Amazon Alum Jeff Blackburn Joins Roku Board

BBC Unveils Trio Of Animation Series As It Steps Up Search For British ‘Simpsons’

APPOINTMENTSArtist services and rights management company Interstellar has announced the appointment of Vickie Nauman to its advisory board. “Interstellar is a business that has impressed me from the off, in terms of the calibre of the team, its commitment to its clients and, importantly, the passion they have for music and its creators”, she says. “The company sits right at the intersection of music and innovation, so I hope that it will benefit from my experience as it enters its next phase of growth”.————————————————–RELEASESNZCA Lines will release new EP ‘Universal Heartbreak’ on 22 Sep.

Shabaka Hutchings – of bands including The Comet Is Coming and Sons Of Kemet – has issued a statement elaborating on his decision to stop playing saxophone from the end of this year.Hutchings first announced his plans to take a “hiatus” from the instrument on New Year’s Day, telling fans that – once this year is up – “I don’t know when or if I’ll return to the big metal horn”.Now, six months on from that announcement, he has provided a lengthier explanation of his decision, writing on social media: “What I do on stage when I play the sax is intense both physically and emotionally”.“I’m able to undertake the kind of intense touring which finds me on the road consistently”, he goes on, “treating the performance of a spiritual practice as a commodity to be sold repeatedly because of my enthusiasm towards what I’m doing. The moment this enthusiasm wanes in the slightest is the moment it’s time to reassess artistic orientation.

An “ultra rare” Ed Sheeran demo CD has sold at auction for £8000. Just 21 copies of the album, recorded when Sheeran was thirteen, are known to exist.

Nina Keith has returned with her first new track since 2021, ‘Blow Up Yr Life (U Need To)’.Written during a turbulent period as she relocated from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, the track sees Keith collaborate with musician Barrie and composer Qur’an Shaheed to create a vivid soundscape. Despite its micro-emitted sounds, the track conjures up imagery of nature, from running water to time-lapses of plants unfurling, reminiscent of artists like The Books and Susumu Yokota.“Lately the more I wear the turmoil of my life on my sleeve the more often I find myself in conversations with strangers and loved ones that reach a similar end”, says Keith.“I can never be the one to tell someone to burn it down and start over.

If you're looking for an edgier song about America to blast on the Fourth of July, then Colt Ford and Krizz Kaliko might have the answer for you. Ford, a country artist who sings and raps, and Kaliko, a hip hop artist who mixes rapping with a variety of other genres, have joined forces to create a new group called Hoodbillies, and their debut song is called "Bad A-- American." In a conversation with Fox News Digital, the pair discussed how the song came to be and why they think it's important to celebrate America. The whole project began, Kaliko explained, because someone told him that when he entered a room, he "walked like a bada--." He'd already been talking to Ford about collaborating, but that comment gave him some inspiration to move things forward.

Naman Ramachandran Julian Sands, the British actor who was confirmed dead last week after going missing during a mountain hike, once spoke about “dangerous” mountain climbing in an interview. In his last U.K. interview with the Radio Time, conducted six months before he was discovered, Sands described climbing as “solace and a sort of existentialist self-negation, but equally a self-affirmation,” adding “if you can deal with dangerous mountains, you can certainly deal with life as an actor — the two are quite complementary.” The interview is published in the latest issue of the Radio Times. Sands was reported missing near Mt. Baldy in Southern California on Jan. 13. He was 65. The actor, who pivoted from the romantic lead in “A Room With a View” to playing sinister characters in films like “Warlock,” had gone hiking in the snow-covered Baldy Bowl area, about 45 miles east of Los Angeles. He was an experienced mountaineer, but conditions in the mountains had been treacherous, with the potential of avalanches.

Nothing is more American than watching Joey Chestnut participate in the annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on the 4th of July — but there’s more to know about the man behind the meat.

King Charles is visiting Scotland this week as celebrations take place in order to honour the new British sovereign.

Renowned architect and TV presenter George Clarke has crowned winners of a creative design challenge that will inform the design of a new £28 million complex-needs facility near Perth.

Kerry Katona has said that her marriage to Westlife star Brian McFadden was "fake" almost twenty years after the pair got divorced.

A heartbroken mum died just hours after her five-month-old baby son passed away, an inquest into the pair's deaths has heard.

Stacey Solomon and her husband Joe Swash have already discussed the idea of fostering a child one day, following Joe's "heartbreaking" delve into England’s crumbling children’s care system in a new BBC documentary.

A woman has been taken to hospital and 19 others treated by paramedics after a fire at a tenement in Edinburgh.

BBC teen drama Byker Grove has been announced by original castmembers Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly – see fan reactions below.Byker – the reboot by entertainment company Fulwell 73 – comes some 17 years after the final events of the original series. The revamped show is to be filmed and produced in and around the North East of England again with a new cast and crew.Broadcasters Ant and Dec, who made their name playing best friend duo PJ and Duncan in the original series, serve as executive producers and creative consultants of the reboot.Byker Grove became a staple of British television throughout the ’90s and ’00s and also helped launch the careers of Donna Air and Jill Halfpenny.News of the programme’s return has been met with generally positive responses from fans.There has, however, been some doubt thrown on how successfully producers will manage to revive the iconic 90s series in 2023.Additionally, some people have questioned how writers will get around the fact that the 2006 final episode showed that the kids were made aware that they were in fact characters starring in an experimental CBBC show.“Just a teeny, tiny bit giddy about this!,” wrote one fan on Twitter about the reboot, while a former castmember on the show said: “I’m willing to ditch academia and resume my short-lived role as the moody metaller behind the tuck shop in Byker Grove for the new remake.

An investigation has been launched after Gino D’Acampo’s restaurant chain shut down with debts of more than £5m.

Plans have been submitted to demolish a factory and build luxury five-bed homes on the site. The Halter Inn Works in Holcombe, Ramsbottom, is currently occupied by Redisher Finishing Techniques Ltd, who manufacture specialist metal components.

A man has been charged in connection with an alleged sex attack at an event in Stockport.

Police are appealing for help to trace a missing teenager who is thought to be moving around the country by train.

Yuki Kobayashi is chomping at the bit for a crack at the Champions League with Celtic - after hearing all about it from Shunsuke Nakamura.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Roku expanded its board with the election of Jeff Blackburn, formerly Amazon’s top digital media and entertainment executive, at the company’s annual shareholder meeting Thursday. Blackburn served as Amazon’s senior VP of global media and entertainment from May 2021 to February 2023, where he oversaw content businesses including Prime Video, Amazon Studios, MGM, Music, Audible, Games and Twitch. Before that, he was the ecommerce company’s SVP of worldwide business development, advertising and entertainment from 2012-20. He had first joined Amazon in 1998 after advising the company on its IPO. “Jeff’s extensive experience in digital media and technologies makes him a great addition to our board of directors,” Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood said in a statement. “I look forward to his contributions to Roku as we grow our leadership as the TV streaming platform of choice for more than 70 million households.”