Month: August 2023

Categories
Country Daypop

Trisha Yearwood, Keith Urban and more to appear on 2023 ACM Honors telecast

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The Academy of Country Music shared the lineup of presenters and performers for the 16th annual ACM Honors, hosted by Carly Pearce for her third consecutive year.

Trisha Yearwood, Keith Urban, Nelly, Randy Travis and Marty Stuart among those scheduled to appear, with performers and presenters also including The War and Treaty, Jordan Davis, Chris Janson, Brett Young, Sara Evans, Lee Brice, Lady A, Priscilla Block, Breland, Hailey Whitters, Bailey Zimmerman, Emily Shackleton, Billy Ray Cyrus and Fire Rose with Travis Denning, Big Kenny, and Anne Wilson. In addition, actor Dennis Quaid and radio personality Storme Warren will also appear at the star-studded event.

This year’s honorees include Chris Stapleton, who was presented with the ACM Triple Crown Award. Kane Brown earned this year’s International Award for his “outstanding contributions to the growth of country music throughout the world.” Tim McGraw was recognized with the ACM Icon Award, while Clint Black, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and the late K.T. Oslin’s achievements in songwriting was be celebrated with the ACM Poet’s Award.

The 2023 ACM Honors will air on September 18 at 8 PM ET as a two-hour primetime special exclusively on FOX.

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Categories
Country Daypop

Old Dominion expanding ‘Memory Lane’ EP into full album this October

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Old Dominion have announced a full-length album from their EP, ‘Memory Lane.’

The band posted on social media: “The new album #MemoryLane is out October 6. Pre-save/pre-add/pre-order now and get “Can’t Break Up Now” featuring @megmoroney on Friday. Link in bio to pre-order.
We always knew this was going to be a full album. But we wanted to give y’all the opportunity to absorb it completely. We wanted to make an album that takes our songs and looks a little deeper into what happens between two people. Just because it’s deep though doesn’t mean the music can’t feel good. “

The new 18-song project will feature the title track and other tunes from the eight-song EP Memory Lane. The project also finds the band collaborating with Megan Moroney on “Can’t Break Up Now;” Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey said of the collab: “Megan’s a really intuitive singer, but she’s also a very smart songwriter–and she came at this song from what was being said, how the melody rises and kind of blew our minds. I think we all loved the way she creates a song, her sense of how notes flow, but she’s both songwriter/singer who came in and pushed this song to almost a scene from a movie.”

Ramsey added: “We always knew this was going to be a full album. But we wanted to give our fans the opportunity to absorb it completely. Over the years, we’ve developed a conversation with fans, bad days, big moments, I’d like to think our songs make both better. We wanted to make an album that takes our songs and looks a little deeper into what happens between two people. Just because it’s deep, though, it doesn’t mean the music can’t feel good.”

To pre-order the ‘Memory Lane’ album, head here.

Old Dominion Travel Down ‘Memory Lane’ on New Album

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Categories
Entertainment Daypop

Legendary ‘The Price Is Right’ host Bob Barker dies at age 99

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Beloved game show host Bob Barker has passed away at the age of 99.

Bob’s former publicist Roger Neal announced the television icon’s death on behalf of Barker’s girlfriend, Nancy Burnet. The statement read: “It is with profound sadness that we announce that the World’s Greatest MC who ever lived, Bob Barker, has left us. I am so proud of the trailblazing work Barker, and I did together to expose the cruelty to animals in the entertainment industry and including working to improve the plight of abused and exploited animals in the United States and internationally. We were great friends over these 40 yrs. He will be missed.” Barker died of natural causes.

Barker landed his first hosting gig on the game show Truth or Consequences, which he hosted for 18 years. Barker began hosting CBS daytime’s The Price is Right in 1972, and it quickly became a smash hit, eventually becoming the longest-running game show in U.S. history. For over 35 years, Barker hosted The Price is Right until his retirement in 2007.

Barker also hosted the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants for 22 years; however, he severed ties with the organization in 1987 after discovering that contestants would model furs during the swimsuit competition, which didn’t align with Barker’s longtime support for animal advocacy.

Barker won 18 Daytime Emmy Awards and received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999; and in 2004, he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

Barker is survived by his half-brother Kent Valandra and half-nephews Robert Valandra and Chip Valandra, as well as a half-niece, Vickie Valandra Kelly.

