Sony Music Entertainment/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts, an archival film and album focusing on the performances that Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band gave during a series of historic, star-studded environmental-themed shows in New York City, got its release today on DVD, Blu-ray and audio formats.
The film and companion audio feature The Boss and his band playing 13 songs at two of the MUSE benefit concerts, aka the “No Nukes” concerts, which took place in September 1979 at Madison Square Garden. Ten of the performances are previously unreleased.
The movie was edited by longtime Springsteen collaborator Thom Zimny using the original 16-millimeter film, and the audio was remixed by lauded engineer Bob Clearmountain.
Earlier this week, a video premiered on Springsteen’s YouTube channel featuring Bruce, E Street guitarist “Little Steven” Van Zandt and longtime Springsteen manager Jon Landau discussing the No Nukes performances with Zimny, intercut with footage from the shows.
At one point, Zimny comments that it was great to see two of the E Street Band’s late members, sax player Clarence Clemons and keyboardist Danny Federici — who died in 2011 and 2008, respectively — performing so vibrantly at the concerts.
“Clarence was probably at his greatest. Danny also,” Bruce notes. “And it was just a certain peak moment in one of the many chapters of the band.”
The Legendary 1979 No Nukes Concerts is available now as a two-CD/DVD or two-CD/Blu-Ray set, a two-LP vinyl package, and on digital audio and video formats.
Here’s the full track list:
“Prove It All Night”
“Badlands”
“The Promised Land”
“The River”
“Sherry Darling”
“Thunder Road”
“Jungleland”
“Rosalita Come Out Tonight”
“Born to Run”
“Stay”
“Detroit Medley”
“Quarter to Three”
“Rave On”
Over the years, most boy bands eventually get around to recording a Christmas album — so why not bring all that holiday music together for one night?
A Very Boy Band Holiday, airing December 6 on ABC, will feature Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and LanceBass of *NSYNC; Nick Lachey, Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre of 98 Degrees; Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men; Erik-Michael Estrada of O-Town; Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block; and Bobby Brown and Michael Bivins of New Edition all performing classic tunes, as well as each group’s greatest holiday hits.
Surprise guests will drop by, and viewers will also hear a new original song called “A Very Boy Band Holiday,” performed by Joey Fatone and Wanya Morris. Plus, Joey McIntyre will team with his son Griffin to sing “This One’s For the Children.”
Mickey Guyton reached out to fans on Twitter Thursday night to update them on a scary family situation, and to ask for prayers.
“I normally don’t do this but my son is being sent to the ICU,” she wrote. “The doctors don’t know what’s wrong. Please please pray.”
Mickey’s nine-month-old baby boy, Grayson, is the only child of the singer and her husband, Grant Savoy. He was born in February 2021. After his arrival, Mickey announced the new addition to the family with a snapshot of Grayson in his bassinet and a caption reading, “The hardest and most beautiful thing I have ever done.”
After she shared the news of Grayson’s hospitalization, fans poured into the comments section on the singer’s post to offer their prayers and support. Among them were some of her fellow artists, including Tenille Arts, Adam Hambrick and Runaway June’s Natalie Stovall.
On Friday, Mickey shared an update. “He’s not in the clear yet but he’s on the mend,” she wrote. “Thank you for your prayers. I will update y’all as soon as I am able. Thank you thank you thank you for your love and support.”
Along with her post, she included a black-and-white photo of her husband holding Grayson to his chest in their hospital room.
I normally don’t do this but my son is being sent to the icu. The doctors don’t know what’s wrong. Please please pray.
Former Blue Öyster Cult members Albert Bouchard and Joe Bouchard have teamed up for a special livestream event that’s scheduled to premiere this Saturday, November 20, at 3:30 p.m. ET at Volume.com.
The show will feature the musical brothers performing songs as well as taking part in a Q&A.
Albert tells ABC Audio that he and Joe will be playing selections from their respective solo careers and well as a few Blue Öyster Cult classics.
The virtual event is free for those who sign up for a Volume.com membership. Viewers are encouraged to “tip” the artists during the event.
The Bouchard brothers also make up two-thirds of the band Blue Coupe, along with founding Alice Cooper group bassist Dennis Dunaway.
Meanwhile, Albert recently released a sequel to his 2020 concept album Re Imaginos, titled Imaginos 2 — Bombs over Germany (minus zero and counting).
The new album continues the story based on the writings and poems of late Blue Öyster Cult manager, producer and songwriter Sandy Pearlman about an alien conspiracy that comes to fruition during the late 1800s and early 1900s through the actions of an evil character named Imaginos.
Re Imaginos itself is a reimagined version of the 1988 Blue Öyster Cult concept album, Imaginos.
