Pop Evil frontman Leigh Kakaty has tested positive for COVID-19.
As a result, the “Breathe Again” rockers have rescheduled eight of their upcoming tour dates, running from August 17 in Des Moines, Iowa, to August 25 in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
“To our Evilz, we always want to be fully transparent with our fans and the status of our shows,” Pop Evil says in a statement. “All of our band members and crew have been vaccinated prior to us starting tour. Yesterday, and again this morning, Leigh Kakaty tested positive for COVID-19. Leigh wanted to make sure his test wasn’t a false positive before postponing any more shows.”
Pop Evil plans to resume the tour August 27 in Virginia Beach. They’re supporting their new album, Versatile, which dropped in May.
(KYOTO, Japan) — Moe, 30, is a former geisha turned mom and YouTuber. She’s well aware of how drastic her career change may look as no two professions appear to be more different.
In Japan, geishas are enigmas with utterly private lives. They study traditional Japanese performing arts and use that knowledge to entertain guests through their own performances at parties. Gaining entry into one of those parties is a guarded secret and unlikely for the common passerby.
On the other hand, YouTubers are, for the most part, open books with much of their lives laid bare for all to see. They vlog about their daily lives, share intimate details and show off their home spaces.
But for Moe, known as “Kimono Mom” on YouTube, both of her chosen professions are rooted in the same thing: a love of culture and a desire to preserve it.
The path to becoming a geisha
It all started when Moe was 15 years old and living in Kyoto.
“When I was in my first year of high school, we had homework to find 10 different unique jobs,” she told “Good Morning America.” “My grandfather was teaching calligraphy at Gion, where maiko and geiko were living. … At that time, I realized that I lived in Kyoto but didn’t know much about maiko and geiko, and I didn’t even know how Japanese traditions were preserved, so I interviewed them.”
Moe, whose last name is being withheld for privacy reasons, said she was impressed by how hard maikos (apprentice geishas) and geikos (another word for geisha) worked to preserve Japanese culture.
“I wanted to be like that,” she said.
Moe left school at age 15 and moved into an okiya, or geisha house, where she began an apprenticeship. Her days were full, she said, with classes from 9 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m., and then work from 5 p.m. until as late as 1 a.m.
“When you go to a geisha party, there are guests waiting,” Moe said. “I’d bring food, drinks and show them Japanese dance.”
Moe completed her apprenticeship and became a full geisha at age 20, and said that while the work was demanding, she loved it.
“I liked to be on stage,” she said of her favorite part of being a geisha. “I’ve always liked to stand out since when I was little.”
Marriage brought change and culture shock.
Traditionally, geishas aren’t allowed to marry. If they want to do so, they have to retire from the profession. So when Moe married her first husband at the age of 21, she was forced to quit.
“A geisha has to quit when she gets married,” she said. “So [when] I got married, I retired and went to Tokyo to have a married life.”
Life in urban Tokyo was completely at odds with her previous life, and Moe said she was “shocked by the cultural difference.”
“Since I was 15 years old, I lived in the okiya,” she said. “I couldn’t carry my cellphone, I couldn’t watch TV — I lived in that world.”
As a housewife with a husband who didn’t want her to go out, Moe said she felt “like a bird in a cage.” Now knowing what the world outside of the okiya was like, she didn’t want to give up her freedom and pushed for a divorce.
“After I knew my freedom, I met many various people and I couldn’t live without my real personality,” she said.
Moe started working and later remarried. However, after she became pregnant and gave birth to her daughter, Sutan, she again had to leave her job.
“I always thought that I didn’t want to go back to living as a housewife,” she said. “But I didn’t know that being a mom was so busy.”
In early 2020, a YouTuber named Paolo contacted Moe to ask if she’d be willing to be filmed for his “Japan Day in the Life” series. Her video focused on a day in the life of a Japanese mom and, with 15 million views at the time of writing, is his most popular in the series.
“At the time I was featured in Paolo’s video, I had never seen YouTube,” Moe said, adding that Paolo was the first YouTuber she’d ever met. “I intuitively thought, ‘Maybe I can do it too.'”
