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Comedian Nikki Glaser takes a crack at reality TV in her new show, ‘Welcome Home Nikki Glaser?’

April 29, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Comedian, F-Boy Island host, and Dancing with the Stars first voted off of season 27 contestant Nikki Glaser has a new reality show, Welcome Home Nikki Glaser?, premiering Sunday night on E! and it came out of her moving back home to St. Louis during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was really like, what is the next step? You know, comedy clubs are closed…And then I found myself watching reality TV more than any other TV, and I go, ‘Why am I trying to get on scripted shows when I don’t even watch scripted shows? I love reality. Why don’t I try it?'” she tells ABC Audio.

“And then I was kind of noticing around me. My parents are funnier than any comedians I hang out with,” she continues.

In fact, the 37-year-old comic says that where she got her sense of humor.

“My mom is extremely honest and will say very cutting things, not even knowing that she’s being that honest and hilarious…And then my dad is like an intellectual…And I think I learned from both sides…And so it is a perfect combo.”

And if you’re looking to this show as a replacement for The Kardashians, Nikki warns “There’s not as much drama on this show… But what you are going to get on this show is like authenticity and like real honesty and like hilariousness because I’m funny and so are my friends and family.”

“I really made an effort to make the show and be myself, the flawed version of myself that I’m still working on and that it’s okay that I’m not perfect,” she admits. “And I really, I really am not perfect on the show. Like, it’s the real me.”

HELLYEAH has “two or three” songs tracked with Vinnie Paul’s drums leftover

April 29, 2022 by WDNY Radio

HELLYEAH frontman Chad Gray says the band has “two or three” songs still left over featuring drums from the late Vinnie Paul.

Gray shared that info during an appearance on Avenged Sevenfold bassist Johnny Christ‘s Drinks with Johnny podcast while speaking about the potential future of HELLYEAH.

“We’ve talked about [the idea] to keep writing some music,” Gray said. “We don’t know what the touring plans would be, ever — maybe ever again — but we could still release music.”

“I think there are, like, two or three songs that Vinnie actually tracked drums to…that we didn’t end up writing for whatever reason,” he goes on. “So, I mean, there is a potential for us to write maybe a couple of more songs with Vinnie’s drums.”

Paul, the older brother and band mate of Pantera‘s “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, died in 2018 at age 54. He’d originally joined HELLYEAH in 2006 as a way to get back into music after Dime’s murder in 2004.

In 2019, HELLYEAH released the album Welcome Home, which features Paul’s final drum recordings. The band toured behind the record with Stone Sour‘s Roy Mayorga on drums.

HELLYEAH is currently on hiatus. Gray, meanwhile, has since reunited with his band Mudvayne.

Heart’s Ann Wilson shares some blissful highlights of making her new solo album, ‘Fierce Bliss’

April 29, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Heart frontwoman Ann Wilson‘s latest solo album, Fierce Bliss, gets its release today.

The 11-track collection was recorded during the last couple of years at studios in Nashville, Seattle, Connecticut and Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

The album features mostly new originals co-written by Wilson, plus covers of Queen‘s “Love of My Life,” Robin Trower‘s “Bridge of Sighs” and Eurythmics‘ “Missionary Man.” “Love of My Life” is a duet with country star Vince Gill, while acclaimed blues-rock guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd plays on “Bridge of Sighs” and “Missionary Man.”

Wilson tells ABC Audio that the Gill duet came about “all of a sudden” while he was visiting Muscle Shoals during one of her sessions there.

“It was so cool,” notes Ann. “It wasn’t even forced. It was just something that happened. It was great.”

As for her “Bridge of Sighs” cover, Wilson says, “[I]t’s maybe my favorite track on the record right now. Kenny Wayne just really succeeded with that one. He blew me away. It’s a blues song incarnate.”

