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John Legend and Chrissy Teigen introduce their new Basset Hound puppy, Pearl

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Bacardi

Following the death of their beloved dog, Pippa, singer John Legend and wife Chrissy Teigen opened their hearts and homes to a puppy — a Bassett Hound named Pearl.

Teigen announced last week that Pippa, a 10-year-old French Bulldog, had passed away “in my arms.” The death left the family heartbroken, she said.

Legend, 42, and Teigen, 35, announced on Tuesday that they welcomed a four-legged member into their family.

“Pearl has touched down into the legend/teigen/stephens household! We love this little girl so much already but I will admit, she has definitely taken to John first,” Teigen gushed while sharing a few photos and video of the brown and white puppy roaming around her home. “I grew up with Basset Hounds so I can’t wait for John to see this bouncy, no-bones, jello mold of skin grow into the stubborn logs of love I love so much.”

Teigen also confirmed that their other dog, a French Bulldog named Penny, is already “obsessed with her.”

Chrissy added there was a special meaning behind the puppy’s name by writing in a comment, “Pippa – we hope you love her name. A tribute to you! You were always an iconic, different lady when your pearls were on. I’ll never forget when they shattered in front of you and you sunk into a funk for weeks until we got you a new one.”

Teigen later shared an adorable video to her Instagram story of her and Legend’s three-year-old son, Miles, bonding with the puppy.

Also taking to Instagram to welcome the newest addition, Legend shared a crop of photos and gushed, “Meet our newest family member Pearl!”

The “All of Me” singer made sure to include a photo of Pearl snuggling on his lap.

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Dream Theater announces new album, ‘A View from the Top of the World’

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Dream Theater has announced a new album called A View from the Top of the World.

The 15th studio effort from the prog metallers will arrive October 22. It consists of seven songs — the title track, which closes the album, is over 20 minutes long.

“We just love to play our instruments,” says guitarist John Petrucci. “That never goes away. I love to be creative, write, and exercise that part of my mind. We’ve been able to do this for a long time, and we don’t take it for granted. Whenever we get together, we know we can’t disappoint ourselves or our fans, so we manage to try even harder.”

Dream Theater will launch a tour in support of A View beginning October 28 in Mesa, Arizona. For ticket info and the full list of dates, visit DreamTheater.net.

Here’s the A View from the Top of the World track list:

“The Alien”
“Answering the Call”
“Invisible Monster”
“Sleeping Giant”
“Transcending Time”
“Awaken the Master”
“A View from the Top of the World”

“‘Bella Donna’ was a dream”: Stevie Nicks celebrates 40th anniversary of her first solo album

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Tuesday marked 40 years since the release of Stevie Nicks‘ solo debut album, 1981’s Bella Donna. Now the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has released an essay explaining how important the album is to her.

On her socials, Stevie writes that “Bella Donna was a dream…I did not want the record to sound anything like Fleetwood Mac. That would have defeated the dream.” Instead, she explains, she wanted her and her two backup singers Lori and Sharon to sound like “the girl version of Crosby, Stills & Nash.”

According to Stevie, the inspiration for the album was a poem she wrote, inspired by her then-boyfriend’s mother, Maria Teresa Rojas. As Stevie tells it, Rojas’ lover in Chile was “banished to France” after the Chilean coup of 1973.

“She never saw him again,” Stevie writes. “I was so touched by this story of lost love that I wrote Bella Donna. The moment the poem and then the song was finished, I knew I had the basis for my first solo record.”

Stevie goes on to say that Bella Donna “defined how I would feel about love forever,” adding, “I could not have been more proud of those songs, or the three months it took [us] to craft it. It did not break up Fleetwood Mac. If anything, it kept us together.”

And finally, Stevie notes that Bella Donna “opened the doors of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, took my hand and invited me in for my own work…the thing I am most proud of. And all because of a tragic love affair that caused… an important and relevant song to be turned into a story that the world seemed to love.”

