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Madonna teams with famed digital artist Beeple for three-part NFT, ‘Mother of Creation’

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Madonna is the latest star to get into the NFT business, but she’s doing it for a good cause

She’s teamed with digital artist Beeple, aka Mike Winkelmann, who made headlines last year when one of his NFT‘s was auctioned off by Christie’s for $69,400,000. The two have created a three-part digital artwork called Mother of Creation, which “explores the concept of birth via darkness and light in our modern world.”

The three NFTs will be sold on SuperRare on May 11 with a starting price of one dollar. All the proceeds will go to three charities: The Voices of Children Foundation, The City of Joy Foundation and Black Mama’s Bail Out.

The three parts of the work include Mother of Nature, featuring a blooming tree and new text by Madonna; Mother of Evolution, which features butterflies, lyrics from Madonna’s hit “Justify My Love,” and original music by Igor Bardykin; and Mother of Technology, which depicts how science can illuminate the world and features the poetry of Rumi.

“When Mike and I decided to collaborate on this project a year ago, I was excited to have the opportunity to share my vision of the world as a mother and an artist with Mike’s own unique point of view,” Madonna says in a statement. “It’s been an amazing journey building this together from an intellectual idea to an emotional story, giving birth to art.”

She adds, “Most importantly we wanted to use this opportunity to benefit mothers and children who are most in need right now.”

Madonna and Beeple will be on SuperRare’s Twitter Spaces on May 11 at 7 p.m. ET to discuss the project.

Michelle Williams expecting baby #2 with husband Thomas Kail

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams is expecting her third child, the second with her Hamilton director husband, Thomas Kail.

“It’s totally joyous!” Williams expressed to Variety. She and Kail welcomed their first child, son Hart, during the pandemic. She also has a 16-year-old daughter Matilda, from her relationship with the late Heath Ledger.

The 41-year-old Williams said of her news, “As the years go on, you sort of wonder what they might hold for you or not hold for you. It’s exciting to discover that something you want again and again, is available one more time. That good fortune is not lost on me or my family.”

She also shared having Hart during the lockdown days, saying, “it was a reminder that life goes on.”

“The world we brought a baby into is not the world we thought we were bringing a baby into, but the baby is ignorant of that. He experiences the unmitigated joy of discovery and the happiness of a loving home,” says Williams.

The Golden Globe and Emmy winner also tells the trade that being a mom helps her with her day job. “There’s nothing that makes you committed to a better world than raising a great kid. It’s the ultimate creative act,” she says.

If you post your music on TikTok, chances are GAYLE has seen it

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

GAYLE says she loves checking out other singers when scrolling through TikTok — meaning, if you post videos of you singing in your bedroom, chances are she’s seen it.

“My favorite thing to look at on TikTok, most of the time, is just people posting their music,” the “abcdefu” singer told Seventeen. “They’re just in their bedrooms or in the bathrooms writing songs and they’re really beautiful! The lyrics are just so stunning.”

GAYLE says she also enjoys looking at videos posted by “college students that are writing songs, even like the Berkeley kids, and their songwriting classes.”

“That’s something I really enjoy watching, or even just people playing instruments really well in ways that I could just never,” she continued. “I’m just like, ‘That’s awesome!'”

The 17-year-old hitmaker later revealed the artist she most wants to collaborate with is “Issues” singer Julia Michaels. “I’m just going to say this over and over again until maybe, one day, she pays attention and then she can tell me ‘no’ to my face,” GAYLE joked, adding she’s “totally fine with” that.

“No pressure. I love you and I will love you from afar,” she remarked. “But call me.”

Gayle also revealed she wanted to be a singer since she was seven. “I was watching this compilation of Aretha Franklin — it was like a 15-, 30-minute video — and when I was watching it, I was just like, ‘That’s it! That’s what I wanna do with my life,'” she recalled. “What she was doing was just so inspiring and so powerful and I just felt something I had never felt before.”

GAYLE teased she “will definitely have more music out” and “performing more” sometime soon, adding she will also be “possibly doing some fun stuff outside of music.”

The Go-Go’s, Soft Cell, Corey Hart and more to perform at ‘Stranger Things’ concert

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Stranger Things is bringing the ’80s back to Netflix when season four premieres May 27 and to celebrate, several major acts from that era have come together for a one-night-only virtual bash.

