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Well, the good news is that becoming a DoorDash driver doesn't look that difficult. In most states, you have to be at least 18, but 21 in California, and 19 in Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia. You also have to own a non-jailbroken Android or iPhone. If you want to drive rather than pedal your deliveries — which is also an option, depending on where you'll work — you need a valid driver's license and valid personal auto insurance. As for what it pays, that depends on where you live. In Phoenix, according to Indeed, that's a decent $27.22 per hour – 43% over the national average, which is just $16.24 an hour.

A lot of the compensation depends on where you're gigging.

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Let's say you happen to live in Seattle and want to drive for DoorDash there. And, yeah, we know that John Oliver already warned that these apps are bad for everyone, but you need the job. The good news is that Seattle has a very high minimum wage of $21.30, and the city added a floor in the form of fees for delivery workers. Yes, that's led to some delivery backlash in Seattle, and some restaurants cannot afford to subscribe to app services, but according to Indeed, the average DoorDash driver in Seattle still makes about $20.89 an hour across their entire shift.

In New York, which also has a high minimum wage of $21.44 an hour, Indeed says the average Dasher will make about $25 per hour. The issue, however, is that both Seattle and New York are very expensive places to live. The site Payscale, which studies salaries, shows Seattle is 45% more expensive than the national average. But it could be worse: New York City is 139% pricier than the rest of the nation. You could Dash in Nashville, instead, where you're at just 2% higher than the national average cost of living — but you'll earn merely 13 bucks an hour there, according to Indeed.

The service, Workstream, which provides backend payroll support and software to restaurants, notes that the minimum wage in Nashville of just $7.25 hasn't budged since 2009 while a living wage in the city is $15.50. For comparison, you'd also struggle with that DoorDash rate of $21 an hour in Seattle, where Workstream says you need at least $26.59 per hour to make ends meet.

DoorDash jobs are not safe, either

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We doubt you clicked on this story because you're thrilled by the idea of delivering slowly softening french fries to gamers too busy to put down their consoles to feed themselves. Indeed's Hiring Lab data shows exactly what you'd expect about the motivation behind the rise in gig work and everyone's curiosity about driving to make some extra cash. First, gig work is more flexible than other part-time positions, so you can squeeze in a few extra hours when your regular post lets you off. Hiring Lab shows that the number of people who listed a gig platform as an employer has risen from just .5% in 2018 to 1.3% in 2025. That doesn't sound like much, but it's a 260% increase and means that employers like Uber and DoorDash are coming to dominate the gig economy. Hiring Lab also says what you already know: Gig work is necessary because standard salaries aren't keeping pace with inflation.

Separately, a 2025 Goldman Sachs analysis found that gig work is increasingly necessary to make up for lost hours or weaker compensation, and a fifth of gig workers take on the extra hours because they were laid off or took a pay cut in their primary jobs. And, as you'd also guess, fully half of gig workers drive to scratch out more cash on top of their current 9-to-5s. But there's peril afoot for these side hustles — and we don't mean the risk of getting shot while engaged in a delivery. DoorDash is a major investor in Rivian's e-bike and drone spin-off, called Also, and you've surely seen drone food scooters in cities like Los Angeles already. Which means, as predicted, the end could be nigh for these jobs, too because: robots. %!s()

Balkcom will face off against the Democratic nominee, Jamie Ager, in the November midterm elections to represent the 11th congressional district in western North Carolina. Though Donald Trump won the district by 10 percentage points two years ago, Democrats believe Ager may have a shot at winning amid the president’s low approval ratings and frustration over the pace of recovery from Hurricane Helene, which devastated the region in 2024.

“I’m blessed to receive the Republican nomination for the 11th Congressional District. Western North Carolina is where I was born, raised, and chose to raise my own family,” Ager said in a statement following her nomination.

“Rest assured, I will work every single day between now and Election Day to earn the votes of our friends and neighbors. Our region is incredibly strong and resilient, and I plan to be the fighter everyone who calls Western North Carolina home deserves.”

Edwards was first elected in 2022 after defeating the scandal-plague congressman Madison Cawthorn in the Republican primary. Last week, the US House ethics committee found he “fostered a hostile work environment and engaged in sexual harassment” towards two female employees in his Washington DC office.

While the investigation uncovered no evidence that Edwards engaged in sexual activity with the staffers or suggested it, his behavior likely violated provisions in the House code of conduct that prohibit sexual harassment and unwanted advances, and the ethics committee recommended he be censured.

Even before Edwards dropped out, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democratic campaign arm, had added his district to its list of targets to regain the majority in the House of Representatives in November’s midterms.

No House Democrat has won election to the region since 2010, and the race between Ager and Balkcom is likely to see concerted spending from both parties and outside groups.

