Hannah Dasher proves what “Country Do” with ‘The Other Damn Half’

Hannah Dasher

More than two years after The Half RecordHannah Dasher‘s keeping her promise to fans by delivering The Other Damn Half

The new EP adds four new tracks to the previously released “Cryin’ All the Way to the Bank,” “Ugly Houses” and “(I’m The One That Taught Him) That Thing You Like,” including Hannah’s version of her biggest cut as a songwriter, Brad Paisley‘s “Go to Bed Early.”  

“I was so excited when I heard that he was gonna put that one out as a single,” the Georgia native recalls. “And then he also left that label. And I thought, ‘Well, OK, maybe this is God’s way of saying, “Hannah, it’s your turn to cut this song.”‘”

“It’s a sexy song, and a lot of people don’t know it’s literally one of the songs I was working on when I got fired from Bass Pro Shops 10 years ago for writing songs on the job. … But I did it perform it on the Opry when I made my Opry debut, right there across the parking lot,” she laughs, noting the Nashville store’s proximity to the country institution.

Coming off the busiest touring season of her career so far, The Other Damn Half has been thoroughly road-tested, with “Country Do” proving to be particularly crowd-approved.

“I wasn’t planning to cut it, but I started playing it live because it’s three guitars deep and has this stacked, wild Rage Against the Machine moment in it,” Hannah tells ABC Audio. “It’s wordy as hell, but it’s a lot of fun to sing.”

“God’s a Good Ol Boy” and “I’m Gonna Whoop Your Redneck A**” round out the collection, with an animated video for the latter set to follow in the coming days.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

‘The Golden Bachelor’ recap: Gerry plays pickleball, gets to the bottom of drama in the mansion

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On Thursday’s episode of The Golden Bachelor, Gerry Turner was faced with difficult decisions as he came to terms with his feelings for each of the women in the mansion.

For this week’s group date, Gerry invited EllenSandraSusanNancyAprilTheresaKathy and Faith to play his favorite sport — pickleball, enlisting the help ofTrista Sutter and upcoming Bachelor Joey Graziadei for the date.

Ellen’s experience on the court paid off, as it led her and Kathy to victory, after a match against Susan and Nancy.

After the pickleball tournament, the women convened for the cocktail portion of their date. Sandra, who was missing her daughter’s wedding, was the first to have one-on-one time with Gerry. Gerry said he was flattered by this, and surprised Sandra with a phone call to her daughter, and later, the date rose.

Meanwhile, following last week’s drama between Theresa and Kathy, Theresa pulled Kathy aside again to make sure things were good between them.

Kathy reminded Theresa again to “please not tell me anything about what’s going on” between her and Gerry. “It’s a matter of being kind and thinking, ‘Gee, will that hurt her feelings?'” Kathy said, and added, “Zip it.”

During her time with Gerry, Theresa told him about all the drama happening between her and Kathy. Gerry got down to the bottom of it all with his one-on-one with Kathy, telling her he was “unhappy” to see a rift unfolding between her and Theresa.

Gerry also had several moments with some of the women, including Ellen, who told him she couldn’t remember the last time she felt this way about a man. She also didn’t want to let the opportunity pass her by and told Gerry she’s “falling in love” with him.

After his conversation with Ellen, Gerry realized how some of his connections with certain women were much further along than others. Nancy also had the same feeling in her conversation with Gerry, and the two came to a mutual understanding that they didn’t have one, leading to her departure from the show.

Elsewhere, Leslie was the recipient of Thursday’s one-on-one date and got the date rose. 

At the rose ceremony, At the very end, Gerry sent April and Kathy home.

“I am who I am and people either like me or they don’t, but I mean, look at this, who can say no to this?” Kathy said in her final interview before leaving the mansion. “Rejection’s not fun. I mean, I might burn the house down before I leave, but you know…”

Here are the women who remain: Ellen, Faith, Sandra, Leslie, Susan and Theresa.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Pentatonix says ‘The Greatest Christmas Hits’ is a holiday playlist that lets you live your best life

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A new Pentatonix album, The Greatest Christmas Hits, is out October 20. Though the a cappella group released a Christmas best-of in 2019, they say this one is bigger and better.

