Steve Nicks often posts heartfelt essays in response to world events, and the mass shooting in Uvalde, TX that left 19 children and two adults dead has inspired her latest missive.
On Facebook, Stevie writes, “My hope for this country is that the lawmakers just find a way to make buying an assault rifle more difficult.”
The Fleetwood Mac frontwoman continues, “When those guns go into the hands of obviously disturbed people, it gives them a sense of unbelievable power that they have never felt before. Power, used in a bad way, is the opposite of ‘power’ used in a good way. Once people have felt the power of those guns…they are addicted…So don’t give them that power. Make it really hard for them to get that gun.”
She emphasizes, “No one is trying to take away guns from people who get them for a good reason. Guns are not toys. Background checks are not that hard.”
Stevie then poses this question: “So, I ask you; do you want to go down in the history books as being responsible for these school shootings that will inevitably continue, or do you want to be remembered as the people who finally gathered together in unity and empathy as the people who stopped it[?]”
Saying she’s “dying inside for the loss of those children in Texas and their parents,” Stevie writes, “If I had gone to school one day when I was ten and been shot; my little body destroyed, I think my father would have done the same thing that that lovely teacher’s husband did. Gone home, sat down in a chair and died…of a broken heart.”
Two days after teacher Irma Garcia died in the shooting, her husband Joe suffered a fatal heart attack.
Here’s the church, and here’s “The Steeple.” Open the doors and see Halestorm‘s latest #1 hit.
Lzzy Hale and company’s current single has reached the top of Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. It’s the sixth Halestorm tune to achieve that feat and the second from the group’s new album Back from the Dead, following the title track.
As Hale tells ABC Audio, both “Back from the Dead” and “The Steeple” are songs about “survival,” though “The Steeple” has more of an outward message.
“We came out with a banger with ‘Back from the Dead,’ and that was more first-person, me-talking-about-me,” Hale laughs. “So with ‘The Steeple’ I really wanted to put out that sense of community.”
As the preacher in “The Steeple,” Hale is reaching out to those who subscribe to the church of rock and the congregation of live shows.
“I wanted to remind everybody of … the big ‘why’ we go to shows, and the big ‘why’ that we all stand together,” Hale says.
“There is that feeling that happens [when] you’re in a crowd of people and you’re all singing the song together, and you’re standing shoulder to shoulder with people that are just like you,” she continues. “It’s a beautiful communion, and it’s a celebration of this thing, this intangible magic that is music.”
That magic, Hale has found, is irreplaceable.
“It’s the best feeling in the world, and that hole cannot be filled with anything else, as we discovered during lockdown,” Hale laughs. “There is nothing else that is like it.”
Allan Clarke and Graham Nash in 2010; Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Last November, Graham Nash revealed that he was working on a new album with his childhood friend and fellow Hollies co-founder Allan Clarke, and now the folk-rock legend has shared more details about the project.
Nash tells ABC Audio that the record actually is a new Clarke solo album that’s due out in late July, and that he is singing on “maybe seven or eight tracks.”
Graham says he’s also written one tune for the album.
“[It’s] a song I had written very quickly. It’s a very simple song…about The Hollies’ love for Buddy Holly, and it’s called ‘Buddy’s Back,'” he explains. “And I think it’s a lovely recording. And…it might be his first single off the record.”
Nash, who like Clarke turned 80 earlier this year, says the remainder of the album is made up of new songs written by Allan.
“[H]e’s been writing incredibly well,” Graham raves. “And in a way, more importantly, he has been singing the s*** out of [the songs].”
Nash says he’s particularly happy that Clarke has been singing well, because he’d lost his voice about two decades ago, “which is why he left The Hollies.”
Graham adds, “I probably wouldn’t have done [the album] with such emotion and pleasure if he wasn’t singing quite right…But he’s singing his a** off.”
Nash also says he’ll be glad to perform some shows with Clarke to help promote the project.
“I told him I will do any press that he wants,” Graham notes. “Any way to point the fingers back to Allan Clarke is what I’ll do.”