Edwards had won the Republican nomination for his district in last March’s primary, and the North Carolina Republican party had convened in Asheville a meeting of officials from the region to select a replacement. Zach Almond, the state party’s executive director, said Balkcom beat five other candidates on the first round of balloting. %!s()

Jordy, the GLAAD and Queerties-nominated singer-songwriter, could write a book about this. Instead, he wrote his fourth studio album, the listen-on-repeat pop collection In Retrospect. From Normal People, a bop that encourages self-grace when we’re not where we thought we would be at a given stage of life, to Little Distractions, a ballad that explores addiction in a rare and beautifully vulnerable manner, the album is reflective, encouraging and ultimately uplifting.

“I honestly thought at first the whole record was going to be a breakup record because the catalyst for this project was getting out of a really unfortunately toxic professional relationship that I had going on for many years of my career,” Jordy says. “I’m never trying to throw anyone under the bus, but l think a lot of artists can relate to having difficult industry relationships that really have an impact on you and your mental health,” he says.

“I think when you’re an artist early on in your career and someone believes in you there’s an immediate intimacy with that. People think of intimacy in a romantic sense, but the relationships artists have with the people in their corner in the industry is also really intimate. I think it’s important for any artist or creative to hear that if it gets to a point where it's costing you your mental health, it's not worth it. This was a business decision.”

At first, Jordy says, he started writing angry breakup songs. "Anger has always been a hard emotion for me to express because as a queer person and growing up in a world where you’re automatically needing acceptance, being angry feels like such a scary thing because all you want is that acceptance and anger is not an attractive quality. I think a lot of women can like relate to that as well. But what do you do with it? What do you do when you feel that legitimately?

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In this case, Jordy says, writing the album was not only cathartic, “but as the angry songs came out of me I slowly realized there were other songs. It felt really vulnerable and I don't think I would have gotten here if it wasn't for having the opportunity to express the anger and get those feelings out of my system so I could arrive at this new place. Yes, I was angry at this person but I also needed to look inward and figure out why I kept them around for so long. I think a lot of that comes down to how I was viewing myself. There were a lot of reflective moments.”

Making the move meant potentially risking more promotional and financial outcomes for the album in the near term. Jordy is grateful to be in a place where he could opt to disengage anyway.

“You need to find the balance. Of course we all work really hard and we’re all grinding and of course there’s mentally taxing seasons of business, but there was just a point where, I don’t know what will happen to my career but it's not worth feeling this way,” he says. “I look back now and I'm happy with the decision and so happy with the people who I surround myself with. It’s also part of being 31 now vs. 22 when I moved to LA. Now I can say, ‘I’m not comfortable with that. No.’”

The process has brought the artist to a new place of calm. “I feel like the music industry has gotten to a point where artists feel this pressure to have their albums be viral hits before the album even comes out, and I’ve hit a point where I'm like, this is my fourth album and I'm at a different place mentally. This album will be out forever and I have all the time in the world to promote it whereas in the past it's been a race to go viral and get those numbers up. I’m so much more at peace.”

Also helping Jordy remain centered? A return to his love of reading. In his ideal world, a physical book, and a piece of fiction.

“Getting back into reading changed my life. I was always a huge reader as a kid and I was an English major in college but I lost I just kind of lost my groove with it. In 2023 when that relationship was hitting a point where I was about to play a show in LA and I was really just not in a good mental space, really anxious and not my best. I went to a local Barnes & Noble on a whim and just picked out a book. A juicy thriller. I read it in 24 hours. And now I’m reading a couple books a week. Reading fiction forces you into the shoes of someone else. It takes you out of your mind and it’s also escaping the phone. It's just a beautiful thing.”

More than ever, he’s grateful for the community and fans he’s cultivated during the past decade—those who’ve stuck by him through his relationship ins and outs, through the vaping addiction he quit last year, and through his continued immersion via song in the heart and mind of an openly gay man trying to make his way.

Some of those fans have even surprised him.

Not long ago, Jordy was having breakfast in Burbank when a man he estimates at 60-something approached his table. “He shows me his phone and says, ‘Are you this guy?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah that’s me.’ And he said, ‘I've been following you for a long time and I just want to say it's so special to see a younger openly gay man singing about love because I never had that when I was young.’”

“And to me, that's so freaking cool. Whatever happens in my career, happens. Whether we play stadiums one day or we don't, at the end of the day we've been able to reach people and the music has been able to make this impact and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It’s just this really intimate, personal exchange that I get to have with these people.”

Mind Reading (formerly Hollywood & Mind) is a recurring column that features interviews with musicians, actors, athletes, creators and other culture influencers who are elevating conversation and action around mental health, and breaking stigma. %!s()

A spokesperson for the band said that members Billy Gibbons and Elwood Francis will continue the tour with drummer Michael Monahan filling in for Beard.

