If you’re looking for a fresh hard rock band, Ashes In The Sky, hailing from Long Island, New York, is where you should turn your ear.
James Arthur, singer of popular song Say You Won’t Let Go, performed Wednesday night at Haus at part of Pepsi’s The Sound Drop concert series.
Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution, directed by filmmaker James “Jamie” Redford and the Redford Center, premiered Monday night at the HBO Theater in Midtown.
Godless, a seven-part epic Western series starring Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom, The Martian, Dumb & Dumber), Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey, Non-Stop), Merritt Wever (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Nurse Jackie, New Girl), Thomas Brodie Sangster (Maze Runner, Phineas and Ferb, Love Actually), and Jack O’Connell (Unbroken, ’71, Skins) celebrated its Netflix release Sunday at the Metrograph.
Lil Peep, born Gustav Åhr, known for blending an emo rock style with rap, died late Wednesday night before a show in Tucson, Arizona. He was 21.
Born November 1, 1996 in Pennsylvania, Åhr was raised by his mother in Long Island, New York. At age 15, Åhr dropped out of high school and earned his diploma online. Åhr remained extremely close to his mother throughout his life. At 17, he moved to Los Angeles with his friends.
For V Magazine. [photo by Mario Testino]
His first mixtape, released in 2015, was called Lil Peep Part One. Later in 2015, Åhr dropped Feelz and Live Forever. The following year was his breakout year, with two mixtapes entitled Crybaby and Hellboy, released in June and September, respectively. Come Over When You’re Sober (Part I) dropped August 15 of this year.
Throughout summer 2017, Åhr released a number of music videos for “Benz Truck”, “Awful Things”, “Backseat”, “Girls”, “White Wine”, “Gym Class”, “Beamerboy”, “Drugz”, “Live Forever”, “California World”, “Your Eyes”, and “White Tee”. “The Brightside”, the second single from Come Over When You’re Sober (Part I), dropped its music video in late July and can be watched below.
His Instagram and Twitter nameplates read GOTH ANGEL SINNER. Lil Peep maintained his image of a lovable, comical cynic. His music is fueled with angst, loss, and the incredible weight of sadness, but driven by hard-hitting mainstream beats, appealing to all tastes of music.
Åhr was vocal about his struggle with depression, anxiety, drug abuse, and suicidal tendencies in his music and in interviews. He regularly referred to his various usage of drugs, including LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, and anti-anxiety medication Xanax. In an interview with High Snobiety, he said, “I go through a lot…and [what] I write about in my music is real.” He became an image of someone struggling but prospering, creating music with his loyal “Gothboiclique” – his collective group of friends, including his closest, Lil Tracy, with whom he shares two tracks (Castles and Castles II).
Åhr utilized his Twitter to communicate with fans, drop music, and otherwise weigh in on popular issues. But he also used it to share his darker thoughts without hesitation. On his birthday, Nov 1, he tweeted:
On October 24:
On social issues:
And various retweets of dog videos sent by his fans. Lil B mentioned in his condolence tweet that Åhr was vocal against the “sexual abuse of women and people in the music industry,” and that Lil B would do his best to continue the awareness.
Åhr announced also through Twitter that he intended to drop his own clothing line, having shown his interest and dedication to fashion. He recently did a shoot for Vogue, which he tweeted this picture of:
Lil Peep walking for Vogue in Milan.
His death rocked even the most veteran of rappers, all of whom supported his craft and his uniqueness. Twitter flooded this morning with condolences from a range of celebrities, including Post Malone, Lil Yachty, Bella Thorne, Ty Dolla $ign, Charli XCX, Sam Smith, and Pete Wentz. He performed in New York City on October 31, and would have continued his Come Over When You’re Sober tour through December.
[via Edward Berthelot/Getty Images, GQ]
Åhr leaves behind a legacy of complete autonomy, presenting the truest version of himself through music and otherwise. His contributions to post-hardcore rock, lo-fi rap, and melodic hip hop are significant and pivotal for the future of music. Moreover, his upfront nature about his mental illnesses opened many doors for possible discussion and intellectual discourse about these issues that are often considered taboo. Our thoughts are with Åhr’s mother, his friends, and his fans at this difficult time, and we thank him for the art he shared with us in his short life.
