Each year, Luke Bryan‘s wife, Caroline, spends 12 days in December pranking family, friends and other loved ones for fun in an annual tradition they call Pranksmas. On day seven of this season’s installment, the queen of pranks got pranked herself.
In a video posted on Instagram, Luke and Caroline are seen posing for a photo in front of a beautiful Christmas tree when a stranger walks in front of the camera, talking on the phone as he lets out a loud sneeze.
His rude behavior prompts an annoyed response from the country superstar, who says “what a bunch of s**t,” before breaking into a smile.
“Who is that?” he asks, only to find out that their friends Nicole Bobek and Adam Alspaugh are behind the prank, with Adam disguising himself in a face mask, wig and hat.
“I got to see that,” Luke said in a fit of giggles.
Other pranks this year include Caroline and friends scaring each other with a toy spider, Caroline startling unsuspecting people with an air horn, and even going so far as to pretend that her hair had caught on fire.
“@linabryan3’s #prankmashas started. Everyone beware,” Luke warned on Instagram alongside a photo of the couple dressed in Christmas garb.
Ex-Fleetwood Mac singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, Foo Fighters and The Smashing Pumpkins are among the acts that will be playing the 2022 Beale Street Music Festival, held from April 29 to May 1 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Other artists on the bill include Modest Mouse, The Glorious Sons, Toad the Wet Sprocket, rap star Lil Wayne, blues guitarist Sue Foley and more. Additional acts will be announced at a later date.
Buckingham and The Smashing Pumpkins were originally on the 2020 Beale Street lineup before the festival was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 festival was scrapped, as well.
Meanwhile, Buckingham is scheduled to be playing the final concert of his 2021 solo tour tonight in Boulder, Colorado.
Cardi B has canceled a limited-edition doll in her likeness, which she previously announced would be released in spring of this year.
The three-time RIAA-certified Diamond rapper began taking $35 orders in March for the Cardi B doll, produced by the Real Women Are company. HBut she’s now had to cancel it due to COVID-19 related production and shipping delays, as well as concerns about the product’s quality, TMZ reports.
The company announced the dolls would begin being delivered in October, but soon, buyers were complaining they didn’t receive it, and began demanding refunds. Cardi agrees that her fans should get their money back, and has asked all buyers to request a refund if they haven’t already, according to TMZ.
“Expose these scammers pls,” one fan pleaded on Real Woman Are’s Instagram. “Not one doll was shipped to any customers and they have the nerve to sell more without giving any updates on first batch of orders … they even turned off comments on latest post so they can scam more people into buying.”
Cardi initially announced the release of her doll on March 5 on Instagram in celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8. “Inspired by me. Created by me. Designed by me,” the “I Like It” rapper wrote. “This means sooo much!!”
Former Fleetwood Mac singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham is among the artists who are confirmed to play the 2022 Beale Street Music Festival, which will be held April 29 to May 1 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Other artists on the bill include Foo Fighters, The Smashing Pumpkins, Toad the Wet Sprocket, rap star Lil Wayne, blues guitarist Sue Foley and more. Additional acts will be announced at a later date.
Buckingham was on the 2020 Beale Street fest lineup before the event was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 festival was scrapped as well.
The Beale Street performance is Buckingham’s first U.S. show to be scheduled for next year. He currently has one more concert left on his 2021 itinerary, taking place tonight in Boulder, Colorado. Lindsey also has tour dates in Ireland, the U.K. and mainland Europe lined up in May and early June of 2022.
Adele‘s “Easy on Me” was mighty, but Mariah Carey had Christmas magic behind her in the battle for number one. The holidays now reign supreme on the BillboardHot 100, with Mariah’s RIAA Diamond-certified hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You” topping the chart for a third year in a row.
Mariah’s song is now the first in history to be number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in three separate years. The track was previously tied with Chubby Checker‘s classic, “The Twist,” which hit number one in 1960 and again in 1962.
“All I Want for Christmas,” which wasn’t eligible to chart when it first came out in 1994, first hit the top 10 in 2017. It finally went ascended to number one 2019, where it led the chart for three weeks. It then rose to number one again in 2020 for two weeks before performing this year’s hat trick.
The song’s latest ascension to the top means that Mariah has now racked up 85 weeks in total at number one over her career — the most of any other artist. Rihanna is in second place with 60 weeks.
Mariah aside, the holidays have taken over the Hot 100’s top five, with Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” jumping into second place while Bobby Helms‘ “Jingle Bell Rock” rises to fourth. Burl Ives‘ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” rounds out the top five.
As for Adele, her single “Easy on Me” hit now sits at number three.
George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Leon Russell at The Concert for Bangladesh; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of The Concert for Bangladesh, the three-LP set that featured highlights from two star-studded benefit shows headlined by George Harrison at New York’s Madison Square Garden on August 1, 1971.
The show and album also included performances by Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, Ravi Shakar and many other musicians.
The shows were organized by Harrison and his friend and musical mentor Shankar to raise awareness about, and funds for, refugees from the Pakistani region of East Pakistan during the brutal war that led to the creation of the nation of Bangladesh.
The concerts marked the first time Harrison had performed a full concert since The Beatles stopped touring in 1966.
The shows began with classical Indian music performance by Shankar and his group. Harrison then took the stage with a huge collective of musicians that included Clapton, Russell, Preston, Starr, drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Klauss Voormann, the members of Badfinger, a horn section and various backing singers.
Harrison played select songs from his 1970 album All Things Must Pass and several Beatles tunes, including a version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” that featured a guitar duel with Clapton.
Russell sang a medley of The Rolling Stones‘ “Jumping Jack Flash” and The Coasters‘ “Youngblood,” while Ringo performed his solo hit “It Don’t Come Easy.”
