There is a deep and sacred legacy of storytelling within African American history. It is not simply a cultural expression, it is a form of preservation. Through oral traditions; history, education, resistance, and empowerment have been passed down for generations.

Long before written words were accessible to all, storytelling broke barriers. It gave voice and identity to the unheard. It nurtured the soul and solidified the resilience of a people who have endured much, but never surrendered their truth.

In West African tradition, “the griot,” serves as the living archive of culture. A griot is not only a storyteller but also could be a historian, poet, and musician. Through music, spoken word, and poetry, they preserve the essence of a people. In many ways, our modern storytellers, activists, artists, social workers ministers, therapists, and community leaders, carry on this sacred role. They ensure that the truth doesn’t fade, that our pain is not ignored, and that our strength is not erased.

This year’s 2025 theme for Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, “In Every Story, There’s Strength” resonates deeply. It reminds us that our stories, both painful and powerful, are also instruments of healing. They are declarations of survival, resistance, and connection. To tell one’s story is to say, “I am still here. And I matter.”

As a psychologist, a faith-based individual, and an African American woman, I reflect on this theme with deep personal conviction. Our communities face unique and often invisible mental health challenges. The stories matter. The burdens of these challenges are compounded by historical trauma, systemic inequities, cultural stigma, and a society that often requires our productivity before it acknowledges our humanity.

To truly honor this month, we must do more than raise awareness, we must take action. That means prioritizing the mental well-being of underrepresented groups. That means advocating for access, representation, and safe spaces. And that means listening, truly listening to the stories of those who have been marginalized, silenced, or mislabeled.

We live in a time when basic truths are being challenged and progress is being rolled back. Initiatives meant to uplift underrepresented voices are under attack. The stories of BIPOC individuals are being politicized, sanitized, or even ignored. And yet, the stories persist and they thrive.

We must also name a painful truth: People of color are often only valued when we are productive. This external standard of worth has caused many to suffer in silence when mental health issues arise. Depression, anxiety, trauma—these are not signs of weakness. They are signs of humanity. And survival, particularly in a system that devalues your existence, is not weakness. It is resilience.

Let us be clear: Mental health, mental wellness is not a one-month issue. It is a daily necessity. It is not a luxury or an afterthought. It is an act of resistance, a sacred right, and a pathway to liberation.

So how do we protect our mental health in a world that sometimes feels like it is attacking our very existence? We return to what has always sustained us: our stories. Our rhythm. Our spiritual practices. Our community. Our truth.

In doing so we remember the statistics that demand our attention:

• Black and African American adults are more likely to receive misdiagnoses such as schizophrenia over mood disorders, compared to others with the same symptoms.

– National Library of Medicine

• Between 2001 and 2020, suicide rates among Black youth ages 10 to 19 increased by 144% for boys and up to 300% for girls.

– Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2022

These numbers are more than statistics. They are stories—unfinished stories that demand our voice, our presence, and our effort. Each number is a person, connected to families, neighbors, friends, colleagues and much more! Mental health is a necessary for all. In the words of the World Health Organization: “There is no health without mental health.”

This July, and every month that follows, may we honor our stories. May we create spaces where the stories can be shared safely and received with care. And may we never forget: In every story, there’s strength. May we be the griot in our communities. Because storytelling is healing. And in telling it—we heal, we rise, we promote wellness and we keep our legacy alive.

Andrea Rodgers works for Minority Mental Health Awareness.

Downtown Royal Oak has always had a tasty food scene, and from July 3 to July 6, it will be highlighted by the Royal Oak Taco Festival.

This celebration includes plenty of family fun with music, Lucha Libre wrestling, special guests and, of course, Tacos. The deliciously fun-filled street festival will feature Mucho show-stopping entertainment, including live local music, DJs and street performers, taco eating contests, a variety of free activities and plenty of tantalizing tacos and tequila.

This year’s festival will showcase a delicious mix of over 50 taco vendors and food trucks serving everything from classic tacos to creative culinary mashups. Guests can look forward to a variety of mouthwatering options, including steak and fish, as well as vegetarian fare, along with summer favorites like BBQ, deep-fried treats, and shaved ice.

Newcomers and fan favorites, including The Taco Cartel, Dos Locos Burritos, Mezcal, Real Taco Express, Galindo’s, Azteca, Xav’s Jammin Caribbean, and Cousins Maine Lobster, are part of the lineup.

Jon Witz has led the event’s planning and is looking forward to a downtown packed with taco lovers.

“We have a new layout for this year, featuring a stage now in Centennial Commons, where DJs and top bands will perform,” Witz said. “We’re expecting 40 to 50 restaurants.”

A new addition to the entertainment lineup will be mechanical bull riding south of City Hall, along with Lucha Libre wrestling inside the Farmer’s Market.

“We’ve rearranged everything with a fresh layout, an array of great foods, new activities, and mechanical bull riding, taco eating contests, sales, and cannabis consumption. We’ll be here for the second year in a row, and we’ve got a lot of stuff brewing, so we’re pumped,” Witz said. “Tame the bull and tame your appetite should definitely be the theme.”

The event has averaged more than 50,000 attendees over the past three years, and Witz expects the same turnout for this year’s event. Pre-purchased tickets are $8 each, but a family pack of four is available at $6 per ticket. During the week of the event, individual tickets will be $10. At the gate, the cost will be $12.

“It’s definitely an incentive to save half off your ticket if you buy now versus during the show. The ticket gets you in, and the tacos and tequila are extra. But there’s a lot of entertainment value built in, and we have many reasonably priced tacos and taco trucks. I think everybody’s fine. It’s a good competitive marketplace with amazing food. And, you know, we have most of our great restaurants returning for another go-around this year.”

The ticket/wristband also includes the wrestling event and all activities and entertainment.

“Those wristbands are coded for each day, allowing you to go in and out. You can enjoy yourself, and many people will appreciate sitting in a cafe in Royal Oak or getting an ice cream somewhere after enjoying the music.”

Witz noted that “old school comedian Tommy Chong” is set to appear as part of the festival entertainment. The iconic actor, best-selling author, Grammy Award-winning comedian, activist and cannabis advocate will be on hand for a special appearance on July 5 and 6 for meet and greet and photos.

Several stages will be set up with entertainment for everyone. The Soaring Eagle Stage will feature Kalysta, Nique Love Rhodes & The NLR Experience, Detroit Fury, McKayla Prew, Shotgun Soul, Julian Joel, New Relatives and Ryan Jay.

The Michigan Lottery Stage will spotlight Turner Porter, The Bores, Alise King, Delaney Morgan, RJ Redline, Stonelore, The Warped Tourists, Glencoe, The Twisted Lemon Blues Band, The Ruiners, Thunderbuck, SHÜ, Carley Lusk’s, Kayfabe: thepplsband, and the Martin Chaparro Trio.

The JARS Stage will feature Reeds & Steel, Metawav, Good Folk, The Outfit, DJ Dirty White, Dru Ruiz, Ernesto Villarreal and Friends, Esshaki, TWIZT, Rebecca Cameron and DJ Cisco.

The Royal Oak Downtown Development Authority Kids Stage, where laughter, learning and live entertainment come together all weekend long. Juggler Tim Salisbury, Zippity 2 Guys & A Guitar and experience the mind-blowing vocal talents of Beatbox Jake. Cool Tricks & Funny Stuff, interactive hula hoop fun with Nat Spinz, and a special appearance by the Michigan Science Center, whose “Amazing Astronomy” show launches kids on an out-of-this-world adventure through the stars. With hands-on experiences and crowd-engaging acts throughout the day, the Kids Stage is the ultimate destination for curious minds, big imaginations and endless smiles.

The Royal Oak DDA Kids’ Zone, located in a lot by the district courthouse, will feature a variety of free, family-friendly fun. Enjoy bounce houses featuring a giant slide, while older kids can test their skills at basketball double-shot and quarterback blitz challenges. Budding artists will appreciate the creative stations that include face painting and hands-on crafts like DIY luchador masks, maracas, walking paper tacos, and colorful sombreros. With even more surprises ahead, the Kids’ Zone promises an unforgettable adventure for families at Royal Oak Taco Fest.

The JARS Cannabis Lounge returns as one of Michigan’s few festival-based cannabis retail and consumption experiences. Dubbed “The Trap,” this 21+ space offers a relaxed, curated environment for adult guests, set apart from the festival buzz, main family and food areas but very much a part of the vibe.

Participants who believe they can eat three tacos as quickly as possible without drinking water are invited to join the taco eating contest presented by Condado Tacos Royal Oak. Contestants who manage to eat all three tacos completely, leaving no scraps of lettuce or cheese behind, will receive vouchers for food trucks at the festival and two VIP tickets to Soaring Eagle Arts, Beats & Eats 2025 concerts for the night of their choice.

The vibrant sounds of Mariachi Jalisco, one of Detroit’s most celebrated mariachi ensembles, will bring the heart of Mexico to the festival streets. With rich harmonies of trumpets, guitars and violins, these strolling performers will serenade guests throughout the festival footprint, creating an authentic and joyful atmosphere steeped in tradition, culture and spirited celebration.

The Motley Misfits, Michigan’s premier troupe of circus-style performance artists, return with an electrifying lineup designed to dazzle audiences of all ages.

Advance tickets for the Royal Oak Taco Fest are now available. The event’s hours are 4-11 p.m. Thursday, July 3; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday, July 4 and Saturday, July 5; and 11 a.m.- 8 p.m. Sunday, July 6. For more information and to purchase tickets in advance, visit RoyalOakTacoFest.com or call 248-541-7550.

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The idea that Bruce Springsteen wrote, recorded and ultimately shelved entire albums of music may seem odd to the casual listener. Why put yourself through all that work for nothing?

Yet “lost albums” are embedded in music industry lore. Some were literally lost. Some remained unfinished or unreleased because of tragedy, shortsighted executives or creators who were perfectionist — or had short attention spans.

Often, the music is eventually made public, like Springsteen is doing now, although out of context from the times in which it was originally made.

So in honor of Springsteen’s 83-song “Tracks II: The Lost Albums” box set being released Friday, The Associated Press has collected 10 examples of albums that were meant to be but weren’t.

“Smile,” The Beach Boys

Back in the news with the death of Brian Wilson, this album “invented the category of the lost masterpiece in popular music,” says Anthony DeCurtis, contributing editor at Rolling Stone. Some of the material that surfaced suggested Wilson, the Beach Boys’ chief writer, was well on his way: the majestic single “Good Vibrations,” the centerpiece “Heroes and Villains” and the reflective “Surf’s Up.” Wilson succumbed to internal competitive pressure worsened by mental illness and drug abuse while making it in 1966 and 1967, eventually aborting the project. He later finished it as a solo album backed by the Wondermints in 2004. The better-known songs were joined with some psychedelic-era curios that displayed Wilson’s melodic sense and matchless ability as a vocal arranger, along with lyrics that some fellow Beach Boys worried were too “out there.”

“The Black Album,” Prince

The mercurial Prince pulled back this disc, set for release in December 1987, at the last minute. Some promo copies had already slipped out, and it was so widely bootlegged that when Warner Bros. officially put it out in limited release in 1994, the company billed it as “The Legendary Black Album.” Encased in an all-black sleeve, the project was said to be Prince’s nod to Black fans who may have felt they had lost him to a pop audience. It’s almost nonstop funk, including a lascivious Cindy Crawford tribute and the workout “Superfunkycalifragisexy.” The maestro’s instincts were well-placed, though. Coming after “Sign O’ the Times” — arguably his peak — this would have felt like a minor project.

