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“Please #freeJussie”: Taraji P. Henson and others show support for Jussie Smollett after jail sentencing

March 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Four days after actor Jussie Smollett was sentenced to five months in prison for staging a hate crime, his Empire cast mate Taraji P. Henson is calling for his release.

“I am not here to debate you on his innocence but we can agree that the punishment does not fit the crime,” the 51-year-old actress said in an Instagram post.

To support her efforts, Henson invoked the tragic story of Emmett Till, saying, “Emmett Till was brutally beat and ultimately murdered because of a lie and none of the people involved with his demise spent one day in jail, even after Carolyn Bryant admitted that her claims were false. No one was hurt or killed during Jussie’s ordeal. He has already lost everything, EVERYTHING! To me as an artist not able to create that in itself is punishment enough. He can’t get a job. No one in Hollywood will hire him and again as an artist who loves to create, that is prison. My prayer is that he is freed and put on house arrest and probation because in this case that would seem fair. Please #freejussie.”

Twitter users reacted to the Emmit Till comparison, with some calling it “insulting,” among other things.

Jussie’s younger sister, Jurnee Smollett, shared the same #FreeJussie message in a Saturday Instagram post saying, “Jussie is Innocent.” She captioned the post by writing, “Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at nearly five times the rate of White Americans. Jussie is innocent. And…you don’t have to believe in his innocence to believe he should be free…”

In a think piece for Rolling Stone, journalist Ernest Owens expressed his similar thoughts. He also tweeted, “You can believe that Jussie Smollett lied and was wrong for what he did. But you can also know that incarceration isn’t the answer…”

New Arcade Fire song “The Lightning I, II” premiering this week

March 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Children, wake up: new Arcade Fire music is dropping this week.

Win Butler and company are set to release a fresh track called “The Lightning I, II” this Thursday, March 17, at 2 p.m. ET. You can pre-save the song now.

In announcing the news, Arcade Fire says, “We really missed you.”

For any musically inclined fans who want a head start of hearing “The Lighting, I, II,” Arcade Fire helpfully shared the chords to the new song.

“The Lighting I, II” will be the first officially released new Arcade Fire tune to follow the band’s 2017 album, Everything Now. Since then, they performed a new song called “Generation A” during Stephen Colbert‘s Election Night 2020 special, and released a 45-minute piece called “Memories of the Age of Anxiety” for a mediation app.

Earlier Monday, Arcade Fire announced their first full-length, full-band show in two years: a Ukraine benefit concert taking place tonight in New Orleans.

Carrie Underwood teases announcement on Friday

March 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Carrie Underwood has a big announcement coming on Friday.

The country superstar kicked off the week with a five-second teaser video posted on socials that displays the words “Coming Friday March 18” written in bold white lettering against a black backdrop with stars glittering in the background, as a voice whispers words and sounds over a haunting melody. Carrie captions the clip with the raised eyes emoji.

“Oh my goodness, I can’t wait to hear this! It sounds so cool and different – we can always trust you to raise the bar and break the mold!” one fan praised in the comments, while another wrote, “Sounds beautiful and ethereal!”

Last week during the ACM Awards, Carrie hinted that she had something in the works that would be unveiled “soon.” She followed up the comment with a photo on Instagram that shows her recording in the studio. “So, I did a thing…” she captioned the picture.

Shawn Mendes reveals that spirituality is “a part of my life that is much bigger than I actually even let on”

March 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

As Shawn Mendes gears up for his biggest tour yet, he’s grounded himself in something he doesn’t talk about a lot: spirituality.

Speaking with Billboard, Shawn says he “hit a low point a few years ago,” and started meditating. Then he started reading religious texts and studying the Bhakti movement in Hinduism — a form of devotion that’s considered one of the paths to a perfect state of being, self-realization and freedom.

For more than a year, Shawn tells Billboard, he’s spent one day a week meditating and discussing scripture with Think Like a Monk author Jay Shetty.

“I think everybody has a moment where they just decide it’s time to kind of do something different,” Shawn notes, adding that spirituality is “a part of my life that is much bigger than I actually even let on.”

But his newfound devotion to spirituality hasn’t stopped him from making music. Shawn says he’s “writing a ton” for what will be the follow-up to his 2020 album, Wonder, and has lately been inspired by Coldplay, rock legend Paul Simon and Grammy-winning artist and Taylor Swift collaborator Bon Iver. According to Shawn, he’s drawn to artists who “don’t “put themselves in a box.”

As for the tabloid attention surrounding his split with Camila Cabello, Shawn tells Billboard, “I honestly don’t care.” What he’s focused on now, he says, is “making music that’s authentic.” He says his ambition is to “influence culture” and “make something very true.”

Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die” wins Critics Choice Award for Best Song

March 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Billie Eilish‘s James Bond theme “No Time to Die” was named Best Song at the 2022 Critics Choice Awards, which were held Sunday.

The win gives Eilish and her brother/collaborator, FINNEAS, their first Critics Choice Award, which are chosen by the Critics Choice Association, consisting of film TV and online critics.

“No Time to Die” previously won a Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media. It will compete for Best Original Song at this year’s Oscars, held March 27.

Other 2022 CCA nominees included Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood‘s The Power of the Dog soundtrack for Best Score, Thirty Seconds to Mars‘ Jared Leto for Best Supporting Actor in House of Gucci, and HAIM‘s Alana Haim for Best Actress in Licorice Pizza. None of them won, but Greenwood and Haim did unite at the U.K.’s BAFTA Awards, which were also held last weekend, to accept Licorice Pizza director/writer Paul Thomas Anderson‘s Original Screenplay win.

