Carrie Underwood is dropping a special surprise in fans’ stockings this year: The Special Edition of her My Gift Christmas album, including three bonus songs in addition to the original track list, is now available on vinyl.
Pressed on Crystal Clear Double Vinyl, a limited edition version of the product will also be available on White Vinyl at Walmart. Those picking up their copies at Target have exclusive access to a limited-edition Green Vinyl version, along with a collectible poster.
My Gift, originally released in 2020, is Carrie’s first-ever full-length Christmas album. It features a collaboration with John Legend, “Hallelujah,” as well as a version of “The Little Drummer Boy” featuring vocals from the singer’s six-year-old son, Isaiah.
Since releasing My Gift, Carrie followed up her holiday project with My Savior, a collection of gospel hymns. More recently, Carrie topped the country charts with her Jason Aldean duet, “If I Didn’t Love You.”
Rod Stewart has debuted a third track from his upcoming studio album The Tears of Hercules, an upbeat and romantic pop-soul tune called “I Can’t Imagine” that the singer has dedicated to his wife, Penny Lancaster Stewart.
The song is available now as a digital download and via streaming services, and you also can check out a new companion music video at Stewart’s official YouTube channel.
The clip captures Stewart performing the song and having fun with his band members and backing singers at a large lakeside mansion outside of Las Vegas. “I Can’t Imagine” is one of nine songs that Rod co-wrote on the 12-track album, which is due out next Friday, November 12.
Stewart will be promoting The Tears of Hercules with a number of TV appearances in the coming week. On Monday, November 8, he’ll be featured on Entertainment Tonight, while on November 12, the album’s release date, he’ll perform and be interviewed on The Kelly Clarkson Show and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The Tears of Hercules can be pre-ordered now, and is available on CD, as a vinyl LP and in digital formats.
“I Can’t Imagine” follows the release of two other advance tracks co-written by Stewart, the country-pop gem “One More Time” and the introspective and topical gospel-influenced ballad “Hold On.”
Stewart recently wrapped his latest Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, and his next engagement at the venue is scheduled for May 2022. First up for Rod is a tour of Australia and New Zealand taking place in March and April.
Disney+ — Mike Smith/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
Bill Hader has some pretty deep geek bonafides, starting with his earliest credit, as a production assistant on the documentary Empire of Dreams: The Story of the ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy.
Since then, the SNL vet logged viral imitations of both Jabba the Hutt, and Luke Skywalker’s Tauntaun from The Empire Strikes Back on Conan, which apparently led to teaming with J.J. Abrams on both Star Trek: Into Darkness, and voicing the cute rolling droid BB-8 in Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
“That was just JJ being nice,” the Addams Family 2 star and Barry Emmy winner insists to ABC Audio of the latter credits.
“J.J. Abrams is always nice to me, and has me coming in to do these little cameo things, like in [Star Trek], and in Star Wars and stuff.”
“And then for the rest of my life I have people running up to me with BB-8 toys for me to sign,” Hader laughs.
“You know, like, I was just operating the thing!” he says of the droid, for which Hader is credited as a “voice consultant.”
“‘Like you coulda done that,'” he recalls joking with Abrams.
Still, Hader insists, “But it’s cool, it is neat to be involved with those things and to be someone they call for that stuff.”
That said, with lifelong Star Wars fans like directors Robert Rodriguez, Bryce Dallas Howard, and of course show creator Jon Favreau working on The Mandalorian, Hader wondered when he’ll get the tap.
“Hm, yeah, I know. I haven’t gotten a call for that,” he says, acting as if he’s insulted.
Given that ABC Audio is owned by Disney, we assured Hader we’d put in a good word for him with the Mando folks. “Get it out there, man!” Hader laughed. “Get me in there!”
(CHICAGO) — After a night out in Chicago on the night before Halloween, 23-year-old Iñaki Bascaran told his roommate he was heading home. But he never made it — and now his friends are mobilizing to find him.
Bascaran, a Glenview, Illinois, native, attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and moved this year to Chicago, where he works in marketing, said his friend, Kayli Fradin. She described him as “the life of the party” who “is always trying to make people laugh.”
On Oct. 30, Bascaran went to a bar with friends in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Fradin told ABC News. Bascaran then called an Uber to go to another bar, Celeste, in the River North neighborhood. He left Celeste alone at 11:39 p.m.
