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Weezer may have named one of their albums Pinkerton, but they showed their support for unions by performing for striking members of the Writers Guild of America.
According to TMZ, frontman Rivers Cuomo, guitarist Brian Bell and bassist Scott Shriner showed up at the picket line outside the Paramount Pictures studio in Los Angeles for a brief acoustic set that included renditions of “Buddy Holly,” “Beverly Hills” and “Island in the Sun.”
Weezer’s WGA-supporting performance follows Imagine Dragons‘ surprise set for striking writers outside the Netflix building last week.
The WGA strike began earlier in May over writer pay in the streaming era.
The Office veteran Rainn Wilson travels the world looking for happiness in Peacock’s new series Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss.
Based on Eric Weiner’s New York Times bestselling book, The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World, the show sees Wilson visiting “some of the happiest and least happy places on earth from Iceland to Bulgaria to Ghana” to unlock the science of happiness.
Wilson tells ABC Audio the show “is just perfect for people coming out of COVID, wanting to travel, wanting to connect again, and find inspiration and uplift … through other cultures.”
In the series, Wilson doesn’t shy away from talking about his own mental health issues. “One of the things I’ve learned in kind of working in mental health a little bit is that it’s important to share your struggle,” Rainn expresses.
He continues, “You know, because a lot of young people are suffering, and they feel like they’re the only one, and they look on people’s Instagram and everyone’s smiling and tan and happy and having these wonderful experiences. So it’s important to just communicate, ‘Hey, here’s where I suffer.’ And for me, it’s anxiety. It’s something that I’ve always dealt with, and at times it’s been crippling and overwhelming.”
Coincidentally, the show dovetails well with the publishing of Wilson’s own bestseller, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution, which also deals with mental health and happiness.
But could the star of a global hit like The Office travel like any other tourist? “I mean, they certainly knew who I was in Iceland,” Wilson said, but only a “a couple of people in Ghana” did, and “a couple of tourists” in Thailand.
Britney Spears wants everyone to know her marriage is doing just fine.
The singer posted a PDA-filled video of herself and husband Sam Asghari on Instagram Wednesday. In the clip, set to the tune of Justin Bieber’s “Honest,” the two embrace and kiss in front of an archway covered in flowers.
“Ok so I’m proud of my flowers!!!” she captions the post. “I’ve been pretty modest about my home !!! I’m redesigning my house !!!”
She adds, “I feel so blessed to be with such an incredible husband who inspires me everyday !!! Have a brilliant day my friends and godspeed.”
Earlier this week, Sam came to Britney’s defense when a TMZ documentary was released about her life post-conservatorship.
“I found it absolutely disgusting for the people that were in her life at the time when she didn’t have a voice, they went and told her story like it was theirs,” he said. “It was absolutely disgusting.”
KISS is celebrating the 30th anniversary of their album Alive III with a new vinyl release set to come out June 2.
Alive III was the first live album from the band during their non-makeup era. It captures performances from the November 1992 “Revenge” tour shows in Detroit, Cleveland and Indianapolis. It was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1994.
The limited-edition 30th anniversary set is being released in a variety of formats, including an already sold-out deluxe anniversary edition, which was limited to only 500 copies. It included two picture discs with a die-cut cover, along with new picture sleeves featuring unreleased tour photos and a King of Live T-shirt.
There’s also a premium two-LP colored vinyl version pressed on yellow and orange pyro vinyl, which can be purchased with the King of Live T-shirt. Only 2,500 copies of this version are being made available worldwide. It is available for preorder now.
Lizzo sent a powerful message to her TikTok followers about embracing their bodies and prioritizing mental well-being.
Stitching a video from a fellow user discussing her fitness journey earlier this week, the “Good As Hell” singer expressed her support for those seeking to embrace their size rather than “escape fatness.”
“I’ve always loved moving my body, I’ve always loved working out,” she said. “I think a lot of people see a fat person that way and immediately just assume everything they are doing is trying to be thin.”
