Thomas Rhett set the Canadian leg of his Bring the Bar to You Tour in motion last weekend in Vancouver, racking up sellouts in Edmonton and Calgary along the way.
“It’s such an awesome feeling to be able to return to Canada and play sold out shows,” TR says. “This past weekend’s shows were honestly electric and I am having the time of my life.”
“I really appreciate all the support and the warm welcome to Canada,” he adds. “It’s going to be a great tour and we’re just getting started!”
Jordan Davis and Kameron Marlowe are opening the shows, which continue Thursday in Saskatoon, with five more stops before wrapping in Ottawa on February 25.
A few months after wrapping his One Night Only tour, Charlie Puth announced a new, multidate trek set to kick off this spring.
The Charlie Puth Experience will support the singer’s recently released eponymous album, which contained hit songs “Light Switch,” “Left and Right” and “That’s Hilarious.”
The jaunt technically begins May 20 with his scheduled appearance at the Corona Capital Festival in Mexico. From there, his tour blasts off at the The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Dallas, Texas, on May 24.
He’ll hit major cities, such as Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, Boston, Detroit, New York City and Las Vegas. He also has two concert dates in Canada, set for Toronto and Vancouver. His tour wraps July 11 with a stop at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
General public ticket sales begin Friday, February 17, at 10 a.m. local venue time on LiveNation.com. Fans will be able to access select VIP packages and advance tickets via an Artist Presale set for Wednesday, February 15. To access that sale, Charlie said on Instagram that fans should text the number 323-524-9978.
A complete list of tour dates and ticketing information is available on Live Nation.
All Time Low has premiered a new song called “Modern Love,” a track off the band’s upcoming album, Tell Me I’m Alive.
“‘Modern Love’s a beautiful disaster’ are the words of a desperate, love-sick soul and the main character of our newest song ‘Modern Love,’ who is obsessed with the quest for connection in a world that’ll often break your heart,” says frontman Alex Gaskarth.
You can listen to “Modern Love” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying video streaming now on YouTube.
Along with the new tune, All Time Low has announced a U.S. tour in support of Tell Me I’m Alive. The headlining trek will run from May 18 in Nashville to June 17 in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Tickets go on sale Friday, February 17, at 10 a.m. local time. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit AllTimeLow.com.
Tell Me I’m Alive, which also features the previously released single “Sleepwalking,” arrives March 17. It’s the follow-up to 2020’s Wake Up, Sunshine, which spawned the hit “Monsters.”
Sinéad O’Connor has lent her voice to the opening credits of season 7 of the Starz hit series Outlander. She sings the show’s theme, “The Skye Boat Song,” which features a new performer and arrangement each season.
“We are honored to have Sinéad O’Connor performing ‘The Skye Boat Song,'” showrunner and executive producer Matthew B. Roberts says. “Her rendition is, for me, a reminder of all that’s beautiful about Outlander.” He adds, “She is talented beyond measure. Hers is a voice of the ages — one which pierces heart and soul — and embodies the spirit of the show.”
The song is the first new recording from O’Connor since she announced her intention to retire from music after the release of her 2021 memoir. She later said she had changed her mind about retirement.
Season 7 is expected to premiere this summer. Sinéad’s version of the song can be heard at Starz.com.
Virgil Abloh‘s role as Louis Vuitton’s menswear creative designer will be given to Pharrell Williams. The French luxury house made the announcement Tuesday, making him the second Black American, behind Virgil, to take on the head position at a European luxury house.
“I am glad to welcome Pharrell back home, after our collaborations in 2004 and 2008 for Louis Vuitton, as our new Men’s Creative Director,” Pietro Beccari, Louis Vuitton’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “His creative vision beyond fashion will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton towards a new and very exciting chapter.”
Known by many for producing and creating hits including “Happy,” N.E.R.D‘s “Lemon” and Robin Thicke‘s “Blurred Lines,” dedicated fans of Pharrell know he’s ventured into the fashion world. His projects include his streetwear label Billionaire Boys Club, the skateboarding-inspired shoe brand Ice Cream and collaborations with Marc Jacobs, Diesel, Chanel, Moncler and Adidas.
In 2015, the Council of Fashion Designers of America honored Pharrell with the Fashion Icon Award. “No one has better style than the everyday American people,” he said during his acceptance speech. “Why? Because they’re the real thing and they live it every day. I could never be as cool as them but I’m happy to take notes.”
Pharrell’s first collection with Louis Vuitton will be revealed next June during Men’s Fashion Week in Paris.
Nonpoint is celebrating Valentine’s Day with a new song called “Heartless.”
The track is inspired by The Wizardof Oz and follows a “dark, reimagined version” of the classic Tin Man character.
