Life hasn't been easy for singer Jenny Lewis since the sunnier days when she performed in support of a 2014 album while wearing a rainbow-hued pantsuit and carrying a guitar with similar bright colors.
Her mother died, and a 12-year relationship ended, sending Lewis on a cross-country journey in search of herself. Finally, with a new album finished and awaiting a Friday release, she's had to deal with the uncomfortable story of occasional collaborator Ryan Adams' alleged mistreatment of women.
Spending much of the upcoming year on tour may seem like a relief.
The up-tempo songs "Red Bull & Hennessy" and "Heads Gonna Roll" from her "On the Line" album, with Lewis' unerring sense of tunefulness, will get the initial attention. But the work's emotional core emerges in quieter, more introspective material like "Dogwood," ''Rabbit Hole" and "Taffy." Those are the songs that will stick.
Much of the material was written in stolen moments on borrowed pianos, in friends' apartments and hotel lobbies, where she had to keep quiet to avoid making a disturbance.
"I don't think of this record as being a breakup record," she said. "It's more of a rebound record. It's kind of the space in between."
The southern California native relied on a network of friends during her post-breakup travels, staying in musician St. Vincent's New York apartment, for example. She and two friends formed a band and wrote songs in a Manhattan storefront, where pedestrians mistook them for an art installation. She spent time in Nashville and Minnesota.
Even when she returned to California, Lewis used Airbnb to explore different parts of Los Angeles.
"I ran away," the 43-year-old said. "I really just got back here a couple of months ago. It was a three-year adventure."
How much of an adventure? It's hard not to notice all the references to alcohol and other substances sprinkled throughout the album's lyrics. There's Hennessy, of course. Grenadine. Bourbon. Beaujolais. Red wine (unspecific). Amphetamines. Paxil. A bong. Part of it is a good writer's attention to detail, but still...
"It's relevant," she said.
She brings a bottle to a restaurant in the heart of Hollywood where she talked about her music. Not to drink: it's a gift for a friend, singer Nikki Lane, who's performing later that night nearby. A former child actress who turned to music and was a member of the group Rilo Kiley before going solo, Lewis has a wide circle of friends and admirers in the business.
None of that could have prepared her for the surreal experience she had at Los Angeles' Capitol studio while making "On the Line," however.
Lewis played on the piano that Carole King used to make "Tapestry," which is intimidating enough. Her band included former Tom Petty keyboard player Benmont Tench, record executive and bassist Don Was and the drum duo of Ringo Starr and Jim Keltner.
"That's one of my favorite moments in my whole life," she said. "Standing in the control room and watching Ringo and Jim play together, I was mesmerized. Of course I am thrilled, honored. Shocked, really. I kept thinking, 'Is someone doing somebody a favor here?'"
She believes it was Was who called in Starr. "I don't know exactly," she said. "He was just there with his drums."
Beck and Adams were two other big names who helped out. Adams, who produced Lewis' 2014 album "Voyager," produced some of the new music, too.
The association with Adams became noteworthy when the New York Times reported that he allegedly pursued younger female artists for sex and sometimes became verbally and emotionally abusive when turned down. Adams has denied the accusations.
Lewis was not included in the Times' story, and her interview with The Associated Press took place before the story was published. She declined a follow-up request to talk about it, and tweeted a statement: "I am deeply troubled by Ryan Adams' alleged behavior. Although he and I had a working professional relationship, I stand in solidarity with the women who have come forward."
Lewis subsequently held an online album-release party that doubled as a benefit for the Los Angeles Women's Center, and it raised more than $10,000.
For Adams, the fallout has been swift: a canceled concert tour, an album release put on hold. Could the controversy hurt Lewis by association?
Jason Lipshutz, senior director of music for Billboard magazine, said it might have been an issue if Lewis had publicly defended him or been part of the Times' story. The women's center benefit was a smart strategic move, he said.
"I do think that it is something that people are going to be able to separate from her music," Lipshutz said.
Online:
https://www.jennylewis.com/
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia on Wednesday vetoed a U.N. resolution sponsored by the United States and Japan calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space, calling it “a dirty spectacle” that cherry picks weapons of mass destruction from all other weapons that should also be banned.
