Filter has premiered a new single called “For the Beaten.”
The track marks the first fresh offering from the “Hey Man Nice Shot” outfit in two years. It’s the first single from the next Filter album, the follow-up to 2016’s Crazy Eyes.
“I spent a lot of time in the studio the last two years working on various projects and collaborations but at the core of it all, there is always Filter,” says frontman Richard Patrick. “We chose ‘For the Beaten’ as the first single because it’s dynamic, dark, and heavy, just like the moment we are in.”
You can listen to “For the Beaten” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying lyric video streaming now on YouTube.
The release of “For the Beaten” follows Patrick’s live reunion with Nine Inch Nails during the band’s hometown show in Cleveland last month. Patrick played in the Trent Reznor-led group during their Pretty Hate Machine tour before going on to form Filter.
(NEW YORK) — Two major U.S. supermarkets will combine forces after a unanimous all-cash merger agreement was reached between the boards of Kroger and Albertsons.
Kroger, the second largest grocery store chain, purchased the fourth largest, Albertsons, for an estimated total enterprise value of $24.6 billion, the company announced in a news release Friday.
“This combination will expand customer reach and improve proximity to deliver fresh and affordable food to approximately 85 million households with a premier omnichannel experience,” Kroger said.
Combined, the stores employ more than 700,000 people across 5,000 stores.
The companies said they plan to continue with their shared track record to lower prices, enhance customer experience and increase associate wages and benefits.
In a statement, Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen said, “Albertsons Cos. brings a complementary footprint and operates in several parts of the country with very few or no Kroger stores. This merger advances our commitment to build a more equitable and sustainable food system by expanding our footprint into new geographies to serve more of America with fresh and affordable food and accelerates our position as a more compelling alternative to larger and non-union competitors.”
He added that “as a combined entity, we will be better positioned to advance Kroger’s successful go-to-market strategy” with respect to their seamless shopping experience, portfolio of brands, and personalized value and savings.
“Consistent with prior transactions, Kroger plans to invest in lowering prices for customers and expects to reinvest approximately half a billion dollars of cost savings from synergies to reduce prices for customers,” the company stated in its news release. “An incremental $1.3 billion will also be invested into Albertsons Cos. stores to enhance the customer experience.”
The newly merged company said it “expects to invest $1 billion to continue raising associate wages and comprehensive benefits after close.”
One of the main pillars highlighted as a way to accelerate Kroger’s go-to-market strategy is to create a broader selection of products with higher quality and better value.
“At a time when people are increasingly shopping for groceries and eating at home, Kroger and Albertsons Cos. will be better positioned to relieve the inflationary pressures facing shoppers with a combined portfolio of approximately 34,000 total private label products across premium, natural and organic, and opening price point brands,” the news release stated.
“Kroger and Albertsons Cos. have strong track records of providing quality products at great value. The combined company’s innovation capabilities, increased manufacturing footprint and expanded national reach will drive improved quality and efficiency allowing its Our Brands portfolio to accelerate growth and profitability while remaining affordable and accessible to customers,” the news release continued.
Additionally, Kroger said it expects this deal will enable the company to “serve America with fresher food, faster” with its “expanded network of stores and distribution centers, as well as a broader supplier base.”
“Utilizing Kroger’s End-to-End Fresh initiative across a broader network will enable the combined company to optimize its supply chain to deliver the freshest products from field to table to more customers more quickly,” the company stated. “By bringing together Kroger’s Fresh for Everyone strategy and Albertsons Cos.’ Customers for Life strategy, the combined company will expand its portfolio of fresh products, extend shelf lives and accelerate the penetration of its Fresh portfolio.”
The company said it also hopes to continue its shared progress towards environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.
‘The addition of Albertsons Cos.’ sustainability program and resources will accelerate progress on Kroger’s Zero Hunger, Zero Waste social and environmental impact plan to create a more equitable and sustainable food system,” the release said.
The transaction is expected to close in early 2024, subject to required regulatory clearance and closing conditions, according to the company’s investor relations site.
As previously teased, Green Day has announced a Nimrod reissue in honor of the album’s 25th anniversary.
The package will be available as a three-disc CD and five-LP vinyl collection on January 27. In addition to the original album, the reissue includes a host of previously unreleased demos, as well as a full live recording from a 1997 concert in Philadelphia.
