Jessie's Ramblings

According to MSN music news Sugarland's lawyers are saying the victims of the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair were "their own fault."  The attorneys for Sugarland say the injuries and deaths resulted from fans not taking appropriate actions to protect themselves in the bad weather.  A total of seven people died and fifty-eight were injured. Sugarlands attorney's are saying fair officials as well as the stage builders are in part to blame and the stage collapse was an act of God. 

What do you think?

VH1 has released its list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music in the past 20 years, and a few country divas made the cut.  Carrie Underwood ranked highest at #23 followed by Shania Twain at #35.  Faith Hill was just behind Shania at #37, and the Dixie Chicks came in at #39.

Taylor Swift is listed at #43 on VH1's list.  Miranda Lambert holds the #58 position, and Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott made it at #89.

Madonna ranked #1 on VH1's countdown.

Courtesy of: LexGo!

It's like the Voice, American Idol and Nashville Star with a twist. State and regional officials joined with Kentucky Country stars Tom T. Hall and Montgomery Gentry Wednesday morning to reveal the locations for the first round of the Country Music Highway Road to Fame Competition.

The contest aims to identify the next country music star to come out of the area around U.S. 23, which has produced stars such as Loretta Lynn, The Judds and Dwight Yoakam. That legacy earned the road the designation of theCountry Music Highwayby the Kentucky State Legislature in 1994.

In a video greeting, Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry, whose current hit is Where I Come From, lamented that opportunities for aspiring artists to sharpen their skills in area clubs and other venues weren’t as prevalent as they once were.

“A lot of those clubs moved to line dancing which pushed a lot of those musicians and entertainers and bands out,” Gentry said. “We support the Country Music Highway Road to Fame, and you should too.”

The American Idol-style competition will begin with four preliminary rounds in the middle of March. The locations are:

1 p.m. March 15:ExpoCenterballroom,126 Main St., Pikeville

1 p.m. March. 16:MountainArtsCenterband room,50 Hal Rogers Drive, Prestonsburg

10 a.m. March 17:ParamountArtsCenter,1300 Winchester Avenue,Ashland

1 p.m March 18: Sipp Theater,336 Main Street, Paintsville

The competition is open to people ages 13-35 who grew up in the 15 counties surrounding U.S. 23 (Letcher, Pike, Floyd, Johnson, Lawrence, Boyd, Greenup, Harlan, Perry, Knott, Magoffin, Morgan, Elliott, Carter and Lewis counties). Registration for each of the preliminary rounds will begin two hours prior to the start time.

By Rich Copley — rcopley@herald-leader.com

Posted: 7:50am on Feb 17, 2012; Modified: 7:53am on Feb 17, 2012

This kids gonna go far....

A Kansas kindergartner has emerged as an unlikely viral sensation thanks to her devout adherence to her parents' alma mater, Kansas State. As reported in detail at Lost Lettermen and the Kansas City Star, 5-year-old Emma Burton of Olathe, Kan., refused to participate in a class coloring assignment when she and her classmates were told to color in a Jayhawk, the mascot of the University of Kansas. The coloring exercise was part of the kindergarten class' celebration of the state of Kansas.

However, Emma wouldn't comply with her teacher's instructions. Instead, according to her mother -- Bug Bytes blogger Julie Burton -- the four-foot tall tot brazenly refused to color the Jayhawk on the grounds that she doesn't like the University of Kansas. She took the Jayhawk sheet she had been handed, walked up to her teacher and asked for a Powercat (the mascot of Kansas State) to color. When Burton was told there weren't any Powercats to color, she threw the Jayhawk in the trash That is one headstrong kindergartner. Yet, incredibly, Emma Burton's Jayhawk resistance was just beginning. The kindergartner was reprimanded by her teacher but still refused to color the Jayhawk. The teacher angrily approached her mother about the incident after school and Julie Burton then took her daughter home, at which point the following incredible bargaining session occurred.

Emma, you need to color this thing. The teacher might have to send you to the principal's office.

I don't care. I'm not coloring it.

Hmmm…Ok. What if I make you a deal. What if I print out a Powercat and you color it purple, grey and white. Then write an apology to your teacher because you were rude. Will you agree to that?

(pouts) Fine.

Ok, but you need to color that Jayhawk for your teacher.

