An expansive Blondie box set titled Blondie: Against the Odds 1974-1982 that focuses on the influential New Wave band’s original heyday and is fully authorized by the group will be released on August 26.
The retrospective will be available in multiple formats and configurations, including an eight-CD set and a Super Deluxe Collectors’ Edition featuring 10 12-inch vinyl LPs, a 10-inch LP and a 7-inch vinyl single.
The vinyl box set features 124 tracks, 36 of which are previously unreleased. The collection contains remastered versions of Blondie’s first six studio albums — 1976’s Blondie, 1977’s Plastic Letters, 1978’s Parallel Lines, 1979’s Eat to the Beat, 1980’s Autoamerican and 1982’s The Hunter — and four LPs of outtakes, demos, remixes, alternate versions and other rarities.
The 10-inch disc features rarities from 1974 and ’75, while the vinyl single boasts a cover of The Doors‘ “Moonlight Drive” and a demo of “Mr. Sightseer.”
The box set also includes extensive liner notes; track-by-track commentary from Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke and former members Jimmy Destri, Nigel Harrison, Frank Infante and Gary Valentine; essays by producers Mike Chapman, Richard Gottehrer and Ken Shipley; and a 120-page illustrated discography.
Blondie: Against the Odds will also be available as a four-LP package, a three-CD set and digitally, and can be preordered now. The “Moonlight Drive” cover has been released as an advance digital single.
“I am excited about this special collection,” says Harry. “When I listen to these old tracks, it puts me there like I am a time traveler.”
Adds Stein, “I am hopeful that this project will provide a glimpse into the ‘process’ and some of the journey that the songs took from idea to final form.”
For the 21st year, Robert De Niro and his partner Jane Rosenthal are launching their Tribeca Film Festival, which gets underway in New York City Wednesday night.
The festival was started as a way to bring much-needed economic recovery to Lower Manhattan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, but for the past two years the pandemic left its mark on the annual event.
2022’s fest is especially meaningful, De Niro tells ABC Audio. “It means we’re back,” he says of his native New York City.
“Everybody’s coming out, and we’re looking forward to coming out. … I think it’ll be great.”
He adds, “And we’re hopefully through this [pandemic]. We might not fully be through it. But … the light is more than at the end of the tunnel. So let’s celebrate.”
Part of that celebration is a retrospective of De Niro’s crime classic Heat, which will also feature another Oscar winner, his former co-star Al Pacino.
Rosenthal says the content of this year’s festival also reflects the tough times the city went through because of COVID. “It’s also perseverance and getting through even some of the darkest days.”
“We have a film called Broadway Rising about what happened to Broadway, not just the stars of Broadway, the dry cleaners, the, you know … the locksmiths, everybody [who was affected],” she adds.
“… It’s New Yorkers who have persevered and have gotten through. And we’re going to have some fun, too!”
All told, 150 filmmakers from 40 countries will screen their work there; 110 feature films, as well as shorts and documentaries, will unspool through June 19. For those who can’t make the festival, or its outdoor screenings throughout the city, the pandemic-born Tribeca At Home will allow movie fans to tune in virtually.
As previously reported, this year’s fest kicks off with Jennifer Lopez‘s Netflix documentary, Halftime.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 08, 12:53 pm
Russian-occupied Mariupol faces ‘catastrophic lack of medical staff’
The Russian-occupied city of Mariupol, Ukraine, is facing a “catastrophic lack of medical staff,” Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said on the Telegram app.
He said Russians are trying to convince locals who are over 80 years old to go back to work at hospitals.
He warned, “In this state of medicine, any infectious disease turns into a deadly epidemic.”
Jun 08, 8:36 am
Putin-Zelenskyy meeting not possible, Kremlin says
A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not currently possible, the Kremlin said.
When asked about a recent comment from Zelenskyy that he’s willing to meet with Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “Our position is well-known here: good preparations need to be made for a top-level meeting. We know that the Ukrainian side has withdrawn from the negotiation track, and therefore it is currently not possible to prepare for this sort of top-level meeting.”
Jun 08, 5:06 am
Ukrainian defenses in key eastern city ‘holding,’ despite Russian attacks
Ukrainian troops defending the eastern city of Sieverodonetsk are “holding,” despite attacks in three directions from Russian forces, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Wednesday in an intelligence update.
“Russia continues to attempt assaults against the Sieverodonetsk pocket from three directions although Ukrainian defences are holding,” the ministry said. “It is unlikely that either side has gained significant ground in the last 24 hours.”
