The disaster that was Woodstock 1999 is the subject of a new HBO documentary.
The film, titled Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage, is set to premiere July 23. It’ll tell the story of the ill-fated festival, which featured performances by bands including Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit, but became infamous as it erupted into scenes of chaos, violence and sexual assault.
A newly released trailer sets up how poorly planned logistics, including expensive water and shoddy bathroom facilities — “You had kids rolling around in what they thought was mud,” shares one talking head — led to mass dehydration and health risks, which ultimately contributed to the festival’s demise.
The film also explores how Woodstock ’99 reflected what was happening socially and culturally in the U.S. at the time, and how that’s manifested itself in the country today.
“A lot of that energy just wound up in chatrooms and Reddit boards in 2021,” says The New York Times writer Wesley Morris.
Peace, Love, and Rage also features interviews with a variety of artists who performed at Woodstock ’99, including The Offspring, Korn‘s Jonathan Davis and Creed‘s Scott Stapp.
Founding Journey and former Santana member Neal Schon has decided to part with 112 of his valuable guitars, which he’ll be selling at a July 31 auction hosted by Heritage Auctions.
The sale will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Schon joining Santana, as well as celebrate Journey’s return to touring following the COVID-19 pandemic and that group’s plan to release a new album this year.
Among the many guitars going up for bid is the 1977 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Black Solid Body that Schon used to record Journey’s chart-topping 1981 album, Escape, which featured such classic tunes as “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Stone in Love” and “Who’s Crying Now.” The opening bid for the historic instrument is set at $200,000.
Another of Schon’s guitar being auctioned that holds an important spot in Journey history is his 1974 Guild F-50R Natural Acoustic model, which he used to write “Wheel in the Sky” and “Patiently,” among other tunes. The minimum bid for this instrument is $30,000.
Schon also will sell two 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard Sunburst electric guitars, the respective asking prices for which begin at $175,000 and $150,000.
Regarding his decision to sell some of his cherished instruments, Neal explains, “I don’t feel good about having them all in cases, these guitars I’m never going to really play on albums or live or anything. They’re not meant to sit there and look beautiful. Somebody should be utilizing them, and I should allow somebody to, because there are not that many of them around.”
The auction will take place on the same day Journey will perform at the 2021 Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, one of a handful of confirmed concerts the band has scheduled this year.
(NEW YORK) — A 16-year-old suspect was arrested Wednesday in connection with a shooting in Times Square that left a Marine injured, police sources told ABC News.
The unidentified teen surrendered to police Wednesday afternoon, ending a 10-day search by police. Charges are pending.
The incident took place on June 27 at the corner Seventh Avenue and 46th Street when a small group of vendors allegedly got into an argument, police said.
One vendor pulled out a gun and opened fire, according to investigators and surveillance camera footage. Samuel Poulin, 21, who was standing just a few feet away near a Starbucks, was grazed in the back by one of the bullets.
Poulin, who recently graduated from the Citadel and was visiting Manhattan from upstate New York, was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police said that Poulin was not the intended target.
The NYPD beefed up its presence in the area immediately after the shooting and Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would crack down on illegal vending.
NYPD data shows a 37.8% increase in the total number of reported shooting incidents in the year to date compared to 2020, but newly released statistics show there was an improvement in June.
Reported shooting incidents in New York City were down 20% in June compared to May and reported murders were down 23% during that same period, according to crime statistics released by the NYPD on Tuesday.
Eva Marie Uzcategui Trinkl/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — The search and rescue efforts at the collapsed Surfside, Florida, apartment complex have shifted to a recovery effort as 86 people remain unaccounted for, officials said Wednesday.
Rescue crews found eight additional victims in the rubble Wednesday, raising the death toll to 54, officials said Wednesday afternoon.
The disaster occurred on June 24 around 1:15 a.m. local time at the Champlain Towers South condominium in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. Approximately 55 of the oceanfront complex’s 136 units were destroyed, according to officials. Since then, hundreds of first responders have been carefully combing through the pancaked piles of debris in hopes of finding survivors.
On Wednesday, a grand jury agreed to investigate the Surfside collapse, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced, saying in a statement that she requested that the grand jury “look into how we can prevent such a disaster from occurring again, not just in Surfside, and not just in condominiums, but in all buildings and structures in the coastal, intercoastal and surrounding areas of our county, state and nation.”
No further details were available, as grand jury work is confidential in Florida.
The announcement came after three more victims — husband-and-wife Gino Cattarossi, 89, and Graciela Cattarossi, 86, as well as Simon Segal, 80 — were identified Wednesday, according to investigators. In total 32 victims have been identified as of midday Wednesday.
Crews have hauled away nearly 5 million pounds of concrete from the vast scene of wreckage, but large piles of rubble still remain. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said the rescue workers have been “aggressively” searching for any voids or “liveable spaces” within the debris where there could be trapped survivors but that they are “not coming across that.” No survivors have been discovered in the wreckage of the building since the morning it partially collapsed.