(silent, exhales) Fine.

You will?

Yes. But I don't like it. And I'm wearing a K-State shirt tomorrow.

Fine. You don't have to like it. Just do it and I want you to tell your teacher you're sorry as well.

Burton did color the Jayhawk. She brought it to school, along with the terrific Powercat apology note (complete with redacted teacher name that you see above). And the next day, after the Jayhawk had officially been recognized by her teacher, little Emma Burton threw it in the trash at her house. It is impossible to know what the future holds for Emma Burton. She may very well attend Kansas State like her parents did. She may attend Harvard, or Oberlin, or any number of different terrific schools from across the country. She may go on to work in science, as a writer, or even as a general in the military (given her current personality, this might be an excellent choice). In the meantime, the youngest Kansas State diehard is already an Internet celebrity. On Monday she was honored during the Kansas-Kansas State game as the school's fan of the game (the Star said she was really most excited about getting to meet Willie, the Kansas State mascot). Lost Lettermen even reported that the Kansas State president wrote her a letter to jokingly offer her a scholarship for 2025.

All of that could lead to a very purple future for the kindergartner. Or it might not. Life is funny that way. The only thing we can all rest assured about is that there is absolutely, positively no way that Emma Burton will be attending the University of Kansas. At this point, that's probably perfectly fine with Jayhawk fans, too.

*courtesy of Yahoo! Sports

By Cameron Smith | Prep Rally 

Above:  various artists at the Grammy 2012

Taylor looked absolutely stunning in the dress she wore to the Grammys!  Jason Aldean and Kelly did a fine job performing Don't You Want to Stay again.  Adele was the big winner of the night, and I must admit, I'm glad!  I think she has a beautiful voice and I love her songs! Country royalty Taylor Swift poses backstage with the awards for best country song and best country solo performance for "Mean" at the 54th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012 in Los Angeles

Houston’s death in a Los Angeles hotel room Saturday put the Grammys into scramble mode, as they altered the telecast schedule and devised an appropriate tribute to the pop icon. “We’ve had a death in our family,” host LL Cool J said. He offered “a prayer for a woman we loved, for a fallen sister.”

“There’s a little bit of a dark cloud …  a lot of people are heartbroken,” country singer Miranda Lambert said before the telecast. But “we can let music heal us.”

Music’s biggest stars are celebrating this incredible night — did YOU agree with all of the winners?

The 2012 Grammy Awards were overshadowed by the death of Whitney Houston, but plenty of superstars won big. Check out who took home statues during the Feb. 12 ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and tell us who YOU thought deserved to win, HollywoodLifers!

 

 

 

 

 

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Album of the Year: "21" Adele

This is really quite cool - check out the story of two teens who launced a Lego man into space courtesy of: "The Christian Science Monitor"

Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, a couple of 17-year olds, sent their Canadian flag-toting Lego figure aloft beneath a weather balloon they bought online for $85.

The packed a Styrofoam box with some gel hand warmers to keep three point-and-shoot cameras and a video camera (bought used on Craigslist) functioning at the below -4 F (-20 C) temperatures.  They also put a cellphone with GPS aboard to track it. And they stiched together a parachute (on Muhammad's mom's sewing machine) to bring their Legonaut and their camera's safely back to Earth.

The boys filled their weather ballon with $165 worth of helium, bringing it close to the bursting point. Why so much?

“If you fill your balloon, say, halfway, it will reach a higher max altitude but then obviously it’s got a lot more time in the air so it has a lot more time that it could be affected by wind,”  Ho explained to The Toronto Star.

“A perfect flight plan would be just up and down, on the same spot. The less we had to drive (to retrieve Lego Man) that was our goal, especially since we’re surrounded by so many lakes. There were so many problems that could go wrong," said Ho.

Watch their video and you can see when the balloon bursts – at 24 kilometers above the earth (almost 80,000 feet). NASA says that an object isn't in "space" unless it reaches about 50 kilometers above the Earth.

After the balloon reached its bursting point, the parachute brought the package of cameras, cellphone, and, of course Lego Man, safely back to the ground - about 122 kilometers (and 97 minutes) from it's launch at a soccer filed in Newmarket, Ontario. Prior to the launch, the boys used a Univeristy of Wyoming site that calculates weather balloon trajectories. And with the help of the GPS, they recovered the package after a hunt in the woods near Rice Lake. 

