The Offspring has premiered the video for “This Is Not Utopia,” a track off the band’s new album, Let the Bad Times Roll.
The clip finds the SoCal punks sporting gas masks as they rock out in a smoky blue room while a woman dances in an American flag bikini. That’s all cut with microscopic footage of blood, which a press release describes as a “sly wink” to vocalist Dexter Holland‘s PhD in Molecular Biology.
You can watch the “This Is Not Utopia” video streaming on YouTube.
Let the Bad Times Roll, the first new Offspring record in nine years, was released in April. Its lead single and title track hit number one on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.
98 Degrees is back to heat up your summer with a brand new song.
The reunited boy band teased their new single, “Where Do You Wanna Go,” and gave a behind-the-scenes look at the recording process this week.
The song, which drops Friday along with a music video, was recorded at a makeshift recording studio at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino during quarantine. In a clip posted to the band’s social media, we see the group playing around with melodies for the upbeat pop tune.
“Where Do You Wanna Go” is part of their 98 Days of Summer campaign, which they launched last month. The campaign will include the release of a new EP, titled Summer of 98, with new songs and remixes of their most popular hits, including “Heat It Up,” “I Do (Cherish You),” “Invisible Man,” “Because of You,” “The Hardest Thing,” and more.
The group — Nick Lachey, Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre — most recently released a Christmas album, Let It Snow, in 2017. Their last album of original music was 2013’s 2.0.
(LONDON) — Haitian President Jovenel Moise was killed in an attack at his home before dawn on Wednesday, the country’s interim premier said.
A group of unidentified individuals raided Moise’s private residence in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, at around 1 a.m. local time. They gunned down the 53-year-old head of state and wounded his wife, Martine Moise, who remains hospitalized, according to a statement from Haitian interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph.
Joseph, who condemned what he called a “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act,” said that the Caribbean country’s national police force and military had the situation under control and declared a state of emergency.
Reaction has been pouring in from around the world condemning the assassination, including from U.S. President Joe Biden, who called the situation “very worrisome.”
Reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, Haiti has also been in the midst of a constitutional crisis as Moise and opposition leaders disputed the end of his five-year presidential term and legislative elections remained interminably delayed.
Addressing the nation in a televised speech, Joseph called on the people of Haiti to “stay calm.” He chaired a meeting of the government’s ministers Wednesday morning, although the country’s line of succession is unclear, especially given its recent political turmoil.
“All the ministers and I have been working since the news broke and we want to assure you we will bring the killers of the president to justice,” he said. “Please stay calm and let the authorities do their work. We don’t want the country to plunge into chaos. This is a very sad day for our nation and for our people.”
Joseph’s initial paper statement said some attackers were speaking Spanish, but a second statement issued in English by the Haitian embassy in Washington made no mention of that. Instead, it said that the group was “highly trained and heavily armed” and called for an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting and an international investigation into the attack.
The streets of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince were largely deserted Wednesday, and Toussaint Louverture International Airport has been closed in the wake of the assassination.
The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince was also closed Wednesday, including for consular services, “due to an ongoing security situation,” it said in a security alert. The embassy also said it is restricting its American staff to its compounds “until further notice” and urged members of the public to avoid unnecessary travel to the area.
U.S. officials are “still gathering information” on the deadly attack, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, offering U.S. assistance “if there’s an investigation. We’re still assessing, still gathering information, and the president of course will be briefed by his national security team this morning.”
Hours later, the White House issued a statement from Biden condemning “this heinous act, and I am sending my sincere wishes for First Lady Moïse’s recovery. The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti.”
Haiti has been in a state of chaos for months now, with frequent gunfire and street skirmishes between armed groups, political demonstrations and strikes, and a coronavirus wave never brought under control. Cases of the virus were as high last month as they were one year ago, and the country has yet to distribute a single vaccine dose or receive any shipments from COVAX, the international program to provide vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.
That’s in part because of the governing crisis roiling Haiti. The country’s political opposition had argued that Moise’s five-year presidential term ended this February — five years after his election victory, but four years after he took office — while he said he had one more year left because the disputed 2016 election delayed his inauguration until 2017.
Moise had been governing by decree since January 2020, after the country failed to hold legislative elections and the legislature’s mandate expired. Opposition leaders accused him of wanting to return Haiti to a dictatorship.
Earlier this year, Moise ordered the retirement of three Supreme Court judges and the arrest of nearly two dozen people, including prominent officials, who he alleged were plotting a coup. Violent protests against Moise erupted, prompting the president to declare a state of emergency in parts of the country in March.
The political instability in addition to economic woes and escalating gang violence have undermined efforts to rebuild Haiti from a devastating earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
While the Biden administration backed Moise’s claim to have one more year in office, it had grown increasingly vocal in its opposition to his “one-man rule,” in the words of the top U.S. diplomat for the Western Hemisphere, including governing by decrees and refusing to hold those legislative elections.
While the White House has said it will provide Haiti some of the initial 80 million COVID-19 vaccines it has promised to share overseas, it has yet to announce when it will do so — with the worsening security situation now making it that much harder.
George Strait, Eric Church and singer-songwriter Caitlyn Smith are holding down one half of the lineup for the second annual ATLive event, Billboard reports. This year’s ATLive will take place in November.
The country performers will hit the stage on November 5, which is the first of two nights of music planned. The following day, November 6, Metallica will headline a bill that also includes Cage the Elephant and Greta Van Fleet.
ATLive took a pandemic-induced break in 2020, and before that, its inaugural 2019 event was made up of entirely country performers. Eric’s a repeat ATLive performer, and last time around, Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Sugarland, Sam Hunt and Luke Combs joined him.
