Keith Urban, Tim McGraw and Willie Nelson are just a few of the featured collaborators joining Rita Wilson for her new ‘70s cover album, Now & Forever: Duets.
The track list features a span of guest vocalists from a variety of different genres — for example, Smokey Robinson and Elvis Costello each get a feature — but country music is especially well represented. Jimmie Allen and Vince Gill also join Rita for a track.
According to Billboard, Rita chose to focus on ‘70s covers because of the personal significance the decade holds for her.
“I wanted to honor where I came from with songs from the ’70s,” the singer explained. “It was really about showing enormous appreciation for the songwriting of that period — how these songs are still relevant even though they’re 50 years old. This album is really a continuation of sharing who I am musically, and what it is that I want to say.”
Harry Styles does more than star in the psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling; he soundtracked a part of it, too.
Director Olivia Wilde revealed to Variety the “As It Was” hitmaker wrote a “sweet and creepy” original song just for the film. The tune has been dubbed the “trigger song,” which Florence Pugh‘s character, Alice, hums to herself for unknown reasons.
“In prep, Harry called me and said, ‘What’s the trigger song? Like, what’s the melody?'” Wilde recalled. “I said, ‘I don’t know. I’m going to [ask] different writers to write it. Do you have anything in mind?'”
Harry told her he’d “think about it” — but apparently he didn’t have to think too hard. “Five minutes later, he sent me a demo from his piano, and it was what ended up in the film,” Wilde revealed. “He called me and said, ‘What about this?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s it. That’s it. And that’s really insane that you did that in five minutes.'”
Harry went on to explain his vision for the song, saying he “wanted something that could be both sweet and creepy, entirely dependent on the context.”
“I remember first playing it on the piano, and it had a sort of homemade nursery rhyme feel to it. Applied to the different moments in the film, I think it takes on a couple of different lives — I hope,” the Grammy winner added.
While Harry won’t show off his vocal talents in the upcoming thriller, he does get to demonstrate his fancy footwork. “’Twas I, tap-dancing,” he cracked. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for someone to require a 35-second tap routine from me my whole life.”
Don’t Worry Darling arrives in theaters on September 23.
Two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks is joined by Oscar and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo in the second trailer to Disney’s live-actionPinocchio.
The new snippet gives more of a plot and shows off the puppet-turned-boy brought to life in the film by Hanks’ Gepetto — and onscreen thanks to some computer magic.
Following the plot of Carlo Collodi‘s 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio, which was spun into a Disney animated classic in 1940, the trailer shows Gepetto creating the wooden boy, who finds becoming real isn’t without its challenges. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth provides his voice.
Oh, and there’s that whole “nose grows when he lies” business. “A lie can really change a person,” says Joseph Gordon-Levitt voicing Pinocchio’s pal and “conscience,” Jiminy Cricket. “Kinda on the nose, if you ask me,” he quickly admits of his own advice.
Erivo plays the Blue Fairy in this retelling and sings “When You Wish Upon a Star” in the coming attraction.
Her fellow Oscar nominee Lorraine Bracco voices Sofia the Seagull. Keegan-Michael Key voices the scheming fox “Honest” John, and Luke Evans appears as the menacing Coachman. The movie reunites Hanks with his Forrest Gump director, Robert Zemeckis.
“Why on earth would you want to be real, when you could be famous!?” the showman fox tempts the puppet.
The live-action Pinocchio debuts on Disney+ Thursday, September 8, which is this year’s Disney+ Day — a celebration of the streaming service that kicks off the Disney fan expo D23 in Anaheim, California, that weekend.
A trailer for the upcoming Ronnie James Dio documentary Dio:Dreamers Never Die has been released.
The 30-second clip, streaming now on YouTube, showcases some of those interviewed for the film, including Jack Black and Lita Ford.
“When you’re a kid, you’re looking for a voice that says, ‘This is my generation,'” the Tenacious D frontman says. “Then all of a sudden, here comes Ronnie James Dio.”
Dreamers Never Die is described as the “first-ever, career-spanning documentary” on Dio, who passed away from stomach cancer in 2010. The film will follow Ronnie’s life from his days with the bands Elf and Rainbow, to joining Black Sabbath in place of the fired Ozzy Osbourne and forming his own namesake band, Dio.
