The Wombats will be livestreaming their upcoming sold-out show in Los Angeles.
The virtual festivities kick off February 25 at 7:55 p.m. PT via the streaming platform Veeps. For ticket info, visit TheWombatsOfficial.Veeps.com.
The LA show is the final date on The Wombats’ ongoing U.S. headlining tour in support of their new album Fix Yourself, Not the World, which dropped in January. It debuted at the top of the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart, giving the U.K. trio their first number-one record in their home country.
Fix Yourself, Not the World features The Wombats’ current single, “If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming with You.”
Metallica‘s ongoing deluxe reissue campaign is set to continue with Load and Reload, and, once again, the band is asking for your help.
In an email to members of their Met Club fan club, the metal legends write that they’re looking for any ‘Tallica-related memorabilia you may have dating between August 1995 through September 1998, including live photos, show flyers and ticket stubs.
Metallica previously asked for similar fan submissions for their previous five reissues: Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, …And Justice for All and The Black Album.
Should you have anything you’d like to share this time around, you can email Submissions@MetClub.com.
Load and Reload, released in 1996 and 1997, respectively, followed the massive success of 1991’s The Black Album, which turned Metallica from beloved metal outfit to stadium-headlining superstars. Though both records sold well and spawned hit singles including “Until It Sleeps,” “Hero of the Day,” “King Nothing,” “The Memory Remains” and “The Unforgiven II,” some longtime fans felt Metallica betrayed their thrash metal roots in favor of a more radio-friendly hard rock sound.
In the wake of Tuesday’s announcement of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s nominees for induction in 2022, some of the artists shared their feelings about the good news on their social media pages or in interviews.
Pat Benatar, who previously was nominated for the honor in 2020, said in a joint statement with her husband and longtime guitarist and songwriting partner Neil Giraldo, “Thrilled to be nominated again for the RRHOF. Congratulations to all the nominees!”
Eurythmics, who were previously in the running for the honor in 2018, also notched their second nod this year. Singer Annie Lennox reacted to her group’s nomination by posting a still from the music video for their hit “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” along with a tongue-in-cheek message that reads, “Quote from Eurythmics Chapter ll Circa 1982…’Brethren! One day we will ALL be nominated into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame in the sky and wooden cased computers like these will be reduced to pocket sized devices.'”
Carly Simon received her first Rock Hall nod this year. The singer-songwriter responded with a simple message that reads, “Hello! I can’t thank you enough for all of your support. I am thrilled to be nominated.”
Devo received their third nomination this year. The veteran New Wave band’s lead singer, Mark Mothersbaugh, was interviewed by Billboard and said about the Rock Hall, “Somebody there must like us, there’s somebody tenacious over there. We’ll see what happens. It’s a nice honor if it would happen — but I look at all the other people [nominated this year] and I would vote for them, too.”
The 2022 Rock Hall inductees will be announced in May. Fans can vote at RockHall.com for their favorite nominees through April 29.
In the wake of Tuesday’s announcement of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s nominees for induction in 2022, some of the artists shared their feelings about the good news on their social media pages or in interviews.
Pat Benatar, who previously was nominated for the honor in 2020, said in a joint statement with her husband and longtime guitarist and songwriting partner Neil Giraldo, “Thrilled to be nominated again for the RRHOF. Congratulations to all the nominees!”
Judas Priest, who received its third nomination this year, posted a video message from frontman Rob Halford expressing excitement about the latest nod.
“Hello, heavy metal maniacs,” Halford says in the clip. “As Judas Priest continues to celebrate our ongoing 50th Anniversary we’re absolutely thrilled and stoked and amped to be nominated for the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.”
He also encourages the band’s fans to vote for Priest via the online Rock Hall fan ballot to help “get some more heavy metal into the hallowed Halls of Fame!”
Devo also received their third nomination this year. The veteran New Wave band’s lead singer, Mark Mothersbaugh, was interviewed by Billboard and said about the Rock Hall, “Somebody there must like us, there’s somebody tenacious over there. We’ll see what happens. It’s a nice honor if it would happen — but I look at all the other people [nominated this year] and I would vote for them, too.”
As previously reported, the 2022 Rock Hall inductees will be announced in May, while the induction ceremony will take place this fall. Fans can vote at RockHall.com for their favorite nominees through April 29.
(BEIJING) — The fear of testing positive for COVID is a constant stress hanging over athletes at the 2022 Winter Olympics, a fear realized for U.S. women’s bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor.
