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Biden’s communications director Kate Bedingfield leaving the White House in coming weeks

July 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — White House communications director Kate Bedingfield plans to depart in late July, according to administration officials.

Bedingfield is a longtime top aide to President Joe Biden: She was his communications director when he served as vice president under Barack Obama and became his deputy campaign manager for communications during his winning bid for president in 2020.

She has been one of Biden’s most trusted advisers and played a major role during his third campaign, both behind and in front of the camera.

She started as White House communications director when Biden took office in January 2021 and has been a regular presence on TV and in the press advocating for or defending the administration.

White House aides say Bedingfield, who has also worked in corporate public relations, is leaving to spend more time with her husband and two young children, but she is expected to continue to support the administration from the outside.

“Without Kate Bedingfield’s talent and tenacity, Donald Trump might still be in the White House, the Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure Law might still be unrealized goals, and Ketanji Brown Jackson might not be sitting on the Supreme Court,” Biden’s chief of staff, Ron Klain, said in a statement.

“She has played a huge role in everything the President has achieved – from his second term as Vice President, through the campaign, and since coming to the White House,” Klain said. “Her strategic acumen, intense devotion to the President’s agenda, and fierce work on his behalf are unmatched. She will continue to remain a critical player in moving the Biden agenda forward from the outside.”

Bedingfield’s departure comes as the administration is struggling with a slew of challenges — from the economy and inflation to gun violence, abortion access in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s overturning and poor polling for the president, whose approval ratings have continued to decline.

Her exit also comes in the lead up to the November midterm elections and she follows other senior members of the administration out the door, including former White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

Tim McGraw shares his favorite recipe for mouth-watering ribs

July 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

When you’re firing up the grill this summer, Tim McGraw has a few tips and tricks for making the best ribs.

In partnership with ButcherBox, a company that delivers organic meat, the country star is sharing his favorite recipe for making ribs fresh on the grill. The brine he uses includes dark brown sugar, finely ground espresso beans, chipotle pepper powder, smoked paprika and salt and pepper.

When it comes time to cook, Tim will brown the ribs first then put them on the top rack of the grill where he’ll baste them on high heat, noting that they come out “just as tender” as if he were to cook them for several hours. “For me it works pretty good,” he says in video as he’s working the grill.

Turns out, ribs are a favorite at the McGraw household, especially amongst he and Faith Hill‘s three daughters, Gracie, Audrey and Maggie.

“My girls ask for ribs. I spend a lot of time on the grill with ribs because they love them,” he describes.

Wolfgang Van Halen announces engagement: “She said yes!!”

July 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Congratulations are in order for Wolfgang Van Halen and his longtime girlfriend, Andraia Allsop, who are now engaged.

The Mammoth WVH frontman and son of Eddie Van Halen revealed the news Wednesday in an Instagram post featuring a new photo of him and his new fiancée alongside the caption, “She said yes!!”

Many members of the rock community commented on Wolf’s post celebrating the news, including Heart‘s Nancy Wilson and Halestorm‘s Joe Hottinger. Wolf’s mom, actor Valerie Bertinelli, also replied with “So happy!!!” and many crying and heart emojis.

Wolf brought Allsop and Bertinelli with him when he attended the Grammys in April. In an Instagram post reflecting on the experience, he wrote, “I got to have a wonderful night with the two most important women in my world.”

Police officer missed chance to shoot Uvalde gunman by seeking permission, new assessment shows

July 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(UVALDE, Texas) — There were several missed opportunities to stop the massacre at Robb Elementary School before it started, a new assessment of the law enforcement response to the Uvalde shooting released Wednesday said, while also providing some new details.

A Uvalde police officer was at the scene where the suspect, Salvador Ramos, had crashed his car. The officer had a rifle and sighted to shoot the gunman but paused to seek permission.

“The UPD officer did not hear a response and turned to get confirmation from his supervisor. When he turned back to address the suspect, the suspect had already entered the west hall exterior door at 11:33:00,” according to the assessment from Texas State University’s Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training.

“In this instance, the UPD officer would have heard gunshots and/or reports of gunshots and observed an individual approaching the school building armed with a rifle,” said the assessment. “A reasonable officer would conclude in this case, based upon the totality of the circumstances, that use of deadly force was warranted.”

