H.E.R. is taking the Lights On Festival back to California, and she’s bringing over 25 artists, including Erykah Badu.
The Oscar and Grammy winner announced the full list of performers Wednesday for her two-day event, which takes place September 18-19 in Concord, California. Badu will headline the first day of the festival, which also will feature Ty Dolla $ign and Keyshia Cole, according to Billboard. H.E.R. will headline the final day with some select musical friends. She will be joined on stage by Bryson Tiller, Ari Lennox and many more.
Meanwhile, the 24-year-old singer took to social media to celebrate the success of her debut album, Back of My Mind, and singles “Best Part,” featuring Daniel Caesar, and “Come Through” with Chris Brown.
“AHHHHH BACK OF MY MIND IS GOLD WOWWWWW,” she commented on Instagram. “‘Best Part’ is 5x Platinum and ‘Come Through’ is going Gold! I’m so grateful. Thank you to all the people that helped create this album. Thank you to the lovers of music. She gang. All the fans. Love y’all. This means SO much to me and my journey. NOW LET’S GET ON THE ROAD!”
Last Friday, H.E.R. announced her eight-city Back of My Mind tour, which kicks off October 10 in Franklin, Tennessee, and wraps up October 28 in Detroit. Tone Stith will be her opening act.
H.E.R. also will host part two of the Lights On Festival on October 21-22 in New York with a lineup that includes Maxwell, SWV and Chloe Bailey. Tickets for all the shows are now available on Ticketmaster.com.
Tanya Tucker is heading to reality TV. The country music icon is joining RuPaul on an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 6, streaming now on Paramount+.
In the episode, the top four are challenged to write lyrics for a new song titled “This Is Our Country.” The song will include a duet version with Tanya and RuPaul, which will be available everywhere Sept. 9.
Tanya spoke about her inspiration to the contestants, in a clip shared on social media. “I’m the perfect example of not giving up,” she said. “Always following, chasing, and running that dream down.”
Tanya is getting ready to return to the road on her Bring My Flowers Now Tour, after she previously had to cancel several shows due to requiring hip surgery.
“My hip is a lot better. I’m going through physical therapy three times a week, just trying to get back in shape,” she shared. “But I miss you. This COVID thing has been awful … I want to thank you for being there, always, and I’ll be there soon.”
(NEW YORK) — Authorities said Thursday that at least 12 people have died in New York City as the remnants of Hurricane Ida caused an unexpected deluge of devastating floodwater to inundate the city.
Videos and images posted to social media amid the storm captured scenes of chaos and despair as roads turned to waterways and subway stations flooded due to the record-shattering rainfall. Authorities said hundreds of people were rescued from flooded cars and transit stations.
“The price paid by some New Yorkers is horrible and tragic,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a Thursday news conference, lamenting how the New Yorkers who died in the storm “were alive at this exact moment yesterday, no idea that such a horrible fate could befall them.”
The borough of Queens, home to many lower- and middle-class New Yorkers and one of the most racially diverse areas in the nation, bore the brunt of storm-related deaths in the city.
Here is what we know about the New York City flooding victims so far.
The identities of the victims have yet to be released pending family notifications, police have said.
Two people died after the floodwaters caused a partial building collapse in Queens, according to the New York Police Department. Officers responded to a 911 call of a flooding condition in the Jamaica neighborhood of the borough at approximately 11:15 p.m. local time Wednesday, where they said they found a 43-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man unconscious and unresponsive within a residence. The woman was taken to Queens General Hospital where she was pronounced dead, and the man was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Three people — including a toddler — were also found dead in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens when police officers responded to a 911 call of a flooding condition at approximately 10 p.m. local time. A 50-year-old man, 48-year-old woman and a 2-year-old boy were found unconscious and unresponsive within the residence, and pronounced dead at the scene, according to the NYPD.
A 48-year-old woman was also found unconscious and unresponsive at her home near the Corona neighborhood of Queens, police said. She was taken by responders to Forest Hills Hospital late Wednesday, where she was pronounced dead.
Meanwhile in Brooklyn, a 66-year-old man was found unconscious and unresponsive on Wednesday evening at a residence after police responded to a 911 call reporting flooding. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Thursday, firefighters on discovered three more bodies after a landlord — also in Flushing — called 911 to report that there were three bodies submerged in a flooded basement, according to the Fire Department New York. Further details about the victims was not immediately available.
