Latest news with #Sparks'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Sparks' Cameron Brink calls out ‘insane' WNBA rule
The post Sparks' Cameron Brink calls out 'insane' WNBA rule appeared first on ClutchPoints. Los Angeles Sparks forward Cameron Brink criticized the WNBA's current roster size rule, calling it 'insane' during the latest episode of her podcast with co-host Sydel Curry-Lee. Advertisement 'It's so unfortunate that rosters can only hold 12,' Brink said. 'Personally, I think roster sizes need to be expanded before we add anymore expansion teams. It's kinda crazy 12 people for a roster… it's insane.' Brink's comments come as the Sparks face early-season roster challenges. Brink and teammate Rae Burrell are both sidelined with injuries. Brink is recovering from a torn ACL sustained last summer, while Burrell injured her right leg during Los Angeles' season-opening win over the Golden State Valkyries. Burrell is expected to miss six to eight weeks. Curry-Lee added her own perspective on the limited roster capacity. 'If you talk about the analytics going into the season and like a healthy squad… the likelihood that you have a 100% healthy squad at the beginning of a season is very low,' she said. 'You're not gonna have all 12. Someone gets hurt, you're down to nine at the first game.' Advertisement Brink responded, 'That's us right now.' Cameron Brink and Sydel Curry-Lee highlight Sparks' roster strain as WNBA expansion outpaces team depth The Sparks, who are six games into the season with a 2–4 record, had just nine active players available in their second game. 'Right, like I think that's what brought it up when Rae got hurt,' Curry-Lee added. 'Me and Damion got into a conversation about like why the roster spots are so small. You have nine active players going into the second game of the season.' Brink continued, 'And it just puts a lot of stress on everybody… roster sizes really need to be increased.' Under the WNBA's current Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams are allowed to carry only 11 or 12 players on their rosters. With 13 teams in the league this season, that amounts to a maximum of 156 total roster spots. Advertisement The WNBA is planning to expand to 15 teams in 2026, with the addition of the Toronto Tempo and a new franchise in Portland. While the league has prioritized long-term growth, players and analysts have continued to push for immediate adjustments to roster sizes, citing injury risks and overall team sustainability. Brink, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft out of Stanford, is expected to play a major role in the Sparks' future. Her remarks reflect a growing sentiment among players advocating for structural changes within the league to match its increasing visibility and competitive demands. The Sparks will continue to navigate early-season adversity as they await the return of key contributors. The conversation surrounding roster expansion is likely to intensify as more teams encounter similar challenges during the 2025 season.
Irish Examiner
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Sparks: The band where eccentricity meets high art
Sparks brothers Ron and Russell Mael expect to feel thoroughly at home when playing Dublin's National Stadium this July. When not hosting live music, the stadium is a boxing arena – a dead ringer, in fact, for the venue featured on the cover of Sparks' Whomp That Sucker, one of the classic albums the art-pop siblings from Los Angeles released in their first golden streak of success in the 1970s and early 1980s. Over video link from his home in Los Angeles, Russell nods enthusiastically: 'We can recreate our Whomp That Sucker cover!' As Sparks prepare to share their new long player, MAD!, it is from the surreal vantage of being an overnight sensation 60 years in the making. Since 1971, they've been putting out reality-distorting pop that, at various moments, recalls Queen, Kraftwerk and the emotions you experience watching a David Lynch movie. They've had hits, appearing on Top of the Pops after 1974's This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both Of Us went to number two in the UK; the track would later be embraced by voguish Brit-rockers the Last Dinner Party, who covered it in Dublin last year. Along with the brilliantly catchy tunes, the Maels have turned eccentricity into high art, radiating a studied oddness unlike anything else in pop. During one tour, Russell would play the keyboard with comedically extended arms that made him look like a life-size muppet. And when they went on Top of the Pops, John Lennon was so struck by what he was watching that he called up Ringo Star to say he'd just seen Marc Bolan collaborating with 'Hitler' – a reference to