Rolling Stone September 8, 2016

VIDEO THE AVETTS MEET WILLIE In the latest installment of our “Had to Be There” series, Scott Avett of the Avett Brothers narrates an animated short film about sharing the stage with Willie Nelson for a wildfire-relief benefit concert in 2011. “It changed me forever,” Avett says. “Every time I looked over, he just gave me this big grin.” LIVE YEEZY GOES ON THE ROAD Get the full report from the opening night of Kanye West’s 39-date Saint Pablo Tour – his first major North American outing in nearly three years – in Indianapolis. FILM ‘BLAZING SADDLES’ “It’s the funniest movie ever made”: Mel Brooks spills the beans on the making of the comedy classic and why that infamous “campfire” scene will always be a work of “fartistry.” MUSIC THE MISFITS’ CREEPY RETURN The original lineup of the horror-punk crew got…

A Father’s Best Hope In a deeply personal piece, Paul Solotaroff wrote about the obstacles facing millions of Americans whose children with autism are coming of age [“Luke’s Best Chance,” RS 1267]. Readers and parents wrote in to comment. THANKS FOR THE ELOquent account of life as the parent of a young adult with severe autism. My 22-yearold son is now contributing as much as he is capable of, learning along the way and leading a meaningful life. Everyone deserves that chance. Vicky McWilliams Twinsburg, OH AS THE PARENT OF A man with autism, who also works on issues related to people with disabilities, I found the article both thoughtprovoking and exasperating. We don’t make progress by railing against the state or those who serve. We do it by involving all stakeholders – the…

1. Bon Iver “22 (Over Soon)” Justin Vernon just performed his longawaited new album at his Eaux Claires fest in Wisconsin. And he’s giving the rest of us a taste by releasing two new songs, the better of which, “22 (Over Soon),” floats his ghostly falsetto over wintry guitar to create the kind of soft-bomb elegance we’ve missed so much in his absence. 2. Lydia Loveless “Same to You” Tough Ohio roots rocker offers a kick-ass existential shrug from inside a brutal relationship – it’s the kind of song that’ll get you side-eyeing the liquor shelf at 9 a.m. 3. Public Access T.V. “In Love and Alone” Remember when the Strokes tossed off bruised-riff bangers like cigarette butts? These NYC punks channel that glory with an extra dose of grotty guitar crunch. 4. Swet Shop Boys…

The soul singer has spent the past year touring with his band the Night Sweats in support of their self-titled breakthrough album. Blake Mills “If I’m Unworthy” This is a bizarre, smooth song with a wild guitar solo that’s just gorgeous. It talks about relationships, which we can all relate to being on the road. C.W. Stoneking “On a Desert Isle” Sonically, this feels like it was made in the 1930s or 1940s. It sounds a little dirty and like everybody is in one room playing together. Damien Jurado “Museum of Flight” This is really rich and warm, with the perfect amount of flavor. Damien’s delivery is just impeccable. Delta Spirit “Bushwick Blues” A great love song. It’s about talking to a person and remembering a train trip they took together to Bushwick. The main line is, “My love is strong, and…

A right before Metallica began work on their new album, drummer Lars Ulrich was handed an iPod containing 1,650 sound files – studio jams, soundchecks, backstage warm-ups and random riffs the band had generated since its last album, 2008’s Death Magnetic. “We record everything we do,” Ulrich says. “I started listening to the iPod and putting check marks next to stuff that stands out. I’d be like, ‘ID 723 really sounds good.’ ” Metallica built songs around those jams and fragments, and the process proved to be extremely productive, resulting in their first-ever double album of original material, Hardwired... to Self-Destruct (due November 18th). The title track finds frontman James Hetfield, who penned all the lyrics, in a dark place. “We’re so fucked!” he growls in the chorus. “Shit outta luck/Hard-wired…

Eas Lin-Manuel Miranda prepared to take his final bow as the star of Broadway’s Hamilton, a thought kept nagging him. Ticket scalpers had reportedly used electronic “bots” to snatch up more than 20,000 Hamilton tickets as soon as they went on sale. Resellers charged an average of $1,000 per seat, according to one estimate – more than twice that of the top face-value ticket at the time – en route to earning $15.5 million from Hamilton during Miranda’s run. “I’m so scared of the way scalpers fuck with prices,” he told . The concert industry faces the same problems: Bots buy and sell tens of thousands of concert tickets in a typical year, marking them up an average of 49 percent, according to the office of New York Attorney General Eric…