An enormous tornado with a debris cloud two miles wide tore through the metropolitan area just south of Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon.

UPDATE 9:28 p.m. EST: At least 51 people were killed in the storm, including seven children from Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, according to KFOR in Oklahoma City. The news station reported that 75 student and staff were inside the school when the storm struck. Officials said Monday night that the search of the rubble remaining of the school had turned to a recovery mission.

UPDATE 8:33 p.m. EST: At least 37 people have been killed in the storm, according to the local medical examiner. The two-mile wide twister, has been given a preliminary classification of an EF-4 tornado (winds of 166 to 200 mph), according to weather officials. Crews are continuing to search an area of 30 square miles for victims of the powerful storm.

UPDATE 7:49 p.m. EST: ABC News reports that at least 10 people have been killed in the storm in Moore, Okla. today.

UPDATE 7:04 p.m. EST: The AP reports that several children were pulled alive from the wreckage at Plaza Towers Elementary School, in Moore.

UPDATE 6:05 p.m. EST: CNN affiliate KFOR is reporting that people are pulling children out from the rubble of an elementary school in Moore. There is no official word yet on the condition of the children.

The town of Moore suffered tremendous damage as the twister gradually moved east, but it never did reach the downtown area of Oklahoma’s capital city. The National Weather Service had issued a tornado emergency warning for the region, a rarity for such a highly populated area. Schools, houses, businesses and many, many more buildings have been utterly devastated.

The tornado may also have touched down in or near the town of Newcastle, which is where many people who had been evacuated due to Sunday’s storms were sheltered.

In total, more than 171,000 people may have been in the path of the tornado, according to CNN.

You can view live coverage of the aftermath here.

This post will be updated as further information comes in.

[NBC, CNN]

The number one problem in Venezuela is figuring out how to go number two. The South American country has been vexed with the worst thing that can happen to any society – it’s dealing with a toilet paper shortage.

To fend off the impending disaster, Venezuela is importing 50 million rolls of tissue papered goodness that will be a relief to citizens, not to mention their otherwise chafed backsides.

As for why the country is suddenly looking at a scarcity of tushy aid, economists claim price controls intended to help citizens afford the most basic necessities are responsible. Sure, blame the poor people. That’s what Republicans do, right?

President Nicolas Maduro says anti-government powers are to blame, while the nation’s commerce minister said the shortage is due to “excessive demand” that stems from “a media campaign that has been generated to disrupt the country.” Um, what? This guy sounds crazier than someone who elects not to use seat covers in a bus depot. And he’s the president. Imagine how irate the regular people must be.

Until this mess is taken care of, we wish the people of Venezuela well holding it in. And we also wish them the wisdom not to eat any Mexican food.

Source: One Unfortunate Country Has Completely Run Out of Toilet Paper

1962 – George Jones hits #1 on the Billboard country chart with “She Thinks I Still Care”.

2009 – Sugarland is the leading nominee for the CMT Music Awards, named five times on the ballot. Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift receive four nominations apiece.

2007 – Sugarland cops the #1 position in Billboard with “Settlin’”.

2005 – Toby Keith’s “As Good As I Once Was” video debuts on CMT.

1998 – Capitol releases the soundtrack to “Hope Floats,” featuring Garth Brooks’ “To Make You Feel My Love,” plus Martina McBride, Bob Seger, Lila McCann, Deana Carter, The Mavericks and Trisha Yearwood.

1997 – MCA releases Trisha Yearwood’s version of “How Do I Live”.

1992 – Mercury releases Billy Ray Cyrus’ debut album, “Some Gave All”.

1979 – It’s quite the pick-up line: The Bellamy Brothers pick up their first #1 country single in Billboard with “If I Said You Have A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me”.

1979 – Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter have a son, Waylon Albright “Shooter” Jennings

1977 – “Smokey & The Bandit” has its premiere. The movie stars Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason and Jerry Reed, who sings “East Bound And Down.” John Schneider also appears in a teeny walk-on role.

1965 – Roger Miller receives a gold single for “King Of The Road”.

Information provided by: RolandNote.com

Richard “Dick” Trickle died Thursday at the age of 71. His body was discovered next to his pickup truck at a cemetery in Lincoln County, North Carolina, after the longtime NASCAR and short-track driver shot himself, according to police.

Trickle was retired from competitive racing and had been living in Lincoln County for some time. Around noon, the Lincoln County Communications Center received a phone call, saying that there would be a dead body at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Boger City. Soon after, authorities found his body.

Over the course of a career that began at age 17 in 1958, Trickle was a two-time American Speed Association champion (1984, 1985), he won seven ARTGO championships, and he took the 1968 USAC Stock Car Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year.

