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Monthly Archives: January 2020

The Jonas Brothers are starting off 2020 on a high note — with a killer performance at the Grammys!!

After solidifying their comeback in 2019, Kevin, Nick, and Joe deserve to be on stage during music’s biggest night! Even better still, they were introduced by Billy Porter — who is incapable of NOT being a star! Seriously, who doesn’t want to get introduced by an iconic A-lister??? THAT is how you deliver an intro!

After the intro, things started slowly with all three bros opting for an acoustic sound to build up a little rhythm and get the ball rolling downhill. But by the time the trio got on the main stage, the brought the whole house down with a nice medley performance that was equal parts catchy and dance-worthy! And with their wives all sitting front-and-center to support them along the way, well, that just made the whole thing so much better!

Watch their performance (below)!

Yessss!!! How much did y’all love that??

And seriously… about those wives… (below):

So great! You LOVE to see it!

Tell us what U think, too… sound OFF with all your comments and more (below)!!!

[Image via WENN]

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Read more: https://perezhilton.com/the-jonas-brothers-grammys-performance-2020/

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas are one of the world’s hottest couples of all time, and we just LOVE seeing how much they are perpetually in the honeymoon phase.

But their love story might not have happened if not for one very specific artistic choice on Nick’s part.

In a new interview, Priyanka opens up the couple’s doors to Harper’s Bazaar, telling them all about their life together — and lets slip some very tasty tidbits along the way!

Photos: Nickyanka Celebrate Their One-Year Anniversary

First, talking about how her hunky hubby has become part of her daily routine, she says:

“The first thing I do in the morning is put on music. My life has always been pretty musical, and now with Nick it’s completely musical.”

Awww, that’s sweet. Then out of nowhere, she reveals:

“I decided to date him after seeing the video for Close, where his shirt comes off. So that song is my favorite.”

Ha! We’d say “same” but if we’re being honest we decided to date Nick Jonas long, long before that. But the scissoring with Tove Lo definitely sealed the deal for us! Ha!

Read more: https://perezhilton.com/priyanka-chopra-nick-jonas-camp-rock/

Rapper died last month at 21 after reported seizure following landing at Chicago airport

The rapper Juice WRLDs official cause of death has been ruled an accidental overdose. The Cook county medical examiners office cited toxic levels of codeine and oxycodone in Juice WRLDs system in the ruling, released on Wednesday.

Higgins died as a result of oxycodone and codeine toxicity, the office wrote in a statement. The manner of death is accident.

Juice WRLD, real name Jarad Anthony Higgins, died on 8 December. Reports claim he entered a drug-induced seizure after his private jet landed at Chicagos Midway airport, where police and federal agents confiscated weapons, pills, and over 70lb of marijuana. Higgins was temporarily revived with a dose of the opioid antidote narcan but died at a hospital shortly after. He was 21 years old.

Higgins was known for penning lyrics that addressed addiction and drug usage. He was candid in his music about abusing the drink lean which includes codeine cough syrup releasing an addiction-centric song titled Lean With Me in 2018.

Cook countys announcement comes as pop culture continues to reckon with the rappers sudden death.

Last week, Eminem released a collaboration he recorded with Higgins shortly before his death, titled Monsters. Shortly after, 26 unreleased songs by Higgins were leaked online by an unnamed hacker. Higgins fans responded to Wednesdays ruling with an outpouring of fan-made art and tributes to his music.

Carmella Wallace, Higgins mother, told TMZ she hoped her sons death raised awareness around addiction. We hope the conversations he started in his music and his legacy will help others win their battles as that is what he wanted more than anything, she said.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/22/juice-wrld-death-accidental-overdose-oxycodone-codeine

(CNN)Rapper 5th Ward Weebie, who was a major player in the distinctive bounce music scene in New Orleans, has died.

