Entertainment
Jack Russell, Great White frontman who survived deadly nightclub fire, dies at 63
Singer and songwriter Jack Russell, who scored hard-rock hits in the 1980s with his band Great White and who survived a Rhode Island nightclub fire in 2003 that killed 100 people, has died. He was 63.
His death at his home in Southern California was announced Thursday in a statement on Instagram, which said he “passed peacefully” in the presence of family members and friends. K.L. Doty, with whom Russell wrote a 2024 memoir, said the cause was Lewy body dementia and multiple system atrophy, though she declined to say when Russell died.
The singer revealed in July that he was retiring from the road as a result of those conditions. “I am unable to perform at the level I desire and at the level you deserve,” he wrote on Instagram.
A product of the Los Angeles club scene of the late 1970s, Great White played scuzzy but tuneful rock in the proudly debauched hair-metal tradition; Mark Kendall’s guitars chugged and squealed, while Russell’s voice could evoke the manly shriek of Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant.
The band first charted on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1987 with the bluesy “Rock Me,” in which Russell assured a woman that “if you stay the night we’ll make the wrong seem right.” Its biggest single was a rowdy cover of Ian Hunter’s “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” which peaked at No. 5 in 1989 and drove the group’s album “…Twice Shy” to sales of more than 2 million copies. “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” was nominated for best hard rock performance at the Grammy Awards in 1990.
Great White’s commercial fortunes declined throughout the ’90s as grunge and alternative rock displaced hair metal on the radio and MTV; the band broke up in 2001. Yet the next year Russell and Kendall formed a splinter group called Jack Russell’s Great White that began touring clubs around the country.
On Feb. 20, 2003, a pyrotechnic display during the band’s set at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., ignited soundproofing insulation lining the venue’s walls and ceiling, leading to a fire that quickly engulfed the club. Among the 100 people who died was the band’s guitarist, Ty Longley; an additional 230 were reported injured.
The group’s tour manager and the Station’s owners were later charged with involuntary manslaughter; Russell and other Great White members agreed to pay $1 million in a settlement with survivors and families of the fire’s victims.
Russell, who was born in Montebello in 1960, went on to play with a reunited version of the original Great White until the band broke up again and he reformed Jack Russell’s Great White. That band’s most recent album, a tribute to Led Zeppelin, came out in 2021; this year, Russell teamed with another hair-metal veteran, Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns, for a duo LP titled “Medusa.”
Russell’s survivors include his wife, Heather Ann Russell, and his son Matthew Hucko.
On Instagram on Thursday, his former bandmates in Great White sent their condolences to Russell’s family and said it was “a privilege and joy to share the stage with him — many shows, many miles and maximum rock.”
Entertainment
Stagecoach 2026: How to watch Friday’s livestream with Cody Johnson, Ella Langley, Bailey Zimmerman
Choosin’ to stay home instead of trekking out to Indio for this weekend’s Stagecoach festival? Don’t worry, you’ll be able to listen to all the country music your heart desires. You can get your country heartbreak on with Ella Langley, Bailey Zimmerman and Cody Johnson, and then rock out with Counting Crows. If you prefer EDM, you can catch Diplo and Dillstradamus (Dillon Francis and Flosstradamus) as Friday’s closing acts.
The festival will be livestreamed on Amazon Music, Amazon Prime Video and Twitch beginning at 3 p.m. On Sirius XM’s The Highway (channel 56), you can listen to exclusive interviews and live performances along with a special edition of the Music Row Happy Hour. The station Y’Allternative will also be covering the festival on Friday evening.
Here are updated set times for the Stagecoach livestream Friday performances (times presented are PDT):
Channel 1
3:05 p.m. Noah Rinker; 3:25 p.m.; Adrien Nunez; 4 p.m. Ole 60; 4:25 p.m. Avery Anna; 5 p.m. Chase Rice; 5:55 p.m. Nate Smith; 6:50 p.m. Ella Langeley; 7:50 p.m. Bailey Zimmerman; 8:55 p.m. the Red Clay Strays; 10 p.m. Cody Johnson; 11:30 p.m. Diplo
Channel 2
3:05 p.m. Neon Union; 3:25 p.m. Larkin Poe; 4 p.m. Marcus King Band; 4:50 p.m. Lyle Lovett; 5:35 p.m. BigXthaPlug; 6:30 p.m. Noah Cyrus; 7 p.m. Wynonna Judd; 8 p.m. Counting Crows; 8:50 p.m. Sam Barber; 10 p.m. Dan + Shay; 10:45 p.m. Diplo featuring Juicy J; 11:05 p.m. Rebecca Black; 11:45 p.m. Dillstradamus
Sirius XM Music Row Happy Hour
1 p.m. Avery Anna; 2 p.m. Nate Smith; 2:30 p.m. Josh Ross; 3 p.m. Cody Johnson; 3:30 p.m. Gabriella Rose; 5:15 p.m. Nate Smith; 7:50 p.m. Bailey Zimmerman; 9:30 p.m. Cody Johnson; 11 p.m. Diplo
Sirius XM Y’Allternative
5 p.m. Ole 60; 6 p.m. Larkin Poe; 7 p.m. Marcus King Band; 8 p.m. Sam Barber
Movie Reviews
Movie Review: The Mortuary Assistant – HorrorFuel.com: Reviews, Ratings and Where to Watch the Best Horror Movies & TV Shows
Forget the “video game movie” curse; The Mortuary Assistant is a bone-chilling triumph that stands entirely on its own two feet. Starring Willa Holland (Arrow) as Rebecca Owens, the film follows a newly certified mortician whose “overtime shift” quickly devolves into a grueling battle for her soul.
