One of the most famed musician/guitar brand partnerships is no more.
The estate for late Pantera guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott has cut ties with Dean Guitars after 17 years with the company. Additionally, Rita Haney — Dime’s longtime partner and trustee of his estate — has filed a lawsuit against Dean, alleging fraud, breach of written agreement and false endorsement, among other counts.
In a long statement posted to Dime’s website, Haney writes, “It became clear to me that Dimebag’s relationship with Dean Guiars had come to an end when the CEO of Dean Guitars told me that Dime has been dead for 16 years, and then could not make the money they once did…and then continued on to tell me I should go somewhere else.”
“Well…we will!” Haney says.
The lawsuit accuses Dean of continuing to use photographs of Dimebag, as well as his name and likeness, to continuing to allegedly promote and sell guitars and merchandise despite the expiration of its endorsement deal. Haney also accuses Dean CEO Evan Rubinson of being “incredibly disrespectful and often times belligerent to the legacy” of Dimebag.
“Moving forward, our goal will be to ensure the rightful and respectful celebration of Dime’s legacy and the indelible mark he and his music made on this world,” Haney writes. “It is with absolute conviction that we say that this can no longer happen whilst continuing to partner with Dean Guitars.”
Dean Guitars has not yet publicly addressed the lawsuit.
(WASHINGTON) — The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected to announce that all vaccinated people will be eligible for booster shots at least eight months after their second dose.
But experts caution that vaccine efficacy is declining along a gradual slope — not a sudden cliff that drops off suddenly after eight months. For the nation’s public health experts, the question has become: What’s an acceptable threshold?
Currently available data suggests all three authorized vaccines are offering good protection at least six months after initial vaccination — likely even longer.
“We believe sooner or later you will need a booster for durability of protection,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, speaking at Thursday’s White House press briefing. “We do not believe that others, elderly or non-elderly, who are not immunocompromised, need a vaccine [booster] right at this moment.”
“We are evaluating this on a day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month basis,” Fauci added. “So, if the data shows us that, in fact, we do need to do that, we’ll be very ready to do it and do it expeditiously.”
Vaccine experts have said protection from current COVID-19 vaccines is expected to wane slightly over time. Meanwhile, the delta variant is expected to chip away slightly at overall vaccine effectiveness. Executives from both Moderna and Pfizer have said booster doses eventually will be needed.
But so far, vaccines are still holding up well, experts said. Some studies have indicated a slight dip in efficacy, but mostly when it comes to protection from symptomatic and mild illness. Data thus far indicates that vaccines are still extremely effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths.
Moderna and Pfizer both reported positive data from their ongoing phase 3 trials, which have continued to monitor volunteers at least six months after their initial shots. Moderna has said its vaccine remains more 93% effective against symptomatic illness after six months, while Pfizer reported a dip in efficacy to 84%, though both studies were conducted with slightly different criteria and prior to the emergence of the delta variant.
Although an independent study from the Mayo Clinic hinted that Pfizer immunity might wane faster than Moderna immunity, experts said it’s likely too soon to say that for sure.
Johnson & Johnson, meanwhile, has yet to report six-month data for its single-shot vaccine. The company, however, has released promising laboratory data showing a strong immune system response up to eight months later. And a real-world study from South Africa showed good protection against delta.
That said, some Americans aren’t waiting for a formal recommendation to get an additional shot. According to an internal CDC briefing reported by ABC News, approximately 1.1 million already have taken booster shots.
Many doctors have cautioned against this. Booster doses are still being studied formally, and there could be still-unknown risks associated with getting them. Researchers are still evaluating side effects, proper dosages and the right time to get one.
“The main thing I really want to stress to everyone,” said Dr. Simone Wildes, an infectious disease specialist at South Shore Health and an ABC News contributor, “is that, right now, we are not recommending booster shots. However, that could change.”
Other doctors and public health specialists also said they’re also not rushing to recommend boosters for the general public. Not only are current vaccines proving to be overwhelmingly effective, but doctors are also still collecting data on the potential impacts of an additional shot. And vaccine producers are still researching whether lower dosages will suffice as potential boosters.
“Everyone wants to know — when is the timeline?” Wildes said.
Experts still aren’t sure.
“We don’t know how long immunity lasts,” said John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “We don’t know what ‘waning’ means. We will clearly see that in the fall as we see a surge, and we’ll understand what delta or any future variant means for cases in the population.”
