Alice Cooper and Elvis Costello are among artists hosting new episodes of Audible’s ongoing Words + Music series, an audio program described as a combination of music and storytelling.
Cooper will give a rare inside look at the real person behind his iconic shock-rock persona in Who I Really Am: The Diary of a Hollywood Vampire, debuting October 7.
Costello will host an episode titled How to Play the Guitar and Y that premieres September 16. The program is described as “[p]art masterclass, part madcap guitar-manual” that will feature the eclectic singer/songwriter delivering “a love letter to the guitar, to music, and to the restorative power of ‘play.'”
Other artists taking part in new installments of the Words + Music series include Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder and Dave Matthews. Previous episodes have been hosted by Sting, Smokey Robinson, James Taylor, Patti Smith, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, and Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong.
Mekhi Phifer and Ron Cephas Jones had something in common when they took on their roles in the Apple TV+ series Truth Be Told. The two actors admit they both had zero knowledge of the true-crime podcast world.
Jones, who plays the father of true-crime podcaster Poppy, tells ABC Audio that his “new appreciation” for podcasts began when he first started learning about them in season one.
“I didn’t have any appreciation at all,” he laughs. “It was the beginning of this particular show that…podcasts became something of an interest.”
He continues, “I much prefer reading a book than to just listen to somebody talk, or listen to some music. But, I’ve had a new appreciation for them and now it’s just about trying to find the right one that fits me.”
Ron’s co-star Mekhi, who plays former detective and Poppy’s longtime friend Markus, agrees, noting that he “really [hasn’t] listened to many podcasts” either.
“I’m an old school cat,” Phifer explains. “So when I’m in the car, I’m listening to The Groove on [satellite radio]. But I see the value in them though.”
Although he finds true-crime podcasts valuable from an investigation standpoint, Phifer says he also sees a downside to the popular audio programs.
“I also can see the destruction in them,” he says. “Like even with Octavia [Spencer]’s character, [Poppy]. Because of her emotion, she would go off the handle and gives information on her podcasts that affect other people and other people’s lives. And people wind up getting killed and it affects their families. So, you really have to have the responsible journalism.”
Season two of Truth Be Told is available to stream now on Apple TV+.
Shinedown has premiered the trailer for ATTENTION ATTENTION, an upcoming film based on the band’s 2018 album of the same name.
The clip features several striking images — from a woman screaming underwater to a building exploding — as a sinister voiceover warns, “It will keep pushing and pushing and pushing you until everything around you completely collapses.”
You can watch the trailer streaming now on YouTube.
The ATTENTION ATTENTION film features all 14 songs from the album, including the hit singles “GET UP,” “DEVIL” and “MONSTERS,” coming together to form a narrative arc. It’s set to premiere digitally and on-demand September 3.
The new season hasn’t aired yet, but Ariana Grande has already been gushing about her time on The Voice. On the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy FallonMonday night, it was fellow coach Kelly Clarkson‘s turn to gush.
“I love her!” Kelly said of Ariana. “We had actually run into each other a couple of times before, but not really like, been able to talk and she so’s funny. Like, very witty.”
“We’ve already taped everything up to the lives, and she’s hysterical,” she continued.
Kelly adds that The Voice has never had a coach quite like Ariana. “I’ve only been there for eight seasons, but in all my seasons, I’ve never heard a coach talk about vocal health as much, and I’m like, ‘I guess we should have mentioned that,'” she laughed. “No one’s ever mentioned it, and she’s really into it.”
Over the weekend, Ariana posted one of her looks from the show and captioned it, “One month @nbcthevoice ! you just ….. have no idea. i love this show and everyone involved so much and yes, i will continue saying this repeatedly until september 20th goodbye.”
The new season of The Voice premieres September 20 on NBC.
Shawn Mendes enjoyed hyping his music the old fashioned way — by performing it live for unsuspecting fans.