President Joe Biden gave his “heartfelt thanks” to first responders in the New York City region during remarks on Thursday, noting the record hourly rainfall total in the city’s famous Central Park.
“We saw more than 3 inches of rain per hour fall in Central Park,” the president said. “The United States National Weather Service issued a flood emergency in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and parts of Long Island last night.”
“This is the first time that such a warning has ever been issued for the city,” Biden said. “People were trapped in the subways.”
Much of the country is still reeling from Ida’s fury on Thursday. All told, there have been at least 40 deaths across eight states related to the storm.
ABC News’ Alex Faul and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
Thanks to his collaboration with U.K. pop star Dua Lipa, “Cold Heart,” any barriers keeping Elton John from returning to the pop charts have melted away.
As Billboard notes, the mash-up of three past Elton songs created by Australian dance duo Pnau has entered Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart at #39. This is the first time Elton’s appeared on that chart since January of 1998, with his song “Something About the Way You Look Tonight.”
In addition, 74-year-old Elton has now set a record for having the longest span of songs on the Pop Airplay chart. He appeared on the very first one, back in October of 1992, so now his span is a month shy of 29 years.
As previously reported, “Cold Heart” will be part of The Lockdown Sessions, an upcoming album by Elton featuring collaborations he recorded during the pandemic. It features him working with everyone from Stevie Nicks and Stevie Wonder to Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder and rapper Nicki Minaj.
Simmons, who’s currently quarantining because of the illness, has taken to Twitter to share with fans that he’s “really fine,” and he says it’s thanks to being vaccinated.
Meanwhile, former Saturday Night Live star Joe Piscopo retweeted Simmons’ post about how he was feeling, along with a note that reads, “Vaccinated and still caught Covid,” which prompted a rebuke from the 72-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.
“Joe, vaccine protects you about 95%. However, you can still get Delta Covid variant. I did…But the effects are minimal, if you’ve been vaccinated twice,” Simmons wrote. “Without vaccine = hospital, pain and maybe death. Do your research. You’ll come off much brighter.”
Simmons tested COVID-19 positive several days after his KISS band mate Paul Stanley announced that he had caught the virus, which resulted in the group postponing three earlier shows. The tour currently is scheduled to resume with a September 9 concert in Irvine, California.
Stanley recently tweeted that his COVID symptoms were mild, but that the virus still “kicked my a**.”
Stanley’s latest Twitter update, posted Wednesday, reads, “REST!! Doctor’s orders so we can hit the road running on Sept. 9th. Staying clear of people for a few more days. Do I think my ‘freedom’ ever includes jeopardizing other people’s health?…No, I don’t.”
Lionsgate has released the first look at Hally Berry‘s upcoming disaster film, Moonfall.
The film, which centers on the moon being knocked out of orbit and dramatically hurling toward Earth, comes from Independence Day director Roland Emmerich. It follows Berry as a NASA exec who enlists a former astronaut and a conspiracy theorist to help her stop the moon from wiping out the planet. Patrick Wilson, Charlie Plummer, John Bradley and Michael Peña also star. Moonfall hits theaters on February 4, 2022.
In other news, Common is getting into the boxing ring for his latest project. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor-rapper will star and produce The Faith of Long Beach, an indie boxing drama directed by Snowfall creator Eric Amadio. The film follows a “soft-spoken street fighter” from Long Beach, California, who is “torn between his street life past and a promising future” in professional boxing. Common will play Clifton Battles, a “washed-up boxing trainer” who works to transform the street fighter into a legitimate fighter.
Finally, HBO has announced a premiere date for the fifth and final season of Insecure. The Issa Rae-led comedy will return on Sunday, October 24 at 10 p.m. ET. As previously reported, filming for the final season wrapped back in June. Rae is expected to return, along with Yvonne Orji, Jay Ellis, Natasha Rothwell, Amanda Seales and Courtney Taylor.
(WASHINGTON) — A comprehensive review of police officer bodycam footage from the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol found roughly 1,000 instances of assault against members of law enforcement who were trying to protect the building, according to a series of new legal filings by the Justice Department.