Sieverodonetsk, an industrial hub, is the largest city still held by Ukrainian troops in the contested Donbas region of Ukraine’s east, which comprises the self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. In recent days, Russian forces have encircled the city as they advanced in Donbas, creating a pocket that could trap Ukrainian defenders there and in the neighboring city of Lysychansk.
Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk are the last major cities in the Luhansk area still controlled by Ukraine.
Last week, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Russian forces had seized most of Sieverodonetsk, but that the main road into the pocket likely remained under Ukrainian control.
With the frontage of the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine stretching for over 300 miles, “both Russia and Ukraine face similar challenges in maintaining a defensive line while freeing up capable combat units for offensive operations,” according to the ministry.
“While Russia is concentrating its offensive on the central Donbas sector, it has remained on the defensive on its flanks,” the ministry said in its intelligence update Wednesday. “Ukrainian forces have recently achieved some success by counter-attacking in the south-western Kherson region, including regaining a foothold on the eastern bank of the Ingulets River.”
Jun 07, 3:12 pm
At least 3 dead in shelling in Kharkiv
At least three people were killed and six others were injured in the Kharkiv area from ongoing shelling by Russian forces, according to the Kharkiv regional governor, Oleg Synegubov.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Jun 07, 11:48 am
Ukraine official: Hard to win ‘without speeding up the supply of modern weapons’
Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, told ABC News that “it will be difficult for Ukraine to win this war without speeding up the supply of modern weapons.”
He added, “The country is ready for long-term resistance, because we are fighting for our freedom.”
This comes as the Donetsk People’s Republic claims an advance in territory.
DPR Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonorova told reporters, “We can say that the allied forces — the DPR militia and units of the Russian Defense Ministry — are in control of over 70% of the territory.”
Jun 07, 11:02 am
Ukrainian grain may be leaving ports — but on Russian ships
There is evidence of Russian vessels departing “from near Ukraine with their cargo holds full of grain,” a U.S. Department of State spokesperson told ABC News on Monday night.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported that Russia seized at least 400,000 to 500,000 tons of grain worth over $100 million, according to the State Department spokesperson.
“Ukraine’s MFA also has numerous testimonies from Ukrainian farmers and documentary evidence showing Russia’s theft of Ukrainian grain,” the spokesperson said.
The news of Ukrainian grain aboard Russian ships partly confirms a recent report by The New York Times that Moscow is seeking to profit off of grain plundered from Ukraine by selling the product while subverting sanctions. Ukraine has already accused Russia of shipping the stolen grain to buyers in Syria and Turkey.
Russia and Ukraine — often referred to collectively as Europe’s breadbasket — produce a third of the global supply of wheat and barley, but Kyiv has been unable to ship exports due to Moscow’s offensive. A Russian blockade in the Black Sea, along with Ukrainian naval mines, have made exporting siloed grain virtually impossible and, as a result, millions of people around the world — particularly in Africa and the Middle East — are now on the brink of famine.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jun 06, 12:26 pm
Two planes owned by Russian oligarch grounded by US prosecutors
Two planes — a Gulfstream G650 and a Boeing 787 — have been grounded after federal prosecutors said their owner, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, violated U.S. sanctions by flying the aircraft to Moscow in March.
The sanctions require a license for any U.S.-made aircraft to fly to Russia. The sanctions also prohibit an aircraft that is owned, controlled or under charter or lease by a Russian national from being flown to Russia.
“No licenses were applied for or issued. Nor was any license exception available, including because the Boeing and the Gulfstream were each owned and/or controlled by a Russian national: Roman Abramovich,” said the affidavit supporting a seizure warrant.
The Boeing plane is believed to be among the most expensive private aircraft in the world, worth $350 million, the affidavit said.
Jun 06, 9:05 am
Russia beefs up air defense on Snake Island
Russia has likely moved multiple air defense assets, including SA-15 and SA-22 missile systems, to Snake Island in the western Black Sea, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Monday in an intelligence update.
The move follows the loss of the Russian warship Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
“It is likely these weapons are intended to provide air defence for Russian naval vessels operating around Snake Island,” the ministry added. “Russia’s activity on Snake Island contributes to its blockade of the Ukrainian coast and hinders the resumption of maritime trade, including exports of Ukrainian grain.”
Russian forces captured Ukraine’s Snake Island in the early days of the invasion, memorably when Ukrainian soldiers defending the tiny islet told an attacking Russian warship to “go f— yourself.” Ukrainian troops have failed in their attempts to retake the previously inconsequential territory.
Meanwhile, in eastern Ukraine’s contested Donbas region, heavy fighting continues in the war-torn city of Sieverodonetsk, according to the ministry.
“Russian forces continue to push towards Sloviansk as part of their attempted encirclement of Ukrainian force,” the ministry said.
