‘Summer of Soul’ Festival Returns to Harlem in 2023

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticWhen Carrie Underwood’s band broke into the opening strains of “Sweet Child o’ Mine” at the Stagecoach Festival Saturday, it seemed like business as usual. The country superstar’s Guns N’ Roses fangirl-ism is well known, and she’s incorporated GNR numbers into her set on a regular basis before, even showing an aptitude for appropriating Axl Rose’s snaky frontman moves as her own.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticFor a headlining appearance at the Hollywood Bowl Sunday night, the group Haim does have two official support acts (Waxahatchee and Buzzy Lee). But for hometown fans who really want to make a full day of it, there’s an additional opening act: a screening just a couple of blocks down the hill of the complete tandem filmography of Haim and director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticThe Stagecoach Festival in the southern California desert is officially asking attendees to secede from any love they might have for the Confederate flag or any other “divisive symbols.”The Desert Sun newspaper noticed an addition to Goldenvoice’s Stagecoach website this year, on the General Resort Rules page that provides guidelines for those in the overnight camping areas. It reads: “No divisive symbols, including, without limitation, Confederate flags and racially disparaging or other inappropriate imagery/public displays.”Confederate imagery among fans has been a point of contention at the festival in the past, with some seeing the flag as a harmless symbol of Southern pride — even this many thousand miles away from the South — while others see it as a dog whistle for racism or an emblem of insurrection against the government.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticStagecoach has revealed the full lineup and schedule for the livestream that will go out this weekend on the country music festival’s YouTube channel, and it includes a number of artists that weren’t previously announced for the stream, offering couch sitters a nearly comprehensive view of what will be going down live in the California desert.The lineup includes the headliners — Thomas Rhett on Friday, Carrie Underwood on Saturday and Luke Combs on Sunday — as well as other marquee names that were named as part of the lineup earlier this week, like Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne, Margo Price, Cody Johnson, Yola, Lainey Wilson and the Black Crowes.It also now is revealed to have a substantial number of artists that weren’t previously included in the livestream announcement, including Tanya Tucker, Smokey Robinson, Jordan Davis, Lee Brice, Ingrid Andress, the Marcus King Band, Ryan Hurd, Charley Crockett, the Mavericks and Mitchell Tenpenny. Most of the lineup is now included, in fact, save for some of the artists who are appearing in the early part of the afternoon, including Americana artists such as Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Molly Tuttle and Waylon Payne.Brandi Carlile is off the bill, having disclosed in a social media video late Wednesday night that she has contracted COVID and won’t be making it.

Tika Sumpter, Comedian CP and Isha Blaaker are all joining the cast in recurring roles for the show's sophomore season.Additionally, Cree Summer and 's Ashley Blaine Featherson-Jenkins will join as guest stars.Based in Harlem, New York,  stars Amber Stevens West, Bresha Webb and Corbin Reid as three fiercely loyal friends who work to juggle the trials and tribulations of being successful career women while navigating their romantic relationships and their connections to one another. As the show's logline reads, «At its core, it’s an unapologetically female show about enviable friendship and not only surviving – but thriving together.»Sumpter will play Naomi, the biological mother of Amari (Ellie Reine), who has returned home from the Navy.

Christopher Vourlias Three years ago, the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival drew nearly 230,000 attendees to venues across Toronto. It was a record-breaking turnout, and a hopeful harbinger that even amid the growing disruption of streaming platforms, audiences were flocking more than ever before to North America’s largest documentary festival.It has not returned to cinemas since.After the coronavirus pandemic prompted a last-minute online pivot in 2020, Hot Docs was again forced to host a virtual fest last year.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorTravis Scott has announced his first festival appearances since the Astroworld tragedy, appearing at three installments of the Primavera Festival in South America this fall. The long-running festival, which launched in Spain but has since expanded to Southern California and South America, is being held in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Santiago, Chile and also features Bjork, Lorde and Arctic Monkeys (see the full lineup below).Sources tell Variety that he will be performing at “major” summer festivals in the summer, presumably in the U.S., but these are the first announced appearances.