Madonna celebrated her 63rd birthday by going back to her Italian roots and taking her family along for the fun.
In video posted yesterday on her Instagram captioned “Mambo Italiano,” Madonna and her children are shown traveling on a private plane, and one of her twin daughters says in French, “We’re going to Italy.” We then see Madonna striking a pose against a stone balustrade, smoking and declaring, “Happy Birthday to me!”
As Dean Martin‘s classic song “That’s Amore” plays, we see Madonna walking hand in hand with her boyfriend, Ahlamalik Williams, to a massive dining table set up outdoors, surrounded by what we assume are all her birthday guests. There is also plenty of video of Madonna seductively licking an ice-cream cone, both with and without her boyfriend.
A separate post shows Madonna and all her children having fun during the party, and there’s more footage of the birthday preparations and surroundings on her Instagram Stories.
Last week, Madonna said that for her birthday she wanted fans to contribute money to purchase more beds for the pediatric hospital she established in Malawi four years ago.
Yesterday, Madonna announced a huge new deal with Warner Music Group that will, in part, see her reissuing deluxe editions of some of her classic albums in 2022 to mark the 40th anniversary of her recording debut.
After their End of the Road farewell tour was put on hold last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, KISS is set to relaunch the trek on Thursday in Mansfield, Massachusetts. Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth was the tour’s original support act, but in a new Rolling Stone interview, KISS bassist/singer Gene Simmons confirms that Diamond Dave is no longer part of the outing.
While Simmons doesn’t explain specifically why Roth isn’t touring with KISS anymore, he says, “[I]t bears noting that during Dave’s heyday, nobody did what he did. He was the ultimate frontman. Not [Robert] Plant, not Rod Stewart, nobody. He took being a frontman way beyond anything. And then, I don’t know what happened to him…something. And you get modern-day Dave. I prefer to remember Elvis Presley in his prime. Sneering lips, back in Memphis, you know, doing all that. I don’t want to think of bloated naked Elvis on the bathroom floor.”
It’s worth noting that Roth did open the first run of KISS dates in early 2020 before the pandemic began. The support act for KISS in 2021 will be rock painter Garibaldi.
Meanwhile, with COVID-19 continuing to be an issue in the U.S. and around the world, Simmons has a message for fans coming to his band’s shows.
“I would highly recommend for everybody to get two Pfizer or Moderna shots, please — for the rest of us,” he says. “Even if you believe the Earth is flat, it’s not.”
Gene adds, “The entire road crew must be vaccinated twice. Nobody gets backstage or onstage without wearing masks, and everybody stays at a safe distance and you’ve got to wash your hands and do everything else the CDC says.”
Check out KISS’ full concert schedule at KISSOnline.com.
John Boyega is reminiscing about his first film role in Attack the Block, the 2011 U.K. sci-fi comedy where his character Moses, along with a gang of teens, help to save their neighborhood from a group of aliens.
Boyega tells ABC Audio that his seminal film did not receive the credit that it was due.
“The significance of Attack the Block is big,” he says. “I feel like Attack the Block was a movie that wasn’t understood because it was kind of before its time in a sense.”
Thankfully for Boyega, there’s now an opportunity for people to “revisit that world” with an Attack the Block sequel that’s currently in the works.
“[S]o much things have happened, especially in the U.K., between now and the first movie… We have so much to take from,” he teases.
While Boyega jokes that wielding a katana in his most recent film, Naked Singularity, was simply “muscle memory” from chopping down aliens in his film debut, the Star Wars actor says he’s all business when it comes to reuniting with his Attack the Block creatives.
“I actually have to leave the United States soon to get back to the U.K. to start the writing process with [writer-director] Joe [Cornish],” he reveals. “We’re actually gonna do that in my house.”
He continues, “We’ve already had a few creative sessions with the rest of the team, [producer] Nira Park, and some of the creative guys that were behind the first one. And yeah, we’re plotting. We’re bringing back… some cool people and definitely some new cast members as well.”
Aside from the new and familiar faces, Boyega says fans can also expect the same absurdity showcased in the first film.
Pop Evil frontman Leigh Kakaty has tested positive for COVID-19.
As a result, the “Breathe Again” rockers have rescheduled eight of their upcoming tour dates, running from August 17 in Des Moines, Iowa, to August 25 in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
“To our Evilz, we always want to be fully transparent with our fans and the status of our shows,” Pop Evil says in a statement. “All of our band members and crew have been vaccinated prior to us starting tour. Yesterday, and again this morning, Leigh Kakaty tested positive for COVID-19. Leigh wanted to make sure his test wasn’t a false positive before postponing any more shows.”
