In Flames is no longer taking part in the Metal Tour of the Year.
On Tuesday, the Swedish metallers announced that they’re dropping off the stacked bill, which also includes Megadeth, Lamb of God and Trivium, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were looking forward to playing for you all and this was an unbelievably hard choice to make,” a statement from the band reads. “Thank you for understanding and your support as we all get through this unprecedented time.”
“We have a lot of things in the works for 2022 — more on that shortly,” they add. “Stay safe and we’ll see you on the road again soon!”
In place of In Flames, Hatebreed has now joined the lineup.
The Metal Tour of the Year, which was previously scheduled to launch in 2020, will kick off August 20 in Austin.
(WASHINGTON) — Texas Democrats spent Tuesday in Washington pressuring Congress to pass federal voting rights legislation and calling for an exception to the Senate’s filibuster rule blocking Democrats from moving forward with a measure they say would stop GOP-led efforts to restrict voting in Texas and nationwide.
The state lawmakers were expected to meet with a key Democrat who has resisted changing the filibuster rule requiring 60 votes to advance legislation — West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin. He and Arizona Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema are playing a pivotal role in the ongoing congressional negotiations over a national voting rights bill.
It is unclear if the Texas Democrats will hold meetings with Sinema. If both she and Manchin were to agree to an exception to the rule — Senate Democrats with their 50 votes, along with Vice President Kamala Harris — could pass the bill congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden have made a top priority.
Biden was making his case in a high-profile speech in Philadelphia Tuesday afternoon.
“If you can have a carve-out for a right-wing Supreme Court justice, why can’t you have a carve-out to protect the very fundamentals of our democracy?” State Rep. Chris Turner said at a Capitol Hill news conference, referring to making an exception to the filibuster for voting rights.
“If Mitch McConnell did a carve-out for Amy Coney Barrett, then we ought to do a carve-out for the black and brown people that live in Texas, Georgia, Florida, that live in all these states trying to make it harder for our constituents to exercise their right to vote,” State Rep. Marc Veasey added. “Time is of the essence. We cannot wait. States are going to start to ramp up these efforts.”
More than 50 Texas House Democrats fled the state Monday evening, depriving the state legislature of a quorum, and must now remain out of Texas for the duration of the ongoing special legislative session, which ends on August 6.
In their absence from the Austin state capitol on Tuesday, a majority of Republican House lawmakers passed a procedural measure that allows authorities to go out and find the absent Democrat House members.
Texas law authorities may even utilize arrest warrants in their efforts to compel the lawmakers back, if such action is deemed necessary. However, it remains unclear whether this order can affect the Democrats while they are out of state and outside of the jurisdiction of Texas law enforcement.
The state legislators pointed to the spread of what they called former President Donald Trump’s ‘big lie’ that falsely asserts his claim of winning the 2020 election as a partial catalyst for their decision to leave their home state.
“We are not going to buckle to the ‘big lie’ in the state of Texas — the ‘big lie’ that has resulted in anti-democratic legislation throughout the United States,” Mexican American Legislative Caucus Chair Rafael Anchía said.
Texas House Dean Senfronia Thompson further echoed Anchia’s comments and put a spotlight on the impact revisions to voting access in her state would have on people of color.
“I’m not here to take a vacation in Washington, D.C. When I looked at the African American Museum, I thought about the struggle my people fought in this country to get the right to vote. And that right is sacred to my constituents that I represent in Houston, Texas, and I’m up here because I don’t plan to be a sitting person in that legislature,” Thompson said.
Seventeen states had enacted 28 new laws that restrict access to the vote, as of June 21, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The latest versions of Republican-backed legislation aimed at revising Texas voting and election laws included several provisions that voting rights advocates say would detrimentally affect the abilities of people of color to vote.
Among them are provisions that appear to be aimed at practices utilized by Democrat-leaning Harris County during the 2020 election. Both bills ban 24-hour voting availability, which offered greater ballot access to Houston-area shift workers when implemented in the fall. Each of the proposals coming from the Republican majorities in the Texas House and Senate also aim to end drive-thru voting, another popular voting method in the diverse county.
Additionally, the dual bills included provisions that granted expanded access to partisan poll watchers, which voting rights advocates decried for potentially opening the door to in-person voter intimidation.
On Monday, Texas Democrats did not indicate specific plans for what they aim to do after the special session ends. They also did not directly offer insight into whether they intend to continue breaking quorum going forward, given that GOP Gov. Abbott has the power to call for as many special legislative sessions as he wants.