“Cigarettes and Valentines,” Green Day

Written and recorded in 2003, Green Day’s “Cigarettes and Valentines” was actually lost; someone apparently stole the master tapes. Feeling on a creative roll, the rock trio decided against recreating what they’d done and pressed on with new material. Smart move. The result was “American Idiot,” the band’s best work. Perhaps the robbery was “just a sign that we made a crappy record and we should make a better one,” songwriter Billie Joe Armstrong told MTV. The title cut later surfaced on a 2010 live album. The rest was lost to time.

“Detox,” Dr. Dre

To say anticipation was high for Dr. Dre’s third album when he started recording in 2002 puts it mildly. The theme disc about a hitman, which Dre described as a “hip-hop musical,” had an all-star squad of contributors including Eminem, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, Busta Rhymes and Kendrick Lamar. “I’d describe it as the most advanced rap album musically and lyrically we’ll probably ever have a chance to listen to,” co-producer Scott Storch told MTV. But we never have. When he announced a different third album in 2015, Dre explained on his radio show what happened to “Detox”: “I didn’t like it. It wasn’t good. … I worked my ass off on it, and I don’t think I did a good enough job.”

“Black Gold,” Jimi Hendrix

A series of unfinished demos, “Black Gold” was a taste of where guitar god Jimi Hendrix might have gone creatively if he hadn’t died at 27 in 1970. He was composing a song suite about an animated Black superhero, says Tom Maxwell, whose podcast “Shelved” unearths stories behind lost music. Hendrix sent a tape of his work to longtime drummer Mitch Mitchell for advice on fleshing it out. That music was set aside at Mitchell’s home and forgotten for two decades after Hendrix died. To date, Hendrix’s estate has made only one of these recordings public, a song called “Suddenly November Morning.” Hendrix, after clearing his throat, slips in and out of falsetto while accompanying himself on an acoustic guitar.

“A Story,” Yoko Ono

Written while Yoko Ono was separated from John Lennon during his infamous “lost weekend” in 1973-74, “A Story” had the potential of changing the musical narrative around her. It was a strong album — without the avant-garde stylings that made Ono a challenge for mainstream listeners — recorded with musicians who worked on Lennon’s “Walls & Bridges.” Maxwell calls it “an emancipation manifesto” that was set aside when Ono reconciled with Lennon. She’s never publicly explained why, Maxwell says, although one song seems clearly about an affair she had while Lennon was away. Some of the material from “A Story” was included as part of the “Onobox” project that came out in 1992, and the album was released separately in 1997. Ono also re-recorded some of its songs in 1980, and Lennon was holding a tape of her composition “It Happened” when he was shot and killed. In it, she sings about an unspecified, seemingly traumatic event: “It happened at a time of my life when I least expected.” That wasn’t even the most chilling premonition. Her song “O’Oh” ended with firecrackers that sound like gunshots. It was left off the 1997 release.

“Chinese Democracy,” Guns N’ Roses

Guns N’ Roses was at the top of the hard rock world when they began recording a new album in 1994. It didn’t go well. Inconclusive sessions slogged on for years, and all but singer Axl Rose left the group. Recording costs exceeded a staggering $13 million, by some accounts the most expensive rock album ever. One witness told The New York Times in 2005: “What Axl wanted to do was to make the best record that had ever been made. It’s an impossible task. You could go on indefinitely, which is what they’ve done.” When “Chinese Democracy” was finally released in 2008, the world yawned.

“Love Man,” Marvin Gaye

Not even a decade after the triumph of “What’s Going On,” Marvin Gaye was floundering. His “Here, My Dear” divorce album flopped, he struggled with drugs and searched for relevance in the disco era. The single “Ego Tripping Out,” meant to herald a new album, laid bare the problems: Over a melody cribbed from Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff,” the famously cool “Love Man” boasted like an insecure rapper. He scrapped the album, repurposing some its material for the 1981 disc “In Our Lifetime,” a process so fraught he bitterly left his longtime label Motown. Gaye went to CBS, made a huge comeback with “Sexual Healing,” then was shot dead by his father in 1984.

“Homegrown,” Neil Young

Neil Young rivals Prince in the volume of material left in his vault, and he’s been systematically releasing much of it. The mostly acoustic “Homegrown” was recorded as 1974 bled into 1975, during Young’s breakup with actor Carrie Snodgress. Instead of releasing it in 1975, he put out another heartbreak album, the well-regarded “Tonight’s the Night,” about losing friends to drug abuse. When Young finally dropped “Homegrown” in 2020, he wrote in his blog, “Sometimes life hurts. This is the one that got away.”

“Streets of Philadelphia Sessions,” Bruce Springsteen

Of the discs included in Springsteen’s “Tracks II” set, this was reportedly the closest to being released, in the spring of 1995. After the success of the Oscar-winning song “Streets of Philadelphia,” Springsteen recorded an album in the same vein, with a synthesizer and West Coast rap-inspired drum loops setting the musical motif. Strikingly contemporary for its time, Springsteen ultimately felt it was too similar to previous releases dominated by dark stories about relationships. “I always put them away,” he said of his lost albums. “But I don’t throw them away.”

David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

For much of the last century of American history, barbecues and potlucks have dominated the Fourth of July feast-ivities.

Hot dogs and hamburgers accompany sides of macaroni and cheese, potato salad and watermelon slices in ecstatic union in backyards and front porches across the country. Coolers full of beer and soda crackle as the ice melts throughout the hot summer day. Ice-cream sandwiches, popsicles and pie await as the sun sets and fireworks light up the night.

But those aren’t the only kinds of American foods. Immigrants from other countries often celebrate their patriotism with twists on the classics, or other foods entirely.

And with its proximity to the Southwest, Colorado has a few of its own traditions for the patriotic holiday, including green and red chile, corn, beans and tortillas — foods eaten in Hispanic communities long before there was a Colorado or a Fourth of July.

In fact, anthropologist Carole Counihan documented Fourth of July foods in Colorado’s San Luis Valley in a report published in a 2009 anthology, The Globalization of Food. She observed special dishes such as posole, deviled eggs and pasta, noting the holiday is represented by dishes from all over the world with a heavy emphasis on grilled meats.

Below, a group of Denver chefs share their personal spreads for the Fourth of July. Some, like Munetoshi Taira at Sushi by Scratch and Manny Barella at Riot BBQ, which opened this year, weren’t born in the United States. Others, like Ni Nguyen of Sap Sua and Darren Chang at Pig and Tiger, are first-generation Americans. Lastly, one chef shares a recipe inspired by his annual travels to Italy for the Fourth.

The grill and the outdoors are what tie most of their respective menus together.

Manny Barella, Riot BBQ (2180 S. Delaware St.): “BBQ culture was a huge part of my upbringing in Monterrey, Mexico. Every gathering revolved around open-fire cooking and outdoor grilling. Tending to the grill on your own is a rite of passage. We celebrate the Fourth of July here in the U.S. by honoring those same grilling traditions. You can count on me having carne asada, ribs al pastor and grilled vegetables on the table. We also like to smoke chimichurri, a classic element of Monterrey cookouts thanks to the strong Argentine influence in our region.”

Erasmo “Ras” Casiano, Xiquita (500 E. 19th Ave.): “We go all out with a giant backyard BBQ that is exactly like the gatherings we had back in Mexico. We throw carne asada and chicken on the fire and make a bunch of salsas: salsa Mexicana, pico de gallo, salsa ranchera. And of course, fresh corn tortillas and rice. We wrap onions in aluminum and throw them in the fire. Once they are good and roasted we hit them with some lime juice. The day is all about great food and gathering with family and friends. That’s the best tradition of all.”

Darren Chang, Pig and Tiger (2200 California St.; opening this summer): “My dad grilled Taiwanese street corn every Fourth of July growing up in [Los Angeles]. Some of my best summer memories are standing around the grill and eagerly awaiting that first bite of succulent corn. At Pig and Tiger, our Taiwanese street corn starts with fresh Olathe corn. We use my dad’s original shacha sauce recipe (only difference is that we make it vegan), then we give it a dash of sweet soy for a perfectly savory-sweet bite.”

Anna and Anthony “Ni” Nguyen, Sap Sua (2550 E. Colfax Ave.): “Every year, we make BBQ pork skewers, Americana-style. We skewer quartered onions and bell peppers along with pork shoulder marinated in lemongrass. We still don’t miss out on the hot dogs, though! We throw them on the grill right alongside the pork shoulder and serve them with Vietnamese accouterments. Our favorite is bratwurst with our version of pickles: lacto-fermented garlic, baby eggplant, daikon, and carrot. It provides the perfect, briny, acid pop. Don’t forget the brown mustard.”

Munetoshi Taira, Sushi by Scratch Restaurants (1441 Larimer St.): “In my kitchen, I enjoy blending traditional American Independence Day dishes with Japanese flavors. For instance, I often prepare yakitori-style grilled meats alongside classic barbecue fare, and I like to incorporate ingredients like miso or shiso into familiar sides such as potato salad. This fusion not only honors the holiday but also reflects the harmonious blend of cultures that I cherish.”

Darrel Truett, Barolo Grill (3030 E. 6th Ave.): “For the past 15 years, I’ve spent the Fourth of July in Italy with the Barolo Grill team on our annual staff trip. One of the things I always look forward to on a hot day during that first week of July is Panzanella. It’s an Italian bread salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and toasted bread tossed in a beautiful red wine vinaigrette. And I usually make it when I come home from the trip — shortly after the Fourth of July — to offset all of the incredible food and wine we indulged in.”

By MARK KENNEDY, AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Twenty-five years ago, a little girl with a bob haircut appeared on our TVs, speaking a mix of English and Spanish, with a spunky, can-do spirit. She had an adventure planned, a backpack, a monkey friend and upbeat songs.

“Hi, I’m Dora. What’s your name?” she asked.

This was, of course, “Dora the Explorer,” the first Latina to lead a major cartoon series and the girl who helped spearhead the rise of multicultural children’s programming in the U.S. on her way to becoming a cultural phenomenon.

“The show allowed Latinos to be depicted on TV as educators, teaching viewers how to speak our language, and yet at the same time, just teaching ordinary things that children need to learn,” said Brenda Victoria Castillo, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

Nickelodeon is celebrating Dora’s 25th anniversary with the feature-length live-action movie “Dora and the Search of Sol Dorado,” a third season of the rebooted animated series “Dora,” the podcast Dora’s Mermaid Adventures, an album of songs and plenty of toys and apparel.

“The great thing about Dora is that, yes, she celebrates Latin culture through every aspect — language, food, dress and music,” says Ramsey Naito, president of animation at Paramount and Nickelodeon. “But she also empowers everybody to be their true self and to be brave. She’s not exclusive. She’s inclusive.”

The original voice

Kathleen Herles had a special vantage point to see Dora’s influence: She was the original voice of the pint-size heroine, cast in the role when she was 7 and staying until she was 18 and off to college.

“It has been the longest journey and the greatest adventure of my life — no pun intended,” said Herles, who grew up in New York City to parents of Peruvian descent.

On the convention circuit, Herles would see firsthand the power of Dora. “I remember I would make kids cry, not intentionally,” she says. “Their mind goes to a memory, to a moment, it’s just incredible. It’s so special, it’s magical.”

Herles has lately been the voice actor for Dora’s mom on “Dora,” the reboot that started in 2024. It’s a full-circle moment for the actor and singer: “It changed my life forever, twice.”

