Longtime Moody Blues frontman Justin Hayward has joined the lineup of this year’s edition of the prog-rock-themed Cruise to the Edge, which is scheduled to take place during the first week of May.
According to the cruise’s official site and social media pages, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer will be giving a special performance at some point during the nautical music extravaganza, which sets sail from Port Canaveral, Florida, on May 2 and stops on the Haitian island of Labadee and at CocoCay in the Bahamas before returning to port on May 7.
As previously reported, Cruise to the Edge is returning this year after being grounded in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time, it won’t be featuring its traditional headlining act, Yes.
The lineup does feature Alan Parsons, Marillion, lauded jazz guitarist Al DiMeola, Al Stewart, ex-Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre, Saga, former King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew, current King Crimson guitarist Jakko Jakszyk, prog-rock supergroup Transatlantic, Wishbone Ash, Nektar, King’s X, and Moody Blues touring keyboardist Alan Hewitt.
For more details about the cruise and to book a cabin, visit CruisetotheEdge.com.
In other news, Hayward recently released a digital album titled Tuesday Afternoons — The Audio Files that features audio of performances from Justin’s “Tuesday Afternoons” YouTube video series. The nine-song track list features mainly deep cuts from The Moody Blues and from Hayward’s solo career. You can order the album at JustinHayward.com.
Emerson Miller/Paramount+ (C) 2021 MTV Entertainment Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Rattlesnakes. Fatal river-crossings. Bandits. And now tornadoes for good measure. Mother Nature dealt a backhand to our brave, if not woefully-unprepared pioneers in the latest episode of 1883 on Paramount+ — the hit prequel to Yellowstone.
By now, we’re used to seeing the group in constant peril, all under the watchful eyes of Tim McGraw’s James Dutton, Sam Elliott’s Shea Brennan and LaMonica Garrett’s Thomas: A former Buffalo Soldier-turned-Pinkerton Agent.
“He’s a Black cowboy with a badge and a gun,” Garrett tells ABC Audio. “Sign me up to see what that’s about in that time period regardless of what else is going on!”
“We were one-in-four cowboys back in the day and that wasn’t shown in television, film and Hollywood,” Garrett adds. “There’s so many stories, there’s so many legends in the Black cowboy culture that have never seen the light of day.”
Garrett, who’s had starring roles in shows like Sons of Anarchy, Designated Survivor and The Flash, was raised on a steady diet of old-school western shoot-em-ups.
“And you don’t realize, growing up that you didn’t really see people that looked like you on these shows,” he says. “So doing the research and you realize the representation that wasn’t there all throughout these years in a genre that I love…It’s huge. Like you see this gaping hole that we weren’t a part of.”
Garrett says his 1883 role is one that honors the past, while moving ahead with a newfound sense of representation. “To bring Thomas to life, this strong character with dignity, and pride, and strength…and he has his own code that he lives by and if you cross it, he takes care of it.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)
New episodes of 1883 are available Sundays on Paramount+.
(NEW YORK) — Adding more plants to your diet can add years to your life, according to a new study.
Researchers in Norway used computer models to compare a typical Western diet — heavy on animal-based proteins dairy and sugar — with a more ideal plant-based diet that’s heavy on fruits, vegetables, beans and grains and light on animal-based proteins.
According to the models, a 20-year-old who went all-in on the plant-based diet could add 10 years to their life. Even just making a partial change could add six years of life expectancy.
An 80-year-old who started a plant-based diet could add three years to their life expectancy, according to the study, published Tuesday in PLOS Medicine.
“A sustained dietary change may give substantial health gains for people of all ages both for optimized and feasible changes,” the researchers wrote. “Gains are predicted to be larger the earlier the dietary changes are initiated in life.”
The researchers turned their model into a public online tool, Food4HealthyLife, where users can calculate how dietary changes can change their life expectancy.
A plant-based diet is a way of eating that consists mostly or entirely of foods derived from plants, including vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and fruits.
