Ashley McBryde has joined rock group Halestorm for a duet of their song “Terrible Things.”
The soaring ballad finds lead singer Lzzy Hale and Ashley trading verses before joining in the powerful chorus.
“I’ve loved Halestorm for longer than I can remember,” says Ashley. “I thought my team was messing with me when they said Lzzy asked if I wanted to sing on ‘Terrible Things’ with them. But it turns out they were being serious, so of course I said yes. I am so happy to be on this track with Lzzy. She’s a phenomenal human being and someone I continue to look up to.”
“‘Terrible Things’ is a song about hope and forgiveness of one’s self, and this world we live in. To elevate the heart of this track we asked the baddest woman in Nashville, Ashley McBryde, to lend her incredible voice,” adds Lzzy. “I’m so in awe of her power and am so grateful to have her join us!”
Halestorm’s “Terrible Things” was originally featured in their 2022 album, Back from the Dead.
Cher was good friends with Tina Turner, and during a phone call with MSNBC’s Ari Melber, she paid tribute to the legendary singer, who passed away Wednesday at the age of 83.
Cher said she had been visiting Tina in Switzerland, explaining, “I started going to visit her because I thought, ‘I need to put this time into our friendship, so she knows we haven’t forgotten her.’” She added, “So we all took turns going and spending time with her and it made her happy.”
Cher recalled one visit when Tina told her it would have to be quick. “Then five hours later we were laughing like crazy,” Cher said. “She was having a good time in spite of the fact that she was really sick and not wanting people to know about it.”
Although no cause of death for Turner had been revealed, Cher hinted that she had been suffering from kidney failure, noting Turner had “her dialysis machine in her house.” Turner had received a kidney transplant from her husband, Erwin Bach, in 2017.
Cher called Tina “one of the great artists in our generation,” saying “there was no other person like her.” She paid tribute to Turner’s strength and how she inspired others, with Cher noting, “She gave me lots of strength sometimes and I gave her lots of strength, too. I think we were perfect friends for each other, truthfully.”
Cher revealed the last gift Turner gave her on her final visit: a pair of her infamous “Tina Turner shoes.”
“The big high heels that she just (walked) around in like they were nothing,” Cher said.
Quentin Tarantino is at the Cannes International Film Festival, and he shed some light to Deadline on The Movie Critic, his 10th and supposedly final film as a director.
Tarantino says the movie is “based on a guy who really lived, but was never really famous, and he used to write movie reviews for a porno rag … He wrote about mainstream movies.”
From his research, the real-life person died in his late 30s, the filmmaker says, from what he explained were likely the effects of alcoholism.
“I think he was a very good critic. He was as cynical as hell,” he continued. “His reviews were a cross between early Howard Stern and what Travis Bickle [Robert DeNiro‘s Taxi Driver character] might be if he were a film critic.”
The movie is set in 1977, and Tarantino says he goes into pre-production in about a month.
He says it will “definitely be a new leading man for me,” as many of his recurring stars, like 59-year-old Brad Pitt and 48-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio,are too old to play the 35-year-old.
However, one subset of actors shouldn’t wait for their phone to ring.
“The truth of the matter is, yes, obviously, a Brit could pull it off, but I don’t want to cast a Brit,” Tarantino says.
“Obviously, nothing against the Brits … I think when people look back on this era of cinema, and it’s just all these British actors pretending to be Americans and all these Australian actors pretending to be Americans, it’s like phantoms. Nobody is acting in their own voice.”
(NEW YORK) — Ahead of the slate of blockbuster films hitting theaters this summer, MoviePass is back with a new plan that could help moviegoers save money at the box office.
“We’re really excited to be able to let everybody in,” MoviePass CEO Stacy Spikes told Good Morning America.
The company that lets you see any movie at any theater is back with three new subscription options.
Subscribers can choose from three different tiers: basic, standard or premium, depending on their viewing habits, which range in price from $10 a month to $30 a month.
“Each month, you’re going to get a certain amount of credits,” Spikes explained. “You [can] go to matinees or things where you can use fewer credits and then if you say ‘I really want go Friday or Saturday night,’ you’re going to use more credits there. And each month, they replenish and if there’s a month you don’t go to the movies, your credits just roll over.”