[via Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images, Insider]
- National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
- Half of Us
- Crisis Text Line: Text START to 741741
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
- The Recovery Village: 1-844-229-2468
- National Alliance on Mental Illness: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264)
- Teen Line: 1-310-855-HOPE (4673) or 1-800-TLC-TEEN (852-8336)
A poster at a candlelight vigil for Åhr in Tompkins Square Park, Nov. 15. [photo by Carlos Doce]
Darkest Hour, directed by Joe Wright (Atonement) and written by Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything), had its New York premiere Wednesday night at the Paris Theatre in Manhattan. Darkest Hour features Academy Award nominee Gary Oldman (Harry Potter, Dark Knight, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) as Winston Churchill, Kristin Scott Thomas (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The English Patient, The Seagull) as his wife Clementine, Ben Mendlesohn (Bloodline, Dark Knight, Rogue One) as King George VI, and Lily James (Baby Driver, Downton Abbey, Cinderella) as Churchill’s personal secretary Elizabeth Layton. The film unfolds in the thick of the tensions brewing in Europe during the 1940s as Hitler becomes more formidable. In these early days of the WWII era, most of Western Europe depended on the decisions of a single man – Winston himself. On the red carpet before the premiere, we got to talk to a few of the stars.
LISA BRUCE – Producer
Q: What was your initial reaction when you first heard about the project? Did you say yes right away?
A: It took a minute because I was thinking, hmm, a movie about WC…But what was so interesting is Anthony McCarten, the writer, the way he focused it. I did Theory of Everything with him and he’s really great in framing a story in a very specific period, so it’s really only a three-and-a-half week period. It’s this unknown history that no one knows about, particularly that [Churchill] had to go up against his own Parliament to not sign a peace treaty with Hitler. I don’t think anyone knows about that.
ANTHONY MCCARTEN – Screenwriter
Q: Winston Churchill is someone who has been documented and portrayed a number of times. What is different about your Winston Churchill?
A: I wanted to present Winston the writer. My thesis was the proposition, at the center of this story, that words can change the world. So, I wanted to show him writing and delivering three of the greatest speeches ever written. Also, in the portraits of Winston we have, I don’t think anyone has really captured his humor. He’s presented as a real grinch, like a guy born in a bad mood, who just smokes and drinks brandy. So I wanted to get his humor, I wanted to get his romanticism, explore that and the relationship with his wife, which was a real love affair. And then thirdly I wanted to show that he was capable of being uncertain and full of doubts. I found that very human. And that’s not the image that Winston’s been given. The classic image is the guy who never doubted himself, but I never trusted that. It’s inhuman.
Q: How did you take on the task of figuring out who Winston was in his private moments, the ones that there is no proof of?
A: It’s stunning. It’s a little bit arrogant, but that’s what we have to do as writers. We have to assume the language, the vocabulary, the style, imagine what the emotions are, do research into the letters to see how they expressed themselves, and then it’s almost an act of ventriloquism, you’re speaking for them. And you’re hoping you get it right. The only way to make sure is to do as much research as you can. But what I’m really delighted with is that the entire Churchill families, some of whom knew him when they were very young, one of his grandsons saw the movie and went, ‘You got him. You got my grandfather.’
BEN MENDELSOHN – King George VI
Q: You’ve worked with Gary [Oldman] before. Did you enjoy working with him again?
A: I did, I loved it. It’s an honor.
Q: When portraying a historical figure, there’s less room for an actor to add his own artistic influence, but inevitably, you make the King yours. How do you do this?
A: It’s an extra level of responsibility, and that bit of making it your own I think actually just happens after the fact. I don’t think it’s something you’ve got to set out to do, but as soon as you do it, because you’ve got your own whatevers, then it becomes your own. So first you have to think about going in, I think.
Q: Were you all-in when you first got offered the role?
A: Oh, yeah. As soon as I read it.
Q: What was perfecting the accent like?
A: It took a long time. I don’t sound like him – I don’t sound like him at all. We do it everyday, an hour here, an hour there, just working on the accents.
GARY OLDMAN – Winston Churchill
Q: What did you learn about yourself in doing this film?