As an artist, Lizzo’s career demands physical endurance, but she clarified that her workouts are not driven by a desire to be thin. Instead, she focuses on the mental benefits exercise brings, emphasizing that her body will naturally change over time.
“Exercise has helped me shift my mind, not my body,” Lizzo declared. She encouraged her fans to prioritize their inner happiness and well-being, stressing that self-improvement starts from within.
The Grammy winner acknowledged that her body may fluctuate based on her choices, but shared that goal is always for her mental health.
“Everything I eat, everything I do, every time I move my body it’s all for this,” she said pointing to her head. “Because if this ain’t happy, none of this is happy.”
Cindy Ord/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Gabrielle Union is unfazed by online criticism following the revelation about her financial arrangement with husband Dwyane Wade, in which the two split everything evenly.
In an Instagram video posted on Tuesday, Union can be seen happily dancing and sharing a kiss with Wade, captioning the post, “I love when he matches my energy, 50/50 over here,” accompanied by a winking-face emoji.
This lighthearted response appears to address the recent backlash she received after discussing their finances in a Bloomberg interview.
During the interview, Union revealed that she and Wade split their expenses equally, prompting a wave of social media reactions. Some suggested that as an actor/producer/entrepreneur, Union should let Wade handle all the financial responsibilities. However, Union made it clear that their household operates on an equitable 50/50 arrangement, even extending financial support to other households.
(NEW YORK) — A group of music artists that includes legends like Whitney Houston, through her estate, and Bob Dylan have sold all or part of their song catalogs in recent years — a trend experts say has become more popular as artists seek to cash in on their copyrights and, in some cases, breathe new life into their past hits.
“Artists, creators, owners of the copyrights can slice and dice these catalogs in a million different ways,” Variety music editor Jem Aswad told ABC News. “Sometimes they’ll just sell the publishing. Sometimes they’ll just sell the recorded music rights.”
In 2021, Bruce Springsteen reportedly sold his catalog to Sony for more than $500 million. Others capitalizing on the trend include Neil Young and David Bowie and more modern artists like Justin Timberlake and John Legend. Even Justin Bieber, at just 28 years old, reportedly sold his catalog for a staggering $200 million.
“Music catalogs are a very complicated asset. The value changes all the time. It fluctuates,” Aswad said.
But for older artists, selling their catalogs can help with estate planning to take the burden off their heirs once they’re gone, Aswad said.
Then there are artists like Taylor Swift, who famously re-recorded her entire catalog to maintain the rights over her work after the recordings of her first six albums were sold without her consent.
“She’s sort of the rising tide lifts all boats because, yes, all of this was in her self-interest. But she has educated countless musicians and countless fans about the value of owning your own creative work,” Aswad said.
Larry Mestel, CEO of Primary Wave, one of the leading independent music publishers, said he recognizes that value, which is why his company rarely buys 100% of an artist’s catalog. The company owns a percentage of Houston’s catalogs, as well as Air Supply, Stevie Nicks, Prince, Bob Marley, James Brown, Def Leppard and Kurt Cobain, among many others.
Mestel said he founded the company in 2006 because a lot of legendary artists “were not being focused on by their major labels.”
“We do not create, we do not market without an artist’s approval,” Mestel said.
Mestel said he often builds partnerships with the artists to build on their reputation or brand.
The Houston estate, helmed by Pat Houston, Whitney Houston’s sister-in-law and former manager, began working with Primary Wave in 2019.
“We’ve done a biographical film. We have a new gospel album. We have a Broadway show in development,” Mestel said.
“It has to feel right. And I would not do anything that I didn’t think she would be proud of,” Pat Houston said.
One of the first meetings with Houston’s estate and Primary Wave involved going through her old recordings, where they found a track called “Higher Love.” The result was a chart-topping song, remixed by Kygo, seven years after Houston’s death, re-introducing a new generation to her talent.
Still, it can be a gamble for artists to sell their catalogs in the event they become even more valuable over time.
