This is the eighth installment of Rolling Stone’sMusic in Crisisseries, which looks at how people all across the music industry are coping with thecoronavirus pandemic. On March 3rd, Victor Alarcon traveled to Rovaniemi, in the Finnish Lapland, a region so frigid and remote that it proclaims itself the home of …
Read More »Charli XCX Drops Ode to Her Boyfriend 'I Finally Understand'
Charli XCX appeared on Apple Beats 1 with Zane Lowe to discuss her latest quarantine single, “I Finally Understand,” and to chat about how self-isolation with her boyfriend has brought them closer together. “The song is basically about [how] me and my boyfriend are quarantined together during this time,” she …
Read More »Watch Dave Grohl Surprise ER Nurse With Intimate 'Everlong' Performance
Frontline medical workers come face-to-face with the coronavirus daily as more and more cases flood U.S. hospitals. Jimmy Kimmel brought one such worker, ER nurse TJ Riley, on Jimmy Kimmel Live Monday to show his appreciation — and dole out a pretty big surprise. Riley, who also survived COVID-19, works …
Read More »Third Man Records Relaunches At-Home Live Performance Series
Last month, Third Man Records launched Third Man Public Access, broadcasting live performances by artists and bands at the label’s headquarters in Nashville. The series was meant to be a salve to the increasingly dire coronavirus pandemic; as live events were getting canceled left and right, Third Man jumped at …
Read More »Michelle Obama Announces Storytime Series, 'Mondays With Michelle Obama'
For one magical month, Michelle Obama will host an online series in which she reads children’s books out loud every Monday. Mondays With Michelle Obama, in partnership with Penguin Young Readers, Random House Children’s Books and PBS Kids, will kick off on April 20th and conclude on May 11th. The …
Read More »Promoters Want Live Music to Return This Fall. Not So Fast, Say Medical Experts
When Goldenvoice, the concert promoter behind Coachella, postponed the giant music festival until October over coronavirus fears, many fans understandably assumed that it meant the pandemic would be a crippling, but temporary, speed bump for the live music industry. As other major festivals like Bonnaroo and Summerfest followed suit and …
Read More »When Will We See At-Home COVID-19 Testing?
If we’re going to slow down the coronavirus pandemic and get people out of their homes and safely back to work, experts agree part of what’s needed is widespread testing. Right now, you can only get a test at a hospital or clinic, however, so widespread testing would potentially expose …
Read More »The President and the Plague
This story appears in the May 2020 issue of Rolling Stone, on newsstands May 5th. While Americans died of the modern plague, President Trump sang happy birthday to a fading Fox News personality. On March 7th, a who’s who of the Republican establishment gathered at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s lavish retreat in …
Read More »Record Stores: Coronavirus 'Could Be the Death Knell' for Indie Retailers
The day before Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a stay-at-home order over the coronavirus, Reckless Records buyer Matt Jencik felt anxious. Over the previous week, Jencik’s chain of three Chicago music stores, which employ about 40 people, had been playing chicken with the inevitable: closing its doors. But Jencik was …
Read More »R. Kelly's Request for Release on Bail Due to COVID-19 Denied by Judge
A federal judge in New York has denied R. Kelly‘s request to be released from prison on bail due to the COVID-19 crisis. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Anne Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York ruled the singer must remain in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in …
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