A: Stamina. I did 48 days straight in that makeup. My average day, from the time I got in, and worked, and took it off, and got home, and had dinner, was 18 hours. And I’m driving the movie. Stamina. I had the stamina to do it. And I’m not a young man.
Q: I read that you spent a total of 200 hours in that makeup chair over the course of the filming process. When you looked in the mirror and saw yourself as Winston, did you feel more believable to yourself? Do you think it added to your performance?
A: Yes. What you do is, you forget. You forget after a while. And occasionally, I would walk down the hall and pass a mural, and then like look in the mirror and just go oh! Because you get so used to it. That’s the great thing about it. It looks like a lot. And it is – it’s hot. But you do forget. It’s not a distraction. I had to pinch myself sometimes and say, oh, it’s Winston Churchill.
The film hits theaters on November 22.
Danielle Brooks, 28, star of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, collaborated with Universal Standard to design a three-piece collection which she released Tuesday night in Soho. Famous on the screen for her role as Tasha ‘Taystee’ Jefferson in OITNB and on the stage as Sofia in The Color Purple.
Roman J. Israel, Esq., a film written and directed by Dan Gilroy, dives deep into the underworld of the Los Angeles criminal court system. Starring Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, and Carmen Ejogo, Gilroy presents a harrowing but hopeful picture of the reality of the justice system and the activism necessary to battle its shortcomings. The Knockturnal’s very own O.J. Williams had the chance to ask Carmen Ejogo, known also for Selma, Fantastic Beasts, The Purge: Anarchy, and Alien Covenant, a few questions this past weekend about her experience with the film. Ejogo plays a young activist named Maya who enters into an unwitting friendship with the lawyer Roman J. Israel (Denzel Washington).
Ejogo and Washington as Maya and Roman.
Q [O.J. Williams]: When you first got your script, what was your initial, first reaction to the project?
A [Carmen Ejogo]: I was struck by how convincing the writing was of the character that I would be playing, of Maya. It can be quite a difficult voice to make sound authentic, the voice of the activist. It can sound like a trope very quickly; it can sound like a stereotype very easily. So, to find a piece of writing that felt like it had real soul and real spirit and depth was really exciting. And then having the visual of Denzel [Washington], which was not what Denzel ended up looking like in the movie at all, which was a complete surprise to me, how he ended up embodying Roman. But I could tell on the page that that was going to be a really sympathetic, complex, interesting character as well. So, there weren’t really many reasons not to want to do it.
Q: You play a young, activist lawyer in the film. What was the most intriguing thing you learned about the U.S. legal system while doing the film?
A: In some roles, you have to get really down into the nitty-gritty of the career part of the character, and then in some roles, hopefully you bring something innate to the character. I don’t have a lot of the jargon to speak, as Denzel does, with his character, I don’t really necessarily have to be as savvy as to the ins and outs of that stuff. So, I really focused more on making sure that the essence of the character felt appropriate. I’m in few scenes in this film, but they had to be moments that really counted in terms of illuminating who Roman was by virtue of the way in which he affects others, and Maya is one of those people. So really it was illuminating what the effect was, was more of my job than maybe understanding the modern legal loopholes.
Q: In the film, your character Maya has to deal with the very eccentric Roman, played by Mr. Washington. How do you deal with eccentric people in real life?
A: I am a little eccentric myself, and I feel more comfortable with people that are a little less than straight-laced. In fact, I feel like I was raised by eccentric. I think I’m most comfortable with people that think a little outside the box, or a lot outside of the box, even. And I also have a great sort of empathy for that type, which is maybe again why Dan [Gilroy] thought I was right for the job to play Maya, because I think embodies that too. She has a patience and an innate understanding of what makes Roman work, or not work. And that’s what makes them good, kindred spirits on this journey.
Q: In this film, Roman is someone you turn to often for advice, or for a re-centering. Who is that for you in real life?
A: Two people come to mind, two sets of people. The first set is my children, who will remind me and keep me in a place of balance, because it is my absolute job to, then, offer them the same in turn. They are very good at keeping me in a place that is a little more rational than I might manage without them. But, not to completely discredit my own sort of influence on myself, I think I somehow over time nurtured the ability to find that within myself in my own personal way to cope and to maintain rationale and a sense of purpose and ability to keep moving forward.