Dylan played a short set showcasing several of his classic songs.
The concerts ended with a performance of the new Harrison song “Bangla Desh,” which he’d released as a charity single in July 1971.
The album reached #2 on the Billboard 200, and topped the U.K. chart. Between the shows, the album and a 1972 concert film, millions of dollars were raised.
Here’s the full track list for The Concert for Bangladesh:
Side One
“George Harrison/Ravi Shankar Introduction”
“Bangla Dhun” — Ravi Shankar
Side Two
“Wah-Wah” — George Harrison
“My Sweet Lord” — George Harrison
“Awaiting on You All” — George Harrison
“That’s the Way God Planned It” — Billy Preston
Side Three
“It Don’t Come Easy” — Ringo Starr
“Beware of Darkness” — George Harrison, Leon Russell
“Band Introduction” — George Harrison
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” — George Harrison
Side Four
“Medley: Jumpin’ Jack Flash/Young Blood” — Leon Russell
“Here Comes the Sun” — George Harrison
Side Five
“A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” — Bob Dylan
“It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” — Bob Dylan
“Blowin’ in the Wind” — Bob Dylan
“Mr. Tambourine Man” — Bob Dylan
“Just Like a Woman” — Bob Dylan
Side Six
“Something” — George Harrison
“Bangla Desh” — George Harrison
Stevie Wonder’s House Full of Toys benefit concert returned Saturday night in Los Angeles, featuring surprise performances by Johnny Gill and Ledisi.
“A lot has happened in the world, my world and your own worlds,” the 25-time Grammy winner told the crowd at the Microsoft Theater, according to Billboard. “The blessing is that we are all here to give to those less fortunate,”
The 23rd annual concert benefited Wonder’s nonprofit We Are You Foundation, which assists children, people with disabilities, and families in need.
Ledisi performed “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” then segued into the song that earned her first Grammy earlier this year, “Anything for You.” “Wow!,” she commented on Instagram. “What a way to end an amazing year of song and for a great cause.”
Gill, who sang his 1990 number-one hit, “My, My, My,” was full of praise for the Motown icon. “The higher power put Steve Wonder here to be a messenger and leader. We should celebrate him. So get up on your feet and give him the respect he deserves,” the New Edition member told the crowd
During the two-and-a-half hour concert, Stevie performed many of his classics, including “Master Blaster (Jammin’),” “Higher Ground,” and “Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing.” The show became a family affair as he brought his two youngest children onstage — daughters Nia, 7, and Zaiah, 8 — who sang “What Christmas Means to Me” with their father.
The emotional highlight of the evening occurred as Wonder remembered Jacqueline Avant, the late wife of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member Clarence Avant, who was killed on December 1. Halfway through “My Cheri Amour,” he said, “As I think about their 54 years married, I dedicate this song to Jacqueline and anyone who loses their life to violence.”
In an interview with Empire magazine, director and writer Matt Reeves explains how the late Nirvana frontman helped inspire his characterization of the Dark Knight in the upcoming film, The Batman.
“When I write, I listen to music, and as I was writing the first act, I put on Nirvana’s “Something in the Way,'” Reeves shares. “That’s when it came to me that, rather than make Bruce Wayne the playboy version we’ve seen before, there’s another version who had gone through a great tragedy and become a recluse.”
Reeves adds he was reminded of the 2005 Gus Van Sant film Last Days, a fictional film that’s loosely based on Cobain’s death.
“I started making this connection to Gus Van Sant’s Last Days, and the idea of this fictionalized version of Kurt Cobain being in this kind of decaying manor,” Reeves says.
The Cobain connection to The Batman is already clear in the film’s trailer, which is soundtracked by “Something in the Way.” The movie, which stars Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader, hits theaters March 4, 2022.
By the way, The Batman isn’t the first superhero film to use Nirvana’s music. “Come as You Are” is featured in Captain Marvel, while Black Widow opens with a choir version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
The official trailer for the upcoming Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special is here!
In the preview for the retrospective special, stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are shown reuniting in honor of the anniversary of the franchise’s first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
The trio reflects on the incredible impact of the movies and the everlasting bonds they formed.
“It feels like no time has passed — and loads of time has passed,” Watson says.
Radcliffe adds: “The thing that scared me the most was the implication that the most meaningful thing in our life was done, and there’s something so joyous about seeing everyone, and be like, ‘It wasn’t, though.'”
“When things get really dark, and times are really hard, there’s something about ‘Harry Potter’ that makes life richer,” Watson says later in the preview. Grint also tells Watson that the films have given them “a strong bond” that they’ll “always have” as the two embrace.
Many beloved actors from the eight-movie series, including Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter, are also shown in the trailer for the reunion.
Additional confirmed stars for the anniversary special include Robbie Coltrane, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Tom Felton, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Mark Williams, Bonnie Wright, Alfred Enoch, Matthew Lewis and Evanna Lynch.
According to HBO Max, the reunion “will tell an enchanting making-of story through all-new in-depth interviews and cast conversations, inviting fans on a magical first-person journey through one of the most beloved film franchises of all time.”
The first teaser for the special was released earlier this month, and the first image was released shortly after.
Miley Cyrus and Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson will be ringing in the New Year with style — and plenty of good company. On Monday, NBC unveiled the a star-studded list of guest stars who will bid farewell to 2021 on Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party.
Joining the fun in Miami, Florida, will be “Mood” singer 24kGldn, Green Day vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong, “Industry Baby” collaborator Jack Harlow, Brandi Carlile, rapper Saweetie, Brazilian singer Anitta, Kitty Ca$h and many more surprises that have yet to be announced.
The special airs Friday, December 31, starting at 10:30 p.m. ET on NBC and will be streamed live on the Peacock streaming service.
