Garth Brooks has a hometown show on the books. He’s set a date for Nashville’s Nissan Stadium, which will be his Stadium Tour’s final stop in the city as well as the only date in Tennessee.
The show is a long time coming for Garth’s fans in Music City. Over 70,000 fans showed up to watch him play at his planned Nissan Stadium date over the summer, but at the last second, the show was canceled due to severe weather.
Shortly thereafter, Garth had to hit the brakes on his tour plans as a whole, due to a rise in COVID-19 cases, and he wasn’t sure when he’d next get back to Nashville. That makes setting a date for Nissan Stadium extra exciting, both for the star and for his fanbase.
The show is set for April 16 at 7 p.m. Tickets go on sale March 4 at 10 a.m. CT. As always for a stop on the Stadium Tour, the show will feature in-the-round seating.
Garth has big plans to hit cities across the country this spring, with sold-out shows booked for San Diego, Baton Rouge and more. In September, he’ll head over to Ireland for four sold-out dates at Dublin’s Croke Park.
The video features footage of various homeless people, and explains what The Man/Kind Initiative has been doing to help, providing food, shelter and personal care items and more to the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The clip notes that one of the ways that the charity is helping is providing homeless people with temporary mobile shelters called EDAR, which stands for Everyone Deserves a Roof. The The Man/Kind Initiative stocks the shelters with food and personal care items and distributes them to organizations that can provide safe locations, as well as offer on-site sanitation facilities, food services and counseling.
“We’ve all walked past them trying not to notice,” says The Man/Kind Initiative’s founder, Richard Stellar. “I had to find a way to make people see them, to wake them up. We needed to reach millions, and I had to think outside the box on how to make that happen. So, we turned to Paul McCartney, and he delivered. The use of his music may be one of the greatest gifts that a non-profit like ours could get. We now will be able to touch millions with our message, and in turn help tens of thousands of homeless, especially veterans and minorities.”
(ST. PAUL, Minn.) — A federal jury began deliberating Wednesday morning the fates of three former Minneapolis police officers accused of violating George Floyd’s civil rights by not providing medical aid during his fatal arrest and failing to stop their senior officer’s excessive use of force.
The U.S. District Court jury in St. Paul, Minnesota, received final instructions from Judge Paul Magnuson before the panel started weighing the evidence against Thomas Lane, 38, J. Alexander Kueng, 28, and Tou Thao, 35.
Jurors heard closing arguments on Tuesday from prosecutors and defense attorneys, but were sent home before being handed the case due to a snow emergency declared in St. Paul.
In her closing argument, U.S. Assistant Attorney Manda Sertich asked the jury to convict all three defendants, alleging they ignored their duty to intervene as they watched Derek Chauvin “commit a violent crime” by kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, rendering him unconscious and without a detectable pulse.
“No one did a thing to help,” Sertich told the jury.
Chauvin was convicted in state court last year of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison. He later pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges stemming from Floyd’s 2020 death and the physical abuse of a handcuffed 14-year-old boy in 2017.
“A human being, someone’s son, father, friend, significant other, George Perry Floyd Jr. died a slow and torturous death … underneath their knees, handcuffed, unarmed, not resisting in broad daylight on a public street,” Sertich said.
Defendants failed to follow ‘plain, old common sense’
Sertich cited the inactions of all three men, starting with Thao, who testified during the trial that he never touched Floyd and was focused on “crowd control” during the Memorial Day 2020 episode. But Sertich said Thao refused to stop Chauvin’s brutality despite witnesses, including an off-duty firefighter, yelling at him to check on Floyd’s well-being.
She said Kueng and Lane, both rookie cops at the time of Floyd’s death, and Thao failed to follow “plain, old common sense.”
“Chauvin’s use of force was obvious and unreasonable to everyone, including bystanders which included juveniles,” Sertich said.
She added that Thao appeared more concerned with arguing and belittling “people trying to make him do what the law — not to mention human decency and common sense — required him to do.”
Turning her attention to Kueng, Sertich said that even as Floyd begged for his life and repeatedly complained he could not breathe, Kueng pressed the handcuffed man’s wrists into his back and laughed when Chauvin told Floyd that talking uses a lot of oxygen.
While Lane questioned Chauvin about whether they should put Floyd on his side to help ease his breathing and went with Floyd in the ambulance to assist paramedics, Sertich said he “did nothing to give George Floyd the medical aid he knew Mr. Floyd so desperately needed.”
All three defendants testified during the trial and each attempted to shift the blame to Chauvin, who was a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department.
