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Garth Brooks moves Charlotte stadium show to September

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Todd Williamson/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty ImagesGarth Brooks has postponed his show at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

On Monday, it was announced on Garth’s website that the sold-out show has been postponed from April 10 to September 25.

This is the fourth time the show’s date has been changed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Originally scheduled for May 2, 2020, the show was then moved to dates in June and October. Tickets purchased for the previous dates will be honored at the September show. 

When tickets went on sale in 2019, 74,000 tickets were sold in the span of an hour and a half, marking the biggest paid crowd in the stadium’s history. A statement on the website says this is the only venue Garth will perform at in North Carolina and South Carolina on The Stadium Tour. 

Garth announced last week that he and wife Trisha Yearwood have been quarantining after she tested positive for COVID-19. “Officially, she’s diagnosed as ‘on her way out of the tunnel’ now, though, which I’m extremely thankful for,” Brooks said in a statement. “Anyone who knows me knows my world begins and ends with Miss Yearwood, so she and I will ride through this together.” 

By Cillea Houghton 
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Director Joe Carnahan on how his "dearly departed mentor" Tony Scott inspired his new Hulu movie Boss Level

• No Comments • Entertainment News

Hulu(NEW YORK) — Writer-director Joe Carnahan exploded onto the scene with the tense 2002 drug drama Narc, and has consistently been the go-to guy for gritty action films like 2006’s Smokin’ Aces with Ryan Reynolds and Common, and 2011’s The Grey with Liam Neeson.

His latest is the Hulu action film Boss Level, starring Marvel movie baddie Frank Grillo, Mel Gibson, and Naomi Watts. 

The film, sort of a Groundhog Day with guns, has Grillo playing an ex-Special Forces soldier who keeps reliving the same day until he unravels a potentially world-ending secret.

Carnahan first read the script from Chris and Eddie Borey years ago, before he decided to put his own stamp on it. He was inspired by the work of Top Gun and True Romance director, the late Tony Scott, who died by suicide in 2012.

“It was sci-fi, and I’m not really a sci-fi guy,” Carnahan says of their script.

“But Tony Scott, my dearly departed mentor, who I just thought the world of, you know, he had done Deja Vu [with Denzel Washington] around that time [2006]. And it was kind of this really brick and mortar look at time travel. And I thought, well, that would kind of be the style I would do it. And I wouldn’t want anything overtly science fiction because I just don’t think that’s my wheelhouse.”

Carnahan adds of Boss Level‘s star, “I [had] just worked with Frank on The Grey and I wanted to do something with him. And I thought this is kind of an ideal, this piece, because I just think the guy — he looks like an action hero.”  

Boss Level, which also stars Michelle Yeoh and Will Sasso, debuts on Hulu Friday.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

CMA Fest canceled for second year in a row

• No Comments • Country Music News

Country Music Association CMA Fest 2021 has been canceled. 

The Country Music Association announced on Tuesday that the festival will not be taking place for the second consecutive year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“After thoughtful deliberation, we are saddened to share that CMA Fest will not take place in 2021. We know our fans near and far have hoped that the festival could safely return this summer, and while we are encouraged to see COVID-19 vaccines becoming more widely available, we still face several challenges that prevent us from bringing our fans around the world the CMA Fest experience they have come to expect,” CMA says in a statement. 

As of now, CMA Fest 2022 is scheduled to take place June 9-12 in Nashville in what CMA refers to as “the most EPIC celebration of country music.” 

Four-day passes purchased for 2020 CMA Fest that were part of the rollover option will be honored at the 2022 festival. Fans who purchased tickets through the box office or Ticketmaster will receive an update within the next couple of days. 

“We appreciate your patience, understanding and ongoing support of CMA Fest and Country Music as we look forward to the days when we can come together again,” CMA adds.

By Cillea Houghton 
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

CBS announces the 73rd Annual Emmy Awards will air live on September 19

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Television Academy – 2021(LOS ANGELES) — CBS and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday that the 73rd Annual Emmy Awards will be held on Sunday, Sept. 19.

The broadcast, which will also stream live and on demand on CBS’ Paramount+ platform, will be held live, but a venue and a host have yet to be announced. 

What’s also unknown is what format the event will take; the last Emmy Awards were originally to be held at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, but they were moved to the Staples Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The new venue allowed for a groundbreaking hybrid format that aired on ABC: Jimmy Kimmel hosted at the mostly empty venue, and nominees were given recording equipment to shoot themselves at their homes or other protective “bubbles” with loved ones.

While last year’s Emmys night went off without a hitch, the same can’t be said for this past Sunday’s Zoom-heavy bi-coastal Golden Globes awards telecast, which was plagued with technical glitches.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lindsay Ell teaches songwriting to fourth graders: "You guys are brilliant"

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Jeremy Cowart Lindsay Ell is kicking off Music In Our Schools Month in a heartwarming way. 

The “wAnt me back” singer joined forces with the CMA Foundation to lead a virtual songwriting workshop for a fourth grade class at Mt. View Elementary School just outside of Nashville. 

The singer instructed the young students that the first step in the songwriting process is to select a topic. The children decided to focus on the trials of 2020, Lindsay singing, “2020 got deep/Millions of people were crying.”

But the song also offers a sense of hope, with one student suggesting the lyric “we can still get through this.” Some of the students played along to the song on their pianos at home, including Jesiah as he sang “we won’t give up/Let’s keep on trying.”

“Having music in my school has had an impact on my life by helping me find my inner self and helping me know that I do have talent,” remarked fellow student Joyce about the power of music education. 

“The kids had such beautiful ideas and we wrote a song together. And some of the lyric ideas were like, ‘Wow, you’re in grade four and this is what you guys are thinking? You guys are brilliant,'” Lindsay praised. “I have such a newfound respect for what teachers have been through this past year. I just thank you for doing such a great, great job because it is a difficult one.” 

Lindsay is an artist ambassador for the CMA Foundation. 

By Cillea Houghton 
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.