On Nov. 17-22, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) Rose Cinemas will present the Masc film series, per a press release. Spotlighting the stories and lives of trans men, butch lesbians and gender-nonconforming heroes, this collection—curated by writer-archivist-filmmaker Jenni Olson and critic Caden Mark Gardner—journeys through nearly four decades of cinema history in search of authentic, complex representations of masculine identity as it exists outside the realm of cisgender men. See http://www.bam.org/film/2023/masc.
Dance-music act Galantis (Christian “Bloodshy” Karlsson) has joined forces with multi-platinum selling band Neon Trees on the new single “Dreamteam,” per a media release. Galantis is launching a fall tour, including stops at Chicago’s Salt Shed on Nov. 22 and 24, and Shrine LA Outdoors in Los Angeles on Nov. 25. Galantis’ RIAA gold-certified debut album, Pharmacy, reached the top of the Billboard Dance album chart on the strength of the gold-certified single “Peanut Butter Jelly” and 3x-platinum certified smash “Runaway (U & I).” He was also behind the Britney Spears mega-hit “Toxic.”
Queer actress/model/activist Patricia Velasquez’s The Wayuu Taya Foundation celebrated the 20th anniversary of its humanitarian work with a gala, a media release noted. Taking place at Donna Karan’s Urban Zen at Stephan Weiss Studio, the event featured a conversation between Velasquez and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as performances from Sting, Joshua Bell, Larisa Martinez, Micah McLaurin and Jorge Glem—and a surprise performance from Sarah McLachlan.
Virtuoso pianist Micah McLaurin—a member of the LGBTQ+ community—has released his debut pop single, “Moons,” per a press release. The disco-pop anthem’s video is described as “a glittering, high-gloss burst of fashion-forward camp inspired by the work of visionary queer filmmaker and photographer James Bidgood and directed by Luke Abby alongside creative director Nicola Formichetti (Lady Gaga) and choreographer Max Cookward.” The song pulls from McLaurin’s “own experience fighting to realize the freedom to love.” The video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIAasucyxpE.
Annette Bening received GLSEN’s Advocate Award at the LGBTQ+ organization’s annual Rise Up L.A. benefit—and she delivered a message to anti-trans legislators, per LGBTQ Nation, citing The Hollywood Reporter. “You do not want to make this momma mad,” said Bening, whose son, writer Stephen Ira, is trans. Bening added that she now feels it is her responsibility “to speak out and speak up as transphobia has invaded our government at the local, state, and federal levels.”
Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel reunited at NYC’s Gershwin Theatre, as they both attended the 20th-anniversary performance of the blockbuster musical Wicked, People Magazine noted. Both actresses have history with Wicked, having originated the roles of Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, when the musical—based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire—opened on Broadway on Oct. 30, 2003.
Season three of HBO’s Euphoria is happening—but it won’t be shown until 2025, per Variety. The Sam Levinson show’s title was shown in a sizzle reel that said “Coming in 2025” alongside season two of The Last of Us, season three of The White Lotus and the It prequel series Welcome to Derry. The show stars Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Sydney Sweeney, Maude Apatow, Alexa Demie, Jacob Elordi, the late Angus Cloud, Barbie Ferreira and Dominic Fike as troubled high schoolers caught up in a world of drugs, love and crime; Eric Dane, Storm Reid and Colman Domingo are among the other co-stars.
World of Wonder confirmed a star-studded selection of guest judges joining regular judges Brooke Lynn Hytes, Brad Goreski and Traci Melchor, on season four of Canada’s Drag Race, which will debut Nov. 16 for a nine-episode run, per a press release. Some of the guests will include sister duo Tegan and Sara, supermodel Winnie Harlow, singer/songwriter Nelly Furtado, Real Housewives of New York original cast member Luann de Lesseps and RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Jaida Essence Hall.
In an Instagram video, Mariah Carey announced that it’s the holiday season. At one point, she uses her five-octave vocal range to hit a whistle note and crack all the ice around her that she’s encased in, Out noted. Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has become the anthem of the holiday season, re-entering the Billboard Hot 100 each year around this time and reaching number one on the chart each of the last four years.