“Dora the Explorer” led to what Herles laughingly calls the “Dora-verse” — the spinoff series “Go, Diego, Go!,” a sequel series “Dora and Friends: Into the City!” and the 2019 live-action feature film “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” starring Isabela Merced, Eva Longoria and Michael Peña.

“Dora” co-creator Chris Gifford has watched his creation age up and down and take human form. “She has been older and she has been younger and she has a hair clip now,” he says. “Her essence, her positive spirit, her I-can-do-anything-with-your-help attitude has stuck through.”

Dora is firmly part of the culture, as big as her Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon. There’s a reference to her in “Inside Out 2,” she’s been mocked on “Saturday Night Live” and if you look carefully at the PBS show “Alma’s Way,” you can see a Dora doll in that heroine’s bedroom. TikTok users have embraced the “Backpack Song.”

“Those kids coming of age now — the ones who 25 years ago were just watching it as little preschoolers — they’re out there and they’re remembering,” says Valerie Walsh Valdes, co-creator of the original series and an executive producer on the new series and movie.

Creating a problem solver

Valdes and Gifford originally had the idea for a show about a little girl who was a problem solver. Like “Blue’s Clues,” it would reward kids for figuring out answers posed by the host.

“Preschoolers are the least powerful people in our world,” says Gifford. “They’re not able to button their sweater and not able to tie their shoes, but if they’re able to help Dora get to the City of Lost Toys and really feel like they helped, that’s something special.”

Nickelodeon suggested the girl be Latina and the creators ran with it, making her pan-Latina so no one would feel excluded. Latin representation on TV — then and now — has been a struggle.

The Latino Donor Collaborative’s 2024 Latinos in Media report found that Latino actors made up 9.8% of the main cast in lead, co-lead and ensemble roles in scripted shows. In non-scripted television, Latino hosts made up only 5% of host roles. That’s despite Latin people making up nearly 20% of the country.

“There were few programs at the time that featured Latina protagonists with Dora’s skin tone or features, so from that perspective, the representation is valuable,” says Erynn Masi de Casanova, head of the sociology department at the University of Cincinnati.

Dora was put in an animated world inside a computer, and the creators asked kids to help make the show better. They hired education consultants to tease out the skills Dora teaches, like spatial understanding and interpersonal. They brought in language and culture experts.

“We did it!” became her signature song.

Bilingual heroine

The series is seen in more than 150 countries and territories and translated in 32 languages on Nickelodeon channels and Paramount+. In English-speaking countries such as the United States and Australia, Dora teaches Spanish; in other markets — including the Hispanic U.S. markets — she teaches English.

Samantha Lorraine, 18, who grew up in Miami of Cuban heritage, had the Dora T-shirts and backpack. She laughs that she once even had the Dora bob.

In July, she’s starring as Dora in “Dora and the Search of Sol Dorado,” which was filmed in Colombia. “I’ve been doing my audition since day one,” she says.

“It’s an honor to be stepping into Dora’s shoes. It’s such a huge legacy,” she adds. “It’s really nice to be able to be a part of representation where it counts. And Dora is the epitome of that.”

Castillo, of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, puts Dora up there with Mickey Mouse in terms of an instantly recognized cultural character and says she’s relevant more than ever.

“We need more Doras,” she says. “If people were just open to being educated in other people’s languages and cultures and beliefs and not see it as a threat, we wouldn’t be in the situation that we’re in this country and the world.”

By MARIA SHERMAN

NEW YORK (AP) — A pit bull puppy peeing off a balcony. Mounted antlers in the kitchen on a crooked nail. Pink boiled eggs stay afloat in the brine. For its dedicated audience, the North Carolina alt-country-meets-indie rock band Wednesday is an exemplar in evocative songwriting, where whole worlds are found in short lyrical lines.

And that says nothing of what they sound like. The most exciting band in contemporary indie rock is informed by Drive-By Truckers and Pavement in equal measure, a distinctive sonic fabric of lap steel, guitar fuzz, folksy and jagged vocals.

On Sept. 19, they will release their sixth and most ambitious full-length, “Bleeds.”

“My songwriting is just better on this album,” Wednesday’s singer and songwriter Karly Hartzman explains. “Things are said more succinctly … the immediacy of these songs was the main growth.”

Wednesday began as Hartzman’s solo project, evidenced in 2018’s sweet-sounding “yep definitely.” They became a full band on 2020’s “I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone,” a dive into guitar distortions, and 2021’s “Twin Plagues,” a further refinement of their “creek rock” sound. The lineup consists of Hartzman, bassist Ethan Baechtold, lap steel player Xandy Chelmis, guitarist Jake Lenderman and drummer Alan Miller. Some also tour with Lenderman’s solo project, MJ Lenderman. (Hartzman and Lenderman previously dated.)

Wednesday’s last album, the narrative “Rat Saw God,” was named one of the best albums of 2023 by The Associated Press partially for its uncanny ability to dive into the particularities and complications of Southern identity. “Bleeds” sharpens those tools.

On “Bleeds,” a band evolves

“Originally, I was going to call it ‘Carolina Girl’ but my bandmates did not like that,’” Hartzman jokes.

“Bleeds” comes from the explosive opening track, “Reality TV Argument Bleeds.”

She likes how the band name and album title sound together — “’Wednesday Bleeds,’ which I feel like I do, when I play music … I’m almost, in a way, bloodletting and exorcising a demon.”

Lyrically, “Bleeds” features some of Wednesday’s best work — even in the revisiting of an older song, “Phish Pepsi,” that hilariously references both the jam band and the most disturbing movie released in 2010 — a kind of specificity born from Hartzman’s writing practices. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she and Lenderman “wrote 20 lines of writing each day,” a practice adopted from Silver Jews’ David Berman. She’s also a documentarian of memory: She takes notes of things her friends say and images that are affecting, to later collage them together in songs.

“The well never runs dry,” Hartzman says. “Because I’ve admitted not everything can come from inside. I need to look outward outside of myself for inspiration.”

Remembering, she says, “is the goal for most of the (expletive) I do. … I care. I want stories to persist.”

Storytelling through song

“Bleeds” manages cohesion across a variance of sound. “Wasp” is hard-core catharsis; lead single “Elderberry Wine” drops guitar noise for shimmery, fermented country. “Wound Up Here (By Holding On),” which references the Appalachian poet Evan Gray, is a pretty indie rock track about a hometown hero who drowns.

The quietest moment on the album, the plucked “The Way Love Goes,” was written as “a love song for Jake when we were still together. ‘Elderberry Wine’ as well.’” Hartzman explains. “‘Elderberry Wine’ is kind of talking about me noticing slight changes in a relationship.”

These are not breakup songs; they exist right before the point of dissolution. “Sweet song is a long con / I drove ya to the airport with the E-brake on,” she sings on the latter.

Later: “Sometimes in my head I give up and / Flip the board completely.”

“I’m understanding how sound creates emotion. That’s what I’m learning over time,” Hartzman says of her musical growth. “I’m also listening to more music with every year that passes. So, my understanding of what’s possible, or what I can be inspired by, shifts.”

A number of the songs pull from childhood memory, as they always have across Wednesday’s discography. “I think about growing up a lot,” she says. “When I think of trying to tell … a story that’s vivid and intense, that’s just the easiest time in my life, where everything felt vivid and intense.”

Longtime fans of the band will find recurring themes and characters from past songs. For example, “Gary’s” from their 2021 album returns as the “Bleeds” closer in “Gary’s II,” where he gets into a bar fight.

“In a way, I’m writing the same songs over and over, but I’m just trying to make them better,” she says.

There is always more humanity to excavate. And often, those emotions, “they aren’t done with you,” she adds. “They’re not letting you go.”

So, let the bloodletting begin.

A previous version of this story incorrectly listed Margo Schulz as Wednesday’s bassist. Ethan Baechtold is the current bassist. Schulz parted ways with the group before the release of the 2023 album “Rat Saw God.”

Ethan Daniel Davidson is no stranger to releasing music — he’s put out 13 albums since the end of the ’90s, after all.

But his latest, “Cordelia,” represents a bit of creative sea change for the Birmingham-based singer, songwriter, author and philanthropist.

After recording his last several albums locally — with a crew of Detroit-area musicians that includes his wife, Gretchen Gonzales Davidson, His Name is Alive’s Warren Defever and others — Davidson journeyed to Mississippi to make the seven-track “Cordelia” as well as a follow-up, “Lear,” that will be released later this summer. He recorded at Zebra Ranch Recording Studio in Coldwater, Mississippi, opened by the late Jim Dickinson, whose credits include the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Replacements and many more. It’s now operated by his son Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars, who co-produced “Cordelia” and “Lear” with David Katznelson.

The two played on it, as well, joined by musicians who have worked with Robert Plant, Emmylou Harris and others, with Rayfield “Ray Ray” Hollomon added to provide the sacred-style pedal steel sound Davidson wanted for the album.

“Every once in a while, you want to change and get out of your comfort zone,” Davidson, 55, the adopted son of the late Detroit Pistons and Guardian Industries owner Bill Davidson, explains while walking around his home. “It had been a long time, for me, working with the same group of people. I was ready to try something new, and you kinda challenge yourself, too, working with people you haven’t met before.

“It was a little bit of self-awareness for me. I had been letting myself slide a little bit, get too comfortable — not that I think I’ve put out any crap, but I wanted to freshen it up. I thought these songs were really good, and they deserved my attention.”

The Mississippi Delta also exerted a special pull, Davidson adds.

“I think Mississippi has always been one of my musical homes,” he says. “So much of the music I’ve absorbed my whole life come from Mississippi — other places, as well, but Mississippi factors big in my musical psyche. So just being down in that environment it was like, in a way, being back home.”

Davidson and the Mississippi gang recorded 25 songs, many dating from the COVID period or before, over the course of five days in the studio. One, “Your Old Key,” is a new version of a track from his 2012 album “Silvertooth,” which marked his return to record-making after a seven-year break. “The version that’s on ‘Silvertooth’ is, like, the first time that song was ever played. It was made up in the studio, in front of the microphone,” Davidson recalls.

“When I went down to Mississippi, these guys had listened to some of my back catalog, and they wanted to record a few of those (songs), too, to see what would happen. We recorded a number of the old songs, but doing ‘Your Old Key’ again and putting a sped-up version on this album seemed to fit with what we wanted to do. The guys were like: ‘That’s a great song. It’s got great changes in it.’ I was very flattered by that. I always believed in it and thought it was a good song.”

The “Cordelia” crew also encouraged Davidson to open up and extend some of the song arrangements more — notably “Gasoline,” “a love song about a middle-aged arsonist who gets released from jail and reconnects with his old flame” — that stretches beyond the nine-minute mark.

“Just letting these guys play was something I hadn’t done in a really long time — not since the first album, I think,” notes Davidson, a Lahser High School and University of Michigan graduate who began writing music while living in Alaska during the 1990s. “I’m not a soloist. I don’t jam. But I do like to hear guys that can really do it, and do it well. I like being part of that. I’m just plugging along with my rhythm guitar behind the drummer and listening to everybody else.

“It’s something people haven’t heard from me in a long time. There’s a couple more like that on the (‘Lear’) record, too.”

The music remains a part of a broad creative universe for Davidson, who also executive produced the 2019 documentary “Call Me Bill: The William Davidson Story.” In addition to working with the William Davidson Foundation that his father founded, he’s also the board chairman for Detroit Opera and serves on the boards of the Detroit Institute of Arts and Motown Museum. And he maintains what he calls a “rabbinic side hustle” whose studies have led to a couple of books with another, inspired by the Leviticus passage about the Blasphemer, in progress.

