Anne-Marie and Niall Horan‘s hit duet “Our Song” is about two former lovers who think they’re doing OK — until their song comes on the radio. Anne-Marie says she got the idea for the song when she heard Jason Mraz‘s hit “I’m Yours” on the way to the songwriting session — but not for the reason you might think.
“On the way to the studio, I always try and see what inspires me on the way,” Anne-Marie tells ABC Audio. “I look out the window and I see someone talking to someone and I try and imagine their conversation…it’s always constantly, you know, trying to get inspired by something.”
She recalls that on that particular journey, on the way to her recording session, the song ‘I’m Yours’ came on the radio. “It’s weird, it never used to be mine and my ex’s song. It was my ex’s and his ex’s song together, Anne-Marie notes. “So every time it came on the radio, I would be like, ‘You’re thinking about her!!!’ And so it was that song that reminded me of that time.”
The “FRIENDS” singer marvels, “It was so long ago…it just surprised me how many memories it brought back whilst listening to it. So I went to the session, [and] I was like, ‘Imagine just how many people have that one song with someone?’ and it went from there, really.”
“Our Song” is on Anne-Marie’s new album Therapy, which also features collaborations with her friend Ed Sheeran and the British girl group Little Mix, among others.
Slipknot‘s beloved sophomore album Iowa turns 20 this Saturday.
Originally released August 28, 2001, Iowa arrived two years after Slipknot’s self-titled debut. Drawing inspiration from their lives growing up in their home state, along with their struggles with issues including addiction and mental health, the masked metallers created what is now considered the Knot’s darkest, heaviest and most intense album of their career.
Iowa debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 — then a Slipknot career high — and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA. It spawned future Knot staples “Disasterpiece,” “The Heretic Anthem” and “People=S***,” plus the Grammy-nominated singles “Left Behind” and “My Plague.”
Sadly, not every Slipknot member who recorded Iowa is still here to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Bassist Paul Gray died in 2010, while drummer Joey Jordison, whom Halestorm‘s Arejay Hale calls “one of the most influential drummers of his generation,” just passed away this past July.
“I always appreciated [Jordison’s] style because it was straight from the heart,” Hale tells ABC Audio. “I always appreciated that about him, and I was always really intrigued by his playing.”
Hale adds that he’s always been particularly inspired by Jordison’s “raw energy” and “aggression.”
“You could feel what he played,” Hale says. “You could definitely feel that he beat himself up. He put his entire body into his playing.”
Christopher Polk/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
The Weeknd was the star of this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, however he regrets that he had to postpone his After Hours tour — named after double-platinum album — until next year due to the pandemic.
“Oh my God, I really miss performing in general, especially this album,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I really didn’t get to perform it for my fans. There’s just something about going on tour, and even going on festival runs, and just experiencing new music with the crowd. Hopefully we get to do that.”
The three-time Grammy winner was shut out at the Grammy nominations this year, but he received a surprise Emmy nomination for his Super Bowl performance: Outstanding Variety Special.
“It was definitely unexpected,” he says of the nod. “I had no idea that it was even possible to get nominated for an Emmy for the Super Bowl, so I was very grateful.”
In 2019, the 31-year-old entertainer made his acting debut in Uncut Gems starring Adam Sandler. Now he’s on a team creating a new HBO TV series, while also recording his fifth studio album.
“It’s been really cool because I’m working on this album this summer simultaneously with the writer’s room for the new TV show,” he says. “So I’ve been kind of going back and forth finishing the album and pending up the show that we’re going to start shooting soon. It’s been quite a summer.”
Richard Marx‘s memoir Stories to Tell came out recently. It features dozens of tales of him working with everyone from Lionel Richie, Barbra Streisand and Luther Vandross to *NSYNC, Josh Groban and Keith Urban — plus the scoop on how he wrote all his hits. However, Richard says he’ll probably write a second volume, because he left so many things out of the first one.
“Yeah, I mean, I like the idea of maybe writing another book, or more multiple books that might be fiction, that might be different,” he tells ABC Audio. “I’ve got a couple of ideas for books now, just like I would have ideas for albums or songs.”
But mostly, Richard wants to do another chapter of his memoir because he now has what you might call “author regret.”
