Idris Elba makes case to verify all social media users, not just public figures

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To help combat the spread of misinformation and cyberbullying, Idris Elba has a simple suggestion: verify every user, not just celebrities.

Taking to Instagram on Sunday, the actor said the process public figures must go through in order to have a blue checkmark displayed to their name should be expanded to all social media users. 

“People in the public eye get verified on social media, (symbolized by a blue tick), the process of verification requires them to prove their IDENTITY, so everyone knows WHO is speaking,” said Elba, 48. “Social media companies should make this mandatory for all users.”

Elba said the current state of social media is “like boarding a plane and not having to show I.D.”  To further accentuate his point, the Golden Globe winner quickly noted the practice would “never happen” in real life.

“If cowards are being supported by a veil of privacy and secrecy, then social media is not a safe space,” wrote Elba. “It is an aeroplane that allows travelers to wear balaclavas.” 

He signed off his message with, “If cowards want to spout racial rhetoric then say it with your name, not your username.”

The suggestion drew mixed reaction from Elba’s 4.7 million followers.  Some applauded his suggestion to make the internet safer, while others admitted they don’t trust social media companies with their personal information.

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Kansas founding member and violinist Robby Steinhardt dies at 71

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Legendary violinist and founding member of the rock band Kansas, Robby Steinhardt, has passed away at age 71, his family confirms.

His widow Cindy shared the news in a statement on Facebook Monday, writing that Steinhardt was admitted to a hospital in Tampa, Florida, with acute pancreatitis in May and later went into acute septic shock and was placed on life support.

She says he bounced back “much to the amazement of his entire medical staff,” but on July 17, the day he was supposed to move to a rehab center, the sepsis returned and he passed away in her arms.

“We are beyond devastated as our lives were about to start a new adventure,” Cindy writes. “Robby just recorded his first solo album with the talented music producer Michael Franklin at Solar Studios. A tour to start in August, Robby was so looking forward to being back on stage doing what he loved.”

She encouraged fans to share pictures and stories of Robby on his page and to “Hug your loved ones, be happy, stay safe and be well.”

Steinhardt made his mark on the music world with violin and vocals on such Kansas classics as “Dust in the Wind,” “Point of No Return” and “Carry on Wayward Son”

In addition to his wife Cindy, he is survived by his daughter Becky. A memorial will be announced at a later date.

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You have about 24 hours to watch Bob Dylan’s return to the stage

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Bob Dylan returned to the stage on Sunday for a special livestream show, but if you missed it, you can still watch it on demand until midnight tomorrow, July 20.

According to the New York Post, Dylan’s Shadow Kingdom show was filmed in black and white. It lasted less than an hour and featured the 80-year-old rock legend performing with a four-piece band in a club located in a wooden hut. The “audience members” — actually actors — didn’t applaud and didn’t appear to pay attention. Dylan himself didn’t speak.

In the show — Dylan’s first since COVID-19 put his so-called “Never Ending Tour” on pause  — he ran through 13 songs, many of which were deep cuts.  The set list included “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” “Queen Jane Approximately,” “Tombstone Blues,” “Forever Young,” “Watching the River Flow,” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.”

According to the New York Post, the most recent song Dylan performed was 1989’s “What Was It You Wanted,” from the Oh Mercy album.

Visit Veeps.com to purchase a $25 ticket to watch the show yourself.

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Nick Cannon cuddles with girlfriend and twins in new pics

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Proud papa Nick Cannon showed off the latest additions to his family in a new set of photos with girlfriend Abby De La Rosa and their month-old twins, Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir Cannon.

Abby shared three pictures of her and Nick snuggling with the napping boys — dressed in matching pajamas — on her Instagram page.

“ONE MONTH OLD,” Abby celebrated, including two heart emojis in the simple caption.

Cannon, 40, shares two children each with exes Mariah Carey and former Miss Arizona U.S.A. Brittany Bell. With Carey, Cannon is the father of 10-year-old twins Monroe and Moroccan.  The Drumline star also shares four-year-old Golden with Bell and, last December, the two welcomed a daughter, Powerful Queen.  In addition, he recently welcomed a baby boy named Zen with model Alyssa Scott.

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More than 20 pieces of Jerry Garcia’s digital artwork to be sold as NFTs

Jerry Garcia. ‘Junglescape.’ 1992. Courtesy Yellowheart

In May, artwork by the late Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia was put on sale as an NFT, or non-fungible token, which is a unique digital collectible.  Now, an entire collection of Garcia’s digital artwork is going on the block in the NFT format.

The three-part collection will be sold via YellowHeart, a platform that accepts both cryptocurrency and credit card payments.  It’s a digital artwork series called An Odd Little Place: The Digital Works of Jerry Garcia (1992-1995), featuring 20 pieces from the late legend, created on his Apple computer.

Of the 20 pieces, 17 are limited edition pieces of original digital artwork, and the other three are additional works found in the Garcia Archives in a folder called “Last 48 Hours.” Two of the three date from August 7 and August 8, 1995, while the third is believed to be unfinished.  Garcia died on August 9, 1995.

You can get a glimpse of the collection now on YouTube.  Yellowheart is also teaming with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for a preview event on August 5, which will be attended by members of Garcia’s family. An exhibit of the artwork opens to the public the next day.

The first part of the collection launches today, along with ticket sales to the Rock Hall preview event. There are five VIP Vault Tour Experiences, which cost $10,000 each, and 20 Exhibition Preview Experiences, which cost $2,500 each.

The second partof the exhibition will be revealed August 1, which would have been Jerry’s 79th birthday. The third part is an auction of those three final works, starting August 5 at 3 p.m. ET.