Pop Evil plans to resume the tour August 27 in Virginia Beach. They’re supporting their new album, Versatile, which dropped in May.
(KYOTO, Japan) — Moe, 30, is a former geisha turned mom and YouTuber. She’s well aware of how drastic her career change may look as no two professions appear to be more different.
In Japan, geishas are enigmas with utterly private lives. They study traditional Japanese performing arts and use that knowledge to entertain guests through their own performances at parties. Gaining entry into one of those parties is a guarded secret and unlikely for the common passerby.
On the other hand, YouTubers are, for the most part, open books with much of their lives laid bare for all to see. They vlog about their daily lives, share intimate details and show off their home spaces.
But for Moe, known as “Kimono Mom” on YouTube, both of her chosen professions are rooted in the same thing: a love of culture and a desire to preserve it.
The path to becoming a geisha
It all started when Moe was 15 years old and living in Kyoto.
“When I was in my first year of high school, we had homework to find 10 different unique jobs,” she told “Good Morning America.” “My grandfather was teaching calligraphy at Gion, where maiko and geiko were living. … At that time, I realized that I lived in Kyoto but didn’t know much about maiko and geiko, and I didn’t even know how Japanese traditions were preserved, so I interviewed them.”
Moe, whose last name is being withheld for privacy reasons, said she was impressed by how hard maikos (apprentice geishas) and geikos (another word for geisha) worked to preserve Japanese culture.
“I wanted to be like that,” she said.
Moe left school at age 15 and moved into an okiya, or geisha house, where she began an apprenticeship. Her days were full, she said, with classes from 9 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m., and then work from 5 p.m. until as late as 1 a.m.
“When you go to a geisha party, there are guests waiting,” Moe said. “I’d bring food, drinks and show them Japanese dance.”
Moe completed her apprenticeship and became a full geisha at age 20, and said that while the work was demanding, she loved it.
“I liked to be on stage,” she said of her favorite part of being a geisha. “I’ve always liked to stand out since when I was little.”
Marriage brought change and culture shock.
Traditionally, geishas aren’t allowed to marry. If they want to do so, they have to retire from the profession. So when Moe married her first husband at the age of 21, she was forced to quit.
“A geisha has to quit when she gets married,” she said. “So [when] I got married, I retired and went to Tokyo to have a married life.”
Life in urban Tokyo was completely at odds with her previous life, and Moe said she was “shocked by the cultural difference.”
“Since I was 15 years old, I lived in the okiya,” she said. “I couldn’t carry my cellphone, I couldn’t watch TV — I lived in that world.”
As a housewife with a husband who didn’t want her to go out, Moe said she felt “like a bird in a cage.” Now knowing what the world outside of the okiya was like, she didn’t want to give up her freedom and pushed for a divorce.
“After I knew my freedom, I met many various people and I couldn’t live without my real personality,” she said.
Moe started working and later remarried. However, after she became pregnant and gave birth to her daughter, Sutan, she again had to leave her job.
“I always thought that I didn’t want to go back to living as a housewife,” she said. “But I didn’t know that being a mom was so busy.”
In early 2020, a YouTuber named Paolo contacted Moe to ask if she’d be willing to be filmed for his “Japan Day in the Life” series. Her video focused on a day in the life of a Japanese mom and, with 15 million views at the time of writing, is his most popular in the series.
“At the time I was featured in Paolo’s video, I had never seen YouTube,” Moe said, adding that Paolo was the first YouTuber she’d ever met. “I intuitively thought, ‘Maybe I can do it too.'”
For her channel, Moe thought to feature what was familiar.
“When I thought about what I could do now, I had an idea that I’d try to combine kimono and cooking,” she said. “I make recipes because I want people from overseas to see them. … I use ingredients that are easily available overseas.”
Armed with just an iPhone and laptop, “Kimono Mom” was born.
The videos have a universal appeal.
In her first video on Feb. 21, 2020, Moe is in a kimono as she demonstrates how to make a deep-fried lotus root sandwich. Throughout the video, she has to stop what she’s doing multiple times because of Sutan crying or wanting to be held — an experience that parents everywhere know all too well.
While some may edit out those clips or reshoot, Moe doesn’t shy away from them, leaving them in the final product. It’s this level of authenticity that Moe believes is the reason her channel has garnered such an international following.