Certainly, these aren't the first to launch a video camera into the stratosphere.  In fact, Ho said that they were inspired by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students who'd sent a video camera aloft on a weather balloon a couple of years ago.

Still, the MIT students didn't send Lego Man up, up, and away.

Courtesy of MSNBC:

Malik Gipson is not only celebrating his ninth birthday today, he’s also being honored for saving his two-year old brother from choking.

Malik and his younger brother, Michael, were visiting their great-grandmother at her home in Jonesboro, Ga., in December when Michael became envious of a piece of hard peppermint candy that Malik was eating. So Michael took a piece, put it in his mouth -- and started to choke.

Their great-grandmother, 66-year-old Elaine Pines, was watching Malik, Michael, and their 11-month old sister, Mariah, while the children’s parents worked outside in the front yard. Just as I looked around, Michael was slobbering at the mouth,” Pines told msnbc.com.  “And I said, 'Malik! He swallowed it.'” 

Seeing that his great-grandmother was holding their baby sister in her arms, Malik sprung to action and performed the Heimlich maneuver on his brother. 

"I was scared. I was thinking he was going to pass away,” Malik said. “I grabbed him by the chest and kept doing the Heimlich maneuver and kept doing it until it came out.”  On Malik’s third attempt, the peppermint flew across the floor.

At the time, Pines said, she was “a nervous wreck."

"Malik ran to get his mom and dad outside and told them what happened,” she said. 

At first, Camellia and Tronte Gipson were confused by the sight of Malik in the front yard, holding a peppermint candy. 

“We didn’t think it was anything at first, but when Elaine came to the door, she was shaking and frantic,” said Camellia Tronte.  “But Michael still had color in his face and he was breathing, so we didn’t call an ambulance.”

“The night of the incident, we were sitting in the car, and Michael said, ‘Malik saved my life.’ And it brought me to tears,” said Camellia.  “For a two-year old to say something like that, at that moment, it was very touching.”

In hopes of recognizing Malik’s bravery his parents called the Clayton County fire department. Camellia shared her son’s story, and the fire department organized a ceremony in honor of Malik today, his birthday.

“I’m going to the fire department to get an award. I’m excited,” Malik said. When asked where he learned how to do the Heimlich maneuver, Malik simply said, “I watched a TV show on Disney XD."

In a ceremony attended by the Gipson’s family and friends, Fire Chief Jeff Hood will present Malik with a certificate, rewarding him for his courage and bravery.

“Throughout my career in public safety and as Fire Chief, I have had the opportunity to shake the hand of many brave men and women that serve our community with honor, courage and commitment.  Today, I have had the privilege to shake the hand of another brave young man, Malik Gipson,” Hood said in a statement provided to msnbc.com. “His actions were of those seasoned with maturity and that same honor and courage.  Malik is an example to all his peers and even the professionals, that it is our dedication and commitment to one another that makes human life so dear.”

“I’m excited about him getting the award because he did a wonderful job,” Pines said

I love the show undercover Boss where bosses of these big corporations get to experience what it's like to be an employee.  Often at the end of the show they CEO gives amazing gifts to a few select or all of the employees.  This recent one brought me to tears being a working mother myself...

the following is courtesy of AOL jobs

The pious chief executive of the Dwyer Group weeps when she finds out about her employees' woes on this Sunday's "Undercover Boss." The two-time Emmy nominated CBS reality show is now in its third season, and took its viewers Down South this past weekend. And for the season's second episode, Southern hospitality was shown very early to be a central tenet of the company. Based out of Waco, Texas, the Dwyer Group is the parent company of seven franchises including Mr. Rooter and Mr. Appliance.

That covers 10,000 employees nationwide, who do $800 million in business a year at 1,560 locations. Dwyer-Owens, who worked in the real estate division before ascending to the top post, is the daughter of the company's founder, the now deceased Don Dwyer Sr.

She readily acknowledged having confronted the challenge of being the "boss' daughter," and says that questions regarding her own merit would always follow her. Perhaps as a reaction to that role, Dwyer-Owens learned over the years to overcompensate, and developed a sincerity and lack of imperiousness in sitting atop her group. As she heads off to her first assignment, Dwyer-Owens turns to the camera, and says that she looks forward to getting feedback from her company's front-line workers so as to know how to best make improvements.

