The Topps trading card company has just announced plans for a new collection of cards focusing on the life and career of the “King of Rock and Roll,” the late Elvis Presley.
The first three cards in the collection were released on Tuesday, January 11, and three new cards will be issued every week on Tuesday throughout 2022 until the entire 150-card series is available.
Each card will share details about a historic moment, highlight, or achievement in Presley’s life.
The first three cards will be available for purchase until January 18 — individually for $9.99 or in a three-card bundle priced at $24.99. The cards include a photo of Elvis as a toddler with his parents, a pic of Presley as a child and a school photo taken when he was 13.
Visit Topps.com for more details about the “Elvis Presley: The King of Rock and Roll” card collection.
Ludacris is continuing his quest to become a master chef, as second two of Luda Can’t Cook will debut February 15 on Discovery+.
“I put 100% into everything I do, including learning how to cook, and exploring different cuisines from across the globe with world-renowned chefs has been incredible,” the Fast & Furious star says in a statement. “I’m excited for viewers to experience Haitian, Korean and Cuban food with me — and see how I put my own style into each dish.”
In each of the one-hour episodes, the rapper/actor immerses himself in a specific type of cuisine guided by an expert.
In the first episode, the 44-year-old entertainer visits Little Haiti in Miami to learn the fundamentals of Haitian cuisine from Haitian-born chef Alain Lemaire. Then he throws a block party featuring a three-course tasting menu for guests, including Chef Gregory Gourdet.
In the next episode, Ludacris teams up with Chef Seung Hee Lee in Atlanta to learn about Korean food, and then prepares a three-course meal for Chef Edward Lee and comedian Lil Duval.
Finally, the three-time Grammy winner travels to the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami to master Cuban cuisine with Chef Michael Beltran. Timbaland drops by to taste his food, and best-selling author and restaurateur Chef Lorena Garcia critiques Luda’s three course menu.
Judas Priest is preparing to relaunch their 50 Heavy Metal Years tour in March, and the legendary British rockers have now revealed that they’re planning to perform as a quartet rather than a five-piece outfit moving forward.
In a new Facebook message, the band says, “We are chomping at the British Steel bit to return to World touring…celebrating 50 Years of Judas Priest as an even more powerful, relentless four piece Heavy Metal band.”
In 2018, longtime Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton announced that he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and would no longer be able to tour regularly with the group. The band’s recent co-producer Andy Sneap was then tapped to take Tipton’s place on the road, although Glenn has frequently made guest appearances at select concerts.
Now, Sneap is stepping away from the Judas Priest touring lineup, although the band notes that Tipton will be “coming out on stage with us here and there as before.”
In the Facebook post, Priest thanks Sneap “for all you’ve done and continuing to be in the production team for our new album.”
As previously reported, Judas Priest was forced to postpone most of its 2021 North American tour dates after guitarist Richie Faulkner suffered an aortic aneurysm onstage during the band’s set at the Louder than Life festival in Kentucky in September.
Thankfully, Faulkner announced in November that his recovery was going well, and he’s expected to be back out with the band when the tour kicks off March 4 in Peoria, Illinois.
You can check out the band’s full itinerary at JudasPriest.com.
Twenty One Pilots would’ve probably liked an extra 21 degrees during their first concert of 2022.
The “Stressed Out” duo took the stage in Indianapolis for the outdoor show this past weekend, where temperatures dropped to below-freezing levels. In a newly released recap video of the show, we see Tyler Joseph prepare for the cold by trying on one of his signature ski masks.
Drummer Josh Dun, however, was undeterred by the cold, and still took off his shirt for the performance.
“The first show of 2022 was outside in the 20 [degree] chill of Indianapolis,” reads the recap video’s caption. “Wasn’t cold enough to keep Josh’s shirt on his back, though.”
Ironically, the Indianapolis show was not part of Twenty One Pilots’ upcoming Icy tour, named after their 2021 album, Scaled and Icy. The Icy tour is set to kick off August 18 in Minneapolis, when it will — hopefully — be much warmer.
the first show of 2022 was outside in the 20° chill of indianapolis. wasn’t cold enough to keep josh’s shirt on his back, though. pic.twitter.com/NajOxol0wG
Rob Thomas has said that when he and Matchbox Twenty launch their twice-delayed tour this May, they’ll have some new music to perform. But now Rob says fans shouldn’t expect anything a new album from the band, which hasn’t released a full-length project since 2012.
