Today is Monday, August 28, 2023.
It is the 240th day of the year.
125 days remain.
PROGRAMMING NOTE
There will be no newsletter on Monday, September 4, in observance of Labor Day.
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WHAT’S ON TAP
The man behind the new FYRE FESTIVAL says things will be different next year because he’s hands-off the work that matters. More in HIT LIST.
New music is on the way from PRINCE’s estate and BRITNEY SPEARS’ divorce drama continues. More in SHOWBIZ.
AL PACINO will appear in a new rap video and more fallout from the ongoing Hollywood strikes. More in CASTING CALL.
KRIS JENNER and KIM KARDASHIAN hung out with MEGHAN MARKLE’s mom. More in KARDASH.
MEGHAN MARKLE finally figures out what it means to be royalty in America, apparently. More in ROYALS.
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HIT LIST
The guy behind the FYRE FESTIVAL and its carefully-watched follow-up event scheduled for next year said on Friday that he is very hands-off of the operations this time around.
BILLY MCFARLAND said during a recent Fox News interview that he is only focusing on the marketing and promotion of the event-redo and that the new management team isn’t letting him anywhere near the actual event logistics and production. He remained coy about the more specific time and location of the next event, saying that he’d get in trouble with the new management if he spilled any of the beans. [via MM Original Reporting]
WORTH NOTING: Daily Mail has confirmed that event manager ANDY KING is back in the fold this time around, too. In the 2019 Netflix documentary “Fyre,” King recalled a story in which he was ready to perform sex acts on a Bahamian official so the country’s customs department would release palettes of bottled water for festival guests. King said that while he was ready to do the deed, he ultimately didn’t have to. [via DailyMail]
ALSO WORTH NOTING: While festival-goers have no reason to believe him, he might face further legal liability if he announces a specific location and, for some reason, that has to change. There’s also a practical element: as soon as the event site is made public, the media is going to scrutinize its setup in detail. He deserves no benefit of the doubt, but if this is an effort to make money that will pay back the millions he owes in restitution to make investors, partners, and customers whole, he has every opportunity to prove that he has changed.
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Pete the Peacock has been a staple of a gated community near Las Vegas, where its owner has let the exotic bird roam free and endear itself to neighbors.
But on Thursday, Pete was found dying, stuck to a fence with an arrow sticking out of him and a secondary arrow wound.
A neighbor spotted the ailing bird and called in a veterinarian for help, who at one point tried to track down another peacock to facilitate a blood transfusion. Pete ultimately died. Local media describes neighbors as “devastated” by the news.
The homeowners association is asking residents to examine any home security footage to help track down the archer assassin. [via The Guardian]
WORTH ASKING: Do all peacocks have the same blood type?
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Artists Ryan Almighty and Terry Barr combined their fascination with Charles Manson -- as well as some remains of the cult leader -- to make an eerie creation.
The duo, who specialize in sculpting shrunken heads, teamed up to create a miniature Manson. After Barr sculpted the head, Almighty attached some of Manson’s gray hairs. He then added some ashes to the eyes.
The shrunken Manson head will be on display at Almighty’s private museum in Warren, Pennsylvania. [via TMZ]
WORTH NOTING: This isn’t the first time Manson ashes have been used in art. Almighty once used some in a “Helter Skelter” tattoo for a client. Last year, he also used some of Manson’s blood and ashes in paintings, which were later auctioned off to create a monument for one of the Manson Family victims.
ALSO: Almighty seems to have an endless supply of Manson remains; odd?
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REMEMBER VISHAL GARG?
He’s the CEO of Better.com, the online mortgage company, who in December 2021 laid off a bunch of employees at once over a Zoom call. He was accused of not showing enough tact in his handling of the firings, and issued a public apology for his failure “to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected.”
NOW: Better.com has gone public — and lost 93% of its stock value in a single day. [via TechCrunch]
MEANWHILE: Rates for a 30-year mortgage have hit a 22-year high, around 7.25%; home prices relative to median income is higher than the 2008 bubble; and the median cost to buy a house is over $2,700 a month thanks to high interest rates, a shocking 90% increase from 2020 levels.
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A woman in Florida is lucky to be alive after being impaled by a venomous stingray.
Kristie Cataffo-O’Brien said she and her husband were hanging out in knee-deep water along the shore of Bahia beach, when she laid back to cool off. Almost instantly, Kristie says she felt a sharp pain in her back, which she mistook at first to be a jellyfish sting. It wasn’t until she stood up that she realized she had been stabbed by a stingray.
After doctors surgically removed the barb, they told Kristie that it had gone about three-inches into her back and was only 3cm from hitting her lungs. She was quickly given something to combat the venom and any potential infection.
