Chicago Health Commissioner finds “no evidence” Lollapalooza was a “super-spreader event”

August 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

The Chicago Health Commissioner has found that there’s been “no evidence” that Lollapalooza was a “super-spreader event” for COVID-19.

Speaking with media Thursday, Dr. Allison Arwady said that the department has “had no unexpected findings” in regards to COVID numbers 14 days after the start of Lollapalooza. The festival had required attendees to either be fully vaccinated, or show proof of a negative COVID test obtained within 72 hours of entering the grounds.

Arwady said that 203 people that attended Lollapalooza have tested positive for COVID-19, which is in line with the expectation of around 200 cases. Fifty-eight of those were Chicago residents, 138 were from Illinois but not Chicago, and seven came in from out of state.

Arwady estimates that about 90 percent of Lolla attendees were vaccinated. Of those vaccinated, .0004 percent, or four in 10,000, tested positive. The unvaccinated positivity rate was .0016 percent, or 16 in 10,000. As of Wednesday, August 11, no hospitalizations or deaths have been reported.

Lollapalooza took place from July 29 to July 1. Performers included Foo Fighters, Limp Bizkit, Journey, Black Pumas, All Time Low, Angels & Airwaves, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Tyler, the Creator, Marshmello, Megan Thee Stallion and Jimmy Eat World.

Also on August 12, the nation’s second-largest events promoter, AEG, announced that come October 1, all ticket holders at its events will need to show proof of vaccination. That’s a step further than the largest promoter, Live Nation, which said it’d be up to the artists to the decide if audiences at their shows must test negative or be vaccinated.

Ed Sheeran explains why he and his wife have a “strict date night” every week

August 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Courtesy The Rebecca Judd Show on Apple Music 1

Like any new parents, Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry want to spend as much time as possible with their baby daughter, Lyra, but Ed says they also make sure to take time for themselves, too.

Appearing on Apple Music 1’s The Rebecca Judd Show, Ed says, “Me and my wife have a date night. It’s a strict date night every single week. And no matter who’s in town or who wants to see us, it’s always this one night in the week and we go out and our rule is we can’t talk about our baby. We have to talk about each other and catch up.”

“As a parent, you spend so much time discussing being a parent that you kind of forget who you were before,” he notes. “So we have one night a week where we are who we were before.”

Ed also revealed that he hasn’t listened to his debut album + (Plus) since it came out, so for the 10th anniversary concert he’s doing next month — in which he’ll play the album in its entirety — he’s literally having to relearn his own songs. As he explains, “I wouldn’t have played [some of the songs] since the tour in 2011,”

In addition, Ed also sang Judd the first song he ever wrote: “Typical Average Teen.”

“The creator of The Simpsons was doing a show, my cousin knew him,” Ed recalls. “And…they were doing this show about a typical average teen. And he was like, ‘My cousin wrote something like that!’ So it was actually going to be the soundtrack to this thing for a while.”

Ed continues. “I don’t know what happened, but it would have been so weird to have my first song end up being the soundtrack of a TV show.”

Shinedown’s Brent Smith donates $10K to Spiritbox after cancellation of Limp Bizkit tour

August 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Shinedown‘s Brent Smith helped keep Spiritbox‘s spirits high after the band’s tour with Limp Bizkit was canceled.

According to the “Secret Garden” metallers, Smith sent them $10,000 toward covering the losses the band incurred due to the tour’s cancellation.

“Can we talk about what an amazing person @TheBrentSmith from @Shinedown is?” Spiritbox tweeted Thursday. “He just gifted us $10,000 towards our losses since our tour was recently cancelled. This is such an amazing and kind gesture, seriously thank you!”

And Smith wasn’t the only one who reached out. Spiritbox added that We Came As Romans, from whom they rented a large part of their light package for the Bizkit tour, waived the invoice to “help soften our losses.”