“We’ve had a couple of albums since then of songs we’re really proud of, and I feel like we have a better understanding of how to curate the best group of songs for people’s soundtrack to their Christmas memories,” group member Scott Hoying tells ABC Audio.

“[T]here’s ‘Hallelujah‘ and ‘Mary Did You Know,‘ all the ones people love,” he says. “But also, it’s basically a new album too … there’s eight new songs that we’re really proud of and we feel are really inspired — and we can’t wait for people to hear it!”

“We’ll definitely release more Christmas music,” he notes. “I feel like this is just a time in our career where we have this catalog that feels like it could be a perfectly complete, greatest hits.”

In the future, group member Kirstin Maldonado says they may take a different approach.

“I feel like [our holiday songs] will start to … get a little bit more creative in the future, just based on song availability or new originals that we do,” she notes.

But for Christmas 2023, Scott says all you need to do is press play on the new album.

“I feel like so many people at Christmastime don’t wanna put so much thought into what they’re gonna listen to,” he says. “They just go to, like, ‘Christmas Classics’ or ‘Christmas Playlist.’ And so we felt like we wanted to curate this perfect thing where you don’t have to think or change the music.”

He adds, “You just put on the Greatest Hits, open presents and live your best life!”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Pink reworks Sting’s “Fields of Gold” for new collab, postpones two more shows

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Pink has unveiled the first release from the Tour Deluxe Edition of her album Trustfall — and it turns out it’s a reworking of a song that was a hit back in 1993.

“Dreaming” is a collaboration between Pink, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Sting and DJ/producer Marshmello. It features Pink and Sting singing new lyrics to the melody of Sting’s hit “Fields of Gold,” a top 25 single in 1993, over a house-influenced dance track.

On Instagram, Pink posted a video of herself, Sting and Marshmello discussing what she calls the “beautifully random” collab. Sting reveals it was Marshmello who was the “prime mover” behind the three unlikely artists teaming up. 

“This is kinda the most, maybe unexpected, collaboration any of us ever thought, or maybe the world might think,” adds Marshmello. He’s wearing his signature helmet in the video, so you can’t actually see him talking, but he’s moving his hands around, so you can tell it’s him.

As previously reported, the Tour Deluxe Edition of Trustfall features “Dreaming,” plus six live recordings from Pink’s Summer Carnival stadium tour; the standalone protest song “Irrelevant,” which Pink originally released in July 2022; and a new song called “All Out of Fight.”

Meanwhile, Pink has had to postpone more concerts. She announced on social media that her shows in Vancouver, scheduled for October 20 and 21, will have to be rescheduled because she has a respiratory infection. Earlier this week, she postponed her October 17 and 18 in Tacoma, Washington due to “family medical issues.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Here’s when the new Meek Mill/Rick Ross album will drop

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There’s a new Meek Mill/Rick Ross collaborative album on the way and fans are hyped to learn it’ll be dropping soon.

Expected to hit streaming on November 10, Too Good to be True is the latest joint project by the MMG duo following their series of Self Made projects released in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

In announcing the much-anticipated project, Meek shared a cinematic trailer to Instagram, which includes studio footage of the duo joined by DJ Khaled, then Diddy

“N***** ain’t seen me or Ross around each other for a long time,” Meek says in the clip. “We got back to the business, straight back to the family love, and jumped right back in the studio immediately. So, y’all about to get that live and direct and what happens. Tune in.”

Fans in Meek’s comment section expressed excitement for the upcoming project, with one writing, “Album of the year, probably the decade.” Another wrote, “This gonna be a [multiple fire emjois] Album.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Blink-182’s classic lineup returns ’ONE MORE TIME…’ with new album

Columbia Records

 

Blink-182 has returned ONE MORE TIME…

The first album from the reunited trio’s classic lineup of Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker in over 10 years dropped Friday, October 20.