Other rockers interviewed for the doc include Sabbath’s Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, ex-Deep Purple bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, Dio drummer Vinny Appice, Rob Halford and Sebastian Bach.
Dreamers Never Die will screen in theaters on September 28 and October 2. Tickets are available now via DioDreamersNeverDie.com.
(GAYLORD, Mich.) — A mysterious illness that killed over a dozen dogs in northern Michigan has been identified, officials said.
The Otsego County Animal Shelter said in a statement Aug. 19 that over 20 dogs in the county had died due to a “parvo-like” illness, a disease that’s highly contagious and often deadly in dogs. The shelter’s director, Melissa Fitzgerald, released a statement on Aug. 9 saying that most of the dogs who died were less than 2 years old and died within three days of showing symptoms.
On Wednesday, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory confirmed that the disease was canine parvovirus.
In their initial tests, Fitzgerald said the tests came back negative for parvovirus, and the “best guess” was that the cause of death was a new strain of the virus.
Officials said the affected dogs did not have a history of complete vaccination.
According to the Otsego County Animal Shelter, the illness is not affecting one breed over another, but appears to be more common in puppies and elderly dogs.
“This situation is complex because although the dogs displayed clinical signs suggestive of parvovirus, they consistently test negative by point-of-care tests performed in clinics and shelters,” MSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Director Kim Dodd said in a statement Wednesday.
“Screening tests for parvo are done to help guide immediate isolation, disinfection, and treatment protocols. While those tests are valuable in the clinical setting, they are not as sensitive as the diagnostic tests we can perform here in the laboratory. We continue to further characterize the virus in hopes of better understanding why those animals were testing negative on screening tests,” she added.
“When MDARD first learned of these cases in northern Michigan, we immediately reached out to the veterinarians and animal shelters involved and began our response efforts,” Wineland said in a statement on Monday. “Protecting animal and public health is one of the department’s key pillars, but it is a team effort. Dog owners need to ensure their pet is up to date on routine vaccinations as it’s the first step in keeping your pet healthy.”
Jennifer Holton, spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, told ABC News that because parvovirus is not a reportable disease, officials are mostly working with anecdotal information.
“Parvo is an incredibly hardy virus,” Holton said. “And by that, I mean it can survive various temperatures and all kinds of things.”
Holton said it’s essential for pet owners to get their dogs vaccinated and alert their veterinarian if they see signs of illness in their dogs.
She added that proper cleanup, to halt the spread of the disease through fecal matter, is also essential, particularly in high capacity areas like shelters, doggy day cares and other animal-friendly places.
While the mystery surrounding the current death rates is concerning, Holton said officials have the investigation under control.
“The word ‘panic’ has been used a lot; that is certainly not what we’re doing here,” Holton said. “Prioritizing animal health is one of the key fundamentals of what our animal industry division in this department does on the daily.”
Demi Lovato is thankful to be sober after surviving a near-fatal overdose in 2018. The 30-year-old singer spoke of their yearslong struggle with addiction, saying they began experimenting with hard drugs when they were young.
Appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast, the Grammy winner got candid about their sobriety struggles. “I started experimenting for the first time when I was 12 or 13. I got into a car accident and they prescribed me opiates,” Demi recalled. “My mom didn’t think that she’d have to lock up the opiates from her 13-year-old daughter, but, like, I was already drinking at that point.”
The “Anyone” singer said they turned to the pills because they were “looking for an escape.” Demi’s mom locked up the pills after noticing how quickly they were disappearing.
Demi said they “drank a lot in my teenage years” and began abusing pills when they were 15 and 16. “I’d steal my mom’s Xanax … she had a Xanax addiction, so it was off and on,” the singer recalled. “And then at 17 is when it kind of was the first time I tried [cocaine] and loved it too much. And then that kind of led into me going to treatment right after I turned 18.”
The singer also admitted to “doing crack” between 2016 and 2018. Demi said this journey is represented in their new album, Holy Fvck, and in the song “29,” which was written after seeking treatment again.
