Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy has premiered the video for “A Thousand Words,” a track off his new solo album, The Ides of March.
The clip, which features animated paper models, begins with Kennedy delivering a eulogy at a funeral before taking him on a surreal adventure. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.
The Ides of March, Kennedy’s second solo album, was released in May. It also includes the single “In Stride.”
Kennedy launches a solo tour in support of The Ides of March Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The Jonas Brothers are bound and determined to find out “Who’s In Your Head.”
Over the weekend, the trio of Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas premiered the new song during their headlining set at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, and have since shared a teaser on TikTok.
The song features an ear-pleasing electro-pop beat as the brothers sing, “I wanna know/Who’s in your head/Stealin’ your heart while I’m still waiting/Who’s in your bed/Wrapped in your arms while I ain’t sleepin.'”
“Who’s In Your Head” will officially be released as their next single on September 17. The Grammy nominated group continue on their Remember This Tour through October 27.
Luke Bryan‘s hit single, “Waves,” is enjoying a second week at the top of the charts. The song, from his latest Born Here Live Here Die Here album, is one from the record that he didn’t write, but he knew right away that he wanted to include it on the project.
“’Waves’ is a song about kids falling in love during the summer and just all the images and everything about just how beautiful that summer love is and how the emotions just keep coming in waves,” Luke previously said of the song, which was written by Ryan Hurd, Chase McGill and Zach Crowell. “‘Waves’ is kind of a play on words, and I feel in love with the song the second I heard it.”
Luke is spending much of the remainder of the year on the road, on his Proud to Be Right Here Tour. He will take a break this week for his Farm Tour, which kicks off on Thursday, September 9, in Marshall, WI.
The new official Led Zeppelin documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin got its premiere at Italy’s Venice International Film Festival over the weekend and, according to Variety, guitarist Jimmy Page was on hand to take part in a press conference celebrating the film’s debut.
During the event, held Saturday, Page noted that before agreeing to participate in this film, he and his surviving band mates had turned down many previous requests to do what he described as “miserable” documentaries about Led Zeppelin.
“[T]hey’d want to be concentrating on anything but the music, and consequently I would recoil immediately from that sort of thing,” Page explained.
Jimmy noted that Becoming Led Zeppelin was “everything about the music and what would make the music tick. And it’s complete versions of song, not just a little sample and then talking heads. This is something in a totally different genre.”
As previously reported, Becoming Led Zeppelin features new interviews with Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones, as well as archival interviews with the group’s late drummer, John Bonham.
The film, which was directed by Bernard McMahon, follows the individual paths of Led Zeppelin’s members through their various groups and musical endeavors en route to becoming part of one of the biggest and most influential rock bands in the world. The documentary ends in 1970, at the height of Led Zeppelin’s meteoric rise.
Page said that the movie focuses on the early period of Led Zeppelin’s career, during which the band released its first two albums in the same year, 1970, and toured the U.K. and the U.S.
“The momentum was absolutely…I was going a million miles an hour,” Jimmy noted. That’s what they’ve managed to capture.”
According to Variety, all 12 scheduled festival screenings of Becoming Led Zeppelin were sold out.
Most actors have to grind away at day jobs to make ends meet before finding fame, and Shang-Chi star Simu Liu is no exception — as proven by a host of stock photos one fan uncovered.
Liu, who also appeared on the beloved comedy series Kim’s Convenience before Marvel came calling, was once one of any number of people you see in stock photos, toiling away in fake offices and doing other random stuff.
One fan spotted Liu, and compiled some of the stock photos in which he appears. Buzzfeed then took notice, reposting the pics. Sure enough, there’s Marvel Studios’ newest superhero — currently riding high after a record $90 million Labor Day opening — looking psyched as he points out something on a computer to his office “colleagues,” leads a “presentation,” and cheats a look to the camera as some other people are looking over paint swatches … or something.
And because the Internet, fans had some fun with the images, with one Photoshopping Simu from his stock photo into a meeting with the Avengers from Captain America: Civil War, among others.
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten-Ring Binder,” another commented.
Liu himself even got in on the fun, repurposing the shot of him pointing at something on his laptop: “Me laughing at the people who thought we’d flop,” he snarked.
As actors always say, you’re always one role away from stardom, and here’s your proof — or proofs, as it were.
(WASHINGTON) — Howard University canceled classes on Tuesday after it was hit with a ransomware attack, the Washington, D.C., the school said in a statement.