Q: Speaking of children, in the film, there is a scene where a younger character decides to school you and Denzel. Why do you think the young people have a hard time heeding the older generation’s advice?
A: We live in such a youth-based culture that anything past a certain age isn’t valued in the same way. I think it goes both ways; I think there’s a problem with elders and people in positions of power that don’t always appreciate and value our youth in the ways that they ought to, and therefore there is this natural antagonism that then emerges. And a lack of appreciation of the elders that I think should be in place as bastions of wisdom. But if people of an older generation don’t attempt to understand those of the younger generation and have contempt and suspicion of the youth, it’s not surprising that younger people then, in turn, do the same, and then on top of that we do have a culture that really doesn’t celebrate anything as being time-worthy if it tops a certain age. That, I think, really needs to change. For me, speaking as a woman, that’s something I’m very conscious of, as I feel women get more interesting as they get older, somehow in this industry in particular, we aren’t being hit with the same eyes. And it’ll be a great day when we all start to appreciate the wisdom of people getting older. That would be a benefit to all of them, I think.
Q: Speaking of learning, you have a lot of amazing scenes with Mr. Washington. What did you take away from him? Were there any gems, or any tips that you took away from him?
A: I think what was most valuable was to just witness somebody that hasn’t given up on their love of the craft. For someone of that stature that’s reached their age, that’s reached their place in the industry, the potential for having less of a degree of passion for the work could easily set in, and it just hasn’t with him. So that was certainly what I took away from it.
Q: While we’re on the subject of him, in this film, he gives you an “unexpected gift,” as you call it. Have you ever gotten a gift in real life that you later appreciated down the line?
A: I’m very un-materialistic. I’m the worst person to give presents to. I’m one of those people. And so, in the moment, it may be hard to get it right for me, and to give something to me that I feel that I want to keep in the cupboard or keep on a shelf. But I’m learning in myself that despite my lack of materialism, sometimes when things are given to you, even if you didn’t want them, they’re worth keeping around, because they do embody some of the spirit of the person that gave it to you. So, there are several things from people that are close and dear to me that I’m glad I didn’t throw out, even though I may have wanted to.
Q: Mr. Dan Gilroy, we love him as a director. Talk about working with him and what it was like collaborating to pull the character together.
A: I’m madly in love with Dan Gilroy. He is a man of such heart. I don’t say this lightly – this industry is full of all types, and it’s rare that you get somebody that I would describe as being full of heart. It’s a very self-involved industry and business. So, to find somebody as a director, which is a position of ultimate power on the set, that hasn’t lost that sense of heart and compassion and real commitment to the most pure idea of why he’d make that film in the first place, is a really rare thing. And after meeting him once, I had no doubt that his motivations of telling this story were pure. If anyone responds to this film positively, it is for that reason, because the voice from its very beginning was a pure voice. I can’t think of a higher praise you can give anybody than that, frankly. To have a pure voice in the world, as an artist, as a person.
Roman J. Israel, Esq. premieres in New York and Los Angeles Friday, and everywhere else this Thanksgiving. Tickets can be found here: www.romanisrael-tickets.com.
Check out the trailer here.
PEOPLE and Investigation Discovery distributed awards for significant charity work to four celebrities and one “everyday hero” Thursday night at Dream Downtown. Padma Lakshmi, Julianna Margulies, Alonzo Mourning, and Gabrielle Union were among the celebrity recipients this year, along with a woman named Vanessa Russell, who is devoted to bringing awareness to child trafficking.
Each of the five honorees gave a speech detailing their passions in regards to their respective charities and foundations. Jess Cagle, editorial director for PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly, and Henry Schleiff, Group President of the Investigation Discovery, American Heroes Channel, and Destination America portfolios, introduced each awardee.
“Media organizations, print or any other form, not only can play a critical role in making sure victims’ voices are heard, but they, in fact, actually have an obligation to do so,” Schleiff said. “Vision is the art of seeing the invisible. Tonight, ID is honored to be here with PEOPLE Magazine and with you to celebrate the amazing work of our celebrity honorees, and visionaries, and everyday hero who inspire a difference for those who often struggle to find a voice.”
