Jagger, Grohl create anthem
Mick Jagger and Dave Grohl have teamed up for a hard-rock pandemic anthem called “Eazy Sleazy.”
“It’s a song that I wrote about coming out of lockdown, with some much needed optimism,“Jagger said in a statement Tuesday. “Thanks to Dave Grohl for jumping on drums, bass and guitar. It was a lot of fun working with him.”
The duo recorded the song and video in different studio locations — Jagger at home and Grohl in the Foo Fighters studio — and the lyrics mention “prison walls,” “virtual premieres,” numbers that are “grim” and Zoom calls. Jagger complains: “I’ve got nothing left to wear.”
The song also namechecks Bill Gates, lampoons conspiracy theories and those who deny climate change and gleefully reveals “There’s aliens in the deep state.”
But there seems to be hope. Jagger looks ahead and sees a “garden of earthly delights” when vaccines are administered and lockdown ends.
“Everything’s gonna get really freaky/alright on the night/soon it’ll be a memory/you’re trying to remember to forget.” — Associated Press
Gomez, Lopez to lead vaccine fundraiser
Backed by an international concert hosted by Selena Gomez and headlined by Jennifer Lopez, Global Citizen is unveiling an ambitious campaign to help medical workers in the world’s poorest countries quickly receive COVID -19 vaccines.
The anti-poverty organization is announcing the musical event — “VAX Live: The Concert to Reunite the World” — with the goal of enlisting corporations and philanthropists to raise $22 billion for global vaccinations. The concert, which airs May 8 on ABC, CBS and
FOX as well as on iheartmedia radio stations and Youtube, will also showcase the Foo Fighters, Eddie Vedder, J Balvin
and H.E.R.
The acts will be recorded at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Ahead of the event, Hugh Evans, CEO of Global Citizen, highlighted the magnitude of the problem his organization aims to address.
“There are 27 million healthcare workers globally who don’t have access to the vaccine,” Evans told The Associated Press. “I’m 38 years old, and it’s not ethical for me to have access to the vaccine before these heroic first responders and community health workers. So we need governments to start urgently donating those doses.”
The Global Citizen program is among of a growing web of nonprofits and activists that are seeking to achieve wider, more equitable distribution of COVID -19 vaccines. As of this month, Evans said, 60 nations had still not yet received any COVID -19 vaccines.
“Low-income countries not only need this welcome fundraising effort; they need access to COVID -19 vaccine doses,” Tom Hart, the North American executive director of another nonprofit, The ONE Campaign, said last month about the overall drive for donations. “The United States has secured over 550 million excess doses that could be used to help end the global pandemic faster.”
A week later, Gayle Smith, The ONE Campaign’s president and CEO, was selected by the Biden Administration for the new State Department position of coordinator of global COVID response and health security. — Associated Press
Rowling’s “Christmas Pig” out in October
J.K. Rowling has a new book coming this fall, a holiday children’s story with all new characters.
Scholastic announced Tuesday that “The Christmas Pig,” the story of a boy named Jack and a beloved toy (Dur Pig) which goes missing, will be released worldwide Oct. 12.
“But Christmas Eve is a night for miracles and lost causes, a night when all things can come to life ... even toys,” according to Scholastic. “And Jack’s newest toy — the Christmas Pig (DP’S replacement) — has a daring plan: Together they’ll embark on a magical journey to seek something lost, and to save the best friend Jack has ever known.”
Rowling is best known for her “Harry Potter” fantasy series, but also has published detective novels under the penname J.K. Galbraith and such children’s works as “The Ickabog.”
“The Christmas Pig ” will be illustrated by Jim Field.