Plant-based diets typically consist of eating few to no animal foods and is different from vegan diets, which eliminates all animal foods and products, and from vegetarian diets, which eliminate all meat, fish and poultry.
Plant-based diets, often done for health and environmental reasons, also often place an emphasis on whole foods.
Even small changes make a difference when it comes to trying a plant-based diet, according to Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News chief medical correspondent.
“I think when people hear plant-based diet or they hear a definition they get very intimidated. This does not have to be an all-in thing,” Ashton said Wednesday on Good Morning America. “You can make small changes with, let’s say, a meatless Monday or just one meal of every day.”
She added, “Read the labels. Explore those food aisles. There are more plant-based options than ever.”
Plant-based diets have been steadily gaining acclaim for the last several years, often landing atop the annual best diet rankings from U.S. News & World Report.
Here are four questions answered about the plant-based diet trend.
1. What are good things to eat on a plant-based diet?
Brian Wendel, maker of the 2011 documentary Forks Over Knives, places an emphasis on eating whole, minimally processed foods within a plant-based diet.
“For me, the best guide is, does the food still look somewhat like it does when you take it out of the ground? When you cook a potato, it still looks like a potato,” he told GMA in 2020. “The more a food is like that the more you can lean on that in your diet and lifestyle, for health benefits.”
Of course fresh vegetables and fruits are a big part of a plant-based diet, as well as nuts, whole grains and legumes. Seafood and meat products can also, on occasion, be part of a plant-based diet.
Wendel emphasizes eating more than just vegetables on a plant-based diet to ensure you are taking in enough calories.
“Make starchy foods — beans, rice, sweet potatoes, quinoa, chickpeas –- the center of the plate because that has the energy to sustain you,” he said. “And then surround it with vegetables.”
2. What about all the packaged foods advertised as ‘plant-based’?
The emphasis on eating whole foods on a plant-based diet raises the question of what to make of all the packaged plant-based products on the market, from kale chips to meat-free burgers.
“So many diets that are restrictive or have a buzz name have nothing in their description about the quality of their food and that’s something that is really important,” said Deirdre Tobias, assistant professor in the department of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. “A lot of these plant-based products might still be highly processed and have a lot of sodium and saturated fats.”
“Be careful about plant-based being used as a marketing tool,” she said.
Tobias recommends being a “savvy shopper” and shopping for your plant-based diet in the produce aisle.
“Make your own plant-based foods because vegetables are there for you,” she said. “You don’t have to be purchasing packaged, processed foods.”
3. Are there any downsides to a plant-based diet?
Not really, according to the experts.
“For heart disease, diabetes, cancer, all of the major chronic diseases, there are no downsides to eliminating meat products from your diet for any of those,” said Tobias. “If anything, the evidence shows that by going plant-based you would be benefiting your long-term survival and reducing the risk of those diseases.”
“Fruits and vegetables, fiber, nuts and legume have also all been proven to be good for weight loss and to keep weight off long-term,” she said.
Is there a way to be plant-based but still eat some meat?
Yes, the definition of plant-based is that your diet is based on plants but allows room for other foods from time to time.
“If you’re not ready to give up meat entirely, still even reducing it to once in a while would have a lot of great benefits,” said Tobias. “The science isn’t there to say a steak or a burger once in a while is horrible for you, it’s the daily consumption that’s problematic.”
One option is the flexitarian diet which encourages people to try alternative meat options, like tofu, but leaves room for flexibility if you can’t quite fully give up meat. The diet was promoted by dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner in a 2009 book that says you can reap the benefits of a plant-heavy diet even if you eat meat occasionally, according to U.S. News and World Report, which ranked the diet No. 2 on its 2022 best diets list.
This plant-heavy diet focuses on adding five food groups — “new meat,” fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy and sugar and spices — to your diet, instead of taking foods away.
The “new meat” food group includes tofu, beans, lentils, peas, nuts, seeds and eggs, according to U.S. News and World Report.
