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07 Feb 2024

Go Retro! Here Are the Bestselling Old-School Arcade Cabinet Video Games at Walmart

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Video-game manufacturer Arcade1Up celebrates old-school gaming with its lineup of replica arcade cabinets. Although each one is a slightly smaller scale version of originals cabinets, every Arcade1Up machine comes with modern features mixed with retro gaming.

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If you’re a fan of video games from the ’80s and ’90s, then Walmart has you covered with a wide selection of Arcade1Up bestsellers such as Pac-Man, Mortal Kombat, Galaga and much more.

And since it’s from Walmart, you’ll get it shipped to you for free if you’re a Walmart+ member. Otherwise, your cart has to be more than $35 to get free shipping.

Not a member? You can sign up for a 30-day free trial to take advantage of everything the retailer’s rewards program has to offer, including free delivery; fuel savings at Exxon, Mobil, Walmart or Murphy gas stations; streaming access to Paramount+ to watch hit originals such as Halo, Fatal Attraction and Star Trek: Lower Decks; early deals access and much more. Learn more about Walmart+ here.

Scroll down for Arcade1Up’s bestsellers at Walmart, below:

Walmart

Arcade1Up Pac-Man Deluxe

Pac-Man is considered one of the first breakout hit arcade games, so it seems fitting that the deluxe edition is one of Arcade1Up’s bestsellers. Right now, it goes for $499.76 at Walmart and comes with 14 games, including the original Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Super Pac-Man, Galaga, Rolling Thunder and more.

Walmart

Arcade1Up Class of ‘81 Deluxe

Priced at $499.99, the Arcade1Up Class of ‘81 Deluxe features a 17-inch LCD display, a 5-foot tall arcade cabinet, a light-up marquee and 12 classic games such as Ms. Pac-Man, Rally-X, Galaxian, King & Balloon and more. It’s for those who want to celebrate the best and brightest video games from 1981.

Walmart

Arcade1Up Mortal Kombat II Deluxe

Mortal Kombat II is one of the greatest fighting games of all-time thanks to its smooth gameplay, wide range of characters and epic finishing moves. The Arcade1Up Mortal Kombat II Deluxe, which goes for $499.99, is an exact replica of the classic fighting game’s arcade cabinet with a few extra goodies built-in — namely the inclusion of the entire Mortal Kombat Trilogy. It also has other games included, such as Rampage, Joust, Gauntlet and more.

Walmart

Arcade1Up Infinity Game Board

Here’s something different. The Arcade1Up Infinity Game Board — which retails for $526.41 at Walmart — is a digital tabletop with more than 100 board games and activities to play, like Monopoly, Yahtzee, Trivial Pursuit, Clue, Scrabble, Operation, Candyland and more. In fact, new board games are added all of the time, so game night has nearly endless possibilities.

Walmart

Arcade1Up Wheel of Fortune Casinocade Deluxe

Instead of game night, have casino night at your home with the Arcade1Up Wheel of Fortune Casinocade Deluxe cabinet, which goes for $630.41 at Walmart. It comes with a light-up marquee, dual LCD screens (an 8-inch on the top and 10.1-inch at the bottom) and four versions of Wheel of Fortune. It even comes with 20 unlockable casino games, including digital blackjack, bingo, roulette, joker poker and deuces wild.

Want more deals? For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Xbox deals, studio headphones and Nintendo Switch accessories.

07 Feb 2024

Will the Grammys Result in Big Hot 100 Gains for Any Winners and Performers?

The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming Billboard Hot 100 dated Feb. 17), while Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me” is again the front-runner to return to No. 1, the biggest winners and performers on Music’s Biggest Night also get perhaps the final big bump of their chart runs.

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Luke Combs, “Fast Car” (River House/Columbia Nashville/Columbia): Perhaps the most buzzed-about performance of Grammy night featured Luke Combs dueting with Tracy Chapman (for the first time) on “Fast Car,” the song the two performers both had top 10 hits with, 35 years apart. It was a major moment for both artists, a long-overdue comeback appearance for a traditionally spotlight-reticent Chapman, and a full-circle one for Combs, who has called “Fast Car” his “first favorite song.”

