Van Morrison is are among the artists in the running for the Best Original Song — Motion Picture honor for the 2022 Golden Globe Awards, nominees for which were announced this morning.
Morrison received his nod for “Down to Joy,” which he wrote for the movie Belfast.
Another Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Carole King, also is nominated in the category, for co-writing “Here I Am (Singing My Way Home),” from the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect. Jennifer Hudson, the star of Respect, and British songwriter and producer Jamie Hartman are nominated alongside Carole for co-writing “Here I Am (Singing My Way Home).”
Other Best Original Song nominees include Beyoncé for “Be Alive,” a song she co-wrote for the movie King Richard; Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas for “No Time to Die,” from the James Bond movie of the same name; and Lin-Manuel Miranda for “Dos Oruguitas,” a song he wrote for the animated film Encanto.
Keith Urban continues the spirit of giving with another surprise visit to a school.
Keith recently met with students in his native Australia at The Urbenville Public School in New South Wales. The young students caught the singer’s eye after the school posted videos of them singing uplifting songs each Friday afternoon during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among their favorite artists to cover is Keith, with the students even extending an invite for him to come to their “Little Stars under the Big Stars” concert ,where they were performing his hits “Somebody Like You” and “We Were Us.”
Saying he was “moved” by their efforts, the country superstar paid a surprise visit to the school via Zoom. His surprise appearance drew shocked expressions and tears of joy from the class. Among the questions students asked were “what is your favorite song to play?” and “how old were you when you started to play the guitar?”
Additionally, Keith gifted five guitars to the school, and even gave each student their own guitar to take home.
“You guys are so inspiring to me, every one of you,” Keith raved. “This is where it begins, right there, wanting to play an instrument, wanting to sing and play for other people. It’s a really important part of I think of everything you guys are doing.”
Earlier this month, the “Wild Hearts” singer visited in-person with students at Hillwood High School in Nashville.
Evanescence and Halestorm have postponed a show on their ongoing co-headlining tour due to the outing getting “hit by COVID.”
The affected date, originally scheduled to take place this past Sunday in Cincinnati, Ohio, will now be held next Monday, December 20.
“Even when you have every precaution in place, you can still get and transmit this virus,” Evanescence tweeted Sunday. “Grateful we are all vaccinated and nobody’s symptoms are severe.”
“Please be smart and stay safe this season, get the vax, wear a mask, care for one another,” the band added. “We will get through this together.”
So far, the infection has only hit the Evanescence side. Lzzy Hale shared that “Everyone in the Halestorm band and crew are safe, sound and negative!” but added that she and her band mates will still be “locking down for the next two days.”
“Fingers crossed that we can then resume this magical tour,” Hale wrote in an Instagram post. “We are sending our good vibes and well wishes to our dear friends in the Evanescence camp!”
The tour, which kicked off in November, is currently scheduled to continue Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
Those who wanted to wait before buying tickets to Olivia Rodrigo‘s Sour tour are out of luck: it’s completely sold out.
“SOUR TOUR is sold out!!!,” Olivia announced over the weekend, adding, “been waiting so long to perform these songs live. this is my very first tour and i’m so nervous but so excited to sing and dance the night away with you all!!!”
The Grammy nominee had some encouraging words for those who had a brutal time getting their hands on tickets, which went on sale Friday, saying, “there will be more tours in the future and I can’t wait to see you then!!!”
She signed off by thanking her “incredible fans” for making her first tour a resounding success and celebrated, “ahhh here we goooo!!!.”
As previously reported, Olivia’s Sour tour begins April 2, 2022 with a performance in San Francisco, California. The 40-date North American leg of her trek includes the major cities across the U.S. and Canada — such as New York City, Las Vegas and Toronto — before concluding in Los Angeles on May 25, 2022.
Olivia will then head across the pond for a brief European leg, starting with a show on June 11 in Hamburg, Germany. The Sour tour concludes July 7, 2022 in London, England.
It is unknown at this time if more dates will be announced.
Van Morrison and Carole King are among the artists in the running for the Best Original Song — Motion Picture honor for the 2022 Golden Globe Awards, nominees for which were announced this morning.
Morrison received his nod for “Down to Joy,” which he wrote for the movie Belfast. King is nominated for co-writing “Here I Am (Singing My Way Home),” from the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect. Jennifer Hudson, the star of Respect, and British songwriter and producer Jamie Hartman are nominated alongside Carole for co-writing “Here I Am (Singing My Way Home).”
Other Best Original Song nominees include Beyoncé for “Be Alive,” a song she co-wrote for the movie King Richard; Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas for “No Time to Die,” from the James Bond movie of the same name; and Lin-Manuel Miranda for “Dos Oruguitas,” a song he wrote for the animated film Encanto.