The HBCU said it has been working to fully address the incident and restore operations “but please consider that remediation, after an incident of this kind, is a long haul – not an overnight solution.”
Officials said the physical campus will be open to essential staff, but campus WiFi will be down.
“This is a highly dynamic situation, and it is our priority to protect all sensitive personal, research and clinical data,” the university said. “We are in contact with the FBI and the D.C. city government, and we are installing additional safety measures to further protect the University’s and your personal data from any criminal ciphering.”
The FBI has not responded to an ABC News request for comment, and neither the university nor law enforcement has identified who is behind the attack.
Howard said there has been no evidence that personal data has been stolen – but it is continuing to work with partners to find out what exactly happened.
Last week, the FBI and the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned companies to be vigilant and on alert for ransomware attacks over the Labor Day weekend.
The agencies noted that the past two major cyber attacks have occurred over a holiday weekend – noting that, leading into the Mother’s Day weekend, the Colonial Pipeline was hacked, over Memorial Day weekend meat supplier JBS was hacked and over the Fourth of July weekend IT management company Kaseya was hacked.
The FBI and CISA noted in 2020 they received 791,790 complaints about targeting which is a record, and they are seeing the trend continue in 2021.
From January to July 31, 2021, the FBI has received 2,084 ransomware complaints with over $16.8M in losses, a 62% increase in reporting and 20% increase in reported losses compared to the same time frame in 2020.
“The destructive impact of ransomware continues to evolve beyond encryption of IT assets. Cyber criminals have increasingly targeted large, lucrative organizations and providers of critical services with the expectation of higher value ransoms and increased likelihood of payments,” the notice released Aug. 31 said. “Cyber criminals have also increasingly coupled initial encryption of data with a secondary form of extortion, in which they threaten to publicly name affected victims and release sensitive or proprietary data exfiltrated 1 This number includes only those victims who have provided information to IC3 before encryption, to further encourage payment of ransom.”
(NEW YORK) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday continued his tour of damage caused by Hurricane Ida, traveling to New York and New Jersey to see first-hand the devastation the massive storm inflicted on the Northeast.
The president will reprise his role as consoler in chief, meeting with local leaders to get a briefing on the damage to the area, and touring a neighborhood in Manville, New Jersey, before heading to Queens in New York to tour the damage there, and deliver remarks.
“He will receive an update on recovery efforts and underscore the commitment to providing the federal government’s full support for communities impacted by the storm,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki previewed.
“He’ll also meet with families and first responders to hear firsthand about the devastation,” she added.
Biden will be joined by FEMA Administrator Criswell, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, and members of New York and New Jersey’s congressional delegations. While on the ground, the president will make the case for his $1 trillion infrastructure bill that recently passed the Senate with bipartisan support, in addition to a $3.5 trillion social spending bill that comprises his ‘build back better’ agenda — arguing that the extreme weather events affecting the country highlight the need for major investments.
“The average cost of extreme weather are getting bigger, and no one is immune from climate change. That’s what you’ll hear him talk about in his remarks today, as well as his belief, based on a lot of data and studies, that every dollar that we invest saves $6 down the road in these communities as we’re preparing for extreme weather events,” Psaki told reporters on the way to New Jersey Tuesday.
“He’ll also make the case as to why this is the reason, one of the reasons, as we’re looking at these extreme weather events around the country, that it’s so imperative we act on addressing the climate crisis and investing in — addressing those through his Build Back Better agenda, which is working its way through Congress.”
Tuesday’s trip follows the president’s trip to Louisiana’s gulf coast Friday where Hurricane Ida made landfall, where he made similar arguments for his policy proposals currently working their way through Congress.
“Things are changing so drastically in terms of the environment,” the president said Friday. “We’ve already crossed certain thresholds. We can’t build back a road, a highway, a bridge or anything to what it was before. I mean, you got to build back to what it is now, what’s needed now.”
The White House has continued to highlight the federal response to the devastating storm that has claimed the lives of at least 68 people across 8 states. Over the weekend, President Biden approved emergency declarations for New York and New Jersey to provide federal aid to the recovery efforts in impacted areas.
“This was a historic storm, deadly. Tragically the loss of 27 lives, four still missing, small businesses, and roadways, and in some cases schools. First responders were extraordinarily heroic, but there is a significant loss associated with this storm. We’ll do all that we can in the state, but we need the federal government in a big way,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in an interview with CBS News on Sunday.
(WASHINGTON) — After the Biden administration finished one of the largest airlifts in the nation’s history Aug. 30, organizations tasked with helping Afghans arriving in the U.S. are scrambling to ramp up operations following years of downsizing due to the Trump administration’s slashed refugee program.
