Madonna wrote on Instagram Wednesday of her new album, “Confessions II is a love letter to dance music and to all the spaces and communities that create it or enjoy it. The dance floor isn’t about a specific space or building, it’s wherever we gather to dance, celebrate and connect.” But in the same post, she recommends that when listening to the album, people not gather together.
To promote the album, Madonna has teamed with Bilt.com, which helps members earn rewards based on their monthly housing payments. In a video to promote the partnership, Madonna is asked to describe the “ideal way” fans should listen to Confessions II.
“By yourself, with nobody around and no distractions, from start to finish,” she replies. “That’s the most respectful way to listen to the album.”
As part of her Bilt partnership, Madonna is offering Bilt members a version of the album with exclusive artwork. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the partnership is that Bilt is paying one month of studio rent for every musician who is currently leasing space at The Music Building, a rehearsal space in midtown Manhattan where Madonna lived when she was a struggling artist with no money.
She says in a statement, “As much as I struggled when I showed up here with nothing, I look back very fondly on this time in my life. The creativity, diversity and community of artists all supporting each other while having the freedom to experiment is something I would have never experienced in another place.”
Members will also have a chance to win rent payments of up to $2,500.
In what’s become a CMA Fest tradition, MCA will take over Nashville’s Skydeck on Broadway for two days during the annual country music extravaganza.
Performances kick off Friday, June 5, with Saturday, June 6, starting with Miranda Lambert’s Crisco Disco Brunch.
Little Big Town, Wyatt Flores, Dalton Davis, Deanna Carter, Lamont Landers, Landon Smith, Jacob Hackworth, Travis Denning and more are set to play.
Admission for MCA Presents: Live from Sky Deck is free, you just need to register online. If you can’t make it in person, you can check out the performances on Universal Music Live’s Twitch channel.
The Little Big Town set will be the band’s only performance during CMA Fest 2026.
As a vegetarian, Paul McCartney doesn’t eat chicken, but that isn’t stopping him from appearing on the popular YouTube series Chicken Shop Date on Friday.
The show features host Amelia Dimoldenberg meeting a celebrity guest at a local fried chicken restaurant, and then asking them quirky questions while they eat. Each episode is only about eight minutes long.
In an Instagram post promoting the appearance, Amelia wrote, “Money can’t buy me love…but it can buy me vegan nuggets and chips ! my date with @paulmccartney is out FRIDAY.”
On an Instagram Reel featuring her and Paul acting goofy in the chicken shop, she wrote, “HELP! My biggest date yet.”
Amelia has welcomed everyone from Cher, Ryan Reynolds and Sabrina Carpenter to Cynthia Erivo, Conan O’Brien and Ben Stiller to the show.
Matthew Perry attends the GQ Men of the Year Party 2022 at The West Hollywood EDITION on Nov. 17, 2022, in West Hollywood, California. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for GQ)
Matthew Perry’s live-in assistant was sentenced on Wednesday to nearly 3 1/2 years in prison for administering the dose of ketamine that killed the Friends actor in 2023.
Kenneth Iwamasa, 61, is one of five people charged and convicted in what federal prosecutors called a conspiracy to illegally distribute ketamine to Perry. The assistant pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death.
U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett sentenced him to 41 months in prison and fined him $10,000, the Department of Justice said.
Prosecutors said Iwamasa, the final defendant to be sentenced in the case, injected Perry with ketamine repeatedly in the weeks before the actor’s death without proper medical training — including the fatal dose on Oct. 28, 2023.
“When defendant Kenneth Iwamasa was hired as Matthew Perry’s live-in personal assistant, he was acutely aware that Mr. Perry had suffered from drug addiction for most of his life. But rather than help Mr. Perry maintain sobriety, defendant became his enabler and drug supplier,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum ahead of Wednesday’s sentencing hearing in Los Angeles federal court. “As defendant injected more and more ketamine into Mr. Perry, he saw — and was the only person to see — clear warning signs that Mr. Perry was in danger.”
Prosecutors said Iwamasa found Perry unconscious inside his home at least two times in October 2023, as well as seeing him “freeze up” after a large injection, but, “ignoring these warnings,” continued to inject him with illicit ketamine.
In the days leading up to Perry’s death, Iwamasa injected him with “significant quantities of ketamine,” prosecutors wrote. On the day Perry fatally overdosed, Iwamasa injected him with two doses before Perry asked him to prepare the jacuzzi and to “shoot me up a big one,” prosecutors wrote.
Soon after administering the third dose, Iwamasa left to run errands for Perry and, upon returning, found him dead, face down in the jacuzzi, according to prosecutors.
Following Perry’s death, Iwamasa “continued his wrongdoing by destroying evidence and taking other steps to cover his tracks and obstruct justice,” prosecutors wrote. They allege he cleaned up ketamine bottles and syringes from the scene and omitted ketamine from the list of Perry’s medications while being questioned by officers after calling 911.
Iwamasa ultimately provided “significant cooperation” in the government’s investigation, including information on other defendants, prosecutors said while asking for 41 months of imprisonment.
