Dua Lipa performs during the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Feb. 4, 2024. Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy. If you’re a regular reader of this column, you may have noticed that I’m often profoundly lazy. For example, in 2021 I…

Tupac Shakur performs at the Regal Theater in Chicago in March 1994. Photo: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images. Back in May, rather than covering uplifting songs about how important mothers are, my Mother’s Day column consisted of songs that you should not play at your mom’s party. Since I am fair,…

Ankor, courtesy. This week we’ve got metal from Ankor and Klokwise, some guitar-driven instrumentals from LA LOM, a bit of throwback funk and soul from Moonalice and Mallow Hill, and Beauty in Chaos bringing the ’80s back. LA LOM, “Danza de LA LOM” — First thing’s first: that’s LA LOM,…

Taken aboard Apollo 8 by William Anders, this iconic picture shows Earth peeking out from beyond the lunar surface as the first crewed spacecraft circumnavigated the Moon, with astronauts Anders, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell aboard. Astronaut William Anders died in a plane crash in Washington state this week…

The Offspring performs during BottleRock Napa Valley at the Napa Valley Expo on May 26, 2024. Steve Carlson/STAFF. For reasons nobody can adequately explain or defend, Google has shoehorned a chatbot into their search product and refused to let us make it go away. I’m sure most of us…

Ed Sheeran performs during BottleRock Napa Valley at the Napa Valley Expo on May 26, 2024. Photos: Steve Carlson/STAFF and Matt Pang/STAFF. NAPA — It was just a couple of songs into Ed Sheeran’s headlining BottleRock set when he told a story of his first hit, “The A Team,”…

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland at a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. on May 23, 2024. In a lawsuit, the Department of Justice seeks to break up Live Nation, alleging that the parent company of Ticketmaster has hurt consumers and violated antitrust laws by…

The Soul Rebels, courtesy. First order of business is my final Eurovision 2024 commentary: Estonia was robbed. BottleRock is next weekend. I already gave you my highlights when the lineup was announced, but if you’re going, of course you’re gonna see Stevie Nicks and Pearl Jam. What you need…

Eminem First, as a follow-up to last week’s column of “Eurovision” favorites, an update: The final isn’t until noon on May 11, but of our top 10, only eight countries are still in it. Iceland and San Marino won’t be there. San Marino was easily my second-favorite, but its…

Angelina Mango performs at Fabrique in Milan, Italy on April 17, 2024. She’s representing Italy in Eurovision Song Contest. Photo by Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images. It’s “Eurovision” Week! Admittedly, when I first started writing about it, it was to brag about how much better the United States is…