Volbeat has premiered the video for “Becoming,” a track off the band’s latest album, Servant of the Mind.
The clip features live and backstage footage from recent Volbeat concerts, as well as images of the late LG Petrov, former vocalist of the Swedish metal band Entombed. Volbeat has previously said that “Becoming” is a tribute to Petrov, who died in 2021.
You can watch the “Becoming” video streaming now on YouTube.
Servant of the Mind, the eighth Volbeat album, was released last December. It also includes the singles “Wait a Minute My Girl,” “Shotgun Blues” and “Temple of Ekur.”
Even Elton John cannot wait to unleash his collab with Britney Spears, so he performed it for patrons at a familiar French restaurant.
Sir Elton hit up La Guérite in Cannes, France, the very same spot where he previewed his “Cold Heart” collab with Dua Lipa back in August 2021, to perform the entirety of his upcoming song.
“Sneak peak of ‘Hold Me Closer’ — out this Friday,” he teased in the caption of the cheeky Instagram video, posted Tuesday, which sees him crashing the DJ booth to perform his new song. “Hey! Britney Spears. Elton John. Here we go,” he screams at the electrified crowd, who sing along to the dance track.
Much like how “Cold Heart” mashes up the lyrics of several Elton songs, “Hold Me Closer” features lyrics and melodies from his 1971 hit “Tiny Dancer” and his 1992 tune “The One.”
“Hold Me Closer” arrives this Friday. The song will be the first new single from Elton since 2021.
Kobe Bryant, who passed away in a 2020 helicopter crash, would have turned 44 on August 23.
In honor of his birthday, wife Vanessa Bryant and a few of his peers have taken to social media to commemorate the Los Angeles Lakers legend.
“Happy birthday, baby! I love you and miss you so much!” Vanessa wrote next to a photo of her and Kobe. His oldest daughter, Natalia, sent him some birthday love, as well, posting a throwback of her and her late father.
The love for Kobe was also shared by others.
In a heartfelt post to his “hero,” actor O’Shea Jackson Jr. mentioned the impact the baller had on his life even after his death. “I watch and listen to you still, on bad days and the good,” O’Shea wrote on Twitter. “Wherever you are my friend, I know exactly how you spending this birthday. Getting shots up lol,” he continued, sending a hello to Kobe’s daughter Gianna.
“Love you Big brother @kobebryant Happy Solar Return…,” wrote Kyrie. “You and all the angels celebrate up in Paradise! The Black Mamba lives on.”
As fans know, Kobe, Gianna and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash in January 2020. Vanessa has since been embroiled in a lawsuit against LA County over leaked images of the victims and crash site. In testimony during the ongoing trial, she claimed the photos caused her to “live in fear every day of being on social media and having” them resurface. She’s suing the county for emotional distress and mental anguish.
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, released the premiere episode of her long-awaited podcast Tuesday and did so with the help of a celebrity friend.
Meghan’s first Archetypes podcast episode features the duchess in conversation with tennis superstar Serena Williams, a longtime friend who attended Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry in 2018.
The two talked about ambition, and the stereotypes and criticisms they’ve faced as women in the public eye — the focus of Meghan’s podcast — and chatted about how they became “fast friends” after meeting at the 2014 Super Bowl.
“We have a lot in common,” Williams said of their friendship.
“So much,” said Meghan. “… you experience behind closed doors the pain that I’m going through and vice versa.”
Meghan, 41, and Williams, 40, spoke about Williams’ recent announcement that she plans to “evolve” away from professional tennis. The duo also revealed that Meghan’s husband, Harry, helped counsel Williams as she considered her next career move.
“He was trying to knock some sense into me and I’m just like, ‘Uh,'” said Williams.
“I think, you know, I think both of us, or the three of us, really know that sometimes the right decision isn’t the easiest decision,” said Meghan. “It’s a hard decision. And it takes a lot of thought, and a lot of counsel and a lot of support to just go ‘uh uh uh’ and then just make the choice.”
Harry and Meghan made the decision to step down from their roles as senior working royals in 2020, and now live in California with their children Archie and Lilibet.
Meghan’s next episode of Archetypes will feature a conversation with Mariah Carey and is set to be released next week.
Some rock and pop tunes can make you dance, scream, shout and bang your head, but a new U.K. survey has ranked the songs that can best help you fall sleep.
