Jake Owen is the newest addition to the bill for the upcoming PBS 4th of July special, A Capitol Fourth.
“I can’t wait to celebrate the Fourth in D.C. this year,” the singer says. “It’s exciting to be a part of a great American tradition, and to sing a couple songs while I’m at it. See you Monday night!”
The country star will perform two of his number-one country hits: “American Country Love Song” and “Down to the Honky Tonk.” The former is a nostalgic and quintessentially American feel-good hit from 2016, while the latter is a more recent release, coming off his 2019 album, Greetings From…Jake.
Airing live from Washington, D.C., the 42nd iteration of A Capitol Fourth will feature an all-genre lineup, including the National Symphony Orchestra, who will accompany Jake during his performance.
Mickey Guyton is hosting the show. Other performers taking the stage include Cynthia Erivo, Gloria Gaynor and Andy Grammer.
A Capitol Fourth will air on PBS on Monday, July 4 at 8 p.m. ET.
The four-time Grammy winner then went into how they celebrated their big day. “I had a great time! I basically threw myself a wedding,” they teased. Sam’s faux nuptials took them to Italy and they gushed, “It was great… I just drank wine and swam in the river. It was really good!”
Sam previously shared how they celebrated their birthday with a snap on Instagram, which they captioned, “Finally… 30, flirty, dirty and thriving.” They then followed up with a photo dump and wrote, “And just like that… 30.”
Images showed them wearing fabulous sequin mini dresses, enjoying a bath in a stone tub, playing by the river in the sunshine, and of course, spending time with good company in Italy.
Later during their late-night show appearance, Sam teamed with Cat Burns to perform their song “Go.”
Rage Against the Machine has been trending on Twitter in response to a Vancouver radio station playing their “Killing in the Name” song nonstop.
As the Vancouver Sun reports, the station started playing the 1992 rap-metal classic early Wednesday morning and continued to do so throughout the day without changing to any other song. Occasionally, Zack de la Rocha‘s declaration of “Now you do what they told ya” would be interrupted by the DJs to take a call requesting a different song, only to cue up “Killing in the Name” again.
Speculation began that the never-ending “Killing in the Name” playlist was a form of protest in support of several hosts who’d announced earlier in the week they’d be departing the station. However, it now seems that it was a stunt to signal the station’s change to an alternative format.
In a video posted Thursday, new host Angela Valiant offered an explanation, essentially summing up that while the “Killing in the Name” loop was meant to introduce the rebranded station, it also reflected all the “reasons to protest” currently, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and the police brutality about which “Killing in the Name” was originally written.
Valiant also quotes a tweet from a Guardian reporter covering the story that declared, “Even if it is a stunt, you can believe it’s a protest.”
Rage Against the Machine, meanwhile, is gearing up to finally launch the band’s reunion tour, which was postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The outing kicks off July 9 in East Troy, Wisconsin.
Marshmello is the first artist ever to team up with Coca-Cola for his own signature flavor, but shockingly, it’s not marshmallow.
Marshmello’s Limited Edition Coca-Cola combines strawberry and watermelon flavors with Coke. It’ll be available starting July 11, along with a zero-sugar version. Speaking to Billboard, Marshmello says he didn’t want to do a marshmallow flavor specifically because that’s what everyone would expect.
“I had a different flavor in mind originally and then we started messing around with other crazy flavors…We had a million flavors in front of us,” he explains. “We homed in on [strawberry and watermelon] and that was that.”
Each slim format can features a graphic of Marshmello’s iconic helmet. Speaking of that, when the artist visited Coca-Cola headquarters to help create the flavor, he tasted the options through a custom-made straw designed to fit through his helmet, so he wouldn’t have to remove it.
The launch will be celebrated with a July 9 Twitch takeover that will allow fans to control Marshmello in a livestream gaming adventure and access exclusive “metamerch.” Starting July 29, fans can scan a QR code on the cans to gain access to the Coca-Cola Creations hub, where they can hear Mello’s new track “Numb” while creating digital art.
Pink Floydis reissuing its classic 1977 concept album Animals in multiple formats featuring a previously unreleased 5.1 Surround Sound mix created in 2018 by the band’s longtime studio collaborator James Guthrie.
The Animals reissue will be available individually on CD, vinyl LP, Blu-ray and SACD on September 16, and as a deluxe multiple-disc package on October 7.
