Year: 2022

Earlier this year, tribute concerts were announced for the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who tragically passed in March. The first event honoring Hawkins goes down at London’s Wembley Stadium this Saturday, September 3.

Who Will Perform At Taylor Hawkins’ Tribute Show In London?

The show has a stacked lineup, as taking the Wembley stage are Blink-182’s Travis Barker, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme, The Police’s Stewart Copeland, Oasis’ Liam Gallagher, Omar Hakim, the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde, AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, Kesha, Rush’s Geddy Lee, Queen’s Brian May, Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic, Nile Rodgers, Mark Ronson, and others.

It was reported that Paramount has teamed up with Foo Fighters and the Hawkins family to air the Wembley Stadium show live on its various platforms, including CBS, MTV, Paramount+, and Pluto TV. A one-hour special will air on MTV’s global network, starting in Latin America on September 3, before an extended two-hour cut will air later on in the month. MTV will also livestream the concert on YouTube.

This tribute concert is the first of two. It will be followed by one at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum on September 27, with a lineup that includes Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett, Chris Chaney of Jane’s Addiction, Gene Simmons of Kiss, Alanis Morissette, Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue, and more.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Sarah Palin came out of the gate running strong when John McCain chose her, the then-governor of Alaska, as his running mate in the 2008 presidential campaign and instantly made her a household name. But it soon became clear that, when left to her own devices, Palin could be a bit of a loose cannon, and not a particularly polished one. Which is essentially the reputation she has maintained in the years since — right up to and including her recent failed attempt to fill a House seat in a special election in Alaska. Now that she has had time to let her loss sink in, well, she’s kind of pissed.

As Yahoo! News reports, Palin now seems to be blaming Alaska’s ranked choice voting system as the reason for her loss. “Ranked-choice voting was adopted in Alaska in 2020 and has been hailed by proponents as a novel system to reduce partisanship and ensure that winning candidates have a majority of support,” Paul Best wrote for Yahoo! News. “Voters rank candidates in order of preference. If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-place votes after the first tabulation, then they win, but if there is no majority winner, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated.”

Which all seems fair enough. In the case of Alaska’s special election, Democrat Mary Peltola received 40 percent of the original vote, while Palin received 31 percent; 28.5 percent of voters chose Republican Nick Begich, so he was eliminated ahead of the next tabulation. Ultimately, Peltola triumphed with 51.5 percent of the second vote versus Palin’s 48.5 percent. While that all seems like a pretty good indicator that Peltola was indeed the people’s choice, Palin’s now complaining about this “new crazy, convoluted, confusing” system, which she claims has “disenfranchised 60 percent of Alaska voters.”

On Thursday, Palin issued a statement that read, in part:

Ranked-choice voting was sold as the way to make elections better reflect the will of the people. As Alaska — and America — now sees, the exact opposite is true. With optimism that Alaskans learn from this voting system mistake and correct it in the next election, let’s work even harder to send an America First conservative to Washington in November.

In other words: I didn’t win, so the system must be broken. Spoken like a true MAGA Republican.

(Via Yahoo! News)

This weekend will play host to one of the year’s biggest music events, as the first Taylor Hawkins tribute concert, at London’s Wembley Stadium, will take place on Saturday, September 3. If you can’t make it out to Wembley, it will fortunately be pretty easy to watch the show either online or on TV.

In mid-August, it was reported that the concert would be viewable in a number of ways aside from actually being there in person. Foo Fighters and the Hawkins family have teamed up with Paramount to air the concert on Paramount’s platforms, including CBS, MTV, Paramount+, and Pluto TV. Furthermore, a one-hour special will air on MTV, starting in Latin America on September 3, before an extended two-hour cut will air later on this month.

This morning, Foo Fighters offered some direct online watching links on Twitter, making finding the show even easier. The event will be livestreamed globally on YouTube via MTV at this link (also embedded at the end of this post). It will also be streamed on Paramount+ (in the US only) and on Pluto TV (both domestically and internationally).

The show is set to kick off at 11:30 a.m. ET (10:30 a.m. CT, 8:30 a.m. PT). The performance lineup includes Blink-182’s Travis Barker, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme, The Police’s Stewart Copeland, Oasis’ Liam Gallagher, Omar Hakim, the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde, AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, Kesha, Rush’s Geddy Lee, Queen’s Brian May, Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic, Nile Rodgers, Mark Ronson, and others.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

If the 2018 holiday season taught us anything, it’s that red can be a dangerously divisive color in the political world. One only needs to look back at Melania Trump’s blood-red Christmas trees, which drew comparisons to both The Handmaid’s Tale and The Shining, for proof.

On Thursday night, as Mediaite notes, Joe Biden delivered a scathing speech from Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, in which he took aim at the “MAGA forces [that] are determined to take this country backwards.” When it was over, however, the only thing those “MAGA forces” — including Tucker Carlson and his fellow Fox News hosts — seemed to want to talk about were the aesthetics of the proceedings, which included a red background behind Biden’s podium, with two Marines standing guard. (The latter of which was hardly unprecedented.)