Last week, Bouchard premiered a music video for one of the Imaginos 2 tracks, “OD’d on Life Itself,” which you can check out on the Deko Entertainment label’s YouTube channel. Blue Öyster Cult originally released their own version of the tune on their 1973 album Tyranny and Mutation.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife hit theaters starting Thursday evening, and the film is off to a strong start, scaring up $4.5 million from preview audiences.
According to Deadline, that’s better than Sony Pictures had predicted.
Moreover, the film, which is a true sequel to 1989’s Ghostbusters 2, is resonating with audiences, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 95%.
The comedy reunites the first two films’ original cast, save for Rick Moranis and the late Harold Ramis, who died in 2015; however, series co-star and co-creator Ramis’ memory lingers long over the new movie. In Afterlife, the grandkids of Harold’s character, Dr. Egon Spengler — played by Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard — take up the family ghostbusting business.
Getting the cast together was key for fans — and important for Ernie Hudson, who reprises his role as Winston Zeddemore. Back in January, he told ABC Audio that he felt “blessed” to be back.
As he explained, “For me to be able to come in, work with a new cast, but also to be together with Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts, and realize that it’s been 35 years, but we’re all still doing what we love to do, yeah…I really feel blessed to have been a part of this franchise and what it means to people.”
Cardi B dropped her first new single in nine months, “Bet It,” from the soundtrack of Halle Berry‘s new film, Bruised, which was also released Friday. Cardi and the Oscar winner executive produced the first female hip hop project.
“The Bruised Soundtrack is finally hereee!,” the “WAP” rapper commented on Instagram. “I loved working on this with @halleberry and all of the amazing artists that contributed to the soundtrack, we really making history with this one.” In addition to Cardi, the album also features H.E.R, Saweetie, City Girls and many more.
Snoop Dogg begins his new role as creative consultant for Def Jam with his first project for the label, his compilation album, Algorithm. Mary J. Blige, Usher, Wiz Khalifa, and Redman & Method Man are among the many stars featured on the project. Snoop’s supergroup, Mount Westmore, which includes himself, Ice Cube, E-40 and Too Short, previously dropped the first single from the compilation, “Big Subwoofer,” which was followed by “Murder Music” by Benny the Butcher, Jadakiss, Busta Rhymes and Snoop.
French Montana‘s fourth studio album, They Got Amnesia, features John Legend, Rick Ross, Ty Dolla $ign, Saweetie, Doja Cat and the late Pop Smoke on the 20-track project. As previously reported, Drake pulled his song “Splash Brothers” from the album out of respect for victims of the Astroworld tragedy. A snippet released online featured him rapping about being intimate with another rapper’s wife. Many assumed he was referring to Kim Kardashian, Kanye West‘s estranged wife. Drizzy may not have wanted to anger Kanye after they just squashed their longtime beef.
Finally, Saweetie is making her Saturday Night Live debut this weekend, and she will perform the new single she dropped Friday, “Icy Chain,” from her upcoming debut studio album, Pretty B***h Music.
Legendary drummer Carmine Appice, best known for his work with Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and Rod Stewart, is releasing a box set gathering together many recordings by his star-studded Guitar Zeus project, including several previously unheard bonus tracks.
The Guitar Zeus 25th Anniversary box set, due out December 17, is a limited-edition 39-track collection that includes all of the songs from 1995’s Camine Appice’s Guitar Zeus and 1997’s Guitar Zeus 2: Channel Mind Radio. It also features two versions of an unreleased song called “Mystified” that showcase respective solos by KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer and ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian.
An impressive list of famous musicians contributed their talents to the Guitar Zeus tracks, including Brian May, Slash, Neal Schon, Elliot Easton, Richie Sambora, Vivian Campbell, Mick Mars, Edgar Winter, Leslie West, Denny Laine, Zakk Wylde, Ted Nugent, Pat Travers, Dweezil Zappa, Bruce Kulick, Steve Morse, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal and Yngwie Malmsteen.
The collection also features rough mixes of four Guitar Zeus tracks created so that guitarists can play along at home.
“I consider Guitar Zeus one of the best projects, if not the BEST project I’ve done,” Appice says. “I hope you enjoy this 25th year celebration of some of the greatest rock [guitarists] ever put together.”
Two versions of the box set can be pre-ordered now at DekoEntertainement.com and MerchBucket.com, both featuring four vinyl LPs, three CDs and a booklet containing new interviews and rare photos.
The pricier “Mega-Bundle” version of the set also comes packaged with a Guitar Zeus t-Shirt, an autographed photo of Appice, and a limited-edition Guitar Zeus necklace.
