The seminal proto-punk outfit, led by original guitarist Wayne Kramer, has announced a U.S. tour for this spring. Not only that, but the band plans to release a new album this fall, marking the first MC5 record in over 50 years.
The tour begins May 5 with a hometown show in Detroit, and will wrap up May 15 in San Diego. Joining Kramer onstage for the run will be vocalist Brad Brooks, guitarist Stevie Salas, bassist Vicki Randle and Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins.
Tickets go on sale this Friday, March 11. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit Kramer’s Facebook page.
Before the tour launches, Kramer plans to release two new MC5 songs ahead of the album’s arrival in October. One, titled “Heavy Lifting,” features Rage Against the Machine‘s Tom Morello, while the other, a reworking of Kramer’s 1995 solo track “Edge of the Switchblade,” features William DuVall of Alice in Chains.
You can check out a preview of “Heavy Lifting” streaming now on YouTube.
MC5 is once again nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year. The band has been on the ballot five times previously, but has yet to be inducted.
(WASHINGTON) — When Ketanji Brown Jackson last month to the U.S. Supreme Court, some of the loudest cheers came from a trio of women who have been by Jackson’s side for the last 30 years.
“It was a lot of screaming and jumping and so excited,” Nina Simmons told ABC News of the reaction she and her friends had to the nomination of Jackson, their college roommate.
Lisa Fairfax, another roommate of Simmons and Jackson, said of the exact moment Biden introduced Jackson as the nominee, “That moment was emotional, watching her actually stand behind the president when she was introduced and then watching her step forward.”
If the Senate approves her nomination, Jackson, currently an appellate court judge, will make history as the first Black woman to sit on the nation’s high court.
By her side through her history-making judicial career have been Fairfax, Simmons and Antoinette Coakley, all of whom roomed with Jackson as undergraduate students at Harvard University, and then as law students, also at Harvard.
The three women are accomplished in their own right — Simmons is senior counsel at Washton & Gitto LLC; Fairfax is the Presidential Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School; and Coakley is a professor of law at Northeastern School of Law — but they said they saw early on that Jackson would reach the top of her profession.
“I remember years ago when we were in our college room, our college dorm, saying to Ketanji, ‘You are going to be the first Black woman on the US Supreme Court. You are going to be it,'” said Coakley. “It was that clear back then.”
Jackson, now a 51-year-old mother of two, stood out for her ability to bring people together, according to her friends.
“Ketanji can organize something, bring people together and she recognizes the strength of everyone and makes sure that you recognize your strengths as well,” said Simmons, who recalled Jackson’s support when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014.
“One day I woke up and Ketanji and Lisa are at my door,” said Simmons. “That was a time where I wasn’t telling people. I wasn’t really sharing it, and she showed up, didn’t ask any questions, she just showed up.”
The friends, who nicknamed themselves “the ladies,” also recall a lighter side of Jackson, whom Biden described as “an exceptionally qualified and historic nominee.”
“I think people don’t know that she’s funny, and that she’s an amazing storyteller,” Coakley said.
Added Simmons, “She loves to dance. [When] we were in college and law school, we’d be the first ones out there. She’d be dancing, having a good time.”
And even as their careers took them to different places following law school, Coakley, Simmons and Fairfax said Jackson rooted them onto success.
“I’m now a law professor and Ketanji was actually instrumental in helping me make that transition,” Fairfax said. “She really made me feel like I could do it, supported me through the process.”
“For Ketanji, it was not sufficient just for her to be successful,” added Coakley. “She wanted for all of us to be successful as well, and so we all benefited, I think, from that relationship and that has sustained us all these years.”
(WASHINGTON) — Scammers are impersonating law enforcement and government officials, in an effort to extort money and personal information, the FBI warns.
Often times, the scammers will “spoof” authentic numbers and credentials “of well-known government and law enforcement agencies,” the agency said in an announcement Monday.
The FBI says scammers will say a person’s identity was used in crime, such as a drug deal or money laundering scam, and they will ask for personal information to verify their identity such as their Social Security number and date of birth.
