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Where NYC stands as COVID-19 vaccine deadline looms for city employees

October 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As the clock counts down, nearly 80% of New York City municipal employees have complied with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, city officials said.

Nearly all city workers, including police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians, have until 5 p.m. Friday to get at least one dose of the vaccine or be placed on unpaid leave, starting Monday.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has said the city anticipates that many outstanding employees will get vaccinated close to the deadline, and city agencies have been making final pushes to drive up their numbers.

On Thursday, more than 1,000 NYPD members got their first shot, Commissioner Dermot Shea said. As of Friday morning, 80% of the department was vaccinated, Shea said on 1010 WINS radio. He said he believes that the department will be in “good shape for Monday morning,” but will move resources to ensure appropriate coverage.

Prior contingency plans are “being actually scaled-down” as NYPD officials watch vaccination rates rise, with Shea telling Channel 5 on Friday they’re now more concerned about filling “individual shifts” than staffing precincts on Monday.

“We will move resources around. We have had significant increase in people getting vaccinated in the past three days, and that’s the good news,” Shea told Channel 5. “The contingencies are there. New Yorkers should not, should not, be worried about this.”

Elsewhere, as of Friday morning, 71% of FDNY members were vaccinated, including 65% of firefighters and 80% of EMS workers.

The day before the deadline, the city’s firefighters’ unions organized an anti-vaccine mandate rally, filling the entire block in front of Gracie Mansion, home to de Blasio. Union leaders have argued that members have not had enough time to decide on the vaccine mandate. It was announced Oct. 20.

De Blasio stood by the deadline, saying at press briefing Thursday, “If we don’t stop COVID, New Yorkers will die. We must, must stop COVID and the way to do that is vaccination. And that must include our public employees.”

As of 8 p.m. Thursday, 79% of the city’s workforce affected by Friday’s deadline have gotten at least one shot, with 33,400 employees still unvaccinated, according to city-data. Nearly 90% of the city’s 300,000-plus workforce is vaccinated, including school and hospital employees who faced earlier deadlines.

Those who don’t comply with the mandate will be placed on unpaid leave and their future employment will be resolved in negotiations with individual labor unions.

Uniformed correction officers have until Dec. 1 to show proof of vaccination.

In new book ‘The Lyrics,’ Paul McCartney now claims he wrote opening lines to “A Day in the Life”

October 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Paul McCartney apparently is now claiming that he wrote the opening lines to the classic 1967 Beatles song “A Day in the Life,” which previously had been attributed to the late John Lennon.

The Daily Mail reports that in McCartney’s upcoming book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, he claims that when he wrote the lyrics “He blew his mind out in a car/ He didn’t notice that the lights had changed,” he was thinking about Guinness heir Tara Browne, who was killed in a 1966 car crash.

The newspaper points out that Lennon had once said that Browne “was in my mind when I was writing that verse,” while McCartney was quoted as saying in a 1997 biography that when the song was being written, he envisioned the lines being about “a politician bombed out on drugs who’d stopped at some traffic lights and didn’t notice that the lights had changed.”

Paul then added that the lyrics had been attributed to being about “Tara Browne, which I don’t believe is the case.”

The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present will be published this Tuesday, November 2. A new video trailer promoting the book has been posted on McCarntey’s official YouTube channel that shows clips of Paul chatting with British comedian and podcast presenter Bob Mortimer about different aspects of the book and his career.

Topics Sir Paul touches on in the trailer include writing songs with Lennon, and forgetting the lyrics to “Blackbird” while he was performing at New York’s Grand Central Station in 2018. The video also captures McCartney checking out the new exhibit focusing on his book that will be opening at the British Library in London on November 5.

You can pre-order The Lyrics now.

Tracee Ellis Ross reflects on ‘black-ish’ ahead of series finale

October 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

black-ish was renewed for its eighth and final season back in May, and Tracee Ellis Ross, who plays the Johnson family matriarch Dr. Rainbow “Bow” Johnson, says the final show will be a bittersweet moment for her.