(TOKYO) — Earlier this month, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo warned foreigners of an increase in suspected racial profiling cases involving Japanese police.
Non-Japanese people were being stopped and searched by the police, as well as being detained and interrogated under questionable circumstances, the embassy said. “U.S. citizens should carry proof of immigration and request consular notification if detained,” read an alert it posted on Twitter and Facebook.
ABC News has learned that the alert was based on multiple, credible reports of suspected racial profiling of foreigners, including American citizens.
Japan was quick to respond to the warning. The Kishida administration’s top spokesman, Hirokazu Matsuno, denied the allegation against Japan’s law enforcement, maintaining that police investigate people when they believe they have committed a crime or have exhibited suspicious behavior.
“Investigations are based on law, not nationality,” the spokesman said.
Accounts of non-Japanese people being singled out by police for questioning and searching are widespread in Japan’s foreign community. Suspects can be held for extended periods of time and many confess to charges, leading to the country’s high conviction rates.
“We have good reason to believe police officers frequently racially profile people of foreign origin,” said Junko Hayashi, an attorney with Partners Law Office in Tokyo. “We need more solid data regarding this issue. Therefore, the Tokyo Bar Association will start a survey on police questioning of people with foreign roots.”
That survey is slated to start on Jan. 11.
Suspects have rights under Japanese law, such as the right to remain silent and have legal counsel, but exercising those rights is a challenge, said Tokyo-based attorney Atsuko Nishiyama.
“You have those rights, but I hesitate in advising people to exercise them. The reason being, when a police officer stops and searches you, they are supposed to do it only when they have grounds to suspect that a crime has been committed or will be committed,” Nishiyama said. “If you actually refuse to cooperate with an officer, the police take your refusal in itself as suspicious making you a suspect. This is twisted logic.”
Nishiyama told ABC News that some foreigners who initially didn’t cooperate with a search or questioning found the situation escalating — and the number of police officers around them increasing. She noted that some foreigners in Japan feel obligated to cooperate because they are at risk of being kicked out of the country and losing their livelihood.
“I think the way the police think is fundamentally wrong. Yet, the way that they think is considered normal and acceptable,” Nishiyama said.
(WASHINGTON) — Omicron can evade the protection initial vaccines give, but boosters increase efficacy and better protect against the newest variant of concern, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.
The variant can also evade protections provided by monoclonal antibodies and convalescent plasma, the White House chief medical adviser told ABC This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos. “If you want to be optimally protected, absolutely get a booster,” he said.
Omicron has a high degree of transmissibility, which Fauci said is easy to see as the delta and omicron variants compete for dominance. With less than 140 omicron cases confirmed in the United States so far, delta is still driving the pandemic. The U.S. is currently averaging more than 118,000 new cases a day — an increase of more than 42% in the last two weeks — and hospitalizations are also on the rise; in the last month, COVID-related admissions are up nearly 50%.
Fauci said there are 60 million eligible Americans who are not yet vaccinated and about 100 million who are eligible for boosters. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, 60.7% of the entire U.S. population is fully vaccinated, and around 26% of fully vaccinated individuals — more than 50 million — have received a booster shot.
The omicron variant was discovered in southern Africa last month and has been deemed a “variant of concern” by experts. Early anecdotal data has shown that most who contract the new variant experience mild illness, but the main consensus among experts is that it’s too early to tell what the long term impacts will be.
“The level of severity appears to be maybe a bit less than delta. But there are a lot of confounding issues there,” Fauci told Stephanopoulos. “It may be due to the underlying protection in the community due to prior infections, but these are just preliminary data that we’re going to have to just follow carefully to get them confirmed.”
With omicron’s transmission advantage and protection evasion, Stephanopoulos pressed Fauci on whether a three-shot vaccine regimen will become the standard of care. But while the official requirements remain two doses of an mRNA vaccine and one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Fauci said if individuals “want to be optimally protected, (they should) absolutely get a booster.”
Stephanopoulos noted the World Health Organization has said boosters will exacerbate global vaccine distribution inequities and has asked richer countries to hold off on boosters. The organization’s concern is that some people are getting multiple doses, when those in other countries have yet to receive their first shot.
“That’s an understandable concern, but it isn’t really that valid if you do both,” Fauci responded. “We are, right now, vaccinating our own country, we’re going to be boosting as many people as we possibly can. But you can also simultaneously make doses available to the developing world.”
