Coachella Shuffle: Winehouse Out, Chems In

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Oh, Amy Winehouse. No matter what sort of stupid crap you get up to, the hypnotic, neo-soul melody of “You Know I’m No Good” still haunts me, and of course I know that your actually being no good is part of the whole package, even though it makes me feel like as a consumer of your musical product I’m part of the problem, an “enabler;” but still, if you’re so “no good” that you can’t get a freakin’ visa to come over here and perform, then that’s too “no good,” although it’s clearly a difficult line to walk: you have to be bad enough to be scary, not bad enough to be, you know, dead, or permanently removed from society, or something, so I’m sympathetic, and also not. In simpler terms, it was announced yesterday that Winehouse was forced to cancel her appearance at the Coachella music festival in April, although spokeman Chris Goodman denied that any official visa-rejection happened, calling the problem “legal issues.” He’s likely talking about the assault charges the singer faces in the UK over a scuffle back in September of 2008, although I suppose it could be any combination of 80 gazillion other things: arms smuggling, baby seal torture, hastening the heat death of the universe. We know she’s no good!

But don’t fret, Coachella-bound hipsters: will some freak-folk, electro, punk rock, and avant-hip-hop make up for Winehouse’s absence? Organizers announced yesterday that longtime festival favorites the Chemical Brothers have been added to the lineup, along with beardy hippie Devendra Banhart, stoner-raver hero the Orb, oh-so-French disco-dance producer Etienne de Crecy, and they’re-so-bad-they’ve-got-a-crime-in-their-name punk rockers Murder City Devils. Plus, the little DJ dome that I never go into because it seems like it must be stiflingly hot will play host to hip-hop boundary-pushers Flying Lotus, Kode 9, Daedelus and more. Maybe I’ll stop by this time. Okay, it all sounds good; now, if we could only find a freakin’ house to rent…

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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