Have you heard Bruce Springsteen's new song "Streets of Minneapolis"? It's a searing protest song—written and recorded last weekend—in the vein of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's "Ohio." Esquire's Ryan D'Agostino listened to Springsteen's song, and for him it prompted an important question about the role of music at this moment and the responsibility of the people who make it. Read his piece below. – Michael Sebastian, editor-in-chief |
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Springsteen wrote "Streets of Minneapolis"—a stunning defense of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, immigrants, and the people of Minneapolis—in a single day. Today's artists should follow his lead. |
The day Alex Pretti was murdered by ICE agents, Bruce Springsteen wrote a song, "Streets of Minneapolis." He recorded it the next day and released it a couple days later. In it he calls out President Trump twice (just as Young sang Nixon's name in "Ohio") and condemns Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem and Trump advisor Stephen Miller, the architect of this assault on the rule of law. The song reached number one on Apple Music almost instantly and quickly drew 3.6 million views on YouTube. Estimates of Spotify streams number in the hundreds of thousands. The title, of course, makes you think of "Streets of Philadelphia," the song Springsteen wrote for Jonathan Demme's 1993 movie Philadelphia. That song won an Academy Award and was a hit, but more remarkable was the fact that a commercial superstar had written a song about the AIDS crisis, standing up for those suffering the way he had stood up for veterans suffering cultural and economic rejection after fighting in Vietnam—and the way he is standing up now for Renee Good and Alex Pretti and immigrants and the people of Minneapolis. Is "Streets of Minneapolis" as good as "Ohio" or "Streets of Philadelphia"? Will we be listening to it fifty-six years from now, or even a month from now? I don't know. It's a really good song, and not just a really good song but a really good song by an artist so enormous he can instantly make international news by releasing it. The writer Bob Lefsetz, a former music executive who now writes an excellent newsletter about the music business, wrote that he doesn't think the song will endure, and that, "We don't need protest songs, we need HIT protest songs." Lefsetz is off here. What we need is a lot of protest songs. |
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Antoni Porowski couldn't escape the memes. Specifically the ones where he had to relive the moment when he cut open an avocado during Queer Eye's first season on Netflix. It all started in 2018, after the Fab Five's resident food-and-wine expert wowed a makeover recipient—or "hero," as they're called on the show—by showing him how to make guacamole. "My entire identity became that," Porowski tells me. "But I remember, it was Tom Jackson [in the very first episode] who mentioned when I cut a lime in half—he said, 'I've never seen the inside of a lime before.' I almost laughed in that moment, but he was being sincere." As silly as it was for Porowski's avocado lesson to follow him throughout all ten seasons of Queer Eye, the moment ended up serving as the perfect metaphor for the show. As with many of the show's makeover guests who had never met an openly gay man in real life before—let alone five loud and proud ones tearing apart their homes—Porowski's job wasn't to teach them to tie up a roast chicken like Thomas Keller in The Bear. All the Fab Five really had to do was make someone feel comfortable enough to open their eyes a bit wider. Now that the series has aired its 86th and final episode eight years later, the simple experiment has clearly proved itself a massive success. "Every single culinary assistant that I've had throughout the seasons, I give them that little story," Porowski says about Jackson's revelatory lime experience. "We have to remember that in every situation that we approach, you can never assume or take for granted what someone does or doesn't know." |
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The white sneaker is undeniably a wardrobe necessity—if not, we'd argue, its greatest asset. From low-profile, monochrome pairs that look sharp at work or out with friends, to high-tops that play well with wide-leg pants and hoodies, to streamlined runners that pull together a weekend athleisure-brunch look, there's a white sneaker for just about every situation. As white-sneaker fiends ourselves, we'd recommend looking at leather, canvas, suede, or even high-tech knitted fabric. Look for a shape or fabric combination you haven't done before, like a leather high-top or suede-and-canvas runner. The white sneaker is a year-round, endlessly cool staple, and it is indeed the hill (okay, one of the many) we'll die on. From high-tops and low-tops to high-end luxe to old-school and affordable, we've rounded up the best white sneakers our editors have tried, tested, and loved. From our closet to yours. |
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