Author: djfrosty
Page: 84
Both Kevin Bacon and Jennifer Nettles are creatives in every sense of the word. They are deeply passionate about their music and acting careers — with Grammy-winning Nettles balancing her solo and Sugarland music success with leading roles on Broadway’s Chicago and Waitress, as well as starring in films including Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors. Meanwhile, Golden Globe and SAG Award-winner Bacon has starred in classic films including Footloose, Taking Chance and many more, all while releasing 12 albums via his band, The Bacon Brothers, alongside his sibling Michael.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
That’s why, when the opportunity came for the duo to blend their talents, they were immediately on board. Bacon and Nettles star in the Grainger David-helmed Prime Video series, The Bondsman, which follows the story of murdered bounty hunter Hub Halloran (Bacon), who is resurrected by the devil to send back demons who escaped from the prison of Hell. Nettles stars as Hub’s musician ex-wife.
Trending on Billboard
Together, the two teamed up for The Bondsman: Hell And Back, a collection of eight songs written fromthe point of view of their characters, with several of the tracks appearing on the show. “Long before I ever did something like this, I’ve made playlists for my roles. I’ll say to the writer or the director, ‘Do you have songs that you think my character would like?’” Bacon recalls. “But this situation is something that I don’t do really that much. Yes, I love to write songs and, yes, I’m an actor, but I’ve always had a certain purity about both of them. I didn’t want to somehow shoehorn some music into a movie, you know, on the off-chance that I would get to play in it.”
However, The Bondsman felt different, given that Bacon loved the story and Halloran was also a musician in his life. As a seasoned actor and musician, the challenge of writing the songs from the bounty hunter’s perspective, instead of his own, allowed him to create a deeper bond with his role. “It’s really interesting form of songwriting, because I tend to write from my point of view,” Bacon says. “Even if I’m writing off of a hook, it’s probably going to be related to my experience and my feelings around things. Whereas, in this case, I’m writing as the character. And now, you’re going, OK, who was Hub Halloran when he first met this woman that he’s in love with? Or when they were breaking up? What was his point of view, not only about the world or about love or about her, but also musically? What was the kind of country music that he liked and didn’t like?”
Nettles agrees, adding that the “storytelling” aspect of making the music alongside filming the TV show was something she particularly enjoyed. “Whenever I’m writing a song, it’s both story building and character building. You take on a persona in those times,” she explains. “In that way, it wasn’t anything new or different [to my usual songwriting style]. What was new and different, is getting to do it specifically for this world and for television. This specific character, and this specific world where demons are concerned and all the supernatural and horror — that made it really, really fun.”
Nettles also revealed that the show’s “authentic” portrayal of the South drew her to the role, and her immediate bond with Bacon allowed the music to “flow easily.” And, of course, working with superstar actor in general was a plus. “Working with someone with that level of talent, that icon status, was super thrilling,” she says.
“I just love the performing arts so much, and I love music so much and I love getting to tell stories, and to be able to do this in this show is so fun and campy,” she concludes. “It checks so many boxes.”
The Bondsman is available to watch on Prime Video here, and the corresponding Hell and Back album can be enjoyed on Amazon Music here.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Aaron J. Thornton / Getty
For the past few weeks Brooklyn rapper NEMS has been dropping off visuals apparently recorded on his iPhone (or some other handheld device) and though it doesn’t seem like any other rappers are following suit, the Coney Island representative might be onto something.
Same is the case for his latest Dios Moreno assisted video to “Viral,” in which we see NEMS participate in a friendly game of ping pong before doing an interview on Shade 45 and spitting his bars every chance he gets. A threat to Ping Pong king, Forrest Gump, NEMS is not. Just sayin.’
Elsewhere Tee Grizzley takes to the road and in his clip for “Rick Jameski,” TG gets his grizzley man on and travels to the snowy mountains to have some fun with some snow mobiles and makes things a little colder as he rocks enough blocks of ice on his chest to build an igloo with.
Check out the rest of today’s drops including work from Likkle Addi, Rygin King, and more.
NEMS FT. DIOS MORENO – “VIRAL”
TEE GRIZZLEY – “RICK JAMESKI”
LIKKLE ADDI – “DAWG DEM RICH”
RYGIN KING – “OUTSIDE”
YTB FATT FT. ROB49 – “YESSIRSKI”
ABRA CADABRA FT. CLAVISH – “FACTS NOT CAP”
BLACK SHERIF – “REBEL MUSIC”
DUSTY LOCANE & ALBEE AL – “ALL STARS”
RALO – “TALKING TO MYSELF”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjQPj4dPIoM
Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater is getting a new operator.
Metro Nashville has notified Ryman Hospitality Properties (RHP) that it intends to have RHP’s Opry Entertainment Group (OEG) operate Ascend Amphitheater for the next decade. The deal is subject to successful negotiation between the two parties. Axios first reported the news.
