Senior Writer and Chief Music Critic at @Variety
Los Angeles, CA
Joined May 2008
- Tweets29.1K
- Following2.2K
- Followers20.7K
- Likes33.8K
I'm hoping Trump will also find a way to work Milton Berle into his closing arguments for the midterms
Chris Willman retweeted
Variety Nominated for 62 Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards variety.com/2026/digital/new…
Very grateful for nominations for this year's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards. Honored to be in the company of so many great team members from @variety, as well as friends from the wider community of entertainment journalists.
Chris Willman retweeted
Trump speaks to small Corpus Christi crowd, repeatedly glitches and makes strange noises during speech where he also slurred heavily while his dentures seemed to be falling out
Supercut:
Donnie Iris, Pittsburgh’s Favorite Rocker, Who Scored Hits With the Jaggerz and as a Solo Artist, Dies at 83 variety.com/2026/music/obitu… via @variety
Taylor Swift, Inducted Into Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Says ‘There Is No Music Community Like This Music Community. I Know, I Checked All the Communities’ variety.com/2026/music/news/… via @variety
Neil Young Files $10 Million Suit Against Trump for Using ‘Rockin’ in the Free World,’ Six Years After a Prior Settlement Over the Same Song variety.com/2026/music/news/… via @variety
Ella Langley Retakes No. 1 on Hot 100 From Taylor Swift; Tate McRae’s ‘Housewife,’ Rodrigo/Roan ‘Expectations’ and Zach Bryan/Lana Del Rey ‘Lies’ All Bow Big variety.com/2026/music/news/… via @variety
Just got out of a showing of “Musk” I drove 45 miles to see at a Simi Valley Regal, one of only three theaters within a 50-mile radius of L.A. showing it this weekend. Full house. I wish I could drag everyone I know back out here to see it.
Chris Willman retweeted
This brutal Obama-Trump supercut side by side from @MeidasTouch helps explain why Trump is losing it tonight 👇🏽
Chris Willman retweeted
TRUMP on HIGH GAS PRICES: We’re making money like we’ve never made before. They’ll say: President Trump is bragging about all the money they're making while people are suffering at the pump. I don’t give a damn. We’re making a freaking fortune.
Chris Willman retweeted
Here's a supercut of notable moments from Trump's rally tonight in Georgia, including a lot of gutter racism, blasphemy, and reveling in the suffering of Americans who are struggling with high prices:
Taylor Swift on her debut, retrieved from my two-decade-old archive tapes... via @Variety... variety.com/2026/music/news/…
💬| In a newly published interview with Variety from January 2008, an 18-year-old Taylor Swift spoke about taking control of her own career and future, and here are some stand-out quotes:
“At the end of the day, I want to be here for the next 20 years.”🥹
“If I want to be in charge of my own future, I have to be in charge of my career.” 💪🏼
“I know nothing compared to what I’m gonna know a year from now.”
“We haven’t tapped into half the people we’re gonna tap into.”
“I think you can be grateful for every single thing that happens.” 🫶🏻
“If those people are willing to stand that long, I am too.” This was about fans waiting through her four-and-a-half-hour autograph sessions.
“But I’m gonna continue to do it as long as I can.” Also about meeting fans after shows.
“When I find someone who fascinates me as much as my career, I’m gonna go for it.” 🥰
“Songwriting is the ultimate form of being able to make anything that happens to you in your life productive.” ✍🏼
“I don’t look at it as crossover as much as I look at it as spillover.” On her music beginning to reach pop radio. 🙂↕️
Nearly 20 years later, she has become one of the defining artists of her generation!
LA's 102-year-old Original Pantry Cafe gets surprise November reopening date sfgate.com/la/article/la-pan… via @SFGate
Stepped back in time to revisit one of my first interviews with @taylorswift13, publishing this Q&A about her debut album in full for the first time... Happy 20th Birthday, ‘Debut’: A Revealing Look Back at Taylor Swift’s Self-Titled First Album, Via a Previously Unpublished Q&A variety.com/2026/music/news/… via @variety
Biographies of John Williams and Bernard Herrmann Among Honored Works in ASCAP’s Awards for Music Writing and Broadcasts variety.com/2026/music/news/… via @variety
Chris Willman retweeted
Legendary Hollywood recording studio is up for sale latimes.com/business/story/2…
I'm not sure how someone could arrive at describing John Anderson's voice as "gravelly," unless you were deliberately trying to make some kind of joke.
The first two words the NYT uses to describe John Anderson’s voice in their obituary of him today are “gravelly” and “warbled.” His voice was exactly the opposite of all that. He sang smoothly, fluidly, in the vein of Lefty Frizzell, his voice rising and falling like gently rolling hills. These people either don’t know what they’re talking about, or they can’t stand to listen to it.
nytimes.com/2026/10/22/arts/…
Anyway. RIP John Anderson.
youtube.com/watch?v=EYoT7EFV…
