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The holiday season is fast approaching, which means it’s time to start thinking about decking your halls.
While you could go the classic garland and holly route, we’d suggest going the music fanatic route this season with Grateful Dead holiday decor available on Amazon now. The best part? The holiday offerings are on sale. The band’s official Amazon storefront includes two holiday pieces, although there are a bunch to choose from. Our picks? A nutcracker in the shape of a dancing bear, the band’s unofficial mascot, for $50.71 and a decorative glass ornament for $30.20.
The bear nutcracker stands at 10 inches and depicts the band’s dancing bear in blue wearing a festive holiday costume. An ornament is clutched in the bear’s hand. If you didn’t know, the dancing bear is meant to represent the band’s sound engineer and counterculture figure, Owsley “Bear” Stanley, who was nicknamed “bear” for his hairy chest.
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Kurt Adler Wooden 10″ Grateful Dead™ Bear Nutcracker
$50.71
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A Grateful Dead-themed nutcracker.
The cheerful and psychedelic dancing bear motif was first featured on the back cover of the band’s 1973 live album titled History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear’s Choice) and was created by artist Bob Thomas, paying homage to Stanley’s nickname. The bear motif has become synonymous with Grateful Dead, following the band even after the group disbanded in 1995. In short, not only is this nutcracker aesthetically pleasing, it also helps you snack on nuts with ease.
If you’re looking to decorate your tree with a little music flair, the aforementioned Grateful Dead glass ornament is for you. The item is made of glass and features the iconic skull and rose imagery accompanied by glittering accents and vibrant hues of blue, red and silver. This ornament was released for the band’s 60th anniversary in August, and makes a great keepsake for the Grateful Dead fan in your life. It’s also just a beautiful ornament, what with all the sparkling aspects that catch the light with every move.
Kurt Adler Grateful Dead™ Glass 60th Anniversary Ornament
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A Grateful Dead-themed glass ornament
Both the nutcracker and ornament were created in collaboration with Kurt S. Adler, a company that specializes in creating holiday goods. The brand’s official Amazon storefront also includes a whole host of Grateful Dead merch for fans and followers of the brand to choose from, including string lights, ornaments and even stockings cast in rainbow hues and full of holiday flare. While we are all for traditional Christmas decor, these pieces are a great way to change it up if you’re tired of the same old tinsel and red and green color scheme.
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Grateful Dead™ Van Ornament
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Kurt S. Adler Kurt Adler 10 Grateful Dead Skull Light Set
A string of skull lights.
Grateful Dead™ Van Ornament
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A Grateful Dead-themed ornament.
Earlier this year, Pusha T raised many eyebrows when he decided to throw darts at Travis Scott seemingly out of nowhere. While he explained why he decided to take such action, he’s also taken issue with Scott’s decision to release his album around the same time as Clipse’s reunion album, Let God Sort Em Out.
After Pusha T’s diss bars about Travis Scott on “So Be It” began circulating on social media, Travis Scott decided to play spoiler for the highly anticipated Clipse return album and release his Jackboys 2 project just days after Clipse dropped LGSTO. While it’s debatable as to whether Travis’ album messed with Clipse’s album streams (they have two completely different fan bases), many felt that the move did impact the numbers that Clipse could’ve had if not for Travis’ sudden album release.
In a recent interview with GQ, Pusha T and Malice were asked about Travis’ attempt to jerry-rig their first week numbers, and true to form, the two seemed to be okay with it, as that’s just the name of the game these days.
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We talked about the divine timing of the release. When people tried to crash that date, did it spoil the moment?
Malice: Listen, everybody has a right to do what they do. Whatever you have the power to do, whatever tools you have to utilize. That goes for everybody, even us. Let’s just play and see what it is. We embrace it all and love it all. Ain’t no sitting around moping and wishing—nah, let’s rock.
Pusha T: You cheat. We cheat. Everybody cheats. Fuck it.
Yeah, they don’t seem to be too bothered about Travis Scott crashing their reunion party.
Since the release of Let God Sort Em Out, Clipse have seen their latest project receive five Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year, and even performed their soul-moving cut “Birds Don’t Sing” at the Vatican in September. So yeah, they’re okay with how things panned out.
What did you make of Clipse and Travis Scott’s short-lived beef this past summer? Let us know in the comments section below.
