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.

You can watch the trailer now, and the full documentary beginning tomorrow, here.

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.

You don't have to be a kid to appreciate the new children's book by former Blink 182er, Tom Delonge. In fact it might make a great holiday gift for your mom, your dad and your old neighbor!

Per Tom's website, Who Here Knows Who Took My Clothes? Is "a hilarious and irreverent story that will have all ages giggling.  Tom DeLonge teams up with artist Ryan Jones in a hilarious adventure to find out who is quite rude and left our dude in the nude!"

While $55.00 maybe a little steep, you do get a lot with the package:

* Autographed First Edition Hardcover of Who Here Knows Who Took My Clothes? Includes signed bookplate by author Tom DeLonge
* Limited Edition 7" flexi vinyl record of audiobook narrated by Tom DeLonge
* 4" Nude Dude flexible Christmas ornament
* First Edition Certificate of Authenticity
* Packaged in a custom Who Here Knows full-color printed bag

If you get your order in early the first 200 orders come with a free pair of Instant Underpants! **and you know those won't go to waste.

The release date is Nov. 30th, 2018. Click here and get your copy before it's too late.

It’s safe to say nobody was surprised that Chris Stapleton won three CMA Awards, more than anyone else – he took home trophies for Single (which goes to the artist) and Song (which goes to the writer) of the Year and Male Vocalist. Well-deserved and not shocking in any way.

There were two big surprises, though, both of which are good, in my humble opinion: First, Kacey Musgraves won Album of the Year for Golden Hour. This is big because she was the only woman nominated in the category – a category which has only been won by a solo woman 7 times in 52 years --  and because Kacey is an artist who has struggled to get radio to pay any attention to her since she first started releasing music. Big props to Kacey to making the music she wants to make and showing everyone how it’s done.

The second surprise came at the end of the show, when the look on Keith Urban’s face said even he was surprised to hear his name called for Entertainer of the Year. It’s been 13 years since he won that award, and it was a heavy duty category full of deserving artists (even if none of them were women). The tears on his face showed how surprised and grateful he was, too.

There were two best lines of the night, for me anyway. When producer Dave Cobb came up with Chris Stapleton for the single of the year honor, he said, “I want to thank Jesus and Lionel Richie.” (Because Lionel was sitting directly in front of him and he was a teensy bit starstruck.) And when Brothers Osborne came up to accept their Vocal Duo of the Year trophy, and John asked how they keep winning this thing, TJ said, “If this were Florida, there would be a recount for sure.” It’s not true, but it was still funny.

Finally, Luke Bryan gets a mention from me for two reasons. He opened the show with a performance of “What Makes You Country,” but he put the spotlight on artists that don’t generally get to play the CMA Awards. Luke Combs was one of them, and he actually did have a performance spot on the show, but there was also Cole Swindell, Jon Pardi, and most notably, Lindsay Ell and Ashley McBryde, who are among the women fighting to be heard over all these men in country music. And then… he flossed.

The full list of winners are below, and if you want to relive the night, check out CMA Awards 2018 on Slacker Radio.

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR – Keith Urban
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR – Carrie Underwood
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR – Chris Stapleton
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR – Old Dominion
VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR – Brothers Osborne
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR – Luke Combs
ALBUM OF THE YEAR – Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves
SONG OF THE YEAR – “Broken Halos” by Chris Stapleton
SINGLE OF THE YEAR – “Broken Halos” by Chris Stapleton
MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR – “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” by David Lee Murphy and Kenny Chesney
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR- “Marry Me” by Thomas Rhett
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR – Mac McAnally

In California’s current state of fire emergency, rocker Dave Grohl did what he could to help firefighters during this distressing time. To give thanks to LAFD, Grohl delivered barbecue to Fire Station 68 in Calabasas during their breaks of fighting the ever spreading fires.
 
While these brave men and women continue battling the blazes, Grohl at least made sure they were well fed, as the Foo Fighters frontman cooked up some recipes from his own Backbeat BBQ. For his kindness and generosity, Fire Station 68 thanked Grohl via Instagram.
 

 
We’d also like to thank Dave Grohl, but especially the firefighters working their hardest to save lives and homes in California.

We don’t always get a chance to get to know rappers outside of their music, so when Travis Scott sat down with Ellen, we knew we were going to learn some interesting stuff. Like that he’s into musical theatre? Or that his name isn’t really Travis Scott.

He also clearly loves being a dad and shares details of his life with baby Stormi Webster, his daughter with Kylie Jenner. Travis talks that new dad exhaustion, admits he didn’t know what a placenta was before his baby’s birth, and reveals his feelings when he finally got a chance to hold her.

"Going into it I was, like, nervous and scared. You know, we were just both, like, young. But when you first have a baby in your arms, it's just, like, it's uncontrollable. It's like this whole, like, warp that takes over your whole body. I never thought I could just, like, love something so hard, you know? It's crazy.”