the frizzy hair Russell sported in the 1970s and the tooth-brush moustache Ron wears to this day. Their charm and their weirdness made them beloved – yet their audience was modest and, in the best sense, cult-like. It wasn't until director and lifelong Sparks fan Edgar Wright eulogised them with his 2021 documentary, The Sparks Brothers that they returned to the mainstream of popular culture. Their subsequent movie-musical Annette cemented their comeback, but it was the Sparks Brothers that grabbed the headlines, thanks to the participation of Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Taylor Swift producer Jack Antonoff, fellow Californian Beck and others – all happy to gush about their fandom of the Maels. This has led to the extraordinary situation of Ron (79) and Russell (76) rolling into Dublin this year with the buzz of a brand-new band. 'It's not the traditional career path where, after having 27 albums and now the new one with our 28th album, things are on the rise for a band,' says Russell. 'It's really special. Since the time when Edgar Wright did the documentary on Sparks a couple of years ago, more people that previously weren't exposed to Sparks were made aware of Sparks. And people that had been lurking in the background and not exactly following every move that we've been making, I think the documentary helped reawaken those people, too. And so since that time, and then also the movie musical that we did – I think the two movies combined, it has helped to push the profile of Sparks higher, which is great.' In the film, Wright traced the Maels' journey from the early years as Americans obsessed with British glam rock through to the 1980s days as electro-pop pioneers and their subsequent adventures in everything from art-rock to indie pop. He also made the case that the group were innovators who brought humour and self-awareness into songwriting and pioneered the use of synthesisers in music, with projects such as 1979's No.1 In Heaven – produced by disco kingpin Giorgio Moroder. 'Most of the artists he went to – we don't know them personally at all. So when Edgar said, 'Oh, this week, I'm interviewing, you know, Flea, and I'm in interviewing Jack Antonoff, I'm interviewing whoever you know'. We went 'what' ?,' says Russell. Despite living in LA all their lives, rubbing shoulders with the great and the good of Californian music isn't their thing. 'We're maybe shyer in that way to be going out and talking to other musicians. Edgar is brazen. He just says, Hey, 'you like Sparks, right?' 'Well, yeah, of course, I like Sparks'. That's his approach. "And it was so nice, that he went out to all these people that he did know. Or even some that he didn't know, I think, at the time, and but thought, 'I'm pretty sure they must like Sparks'. More times than not, he was right. We didn't know most of the people personally that that he that he approached. It made it all flattering.' The movie's success hasn't unduly impacted the Maels' songwriting: the new album is classic Sparks, brimming with shapeshifting melodies and madly catchy choruses. The lyrics run, as ever, from the surreal to the heartfelt. 'There is sincerity to what we do,' says Russell. 'Sometimes, if you couch the sincerity in something humorous it's taken as being light or something like that. We always feel it. Even in songs of ours that have a humorous side to them, maybe there's the other flip side to it that has an emotional side to it. On the new album, there's quite a few songs that we feel have a strong, emotional and melodic content. Those songs in particular – they're relationship songs, but relationship songs hopefully done in a fresh sort of way.' Sparks in 1975: Russell Mael and Ron Mael. Picture: Evening Standard/. Wright's movie also showcased the darker side of the music business. Despite the success of This Town Ain't Big Enough, and the accompanying album, Kimono My House, the industry never knew what to do with Sparks. So, for many years, it ignored the siblings, who had grown up in the wealthy LA suburb of Pasadena Palisades. They were left to make their own way, yet they never became bitter or resentful. 'You have to do what you feel is right,' says Russell. 'And all the peripheral stuff – what's going on the industry, all that kind of stuff… It's not the important thing. And you sometimes get consumed by thinking that it is important. "I mean, it is in a certain in a certain way. Then the most important thing is doing what you do creatively. And then you hope that someone will be able to take what you've done and kind of disseminate it to more people in a good way. And sometimes it happens. Sometimes it doesn't. Those kind of forces are out of our control once we've given our our music to them.' They've noticed a change in their audience when they go out on the road nowadays. The older fans are still there, but now they are joined by Gen Z-ers, many of whom came to them through Wright's film. 