Old Dominion is headed home to Nashville this weekend, where they’ll play the city’s Bridgestone Arena as part of Kenny Chesney’s 2022 Here and Now Tour.
But while they’re in town, the band is planning something special: a free pop-up show.
It’s not the first time in recent weeks the group has planned a small, free show for fans at the cities they visit on tour. Old Dominion threw a pop-up show in Atlanta last weekend; they’ve also hit small stages in St. Louis, Charlotte and Tampa.
“One night in our hometown just isn’t enough, so you know what we’ve gotta do …” the band wrote on social media, along with a video of frontman Matthew Ramsey dropping some details about what they’ve got planned.
Old Dominion’s Nashville pop-up show is set for Friday, and you can find the location details by heading to ODPopUp.com.
Bruno Mars brought an unforgettable gift to Ellen DeGeneres on the penultimate episode of her daytime talk show — a piña colada.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show is creeping closer to its series finale and on Wednesday Bruno was welcomed among the final round of esteemed guests. To help send off the beloved show, the “Uptown Funk” singer pieced together a tribute montage as a farewell gift.
“I don’t know if you know this but I direct all my music videos … But when it comes to editing, I always have to be with somebody, so I figured I’ll take this time during quarantine [to] get behind a computer and learn how to edit things — so you can save money,” he announced. “I edited something that’s kind of like a tribute to you and I worked real hard on it.”
He wanted to “give it as a gift” and, when the video started rolling, the montage jokingly focuses on Bruno’s time on the show throughout the years and not so much on their time together.
“That’s … so sweet,” Ellen sarcastically quipped at the end of the tribute video — but the jokes were far from over. Bruno then rushed over a framed picture of one of his past performances, which features him singing to Ellen, who’s been nearly cropped out of the photo.
Ellen said she will “cherish us together” and the two shared a hug.
A dream come true is how Laverne Cox describes the news of a new Tribute Collection Barbie Doll created in her likeness. In celebration of Cox’s 50th birthday on May 29 and to continue their commitment to increasing diversity across their collections, Barbie worked closely with the award-winning LGBTQ+ advocate to create a doll reflective of her appearance and style.
To help bring the doll to life, available for purchase May 25, Barbie’s design team researched her red carpet looks, and utilized skin tone and body sculpts samples that got Cox’s mark of approval.
“We couldn’t be more excited to celebrate award-winning actress, producer, writer and LGBTQ+ rights trailblazer Laverne Cox with a doll,” said Lisa McKnight, executive vice president and global head of Barbie and Dolls, Mattel. “We are proud to highlight the importance of inclusion and acceptance at every age and to recognize Laverne’s significant impact on culture with a Tribute Collection Barbie.”
Cox said Wednesday she’s been waiting for this moment for many years.
“It’s been a dream for years to work with Barbie to create my own doll,” she said.“I can’t wait for fans to find my doll on shelves and have the opportunity to add a Barbie doll modeled after a transgender person to their collection. I hope that people can look at this Barbie and dream big like I have in my career. The space of dreaming and manifesting is such a powerful source and leads you to achieve more than what you originally thought was possible.”
As part of the launch, Barbie is also making a donation in Cox’s name to TransFamilySOS, a nonprofit close to Laverne’s heart dedicated to creating a more gender affirming and accepting community.
The new Tribute Collection Laverne Cox Barbie Doll is available online.
(UVALDE, Texas) — A small town in rural Texas is reeling after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school on Tuesday, killing 19 children.
Two teachers were also among those killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, authorities said.
Prior to opening fire at the school, the suspect also allegedly shot his grandmother, authorities said.
The suspect — identified by officials as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School — is dead.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 25, 12:19 pm
Texas state senator urges Congress to pass assault weapons control
Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez called on lawmakers to act on gun control, specifically calling on them to look into an assault weapons ban at the federal level, in an interview on ABC News Live Wednesday.
“We have to make sure that we’re creating laws in the state of Texas, as well as at the federal level, so that we can stop access to these types of militarized weapons,” Gutierrez said on ABC News Live.
