Foo Fighters have shared a tribute to Taylor Hawkins on what would’ve been the late drummer’s 51st birthday.
In a tweet Friday, Dave Grohl and company posted a photo of Hawkins alongside the caption, “Miss you so much.“
Hawkins was born February 17, 1972 — the same day and year as Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. He passed away unexpectedly on March 25, 2022, just over a month after his 50th birthday.
Foo Fighters honored Hawkins with two giant tribute concerts last September. The group is set to return to the road this year for a number of festival headlining performances, including at Bonnaroo and Boston Calling. A new drummer has yet to be announced.
RTZ is ready to release his debut album. The musician, born Robin Taylor Zander and son of Cheap Trick guitarist Robin Zander, is set to drop The Distance on April 21.
RTZ, who’s been a touring musician with Cheap Trick since 2016, teamed up with producer Jack Douglas —who’s producedmusic for John Lennon, Patti Smith and New York Dolls — for the record, which is inspired by RTZ’s love of classic artists like Neil Young and T. Rex, as well as My Morning Jacket‘s Jim James and the Flaming Lips‘ Wayne Coyne.
RTZ has also shared the first single from the record, “High N Low,” which he describes as “an oldie, but a goodie.” He noted he wrote it back in January 2015 but had never released it.
“The production is entirely inspired by the music of the Beach Boys, the Beatles, the Bee Gees, basically, it’s a tip of the hat to them,” RTZ shares. “Their vocals and harmonies are why I sing and write music. It’s a little pop, a little British, a little Beatlesesque.”
He adds, “It’s simple and it’s about people passing from unfortunate events that could have been avoided. It’s about specific people for my life, how we deal with death and how it depends on the person. It’s very honest, but a reassuring song … It’s something I think about a lot when something tough is happening.”
Mark Consuelos appeared on Live with Kelly and Ryan Friday to discuss his new job as wife Kelly Ripa‘s co-host after Ryan Seacrest departs the show this spring.
Consuelos, who married Ripa in May 1996, joked about working with his wife every day, saying, “I get to share a coffee with you every morning before the show and now I’ll have one with you on the show, as well.”
Seacrest then addressed Consuelos, telling him, “I do want to say you are a brother to me. You are a family member to me. I have become so close with both of you.”
“I couldn’t be happier to see you come in and be next to your wife every day,” he added, calling Ripa “the most amazing human being on the planet.”
Consuelos said he “echoed” Seacrest’s sentiments, adding, “I can’t think of a better person to sit next to my wife the past six years. You’re a true friend, you’re a brother, you’re generous to my wife — to my whole family.”
“I got to meet your family, too … I loved your parents and your niece and your sister and brother-in-law,” he added as Seacrest became teary-eyed.
Consuelos then said he knew he was filling an “iconic” chair on the ABC morning talk show, saying, “I think it’s going to be a blast.”
Seacrest announced during the February 16 episode of Live that he would be leaving the show to focus on hosting American Idol season 21 and other projects.
Seacrest, who joined Live as Ripa’s co-host in 2017, said he’ll be back to guest host in the future.
Consuelos shared a post on Instagram the day of Seacrest’s announcement, in which he congratulated him on his “next chapter.”
(NEW YORK) — U.S. consumer credit card debt has jumped to nearly $1 trillion, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said on Thursday.
Credit card balances increased more than $60 billion over the three months ending in December, lifting the total amount of U.S. credit card debt to an all-time high of $986 billion, the report found.
The skyrocketing credit card balance has coincided with an increase in the interest rates paid on such debt, crunching household budgets as high inflation eats away at the savings that many amassed during the pandemic.
The average credit card interest rate offered in the U.S. over the last three months of 2022 stood at 21.6%, according to WalletHub, a jump from about 18% a year prior. An aggressive series of interest rate hikes imposed by the Federal Reserve has caused the jump in credit card rates.
Overall, total household debt increased over the last three months of 2022, jumping 2.4% to nearly $17 trillion, the New York Fed found.
The record credit card debt sounds an alarm about the health of U.S. borrowers despite a booming job market that boasts the lowest unemployment rate in more than 50 years, Wilbert van der Klaauw, an economic research adviser at the New York Fed, said in a statement.
“Although historically low unemployment has kept consumer’s financial footing generally strong, stubbornly high prices and climbing interest rates may be testing some borrowers’ ability to repay their debts,” van der Klaauw said.
The average credit card user carried a balance of $5,805 over the last three months of 2022, research firm TransUnion found. The figure marked an 11% increase from the previous year.
The Fed earlier this month imposed the latest in a series of borrowing cost increases as it tries to slash price hikes by slowing the economy and choking off demand.
Inflation has fallen significantly from a summer peak but is more than triple the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.
Despite some indicators that suggest waning consumer strength, retail sales surged in January, according to government data released on Wednesday. U.S. retail sales jumped 3% in January compared to a month prior, exceeding the 2% increase expected by forecasters surveyed by Bloomberg.
Retail sales had fallen in December, ending the typically busy holiday shopping season with a whimper.
Consumer prices rose 6.4% in January compared to a year ago, easing slightly but still elevated.
