Trivium has announced a pair of new streaming concerts.
The virtual shows are set to premiere December 11 and December 18. The first will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Trivium’s 2011 album In Waves, while the second, dubbed Deadmen & Dragons, will feature songs from the metal outfit’s two new albums, 2020’s What the Dead Men Say and this year’s In the Court of the Dragon.
Both performances will be filmed at Trivium’s new rehearsal space, an inactive airplane hangar fittingly nicknamed “The Hangar.”
If you’re a Yungblud fan in London, you may want to clear your schedule for Tuesday afternoon.
In an Instagram post, the “Fleabag” rocker announces that he’s planning to unveil a “surprise” at Camden Market tomorrow, November 30.
“Meet me at Camden Market 3 pm tomorrow,” Yungblud teases. “I have a surprise.”
Yungblud didn’t reveal any more info about what the surprise may be, but then again, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if he did. Perhaps it has to do with his recently announced Mars project, a short film named after his song of the same name.
For any stateside Yungblud fans, you can catch the U.K. artist in person on his upcoming U.S. tour, kicking off January 2022.
(LONDON) — A British inn and pub officially bid “fond farewell” to 61 guests Monday after a blizzard stranded them for days inside.
Located 270 miles north of London, Tan Hill Inn in Yorkshire, England, had arranged an event for an Oasis tribute band on Friday. Later that night, however, the region was hit hard by a late autumn storm which blocked local roads with heavy snow.
“The last time we had our costumers locked in was four or five years ago, but that was just for one night. This time it was a very different experience with four days,” Nicola Townsend, the pub manager, told ABC News.
The staff and guests came up with spontaneous ideas “to kill the boredom,” Townsend said. They organized a movie event, a quiz night and karaoke.
“Customers started to develop bonds from the second day on by hanging out, making friends and exchanging numbers. And they were so cooperative in running the affairs. Like they felt home indeed,” she said, adding, “Our staff are exhausted, but very happy that our guests had fun. Some of them said they had so much fun that they did not want to go back home when the roads were cleared.”
Now the group has agreed to a reunion next year.
The storm, named “Arwen,” also left thousands in Scotland without power for several nights.
(NEW YORK) — Vaccine makers say they are in the midst of testing their shots’ effectiveness against the newly discovered omicron coronavirus variant, and they remain optimistic that a new variant-specific vaccine could be produced and rolled out quickly if needed.
When asked about the new omicron variant that was first detected in southern Africa, Paul Burton, Moderna’s chief medical officer, told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Monday that vaccine manufacturers around the world, including Moderna, “are testing samples from people who have received our vaccines against the strains.”
Burton said that while the company thinks “vaccine effectiveness may come down, based on the mutation seen in this in this virus,” he added that with booster shots of the existing version of the vaccine, “We should be able to get antibody levels up, so that’s a very important initial line of defense.”
Burton said that researchers will know just how effective the vaccines are against this variant “in the next couple of weeks.” If manufacturers need to make an omicron variant-specific vaccine, it should take approximately “two to three months” to test and manufacture it, he said.
Fellow coronavirus vaccine maker Pfizer similarly expressed confidence that it could produce a new vaccine quickly if needed. Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday that he is very optimistic the company will be able to speedily switch production to a new vaccine, if the research merits, without losing any volume.
Johnson & Johnson also said in a statement Monday that it is evaluating its current COVID-19 vaccine against the omicron variant.
“In addition, the company is pursuing an omicron-specific variant vaccine and will progress it as needed,” it said.
Scientists suspect the omicron variant could partially chip away protection from current vaccines due to its mutations, but they are still waiting on testing to learn if, and to what extent, that could be the case.
Vaccine experts have told ABC News that the current COVID-19 vaccines, which rely on genetic technology, could easily be updated to better combat emerging variants. This has not been necessary so far, as the original vaccines have been effective against the dominant variants that have spread in the past, but companies are preparing to tweak vaccines to respond to the omicron variant just in case.
The good news is that these novel vaccines employing genetic technology mean updates can be made to the vaccines easily — unlike vaccines based on older technology, which used a piece of the virus or a killed virus to mimic infection.
The new vaccines, which use the genetic technology, introduces an instruction manual of sorts into your body. This introduction manual tells your cells to start churning out a protein normally found on the outside of the virus, and your body activates an immune response when your body senses that viral protein.
In remarks on Monday, President Joe Biden assured Americans that the omicron variant “is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic.”
“We have the best vaccine in the world. The best medicines, the best scientists, and we’re learning more every single day,” the president said. “And we’ll fight this variant with scientific and knowledgeable actions and speed. Not chaos and confusion.”
Arif Hudaverdi Yaman/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
In addition to being a musician, Bryan Adams is also a noted photographer. On Monday, he unveiled his latest work: the 2022 edition of the legendary Pirelli calendar, which in the past has been shot by such legendary photographers as Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton and Annie Liebovitz. Unfortunately, Bryan had to participate in the event in Milan, Italy virtually, because he’s battling COVID for the second time in a month.
On Instagram, Adams revealed that he’d been hospitalized when he arrived in Italy, and wrote, “I was symptomatic even though I had been vaccinated but I’m on the mend now.”
During the calendar launch event, Bryan said he was “O.K.,” but still had “some of the residual COVID bug.” He added, “I should be O.K. in a couple of days, I hope.”