PADMA LAKSHMI – AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
Model, author, actress, and television host Padma Lakshmi was the first to accept her award on behalf of her work with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
“The ACLU, to me, is probably one of the most valuable institutions to our democracy. It is the one champion and defender – in a class of its own, in a league of its own – to protect our civil liberties, our civil rights, the laws and tenants of the constitution, the very bedrock of why America is, indeed, great.” Citing her own “horror…as our rights have been chipped away,” Lakshmi described her increasing and fervent efforts as an ambassador for women’s rights and immigration issues.
“Who here is an immigrant or the child of an immigrant? Who here is part of the LGBT community? Who here is a person of color? Who here is or knows someone with a disability? We should all defend the ACLU because they defend all of those people, and more,” she said. “I came here over forty years ago this week. I landed in New York when I was four, on Halloween Day. [My mom] literally sculpted out of the mist a way forward, in the way that people who don’t really have another choice often do.”
“My mom came here with one hundred dollars in her pocket. Not one penny more,” Lakshmi continued, acknowledging her own privilege that her mother spoke English and was skilled as a nurse. She related stories of children and single mothers struggling in detention camps on the border, seeking asylum and refuge.
“Our democracy is under attack,” she concluded. “They’re fighting for you, and for you, and for me, and for my daughter, and for all of our children.”
“We have always been a beacon of hope, and the thing that gives us our moral high ground, is that we say, give us your weak, give us your tired, give us your poor, that we will envelop them into our arms. Here in America, you can be part of us too, as long as you can peacefully work hard.
“Who do we as Americans want to be? Because collectively, our house is on fire. What are we going to do about it?
“A country is made of its people. And we, the people, are in charge.”
JULIANNA MARGULIES – ERIN’S LAW & THE BRADY CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE
Three-time Emmy winner and producer Julianna Margulies accepted her award for her work with Erin’s Law and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. She spoke on the two, combining her dialogue to envelop the theme of “common sense.”
“I would like a safer world for all of us, but especially for our children,” she began. “I have been scratching my head for years wondering why these simple, common sense laws are so hard to pass. None of it makes sense to me. So that’s why I got involved.”
Margulies described the philosophy of “common sense background checks” in relation to gun violence, and said we need to think about Erin’s Law in the same way. She used the anecdote of seatbelts; when she was a child, there was no law to wear them. When she got her license, it changed to the passenger and driver’s seats. Then, in 1989, children under 14 had to wear belts in the backseats, as research proved fewer deaths when wearing them.
“I jump in a cab in New York City, and, because I’m old, I forget to put my seat belt on,” she quipped. “Then my son, who’s nine, goes, ‘Mom, why isn’t your seat belt on?’ Why? Because that’s what he knows, because we’re preventing accidents before they happen. That’s what we need to be doing with gun control and with Erin’s Law.”
Margulies reported that 90% of Americans – gun owners included – agree with common sense background checks.
“Vegas happened less than two months ago. Six weeks ago. Since then – honestly, since I was working on this speech – I kept having to change the number of deaths in this country. Since Las Vegas, over 900 people have died from gunshot wounds in our country. Think about that. What are we doing? Something has to change.”
Margulies then switched gears to telling the story of Erin Merryn, author of Erin’s Law, who was also in attendance. Merryn calls herself the “voice for the voiceless” and has dedicated herself fully to the activism and awareness surrounding child sexual assault. Merryn survived six years of sexual assault in her childhood, and when she was thirteen, finally came forward at a Children’s Advocacy Center. Since then, she has been dedicated to enforcing age-appropriate classes for children on what is okay and what is not okay. Erin’s Law has been passed so far in 31 states and is still pending in 15.
“Give them the tools, dear God, we should be giving our children every tool in the shed,” Margulies said. She then told a story about a nine-year-old girl in Maryland, where the law had passed, that came forward after a seminar on sexual abuse was presented to her fourth grade class. Tearfully, Margulies related her story, of abuse since she was three, by her mother’s boyfriend.
“It works, because he’s in jail for forty years,” Margulies said to applause. “It worked in Illinois as well, for an eight-year-old girl. He’s now behind bars. It gives kids the courage to come forward and say, I have a voice, and not live through these atrocities thinking they deserve it, or, they can’t do anything about it, so they just suffer through it.”
“Raise your voices, and we’ll be heard. We just have to raise them really loud right now.”
