(NEW YORK) — Rob Gronkowski says it’s “unfortunate” the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t make this year’s Super Bowl, losing 30-27 to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional playoff, but he tells ABC Audio he’s not dwelling on it.
“It was a good season. There’s no doubt about it. It’s unfortunate it didn’t end the way that we wanted it to end, obviously,” the tight end stressed, noting the team’s 13 wins “was the most wins in the franchise history in a single season, which is pretty incredible.”
Gronk also had an incredible season because he’s close to breaking 100 receiving touchdowns in regular season play. He currently has 92. When asked about that upcoming milestone, he cryptically replied, “That’s another season away — I would have to play another year, no doubt about that, to get over 100.” Gronk cheekily noted that he technically did hit that mark “if you include playoffs.”
Ninety of those receiving passes were thrown by Tom Brady, but Gronk says “it took a while” to build the chemistry fans see on the field.
Gronk detailed the hard work he put in during his rookie year with the Patriots to become the player Brady needed him to be. “We would throw 10 more routes after practice to get that connection, build it up every single week, and it was kind of struggling at first. I didn’t really know the plays, didn’t know my routes that well, didn’t know how Tom wanted me to run them… Then, finally, it just clicked.”
The duo have played in six Super Bowls together, winning four, the last being on their home turf in 2021. Will the two try again for a fifth Super Bowl win? On Monday, Gronk flirted with the thought of “year 12” on Twitter, but only time will tell….
As for who Gronk thinks will play in this year’s Super Bowl, he says, “It will be the 49ers versus the Kansas City Chiefs,” noting the latter team’s “offense is red hot.”
(ATLANTA) — Some residents in Atlanta’s wealthiest neighborhood say they want to leave the city and start a new one, saying they are concerned with crime. But the idea comes with an increasing number of economic and social concerns as it gains steam.
Buckhead is located on the north end of town and accounts for about 20% of Atlanta’s half a million residents. The neighborhood is known for having the city’s most expensive hotels, restaurants and shopping malls. It is also home to CEOs, movie stars and their mansions.
Concerns that crime is going unchecked has inspired a group of neighbors to form the Buckhead City Committee. They want the community to vote this November on removing themselves from the city of Atlanta, and starting their own city, with their own police force.
Bill White is leading the charge. He’s the chief executive officer of the Buckhead City Committee and has helped raise over $2 million in donations from as far away as Bangladesh and Australia. He’s a wealthy political fundraiser who only moved to the neighborhood about three years ago, and says one day thieves showed up to his home.
“We had somebody come up our driveway — a pair of criminals who had just harassed a 10-year-old girl,” he said.
White’s critics say his intentions are political, that this is part of a far-right conservative effort to weaken cities run by Democrats. He denies this is the reason.
White said the Atlanta Police Department doesn’t have the resources or the community support to effectively protect residents in his neighborhood. By creating their own city, White said Buckhead’s taxes will be better spent on public safety.
He said a rash of high-profile crimes in Buckhead has sounded alarms. In December, a man was shot at a high-end movie theater in Buckhead. In November, and again in June, people jogging on Buckhead sidewalks were shot in random attacks. At Buckhead’s Lenox Mall, there were several shootings at the property in 2021, and at least two of those people were killed.
“People say enough is enough, and I think this has been brewing for some time,” White said.
“If you look at the policies of the city of Atlanta, this is a criminal’s paradise. There is no adjudication of justice here,” White said. “If you let the criminals know that they can carjack you and they won’t be chased, they can shoplift you and they won’t be prosecuted, people feel like they’re living in a war zone.”
Police say it’s true that they’re not sending police officers to most shoplifting calls, saying that by the time those officers arrive, the thieves are gone, and that their time could be better used. But Atlanta police said their current policies do allow for high-speed chases. Some of their policies changed after lawsuits were filed by innocent drivers who were hurt in car wrecks caused by these chases. Even so, Atlanta police will still chase a driver wanted for murder, for example.
If the effort is successful, White said that a new Buckhead City would form its own police department with more than 250 officers, compared to 80 officers currently assigned to the area.
For many Buckhead residents, Atlanta is not doing enough to ensure their safety. Eliana Kovitch, a health care worker and Buckhead resident, said she is in favor of separation if it means more police on the streets.
“I’ve lived in Buckhead [for a] long time, and for the past year and a half, I’ve been terrified everywhere I go,” she said.