4. How do I know if a plant-based diet is right for me?
You’ll know a plant-based diet is working for you if you feel well and you are able to stick to it long-term, according to Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity medicine physician scientist at Harvard Medical School.
“Your body has the answers,” said Stanford. “Pay attention to your body and don’t pay attention to someone else and how they say their body responded.”
The experts also noted there may be some trial and error involved so stay open to finding what works best for you.
(LONDON) — Dozens of people are dead and thousands are homeless after a tropical storm struck Madagascar over the weekend, the second to batter the island nation since the start of the year.
With wind gusts of up to 143 miles per hour, Cyclone Batsirai made landfall on Madagascar’s eastern coast late Saturday before sweeping across the central and southern parts Sunday. The storm left land Monday morning and returned to sea, but heavy rainfall was forecast for southern Madagascar through Tuesday, according to the country’s meteorology department, fueling fears of more flooding.
The cyclone’s powerful winds and torrential rains flooded roads and farmland, ripped roofs from homes and buildings and knocked down trees and utility poles. The hardest-hit areas were on the eastern side of the country, though the full scope of the damage was still being assessed.
According to Madagascar’s National Office for Risk and Disaster Management, more than 112,000 people have been impacted by Batsirai, which was classified by the country’s meteorology department as a dangerous storm. As of Wednesday evening, at least 92 people have died, mostly in the southern Ikongo district, and over 60,000 others remain displaced from their homes and have been temporarily relocated, the country’s risk and disaster management office said.
At least three children under the age of 12 were among the dead, according to United Kingdom-based international charity Save the Children, which cited Madagascar’s risk and disaster management office.
The cyclone flooded almost 7,000 homes, completely destroyed 6,000 and damaged nearly 1,500. Hundreds of schools were also affected, leaving an estimated 9,271 children out of school. Meanwhile, at least 53 hospitals were damaged and six were completely destroyed, the country’s risk and disaster management office said Wednesday.
The storm also damaged various infrastructure, including at least 20 roads and 17 bridges, leaving some of the worst-affected areas inaccessible by road. Some towns suffered disruptions to power and water supplies, according to the risk and disaster management office.
The World Food Program, the food assistance branch of the United Nations, has started distributing hot meals to 4,000 evacuated and displaced people in shelters in coordination with Madagascan authorities. Pasqualina DiSirio, the World Food Program’s director for Madagascar, warned that the number of storm victims could “easily rise.”
“We have right now, still waters increasing in the canals, in the rivers, and people are still in danger,” DiSirio said in a statement Monday. “We know for sure that rice fields, that rice crops will be damaged. This is the main crop for Malagasy people and they will be seriously affected in food security in the next three to six months if we don’t do something immediately and we don’t help them recover.”
Humanity & Inclusion, a France-based independent charity that has worked in Madagascar for over 30 years, has a 163-person team on the ground helping Madagascan authorities evaluate and respond to the disaster. Vincent Dalonneau, Humanity & Inclusion’s director for Madagascar, said the effects of Batsirai “are devastating.”
“The amount of destruction is significant and for many this is only the beginning. The storm may have passed, but now the affected communities must restart from scratch — rebuilding their homes, schools and hospitals,” Dalonneau told ABC News on Monday night. “Right now, we only have initial estimates of the damage caused. What remains a great challenge is that more isolated areas have yet to be assessed. So, we expect to see the extent of destruction rising in the coming days as we get a clearer image of the situation.”
Dalonneau said some isolated villages are more than a two-day walk away, which make damage assessments and aid deliveries even more difficult.
One of the affected residents was a 32-year-old single mother named Josephine. She said she and her young daughter evacuated their home near the eastern city of Mahanoro on Friday night amid heavy rain. When they returned, Josephine said their house was “completely destroyed,” according to Humanity & Inclusion.
