Latest news with #MMMBop
Chicago Tribune
25-07-2025
- Automotive
- Chicago Tribune
Aurora woman among five Kane County residents who get cars through Midas initiative: ‘No one can take that from me'
On Amy Bergeron's first drive in her new car, she blasted Hanson. Not rap music, not the current pop hits. 'MMMBop' is her song of choice. Even though it was July, she turned off the air conditioning, opened the sunroof and rolled down the windows, she recalled. The traffic surrounding Chicago made the first part of the drive slow, she said, but then was able to pick up speed as she got into the suburbs. 'I was hot stuff,' Bergeron, 39, said. 'Probably not if you saw me. You're probably like, 'Oh my God, this woman's weird.' But I was living it up.' This wasn't just Bergeron's new car — it's also the first car she's ever had in her name. Bergeron, who lives in Aurora, is a mother of six, and a veteran. Recently, she was a recipient of a car through a giveaway from a program with Midas called Project Spark. Project Spark is an initiative by Midas giving cars to individuals in need. Midas franchises refurbish and then donate them from time to time across North America. Six Midas franchises — in Tinley Park, Downers Grove, Grayslake, Chicago, Evanston and Barrington — recently participated in a six-car giveaway. The six recipients were given the keys to their new cars at an event at Soldier Field in Chicago on July 2, according to a press release from the public relations firm publicizing the giveaway. The Project Spark program has existed since 2018, according to the PR firm, and the number of events fluctuates from year to year — this year they have 12. There were about 50 submissions for the recent Chicago giveaway, she said. Five of the six recipients from the July giveaway were from Kane County, including Bergeron. Jacob Zimmerman, superintendent of the Kane County Veterans Assistance Commission, said Midas approached the county about the program, looking for nominations for area veterans to apply to get one of the cars. Four of the individuals they recommended ultimately were awarded cars, he said, and another person from the county was also awarded a car. The Veterans Assistance Commission has developed a network of veterans they've helped over the years, Zimmerman said, which helped streamline the process for the Midas program. He said he and his staff in the county keep a list of 'folks who are (in) hard times, that maybe need a little hand up every once in a while.' In addition to pulling from their own connections, they also reached out to other area veterans organizations. 'Just being connected with the community, I think, really was a win here,' he said, saying he hopes the county can participate in the program in the future. Bergeron, for example, has participated in county programs to help her get back on her feet after a yearslong struggle with drug addiction. She served in the Army starting in 2005, working in medical logistics, according to her service records. She was honorably discharged in 2010 with a non-combat disability. Bergeron said she got hurt during her military service, and got addicted to pain medications. She ultimately got into legal trouble over it. In 2015, she was charged with identity theft and attempted unlawful acquisition of a controlled substance for reportedly stealing the name and drug identification number of a medical professional in an attempt to refill fake prescriptions, according to past reporting. 'At that time, I wanted to get clean, I just couldn't do it,' Bergeron told The Beacon-News. 'Like, I couldn't force myself to do it.' It took some time before she got fully clean, she said, and explained that she landed back in court several times after that. But she ultimately got help from Kane County's Veterans Treatment Court, and completed a course and rehabilitation program. She was previously featured in a column for The Beacon-News about the county program. She referred to the identity theft as both the worst and best thing she did, because 'so many good things came from that.' Since then, she's gotten some help from the Kane County Veterans Assistance Commission, like through the recent car giveaway. 