Spikes and his co-founder sold a majority stake in the company, which was first started in 2011, in 2017, and the subscription price was later changed to a $10-per-month model for unlimited movies. The service was later shut down in 2019, following several unsustainable subscription changes and price decreases.
“It went bankrupt as we properly figured it would, and then last year I bought it back,” Spikes said. “We’ve gotten the experience really down tight. And we’re already seeing lots of people that are already on the platform. The beautiful thing is you can cancel anytime. There is no contract. You are not locked into a single theater.”
This summer, 42 theatrical releases are expected and Spikes said he’s seen a renewed energy from Hollywood.
“We’ve seen more studios commit to the overall production of theatrical releases and I think we are seeing a new golden age of cinema,” he said.
Tina Turner will be the focus of an exclusive BET special that will delve into her life and yearslong career. BET & ET Present Tina Turner: Life and Legacy will air May 25, featuring archival footage from ET, which includes over 30 Tina interviews throughout the course of her career. It will see her discussing her acting aspirations, never giving up on true love, her hit “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” and other definitive moments of her journey.
“Tina Turner was a global powerhouse, humanitarian, and undisputable Queen of Rock & Roll. We are deeply saddened by the news of her passing,” said Scott Mills, president and CEO of BET Media Group. “Tina Turner’s gritty vocals, high-octane performances and award-winning platinum hits are unforgettable. Her rise from humble beginnings to overcoming professional and personal adversity led her to become one of the most successful recording artists of all time. We join so many in celebration of her life, legacy, and immeasurable contributions to the arts. She was simply the best.”
BET & ET Present Tina Turner: Life and Legacy will air on BET at 9 p.m. ET/PT. On May 26, BET HER will air an encore at 10 a.m. ET/PT; VH1 will replay the special at 6 p.m. ET/PT.
Tina died on Wednesday, May 24, according to a statement on her social media pages. She was 83 years old.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge sentenced Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes to 18 years in prison Thursday for his role leading a seditious conspiracy to disrupt the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory that culminated in the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Rhodes sentence is now the longest to date handed down to a defendant charged in connection with the Capitol assault.
For the first time in a Jan. 6 case, D.C. District Judge Amit Mehta accepted the government’s recommendation to apply an enhancement for terrorism in Rhodes’ sentencing. Judge Mehta agreed with prosecutors that Rhodes “inspired the use of violence” in his followers to disrupt the certification and that his conduct met the legal definition of terrorism intended to influence the actions of government.
Judge Mehta cited the stockpile of weapons the Oath Keepers had amassed just outside of Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, as well as Rhodes’ orders for members to delete incriminating messages after the Capitol assault.
“You, sir, present an ongoing threat and peril to this country,” Judge Mehta told Rhodes just before handing down his sentence.
Before his sentence was handed down, Rhodes opted to address Judge Mehta in defiant remarks maintaining his innocence and describing himself as a “political prisoner.”
“Like President Trump, my only crime is opposing those who are destroying our country,” Rhodes said.
In his own remarks just before handing down his sentence, Mehta pushed back directly on Rhodes’ claims of being a political prisoner, saying instead he poses an “ongoing threat to this country.”
“For decades it is clear that you wanted the democracy in this country to devolve into violence,” Mehta said. “You’re not a political prisoner. You’re here because 12 jurors in D.C. who acquitted you of multiple counts found you guilty of sedition.”
“It could have been a far uglier day … and people should not forget that,” he said of Jan. 6.
The harshest sentence thus far for a defendant charged in connection with Jan. 6 was 170 months, or just over 14 years.
The Justice Department was seeking 25 years for Rhodes, with a prosecutor saying in court Thursday that a harsh sentence was critical “to ensure the respect for the rule of law that is essential to the survival of our democracy.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy said Rhodes “doggedly drilled in the minds of those on his chats, and those followers of the Oath Keepers the lie of the election fraud, and the false need to act like the Founding Fathers in order to save in his view, our Constitution and our country.” She said it was “neither the first time nor the last time that he will seek to organize political violence in our country,” and pointed to statements he made from jail just four days ago to a protest gathered outside where he said it would “take regime change” to fix the wrongs being done by the Biden Administration.
