New York’s SummerStage Reflects on First ‘Korea Gayoje’ K-Pop Concert

As New York’s largest free outdoor arts festival, the Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage has long championed a diverse range of artists in its nearly 40-year history. This year, a full-fledged, multi-artist K-pop collaboration joined the legendary mix that takes place annually in Central Park.

On July 10, KOREA GAYOJE presented SummerStage the first K-pop show in the City Parks Foundation series, in association with the Korean Cultural Center New York. Viral girl group Brave Girls, boy band Golden Child, plus soloist and American Song Contest champion AleXa all performed at the free concert as an opportunity for the artists to visit and connect directly with their NYC fans.

According to organizers, fans were lined up in the early morning hours to ensure they could be close when their favorites performed that evening.

“The response from fans has been unbelievable,” says Paula Abreu, director of programming for City Parks Foundation SummerStage. “Our digital and social media responses have been off the charts. The fans, and the artists themselves, were deeply engaged leading up to this date. As expected, we had lines forming as early as 5 a.m. to get into the venue. I have never seen an audience so committed and enthusiastic about a concert.”

While SummerStage has hosted a range of Korean artists in the past (the series points to Korean rock band Ssing Ssing, Korean-American rap group Year of the Ox, and TOKiMONSTA, the SoCal DJ-producer who is of Korean descent), 2022 marks their official introduction into the K-pop fandom and all it has to offer.

“This year is the first time we have K-pop on our stage and we are thrilled,” Abreu adds. “The fans knew all the lyrics, held up signs, and were even ‘waving’ to their favorite artists on stage — and many waved back! This was a true demonstration of how artists and audiences are so connected. It was beautiful to see the diversity as well. We have done shows where the majority of the audience is from the same ethnic group of the bands on stage, and this audience was so diverse.”

Conveniently, SummerStage acted as the New York tour stops for Brave Girls and Golden Child’s ongoing U.S. tours. But this was the first time AleXa performed a set for such a large crowd after entering the scene just months before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down touring and live performances.

“I am so happy and grateful to have been able to perform in front of such a large audience for the first time,” AleXa reflects on the performance post-show. “Being able to perform for SummerStage KOREA GAYOJE in Central Park was such a fun experience that left me walking away with such positive energy from the crowd.”

Adds Kim Junhong, CEO of ZB LABEL / Zanybros that manages AleXa: “SummerStage hosts so many of New York’s greats, and it is such an amazing honor to be invited. Because this was her first time performing in New York, I was so proud for AleXa to showcase a powerful K-pop stage. As a native English speaker, she created an interactive experience for the audience that filled them with energy. We hope we were able to truly show New Yorkers that AleXa is the beginning of a new trend.”

While AleXa joins the growing trend of K-pop integrating into mainstream American spaces, SummerStage sees a “promising future” for more.

“Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage loves to keep up with trends in the music industry and make sure we are always presenting the latest and greatest,” Paula Abreu. “We love our festival to be a place for discovery. While it may be too early to know, we were thrilled with the audience’s responses to this show and felt it was definitely a success. We curate each season with a lot of planning, thought and intention as dates are limited and competitive. Based on last night, I would say it’s a promising future at SummerStage but we will wait and see what the next season brings.”

SummerStage continues throughout various parks in New York City through Oct. 1.

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Ye ‘Weaponized Fame’ to Stiff Production Company $7M, Lawsuit Claims

Ye (Kanye West) is facing a new lawsuit that claims he owes $7.1 million in unpaid fees to a production company that worked on his Donda 2 release show as well as his canceled Coachella performance.

In a complaint filed Thursday (July 14) in Los Angeles court, attorneys for Phantom Labs say the design and production firm “faithfully performed” the work requested by Ye, deploying “countless hours of in-house talent” and also making advanced payments to numerous other vendors.

“Event after event, Ye and his representatives promised that if Phantom continued work on the budgeted and approved projects, Phantom would be paid promptly for the balance and the new work,” wrote Howard King, a well-known entertainment attorney who is repping Phantom.

