Jason Davis/Getty Images for Alzheimer’s Association
Brad Paisley‘s hard at work on a new album, with a new track titled “Same Here” set to arrive on Friday. This time though, he’s recording for Universal Music Group, after spending his entire career on Arista.
His new record deal reunites him with Mike Dungan and Cindy Mabe, the label executives who were with him at the first.
“I ran into Mike at the fishing department at Walmart after having met with several labels and he talked me into signing my first deal with Arista,” Brad recalls. “They assigned this woman named Cindy Mabe to me — we graduated the same day at Belmont. I got to work with her on my first few albums and now I get to work with her at UMG.”
Expect Brad’s full Universal debut to arrive later this year. His most recent album was 2017’s Love and War. He released his debut on Arista, Who Needs Pictures, back in 1999.
SZA is Billboard‘s Woman of the Year, and she says the honor “scares” her.
“It really scares me,” she told the outlet. “But I really want to do something with my time in the sun right now. There’s so much I want to do for other people. I need to do something to deserve that in a way that has nothing to do with me, something that’s selfless and uplifts other women, people, period.”
SZA continued, “It makes me feel more responsible than I was before. I feel like I owe everyone so much more than just smiling and getting onstage and waving.”
Because of those thoughts, the “Kill Bill” artist feels “there’s something more that I have to do.”
Right now, SZA’s immediate goal appears to be finishing a deluxe version of her #1 album SOS. But as for her plans after she drops it, she said, “I’m hoping to be able to accept that this chapter is done. I’m looking forward to actually feeling proud of myself and not just smiling and nodding at accolades but really feeling it internally and knowing that I’m good enough.”
The singer is floored her new album ate up the Billboard 200 and allowed her to chart alongside pop acts Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus.
“To even be in the conversation with Taylor and Miley, even the fact that our fans are fighting, is ridiculous,” she explained. “It’s like, ‘How?!'”
She continued, “I just really appreciate the opportunity to be in that conversation at all. It’s something I never dreamed of.”
As for her charting song “Kill Bill,” SZA reveals it was “super easy” to make; she made it in “one take, one night.”
As previously reported, Peter Gabriel is the executive editor of a new book called Reverberation: Do Everything Better with Music, for which he’s also penned a foreward. Now we have a release date for the project: March 14.
The book’s concept is that if you incorporate the right music into your life, you can sleep better, become more creative, be more productive and even have better sex. In fact, it promises to share “specific songs and techniques” to make this happen.
“Reverberation unlocks a world where we can all actively leverage the power of music to improve and enhance every aspect of your life,” according to the book’s website.
Reverberation is based on interviews with neuroscientists who are making “exciting breakthroughs” at the “intersection of music, science, technology and medicine.” Also included are interviews with musicians like David Byrne, Mick Fleetwood, Branford Marsalis and Sheila E.
You can check out some excerpts from the book at Reverberation.co, while you listen to Gabriel’s song “Lead a Normal Life” from his 1980 self-titled album aka Melt.
Gabriel is also prepping for the release his long-awaited new album i/o, though he has yet to reveal its release date. So far, he’s put out two songs from it: “The Court (Dark-Side Mix)” and “Panopticom.” When it arrives, i/o will be his first album of new original music in 20 years.
(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — Preliminary hearings began Wednesday in the trial of Club Q shooting suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich, who allegedly opened fire in a Colorado LGBTQ bar in November 2022.
Aldrich is nonbinary, according to court filings released by the Colorado state public defender.
As prosecutors attempt to prove that the evidence is strong enough for Aldrich to stand trial, details about a potential motive, the moments leading up to the shooting, and what unfolded during the tragedy will likely be played out in court.
The suspect accused of killing five people — Daniel Davis Aston, Kelly Loving, Derrick Rump, Ashley Paugh, Raymond Green Vance, Tara Bush — in the mass shooting at the Colorado Springs bar, faces 323 charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and bias-motivated crimes.
At least 19 people were also injured.
Investigators and witnesses said the suspect allegedly opened fire as soon as they walked into Club Q at about midnight on Nov. 19. Patrons at the venue tackled Aldrich, subduing the suspect until police arrived, according to witnesses.
The defense has not openly commented on the case, as per Office of the State Public Defender policies.
Ernie Hudson reprised his role as Winston Zeddemore in the hit Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and his character is a beloved part of the franchise. However, it wasn’t always that way.
