Drake’s management has asked the Recording Academy to remove him as a nominee on the final-round ballot for the 64th annual Grammy Awards and the Academy has honored the request. (Variety first reported the news.) (more…)

Hangout Music Festival has announced the lineup for its highly-anticipated return to the beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama from May 20-22. The festival will serve as the official kick-off to summer with an epic weekend that brings together a diverse group of artists across the worlds of pop, rock, hip-hop, electronic, country, and more for the first time since 2019.

For three unforgettable days, attendees will gather together on the stunning white sand beaches of Southern Alabama’s famed Gulf Shores for a community-focused festival that has become a favorite for fans and performers alike since its debut in 2010. Part music festival and part immersive travel experience, guests will also get the chance to take part in a variety of activities and events that help to make Hangout a true music vacation.

With its 2022 lineup, Hangout once again has provided something for everyone. Headliners for the three nights of the festival will be acclaimed genre-bending singer and rapper Post Malone, Australian psychedelic rock act Tame Impala, and Grammy award-winning vocalist Halsey.

Additional headliners and highlights on the 2022 Hangout lineup include R&B and rap sensation Doja Cat, iconic Chicago pop-punk group Fall Out Boy, beloved dance music stand out ILLENIUM, Houston hip-hop artist and fashion icon Megan Thee Stallion, award-winning country vocalist Kane Brown, Louisville rapper Jack Harlow, Grammy-winning German-Russian DJ and producer Zedd, Texas-born country-pop artist Maren Morris, Grammy-nominated Los Angeles singer Phoebe Bridgers, soul singer and songwriter Leon Bridges, and more.

Attendees can also look forward to performances by pop-leaning electronic duo Louis The Child, Bay Area indie-pop artist Still Woozy, Tennessee indie-rock and pop group The Band CAMINO, the high-flying dance duo SLANDER, multi-talented artist and Internet favorite Oliver Tree, Atlanta rapper Lil Yachty, Connecticut pop and electronic singer Chelsea Cutler, iconic reggae-rock band Sublime With Rome, Washington indie-folk act The Head And The Heart, multi-genre Texas duo Surfaces, R&B/rap vocalist and songwriter T-Pain, and more.

Beyond the music lineup, Hangout is a one-of-a-kind experiential festival featuring stage-side VIP pools, hammocks lining the beach, majestic oceanside views, and plenty of activities for attendees including beach volleyball, disco skating at a full-sized roller rink, dance parties by the water, and much more to be announced. 

Pre-sale registration for tickets to Hangout 2022 is now available on the festival’s official website. Those interested can sign-up for a limited time to take part in the December 10th presale date, while the General Onsale for the festival will take place on December 13th. 3-Day General admission tickets are $339 during the Early Bird sale and will increase to $359 after that. There is also a 3-Day GA Plus option priced at $509 that includes access to the GA Plus Grove with private air-conditioned restrooms, premium food offerings, and areas to relax, along with Priority GA Plus entrances at all festival gates.

Guests seeking the VIP treatment can choose between two options. With the 3-Day VIP choice priced at $1,219, guests will have access to exclusive artist performances, upfront viewing areas at designated stages, a stage-side pool at the Hangout Main Stage, private air-conditioned bathrooms, a VIP Grove with complimentary cocktails, beer, wine and snacks, priority VIP entrances, and more. The 3-Day Super VIP option priced at $1,839 will include all of those amenities along with access to the viewing deck at the Hangout Stage with hot tubs, jacuzzis, and a full bar, a VIP dining room with complimentary gourmet meals prepared by award-winning chefs, golf cart shuttles to designated stages, and more.

Gulf Shores and its neighboring city of Orange Beach also offer a wide variety of places to stay including condos, homes, cottages, and hotels, as well as a mix of locally-owned restaurants offering the best in Gulf seafood. For all the details on Gulf Shores, visit www.gulfshores.com or visit the Hangout website for lodging options and more information.

Beyond the music itself, the community aspect of Hangout remains at the core of the festival’s experience. This starts with the festival’s logo known as the “shaka,” which symbolizes the “hang loose” mantra of beach and surf culture to many with a deeper meaning that represents solidarity, friendship, compassion, respect, and mutual understanding.

This extends to every aspect of Hangout, who focus much of their attention on social and environmental responsibility along with community engagement. This includes measures related to diversity, equity & inclusion, taking steps toward environmental sustainability, and supporting local charities. More information on these actions can be found on Hangout’s website.