That is SUPER sweet.

Last night, at a country bar called Borderline in Thousand Oaks, California, tragedy hit the country music community again. Former Marine Ian David Long went in with a handgun and killed 12 people, including students there for College Night, and a deputy who went in trying to save lives.

Unbelievably, some of the people who survived last night’s shooting were also at last year’s Route 91 Harvest Festival when that horrible mass shooting happened, including an employee of the Borderline Bar. One of last night’s survivors who was also in Las Vegas during last year’s attack told CBS News, “We’re all a big family and unfortunately this family got hit twice.”

This is a bar where countless country stars have played and thousands of country music fans have gone to have a fun night out. Jerrod Niemann played there just last month. Singer/songwriter Aubrey Sellers, who is Lee Ann Womack’s daughter, had planned to be at Borderline last night, but at the last minute she changed her plans because her cat’s eye was swollen shut. Her cat may have saved her life.

I don’t have any answers. I know thoughts and prayers are getting cliché at this point, and they’re obviously not fixing the problem. But after we’ve done our part and voted for the people who are supposed to enact change, it often feels like thoughts and prayers are all we have left.

As of the time of writing this, not all of the people killed have been identified. But this is for Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus, Alaina Housley, Justin Meek, Cody Coffman, and all the others who lost their lives while just trying to have a fun night listening to some good country music.

Snoop Dogg says “don’t talk about it; be about it.” The legendary MC has been campaigning, promoting to his fans the seriousness of getting out to the polls and voting.

In conjunction with Levis, the Dogg was at the fashion powerhouse’s store in Santa Monica, taking to the wheels of steel at a rally to promote voting and voter registration.

“It was for Levis and trying to get people out there and vote. It was working in conjunction,” Snoop who spun such records as Notorious B.I.G.’s “Going Back To Cali” and YG’s “F--k Donald Trump” said. “We always try to get good music in the air so people can understand everything is for the right reason. To have the great vibe of having music be the backdrop to the forefront which is voting, in conjunction with Levis, is the main mission. It’s all about fun and putting awareness in the air.”

Like Snoop, a slew of celebrities have been out in full force telling people how pivotal it is to vote in this mid term election. The largest faction of stars were in Tallahassee, FL at a rally for Florida Governor candidate Andrew Gillum. Diddy, Fat Joe, DJ Nasty, Tiffany Haddish, Monica and Fat Joe all came out to show support. A few days ago we saw Oprah Winfrey, Jermaine Dupri and Chris Tucker come together for Stacey Abrams, who is running for Governor of Atlanta.

“It’s crucial,” Snoop insisted of the polls. “I mean look at the president. We don’t want that kind of disaster on no more levels of the game. The only way we effect [change] is to put our voices together and vote. Make some noise and pull our followers together and everybody that’s with us together in support of the right reason and get the right people in office.” 

Everyone will be tuned in tonight to see the election results.

If you are unfamiliar with Dio let me catch you up real quick. Ronnie James Dio was one of the best metal vocalists ever, fronting Rainbow and Black Sabbath, after Ozzy’s 1979 dismissal. Later, he would go on to form a solo project simply called DIO, which brought metal classics such as Holy Diver, Rainbow in the Dark, Last in Line, and so much more! In sum, his career would span over 40 years, until his passing in 2010 to stomach cancer. Six years after his untimely passing, someone thought it was a good idea to bring him back as a hologram.
 
The hologram, created by Eyellusion, made its debut at Wacken 2016. The reviews were mixed, to put it lightly. It was like Obi Wan’s ghost was singing “We Rock.” It was very… off-putting. Awkwardness be damned, the music industry marches on, and Billboard reports that the company that created the hologram is now being represented by major talent agency APA's Steve Martin. If you are thinking “the actor?,” it is not; I googled it. 
 
Martin represents acts like Scorpions, Foo Fighters, and Jack Black. He even managed Dio when he was alive. In the same Billboard report, he notes that there are at least 100 different cities that the hologram act plans to visit next year.
 
"The big question when we first toured Dio through Europe was 'Is anyone actually going to show up?'" Eyellusion founder Jeff Pezzuti tells Billboard. "We sold out the last three shows in Europe and we did really, really well. We're such believers in what we were doing and we're all such massive fans — in my sixth grade class picture, I'm wearing a Dio shirt, so you can imagine taking this all the way across the finish line has been a dream come true."
 
Look I’m all for keeping the memories of musicians alive, but this might be the straw that breaks. When Tupac’s hologram showed up at Coachella for one night surprise, it was such a one-night spectacle to see, especially since the late rapper has been gone for almost 20 years. BUT it only took 4 years for them to debut a hologram for Dio! There are even Hologram tours for Frank Zappa and pianist Glenn Gould in the works.