“The image of mothers is international,” Moe said. “It doesn’t change so much in Japan, the United States or Brazil. There are mothers all over the world so even if the person watching isn’t a mother … a mother’s presence is close to people’s hearts.”
Initially, Moe didn’t want her daughter to appear in the videos for privacy reasons, but said the nature of being a mom to a young child made it “inevitable.”
“My daughter hasn’t left me alone since she started talking,” Moe said. “It feels like she’s always next to me.”
With her videos, Moe hopes to provide a lens into Japanese culture, food and motherhood. In addition to cooking, Moe also vlogs about other aspects of her life, such as her family’s daily activities, how they spend their holidays and her daughter’s “terrible twos”.
Just 10 days ago, Ahmad and his family were living at home in Kabul, Afghanistan. Now, they’re starting a new life in the U.S.
“It’s quite different and I like it. It is something that I have never imagined before,” Ahmad told ABC News. In this report, he will only be referred to by his first name to protect his family.
“The peace. The calm… You’re free, you can go anywhere, you can do anything, you enjoy your life. And the most important thing [is] that we have a better future for children.”
Within a few short weeks of American troops’ departure, Ahmad’s home country of Afghanistan fell quickly to the Taliban, an Islamic military insurgent group. This catastrophic outcome came after 20 years of American forces fighting there and almost a trillion dollars spent. Nearly 2,400 Americans, 66,000 Afghan military fighters and over 47,000 Afghan civilians were killed in the decadeslong war.
“I just missed… what’s happening in Afghanistan. This week, I came here, and then next Friday. It was under the Taliban control,” he said. “I am very lucky, and I’m happy for that.”
Ahmad said it took him a year and a half to get out of the country, and now it’s “impossible” for the thousands of other Afghans trying to escape.
For years, Ahmad worked in logistics, supplying equipment for the U.S. and Afghan forces in Kabul. But his association with the West made him a target for the Taliban, despite its assurances that those who worked with the U.S. would not be harmed.
“We don’t believe them because … they recently killed some interpreters and journalists in our province, and put them in a massive mass grave,” Ahmad said. “They will do it again. They did it before and they are going to do it again.”
His special immigrant visa, or SIV, was finally approved this month, allowing him, his wife and their two daughters to get out.
“The situation in Afghanistan … for me, for my family, for my children, there was no future,” he said. “So that’s why I decided to move.”
Still, most of their family is trapped back home and at risk. ABC News agreed not to reveal the family’s full name or where they are to avoid retribution against their relatives.
“God save them. And they should save themselves, they should hide themselves,” Ahmad said. “If [they] go out they will be caught on the, on the road, and [the Taliban will] put them in prison … We can’t say anything. I just told my friend … Please change your locations, do not be in one place … don’t be caught by the Taliban. Whatever you can do. Just don’t be in your address, don’t be in your home, or don’t be in places that the people may find you. This is the only thing that I can tell my friends and coworkers in Afghanistan.”
Ahmad worries about the Taliban’s restrictions that will affect women in the country, including rules about not wearing nail polish and not being allowed in public without a male guardian.
“They are not allowed to go to the university or to school. So that means that, as is the same rule that they had in 1996 … a woman is not allowed to go to the university or not to work,” he said. “So, basically, you have paralyzed, half of the community of the country, half of the population of the country, paralyzed.”
However, he believes women will “definitely” fight back for their freedoms.
“The women of Afghanistan today is not the women of Afghanistan before — they are more educated,” he said. “They have seen the world, they know everything, and nobody will sit back and say okay, do whatever. Everybody will try to fight back, for their rights.”
Without the support and protection of the U.S. military, the success of women in the country seems hopeless.
Ahmad didn’t expect the war to end like this.
“We were expecting a peace in Afghanistan… a country that all the people should have their own rights, their own freedom, but right now, we went back. Twenty years back, the same spot that we were then,” he said. “It doesn’t make me angry, but it makes me sad. As we know that America came for a purpose, they achieved their purpose. We cannot force them to stay in Afghanistan, and fight for, on, on our behalf.”
For Americans who served in the war, and for a generation of Afghans who saw the promise of progress, many are wondering if their sacrifices were in vain. Those left behind in the country may pay the highest cost as the situation grows direr by the minute.