The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 13 in favor, Russia opposed and China abstaining.
The resolution would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, as banned under a 1967 international treaty that included the U.S. and Russia, and to agree to the need to verify compliance.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the vote that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space.
“Today’s veto begs the question: Why? Why, if you are following the rules, would you not support a resolution that reaffirms them? What could you possibly be hiding,” she asked. “It’s baffling. And it’s a shame.”
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia dismissed the resolution as “absolutely absurd and politicized,” and said it didn’t go far enough in banning all types of weapons in space.
Russia and China proposed an amendment to the U.S.-Japan draft that would call on all countries, especially those with major space capabilities, “to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space, and the threat of use of force in outer spaces.”
The vote was 7 countries in favor, 7 against, and one abstention and the amendment was defeated because it failed to get the minimum 9 “yes” votes required for adoption.
The U.S. opposed the amendment, and after the vote Nebenzia addressed the U.S. ambassador saying: “We want a ban on the placement of weapons of any kind in outer space, not just WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). But you don’t want that. And let me ask you that very same question. Why?”
He said much of the U.S. and Japan’s actions become clear “if we recall that the U.S. and their allies announced some time ago plans to place weapons … in outer space.”
Nebenzia accused the U.S. of blocking a Russian-Chinese proposal since 2008 for a treaty against putting weapons in outer space.
Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of undermining global treaties to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, irresponsibly invoking “dangerous nuclear rhetoric,” walking away from several of its arms control obligations, and refusing to engage “in substantive discussions around arms control or risk reduction.”
She called Wednesday’s vote “a real missed opportunity to rebuild much-needed trust in existing arms control obligations.”
Thomas-Greenfield’s announcement of the resolution on March 18 followed White House confirmation in February that Russia has obtained a “troubling” anti-satellite weapon capability, although such a weapon is not operational yet.
Putin declared later that Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space, claiming that the country has only developed space capabilities similar to those of the U.S.
Thomas-Greenfield said before the vote that the world is just beginning to understand “the catastrophic ramifications of a nuclear explosion in space.”
It could destroy “thousands of satellites operated by countries and companies around the world — and wipe out the vital communications, scientific, meteorological, agricultural, commercial, and national security services we all depend on,” she said.
The defeated draft resolution said “the prevention of an arms race in outer space would avert a grave danger for international peace and security.” It would have urged all countries carrying out activities in exploring and using outer space to comply with international law and the U.N. Charter.
The draft would have affirmed that countries that ratified the 1967 Outer Space Treaty must comply with their obligations not to put in orbit around the Earth “any objects” with weapons of mass destruction, or install them “on celestial bodies, or station such weapons in outer space.”
The treaty, ratified by some 114 countries, including the U.S. and Russia, prohibits the deployment of “nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction” in orbit or the stationing of “weapons in outer space in any other manner.”
The draft resolution emphasized “the necessity of further measures, including political commitments and legally binding instruments, with appropriate and effective provisions for verification, to prevent an arms race in outer space in all its aspects.”
It reiterated that the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, based in Geneva, has the primary responsibility to negotiate agreements on preventing an arms race in outer space.
The 65-nation body has achieved few results and has largely devolved into a venue for countries to voice criticism of others’ weapons programs or defend their own. The draft resolution would have urged the conference “to adopt and implement a balanced and comprehensive program of work.”
At the March council meeting where the U.S.-Japan initiative was launched, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “geopolitical tensions and mistrust have escalated the risk of nuclear warfare to its highest point in decades.”
He said the movie “Oppenheimer” about Robert Oppenheimer, who directed the U.S. project during World War II that developed the atomic bomb, “brought the harsh reality of nuclear doomsday to vivid life for millions around the world.”
“Humanity cannot survive a sequel to Oppenheimer,” the U.N. chief said.
United States Ambassador and Representative to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield addresses members of the U.N. Security Council before voting during a meeting on Non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
FILE - U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Tokyo. The U.N. Security Council is set to vote Wednesday, April 24, 2024, on a resolution announced by Thomas-Greenfield, calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space. It is likely to be vetoed by Russia. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)
