(L-R) Bill Kreutzmann, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead attend the 47th Kennedy Center Honors at The Kennedy Center on December 08, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann has shared his thoughts on his late bandmate Bob Weir, whose death was announced Saturday.
In a lengthy post on Instagram, Kreutzmann recounts their first meeting and all the fun they had in the early days of the Grateful Dead.
“Together, we embarked on a journey without a destination,” he writes. “We didn’t set out to change the world, or to become big stars, or to have our own counterculture — we didn’t know any of those things were actually possible and we wouldn’t have been very interested in them even if we did. Well, not too much, anyway. Just enough to dream.”
“I once heard Bobby refer to himself as ‘the greatest rhythm guitar player in the world’ and it made me chuckle lightheartedly at my brother’s boastfulness,” he continues. “The thing is… he was probably right. Time has proven that nobody will ever be able to replace Jerry Garcia — or Phil Lesh — and time will prove the same for Bob Weir.”
“There are so many people who can rightfully say that their life would not have been the same without Bob Weir,” he adds. “That’s been true for me since I was 17. And through it all, the high times and the low tides, my love for him will not, indeed can not, fade away.”
Finally, Kreutzmann asks, “In the end, what more was there for him to do? He played it all… and never the same way, twice. I think he had finally said everything he had to say and now he’s on to the next thing. I just hope he was able to bring his guitar with him or otherwise he’ll go crazy.”
Grateful Dead was co-founded by Weir, Kreutzmann,Garcia,Lesh and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan in 1965, with drummer Mickey Hart and lyricist Robert Hunter joining the group in 1967. Kreutzmann and Hart are now the last two surviving members of the band.
Gracie Abrams set to make her acting debut? That’s so true!
The singer will star in the upcoming A24 film Please, ABC Audio has confirmed. Babygirl and Bodies BodiesBodies filmmaker Halina Reijn is set to direct Abrams in her first-ever professional acting role.
While the film’s story details are remaining under wraps, it will be written, directed and produced by Reijn. DavidHinojosa will also produce in what will be his third collaboration with Reijn.
This is also the third collaboration between A24 and Reijn, who previously released both the slasher BodiesBodies Bodies and the Nicole Kidman-starring erotic thriller Babygirl. The studio also acquired her debut film, Instinct.
Abrams took to Instagram to celebrate the casting announcement. She posted a screenshot of a news article about it, tagging Reijn and A24 in the caption, where she also wrote, “Please,” alongside 10 red heart emojis.
She also took to her Instagram Story to share a photo of Reijn, alongside an emoji of a woman on her knees.
Abrams was nominated for the best new artist Grammy in 2024 and the best pop duo/group performance for the song “us.,” which she made with Taylor Swift, in 2025.
She supported Swift as an opener on The Eras Tour and recently finished her first solo North American arena tour in support of the deluxe version of her sophomore album, The Secret of Us.
Rapper Pooh Shiesty performs onstage during 2021 Shiesty Season Spring Fest at Central Station on April 11, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
Pooh Shiesty released his song “FDO” following his release from prison, but he actually started writing the track while serving a three-year sentence on a gun charge. He tells Complex he later realized he was getting ahead of himself and decided to pause the process.
“How the f*** am I going to talk about something that ain’t even happen yet?” Pooh recalled. “I’m not even out yet. I was like, ‘Man, I’m forcing it too much. F*** it—it’s gotta come natural.’”
After being released in early October, he revisited the song and made changes, including switching the beat to exude “First Day Out” vibes.
Another obstacle was the title of the song. Pooh tells Complex he didn’t want to call it “First Day Out” because the phrase was overused.
“I really didn’t want to do a ‘First Day Out’ because ‘First Day Outs’ were played out,” Pooh explained. “Especially when a lot of people don’t come home and perform the right way or produce the right way.”
To get around that, Pooh titled the track “FDO,” which he says can either stand for “First Day Out,” “Free the Operation” or “F*** the Opps.”
The song reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first major rap hit of 2026. It also serves as a teaser for his upcoming debut album, which he says will showcase his versatility and include “Good production, good quality, good features, good content, good substance, a lot of substance.”
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat from Michigan, said on Wednesday that she is under federal investigation for a video that she and other Democratic lawmakers posted on social media last year that told military service members that they could refuse illegal orders.
“Last week, U.S. Attorney from the District of Columbia, former Fox host Jeannine Pirro, reached out asking to interview me because of a 90-second video that I filmed in November,” Slotkin said in a video posted to X this morning. “This is on top of an FBI inquiry that came in from the counter terrorism division late last year.”
Slotkin, a former CIA officer, first learned that she was being investigated when she was contacted by federal prosecutors — a detail first reported by The New York Times, and confirmed to ABC News by her office.
A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office says they neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation. It’s not clear what the basis of the investigation may be.