And in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Russian air-launched cruise missiles struck rail infrastructure Sunday in the early morning hours, “likely in an attempt [to] disrupt the supply of Western military equipment to frontline Ukrainian units,” according to the ministry.
Jun 05, 3:39 pm
Russian missiles target Kyiv
After five weeks of relative calm in Kyiv, Russian rockets hit Ukraine’s capital city on Sunday as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of strikes on “new targets” if the United States goes through with plans to supply Ukraine with longer-range missiles.
Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said the war is still in its “hot phase” and “capturing Kyiv is still Russia’s main goal.”
An ABC News crew visited Kyiv’s Darnytskyy district, where several Russian cruise missiles slammed into a railway repair plant. One building was still on fire when the ABC News crew arrived. Nearby, another missile strike left a creater on a cement path.
It took hours before Ukrainian authorities permitted media access to the site, saying the area needed to be cleared for safety first.
The Russians claimed the attack in Darnystskyy destroyed military vehicles and armaments. Ukrainian officials said the missiles hit a railway repair plant where no tanks were stored.
Speaking on Russian TV on Sunday, Putin issued a warning to the West on supplying the Ukrainians with high-powered rocket systems. He said if the West carried through with it, Russia would hit “new targets they had not attacked before.”
Jun 05, 7:05 am
Putin warns of strikes if West supplies longer-range missiles
President Vladimir Putin warned that Russian forces would strike new targets if the West began supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles.
“But if they [missiles] are actually delivered, we will draw appropriate conclusions and apply our own weapons, which we have in sufficient quantities to carry out strikes on targets we aren’t striking yet,” Putin told Rossyia 1 TV Channel in an interview on Sunday.
Chlöe Bailey‘s new business venture might be the hottest one yet. The Grammy-nominated singer announced a partnership with DoorDash and the creation of a new hot sauce called “Make Em Sweet.”
“a little sweet, a lot of heat. like me 🥰 dropping some 🔥 with @doordash tomorrow,” Bailey said on Instagram Tuesday ahead of its release.
The limited-edition hot sauce, which will be available exclusively to DashPass members starting June 9, is made up of ghost, peri peri and cayenne peppers.
For those looking to try out “Make Em Sweet,” head over to Bailey’s Instagram Story Thursday at 3 p.m. ET for the special link.
Dance Gavin Dance’s Tilian Pearson; Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
The band Dance Gavin Dance will no longer be on the bill for Coheed and Cambria‘s upcoming A Window of the Waking Mind tour.
The news comes after Dance Gavin Dance vocalist Tilian Pearson was accused of sexual assault in a post made to Reddit last week. Pearson later posted his own statement, acknowledging he had a “brief relationship” with the person who made the post, but maintained that “every sexual act was purely consensual.” Following Pearson’s statement, another person posted to Reddit with allegations of sexual misconduct.
Last Friday, Dance Gavin Dance announced that Pearson “was stepping away from the band in order to seek professional help,” while adding that the remaining members still planned to play “all currently scheduled tours.” However, in a statement Tuesday evening, Coheed announced that DGD had been removed from the A Window of the Waking Mind bill.
“After much internal conversation and consideration we have decided to replace Dance Gavin Dance on the A Window of the Waking Mind tour,” Coheed writes. “We wish them healing and strength.”
A replacement opener will be announced “in the coming days.”
The A Window of the Waking Mind tour launches July 12 in Miami. Coheed will be supporting their upcoming new album Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind, due out June 24.
For anyone affected by abuse and needing support, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or if you’re unable to speak safely, you can log onto thehotline.org or text LOVEIS to 1-866-331-9474.
(WASHINGTON) — Amid new pressure for gun control on Capitol Hill, lawmakers on Wednesday heard dramatic testimony from a fourth grader trapped in a Texas classroom for more than an hour as a gunman killed 19 of her classmates and two of her teachers.
Miah Cerrillo emotionally described smearing herself with her classmate’s blood and playing dead as the Uvalde rampage unfolded, recounting the horror to the House Oversight Committee in a recorded video. Cerrillo was not in the room, as planned, when the video was played.
Cerrillo said she and the other students hid behind the teacher’s desk and their backpacks as the gunman shot out the window of their classroom and eventually entered.
She said the gunman “told my teacher goodnight and shot her in the head, and then he shot some of my classmates and the whiteboard.” Cerrillo then talked about putting the blood of a classmate on herself out of fear the gunman would return and also using her teacher’s phone to call 911.
Cerrillo said she didn’t feel safe at school. When asked on the video if she thinks it will happen again, she nodded yes.
Her father tearfully told lawmakers Wednesday something has to change.