For her channel, Moe thought to feature what was familiar.
“When I thought about what I could do now, I had an idea that I’d try to combine kimono and cooking,” she said. “I make recipes because I want people from overseas to see them. … I use ingredients that are easily available overseas.”
Armed with just an iPhone and laptop, “Kimono Mom” was born.
The videos have a universal appeal.
In her first video on Feb. 21, 2020, Moe is in a kimono as she demonstrates how to make a deep-fried lotus root sandwich. Throughout the video, she has to stop what she’s doing multiple times because of Sutan crying or wanting to be held — an experience that parents everywhere know all too well.
While some may edit out those clips or reshoot, Moe doesn’t shy away from them, leaving them in the final product. It’s this level of authenticity that Moe believes is the reason her channel has garnered such an international following.
“The image of mothers is international,” Moe said. “It doesn’t change so much in Japan, the United States or Brazil. There are mothers all over the world so even if the person watching isn’t a mother … a mother’s presence is close to people’s hearts.”
Initially, Moe didn’t want her daughter to appear in the videos for privacy reasons, but said the nature of being a mom to a young child made it “inevitable.”
“My daughter hasn’t left me alone since she started talking,” Moe said. “It feels like she’s always next to me.”
With her videos, Moe hopes to provide a lens into Japanese culture, food and motherhood. In addition to cooking, Moe also vlogs about other aspects of her life, such as her family’s daily activities, how they spend their holidays and her daughter’s “terrible twos”.
Just 10 days ago, Ahmad and his family were living at home in Kabul, Afghanistan. Now, they’re starting a new life in the U.S.
“It’s quite different and I like it. It is something that I have never imagined before,” Ahmad told ABC News. In this report, he will only be referred to by his first name to protect his family.
“The peace. The calm… You’re free, you can go anywhere, you can do anything, you enjoy your life. And the most important thing [is] that we have a better future for children.”
Within a few short weeks of American troops’ departure, Ahmad’s home country of Afghanistan fell quickly to the Taliban, an Islamic military insurgent group. This catastrophic outcome came after 20 years of American forces fighting there and almost a trillion dollars spent. Nearly 2,400 Americans, 66,000 Afghan military fighters and over 47,000 Afghan civilians were killed in the decadeslong war.
“I just missed… what’s happening in Afghanistan. This week, I came here, and then next Friday. It was under the Taliban control,” he said. “I am very lucky, and I’m happy for that.”
Ahmad said it took him a year and a half to get out of the country, and now it’s “impossible” for the thousands of other Afghans trying to escape.
For years, Ahmad worked in logistics, supplying equipment for the U.S. and Afghan forces in Kabul. But his association with the West made him a target for the Taliban, despite its assurances that those who worked with the U.S. would not be harmed.
“We don’t believe them because … they recently killed some interpreters and journalists in our province, and put them in a massive mass grave,” Ahmad said. “They will do it again. They did it before and they are going to do it again.”
His special immigrant visa, or SIV, was finally approved this month, allowing him, his wife and their two daughters to get out.
“The situation in Afghanistan … for me, for my family, for my children, there was no future,” he said. “So that’s why I decided to move.”
Still, most of their family is trapped back home and at risk. ABC News agreed not to reveal the family’s full name or where they are to avoid retribution against their relatives.
“God save them. And they should save themselves, they should hide themselves,” Ahmad said. “If [they] go out they will be caught on the, on the road, and [the Taliban will] put them in prison … We can’t say anything. I just told my friend … Please change your locations, do not be in one place … don’t be caught by the Taliban. Whatever you can do. Just don’t be in your address, don’t be in your home, or don’t be in places that the people may find you. This is the only thing that I can tell my friends and coworkers in Afghanistan.”
Ahmad worries about the Taliban’s restrictions that will affect women in the country, including rules about not wearing nail polish and not being allowed in public without a male guardian.
“They are not allowed to go to the university or to school. So that means that, as is the same rule that they had in 1996 … a woman is not allowed to go to the university or not to work,” he said. “So, basically, you have paralyzed, half of the community of the country, half of the population of the country, paralyzed.”
