On Today’s Show
➢ Last week was the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two, and there was a flyover above Houston National Cemetery on Sunday. When it ended, a bunch of people were leaving, and one woman didn’t want to sit in traffic. So she DROVE over dozens of graves to get around the cars while a bunch of families were there visiting. One woman had to block her car, so she wouldn’t drive over the grave of her father, who fought in World War Two.
➢ This is pretty impressive. A 16-year-old Indian boy used 5,450 playing cards to create a 10-foot, 7-inch model of the Burj Khalifa says he hopes the feat will break a Guinness World Record. Vishnu Vasu already made it into the Asia Book of Records for tallest house of cards when he built his replica for the landmark without using any glue or tape. He says it took five hours and 30 minutes to create, and that he hopes to one day break the Guinness Record by making a card structure that tops 23 feet.
➢ Andy Serkis raised more than $360,000 with his live reading of “The Hobbit” last Friday. The ‘Gollum’ actor read the entire novel in one sitting – a feat that took him just under 11 hours. Money raised from the “Hobbitathon” will be split between British National Health Service “Charities Together” and “Best Beginnings”, a children’s charity that Serkis is an ambassador for.
➢ A Virginia man waiting to cash in his $1,000 winning lottery ticket ended up winning an additional $177,777 before collecting his prize. Jeff Melick was waiting until the lottery’s customer service centers reopened to cash in his $1,000 winning scratch-off ticket when he purchased a Lucky 7s Tripler ticket. The ticket turned out to be a $177,777 top prize winner. He plans to use some of his winnings to pay it forward by taking care of strangers’ purchases at his local convenience store.
➢ I’m sure you’re used to seeing ice cream vans making their rounds every summer. But this year, there could be a new truck dropping by your neighborhood. A Toronto start-up called “Grocery Neighbour” is offering up a fleet of mobile supermarkets on wheels to allow people to buy groceries as they swing through the area. Founder Frank Sinopoli says the company will let people know where the grocery truck is, and when, via text message. Grocery trucks will only feature one aisle, but that aisle will contain “all the necessities” including refrigerated items. Three trucks will operate in the Toronto area this summer, and there are plans to expand to 1,000 truck across the country.
TODAY IS……………….
1998 [22] 76.3 million TV viewers tune in for the series finale of “Seinfeld” (NBC)
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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE
Jo Dee Messina‘s “My Give A Damn’s Busted” went to Number One in Billboard in 2005
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BOSTON POLICE OFFICER USES MATING CALL TO CAPTURE ESCAPED PEACOCK
A Boston Police Officer was recently very clever. Officers on patrol Monday (May 11th) in the area of Franklin Park Zoo got a tip from a concerned citizen that an animal had escaped from the zoo. That animal was a male peacock, and a police statement says, “An officer on scene relied on his quick wit to track down a peacock mating call on his cell phone, successfully luring the bird into a fenced yard where he waited patiently for the arrival of Boston Animal Control.”
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FOUR RANDOM FACTS
- The longest border between any two countries is . . . the border between the United States and Canada. It’s 5,525 miles, which is about 1,300 miles longer than any other border. (Number two is the Russia-Kazakhstan border.)
- Converse All Stars are technically basketball shoes, but no one’s worn them in the NBA since a player on the Atlanta Hawks named Tree Rollinsin 1980.
- Meat Loaf’salbum “Bat Out of Hell” came out in 1977, but still sells approximately 200,000 copies a year.
- Bob Rosswas almost as famous for his curly hair as he was for his paintings . . . but it was all a LIE. Before he got famous, he permed his hair to save money on haircuts. And once it became his signature look he stuck with it.
GOOD NEWS
A lot of doctors are worried they’ll bring the virus home. So RV owners have been lending their vehicles out through a Facebook group called RVs 4 MDs
A freshman at Georgetown named Liam Marshall has been selling yard signs that say “thank you” to healthcare workers and first responders. He’s donating the money to a charity called “Feed the Frontline.”
Mattel has a new line of Fisher-Price action figures based on frontline workers, including doctors, nurses, and EMTs. They’re calling it their “Thank You Heroes” line.
A family in Michigan sang “You Are My Sunshine” outside their grandmother’s nursing home on Mother’s Day. Now the video is trending online.
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BIRTHDAYS
[76] George Lucas, semi-retired filmmaker (“Star Wars” series, “Indiana Jones” series)
[51] Cate Blanchett, actress (“The Hobbit” films, 2004 Oscar-“The Aviator)
[36] Mark Zuckerberg, founder & CEO of Facebook/one-time ‘World’s Youngest Self-Made Billionaire’/net worth $76 billion
[35] Dustin Lynch, country singer
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FLOCK OF SEAGULLS BLAMED FOR EATING BAGS OF DONATED FOOD OUTSIDE OF FOOD BANK
A flock of the sea birds has been blamed for devouring dozens of donations left outside of a charity food bank in Worcester, England. The food bank posted about the gull attack on Facebook, writing in part, “Your donations are so precious to us—the last thing we want is seagulls dining out on them. That’s sadly what happened to these bags left outside our warehouse when we were closed. Please remember to only drop items off when we’re open—or call us and we can arrange a doorstep collection.”
