With “Lover” Taylor Swift Says Goodbye
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty On October 24, 2006, Taylor Swift, all of 16 years old, released her debut album, Taylor Swift. The album peaked on the Billboard 200 at No. 5—a worthy spot for a debut album—and was eventually certified as seven-times platinum by RIAA. Since then, every single Swift album has peaked at No. 1 on…
Jeffrey Epstein, My Very, Very Sick Pal
Mother Jones illustration; Rick Friedman/Corbis/Getty Stuart Pivar, 89 years old, is an art collector and a controversial scientist who says Jeffrey Epstein was his “best pal for decades” until the two fell out, he told me, over allegations of Epstein’s sexual misconduct. Still, when we spoke last week, Pivar was in mourning for his old…
Stop Sharing Those Viral Photos of the Amazon Burning
Mother Jones Illustration The hashtag #AmazonRainforest was trending on Twitter Wednesday, with many users outraged that the mainstream media was not sufficiently reporting on the fires that have ravaged the world’s largest rainforest. There are very real fires burning in the Amazon and they do deserve more coverage, but there’s a big problem with this…
A Beloved Ballroom Queen. A Shocking Murder. Did “Pose” Get It Right?
Mother Jones illustration; FX Warning: This piece contains spoilers. In the fourth episode of season 2 of Pose, the history-making show about ball culture in ’80s and ’90s New York City, the beloved Candy Ferocity is killed by a john in a dingy motel room. This came as a shock: It was the first death…
Jeffrey Epstein’s Death Still Feels Unbelievable. According to an Expert, It Isn’t.
Uma Sanghvi/Palm Beach Post via AP More than a week after Jeffrey Epstein’s shocking death, which on Friday the New York City medical examiner concluded was a suicide by hanging, it still feels somewhat unbelievable. Even if you’re not in the camp of Trumpian conspiracies, there are a slew of legitimate questions about the the…
On the Road at Newport Folk Festival
One of the unique aspects of Newport Folk Festival, which this year celebrated its 60th anniversary, is the interconnected community of the artists who perform each year; there is a sense of musical camaraderie there among both the artists and the fans. A good percentage of performers in any given year are returning alumni, and…