The Go-Go’s, “Sunglasses at Night” singer Corey Hart and “Tainted Love” duo Soft Cell, along with current pop singer Charli XCX, are performing at the Live from the Upside Down concert, which isn’t actually a real concert — it’s part of a promotion for Doritos.

The concept is that the artists are heading to “Doritos Music Fest ’86” in fictional Hawkins, Indiana — a fictional festival in the fictional town where Stranger Things takes place — but instead, they get transported to the show’s sinister alternate dimension, the Upside Down.

“I’ve played so many unique places, but the Upside Down is definitely a first, so I had to get in the Upside Down mood,” Soft Cell’s Marc Almond told Billboard. “It is such a mad thing to do that I had to accept it.” The singer added he’s a major fan of the show and will crush just about anyone at Stranger Things trivia.

Go-Go’s lead singer Belinda Carlisle said of the concert, “We’ve done a lot of weird things through the years and we got to dress up in real 80s clothes and make-up.” Go-Go’s guitarist Jane Wiedlin added, “There was really a lot going on, much more so than at a usual concert.” Jane adds that the group performs on a “super-slimy and creepy” set.

Corey Hart, whose hit “Never Surrender” was featured in the third season, promised the show is “quintessential, innovative and cool.”

The concert airs June 23. You can win tickets by buying a bag of Doritos or Doritos 3D Crunch snacks or by visiting Snacks.com or Doritos.com/StrangerThings.

Red Hot Chili Peppers among artists headlining 2022 Austin City Limits festival

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Red Hot Chili Peppers are the artists confirmed to headline the 2022 Austin City Limits Music Festival, which will take place October 7-9 and October 14-16 in Austin, Texas.

The event’s other headliners are Pink, The Chicks, Paramore, SZA, Kacey Musgraves, Flume and Lil Nas X.

The bill also features dozens of other acts, including Asleep at the Wheel, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Carly Rae Jepsen, James Blake, Phoenix, Spoon, Yungblud and many more.

Some of the artists on the undercard will only play one of the two weekends.

Tickets go on sale today at noon CT. For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit ACLFestival.com.

Red Hot Chili Peppers kick off a world tour in support of their new album, Unlimited Love, on June 4 in Seville, Spain. The North American leg of the trek gets underway July 23 in Denver.

Noose found at Stanford University prompts hate crime probe

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(PALO ALTO, Calif.) — A hate crimes investigation has been launched at Stanford University after a noose was found hanging in a tree outside a student residence hall, officials said.

It was the third time in four years that a noose has been discovered on the Palo Alto, California, campus, and the second since November, according to university officials.

Susie Brubaker-Cole, the school’s vice provost for student affairs, and Patrick Dunkley, vice provost for institutional equity, access and community, issued a joint statement condemning the act.

“We cannot state strongly enough that a noose is a reprehensible symbol of anti-Black racism and violence that will not be tolerated on our campus. As a community, we must stand united against such conduct and those who perpetrate it,” Brubaker-Cole and Dunkley wrote in their statement to The Stanford Daily student newspaper.

The noose was discovered at about 7:45 p.m. Sunday hanging on a tree outside Branner Hall, an undergraduate residence hall, and was reported to the university’s Department of Public Safety, school officials said.

Campus police immediately launched a hate crimes investigation that included interviewing maintenance staff, students and school staff in an effort to narrow down the time frame for the incident and identify a suspect or suspects, according to a statement on the Stanford’s Protected Identity Harm Reporting website.

It was not immediately clear if any campus security video captured the culprit hanging the noose.

Brubaker-Cole and Dunkley thanked the people who saw the noose and reported it to the campus police.

“We are sharing this message with the full university community so that everyone is informed and we can move forward as one committed to ending anti-Black racism,” Brubaker-Cole and Dunkley said in their statement.

It was the second noose found on the campus in six months. On Nov. 29, a student reported seeing two long cords that appeared to be fashioned into a noose hanging from a tree along a campus walking trail. Campus police investigated the incident but could not determine if the cords were deliberately fashioned into a noose or were part of an abandoned swing or rope ladder, according to school officials.

In July 2019, campus police investigated the discovery of a noose near a residence for summer students.

No arrests have been made in any of the incidents.

Dua Lipa covers ‘Vogue,’ says she wants to be “good with being alone”

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

In one of the first installments of her Service95 newsletter, Dua Lipa documented what it was like to go out to dinner in New York City alone. Now, she tells Vogue for its June/July issue that one of her goals is to do that more often…and be happy about it.