To put it simply, Hangout Music Festival is a music vacation on the beach. The award-winning festival takes place on the beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama — just a short drive from the Pensacola, FL and Mobile, AL airports. Hangout is as much a vacation as it is a concert event. Beyond a diverse music lineup of top acts, fans can also take advantage of festival amenities including seaside beach clubs, a full-size roller rink, beach volleyball, main stage inground pools, Gulf-front hammocks, delicious food, VIP options, and more. It has been awarded as Pollstar’s “Music Festival of the Year” and is continuously recognized as one of the best festivals in the US. The festival also adds over $40 million into the local economy each year.

Full Lineup
Post Malone
Tame Impala
Halsey
Doja Cat
Fall Out Boy
ILLENIUM
Megan Thee Stallion
Kane Brown
Zedd
Jack Harlow
Maren Morris
Phoebe Bridgers
Leon Bridges
Louis The Child
Still Woozy
Oliver Tree
SLANDER
The Band CAMINO
Lil Yachty
Chelsea Cutler
The Head And The Heart
Sublime With Rome
T-Pain
Surfaces
Flo Milli
Madeon
Koffee
Dayglow
DIESEL (Shaquille O’Neal)
Fletcher
Breland
Moon Taxi
Tyla Yaweh
Remi Wolf
The Brook & The Bluff
beabadoobee
SIDEPIECE
Paul Cauthen
Role Model
Surf Mesa
Joy Oladokun
KennyHoopla
Briston Maroney
Bankrol Hayden
Lucii
SNBRN
AUDREY NUNA
347aidan
ericdoa
renforshort
LP Giobbi
Ship Wrek
Zach Hood
JVNA
VNSSA
Blu DeTiger
NOTD
Luttrell
Neal Francis
The Blossom
Hugel
Tre’ Amani
Flipturn
Nightly
gabriel black
Bren Joy
Montell2099
Hastings
Madds
Petey Martin

Grammy-nominated singer and producer Brent Faiyaz caps another stratospheric year with new single “Mercedes.” With Faiyaz’s idiosyncratic falsetto, “Mercedes” showcases Brent’s distinct musical identity that oscillates between hero and villain while being reminiscent of ‘90s R&B. 2021 saw Brent collaborate with the likes of Drake, Tyler, The Creator, Baby Keem, Meek Mill and Tems, release smash solo tracks, and surpass 8.5 BILLION streams for his catalog that includes 2 Certified Platinum and 5 Certified Gold singles.

Listen to “Mercedes” here: https://album.link/MERCEDES

In 2016, Faiyaz formed his own independent record label, Lost Kids and released his Fuck The World EP in 2020, which debuted at #20 on the Billboard 200 charts. To give back to his fans he started the Show U Off Grant Program for Black women entrepreneurs in 2021, with more

details on the 2022 program to follow and he will celebrate the 4th annual Lost Kids Benefit this month in support of youths in his hometown of Baltimore, MD.

Johnell Young, best known for his role as GZA on Hulu’s ‘Wu-Tang: An American Saga’ is rumoured to be starring in Warner Bros’ ‘New Jack City’ remake, written by Barry Michael Cooper.

According to sources, Young will play the lead role in the remake of the 90’s classic.
On November 27, Barry Michael Cooper took to Twitter to announce the working title for a prequel to his 1991 crack cocaine-laced classic New Jack City. “The Diary of NIno Brown: The Monster Reagan Created.” Prequel. Sequel. Work In Progress. Soon. GOD Willing. #NewJackCity,” Cooper tweeted.

New Jack City released in 1991 was an American crime thriller directed by Mario Van Peebles, who also co-starred in the film. The film stars Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Allen Payne, Chris Rock, Mario Van Peebles, Judd Nelson, and Bill Cobbs.

Two days after his shocking death, Virgil Abloh’s friends from music and fashion came together to honor him at Louis Vuitton’s “Virgil Was Here” show in Miami on Tuesday. (more…)

The Gotham Film & Media Institute (The Gotham) has announced the winners of the 31^st Annual Gotham Awards at a ceremony held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Winning Best Feature and three additional awards was The Lost Daughter, director and screenwriter Maggie Gyllenhaal’s assured screen adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel about a solitary vacationing professor and mother of two grown daughters whose encounters with a different young mother provoke haunting memories of her own past. Maggie Gyllenhaal also scored two additional individual awards for Best Screenplay and the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director award given to a director for their first fiction feature film. Gyllenhaal had previously won a Gotham Award nineteen years ago in 2002 as Breakthrough Actor for her performance in Secretary. And for her performance as Leda, the complex central character of The Lost Daughter, Olivia Colman received the Outstanding Lead Performance award, having previously received a special Ensemble Performance award in 2018 as part of the lead trio of The Favourite.