'We're fortunate that we have a devoted fan base that that either has stuck with us from the beginning or, like, from things like the documentary, have discovered Sparks more recently, and are passionate about the band and feel it's kind of a their own club. Especially when we tour we get to see it more first hand how passionate people are for what we do. "And also we're able to do songs from all eras of our career. People are surprised by us doing songs maybe that are more obscure from albums that weren't as visible at the time. The situation for Sparks right now couldn't be better.' MAD! is out now. Sparks play National Stadium, Dublin, July 15 and 16
Hindustan Times
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Sky, Sparks search for solutions to early-season slumps
The Chicago Sky visit the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday with both teams seeking to shed early-season slumps. The Sparks come in on a three-game skid as they opened Memorial Day weekend on Friday with an 82-73 setback against the expansion Golden State Valkyries. Kelsey Plum, the Sparks' marquee offseason acquisition, scored 16 points in the loss her fewest in the team's first four outings. Plum opened her tenure in Los Angeles with 37 points in the Sparks' lone win, an 84-67 rout of Golden State. In the three games since, Los Angeles surrendered 89 points to both Minnesota and Phoenix before allowing the Valkyries 82 points. "We missed some shots that we were expecting to make, and that affected our defense and we stopped the gameplan," said Sparks first-year coach Lynne Roberts. "We've got to put a full 40 minutes together. We haven't done it yet." Although Los Angeles has yet to produce 40 quality minutes per its new coach's assessment, Plum has played a full 40 minutes twice early into this campaign. The most recent came in Wednesday's 89-86 loss to Phoenix. Plum averages almost 38 minutes per game while Dearica Hamby logs 34.5 per game. Hamby is averaging 18.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game as she holds down the interior while the Sparks await the 2025 debut of Cameron Brink, last year's No. 2 overall draft pick. Brink was averaging more than two blocks per game when she sustained a torn ACL last June. Brink was part of a highly productive draft class that included Chicago's post presence, Angel Reese. Reese has struggled through the first two games of her second WNBA season and the Sky come into Los Angeles seeking their first win of 2025. Chicago dropped its opener 93-58 to Indiana on May 17 and followed up with a 99-74 blowout Thursday at home against reigning WNBA champion New York. Although she grabbed 12 rebounds against the Liberty, Reese shot 0-of-8 from the floor and 2-of-6 at the free-throw line en route to a career-low two points. As a team, the Sky have committed 40 turnovers in their first two games. "Offensively, we haven't found our groove yet," Chicago veteran guard Courtney Vandersloot said following Thursday's loss. "We're a little out of rhythm. We're trying to make plays, just making the wrong plays." Field Level Media
Gulf Weekly
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Weekly
Making a point
American art pop duo Sparks' 26th studio album, MAD!, releases tomorrow. The new body of work by the two brothers is set to examine cultural phenomena and current significant events in a satirical manner, including performative devotion to someone, whether it's a lover, celebrity or a sports team, and the rise of influencers, while also retaining enough ambiguity for the listener to fill in the blanks. Sonically, the 12 tracks are expected to feature nods to new wave, synthpop and electronic opera - genres that Sparks have pioneered throughout their career. The duo said the album title perfectly describes their legacy, as well as the events discussed in the lyrics. 'It feels appropriate, specifically for this album and also because we've often been described as mad, in both connotations of the word: crazy and angry. MAD! fits that description,' Russell Mael said. 'And also for these times, when everything feels like it's completely out of control and the world is mad in all meanings of the word. 'There were long Sparks board meetings about: 'Do we really need that exclamation mark in the title?' We decided it's absolutely needed, to ram home the point,' he added. Formed in 1971, the musical act are known for their quirky approach to song-writing, which sometimes contains literary or cinematic references, and a distinctive theatrical stage presence.
