Foo Fighters held their second star-studded tribute concert to late drummer Taylor Hawkins Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
Unlike the first show, which took place in London earlier this month, the LA tribute did not stream online, but, according to the Los Angeles Times‘ live recap, it still boasted an epic night of impromptu supergroups often backed by the Foos themselves.
Among the highlights were Joan Jett jamming “Cherry Bomb” with Blink-182‘s Travis Barker on drums; Def Leppard‘s Joe Elliott, Rick Savage and Phil Collen playing “Photograph” with vocals by Miley Cyrus; Pink joining Heart‘s Nancy Wilson for “Barracuda”; The Pretty Reckless‘ Taylor Momsen belting Soundgarden classics alongside Matt Cameron, Kim Thayil and Nirvana‘s Krist Novoselic; and Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich and Black Sabbath‘s Geezer Butler rocking Sabbath tunes while Sebastian Bach sang.
Attendees also saw Alanis Morissette, with whom Hawkins played drums before joining the Foos, perform “You Oughta Know” with Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers on drums; comedian Dave Chappelle cover Radiohead‘s “Creep”; Wolfgang Van Halen rip Van Halen‘s “Panama”; Mötley Crüe‘s Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee play “Home Sweet Home”; and Tool‘s Danny Carey join Rush‘s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson for “YYZ.”
As with the London concert, the LA show ended with a triumphant Foo Fighters set featuring various guest drummers, including Smith, Barker, Cameron, Rage Against the Machine‘s Brad Wilk, David Bowie, Omar Hakim, Weezer‘s Patrick Wilson and Hawkins’ son, Shane, who once again manned the kit for “My Hero,” as well as the song “I’ll Stick Around.”
The night ended around 1 a.m. local time with a full-band performance of “Everlong,” which Dave Grohl played solo to finish the London show.
Katie Couric has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is currently undergoing treatment.
The 65-year-old journalist revealed in a personal essay on her website that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in June, and has since undergone surgery and radiation to treat the disease.
Couric, a mother of two, said she underwent what she thought would be a routine mammogram in June, after unknowingly missing her annual screening for two years during the coronavirus pandemic. After a follow-up biopsy on her left breast, Couric said she received a call from her doctor with the diagnosis.
“I felt sick and the room started to spin,” Couric wrote. “…I walked to a corner and spoke quietly, my mouth unable to keep up with the questions swirling in my head.”
Since the diagnosis in June, Couric said she has undergone a lumpectomy and several weeks of radiation to treat what her doctors diagnosed as stage 1A breast cancer.
She said the lumpectomy revealed a 2.5-centimeter tumor, or about one inch.
Regarding her radiation treatment, Couric wrote in Wednesday’s essay, “I was warned that I may be fatigued and my skin may turn a little pink. Yesterday was my final round. My left breast does look like I’ve been sunbathing topless, but other than that, I’ve felt fine.”
Couric, who lost her husband, sister and mother-in-law to cancer, said she felt grateful for all the advancements made in breast cancer research over the last several decades.
“I can’t tell you how many times during this experience I thanked God that it was 2022…,” she wrote. “…But to reap the benefits of modern medicine, we need to stay on top of our screenings, advocate for ourselves, and make sure everyone has access to the diagnostic tools that could very well save their life.”
Couric shared her diagnosis on the eve of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is observed every October.
We’re months away from learning who is up for an Academy Award, but fans are hoping Doja Cat scores a nod for “Vegas,” the original song she performed for the Baz Luhrmann biopic, Elvis. But, will the Academy recognize a song that samples a previously existing hit?
Varietytook a deep dive into Doja’s chances of scoring her first Oscar nod and ruled: “Maybe.” The issue here is that “Vegas” samples a portion of Big Mama Thornton‘s 1952 hit “Hound Dog.” Elvis later covered the song in 1956.
Doja credits “Hound Dog” songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in her new track, which uses the line “you ain’t nothin’ but a…” repeatedly. The outlet notes herein lies the issue with her song’s eligibility.
The Oscars mandate that nominated songs “must be the result of a creative interaction between the filmmaker(s) and the composer(s) and/or songwriter(s) who have been engaged to work directly on the motion picture.” That condition might not have been satisfied since Lieber died in 2011; it’s been reported Stoller was not involved in the movie.
Variety also notes Leiber and Stoller might be excluded from consideration themselves because they would be considered “partial contributors,” which, according to the Oscar’s rulebook, are those who were “not responsible for the overall design of the work.”