Also receiving an Outstanding Lead Performance award was Frankie Faison for his brilliantly varied and devastating performance in The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, based on the true story of the resulting tragedy when police were sent to check on an elderly veteran with physical and mental health issues after his medical alert link was accidentally triggered.

Receiving the Breakthrough Performer award was Emilia Jones for her sensitive–and musical –lead role as a child of Deaf parents torn between her responsibility to her family and the possibility of a future of her own in CODA, for which actor Troy Katsur won the Outstanding Supporting Performance award for playing her funny, opinionated dad who is fearful of losing her but yearning to connect and understand her.

The award for Best Documentary Feature was presented to Flee, the stirring, mostly animated documentary by Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen which recounts the multi-year history from childhood until now of Amin Nawabi (a pseudonym), who with his mother and siblings became refugees fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan, through Russia, and eventually to Denmark where, despite trauma and a hidden past, there’s possibility for Nawabi of a new home and lasting love.

Winning the award for Best International Feature was Drive My Car, directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, adapted from a short story by Haruki Murakami into a gently emotional epic in which an actor/director harboring an unspoken grief and anger embarks on directing a multi-language production of Uncle Vanya in another city and gradually opens to his assigned driver, who has losses of her own.

With the awards for television the Gotham Awards for debut series are given annually to those that “enrich the landscape or push the boundaries of television.” Winning the award for Breakthrough Series (Over 40 minutes) was Squid Game, the late-breaking global sensation from Korean writer/director Hwang Dong-hyuk and Netflix that weaves themes of universal economic and social divide and aggressive capitalism with dazzling set pieces, ultra-violence, and even tender moments.

Breakthrough Series (Under 40 minutes) was awarded to Reservation Dogs, created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, which follows a group of teens living on a reservation in Oklahoma and whose petty crimes fuel dreams of escaping to a new life in California. The comedy series is a first to be majority written, directed, acted, and crewed by people of Indigenous descent.

Newly created this year was the first Gotham Award category for series acting – Outstanding Performance in a New Series. Following the Gotham Awards guidelines for gender neutral categorization, there were ten nominees. The jury chose to award two performances “equally undeniable in their craft and staying power” – to Thuso Mbedu, transcendent in the frequently silent central role of Cora in The Underground Railroad and Ethan Hawke in a possible career-best performance as abolitionist John Brown in The Good Lord Bird.

Also added as a new standalone category this year was Breakthrough Nonfiction Series. The winning series was Philly D.A., the propulsive, narratively driven, verité-shot series, created by filmmakers Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, and Nicole Salazar, that follows the first term of crusading Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, elected in 2017 determined to reform the system from within and with the goal of ending mass incarceration.

Career Tributes were also given during the ceremony to performers Kristen Stewart (presented by Julianne Moore and Pablo Larraín) and Peter Dinklage (presented by Ethan Hawke), director Jane Campion (presented by Mark Ruffalo), and the Industry Tribute to Eamonn Bowles (presented by Alex Gibney).

The inaugural Icon Tribute (presented by Kia Brooks, Deputy Director of The Gotham and Seret Scott) was awarded posthumously to poet, playwright, writer, filmmaker, director, civil rights activist, and educator Kathleen Collins and was accepted by her daughter, Nina Lorez Collins. Kathleen Collins’ most known film work is Losing Ground, one of the very first fictional features by an African-American woman filmmaker. The Icon Tribute has been created to call attention to the boldness, artistry, and impact of a filmmaker from a marginalized community whose work has not been previously recognized by the organization in its previous awards history.

An Ensemble Tribute (presented by Jeymes Samuel) was given to the cast of The Harder They Fall, including Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz, Delroy Lindo, LaKeith Stanfield, Danielle Deadwyler, Edi Gathegi, R.J. Cyler, Damon Wayans Jr., Deon Cole with Regina King and Idris Elba.

An Impact Salute (presented by Michael Bloomberg) was given to The Actors Fund in recognition of their leadership role in providing resources, care and financial support to members of the entertainment community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Founded in 1882, the nonprofit serves all professionals—and not just actors—in film, theater, television, music, opera, radio and dance through programs that address the community’s unique and essential needs. Brian Stokes Mitchell accepted on behalf of The Actors Fund.

Additionally announced during the ceremony:

The Questlove Gotham EDU Scholarship

Questlove announced the creation of a $150,000 scholarship fund earmarked for HBCU students’ tuition and to allow participation in the Gotham EDU suite of programs and mentor support. The award is supported by iHeartMedia.

