Rage Against the Machine, Arctic Monkeys and Bring Me the Horizon will be playing the U.K.’s 2022 Reading & Leeds festival.
Other artists on the bill include Glass Animals, Halsey, Måneskin, jxdn, Bastille, FEVER 333, Wolf Alice, Run the Jewels and Wallows. More names are set to be announced in the coming months.
Reading & Leeds, which consists of two different events happening concurrently over the same weekend, takes place next year August 26-28.
The Rolling Stones‘ Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, along with members of the band’s touring lineup, took part in an intimate tribute show to late drummer Charlie Watts at famed London jazz club Ronnie Scott’s on Monday, NME reports.
The show was emceed by former Squeeze keyboardist and TV host Jools Holland, who also led the show’s house band, which featured the surviving members of Watts’ side group, The ABC&D of Boogie Woogie — upright bassist Dave Green, and piano players Ben Waters and Axel Zwingenberger.
Jagger, Richards and Wood all hit the stage during a jam session at the end of the concert that featured performances of the R&B standards “Shame Shame Shame” and “Down the Road Apiece.”
Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman was in attendance at the event, as were members of Charlie’s family.
Current Stones touring sax player Tim Ries and backing vocalist Bernard Fowler also performed, as did Lisa Fischer, who was a backing singer for the group’ for 26 years. Ries played an original tribute song called “Blues for Charlie,” while Fischer sang the blues standard “Trouble in Mind” and then was joined by Fowler for a rendition of the gospel tune “Up Above My Head.”
Watts died on August 24 at the age of 80. Prior to his passing, Charlie had chosen respected session drummer Steve Jordan to fill in for him on The Rolling Stones’ 2021 U.S. tour. The band dedicated the trek to Watts and played a video montage honoring him at the start of each show. The outing wrapped up with a November 23 concert in Hollywood, Florida.
Next year marks The Rolling Stones’ 60th anniversary, but it’s not known yet if the band plans to continue touring.
The Conners‘ star John Goodman has been looking much thinner since his days on Roseanne, and now new red carpet photos on Page Six show the results: a reported 200 pounds down.
The 69-year-old actor posed with co-star Pete Davidson in New York City for the premiere of their new Tubi effort The Freak Brothers at the retailer Fred Segal on Monday, wearing jeans with a sports coat over an orange V-neck sweater.
Goodman revealed to ABC back in 2017 that he’d been embracing a healthier lifestyle for a decade. “In the old days, I would take three months out, lose 60 or 70 pounds, and then reward myself with a six-pack or whatever and just go back to my old habits,” he explained.
He decided to get healthy around 2007, when the 6′ 2″ actor tipped the scales at nearly 400 pounds.
“This time, I wanted to do it slowly,” Goodman told GMA. “Move, exercise. I’m getting to the age where I can’t afford to sit still anymore.”
The actor gave up booze completely, as he recently reminded ABC Audio, and in addition to being much more active, he adheres to a Mediterranean diet, which focuses on healthy fats and low carbohydrates. He also recruited the assistance of “sports performance manager” Mackie Shilstone, who has helped elite athletes like Serena Williams.
Ironically, Goodman’s character on the animated Tubi show he was promoting is named Fat Freddy Freekowski.
(CALIFORNIA) — The top elected official in Riverside County, California, said Tuesday that she was appalled by the abuse endured by the 13 Turpin children over the years, stressing that the county is determined to investigate allegations that the siblings continued to be mistreated after they were placed under the county’s care nearly four years ago.
Karen Spiegel, chairwoman of the Riverside Board of Supervisors, offered her first public comments since the plight of many of the Turpin children was detailed during ABC’s “20/20” Diane Sawyer special event, “Escape From A House Of Horror,” which aired on Nov. 19.
“I, like many of you, watched the recent ’20/20′ special on the Turpin children. The reaction for most of us was horror, disgust. What happened to those children during that time was something none of us would want ourselves or our children to ever live through,” said Karen Spiegel, chairwoman of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, during a public meeting.