Chapman’s version of “Fast Car” has seen the most pronounced gains since the duet aired, with her original zooming to No. 1 on the iTunes sales chart, and also reaching the top 100 of Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart for the first time. But Combs’ cover has also seen a pronounced bump, climbing back into the iTunes top five and rebounding to Spotify’s U.S. top 40. Combs’ “Car” has been slowing on the Hot 100, after reaching No. 2 last July and most recently ranking in the top 10 in January, but still parks at No. 20 on the chart this week; with his added Grammy propulsion, he very well may pop a U-turn and head back towards the top 10.

Miley Cyrus, “Flowers” (Smiley Miley/Columbia): Miley Cyrus’ new signature hit was truly in full bloom on Grammy night. Not only did it take home two awards on the telecast (best pop solo performance and record of the year, her first-ever Grammy wins), but it also received a spotlight performance, in what Cyrus referred to as just her second time publicly singing the song. Her rendition was understandably triumphant — somewhat literally so, as she finished her final “started to cry, but then remembered…” pre-chorus with the ad-lib “I just won my first Grammy!”

The big Grammy moment has revived interest in the year-old song – which is still lingering in the Hot 100’s top 40, sliding from No. 27 to 32 this week – with it re-entering the top 40 on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart and the top five on the iTunes sales chart. With radio support for the song remaining steady (and recently record-breaking), if not quite as overwhelming as the song’s mid-2023 peak, it should stand a chance of jumping back into the Hot 100’s top 20 – and perhaps even higher if its newfound momentum keeps up throughout the week.

Billie Eilish, “What Was I Made For?” (Darkroom/WaterTower/Atlantic/Interscope): Award season has always been Billie Eilish and Finneas’ friend, and perhaps none more so than 2024’s. “What Was I Made For?” just won song of the year at the Grammys – their second win in the category, following “Bad Guy” in 2020 – and also received a heartfelt performance from the duo during the ceremony. That may just be the warmup for next month’s Oscars, where the song (from Barbie) is the prohibitive favorite to win in best original song (which would again be a second W for the duo, following Bond theme “No Time to Die” in 2022).

Will the momentum be enough to bump the song to the top 10? Unlike “Flowers” and “Fast Car,” which have already hit peaks of No. 1 and No. 2 on the Hot 100, respectively, “Made For” has yet to reach the chart’s top tier, having peaked at No. 14 last August amid Barbie buzz. The song is currently perched at No. 31, and is up in sales and streams since the Grammys – though not as much as the other two aforementioned Grammy gainers. If it’s going to make up serious ground, it’ll need help from radio – it’s the only one of the three songs mentioned that still has room and potential to grow on the airwaves; while it’s peaked at pop radio, it’s still rising on adult formats.

IN THE MIX

Billy Joel, “Turn the Lights Back On” (Columbia): While Columbia is certainly victory-lapping this week with its Miley Cyrus and Luke Combs Grammy night successes, the label also has reason to celebrate with one of its greatest legacy artists: Billy Joel made his return to recording with the new song “Turn the Lights Back On,” his first single since 2007. The song isn’t likely to threaten the top tier of the Hot 100, but it’s been selling well enough since its Thursday debut, and drawing enough adult radio airplay, to at least challenge for a spot on the chart – which would be his first appearance as a recording artist since his Bob Dylan-penned “To Make You Feel My Love” hit No. 50 in 1997.

Dua Lipa, “Houdini” (Warner): Grammy night’s opening performance came courtesy of returning pop star Dua Lipa, delivering her most recent single “Houdini” along with its yet-unreleased follow-up “Training Season.” Streaming gains for “Houdini,” which sits at No. 25 on the Hot 100 this week after debuting at its No. 11 high in November, have been modest following the performance — but it has seen a bigger spike in sales, which could help give it a boost back to the Hot 100’s top 20.