To lessen the environmental impact of creating NFTs, the Garcia Family will donate a portion of the proceeds to charity.

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Halsey welcomes first child: “The most ‘rare’ and euphoric birth”

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Halsey is officially a mom.

The singer announced Monday that she gave birth to her first child with boyfriend Alev Aydin. She posted two black-and-white photos on social media: one of her cradling the newborn and looking lovingly at Alev, and another a close-up shot of the baby breastfeeding.

“Gratitude. For the most ‘rare’ and euphoric birth,” Halsey captioned the photos. “Powered by love.”

She then revealed the child’s name, Ender Ridley Aydin, and date of birth as July 14, 2021. She did not reveal the gender.

Halsey, 26, first announced her pregnancy in January with a photo showing off her baby bump, and the caption, “surprise!” Her new album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, in which she explores “the joys and horrors of pregnancy and childbirth,” is due out August 27.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Report: Kanye West to release new album this week

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It’s seems Kanye West‘s highly-anticipated album, DONDA, might finally see the light of day. 

On Sunday, Justin Laboy shared to social media that the oft-delayed record would be released this week. Alongside a meme that read, “He kills every beat, every hook, and every verse who is he?,” Laboy answered, “LETS ARGUE His name is @kanyewest & this week he’s dropping another classic album. DONT @ ME #Respectfully.”

In two prior tweets, Laboy shared that he’d already heard the album, courtesy of Kanye. 

“Kanye played his new album for me & @KDTrey5 last night in Vegas,” Laboy wrote. “Man listen! The production is light years ahead of it’s [sic] time, and the bars sound like he’s broke & hungry trying to get signed again. Any artist who plan on dropping soon should just push it back #Respectfully.”

He added, “ALBUM OF THE YEAR. DONT @ ME.”

Laboy isn’t the only one to tease Kanye’s new music. On Saturday, Consequence shared a muted clip of the rapper and Tyler, the Creator in the studio. He captioned the clip, “ConsTV Exclusive Ye x Tyler Epic Level Summer 21.”

Fans also noticed what appeared to be a track list of about 10 songs in the background of the video, some of which were the same as the track list that surfaced over a year ago, including “24” and “Hurricane,” as Hiphop-N-More notes. 

Kanye first announced DONDA would be released on July 24, 2020, before several delays plagued the project. The title of the album, which is a follow-up to 2019’s Jesus Is King, honors his late mother, Donda West, who died in 2017 from surgery complications. 

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Journey escaping to Las Vegas for symphony performance

Live Nation

Journey has scheduled a one-night-only performance in Las Vegas this December.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will take the stage at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Saturday, December 18, but what makes the show special is that they’ll be performing with a symphony orchestra.

The show will feature Journey’s new lineup, which includes former American Idol judge Randy Jackson on bass and famed producer Narada Michael Walden on drums, along with Neal Schon on guitar, Jonathan Cain and Jason Derlatka on keyboards and Arnel Pineda on vocals.

As previously reported, Journey’s classic 1981 album Escape was recently RIAA-certified Diamond for more than 10 million sales.

Journey will be one of the headliners at Lollapalooza on July 31.

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Volbeat announces fall headlining tour

Ross Halfin

Volbeat has announced their first headlining shows in nearly two years.

Kicking off September 24, the eight-date trek includes stops in Atlanta, Oklahoma City, San Diego, Los Angeles, Pasa Robles and Oakland, CA, and San Antonio and Lubbock, TX.  The Hu, Twin Temple and Municipal Waste will be the openers on select dates. Dates are scheduled through October 10. Tickets go on sale July 23 at 10 a.m. local time at Volbeat’s website.

In addition, the Danish rockers will also appear at the Rebel Rock festival in Orlando, FL on September 23 and at the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, CA on October 8.

Volbeat recently released two new songs: “Wait a Minute My Girl” and “Dagen Før.” The latter features guest vocals from Danish singer Stine Bramsen.  Both tracks were written and recorded in lockdown, and were the first fresh tracks from the group since their 2019 album, Rewind, Replay, Rebound.

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Luke Bryan celebrates a prank-fueled, family-filled 45th birthday on tour

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Luke Bryan turned 45 years old on Saturday, and the singer marked the milestone by playing a packed amphitheater show at a Bristow, Virginia stop on his Proud to Be Right Here Tour.

But if you know anything about the Bryan household, you know that the country superstar’s wife, Caroline, can’t pass up any opportunity for a prank — even if the subject of that prank is on tour and far from home.

Caroline and the rest of Luke’s family, including his two sons Bo and Tatum, surprised the singer with a mini-party onstage, complete with a table full of gag gifts. Among them were a pair of Jockey brand underwear — a nod to the Jockey commercials Luke’s recently starred in — a six-pack of his own Two Lane beer, and more.

“Alright, dammit. I got a lamp, a fire extinguisher, and more Jockey underwear. Lays potato chips…” Luke told the crowd as he surveyed his birthday haul, before suggesting they all join him and his family for a chorus of “Happy Birthday.”

“Tate, do you wanna sing me ‘Happy Birthday’? Bo?” Luke continued, jokingly turning to his sons, who are 13 and 10. “Y’all don’t wanna sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to your dad? That’s horrible. After all I’ve done for y’all.”

Of course, Luke ultimately got his birthday wish, with the crowd singing him a round of “Happy Birthday.” Onstage, the singer’s family sang along, as did his opening acts Caylee Hammack and Dylan Scott, who had returned to the stage for the surprise after performing earlier in the night.

Additional posts that Caroline shared to social media show more of the backstage birthday fun, which included a dance party on Luke’s tour bus and a cake

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