“I know my district — there’s nobody in this district that goes hunting with an AR-15,” Gutierrez said, referring to the assault weapon the alleged shooter had purchased two days before the shooting.
Gutierrez called on the U.S. Senate to break the filibuster and pass legislation in order to stop seeing “these types of militarized weapons.”
“We have young, confused men, young men violating lives across this country and violating families across this country.”
He added, “It is high time that we do something. My heart goes out to the people in my community here in the valley, but we’ve got to take that to another level and do something now. Because if we can’t do something, then what are we? What are we sending people off to Washington for? What are we sending people up to Austin for? We’ve got to do more.”
May 25, 11:50 am
Gun violence is a ‘plague upon this nation,’ Sen. Chuck Schumer says
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gave a passionate speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, calling gun violence “a plague upon this nation.”
“The problem in the Senate is simple too many members on the other side of the aisle are disconnected from the suffering of the American people, too many members on that side care more about the NRA than they do about families who grieve victims of gun violence,” Schumer said.
Schumer criticized Republicans for their opposition to gun control legislation.
“Republicans don’t pretend that they support sensible gun safety legislation. They don’t pretend to be moved by the fact that 90% of Americans, regardless of party, support something as common sense as background checks,” Schumer said.
Schumer said he aches for the families of those killed in Texas and urged Republicans to act “for the sake of these children.”
“To my Republican colleagues: Imagine if it happened to you. Imagine if this was your kid or your grandkid. How would you feel? Could you ever forgive yourself for not supporting a simple law that would make these mass shootings less likely? Please, please, please dammit. Put yourself in the shoes of these parents for once,” Schumer said.
-ABC News’ Trish Turner
May 25, 10:31 am
6 people injured in shooting remain hospitalized
Six people injured in the Texas elementary school shooting remain hospitalized on Wednesday.
Three children and one adult are at the University Hospital in San Antonio, two of whom are in serious condition. Two other adults are hospitalized at Brooke Army Medical Center, both in critical condition.
All patients treated at Uvalde Medical Center have been discharged. The hospital said it treated 15 individuals, 11 of whom were children. Three of those 11 children were transferred to other hospitals in San Antonio and eight were discharged home.
The four remaining patients were adults, one was transferred to another hospital and three were discharged home.
-ABC News’ Jennifer Watts
May 25, 10:16 am
Texas governor to hold press conference at 1:30 p.m. ET
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will hold a press conference Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. ET to discuss the state’s response to the Robb Elementary School shooting.
The governor will be joined by state officials including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Texas state House Speaker Dade Phelan, U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzalez.
May 25, 9:16 am
Gunman’s grandfather says he was unaware the suspect purchased weapons
Rolando Reyes, 72, the gunman’s grandfather, told ABC News he had no idea his grandson had purchased two AR-15-style rifles or that they were in his house.
Since Reyes is a felon, it is illegal for him to live in a house with firearms. Reyes said he would have turned his grandson in.
Reyes said there were no signs the morning of the shooting that anything unusual was going to happen. The suspect had a minor argument with his grandmother over the payment of a phone bill, but nothing significant.
The suspect lived in a front room and slept on a mattress on the floor, according to Reyes. The suspect had been staying with his grandparents after having a falling out with his mother.
Reyes said he took the suspect to work sometimes and that he was very quiet, but he did not seem violent. Reyes also said he tried to encourage his grandson to go to school but the suspect would typically just shrug in response.
Reyes said the suspect did not know how to drive and did not have a driver’s license. Reyes also wondered how his grandson would have even gone to purchase the weapons or if he trained on the weapons, saying someone must have taken him there.
The suspect’s grandmother, who he shot in the forehead, is undergoing surgery on Wednesday. Reyes said he believes she will survive.
May 25, 8:43 am
Shooter purchased two rifles within eight days of turning 18 this month
Salvador Ramos, the suspect in the Robb Elementary School shooting, after turning 18 on May 16, purchased two rifles and carried out the second-worst school shooting in U.S. history within the span of eight days, according to multiple law enforcement officials.