As Carlson was on the air at the same time as Biden, he didn’t actually listen to his speech. But he got enough of the highlights to make a dark assessment of its content, and the president himself:

We made fun of it at the top of the show, because we didn’t really know how else to respond. But Joe Biden really has crossed over into a very dangerous — very dangerous — place. Tonight, he declared in a speech in Philadelphia that anyone who disagrees with him is a threat to the country.

Unsurprisingly, that is not what Biden said. What he did say — which Carlson showed a clip of — was that “too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal.” (Yep, sounds about right so far…) “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. But the Republican party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country.” (Bingo!)

Carlson, clearly irked by what he was hearing — perhaps because it hit a little too close to home? — decided that extra snark was the best reply, which is where that harmless red background became the story of the night. As Carlson noted:

Yeah, ‘they’re a threat,’ says the guy with the blood-red Nazi background and marines standing behind him. It’s a complete outrage that this is being sanctioned as a White House event. In other words, that this is the approved position of our government. It’s totally immoral.

And then the guy who encouraged riots in 2020 accused ‘MAGA Republicans’ of somehow threatening the rule of law in the United States… This is truly nuts and threatening to the future of the United States. It’s hard to believe he just did that, but he did.

Of course, Tucker wasn’t the only talking head on Fox News to take umbrage with Biden’s… choice of background color. Monica Crowley, Trump’s former treasury assistant secretary, described it as being “almost Satanic with that blood-red lighting and the two marines behind him. It was just insane.”

Former Trump speechwriter/37-year old man still on his parents’ cell phone plan Stephen Miller, meanwhile, praised his former boss for “pour[ing] his heart, his soul, his spirit everyday to build a better America,” then castigated Biden for delivering what Miller deemed “the speech of a dictator, in the style of a dictator, in the visual of a dictator, using the words of a dictator.”

Back up: Donald Trump has a soul?

(Via Mediaite)

Timothée Chalamet got deeply philosophical about the state of the world while promoting his new cannibal movie, Bones & All, at the Venice Film Festival. The film, which re-teams Chalamet with Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino, is about two disenfranchised youth trying to navigate life in the American Midwest in the ’80s. The experience led the young actor to examine how hard it is to grow up in these heavily scrutinized times where everything is blasted all over the internet.

“I can’t imagine what it is to grow up with the onslaught of social media, and it was a relief to play characters who are wrestling with an internal dilemma absent the ability to go on Reddit, or Twitter, Instagram or TikTok and figure out where they fit in,” Chalamet said during a press conference (via The Daily Beast). “Without casting judgment on that, you can find your tribe there, but I think it’s tough to be alive now.”

Chalamet took things even further by warning that society is in danger, and that’s why movies are more than important ever. “I think societal collapse is in the air—or it smells like it—and, without being pretentious, that’s why hopefully movies matter, because that’s the role of the artist… to shine a light on what’s going on.”

The press conference was a decidedly different tone from Chalamet, who last promoted his star turn in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune by revealing he kept Zendaya entertained on set with fart jokes. But what is youth if not the fluctuating swing from the death of the world to flatulence humor?

(Via The Daily Beast)

In David Fincher’s 2014 psychological thriller Gone Girl, Nick Dunne, played by Ben Affleck, calls his wife Amy (Rosamund Puke) a “c*nt,” “delusional,” and “insane,” and although he once loved her, that affection only led to resentment and them trying to control each other. Amy’s response: “That’s marriage.”

Affleck quoted one of his movies during his wedding to Jennifer Lopez, but unfortunately, it wasn’t this one. Instead, he chose a less-amusing option from Live by Night, a box office flop that he wrote, directed, and starred in. The line: “This is heaven. Right here. We’re in it now.” Lopez called it “one of my favorite lines that Ben wrote from a movie he directed called Live By Night,” she revealed in her “On the JLo” newsletter. “He also said it the night of our wedding reception in his speech, and I thought… how perfect.”

Lopez shared more details about the wedding:

“The truth is everyone’s story is different and we all have our paths to travel. No two people are the same. But for us, this was perfect timing. Nothing ever felt more right to me, and I knew we were finally ‘settling down’ in a way you can only do when you understand loss and joy and you are battle tested enough to never take the important things for granted or let the silly insignificant nuisances of the day get in the way of embracing every precious moment. We find ourselves in that long-desired time of life: having gratitude for all that life has shown us, even its trials and tribulations. That night really was heaven…”

That sounds heavenly, but it could have been better. Hear me out:

PASTOR: “Do you take this woman to be your wife, to live together in matrimony, to love her, to honor her, to comfort her, and to keep her in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?”

AFFLECK: “Gobble gobble.”

Now that’s romance.

(Via “On the JLo”)

(Spoilers for Season 3 of The Boys will be found below.)

