Courtesy: Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
This is how we remind you that Nickelback‘s getting inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
Chad Kroeger and company will receive the honor at this year’s Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys. Speaking during a recent roundtable, Kroeger shared that the Hall of Fame recognition feels “so weird” and “absolutely bizarre.”
“You just feel very undeserving of something like that, first off,” Kroeger says. “And second, it just feels like we should be probably doing this for another 15 years before we get an honor like that.”
Kroeger laughed that the induction is a hint that Nickelback, which has certainly dealt with a lot of haters over the years, should retire.
“What are they telling us with this award?” drummer Daniel Adair joked. “That we should go away now?”
More seriously, entering the Canadian Hall of Fame has led the ‘Back to do some sincere reflecting on their career.
“We’ve been doing this 25 years,” Kroeger said. “I mean, we still call [Adair] the new guy, and how long have you been in the band?”
“Eighteen years,” Adair responded. “I’m still the new guy.”
Demi Lovato‘s new single “Still Alive,” from the soundtrack of the movie Scream VI, was co-written and produced by someone who’s equally famous and successful: Mike Shinoda of chart-topping rockers Linkin Park. And Shinoda, who also makes a cameo on the song’s video, is of the opinion that Demi can stand toe-to-toe with his band’s late, iconic singer, Chester Bennington.
Speaking with ABC Audio, Shinoda calls Lovato an “insane, world-class talent” and compares their versatility to Bennington’s.
“You could throw any vocal idea at him and he could nail it,” Shinoda says.
He laughs, “It is a lot of fun working with a superhero. Whenever I get to work with somebody who’s just that damn good, it’s a treat, it’s a total blessing. I had a great time doing it.”
Scream VI, which hits theaters Friday, also features a new Shinoda solo song, “In My Head.”
In other Demi news, they used their Instagram Story on Wednesday to celebrate International Women’s Day and to protest the recent introduction and/or passage of anti-LGBTQ legislation in several states. One post read, “Kids need to be protected from guns, not queer people.”
They also posted footage of Scream VI star Courteney Coxattending the film’s premiere.
Fleetwood Mac has gone through several lineup changes over the years, but none were as drastic as the summer of 1994 when they toured with only two original members: Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.
For that tour, Traffic’s Dave Mason, singer Billy Burnette and Bekka Bramlett filled in for Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Bramlett, daughter of rock duo Bonnie and Delaney Bramlett, says she knew the gig was never going to last.
“I knew my job was to get Stevie back,” she says. “I wasn’t a moron.”
She says she knew taking the gig was “dangerous,” noting, “I knew I was facing tomatoes.”
Because of that, Bramlett decided to go out of her way to make sure fans didn’t mistake her for Stevie. “I didn’t want to twirl around. I wanted to be me,” she says. “I even dyed my hair brown just so people in the cheap seats would know that Stevie wasn’t going to be here. I didn’t want anyone to be discouraged or let down.”
She also stayed away from performing signature Stevie songs like “Rhiannon” and “Dreams,” although she did sing “Landslide” for a bit of the tour.
And as she suspected, the job didn’t last long. Bramlett says Mick fired her by fax, which she described as heartbreaking.
She did eventually get to meet Nicks, but says, “She didn’t care for me.”
“I was blonde. The first thing she said was, ‘Oh, I didn’t know she was blonde. And she over-sings,’” Bramlett explains. “But it’s OK. I still love her. She probably felt like I pissed on her tree. I can understand that. I’m a woman. I dig it. I understand it. I get it. I don’t dig it, but I get it.”
Elton John with Arthur (black and white) and Marilyn (brown); Arnaldo Magnani/Getty Images
Amid preparations for his annual Oscar Viewing Party this Sunday, Elton John and his family are mourning the death of their beloved dog Marilyn, who died, according to Elton’s husband, “just shy of her 18th birthday.”
