The top names in entertainment, including such names as John Legend, Amy Adams, and LL Cool J, are hosting Zoom fundraisers through Richard Weitz's "Quarantunes" series to raise money for coronavirus frontline initiatives.
Hollywood agent Richard Weitz, a partner at WME, told Cheddar on Friday that the idea for the charitable musical series came from wanting to make his daughter’s birthday special amid the pandemic.
“I was throwing a surprise birthday for my daughter Demi who was turning 17, and I hired a piano player from Chicago named Dario Giraldo who played Redhead Piano Bar," Weitz said. "I wanted to organize some fun on Zoom for Demi and her friends.”
His daughter was actually the one who encouraged him to turn the concept into a fundraiser to help support those on the frontlines and others in need.
“From there we knew we had a platform and my dad kept doing it and it got a little more traction and he invited more friends," Demi Wietz told Cheddar. " I was like dad we need to raise money for the people in need right now, for charities, for organizations, for hospitals like we have this platform and we should do something with it, so we turned it into a charity benefit concert,”
The concert series, which streams over the videoconferencing platform, selects a different organization to support each week and has already raised almost $1 million to help aid workers on the frontlines
Last week, the Weitzes teamed up with Jake Wood, CEO and co-founder of Team Rubicon, a nonprofit that helps reintegrate veterans back into civilian life and already raised more than $500,000.
Woods said that the investment bank Goldman Sachs had been eager to support Team Rubicon’s efforts and during the Quarantunes event it donated almost $150,000 to the fundraiser.
“A couple weeks ago, a partner in the private wealth division at Goldman Sachs reached out to me and said, “Hey we’ve learned about this private concert series that’s going on and being hosted by this father-daughter duo in Los Angeles and we’d love to bring some of our clients into it and have the proceeds benefit Team Rubicon,’” he explained.
Team Rubicon has deployed more than 4,000 volunteers to the frontlines of the pandemic, staffing underfunded hospitals and running mobile testing clinics in major cities across the country.
Stock markets around the world continue to be impacted by fears of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant. President Biden today reiterated his stance that the new strain is cause for concern, but not cause for panic. Wells Fargo Investment Institute Global Equity Strategist Scott Wren joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Austin Winsberg, creator of the NBC series "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to dish out some details about the holiday movie special "Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas" now on Roku. Despite initial plans for producing a new Season 3 despite being canceled by the network, Winsberg said that it is not necessary to have seen the first two seasons in order to enjoy the movie. He noted that following cancellation fans rallied behind the show, campaigning for it to come back, which led to a movie being greenlit by Lionsgate to be completed within just a four-month window, according to Winsberg.
Bitcoin is slowly coming back to life after plunging recently, but everyone's favorite cryptocurrency needs to chart a 77% rally in the next four weeks to reach the widely forecast year-end value of $100,000. Bitcoin was trading more than 0.8% percent lower on Thursday morning, Ethereum was also declining. David Nage, portfolio manager at Arca, joins Cheddar News to talk discuss the market.
Actor Ilda Mason, who portrays 'Luz' in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the 1957 musical 'West Side Story,' joins Cheddar News to discuss her feature film debut.
Jack Dorsey is stepping down as CEO of Twitter. In a statement, he says he is leaving because the company is ready to move on from its founders. Twitter's chief technology office Parag Agrawal will take over as CEO. Ian Sherr, editor at large at CNET, joins Cheddar News to talk about the announcement.
While the Recording Academy may have overlooked Abel for the Grammys despite having one of the most successful projects of 2020 in "After Hours," The Weeknd was named global artist of the year at the 2021 Apple Music Awards.
Actor Chris Diamantopolous joined Cheddar's "Between Bells" to talk about his new Netflix movie "Red Notice," starring alongside Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson, and Gal Gadot, and the massive success it has seen since its release. Diamantopoulos discussed what it was like stepping into the role of the villain, being able to play a character so different from himself in real life. He also talked about playing a heavy in another hit Netflix production, "True Story," and what it was like working with Kevin Hart and Wesley Snipes.
Michelle Holder, president of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and a labor economist at John Jay College joins Cheddar News to discuss the October jobs report.
Visitors in Santa Monica are now getting a whole new look into the new metaverse world. Starting on December 1st, the Downtown Santa Monica District Is Getting Fully Immersed in AR and VR. It's All in Partnership with 'Flick Play' which is the first-ever 'Play to Earn' Metaverse App that Basically Takes the Gamification of 'Pokemon Go' and combines It with more social aspects of an App like Tiktok. Founder of the FlickPlay App Pierina Merino, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Within the last couple of months, a number of employees across the country have been looking to improve their skills in order to land themselves a new job. Many employees say they are now looking for flexibility and better ways to work. LinkedIn Career Expert Drew McCaskill, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
