Lifestyle
'Time of the Child' is a marvelous blend of despair and redemption
A village “on the western edge of a wet nowhere” populated by men who drink too much and women who smile too little. Throw in cows, an addled priest, an abandoned baby and a thick cloud cover of shame and you have the elements for a quintessential Irish story.
So quintessential, in fact, I’ve held off reading Niall Williams for a long time, despite hearing raves about his work. My skepticism, it turns out, was misplaced. I’ve just emerged from a Niall Williams binge with a belated appreciation for his writing, which invests specificity and life in characters and places easily reduced to clichés.
Time of the Child is Williams’ latest novel, a companion piece, rather than a sequel to, his 2019 novel, This Is Happiness. Both books are set in the rural village of Faha — a town in the far west of Ireland whose inhabitants, we’re told, possess “the translucent flesh that came from living in an absolute humidity.”
Time of the Child takes place in the weeks leading up to Christmas 1962 and opens — and closes — on a set piece of Mass at the parish church, where most of the village gathers. In between lies a story that feels, at once, realistic in its rough and comic everyday unfolding and mythic in its riffs on the grand themes of despair and spiritual redemption.
Jack Troy is the town doctor and central character here. He’s a melancholy contained man who, we’re told, “carrie[s] himself in a manner that [the townspeople of] Faha might have summarized as Not like us.” Dr. Troy lost his wife and then the older woman he unexpectedly fell in love with, who’s now also dead. Keeping house for him is his 29-year-old daughter, Ronnie, the eldest of three sisters; the one who remained at home.
Ronnie, too, is a semi-enigma to the townspeople: Our narrator tells us that “Added to [her] reserve was not only the screened lives of all women in the parish at the time, but the marginal natures of all writers, for Ronnie Troy’s closest companion was her notebook.”
Dr. Troy has become haunted by despair and by a particularly heartrending question: “Why does no one love my daughter?” The answer, he fears, is his own glowering presence that may have repelled one especially promising suitor.
Inspired by what we’re told is a “mixed fuel of … brandy … [and] a parent’s fear of the unmade world after them,” Dr. Troy, uncharacteristically, resolves on a bizarre scheme to make things right. As the saying goes: “Man plans, God laughs.”
Instead of unfolding the Troy family narrative chronologically, Williams layers it on top of other simultaneous storylines, all of which are graced with language as bracing as salt spray from the chill Atlantic. We follow, for instance, the wanderings of Jude Quinlan, a 12 year old “on the rope-bridge between man and boy.”
Jude’s father drinks and gambles and his mother, Mamie, possesses “the anxious look of one married to an instability.” Listen to how Williams moves fluidly from the mundane to the wider lens of the numinous in these snippets from an extended passage where Jude helps to unload a van full of Christmas toys for the town fair:
There were toy soldiers, kits for flying gliders, … skittles in a net, balls, bats. … dolls of one expression but many dresses, …
For Jude, carrying everything from the van … was as close has he would get to handling any of these things. He had no resentment or bitterness . Rather, from nearness to the marvelous something rubbed off on him …
The other thing, the one that only occurred to him years later when he would recall what happened that day, was that what he was carrying out of the van that December morning was his childhood.
For those who believe in such phenomena, Jude will be the instrument for bringing a miracle — a Christmas miracle complete with a baby and a virginal mother, no less — into this story. The other miracle here is a literary one: Time of the Child itself, which gives readers that singular experience of nearness to the marvelous.
Lifestyle
An 84-year-old pop superstar just dropped an album — how does she sound so good?
Mina, one of the bestselling Italian musical artists of all time, just dropped a new album — at the age of 84.
She’s not a household name in the United States, though audiences in this country might recognize the performer’s unmistakable voice from the Netflix series Ripley, the HBO series The White Lotus, and the Pixar animated feature Luca.
But in her native country, Mina has been worshipped for decades — especially because of her powerful and distinctive voice.
“All generations have always identified with her voice and with her albums,” said Rome-based musicologist and music critic Paulo Prato.
Prato said Mina sings in many languages and is constantly reinventing herself.
“She can sing pop music, opera, jazz, rock and roll,” he said.
Retreat from the stage and the media
Like Barbra Streisand, another singer with an enduring career and a voice for the ages, Mina has sold more than 150 million records worldwide. But unlike Streisand, who has given live concerts over the past decade, Mina hasn’t performed in public since 1978.
“She chose to focus on recording and making the music she wanted to,” said independent scholar Rachel Haworth, who is based in the U.K. and has written a book about Mina.
Mina also doesn’t give media interviews. Haworth said the last time the general public was offered a glimpse into the artist’s creative process was in 2001, in a video live-streamed from her recording studio.
