Elton's Farewell
Elton John is ending his touring career with a bang! The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour has officially become the highest-grossing concert tour ever. It first kicked off in 2018 and has since grossed $817.9 million after performing in 278 shows, according to Billboard. John surpassed Ed Sheeran's 2019 The Divide Tour, which raked in $776.4 million. But it's not over yet, as the shows will continue through July 2023.
Lil Wayne on Road
Also in touring news, Lil Wayne announced a slate of shows set for Spring 2023. The Welcome to Tha Carter tour is set to kick off in Minneapolis in April and will run through May with the final show in Los Angeles. The news comes days after the Recording Academy revealed that Wayne would be one of four recipients of its Global Impact Award at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
DC Cinematic Universe
The DC Universe is kicking it into high gear with a newly announced full slate of films and shows. DC Studios heads James Gunn, co-CEO with Peter Safran, unveiled the 10 projects in a new first chapter which he called "Gods and Monsters," with the titles being connected to each other in the same universe (unless otherwise labeled like Matt Reeves' The Batman). Some of the new titles revealed include the film Superman: Legacy, to be written by Gunn and slated for a July 2025 release, and TV projects Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and Lanterns.
The explosive device sent to CNN in New York was an "effort to terrorize," said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Investigators described the device as an apparent "live" pipe bomb at a press conference outside the Time Warner Center, which houses CNN's New York studios and was partially evacuated Wednesday morning when the mailroom discovered the suspicious package.
The midterm "wave" may be neither blue nor red ー but green. In two weeks, North Dakota and Michigan ー which both already allow cannabis for medicinal use ー will vote for legalized recreational marijuana. On the non-recreational side of the issue, Missouri and Utah will potentially make a push toward medicinal cannabis. Depending on the outcome, these states may send a message to the nation ーwhich is slowly getting greener.
When the anti-substance abuse platform "Truth Initiative" began in 2000, the smoking rate for teens was 23 percent ー almost two decades later, it stands at 5 percent. And now, after major inroads with young smokers, the organization is shifting its efforts to another pressing danger facing teens, according to its managing director Mary Dominguez.
Olivia June, CEO and founder of Vina, wanted to use technology to make it easier for women to make friends. So she did. Her app, Hey! Vina works like datings apps ー only it's specifically designed for platonic meetups.
On the occasion of its 15th anniversary, JOE Coffee founder Jonathan Rubinstein and CEO Doug Satzman told Cheddar how the company's focus on quality and hospitality is helping them expand its small coffee empire ー with 18 cafes and counting and a fast-expanding presence on grocery aisles and in e-commerce.
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Nathan Bomey, business reporter for USA Today, told Cheddar this is the moment of truth for Hasbro as it enters its first holiday season without Toys "R" Us and faces serious competition from sites like Amazon.
Ford's new "Built Ford Proud" campaign is the work of the Wieden+Kennedy agency, long known for its creative ads for Nike ($NKE) ー including its controversial ad featuring ex-quarterback and activist Kaepernick. The first "Built Ford" ad stars Bryan Cranston inhabiting a series of cinematic personas that all take subtle digs at the tech industry.
A lead TV analyst suspects Netflix may be battling a case of nerves as the streaming giant turns to the debt markets for the third time in a year. "I think it's a reaction to the fact that Warner is coming into the picture, and Disney," Alan Wolk, a co-founder and lead analyst at TV[R]EV, told Cheddar Monday. "Suddenly, that market ー especially in the U.S. ー is getting crowded."
Amazon, Alphabet, Twiter, and other big tech companies are set to report quarterly earnings this week. Elon Musk says The Boring Company's high-speed transit tunnel will be open to the public on December 10. And Zane Holtz, star of the upcoming film 'Hunter Killer,' joins Cheddar to discuss what it's like working with big-name talent such as Gary Oldman and Gerard Butler in this new movie.