Trickle became quite famous for his name, becoming a repeated punch line on shows like ESPN’s ‘SportsCenter.’ And though he never had much success on the NASCAR circuit, that didn’t hurt his sense of humor. In 1997, he filmed a commercial for NAPA Auto Parts in which he predicted the winner of an upcoming race: “It’s gonna be me!” A graphic then flashed across the screen that read “Dick is 0 for 243 in Cup races.”

Trickle then smiled and said, “I think we get champagne!”

[Charlotte Observer]

The object is to get as close to the bull but not get hooked.  Extra points are given for style and acrobatic moves, but this move is just amazing…how in the heck do you practice a move like this.

Brad Paisley made a promise last autumn to Lee Feldman, an Ephrata, Penn. resident who was stricken with pancreatic cancer. That promise was to use Feldman’s gift of a prized custom-made guitar on Paisley’s new album, ‘Wheelhouse,’ and to not let the guitar lay unused and forgotten.  

“I was given a guitar in my meet and greet by a man who was dying of pancreative cancer and had weeks to live,” Paisley explains of how he got the instrument. “He was a really feisty, wonderful old guy, gave me this great old guitar that was an electric, sort of Les Paul-like, and he said, ‘I want you to have this… if you’re going to play it, I want you to have it. If you ain’t going to play it, give it to someone else. I don’t want it collecting dust.’”

Paisley followed the instruction he was given. Toward the end of recording ‘Wheelhouse,’ he brought the guitar into the studio and set it down — and then it hit him. “And I went, ‘I know the song for that,’” the singer recalls, “And that’s what plays the guitar leads on ‘Officially Alive.’ As the album ends, it’s one of the last things you hear.”

“He told me, he said, ‘I want this to live on,’” Paisley remembers. “So we ended the record with it.”

It’s exactly how the terminally ill fan, who sadly passed away in November, would have wanted it. He and his guitar are living on forever in music history on ‘Wheelhouse,’now a No. 1 record for the country star.

Paisley will probably always hold a soft spot in his heart for that special promise and the guitar that Lee Feldman didn’t want just anyone to have. Whether he brings it with him on tour or he leaves it in the safekeeping of his home, it’s certain that the guitar will be cherished by its new owner for years to come.

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Watch Brad Paisley Explain How He Kept This Very Special Promise

Source: Brad Paisley Keeps His Promise, Honors Deceased Fan in Very Special Way

Golfers featured are:

Thongchai Jaidee – 4 x European Tour Winner
David Horsey – BMW International Open Winner 
Johan Edfors – 3 x European Tour Winner 
Simon Kahn – BMW PGA Champion

Kellie Pickler‘s Argentine Tango was perfect, but her Flamenco was stiff. She and ‘Dancing With the Stars’ partner Derek Hough tallied a 58 on Monday (May 13), good for third best on the night behind Jacoby Jones and Aly Raisman, who tied with 59s.

Pickler and Hough did the Tango first (video above), and impressed judges by beginning as silhouettes in front of a crimson backdrop. All three praised her form, with Len Goodman adding extra emphasis after saying that the nasty remarks from last week were forgotten.

“Welcome to the world of the sublime,” Bruno Tonioli said to the dancers (and Goodman in a somewhat good-natured manner). Carrie Ann Inaba add that it was “Absurd that you can attain that level of perfection.” The score: a perfect 30, Pickler’s first of the competition.

Before she began the Flamenco, fans were shown a video of the singer’s backstory, featuring interviews with important people in her life. Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood praised the singer-turned-dancer, as did Pickler’s husband Kyle Jacobs, father Bo and her two grandfathers, including Grandpa Ken, who was referenced quite a bit during her time on ‘American Idol.’

“Her self-esteem was very low, and I planted the seed of ‘American Idol,’” Ken Morton tells the camera after explaining the difficult circumstances Pickler was brought up in. She overcame a mother who abandoned her and a father who was an alcoholic and was in and out of jail. Perhaps most refreshing was the brief interview with Summer Miller, the best friend Pickler shaved her head with to show support for her cancer battle. Miller looked healthy as she talked about their childhood together. Her blonde hair is only slightly shorter than Pickler’s.

As for the dancing, Pickler’s Flamenco (video below) was good, but not perfect. Inaba said she thought Pickler stiffened midway through, and Tonioli felt the flow didn’t carry through the entire performance. Hough admitted he’d never done a Flamenco, but viewers at home wouldn’t know it. A sparse musical selection added drama and suspense to the choreography. Much of the focus was on Hough’s tapping, but one dangerous lift at the end left the crowd gasping before erupting in applause.

They earned a 28 for the Flamenco, giving them a 58 total. The dancer with the lowest combined score and vote total will be sent home on Tuesday night. The remaining four will compete in next week’s finals.