“I’m ready for it to be the end, and also it’s going to be really hard. I mean, eight years we’ve watched the TV kids grow up. We’ve watched [Anthony Anderson’s] beard do tons of different things,” she tells Harper’s Bazaar.

“But also, I found my voice. It came before, but I really started using it during black-ish,” adds the 49-year-old actress.

Ross says the show has offered her “a different and larger platform” to speak out on issues of representation in media and political representation for women. That included hosting the second night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention and highlighting Kamala Harris‘ historic nomination for vice president.

black-ish premiered in 2014 and has earned three Emmy Awards. Ross won a Golden Globe in 2017 for her work on the show and, in doing so, became the first Black actress to win best actress in a TV comedy Golden Globe since Debbie Allen in 1983.

Watch animated video for Ozzy Osbourne & Lemmy’s mash-up “Hellraiser”

October 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

A new video has been released for the mash-up duet version of Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy‘s song “Hellraiser.”

The animated clip starts with the two rock legends playing an arcade game together at the late Motörhead frontman’s beloved Rainbow Bar and Grill in Los Angeles when aliens start invading. Somehow, things get even stranger from there.

“I’m so glad we were able to honor my dear friend Lemmy with this duet and now the video,” Ozzy says. “We immortalized him with a clip of the two of us being together, hanging out and getting into some trouble as we so often did.”

You can watch the “Hellraiser” video streaming now on YouTube.

The original “Hellraiser” appears on Osbourne’s 1991 solo album No More Tears, and is one of four songs off the record co-written by Lemmy. Motörhead then recorded their own version of “Hellraiser” for 1992’s March ör Die.

The duet version, which combines Ozzy’s and Lemmy’s vocals from their respective recordings, is included on the 30th anniversary reissue of No More Tears, which was released in September.

Michael Ray rounds up an all-star cast for his “Higher Education” music video

October 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Michael Ray will debut the music video for his album title track, “Higher Education” tonight, and he’s bringing a rowdy crowd of friends along to help him do it.

Lee Brice, Kid Rock, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, and Tim Montana are all featured guests on Michael’s song, an anthemic tip-of-the-hat to the working-class life lessons the singer and his pals have all learned outside the classroom.

Tonight, Lee and Tim are helping Michael introduce the visual aspect of the song to fans: They’ll join him for a YouTube Premium-exclusive after-party, which will take place directly after the video premieres on YouTube at 6 p.m. CT.

Michael recently got warmed up for his music video’s debut with a stop on Fox and Friends, where he and Tim — who’s also a songwriter on “Higher Education” — discussed the track. They also shared a performance video of the song, which was filmed at Music City venue the Nashville Palace.

Listen to previously unreleased Of Monsters and Men song, “Phantom”

October 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Of Monsters and Men has shared a previously unreleased song called “Phantom.”

The track, which vocalist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir first wrote at age 16 while growing up in Iceland, is included on the newly released 10th anniversary reissue of Of Monsters and Men’s 2011 debut album, My Head Is an Animal.

“It was one of those songs that belonged to an era before the band but also these first few years that the band was forming and finding our sound,” Nanna says of “Phantom.”

“We never recorded it but it was always very important to our history and believe it was patiently waiting all these years,” she adds. “I’m so incredibly happy this song finally found a home and that we get to share it with you!”

The My Head Is an Animal reissue is out today. It also includes another previously unreleased song called “Sugar in a Bowl.”

Of Monsters and Men will keep the 10th anniversary celebration going with a batch of special concerts in Iceland in November. Streams of the shows will be available to watch in December.

Here’s the scoop: President Biden didn’t actually give Olivia Rodrigo a shoehorn

October 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

So maybe President Biden’s gift to Olivia Rodrigo wasn’t quite as weird as we thought?

While on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this week, the 18-year-old singer said that one of the gifts she received after visiting the White House was a shoehorn engraved with the presidential emblem. But now she’s clarifying that the “shoehorn” was actually an ice cream scoop.

