Month: December 2023

Categories
Sports Daypop

Cardinals waive veteran TE Zach Ertz after request for release

Zach Ertz at the 2018 ESPY Awards at the Microsoft Theatre LA Live LOS ANGELES^ CA

Veteran Arizona Cardinals tight end Zach Ertz asked for, and was granted, release from the Cardinals. Former Cardinals teammate J.J. Watt first reported the news, which was confirmed by the team shortly thereafter. The 33-year-old Ertz was under contract through 2024 after signing a three-year deal with Arizona in 2022.

Ertz, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, has 27 catches for 187 yards and a touchdown in seven games this season. He joined the Cardinals via trade prior to the deadline in the 2021 season, catching 56 passes for 574 yards and three touchdowns in his 11 games played that season. Ertz followed 2021 with a 47-catch, 406-yard 2022 season that included four touchdown catches, but as the Cardinals shifted to rookie tight end Trey McBride as they planned to rebuild. Ertz was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 24 due to a quad strain, which he sustained two days earlier in Arizona’s 20-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Last season, Ertz tore his ACL and MCL in a Week 10 game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Ertz, a Super Bowl champion with Philadelphia, has caught 709 passes for 7,434 yards and 46 touchdowns in 151 career games with the Eagles (2013-21) and Cardinals.

Editorial credit: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Country Daypop

Kelsea Ballerini, Brooks & Dunn, and more join ‘All for the Hall’ charity benefit

Keith Urban arrives for “The Northman” Hollywood Premierel on April 18^ 2022 in Hollywood^ CA

Kelsea Ballerini, Brooks & Dunn, Riley Green and Mickey Guyton have signed on to perform at the annual All for the Hall charity benefit show, taking place on Dec. 5 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.

As previously announced, Keith Urban and Vince Gill are set to co-host the 2023 All for The Hall, which will mark the eighth consecutive year that Urban has participated. Country music icons along with rising country stars will appear at the event, which will also feature the likes of Hardy and the War and Treaty as well as legends like Patty Loveless and Trisha Yearwood.  Per a new press release, previously announced performers Jordan Davis and Dierks Bentley have had to pull out of the event due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

This theme of this year’s All for The Hall is “The Song Remembers When,” in which performing artists will play a song that defines a powerful memory from their personal life, in addition to singing a fan-favorite hit.

The All for the Hall event has raised $4.3 million for the Country Music Hall of Fame and its affiliated education programs throughout the years. Tickets are available now via Ticketmaster along with VIP ticketing packages, which include premium seating and meet-and-greet opportunities.

Editorial credit: DFree / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Country Daypop

Kenny Chesney adds soccer stadium dates to his 2024 ‘Sun Goes Down’ Tour

Kenny Chesney at the Runaway Country Music Fest at Osceola Heritage Park on March 19^ 2016 in Kissimmee^ Florida.

Just weeks after announcing his 2024 ‘Sun Goes Down Tour’, Kenny Chesney is expanding his tour dates by adding three new soccer stadium dates, as well as two more dates at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

The now 23-date tour includes the previously announced dates were set for NFL stadiums, as well as at the new tour stops in MLS venues. Says Chesney: “In a lot of ways, soccer stadiums are the best of both worlds. You have the same kind of intimacy that you get in an amphitheater, but it’s big enough you have the ability to really hit the accelerator in terms of energy, music, connecting. It’s a relatively new thing for us to have soccer stadiums, but these are markets where I know there are people who aren’t getting tickets – and everyone in No Shoes Nation knows how I feel about no citizen of our crew left behind.”

Megan Moroney and Uncle Kracker will support Chesney during two new shows in Ohio (June 29 and Aug. 8) and another in Utah (July 16). Zac Brown Band is also scheduled as support for the majority of the tour.  For full list of tour dates, head to Chesney’s official website.

Kenny Chesney adds three MLS soccer stadiums to 2024 Sun Goes Down Tour

Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Entertainment Daypop

Kaley Cuoco stars in the trailer for Prime Video’s ‘Role Play’

Kaley Cuoco at HBO’s ‘The Flight Attendant’ Season 2 Premiere on April 12^ 2022 in West Hollywood^ CA

Amazon Prime Video has shared the trailer for the new action thriller Role Play, featuring Kaley Cuoco, David Oyelowo , Bill Nighy and Connie Nielsen.

Role Play, written by Andrew Baldwin, Seth W. Owen and directed by Thomas Vincent, follows Emma (Cuoco) and David (Oyelowo) — a couple whose lives are turned upside down when David learns Emma is secretly an assassin.

An official film synopsis reads: “Emma has a wonderful husband and two kids in the suburbs of New Jersey — she also has a secret life as an assassin for hire — a secret that her husband David discovers when the couple decide to spice up their marriage with a little role play.”

Role Play premieres Jan. 12 on Prime Video; take a look at the trailer – here.

Editorial credit: DFree / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Entertainment Daypop

See Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney in trailer for Spider-Man spinoff ‘Madame Web’

Dakota Johnson attends Tribeca Film Festival at BMCC^ New York^ NY - June 13^ 2022

Sony Pictures has shared the trailer for its upcoming Spider-Man spinoff, Madame Web, starring Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney.

Johnson stars in the titular role based on the Marvel comic book character named Cassandra Webb, who is a clairvoyant mutant and can foresee the future for Spider-themed heroes. Sweeney and Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, Emma Roberts and Adam Scott round out the cast.

Other Spider-Man spinoffs on the horizon for include Kraven the Hunter starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, which hits theaters in August 2024, and the third film in the Tom Hardy-starring Venom franchise is set for November 2024.

Madame Web hits theaters Feb. 14, 2024; take a look at the trailer – here.