'From the point on that I got myself in trouble, they've really been there,' Bergeron said. She also got help from a Montgomery-based program called Veterans Smile, through which she underwent a dental procedure and had her teeth extracted for a set of dentures for which she was featured in another column in The Beacon-News. But she had trouble tolerating the dentures, she said. And then she got pregnant with her youngest child, and was unable to undergo another surgery. But she's going back in for another procedure to hopefully one day get a permanent set of teeth, she said, on Tuesday displaying a text confirmation on her phone about her scheduled appointment. And now she has a car to get her where she needs to go. It's a 2008 Infiniti, she said, with enough seats to hold all six of her children, ages 18, 16, 14, 11, 5 and 1. 'It makes me feel like I'm rich when I drive it,' Bergeron said. Before, Bergeron was able to drive a van owned by the family of her younger children's father, but this is the first car she's ever had in her name, she said. 'No one can take that from me,' Bergeron said. This school year, she'll be able to use her new car to take her children to school and get groceries from the store. She explained that her 5-year-old daughter has nonverbal autism, but she and her daughter's father are going to start doing a homeschooling program with her when she starts school this year, while also taking care of their baby. That means Bergeron may be able to go back to work, she pointed out. Before, she was concerned about not having consistent access to a mode of transportation to get there. She receives some money to pay the bills because of her disability during her military service, but that 'doesn't take care of the sanity,' she said, describing her day-to-day of talking mostly to her children. She hopes that one day she can own her own house. But now, several years clean from drugs, Bergeron's life already looks a lot different than it was — with a car, and the possibility of getting a job someday soon. And she has new hobbies, like tending to the vegetable garden in her back yard. There's cucumbers, corn, bell peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, chili peppers and what she thinks is a wild pumpkin. It's one more thing she's gotten since recovering from her addiction. 'I started (gardening) when I started getting sober because it would just give me stuff to do,' Bergeron said. 'And then, when I started paying attention to all this stuff that I'm putting in my body anyway that's killing me, I'm like, 'Well, I can grow my own, and it doesn't have all this stuff in it.' … I just like being healthier.'
Irish Independent
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Greed and desire: Gala's ‘Freed from Desire' has gone from 1990s dance hit to global sports anthem, but a contract robbed the singer of her royalties
Twenty-eight years after it was first released 'Freed from Desire' is still ringing out at stadiums across the world, and its singer is still fighting to be paid Gala Rizzatto hadn't yet turned 22 when Freed from Desire, a Euro-dance earworm for the ages, became the biggest radio smash in Europe. Released as the first single from her debut album Come into My Life, Gala's ubiquitous pop banger topped the charts in France and Belgium, peaking at number two in Ireland, and in her native Italy. With an estimated 1.8 million sales in the UK, Freed from Desire was the 17th best-selling single of 1997. This, as you may recall, was the year when Hanson invented MMMBop; when Aqua unboxed Barbie Girl, and when Natalie Imbruglia sang about heartbreak in Torn.
Arab Times
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab Times
San Diego plane crash is a devastating loss to the alternative rock music community
NEW YORK, May 24, (AP): The alternative music community is in mourning after a private jet hit a power line in foggy weather early Thursday and crashed into a San Diego neighborhood, killing multiple people on board. Among them was the groundbreaking music executive Dave Shapiro, a pillar of his music scene, and Daniel Williams, a former drummer for the popular Ohio metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada. Also killed were two employees of Shapiro's Sound Talent Group agency: Kendall Fortner, 24, and Emma Huke, 25. Both Williams and Shapiro served as success stories for their respective rock music scenes - proof that these subcultural sounds had real mainstream appeal. Williams' band, which had two releases reach the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, was a client of Sound Talent Group. He co-founded the company in 2018 with fellow agents Tim Borror and Matt Andersen, who