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When Bruce Finkelman opened the Empty Bottle in 1993, he smoked cigarettes, like many of his customers. It was part of his vision for the Chicago rock club: “The small, dark, smoky jazz room or rock ‘n’ roll club. Dingy. That really romantic view of the door opening up and smoke billowing out.” But like every other venue in Chicago and just about everywhere else, Empty Bottle has been smoke-free for decades — and Finkelman, now a non-smoking marathon runner, can’t imagine it any other way. “Even if I smell smoke,” the club’s owner says today, “I’m like, ‘Ugh.’”
The first U.S. indoor smoking ban went into effect almost exactly 35 years ago, in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Since then, just about every municipality followed, from New York City in 2003 to Chicago in 2006 to the entire state of North Dakota in 2012. During that same 35-year period, the concert business has boomed: The top 100 tours grossed $674.5 million in 1990, according to Billboard Boxscore, compared to $10 billion last year, an increase of 1,383%. Promoters, club owners and public-health experts say fans not having to breathe deadly secondhand smoke is almost certainly a reason for that growth.
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“It’s part of the equation,” says Dr. Stephen Hansen, who, as the former director of the Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center’s cardiopulmonary department in San Luis Obispo, crusaded for the citywide indoor-smoking ban. “Most places in California, it’s hard to find a smoker these days, and they sure as hell don’t want to be packed in with a crowd where people are smoking.”
Adds Joe Shanahan, owner and founder of Metro, the 43-year-old Chicago rock club: “It really did help business. I believe there is a direct correlation.” He adds that parents were more willing to buy tickets for their 12-to-14-year-old kids to all-ages shows without worrying about the risk of secondhand-smoke exposure.
Given how ecologically serene concerts have been for years — with the exceptions of occasional joints and vapes — the early fights to achieve smoking bans seem like a black and white movie. When Hansen took on Big Tobacco and the entire nightlife scene in San Luis Obispo, a downtown bar owner complained to the Los Angeles Times that he feared his smoking customers would “just find a bar in another city”; a retired truck driver interviewed from a local barstool likened the ban proponents to “Communists,” and added, “That’s the kind of thing they have in Russia.” Just before the city council voted to approve the ban, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. distributed fliers imploring residents to phone council members and oppose an “outrageous attack on your rights!”
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The U.S. surgeon general famously laid the groundwork for smoking bans in 1964, when an advisory committee reported a connection between smoking and lung cancer, declaring the habit a “health hazard” in the days of widespread, fashionable, Mad Men-style lighting up. Nine years later, Arizona banned smoking in some areas, and several states followed by enacting limited bans in the ’80s. But Hansen and his San Luis Obispo public-health allies were the first to defeat the formidable opposition to indoor smoking bans. “I did get some calls,” the retired physician recalls. “I got some death threats.”
The country of Ireland studied the example of San Luis Obispo, population 42,000, before enacting its own countrywide ban in 2004 — although Irish public health officials found New York City to be a better case study. “The attitude was, ‘It may be OK to be in California to go outside, but try to tell that to an old man in the west of Ireland with the pouring rain,” says Luke Clancy, a former professor who is director general of the Tobacco Free Research Institute of Ireland.
Back then, after speaking to Irish pub workers — including The Dubliners, a well-known folk band — Clancy and his team realized the smoking ban concept was more popular than it seemed. “I got a lot of feedback from them saying, ‘Thank God for this, my voice is ruined,’” he recalls. “It was not only the audience but the actual artists as well.”
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Several studies report that smoking bans have reduced poisonous secondhand smoke, and therefore lung cancer, over the last two or three decades. Jessica Cance, a public-health researcher for independent scientific-research institute RTI International, concluded in a 2015 study that bans have been effective in “decreasing the rates of smoking on college campuses” — and researchers found that alcohol consumption stayed the same at the venues they studied, suggesting young bar patrons didn’t respond to smoking bans by simply leaving to smoke at home. “The data are very clear that smoking bans have been effective for public health,” Cance says. “We can clearly see there is public benefit.”
Numerous club owners and promoters say the bans had an immediate positive impact on their customers and employees, and that fears they had about decreasing attendance never materialized. “If you had 30 or 40 or 50 smokers, the whole room would be an ashtray. My staff were getting sick for no apparent reason,” Metro’s Shanahan says. “When they instituted the smoking ban, and no cigarettes were allowed on a permanent basis, the health of the company turned around in a year. I began to realize business was better.”