Forbes
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Sparks On Their New Album ‘MAD!' And 5 Decades Of Brotherly Musical Harmony
Sparks: (L-R) Ron and Russell Mael. There's a song from the new Sparks album MAD! that in some way perfectly sums up the 50-year-plus career of the legendary musical duo of brothers Russell and Ron Mael. With such lyrics as 'Got the fuel/Broke the rules,' 'My advice/No advice' and 'I don't care,' the track 'Do Things My Own Way' speaks of the Maels' philosophy of always following one' own creative muse rather than what is commercially fashionable. 'When we did our first album with Todd Rundgren [for 1972's Sparks], he always instilled in us, 'Stick to your own vision,'' says singer Russell Mael. ''Don't veer off course because you've got an amazingly strong viewpoint and personality and character to what you do and don't water it down.'' And so, we've kind of adopted that stance from the beginning. We really feel it's important that you just stick to your creative impulses. So we feel that that song encapsulates that spirit.' 'Do Things My Own Way' is among the many standout songs on MAD!, Sparks' 28th studio album and the Los Angeles-based duo's debut release on the indie label Transgressive Records. The new record, due out this Friday, features the hallmarks of Sparks' sound: a distinct amalgamation of eccentric lyrics and art rock. Keyboardist Ron Mael says there's no thematic concept going into making MAD!, as with a majority of Sparks' previous albums. 'We kind of start with the songs and see what the direction is,' he says, 'and that's kind of where we go. We hope that an album in the end makes some sense, even if it's not something that can be really verbalized.' Sparks' songs have a strong cinematic aspect (more on that later), as heard on 'JanSport Backpack,' another track unveiled ahead of the album's release. The JanSport in the song serves as a visual symbol of a relationship in trouble. 'We spent quite a bit of time in Japan, and there were a lot of really stylish girls walking around with JanSport backpacks,' says Ron. 'So you think, 'Well, what song could be built around that particular image of seeing a girl from behind wearing a JanSport backpack?' and making it like the sadness of a relationship that maybe isn't quite working, and the JanSport backpack being the image of the girl walking away from you.' The satirical nature of Sparks' songs continues with the haunting and noirish 'Running Up a Tab at the Hotel for the Fab,' which Ron says is about a not-so-financially-well-off guy who is trying to impress a girl. 'He shows her a good time at a hotel that's way beyond his means and goes through minibars and dinners and everything,' he says. 'But in the end, he has to pay the price. And so he's sent to Rikers. But he said it's all worth it if she visits him in prison and he hopes he'll be on parole soon. So it has a semi-happy ending.' Not many artists would pay a homage or tribute to Los Angeles' (and in general the country's) busiest and congested freeway. But in the world of Sparks, the I-405, which serves as the title of a song from MAD!, serves as a symbol of city pride. 'It was kind of an ode to our freeway that, from certain vantage points, has a really beautiful quality to it,' Russell says, 'especially at night, if you see all the taillights stuck bumper to bumper with each other in gridlock, it takes on its own beauty. So in a way, it's our Seine River, our magical spot for an Angeleno.' Another intriguing album track is the haunting operatic-like 'A Long Red Light,' which is essentially a repetition of the lyric 'a long red light.' 'It was actually a literal intention,' Ron says, 'but it can be viewed as like the hope that something will turn green in a more personal life kind of way with another person.' 'The intent, at least when it came up,' Russell adds, 'was to make it more literal, that the frustration of sitting there at this red light. We like taking a really specific incident that everyone's encountered, but turning it into something more than that.' In a break from the duo's usual irony, 'Drowned in a Sea of Tears,' another of MAD!'s singles, is one of Sparks' most dramatic and heartbreaking songs. Showcasing Russell's falsetto singing, it also touches on a relationship at the crossroads. 'It is sincere and semi-tragic,' Russell says of the song's story. 