Spiegel underscored that the county remains committed to supporting its independent investigation of the Riverside County care of the Turpin children, as well as that of all the vulnerable children and adults in the county’s care.
“It’s of utmost importance to complete a full and independent evaluation of our county systems, and in the way that we provide care and deliver services,” Spiegel said.
In 2018, the Turpin children escaped from their Riverside County home, where they were subjected to violence and deprived of food, sleep, hygiene, education and health care at the hands of their parents.
An ABC investigation explored allegations that the county’s social services systems, for dependent children and adults, had failed the Turpin children, then aged 2 to 29, following their rescue.
Many of the siblings were still “living in squalor,” Mike Hestrin, the Riverside County District Attorney, told ABC News this summer.
“That is unimaginable to me — that we could have the very worst case of child abuse that I’ve ever seen, and then that we would then not be able to get it together to give them basic needs,” Hestrin told Sawyer.
Despite an initial outpouring of support in the weeks after their parents’ 2018 arrest, some of the Turpin siblings and their advocates told ABC News that the siblings are still struggling to access basic living necessities, including food and housing.
“Right now, I don’t really have a way to get food right now,” Jordan Turpin, 21, told Sawyer at the time of the interview in July.
However, at Tuesday’s meeting, Spiegel suggested there was “always more to a story.”
“Like many things we see on the media and the internet, I also had to step back and caution myself not to make total judgment from some of the facts. There’s always more to a story. And sometimes you get what they want you to hear, and only that, nothing with the backup,” Spiegel said.
When approached by ABC News about the allegations after a Nov. 9 meeting of the county’s Board of Supervisors, Spiegel declined to discuss specifics about what has transpired with the Turpin children since they were rescued.
“Well I am not — I don’t have the information you’re looking for,” Spiegel told ABC News at the county meeting last month. “We’re still in investigation stages, so I don’t have anything to share with you.”
The accusations ultimately prompted the county to initiate an independent probe into the care of the Turpin siblings, as well as that of other vulnerable children and adults, who are all under the supervision of the court.
In late October, the county appointed former U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson to lead the investigation, which is set to be completed by March 31, 2022.
Larson served nearly 10 years on the bench in California, including three years in district court after being appointed by George W. Bush in 2006, according to his biography.
“My firm and I are fully committed to conducting a thorough and transparent examination of these matters, as expected by this board, and the residents and citizens of Riverside County,” Larson told the supervisors during an introductory presentation on Tuesday.
The law firm’s investigation has two primary objectives, according to Larson.
The first is “identifying and scrutinizing” the services provided to 13 siblings while under the care and supervision of the county. The second is to assess the quality of the Riverside County services for all children in foster care and dependent adults.
“We have to care about all of our children,” Spiegel said.
Larson commended the county for initiating the investigation, telling the board that “the fact that the county promptly sought an independent review and that you are demanding swift and meaningful action underscores for me in this county, your commitment to addressing these critical issues directly, openly and effectively.”
Larson reported that his team has “complete autonomy to pursue all relevant lines of inquiry to answer the critical questions that our investigation will uncover.”
“I want you to know that the board stands ready to provide the full resources and not to leave a stone unturned,” Spiegel said, adding that she expects Larson to act as a neutral party in the investigation.
During the meeting on Tuesday, the board also approved the creation of an ad-hoc committee to assess inter-departmental systems improvement for the protection of vulnerable children and adults.
According to a county representative, the committee will receive regular status reports and updates from Larson LLP, ensure full and complete access to any and all relevant information to support the inquiry, and make recommendations to the full Board of Supervisors regarding policy directives, systems changes and service delivery improvements.
ABC News’ Michelle Mendez contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Sarah Ransome, a woman who has accused notorious serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein of sexual assault, opened up on “The View” on Tuesday about how Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime companion, allegedly aided in her abuse.
