Steve Lacy, Björk and Billie Eilish have made Rolling Stone‘s ranking of the 25 Most Stylish Musicians of 2023.
The “Bad Habit” artist is #1 on the list, with Rolling Stone noting his “daring disregard for the sartorial status quo,” adding that he “knows his way around an outfit like he knows his way around a Number One hit.”
Björk comes in at #14, while Eilish is #20.
Lacy, Björk and Eilish will have the chance to show off their style at the 2023 Grammys this Sunday, where all three artists are nominated. Lacy’s up for several awards, including Song and Record of the Year for “Bad Habit”; Björk will compete for Best Alternative Music Album with Fossora; and the Turning Red song “Nobody Like U,” which Eilish co-wrote with her brother and collaborator, FINNEAS, is nominated for Best Song Written For Visual Media.
Pink made it a global effort to reveal the track list for her new album, TRUSTFALL, with various venues revealing one song title.
The worldwide effort kicked off Wednesday, with international stadiums and arenas crafting unique billboards to reveal a new song off the upcoming album.
For example, Madison Square Garden revealed there’s a song called “When I Get There,” while Paris’ La Défense Arena put up a billboard showing a song named “Turbulence.” The Parisian venue also noted that track is one of the final songs to appear on the album.
Other track name reveals included the song “Runaway,” which was featured on billboards outside of two Canadian facilities — Rogers Arena in Vancouver and Montreal’s Centre Bell — as well as the songs “Last Call” outside of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, “Hate Me” via KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, “Lost Cause,” courtesy of T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, and “Feel Something” from Denver, Colorado’s Ball Arena.
A few of these billboards confirmed collaborations, such as Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, revealing the track “Long Way To Go” will feature “Ho Hey” singers The Lumineers.
Another collab announcement came from the Bolton Wanderers Football Club in Bolton, England, which announced the track “Kids In Love” will feature the band First Aid Kit.
Pink, who previously released the album’s title track and the anthem “Never Not Gonna Dance Again,” shared each announcement to her Instagram Story.
It is possible more track reveals will come; the album consists of 13 tracks, meaning there are more titles left to be unveiled. In addition, the order in which these tracks appear remains unknown.
(NEW YORK) — A revamped legal team representing Hunter Biden is taking the first steps in what appears to be a more aggressive approach to his defense, disseminating on Wednesday a batch of criminal referrals and cease-and-desist letters targeting some of his most vocal detractors.
Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, wrote to the Justice Department and the Delaware attorney general’s office asking investigators to examine the conduct of several operatives who allegedly played a role in “accessing, copying, manipulating, and/or disseminating Mr. Biden’s personal computer data,” including Rudy Giuliani, Steve Bannon, and other supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“The actions described above more than merit a full investigation and, depending on the resulting facts, may merit prosecution under various statutes,” Lowell said. “It is not a common thing for a private person and his counsel to seek someone else being investigated, but the actions and motives here require it.”
Law enforcement agencies are not obligated to act on such referrals, nor are they required to acknowledge them.
Lowell also wrote to the Internal Revenue Service requesting a probe into Garrett Ziegler, a former Trump White House aide who recently published a trove of emails allegedly tied to Hunter Biden. That letter challenges the tax-exempt status of Ziegler’s organization, Marco Polo, which is filed as a 501(c)(3).
Ziegler’s organization “has failed to operate solely for charitable purposes,” Lowell wrote to the agency. “To the contrary, [Marco Polo] has operated as little more than a thinly disguised political operation to attack the Biden administration and the Biden family.”
Bryan Sullivan, a defamation lawyer retained by Hunter Biden, also sent a cease-and-desist letter to Fox News and Tucker Carlson, asking the network and its primetime host to retract and correct a report they ran about alleged rent payments Hunter Biden made to his father, which they have claimed as evidence that the president was more closely tied to his son’s financial arrangements.
Carlson’s promulgation of the story stands in “flagrant violation of all journalistic professionalism,” wrote Sullivan, who also warned of “potential litigation” if the network fails to agree to a retraction by the end of the day on Thursday. Sullivan also asked that Fox News preserve any records related to its handling of the story.
The change in tack by lawyers for the president’s only living son comes at a precarious time for the younger Biden, as Republican scrutiny of his business dealings ramps up and federal prosecutors reportedly near the conclusion of their years-long probe into his tax affairs.
Federal authorities in the Delaware U.S. attorney’s office, led by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump-era appointee, have been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018, ABC News has previously reported, but paused for several months ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
The probe spilled into public view in December 2020, shortly after Joe Biden secured the presidency, when Hunter Biden confirmed the probe into his “tax affairs.” Prosecutors have since examined whether he paid adequate taxes on millions of dollars of his income, including money he made from multiple overseas business ventures.
Hunter Biden has repeatedly said he is cooperating with investigators and remains “100% certain” that he will be cleared of any wrongdoing. President Biden has said he and his son never discussed his foreign business dealings, and there are no indications that the federal investigation involves the president in any way. The White House has repeatedly sought to distance the president from the probe.