“There comes a point when…as an author, your publisher says, ‘That’s it. There’s no more time, there’s no more changes, this is it. You’ve approved this. There’s no going back now,'” he explains. “And from that point on, we’d be hiking, and I’d say to [my wife] Daisy, ‘Ohhhhh, I completely forgot this story…!!!!'”
“I left out so many stories that I just didn’t remember,” Richard adds. “So, yeah, there’s a whole ‘nother volume of stories. There are More Stories to Tell. That’s the gag-inducing title.”
It’s hard to imagine how Richard is going to top the story of that time he was held hostage by the Chinese mafia in Taiwan, but we’re sure he’ll come up with something.
ZZ Top‘s Billy Gibbons contributed the lead track to the album May the Circle Remain Unbroken: A Tribute to Roky Erickson, which was released as a limited-edition colored-vinyl LP on July 17th as part of the 2021 Record Store Day event and now also can be purchased on CD.
The album features a variety of mostly contemporary artists saluting late Texas psychedelic rock pioneer Roky Erickson, who died in 2019 at age 71. Gibbons recorded a version of “(I’ve Got) Levitation,” a 1967 single by Erickson’s early band The 13th Floor Elevators, who was a big influence on Billy’s own music.
“[The 13th Floor Elevators] inspired me to start a group following in their footsteps called The Moving Sidewalks,” Gibbons tells ABC Audio, referring to his pre-ZZ Top band. “Elevators go up, sidewalks move forward, so it was a match made in heaven. We had a great admiration for everything that Roky did. And to this day, they remain great inspirations.”
The 13th Floor Elevators were best known for their debut single, “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” a minor 1966 chart hit that has become a garage-rock classic.
Acclaimed alt-country artist Lucinda Williams recorded a version of the song for May the Circle Remain Unbroken. Other artists featured on the tribute include Wilco‘s Jeff Tweedy, ex-Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan, Gary Clark Jr. and the duo of Alison Mosshart of The Kills and longtime Bob Dylan touring guitarist Charlie Sexton.
In addition to 13th Floor Elevators covers, the album features renditions songs from Erickson’s long solo career.
Reflecting on Roky’s passing, Gibbons says, “[H]e’s gone but not forgotten. We’ll have many more days of enjoying Roky Erickson and his great sounds.”
May the Circle Remain Unbroken is available at LightintheAttic.net. Here’s the track list:
“(I’ve Got) Levitation” — Billy Gibbons
“Starry Eyes” — Mosshart Sexton
“For You (I’d Do Anything) ” — Jeff Tweedy
“Clear Night for Love” — Lynn Castle & Mark Lanegan
“Don’t Fall Down” — The Black Angels
“Be and Bring Me Home” — Neko Case
“Red Temple Prayer (Two-Headed Dog)” — Margo Price
“Roller Coaster” — Gary Clark Jr. & Eve Monsees
“Night of the Vampire” — Ty Segall
“You’re Gonna Miss Me” — Lucinda Williams
“If You Have Ghosts” — Chelsea Wolfe
“May the Circle Remain Unbroken” — Brogan Bentley
Ron Jeremy was indicted on more than 30 sexual assault counts involving 21 victims over a period of more than two decades, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
The indictment replaces the criminal charges filed last year. A grand jury returned the indictment August 19 after considering all the accusations from the 2020 charges, according to the announcement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
The 67-year-old adult film star, born Ronald Jeremy Hyatt, has remained in jail since being arrested last summer on $6.6 million bail.
Jeremy pleaded not guilty to all charges.
“Far too often, survivors of sexual assault suffer in isolation,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement, according to the industry publication. “We must ensure that survivors have all options available to help with recovery, including trauma-informed services for healing and support to report such crimes.”
Jeremy is scheduled to return to court on October 12 for a pretrial conference.
David John Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
(ATLANTA) — After months of speculation, fueled in part by public urging from former President Donald Trump, former NFL star and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker has officially launched his campaign for Georgia’s 2022 Senate race against Sen. Raphael Warnock.
“Our country is at a crossroads, and I can’t sit on the sidelines anymore. America is the greatest country in the world, but too many politicians in Washington are afraid to say that. … I have lived the American Dream, but I am concerned it is slipping away for many people,” Walker said in a statement Wednesday, pledging to “stand up for conservative values” if elected to the U.S. Senate.
