Martha Stewart canceled her Thanksgiving dinner this year because nine guests can’t make it due to sickness. She says, “So, I called up my chef friend and I said, ‘We’re not doing Thanksgiving.’ I’ve also cooked 14 turkeys already for my TV show, and I still have to [cook] one more turkey on the ‘Today’ show . . .”So forget it. I am all turkeyed out.” Martha’s new plan is to go to five different friends’ homes and taste their dishes.
David Letterman will be on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Monday. It’ll be his first time on “The Late Show” since he stepped down as host in 2015.
Dick Van Dyke turns 98 on December 13th, and CBS will mark the occasion with a special called “Dick Van Dyke 98 Years of Magic”. It’ll air on December 21st. This could be a really good idea, or a really bad idea. Here’s why it could be a really good idea: Remember that Betty White 100th anniversary special? It was all set to be filmed, with a release date of January 2022. But then Betty DIED on New Year’s Eve of 2021 . . . two weeks BEFORE her 100th birthday. So yeah, 100 is a great number to shoot for, but CBS obviously learned from Betty, and chose to celebrate Dick sooner rather than later. Here’s why it could be a really bad idea: This one requires a little superstition. Do you believe in JINXES? Because if you do, CBS may have just KILLED DICK VAN DYKE. This feels awfully similar to the Betty White situation. Will Dick even make it to 98? Or will this celebration turn into a MEMORIAL special, like the Betty White one did?
5 of the best Christmas albums.
1. “Elvis’ Christmas Album”, Elvis Presley (1957)
2. “The Magic of Christmas”, Nat King Cole (1960)
3. “The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album”, The Beach Boys (1964)
4. “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, Vince Guaraldi Trio (1965)
5. “Christmas Portrait”, Carpenters (1978)
Chris Stapleton put out his fifth studio album “Higher” last week. But it sounds like he could have had more than five by now . . .He talked about his songwriting process in a new interview, and how his daughter Ava recently SCOLDED him for a bad habit. She just turned 13 this month, and she’s gotten into songwriting a little bit.Chris said he’s lost a lot of half-written songs, because he’d come up with something . . . not record it . . . and forget it the next day. His philosophy was if he couldn’t remember, then it wasn’t that good. But Ava thought that was dumb. She told him to ALWAYS record on his phone, because he might come back to it one day and think, “Oh, that was cool.” So he took her advice and doesn’t let himself lose songs anymore. It came up because of the song “What Am I Gonna Do” off his new album. He wrote it with Miranda Lambert years ago but didn’t have a copy and could only remember half. So he called her, and she dug it up. Otherwise, it could have been just another lost song.
Dolly Parton is releasing her “Rockstar” album today. She was asked her if “Rockstar” is the most rock and roll thing she’s ever done. She said . . . “Well, I’ve done a few fun things. I’ve never really trashed my hotel room or thrown TVs out of the window or anything. Probably the most radical thing I ever did was when Tom Jones was really hot. Me and a bunch of girls had gone out to have a few margaritas. We got rained out of a shoot we were doing for a movie, so we spent the afternoon having fun. Tom Jones and his house in Los Angeles was on the pathway to the hotel where we were staying, so they dared me to streak through his yard. So I streaked through Tom’s yard. He didn’t see me, but I did it. That was kind of rock and roll.” Tom was once asked about it on a talk show. He said he didn’t know it happened until Dolly told him later. The tragic part is that he WAS home but, obviously, didn’t see it. Also in the interview, they asked Dolly if she’s ever considered running for president. She said, “No. I don’t think anybody could actually do a great job at that. I think we’ve had enough boobs in the White House. I’m not smart enough to be in politics, or maybe I’m too smart. Either way, I’m not qualified for that type of a job. I am qualified to do what I do, which is to point people in the right direction, to write about it in songs or speak about things.”
In a recent interview, Toby Keith shared an update on his battle with stomach cancer, and he said he’s doing “pretty good” . . . but he’s still fighting, for himself AND everyone else. He said, “I have the resources, financially and otherwise, to get the best treatments I can get.” He’s in the process of trying something new right now, and he added, “I’m getting all the latest stuff you can get . . . I’m trying ’em all, I’m throwing the kitchen sink at it.” Not everyone is as fortunate as Toby, and he gets it. He hopes his platform and his efforts to fight it somehow help others who feel like they’re on an island. He said, “If I can survive this, and live to tell my story, maybe I can save somebody else’s life.”
• “Rockstar”, Dolly Parton. Her 49th album, and first-ever rock release, has 30 songs. There are nine originals, and 21 classic rock covers that features an epic list of GUEST performers. They include Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Stevie Nicks, Chris Stapleton, Pink, Simon Le Bon, Miley Cyrus, Sting, Joan Jett, Steven Tyler, Ann Wilson, Steve Perry, Debbie Harry, Peter Frampton, Melissa Etheridge, Michael McDonald, John Fogerty, Lizzo, Richie Sambora, and Pat Benatar.
• “The Wheel: 30th Anniversary Deluxe”, Rosanne Cash. An expanded and remastered edition of her 1993 album “The Wheel”.
• “Jacob: Deluxe Edition”, Ty Herndon. The Deluxe version of last year’s “Jacob” album features two new songs, and “reimagined” versions of four others from the original release.
Dierks Bentley partnered with WithCo for a line of nonalcoholic cocktail mixes. Quote, “Life is too short for a bad cocktail. We kept it stocked at the house . . . I added it to my rider on the road too.” You can find it at Target and Sprouts.
New Country Music from Dolly Parton, Rosanne Cash, Ty Herndon
Jelly Roll, Travis Tritt, and Aaron Lewis of Staind are headlining the Sturgis Buffalo Chip. It takes places August 4th to 6th in South Dakota.
The nominees for Country Music Seminar’s 2024 New Faces of Country Music include George Birge, Chayce Beckham, Corey Kent, and Megan Moroney.
Dana Carvey’s son Dex died of an accidental overdose. He was only 32.
Isaac Hanson is 43. The eldest Hanson. Biggest hit: “MMMBop”.
Rachel McAdams is 45.
Daisy Fuentes is 57. MTV’s first Latin VJ.
RuPaul is 63.
Danny DeVito is 79.
Lorne Michaels is 79. “SNL” dictator, and Dr. Evil inspiration.
Martin Scorsese is 81.
