Weekly wrap-up
Week of July 20, 2026
24 stories No issue this week
Everything the desk filed July 20 to 26, 2026, best-covered first. No issue went out this week, so this page is the whole of it.
Filed this week
24 stories
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Business
Luminate measured how US audiences feel about AI in music and film
Teenagers aged 13 to 17 were net positive on AI-assisted content across every medium. The 18 to 24 group was 58 points behind them on some of it.
Confirmed1 outlet
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ReleasesJazz
A new Ma Rainey box set restores the Mother of the Blues on record
Dom Flemons compared hearing the remaster to seeing a painting cleaned of decades of cigarette smoke.
Single source1 outlet
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AwardsCountry
Country outlaw Waylon Jennings gets a posthumous Hollywood Walk of Fame star
Son Shooter Jennings credits the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and his own wife's persistence for the honor, part of the 2027 induction class.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessRock
Jon Bon Jovi cuts "Forever" tour stop short, tells fans "I've got to cool it"
The 64-year-old singer, touring for the first time since 2022 vocal cord surgery, blamed a sinus infection for ending the Madison Square Garden show early.
Single source1 outlet
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LegalHip-hop
Rapper Drakeo the Ruler's security guard says YG had a knife in fatal brawl
A deposition surfaced as California Highway Patrol briefly detained YG this week while searching a Burbank property in the ongoing killing investigation.
Single source1 outlet
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ToursLatin
Fuerza Regida's "This Is Our Dream" tour fills Dodger Stadium
The corrido tumbado band traced its decade-long climb from Inland Empire house parties to a stadium show with a live time machine.
Single source1 outlet
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LegalR&B
Singer Chris Brown pleads guilty in London nightclub bottle attack case
Prosecutors dropped assault and grievous-bodily-harm charges tied to a 2023 incident at nightclub Tape London in exchange for the plea.
Single source1 outlet
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FestivalsRock
Warped Tour returned to Long Beach as a five-stop festival
Kevin Lyman says half the 2026 tickets sold before a single band was announced, and a third of the crowd had never been to a festival.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessR&B
R&B singer Nivea reveals leukemia diagnosis, says she's "grateful for life"
The "Don't Mess With My Man" singer says treatment is going well and she's now studying audio engineering.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesR&B
Singer Syd releases third solo album "Beard," named for her wife's request
The former Odd Future and Internet member, born Sydney Bennett, says the record captures "feeling more sure of myself than I ever have."
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesRock
Punk duo the Garden turns aging into a badge of honor on album "Bootleg"
Twin brothers Wyatt and Fletcher Shears mark 15 years as a band with a 14-track record that swings from electronic to industrial to post-punk.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessR&B
The War and Treaty played the Tiny Desk with an 11-piece soul band
Michael Trotter taught himself piano in one of Saddam Hussein's palaces, and the song that came out of what followed sat at the centre of the set.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesCountry
ESPN host Pat McAfee announces debut album "The Diary of a Polarizing Figure"
The former NFL punter says he wrote the songs, made with Nashville singer-songwriter Ernest, over roughly 20 years in his phone's notes app.
Single source1 outlet
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ObituaryRock
Rubettes guitarist Tony Thorpe, singer of "Baby I Know," dies at 80
The English glam-rock band scored a 1974 UK No. 1 with "Sugar Baby Love" during Thorpe's time in the lineup.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesRock
Jimmy Eat World tours 25 years of breakthrough rock album "Bleed American"
The band built the platinum record in tiny Valley studios after Capitol Records dropped them, then watched "The Middle" become a hit.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesR&B
Steve Lacy releases new album "Oh Yeah?" after his "Bad Habit" breakout
The 10-track record features SZA and Erykah Badu and follows the Grammy-nominated hit that made him inescapable.
Single source1 outlet
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FestivalsRock
Iggy Pop and Bikini Kill headlined the 17th Mosswood Meltdown festival
John Waters hosted 20 bands over three days in Oakland, with Pavement on the Friday pre-party and a Ramones tribute band featuring Fred Armisen.
Single source1 outlet
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ObituaryJazz
Jazz saxophonist Plas Johnson, who played the "Pink Panther" theme, dies at 94
The session musician backed Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Marvin Gaye across a decades-long Los Angeles career.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesLatin
Chilean singer Mon Laferte releases double album "Femme Fatale Vol. 2"
The 20-track record includes a duet with St. Vincent and arrives eight months after its predecessor.
Single source1 outlet
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Business
Sony Music label files new lawsuit against AI startup Udio
The suit accuses Udio of ripping more than 30,000 recordings from YouTube to train its song-generating software.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessElectronic
Composer Rock Burwell's Obsession score drew early Oscar talk
The horror film took more than $400 million on a budget under $1 million, and the score has already burned through a couple of vinyl pressings.
Single source1 outlet
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BusinessHip-hop
Rapper Vince Staples played Cry Baby songs at the Tiny Desk
He stopped the set to ask who in the room knew the names of Black Panther Party members killed by police, and got no hands.
Single source1 outlet
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ReleasesRock
Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs release new rock album "Mission of Mercy"
NPR critic Ken Tucker says the former Tom Petty co-writer avoids nostalgia while chasing rock's "hard-won serenity."
Single source1 outlet
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ToursLatin
El Malilla restored his US tour after pausing it over ICE raids
The reggaeton Mexa singer opens 19 dates in Palm Springs on 24 July, and says his next album took a year and a half and includes a bolero.
Single source1 outlet