A funeral for the late guitarist Jeff Beck was held Friday in London with several A-list stars in attendance, including Rod Stewart, Johnny Depp and Jimmy Page.
Metro UK reports Stewart paid his respects to Beck with a bouquet of white roses in the shape of a heart, alongside a handwritten note in which he called Beck a “guitar genius.” “It was a privilege to perform alongside a proper guitar genius,” the note read. “Rest In Peace. See ya later Jeff, Sir Rod Stewart.”
The service took place at St Mary’s Church in Beddington, Sutton. Other famous faces who paid their respects to Beck include Tom Jones, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and Sir Bob Geldof.
There are some who have compared Harry Styles to the late icon David Bowie, but someone who knows Bowie pretty well doesn’t agree at all.
Consequence reports that music producer Tony Visconti, who worked with Bowie for years and produced his final album, 2016’s Blackstar, shot down any such comparisons between Bowie and Styles in a Facebook post about Sunday night’s Grammy Awards.
“What’s the difference between the Grammys and Las Vegas? Nothing!” he wrote in the post, which has since been taken down. He later commented, “Someone just told me that Harry Styles is the new Bowie? From what I saw tonight he’s not worthy of shining his shoes.”
Whether he’s the new Bowie or not, Styles did have a pretty great Grammy night, winning Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Harry’s House.
While sources at Paramount Network denied it to the trade, Deadline reports Kevin Costner is seeking to ride off into the sunset when it comes to Yellowstone.
Deadline reports Costner, who plays series patriarch John Dutton, has issues with the shooting schedule of the Taylor Sheridan-created series, and his decreasing availability was “causing morale problems for the other stars of the show, which includes Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, Cole Hauser, Kelsey Asbille and Gil Birmingham.”
What’s more, the trade insists not only could a compromise not be struck with the Oscar winner, who recently received a Golden Globe for his work on the series, but that the network is looking to continue the Dutton saga in another form with another Oscar winner, Matthew McConaughey, at the helm.
However, a Paramount Network source replied to the trade that there’s “no news to report.”
The source continued, “Kevin Costner is a big part of Yellowstone and we hope that’s the case for a long time to come. Thanks to the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan, we are always working on franchise expansions of this incredible world he has built.”
However, the spokesperson added, “Matthew McConaughey is a phenomenal talent with whom we’d love to partner.”
Elvis Presley will be doing more than just shaking his hips in a new Netflix adult animated series.
Agent Elvis, co-produced by Priscilla Presley, will feature Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey voicing The King, who “trades his jumpsuit for a jetpack” after he’s recruited into “a secret government spy program to battle the dark forces that threaten the country he loves — all while holding down his day job.” The teaser for the show sees Elvis landing on the moon, fighting off bad buys and more.
The 10-episode series, which McConaughey is also producing, is the brainchild of Archer veteran Mike Arnold. It’s set to premiere sometime next month.
(SPOILERS)On Sunday night, Paramount+’s Yellowstone prequel 1923 returned. Fans have been gearing up for World War 1 vet-turned-big game hunter Spencer Dutton to return to the States to get some revenge against the baddies that shot up his family and are threatening their ranch.
As if going one-on-one against man-eating animals wasn’t enough to convince viewers how hardcore Spencer is, Helen Mirren‘s character, Cara Dutton, warned the villains in the prior episode, “I cannot wait for you to meet my nephew.”
When one snarks he’s met him and “isn’t impressed,” Cara replies slyly, “Not this one.”
That line wasn’t lost on Brandon Sklenar, who plays the swashbuckling adventurer.
“I obviously had read that in the script, but then when I watched the episode for the first time, even I was kind of I was like, ‘Oh, damn. All right, well, I better come in hot,'” he says with a laugh to ABC Audio. “Yeah, really setting the stage there, Aunt Cara.”
Sklenar continues, “It just, from an audience standpoint … it’s very cool.” He adds, “He’s got a lot to fight for and redemption and his love for his family, which is so incredibly strong. And you really see that as this progresses, just how deep that … well goes.”
However, getting from Africa to Montana in 1923 isn’t as easy as today: Viewers saw Spencer and his new bride, Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer), facing a perilous sea voyage before getting home — and the cliffhanger episode ending won’t be resolved until February 12.
(SPOILERS)On Sunday night, Paramount+’s Yellowstone prequel 1923 returned. Fans have been gearing up for World War 1 vet-turned-big game hunter Spencer Dutton to return to the States to get some revenge against the baddies that shot up his family and are threatening their ranch.