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Republicans have taken their first investigative steps in a long-awaited congressional probe into the younger Biden. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, have called investigations into the president’s family a “top priority” and have pledged to “pursue all avenues” of wrongdoing. They said they “would love” to speak with Hunter Biden, but did not announce plans to issue a subpoena.
Lowell, a celebrated defense lawyer, joined Hunter Biden’s legal team in December to assist with congressional oversight inquiries. He has represented a number of high-profile political figures, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump; Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; and former Sen. John Edwards.
Back in December, a woman named Julia Holcomb filed a lawsuit in California accusing Steven Tyler of sexual assault, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, although at the time she didn’t specifically name the Aerosmith frontman in the suit. Well, that’s changed.
Holcomb initially listed the defendants as Doe 1 and Does 2 through 50, but now Rolling Stonereports the complaint has been amended to include Tyler’s name.
In the suit, Holcomb claims she and Tyler were together for three years starting in 1973, when she was 16 and he was in his 20s. She noted the rocker got her mother to grant him guardianship over her, which allowed her to live and travel with him. Holcomb claims she “was powerless to resist” the rock star’s “power, fame and substantial financial ability,” and that he “coerced and persuaded” her into believing their relationship was a “romantic love affair.”
Although Tyler wasn’t named in the initial suit, it was quickly associated with the rocker because Holcomb had talked about her relationship with him in the past. The suit also used quotes about the relationship from Tyler’s memoir Does the Noise in my Head Bother You?
On the heels of Cyndi Lauper’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination, she’s just received yet another honor — her very own Funko Pop! figure.
The Cyndi Lauper Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Pop! vinyl figure mimics Cyndi’s ’80s style, complete with zebra striped shoes, patterned dress, a variety of bracelets and a leather belt, along with a colored stripe in her hair. According to Billboard, it is modeled after a look from a 1983 press shoot.
Cyndi’s figure, which is less than 4 inches in height, is available for preorder now, with shipping expected to begin in May.
As previously reported, Cyndi is one of several first-time nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year. Others include the late George Michael, Willie Nelson, Warren Zevon and Sheryl Crow.
On Wednesday, Lucasfilm released “Phenomenon,” a sizzle reel of scenes and interview clips promoting its Emmy-winning, well, phenomenon known as The Mandalorian.
The celebration of the show features interview clips with creator Jon Favreau and fellow executive producer Dave Filoni, as well as snippets from its stars, including Pedro Pascal and Carl Weathers, who not only racked up a director credit on the show, but also plays Greef Karga on the series. “Everywhere I’ve gone, people want to talk about The Mandalorian,” the Rocky veteran says.
Naturally, there’s plenty of footage of the show’s “breakout star,” Baby Yoda aka Grogu.
The Mandalorian‘s third season comes to Disney+ March 1.
Lucasfilm, like ABC News, is a subsidiary of parent company Disney.
Amazon Studios’ hit The Terminal List is growing, times two. Variety reports that not only did the Chris Pratt-starring and producing vehicle get a second season from the streamer, Amazon has also given the go-ahead to a prequel series centering on Taylor Kitsch‘s character from the original.
Adapted from former Navy SEAL Jack Carr‘s novel of the same name, The Terminal List debuted July 1 and starred Pratt as James Reece, a SEAL who unravels a deadly conspiracy after his team of special operators is decimated in an ambush.
Kitsch played Ben Edwards, Reece’s former battle buddy who helps him along thanks to his connections with his new employer, the CIA.
Variety says the Kitsch prequel series will follow his early years with the agency and will be produced by Terminal List vet David DiGilio, Pratt, Carr and Antoine Fuqua.
More tickets have just been released for the February 19 tribute to comedian Leslie Jordan at the Grand Ole Opry House, according to Ashley McBryde, who’s just one of the artists set to participate.
Clay Walker‘s set to kick off his 2023 Country Side Tour February 1 in Clearwater, Florida.
Sheryl Crow will join Rusty Truck when they make their Grand Ole Opry debut February 28. She’s longtime friends with frontman Mark Seliger.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy met in the Oval Office for more than hour Wednesday, and afterward McCarthy called it a “good meeting, suggesting the two men might find a compromise over spending.
The highly anticipated meeting, the first the two men have held since McCarthy narrowly won the speakership last month, comes amid an ongoing standoff over the national debt limit.
“I think, at the of the day, we can find common ground,” McCarthy told reporters in the White House driveway.
There was no immediate characterization of how things went from the White House.
The president told reporters Monday that his message for McCarthy would be “show me your budget,” showing specific cuts he’s proposing in exchange for Republican support to lift the debt ceiling — and avoid a catastrophic default.
The White House has repeatedly said it would not negotiate with Republicans — that the stakes for the U.S. economy were too high, and that the limit had been raised 74 times before, including with Republican support under then-President Donald Trump.
But on Tuesday, the president suggested he was open to talking. Asked if he would negotiate with the speaker during Wednesday’s meeting, Biden responded simply, “Show me his budget.”
The president has long cast himself as a dealmaker, eager to sit down with Republicans to reach bipartisan agreements. At a fundraiser in New York on Tuesday, Biden referred to McCarthy as “a decent man.”