“If the air starts to come out of the catalog market, people will think, ‘OK, I sold at a really good time. Conversely, if things continue to heat up, they’ll be like, ‘Oh damn, I should have waited,’” Aswad said.
Rock duo Air Supply, which has been putting out anthemic love songs for almost 50 years, also has embraced the partnership with Primary Wave, collaborating on an AAA ad that featured their hit 1980 song “All Out of Love.”
“At first we said, ‘No, we don’t want to do that. Songwriters and recording artists should own their own catalog and their own songs. But we started to think about it and it started to make sense,” said guitarist Graham Russell.
“The songs will always be mine, because they’re my babies. But why not let them go out into the universe?” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to file papers with the Federal Election Commission declaring his candidacy next week, which would formally enter DeSantis into the 2024 presidential race, two sources familiar with the plans told ABC News.
The development would come as top donors gather in Miami next week.
But this will not be the official kickoff event — sources say a formal event launching his campaign would likely come the week of Memorial Day. Sources say he is considering holding the event in his hometown of Dunedin, Florida but sources described the plans as in flux.
A spokesperson for DeSantis declined to comment.
Sources caution plans could still change, as DeSantis’ timeline for his 2024 roll out has already been moved up after initially eyeing a mid-June event.
Deadline reports Eddie Murphy is in talks to star in a new Pink Panther movie. Murphy is expected to play bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau, the role originated in the 1960s by Peter Sellers, followed by Steve Martin in the early 2000s. The Pink Panther franchise is comprised of 11 films, as well as numerous series and specials. Murphy will next be seen in the Prime Video holiday comedy Candy Cane Lane, alongside Traces Ellis Ross…
TBS is bringing back the groundbreaking 2000s series The Joe Schmo Show. The revival, hosted by So You Think You Can Dance‘s Kat Daley, will once again take a regular person and surround him with a group of actors, all of whom are pretending to also be regular people on a game show trying to win a prize. A premiere date has yet to be announced…
The Apple TV+ series Physical, will end with its upcoming third season, the streamer announced on Wednesday. The dark comedy, set in the 1980s, follows Sheila Rubin — played by Rose Byrne — through her journey of self-discovery via teaching aerobics. Physical also stars Dierdre Friel, Della Saba, Lou Taylor Pucci, Paul Sparks, Ashley Liao and Geoffrey Arend. Zooey Deschanel joins the cast for season 3, which premieres August 2…
Netflix has renewed Ginny & Georgia through its fourth season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Season 2 of the coming-of-age drama, about a mixed-race teen and her 30-year-old mother, played respectively by Antonia Gentry and Brianne Howey, drew almost 10.5 billion minutes of viewing over the eight weeks in which it ranked among the top 10 original streaming shows, according to Nielsen’s U.S. streaming rankings…
(NEW YORK) — An ongoing parenting debate about when it’s appropriate to give a child a smartphone has been reignited, ironically, on social media.
Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist and professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, shared a post to Instagram on Monday stating his belief that parents should wait until their child is in high school to give them a smartphone.
In calling on parents to wait, Grant, a bestselling author with nearly two million Instagram followers, cited his own family’s experience, as well as a new report that he said showed a negative correlation between mental health and getting a smartphone earlier in life.
“We were among the holdout parents,” Grant wrote in an Instagram post that now has over 130,000 likes. “We know it’s not easy, but the evidence is clear: even if kids under 14 need phones for communication, they don’t need smartphones or social media. It’s time for parents to align on waiting so it isn’t just a few kids being left out.”
Among the thousands of comments left on Grant’s post were people on both sides of the debate, with some agreeing that no kid should have a smartphone until high school, and others arguing the decision is more nuanced than that.
“It’s ridiculous to think that it’s only a one household decision,” one commenter wrote, in part. “When kids are surrounded by peers with some thing like a smart phone, it’s impossible for them to not think that they are excluded.”
“This is the world we live in now, and I don’t understand why so many parents think we can ignore it or put up a united front against phones,” wrote another commenter.