As if going one-on-one against man-eating animals wasn’t enough to convince viewers how hardcore Spencer is, Helen Mirren‘s character, Cara Dutton, warned the villains in the prior episode, “I cannot wait for you to meet my nephew.”
When one snarks he’s met him and “isn’t impressed,” Cara replies slyly, “Not this one.”
That line wasn’t lost on Brandon Sklenar, who plays the swashbuckling adventurer.
“I obviously had read that in the script, but then when I watched the episode for the first time, even I was kind of I was like, ‘Oh, damn. All right, well, I better come in hot,'” he says with a laugh to ABC Audio. “Yeah, really setting the stage there, Aunt Cara.”
Sklenar continues, “It just, from an audience standpoint … it’s very cool.” He adds, “He’s got a lot to fight for and redemption and his love for his family, which is so incredibly strong. And you really see that as this progresses, just how deep that … well goes.”
However, getting from Africa to Montana in 1923 isn’t as easy as today: Viewers saw Spencer and his new bride, Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer), facing a perilous sea voyage before getting home — and the cliffhanger episode ending won’t be resolved until February 12.
(WASHINGTON) — Previous Chinese surveillance balloon incidents that occurred during the Trump administration and early under the Biden administration were not spotted by NORAD at the time, Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, told reporters Monday.
“We did not detect those threats. And that’s a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out,” VanHerck said.
VanHerck said that U.S. intelligence made NORAD aware of the threat posed by the surveillance balloons after the fact through “additional means of collection and made us aware of those balloons that were previously approaching North America or transit in North America.”
The military commander would not specify what techniques were employed by U.S. intelligence to determine the capabilities of the balloons.
VanHerck also provided a new insight as to why the balloon was not shot down as it approached Alaska in late January noting that his “assessment that this balloon did not present a physical military threat to North America and therefore, I could not take immediate action because it was not demonstrating a hostile act or hostile intent.”
Senior U.S. officials have described China as having built up a fleet of surveillance balloons that have crossed into sovereign airspace over five continents.
U.S. officials had told ABC News of prior incursions near Hawaii and Guam last February, and in the wake of the balloon being shot down off the South Carolina coast this Saturday, senior administration officials said that there had also been three additional incursions during the Trump administration.
VanHerck’s acknowledgement that NORAD had not spotted those incursions would help explain why several former senior Trump to previous brief incursions denied having been aware of any balloon incursions.
During the audio briefing with reporters, VanHerck said that allowing the balloon to transit across the United States provided “a potential opportunity for us to collect Intel where we had gaps on prior balloons.”
“This gave us the opportunity to assess what they were actually doing, what kind of capabilities existed on the balloon, what kind of transmission capabilities existed. And I think you’ll see in the future that that timeframe was well worth its value to collect over,” said VanHerck.
The general would not describe how that intelligence was gathered while the balloon was in flight, making only a vague reference to the U.S. using “multiple capabilities to ensure we collected and utilized the opportunity to close Intel gaps.”
Mitigation efforts were taken to minimize intelligence collection as the balloon flew over Malmstrom AFB in Montana and Offutt AFB in Nebraska, according to VanHerck
“Just because we had the time to do that. And we also had the time to put together an effort of our own to learn about this particular balloon and what its capabilities are, and we’re going to get more information from the recovery,” John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, said in a separate briefing with reporters.
VanHerck described the balloon itself as being 200 feet tall carrying a payload of intelligence-gathering equipment that weighed “a couple thousand pounds,” which he compared in size and length to a regional passenger jet.
Kirby described the balloon as having a limited ability to maneuver using propellers and a rudder though he added that “the most important navigational vector was the jet stream itself, the winds at such a high altitude.
The recovery operation for the remnants of the balloon and its payload is being carried out six miles off the coast of South Carolina in U.S. territorial waters in an area described as being 1,500 yards by 1,500 yards.
U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships are at the scene and have already recovered debris that was floating on the surface of the water according to Kirby.
While rough waters limited the recovery efforts by divers on Sunday, a Navy salvage ship is expected to be at the debris location in coming days.
(EAST PALESTINE, Ohio) — A controlled release of chemicals on a derailed train in Ohio has taken place, resulting in a large ball of fire and plum of black smoke, authorities said on Monday.
The news comes after officials made urgent calls for evacuations as they planned to burn off the chemicals from the Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio, to avoid a major explosion.
Residents in a 1-mile by 2-mile area surrounding East Palestine — which includes parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania — must evacuate immediately, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine had said.