“Our new single ‘Heartless’ will give you a peek inside the emptiness that drives his rusted cogs toward his target, Emerald City,” says frontman Elias Soriano.
Sample lyrics include “I’m playing with lions and tigers and bears/ witches on fire/ no wizards that care” and “I’m the one leaving the blood-covered footprints on your pretty yellow brick road.”
You can listen to “Heartless” streaming now on YouTube.
“Heartless” follows Nonpoint’s 2022 single “Paper Tigers.” They released a new EP, Ruthless, in 2021; their latest album is 2018’s X.
Nonpoint will launch their similarly Oz-themed Emerald Cities tour in March.
Babyface took the Super Bowl field on Sunday to perform an acoustic rendition of “America the Beautiful.” Fresh off the stage, he spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his feelings before and after the performance.
“I feel relieved — now I can breathe,” he said. “Before it was moments of nervousness and then I’d be chill and then I’d get a little nervous again. Right before they introduced me [I was like], ‘Oh sh**, there it is.’ I just have to be chill and just try to concentrate on the song.”
“You know the words, but it’s a different kind of song. It’s not something that you sing every day and you’re on the spot,” he continued. “If you go wrong in this, you go wrong forever. I’m thankful that we made it through it good.”
Babyface, who debuted in 1981 alongside his R&B group The Deele, says he didn’t see the opportunity coming. “It’s such an honor to be here,” he said. “I was honored that Roc Nation and Jay-Z thought I was worthy of doing it. It’s great.”
Forty years later, his discography includes his own songs, as well as collaborations with Whitney Houston, who he says “was always fun” and “silly,” Beyoncé, Toni Braxton, Boyz II Men, Mary J. Blige, TLC and Usher.
Babyface also worked with SZA on “Snooze,” which is featured on her latest album, SOS. He revealed that they have an unreleased song that he hopes will still come out.
“SZA is great. We worked on two songs, actually. Hopefully one day she’ll let us put out that other song, but she’s amazing,” he said. “I don’t know any artist that’s like her, male or female. She is truly one of the best that I’ve ever written with.”
Richie Sambora is getting Bon Jovi fans’ hopes up for a possible reunion. The guitarist was appearing on Britain’s Absolute Radio to discuss his recent appearance on The Masked Singer UK when he seemed to confirm that he’ll be returning to the band at some point.
When host Leona Graham asked him about getting back together with his former bandmates, Sambora replied, “We’re talking about it. I don’t think there’s any reason not to at this point.”
But Sambora didn’t give a time frame for this possible reunion. “Jon (Bon Jovi) was having a hard time with his voice a little bit there and he needed to take a little bit of a breather,” he said. “I don’t know when Jon’s going to get his voice together and (when the Bon Jovi reunion is) going to happen, but we have to get out there and do it for the fans, really. I feel a second obligation.”
The last time Sambora played with his former bandmates was back in 2018 at Bon Jovi’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, S.C., Feb. 5, 2023, after it was shot down. — Department of Defense
(WASHINGTON) — White House spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday the intelligence community is “considering as a leading explanation” that the three objects shot down over the weekend “could just be balloons tied to some commercial or benign purpose.”
But Kirby told reporters the U.S. is still not able to call them anything other than “objects” at this point, adding that officials are “pretty comfortable” ruling out that the objects belonged to the U.S. government.
Objects flying over Alaska, Canada and the waters off Michigan were taken down by U.S. fighter jets on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The shootdowns came less than a week after a Chinese spy balloon flew over the continental U.S. for several days before being taken down over the Atlantic Ocean.
The U.S. has still not recovered the three “objects” shot down by the military over the weekend, officials said Tuesday, as details remain scarce on what the objects are or where they came from.
“We’re calling them objects because that’s the best description we have right now,” Kirby told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Tuesday on ABC’s Good Morning America.
Kirby said the objects fell in “pretty remote locations” and “it could take us a while to reach the debris, yet alone collect it and analyze it.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also confirmed the U.S. had not been able to retrieve the objects as they are in “difficult terrain.”
“We’ll get them eventually. It will take some time to recover those,” Austin said during a news conference in Brussels, where Austin met with NATO allies ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The defense secretary said the first missile strike to down the object over Lake Huron on Sunday missed.
“First shot missed, second shot hit,” Austin said, adding the first missile “landed harmlessly in the water.”
“We’re very careful to make sure those shots are safe,” he said as he detailed some of the decision-making behind the takedowns. “That’s the guidance from the president: shoot it down, make sure we minimize collateral damage and we preserve the safety of the American people.”
