Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder took a moment during his solo concert in Seattle Tuesday night to pay tribute to another hometown rocker, Mark Lanegan, who passed away yesterday at age 57.
In fan-shot footage of the show, a clearly emotional Vedder tells the crowd that he’d been feeling “really terrible” before he and his solo band The Earthlings were set to take the stage.
“I think it was because I was having an allergic reaction to sadness,” Vedder said as his voice broke. “Because we lost…there’s a guy called Mark Lanegan.”
“There are a lot of really great musicians, some people know Seattle because of the musicians that have come out of the great Northwest,” the “Even Flow” rocker continued. “Some of those guys were one-of-a-kind singers. Mark was certainly that, and with such a strong voice.”
Lanegan co-founded the band Screaming Trees in nearby Ellensburg, Washington, and helped pioneer the grunge sound that brought fame to the Seattle area in the ’90s.
“He’s gonna be deeply missed,” Vedder said of Lanegan. “At least we will always have his voice to listen to and his words and his books to read, he wrote two incredible books in the last few years.”
Vedder added that he wanted to “let [Lanegan’s] wife and loved ones know that people in his old stomping grounds have been thinking about him, and we love him.”
According to Setlist.fm, Vedder dedicated a performance of the song “Tender Mercies,” which he recorded alongside Glen Hansard for the Flag Day soundtrack, to Lanegan.
(FORT WORTH, Texas) — A woman who survived three heart attacks in three days at age 40 is now leading an effort to make Black women aware of the risks of heart disease.
Tara Robinson, of Fort Worth, Texas, is the founder of the Black Heart Association, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “significantly lower the number of Black deaths caused by heart disease and stroke each year.”
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for Black women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Across all races, heart disease causes one in every five female deaths each year, while only about half of women know that heart disease is their No. 1 cause of death, according to the CDC.
Robinson, now 48, said she had no idea she was at risk for a heart attack, even though she later realized she had symptoms months before, including fatigue, numbness in her arm and pain in her neck.
“I had 99% blockage in my main artery, known as the ‘widow maker,'” Robinson told Good Morning America. “I was completely healthy as far as I knew. No high blood pressure, no cholesterol or diabetes, nothing, but I was highly stressed.”
Robinson said she was even told by doctors that she was too young to be having a heart attack. After she recovered, she said she made it her mission to educate other Black women on the health screenings to get and signs and symptoms to watch.
“The reason God saved me is because I have to do this work,” she said. “I’m the heart healer, mentally and physically.”
Robinson is the brains and heart behind her organization’s mobile heart center, a bus that provides free health screenings across the Fort Worth area.
“Our goal with the mobile bus is to make sure that we are wherever our people are — that’s at the car wash, the barber shop, the beauty shop, the church,” she said. “Wherever you are, that’s where the bus can pull up to.”
According to the CDC, women can reduce their risk of heart disease by getting routine screenings for everything from diabetes and blood pressure to cholesterol and triglycerides.
Black women in particular are more likely to have conditions that increase their risk of heart disease, including high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and pregnancy-related complications, according to Dr. Sandy Charles, a cardiologist and medical director of Novant Health Women’s Heart and Vascular Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“These things frequently cause no symptoms and we don’t know we have them unless we get screened,” Charles said of the risk factors, adding that women can also ask for specific tests like stress tests and CAT scans to check their heart health.
When it comes to blood pressure, a systolic blood pressure of less than 120, and a diastolic blood pressure of less than 80 is considered normal by the American Heart Association.
High cholesterol can contribute to plaque, which can lead to clogged arteries. A total cholesterol of less than 200 mg/dL is considered desirable, including less than 100 mg/dL of LDL and 60 mg/dL or more of HDL, according to the CDC. The recommendations for when to check cholesterol are once every five years after the age of 20, and more frequently if you have a medical condition such as high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity, according to the CDC.
Women can also reduce their risk of heart disease by making lifestyle changes including staying active and eating a clean diet free of foods high in sugar, fat and cholesterol, according to Charles.
When it comes to recognizing a heart attack, women may not experience any chest pains at all, according to Charles. She said symptoms to watch for include shortness of breath, fatigue, nausea and indigestion.
“It’s so important for women to know, and for everyone to know, that nobody knows your body better than you,” said Charles. “So if something doesn’t feel right, do not ignore the symptoms.”