“The vinyl chloride contents of five rail cars are currently unstable and could potentially explode, causing deadly disbursement of shrapnel and toxic fumes,” the governor’s office said in a statement. “To alleviate the risk of uncontrollable shrapnel from an explosion, Norfolk Southern Railroad is planning a controlled release of the vinyl chloride at approximately 3:30 p.m. today.”
Officials released a map showing a red zone and a yellow zone, downwind from the burn, with Norfolk Southern saying anyone who remains in the red area will be exposed to deadly toxins and anyone in the yellow area could suffer “skin burns and serious lung damage.”
The train, traveling from Illinois to Pennsylvania, derailed around 9 p.m. Friday, ignited and prompted a response from more than 50 fire departments across three states, according to East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway.
Janet Meek, who lives about one block from the railroad tracks, said she heard a “loud boom” around 9 p.m. Friday. Her husband reported seeing a “billowing ball of fire” while walking their dogs.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday that two videos show preliminary indications of mechanical issues on one of the rail car’s axle. The train’s emergency brake was activated after crews said an alarm went off, according to the NTSB. There were no injuries, the agency said.
Fire chief Keith Drabick told reporters Saturday that the train was carrying hazardous substances but could not confirm if the fire impacted the train cars carrying the hazardous goods. Drabick said the odor permeating East Palestine was not harmful at current levels, but representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency were monitoring the situation.
East Palestine is a small village on the border of Pennsylvania and Ohio with roughly 4,700 residents.
Efforts to contain the fire stalled Saturday night when firefighters withdrew from the blaze due to concerns about air quality and explosions.
Conaway said firefighters withdrew from the fire Friday night due to concerns about air quality, with a plan to reengage once they get a “better grasp of what exactly is what chemical is burning.” At Saturday’s press conference, Drabick said there had been multiple explosions overnight, which posed a risk to firefighters.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
Sheryl Crow was part of the beautiful and emotional tribute to the late Fleetwood Mac star Christine McVie at Sunday’s Grammys, but apparently the performance didn’t go off without a hitch. Crow reveals on Instagram there were problems with her piano during the performance, which also featured Bonnie Raitt and Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood.
“Beautiful Christine! Last night during our tribute, something really strange happened. I sat down to play with @bonnieraittofficial and @mickfleetwoodofficial and the piano was not working right,” Crow shares. “I still cannot wrap my brain around it because I’ve never had it happen but the clock started for Mick and the first chord I played, only a couple of notes at a time would play. At one point, the piano in our ears was in a different key than what I was playing!”
Sheryl says folks behind the scenes quickly noticed the problem so what the audience heard sounded “completely normal,” but it still left her disappointed.
But soon Sheryl had a new outlook on the mishap. She notes, “Mick and I decided after the performance that perhaps Christine might be up there sipping champagne and giggling, having been a keyboard player herself.”
(NEW YORK) — More than 400 types of ready-to-eat food products sold under multiple brand labels have been recalled over possible listeria contamination.
Fresh Ideation Food Group LLC announced the recall in a press release posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website Friday. The impacted products include ready-to-eat sandwiches, salads, yogurts, wraps and other items sold in nine states and the District of Columbia from Jan. 24 through 30 “in retail locations, vending machines, and during travel with transportation providers,” according to the company.
The Baltimore-based food manufacturer said that no illnesses have been reported, as of time of publication.
Fresh Ideation Food Group initiated the recall after “environmental samples tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes,” the company said in its recall announcement.
The affected products were sold under 13 different brand labels.
Click here for the full listing and product information from the FDA.
“All recalled products have a Fresh Creative Cuisine label and/or identifier on the bottom of the label with the Fresh Creative Cuisine name and a fresh through or sell through date ranging from January 31, 2023 through February 6, 2023,” the company stated in Friday’s announcement.
The company has urged consumers who purchased the products to contact Fresh Ideation Food Group LLC by phone at (855) 969-3338.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, listeria can cause severe illness “when the bacteria spread beyond the gut to other parts of the body” after a person consumes contaminated food. Those at higher risk include pregnant people, those aged 65 or older, or anyone who has a weakened immune system, the CDC says.
“If you are pregnant, it can cause pregnancy loss, premature birth, or a life-threatening infection in your newborn,” the CDC states on its website. “Other people can be infected with Listeria, but they rarely become seriously ill.”
According to the CDC, anyone infected with listeria may experience “mild food poisoning symptoms” such as diarrhea or fever, and many recover without antibiotic treatment.
