The Black Crowes and Modern English are among the artists booked for the first-ever Evolution Festival, taking place August 26 and 27 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Headliners for the festival include The Black Keys on Saturday and Brandi Carlile on Sunday, with the bill also including Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Brittany Howard, Ice Cube, Morgan Wade and Sugar Hill Gang.
And this isn’t the only new festival The Black Crowes’ Chris and Rich Robinson have booked. They just announced their acoustic project, Brothers of a Feather, will be playing MerleFest, which is happening April 27 in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Their complete list of dates can be found at theblackcrowes.com.
(NEW YORK) — A U-Haul driver is in custody after allegedly striking eight people in a “violent rampage” in multiple locations in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday, according to NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
Four people have been hospitalized, two in critical condition and two in serious condition, the commissioner said at a news conference.
Four others suffered minor injuries, Sewell said.
One of the eight injured was a police officer who tried to stop the driver, she said.
“We have seven different locations to process,” the commissioner said.
The driver was identified by police sources as 62-year-old Weng Sor. He allegedly screamed that he wanted to die as he sped off and led police on a brief chase, according to a law enforcement official and a local councilman.
He allegedly fled from Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge neighborhood through Sunset Park before being apprehended a few miles away in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook, ending the 40-minute ordeal.
Police searched the truck and found nothing suspicious, sources said.
U-Haul said in a statement that the truck was rented for 30 days with a return date of March 3, and that the daily cost of the rental was paid in advance and on a valid contract.
“It was an in-town rental, meaning the equipment was supposed to be returned to the location from which it was dispatched,” U-Haul said. “Our customers provide valid identification/driver’s license, valid form of payment, and any additional forms of meaningful assurance our rental agents deem necessary to try to make certain our equipment will be returned in proper condition, and at the stipulated time and place. These criteria must be met before a transaction occurs.”
The company said it has no record of the suspect previously renting with U-Haul prior to this rental.
“U-Haul is working closely with law enforcement officials to meet their needs in this case. Any further details should come from law enforcement,” the company added.
There are no additional credible threats, according to the New York City mayor’s office.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she’s been briefed on the incident and that New York State Police are on the scene.
“I am praying for everyone who was injured today in Brooklyn,” Hochul tweeted. “Grateful for the swift response of @NYPDnews to apprehend the suspect and of our first responders to tend to those injured.”
The group, made up of Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks, earned the number one position with earnings of $230 million, thanks largely to the sale of their music catalog to Concord Music Group, in a deal reportedly worth $300 million (before fees). They also brought in about $27 million from their final tour.
And they aren’t the only rockers to benefit from a catalog deal this year. Sting lands at number two, earning $210 million in 2022 from his catalog deal with Universal Music Group, also said to be worth around $300 million.
Also while they didn’t sell their catalog, The Rolling Stones still landed in the Top 10 at seven, with $98 million in earnings thanks to their most recent European tour and royalties.
American Idol judges Katy Perry and Luke Bryan both have residencies at Resorts World Las Vegas and both have added more show dates for 2023 — which is why they hopped on each other’s Instagram pages to announce the good news.
“What are you doing on my Instagram?” Katy asks. “Trying to get some of your 100 million followers!” jokes Luke. Katy then says she’s added 16 new shows to her PLAY residency in May, July and August.
Katy goes on to note that she and Luke use the same backstage area and dressing room when they perform their respective residencies.
“Where I pee, you pee?” Luke responds. “Yeah, it’s strange, sometimes I have to have the toilet seat cover changed,” Katy cracks. “Because after a run of Luke shows, it’s just been … used up. But anyway, we have new shows at Resorts World — come and see us!”
“It’s hell out there in Vegas!” Luke laughs.
Visit AXS.com to buy tickets for Katy’s new shows, which run from May 12 through May 28; July 28 and July 29; and August 2 through August 12.
Meanwhile, Luke, Katy and Lionel Richie are back with the new season of American Idol Sunday, February 19, on ABC.
Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul veteran Bob Odenkirktook to Twitter to tout a literary collaboration with his two adult children.
Odenkirk explains in the brief video that his children, 24-year-old Nate and 22-year-old Erin, collaborated with him on a book of poems called Zilot & Other Important Rhymes. The Emmy-winning writer called the book “the best thing I did with my time on earth,” adding Erin created the book’s illustrations.
The Nobody star, already a New York Times bestselling author thanks to the 2012 screenplay collection called Hollywood Said No!, as well as his 2022 memoir, Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama, explained in the brief message that Zilot & Other Important Rhymes will debut in October from Little, Brown and Company.