According to Fauci, the U.S. has given “over 300 million doses to over 100 countries.” The U.S. has pledged to give upward of “1.1 billion doses” and have given more assistance “than all of the other countries combined.”
After nearly two years of lockdowns, masking and consistent news about the longevity of the pandemic — Fauci said yearly boosters are a possibility — some people are experiencing “pandemic fatigue.” Touching on that, Stephanopoulos asked Fauci what signs of hope he sees for this holiday season.
“Well, we have the tools to protect ourselves,” Fauci said. With the vaccines, “We can go a long way to getting us through this cold winter season, which clearly is always associated with a spike in respiratory illnesses.”
There’s also fatigue — and protests — regarding masks, something Fauci hinted toward when talking about tools to stay safe.
“Masking is not going to be forever, but it can get us out of the very difficult situation we’re in now,” Fauci added.
Low vaccination rates in young children may be contributing to the difficult situation. Stephanopoulos noted less than one in five eligible children have been vaccinated so far.
Speaking directly to parents, Fauci said, “If your child is 5 years of age and older, please get them vaccinated. We need to protect the children. This idea that children are not vulnerable at all is not so.”
While children who contract COVID-19 don’t typically experience severe symptoms, “over 2 million children from 5 to 11 have been infected,” Fauci said. “There have been over 8,000 to 9,000 hospitalizations and well over 100 deaths.”
“So it’s not only good for the health of the child, but also to prevent the spread in the community,” he said.
Back in October, Don McLean announced the initial dates for a 2022 U.S. tour commemorating the 50th anniversary of his classic anthem “American Pie” and his studio album of the same name. Now the singer-songwriter has unveiled about 20 additional North American shows.
The new dates run from an April 29 concert in Kansas City, Missouri, through a July 9 performance in Phoenix, Arizona, and stops in other cities including Indianapolis, Toronto, Nashville, Atlanta, St. Louis, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Denver, San Antonio and Houston.
“After spending the past 18 months at home, I am thrilled to be getting back on the road with my band,” says McLean in a statement. “2022 marks the 50th anniversary from when ‘American Pie’ landed at the #1 spot on the Billboard chart and we will be celebrating on tour all year long. We will be performing all the songs from the American Pie album plus many of the other hits that fans will be expecting to hear.”
As previously reported, McLean’s 2022 American Pie 50th Anniversary Tour kicks off with a three-show engagement, January 28-30, at The Blue Note club in Honolulu, and features several other U.S. concerts taking place in February.
Among the confirmed gigs is scheduled on February 3 at the historic Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. That of course is the venue where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper performed on February 3, 1959, before perishing in a plane crash later that evening. The tragic incident is now known as “The Day the Music Died,” and served as an inspiration for McLean to write “American Pie.”
Nominations for the 79th Golden Globes were announced on Monday morning at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, with Snoop Dogg doing the honors — not that they’re being televised on NBC this year.
A blistering racial controversy behind the scenes at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) led its longtime broadcast partner to drop the annual show.
A press release notes, “The HFPA will recognize the best in film and television on Sunday, January 9, 2022.” However, two big questions remain: Where will they be broadcast, and, even more importantly, will any celebs show up?
In February of this year, a Los Angeles Timesexposé revealed the HFPA hadn’t included a Black member in 20 years. Following the controversy — and the ouster of one of its heads over racially insensitive emails — Hollywood shunned the organization.Tom Cruise even went so far as to return his three trophies in protest.
In August, the HFPA announced reforms to its bylaws and membership rules with the intention of bringing diversity to its ranks.
That said, here are this year’s nominees:
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama
Brian Cox – Succession
Lee Jung-jae – Squid Game
Billy Porter – Pose
Jeremy Strong – Succession
Omar Sy – Lupin
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Leonardo DiCaprio – Don’t Look Up
Peter Dinklage – Cyrano
Andrew Garfield – Tick, Tick… Boom!