07 Feb 2024

Jon Bon Jovi Is Opening a Nashville Honky-Tonk

Jon Bon Jovi is the latest artist set to open a bar and restaurant concept in Nashville’s Lower Broadway.

The rocker, along with his band, will open JBJ’s Nashville in spring 2024 at 405 Broadway. The venue will launch in partnership with BPH Hospitality, a subsidiary of Nashville-based Big Plan Holdings. A release touts that the venue will be the tallest and second-largest bar by square footage on Lower Broadway.

The building’s design will align with the city of Nashville’s Broadway Historic Preservation Overlay, and will feature entrances on both Broadway and 4th Avenue, with two fifth-story outdoor rooftop decks.

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“We’re looking forward to having a place in Nashville that we call home,” Jon Bon Jovi said in a statement. “When Big Plan Holdings and the team of Josh and Tara Joseph asked us if we were interested, it wasn’t because we were just another rock band, it was because we are a band with deep roots in Nashville. We have had wonderful times in Nashville recording several albums and working with some of the finest people in all the music business. I can’t wait to toast all of Broadway and get to know our neighbors!”

Of course, the new venue is far from the only celebrity-owned bar and restaurant to dot Nashville’s Lower Broadway, as the downtown Nashville area is home to venues emblazoned with country artists’ names including Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Alan Jackson and Miranda Lambert, while Luke Combs and Eric Church also have bars set to open.

The news follows on the heels of last week’s celebration honoring Jon Bon Jovi as the MusiCares Person of the Year. As the band Bon Jovi celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, a new Bon Jovi documentary is set to release on Hulu in April.

Jon Bon Jovi is also no stranger to Nashville’s country music scene; in 2006, he earned a two-week No. 1 Country Airplay hit with a duet version of “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” featuring Jennifer Nettles. In 2020, the two teamed up again for “Do What You Can.” In 2007, he also collaborated with LeAnn Rimes on the song “‘Til We Ain’t Strangers Anymore,” and in 1998, the rocker collaborated with Chris LeDoux on a version of Bon Jovi’s “Bang a Drum,” which appeared on LeDoux’s One Road Man album.

07 Feb 2024

Akai Drops The MPC Key 37 Keyboard For Up & Coming Producers On A Budget

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Source: Akai / Akai

If you’re an up and coming producer looking to create some new sounds but don’t have all the equipment necessary to do to, Akai might have something you can add to your arsenal as they’re dropping a new production keyboard with all kinds of fixins.

Source: Akai / Akai

Engadget is reporting that Akai has just announced their new MPC Key 37 production keyboard which allows users to craft and cook beats from scratch without having to use an actual computer, laptop or DAW. Of course with that being the case it will have some limitations, but the keyboard seems like a dream come true for many would-be producers looking to get into the game.

Engadget reports:

There are 37 full-size keys, complete with aftertouch. There aren’t that many standalone devices out there with a full keybed, so this should excite musicians who lack experience with Akai-style pads. This device does have 16 velocity-sensitive pads for laying down drum parts and triggering samples, so it’s a “best of both worlds” type situation.

The Key 37 ships with 32GB of on-board storage, though 10GB is used up by the OS and included sound packs. Thankfully, there’s a slot for an SD card to expand the storage — these standalone devices fill up fast.

You get the same color 7-inch multi-touch display and four assignable Q-Link knobs as the company’s Key 61 workstation. This is great for making system adjustments and for controlling effects plugins and the like. As a matter of fact, the entire layout recalls the Key 61, though this new release is slightly less powerful.

Though the Key 37 understandably lacks some of the key aspects of it’s Key 61 predecessor (such as 2GB of RAM, compared to the 61’s 4GB and a few microphone inputs), the keyboard does feature Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity for wireless streaming on platforms such as Ableton Link. That’s gotta count for something, right?

The MPC Key 37 is currently available for a cool $900 on inMusic and authorized retailers around town. Would you be interested in copping one? Check out the video for the keyboard below and let us know in the comments section.