In response to the government’s sentencing memo, defense attorneys argued that Iwamasa did not abuse his “trusted position,” saying he was an employee and “acted at all relevant times at the victim’s direction rather than pursuant to his own discretion.”
“Perhaps Defendant’s employment relationship with the victim enabled him to more readily participate in the conspiracy to distribute drugs to the victim than a man on the street, but it should be noted that a number of proverbial men on the street did in fact participate in the same conspiracy,” they wrote. “Multiple third parties were involved who did not share the same relationship with the victim. That fact alone should overcome the inference that it was Defendant’s particular relationship with the victim that facilitated the crime.”
Prosecutors said Iwamasa worked with two doctors to obtain ketamine for Perry, before turning to two dealers to obtain dozens of vials of ketamine, including the doses that killed the actor.
Iwamasa had known Perry since around 1992 before becoming his live-in assistant in 2022 for $150,000 a year, according to prosecutors. His responsibilities included those related to Perry’s medical care, they said.
In a victim impact statement filed ahead of the sentencing, Perry’s mother said the family was relieved when Perry took on an assistant whom she said understood the actor’s battles with drug addiction, and that they all trusted Iwamasa.
“Kenny’s most important job — by far — was to be my son’s companion and guardian in his fight against addiction. His number one responsibility — ensure that Matthew remained what he wanted to be: drug free,” she wrote. “Kenny knew, should he feel unduly pressured, that with one phone call to any number of the people in Matthew’s orbit, reinforcements would be on the way, and his job would be safe.”
“But instead of protecting Matthew, he aided and abetted illegal drug taking, arranged for one source of supply, then another. Shot the drugs into Matthew’s body though he was not in the least qualified,” she continued. “He did it even though he could see, anyone could have seen, it was so obviously dangerous. And he did it again and again.”
Iwamasa is the fifth and final defendant in the case to be sentenced in the scheme to illegally distribute ketamine to Perry.
Prosecutors said Jasveen Sangha, reportedly known as the “Ketamine Queen,” worked with Erik Fleming to distribute 51 vials of her ketamine to Iwamasa, including the doses that killed Perry.
Sangha was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison. She pleaded guilty last year to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.
Fleming was sentenced earlier this month to two years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.
The two doctors convicted in the case were sentenced last year.
Mark Chavez, who once ran a ketamine clinic, admitted to selling fraudulently obtained ketamine to Salvador Plasencia, who briefly treated Perry, which was then sold to the actor in the weeks before his death.
Chavez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and was sentenced to eight months of home confinement in December 2025.
Plasencia pleaded guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine and was sentenced to 30 months in prison in December 2025.
‘Gravest Gravy’ album artwork. (Vengeance Records)
A never-before-released lost album from the influential band The Cramps is being released as part of a project spearheaded by punk legends Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye.
The record is called Gravest Gravy and will be released Aug. 21. It was originally recorded in 1977 and was produced by Alex Chilton of Big Star.
“What you have in Gravest Gravy, is sheer brilliance committed to tape by a band that was plugged in directly to the Rock ‘n Roll mainline, produced by a visionary maniac named Alex Chilton,” Rollins says in a statement.
A number of Cramps titles are also set to be reissued.
Beyond originating the influential psychobilly sound, which combined elements of punk rock and rockabilly, The Cramps are also known for the song “Goo Goo Muck,” which soundtracked the famous dance scene in the show Wednesday.
Pitbull performs on ABC’s ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest,’ Dec. 31, 2025 (Disney/Christopher Willard)
Pitbull announced in February that he’s going to try to set a Guinness World Record during his July 10 show at London’s Hyde Park for the most people wearing bald caps in one place. But now, he’s asking for fans to help him pull off the singular feat.
Pitbull’s Instagram page and the page for the festival at which he’ll be performing, BST Hyde Park, posted a request for volunteers on Wednesday. “In case you missed it, we’re going for a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title with Mr Worldwide, @pitbull and we need a squad of legendary volunteers to help make it official,” reads the post.
“Your mission (should you choose to accept it): Count the shiny-headed Bald-es in the crowd and help us make history. Ticket holders and non-ticket holders are welcome to sign up.”
“What are we looking for: Legends who can count. That’s literally it,” the post continues. “What’s in it for you? Witness a sea of bald caps in Hyde Park. Once the counting is complete, stay and enjoy Pitbull’s headline show. Be part of history.”
As for why he’s doing this, Pitbull noticed in recent years that people of both sexes have been dressing up like him at his concerts, wearing suits and bald caps. After a U.K. radio station proposed that he try to go for the record, Pitbull and his team signed off on the attempt.
Speaking to TheNew York Timeslast June about why they were wearing bald caps, one fan said, “We have adult money, and this is what this generation is choosing to spend it on.”
Taking the Long Way 20th Anniversary Tour (Live Nation)
The Chicks will celebrate the anniversary of a pivotal album this fall with the Taking the Long Way 20th Anniversary Tour.
The 16-show run kicks off Sept. 30 at Detroit’s Fox Theatre, with stops in Chicago, New York City, Nashville, San Antonio, Austin, Seattle and San Francisco. It will wrap with two nights at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre Nov. 1 and 2.
