Some day soon, you may be able to tour Kurt Cobain‘s childhood home in Aberdeen, Washington — that is, if the home’s current owners has anything to say about it.
Lee Bacon and his wife Danielle bought the house, where the late Nirvana frontman lived from 1968 to 1984, in 2018 from the Cobain family. Since then, Rolling Stone reports, they’ve been working to restore it to the way it looked in the ’70s and ’80s. It even has the Cobain family’s blessing: They’ve donated Kurt’s toddler bedroom set, as well as the mattress from his bedroom and their old dining room table and china hutch.
So far, the home has been officially approved for inclusion of Washington state’s Heritage Register of buildings that are culturally important. While it’s not properly zoned to become an actual museum, Bacon says he wants to open it up in the coming months for private tours, and is trying to work out the logistics now.
Rolling Stone adds that Bacon has also bought another building in downtown Aberdeen, where he plans to open an 8,000-square-foot “Tribute Lounge and Gallery Cafe” dedicated to Kurt. He envisions it as a space that will “tell the story of the house” and Kurt’s childhood years via artifacts, memorabilia, photos and more. Admission to that will be free, he says, and so will admission to the house, if he’s allowed to open it for tours.
Bacon also plans to install a plaque on the front of the house, telling Rolling Stone, “We have to write it for someone in the future, 20 years from now, who wants to learn about Kurt. We want it to be for someone who doesn’t know who he was or the contributions he made.”
Dolly Parton is weighing in on Britney Spears‘ conservatorship battle.
The country legend was asked about the situation while on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live on Thursday night. While she didn’t get too specific on her feelings about the #FreeBritney movement, she did say she can relate to what Britney is going through.
“I try to not get involved in other people’s business,” Dolly said. “I think she’s a wonderful artist, and I think she’s a wonderful girl, and I only wish her the best.”
She added, “I understand all those crazy things. I went through a lot of that myself through a big lawsuit in my early days with Porter Wagoner, trying to get out on my own. So I understand where she’s coming from and how she feels. So I hope that it all turns out the way that it should.”
Back in the ’70s, Dolly announced an end to her partnership with Wagoner, a country singer who helped launch her career. He later sued her for $3 million, claiming breach of contract. They eventually settled out of court.
Dolly wrote her classic 1974 hit “I Will Always Love You” as a farewell to Wagoner.
(WASHINGTON) — Handwritten notes from former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, released Friday by the House Oversight Committee, appear to show that former President Trump tried to pressure the Department of Justice to declare there was significant fraud tainting the 2020 presidential election.
The documents were obtained by the committee as part of its investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The notes are from a December 27, 2020, phone call between Trump and then-Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen.
According to Donoghue’s notes, Rosen told Trump that the Justice Department had no power to reverse the outcome of the election.
“Understand that the DOJ can’t + won’t snap its fingers + change the outcome of the election, doesn’t work that way,” said Rosen, according to the notes.
“Don’t expect you to do that, just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,” Trump replied, per the notes.
At another point in the call, the notes showed Rosen and Donoghue trying to convince Trump that his allegations of voter fraud were false.
“Sir we have done dozens of investig., hundreds of interviews, major allegations are not supported by evid. developed,” Donoghue told Trump, per the notes. “We are doing our job. Much of the info you’re getting is false.”
Trump however would not be swayed.
“‘We have an obligation to tell people that this was an illegal, corrupt election,” he said, according to the notes.
“These handwritten notes show that President Trump directly instructed our nation’s top law enforcement agency to take steps to overturn a free and fair election in the final days of his presidency,” House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney said in a statement. “The Committee has begun scheduling interviews with key witnesses to investigate the full extent of the former President’s corruption, and I will exercise every tool at my disposal to ensure all witness testimony is secured without delay.”
The release of the notes comes days after the Justice Department determined that six former Trump Justice Department officials, including Rosen and Donoghue, can participate in Congress’ investigation.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has determined the Treasury Department must hand over former President Donald Trump’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee.
The opinion, posted Friday, says that while the committee “cannot compel the Executive Branch to disclose [tax information] without satisfying the constitutional requirement that the information could serve a legitimate legislative purpose,” the Ways and Means Committee in this instance ‘”invoked sufficient reasons for requesting the former President’s tax information.”
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Neal first requested six years’ worth of Trump’s tax returns in April of 2019, in addition to tax returns for eight of Trump’s businesses, under a 97-year-old law that requires the Treasury secretary to “furnish” the returns of any taxpayer to the chairman of the tax-writing panel by request.
In explaining the “legislative purpose” of the request, which Neal would need to prove under law in order to secure the returns, Neal said the committee had been “considering legislative proposals and conducting oversight related to our Federal tax laws, including … the extent to which the IRS audits and enforces the Federal tax laws against a President.”