“We know that’s exactly what he’s going to do, we went in his eyes wide open,” Texas House Democratic Chair Turner told reporters.
“Our intent is to stay out and kill this bill this session, and use the intervening time — I think 24 or 25 days now — before the other session to implore the folks in this building behind us to pass federal voting rights legislation to protect voters in Texas and across the country,” he added.
Vice President Harris will meet sometime this week with the Texas legislators, according to an official in Harris’ office.
One day before the next court hearing on Britney Spears‘ conservatorship, the headline-making documentary about her has received two Emmy nominations.
Framing Britney Spears, produced by The New York Times for FX and Hulu, has been nominated for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special and Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program.
The doc, which first aired in February, focused on how the media, especially the tabloids and the paparazzi, framed Britney in a negative, often misogynistic light, while allowing the men in her orbit, like her ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake, to emerge unscathed from the spotlight’s blinding glare.
The documentary also examined the #FreeBritney movement and focused new attention on her conservatorship, which has been in place since 2008. Britney is now trying to have her father Jamie Spears removed from his role as conservator of her estate, and has also asked for the conservatorship itself to be terminated.
Britney and those involved with the conservatorship, which the singer has deemed “abusive,” are expected to appear in court Wednesday for the next step in what appears to be shaping up to be lengthy process.
Shelley, the artist formerly known as DRAM, sat down with Complex to talk about his recent name change and hisalbum, Shelley FKA DRAM.
Shelley is the artist’s government name. He says the change “was symbolic to the changes that I made in my musical direction, as well as my lifestyle in general.”
Shelley gained international success under the stage name Big Baby DRAM with hits like “Cha Cha,” “Broccoli” and more. He believes the name DRAM came with a “certain stigma” and limited his versatility as an artist.
“I felt like a wide range of styles and sounds were being overshadowed by the few records of mine that were extremely popular,” he explains. “As grateful as I am for the success of those records, I still thought many people judged the totality of my art based on those records alone.”
Shelley was also shocked by the positive responses he received over his recent album, Shelley FKA DRAM, which ranked at #3 on Complex’s “Best Albums of 2021 (So Far)” list. The 10-track blessing features appearances from R&B vocalists Summer Walker, Erykah Badu, H.E.R.,and WATT.
“I’m both surprised and ecstatic from the overall responses from my fans as well as my peers,” Shelley tells Complex. “It seems as though this musical path that I’m on is exactly what my day ones have been waiting for from me.”
David Byrne’s American Utopia, the Spike Lee-directed TV special presenting former Talking Heads singer David Byrne‘s critically acclaimed Broadway show of the same name, will vie for honors in six categories at the 2021 primetime Emmy Awards.
The program, which premiered on HBO and HBO Max in October 2020, has been nominated for trophies for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded), Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special, Outstanding Musical Direction, and in three technical categories.
The American Utopia show features Byrne accompanied by 11 musicians, dancers and singers who move freely about an almost-empty stage. The production includes monologues by David connecting performances of songs from his 2018 American Utopia album, as well as Talking Heads songs and several other Byrne solo tunes.
The TV shows receiving the most Emmy nods this year are Netflix’s The Crown and the Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian, which both scored 24 nominations.
You can find the full list of nominees at Emmys.com.
The 73rd Emmys will be held live and in person on Sunday, September 19, airing at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — The Minnesota Wild has announced they have bought out forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Sutter.
Both signed identical 13-year, 98 million dollar contracts in July 2012.
“Zach and Ryan have been an integral part of the Wild’s success over the past nine years and we’ll always be grateful for their many contributions,” said general manager Bill Guerin. “There were numerous factors that entered into the difficult decision to buy out their contracts, but primarily these moves are a continuation of the transformation of our roster aimed at the eventual goal of winning a Stanley Cup.”
The buyouts will cost the Wild $1.66 million per year for the next eight years, according to CapFriendly.
Prior to today the #MNWild did not have any dead cap hits, this is how their dead cap hit section is now updated with the buyouts pic.twitter.com/YMl6gj4Az2
The moves save the Wild $10.3 million this season and $2.3 million next season.
Parise recorded scored 199 goals and recorded 201 assists in 558 regular-season games. He is the franchise leader in power-play goals and ranks third in goals and total scoring. This past season, Parise finished with seven goals and 11 assists in 45 games.
Sutter scored 55 goals and assisted on another 314 in 656 regular-season games. He is the franchise leader in assists and total scoring for a defenseman. Sutter finished with three goals and 16 assists in 56 games.
The pair will become unrestricted free agents on July 28.