'We did a video for it, too, that we think captured the mood really well of that relationship. [The woman and I in the clip] do a little quick sort of dance and then with a bunch of other more beautiful women in the background that fade off into the distance. And then she realizes that that was one of the happy moments they had together. Then it quickly ends as everybody fades away out of the image…and then she literally is drowning in a sea of tears in her car.' MAD! ends on an uplifting note with 'Lord Have Mercy,' the brothers' favorite track from the album; Ron jokingly says it shows him being a softie at heart. 'It was one of the ones that was written in a more traditional way, where I just had the song and we brought it into the studio,' he recalls. 'I had the title, but I couldn't figure out a way not to be that we were preaching. So it was very hard to find a stance. And so I finally figured out that maybe if it's somebody overhearing somebody else singing that song in a certain sense, then it would distance us from that.' Sparks will be touring starting in June with dates in Japan and Europe, followed by stops in North America this September. In addition to their recording and touring work, the brothers have been busy getting their film project with legendary director John Woo, off the ground. It's the brothers' first cinema-related work since writing the screenplay and music for the 2021 movie musical Annette, directed by Leos Carax. The collaboration happened by chance when the Maels came across a Los Angeles Times piece in which Woo said he had always wanted to do a musical. Says Russell: 'We thought, 'John Woo, a musical? That is really odd.' And we said, 'We've got to contact him' — but then, thinking he probably won't respond to what we do or our sensibility. He lives in L.A., which was fortunate. He came to our studio, sat through the whole two hours of the whole story, and said, 'This is amazing. I want to do it.' And we went, 'Wow.'' 'We've been working with John Woo for the past year-and-a-half revising some elements of the screenplay that we wrote,' he also says. 'But he's so sold on the project and the music, which seems so unlikely that John Woo would respond to a Sparks musical. But when you're with him, he's so engaged in the project. It's really exciting.' The brothers' experience with Annette was a confidence booster for them to continue on movie projects. 'It's such a dream for us,' says Ron, 'because we are huge cinema buffs, to actually see something that you wrote on a screen. But also even the process of it is something that it's totally different than working on your own record, where you're the commander-in-chief of the whole thing. 'With a film,' he continues, 'it's such a collaborative process where you're putting your trust into somebody who really has faith in something you wrote. And John Woo has come up with ideas and he's such a visual person. So we really feel confident in being able to come through with the writing of the project.' Sparks' influence on future generations of musical artists (as discussed in the Edgar Wright 2021 documentary The Sparks Brothers) continues: the British group the Last Dinner Party recently covered Sparks' classic hit 'This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us' from the duo's 1974 album Kimono in My House . 'We read so much about them,' Russell says of the Last Dinner Party, 'that so many reviews said, 'Hey, there's this group that sounds a lot of the spirit of Sparks.' Then we checked them out and we really liked them. And so then we found out, in fact, they did 'This Town." It's cool that there's a group like that in the U.K. and that has been inspired to some extent by what we've done. It's great.' Sparks: (L-R) Russell and Ron Mael. After 50 years-plus, the musical partnership between Russell and Ron remains strong as ever — a rarity in the history of sibling musical acts mostly known for their tense relationships. 'We share a sensibility about things,' Ron says. 'You can have discussions about individual sounds or whatever. But as far as the overall vision, it's something that we have continued. It's kind of unspoken now. It's just something that we can read each other's minds when we're working on things. 'And maybe just in a more practical way, our roles within the band don't really overlap. So neither of us is being squashed down by the other's position, which I guess has contributed to some frictions in other situations in bands. It's just being able to do things without having to talk about them so much and doing them is really such a relief.' 'For our situation, it's worked as a positive thing,' Russell adds. 'And yeah, we'll keep being brothers for a while more.'
