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‘Queer Eye’ star Tan France and husband Rob welcome son Ismail via surrogacy

August 2, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Queer Eye star Tan France is officially a daddy.

The fashion expert, 38, took to Instagram on Monday to announce he and his husband, Rob France, welcomed son Ismail France via surrogacy last month.

“Give our son a warm welcome,” France began. “Ismail France, born July 10th.”

“He came 7 weeks early, so he’s been in the NICU for the past 3 weeks,” he continued. “But, today, we finally got to bring him home. We love him so, so much. Like, fully obsessed.”

France went on to say their surrogate is “doing so great” and that he and Rob “couldn’t be more grateful for the greatest gift in our lives.”

The Naturally Tan author first announced he and Rob were going to become dads in April, sharing a playful photo to unveil the big news.

France, who is of Pakistani descent and was born in the United Kingdom, became a United States citizen in June 2020.

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The Killers reveal ‘Pressure Machine’ track list, featuring Phoebe Bridgers

August 2, 2021 by WDNY Radio

The Killers have revealed the track list for their upcoming studio album Pressure Machine, which is due out on August 13.

On Instagram, the band posted a message alongside the track list that reads, “11 days to go. 11 tracks on the record. Coincidence?” The list of song names includes a track called “Runaway Horses,” which features none other than Phoebe Bridgers.

The band also posted a teaser for the album on Instagram that shows Brandon Flowers, Ronnie Vannucci and returning guitarist Dave Keuning hanging out around a jukebox, which appears to be playing a snippet of new music.

The band’s new collaboration with Bruce Springsteen, “Dustland,” is not on the album. However, both acts are going to perform at New York City’s upcoming Homecoming Concert, taking place August 21 in Central Park. Perhaps they’ll get together onstage for a live rendition.

Here’s the track list for Pressure Machine:

“West Hills”
“Quiet Town”
“Terrible Thing”
“Cody”
“Sleepwalker”
“Runaway Horses” (featuring Phoebe Bridgers)
“In the Car Outside”
“In Another Life”
“Desperate Things”
“Pressure Machine”
“The Getting By”

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Limp Bizkit debuts new song “Dad Vibes” to go along with Fred Durst’s new look

August 2, 2021 by WDNY Radio

L-Fred Durst; R- Wes Borland; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

It turns out that the new look Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst has been sporting is thematically consistent with the band’s new music.

At the end of Limp Bizkit’s Lollapalooza set Saturday, Durst, who’s now sporting a white-blonde handlebar mustache and matching ’70s-style hair, introduced the band’s new tune, saying, “This song right here, it’s for you and only you…It’s a song off our new album called ‘Dad Vibes.’ I want to see everybody out there dancing right now.”

Durst, the band and crew then threw t-shirts out to the audience as “Dad Vibes” played over the PA system. It’s hard to make out the lyrics, but the Genius lyrics website lists them as, “Check out the dad with the swag on the flow/ Momma gon’ brag when I walk in the door.”

Another lyric is, “Hot dad ridin’ in on a rhino/ Got the rule on the rap with the dad vibes/ Now everybody bounce with the franchise.”

There’s still no word on when Limp Bizkit’s new album — the long-awaited follow-up to 2011’s Gold Cobra — will emerge. As previously reported, in June, guitarist Wes Borland said the band had somewhere around 35 songs recorded instrumentally, but that Durst was holding up the process by recording and then discarding his vocal tracks.

The nu-metallers are in the middle of their Limited Last Minute Post Pandemic Pop Up Party tour. The band also will be performing at several festivals in late August, September and October, including Rocklahoma and Aftershock.

Isaiah Rashad’s ‘The House Is Burning’ named one of the “Best Rap Albums of July”

August 2, 2021 by WDNY Radio

July was an exciting month of new albums, including the long-awaited return of Isaiah Rashad with The House Is Burning and other releases from EST Gee, Dave, and more.

Rashad’s first album since 2016’s The Sun’s Tirade earned a spot on Brooklyn Vegan’s unranked list of the “7 Best Rap Albums of July.” The outlet called The House Is Burning “a great sounding album” and praised the project’s “laid-back production, airy R&B hooks, and deep, conversational lyricism from Rashad.”

Brooklyn Vegan complimented the “well-picked and well-executed” features on EST Gee’s Bigger Than Life or Death, such as Lil Baby, 42 Dugg, Rylo Rodriguez, Lil Durk, Future, Young Thug and more.

