This year marks the 50th anniversary of Queen’s self-titled debut album, and in a new interview, guitarist Brian May says things didn’t necessarily go the way the band wanted them to during the recording process.
“Our major frustration was the sound of that first album, which we were never happy with,” he tells Guitar World. He says the sound at Trident Studios, where they recorded it, “was very dead.”
“It was the opposite of what we were aiming for,” May adds.
He says the album’s producer, Roy Thomas Baker, said the issues could be fixed during the mixing process, with May noting, “And I think we all knew: it ain’t going to happen!”
But even with the issues, May is still incredibly proud of the album.
“Oh, I love it! It encapsulates what we were at the time, and it’s a declaration of where we were going,” he says. “It’s very emotionally based and quite raw. But it’s got a lot of melody and sh**loads of harmonies.”
He adds, “We were starting to flex our muscles. We were painting those colors with vocals and with guitars. It’s got all sorts of experimentation, which defines how free we wanted to be.”
Anticipation was already high for Michael B. Jordan‘s return to the Creed franchise, this time as a director, but if fans were somehow not already hyped enough for Creed III, the final trailer should do the trick.
“There’s no enemy like the past,” title cards read during the extended look at the film, which sees Jordan’s Adonis Creed stepping back into the ring after three years away, in order to face Jonathan Major‘s Damian, who vows to “take it all” from the champ.
“He’s not gonna stop,” Creed tells his love, Tessa Thompson‘s Bianca.
“Then you make him,” she replies.
The new trailer delves deeper into their rivalry: Damian was locked up while Adonis thrived, and with the former out of jail and looking for revenge, Creed must risk it all to keep his legacy, and himself, alive.
The sneak peek also showcases another Rocky franchise staple: training montages. Both actors are in absolutely insane shape for their face-off, with Creed towing a private plane and Majors devastating lesser competitors in the ring.
The fighters go toe-to-toe March 3, in both theaters and IMAX, with the large format’s detail allowing Jordan to make fans feel every bone-crunching punch, as well as showcasing stunning visuals that prove Jordan was taking notes from some of the great directors he’s worked with as a leading man.
(LOS ANGELES) — Some of the largest counties in the U.S. are joining forces to provide guaranteed income to residents in need.
County leaders from Los Angeles County, Chicago’s Cook County, Houston’s Harris County and more help make up Counties for Guaranteed Income, a coalition of local leaders hoping to collect research to try to expand no-strings-attached cash assistance programs nationwide.
Research suggests that guaranteed income can provide a path to financial stability and address poverty as well as racial, wealth or income inequalities.
“It’s not just the morally right thing to do. It’s actually pragmatic and economically a smart strategy as well,” Will Jawando, a Montgomery County, Maryland, councilmember at-large, told ABC News. “We saw with the child tax credit, we saw with the stimulus.”
“Those are forms of guaranteed income that were temporary. For the child tax credit, for example, lifted [nearly] half of kids out of poverty during that time,” Jawando said, citing Census Bureau numbers.
Coalition members recently met with leaders at the White House and Capitol Hill to make the case for guaranteed income efforts, including the child tax credit, according to Jawando.
However, guaranteed income is not supported by all. Some critics argue that these programs will stop people from working — though such claims have been challenged — or will be too expensive to maintain.
The board is following in the footsteps of Mayors for Guaranteed Income, a similar group made up of more than 100 mayors across the country. So far, their programs have impacted almost 6,000 people, offering monthly payments of up to $1,000 for as long as three years.
Most of the money spent in these programs was used on retail sales and services, followed by food and groceries. Transportation and housing expenses followed, respectively.
Participants have previously told ABC News that the programs have taken weight off their shoulders — helping them pay bills, afford care for their children and provide stability.
“Whether it’s buying a car to get to that next job that’s a little further away, investing in education, paying for childcare, which we know is very high — people are using it in different ways,” Jawando said. “But what it’s doing is it’s it’s allowing space in relieving pressure so that they can take care of themselves and their families and move up the economic ladder.”
Though the coalition of county leaders has just begun, county-based initiatives are well on their way.
Los Angeles County’s Breathe pilot program allots $1,000 payments to 1,000 randomly selected participants for three years.
“The insights we gain from our pilot will add to the repository of data that proves that people facing economic hardship know how to allocate money in a way that best provides for their families,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell in a statement on the CGI website.
Cook County’s Promise Guaranteed Income Pilot provides $500 monthly payments to 3,250 low-income households for 2 years. It started in December 2022.