“More recent events have made clear that defendants have no intention of paying Phantom,” King wrote. “Despite receiving multiple demand letters from Phantom, defendants continue inexplicably to withhold payment.”

Phantom’s lawsuit comes days after Billboard first reported that Ye was facing a different lawsuit from high-end fashion rental service David Casavant Archive, which claims that the superstar has failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees and  neglected to return a dozen “rare, esteemed pieces.”

In a statement, a spokesman for Phantom said the lawsuit was a last resort: “We are incredibly proud of the work that we did with Ye and are disappointed that such a fruitful relationship has come to this. A celebrity weaponizing fame and reputation to take advantage of eager collaborators is simply unacceptable.”

A spokeswoman for the rapper, who legally changed his name to Ye last year, did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.

According to Phantom’s lawsuit, the company also worked on four weeks of “Sunday Service,” as well as Ye and Drake’s “Free Larry Hoover” concert at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The firm says it was paid millions in fees over the years, but that “significant overdue invoices began to pile up” as time went by. Phantom says it continued to take on work in hopes of being paid the outstanding balance, up until Kanye’s well-publicized withdrawal from Coachella.

“Just weeks after promising to make Phantom whole from the reported $9 million payday he was to receive for performing at Coachella, Ye suddenly pulled out of the festival—not only reneging on promises to pay Phantom’s multi-million-dollar balance, but also saddling Phantom with an additional $1.1 million in Coachella-related cancellation fees and other expenses incurred doing work on Coachella at defendants’ request,” the suit added.

All told, Phantom says it’s owed $7,154,177, plus interest.

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BTS’ Jungkook & Charlie Puth Gives Us A Behind Scenes Look At ‘Left to Right’, Kehlani Confronts Conservative Troll & More | Billboard News

BTS’ Jungkook and Charlie Puth give Billboard a behind the scenes look at their latest music video for ‘Left to Right’, Kehlani confronts conservative troll Christian Walker, Noah Schnapp responds to Doja Cat calling him out and more!

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Miami-Dade mayor proposes cut in 2023 property-tax rates. Critics want more

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava prepared a 2023 budget with a 1% cut in property-tax rates, which was less than the 3% reduction sought by other elected officials as … Click to Continue »
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Bipartisan bill would rescue giant sequoias from wildfire

Confronting an existential threat to the world’s largest trees, U.S. Rep. Scott Peters joined House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on a rescue plan for California’s giant sequoia groves. Peters, D-Calif., … Click to Continue »
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There’s a $3 million mystery behind University of Florida’s brand new academic unit

The University of Florida has received $3 million in taxpayer funds to establish a new academic center focused on civics courses. But the university did not ask for it, a … Click to Continue »
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Florida’s nursing shortage expected to worsen. Here’s how experts, officials hope to fix it

State Rep. Marie Woodson became a caregiver for 14 years after her mother suffered a stroke. “I know what it takes for nurses to care for us,” she said. “I … Click to Continue »
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Khloe Kardashian Expecting Second Child With Ex Tristan Thompson Via Surrogate

Khloe Kardashian and ex Tristan Thompson are expecting a child together via surrogate, her team confirms to The Hollywood Reporter.

This will be the second child for Kardashian and Thompson, who plays for the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. The pair welcomed daughter True in April 2018.

“We can confirm True will have a sibling who was conceived in November,” a representative for Kardashian said in a statement. “Khloe is incredibly grateful to the extraordinary surrogate for such a beautiful blessing. We’d like to ask for kindness and privacy so that Khloe can focus on her family.”

A source tells THR that Kardashian and Thompson have since split up and do not communicate outside of matters related to co-parenting. According to the insider, True’s sibling was conceived via surrogate before Kardashian was aware of Thompson’s paternity scandal centering on a child who was born in early December.

Kardashian, who currently stars with the rest of her famous family on Hulu’s The Kardashians, had been open on their previous E! show Keeping Up With the Kardashians about her hopes to give True a sibling amid her fertility struggles.

She and Thompson have yet to comment publicly on the baby news.