The 23-year-old singer, who released his new song, “Summer of Love,” last Friday, stole his way inside five New York City nightclubs over the weekend and jumped on stage before a crowd of unsuspecting fans.
Page Six reports that Mendes started his impromptu PR tour by singing his new single when having dinner at NYC’s Beauty and Essex.
Later, he palled around with friends and wandered into the PHD rooftop bar, where a source tells the outlet that he “immediately got on the mic and told the crowd, ‘Let’s be thankful that we’re healthy and happy!'”
The Grammy nominee also performed similar stunts at Marquee, Tao and the Lavo Nightclub, even taking a selfie at the latter with a fan who boldly crossed the velvet rope. A witness says Mendes also “poured a glass of Don Julio.”
“His friends’ excitement and the crowd’s excitement never lessened after he did it again and again,” the source claimed.
Girlfriend Camila Cabello was not in attendance, but the source claimed Mendes became excited when one of the clubs that night played their “Señorita” duet.
Photo by LA Family Housing Home Together 2021/via Getty Images
After revealing on Sunday that she had tested positive for COVID-19, Melissa Joan Hart had some good news to report.
“I wanna let you know I’m doing so much better,” the Sabrina the Teenage Witch alum, looking a little run down, shared in a video posted to her Instagram account on Monday. “Feeling like I’m probably at like, 75 percent. My last video, I was probably [at] 20, 25 percent.”
Melissa says her 15-year-old son, Mason, who also tested positive, is doing better as well, and her youngest son, six-year-old Tucker, who also contracted the virus, has been asymptomatic.
Hart’s 13-year-old son, Braydon, is COVID-19 negative so far, but they’re still waiting on the results for her husband, Mark, which Hart says “got lost in the mail.”
“So, all staying very isolated and separate. Just wanted to send love to everyone out there,” the 45-year-old actress declared.
Melissa added that she’s gotten plenty of chicken soup to help her get better and thanked her fans for the “outpouring of love” she’s felt since revealing her diagnosis.
It wasn’t Tom Holland who accidentally leaked precious secrets about an upcoming Spider-Man movie, but the 25-year-old actor did his part to hype the franchise’s third installment before the official teaser dropped on Monday, following an alleged leak the day prior.
Taking to Instagram stories, Holland warned, “You ain’t ready!”
Soon enough, Marvel dropped the official teaser-trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home, which picks up right after Spider-Man: Far from Home‘s cliffhanger, where Jake Gyllenhaal‘s villainous Mysterio unmasks Peter Parker as Spider-Man and wrongfully accuses him of his murder.
The situation weaves a tangled web for Peter, who’s grappling with losing his secret identity while trying to prove his innocence to the world, which dubs him “public enemy #1.”
Desperate, Peter seeks out the help of Benedict Cumberbatch‘s Doctor Strange and asks if there’s a spell to make everyone forget he’s Spider-Man. Unfortunately, the spell goes haywire and sends the world plunging into chaos. Alternate multiverse realities begin to crash into one another, bringing back familiar faces from Spider-Man’s past, including Jamie Foxx‘s Electro and Alfred Molina‘s Doctor Octopus. In addition, we can hear Willem Dafoe‘s chilling Green Goblin laugh.
The trailer ends with Strange’s ominous warning: “Be careful what you wish for, Parker.”
While the teaser features villains from past Spider-Man incarnations, it doesn’t confirm if original Spider-Man Tobey Maguire or successor Andrew Garfield will also appear in the MCU as rumored. Maguire appeared in three Spider-Man films in the late 90s and early aughts, while Garfield took over the mantle in 2012 and 2014.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is a co-production of Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios. Itswings into theaters December 17.
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Toru Hanai/Getty Images for International Paralympic Committee
(TOKYO) — A record number of LGBTQ athletes will compete at the Paralympics in Tokyo, which are set to kick off on Tuesday.