The awards show isn’t until September, but Pose star Mj Rodriguez has already made Emmys history.
The actress was nominated for best actress in a drama series Tuesday morning, becoming the first trans actress to ever garner an Emmy nod in a leading acting category.
In 2014, Orange Is the New Black actress Laverne Cox became the first transgender person to ever be nominated for an acting Emmy; Rain Valdez, creator and star of the short Razor Tongue, became the second last year. Neither Cox nor Valdez won.
Last year, Pose fans voiced their frustrations that the series’ transgender stars were snubbed on Emmy nominations day. Pose actor Billy Porter, however, was nominated for best actor in a drama series; Jeremy Strong of Succession went on to win the category.
Rodriguez has not yet commented on her groundbreaking nomination, though GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis called it “a long-overdue recognition for her groundbreaking performance.”
Ellis continued, “Additionally, the show’s nomination for outstanding drama series, as well as Billy Porter’s third nomination for outstanding lead actor in a drama series, mark a historic show that undoubtedly raised the bar for trans representation on television and changed the way viewers around the world understand the trans community.”
“As over 40 leading LGBTQ organizations pointed out in our open letter about Pose to Emmy Award voters [last month], representation matters. Congratulations, Michaela Jaé, Billy Porter, and the entire Pose team — the world is standing with you and applauding your talents.”
Killswitch Engage has announced a streaming concert taking place August 6.
The virtual show, which will be filmed at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts, will feature full album performances of KsE’s latest effort, 2019’s Atonement, as well as their 2000 self-titled debut. A press release promises that the concert will also feature “a few surprises along the way.”
“I hope everyone who watches enjoys this as much as we did making it,” says frontman Jesse Leach. “Aside from the music, the laughter and funny moments were an equal part of the experience. The whole package really feels like a Killswitch experience and we’re stoked for everyone to see and hear it.”
Meanwhile, Leach and Killswitch guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz are releasing a new album with their side project Times of Grace called Songs of Loss and Separation this Friday, July 16.
Death Cab for Cutie frontman Benjamin Gibbard has united with electronic artist Tycho for a new song called “Only Love.”
“Ben’s voice was a very inspiring element to work with from a production standpoint, I felt it really meshed well with the kinds of sounds and instrumentation I gravitate towards,” Tycho says.
“‘Only Love’ started life as an instrumental, but something was missing,” he explains. “I sent a rough demo to Ben and he recorded some vocals over it. The first time I heard the rough vocals the whole song suddenly made sense and the arrangement flowed out of that.”
You can listen to “Only Love” now via digital outlets.
Notably, “Only Love” marks Gibbard’s first “major electronic collaboration” since The Postal Service.
Death Cab’s most recent album is 2018’s Thank You for Today. In the past year, they’ve released a covers EP, as well as a live album.
(MOSCOW) — Alena Denisavets said she had been looking for her husband for more than a day when she got a text message from a lawyer who she believed was working for Belarus’ feared security services, still known today as the KGB.
Her husband Youras Ziankovich had vanished while on a trip to Moscow in April. She said she learned from the hotel where he was staying that unknown men had taken him. Now, she was hearing from the place she had never wanted him to be.
“I kind of tried to calm down and to understand what happened; why he’s in Minsk, [Belarus], why this person is contacting me from the KGB; [and] who is this person,” Denisavets told ABC News from Texas last week. “I was shocked, I was shaking, I was crying.”
Belarus’ KGB later announced it had taken Ziankovich. The men who took him filmed the abduction and it was later aired on Belarusian state television. As Ziankovich approached his hotel in Moscow, three men grabbed him and forced him into a van.
Ziankovich is a lawyer with U.S. citizenship and a long-time opponent of Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader of his native Belarus. For more than a decade, Ziankovich had lived in the United States, where he gained political asylum and then citizenship, and ran a law practice from Texas.
After he was seized in Moscow, he was driven nearly 700 miles across the border to Belarus and placed in a KGB jail in Minsk, according to Belarusian authorities. His wife has not been able to speak with him since, nor have the United States consular staff, despite requests to do so.
Zianokovich was grabbed that day in Moscow along with another Belarusian opponent of Lukashenko, Alexander Feduta, shortly after the two had eaten lunch together. Feduta, who more than a decade ago served as spokesman for Lukashenko, is a literary critic and now a vocal critic of his former boss.
About a week after the men were taken, Lukashenko announced to journalists that Belarusian security forces had thwarted a supposed coup attempt against him and accused Ziankovich and Feduta of planning it.