Bryan previously tested positive for COVID at the end of October, which required him to drop out of a planned tribute to Tina Turner at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
After a fundraiser to name a theater after Dave Chappelle at the Duke Ellington School for the Arts in Washington, D.C. was rescheduled, the controversial comedian is now asking his critics to donate money to the school.
“If you object to my receiving this honor, I urge you to donate to the school, noting your objection. If you are in favor of the theater being named ‘Chappelle,’ I urge you to donate to the school, noting your approval,” he wrote on Instagram.
The high school theater was originally set to be named after alumnus Chappelle on November 23. Following objections about the comedian’s LGBTQ+ comments in his Netflix special, The Closer, the ceremony was moved to April 22, 2022.
Chappelle says he will act according to whichever opinion raises the most donations by the time of the renaming ceremony.
“If by April, those against the ‘Chappelle’ theater exceed the donations of those who are neutral or in favor of the theater named ‘Chappelle,’ I will gladly step aside. If not, I will happily attend the naming ceremony,” he wrote.
In other news, Steve Harvey has added another show to his long resume. The Family Feud host will now head Judge Steve Harvey, an unscripted courtroom comedy series premiering Tuesday, January 4 at 8 p.m. on ABC.
“Viewers tuning into Judge Steve Harvey will watch as I tackle tough and, at times, entertaining issues while also providing much-needed advice and good old-fashioned common sense to the litigants in my court.” Harvey said in a statement.
Finally, The Black Pack: We Three Kings starring Taye Diggs, Ne-Yo and Eric Bellinger airs Monday night at 8 p.m. ET on CW. They will be joined by Tank and Sevyn Streeter for an evening of music, comedy and dance.
Michael K. Williams’ final documentary project, Black Market, will return for its second season January 10 on VICE TV.
The series, which the late actor produced and hosted before his passing in September, follows the “complex underworld” of illegal markets and the people who operate them. A trailer for season two debuted Monday.
“Black Market is a testament to Michael K. Williams’ dedication to criminal justice reform and social justice,” Jesse Angelo, President, Global News and Entertainment, VICE Media Group, says in a statement.
“Michael was a longtime friend of our VICE family and shared our belief in having all voices be heard- especially those in marginalized communities. Michael’s mission was to lift those voices up and we are honored to share this collection of new episodes.”
The new season debuts January 10 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
Williams, best known for his roles in The Wire, Boardwalk Empire and Lovecraft Country, passed away from an accidental overdose on September 6. He was 54.
Trainhas been a little quiet on social media lately, even though they have a new record coming out shortly.
Taking to Instagram, frontman Pat Monahan explained the social media hiatus. “I had my arm fixed the other day, so I’m kinda [loopy,]” he revealed, but declined to explain further on that. Although, he did hint he’s already on the mend when talking about snowball fights and said he’d “love to be a part of” them.
He also plugged the band’s new holiday movie, Christmas In Tahoe, which premiered Sunday on the Hallmark Channel. Pat stars in and executive produced the flick, which celebrates Train’s first full-length holiday album of the same name that they released in 2015.
Pat signed off by casually reminding fans, “We’ll have a new record for you after the new year,” which is the upcoming Welcome to the Planet that is due out January 28, 2022. So far, no tour has been announced but the singer hinted that may change soon.
The Grammy winner captioned the video announcement, “Hi guys. Miss you all. Hope to see you soon. Happy Hanukkah and thanks for all the love.”
Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin‘s Hanukkah Sessions series continues on night two of the Jewish holiday with a cover of the Ramones classic “Blitzkrieg Bop.”
In contrast with their night one black metal rendition of Lisa Loeb’s “Stay (I Missed You),” the Foo Fighters frontman and the producer stay pretty much note-for-note true to the original punk staple, though they do change the iconic “Hey ho/Let’s go!” chant to a more holiday-appropriate “Hey oy/Let’s goy!”
“Once upon a time, two nice Jewish boys from Queens named Jeffery Hyman and Thomas Erdelyi changed the world forever with their music…as Joey and Tommy Ramone!” Grohl says.
You can watch the “Blitzkrieg Bop” cover streaming now on YouTube.
Grohl and Kurstin first launched Hanukkah Sessions in 2020, and covered songs by eight different Jewish artists to celebrate each night of the holiday: Beastie Boys, Drake, Mountain, Peaches, Bob Dylan, Elastica, The Knack and The Velvet Underground.
While he’s still maintaining his innocence, former Empire star Jussie Smollett‘s trial over faking a hate crime attack against himself got underway in Chicago Monday morning.
The actor is facing multiple charges stemming from the February, 2019 incident, in which he claimed two white Trump supporters jumped him, threw bleach on him, and tied a noose around his neck.
His story later fell apart, and two Nigerian bodybuilder brothers, who were extras on Empire, told authorities they were hired by the actor to stage the attack.
According to Chicago ABC affiliate WLS-TV, potential jurors were asked questions by Judge James Linn, including whether or not they watched Empire or TMZ coverage of the situation, or if they were ever a victim of a hate crime.
The judge says he expects the long-awaited trial to last a week.
Smollett faces six counts of disorderly conduct, which is a class 4 felony and carries a potential sentence of up to three years in prison.