“We have never met @TheBrentSmith and we barely know the guys in @wecameasromans,” Spiritbox wrote. “These people were not helping out a friend in need, they are just truly selfless people who wanted to do something kind for another band. We hope to conduct ourselves like them someday.”

Limp Bizkit had canceled the tour “out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of the band, crew and most of all the fans.”

Summer Walker called out for telling people who got the COVID vaccine to “stay away”

August 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Summer Walker

Summer Walker landed herself in hot water on Wednesday when sharing her thoughts about the COVID-19 vaccine and asked those who got it to keep their distance from her.

This isn’t the first time Walker, 25, has been called out for spreading conspiracy theories about the vaccine. Most recently, she took to her Instagram side account and expressed in a Wednesday story, “If u vaccinated please stay away from me.”

The remarks didn’t go over too well on Twitter, causing #SummerWalker to start trending. While most fans lamented they are having a harder and harder time defending her, one joked the “Over It” singer is “trying to make sure her next tour has no guests.”

In March, the R&B singer wiped her official Instagram account after sharing a hoax video that contained lies about how the coronavirus spread.

She then peddled more false COVID-19 theories on her side account. Those posts have also been deleted.

Chris Stapleton’s “Nothing Else Matters” cover, off the Metallica Blacklist tribute album, is out now

August 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Chris Stapleton lends his powerful voice to a heavy metal classic on “Nothing Else Matters,” the country star’s submission to an upcoming Metallica tribute album.

The project — which also features cover songs from country performers like Jon Pardi, Darius Rucker and Mickey Guyton — is called The Metallica Blacklist, and celebrates the 30th anniversary of the release of the band’s career-defining, Grammy-winning self-titled project, also called The Black Album.

It arrives in full on September 10, but fans can hear Chris’ rendition of “Nothing Else Matters” now. If you pre-order Blacklist you’ll automatically receive the song, along with a cover of “Nothing Else Matters” from singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, as well as an alternate mix of the song from Metallica themselves.

Proceeds from all the songs on Blacklist benefit Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation, with each participating artist also selecting a charity that their song will support. In Chris’ case, that’s Outlaw State of Kind, a charitable fund he and his wife Morgane established in 2016.

ZZ Top recordings move up ‘Billboard’ charts in the wake of bassist Dusty Hill’s death

August 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

The July 28 death of ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill apparently has spurred fans to revisit the Texas trio’s catalog and has driven a number of their recordings back up the Billboard charts.

The band’s 1974 hit “La Grange” lands at the top of Billboard‘s latest Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, with 1,600 units sold during the most recent week-long tracking period, according to MRC Data. The track becomes ZZ Top’s first song to hit #1 on the list. The previous week, shortly after Hill’s passing, “La Grange” reached #2 on the chart.

Three other ZZ Top songs currently are in the top 10 of the Hard Rock Digital Song Sales — 1983’s “Sharp Dressed Man” at #2, 1975’s “Tush” at #5, and 1983’s “Gimme All Your Lovin'” at #6.

“La Grange” also sits at #6 on the general Rock Digital Song Sales tally, while the other aforementioned tunes all are in that chart’s top 20.

Meanwhile, ZZ Top’s 2019 hits compilation Goin’ 50 entered Billboard‘s Hard Rock Albums chart at #5 and the Top Rock Albums tally at #20 after accruing 8,400 album-equivalent units.

Overall, the band’s catalog was streamed 12.7 million times in the U.S. during the most recent tracking period, while notching 8,000 in album sales and 14,000 digital downloads of its songs.

Hill died suddenly at his home in Houston at the age of 72. He had been taking a break from the group’s current tour to seek treatment for a number of medical issues. No cause of death has been announced.

Listen to new Thom Yorke remix of MF Doom song “Gazzillion Ear”

August 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke has released a new remix of “Gazzillion Ear,” originally recorded by the late rapper MF Doom.

The updated recording, dubbed the “Man of Fire Remix,” surrounds the beloved masked MC’s lyrics with electronic elements that wouldn’t sound out of place on Kid A. You can download it now via digital outlets.