Bleachers and Americana artist Jason Isbell have teamed up for a charity single featuring covers of each other’s songs.
The split seven-inch vinyl, which will be limited to just 1,000 copies, includes Jack Antonoff and company taking on Isbell’s song “Dreamsicle,” and Isbell putting his spin on the Bleachers tune “45.”
Proceeds will benefit the LGBTQ equality organization The Ally Coalition, which Antonoff co-founded with his sister, fashion designer Rachel Antonoff.
You can order the single now via the Bleachers web store. For a preview, you can check out a teaser of both covers streaming now on YouTube.
Meanwhile, the new Bleachers album, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night, is due out July 30. It includes “45,” as well as the Bruce Springsteen collaboration “Chinatown.”
(NEW YORK) — The Canadian Football League and the XFL have agreed to stop collaboration between the two leagues.
The CFL announced the decision in a statement.
“Our talks with the XFL, exploring the potential for collaboration and innovation, have been positive and constructive. While we remain open to finding new ways to work together in the future, we and our XFL counterparts have jointly decided to not pursue any formal arrangements at this time,” the statement said.
The CFL begins its season on August 5 and will run to December 12, where the champion will be crowned at the 108th Grey Cup.
The league canceled its 2020 season after failing to secure a loan from the Canadian government.
In March, the league’s announced they would be working together to “collaborate, innovate, and grow the game of football.”
“It’s clear through our early conversations that we share a passion for football, an expansive sense of possibility, and a deep desire to create more opportunity for players and fans across North America and around the world. Blending the CFL’s rich heritage with our fresh thinking, and the unique reach and experience of our ownership, could be transformative for the game,” said Jeffrey Pollack, the XFL president, and CEO, in a statement at the time.
The 2022 XFL season was put on hold while conversations with the CFL were ongoing.
The second iteration of the XFL began in 2020. The season was canceled after five games because of the coronavirus pandemic. Owner Vince McMahon then put the league in bankruptcy proceedings.
Dany Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, and RedBird Capital Partners bought the league for $15 million last summer.
Eva Marie Uzcategui Trinkl/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Elsa made landfall at about 11 a.m. Wednesday in Taylor County, Florida, along the Sunshine State’s Gulf Coast.
Taylor County, in Florida’s Big Bend region, is about 50 miles southeast of Tallahassee.
Elsa, which is slamming Florida with gusty winds and heavy rain, strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday night before weakening back to a tropical storm.
A boat capsized near Key West as Elsa blew through on Tuesday, according to the Coast Guard. Nine people remain missing.
As of Wednesday morning, Florida had no reports of fatalities or significant structural damage, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
About 26,000 customers in Florida are without power, he added.
A hurricane warning was issued for Florida’s west coast from the Chassahowitzka River to the Steinhatchee River.
Tampa Bay is among the areas under a storm surge warning.
Tropical storm warnings have been issued in Savannah and Charleston, and a tropical storm watch extends up to Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
After blowing through the South, the storm is expected to move up the East Coast, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds to the mid-Atlantic, New Jersey shore, New York City, Long Island and New England.
Elsa is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression as it moves up the East Coast, but it could regain tropical storm status as it passes over the waters of the mid-Atlantic.
By Thursday night Elsa will reach mid-Atlantic, dropping flooding rain and gusty winds near Washington, D.C., and into Philadelphia.
The latest path shows Elsa’s center passing right over the Interstate 95 corridor, heading just east of D.C. to near Philadelphia and then north over New York City.
Northerners should be prepared for gusty winds up to 50 mph, heavy rain and potential flash flooding.
By Friday morning, Elsa will be dropping heavy rain along the Jersey shore, New York City and Long Island.
Elsa will move into New England late Friday morning into Friday afternoon. Boston and Portland, Maine, could face strong winds, power outages and flooding.
Flooding is possible in Philadelphia, New York City, Connecticut, Massachusetts and northern New England. Some areas could see up to 5 inches of rain.
Avenged Sevenfold is planning to release a new album by the summer of 2022.
During a recent stream on the DWPresents Twitch channel, frontman M. Shadows revealed, “We’re booking shows for next summer, and the record will be out before then.”
As for what the upcoming effort will sound like, well, you’ll just have to wait until it’s released to find out.
“There’s no way to describe music,” Shadows asserts. “It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s heavy, it’s fast.’ Like, what are we gonna say about it? It’s a work of art that we’ve worked on for a long time.”
Avenged Sevenfold’s most recent album is 2016’s conceptually driven The Stage.
Co-founding 5th Dimension members Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. recall are sharing the emotional impact of being a part of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, a series of concerts that took place at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem over the course of several weekends.
Documented in Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson‘s directorial debut, Summer of Soul, includes footage of the musical group performing in front of a crowd of thousands at the festival. McCoo, the group’s original lead singer, says it was very important to the band members to been “seen and heard in Harlem.”
“The 5th Dimension was known for a lot of our pop success,” McCoo tells ABC Audio. “But we wanted to be known and understood by our audiences in Harlem as well. We knew a lot of those people weren’t going to be able to get a chance to come and see one of our concerts and see the variety of music that we offered. So, doing a performance for this concert was important because we wanted them to have a little bit broader understanding of what The 5th Dimension was about musically. And so this gave us a chance to do it.”
Davis, who’s been married to McCoo since 1969, agrees, noting that being a part of the dynamic lineup that included Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and Nina Simone to name a few, made perfect sense since they currently had a hit song “Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In” on the airwaves.
“So a lot of people were waiting for us out there for that day,” he explains. [So] to be able to do that in front of our own folks was just a real thrill.”
Summer of Soul is now available in theaters and on Hulu.