In an interview with SiriusXM’s Gary Dell’Abate and Rahsaan Rogers on The Howard Stern Wrap Up Show, the veteran actor explains he was “pushed aside” by the studio when it came to marketing the 1984 original.
“I was the guy who was brought in, and so finding my place in the middle of that,” he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The actor added director Ivan Reitman, writers and co-stars Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, and Bill Murray “were all welcoming and inclusive.”
He noted, however, “The studio wasn’t, and the studio continued not to be. So it made it very, very difficult because I was a part of it, but then I very selectively was pushed aside.”
Hudson continued, “…I went to the 30th-anniversary release of the movie and all the posters are [just] three guys. Now I know the fans see it differently, and I’m so thankful for the fans because the fans basically identified with Winston, especially young, I don’t want to say minority kids, but a lot of kids.”
In the past, Hudson has mentioned that the Winston character was initially scripted to be in the film from the beginning, but the final film has the character hired mid-way through.
He explained that despite Ghostbusters‘ success, it took him more than two years to book another movie.
“It wasn’t an easy road,” he said. “Ghostbusters, I would say, it was probably the most difficult movie I ever did just from the psychological perspective. All those things…It definitely felt deliberate. And I’m still not trying to take it personally.”
Selena Gomez earned some unexpected praise from Lady Gaga after she tried on a beauty filter for one of her videos and confessed, “I wish I was as pretty as Bella Hadid.”
In a TikTok story posted Monday, Selena tried on a filter that was supposed to make her look more like the model. The filter gave her ultra-laminated eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, a narrower nose and a contoured face.
As Selena posed with the filter on, she lipsynced to audio of the model saying, “My name? My name is Bella Hadid.” She also captioned how she wished she looked like Hadid.
Both Hadid and Selena dated The Weekend a few years back, and some fans believed that caused some tension between the two. This video is being interpreted as Selena dismissing the rumored drama.
In a second story, Selena shared another video of her with the filter turned off and joked, “Instead, this is me. I accidentally laminated my brows too much.” Laminating one’s brows is like giving them a perm to give them a fuller look.
She then tried to put her own spin on the Bella Hadid audio and remarked how her attempt “doesn’t even sound sexy.”
Apparently, Lady Gaga wasn’t in the mood for self-deprecation and commented on that video, “You look and are beautiful inside and out.” She also called Selena “one of my favorite ladies alive!”
Deftones frontman Chino Moreno has shared two previously unreleased songs with his side project Palms.
The tracks, titled “Opening Titles” and “End Credits,” are getting their debut now to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2013 self-titled debut Palms album, which remains the group’s only full-length effort.
You can listen to “Opening Titles” and “End Credits” now via digital outlets.
Moreno formed Palms in 2011 with bassist Jeff Caxide, drummer Aaron Harris and guitarist Bryant Clifford Meyer, who previously played together in the post-metal band Isis.
If that’s not enough Moreno music for you, his other side project Crosses just put out a new EP, PERMANENT.RADIANT, last December. The most recent Deftones album is 2020’s Ohms.
Loaded, one of the most acclaimed Velvet Underground albums — and the band’s last with Lou Reed — has been repackaged into a massive nine-LP box set featuring demos, outtakes and live recordings, including some coming to vinyl for the first time.
The box set, due March 24, includes almost all the material from the 45th anniversary edition CD Loaded: Re-Loaded, released in 2015. Called LOADED (FULLY RELOADED), it’s limited to only 1,970 numbered copies available exclusively via Rhino.com.
Weighing in at a hefty $250, the package comes in a foil-wrapped slipcase containing the nine albums, a poster of the album’s cover art and an illustrated booklet with liner notes by writer and Patti Smith Group member Lenny Kaye. There are also four 7-inch singles that reproduce the official singles released from Loaded, including the classics “Rock & Roll” and “Sweet Jane.”
Among the nine LPs are three different versions of the original album: remastered stereo and mono mixes, plus a version that includes extended versions of “Sweet Jane,” “Rock & Roll” and “New Age.” The demos and alternate mixes include some songs that eventually appeared on Reed’s 1972 self-titled solo debut album.
The live tracks come from two different shows. One of them, recorded six months before Loaded‘s November 1970 release, features the band performing as a trio, as drummer Moe Tucker was pregnant. Those tracks include early versions of “Rock & Roll” and “New Age.”