Walker’s entry into the race marks a new phase in the Republican primary for what is set to be one of the most competitive races of the midterms and a top pick-up opportunity for Republicans. As the first electoral test since the state flipped for President Joe Biden in November and gave Democrats the slimmest of Senate majorities in January by electing Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Republicans are eager to show that Georgia is not a blue state.
In response to Walker filing his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission Tuesday, the Democratic Party of Georgia released a statement calling Walker’s entrance “the nightmare scenario” for the GOP.
“Walker’s entrance into Georgia’s chaotic GOP Senate primary is the nightmare scenario that Republicans have spent the entire cycle trying to avoid. By the end of this long, divisive, and expensive intra-party fight, it’ll be clear that none of these candidates are focused on the issues that matter most to Georgians,” state party spokesperson Dan Gottlieb said in a statement.
While three other candidates have already launched bids, the race has been at somewhat of a standstill while Walker mulled a run.
None of the candidates on the GOP side has the national name recognition or profile that Walker brings with him, but one competitor — Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black — has already been elected to statewide office, a position he’s been elected to three times. He also has the endorsement of former Republican Gov. Nathan Deal.
Black has worked to solidify himself as the front-runner before Walker entered the race. He took on Walker before he announced his campaign, contrasting himself with the longtime Texas resident by touting his lifelong Georgian credentials.
“Welcome back to Georgia. Welcome to the U.S. Senate race. You know, I’ve been a big fan of yours since we were in college together before you moved away,” Black quipped in a video response to Walker filing his candidacy on Tuesday. Black was a student at University of Georgia when Walker was a freshman.
In addition to Black, also in the race to take on Warnock are Kelvin King, an Air Force veteran and owner of a metro-Atlanta construction firm, and Latham Saddler, a former Navy SEAL and National Security Council director of intelligence programs in the Trump administration.
Like King and Saddler, Walker has never been elected to office, but he enters the race as a front-runner — a status that could be solidified quickly with an endorsement from his longtime friend, the former president.
While he’d been living in Texas for decades before exploring a run in Georgia, and only re-registered to vote in the state last week, 59-year-old Walker grew up in the Peach State and played for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. The Bulldogs won the national title his freshman year and Walker came up just shy of winning the coveted college football trophy that year, placing third for the Heisman, but going on to win it his junior year.
Walker’s allegiance to Trump was evident throughout the 2020 campaign, while he acted as a surrogate for the former president. He appeared by video at the Republican National Convention in August to commend Trump’s character and dispute allegations he is racist. Last September, he participated in a radio ad touting Trump’s record of “fighting to improve the lives of Black Americans.”
But winning the primary is one thing; winning the general election is another — and having Trump’s “complete and total endorsement” — should he officially get it, as expected — could be a liability come November 2022, when the candidate will need to appeal to more than just base voters to come out on top.
Should he win the primary, he’ll also be up against a fundraising powerhouse. Coming in behind Ossoff and now-Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison, Warnock raised the third-most money of any Senate candidate in the 2020 cycle. As of the end of June, the most recent campaign finance filing candidates have had to submit, the Georgia senator had over $10.5 million in the bank and received over $6 million in contributions in the second three-month period of 2021. He’s also the top fundraiser so far for the 2022 cycle, according to the FEC.
While senators serve six-year terms, Warnock, the first Black senator elected to represent Georgia, is facing voters again after just two years because he won a special election to finish out retired Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term. But in the twin January runoffs, Warnock bested Biden’s November margin over Trump by nearly eight-fold and earned about 19,000 more votes than Ossoff did against former GOP Sen. David Perdue.
(ALBANY, N.Y.) — Newly sworn-in New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she’s cleaned house and removed individuals who allegedly contributed to a culture that allowed for sexual harassment under her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo.
Cuomo officially left office this week after a report by the New York Attorney General’s Office released earlier this month alleged he sexually harassed 11 women. Cuomo has repeatedly denied claims of sexual harassment and said he was resigning to prevent the distraction of an impeachment trial, though he was certain he would win.
The staffers implicated in the report “are no longer part of this administration,” she said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Wednesday morning.
The day after he announced he’d resign, she vowed to fire anyone connected to the report who contributed to the culture of sexual harassment.