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Watch Kellie Pickler’s Flamenco on ‘Dancing With the Stars’

Source: A Perfect Score Helps Kellie Pickler to Third Place on ‘Dancing With the Stars’

So….these two guys whose wives had recently gone through childbirth took up the challenge that guys can not withstand labor pains like women can.

The outcome is hilarious.

From his Facebook page, he says the following:

Just to let my Facebook Friends know that I have been admitted to the hospital because of severe dehydration. Doctors are pouring the fluids to me and I am feeling much better.
I wanted you to hear from me before you hear it from the media.
I have asked my wife, Janie, to keep you all posted.
Thanks for your prayers and support. Ray

 

Last year, Price was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but after a 6 month course of treatment, he is now in remission.

Ray Price is blessed with one of the smoothest, most beautiful and rich voices in any genre of music and he still sounds great today, as you can tell from this video from just a few years ago.

Dierks Bentley is getting set to release a new album in the fall, and he says the new music is the most personal that he’s ever made.

Bentley wrote and recorded the new album, titled ‘Riser,’ in the year following the death of his father. The album takes its title from a song called ‘I’m a Riser,’ which is about resilience and determination.

“Life in general has a way of knocking you down,” Bentley says in a press release. “It’s different reasons for different folks — could be personal reasons, could be family reasons, your job, drugs, alcohol. That song really applies to anybody that’s lived. There have always been those moments when we have to get back up and get on our feet.  They are defining moments … breakthrough moments.”

For the new album, Bentley reached back to executive producer Arturo Buenahora Jr., who worked on his first two records. The singer enlisted Ross Copperman — who wrote ‘Tip It on Back’ from his most recent album, ‘Home’ — to produce the new music, and he thinks working with Copperman in some unusual settings has produced the best vocal performances of his career.

“It’s not even really a studio,” Bentley says of Copperman’s home recording setup. “It’s just kind of a corner of the house he’s taken over, so there was a kind of intimacy to the vocal process. It was important to get out of the studio and sing in different places, and to do it with other people in the room.” Some of the vocals were recorded live as the band tracked the songs, while one of the songs features a vocal recorded on Bentley’s tour bus.

No release date has been confirmed for ‘Riser.’ Bentley is currently on the road with Miranda Lambert for their Locked and Reloaded Tour.

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Watch a Video Trailer for ‘Riser’

Source: Dierks Bentley Announces Deeply Personal New Album, ‘Riser’

Dr. Joyce Brothers, the psychologist whose career included a syndicated column, books, stints on television and in film, has died.

She was 85.

Brothers passed away Monday in New York City, although no cause of death has been revealed.

Brothers first rose to fame by winning the top prize in 1955 while a contestant on ‘The $64,000 Question,’ becoming the first woman to do so.

To compete, Brothers memorized 20 volumes of a boxing encyclopedia, as part of her area of expertise.

She was later cleared of any wrongdoing when the scandal over fixing on the show broke out.

Winning the show opened many doors for her career. She worked as a boxing analyst for CBS before her wealth of knowledge in the psychology field earned her a show, called ‘The Dr. Joyce Brothers Show.’ It would mark the beginning of a career that lasted over 40 years and saw her appear on everything from ‘Happy Days’ to ‘ALF’ to ‘Analyze That’ to ‘The Tonight Show.’ She also penned a column for ‘Good Housekeeping’ that ran for nearly four decades.

She was known for talking about topics that often weren’t discussed, including sex and menopause, as well as her stance on women’s rights and often times doling out advice while on shows to callers whose backgrounds were not told to her.

[CBS]

In the internet age of instant YouTube stardom, aspiring performers are always looking for a new angle to get that breakout viral clip that could help launch them. It looks like guitarists Chad Neidt and Brian O’Sullivan have found one; their newly-uploaded clip — in which they perform a jaw-dropping double-digit medley of Taylor Swift songs — has garnered more than 25,000 views since it was uploaded at the beginning of May.

The one-minute mashup concept is the brainchild of Neidt, an L.A.-based musician and comedian who has given a similar YouTube treatment to works by the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Nickelback and others. He invited O’Sullivan to take part in the Swift medley, in which the pair cleverly re-arrange 17 fan-favorites into a single minute, including ‘Our Song,’ ‘Teardrops on My Guitar,’ Fifteen,’ ‘Mean’ and ‘Back to December,’ culminating hilariously with ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.’

According to Neidt’s Facebook page, he will release his full-length debut album in September of 2013. As for O’Sullivan, this is not his only shot at Swift — he also has a parody titled ‘I Will Never, Ever Like Taylor Swift Ever‘ available on iTunes.

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Source: One-Minute-Long, 17-Song Taylor Swift Mashup Goes Viral