The second batch of live tracks come from a show at New York’s Max’s Kansas City on August 23, 1970, the day Reed left the band. It includes live versions of Velvets staples like “White Light/White Heat,” “Pale Blue Eyes” and “I’m Waiting for The Man” as well as “Sweet Jane.”
(EAST PALESTINE, Ohio) — The politics around the Feb. 3 derailment of the Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border intensified this week with attention only growing on East Palestine from local, state and national leaders, among others.
Former President Donald Trump is slated to visit the area on Wednesday as East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway lambasted President Joe Biden for a surprise trip to Ukraine on Monday instead of the Ohio village — a stop Conaway called the “biggest slap in the face” as his community reels from the fiery crash more than two weeks ago.
Conaway later said he would welcome Biden.
“You have a president going to Ukraine and you have people in Ohio that are in desperate need of help,” Trump said on Monday during a speech in West Palm Beach, Florida, days after he announced his upcoming trip to the site.
“The people of East Palestine need help. I’ll see you on Wednesday!” Trump wrote on in a statement on Saturday.
It remains unclear where he will appear in the area or with whom and what he will say.
In the days following the crash of about 50 cars of a freight train carrying hazardous materials including vinyl chloride, a highly volatile colorless gas produced for commercial uses, uproar has ensued from Republicans and some Democrats at the response, particularly from the Biden administration — who has repeatedly sought to highlight an array of steps being taken.
Conservative media personalities have been quick to try and link the absence of Biden administration representatives in the area — not including Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan — to their claim that the president wants to neglect the area because of its politics, which Democrats have rejected.
“East Palestine is a poor, white town that voted for Trump. So honestly, who cares? No one in the Biden administration did care and that’s an atrocity,” Fox News host Tucker Carlson said recently.
The White House has said they would dispatch Federal Emergency Management Agency relief to East Palestine on Saturday, despite acknowledgement even from Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, that the state did not expect help from the agency that is “most typically involved with disasters where there is tremendous home or property damage,” like fallout from hurricanes or floods.
Trump quickly tried to take credit for the action: “Biden and FEMA said they would not be sending federal aid to East Palestine. As soon as I announced that I’m going, he announced a team will go. Hopefully he will also be there. This is good news because we got them to ‘move,'” Trump said on social media.
Democrats, however, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, sought to place some blame on Trump for the train derailment because his administration withdrew regulations connected to “high hazard” trains, along with other EPA regulations related to harmful toxins and emissions.
The EPA administrator, Regan, came to East Palestine on Thursday, as the first Biden administration agency head to visit. Regan visited again on Tuesday — a day ahead of Trump’s scheduled trip — and reiterated that the administration has employed the EPA and Department of Transportation personnel on the ground since “day one” to support state and local emergency and environmental response efforts.
Biden himself has said little on the topic, though the White House has said he’s offered federal assistance to Ohio Gov. DeWine and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. On Tuesday after a high-profile speech in Ukraine, Biden provided his first direct update to his involvement in East Palestine, tweeting that he had just spoken with DeWine, Shapiro, Brown, U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, Mayor Conaway and Regan about the ongoing crisis.
“We’ll continue to hold rail companies accountable when they fail to put safety first. But first, we’ve got Norfolk Southern’s mess to clean. I want affected residents to know that we’ve got your back. And as I said to your govs, they’ll have every resource that they need,” Biden said.
In a series of tweets, Biden reiterated an earlier announcement from the EPA which ordered Norfolk Southern, to pay for the clean-up and disposal of hazardous materials related to the derailment.
“This is common sense. This is their mess. They should clean it up,” Biden said, before noting that his administration were on the ground working in “lockstep” with state and local officials just “hours” after the trail derailed.
Biden also echoed Buttigieg’s plea for rail companies and lawmakers to embrace safety regulations– improvements that have been resisted, according to the transportation secretary. A day before Trump’s visit to East Palestine, Biden also noted the EPA and train related regulation rollbacks made by his predecessor’s administration.
“The @USDOT has made clear to rail companies that their pattern of resisting safety regulations has got to change. Congress should join us in implementing rail safety measures,” Biden said on Twitter. “For years, elected officials – including the last admin – have limited our ability to implement and strengthen rail safety measures. Heck, many of the elected officials pointing fingers right now want to dismantle the EPA – the agency that is making sure this clean up happens.”