Belarus’ KGB claimed the two men were part of a U.S.-backed plot to assassinate the Belarusian authoritarian leader and abduct his children.
“We have seized them in Moscow,” Lukashenko told reporters. “They flew from the U.S. His last name is Ziankovich.”
The U.S. State Department responded quickly to Lukashenko’s claim, saying that “any suggestion that the U.S. government was behind or involved in an assassination attempt on Lukashenko is absolutely untrue.”
Denisavets said the coup claims against her husband were ridiculous, invented by the Lukashenko regime to create a justification for repression in the country, where he is currently straining to crush a protest movement that broke out against him last year.
“They need a story, kind of a very loud story,” Denisavets said. “Everyone is a terrorist, a potential terrorist, if he is against the government.”
She accused Belarus and Russia of collaborating to kidnap her husband.
Belarusian state television aired a lengthy report on the supposed coup attempt several days after he was taken. It included hidden camera footage showing Ziankovich and Feduta meeting in a Belarusian-themed restaurant in central Moscow with some unknown men.
The surveillance footage had been released by Russia’s Federal Security Service or FSB, its powerful domestic intelligence agency.
The FSB later said Ziankovich’s seizure had been a joint operation with the KGB. And president Vladimir Putin has since supported Lukashenko’s claim of the coup plot, criticising the West in his annual state of the nation address for not condemning it.
Most outside experts have expressed scepticism about the coup allegations, noting the improbable way in which it was supposedly planned and that those involved have no connections with the military or significant influence.
To back up the claims about the coup, Belarusian state television aired video from a Zoom call, where it alleged Ziankovich and the others were discussing their plans.
But Alexander Perepechko, a political analyst who participated in the Zoom call, said that claim was preposterous and that in reality the call had just been an academic discussion.
“This is the first time in my life that I’ve seen people like us playing quote-un-quote ‘coup d’etat’ using Zoom,” Perepechko, who lives in exile in the U.S., told ABC News. “There was no secrecy, there was no conspiracy. It was an academic conversation.”
Perepechko said the call had been a “war gaming” exercise where the participants had discussed different possibilities for how Belarus’ political crisis might end. Although he and others present were passionate to see the end of Lukashenko’s rule, he said, they had no means or experience for organizing a coup.
“We just became part of a big game,” he said. “And we were just kind of unlucky those people … are in KGB prison in Minsk now because we talked about a sensitive topic.”
Hanna Liubakova, a journalist and Atlantic Council non-resident fellow, said she did not believe the coup allegations were real.
“I don’t really think a coup d’etat might be planned by Zoom,” she said. “I think that’s another kind of fairy tale, another story that the regime tries to show.”
Liubakova said she believed it was possible that Ziankovich and Feduata might have been tricked into going to Moscow on false promises about possible assistance against Lukashenko, but that the idea they might have orchestrated a real coup was not credible.
“It’s all being kind of presented in this way because Lukashenko needs to justify repressions,” she said.
The mass protests that broke out following the contested election in August 2020 came close to toppling Lukashenko at the time. But he has since gradually strangled the protest movement through continuous repression, and in recent months, has gone on the offensive.
This week the regime moved to close down several popular independent media organizations. At the same time, it has aggressively targeted its opponents in exile. In May, Belarus forced down a Ryanair passenger flight with another opposition blogger onboard, Roman Protasevich.
Since then, Protasevich has repeatedly been paraded in front of journalists and publicly recanted his former opposition to Lukashenko under what his family and other opposition figueres say is intense pressure and likely torture.
Ziankovich and Feduata have both been shown appearing to admit guilt in videos aired on state television.
“When you are taken as a prisoner, you say whatever they want you to say to save your life and not to make things worse,” said Perepechko.
The democratic opposition estimates there are at least 500 political prisoners currently in Belarus and thousands have been detained since last August.
It is unclear when Ziankovich might be placed on trial. Aside from the denial of any conspiracy to assassinate the Belarus leader, the U.S. State Department has issued only curt statements on his detention, saying it is aware of it and trying to assist him.
Denisavets says she has written about her husband’s case to President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as her local senator and Congressional representatives. But she said that so far she had only received one response from the office of Sen. Ted Cruz.
Denisavets said she had to keep hoping that he would be freed. She believes the current situation in Belarus cannot last.
“I just want to say to him if he sees me, that I love him. … I wait for him here and I will do whatever is possible to release him, to help him,” she said, holding back tears. “It’s an occupation of the country and it will not last such a long time. The regime will not stay on the blood of people. It will end, and very soon.”