“It’s all part of the same piece, in a way,” Davidson explains. “I regard my whole musical practice, or whatever it is, really being more about my own psychotherapy practice. It’s a way of figuring out what’s going on inside of me and healing myself. It’s about trying to understand what’s inside of me, unpack what’s inside of me.

“My attitude is if people like it, that’s great — and if people don’t like it, that’s great. (laughs) Whatever. I never cared about being some big star. It’s all just a way of expressing what’s inside me, and maybe somebody else will connect with it.”

Ethan Daniel Davidson celebrates the release of his new album, “Cordelia,” with a performance at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 26 at the Detroit Public Theatre, 3960 Third Ave., Detroit. 313-974-7918 or ethandanieldavidson.com.

Few of music’s icons are, or have, demonstrated the art of aging with grace — and defiance — than Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan.

The two Mount Rushmore-caliber singers, songwriters and song interpreters have logged more than 60 years of performing and recording each. On Friday night, June 20, at the Pine Knob Music Theatre they reprised their 2024 pairing at the top of Nelson’s annual Outlaw Music Festival bill, each of 65-minute their sets acknowledging the ravages of time (Nelson’s 92, Dylan 84) but still tapping into the creative drive that has kept each consistently on the road (again) throughout those decades.

Their methods are similar; both Nelson and Dylan (still basking in the triumph of last year’s biopic “A Complete Unknown”) have stripped their presentations down to stark core that frames the songs and their vocal performances within rudimentary arrangements. They still deploy sophisticated nuances and occasional bursts of virtuosity, but their approaches allow them to treat even their best-known tunes as living, breathing material open to re-interpretations both dramatic and subtle.

It’s not always crowd-pleasing; it wouldn’t be a Dylan show, after all, if some of the 13,000-plus fans at Pine Knob weren’t grumbling about the changes he made to favorites such as “Simple Twist of Fate” or “All Along the Watchtower.” But the ovations were strong throughout the night, in recognition of legendary stature as much as artistic adventure.

Earlier sets from Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and Trampled By Turtles showed that Nelson and Dylan have passed those lessons down to those following in their wake, while Kalamazoo’s Myron Elkins opened the nearly seven-hour show with a half-hour set that highlighted his just-released new album “Nostalgia For Sale” and brought Michigan-bred blues guitarist Larry McCray on for a number.

The sun came out for the first time just before Dylan, in a dark suit and open-neck white shirt, led his quintet on the stage for a mostly low-key 15-song exposition that found him in confident voice and showcased his acumen on piano (and occasionally harmonica) as the other musicians meandered around the melodies and loose structures that were delicate but never tentative. Dylan would often start a song on his own and let the band members work their way in — which worked particularly well on renditions of “Forgetful Heart,” “Under the Red Sky,” “Desolation Row,” “Love Sick” and a sinewy “Gotta Serve Somebody.”

As is his wont, Dylan sampled beyond his own songbook as well, covering George “Wild Child” Butler’s “Axe and the Wind” and Charlie Rich’s “I’ll Make It All Up to You” and slotting Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Share Your Love With Me” in front of Dylan’s own blues-celebrating “Blind Willie McTell.” The concluding “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” meanwhile, sent its own message — not to overthink what was being played, or how it was being performed, but to enjoy the music on its own merits, as well as another opportunity to experience a legend and his legendary work.

Nelson, meanwhile, hewed to the familiar as he and his acoustic quintet rolled through a spirited 21-song performance that also embraced his colleagues’ music and was loaded with hits; in fact, favorites such as “Whiskey River,” “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” “On the Road Again” and “You Were Always on My Mind” were played within the first 10 songs and 20 minutes, a mark of just how deep a well Nelson was drawing from.

Despite battling an obvious cold (lots of coughing and nose-blowing), Nelson picked his shots throughout and delivered sturdy renditions of “Still is Still Moving to Me,” “I Never Cared For You” and “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground,” wringing solos from Trigger, the battered acoustic guitar whose tone at times also showed signs of wear and tear. And even when guitarist Waylon Payne took over lead vocals on songs such as Merle Haggard’s “Workin’ Man Blues,” Hank Williams’ “Move It On Over” and Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee,” Nelson stayed present and engaged, while longtime harmonicist Mickey Raphael provided accents and solos — as well as accordion during Tom Wait’s “Last Leaf.”

Defiance and celebration were themes as Nelson promised during that latter that “if they cut down this tree I’ll come back as a song.” He offered his wish to “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die” and admonished music executives to “Write Your Own Songs,” then brought Rateliff, some Night Sweats and members of Trampled By Turtles back for a joyous medley of “Will the Circle Be Unspoken?” and “I’ll Fly Away.” And if there was a finality intended with “The Party’s Over” and Hank Williams “I Saw the Light,” there was no question Nelson will fly away on nothing but his own terms.

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By KELVIN CHAN, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — “Have you seen the cats?”

That’s a common refrain in my household because our two felines, Maple and Juniper, can venture outside through a flap in the backdoor. Like many other London house cats, they’re free to come and go, roaming the surrounding backyards and beyond, equipped with microchips to identify them if they get lost.

If your cat likes to prowl outdoors for long stretches, or your dog has a tendency to run off, it can be distressing when they don’t return as expected.

If you’re worried about your furry friend’s whereabouts, technology can help you keep tabs on them.

How pet tech works

Dedicated pet trackers are collar-worn devices that typically use GPS signals to pinpoint the location of the animal wearing them. They use a 4G cellphone signal or your home Wi-Fi connection to relay the position to a smartphone app.

There are many products on the market. Tractive, Jiobit and Pawfit are among brands that offer trackers for both dogs and cats. Devices for the latter are generally smaller and lighter.

Dog trackers with integrated collars are available from Fi and Whistle. PetTracer is a cat collar that uses both GPS and radio signals from a home base station. FitBark, also for dogs, has an Apple Watch app to monitor location and other activity.

Garmin has a range of GPS dog collars that work with handheld devices resembling walkie-talkies, but they’re pricey and aimed at outdoors enthusiasts like hunters.

Phone signals

Most trackers let you designate a safe zone on a map, usually your house and surrounding area, and alert you if your pet has left it.

They usually operate on the 4G LTE spectrum commonly used by wireless carriers. It typically has the longest range of any cellular signal, said Andrew Bleiman, Tractive’s executive vice president for North America.

That means strong connectivity in most of Europe and North America “unless you’re in a really far flung place like the middle of a national park,” Bleiman said.

What it costs

Exact price depends on brand and model. Most devices sell for less than $100. However, keep in mind you’ll also have to pay a subscription fee for the cell service to function.

While that could cost $100 or more a year, for some pet owners it’s worth the “peace of mind,” Bleiman said.

Battery life

The collars usually have a built-in rechargeable battery but battery life varies. Most will be last at least two to three days before they need charging, and a lot longer in ideal conditions.

One big factor is signal strength. The battery will drain faster if the device has to work harder to pick up the GPS or connect to Wi-Fi. Some save power by not sending coordinates in the safe zone.

Other features

Like fitness watches for humans, pet tracking apps offer health and activity monitoring features. You can see how long your cat or dog has spent resting or exercising on a daily or hourly basis.

But be aware, a tracker is “not going to keep your pet in the backyard,” Bleiman said. It will only “alert you when they leave the virtual fence area that you set up.”

How to use it

This One Tech Tip was inspired by Maple, who once went AWOL for days. It turned out he was hanging out in a backyard 10 doors down the street. We only found out after the residents got hold of a pet microchip scanner to look up our contact details to let us know so we could retrieve him.

Tractive provided a loaner device to try. Using the included breakaway collar, we put it on Maple, who clearly didn’t like it at first. He dashed out the back door and jumped through a hole in the fence.

Over the next day, I used the Tractive app to monitor his movements. It showed his travels back and forth onto various neighboring properties. He came back to rest for a few hours around midnight, went out to prowl again around 3 a.m, then came back after an hour to nap some more.

It was fascinating to see where he was spending his time. According to the app’s “heatmap,” one of Maple’s favorite spots was the same backyard where we had to retrieve him previously.

Losing track

About 24 hours after I attached the Tractive collar on Maple, I noticed he was no longer wearing it. It had somehow come off.

If you can’t find your pet’s exact location, or the device gets lost, Tractive has a “radar” feature to pinpoint it with your phone’s Bluetooth. Other brands have similar features.

On the app’s map, I could see it was in a nearby backyard and that I was getting closer because the circle was getting bigger. But I couldn’t figure out where it was and, not wanting to disturb the neighbors, I gave up.

Bleiman recommends using a harness for cats that don’t like collars, but I’m not convinced.

Microchips

It’s common for cats and dogs to be implanted with microchips, with the details added to a database. That makes it much easier to reunite owners with lost dogs and cats, even if they’ve strayed hundreds of miles away or gone missing for years.

Pet microchips, about the size of a grain of rice implanted just below the skin, are legally required in some European countries. There’s no federal law in the U.S., though some places like Hawaii now require them, so check with state or local authorities.

But there’s some confusion about what microchips can do. Because they don’t have a power supply, they can’t be tracked in real time. Whoever finds your pet would need to take it to a vet or a shelter to can scan the device for contact details.

Air Tags and similar devices are another option

Many pet owners use Bluetooth trackers like Apple’s Air Tags, Samsung’s SmartTags or similar devices from Tile, Cube and Chipolo, which rely on low-power signals relayed by passing smartphones.

Bluetooth trackers have a range of 100 to 500 feet, depending on the model. The batteries last for months if not longer, and there’s no need to pay for a subscription.

However, they’re not specifically marketed for pets. That hasn’t stopped pet owners, judging from many recommendations they’ve posted in online forums.

Chipolo advises that its round plastic trackers are only for “in-house pets like house-trained cats and smaller dogs” and warns against using them on “larger dog breeds and outdoor cats.”

Still, they can be a solution for some pet owners.

“Bluetooth is a totally reasonable solution if you’re in a downtown urban core,” Bleiman said. “But pets move fast. And if you’re in a wooded park, or you’re in a suburban area — let alone a more rural or wilderness area — it’s pretty unlikely your pet is going to be close to a Bluetooth device.”

Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Bureau of Aging, Community Living and Supports Health Services, Oakland University and the Michigan Falls Prevention Coalition have partnered with Michigan 211 to offer fall prevention resources on mi211.org. The information is designed to connect health care providers, community organizations and residents with vital fall prevention resources.

About 30% of Michiganders ages 65 and older report falling each year and most of these falls occur at home.

“This initiative aims to improve statewide access to evidence-based fall prevention programs, durable medical equipment and nutrition services that support older adults and individuals at risk of a fall,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive. “Falls can lead to serious injuries, including head trauma and broken bones. By collaborating and sharing resources, we can work together to make Michigan a safer place for everyone.”

Individuals and health care professionals can access resources and services through the site or by calling 211. Searches for education and safety planning resources, physical health and wellness services, daily living supports and home accessibility modifications can be conducted by ZIP code. In addition, 211 specialists have been trained to assist callers in locating fall prevention services.

The website was made possible through a $408,499 grant from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund Healthy Aging Grant. Funding also supported development of the Michigan Falls Coalition website and an awareness campaign about the Michigan 211 resource. The coalition is supported through partnerships with MDHHS and Oakland University and brings together organizations and providers to collaborate to reduce fall risks among older adults and adults with disabilities, identify state or community needs, recommend policy changes and build capacity.

