EltonJohn testified remotely before the U.S. Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning, urging the committee to continue to fund the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
The plan, known as PEPFAR, was founded in 2003 by President George W. Bush. The Hill reports that in his testimony, Elton credited it with saving some 25 million lives and urged Congress to extend and fund the program for the next five years.
“I am boundlessly grateful for the bipartisan cooperation that has been the hallmark of PEPFAR for two decades now,” he told lawmakers, noting that the plan has been “enthusiastically supported by four presidents and 10 Congresses, and consistently championed by the generosity of the American people.”
“The PEPFAR platform has not only transformed HIV into a chronic disease for tens of millions, it has been leveraged to fight [COVID-19] and made countries far better prepared for whatever viral nightmare comes next,” Elton noted. “But we are not done yet.”
He continued, “We need to keep our foot on the accelerator,” adding, “By extending PEPFAR for another five years and fully funding it, together, we can continue the march toward ending AIDS for everyone everywhere and leave no one behind.”
The committee’s chairman, Bob Menéndez (D-N.J.) praised Elton as someone who “use[s] their fame in a way that saves the lives of others.”
Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider is thinking about breaking out his old makeup case. In a response to a tweet about Montana’s recent drag ban, Snider shared his desire to get back to his old Twisted Sister look.
The amended ruling bans “obscene performances” of “male or female performers who adopt flamboyant or parodic feminine personas with glamorous makeup and exaggerated costumes.”
“You know I haven’t worn the Twisted Sister Makeup in many years,” Snider responded to the post, “but now I’m tempted to put it back on!”
Snider has already said that he plans to reunite Twisted Sister in 2024 for political rallies, especially since politicians keep using “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” but not in the way it was intended. This could mean the makeup will be back for those performances.
After urging the “true majority” of Americans to “fight back, push back, take control,” regarding the push for these bans, Snider shared a John Wick meme that read “People keep asking if I’m back. I’m starting to think I’m back.” He then noted, “I took off the @TwistedSisterny makeup more than a decade ago, but in light of the current stupidity in the USA it just might be time to start wearing it again!”
Metallica‘s run of videos continues with “Chasing Light,” a track off the band’s new album, 72 Seasons.
The latest clip finds the ‘Tallica members striking poses against a glitchy yellow and black background. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.
Since 72 Seasons dropped last Friday, Metallica has released a new video every day. They also put out visuals for the four pre-release tracks: lead single “Lux Æterna,” “Screaming Suicide,” “If Darkness Had a Son” and the title track.
Now with “Chasing Light,” only two 72 Seasons songs have yet to receive videos: “You Must Burn!” and the 11-minute “Inamorata.” The “You Must Burn!” clip premieres Thursday, presumably followed by “Inamorata.”
Additionally, Metallica is releasing every 72 Seasons video in American Sign Language, or ASL. The ASL edition of the title track is out now, and the remaining 11 videos will premiere April 25.
Queen has reached another milestone on YouTube. Guitarist Brian Mayrevealed on social media that the video for the band’s track “I Want It All” has reached 100 million views on YouTube.
He captioned the post, “Thanks, folks, for giving us it ALL !!!”
“I Want It All” isn’t the first Queen tune to reach at least 100 million YouTube views. “We Will Rock You” has over 500 million, while “We Are the Champions” has over 200 million views and “Bohemian Rhapsody” has over 1.6 billion.
“I Want It All” was the first single off Queen’s 1989 studio album The Miracle. It reached number three on the U.K. singles chart, as well as the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.
Levon Helm, best known as the drummer, singer and multi-instrumentalist for The Band, died at age 71 of throat cancer.
Helm was featured on many of The Band’s classic tracks, including “The Weight,” “Up on Cripple Creek” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”
He was with The Band until their farewell performance on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976. The performance was later turned into the critically acclaimed documentary film The Last Waltz, directed by Martin Scorsese.
In addition to music, Helm dabbled in acting and appeared in movies like Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Right Stuff, Feeling Minnesota and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.