Yorke has actually remixed “Gazzillion Ear” once before, as a bonus track for Doom’s 2009 album Born Like This. In fact, both remixes were recorded around the same time 12 years ago, though the “Man on Fire Remix” has never been released until now.

While the released piece was simply titled the “Thom Yorke Remix” when it dropped, Yorke himself personally referred to it as the “Monkey Hustle Remix.” Both the “Monkey Hustle” and “Man on Fire” titles reference lyrics from the original song.

Yorke is a big fan of Doom, and collaborated with him multiple times throughout his life. After news broke of his death late last year, Yorke called Doom a “massive inspiration.”

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

Darius Rucker faced some backlash after Hootie & the Blowfish blew up in the ‘90s, but he laughed it off

August 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

As the frontman of one of the ‘90s biggest rock bands, Hootie & the Blowfish, singer Darius Rucker has had to deal with his fair share of the backlash that comes along with being hugely popular.

“That’s a problem you have when things get so big, when you get something that’s selling a million records a week, people have to hate it. Or they’re not cool,” the singer explains in a new episode of People’s PEOPLE in the ‘90s podcast.

For example, Darius once saw a bumper sticker that read “F*** Hootie” while driving down the highway — but the singer says he took it in stride.

“I laughed my a** off,” he recalls. “I was driving my brand-new truck to my brand-new house and was playing in front of 20,000 people that weekend.”

A bumper sticker with a mean message directed his way was the least of his worries. “I’m good!” he added.

Since those early days, Darius has racked up lots more experience in making career decisions based on what he wants to do, and ignoring naysayers in the process.

His move from Hootie & the Blowfish frontman to solo country act surprised many, but he got the last laugh. As a country artist, he’s scored nine chart-topping hits, including his most recent number-one, “Beers and Sunshine.”

Dua Lipa teams with Truly Hard Seltzer to curate a virtual concert series

August 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Dua Lipa with Truly Strawberry Lemonade Hard Seltzer/Courtesy Truly Hard Seltzer

Dua Lipa sure knows how to keep busy. A day after announcing a joint single with Elton John, she’s now announcing a virtual concert series.

Dua has teamed with Truly Hard Seltzer for the series, called Truly Inspired. She personally selected the three acts who’ll perform on the series: Irish singer/songwriter Dermot Kennedy, U.S. hip-hop duo EARTHGANG, and Yaeji, a Korean-American singer, DJ and producer. Their shows will stream on the Live Nation Channel on Twitch.

“Each of these artists represents an individual perspective, a distinctive part of the world, an original corner of music, and they all inspire me uniquely,” Dua says in a statement.

She adds, “In addition to the performances, I will be sitting down with each artist, and together we’ll chat, have some fun and maybe even have a couple of drinks, as we explore how” — as Truly’s slogan says — “No One Is Just One Flavor.”

EARTHGANG’s appearance will stream on August 24 at 9:30pm E.T. Dermot Kennedy appears September 9 at 4 p.m. ET, and Yaeji will play September 21, at a time to be determined.

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Jury finalized for R. Kelly’s upcoming sex trafficking trial

August 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

A jury has been set for the New York sex trafficking trial of R. Kelly.

The jury is comprised of seven men and five women, with six alternates. Judge Ann Donnelly swore in the jurors on Wednesday. The trial, set for August 18, will begin with opening statements.

Kelly, 34, whose birth name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, faces state and federal charges for sex trafficking, racketeering, coercion and other charges related to the alleged abuse and exploitation of six women over the course of 25 years. He could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Kelly’s Brooklyn trial has been postponed at least five times because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the most recent delay was for Kelly to review his case materials with his new legal team. As previously reported, two of Kelly’s top lawyers withdrew from the case in June.

Kelly also faces a separate indictment in Chicago for allegations regarding child pornography. That trial is scheduled to begin in September.

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