Bella Donna topped the Billboard 200 album chart and has since been RIAA-certified four-times Platinum on the strength of hits including “Edge of Seventeen,” “Leather and Lace,” and its highest-charting single, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a duet with the late rock legend Tom Petty.

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Mandatory vaccines for some New York state-run hospital workers

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday announced that all patient-facing health care workers in hospitals run by the state will be required to get vaccinated. He said, “There will be no testing option.”

Additionally, as of Labor Day, all state employees must either be vaccinated or get tested on a weekly basis.

Governor Cuomo said the decision was made due to the “dramatic action” needed to control a surge in COVID-19 cases linked to the Delta variant. He said school districts in areas of high transmission should also consider taking a more aggressive approach.

“I understand the politics, but I understand if we don’t take the right actions, schools can become super-spreaders in September,” Cuomo said.

Calling on private sector businesses, Cumo said they should incentivize vaccinations by only allowing vaccinated people in.

75% of adults in New York state have been vaccinated.

Walmart announces plan to pay 100% of college tuition for employees

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(BENTONVILLE, Ark.) — America’s largest private employer announced on Tuesday that it will pay for college tuition and books for associates, in full.

In a press release, Walmart says it will also eliminate the $1 per day fee from its Live Better U education program, which provides workers with access to training or a degree. The company says with these changes, “approximately 1.5 million part-time and full-time Walmart and Sam’s Club associates in the U.S. can earn college degrees or learn trade skills without the burden of education debt.”

Lorraine Stomski, the company’s senior vice president of learning and leadership, said the move would create “a path of opportunity for our associates to grow their careers at Walmart, so they can continue to build better lives for themselves and their families.”

The company also noted it will add four academic partners, bringing the total number of institutions it works with to ten. The new partners include Johnson & Wales University, the University of Arizona, the University of Denver, and Pathstream.

Earlier this year, Walmart announced it would raise its starting pay to $11 per hour. That move, which affected approximately 425,000 employees, brought the company’s average pay to $15 per hour.

Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson tests positive for COVID-19, will miss start of training camp

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(BALTIMORE) — Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has tested positive for COVID-19, the team announced Wednesday, keeping him off the field for the team’s first training camp workout.

Head coach John Harbaugh says the test came back on Tuesday, and that Jackson had repeatedly tested negative in the preceding days. The NFL was working to process and evaluate the results as of Wednesday morning.

Jackson is the second Ravens player to test positive this week, after running back Gus Edwards. In Jackson’s absence, Trace McSorley and Tyler Huntley took most of the practice snaps on Day One.

The 2019 NFL MVP tested positive for COVID-19 last Thanksgiving, missing a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers because of the virus. He was activated from the COVID-19 reserve list less than two weeks later.

Jackson was one of 20 Ravens to spend time on the COVID-19 reserve list last season, including an outbreak in November and December where at least one player tested positive for ten consecutive days.

Check out Kanye West’s living arrangement while finishing Donda in Mercedes-Benz stadium

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Universal Music Group

Kanye West is showing off his current living situation.

After reports that the rapper is hunkering down in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz stadium as he puts the finishing touches on his 10th audio album, DONDA, he shared a snap of the room that’s presumably his.

The caption-less photo, which Ye posted to Instagram on Tuesday evening, shows a room with just the bare essentials in it — a bed, TV and closet. There are also shoes lined up along the wall next to an open suitcase, some workout equipment and a bottle of water next to the bed.

Last week the “Power” rapper held a sold-out listening event at the stadium for his upcoming album, with its release intended for Friday, July 23. However, the album never dropped and now has a reported release date of August 6.

Since then, the Yeezy designer’s team has has turned parts of the venue into a designated recording and living space, complete with a chef, according to TMZ.

Ye first teased DONDA, which is named after his late mother Donda West, in March 2020 and said it was slated to come out that July, but failed to materialize. It was later announced that the release was canceled because the rapper was further tweaking it. Can someone say deja vu?

