Several NFL players have opted out of the upcoming season, as tension mounts in MLB after a COVID-19 outbreak forced the cancelation of games.
Editorial credit: dean bertoncelj / Shutterstock.com
Month: July 2020
Miranda Lambert’s “Bluebird,” off her album Wildcard, is the No. 1 song in country music – and marks her sixth No. 1 song on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. “Bluebird” reached No. 1 on both charts, something she had not done in nearly a decade. The singer’s last Billboard No. 1 was “Over You” in 2012.
“Bluebird” was the second single from Wildcard, Lambert’s 2019 release. While her previous two albums failed to turn in a Billboard No. 1 single, three songs from her previous three albums have been certified platinum or multi-platinum.
Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com
“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” is under an internal investigation after numerous accounts of workplace misconduct.
The investigation comes in the wake of accusations that the show has become a toxic work environment for its staffers. In April, Variety reported that the core stage crew heard almost nothing from their bosses for weeks during initial coronavirus lockdowns other than to expect significant pay reductions, creating anxiety among crew members who sought clarity on whether they would need to apply for unemployment benefits. Earlier this month, BuzzFeed News, citing one current and 10 former employees, reported that employees were subject to a culture of racism, fear and intimidation on the job. Some sources said they were fired for taking medical leave and family bereavement days. Most sources reportedly blamed the senior production and management staff for the daily toxicity, not DeGeneres herself.
Executive producers Ed Glavin, Andy Lassner and Mary Connelly said: “We are truly heartbroken and sorry to learn that even one person in our production family has had a negative experience. It’s not who we are and not who we strive to be, and not the mission Ellen has set for us.”
Editorial credit: Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com
Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner, 24, and singer Joe Jonas, 30, have welcomed their first child. According to TMZ, the couple welcomed a girl named Willa on Wednesday, July 22, at a Los Angeles-area hospital. The couple never formally announced they were expecting a child, but Turner was seen with Jonas in photos with her baby bump showing.
The couple had two wedding ceremonies last year — they first got married in May 2019 in a surprise wedding ceremony in Las Vegas at Chapel L’Amour inside A Little White Wedding Chapel after the Billboard Music Awards, with an Elvis impersonator doing the honors. They followed that with a traditional wedding with family and friends in June 2019 at Chateau de Tourreau in the south of France.
Editorial credit: Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com
Corey Taylor is releasing a sample of new music from his upcoming solo album. The announcement was made on Corey’s Twitter over the weekend with a message that simply read: “Are You Ready? New Music July 29 #CMFT” accompanied by the letters CMFT in lights.
Taylor previously explained that his upcoming solo record will explore a variety of genres and takes influence from such wide-ranging artists as Alice In Chains, Slade and Johnny Cash. “The way I’ve been looking at it is it’s like a futuristic throwback,” he said. “Everything on this album is a hybrid of all these different genres that I’m really into. It’s a modern take on vibes that people have heard before, and yet I’ve taken them and kind of thrown them through this crazy filter to see what we get. Everybody who hears it is just blown away, so I’m really, really stoked.”
Editorial credit: Tracy Daniel / Shutterstock.com
2020’s installment of the Sacramento Aftershock Festival has been postponed and rescheduled until the fall of 2021, with the same headliners – and an additional day added to the festival.
The festival will now be taking place from October 7th through 10th, 2021 at Discovery Park in Sacramento, CA, 2021. Aftershock 2021 will be headlined by Metallica and My Chemical Romance, who were both confirmed for the sold-out 2020 event. Metallica will still perform their highly anticipated two unique sets over two nights. The complete Aftershock 2021 lineup will be announced this October.
Aftershock 2020 pass purchasers will receive an email with their options on Monday, July 27, with details regarding their 2020 purchase. As an exclusive gift to all fans who defer to 2021, the newly added fourth night will be included for free.
Editorial credit: Ben Houdijk / Shutterstock.com
“Break My Heart” by Dua Lipa has taken the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Pop Songs radio airplay chart dated August 1st.
“Break My Heart’ is the third single from Lipa to hit the top of the charts, following “Don’t Start Now,” which was at No. 1 for six weeks beginning in February, and “New Rules,” which led for four weeks in 2018.
You can watch the video for Break My Heart at the link: here
Editorial credit: Andrea Raffin / Shutterstock.com
Billie Eilish announced on social media that she is releasing a new single, “My Future,” on July 30. “My Future” will mark Eilish’s second single of 2020. In February, she released “No Time To Die,” the main track for the upcoming James Bond film of the same title. The 18-year-old singer-songwriter became the youngest artist to sing and write the title track in the franchise’s 50-year history.
Eilish was forced to postpone dates from her upcoming Where Do We Go? World Tour this year, in support of her chart-topping LP of the same name.
Eilish’s album debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, scoring the second-biggest week of 2019 for any album. Eilish also became the first artist born in this century to have a No. 1 album on the chart, according to Billboard.
Editorial credit: Ovidiu Hrubaru / Shutterstock.com
Hurricane Douglas approached Hawaii on Sunday packing torrential rains and damaging winds just east of the islands in the central Pacific.
Forecasters urged residents to be prepared for the worst as Douglas was expected to make landfall or pass close to the main Hawaiian islands from Maui to Kauai.
In its latest update, the hurricane center said Douglas had maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour (140 km per hour), moving west-northwest at 16 mph (26 kph) about 55 miles (90 km) east of Kahului. “We encourage everyone to hunker down, to be prepared for hurricane force winds. We prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Governor David Ige said during a news conference.
Hurricanes and tropical storms are rare for Hawaii; only five hurricanes and tropical storms have caused major damage on the islands since 1950, according to researchers at the University of Hawaii.
Florida surpassed New York in total COVID-19 cases after reporting more than 9,000 new cases on Sunday. The Florida Department of Health on Sunday reported 9,344 new cases for a total of 423,855, surpassing New York’s total of 411,736. Florida also reported 77 new deaths of Florida residents for a total of 5,854. The state record was 173 last Thursday.
More than one-third of the cases reported in Florida have been among people between the ages of 15 and 34, with outbreaks in jails, farms and nursing homes, the health department reported. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state health experts say the virus is once again beginning to hit a plateau in Florida, and that spikes in newly-confirmed infections correlate with large increases in statewide testing.
Editorial credit: YES Market Media / Shutterstock.com