So many movies are coming to Netflix this summer!

This May, The Greater Manchester (GM) Walking Festival will start for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Coinciding with National Walking Month, more than 200 free walks will be on offer.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Hong Kong International Film Festival will shift to new dates in August, having been postponed earlier this year due to the COVID pandemic.The 46th edition of the festival will take place Aug. 15-31, 2022, at multiple venues across the territory. Like last year’s HKIFF45, the hybrid festival will feature in-person and online screenings and events.The annual spin-off event, Cine Fan Summer International Film Festival, which usually takes place around the same time in August, will be shelved and likely return in 2023.The main HKIFF was scheduled to have started on March 31.

EXCLUSIVE: Producer Trevite Willis (Forty Year Old Version) and her production company Southern Fried Filmworks has optioned interior designer Sheila Bridges’ acclaimed book The Bald Mermaid: A Memoir in order to adapt Bridges’ remarkable personal story into a series.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticThe top of the bill at the forthcoming Pilgrimage Festival in Tennessee looks a little like a reprise of the recent Grammy Awards telecast, with Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile and Grammy king Jon Batiste all set to perform this September.From there, the festival takes a more decided skew toward Americana than it has in past years, although it also leans into other genres. The Avett Brothers are also among the headliners, on a lineup that includes Lake Street Dive, Celisse, Elle King, Dawes, Adia Victoria, Marty Stuart, Molly Tuttle, Butch Walker and Trampled by Turtles.Pilgrimage takes place Sept.

The Hide & Seek festival is returning to the beautiful grounds of the Capesthorne Hall estate in Cheshire. The electronic music festival brings some of the biggest names in underground dance music to the countryside just outside Macclesfield, as well as promoters from some of the city’s best parties.

Academy Awards ceremonies and are just steps away from the Dolby Theatre, the Oscars current home. Red lipstick and fedoras aren’t required, but many attendees like to use the occasion to dress to the nines and pay homage to the fashions of Hollywood’s golden age for spirited film screenings and talks.In addition to screenings of well-known standards like “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Tootsie,” “Spartacus” and “Paper Moon,” the schedule also boasts “obscure jewels” that aren’t widely available.“Our fans have eclectic tastes,” Chagnon said.

Pioneering hip hop artist Keith Grayson, who performed as DJ Kay Slay and worked with top stars, has died of complications from COVID-19. Grayson's death at age 55 on Sunday was confirmed by his family in a statement released through New York radio station HOT 97, where he hosted "The Drama Hour" for more than two decades.

NEW YORK -- Pioneering hip hop artist Keith Grayson, who performed as DJ Kay Slay and worked with top stars, has died of complications from COVID-19.Grayson's death at age 55 on Sunday was confirmed by his family in a statement released through New York radio station HOT 97, where he hosted “The Drama Hour” for more than two decades.“A dominant figure in hip hop culture with millions of fans worldwide, DJ Kay Slay will be remembered for his passion and excellence with a legacy that will transcend generations,” the family statement said.Grayson grew up in Harlem, immersed in New York City's early hip hop scene. He got his start as a teenage graffiti artist and was featured in the 1983 hip hop documentary “Style Wars."He began selling bootleg mixtapes on street corners in the early '90s and released his first studio album, “The Streetsweeper, Vol.

Keith Grayson, the influential hip hop mixtape artist, graffiti icon and New York radio host known professionally as DJ Kay Slay, died on Sunday. He was 55. Grayson’s family confirmed the news Monday after he had been battling Covid-19.

Questlove’s decorated documentary Summer Of Soul – will be revived and reimagined as the Harlem Festival of Culture in 2023.Per Billboard, the Harlem Festival of Culture will be an annual affair kicking off in the summer of 2023. It will take place at Marcus Garvey Park, the same site that hosted the original 1969 festival that was the subject of Questlove’s film.

Summer Of Soul (… Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), the Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson-directed film that won the Oscar and the Grammy for documenting 1969’s now-famed Harlem Cultural Festival, has inspired a reboot of the landmark music event.