In a new prologue for the re-released version of her album 1989, Taylor Swift addresses the rumors that she was in relationships with several close female friends—and lets listeners know that she didn’t even have the slightest clue that her relationships would start such rumors, Out noted. “If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn’t sensationalize or sexualize that—right?,” she said. “I would learn later on that people could and people would.”
Also regarding Swift, on the day of the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version), she set a Spotify record in becoming the artist with the most streams in a single day in the streaming service’s history, per Variety. The company added that, on top of that, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) had set a 2023 record as Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day so far this year.
Lionsgate will be launching its fantasy reboot Highlander, which will star Henry Cavill as the titular Scottish swordsman; John Wick filmmaker Chad Stahelski is set to direct, Deadline noted. Stahelski himself has previously talked about it as akin to John Wick with swords. The team is eyeing a 2024 start.
The Flaming Lips unveiled a vinyl-only concert album—Live at the Forum, London, UK Jan. 22, 2003—via Warner Records, per a press release. The vintage live collection, recorded by the BBC, was originally included in the six-CD format of the 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots box set and is available on vinyl for the first time as a stand-alone release. Some of the tracks include “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots,” “Fight Test,” “She Don’t Use Jelly” and “Waitin’ for a Superman.”
Three-time Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Olivia Rodrigo has written and recorded “Can’t Catch Me Now” as the official song of the film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, a press release noted. Lionsgate took over a billboard in Times Square and streamed the announcement during a special broadcast live on TikTok and gave viewers a one-minute preview of the song.
David Guetta is back with his new single ‘Big FU,” featuring Afropop sensation Ayra Starr and Chicago rap star Lil Durk, out now via XX, a press release noted. According to the release, “‘Big FU’ shows an unexpected, house-influenced side to David Guetta’s production skills, with the French mastermind crafting a slick groove around an infectious funk bassline.” Guetta has skyrocketed to one of the most streamed artists on Spotify globally, with more than 42 billion global streams and selling more than 50 million records worldwide.
Taylor Kinney, who left Chicago Fire midway through season 11, will be back for the upcoming 12th season, Variety reported. According to sources, his return will be toward the beginning of the season. In January, the actor stepped away from the NBC series to deal for personal reasons.
The Heart of Rock and Roll—a new musical inspired by the music of Huey Lewis and The News—will open on Broadway at the James Earl Jones Theatre in spring 2024, Playbill noted. The Heart of Rock and Roll has a book by Jonathan Abrams and a score of Huey Lewis hits, including “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” “Hip to be Square,” “Power of Love,” “Do You Believe in Love?,” “If This Is It,” “Doing It All for My Baby,” “Stuck with You,” “I Want a New Drug,” “It’s Alright” and “Heart and Soul.”
Fashion designer Betsy Johnson (not to be confused with Betsey Johnson) posted a series of Instagram Stories claiming that she emailed Kylie Jenner’s team concepts, language and line sheets from her own label, Products—and that they went on to utilize her ideas without giving her proper credit, according to Page Six. “Creatively I have such a strong vision of what I want to look like and what I want to do and what I want to wear,” Jenner told The Wall Street Journal ahead of her launch (although she hadn’t addressed Johnson’s claims). “There’s really no one telling me what to do.”
Elton John has sold his Atlanta condo—his longtime home when he’s in the United States—for more than $7.2 million, The Advocate noted, citing The Wall Street Journal. The selling price was millions more than the asking cost. The four-bedroom, 13,000-square-foot condo is an amalgamation of six apartments that Elton purchased over the years, according to Architectural Digest.
Former Real Housewives of New York City star Ramona Singer was dropped from BravoCon (taking place Nov. 3-5 in Las Vegas) and her real-estate job at Douglas Elliman after she used a racial slur, Deadline and Page Six noted. Singer was mentioned in a Vanity Fair expose about the cable network and was accused of using the N-word, which was part of a complaint filed. When Page Six reached out to her for comment, she texted that she didn’t say the actual N-word but literally said “N-word.” However, in the screenshot shared by the outlet, Singer then proceeded to partially write the actual N-word as she explained she didn’t use the word.
In another Real Housewives development, actor Brad Garrett was not happy that his name was being used to promote a comedy show starring Real Housewives of New Jersey personality Joe Gorga, per Deadline. It turned out that it all was a scam, with Gorga claiming his own attorney was tricked. However, Gorga was slated to attend BravoCon.