Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images for National Geographic
Alec Baldwin has posted to social media about the deadly firearms mishap Thursday that killed a cinematographer who was shooting Baldwin’s movie, Rust, in New Mexico.
“There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours,” Baldwin tweeted.
“I’m fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna,” Baldwin concluded.
Officials are still investigating what went wrong on the New Mexico set in the incident, which also left the movie’s director, Joel Souza, injured. The incident occurred when Baldwin discharged a pistol on the set under circumstances that haven’t been publicly specified.
Multi-Grammy winner Steve Wonder is looking to add a couple more Grammys to his collection, with the 2020 singles “Where Is Our Love Song” and “Can’t Put It in the Hands of Fate.” And as usual, he’s doing it on his terms.
Wonder challenged the music industry status quo in 1971 when he signed a new deal with Motown, where he fought for creative control as well as ownership of his master recordings and publishing rights.
Now 71, Stevie insists on doing things his way. Instead of making the Grammy submissions in the typical R&B categories, he pushed to have the songs considered for best melodic rap performance and best American roots performance.
“‘Where Is Our Love Song’ is a song that speaks to everyone, a traditional song or folk song about America,” Wonder tells Billboard. “I said I didn’t care what’s normally done; that I’m not trying to do the typical. So it was submitted in the best American roots performance category.”
As for “Can’t Put It in the Hands of Fate,” Wonder says, “It was such an honor to work with Rapsody, Cordae, Chika and Busta Rhymes for what became an amazing marriage with conscious rap. I wanted to be a part of celebrating their greatness as well as our collaboration, so that’s why I decided to put it in that category.”
Wonder has racked up a total of 25 Grammy Awards over his 60-year career. He’s also one of only four artists — along with Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Taylor Swift — to win album of the year three times, and the only one to do so with three consecutive releases — 1973’s Innervisions, 1974’s Fulfillingness’ First Finale and 1976’s Songs in the Key of Life.
Chicago hip hop stars Chance the Rapper and Common are calling upon the state of Illinois to reinstate the parole system that was abolished in 1978, which allowed for more discretion in granting parole to inmates serving life sentences.
The pair joined parole advocates at a news conference Wednesday outside of Cook County jail in the Windy City. Chance recalled when he performed for a group of incarcerated men who were graduating with bachelor’s degrees at Stateville prison in Joliet, Illinois in 2019, and seeing them shackled during his show.
“We need to understand incarceration for what it is, it’s torture,” the three-time Grammy winner said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “We need to start pushing and transforming our criminal justice system and sentencing laws with this reality in mind. That means pushing for policies like parole.”
“We need a criminal justice system that reflects the values we want to see in this world — compassion, care, restorative justice and transformative justice,” he added.
House Bill 2399 and Senate Bill 2333 both would provide an opportunity for prisoners serving life sentences to go before a parole board after serving 20 years.
Common talked about how focusing on reducing prison populations could help reduce violence on the streets of Chicago.
“I met some of the most enlightened and inspiring people in prison,” said the Oscar and Grammy winner, who
fights for criminal justice reform through the non profit Imagine Justice organization he founded in 2018.
“One gentleman said to me, ‘Imagine being trapped in one act for the rest of your life, the worst for the rest of your life.’ I’ve thought about that. If that happened for me, I wouldn’t be up here with you all.”
Christmas came early for Brett Young fans this week, as the country star dropped his first-ever full holiday album, Brett Young & Friends Sing the Christmas Classics.
A collaborations album that showcases musical guests like Darius Rucker, Colbie Caillat and Brett’s tour mates Maddie & Tae, the album revisits favorite holiday tunes from Brett’s own childhood. Among them are sweet, traditional holiday ballads like “Silver Bells” and “White Christmas,” as well as more lighthearted selections like “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late).”
Brett’s collaborators aren’t limited to the country genre. For example, he tapped Australian singer-songwriter Sam Fischer to join him on his version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”
The festive magic will continue to roll on for Brett this holiday season. He’ll bring Brett Young & Friends Sing the Christmas Classics to life with an upcoming CMT special, called CMT Christmas Crossroads with Brett Young and Friends.
More details on that are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
The Weeknd has teamed up with reunited house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia on the new track “Moth to a Flame,” out today. The group tells Apple Music the collaboration came to be because they were mutual fans of each other.
“When you vibe with somebody and you appreciate their art, I think you just connect,” Swedish House Mafia’s Steve Angello said. Along with the song, Swedish House Mafia announced their first global tour in more than a decade.