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Categories
Entertainment Daypop

Matt Bomer’s ‘Fellow Travelers’ to premiere Oct. 27th

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Showtime announced the premiere date for the limited series Fellow Travelers , starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey. The show will premieres Oct. 27 on the Paramount+, and Oct. 29 at 9 p.m. on Showtime.

Bomer and Bailey play two politicians who fall in love amid Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn’s anti-LGBTQ tenures. The show covers four decades in their lives amid the changing political times. A tweet reads of the show: ‘There are eyes everywhere. #FellowTravelers premieres October 27’ 

Fellow Travelers is based on the book by Thomas Mallon, and is created by Ron Nyswaner, who executive produces along with Bomer, Robbie Rogers, Dee Johnson and director Dan Minahan. Jelani Alladin, Allison Williams and Noah J. Ricketts also star.

‘Fellow Travelers’: Matt Bomer & Jonathan Bailey Limited Series Gets Showtime Premiere Date

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Categories
Rock Daypop

Dave Stewart says Annie Lennox will no longer tour with the Eurythmics

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Dave Stewart has revealed that Annie Lennox, his other half of the Eurythmics, will no longer be touring. Lennox and Stewart last performed in November 2022, when Eurythmics were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Stewart is performing a run of concerts dubbed ‘Eurythmics Songbook: Sweet Dreams 40th Anniversary Tour’, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Eurythmics’ 1983 breakthrough album, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).  According to the official website for the event, Stewart will be performing Eurythmics material “with Annie Lennox’s blessing” backed by all-female musicians and singers, including Rahn, Vanessa Amorosi, and his daughter Kaya Stewart. Joss Stone will also open the evening.

Said Stewart: “Looking forward to this [tour], I love performing these songs. I spent 1,000’s of hours crafting them in the studio and had the best partner in Annie but she has said she won’t be touring anymore which I totally understand but I love our songs and I love playing live so I have selected brilliant all female musicians and three wonderful female vocalists. I promise a stunning show full of memorable songs.”

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Categories
Rock Daypop

Grammy Museum to feature Ghost ‘Devotional Pop-Up’

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The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles has announced the Ghost Devotional Pop-Up, designed and fabricated by Justin Ware of Creativeware and built by carpenter/welder Greg S. Gilday. The band will be performing September 11-12th at the Kia Forum in L.A., and fans are invited to enter the hand crafted, custom built confession booth at theGrammy Museum through September 17th.

The Ghost Devotional Pop-Up will be accompanied by a museum installation displaying Papa Emeritus III’s outfit worn at the 2015 Grammy, the year Ghost took the Best Metal Performance award for “Cirice” from the band’s third album, Meliora.  Ghost posted on social media regarding the Pop-Up: “We wish to inform you the Ghost Devotional is now open for you to confess your sins to Papa Emeritus at the GRAMMY Museum. We implore you to visit the exhibit, sit in the handcrafted confession booth and share why you think Ghost is the Best Rock Band In The World. Thank you for your continued support, GRAMMY Museum.”

The Ghost Devotional Pop Up will be open to Grammy Museum visitors through September 17th.  For more information, visit Ghost’s official website

Ghost Announces ‘Devotional Pop-Up’ At Grammy Museum

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Categories
Pop Daypop

SZA drops video for “Snooze” ft. Justin Bieber, Benny Blanco and more

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SZA released the new visual for her song “Snooze” off of her most recent sophomore album SOS. The video for “Snooze’ marks the sixth song off the album to be given the visual treatment, and it includes multiple cameos from Justin Bieber, songwriter-producer Benny Blanco (who produced the songs “Nobody Gets Me” and “Special” from SOS), as well as actors Woody McClain (“Power Book II: Ghost”) and Young Mazino (“Beef”) all who play SZA’s love interests.

SZA, who directed the video for ‘Snooze’ with Bradley J. Calder, is shown having romantic moments with each of the aforementioned men, and later the singer/songwriter incorporates a dance number with backup performers for a light-up robot. To close out the video, SZA is shown running through scenic fields, trails and beaches while a snippet of an unreleased track plays in the background. She also recently teased a new track when previewing the “Snooze” video on social media (here.)