Dua, who reportedly split with her longtime boyfriend Anwar Hadid last year, tells Vogue‘s Jen Wang, “The next chapter of my life is about truly being good with being alone.” And for “Levitating” singer, that’s more difficult than it sounds.

After writing about her solo dinner, Dua tells Vogue, “Some people on the internet were like, ‘Oh, Dua went out for dinner on her own, blah blah, I do this all the time.’ And I think that’s amazing if you do it all the time. You must be so confident. But it was a big step for me. I was nervous — like, ‘What am I gonna do? I don’t want to be on my phone.’”

Dua tells Vogue that her next solo “date” will be going to the movies. “I want to know I can just be there for myself, you know?” she explains.

Dua will have to fit that in between tour dates; she’s currently on the European leg of her Future Nostalgia tour. She’s also working on her next album, which she says is about half written.

“I’ve definitely grown up,” she says of the new material. “Overall, whether it’s sonically or in terms of the themes, I’ve matured. It’s like I’m coming into my power and not afraid to talk about things. It’s about understanding what I want.”

Vogue‘s June/July 2022 issue is available on newsstands nationwide on May 24th.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paramore headlining 2022 Austin City Limits festival

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Red Hot Chili Peppers and Paramore will headline the 2022 Austin City Limits Music Festival, taking place October 7-9 and October 14-16 in Austin, Texas.

The bill also includes Phoenix, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Wallows, Spoon, Oliver Tree, Manchester Orchestra, Yungblud, Wet Leg, GAYLE and Wilderado, plus Taipei Houston, the band featuring the sons of Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich.

The other headliners are Pink, The Chicks, SZA, Kacey Musgraves, Flume and Lil Nas X.

Some of the artists on the undercard will only play one of the two weekends. GAYLE, for example, will play just weekend one, while Phoenix and Wet Leg are weekend two exclusives.

Tickets go on sale today at noon CT. For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit ACLFestival.com.

Is Wendy Williams “absolutely” coming back? Insider says not so fast

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

After a viral, rambling Instagram Live interview with rapper and The Wendy Williams Show fill-in host Fat Joe, Wendy Williams herself says she’s “absolutely” ready to come back to her talk show.

However, an insider tells Page Six that’s not in the cards.

In the remote interview, conducted from Wendy’s “sexy” apartment in New York City, Williams addressed her money issues and vowed she’s coming back to her eponymous show. Williams is currently in a legal fight dispute with Wells Fargo after they denied her access to her bank account in February, claiming she needs supervision.

Fat Joe equated the situation to that of Britney Spears, when a conservatorship denied her access to her assets. “Why did you just get up and leave?” Joe asked Williams about her show.

“Because somebody stopped giving me my money,” she said. “Somebody stopped giving me my American Express.”

Williams said of her current situation, “…I need my money. I’ll talk about it when I get my show back. I have people that will get it done. I don’t feel like I will go away. I will get bigger and bigger and bigger, and bigger, and I’ll talk about it…”

Wendy maintained she was “absolutely” coming back to The Wendy Williams Show, adding, “I love being on my own show, and I love that people love to watch it all the time.”

However, Williams’ former air slot has already been given to Sherri Shepherd, one of her one-time fill in hosts. “It’s done. Logistically, it won’t work,” an insider told Page Six of Williams’ return

Wendy told Joe she won’t be watching Shepherd: “That’s not really my thing.”

As for her interview, the production company behind Wendy’s show, Debmar-Mercury, is apparently not happy it happened it all, according to Page Six. “[Fat Joe] didn’t give them a heads-up about it and she did not appear well,” the insider said. “…At times, she couldn’t even complete a sentence.”

Calling her “uninsurable,” the source said, “…She did not have the mental and physical capacity to host her show. [Debmar-Mercury] wanted her back more than anybody. They would’ve loved for her to finish out this chapter.”

Miranda Lambert and Elle King performing at the ’Billboard’ Music Awards

May 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Miranda Lambert and Elle King are taking the stage at the Billboard Music Awards.

The two will perform their chart-topping hit, “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” which recently became the first duet by two female country artists to hit #1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart since Reba McEntire and Linda Davis‘ “Does He Love You” in 1993. It was also named Video of the Year at the 2022 ACM Awards.

“Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” is nominated for Top Rock Song at the BBMAs, while Miranda is also up for Top Country Female Artist.

Chris Stapleton, Luke Combs and Carrie Underwood are among the other nominees at the Billboard Music Awards, which will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

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