Weebie, whose real name was Jerome Cosey, died Thursday, according to his publicist. He’d been hospitalized after complications from heart surgery, local media reported.
The New Orleans native helped shape the local rap genre with songs such as “Let Me Find Out” and “F**k Katrina” — the latter a cathartic regional hit in a city brought to its knees by the storm. He also worked with various artists to make bounce music mainstream, appearing on Drake’s song “Nice for What” and collaborating with rapper Lil Wayne on “Bend It Ova.”
    His publicist, Jonathan Thomas, said the rapper’s love for New Orleans was unmatched.
    “Jerome Cosey (5th Ward Weebie) was and is a staple in New Orleans culture,” Thomas said. “His passion for the city was exemplified on the biggest platforms.”
    View this post on Instagram

    It broke my heart to learn that Jerome Cosey — our 5th Ward Weebie — has passed. Let me find out you didn't know who he was … He was an iconic personality, a New Orleans legend, and a beloved friend. He was the Bounce King, who showed us how to move, how to love, and how to bring passion and humanity to everything we do. New Orleans has lost a cornerstone of our culture. Our City will not be the same without his voice and his spirit. May he rest in God’s perfect peace. 5th Ward Weebie was a driving force in New Orleans' Bounce music scene, producing such hits as "Get Out The Way" and "Let Me Find Out" along with a cathartic single about Hurricane Katrina. Most recently he performed at our Black and Gold Pep Rally in the lobby of City Hall in advance of the New Orleans Saints' game against the Saints' 33-27 win over the Seattle Seahawks. @5thwardweebie

    A post shared by Mayor LaToya Cantrell (@mayorcantrell) on

    One of Weebie’s most recent public events was at New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s pep rally before the Saints versus Seattle Seahawks game in September.
      “He was an iconic personality, a New Orleans legend and a beloved friend,” Cantrell said. “He was the bounce king who showed us how to move, how to love and how to bring passion and humanity to everything we do. New Orleans has lost a cornerstone of our culture. Our city will not be the same without his voice and his spirit.”
      Weebie was a cultural icon who embodied the city of New Orleans, Congressman Cedric Richmond said.

      Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/10/entertainment/5th-ward-weebie-dead-trnd/index.html

      It looks like Rihanna is finding comfort in a familiar face following her split from boyfriend Hassan Jameel.

      The 31-year-old songstress was spotted getting cozy with her rumored ex-flame A$AP Rocky backstage at the 2020 Yams Day Benefit Concert in New York City on Friday. Judging by photographs captured of the two at the annual charity event organized in honor of the late A$AP Yams, they seem to be friendlier than ever these days! Such perfect timing for the newly single pop superstar, too…

      The Fenty Beauty mogul and A$AP Mob artist were seen laughing it up together (

      Rihanna reportedly ventured to Sweden last month to support A$AP at his comeback show in the country following the star’s legal troubles in Stockholm. They also posed together at the 2019 British Fashion Awards (pictured, above) and looked quite comfortable in each other’s presence on the red carpet.

      Let’s also consider this footage of the two staying suspiciously close to each other at an A$AP Mob rap battle in October:

      We’re not saying this had anything to do with why Rihanna and Hassan called it quits but it certainly gives us pause. We mean, she is single now so does it even matter?

      Perezcious readers, what do YOU make of all this?

      [Image via Avalon/WENN]

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      Read more: https://perezhilton.com/rihanna-asap-rocky-sighting-post-hassan-jameel-split/

      From a lament for the victims of Grenfell Tower to snapshots of Windrush arrivals activist, musician and poet Roger Robinson discusses the inspiration behind his prizewinning collection

      Since I was 19 Ive been living in England and thinking Id go home, but there was a point, around six years go, when I realised Im here now: Im black British. So says Roger Robinson, who this week won the TS Eliot prize for A Portable Paradise, a poetry collection born of this realisation.

      Furious laments for the victims of Grenfell Tower are followed by a crisp snapshot of idealistic young Jamaicans disembarking from the Empire Windrush in 1948, and a didactic sequence about the legacy of slavery today. A moody evocation of riot brewing on the south London streets sits alongside a love song to the National Health Service, which saved the life of his own prematurely born son.

      It was the arrival of this baby just the 1kg of him / all big head, bulging eyes and blue veins that prompted both his acceptance that he was here to stay, and his investigation of the possibility that paradise might be portable. I thought Id look at the utopian idea of paradise, which is so important in this country, and then it began to mean a lot of different things hope for my son, and the paradise that was denied to the people of Grenfell who had come looking to build theirs here and died because they werent in a position to do so, he says.

      A

      A musician and cultural activist as well as a poet, Robinson is no stranger to public interventions. In 2018, he launched a Twitter appeal for 100 poems protesting about the mistreatment of the Windrush generation. He also recorded an eight-minute music track for BBC Radio 3, Survivor (For the Grenfell Survivors). Ive lived in tower blocks so I know what its like to live there and the community who do, he says. Theyre not all immigrants and not all poor, but theyre all trying to build a better life and get out of there. It wasnt that I was poor, I just didnt have lots of housing opportunities. So when Grenfell happened I felt it viscerally.