“It’s over. None of this is going to be accepted. I’ve surrounded myself with talented, young women and I want them to be the role models to others,” she said. “It’s a culture where they’re going to be OK. You don’t have to look over your shoulder. You don’t have to worry about harassment.”
Several Cuomo aides and staffers implicated in the report, including former secretary Melissa DeRosa and former Financial Services Superintendent Linda Lacewell, had already left state government. DeRosa, considered one of Cuomo’s top confidantes, stepped down just days before the governor announced his resignation. Lacewell left her position on Tuesday, the same day as Cuomo.
A number of state legislators had demanded that officials close to Cuomo and his scandals be removed as Albany moved forward under new leadership.
New York Republican Sen. Robert Ortt demanded a “clean slate,” adding in a statement earlier this month, “I am calling for the immediate resignation of state agency officials with direct ties to the soon-to-be former Governor and the many scandals that have plagued state government.”
When asked how the culture will change now that she’s at the helm, Hochul told MSNBC, “Anyone who crosses the line will be addressed by me.”
She said she’ll require in-person sexual harassment and ethics training for all state government employees.
Basil Smikle, a political strategist and lecturer at Columbia’s School of International Public Affairs, told ABC News her decision to remove those staffers “sends a message to voters that the era of Andrew Cuomo is over.”
“It was a clear intent on her part. She talked a lot about accountability and transparency. The act itself is a follow through,” he said.
However, it may be a bigger challenge to change the culture in Albany as a whole.
“It would be wrong to assume that these early moves will erase all of the toxicity. She has to undertake a more thorough and sweeping investigation of state agencies, state contracts, even relationships with legislators and center her administrative policies on diversity and on women to really be able to affect the substantial change in the long run,” he added.
Hochul also said Wednesday she’s looking into staffers involved in the controversial handling of nursing home data during the pandemic.
“I need to continue working to identify principles involved in those decisions,” she told “Morning Joe.”
She noted she’s asked for a 45-day period to assemble her team.
“There’s just a lot of things that weren’t happening and I’m going to make them happen,” she said. “Transparency will be a hallmark of my administration.”
(WASHINGTON) — After President Joe Biden’s withdrawal of all U.S. troops by Aug. 31, the U.S. will continue to help U.S. citizens and residents and Afghans who worked with Americans or are otherwise at risk from the Taliban get out of the country, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
But it’s unclear how that will be possible after the U.S. cedes control of the airport to the Taliban and ends evacuation flights — and it will mean leaving thousands of Afghans that the administration had previously said they would help behind.
Biden and Blinken have each said that the U.S. is “on track to complete our mission” before that Aug. 31 deadline, without specifying what the administration considers the scope of that mission — including how many Afghans they will evacuate.
In contrast, Blinken detailed how many Americans the U.S. has evacuated — some 4,500 to date — and how many the administration believes are left behind — 500 with whom the State Department has made contact with and up to 1,000 more who registered with the embassy.
“Let me be crystal clear about this — there is no deadline on our work to help any remaining American citizens who decide they want to leave to do so, along with the many Afghans who have stood by us over these many years and want to leave and have been unable to do so. That effort will continue every day past Aug. 31st,” Blinken told reporters Wednesday.
But starting on Sept. 1, that effort will rely on the Taliban, whose spokesperson said Tuesday they will not let Afghans leave the country.
In contrast, Blinken said, “The Taliban have made public and private commitments to provide and permit safe passage for Americans, for third-country nationals and Afghans at risk going forward past Aug. 31st” and to keep Kabul’s international airport running.
He added the U.S., backed by international allies, will hold them to it, without specifying how beyond using “every diplomatic, economic, political and assistance tool at my disposal (and) working closely with allies and partners who feel very much the same way.”
The U.S. is in discussions already with the international community on how to keep the airport open, according to American officials, including countries like Qatar and Turkey that have closer ties to the Taliban.
Blinken didn’t detail what levers the U.S. could use to hold the Taliban to its promises, but he did say that if it let “people who want to leave Afghanistan” leave, upheld basic rights and prevented its territory from becoming a launching pad for terror attacks, “that’s a government we can work with.”