“We’re not seeing anything positive,” Cominsky told reporters on Tuesday morning.
Teams are now able to operate at full capacity and search in areas that were previously inaccessible following the demolition of the remaining part of the building.
The part of the building that remained standing was cleared of any people or pets before it was demolished on Sunday night, due to concerns about its structural integrity. However, it was too dangerous for surviving residents to enter the building to retrieve their belongings, officials said.
Video released by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue on Monday night showed crews working atop the piles, braving the elements as Tropical Storm Elsa approached the Sunshine State.
The incoming storm, which has weakened from a hurricane, initiated the discussion about demolishing the rest of the building and fast-tracked the process, according to Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett. Elsa made landfall in Cuba on Monday and by Tuesday morning the storm’s center was moving through Key West with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
Prior to the demolition, the search and rescue operation was halted for almost an entire day last week due to safety concerns for the crews regarding the remaining structure. Poor weather conditions have also forced them to temporarily pause working.
The cause of the partial collapse to a building that has withstood decades of hurricanes remains unknown and is under investigation. Built in the 1980s, the Champlain Towers South was up for its 40-year recertification and had been undergoing roof work — with more renovations planned — when it partially collapsed, according to officials.
“The whole world wants to know what happened here,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters on Tuesday morning. “I look forward to learning the truth, as do we all, but I think it’ll be a while before it is understood.”
Burkett told reporters that he has drafted a letter that will be sent to condo boards and building owners outlining “minimum stopgap” measures to ensure their properties are secure.
“The town of Surfside is committed to doing everything it can to ensure the safety and peace of mind of its residents and we are grateful to our county, state and federal partners for all their amazing support,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden taunted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday for having acknowledged his home state of Kentucky will receive money from the Biden administration-backed American Rescue Plan — despite McConnell not having voted for it.
Biden was in Illinois to promote his his “Build Back Better” agenda and sell the bipartisan infrastructure package and a second, larger package on “human infrastructure” that Democrats are hoping to pass through reconciliation — a process which allows them to bypass the usual 60-vote threshold necessary to pass bills in Congress.
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega asked the president about remarks McConnell made Tuesday on his infrastructure packages.
“Mitch McConnell says you’re in for a heck of a fight on this one,” Vega said to Biden.
“Mitch McConnell loves our programs,” the president said with a smile.
He added that the Republican leader had acknowledged, as recently as Tuesday, that although he did not support the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed in March, its funding will help McConnell’s constituents.
“Have you seen what Mitch McConnell said? He told me he wasn’t going to get a single vote in order to allow me to get, with the help of everybody here, that $1.9 trillion … program for economic growth,” he said. “Look it up, man. He’s bragging about it in Kentucky.”
“It’s a great thing for Kentucky, it’s getting $4 billion to help poor — it’s amazing,” Biden added, mimicking McConnell and gesturing widely.
In fact, McConnell at an event on Tuesday in his home state did talk about the American Rescue Plan.
“So you’re gonna get a lot more money. I didn’t vote for it. But you’re gonna get a lot more money,” he said.” My advice to members of the legislatures and other public officials is spend it wisely, because hopefully this windfall doesn’t come around again.”
He also vowed that Republicans would wage a “hell of a fight” if Democrats attempt to pass a sweeping multi-trillion dollar infrastructure plan along party lines.
“This is not going to be done on a bipartisan basis. This is going to be a hell of a fight over what this country ought to look like in the future and it’s going to unfold here in the next few weeks. I don’t think we’ve had a bigger difference of opinion between the two parties,” McConnell said.
Biden on Wednesday visited Crystal Lake, Illinois, a district former President Donald Trump won in 2020 but that is represented by Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood.
In remarks following a tour of McHenry County College, Biden expressed hope that the nation addressing infrastructure will not just drag on and become a running joke as it has been in the past.
“God willing, we’re not gonna have 40 — 40 weeks of, ‘this is infrastructure week.’ Do you remember those?” he said, referring to events during the Trump administration.
Biden focused his speech — which he concluded by describing as “boring” but “important” — on selling the “human infrastructure” aspects of the American Families Plan, calling it “essential” and the “second critical part” of his domestic agenda that he hopes to include in a reconciliation bill.
“To truly win the 21st Century and once again lead the world, to truly build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, to truly deal everybody in this time, we need to invest in our people,” he said.
When the Senate returns to Washington next week, lawmakers hoping to move on Biden’s infrastructure agenda will be in a race against the clock to navigate a precarious political landscape before the summer comes to a close.
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky, Justin Gomez and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
A judge has ordered Memphis rapper Pooh Shiesty to remain in a federal detention center pending trial on charges connected to an incident in Miami, Florida, last October.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced the 21-year-old, born Lontrell D. Williams, will be held without bond on robbery charges stemming from a shooting involving the purchase of marijuana and a pair of high-end sneakers.