“The victim is threatened with arrest, prosecution, or imprisonment if they do not pay to remove charges or assist in the investigation against the “real” criminals,” the FBI said.
“Payment is demanded in various forms, with the most prevalent being prepaid cards, wire transfers, and cash, sent by mail or inserted into cryptocurrency ATMs. Victims are asked to read prepaid card numbers over the phone or text a picture of the card. Mailed cash will be hidden or packaged to avoid detection by normal mail scanning devices. Wire transfers are often sent overseas so funds almost immediately vanish,” the announcement said.
Scams also come in the form of text messages requiring government IDs to fix a passport renewal.
The FBI urges consumers to protect themselves saying that “officials will never contact members of the public or medical practitioners by telephone to demand any form of payment, or to request personal or sensitive information.”
Netflix has dropped the first full trailer for the second season of its hit series Bridgerton, which as previously reported centers on Jonathan Bailey‘s Anthony Bridgerton and his duty to find a bride.
In its opening moments, and to Jonathan’s embarrassment, his mother, Lady Violet Bridgerton, played by Ruth Gemmell, proudly declares of her son, “This is the season the viscount intends to find a wife!”
This sets off a Bachelor-like scene, where seemingly every single woman in the county pushes hard to the hoop for Anthony’s attention, with Charithra Chandran‘s Edwina Sharma emerging as the “proper” choice.
However, things aren’t so easy: There’s clearly heat between Bridgerton and Edwina’s headstrong sister, Kate, played by Simone Ashley.
“The greatest love of my family that I am to choose a bride with my head, and not with my…heart,” Anthony confesses.
“He seeks a wife only to fulfil his duty,” Kate tells Edwina, “and does not believe in the true love you deserve.”
Julie Andrews again can be heard in the trailer voicing the series’ resident gossip writer, Lady Whistledown, who was revealed last season to be Nicola Coughlan‘s Penelope Featherington.
“What happens when duty is in conflict with the heart’s true desire?” Whistledown asks. “Why then, there is the potential for true scandal indeed!”
As we see Jonathan’s heart is truly desiring Kate, and vice-versa — “My honor is hanging by a thread,” he confesses to her — Golda Rosheuvel‘s Queen Charlotte ups the ante on exposing the gossiper. “Whistledown’s words carry far too much import. We must entrap the scribbler!” she commands.
Bridgerton‘s second season debuts on March 25 on Netflix.
According to posts on the Facebook pages of Todd Rundgren and ex-Wings member Denny Laine, two of the artists taking part in the trek, the new dates are June 16 in Derry, New Hampshire; June 17 in Medford, Massachusetts; June 18 in Westbury, New York; June 20 in Red Bank, New Jersey; and June 21 in Annapolis, Maryland.
As previously reported, the trek features Rundgren, Laine, Christopher Cross, Badfinger‘s Joey Molland and former Chicago singer/bassist Jason Scheff performing songs from The Beatles’ Rubber Soul and Revolver albums, as well as select well-known tunes from their own careers.
The message on Laine’s Facebook page notes that tickets purchased for the shows original dates will be honored for the rescheduled concerts. Those seeking a refund should contact their original point of purchase.
The message also reported, “Everyone is well and looking forward to heading back on the road.” The next stop on the current tour will be St. George’s Theater in Staten Island, New York, this Friday, March 11.
Meanwhile, Cross, who survived a serious case of COVID-19 early in the pandemic, has posted his own note regarding the situation on his Facebook page.
“This is a good time to remind ourselves that we are not out of the woods with COVID, especially omicron,” writes Christopher. “Please get vaccinated and boosted, and wear your mask in public gatherings. We need to protect not only ourselves but those around us.”
He adds, “We are all fine. Everyone is vaccinated which has protected us from severe illness.”
In honor of late rapper Christopher Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls, OneOf, the Green Web3 company built for music, sports and lifestyle will release limited-edition Notorious B.I.G. NFTs.