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KALE TO ACTION:
If you’d like to eat healthier, but hate the taste of kale or broccoli or other veggies, just tough it out – it’ll get better.
New University of Buffalo research says that our taste buds can be trained to like vegetables. How? At the risk of sounding gross, every forkful of food that enters your mouth must first be dissolved by saliva before the taste receptor cells have a turn.
There are 1,000 proteins in our saliva, and these proteins are influenced by what we eat. So, the more we eat those bitter greens, the better they taste. And how many servings of vegetables that we don’t like does it take to adjust our taste buds?
Sorry, we don’t have a number, because everyone is different, but one of the study leads assures us that if you eat them, your taste “will eventually change”.
LINE UP:
Are you ready for the return…of line dancing? It’s happening.
While the popular dance craze of the 1970s has remained popular in country-western dance bars, people are now discovering that the style of dance that requires groups of people to stand and dance in rows facing the same direction without ever making physical contact is perfect for the era of social distancing.
And because of this, it seems the dance is making a comeback. In Toronto, a woman has been leading daily outdoor line dancing for people in her community. In Newfoundland, a group of people put on an outdoor show for residents of a seniors’ home which included a line dancing exhibition.
And last month, Calgary Police posted footage of officers doing a line dance with a number of community members. It’s not just a fun activity, it’s also a good way to get some exercise and a bit of socializing while maintaining physical distancing.
And some people are saying that line dancing could be brought back big-time by night-clubs as a way of keeping people together-apart once they begin to reopen.
THURSDAY MAY 14TH
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
[76] George Lucas, semi-retired filmmaker (“Star Wars” series, “Indiana Jones” series)
[51] Cate Blanchett, actress (“The Hobbit” films, 2004 Oscar-“The Aviator)
[36] Mark Zuckerberg, founder & CEO of Facebook/one-time ‘World’s Youngest Self-Made Billionaire’/net worth $76 billion
[35] Dustin Lynch, country singer
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- Cops in Florida are trying to identify a guy who attacked another customer at a liquor store . . . because the guy didn’t thank him for holding the door open. Here’s Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd talking about it.
- A family in Guelph found a way to get around social distancing on Mother’s Day. They built a “hug glove” . . . which is a plastic sheet with four plastic sleeves. They hung it over a clothesline and stood on one side, with grandma on the other side, so they could hugit out through the plastic.
- Jerry Seinfeld on men and women
- Restaurant fills seats with mannequins, oral hygiene, Las Vegas casino attempts to reopen, and a hurricane could be developing. (From Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers on Wednesday, May 13, 2020)
History has been made. For the first time ever in the U.S., more people bought trucks in April than cars.
Pickups outsold cars by just over 17,000 units. Granted, that’s a small lead, but one that’s grown in recent years. Americans have, by and large, defected to utility vehicles and shunned passenger cars. It’s reflected in automaker lineups, too. The Ford division doesn’t sell a single passenger car, Chevrolet sells just one mass-market sedan and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles continues to pitch three rather old car models: the Charger, Challenger and 300. That’s it.
BROTHERS OSBORNE’S NEW SINGLE REQUIRES ‘DANCING BOOTS’
Brothers Osborne have released a new single which they hope will bring some cheer to everyone quarantined at home during this global pandemic. The song is called “All Night” and John and TJ Osborne co-wrote it for their upcoming studio album.
John tells us: [“This is a song that we wrote with a good buddy of ours named Andrew DeRoberts. We love to write very heartfelt, deep songs, but every now and again you need a song that’s just about having a good time and partying and letting your hair down and not overthinking it. And that’s the song I feel like the world could probably need right about now with all the stress and quarantine that we’re going through, so put on your dancing boots, crank this one up and commence to dancin’.”] SOUNDCUE (:23 OC: . . . commence to dancin’.)
Brothers Osborne will do a special livestream performance for both free and paid fan club members today (Thursday, May 14th) at 3:30 p.m. ET but you must sign up to watch.
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KEITH URBAN, KELSEA BALLERINI SET TO PLAY OPRY THIS WEEKEND
Opry members Trace Adkins, Dustin Lynch, and Blake Shelton, along with special guest Gwen Stefani performed on the Grand Ole Opry’s 4,923rd consecutive Saturday night broadcast over the weekend. Gwen’s duet performance with Blake on their Number One single, “Nobody But You,” marked her Opry debut as they performed remotely from Ole Red in Tishomingo, Oklahoma near Blake’s home where the two artists are quarantined.
This weekend’s Opry performance lineup includes Opry members Keith Urban and Kelsea Ballerini as well as Morgan Evans. The show will be broadcast on Saturday (May 16th) live on Circle and Gray TV stations, DISH Studio Channel 102, Sling TV and other TV affiliates in addition to a companion live stream on Circle All Access and YouTube.
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Chris Young — has canceled a number of tour dates through August . Shows affected include those in Detroit, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Darien Center, NY, and Saratoga Springs, NY. There are a number of other dates on his “Town Ain’t Big Enough World Tour 2020” scheduled for May, June, July and August, so it’s unclear whether those will also be canceled.
