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. The co-creators built a show that that show was canceled, the two then “The Daily Show” carefully detailed sional backing vocals that echo Steely Dan, along with The Grammy Award-winning singer is would go on to win dozens of Emmys, went on to create “The Daily Show.” in all its absurdity. the stellar drumming of Jon Wurster. charged with leading what prosecutors call two Peabody Awards and honors from They pointed to two things that “It was during that time that ‘The As toxins, demons and imaginations run wild, the a criminal enterprise of managers, body- the Writer’s Guild, the NAACP and made their job easier. One, Comedy Daily Show,’ as you know and love Mountain Goats try to fi nd the light. guards and other employees who allegedly GLAAD. They established a format Central gave them a full year to work it, emerged,” she said. “That’s when helped him recruit women and girls and to that proved sturdy enough to outlast out the bugs, meaning less pressure for the legitimate media really fell in love “Life is short, and life is hard,” Darnielle sings, exercise a lot of control over them. “and life is sweet.” various hosts. ratings and a workplace guarantee that with us because we were the only ones The charges involve six different women “They got to just move into the could attract talent. that could show how not normal this Also: and girls, who aren’t named in court fi lings. Now, prosecutors would also like jurors house and not worry about the plumb- Second was the presence of Unger, a situation was.” NASHVILLE, Tenn.: In his fi rst interview in six to hear about more than a dozen other ing and not worry about the roof. What former CBS veteran who had become It ultimately led to fake journalists months, disgraced country star Morgan Wallen said people whom the government alleges that they could just do is start decorating disillusioned with TV journalism. He from “The Daily Show” being inter- it was ignorant of him to use a racial slur. Kelly sexually or physically abused, threat- and then start adding to it and then just taught the staff the tricks of the trade: viewed and featured by real journal- During an interview with Michael Strahan on ened or otherwise mistreated. really having the parties they wanted,” The furrowed brow, the serious listen- ists: “That was kind of a surreal mo- ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Friday, Wallen Among them, the government says, was said Winstead. ing face, the nodding, the pursing of ment because the show that’s just like said he didn’t use it in a derogatory manner, but it was a 17-year-old boy and aspiring musician The show was an evolutionary leap the lips and the camera turns. poking holes in the media is suddenly still wrong. whom Kelly met at a McDonald’s in De- from previous attempts to skewer The working title of the show was the media darling.” said Smithberg. Wallen was already one of the genre’s biggest stars, cember 2006 and later invited to his Chi- with crossover hits like “Whiskey Glasses,” when the cago studio. After asking the boy what he video was posted on TMZ in February. Wallen previ- would do to make it in the music business, Kelly propositioned and had ... contact with Weinstein spoke only to say “thank you” coast, and the possibility of another lengthy to 2013. Most are said to have taken ously apologized for using the slur and radio stations to Judge Sergio Tapia, who wished him sentence. place in the hotels in Beverly Hills and and streaming services temporarily dropped him from him while he was still underage, according to prosecutors’ court fi ling. good luck as the hearing ended. Weinstein’s indictment involves fi ve Los Angeles that the New York-based playlists, but his album sales surged. The fi ling doesn’t say whether the youth He now awaits a second trial on a second women in incidents spanning from 2004 Weinstein would make his headquarters He was disqualifi ed from the Academy of Country did so. Kelly was acquitted in that case. for Hollywood business. Some took place Music Awards, but remains eligible for several awards The boy also introduced Kelly to a 16- during Oscars week, when his fi lms were at the upcoming Country Music Association Awards. or 17-year-old male friend, with whom perennial contenders before the #MeToo He has since returned to Billboard’s country airplay prosecutors say the singer began a relation- movement brought him down. chart with his fi rst single since the incident and his ship several years later. Kelly also fi lmed Werksman told the judge that he was album, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” remains the two youths in sexual encounters with fi ling documents requesting the dismissal the most popular album released this year across all other people, including some of Kelly’s of three of the counts, saying they were genres. girlfriends, according to the fi ling. beyond the statute of limitations. Wallen told Strahan that he had been drinking all Prosecutors wrote that the accounts of “They’re baseless, they’re from long, weekend leading up to the night in February. the boys and others would help show that long ago, they’re uncorroborated,” Werks- “I was around some of my friends, and we say the actual charges “were not isolated events man said of the charges after the hearing. and were part of a larger pattern.” “We are confi dent that if we have a fair dumb stuff together,” said Wallen. “In our minds, it’s trial he will be acquitted.” playful. That’s sounds ignorant but that’s really where The multiplatinum-selling singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, is known for work The women were not identifi ed in the it came from. And it’s wrong.” indictment. He denied using the term frequently and said he including the 1996 hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and the cult classic “Trapped in the Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents only used it around a certain group of friends. Closet,” a multi-part tale of sexual betrayal two of them, said the age of the incidents After Strahan explained some of the historical con- and intrigue. (AP) was not a factor in their truth. text behind the term, Strahan asked Wallen directly ❑ ❑ ❑ The terms of Weinstein’s extradition whether he understood why it makes Black people so require that his trial begin by November. upset. LOS ANGELES: Harvey Weinstein plead- Werksman said Weinstein had yet to waive “I don’t know how to put myself in their shoes be- ed not guilty in a Los Angeles courtroom to that right. But it would be unusual for cause I’m not, you know, but I do understand,” Wallen four counts of rape and seven other sexual the trial to begin that quickly. Weinstein said. “Especially when I say that I’m using it play- assault counts. returns to court for a motions hearing next fully, or whatever, ignorantly, I understand that must Sheriff’s deputies brought the 69-year- week. sound like ‘He doesn’t understand.’” old convicted rapist into court in a A New York jury found Weinstein guilty Wallen said since the incident he took time off and wheelchair. He was wearing a brown jail of raping an aspiring actress in 2013 in a went to rehab. When album sales spiked following the jumpsuit and face mask. Attorney Mark Jon Stewart, winner of the awards for outstanding writing for a variety series Manhattan hotel room at his Manhattan Werksman entered the plea for the dis- and outstanding variety talk show for ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’, poses apartment. industry’s condemnation of him, he decided to donate graced movie mogul a day after Weinstein in the press room at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 20, 2015 in He is appealing that conviction, seeking around $500,000 to organizations including Black was extradited to California from New Los Angeles. Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show,’ launched 25 years ago this a new trial. Weinstein maintains his inno- Music Action Coalition. (AP) York, where he was serving a 23-year month, dedicated to skewering journalism and warning viewers about how they cence and contends that any sexual activity prison term. take in their news. (AP) was consensual. (AP)