The Gothic Theatre near Denver was, in the early ’90s, so smoky that it was difficult to clearly see the stage from the balcony. “It gives me the willies, man,” says Doug Kauffman, who promoted Gothic shows back then. “A lot of business owners complained when it happened: It would hurt their business if you could smoke inside. But it didn’t. What business owner in his right mind wants to kill his customers?”
In the ’90s, smoking at rock clubs gave off an odor so grungy it seemed cool — notably at Washington, D.C.’s 9:30 Club, where one regular described the smell as “Aerosmith and my a——.” But Donna Westmoreland, chief operating officer of I.M.P., the club’s promoter for decades, is a former smoker whose life improved after D.C. officials banned cigarettes at indoor venues in 2006. “I don’t think anybody said, ‘Should we go to a show or not? Well, you can’t smoke now, so we should go’ — but [it’s] probably a contributing factor,” she says. “People aren’t putting out cigarettes on the floor. It might have just felt a little nicer as a result.”
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Do you want to learn to speak like Rosalía? Well, listen closely, students, because Professor Rosalía is ready to show us her 10 favorite words in Catalan and Spanish. Did you learn something new watching this video? Let us know your opinion in the comments.
Rosalía: Hi, I’m Rosalía, and here’s my dictionary featuring some words in Spanish and Catalan.
Attention, students, class has already started! Let’s begin.The first word is “tremenda.” You might say, “She’s very tremenda. She’s tremendísima.” The word “tremenda” sounds like what it means, representing someone very strong. When you say it, you need to emphasize and drag the “n”: tremennnnda. It’s used in various contexts, like describing someone as very impactful. For example: “That girl, she is tremenda.”
The second word is “floripondio.” “Floripondio” refers to something exaggerated, over-the-top, or a bit “cuadro,” which is an informal term for something gaudy or out of place. For instance, it could describe a flashy accessory, like a glaring brooch that doesn’t quite fit, though sometimes it can still look good. A “floripondio” might also be a bold or risky print — something floral or extreme that stands out. You might say, “You’re wearing a floripondio there.”
The third word is in Catalan: “xiuxiuejar.” I absolutely love how this word sounds. It refers to something said very softly and subtly, like a gentle whisper. The word itself sounds like what it expresses: “xiuxiuejar.” It’s delicate and soothing — remember to say it very softly. “Xiuxiuejar.”
I hope you’re taking notes, staying focused and making sure to use these words in their appropriate contexts!
Now, on to the fourth word, also in Catalan: “melic.” “Melic” refers to the belly button. It’s such an adorable word, simple and charming, like how you might lovingly refer to the navel. I just love it.
Next is the Spanish word “ojalá,” which is very beautiful. If I’m not mistaken, “ojalá” is rooted in the Arabic word “Allah,” and it means “God willing” or “hopefully.” It’s a commonly used expression in Spanish, one that carries a lot of hope. We often say it when we wish for something, like “ojalá.”
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Charli xcx contributed a handful of songs to the soundtrack for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights film, and the first of the batch arrived on Monday (Nov. 10) with “House.”
An accompanying ominous “House” visual directed by Mitch Ryan (he also helmed Charli’s “Party 4 U” video) was released alongside the spooky single and features a guest appearance from Velvet Underground’s John Cale.
The eerie clip features narration from Cale as Charli awakens in a gloomy house and pours hot candle wax on her body. The scene pivots to a raven flying into one of the home’s bedrooms while the British pop star and Cale duet in a demonic tone: “I think I’m gonna die in this house.”
Dramatic strings reach a crescendo and Charli xcx unleashes a frightening scream while repeating, “I think I’m gonna die in this house.” “In every room, I hear silence,” Cale says to close out the visual. Charli moves from the home to lying on her back in a white dress on a pile of leaves in the barren woods.
It’s a stark pivot from the amusing chaos of the Brat world, showcasing Charli’s range as she continues to make her presence felt in Hollywood.
The 33-year-old released a statement explaining her involvement in the soundtrack and the origin of “House,” which she describes as “elegant and brutal.”