According to the press release, a portion of the proceeds from the NFTs, inspired by iconic rapper Biggie Smalls’ legendary hip hop career, will go to the Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation Inc., to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his passing.
“We are excited about our partnership with OneOf and their expertise to memorialize my son Christopher with this first official NFT drop to give his fans an opportunity to participate in and honor their love of him and his music,” said the Notorious B.I.G.’s mother, Voletta Wallace.
OneOf has recently announced major partnerships with The Recording Academy to celebrate the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards, as well as with Warner Music Group. OneOf’s recent Whitney Houston Collection made headlines when a never-before-heard Whitney Houston song made when she was 17 was sold at auction on OneOf for $1 million.
“We’re honored to work with The Christopher Wallace Estate to celebrate the incredible legacy of Biggie Smalls,” said OneOf COO & Co-Founder Josh James. “Using NFT technology, Biggie’s legacy and his outsized impact on music and culture will be forever cemented on blockchain, to be honored and shared with fans around the world and for generations to come.”
The new thriller Fresh is streaming now on Hulu and if you’re wondering what it’s all about — well, it’s about a lot of things, according to star Daisy Edgar-Jones.
The movie, which also stars Sebastian Stan, is a little tricky to describe without spoiling one of its big secrets, but the actress tells ABC Audio she’s well practiced at giving a spoiler-free description of the horror comedy.
“I’ve been saying a bold and audacious thriller about the perils of modern dating. That tends to be the way I describe it,” Edgar-Jones says.
“Arguably you could say it’s an allegory for the consumption of women in society,” she adds. “It’s also sort of a celebration of the power of female friendships. It’s kind of observing this consumerist way that we date now with like apps and things like that.”
In Fresh, Edgar-Jones and Stan star as two people seemingly looking for love, with dark results. Edgar-Jones shares that it plays around with an unrealistic version of love we’ve been fed our whole lives.
“I think the kind of diet of rom-coms that we all grow up in does definitely give us the sort of slightly skewed idea of how love works,” she begins.
“You know, at the core kind of the idea that love is one of the most important parts of being a human, and relationships and connection, that I definitely agree with. And, you know, I’m a big lover of those films. But really, you know, so often when you watch them back, you’re like, gosh, that’s really interesting that the premise of this is basically the man is just incredibly persistent until the woman finally goes OK,” she explains with a laugh.
Kesha has a rule when making new music: Dolly Parton has to like it.
Speaking to Rolling Stonefor its Icons & Influences issue, the “TiK ToK” hitmaker explained just how large an impact Dolly Parton had on her life and career. Growing up, she says her mother, Pebe Serbert, hailed the “Jolene” singer as “Queen Dolly” and even wrote a song for her — the 1980 hit “Old Flames (Can’t Hold a Candle to You).”
“Dolly didn’t seem like a real human to me. It was almost like when you talk about unicorns. I remember as a little kid, it was like she was this fable, like untouchable, unhuman, just bada**,” Kesha explained. She never lost that point of view and, when creating her Rainbow album, she manifested her life-long dream of recording a song with “the queen.”
Kesha explained she initially didn’t “think I was talented enough” to ask Dolly to sing with her, but she eventually put on her big girl pants.
“I said, ‘You know what? If I don’t ask, the answer’s no.’ So I just thought, ‘[Screw] it, I’m going to ask Dolly Parton to sing a song with me,'” she recalled. “I wept like a baby when she said she would.”
The two re-recorded the song her mom wrote for Dolly over 40 years ago and, from that point forward, Kesha adopted a new music policy. “I don’t ever want to put out any music that Dolly Parton wouldn’t enjoy or listen to, or find some humor in,” Kesha said. “She’s so much of a guiding light, and she has no idea.”
Kesha also has another Dolly-centric goal: “If I ever get married, I want to do it at Dollywood.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, don’t appear to have advanced closer to the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least Friday.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 09, 9:08 am
US to send two Patriot anti-missile batteries to Poland
The United States said it’s sending two Patriot anti-missile batteries stationed in Europe to Poland as a “defensive deployment” at the request of the Polish government.