The suspect purchased two AR-15-style rifles on May 22, two days before the massacre and six days after his birthday, multiple law enforcement officials told ABC News. They were legal purchases.
Once the shooter made entry into a classroom he barricaded himself and opened fire, according to the sources.
Officers from the Uvalde Police Department and agents from Customs and Border Protection entered into the classroom and immediately took fire from the gunman before they shot and killed him.
Investigators are going through the ballistics to determine who fired the fatal shot.
May 25, 6:46 am
Ukrainian president offers condolences to families of the victims
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered his condolences to the families of the victims of the shooting on Twitter.
“Deeply saddened by the news of the murder of innocent children in Texas. Sincere condolences to the families of the victims, the people of the US and @POTUS over this tragedy,” Zelenskyy said in a tweet.
Zelenskyy added: “The people of Ukraine share the pain of the relatives and friends of the victims and all Americans.”
May 25, 5:24 am
Matthew McConaughey calls for action after shooting
Actor Matthew McConaughey decried the shooting in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas.
“We have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us,” he wrote in a statement on Twitter.
“We cannot exhale once again, make excuses, and accept these tragic realities as the status quo,” he said.
May 25, 4:55 am
Amanda Gorman pens poem about shooting
The 24-year-old National Youth Poet Laureate took to Twitter following the tragedy to share a poem.
Schools scared to death.
The truth is, one education under desks,
Stooped low from bullets;
That plunge when we ask
Where our children
Shall live
& how
& if
She also posted a series of tweets on gun violence.
“It takes a monster to kill children,” she wrote. “But to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing isn’t just insanity — it’s inhumanity.”
May 25, 4:55 am
Biden addresses ‘horrific’ mass shooting
President Joe Biden addressed the nation Tuesday night following the mass shooting in Texas — not even two weeks after he mourned victims of the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.
“I’d hoped, when I became president, I would not have to do this again,” Biden said. “Another massacre. Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful, second-, third-, fourth-graders.”
“As a nation, we have to ask when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby,” he said. “I am sick and tired of it — we have to act.”
May 25, 4:55 am
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy pleads with lawmakers after shooting
Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy gave an impassioned argument on the Senate floor to his colleagues late Tuesday afternoon, hours after 21 were killed in the mass shooting.
“What are we doing?” Murphy asked the chamber. “There have been more mass shootings than days in the year.”
“Our kids are living in fear every single time they set foot in the classroom because they think they’re going to be next. What are we doing?” he asked.
Sen. Chris Murphy delivers remarks on Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting: “What are we doing? What are we doing?…This only happens in this country and nowhere else. Nowhere else do little kids go to school thinking that they might be shot that day.” https://t.co/Zh3OvUaIwmpic.twitter.com/TjJVoaFbRN
May 25, 4:55 am
What we know about the shooting so far
At least 21 people are dead after a gunman opened fire in Uvalde on Tuesday, authorities said.
Most of the victims were children in their last week of school before the summer break. Many other students and adults were injured in the mass shooting.
(UVALDE, Texas) — The suspect in the Robb Elementary School shooting, Salvador Ramos, turned 18, purchased two rifles and carried out the second-worst school shooting in U.S. history — all within a span of eight days, authorities said.
He also sent messages on social media in recent days with images of firearms, according to screenshots of alleged messages being reviewed by law enforcement as well as a user who received direct messages from the alleged shooter.
Prior to recent days, the shooter exhibited unusual behavior such as threatening classmates and claiming to have cut scars into his face, his classmates at Uvalde High School told ABC News.
The shooter’s classmates told ABC News the suspect was known for fighting and threatening fellow students.
Nathan Romo, who said he was once friends with Ramos, told ABC News the suspect once threatened to kill him.
“I used to be his friend, and I told him I was going to stop being his friend because he was being weird with not only me but with a lot of other people,” Romo said.
Several other classmates told ABC News the shooter rarely went to school and when he did, he sometimes frightened other students.
“He had scars on his face and I remember somebody asking him ‘what happened, are you okay?’ ‘Cause he showed up to school with them and he just straight out told them — with a smile — I did them myself cause I like how it looks,” Yarelli Vasquez, one of the suspect’s classmates, told ABC News.
