Following the June premiere of the new single “Something Loud,” Jimmy Eat World is continuing to work on new music. However, as frontman Jim Adkins tells ABC Audio, “The Middle” outfit may be veering from the traditional album release structure moving forward.
“For the foreseeable future, I think we’re just gonna work on maybe releasing less music but more often,” Adkins shares.
“Instead of [taking] three years to make an album and then disappearing for three years, maybe it’s more about just, like, putting out songs or putting out two songs, an EP at a time,” he explains. “Whenever you have something.”
Releasing “Something Loud” as a standalone single represents a step in that new strategy.
“There [are] really no rules anymore, and I think people consume music in way different ways than even, like, five years ago,” Adkins says. “So, just putting out a song with no other expectations is our attempt at meeting people where they’re at with how they consume music.”
As Adkins and his bandmates continue to contemplate the best way to release music in the year 2022 and beyond, exactly when and how any new tunes will be released is still up in the air. One thing you can almost certainly rule out, though, is a “Something Loud Part 2.”
“It’s sorta weird, I think everything you do is somewhat a rejection of what you just did,” Adkins says. “‘Cause you just did that.”
In the meantime, you can catch Jimmy Eat World live on tour starting September 8 in Cleveland. They’re also playing the When We Were Young festival, held this October in Las Vegas.
Top Gun: Maverick arrives on digital streaming apps Tuesday. Its soundtrack features the new Lady Gaga and OneRepublic hits “Hold My Hand” and “I Ain’t Worried,” as well as the original 1986 version of the Kenny Loggins hit “Danger Zone,” which plays during the opening sequence of both Maverick and the first movie. And Kenny says he can tell that Maverick has introduced a whole new generation to his music.
“It’s the same process that happened 30 years ago with ‘Danger Zone,'” Kenny says, referring to the fact that people who saw the original Top Gun in 1986 discovered him and his music through that movie.
He adds, “I think [as far as] hearing from the younger audience … ‘Danger Zone’ has been streaming like mad now since the movie came out. I’m grateful that Tom [Cruise] used it, and I’m grateful that people still dig the song.”
Kenny actually recorded a new version of “Danger Zone” so it would sound as though it was recorded today and not 30 years ago, but Cruise rejected it in favor of the original.
“You can tell it’s a little lower fi than the rest of the movie if you really listen to it. But it still pops,” Kenny tells ABC Audio. “It’s still pretty good and it definitely works in that opening scene.”
Kenny says by using the old version of the song, Cruise’s “intention was to take everybody who was there 30 years ago … back in time to that moment, so that this becomes seamless to the original Top Gun.”
The digital version of Top Gun: Maverick comes with 110 minutes of bonus content, including Gaga and OneRepublic’s music videos.
Journey‘s first studio album in 11 years, Freedom, was released last month.
The 15-track collection includes songs that sound like they could have come from various periods in Journey’s history, and features a mix of power ballads, hard-rocking tunes, sensitive love songs and even a funk-influenced track.
Guitarist Neal Schon oversaw Freedom‘s recording with drummer Narada Michael Walden, who co-produced the album with Schon and collaborated with Neal in the studio on most of the basic tracks.
“[T]hose four tracks there, I felt they were some of the louder ones that I wrote,” Neal says. “And once I got into that vibe with Narada, when we were recording guitar and drum tracks, I felt like I wanted to come with more of it, because it’s actually what we could use in our live show.”
Journey has incorporated two of those songs into their concert sets this summer, with “Let It Rain” being played at the band’s last eight concerts, while “Come Away with Me” got its live debut at the group’s most recent performance, on August 8 in Canandaigua, New York.
Speaking about “Let It Rain,” Schon says, “[T]hat’s my Cajun soup deluxe of probably [Jimi] Hendrix and Prince and Chaka Khan and a little bit of Sly [Stone influences]…those R&B and funk roots that I don’t get to explore a lot in the Journey realm.”
Journey has four more confirmed shows on its 2022 tour schedule, all taking place in September. Visit JourneyMusic.com to check out the band’s full schedule.