As for where the objects came from, or what they are, Kirby had few new details as he appeared on GMA, though he reiterated that they didn’t have any maneuvering capabilities and were “much smaller” than the Chinese spy balloon.
All senators received a classified briefing Tuesday on the China spy balloon and the three other shoot-down incidents.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., emerged from the briefing calling on President Joe Biden to tell the public what he knows.
“We walked out of a meeting like this, and so much of what we’ve been told is classified … but the president can get in front of America and tell them firsthand that we’re safe, that everybody’s going to be okay, that we’ve got this under control, but America needs a strong leader to step forward,” Marshall said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told reporters after the briefing that it was clear the objects posed no immediate harm to Americans on the ground.
“No one has to worry about that,” Schumer said.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and other GOP senators said the issue of unidentified aerial objects flying in U.S. airspace “is not new.”
“The most important question we have to answer now is, what are these things? Who sent them here? And what are they doing here? The only way you’re gonna get answers to that is not just to retrieve whatever is left of them, but to understand how it compares to the hundreds of other similar cases,” Rubio said.
Kirby said Tuesday the U.S. is catching all these objects now because adjustments were made to radar parameters following the Chinese spy balloon incursion, and that Beijing has boosted its use of balloons in recent years.
“They have ramped up their abilities,” he said. “And then because of this spy balloon, we changed some of the radar parameters, particularly over the northern part of our northern hemisphere, and it is possible that in part because of tweaking the radar sensitivities, we are simply seeing more objects right now.”
China has accused the U.S. of sending at least 10 balloons into their airspace since the start of 2022. Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press briefing on Monday that it wasn’t “uncommon for U.S. balloons to frequently take the opportunity to carry out close-up reconnaissance against China.”
Kirby denied that on GMA, stating: “We do not deploy surveillance balloons over China.”
But when asked by Stephanopoulos if we spy over China, Kirby wouldn’t answer and only repeated that the U.S. doesn’t deploy balloons over China.
(NEW YORK) — An appellate court in New York on Tuesday upheld a $110,000 fine imposed on former President Donald Trump over his failure to comply with a subpoena issued by the New York Attorney General’s office as part of its civil investigation of Trump and his family business.
“The court correctly determined, based on the papers on the motion, that petitioner established by clear and convincing evidence that respondent’s March 31, 2022 response to the subpoena, stating that a diligent search had failed to locate any responsive documents in his possession or custody, without providing any search or document retention policy details as required under the subpoena’s unambiguous instructions, prejudicially violated the lawful, clear mandate of the court, of which he had knowledge,” said the opinion of the New York State Appellate Division’s First Department.
Judge Arthur Engoron held Trump in civil contempt last April and imposed a $10,000 per day sanction until he satisfactorily complied with a subpoena for records and documents sought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed a $250 million lawsuit against Trump alleging fraudulent business conduct involving the values of his real estate holdings.
“Once again, the courts have ruled that Donald Trump is not above the law. For years, he tried to stall and thwart our lawful investigation into his financial dealings, but today’s decision sends a clear message that there are consequences for abusing the legal system,” James said in a statement.
Trump’s attorney said he had no documents responsive to the subpoena but the judge faulted Trump’s failure to swear, under oath, that he even bothered to look. Trump ultimately paid the fine.
“We further find that the financial sanction to compel compliance was a proper exercise of the court’s discretionary power and was not excessive or otherwise improper, under the particular circumstances,” the opinion said.
For 20 years, Trump and his family enriched themselves through “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentations,” James alleged in that lawsuit that accuses the Trumps of “grossly” inflating the former president’s net worth by billions of dollars and cheating lenders and others with false and misleading financial statements.
The civil lawsuit, filed in September 2022 in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, seeks a $250 million judgment and a prohibition on any of the Trumps leading a company in the state of New York.
“We found that Mr. Trump, his children, and the corporation used more than 200 false asset valuations over a ten year period,” James said at the press conference announcing the charges.
Among other allegations, the suit claims that the former president’s Florida estate and golf resort, Mar-a-Lago, was valued as high as $739 million, but should have been valued at around one-tenth that amount, at $75 million. The suit says that higher valuation was “based on the false premise that it was unrestricted property and could be developed for residential use even though Mr. Trump himself signed deeds donating his residential development rights and sharply restricting changes to the property.”
Trump has denied wrongdoing and has called James’ investigation a politically motivated “witch hunt.” James rejected a settlement offer from the Trump Organization last month to resolve the matter, sources told ABC News.
Trump withdrew his lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James in January.
The withdrawal came in a brief document filed in January with U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks, who warned Trump’s legal team that the lawsuit appeared to verge on frivolous.
Trump’s lawsuit against the AG had sought to shield Trump’s revocable trust from James.