“LGBTQ people are more likely to live with disabilities and to face systemic discrimination on both fronts; the visibility brought by the Paralympics and its talented athletes helps fight that stigma,” Rich Ferraro, communications officer at GLAAD, said in a press release. “Every athlete, regardless of ability, gender, race, or sexual orientation, deserves a chance to participate in sports and to represent their communities with pride.”
According to Outsports, which tracks LGBTQ athletes at each Olympic Games, the number of out athletes is at least 28, more than doubling the number of those who competed in the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The number represents at least a dozen sports and eight countries.
Robyn Love and Laurie Williams, who compete on Team Great Britain on the women’s wheelchair basketball team, got engaged in February 2020 and Love reflected on their journey as “team mates & soul mates.”
“I couldn’t imagine what my GB journey would have been like if Laurie and I weren’t together … I don’t think I would have progressed so quickly without her pushing me so hard, I can still hear “one more push” in my head every time I’m defending,” she wrote in a belated Instagram Pride month post. “It hasn’t always been plain sailing but competing at the highest level under incredible pressure has made our relationship strong and I cannot wait to compete in Tokyo together,” she added.
According to Outsports, this year was the first year that athletes reached out to the outlet, asking to be added to the list. Americans athletes on the list include Monica Sereda (cycling), Asya Miller (goalball), Laura Goodkind (USA) and Hallie Smith (rowing), Monique Matthews (sitting volleyball), Hailey Danz (triathlon), Kaitlyn Eaton (wheelchair basketball) and Terry Hayes (wheelchair fencing).
The majority of out LGBTQ Paralympians are women, while there are two athletes on Team Australia who identify as nonbinary — Maria “Maz” Strong, who competes in seated shot put and wheelchair racer Robyn Lambird, according to the list.
Lambird, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 9, shared her excitement on Instagram as she arrived in Tokyo ready to compete, writing, “When the dream becomes a reality.”
“I love seeing our out Paralympians highlighted because it shows that while we still have a ways to go, as a society, we have become more accepting therefore people are able to be their authentic selves and feel safe,” Team USA sitting volleyball player Monique Matthews told Outsports. “It gives me great pride to be part of such a diverse trailblazing group of people.”
The Paralympics is the largest sporting event globally for people with disabilities and according to the International Paralympic Committee, the first Paralympic Games were held in Rome, Italy, in 1960 featuring 400 athletes from 23 countries.
This year, the Games will feature over 3,500 athletes from at least 134 nations, including a Refugee Paralympic Team, which represents more than 82 million people around the world who were displaced and forced to flee their countries due to war, natural disasters and human rights abuses.
This year’s Paralympic Games were initially scheduled for the summer of 2020, but were rescheduled to take place in the summer of 2021, along with the Olympics, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Olympic Summer Games, which wrapped up earlier this month, were also groundbreaking for the LGBTQ community, with a record number of out LGBTQ athletes competing — at least 185, up from only 56 at the 2016 Games in Rio, according to Outsports. The Tokyo Olympics were also the first in which transgender athletes qualified to compete.
(NEW YORK) — For people who were fortunate enough to be employed during the coronavirus pandemic, the past 18 months of lockdown have provided one silver lining, a boon to their wallets.
With dining out and happy hours cut to a minimum and commutes gone for people who could work remotely, the pandemic inadvertently became a money saver for people lucky enough to do so.
As restaurants, stores and beauty salons reopen and with some returning to the office, the urge to spend is back.
With the economy on the rebound, Americans are now spending an average $765 more a month than they did this same time last year, according to the MassMutual Consumer Spending & Saving Index.
Millennials and Gen Z are spending even more, dishing out an average of $1,016 more per month compared to last summer, with the majority of the money going toward travel and dining out, according to the index.
“Now, with the ability to travel and go out more freely, [people are] making big plans and possibly spending more than they normally would to ‘make up for lost time,’ as they see it,” Farnoosh Torabi, editor-at-large of CNET Personal Finance and host of the “So Money” podcast. “There may be a tendency to go overboard.”
