Cyndi Lauper is among this year’s first-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees, and she calls the recognition “an honor and a thrill.”
“Seeing my name on this year’s ballot with so many talents that I admire means so much to me,” she shares. “It has been a lifetime privilege to reach so many different kinds of fans with a message of following your own path (and having fun along the way, too).” She adds, “To my wonderful fans: Thank you for your support and love over the years!”
The Spinners are also in the running this year, their fourth nomination, and founding member Henry Fambrough is hoping this is the year they finally get in.
“It’s a pleasure being selected by this,” he tells Billboard. “We’ve been in this position over years and years, but we just haven’t won anything yet. But it’s a pleasure being selected like this.” He adds, “When you’re nominated like that, at least someone is thinking about you. You’re not sitting at home not hearing anything — you know what I’m saying?”
Fan voting is open now through April 28 at rockhall.com, and the top five vote-getters will quality for the “fan’s ballot,” which will help determine this year’s inductees. This year’s Hall of Fame class will be announced in May, with the induction ceremony taking place this fall.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences CEO says that To Leslie star Andrea Riseborough‘s best actress Oscar nomination will not be rescinded after many questioned the way she earned the recognition.
In a statement from Academy CEO Bill Kramer addressing the controversy and the film’s grassroots campaigning tactics, Kramer said, “The activity in question does not rise to the level that the film’s nomination should be rescinded.”
Kramer did, however, say that the academy found “social media and outreach campaigning tactics that caused concern” and that the tactics “are being addressed with the responsible parties directly.”
The nomination led many to question how the Michael Morris-directed film, about a single mom struggling to survive after she wins the lottery, had gone largely unmentioned by previous award shows and critics groups, yet still earned a best actress nod.
Leading up to her nomination, stars including Gwyneth Paltrow, Amy Adams and Minnie Driver expressed their support for Riseborough on social media or by hosting screenings of To Leslie to urge academy members to vote for her.
In one Instagram post from Paltrow, the Academy Award winner shared a photo of herself with Riseborough and Morris and called the little-seen film a masterpiece. She also added, “…Andrea should win every award there is and all the ones that haven’t been invented yet.”
The academy has a set of rules when it comes to campaigning for a film to ensure fairness. In a statement released Friday, it said it is conducting a review of the campaign procedures around this year’s nominees, explaining “guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication.”
In his statement Tuesday, Kramer promised that “changes will be made after this awards cycle and will be shared with our membership.”
(REHOBOTH BEACH, Del.) — The Department of Justice is conducting a “planned search” Wednesday of President Joe Biden’s home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, according to Biden’s personal lawyer.
“Today, with the President’s full support and cooperation, the DOJ is conducting a planned search of his home in Rehoboth, Delaware,” wrote Bob Bauer, personal attorney for the president, in a new statement. “Under DOJ’s standard procedures, in the interests of operational security and integrity, it sought to do this work without advance public notice, and we agreed to cooperate. The search today is a further step in a thorough and timely DOJ process we will continue to fully support and facilitate. We will have further information at the conclusion of today’s search.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur as special counsel last month to investigate the potential mishandling of classified documents. Hur is expected to formally begin his work this week, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
“Under the regulations, the extraordinary circumstances here require a special counsel appointment for this matter,” Garland told the public.
After a November search of the Penn Biden Center in Washington, the FBI conducted a similarly voluntary search of Biden’s home in Wilmington last month and found additional classified documents after Biden’s attorneys searched the home themselves in December and found some classified materials, the president’s lawyers have said.
In a statement in mid-January, Richard Sauber, another lawyer to Biden, said: “We are confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced, and the President and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake.”
Biden has maintained he is cooperating fully with Justice Department authorities, but reporters have questioned whether the White House is being fully transparent on the matter.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has struggled at the podium when confronted with reporters’ questions as news continues to break around the classified documents drama ahead of the White House informing the public.
Classified documents were also taken from former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago last summer, in a court-authorized FBI search, after what the government has called a months-long effort to get Trump to return all of the classified material he kept after leaving office. Trump denies wrongdoing.