“EST Gee himself is on his way to the forefront of rap,” the outlet writes about the Louisville, KY rapper. “He’s got a cold, hard delivery, and he knows how to wrap his gritty storytelling in an accessible package without toning down the pure venom of his street rap roots.”

Other albums on the magazine’s list include Vince Staples‘ new self-titled album, Tkay Maidza‘s Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3, Bizzy Bank‘s Same Energy, Skepta‘s All In EP, and Dave‘s We’re All Alone In This Together. Meanwhile, Blxst & Bino Rideaux‘s latest collaboration album, Sixtape 2, and Dave East & Harry Fraud‘s Hoffa received honorable mentions.

Billy Gibbons says Dusty Hill recorded vocal tracks for new ZZ Top songs before his death

August 2, 2021 by WDNY Radio

After the sudden and unexpected death of ZZ Top‘s Dusty Hill last week, the group’s frontman, Billy Gibbons, revealed that the late bassist had recorded several tracks, including some vocals, that likely will appear on the band’s next album.

In a recent interview with Variety, Gibbons noted that the recordings were “gonna require some completion work,” while adding that Hill luckily laid down vocal tracks for two tunes.

“I handed Dusty a couple of lyric sheets and I said, ‘Hey, see if you can make heads or tails out of this,'” Billy recalled. “He said, ‘Can I sing it?’ I said, ‘Dusty, you could sing the calendar if you wanted to — people would love it.’ He goes, ‘Hey, that’s not a bad idea. If we ever get back to go to work, can we add the calendar into the show? I know all the words.'”

Gibbons also told Variety that he wasn’t sure about Hill’s cause of death, while noting that in recent years Dusty had broken a shoulder and a hip, and also had suffered from ulcers. Dusty’s health issues prompted him to leave ZZ Top’s current tour after only a couple of shows, and the band tapped its longtime guitar tech, Elwood Francis, to step in for him. Sadly, just a few days later, Hill passed away in his sleep at his home in Houston.

Gibbons said it was a coincidence that Francis had decided to stop shaving during the pandemic, so that when ZZ Top enlisted him to fill in for Hill, he’d already grown a long beard.

“I was looking over the front row and everybody was kind of giving each other the elbow, and they were pointing up and said, ‘Look, the ZZ Top circus still rolls on,'” Billy noted. “‘There’s another freak up there.'”

Ryan Reynolds unveils his CG-buff self as DUDE in ‘Free Guy’ teaser

August 2, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Ryan Reynolds has teased his new movie Free Guy with a major reveal: how he got massively buff to play DUDE, an enforcer in his image designed to take out his character Guy in the movie’s video game world.

Well, to be fair, computer graphics took care of his transformation, but Ryan doesn’t admit it. He explains in voiceover how he always hears “actors complain about how hard their movie workouts are,” adding, “I’ll tell you, I don’t have time for that.”

His transformation only took a week, he admits, sporting surfer blonde hair and huge fake caps on his teeth.

Starting the day with a smoothie made from eggs, “human muscle” and, naturally, a splash of Ryan’s Aviation Gin, buff Ryan expressed, “it’s organic, and completely illegal.”

Showing his new form stretching a familiar suit over his comically huge frame, Ryan says, “Sure, I don’t fit into the Deadpool suit anymore, but life is about growth…hormones.”

As his pecs bounce, showing off a tattoo of Guy’s blue shirt, “Next Level Reynolds” also says he fathered his last child while in that shape, and as a result, the baby came out full-grown — and wearing shoes. “That was weird for Blake,” he says of wife Blake Lively.

Starring Oscar winner Taika Waititi, Killing Eve Emmy winner Jodie Comer and Get Out scene stealer Lil’ Rel Howery, the pandemic-delayed Free Guy opens August 13, from 20th Century Studios, which is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News.

There and back again: Amazon wraps ‘Lord of the Rings’ series season one, releases first photo & premiere date

August 2, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Amazon Studios has announced that the first season of its anticipated The Lord of the Rings series will debut on Friday, September 2, 2022.

According to the studio, the series, which just wrapped production for its freshman season in New Zealand, takes place “thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books,” and “follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-Earth.”

