10/10/2023: The World’s Most Expensive Wedding Singer
PLUS: Squatter Update; Drake’s G-Wagon Giveaway; and Staff Shakeup
Today is Tuesday, October 10, 2023.
It is the 283rd day of the year.
82 days remain.
WHAT’S ON TAP
Another major union shop strikes and an iconic lighthouse is restored. More in HIT LIST.
A former “Bachelor” star files to change her toddler’s name and GWYNETH PALTROW keeps her Oscar in an interesting spot. More in SHOWBIZ.
The final season of Netflix’s “The Crown” will be two parts and Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” gets a makeover. More in CASTING CALL.
YE takes SAINT to a soccer game. More in KARDASH.
The Waleses’ household staff gets a shakeup ahead of a new CEO taking the reins. More in ROYALS.
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HIT LIST
More auto workers are on strike – this time it’s workers at Mack Trucks after United Auto Workers rejected the company’s latest proposal.
At 6:00 am Central Monday, an estimated 4,000 workers in three states walked off the job.
MEANWHILE: About 25,000 workers remain off the job as UAW negotiates new agreements with Ford, GM, and Stellantis.
Mack Trucks is owned by Volvo. [via NBC News]
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It’s high school dance season – and gone are the days of the carefully-folded note passed by a boy to a girl asking if she’d like to go to the dance with him.
In the case of a Utah girl looking for a date for the school’s Sadie Hawkins dance, it turns out her elaborate date-proposal ended up on the wrong doorstep.
Homeowner Laurice Marier heard the doorbell and found a big sign on her porch, next to a bunch of cans of beans, with the question, “I’ve BEAN meaning to ask you, wanna go to Sadie?” (Keeping with the rhyme, it was even signed by Katie.)
Marier says she didn’t see who left it but did spot a car driving away – and there’s no one in her home who’d fit the bill to go to a high school dance. Now she’s trying to track down the mystery girl and connect her with her real date. Marier’s social media posts have even gotten the community involved. "We're all just rooting for her to at least know the reason she's not hearing from this person is not necessarily because they're not interested, they're really truly not getting the message,” she says. [via Fox13Now]
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LAST YEAR: McDonald’s put its iconic fall favorite McRib sandwich on a “Farewell Tour,” suggesting it would be gone for good after its annual run.
TURNS OUT: That’s not entirely true. The Arches say it’ll reappear again in the coming weeks, but not in a national rollout. “[S]ome lucky fans may find their favorite elusive saucy sandwich at their local McDonald’s restaurants this November,” a rep teased in an email to The Takeout.
WORTH REMEMBERING: McD’s pulled the same stunt with farewell campaigns in 2005 and 2006, too. [via The Takeout]
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FOLLOW-UP: Last week, news broke about an AirBNB squatter who has holed up in a Los Angeles-area guest house for more than 500 days.
TURNS OUT: This isn’t the first time that the deadbeat tenant, Elizabeth Hirschhorn, has pulled this stunt. The Daily Mail reports that she sublet a room in the Brentwood area in 2019 and was such a nuisance to live with that the original tenant moved out.
She finally settled that case in July 2021, just weeks before she began her current scheme.
WORTH REMEMBERING: Despite it all, Hirschhorn can’t legally get evicted from the Los Angeles digs due to a gaping legal loophole involving permitting. [via DailyMail]
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A 150-year-old lighthouse in the Florida Keys is shining again as a beacon of hope in an effort to save historic lighthouses along the U.S. coast.
The Alligator Reef Lighthouse showed off its new solar-powered lights on Saturday; igniting the coast for the first time in nearly a decade.
The lighthouse -- named after the USS Alligator, which ran aground on the reef in 1822 -- is one of six aging lighthouses off the Keys that were once crucial navigational aids.n With modern-day satellite navigation, the lighthouses have all but been forgotten, leaving them to succumb to highly corrosive conditions…until now.
A local community in the Keys is rallying to raise funds to save the lighthouses, starting with Alligator Reef, which is expected to need at least $5 million in restoration. [via AP News]
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BY THE NUMBERS
📈 The DOW was down 197 points (0.59%) to close at 33,604 on Monday. The S&P added 27 points (0.63%) to close at 4,335 and the NASDAQ was up 52 points (0.39%) to close at 13,484.