07 Feb 2024

A Timeline of Maddy Morphosis & Bob the Drag Queen’s ‘Corny’ Diss Tracks

Over the course of one weekend, the internet was set aflame with a fiery rap beef taking place in real time — and no, it wasn’t the one between Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion.

Starting Saturday (Feb. 3), fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race were treated to a deeply entertaining, tongue-in-cheek “feud” between two former contestants — season eight winner Bob the Drag Queen and season 14 star Maddy Morphosis. Through an escalating series of videos, tweets and teasers, what started as a one-off joke bubbled over into a full-blown stage fight, with both queens releasing diss tracks aimed directly at the other.

“Corned Beef,” Bob’s no-holds-barred take down of the Give It to Me Straight host came first, with the Sibling Rivalry host targeting Maddy’s heterosexuality, wigs and general drag aesthetic. But Morphosis responded with “Who Popped Ya,” coming after Bob’s career, fashion and writing style to devastating effect.

After the dust settled and the beef-that-was-never-really-beef got “squashed,” fans online came to a consensus that this was the kind of over-the-top shenanigans they signed up for in 2024. “Bob and maddy feud is my favorite drag fight ever this s–t mad funny,” one fan wrote following the online altercation. Wrote another, “this maddy and bob beef is LITERALLY the highlight of my entire year.”

So how did this all start? Who said what to who? Why are the girls fighting? Are the girls even fighting? Below, Billboard takes a look back at three days of utter drag chaos and lays out a comprehensive timeline of this “corny” feud, from start to finish.

Feb. 3: Maddy Calls Bob’s ‘Drag Race’ Verses ‘Corny’ on ‘The Pit Stop’

Image Credit: Courtesy Photo

The first shot fired came from the season 14 queen, when she appeared as a guest on RuPaul’s Drag Race‘s official recap show, The Pit Stop, on Saturday (Feb. 3). Dressed in a truly gargantuan wig, Maddy explained to host Trixie Mattel that she felt bummed out that she didn’t get to perform in a songwriting challenge on season 14. “I think I’m very clever with wordplay. I wish I could’ve done a Ru verse,” she said.

When Mattel suggested that Morphosis could “do what Bob the Drag Queen does” by releasing her own verse for a Drag Race songwriting challenge, Maddy did not miss a beat. “I think that’s corny,” she said with a grin. “Bob’s verses are great, but I don’t know, it’s just weird. It’s like, ‘But you weren’t there, though. You’re not on this song.’”
Feb. 4: Bob Teases an Incoming Verse That ‘Might Have Gone Too Far’

Never one to take a shady comment lying down, Bob the Drag Queen took to X in the wee hours of Sunday morning (Feb. 4) to let the girls, gays and theys know what was coming.

Posting a screenshot of a Google Docs file titled “Diss Tracks” containing two documents labeled “MIB” (for Mistress Isabelle Brooks, another queen Bob briefly “beefed” with last year) and “Maddy Morphosis,” Bob simply told her fans that it was “time to get corny.” That same afternoon, Bob followed up the tweet with an update: “OK. . .I might have gone TOO far,” she said. “I might need to rewrite this. lol.”
Feb. 4: Bob Drops Diss Track ‘Corned Beef,’ Says Maddy Is ‘Giving Inbred’

Image Credit: Courtesy Photo

It turns out Bob wasn’t joking, b–ch. After trading a few shady jabs at Maddy on X, Bob dropped her official response to the “corny” comments with “Corned Beef.” Set to the tune of RuPaul’s “Read U Wrote U” — which famously served as the basis for All Stars 2‘s legendary songwriting challenge with Alaska, Detox, Katya and Roxxxy Andrews — Bob went right for the season 14 queen’s jugular.