In the November video under investigation, Slotkin appeared alongside other Democrats who previously served in the military or in the intelligence community telling U.S. service members that they have a right to refuse unlawful orders.
In November, a CIA spokeswoman attacked Slotkin for her participation in the video, saying in a social media post that the senator joins “the ranks of disgraced former intelligence officers” who have abused their “credentials to advance a malicious and disingenuous political agenda.”
The video has been a subject of focus because of separate actions taken by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, who was also featured in the original post on social media. Hegseth last week moved to censure Kelly, which led Kelly to file a lawsuit against Hegseth arguing the censure violated his constitutional rights.
The censure will result in a reduction in rank and Kelly’s retirement pay, a process Hegseth said would take 45 days.
Democrats involved in the video have defended their message as being in line with the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Constitution.
Much like Kelly, Slotkin vowed that she won’t be silenced by the investigation.
“This president does not represent the views of the majority of Americans. Even if you voted for him, I do not believe that his vision of America is shared by a majority of Americans because this country is worth fighting for,” Slotkin said in her post on Wednesday. “Our freedom of speech is worth fighting for. Our values, our core values are worth fighting for and right now speaking out against the abuse of power is the most patriotic thing we can do.”
President Donald Trump has criticized the Democrats featured in the video, saying in social media posts in November that they are “traitors” whose actions are “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
Asked in November if Trump wants to execute members of Congress, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president did not — adding that the Democrats in the video are “encouraging [service members] to defy the president’s lawful orders.”
Hegseth said in his censure letter that the video “Undermines the Chain of Command; Creates Confusion About Duty; Brings Discredit Upon the Armed Forces; and Is Conduct Unbecoming an Officer.”
In her video on Wednesday, Slotkin said that following Trump’s posts, threats against her and her family have gone “through the roof.”
“I went on 24/7 security from Capitol Police, I had a bomb threat at my house. My parents were swatted in the middle of the night and my siblings had cop cars placed in their driveways,” Slotkin said.
She said this investigatory move comes from “the president’s playbook.”
“Truth doesn’t matter, facts don’t matter, and anyone who disagrees with him becomes an enemy, and he then weaponizes the federal government against them. It is legal intimidation and physical intimidation meant to get you to shut up.”
Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Some Verizon customers were experiencing a service outage on Wednesday afternoon, according to the company.
Verizon said it was not immediately clear how long the service would be down.
“We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers,” Verizon said in a statement to ABC News. “Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience.”
Many Verizon customers said on social media that their phones showed “SOS” in place of network bars.
According to Downdetector at least 175,000 Verizon customers were affected at one point, but that number has since gone down. Downdetector, a site that tracks outages, said Verizon customers began noticing interrupted service around noon Eastern time.
New York Emergency Management (NYCEM) officials said the outage is affecting some users calling 911.
“Verizon is working to solve the issue,” NYCEM said in a statement. “If you have an emergency and cannot connect using your Verizon Wireless device, please call using a device from another carrier, a landline, or go to a police precinct or fire station to report the emergency. In the meantime, you can check the website or social media account of your cellphone carrier for updates.”
Lindsey Halligan, attorney for Donald Trump, looks on during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House, on March 31, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — In an 11-page court filing, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Acting U.S. attorney Lindsay Halligan blasted a federal judge Tuesday for what they called an “inquisition” against Halligan for continuing to represent herself as U.S. attorney for Eastern District of Virginia, after another judge found she was not legally allowed to serve in the role.
Halligan, a former White House aide who was appointed interim U.S. attorney by President Donald Trump, secured indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, only to have them thrown out when U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie determined in November that she had been unlawfully appointed without being either Senate confirmed or appointed by the federal judiciary.
Last week, U.S. District Judge David Novak ordered the Justice Department to explain why Halligan was still using the title after her office issued an indictment in which she was identified as U.S. attorney in the document’s signature block.
In their court filing on Tuesday, Bondi, Blanche and Halligan slammed Judge Novak’s order.
“The Court’s thinly veiled threat to use attorney discipline to cudgel the Executive Branch into conforming its legal position in all criminal prosecutions to the views of a single district judge is a gross abuse of power and an affront to the separation of powers,” the filing said. “The bottom line is that Ms. Halligan has not ‘misrepresented’ anything and the Court is flat wrong to suggest that any change to the Government’s signature block is warranted in this or any other case.”
“Contrary to this Court’s suggestion, nothing in the Comey and James dismissal orders prohibits Ms. Halligan from performing the functions of or holding herself out as the United States Attorney,” said the filing. “Although Judge Currie concluded that Ms. Halligan was unlawfully appointed under Section 546, she did not purport to enjoin Ms. Halligan from continuing to oversee the office or from identifying herself as the United States Attorney in the Government’s signature blocks.”