“It’s not going to stop until its stopped,” Rakoczy said, quoting Rhodes’ remarks.
Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy against the United States last November. A jury found he and other members of the group played a principal role in disrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
The decision marked the first successful seditious conspiracy conviction by a jury since 1995.
Justice Department prosecutors sought 25 years for Rhodes, their highest recommendation yet for a defendant charged in connection with Jan. 6.
In their sentencing recommendation to Judge Mehta, they argued repeatedly that harsh sentences for all the Oath Keepers charged in the conspiracy were necessary in order to deter future potential attacks against democracy.
Juries in two separate trials returned convictions against Rhodes and eight of his associates on a variety of serious felony charges, though three from the group were acquitted of the most serious charge of seditious conspiracy.
Relying on a trove of messages between the group’s members discussing “civil war” in the event of Biden taking office, prosecutors argued that Rhodes and his co-conspirators were willing to take any action necessary, including using force, to stop the certification.
Prosecutors also presented extensive evidence of the group’s planning in advance of Jan. 6, showing how members stashed a massive cache of weapons at a hotel just outside city limits that the government argued would be transported into Washington in the event Trump invoked the Insurrection Act.
Stemming from unfounded claims of election fraud, the defendants railed against the government in private chats and social media posts.
Rhodes remained defiant in remarks before his sentence was ultimately handed down on Thursday.
On Wednesday, police officers who defended the Capitol and a Senate aide who carried the official 2020 election documents spoke in court to explain the continuing trauma they face more than two years after the riots.
“We were assaulted time and time again,” D.C. police officer Christopher Owens told he court. He talked about the violent mob repeatedly grabbing at his police gear, even trying to take his weapon.
His voice heavy with emotion, Owens described coming home to his family and his wife sobbing after seeing his bruised and battered his body.
“We experienced physical trauma, emotional trauma and mental trauma,” he said.
Judge Mehta thanked each of the witnesses for their remarks and government service.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting a near-normal hurricane season for the 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season.
There is a 40% chance of a near-normal season, a 30% chance of an above-normal season and a 30% chance of a below-normal season, NOAA Administrator Richard Spinrad told reporters during a media briefing on Thursday.
The National Hurricane Center is predicting between 12 to 17 named storms that have top winds of at least 39 miles per hour, Spinrad said. Of those storms, five to nine are forecast to become hurricanes, including four major hurricanes at a Category 3 or above, Spinrad said.
This year is warmer than last year, creating conditions that could allow tropical systems to intensify, Matt Rosencrans, lead hurricane season outlook forecaster with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, told reporters. The wet African monsoon season is currently very active, which could help produce long-lived tropical cyclones.
In addition, even though there is a developing El Nino, which usually suppresses the activity, the Atlantic still could see near-normal tropical activity.
“The stronger than an El Nino event, usually the less amount of storms you have,” Rosencrans said.
The U.S. saw 14 named storms in 2022. Three of those hurricanes caused a collective $117 billion in damages, U.S Department of Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves told reporters.
“Hurricanes and the destruction they cause can have devastating impacts to affected communities, and to local economies,” Graves said.
Spinrad emphasized the necessity to prepare for devastating storms.
“Remember, it only takes one storm to devastate a community,” he said. “Regardless of the statistics I shared if one of those named storms is hitting your home, your community. It’s very serious.”
Major strides have been made in recent years in the accuracy in which NOAA is able to forecast hurricanes, Graves said. For example, the accuracy of the forecast track has improved by 40% since 2017, and the lead time hurricane forecast by two days, NOAA said. In addition, the seven-day track forecast now has the same accuracy as the five-day track forecast, Graves said.
NOAA will be implementing more powerful supercomputers, developing upgraded forecast models and employing better satellite observations to better track hurricanes in the future, Graves said.
A retrospective analysis of storms in the North Atlantic basin from 2020 to 2022 showed the new hurricane model provided up to a 15% improvement in track and intensity forecasts over existing models, Spinrad said.
“These additional days of preparedness can make all the difference in places like Florida, Puerto Rico and other parts of the country in mitigating the destruction and saving countless lives,” he said.
