Latest news with #TheContrarian
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Former Pixies Bassist Paz Lenchantin Stages Mini Perfect Circle Reunion on New Single ‘Hang Tough'
Paz Lenchantin, who played bass in the Pixies between 2014 and 2024 following stints in Zwan and A Perfect Circle, is re-launching her solo career with the upcoming LP Triste. The album arrives October 17, and she's just dropped leadoff single 'Hang Tough' along with a video. 'I had to make this record on my own,' Lenchantin says in a statement, 'not to prove anything, but just to have faith that music can nurture me back. And it did.' More from Rolling Stone How Bassist Paz Lenchantin Went From Teenage Pixies Fan to Member of the Band Watch A Perfect Circle's Creepy 'The Contrarian' Video On the Charts: J. Cole Scores Best-Selling Week of 2018 With 'KOD' Lenchantin created much of the music on Triste herself, but she did recruit two of her former Perfect Circle bandmates — drummer Josh Freese and guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen — to join her in the studio. She was also accompanied by Spanish-speaking musicians she met after posting a notice on Instagram. The album began to take shape last year in Petatlán, Mexico, when Lenchantin wrote a series of songs about a young woman falling in love with Jesus. 'Lenchantin isn't necessarily religious,' reads an official album bio, 'she saw the story as a metaphor for salvation: the human drive to search for a god, or god-like figure, and to devote yourself to something that cannot love you back…This guiding metaphor shaped the album's dream-like logic, with each lyric refracting a fragment of Lenchantin's own life into broader analogy.' 'What was special to me in making this album was that I learned who I am, this far into my journey in music, simply by allowing myself the freedom of my own choice,' Lenchantin said. 'It became like witnessing a fallen tree in my own forest, without the need to yell 'timber.'' The music is a vast departure from her work with the Pixies. She joined the alt-rock icons in 2014 after the group parted ways with bassist Kim Shattuck. 'Charles [Thompson, a.k.a. Black Francis] is the greatest artist I've ever worked with,' she told Rolling Stone in 2022 as part of our Unknown Legends interview series. 'I used to be like, 'This is missing in this band, and this is missing in this band…' But working with Charles, Joey [Santiago], and David [Lovering] really glued me together and completed me in every way I was looking for. It really is the peak of the mountain.' In 2024, after recording three albums with them and touring the world many times over, the Pixies announced that they were parting ways with her. 'My departure is a bit of a surprise to me as it is to many,' Lenchantin told Rolling Stone when the news broke, 'but it looks like they have a solid plan figured out, which in turn has pushed me to move onwards onto new projects that I am excited about.' Not long afterward, a 'major artist' asked Lenchantin if she'd join her band as a bass player. 'I froze,' she says in the album bio, stating that her past experiences in high-profile groups left her 'traumatized.' 'And how far can that get you?' she asks, noting that she turned down the gig in favor of creating Triste. 'Otherwise,' she said, 'you're just going around in a circle.' The Triste track list: 1 – Novela2 – Lows & Highs3 – Woman Of Nazareth4 – Hang Tough5 – Wish I Was There6 – Si No!7 – In The Garden With The Devil8 – Adam9 – Lucia10 – Sin Dios11 – Save It For Hell12 – Triste Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked Solve the daily Crossword
Washington Post
24-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Life on the other side: Refugees from 'old media' flock to the promise of working for themselves
NEW YORK — Six months ago, Jennifer Rubin had no idea whether she'd make it in a new media world. She just knew it was time to leave The Washington Post, where she'd been a political columnist for 15 years. The Contrarian , the democracy-focused website that Rubin founded with partner Norm Eisen in January, now has 10 employees and contributors like humorist Andy Borowitz and White House reporter April Ryan. Its 558,000 subscribers also get recipes and culture dispatches.