Kovitch said she started feeling unsafe after an incident in June 2020, when she was attacked by a man with a knife while waiting for a Lyft ride with her boyfriend. The suspect, according to the police, was a repeat offender who was arrested days earlier in a different county.
“I don’t side with … the politics of any of it. I wanna be a voice … for victims,” Kovitch said. “Yes, there are more severe crimes, if you wanna put it that way. But everyone has their own experience and … is affected in their own way.”
Across Atlanta’s Police Zone 2, which covers Buckhead, West Midtown, Lenox Park and Piedmont Heights, murders were up 63%, from eight cases to 13 between 2020 and 2021.
While murder rates were up, the city reports that overall crime in this same area (including robberies, burglaries and car break-ins) actually decreased by 6% last year, compared to 2020, according to the Atlanta Police Department.
Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said that even Buckhead’s total number of violent crimes are still a fraction of the violent crimes seen in other neighborhoods. Most other Atlanta neighborhoods had at least 30 murders in 2021, compared to 13 for Buckhead, the fewest in the city.
Bryant said he still doesn’t want to minimize the crime residents are seeing.
“One of the hard things that I have to do is address the perception and what people feel as it relates to crime,” said Bryant. “We recognize that we have to do a better job of that as well. And so that’s something that we will be working with at the mayor’s office — what is it that we can do to really show people the truth? And make them feel what we are seeing in the numbers.”
On the southwest end of the city, Glenda Mack lives in Atlanta’s Zone 4, where 32 people were murdered last year. Her 12-year-old grandson was one of them.
She doesn’t agree with all the focus on Buckhead.
“To me, it’s just a bunch of entitled people that think they can do that because they’re entitled,” she said.
“I don’t understand. They want to leave the city of Atlanta and be their own. Well, you know. I realize the city of Atlanta depends on y’all money. They depend on that too. I pay taxes, too,” Mack said.
David Mack was killed near her home, not far from a police precinct. His family found his body the next morning, and the autopsy later revealed he was shot nine times. Police still haven’t made an arrest in the case.
When it comes to crime, Mack believes the focus should be citywide.
“You can’t just focus on one place, and that’s what I want everyone to know,” she said.
If Buckhead leaves Atlanta, it would underline a racial divide.
The vast majority of Buckhead’s residents — 77.5% of its total population — are white, while 11% are Black and 6% are Asian. Regardless of race, 7% of the neighborhood’s population is Hispanic.
In contrast, Atlanta is nearly 50% African American.
If Buckhead leaves, the neighborhood will also take with it a great deal of tax dollars.
While residents in the neighborhood make up about 20% of the city’s population, their tax bills (through property and commercial taxes) cover about 40% of the city’s expenses.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said it would leave a significant hole in the city’s tax base if Buckhead goes it alone.
“This divorce of Buckhead from Atlanta would be an unnecessarily expensive one for both spouses in this divorce,” Dickens said. “We have a lot of parks and things that … it’s going to cost them. It’s going to be alimony if this happens.”
Dickens took office this month, and has been working with business leaders and other local influencers to keep his city together.
This month, he opened a new police precinct in the heart of Buckhead. He’s also working to establish a better relationship between Atlanta City Hall and the Georgia Statehouse, where the decision to allow residents to vote will be made.
“In Atlanta, across Georgia and across the nation, if the wealthier parts of a community decide they want to form another city, they will continue to make lines and draw division between those that are affluent and those who aren’t,” Dickens said. “What does that say about our society?”
The issue now awaits the vote of two bills, one introduced by state Rep. Todd Jones in the Georgia House of Representatives as well as another sponsored by state Sen. Brandon Beach in the Georgia Senate. Both bills will be voted on during the 2022 legislative session in April.
Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan also believes Buckhead’s move to leave the city would hurt the region.
“I think businesses would look negatively upon the separation of those two areas and I think actually it will make the crime issue worse,” he said.
His opinion matters more than many, because as lieutenant governor, he’s able to slow down or speed up legislation in the state Senate. Duncan has assigned the legislation to a committee of Democrats, which is likely to sit on the bill.
And in the Georgia House, Republican House Speaker David Ralston has signaled that he’s not sure Buckhead leaving is in the best interests of the state.
If lawmakers do say yes to a vote, only residents who live in the boundaries of the new city would get to decide. The vote would take place in November.
Atlanta’s mayor said he’s working overtime to convince Buckhead residents to work with him on the issues.