The update arrives just days after ZZ Top abruptly called off their show in Los Angeles. In a statement posted to the band’s social media, Gibbons said, “Insurmountable obstacles require canceling our Hollywood Bowl performance.” He added: “Friends, fans and followers of ZZ Top are the best in the business and the band is counting on everyone to bear with us for this brief interruption.”

Beard has faced health issues in the past. Last year, ZZ Top announced that the musician would be  “temporarily” stepping away from the band’s tour to recover. In 2002, drum tech John Douglas subbed in for Beard when the drummer underwent an emergency appendectomy.

While not the band’s founding drummer — that title goes to Dan Mitchell, who drummed on ZZ Top’s first single “Salt Lick” — Beard has served as the band’s drummer for over 55 years, from First Album in 1971 through 2012’s La Futura.

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ZZ Top’s The Big One tour currently has a slew of upcoming stops across North America in Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Texas, and more. Earlier this year, the band extended its 2026 tour with nearly two dozen new dates for the summer.

“It’s true that we’ve been spending a lot of time on the road, and the more we’re out there, the better it feels,” Gibbons said in a press release announcing the new shows, per Ultimate Classic Rock. “It’s a good time for us and for the generations of fans who appreciate what we do,” he said. “We’ve been at it for quite a while — something like five decades — and it seems we’re getting good at it, so there’s no reason to slow things down. Let’s rock!” %!s()

The venture unites Silver Media Group with Chris John, longtime Indonesian TV executive Harun Kurniawan and Koollab Studios as co-production partners.

“Dragon’s Dojo” launches the ASERYA Universe, an interconnected Asian mythology franchise spanning animation, comics, games and merchandise. The universe pairs real-world figures with young protagonists, folklore and mythical beings drawn from across the continent, with the goal of introducing Asian stories to global audiences.

The story follows ancient creatures appearing in the modern world, prompting heroes from different countries to confront a rising darkness threatening the region. In “Dragon’s Dojo,” Chris John takes on an animated alter ego, cast as the head instructor and mentor at the show’s namesake martial arts academy, which works with young people facing hardship. As creatures from Indonesian mythology emerge to threaten his students’ community, Chris and his pupils find their fight extends beyond monsters to their own inner struggles.

The series is designed as a multi-platform franchise with potential extensions into comics, games and merchandise.

Chan Gin Kai, founder and CEO of Silver Media Group, said Asia holds some of the richest histories, cultures and mythologies in the world, but many of these stories remain little known outside their home countries.

“With ASERYA, we want to build an interconnected universe where these stories can come alive for a new generation of audiences,” Chan said. “‘Dragon’s Dojo’ is the beginning of that journey in Indonesia, combining the legacy of a true champion in Chris John with the power of mythology, action and values-driven storytelling. As we open the door to a wider universe of stories from across Asia, we hope to share this rich heritage with the world.”

Chris John said martial arts involves more than learning how to fight, teaching discipline, respect, courage and how to face life’s challenges. “Throughout my career, boxing has taught me that the greatest victories are not only achieved in the ring, but also in overcoming the challenges we face every day,” he said. “‘Dragon’s Dojo’ brings these values into an exciting adventure where young people can discover their strength, purpose and the courage to find their own path while experiencing the richness of Indonesian mythology.”

Kurniawan said Indonesia has extraordinary stories, legends and cultural heritage passed down through generations. “‘Dragon’s Dojo’ gives us an opportunity to bring these elements into a contemporary format and introduce them to audiences around the world,” he said. “We are creating something that is proudly Indonesian while being part of a much larger Asian storytelling universe.”

Koollab Studios co-founder Oliver Guse said the future of entertainment will be shaped by the collaboration between human creativity, technology and new approaches to storytelling. “At Koollab Studios, we believe innovation should empower creators to tell bigger and more ambitious stories while preserving the authenticity and emotional heart that make them meaningful,” Guse said. “‘Dragon’s Dojo’ represents an exciting opportunity to combine creative vision with new production possibilities, bringing Indonesia’s rich culture and mythology to audiences around the world.”

“Dragon’s Dojo” is in development, with production and release details to be announced.

Silver Media Group, founded by Golden Horse Award-winning producer Chan Gin Kai, manages a portfolio of more than 1,500 intellectual property assets spanning film, animation, games and graphic novels. The company has partnered with a fund manager licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to establish the Silver Media Fund, an institutional-grade media investment vehicle focused on developing and financing scalable IP.

Koollab Studios was co-founded by Guse, who has spent three decades working in animation production, and focuses on production workflows built around emerging technologies. %!s()