(WASHINGTON) –The U.S. government on Monday strongly discouraged former NBA player Dennis Rodman from traveling to Russia to help secure the release of detained WNBA star Brittney Griner — a trip that Rodman himself separately clarified isn’t in the works, reversing an earlier comment.
The back-and-forth stems from Rodman, a five-time NBA champion, initially announcing last weekend that he planned to travel to Russia according to comments he made to NBC News while dining at a restaurant in Washington, D.C.
“I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” Rodman told NBC News on Saturday. “I’m trying to go this week.”
Griner, who has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17, was found guilty on drug charges earlier this month and was sentenced to nine years in prison after vape cartridges containing hashish oil — an illegal substance in Russia — were discovered in her luggage at the airport.
A State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, told ABC News during a press briefing on Monday that if Rodman did travel to Russia, “He would not be traveling on behalf of the U.S. government.”
“We believe that anything other than negotiating further through the established channel is likely to complicate and hinder those release efforts,” Price added.
Amid the scrutiny over his comments, Rodman told ABC News on Monday that he doesn’t currently have plans to travel to Russia.
Rodman previously sought to make an impact on U.S. foreign policy as an informal diplomat of sorts amid heated U.S. relations with North Korea.
Rodman traveled to Singapore in June 2018 ahead of then-President Donald Trump’s historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who is a big Chicago Bulls fan.
Although Rodman did not meet with the dictator, whom he said he considers a “friend,” he was one of a few westerners who had met with him in Pyongyang in the past.
Rodman doesn’t need permission from the U.S. to travel to Russia but requires a visa from Moscow to travel to the country.
However, the State Department is strongly discouraging American citizens from traveling to Russia amid the war in Ukraine, issuing a “Level 4-Do Not Travel” advisory that was most recently updated on Aug. 15.
“We’ve also provided very clear guidance to American citizens — owing to a number of threats, not the least of which is the threat of wrongful detention — that Americans should not travel to Russia,” Price said on Monday. “That has been our message to private Americans across the board.”
Price’s warning came after a senior Biden administration official discouraged Rodman from traveling to Russia in a statement provided to ABC News on Sunday, referencing the U.S. travel advisory.
At her trial, which began in July, Griner said she was guilty of drug charges and said that she didn’t intend to break Russian law, but that the cartridges were left in her bag by accident.
The U.S. classified Griner’s case as “wrongfully detained” in Russia on May and the Biden administration has been working to negotiate the WNBA star’s release, as well as the release of U.S. citizen Paul Whelan, who has been detained in Russia since 2019.
On July 29, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that he had a “frank and direct conversation” with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about a U.S. proposal to exchange convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout in return for Griner and Whelan.
Earlier this month, Russian officials confirmed that those talks have taken place.
Asked about the status of the negotiations, Price said that U.S. interests are “best served if these discussions take place in private,” but stressed that this “something we continue to work with the utmost urgency.”
“I said last week that we had engaged in discussions with Russian counterparts on this. Those discussions are ongoing,” Price added. “We’ve made very clear, as we have publicly, that we proposed a substantial proposal, we called it, for the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner.”
ABC News’ Katie Conway and Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.
(MOSCOW) — Russian President Vladimir Putin recently reinstated a Soviet-era award, giving women who have ten or more children a single payment of a million rubles (worth $16,747 USD, as of publishing).
The honorary title and certification of “Mother Heroine” are given to the mother once their tenth living child turns 1 year old.
According to Putin’s decree, mothers will still be eligible for the award if their child dies as a result of war or from an act of terrorism, or in an emergency situation.
The Mother Heroine award was initially established by Josef Stalin in 1944 to encourage repopulation in wake of the country’s high casualty count from World War II. At the time, the award was described as a “badge of special distinction” but was stopped in 1991 alongside the fall of the Soviet Union.
With an average household size of 3.2 people, Russia’s population has been declining at a rapid rate over the past 30 years, as reported by Statistica.
Recent estimates state that between January and May of 2022, the population of the Russian Federation fell by over 430,000 people, 20% being those who have left the country, according to the Russian statistics agency Rosstat.