“Right before the holidays, the guys were in New York at the studio,” he tells Smashing Interviews magazine. “None of us really had the time or emotional bandwidth to put together an entire album in the way we’d want to put together whole record.”
So instead, Rob says, they’ll just do something on a smaller scale.
“So we’re just going to put out probably just a four-song EP [to have] some new music for fans and stuff to play live,” he explains. “It’s just not about going out to support a whole record right now…like going out and doing all the TV shows and all that stuff. It seems like a lot more fun to have a song out and let the tour be the promotion for it.”
Matchbox Twenty’s North American tour with The Wallflowers gets under way May 17 in Vancouver and is set to wrap up in mid-August.
Meanwhile, Rob says he’s got an entire solo album ready to go — which he’s back-burnered this year in favor of doing Matchbox stuff — while “Move,” his 2021 reunion single with his “Smooth” buddy Carlos Santana, is still on the radio. Rob reveals that after Carlos unexpectedly had heart surgery in November, he sent the legendary guitarist a special “get-well” present.
“I sent him this box set. It was like the 100 greatest DVDs in Warner Bros. history,” he laughs. “It was all these movies from the 1930s until today…So I sent him that to help him recuperate.”
The video for “When I’m Gone,” Katy Perry‘s new collaboration with Swedish DJ/producer Alesso, debuted Monday night on ESPN during the College Football Playoff National Championship. The clip features Katy performing complicated choreography while rocking a number of super-sexy looks, and Alesso says deserves serious props for pulling it off.
“Dance music is what I do, so I love to see dancing in music videos, and she nailed it, she worked so hard for it,” Alesso tells ABC Audio. “I had my little part in it and I got to do a small cameo, which was fun. But she’s definitely the star in the video. And to come back after having a baby and doing that performance, it’s huge, so, [I’m] very thankful and a lot of respect to her.”
Alesso adds that premiering the video the way they did made a huge impression.
“The reaction has been incredible. Obviously, it’s a huge deal,” he says, adding, “The impactthese games have, and how many people are watching, it’s crazy! And so it was a huge honor and it was just so much fun to to be a part of it in a little way?”
Katy and Alesso first started working on “When I’m Gone” more than a year ago, when Katy realized it’d be a great song to put in her newly launched Las Vegas residency PLAY.
“We had such a vibe when we recorded the song, and it was a fun process, we both…were really excited,” recalls Alesso. “It’s been a minute [since] you heard a record like this with a big chorus and the big club beat.”
“So yeah, so far the support’s been amazing,” says Alesso, who plans to check out Katy’s residency “for sure” the next time they’re both in Vegas.
(LONDON) — Magawa, a rat credited with finding over 100 landmines and explosives in Cambodia, is dead at age 8.
The African giant pouched male rat was the most successful landmine detecting rat for the nonprofit APOPO — a Tanzania-based group that trains the species to detect landmines and tuberculosis — dubbing them “HeroRATs.”
Magawa won a People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals Gold Medal — the highest honor given to heroic animals by the U.K.-based veterinary charity — for his work in Cambodia in 2020. According to APOPO, Magawa “passed away peacefully this weekend,” having recently celebrated his birthday.
Magawa retired last year after spending four years discovering explosives with his incredible sense of smell.
African giant pouched rats are larger than the average pet rat, but are not heavy enough to set off most landmines by walking over them.
With 60 million people in 59 countries affected by uncleared landmines, training animals like Magawa can improve efficiency and cut costs in a decades-long battle to clear landmines from past conflict zones, APOPO says.
“All of us at APOPO are feeling the loss of Magawa and we are grateful for the incredible work he’s done,” the nonprofit said on its website. “During his career, Magawa found over 100 landmines and other explosives, making him APOPO’s most successful HeroRAT to date. His contribution allows communities in Cambodia to live, work, and play; without fear of losing life or limb.”
10 Years has announced a U.S. headlining tour set for this spring.
The outing will launch on March 14 in Pittsburgh, and will wrap up April 28 in Harrison, Ohio. Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 14, at 10 a.m. local time.
During the tour, 10 Years will also play their special Fan Summit concert, taking place April 8 in Las Vegas. That show will feature a performance of the “Wasteland” band’s 2010 album Feeding the Wolves in its entirety.
