| |  |  | | | | Samuel L. Jackson Operates Like He Owns the Place. (He Does.) | | | Samuel L. Jackson is driving our golf cart pedal to floor through the unseasonably cold southern California morning fog, pushing the whining electric engine to its limits. It is 8:15 a.m., and he and his foursome have already played nine holes. I met up with them at the turn and hopped into Jackson's cart as they continued on the course, interrupting their mild shit-talking with sporadic occurrences of golf on the back nine. It is one of those bizarrely random Los Angeles groupings of people you never imagine together. Richard Schiff puffing on a cigarette in a faded Yankees cap and pink-trimmed performance golf slacks. An unfailingly upbeat producer-writer who spends much of the time encouraging everyone's shots and explaining the game of cricket. A young semipro in a razor-crisp polo who drives the ball off the tee like he's opening up a portal to another dimension. Don Cheadle is supposed to be here but is absent for unknown reasons. (We eventually discover on the clubhouse television that it has to do with him appearing on Good Morning America at that precise moment.) I later hear that Josh Duhamel frequently rounds out the group. I have never been on a golf course in my life. Jackson drives, peppering me with questions ("Have white folks started confusing you with Brian Tyree Henry yet?") and gleefully navigating around obstacles in our path by running two wheels up on the wet grass despite bountiful signage warning us not to do just that. Each time he does this, the cart threatens to pull a little movie-stunt two-wheel tip and throw me onto the asphalt pathway. "Engage your core," he tells me with an 85 percent straight face. It is good advice from a seventy-year-old man from Chattanooga, Tennessee. I am vaguely scared and trying to play it cool. He is driving decisively, wholly unconcerned. At his age, the Hollywood veteran wears "wholly unconcerned" as comfortably as the faded black Adidas bucket hat he golfs in. This becomes clear to me when I later interview him in the country-club restaurant and he sprinkles n-words and motherfuckers about the dining area like handfuls of glitter as Grandpa- and Memaw-type club members look awkwardly into their eggs Benedict. He behaves not only like a man who belongs here but also like one who basically owns the place. His casual inattention to the perceived authority of white power structures is so deeply woven into his way of being that in his presence it seems bizarre that anyone, anywhere, would think to behave differently. A lot of people like to say they don't give a fuck. Samuel L. Jackson simply doesn't. READ THE FULL COVER STORY | | | | |  |
| | | | | 'DivorceCore' Dominated Radio and MTV in the 1980s. It's Now Poised for a Renaissance. | | | | In the 1980s, with a celebrity in The White House and an American public nervous about Russia, the youth-obsessed genre of rock 'n' roll coughed up a product the world had quite simply never consumed: the middle-aged rock star. Rock 'n' roll's first graduating class was beginning to address The Big Issues. The hunger to succeed had been satisfied, and the hunger to be heard, man began to rumble. In continuing to make records into middle age, rockers like Don Henley, Paul Simon, and Bonnie Raitt were inventing a whole new genre of music: "DivorceCore." Esquire's Dave Holmes takes us inside this long-lost musical genre, explains why it's poised for a comeback in 2019, curates the ultimate—and perhaps only—DivorceCore playlist. Read On | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Thermal Pullover Everyone I Know Keeps Trying to Steal | | | | There are a lot of thermals out there if you go looking. But this one is different. From the weight of it to the careful details to the made-in-the-USA pedigree, it's got just enough to set it apart from the pack. It's familiar, but still special—and that's hard to beat. Read On | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | How Celebrities, Politicians, and Royalty Observe St. Patrick's Day | | | | Look, we get it. St. Patrick's Day done a certain way can be a total mess. If you've ever tried visiting a bar on March 17 around 3 or 4 p.m., it looks like a beer-soaked bomb went off. But the holiday doesn't have to be this way. It can be a stress-free day when you enjoy a couple—hell, maybe a few—Irish beers and a little Irish whiskey. You might even treat yourself with some corned beef. Judging by these 30 photos, celebrities understand this approach, because, as they say, everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day—including famous people. Read On | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Maren Morris Won't Operate Under Anyone's Ceiling | | | | This spring, Morris launches the GIRL World Tour and the roster matches the name: Cassadee Pope and RaeLynn will join as openers. "That's how you put your money where your mouth is," argues Morris, "by giving these acts slots. Carrie Underwood is bringing out all female acts. And my manager is a woman, my tour manager is a woman. My bass player, Annie, is such a badass on stage. I really trust these people. They're the best at what they do." But it's not just women she wants to see rise to the top. "I want more people of color played [on radio]," she says. "And I want more sexual identities realized. Everything needs to shift forward." With artists like Morris leading the charge, it all just might. Read On | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Best Books of 2019 (So Far) | | | | We know your to-read list is still growing thanks to all of the great books that came out in 2018, but it's never too early to look ahead and find new titles to add to the queue. The next year sees the release of great debut novels, some new books by beloved authors, and plenty of non-fiction that will help you digest the crazy world around us. Here are the books we're reading in 2019. Read On | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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