The Head and the Heart will be exploring “Every Shade of Blue” in 2022.
Not only is that the title of the “All We Ever Knew” outfit’s newest single, but it also provides the name for their just-announced U.S. headlining tour, kicking off May 20 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The massive outing will run through the spring and into the summer before finally wrapping up October 15 in Nashville.
Tickets to the Every Shade of Blue tour go on sale this Friday, January 21, at 10 a.m. local time, with various pre-sales happening throughout the week. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit TheHeadandtheHeart.com.
Meanwhile, the single “Every Shade of Blue” drops this Friday, as well. It’s the first fresh tune from the band to follow their 2019 album Living Mirage, which spawned the singles “Missed Connection” and “Honeybee.”
Slipknot‘s Knotfest Roadshow is getting back on the road.
The masked metallers have announced a 2022 leg of their ongoing headlining tour, set to kick off March 16 in Fargo, North Dakota. The first half of the outing, which concludes April 17 in Vancouver, will feature support from In This Moment and Jinjer, while the second half, running from May 18 in University Park, Pennsylvania, to June 18 in Chula Vista, California, features Cypress Hill and Ho99o9 on the bill.
“Even with everything going on in the world right now, we’re still extremely excited to come back out in the States, with two different, exciting packages,” says frontman Corey Taylor.
“Whether it’s In This Moment and Jinjer, or Cypress and Ho99o9, we pride ourselves in bringing our fans the epicenter of our music and art,” Taylor adds. “Come celebrate with us, and try to stay as safe as we will be.”
Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 21, at 10 a.m. local time. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit KnotfestRoadshow.com.
In addition to getting back on the road, Slipknot will be releasing a new album in 2022, if a recent tweet from Taylor is to be believed. The group dropped a new single, “The Chapeltown Rag,” last fall.
Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Microsoft Corp. announced plans on Tuesday to acquire gaming giant Activision Blizzard Inc., the maker of immensely popular franchises including “Call of Duty” and “Warcraft,” for $68.7 billion.
The companies jointly announced news of the all-cash deal on Tuesday, which involves tech giant Microsoft purchasing the controversy-marred gaming company for some $95 per share. When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue — behind only Tencent and Sony — Microsoft said in a statement Tuesday.
The deal comes as the gaming industry has become one of the fastest-growing sectors in the entertainment industry, and as Microsoft seeks to accelerate its mobile, PC, console and cloud gaming as well as prepare for the mainstream adaption of the metaverse.
“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft, said in a statement. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”
The announcement also comes as Activision Blizzard has been rocked by accusations of fostering a culture of sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business unit will report to Microsoft Gaming’s CEO Phil Spencer.
“For more than 30 years our incredibly talented teams have created some of the most successful games,” Kotick said Tuesday. “The combination of Activision Blizzard’s world-class talent and extraordinary franchises with Microsoft’s technology, distribution, access to talent, ambitious vision and shared commitment to gaming and inclusion will help ensure our continued success in an increasingly competitive industry.”
The transaction has been approved by the board of directors for both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, but remains subject to the latter’s shareholder approval, the companies said. It is expected to close in fiscal year 2023.
On Monday, the Full House alum shared the exciting news that her boyfriend of four years, Mescal Wasilewski, popped the question and, well, she said yes.
Alongside a selfie of the two together, which also showed off her new sparkler, Sweetin shared a Maya Angelou quote, writing, “‘In all the world there is No heart for me like yours. In all the world there is No love for you like mine.'”
“I love you Mescal, for always. You’re my person,” she continued. “I can’t wait to see the life that lies
ahead for us. Here’s to us, @ghostfacelito and our life of adventures. Together.”
Sweetin, whose milestone 40th birthday is on Wednesday, January 19, added, “I think I’m really gonna like turning 40.”
Wasilewski also announced the update in relationship status on his Instagram sharing the same photo and adding the caption, “So that happened…”
Sweetin has been married three times before and she has two children — daughters Zoie, 13, and Beatrix, 11.
