Country star Allan on tour, has new music
Country singer Gary Allan doesn’t get a lot of downtime, so he enjoyed the recent opportunity to sit in the back yard of his Nashville home. He called to talk about new music and his current tour, which includes a stop at Rose Music Center in Huber Heights on Friday, June 23.
“It’s a beautiful day here in Nashvegas,” Allan said. “I’m taking it easy now because we’re getting ready to ramp things up.”
Ramping up includes another summer tour and promotion for his new single, “Mess Me Up.”
“I just switched record labels, so that cost me a bunch of time,” Allan said. “It’s good to have a new single out. I’ve had ‘Mess Me Up’ for a few years. I’ve been a huge fan of the song and it was just kind of getting the label to go along, too.”
Allan has completed his 10th album, the follow-up to “Set You Free” from 2013, but he doesn’t have a firm release date.
“I’ve turned the album in to the label,” he said. “They’re waiting for me to have a hit. If this song charts well, then they’ll release the album. I’ve been working on it off and on for four years. Some of it was just cut a few months ago and some of it is 4 years old. It’s a never-ending process. To keep people interested in you, every time they look back, you have to
IF YOU GO
Gary Allan with opener Walker McGuire Rose Music Center, 6800 Executive Blvd., Huber Heights 8 p.m. Friday, June 23 $23.50-$57 937-228-2323 or www.ticketmaster.com www. garyallan.com have four or five new things in your pocket. That way, they’re always going, ‘Oh, hey!’
“I wanted to take it back on this new album,” Allan continued. “I was trying to get the old feel and sounds that I used to have and try to make them feel modern. We did it on this one. This new single sounds like a song I would’ve had back in the ’90s but it moves like a modern song. If you throw it too far back, it just sounds dated and you can’t have that.”
On stage, Allan has revamped the set to include material from the past and present.
“We’re pulling in songs from all of the albums,” he said. “We try to switch things up every year. I’ll be doing everything from ‘Her Man’ and ‘Smoke Rings in the Dark’ to ‘Right Where I Need to Be’ and other hits. I’m playing the new single and the last one, ‘Do You Wish It Was Me.’ We keep mixing it up so I don’t go nuts doing the same stuff over and over.”
Starbucks has teamed SEATTLE — up with Lady Gaga for a set of brightly colored summer drinks that will raise money for the singer’s foundation.
The “Cups of Kindness” campaign began June 13 and runs through June 19 . Starbucks says 25 cents from every drink will be donated to Gaga’s “Born This Way” foundation, which has an ongoing campaign to encourage kindness.
The drinks include two of Starbucks’ famous pink drinks and two new beverages.
Starbucks is contributing a minimum of $250,000 to Gaga’s foundation.
Ryan Lochte’s newborn son has made his public debut.
The Olympic swimmer and fiancee Kayla Rae Reid both shared photos of Caiden Zane Lochte on Instagram on Wednesday, six days after he was born.
The model writes that Caiden’s delivery was difficult. She says the baby was born “after almost 26 hours of an unfortunate induced labor.” She adds that Lochte was by her side the entire time and provided her with encouragement.
Lochte praised Reid last year for sticking by him during the fallout from last year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where Lochte lied about a drunken encounter at a gas station.
Sean “Diddy” Combs NEW YORK — is the top earner on Forbes’ list of the 100 highest-paid celebrities.
The magazine says the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy brought in $130 million from June 1, 2016, to June 1, 2017. Forbes says Diddy’s Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour, a stake in Ciroc vodka and the $70 million sale of one-third of his Sean John clothing line all contributed to his earnings.
No. 2 on the list is Beyonce, with $105 million in earnings. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling brought in $95 million. Rapper Drake and Portuguese soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo round out the top five.
Last year’s top earner, Taylor Swift, dropped to No. 49. The singer brought in $44 million, down from $170 million.
While she’s long been a household name in Israel, Gal Gadot has been comparatively unknown in the United States. The current blockbuster movie “Wonder Woman” has changed that.
Gadot, 32, has been climbing the Hollywood ladder since 2009, when she began a four-film tour playing a tough former Mossad agent in “The Fast and the Furious” franchise. Then came bit parts opposite Tom Cruise in the spy comedy “Knight and Day” and Steve Carell in “Date Night.” Her supporting role as Wonder Woman in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” set the stage for her current breakthrough part and prepped her for at least two more appearances in upcoming Justice League sequels.
Gadot said that while she had first expected a career in law,
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Former Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is 80. Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock is 78. Rock singer-composer-musician Sir Paul McCartney is 75. Actress Constance McCashin is 70. Actress Linda Thorson is 70. Rock musician John Evans is 69. Former Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., is 67. Actress Isabella Rossellini is 65. Actress Carol Kane is 65. Actor Brian Benben is 61. Actress Andrea Evans is 60. Rock singer Alison Moyet is 56. Rock musician Dizzy Reed (Guns N’ Roses) is 54. Figure skater Kurt Browning is 51. Country singer-musician Tim Hunt is 50. Rock singermusician Sice (The Boo Radleys) is 48. Rhythm-andblues singer Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) is 46. Actress Mara Hobel is 46. Singersongwriter Ray LaMontagne is 44. Rapper Silkk the Shocker is 42. Actress Alana de la Garza is 41. Country singer Blake Shelton is 41. Rock musician Steven Chen (Airborne Toxic Event) is 39. Actor David Giuntoli is 37. Drummer Josh Dun (Twenty One Pilots) is 29. Actress Renee Olstead is 28. Actor Jacob Anderson is 27. Actress Willa Holland is 26. “Acting chose me and I enthusiastically chose it back. I never planned to be an actress. It kind of happened to me — one thing led to the other and I kind of fell in love with acting.”
She had never acted before taking her first film role in “Fast & Furious” at 22.