In the midst of an unprecedented global coronavirus pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, it can be hard to make sense of the destruction COVID-19 has wrought. In this context, the proliferation of conspiracy theories downplaying the dangers of the virus is sadly unsurprising, though disheartening …
Read More »The Week the Music Stopped
I t was the beginning of March when Don Smiley started planning for the worst. As the chief executive of Milwaukee’s Summerfest — which calls itself “the world’s largest music festival,” attracting 900,000 people over 11 days each year — Smiley was confronting a tidal wave of reports about the …
Read More »Joe Satriani on Postponing Tour, Releasing New Album in the COVID-19 Era
Last month, Joe Satriani decided to postpone his European tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was pretty adamant about getting the ball rolling early,” he tells Rolling Stone from his home in San Francisco. “Because it was obvious. Some folks, maybe they were just frightened and didn’t want to …
Read More »'Absolute Clusterf-k': Inside the Denial and Dysfunction of Trump's Coronavirus Task Force
This story appears in the May 2020 issue of Rolling Stone, on newsstands May 5th. On February 24th, Dr. Duane Caneva, the chief medical officer at the Department of Homeland Security, sent an urgent email with the subject line “Red Dawn Breaking Bad” to a small group of doctors, epidemiologists, …
Read More »Pink Speaks Candidly About Getting COVID-19 With Her Son on 'Ellen'
Pink was one of the first guests on the quarantine edition of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, talking to the daytime host via video chat about how she and her son Jameson came down with the coronavirus. “It started with Jameson, actually, and you know, he’s three — three-year-olds get sick …
Read More »Following Backlash, Trump Admin Now Says Funding for COVID-19 Testing Sites Will Continue
UPDATE: The Department of Health and Human Services is now saying they have halted their plans to end support for coronavirus testing sites to states on Friday, according to a Thursday night report from NPR. The report goes to say that localities will be able to choose whether they want …
Read More »Olivia Wilde, Other Fake TV Doctors Give Video Shoutout to Real Doctors
Olivia Wilde‘s breakout role was the secretive doctor Thirteen on House over a decade ago. Now, during this uncertain time when doctors, nurses and other medical professionals are on the frontlines fighting the coronavirus pandemic, Wilde has made a video tribute to “healthcare heroes” for World Health Day Tuesday — …
Read More »Bill Withers' 'Lean on Me' Is a Song for Every Crisis — Especially This One
When Bill Withers wrote “Lean on Me” in 1972, toying around on a small piano with only the phrase ‘lean on me’ to guide him, he never could have expected the song — about a rural man’s loneliness in the big city — would become an inspirational anthem to those …
Read More »Iceage Drop Coronavirus-Inspired Track 'Lockdown Blues'
Iceage have dropped a new single for these dark times. Titled “Lockdown Blues,” the track was inspired by being in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic. “Covid-19 Lockdown Blues/The only way out is through,” singer Elias Rønnenfelt sings over searing guitar. “Confined domestic quarantine/How the itching for lost touch is deafening.” …
Read More »John Oliver Blasts Conservatives Touting Markets Over Lives During COVID-19 Pandemic
John Oliver examined the mounting coronavirus catastrophe and President Donald Trump‘s handling of it on a new quarantine edition of Last Week Tonight Sunday. In just a few weeks, the United States has become the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, and as Oliver noted, we still don’t know just how …
Read More »