Despite the hype surrounding The Weeknd‘s suprise release of his album Dawn FM, the project was narrowly beaten to the number-one spot on the Billboard Top 200, and had to settle for a number-two debut.
Instead, it was rapper Gunna who took the top spot with his new mixtape DS4Ever, which features Chris Brown, Roddy Ricch, Young Thug and other big names. Gunna’s album sold 150,300 equivalent album units, while The Weeknd’s album sold 148,000. This is Gunna’s second number-one album
Dawn FM, featuring Jim Carrey, Lil Wayne, Tyler, the Creator and Quincy Jones, becomes The Weeknd’s eighth top 10 album — to date, all of his charting releases have reached the top 10. The album won’t be available on CD until January 28, while vinyl and cassette editions arrive April 29.
On January 12, a 19-track deluxe edition of Dawn FM was released with three new tracks: remixes of “Take My Breath” and “Sacrifice,” plus The Weeknd’s current single with Swedish House Mafia, “Moth to a Flame.”
Meanwhile, The Weeknd’s hits compilation The Highlights is currently at number six on the chart.
(WASHINGTON) — It’s peak citrus season in the U.S., but Florida orange groves had a bitter yield of the beloved sweet and tart winter fruit.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that orange crops are projected to be down for the second consecutive season, which could send prices that were already high due to the pandemic, even higher.
The historically low production could be 16% less than last season’s final count, the USDA found.
Growers in the Sunshine State are forecast to harvest 44.5 million boxes of fruit from the 2020-21 season, according to the USDA, down1.50 million boxes from the December forecast.
The current USDA forecast looks at 17.5 million boxes of non-Valencia oranges (early, mid-season, and Navel varieties) and 27 million boxes of Valencia oranges.
Only one year since 1947 has yielded fewer oranges, according to the USDA; 2017-2018 when Florida crops were battered by Hurricane Irma.
Looks like we won’t be Cooking With Paris much longer. Netflix has decided not to give Paris Hilton‘s reality series a second season, according to Deadline. Inspired by her viral YouTube video, Cooking with Paris followed Hilton as she “navigates new ingredients, new recipes and exotic kitchen appliances,” with assistance from celebrity friends, including Kim Kardashian West, Nikki Glaser, Demi Lovato, Saweetie, Lele Pons and Kathy and Nicky Hilton…
Variety reports The Power of the Dog took home its 21st awards season prize for best picture from the North Dakota Film Critics, breaking Netflix’s previous record of 20, held by Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma in 2018. That said, the films and performances with the most wins hardly ever amount to an Oscar victory, Roma being a prime example. It lost out to Peter Farrelly’s Green Book, without leading in any category during its season…
Elliot Page has boarded Italian filmmaker Nicolò Bassetti‘s transgender-themed documentary Nel Mio Nome (Into My Name), inspired by his personal experience with the gender transition of his child, Matteo, according to Variety. Into My Name provides an intimate look at the universal challenges of gender transition by observing the transition within a tight-knit group of friends in the central Italian city of Bologna. Page, in a statement says, “Knowing that Bassetti consulted closely with his trans son throughout production is so beautiful to me, and I think that lived experience and input is clear in the film’s perspective. I’m honored to be onboard and can’t wait for everyone to see it.” The film, will make its world premiere February 20 during the Berlin Film Festival…
Marvel Studios dropped the first trailer for its Disney+ series Moon Knight during the Rams-Cardinals wild card game on ESPN and ABC on Monday.
The series stars Oscar Issac as Steven Grant — a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, who suffers blackouts and memories of another life. After discovering he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector, they must navigate their complex identities as they’re thrust into a deadly mystery involving the powerful gods of Egypt.
“I can’t tell the difference between my waking life and dreams,” says Oscar Issac — sporting a legit British accent — as Steven Grant toward the top of the trailer, set to Kid Cudi‘s “Day ‘n’ Night,”.