Finally, a song “must be a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition” in the movie — of which Variety notes that less than 45 seconds of “Vegas” appears in the film. The portion used is the “Hound Dog” interpolation.
Despite this, it appears Doja’s song has found itself in a gray area because of its unique story and nature. It is unknown at this time if she’s up for an Oscar, but we’ll find out when nominations are announced on January 24.
Marco Piraccini/Archivio Marco Piraccini/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images – ABC
While Brad Pitt and Emily Ratajkowski spark dating rumors, a source tells Us Weekly the pair is “getting to know each other.”
“Brad and Emily have been hanging out as friends,” reveals the insider, adding that the relationship is “in the very early stages” right now.
“But they like each other and are excited to see where things go,” adds the source.
Pitt, 58, and Ratajkowski, 31, “have been “out a few times” since the model filed for divorce from husband Sebastian Bear-McClard after four years of marriage, according toPage Six.
Following his divorce from Angelina Jolie, Brad was linked to Arrested Development actress Alia Shawkat in 2019, though an insider told Us at the time that the two were just friends. The Bullet Train actor briefly dated model Nicole Poturalski before calling it quits in 2020.
Taylor Swifttook to TikTok Tuesday night to reveal the latest track name from her upcoming album, Midnights, as part of her ongoing “Midnights Mayhem with Me” series.
Using her ping-pong-balls-in-a-bingo-cage method, Taylor plucked the ball marked with the number six, and revealed that track six on the album is called “Midnight Rain.”
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday, just one day before U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrives in South Korea and amid speculation that North Korea is preparing to conduct its seventh nuclear test as early as October.
South Korean military detected two short-range ballistic missiles fired from the Sunan area in Pyongyang into the East Sea between 6:10 p.m. to 6:20 p.m. local time, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
It’s the second ballistic missile launch in a week after North Korea test-fired one surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile from the western inland town of Taechon on Sunday.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff immediately and strongly condemned the missile launch calling it a “grave provocation” that undermines peace and security on the Korean Peninsula as well as the international community. Pyongyang has launched 18 ballistic missiles along with two cruise missiles so far in 2022.
“North Korea’s act of provocation will intensify the deterrence and response capabilities of the South Korea-U.S. ally and aggravate North Korea’s isolation from the international community,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. “It’s a clear violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution and we urge North Korea to stop immediately.”
South Korean lawmakers told reporters that they believe North Korea has prepared an underground nuclear test site and that South Korean officials believe their neighbor to the north will undertake its seventh nuclear test sometime between Oct. 16 and Nov. 7, though these reports have not been confirmed.
“It’s become more plausible that North Korea will conduct a nuclear test as it readied the underground nuclear test tunnel,” Lawmaker Youn Kun-young said after a closed-door briefing with Seoul’s spy agency, the National Intelligence Service. “According to the NIS, there’s a high possibility that if North Korea does, it will happen between the 20th Party Congress of China on October 16 and before the U.S. midterm elections on November 7.”
Youn confirmed that the dates are only a reasonable guess and not confirmation of any specific intelligence.
“North Korea must give due consideration to its allies China and Russia,” Former NIS North Korea analyst Kwak Gil-sup told ABC News. “And dropping a nuclear security issue before the U.S. midterms may work favorably for China and Russia, both currently in political conflict with Washington.”
Another analyst suggested that although North Korea may be fully prepared to conduct a nuclear test, it does not necessarily mean that it will do so any time soon.
“When North Korea passed the new law enshrining its nuclear doctrine this month, it is to say that they have the nuclear weapons. North Korea has already proved its capabilities of successfully building a hydrogen bomb that could fit on the top of an intercontinental ballistic missile during its sixth nuclear test in September 2017,” Park Hwee Rhak, chair of the Nuclear Defense Committee at the Hansun Foundation, told ABC News. “If North Korea conducts yet another nuclear test it would only mean that they have improved the force or developed a smaller warhead, but I don’t see why they would go public with a strategic weapon.”
Both analysts, however, agreed about the unpredictable nature of North Korea.
“When it comes to North Korea, hours of analysis and speculation are always met with a surprise threat,” Park said.
Kevin Hart is defending Will Smith when it comes to the Chris Rock Oscars slap.