Meyers Taylor tested positive on day two after entering the country, which has forced her to isolate from her family and teammates while she quarantines.
The 37-year-old, who tested negative Wednesday, must test negative twice to return to the Olympic village.
“I was pretty shocked,” Meyers Taylor told ABC News Thursday. “We did everything we could to try and avoid it and still caught up to us anyways.”
The new mother is now isolated from her son, Nico, and her husband. The family traveled to China together for the Games.
Meyers Taylor said she can’t just focus on training while in isolation. She also needs to take care of her son, who was born in 2020 with Down syndrome and is still nursing.
“We FaceTime as much as we can and, you know, just trying to do everything we can to stay connected,” Meyers Taylor said.
Now that she has to isolate herself from her baby, she said she’s doing everything to make sure he’s OK. Team USA was able to find her a breast pump, and she said the hotel staff has been great at helping make milk deliveries.
Meyers Taylor said she’s thankful her husband is on the trip and can care for Nico while she isolates.
Being an Olympian and a mom takes a team, she said.
After arriving in the country with no problems, Meyers Taylor, her husband and son all tested positive. She said all are asymptomatic but have to quarantine separately in a Chinese isolation facility.
As Meyers Taylor waits out quarantine, she’s missing crucial training days ahead of her big competition; the first-ever running of the woman’s monobob. The three-time Olympian said she’s pumped for the new event.
“It feels like you’re flying. Like, it is just amazing and just the feeling of gravity, the feeling of pressure, the feeling of the wind rushing past you …” Meyers Taylor said. “It really does feel like you’re a superhero and the speed suits don’t hurt.”
As she trains in isolation, Meyers Taylor got an exercise bike dropped off at her hotel room to stay in shape. She said since her husband, who is also her physical trainer, is staying in an identical hotel room, he’s been able to devise a hotel workout plan for her to follow.
Meyers Taylor, who was selected as a flag bearer for Team USA at this year’s Winter Olympics, will not attend Friday’s Olympics Opening Ceremony because of COVID. Speed skater Brittany Bowe is set to replace Meyers Taylor at the ceremony.
“She was one of the first people to reach out to me after she learned I had COVID … that’s why sport is so important; you make relationships that last forever,” Meyers Taylor said.
Out of the 441 U.S. Olympic delegates in China, eight are in isolation, according to the International Olympic Committee.
Inside the Olympics closed loop, which separates athletes, team officials and members of the press from the rest of the Chinese population, athletes live under a daily regimen of temperature checks and COVID tests administered by workers dressed in full-body personal protective equipment.
First-time Olympians Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc told ABC News they felt safe practicing on the rink and were trying to focus on what was “within their control” despite the lingering COVID worries.
The two figure skaters made their debut on the ice Wednesday for their first practice on Beijing’s main rink.
Three thousand people will perform in front of Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders Friday at the Opening Ceremony. There will be no official American delegation after the U.S. announced a diplomatic boycott of the games.
Jackie Chan carried the Olympic torch on top of the Great Wall of China on Thursday, as Beijing counted down the final day before the Games kick off.
(WASHINGTON) — A bipartisan group of senators is within striking distance of a deal on a bill that would impose crippling sanctions on Russia for its hostilities against Ukraine.
“We are finding the path forward very clearly,” said Sen. Jim Risch, top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, indicating that the White House and other key agencies were involved in the negotiations to agree on a deal ahead of any potential invasion by Russia, which has amassed more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s border.
Asked if a deal could be announced as early as Thursday, Risch said, “I’d have to say that’s possible,” though aides to three senators involved said it was unlikely.
Top Biden administration officials briefed members of Congress on Thursday about the escalating tensions in and around the former Soviet Republic. Lawmakers leaving the more than hourlong briefing in the Congressional Visitor Center said the gravity of the message from those top officials, including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and CIA Director Avril Haines, added urgency to their efforts.
“Collectively, what I heard made the case that this is more pressing, more timely, and that time in this regard, if we want to be preventative, is of the essence,” said Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J. Menendez, who is the chief architect of the sanctions bill along with Risch, added that he is “cautiously optimistic that we are going to get there.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is involved in the bipartisan Senate talks, agreed, saying, “The briefing, I think, will accelerate the bipartisan sanctions package.”
Despite the closeness of a deal, differences remained among negotiators on the appropriate triggers for sanctions and when and how to penalize those developing the controversial, but as-yet-inoperable Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a project that would bypass Ukraine, taking with it crucial revenue.