Pressed on whether the administration was abandoning Afghan allies, including interpreters or translators who weren’t far enough along in the special immigrant visa process, a senior State Department official told ABC News, “We have always said that we are committed to bringing out Americans who wish to be repatriated. We are going to do as much as we can for as many people as we can beyond that.”
But while the administration never specified how many Afghans that applied to, it has said repeatedly it would help those who served the U.S. military and diplomatic missions over the last 20 years.
“Our message to those women and men is clear — there is a home for you in the United States if you so choose, and we will stand with you just as you stood with us,” Biden said on July 8, before the Taliban surprised the administration with the speed with which it took over Afghanistan.
The senior State Department official said that “commitment we have to individuals who may be at risk” has to be weighed against “the safety and security of our diplomats, of our service members, of others who are involved in this operation.” Biden, Blinken and other officials have said the threat from the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan remains high, putting U.S. military and diplomatic personnel in danger.
“We’re operating in a hostile environment in a city and country now controlled by the Taliban, with the very real possibility of an ISIS-K attack. We’re taking every precaution, but this is very high-risk,” Blinken said Wednesday.
While the U.S. has been unclear about which Afghan interpreters will be evacuated, Blinken was more explicit about pledging to help those who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Several staffers have been blocked by Taliban fighters from approaching the Kabul airport and getting their seats on evacuation flights.
“Along with American citizens, nothing is more important to me as secretary of state than to do right by the people who have been working side-by-side with American diplomats in our embassy,” Blinken said. “We are relentlessly focused on getting the locally-employed staff out of Afghanistan and out of harm’s way, and let me leave it at that for now.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Taliban wrested control of more than just territory from Afghan forces as it tore through Afghanistan this month. By the time the militant group toppled Kabul on Aug. 14, images had emerged showing its fighters holding American-made rifles and posing next to Blackhawk helicopters.
Pentagon officials have told ABC News they don’t have a clear idea of just how much U.S.-made equipment is now in the hands of the Taliban, but government reports give clues to what the group could now have in its arsenal.
Since 2005, the U.S. has spent a total of about $80 billion on Afghan troops and police through the congressional Afghanistan Security Forces Fund, the main source of such money. More than $18 billion went specifically to “equipment and transportation,” according to a July report from the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR.
The rest of the money went toward sustainment, training, operations and infrastructure.
The weapons given to Afghan forces between 2004-2016 included more than 25,000 grenade launchers, nearly 65,000 machine guns and about 360,000 rifles, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. The firearms consisted of U.S. service rifles like the M16 and M4 as well as some Russian-designed AK-47s and Dragunov sniper rifles.
Thousands of indirect-fire weapons such as mortars and 122mm howitzers were also given to the Afghans.
“We don’t have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone, but certainly a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters last week.
In addition to conventional weapons, the U.S. gave the Afghans a large fleet of air and ground vehicles.
ABC News Senior Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell, who was in Kabul as the Taliban took over the city, reported seeing Taliban militants driving Humvees. This is perhaps not surprising when considering the defeated Afghan security forces were given some 22,000 Humvees during the course of the war, according to the GAO report.
Add to that 42,000 Ford Ranger pick-up trucks and about 1,000 MRAPs, the large, heavy vehicles used to protect troops against roadside bombs.
For air operations, the U.S. provided the Afghan air force with 40 scout/attack MD-530 “little bird” helicopters, more than 30 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and 23 A-29 Super Tucano propeller attack planes.
Not all of these were left for the Taliban. In a rare public appearance last week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “I have received reports of a number of aircraft that were flown into Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.”
Videos have shown Taliban fighters posing by some of these aircraft, but a new Taliban air force is not likely to emerge, according to former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and ABC News contributor Steve Ganyard.
“The U.S. airplanes, they won’t be able to maintain — they’ll likely sell them for cash,” he said. “It’s the ground equipment they’ll use.”
Keeping advanced aircraft in flying condition takes serious maintenance ability and mechanical expertise — something the Afghan air force itself struggled with, even with American assistance.
While much U.S.-made materiel is now under Taliban control, it’s possible the military will try to remove some of it from the equation sometime after the expected Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline, according to Ganyard.
“The U.S. will have the option of bombing the storage areas and destroying equipment once the airlift of American citizens is complete,” he said.