Between referring to Maddy as a “straggot,” negatively comparing her to Patrick Swayze’s To Wong Fu character Vida Boheme and claiming that “if the wig don’t first, I’mma break your neck,” the season eight winner held nothing back coming after Maddy. But perhaps the most devastating disses came with Bob’s closing lines: “‘Read U Wrote U,’ yeah you’ve been read/ Fayetteville, Arkansas, giving inbred/ Bald b–ch to bald b–ch, you pinhead/ Where was you on 1/6, you skinhead?”
Feb. 4 – 5: Maddy Prepares to Clap Back With ‘Verses for a Track I Wasn’t On’

Why squash the beef when you could start broiling it even more? Replying to Bob’s post about her diss track on X, Maddy took a dig at her fellow queen’s pen game. “The Patrick Swayze read? Maybe the writer shoulda been a Ghost too,” she wrote.

But at a certain point, talk became cheap, so Maddy digitally cracked her knuckles and let Bob know that she wouldn’t go down without a fight. “Ohhhh thaaaat’s what we’re doing,” she wrote. “Ok, lemme go write some verses for a track I wasn’t on right quick. Brb.”

By Monday morning (Feb. 5), she let her fans know that the song was locked and loaded for later that day, including a mysterious feature.
Feb. 5: Maddy Asks Bob ‘Who Popped Ya?’ on Her Response Single: ‘Booger Queen Energy’

Image Credit: Courtesy Photo

At the outset of Maddy’s response video “Who Popped Ya,” fans could be forgiven for thinking the queen was filming an apology video instead of her own diss track. Sitting in her studio, Maddy cheekily apologized that her comments in “my highly successful episode of The Pit Stop” hurt the queen’s feeling. Of course, the faux atonement dropped quickly, as she began asking Bob if there were “verses that were good that I wasn’t aware of” on her track.

Repurposing the same “Read U Wrote U” beat, Maddy launched into her own diss track. Throughout “Who Popped Ya,” Maddy jabbed Bob as a “certified has-been,” made fun of her no longer working on the HBO series We’re Here, said that she needed to “clear your sinus” of the “booger queen energy” and wondered how the polyamorous, pansexual, non-binary performer could be “open to everything except criticism.”

Putting her final stamp on the track, she played a clip of Bob’s Sibling Rivaly co-host Monét X Change singing an opera number on All Stars 7, with fake captions for the Italian lyrics saying Maddy was “killing it.”
Feb. 5: The ‘Vegan Beef’ Is Officially Squashed

After two diss tracks, a few dozen shady tweets and a tsunami of online discourse from Drag Race fans, it appears that both Bob and Maddy finally settled their feud — even if there wasn’t really a feud to begin with. Replying to Maddy’s verse, Bob conceded that the queen “had a few bites” throughout the track — though she later made sure to shade Maddy’s style by reposting the infamous “period ahh” TikTok from Britt Barbie, and saying that “the flow was immaculate.”

Maddy, meanwhile, let the fans know that the two queens were still talking, posting a screenshot of a text exchange between the two. “After this, when are we posting STR8 BARZ?” Maddy asked Bob, referring to the queen’s 2023 mixtape GAY BARZ. She captioned the screenshot saying that she wanted to “squash this corn beef,” with Bob quoting her tweet and reminding fans that fake fights are even more fun than real ones. “Vegan beef really is the best,” she wrote.

07 Feb 2024

Kanye West Says He Can’t Book Venues, Allegedly

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Celebrity Sightings In Los Angeles - January 19, 2024

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Ye aka Kanye West is claiming that he’s struggling to book venues for his concerts, leading him to ask for help in a social media post.

According to Page Six, controversial rapper Kanye West is claiming that he’s facing difficulties in booking venues, to the point where he’s implying that his antisemitic actions may have something to do with it. West made his claims in a now-deleted video that he posted to his Instagram account Tuesday (Feb. 6), with a lisp to his voice – potentially due to the new titanium fronts he’s been sporting for the past few weeks.

“We just sold out the United Center in 7 minutes, and I just want to express to everybody out there to see if it’s anyone that can help with this. It’s the only arena that I had access to in the past year,” Ye began. “And when I call, people say there are no avails for me and you know why that is,” he added, alluding to the numerous episodes of antisemitic comments and outlandish behavior coming from him over the past two years.