Thirty-two seconds after he entered the school, Ramos entered classroom 111, according to the assessment.

“Immediately, children’s screams could be heard along with numerous gunshots in the classrooms. The rate of fire was initially very rapid then slowed, lasting only a few seconds,” the assessment said.

Five seconds later, the suspect exited the classroom, stepped into the hallway and then reentered room 111.

“The suspect then re-enters what appears to be classroom 111 and continues to fire what is estimated to be over 100 rounds by 11:36:04 (according to audio analysis). During the shooting the sounds of children screaming, and crying, could be heard,” the assessment said.

Twenty-one people, including 19 children, were killed in the attack.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Listen to new Bring Me the Horizon single, “sTraNgeRs”

July 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Bring Me the Horizon has premiered a new single called “sTraNgeRs.”

The track, which the English rockers dedicate to “everyone who’s been to hell and back,” is available now via digital outlets. Its accompanying video, which sports some pretty gnarly body horror, is streaming now on YouTube.

“sTraNgeRs” follows BMTH’s 2021 single “DiE4u.” Both tracks will presumably be included in the upcoming second entry in Horizon’s Post Human series, following 2020’s Post Human: Survival Horror.

Meanwhile, Bring Me the Horizon has released a number of collaborations lately, including with Machine Gun Kelly, Tom Morello, Sigrid and Ed Sheeran.

(Video contains uncensored profanity)

Another one! DJ Khaled announces title of new album, ‘God Did’

July 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

DJ Khaled has been known to denounce “they” — a general group of haters and critics who seemingly expressed doubt about his talents and success. Now, he’s dedicating a project that will do the same — while crediting God for all he’s accomplished.

On Wednesday, the producer revealed the title for his upcoming album, which will officially be called God Did.

Alongside a montage of personal moments and BTS clips from the album-making process, he wrote, “I made this album for all the believers and non believers. They didn’t believe in us…do you?”

Fans of Khaled may be familiar with the name of his upcoming album, as the producer has used the phrase on several occasions, including on the intro to Fivio Foreign’s “B.I.B.L.E. Talk.”

“They wanna put chains and handcuffs on us/So we made sure we got baguette chains and baguette bracelets,” he says on the track. “They ain’t believe in us, God did.”

As of now, the release date for God Did has not been disclosed, but DJ Khaled promises it’s “coming soon.” He’s also teased potential collaborations with the likes of Drake, Future and Lil Baby, who have all been captured with him in the studio.

God Did will serve as the follow-up to KHALED KHALED, which dropped in April of last year.

“A sequel? What am I a hack?”: Kevin Smith drops celeb-packed trailer to, yes, the sequel ‘Clerks III’

July 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

On Wednesday, Kevin Smith dropped the trailer to his third Clerks movie, and as he’d promised, it reflects the filmmaker’s real life in more ways than one.

The writer-director and podcaster maxed out his credit cards and shot the original 1994 indie film himself. Set primarily at the New Jersey convenience store where he worked, the movie launched his career.

The new threequel has Jeff Anderson‘s Randall back behind the counter with his buddy Dante, played again by Brian O’Halloran, but a brush with death — in the form of a massive heart attack — leads movie fan Randall to make the most out of life by shooting his own film…set in the convenience store where he works.

In 2018, Smith himself suffered a near-fatal heart attack, and the subsequent soul-searching led him back to where it all began.

Oh, and admitted post-coronary guilt trip calls to his now-famous old friends, like Ben Affleck, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Rosario Dawson, ensured they would play roles.

The meta script has Smith reprising his role as Silent Bob, the R2-D2 to the C-3PO of Jason Mewes‘ fellow stoner Jay. Randall decides the pair have to be in his movie, too.

Comparing the pair to the Star Wars characters, Randall says, “They’ve been here since the first movie, which was the last time they were cool, but they’ve been with the franchise so long they still…put them on the lunchboxes.”

The trailer is replete with references to the first comedy, including a wisely deleted scene in which Dante’s character was shot by a robber. “What if there’s a sequel?!” he protests. “A sequel? What am I, a hack?” Randall replies.

