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J.Lo At 20: Celebrating The Album That Made Jennifer Lopez An Icon
By Yasmine Shemesh When Jennifer Lopez began recording her sophomore album, J.Lo, in 2000, she was in the midst of an incredible career high. With a $1 million salary for 1997’s Selena, she’d become the highest-paid Latina actress in Hollywood history and had no less than three new movies in the works. “Waiting for Tonight,” her dance-infused 1999 single, had become an anthem for the new millennium and was nominated for a Grammy. And she was about to make fashion history, thanks to a certain plunging Versace dress. In hindsight, given how long she’s been a multihyphenate, Lopez’s early ambidextrousness wasn’t one bit surprising. In fact, as she told Rolling Stone the following year, she felt like she hadn’t even started yet. “I’m looking forward to the ninth album, the 30th movie...
TODD LA TORRE Says His Nine-Year Run With QUEENSRŸCHE Has Been ‘An Awesome Experience’ So Far
Todd La Torre, who joined QUEENSRŸCHE in 2012 as the replacement for original vocalist Geoff Tate, spoke to the “Music Mania” podcast about what the last nine years have been like. He said (see video below): “Obviously, it was life changing. I had an upholstery business, and that was my trade that I did for, at that point, 22 years or something. So when I got into the band, it was, like, ‘We’re playing a show this weekend,’ or, ‘We’re playing a show next weekend,’ and I would have to say to myself, ‘Okay, this is something where I might have to stop doing my career, and this is just like a full-time thing where I’m not home.’ And I was never in a full-time touring band before. So that was a whole change in my life. And...
Ex-IRON MAIDEN Singer PAUL DI’ANNO: Crowdfunding Campaign Launched For Long-Overdue Knee Surgery
A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help raise £20,000 (approximately $27,000) so former IRON MAIDEN vocalist Paul Di’Anno can undergo his long-delayed knee surgery. A message on the JustGiving page reads: “Paul waited for the past 5-6 years to get this surgery done but now it looks the only way to get it done and quick is privately. “Please donate as much as you can so we can make it happen for Paul. “We know times are hard for everyone now but every little helps. If we all get together we can make this happen for him.” Di’Anno has battled a number of health issues in recent years. He reportedly underwent an operation in 2016 to remove a “rugby ball-sized abscess” on his lungs and required a knee-replacement operation on both knees ...
NANCY WILSON Says Her Debut Solo Album Will Include Instrumental Tribute To EDDIE VAN HALEN
HEART‘s Nancy Wilson talked to Dave Lawrence of Hawaii Public Radio about her upcoming debut solo album, “You And Me”, which is due later this year via Carry On Music. She said (hear audio below): “Three of the songs are covers. The rest of them — the eight other songs — are originals. I’ve got some really cool guest stars on the album. A version of ‘The Boxer’, a SIMON & GARFUNKEL song, I’ve got Sammy Hagar guesting on that one with me. Taylor Hawkins [FOO FIGHTERS] guests on another song, and Duff McKagan [GUNS N’ ROSES]. And then ‘Daughter’, which is a PEARL JAM song. It was originally meant for a film that is still yet to come out, since everything is stalled out. But [the film is] called ‘I Am All Girls’...
MEGADETH’s DAVID ELLEFSON Says ‘Peace Sells’ Song Was Written ‘Literally Within A Couple Of Hours’
During his latest appearance on MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn‘s “No Fuckin’ Regrets With Robb Flynn” podcast, MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson spoke about the creation of the bass intro to the song “Peace Sells”, from the band’s 1986 album “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” “Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH frontman] wrote the riff,” Ellefson said. “I had a bass. It was a B.C. Rich Eagle bass, and I seem to think it was a fretless bass… Me and Dave were living with Karat Faye, who was the engineer [and] co-producer on the ‘Killing Is My Business’ record… We were sitting there, and Dave picks the bass up, and he starts noodling. He goes, ‘Hey, Junior, come over here and play this.’ So we started wo...
Rage Against the Machine Release Killing in Thy Name Documentary About Race: Watch
The socio-political events of the past five years have been a too-fitting backdrop for Rage Against The Machine’s music. The legendary rock group weren’t able to tour the country last year as planned, but today they’re giving their artistic response to the reignited racial justice movement with a new documentary called Killing in Thy Name. The project is a collaboration with a collective of international artists called The Ummah Chroma (which translates to “communities of color”), and it seeks to be “a fire escape from the fiction known as whiteness and a spring for discovery.” The bulk of the 15-minute endeavor features footage of a teacher and some schoolchildren learning about the west’s dark history of slavery, manifest destiny, and the very concept of “whiteness” within the conte...