Cooper Hoffman – Licorice Pizza
Anthony Ramos – In the Heights
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Marion Cotillard – Annette
Alana Haim – Licorice Pizza
Jennifer Lawrence – Don’t Look Up
Emma Stone – Cruella
Rachel Zegler – West Side Story
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Mahershala Ali – Swan Song
Javier Bardem – Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
Will Smith – King Richard
Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth
Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy The Great Hacks Only Murders in the Building Reservation Dogs Ted Lasso
Best Television Series, Drama Lupin The Morning Show Pose Squid Game Succession
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama
Uzo Aduba – In Treatment
Jennifer Aniston – The Morning Show
Christine Baranski – The Good Fight
Elisabeth Moss – The Handmaid’s Tale
MJ Rodriguez – Pose
Best Performance by an Actor, Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture made for Television
Paul Bettany – WandaVision
Oscar Isaac – Scenes From a Marriage
Michael Keaton – Dopesick
Ewan McGregor – Halston
Tahar Rahim – The Serpent
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Kristen Stewart – Spencer
Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter
Lady Gaga – House of Gucci
Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos
Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture made for Television Dopesick American Crime Story: Impeachment Maid Mare of Easttown The Underground Railroad
Best Picture, Musical or Comedy Cyrano Don’t Look Up Licorice Pizza Tick, Tick… Boom! West Side Story
Best Motion Picture, Drama Belfast CODA Dune King Richard The Power of the Dog
Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture
Caitriona Balfe – Belfast
Ariana Debose – West Side Story
Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard
Ruth Negga – Passing
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Ben Affleck – The Tender Bar
Jamie Dornan – Belfast
Ciarán Hinds – Belfast
Troy Kotsur – CODA
Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog
Best Director, Motion Picture
Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter
Steven Spielberg – West Side Story
Denis Villeneuve – Dune
Best Screenplay, Motion Picture Licorice Pizza Belfast The Power of the Dog Don’t Look Up Being the Ricardos
Best Original Score, Motion Picture
Alexandre Desplat – The French Dispatch
Germaine Franco – Encanto
Jonny Greenwood – The Power of the Dog
Alberto Iglesias – Parallel Mothers
Hans Zimmer – Dune
Best Actress in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy
Hannah Einbinder – Hacks
Elle Fanning – The Great
Issa Rae – Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross – Black-ish
Jean Smart – Hacks
Best Actor in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy
Anthony Anderson – Black-ish
Nicholas Hoult – The Great
Steve Martin – Only Murders in the Building
Martin Short – Only Murders in the Building
Jason Sudeikis – Ted Lasso
Best Supporting Actress, Television
Jennifer Coolidge – The White Lotus
Kaitlyn Dever – Dopesick
Andie MacDowell – Maid
Sarah Snook – Succession
Hannah Waddingham – Ted Lasso
Best Supporting Actor, Television
Billy Crudup – The Morning Show
Kieran Culkin – Succession
Mark Duplass – The Morning Show
Brett Goldstein – Ted Lasso
O Yeong-su – Squid Game
Best Original Song, Motion Picture
“Be Alive” from King Richard
“Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto
“Down To Joy” from Belfast
“Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)” from RESPECT
“No Time To Die” from No Time To Die
Best Picture, Foreign Language Compartment No. 6 Drive My Car The Hand of God A Hero Parallel Mothers
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris will announce the administration’s EV Charging Action Plan on Monday to fast-track a nationwide charging network for electric vehicles.
The plan outlines steps for how federal agencies, such as the Department of Energy and the Department of Transportation, can support the president’s EV goals. Biden said he would like half of all new vehicle sales to be electric by 2030.
EVs currently make up 2% of the U.S. market. Sales of electrified vehicles — pure battery electric vehicles, hybrids and plug-in hybrids — accounted for 10.4% of total vehicle sales in the third-quarter of 2021, according to Kelley Blue Book, an all-time high. The best-selling EV in the U.S. is Tesla’s Model Y.
A joint office will be set up between the Energy and Transportation agencies to leverage resources and build the nationwide network, according to the administration. Industry insiders argue that a million DC fast chargers — which allow drivers to recharge 80% of a vehicle’s battery in 30 minutes — are needed to reach Biden’s EV targets. There are currently fewer than 46,000 EV public charging sites in the U.S., according to Department of Energy data.
Creating a convenient, national charging infrastructure will build public confidence in EVs, according to the administration, which is focusing efforts on adding charging stations in rural, disadvantaged and hard-to-reach locations.
The DOT will also publish guidance no later than Feb. 11, 2022, for how cities and states can strategically deploy EV charging stations as part of this network. Meeting the needs of disadvantaged and rural communities and bringing on private investment are also important for achieving an electric future, the administration said. By May, the DOT will “publish standards for EV chargers in the national network to ensure they work, they’re safe and they’re accessible to everyone, according to the White House.
Moreover, the DOT and DOE will work directly with U.S. automakers on EV charging manufacturing, assembly, installation and maintenance to “drive domestic competitiveness and create good-paying, union jobs.”
General Motors has plans to unveil 30 new electric vehicles by 2025, including the Cadillac Lyriq SUV and an all-electric Silverado truck. Ford said it plans to increase production of EVs to 600,000 units globally by 2030, making it the second-largest producer of EVs after Tesla.
President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure package includes $7.5 billion toward a nationwide network of 500,000 EV charging stations by 2030.
