Around the Tubes: November 8, 2025

  

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post includes blurbs Jack Johnson, Kool & the Gang, Dropkick Murphys, Benee, Wicked, Becca Hannah, and New Radicals.

- Multi-platinum recording artist Jack Johnson announces SURFILMUSIC Tour, a 43-date North American tour that will take Johnson and his band coast-to-coast next year. The tour marks Johnson’s long-awaited return to the road since 2022 and will celebrate a new era of music, film, and environmental connection rooted in his chart-topping catalogue, spanning over twenty years.  In support of the tour, Johnson has released a new single, “Hold On To The Light,” featuring Hermanos Gutiérrez, out today on all streaming platforms. The song offers an early glimpse into the forthcoming SURFILMUSIC soundtrack, scored by Jack Johnson and Hermanos Gutiérrez for a new film featuring Johnson set to debut next year. 

- The Bronx Zoo announced that Grammy Award-winning R&B, soul, and funk band Kool & the Gang, known for beloved songs like “Celebration”, “Jungle Boogie”, and “Ladies’ Night”, will take the stage on the zoo’s Wondrous World of Wildlife float in the 99th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade®.  In a nod to the Bronx Zoo’s celebratory Holiday Lights festival – which kicks off November 21, 2025 – Kool & the Gang will delight lifetime listeners and new audiences alike with their timeless hit, “Celebration”, which has been a longstanding international staple since its single debut. The all-ages appeal of the song echoes the breadth of the Bronx Zoo’s audience and the welcoming draw of its world-class exhibits.

- Dropkick Murphys have just released a video for their new single “A Hero Among Many,” one of the 5 bonus tracks included on the band’s expanded digital version of their For The People album (Dummy Luck Music label / [Play It Again Sam]), now available to stream via all platforms HERE.  “A Hero Among Many” pays tribute to 9/11 hero Welles Crowther (“The Man In The Red Bandana”), an equities trader, volunteer firefighter and Boston College alumnus who lost his life while saving others during the collapse of the World Trade Center in New York City, where he worked. Months after the tragedy, many survivors realized the person who saved them, “the man in the red bandana,” was Crowther. Dropkick Murphys’ powerful and inspirational video, directed by Dark Details, recounts Welles’ courageous actions that fateful day, and shows examples of many people who have been inspired by his actions and the unique ways in which they have honored him.

- Delivering a dynamic body of work, multi-platinum alt-pop visionary BENEE takes flight with the release of her anxiously-awaited sophomore album, Ur an Angel I’m Just Particles, out now via Republic Records—listen HERE.  Ur an Angel I’m Just Particles features the New Zealand-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter’s expansive and entrancing style, blending unshakable pop hooks into a lively sonic patchwork of alternative, electronic, and indie. Among many highlights, she instantly captivates on her new single “Princess,” which features multi-platinum British singer, songwriter, and producer PinkPantheress. The song revolves around BENEE’s palpable creative chemistry with PinkPantheress, as their voices entwine from verse-to-verse, giving way to a chantable chorus, “Treat me like the princess that I am.” Ur an Angel I’m Just Particles is yet another boundary-pushing body of work from BENEE.

- Following NBC’s spectacular television event, Wicked: One Wonderful Night, which aired on November 6, the Wicked: One Wonderful Night (Live) – The Soundtrack is now available on all digital streaming platforms via Republic Records and Verve Records. Recorded live at the iconic Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, the album captures breathtaking performances from Wicked stars and Academy Award^® nominees Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, alongside Jeff Goldblum, Bowen Yang, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode and more. The live recording - backed by a 37-piece orchestra led by the executive music producer of Wicked and Wicked: For Good, Tony award and two-time Grammy award winner Stephen Oremus - offers listeners a front-row seat to the event’s reimagined arrangements, sweeping emotion, and unforgettable moments from the world of Oz.  Fans can also preorder the official soundtrack to Wicked: For Good, arriving November 21 to coincide with the film’s theatrical release. Featuring two brand-new original songs by legendary Grammy and Oscar® winning composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz - “No Place Like Home” performed by Cynthia Erivo and “The Girl in the Bubble” performed by Ariana Grande - the album also includes the never-before-released “The Wicked Witch of the East.”