“It broke the server, because so many people wanted to see it,” Haworth said.
Signs of aging suggest authenticity
As a result of the relative secrecy that surrounds Mina’s work, and the toll aging takes on the human voice, Haworth said it’s hard to know just how she keeps her amazing voice going, or if that voice — especially in our age of artificial intelligence-generated replicas — is truly hers.
Mina’s use of imagery made with AI in at least one recent music video has prompted discussion, Haworth noted.
“There’s this kind of debate around, ‘Well, we never see her. How do we know if it’s even her?’” Haworth said. “And then you get the counter to that, where it’s, ‘Well, of course it’s her, because we know what she sounds like.’”
Mina’s representatives did not respond to NPR’s requests for comment.
But experts generally do believe it’s Mina’s authentic voice on the recordings because it plainly shows signs of aging.
“In the early years, she had a very clear voice — a lot of flexibility, a lot of range,” said Sarah Schneider, a voice speech pathologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who works with singers. “In listening to her most recent work, there’s a little bit more of a huskier, raspier sound to it — which is not unexpected.”
Navigating the aging voice
Schneider said just as our bodies age, so do our voices.
“Our breathing mechanism changes, our vocal folds themselves change, skin gets thinner, muscle gets smaller, potentially,” Schneider said.
She said Mina’s apparent use of backup singers on her new album, Gassa D’Amante, helps bolster her voice in the higher passages.
YouTube
And she added the singer’s retreat to the recording studio has likely worked in her favor over the years. It’s less physically taxing than keeping up with a relentless touring schedule.
And she owns her own label and studio. “Assuming she has control over her studio time, she’s going in when she wants and she’s doing as many takes as she wants,” Schneider said. “Being in control of those things allows for you to choose your best work.”
Not all artists have this kind of control — though many do have access to is the latest technology.
“I think pop stars are going to be more and more tempted to use AI-assisted voice software that will allow them to keep their vocal timbre and their vocal range maybe longer than their actual physical voices will allow them,” said musicologist and Switched on Pop podcast co-host Nate Sloan.
But Sloan said he hopes they’ll resist the temptation.
“Audiences want to hear a direct and unfiltered performance. They want to hear an artist’s vulnerabilities. They want to hear their flaws,” Sloan said. “Because that is what draws us to art is that human connection.”
Sloan said he gets excited when singers like Mina connect with listeners in an unvarnished way. “There’s space for older artists to make their voices heard,” he said.
Jennifer Vanasco edited this story for broadcast and digital. Chloee Weiner mixed the audio.
Lifestyle
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro Slams Luigi Mangione, Says He's 'No Hero'
CNN
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is refusing to support the narrative painting Brian Thompson‘s suspected killer as a modern-day vigilante … slamming the notion as the murder case continues.
The politician spoke out in a press conference Monday after Luigi Mangione, the top person of interest in the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, was arrested in Pennsylvania that same day.
While addressing reporters, Shapiro made it clear Mangione was “no hero,” adding … “In America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint.”
He doubled down on his stance by applauding the McDonald’s employee who called 911 on Mangione after spotting him at the fast food chain … labeling the staffer “the real hero in this story.”
Mangione has since been charged with forgery, carrying a firearm without a license, tampering with records or identification, and providing false identification to law enforcement.
It’s no secret Mangione’s profile has been on the rise after being named a person of interest in the murder investigation … his social media accounts saw its follower count increase by tens of thousands — before getting suspended.
Countless people have voiced their support for Mangione … with many expressing their own frustrations with the insurance industry. In fact, one person even launched a GoFundMe to support LM’s defense fund.
Yet, UnitedHealthcare is seeking justice following the fatal shooting of its CEO last week. The company released a statement on Monday, in which they said Mangione’s apprehension brought “some relief to Brian’s family, friends, colleagues and the many others affected by this unspeakable tragedy.”
The statement continued … “We thank law enforcement, and we will continue to work with them on this investigation. We ask that everyone respect the family’s privacy as they mourn.”
Lifestyle
The Eras era ends: A look back at Taylor Swift's record-breaking, 21-month tour
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour came to a close Sunday night, capping off nearly two years of sparkly outfits, friendship bracelets and record-breaking sales.
The tour, an autobiographical journey through Swift’s extensive discography, started in Arizona in March 2023. Over the next 630-plus days, Swift performed 149 shows — each more than three hours long — in over 50 cities across five continents.
The show’s 10 acts span the distinct eras of Swift’s career, each defined with its own color scheme, costume and stage design, plus two ever-changing “surprise songs” during the acoustic portion of the night.