“She is not the same little girl I used to play and run with,” he said.
The committee also heard from other families traumatized by the massacres in Uvalde and in Buffalo, New York, that killed a total of 31 people just 10 days apart.
Witnesses included Felix Rubio and Kimberly Rubio, the parents of Lexi Rubio, a 10-year-old girl killed in Uvalde; Zeneta Everhart, the mother of Buffalo shooting survivor Zaire Goodman, who was shot in the neck while working at the store; and Roy Guerrero, a Uvalde pediatrician who treated the victims.
Guerrero described in graphic detail treating the victims who arrived at Uvalde Memorial Hospital that day.
“Two children, whose bodies had been so pulverized by the bullets fired at them, decapitated, whose flesh had been so ripped apart, that the only clue as to their identities were the blood spattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them,” he said. “Clinging for life and finding none.”
Through tears, Kimberly Rubio talked about the last time she saw her daughter that morning. The family was at Robb Elementary School before the shooting to see Lexi receive a good citizen award and be recognized for being an A student.
“To celebrate, we promised to get her ice cream that evening,” Kimberly Rubio said. “We told her we loved her, and we would pick her up after school. I can still see her, walking with us toward the exit. In the reel that keeps scrolling across my memories, she turns her head and smiles back at us to acknowledge my promise. And then we left. I left my daughter at that school, and that decision will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
Committee chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., opened the hearing by asking her colleagues to “listen with an open heart to the brave witnesses who have come forward to tell their stories about how gun violence has impacted their lives.”
“Let us honor their courage,” she said. “And let us find the same courage to pass commonsense laws to protect our children.”
The hearing comes as negotiations continue on gun control. A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, are trying to reach a compromise this week on incremental measures like expanded background checks, incentives for states to implement red flag laws and funding for mental health programs.
Senate Democrats are looking for at least 10 Republican votes to get to the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. If they don’t reach that mark, they risk continuing a 30-year trend of inaction on gun reform even in the wake of such tragedies as Sandy Hook, Las Vegas and Parkland.
Murphy provided an update on the talks during an appearance on The View on Tuesday, stating he’s never seen this much public pressure for elected officials to act and he’s hopeful Republicans are “picking up this sense of urgency.”
“While we are very different in our views, we do both agree that we are not willing to do anything that compromises people’s Second Amendment rights,” Murphy said. “We are focusing on keeping weapons out of the hands of dangerous people.”
President Joe Biden made an impassioned plea last week for more, including a ban on assault weapons like the AR-15 used in the Uvalde shooting, but most Republicans in Congress remain opposed to any gun restrictions.
Maloney said she feels there is a new air of urgency to get gun control legislation on Biden’s desk in light of the Uvalde mass shooting, and she’s hopeful Republicans will change their minds when they hear the witnesses speak firsthand.
“Absolutely, there’s a sense of urgency, and tomorrow we will be debating gun safety laws on the floor and voting. So, hopefully, their testimony will have an impact on the votes of these members of Congress,” Maloney told ABC News on Tuesday.
In a letter to Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the House will vote Wednesday afternoon on the Protect Our Kids Act, the gun control package assembled after the mass shootings in New York and Texas.
In all, 19 young children and two teachers were killed by a gunman wielding an AR-15-style assault weapon at Robb Elementary School on May 24. Funerals for the victims are continuing until June 25.
In Buffalo, 10 Black people were fatally shot in a Tops grocery store on May 14. The Department of Justice is investigating the shooting as a “hate crime and an act of racially-motivated violent extremism.”
The mother of Buffalo shooting survivor Zaire Goodman described Wednesday cleaning her son’s wounds as she called on Congress to do more.
“Shrapnel will be left inside of his body for the rest of his life,” she testified. “Now I want you to picture this exact scenario for one of your children. This should not be my life or yours.”
ABC News’ Rachel Scott and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Queen Latifah is speaking out about her weight and why she’s angry at having been categorized as obese.
The actress and singer opened up on a new episode of “Red Table Talk” about the day a personal trainer told her she would be considered obese.
“She’s showing me different body types, and she’s telling me, this is what your BMI is, this is what your weight is, and you fall into this category of obesity,” said Latifah, referring to Body Mass Index, a measure of body fat based on height and weight, according to the National Institutes of Health.
“I was mad at that,” Latifah said in a preview clip for Wednesday’s episode of the Facebook Watch show. “It pissed me off. I was like, ‘What? Me?’ I mean, I’m just thick. She said you are 30% over where you should be. And I’m like, ‘Obesity?'”
Latifah also told the “Red Table Talk” co-hosts, Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris, that her body has been the subject of scrutiny her entire career. She said the scrutiny was especially prominent in the early 90s when she starred on In Living Single.