The Boys cast members are having a grand time while filming Season 4, and in the process, Antony Starr and Chace Crawford are recreating a little bit of (gross) magic. Chace famously worried whether he would ever work again after what The Deep did (for the entirety of the season), including plenty of octopus sex. And in one particularly icky scene for Deep, Homelander did some pure evil by sadistically forcing his fellow The Seven member to eat his very close friend, Timothy the Octopus, while he was still alive.

It was a scene that made me freak out, and the effective CGI could make anyone dry heave. And considering how horribly The Deep began his run on The Boys (by sexually assaulting Starlight), it’s to Crawford’s credit that we feel for him (let’s just say the world has also had its revenge upon him) while Homelander forces him to commit this revolving act. Well, Starr and Crawford did a little Instagram reenactment, but with this caption from Starr: “No seafood. Just land mammals…” The “#justicefortimothy” hashtag is a nice touch, and an official Amazon Prime account chimed in with a “rip timothy this is what he saw before he died.”

Just for a refresher, here’s Timothy’s perspective.

And Laz Alonso (who portrays the lovable Mother’s Milk) added a “Grubbbbbbbbbbbbb” to the mix in Starr’s comments. Man, is Season 4 here yet? Not until 2023.

Many years ago, Willow launched her music career with an R&B-inspired sound, first on the hit 2010 single “Whip My Hair” and later on her albums through to 2019’s Willow. Things changed, though, on 2021’s Lately I Feel Everything, when Willow pursued a decidedly more rock- and pop-punk-oriented aesthetic. That shift worked out well for her: The album was her first to rank on the Billboard 200 chart and lead single “Transparent Soul” was her first song since 2011 to pop up on the Hot 100.

However, Willow says there was some hesitance about her stylistic pivot and she believes a big reason for it is her race.

In a new Glamour UK interview, she said:

“When I wanted to do a rock album, there were a lot of executives that were like, ‘Hmm.’ If I had been white, it would’ve been completely fine; but because I’m Black, it’s, ‘Well… maybe let’s just not,’ and making it harder than it needs to be. […] If I go through that, every single other Black artist is getting the pushback, [too].”

She also noted, “I love all different kinds of music, I don’t like to box myself into anything. I was trained to be an R&B singer so I went in that direction, but I’ve always had a huge affinity for rock music ever since I was just a wee bean.”

Read the full interview here.

Elton John and Britney Spears’ collaboration “Hold Me Closer” is doing pretty well, as it just went No. 1 on the Australian chart and it could emerge on top in the UK ranks, too. (How it fared on the US charts will be revealed next week.) Given that this was Spears’ first recording in a while, though, John says there was one thing he was unsure about when it came to Spears.

Speaking with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe yesterday (September 1), John said (as Billboard reports):

“She did it so well and so easily, and I’m sure a lot of people thought, ‘Well, can she still sing?’ Well, I knew for a start that she could sing because if you go back and look at the old footage, she was the biggest artist in the world and she could sing, she could dance, she could do everything. So I wasn’t worried about that. What I was worried about is if she would be so nervous because she hadn’t done it for a while, but she came through it with flying colors.”

He also noted, “I’m really happy for Britney, especially because having her on this record is such a gas, for start. But this is someone who has been through hell, who needed some love in her life, a lot of love from a lot of people, and she’s getting it. And she hadn’t really made any music since 2016, so it’s all about her for me. Life unfolds on an incredible speed, and I don’t know what will happen, but I’m so thrilled this is happening because I love the record. I love the fact that it’s ‘Tiny Dancer’ because it’s one of my favorite songs. I’m a lucky man. Listen, what can I say? The record’s taken off. 75 years of age and having the time of my life, and it proves that you can still be modern and be old at the same time if you care to take an interest in what’s going on.”

This November is the two-year anniversary of Alex Trebek’s death, which is hard to believe. It seems like it was only yesterday he was making fun of nerds and being “insensitive” about a pygmy goat. To honor the long-time Jeopardy! host, producers are planning a tribute that will “break the internet.”

In the latest episode of the essential Inside Jeopardy! podcast, executive producer Michael Davies revealed, “Overall, we owe him a fantastic episode of Jeopardy! on that day,” referring to November 8, the day of Trebek’s death (and Election Day). “It may well break the internet. I don’t want to give too much away.”

Elsewhere in the episode, producer Sarah Whitcomb Foss spoke to current Jeopardy! hosts Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik, who discussed the upcoming season, the show’s 39th. ““It’s very exciting and especially exciting to get to share this honor and this platform with Ken who is such a legend and it’s very exciting, it’s overwhelming but in a really good way,” Bialik said. Jennings added, “I’m just such a fan of the show, to this day, I feel like a fan, I wouldn’t be the person I am without all the Jeopardy! I watched as a kid, and then, of course, it changed my life in a big way 20 years ago, it’s just an honor to be associated with the show in any way, and now with Mayim double the perks.”

Jeopardy! returns with new episodes later this month.

(Via TV Insider)