“Oakland University is proud to lead innovative research and community partnerships that improve the health and safety of Michiganders,” said Dr. Chris Wilson, lead author on the grant application and associate professor in the Physical Therapy Program at Oakland University’s School of Health Sciences. “Through our leadership within the Michigan Falls Prevention Coalition and initiatives like the 211 resource platform, we are committed to connecting older adults and individuals with disabilities to the services and supports they need to stay safe, active, and independent in their homes and communities.”

“The National Kidney Foundation of Michigan (NKFM), which provides falls prevention programs in the community, is excited to have this resource available so people can locate programs,” said Ann Andrews, MPH, senior program manager, National Kidney Foundation. “The MI Falls Prevention Coalition started in 2021 as a small advisory group for a federal grant the NKFM received. There was great interest in the group from among stakeholders across the state and it’s exciting to see what the coalition has grown into from these initial efforts.”

Health care providers and community organizations can help expand this resource by adding fall prevention programs to the website. Eligible programs include:

• Fall prevention education and exercise programs
• Senior-focused exercise programs
• Urinary incontinence prevention initiatives
• Nutrition services supporting fall risk reduction
• Durable medical equipment providers offering fall prevention-related items
• Home and environmental modification programs
• Other related fall prevention-focused programming

Organizations and providers interested in listing their programs or updating existing details can visit mi211.org/providers. Once a 211 representative speaks with the organization liaison directly, updates and new listings will typically be posted within 10 business days.

For more information, visit the 211 falls prevention page mi211.org or the Michigan Falls Prevention Coalition’s website at mifallsprevention.org.

Source: Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

By JOSEPH WILSON

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A group of tourists were sitting at an outdoor table in the Spanish city of Barcelona, trying to enjoy their drinks, when a woman raised a cheap plastic water gun and shot an arc of water at them.

Her weapon of choice — the cheap, squirt-squirt variety — is an increasingly common fixture at anti-tourism protests in the southern European country, where many locals fear that an overload of visitors is driving them from their cherished neighborhoods.

How did the humble water gun become a symbol of discontent?

From refreshing to revolutionary

The phenomenon started last July, when a fringe, left-wing activist group based in Barcelona that promotes the “degrowth” of the city’s successful tourism sector held its first successful rally. Some brought water guns to shoot one another and stay cool in the summer heat.

“What happened later went viral, but in reality it was just kind of a joke by a group of people who brought water guns because it was hot,” Adriana Coten, one of the organizers of Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, told The Associated Press.

Then, some turned their water guns from each other to tourists. The images went around the world, becoming a publicity coup for the anti-tourism cause.

The guns reappeared in April when the same group stopped a tour bus in Barcelona, the Catalan capital.

Guns drawn

On Sunday, around a thousand people marched from a luxury shopping boulevard popular with affluent foreigners before police stopped them from getting closer to Barcelona’s top sight-seeing destination: La Sagrada Familia church.

The marchers spritzed unsuspecting tourists along the way, chanting slogans and carrying protest signs. One read: “One more tourist, one less resident!”

They left a trail of stickers on hotel doors, lampposts and outdoor café tables showing a squirting water gun encircled by a message in English: “Tourist Go Home!”

Still, the number of Barcelona protesters carrying water guns was a minority — and in the gun-toting group, many were only shooting in the air or at each other. One dad was toting his baby in a front-pack, water gun in hand.

Outside the protests, Barcelona locals are not toting water guns or taking aim at tourists. And many in the city still support tourism, which is a pillar of the local economy.

‘A symbol’

Can the water gun really change the minds of tourists, authorities or the businesses that drive the industry? Depends on who you ask.

Protester Lourdes Sánchez and her teenage daughter, each holding a water gun, said the gun “really isn’t to hurt anyone.”

“This is a symbol to say that we are fed up of how tourism industry is transforming our country into a theme park,” Sánchez said.

Another demonstrator, Andreu Martínez, acknowledged it was “to bother the tourists a bit.”

Laurens Schocher, a 46-year-old architect, said he didn’t shoot any suspected tourists but hoped that carrying a water gun would bring more attention to their cause.

“I don’t think the tourists will get it,” he said. “I think this is to send a message to authorities.”

A squirt can hurt your feelings

The marchers had no monster, pump-action water cannons most kids use for backyard battles in the summer. Theirs were the old-school, cheap-o water guns that send a slim jet of water not that far away.

Some tourists who were sprayed took it in stride, even claiming it was refreshing on a day with temperatures pushing up to around 87 Fahrenheit.

But there were moments of tension. When several marchers squirted workers at a large hostel, tempers flared and one worker spat at his attackers as he slammed the hostel door shut.

Nora Tsai, who had just arrived from Taiwan on a short visit, was among those spritzed on Sunday. She said she was a bit frightened and saddened. The “Tourist go home!” chants didn’t help either.

“I still like Barcelona,” she said. “I have met a lot of people who were kind.”

Ever since his childhood, Dean Van Nguyen has felt a connection with Tupac Shakur. 

The journalist and cultural critic first encountered the late rapper’s music as a student in an all-boys Catholic school in Ireland, and Shakur was a natural fit when Van Nguyen was deciding to write his second book, following his debut, “Iron Age: The Art of Ghostface Killah” in 2019. Van Nguyen knew he had a fresh angle on Shakur’s life and career.

“What made me really want to get into the book was the question of, ‘How does this happen?’” Van Nguyen says. “How does a guy who made music that you can play in the club become this figure on par with Che Guevara or a Bob Marley?”

Van Nguyen’s “Words for My Comrades: A Political History of Tupac Shakur,” out now from Doubleday, seeks to answer those questions. The book looks at Shakur through a political lens, examining his childhood spent around members of the Marxist–Leninist Black Panther Party — especially his influential mother, the late activist Afeni Shakur. 

Van Nguyen talked about his book via Zoom from his home in Dublin, Ireland. This conversation has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

Q: How did you discover the music of Tupac Shakur?

It was back in school. When I was a kid, I had a bit more of a focused music taste than a lot of kids. A lot of the kids would just be into chart singles, but I quite liked R&B. I had young uncles and one young aunt, and they introduced me to a lot of stuff. It was the mid-’90s where the lines between R&B and hip-hop were starting to kind of blur and you were getting a lot of cross-genre collaborations. When I was a teenager, more in the late ‘90s, rap, gangsta rap was becoming quite popular in the schoolyard. This kind of music was a bit of an escape for us, especially because at that time, the videos were always really good and there always seemed to be stories around the music as well. Tupac was one of the artists that I grew up on, and I always maintained a fandom for him.

Q: What do you think made him so popular in Ireland?

He is the greatest icon the culture has ever produced. I think I’d say he’s probably one of the two most instantly recognizable artists alongside Eminem. But what I noticed, and one of the impulses behind this book, is that his icon is particularly strong in places of the world that have experienced colonial oppression or any sort of resistance, any sort of sense of rebellion or revolution. Ireland is in that vein; obviously, we were colonized by Great Britain for a long time. 

There’s also something about Tupac as a symbol of resistance that is particularly interesting to Irish people. In the early 2000s, I went to a Nelly gig and a bunch of guys were waving a Tupac flag. And when the DJ who was warming up the crowd played “Ambitionz az a Ridah,” they all went nuts. I was quite young when he died. And dying young and dying violently sealed his reputation because that’s what happened to a lot of Irish heroes. They were killed young. That’s happened to a lot of revolutionaries around the world, and I think that strengthened his icon too. There’s just something in that that appeals to the Irish psyche, I suppose.

Q: You did a lot of interviews for this book. 

Coming from a journalism background, the tenets of feature writing served me well. I like to talk to people, and for this, I was particularly keen to talk to people who may be voices in the Tupac story haven’t been heard quite as much. I wanted to chat with anyone who wanted to, but I found, for example, when you’re talking about a rap crew, sometimes it’s like the fourth or fifth most famous guy who’s actually got the most interesting things to say.

These guys aren’t recognized on the street, but they’re there observing history all the time. One of the real pleasures of doing the book was talking to the ex-Panthers and the other ‘60s and ‘70s activists who, at this stage of their life, are very eager to have their stories put down. Crucially, as well, they’ve gotten to a stage in their life where they’re no longer fearing any kind of government reprisal. They don’t think they’re going to get in trouble for speaking to me candidly. 

Q: When do you think that Tupac’s Panther background first became evident in his music, or was it always there?

It’s there from some of his earliest recordings. One of his early recordings that he made before he had a [record] deal was called “Panther Power,” and it was overtly about his background. This was always a part of his upbringing. But he was also raised in the backdrop of the revolution that never really came. The Panthers, by the mid- to late ‘70s and ‘80s, a lot of them were suffering from addiction, like Tupac’s own mother. A lot of them are still in prison on charges that were drummed up to stifle them. So I think he grew up in an environment where his elders are probably speaking a lot about regrets. I think he recognized that he needed to tailor his own worldview and his own message and his words to meet America. That was important in terms of his artistry, but certainly, I think that was always there in his music.

Toward the end of his career, his music became a little bit more macho and a little bit more violent. But then on the Makaveli album [“The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory”], which was released after he died, you can see he’s coming back to his roots, and he namechecks a lot of the activists who would’ve been his mother’s contemporaries, who he would’ve known growing up. So yeah, it was always there. He just took on different forms and shaped it for his own. He saw Los Angeles in the 1990s, which had specific issues in terms of racism, police brutality and all that. He had that spirit in him, but the music was very tailored for his own age as well.

By Gretchen McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Philadelphia is famous for its cheesesteak sandwiches.

Yet, if you’ve ever been to the city’s Reading Terminal Market on Arch Street in Center City (a favorite haunt when I was in paralegal school), you’ve probably also seen the long lines in front of Tommy DiNic’s. (If you know, you know.)

The star of this iconic sandwich counter, which has been drawing crowds since it opened in1977, is a succulent, slow-roasted Italian roast pork sandwich topped with sharp provolone and drippy, garlicky braised broccoli rabe (also known rapini). It’s a decidedly messy nosh as the ingredients can, and probably will, spill out as you eat it.

As tough as it is for a Pittsburgh girl to fall in love with something from Philly (my husband excluded), I have to admit it’s pretty incredible. I get the signature sandwich every time I’m in town, and never regret it.

This sub recipe (or should we say hoagie?) from America’s Test Kitchen is a riff on that storied sandwich served on a sesame-seeded Sarcone’s Bakery roll. Spicy Italian sausage stands in for the thinly sliced roasted pork that is a three-day process at DiNic’s. It also includes savory, tender slices of portobello mushrooms cooked with fennel, fresh rosemary and a touch of soy sauce. Shredded provolone goes right into the pan with the meat and veggies for a melty, we’re-all-friends finish.

Like DiNic’s, this recipe spotlights broccoli rabe. It’s a cruciferous green that looks like leafy broccoli, but as a member of the Brassicaceae family, is actually more closely related to the turnip. Its flavor is more bitter than broccoli, and the greens can also be fibrous, but the two veggies are interchangeable in this recipe. I used long, tender stalks of Broccolini instead of broccoli rabe, which I couldn’t find in my local grocery store.

Don’t skimp on the pickled red cherry hot peppers as a final flourish. They’re only mildly spicy, and you can’t beat that extra kick of flavor.

I used 6-inch (Mancini’s) sausage rolls instead of 8-inch sub rolls, so I had enough filling for five sandwiches. Be sure to toast the bread until it’s quite brown and crispy. Otherwise the filling could turn the sandwich into a (still delicious) soggy mess.

Wrapped in aluminum foil and reheated in a 350-degree oven for a few minutes, any leftovers make a great lunch the next day.

