Fell love songs

It’s been eight years since Hayley Kiyoko ’s breakthrough hit “ Girls Like Girls ” became a modern queer anthem, bolstered by bluntly sung lyrics (“Girls like girls like boys do/Nothing new”) and a touching music video that the singer directed herself. Since then, she’s steadily risen through the pop ranks with two studio albums, a slew of glossy synth-pop singles, and more cinematic, self-directed videos that have only gotten more ambitious in scale. But the impact of “Girls Like Girls” hasn’t diminished a bit, thanks to its intimate, authentic portrayal of a teen friendship-turned-romance: a story so resonant that Kiyoko’s fans responded by lovingly dubbing her “Lesbian Jesus.” Now, the 32-year-old has expanded her five-minute “Girls Like Girls” video from 2015 into a young adult novel of the same name. For Kiyoko, it presented the opportunity to take the two central characters from the video, Coley and Sonya, and flesh their stories out in a way that mirrors her own life … [Read more...] about Hayley Kiyoko Refused to Let Hollywood Reject Her Queer Love Story

Goofy variety shows are not the stock in trade of most authors, especially those who write emotionally wrenching novels about teenagers dying of cancer, but John Green inhabits a multiplatform world with few boundaries. So when he took the stage at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday night along with his brother, Hank, to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the release of John’s critically acclaimed book “The Fault in Our Stars,” all of his diverse interests were on display. The two brothers performed their classic routines: songs about Harry Potter and quarks, readings from Mr. Green’s books, and a segment answering mostly weird questions from their audience until a timer ran out, and Hank was painfully electronically zapped. The show had the polish of a really good high school talent night , but the audience members — many wearing red T-shirts with John’s face and the word “pizza” (his favorite food) — lapped up every minute. They clapped along to a song about high school performed by … [Read more...] about A Novelist and His Brother Sell Out Carnegie Hall

VICTORIA, British Columbia — Two days before he was scheduled to die, John Shields roused in his hospice bed with an unusual idea. He wanted to organize an Irish wake for himself. It would be old-fashioned with music and booze, except for one notable detail — he would be present. The party should take up a big section of Swiss Chalet, a family-style chain restaurant on the road out of town. Mr. Shields wanted his last supper to be one he so often enjoyed on Friday nights when he was a young Catholic priest — rotisserie chicken legs with gravy. Then, his family would take him home and he would die there in the morning, preferably in the garden. It was his favorite spot, rocky and wild. Flowering native shrubs pressed in from all sides and a stone Buddha and birdbath peeked out from among the ferns and boulders. Before he got sick, Mr. Shields liked to sit in his old Adirondack chair and watch the bald eagles train their juveniles to soar overhead. He meditated there twice a day, … [Read more...] about At His Own Wake, Celebrating Life and the Gift of Death

MIAMI — For much of Game 3 of the N.B.A.’s Eastern Conference finals on Sunday, Jimmy Butler did something he does not often do: He played a supporting role. He created off the dribble, zipped passes to his Heat teammates for open shots and pushed to score only when the opportunity made too much sense not to seize it. Butler could have easily tried to take over against the reeling Boston Celtics. But he has shaped the Heat in his no-quit, self-assured image, and empowered their cast of unsung players to lead. Then, shortly before halftime on Sunday, as if anyone needed to be reminded of his presence, Butler dribbled the ball upcourt and went straight at the Celtics’ Grant Williams, his latest nemesis, for a jumper off the glass. After drawing a foul on the shot for good measure, Butler fell to his back and stayed there for longer than was necessary — just so he could point at Williams and make it clear that he had made him look foolish, again. “In all the moments of truth,” … [Read more...] about Jimmy Butler, the Smiling Villain, Has the Celtics on the Ropes

If you had asked me three weeks ago if I’ve heard of BTS, I’d say sure. I could go so far as to say I knew they are a Korean pop band, or K-pop, extremely popular and … that’s it. So, just how I, the Food & Drink editor of SFGATE, wound up in the parking lot of a local McDonald’s, chatting with two fans about all things BTS over a meal of chicken nuggets this week, is a long story. The short of it is that the mega-fast food corporation has recently restarted its signature combo meals, teaming up with a celebrity on a McDonald’s meal. Travis Scott was the first celebrity to pair with McDonald’s in September 2020 (followed by J Balvin one month later), in a promo which last ran with Michael Jordan in 1992. So when McDonald’s announced it would be teaming up with BTS for a special meal to be released May 26, I figured now was my time to stop being an Old, re-embrace my former boy band-loving self from the early aughts (hello, recovering NSYNC fan, here), and dive deep into this … [Read more...] about A glorified happy meal and a billion stans: My 24-hour dive into BTS fandom

THE year was 1956 and he was only 8, but for the Cuban-born film director Leon Ichaso the memories are still fresh: a gaggle of men sweating under ruffled white shirts as they beat their drums and danced in a conga line that snaked all the way to the Havana seawall. That was the first time Mr. Ichaso’s parents — an eccentric and revered poet father and a mother who wrote for radio and television — took him to the city’s annual carnival, a bacchanalian event where good Catholic boys were not often found. “I didn’t feel that sense of abandon and pure joy again until I came to New York and heard salsa for the first time,” said Mr. Ichaso, now 58, who arrived in New York in 1968, just as Latin musicians were finding their own voices. “Guys like Rubén Blades and Willie Colón reactivated those memories, unleashed them and recharged me.” It is that euphoric feeling of being liberated by art and raw talent while struggling to remain true to one’s roots that Mr. Ichaso set out to capture … [Read more...] about The Scorsese of Salseros in New York