“So if there’s anybody out there that can help with this, please do.” West would then follow up that video with another post, where he claimed that his situation was akin to that of Elvis Presley. “I have not been able to perform in a year,” he wrote in the also-deleted post. “Feels like the Elvis Presley movie.”

Six hours after those posts were made, the 46-year-old artist claimed that he had been receiving numerous offers to perform at venues all over the world, sharing the list he received via texts and screenshots of arena dates for cities including New York, Toronto and Los Angeles in addition to Chicago. West would later make a post on his Instagram Stories writing, “Please reach out to Cara Lewis Group for all bookings.” The Cara Lewis Group is a New York-based entertainment representation group that has Travis Scott and Eminem on its roster.

His past behavior has made concert promoters leery with one unnamed source saying as much to Rolling Stone in 2022: “Whether or not it’s intended, by booking Kanye at this point in time, you’re endorsing his words … He needs to walk away from what he said before most venues would work with him.” West would issue an apology to the Jewish community in Hebrew on his Instagram page at the outset of the year.

07 Feb 2024

Stick Figure Say They’ll Refund Fans Who Can’t Make Sacred Stone Tour

Cali roots reggae outfit Stick Figure don’t want their fans to stress about buying tickets for their upcoming summer tour and are offering refunds to any fans that can’t make it to one of their 15 headline shows.

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The band — led by singer and songwriter Scott Woodruff — is experimenting with the refund concept for their upcoming Sacred Sands tour, which is on sale now. The California-based touring outfit has built a huge audience for its high energy live shows thanks to constant touring, their Billboard-charting 2022 album Wisdom and collaborations with artists including Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, Barrington Levy and Collie Buddz.

The concert business has traditionally not issued refunds to fans, stamping tickets with warnings like “Rain or Shine” and “All Sales Final.” For early rock promoter pioneers, refunds represented an unacceptable level of uncertainty — a promoter would go bankrupt if spent millions to book an artist, only to have the fans want their money back at the last minute.

But as the touring market grew, so did the time it took for a modern tour to sell out of tickets, which extended the length of time between when tickets went on sale and when the show took place. In some cases, fans were asked to buy tickets a year in advance of the concert date.

That creates unneeded stress for fans and inspired Stick Figure frontman Scott Woodruff to announce his unusual refund plan via an email to fans Tuesday (Feb. 6), writing “Traditionally, ticketing companies don’t offer refunds, and that’s not fair. We believe in looking out for our fans and understand that life can be unpredictable,” he wrote, noting the refund offer will apply “to anyone that bought tickets but can’t go to the show for any reason.”

The refunds are only available to fans that purchased their tickets on primary ticketing sites and requests for refunds have to be made at least ten days in advance of the concert. Fans looking for a refund should email family@stickfigure.com for help. All refunds will be handled by the band and will not apply to tickets purchased on resale sites.

“We will be offering absolutely NO REFUNDS to scalpers,” Woodruff wrote. “We do not support the concept of buying tickets with the sole purpose of taking advantage of fans by reselling those tickets at higher prices.”

Fully refundable artist presale tickets are available now at stickfigure.com using the code “SACREDSANDS” and general on sale is Friday at 10am PST. Dates for the Sacred Sands tour are below:

7/11/24 – Albuquerque, NM – Sandia Amphitheatre
7/13/24 – California – City & Venue TBA
7/14/24 – California – City & Venue TBA
7/16/24 – California – City & Venue TBA
7/18/24 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater
7/20/24 – Tacoma, WA – Lemay ACM Haub Field
7/24/24 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
7/25/24 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
7/27/24 – Colorado – City & Venue TBA
7/30/24 – Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed
8/1/24 – Thornville, OH – Everwild Music Festival
8/3/24 – The Xfinity Center – Mansfield, MA
8/6/24 – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater – Virginia Beach, VA
8/8/24 – Credit One Stadium – Charleston, SC
8/10/24 – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre – West Palm Beach, FL
8/12/24 – Key West Amphitheater – Key West, FL

07 Feb 2024

Tony Romo Would Like to See Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce ‘Get Married’: ‘They’re Both Amazing People’

Tony Romo is hoping to hear wedding bells in Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce‘s future — and not just because it would rectify the moment he accidentally said the pop star was the tight end’s “wife” during an NFL broadcast.