In her new memoir “Silenced No More: Surviving My Journey to Hell and Back,” Ransome, who grew up in both South Africa and the United Kingdom, describes meeting Epstein when she was 22 years old shortly after arriving in New York City as an aspiring fashion student. She was “befriended” by another young woman at a nightclub, Ransome said, who called her just days later to arrange her introduction to a “fantastic” philanthropist who, she was told, believed in supporting young talent.
During their first meeting, she said, Epstein promised Ransome to help her gain admission to the Fashion Institute of Technology. It wasn’t long, Ransome said, before she was invited to stay on Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean. It was during that trip, she said, that Epstein raped her for the first time, trapping her in a cycle of abuse that, she said, would last for the next nine months.
“I was just completely traumatized by the rape,” Ransome said. “I was very quickly told by Jeffrey that after he raped me if I ever went to the authorities, if I ever told my parents, if I ever told my friends, and if I ever tried to escape, he would kill me … and take out my entire family.”
Ghislaine Maxwell — Epstein’s former girlfriend and longtime associate — faces a six-count indictment for allegedly conspiring with and aiding Epstein in the recruitment, enticement and trafficking of underage girls between 1994 and 2004. Ransome, as well as other alleged victims of Epstein, have accused Maxwell of orchestrating Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking scheme and recruiting young women and girls for him to assault.
Ransome sued Epstein and Maxwell in 2017 for alleged sex trafficking. The suit was settled in 2018 with no admission of wrongdoing. In court papers, Maxwell denied being responsible for Epstein’s actions and argued that as a 22-year-old, Ransome could not be a victim of sex trafficking, but was a sophisticated, college-educated young woman engaged in a consensual relationship.
In a case that does not include Ransome, federal prosecutors say Maxwell played a “key role” in a multi-state sex trafficking ring, in which she allegedly “befriended” and later “enticed and groomed multiple minor girls to engage in sex acts with Epstein,” allegedly being “present for and involved” in the abuse herself on occasion. Maxwell has denied any involvement in or knowledge of Epstein’s abuse and has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.
“It makes me sick to my stomach that Ghislaine is claiming to be innocent and claiming to be a victim, because she was the chief orchestrater. She was the engineer,” Ransome said.
Ransome said she was “led by complete fear” as she remained in Epstein’s orbit, visiting him both in New York and in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
As soon as Ransome felt it was safe to escape, she said, she boarded a plane to the United Kingdom to reunite with her mother.
In August 2019, one month after Epstein was charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy in New York, he died by apparent suicide while being held in federal custody at the now-shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan.
Now, as Maxwell stands trial, Ransome hopes Maxwell will face consequences for her alleged actions as well.
“She broke the sisterhood bond,” Ransome said of Maxwell.
(GUANTANAMO) — Through its nearly two-decade existence, the Guantanamo Bay detention center has sparked intense, partisan debate. At a Senate hearing on closing the camp, the first of its kind in roughly six years, lawmakers could find little common ground apart from dissatisfaction with the Biden administration.
In his opening remarks, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the chairman of the chamber’s Judiciary committee, expressed his frustration with the president’s lack of response to Democrats’ calls to shut down the military prison.
“I am disappointed. Disappointed that the president and attorney general have yet to respond to my letters,” he said. “And I’m disappointed the administration declined to send a witness to testify at today’s hearing on how they’re working to close Guantanamo.”
Although the White House says shuttering the facility, located within the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, is a goal, so far it has taken few steps toward accomplishing it and has declined to set a timeline.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the committee’s top ranking Republican, also lamented that the White House had not supplied any witnesses to testify on reports from the intelligence community or the administration’s progress toward shuttering the prison.
“No one from the administration has come to defend the president’s plan to close Guantanamo,” he said. “And I’m not sure there is a plan.”
Grassley accused the Biden administration of taking a “no plan approach” during this summer’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I fear that his plan to withdraw from Guantanamo Detention Facility may be no different,” he said.