Among the demos is a recording of an unreleased Green Day song called “You Irritate Me,” which you can listen to now via digital outlets, and a cover of Elvis Costello‘s “Alison.”
Nimrod, Green Day’s fifth album, was originally released October 14, 1997 — 25 years ago today. The record has been certified double Platinum by the RIAA, and spawned the singles “Hitchin’ a Ride” and “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”
(BEIJING) — In Beijing this Sunday, China’s most consequential political gathering in a generation will open: the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
This year Chinese leader Xi Jinping is tipped be given a norm-breaking third five-year-term as General Secretary of the Communist Party, a more powerful position than the title of president which he is associated with abroad. Equally crucial, a whole contingent of China’s most experienced leaders, especially in the areas of the economy and foreign policy, are slated to retire and a new generation will be ushered in. Will any of them be positioned as Xi’s successor or will the top circle around Xi be stacked with his loyalists, leaving him even more unchallenged?
This is first congress since the pandemic and Xi is expected to use his zero-COVID strategy to cement to authority.
Since the last congress, U.S.-China relations have cratered with the two countries remaining at odds over Xi’s “without limits” friendship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the western region of Xinjiang, the crackdown in Hong Kong, a tech competition over semiconductors and U.S. support for Taiwan.
What is the Party Congress?
The gathering, held every five years, brings together China’s top Communist Party members behind the closed doors of Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. This is the 20th nationwide congress since the party’s founding in 1921.
The Communist Party technically provides guidance and direction to China’s government, the State Council which is comprised almost completely of party members. The party uses these gatherings to discuss and approve the party’s long-term goals as well appoint the top leadership of the party and, by extension, the country.
This gathering will also drastically reshuffle the party’s leadership.
Out of 96 million Communist Party members, a select 2,296 delegates will converge on the Great Hall of The People to elect 205 of its members to the Central Committee and then the 25-seat Politburo. Due to an established retirement age limit of 68, the South China Morning Post tally found that nearly half of the Central Committee members are expected to be replaced.
These elite party members will also decide who gets to sit in the inner sanctum of party power, the Politburo Standing Committee — the top decision-making body in China. The current leadership has seven members with Xi at the very top.
This was the path Xi took himself. After much of his adult life in local-level politics, Xi was elevated to the national stage at the 16th Party Congress in 2002 and then was elected to the Standing Committee in 2007 during the 17th Party Congress, making him a viable successor. At the 18th Party Congress in 2012, he rose to the top in an opaque jockeying process.
While there was never a term limit for Xi’s position as General Secretary, there was a two-term limit for the presidency until 2018. The two positions are usually served concurrently along with a third position — the head of the military — so it became the norm in the 1980s to serve two terms as head of the party to fit the term limit for the presidency. This was put in place at the time to ensure collective leadership at the top of the party and prevent an extended cult of personality with one-man rule — as seen under Mao Zedong — along with an orderly transition of power. The previous congress in 2017 paved the way for the presidential term limit to be thrown out shortly afterwards.
Xi is 69 this year and the rules and norms are not expected to apply to him this time around.
What to expect this week
The Party Congress will run from Oct. 16 to roughly the 20th with much of the proceedings happening behind closed doors. Most of the media will be kept away in the media center in a separate part of town, ostensibly because of COVID protocols.
Xi will open the Congress on Sunday with a marathon speech recapping the achievements of the party under his leadership and his vision forward. Xi’s speech in 2017 lasted three-and-a-half hours.
State media this week say that the party will use Xi’s signature zero-COVID policy to bolster his rule.
“China has waged an all-out war against the COVID-19 pandemic which protected public health to the maximum extent,” the communique read, commending Xi for “putting people’s lives first.”
With only 5,226 official COVID deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, China’s death rate is far below many countries around the world. Xi often cites the low death rate as proof of China’s superiority over the West despite its impact this year on the economy. China remains the only major country still seeking to control the virus.
The communique also praised Xi on his Hong Kong crackdown and his strong response opposing “Taiwan Independence” alluding to the massive military drills Xi, as head of the PLA, unleashed around the island after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August visit there.
China’s economy will be the most critical issue, especially if the party wants China on track to overtake the United States as the world biggest economy by the end of the decade. Observers are watching to see if Xi offers a road-map out of China’s COVID isolation to rejoin much of the world.