“When individuals choose to divide and choose separation as that answer, they’re not going to get the result that they were seeking. They’re not going to have a better community. They are not going to have a safer community,” Dickens said.
“When we come out of this pandemic, and as we’re in it, we have to lock arms and work together to solve these issues,” he added. “Separation has rarely been the answer for community-based issues. We do things together in Atlanta and across America, and the benefits would be seen broadly.”
The Irish rockers’ “Songs That Saved Our lives” playlist appropriately kicks off with “Your Song Saved My Life,” followed by 10 tunes each picked by frontman Bono, guitarist The Edge, drummer Larry Mullin Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton.
Among Bono’s choices are Joy Division‘s “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” Bob Dylan‘s “Most of the Time,” Johnny Cash‘s cover of Nine Inch Nails‘ “Hurt,” the JAY-Z and Alicia Keys duet “Empire State of Mind,” The Verve‘s “Bittersweet Symphony” and David Bowie‘s “Life on Mars?” The singer also included Kendrick Lamar‘s “XXX,” featuring a guest appearance by U2.
The Edge also chose “Life on Mars?,” as well as a classic tune by his own band, “One.” The guitarist’s other picks included The Beatles‘ “Strawberry Fields Forever,” Stevie Wonder‘s “Superstition,” Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue,” Lou Reed‘s “Walk on the Wild Side” and The Clash‘s “London Calling.”
Standout choices by Mullin include Sweet‘s “Ballroom Blitz,” Diana Ross‘ “Upside Down,” Led Zeppelin‘s “Black Dog,” Van Morrison‘s “Moondance,” Bruce Springsteen‘s “Nebraska” and, believe it or not, Britney Spears‘ “…Baby One More Time.”
The list winds down with Clayton’s picks, which include Marvin Gaye‘s “What’s Goin’ On,” Sam Cooke‘s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” The Righteous Brothers‘ “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling,” Simon & Garfunkel‘s “The Sound of Silence,” James Brown‘s “Super Bad – Parts 1 & 2,” The Clash’s “The Magnificent Seven and two Bob Marley & the Wailers songs.
Bono’s list:
Kris Kristofferson, “Help Me Make It Through the Night”
Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
Sinead O’Connor, “You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart”
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “Into My Arms”
Kendrick Lamar featuring U2, “XXX”
Bob Dylan, “Most of the Time”
Johnny Cash, “Hurt”
JAY-Z and Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind”
The Verve, “Bittersweet Symphony”
David Bowie, “Life on Mars?”
The Edge’s list:
The Beatles, “Strawberry Fields Forever”
David Bowie, “Life on Mars?”
U2, “One”
Stevie Wonder, “Superstition”
Bob Dylan, “Tangled Up in Blue”
Aretha Franklin, “Say a Little Prayer”
Lou Reed, “Walk on the Wild Side”
Elvis Costello & the Attractions, “Shipbuilding”
New Radicals, “You Get What You Give”
The Clash, “London Calling”
Larry Mullin Jr.’s list:
Sweet, “Ballroom Blitz”
Sandy Nelson, “Let There Be Dreams”
Diana Ross, “Upside Down”
Led Zeppelin, “Black Dog”
Van Morrison, “Moondance”
Magazine, “The Light Pours In”
Black Uhuru, “Sponji Reggae”
Bruce Springsteen, “Nebraska”
Stiff Little Fingers, “Suspect Device”
Britney Spears, “…Baby One More Time”
Adam Clayton’s list:
Marvin Gaye, “What’s Goin’ On”
Bob Marley & the Wailers, “Exodus”
Sam Cooke, “A Change Is Gonna Come”
The Righteous Brothers, “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”
Simon & Garfunkel, “The Sound of Silence”
James Brown, “Super Bad – Parts 1 & 2”
Sly & the Family Stone, “I Want to Take You Higher”
The Stranglers, “Nice ‘n’ Sleazy”
The Clash, “The Magnificent Seven”
Bob Marley & the Wailers, “Waiting in Vain”
The first half of the final season of Ozark debuted last Friday, sending fans on a wild ride.
One of the new characters we meet is Javi, or Javier Elizonndro, the nephew of drug kingpin Omar Navarro. He’s played by actor Alfonso Herrera, who tells ABC Audio that the reception for his character has been amazing.
“They are really, really in shock of what this character is capable to do, right?” he says. “And, also not just what he’s capable to do, but how he enjoys things in a very different way. You know, the way he enjoys life, the way he eats, drinks. He’s unpredictable.”