“thank u for having me @jimmykimmellive !!! also thank u to my mom who told me this president biden ice cream scoop was a shoe horn and let me repeat it on national television lolllll,” Olivia wrote on Instagram.

She also included a photo of said ice cream scoop.

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50 Cent, Lil Uzi Vert, Jack Harlow and surprise guest Lil Nas X kick off Rolling Loud New York

October 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

The second annual Rolling Loud New York kicked off Thursday with several surprises, including an unannounced appearance by Lil Nas X.

For Jack Harlow‘s encore, he brought out Lil Nas, wearing a white puffer jacket and ripped black pants, to perform their number-one hit, “Industry Baby,” according to Billboard.

Lil Uzi Vert provided fans with the first performance of three tracks from his upcoming album, The Pink Tape, followed by his hits “POP,” “XO TOUR Llif3” and “Do What I Want.”

Thursday’s headliner 50 Cent rapped “Many Men,” “Hate It or Love It, and “P.I.M.P.”, and then was joined by A$AP Rocky for “LPFJ2,” followed by DaBaby performing “Masterpiece.”

Rolling Loud New York continues Friday, headlined by J. Cole, and wraps up Saturday with headliner Travis Scott.

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Will Agatha Harkness get her own ’WandaVision’ spinoff? Star Kathryn Hahn weighs in

October 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

With the Marvel Cinematic Universe expanding further into television, fans are hopeful that the MCU is brewing up a WandaVision spinoff series about Agatha Harkness, who was played by standout star Kathryn Hahn.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, the Emmy-nominated actress was asked if everyone’s favorite nosy neighbor will be getting her last laugh on the Disney+ streaming service. But all Hahn was willing to part with was, “Anything can happen.”

“Listen, I don’t even know if there is such a thing as a WandaVision spinoff,” she continued, referencing reports from earlier this month that one was underway. “All I can say is, I love Agatha and, as we know, anything can happen in Marvel. So who knows.”

Reports of a potential spinoff sparked in early October when Deadline seemingly confirmed a show about Agatha Harkness was in the works.

Fans remain hopeful the rumors are true, citing the character’s rich comic history. Agatha made her debut 51 years ago in the 1970 comic book Fantastic Four #94 — giving showrunners plenty of material to translate onto the small screen, and maybe even the big screen.

It is rumored that Agatha will make her movie debut soon, with fans speculating about a possible Agatha cameo in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness because it features Scarlet Witch, played by WandaVision star Elizabeth Olsen, as a main character.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

‘Squid Game’-inspired cryptocurrency shot up 82,000% in first days of trading

October 29, 2021 by WDNY Radio

A cryptocurrency based on — but not licensed by — the smash Netflix show Squid Game is smashing expectations.

The digital currency SQUID began trading Tuesday at just $0.01235. As of around 12:30 p.m. Friday, it was worth $10.41 — a gain of more than 82,000%.

That’s a market cap potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But there’s a catch.

For those traders with visions of the show’s giant piggy bank, take note: the crypto trading site CoinMarketCap warned potential investors, “We have received multiple reports that the users are not able to sell this token in [the online crypto exchange] Pancakeswap. Please exercise caution while trading!”

The New York Post notes the issue might be a mechanism within the currency’s creators that doesn’t allow so-called “pump and dump” activity for it.

So why was SQUID created? Evidently for a crypto-based online tournament called the Squid Game Project, which launches in November and promises to replicate the games on the popular show, with its crypto both required to play and at stake as prizes.

Unlike the show, however, SQUID’s organizers note, “we do not provide deadly consequences” for losing, declaring, “Your experience will only reflect on the joy of winning rewards and sorrow of losing money when the game [is] failed.”

Also unlike the show Squid Game, the jackpot isn’t limited to the $38.5 million. “The more people join, the larger [the] reward pool will be,” organizers promise.

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