You can check out a video for the version of “Mystified” featuring Thayer at Deko Entertainment’s YouTube channel.
Here’s the box set’s full track list:
“Mothers Space” — featuring Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal
“Gonna Rain” — featuring Richie Sambora
“Mystify” — featuring Derek Sherinian*
“Nobody Knew” — featuring Brian May
“Where You Belong” — featuring Slash
“Out of Mind” — featuring Neal Schon
“This Time Around” — featuring Yngwie Malmsteen and Dug Pinnick
“Nothing” — featuring John Norum
“Doin’ Fine” — featuring Vivian Campbell
“Under the Moon and Sun” — featuring Mick Mars and Edgar Winter
“Code 19” — featuring Zakk Wylde
“Angels” — featuring Char
“Guitar Zeus, Pt. 1” — featuring Jennifer Batten
“Days Are Nights” — featuring Ted Nugent
“Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” — sung by Carmine, featuring Pat Travers
“Safe” — featuring Neal Schon
“Dead Wrong” — featuring Dweezil Zappa
“Trippin’ Again” — featuring Ty Tabor
“Even Up the Score” — featuring Ted Nugent
“Dislocated” — featuring Paul Gilbert
“Stash” — featuring Stevie Salas and John McEnroe
“Perfect Day” — featuring Warren DeMartini
“Killing Time” — featuring Ty Tabor
“So Long” — featuring Doug Aldrich
“My Own Advice” — featuring Kenji Kitajima
“Guitar Zeus, Pt. 2” — featuring Leslie West and Jennifer Batten
“Mystify” — featuring Tommy Thayer*
“Time to Set Alarms” — featuring Elliot Easton and Bob Daisley
“Where You Belong” — featuring Paul Gilbert
“Cruzin” — featuring Denny Laine
“Couldn’t Be Better” — featuring RaiZi
“Snake” — featuring Bruce Kulick
“4 Miles High” — featuring Steve Morse
“Surrender” — featuring Chris Biggiani*
“GZ Blues” — featuring Seymour Duncan and Steven Seagal
“This Time Around” (music rough track – guitar play along)**
“Days Are Nights” (music rough track – guitar play along)**
“Where You Belong” (music rough track l – guitar play along)**
“Guitar Zeus” (music rough track – guitar play along)**
The second season of the Emmy-nominated Apple TV+ series The Morning Show wrapped on Thursday, and to mark the finale, its producers/stars Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston dropped some set shots.
The pair posted photos from the day they wrapped the season, to commemorate the sophomore season’s end.
“Goodbye for now to my @themorningshow family,” Aniston captioned her pics. “We made it. Crawled to the finish line…and I could not be prouder of each and every one of these extraordinary actors, a crew that you can only dream of, and directors that held my hand on quite a wild journey of emotions.”
She added, “Thank you guys for being part of the ride. That’s a wrap, baby!”
For her part, Reese captioned her pics in part, “Can’t believe tonight is already the FINALE!! So much gratitude to EVERY member of our cast & amazing crew for making all the magic happen!”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden issued the first pardons of his presidency Friday to some lucky turkeys named Peanut Butter and Jelly.
In a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, Biden spared the poultry pair from becoming Thanksgiving dinner this year.
Biden said the turkey pardoning tradition is meant to remind Americans at Thanksgiving to be grateful — but also provides the chance to have “a little bit of fun.”
“Turkey is infrastructure. Peanut Butter and Jelly are going to help build back the butterball,” Biden said, in the wake of a big week for his infrastructure agenda.
“As a University of Delaware man, I’m partial to a Blue Hen,” Biden joked about that college’s mascot, later adding the two turkeys would be getting their booster shots soon.
“It’s important to continue traditions like this to remind us how from the darkness, there’s light and hope and progress — and that’s what this year’s Thanksgiving, in my view, represents,” he said.
With the National Turkey Federation pledging that there are plenty of turkeys to gobble up during this year’s celebration — when more Americans will gather than in 2020 — Biden stuck to tradition, sparing two turkeys from the dinner table this year.
The White House selected the names Peanut Butter and Jelly from a list of options submitted by students in Indiana.
Peanut Butter, and his alternate, Jelly, traveled to the White House from Jasper, Indiana, early Wednesday, driven in a minivan outfitted as a “mini-barn” to the nation’s capital.
The responsibility of deciding which farm will supply the birds each year falls to the chairman of the National Turkey Federation — a process that Phil Seager, this year’s chair, began in July, when he asked turkey grower Andrea Welp if she would accept the challenge.
“That turkey needs to kind of learn to sit, stay, and in a perfect world, kind of strut a little bit and look good for the cameras,” Segar said.