🛢 WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE closed at $86; BRENT CRUDE at $88.
⛽ The national average price of a GALLON OF GAS was $3.70 on Monday.
₿ BITCOIN lost over 1%, trading around $27,600.
🛩 There were more than 2,475 FLIGHTS delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Monday and more than 75 such cancellations.
💰Tonight’s MEGA MILLIONS will be for a $20 million jackpot or a $8.7 million cash payout.
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SHOWBIZ NEWS
Looking for a wedding singer? DARIUS RUCKER is your guy!
In a recent interview, the country singer said that he has a standing offer to be the “world’s most expensive wedding singer.”
That’s right, for $1 million, he will not only perform at your nuptials, but will also learn any five songs you want sung on your big day.
So far, two couples have taken him up on the offer. [via The Bull]
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BAD BUNNY shocked fans by announcing he plans to release a new album…and soon!
The Puerto Rican star will drop his next album, titled “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana” (Nobody Knows What Will Happen Tomorrow), on Friday.
The new album features 22 tracks. [via Billboard]
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DRAKE gave one lucky fan at his concert in Toronto a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon.
The rapper picked the winner by randomly selecting a seat number out of a container he had on stage.
The car is valued at about $140,000. [via X]
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Country singer CHRIS LANE and his wife, former “Bachelor” star LAUREN BUSHNELL have filed paperwork to change their youngest son’s name.
His first name will still be “Baker,” but the couple has decided to change his middle name from “Weston” to “West.”
Bushnell explained the whole situation on Instagram, telling followers that they “panicked” at the hospital and put Weston on the form but have since decided he is “much more of a West [...] so now he’s Baker West.” [via Page Six]
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Singer LANA DEL REY likes to give back to the cities she performs in.
During her recent stop in Charleston, West Virginia she revealed that all proceeds from her ticket sales will be donated back to whichever city she is performing in as a way to say “thank you” to fans.
“I know that sounds cheesy, but I tour because I love it…I don’t need to. I just love it, and we’re all about the places we’ve been to,” she explained. [via People]
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DAVID BECKHAM likes to play with Legos.
He recently told JIMMY FALLON that the passion that started when he was a kid has followed him into adulthood. Though his wife, VICTORIA BECKHAM calls it more of an “obsession” as she has found him on numerous occasions working on a set in the wee hours of the night.
Beckham previously shared his love of building in 2007, when he documented his journey creating a 4,000-piece set of a Disney castle for his daughter, Harper. [via Insider]
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GWYNETH PALTROW uses her Oscar as a doorstop.
The piece of hardware was spotted by Vogue interviewer Joe Sabia, who was strolling through Paltrow’s garden for the magazine’s latest installment of their “73 Questions” video series.
“It’s my doorstop! It works perfectly,” the actress said to Sabia, who complimented the award.
BY THE WAY: Paltrow was awarded the golden statue in 1999 when she won Best Actress for her role in “Shakespeare in Love.” [via Vogue]
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CASTING CALL
The sixth and final season of Netflix’s “The Crown” will air in two parts.
Part 1 will consist of four episodes and premiere on November 16, followed by Part 2 with six episodes on December 14. The first block will culminate with PRINCESS DIANA’s death and the fallout and the second block will focus on PRINCE WILLIAM heading back to Eton and his budding romance with KATE MIDDLETON.
WORTH NOTING: The storyline will end in 2005 – which means no dramatization of PRINCE HARRY and MEGHAN MARKLE. [via NY Post]
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“Live” host KELLY RIPA recalled a time when gymnast SIMONE BILES appeared on the show and couldn't remember how to do a cartwheel.
“That’s like so far in the rearview mirror of what she does that she had to stop and think about what it means -- like, what a cartwheel means to somebody like us,” Ripa explained.
Ripa shared the story as she and her co-host, husband MARK CONSUELOS, discussed Biles’ huge weekend at the World Championships where she medaled to become the most-decorated gymnast in the world. [via Decider]
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Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” is getting a revamp and re-release.
As part of The Walt Disney Company’s 100th anniversary, the 1937 animated movie will be restored in 4K before being re-released on Disney+.
Remember, it was Disney’s first animated feature. [via Deadline]
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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
YE and his 7-year-old son SAINT WEST were spotted at a soccer game in Italy over the weekend.