While uneasiness and concern remains among community members, state and local leaders joined together on during a press conference in East Palestine on Tuesday to offer their reassurances.
DeWine, Shapiro, Johnson, Conaway and Regan touted their ability to put partisan politics aside and work together in holding Norfolk Southern accountable, they said, for environmental and safety violations. (The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating what led to the derailment.)
“We recognize that we have a responsibility, and we have committed to doing what’s right for the residents of East Palestine. We have been paying for the clean-up activities to date and will continue to do so,” the rail company said in a statement to ABC News.
“I think it’s important to point out that a Republican congressman and a Democratic congressman who are here, a Republican governor and a Democratic governor who have been working together on this matter, since the moments after that train derailed …This is how government is supposed to work and both working together with the Biden administration to make sure we draw down whatever federal resources there are, whatever federal help that they need, the good people of Ohio and Pennsylvania can know that we’ve put any kind of partisan politics aside,” Shapiro said at Tuesday’s press conference.
“This is not a place for conspiracy theories or political games,” Shapiro said. “This is a place where the good people of Pennsylvania and Ohio deserve answers, deserve accountability and deserve public servants.”
The politicians stressed to the public that the city’s water supply has shown to be safe — at least so far — and that testing would continue.
During the same press conference, Conaway said he “stood by” comments he made on Fox News on Monday night, during which he called Biden’s trip to Kyiv “the biggest slap in the face that tells you right now, he doesn’t care about us.”
“He can send every agency he wants to, but I found that out this morning and one of the briefings that he was in the Ukraine giving millions of dollars away to people over there, not to us, and I’m furious,” Conaway told Fox News host Jesse Watters on Monday.
On Tuesday, however, Conaway said Biden would be welcomed into the community.
“I would never turn anybody away, if he wants to come visit come visit. We don’t want to be political pawns,” Conaway said at the joint press conference.
“He’s more welcome to come if he wants to come. I was very frustrated last night. If you’re talking about the comments I made last night, I was very frustrated. And, you know, I stand by those comments,” the mayor said.
More heat on Transportation Secretary Buttigieg
Buttigieg also ramped up his response to the train derailment this week with pressure from the DOT for Congress to take action, a multipart push to hold the freight rail industry accountable and a strongly worded letter to Norfolk Southern, in which he accused the company of repeatedly prioritizing profit over safety.
The transportation secretary has faced his own intense criticism. Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio even wrote to Biden, calling on Buttigieg to resign.
Buttigieg responded to some of the criticism on a Monday night press call, saying that some of the most critical lawmakers were also some who have tried to “block or weaken rail safety standards” in the past.
He has maintained that he plans on visiting East Palestine when the independent NTSB investigation is finished.
“I am planning to go, and our folks were on the ground from the first hours. I do want to stress that the NTSB needs to be able to do its work independently. But when I go, the focus is going to be on action,” he told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday on Good Morning America.
On Tuesday, DeWine also called for Congress to take a sharper look at rail standards — something he and Shapiro have talked at length about, he said.
When the makers of Game of Thrones accidentally forgot to strike somebody’s Starbucks cup from a table in Westeros, it became a viral sensation; same when The Mandalorian gang didn’t spot an errant crew member in a shot in the middle of a gunfight. Now, it appears The Last of Us has suffered a similar flub.
One eagle-eyed Twitter user managed to spot some crew members in the hit show’s most recent episode.
In a shot from the sixth episode that takes place in the series post-apocalyptic United States, Pedro Pascal‘s Joel and Bella Ramsey‘s Ellie trudge across a snowy bridge. But at the 15:18 mark, Scott T. Jones noticed they weren’t alone.
No, it wasn’t clickers, but a group of film workers hauling gear. “Brilliant episode,” Jones commented. “Something you might want to fix and reupload though. You can see the film crew in this shot,” he tweeted the show’s executive producer Neil Druckmann.
He also tweeted another version of the same shot, but with handy markers in case one has trouble spotting the problem. Referencing Game of Thrones‘ flub, he used Starbucks cups to mark the crew members’ position, and some of their gear.
Nowadays, such boo-boos can be deleted digitally, and the episode re-uploaded to a streaming service — which is what the makers of The Mandalorian did, but not before “Jeans Guy” got a nickname and fan-made action figures to memorialize his moment.
As of Wednesday, however, the Last of Us flub is still there.
