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Items owned by the late B.J. Thomas available for purchase online

September 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Pop-country great B.J. Thomas sadly passed away in May at age 78 after a battle with lung cancer. Now some of the “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” singer’s belongings are available via an online memorabilia sale overseen by his estate.

The items currently available for purchase include Rolex watches, guitars, apparel, signed baseballs, gold- and platinum-record awards, personal letters, firearms and various other collectibles. You can check out all of the items at Rockology-Estates.com.

Among the collectibles with the highest price tags are a Rolex watch, and a baseball signed by Babe Ruth, both priced at $10,900, a Gretsch guitar selling for $4,995, and a tour-used Ovation guitar with $4,975 asking price.

“The hardest thing for me was losing the love of my life, B.J., my honeyman,” says Thomas’ widow, Gloria. “Now, working with a team of people, we are placing items of B.J.’s in museums and are working to keep his legacy and memory alive. Doing this sale will also allow many of his loyal fans the chance to have a piece of history and memorabilia that normally wouldn’t be available to them.”

More of Thomas’ memorabilia will be made available in the coming weeks.

Thomas scored a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969 with “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” which was penned by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The tune, which appeared in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, won an Oscar for Best Original Song.

B.J. also topped the Hot 100 in 1975 with “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” and scored a #5 hit in 1968 with “Hooked on a Feeling.”

Elton John and rapper/singer Lil Nas X are co-starring in an UberEats commercial

September 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Ben Gibson/Courtesy of Rocket Entertainment; David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

A brief video clip from what appears to be an ad for UberEats starring Elton John and popular singer/rapper Lil Nas X — which apparently is going to arrive in full tomorrow — has been posted on Elton’s Twitter account.

In the clip, Elton is sitting behind a white piano, while dressed in a pink cowboy outfit similar to something Lil Nas X would’ve worn in 2019 when he was promoting his record-setting number-one hit “Old Town Road.”

Then Lil Nas X walks into the frame wearing one of Elton’s most over-the-top outfits: He’s dressed head to toe in multicolored feathers, with sparkly silver sunglasses and a mirrored leather headpiece. Elton famously wore that outfit while appearing on The Muppet Show in 1978.

As the clip proceeds, Elton looks up from the piano, sees Lil Nas X and says, “B**** stole my look!” Nas starts laughing, and says, “That wasn’t it!,” meaning that Elton delivered the wrong line. But as both he, Elton and the crew off camera crack up, Nas adds, “You know what? Let’s keep it!”

Elton and Lil Nas X have teamed up on a song called “One of Me” that will appear on both Nas’ debut album, Montero, due out September 17, and Elton’s forthcoming collaborative album The Lockdown Sessions, which will be released on October 22.

Now this will surprise you 👀🚀 @lilnasx

More to come tomorrow @ubereats #ad pic.twitter.com/MJ2oL87UK3

— Elton John (@eltonofficial) September 8, 2021

Disney+ lays out thrills and chills for Halloween

September 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

With Halloween close at hand, Disney+ has rolled out a full listing of all the spooky titles in its catalog. They include classics like Hocus Pocus and The Nightmare Before Christmas, to special spooky episodes of shows like WandaVision and Marvel Studios’ What If… to Wizards of Waverly Place, The Simpsons and That’s So Raven.

Here’s a full list of Disney+’s creepy collection:

LEGO Star Wars: Terrifying Tales (premiering 10/8)
Muppets Haunted Mansion (10/8)
Under Wraps (10/13)
Just Beyond
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Hocus Pocus
The Haunted Mansion
Frankenweenie
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Zombies
Halloweentown
Twitches
Girl vs. Monster
Mom’s Got a Date With a Vampire
Don’t Look Under the Bed
Phantom of the Megaplex
Mr. Boogedy
So Weird
Vampirina

Shorts:

Toy Story of Terror!
Lonesome Ghosts
Trick-or-Treat
Gravity Falls
Gargoyles
The Simpsons: “Treehouse of Horror I-XXX”

Halloween-themed episodes:

Marvel Studios WandaVision — “All New Halloween Spooktacular”
Marvel Studios What If…Zombies
The Muppet Show — “Vincent Price”
Behind the Attraction — “Haunted Mansion”
Hannah Montana — “Torn Between 2 Hannahs”
The Sweet Life of Zack and Cody — “Ghost of 613”
That’s So Raven — “Don’t Have A Cow”
Wizards of Waverley Place — “Halloween”
The Proud Family — “A Hero for Halloween”
Lizzie McGuire — “Night of the Day of the Dead”
KC Undercover — “All Howl’s Eve”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Travis Barker presenting at the MTV VMAs this Sunday

September 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Travis Barker is headed to the MTV Video Music Awards.

