Drummer Riley Breckenridge breaks down Thrice’s first album in five years, To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere, and how being present in the moment has reinvigorated the band to come back as strong as ever.
Madonna and Stevie Wonder Perform “Purple Rain”
Madonna and Stevie Wonder paid tribute to Prince at the Billboard Music Awards last night. You’ll find their performance of “Purple Rain” below.
Adele – “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” Video
Adele has released her new video for “Send My Love (To Your New Lover).”
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Thrice – “Death From Above”
Thrice premiered “Death From Above” on BBC1 this morning.
Courtney Barnett on Saturday Night Live
Courtney Barnett performed on Saturday Night Live last night. You’ll find the videos below.
Chewbacca Talking Masks Selling Out Everywhere
Brad Esposito, writing for Buzzfeed, on how the famous Chewbacca talking masks are now selling out all over the place. I want one.
The mask is now out of stock at Target, Walmart, Toys R Us, and Kohl’s, meaning you’ll have to turn to eBay if you’re desperate, where prices continue to rocket well beyond the original $20 to $30. In less than two days, more than 100 million people have watched a video of Texas mom Candace Payne trying on a Chewbacca mask in her car and laughing hysterically.
A Thorn For Every Heart Playing Reunion Show
A Thorn For Every Heart are playing a show with A Static Lullaby on June 17th at The Roxy in Hollywood. I feel like I took a nap and woke up in 2004.
Misery Signals Announce Summer Tour Dates
Misery Signals have announced summer tour dates with their original lineup. You can find the dates below.
Are Mis-Gendered Band Names ‘Ironic’ or Sexist?
Kayleigh Hughes, writing for The Establishment, on the topic of mis-gendered band names:
Women and nonbinary people are desperate to see ourselves in, well, any kind of pop culture. We’ve created organizations around the world such as Girls Rock Austin, Gender Amplified, and Girls Inc to try to work toward a future where seeing women making music, working in tech, appearing onscreen, or working behind the scenes is normalized and not othered. So, when members of dominant cultural groups take terms used to describe us or our bodies, such as “girls” or “pussy,” this works against that goal by pushing us out of even lingual spaces. Even our words aren’t ours anymore; they’re being snatched back and reappropriated by those who already have so much.
If you’re thinking, “oh god another think piece,” I would beg you to reconsider and give this a full read, it’s well researched and well argued.
The National on CBS This Morning
The National appeared on CBS This Morning to discuss the Grateful Dead tribute album and perform “Peggy-O.”
‘Star Trek Beyond’ Trailer #2
Star Trek Beyond has released a new trailer, thankfully it’s much better than the last. The movie will hit theaters on July 22nd.
The New Scrabble Strategy
The Wall Street Journal, with an interesting article about how Nigeria is changing the strategy of Scrabble:
Nigeria is beating the West at its own word game, using a strategy that sounds like Scrabble sacrilege. By relentlessly studying short words, this country of 500 languages has risen to dominate English’s top lexical contest.
Last November, for the final of Scrabble’s 32-round World Championship in Australia, Nigeria’s winningest wordsmith, Wellington Jighere, defeated Britain’s Lewis Mackay, in a victory that led morning news broadcasts in his homeland half a world away.
I’m always fascinated by new ways of thinking and strategizing at games that seem to have had the same techniques for years.
The Aces – “Stuck”
The Aces’ debut single “Stuck” can be heard below.
Museum Mouth – “I Scream At You When You’re Not In The Room” Video
Museum Mouth have released a video for their song “I Scream At You When You’re Not In The Room.”
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Sponsor: Thank You Creep Records
My thanks to Creep Records and Jank for sponsoring Chorus this week to promote the release of the band’s album, Awkward Pop Songs, on vinyl. The album is now out and you should definitely be giving this one a look. Also, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart’s Hell EP (featuring a cover of Tori Amos’s “China”) is available and limited to 500 on an oxblood/black color vinyl.