ALONZO MOURNING – THE MOURNING FAMILY FOUNDATION
Alonzo “Zo” Mourning, NCAA, NBA, and Olympic basketball champion, received his award for his work with an organization he founded with his wife Tracy in 1997. The Mourning Family Foundation is dedicated to creating youth development programs, schools, facilities, and educational and extracurricular activities in South Florida.
“My life’s work is giving, and making a positive difference in other people’s lives. I humbly accept this award, but it feels pretty uncomfortable to receive an award for what you’re supposed to be doing. Something that we all have a responsibility to do – especially when you think about where you come from – to make a difference.”
“Our kids are coming into the world thirsty for information, for direction, and they count on us to give it to them. When we think about the problems that our kids have, we don’t have a kid problem. We have an adult problem.”
“It took these angels in my life,” Mourning said about his own childhood and adolescence. “It took my foster mom, who fostered 49 kids in her lifetime. It took coaches, it took teachers, it took family members, it took friends. It took a village to contribute to my overall development not only as a player, but as a person. It took all of that.”
The Mourning Family Foundation has helped thousands of children over the past twenty years in conjunction with Tracy Mourning’s organization, called Honey Shine, which mentors and fosters girls in the Miami area. Mourning spoke of his dedication to raising high-school graduation rates, which have gone from 50% to 85%. 100% of the children in after-school Mourning Family Foundation programs graduate from high school.
“We’re excited about the change, and we know that it’s contagious,” Mourning said.
“We can become the change that we wish to see in this world if we embrace the responsibility.”
GABRIELLE UNION – THE RAPE FOUNDATION
Actress Gabrielle Union has dedicated her energies to The Rape Foundation, founded in 1989.
“I was the perfect victim,” Union began. “I had the luxury of being raped in a wealthy community.” She stated that the under-worked police department, under-utilized rape crisis center, rapid therapy process, and supportive family and friends made her experience “painfully rare.”
“Whose pain and whose truth is tolerable? Whose pain and whose truth is intolerable? Whose pain and whose truth means direct action, right now. And who can wait?”
At age 19, Union was raped at gunpoint while working at her summer job at Payless. For the past 20 years, she has been speaking out as a sexual assault survivor.
“I have to keep reminding people that just because you might see someone look polished, or on a show, or in a movie, or a magazine – yeah, me too. You cannot price your way out of sexual violence or sexual harassment or sexual assault. All of us who keep moving further and further away from urban centers because we think we’re getting safer? I was raped at work, coming from a two-parent household where both my parents were college educated, I was the right kind of black person. And by that I mean, I laughed at racist jokes. I didn’t call people out on their shit. I was the non-threatening kind of black. You know, the cool one.
“So when I was raped, I was believed. But my dad fell into this very bizarre, dark hole, because my dad bought into the American Dream. My dad’s from the projects. And the horrors that he saw from the projects, he wasn’t supposed to see in the suburbs.
“I was the point guard. I dated the right kinds of boys. We were active in our Catholic church. He married the right kind of woman. We went to the right kind of schools and had the right kind of friends and I was still raped.
“Assimilation was supposed to pay. It was supposed to keep us safe. Me shrinking and hiding my blackness, that was supposed to mean something. And his child was raped, at gunpoint, at her after-school job in the summer. My dad thought he was teaching me work ethic, and how to not be entitled. My dad didn’t want me falling into the trappings of my very privileged friends. But what he and none of our parents realized is that you can’t out-run or out-price sexual violence.
“Sexual violence can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time, and nobody had it coming. Nobody is asking for it. If you had some cocktails, you’re not asking for it, no matter what you had on. I was at work, wearing a tunic and leggings. And a family female friend still asked what I had worn. And I was the perfect victim.”
Union then spoke about the current Harvey Weinstein’s victims and tasked the media to re-define what it means to be a “perfect victim.”
“Everyone’s truth deserves to be believed. Everyone’s pain should incite you to act.”
VANESSA RUSSELL – LOVE NEVER FAILS
This year’s “Everyday Hero” award was given to Vanessa Russell, who began as a dance teacher in 2000, teaching all genres of dance between ages 3 and 25. In 2010, she discovered that one of her 15-year-old students had been sold into human trafficking. Russell then realized, upon research and intense activism, that human trafficking, which she called “modern-day slavery,” is one of the nation’s largest yet most under-discussed emergencies.