Fans aren’t the only ones enjoying Herrera’s addition. His friends and family were thrilled to learn he’d joined the critically acclaimed series, but now they keep bugging him for spoilers.
“I live in Mexico City, so many people here, they are huge fans of the show,” Herrera shares. Unfortunately for his close circle, he can’t spill any beans. “I already signed an NDA. If I tell you something, either the platform kills me or I’ll do what Javi knows best.”
Although the release date for the second half of Ozark‘s final season has yet to be announced, Herrera teases that the final seven episodes, which they’ve already filmed, are going to be very satisfying for fans.
“Believe me, if you think season four, part one was mind blowing, wait for season four part two,” he says. “It’s times twenty.”
Alicia Keys celebrated her 41st birthday Tuesday by announcing a new health and wellness partnership with the Athleta company.
“I was drawn to Athleta because we both want to encourage women to discover, accept and OWN their power,” the “Empire State of Mind” singer said in a statement.
“We’re all about the uniqueness of women, body positivity and creating a lifestyle that showcases our immeasurable power within,” she added. “It’s time to thrive – not just to survive – and my hope is that these offerings are another outlet for you to amplify your personal power, your possibility, and feel comfortable in your own skin.”
The 15-time Grammy winner will co-create different product offerings for the brand and will also join Athleta’s Power of She Fund grant program as a mentor and advisor. The program supports businesses and organizations that are committed to making well-being accessible, specifically for women of color.
In celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, the Athleta x Alicia Keys fashion collection will be released, as part of the company’s platform, “Power of She.”
In addition to announcing her Athleta partnership, Keys posted an Instagram photo on Tuesday with a cake reading, “Happy Birthday Alicia!” In another shot, she is proudly strutting down a hallway carrying several balloons.
As she prepares to launch her Future Nostalgia tour, Dua Lipa reveals that the follow-up to that 2020 blockbuster album is well underway — and though she’s “experimenting,” she’s staying firmly in the “pop music” universe.
“I’ve done a big chunk of writing: It’s starting to take shape; I’ve got a lot of it recorded,” Dua says in the new issue of WSJ. Magazine. “It has a vision. It has a name, I think — for now.”
“It’s just been fun experimenting,” she adds. “I’m always going to make pop music, but it has its own unique sound, which is exciting and something that feels like a movement from Future Nostalgia. It’s still in baby form, so we’ll see as it progresses.”
But since Dua says juggling multiple projects is “ingrained” in her, she worked on the new music while also launching her new newsletter and podcast Service95and filming her debut feature film role in Matthew Vaughn‘s upcoming spy thriller Argylle. Vaughn tells the magazine that it was seeing Dua on an episode of The Graham Norton Show that convinced him to cast her.
“When I saw that interview, I thought, this girl’s got it,” Vaughn explains, and reveals that Dua’s character in the film plays a “pivotal role at a pivotal moment.” He also praises her as being “very attentive, inquisitive and focused.”
However, one thing Dua didn’t discuss in the cover story is her alleged breakup with her boyfriend Anwar Hadid.
“Something that I’ve realized over time is how little people actually know,” she says. “I’ve made peace with the fact that people can think what they want to think, but no one really, truly knows what’s happening behind closed doors.”
Few festival lineups have turned heads like Las Vegas’ When We Were Young has with headliners My Chemical Romance and Paramore, plus pretty much every other band you might’ve heard in a Hot Topic in 2006. But in between the exclamations of joy from scene kids of all ages were some nagging doubts that the bill was too good to be true.
That was the first thought of Incubus frontman Brandon Boyd, who tells ALT CTRL Radio on Apple Music 1 that he didn’t believe the When We Were Young lineup poster was “real” when he came across it.
“I thought it was one of those like meme things that pop on my Instagram,” Boyd shares. “It’s like, ‘This is my dream show from the early aughts.'”
“That’s kind of where my head went first, but if it’s real, I think it’s awesome,” he adds. “I think if that’s what people want to do, then that’s perfectly fine.”
Incubus is not on the lineup for When We Were Young, though as the frontman for a band that had their biggest hits in the early 2000s, Boyd is no stranger to aughts nostalgia. It’s a concept that Boyd says he “struggle[s] with a little bit,” but thinks is ultimately “unavoidable.”