Although Guantanamo has earned a dubious reputation as an indefinite holding space for war on terror suspects and a battleground over the admissibility of testimony obtained through enhanced interrogation techniques many equate to torture, Republicans argued Afghanistan’s return to Taliban control has intensified the need for the detention camp.
Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., said “229 of the 729 released from Gitmo have gone back to the fight. This is nuts,” citing the number of former Guantanamo detainees the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has either confirmed or suspected of re-engaging in terrorist activities.
Durbin objected to that statistic, noting recidivism rates are much lower among former detainees released after 2009, when current rules for transfer were put in place by Congress. The chairman also noted that of the 39 men still imprisoned in Guantanamo, more than two-thirds have never been formally charged with a crime.
“How can that possibly be justice?” he asked.
Even in cases where charges have been levied, such as that of the alleged mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the process of the military tribunal has been a source of anguish for many. Mohammed was arraigned nearly a decade ago, and while pretrial hearings drag on, the trial itself doesn’t yet have a set start date.
Colleen Kelly, a witness at the hearing who lost her brother Bill when the North Tower of the World Trade Center was struck by a hijacked jet, testified that she and many other family members of those lost on that day now want to see a plea agreement reached in the hopes it provides some level of closure, even if it means taking the death penalty off the table for the defendants.
“Family members want a measure of accountability and justice before our deaths,” she said.
Chief Defense Counsel for Military Commissions Brig. Gen. John Baker, another witness, argued that the ongoing cases must be brought to “as rapid as a conclusion as possible.”
“Notice I don’t say as just a conclusion as possible. It is too late in the process for the current military commissions to do justice for anyone,” he said, calling the proceedings a “failed experiment” and noting they had only resulted in one final conviction.
As for the other detainees, beyond partisanship, a dearth of practical options for their relocation is a major hurdle, even for those who already met the criteria for transfer.
In the past, administrations have engaged in sometimes years-long negotiations with countries receiving prisoners to secure some level of security assurance. Congress’ requirements for transfer and destabilization in the Middle East have left few viable options.
“We can’t get countries to take them and give assurances they’ll keep an eye on them,” Jamil Jaffer, the founder and executive director of the National Security Institute, testified.
But the man who opened the camp– Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert — maintains it is past time for the camp to close.
“The issue isn’t whether to close Guantanamo, but how,” he said, adding that the White House should appoint a person to tackle the task and set a deadline. “I was given 96 hours to open it — 96 days to close it seems reasonable.”
Can’t make it to Kanye West and Drake‘s Free Larry Hoover benefit concert on Thursday? Don’t worry, Amazon’s got you covered.
On Tuesday, the conglomerate announced that it will livestream the event exclusively on the Amazon Music app, Amazon Prime Video, and on the Amazon Music Twitch channel. The concert will also be available on-demand.
Additionally, IMAX will livestream the benefit concert in select theaters across the United States in an exclusive, one-night-only IMAX Live event.
Ye and Drizzy will hit the stage Thursday, December 9, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert, which is dedicated to raising awareness of the need for prison and sentencing reform.
Larry Hoover, a co-founder of Chicago’s Gangster Disciples gang, is currently serving six life sentences for murder at the ADX Florence penitentiary in Colorado. Kanye mentions him on the Donda album.
Back in November, amid the feud between the two rappers, Ye invited Drake to perform with him at the benefit. “I believe this event will not only bring awareness to our cause but prove to people everywhere how much more we can accomplish when we lay our pride aside and come together,” West said in a statement at the time.
Almost two weeks later it appeared the beef was squashed, as Drake and Kanye posted videos of themselves partying together in Toronto.
Tickets for the Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert are now on sale on Ticketmaster.com and tickets for the IMAX experience are available at Tickets.IMAX.com.
Modest Mouse has announced a batch of U.S. tour dates for 2022.
The headlining outing begins April 18 in Baltimore, and will wrap up April 28 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tickets go on sale this Friday, December 10, at 10 a.m. local time.