“With this stable foundation, people can further support their families, pursue education and find new job,” said Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, in a statement on the CGI website. “With more stability, people invest in themselves and their families, take risks and even start businesses.”
(NEW YORK) — Days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake and hundreds of powerful aftershocks struck southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria, survivors were still being pulled from the rubble.
Rescue efforts continue even as the death toll has surpassed 41,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.
Although most rescues happen in the first 24 hours after a natural disaster, experts said people can survive up to a week or more trapped under fallen debris depending on several factors including whether they have access to water and air, weather conditions and the extent of their injuries.
“So, a natural disaster is something that leaves us all feeling helpless, in general, just by virtue of what it is,” Dr. Emanuel Maidenberg, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, told ABC News. “It’s unpredictable and uncontrollable and, as human beings, we all have to accept that reality of it and the uncertainty that is associated with not knowing when and how intense it could happen.”
He added, “So, we’re mostly not spending days anticipating or waiting for events of that kind. And yet, when it happens, there are other mechanisms that become available to us.”
Make noise
Dr. Stephen Morris, an associate professor in the department of emergency medicine at UW Medicine with international disaster-response experience, told ABC News one of the best ways to help yourself be rescued is to find some way to communicate with the outside world that you’re still alive.
That means screaming or making noise to alert emergency rescue workers to your location.
“The really only thing that’s sort of paramount to express is that being found is really the only way of survival,” he said. “And so, finding a way to communicate, making repetitive noise, this usually involves some sort of tapping against the infrastructure where people are trapped.”
He said, in past earthquakes, survivors have even managed to obtain cell service and are able to call or text to let people know they are in need of rescue.
“Getting the message that you’re there and you’re still alive out is what gets people rescued,” Morris said.
He also stressed that people should try to protect their airways if they are trapped, whether that means making as much room for themselves and keeping objects out of their face.
Importance of drinking water
When people have survived for several days, it’s usually because they have access to fresh drinking water, Morris said.
Although a person can survive without water for about one week, he said being close to water supply when being trapped is the best chance of survival, although this is often a matter of luck.
“There’s a lot of luck involved with the people that have survived for very long periods of time,” Morris said.
A 17-year-old boy named Muhammet Korkut told ABC News he survived while trapped for 94 hours by drinking his own urine.
Morris said he advises against this if you’re trapped under rubble — as well as drinking sea water or alcohol — because it can be dehydrating.
“Almost universally not recommended,” he said. “It can absolutely dehydrate you faster than not drinking anything at all. There’s definitely a psychological event that occurs where people are so desperately thirsty that any liquid will seem preferable to nothing at all. But certainly, from a survival standpoint, these are not adequate.”
Morris said if people absolutely need to drink some sort of liquid and are not near water but have access to soda or coffee, he recommends drinking it in extreme circumstances, as long as people realize that these liquids can still be dehydrating.
Korkut said he also ate his family’s flowers to survive, which is something else Morris said he doesn’t recommend.
“The idea that you need food to survive, that’s just not the case,” he said. “People can survive weeks and weeks, if not months, without eating. It’s very unpleasant … but the majority of people will not die without eating.”
Cold weather can play a factor
One thing that can affect survival is the weather. Currently, in Turkey, temperatures have been unseasonably cold.
Temperatures at night have fallen to as low as 32 F, making it hard for those who are trapped to stay warm. Morris said this is another example of how luck can play a role in survival.
“The inclement weather also plays a role,” Morris said. “So, hypothermia will set in very quickly, in cold, especially when people are unable to access some way to cover themselves and to stay warm after events, and certainly that’s compounded by injuries that they might have from the event itself.”
Psychological survival mechanism activated
Maidenberg said several psychological and physiological mechanisms are activated when people are trapped under rubble or heavy debris.
The goal of these mechanisms is to help humans tolerate distress. Everybody has them, but they are not typically used because there is no need for them, he said.
“In these circumstances, we as human beings are able to activate mechanisms that are needed in order to survive,” Maidenberg said. “So, it’s a survival instinct that includes resilience and flexibility. Flexibility means being in a very uncomfortable — physically and emotionally — position for prolonged periods of time.”‘
He added that people are able to withstand the discomfort or hardship of being trapped because the mechanism has kicked in of fighting for survival.
“Our will to survive and to live becomes the most important goal to pursue,” Maidenberg said. “So. there’s this sort of spiritual process of some kind, there’s a physiological process of some kind, and physical process of some kind that, all together, come to help us to survive for as long as possible.”