previously worked at the Agency Group and United Talent Agency. Sound Talent Group's roster focused on bands in and across pop-punk, metalcore, post-hardcore and other popular hard rock sub-genres - such as Sum 41, Pierce the Veil, Parkway Drive, Silverstein, I Prevail - plus pop acts like the '90s brother-boy band, Hanson, best known for their song "MMMBop,' and "A Thousand Miles (Interlude)' singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton. The post-hardcore band Thursday called Shapiro, 42, an inspiration "who despite achieving success never forgot the scenes and the communities they came from.' "It's hard to put into words how much this man meant to so many of us,' Pierce the Veil, which has been performing for nearly two decades including a sold-out concert this week at New York's Madison Square Garden, said in a tribute on the social platform X. The World Alive, a band signed on Shapiro's label, said he was among "the most influential and positive forces in our music scene and beyond. And Dan was one of the most influential and positive forces behind the kit.' Shortly after punk rock entered the cultural zeitgeist in the late '70s, it inspired musical sub-movements fueled by its "do-it-yourself,' community-minded ethics: hardcore punk begat post-hardcore, metalcore, emo and so on. Across decades, these music genres evolved in sound and scope, moving from underground popularity at concerts held in garages and basements to real mainstream fame, while refusing to abandon its independent ethos. Thomas Gutches, who manages Beartooth and Archetypes Collide, recalled a time when now-popular bands like The Devil Wears Prada were getting their start playing in "DIY shows' in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, in which you could see 10 bands perform for $5. Shapiro was "single-handedly developing this next wave of bands that are coming in,' Gutches said. "He was able to take those bands, package them together and put them on a larger scale. ... He took a risk in being like, 'Okay, I'm going to go and take them to that next level.'' These artists reached a kind of apex in the 2000s and 2010s. Once-obscure bands that had found audiences on early online social media platforms like MySpace, at the mall goth haven Hot Topic, or in the pages left-of-center publications like "Alternative Press' became MTV staples, celebrities in their own right. Although many of these acts played similar-yet-different music - think of the blast beats of metalcore and the palm-muted power chords of pop-punk associated with the Vans Warped Tour - they were brought together by a shared punk rock spirit. And for the last few decades, these tight-knit groups have proven to be the dominant force in alternative rock, according to Mike Shea, founder of "Alternative Press,' who used the word "community' to describe the scene. Shea said Shapiro was "vital' in bringing these punk rock subcultures to the masses. "In this music industry, there are just too many people ripping people off and using people,' he said. "Dave was not like that. He was a beautiful soul, and a beautiful person, a guiding force, just someone who would end up being an inspiration for so many people. And he will continue to be an inspiration.' And it was not only musicians but also many booking agents, band, and tour managers and promoters that got their big breaks because of Shapiro, Gutches said. The bands Shapiro represented are many of the most popular of their genre and scene, like the Grammy-nominated Sum 41 or the platinum-selling Pierce the Veil. That also includes The Devil Wears Prada, one of the best-known metalcore bands of the last few decades, celebrated for their ability to marry melodic punk rock with metallic detouring. When Williams "was in the band, that's when they broke out,' Shea said. Gutches said Williams captivated audiences at shows with his drumming as much as a band's front man does: "Daniel was putting on a show from his style of playing.' The tributes will continue for both, Shea said, as more and more artists reveal the impact Williams and Shapiro had on their lives. Case in point: "There is no single person more responsible for my identity as a professional adult than Dave Shapiro,' metalcore band Issues bassist Skyler Acord said via Instagram. His band coined a phrase they would use when things got heated "to remind us to chill out and try to understand each other,' he wrote. "We'd say, 'Do it for Dave.''
