ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, JULY 26, 2021 NEWS/FEATURES 13 People & Places Music Crosby taps talented friends Shawhan displays commanding alto By Steven Wine enny Shawhan, “Don’t Be Afraid” (24 Angels/ JCoastal Bend Music ) Jenny Shawhan has a big voice and knows how to use it. “Let me soar,” she sings on her new album as she does just that. “Don’t Be Afraid” showcases the Denver-based Shawhan’s alto, a commanding, captivating instru- ment that conveys both strength and vulnerability, and can put on the twang. She wrote or cowrote all 10 tunes, and the theme is where need begins and ends. Several songs serve as a declaration of independence, including “I Do It for Me,” a tale of liberation and occasion- al libation. “Don’t You Tell Me What to Do” is a chip-kicker Shawhan sings with her fi st, and the power ballad “You Can’t Hurt Me Now” peaks with a dan- dy kiss-off line: “You never even knew me, and you re- ally missed out.” Best of all is Shawhan Shawhan’s sassy rendering of “Daddy’s Got a Briefcase,” a business story. John Macy produced, and there’s variety to ar- In this Aug. 22, 2019 fi le photo, Mick Jagger, (center), performs with his Rolling Stones bandmates, (from left), Ron Wood, Charlie Watts and Keith Richards during rangements elevated by his pedal steel, as well as their concert at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. The Stones announced Thursday, July 22, that they will relaunch their US tour on Sept. 26 in St. Louis. Their horns, piano and bluesy organ. Above it all, Shawhan revived tour will include some new dates in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and a show at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. (AP) fl ies high. ❑ ❑ ❑ “For Free,” by David Crosby (BMG) Television David Crosby gets by with a little help from his friends, including Donald Fagen of Steely Dan and former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald, on “For Free,” a deeply felt, and expertly conceived album that drops just shy of Croz’s 80th birthday. Look back in laughter Crosby’s son, James Raymond, produced the album and also penned the touching fi nal track “I Won’t Stay for Long.” “I’m facing the squall line/Of a thousand year ‘The Daily Show’ celebrates at 25 storm,” Crosby sings. “I don’t know if I’m dying/Or about to be born but/I’d like to be with you today.” NEW YORK, July 25, (AP): Long be- news like “That Was the Week That never intended to be fi nal but won by His voice sounds as strong as ever on the slickly fore there was fake news, there was a Was,” “Weekend Update” on “Sat- default. Options included “The Daily produced record that sounds both current and at times fake news show. urday Night Live” and HBO’s ”Not Scope,” “The Daily Roundup” and even like a 1970s time capsule. Comedy Central’s “The Daily Necessarily the News.” But despite its “The Daily Poop” but nothing felt right. That’s most true on the Fagen-written “Rodriguez This cover image released by 24 Show” launched 25 years ago this popularity and endurance, neither co- “We never came up with a better For a Night,” which could easily have found a home Angels/Coastal Bend Music shows month, dedicated to skewering jour- creator sees much change in the way title. Basically, it was always called on a Steely Dan album. McDonald, the grandfather ‘Don’t Be Afraid’ by Jenny Shawhan. nalism and warning viewers about how TV news operates. ‘The Daily Show’ because it was a de- of the smooth light rock sound known as yacht rock, (AP) they take in their news. “We couldn’t have handed the me- scription of what we were doing,” said lends his backing vocals to “River Rise,” the soaring “We became the watchdogs of the dia a bigger mirror with which to look Smithberg. album opener, which he also co-wrote. watchdog,” said co-creator Lizz Win- at themselves and say, ‘I guess we need The TV landscape when “The Dai- On the beautiful title track, “For Free,” Crosby re- stead. “Nobody had done it before so to self-correct,’” said Winstead. “And ly Show” made its debut on July 22, turns to the 1970 Joni Mitchell song that he also sang the world was our oyster.” instead, a lot of cable news was like, 1996, was evolving. CNN was well- as a member of The Byrds in 1973. This time he’s Over the years, “The Daily Show” ’Oh, what people want in the news is established, MSNBC had just started joined by Texas singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz on a — fi rst hosted by Craig Kilborn, then wacky