Amazon also revealed a first image from the production. It’s not clear what character is depicted, however — it shows a caped person at a distance, from behind, standing in a field gazing a city in the far distance as the sun rises behind it.

In a statement, Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios enthused, “I can’t express enough just how excited we all are to take our global audience on a new and epic journey through Middle-Earth! Our talented producers, cast, creative, and production teams have worked tirelessly in New Zealand to bring this untold and awe-inspiring vision to life.”

The Lord of the Rings series stars an international cast, including Robert Aramayo, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Owain Arthur, Maxim Baldry, and Nazanin Boniadi.

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Study: Billie Eilish, Thom Yorke, Bjork, Patti Smith among music artists with the biggest vocabularies

August 2, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Billie Eilish may have become famous by singing “duh,” but when it comes to her song lyrics overall, her use of language trumps many artists two and three times her age, a new study finds.

Word.Tips, which conducted the study, Eilish is the modern pop star with the biggest vocabulary, based on the number of unique words she uses in her songs per thousand: 169. The only musicians who have a wider vocabulary were late Doors frontman Jim Morrison, with 177; Bjork, with 197; legendary singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell, with 199; and the number-one wordsmith of all: punk godmother Patti Smith, with 217.

Artists whose vocabularies are in the same territory as Eilish include Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke, with 151; Lizzo, with 153; Harry Styles, with 159; and the late Johnny Cash, with 158.

Here’s how a few other artists compare:

Lorde: 149
Kurt Cobain: 141
Iggy Pop: 142
David Bowie: 130
Axl Rose: 124
Lana Del Rey: 100
Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds: 89
Paul McCartney: 83

For an explanation of the methodology used in the study, visit Word.Tips, which has broken down the data in a number of different ways.

Alessia Cara wrote new song “The Use in Trying” for upcoming ‘PAW Patrol: The Movie’

August 2, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Spin Master Entertainment/Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies

Alessia Cara is contributing an uplifting tune to the upcoming animated film PAW Patrol: The Movie.

The original song, “The Use in Trying,” was written by Alessia and Jon Levine, and will be played during a pivotal scene in the flick.

“I wrote ‘The Use in Trying’ for a specific scene in the movie, with the understanding that it was a big turning point in the story, emphasizing the importance of courage,” Alessia says in a statement. “I wanted to write something that could not only teach kids that they’re not always going to win, but that there’s real value in trying anyways because of the lessons you find on the other side.”

She adds, “That’s a sentiment we can all understand, the further into life we go. Navigating life is never easy, but it is always worth the shot.”

The song will be released on August 10, and the film will hit theaters and Paramount+ on August 20.

Adam Levine also has a song in PAW Patrol: The Movie, called “Good Mood.”

‘The Chi’ gets season five renewal; Jacob Latimore replaces Jorge Lendeborg Jr. in ‘House Party’ reboot; and more

August 2, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Lena Waithe had some pretty big news to share during her after-show for the season four finale of The Chi. The series creator revealed to fans that Showtime had officially picked up her Chicago-set drama for a fifth season.

“#TheChi is coming back for Season 5!,” Waithe wrote, captioning a video of her chat with some of The Chi stars, including Luke James, Shamon Brown Jr. and Yolanda Ross. “Thank you to all the special guests for joining me on the Season 4 Finale After Show!” Deadline reports that the renewal “comes amid strong ratings for the series, which is averaging 4.2 million weekly viewers and is on pace to become the most-streamed Showtime series ever.” Season five of The Chi is set to premiere in 2022.

In other news, The Chi star Jacob Latimore has found his next major role. Deadline has learned that Latimore will replace Jorge Lendeborg Jr. in New Line’s reimagining of the 1990 cult comedy House Party. Sources tell Deadline that Lendeborg Jr. recently left the project to focus on his mental well-being, which was supported by the studio and filmmakers. As previously reported, the original 1990 movie, written and directed by Reginald Hudlin, starred Kid ‘n Play‘s Christopher “Kid” Reid and Christopher “Play” Martin as two high school students who decide to throw an epic house party. A release date for the new House Party has not been disclosed.

Finally, Insecure showrunner Prentice Penny has inked a multi-year overall deal with Disney General Entertainment’s Onyx Collective. Under the new pact, Penny’s A Penny for Your Thoughts Entertainment company will develop and produce projects for all Disney platforms, including Hulu, which serves as the hub to Onyx projects.

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