Wilson recorded most of the tracks with a group of “go-to, top flight session musicians [from] Nashville.” She was so happy with the musicians’ spontaneous creativity and her chemistry with them, she hired them as her backing band, christening them The Amazing Dawgs.

As Ann recalls, “[T]here was a moment where all of a sudden we all looked at each other and went, ‘You know, this is really cool. This is more than just a sideman thing. These guys are amazing.”

Wilson also recorded two tracks with Gov’t Mule — “Gladiator” and “Angel’s Blues” — which she co-wrote with the jam band’s frontman, Warren Haynes.

“It was so great working with Gov’t Mule,” Ann says. “They just really get it.”

Here’s the full Fierce Bliss track list:

“Greed”
“Black Wing”
“Bridge of Sighs”
“Fighten for Life”
“Love of My Life” — featuring Vince Gill
“Missionary Man”
“Gladiator”
“Forget Her”
“A Moment in Heaven”
“Angel’s Blues”*
“As the World Turns”

* = on CD and digital formats only.

The Head and the Heart “swings the pendulum” with “bold” new album, ‘Every Shade of Blue’

April 29, 2022 by WDNY Radio

On The Head and the Heart‘s new album, Every Shade of Blue, the band continues to explore the many different colors of the sonic palette.

Following in the footsteps of 2019’s Living Mirage, which spawned the singles “Missed Connection” and “Honeybee,” Every Shade of Blue finds The Head and the Heart experimenting more with different sounds beyond the folk rock of their first record.

“We kinda got our toes wet…with a song like ‘Brenda,’ which we thought was, like, so extreme with all these synths on there and a drum machine,” vocalist/guitarist Jonathan Russell tells ABC Audio. “And then once [Living Mirage] came out…I remember thinking back, ‘I wish we would’ve gone further.'”

That feeling seemed to reverberate among the different Head and the Heart members, even as they were isolating from each other amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In a strange way we were all kind of on our own islands, but kind of mentally preparing for this, like, I don’t know, an approach that just felt a little more bold,” Russell says.

While Every Shade of Blue does follow in Living Mirage‘s sonic footsteps, it takes a more traditional approach to song structures.

“We really did swing the pendulum the other way,” Russell muses. “With Living Mirage, the first half of that record was written in the desert in Joshua Tree, and it was very loose…it’s a little more meandering and almost anti-song structure.”

Conversely, Russell calls the song structures on Every Shade of Blue more “succinct.”

“A lot of my songs were done in isolation from other band members until the song was finished,” he says. “So, I guess there was more of a sort of pre-set blueprint.”

Every Shade of Blue is out today.

GAYLE sees music in colors — and now you can use them for your own creative projects

April 29, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Before GAYLE first released her EP a study of the human experience volume one, she posted some of the song titles on Instagram and captioned each one with a specific color, like pink, yellow and orange. That’s because she has chromesthesia, which means that she sees music as colors.

“Yeah, every time I listen to the song — specifically, even when I make a song — it just has a color,” GAYLE tells ABC Audio. “It just like automatically like pops up into my brain and it’s, like, super-weird and I don’t know how to explain it other than like that! But yeah, so every song that I posted a slide of the color, that’s the color of the song.”

While her experience may be “super-weird,” the “abcdefu” singer has now parlayed her chromesthesia into a deal with Adobe Creative Cloud Express. She’s teamed up with the image-creation software company to design two exclusive templates based on the “colors” of the songs on her EP. She encourage fans to use these templates for their own creations, and then share them on their socials with the hashtag #GAYLExAdobe.

“The fact that I can have something that comes from my brain and then people can do what they want, I just think is really cool,” she says in a promotional video. “I’d love to see what you make with my templates.”

Last night, GAYLE joined AJR as the opening act for the “BANG!” rockers’ OK Orchestra tour; she’ll be with them through the end of May.

“AJR and the people that go to their shows, like, they just love music and they’re there for music,” she says. “And that’s just, like, really refreshing and inspiring.”

