Bruce Gowers, the man behind Queen’s iconic video for “Bohemian Rhapsody,”passed away Sunday in California at the age of 82. Queen’s Brian May is now paying his respects.
“Bruce was, of course, the architect of our ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ video, and quite a few others as well,” Sir Brian said, according to BBC News. “He will be sadly missed in the rock community, and certainly never forgotten. We send deepest condolences to his family.”
In addition to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Gowers directed videos for Rod Stewart’s “Hot Legs,” Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” Prince’s “1999,” Rush’s “Limelight,” The Rolling Stones’ “Fool To Cry” and more. He also won a Grammy for directing the video for Huey Lewis & The News’ 1985 hit “The Heart of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
Besides music videos, Gowers directed the hit talent competition American Idol for nine seasons, for which he won an Emmy as Best Musical Variety Director in 2009. He also produced the Emmy Awards, People’s Choice Awards, MTV Movie Awards and MTV Music Video Awards, among other specials.
Neal Schon is not happy with reports that claim he confirmed Journey‘s original keyboardist, Gregg Rolie, would not be joining the upcoming Journey 50th anniversary tour, as he previously suggested.
Schon shared an article with the headline “Neal Schon Confirms Gregg Rolie Won’t Be Joining Journey ‘At This Moment,'” which was a reference to a comment Schon made to a fan on Twitter when asked about Rolie’s involvement. He had replied, “Not at this moment.” Schon reacted to the article by writing, “This is BS,” adding, “Please Stop with these Fake Blogs and Statements.”
“This is going out to all media of all your postings today that Gregg Rolie is out. FALSE – where would you get this information? Ex managers ? PR stunt again,” he later tweeted, adding, “Currently have many trying to have a media war. It was a simple request from myself as the founder President of all Journey LLCs I wanted to include Gregg Rolie and met with resistance. That doesn’t mean anything at this point to me.”
The Journey 50th anniversary tour is set to kick off February 4 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and it’s pretty apparent it’s very important to Schon. “Obviously this means more to me than anyone else right now. 50 years of playing every show and recorded every album and co wrote many great songs,” he shared. “Honor it!”
A biopic on Michael Jackson is in the works, and it just nabbed an A-list director. Variety reports Antoine Fuqua, known for such flicks as Training Day, starring Denzel Washington, and 2013’s Olympus Has Fallen, has been tapped to direct the flick, Michael, which is expected to begin filming this year.
“The first films of my career were music videos, and I still feel that combining film and music are a deep part of who I am,” Fuqua shares. “For me, there is no artist with the power, the charisma, and the sheer musical genius of Michael Jackson. I was influenced to make music videos by watching his work – the first Black artist to play in heavy rotation on MTV.”
He notes, “His music and those images are part of my worldview, and the chance to tell his story on the screen alongside his music was irresistible.”
The film, which promises to delve into all aspects of the King of Pop’s life and career, will be produced by Graham King, who was responsible for the 2000 Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, as well as the 2006 Oscar winner The Departed. It will be written by John Logan, who penned the script for the James Bond flick Skyfall.
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday again avoided questions about an investigation into documents marked classified found at his home and office, six days after a special counsel was named to investigate the matter.
Biden had no public events planned for Wednesday, after spending the holiday weekend at his Delaware home, out of the public eye, and not responding to reporters’ shouted questions during unrelated events Tuesday and late last week.
The president has not yet offered a public reaction since Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appointed Robert Hur to investigate the potential mishandling of classified documents.
As it works to contain the political fallout, the White House has referred numerous questions to the Justice Department, saying it did not want to interfere with an ongoing investigation.
But the Justice Department has not said publicly if it has asked or advised the White House to refrain from commenting during its investigation, which it launched in November shortly after documents were first found.
And at a news conference Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco declined to comment when asked by ABC News at a news conference whether the department had told the White House it cannot discuss details surrounding the documents.
The White House has said it is cooperating with Hur – as it said it had with the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation – and the White House counsel’s office has disclosed some information in a series of written statements. Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, also released a statement over the weekend explaining how the search process had worked.
But the White House has also left some key questions unanswered, including about the nature of the documents found and why it did not inform the public sooner.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and a spokesperson for the White House counsel’s office, Ian Sams, have repeatedly referred reporters’ questions to the Justice Department, which itself has not shared much information.
“When it comes to the Department of Justice, when it comes to legal matters, when it comes to legal issues, we have been very clear that we are not going to comment, we are not going to politically interfere,” Jean-Pierre told reporters at a briefing Tuesday. “And that continues with this, also — this legal issue.”
The president himself has addressed the topic just twice since a news report on Jan. 9 made public the fact that documents marked classified had been found at an office he used after he left the vice presidency.
Biden answered one question about the matter the next day. Then, after the White House disclosed more documents had been found, on Thursday he responded to a reporter who asked about that new batch.
On Tuesday, face-to-face with reporters at an Oval Office meeting with the prime minister of the Netherlands, Biden appeared to smile as a reporter shouted whether he would commit to speaking with the special counsel. But he did not otherwise respond.
Meanwhile, the National Archives has told the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee that before the Archives can turn over records to the panel that the Justice Department needs to consult with the newly appointed special counsel “to assess whether information can be released without interfering” in the investigation into classified documents discovered at the Penn Biden Center and at Biden’s Wilmington home.
Acting Archivist Debra Wall said in a letter to Rep. James Comer that a search had begun for the information the committee requested relating to the Biden documents and advised the Archives would need to consult with DOJ on the release of any such records.