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
San Diego plane crash is a devastating loss to the alternative rock music community
NEW YORK -- The alternative music community is in mourning after a private jet hit a power line in foggy weather early Thursday and crashed into a San Diego neighborhood, killing multiple people on board. Among them was the groundbreaking music executive Dave Shapiro, a pillar of his music scene, and Daniel Williams, a former drummer for the popular Ohio metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada. Also killed were two employees of Shapiro's Sound Talent Group agency: Kendall Fortner, 24, and Emma Huke, 25. Both Williams and Shapiro served as success stories for their respective rock music scenes — proof that these subcultural sounds had real mainstream appeal. Williams' band, which had two releases reach the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, was a client of Sound Talent Group. He co-founded the company in 2018 with fellow agents Tim Borror and Matt Andersen, who previously worked at the Agency Group and United Talent Agency. Sound Talent Group's roster focused on bands in and across pop-punk, metalcore, post-hardcore and other popular hard rock sub-genres — such as Sum 41, Pierce the Veil, Parkway Drive, Silverstein, I Prevail — plus pop acts like the '90s brother-boy band, Hanson, best known for their song 'MMMBop,' and 'A Thousand Miles (Interlude)' singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton. The post-hardcore band Thursday called Shapiro, 42, an inspiration 'who despite achieving success never forgot the scenes and the communities they came from.' 'It's hard to put into words how much this man meant to so many of us,' Pierce the Veil, which has been performing for nearly two decades including a sold-out concert this week at New York's Madison Square Garden, said in a tribute on the social platform X. The World Alive, a band signed on Shapiro's label, said he was among 'the most influential and positive forces in our music scene and beyond. And Dan was one of the most influential and positive forces behind the kit.' Shortly after punk rock entered the cultural zeitgeist in the late '70s, it inspired musical sub-movements fueled by its 'do-it-yourself,' community-minded ethics: hardcore punk begat post-hardcore, metalcore, emo and so on. Across decades, these music genres evolved in sound and scope, moving from underground popularity at concerts held in garages and basements to real mainstream fame, while refusing to abandon its independent ethos. Thomas Gutches, who manages Beartooth and Archetypes Collide, recalled a time when now-popular bands like The Devil Wears Prada were getting their start playing in 'DIY shows' in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, in which you could see 10 bands perform for $5. Shapiro was 'single-handedly developing this next wave of bands that are coming in,' Gutches said. 'He was able to take those bands, package them together and put them on a larger scale. ... He took a risk in being like, 'Okay, I'm going to go and take them to that next level.'' These artists reached a kind of apex in the 2000s and 2010s. Once-obscure bands that had found audiences on early online social media platforms like MySpace, at the mall goth haven Hot Topic, or in the pages left-of-center publications like 'Alternative Press' became MTV staples, celebrities in their own right. Although many of these acts played similar-yet-different music — think of the blast beats of metalcore and the palm-muted power chords of pop-punk associated with the Vans Warped Tour — they were brought together by a shared punk rock spirit. And for the last few decades, these tight-knit groups have proven to be the dominant force in alternative rock, according to Mike Shea, founder of 'Alternative Press,' who used the word 'community' to describe the scene. Shea said Shapiro was 'vital' in bringing these punk rock subcultures to the masses. 'In this music industry, there are just too many people ripping people off and using people,' he said. 'Dave was not like that. He was a beautiful soul, and beautiful person, a guiding force, just someone who would end up being an inspiration for so many people. And he will continue to be an inspiration.' And it was not only musicians but also many booking agents, band, and tour managers and promoters that got their big breaks because of Shapiro, Gutches said. The bands Shapiro represented are many of the most popular of their genre and scene, like the Grammy-nominated Sum 41 or the platinum-selling Pierce the Veil. That also includes The Devil Wears Prada, one of the best-known metalcore bands of the last few decades, celebrated for their ability to marry melodic punk rock with metallic detouring. When Williams 'was in the band, that's when they broke out,' Shea said. Gutches said Williams captivated audiences at shows with his drumming as much as a band's front man does: 'Daniel was putting on a show from his style of playing.' The tributes will continue for both, Shea said, as more and more artists reveal the impact Williams and Shapiro had on their lives. Case in point: 'There is no single person more responsible for my identity as a professional adult than Dave Shapiro,' metalcore band Issues bassist Skyler Acord said via Instagram. His band coined a phrase they would use when things got heated "to remind us to chill out and try to understand each other,' he wrote. 'We'd say, 'Do it for Dave.''