However, he believes women will “definitely” fight back for their freedoms.
“The women of Afghanistan today is not the women of Afghanistan before — they are more educated,” he said. “They have seen the world, they know everything, and nobody will sit back and say okay, do whatever. Everybody will try to fight back, for their rights.”
Without the support and protection of the U.S. military, the success of women in the country seems hopeless.
Ahmad didn’t expect the war to end like this.
“We were expecting a peace in Afghanistan… a country that all the people should have their own rights, their own freedom, but right now, we went back. Twenty years back, the same spot that we were then,” he said. “It doesn’t make me angry, but it makes me sad. As we know that America came for a purpose, they achieved their purpose. We cannot force them to stay in Afghanistan, and fight for, on, on our behalf.”
For Americans who served in the war, and for a generation of Afghans who saw the promise of progress, many are wondering if their sacrifices were in vain. Those left behind in the country may pay the highest cost as the situation grows direr by the minute.
Scenes from Kabul show thousands racing to flee at the airport, with adults and children hanging off aircraft as they attempt to take off. Six thousand American troops have now been ordered to head directly to Kabul to assist in the evacuation of U.S. personnel and Afghans who assisted the U.S. mission, a U.S. official told ABC News.
Ahmad decided to work for the U.S. in 2016.
“It was a good financial support for my family to live,” he said. “We thought that it is going to help our country with working with the U.S. government, and somehow we are helping our country to run the aircrafts, against the invaders.”
He didn’t know his work would make him a target of the Taliban.
“[In] the beginning, my neighbors, my relations, my close relatives … they were trying to convince me that I shouldn’t work with U.S. government,” he said. Then, he said, he and his family were menaced with calls and knocks on their doors.
Ahmad says he believes Afghanistan’s rapid fall was a cause of its weak government.
“They didn’t build [the government], then build their strength. They’re all depending on the U.S. government support for U.S. military [for] 20 years, they [were] just relying on other forces. British or Australian forces. They didn’t want to build their own ability or capability to control.”
He said he blames “ourselves” for his country’s downfall.
“Why we didn’t [we] change, and 20 years. We had everything, all the facilities, all the support, all the money, why we didn’t change? Why we didn’t change ourselves, why we didn’t change for [the] better?” he said. “I blame ourselves, our leaders for that.”
He can’t foresee when he will return to his home country but says if the regime changes and if “There’s a peace, I will go back.”
After Korn was forced to cancel a Saturday concert in Pennsylvania when a member of their “camp” tested positive for COVID-19, the band confirmed Monday that their lead singer, Jonathan Davis, is battling the virus.
Taking to Facebook, the two-time Grammy-winning band updated fans about their upcoming concert dates.
“We really appreciate your patience as we work out the next steps for our tour. On Saturday, we received the unfortunate news that Jonathan tested positive for Covid, and needless to say, we had to postpone the show last minute,” the rockers explained. “As a result of his positive test, we also need to reschedule the next handful of shows. As always, our primary goal is to ensure the safety of everyone involved, so this is something that has to be done.”
Korn assured fans that Davis is doing okay, saying, “Jonathan’s spirits are high, and he’s resting and recovering now.”
“We’re as disappointed as you are about the circumstances, but we’ll get through it though, and we can’t wait to see you once we’re back, firing on all cylinders once again,” the band closed before revealing which shows have been postponed while others will not be rescheduled.
The two cancelled dates are on August 24 and 25, in Darien Center and Syracuse, New York, respectively, “due to scheduling conflicts.” Those who held tickets for the cancelled shows will be “contacted for refunds.”
Here is the new list of dates for the rescheduled shows:
9/25 — Scranton, PA, The Pavilion at Montage Mountain
9/28 — Wantagh, NY, Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater
9/26 — Holmdel, NJ, PNC Bank Arts Cente
10/2 — Hartford, CT, XFINITY Theatre
10/1 — Mansfield, MA, Xfinity Center
10/3 — Gilford, NH, Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion
Hitmaker Maren Morris tested her hosting chops on Monday, filling in for Jimmy Kimmel on his ABC late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!