graphics.’” as a 24-hour network and Fox would pared down version that’s more faithful to the original. Jon Stewart and now Trevor Noah — Winstead had always been a come- follow. With not much to fi ll all those It’s a highlight on a solid effort that fi nds Crosby has skewered the left and right by mak- dian mining social and political humor, hours, many turned to prurient topics hitting emotional highs in the twilight of his storied ing the media a character and playing but it took the way CNN covered the and became easy fodder for satire. career. it absolutely straight, no matter how fi rst Gulf War that led her to “The The show’s long-term legacy as a ❑ ❑ ❑ ridiculous. Daily Show.” talent incubator is sterling. It became The Mountain Goats, “Dark in Here” (Merge) Co-creator Madeleine Smithberg On the fi rst night of the confl ict — a launching pad for the likes of Aasif “Dark in Here” was recorded in 2020, that calami- explains their a-ha moment: “What if Winstead was at a bar on an unfortu- Mandvi, Jon Oliver, Larry Wilmore, tous year of fear and mistrust. It shows. Weinstein Kelly we pretend we are them? And the more nate blind date — the cable network Jordan Klepper and Samantha Bee. High anxiety fi lls the Mountain Goats’ new album, serious we act, the absolute more ridic- played martial music, threw up lots of Critics have sometimes complained the product of sessions held in Muscle Shoals, Ala- ulous we can be? We can satirize the snazzy graphics and seemed to relish that “The Daily Show” has bred cyni- bama, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. So for- news industry along with the news.” the confl ict. cism, a charge the co-creators reject. Variety Winstead and Smithberg are celebrat- The show didn’t intend to be a fact- give the band for thinking time might be running out. Coverage “Spores at play deep down in our lungs,” frontman ing the silver anniversary on Monday checker or a truth-teller but morphed John Darnielle sings on the opening cut, “Parisian En- with a 90-minute streaming celebration “There was a purposefulness to into one because the TV media de- NEW YORK: Federal prosecutors in R. clave.” that will include special guests, a Q&A making this coverage seem almost like volved, they argue. Kelly’s sex traffi cking case say he had and appearances from the fi rst corre- it was a video game or a TV show,” “Where people should have chan- “You will always have been here once,” Darnielle contact with an underage boy in addition notes near the album’s conclusion. spondents: A. Whitney Brown, Beth Lit- she recalled. “I was thinking, ‘Are they neled their anger is at the media, to girls, and the government wants jurors trying to report on a war or try to sell The music is fatalistic, but full of life. Humor leav- in his upcoming sex traffi cking trial to hear tleford and Brian Unger. Proceeds will whose job it is every single day in ens the mood, as is clear from such song titles as “Ar- those claims. benefi t Abortion Access Front. me a war?’” newspapers and in their 24-hour-news guing With the Ghost of Peter Laughner About His Prosecutors aired a wide-ranging raft While Winstead left as head writer She later happened to move into the channels to give us a smarter elector- Coney Island Baby Review” and “The Destruction of of additional allegations — but not new before Stewart took over as host in same New York apartment building as ate,” said Winstead. the Kola Superdeep Borehole Tower.” charges — against the R&B star in a court 1999, Smithberg stayed for more than Smithberg, who had worked on David Smithberg points to one moment Musically, the Goats have never been better. Melo- fi ling Friday. Jury selection is due to start seven years, hiring such key talent Letterman’s late-night show and was in particular when the show seemed dies grab hold, and the conspiratorial tone of Darn- Aug 9 in a New York federal court for as Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Ed producing an MTV show with Stewart. to turn a corner — the 2000 US elec- ielle’s vocals fi ts the material. There’s an appealing Kelly, who denies ever abusing anyone. Helms, Rob Corddry, Mo Rocca and Smithberg asked Winstead if she’d be a tion. When Florida became undecided, depth to the arrangements, which include keyboards A message was sent Saturday to his Lewis Black. segment producer and she agreed. When it triggered a weekslong recount that by Muscle Shoals legend Spooner Oldham and occa- lawyers about the additional allegations.