Batsirai, which means help in Shona, an official language in Zimbabwe, arrived less than two weeks after Tropical Storm Ana barreled through southeastern Africa, killing scores of people in Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi.
The Madagascan government declared a state of emergency on Jan. 27 due to Ana.
It’s safe to say that many Lady Gaga fans thought the star was “robbed” when she failed to capture an Oscar nomination for her performance in House of Gucci. But it turns out that even the director of the movie that grabbed the most nominations thought her name should have been called on Tuesday.
Jane Campion directed The Power of the Dog, which has a leading 12 nominations. She’s also now the only woman ever to be nominated for Best Director twice. She tells The Hollywood Reporter, “One of the actors that I thought — in the lead female actress category — who I missed being there was Lady Gaga. I thought she was extraordinary.”
That being said, Campion says she approves of Nicole Kidman — whom she’s known since Kidman was 14 — getting a nod for Being the Ricardos, and Kristen Stewart being included for Spencer. “She was incredible,” notes Campion of Stewart.
As for why and how Lady Gaga missed out on a nomination, Entertainment Weeklyhas a highly technical breakdown of the voting scenarios that could have led to that outcome. One of EW’s scenarios is the same one that’s led to your favorite American Idol contestants being voted out too early over the years: Voters may have assumed that Gaga had such strong industry support that she didn’t need their votes, so they voted for Kristen Stewart, whom they may have felt needed support after she was snubbed by the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
It was most appropriate that the 90th birthday of the most legendary film composer of all time, John Williams, fell on Tuesday, when the nominations for the 94th Academy Awards were announced.
Born in New York City in 1932, Williams has both been nominated for, and won, more Oscars than any composer in history. Nominated 52 times — second only to Walt Disney’s 59 — Williams won five, for Fiddler on the Roof, Jaws, Star Wars, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Schindler’s List.
In his long career, Williams also gifted the world with the iconic themes to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park and more. He also won 25 Grammy Awards and four Golden Globes. Williams also received the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, the first-ever non-actor so honored.
Tributes to the composer poured in on social media into the night, including from the London Symphony Orchestra — which he conducted for the first of many times in 1977 for Star Wars — as well as by actors and musicians he inspired.
Mark Hamill, who of course played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars saga, posted, “It is simply impossible to underestimate your contribution to the success of the #StarWars films,” adding the hashtag,
“#ThankYou_YaBigHunkaGenius.”
In a long thread on Twitter, fellow Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino — the guy behind the baton for the scores of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and the upcoming The Batman, among many others — said, “…To say that John Williams has been an inspiration to myself or any contemporary film composer would be the greatest understatement. It is too difficult to put it into words how important his work has been to all of us in this business…”
Pollstar, the publication that tracks the concert industry, gave Harry Stylesits top award Tuesday night at the 33rd annual Pollstar Awards.
Harry’s Love on Tour arena trek was named Major Tour of the Year. In a video message, Harry said, “I loved being back out on the road, and I’m very much looking forward to going out again this year.”
“I’d love to say a massive thank you to my band and my crew for everything they did during this tour,” he added. “Given the circumstances, it was very difficult, and a very different touring environment than everyone was used to.”
Harry’s manager Jeffrey Azoff was named Personal Manager of the Year, and Harry took the opportunity to rib him, joking, “It’s been an absolute pleasure to have watched from afar as you have achieved everything from the comfort of your own home while I toured…you’re welcome.”
Other winners included Maroon 5 for Best Pop Tour, Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin for Best Latin Tour, Lady Gaga‘s Jazz & Piano Las Vegas production for Best Residency, Foo Fighters for Best Rock Tour, Earth, Wind & Fire for Best R&B Tour, and Chris Stapleton for Best Country Tour.