The star told fans via Instagram that she’s “in the process of buying a new home,” adding, “It’s time for change!!!!” She illustrated her post with some video from her current bedroom, where you can see her pool and hot tub and some green hills, against a backdrop of a pink-streaked sky.
“So this is the view from my room … it’s pretty spectacular,” Britney wrote. “I’ve lived in this house for 7 years…I’ve been pretty modest about the home I live in now !!!! I know you guys have seen me dance in my living room …. but honestly I have 3 living rooms!!!!”
She adds, “Maybe one day I’ll give you guys a tour but until then here’s the pink sky!!!”
It’s perhaps not surprising that Britney would want a new home as she begins a new chapter in her life. She’s engaged to her boyfriend, free of her conservatorship and recently acquired a puppy and a kitten. Oh, and she also signed a reported $15 million deal to pen a tell-all book, which should help with the down payment on the new place.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images/POOL
(WASHINGTON) — Civil rights attorney Ben Crump publicly urged President Joe Biden to tap Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court on Wednesday, as the president closes in on a decision for his first nomination to the high court.
“In my view, that of a civil rights lawyer and advocate who is committed to bringing justice, respect, and fairness to this nation, and particularly to my community, that woman is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson,” Crump said in a statement, provided first to ABC News.
The endorsement — the first from a high-profile Black civil rights advocate — is a significant boost for Jackson after African American community leaders have spent weeks largely remaining neutral on the pick.
Over the past decade, Crump has represented the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Jacob Blake, Daunte Wright — Black Americans whose deaths at the hands of police sparked outrage and calls for justice. Crump joined the Floyd family for a meeting with the president at the White House last April, on the first anniversary of George Floyd’s death.
“My standards for this nominee go beyond integrity, brilliance and fairness,” Crump said in the statement. “I carry the additional purchase that this justice must represent African Americans in a way that has cultural competency, forcefulness and instills deep pride.”
Crump’s embrace of Jackson is a break with South Carolina Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn, an influential Biden ally, who has spent weeks lobbying for U.S. District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs, touting her blue-collar background and educational diversity as a graduate of state universities in contrast to the Ivy League pedigree of most other justices.
Jackson, the daughter of school teachers and product of Miami-Dade public schools, is a graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law.
ABC News has confirmed the president has completed interviews with Childs, 55, Jackson, 51, and Kruger, 45, and that a final decision is imminent. A Black woman has never been nominated to Supreme Court.
In his statement, Crump praised Clyburn and his late wife Emily for securing Biden’s commitment during the 2020 campaign to nominate a Black woman, but says Jackson is better prepared for the high court.
“There will be no learning curve for Judge Jackson, she knows the law, has adjudicated it well, and is battle tested. Jackson has the educational credentials and commitment which put her in an elite with which the Court is familiar, having the same credentials as most of the modern justices, if not more than,” Crump said.
“We African Americans eagerly await and demand that model: a talented African American woman who not only acts justly and upholds our Constitution, but is rooted in an experience that so many of us share. That person is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson,” Crump highlighting her experience as a public defender, clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer, and advocate for criminal sentencing reform in her role for the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Crump and Jackson have taught twice at a seminar at Harvard’s Trial Advocacy Workshop, serving as teachers and mentors for students calling her “humble” and “gracious.”
“But through it all she’s been an advocate for and proud of our African American community,” he said. Adding, “For the combination of brilliance, integrity, experience, and assurance that African Americans will hold this choice as we do the memory of Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley, I overwhelmingly support the historic choice of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.”
Other Black leaders have been reluctant to endorse a candidate.
A group of 14 Black female lawmakers led by Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo. sent a letter to the president outlining their priorities and called on him to select a nominee committed to advancing civil rights but declined to name a candidate.
Bush told reporters, “I just don’t think it’s our place to pit Black women against each other who are trying to get this spot.”
Foo Fighters are branching out into film: The superstar rock band’s new horror comedyStudio 666 hits theaters February 25. But in-between the decapitations, electrocutions, stabbings, chainsaw murders and one very unpleasant scene involving a barbecue grill, you’ll find a cameo by none other than Lionel Richie.
How’d that happen? Turns out it was all a happy accident.
