Author name: Rebecca Ramos

Decolonization gets the ultimate needle-drop treatment in the documentary “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” from Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez. It’s a dazzling, tune-filled collage of images, words and sounds, recounting the moment during the Cold War when Congolese independence, hot jazz and geopolitical tensions made a sound heard around the world. But also, how that […]

Actress Jenny Mollen is itching to make sure everyone knows she didn’t realize she had head lice until she was already on her recent five-hour flight. Mollen, whose husband is “American Pie” actor Jason Biggs, posted a video on Instagram two weeks ago from what appears to be a first-class airline seat with a clear

What’s most surprising about the excellent Geffen Playhouse production of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” starring Rainn Wilson (“The Office” and Aasif Mandvi (“The Daily Show,” “This Way Up”), is how subdued the clowning is from two actors known for their offbeat comic talents. The revival, which opened at the Geffen Playhouse’s Gil Cates Theatre

At her height, all the record labels wanted songwriter Allee Willis. But labels in general were never her thing. She was a prolific, pioneering music legend, artist and designer who turned her candy-colored life into an ongoing act of next-thing expression while generations of listeners made her hits — including Earth Wind & Fire’s “September”

Martha Stewart thinks a second version of the buzzed-about Netflix documentary on her life needs to be made. The plainspoken lifestyle mogul, who has not held back on her criticism of R.J. Cutler’s film, conceded Thursday that the documentary was “fine” overall. But she has still has some issues with it. “It left out a

At the end of her first summer camp, 11-year-old Naíma Arteaga was nervous about the final group activity she was required to do: sing in a rock band and perform onstage in front of a large audience. The task sounds ludicrous, but Arteaga wasn’t at any ordinary camp — she was at Chicxs Rockerxs South

Sunday brunch, laugh, cry, reflect, bop along to the music, quietly listen or let it all out in a deafening collective primal scream Ahead of the 1952 election. Democrats were alarmed by President Harry S. Truman’s age (66), diminished abilities and unpopularity for his handling of the Korean War, but Truman insisted on running —

One of my favorite songs of all time is “If You’re Reading This” by country superstar Tim McGraw. The lyrics are written in the form of a letter from a soldier, meant for his family should he fall in the line of duty. The inspiration came from a magazine article about the casualties of war

Life disappoints and, reliably, so do the movies. But then one comes along with the boldness to suggest there’s a connection in simply feeling the ache and disappointments of life with others — somehow that’s enough. The characters will ask themselves: Why doesn’t my spouse want to be with me? Where can I go with

Shel Talmy, the American record producer who helped foment the British Invasion by capturing the scabrous guitar riff in the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” and Roger Daltrey’s stuttering vocal line in the Who’s “My Generation,” died Wednesday. He was 87. His death was announced in a post on his Facebook page, which said he