“I … came out of treatment with anger. I came out of treatment with understanding and growth. And so it was like a reflective song for me,” they said. “And even though there’s undertones of anger … I really learned a lot about that experience.”
Holy Fvck is available to stream and purchase now.
(NEW YORK) — Democrats are projected to win a special House election in New York on Tuesday in a race seen as a potential bellwether for this year’s midterms, ABC News reports.
The contest between Democrat Pat Ryan and Republican Marc Molinaro in New York’s 19th Congressional District was sparked when Democratic Rep. Antonio Delgado was appointed lieutenant governor.
Ryan and Molinaro, both of whom are local county executives, were running in the 19th as it existed prior to redistricting. But the seat being decided in Tuesday’s special election will cease to exist in January — and both candidates ran in primaries for separate seats on Tuesday as well.
The 19th has been among the swingiest in the country, with President Joe Biden carrying it by fewer than 2 points in 2020 and former President Donald Trump winning it by about 7 points in 2016.
With 99% of the expected vote being reported on Tuesday, Ryan was leading Molinaro 51-49.
The special election was seen as potentially indicative because of the messages tested by the two candidates — each trying to motivate their base and sway independents.
Molinaro focused on inflation, which remains at decades-long highs. Ryan, meanwhile, campaigned heavily on abortion access, saying it was a “freedom” issue after the Supreme Court this summer reversed Roe v. Wade.
Republicans continue to point to polls showing that the economy is among voters’ top concerns and that Biden gets poor approval ratings.
However, Democrats say that voters will be motivated by the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion and argue that the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, among other major legislative priorities, could blunt the electoral impact from headwinds like inflation.
(NEW YORK) — Come January, 25-year-old Maxwell Frost will likely be the first member of Generation Z elected to Congress.
Frost is projected to win Florida’s 10th Congressional District Democratic primary, held Tuesday, ABC News reports. Frost defeated Randolph Bracy, whom much of the party establishment backed.
Following his projected win, Frost thanked his community for supporting his campaign.
“I love this community and my decade-long fight for everything and everyone in it is just getting started,” he said in a press release.
Frost, who just turned 25 this year, was a national organizer for the ACLU and then became the national organizing director of March for Our Lives, a youth-led organization dedicated to ending gun violence.
If he wins in November — when he’ll face military veteran Calvin Wimbish — he will fill the reliably blue seat of Rep. Val Demings, who on Tuesday won the Democratic nomination for Florida’s Senate race.
Frost has the backing of leading progressives like Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey and Bernie Sanders.
He spoke with ABC News in March about his run for Congress, saying then that he believes it’s time to elect younger leaders who better represent the values and ideas that the younger voters care about and want to see.
Some of the major issues Frost ran on include gun control, “Medicare for All” and addressing climate change.
The 2022 election cycle marks the first-time members of Generation Z — those born after 1996 — are eligible to run for seats in the House of Representatives, where legislators must be 25 years old by the time they’re sworn in.
Another Gen-Zer may join Frost in Congress in the new year: Karoline Leavitt, a former congressional and Trump White House aide who is running in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District Republican primary, will be on the ballot in September, when she will learn if she continues to the general election in November.
(NEW YORK) — Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is projected to win his Democratic primary on Tuesday, ABC News reports, after he moved seats in New York’s redistricting shuffle and faced progressive backlash in the process.
As the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Maloney is entrusted with protecting the party’s House majority in November. On Tuesday, though, he had to fight for his own spot in Congress.
He went up against New York state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi. With more than 82% percent of the expected vote reported, Maloney was leading Biaggi 66-33. Their race, one of the last notable Democratic House primaries of the midterm season, highlighted party splinters ahead of what’s expected to be a tight November fight to retain control of Congress.
Five-term incumbent Maloney — New York’s first openly gay House member — saw his own political career come under attack by some other Democrats early in the cycle, when he upended progressive hopes for the 17th District by choosing to run there instead of his previous seat.
His decision to run where he lives, rather than staying in New York’s 18th where most of his current constituents are, pushed freshman Rep. Mondaire Jones — the progressive who currently represents most of the new district — to vie for New York’s 10th, which was possible because Rep. Jerrold Nadler left the 10th for the 12th (completing the redistricting shuffle).