      Robinsons own relationship with England doesnt follow an obvious narrative. Now 52, he was born to Trinidadian parents in the east London borough of Hackney due to the system of opportunistic parents who always had a plan for you to go to university here, he chuckles. When he was three years old, they returned to Trinidad, where his father became a PR executive for an oil company one of the first black men to rise that high and his mother worked as a nurse. His father encouraged him with comic book versions of the classics, while his mother is an incredible storyteller. To a certain extent my poetry came out of her storytelling at the dinner table.

      He went to one of Trinidads top schools, where expectations were high and his teachers included the playwright and later government minister Ralph Maraj. Its impossible to make a living as an artist in Trinidad because its so small, so a lot of the teachers were artists who had returned from studying abroad. At 19 he returned to the UK, initially to live with his grandmother in Ilford, Essex. Now that was a real culture shock. I couldnt feel at home there. He soon found that Brixton was more congenial, forming a bond with the south London district that remains strong, even since he has forsaken its tower blocks for a three-bedroom house in Northampton, where he lives with his wife and their six-year-old son.

      Beware these hot nights in Brixton, opens one observational poem, which is charged with the threat of urban unrest. Ashes to Fire was partly inspired by a night in 2011 when Robinson was dropped off in Brixton on his way home from a gig just as the London riots were starting. In a collection notable for its tonal and generic variety, this poem stands at one extreme a thrumming reminder that he started out as a dub poet, and that dub is the poetry of working-class suffering and protest. He has also released five albums, and is the lead vocalist for his band, King Midas Sound, for which surprisingly, given his rich bass speaking voice he often sings in a high tenor that spills into falsetto.

      He began to make his name on the London poetry scene in the 1990s, eking out a living by doing workshops in London schools. It was a time when many schools were thinking about role modelling, he says. I was trying to convince kids mostly young black boys who were not doing well at school that poetry could touch their lives and reading could be useful to them. He looks momentarily bashful behind his grizzled beard then adds, I dress relatively decently now but I used to be a bit more urban swaggering.

      His belief in mentoring was rooted in his own experience. I have had many mentors and one of them was [Booker prize-winner and poet] Bernardine Evaristo , who said: Youve got talent but you need to hone your craft. By his mid 20s he knew that he wanted to be an artist, and that if he was going to succeed he would have to live frugally. My mentors taught me that if you control your economics you can control your output.

      Evaristo was working for the writers support agency Spread the Word and, crucially, offered him the chance to attend free workshops, which he snapped up. During one, he met the poet Kwame Dawes, who urged him to broaden his reading. He introduced me to Chinese and Russian and European poets. At the time I was only reading what I liked. They werent all black poets I was into Seamus Heaney but I was reading for culture; he made me read for craft, and think about why things worked.

      Dawes also told him: If you get less than 36 rejections dont come to me and say its not working. On about my 37th attempt I got published. His first two pamphlets, Suitcase (2004) and Suckle (2009), were put out by another of his mentors, Nii Ayikwei Parkes. Portable Paradise is his fourth collection and, he says, it began to shape itself in a way that was beyond my authorial control, coming together so quickly that he was adding and removing poems until the day it went to press. (Even some of the poems in the ebook version didnt make the printed book.)

      Beneath the idea of paradise lies the concept of prayer, whether this involves the refusal of an Afghan immigrant to accept the substitute of therapy If it is Allahs will, who is he to unload his burden on someone else? or Robinsons own fervent prayers for his newborn son to be spared. The collections two dominant impulses, observation and entreaty, come together in fortuitous ways, and never more so than in the name of the nurse who cradled his son in neonatal intensive care, which becomes the title of the most overtly moving poem, Grace. Was she really called that? Yes, yes, he insists. He occasionally spots her driving around, though he has heard she has recently retired.

      Which brings us to the question of his own faith. I am Christian. I say prayers, but I dont get to church much, he says. Faith, for Robinson, is tied up with an idea of community and service. So many people came up to me after the [TS Eliot prize] readings and said: My child was premature, you expressed exactly what I felt. I want these poems to be useful and to help people to practise empathy. Demonstrating how a prayer might work to achieve this, he quickly improvises one that could also be a standalone poem: If you want people to understand the power of prayer in a time of trauma, let this book spread.