Duane Betts, son of Allman BrothersBand guitarist Dickey Betts, is set to release his debut solo album, Wild & Precious Life, on July 14. The first single from the record, “Waiting on a Song,” is out now.
The album was written in 2020 during the pandemic and has Duane reflecting on important things in his life, like his father, his soulmate, his journey to sobriety and more.
“We’re here for such a short period of time,” Duane shares. “We see people come and people go — people we love and people we miss. We’ve all lost loved ones, yet we’re still here. You really have to take advantage of your time and make the most of it.”
Wild & Precious Life, recorded at Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks’ Swamp Raga Studio, features guest appearances by Trucks, Marcus King and Nicki Bluhm.It’s available for preorder now.
Here’s the track list for Wild & Precious Life:
“Evergreen”
“Waiting on a Song”
‘Forrest Lane”
“Colors Fade”
“Saints to Sinners”
“Stare at the Sun”
“Under the Bali Moon”
“Sacred Ground”
“Cold Dark World”
“Circles in the Stars”
After a week of teasing, Foo Fighters have announced a new album.
The record is titled But Here We Are, and drops June 2. You can listen to lead single “Rescued” now via digital outlets.
But Here We Are is the follow-up to 2021’s Medicine at Midnight, and, more notably, the first Foo Fighters record since the unexpected death of drummer Taylor Hawkins in March 2022. A press release describes But Here We Are as a “brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters endured over the last year.”
Following Hawkins’ passing, Foo Fighters canceled all of their tour dates before reemerging for two giant tribute concerts to their late bandmate in September. On New Year’s Eve, they announced they intended to continue as a band, and have since scheduled a number of headlining concerts and festival sets for 2023, the first of which takes place May 24 in Gilford, New Hampshire.
As for who’s playing drums with the Foos on the album and on tour, that hasn’t yet been announced.
Here’s the But Here We Are track list:
“Rescued”
“Under You”
“Hearing Voices”
“But Here We Are”
“The Glass”
“Nothing at All”
“Show Me How”
“Beyond Me”
“The Teacher”
“Rest”
Jethro Tull’s new album, RökFlöte, drops Friday, and for their latest release frontman Ian Anderson was inspired by the characters and gods of old Norse mythology and paganism, in part because he didn’t know much about it.
“The reason that I had rather ignored that in my studies of comparative religion over the many years is because it was somewhat overworked in terms of holding a dark fascination,” he tells ABC Audio. “But then I thought, well, that shouldn’t be a good reason to put me off.”
Anderson says he wanted to approach the subject “in a sensitive way,” one that “allows me to look at that particular subject matter without feeling that I’m imitating some Norwegian heavy metal band.”
Anderson says he has no expectations about what Jethro Tull fans may take away from the record, noting, “I’m not trying to sell them a particular set of ideas or a particular set of beliefs. I’m just suggesting, you know, here are some lyrics, here’s some music, and you examine it, see if you like it.”
RökFlöte is Jethro Tull’s second album in two years, following 2022’s The Zealot Gene. And it doesn’t sound like Anderson has any intention of slowing down. He says he’s already started work on the band’s next project, sharing, “I will be turning my attention to that again during the weeks and months to come.”
According to Dave Grohl, Melvins is the “heaviest band of all time.”
In an Instagram post, Melvins shared a video celebrating the band’s 40th anniversary featuring a quote from the Foo Fighters frontman.
“Arguably one of the most influential artists of the past 40 years, the Melvins have still never relented from being the heaviest band of all time,” Grohl’s quote reads. “From the day I dropped the needle on their 1987 debut album Gluey Porch Treatments, I’ve been inspired by their signature, staggered feel, much like countless other bands who look up to them as the kings of the Northwest music scene.”
Melvins were a big influence on Nirvana, and not just musically. As the story goes, it was Melvins frontman Buzz Osborne who introduced Grohl to Kurt Cobain and Krist Novselic.
“Oh, and thank you for giving me Nirvana’s phone number,” Grohl says.