What Makes It Work
The film expertly balances the stomach-churning procedural work of embalming with a spiraling demonic nightmare. Alongside a mysterious mentor played by Paul Sparks (Boardwalk Empire), Rebecca is forced to confront both ancient evils and her own buried traumas. And boy, does she have a lot of them.
Thanks to a full-scale, practical River Fields Mortuary set, the film drips with realism, like you can almost smell the rot and bloat of the bodies through the screen.
The skin effects are hauntingly accurate. The way the flesh moves during surgical scenes is so visceral. I’ve seen a lot of flesh wounds in horror films and in real life, and the bodies, skin, and organs. The Mortuary Assistant (especially in the opening scene) looks so real that I skipped supper after watching it. And that’s saying something. Your girl likes to eat.
Co-written by the game’s creator, Brian Clarke, the movie dives deeper into the demonic mythology. Whether you’ve seen every ending or don’t know a scalpel from a trocar, the story is perfectly self-contained. If you’ve never played the game, or played it a hundred times, the film works equally well, which is hard to do when it comes to game adaptations.
Nailed It
This film does a lot of things right, but the isolation of the night shift is suffocating. Between the darkness of the hallways and the “residents” that refuse to stay still, the film delivers a relentlessly immersive experience. And thankfully, although this movie is filled with dark rooms and shadows, it’s easy to see every little thing. Don’t you hate it when a movie is so dark that you can’t see what’s happening? It’s one of my pet peeves.
The oh-so-awesome Jeremiah Kipp directs the film and has made something absolutely nightmare-inducing. Kipp recently joined us for an interview, took us inside the film, discussed its details and the game’s lore, and so much more. I urge you to check out our interview. He’s awesome!
The Verdict
This isn’t just a cash-grab; it’s a high-effort adaptation that respects the source material while elevating the horror genre. With incredible special effects and a powerhouse cast, it’s the kind of movie that will make you rethink working late ever again. Dropping on Friday the 13th, this is a must-watch for horror fans. It’s grisly, intelligent, and genuinely terrifying.
Entertainment
Former Live Nation executive says he was fired after raising ‘financial misconduct’ concerns
A former executive at Live Nation, the world’s largest live entertainment company, is suing the company, alleging that he was wrongfully terminated after he raised concerns about alleged financial misconduct and improper accounting practices.
Nicholas Rumanes alleges he was “fraudulently induced” in 2022 to leave a lucrative position as head of strategic development at a real estate investment trust to create a new role as executive vice president of development and business practice at Beverly Hills-based Live Nation.
In his new position, Rumanes said, he raised “serious and legitimate alarm” over the the company’s business practices.
As a result, he says, he was “unlawfully terminated,” according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
“Rumanes was, simply put, promised one job and forced to accept another. And then he was cut loose for insisting on doing that lesser job with integrity and honesty,” according to the lawsuit.
He is seeking $35 million in damages.
Representatives for Live Nation were not immediately available for comment.
The lawsuit comes a week after a federal jury in Manhattan found that Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had operated a monopoly over major concert venues, controlling 86% of the concert market.
Rumanes’ lawsuit describes a “culture of deception” at Live Nation, saying its “basic business model was to misstate and exaggerate financial figures in efforts to solicit and secure business.”
Such practices “spanned a wide spectrum of projects in what appeared to be a company-wide pattern of financial misrepresentation and misleading disclosures,” the lawsuit states.
Rumanes says he received materials and documents that showed that the company inflated projected revenues across multiple venue development projects.
Additionally, Rumanes contends that the company violated a federal law that requires independent financial auditing and transparency and instead ran Live Nation “through a centralized, opaque structure” that enables it to “bypass oversight and internal checks and balances.”
In 2010, as a condition of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger, the newly formed company agreed to a consent decree with the government that prohibited the firm from threatening venues to use Ticketmaster. In 2019 the Justice Department found that the company had repeatedly breached the agreement, and it extended the decree.
Rumanes contends that he brought his concerns to the attention of the company’s management, but his warnings were “repeatedly ignored.”
-
Technology4 minutes agoI don’t think Gwyneth Paltrow knows what a peptide is
-
World10 minutes agoUS economic chokehold on Iran reaches peak leverage as collapse risks emerge
-
Politics16 minutes agoTrump admin steps up next phase of effort to protect children’s health
-
Health22 minutes agoCarrie Ann Inaba shares her struggle to manage hidden, invisible illness: ‘It’s real’
-
Sports28 minutes agoOlympic legend Kaillie Humphries signs with activist sportswear brand XX-XY Athletics amid political rise
-
Technology34 minutes agoFCC router rule raises questions about future updates
-
Business40 minutes agoCalifornia’s jet fuel stockpile hits two-year low as war strangles oil supplies
-
Entertainment46 minutes agoStagecoach 2026: How to watch Friday’s livestream with Cody Johnson, Ella Langley, Bailey Zimmerman