Grant becomes increasingly disconnected from reality, until we hear Ethan Hawke’s villainous cult leader encourage Steven/Marc to “embrace the chaos,” at which point he transforms into the titular superhero.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 851,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62.9% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 18, 7:30 am
Hong Kong to cull 2,000 small animals after hamsters test positive
Some 2,000 hamsters and other small animals will be culled in Hong Kong amid fears over possible animal-to-human transmission of COVID-19, authorities announced Tuesday.
The move came after an employee at the Little Boss pet store in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay shopping district tested positive for the highly contagious delta variant on Monday. Further testing revealed at least 11 hamsters in the shop, imported from the Netherlands, were also infected, according to authorities.
The store has been shuttered and its hamsters, rabbits and chinchillas will all be tested and euthanized. Anyone who visited the shop since Jan. 7 is being urged to get in touch with authorities. Although officials said there is no evidence animals can transmit the virus to humans, they are not ruling out the possibility.
As a precautionary measure, authorities said they will seize all hamsters in Hong Kong’s 34 licensed stores for testing before putting them down in a humane manner. Residents who purchased hamsters after Dec. 22 are being urged to hand them over to be tested and culled. The customers themselves will be subject to mandatory testing and quarantine.
Hong Kong will also cease the sale and import of small mammals, including hamsters. All shops selling hamsters in the city have been ordered to stop doing so immediately, according to authorities.
“We have assessed the risks of these batches are relatively high and therefore made the decision based on public health needs,” Dr. Leung Siu-fai, director of Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, told a press conference Tuesday. “We urge all pet owners to observe strict hygiene when handling their pets and cages. Do not kiss or abandon them on the streets.”
-ABC News’ Britt Clennett
Jan 17, 2:31 pm
Moderna working on combined COVID, flu booster
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told the Davos Agenda Monday that the company is working on a combined COVID-19 and flu booster shot, which could, in a “best case scenario,” be made available by fall 2023.
Bancel said the company’s goal is to be able to provide a single annual booster.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 17, 2:16 pm
Fauci: Unclear whether omicron will lead world into an ‘endemic’ phase
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday it’s an “open question” as to whether the omicron variant will lead the globe into a new endemic phase of the pandemic.
“We were fortunate that omicron, although it is highly transmissible, nonetheless, is not as pathogenic but the sheer volume of people who are getting infected overrides that rather less level of pathogenicity,” Fauci said at the Davos Agenda, a virtual event held by the World Economic Forum.
But Fauci said it’s still unclear if omicron’s reduced severity will translate to the virus gradually becoming less prevalent.
“I would hope that that’s the case. But that would only be the case if you don’t get another variant that alludes to the immune response to the prior variant,” Fauci said, adding that it is “very difficult” to calculate how the globe could reach herd immunity.
When the globe does enter an endemic phase, Fauci said there will be a “new normal.”
“It’s not going to be that you’re going to eliminate this disease completely. We’re not going to do that. But hopefully it will be at such a low level that it doesn’t disrupt our normal, social, economic and other interactions with each other,” Fauci said. “To me, that’s what the new normal is. I hope the new normal also includes a real strong corporate memory of what pandemics can do.”
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 17, 11:40 am
Growing evidence suggests COVID surge may be receding in parts of US
Growing evidence suggests the omicron surge may be beginning to recede in the parts of the U.S. that were first hit by the variant.
Although new case rates remain high across much of the Northeast, daily totals are slowly beginning to fall. New York City reported a 17% drop and New Jersey reported a 17.6% drop in new cases over the last week. Washington, D.C., reported a nearly 25% decline and Vermont saw a nearly 22% decline in cases in the last week.
But health officials caution the latest surge has yet to peak for much of the U.S. The nation is still reporting nearly 800,000 new cases a day — a record high and a more than eight-fold increase compared to six weeks ago.
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN on Sunday that Americans should not expect a decline in the days to come.
“This is a very difficult time during this surge. We are seeing high case numbers and hospitalization rates… we’re also seeing strain in many of our hospitals around the country,” Murthy said. “The next few weeks will be tough.”