Though Russian authorities do not provide an official toll for the number of citizens who have been killed in the war in Ukraine, 5,256 deaths are estimated, according to independent news outlet, istories.
According to the data department of the Russian Database on Fertility and Mortality, the death rate of young people in Russia has increased by 18% due to war.
(NEW YORK) — Wendy’s is removing the romaine lettuce it uses in some of its sandwiches as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigates an E. coli outbreak that has sickened dozens of people.
While a specific food has not been confirmed as the source of the outbreak, the CDC reported that multiple people reported getting sick after eating sandwiches with romaine lettuce from Wendy’s restaurants in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“Based on this information, Wendy’s is taking the precautionary measure of removing the romaine lettuce being used in sandwiches from restaurants in that region,” the CDC said in a statement Friday.
While there are hundreds of varieties of E. coli, most people infected with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli can experience severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (often bloody), and vomiting, according to the CDC.
Symptoms usually present within four days after consuming the bacteria and most will recover without treatment within five to seven days. In severe cases, some people can develop a type of kidney failure and require hospitalization.
The CDC advised people to contact their health care provider immediately if they have any severe E. coli symptoms. Officials also instructed anyone experiencing symptoms to assist public health officials by recording what they ate in the week before they got sick and reporting their illness to a local or state health department.
Wendy’s confirmed it uses a different type of romaine lettuce for salads and has not yet pulled those menu items.
“Investigators are working to confirm whether romaine lettuce is the source of this outbreak, and whether romaine lettuce used in Wendy’s sandwiches was served or sold at other businesses,” the CDC continued, adding that the restaurant chain “is fully cooperating with the investigation.”
In a statement on its website Friday, Wendy’s confirmed that it was “fully cooperating with public health authorities on their ongoing investigation of the regional E. coli outbreak reported in certain midwestern states,” adding that it was “taking the precaution of discarding and replacing the sandwich lettuce at some restaurants in that region.”
“The lettuce that we use in our salads is different, and is not affected by this action. As a company, we are committed to upholding our high standards of food safety and quality,” the statement read.
Dr. Darin Detwiler, a professor of food policy and corporate social responsibility at Northeastern University, told “Good Morning America” that “lettuce has a long history of being a ‘culprit food’ with E.coli.”
“Foodborne pathogens do not discriminate. Even the mightiest and the most well-meaning and food safety-focused brands are susceptible to the challenges and failures that are found every year in food safety,” Detwiler explained. “Nobody cooks a salad. Lettuce of any kind is not cooked, thus it has no ‘Kill Step’ to eliminate any harm from pathogens.”
Detwiler, who lost his own 16-month-old son Riley to E. coli in 1993 after a multi-state outbreak “resulting from consumption of hamburgers” according to the CDC, has a doctorate in law and policy and a master’s in education, and has also served on the Department of Agriculture’s National Advisory Board. He currently chairs the National Environmental Health Association’s Food Safety Program.
The food policy expert and author explained that “much of lettuce is still in transition in terms of regulatory compliance with the [Food and Drug Administration’s] Food Safety Modernization Act’s produce safety rule,” which former President Barack Obama signed into law in 2011 and aims to prevent foodborne illness rather than respond to it.
“Many illnesses and those infamous recalls — think Thanksgiving 2017, 2018, 2019 — have been tied to lettuce production’s seasonal transition from Yuma, Arizona to the California central coast region,” he said. “Importers of romaine lettuce and/or salad mixes containing romaine lettuce from the U.S. must declare that the product does not originate from counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito and Monterey in the Salinas Valley, California, U.S., or prove — through testing results — that the romaine lettuce does not contain detectable levels of E. coli O157:H7.”
He also noted that “Wendy’s leadership has seen outbreaks like this before” and “provided a presence at food safety industry events.”
At the time of publication the CDC said it had not advised any businesses, including Wendy’s, to stop selling or serving food.
Additionally, the CDC said there was “no evidence to indicate that romaine lettuce sold in grocery stores, served in other restaurants, or in people’s homes is linked to this outbreak.”