Associated Press
24-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Life on the other side: Refugees from 'old media' flock to the promise of working for themselves
NEW YORK (AP) — Six months ago, Jennifer Rubin had no idea whether she'd make it in a new media world. She just knew it was time to leave The Washington Post, where she'd been a political columnist for 15 years. The Contrarian, the democracy-focused website that Rubin founded with partner Norm Eisen in January, now has 10 employees and contributors like humorist Andy Borowitz and White House reporter April Ryan. Its 558,000 subscribers also get recipes and culture dispatches. In the blink of an eye, Rubin became a independent news entrepreneur. 'I think we hit a moment, just after inauguration, when people were looking for something different and it has captured people's imaginations,' she says. 'We've been having a ball with it.' YouTube, Substack, TikTok and others are spearheading a full-scale democratization of media and a generation of new voices and influencers. But don't forget the traditionalists. Rubin's experience shows how this world offers a lifeline to many at struggling legacy outlets who wanted — or were forced — to strike out on their own. Tough business realities, changing consumer tastes The realities of business and changing consumer tastes are both driving forces. YouTube claims more than 1 billion monthly podcast views, and a recent list of its top 100 shows featured seven refugees from legacy media and six shows made by current broadcasters. Substack, which launched in 2017 and added live video in January, has more than doubled its number of paid subscribers to participating content creators to 5 million in less than two years. Almost immediately after he was cut loose by ABC News on June 10 for an anti-Trump tweet, Terry Moran headed for Substack. Two former hosts of NBC's 'Today' show — Katie Couric and Hoda Kotb — announced new media ventures on the same day last month. 'I think you've seen, really in the last six months for some reason, this whole space explode with people who are understanding that this is a really important way to convey information,' says Couric, who's been running her own media company with newsletters, interviews and a podcast since 2017 and recently joined Substack. Among the most successful to make transitions are Bari Weiss, the former New York Times writer whose Free Press website celebrates independent thought, the anti-Trump Republicans at Bulwark and ex-MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, who champions 'adversarial journalism' on Zeteo. Television news essentially left Megyn Kelly for dead after her switch from Fox News to NBC went bust. She launched a podcast in 2020, at first audio only, and SiriusXM picked it up as a daily radio show. She added video for YouTube in 2021, and gets more than 100 million viewers a month for commentary and newsmaker interviews. This year, Kelly launched her own company, MK Media, with shows hosted by Mark Halperin, Maureen Callahan and Link Lauren. While they thrive, the prospect of layoffs, audiences that are aging and becoming smaller and constant worry about disappearing revenue sources are a way of life for legacy media. Moving to independent media is still not an easy decision. Taking a deep breath, and making the leap 'If I'm going to jump off a cliff, is there water or not?' former 'Meet the Press' moderator Chuck Todd says. 'I didn't know until I left NBC. Everybody told me there would be water. But you don't know for sure until you jump.' It takes some adjustment — 'At first I was like, 'do you know who I used to be?'' Couric jokes — but some who have made the jump appreciate the nimbleness and flexibility of new formats and say news subjects often respond to the atmosphere with franker, more expansive interviews. Jim Acosta, who traded a CNN anchor desk for a video podcast he does from his home after deciding not to make a move he considered a demotion, says he's been surprised at the quality of guests he's been able to corral — people like Hakeem Jefferies, Pete Buttigieg and Sean Penn. Many podcasters succeed because they communicate authenticity, former Washington Post editor Marty Baron said in an interview at the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Traditional journalists trade on authority at a time people don't trust institutions anymore, he said. Couric has seen it in some of the feedback she gets from subscribers. 'There's some disenchantment with legacy media,' she says. 'There are certainly some people who are frustrated by the capitulation of some networks to the administration, and I think there's a sense that when you're involved in mainstream media that you may be holding back or there may be executives who are putting pressure on you.' Is there an audience — and money — on the other side? Substack says that more than 50 people are earning more than $1 million annually on its platform. More than 50,000 of its publishers make money, but since the company won't give a total of how many people produce content for the platform, it's impossible to get a sense of the odds of success. Alisyn Camerota isn't making money yet. The former CNN anchor left the broadcaster after she sensed her time there was running out. Blessed with a financial cushion, she's relishing the chance to create something new. She records a video podcast, 'Sanity,' from her basement in Connecticut. A former Fox colleague who lives nearby, Dave Briggs, joins to talk about the news. 'It's harder than you think in terms of having to DIY a lot of this,' Camerota says, 'but it's very freeing.' Different people on the platform have different price points; some publishers put everything they do behind a pay wall, others only some. Acosta offers content for free, but people need to pay to comment or discuss. Zeteo charges $12 a month or $72 a year, with a $500 'founding member' yearly fee that offers access to Mehdi. The danger for independent journalists is a market reaching a saturation point. People already stress over how many streaming services they can afford for entertainment. There's surely a limit to how many journalists they will pay for, too. 'I hope to make a living at this,' Acosta says. 