Philly-style Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Subs

PG tested

• 4 8-inch Italian sub rolls
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin oil, divided
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• 1 pound broccoli rabe, trimmed and cut into 1/2 -inch pieces
• 1/4 plus 1/8 teaspoon salt, divided
• 8 ounces hot Italian sausage
• 1 pound portobello mushroom caps, wiped clean, and sliced 1/4 -inch thick
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, cracked
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 4 ounces shredded sharp provolone cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped or slice jarred hot cherry peppers, optional

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 450 degrees.

If needed, slice rolls to make them easier to open (without slicing all the way through). Use spoon or your fingers to scraped inside of rolls and remove all but 1/4 i nch of interior crumb; discard removed crumb or use to make bread crumbs or croutons. Set aside while you prepare filling.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil and sliced garlic in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until garlic is light golden brown, 3-5 minutes.

Add broccoli rabe and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 4-6 minutes. Transfer to bowl and cover to keep warm.

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add sausage and cook, breaking up meat into small pieces with wooden spoon, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to fat left in skillet and heat over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add mushrooms and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms have released their liquid, 3-5 minutes.

Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are well browned, 5-7 minutes. Reduce heat to low.

Clear center of skillet and add remaining 2 teaspoons oil, fennel seeds and rosemary. Stir in soy sauce and cooked sausage, then stir in cheese until melted. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.

Arrange reserved rolls on baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes.

Divide mushroom and broccoli rabe mixture evenly among rolls. Top with cherry peppers, if using, and serve.

Serves 4.

— adapted from “Mostly Meatless” by America’s Test Kitchen

©2025 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

It was a chance of scenery for Billy Corgan when the Smashing Pumpkins frontman performed Thursday night, June 19, at Saint Andrew’s Hall in Detroit.

Less than 10 months ago — last Sept. 4 — he was on stage with the band a few blocks away at Comerica Park, playing for nearly 41,000 fans in an opening date for Green Day. On Thursday Corgan performed for about 40,000 fewer — but was even more exciting over the course of the two-hour-and-five-minute set.

This time the show was with a quartet Corgan dubbed Machines of God, which includes recent Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Kiki Wong. It was almost all Smashing Pumpkins, however, celebrating the 30th anniversary of its diamond-certified “Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” album as well as the 25th of the “Machina”/”The Machines of God and Machina II”/”The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music” package and further promoting last year’s “Aghori Mhori Mei.” That made it Smashing Pumpkins by another name, or the most valid Pumpkins tribute band in the world.

Either way it was a bona fide special night, and perhaps the most satisfying Corgan-related performance since perhaps the original “Melon Collie” shows back in 1995.

It was certainly a special night for Corgan, who sported his trademark ankle-length frock and was visibly relaxed in and charged by the intimate setting. “Standing on this stage brings back a lot of memories,” he told the packed Saint Andrew’s crowd, noting that his first time was in 1989 and also recalling the start of 1999’s Arising Tour there, “one of the greatest moments in Smashing Pumpkins history.”

“Detroit was the first city in the world to embrace my band, Smashing Pumpkins, so I will always be grateful for that,” noted Corgan, who shouted out original Saint Andrew’s booker Vince Bannon. “This is an amazing, wonderful city with such an incredible history, so it’s an honor to be here tonight, playing these songs.” (He later recalled a guitar was stolen from another show, in 1992, but subsequently recovered.)

You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone at Saint Andrew’s who didn’t feel the same on Thursday, as Corgan and company shredded through a high-octane set that demonstrated his gift for knitting together power and melody, nuance and ferocity. It was also a demonstration of his guitar acumen, particularly with extended solos on epic treatments of “Porcelina of the Vast Oceans” and the main set-closing “The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right).”

Following a grungey half-hour from Los Angeles’ Return to Dust, the Corgan crew tore into the night with the pummeling triplet of “Glass’ Theme,” “Heavy Metal Machine” and “Where Boys Fear to Tread,” the former declaring “I betrayed rock and roll” even as the group well-served its punky furor. The tour has included some first-ever performances of “Machina II’s” “Here’s to the Atom Bomb” and “White Spyder” — as well as “Aghori’s…” “Sighommi” and “Edin,” while bassist Jenna “Kid Tigrrr” Fournier sang lead on a rendition of Nancy Sinatra’s “You Only Live Twice” and joined Corgan for an acoustic duet on “Tonight, Tonight.”

Corgan also surprised the crowd by picking up the bass himself for “Glass and the Ghost Children.”

The real highlight came mid-show, however, with a trio of “Melon Collie” favorites. “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” and “Muzzle” practically melted the walls at Saint Andrew’s, while during “1979” Corgan’s two oldest children — Augustus, nine, and Philomena, six — came onstage for a Sumo-style wrestling match “won” by the devil’s horn-flashing latter in a take-down.

Corgan kept the pedal down throughout the night, finishing with an encore of “Zero” and “Everlasting Grace.” There was nary a negative to be said — save by Corgan, who cracked that “it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t say something negative.

“It may sound small, it may sound trite, it may sound petty, but since I’ve been playing this stage for 36 years, it is the same stage,” he explained, pointing out a center-stage spot “that they’ve never fixed in 36 (expletive) years. And I want to say that’s not a Detroit thing; it’s a Midwestern thing, where if it ain’t broke, don’t (expletive) fix it. But it is broke, and I wish they’d fix it so when I come back here in 36 years it’ll finally be proper.”

And you can bet everyone at Saint Andrew’s on Thursday will be happy to be back to see that.

Corgan performs again on Saturday, June 21, at the Intersection, 133 Cesar E. Chavez Ave., Grand Rapids. 616-723-8571 or sectionlive.com.

Simple Minds is still very much an active band. In fact, its 20th studio album is in motion, according to frontman Jim Kerr.

But this year, the Scottish group is enjoying the 40th anniversary of an eventful 1985, which included the chart-topping hit “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” from the film “The Breakfast Club,” a performance at Live Aid and the release of its best-selling album, “Once Upon a Time.” Kerr’s oldest daughter — Yasmin, with the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde — was also born that year.

“You just can’t believe when you hear that it’s 40 years — there’s that for a start,” Kerr, 65, says via Zoom during Simple Minds’ first North American tour in seven years. “And then the other thing is you just feel so blessed after all this time that you’re allowed to get out and play, and in our case make people jump up and down.

“It’s just all so unexpected, in a sense.”

Kerr acknowledges that Simple Minds — including guitarist Charlie Burchill, the only other remaining founding member — was initially unsure about recording “Don’t You (Forget About Me).” He says the band felt “we had songs up our sleeve” for “Once Upon a Time” and was initially loathe to embrace something written by others. Nevertheless — and with a degree of pushing from its record company — the group took it on and felt able to make the song its own.

“What we brought to it was 10 years of playing live, and we put our heart and soul into it and we put our lifeblood into the record,” Kerr recalls. “It would’ve been a different song if OMD did it, or the Psychedelic Furs — it would’ve been a different record, rather. So it’s not our song, but it is our record.

“And lo and behold, here we are 40 years later, still talking about it.”

Simple Minds, Soft Cell and Modern English perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 21 at Pine Knob Music Theatre, 33 Bob Seger Drive, Independence Township. 313-471-7000 or 313Presents.com.

Other music events of note this weekend (all subject to change) include …

FRIDAY, JUNE 20

• The Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Pops series presents “Let’s Misbehave: The Songs of Cole Porter” with four shows through Sunday, June 22 at Orchestra Hall, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 313-576-5111 or dso.org.

• Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan headline this year’s Outlaw Music Festival 10th Anniversary Tour at 4 p.m. at Pine Knob Music Theatre, 33 Bob Seger Drive, Independence Township. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Trampled By Turtles and Kalamazoo’s Myron Elkins also perform. 313-471-7000 or 313Presents.com.

• The New York rock quartet Brand New celebrates its 25th anniversary with two shows — tonight and Saturday, June 21 — at the Masonic Temple Theatre, 500 Temple St., Detroit. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-548-1320 or themasonic.com.

• The country duo Maddie & Tae performs at District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte. Doors at 7 p.m. Audrey Ray opens. district142live.com.

• Acclaimed singer-songwriters Will Sexton and Amy LaVere double-bill at 8 p.m. at the Trinity House Theatre, 38840 W. Six Mile Road, Livonia. 734-436-6302 or trinityhousetheatre.org.

• The New York trio Sunflower Bean plants itself at 8 p.m. at Third Man Records, 441 W. Canfield St., Detroit. 313-209-5205 or thirdmanrecords.com.

• The Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival continues throughout the weekend, including a free Friday Night Live! performance at 7 p.m. in the Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 313-833-7900 or dia.org.

• Indiana indie rock troupe Murder By Death brings its farewell tour to Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit. Doors at 6 p.m. 313-961-8961 or saintandrewsdetroit.com.

• Former WDIV news anchor Devin Scillian & the Arizona Sun will be up with the KufflinKs at 7 p.m. at the Cadieux Cafe, 4300 Cadieux Road, Detroit. 313-882-8560 or cadieuxcafe.com.

• The Crofoot complex celebrates its late staffer Justin Roettger with performances by Tyler Common, Greg and the Degends, Racquel Soledad and others, starting at 6 p.m. 1 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac. Doors at 7 p.m. 248-858-9333 or thecrofoot.com.

• The Americana trio Barnaby Bright lights up at 8 p.m. at 20 Front Street in Lake Orion. 248-783-7105 or 20frontstreet.com.

• The Science Fair and Endless Vacation set up in the Garden Bowl Lounge, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Doors at 9 p.m. 313-833-9700 or themajesticdetroit.com.

• Seattle’s Bug Hunter and the Narcissist Cookbook arrive at the Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff, Hamtramck. Doors at 6:30 p.m. 313-462-4117 or sanctuarydetroit.com.

• Summer Fest 2025 features Nurvcore, Through Our Eyes, Metal Mustangs and more at the Diesel Concert Lounge, 33151 23 Mile Road, Chesterfield Township. Doors at 6 p.m.  586-933-3503 or dieselconcerts.com.

• Pigeon Pit, Rent Strike, Popolis and Fat Angry Heads roost at Small’s, 10339 Conant, Hamtramck. Doors at 7 p.m. 3130873-1117 or smallsbardetroit.com.

• Jae Skeese and B.A. Badd throw down at El Club, 4114 W. Vernor Highway, Detroit. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-757-7942 or elclubdetroit.com.

• Guitarist Kris Kurzawa is in residence through Saturday, June 21 at the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, 97 Kercheval, Grosse Pointe. 313-882-5399 or dirtydogjazz.com.

• Trumpeter Karim Gideon and his Quartet plays through Saturday, June 21, at Cliff Bell’s, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit. 313-961-2543 or cliffbells.com.

• Soraia & the Idiot Kids and SeaHag open the weekend at the Lager House, 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-500-1475 or thelagerhouse.com.

• The Roxy hosts The Pretenders Tribute at 8 p.m. 401 Walnut Blvd., Rochester. 248-453-5285 or theroxyrochester.com.

• Baltimore singer-songwriter Cris Jacobs plays at 8 p.m. at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. Lost Mary opens. 734-761-1818 or theark.org.

• The 2025 Detroit Jazz Festival All-Stars Generation Sextet gathers for shows at 7 and 9:30 p.m. at the Blue Llama Jazz Club, 314 S. First St., Ann Arbor. 734-372-3200 or bluellamaclub.com.