As Afghans flow in the country, organizations are asking the Biden administration to increase funding to help them recover and expand operations to accommodate the refugees.
Most of the 40,000 refugees who have arrived from the flights out of Kabul are Afghans, and the total number is expected to surpass 50,000 in the coming days and weeks, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday.
The refugee resettlement agencies that help transport individuals and families from the airport, provide them with housing and aid them with finding employment are facing numbers not seen in the last four years, according to Kristyn Peck, CEO of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area, a nonprofit that provides community services, including refugee and immigrant resettlement.
“The evacuation of Afghan allies was chaotic, but their settlement doesn’t need to be,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of the nine nonprofits partnered with the Department of State to resettle refugees.
But LSSNCA has identified a $1.8 million funding gap it needs to close to fully resettle the 500 refugees it has helped over the last month. And that number doesn’t include funding for those still arriving, Peck said.
In 2020, the Trump administration slashed refugee admissions to a historically low ceiling, capping the number allowed in the country at 15,000 — 3,000 people fewer than the prior fiscal year and roughly 55,000 fewer than the last cap set by former President Barack Obama. That also caused reductions in government funding of refugee organizations, which receive federal funding per refugee they help with resettlement. As a result of the lower cap, organizations received less funding because they were resettling fewer people, according to LIRS.
In response to smaller budgets and a lower demand for services, many organizations were forced to close offices and reduce staff.
LSSNCA, based in Washington, D.C., was resettling 500 people a year under the Trump administration, down from 1,500 in the last year of the Obama administration. The U.S. was on track to admit the lowest number of refugees in the program’s 41-year history after President Joe Biden backtracked in April on his promise to admit more refugees, leaving former President Donald Trump’s 15,000 refugee cap in place.
After pressure from Democrats on Capitol Hill, Biden reversed course in May and raised the refugee number to 62,500. But ramping up in time to meet the growing need remains an issue.
World Relief, another of the State Department’s partner agencies for resettlement, had to close a third of its U.S. offices as a result of the Trump administration’s caps, according to Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Policy Jenny Yang. Rebuilding World Relief’s capacities to meet the sudden demand for services has been a significant challenge, Yang said.
“When you have limited capacity, even in the U.S., or more strained capacities in the U.S. to receive refugees, then we’re dealing with now the work of building up programs again,” Yang said. “I think all of that is very challenging.”
Peck said the mobilization has been like going from being the local corner store to becoming a Target, saying LSSNCA’s staffing structure makes sense for 500 people a year, not 500 people a month. The organization is being forced to completely restructure the way it functions to accommodate the number of refugees arriving, Peck said.
“We are providing services in real time while we are simultaneously meeting every single morning on, ‘What policies need revising? What processes need revising? What doesn’t work at this scale? What new positions do we need to bring on?'” she said. “It is a daily process of improvement so that we can rethink our systems.”
Compounding the funding shortfall is the fact that the majority of Afghans coming to the U.S. hold humanitarian parole status because they have yet to be fully processed for their special immigrant visas or through the refugee program. The federal government provides 90 days assistance, including $2,275 per person admitted under humanitarian parole status — $1,225 in direct assistance to the refugee and $1,050 to the resettlement agency for administrative costs to provide resettlement services, according to LIRS.
But those with humanitarian parole status are not eligible for the same federal benefits — such as financial, food and health care assistance — as SIV holders or those in the refugee resettlement program, and refugee organizations must cover additional costs.
For example, Peck said a family her organization was helping to resettle needed immunizations in order to keep their parole status. But because they did not qualify for federal benefits through the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the organization had to cover the costs at about $300 per person.
Communities and businesses across the nation have stepped up to donate money or items and offer volunteer services to help support the refugee organizations as they grapple with the sudden influx of refugees. Airbnb announced on Aug. 24 it would provide free housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees worldwide, and the same day Walmart made the pledge to donate $1 million to three organizations helping to resettle refugees, veterans and their families.
LSSNCA and LIRS have both relied on the Airbnb partnership to secure temporary housing for arriving Afghans since finding housing on such short notice can pose a significant challenge, according to both of the organizations’ CEOs.
Peck said the LSSNCA had to dedicate a team of volunteers to unpack and organize private donations that cover the floor and reach to the ceiling at the group’s office.
But while the outpouring of support from private companies and individuals has helped make a difference, refugee organizations say it isn’t enough for a crisis of this size.
