thousands of lights going down and a spotlight waiting for him at the centre of his room. Stepping into it lightly, he threw up one hand. He could die. But Elvis would live.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fire Country Spinoff Crossover Preview: Sheriff Mickey Fox Is Both ‘Badass' and ‘Girl Scout' (Exclusive Video)
Fire Country front man and co-creator Max Thieriot says you will glimpse 'a bit of the underbelly' of Edgewater, Calif. when Morena Baccarin — star of the upcoming Sheriff Country spinoff — makes her second appearance as Mickey Fox. In this week's episode of CBS' Fire Country, titled 'Dirty Money' and airing Friday at 9/8c, Bode (played by Thieriot) and his aunt, Sheriff Mickey Fox (Baccarin), investigate the attempted murder of her estranged father, Wes. More from TVLine NCIS: Origins Exclusive: Future NCIS Los Angeles Office Boss to Appear in Season 1 Finale Exclusive FBI Photos: As Isobel Ponders Her Future, Tom Cavanagh Debuts as Husband Phillip Watson Renewed for Season 2 at CBS W. Earl Brown guest-stars in the episode as Wes, and will star opposite Baccarin on the Sheriff Country spinoff premiering this fall. In the video above, Brown describes Wes as Mickey's 'ne'er-do-well dad,' seeing as he runs an illegal marijuana business right under his lawman daughter's nose. 'We might be family, but there's certain things she can't know,' the Deadwood alum previews. Baccarin in turn says that Mickey's 'moral compass… will be tested over and over' by her father. Or as Thieriot puts it, 'she can be badass sheriff' and 'Girl Scout sheriff.' Sheriff Country Spinoff Set for Fall 2025 — Here's Everything We Know View List Baccarin made her debut as Mickey in an April 2024 episode of Fire Country, in which a fire camp inmate escaped from Three Rock and Edgewater's deputy sheriff was called to investigate. In that episode, we learned of Mickey's strained bond with stepsister Sharon (Diane Farr), and that her daughter Skye is in rehab. The official synopsis for Sheriff Country, ordered to series almost a year ago but held for this fall, says that 'straight-shooting sheriff Mickey Fox' 'investigates criminal activity as she patrols the streets of small-town Edgewater while contending with her ex-con father and a mysterious incident involving her wayward daughter.' Matt Lopez (Promised Land) will serve as of TVLine Summer TV Calendar: Your Guide to 85+ Season and Series Premieres Classic Christmas Movies Guide: Where to Watch It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Elf, Die Hard and Others What's New on Netflix in June
The Guardian
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Wafia was finally about to release her debut album. Then LA caught on fire
For more than a decade, Wafia has built a reputation as one of Australia's most exciting young artists. Born Wafia Al-Rikabi, she had her first taste of global attention with a fuzzy bedroom pop cover of Mario's Let Me Love You in 2014, amassing more than 5m streams on SoundCloud. Then came a slew of EPs, tours and admirers including Pharrell Williams, Kylie Jenner and Jaden Smith. It had all been leading to her long-awaited debut album, which was set for release this January. But then the artist's adopted home town, Los Angeles, caught fire. 'I just didn't think it was a thing I could celebrate or be present for in that time,' Al-Rikabi says via Zoom. 'The thing that got me out of bed in the mornings … was volunteering. I spent a lot of time in the community, picking up and dropping off donations, just trying to do what I can.' That empathy and community spirit drives Al-Rikabi's work: announcing the album's delay on Instagram, she wrote: 'I also can't help but see the scenes across LA and think of Gaza, think of Syria and Lebanon, think of my family who have grown so accustomed to this smell, the sight of such rubble.' She has now released the album, Promised Land, a month after its scheduled date. It's a collection of alt-pop gems canvassing romantic, platonic and familial relationships, and the complexities of migration. With influences ranging from bossa nova and R&B to psychedelia and indie rock, the album is buoyed up by two moods, 'whimsy and feminine … in order to have a sense, ultimately, of optimism'. The migrant experience is one Al-Rikabi knows intimately. Born in the Netherlands to an Iraqi father and Syrian mother, the artist moved frequently with her family during a nomadic childhood. When she was 11, they relocated to Brisbane – but there was no real sense of home. Now 31 and having lived in the US since the pandemic, Al-Rikabi has a new perspective: 'I feel like I understood my parents' choices a lot more once I made the leap myself in moving to another place.' In adulthood, Australia has become a kind of anchor: 'Having the Australian accent has been an answer a lot of people will accept here in America that I find really relieving … Sometimes I don't want to tell people that I'm Iraqi-Syrian, because it's really loaded and you don't really know how other people respond to that.' The ties of family wind their way through this record, including spoken-word passages in Arabic. But like many family relationships, it's knotty. After leaving high school, Al-Rikabi went to university to study medicine, but her father encouraged her to leave in pursuit of her musical dreams. These days, they are estranged. The song House Down unpacks those tricky feelings: 'You have so much anger and my heart hurts when I try to understand you,' she sings. 'He was my biggest champion ever, and also the source of so much anguish in my life,' Al-Rikabi says. 'It's particularly hard because I'm Arab and growing up, you're really taught to take care of your elders, and there was this expectation that as my parents aged, I would look after them … That's been one of the biggest griefs of my life.' On the other hand, moving away strengthened Al-Rikabi's relationship with her mother, to whom she dedicates the tender track Vision Of Love. 'For a long time, I didn't really understand her,' she says. It wasn't until the pandemic, when she began living alone for the first time, that she had an epiphany. 'I remember coming home and realising that fruit in the bowl gets mouldy if my mother doesn't get to it for us … I'd never seen a peach get furry,' she says. 'That was her way of telling us every day she loved us.' Al-Rikabi's music has been overtly political in the past, such as the 2017 single Bodies, written about the Syrian refugee crisis. The songs on Promised Land are more about personal relationships, from new romance (Big Thoughts, Crystal Ball) and a defiant kiss-off to an ex (Sad Shit) to the migration journey (Dragonfly) and a sweet sisterly ode (Say It to the Moon). But it's all connected. 'Being queer, growing up Muslim, all those things inherently make me political – so even when I am writing a love song, it is also inherently political,' she says. 'I get to colour my canvas with whatever colours I want, because I'm an artist and no one's putting words into my mouth.' Promised Land by Wafia is out now through Heartburn Records Each month we ask our headline act to share the songs that have accompanied them through love, life, lust and death. What was the best year for music, and what five songs prove it? 2009: I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas; The Climb – Miley Cyrus; Down – Jay Sean; Fireflies – Owl City; Jai Ho! – the Pussycat Dolls. What's the song you wish you wrote, and why? Kids by MGMT, because I wish I could be that carefree in my songwriting. What is the song you have listened to the most times this year? NUEVAYoL – Bad Bunny. What is your go-to karaoke song, and why? Life is a Highway – Rascal Flatts, because I'm a big fan of Cars the movie. What is a song you loved as a teenager? Re: Stacks – Bon Iver. It transported me when I needed to not be where I was. What song do you want played at your funeral, and why? Ahwak – Abdel Halim Hafez. It's a song that my parents would always play in the mornings and I think it would be a nice thing to go out to. What is the best song to have sex to, and why? Burning – Tems. Just try it.