The Blink-182 drummer is among the presenters at this year’s ceremony, along with artists, athletes and celebrities including Billie Eilish, Avril Lavigne, Megan Fox, Hailey Bieber, 50 Cent, Ashanti, Simone Biles, Conor McGregor and Ja Rule.

Barker is also set to perform at the VMAs when he joins Machine Gun Kelly for a rendition of the “Bloody Valentine” rocker’s new single, “Papercuts.”

Other VMA performers include Foo Fighters and Twenty One Pilots. The show airs live from Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday, September 12, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.

Olivia Munn is pregnant, expecting a baby with comedian John Mulaney

September 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Olivia Munn and comedian John Mulaney are going to be parents.

The former Saturday Night Live writer told late night host Seth Meyers on Tuesday that he began dating the actress this past spring, following a split from his ex-wife, artist Anna Marie Tendler, last year.

This will be the first child for both stars.

“I’m gonna be a dad!” Mulaney said. “I’m really, really — we’re both really, really happy.”

This past year has been a challenge for Mulaney, 39, who went to drug rehab in September 2020 and then again a few months later, following a relapse. He said he got out in February.

“Then in the spring, I went to Los Angeles and met and started to date a wonderful woman named Olivia,” he said, adding that Munn, 41, has “held my hand through that hell [of recovery].”

He added, “I got into this relationship that’s been really beautiful with someone incredible.”

Drew Barrymore reveals how she’s been supporting Britney Spears behind the scenes

September 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Music Choice

Drew Barrymore reveals she’s been privately supporting Britney Spears during her conservatorship battle.

The actress and talk show host tells Entertainment Tonight that she’s been sending Britney video messages.

“I appreciate all the people that have been supporting Britney on social media,” she says. “I took a different turn. I’ve actually been sending her personal videos.”

Drew says she’s sent messages of “encouragement and just telling her that I think she is the key to her freedom.”

“[I wanted to] really show her I’m someone who has understood what a journey is like and I don’t compare myself to her, but I’m here to support her if there’s anything she needs in private,” Barrymore says.

Drew says Britney has responded to the videos with “little smoke signals.”

Meanwhile on Instagram, Britney thanked another celebrity for supporting her publicly: Iggy Azalea. She posted a photo of the two performing their song “Pretty Girls” together.

“It was so much fun working with such a strong, bada** woman like her …. I haven’t met her new baby but if she’s reading this God bless you and thank you for all your kind words,” Britney wrote.

On Tuesday, Britney’s father, Jamie, filed to end the conservatorship of the pop star’s estate that has been in place since 2008 — a huge legal victory for Britney.

Carl Bean, who inspired Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” dead at 77

September 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Archbishop Carl Bean is greeted by church member in 2004; Carlos Chavez/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Carl Bean, the man whom Lady Gaga revealed was the true inspiration for her hit “Born This Way,” has died at age 77, reports The New York Post.

This past May, while celebrating the 10th anniversary of her album Born This Way, Lady Gaga revealed that the title track of the album was inspired by as disco song called “I Was Born This Way,” recorded by Bean in 1977.

“Born This Way, my song and album, were inspired by Carl Bean, a gay black religious activist who preached, sung and wrote about being ‘Born This Way,’” Gaga wrote on Instagram. She continued, addressing Bean, “Thank you for decades of relentless love, bravery, and a reason to sing. So we can all feel joy, because we deserve joy. Because we deserve the right to inspire tolerance, acceptance, and freedom for all.”

“I Was Born This Way” was written by Chris Spierer and Bunny Jones and released in 1975 by an artist called Valentino. Carl Bean released his own disco version in 1977. Bean’s version has since been remixed and re-released several times, both in the ’80s and the ’90s. The song’s lyrics go, “I’m happy and I’m gay/I was born this way.”

Bean became an AIDS activist and founded the Unity Fellowship Church Movement, which focused on the LGBT and Black community. His autobiography is titled I Was Born This Way: A Gay Man’s Journey through Gospel Music, Disco Stardom, and a Ministry in Christ.