Focus Features & JetBlue Student Short Film Showcase

Tessa Thompson announced the winners of the third annual showcase supported by sponsoring partners Focus Features and JetBlue. The program is designed to discover and empower a diverse group of emerging filmmakers and foster multi-platform distribution of their work. Each winner receives a $10,000 grant and have their films shown for twelve months on JetBlue’s seatback entertainment systems under the “Gotham Selects” movie category and on Focus Features digital streaming platforms. Throughout 2022, winning filmmakers will also receive ongoing mentorship and workshopping opportunities from The Gotham.

The winning filmmakers and shorts were:

·      Evan Bode, Thine Own Self, Syracuse University

·      Jorge G. Camarena, Spaceship, American Film Institute

·      Akanksha Chawla, Close Ties to Home Country, Columbia College

·      Jun Hee Han, Uncle, University of California, Los Angeles

·      J. Sean Smith, #Whitina, University of Southern California

The Gotham Awards ceremony was streamed on Facebook Live and on The Gotham’s YouTube channel.

For photo selects from the event, visit

https://dam.gettyimages.com/assignments/2021-gotham-awards

The 31st Annual Gotham Award recipients are:

For Best Feature, presented by Dakota Johnson

The Lost Daughter

Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal

Produced by Osnat Handelsman Keren, Talia Kleinhendler, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Charles Dorfman

Released by Netflix

The Best Feature jury included Jason Mitchell, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Adele Romanski, Peter Saraf, and Cathy Yan.

For Best Documentary, presented by Devery Jacobs and Michael Greyeyes

Flee

Directed Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Produced Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen, and Charlotte De La Gournerie

Released by NEON

The Best Documentary jury included Bonni Cohen, Ramona Diaz, Kirsten Johnson, Roger Ross Williams, and Hao Wu.

For Best International Feature, presented Thandiwe Newton

Drive My Car

Directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Produced by Teruhisa Yamamoto

Released by Sideshow and Janus Films

The Best International Feature jury included Jimmie Fails, Eliza Hittman, Orion Lee, Jonathan Raymond, and Catalina Sandino Moreno.

For Outstanding Lead Performance, presented by Dan Levy

To two performers:

Olivia Colman in The Lost Daughter

Released by Netflix

and

Frankie Faison in The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain

Released by Gravitas Ventures

The Outstanding Lead Performance jury included Aldis Hodge, Tamara Jenkins, Avy Kaufman, Lisa Kjerulff, and KiKi Layne.

For Outstanding Supporting Performance, presented by Daveed Diggs

Troy Kotsur in CODA

Released by Apple TV+

The Outstanding Supporting Performance jury included Michael Beach, M. Blair Breard, Blythe Danner, Rob Morgan, and Crystal Moselle.

For Breakthrough Performer, presented by Moses Ingram

Emilia Jones in CODA

Released by Apple TV+

The Breakthrough Performer jury included Matt Bomer, Yolonda Ross, Isabel Sandoval, Shari Springer Berman, and Katherine Waterston.

For Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director, presented by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson

Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Lost Daughter

Released by Netflix

The Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director jury included Anne Carey, Helena Howard, Famke Janssen, John Turturro, and Phillip Youmans.

For Best Screenplay, presented by Joe Wright

Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Lost Daughter

Released by Netflix

For Breakthrough Series (Over 40 Minutes), presented by Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur

Squid Game

Executive Produced by Kim Ji-yeon and Hwang Dong-hyuk

Netflix

The Breakthrough Series (Over 40 Minutes) jury included Jasmine Batchelor, Eli Goree, Mike Harrop, Amy Koppelman, and Paul Mezey.

For Breakthrough Series (Under 40 Minutes), presented by Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur

Reservation Dogs

Created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi

Executive Produced by Taika Waititi, Sterlin Harjo, and Garrett Basch

FX

The Breakthrough Series (Under 40 Minutes) jury included Adam Goldman, Anna Konkle, Jenni Konner, Victoria Mahoney, and Jonathan Majors

For Breakthrough Nonfiction Series, presented by Jung Ho-yeun

Philly D.A.

Created by Ted Passon, Yoni Brook, and Nicole Salazar

Executive Produced by Dawn Porter, Sally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen, Ryan Chanatry, Gena Konstantinakos, Jeff Seelbach, and Patty Quillin

Topic, Independent Lens, PBS

The Breakthrough Nonfiction Series jury included Andrew Jarecki, Laura Ricciardi, Bernardo Ruiz, Elyse Steinberg, and Tracy Heather Strain.