Ethan Hawke Cast as Villain Opposite Oscar Isaac in Marvel’s Moon Knight
Moon Knight (Marvel), Ethan Hawke (photo by Heather Kaplan), and Oscar Isaac (Warner Bros.) It’s Tesla vs. Poe: Ethan Hawke has been tapped to play the villain opposite Oscar Isaac in Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ series Moon Knight. The Hollywood Reporter has it that the deal has been closed and Hawke will officially be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as its latest antagonist. Exactly who that will be is not yet know. Moon Knight’s archenemy is a deranged mercenary called Bushman, though the character is typically depicted as a person of color; it would be shocking if Marvel decided to whitewash a character — even a villain — in 2021 (and probably equally shocking if they called a Black character “Bushman”). Other possibilities include Crossfire, the cousin of Ant-Man villain Darren “Ye...
Dr. Dre Released from Hospital Following Brain Aneurysm Scare
Dr. Dre Dr. Dre has been released from the hospital today following a brain aneurysm earlier this month. The happy update comes from friend and fellow hip-hop veteran Ice-T, who tweeted Friday afternoon that Dr. Dre “just made it home. Safe and looking good.” The Chronic rap icon was initially rushed to the ICU of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on January 5th. By later that evening, his condition seemed to be under control, and he was described as “stable and lucid.” Dr. Dre himself even posted on Instagram that he was “doing great and getting excellent care,” and assured fans that he would be “out of the hospital and back home soon.” Update: Just FaceTimed with @drdre He just made it home. Safe and looking good. 🙏👊🏽 — ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) Janua...
Paramount Enters Initiative on Live-Action Dungeons and Dragons TV Series
Just a month after rolling out a character sheet for Chris Pine in an upcoming Dungeons & Dragons movie, Paramount and Hasbro are entering initiative on a new live-action television series based on the beloved game. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, John Wick-bard Derek Kolstad will pitch a concept and write the script. For more than 45 years, this game invented by Gary Gygax has enchanted roleplayers around the world. Its expansive lore draws inspiration from Tolkien, Lovecraft, mythology, and folklore. As the rules have grown more refined — and as the rulebooks have gotten fatter — D&D has developed a rich mythos of its own. Now the influenced has become an influencer, as blockbusters like Stranger Things have cribbed D&D‘s vocabulary on the way to making m...
Kanye West’s Yeezy Sues Intern Over Instagram Posts
The NDAs prohibit disclosing or disseminating confidential information on social media, and Yeezy says Inwards shared non-public images on Instagram and hasn’t removed them even after it sent multiple cease and desist letters. (An Instagram account of the same name now has zero posts.) Yeezy is suing Inwards for breach of contract and conversion, and is seeking the $500,000 in liquidated damages plus punitive damages because the company believes he’s acting maliciously. It’s also seeking an injunction mandating that he turn over the images and be banned from similar posts in the future. This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins w...
Save Our Stages Grants Aren’t Open Yet, But Here’s How Venues Can Get Ready
Who is eligible? The SOS Act was initially intended to solely support independent music venues when it was introduced in the summer of 2020. By the time it passed passed as part of the stimulus package in December, the now-called Shuttered Venue Operators (SVO) Grant program includes $15 billion for live performance venue operators and promoters, performing arts organizations, theatrical producers, talent representatives, motion-picture theatre operators and non-profit museums. Subsidiaries of these organizations can also be eligible. Businesses that fall under those categories must have been fully operational as of Feb. 29, 2020 and planning to continue operations in the future. In order to be eligible for the grant, the entities must be able to show at least 25% gross revenue loss in any...
Netflix Sets Release Date for ‘Selena: The Series’ Part Two
“[Selena] created a path for herself when it was arguably difficult for Latinas,” Serratos previously told Billboard. “Being a woman in the industry is super tricky, but she managed to be incredibly powerful, strong, and resilient and [to] be a pioneer while being incredibly gracious, and I always thought that was so beautiful.” Other cast members include Ricardo Chavira, who co-stars as Selena’s father Abraham; Gabriel Chavarria as her brother A.B.; Noemi Gonzalez as her sister Suzette; Seidy Lopez as her mother Marcella; and Madison Taylor Baez as young Selena. The two-part series was released 23 years after the Gregory Nava-directed and Oscar-nominated film Selena starring Jennifer Lopez made its debut on the big screen. See Netflix’s announcement belo...