Posting a photo of the pup, Elton’s husband David Furnish writes, “Marilyn joined the Furnish-Johns as companion to Elton’s beloved cocker spaniel Arthur. Together they traveled the world with us – from backstage at Caesar’s Palace to the gondolas of Venice.”
Furnish notes that when he and Elton welcomed sons Zachary and Elijah, “Marilyn was like a sentry posted at the door when both Zachary and Elijah first came home from the hospital.”
He adds, “Instinctively she knew about the importance of their arrival, and lay directly under their [bassinets] keeping vigil. Occasionally, she’d pop her head up over the edge to check on their well-being, with her tail wagging away madly.”
“Nobody, and I mean NOBODY who wasn’t a part of the family got near those boys,” Furnish gushes. “She was a fiercely loyal and protective mother.”
“She’s back together with Arthur now, charging around in doggie heaven and chasing rabbits,” he concludes. “A dear friend once remarked, ‘a dog is the only love you can buy,’ and the love we got back from Marilyn was bountiful and immeasurable.”
By Thursday evening, Elton, who’d “liked” David’s post, seemed O.K.: Photos showing him hanging out with Miley Cyrus, Lil Nas X and Donatella Versace at the Versace Fashion Week 2023 show in West Hollywood were posted to his Instagram Story.
Hollywood’s biggest night is Sunday — Is Jimmy Kimmel ready?
Jimmy’s hosting the Oscars again this year, his third time as MC, and he has a philosophy about hosting the event that he shared with ABC Audio.
“Number one is you want to make the audience laugh,” he notes. “Number two is you have to remember that this is a celebratory night for these people. It’s not a roast. Doesn’t mean there won’t be a little roasting, but you’ve got to make sure that you don’t humiliate anybody and that everybody comes away happy. And you got to be conscious of time, and make sure that if you’re going to spend time on something, it’s worth it.”
As to whether or not he’s learned anything from last year’s slap heard around the world, Kimmel’s answer is, “No, not really.”
“I think maybe if there is any lesson, it’s don’t make fun of Jada Pinkett Smith,” he jokes.
Sunday’s Oscars telecast will be the first show since last year’s slap fiasco. Kimmel didn’t host last year, but he was the host for the chaotic La La Land/Moonlight mixup — so as this year’s host, does he root for chaos?
“Well, I’m not rooting for getting slapped, but it is fun when something weird happens,” he offers. “You know what kind of stuff I like? Streaking. I like when naked people run on the stage. I would like to see more of that.”
One of Jimmy’s favorite things about this year’s show is that there are so many first-time nominees — including 16 of 20 in the acting category — which he thinks “makes for a much more open field and for some exciting moments.”
“I mean, it’s more exciting to see somebody win their first Oscar than their sixth,” he adds.
Robert Blake, who is known for his roles in Baretta and In Cold Blood, “passed away peacefully surrounded by family by his side in Los Angeles,” his rep said in a statement obtained by ABC News on Thursday. He was 89.
The cause of death was heart disease, according to Blake’s niece, Noreen Austin.
The actor, who has starred in many television and film roles, is also known for being acquitted for the 2001 shooting death of his second wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, after forensic evidence showed he didn’t fire the murder weapon. At the time, two main witnesses against Blake were also lacking in credibility.
Blake got his start in acting at the age of 5, first appearing in the 1939 film Bridal Suite, then in the short film series Our Gang, which led to more than 200 film roles.
He went on to star in the syndicated Western The Cisco Kid, and continued to appear in several TV shows across CBS, NBC and ABC.
In 1967, Blake’s portrayal as murderer Perry Smith in the Truman Capote film adaptation of In Cold Blood was dubbed as a breakout role.
Blake starred in a few more film roles including the 1972 film Corky and the TV movie adaptation of Of Mice and Men in 1981.
He’s best known, however, for his role as police detective Tony Baretta in the TV series Baretta, which aired from 1975-78 and earned him an Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a drama series.
Blake’s family said that a private memorial service will be held to honor his life.
(HAMBURG, Germany) — Multiple people were shot, some fatally, at a building used by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday evening, police said.