Hulu on Tuesday dropped the first trailer for the upcoming limited series Conversations with Friends. Based on Sally Rooney‘s best-selling novel, the drama, according to the streaming service, follows Frances, a 21-year-old college student — played by Alison Oliver — as she navigates a series of relationships that force her to confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time. Joe Alwyn, Sasha Lane and Jemima Kirke also star. Conversations with Friends launches with all 12 episodes in May…
Reno 9-1-1 and Claws star Niecy Nash is set to guest star in two embedded episodes of ABC’s The Rookie, setting up a possible spinoff next season, the network announced on Tuesday. Nash will play Simone Clark, “a force of nature, the living embodiment of a dream deferred — and the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy.” The spinoff would exist in the same universe as The Rookie, allowing characters to move back and forth between the two shows. Air dates for the episodes have not been announced. The Rookie airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC…
HBO is close to landing Doomsday Machine, the Facebook TV series starring The Crown Emmy-winner Claire Foy, Puck’s Matt Bellonireports. The scripted series, based on Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang’s New York Times bestselling book, An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination, follows the relationship between Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg — played by Foy — and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and the obstacles Facebook has faced on its quest for growth…
Love, Victor, an spinoff from the 2018 film Love, Simon, will end after its upcoming season, according to Variety. The show stars Michael Cimino as a gay teen coming to terms with sexuality. It also stars Rachel Hilson, Anthony Turpel, Bebe Wood, Mason Gooding, George Sear, Isabella Ferreira, Mateo Fernandez, James Martinez and Ana Ortiz. Love, Victor season three premieres June 15…
Hulu on Tuesday dropped the first trailer for the upcoming limited series Conversations with Friends. Based on Sally Rooney‘s best-selling novel, the drama, according to the streaming service, follows Frances, a 21-year-old college student — played by Alison Oliver — as she navigates a series of relationships that force her to confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time. Joe Alwyn, Sasha Lane and Jemima Kirke also star. Conversations with Friends launches with all 12 episodes in May…
Reno 9-1-1 and Claws star Niecy Nash is set to guest star in two embedded episodes of ABC’s The Rookie, setting up a possible spinoff next season, the network announced on Tuesday. Nash will play Simone Clark, “a force of nature, the living embodiment of a dream deferred — and the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy.” The spinoff would exist in the same universe as The Rookie, allowing characters to move back and forth between the two shows. Air dates for the episodes have not been announced. The Rookie airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC…
HBO is close to landing Doomsday Machine, the Facebook TV series starring The Crown Emmy-winner Claire Foy, Puck’s Matt Bellonireports. The scripted series, based on Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang’s New York Times bestselling book, An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination, follows the relationship between Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg — played by Foy — and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and the obstacles Facebook has faced on its quest for growth…
Love, Victor, an spinoff from the 2018 film Love, Simon, will end after its upcoming season, according to Variety. The show stars Michael Cimino as a gay teen coming to terms with sexuality. It also stars Rachel Hilson, Anthony Turpel, Bebe Wood, Mason Gooding, George Sear, Isabella Ferreira, Mateo Fernandez, James Martinez and Ana Ortiz. Love, Victor season three premieres June 15…
Wendy Williamswill not return toThe Wendy Williams Show this season, according to a report from Variety.
Williams, 57, has been on hiatus from the show, which is in its 13th season, as she battles health issues, including an ongoing battle with Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disease that causes an overactive thyroid. Although the TV personality will not return to her purple chair, the outlet adds that the show will continue, though its future remains in flux.
Meanwhile, Sherri Shepherd, who has served as a guest host on The Wendy Williams Show, is in negotiations for her own daytime talk show that could potentially take over Williams’ time slot, sources tell Variety.
A spokesperson for Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury, the company behind both William’s series and Shepherd’s potential show, declined to comment on either situation. However, earlier in the season, they released a statement in support of Williams.
“Wendy is a valued and stalwart member of the Debmar-Mercury family and has been so for 12 years. We want her health to be her top priority,” the statement read. “As soon as she’s ready, she will be back in her treasured purple chair. We very much appreciate the respect for Wendy’s privacy, as well as all the good wishes from her fans, station partners and advertisers.”