Investigators are looking over the suspect’s social media accounts, where he allegedly left disturbing social media posts, and reportedly sent videos and photos of guns and images of animal abuse to other users.
Since the attack, law enforcement is also reviewing screenshots of alleged messages from the suspect to one Instagram user, who posted them publicly on her account after the shooting.
As recently as Tuesday morning, an Instagram account that law enforcement sources told ABC News they believe is connected to the shooter, sent another user on the social media platform a photo of a gun laying on a bed, according to a user who shared direct messages from the suspect’s alleged account with ABC News.
An individual who said they knew the accused gunman through the social media platform Yubo, told ABC News that the suspect had turned on his video last week on the platform and showed himself with guns.
On Monday, the individual said, the shooter was on the platform making statements including “wait till tomorrow.”
“No one took him seriously,” another user told ABC News.
The shooter legally purchased two AR-15-style long guns within a week of his 18th birthday, authorities told ABC News.
The suspect began by shooting his grandmother before heading to the school, according to police. She is in critical condition.
The suspect crashed a car belonging to his grandparents outside Robb Elementary School, according to multiple law enforcement officials. The suspect did not know how to drive and did not have a driver’s license, his grandfather told ABC News.
The suspect emerged from the car with an AR-15-style rifle and was immediately engaged outside the building by law enforcement. The suspect shot an officer, sources told ABC News.
The suspect, wearing body armor, proceeded inside the school through the south doors where he opened fire, killing at least 19 students, who were mainly third and fourth graders, and two teachers, according to sources.
Inside, the suspect traded fire with law enforcement.
Law enforcement officials recovered the AR-15-style rifle that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is now tracing. They also recovered the body armor and numerous magazines.
Blink-182‘s Mark Hoppus and Fall Out Boy‘s Pete Wentz are part of a team launching a new “venture capital music startup” called Verswire.
Founded by Sherry Saeedi, who previously co-founded the streaming platform Veeps, Verswire was conceived as a “development incubator” rather than a traditional record label.
“Using the ‘Shark Tank’ ideology, Verswire acts as a venture capital fund that views artists as entrepreneurs, tailoring each with a custom investment that includes funding, resources, tools, A-list mentoring, support from prominent music executives, and an ecosystem to own and operate their businesses within while allowing them to keep majority ownership of their masters,” a press release reads.
Hoppus is Verswire’s partner of A&R and is also among the mentors who will be partnered with each Verswire signee. Wentz, meanwhile, is a “strategic advisor.”
“I am very excited to help build a new way for bands and artists to create music for communities, while retaining ownership of their work,” Hoppus says.
Wentz adds, “I’ve been a fan of Sherry and the work she’s done for years, and look forward to being part of Verswire’s journey.”
Verswire’s first signing is a band called Beauty School Dropout, who just released a new song called “Assassin.” Hoppus, who mentored the group, appears in the track’s accompanying video, along with Wentz and Paris Jackson.
Maren Morris, Tim McGraw and Mickey Guyton are among the celebrities who turned to social media to share their shock and horror following a mass shooting at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school Tuesday. The shooting claimed the lives of 19 children and two adults.
“Imagine you walk down a hall & an entire class…GONE,” wrote Maren, adding that the number of child fatalities amounted to the size of a small school class. “I’ve already lost track of which shooting happened even a year ago. The victim’s families haven’t and never will.”
“There are no words. I’m broken and terrified,” Mickey wrote. “As a mother, when is enough enough.” Mickey and Maren hail from the state where the shooting took place.
Tim posted a lengthy message to his social media, expressing his sorrow for the families who lost children and sharing some of his thoughts on the prevalence of mass shootings in America.
“Divisive rhetoric has done zero to help this problem — it’s only made it worse,” he wrote. “For one minute, let’s set aside our idealistic views and concentrate on the kind of world we want our children to grow up in.”
He added, “This shouldn’t have been acceptable 20 years ago, 4 years ago or one week ago. This SHOULD NOT be acceptable. This is not normal.”