• Virtual: Billy Strings livestreams at 7:30 p.m. from Lexington, Kentucky, and again on Saturday, June 21, for subscribers to nugs.net.

• Virtual: The jam band Goose livestreams at 7:30 p.m. from Cleveland, and on Saturday. June 21 from Canandaigua, New York, for subscribers to nugs.net.

• Virtual: Umphrey’s McGee premieres its April 20 performance in Marrakech, Morocco, at 8 p.m. for subscribers to nugs.net.

• Virtual: “American Masters — Janis Ian: Breaking Silence” premieres nationwide at 9 p.m. on PBS. Check pbs.org/americanmasters for local stations and showtimes.

• Virtual: The Gibson Sisters host a “Slumber Party” at 9 p.m., streaming via veeps.com.

SATURDAY, JUNE 21

• Royal Oak Live! a two-day music festival, starts at 1:30 p.m. and again on Sunday, June 22 at Centennial Commons, 204 S. Troy St. Performers include Kim Waters, Ben Sharkey, Alexander Zonjic, Paul Taylor, Special EFX and others. 248-547-4000 or royaloakchamber.com.

• A Flock of Seagulls headlines the I Love the 80’s tour, joined by Bow Wow Wow and Animotion at 7 p.m. at the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, 2600 Atwater St. at Chene, Detroit. 313-393-7128 or TheAretha.com.

• Hit-making songwriter and producer David Foster and trumpeter Chris Botti, along with vocalist (and Foster’s wife) Katharine McPhee, team up at 8 p.m. at the Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway St., Detroit. 313-237-7464 or detroitopera.org.

Diverse musical trio bring their happy music to Detroit

• Alabama-born vocalist Lamont Landers has hit the road and comes to the Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. The Vig Arcadia opens. Doors at 7 p.m. 248-544-1991 or themagicbag.com.

• Last Night Saved My Life celebrates the release of a new album, "The First Hello," in the Pike Room at the Crofoot complex, 1 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac. Doors at 6 p.m. 248-858-9333 or thecrofoot.com.

• A pair of duos — the Rough and Tumble and Flagship Romance — team up at 8 p.m. at 20 Front Street in Lake Orion. 248-783-7105 or 20frontstreet.com.

• Toed hits the stage at the Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale, supported by Strictly Fine and Sancho. Doors at 7 p.m. 248-820-5596 or thelovingtouchferndale.com.

• The Virginia thrash group Deceased joins Jail and Mortal Disguise at 7 p.m. at the Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff, Hamtramck. 313-462-4117 or sanctuarydetroit.com.

• The Soap Girls, Decyhered and Over Medicated trip-bill at 7:30 p.m. at the Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Road, Westland. 734-513-5030 or tokenlounge.com.

• Millyz brings his Blanco 7 Tour to town at El Club, 4114 W. Vernor Highway, Detroit. Doors at 8 p.m. 313-757-7942 or elclubdetroit.com.

• True Devil, Tangerine Time Machine and eight others perform on two stages for Rock N Core at the Diesel Concert Lounge, 33151 23 Mile Road, Chesterfield Township. Doors at 5:30 p.m. 586-933-3503 or dieselconcerts.com.

• Another set of duos — Miles and Mafaie, and Dave Boutette and Kristi Lynn Davis — pair up at 8 p.m. at the Trinity House Theatre, 38840 W. Six Mile Road, Livonia. 734-436-6302 or trinityhousetheatre.org.

• Ann Arbor is among the cities taking part in the global Make Music Day, with performances in and around the area all day long. Find schedules and other information via makemusicday.org.

• The Out Loud Chorus performs a 1 p.m. matinee at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. The trio Darlingside, along with Clovers Daughter, follows at 8 p.m. 734-761-1818 or theark.org.

• The Sean Dobbins Quintet plays at 6:30 and 9 p.m. at the Blue Llama Jazz Club, 314 S. First St., Ann Arbor. Guitarist Noah Hogan and his Quartet follow with a 10:30 p.m. late-nighter. 734-372-3200 or bluellamaclub.com.

• Virtual: It's a double shot Oasis' Liam Gallagher as his "Live at Knebworth — Concert Film" streams at 3 p.m. and a "Knebworth Documentary" follows at 5 p.m. both via veeps.com.

• Virtual: The 2020 concert film "Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace" returns to stream at 3 p.m. via veeps.com.

SUNDAY, JUNE 22

• Keith Urban brings his High and Alive Tour to town at 7 p.m. at Pine Knob Music Theatre, 33 Bob Seger Drive, Independence Township. He'll be joined by Chase Matthew, Alana Springsteen and Karley Scott Collins. 313-471-7000 or 313Presents.com.

Keith Urban’s rolling with new album, tour and TV show 

• Detroit's own Suicide Machines joins Less Than Jake, Fishbone and Bite Me Bambi on the Summer Circus Tour stop at the Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St. Doors at 6 p.m. 248-399-2980 or royaloakmusictheatre.com.

• The Detroit Blues Society hosts its International Blues Challenge showcase at 3 p.m. at the Cadieux Cafe, 4300 Cadieux Road, Detroit. 313-882-8560 or cadieuxcafe.com.

• The world music octet In the Tradition performs at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at Cliff Bell's, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit. 313-961-2543 or cliffbells.com.

• Lauren Sanderson drops in at the Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. Doors at 7 p.m. Emeryld opens. 248-820-5596 or thelovingtouchferndale.com.

• Bega, Captain Tallen and the Benevolent Entitites, Conor Lynch and Jackamo stack up at 7 p.m. at the New Dodge Lounge, 8850 Jos Campau, Hamtramck. 313-638-1508 or thenewdodgelounge.com.

• The all-female tribute band the Iron Maidens rocks at 6:30 p.m. at the Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Road, Westland. 734-513-5030 or tokenlounge.com.

• The Nashville quartet Birdtalker finishes the weekend at 7:30 p.m. at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. Curtis Ford opens. 734-761-1818 or theark.org.

• William Hill III presents solo piano performances at 6 and 7:30 p.m. at the Blue Llama Jazz Club, 314 S. First St., Ann Arbor. 734-372-3200 or bluellamaclub.com.

• Virtual: Sweden's Ghost streams "Rite Here Rite Now — All Access Watch Party" at 8 p.m. via veeps.com.

By MARIA SHERMAN

NEW YORK (AP) — What makes a great song of the summer? Is it an up-tempo pop banger? Something with an earworm chorus? Does it need to feature the words “summer,” “sunshine,” or another synonym — “California” — in the title? How could anyone attempt a song of the summer after the late, great Beach Boy Brian Wilson composed them so expertly, anyway?

It very well may be subject to the eye (well, ear) of the beholder, but The Associated Press views the song of the summer as the one that takes over those warm months between June and August, the kind that blasts out of car speakers and at beach barbecues in equal measure. And that means many different things for many kinds of listeners.

So here are AP’s 2025 song of the summer predictions across categories, with past victors for reference.

Find your song of the summer and then listen to our Spotify playlist, here.

Song of the summer that inexplicably came out in January: “NUEVAYoL,” Bad Bunny

A song of the summer doesn’t actually have to arrive in summer, or even in spring. History has proved this time and time again, lest anyone forget Olivia Rodrigo’s “drivers license” hit at the top of the year in 2021. But this summer, like every summer, is about Bad Bunny. On his latest album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio pulls from Puerto Rico’s rich musical history and hybridizes it. He does so from the very opener, “NUEVAYoL,” which samples the fittingly named 1975 salsa hit from El Gran Combo, “Un Verano en Nueva York” (“A Summer in New York”).

Past champion: “Boy’s a Liar PT. 2,” PinkPantheress, Ice Spice (2023)

Song of the summer for the chronically online: “Tonight,” PinkPantheress

An internet hero releases another super hit: PinkPantheress’ “Tonight” is an undeniable good time; all bassline house meets hyperpop vocals with a naughty chorus. The 24-year-old British singer-songwriter has proved she’s got so much more to offer than a few viral hits — but her huge songs that blow up online? They tend to stay. That’s more than can be said about past winners in this category.

Past champion: “Million Dollar Baby,” Tommy Richman (2024)

Breakup song of the summer: “What Was That,” Lorde

Lorde’s first new single in four years recalls the clever synth-pop of her 2017 album “Melodrama,” casting aside the folk detour of 2021’s “Solar Power.” “What Was That” is reserved revelation, introspective electropop that takes a measured look at a relationship’s dissolution. It feels good, and bad, which is the point.

Past champion: “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” Bee Gees (1971)

Song of the summer for the girls and all those who love them: “Gnarly,” KATSEYE

KATSEYE, the global girl group born out of K-pop development techniques, are “Gnarly,” and they’d like you to be, too. The song is asymmetrical pop with a cheerleading cadence and extensive, expensive product placement. You’re here for the girls, or you’re not. Gnarly!

Past champion: “Bills, Bills, Bills,” Destiny’s Child (1999)

Song for singles ready to mingle this summer: “WASSUP,” Young Miko

Flirting is central to these hot months; no other season has a fling named after it. Puerto Rican rapper Young Miko knows this better than most, and her track “WASSUP” is all about charisma — and it doesn’t hurt that it interpolates “Lollipop” by Lil Wayne featuring Static Major and “Chulin Culin Chunfly” by Voltio featuring Residente.

Past champion: “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’),” T-Pain featuring Yung Joc (2007)

Song of the summer for those who love British boy ballads performed by an American: “Ordinary,” Alex Warren

Last year brought Benson Boone’s glossy soft pop-rock; this year, Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” is inescapable. A big, inoffensive ballad with loosely religious themes, it is meticulously designed to the pull at heartstrings. And it does — the song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Past champion: “Beautiful Things,” Benson Boone (2024)

Song of the summer for when you lose the beef but still have fight left in ya: “Nokia,” Drake

For the last year, Drake has mostly made headlines for his rivalry with Kendrick Lamar, one of the biggest beefs in modern rap music history. He was no victor, but on “Nokia,” he’s certainly a winner. The song is a return to what Drizzy knows best: a massive rap-R&B-pop song for the ages, one that will live inside the minds of listeners for the whole year. Just, you know, replete with the nostalgic sounds of a Nokia ringtone.

Past champion: The difference here, of course, is that Drake won his beef with Meek Mill. But nonetheless: “Back to Back,” Drake (2015)

The TikTok-approved, blast-of-dopamine song of the summer: “Boots on the Ground,” 803Fresh

Social media is the wild west and inevitably sources its own song of the summer. Usually, there’s an element of humor in the track — like 2023’s “The Margarita Song” by That Chick Angel, Casa Di & Steve Terrell. This year is a bit different: 803Fresh’s “Boots on the Ground” is an organic hit that centers a kind of soulful line dance — it’s country-pop with trap hi-hats and fun for the whole family.

Past champion: “The Spark,” Kabin Crew & Lisdoonvarna Crew (2024)

Song of the summer for it girls: “Fame Is A Gun,” Addison Rae

Charli xcx fans, fear not. Addison Rae’s debut album is stuffed with bejeweled, hypnotic pop songs for the post-“BRAT” crowd. Best of all is the Grimes-esque “Fame Is a Gun,” a sunglasses-in-the-club banger with synthetic vocal textures and an unignorable chorus. For fashionable listeners, and those who aim to become more fabulous.

Past champion: “Bad Girls,” Donna Summer (1979)

Song of the summer of revenge: “Manchild,” Sabrina Carpenter

Does it sound strikingly similar to “Please, Please, Please” at times? Sure. But has Sabrina Carpenter cornered the market on country-tinged, satirical pop songs about heterofatalism, an internet neologism for those who find heterosexuality embarrassing and hopeless? Also, yes. But you know, with a wink, vengeance and a danceable quality. Amen, hey men!