The topic came up during the comedian’s appearance on the September 24 episode of Drink Champswhen he was asked to choose between Smith and Ice Cube. After calling both the actor and rapper his “brothers” he ultimately chose the fellow Philadelphia native.
“I’mma say Will Smith, and here’s why: Will Smith is a f******, he’s not only a legend, he’s not only a GOAT… [he] is the reason why the idea of African Americans attached to global IP is normal,” Hart said. “Studios took the gamble on more leads of color because of the work that Will Smith, Denzel [Washington] were doing in the beginning, right? You need the faces that are giving the universal return. So I’m not gonna s*** on Will and act like he hasn’t been, and wasn’t, that guy.”
In response to hosts N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN‘s jokes about the Oscars slap, Hart added, “And people make mistakes, and from mistakes they should be allowed time to f****** recover.”
“And that this is no longer the world’s problem, it’s Will and Chris’ problem. Let them deal with that,” he continued. “The world should step out of it and let them recover.”
(NEW YORK) — A year of sharp declines for the stock market reversed over the summer, giving stocks a much-needed rebound. But a bout of deep losses across the major stock indices in recent weeks has renewed fears of further decline.
The S&P 500 on Monday closed at a lower point than it has on any other day of 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, fell officially into bear market territory, meaning it had dropped at least 20% from its most recent peak.
The recent drop marks the latest swing of this year’s market seesaw. Bouncing back from a historic plunge over the first half of 2022, the S&P 500 rose more than 15% during a two-month period beginning in mid-June. Over that same period, the tech-heavy Nasdaq spiked more than 17% and the Dow rose nearly 14%.
In recent weeks, the stock market has soured, however, over indication from the Federal Reserve that it intends to continue an aggressive series of borrowing cost hikes until it brings inflation under control — a policy approach that heightens the risk of tipping the U.S. economy into a recession, market analysts told ABC News.
Still, investors and retirees shouldn’t sell their stock holdings in a panic. In fact, some investors should buy additional shares, anticipating that low-priced stocks will eventually recover and yield significant gains, the analysts said.
“Recessions, as painful as they are, ultimately lead to discounted prices,” Dan Ives, managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities, told ABC News. “Investors that can navigate that risk could be rewarded on the other side of the dark storm.”
Here’s what you need to know about why stocks are falling, how much further the decline could go and what investors and retirees should do in response:
Why are stocks falling?
Stocks are falling because the Fed has put forward a string of aggressive interest rate hikes in recent months.
The policy approach aims to slash price increases by slowing the economy and choking off demand. But the move risks tipping the U.S. into a recession and putting millions out of work.
A recession poses a serious threat to the stock market because it could dramatically cut corporate profits, the key focus for stock forecasters. As workers lose their jobs and consumers cut back on spending, business gains dry up.
“The main reason stocks remain vulnerable in recessionary environments is that corporate profitability is affected,” Christine Benz, the director of personal finance at financial research firm Morningstar, told ABC News. “That makes prevailing stock prices harder to justify if corporate profitability is sinking.”
Typically, the market has climbed in response to news about slowing inflation and a potential softening of rate increases; inflation spikes and rate moves are a common cause of selloffs.
Inflation data released earlier this month revealed that prices rose unexpectedly in August, sending the market tumbling. Last week, the Federal Reserve instituted a 0.75% rate hike, which sent stocks falling even further.
How far will the stock market fall?
It’s difficult to predict the specific length of a market slide, the analysts said. But history suggests the downturn could last for several more months and possibly more than a year and that stock prices may fall even further.
Keith Lerner, co-CIO and chief market strategist for Truist Advisory Services, said the rate hikes instituted by the Fed would weigh on the economy for at least 6 to 12 months and potentially even longer.
“Even if the Fed changes course, the rate increases they’ve just done this year haven’t had their full impact,” Lerner told ABC News. “With that backdrop, we think it will continue to be a volatile market and the economy will be weakened.”
If the U.S. falls into a recession, those losses could be even more pronounced, Lerner added.
Since 1950, the average decline for the S&P 500 during a recession is about 29%, he said. So far this year, the S&P 500 has fallen nearly 24%.
“The market is pricing a mild recession into stocks,” said Ives of Wedbush Securities.
The plummet in the S&P 500 this year qualifies it for bear market territory, which offers another lens for assessing the index’s historical performance.
In the 26 bear markets since 1929, the S&P 500 has lost an average of 35.6% of its value over a typical duration of 289 days or about 9-and-a-half months, according to a report from Hartford Funds.