DeLonge returned to the blink in 2022 after a seven-year absence, during which he was primarily known for his activities involving UFO research. Meanwhile, Hoppus and Barker released two blink records with Alkaline Trio frontman Matt Skiba in place of DeLonge.

“I didn’t know that Blink would ever get back together or that I would ever share a stage with Tom,” Hoppus told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “I told management, I told Travis, I told everybody, I’m like, ‘I’m not setting foot onstage again with that dude. Not a chance.'”

Things changed when Hoppus was diagnosed with cancer in 2021, which led to a reconciliation with DeLonge.

“Everything that’s just dumb, peripheral, it’s all petty when you have real human things happen,” DeLonge said. “I feel like there’s a real sense of brotherhood with us. And like any brothers, you have your little spats over the years and you grow apart. You come back together.”

The result in coming back together is ONE MORE TIME…, which blink feels is “one of the best albums we’ve ever written.” So far, fans seem to agree: both the lead single “EDGING” and the title track — which tackles blink’s interpersonal drama with lyrics including, “Do I have to die to hear you miss me” — hit #1 on Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart.

Blink-182 played their first show with DeLonge since 2014 at April’s Coachella festival, which was followed by a tour of North America and Europe. Up next, they’ll headline the When We Were Young festival, taking place October 21-22 in Las Vegas.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Pinball Wizard: Elton John inspires new pinball machines

Craig Sjodin/ABC

Elton John played The Pinball Wizard in the 1975 movie of The Who‘s Tommy and now, almost 50 years later, he’s the inspiration for a new line of pinball machines.

Elton John Pinballfrom Jersey Jack Pinball, gives fan a front row experience of a live Elton concert, complete with plenty of callbacks to Elton’s career. The machines, developed with Elton’s input, include 16 full-length Elton tracks, including “Rocketman,” “Tiny Dancer” and “Benny and the Jets.”

Each game features footage from Elton’s career, with additions like a piano-playing interactive Elton sculpture, a “Tiny Dancer” sculpture, “Rocketman” ball launcher and more. They come with over 1,000 interactive LED lights, plus LCD displays, animation and more. There’s even a “Superstar” topper, with dual 10-inch LCD screens and an interactive laser light show. 

Elton John Pinball machines are available to purchase now, but they don’t come cheap. They range in price from $12,000 to $15,000, not including shipping.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Michigan AG dismisses case against ‘fake elector’ in cooperation deal

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(LANSING, Mich.) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office has dismissed the case against one of the 16 so-called “fake electors” charged in the plot to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state.

“After conversations with the Attorney General’s office, all charges against our innocent client, Jim Renner, were dismissed,” Renner’s lawyer, Clint Westbook, said in a statement.

Nessel in June announced that 16 Michigan Republicans would face criminal charges, including forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery, for allegedly attempting to replace Michigan’s electoral votes for Joe Biden with electoral votes for then-President Donald Trump at the certification of the vote on Jan. 6, 2021.

According to prosecutors, the 16 met “covertly” in the basement of the Michigan Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, and signed their names to multiple certificates stating they were the duly elected electors.

Those false documents were then “transmitted to the United States Senate and National Archives in a coordinated effort to award the state’s electoral votes to the candidate of their choosing, in place of the candidates actually elected by the people of Michigan,” prosecutors said.

Nessel’s office confirmed to ABC News that they dismissed Renner’s case under a cooperation agreement.

The state is still pursuing charges against the other 15 defendants.

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Israeli child with autism found dead with grandmother at Gaza border; 3 family members still missing

Courtesy Galit Dan

(TEL AVIV, Israel) — An Israeli woman received an unthinkably tragic update on the fate of her daughter, who has autism, and her elderly mother 12 days after they were taken by Hamas: their bodies were found at the Gaza border, authorities told the family.

Galit Dan’s daughter Noya, 12, and her mother Carmela, 80, were taken from their homes during the Hamas attacks on their Kibbutz, Nir Oz, on Oct. 7. Dan said three other members of their family are still missing: her niece Sarah, 16, nephew Erez, 12, and brother-in-law Ofer, 52.

