AP Entertainment
AP-Entertainment
Steven Soderbergh: ‘I’m the cockroach of this industry. I can survive any version of it’
NEW YORK (AP) — Steven Soderbergh isn’t just the director and cinematographer of his latest film. He’s also, in a way, its central character. “Presence” is filmed from the POV of a ghost inside a home a family has just moved into. Soderbergh, who serves as his own cinematographer under the pseudonym Peter Andrews, essentially performs as the presence, a floating point-of-view that watches as the violence that killed the mysterious ghost threatens to be repeated. For even the prolific Soderbergh, the film was a unique challenge — particularly since it meant he ruined more takes than any of the actors. Neon releases “Presence” in theaters Friday.
Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen lead the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Award nominations
NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen lead the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Award nominations with 10. They are followed closely by Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter and Post Malone with nine. The iHeartRadio Music Awards honor the most played artists of the year on its stations and app. Lady Gaga will receive the innovator award. Mariah Carey will be celebrated with the icon award. Swift’s Eras Tour will be honored as “tour of the century” at the award show. The 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards will air live from Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 17 at 8 p.m. EDT on FOX. It will also air on iHeartRadio stations across the U.S. and on the app.
Everything you need to know about the 2025 Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — The annual Sundance Film Festival begins Thursday in Park City, Utah. Many in the movie business continue to deal with the devastating fallout from the Los Angeles-area wildfires, but some are decamping to the mountains for fresh air, new films and community. The festival has a robust slate of nearly 90 feature films, many of which will be available to stream online during the second week. It’s also a time of change for the Robert Redford-founded festival, which will be announcing its plans for a new host city sometime in the first quarter of this year. Sundance runs through Feb. 2.
George Clinton, The Doobie Brothers, Mike Love and more get into Songwriters Hall of Fame
NEW YORK (AP) — George Clinton, The Doobie Brothers, Ashley Gorley, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, The Beach Boys’ Mike Love and Tony Macaulay make up the 2025 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees. It is an inspiring mix of funk, rock, R&B, country and beyond. The 2025 Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on June 12 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969 to honor those creating the popular music. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.
Climate change concert event ‘Dear Everything’ hopes to inspire unity
NEW YORK (AP) — V, the playwright formerly Eve Ensler, is hoping her new piece of theater can do for climate change what her “The Vagina Monologues” did for women’s rights. There’s a one-night-only staging of “Dear Everything” later this month, with actors and activists Jane Fonda and Rosario Dawson speaking to the crowd. It will play Manhattan’s Terminal 5 on Jan. 30. The concert-musical hybrid has songs by Justin Tranter and Caroline Pennell, choreography by Christiana Hunt and direction by Tony Award-winner Diane Paulus. V will play the narrator for a story with 10 singers as well as a youth choir.
A$AP Rocky’s lawyers look to find favorable jury as trial begins on charges he fired on ex-friend
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nearly 100 jurors will pack into a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday with the possibility they’ll serve on the three-week trial of rapper A$AP Rocky, who is charged with firing a gun at a former friend. Opening statements in the case will begin once a jury is seated. Rocky turned down a plea offer of six months in jail and other relatively minor penalties, and will instead risk a guilty verdict and a years-long prison sentence. The hip-hop star, fashion mogul and actor is the longtime partner of Rihanna, who is the mother of his two young sons. All the potential jurors said they could set aside their celebrity status.
Conductor Raphaël Pichon makes delayed New York debut at age 40
NEW YORK (AP) — Conductor Raphaël Pichon makes his New York debut at age 40 on Thursday night, leading the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. His American debut had been scheduled for March 2020 but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. A former violin player and singer, he conducted his first U.S. performance at Boston in December 2021. Pichon is regarded as among the top emerging conductors. He is married to soprano Sabine Devieilhe. Pichon founded Pygmalion Pygmalion in 2006. It performs 60-70 concerts per year, including at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Dutch National Opera and Paris’ Opéra-Comique.
Van Beirendonck offers a theatrical ode to surreal sartorialism in Paris menswear collection
PARIS (AP) — Walter Van Beirendonck, one of the last standing designers of the legendary Antwerp Six, delivered a menswear show Wednesday that blended surreal whimsy with biting social commentary at Paris Fashion Week. As models paraded in oversized beige bowler hats and loose ’70s check suits with retro boho collars, the collection danced between nostalgia and avant-garde theatrics. While his spectacles won’t appeal to traditional tastes, his ability to channel personal and societal tensions into bold, wearable art remains unparalleled.
Garth Hudson, master instrumentalist and last surviving member of The Band, dies at 87
NEW YORK (AP) — Garth Hudson, the Band’s virtuoso keyboardist and all-around musician, has died at age 87. Hudson, the eldest and last survivor of the group which once backed Bob Dylan, has died at age 87. A rustic man with an expansive forehead and sprawling beard, Hudson was a classically trained performer who played piano, synthesizers, horns and his favored Lowrey organ. No matter the song, Hudson summoned just the right feeling or shading, whether the tipsy clavinet and wah-wah pedal on “Up On Cripple Creek” or the melancholy saxophone on “It Makes No Difference.” Hudson’s death was confirmed Tuesday by The Canadian Press, which cited Hudson’s friend, Jan Haust.
What is FireAid, the LA wildfire benefit concert featuring Billie Eilish, Stevie Wonder and more?
NEW YORK (AP) — FireAid is a star-studded benefit concert organized for Los Angeles-area wildfire relief. It will take over the Intuit Dome and Kia Forum on Jan. 30th. The concerts kick off at 6 p.m. Pacific at the Forum, and 90 minutes later at the Intuit Dome. Performers include Billie Eilish, Jelly Roll, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Lil Baby, Peso Pluma, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell and many more. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday at 12 pm Pacific via Ticketmaster. They start at $99. Fees have been waived to ensure all sales benefit FireAid relief efforts. It will be broadcast, streamed and shown at select AMC Theatre locations in the U.S.