Mornings.co.uk, a website that serves as a guide to mattresses, pillows and beds, has devised a study to determine the most sleep-inducing pop songs by analyzing the characteristics of 100 lullabies and comparing them to a curated list of 1,700 popular tunes in various genres.
The list of the most sleep-inducing rock songs was dominated by veteran artists, with Elton John topping the tally with “Your Song.” The British pop-rock legend also landed at #3 on the list with “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters.”
The other songs ranked in the top 10 of the rock tally were Led Zeppelin‘s “Going to California” at #2, The Beatles‘ “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight” medley at #4, Pink Floyd‘s “Wish You Were Here” at #5, Jackson Browne‘s “The Load-Out” at #6, Lou Reed‘s “Walk on the Wild Side” at #7, The Police‘s “Every Breath You Take” at #8, the Eagles‘ “Desperado” at #9 and John Lennon‘s “Imagine” at #10.
Mornings.co.uk came up with a zero-to-100 ranking system, dubbed the “Sleep Song Scale,” by utilizing Spotify’s audio features, analyzing such qualities as loudness, danceability, tempo, energy and time signature.
The survey also looked at songs in such genres as pop, hip-hop, country and classical.
The Emmy-winning comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm will be back for a 12th season.
The series, which stars Seinfeld co-creator Larry David playing an over-the-top version of himself, has always operated at his whim. It’s up to Larry when he wants to shoot more episodes and, according to a cheeky statement, it seems he’s uncharacteristically more eager than ever.
“Playing the role of Larry David has been the greatest honor of my life,” LD begins.
“In researching this multi-faceted, multi-talented man, I discovered that there’s more to him than I ever could have imagined: He speaks six languages, brines his own pickles, and spearheads a national movement to install a bidet in every home. I’ve also been told from numerous sources that he is the most generous of lovers.”
Larry David concludes of Larry David, “I am so excited to once again transform into this force of nature. I only pray that I can do him justice.”
Curb began in 2001 and has run on HBO for 110 episodes so far. The cast also includes Jeff Garlin as Larry’s manager, Jeff Green; Susie Essman as Jeff’s hot-tempered wife; scene stealer JB Smoove as Leon; Cheryl Hines as TV Larry’s ex-wife Cheryl; and Ted Danson as, well, Ted Danson.
In the season 12 announcement, HBO’s Executive Vice President Amy Gravitt noted, “Larry outdoes himself season after season and always manages to come back when the audience needs him most.”
She said the network is thrilled all involved will “continue making us laugh and cringe in equal measure.”
(NOTE LANGUAGE) Does T-Pain have what it takes to be a Peloton instructor? Check out his audition tape.
Released Monday, the TikTok clip captures the Grammy winner as he gives viewers a glimpse of what it’d be like to have him guide a Peloton class.
“Alright Peloton, let’s go,” says T-Pain while riding the stationary bike. “Let’s do this. James, what the f***? Pick it up, buddy. Pick it up. You’re letting Carol beat ya. Look at that output, terrible! Terrible!”
“Cathy, you’re doing great, by the way,” he continues. “It looks like I haven’t been looking at you, but I’ve been watching you all night. It’s been great. Thighs, it’s gonna all go to it. You gonna feel it afterward.”
The clip has since been shared on Peloton’s TikTok and appears to follow a video in which Pain declared his new “permanent” role at the company. “I’ll be your Peloton instructor all the time,” he says.
He also shared a video of him randomly popping up at an ongoing Peloton session. “@onepeloton thank you for having me. Yelling at ppl and not doing much of anything really works up a sweat!!” he penned the caption. “Hope everybody had a good ride/run this morning! Keep up the hard work. I’m gonna go get some pizza.”
A former speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives and his chief of staff were indicted on Tuesday on corruption charges, according to the Justice Department.
The charges allege that former speaker and current State Rep. Glen Casada and his former chief of staff Cade Cothren created a company and a fake persona to receive state funds.
The indictment alleges that Casada and Cothren said the political consulting business they actually owned and profited from was run by a “Matthew Phoenix,” but in reality there was no Matthew Phoenix and the men were profiting by diverting state funds to the business.
Casada, a Republican, said earlier this year he would not seek reelection, had resigned from House leadership in August 2019.
The Justice Department alleges the state mailer program was at the center of the corruption. The program allowed $3,000 to be used for sending constituent mail and said any other expenses could be offset by campaign funds.