As for her recovery, doctors are monitoring Kristie for nerve damage. [via WFLA]
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DEATHS
BOB BARKER, longtime host of “The Price Is Right,” has died.
He passed away Saturday at his home of natural causes, according to his publicist Roger Neal.
Barker started hosting the gameshow when Richard Nixon was in the White House. He stayed with the show for 35 years, retiring in 2007. Barker’s tenure broke Johnny Carson’s record for continuous performances on the same network TV show.
He was 99.
MANDELA EFFECT: Several social media users swore they had already heard news of Barker’s passing…years ago.
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Actress HERSHA PARADY has died.
She passed away last Wednesday after a battle with meningioma.
Parady is best remembered for her role as schoolteacher Alice Garvey on “Little House on the Prairie.”
She was 78.
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Actress ARLEEN SORKIN has died.
She passed away last Thursday after battling several undisclosed health issues over the last few years, according to several reports.
Sorkin is best known for voicing DC Comics character Harley Quinn and playing Calliope Jones on “Days of Our Lives.”
She was 67.
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Olympic figure skater ALEXANDRA PAUL has died.
She passed away in a multi-car accident in Canada last Tuesday. Her 10-month-old son, who was also in the car, survived the crash.
Paul represented Canada in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
She was only 31.
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BREAKUPS
Comedian PETE DAVIDSON and actress CHASE SUI WONDERS have split after less than a year of dating.
News of their relationship ending comes just two months after Davidson checked himself into a rehab center for help managing his borderline personality disorder and PTSD. Wonders was reportedly a huge support system for him during that time.
No word on what caused the breakup.
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WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
10. Haunted Mansion: $2.1 million (down from 8)
9. The Hill: $2.5 million (new)
8. Retribution: $3.3 million (new)
7. Strays: $4.6 million (down from 5)
6. Meg 2: The Trench: $5.1 million (stayed at 6)
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem: $6.1 million (down from 4)
4. Oppenheimer: $9 million (down from 3)
3. Blue Beetle: $12.7 million (down from 1)
2. Barbie: $17.1 million (stayed at 2)
1. Gran Turismo: $17.3 million (new)
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BY THE NUMBERS
📈 The DOW added 247 points (0.73%) to close at 34,346 on Friday. The S&P was up 29 points (0.67%) to close at 4,405 and the NASDAQ added 126 points (0.94%) to close at 13,590.
🛢 WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE closed at $80 on Friday; BRENT CRUDE at $84.
⛽ The national average price of a GALLON OF GAS was $3.82 on Sunday.
₿ BITCOIN was trading around $26,000 Sunday.
🛩 There were more than 3,392 FLIGHTS delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Sunday and more than 100 such cancellations.
💰Tuesday night’s MEGA MILLIONS drawing will be for a $67 million jackpot or a $32.3 million cash payout. Tonight’s POWERBALL drawing will be for a $363 million jackpot $174.7 million cash payout.
SHOWBIZ NEWS
BRITNEY SPEARS allegedly needed stitches after splitting her head open during an explosive fight with estranged husband SAM ASGHARI prior to their divorce.
“She and Sam were going at it in a [London] hotel room, and it got so bad [that] she tripped and hit the coffee table, cracking her head open,” TMZ founder HARVEY LEVIN claimed in a new doc, “Britney Spears: Divorce and Despair.”
A source calls the claim false, telling Page Six that not only did the incident not occur, but the couple were “never even [in] London together.” [via Page Six]
MEANWHILE: Brit has reportedly gotten close to a former member of her staff who has a checkered past. An insider told Page Six that the guy was once hired as a housekeeper for the singer, without a proper background check. Had one been conducted, it would have shown several misdemeanors and a felony. Now, despite the guy having been fired, Britney is not hiding their budding friendship. [via Page Six]
CHEATER, CHEATER: No word on whether or not this is the guy Sam claims to have caught Brit cheating with, prompting him to file for divorce.
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New music from PRINCE is coming out this October.
Paisley Park Enterprises announced that his album “Diamonds and Pearls” is getting reissued, and will include 47 previously unreleased tracks.
The new release will also come with a 120-page photo book, a mix of the album on Blu-ray, and both audio and video of a concert where Prince previewed the “Diamonds And Pearls Tour” at his club, Glam Slam, in Minneapolis.
This is the third such release of Prince’s music. In 2019 his estate released the “1999 Super Deluxe Edition,” followed by “Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition” in 2020. [via People]
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ED SHEERAN announced he is planning to release a new album -- just three months after he dropped “-” (pronounced “Subtract”).