Fight-or-flight response
Maidenberg said the fight-or-flight response is also being activated when somebody is trapped under rubble or debris.
This is a psychological reaction that occurs in response to an event that is stressful, frightening or life-threatening. Because the option to flee no longer exists, people are now fighting to survive.
“It really very much has to do with our perception of danger or threat,” he said. “So, if anything happens during the time, that the person stands in that circumstance that he or she interprets as becoming imminently dangerous, that activates that physiological response.”
Maidenberg continued, “And in these circumstances, there is not much typically that the person can do. So, it becomes a matter of perseverance and distress tolerance.”
Following a person being rescued, Morris said it’s important to examine patients for any crush injuries and renal failure, especially if they haven’t had water for days.
“People are dehydrated and the first thing to fail is their kidney,” he said. “Additionally, people that have crush injuries, as the crushed tissue releases a lot of toxins, which then get filtered out through the kidney and damage the kidney.”
Survivors may need IV fluids or dialysis to help flush toxins from the body when the kidneys aren’t functioning properly. They may also need to be evaluated long-term to see if they develop kidney disease.
As for psychological help, Maidenberg recommends using social support or family support to being able to work through — or talk about — the experience.
“There are many different things that can be helpful that we have access to, and it depends on the environment and our own willingness to volunteer information,” he said. “I think that personally, it’s generally always helpful to be able to put emotional experiences into words and be able to describe it, including what happened and how it made us feel.”
But he added that it may be different for other people, saying, “It depends on the specific circumstances and depends on one’s need for other people’s support and understanding. In general, it’s considered to be very helpful, but it’s not for everybody.”
T-Pain is putting aside Auto-Tune for his next album. Titled On Top of the Covers, the project will see him flex his vocals on covers of songs from Sam Cooke, Journey, Frank Sinatra and more.
“You’ve been asking for it & here ya go bro. A T-Pain cover album to end all cover albums…..from T-Pain,” he tweeted. Included on his track list are Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show’s “Sharing The Night Together,” Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me,” Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey,” Sinatra’s “That’s Life” (with a feature from NandoSTL) and Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.”
On Top of the Covers, T-Pain’s first album since 2019’s 1UP, is slated to come out on March 17. It will be celebrated that day and the next with an intimate set of concerts at the Sun Rose at Pendry West Hollywood.
Despite having a global hit by the age of 10 — 2021’s “Cover Me in Sunshine” — Pink doesn’t think her daughter, Willow,will follow in her footsteps.
Speaking to Marie Claire Australia, the hitmaker opened up about her daughter’s career aspirations, saying, “People say to her, ‘You have such a beautiful voice, do you want to be a singer?’ And Willow says, ‘Oh God no!’ And I’m like, ‘Hold on, you don’t have to say it like that! I’m kinda cool – at least some people think so!'”
Pink continued, “She’s keeping her options open.”
So, what jobs are more suitable for her 11-year-old? “I think she should be a lawyer for the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union]; she can change the world and bail out her brother [Jameson],” she remarked. “She’s thinking actor, Broadway, something like that. Who knows?”
When it comes to her 6-year-old son, Pink envisions Jameson being “a DJ in Vegas because he’s a f***ing psychopath! But a very charming psychopath.”
Pink also spoke on balancing her family life with her career. “Willow and I have had a lot of teary, interesting conversations. I’ve told her that I honor her childhood as much or more than I honor her adult choices,” she said. “These are my choices; she shouldn’t pay for them.”
While the singer has told Willow she loves what she does and has worked hard to get where she is, Pink said she told her daughter, “If you want me to quit I’ll walk away tomorrow, I’ll cancel the whole tour.”
Pink said Willow so far has told her not to cancel it. “Later that night she’s asking, ‘When are you going to Paris and Amsterdam?’ And I’m like, ‘You little f***er!'” she laughed.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. risks defaulting on its debts as early as July unless the borrowing limit is raised, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a report on Wednesday.
The federal government on Jan. 19 reached its approximately $31.4 trillion debt ceiling — which legally caps how much the U.S. can borrow to pay for what tax and other revenue doesn’t cover — and the Treasury Department has since been using “extraordinary measures” along with its current cash flow to keep the government’s obligations paid.
“CBO estimates that under its baseline budget projections, the Treasury would exhaust those measures and run out of cash sometime between July and September of this year,” according to the report.