Bascaran then called Fradin’s boyfriend, who is Bascaran’s roommate, on FaceTime at 12:04 a.m. to say he was going to start walking home.
“But he was also intoxicated enough at that point that he thought he was in Lincoln Park and we know now that he wasn’t,” Fradin said. “He didn’t even really realize what part of town he was in.”
About 45 minutes later, when Bascaran didn’t arrive home, Fradin said she and her boyfriend tried to track his phone location, but his phone was dead.
Around noon the next day, Bascaran’s phone was still dead, and his bed was made. Fradin said she called the police immediately.
She said police recommended a list of hospitals for her to call — but none of the hospitals had seen him.
Fradin then said she broke the news to Bascaran’s parents, calling it a “heartbreaking call.”
Chicago police confirm Bascaran has been reported missing and ask anyone with information to contact the department at 312-744-8266. They released this missing persons flyer and said no further information was available.
With no leads, Fradin turned to social media, creating a website and Instagram page to spread the news.
“Iñaki has so many friends from so many areas in his life,” she said, from his soccer league to high school to college to abroad, that “we just knew that we would get a really big group of people to care.”
On Monday, about 200 friends, family and strangers, armed with flashlights and neon vests, conducted a search, “starting at Celeste and routing people different directions that Iñaki might have done,” Fradin said.
“It’s amazing how quickly everyone has been able to mobilize,” she said.
The family hired private detective Sara Serritella to help.
“You cannot have enough resources” in a missing persons case, she told ABC News.
They followed Bascaran’s digital footprint, including surveillance videos from that night, but “the answers are not in the phones and the cameras,” Serritella said.
It’s shocking “to think that you can just disappear and go missing in spite of technology and cameras,” she said.
But Serritella said she’s “following hundreds of leads that have come in” through social media and email.
She said they’re using drones, man power, digital forensics and “everything possible to try to get him home.”
On Wednesday, the family held a vigil, where there was an “outpouring of support,” Fradin said, including hundreds who watched live on Instagram.
Fradin said this tough week has been filled with both sadness and hope.
“There’s been times where we’ve been sobbing together and times where we’ve been laughing together, telling our favorite stories and memories with him. … And how excited we are to make fun of him for putting us through all of this once he comes home,” she said.
I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME has released a new version of “New Invention.”
The updated recording features Tessa Violet, who you may know for her song “Games” with lovelytheband. You can listen to it now via digital outlets.
The original “New Invention” appears on iDKHOW’s 2020 debut album Razzmatazz, which also features the number-one Billboard Alternative single “Leave Me Alone.”
iDKHOW’s current tour in support of Razzmatazz continues Friday in Colorado Springs and will wrap up later this month. The duo will then launch another live outing in January 2022.
Diana Ross‘ first album of new, original songs in over 20 years, Thank You, got its release today.
Coinciding with the album’s arrival, the Motown legend debuted her first music video in more than a decade, for her new song “All Is Well.” The clip, which you can watch on her official YouTube channel, was directed by Amanda Demme in collaboration with Ross’ two sons, producer Evan Ross and photographer Ross Naess.
As previously reported, Thank You was recorded in Diana’s home studio during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, and features producers and songwriters who’ve created hits for Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Usher, Justin Bieber, Sam Smith, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé and Rihanna.
Ross says of the 13-track collection, “I spent the past year recording new music and this music is a reflection of the joy and the love and the gratitude that I feel every day. It’s an album of great appreciation for life, and for all of you.”
Look out Kelly Clarkson, there’s another former American Idol alumna looking to conquer daytime talk TV.
Jennifer Hudson is pitching a new daytime talk show to be produced by the team from The Ellen DeGeneres Show, according to Variety.
The concept, while attempting to fill the void left by Ellen’s departure, is being shopped as an entirely new series and not a continuation of the long-running chat show.
Ellen executive producers Andy Lassner and Mary Connelly also served as show runners on Hudson’s test show, which was recently shot on the Ellen stage and is now being used as part of the pitch to station groups, sources tell Variety.
The Respect actress also brings an “authentic and natural” take to her hosting duties, according to the insiders.
DeGeneres announced in May that she would end her long-running, Emmy-winning talk show after 19 seasons when her contract expires in 2022.
(WASHINGTON) — The State Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information that could lead to the identification or location of those in leadership positions within the DarkSide ransomware group.
Authorities also announced that they’re offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction in any country of anyone conspiring to participate in or attempting to participate in a DarkSide variant ransomware incident.