Several people were seriously injured in the shooting, said police, who initially described the location as a church.
A suspected shooter was found dead in a community center, according to police, who were continuing to conduct searches to “rule out the involvement of other perpetrators.”
The incident occurred around 9 p.m. and involved one or more unknown perpetrators, according to an alert from the city of Hamburg.
The streets around the building have been cordoned off and residents have been advised to avoid the area and shelter in place “for the time being,” the alert said.
Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher called reports of the deadly shooting “shocking” and offered his “deepest condolences” to the families of the victims.
“The emergency services are working flat out to track down the perpetrators and clarify the background,” he said in a statement earlier Thursday.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The Manhattan district attorney’s office has informed former President Donald Trump of his right to testify before a grand jury investigating his role in a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
In New York, potential targets of investigations are, by law, given the chance to appear before the grand jury hearing evidence.
So-called “cross notice” was given to Trump in recent days, the sources said, and could be a sign that District Attorney Alvin Bragg is moving toward a charging decision.
“The Manhattan District Attorney’s threat to indict President Trump is simply insane,” a Trump spokesperson said in a statement. “President Trump was the victim of extortion then, just as he is now. It’s an embarrassment to the Democrat prosecutors, and it’s an embarrassment to New York City.”
In recent weeks ABC News has reported on the witnesses who have appeared before the grand jury, including former Trump associates Kellyanne Conway, Hope Hicks and Michael Cohen.
The district attorney has been probing whether Trump falsified business records in connection with a $130,000 payment made to Daniels before the 2016 election, which prosecutors allege was to keep her from talking about a long-denied affair, sources familiar with the matter have told ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — The mother of a missing 11-year-old girl asked a distant relative if he could help smuggle them away from their home because she was in a bad relationship with her husband and wanted a divorce, according to a search warrant obtained by ABC News.
Diana Cojocari, 37, and her husband have been charged after they took three weeks to report her daughter, 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari, was missing.
Cellphone data reviewed by police showed that Diane Cojocari contacted and had extensive communication with her distant relative, Octavian Cebanu, according to police. Cebanu made multiple phone calls to phone numbers belonging to unidentified targets who are involved in drug and narcotic trafficking investigations, police documents show.
Police conducted a canine search of Diane Cojocari’s car, during which the dog alerted to narcotics inside the passenger-side door. Police believe the car may have evidence of narcotics, drug paraphernalia or evidence of trafficking, according to the documents.
Several items were found inside the door, including a Moldova Agroindbank debit card belonging to Diana Cojocari; Madalina Cojocari’s Romanian and Moldovan passports; Diana Cojocari’s Romanian passport; and miscellaneous education and work certificates, according to the warrant.
On Dec. 15, 2022, Diana Cojocari went to her daughter’s school and told administrators that the 11-year-old had been missing since Nov. 23, 2022, according to authorities. Police were then alerted and responded to the school.
Diane Cojocari told police she last saw her daughter when she went to bed on Nov. 23, according to the warrant. Diane Cojocari said she then had an argument with her husband, Christopher Palmiter, that night and the next morning he left to drive to his family’s house in Michigan. When she went to check on her daughter the next day, she noticed she wasn’t in her room, the warrant showed.
Diane Cojocari said she waited until Palmiter, who is not Madalina’s birth father, returned to ask him if he had seen her daughter. He said he did not and asked her if she knew where the daughter was, according to the warrant.
A school official had attempted a home visit with a school counselor to check on the girl since she had not been to school for four days, the warrant said. No one answered the door and the official left a truancy packet.
Due to their failure to report that the 11-year-old was missing for three weeks, Cojocari and Palmiter were arrested on Dec. 17. They have both been charged with a felony.
The last confirmed public sighting of Madalina Cojocari was on Nov. 22, the FBI’s Charlotte bureau said. Bureau investigators released a video in December they said showed the girl getting off a school bus at her usual stop in Cornelius, a suburb north of Charlotte.