      A Portable Paradise is published by Peepal Tree (9.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p on all online orders over 15.

      Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/16/ts-eliot-prize-winner-roger-robinson

      (CNN)Deborah Dugan, the former head of the Grammys, says she was supposed to be giving a speech Thursday at the Billboard Power 100 about women in music.

      Dugan filed a lawsuit against the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Tuesday, alleging she was wrongfully fired after raising allegations of sexual harassment and irregularities with Grammy nominations.
      The lawsuit, filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), came just days before the group’s 62nd Grammy Awards is scheduled to air and days after Dugan was put on leave for what the Academy called “misconduct.”
        Dugan says she was put on administrative leave three weeks after she sent an email to the Academy’s managing director of human resources outlining numerous bombshell allegations against the organization and its “historically male dominated leadership,” according to the EEOC complaint.
        “The decision to put Ms. Dugan on leave was clearly made in retaliation for her complaint, and came with thinly veiled threats of termination in the event that Ms. Dugan persisted in pursuing claims against the Academy,” the lawsuit says.
        The lawsuit claims Dugan was subjected to sexual harassment.
        Dugan also alleges she was pushed out after raising concerns about various “irregularities and conflicts” with the Academy’s nomination and review process, and that she discovered numerous conflicts of interest made possible by the “boys’ club mentality.”
        The complaint also includes claims of unlawful gender discrimination, unlawful retaliation, and unequal pay.
        On Thursday she appeared on “GMA” with her attorney Douglas Wigdor to reiterate her assertion that the Recording Academy is a “boys club.”
        Dugan said that despite the seriousness of the complaints she had “wanted to make change from within.”
        “I moved across the country, I had a great job,” she said on “GMA.” “I believe in what the recording academy should stand for for artists. And I was trying at each step to take a deep breath and say ‘OK, I can make a difference. I can fix this. I can work with this team.'”
        Dugan also talked about the Grammys — whose voting process, she alleged, is “ripe with corruption.”
        When asked if viewers who watch Sundays Grammy Awards telecast should be thinking “the fix is in, this is rigged,” Dugan said “I’m saying that the system should be transparent and there are instances of conflicts of interest that ‘taint’ the results.”
        “I couldn’t say more positive things about all of the nominations and everybody that performs,” she said. “I hate that I am in this situation because I’d much rather be here talking about the artist and the music.”
        She reiterated her assertions on “CBS This Morning” and talked about the nomination review committees for the Grammys which she said includes in the room “trustees that have conflict of interest on particular artists that are nominated, but more importantly there are even artists that are nominated that are in the room.”
        “This process, by the way, could be fair and transparent,” she said. “I believe the good people at the Recording Academy, for which there are so many — so many good people on the board — the deserve better.”
        The Grammys voting process is listed on its official site.
        CNN has reached out to the Academy for comment on Dugan’s latest remarks.
        The Recording Academy said in a statement to CNN earlier that it’s “curious” that Dugan didn’t raise the allegations until legal claims were made against her by another employee who alleged she “created a ‘toxic and intolerable’ work environment and engaged in ‘abusive and bullying conduct.'”
        After raising her concerns to HR, the academy said, Dugan instructed it not to take any action, but the academy instead launched independent investigations into her allegations — as well as those against her.
        “Ms. Dugan was placed on administrative leave only after offering to step down and demanding $22 million from the Academy, which is a not-for-profit organization,” the statement said.
        Attorneys for Dugan said the Academy’s assertion about the timing of her allegations “is completely false.”
        “Ms. Dugan repeatedly raised concerns throughout her entire tenure at the Academy, and even gave large presentations focused on diversity and inclusion at Board meetings,” Douglas H. Wigdor and Michael J. Willemin said in a statement to CNN.
        The attorneys said others had raised the same concerns.
        “As alleged in the charge, artists, other board members and employees have all raised virtually all of the concerns raised by Ms. Dugan,” they said. “As alleged, the Academy has lost its way and abandoned the recording industry, instead focusing on self-dealing and turning blind eye to the ‘boys’ club’ environment, obvious improprieties and conflicts of interest.”
        Dugan was employed by the Academy for five months before being placed on leave.
        The Academy announced last week Dugan had been put on “administrative leave” effective immediately, following an allegation of misconduct.
          It was announced in May 2019 that Dugan would become the first woman to head the Academy when she assumed the position August 1 of that year.
          “I’m honored, humbled, and ready,” she said in a statement at that time. “The goal of the Recording Academy is to support, encourage, and advocate for those within the music community. I will listen to and champion all of those individuals, and lead this iconic organization into the future. I’m excited to get started.”

          Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/23/entertainment/deborah-dugan-grammys/index.html

          Zhavia is just one hit away from being a recognized star!

          She’s clearly so talented!

          A real special artist!

          Right now she’s releasing songs that are somewhere between Tori Kelly and Ariana Grande.

          Candlelight  really showcases her beautiful voice!

          Check out the R&B song above!

          Then CLICK HERE to listen to more music from Zhavia!

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          Read more: https://perezhilton.com/zhavia-candlelight/

          Posthumous albums grow in popularity as labels seek to bring music to new audience

          Two new David Bowie records will be released this year, with a digital EP featuring unheard versions of songs being released weekly and a live session, which will be out on Record Store Day in April.

          The first track from the David Bowie Is It Any Wonder? EP, The Man Who Sold The World, was released on Wednesday to mark what would have been the singers 73rd birthday, with a new song released each week digitally.

          The ChangesNowBowie live session, recorded in 1996 during rehearsals for Bowies 50th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden, comes later in the year and was previously broadcast on Radio 1 by Mary Anne Hobbs.

          Tracklistings are not available for either recording, although Parlophone Records said the Is It Any Wonder? EP will feature unreleased versions of songs from Bowies back catalogue which were recorded by him in the 1990s.

          Both the EPs, titled David Bowie Is It Any Wonder?, and ChangesNowBowie, are released by Parlophone Records and are part of a lucrative posthumous career for the singer. Shortly after Bowies death in 2016 sales of his albums in the US rose by more than 5,000%, according to Nielsen Music, with 682,000 units sold in the week he died. Spotify said that streaming levels of his music increased 2,700% in the hours after his death.

          But according to the people behind some of the most respected reissues, posthumous albums have evolved from being quick money-spinners for record labels to painstaking labours of love that bring forgotten musicians, including those Bowie admired, to a new audience.

          Audika Records was set up by the former Tommy Boy record executive Steve Knutson, who used his own money to create a label that would put out music by the cult musician Arthur Russell, who Bowie was a fan of. I did it for selfish reasons, said Knutson, who was invited to look through Russells vast archive. I needed to hear this music and the only way it was going to happen was if I put it out myself.

          In cooperation with Russells partner, Tom Lee who was given the rights to Russells music Knutson began to build the legacy of Russell, who was little known beyond the New York underground scene until Audika began issuing albums, beginning in 2004 with Calling Out Of Context. The 15th Russell release on Audika, Iowa Dreams, was released in November 2019.

          Josh Cheon, the founder of the music label Dark Entries Records in San Francisco, had a similar experience with the disco producer Patrick Cowley, who is best known for his track You Make Me Feel Mighty Real with Sylvester, and who died in 1982. When a former business partner of Cowleys invited him to come and select records from his collection, Cheon and his DJing partners decided to take everything Cowley related, including several hours of unreleased music, on reel-to-reel tapes.

          Cheon would eventually hunt down two porn soundtracks, which Cowley had made and released them on Dark Entries, along with detailed liner notes. The latest release, Mechanical Fantasy Box,is a collection of early works from 1973 to 1980. We are the guardians and the custodians of these peoples music. Were in charge of what the world gets to hear, said Cheon.

          There is little data on posthumous releases and no official statistics have been compiled to measure their rise, but, since the 1960s, albums released after an artists death have proved to be incredibly popular among consumers. After Reddings Dock Of The Bay became the first album to become a posthumous No 1, artists from Jimi Hendrix to John Lennon, Janis Joplin and the Notorious BIG all went to No 1s after their deaths.

          That popularity has led to a lucrative posthumous industry with estate management, rights disputes and hologram tours becoming the norm. But the handling of an artists legacy can be highly contentious. Princes estate has fought planned releases of the artists unreleased recordings since his death in 2016, and when Whitney Houston died in February 2012, Sony Music briefly raised the cost of her greatest hits on iTunes UK from 4.99 to 7.99 before reducing it after criticism.