“The Bones” singer opened by joking, “I flew all the way from Nashville to be here tonight — I came here on Delta, and hopefully I’m not coming back with delta,” referring to the COVID-19 variant.
“Now some people have said, ‘Maren, you’re a country singer. What business do you have hosting a late-night comedy show?'” Maren continued. “And to them I say, ‘Mom, get out of my dressing room!'”
Morris, 31, also noted that she was right across the street from where she auditioned for American Idol when she was 17 and “didn’t even make it past the first round.”
“But I stuck with it,” she continued, “and ten years later I won a Grammy.”
Maren also filled us in on how she’s been coping with the pandemic, admitting the past year has been “stressful,” mostly because “when I wear a mask, my name sounds like ‘Karen.'”
The country superstar also shared that she’d “spent the whole pandemic in quarantine with an infant, so basically, this next hour is a vacation for me.”
“I don’t care how much you cry, will not be breastfeeding any of you,” she warned the studio audience.
Morris also revealed that she’d “spent the weekend doing some research,” on the different laws regarding the legal use of marijuana in various states, which she turned into a song, which included lines such as “California’s down with doobies, from Oakland to Hollyweed/and in Washington and Oregon it’s cool to spark that green.”
Later, Maren chatted with country icon and fellow Texas native Willie Nelson and Hacks actress Megan Stalter. The show featured a performance by Gabriels, fronted by singer Jacob Lusk.
Britney Spears has not only shut down “twisted” rumors about her body, but she’s revealing why she’s been sharing more risqué photos as of late.
Taking to Instagram on Monday, the “Toxic” singer shared a new group of photos where she cradles her bare chest with her hands while holding a single red rose.
Shutting down speculation that she is pregnant or had breast enhancement surgery, Britney explained that she wants to regain ownership of her body and wants to love it again, and sharing such photos help her accomplish that.
“In my opinion it’s quite twisted the immediate response of when any woman is hot and they want to shed a layer… just on a practical scale of being in your car and realizing you’re wearing a stupid long sleeve shirt in the summer,” she wrote. “The immediate reaction to any woman who does this after shedding a layer is DAMN I FEEL BETTER…therefore you think you look better.”
“I’ve had a billion shows where I’ve done that and to my horror uhhh [well]…sometimes I didn’t look so great,” she continued, noting such moments were “embarrassing” for her.
“I feel like performing made me too self-conscious about my body and that’s not attractive,” wrote Britney. “I honestly feel like the weight of the would [sic] has been on my shoulders and it’s made me view myself that way !!!! I wanted to see myself in a lighter way…naked…like the way I was born.”
“Seeing myself in my purest form gives evidence that pain … hurt … tears … and heavy burdens aren’t who I am. I am a woman …. a beautiful … sensitive woman,” she added, before thanking her fans for continuing the #FreeBritney movement. She also hinted, “There’s a way deeper meaning to the movement than you can ever imagine.”
The Weeknd‘s “Blinding Lights” set the all-time record Monday for most weeks spent on the Billboard Hot 100: a total of 88. Now, the Canadian star has taken to Instagram to share his feelings about the milestone.
“Forever grateful to be able to experiment with sounds, try new things with my voice and create music with the people I truly love and respect,” he writes. “For the last decade every song has been a journey and to be able to continue this journey has been nothing short of a blessing. It’s the only gift I could ever ask for.”
“I’ll be doing it for as long as I can breathe. I love my fans and wouldn’t be here without you,” he continues. “Big day for blinding lights. Multiple songs in the top 20. [My second mixtape] Thursday turns 10. [My dog] Caesar turned 4 and the f**king dawn is coming. LET’S GO.”
“The dawn is coming” is, of course, what Weeknd’s been saying for several months now when talking about his next musical era. In his post, he included a variation on the popular Batman-slapping-Robin meme: It’s a cartoon of himself in his After Hours red jacket, singing “Oooh, I’m blinded b…” being slapped by himself in the present day, saying, “The dawn is coming!!!!”
(NEW YORK) — There’s a trio of tropical systems in the Atlantic Basin, with Fred moving up the East Coast as Grace hits Haiti and Henri churns near Bermuda.
