On Today’s Show
➢A runaway porta-potty in Albuquerque took a trip along Route 66. Severe gusts of wind dislodged the mobile toilet, sending it on its journey down the road that once connected Chicago to Los Angeles. Several motorists and passengers caught footage of the traveling commode, and posted it to social media alongside songs like “Dust In The Wind” by Kansas.
➢It’s nice to hear a happy ending every now and then. North Yorkshire police, in England, say 80-year-old Harry Harvey was reported missing on Sunday afternoon (September 6th) after becoming separated from his hiking partner in Yorkshire Dales, a national park. A four-day search followed, but was called off on Wednesday (September 8th) when a wildlife photographer spotted Harvey at a pub during a press conference planned by his family and rescuers to spread the word of his disappearance. Harvey told reporters he got lost during a hailstorm and ended up camping out for three nights with equipment he had carried with him to hike. He was in good health and was not injured, but he was hungry.
➢Alligators are common in Florida, but luckily this wasn’t an actual alligator. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Twitter post that a sheriff’s deputy responded to a home on report of an alligator in a storage shed and arrived to find it was just an inflatable pool toy. The tweet says, “Deputy Trexler went to a call about an alligator in a storage shed. He came… he saw… he conquered the beast. He even knocked the wind out of it. Literally. The gator turned out to be a pool floatie.”
➢For the first time since the 1980s, vinyl records have outsold CDs. (!!!) In the first half of the year, vinyl accounted for $232.1 million of music sales. CDs only brought in $129.9 million.
Vinyl grew by 4% in the first half of 2020, while CD sales were down 48%. Overall, physical sales are down 23%.
Which isn’t all THAT surprising, since the world is pretty much moving to streaming and digital music . . . and records are the only physical medium that’s “trendy” right now.
Streaming is up 12%, and accounts for more than 85% of music industry revenue.
➢ Sylvester Stallone has revealed plans for a new”director’s cut” of “Rocky IV” to mark the film’s 35th anniversary. Although he hasn’t revealed many details about the new edit of the movie, he did mention that Paulie’s robot – which belonged to Burt Young’s character – will be scrapped from the reissue. Responding to a follower on social media, he wrote: ”The robot is going to the junkyard forever, no more robot”.
TODAY IS……………….
- “International Country Music Day”, established in the 1950s to promote country music and to unite its fans all over the world.
1972 [48] “M*A*S*H” premieres on CBS-TV (lasts 11 seasons; the finale sets a record as the all-time highest-rated TV series episode)
1920 [100] The NFL is organized in Canton OH as 12 teams pay a fee of $100 each to obtain franchises (current value of Dallas Cowboys franchise: $5.7 billion)
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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE
1993 Alan Jackson was at #1 with A Lot About Livin’ (And a Little ’bout Love) his first #1 Album. The singles “Chattahoochee”, and “She’s Got the Rhythm (And I Got the Blues)” from the album were both #1’s and the album won Academy of Country Music’ album of the year award.
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There’s a Guy Who Gets Paid to Go to People’s Funerals
There’s a private investigator named Bill Edgar in Queensland, Australia, and he provides an amazing service: People who are dying hire him for $10,000 to show up at their funeral and TELL SECRETS or SETTLE SCORES with their family.
He’s been offering the service for two years and he’s crashed 22 funerals so far.
For example . . . quote, “I blend in with the mourners. I sit with the family and friends, in the middle of everybody. I was to tell the best [friend] knew he’d been trying to have an affair with his wife.”
Another time he says he was hired to tell mourners at a biker’s funeral that his client was gay and his significant other was in the audience.
He also says his clients hire him to get rid of stuff they don’t want their family to find, like, quote, “money, drugs, guns, or pornography.”
And if this sounds like something out of a movie . . . it’s going to be. Bill has signed a deal to have his life developed into a film or TV show.
FOUR RANDOM FACTS
- Right-handed people tend to scratch with their left hand, and vice-versa.
- Cheerios were called CheeriOats when they debuted in 1941. The name was changed in 1945.
- The Russian delegation showed up 12 days late to the 1908 Olympics in London, because they were still using the old Julian calendar . . . and didn’t realize the rest of the world had switched to the Gregorian calendar.
- Neil deGrasse Tysonis one of the most famous astrophysicists in the world. Turns out he’s also a fantastic DANCER . . . and won a gold medal at a dance meet in 1985 doing Latin Ballroom for the University of Texas dance team.
GOOD NEWS
There’s an 11-year-old girl in Massachusetts with autism named Ashlyn MacDonald.
And ever since the pandemic hit, she’ll only eat SpaghettiOs.
Her mom couldn’t find them in stores, so other people started donating cans.
And now she’s set, because the SpaghettiOs people heard about it . . . and they’re planning to give them an entire year’s worth. (Here’s an interview her mom Crystal did last week.)
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BIRTHDAYS
[55] Kyle Chandler, actor (“Friday Night Lights” 2006-11, “Bloodline” 2015-17) COMING UP…“Godzilla vs. Kong” 2021
[35] Alexander Ovechkin, NHL left winger (Washington Capitals captain with 706 career goals, 8th all-time, first among active players)/Stanley Cup 2018
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Are These Gadgets Worth Buying or Way Overrated?
“The New York Times” tech blog recently ran a list of gadgets you SHOULDN’T buy. Because they’re not worth the money, or other options are better. Here’s a quick rundown of what they found . . .
- Stop buying Apple chargers and other name-brand cables. You can find generic cables that are almost as good now, and a lot cheaper.
- Air fryers. They’re not much better than a regular oven. And if you’re hoping for the same taste as deep-fried, you’ll be disappointed.