According to The New York Post, the Unity Fellowship Church Movement announced that Bean died September 7 “after a lengthy illness,” and added, “Archbishop Bean worked tirelessly for the liberation of the underserved and for LGBTQ people of faith and in doing so, helped many around the world find their way back to spirituality and religion.”

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Lainey Wilson never doubted she would be a country singer

September 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Lainey Wilson never imagined being anything but a country singer. The Louisiana native moved to Nashville right out of high school, living in a camping trailer while she honed her craft as a singer and songwriter. But through all the highs and lows, she never doubted she would someday make her dreams come true.

“There’s been times when I probably should have packed my bags and went home,” Lainey told Idaho Mountain Express. “But I never had not one doubt in my mind that I was gonna be okay. I knew I was gonna find my way.”

Lainey, who released Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’ earlier this year, was also not dissuaded by the reign of male artists on the charts. Growing up listening to artists like Lee Ann Womack and Dolly Parton, the 29-year-old knew her time would one day come as well.

“I think it’s a great time for female country singers like myself,” Lainey maintained. “No matter what the sound is, people want a good story. That’s what country music has been from the beginning. A dang good story.”

Lainey’s instincts seem to be paying off. Her single, “Things a Man Oughta Know,” is currently in the top 5.

“I just wanna tell real stories,” Lainey said. “I want it to be raw and honest. Even if that makes your skin crawl a little bit, my goal is to make you feel something.”

RHOA stars join Nene Leakes at memorial for late husband

September 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Real Housewives of Atlanta stars Phaedra Parks, Marlo Hampton, Porsha Williams, Eva Marcille and Lisa Wu reunited with Nene Leakes Monday at a celebration of life in Atlanta for Nene’s late husband, Gregg Leakes.

“I am grateful to all of you. Thank you for the bottom of my heart,” Leakes commented on Instagram as she posted a photo from the event on Wednesday. “I love Gregg so much and I miss him a lot,” she added. “I will continue to be strong and celebrate his life.”

With a photo of the couple kissing, she wrote, “Today we celebrate you Gregg with love, just the way you wanted it.”

Keke Wyatt, Yolanda Adams, Kim Burrell and Le’Andria Johnson performed at the memorial service, held at the Linnethia Lounge in ATL, according to Us Magazine.

Gregg Leakes lost his three-year battle with cancer on September 1. He was 66. The couple married in 1997, divorced 14 years later, then remarried in 2013.

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Job openings hit record high as pandemic-battered Americans reassess work

September 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The number of job openings hit a record high of 10.9 million on the last day of July, the Department of Labor said Wednesday, as businesses struggle to lure back workers in the wake of COVID-19’s shock to the economy.

The latest figure on job openings beats the record high of 10.1 million that was just set the previous month in June, but may not yet reflect the impact of the delta variant’s spread on the labor market. Still, the fresh data paints a complicated picture of economic recovery as job openings soar despite unemployment levels remaining elevated.

Job openings increased across the economy, with major increases in health care and social assistance, finance and insurance, as well as accommodation and food services, the DOL said.

In addition to job openings reaching a high, the number of people leaving their jobs is also at record high levels. The quits rate in July was 2.7%, the BLS said Wednesday, tying with June and April of 2021 for the highest on record.

Economists have attributed the recent labor crunch to lingering health concerns over the virus that may have some workers not wanting to return to the workplace, a child care crisis that has disproportionately impacted working women, as well as harder-to-quantify factors as many Americans reassess what they want from a job after living through a once-in-a-century pandemic that has left more than 600,000 Americans dead.

The unemployment rate in August was 5.2%, a reflection of major improvements in the labor market compared to before the vaccine rollout, but still above the pre-pandemic 3.5% seen in February 2020. Broken down further, employment has risen by some 17 million jobs since April 2020, but the economy is still down some 5.3 million jobs compared to February 2020.

Despite the unemployment rate remaining elevated, many firms have reported struggles hiring staff — which has resulted in average wages rising, especially among service industries or jobs requiring face-to-face contact. The average hourly earnings for workers in August was some $30.73.

The latest data from the DOL also comes as enhanced pandemic-era unemployment benefits expired this week for millions of Americans. Despite the rhetoric from many Republican lawmakers, however, data indicates that yanking pandemic unemployment benefits — as a handful of states have already done — did not contribute to job growth. Researchers at JPMorgan found “zero correlation” between job growth and state decisions to drop the federal unemployment aid, the Associated Press reported.

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