Her first of four gigs takes her to Roswell, Ga., where in impersonating a job applicant (who introduces herself as "Faith Brown"), the CEO confronts unhappiness with a company-wide compensation model. Brown is brought to the Peach State for an apprenticeship with Mr. Rooter, which produces 70 percent of The Dwyer Group's revenue. She is slated to install a water heater with a man named Wayne.

Wayne expresses his loyalty to the recognizable brand in discussing his job, and says he is proud to work for the brand that once employed his father. But he is not thrilled with how he is paid by the Dwyer Group. He tells of a compensation scheme based on commission, but from which "material" is taken out each cycle to account for costs. Wayne mentions one employee who, he says, ended up owing the company money, and Wayne refers to the model as "shady." And when Wayne talks about his family, which includes an autistic child, Dwyer-Owens tears up. This is the first time of many when the CEO cries, and in each instance she eventually addresses the cause of her concern with corrective action.

But it's hard to imagine that she had no idea how her company pays its employees in its largest franchise, or it's at least indicative of an uninvolved executive.

Her second visit takes her to Germantown, Tenn., where another sad tale brings an earnest Dwyer-Owens to tears. Jake, an employee of Ground Guys, is a profile in courage. He has been mowing lawns and doing other landscape work since he was 8 years old. Now 20, Jake helps watch after his brothers after their father committed suicide. He tells the story with a steely reserve well beyond his years. When Dwyer-Owens recounts her reaction to Jake's story, she says it got her "heart racing," and it's not hard to see why.

On her third visit, Dwyer-Owens faces the most formidable challenge to her philosophy and work code yet. In Deer Park, Texas, an employee of Mr. Electrician, named Brock, drives her around to jobs with his truck. They are to do upkeep at the Magnolia Ballroom. On the car ride he dismisses the 14 steps that all employees must follow. Customers are "more focused on business," Brock says. The "customer is not really into all that," but rather is "more focused on getting it done than on how it gets done." Dwyer-Owens sits there with a blank face and takes it. She is forced to accept that a guideline that includes laying out a welcome mat for all customers may not always extend beyond the boardroom.

The fourth and final leg of the show brings her more satisfaction. Traveling to Conroe, Texas, Dwyer-Owens is set up to work with Mr. Appliance. Her stint as a service technician is very different than all her other gigs in one glaring respect -- she's to work with a woman -- identified as Tanna. "We have so few in any of our brands -- this is cool, I just didn't expect it," Dwyer-Owens says. Working with Tanna, Dwyer-Owens helps fix an oven.

Tanna says that older customers are less hospitable to female technicians, something that Dwyer-Owens got a hint of in her own home: At the episode's start, her husband said that he expected tension resulting from his wife's gender when she worked these technical jobs.

But Dwyer-Ownes says that she wants more women to be able to make a living off of "working with their hands" -- if that's what they want. And she makes that desire the focal point of the program's final chapter -- the reveal. She tells the employees that she was in fact not a contestant on a reality show featuring career changes but rather one that disguises the CEO.

In talking to her compadre, Tanna, Dwyer-Owens tells her that she wants her help in launching an apprenticeship program for women. Dwyer-Owens ponies up $5,000 for the program. But she also gives Tanna $10,000 for each of her children to start a college fund, so Tanna can spend time at home without picking up a second job.

Dwyer-Owens also shows a desire to grow her employees in her dealings with Jake, the 20-year old. She gives him a new truck, and tells him that she wants him to start a new franchise for Ground Guy.

Dwyer-Owens also accepts the criticism from Wayne over compensation, and says it will be adjusted. She gives Wayne $20,000 for a down payment on his home.

Where she is less generous is with Brock. She urges him to give the 14-step model a try. The only gift that she has for him is a gift certificate so that he can brand his truck with a decal. Not quite a life-changer, but also not a pink slip for the man who dismissed the company ethic right to the CEO's face.

Advocates are pushing for bald Barbie dolls to help children dealing with cancer. NBC's Erika Edwards reports.

Courtesy: Beckie Sypin

Beckie Sypin and her daughter Kin Inich

Her figure may not exist in nature, but Barbie's status as a role model for young girls is undeniable.