The organizations are calling on Congress and the Biden administration to guarantee funds for the resettlement of Afghans and to expand the same federal benefits available to refugees and SIV holders to those with humanitarian parole status.
Vignarajah said both Congress and the White House need to “adequately fund the resources for newly arrived families” in addition to being proactive about the legal status of those being admitted.
“The administration and Congress need to be forward-thinking about their legal status,” Vignarajah said. “That’s going to have a huge impact on services and benefits they may be eligible for and what peace of mind we can give them.”
On Aug. 16, Biden authorized $500 million for refugees and those at risk due to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. But it is not clear how much of that funding will be set aside for refugee agencies coordinating the effort to resettle Afghans in the U.S.
Mayorkas said Friday that America is “reestablishing its leadership in the world as a place of refuge,” and the president announced the same day that former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell will be his point person for resettling Afghan refugees arriving in the U.S., serving as the coordinator for what the White House is calling “Operation Allies Welcome.”
Also on Friday, Reps. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Don Bacon, R-Neb., introduced the WELCOMED Act which, if passed, would extend the same federal benefits as SIV holders to those admitted with humanitarian parole status.
By next year, you’ll be able to do more than just imagine seeing Imagine Dragons live.
Dan Reynolds and company have announced a 2022 headlining tour in support of their just-released new album, Mercury — Act 1. The trek, dubbed the Mercury tour, is set to kick off February 6 in Miami, and will conclude March 14 in Phoenix.
Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, September 10, at 10 a.m. local time. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit ImagineDragonsMusic.com.
Mercury — Act 1, the fifth Imagine Dragons album, dropped last Friday. It includes the singles “Follow You,” “Wrecked” and “Cutthroat.”
The death of actor Michael K. Williams has left his fans shook, including those in Hollywood. Moments after the news broke Monday that the 54-year-old The Wire veteran was found dead in his Brooklyn penthouse, celebrities who worked with him, and others who just loved his work, poured their hearts out.
Here is just a sampling of those who shared their thoughts:
Williams’ The Wire co-star Wendell Pierce was one of the first to weigh in, in a lengthy Twitter thread that began with, “The depth of my love for this brother, can only be matched by the depth of my pain learning of his loss…”
The show’s creator, David Simon, expressed, “Too gutted right now to say all that ought to be said. Michael was a fine man and a rare talent and on our journey together he always deserved the best words. And today those words won’t come.”
Spike Lee posted a photo of he and Williams courtside, cheering on the Knicks. He captioned it, “Whew Lawd,Dis Is A Tough Day-1st We Lose The Great French Actor JEAN PAUL BELMONDO And Now My Brother MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS. Our Brother Passed Away Today In His Home,Da People’s Republic Of Brooklyn. I’m Shook. Drinking A Bottle Of Italian Red Wine-Brunello Di Montalcino By Myself. Our Greats Are Leaving Us Left And Right. GOD BLESS.”
John Wick actor Lance Reddickposted a touching video tribute to Williams, explaining how even though they weren’t close, Williams went the extra mile to help his career. “While everybody else talks about what a great actor he was, I just want to say from my experience he was one of the kindest, gentlest, most genuine, giving courageous souls I ever met. Rest in peace, my brother,” Reddick declared.
Questlove: “Please God No. I can’t take this pain. Death cannot be this normal.”
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: “You’ll be missed, brother. A real pleasure to work with you and call you a friend. Strength, mana & love to your family during this very difficult and heartbreaking time. Go rest high.”
The Suicide Squad writer-directorJames Gunn: “Michael K Williams, in addition to being one of the most talented actors around, was also one of the kindest, sweetest, most gentle souls I’ve ever met. This is heartbreaking. My thoughts are with all those who loved him.”
Williams’ Body Brokers co-star Frank Grillo: “I’m absolutely gutted to hear that my friend #michaelkwilliams has passed. Not only a legend on screen but a legend of a human. We had great laughs together on set and off. Rest easy my brother.”
Leslie Jones: “…Michael K Williams was a solid dude. He was so nice to me when we did ghostbusters and we bonded on many levels!! Damn I was just thinking the next time I saw him I was gonna tell him how dope of an actor he is…”
John Cusacksaid Williams’ work as Omar in The Wire was “Among the greatest performances tv and film has ever seen.”
Mia Farrow: “We have lost another irreplaceable actor. RIP Michael K.Williams. You were too young to leave us- we were looking forward to so many more great performances. Thoughts with family and friends.”