Christina Aguilera is embracing her Latin roots on her new Spanish-language track, “Pa Mis Muchachas” — which translates as “For My Girls” — featuring Nathy Peluso, Becky G and Nicki Nicole. Xtina tells Billboard the song is “an homage to women.” “We wanted to make sure that this was definitely a representation of Latin women who are the strength of a family, the backbone,” she says. The song is the first single off Christina’s upcoming Spanish-language project, her first since 2000’s Mi Reflejo.
DJ Snake has released a star-studded new single called “SG.” It stands for “sexy girl” and features Latin superstar Ozuna, Megan Thee Stallion, and Lisa of BLACKPINK, “uniting artists across three continents and four countries,” according to a press release. The song’s video features all four artists frolicking in Miami.
Australian singer-songwriter Dean Lewis, who scored a huge hit in 2018 with “Be Alright,” is back with a new single and video, “Looks Like Me.” The song’s uptempo but is about the end of a relationship. “It was just one of those relationships that never quite came together–– no matter how much I wanted it to,” Dean says of the song.
He laughs, “One night on the phone, we were living in different cities, she told me she was hanging with a guy who looked like me. So you’d rather be with someone who looks like me — than the ‘actual me!’”
Kenny G is about to release his first new album in six years, and will follow it up with a tour that’ll feature him performing his Christmas songs, as well as his hits.
The album, New Standards, will be out December 3, and on vinyl February 11. The album is made up of original songs that were inspired by “the jazz ballads of the 50s and 60s,” according to a press release. The first track, “Emeline,” is available now; you can pre-order the album as well.
“For this album, I wanted to try to recreate those ‘sounds’ but do it my own way, which for me meant that I would have to compose the songs myself,” Kenny says in a statement. “So I set out to compose and perform songs that capture the ‘heart and soul’ of those beloved jazz standards and to record them ‘my way.'”
“It was a wonderful (and painstaking) labor of love and I’m super proud of the end result,” he adds.
On December 2, Kenny will kick off the Miracles Holiday & Hits Tour in Waukegan, IL. It’s set to wrap up December 20 in Falls Church, VA.
As previously reported, a documentary called Listening to Kenny G, which will examine why the saxophonist and his music are so polarizing, will air on HBO December 3.
Squid Game has become a pop culture phenomenon, with huge — and unexpected — ratings for Netflix, and even a spoof last week on SNL. Its surprise success has also led to surprise stardom for its oldest cast member.
Seventy-seven-year-old Oh Young Soo plays Player 001 in the series, and his affecting performance as the terminally ill, dementia-addled man has his phone ringing off the hook with new acting offers.
According to the pop culture site Soompi, the actor told the Korean show HowDo You Play, “So many people have been contacting me, and because I don’t have a manager to help me, it’s hard for me to handle the volume of calls and messages I’ve been receiving. So my daughter has been helping me.”
“I feel like I’m floating on air,” the actor admitted. “It makes me think, ‘I need to calm down, organize my thoughts, and hold myself back right now.'”
The actor, who was interviewed by the show’s host Yoo Jae Suk and Mijoo from the K-Pop group Lovelyz, explained, “Things have changed quite a bit. Even when I go out to a cafe or somewhere like that, I now have to be aware of [how I appear to others]. It’s made me think, ‘Being famous is tough, too.'”
Young Soo reflected, “I don’t have any grand ambitions,” adding, “Big or small, I’ve received a lot of things while living my life. Now, I want to leave behind those things that I’ve received.”
(NEW YORK) — Climate change is not only warming the planet, it’s negatively affecting human health in myriad ways, with researchers reporting surges in heat-related illnesses, infectious diseases, poor sleep and an increase in suicides, according to a major report by The Lancet Countdown that’s been cosigned by health experts from more than 70 institutions worldwide.
“There is no safe temperature rise from a health standpoint,” Dr. Renee Salas, an author of the report and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Harvard, said at a press briefing on Tuesday. “The take-home message of this year’s brief is clear: Climate change is first and foremost a health crisis.”
Additionally, the report shows how decades of racial inequity has deepened divides when it comes to health outcomes, especially in the U.S. over the last few decades, as researchers have observed an increase in the intensity, duration and frequency of heat waves, wildfires and droughts.
We could be investing in a healthier future. This is a pivotal moment in history.
More than a third of urban heat-related deaths in the 1990s and early 2000s can be attributed to climate change, and extensive research also has shown that exposure to heat waves poses a range of health risks, from heat rashes to heat exhaustion to heatstroke.
“During the last heat wave, I saw paramedics with burns on their knees from kneeling down on the sidewalk to take care of patients with heatstrokes,” said Dr. Jeremy Hess, a co-author of the report and a professor of environmental and occupational health services at the University of Washington. “I have seen patients die of heatstroke this year. These are preventable problems.”