Now a movement is afoot on Facebook to create a "Bald Barbie" as a role model for young girls going through chemotherapy or suffering from hair loss conditions such as alopecia.

"We would like to see a Beautiful and Bald Barbie made to help young girls who suffer from hair loss due to cancer treatments, Alopecia or Trichotillomania," reads the introduction to the Facebook page, Beautiful and Bald Barbie! Let's see if we can get it made.

The Facebook page, created by a group of women who either had children dealing with baldness or were dealing with it themselves due to chemotherapy, went up a few days before Christmas.  As of Friday, it has more than 86,000 "likes."

"My daughter is battling leukemia right now and she's been going through chemotherapy for the last two years," says Beckie Sypin, a 32-year-old special-education teacher's aid from Lancaster, Calif., and one of the mothers responsible for the Facebook campaign.

"She was bald for about seven months and we would go to the store and people would stare or kids would ask her why she's bald. It's not something they're used to seeing. We think [a bald Barbie] would be therapeutic and I think it would help baldness become more quote unquote normal. It would be seen. It wouldn't be this odd thing that people don't have hair."

As the lobbying for a bald Barbie gained momentum, Mattel issued a statement Thursday: "We are honored that Jane Bingham and Beckie Sypin believe that Barbie could be the face of such an important cause.  Mattel appreciates and respects the passion that has been built up for the request for a bald Barbie doll. As you might imagine, we receive hundreds of passionate requests for various dolls to be added to our collection.  We take all of them seriously and are constantly exploring new and different dolls to be added to our line."

The statement noted that the toy company and the Mattel Children’s Foundation have donated close to $30 million and more than half a million toys to children's hospitals across the country.

Deanna Pledge, a psychologist working with children in Columbia, Mo., says a bald Barbie might indeed be helpful.

"I think having an image of a bald child or bald adult -- whether it's Barbie or not -- does promote a positive message in the mainstream," she says. "And Barbie is clearly in the mainstream."

Pledge says that even having a bald Barbie on the toy store shelves could create educational opportunities for parents and children.

"Parents might be forced to have discussions with their children as to why Barbie is bald, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing," she says. "There would be more people talking about it and discussing it instead of just looking at the children as different. They may feel that it's more normal and I think that could be helpful."

Sypin hopes Mattel -- or another toymaker -- will take note, though, since she feels there's a definite need for such a doll.

"I know with a lot of the girls that we've met through treatment, the cancer part isn't the part that scares them, it's the fact that they're bald," she says. "The girls cry over losing their hair."

Sypin's 12-year-old daughter, Kin Inich, wasn't one of them, however.

"She's been very good about the whole bald thing," says Sypin. "She rocks it. She has silly wigs and hats and headbands and scarves. During the summer, she was even writing on her head and putting on temporary tattoos. She didn't care that she lost her hair. But she did care that people stared at it."

Pledge, the psychologist, says she played with Barbie as a child and recalls that Mattel used to make a version of the doll with molded plastic hair and a series of fashion wigs.

"Perhaps this could be an option, too," she says. "She could wear different hats. She could wear wigs. Or she could go bald. I think that kind of role modeling -- just from her head -- would be positive. Although I think real life role models are the best options."

 Lauren Alaina will be hitting the road with Jason Aldean on the next leg of his My Kinda Party Tour.

Back in October, the former ‘American Idol’ beauty revealed to Taste of Country that she was beyond excited to have the opportunity to spend some time on the road with a then unnamed superstar. At the time, Alaina said she was looking forward to the big announcement and even more thrilled about the chance to connect with the masses that will be drawn out for the major touring event.

“I’m just trying to get my name out there a little bit more and be able to perform as much as I can,” she explained.

On Friday morning (Dec. 2), Aldean took to his Twitter page to announce the news that will now have fans eagerly awaiting the new year: “hey yall, give a welcome to @Lauren_Alaina,” Aldean tweeted. “shes joinin @LukeBryanOnline and me on the My Kinda Party tour in jan.”

Aldean’s tour is set to launch on Jan. 20 in Greensville, S.C. The tour makes a stop in the Twin Cities.  Log on to www.radiousa.com and click on Events - concerts.