The Deluxe version includes a CD, an LP, an audio Blu-ray, an audio DVD, and a 32-page book. The Blu-ray and DVD discs feature Guthrie’s 2018 remix in stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound, as well as the original 1977 stereo mix. The booklet contains rare seen behind-the-scenes images from the Animals album-cover photo shoot, along with pics of Pink Floyd playing live and band memorabilia.
The reissue boasts a reimagined and updated version of the cover, which famously featured the image of a giant inflatable pig tied by ropes to the chimneys of London’s Battersea Power Station.
Animals, Pink Floyd’s 10th studio effort, was released in January 1977 and peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200, going on to sell over 4 million copies in the U.S. The concept album, which was loosely based on George Orwell‘s dystopian novel Animal Farm, and was inspired by the socio-political climate of the U.K. during the mid-1970s.
It included three extended themed pieces titled “Pigs (Three Different Ones)”, “Dogs” and “Sheep,” that represented humanity as three different classes — subservient sheep, despotic pigs and predatory dogs.
Last June, ex-Pink Floyd singer/bassist Roger Watersposted a lengthy message explaining the Animals reissue had been delayed because of a conflict he had with former band mate David Gilmour over sleeve notes.
Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Thursday limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to fight climate change.
The case involved how far the federal government could go in regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
The court held that Congress did not grant EPA in Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act the authority to devise emissions caps based on the generation shifting approach the Agency took in the Clean Power Plan with Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the 6-3 conservative majority.
The three liberal justices dissented.
The court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA comes as global climate change exacts an increasingly dire human and economic toll on communities worldwide.
The landmark Clean Air Act of 1970 charged EPA with protecting human health from dangerous airborne contaminants, which the Supreme Court has twice affirmed to include greenhouse gasses.
The law currently lets the agency craft pollution limits based on the “best system of emission reduction” available, but there is disagreement over whether the law prohibits consideration of measures “outside the fence line” of a particular plant, such as shifting to alternative sources of power generation or emission trading programs.
The Biden administration, environmental advocates and public health groups have said EPA’s ability to robustly regulate U.S. power plant emissions is one of the most significant tools available for cutting earth-warming pollution and blunting the impacts of rising temperatures.
The U.S. power sector is the nation’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions with more than 3,300 fossil fuel-fired power plants, including 284 coal-fired facilities, according to the Energy Information Agency.
“If we do not have the full extent of these tools, we will need all of the other tools in the toolbox,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund. “And those tools may not be as effective and they might cost more.”
The plaintiffs in the case — a coalition of Republican-led states and coal and mining companies — argued that overly-aggressive EPA regulation threatens to “reshape the power grids and seize control over electricity production nationwide,” imperiling thousands of American jobs.
An estimated 1.7 million Americans work in fossil fuel industries, from mining to pipeline construction to electricity generation.
“If there are enormous decisions that have vast political and economic significance, Congress — if they want an agency to deal with it — should speak clearly to that issue,” said Jeff Holmstead, a former EPA official who served during the George W. Bush administration and has represented clients challenging recent EPA emissions regulations.
The Supreme Court decided the case even though EPA does not currently have a power plant carbon dioxide regulation in force.
The Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which first prompted the lawsuit in 2015, was temporarily blocked by the Court at the time and never took effect. The Trump administration subsequently proposed an alternative plan, but that was rescinded by President Biden. In the meantime, a lower court ruled the Clean Power Plan could be enforceable – even though Biden said he would not adopt it.
The EPA has said it expects to release Biden’s plan for regulating power plant CO2 emissions shortly after the Supreme Court decision.
The White House has set a goal of cutting U.S. carbon pollution in half over the next decade and shift entirely to clean energy sources by 2035.
This is developing story. Please check back for updates.
Alanis Morissette paid tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins during her concert in London earlier this week.
During a performance of the song “Ironic,” the onstage screens played archival video from throughout Morissette’s career, including when Hawkins played in her live band in the mid-90s on her massive Jagged Little Pill tour.
As the song ended, the screens went dark before a photo of Hawkins appeared alongside the caption, “In Memory of Taylor Hawkins.”
You can watch fan-shot footage of the performance and the tribute now via YouTube.
Hawkins toured with Morissette until he joined Foo Fighters in 1997.
Morissette will continue to honor Hawkins’ memory when she performs at Foo Fighters’ upcoming tribute concert in Los Angeles, taking place September 27. The LA date is the second of two planned Hawkins tribute shows, the first of which will be held September 3 in London.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Biden administration can end a Trump-era immigration policy known as “Remain in Mexico” that had forced thousands of asylum seekers to wait south of the border while their claims were adjudicated.