As both a candidate and during his presidency, Trump vigorously resisted making his tax returns public, and his Justice Department backed him in his legal fight against the Ways and Means Committee, determining Neal’s reasoning didn’t amount to a legitimate legislative purpose.
After President Joe Biden took office and the Justice Department assumed new leadership, Rep. Neal renewed his request, resulting in Friday’s legal opinion reversing the Trump DOJ’s stance.
It’s not immediately clear when the Treasury Department would actually hand over Trump’s tax returns. A recent filing in the case states that Trump would need to be given 72 hours’ notice before his returns are transmitted to the Hill, giving him an opportunity to potentially appeal the decision.
If the committee is provided Trump’s tax returns, Neal would be able to designate lawmakers and committee staff to review them in a private setting — but it would still be a felony to release them publicly. However, the panel could potentially vote to enter the returns into the public record, according to the committee’s rules.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacted to news of the Justice Department’s decision in a statement Friday, applauding the administration for delivering “a victory for the rule of law.”
“Access to former President Trump’s tax returns is a matter of national security,” Pelosi said. “The American people deserve to know the facts of his troubling conflicts of interest and undermining of our security and democracy as president.”
In February, eight years of Trump’s tax returns were handed over to Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s office following a years-long court battle that escalated all the way to the Supreme Court.
While the returns could be used as evidence in Vance’s ongoing criminal investigation of Trump and his company, their public release is restricted by grand jury secrecy rules.
Ever wanted someone who was already in a relationship with your best friend? Well, Kiana Ledé and Kehlani share this particular experience in the video for “Ur Best Friend.”
Kehlani directed the video through her company, Honey Shot Productions, under her alias “Hyphy Williams.” The visual opens with Kehlani giving a birthday toast to her best friend, rapper Vic Mensa, who plays Ledé’s boyfriend. The happy couple then makes their way to the dance floor while Kehlani seductively watches from across the room.
The sexual tension continues to build throughout the party, as Ledé joins Kehlani outside on a bench while whispering in her ear and touching her knee. The “Ur Best Friend” video ends with Kehlani and Lede engaging in an intense make-out session as a drunk Mensa wakes up confused.
Fans on Twitter complimented Kehlani’s directing skills, while many commented on the sexual tension between her and Ledé in the video.
“I’m so proud of Kehlani on her journey as a director. Like my girl really did that!” one fan tweeted, while another wrote, “THE NECK GRABBING…THE KISSING…THE CHEMISTRY OMG KEHLANI AND KIANA STANS WE WON.”
Others praised Kehlani and other artists who have tapped into their creative “passions” outside of music.
“I love seeing music artists dive into other passions they have; Kehlani as a music video director, Teyana Tayloras a creative director. These women are ARTISTS ALL AROUND,” one fan tweeted.
Ahead of his tour kickoff tonight, Jason Mraz has released the music video for his song “Be Where Your Feet Are.”
In the video, Jason sings the reggae-infused track on the beach, as people passing by start dropping their distracting phones and laptops into the sand. The chill clip ends with a rolling-skating party on the boardwalk.
“Be Where Your Feet Are” is one of three new songs that appear on the deluxe edition of Jason’s album Look for the Good, which came out July 16.
Jason’s Look for the Good Live! tour begins tonight at the Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater in Austin, Texas. Backed by a 12-piece reggae band, Jason will perform new songs as well as reimagined hits.
The 22-date trek wraps August 28 in Pittsburgh. On September 26, Jason will make a special appearance with the San Diego Symphony at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego.
L-R: Dusty Hill, Dave Grohl, Billy Gibbons; Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
When Foo Fighters performed in Cincinnati on Wednesday night, they took some time to pay tribute to ZZ Top bass player Dusty Hill, whose death at age 72 was announced a few hours before the band took the stage.
Drummer Taylor Hawkinswore a t-shirt reading “Dusty RIP” and, as a video that’s now been posted online shows, Hawkins also sang ZZ Top’s “Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers” during the band introduction part of the concert, after guitarist Chris Shiflett began playing the tune. Shiflett then kicked into the ZZ Top classic “La Grange,” although frontman Dave Grohl unsuccessfully struggled to remember the words.
“That’s all you’re gonna get,” he joked. “But that was for Dusty, everybody. Let’s give it up.”
Hill died in his sleep on Wednesday; a cause of death hasn’t been announced. ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons has since said that the band plans to continue on.
Miranda Lambert’s beloved senior dog, Jessi, has crossed the rainbow bridge after 13 and a half years of companionship.
The singer shared a tribute to her four-legged friend on social media this week, along with a slideshow of pictures of Jessi and the dog’s brother, Waylon, who died in the fall of 2020.
Miranda found the two pups on the side of the road in Oklahoma back in 2008, in the middle of a sleet storm. The singer explains that she and her mom — who were driving together when they encountered the siblings — were listening to Jessie Colter’s I’m Jessi Colter album at the time, which is how the two puppies got their names. Colter, of course, was Waylon’s wife from 1969 until his death in 2002.
