By Mark Kennedy
Cher is obviously a superstar but even a superstar can be the opening act when it comes to Santa.
Organizers of this year's Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade have nabbed the Oscar-, Emmy- and Grammy Award-winner for their 97th annual event. Cher will make her appearance just before the parade's end, signaled by the arrival of Santa’s sleigh, parade organizers said.
This year’s parade will feature 16 giant character balloons, 26 floats, 32 novelty and heritage inflatables, 12 marching bands, 700 clowns and eight performance groups.
It's a busy time for Cher, who is preparing to release a 25th-anniversary edition of her Grammy-winning album “Believe” and just dropped her first new album in five years, “Christmas.”
For the first time in its long history, the holiday tradition will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET, half an hour earlier than previous years, kicked off by multi-instrumentalist and Grammy-winner Jon Batiste.
There will be appearances by Bell Biv DeVoe, Brandy, Chicago, En Vogue, ENHYPEN, David Foster and Katharine McPhee, Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors, Jessie James Decker, Ashley Park with some Muppets from “Sesame Street,” Pentatonix, Paul Russell, Amanda Shaw and Alex Smith, and Manuel Turizo.
U.S. Olympic gymnastics silver medalist Jordan Chiles, U.S. track and field Paralympian Ezra Frech and U.S. Paralympic swimming gold medalist Jessica Long and Miss America 2023 Grace Stanke will also join the festivities.
Seven new balloon giants will join the lineup: “Beagle Scout Snoopy,” “Blue Cat & Chugs,” “Kung Fu Panda’s Po,” “Leo,” “Monkey D. Luffy,” “Pillsbury Doughboy” and “Uncle Dan.”
Broadway will be represented by performances from “& Juliet,” “Back to the Future: The Musical,” “How To Dance In Ohio,” “Shucked” and “Spamalot,” with an appearance by Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells of “Gutenberg! The Musical!"
Returning giant balloons include “Bluey,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” “Paw Patrol,” “Ryan's World,” “Pikachu,” “Ronald McDonald,” "Stuart the Minion" and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
The Macy’s parade has been a traditional holiday season kickoff and spectators often line up a half-dozen deep along the route to cheer the marchers, floats, entertainers and marching bands. The parade has lately asked icons to be the last guest before Santa, with last year Mariah Carey fitting the bill.
A marching band from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, the scene of one of the nation's worst school shootings, will represent Florida. Other marching bands this year will represent Alabama, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Washington, New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Texas.
Floats include ones from brands like Lego, “Peanuts,” “Baby Shark,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Sesame Street.”
The parade airs on NBC and streams on Peacock. Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker from “Today” will host and a Spanish language simulcast on Telemundo will be hosted by Carlos Adyan and Andrea Meza.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019.
The fallout continues over Amazon's decision to pull out of New York City. Many housing developers scooped up property in the area in anticipation of the 25,000 new employees that would have been coming to town. So what does that mean for the future of real estate in Long Island City? Amy Plitt from Curbed NY talked to Cheddar about how it will impact everything from rents to sidewalks.
If you are among the many who bought a condo in a glassy high-rise on the Queens waterfront sight unseen ー via text message ー when news broke last fall that Amazon was coming to town... well, that decision may not look so smart in the cold light of day on Friday.
Wham-O, a company best known for mass-marketing iconic toys like the hula hoop and Frisbee, manufactures most of its toys in China. But only now that has chosen to branch out into e-bikes does the company anticipate feeling the sting of the ongoing trade war. "To date, it hasn't really affected us that much," Wham-O President Todd Richards told Cheddar. "Now with this new technology and this new product, we foresee a little bit of a cost impact."
While his Fyre Fest business partner Billy McFarland does his time in prison, rapper Ja Rule is out living his truth, which ー as it turns out ー might include a revival of a Fyre Fest-like event.
TMZ caught Ja Rule at the Los Angeles airport, where he told the gossip site ー which is similar to the original Fyre booking app that the disastrous event was initially meant to launch ー will probably have its own festival.
When engineer Liz Fong-Jones took a job at Google 11 years ago, she was confident in her mission: to make "the world's information universally accessible and useful." But over time, she said she witnessed the company fail to protect its most vulnerable users, while turning a blind eye to the harassment of marginalized employees in its own workplace ー Fong-Jones among them.
Christina Ha, founder of the Meow Parlor, wasn't always a cat person. Ha, who is allergic to felines, paid them minimal attention until her husband brought one home ー and she fell deeply, madly in love (although she admitted she takes Benadryl daily). Eventually, her adoration became a bustling cat cafe in New York City. And now, she's adding another furry business to her portfolio ー cat camp.
Advancements in logistics and distribution are making it easier for entrepreneurs, especially women and minorities, to get their ideas out into the market, according to Interactive Advertising Bureau CEO Randall Rothenberg. "The supply chain is promiscuously available," Rothenberg to Cheddar.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Feb, 15, 2019.
Actor and screenwriter Jay Baruchel didn't anticipate that "How to Train Your Dragon" would become a global phenomenon when he agreed to voice the lead role in the 2010 animated film. Now, about a decade later, the trilogy (and its accompanying franchise) is drawing to a close, and Baruchel is bracing himself for the end.
