Madison Vain

Lenny Kravitz does not blend in. We’re sitting in Bemelmans, the iconic piano bar at the Upper East Side’s historic Carlyle Hotel. Here, things are done properly. Have been since 1947. Waiters wear white coats. Cocktails, served exclusively in etched crystal glasses, arrive on silver trays. Fancy little bowls full of fancy little bar snacks adorn the tables. Murals by Ludwig Bemelmans—of the Madeline children’s book fame—decorate the walls. And some of the country’s most celebrated jazz pianists…

Lenny Kravitz knows how to get loud. He’s been turning up the dial on his particular blend of funk and rock since his 1989 debut, Let Love Rule. And he’ll go one notch further in March with the arrival of Blue Electric Light, his 12th studio LP. But Kravitz’s creativity occasionally serves other visions, like his recently-released track, “Road to Freedom.” Recorded for the soundtrack to Netflix’s new Bayard Rustin biopic, Rustin, the cut is utterly bombastic in its embrace of horns and choral ar…

Austin Butler is about to get his ass whupped. Butler, towheaded and scrawny, not more than nine years old and painfully shy, cowers. The class bully is on the other side of his front door. Right there, on the lawn. Telling him to come outside so he can pound his face in. Butler looks to his mom. What do I do? His mom is gentle. The least judgmental, most openhearted person he’ll ever know. Not a mean bone in her body. But she also understands how the world works—bullies included. So she looks…

Visits to New York City are jam-packed. From shows on Broadway to walks through Central Park, from exhibits at the museums (Met? MoMa? Take your pick!) to shopping Fifth Avenue, days here are booked from start to finish. Of course, it’s then that the real fun starts—Manhattan is full of the best bars and restaurants in the world. Given the length of the to-do list, some travelers think that where they stay while in town doesn’t matter. We disagree. Just because you won’t spend the bulk of your t…

Sometimes it’s the shit you don’t want to hear that wakes you up. At least that’s been the case for American rockers Kings of Leon in recent years. In 2022, while headlining dates in Australia and New Zealand, the foursome—made up of lead singer Caleb Followill and his older and younger brothers Nathan and Jared as well as their cousin Matthew—was approached by their management team about the then-upcoming twenty-year anniversary of Youth Young Manhood, their debut record. Was it time for a gre…

“Do you know the way to Belvedere Castle?” Bill Skarsgård and I have been walking for an hour and forty-seven minutes, winding our way aimlessly around Central Park on a moody New York City morning in April. Over the bridges, around the baseball fields, past the amphitheater, and through the nature sanctuary. Twice. Now we’re suddenly facing a middle-aged, brunette woman in workout clothes who’s looking at us expectantly. Neither of us, however, has the faintest idea how to locate Belvedere Cas…

It’s impossible to say just how many men Aaron Levine has helped dress better. But if I had to guess, how about the better part of a generation? He’s like a menswear whisperer—the one you call when you need to breathe new life into a brand. You might know him for transforming Club Monaco’s men’s clothes into cool-guy essentials in the 2010s. Once he was finished, he took on Abercrombie Fitch, dragging the brand back from the brink of cultural obscurity. And even more recently, he’s been working…

It’s impossible to say just how many men Aaron Levine has helped dress better. But if I had to guess, how about the better part of a generation? He’s like a menswear whisperer—the one you call when you need to breathe new life into a brand. You might know him for transforming Club Monaco’s men’s clothes into cool-guy essentials in the 2010s. Once he was finished, he took on Abercrombie Fitch, dragging the brand back from the brink of cultural obscurity. And even more recently, he’s been working…

Kubrick. Tarantino. Peele . . . Kravitz? With the thirty-five-year-old’s directorial debut—the deeply unsettling psychological thriller “Blink Twice”—she is redefining herself as a creative force. Over two days in New York, she lets us into her world.

The country artist's sprawling sixth album, 'Solitary Tracks,' is restless, rowdy, and deeply introspective. He took us inside the transformative years that got him there.