Maloney apologized for the scuffle, acknowledging he could have handled the process better.
He has largely campaigned on what he’s encouraged other frontline candidates to focus on this election cycle: a slate of Democratic legislative victories despite other political headwinds — like President Joe Biden’s unpopularity — ahead of what is expected to be a difficult midterm. He’s also come after Biaggi for attempting to campaign on the liberal wins, claiming her progressive streak of “tearing down our President and other Democrats” had “nothing to do” with their success.
“Look, you’re seeing us come back in the polls. Our frontliners are battle tested and strong. They have a huge advantage, by the way, over their Republican opponents in terms of their campaigns, their cash on hand. They’re getting their votes right. They have historic deliverables that they’ve brought home to their districts,” Maloney said on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, days before his own primary.
Biaggi, a leader in the state legislature’s progressive movement who rose to prominence when she defeated a notable incumbent in 2018, was long seen as something of an underdog to Maloney, who also handily outraised her, $4 million to $807,000.
Still, the race attracted a cast of high-profile Democrats backing both candidates. Maloney had the endorsements of former President Bill Clinton — for whom he served as senior adviser while Clinton was in the White House — as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and The New York Times’ editorial board.
Biaggi, meanwhile, had the support of New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and The Working Families Party. (Hillary Clinton, who was involved in Biaggi’s wedding ceremony, stayed out of the race.)
In a related dynamic, Maloney’s decision-making as head of the DCCC drew fire from some in his party after news that the organization spent almost half a million dollars on a primary advertisement that spotlighted Donald Trump-endorsed John Gibbs over incumbent Michigan Republican Rep. Peter Meijer, one of the few pro-impeachment Republicans in the House. (Meijer later lost his race, though observers noted the DCCC’s involvement was relatively marginal.)
On Meet the Press, Maloney defended Democrats’ decision to boost pro-Trump candidates over more moderate Republicans.
“Absolutely not did we put party over country,” Maloney said. “The moral imperative right now … is to keep the dangerous MAGA Republicans who voted to overturn our election out of power.”
He added, “This danger didn’t start with Mr. Gibbs. By every measure, he’s the weaker candidate. Don’t take my word for it: The Cook Political Report says it’s far more likely the Democrats are going to win that seat now. That’s doing our job.”
In November, Maloney will face Republican state Assemblyman Mike Lawler in a district that has a slight Democratic lean, making it more of a tossup.
(NEW YORK) — New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler is projected to defeat Rep. Carolyn Maloney, ABC News reports, after a bitter incumbent-on-incumbent primary on Tuesday that forced Manhattan Democratic voters to pick between two senior House lawmakers.
With about 81% of the expected vote reported, Nadler won with 56% over Maloney, who trailed with 25%. Suraj Patel, a 38-year-old attorney and former Obama staffer who ran on a generational argument against the two septuagenarians, came in third place with 18% of the vote so far.
Nadler will be the heavy favorite in the general election in the deep-blue district.
He and Maloney, erstwhile legislative allies both elected in 1992, helm the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, respectively. They were forced into the same district after a heavily gerrymandered map drawn by Democrats during redistricting was thrown out in court, leading an outside third-party mapmaker to redo the decennial lines.
Nadler played a prominent role in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment and touted the need for New York City to have at least one Jewish lawmaker in its House delegation. Maloney, meanwhile, boasted that Democrats should prioritize keeping a woman in Congress,
The primary became increasingly nasty as Election Day neared.
Nadler highlighted Maloney’s votes on high-profile issues, including her past support for the Iraq War and Bush-era Patriot Act and opposition to the Iran nuclear deal during the Obama administration.
Maloney, meanwhile, appeared to knock Nadler over his stamina, even though he, at 75 years old, is just one year her junior.
She seemingly seized on his age after he sat at a primary debate while Maloney and Patel stood. She also expressed worries about “if for some reason someone will not serve their term,” citing “tons of rumors out there.” She later reportedly said she thinks Nadler would finish another term.
Patel, who came within 4% of unseating Maloney in a 2020 primary, sought to cast himself as a fresh face against the two longtime lawmakers, boasting in a press conference on Monday that “this is not 1992 anymore.”