“I am hopeful in the next coming days we can introduce a sanctions package that imposes sanctions now for the (Russian) provocation with post-invasion sanctions that will destroy the Russian economy as we know it,” said Graham, who like many Republicans after the briefing, said he thought a Russian invasion of Ukraine was now a matter of “when” not “if.”
Some Democrats and the Biden administration want to hold back sanctions, arguing that they are more powerful as a deterrent against Russian aggression.
“Deterrence is the idea that if you do X, we will do Y. If you put penalties in place in advance, at least significant penalties, you obviously take away the stick of deterrence,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.
“I think it’s very important that (the) United States put a very strong sanctions package in place,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told CNN, adding that any sanctions need to be announced in advance “to have a deterrent effect.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said sanctions against Russia must be “much more forceful than they have been” but also insisted that any sanctions be imposed after an invasion.
“I think it’s really important for us to use the sanctions if the Russians strike,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters Thursday. “It is important because it’s where leverage is at maximum. If they do this, then we strike.”
Pelosi said that thinking is also in line with most U.S. allies.
“This is deadly serious,” Pelosi said. “So, they have to feel the pain, and it has to be felt right up to the richest man in the world: Vladimir Putin. Nobody knows what he’s going to do except for him.”
Indeed, lawmakers have said the legislation, a bill Menendez said puts in place “the mother of all sanctions,” would contain a strong recommendation that Russia be kicked out of the global financial consortium known as SWIFT, or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications. Based in Belgium, it connects more than 11,000 financial institutions and is used as a messaging platform for the transfer of funds around the world.
If that recommendation is included in the bill, the Biden administration would still have to take action to have Russia removed, an extreme action lawmakers have said is on the table.
The White House confirmed Thursday that it is in close consultation with senators but stopped short of endorsing any deal.
“We are in very close touch with members of Congress about this legislation, which I don’t think has been formally even proposed yet,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters en route to New York aboard Air Force One. “So we are in close contact and in conversations with them.”
Psaki, however, continued to express the administration’s support for post-invasion sanctions, saying that the “deterrent” approach of “the crippling economic sanctions package” and noting that the impact is already being felt in the Russian financial markets.
Still, a number of Democrats were moving closer to the GOP position that pre-invasion sanctions were a must even if the most serious sanctions are reserved in the event of an invasion.
“I think Putin and Putin’s Russia have already committed sufficient aggression against Ukraine justifying some sanctions,” said top Biden ally Chris Coons, D-Del. “I think we should hold back the most aggressive and most punishing sanctions for now as a deterrent because the whole goal here is to keep open some space for diplomacy and to deter aggression.”
Menendez and Risch have been briefing members of their panel this week. One member — Mitt Romney, R-Utah — told ABC News he met with Risch on Wednesday night and the smaller group negotiating the package is “making good progress.”
The legislation would include a measure authored by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Ben Cardin, D-Md., modeled on the World War II-era “lend-lease” program, which would use existing presidential authorities to allow the administration to provide lethal military equipment to Ukraine to protect the population from a Russian invasion.
Members hope to move any sanctions deal — which, according to two aides involved in the matter, is still in the legislative drafting stage — to the Senate floor quickly, and Sen Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who recently returned from Ukraine and is part of the talks, told ABC News he had spoken earlier in the week with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who committed to bringing any bipartisan deal to the floor for a vote quickly.
And after Thursday’s high-level briefing, it is clear that members are ready to act swiftly.
Coons said he’s “very” concerned about the situation on the ground in and around Ukraine, adding, “It’s really hard to listen to all of that and not conclude that we need to do more.”
ABC News’ Mariam Khan and Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Starbucks will continue to raise prices in 2022 due to a combination of labor costs and supply chain disruptions.
The Seattle-based coffee giant announced Tuesday that between a rising cost of goods, employee pay amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and inflation, all paired with customer demand, the company has reevaluated its pricing strategy.
Starbucks executives said that more price increases are coming after it first raised them in October 2021 and again in January 2022.
“We have already taken pricing actions this fiscal year, one in October of 2021, and another in January of 2022, and we have additional pricing actions planned through the balance of this year, which play an important role to mitigate cost pressures, including inflation, as we position our business for the future,” CEO Kevin Johnson said on the company’s first quarter earnings call earlier this week.
“There are many factors that contribute to our thoughtful pricing strategy, including: The increasing US inflation rate currently running at 7% or perhaps greater, as well as wage, customer demand and other costs,” he explained.