- LA via Boston soulful/R&B singer-songwriter Becca Hannah shares raw, lush track "Empathy" out now, alongside the visual from the studio, as she finds her own strength turning her focus towards empowerment and self-love. On January 23, the artist will share her soft, glossy debut album Tonight In My Dreams, available for pre-save now.  On the swirling, vulnerable track, "Empathy", Hannah shares, "I’ve had this habit of internalizing other people’s opinions, values, and experiences so deeply that I’ve lost a sense of where I’ve stood as an individual. I’ve given people and their judgements the benefit of the doubt in ways that have led me down a dangerous path of self-doubt and further insecurity."

- This past Wednesday, November 4, NYC-based band Geese made an appearance on BBC Radio 1 and performed a cover of the New Radicals' 1998 hit "You Get What You Give." Gregg Alexander, frontman of New Radicals, said of the performance:  "Geese must truly be the coolest new band since The White Stripes, because my phone ain’t blown up like this since New Radicals announced reforming for just one day for the 2021 Presidential Inauguration in defiance of the raid on the Capitol.  So I was confused at first by the dozens of texts I awoke to in Nashville Wednesday. Pals forwarding me headlines that there’s “Geese performing live” on BBC ONE who are taking “You Get What You Give” to artistic new heights?!  So I rushed on-line to discover Geese’s music, and by the end of the first chorus of their instant classic “Taxes,” I realized they’re not just the coolest band in decades…they’re one of the best. What a lyric, “Doctor, heal yourself!…I will break my own heart?!”  And after Tuesday night’s Billionaire kleptocracy rebuking Democratic U.S. election sweep, to awaken to dozens of sweetly absurdist texts about Geese performing live on the BBC…clearly there’s a change for good in the air that makes ya kinda gotta scream 'Down with Trumpism, greed and hate! Up with Geese and love!'"

57 Channels and Only This Is On: November 2, 2025

 

It: Welcome to Derry:  The problem with prequels is we known the Air Force is ultimately going to fail because Pennywise still shows up in the eighties.  So, any of the adult storyline seems worthless.  Then the kids storyline just seems to be a rehash of the movies.

 

Only Murders in the Building:  This was my favorite finale since the second season.  The chained-up scene was so funny (oh, he chose stripper) I will forgive that they conventionally forgot Detective Williams also knew about that room and that they did not bother to loop Williams in on the plan when they knew crooked cops were involved.

 

While I got the mayor right as the murderer, I was very wrong thinking they only brought back Teddy Dimas for the last couple episodes to kill him for the next season mystery.  Instead, we get the shocking reveal that the girl with the curl is actually Cinda Canning… or is it just someone who looks like Cinda Canning?  Could she have been looking into a family member from the across the pond and that is who it was? 

 

I just hope that the news they are filming in London next season turns out like season four where they just filmed one episode in Los Angeles before heading back to the cozy confines of the Arconia.  We do have a bunch of new neighbors to meet.  Maybe we will finally get my fantasy casting of Anna Kendrick. it will also be interesting if they manage to kill Paul Rudd for the fourth straight season.

 

Chad Powers:  I did not realize that the season was only six episodes until I got the push notification saying all episodes are now available.  I guess I just assumed that the season would last the entire football season like every other sports show ever.  But at least the coach’s daughter finally figured out that Chad is actually Russ.  Which means she knows Russ forked her step mom in his cyber truck.  Oof.  Should make for an interesting second season… if there is one.

 

The Lowdown:  Um, how exactly is Lee going to get out of this?  Is all his black and Indian friends going to show up and have a stand off where no bullets are fired?

 

Survivor:  Well, editors made this elimination extremely obvious considering how much they focused on Sage’s irrational hatred of Shannon.  Geeze, no wonder why she had no friends in school.  But once we saw the new tribe breakdown, I knew they would be the team that went to Tribal and it certainly was not going to be Steven going home. But it was ironic that everyone on Uli thought Jawan would be the one to turn, but he was extremely loyal until his name was thrown out there.  Now the former Uli members when from a dominate force that could have easily picked off former Hina, but now it looks like turning on Jawan will be their downfall.

 

The Challenge: Vets and New Threats:  So, why does the winning team not get to vote?  Winning Immunity on Survivor does not void your vote.  I guess it made a little sense earlier in the game when the winning team got to either save someone or put a team up for the vote. Not being able to vote is a bit of a disadvantage.  But kudos to Theo for being the only one to figure that out.