(ATLANTA) — Two people have been killed and one was injured in shootings at two locations in Atlanta’s Midtown neighborhood on Monday afternoon, Atlanta police said.
Police said a suspect is in custody.
This comes after police said they were searching for an unknown woman in connection with the shootings. Police shared photos of the individual with a suitcase.
Police said she was taken into custody at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Authorities said it’s not clear what led to the shootings and that they’re investigating the connection between the two locations.
The first two victims, including the person who died, were found at 1280 W. Peachtree Street. The third victim was at 1100 Peachtree Street, police said. The third victim later died at the hospital, according to police.
Police also said they’re investigating whether the shootings were targeted or random.
(ATLANTA) — One person was killed and two were injured in shootings at two locations in Atlanta’s Midtown neighborhood on Monday afternoon, Atlanta police said.
Police said a suspect is in custody.
This comes after police said they were searching for an unknown woman in connection with the shootings. Police shared photos of the individual with a suitcase.
Police said she was taken into custody at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Authorities said it’s not clear what led to the shootings and that they’re investigating the connection between the two locations.
The first two victims, including the person who died, were found at 1280 W. Peachtree Street. The third victim was at 1100 Peachtree Street, police said.
Police also said they’re investigating whether the shootings were targeted or random.
(NEW YORK) — Low-calorie sugar alternatives, which had previously been thought to be relatively harmless, may actually have a negative effect on human gut health, according to a new study.
All four substances tested in the study – saccharin, sucralose, aspartame and stevia – were found to change the gut microbiome, the collection of microbes in the gut that help protect humans against disease and enable us to digest food.
“It’s about more than just the number of calories in these ingredients,” ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton said Monday on “Good Morning America,” describing the study’s findings.
The study, published this month in the medical journal Cell, included 120 healthy adults, who were given the different low-calorie sugar alternatives at levels lower than the acceptable daily intake. The participants who participated in the study did not eat low-calorie sugar alternatives as a part of their diet prior to the study.
Study participants logged all of their food and physical activity using a smartphone app, and researchers took microbiome samples from the gut and mouth.
“Basically what they did is they looked at all of these sugar substitutes, things like aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, stevia,” said Ashton, who was not involved in the study. “Then they did some blood tests, they look at indicators of gut microbiome, and what they found was that saccharine and sucralose in particular increased the blood glucose, or ‘blood sugar’ level, [and] stevia increased our insulin level.”
She continued, “So bottom line here, these are not harmless or so-called ‘inert substances.’ And, again, it’s about more than whether or not they have calories like regular sugar.”
The researchers noted that previous research has shown that sugar consumption is strongly associated with weight gain, and replacing sugar in the diet with low-calorie sugar alternatives is one of the most common strategies people use to combat obesity and hyperglycemia, citing a study that showed 25.1% of kids and 41.4% of adults in the United States consumed low-calorie sugar alternatives from 2009 to 2021.
The prior study noted that more women than men consumed them as well.
The prevalence of obesity in adults in the United States was 41.9% in 2017-2020, and has increased 11.4% from 1999-2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In kids and teens, the prevalence of obesity is 19.7% in 2017-2020.
Obesity prevalence can be higher depending on the location, with the Midwest and South having the highest rates of obesity, according to CDC data.
People who are overweight or obese are at an increased risk for many serious health conditions, including cancer, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, gall bladder disease, osteoarthritis, mental illness and other health problems.
For people whose diet is currently high in sugar substitutes, Ashton said she recommends minimizing their use, while acknowledging it can take time to do so.
“Right now we need more research to conclusively know what the impact it has on our health is, but the results of this study suggest that there is an impact on our metabolic health, and our overall health, and our gut — all important,” she said. “So, I think my recommendation would be minimize their use, don’t rely on them as a harmless, completely free-for-all when it comes to what we are putting in our foods, and take some time to re-train your taste buds.”
She continued, “That does take time but it is possible, and you can wean yourself away from that sweet tooth.”