Overall, the number of storms has not increased due to climate change, but the hazards that result have increased, such as more storm surge and heavier rainfall. In a warmer climate, the atmosphere can hold more water, therefore producing heavier rainfall. With sea level rise and more people living along the coast, storm surge becomes a greater problem.
The U.S. is seeing “more and more” impacts from hurricanes, Federal Emergency Management Agency Deanne Criswell told reporters.
“They are going to be stronger, they will last longer,” she said. “FEMA will be ready to support you.”
The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season starts on June 1 and ends on Nov. 30.
Leon Bennett/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
The Doobie Brothers have added another gig to their touring schedule. The band is set to headline the BeachLife Ranch Festival, taking place September 22-24 at the Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach, California.
The festival features a mixture of country and Americana acts, with The Doobie Brothers headlining the bill on Saturday, September 23. Other headliners include Jack Johnson and Brad Paisley, with the lineup also featuring The Avett Brothers, Shakey Graves, Wynonna, Chris Isaak and more.
Tickets for the festival are on sale now. More info and a full lineup can be found at beachliferanch.com.
The festival is one of many shows The Doobie Brothers have planned for 2023. They kick off their 50th anniversary tour on Thursday, May 25, in Hollywood, Florida. A complete list of tour dates can be found at thedoobiebrothers.com.
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed a six-week abortion ban into law Thursday, with it going into effect immediately. The new ban prohibits all abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, which generally occurs at six weeks of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, according to the ban.
“With my signature, the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act is now law and will begin saving the lives of unborn children immediately,” McMaster said. “This is a great day for life in South Carolina, but the fight is not over. We stand ready to defend this legislation against any challenges and are confident we will succeed. The right to life must be preserved, and we will do everything we can to protect it.”
Abortion providers Planned Parenthood and Greenville Women’s Clinic have filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s ban and seeking a temporary restraining order that would prevent enforcement of the law.
“Abortion providers have asked a state trial court to block S. 474 on the grounds that it violates South Carolinians’ constitutional rights to privacy, equal protection, and substantive due process by banning abortion, providing inadequate protections for patients’ health, conditioning sexual assault survivors’ access to abortion on the disclosure of their personal information to law enforcement, violating the Medicaid Act, and improperly targeting Planned Parenthood through an unconstitutional bill of attainder,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement.
McMaster signed a previous so-called “heartbeat ban” into law in 2021, but it was struck down by the state’s Supreme Court in January.
Fifteen states have ceased nearly all abortion services since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federal protections for abortion rights.
Under the new ban, abortions are permitted to prevent the death of the pregnant woman, to prevent the serious risk of a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function, in cases of rape and incest and if the fetus has a fatal anomaly, according to the ban. The exception does not include psychological and emotional conditions.
Conditions listed under the exception include molar pregnancy, partial molar pregnancy, blighted ovum, ectopic pregnancy, severe preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome, abruptio placentae, severe physical maternal trauma, uterine rupture, intrauterine fetal demise and miscarriage, according to the bill.
Anyone who violates the ban is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined $10,000, face prison time of up to two years or both. Physicians or medical providers found guilty of performing illegal abortions will also have their licenses revoked.
Planned Parenthood said, along with its partners, that it is prepared to challenge the ban in court.
“Abortion is already difficult to access in South Carolina, with only three abortion clinics in the state and a range of limitations on access imposed by state lawmakers. South Carolina ranks 43rd — in the bottom 10 of all states — with the highest maternal mortality rates. Women here are three times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than the average U.S. woman,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement.
‘Sister senators’ fight against ban
A group of five women senators, the only five in the legislative body, has fought against the bill. The group, who’ve adopted the term “sister senators,” told ABC News that a short holiday week near the end of the legislation session would be the time the men would “shove it down our throats.”
Even before the vote they had a sense that a back-room deal had been made to get it through. After three attempts, the senators’ filibuster failed to block the bill from passing.
“Women are 51% of the South Carolina population [but hold] only 14% of the General Assembly and even less than that in the Senate. What I believe is that women are going to show up at the ballot box,” state Sen. Sandy Senn said.