In December, police said the parents “clearly” knew more than they have been telling investigators.
(ATLANTA) — Protesters in Atlanta say they are hoping to reignite the energy from the 2020 racial reckoning during a rally they are calling their National Day of Action Against Police Terror on Thursday.
Across the country, anti-police brutality and racial justice activist groups will be hosting marches, teach-ins, and demonstrations against what they say is the militarization of police forces at the in-construction Atlanta Public Safety Training Center that critics are calling “Cop City.”
To culminate a weekslong effort, organizers will be holding a rally and march Thursday at 6 p.m. at the King Center, a center focused on nonviolent civil disobedience, in Atlanta.
Protesters argue the facility is “supporting the police narrative as opposed to finding alternatives to [policing]. Less people with guns, more actually interacting with the community,” Kamau Franklin, founder of Community Movement Builders and one of the lead organizers of #StopCopCity, told ABC News.
The #StopCopCity campaign is an effort to try and disrupt the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, which will be used for specialized training for both law enforcement and fire department service workers.
The center will include an “auditorium for police/fire and public use,” a “mock city for burn building training and urban police training,” an “Emergency Vehicle Operator Course for emergency vehicle driver training,” a K-9 unit kennel and training, according to the center’s website. The first phase of the training center is scheduled to open in late 2023.
The facility is intended to “boost morale, retention and recruitment of our public safety personnel” as well as “give us physical space to ensure that our officers and firefighters are receiving 21st century training, rooted in respect and regard for the communities they serve,” according to former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
The facility was approved last year with widespread support from local lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, and across all racial and ethnic lines.
But groups including the Movement for Black Lives, Black Voters Matter, Community Movement Builders and others are calling on Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens to “end the lease with Atlanta Police Foundation,” the organization behind the facility. The organization’s board members include representatives from major corporations, banks and companies.
Dickens recently created a community task force “to seek further community input and expert recommendations on key issues” amid the unrest, according to a press release from his office.
The training site has been at the center of yearslong tension between police and protesters.
Demonstrators argue that the center is further militarizing the police and may lead to more instances of police brutality and violence.
“Training is a misnomer,” Franklin said, pointing to the hundreds of hours of training that police convicted in murders are required to have received.
“We’ll continue to uplift and talk about the people who’ve been murdered by the police in the Black community, and how policing doesn’t work,” Franklin said.
Other demonstrators argue that the center’s construction will take over parts of the Weelaunee Forest, which Franklin says is “one of the most significant urban forests in the U.S., which borders a Black working-class neighborhood in Southeast Atlanta.”
Criticism over the new facility began initially with concerns that the city would need to tear down trees in one of Atlanta’s largest remaining green spaces. Across the city, signs that read “Defend the Atlanta Forest” sprung up in yards. The environmentalist movement Defend the Atlanta Forest is one of the groups leading protests against the facility.
The center is expected to cost $90 million and take up over 85 acres, with the “remaining portion of the 265-acres property as greenspace,” according to the center’s website.
Tensions came to a head with the fatal police shooting of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán in January, who was shot and killed by police as they raided the campground occupied by environmental demonstrators who had allegedly been camping out for months to protect the forest.
Officials say the protester fired the first shot at a state trooper, who was injured. Other law enforcement officers returned fire, hitting the man. There is no body camera footage of the incident. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident.
On March 5, more than 30 people were arrested after authorities say a group of “agitators” launched an attack on officers using fireworks, large rocks and Molotov cocktails following a music festival.
Twenty-three of the 35 protesters arrested Sunday were charged with felony domestic terrorism. Most of those protesters were from out of state, and one was from Canada and another from France.
No officers were injured during the incident, though police said that “the illegal actions” of protesters “could have resulted in bodily harm.” According to representatives from the racial justice organizations, the incident was not connected to the music festival and demonstration being held nearby.
The mayor’s office and the Atlanta Police Foundation has not responded to ABC News’ requests for comment. Atlanta Police officials directed ABC News to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which declined to comment.