          Any hint of cynical profiteering is anathema to the indy labels. Matt Sullivan, who runs Light in the Attic Records, and Matt Werth, who founded the label RVNG Intl, say posthumous releases for unknown artists are a labour of love. Its really not a case of just turning up and getting someone to sign on the dotted line, said Sullivan. Weve been working on one release for more than a decade now.

          David Bowies releases are most straightforward, with the singers estate owning the rights to his music, which are then licensed to Parlophone. No further releases have been announced for 2020, though there has been a Bowie boxset released every autumn for the last four years. Since his death there have been six live albums releases, including Serious Moonlight (Live 83), Live in Berlin (1978) and the 2018 Glastonbury 2000 that recorded his headlining performance at the Somerset festival.

          Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/09/two-new-david-bowie-records-to-be-released-in-2020

          New Years Day, I will wake up refreshed. And while youre passed out hungover, I will steal the money from your pockets

          Rejoice, for we are approaching a joyous and special time: New Years Eve, the day that offers you the very best chance of passing out drunkenly and freezing to death in a snowdrift.

          The best holiday is Christmas, or the appropriate cultural equivalent. It has fun traditions. It has lots of candy. And you get presents. Christmas is perhaps the only holiday that lives up to the weeks-long anticipatory buildup forced upon us by capitalism. Situated, as it is, at the end of the year, Christmas is a convenient time for us to reflect on what we have done in the past year, and contemplate what we wish to do next. Sitting cozily by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate and a pile of gifts, we absorb good cheer, making it more likely that we will decide to be nice to people in the year to come. I understand that some of you hate your families and therefore despise Christmas but thats a personal problem. You cant blame Santa for that. If you were seeking to design the perfect holiday from scratch, Christmas checks all the boxes.

          Then, mere days later, as were still basking in the warm afterglow of generosity and peace, New Years Eve bursts in like a party guest who arrives after everyone else has left and demands that you turn up the music again. Also, they are throwing up on your floor. After the incredible buildup, release and cool-down of holiday spirit that begins after Thanksgiving and proceeds unabated until the end of the year, the last thing that any of us need is another damn holiday much less a loud, intoxicated holiday interrupted often by screaming. We have one good holiday in December. Thats plenty. When it comes to holidays and to proclamations like Im taking 20 shots for 2020, wooooo more is not always better.

          I live in New York City. Its a lovely town, as long as you take care to avoid a few things: tourists, Times Square and large public gatherings, which are inevitably too crowded to be anything other than miserable. New Years Eve manages to combine these three terrors into a single event, and to throw in Kathy Griffin, mounted police and a million drunken people with nowhere to pee for good measure. You almost have to respect this abominable cocktail of doom, in the same way you might respect a jar full of every kind of poison on Earth. From a distance. It is not the sort of thing that you would invite people to.

          There is nothing wrong with marking the passage of a year with a quiet ceremony. Go out in the woods and say magic words as the clock strikes midnight, or stay in and whisper your new years resolution to your dog. Fine. Yet from coast to coast, the options offered to the public on the last day of the year are mostly bars, clubs and restaurants where prices have tripled. (The tripling of prices in turns triples the determination of patrons to act like monsters, in order to get their moneys worth.)

          Alternately, you can go to sleep early, insisting unconvincingly that you are not clinically depressed; you can go to a friends party, which everyone will leave at 12:01 in order to go to another, more debauched party; or, if you are a parent, you can stay home arguing with your kids about bedtime until midnight, when they will throw a temper tantrum upon finding out that they do not get presents. This particular holiday has the uncanny ability to make everyone, everywhere, of every age, more of an asshole. And we love it!

          Mostly, New Years Eve is about getting wasted. Because I do not drink, I find this a boring pretext for a national holiday. Some might say, Of course you dont like New Years Eve; dont turn your personal wretchedness into a pathetic pretense of principle, in an attempt to try to bring the rest of the world down to your level of misery. Lets not get sidetracked by these arguments. The point is: Ill be celebrating at home, alone, with a nice glass of seltzer. Youre welcome to stop by. Or not. Go out and have your fun. See if I care.

          Tomorrow morning, I will wake up refreshed. And while you are passed out with a hangover, I will steal the money from your pockets. Happy new year. I hope this teaches you a valuable lesson.

          • Hamilton Nolan is a writer based in New York City

          Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/31/new-years-eve-day-times-square-new-york