“We looked like four women who live in Brooklyn, and that’s what we were supposed to be representing and we loved being able to do that,” Latifah said of herself and her three co-stars.
“But the word came down that we needed to lose weight,” she continued. “We’re on the number one show among black and Latino households in America, and you’re telling us we need to lose weight. Maybe you’re the one with the problem.”
Latifah’s comments about her BMI and the scrutiny she faced have prompted a conversation about the use of BMI to determine health, especially in women of color.
BMI is calculated using a person’s height and weight to sort people into categories like underweight or obese. But experts say it does not distinguish between excess fat, muscle or bone mass. That’s why health providers only use it as one of many tolls to help determine a person’s health.
Maya Feller, a New York-based registered dietitian, said BMI does not take body composition into account, which can impact women of color.
“For women of color, we tend to have more muscle mass and also be in bigger bodies,” said Feller. “So the BMI will falsely say that we are in the overweight or obese category and then we get flagged, but we may be healthy metabolically.”
In another example, BMI may “overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have a muscular build,” according to the NIH.
Feller recommends that when it comes to health, a variety of factors beyond weight should be looked at by doctors and other health professionals.
“How’s your blood pressure? How’s your blood sugar? How are your lipids? We need to change the conversation to really be talking about metabolic health,” she said.
Britney Spears is a Justin Bieber fan and proved it in a new Instagram video of her dancing to his collab with Ed Sheeran, “I Don’t Care.”
She also penned a sweet shout-out to the Canadian pop star, writing about the first time they met and how she’s watched him grow into a global phenomenon.
“@justinbieber I remember when you visited me in my dressing room on tour and your beautiful little mamma walked in and said ‘do you know where a tanning bed is,'” she recalled. “You were 15 and you were adorable!”
Britney continued, “Thank you for your music … you’re a little devil now. I know because I have boys.” The Grammy winner shares sons Sean Preston, 16, and Jayden James, 15, with ex-husband Kevin Federline.
Britney signed off by telling Justin, “You’re a timeless genius and I will always dance to your music.”
The “Toxic” singer’s post comes shortly after Justin spoke openly about being too ill to continue his tour. He had to postpone two shows in Toronto to heal, under doctor’s orders.
Justin did not reveal what is causing his illness, but told fans via his Instagram Story on Tuesday, “I’ve done everything to get better but my sickness is getting worse.” He’s currently resting up, so chances are he appreciates those positive vibes Britney sent his way.
He has yet to respond to Britney’s post, but that’s not stopping fans from begging the two to make a collaboration of their own in the future.
Miranda Lambert’s latest album, Palomino, is full of fictional characters living out their nomadic dreams in far-flung spots across the U.S. The singer wrote the material for her album during the pandemic, living vicariously through her musical travelers while she was quarantined at home.
Now, Miranda tells People that she’s got plans to finally make those dreams a reality. After she finishes The Bandwagon Tour — a co-headlining run with Little Big Town — in July, she’s hopping in her camper van with her husband, Brendan McLoughlin.
“Everyone’s like, ‘So you’re gonna get right off the bus and right into a camper.’ But it’s such a different way of seeing the world,” the singer points out.
“It’s through a windshield, but it’s with freedom versus pulling into a parking lot where I wait all day, play a show, then roll to the next town,” she continues. “This is like a way to actually see things. I’ve always said I’ve been everywhere and seen nothing, which is kind of part of what I do.”
The Bandwagon Tour kicked off May 6, and it continues Thursday with a stop in Wantagh, New York.
On Wednesday, the fourth episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi dropped on Disney+.
Star and executive producer Ewan McGregor admits he had a mixed relationship with the prequel films in which he starred, and for which he became a fan favorite for playing the Jedi master in his early days.
He loved working on them as a Star Wars fan — and as the nephew of an original trilogy player, Denis Lawson — but wasn’t thrilled about the reaction to them.
However, years after he hung up his lightsaber following 2005’s Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, a new generation embraced George Lucas‘ Episodes I – III.
“It means a lot to me,” Emmy winner McGregor said warmly to ABC Audio.
“I didn’t feel that for a long time after the prequels came out, you know, … when they were released, they were pretty universally unliked by the sort of critic community, I guess. And that was sort of the reaction that … we had, you know.”
“There was no social media … we didn’t have the same avenue to hearing what the fans really felt about the films as we do now.”
He adds, “So it means a lot to me to know that there’s a fondness for them and … for people who were kids when we made them, that younger generation when we made them, that they consider them to be their Star Wars films in the same way I consider … you know, the original trilogy to be mine.”
