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.
Does your bank account spark joy? With Marie Kondo fever sweeping the nation, her tidying method has led to the purging of countless dressers and kitchen cabinets. But the theory underpinning the so-called KonMari method can extend to your finances as well. Committing to the Marie Kondo method tends to have an immediate effect on your spending, said Julia Glum, a reporter for Money who has written about Kondo and her new Netflix show.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Feb, 6, 2019.
Papa John's CEO is hoping to bury the hatchet with its disgraced founder following a new $200 million strategic investment from the hedge fund Starboard Value. "What I believe is that we made the best decision that's in the best interest of all stakeholders, our employees, our franchisees, our customers, and ultimately the shareholders, and John [Schnatter] is clearly a very large shareholder," Steve Ritchie, president and CEO of Papa John's, told Cheddar Tuesday.
Why toke while you cook, when you can cook with cannabis? That's the question that inspired Joline Rivera to found Kitchen Toke, a foodie magazine about cooking with cannabis. "We saw [rapper] Action Bronson cooking ... getting high while he's cooking. And I thought to myself, 'you're getting high while you're cooking, why don't you just put the cannabis in the food?'" Rivera said.
Shares of Disney jumped after the bell on Tuesday, boosted by revenue growth in its television and parks divisions. The report was good news for investors looking to gauge Disney’s strength as it deepens its direct-to-consumer offerings in an effort to compete against rivals like Netflix and Apple.
When Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services opens its new, state-of-the-art suicide prevention center in Los Angeles, a literal sign of progress will hang boldly ー stating exactly what the institution is, a watershed moment in suicide awareness. "To be able to be that open about it shows me how far we've come," said Melissa Rivers, the entertainer and activist who recently joined the board of Didi Hirsch.
Producer, motivational speaker, and bestselling author DeVon Franklin thinks the vast majority of men have a lust problem ー but not in the traditional sense of the word. In his view, lust refers to a broader "selfish impulse for a personal, professional, financial, sometimes sexual gain by any means necessary," Franklin told Cheddar. In order to help men curb those impulses, Franklin has authored a new book, "The Truth About Men: What Men and Women Need to Know," a self help-style guide to self-control.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019.
When Allison Robinson first became a mother, she, like may new parents, struggled to balance her full-time career and family. Eventually, she transformed her frustration into "The Mom Project," an online marketplace to pair moms with parent-friendly workplaces.
Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman might be the MVP of the Super Bowl, but the #MVP award for Super Bowl brands goes to Planters' Mr. Peanut. Mr. Peanut won Twitter's #BrandBowl contest for generating the most brand-related tweets during the Big Game. "They ran a really smart sweepstakes on Twitter and were giving things away during the game," Ryan Oliver, Twitter head of brand strategy, told Cheddar on Monday.