Britney Spears gets emotional about her sons growing up: “They don’t need me anymore”

March 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Britney Spears is opening up about her teenage sons growing older.

In an Instagram post Sunday, the singer included a photo of her new puppy, Sawyer, saying watching the dog get bigger reminded her of how she feels watching 15-year-old Jayden James and 16-year-old Sean Preston growing up.

“I will just say it just like when my boys got bigger … IT LITERALLY SUCKS,” Britney wrote. “They don’t need me anymore … I’ve cried oceans for my boys and I’m not lying !!!!”

She added, “Hopefully one day I can show recent pics of us but in the meantime, I respect their wishes !!!!”

Britney noted that unlike her boys, her pup Sawyer “will always need me and I like that !!!!”

Britney shares her two sons with ex Kevin Federline. Back in October, she shared a similar post about her boys growing up. “So bittersweet to see them get older … why can’t they just stay babies forever ???,” she captioned a series of throwback pics.

Country legend Dolly Parton removes herself from Rock & Roll Hall of Fame consideration

March 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Dolly Parton is taking herself out of the running for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The country legend, who was nominated for the first time for the Rock Hall honor this year, explained in a post on her social media sites that she wanted to be removed from consideration for induction.

“Even though I am extremely flattered and grateful to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I don’t feel that I have earned that right,” the music legend wrote Monday. “I really do not want votes to be split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out.”

However, Dolly doesn’t rule out being nominated again in the future. She goes on to say that releasing a rock album has been a dream of hers and that the nomination has “inspired” her to potentially record one “at some point in the future.”

“I do hope that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will understand and be willing to consider me again — if I’m ever worthy,” she continued. “I wish all of the nominees good luck and thank you again for the compliment. Rock on!”

It was announced in February that Parton was nominated for induction into the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class alongside Beck, Pat Benatar, Kate Bush, DEVO, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Judas Priest, Fela Kuti, MC5, New York Dolls, Rage Against the Machine, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon and A Tribe Called Quest. The 2022 inductees will be announced in May.

Dolly has been a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame since 1999, and she also has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Director Jane Campion calls out Sam Elliott’s “sexist” slams of her ‘The Power of the Dog’

March 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NOTE LANGUAGE) Jane Campion spelled out what she thought of Western veteran Sam Elliott‘s criticism of her film The Power of the Dog. Literally.

“I think he’s being a bit of a B-I-T-C-H,” she told Variety on the red carpet of the Directors Guild Awards in Los Angeles Saturday night. “He’s not a cowboy; he’s an actor,” Campion went on.

As reported, the Lonesome Dove veteran and 1883 star recently told Marc Maron‘s WTF podcast that, although he called Campion a “brilliant director,” in his opinion, the award-winning film “a piece of s***.” He also took offense at the portrayals of cowboys in the movie, as well as its “allusions to homosexuality.” Benedict Cumberbatch plays a grizzled rancher in The Power of the Dog, who is also repressing his gay identity.

Campion continued, “The West is a mythic space and there’s a lot of room on the range,” adding of Elliott’s headline-grabbing critique, “I think it’s a little bit sexist.”

Elliott appears to be in the minority in his blunt disdain for The Power of the Dog, at least where critics are concerned. Campion was named best director at the DGA Awards, officially making her the frontrunner to win best director honors at the Academy Awards, airing live March 27 on ABC.

Pregnant woman, unborn baby die after Russian bombing of maternity ward

March 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A pregnant woman and her unborn child who were evacuated from a bombed children’s hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol, Ukraine, has died, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

She was captured in a photo taken by an Associated Press photographer after a Russian airstrike destroyed the hospital. She was carried out from the rubble of the hospital on a stretcher.

In the now internationally known photo, the woman can be seen covered in dust, holding her lower abdomen as she was carried through the wreckage.

She died after medics at a nearby hospital attempted to save her and her baby’s life.

Another pregnant woman evacuated from the wreckage, Marianna Podgurskaya, gave birth to a girl Sunday, Voice of America reporter Asya Dolina said.

Ukrainian officials said the attack initially killed at least three people, including a child, and wounded at least 17 people. Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov said that at least 1,207 people have died in the city because of shelling and aerial attacks since the Russian invasion began.

Half of those killed were ethnic Russians. Among the casualties was a child who died from dehydration, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy had posted a video on social media last Wednesday, which he said showed the heavily damaged children’s hospital and maternity ward in the southeastern Ukrainian port city.

“Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital,” he said, calling on the international community again to impose a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine. “People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror?”

The city has been burying its dead in a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol as it endures heavy shelling, officials said.

Arcade Fire announces Ukraine benefit concert; Yeah Yeah Yeahs tease new songs for upcoming UK shows

March 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

If you’re a fan of the 2000s indie rock scene, then your week is off to an exciting start.

First, Arcade Fire has announced a concert in support of Ukraine amid its continuing fight against Russia’s invasion. The show, which is advertised as “pay what you can,” takes place Monday night in New Orleans.

Arcade Fire hasn’t played a full-length, full-band show since February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Last December, band members Win Butler and Régine Chassagne performed together at a cryptocurrency event in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, Yeah Yeah Yeahs have announced a pair of U.K. concerts for this June, marking the trio’s first club performances in England in nine years. Not only that, but Karen O and company will apparently be debuting some new material at the shows.

“We’ve got some tunes so fresh and so NEW to try out on you!” the band says.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs haven’t released a new album since 2013’s Mosquito.

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