“Autumn Variations” is due out September 29.
Sheeran will also wrap up his “Mathematics Tour” next month. [via Instagram]
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ADELE had to be picked up off the floor backstage at her Vegas residency after her sciatica pain flared up.
“I am just going to sit down and rest my sciatica,” she told the crowd at her concert over the weekend, before jumping into details about her recent attack.
Sciatica is when a herniated disc puts pressure on part of the sciatic nerve, causing extreme pain, according to Mayo Clinic. [via The Sun, Mayo]
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Turns out KIM ZOLCIAK owes more than initially thought in credit card debt. According to court documents obtained by TMZ, the reality star owes more than $150,000 to SAKS/CAPITAL ONE.
The company says the card issued to Zolciak has a $115,000 limit and her last payment against the staggering amount was in September 2022.
The latest debt comes amid reports that she owes more than $1 million to the IRS and over $2,000 on a Target credit card.
On top of all that…Zolciak’s husband, KROY BIERMANN, has refiled for divorce, just months after calling off his initial filing. [via TMZ]
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CASTING CALL
TIMOTHEE CHALAMET’s upcoming “Dune: Part Two” has been pushed back to 2024 due to the ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes.
The movie was originally set to hit theaters on November 3 -- just a year out from when filming wrapped in 2022.
Other delayed films -- across multiple studios -- include, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” “Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim,” “Challengers,” “Kraven the Hunter” and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” sequel. [via Variety]
REMEMBER: Hollywood writers have been striking since May and actors joined them in July.
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BAD BUNNY has recruited legendary actor AL PACINO for one of his new music videos.
The two were spotted filming a scene for the video at Carbone in NoHo last week.
Insiders told Page Six that the project is “gangster related,” which tracks with Pacino’s history of starring in crime classics, such as the “Godfather” trilogy, “Scarface” and more. [via Page Six]
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Professional skateboarder TONY HAWK says he was once fired from being DAVID SPADE’s stunt double over their height difference.
He detailed the casting and subsequent firing on a recent episode of Spade and DANA CARVEY’s “Fly on the Wall” podcast, saying that he had been cast to play Spade’s stunt double in 1987’s “Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol, which was also the actor’s film debut.
For the first week of filming Hawk said he remembers producers saying, “I think that guy’s too tall,” and the director saying, “He’s a pretty good skater, but he’s a bad stunt double.” It was shortly after that he would be let go.
Fellow skater CHRIS MILLER would replace him in the role, though footage of Hawk skating still appears in the movie. [via Deadline]
BY THE WAY: Hawk is about 6ft 3in tall and Spade is only about 5ft 5in tall.
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The dead bird hat that Carrie Bradshaw (SARAH JESSICA PARKER) wore in the 2008 “Sex and the City” movie -- when she was left at the altar by Mr. Big -- has hit the auction block.
The headpiece, designed in the 1800s, is part of Sotheby’s inaugural Fashion Icons online sale, and is expected to fetch between $40,000 to $70,000.
Other items listed include a black sheep sweater worn by PRINCESS DIANA, an Alexander McQueen gown worn by actress KATE WINSLET to the 1998 Oscars and a vintage veil once worn by MADONNA. [via NY Post]
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VANNA WHITE’s future with “Wheel of Fortune” is still up in the air, with only two weeks to go until the show returns.
There are still a few “hiccups” producers are trying to figure out, though they want to get a deal done that will make all parties involved happy, an insider told the Daily Mail.
The upcoming 41st season of the gameshow is a momentous one -- it is PAT SAJAK’s last as host before he retires and RYAN SEACREST takes over and White’s last season per her contract. [via Daily Mail]
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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
Royalty collided on Saturday night with KRIS JENNER, KIM KARDASHIAN and MEGHAN MARKLE’s mom, DORIA RAGLAND, hanging out at the This is About Humanity charity event.
Hosted by actor HENRY WINKLER and his daughter, Zoe Winkler Reinis, the charity raises awareness and helps separated families at the southern border.
Others spotted at the event were JEFF BEZOS and LAUREN SANCHEZ. [via TMZ]
WORTH ASKING: Seems like a good schmoozing event…where was Meg?
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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
How much would you pay MEGHAN MARKLE to promote your company or brand or product on her Instagram account that currently has just over 80,000 followers?
Eric Schiffer — the social media expert who advises cast members of “Real Housewives” — tells the Daily Mail there’s no reason Meg couldn’t command a $1 million-per-post fee, akin to what high-level influencers earn for their posts.
Schiffer adds that with the relaunch of her account, Meg could become one of the most-followed personalities on Instagram. Another social media consultant suggests she could be one of the top-ten accounts on Instagram if that’s where she decides to focus her efforts, right alongside the Kardashians.