“Man Made”: Matt Stell’s outside-the-box tribute to women everywhere starts with his “bada**” mom

April 29, 2022 by WDNY Radio

There’s no shortage of songs about women in mainstream country music, but Matt Stell is aiming for something a little bit outside-the-box with his new song, “Man Made.”

“I love a positive song that is able to get something across,” Matt explains to ABC Audio. “I just love the way that it talks about something that we talk about a lot in country music — which is women, and how great they are — and I thought this was a cool way to do it in a different way.”

Whereas many country songs about women revolve around their external beauty, “Man Made” goes deeper, exploring the fundamental and lasting impact women have on the world. “If a man made anything, it’s ‘cause a woman made that man,” the song concludes in the chorus.

Matt didn’t write the song, but it certainly rings true to his experience. The singer says his mom is one of his best friends.

“We’ve been through a lot together,” he continues. “You get a little bit older, start thinking about having kids one day…she set the bar pretty damn high with how she was with me, because I wasn’t easy.”

Now, getting the chance to tribute his mom makes releasing “Man Made” all the sweeter. “It’s nice to say something that’s nice, that I mean, about somebody I care about,” he continues.

Still, the song wouldn’t be a proper tribute if it was too sentimental. “My mom’s a bada**, so we didn’t get too sappy,” Matt quips.

Check out the exclusive premiere of the lyric video for “Man Made.”

Beyoncé invests in lemon water brand Lemon Perfect

April 29, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Samir Hussein/Getty Images

Beyoncé has already served up more than enough Lemonade for us all, but now, the Grammy winner has signed on to support a new venture involving the tangy fruit.

Lemon Perfect, an organic, cold-pressed lemon water brand founded in 2017, announced that it’s closed a $31 million funding initiative with the help of an investment from the “Be Alive” singer.

According to Forbes, the details of Beyoncé’s investment haven’t been revealed, but Yanni Hufnagel, the company’s founder and CEO, says he grateful for the star’s contribution.

“We are honored and humbled that Beyoncé has become a part of the Lemon Perfect family,” Hufnagel said, as reported by Forbes. “She is a worldwide icon whose talent, character, and positivity are unsurpassed.”

The 40-year-old superstar isn’t known for attaching her name to just any business venture. She says the decision join Lemon Perfect as an investor was an “easy” one.

“I don’t typically enjoy drinks without added sugar, but Lemon Perfect is delicious,” Beyoncé said in a statement. “It was an easy decision to invest in something that not only tastes great and is healthy, but also, and most importantly, allows choosing a healthier lifestyle to be affordable and accessible to everyone.”

Other funding investors include Beechwood Capital, Goat Rodeo Capital, Melitas Ventures, NNS Capital and the venture capital firm Trousdale Ventures.

“We have never solicited an investment in Lemon Perfect — we just present our vision for the future and the early data signaling that we can disrupt a multibillion-dollar category,” Hufnagel said.

Ava Max says her upcoming album is “basically heartbreak on the dance floor”

April 29, 2022 by WDNY Radio

On Thursday, Ava Max released her new single and video “Maybe You’re the Problem,” the first release from her upcoming new album. And she tells Apple Music 1‘s Zane Lowe that the album documents her feelings about the end of a long relationship that she says nobody knew.

“Early last year is when the album actually really took shape because I started writing very differently,” the “Kings & Queens” singer tells Zane. “I was in a really long relationship and no one knows this about me because I never talk about my personal life…but then it changed.”

“This album is about my life and what I went thought in the last year and heartbreak…it’s basically heartbreak on the dance floor,” she adds. “It’s gonna make you cry and dance at the same time.”

But despite going through that, Ava assures fans, “I definitely feel like a new me and I’ve never, ever felt better. I really know myself this time around and I’m really excited for people to hear the music.”

Ava says the album will be out later this year, and it’ll be very eclectic.