Nearly 1,800 Americans are dying from COVID-19 each day – an approximately 52.6% jump since Jan. 1.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 851,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 62.9% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 18, 7:30 am
Hong Kong to cull 2,000 small animals after hamsters test positive
Some 2,000 hamsters and other small animals will be culled in Hong Kong amid fears over possible animal-to-human transmission of COVID-19, authorities announced Tuesday.
The move came after an employee at the Little Boss pet store in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay shopping district tested positive for the highly contagious delta variant on Monday. Further testing revealed at least 11 hamsters in the shop, imported from the Netherlands, were also infected, according to authorities.
The store has been shuttered and its hamsters, rabbits and chinchillas will all be tested and euthanized. Anyone who visited the shop since Jan. 7 is being urged to get in touch with authorities. Although officials said there is no evidence animals can transmit the virus to humans, they are not ruling out the possibility.
As a precautionary measure, authorities said they will seize all hamsters in Hong Kong’s 34 licensed stores for testing before putting them down in a humane manner. Residents who purchased hamsters after Dec. 22 are being urged to hand them over to be tested and culled. The customers themselves will be subject to mandatory testing and quarantine.
Hong Kong will also cease the sale and import of small mammals, including hamsters. All shops selling hamsters in the city have been ordered to stop doing so immediately, according to authorities.
“We have assessed the risks of these batches are relatively high and therefore made the decision based on public health needs,” Dr. Leung Siu-fai, director of Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, told a press conference Tuesday. “We urge all pet owners to observe strict hygiene when handling their pets and cages. Do not kiss or abandon them on the streets.”
-ABC News’ Britt Clennett
Jan 17, 2:31 pm
Moderna working on combined COVID, flu booster
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told the Davos Agenda Monday that the company is working on a combined COVID-19 and flu booster shot, which could, in a “best case scenario,” be made available by fall 2023.
Bancel said the company’s goal is to be able to provide a single annual booster.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 17, 2:16 pm
Fauci: Unclear whether omicron will lead world into an ‘endemic’ phase
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday it’s an “open question” as to whether the omicron variant will lead the globe into a new endemic phase of the pandemic.
“We were fortunate that omicron, although it is highly transmissible, nonetheless, is not as pathogenic but the sheer volume of people who are getting infected overrides that rather less level of pathogenicity,” Fauci said at the Davos Agenda, a virtual event held by the World Economic Forum.
But Fauci said it’s still unclear if omicron’s reduced severity will translate to the virus gradually becoming less prevalent.
“I would hope that that’s the case. But that would only be the case if you don’t get another variant that alludes to the immune response to the prior variant,” Fauci said, adding that it is “very difficult” to calculate how the globe could reach herd immunity.
When the globe does enter an endemic phase, Fauci said there will be a “new normal.”
“It’s not going to be that you’re going to eliminate this disease completely. We’re not going to do that. But hopefully it will be at such a low level that it doesn’t disrupt our normal, social, economic and other interactions with each other,” Fauci said. “To me, that’s what the new normal is. I hope the new normal also includes a real strong corporate memory of what pandemics can do.”
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 17, 11:40 am
Growing evidence suggests COVID surge may be receding in parts of US
Growing evidence suggests the omicron surge may be beginning to recede in the parts of the U.S. that were first hit by the variant.
Although new case rates remain high across much of the Northeast, daily totals are slowly beginning to fall. New York City reported a 17% drop and New Jersey reported a 17.6% drop in new cases over the last week. Washington, D.C., reported a nearly 25% decline and Vermont saw a nearly 22% decline in cases in the last week.
But health officials caution the latest surge has yet to peak for much of the U.S. The nation is still reporting nearly 800,000 new cases a day — a record high and a more than eight-fold increase compared to six weeks ago.
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN on Sunday that Americans should not expect a decline in the days to come.
“This is a very difficult time during this surge. We are seeing high case numbers and hospitalization rates… we’re also seeing strain in many of our hospitals around the country,” Murthy said. “The next few weeks will be tough.”
Nearly 1,800 Americans are dying from COVID-19 each day – an approximately 52.6% jump since Jan. 1.