- Keurig coffee makers. They say the best you get is diner coffee. And at worst, it’s “hot brown water.” Every other brewing method makes better coffee, but if you like the convenience, Nespresso machines are decent.
- Avoid essential oil insect repellents . . . sticky bug traps . . . and bug zappers. Regular old bug spray is best. The zappers you hang outside do kill a lot of bugs, but the wrong kind. So they’re bad for the environment.
- For pets, avoid “smart” feeders . . . pet cameras . . . and automatic litter boxes. The feeders aren’t that “smart.” Security cameras and cheaper and better. And automatic litter boxes malfunction a lot, and end up being a bigger hassle than a normal litter box.
- Here are a few more random things they say to avoid: Wi-Fi toothbrushes are overpriced and dumb . . . tower fans don’t work well . . . most baby bottle warmers suck . . . and adding extra antivirus software to your computer is pointless.
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VIDEO GAME STIMULATES EXPERIENCE OF FLYING ECONOMY CLASS
Who would ever want to “play” this game is unclear, but it exists anyway. Airplane Mode is a game that is billed as “the only flight simulation game where players can experience the intense excitement of being an economy class passenger on a long-haul flight.”
The game only allows the player to rifle through in-flight magazines, play Sudoku, watch movies from the 1930s, or gaze out the window. The players also get in-flight meals, experience turbulence, and WiFi outages.
The game is expected to be released on PC and Mac computers this year, and offers two flights: a six-hour trip from New York to Reykjavik, Iceland, and a 2.5-hour flight from New York to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 17TH
- Yep, 2020. Last night’s ACMs ended with a TIE for Entertainer of the Year between
CARRIE UNDERWOOD and THOMAS RHETT. It was the first time that’s happened, and let’s hope it’s the last. It defeats the purpose.
(Taste of Country looked at how a tie at the ACMs could even happen.)
Other big winners were LUKE COMBS who won Top Male Vocalist plus Album of the Year for “What You See Is What You Get” . . . and OLD DOMINION who won Top Vocal Group, and Song of the Year for “One Man Band”.
- The L.A. Dodgers became the first MLB team to clinch a playoff spot yesterday (September 16th) with a 7-5 win over the San Diego Padres. There is an expanded 16-team playoffs during this coronavirus-shortened, 60-game season.
The Big 10 announced Wednesday (September 16th) that it had reversed its decision to postpone the football season to the spring because of the coronavirus pandemic and will now play in the fall. The one-eighty came less than five weeks after the Big 10 said the season would move to the spring. The conference said it plans to begin its football season the weekend of October 23rd, and all 14 teams will play a condensed schedule of eight regular-season games in eight weeks, plus have the opportunity to play a ninth game on December 19th when the conference championship game is played.
The NCAA men’s and women’s basketball season will begin on November 25th, the day before Thanksgiving, with the Division I Council voting yesterday (September 16th) to push the start date back from the originally scheduled November 10th. The later date lines up with most schools having decided to send students home from Thanksgiving until January because of concerns about a coronavirus surge during that time. Having closed campuses could provide a bubble-like atmosphere for players.
- A guy in Arkansas stolea package from a woman’s porch, and left behind a piece of paper listing books of the Bible.
- Did you know that Howie Mandel, one of the judges on “America’s Got Talent”, has done a lot of movie and cartoon characters? (From “The 3rd Annual Howie Mandel Stand-Up Gala” on Wednesday, January 10, 2018)
BRAD PAISLEY
- Brad Paisley – He and his wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley have pledged to donate one million meals to those in need. Meal company Tiller & Hatch, which they co-founded, has partnered with Feeding America member food banks for the initiative, which was announced on Monday.
- “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/Global): Rainn Wilson, guest host Brad Paisley (R)
Carrie Underwood and Thomas Rhett Tied for Entertainer of the Year at Last Night’s ACMs
Yep, 2020. Last night’s ACMs ended with a TIE for Entertainer of the Year between
CARRIE UNDERWOOD and THOMAS RHETT. It was the first time that’s happened, and let’s hope it’s the last. It defeats the purpose.
(Taste of Country looked at how a tie at the ACMs could even happen.)
Other big winners were LUKE COMBS who won Top Male Vocalist plus Album of the Year for “What You See Is What You Get” . . . and OLD DOMINION who won Top Vocal Group, and Song of the Year for “One Man Band”.
The show took-off when the talent did, which brings us to MIRANDA LAMBERT at the Bluebird Café doing a stripped-down version of, what else, “Bluebird”. Luke Combs also had a Bluebird moment with his song “Better Together”.
Old school country was honored with Carrie Underwood’s salute to the Opry’s most iconic females. She did a medley of songs from Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, and Martina McBride. They were in good hands.
This Year’s ACM Award Winners:
Entertainer of the Year: Tie between Carrie Underwood and Thomas Rhett
Top Male Vocalist: Luke Combs
Top Female Vocalist: Maren Morris
Top Vocal Group: Old Dominion
Top Vocal Duo: Dan + Shay
Album of the Year: “What You See Is What You Get”, Luke Combs
Song of the Year: “One Man Band”, Old Dominion
Single Record of the Year: “God’s Country”, Blake Shelton
New Male Vocalist of the Year: Riley Green
New Female Vocalist of the Year: Tenille Townes
Video of the Year: Thomas Rhett, “Remember You Young”
FGL’S TYLER HUBBARD AND FAMILY AT THE HOSPITAL
Tyler Hubbard figured he’d be at the hospital yesterday because it was his wife Hayley’s due date. Well, they were there . . . but it was because their two-year-old daughter Olivia had to get stitches after falling on a coffee table.