The father-son duo watched from a luxury box as AC Milan took on Genoa.
None of Ye’s other children, whom he shares with ex-wife KIM KARDASHIAN appeared to be in attendance, nor was his wife, BIANCA CENSORI spotted with them. [via Page Six]
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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
PRINCE WILLIAM’s private secretary will formally depart his role early next year, as the Waleses prepare to welcome a brand-new, as-yet-unnamed Chief Executive Officer to oversee their household.
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE GRAY previously worked for former Prime Minister DAVID CAMERON and in other high-level government offices before signing on as the top secretary and adviser to the Prince of Wales in 2021.
WORTH REMEMBERING: William and PRINCESS KATE chose to hire a CEO that reports directly to them, not a private secretary, in a departure from tradition – though that could entirely be the point. [via Express]
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DAY OF THE YEAR
National Hug a Drummer Day
National Cake Decorating Day
National Face Your Fears Day
World Mental Health Day
National Handbag Day
World Homeless Day
World Porridge Day
Ada Lovelace Day
SHIFT10 Day
Own Business Day
National Angel Food Cake Day
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ON THIS DATE
732 - Frankish leader Charles Martel stops an invasion of Moors into Europe. The decisive battle ended years of invasions from Islamic powers in the Iberian Peninsula.
Martel’s victory continued his family’s line, the Carolingians. The most famous of the royal line was Charlemagne, who vastly expanded Frankish influence across present-day Europe.
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1780 - A hurricane in the West Indies kills more than 20,000 people, making it the deadliest hurricane ever recorded.
Obviously, it hit before our modern naming system was implemented, so it’s just known as the Great Hurricane of 1780.
French and British Navies protecting assets in the region were decimated as well.
The next deadliest storm recorded was Hurricane Mitch, in 1998, which killed an estimated 18,000.
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1845 - The US Naval Academy begins its first session.
The institution, in Annapolis, Maryland, started with 50 midshipmen and seven instructors. For the next five years, it was known simply as the Naval School and taught navigation, chemistry, English, and French, among other topics.
When it became the official US Naval Academy in 1950, a four-year curriculum was instituted. During summers, students would train on real vessels. That system is still in use today.
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1877 - George Armstrong Custer’s funeral is held at West Point.
He was killed a year earlier in the Battle of the Little BigHorn.
Custer had graduated from the military academy in 1861, ranking last in his class.
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1957 - The Milwaukee Braves win their first World Series in 43 years -- their last win was as the Boston Braves.
Against historic manager Casey Stengel and power-hitters Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle, the Braves took all 7 games to win, ultimately shutting out the Yankees 5-0 in New York.
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1973 - Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns on the same day he pleads no contest to a charge of federal income tax evasion.
His plea was part of a deal that dropped political corruption charges.
President Nixon would resign less than a year later, on August 9th, 1974.
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2001 - Construction on the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world begins.
It would eventually span across the River Tarn in France. The tallest support beam on the bridge is higher than the Eiffel Tower.
The bridge spans 1.5 miles. It replaced a long, winding 62-mile route that took more than four hours to drive across.
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2016 - Actress Shailene Woodley is arrested for trespassing and engaging in a riot while protesting the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline.
Her arrest was filmed on Facebook Live and shared to her official page. It was viewed more than 2.7 million times in less than 24 hours.
She spent a few hours in the clink before posting a $500 bond and getting released.
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BIRTHDAYS
Geno Smith - football player - 33
Rose McIver - actress, “iZombie” & “The Lovely Bones” - 35
Matt Meese - comedian - 40
Dan Stevens - actor, “Downton Abbey” & “Beauty and the Beast” - 41
Cupid - R&B singer - 41
Mya - R&B singer - 44
Jodi Lynn O’Keefe - actress, “Nash Bridges” & “Hit the Floor” - 45
Dale Earnhardt Jr. - race car driver - 49
Mario Lopez - actor & TV show host, “Saved by the Bell” - 50
Brett Favre - football player - 54
Gavin Newsom - politician - 56
Steve Scalise - politician - 59
Jodi Benson - voice actress, “The Little Mermaid” - 62
Tanya Tucker - country singer - 65
David Lee Roth - rock singer, Van Halen - 69
Born On This Date
Helen Hayes - actress, “Caesar & Cleopatra” - 1900 (d. 1993)
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