Past champion: “Before He Cheats,” Carrie Underwood (from her 2005 debut album, but released as a single in 2006)

Biggest song of the year, and therefore the default song of the summer: “Luther,” Kendrick Lamar and SZA

Is a song released in November too dated to qualify for song of the summer? Perhaps. But here’s the rub: Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for 13 weeks in 2025 — over half the year so far. Popularity makes the contender. It doesn’t hurt that “Luther” is also one of the best songs of both this year and last, a tender R&B ballad that samples Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn’s 1982 rendition of “If This World Were Mine.” “Luther” has since been dethroned on the charts, but no other song has come close to its run this year.

Past champion: “Last Night,” Morgan Wallen (2023)

Country crossover song of the summer: “What I Want,” Morgan Wallen and Tate McRae

If terrestrial country radio is your leading metric for selecting the song of the summer, then Morgan Wallen’s “I’m The Problem” is likely your pick. But a catchier track with true country crossover appeal is “What I Want” with Wallen and pop singer Tate McRae. It is the first time Wallen has featured a female vocalist on one of his songs. It’s a rare embrace for the chart topper, who historically prefers to buck country duet tradition and double down on his vocal style — warm, muscular, masculine.

Past champion: “You’re Still the One,” Shania Twain (from her 1997 album, but released as a single in 1998)

Song of the summer released half a decade ago: “party 4 you,” Charli xcx

The data doesn’t lie and what is old is new is old is new again. In the year after “BRAT” summer, desire for more Charli xcx is still strong. As a result, fans have dug up a cut from her 2020 album, “How I’m Feeling Now,” and turned it into their own summer anthem … five years later. So much so, in fact, that Charli released a music video for it in May.

Past champion: “Cruel Summer,” Taylor Swift (released in 2019, crowned song of the summer in 2023)

Song of the summer with a canine-themed title: “Mutt,” Leon Thomas

Look, “Mutt” also arrived in 2024, but in 2025 — bolstered by a deluxe release and a recent Chris Brown remix — makes “Mutt” an easy song of the summer pick for some listeners. It’s difficult to hear that chorus and not sing along: “She said, ‘Take your time, what’s the rush?’ / I said, ‘Baby, I’m a dog, I’m a mutt.’”

Past champion: “Bird Dog,” The Everly Brothers (1958)

By MARK SCOLFORO

GARDNERS, Pa. (AP) — Sam Cooper had just trekked 7 miles through a rain-sodden stretch of the Appalachian Trail when he sat down outside a little country store in Pennsylvania to take on its ice cream challenge.

Nearly 40 minutes and 2,500 calories later, the dairy farmer from Chapel Hill, Tennessee, was polishing off the final titanium sporkful of chocolate chip cookie dough on Tuesday and adding his name to the list of “thru-hikers” who have celebrated the trail’s halfway point by downing a half-gallon of ice cream.

By the end Cooper, 32, whose trail name is Pie Top, was calling the experience “pure misery.”

“I don’t think anybody should be doing this,” Cooper said cheerfully. “This is not healthy at all.”

The ice cream challenge is thought to have begun more than four decades ago at the Pine Grove Furnace General Store in Gardners, a few miles north of the current true halfway point on the 2,197-mile trail. Thru-hikers, as they’re known, are the fraction of the trail’s 3 million annual visitors who attempt to walk its entire length in a single, continuous trip.

As they slog their way north through Virginia and Maryland, the ice cream challenge is a regular topic of conversation among thru-hikers at shelters and campfires, said Stephan Berens, 49, a psychiatric nurse from Nuremberg, Germany.

Berens, whose trail name is Speedy, polished off his black cherry and vanilla in about 25 minutes after completing 17 miles on the trail that day — and with seven more to go that afternoon.

‘The most free I’ve ever felt’

Trail experts say hikers can need up to 6,000 calories a day, a practical challenge when food needs to be carried up and down rocky terrain. The slender Berens figures he’s lost about 20 pounds since starting April 8.

“I thought it would be worse, but it’s OK,” said Berens, smiling and patting his stomach after finishing the half-gallon. “Such a crazy idea.”

Zeke Meddock, trail name Petroglyph, didn’t bother timing himself but finished his choice of a quart and a half carton of chocolate chip cookie dough and a pint of strawberry. The diesel mechanic from North Amarillo, Texas, began his hike on March 27, two months after finishing a stint in the U.S. Army.

“You’re basically walking away from life,” said Meddock, 31. “It’s the most free I’ve ever felt.”

So far this year, about 50 thru-hikers have finished the challenge, earning the honor of having their photos posted on a store bulletin board. In a notebook to record their thoughts, Chicken Louise wrote on May 24: “Life choices?” The next day, Seagull weighed in with, “I feel bad,” and Hyena issued a cry for help: “It was very fun for the first 15 minutes. Now, I (and my family) want to die.”

The ice cream challenge record, less than 4 minutes, was set two years ago by a man with the trail name Squirt. Two decades ago, the mark to beat was about 9 minutes.

Thru-hikers who want to attempt the record may only allow the $12 worth of ice cream to start to melt in the sun for a few minutes. They must be timed by a store employee.

“It’s called the half-gallon challenge,” Cooper said. “Very appropriately named.”

Bragging rights and a spoon

Bruce Thomas, a 41-year-old disability support worker from Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada, passed on the ice cream challenge, opting instead for a breakfast sandwich and another one for the road.

“It’s early morning and I’m pretty sure I cannot do it,” said Thomas, trail name Not Lazy.

Those who do finish in a single sitting are awarded a commemorative wooden spoon — and bragging rights for the rest of their hike. Some people get sick. Others wash down the ice cream with a hamburger.

The ice cream challenge is one of several quirky traditions and places along the trail. There’s a shelter in Virginia where hikers confess their sins in a logbook, a two-hole outhouse in Maine with a cribbage board between the seats and a free canoe ferry across the Kennebec River that’s considered an official part of the trail. And at Harriman State Park in Tuxedo, New York, hikers encounter the renowned “Lemon Squeezer,” a narrow rock formation.

About one in three people who launch a thru hike take the roughly 5 million steps required to go the distance. They most often walk from south to north, starting in Springer Mountain, Georgia, and wrapping up 13 states later at Maine’s Mount Katahdin.

The trek typically takes six months but the current speed record is about 40 days, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Meddock said there’s talk that a man on the trail behind him may be on pace to break it.

There’s also been a lot of discussion among hikers about the extensive damage along the trail in southern states from September’s Hurricane Helene. But mostly they think and talk about walking.

“It’s always hard,” Thomas said. “It’s going to be hard. I never think about quitting. I only think about how I can do it.”

More than 50 years on, these are fresh times for “The Wiz” — if not entirely a brand new day.

The current touring production of the seven-time Tony Award-winning musical — which staged its first preview performances in Detroit during 1974 — straddles a line between revival and reimagination, with changes both substantial and subtle but still staying true to the spirit of a Big Broadway Musical.

Proof of that is in the extravagant dance production pieces, primarily during Act II, and Dana Simone’s lung-busting performances, as Dorothy, of torchy anthems such as “Soon As I Get Home,” “Wonder, Wonder Why” and “Home.”

But this take on “The Wiz” — directed by Schele Williams, with music supervision by Joseph Joubert and “new material” by Amber Ruffin — streamlines and contemporizes the African-American take on Frank Baum’s 1900 novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

There are crisp new sections of dialogue, particularly smack talk that blends 1970s and 2020s attitudes and modern musical flavors — the latter particularly evident as the “Matrix”-like “The Emerald City” sequence that opens the second act moves from disco to clubby EDM flavors. There’s also a little more steam-punk in the scenery this time, with a floor-to-ceiling video screen that gives the production greater visual depth.

Weighing in at a tidy hour-and-50-minutes, plus intermission, the new “Wiz” loses a few scenes and songs (bad news for fans of the Funky Monkeys) without compromising the narrative. And, of course, you’d still be hard-pressed to find a more joyous moment in all of theater than the Luther Vandross-composed “Everybody Rejoice”/”Brand New Day” couplet after the death (is that really a spoiler alert?) of evil witch Evillene — staged this time as a “Hair”-like exposition of hippie bonhomie.

The good news is that this tale as old as (post-industrial) time still works, from the bullet-proof story itself to the original songs from Charlie Smalls and others. And it has a solid cast, from Simone’s Dorothy to the 14-member dance company, to deliver those goods with theater-filling charisma.

They fill “The Wiz” with a series of show-stopping moments, starting with Simone and Kyla Jade’s (Aunt Em) “The Feeling We Once Had.” Tin Man D. Jerome’s “What Would I Do If I Could Feel” is a soulful highlight, while Kyla Jade, as Evillene, lights things up with the tambourine-shaking New Orleans romp through “Don’t Nobody Bring Me No Bad News.” And Alan Mingo Jr. is, as he’s supposed to be, a scene-stealer as Wiz, channeling his inner Samuel L. Jackson during performances of “Meet the Wiz” and “Y’all Got It.”

Coming on the heels of the successful movie adaptation of “Wicked,” “The Wiz” is a reclamation of the first iteration of the story — as familiar now as it was audacious during the mid-70s. And it proves that you can go “Home” again, even if the place has been remodeled a bit since the last time we were there.

“The Wiz” runs through June 29 at the Fisher Theatre, 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit. 313-872-100 or broadwayindetroit.com.

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David Foster acknowledges he and Chris Botti were “kind of stressed” about their first show together, which took place in February 2024 in Florida and also included Foster’s wife and “American Idol” runner-up Katharine McPhee.

“We loved doing it,” Foster, 75, recalls via Zoom, with trumpeter Botti alongside him, “but we were like, ‘How does this mix together, all our different genres of music — Kat with her Broadway, me with my pop, Chris with his contemporary jazz?` And it just worked out great, and the audience seemed to be with us every step of the way.

“And we thought this is something we can work on a bigger scale, so here we are.”

The three have embarked on a 12-city tour that, as Foster indicates, covers a diverse range of material. He’s won 16 Grammy Awards as a performer, producer, arranger and songwriter for the likes of Chicago,  Boz Scaggs, Dionne Warwick, Paul McCartney, Michael Buble, Rod Stewart and many others. Foster also produced Botti’s latest album, “Vol. 1,” and composed music for the Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical “Boop!”

Botti, 62  — a Grammy winner whose myriad credits include Sting, James Taylor, Barbra Streisand, John Mayer and others, in addition to 11 of his own albums — has worked in the studio with Foster since 2001 and says the two are kindred spirits. “I paramountly love melody, and so does (Foster),” Botti explains. “David’s hooked me up with some great people like Josh Groban or Bocelli, of course. And to do that crossover takes a certain sensibility. I consider myself a trumpeter first, not, like, a ‘jazz musician.'”

Foster says he was “determined not to make another record,” but relented in 2023 when Botti asked him to helm “Vol. 1,” asking Foster to “just sit in the chair for six days. That’s all I need you for.” “True to his word,” Foster notes, “It was six days. I didn’t do much — just every once in a while maybe like, ‘Don’t play so much there’ or ‘You should fill that hole.’ Very, very light, breezy stuff.

“So, I don’t know, maybe there’s another six days like that in our life again. We’ll see.”

David Foster and Chris Botti, with Katharine McPhee, perform up 8 p.m. Saturday, June 21 at the Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway St., Detroit. 313-237-7464 or detroitopera.org.