Some commenters shared that they want their child to be able to communicate their whereabouts with parents, while others commenters emphasized that mental health struggles cannot be blamed on phones alone.
“Great, another thing to shame parents and make them feel bad about themselves,” one commenter wrote. “Why don’t we focus on learning more about mental health and how to support those suffering from it rather than blaming parents for letting their child have too much screen time so the holdout parents can feel superior.”
Many parents, however, shared in the comments their own experiences with waiting until their kids were older to give them phones.
“We waited till 18. They had a flip phone before that so they could reach us from anywhere. They hate social media. It worked,” one commenter wrote.
“Couldn’t agree with this more!,” wrote another commenter. “Our 13 year old is not on smartphone or social media and it shows!”
Several commenters also agreed with the idea that parents can have an impact, with one writing, “We need more parents aligned on creating the ‘norm’ for smartphone use (or lack thereof).”
Grant declined to comment to ABC News.
Brooke Shannon, a mom of three daughters in Texas, is the founder of Wait Until 8th, a movement in which parents sign a pledge to not get their child a smartphone before 8th grade.
Shannon told ABC News the pledge is important because she believes it has to be a “community effort” to successfully limit young people’s screen time on phones, with parents, coaches, schools and kids all on board.
According to Shannon, what started out nearly seven years ago as a small effort among the parents of her daughters’ friends has grown into a national movement with over 40,000 families from across the country having signed the pledge.
“I think because so many parents struggle with this same question, it just spread very quickly,” Shannon said, adding she believes the movement has also grown because of the growing body of research showing the potential impact of screen time on young people.
“There are so many studies,” she said, adding, “‘When you look at the amount of research, you just want to shout it from the rooftops, ‘Parents just wait. There’s no hurry.'”
Shannon said her oldest daughter just received her first smartphone last year, at the start of her freshman year of high school. She does not have access to the internet or any social media apps on the phone, according to Shannon.
“It’s basically like a communication device, where she can text, she can call, she can FaceTime, she can listen to music and take photos,” Shannon said. “That has worked really well for our family, to just take it very slowly and to keep it very simple.”
Dr. Hina Talib, a board-certified pediatrician and adolescent specialist in New York City, said she hears from parents daily with questions about their teens and phones and social media.
She said in her opinion, it’s hard to issue a blanket age at which it’s OK to give a child a phone and access to social media.
“The reality is just way more nuanced than these headlines,” Talib told ABC News. “The best advice is really particular to the child in front of you. There’s no doubt that social media for some teens can be harmful, but there are still groups of teens who are able to engage with their friends … and their interests in helpful ways.”
Talib said she believes a better approach is to decide on a more individual level when a child is ready for a smartphone, and then give more access to the phone with “more skills gained and responsibility earned.”
“For example, you might start with just using it as a communication tool having text only or music only, and then over time, try out other applications and eventually social media,” Talib said. “But even then, it should always be an ongoing, by-way communication between you and your adolescent and young adult as they continue to develop their relationship with technology.”
How to know if your child is ready for a phone
Talib said she encourages parents to use a free 10-question tool from the American Academy of Pediatrics and AT&T to help them decide if their child is ready for a smartphone.
The tool asks questions like how often a child would need the phone to communicate with others, how responsible the child is in other activities, like turning in school assignments, and how well the child follows rules about other media, like TV or video games.
If a child is ready for a phone, the AAP also has a free tool where parents can work with their child to create a media plan that works for their own family.
Parents also have a resource through the American Psychological Association, which earlier this month issued the first guidance of its kind on teenagers and social media.
The guidance contains 10 recommendations designed to ensure that teens get the proper training on how use social media safely. For most families, that means starting with an active discussion about which sites teens are using, how often and how those experiences make them feel.
In addition to setting limits, the APA strongly encourages ongoing discussions about social media use and active supervision, especially in early adolescence. Parents are encouraged to model healthy social media use, including taking social media “holidays” as a family.