A steady stream of surprises, setlist changes and special guests held fans’ attention for the duration of the tour, with many tuning into livestreams and following dedicated fan accounts on social media.
And, of course, people watched in person.
Much has been written about “Swiftonomics,” or how the tour boosted local economies across the U.S. and around the world. Fans traveled hundreds or even thousands of miles, sometimes for more than one show, spending money on lodging, food and costumes along the way.
Their enthusiasm made history.
The tour set attendance records at scores of iconic stadiums, from Pittsburgh to São Paulo. Swift also set records for the most shows by a female artist at multiple venues, from Chicago to Mexico City to Lisbon to London — where she headlined a record eight shows at Wembley Stadium.
Eras set an all-time record when it grossed $1 billion last December — the first tour to ever cross the 10-digit threshold — according to the concert trade publication Pollstar. And that was with one year still to go.
This week, after her final shows in Vancouver, the singer’s production company confirmed the tour’s total ticket sales for the first time, telling the New York Times that it had brought in a whopping more than $2 billion.
That’s not including the secondary market of ticket sellers (remember when a botched Ticketmaster rollout prompted a Senate hearing and class-action lawsuit against the company?).
And it doesn’t account for other profits from the tour, including sales from merchandise ($200 million in 2023 alone) and tickets to Swift’s concert film, which became the highest-grossing concert film of all time (more than $261.6 million globally) after its October 2023 release. Swift also released a $40 coffee-table book with pictures and reflections from the tour in late November, which sold nearly 1 million copies in its first week.
On her final night onstage in Vancouver on Sunday, Swift described the tour as “the most thrilling chapter of my entire life to date” and credited her fans. Swifties started their own special set of Eras Tour traditions, like trading homemade friendship bracelets in the crowd and chanting and clapping at specific cues with archer-like precision.
“Making friends and bringing joy to each other, that is I think the lasting legacy of this tour, is the fact that you have created such a space of joy and togetherness and love. You’re why this is so special,” Swift said. “And you supporting me for as long as you have is why I get to take these lovely walks down memory every single night because you cared about every era of my entire life that I’ve been making music, so thank you.”
The Eras Tour by the numbers:
- Swift performed 149 shows between March 2023 and December 2024.
- The tour traveled to 51 cities across 21 countries.
- A typical Eras show featured 44-46 songs and ran for 3 hours and 15 minutes.
- Swift spent a total of roughly 25 hours performing her 10-minute version of “All Too Well.”
- A total of 10,168,008 people purchased $2,077,618,725 in tickets — averaging about $204 per seat, Swift’s company told the NYT.
- Eighteen opening acts warmed up the crowd for Swift, including Sabrina Carpenter, Paramore and Phoebe Bridgers. Fifteen special guests, mostly musicians, joined her onstage in occasional surprise appearances.
- Swift wore more than 60 outfits throughout the tour and more than 250 custom pairs of shoes by designer Christian Louboutin.
- Swift’s biggest crowd (of both the tour and her entire career) was 96,000 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia in February.
- In July 2023, Seattle fans danced so hard that they created the seismic equivalent of a 2.3 magnitude earthquake.
Meanwhile, during the tour:
- Swift was Spotify’s most-streamed artist for two years in a row, driving 26.6 billion global streams in 2024 alone.
- Time magazine named Swift its 2023 Person of the Year.
- Swift released three albums while on tour: She re-recorded “Taylor’s Version” of Speak Now and 1989 in 2023, and released The Tortured Poets Department in April 2024 (which also yielded four music videos).
- That’s in addition to her concert film, book and vinyl.
- Swift canceled her Vienna concerts after a terrorist plot to attack them was foiled, and postponed her second Brazil show due to heat after a fan died during the first one.
- Swift endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, driving more than 400,000 visitors to a voting registration website and prompting blowback from President-elect Donald Trump.
- The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust suit against Live Nation Entertainment and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, alleging it created a monopoly on live ticket event prices — a step that satisfied many disappointed Swifties.
- Swift stopped dating actor Joe Alwyn and started dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (and attending his games, where she made “seemingly ranch” an overnight sensation). Swift somehow made it to Las Vegas from Tokyo overnight to see — and be seen — when the Chiefs won the 2023 Superbowl.
- Their very public relationship has won delighted fans, driven up female NFL viewership and stadium ticket prices and even inspired a Hallmark holiday movie.
What’s next?
- Some possible downtime for Swift, who will turn 35 on Dec. 13.
- Fans eagerly await her last two re-recorded albums: her self-titled 2006 debut, and 2017’s Reputation.
- The singer was nominated for six Grammys, including album, song and record of the year. The awards show is scheduled for Feb. 2.
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