During an interview with THR that published last month, Kardashian discussed the difficulty of reliving painful personal moments on TV, including the recent infidelity controversy surrounding Thompson.

“That definitely isn’t fun, but when things are so public, there’s no way around it,” she said at the time. “I mean, it’s something that I feel viewers would feel slighted or maybe [say], ‘This isn’t a docuseries, it’s not reality, because you’re not talking about this or showing this.”

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

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The Super Bowl Halftime Show & Grammys Have Never Won Top Emmy for Variety Programs: Could This Be the Year?

The Grammy Awards and the Super Bowl Halftime Show have a few things in common. Both, of course, have been fixtures on network television for decades, but neither has even won the top Emmy Award for variety programming — an award currently called outstanding variety special (live). Both shows are nominated in that category again this year.

Will one of these shows finally prevail this year? Quite possibly. Each received five Emmy nominations this year, which is more than the other three nominees in this category — The Oscars (which received three nods), The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back! (which received two) and Live In Front Of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes (which also received two).

The Grammys became a live telecast in March 1971, but they assumed a higher profile when the show expanded from two hours to three hours in February 1983. The timing of the expansion was fortunate. The following year, Michael Jackson set a new record for most Grammys won in one night. That 1984 show, which was in effect a pop coronation, really needed to be three hours.

The Super Bowl goes even further back. It has aired every year since 1967, though the half-time show didn’t become the high-profile mega-event we know it to be today until the early ’90s. As late as 1986, the show was headlined by the bland vocal choral group Up With People. That changed in 1991 when the red-hot New Kids on the Block headlined the show, followed by Gloria Estefan in 1992 and, the real game-changer, Jackson in 1993.

This year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show — officially called The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show Starring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent — was a widely-acclaimed celebration of hip-hop music and culture. It’s probably the front-runner to win this award, but award shows have a way of surprising us.

Several artists performed on more than one of these competing shows. Snoop Dogg was one of the headliners on the Super Bowl Halftime Show and also played Vernon in the live revival of Diff’rent Strokes. Anderson .Paak was a featured performer on the Super Bowl Halftime Show and also opened this year’s Grammys, along with Bruno Mars, as Silk Sonic. In addition to hosting and performing on The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!, Leslie Odom Jr. performed on the Grammys, in the pitch-perfect salute to the late Stephen Sondheim. John Legend and Ben Platt also performed on both the Tonys and the Grammys.

Some key behind-the-scenes talent worked on multiple nominees too. Jesse Collins was an executive producer on the 64th annual Grammy Awards and a producer on the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Hamish Hamilton directed both of those shows. Glenn Weiss directed both the Oscars and The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!

Here’s a closer look at this year’s Emmy nominees for best variety special (live):

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Second Man Arrested for Deadly Shooting at Georgia’s Freaknik Music Festival

A second man has been arrested on murder charges in a May shooting that killed two people and caused a stampede at a Georgia music festival.

Washington County Sheriff Joel Cochran said Wednesday (July 13) that Brian Keith Rozier, a 24-year-old East Dublin resident, was arrested by U.S. marshals. Rozier is charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, using a gun in a crime and reckless conduct.

The shooting killed William Mykell Lowery, 17, and Christopher “Scooter” Dunn, 30. Both men were attending a Freaknik-themed music festival at the private Larry Mitchell Ballpark in Sandersville.

Rozier had not yet been booked into the Washington County jail Wednesday afternoon. It was unclear if he has a lawyer representing him.

Ryan Rozier, 22, also of East Dublin, was arrested in connection with the shooting in June for being a felon in possession of a gun and for violating his probation. It was not immediately known if the two Roziers are related.

Washington County commissioners sued to shut down the private park after hearing complaints from nearby residents following the shooting.

Witnesses said the crowded event had little security, no one checking for weapons and limited access.

A judge issued a temporary order closing the park. A hearing on a permanent closure had been scheduled for last week, but Cochran said it was delayed until Sept. 1. The park will remained closed until at least Sept. 4.

Investigators say they’re still seeking information about the May shooting.

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