NOVEMBER 15, 2019

The Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers game on “Thursday Night Football” was filled with intensity, illegal hits, and it ended with an INSANE BRAWL. In the closing seconds, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett tackled Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph. They started fighting on the ground, and grabbing each other’s helmets. Garrett yanked Rudolph’s helmet off, and then used it as a weapon . . . swinging it at Rudolph and BASHING HIM IN THE HEAD. Several Steelers players tackled Garrett, throwing punches and kicking him in the head. The Browns came in with their own aggression -they were ejected and maybe suspended . . . but it’s unclear how long.  Now, Rudolph instigated the helmet grabbing by trying to pull Garrett’s off FIRST.  Not that that excuses Garrett’s actions.

 

As expected, people are angry at the CMAs for hyping the legacy of women, and then choosing GARTH BROOKS as Entertainer of the Year instead of CARRIE UNDERWOOD.  She was the only female nominated in the category. It’s not so much a question of who should or shouldn’t win.  The issue is that the CMAs milked the “women angle” for months.  Then they stacked the show with female country singers and promoted the daylights out of it. Everything they did led you to believe they were going to make amends for all the years of not giving female performers their due.  In the 53 years of the CMAs, only 7 women have won the top award. It’s also not a stretch to think the CMAs were expecting more women to tune in, because it was going to be their night.  The side effect of all this promotion created a groundswell of fans and artists talking about how it should be Carrie’s year.  Miranda Lambert did an interview where she ticked-off all the reasons, and then Carrie got emotional while listening to it. And then . . . Wednesday happened.  Fans weren’t happy. One said Carrie was “robbed,” another called it “some major garbage.”  One person said it was a “huge disrespect” to Carrie – people calling it a “disgrace” and that the CMAs should be “ashamed of themselves.” But the BEST is this one. “Carrie Underwood needs to stop hosting an awards show that snubs her year after year after year.  She deserves more, and quite frankly, the association does NOT deserve her.”

 

“Billboard” is celebrating their 125th anniversary by putting out a list of the 125 greatest music artists of all time. Here’s the Top 5:

  1. The Beatles
  2. The Rolling Stones
  3. Elton John
  4. Mariah Carey
  5. Madonna

_________________

  1. Taylor Swift
  2. Elvis Presley
  3. Garth Brooks

 

The drama between TAYLOR SWIFT and Scooter Braun over her older recordings is NOT over. Yesterday, she Tweeted an open letter, saying she didn’t know what else to do, because Scooter is preventing her from performing her old music at the “American Music Awards”. She said she planned on performing a medley of her hits, but she’s being blocked from doing it. She also says that she has a documentary in the works at Netflix, and they also won’t clear her old songs for that. Supposedly, they told her they’d only clear it IF she agrees NOT to re-record her songs.  But she said that won’t happen, and that she’s “looking forward” to that. She said, “The message being sent to me is very clear.  Basically, be a good little girl and shut up, or you’ll be punished.  This is WRONG.  These men had a hand in the writing of those songs.” Taylor’s fans are already helping with an online petition, and as of last night it had more than 40,000 signatures.

 

After Day One of the “Jeopardy!” Tournament of Champions finals, JAMES HOLZHAUER is in first place, with EMMA BOETTCHER about $23,000 behind him in second.

 

The 2019 CMA Awards were a family affair for Pink! She walked the red carpet at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee with her family by her side – her husband, Carey Hart and their two children — daughter Willow, 8, and son Jameson, 2. Pink and Hart are also looking forward to what’s to come after the holidays… their 14th wedding anniversary in January. Pink plans to take a break from music in 2020, in order to spend more quality time with her family

 

If you planned to see Jimmy Buffett perform in Florida this year, you’ll have to wait another year. The 72 year old has postponed three December dates in Orlando, Jacksonville and Tampa, rescheduling them for December 2020. He’s having shoulder surgery and needs time for recovery and therapy. No details were available on Buffett’s condition or the surgery.

 

The first song from Cats is here. Several months after the release of the musical’s first trailer in July, the first song has dropped! Called “Beautiful Ghosts” the original song is performed by Taylor Swift, and was co-written by Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who wrote all the music for the original Broadway production of the long-running musical.

 

“Rolling Stone” has 5 Things You Didn’t See on TV at Wednesday’s CMAs. The most eye-opening is JENNIFER NETTLES’ red carpet outfit that had “Equal Pay” written on the back.  It also featured a white train that she opened up to reveal a profane plea asking programmers to play more records by females.

 

KACEY MUSGRAVES partied hard after winning two CMAs on Wednesday. She hit up Twitter yesterday with this:  “Can you die from a hangover?  Asking for a friend who is actually me.”

 

MAREN MORRIS sang a special birthday song to Jimmy Kimmel on his show Wednesday. He turned 52.  Obviously, it was taped in advance because she was at the CMAs, and because she wasn’t showing yet. The “special” song was her singing facts from his Wikipedia page.  He interrupts a few times because of that.  And when she does finally get to the end of the song we find out he’ll die in March of 2028 from choking on a meatball

 

Alicia Keys will return as the host of the 62nd annual Grammy Awards in 2020. She hosted the show for the first time earlier this year and will become the third woman to host the show twice.  Keys has won 15 Grammys herself – second only to Paul Simon.  The 2020 Grammys will air on CBS on January 26.

 

The ZAC BROWN BAND is extending The Owl Tour into next year. It’ll pick up February 28th in Illinois and run into the summer.  AMOS LEE and POO BEAR are the openers.

 

This week’s CD Releases include new music from Lady Antebellum

 

A fourth “Beverly Hills” cop movie is coming to Netflix. EDDIE MURPHY will star, but there’s no word on any other casting.  There’s also no premiere date yet.

 

Squidward from “SpongeBob SquarePants” is getting his own spinoff on Netflix. It’ll be music-based.  Also, the trailer came out yesterday for “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run”.  It comes out  in May.

 

The new “Charlie’s Angels” movie is out this weekend. It’s up against Matt Damon in “Ford v Ferrari” and Ian McKellen in the crime thriller “The Good Liar”

 

Friday at 8:00 p.m. on CMT:  “Nashville Squares”.  First up is Jana Kramer vs Mike Caussin.  Then it’s Shawna Thompson vs Keifer Thompson at 8:30 p.m.

Saturday at 11:30 p.m. on NBC: Harry Styles hosts “Saturday Night Live”.

Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on NBC: “Sunday Night Football”.  The L.A. Rams host the Chicago Bears.

 

Sam Waterston is 79.

Petula Clark is 87.

Ed Asner is 90.

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