Starbucks reported a 31% profit increase during the last three months of 2021 with a total of $816 million on the quarterly earnings report. The coffee chain’s revenue which has grown to $8.1 billion boasted an overall 19% increase compared to the same quarter the year prior.
“The rapid spread of Omicron through the US required us to quickly adapt store protocols,” Johnson continued. “Our COVID vaccination pay has supported thousands of partners in the broader efforts in helping get more people vaccinated. And with the highly transmissible Omicron variant, we had more partners leverage our COVID isolation benefits as they were either home sick or home isolating after being exposed to the virus, which led to significantly higher COVID-related benefits pay than expected.”
Hours after the earnings announcement, the New York Times reported that Starbucks shares “fell as much as 5% in after-hours trading.”
Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson is reportedly attached to a Spider-Man universe movie called Madame Web for Sony Pictures.
Deadline reports the actress will play the title character, first introduced in the pages of Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man #210 in 1980.
However, despite the character’s name, she’s not a female Spider-Man — instead, Cassandra Webb was actually a mutant with psychic and other abilities, whose incredibly powerful mind was trapped in a body confined to a hospital bed, thanks to the degenerative neuromuscular condition myasthenia gravis.
Blind and enfeebled, Cassandra Webb’s physical form is kept alive thanks to a life support system that featured enough tubes to resemble a spider’s web — so it’s likely that the character will be reworked to better fit the 32-year-old actress.
Then again, comics being comics, one issue explored Webb being magically cured of her disease and reborn younger; another run saw the Madame Webb powers and mantle being passed to a younger heroine altogether, Julia Carpenter.
S.J. Johnson, the executive producer and lead director of Netflix’s acclaimed Marvel series Jessica Jones, is calling the shots on the film.
Incidentally, Deadline didn’t mention Disney-owned Marvel Studios in its story, which could mean Sony Pictures is undertaking the project without being attached to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as its hit Venom movies were…until only recently.
Sony’s last Spidey film, Spider-Man: No Way Home — which was a co-production with Marvel Studios — has made $1.7 billion worldwide.
Samuel L. Jackson will receive the Chairman’s Award during the 53rd NAACP Image Awards.
The honor recognizes individuals who demonstrate exemplary public service and use their distinct platforms to create agents of change. Past honorees include the late U.S. Congressman John Lewis, Danny Glover, Tyler Perry, and Barack Obama.
As previously reported, Jennifer Hudson, Lil Nas X, Megan Thee Stallion, Regina King and Tiffany Haddish are the nominees for Entertainer of the Year. The 53rd NAACP Image Awards, hosted by seven-time NAACP Image Awards winner Anthony Anderson, airs Saturday, February 26 at 8:00 PM ET/PT on BET.
In other news, Spike Leeannounced that he will direct and produce an ESPN docuseries about former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Colin played six seasons for the San Francisco 49ers, and in 2013, led the team to the Super Bowl, where they lost 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens. During the 2016 season, he ignited a national controversy when he knelt during the National Anthem to protest racial injustice. The series will explore his life, including his eventual release after that season and blackballing from the league.
Finally, Issa Rae is inviting fans to stay at her Airbnb during Super Bowl weekend, February 12-14, in Los Angeles. For only $56 a night, guests can visit the landmarks popularized by her series, Insecure.
“Since my series debuted in 2016, it’s been an honor to showcase the people, culture and businesses that make South LA such a vibrant part of the city,” Issa explained in a statement. “I became an Airbnb host to create a stay where fans of the show can experience this for themselves. From dinner by Worldwide Tacos on game day, to art from my favorite local artists on the walls – this is LA, my way.”
David E. Kelley — Rachel Murray/Getty Images for AT&T AUDIENCE Network
Presumed Innocent, the Scott Turow legal thriller that became the hit 1990 film starring Harrison Ford, the late Raul Julia, and Bonnie Bedelia, is becoming a series for Apple TV+.
The new limited series will be produced by The Practice and Boston Legal‘s David E. Kelley, along with J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot production house.
The series, like the book, will center on a Chicago prosecutor who is accused of the murder of a colleague, with whom he’s having a torrid affair. Greta Scacchi played the “other woman” and victim, and Die Hard‘s Bedelia played the wife of Ford’s character, who struggles to clear his name against all odds.
According to producers Warner Bros. Television and Apple TV+, the series will be, “exploring obsession, sex, politics, and the power and limits of love, as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”
Since the original film hinged on a major twist that most know by now — the prosecutor’s seemingly meek wife did it — it’s not known how the series will deviate from Turow’s bestseller.