“Based on a review of the body-worn camera footage conducted by our Office, the footage displays approximately 1,000 events that may be characterized as assaults on federal officers,” prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., wrote in several discovery filings for Capitol rioter cases this week.
The department says it has transferred more than 2,900 body camera videos “totaling over 2,300 hours (nearly 100 days)” into a database that they are working to make available to defense attorneys for the nearly 600 alleged rioters charged in connection with the attack.
The disclosure comes as former President Donald Trump and many of his allies on the far-right continue to spread false narratives downplaying the dangerousness of the mob that day, with some casting currently detained Jan. 6 defendants as political prisoners.
The chief of the Capitol Police said in a statement Wednesday that they are closely monitoring activity leading up to the “Justice for J6” protests that supporters of the Jan. 6 attack are planning to hold Sept. 18 in Washington.
Police said that they are “planning accordingly.”
More than 170 individuals already face charges for assaulting or impeding officers on Jan. 6, and the FBI has said it is still seeking tips on more than 200 still-unidentified suspects believed to have committed violence at the Capitol.
The DrakeCertified Lover Boy hype train is traveling all across America, and also going to Africa.
With the long-awaited album set to drop Friday, Drizzy popped up billboards, apparently with lyrics from CLB, earlier this week in his hometown of Toronto. Now he’s revealing some of his all-star features as he takes his promotion across the country, and internationally.
Billboards mentioning artists from the selected regions who are on the album have appeared in several cities, as captured by the Drake fansite, Word on Road.
A billboard that reads “Hey, New York, the GOAT is on CLB” is in Times Square, which could be referring to Jay-Z. In the Windy City, there’s one that says “Hey Chicago Smurk is on CLB.” In the ATL, Drake used nicknames — “Hey Atlanta Slime Pluto, Savage and Baby are on CLB” — suggesting that Young Thug, Future, 21 Savage and Lil Baby cut rhymes for the album.
A billboard in Los Angeles reads “Hey California Giveon and Ty Dolla [$ign] are on CLB.” Going to H-Town, a sign says “Hey Houston, the hometown hero is on CLB,” possible meaning Megan Thee Stallion.
The Champagne Papi also reached The Motherland. In Africa, a billboard reads, “Hey Nigeria Tems is on CLB,” referring to a female singer who was nominated at this year’s BET Awards for Best New International Artist.
CBS has found their fourth co-host to lead their Emmy-winning daytime talk show, The Talk.
The network shared on Thursday that former NFL player and current American Ninja Warrior host Akbar Gbajabiamila (BAH-juh-bee-uh-MILL-uh) will serve as a permanent fill-in on season 12 of the series, which premieres Monday, September 13. He joins Sheryl Underwood, Amanda Kloots and recently announced co-host Jerry O’Connell. As you may recall, Gbajabiamila appeared as a guest co-host on multiple episodes of The Talk during the summer. His addition comes less than a month after Carrie Ann Inaba and Elaine Welteroth both exited the show.
“It is an absolute honor to be joining The Talk as a host! I am so excited for this new generation of such a long-standing establishment,” Gbajabiamila said in a statement. “To be a part of this diverse group, is truly a dream and a new statement for The Talk. In a world as divided as ours, I look forward to showing up as my fun and authentic self every day and advocating for conversation over confrontation.”
The Talk executive producer and showrunner Heather Gray called Akbar’s hiring “a new day in daytime.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Akbar to the family,” she said. “His engaging personality, openness and quick wit really impressed us when he appeared as a guest co-host last season.”
Jason Aldean is speaking out about the 13 soldiers who were recently killed in Afghanistan. The Georgia native posted a touching tribute on his Instagram, sharing the soldiers’ photos and names, backed by a performance of his song “Drink One for Me.”
“Coming from a Military family, it’s been tough to find the words to express how I feel for what’s happened in Afghanistan,” Jason said. “It’s heartbreaking and unforgivable. We appreciate your service and thank you all for your sacrifice.”
“Drink One for Me” is from Jason’s fifth studio album, Night Train. The record was released in 2012.
Jason is back at radio with “If I Didn’t Love You,” his duet with Carrie Underwood. A video for the song will be released on September 8.
