Shirley Wang, writing at NPR:

When Charles Barkley’s mother, Charcey Glenn, passed away in June 2015, Barkley’s hometown of Leeds, Alabama, came to the funeral to pay respects. But there was also an unexpected guest.

Barkley’s friends couldn’t quite place him. He wasn’t a basketball player, he wasn’t a sports figure, and he wasn’t from Barkley’s hometown. Here’s what I can tell you about him: He wore striped, red polo shirts tucked into khaki shorts and got really excited about two-for-one deals. He was a commuter. He worked as a cat litter scientist in Muscatine, Iowa. In short, he was everyone’s suburban dad. More specifically, he was my dad.

This was a great read.

Lauren Levy, writing for Vulture:

But despite the artist’s problematic pasts (and, for some, present), the labels have come running. That’s because these musicians have acquired relevance and cultural cachet, but even more so because of their financial potential. They bathe in an ocean of endless streams, the most valuable currency in today’s music industry.

Kaitlyn Tiffany, writing for Vox:

Looking at the past several years of the charts, this polarization looks like more than garden-variety cultural sexism — it looks like something new that our algorithm-based platforms have wrought. The biggest question facing Spotify in the coming year should be whether it can do something about it.

Bobby Olivier, writing for NJ:

It’s being swept under the stage, gig after gig, weekend after weekend, in the bars, clubs and basements that weave together New Jersey’s local music scene.

Female musicians say they have been stalked, groped and relentlessly demeaned in an arts community with no controls in place to report such abusers. They feel collective frustration and invalidation. They are sick of being diminished and ignored.

Sacha Goldberger has made a series of superhero portraits as if they were 16th-century Flemish paintings.