“I would trust a 19-year veteran to figure it out,” Thao testified. Lane told the jury that Chauvin “deflected” all his suggestions to help Floyd and Kueng testified that Chauvin “was my senior officer and I trusted his advice.”
Sertich told the jury that Chauvin barely spoke to Lane, Kueng and Thao during the incident and certainly wasn’t “ordering them around.”
‘A tragedy is not a crime’
Thao’s attorney, Robert Paule, acknowledged in his closing argument that Floyd’s death was a tragedy.
“However, tragedy is not a crime,” Paule said.
Paule argued that the actions of all three officers showed they did not willfully neglect to help Floyd. Paule said Thao was the officer who radioed for an ambulance to step up its dispatch to the scene and suggested using a hobble device to restrain Floyd.
He also said Thao believed that Floyd was suffering from excited delirium, a syndrome in which a subject displays wild agitation and violent behavior, and the best thing to do was hold him down until paramedics arrived.
“They didn’t do that for a bad purpose,” Paule said. “They did that to get medical people there quickly.”
He asked the jury to review videos of the incident presented at the trial, noting, “Three officers are not able to control a person in handcuffs.”
Kueng’s attorney, Thomas Plunkett, said his client’s inadequate training by the Minneapolis Police Department, lack of experience and his “perceived subordinate role to Mr. Chauvin” combined for a perfect storm that cost Floyd his life and disproves the government’s allegations that Kueng willfully deprived Floyd of medical aid and failed to stop Chauvin.
Plunkett said Kueng was “under the influence” of Chauvin, his training officer.
“He respected this person. He looked up to this person. He relied on this person’s experience,” Plunkett said.
He added, “We often hear about the mob mentality. Courts are this country’s protection against the mob and courts depend vitally on you as jurors.”
Lane’s attorney, Earl Gray, wrapped up the closing arguments by accusing the government of indicting an “innocent man.”
“In other words, you can do an innocent act and you can end up in a courtroom like this because that’s what happened to Thomas Lane,” Gray told the jury.
Gray left the jury to ponder the question, “Why did the government indict them?”
“We all know why,” Gray said. “Politics, ladies and gentlemen.”
ABC News’ Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.
After a cryptic tease earlier this week, Florence Welch and company have premiered a new song called “King.” The track, which finds Welch singing, “I am no mother/I am no bride/I am king,” is available now via digital outlets, and is streaming alongside an accompanying video now on YouTube.
“King” is the first new song from Florence since last year’s “Call Me Cruella,” which was recorded for the 2021 Disney film Cruella. The band’s most recent album is 2018’s High as Hope, which features the single “Hunger.”
Meanwhile, Welch is writing original music and lyrics for an upcoming The Great Gatsby musical.
Foo Fighters, Machine Gun Kelly and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are set to play the 2022 Osheaga Festival, taking place July 29-31 in Montreal.
The bill also includes Royal Blood, Glass Animals, Bleachers, beabadoobee, girl in red, Tones and I, Wet Leg, Dominic Fike, Turnstile and Local Natives, among many more.
Rapper A$AP Rocky and pop star Dua Lipa will headline, as well.
Foo Fighters had been originally scheduled to headline Osheaga in 2020 before the festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was scrapped again in 2021, making 2022 Osheaga’s return after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus.
For the full Osheaga 2022 lineup and all ticket info, visit Osheaga.com.
(NEW YORK) — One winter storm has wreaked havoc on Midwest roadways, and another is gearing up to bring a dangerous wave of ice and snow to the Northeast.
The first storm slammed the Midwest Tuesday, dropping 10 to 30 inches of snow in some areas.
The Minnesota State Patrol reported 373 crashes in the last 24 hours, injuring 34 people.
The second storm is forecast to bring major ice accumulation this week from Texas to New York state.
On Wednesday the storm will create horrendous conditions on roads in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. A winter storm warning has been issued for Dallas where ice will be the biggest threat.
The storm then moves north, bringing rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow to the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
On Thursday morning an icy mix will bring sleet, snow and freezing rain to the Mid-Atlantic and Washington, D.C., area.
Thursday night, a more significant wave of ice and snow will arrive to the Interstate 95 corridor from D.C. to Philadelphia and into northern New Jersey.
Freezing rain and sleet will fall Thursday night into Friday morning from Philadelphia to New York City to New York’s Hudson Valley.
Friday morning’s rush hour may be very dangerous in New Jersey, New York City and up to Boston.