“I got a call from Emerald Fennell last Christmas asking whether I would consider working on a song for her adaptation of Wuthering Heights,” she said. “I read the script and immediately felt inspired so Finn Keane and I began working on not just one but many songs that we felt connected to the world she was creating. After being so in the depths of my previous album I was excited to escape into something entirely new, entirely opposite. When I think of Wuthering Heights I think of many things. I think of passion and pain. I think of England. I think of the Moors, I think of the mud and the cold. I think of determination and grit.”
Charli continued: “A few years ago I watched Todd Haynes’ documentary about The Velvet Underground. As many of you know I’m a huge fan of the band and was really taken by the documentary. One thing that stuck with me was how John Cale described a key sonic requirement of The Velvet Underground. That any song had to be both ‘elegant and brutal.’ I got really stuck on that phrase. I wrote it down in my notes app and would pull it up from time to time and think about what he meant.”
“When working on music for this film, ‘elegant and brutal’ was a phrase I kept coming back to. One day whilst on tour in Austin, Finn and I went to the studio and wrote the bones for a song that would eventually become “House.” When the summer ended I was still ruminating on John’s words. So I decided to reach out to him to get his opinion on the songs that his phrase had so deeply inspired, but also to see whether he might want to collaborate on any.”
“We got connected, we spoke on the phone and wow … that voice, so elegant, so brutal. I sent him some songs and we started talking specifically about ‘House.’ We spoke about the idea of a poem. He recorded something and sent it to me. Something that only John could do. And it was … well, it made me cry.”
“I feel so lucky to have been able to work with John on this song. I’ve been so excited to share it with you all, sitting quietly in anticipation. And on Monday, it’s yours.”
Wuthering Heights is set to hit theaters on Feb. 13. Fennell’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s gothic novel stars Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie. Charli xcx will also star in A24’s The Moment in early 2026, which is the first project coproduced by her Studio365 venture.
The Essex native is booked and busy on the film side, as she’s notched roles in Daniel Goldhaber’s remake of Faces of Death as well as I Want Your Sex, The Gallerist, 100 Nights of Hero and Sacrifice.
Winter is coming. Watch “House” below.
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HUNTR/X’s “Golden,” from Netflix’s record-breaking animated movie KPop Demon Hunters, tops the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts for a 15th week each. In July, the song became the first No. 1 on each survey for the act, whose music is voiced by EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI.
The Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.
Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
“Golden” glows atop the Global 200 with 117.4 million streams (down 3% week-over-week) and 14,000 sold (up 7%) worldwide in the week ending Nov. 6.
The song ties for the third-longest command since the Global 200 began in September 2020. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has ruled for 19 weeks since that December and Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” dominated for 18 weeks starting in September 2024. “Golden” matches Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” which led for 15 weeks in 2022.
(It’s ti-ime: “All I Want for Christmas Is You” reenters the latest Global 200 at No. 43, with 22.7 million streams, up 172%, and 2,000 sold, up 217%, worldwide.)
Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” holds at No. 2 on the Global 200, after two weeks at No. 1 in October; Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” rises 4-3, following 10 weeks on top beginning in May; Swift’s “Opalite” slips 3-4, after hitting No. 2; and Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” keeps at No. 5, after reaching No. 4.
“Golden” leads Global Excl. U.S. with 89.4 million streams (down 4%) and 7,000 sold (up 1%) beyond the U.S.
As on the Global 200, “Golden” claims the third-longest No. 1 run on Global Excl. U.S., trailing only ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” and “Die With a Smile,” which reigned for 19 and 17 weeks respectively in 2024 into this year.
“The Fate of Ophelia” repeats at No. 2 on Global Excl. U.S. after two weeks at the summit in October; Kenshi Yonezu’s “Iris Out” climbs 6-3, after reaching No. 2; LE SSERAFIM and j-hope’s “Spaghetti” drops 3-4 in its second week; and “Ordinary” falls 4-5 after eight weeks at No. 1 starting in May.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Nov. 15, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Nov. 11. For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
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After a year-long hiatus, Envision Festival is returning to Uvita, Costa Rica this February. Attendees will once again be able to revel in the electronic-focused music, workshops and lush jungle setting that have defined the fest since its 2011 debut. Now, Envision organizers are announcing a host of changes and upgrades designed to optimize the 2026 edition.