Scenes from Kabul show thousands racing to flee at the airport, with adults and children hanging off aircraft as they attempt to take off. Six thousand American troops have now been ordered to head directly to Kabul to assist in the evacuation of U.S. personnel and Afghans who assisted the U.S. mission, a U.S. official told ABC News.
Ahmad decided to work for the U.S. in 2016.
“It was a good financial support for my family to live,” he said. “We thought that it is going to help our country with working with the U.S. government, and somehow we are helping our country to run the aircrafts, against the invaders.”
He didn’t know his work would make him a target of the Taliban.
“[In] the beginning, my neighbors, my relations, my close relatives … they were trying to convince me that I shouldn’t work with U.S. government,” he said. Then, he said, he and his family were menaced with calls and knocks on their doors.
Ahmad says he believes Afghanistan’s rapid fall was a cause of its weak government.
“They didn’t build [the government], then build their strength. They’re all depending on the U.S. government support for U.S. military [for] 20 years, they [were] just relying on other forces. British or Australian forces. They didn’t want to build their own ability or capability to control.”
He said he blames “ourselves” for his country’s downfall.
“Why we didn’t [we] change, and 20 years. We had everything, all the facilities, all the support, all the money, why we didn’t change? Why we didn’t change ourselves, why we didn’t change for [the] better?” he said. “I blame ourselves, our leaders for that.”
He can’t foresee when he will return to his home country but says if the regime changes and if “There’s a peace, I will go back.”
After Korn was forced to cancel a Saturday concert in Pennsylvania when a member of their “camp” tested positive for COVID-19, the band confirmed Monday that their lead singer, Jonathan Davis, is battling the virus.
Taking to Facebook, the two-time Grammy-winning band updated fans about their upcoming concert dates.
“We really appreciate your patience as we work out the next steps for our tour. On Saturday, we received the unfortunate news that Jonathan tested positive for Covid, and needless to say, we had to postpone the show last minute,” the rockers explained. “As a result of his positive test, we also need to reschedule the next handful of shows. As always, our primary goal is to ensure the safety of everyone involved, so this is something that has to be done.”
Korn assured fans that Davis is doing okay, saying, “Jonathan’s spirits are high, and he’s resting and recovering now.”
“We’re as disappointed as you are about the circumstances, but we’ll get through it though, and we can’t wait to see you once we’re back, firing on all cylinders once again,” the band closed before revealing which shows have been postponed while others will not be rescheduled.
The two cancelled dates are on August 24 and 25, in Darien Center and Syracuse, New York, respectively, “due to scheduling conflicts.” Those who held tickets for the cancelled shows will be “contacted for refunds.”
Here is the new list of dates for the rescheduled shows:
9/25 — Scranton, PA, The Pavilion at Montage Mountain
9/28 — Wantagh, NY, Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
9/26 — Holmdel, NJ, PNC Bank Arts Cente
10/2 — Hartford, CT, XFINITY Theatre
10/1 — Mansfield, MA, Xfinity Center
10/3 — Gilford, NH, Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion
Hitmaker Maren Morris tested her hosting chops on Monday, filling in for Jimmy Kimmel on his ABC late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!
“The Bones” singer opened by joking, “I flew all the way from Nashville to be here tonight — I came here on Delta, and hopefully I’m not coming back with delta,” referring to the COVID-19 variant.
“Now some people have said, ‘Maren, you’re a country singer. What business do you have hosting a late-night comedy show?'” Maren continued. “And to them I say, ‘Mom, get out of my dressing room!'”
Morris, 31, also noted that she was right across the street from where she auditioned for American Idol when she was 17 and “didn’t even make it past the first round.”
“But I stuck with it,” she continued, “and ten years later I won a Grammy.”
Maren also filled us in on how she’s been coping with the pandemic, admitting the past year has been “stressful,” mostly because “when I wear a mask, my name sounds like ‘Karen.'”
The country superstar also shared that she’d “spent the whole pandemic in quarantine with an infant, so basically, this next hour is a vacation for me.”
“I don’t care how much you cry, will not be breastfeeding any of you,” she warned the studio audience.
Morris also revealed that she’d “spent the weekend doing some research,” on the different laws regarding the legal use of marijuana in various states, which she turned into a song, which included lines such as “California’s down with doobies, from Oakland to Hollyweed/and in Washington and Oregon it’s cool to spark that green.”
Later, Maren chatted with country icon and fellow Texas native Willie Nelson and Hacks actress Megan Stalter. The show featured a performance by Gabriels, fronted by singer Jacob Lusk.