But he has also lambasted congressional Republicans as “extreme” and said McCarthy had given in to that faction to take control.
“Look at what he had to do,” the president said Tuesday. “He had to make commitments that were just absolutely off the wall for a speaker of the House to make in terms of being able to become a leader.”
Responding to Biden’s comments at the fundraiser, McCarthy said, “apparently he doesn’t understand.”
“I’m looking forward to sitting down with the president negotiating for the American public — the people of America — on how we can find savings,” McCarthy said.
When asked if he planned to make Biden a specific offer, McCarthy said, “I think we’re gonna sit down and negotiate.”
That public posturing was only the latest salvo launched between the two men.
Earlier Tuesday, McCarthy told reporters that he was “willing to sit down” with Biden “and finally get this done long before the debt limit hits its point that we have to get something done.”
“Because why would you put the economics of America in jeopardy?” he said. “Why would you play political games?”
McCarthy has noted he and Biden had “met many times prior to him being president,” although “not as often as being president.”
He said Tuesday the White House should “say they’re willing to negotiate, because the only irresponsible way is to play a political game and say, we’re not going to talk about it. It sounds pretty childish to me.”
Earlier in the day, top White House officials wrote in a memo that Biden planned to pose two questions to McCarthy during the meeting.
The president is expected to ask McCarthy if he will “commit to the bedrock principle that the United States will never default on its financial obligations” and whether he agrees with “former presidents, including Presidents Trump and Reagan, that it is critical to avoid debt limit brinksmanship,” according to the memo, which was first obtained by ABC News.
The authors of the memo — the president’s top economic adviser, Brian Deese, and the director of the White House budget office, Shalanda Young – noted Biden planned to release a budget on March 9. They challenged McCarthy to do the same.
“It is essential,” they wrote, “that Speaker McCarthy likewise commit to releasing a budget, so that the American people can see how House Republicans plan to reduce the deficit – whether through Social Security cuts; cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) health coverage; and/or cuts to research, education, and public safety – as well as how much their Budget will add to the deficit with tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and large corporations, as in their first bill this year.”
In response, McCarthy wrote in a statement Tuesday: “Mr. President: I received your staff’s memo. I’m not interested in political games. I’m coming to negotiate for the American people.”
Republicans in the House have insisted on deep spending cuts in exchange for their cooperation on raising the debt ceiling.
The Republican Study Committee, which represents the largest group of Republicans in the House, previously called for revisions to Social Security and Medicare, including raising the age for Medicare to 67 and Social Security to the age of 70 for younger workers.
But McCarthy recently said any cuts to Social Security and Medicare would be “off the table.”
McCarthy pointed to the “Commitment to America” plan presented by Republicans before the midterms, which he said “strengthens” Medicare and Social Security. The White House has accused McCarthy of being “evasive” on his plan for government spending.
Pressed on what he meant by “strengthen” and whether he would seek to raise the retirement age — McCarthy said: “No, no, no. What I’m talking about Social Security, Medicare, you keep that to the side.”
“I want to find a reasonable and a responsible way that we can lift the debt ceiling but take control of this runaway spending,” McCarthy said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has expressed support for McCarthy. “We’re all behind Kevin,” he said Tuesday. “Wishing him well in the negotiations.”
Meanwhile, the White House has repeatedly said Biden will not negotiate or compromise by tying a debt limit increase to spending cuts, with the administration pointing to the bipartisan history of the ceiling being increased by both parties over the years.
“Attempts to exploit the debt ceiling as leverage will not work,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters last month. “There will be no hostage taking.”
Earlier this month, McCarthy made it clear he was holding firm.
“For the president to say he wouldn’t even negotiate — that’s irresponsible. We’re going to be responsible. We’re going to be sensible, and we’re going to get this done together. So the longer he waits, the more he puts the fiscal jeopardy of America up for grabs,” McCarthy told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott last month. “We should sit down and get this done and stop playing politics,” he added.
The debt limit doesn’t allow government spending on new programs — instead it allows the U.S. to borrow any money it needs to pay for the nation’s existing bills.
The federal government hit the current debt ceiling, about $31.4 trillion earlier this month prompting the Treasury Department to step in with “extraordinary measures” which will allow the nation to avert a catastrophic default until June.
“President Biden will ask Speaker McCarthy to publicly assure the American people and the rest of the world that the United States will, as always, honor all of its financial obligations,” the memo stated.
ABC News’ Lauren Peller and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
It might be hard to fathom, but The Fast and the Furious made its pop culture debut way back in 2001. And to rev fans up about the release of the penultimate film in the franchise that has grossed billions of dollars, Universal is shifting into reverse.
So if you’ve forgotten that the franchise that saw its characters launching a car into space in Fast 9 actually started as a niche street racing film, with a heist of DVD players from a truck considered a major action set piece, now’s your chance to look back at Vin Diesel, the late Paul Walker and the rest of the family in their first adventure.
The new/old trailer also teases, “In 9 days, the end of the road begins,” referring to Fast X, the 10th of a planned 11-film series.