ABC News’ Alexander Mallin, Katherine Faulders, Will Steakin and Luaren Peller contributed to this report.
Britney Spears is laughing off reports she had a “meltdown” at an upscale California restaurant. Both she and husband Sam Asghari,as well as some restaurant staff, have shut down rumors about the alleged incident.
The pop princess is calling out TMZ for sharing the video they claimed was proof of her meltdown. The outlet reported she began talking gibberish to herself and caused Sam to angrily storm off.
The pair have since taken to their Instagram Story and cracked jokes about it. “All right, the best thing about the TMZ video to me personally … was the pasta,” Britney teased while using a filter that gave her cat ears.
Fans have since blasted TMZ, claiming the video’s description was inaccurate. They believe it shows Britney talking to a waiter before using a menu to shield her face because she realized someone was recording her.
A staff member later told Page Sixthat the “disruptor” was actually the person who took the video and “taunted” her by continually recording, even though she “was understandably upset.”
In other Britney news, she took a swipe at Justin Timberlake in a since-deleted Instagram post. She posted a throwback photo from 2001 of them wearing Los Angeles Knights jerseys and wrote in part, “When we used to shoot hoops TOGETHER … that’s when miracles happened.”
She also asked, “Why always cast me out ??? I’m equal as all !!!”
Shinedown has premiered the video for “Dead Don’t Die,” the next single off the band’s new album, Planet Zero.
The clip, which was previously teased last week, finds Brent Smith and company performing on an ornate golden stage, cut with footage of the individual band members surrounded by knives, grenades, bullets and broken glass.
In a statement, guitarist Zach Myers explains that “Dead Don’t Die” was inspired by Smith and “the people like him.”
“The strong-willed, refuse to give up, bend but never break human spirit,” Myers says. “I’ve seen [Smith] be at the bottom before, and pick himself up, and never stop trying to be better. I hope everyone feels something when they listen to it. I hope it makes you feel like you can run through a brick wall.”
You can watch the “Dead Don’t Die” video streaming now on YouTube.
Planet Zero, the seventh Shinedown album, was released last July. Its previous two singles, “Planet Zero” and “Daylight,” both hit #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) In promoting the start of the second season of his Paramount+ show Mayor of Kingstown, co-creator Hugh Dillon opened up toThe Hollywood Reporter about the Taylor Sheridan-produced show’s injured lead, Jeremy Renner.
The Marvel movie star and twice-Oscar-nominated actor was critically injured on New Year’s Day when his massive Snowcat plow vehicle ran him over. After emergency surgeries and time in the intensive care unit of a Reno hospital, he’s recovering at home.
Dillon, who is also an actor, also appears on Mayor of Kingstown. He said Renner insisted that promoting the drama go on as planned. “That’s the thing about Jeremy. He just doesn’t want anything to get in the way, you know? He’s a stand-up f***ing dude. He just wants it to rock.”
To Dillon’s point, Renner has been promoting the show via Twitter while he recovers.
He adds of the star, “We’re like a hockey team. He’s our captain who’s been injured, and that’s really all of it. He’s a f***ing fighter. Excuse my language, but that’s the glory of that dude. He’s like Bobby Clarke on the Philadelphia Flyers in the ’70s,” adding, self-deprecatingly, “That [comparison] is just terrible.”
Dillon expressed it was “all hands on deck” when they heard the news: “We all wanted to just support him and do press for him. He’s family.”
Mayor of Kingstown‘s second season debuted on January 15; the show is now streaming on Paramount+.
Bret Michaels is getting nostalgic for the past with his new single. The Poison frontman just dropped the tune “Back in the Day,” described as a “feel good, road trip anthem song that will help you beat the winter blues.”
He also dropped a video for the song, which is described as “a modern day MTV throwback video to the early days of the music TV network,” featuring never-before-seen images and photos.
The new track comes as Bret is set to launch his limited engagement summer Parti-Gras tour. The tour features Jefferson Starship and Night Ranger, along with special appearances by ex-Journey singer Steve Augeri and Sugar Ray‘s Mark McGrath. It’s set to kick off July 13 in Clarkston, Michigan.
A new biography on legendary artist Leon Russell is about to hit store shelves. Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time’s Journey Through Rock & Roll History, written by author and founding member of Buffalo Tom, Bill Janovitz, will be released March 14 by Hachette Books.
The book, which has the support of the Russell estate, is described as “the definitive, never-before-told chronicle of one of the most important music makers of the 20th century,” calling Russell a “truly mythical figure in American music.”
Russell, who passed away in 2016, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011. He wrote such songs as “Delta Lady” and the Grammy Hall of Fame tune “A Song for You.” He had his own hits with songs like “Lady Blue” and “Tight Rope.” Over the years he collaborated with a huge list of artists, including Eric Clapton, Elton John, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Bob Dylan.
Geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China may be high, but one sign of a thaw will be coming to a theater near you, if you live in the Middle Kingdom.
The country has reportedly decided to end its four-year ban on Marvel Studios movies, with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opening there this weekend as China celebrates the Lunar New Year, traditionally a huge movie-going window.
Further, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will debut on the same day it opens in the U.S., February 17.
The ban, which wasn’t officially announced, meant the entire run of Marvel Studios’ Phase Four films, including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder, went un-screened there. While both films ended up as some of the highest-grossing movies of the year, missing out in the movie-hungry Chinese market definitely dinged their bottom lines, to the tune of millions.
Prior to the ban, the last Marvel Studios films to open in China were Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home — the latter a Sony Pictures co-production — in 2019.
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