Allegedly, Williams and two associates drove to a hotel in the Miami suburb of Bay Harbor Islands on October 9, 2020 to purchase the items from two men. “It is alleged that during the transaction, the defendants shot the sellers with semi-automatic weapons,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office statement declares, adding that Williams and two co-defendants then “drove away from the scene, taking with them the sneakers and marijuana they had not paid for.”
Williams and the two associates have each been charged with one count of conspiring to possess firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence, conspiring to commit a Hobbs Act robbery, committing a Hobbs Act robbery, and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office is also pursuing criminal charges against Williams in connection to another alleged shooting of a security guard at King of Diamonds strip club over Memorial Day weekend this year. Williams, who was out on bail at the time, was arrested in June.
Hulu has released the trailer for McCartney 3, 2, 1, the streaming service’s forthcoming series centering on an in-depth conversation between Paul McCartney and acclaimed producer and fellow Grammy winner Rick Rubin.
Directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Zachary Heinzerling and co-executive produced by McCartney and Rubin, filmmaker Peter Berg and others, the series is a exploration of McCartney’s work with The Beatles, his musical segue into “the emblematic ’70s arena rock of Wings,” and his long career as a successful solo artist.
“We were writing songs that were memorable, because we had to remember them,” Paul jokes in the trailer about his work with The Beatles, as he and Rubin explore the creation of classics like, “All My Loving,” “With a Little Help from My Friends” and “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” among others featured in the just-released snippet.
According to the streaming service, the six-episode McCartney 3, 2, 1, “explores music and creativity in a unique and revelatory manner,” as Macca and Rubin have an “intimate conversation about the songwriting, influences, and personal relationships that informed the iconic songs that have served as the soundtracks of our lives.”
The series, which premieres Friday, July 16, will be available in the U.S. as a Hulu Original and internationally on Disney+ as a Star Original.
(PHOENIX) — Phoenix has announced forward/center Dario Šarić tore his ACL during game one of the NBA Finals Tuesday night.
The team said he is out indefinitely.
The injury happened late in the first quarter when Šarić drove the lane and his right knee appeared to buckle when he planted his feet in the paint.
He checked out of the game and could be seen limping to the locker room.
“It’s just one of those situations that literally breaks your heart,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “Dario is a guy that I’ve been with twice. I coached him in Philly, and to get a chance to be with him here, he’s what Suns basketball is about. Hard worker, unbelievable guy, and he was so looking forward to playing in these Finals.”
Saric averaged 4.5 points in 10.5 minutes of action during the post-season.
Britney Spears and her controversial conservatorship continue to make headlines. There have been two new legal filings in connection with it.
First, Jodi Montgomery, who is Britney’s “conservator of the person” — the one who’s in charge of her mental and physical well-being — has requested that the court approve her request for Britney’s estate to pay for more security for her. According to Montgomery, ever since Britney’s court testimony last month was “illegally broadcast,” she’s been receiving threats of violence and death threats via text, social media, phone calls and emails.
The filing also states that there’s been “physical security” at Montgomery’s house since June 30, but paying for all that security is “cost-prohibitive for [her] to personally bear.” Britney’s dad, Jamie Spears, who’s in charge of his daughter’s money, has agreed to pay for it, on the condition that Montgomery gets court approval.
Interestingly, part of Montgomery’s filing includes a text message from Britney to her requesting that she continue to serve as her conservator — despite Britney telling the judge that those involved in her conservatorship “ought to be in jail.”
The second filing is from Britney’s mom, Lynne Spears, requesting that Britney be allowed to hire her own lawyer, which the pop star hasn’t been allowed to do in 13 years. Lynne points out that in 2008, when the conservatorship was first established, Britney was found “not to have the capacity to retain counsel.”
But since then, Lynne notes, Britney “is able to care for her person and… [has] earned literally hundreds of millions of dollars as an international celebrity,” by performing “in front of millions of people” and using “her artistic and creative talents” to “rehearse and perform for many thousands of hours.”
“[Britney] should no longer be held to the 2008 standard,” the filing maintains.
In partnership with BLK, the dating app for Black singles, Juvenile and Mannie Fresh remixed their 1999 twerk anthem, “Back That Thang Up.“
The former Cash Money artists called on No Limit rapper Mia X to turn the classic record into the new vaccine anthem, “Vax That Thang Up.” The song encourages listeners to get the COVID-19 vaccine before meeting up with a potential date they matched with on BLK.
“You finna online date yeah /find a mate yeah / Open up BLK yea it’s okay yeah / Profile pic lookin’ tight yea, nice yea/ Gotcha bio readin’ right yeah, precise yeah / But before you find a date yeah /you gotta wait yeah / Gotta go vaccinate yeah, get it straight yeah,” Juvenile raps in the chorus.
Mannie shared the same sentiment on his verse, while Mia comes on the end telling people to, “Go, get the shot, go, go get the shot.”
“Vax That Thang Up” marks the first collaboration between Cash Money and No Limit Records.
