NEWS
Coachella and Lollapalooza Both Cancelled For 2020
Source: Imeh Akpanudosen / Getty Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the music festival season is most definitely a wash. For 2020, both Coachella and Lollapalooza have been cancelled, though the latter will be hosting a virtual event. Earlier this year, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival had been postponed until October 9 -11 and October 16 – 18, 2020. However, Billboard reports that because of layoffs at its parent company, AEG, Coachella isn’t going down at all this year and hopes to return in 2021. Reportedly, it’s being deliberated whether Coachella comes back as a smaller event in April 2021 or as the major moment we’re used to in October 2021. Frank Ocean and Travis Scott were scheduled headliners. As for Lollapalooza, its organizers issued a statement that the live event ...
Black NASCAR Driver Bubba Wallace Unveils Black Lives Matter Paint Job For No. 43 Car
Source: Chris Graythen / Getty NASCAR has had its share of Black drivers, a path laid expertly by the late Wendell Scott of Danville, Va. Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. is continuing the tradition as one of NASCAR’s top-ranked racers and has just revealed that his No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro will feature a Black Lives Matter paint job in the wake of him asking for Confederate flags to be banned from the tracks. Via social media, the Richard Petty Motorsports team that Wallace races for announced the new paint job scheme via a video interview that laid out the inspiration for the Black Lives Matter angle. Wallace shared in the chat with RPM’s graphic designer Bradley Sisson that he was inspired by last week’s “Black Out Tuesday” and worked it out with the RPM team to get the paint job done. “I thi...
After 33 Years ‘Cops’ Is Finally Canceled By The Paramount Network
Source: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / Getty In the wake of the George Floyd protests and calls for the defunding and disbandment of police departments across the nation, the Paramount Network has decided it was the right time to cancel the decades-old show Cops as the appetite to watch police “protect and serve” isn’t exactly at an all-time high. The New York Times is reporting that after 30 years the show that turned everyday policing into an Avengers-ish occupation will not be making it’s 33rd season premiere come June 13 due to the current social-political environment that’s driven millions to protest police brutality in the US and other parts of the world. The decision to dead the show entirely comes just a few weeks after the network decided to remove the show from it’s schedule. “‘Cops’ ...
Allen Iverson Is Set To Collect A 32 Million Payout From Reebok In 2030
Source: photo: WENN While he has been off the court for many years Allen Iverson’s name still holds a lot of weight in the sneaker game. He has secured the bag thanks to his apparel sponsor. Page Six is reporting that the basketball legend is in for a very cozy retirement thanks to Reebok. The online gossip rag claims that the former Georgetown Hoya is set to receive a $32 million dollar trust fund payment due to his lifetime contract with the Boston based company. Business analyst Darren Rovell claims that the paperwork in question has specific clauses that speak to a vesting option that both parties mutually agreed to back when AI originally signed the agreement in 2001. “Allen Iverson turns 45 today. Ten years from today, on his 55th birthday, he receives a $32 million trust fund a...
Charlotte de Witte is Livestreaming from a Medieval Castle to Celebrate Forthcoming EP
Charlotte de Witte is planning to give the Knights of the Round Table a run for their money with her next performance. In partnership with Beatport, she is returning for her second “New Form” livestream tomorrow, Thursday, June 11th to perform at the medieval Gravensteen castle in her hometown of Ghent, Belgium. The castle is one of the city’s most iconic historical landmarks, making it the perfect backdrop for the release of her forthcoming Return to Nowhere EP. “Unfortunately we’re not able to see each other right now,” de Witte said in a press release announcing the stream. “But I’m super excited to be sharing this release with you from an iconic place in my hometown. This place has always held a great meaning for me. As a kid, I used to...
The 2021 Toyota Mirai Might Turn Out Pretty Enough to Make You Forget the Old One
The Toyota Mirai is one of the most polarizing cars on sale, and that fact it’s a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV) has surprisingly little to do with that. Call us shallow, but just look at the thing. Even though the word “mirai” means “the future” in Japanese, the current ‘Yota FCV looks like it was inspired by some kind of prehistoric fish monster and then partially chewed up by that very same creature. Luckily, Toyota is giving the futuristic, hydrogen-fueled car a full clean-sheet redesign, as previewed by the Lexus-like 2021 Mirai concept—and we’ve now gathered proof that the production model will hew closely to that show car’s knockout styling. MotorTrend features editor Scott Evans was driving through downtown Los Angele...