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“We have listened, and we have put changes into action,” Envision co-founder Josh Wendel tells Billboard. “We are now ready to share how we are evolving and how we will deliver a better experience.”
On Monday (Nov. 10) Envision organizers unveiled a long list of improvements for the 2026 fest, happening Feb. 23-March 2 at its longtime site in a beach-adjacent swatch of jungle on the Pacific Ocean side of Costa Rica. The festival’s phase one lineup includes Bob Moses, CloZee, Daily Bread, Emancipator, Goldcap, Justin Martin and many others, with more artist to be announced in the coming weeks. Envision also offers a wide array of yoga, movement and sustainability classes, along with other workshops.
The announced changes follow a challenging 2024 edition, which found attendees citing sanitation issues and some attendees reporting that they experienced gastrointestinal illness while at the fest. Envision did not happen in 2025 as organizers regrouped, with Wendel transitioning from his production leadership role to leading the entire event, of which he also became the sole owner.
“After 2024 there were operational challenges we acknowledge that we had to fix, so in 2025 we chose the theme ‘back to our roots,’” Wendel says of the 2026 event’s guiding ethos. ” It was like, ‘What are we doing? Why are we doing it? How are we doing it? It became this deep, introspective journey of dissecting every little element of why I initially started it and the impact that it’s had.”
Originally from Florida and a Costa Rica resident for the last 22 years, Wendel speaks to Billboard from his home in Costa Rica, joking that he’s usually barefoot in the jungle. The updates he and the team developed emphasize that health and safety is Envision’s top priority and note that an audit of the 2024 event revealed multiple reasons for why people experienced GI issues, with “many people [getting] sick from viruses that were brought into the festival by travelers coming to the festival. For many people, moving into the jungle environment of Costa Rica and being exposed to different microbes is enough to trigger GI issues.”
Organizers are unrolling multiple methods for eradicating these issues in 2026. “It’s a hyper-focus on safety, on our medical team and on analyzing every which way that we can do that, including having a medical supervisor and a different medical team,” says Wendel. “You wouldn’t want to put this on the lineup poster, but health and sanitation are our headliners this year.”
As such, 2026 attendees will find separate stations for hand washing and water bottle refills. (While they were also separate in prior years, attendees did not treat them as such, so water will thus become a destination via a dedication water refill station called the Templos de Agua.
“It’s the jungle, and people are coming from all over the world to gather,” Wendel continues. “Obviously there is the self-care component we must continue to message to make sure people practice self-care as we give them the tools to do that. Wash your hands, use hand sanitizer, get some sleep, take care of yourself.”
As such, each festivalgoer will also be provided with a comprehensive guide to staying healthy while in Costa Rica that’s been developed in partnership with local doctors, health professionals and the Costa Rican Ministry of Health.
Another major change is the approach to toilets. Envision 2026 will provide more port-a-potties with more frequent pumping and better placement. Envision 2024 debuted a waterless, off-grid sanitation model using dry-composting toilets. The 2026 fest will improve upon this system by swapping out all tanks prior to guest arrival, so each system is fresh and empty at the start of the event. Carbon filters and improved ventilation will also be installed to reduce bathroom-related odors and increase airflow. A dedicated onsite maintenance team will service toilets more frequently during the fest to optimize cleanliness, hygiene and comfort.
After the festival, waste from these dry-composting toilets will be sealed and transferred to a long-term curing area where it will compost for 12–18 months, ensuring full pathogen elimination before it’s used for off-site organic fertilizer.
Envision has also brought in a new medical director, a Costa Rican doctor whose experience includes working with international film and television productions in the country and who is also part of a team that provides medical assistance to large-scale events in the U.S. This person will also work with a local medical team and in partnership with a local clinic, hospital and Ministry of Health and help hire more local people for the Envision lifeguard team that keeps watch over the festival’s beach area.
Expanded sustainability initiative will include water conservation guidelines and compostable cups, plates silverware and other serveware. Organizers predict that these compostable items will significantly reduce water consumption by eliminating the washing necessitated by a now phased out reusable dish program. Along with the water-free composting toilets, the production team is also installing low-flow showerheads and encouraging short showers for all guests.
“We’re not a luxury hotel,” says Wendel. “It is the jungle, and we are committed to doing everything to make it as convenient and comfortable and as easy as possible.”