While testifying before Congress Tuesday on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said there were discussions underway with the Polish government about a possible deployment of Patriot batteries. The U.S. military’s European Command (EUCOM) later confirmed that two batteries already in Europe would be deployed to Poland.
“At the direction of the Secretary of Defense and at the invitation of our Polish allies, General Wolters, Commander of U.S. European Command, has directed U.S. Army Europe and Africa to reposition two Patriot Batteries to Poland,” EUCOM spokesman Capt. Adam Miller said in a statement Tuesday. “This defensive deployment is being conducted proactively to counter any potential threat to U.S. and Allied forces and NATO territory. This is a prudent force protection measure that underpins our commitment to Article Five and will in no way support any offensive operations. Every step we take is intended to deter aggression and reassure our Allies.”
The move came hours after the U.S. dismissed Poland’s offer to transfer all of its MiG-26 fighter jets to a U.S. air base in Germany to boost Ukraine’s fight against Russia, with Pentagon press secretary John Kirby saying in a statement Tuesday that “we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one.”
Poland is expecting delivery later this year of two Patriot batteries it had bought in 2018. The air defense systems are intended to shoot down incoming missiles, so their deployment to Poland means there are concerns about dealing with any incoming missile fire into the country, which shares a 330-mile border with Ukraine. It was unclear exactly where in Poland the Patriot batteries would be placed.
Mar 09, 8:40 am
Ukraine warns of radiation risk after power cut at Russia-occupied Chernobyl plant
Ukraine warned Wednesday that electricity has been entirely cut to its Chernobyl nuclear power plant and radioactive substance could be released because its storage facility cannot cool spent nuclear fuel.
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a 1,000-square-mile restricted area of deserted land surrounding the shuttered plant, was seized by Russian forces just hours after they launched their invasion on Feb. 24. The plant, situated between the Belarus-Ukraine border and the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, is the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.
Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection announced via Twitter on Wednesday that the “Kyiv high-voltage line is currently disconnected due to the damage caused by the occupiers.”
“As a result, the Chernobyl station and all nuclear facilities in the Exclusion Zone are without electricity,” the agency tweeted.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also confirmed the news on Twitter, saying the only electrical grid supplying Chernobyl and all its nuclear facilities occupied by Russian forces “is damaged,” causing a loss of power supply.
“I call on the international community to urgently demand Russia to cease fire and allow repair units to restore power supply,” Kuleba tweeted.
However, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it “sees no critical impact on safety.” The nuclear watchdog of the United Nations tweeted that the “heat load of spent fuel storage pool and volume of cooling water” at Chernobyl is “sufficient for effective heat removal without need for electrical supply.”
Some 20,000 spent nuclear fuel assemblies are stored in Chernobyl’s storage facility and “need constant cooling,” which is only possible if there is electricity, according to Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection.
“If it is not there, the pumps will not cool. As a result, the temperature in the holding pools will increase,” the agency tweeted. “After that evaporation will occur, that will lead to nuclear discharge.”
Kuleba noted that reserve diesel generators have a 48-hour capacity to power Chernobyl.
“After that, cooling systems of the storage facility for spent nuclear fuel will stop, making radiation leaks imminent,” he tweeted. “Putin’s barbaric war puts entire Europe in danger. He must stop it immediately!”
Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection warned that “the wind can transfer the radioactive cloud” to other areas of Ukraine as well as Belarus, Russia and elsewhere in Europe. There is also no ventilation inside the Chernobyl storage facility.
“All personnel there will receive a dangerous dose of radiation,” the agency tweeted.
Meanwhile, the facility’s fire extinguishing system is not functioning and the agency warned of “a huge risk of fire caused by shelling.”
“The fight still goes on making it impossible to carry out repairs and restore power,” the agency tweeted.