Welp worked with a small flock to try to prep them for this process in the last six weeks, with Peanut Butter and Jelly last week being deemed the turkeys with the best temperament to handle the big moment, according to Segar.
Welp, a third-generation farmer from Indiana, said raising the presidential flock has been a lot of fun for her and her family and a highlight of her career.
“With another year of uncertainties with the pandemic, this project has really been something to look forward to, and has been a joy to be able to participate in. I know the kids have really had a lot of fun raising the birds, especially dancing to loud music to get them ready for all the media attention on the big day,” Welp said at a news conference Thursday, where the turkeys were first trotted out before the public.
After arriving in D.C., the two turkeys spent the day ahead of the pardoning having their feathers fluffed at the nearby five-star Willard Hotel.
“We do some extra prep to the room to make sure it’s comfortable for them, putting down shavings and making sure their food and water is accessible,” Beth Breeding, the spokesperson for the National Turkey Federation, told ABC News.
“We do our best to make sure that we leave the room cleaner than we even found it. We clean up afterwards and then we also work with the hotel to make sure the room is cleaned,” she added.
History of Poultry Pardons
The origin of the presidential turkey pardons is a bit fuzzy. Unofficially, reports point all the way back to President Abraham Lincoln, who spared a bird from its demise at the urging of his son, Tad. However, White House Historical Association Historian Lina Mann warns the story may be more folklore than fact.
Following Lincoln’s time in office, the White House was often gifted a bird for the holidays from Horace Vose, the “turkey king” of Rhode Island, sending his top turkey to 11 presidents over four decades — though these turkeys were already slaughtered and dressed for the president’s table, Mann says.
The true start of what has evolved into the current tradition has its roots in politics and dates back to the Truman presidency in 1947.
“There had been this government-led initiative called “poultry-less Thursdays” to try and conserve various foods in the aftermath of World War II,” Mann said.
“But the poultry industry balked because Thursday was the day of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, and those were the big turkey holidays. So, they were outraged,” she added.
After the White House was inundated with live birds sent as part of a “Hens for Harry” counterinitiative, the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board presented Truman with a turkey to smooth the ruffled feathers and highlight the turkey industry — although the turkey was not saved from the holiday fest.
Instead, President John F. Kennedy began the trend of publicly sparing a turkey given to the White House in November 1963, just days before his assassination. In the years following, Mann says the event became a bit more sporadic, with even some first ladies like Pat Nixon and Rosalynn Carter stepping in to accept the guests of honor on their husband’s behalf.
The tradition of the public sparing returned in earnest under the Reagan administration, but the official tradition of the poultry pardoning at the White House started in 1989, when President George H.W. Bush offered the first official presidential pardon.
“Let me assure you and this fine Tom Turkey that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table — not this guy,” Bush said on Nov. 17, 1989.
“He’s granted a presidential pardon as of right now and … allow him to live out his days on a children’s farm not far from here,” he added.
In the 32 years since, at least one lucky bird has gotten some extra gobbles each year.
After they receive the first pardons of Biden’s presidency, Peanut Butter and Jelly will head back to Indiana to live out the rest of their lives at the Animal Sciences Research and Education Farm at Purdue University.
“Those folks who are going to be the next generation of leaders in our industry, so we’re really excited to partner with Purdue on that and to make sure that the turkeys have a home where they’re going to receive the highest quality of care,” Breeding said.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
If you won’t be spending the holidays with someone special, Justin Bieber has the perfect song for you. Bryson Tiller tapped him and Poo Bear to sing all about the Christmas blues in the new single, “Lonely Christmas,” which is out now.
Bryson, a Grammy-nominated R&B artist, released his A Different Christmas EP on Friday, which contains the new single. Although he says in a statement it “was really fun to make” the offering, he adds it was “Inspired by Bieber, Ariana [Grande], and by one of my loneliest holiday seasons ever…”
“Lonely Christmas” is no exception. The acoustic, country-like ballad features all three singers lamenting what they would be doing around the holidays if they still had that special someone in their lives.
Justin starts off the song and, when singing about his “lonely broken-hearted Christmas,” he reveals, “Right now, I be out there shoppin’/ Some of you call it trickin’ off/ The money never meant nothin’/ To see you smile, you know that I’d blow it all/ We used to get our lights from Walmart/ And hang them up for the world to see.”
An accompanying music video was also released Friday, which shows Bryson getting into an accident and waking up in “Lonesome Valley,” a stop-motion world reminiscent of the classic Rankin/Bass holiday specials. He walks through the fading memories of Christmases past before joining Justin and Poo by a bonfire.
The “Lonely Christmas” video ends with Lonesome Valley lighting up in holiday lights as the three continue to strum guitars and sing around the fire’s glow.