Presales start June 3, before tickets become available to the public June 4.
2006’s Taking the Long Way topped the Billboard 200 album chart and won five Grammys, including album, record and song of the year.
A$AP Rocky attends the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 04, 2026, in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
A$AP Rocky is set to receive the inaugural Tribeca X Filmmaker of the Year Award at Tribeca X. The flagship event of the Tribeca Festival is focused on storytelling and features conversations, screenings and networking with entertainment and marketing leaders.
The honor recognizes Rocky’s work across music, fashion, film, and design and brand collaborations.
“Tribeca X was built to celebrate the creators reshaping modern storytelling,” Tribeca Enterprises CEO Rebecca Glashow said in a statement. “Today’s cultural landscape is being defined by artists and entrepreneurs who push creative boundaries across mediums and industries. A$AP Rocky represents the kind of genre-defying visionary the inaugural Tribeca X Filmmaker of the Year Award was created to honor.”
Tribeca X is set for June 8-9 at the Spring Studio in New York, and will display how brands and entertainment leaders are shaping new forms of storytelling.
The Rolling Stones’ ‘Foreign Tongues’ (Capitol Records)
Andrew Watt produced The Rolling Stones’ well-received 2023 album Hackney Diamonds and the band’s upcoming release, Foreign Tongues. But Watt says he prefers latter, out July 10, because the Stones “never play the same f****** thing the same way twice.”
Watt tells the U.K. paper The Telegraph that for Foreign Tongues, he had the band play live in the studio. “It’s always changing, and then there’s moments where they blow your brains out with how unbelievable and tight it is, and they’re all on it,” he explains. “But part of their magic is that it’s always changing. … [S]o the recording process had to be something where we were going for keeps at all times, so you could capture those moments, moving with the heartbeats of the guys in the room.”
As a result, Watt tells the paper, “I like this one even more [than Hackney Diamonds]. It’s rawer and liver and jammier and wait till you hear the s*** Keith [Richards is] playing. It’s unbelievable.”
Describing the dynamic between Richards and Mick Jagger, Watt says, “You would think two people that have been with each other for as long as they have could read each other’s minds, and there’s times where they do and there’s other times where they go exactly opposite, and it’s those moments where some of the greatest s*** comes out.”
“When they’re recording, they’re almost like fencing a little bit,” he adds. “You know, it’s like this eloquent kind of battle that is occurring.”
“Balancing that whole act and keeping it moving along so you’ve got the take when the magic happens, that is really the main part of the job,” Watt notes. “Really, it’s the most fun thing in the world.”
Watt also produced Paul McCartney’s The Boys of Dungeon Lane.
The booking photo for Josh Jacobs. (Brown County Jail)
(GREEN BAY, Wis.) — Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs was released from custody amid further investigation into domestic abuse allegations, the local district attorney’s office said a day after the NFL player was arrested in Wisconsin.
Jacobs, 28, was arrested and booked into the Brown County jail on three domestic abuse charges — battery, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct, according to the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department.
He was also booked on two other charges — intimidation of a victim and strangulation and suffocation, police said.
The strangulation and suffocation charge is a felony and the others are misdemeanors, online jail records show.
The charges stem from a “disturbance complaint” that officers responded to Saturday morning, Hobart-Lawrence Police Department Chief Michael Renkas said in a press release.
Jacobs was arrested Tuesday following an investigation, Renkas said, who said the probe remains “active and ongoing.”
He was being held without bond, though Brown County District Attorney David Lasee said Wednesday that Jacobs will be released from custody, and that a final charging decision will be made by his office “at a later date.”
“After reviewing the available evidence in this case, the Brown County District Attorney’s Office is not yet prepared to make a formal charging decision,” Lasee said in a statement. “Our office has requested additional investigation, as there is reason to believe that additional evidence may exist that would impact whether criminal charges are appropriate, and what charges would be issued.”
Online jail records show Jacobs was released at 12:20 p.m. local time on Wednesday.
His attorneys said they are “extremely pleased” that Jacobs was released and no criminal charges have been filed at this time.
“We remain confident that, once all of the evidence is gathered and evaluated, it will confirm that no charges should be brought against Josh in the future,” his attorneys, David Chesnoff, Richard Schonfeld and Clarence Duchac, said in a statement.
In a statement following the arrest, the attorneys said Jacobs “vehemently denies the allegations, and this matter is in the early stages of investigation with important evidence that has not yet been made public.”
“We ask for fairness and restraint while the judicial process takes its course,” the statement from his attorneys continued.
A Packers spokesperson said they are “aware of the matter involving Josh Jacobs.”
“As it is an ongoing legal situation, we will withhold further comment,” the statement added.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur addressed Jacobs at the top of a press briefing Wednesday, telling reporters he is “going to stick with the statement that we put out as an organization and just let the process play out.”
Jacobs is entering his third season with the Packers.
He began playing in the NFL in 2019, as a first-round pick of the Oakland Raiders, and was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team. He is a three-time Pro Bowl selection and led the league in rushing yards in 2022.
