Granger Smith can add film producer to his list of titles now that he’s produced They Were There: A Hero’s Documentary. It’s a tribute to fallen soldier and their sacrifices and legacies.
"This is about five fallen soldiers, and it's about the sacrifice they make that represents the life that I get to live," Granger says. "One of the stories of these five fallen soldiers is suicide. I learned a lot about PTSD and results of suicide, and the staggering statistics of that."
Granger calls the experience “eye-opening,” saying he learned right along with the viewer, and it changed some of his pre-conceived notions about war and gun control. But he didn’t necessarily make the film to change anyone else’s opinions. "We tend to forget that there are sacrifices being made every day and the purpose of this documentary for me is to try to live a life worthy of that sacrifice," he says.
Trivium's Matt Heafy recently exited the band's tour to be at home for the birth of his twins. You might think that this would be enough to sink a pretty sick metal tour right? Fear not! Howard Jones, he of ex-Killswitch Engage fame and of currently opening-for-Trivium with Light The Torch notoriety, was more than happy to step in and help cover vocals when he left.
As a way of thanking Jones for filling in for him, Heafy both covered Killswitch Engage's "My Curse" on his Twitch as an acoustic song and gifted Jones one of his personal guitars.
On his twitter, Heafy would go on a share a message to Jones:
“There are not enough words to express the eternal gratitude that I have for Howard Jones for helping my family, my band, and our countless supporters in North America. To see one of my all-time heroes so happy to be performing with our band – a band that wouldn’t exist without his influence – means the world to me. Mia and Akira love you Uncle Hojo! (The guitar is the LEAST I can do to thank you).”
Let this be a lesson for this holiday season to give thanks and be thankful… especially if it involves metal.
Nothing like a little schadenfreude with your Thanksgiving turkey, amirite? The internet was equal parts aghast and thrilled to see Rita Ora’s train wreck of a performance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, where she was lip syncing a line or two off of the actual song – or at least, what tv audiences were hearing. Everyone assumed this was a HUGE mistake on Rita’s part, or that it was some kind of terrible revelation that she wasn’t singing live. But no one should be shocked. If you’ve watched any of the performances closely over, oh, I don’t know, the last two or three DECADES, you would know that ALL those performances are lip synced!
John Legend – who also performed in the parade – confirmed as much in a tweet defending Rita: "Fun fact. We all have to lip sync on this parade because the floats don't have the capacity to handle the sound requirements for a live performance. Hope y'all enjoyed it anyway. Know that if you come to my shows, the vocals are 100% live!”
Rita’s response simply read: "Thank you for clarifying what I was about to also tweet.”
And for those saying that Kelly Clarkson’s performance wasn’t lip synced – you’re right, it wasn’t. But Kelly was set up in the official broadcast performance area – not on a moving vehicle traveling over two and a half miles, outside, on one of the coldest parade days ever.
So congratulations to Rita, who kept her cool under a ton of internet ridicule, after a giant flub in front of one of the biggest television audiences of the year… that wasn’t even her fault. Macy’s confirmed with a tweet of their own:
"During today’s NBC broadcast of the #MacysParade several recording artists experienced technical difficulties that negatively impacted their performance. We apologize and want fans to know these issues were out of the artist’s control.”
So THERE. Some good news for Rita Ora – she just dropped the brand new disc Phoenix, and it’s Slacker’s Album Of The Week! Listen to it over & over again here. Feel free to lip sync to your heart’s content.
