Music

HOLLYWOOD—Nominees for the 52nd Annual NAACP Image Awards were announced on Tuesday, February 2, with the Netflix flick “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” leading all contender with 10 nominations. The movie is nominated for Best Motion Picture alongside “Soul,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “One Night in Miami.” Both “Ma Rainey” and “Soul” earned 9 nominations...

HOLLYWOOD—You know 2020 is a bust when you don’t even remember such staples in the entertainment industry like the 2020 Grammy nominations. Yeah, that actually happened on Tuesday, November 24, and my head was scratching with the nominations because it seemed the Recording Industry drew names out of a hat in my personal opinion. Beyonce led all contenders with...

SANTA MONICA—Eddie Van Halen, guitarist and co-founder of Van Halen, died on Tuesday, October 6, from complications of throat cancer. He was 65. According to reports, he died at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. “I can’t believe I’m having to write this, but my father, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, has lost his long and arduous battle with cancer this morning,”...

HOLLYWOOD—We are starting to get some semblance of reality with award shows somewhat returning to the airwaves. The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards were held on Sunday, August 30, live and taped from New York City. Yes, it was promoted the ENTIRE week that it was all live, but we know some of those performances were taped in advance...

NASHVILLE—Justine Townes Earle, the 38-year-old singer-songwriter, died on Sunday, August 23, and police told Rolling Stone that it was probably from a drug overdose.  A spokesperson with the Metro Nashville Police Department told Rolling Stone that after one of Earle's friends notified them that they had not heard from him since Thursday, the Nashville Fire Department checked his residence and...

HOLLYWOOD—The contenders for the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards were announced on July 30 and leading the pack were Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande who each picked up seven nominations for their collaboration “Rain on Me.” Lady Gaga also earned a nomination for Artist of the Year, and both women are also nominated for Best Quarantine Performance; yes that...

BALTIMORE—Leon Fleisher, a famous American pianist, died Sunday in Baltimore at the age of 92. Born in San Francisco, Fleisher saw great success as a concert pianist during the 1950s and 1960s. Throughout his career, he focused on classical works from the 19th century, including Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Rachmaninoff, Debussy and others.  Leon Fleisher was born in San Francisco in...

BeverlyHills—“Folklore," the new album by Taylor Swift has sold over 2 million copies internationally since its release on Thursday, July 23, according to Billboard charts. Folklore had 80.6 million streams on Spotify in the first day. Taylor described the album as, “my own imagination has run wild and this is the result." The album is available in the form of...

UNITED STATES—Pandora embarked on a new free live concert series for the modern virtual world on Tuesday, July 28. Pandora started their new series with country artist Kane Brown. Fans were able to tune in 15 minutes early for exclusive pre-show activities including artist trivia, and other Pandora Live events. The series will all be free and open to the...

SAN FRANCISCO—The free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival put on in the city of San Francisco by the Hellman Foundation since 2001 was canceled for this year. The event had been hosted at Golden Gate State Park, but organizers have made it virtual for October 2-4. The festival will stream a selection of "newly recorded performances, archival footage from fans...