The publisher says the October 10 release is culled from a homemade book the trio wrote called Olde Time Rhymes that the family revisited almost two decades later while they were under COVID quarantine.
“From the titular made-up word for an indoor fort, an adorable dog with a penchant for the zoomies, and a father teaching his kids how umbrellas work, the subjects of these works, complemented by Erin’s whimsical and detailed linework, come alive on these pages,” Little, Brown writes. “Featuring over seventy poems, Zilot & Other Important Rhymes will delight readers young and old—including fans of Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky, and, of course, Bob himself.”
U2 is set to release the new album Songs of Surrender in a little over a month, and they have just shared another track from the record. The band has released their new take on the Achtung Baby classic “One,” which has basically been turned into a piano ballad, with an added choir at the end.
U2 will release Songs of Surrender, containing 40 reimagined and rerecorded songs, on March 17. Curated and produced by The Edge, each song on the album is a completely new recording, with new arrangements — and in some cases new lyrics.
This is the third taste of the record the band has shared with fans. They previously released their new takes on “With or Without You” and “Pride (In The Name of Love).”
(NEW YORK) — With the recent shootdowns of “high-altitude objects,” there’s heightened awareness about what’s flying in U.S. airspace, especially weather balloons.
As it turns out, the skies are crowded.
How many weather balloons are there?
On any given day, nearly 1800 weather balloons are launched across the world, including 92 here in the U.S. and U.S. territories, according to the National Weather Service.
Each flight lasts around two hours, during which a balloon drifts up to 125 miles and can reach an altitude of 100,000 feet.
How are weather balloons useful?
According to the NWS, weather balloons are a key tool in forecasting.
Each weather balloon has a device about the size of a shoebox attached to it called a radiosonde. The radiosonde measures pressure, temperature and relative humidity during its flight.
The radiosonde sends data down to monitoring stations every one to two seconds, which also allows researchers to track wind speed and the balloon’s location.
Who tracks weather balloons?
The radiosonde allows the researchers operating the weather balloon to track it. Regulations from the FAA require the balloon’s operator to record the position every two hours.
Operators are also required to “provide traffic advisories to all affected aircraft … specifying the balloon’s known or estimated position, direction of movement, and altitude.”
ABC News aviation analyst and veteran airline captain John Nance said a weather balloon might show up on a radar, but because it doesn’t contain a lot of metal, it is harder for the radar to spot.
“Something slow moving that has very little metal in it will pop up on a regular radar as just a little noise,” Nance said. “In other words you might see it on the sweep and you might not see it for a couple other sweeps and then another sweep [the weather balloon] might pop up again.”
Are weather balloons dangerous for planes?
Weather balloons do pass through the 31,000 – 41,000 commercial airplane cruising altitude range, but are not expected to hover at that range, according to Nance.
“If it’s up there at 60,000 feet or above, there’s really no worry about it conflicting with air traffic unless it starts coming down,” Nance said.
The object shot down Sunday over Lake Huron was said to be floating around 20,000 feet.
“That is definitely right in the middle of air traffic,” Nance said. “You do not want something like that hanging around.”
What happens to a weather balloon?
After about two hours, most weather balloons burst, according to the NWS. The weather balloon can expand to 20 feet in diameter when it reaches bursting altitude.
The radiosonde has a parachute, allowing it to fall back to Earth safely. Each radiosonde also has a mailing bag and instructions on how to return it.
According to the NWS, about 15,000 radiosondes get returned each year out of 75,000 sent out. The government fixes and reuses returned radiosondes, which saves money.
(EAST PALESTINE, Ohio) — There were more toxic chemicals aboard the train that derailed in Ohio than originally reported, new data shows.
State health officials were initially concerned about the presence of vinyl chloride, a highly volatile colorless gas produced for commercial uses, which spilled after about 50 cars on a Norfolk Southern Railroad train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 3 while traveling from Illinois to Pennsylvania. Other toxins, like phosgene and hydrogen chloride, were emitted in large plumes of smoke during a controlled release and burn, prompting officials to issue mandatory evacuation orders in a one-mile radius of the crash site.
A list of the cars that were involved in the derailment and the products they were carrying released by Norfolk Southern reveal several more toxic chemicals that were released into the air and soil following the crash.
Among the substances were ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene were also in the rail cars that were derailed, the list shows.