“We have people that have been listening to the music that we’re making…a lot of them since they were teenagers, and now they’re parents,” Boyd says. “So they hear these songs, and it’s nostalgic for them.”
“I can’t completely poo poo it, or turn away from it, or avoid it, because that would be foolish,” he adds. “So I do a little dance with nostalgia.”
When We Were Young takes place October 22, 23 and 29.
Boyd, meanwhile, will release a new solo album, Echoes & Cocoons, on March 11.
Jordan Davis and Walker Hayes have a special connection thanks to Walker’s hit, “Fancy Like”: songwriter Josh Jenkins.
“One of the co-writers on ‘Fancy Like,’ Josh Jenkins, helped me write ‘Buy Dirt’ too, so I’m just over the moon for him,” Jordan praises.
For Jordan, writing “Buy Dirt,” his hit collaboration with Luke Bryan that is #1 at country radio this week, was a family affair, as he got to write the meaningful song with his own brother, Jacob Davis, alongside the brother duo of songwriters Josh and Matt Jenkins.
“The brother duo, we had a special day that day. Those are three of the best songwriters, in my opinion, in Nashville, and so we don’t get that song if I don’t have those guys with me. I can’t write a song like that by myself. I kind of just got out of their way on that one,” Jordan describes of the writing session.
While Josh is one of the masterminds behind “Fancy Like,” it was his brother Matt who pitched the idea for “Buy Dirt,” Jordan knowing instantly that this story needed to be told.
“Matt Jenkins came in and was like, ‘what if it’s something, ‘Buy Dirt,’ like what you do with the piece of dirt that you have? What you do with your house, what you do with the way you raise your kids, what you do with the way you spend your time?'” Jordan recalls. “And when he said that, we all were just like, ‘that’s what we’re writing today.'”
“Buy Dirt” marks Jordan’s fourth #1 single following “Slow Dance in a Parking Lot,” “Take It From Me” and “Singles You Up.”
In GAYLE‘s breakthrough hit “abcdefu,” she gives her boyfriend, all his friends and his entire family a big “F-You” and tells them they can all “F off”…but makes sure to make an exception for his dog. GAYLE says that was deliberate, because even though she’s so done with the guy, she really does miss his pooch.
“I love dogs in general, but I did love his dog. Like, his dog was the sweetest thing ever!” she tells ABC Audio. “But overall, in general, I’m a big fan of dogs!”
Continuing to gush about the pupper, GAYLE says, “I think she was a [Shiba Inu]. It was like the cutest little thing. It was so cute. I miss it soooo much.”
And what makes it worse, she says, is that because her ex and his family no longer live in the same state as she does — Tennessee — she’ll likely never see the dog again.
“That was just the weirdest thing about the breakup,” the 17-year-old singer laments. “It was long distance at the end. And so, because of that, like, once you break up with somebody who lives in a different state, like, the odds of you running into them are so low.”
“And I was just like, ‘I’m never going to see you [by] accident…I’m never gonna see your dog [by] accident’…It made me sad!” she explains.
GAYLE does have a dog of her own at home, though: When she was on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, she explained that when she tried to drag the dog out from under her mom’s bed, she tripped and broke her finger — and she turned the X-ray of her finger into the artwork for “abcdefu.”
The first half of the final season of Ozark debuted last Friday, sending fans on a wild ride.
One of the new characters we meet is Javi, or Javier Elizonndro, the nephew of drug kingpin Omar Navarro. He’s played by actor Alfonso Herrera, who tells ABC Audio that the reception for his character has been amazing.
“They are really, really in shock of what this character is capable to do, right?” he says. “And, also not just what he’s capable to do, but how he enjoys things in a very different way. You know, the way he enjoys life, the way he eats, drinks. He’s unpredictable.”
Fans aren’t the only ones enjoying Herrera’s addition. His friends and family were thrilled to learn he’d joined the critically acclaimed series, but now they keep bugging him for spoilers.
“I live in Mexico City, so many people here, they are huge fans of the show,” Herrera shares. Unfortunately for his close circle, he can’t spill any beans. “I already signed an NDA. If I tell you something, either the platform kills me or I’ll do what Javi knows best.”
Although the release date for second half of Ozark‘s final season has yet to be announced, Herrera teases that the final seven episodes, which they’ve already filmed, are going to be very satisfying for fans.
“Believe me, if you think season four, part one was mind blowing, wait for season four part two,” he says. “It’s times twenty.”