Colin Reed, executive chairman of RHP’s board of directors, tells Billboard he expects the negotiations to conclude within the next three months and that the 10-year contract will take effect Jan. 1, 2026. It’s a realization of a dream for RHP that began even before the 6,800-capacity outdoor venue opened in 2015. “We applied for this a decade ago when the city was deciding they were going to build [Ascend],” he says. “We and Live Nation bid 10 years ago. We loved the space then and we really love the space now.”
RHP has aready committed capital to “beautify the project,” Reed says. “Upgrade it and make it more of an experience for the consumer.”
Trending on Billboard
RHP was selected over Live Nation and AEG. “We really put our front foot forward here, so we always thought we had a shot, but beating two companies that, quite candidly, we have a high degree of regard for — AEG, that handles all of our ticketing in all of our venues, as well as Live Nation, who we have a healthy relationship with — we were very pleased,” Reed adds.
Ascend has averaged 20 to 30 concerts a year, primarily during the summer season, but Reed says he expects to substantially expand activity at the venue.
A cap on 35 shows per year was put in place when the amphitheater opened because it is in a residential area, Reed says, but “the issue for us is this is one of the great pieces of real estate in the city of Nashville and how do we activate it for the other 330 days a year because it should not be kept fallow for that period of time. We can do daytime programming. We can do Opry Under the Stars. We’ve spent quite a bit of time talking with the symphony. There are multiple ways in which we can activate this space.” He is also eager to bring holiday offerings to the Ascend from Thanksgiving to the end of December.
Ascend will be an open room, meaning other promoters, including AEG and Live Nation, can promote shows there. “We want to maintain a good relationship with those businesses,” he says. “We’ll talk to anyone that wants to play this great city.”
Ryman Hospitality’s OEG also runs Nashville venues the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry House, in addition to having partnerships with Luke Combs‘ Category 10 venue and Blake Shelton‘s Ole Red.
Live Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Alan Jackson recently shared a sweet moment with his wife Denise during his performance in Texas.
On Saturday, April 5, the Country Music Hall of Fame singer-songwriter, 66, performed a headlining show at the Two Step Inn. During his performance of “Remember When,” he invited his wife Denise to the stage to dance with him. Denise’s birthday was on April 6 and the couple has been married for more than 45 years.
The two shared a sweet slow dance and a kiss while Jackson’s band continued to play an instrumental version of the song, before Jackson returned to the microphone to continue singing the song.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Remember When,” which was a two-week Billboard Country Airplay chart No. 1 for Jackson in 2004, revisits the triumphs and challenges of the couple’s love story.
Trending on Billboard
They were high school sweethearts in Newnan, Georgia. They wed in 1979 and Denise played a key role in helping Jackson get discovered as an artist. Denise began working as a flight attendant. At one point she saw Glen Campbell in the Atlanta airport and approached Campbell to tell him her husband was an aspiring singer-songwriter. According to Denise Jackson’s 2007 book It’s All About Him, Campbell gave her the business card for music executive Marty Gamblin, who ran Campbell’s music publishing company at the time. According to the book, Gamblin became an early supporter in Jackson’s career.
The couple has three daughters: Mattie Denise (born in 1990, the same year Jackson released his debut album Here in the Real World), Alexandra Jane (1993) and Dani Grace (1997).
Other artists who performed at the Two Step Inn festival on April 5-6 included Miranda Lambert, Sturgill Simpson, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Treaty Oak Revival, Flatland Calvalry and more.
Jackson is also on his Last Call: One More for the Road Tour, which launched in April and is set to conclude in May. Jackson hasn’t called the trek a farewell tour, though an announcement for the tour last year noted the tour will mark “the last time he’ll ever perform his more-than-30 years of hits in that city and surrounding areas.”
JT is tired of the stans. Over the weekend, the Miami rapper went on a rant directed at stan accounts on social media in now-deleted tweets after a Normani fan account called it “embarrassing” for JT to be celebrating her “Ran Out” music video “finally” hitting 1 million views. “Help me find the embarrassing part,” […]
Kelsea Ballerini got to be the bearer of excellent news at her recent concert in Tulsa, Okla, with the singer-songwriter helping an expecting fan announce her pregnancy to her friends and family by filming an adorable video mid-show.
In a clip posted after Ballerini’s Saturday (April 5) performance at BOK Center Arena, the country star holds up the fan’s phone in selfie-mode while on stage and says into her microphone, “Hello, my name is Kelsea Ballerini, and I’m here to tell you that Maddy’s pregnant!”
Ballerini then pans the camera over to Maddy standing in the audience as the mom-to-be waves excitedly. “And she’s due in November? She’s due in November!” the “Peter Pan” musician continues as the crowd at the arena erupts in applause.
Trending on Billboard
Maddy also shared a video of how the sweet moment came to be. Between songs, Ballerini had been interacting with fans in the crowd when Maddy’s sign — which read “Can you help me announce my pregnancy?” — caught her eye. “Yes. Yes,” Ballerini said immediately, her eyes widening with excitement.