Editorial credit: lev radin/ Shutterstock.com

Categories
Rock Daypop

Frontman Shane MacGowan of the Pogues dies at age 65

Close up of orange wax candle flame on a dark background "in memoriam'

Former Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan has died at the age of 65. MacGowan’s cause of death has not been revealed.

MacGowan’s wife, journalist Victoria Mary Clarke, announced her husband’s death on social media: “I don’t know how to say this so I am just going to say it. Shane who will always be the light that I hold before me and the measure of my dreams and the love ❤ of my life and the most beautiful soul and beautiful angel and the sun and the moon and the start and end of everything that I hold dear has gone to be with Jesus and Mary and his beautiful mother Therese. I am blessed beyond words to have met him and to have loved him and to have been so endlessly and unconditionally loved by him and to have had so many years of life and love ❤ and joy and fun and laughter and so many adventures. There’s no way to describe the loss that I am feeling and the longing for just one more of his smiles that lit up my world. Thank you thank you thank you thank you for your presence in this world you made it so very bright and you gave so much joy to so many people with your heart and soul and your music. You will live in my heart forever. Rave on in the garden all wet with rain that you loved so much ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ You meant the world to me.”

The Pogues confirmed MacGowan’s death in a statement on behalf of Clarke, MacGowan’s sister Siobhan, and his father Maurice: “It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of SHANE MACGOWAN. Shane died peacefully at 3am this morning (30 November, 2023) with his wife Victoria and family by his side. Prayers and the last rites were read which gave comfort to his family.”

MacGowan, an Irish singer-songwriter born in Kent, England, came to fame in the 1970s London punk scene and helped form the Pogues in 1982. The band found success with the band in the 1980s and early 1990s, releasing such singles as “Fairytale of New York.” However in 1991, MacGowan was fired from the group amid personal issues. He later formed Shane MacGowan & the Popes, which recorded and toured in the 1990s. MacGowan later returned for the Pogues’ reunion in 2001, and continued with them until 2014 before they again parted ways.

Editorial credit: NetPix / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Rock Daypop

Godsmack to launch 2024 North American theater tour

Singer and Guitarist Sully Erna from Godsmack perform live at Manchester Academy Uk. October 2022

Godsmack have announced the intimate “Vibez” 2024 North American tour, billed as “an intimate evening with Godsmack” which will see the band performing stripped-down acoustic/electric sets and sharing “untold stories.”

The band posted on X: “An intimate evening of acoustic/electric performances and untold stories from Godsmack with special guest Bastian Da Cruz ! Artist Presale: Wed. November 29 at 10AM (local) – Fri. December 1 at 9AM (local) Password: VIBEZ Local/Venue Presale: Thurs. November 30 at 10AM (local) – Fri. December 1 at 9AM (local) Public On-Sale: Fri. December 1 at 10AM (local) #godsmack #vibeztour”

The ‘Vibez’ tour kicks off February 15th in Catoosa, Oklahoma, running through May 5th in Oxon Hill, Maryland — with most of the venues being theaters. Bastian da Cruz will provide direct support.

General on-sale ticketing begins starting Friday, December 1st at 10 am local time via Ticketmaster.

Editorial credit: ChrisJamesRyanPhotography / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Pop Daypop

Shakira reaches deal to settle Spain tax fraud case

Shakira on the red carpet CANNES^ FRANCE - JANUARY 22^ 2011 -

The Associated Press reported that Colombian pop star Shakira reached a deal with Spanish prosecutors on the first day of her tax fraud trial in Barcelona, and will avoid prison time. Prosecutors were seeking a sentence of eight years and two months for Shakira plus a fine, but instead she will receive a three-year suspended sentence and a fine of 7.3 million euros ($8 million), plus an extra 432,000 euros ($472,000) in exchange for her suspended sentence.

Shakira said in a statement through her PR firm: “I have made the decision to finally resolve this matter with the best interest of my kids at heart who do not want to see their mom sacrifice her personal well-being in this fight. I need to move past the stress and emotional toll of the last several years and focus on the things I love, my kids and all the opportunities to come in my career.”

Prosectors alleged that Shakira failed to pay the Spanish government more than 14.5 million euros (about $15.8 million) in taxes owed between 2012 and 2014.  In November 2022, Shakira’s defense team claimed she had not spent more than 60 days a year in Spain during the period in question (her official residence is in the Bahamas). Her public relations firm had said she had not only paid the Spanish government what she initially owed, but also an additional 3 million euros (about $3.2 million) in interest.

A separate investigation is still ongoing, in which Spanish state prosecutors have charged Shakira with evading 6.7 million euros (about $7.3 million) in tax on her 2018 income, via an offshore company in a tax haven.

Editorial credit: Frederic Legrand – COMEO / Shutterstock.com

Categories
Pop Daypop

Eminem to appear at Fortnite’s ‘The Big Bang’ event

Eminem on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 30^ 2019 in Los Angeles^ CA

Epic Games has confirmed that Eminem is coming to Fortnite as part of the game’s Chapter 4 live finale, while players will get to purchase a few different skins modeled after the rapper.

Fortnite’s finale event, called ‘The Big Bang’, kicks off on December 2nd at 2PM ET.  An updated page on Fortnite’s website says you can “watch Eminem… as Eminem” during the event, which marks the end of the Fortnite OG chapter that brought the game back to its roots. Fortnite is calling this event a “new beginning” for the game, potentially hinting at a new island.

Fortnite is also releasing three new skins — Rap Boy, Slim Shady, and Marshall Never More — that players can purchase from the item shop.  Players can unlock The Big Bang loading screen by attending the event, as well as the Marshall Magma Style for the Marshall Never More outfit, giving Eminem glowing eyes and fiery skin.

Eminem to make an appearance on Fortnite’s The Big Bang

Editorial credit: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com