Music

The holiday season is in full swing for Jimmie Allen and his family. 

To get in the Christmas spirit, Jimmie and his wife Alexis took two of their three children, one-year-old daughter Naomi and 7-year-old Aadyn, whom Jimmie had from a previous relationship, to Schellville Christmas Village in their native Delaware.

The singer turned to Instagram to share a photo of the family roller skating with a luminous Christmas tree in the background.

“Christmas things back home in Delaware are always special. We love bringing our kids back to where we grew up. No matter where I go, Delaware will always be HOME,” Jimmie writes, alongside holiday-themed emojis.

The country hitmaker also posted a photo of him and his son with beaming smiles as they pose in front of an oceanfront Christmas tree at Lighthouse Dewey Beach. “My Ace,” he captions the sweet picture.

Both Jimmie and Alexis are from Milton, Delaware, but didn’t meet until adulthood when they were introduced by Jimmie’s cousin’s wife. They recently welcomed their second daughter, Zara, in October.  

The country star is set to perform “White Christmas” on Disney Parks’ Magical Christmas Day Parade, airing December 25 at 10 a.m. ET on ABC. 

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Metallica is here to help make your holiday season a bit heavier.

The metal legends have announced rebroadcasts of their recent 40th anniversary concert streams. You can watch both shows on-demand via the Coda Collection channel on Amazon Prime Video from December 24 at noon ET through December 27.

Metallica’s 40th anniversary shows took place December 17 and 19 in the band’s hometown of San Francisco, and were streamed online for free. The sets included performances from songs off every one of ‘Tallica’s 10 studio albums.

In other Metallica news, a beloved shirt belonging to Cliff Burton has finally been returned to the late bassist’s family. The shirt, which featured the logo from the ’70s horror classic Dawn of the Dead, was brought back by Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin, who’d played with Burton in their first band, EZ-Street.

“A huge Thank You to Mike ‘Puffy’ Bordin for bringing Cliff’s original Dawn of the Dead shirt back home where it belongs,” the Burton family writes in an Instagram post. “It’s been a roller coaster of emotions and we appreciate Mike and the person who kept it safe for us for 30 plus years.”

“Our only regret is Ray isn’t here to see it,” the post concludes, referring to Cliff’s late father, who died in 2020.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Ray H Burton (@cliffburtonfamily)

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Billie Eilish has premiered the video for a new, acoustic version of her Happier Than Ever song, “Billie Bossa Nova.”

Accompanied by her brother/collaborator FINNEAS on guitar and some appropriately nightclub-esque lighting, the unplugged rendition gives the already swanky tune an even smoother, jazzier vibe.

You can watch the acoustic “Billie Bossa Nova” performance streaming now on YouTube.

Eilish released Happier Than Ever, her sophomore effort, this past July. Just like its predecessor, 2019’s WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, Happier Than Ever is nominated for a slew of Grammys, including Album of the Year.

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Harry Styles is bowing out of his upcoming pre-Orange Bowl concert as the country grapples with a new COVID-19 surge caused by the Omicron variant.  

Capital One announced that it’s pulling the plug on its Capital One Beach Bash, which Harry was set to co-headline with Khalid in Miami, Florida on December 30.

“Due to increasing logistical and production challenges related to the pandemic and after consultation with the artists and their production teams, we have jointly made the difficult decision to cancel the Capital One Beach Bash,” organizers said in a statement on Tuesday. “While we are disappointed to not host the concert, we are excited for a great Playoff Semifinal game at the Capital One Orange Bowl.”

Tickets for the event were free but needed to be reserved in advance.  Attendees were required to either be fully vaccinated or show a negative COVID-19 test taken within the past 72 hours before the start of the show.

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The Weeknd is the latest artist to join the NFT craze, and is teaming with Billboard for his new offering.  

To celebrate his smash-hit “Blinding Lights” being crowned the Greatest of All Time #Hot100 song by the music trade, Billboard is offering first-of-their-kind NFTs in the form of limited edition signed trading cards.  Billboard  teamed with NFL quarterback Tom Brady‘s NFT venture, Autograph, which specializes in transforming a celebrity’s signatures into non-fungible tokens that are then treated like real-life trading cards, the value of which may also increase over time.

Up for grabs are seven different animated trading cards signed by The Weeknd, which feature different stills and promotional images relating to the “Blinding Lights” music video. “Blinding Lights” spent an unprecedented 90 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and was recently crowned the biggest song to ever hit the chart.