Dr. Alexandria C. Wellman, a resident in the combined Anatomical and Clinical Pathology program at the University of California, Los Angeles, is a part of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Prompted by the racially motivated mass shooting in May that left 10 Black people dead and three other people injured, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission held a listening session in Buffalo on Monday to hear from loved ones of the victims who pointed out in emotional statements that systemic racism played a major role in the massacre.
It was the first time since 2015 that the EEOC panel has held a meeting outside of Buffalo. The panel’s chair, Charlotte A. Burrows, vowed to incorporate what the commission learned into its multi-year strategic enforcement plan.
“Like most of America, I mourned the tragedy and condemned that vicious attack in Buffalo in May. And it claimed the lives of 10 innocent people,” Burrows said in an opening statement. “But to illuminate the underlying injustice and racism that helps create the conditions for racially motivated violence and discrimination, we also need sustained, thoughtful and persistent action. Grief and anger are not enough.”
Garnell Whitfield, a retired Buffalo fire commissioner whose 86-year-old mother, Ruth Whitfield, was among those killed in the rampage at the Tops supermarket in the predominantly Black neighborhood of East Buffalo, told the commission that racism just didn’t suddenly rear its ugly head on May 14.
“I brought only my lived experiences to share with you because I want you to know what it feels like to be traumatized in this manner, not just on May 14, but every day of your life just because of the color of your skin,” Whitfield said.
He said that as a teenager, he was wrongfully accused of robbery and abused by white police officers. He said that a fire department company officer attempted to sabotage his ability to join the fire department in the 1980s.
Whitfield said that while he might appear to be successful on the surface, his reality is a different story.
“The truth is, I, like every other Black American, is a victim and survivor of racism, treated differently and put under constant pressure to be quiet and ignore the incessant barrage of biases, implicit and otherwise, just to get along, just to fit in — and just maybe get a piece of that so-called dream that you’ve been taught to believe in,” Whitfield said. “The problem is, reality keeps waking you up.”
He went on, “I felt it was important for you to know what we go through. No matter what opportunity you provide for us, we come to that opportunity with baggage, with trauma. Our communities have been traumatized. All of the statistics, all of the things that you hear, this didn’t just start on May 14. We’ve been living with this our entire lives.”
Zaneta Everhart, whose 20-year-old son Zaire Goodman was wounded in the attack, also addressed the commission, saying, “It boggles my mind that I sit here before you today saying the same things that Black people have been saying for centuries.”
“What is happening in my community and communities just like the East Side of Buffalo all across the country is violence,” Everhart said. “The starvation of resources, the lack of education, the poor health system, the dilapidated housing, few employment opportunities, food insecurity, limited transportation, redlining, not having enough green space. Not having sidewalks. This is violence.”
She said her son is now living with the results of decades of inequality and unchecked racism.
“The world we live in is by design. Systemic racism is a calculated construct. That is why it was so easy for the terrorist to find the Black people here in Buffalo and cause terror,” Everhart said.
She said her son, who was working at Tops the day of the attack, was shot in the neck and will have to live with shrapnel in his body for the rest of his life.
“He is left with the memory of feeling his flesh being torn open by a bullet from an AR-15,” she said. “He is also left with the memory of seeing an elder from his community, who he says was a wonderful woman, being shot and killed right in front of him as well as the memory of bodies lying dead in the parking lot of the grocery store where he was employed. So, therapy will now be a normal part of his healing journey.”
But she also told the commission that her ability to stay strong comes from the resilience of her son.
“Seeing the way that Zaire has handled all of this has given me the strength to advocate for change,” Goodman said. “The first thing Zaire said to me after he was shot while lying in the hospital bed was, ‘Mom, I knew I’d be fine.'”
She added, “He is resilient. Besides going to doctors, his first time really getting out of the house was 15 days after the massacre and he wanted to go to the memorial in front of Tops to put flowers down.”
She said her son is also pleased that the Tops store, the only large grocery market in East Buffalo, has reopened.
“While he realizes that the scene there is a source of pain for so many in the community, he feels that the reopening of the store shows the terrorist that he cannot destroy our community,” Goodman said.