Up until canine Waylon’s death, Miranda continues, the two dogs had been inseparable their whole lives.
“…The truth is they belong together. They always have,” she writes. “I know she missed him terribly and we are so thankful to have had extra time. Today they are reunited at the rainbow bridge.”
Waylon and Jessi were two of the many dogs and other animals that call Miranda’s farm home. The singer and her mom also established their MuttNation Foundation in 2009 in support of shelter pets.
“I can’t put into words what a dog’s love does to your heart. But if you have one, you already know,” Miranda says in the conclusion of her tribute post. “…It’s so hard to let them go but the love is worth it.”
Earlier this year, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts launched a partnership with the nugs.net live-music platform making available previously unreleased concert recordings and video performances spanning the band’s 40-plus-year career.
Three new archival concerts recently were made available in both audio and video formats: a 2013 performance at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California; a 2015 show at the Toyota Center in Houston; and a 2016 event at the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York.
These three shows join previously released concerts from 1983 in Houston; 2015 in Columbus, Ohio; and 2018 in Clisson, France.
The audio versions of the shows are available for download in MP3 and two high-res formats.
Meanwhile, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts begin their 2021 tour itinerary with a show this Sunday, August 1, in San Francisco at the Stern Grove Festival. Check out the band’s full schedule at JoanJett.com.
That’s what anyone with cable TV who happened to be up at midnight on August 1, 1981 — 40 years ago this Sunday — heard, as MTV: Music Television signed on the air for the very first time. At the time, it wasn’t even available in most major markets, including MTV’s home base, New York City. And that first day was a little rocky.
“The plan was that Mark Goodman would begin the welcome,” recalls original VJ Alan Hunter of MTV’s first moments. “After you had the Buggles and Pat Benatar videos, Mark comes on and says, ‘Hey, welcome to this thing called MTV and here are my pals'” And it would roll down to JJ [Jackson] and Martha [Quinn] and Nina [Blackwood]. And I was the last guy to say, ‘and I’m Alan Hunter.'”
But because the guy loading the videotapes screwed up, Hunter ended up being the first VJ we ever saw, saying, “…And I’m Alan Hunter.”
“No one really noticed, it was late at night,” Hunter laughs. “There was so many technical glitches that first day…MTV was duct-taped together to start, to be honest.”
But MTV soon took hold across the country — especially in the Midwest, where Hunter and his fellow VJs would find hundreds of people waiting to greet them at in-store appearances.
“They would ask for an autograph and say, ‘I watch this 24/7 in the dorm at college,’ or, ‘in the basement of our friend’s house down the street who has cable’…kids [were] going crazy for it,” Hunter recalls. “And they were beginning to ask for the music that they were seeing on MTV.”
Flooded with requests for songs by MTV faves like U2 and Duran Duran, radio eventually responded and previously unknown bands became superstars. But hey, don’t expect any gratitude from Duran Duran, whose stylish videos were a highlight of MTV’s early years.
“We tend to look at it the other way around,” Duran Duran’s Simon LeBon tells ABC Audio. “We think, ‘How much does MTV have to thank us for the popularity that they had in the 1980s?'”
Keyboardist Nick Rhodes snarks, “Yes, at least with Duran Duran, we didn’t have to resort to game shows in the end. We stuck with the music!”
Indeed, MTV stopped being the place for music videos literally decades ago.
“When I look at MTV’s daily schedule, all I see is Ridiculousness,” laughs Hunter, referring to the viral video clip show. “I think they’re struggling to try to find where they’re going.”
But whatever MTV is today, its impact is still being felt. Rob Tannenbaum, co-author of the oral history I Want My MTV, explains, “It changed record labels because now a certain type of band was more profitable. It changed the TV industry and the movie industry because they all wanted to emulate the fast cutting [and] bright colors. It changed fashion design. It changed advertising. It had a wholesale effect…all over popular culture.”
And the quintessential MTV Video? Tannenbaum says it’s Van Halen‘s “Hot for Teacher.”
“It has all the things that are supposed to make a video good. It’s got a guitar solo. It’s a band with long hair, chicks in bikinis,” he says, adding, “If you were trying to illustrate to an alien from another planet what MTV was about, you would show them ‘Hot for Teacher.'”
Here were the first 10 videos played on MTV:
“Video Killed the Radio Star” — The Buggles
“You Better Run” — Pat Benatar
“She Won’t Dance with Me” — Rod Stewart
“You Better You Bet” — The Who
“Little Suzi’s on the Up” — Ph.D.
“We Don’t Talk Anymore” — Cliff Richard
“Brass in Pocket” — The Pretenders
“Time Heals” — Todd Rundgren
“Take It on the Run” — REO Speedwagon (interrupted after 12 seconds due to technical difficulties)
“Rockin’ the Paradise” — Styx