The shooting took place at Robb Elementary School. The 18-year-old suspect, identified by law enforcement sources and Gov. Greg Abbott as Salvador Ramos, a student at Uvalde High School, is also dead.
The viral music collective Rockin’1000 has shared a rendition of the Foo Fighters classic “My Hero” in honor of the band’s late drummer, Taylor Hawkins.
The performance, which featured 1,000 musicians playing together simultaneously, took place during a Rockin’1000 concert in Paris earlier this month. You can watch it streaming now on YouTube.
Rockin’1000, of course, has a special connection to Foo Fighters. The project made its debut in 2015 by gathering 1,000 musicians to play the Foos song “Learn to Fly” in an effort to convince Dave Grohl and company to perform a concert in founder Fabio Zaffagnini‘s hometown of Cesena, Italy.
Video of the performance — which now has over 60 million views on YouTube — soon went viral and caught the attention of the Foos themselves; they played a show in Cesena later in 2015.
Rockin’1000 has continued over the past seven years performing concerts around the world and has collaborated with musicians including Courtney Love.
Hawkins passed away on March 25. He was 50 years old.
Paula Abdul turns the big 6-0 on June 19 and, ahead of her milestone birthday, the Grammy winner teased how she plans to ring in her special day.
“I’m gonna do something big,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “Maybe charter a yacht or go somewhere exotic [and] take some friends.” Although she has lofty goals for her 60th birthday, Paula joked, “Knowing me, I’ll stay home [and] be with my dogs.”
The “Straight Up” singer continued, “I wanna do something fun and something spectacular … Every day we [should] celebrate ourselves. We are above ground. We are living. We are healthy. You know what? We’re celebrating really important things in life.”
Paula also spoke about getting to do something just as fun as celebrating a big birthday — serving as judge on ABC’s upcoming competition series The American Rescue Dog Show. The singer, along with fellow judges Yvette Nicole Brown and Leslie Jordan, will determine which rescue pooch is top dog in categories such as “Best in Snoring.”
“My heart’s gonna be melting [over] the cute factor, of course, and the sweet factor,” she gushed. “I wish I could take all of these dogs home … We will be aww-ing and ooh-ing and oh my God-ing.”
Paula added the show is all the more special to her because she has “rescued dogs for decades” and thinks rescue pets are “so special.”
“I hope that this show actually makes everyone tune in and that everyone adopts a dog. They’re magical. They’re so sensitive to our human feelings and they make everything better,” she raved. “I can’t imagine life without rescuing dogs. I really can’t. I have the coolest rescue dogs.”
(DALLAS) — Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr delivered a powerful message on Tuesday after 19 children and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas: “We can’t get numb to this.”
In his pregame news conference before tip-off for Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, Kerr said “any basketball questions don’t matter” and instead addressed politicians in a plea for gun control.
“When are we going to do something?” Kerr yelled, slamming his fists on the table. “I’m tired. I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there — I’m sorry. I’m tired of the moments of silence. Enough.”
Kerr, who has long been outspoken against gun violence, also referenced H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021, a bill that would tighten background checks for private firearm transfers. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives last year but has since stalled in the Senate, with conservative lawmakers, whose votes are required to overcome a filibuster, and Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin opposed to the legislation.
“There’s a reason why they won’t vote on it. To hold on to power,” Kerr said Tuesday. “So I ask you, [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell, I ask all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and school shootings and supermarket shootings, I ask you: Are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers? Because that’s what it looks like. It’s what we do every week.”
Kerr’s father was shot dead in a reported terror attack in Beirut in 1984. Kerr has since spent much of his professional career using his platform to echo calls for gun law reform.
“I’m fed up,” he said Tuesday evening. “I’ve had enough. We’re going to play the game tonight, but I want every person here, every person listening to this — think about your own child or grandchild or mother or father, sister, brother — how would you feel if this happened to you today?”
The Uvalde, Texas, shooting at Robb Elementary School happened just over a week after a suspected white supremacist was accused of killing 10 Black shoppers at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and 10 days after a gunman opened fire at a church in Laguna Woods, California, killing one.