Former Vice President Mike Pence’s lawyers recently did their own search of his Indiana home and found some classified records that he retained after leaving office, which he returned to the government, according to this attorneys. Pence said on Friday that it was a “mistake” and he was unaware the documents were there, but he took “full responsibility.”
Biden has largely declined to comment on the classified documents found at his home and office but has said he was “surprised” records were located at the Penn Biden Center.
ABC News’ Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.
Elton John‘s 1972 album Honky Château celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, but we’re getting the 50th anniversary edition of the album this year.
Due out March 24, the package is available to preorder now as a two-CD or two-LP set. Additionally, the original album pressed on limited edition gold vinyl is available.
The CD version includes the original album, plus outtakes from the original session tapes, and eight live recordings from a show Elton and the band did at London’s Royal Festival Hall. It also comes with a 40-page booklet of photos and interviews with those who were there at the time.
The two-LP set includes the album, outtakes, and an eight-page booklet of photos and interviews.
Honky Château was the first of Elton’s six consecutive Billboard number-one albums. Elton, Bernie Taupin and the band decamped to a residential recording studio in France called Château d’Hérouville to make the album, hence the album’s title.
At night, Taupin wrote lyrics and left them on Elton’s piano for him to work on in the morning. In a statement, Elton recalls, “The first morning we were there, I had three (songs) done by the time the band drifted downstairs looking for something to eat,” including “Rocket Man.”
You can get a preview of the album Wednesday with the release of two of its tracks: a session demo of the fan-favorite deep cut “Mellow” and the Royal Festival Hall live version of “Rocket Man.” Other notable tracks on the album include “Honky Cat” and “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters.”
Neil Young released his fourth studio album, Harvest, which went on to be a classic and signature album for him. The record peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart and became the bestselling album of 1972.
Harvest featured two classic Young songs, “Heart of Gold,” which went to number one on the Hot 100, and “Old Man,” which landed in the Top 40. Other songs on the album include “The Needle and the Damage Done” and “A Man Needs a Maid.”
The album featured special appearances by London Symphony Orchestra, as well as background vocals from guests like David Crosby, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Stephen Stills and James Taylor.
In December 2022, Young released a 50th anniversary edition of Harvest that included, among other things, a previously unseen two-hour documentary filmed in 1971 that focuses on the making of the album.
(NEW YORK) — Residents of the Big Apple won’t be walking in a winter wonderland any time soon, but a light dusting of snowfall overnight means the record for the latest snow in a season now stands as Feb. 1, 2023.
The latest measurable snowfall ever recorded during a winter season in New York City — was broken Monday, and the city remained snowless until the early morning hours of Wednesday, when 4/10 of an inch of snow fell in Central Park, according to the National Weather Service.
Previously, the latest snowfall in the 154 years of record-keeping was Jan. 29, 1973, during the 1972-73 winter, according to the National Weather Service.
New York City also approached its longest streak without measurable snow, with the previous record at 332 days, occurring from Jan. 19, 2020 to Dec. 15, 2020.
The last time there was measurable snow in New York City was on March 9 of last year, when .4 inches was measured in Central Park. That record would have been broken had the city remained snowless until Feb. 5.
Storm systems moving into the Northeast on Jan. 25 brought along a chance of measurable snow in New York City, but the precipitation changed to rain after only a trace of snow had fallen, according to the NWS.
While brief flurries and snow showers have fallen occasionally this winter in New York City, accumulation of at least 0.1 inches must be recorded for it to be considered measurable snowfall by the NWS.
January has been relatively mild in New York City this year — normally a time when it should be racking up the coldest temperatures. As temperatures remain far above freezing, any precipitation will fall as rain.
Other major cities east of the Colorado Rockies are also experiencing record or near-record warmth. The least amount of snow in 16 years has fallen in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which is experiencing its warmest year on record.
Measurable snow has not fallen in Philadelphia, which is experiencing its second-warmest winter on record. Baltimore is also experiencing a snow drought this winter, its warmest on record.