Fred
Fred made landfall on the Florida Panhandle Monday afternoon, leading to flooding as Panama City saw 10 inches of rain.
President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Florida due to Fred’s flooding.
Fred has now weakened to a tropical depression over Georgia, but the heavy rain should continue from Georgia to the Carolinas and into Virginia. There’s a high risk of flooding for the Southern Appalachians Tuesday as Fred moves north.
The heavy rainfall likely will stretch into the Northeast Wednesday afternoon into Thursday, with 6 inches of rain possible in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Flash flooding is possible for major cities including Philadelphia and New York City.
Grace
Tropical Storm Grace is now leaving Haiti, where it dumped heavy rain that lead to flash flooding in a nation already reeling from an earthquake this weekend that’s killed over 1,400.
Grace should move over Jamaica Tuesday and into the western Caribbean Sea by Thursday before approaching Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsulas as a strong tropical storm or possibly a Category 1 hurricane.
Grace is not expected to threaten the U.S. but Mexico could see flash flooding.
Henri
Henri is forecast to circle Bermuda over the next few days, providing gusty winds and some rain.
The U.S. likely will only see minor impacts from Henri, with high surf and rip currents along the East Coast.
Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock have wrapped filming on their upcoming film, Lost City of D, and to celebrate, Tatum decided to have a little fun — by pranking his costar.
In a behind-the-scenes clip of the two on set, the Magic Mike star cradles Bullock as she pleads “no” just before he jumps into a pool, taking them both under. They later emerge from beneath the surface and share a hug before swimming off.
Tatum captioned the snippet, “That’s a wrap on #LostCityOfD. I love this movie so much I don’t have words.”
“I also don’t have words for how special Sandy Bullock is. We definitely were made in the same lab & share a brain at times. I [read heart emoji] U girl. As U can see I’ll ride your coattails anywhere anytime forever,” he added.
Jumping into a pool isn’t the only way that the Step Up alum chose to celebrate. He also debuted a new ‘do. Sharing a black-and-white mirror selfie of himself receiving a haircut, he wrote, “And just like that… our 1st Charlie yells “and that’s a wrap”… and i feel myself coming back and the hair starts coming off.”
“And now time… time for all the things. Mine time,” Tatum continued. “Getting back to me before the next creative adventure into someone and somewhere else. I’m so happy and easy right now. Breathing and gonna indulge in this life I’ve been blessed with. Be easy.”
Lost City of D is slated to hit theaters on April 15, 2022.
That’s a wrap on #LostCityOfD. I love this movie so much I don’t have words. I also don’t have words for how special Sandy Bullock is. We definitely were made in the same lab & share a brain at times. I ❤️ U girl. As U can see I’ll ride your coattails anywhere anytime forever. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/yAXAf5D4x6
Drew Barrymore has added her voice to the discussion regarding Britney Spears‘ ongoing battle to end her 13-year conservatorship — and she’s on the side of Team #FreeBritney.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Barrymore revealed she had been “silently” supporting Spears, until it became apparent the singer needed more people to come to her defense.
“I think one of the things I thought that I could [do to] respect her the most is not Instagram about it, and not talk on social media. This is too big for that,” the 46-year-old actress explained. “But I also think on the other side of the coin, the noise had to be made in order to start to have change here.”
“Social media is a very tricky animal. It can lead to great outcry and people listening, and it can also be a place that has a little bit of empty calories,” Barrymore continued, but also added, “I feel that there’s a human being at the core of this. But since she put herself out there more … she’s the key to her freedom.”
“This is about her and her life and everybody deserves the freedom to make mistakes or a success of their life and everything in between,” Barrymore declared. “That is what a life is.”
She concluded, “So whether it’s about her or anyone else, I want people to have their civil liberties; to have the freedom to live their lives.”
In February, Barrymore revealed when speaking with Howard Stern on his SiriusXM show that she had “empathy” for the Grammy winner, as they both had similar childhoods and struggles with fame.
“It’s hard to grow up in front of people. It’s just hard,” she said at the time.