You can begin bidding on these trading cards now; the sale ends on Thursday, December 23, at 1 p.m. ET.  The auction is being held on the largest NFT marketplace, OpenSea.  

NFTs, otherwise known as non-fungible tokens, allow buyers to exercise sole ownership over a unique piece of digital media, such as individual songs, videos and images — and now, trading cards.

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The end of Britney Spears’ conservatorship may not mean that her father, Jamie Spears, will stop receiving money from her estate.

Variety reports that that Jamie, who was suspended as Britney’s conservator in September before the entire arrangement was ended in November, has asked that his daughter’s estate keep paying his legal fees. According to court documents, Variety says, he’s petitioned for the court’s “confirmation, authorization and direction” for Britney to pay the lawyers who are involved in his “ongoing fiduciary duties relating to winding up” the conservatorship.

While the conservatorship was in effect, Britney found herself in the bizarre situation of having to pay all of her father’s legal fees, and her own legal fees, which she incurred while attempting to extricate herself from the conservatorship.  Variety notes that Jamie’s attorney charges $1,200 per hour.

The court documents read, “It would be contrary to public policy if Jamie’s years of dedication to protect his daughter…could subject him to personal bankruptcy and ruin defending baseless claims….no person would ever want to step into the role as conservator if a conservatee could force a conservator to personally pay substantial legal fees defending unfounded allegations.”

Britney’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, has called Jamie’s request “an abomination,” noting in a statement to Variety, “Mr. Spears reaped many millions of dollars from Britney as a conservator, while paying his lawyers millions more, all from Britney’s work and hard earned money.”

The New York Times estimates that Mr. Spears received $6 million in his role as conservator over the 13 years it was in effect.

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Yes, we’re all completely sick of Zoom calls, but maybe we wouldn’t mind them so much if we were Zooming with Elton John.

To collectively thank all the artists who participated in his super-duper collaboration album The Lockdown Sessions, Elton hosted “the ultimate Zoom call” with all of them, including Miley Cyrus, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Dua Lipa, Brandi Carlile, Eddie Vedder, Charlie Puth, rappers Lil Nas X, Nicki Minaj and Young Thug, and many more.

The four-and-a-half minute call is basically a love fest where all the artists talk about how honored and happy they were to record songs with Elton for The Lockdown Sessions, while Elton raves about how much he enjoyed working with all of them.  He calls his duet with Stevie Wonder “one of my favorite things ever,” and says working with Nicki was on his bucket list.

When the call finally ends, Elton’s sitting there alone in his house when none other than Ed Sheeran, wearing a Santa hat, runs into the room. “Did I miss it?” he asks.

Elton, pretending to be ticked off, says, “It’s supposed to be on Zoom, and now you’re here. Well, now you’re here — I suppose I could squeeze you in…”

Ed then snuggles up to Elton and embraces him, saying, “Merry Christmas, everyone.” 

“Merry Christmas,” replies a mollified Elton.

Elton and Ed are aiming to have the U.K.’s Christmas number one with “Sausage Rolls for Everyone,” a comical reworking of their song “Merry Christmas” featuring the British duo LadBaby.  The charity song raises money for British food banks.

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Kelly Clarkson has lost her bid to have have ex-husband Brandon Blackstock tossed off their Montana ranch amid the former couple’s ongoing divorce battle, a source tells Us Weekly.

“Kelly recently had a major legal setback in a bid to get Brandon evicted from the Montana property that the judge awarded solely to her,” says the insider. “He has been living in it and said he doesn’t have the financial means to afford to purchase a residence of his own at this time, citing the unresolved financial aspect of their divorce.”

The Kelly Clarkson Show host, 39, pleaded her case in a virtual hearing on November 11, but “The judge sided with Brandon and ruled in his favor, the order just hasn’t been formally signed off on,” according to the source.

The 45-year-old music manager has been living on the ranch since their split, which costs $81,000 per month to maintain, according to court docs obtained by Us. Blackstock previously testified that he wants to leave the entertainment industry and become a full-time rancher and rodeo sponsor.

Clarkson’s attempt to sell the Montana ranch was denied, but a judge ordered Blackstock to pay the maintenance fees associated with the property. If he fails to keep up with the payments, Clarkson can file another motion to sell.

Clarkson and Blackstock are set to appear back in court in February 2022 to discuss their property, and then again in June 2022.

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