The average ages of child victims range between 11 and 14. Russell cited the growing homelessness epidemic of San Francisco as an exacerbating factor of trafficking.
Russell founded Love Never Fails, which is dedicated to housing, educating, and protecting women and children involved in or at risk of becoming involved in domestic human trafficking. As a survivor of domestic assault herself, Russell, who lives in the Bay Area with her husband and seven children, believes firmly that human trafficking is something that can be fixed.
Inspire a Difference honorees over the past five years have included Rosario Dawson, Marcia Gray Harden, Stephanie March, Tamara Taylor, Angie Harmon, AnnaLynne McCord, and Grace Gealey.
For more information about the mentioned foundations, please see the links and phone numbers below:
ACLU: http://www.aclu.org/ – (212) 549-2500
Erin’s Law: http://www.erinslaw.org/
Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence: http://www.bradycampaign.org/ – (202) 370-8101
The Mourning Family Foundation: http://www.mourningfamilyfoundation.org/ – (305) 46-0095
The Rape Foundation: http://www.therapefoundation.org/ – (310) 451-0042
Love Never Fails: http://www.loveneverfailsus.com/ – (844) 249-2698
Chappell Roan, 19, showcased a few songs from her EP ‘School Nights’ at the Atlantic Records studio Tuesday. Since her signing at age 16, Roan has been working tirelessly with the Atlantic team to put out her EP. She has named Lana del Rey and Sia as her inspirations, and remains true to the sincerity and authenticity of her music. I got to sit down with her and chat before her performance.
Chappell Roan backstage before her showcase, Oct. 24.
Q: You mentioned that you had come to the city in 2015, and you were just in awe. What’s it like being back now?
A: It’s been such a long time since I’ve been signed. Three years. Being back now is just full circle. This is where I showcased to be signed. It’s just weird coming back and having a product to show. It’s just nice that things are finished, finally. It’s surreal.
Q: Do you go home a lot? Do you miss being home?
A: I still live in Springfield, Missouri. Eventually I want to move to L.A. because that’s where I mostly work, but I did do some songs here. I travel back and forth. I’ll go out to L.A. for a few months, then go home for a few weeks. Being home is nice for a week, or a few weeks. I don’t have anyone to really unload my music problems to. I’m not trying to be disrespectful of any other career, but my friends work at banks, or hospitals, so I can’t be like, oh my god, you know, tour. That’s hard. It’s very hard. And also, I just get major anxiety when I go home. When I go home, I just want to relax, but I always get a lot of questions, a lot of questions, a lot of questions. I just get anxiety going in public so I just don’t go out, I just stay home.
A: You were seventeen when you got signed. How did the meeting process go?
Q: I started writing when I was fifteen, and I would post my songs on YouTube. Then another artist, Troye Sivan, tweeted about me. It got some recognition from another label, so I flew out here when I was sixteen, in January of 2015. And I just performed for them, and when I was here, I got calls from three other major labels, and I went in and showcased for them. I ended up picking up Atlantic. It’s taken that long to make an EP.
Q: You want people to see you as a human, and you want your songs to be about emotion, instead of a singer singing a song. What brought on that philosophy?
A: I write all of my own stuff. It’s a very different connection than a co-write or just even someone pitching you a song, and you just sing it. So when I write, it’s like, I am being completely honest about what happens, about how I feel, about what I wish would’ve happened. It’s basically my journal, and what I want people to take away is that this is who I am, and I’m not hiding anything. I just want to come off very genuine, so other people don’t feel crazy for feeling the same thing.
Q: What’s been your favorite part since signing?
A: My favorite part is doing music videos. The ‘Good Hurt’ music video was filmed in Yonkers. That was my favorite part so far. Tour is really fun, that’s number two. But I love music videos.
Q: Do you have another video coming out?
A: I do, I actually have three videos lined up. Tour only has two dates left, so then videos will come out early next year.
The stage at Atlantic Records before Roan’s showcase.
Roan’s EP ‘School Nights’ features Good Hurt, Bad for You, Sugar High, Die Young, and Meantime. She just finished her tour opening for Vance Joy. Her music can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal.