“Carolina Shag,” a previously unreleased John Mellencamp song from the sessions for his classic 1985 album Scarecrow, has just been made available as an advance track from the upcoming deluxe reissue of the record.
The song is one of 11 bonus tracks featured on the deluxe versions of the Scarecrow reissue, which is due out November 4. As previously reported, the expanded reissue will boast a remixed and remastered version of the original album, as well as demos, outtakes and rough mixes of tracks.
“Carolina Shag” is an upbeat rock tune that tells the story of a guy who takes a trip to the Carolina coast and meets a free-spirited woman on the beach. The track is available now via digital formats, and a companion lyric video has premiered at Mellencamp’s official YouTube channel.
The Scarecrow reissue can be preordered now, and will be available in multiple configurations and formats.
Scarecrow, Mellencamp’s eighth studio album, was released in August 1985, and peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200. The album yielded five top-40 hits — “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to ’60s Rock),” “Lonely Ol’ Night,” “Small Town,” “Rain on the Scarecrow” and “Rumbleseat,” which reached #2, #6, #6, #21 and #28, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Meanwhile, Mellencamp recently announced plans for an extensive North American trek dubbed the Live and In Person 2023 tour. The outing, which features 76 dates, is slated to run from a February 5-6 engagement in Bloomington, Indiana through a June 23-24 stand in South Bend, Indiana.
In honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, BET Her will kick off its fourth season of The Waiting Room — a series of stories about Black women and their life altering medial diagnosis. This season’s short films, Oh Baby Baby and The Pink Fight, follow the journeys of women battling breast cancer from diagnosis to coping and healing.
If Loving You is Wrong actress EdwinaFindley stars in Oh Baby Baby, a story about a fashion entrepreneur who develops breast cancer from IVF treatments while trying to conceive a baby. Co-written by MaggyFrancois and MaimahKarmo, the TichinaArnold-directed short airs Saturday, October 8, at 10 p.m. ET.
In an interview with BlackFilm.com, Arnold discusses why she decided to take part in the project.
“Now I’m older, I have more of an experience with life,” she says of her directorial debut. “Even though I am not a breast cancer survivor, even though I’ve never been diagnosed with breast cancer … never used IVF treatments, I thought this situation was a great time for me … because of the great content,” she said. “We finally get to tell our own stories.”
Actress LisaRayeMcCoy takes on directing duties in The Pink Fight, a story revolving around a boxer diagnosed with breast cancer. Written by K. Senay, the film follows the boxer and her wife as they fight for survival both in and out of the ring.
Season 4 of The Waiting Room airs Saturday, October 8, on BET Her.
A new documentary about longtime Rolling Stones touring bassist Darryl Jones, titled Darryl Jones: In the Blood, premiered Friday, October 7, in select theaters, and also is now available to rent digitally via Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.
The film includes interviews with Jones and Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and the late Charlie Watts, as well as with some of the other musicians who have toured with the band for many years, including keyboardist Chuck Leavell and singer Bernard Fowler.
Watts appears in one of the final interviews he gave before his death in August 2021.
In the Blood tells Jones’ life story, including a look at his childhood growing up on the South Side of Chicago, and his early music career, which included a five-year stint performing and recording with jazz legend Miles Davis, and working with Sting, Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton, Madonna and many others.
Jones began playing with The Rolling Stones in 1993, after longtime bassist Bill Wyman retired from the band. He went on to play with the group on all of their ensuing albums and tours.
In the documentary, the various Stones members discuss working with Darryl and enthuse his talent.
In a trailer for the film, Richards notes, “Darryl is one of the best bass players in the world … I mean, obviously, playing with Miles Davies for five years, no mean resumé, you know?”
Lena Dunham’s new film, Catherine Called Birdy, is unlike anything she’s ever done, and she says that was by design.
Dunham wrote, directed and produced the coming-of-age story about a spirited 14-year-old girl growing up in the Middle Ages, and she told ABC Audio that she set clear intentions for what she wanted to accomplish through her film.
“I think it’s the first time I’ve ever thought about giving the world anything,” Dunham said. “I think previously I was always like, ‘I’m just gonna make things that speak to what I find weird and uncomfortable about life and hope somebody else relates.’ And it was one of the first times I’ve actually thought about leaving the audience with … a feeling of joy.”
Bella Ramsey stars as the titular Birdy and says she felt that same joy while playing the character.
“She’s rebelling against everything that she can because she’s so frustrated by the birdcage that she’s metaphorically been trapped in,” Ramsey said. “And she’s so much fun to play. She’s funny. She’s cheeky, which I love.”
Dunham found inspiration in “everything from Clueless to Big to A League of Their Own,” as she made the film. “I think I always loved books and movies that I felt really honored the intelligence of young people, particularly young women,” Dunham said.
Recently, though, Dunham says she realized that films aimed at teenagers “had become much more about franchises and tentpoles and, you know, magical powers.”
“I missed the kinds of movies that seemed like they were really just about young people slugging it through adolescence,” Dunham said. “And this was a story that was certainly that.”
Iggy Pop has shared a cover of the Leonard Cohen song “You Want It Darker.”
The Godfather of Punk’s rendition of the 2016 track stretches out to over five minutes, and features his slow-burning, gravelly vocals over jazz instrumentation.
“There’s nobody like Leonard, not in the whole world,” Pop says.
Pop’s cover is available now via digital outlets, and will appear on the upcoming Cohen tribute album Here It Is, due out October 14. The compilation also includes contributions from Peter Gabriel, Nathaniel Rateliff, Norah Jones, James Taylor and Mavis Staples.
Snow Waltz, Lindsey Stirling‘s first all-new album of Christmas music since 2017’s Warmer in the Winter, is out on Friday, and she’s released a video for the title track which manages to combine both the Halloween and the Christmas season.
In the song, Lindsey deliberately set out to combine a Christmas-y feeling with an element of spookiness, to reflect that the album is out in October. That theme inspired the video, which casts Lindsey and her backup dancers as skeletons frolicking on October 31. As the calendar flips to November 1, they’re all ready to get back in their coffins when all of a sudden, it starts to snow.
The joke is that the snow, and all the other elements of Christmas that suddenly appear — like festive food, decorations and even an adorable puppy with a red ribbon — frighten the bejeezus out of the skeletons. In one scene, Lindsey reads “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” to her fellow skeletons, and when she shows them the illustrations of Santa Claus, they faint in terror.
But by the end of the video, they’re into it: All the skeletons grab a Christmas-related item — including the puppy — and go back into their coffins.
In addition to instrumental interpretations of holiday classics like “Joy to the World,” Snow Waltz also includes vocals by guest artists David Archuleta, pop singer Frawley and hitmaking songwriter Bonnie McKee.
Lindsey’s Snow Waltz Christmas tour kicks off November 17 in Grand Prairie, TX.
Adam Lambert has released his version of Noël Coward’s 1932 show tune “Mad About the Boy,” which will be featured in the 2023 documentary Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story. Adam says getting to record the song by the late, legendary British playwright, composer, director and actor was not only a “cool opportunity,” but a “nice challenge.”
Coward, who died in 1973, never publicly acknowledged his homosexuality, which is why it’s significant that Adam has recorded the song, which features lyrics like, “Mad about the boy/I know it’s stupid to be mad about the boy/I’m so ashamed of it/But must admit/The sleepless nights I’ve had about the boy.”
“He wrote it about a man and he was never really able to record it because that would have been too taboo for that time,” Adam tells ABC Audio. “So it’s always been a torch song sung by amazing female vocalists. And when they realized, ‘It’s 2022, we’re going to put this film out,’ they came up with the idea of having a guy sing it as it was really intended.”
“When they asked me to do it, I thought, ‘What a cool opportunity,'” Adam adds. He also appreciates the fact that the song allowed him to stretch artistically.
“I haven’t really recorded anything that was sort of jazz-leaning before, but it’s something that I always kind of been interested in,” he notes. “I guess I sang some of that style of music here and there as a musical theater kid, but never on record as an adult. So yeah, it was, like, a nice challenge!”
Adam will kick off his upcoming Halloween-themed tour The Witch Hunt October 19 in Oakland, CA. It wraps up October 30 at the Hollywood Palladium.
Hulu unleashes Hellraiser, the reboot of the legendary horror franchise, on Friday. Trans actress Jamie Clayton succeeds Doug Bradley as the aptly named Pinhead, the head “priest” of a group of other dimensional beings called Cenobites.
Once again, they’re brought to our dimension thanks to some teens tinkering with a mysterious puzzle box.
Clayton gives director David Bruckner credit for having someone of a different gender play the role, explaining that Bruckner wanted the movie to reflect “the world we live in.”
“So the Cenobites are all different ethnicities and genders, and the same thing with the cast,” Clayton tells ABC Audio. “So it feels really authentic. It’s not overtly saying anything. It’s just, it is what it is,” adding with a laugh, “and I was so impressed … [by] the fact that he actually did it.”
Having a trans actress take on such a pivotal role just seemed obvious, Bruckner says. “You know, Hellraiser has always been very much embraced by the queer community. And it would be, I think, an injustice to not open up the casting and hiring the crew, as well.”
What matters is that Clayton is seductive — and scary — as Pinhead always was, thanks to extensive prosthetic makeup.