“Snooze” has reached double platinum status and achieved 700 million streams worldwide, and recently hit the Top 10 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking her fifth Top 10 hit from SOS. 

Take a look at the video for ‘Snooze’ – here.

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Categories
Pop Daypop

Ed Sheeran announces new album ‘Autumn Variations’

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Ed Sheeran has announced his seventh studio album, Autumn Variations, will be released on September 29th via Atlantic Records. Autumn Variations will be Sheeran’s second album release of 2023, and is produced by Aaron Dessner, who also produced Sheeran’s LP Subtract (-), which dropped in May 2023.

Sheeran posted on social media: “Last autumn, I found that my friends and I were going through so many life changes. After the heat of the summer, everything either calmed, settled, fell apart, came to a head or imploded. When I went through a difficult time at the start of last year, writing songs helped me understand my feelings and come to terms with what was going on, and when I learned about my friend’s different situations, I wrote songs, some from their perspectives, some from mine, to capture how they and I viewed the world at that time. There were highs of falling in love and new friendships among lows of heartbreak, depression, loneliness and confusion … My dad and brother told me about a composer called Elgar, who composed ‘Enigma Variations,’ where each of the 14 compositions were about a different one of his friends. This is what inspired me to make this album. When I recorded Subtract with Aaron Dessner, we clicked immediately. We wrote and recorded non-stop and this album was born out of that partnership. I feel he has captured the feeling of autumn so wonderfully in his sonics and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.”

The 14-track album will be available on CD, LP, and several limited edition vinyl variations, including a harvest orange vinyl and limited edition first pressing white vinyl.  To pre-order Autumn Variations, head here.

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Categories
News Daypop

Donald Trump surrenders at Fulton County jail in election case

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Former President Donald Trump was arrested on Thursday evening after surrendering at Georgia’s Fulton County Jail, on a 13-count indictment for efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. Trump is one of 19 defendants in the indictment that alleges racketeering by a criminal organization that tried to overturn the election results.

Trump was placed under arrest inside the jail; he was processed in about 20 minutes, which included authorities collecting fingerprints and a mugshot – which is in stark contrast to Trump’s three other criminal cases, in New York, Florida and Washington, D.C., where he was processed at a courthouse during the same trip when he entered a formal plea to charges. Trump’s booking photo, provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, shows the former president in a blue suit and red tie. He was designated as inmate No. P01135809, with jail records indicating that Trump is 6 foot 3 inches tall and weighs 215 pounds. His arraignment in Georgia is expected the week of Sept. 5.

Trump agreed to a $200,000 bond and a list of strict conditions for his release — he is not allowed to make any direct or indirect threat against any witnesses, co-defendants, victims, property or the community, which includes any posts he makes on social media. Trump then headed back to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for his flight back to Bedminster, New Jersey, where the former president made brief remarks, saying, “It’s election interference. … We did nothing wrong at all. And we have every right, every single right to challenge an election that we think is dishonest. So we think it’s very dishonest.”

The Georgia case is Trump’s fourth criminal indictment while campaigning for the 2024 presidential election. He also faces charges related to mishandling classified documents in Florida; business fraud in New York; and a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, in Washington.

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Categories
News Daypop

SpaceX sued by Justice Department on allegations of discriminatory hiring practices

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The United States Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s SpaceX for allegedly discriminating against refugees in its hiring practices.

According to an DOJ news release dates August 24, the lawsuit claims that “from at least September 2018 to May 2022, SpaceX routinely discouraged asylees and refugees from applying and refused to hire or consider them, because of their citizenship status, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)”, and alleges that SpaceX falsely claimed in its job listings that only green card holders and United States citizens could work at the company because of federal export control laws.

The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) applies to companies manufacturing spacecraft and rockets and limit foreign nationals from accessing key information about the vehicles for national security reasons; however, the DOJ’s lawsuit states that regulations such as ITAR do not prevent SpaceX from hiring refugees, whose “permission to live and work in the United States does not expire, and they stand on equal footing with U.S. citizens.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a statement “Our investigation found that SpaceX failed to fairly consider or hire asylees and refugees because of their citizenship status and imposed what amounted to a ban on their hire regardless of their qualification, in violation of federal law,” adding that recruiters at Spacex “actively discouraged asylees and refugees from seeking work opportunities at the company” and “failed to fairly consider applications submitted to the company by refugees.”

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