“A lot of people may not have enough income coming in to support day-to-day expenses, so it lands on the credit card,” Ted Rossman, a senior analyst at Bankrate.com who focuses on the credit card industry, previously told ABC News. “That becomes a very persistent cycle of debt, unfortunately.”
The Eagles released the compilation album Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), featuring songs from their first four albums, including “Take it Easy,” “Lyin’ Eyes,” “Desperado,” “Take it to the Limit” and others.
The album peaked at number one on the Billboard Album charts and stayed there for five weeks. It went on to spend over 230 weeks on the album chart.
Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) was the first album to receive a Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, and was eventually certified 38 times Platinum. In 2017 the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
Theory of a Deadman has shared a new song called “Two of Us (Stuck),” a track off the band’s upcoming album, Dinosaur.
Listening to “Two of Us (Stuck)” will remind you of Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers‘ “Just the Two of Us,” though it takes a less upbeat turn from the original ’80s hit with the lyric “Just the two of us/ We couldn’t make it if we tried.”
Dinosaur, the eighth Theory album, will arrive March 17. It also includes the previously released songs “Dinosaur” and “Ambulance.”
Theory is hitting the road ahead of Dinosaur‘s arrival on the Rock Resurrection tour with Skillet and Saint Asonia, which launches Friday in Gary, Indiana. They’ll also be touring their native Canada with Disturbed in the spring.
If you couldn’t get tickets to Pink‘s Summer Carnival tour, she’s got you covered for the fall — TRUSTFALL, that is.
The singer has announced The TRUSTFALL Tour, which will kick off October 12 in Sacramento, California, and wraps up November 18 in Orlando, Florida. As opposed to the Summer Carnival tour, which will visit stadiums, these fall dates are all in arenas. GROUPLOVE, which is part of the summer tour, will also open the fall dates.
Tickets go on sale Tuesday, February 21, at 10 a.m. local time with Citi and Verizon presales; the general onsale date is February 24 at 10 a.m. local time at LiveNation.com.
Pink, whose album TRUSTFALL is out Friday, will visit NBC’s Today and CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert next week, both on February 21. She’ll then do a takeover of The Drew Barrymore Show on February 27.
“This might be the album I’m most proud of,” Pink says in a statement. “Get in your coziest pair of sweats, grab yourself an hour of self-care, and start on track one. Two ingredients needed: tissues and dance shoes.”
Pink will stream her album release celebration Friday starting at 4 p.m. ET.
Matty Healy and company will be the show’s musical guest for the second time on March 11, following their first appearance in 2016. The upcoming episode will be hosted by Wednesday star Jenna Ortega.
SNL airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC. As previously announced, Jack White will be the musical guest on next weekend’s February 25 episode.
The 1975 recently wrapped a tour of the United Kingdom in support of their 2022 album, Being Funny in a Foreign Language. Following the SNL performance, they’ll return to the road for a tour of South America, followed by dates in Mexico, Asia, Australia and Europe.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — All five former Memphis police officers accused of murder in connection to the traffic stop beating of Tyre Nichols entered not guilty pleas on Friday morning.
Nichols’ parents and their attorney, Ben Crump, were in the courtroom.
The former officers are set to return to court on May 1. None of the officers spoke in the brief court appearance Friday.
The five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — were fired and arrested on charges including second-degree murder following Nichols’ beating during a Jan. 7 traffic stop.
Nichols, 29, was hospitalized and died three days later.
Graphic footage of the traffic stop was released to the public last month and sparked nationwide outrage.
A sixth officer was fired and a seventh has been relieved of duty in the wake of Nichols’ death. More officers could receive administrative discipline and the district attorney said additional charges could be filed.
At Nichols’ funeral, family attorney Ben Crump said that Nichols’ legacy “will be one of equal justice.”
“It will be the blueprint going forward, because we have to remember that in less than 20 days … they were terminated, they were arrested and they were charged,” he said of the officers.
Nichols’ family is now urging Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would mandate accountability for police misconduct, address racial profiling and limit use of force for police officers.
Queen is giving fans yet another peek behind the scenes with the latest episode of their weekly YouTube series Queen The Greatest Live. This week they explore the decisions that go into picking opening numbers for a show.
“The audience want to be blown away at first,” Roger Taylor shares in the clip. “We used to say blind them, deafen them, and then calm down a bit after 20 minutes. You really want to go bang, bang, bang, bang at the beginning of a show.”
Brian May adds that some songs are simply made to be openers. “Sometimes, writing a song, you’re already aware it would be a good opener,” he says. “You see it in that light. The production starts to take place in your head. We’ve had some really good openers and I think generally they’ve come out of the music.”
The episode looks at classic Queen openers like “We Will Rock You” and even “Tie Your Mother Down” during the period they toured with Paul Rodgers. May also talks about how they learned what goes into building anticipation in a show from artists like The Who and Led Zeppelin.
The band also discusses why they rarely take openers with them when they tour. “Basically, we have a lot to offer on a given night and we like to use the whole evening,” May says. “So we like to do the whole show ourselves. It’s like we kind of do the warm-up ourselves.”
He adds, “In some ways it’s a shame because it’s nice to take a support group out because it gives them a leg up and it gives them a good chance to be seen.”