'We'll see how it goes. This is a bit of an experiment. I think it's a valuable one because the stakes are so high right now.' A strong point of view is one route to success To succeed in independent media, people need a strong work work ethic, self-motivation and an ability to pivot quickly to deal with changing markets, says Chris Balfe, founder of Red Seat Ventures. He has created a thriving business ushering conservative media figures into the new world, including Kelly, Bill O'Reilly, Tucker Carlson and Piers Morgan. Balfe's clients all have strong opinions. That's a plus for consumers who want to hear their viewpoints reflected back at them. 'I think you need a point of view and a purpose,' Rubin says. 'Once you have that, it helps you to organize your thinking and your selections. You're not going to be all things to all people.' That's one of the things that concerns Acosta and Todd. They're looser, and they certainly say what they think more than they felt free to do on television; a remark Acosta made on June 17, while appearing on Rubin's podcast, about Trump marrying immigrants was criticized as 'distasteful' by the White House. But at heart, they consider themselves reporters and not commentators. Is there enough room for people like them? Todd has a podcast, a weekly interview show on the new platform Noosphere and is looking to build on an interest in improving the fortunes of local news. He believes that opinion can help someone build an audience quickly but may ultimately limit growth. As Rubin did, they will find out soon enough. 'As it turned out,' she says, 'what was on the other side was much more exciting and successful and absorbing than I could ever have imagined.' ___ David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at and
Sky News AU
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
White House condemns Jim Acosta after he jokes about Trump's dead ex-wife: ‘Disgraceful human being'
Ex-CNN correspondent Jim Acosta joked in an interview posted Monday about President Donald Trump's deceased former wife's burial site and called her an example of an immigrant "doing the jobs that Americans don't want to do." Acosta, speaking on a "No Kings" Day episode of "The Contrarian" podcast with Jennifer Rubin, blasted Trump not only for the ICE raids, but argued he is a hypocrite on the immigration issue because of his immigrant wives, including his late first wife Ivana. "Where are the ICE raids at the Trump properties? Could somebody call ICE on the Trump golf course in Virginia? You're telling me there's nobody in there that is undocumented or has some kind of squirreliness going on with their paperwork?" he asked in a clip flagged by reporter Jason Cohen. "Give me a break." "How many immigrants has he married? He's got one buried at his golf course in New Jersey! Isn't she buried by the first hole or the second tee or something like that?" he asked, as Rubin and left-wing reporter April Ryan laughed. "Immigrants always doing the jobs that Americans don't want to do!" he joked further. Ivana, who is the mother of the president's three eldest children, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric, is buried at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. She died in 2022. Jim Acosta joked on 'The Contrarian' podcast about one of President Donald Trump's ex-wives. Picture: 'The Contrarian' podcast White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital in response, "Jim Acosta is a disgraceful human being." Acosta, who left CNN in January, covered the White House for the network during Trump's first term and became one of his fiercest critics, often mixing on-air editorializing with his reporting. He's maintained his stridently left-wing tone since going independent this year. In recent weeks, Los Angeles, California, has become a powder keg of political controversy as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) performs raids throughout the sanctuary city. The Los Angeles Police Department has arrested a total of 575 individuals since the first weekend of protests, according to a media release. Authorities have battled protesters, hurling projectiles, setting fire to cars and launching fireworks at police officers in response to the ICE raids, with 10 members of law enforcement reporting injuries as of Monday, according to the LAPD. Originally published as White House condemns Jim Acosta as 'disgraceful human being' after he jokes about Trump's dead ex-wife
Time of India
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
'How many immigrants has he married?': Jim Acosta called 'disgraceful' as he makes jokes on Trump's dead wife
Jim Acosta said immigrants have always been doing what Americans don't want to do, making a joke on Trump's first wife Ivana Trump. Former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta made jokes about President Donald Trump's first wife Ivana Trump and questioned why there are no ICE raids at Trump properties. What started as his rant against the president's ICE raids turned into vile jokes, prompting the White House to issue a statement calling Acosta a "disgraceful human being". Acosta was speaking on a "No Kings" Day episode of The Contrarian podcast with Jennifer Rubin. He said Trump is a hypocrite on the immigration issue because of his immigrant wives. 'Where are the ICE raids at the Trump properties? Could somebody call ICE on the Trump golf course in Virginia? You're telling me there's nobody in there that is undocumented or has some kind of squirreliness going on with their paperwork?' he asked. 'How many immigrants has he married? He's got one buried at his golf course in New Jersey! Isn't she buried by the first hole or the second tee or something like that?' he asked. 'Immigrants always doing the jobs that Americans don't want to do!' he joked further. Ivana Trump, who is the mother of the president's three eldest children, Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric, is buried at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Eat 1 Teaspoon Every Night, See What Happens A Week Later [Video] getfittoday Undo She died in 2022. She lived in Canada in the 1970s before relocating to the United States and marrying Donald Trump in 1977. Trump's second wife Marla Maples, the mother of Tiffany, is an American actress, while his third wife, First Lady Melania Trump is a Slovenian by birth who became a US citizen after marrying Donald Trump. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital in response, 'Jim Acosta is a disgraceful human being.' Jim Acosta who covered the White House for CNN during Trump's first term left the network in January.