Dan’s sister, Hadas Kalderon, the mother of Sarah and Erez, told ABC News, “I have no time to grieve, I need to save my children’s lives.”

“Two days ago, we celebrated my mom’s 80th birthday without her,” Kalderon said. “We had a lot of hope. Yesterday, we received a message that she and my niece Noya had been murdered. We believe they were murdered outside of Israel, in Gaza, but we don’t know the exact details.”

“Now, I am supposed to sit for seven days and grieve for them, but I don’t have the time because I have to fight to save my children’s lives and all the other children and elderly who are still alive,” Kalderon said.

“Our kibbutz experienced a horrific pogrom,” Kalderon said Thursday, 12 days after the attack. “They burned most of the houses. We don’t have a home to go back to, but I don’t care about the home, I care for one thing – we have to release the children and the elderly immediately.”

In a post on social media, Carmela’s niece, Noam Dan, said, “We are in great pain … we have three more souls to save in our family.”

In an interview with ABC News a week ago, Galit Dan said at the time she was holding on to the hope that Noya, who needs around-the-clock care, is being looked after by mothers in Gaza.

“The only thing I want and choose to imagine is that there are Arab women around her,” Dan said as she sat diligently beside her laptop and a big pile of notes, visibly worn out by her tireless mission to get Noya back into her arms.

“You don’t see women in the pictures from Gaza Strip. I just hope they are with my daughter and with my mom and they are taking care of them,” she said last week. “I hope they are being human. Because the people who came into the Kibbutz, there were not human.”

Noya was on a sleepover at her grandmother’s house at the time, five miles from her mother and sister who were taking cover in their safe room when Hamas stormed their street, her family said.

Dan herself was holed up in their house for more than 10 hours with her other daughter Tamar during the attack by Hamas: “I told her not to breath, not to move, I was sure we were going to die.”

She said a terrified-sounding Noya sent a voice message on the day of Hamas’ attack: ‘Mummy, I’m scared. There are people in the house – help me.’

That was the last message Galit said she ever received from her daughter Noya.

The other message was from Kalderon: “Galit. Holocaust.”

“We are all kids of Allah, of Jesus, of God, we are all kids and we are all parents and sisters and sons of somebody,” Dan said in a message to Hamas last week. “Be connected to your heart, be connected to humanity.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

DHS office that counters nuclear weapons could close if Congress doesn’t act by December

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(WASHINGTON) — An office at the Department of Homeland Security that helps detect biological and chemical weapons could shutter if Congress doesn’t fund it by December — an increasingly likely possibility as Republicans on Capitol Hill struggle to select a speaker.

The Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office at the Department of Homeland Security, which is the one-stop shop for the department’s detection and research of biological weapons, will close if not funded by December because of language put into the initial development of the office in 2018.

Some of the capabilities of the office include supporting large events like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with radiological detection devices and supporting state and local governments with nuclear detection devices.

“This is a highly charged environment, and the threat environment is complex and it is complicated,” Mary Ellen Callahan, the assistant secretary for countering weapons of mass destruction, told reporters at DHS headquarters on Thursday. “The CWMD office was created to have the subject matter expertise to be able to address a multitude of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats and to go and help support those who are the first responders, who are really the canaries in the coal mine, so to speak, and to help support the homeland.”

The office she oversees is the only one that looks at “state, local, tribal, territorial aspect of response to nuclear threats,” she said.

For example, the programs that partner with 14 major cities to detect and prepare a response for nuclear events would go away, Callahan said.

Officials within the office said budgetary constraints could cause a strain for those cities.

“They would have to recreate [the CWMD office] and spend resources that they don’t presently have,” one DHS official said.

Callahan told reporters that lawmakers are on board with legislation for the office to continue it is just about how to get it done in time before the office is terminated.

“It’s a complicated congressional environment,” she said.

Much House business — including appropriating funds to government agencies — has come to a grinding halt following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. After House Republicans twice rejected Rep. Jim Jordan for speaker, it appears there will be a third floor vote, although the timing is not yet clear.

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