King Richard star Aunjanue Ellis is living her true, authentic life, revealing in a new interview with Variety that she’s bisexual.
Although the news isn’t news to those close to the actress, her sexuality wasn’t something that had been in the media before and the answer for why that was is simple.
“Nobody asked,” Ellis, 53, shared.
The Oscar nominee even recalled wearing a Dolce & Gabbana suit jacket with the word “Queer” in rhinestones back in March at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards.
“I was thinking, ‘Why didn’t more people pay attention to that? And I was like, they probably thought it said ‘Queen,'” she said with a laugh.
As for why she never brought up the topic herself, Ellis explained, “How do you work that into the conversation, in the middle of me talking about this movie? I’m not that chick.”
“My job was to talk about King Richard, the Williams family, these wonderful young women I worked with, Will Smith’s incredible work in that movie,” she continued. “I wasn’t going to be like, ‘And by the way, in case you ain’t heard yet…’ Because that’s artificial.”
Ellis said she’s “very clear about being bisexual,” noting, “I have a sweatshirt that says ‘Girl Bi’ that I wear everywhere, however she added that Black women in the entertainment industry fail to recognize her as part of the LGBTQ community.
“There is an assumption made of me, a presumption made of me. Is it because I’m a Black woman from Mississippi? Is it because I’m older? I don’t know what the mechanics are that goes into them not processing, or them not just being able to believe that in the same way I am Black, I am queer. This is who I am,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Boston 7, Cincinnati 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Cleveland 4, Kansas City 0
Houston 5, Oakland 4
Detroit 5, Minnesota 0
Baltimore 9, Seattle 2
Toronto 7, Chi White Sox 3
Tampa Bay 4, Texas 3
LA Angels at NY Yankees (Postponed)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
St. Louis 5, San Diego 2
NY Mets 5, Washington 0
Miami 14, Colorado 1
Atlanta 6, Arizona 0
Philadelphia 6, San Francisco 5
Chi Cubs 4, Milwaukee 3
Colorado 13, Miami 12
Pittsburgh 8, LA Dodgers 4
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
NY Rangers 6, Tampa Bay 2 (NY leads 1-0)
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
New York 87, Indiana 74
Atlanta 84, Minnesota 76
(WASHINGTON) — The White House says it will celebrate Pride Month this June by signaling support for the LGBTQ community and their families amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation.
There have been more than 300 anti-LGBTQ bills proposed in at least 28 states this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Eight states have signed such bills into law this year.
President Joe Biden has condemned the rapid spread of these bills.
“These bills are targeting kids in classrooms and families in their homes, which is why this Pride Month we will be focused on protecting, uplifting, and supporting LGBTQI+ children and families,” a White House spokesperson said about Biden’s Pride plans.
The White House says it is “laser-focused” on fighting back against the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ legislation and supporting LGBTQ community members and their families.
Many of the bills or policies target LGBTQ youth. In some cases, like in Alabama, families and healthcare providers of transgender youth can be criminalized for providing gender-affirming care.
The Alabama bill’s sponsor, Republican state Sen. Shay Shelnutt, has called gender-affirming health care, “child abuse.”
A growing number of states have introduced legislation that LGBTQ advocates say targets transgender youth and their access to school sports and gender-affirming health care.
To combat such legislation, the Biden administration is calling on Congress to pass the Equality Act. The legislation would expand federal civil rights law to prohibit LGBTQ and gender identity discrimination in public accommodations.
The Biden administration has been behind several progressive steps for the LGBTQ community, including the first use of the gender-neutral gender marker on passports by the State Department and the reversal of the Trump era rule that Title IX does not protect LGBTQ students.
(LONDON) — Queen Elizabeth II will miss part of Thursday’s Trooping the Color, the kick-off to her Platinum Jubilee celebration, Buckingham Palace has announced.
The queen will not join other royal family members in the traditional carriage rides to the Horse Guards and will instead appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, joined by her cousin, the Duke of Kent, the palace confirmed Wednesday.