“In offering this reward, the United States demonstrates its commitment to protecting ransomware victims around the world from exploitation by cyber criminals,” Ned Price, a State Department spokesperson, said in a statement Thursday.
Federal authorities have previously said they believe DarkSide operates out of Eastern Europe.
The Colonial Pipeline incident was seen as a display of how much power cyber criminals have seized in recent years, as they took aim at critical infrastructure. The company’s CEO admitted shortly after the incident that he had authorized a payment of some $4.3 million to DarkSide only hours after learning of the attacks, due to the uncertainty surrounding how long it would take to get the critical pipeline back online.
The Department of Justice later said it seized back approximately $2.3 million in Bitcoin from the alleged cyber criminals.
The reward is being offered through the State Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program, which has dished out more than $135 million in rewards to date and brought more than 75 transnational criminals and major narcotics traffickers to justice, according to Price’s statement.
Our first taste of Post Malone‘s next album is his collaboration with The Weeknd, “One Right Now.”
The two superstars have teamed up on the new single, with a video debuting “soon,” according to their record label. The song, which is closer to the ’80s-inspired sound that The Weeknd’s been doing lately than Post’s past work, is about finding out your partner’s been unfaithful and showing her that infidelity is a two-way street.
“Don’t call me ‘baby’ when you did me so wrong/But I got over what you did already/Body for a body, so petty,” sings Post. “I got one comin’ over and one right now.”
The Weeknd makes reference to his 2013 song “You Belong to the World,” as he sings, “You’re a stain on my legacy/We can’t be friends, can’t be family…I can’t let you next to me/Oh, you belong to the world now/So just me leave me alone now.”
“new track for my brother @postmalone out everywhere !” The Weeknd announced on Instagram.
“One Right Now” is from Post’s fourth album, which we’re told is “coming soon.” It’ll be the follow-up to his 2019 triple-platinum release Hollywood’s Bleeding.
(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday detailed new efforts to investigate “Havana syndrome,” the mysterious health affliction affecting dozens of U.S. personnel first identified in Cuba and now including several countries.
In his most extensive remarks yet on the issue, Blinken said the incidents have inflicted “profound” physical and physiological harm on those impacted.
“All of us in the U.S. government, and especially with the State Department, are intently focused on getting to the bottom of what and who is causing these incidents, caring for those who have been affected and protecting our people,” Blinken said.
Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, cognitive difficulties, tinnitus, vertigo and trouble with seeing, hearing or balancing. Many officials have suffered symptoms years after reporting an incident, while some have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries.
Blinken has tapped two career diplomats to oversee the agency’s response to “Havana syndrome.”
For almost five years now, the issue — which the Biden administration has labeled “anomalous health incidents” — has vexed U.S. officials, who don’t know who or what is behind it.
In an effort to learn more, Blinken confirmed Friday that the State Department has deployed new technology to U.S. missions around the world to help understand the cause.
“The details I can provide on this are limited as well, but I can say that new technology is helping us more quickly and thoroughly evaluate a variety of potential causes of these incidents, and we’ve distributed across posts so that we can respond rapidly to new reports,” he said.
He encouraged employees with any knowledge of an incident to come forward.
“There is absolutely no stigma in reporting these incidents. And there will of course be no negative consequences of any kind,” Blinken said. “On the contrary, reporting means that we can get people the help they need. And by reporting, you can help keep others safe, and help us get to the bottom of who and what is responsible.”
American diplomats, spies, and other officials have reported symptoms in nearly a dozen counties, starting in Cuba and expanding to China, Russia, Uzbekistan, and more. Most recently, cases were reported among staff and families at the U.S. embassy in Colombia, weeks before Blinken arrived for a visit.
But it’s unclear how many reported incidents are confirmed to be episodes of what many victims insist are attacks.
Both the Trump and Biden administrations have been accused by victims and other officials of not doing enough to provide medical care to affected personnel or not sharing enough information about reported incidents as they happen.
Blinken acknowledged the administration could do better and committed to more transparency. He met a group of affected personnel in Bogotá last month, telling them “their case is an absolute priority for him,” a senior State Department official told ABC News.
President Joe Biden signed the HAVANA Act last month, which authorizes the CIA director and the secretary of state to provide affected employees with financial support for brain injuries under detailed criteria. It also requires both agencies to report to Congress on how those payments are being made and whether additional action is needed to aid victims.