The Tulsa show marked one of the final performances on Ballerini’s first-ever arena tour. She now has just a few shows left, including stops in South Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and Toronoto.
And though you wouldn’t be able to guess from how comfortably she chatted with fans in the pregnancy-reveal video, the vocalist recently opened up about how challenging she used to find speaking to be during shows. “My biggest fear was talking on stage, to the point where I would literally get on my laptop and have the set list up, and I would type out word-for-word exactly what I was going to say and when I was going to say it every night,” she said in her April 1 People cover story.
“This tour, I’ve done none of that, and it’s just been so freeing,” she continued. “If I feel like talking, I’ll talk for 10 minutes and read signs and get people’s stories and stuff like that. And I don’t have a certain way that I set up certain songs. I follow the night and I follow what’s impacting me in the moment. It’s kept me really present for each show, and it also helps me remember each show.”
Watch Ballerini help announce a fan’s pregnancy at her Tulsa concert below.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: PlayStation / PS5 Pro
Gamers are taking immediate action, anticipating that Donald Trump and his stupid tariffs will make buying a PS5 Pro or PS5 console more expensive.
Spotted on PlayStation Lifestyle, some gamers purchasing PS5 Pro and PS5 consoles in a panic to get ahead of looming price hikes as a direct result of Donald Trump’s ridiculous sweeping tariffs on every country.
The website says gamers have been scooping up the recently released Astro Bot PS5 Bundle and sharing receipts for PS5 Pro and standard PS5 console purchases on web forums.
Gamers’ actions might be premature, as Sony has taken measures to combat Trump’s tariffs and avoid raising prices for now.
Per PlayStation Lifestyle:
Over the weekend, we spotted numerous posts across gaming forums and social media, where players shared screenshots of their order screens while encouraging others to purchase a PS5 and/or PS5 Pro and accompanying accessories before prices skyrocket. However, it might be a little too soon to panic.
As pointed out by renowned industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, the idea of Trump tariffs was being floated for quite a while before it was implemented, and Sony would have taken measures like “duplicating supply chains and stockpiling PS5s” in the U.S. “The strategic stockpiling of PS5 units in the U.S. will provide Sony with a temporary buffer against the impact of tariffs,” he added.
Only A Temporary Solution
Sony’s countermeasures to Trump’s tariffs are only a temporary solution because all of the company’s manufacturing locations are feeling the tariffs’ sting. It’s only a matter of time before the company will feel their effect.
Trump’s tariffs have already negatively impacted the video game industry. Nintendo has already paused Nintendo Switch 2 US preorders in an unprecedented move.
Sighs.
It hasn’t been 100 days, and Trump is already putting on a masterclass of ruining our lives in so many ways.
Preme, one of Drake‘s oldest friends and collaborators, has weighed in on the recent success of the Toronto rapper’s song “Nokia.” He recently tweeted a screenshot of Apple’s Top 100: Global chart showing that “Nokia” has taken over the No. 1 spot, beating out Kendrick and SZA‘s “Luther,” and proclaimed that Drake is here to […]
Corey Taylor is part of the “Pink Pony Club.” The Slipknot frontman took the stage at horror and pop culture convention SPOOKALA, where he performed a 14-song set on Saturday (April 5), according to Kerrang!. He included a series of covers during his performance, ranging from Foo Fighters and Violent Femmes tracks to the SpongeBob […]
HipHopWired Featured Video
Wake County Mugshots / Dylan Dilinjah
Someone made the mistake of getting too close to Dylan Dilinjah.
Making The Band 2 cast member Dylan Dilinjah was pinched by law enforcement for assaulting a man in North Carolina, an arrest warrant obtained by TMZ revealed.
According to the warrant, Dilinja, born Dylan John, was apprehended by the police in connection to an alleged altercation that took place Thursday in Wake County.
The report claims that Dylan slapped a man named Joseph Galullo across the face twice. Police officers showed up shortly after to arrest the struggle rapper, charging him with assault.
Dilinjah was released after posting a $500 bond and is due in court on July 1.
This incident is the latest moment that Dylan Dilinjah has returned to the news. During a recent We Are Flatbush podcast interview, Dilinjah claimed that the Chappelle Show skit making fun of Making The Band 2, where he also mocked himself, ruined his “rap career.”
“Any time I send my music to DJs, they say, ‘Oh, that’s the n***a that Dave Chappelle made fun of. Nah, I’m good on that,’” said Dilinjah. “Not only that, but now, every promoter says, ‘Nah, we’re not booking him.’ So now I have a newborn, and the fridge is empty in 2005, and no one is calling me. Everyone is laughing.”
He continued, “At that time, no one picking up they phone.Not one label. You had to sign to a record label. And I called all of them direct. And they said, ‘I can’t help you.’ That joke took over. That joke burned [my career].”
Yeah, sure, whatever you say, bro.