On the flip side, people who struggled financially during the pandemic — a large percentage of the U.S. population — may have a harder time keeping up with increased expenses, according to Torabi.
Just over 50% of U.S. households have any type of savings account, according to an analysis released this month by Consumer Federation of America, an association of non-profit consumer organizations.
“People who suffered financial losses in the pandemic are likely having a hard time budgeting, especially in the face of inflation and rising costs,” she said. “Prices on everything from coffee to cars have gone up in recent months. There’s definitely some sticker shock going on.”
Here are five tips from Torabi to help find your footing financially in this next stage of the pandemic.
1. Keep your emotions separate from spending.
“It’s important to be mindful of your emotions related to spending and saving right now,” said Torabi. “The pandemic was traumatic and coming out of this experience, many of our emotions will linger.”
“Making financial decisions in a highly emotional state is never wise. So take time to reflect and reevaluate your goals and values, which may have changed dramatically over the course of the pandemic,” she said. “Get clear on any lifestyle changes you may want to make, the relationship or career shifts you may newly desire, and from here, start to design a new financial roadmap for yourself that’s aligned with all of that.”
“There’s no sense in rushing to make financial choices that don’t match your goals,” added Torabi.
2. Prioritize building your savings.
Torabi advises saving money as a top priority, even over paying debt.
“The pandemic woke many of us up to the fact that life is fragile and it can take very unexpected turns, and along with that, it reminded us of the importance of having a healthy savings cushion that can help us ride out several months of unemployment or financial loss,” she said. “That’s first and foremost.”
When it comes to prioritizing savings over debt, Torabi explained, “That may sound controversial to some, but if you are starting at $0 in savings, it’s important to dedicate as much of your paycheck as possible — and quickly — towards having a minimum 6 months of your bare-bones living expenses reserved in a savings account.”
“Pay the minimums on your debts every month, of course. But contribute any extra income towards your emergency savings first before any other financial goal,” she said. “Start small if you have to, but just start.”
Torabi also recommends making your savings payments automatic, like having it taken out automatically from your paycheck.
“When you earn a lump sum of cash for a holiday, birthday or tax refund, funnel it towards savings first, all until you save a minimum six months worth of your necessary monthly living expenses,” she said, also suggesting the app Digit, which helps users save small amounts of money, like $5 here and there.
3. Spend money on needs, not wants.
“Prior to the pandemic, we may have been spending money on items that didn’t really fulfill us or create meaningful value, things like subscription services or fancy clothes,” she said. “But we learned again what matters most like our affording health care, investing in a support system in your life and investing in experiences that create memories, as opposed to shiny objects that lose their luster after a while.”
4. Don’t spend to ‘catch up’ with people on social media.
“Pace yourself and be true to your financial reality, not your friends’ or what you see on social media that’s pressuring you to spend,” recommends Torabi. “Honestly, social media can be a costly influence, so if you find yourself triggered to spend because of ads or friends’ experiences on Instagram, step away from the app for a while. And take time to get clear on your personal goals.”
“From there, take it month by month,” she said.
5. Reverse-engineer your money goals.
“Think of creating a ‘new normal’ way of life for yourself that takes into account all the lessons and learnings of the last 18 months,” said Torabi. “If there’s an experience you really want to afford, then create a plan and start saving now. Reverse-engineer it. If you start saving a little today, you have a far better chance of achieving your goal in good time.”
Torabi said a similar approach can be taken when it comes to budgeting for eating out.
“If it helps, create financial ‘rules’ for yourself related to eating out like, ‘I will pack lunch three out of five days and leave two days of the week for eating out,'” she said. “Or reserve a budget ahead of time for lunches and coffee so that you can better plan for these expenses and not feel guilty.”