Mar 09, 8:08 am
Russia responds to Poland offering fighter jets to help Ukraine
Russia warned Wednesday of “an extremely undesirable and potentially dangerous scenario” if other countries use their airfields to support Ukraine.
When asked by reporters during a daily press briefing to comment on Poland’s announcement Tuesday that it’s “ready” to “immediately” hand over all its MIG-29 fighter jets “free of charge” to a U.S. air base in Germany to boost Ukraine’s fight against Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The [Russian] Defense Ministry has already commented on the possibility of using any other airfields for takeoffs of military planes.”
“This is an extremely undesirable and potentially dangerous scenario,” he added.
Mar 09, 6:12 am
Over 2.15 million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than 2.15 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations refugee agency.
The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to nearly 5% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in just two weeks.
More than half of the refugees are in neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
Mar 09, 5:19 am
Ukraine says humanitarian corridors confirmed with Russia, Red Cross for Wednesday
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said six humanitarian corridors have been agreed with Russian officials and confirmed with the International Committee of the Red Cross to operate during a temporary cease-fire Wednesday.
According to Vereshchuk, the evacuation routes for civilians are open from towns north of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, where there has been heavy fighting, as well as from the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol, where an evacuation failed yesterday. Another route goes from the town of Izium near hard-hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and another from the eastern city of Volnovakha, where civilians have been trying to evacuate for several days. Another route leads from northeastern city of Energodar, where shelling caused a fire at Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant last week.
Vereshchuk said Russian officials had sent a letter to the Red Cross confirming the routes and a cease-fire for Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time. She called on Russia to keep to its commitment and not to violate the cease-fire, as she said it did in Mariupol and Volnovakha on Tuesday.
“We ask Russian forces to commit to their obligations and keep the ceasefire till 9 p.m. as agreed,” Vereshchuk said in a statement Wednesday morning.
Vereshchuk noted that an orphanage with 55 children and 26 staff also needs to be evacuated from Vorzel, a town just north of Kyiv.
“The evacuation of them will be done as a separate special operation,” she said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement Wednesday that it has discussed the interaction on the Ukraine track with the Red Cross.
Mar 08, 9:59 pm
Biden calls family of US Marine detained by Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden called the parents of Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine who has been detained in Russia for nearly three years and whose case has gotten renewed attention amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
The president spoke to Joey and Paula Reed after an event in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday, according to the White House.
On the call, the president reiterated his commitment to doing everything he can to bring their son home, to staying in close touch with them through his national security team and to finding a time to meet in person, the White House said.
A Reed family spokesperson also confirmed to ABC News that Biden called them to apologize for not being able to stop and meet them in person.
The family says they have been asking to meet with the president for several months to help free Reed, a Texan who they say has been denied treatment for suspected tuberculosis, and specifically asked to meet the president in Texas on Tuesday but were denied.
Reed and another former Marine, Paul Whelan, have spent years in Russian custody on charges that their families and American officials say were fabricated by Russia in order to seize them as bargaining chips.
Dua Lipa stars opposite of Henry Cavill in the upcoming spy thriller, Argylle, which comes out next year on Apple TV+. To help tide fans over, the first promotional image has just been released, which shows a blonde Dua with her arms around The Witcher star.
The “Levitating” singer’s hair is done up in a caramel blonde bob and she’s wearing a shimmering gold dress. As for Henry, he’s wearing a green velvet suit. The two appear to be slow dancing as they stare into each other’s eyes.
The streamer also released the synopsis of the upcoming thriller, which is about “the globe-trotting adventures of a super-spy named Argylle across the U.S., London and other exotic locations.” In addition to Dua, the cast includes John Cena, Catherine O’Hara, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell and Ariana DeBose.
Director Mathew Vaughn said previously to The Hollywood Reporter, “When I read this early draft manuscript I felt it was the most incredible and original spy franchise since Ian Fleming’s books of the 50s… This is going to reinvent the spy genre.”
An exact release date for Argylle hasn’t been announced, with Apple only telling fans to expect it in 2023.