Winnipeg Free Press
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
San Diego plane crash is a devastating loss to the alternative rock music community
NEW YORK (AP) — The alternative music community is in mourning after a private jet hit a power line in foggy weather early Thursday and crashed into a San Diego neighborhood, killing multiple people on board. Among them was the groundbreaking music executive Dave Shapiro, a pillar of his music scene, and Daniel Williams, a former drummer for the popular Ohio metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada. Also killed were two employees of Shapiro's Sound Talent Group agency: Kendall Fortner, 24, and Emma Huke, 25. Both Williams and Shapiro served as success stories for their respective rock music scenes — proof that these subcultural sounds had real mainstream appeal. Williams' band, which had two releases reach the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, was a client of Sound Talent Group. He co-founded the company in 2018 with fellow agents Tim Borror and Matt Andersen, who previously worked at the Agency Group and United Talent Agency. Sound Talent Group's roster focused on bands in and across pop-punk, metalcore, post-hardcore and other popular hard rock sub-genres — such as Sum 41, Pierce the Veil, Parkway Drive, Silverstein, I Prevail — plus pop acts like the '90s brother-boy band, Hanson, best known for their song 'MMMBop,' and 'A Thousand Miles (Interlude)' singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton. The post-hardcore band Thursday called Shapiro, 42, an inspiration 'who despite achieving success never forgot the scenes and the communities they came from.' 'It's hard to put into words how much this man meant to so many of us,' Pierce the Veil, which has been performing for nearly two decades including a sold-out concert this week at New York's Madison Square Garden, said in a tribute on the social platform X. The World Alive, a band signed on Shapiro's label, said he was among 'the most influential and positive forces in our music scene and beyond. And Dan was one of the most influential and positive forces behind the kit.' Shortly after punk rock entered the cultural zeitgeist in the late '70s, it inspired musical sub-movements fueled by its 'do-it-yourself,' community-minded ethics: hardcore punk begat post-hardcore, metalcore, emo and so on. Across decades, these music genres evolved in sound and scope, moving from underground popularity at concerts held in garages and basements to real mainstream fame, while refusing to abandon its independent ethos. Thomas Gutches, who manages Beartooth and Archetypes Collide, recalled a time when now-popular bands like The Devil Wears Prada were getting their start playing in 'DIY shows' in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, in which you could see 10 bands perform for $5. Shapiro was 'single-handedly developing this next wave of bands that are coming in,' Gutches said. 'He was able to take those bands, package them together and put them on a larger scale. … He took a risk in being like, 'Okay, I'm going to go and take them to that next level.'' These artists reached a kind of apex in the 2000s and 2010s. Once-obscure bands that had found audiences on early online social media platforms like MySpace, at the mall goth haven Hot Topic, or in the pages left-of-center publications like 'Alternative Press' became MTV staples, celebrities in their own right. Although many of these acts played similar-yet-different music — think of the blast beats of metalcore and the palm-muted power chords of pop-punk associated with the Vans Warped Tour — they were brought together by a shared punk rock spirit. And for the last few decades, these tight-knit groups have proven to be the dominant force in alternative rock, according to Mike Shea, founder of 'Alternative Press,' who used the word 'community' to describe the scene. Shea said Shapiro was 'vital' in bringing these punk rock subcultures to the masses. 'In this music industry, there are just too many people ripping people off and using people,' he said. 'Dave was not like that. He was a beautiful soul, and beautiful person, a guiding force, just someone who would end up being an inspiration for so many people. And he will continue to be an inspiration.' And it was not only musicians but also many booking agents, band, and tour managers and promoters that got their big breaks because of Shapiro, Gutches said. The bands Shapiro represented are many of the most popular of their genre and scene, like the Grammy-nominated Sum 41 or the platinum-selling Pierce the Veil. That also includes The Devil Wears Prada, one of the best-known metalcore bands of the last few decades, celebrated for their ability to marry melodic punk rock with metallic detouring. When Williams 'was in the band, that's when they broke out,' Shea said. Gutches said Williams captivated audiences at shows with his drumming as much as a band's front man does: 'Daniel was putting on a show from his style of playing.' The tributes will continue for both, Shea said, as more and more artists reveal the impact Williams and Shapiro had on their lives. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. Case in point: 'There is no single person more responsible for my identity as a professional adult than Dave Shapiro,' metalcore band Issues bassist Skyler Acord said via Instagram. His band coined a phrase they would use when things got heated 'to remind us to chill out and try to understand each other,' he wrote. 'We'd say, 'Do it for Dave.'' ___ Associated Press writer Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles contributed.