For the full list of 10 Years tour dates and all ticket info, visit 10YearsMusic.com.
In addition to the tour news, 10 Years has premiered the video for “Deja Vu,” a song off the group’s latest album, Violent Allies. You can watch the clip streaming now on YouTube.
Violent Allies, 10 Years’ ninth studio album, was released in 2020. It includes the singles “The Shift” and “The Unknown.”
The Rolling Stones, in conjunction with Universal Music Group’s merch company Bravado, have officially sanctioned a new line of high-quality headphones produced in partnership by the high-fidelity audio-device company V-MODA and musical-instrument manufacturers Roland.
The Crossfade 2 Wireless: Rolling Stones Edition over-ear headphones are available in three versions, each featuring a different variation of the band’s famous tongue-and-lips logo on the ear pieces — “Classic Licks,” “No Filter” and “Tattoo You.”
The headphones offer multi-device paring ability, and can be used with both analog and digital devices, including smartphones, computers, turntables, CD players and more. Features of the headphones include large memory foam ear cushions, a sturdy but flexible headband, and the ability to be folded into a small case.
A fourth design will be available in early 2022 exclusively at The Rolling Stones’ RS No.9 Carnaby store in London, and will feature the shop’s updated variant of the band’s logo.
The headphones are being sold for a list price of $279. For more info, visit V-MODA.com.
“We are thrilled for the Rolling Stones to partner with V-MODA and Roland in this category as their world-renowned premium product aligns with the world’s most recognized rock and roll band,” says Bravado executive Frank Bartolotta.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack issued three new subpoenas on Tuesday to former Trump White House aides and associates, including a speechwriter who helped craft former President Donald Trump’s speech to supporters ahead of the Capitol riot.
The panel has subpoenaed GOP operatives Arthur Schwartz and Andrew Surabian, along with Trump White House speechwriter Ross Worthington.
“The Select Committee is seeking information from individuals who were involved with the rally at the Ellipse. Protests on that day escalated into an attack on our democracy,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement. “We have reason to believe the individuals we’ve subpoenaed today have relevant information and we expect them to join the more than 340 individuals who have spoken with the Select Committee as we push ahead to investigate this attack on our democracy and ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”
Both Surabian and Schwartz, who have ties to Donald Trump Jr. and have been in the former president’s orbit since he first ran for president, communicated with organizers and speakers at the rally on the National Mall, the committee said, pointing to records obtained by the panel.
“While we plan on cooperating with the Committee within reason, we are bewildered as to why Mr. Surabian is being subpoenaed in the first place,” Surabian’s lawyer, Daniel Bean, told ABC News in a statement. “He had nothing at all to do with the events that took place at the Capital that day, zero involvement in organizing the rally that preceded it and was off the payroll of the Trump campaign as of November 15, 2020.”
Schwartz and Worthington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the committee, Worthington helped draft Trump’s speech that day to supporters — many of whom later marched across the National Mall to the Capitol after he encouraged them to do so.
Trump’s speech and intentions were a focus of debate during Trump’s second impeachment trial, when House Democrats charged him with inciting the riot.
His lawyers argued before the Senate that the president did not call for violence against lawmakers or Capitol Police.
The committee has asked all three witnesses to turn over records by Jan. 24 and appear for interviews at the end of the month, or early February.
To date, the panel has publicly disclosed 53 subpoenas, and investigators have obtained tens of thousands of pages of records, including some from the Trump White House, and text messages and emails provided by Mark Meadows, who served as Trump’s last White House chief of staff.
The committee, which is prepared to hold public hearings in the coming weeks, has also sought to voluntarily question GOP lawmakers involved in efforts to challenge the election results.
Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Scott Perry, R-Pa., have refused to cooperate with the inquiry, and the panel has not ruled out trying to compel their testimony.
The committee is also engaging with aides and associates of former Vice President Mike Pence, who Trump and others tried to pressure to overturn the election results while he presided over the counting of the electoral votes on Jan. 6.
Longtime Pence aide Marc Short has been subpoenaed by the committee, and his attorney continues to engage with the panel regarding testimony and cooperation.
Thompson also suggested in a recent NPR interview that the committee could request to interview Pence in the coming weeks.