“Casada and Individual 4 would and did receive kickbacks from Cothren in exchange for using their positions as members of the Tennessee House of Representatives to perform official acts, including pressuring the Tennessee House Speaker’s Office and other State officials to approve Phoenix Solutions as a Mailer Program vendor and to disburse State funds to Phoenix Solutions,” the indictment said.
Another Tennessee state lawmaker was charged in March with similar crimes, according to DOJ.
They are also charged with bribery and kickbacks concerning programs receiving federal funds, honest services wire fraud; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The scheme, DOJ said, also involved other state representatives but they were not named nor charged in court documents, and the scheme went on for almost three years, according to court documents.
Both men were arrested by the FBI at their houses Tuesday morning, the Justice Department said in a release.
In 2020, these companies and Phoenix Solutions received approximately $51,947 from the State in payments associated with the mailer program, DOJ alleges.
The money laundering charges carry a 20-year prison sentence if those indicted are found guilty and the public corruption and bribery charges carry 10-year sentences.
Casada has not returned ABC News request for comment and there was no lawyer listed on the court docket for Cothren.
Pfizer released new data Tuesday showing its vaccine continues to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in children ages six months to 4 years-old.
Unlike Moderna’s two-shot vaccine, Pfizer’s vaccine is given as three initial doses for in this age group — considered a “primary” series.
Three doses were 73.2% effective against mild and symptomatic illness from omicron and its subvariants, according to updated data in a Tuesday press release.
Vaccine efficacy is even higher when protecting against severe illness, but the study was not large enough to calculate an exact percentage.
Among children ages 6 through 23 months, the vaccine was 75.8% effective at preventing COVID-19, a median of 1.9 months after the third dose. For children ages 2 through 4 years of age, the vaccine was 71.8% effective at preventing COVID-19, a median of 2.4 months after the third dose.
Sequencing of positive tests found that cases were primarily caused by omicron subvariants, BA.2. Omicron subvariants, BA.4, and BA.5, were just beginning to emerge during the trial, and thus, efficacy results against these strains were inconclusive.
As with doses for adults, officials from Pfizer said they are working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prepare an emergency use authorization for an Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine in children 6 months through 11 years of age.
Three doses of the vaccine continues to “be well-tolerated in this age group,” the company said, and the “majority of adverse events observed in this age group have been mild or moderate, with a safety profile similar to placebo.”
“Building on the strong safety and immunogenicity data that led to FDA authorization of our COVID-19 vaccine for children 6 months through 4 years, we are pleased to share confirmatory evidence that a full course of vaccination helps protect against symptomatic disease, particularly during a time when the Omicron BA.2 strain was predominant,” Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Despite a continued push to get young children vaccinated, the vast majority of children under 5 remain completely unvaccinated.
About 941,000 children, under the age of five, have now received their first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, new federal data shows. The overall total represents less than 5% or approximately 4.8% of the 19.5 million U.S. children in that age group.
When broken down by age group, data shows that the majority of children under 5 who have received at least one shot are between the ages of 2 and 4. About 682,000 kids, ages 2 to 4, have received their first dose, compared to just 259,000 children under the age of 2.
Overall, although about 29.6 million kids 17 years and younger have received at least one vaccine, approximately 43.4 million eligible children remain completely unvaccinated, according to federal data.
Garth Brooks’ Stadium Tour ends with a bang this September, as he goes overseas for five sold-out dates at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland.
During a recent episode of his Facebook Live show, Inside Studio G, Garth revealed that those shows will have an extra exciting component: they’re being filmed. “We’re filming this for either a network special or a streaming special,” the singer says.
“They’re doing a documentary on the whole thing, because anybody that’s been along this ride understands what 2014 meant to all of us,” Garth continues. That was the year when he first scheduled (and sold out) five dates at the famed Dublin Stadium as part of his Comeback Tour. However, he ended up having to cancel all five concerts when the Dublin City Council would not allow more than the three shows he’d been granted licenses for.
“Never thought I’d ever get to play Ireland again. Then came the opportunity,” Garth recounts. “Very sweet of them to call and go, ‘Hey, the opportunity has risen, would you do it again?’”
When he realized he’d be able to rebook those shows as part of his 2022 Stadium Tour, the country star jumped at the chance.
“They didn’t get to finish the sentence. I said, ‘Yes, thank you, God,’” Garth adds. “And I can’t believe that people showed back up.”