The CBO projection adds urgency to an ongoing political dispute in Congress over the debt ceiling. Some Republicans in the House have resisted an increase of the debt limit unless Democrats agree to spending cuts. The Biden administration, however, has repeatedly said that it will not negotiate over the debt ceiling and that a discussion over spending should occur separately.
Speaking with “Good Morning America” last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called on Congress to raise the debt limit.
“America has paid all of its bills on time since 1789, and not to do so would produce an economic and financial catastrophe,” Yellen said. “Every responsible member of Congress must agree to raise the debt ceiling.”
She added, “It’s something that simply can’t be negotiable.”
Failure to raise the debt limit and the ensuing default on U.S. debt — which have never happened before — would cause immense harm to the U.S. and global economies, since the trustworthiness of U.S. Treasury bonds amounts to a cornerstone of domestic and international investment, economists and budget analysts previously told ABC News.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Raquel Welch, actress and pinup starlet, has died, ABC News has confirmed. According to a rep, “The legendary bombshell actress of film, television and stage, passed away peacefully early this morning after a brief illness.”
She was 82.
Born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago in 1940, Welch was a beauty pageant winner in her youth, before stepping in front of the camera to briefly work as a weather person at a San Diego TV station.
Her big break came in the form of three lines of dialogue — but particularly a fur bikini — in the 1966 campy film One Million Years B.C. Welch also appeared that year in the science fiction film Fantastic Voyage.
The early films cemented her role as a sex symbol, a reputation she often poked fun at, including in the title of her 2010 memoir, Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage.
For 1975’s The Three Musketeers, Welch appeared opposite Faye Dunaway and Charlton Heston, snagging a Golden Globe for Best Actress in the film comedy category. She’d be nominated again in the drama category for the 1987 movie Right to Die.
Welch received her Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 1996.
In 1997, Welch came to a new audience while appearing in the penultimate season finale of Seinfeld. Playing a diva version of herself in the installment called “The Summer of George,” Welch poked fun at her persona, physically taking on Michael Richards‘ Kramer and later Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ Elaine after her character was fired from the fictitious Tony-winning play Scarsdale Surprise.
In 2001, she had supporting roles on the big screen in the hit Legally Blonde and the indie film Tortilla Soup.
Married four times, Welch leaves behind two children, son Damon Welch and daughter Tahnee Welch.
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. intelligence agencies tracked the Chinese spy balloon from its launch in China and watched as it may have been inadvertently blown into U.S. airspace, a U.S. official has confirmed to ABC News.
The Washington Post was the first to report that the balloon may have been diverted from its original route and that the resulting incident and tensions with China might have been due, in part, to a mistake. It was said the balloon was on course to fly toward the U.S. territory of Guam when it took an unexpected turn north due to strong winds.
U.S. officials have said the intent of the balloon was for surveillance — not meteorological research as Beijing claimed. A State Department official said last week that the balloon had equipment “clearly for intelligence surveillance,” including antennas “likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications.”
Over its weeklong journey over the U.S., the balloon first entered airspace over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28 then traversed into Canada’s airspace before reentering U.S. airspace heading east. It was shot down in waters off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4.
President Joe Biden said he ordered the balloon be shot down when he was informed of its presence over Montana, but that his military advisers said it was too dangerous to conduct over land.
The incident added tension to the fraught U.S.-China relationship, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelling a planned trip to Beijing. Blinken and other U.S. officials called the balloon a “clear violation” of international law.
China has now accused the U.S. of flying several balloons into its airspace since the spring of last year, which White House spokesperson John Kirby flatly denied during an appearance Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“We do not deploy surveillance balloons over China,” Kirby said, though he declined to answer a follow-up question on whether the U.S. spies on China.
The Pentagon said earlier this month the balloon didn’t pose a physical threat, and that once it was detected the U.S. took steps to protect against foreign intelligence collection.
Crews have been working since the Feb. 4 take down to collect debris. A significant portion of the balloon’s reconnaissance section was recovered on Monday, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News. One official said the payload is 30-feet long.
“Crews have been able to recover significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified as well as large sections of the structure,” Northcom said in a statement.
All senators received a classified briefing on Tuesday about the spy balloon and three other unidentified objects shot down over the weekend over Alaska, Canada and Lake Huron. The intelligence community is considering as a “leading explanation” that those objects were for commercial or benign use, Kirby told reporters Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said senators will receive another briefing Wednesday “on the state of U.S. defense readiness with respect to China.”