“Every song on the new album is very different. It’s pop but it also has influences from 90s, 80s…not only just one genre,” she explains. “I wanted to mix a lot of genres on this album. I really wanted you to be on a journey.”

When the new album arrives, it’ll be the follow up to her 2020 debut, Heaven & Hell.

Climate change could increase risk of infectious disease transmission across species, scientists say

April 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The number of ways in which climate change is predicted to affect human life and vitality continues to increase.

Scientists now believe that global warming will significantly increase the number of viral transmissions across species in the coming decades, therefore posing further risk to other animals and humans of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, according to a study published in Nature on Thursday.

As the global temperatures continue to rise, many animal species will likely migrate to new environments, taking their parasites and pathogens with them and facilitating viral sharing between species that previously had no interactions, according to the study. That increase could then assist in “zoonotic spillover,” or the transmission of pathogens from wild animals to humans.

The researchers suggest at least 15,000 new cross-species viral transmissions are forecast to happen by 2070, driven by climate change of 2-degrees Celsius, which is the worst-case scenario highlighted under the Paris Agreement.

While novel encounters between mammal species are expected to occur everywhere in the world, they are especially expected to take place in tropical regions home to most of the infectious diseases capable of the zoonotic spillover transmission, such as regions of tropical Africa and southeast Asia that have a high population density of humans as well.

These novel virus sharing events are predicted to be driven predominantly by bats, which are likely to harbor viruses with a high chance of being transmissible to humans.

Climate-driven shifts in hotspots for species dispersal and viral evolution may already be happening, given that warming is already well underway, the authors wrote.

The COVID-19 virus likely originated from animal to human transmission, the World Health Organization determined. The virus likely transmitted from a bat to another animal and subsequently to humans, according to a joint report by China and the WHO released in March 2021.

“I think we will continue to see risks from female viruses like Ebola, from corona viruses, from flu in particular,” Colin Carlson, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health and Science Study and author of the study, said during a press conference Thursday.

The findings suggest that climate change has the potential to become a dominant driving force in cross-species viral transmission, which could increase the risk of transmission of infectious diseases to humans, the authors said, highlighting the need to combine viral surveillance with assessments of changes to species range as a result of climate change.

“This is happening,” Gregory Albery, co-author of the study and disease ecologist at Georgetown University, said during the news conference. “It is not preventable even in the best case climate change scenarios, and we need to put measures in place to build health infrastructure to protect animal and human populations.”

Photo exhibit at Capitol shows humanitarian crisis in Ukraine

April 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Speaker’s Dining Room in the Capitol is usually filled with photographs of Nancy Pelosi’s home state of California.

But for the next six weeks, on display instead will be shocking images of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion.

Pelosi unveiled the photo exhibit Thursday, joined by other lawmakers and the Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova.

“It is a manifestation — an emotional time to the people of Ukraine, with a praise for their heroism that is just almost unimaginable, but so is the brutality they are suffering,” Pelosi said, describing the scenes.

The photographs showed streams of desperate civilians fleeing Ukraine amid charred and collapsed buildings, paramedics trying to save the wounded, and mass graves.

“I wish I could tell you about our talented children well on the way to their amazing successes,” the Ukrainian ambassador said. “Instead, this photographs that you see here today tell the stories of children who will never grow up. The children who were subjected to torture.”

Pelosi thanked Markatova for allowing the photos to be displayed, saying they will allow House members and their guests to witness close-up the brutality of the Russian invasion.

“It is very emotional for us to see, but that motivates us to do so much more,” Pelosi said.

The exhibit opening came as the House approved a measure 417-10 Thursday making it easier for the United States to “lend” military aid and equipment to Ukraine. All 10 votes against were cast by Republicans. It now heads to the president’s desk.

“It’s outside the circle of civilized human behavior what the Russians are doing,” Pelosi said, getting emotional as she made her way around the room taking in the photos. “You would think unimaginable, but then here it is.”

ABC News’ Mariam Khan contributed to this report.

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