Contact with ethylhexyl acrylate, a carcinogen, can cause burning and irritation of the skin and eyes, and inhalation can irritate the nose and throat, causing shortness of breath and coughing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Inhalation of isobutylene can cause dizziness and drowsiness as well, while exposure to ethylene glycol monobutyl ether can caused irritation in the eyes, skin, nose and throat, as well as hematuria, or blood in the urine, nervous system depression, headache and vomiting, according to the CDC.
The toxins that burned in the wreckage had the potential to be deadly if officials did not order evacuations in the region, experts told ABC News last week. However, once the controlled burn was complete, the only risk of coming in contact with the toxins was if they were embedded in the soil, which then had to be dug out, Kevin Crist, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and director of Ohio University’s Air Quality Center, told ABC News last week.
The evacuation orders for the residents in East Palestine were lifted on Wednesday after air and water samples that were collected in the region were deemed safe.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not detected any concerning levels of toxins in the air quality that can be attributed to the crash since the controlled burn was complete, the agency announced on Sunday.
“Residents may still smell odors from the site,” the EPA said, suggesting that those experiencing any symptoms call their medical provider.
The EPA has also screened 210 homes near the crash site and has not detected any levels of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride, the agency said. As of Sunday, 218 homes still needed to be screened.
A lawsuit filed by two residents of East Palestine on Feb. 9 called for the rail operator to pay for medical screenings and related care for anyone living within a 30-mile radius of the crash site, as well as undetermined damages, The Associated Press reported.
Some of the toxins spilled into the Ohio River near the northern panhandle of West Virginia, causing officials to shut down water production in the area and transfer to an alternate source of water supply, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice told reporters during a news conference on Feb. 8.
While Justice emphasized that “everything is fine here” due to the immediate action from agencies like the state’s Department of Environmental Protection and the National Guard, water utility company West Virginia American Water is continuing to enhance its water treatment process as a precaution, according to the AP.
The water utility installed a secondary intake on the Guyandotte River in the event that they need to switch to an alternate water source, the AP reported.
A town hall has been scheduled to take place on Wednesday at 7 p.m. to allow residents to ask questions about the effects of the derailment, East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway announced in a press release on Sunday.
A new Bruce Springsteen song is heading to the big screen. Variety reports The Boss has written the tune “Addicted to Romance” for Rebecca Miller’s new movie She Came to Me, which stars Peter Dinklage, Marisa Tomei and Anne Hathaway.
The romantic comedy is set to have its world premiere Thursday, February 16, at the Berlin Film Festival, with the song playing over the end credits.
“I really love Bruce’s music. For the end of She Came to Me, we wanted an original song,” Miller tells the mag. “I had a secret wish it might be Bruce, but I was reluctant to ask because I felt it was so unlikely, and frankly I was a bit shy.”
She says she eventually got up the nerve to ask; Bruce and wife Patti Scialfa watched the film and “loved it.” She notes, “Bruce said he’d take a few days to see if anything came to him for a song. Miraculously, ‘Addicted to Romance’ was the result. He says he was inspired by the film, which is a great honor for me.”
This isn’t the first time Springsteen has written a song for the movies. In fact, he won an Oscar for the song “Streets of Philadelphia,” from the 1994 movie Philadelphia. And in 1996 he was nominated for an Oscar for his song “Dead Man Walkin’,” which he wrote for the Sean Penn/Susan Sarandon film Dead Man Walking.
The day before Valentine’s Day has been immortalized by Parks and Rec as Galentine’s Day. And most appropriately on this day, that show’s alumna, Amy Poehler, has announced she’s hitting the road with bestie and fellow Saturday Night Live vet Tina Fey.
The Tina Fey & Amy Poehler: Restless Leg Tour will let fans “see the duo celebrate their thirty years of friendship with an evening of jokes, iconic stories and conversational entertainment,” according to Live Nation.
The tour kicks off on Friday, April 28, at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., and makes stops in Chicago and Boston before wrapping up on June 10 at Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Presales for Tina and Amy’s Restless Leg Tour begin Wednesday, February 15, at 10 a.m. local time, including an artist presale with code RESTLESS at ticketmaster.com, ahead of general sales starting Friday, February 17, at 10 a.m. local time.
Via a short Instagram announcement, with Tina in New York City and Amy in Los Angeles, Mean Girls vet Fey quipped, “It’s gonna be an evening of comedy, conversation, improv, maybe a little slow-dancing between us. We don’t know yet. But it’s gonna be awesome.”
Poehler said to fans, “We can’t wait to see you,” adding to Fey, “I can’t wait to see you in person, buddy!”
In a press release, the pair joked, “If this tour goes right, we can finally end this friendship!”