2021 Mercedes-AMG GLB 45 Likely Revealed In Patent Images
Admittedly, it’s possible that these images show the already revealed GLB 35. A handful of distinct cues, however, give us reason to believe that’s not the case. Go on, give the illustrations a look and see if you spot the telltale signs of a 45-badged Mercedes-AMG model. See it? Those four exhaust pipes poking out of the rear bumper are a detail missing from the GLB 35, which features just two exhaust tips. Furthermore, the front bumper includes slight alterations to the lower fascia, including additional detail work within the stylized cooling ducts at the left and right corners of the crossover. Yes, the changes are subtle, but is that really surprising? Consider the GLA 35 and GLA 45 look largely the same, save for the models’ mildly massaged front fascias, different ...
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit Taps Lucinda Williams for Summer 2021 Tour
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit plan to hit the road with special guest Lucinda Williams next year for an unforgettable summer jaunt. The whole squad’s first pit stop in their North American journey is in Vancouver, B.C. on July 19, while wrapping around the West Coast and southwest states before reaching the last two shows in Austin, Texas from Aug. 7-8. Tickets are on sale and available for purchase here. Isbell and his band are touring in support of their latest studio album Reunions, which soared to the top of three Billboard charts (all tallies dated May 30) — making a 20-1 leap on the Top Rock Albums chart, jumping 17-1 on the Top Country Albums chart, and skipping one spot 2-1 on the Americana/Folk Albums chart. Check out Williams’ tour announce...
NMPA Annual Meeting Celebrates Continued Publishing Growth, Warns of Pre-Pandemic Threats
The National Music Publishers’ Association announced its fifth consecutive year of increased revenues, while noting the industry’s high-stakes legal cases still ahead. The National Music Publishers’ Association’s annual meeting was held virtually Wednesday (June 10) due to COVID-19, where president and CEO David Israelite reminded membership that music publishing is still facing pre-pandemic threats to its business. Namely digital streaming services’ Copyright Royalty Board appeal and the Department of Justice’s review of ASCAP and BMI consent decree — which could also be an opportunity, depending on how the DOJ rules. “We are now 2.5% years into the new [rating] periods but we still don’t have certainty on our rates because Spotify and...
Coachella, Stagecoach Music Festivals Pushed to 2021
The events were already rescheduled from April to October, as plans for a return next year still remain unclear. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and country music festival Stagecoach will not take place this year due to county and state restrictions. Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday (June 10), the festivals would not be held in Indio, California, this October — as had been planned when promoter Goldenvoice was forced to reschedule from their original April dates last March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Kaiser cited California Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s four-step outline for re-opening the state as the reasoning behind the decision, noting music festivals are not permitted to reopen until a...
Damian Lillard Comes For Racists & Donald Trump On New Cut “Blacklist”
Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz Dame D.O.L.L.A. returns and no he ain’t dissing Shaquille O’Neal again (though that was entertaining). This time around the All-Star point guard is taking aim at the biggest enemy the Black community has been facing since the inception of America: racism. In his new cut “Blacklist” Dame D.O.L.L.A. gives listeners an uncut and raw lesson on Black history breaking down the plight of the Black man in America and the struggles they’ve had to overcome to get to this point. Kicking off the track by simply stating “As a brother with a good heart, f*ck you if you racist,” the Portland Trailblazers star player gets his Illmatic on (yeah we said it) and drops bars you’d expect to hear from a 90’s rapper putting the system on blast. “Used to call us monkeys and...
Russell Westbrook To Produce Docuseries About The Destruction Black Wall Street aka Tulsa Massacre
Source: Jay L. Clendenin / Getty NBA star Russell Westbrook has stepped into the arena of films by announcing that he is producing a series centered around the 1921 Tulsa race riots. On Tuesday (Jun 9), the Houston Rockets’ guard announced via Variety that he was executive producing the series, titled “Terror In Tulsa: The Rise And Fall Of Black Wall Street” in collaboration with documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson and the production company Blackfin. “I am so very honored to partner with Russell Westbrook and Blackfin to direct ‘Terror In Tulsa.’ There is no story more poignant or relevant to the racially charged events unfolding before us today, the frustration, the outrage, the outcry for justice in the wake of the George Floyd killing,” Nelson said in a statement. “The story...