The storm will start to move out Friday afternoon with lingering snow most of the afternoon in New England.
Heavy snow is expected from central New York into Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Some areas could see up to 1 foot of snow, especially from Albany, New York, to Boston.
Northern Pennsylvania, the lower Hudson Valley, Connecticut and northern New Jersey could get 4 to 8 inches of snow.
Ice, sleet and freezing rain will be the biggest threat for Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey and New York City.
Olivia Rodrigo is about to head out on her first headline tour to support her record-breaking debut album, SOUR, but she’s already started work on its follow up.
Speaking to Billboard, Olivia reveals, “I have a title for my next album and a few songs. It’s really exciting to think about the next world that’s coming up for me. I just love writing songs. I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself. [I want to] just sort of explore and have fun right now.”
Once again, Olivia’s working with Dan Nigro, with whom she co-wrote most of SOUR. Olivia notes, “The craziness of SOUR being out in the world was something that really only Dan and I could relate to, and I think that has brought us closer together. I trust him so much and really enjoy the music we’ve been making.”
As for pressure to follow up such a successful album, Olivia — whom Billboard has named its Woman of the Year — says, “It’s definitely a different experience writing a second album after having a debut that was so well received. I still write so much of my music in my bedroom though, and I don’t think that experience will ever change.
Olivia also shares what she feels was her most “pinch me” moment: going to the White House to meet President Biden and help promote the COVID-19 vaccine.
She says, “The whole time I was in the White House having this incredible experience, I was just thinking about how I got to do it because I wrote a bunch of songs in my bedroom!”
Foo Fighters are headed back to Austin City Limits.
The long-running PBS music performance series has booked Dave Grohl and company for a taping to air during its upcoming 48th season. The show will take place on April 27.
The Foos previously rocked the ACL stage twice before. Highlights from those shows were compiled into an hour-long ACL special, which premiered in 2021.
“I’m sure I can speak for every musician when I say that being asked to come play Austin City Limits is practically like getting a medal,” Grohl said at the time. “As a musician it’s something to aspire to and if you actually achieve that then you wear it like a badge.”
Other artists set to tape episodes for ACL‘s next season include Arlo Parks, Japanese Breakfast and Cimafunk.
In addition to their trip to ACL, Foo Fighters will be headed to the silver screen with their movie Studio 666, which premieres in theaters this Friday, February 25.
Coldplay has released a cover of the Kid Cudi song “Day ‘n’ Nite.”
Chris Martin and company recorded their spin on the tune for the Spotify Singles series.
“I loved when it came out, and I still love love love it,” Martin says of “Day ‘n’ Nite,” which was Cudi’s debut single.
“This is the first time I think that we’ve really taken proper time to record a cover, because in my head I could hear a version of it quite different from the original, that hopefully just reinforces what a brilliant song it is,” the “Fix You” singer continues. “One way or another I hope that anyone listening will just think, ‘Wow, Kid Cudi is amazing.'”
Coldplay’s Spotify Singles release also includes an acoustic version of the band’s song “Let Somebody Go” alongside Selena Gomez. The original track appears on Coldplay’s new album Music of the Spheres, and also features vocals from Gomez.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) While there were plenty of explosions in George Miller‘s Oscar-winning action epic Mad Max: Fury Road, a new book details some of the major fireworks were between stars Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron.
The pair played, respectively, Max and Furiosa, who came to blows onscreen before ultimately teaming up to escape across the wasteland. However, their real-life relationship was no less volatile, according to New York Times columnist Kyle Buchanan‘s new bookBlood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road.
According to excerpts from the U.K.’s Mirror, the pair clashed even before a frame was shot, and got into arguments so heated that a “threatened” Oscar winner Theron needed to be escorted at all times by a female producer on the project.
“It got to a place where it was kind of out of hand…I didn’t feel safe,” Theron says in the book.
One exchange saw Theron, now 46, exploding about her 44-year-old co-star’s reported tardiness on set. “She jumps out of the War Rig, and she starts swearing her head off at him, saying, ‘Fine the f***ing c*** a hundred thousand dollars for every minute that he’s held up this crew,'” recalls cinematographer Mark Goellnicht.
“…[H]e charged up to her up and went, ‘What did you say to me?’ Goellnicht added.
Hardy seems to take the blame: “In hindsight, I was in over my head in many ways,” he admitted.
“The pressure on both of us was overwhelming at times. What she needed was a better, perhaps more experienced partner in me.”
The Venom series star added, “I’d like to think that now that I’m older and uglier, I could rise to that occasion.”