The DOJ officials said Judge Novak had a “fixation” on Halligan’s signature block, which was “untethered from how federal courts actually operate.”
They argued that the court has no authority to strike her signature from the block.
Story of the Year has released a new song called “Disconnected,” a track off the band’s upcoming album, A.R.S.O.N.
You can watch the “Disconnected” video on YouTube.
A.R.S.O.N., the follow-up to 2023’s Tear Me to Pieces, is due out Feb. 13. It also includes the single “Gasoline (All Rage Still Only Numb),” which is currently charting on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay ranking.
Story of the Year will celebrate the release of A.R.S.O.N. with a hometown show in St. Louis on Feb. 14. Their upcoming live schedule also includes sets at the Welcome to Rockville and Sonic Temple festivals.
Ken Casey of Dropkick Murphys performs onstage during day 2 of Warped Tour at Shoreline Waterfront on July 27, 2025 in Long Beach, California. (Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)
Dropkick Murphys have announced a split LP with the hardcore band Haywire.
The album is called New England Forever and will be available exclusively on the upcoming Dropkick tour, launching Feb. 9 in Portland, Maine.
The track list includes a reworking of the 2005 Dropkick song “Citizen C.I.A.” retitled as “Citizen I.C.E.”
The Dropkick tour will conclude with the band’s annual St. Patrick’s Day show, taking place March 17 in Boston.
Dropkick Murphys’ most recent album is 2025’s For the People.
Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Paul Stanley attend the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors at The Kennedy Center on December 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
Peter Criss has responded to a recent Gene Simmons interview in which he claimed Criss didn’t deserve a songwriting credit on KISS‘ 1976 hit “Beth.”
The track, which peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, is credited to Criss, the late Stan Penridge and producer Bob Ezrin.
Simmons made the claim during an interview with the Professor of Rockpodcast, saying, “Peter had nothing to do with that song. He sang it. … The mythology of ‘Beth’ is exactly that: mythology.” He argued Criss got the writing credit because he was “lucky enough to be in the same place at the same time as a guy who wrote” it.
But Criss told Billboard Simmons’ version of events is “not correct.”
“Gene wouldn’t know how the song was originally written because Gene wasn’t there from the conception of the song in the late ‘60s and he wasn’t there for the completion of the song with Bob Ezrin,” Criss said. “Gene’s statements are ridiculous and very uncalled for; he talks about things that he doesn’t know about.”
Criss said he wrote the melody and created the phrasing of the song’s original demo, then titled “Beck,” with Penridge. He also said that even though Simmons claimed it was his idea to change the title, it was Ezrin who changed it.
Ezrin also told Billboard that Simmons’ account is “not exactly how I remember it.”
“I believe from what I was told that the original song was written by Criss and Penridge and was called ‘Beck.’ It was a bit rockier and more macho,” he said. “I felt it had potential, so I asked to take it home and play with it a bit.”
Criss noted, “I would not put my name on a song I had nothing to do with. That is not who I am. I would not do that.”
Footage newly obtained by ABC News appears to show the moment that the man suspected of opening fire at Brown University in December fled the Ivy League campus following the tragic incident. (Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office)
(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) — Footage newly obtained by ABC News appears to show the moment that the man suspected of opening fire at Brown University in December fled the Ivy League campus following the tragic incident.
Officials believe Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, 48, is seen on a dash camera video recorded from a Brown University shuttle vehicle on Dec. 13 around dusk, walking through a parking lot adjacent to Barus and Holley, the building that includes the Providence, Rhode Island, school’s physics department.
His right hand appears to be in his pocket as he then jaywalks nonchalantly across Hope Street toward an adjacent residential neighborhood.
The Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General confirmed to ABC News that the footage is believed to depict the shooter and that the video was recorded immediately following the shooting.
The video was released in response to a public records request filed by ABC News. Authorities are currently declining to release many additional records associated with the response to the incident.
Neves Valente, a former Brown graduate student suspected to have been motivated by a lengthy grudge, shot and killed students Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook inside a final exam review session, according to authorities.
Nine others were wounded in the shooting, officials said at the time.
At some point after the shooting, police say Neves Valente traveled to the Boston suburbs and killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro near his Brookline home.
Neves Valente later crossed the New Hampshire state line by a few yards and took his own life at a self-storage facility as authorities sought to take him into custody, according to police.
The video recorded by the shuttle bus was referenced in a Providence Police criminal affidavit against Neves Valente that noted, “This was observed to be at 16:03, immediately after the shooting.”
The footage appears to indicate that the tragedy that occurred inside Barus and Holley was not evident to people on the street outside, with a handful of pedestrians seen casually walking nearby.
A Brown University police car can be seen parked on the curb. Around 25 seconds after Neves Valente fled the scene, another police car can be seen driving down Hope Street. Its blue emergency lights were flashing.