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FOOtball: Jason Sudeikis reveals how “My Hero” inspired ‘Ted Lasso’ season 2

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Dave Grohl is often referred to as the nicest guy in rock, so it’s perhaps no surprise that the Foo Fighters helped shape one of today’s most heartwarming shows.

On the latest episode of Mark Hoppus‘ After School Radio Apple Music Hits program, Ted Lasso co-creator and star Jason Sudeikis revealed how the Foos classic “My Hero” inspired the just-premiered second season of the beloved soccer comedy.

“‘My Hero’ was the first time that I heard a song and I felt, I saw a whole movie about that song,” Sudeikis explains. “At least my interpretation of it.”

“I’m sure [Grohl’s] spoken about it somewhere, but I’ve never sort of tried to research what it was about, but I knew what it was about for me,” he continues. “And some of those themes are literally being used in season two of Ted Lasso.”

“My Hero,” of course, finds Grohl describing his own hero as “ordinary.”

“Just the idea of false prophets or don’t meet your heroes or the idea of all statues have clay feet, I think is another example of that,” Sudeikis says. “People are human.”

Ted Lasso is streaming now on Apple TV+.

Now we know why Sting was hanging with Selena Gomez, Steve Martin & Martin Short in January

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Back in January, Steve Martin posted a photo of himself with Martin Short and Selena Gomez — his co-stars in the upcoming Hulu series Only Murders in the Building — and Sting was in the picture, too. At the time, Martin wrote that it was a “special day” on set, but Hulu wouldn’t confirm that Sting was actually in the show. Well, now we know he is.

The full trailer for the series has dropped, and the former Police frontman makes an appearance as himself. The show follows Martin, Gomez and Short as the three true-crime fanatics who decide to do a podcast about the murder of one of the residents of their New York City apartment building — and attempt to solve the crime in the process.

In the trailer, we learn that the police believe the murderer is one of the building residents, and we see Sting, who is seemingly one of those residents, opening the door to his palatial apartment. “There’s a very strong chance the killer is musical superstar Sting,” declares Short.

“The guy from U2?” Gomez asks, prompting to Martin to wince at the young star’s appalling lack of knowledge about one-named singers of iconic ’80s bands.

Of course, in real life, Sting does own a palatial apartment in New York City, so the casting is somewhat believable.

Only Murders in the Building debuts August 30 on Hulu.

(Trailer contains uncensored profanity.)

Lucy Liu addresses rumors she “stood up” to Bill Murray on ‘Charlie’s Angels’ set

July 28, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Lucy Liu cleared the air about what really happened between her and Bill Murray on the set of Charlie’s Angels.

Liu, who starred as Alex in the hit 2000 film, spoke with Los Angeles Times‘ Asian Enough podcast Tuesday and recalled the tumultuous relationship she had with Murray, who played Bosley.

The Chinese-American actress said the two had an argument after she rehearsed a scene Murray was unable to join because he had to attend a “family gathering.” When he returned, Liu said he began to “hurl insults” that “kept going on and on.”

“I was, like, ‘Wow, he seems like he’s looking straight at me,'” the Emmy nominee recalled. “I say, ‘I’m so sorry. Are you talking to me?’ And clearly he was, because then it started to become a one-on-one communication.”

Liu, who said she had “the least amount of privilege in terms of creatively participating” in the movie because “I was the last one cast,” didn’t tolerate the way Murray allegedly treated her.

“Some of the language was inexcusable and unacceptable, and I was not going to just sit there and take it,” the 52-year-old actress continued. “So, yes, I stood up for myself, and I don’t regret it. Because no matter how low on the totem pole you may be or wherever you came from, there’s no need to condescend or to put other people down. And I would not stand down, and nor should I have.”

Liu revealed that, several years after Charlie’s Angels hit theaters, cast members approached her and said “they were really grateful that I did that.”

“I have nothing against Bill Murray at all,” she clarified, saying they’ve run into each other since and been cordial. “But I’m not going to sit there and be attacked.”

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