In an Instagram post, the Queen guitarist shares his reaction to the young English rocker’s recent cover of “We Are the Champions.”
“Every now and then, while idly scrolling in the park, you come upon something that makes you go ‘WOW,'” May writes.
While May enjoyed Yungblud’s spin on the Queen classic, he noticed that some commenters weren’t as impressed.
“I’m smiling quietly at all the ‘noooo’ comments,” May writes. “I remember so clearly the same kind of derision being poured on Freddie [Mercury] when we started out as Queen.”
May adds, “As soon as I see someone who can inspire such strong reactions – positive and negative – I’m sure this person is a star performer.”
Other rock legends who’ve shared their love for Yungblud’s music include The Rolling Stones‘ Mick Jagger and The Who‘s Roger Daltrey.
Ukrainian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Plans are underway for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to visit the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to address a joint session of Congress, according to sources.
The sources cautioned on Tuesday that the visit was not confirmed, dependent on security
The trip comes as Congress is considering $45 billion in funding for Ukraine. Earlier Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged all members to be present at votes “for a very special focus on Democracy Wednesday night.”
Zelenskyy, who enjoys broad bipartisan support on the Hill despite some Republican calls for more oversight of U.S. aid, has addressed Congress before — remotely — on March 16, some three weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
At the time he thanked Congress but called on the U.S. to do more for his country. He invoked the words of Martin Luther King Jr. — “I have a dream” — and said “I have a need” to protect Ukraine.
At the end of the roughly 16-minute speech, he addressed President Joe Biden directly: “You are the leader of the nation … I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.”
At the end of the roughly 16-minute speech, he addressed President Joe Biden directly: “You are the leader of the nation … I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.”
The Rolling Stones are getting ready to release their new live album and DVD, GRRR Live!, next year, and they’ve just shared a video of their live performance of the classic “It’s Only Rock and Roll (But I Like It).”
The video is taken from their December 15, 2012, concert at Newark’s Prudential Center, which was part of their 50 & Counting tour, celebrating their 50th anniversary as a band. The original show aired as a pay-per-view event.
GRRR Live!, which is a full recording of the concert, is set to drop February 10. It features guest appearances by such big names as Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, John Mayer, Gary Clark Jr., Mick Taylor and The Black Keys.
(PHOENIX) — Republican Kari Lake’s election lawsuit will go to trial this week after an Arizona judge dismissed most — but not all — counts she put forward contesting her loss in the governor’s race to Democrat Katie Hobbs.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson dismissed eight out of 10 claims late Monday but allowed two counts to proceed pertaining to alleged intentional misconduct affecting ballot printers and ballot chain of custody on Election Day.
The two-day trial will begin Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET.
A fired-up Lake reacted Tuesday at the Turning Point USA AmericaFest event in Phoenix to what she deemed a “huge win” for her legal team and appeared giddy when talking about how Hobbs and other election officials would have to take the witness stand.
“Christmas came early yesterday, woo!” Lake said to applause. “We got great news. We’re taking these b******* to trial!”
“She can’t duck out from taking the stand in our trial. She will have to take the stand. Katie Hobbs is gonna have to put her hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth,” she added.
But in a reversal later in the day, a spokesperson from the secretary of state’s office confirmed that Lake’s attorneys withdrew their subpoena for Hobbs to testify and will not call her to appear, even after Judge Thompson denied a request from Hobbs’ attorneys to block the subpoena’s enforcement.
Lake’s attorney, Kurt Olsen, who reportedly talked to then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 6 and pushed conspiracy theories to justify overturning the 2020 election, still has the chance to call Maricopa County Elections Recorder Stephen Richer and Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chair Bill Gates as witnesses.
To win her case, Lake has an extremely high bar in proving that Maricopa County election workers intentionally interfered with printers to change the results of the election and intentionally violated the chain of custody rules, resulting in her losing enough votes to sway the election.
She’s hailed the decision to move forward with a trial as a victory, tweeting, “Buckle up, America. This is far from over.”
Lake has “alleged intentional misconduct sufficient to affect the outcome of the election and thus has stated an issue of fact that requires going beyond the pleadings,” Thompson wrote in the ruling. “Accordingly, Plaintiff must show at trial that the BOD printer malfunctions were intentional, and directed to affect the results of the election, and that such actions did actually affect the outcome.”
Since falling 17,000 votes short of Hobbs, the TV news anchor turned self-described “ultra-MAGA mama bear” has continued to model Trump, embracing claims her election was rigged after never agreeing to accept the results if she lost. She’s frequented Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in recent weeks, blasting election workers and the media to dinner guests, according to videos posted on social media. She’s also asked supporters on Twitter to pray for Judge Thompson to allow her a revote while blasting fundraising links to help with her case.
Lake’s lawsuit, filed earlier the month and filled with distorted allegations that echo Trump’s failed legal challenges, seeks extraordinary relief of fully overturning the state’s election and certifying her as the winner instead of Hobbs.
Democratic attorney Marc Elias, whose firm is representing Hobbs, expressed confidence Lake won’t meet her bar despite the case going to trial.
“Proving intentional wrongdoing and that it affected the outcome of the election will be impossible for Lake,” Elias tweeted. “This is a careful judge, but the conclusion seems not in doubt.”