What should investors and retirees do?
Investors, including those nearing or in retirement, shouldn’t sell their stock holdings out of panic, the experts said.
“Often when you make changes in response to the market activity, you find that the market recovers not long thereafter,” said Benz. “My advice is for investors to have long-term strategic asset allocation that makes sense for them and stick with it.”
Take, for instance, a 45-year-old investor with a portfolio made up of 70% stocks and 30% bonds, Benz said. The declining value of the stock market may send the balance awry, shrinking the share made up of stocks and raising the share made up of bonds.
Such an individual should buy more stock holdings in an effort to bring the proportions back into alignment with the initial portfolio balance, she added.
“It doesn’t feel great – you’re adding to the asset class that hasn’t performed well,” Benz said. “The virtue of the strategy is that it enforces discipline for this idea of putting money into the market when stocks are down and arguably cheaper.”
Added Lerner: “The price of admission in the stock market are drawdowns. There are drawdowns every year – some are bigger than others.”
For investors nearing or in retirement, the choice is more difficult, since they may lack the long-term time horizon of younger investors. The economic headwinds this year have hurt bonds, a popular safe haven for retiree portfolios.
“This has been a really tough year for those in that age band,” Benz said.
She advised pulling out some cash reserves but also urged individuals against overdoing this strategy, especially in a high-inflation environment. People should cash out the “least-depressed assets” in their portfolio, such as short-term bonds or high-quality intermediate bonds, she added.
Retirees could also benefit from placing their money in savings accounts, which tend to offer higher interest rates as the Fed heightens borrowing costs, Benz said. Elevated yields on savings accounts, however, still remain well below the inflation rate.
“Shop around for savings accounts, because there is a huge disparity in terms of yields,” she said.
Post Malone is getting back in the swing of things after cancelling his Boston show over the weekend.
“Cleveland, I will be singing the F*** outta some songs tonight see y’all tonight,” he tweeted Tuesday, hours before hitting the stage at the city’s Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The news comes after Malone cancelled his show at Boston’s TD Garden Arena on Saturday after he “woke up to a cracking sounds on the right side of my body.” He also said he was “having a very difficult time breathing, and there’s like a stabbing pain whenever I breathe or move.”
The injuries apparently stem from a fall the 28-year-old suffered while performing in St. Louis the week prior, causing him to end the concert early. He later took to social media to explain what happened and apologize to fans for cutting his set short.
“So whenever we do the acoustic part of the show the guitar is on the guitar stand and it goes down,” he said. “And there’s this big a** hole, so I go around there and I turn the corner and bust my a**.”
“Winded me pretty good, got me pretty good,” he added before sharing that “everything’s good” after we visited the hospital and received pain meds.
Malone’s next stop is Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.
(NEW YORK) — If you grew up in a household with a Costco membership, chances are you can instantly recall sampling everything from spinach- and cheese-filled ravioli to electrolyte beverages and the feeling of freezing in the produce and refrigerator section, all to be rewarded with a post-shopping bite from the iconic food court where a crisp $5 bill could make you feel like royalty.
With 578 Costco warehouses across 46 states — more locations than The Cheesecake Factory, In-N-Out Burger or Wienerschnitzel, to name a few — thousands of U.S. consumers have come to know and love the Kirkland Signature hot-dog-and-soda combo, which has maintained the same $1.50 price since 1985.
And the company’s chief financial officer confirmed they are committed to keeping it that way.
During a presentation on Costco’s fourth-fiscal-quarter fiscal results, Richard Galanti told investors and reporters there are other areas, including Costco’s gasoline sales or travel business, where they could potentially turn more profit to help offset the low-priced food court meal.
When asked about Costco’s margins holding despite inflationary pressures and areas where they’re being more aggressive on pricing, Galanti said, “Lightning just struck me.”
“There are some businesses that are doing well with margin like gas business on a smaller way — in the travel business, those things help us be more aggressive in other areas,” such as “hold the price on the hot dog and the soda a little longer, forever,” he said.
Earlier this year, another Costco executive also said the hallmark item of the retailer’s prepared food court offerings would continue to hold at the same price.
Galanti also noted the strength in Costco’s fresh food business sales over a two-year period through this most recent quarter.
“The enormity of the improvement in the bottom-line, even now as we’re getting some of that back now, still net-net, were better than we were two years ago,” he explained of the company’s earnings. “So all those things help that process.”