For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit ModestMouse.com.
Modest Mouse will be touring in support of their new album ,The Golden Casket, which was released this past June. It includes the lead single “We Are Between.”
Google has released its annual list of the top-trending searches of the year, and a whole lot of people were interested in songs by Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift.
Olivia’s number-one hit, “drivers license,” topped the Songs category of Google’s Top Trending Searches, which measures searches that spiked for an extended period in 2021, as compared to 2020. Number two on that list is another song that people wanted to listen to closely, searching for clues about the love life of its creator: Taylor’s “All Too Well.”
The “All Too Well” ranking also explains why, in the category of “Celebrities Searched Together,” number five was “Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal” — because “All Too Well” reportedly documents their brief romance 10 years ago.
Two other songs by Olivia also made the top 10 of Top Trending Song Searches: “good 4 u” is number three, and “deja vu” is number 10. In between are hits such as Adele‘s “Easy on Me,” Walker Hayes‘ viral hit “Fancy Like,” Lil Nas X‘s chart-topping “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” “WAP” by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, and “Wants and Needs,” by Drake.
As for Top Trending Artist Searches, Adele was number three, The Weeknd was number four, Olivia was number six and Lil Nas X was ten. But the top two were both artists who were embroiled in controversy in 2021: rapper Travis Scott and country star Morgan Wallen.
After 10 people died at Scott’s Astroworld festival, more than 200 lawsuits were filed against him. As for Wallen, he was caught on video earlier this year using the N-word, leading to his temporary cancellation: His songs were dropped from radio and streaming services, his record label suspended his contract, and he was banned from numerous award shows.
(WASHINGTON) — Republican-led efforts to repeal President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate on private businesses will once again get a vote in the Senate Wednesday, and this time a repeal is expected to pass.
The Senate will likely vote Wednesday on Republican Sen. Mike Braun’s effort to repeal the mandate on private sector businesses with more than 100 employees. Every Republican signed onto the proposal.
Republicans are bringing up the repeal for a vote using a procedural tool called the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn rules created by federal agencies and only requires 51 votes to pass the Senate.
The bill would still need to go over to the House, where it is unlikely to be brought up by Democratic leadership. Republicans could use a procedural tool to push a vote on the measure early next year, but it’s unclear if they’d have the votes to do it.
But during a press conference on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that if Congress were to send the repeal to Biden’s desk, he’d strike it down.
“We certainly hope the Senate, Congress will stand up to the anti-vaccine and testing crowd. We’re going to continue to work to implement these,” Psaki said. “If it comes to the president’s desk, he will veto it.”
Still, this won’t be a party-line vote in the Senate. As vaccine mandates lag in popularity nationwide, some moderate Democrats are expected to back the repeal effort during Wednesday’s vote, giving it the necessary votes to clear the Senate.
At least two Democrats are also expected to vote to end the mandate: Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.
“I will strongly support a bill to overturn the federal government vaccine mandate for private businesses. I have long said we should incentivize, not penalize, private employers whose responsibility it is to protect their employees from COVID-19,” Manchin said in a statement last week.
He’s been on the record repeatedly about his opposition to mandates on private businesses, though he supports the mandate for federal employees.
Braun, in an MSNBC interview, said he’s spoken to three or four other swing state Democrats who may also vote with Republicans.
“Anybody that is listening to their people back home, this doesn’t poll when it’s vaccine or job,” Braun said. “Even when you say vaccine or get tested or job, most of the people that are digging in regardless of their reasons aren’t viewing it as an option.”
Every Republican is expected to support the repeal, following last week’s party-line vote to zero out funds for the mandate during government funding negotiations last week.
Most Democrats will vote to keep the mandate in place. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a press conference Tuesday, said the vote is “anti science” and “anti common sense”
“It’s ridiculous, it makes no sense, and Democrats think it is the wrong way to go,” Schumer said.