Lake claims “thousands of voters, disproportionately Republican, gave up voting due to the long wait times or simply avoided the polls after seeing the chaos reported” on Election Day in Maricopa County, home to more than half of Arizona voters. County officials have maintained there was no nefarious behavior and no voters were disenfranchised as other voting options were presented despite the printer issues impacting 60% of Election Day locations.
A report from Maricopa County found that some printers produced ballots with ink that was too light to be read by tabulation machines. Impacted voters were given the option to put their ballots in a secure box known as “Door 3” to be counted after Election Day at Maricopa County’s main tabulation center.
“All voters were still provided reasonable, lawful options for voting,” Maricopa County attorney Thomas Liddy, a lifelong Republican, wrote in a letter accompanying the report.
With election challenges in Arizona on an accelerated timeline, Thompson will have five days from the end of the two-day trial to issue his ruling. It’s expected to be appealed.
Ava Max unleashed “Dancing’s Done,” the latest single off of her soon-to-be-released sophomore effort, Diamonds & Dancefloors.
Ava collaborated with some of the music industry’s biggest movers and shakers for her latest anthem. She tapped songwriter Henry Walter and producer Matthew James Burns, who’ve respectively worked with Maroon 5 and Lady Gaga, to perfect her new single.
“Dancing’s Done” captures ’80s disco and dance vibes to deliver an addictive, head-bopping beat as Ava sings about pursuing the object of her affection.
“I wanna give in to your dark temptation/ I wanna touch you like nobody does, oh/ People like you and me were born to run/ So where we goin’ when the dancing’s done?” she asks in the song’s rhythmic chorus.
“Dancing’s Done” follows the previously released songs “Million Dollar Baby,” “Weapons” and “Maybe You’re the Problem” from Ava’s forthcoming album.
Walker Hayes sat down with an acoustic guitar to play a new song for fans on social media this week. He didn’t specify the title, but captioned his post, “For restless people like me,” which is also one of its lyrics.
Parker McCollum shared a “sneak peek” of his upcoming new album on social media.
Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of the death of TheClash‘s Joe Strummer, and the occasion will be marked with a special tribute in New York.
Consequence reports that D Generation’s Jesse Malin, Gogol Bordello‘s Eugene Hutz and more will celebrate Strummer by busking at the annual Gates of the West holiday benefit, which kicks off at 6 p.m. outside Malin’s Lower East Side bar Niagara, where there’s a mural of the late Clash frontman.
Following the tribute, which will move inside Niagara if it snows, there will be an after-party at Malin’s 96 Tears. Proceeds from the event benefit the nonprofit Music & Memory, which “helps individuals with a wide range of cognitive and physical conditions to engage with the world, ease pain, and reclaim their humanity through the use of personalized music.”
Strummer passed away December 22, 2002, at the age of 50, just a few months before the Clash were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. His official cause of death was an undiagnosed congenital heart defect.
When Taylor Swift‘s “Anti-Hero” debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, she became the first solo artist ever to have five songs enter the tally on top. Now the song has set another record for Taylor on yet another one of Billboard‘s countless charts.
“Anti-Hero” has topped the publication’s Pop Airplay chart, becoming her 10th song to do so. She’s now the first woman ever to top that chart in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, and only the second artist overall to do so, following Maroon 5.
What’s more, Taylor is now just one number-one song away from tying the record for the most number ones on the Pop Airplay chart, which started in 1992. Katy Perry and Rihanna hold the record, with 11 each.
Taylor’s run of number-one Pop Airplay songs started in 2009 with “Love Story,” from Fearless, and includes one song from Red, five from 1989, two from Reputation and now one from Midnights.
Dolly Parton’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame may have inspired her to make a whole album full of rock music, but it was an idea she’d been considering for quite a while beforehand, too, because her husband Carl Dean is a big fan of rock music.
Now that the project is officially underway, Dolly says she knows that Carl is going to be excited to hear the finished product.
“He loves all the songs,” Dolly explains in a new interview with ET Canada, adding that the track list will feature some yet-to-be-determined duet partners.
“I haven’t told [Carl] yet who I’m going to have on. I don’t even know myself, who all is gonna be on it,” she reveals. “But he’ll love it.”
Though Dolly’s released dozens of country albums, she’s got a feeling that this rock project will be a special one to her husband. “I’m doing so many of his favorite songs on the album,” she adds, “so I’ll play it to him when it’s all done.”
Dolly’s interview was a part of the TV special ET Canada Presents: Icons Dolly Parton, which aired on STACKTV and the Global TV App on Monday night.
The show may have had a rocky start on Broadway, with previous star Beanie Feldstein in the lead, but Funny Girl has been a runaway hit with her replacement, Lea Michele,as Fanny Bryce.
In fact, Variety reports the musical just broke the $2 million mark over its eight performances ending December 18 — a record not just for the production, but for the August Wilson Theatre in which it’s staged.
This is no small feat in regular times, let alone when the Great White Way is still suffering from tourism below pre-pandemic levels, the trade points out.
Prior to Funny Girl‘s $2.005 million record, the previous record-holder was Mean Girls‘ $1.994 million house record set back in 1998.
Variety also points out the musical nears 99% capacity every night with the Glee alumna and Tony winner Tovah Feldshuh in the leads; the venue stood at about 74% full when Feldstein and Jane Lynch were the stars.