The group of women are very different — three Republicans, one Democrat and one independent — but they are all religious mothers who are certain this bill passing in the state Senate would be bad for women in the state. None of them viewed themselves as women’s rights advocates or feminists and they all said they were “pro-life.”
“We all believe in life. We believe in life for the woman as well as a life for the child,” state Sen. Margie Bright-Matthews told ABC News.
They needed two men to cross over to vote with them on Tuesday to block the ban, but one of their previous allies had gone dark, which they knew wasn’t a good sign.
Abortion options for women in the Deep South are now closing fast, with Florida’s six-week ban awaiting a court ruling soon and North Carolina’s 12-week ban taking effect.
What is in the ban?
Women will be required to have to in-person doctors appointments before they can receive an abortion.
Under the ban, pregnant women cannot be criminally prosecuted or face civil liability for violations of the ban.
If the fetus is alive in utero, physicians are required to make reasonable efforts to preserve the life of the unborn child, provided that does not pose a risk to the health of the pregnant women, according to the bill. Entities that violate this will be fined up to $50,000, according to the bill.
Physicians who perform abortions under the health exceptions have to rationalize why they believe the woman qualifies for the exception in her medical records, according to the bill.
Abortions performed under the rape and incest exceptions must report it to the sheriff in the county in which the abortion was performed within 24 hours. Physicians must tell the patient they will report the rape before the abortion is performed.
Physicians are also required to maintain a copy of the patient’s records for seven years after an abortion is performed under the exception. Failing to do so would be a felony with up to two years of imprisonment and a $10,000 fine on the physician, according to the bill.
Pregnant women upon whom an abortion is performed in violation of the law can seek actual and punitive damages against the violator.
(WASHINGTON) — With just seven days until potential default, House members are heading home for Memorial Day recess — without a debt ceiling deal in sight.
“Every hour matters,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott on Thursday. “That’s why the White House has to become very serious about this.”
McCarthy refused to say whether Republican and White House negotiators will meet Thursday as the countdown continues toward June 1 — the date Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen predicts the U.S. may become unable to pay all of its bills.
The speaker still expressed optimism the two sides will come to an agreement.
“We worked well past midnight last night,” McCarthy said. “And yesterday, I thought, was a very good day. We made some progress. There are still some outstanding issues, and I’ve directed our teams to work 24/7 to try to solve this problem.”
Even if a debt ceiling deal is reached, Congress faces a serious time crunch to pass legislation before the end of the month. After a bill is drafted, McCarthy’s pledging to give House members 72 hours to review it, a concession he offered to conservative hardliners roadblocking his speakership vote at the start of this year. Then the Senate will have to take up the bill before it goes to President Joe Biden’s desk.
Complicating the matter further is the Memorial Day recess. The House is expected to gavel out Thursday, and the Senate left town last week, though leadership in both chambers has directed lawmakers to be prepared to return to Washington immediately if a deal is struck.
Several Democrats have voiced frustration in recent days over the status of negotiation, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., dinging McCarthy’s plans to adjourn.
“It’s my understanding that the designees of both President Biden as well as Speaker McCarthy will continue to talk, but it is unfortunate that House Republicans have chosen to get out of town before sundown,” said in a news conference.
Jeffries hit Republicans for a “manufactured crisis” over the debt ceiling, accusing the party of holding the economy hostage.
“Republicans are driving us down a dangerous road of default,” Jeffries said in a news conference. “Or have presented the American people with another unacceptable choice, which is devastating cuts to children, devastating cuts to Medicaid, devastating cuts to nutrition, devastating cuts to education, devastating cuts to public safety and devastating cuts to our veterans.”
Congressional Progressive Caucus leader Rep. Pramila Jayapal voiced similar concerns, warning Wednesday that progressives “are not going to take a deal that hurts working people.”
Jeffries said Thursday Biden “is continuing to hold the line” on the spending cuts Republicans are seeking.
As the politics play out, credit rating agency Fitch warned Thursday it was putting U.S. credit rating on watch for a possible downgrade.
Pressed for his reaction, McCarthy said he wasn’t concerned.
“I am concerned about, at the end of the day, if you do not have a deal worthy of the American public, you should be worried about Fitch. I’m not,” he said.
-ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