WORTH NOTING: Maybe she could have spared the world the last six years of drama if she figured out how to use social media to achieve this level of fame and influence instead of marrying into the British Royal Family to try to do it — when she could have been the American variety of royalty all along. [via DailyMail]
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DAY OF THE YEAR
National Red Wine Day
National Cherry Turnover Day
Radio Commercials Day
Race Your Mouse Around The Icons Day
National Heroes’ Day
Late Summer Bank Holiday
National Bow Tie Day
Crackers Over the Keyboard Day
Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day
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ON THIS DATE
1609 - Henry Hudson discovers and explores the Delaware Bay.
He had landed in North America on a mission to find a rumored Northwest Passage to Asia on behalf of the Dutch East India Company.
Hudson named the body of water South Bay, and despite not coming ashore, deemed the area good for settlement. The following year Samual Argell would name it Delaware Bay in honor of his employer, Virginia governor Lord DeLaWarr.
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1830 - The first American-built locomotive, “Tom Thumb,” races a horse-drawn car from Stockton and Stokes stage coach company from Baltimore to Ellicott Mills.
Due to mechanical issues with the locomotive the horse won!
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1884 - The first known photograph of a tornado is taken near Howard, South Dakota by F.N. Robinson.
The tornado, an estimated F4, was part of a family of storms that resulted in the death of six people.
There is debate over whether or not that is in fact the first photo of a tornado. Some believe the first photo was actually taken by A.A. Adams in Garnett, Kansas a few months earlier.
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1917 - Woman suffragists boldly protest outside the White House seeking their right to vote.
President Wilson was not believed to be personally in favor of giving women the right to vote, but alluded to throwing in his support mostly for political purposes.
He had been, after all, a professor at a women's college before his days in politics -- and had two daughters.
By January 1918 Wilson would support the movement, and the corresponding 19th amendment became law in 1920.
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1963 - Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his famous "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the National Mall.
Speaking at the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of 250,000, King encouraged racial equality and the end of discrimination.
The complete speech lasted only 16 minutes -- relatively short by today's standards.
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1968 - Hippies turn out en masse in Chicago to protest the Democratic Platform toward the Vietnam War during the Democratic National Convention.
The very public and highly visible riots helped reverse the American unity against communism during the Cold War. The protestors in Chicago were staunchly in favor of Eugene McCarthy getting the nomination for president, having run on a public anti-war platform.
Instead, Hubert Humphrey got the nod, and was demolished by Richard Nixon in November.
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1993 - The Galileo spacecraft discovers the first known asteroid to have its own moon.
The asteroid Ida is only about 32 miles long, and shaped like a giant potato. The moon was named Dactyl, and is less than a mile in diameter.
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1996 - Royals Charles and Diana formally end their marriage after 15 years.
Nearly one-sixth of the world tuned in to see their nuptials in 1981. Things went downhill quickly and they stopped living together in 1992. In June 1996 the Queen encouraged them to divorce.
Diana gave up her royal title, but was able to keep a home in Kensington Palace for the sake of her sons, the older of whom was heir to the throne.
She would die in a car accident one year later.
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2018 - Aretha Franklin lies in state at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit in a 24-carat coffin. Thousands of fans came to say their good-byes.
Her funeral would be held three days later.
The “Queen of Soul” died on August 16 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 76 years old.
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BIRTHDAYS
Honey Boo Boo - reality star, “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” - 18
Quvenzhane Wallis - actress, “Annie” - 20
Talia Jackson - actress, “Family Reunion” - 22
Bizarrap - music producer - 25
Bazzi - pop singer - 26
Kyle Massey - actor, “That’s So Raven” & “Cory in the House” - 32
Cassadee Pope - pop singer - 34
Armie Hammer - actor, “The Lone Ranger” & “Mirror Mirror” - 37
Kayla Ewell - actress, “The Bold and the Beautiful” & “The Vampire Diaries” - 38
LeAnn Rimes - country singer - 41
Jake Owen - country singer - 42
Cheryl Porter - jazz singer - 51
Jack Black - actor, “Shallow Hal” & “School of Rock” - 54
Sheryl Sandberg - COO of Facebook - 54
Shania Twain - country singer - 58
Jennifer Coolidge - actress, “White Lotus” & “Legally Blonde” - 62
Scott Hamilton - Olympic figure skater - 65
Born On This Date
Billy Grammer - country singer - 1925 (d. 2011)
Jack Kirby - cartoonist, X-Men, Hulk, Spider-Man & Captain America - 1917 (d. 1994)
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