Milwaukee; Detroit; Portland, Maine; Worcester, Massachusetts; Atlantic City, New Jersey; and Norfolk, Virginia, are just a handful of the dozens of cities in the U.S. experiencing their warmest January on record.
The same can’t be said for Empire State residents in upstate New York.
Record-breaking amounts of snow fell just before the Christmas weekend, killing dozens of people.
The storm, described as the “blizzard of the century” by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, led to nearly 52 inches of snowfall and 39 deaths.
ABC News’ Melissa Griffin and Max Golembo contributed to this report.
When The Police released their Greatest Hits album in 1992, only a limited run of vinyl copies were made available to fans. Well, now fans and vinyl collectors have a second shot at getting their hands on one.
On March 24, The Police Greatest Hits, described as “a perfect introduction to the Police for new admirers,” will get a special double-LP reissue on 180g heavyweight black vinyl. The new release was remastered at Abbey Road Studios.
The set features 16 classic Police tunes, including their number one single “Every Breath You Take,” along with hits like “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” “Message In a Bottle” and “Don’t Stand So Close To Me.”
Variety reports Dr. Phil McGraw will be ending his long-running daytime talk show after 21 seasons. The 72-year-old TV psychologist — who got his start as a regular guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the late 1990s, before launching his own series in the fall of 2002 — made the decision to stop producing new episodes at the end of the current 2022-23 season. Distributor CBS Media Ventures hopes to keep the syndicated Dr. Phil on the air with a package of repeats through at least the 2023-24 season. Dr. Phil is averaging about two million viewers per episode, making it the highest-rated daytime talk show behind Disney’s Live With Kelly and Ryan…
NBC has renewed La Brea for a third season, the network announced Tuesday, The early renewal came hours before the show returned for the second half of its sophomore season. The series centers on what ensues after “a massive sinkhole opens in the middle of Los Angeles, pulling hundreds of people and buildings into its depths.” La Brea, starring Natalie Zea, Eoin Macken, Jon Seda, Nicholas Gonzalez, Chiké Okonkwo, Zyra Gorecki, Jack Martin, Veronica St. Clair, Rohan Mirchandaney, Lily Santiago, Josh McKenzie, Tonantzin Carmelo and Michelle Vergara Moore, airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET…
The Night of the Living Dead franchise is about to expand with a scripted podcast series, The Dead, consisting of 24 episodes featuring all new stories, according to Deadline. The Dead will be set in the same world as George A. Romero‘s original 1968 film about seven people trapped in a farmhouse in western Pennsylvania and are under assault from zombies. The classic horror film spawned five sequels and a number of spinoffs…
Netflix reports You People, the comedy directed by black-ish writer Kenya Barris and starring Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy, became the streamer’s #1 English-language movie during the Jan. 23-29 viewing window with 55.65 million hours viewed following its January 27 premiere. The movie follows a couple as they confront generational expectations and culture clashes amongst their families. The star-studded cast also includes Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Elliot Gould, Rhea Perlman, Molly Gordon and Andrea Savage…
(NEW YORK) — A massive ice storm is freezing Texas and the southern United States on Wednesday.
Some 60 million people in 22 states — from New Mexico to Maine — are on alert for dangerously cold weather, ice and flooding.
Freezing rain and sleet are in the forecast from Texas to Tennessee, before slowly transitioning into just rain as temperatures warm up late Wednesday into Thursday.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 01, 9:55 AM EST
Over 250,000 without power in Texas
More than 250,000 customers are without power in Texas on Wednesday morning as a massive ice storm slams the South.
Feb 01, 9:26 AM EST
Latest forecast
The latest weather forecast for Wednesday shows waves of freezing rain and sleet continuing to move through the southern Plains and the Mid-Mississippi River Valley, from western Texas to western Tennessee.
Some areas have already accumulated more than a half an inch of freezing rain, as well as 1 to 2 inches of sleet.
Numerous roads and highways have been shut down, many schools have been closed and state of emergencies have been declared in the South due to the icy storm.