Xi will also have to the contend with what to do about the spiraling relationship with the United States.
The most important event will take place at the end, on the morning of Oct. 21 when the new lineup of the Politburo Standing Committee will be unveiled. These will be China’s top leaders working with Xi for the next five years.
Members of the committee will be unveiled to the public one by one as walk onto a red-carpeted dais, in order of seniority, starting with Xi. As of right now only Xi is expected to stay on.
Who will be Premier? Will Xi elevate a potential successor? And other pressing questions
Arguably the most important position will be who walks in after Xi. The second-in-line will usually end up as premier eventually, overseeing the day-to-day government and traditionally steering the economy. The current number two, Li Keqiang, indicated that he will retire as premier this coming March but at 67, he is still technically “young” enough to stay on. A trained economist, Li returned to prominence in recent months as the country’s economy slowed under Xi’s zero-COVID policies.
If Li steps aside, will his place be filled with a Xi loyalist or someone nurtured under previous Chinese leaders who still hold some sway behind the scenes? If the person doesn’t end up being a Xi loyalist it could possibly mean that some in the party still want to reign in Xi’s more conservative economic tendencies.
Also, would there be a potential successor amongst those chosen?
Xi was seen as the next leader-in-waiting when he was elevated to the Standing Committee in 2007 at the age of 54, five years before he reached the top spot. If, by the end of the Congress, there is no clear rising star among the top ranks, it may signal that Xi intends to rule securely into a fourth term.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are apparently trying to get their own story straight.
According to Page Six, Netflix and the filmmakers behind the pair’s upcoming streaming documentary “were confused” by apparent “discrepancies” between what they said on camera and Harry’s own words in his upcoming memoir.
A source familiar with the project told the publication, “A lot in the show contradicted what Harry has written, so that was an issue. Then Harry and Meghan made significant requests [to filmmakers] to walk back content they themselves have provided, for their own project.”
It seems the couple wanted to edit out comments they made about PrinceWilliam and his wife, Kate,and King Charles and his wife, Camilla, the queen consort.
Whoopi Goldberg and her ‘Sister Act’ co-star Kathy Najimi – ABC/Paula Lobo
Sister Act 3 is on the way.
Whoopi Goldberg, who starred in the original 1992 comedy film, dished the news while appearing on Thursday’s episode of Comedy Central’sHell of a Week with Charlamagne Tha God.
“Yes, it is happening,” she shared. “You know, it takes everything a very long time, but we should get the script by the end of this month.”
The actor, comedian and television personality went on to reveal who she’d like to cast in the film, naming Keke Palmer, Lizzo and Nicki Minaj.
“I want everybody,” Whoopi said. “I want as many people who want to have some fun, because I really, desperately need to have some fun.”
The news comes almost four years after a third installment was confirmed to be in the works to air on Disney+.
Sister Act burst on to the scene in 1992 and became one of the most successful comedies of the ’90s. Its sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, came a year later.
(LONDON) — Climate protesters threw tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” painting Friday to protest the extraction and use of fossil fuels.
Members of Just Stop Oil, wearing T-shirts bearing the name of the group, poured two cans of tomato soup over the famous painting located at the National Gallery in London, as seen in a video posted to Twitter by the group.
However, the painting was protected by glass and doesn’t appear to have suffered any damage.
Two women then glue their hands to the wall just under the work of art, the video shows.
“What is worth more: art or life? Is it worth more than food? Worth more than justice?” one of the activists yells, adding, “are you more concerned about the protection of a painting, or the protection of our planet and people?”
She continued, “The cost-of-living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis. Fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families. They can’t even afford to heat a tin of soup.”
A statement from the National Gallery said the incident occurred just after 11:00 a.m. local time.
“The room was cleared of visitors and police were called. Officers are now on the scene,” the statement read. “There is some minor damage to the frame but the painting is unharmed. Two people have been arrested.”
The National Gallery would not respond to ABC News’ request for comment. The Metropolitan Police has been reached out to for comment.
On Twitter, the group has called for roads across London to be blocked every day in October to protest fossil fuels.
Earlier this year, the group has attempted to draw attention to climate change by gluing their hands to other famous works of art.