“I’d never say to someone, ‘Don’t have the latte,'” she added. “Instead, figure out what plans or trade-offs you can arrange to afford that more comfortably.”
(NEW YORK) — As Kathy Hochul assumes office and becomes New York’s first female governor, she will have several ongoing challenges facing the state.
The still pressing COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s economic recovery, gun violence in New York City and the rollout of the newly approved recreational marijuana rules are just some of the areas that the new governor will likely have to address in the near future.
However, political experts say her most important task is regaining the trust of New Yorkers following Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s exit. And they say Hochul’s already showing she’s up to the task with her rhetoric and actions over the last two weeks.
“She has established some goodwill because she’s been visiting people all over the district,” Christina Greer, an associate professor of political science at Fordham University, told ABC News.
Greer and other experts said that New Yorkers are looking at Albany to get back on track after the investigations into Cuomo’s sexual harassment allegations and handling of nursing home deaths from COVID-19.
Greer noted that Hochul is in the same position as Gov. David Paterson was in 2008 when he assumed office, following Elliot Spitzer’s resignation over a prostitution scandal that rocked state politics. Like Patterson, Hochul had decades of experience in New York state politics and will be making history.
The governor’s grace period may not be as long as other elected officials given the increased attention on the state from all over the world as it rides out the pandemic and moves to recover economically, Greer warned.
“She’ll be entering into a different type of spotlight and she’ll have to expect that she’s going to be scrutinized more,” she said.
Hochul acknowledged these issues during a news conference on Aug. 11, a day after Cuomo announced his plans to resign. She said she will “fight like hell” for New Yorkers and pushed on an agenda that focused on increasing COVID-19 vaccinations, and reopening state businesses safely.
Hochul, who said she was not close with Cuomo, told reporters that she would remove the stigma created by her predecessor’s scandals and aggressive reputation when it came to working with other state leaders.
“No one will ever describe my administration as a toxic work environment,” she said.
Sally Friedman, an associate professor of political science at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University of Albany, told ABC News that Hochul has backed up her rhetoric through her years engaging with all New York communities.
Since she was elected as lieutenant governor in 2014, she has traveled the state and shown up at events such as community block parties and advocated for several proposals such as equal pay and empowerment opportunities for minorities, Friedman said.
Friedman said there has never been any indication that Hochul has been a bully or was demeaning to anyone, unlike her predecessor, and that change of attitude will go a long way.
“It helps because she knows a lot of people, and she is liked,” Friedman said.
Hochul has kept up that schedule over the last two weeks with in-person events throughout the state. The governor was also active on her social media accounts, talking about recent news such as Hurricane Henri.
Hochul’s first major item as governor Wednesday will be meeting with the leaders of the New York State Assembly and Senate. The Buffalo native and upstate resident vowed to choose a lieutenant governor from the downstate region.
Friedman added that Hochul’s announcement that she would run for re-election next year would help her during her transition. Now constituents and other leaders won’t have to spend time pondering about her political future and can focus on policy, according to the professor.
“That’s a take-charge move and she did it quickly,” Friedman said.
At the same time, knowing Hochul will spend next year campaigning does open her up to more scrutiny, Greer said. Every action she takes in office will be brought up in addition to any of her past work during an election run, according to Greer.
“She’s taking a gamble on herself,” Greer said.
Hochul addressed one of her ideological changes during her Aug. 11 news conference after a reporter asked about her previous opposition to a state law that allowed undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses. The governor praised the law and said that her views on it changed like a lot of other New Yorkers.
Friedman said Hochul’s transparency is already a good first step to earning her trust with constituents.
No matter what the next few months may bring, the political experts said Hochul’s administration will be a defining moment not just for the state but also for women in politics. Friedman said Hochul is fully aware of her historic role and would work to ensure that it adds a positive chapter to New York’s history books.
“I know a lot of women are looking forward to seeing her take charge,” she said. “It’s going to be an exciting moment for the state.”