In the queen’s absence, her son Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, will take the royal salute on the parade ground and inspect the troops on the queen’s behalf, joined by his son, Prince William, and his sister, Princess Anne.
Elizabeth will take a salute from the cavalry as they go past Buckingham Palace on their return from the parade.
This is the first time in Elizabeth’s 70-year reign that she will take a salute from the balcony at Buckingham Palace, and the first time Prince Charles will stand in for her on the parade ground.
Trooping the Color, also known as the Queen’s Birthday Parade, is an annual tradition that has marked the British monarch’s official birthday for more than 260 years, according to the Associated Press.
The 96-year-old queen, the first monarch in Britain’s history to reach a Platinum Jubilee, has been suffering from mobility issues.
She attended the Chelsea Flower Show last week but was escorted by golf car instead of touring the gardens on foot, as she has done in years past.
Earlier this month, the queen attended the Royal Windsor Horse Show but, again, did limited walking.
Prior to the horse show, Elizabeth’s last public appearance was in late March at a service of Thanksgiving for her husband, Prince Philip, who died last year at the age of 99.
While the queen has continued to maintain a busy schedule of virtual meetings, phone calls and private engagements, her public appearances have become increasingly rare.
She did not attend the opening of Parliament in early May, marking the first time in nearly 60 years and only the third time in her 70-year reign that she has not attended.
At the time, Buckingham Palace said the queen “continues to experience episodic mobility problems.”
The queen has also battled several health conditions over the past year, including COVID-19 and an overnight hospitalization last October for what Buckingham Palace described at the time as “preliminary investigations.”
The queen’s Platinum Jubilee is being celebrated in the U.K. through Sunday. In addition to Trooping the Color, celebratory events include a service of thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral, a star-studded concert at Buckingham Palace and a Platinum Jubilee Pageant.
At Trooping the Color, the queen will be joined by members of the royal family, in addition to the 1,500 soldiers and 250 horses who will participate in the parade.
The royals will watch the parade from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Joining the queen this year on the balcony will be Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, along their three children; the Earl and Countess of Wessex, Edward and Sophie, along their two children; the Princess Royal and Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence; the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester; the Duke of Kent; and Princess Alexandra.
Other members of the royal family, including Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will watch the parade from the Major General’s Office, an office in Buckingham Palace that overlooks the parade ground.
(TULSA, Okla) — At least three people are dead and multiple people are injured following a shooting at the Natalie Building at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday, according to police.
Police received a call of a man walking with a rifle near a medical office. When police responded, they said it turned into an active shooter situation, according to Tulsa Police Captain Richard Meulenberg.
When police entered the building, they found multiple people shot.
“Officers immediately rushed to the second floor where the shooting was taking place, when they got there they found a few people had been shot, a couple were dead at that time,” Meulenberg told ABC News. “We also found at that time who [we] believe and still believe to [be] the shooter because he had a long rifle and a pistol with him.”
Tulsa police said the shooter is dead. It’s unclear if he was shot by police, Meulenberg said.
Police said they are going through the five-story medical complex room by room to secure the building.
“We are doing a meticulous floor-by-floor, room-by-room search … It’s calmed down. We’re trying to connect people and we’re hoping not to find any victims,” Meulenberg said.
The Tulsa Police Department said to stay away from the area and that reunification for families will be at Memorial High School on the west side of LaFortune Park.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(TULSA, Okla.) — Fatalities are reported and multiple people are injured following a shooting at a medical center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday, according to police.
Police received a call of a man walking with a rifle near a medical office. When police responded, they said it turned into an active shooter situation, according to Tulsa Police Captain Richard Meulenberg.
When police entered the building, they found multiple people shot.
The shooter is believed to be down, but it’s unclear if he was shot by police, Meulenberg said.
Police said they are going through the five-story medical complex room by room to secure the building.
The Tulsa Police Department said to stay away from the area and that reunification for families will be at Memorial High School on the west side of LaFortune Park.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