In July, members of Just Stop Oil glued their hands to a frame holding a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” at London’s Royal Academy of Art and to the frame of a J.M.W. Turner painting at Manchester Art Gallery
Also in July, a separate group of activists glued their hands to Sandro Botticelli’s “Primavera” in Florence to protest the use of gas and coal.
Viking Wizard Eyes/Columbia Records; Credit: Jack Bridgland
Blink-182 has released a new single called “Edging,” marking the band’s first song with Tom DeLonge in over 10 years.
The track features both DeLonge and Mark Hoppus handling lead vocals in the verses while harmonizing together in the chorus and features some classic Blink juvenile humor.
Drummer Travis Barker, who produced “Edging,” says, “I wanted to imagine as a listener what I wanted to experience and at the same time as a band member what we wanted to make and say and most importantly how it would sound production wise in 2022.”
You can listen to “Edging” now via digital outlets. Its accompanying video will premiere Friday at noon ET.
Earlier this week, Blink announced that they’d reunited with DeLonge, who’d been out of the band since 2015. The trio will embark on a worldwide tour in 2023 and plan to release a new album that DeLonge calls the “best album of our career.”
In DeLonge’s absence, Blink featured Alkaline Trio frontman Matt Skiba on guitar and vocals. Following the reunion news, DeLonge shared a message he sent Skiba thanking him for “all that you have done to keep the band alive and thriving.”
Nicki Minaj is not happy with the Recording Academy.
After getting news that her latest hit “Super Freaky Girl” has been been moved from the rap to the pop category, the rapper took to social media to share her thoughts.
“I have no prob being moved out the RAP category as long as we r ALL being treated FAIRLY,” Nicki tweeted, before making a comparison to Latto‘s song “Big Energy.”
“If SFG has 2B moved out RAP then so does Big Energy! ANY1 who says diff is simply a Nicki hater or a troll,” she continued. “I’d actually LUV 2 c a more street record win- male OR female! [I’m just saying] rightIsRight.”
The Grammy-nominated artist then took to Instagram and posted a 17-minute video to further express her frustration.
“If you can’t tell by now that there is a concerted effort to give newer artists things that they really don’t deserve over people who have been deserving for many years, then you’re not paying attention,” she said.
“And by the way, this is not to say any song is bad or any female rapper is bad. I always say this: Any rapper, female or male, that wins a Grammy, you should be f****** proud of yourself. But why is the goalpost only ever moved when it’s Nicki?” she asked rhetorically. “Well, I’ll tell you why. They don’t want the people that they have in the industry to go up against me.”
She continued, “They move the goalposts when it comes to me because in order for them to uplift the people who they want to shine, the people who these corporate giants can make the money off of, the people who control a lot of things behind the scenes, they have to elevate someone that they profit off.”
A few weeks ago, while accepting the Songwriter of the Decade award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International, Taylor Swift revealed that she likes to think of her lyrics as falling into three separate categories: Fountain Pen Songs, Quill Pen Songs and Glitter Gel Pen Songs. Now, she’s personally curated three Apple Music Playlists illustrating this concept.
“Most of my lyrics are Fountain Pen lyrics. They’re modern personal stories, written like poetry, about those moments you remember all too well where you can see, hear, and feel everything in screaming detail,” Taylor explains to Apple Music. “Glitter Gel Pen songs have lyrics that make you want to dance, sing and toss glitter around the room. They remind you not to take yourself too seriously, which is something we all need to hear these days.”
And finally, she says, “Quill Pen songs are songs with lyrics that make you feel all old-fashioned, like you’re a 19th century poet crafting your next sonnet by candlelight.” Those comments are also captured in voice notes by Taylor which kick off each playlist.
A sampling of the Glitter Gel Pen Songs playlist includes “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Taylor’s Version),” “You Belong With Me (Taylor’s Version),” “22” and “You Need to Calm Down.” The Quill Pen Songs include “ivy,” “evermore,” “Carolina,” “my tears ricochet” and “Red (Taylor’s Version).” The Fountain Pen Songs include “Lover,” “State of Grace,” “White Horse,” “Betty” and “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version).”
In other Taylor news, she’s booked an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on October 24, just days after the October 21 release of Midnights. It’ll be her first late-night interview since last year. Meghan Trainor, whose new album Takin’ It Back also drops on October 21, will perform on the show that same night.