While talking to reporters at a pre-Super Bowl CBS Sports press event, the sports commentator said, “I root for them to get married,” referring to the power couple. “‘Cause they’re not married, guys. I was joking,” he also quipped, per Entertainment Tonight.

“It shows you Taylor’s impact just on human beings and society, just that anything she says resonates,” he continued. “I just sit there and, you know, think about her gift and her ability to create and make something that so many people love, and I think it’s just really unique to find or be around anybody on Earth who has the ability to have a talent at that level. And so Travis has the same thing as a tight end, and you know, I root for them. I like them both and I think they’re both amazing people.”

He shared the same sentiment when speaking with The Sporting Tribune‘s Arash Markazi.

“The passion of this sport and seeing him go out and do what he loves and be great at it is a joyful thing, the same way that he’s going to watch her. And I think that in a perfect world, they wouldn’t have all of the media attention around it,” he said, speaking about the couple’s high-profile romance. “But the truth is, they’re just too dominant at what they do, they’re both special people.”

“I love their hearts,” Romo continued. “I think they’re both incredible human beings who are super genuine, treat people the same no matter what walk of life you’re in, and you root for people like that … I think they’re two really unique, special people.”

Some have compared Travis Kelce dating Taylor Swift to Tony Romo dating dating Carrie Underwood and later Jessica Simpson so I asked Romo if he could describe what it’s like being in a high-profile relationship like that. pic.twitter.com/D3a9somPOT

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) February 6, 2024

Romo’s remarks come a couple months after he made headlines for mistakenly referring to the “Anti-Hero” singer as No. 87’s spouse while doing on-air commentary at the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills match in December. “As you see Kelce’s wife, Taylor Swift, in the audience,” said the retired quarterback during the game, cameras cutting to the pop star sitting in the crowd at Arrowhead Stadium.

He quickly corrected himself at the time, adding, “I’m sorry, girlfriend.”

In January, he crossed paths with Swift at the AFC Championship game, where Kansas City defeated the Baltimore Ravens and earned their ticket to the Super Bowl for the second year in a row. While down on the field celebrating with Chiefs Kingdom after their victory, Romo exchanged compliments and a fist-bump with the 14-time Grammy winner.

Following a two-week break, the Chiefs will compete for the Vince Lombardi trophy against the San Francisco 49ers Sunday (Feb. 11) at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. Fans are hopeful Swift will be in attendance to see the season through, although she does have a string of Eras Tour shows scheduled in Tokyo just before the big game.

And while Romo — along with millions of Swifties, probably — is hopeful that Kelce will pop the question soon, the offensive lineman did hint that an engagement isn’t in his near future. “I’m focused on getting this [Super Bowl] ring,” he said during a Monday (Feb. 5) press conference. “That’s all my mind is focused on right now.”

07 Feb 2024

With More Layoffs Looming, Music’s Tough Job Market Is About to Get Tougher

Since Laura Gonzalez lost her job as a Spotify software engineer in December, when the streaming giant cut 1,500 employees in its third round of 2023 layoffs, she has struggled to reassert herself in a shifting music business.

As companies like Universal Music Group and BMG downsize for strategic purposes, Gonzalez has observed through job listings and interviews — that public-relations, media and streaming jobs are thinning out while the social-media and ticket-sales sectors remain more or less robust. “It is scary, I’m not going to lie,” says Gonzalez, a San Diego singer and guitarist who fronts shoegaze band Memory Leak. She adds that the “competition is insane,” noting she spent her one-year Spotify career building revenue streams for artists beyond royalties. “I found myself having to study and refresh on topics I had not thought of since I was in university — data structure and algorithms.”

From the point of view of music-business job-seekers, the employment landscape has taken a recent turn into the unknown. For the last several years, boosted by streaming growth and a spike in demand during COVID-19 home quarantine, labels, DSPs (digital service providers) and other streaming-focused companies were expanding and hiring. But UMG’s chairman, Lucian Grainge, has warned staff for months that the world’s biggest label is on the brink of severe cost-cutting.