Freezing rain and sleet will continue from Texas to Tennessee, before slowly transitioning into just rain as temperatures warm up late Wednesday into Thursday.
The Texas cities of Austin, Dallas and Midland as well as Arkansas’ capital, Little Rock, can expect to see freezing rain on Wednesday evening at around 7 p.m. CT. That ice will turn into rain the next morning at 6 a.m. CT.
Up to half an inch of additional ice accumulation is in the forecast for these areas.
The brutal cold is not expected to last long, however. Much warmer weather is in the forecast by Sunday and into early next week.
Feb 01, 9:03 AM EST
Over 1,400 flights already canceled nationwide
More than 1,400 flights scheduled for Wednesday nationwide had already been canceled by the morning, according to the tracking service FlightAware.
The list for cancellations included both major airports in Dallas, as well as airports in Austin and Nashville.
Feb 01, 8:56 AM EST
Over 200,000 without power in Texas
More than 200,000 customers were without power in Texas on Wednesday morning, as a massive ice storm slams the South.
Power was out for 231,081 customers across the Lone Star State as of 7:08 a.m. CT, according to data collected by the website PowerOutage.us.
(NEW YORK) — Iranians protesting their country’s regime have been putting their lives on the line to call out injustices and, even in the face of violence, say they will continue to raise their voices.
Saman, who fled the country after losing an eye due to a paintball gun when he was shot during protests, shared his story with ABC News and said that many are fed up with the oppressive show of force by the Iranian government in the last few months.
“Every protester who goes to the rallies in the street knows that he could be killed by a bullet…and even his body could go missing…but still everybody attends the protests just with this hope in their heart that they could send the Islamic Republic out of our country,” Saman, who asked ABC News to use only his first name for his protection, said.
And as the demonstrations continue across the world, human rights groups and others who have survived the Iranian government’s violence fear that things could get more bloody and called on more nations to act.
The recent protests began in the fall following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who was in the custody of the morality police after she was arrested for not properly wearing a hijab.
The protesters have filled the streets of Iran shouting her name and calling out the Iranian regime’s authoritarian rules.
“The state did not expect that protests over the death of a woman from the Kurdish minority would spread into the whole country,” Roya Boroumand, the director of Abdul-Rahman Berman, Center for Human Rights in Iran, told ABC News.
However, the government has responded with extreme violence and, in some cases, executing protesters in public.
Boroumand’s group has been tracking the number of executions and arrests in Iran and estimates that more than 519 people were killed last year. By comparison, 317 killings took place in 2021, she said.
Boroumand added that protesters who are arrested are subject to beatings, torture and even rape by the authorities.
“We don’t know how much of this is an attempt of the state to deter women from coming out or to encourage families to prevent their children to come out,” she said.
Boroumand said that families of the detained protesters who were killed in custody are being blackmailed into admitting their loved ones killed security force members in exchange for their bodies. She noted that the authorities are using gymnasiums to house detainees because of the lack of space in jails.
Boroumand said another tactic used by Iranian police is to target people’s faces with pellets, which could result in them losing their eyesight.
Saman told ABC News that he was a victim of this tactic.
He said that an Iranian officer shot him in the eye with the paintball gun while he was attending a protest in Valiasr Square in September 2022. Saman was hospitalized and lost his left eye.
While recuperating in the hospital, Saman said he found out that the police were looking for his hospital room number.
“Fortunately I was in the examination room and, with my friend’s help, I managed to get myself to the hospital’s yard and escaped,” he said. “By leaving the country, I decided to make my face living evidence for the world to see the Islamic Republic of Iran’s crimes closely.”
Boroumand and other human rights groups have called on world leaders to do more to stop the Iranian government from executing and intimidating its citizens.
The Biden administration has placed sanctions on Iranian officials.
“The United States continues to support the people of Iran in the face of this brutal repression, and we are rallying growing international consensus to hold the regime accountable,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in December.
In the meantime, experts say the Iranian protesters will continue to raise their voices against the oppression.
“We are all human, regardless of our religion and our nationality,” Saman said. “We could not be silent against the oppression.”