Head Foo Dave Grohl tells Entertainment Tonight that Lionel was written into the original script, but the screenwriters didn’t know that Dave actually knows Lionel in real life. “When I read the script I was like, ‘Oh my God, let’s just text him!’ So I texted him and I’m like, ‘Dude we’re making a horror film. You want to be in it?’ And he was like, ‘Absolutely.’ And that was it.”
It’s not clear how Dave and Lionel know each other, but between them, they probably know everyone who’s anyone in music, so it’s not surprising. They also have something in common: Dave and Foo Fighters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, while Lionel is a nominee for induction this year.
In addition to Foo Fighters, Studio 666 also stars Will Forte, Jenna Ortega and Whitney Cummings, and is about the band recording an album in a haunted mansion. There, Dave becomes possessed, turns into a monster and kills everyone in sight. In the trailer, you can see Lionel telling Dave, “We all have writer’s block!”
Meanwhile, Lionel returns to TV this weekend as a judge for the 20th season of American Idol on ABC.
Garth Brooks has a hometown show on the books. He’s set a date for Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, which will be his Stadium Tour’s final stop in the city as well as the only date in Tennessee.
The show is a long time coming for Garth’s fans in Music City. Over 70,000 fans showed up to watch him play at his planned Nissan Stadium date over the summer, but at the last second, the show was canceled due to severe weather.
Shortly thereafter, Garth had to hit the brakes on his tour plans as a whole, due to a rise in COVID-19 cases, and he wasn’t sure when he’d next get back to Nashville. That makes setting a date for Nissan Stadium extra exciting, both for the star and for his fanbase.
The show is set for April 16 at 7 p.m. Tickets go on sale March 4 at 10 a.m. CT. As always for a stop on the Stadium Tour, the show will feature in-the-round seating.
Garth has big plans to hit cities across the country this spring, with sold-out shows booked for San Diego, Baton Rouge and more. In September, he’ll head over to Ireland for four sold-out dates at Dublin’s Croke Park.
The video features footage of various homeless people, and explains what The Man/Kind Initiative has been doing to help, providing food, shelter and personal care items and more to the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The clip notes that one of the ways that the charity is helping is providing homeless people with temporary mobile shelters called EDAR, which stands for Everyone Deserves a Roof. The The Man/Kind Initiative stocks the shelters with food and personal care items and distributes them to organizations that can provide safe locations, as well as offer on-site sanitation facilities, food services and counseling.
“We’ve all walked past them trying not to notice,” says The Man/Kind Initiative’s founder, Richard Stellar. “I had to find a way to make people see them, to wake them up. We needed to reach millions, and I had to think outside the box on how to make that happen. So, we turned to Paul McCartney, and he delivered. The use of his music may be one of the greatest gifts that a non-profit like ours could get. We now will be able to touch millions with our message, and in turn help tens of thousands of homeless, especially veterans and minorities.”
(ST. PAUL, Minn.) — A federal jury began deliberating Wednesday morning the fates of three former Minneapolis police officers accused of violating George Floyd’s civil rights by not providing medical aid during his fatal arrest and failing to stop their senior officer’s excessive use of force.
The U.S. District Court jury in St. Paul, Minnesota, received final instructions from Judge Paul Magnuson before the panel started weighing the evidence against Thomas Lane, 38, J. Alexander Kueng, 28, and Tou Thao, 35.
Jurors heard closing arguments on Tuesday from prosecutors and defense attorneys, but were sent home before being handed the case due to a snow emergency declared in St. Paul.
In her closing argument, U.S. Assistant Attorney Manda Sertich asked the jury to convict all three defendants, alleging they ignored their duty to intervene as they watched Derek Chauvin “commit a violent crime” by kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, rendering him unconscious and without a detectable pulse.
“No one did a thing to help,” Sertich told the jury.
Chauvin was convicted in state court last year of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison. He later pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges stemming from Floyd’s 2020 death and the physical abuse of a handcuffed 14-year-old boy in 2017.
“A human being, someone’s son, father, friend, significant other, George Perry Floyd Jr. died a slow and torturous death … underneath their knees, handcuffed, unarmed, not resisting in broad daylight on a public street,” Sertich said.
Defendants failed to follow ‘plain, old common sense’
Sertich cited the inactions of all three men, starting with Thao, who testified during the trial that he never touched Floyd and was focused on “crowd control” during the Memorial Day 2020 episode. But Sertich said Thao refused to stop Chauvin’s brutality despite witnesses, including an off-duty firefighter, yelling at him to check on Floyd’s well-being.