Clerks III hits theaters this fall.

Silverchair’s Daniel Johns sentenced with “intensive corrections order” after pleading guilty to drunk driving

July 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns has been sentenced to a 10-month “intensive corrections order” after pleading guilty to drunk driving, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports.

The punishment allows Johns to serve his time in the community, as opposed to in jail. His sentence also forbids him from driving for the next seven months and requires an alcohol-reading interlock device be installed in his car for two years after that.

As previously reported, Johns crashed his vehicle into a van carrying two people on Australia’s Pacific Highway in March and was charged with drunk driving after testing three times higher than Australia’s legal blood alcohol content limit. The people in the van were treated on the scene.

Following the incident, Johns announced that he was admitting himself to rehab.

Silverchair, which released the RIAA double-Platinum album Frogstomp in 1995 when Johns was only 15, has been inactive since going on hiatus 2011. Johns then went on to form the band Dreams in 2018 alongside fellow Australian Luke Steele of Empire of the Sun. He released a new solo album, FutureNever, in April.

KISS’ Gene Simmons says band will be “adding another 100 cities” to End of the Road farewell tour

July 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

KISS is currently in the middle of a 2022 European leg of their End of the Road tour, and while no final date has been announced for the band’s farewell trek, singer/bassist Gene Simmons recently revealed that the outing’s end is definitely farther down the road.

In a phone interview late last month, a journalist for the Finnish rock fanzine Chaoszine asked Simmons how he felt about playing various European cities for the last time, to which Gene replied, “I don’t think it’ll be the last time. We are adding another 100 cities on the tour before we finally stop.”

He added, “The band is strong. We feel good. We’re playing strong, so we’re going to stretch it out a little more.”

Asked if the tour will come to an end sometime in 2023, Simmons said, “We don’t know. We’ve never retired before. This is our first time. So it’s like painting a painting or like writing a book. When somebody says, ‘When is it going to be finished?’ you’re in the middle of it. You don’t know, but you know it’s going to finish.”

As for how he thinks he will feel when the tour finally does wrap up, Gene explained, “It’s like climbing the tallest mountain in the world. Going up is really tough, but when you get to the top of the mountain, there’s no feeling like that. So you’re happy, but of course, you’re sad too because we’re never going to do that again.”

The current European leg of the KISS tour runs through a July 21 show in Amsterdam, and will be followed by a series of Down Under concerts in August and early September. The band also has a few U.S. performances and the two-part KISS Kruise XI confirmed for the fall.

Machine Gun Kelly reflects on Corey Taylor feud: “I could’ve handled it differently”

July 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Machine Gun Kelly reflects on his feud with Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor in his new documentary, Life in Pink.

In the film, Kelly calls the war of words, which first went public when Kelly dissed Slipknot as “old weird dudes with masks” at last year’s Riot Fest, “unfortunate.”

“I think both of us let our egos get in the way,” Kelly says.

Following MGK’s initial comments, it was then revealed that Taylor had written a verse for Kelly’s Tickets to My Downfall album that ultimately wasn’t used. At the time, Kelly called the verse “terrible,” and his hostility toward Taylor and Slipknot was met in kind by crowds at rock and metal festivals, which booed and gave him the middle finger.

“I was a fan of Slipknot, and I was a fan of Corey,” Kelly explains in the doc. “That’s why I’d asked him to get on Tickets. He obviously had mutual respect, too, because he cut a verse. I tried to give notes back, like, ‘Oh this wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, can we try this?’ And, respectfully, he was like, ‘No.’ And I was like, ‘OK, cool.’ So we didn’t use it. Then I heard him on a podcast.”

During that podcast, which aired sometime between the initial collab attempt and Kelly’s Slipknot diss, Taylor called out an unnamed artist who “failed in one genre and decided to go rock,” seemingly referring to MGK.

“I could’ve handled it differently,” Kelly now says. “I should have just picked up the phone and been like, ‘Hey dude, why would you say that?’ But instead we all reacted ridiculous.”

Taylor has not yet responded to Kelly’s latest comments.

Life in Pink is streaming now on Hulu.

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