He notes, “When she’d walk out on set, you could feel a hush fall over the crew … and you know you’re in the presence of royalty.” He adds, “And she can be quite intimidating to talk to … So there’s more than a few times that, you know, I found myself going, ‘Oh, excuse me, Priest … Can you just take a little step to the left?’ Like, you have to be delicate when you’re when you’re dealing with the lead Cenobite.”
(PHOENIX) — In the first and likely only debate for the Arizona Senate race, Democrat Mark Kelly pitched himself to independent voters as someone who can stand up to President Joe Biden and his own party, particularly on border security.
“When Democrats are wrong, like on the border, I call them out on it, because I’m always going to stick up for Arizona,” Kelly said in his opening remarks on stage at Arizona State University’s downtown campus on Thursday. “When the Biden administration refused to increase oil and gas production, I told him he was wrong,” he offered at another point.
The debate between Kelly, his Republican challenger Blake Masters and Libertarian Marc Victor comes just one week before early ballots are sent out in a race that could determine which party has majority control of the Senate next year, as polls show the race is tightening.
“Two years ago, Mark Kelly stood right there, and he promised to be independent,” Masters said in his opening. “But he broke that promise.”
Kelly, who won a special election in 2020 by getting more votes in Arizona than Biden himself, has distanced himself from Democrats’ messaging on immigration amid a record number of arrests or detentions of migrants at the southern border.
That includes the Biden administration’s decision to lift Title 42, a controversial Trump-era public health order which cut down opportunities for migrants to make legal claims to avoid deportation during the coronavirus pandemic.
“When the president decided he was going to do something dumb on this and change the rules that would create a bigger crisis, you know, I’ve told him he was wrong,” Kelly said. “So I’ve pushed back on this administration multiple times, and I’ve got more money on the ground.”
Kelly called the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border a “mess” and said he supports some physical barriers at the border.
Meanwhile, Masters emphasized Kelly’s record of allegiance to Democrats, asking Kelly about a vote against a GOP amendment to the Inflation Reduction Act that would’ve funded additional 18,000 border patrol agents.
“There are votes that happen in DC that have nothing to do with Border Patrol agents that have might have the title on it and nothing happens,” Kelly offered.
Masters called on Kelly to “respectfully resign” if he has truly done everything he can to secure the border.
During the hour-long debate, the candidates also sparred over the 2020 election, inflation, abortion rights and water security.
Asked if Biden is the legitimately elected president, Masters at first sarcastically offered, “Joe Biden is absolutely the president. I mean, my gosh, have you seen the gas prices lately?” before acknowledging Biden as the “the legitimate president.”
But the political newcomer then pivoted into a conspiracy theory about how the FBI pressured Facebook and other big tech companies to censor information about Hunter Biden’s alleged crimes in the weeks before the 2020 election.
Masters, who said in a campaign ad last year, “I think Trump won in 2020,” has softened some stances since beating out four other candidates in the August primary and conceded under questioning from moderator Ted Simons of Arizona PBS that he hasn’t seen evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 race.
“I haven’t seen evidence of that,” Masters said, breaking from former President Donald Trump, who endorsed him over the summer.
Kelly warned that the “wheels” could “come off our democracy” if candidates like Masters, who he says continue to questioning the integrity of American elections, win this November.
On abortion — a hot-button issue in Arizona after a federal judge last month upheld a 1901 law prohibiting all abortions other than those necessary to save the life of the mother and mandating jail time for providers — the two candidates offered vastly different views.
Kelly answered “of course” when asked if he’d vote to codify Roe v. Wade, and attacked Masters for his past statements describing abortion as “demonic” and “religious sacrifice.”
“You think you know better than women and doctors about abortion,” Kelly said. “You can think you know better than seniors about social security. And you think you know better than veterans about how to win a war. Folks, we all know guys like this, and we can’t be letting them make decisions about us because it’s just dangerous.”
Masters said he’s “pro-life as a matter of conscience” with “exceptions” and falsely accused Kelly of supporting abortion “up until the moment of birth.” He said he would support a federal “personhood law” to ban all third-trimester abortions — which Kelly called “code for throwing women into jail” — as well as Sen. Lindsey Graham’s federal abortion ban after 15 weeks.
With inflation highest in the country in the Phoenix-metro area, Masters appeared most comfortable when grouping in Kelly with spending in Washington.
“Joe Biden is spending like a drunken sailor and at every single opportunity Mark Kelly just says yes. He can’t say no to Chuck Schumer. He can’t say no to Joe Biden,” Masters said. “You never have to wonder which way Senator Kelly is gonna vote.”
(UVALDE, Texas) — The Uvalde, Texas, school district, facing withering criticism over its police department’s failings both during the May 24 elementary school massacre and since, announced the suspension of the entire district police force on Friday.