Envision is also working closely with community partners and the organization who manages the local water supply to create a new on-site water system that ensure that the fest will have enough clean water and will also reduce the impact of Envision on the water flow of the nearby town. This system has been designed experienced engineers and will include filters, pumps, treatment, storage tanks and water distribution infrastructure.
Envision Festival
Courtesy of Envision Festival
These programs are particularly crucial given that Envision happens in an environmentally sensitive area, with the lush jungle setting, beach access and deep nature immersion provided by the fest being a huge part of its appeal. Envision happens at Rancho La Merced, located less than a mile north of the breathtaking Marino Ballena National Park, a protected marine sanctuary that’s home to humpback whales, spotted and bottlenose dolphins, manta rays, parrotfish and mackerel.
The festival site, which Envision leases from its owners, is itself home to emerging mangrove forests, creeks, freshwater canals, a host of tree and plant species, birds, monkeys and other wildlife.
“People come for the headliners, but then they’re barefoot in the jungle and jumping in that ocean, and doing yoga and drinking from a coconut and seeing monkeys and something clicks,” says Wendel. “People get inspired. The music is like a bait-and-switch.”
But there is of course the push/pull of bringing thousands of people (many of whom are looking to party for a week) to such a ecologically delicate area, an issue many festivals that happen in special places in nature must grapple with. “When you talk about environmental impact, I look at it as 10 steps forward, then one step back, with a little traffic and boom boom bass [during the festival itself], then 10 steps forward,” says Wendel.
Envision has put this into action by reforesting the site, where many of the trees were cut down in the mid-20th century to make space for a cattle pasture. Over the years, Envision has helped plant Ylang Ylang and fruit trees throughout the grounds and at Rancho La Merced and has also planted beach almonds in the campgrounds for shade. Before and after photos from 2014 to 2024 show an impressive expansion of trees and foliage on the site. Organizers have also worked with local organizations to plant in the surrounding area to protect water sources and provide biological corridors throughout the Rancho La Merced property.
Envision Festival
Auudrey
To mitigate the impact of attendees on the festival on the site, the 2026 edition will also reduce capacity by roughly 2,000 people, bringing down overall attendance to approximately 5,500. (The amount of temporary infrastructure built on site will also be reduced.) This decreased headcount also factors in reducing travel from international Envision staff, with the focus being to hire as many local people as possible to mitigate impact, create jobs and keep the event local.
The fest is also leaning into this local component by bringing in more products from local vendors. This will include local produce kombucha brewed in Uvita, beer from nearby Dominical, cacao from local regenerative farms and herbal elixirs, mixers made in the region using native plants and locally grown herbs and compostable plates, cups and containers made in Costa Rica.
All of these changes are coming in tandem with a phase two lineup Wendel calls “by far the most exciting phase two that we’ve ever had.” While he’s tight-lipped about who it might be, he says this lineup expansion will likely be announced this month.
Over Zoom Wendel seems sincerely excited these changes and clear-eyed about the reasons for them. Many event producers often receive severe verbal abuse on social media when elements of an event go wrong, an experience Wendel says was not necessarily pleasant, but ultimately useful.
“Even when the feedback comes off as ugly and emotionally vomiting, I’m never losing sight of who I am or who we are as an organization. It’s about being able to pull out what valuable information I can that can actually make this event better.
“It’s psychological warfare right now, with the amount of anger, frustration and hatred,” he continues. “So [for me] it’s about asking how we can be vulnerable leaders? How can we be honest? How can we be humble? It’s about acknowledging mistakes and being proud of your desire to grow and learn from those mistakes… I’m making the best decisions I can make from the best information I have.”
Trending on Billboard Latin music executive Jochy Rodríguez has launched a new independent agency, Joch Entertainment, he tells Billboard. Rodríguez — who has spent the past nine years as senior vp of promotions and marketing at WK Entertainment — will focus the company’s efforts on marketing, management, consulting and radio promotions. “This new chapter represents […]
Listen to new must-hear songs from emerging R&B/hip-hop artists like detahjae and rum•gold.
11/10/2025
Trending on Billboard Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” surges to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, Leon Thomas’ “Mutt” moves up. Will Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” or HUNTR/X’s “Golden” be able to make No. 1 this week? Tetris Kelly: Michael Jackson makes a holiday return to the charts as Taylor Swift still battles with KPop Demon […]