She said Kueng and Lane, both rookie cops at the time of Floyd’s death, and Thao failed to follow “plain, old common sense.”
“Chauvin’s use of force was obvious and unreasonable to everyone, including bystanders which included juveniles,” Sertich said.
She added that Thao appeared more concerned with arguing and belittling “people trying to make him do what the law — not to mention human decency and common sense — required him to do.”
Turning her attention to Kueng, Sertich said that even as Floyd begged for his life and repeatedly complained he could not breathe, Kueng pressed the handcuffed man’s wrists into his back and laughed when Chauvin told Floyd that talking uses a lot of oxygen.
While Lane questioned Chauvin about whether they should put Floyd on his side to help ease his breathing and went with Floyd in the ambulance to assist paramedics, Sertich said he “did nothing to give George Floyd the medical aid he knew Mr. Floyd so desperately needed.”
All three defendants testified during the trial and each attempted to shift the blame to Chauvin, who was a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department.
“I would trust a 19-year veteran to figure it out,” Thao testified. Lane told the jury that Chauvin “deflected” all his suggestions to help Floyd and Kueng testified that Chauvin “was my senior officer and I trusted his advice.”
Sertich told the jury that Chauvin barely spoke to Lane, Kueng and Thao during the incident and certainly wasn’t “ordering them around.”
‘A tragedy is not a crime’
Thao’s attorney, Robert Paule, acknowledged in his closing argument that Floyd’s death was a tragedy.
“However, tragedy is not a crime,” Paule said.
Paule argued that the actions of all three officers showed they did not willfully neglect to help Floyd. Paule said Thao was the officer who radioed for an ambulance to step up its dispatch to the scene and suggested using a hobble device to restrain Floyd.
He also said Thao believed that Floyd was suffering from excited delirium, a syndrome in which a subject displays wild agitation and violent behavior, and the best thing to do was hold him down until paramedics arrived.
“They didn’t do that for a bad purpose,” Paule said. “They did that to get medical people there quickly.”
He asked the jury to review videos of the incident presented at the trial, noting, “Three officers are not able to control a person in handcuffs.”
Kueng’s attorney, Thomas Plunkett, said his client’s inadequate training by the Minneapolis Police Department, lack of experience and his “perceived subordinate role to Mr. Chauvin” combined for a perfect storm that cost Floyd his life and disproves the government’s allegations that Kueng willfully deprived Floyd of medical aid and failed to stop Chauvin.
Plunkett said Kueng was “under the influence” of Chauvin, his training officer.
“He respected this person. He looked up to this person. He relied on this person’s experience,” Plunkett said.
He added, “We often hear about the mob mentality. Courts are this country’s protection against the mob and courts depend vitally on you as jurors.”
Lane’s attorney, Earl Gray, wrapped up the closing arguments by accusing the government of indicting an “innocent man.”
“In other words, you can do an innocent act and you can end up in a courtroom like this because that’s what happened to Thomas Lane,” Gray told the jury.
Gray left the jury to ponder the question, “Why did the government indict them?”
“We all know why,” Gray said. “Politics, ladies and gentlemen.”
ABC News’ Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.
After a cryptic tease earlier this week, Florence Welch and company have premiered a new song called “King.” The track, which finds Welch singing, “I am no mother/I am no bride/I am king,” is available now via digital outlets, and is streaming alongside an accompanying video now on YouTube.
“King” is the first new song from Florence since last year’s “Call Me Cruella,” which was recorded for the 2021 Disney film Cruella. The band’s most recent album is 2018’s High as Hope, which features the single “Hunger.”
Meanwhile, Welch is writing original music and lyrics for an upcoming The Great Gatsby musical.
Foo Fighters, Machine Gun Kelly and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are set to play the 2022 Osheaga Festival, taking place July 29-31 in Montreal.
The bill also includes Royal Blood, Glass Animals, Bleachers, beabadoobee, girl in red, Tones and I, Wet Leg, Dominic Fike, Turnstile and Local Natives, among many more.
Rapper A$AP Rocky and pop star Dua Lipa will headline, as well.
Foo Fighters had been originally scheduled to headline Osheaga in 2020 before the festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was scrapped again in 2021, making 2022 Osheaga’s return after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus.
For the full Osheaga 2022 lineup and all ticket info, visit Osheaga.com.
