Cynthia Erivo (left) and Ariana Grande in “Wicked.” Universal Pictures. I’ll be staying away from theaters showing “Wicked” like they’re hospital Covid wards fresh out of masks. Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF. It appears singing in the theater is a thing, which makes sense because “Wicked” was a beloved Broadway musical,…

Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF. You don’t want to hear about the election unless you had a big worm crawl in your brain and prompt you to vote incorrectly (which might earn you a cabinet post) and I don’t want to talk about it. Especially since my week would’ve sucked even…

Clark County Election Department poll workers check in voters at a table as people vote at the Meadows Mall in Las Vegas on Oct. 21, 2024. Original photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images. Tuesday will likely be a rampaging angry clown show. The whole election has been, as were the…

Alex Van Halen, “Brothers.” Alex Van Halen certainly understands how to keep an audience wanting more. Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF. Brothers Alex Van Halen Harper Get it on Amazon. His new book, “Brothers” lasts 226 pages. Sammy Hagar, the guy who came along and likely saved the band when David…

Liam Payne photographed in London on June 8, 2023. Photo: Annabel’s. It’s shameful we can’t express how we feel about people until they’re not around to hear it. Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF. I know; if people start doing that all randomly, everyone would start freaking out. But it’s a nice…

Insert Foot on the Jane’s Addiction kerfuffle. The Interwebs sure caught fire Saturday morning. Hysterical people were suffering nervous breakdowns as if their beloved pets were being devoured by marauding immigrants, once that video went public of Perry Farrell pushing his skinny little rocker chest into Dave Navarro’s skinny…

Isaac Hayes in New York City in 1972. Photo by Anthony Barboza/Getty Images. You ever wonder what horrors are ensconced in Donald Trump’s personal playlist? That’s a trick question. I seriously doubt he understands what a playlist is. It’s not even his rapidly-advancing age. He almost certainly doesn’t understand…

Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony and Jason Bonham perform at Toyota Pavilion in Concord, Calif. on Aug 17, 2024. CONCORD, Calif. — Rumors swirled the past year or two, and the Van Halen camp couldn’t agree on how to pay tribute to a generation’s greatest rock guitarist. Sammy…

Foo Fighters perform at Toyota Pavilion in Concord, Calif. on Aug 13, 2024. CONCORD, Calif. — Rarely does a skinny middle-aged man with long hair get away with approaching a crowd of more than 12,000 people, point their way and promise he and his five buddies are going to…

Aerosmith performs at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Sept. 2, 2023. Another pillar of American rock and roll got worn out and collapsed this week, wobbling the foundation and making us wonder how to replace it. Insert Foot’s Tony Hicks. But first, let’s recognize more than a half…