Warmer temperatures also contribute to people sleeping less and observable increases in suicide and crime.
“Patients tend to complain more about sleep disturbances during heat waves, which generally go away once the weather passes,” said Dr. Shehram Majid, a New York City-based psychiatrist. “I have seen a rise in patients struggling with mood and anxiety disorders during periods of extreme weather in NYC.”
One study estimates that in the U.S., suicide rates rise 0.7% for every 1 degree Celsius increase in average temperature.
Climate change also creates and exacerbates droughts, which can lead to more wildfires that burn for much longer, which means more dust and smoke that destroys air quality. Agriculture suffers. Pollen levels can increase, affecting those with allergies.
And poor air quality can be felt thousands of miles away from fires. In July 2021, smoke from California’s Dixie Fire reached the Eastern Seaboard, contributing to the worst air quality in New York City in 15 years.
“September 2020, we saw the max wildfires to date, with about 80,000 wildfires in the U.S., which is eight times greater than 2001,” Salas added.
Emerging evidence, cited in the report, also shows that wildfire smoke may be more harmful than many other types of smoke, especially for children. Exposure has been linked to an increased risk of heart and pulmonary disease, premature death, worsened mental health and greater risk of preterm birth.
More flooding can create conditions that lead to increased mosquito breeding, which means diseases such as Dengue fever, a dangerous viral infection, can spreader wider more quickly via the insects.
“New Dengue transmission potential is five times higher than 1950,” Salas added.
Longer warm seasons also means more ticks are spreading Lyme disease.
“We spent many years talking about the pandemic, yet we were not prepared. We are bound to make the same mistake again with climate change. We have not invested in the mitigation and adaptation necessary,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “The health sector is already stressed, and when you add these natural disasters it pushes things to the breaking point.”
Policymakers need to get serious about taxing carbon and reaching zero-emission targets, said Benjamin, adding: “This is an opportunity to invest differently in a green recovery that isn’t fueled by fossil fuels. We could be investing in a healthier future. This is a pivotal moment in history.”
Yalda Safai, M.D., M.P.H., a psychiatry resident in New York City, is a contributor to ABC News Medical Unit.
Ed Sheeran may be a global superstar but he’s also British, which is why he”ll be entertaining fans young and old in his home country in the coming months.
Ed’s been booked to perform at the Royal Variety Performance, an annual charity event that will mark its 109th year in December. Senior members of the British Royal Family will be in attendance at the event, which will also feature performances Rod Stewart, James Blunt, Anne-Marie, Elvis Costello and The Greatest Showman star Keala Settle, who’ll sing “This Is Me” from the hit movie.
Adele‘s bestie, British comedian Alan Carr, will host and the proceeds go to the Royal Variety Charity, which helps provide care and financial assistance to entertainers. The charity’s patron is Queen Elizabeth II. The Royal Variety Performance airs in December on British TV and will stream at ITV.com.
Before that, on Friday, November 5, Ed will appear on the BBC’s children’s programming channel, CBeebies, reading a bedtime story for kids. He’ll read the book I Talk Like a River, about a boy who has a stutter. Ed can definitely relate, since he had a stutter as a kid.
Ed told the BBC he’s “delighted” to read the book, “especially as I’m a new dad myself.” He adds, “I hope the story helps inspire and support other children who stutter.” You’ll be able to watch Ed read I Talk Like a River on the BBC iPlayer.
Other stars who’ve read stories for kids on CBeebies include Elton John, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Evans, Orlando Bloom, Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page and many more.
Do you know a child who stutters? 🗣@edsheeran is reading an ‘Ed-time’ Story about it on Fri 5th Nov 📚
Slash has announced a new album with Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators.
The fourth studio effort from the Guns N’ Roses shredder and his solo band is fittingly titled 4, and will arrive February 11, 2022.
Our first preview of 4 is the previously teased single “The River Is Rising,” which you can download now via digital outlets.
Slash and company will launch a U.S. tour next year in support of 4 starting February 8 in Portland, Oregon. Tickets go on sale to the general public starting next Friday, October 29, at 10 a.m. local time, with various pre-sales happening throughout the week.
For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit SlashOnline.com.
Here’s the 4 track list:
“The River Is Rising”
“Whatever Gets You By”
“C’est la Vie”
“The Path Less Followed”
“Actions Speak Louder than Words”
“Spirit Love”
“Fill My World”
“April Fool”
“Call Off the Dogs”
“Fall Back to Earth”