The court ruled 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joining the three liberal juustices in the majority.
Officially termed the “Migrant Protection Protocols” — or MPP — the policy was created in 2019 to send unauthorized immigrants, including asylum seekers, back to Mexico while their cases are processed in immigration court.
Trump administration officials intended the policy to serve as a deterrent against flows of migrants along the southwest border. Human rights observers and immigrant advocacy organizations said the policy contravened international law, putting vulnerable people at risk of higher documented rates of kidnapping, extortion and violence in the areas they were forced to wait.
President Biden attempted to formally end the MPP last year but was sued by Republican-led states Texas and Missouri, which alleged the Immigration and Naturalization Act required the administration to continue the program. A federal court ordered the policy to continue as legal challenges played out.
The INA says that the Department of Homeland Security “shall” detain unauthorized noncitizens pending immigration proceedings, but it also allows for their parole inside the country on a case-by-case basis if it’s determined to be for “public benefit.”
Congress has never allocated sufficient resources to fulfill the law’s requirement of detaining all migrants and asylum seekers pending an immigration hearing; every administration has had to exercise some level of discretion in enforcement.
The Biden administration argued that the MPP required costly and complicated negotiations with Mexico and that foreign policy authority rests solely with the president — not the states or federal courts.
Under President Donald Trump, roughly 70,000 migrants were enrolled in the program and sent back to Mexico to await immigration hearings in the U.S. So far, the Biden administration has enrolled 5,000 migrants in the program. Just 2.4% have been granted relief after their claims were heard, one recent study found.
The court’s decision comes as the flow of migrants to the southwest border continues to strain law enforcement and humanitarian resources. Customs and Border Protection reported 239,416 encounters with migrants in May, a two percent increase compared to April; a quarter of those were repeat offenders.
A separate Trump-era border enforcement policy known as Title 42 — activated during the pandemic to rapidly expel migrants due to COVID — remains in effect and unaffected by the court ruling. Biden has also tried to rescind Title 42, but lower courts have ordered it continued as legal challenges proceed.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday blasted the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and said he would support carving out an exception to the Senate filibuster rule to codify abortion rights and other privacy rights as well.
“One thing that has been destabilizing is the outrageous behavior of the Supreme Court of the United States and overruling not only Roe v. Wade, but essentially challenging the right to privacy,” he said at a news conference in Madrid at the end of a NATO summit.
“We have to codify Roe v. Wade in the law,” he said. “And the way to do that is to make sure Congress votes to do that. And if the filibuster gets in the way it’s like voting rights, it should be we provide an exception for this, except the required exception to the filibuster for this action to deal with the Supreme Court decision.”
Biden has previously said he would back a carveout for voting rights legislation, but Democrats do not have the votes to support altering the rule.
On other domestic issues, he said NATO and G-7 leaders “do not think that” the United States is going in the wrong direction — with reporters raising the Supreme Court abortion decision, continued mass shootings, including a massacre of children in Uvalde, and record-high inflation.
Addressing inflation and soaring prices across the board for goods at home, Biden said, “I can understand why the American people are frustrated because of inflation,” but argued it’s a world problem and not isolated to the U.S.
“The reason why gas prices are up is because of Russia, Russia, Russia,” he said.
Biden spoke to close out his European trip made to meet with NATO and G-7 leaders to amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
In opening remarks, Biden delivered a message of NATO unity and strength in the face of new challenges, touting, above all, the addition of Finland and Sweden into the alliance.
“Putin thought you can break the Transatlantic Alliance. He tried to weaken us and expected our resolve to fracture. But he’s getting exactly what he did not want,” Biden said. “He wanted the federalization of NATO he got the NATO-ization of Finland.”
“With the addition of Finland and Sweden will be stronger than ever,” he added.
Saying that the U.S. will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” Biden also said the U.S. will soon announce $800 million in new military aid to Ukraine including air defense systems and offensive weapons.
Vogue has revealed that Loki star Tom Hiddleston and his fiancée, Zawe Ashton, are expecting.
The fashion mag was featuring Ashton getting ready for the New York City premiere of her film Mr. Malcolm’s List, noting “the British actor’s growing baby bump…draped in a beige bead-embellished tulle gown by Sabina Bilenko Couture.”
Hiddleston and Ashton first met when they starred in the play Betrayal back in 2019, which opened on London’s West End before heading to Broadway. They made their relationship “red carpet official” at the 2021 Tony Awards.
Tom popped the question in March of this year, according to a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times; he said then of the relationship only that he was “very happy.”