For that reason, according to Pieter Wolter, founder of The Music Recruiters, an Amsterdam-based company that recruits people in the music business and connects them to job opportunities, job-seekers with music-business experience in human resources, finance or other transitional skills might consider recession-proof sectors such as health insurance. He expects music-business job growth in artificial intelligence, data analytics and the metaverse, but perhaps not imminently.

“It’s not like all these people who are laid off will be able to transition easily into those areas. This will depend on network and experience,” he says. “It’s clear the music industry is changing. There’s not a single area where I’m aware of super-strong hiring, like you could have seen in the past at digital distributors — or technology bursts you sometimes see.”

There are bright spots in the industry. Jon Loba, BMG’s new president of frontline recording, declared last month that he would immediately start beefing up his A&R team in Los Angeles. (In October, the Berlin-based label and publisher laid off 30 staffers as part of what CEO Thomas Coesfeld called “a strategy for future growth.”) And record-setting tours by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have helped to create “lots of great growth opportunity for years to come” on the live side, Michael Rapino, president/CEO of Live Nation, told investors last August.

“Jobs will look different and there will be more competition, but I don’t think we need to completely freak out,” says Andreea Magdalina, Coachella’s community director and founder of shesaid.so, a music-business community of women and nonconforming gender people that hosts an online job portal. “What’s tough is people looking for jobs right now, because things are shifting really quickly. The market is going through a consolidation phase.”

For now, though, online recruiters are seeing bleakness in the business. (In addition to recent layoffs at DSPs and labels, music journalism has taken a devastating hit, with Conde Nast downsizing Pitchfork and newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times firing entertainment writers and editors.) Recent music-related opportunities on ZipRecruiter, according to Julia Pollak, the company’s chief economist, have been in teaching, therapy or junior-level positions.

“There’s not tremendous growth happening in these industries,” she says. “The sort of high-paying music-manager kind of roles that are the most attractive are in very short supply.”

Noticing the same trends over two months of unemployment, Gonzalez has broadened her job search: “I’m hopeful that I can find something where I can make an impact, whether it’s in the music industry or a different industry. It’s all a learning path.”

07 Feb 2024

Travis Kelce Says It’s “Ridiculous” To Suggest He Invented “The Fade” Haircut

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Super Bowl LVIII - Kansas City Chiefs Media Availability

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On Jan. 29, an article from the New York Times weirdly credited Travis Kelce for inventing “the fade” haircut, which has been a staple in hoods across America for decades. And after a collective groan was heard on every block from coast to coast, Kelce has stepped up to set the record straight.

The NFL superstar not only pushed back on the notion that he started the “trend” of getting fades, but also took issue with the article dropping days before Black History Month.

“And to do it on Feb. 1,” said Kelce during his Super Bowl press conference. “They throw me into the wolves like that. That was messed up, man. I don’t want anything to do with that one, man.”

Kelce, whose business managers happen to be Black men, by the way, also offered some style tip. “It’s a two on top and a nice high-to-mid fade with a taper in the back,” he said, “I didn’t invent that. I just asked for it,” he added.

Why thank you sir for being honest and self-aware in this particular situation. Had Kelce had a Trumpian attitude, he probably would’ve accepted credit for inventing the haircut as Cheeto Jesus is notorious for trying to colonize things he had absolutely nothing to do with. Kelce knew heads were ready to chew him up if he went along with the story.

Now that he’s set the record straight on the matter, he can continue to go about his business and be a part of other conspiracy theories that the far-right MAGAts currently have him involved in such as he and Taylor Swift are actually agents for the CIA who’s mission it was to get to the Super Bowl and somehow convince Americans to vote for Joe Biden during the big game. We would say you can’t make this stuff up, but someone did and now it’s a thing. America in 2024.

What do y’all think of Travis Kelce’s response to Fadegate? Y’all good on him setting the record straight? Let us know in the comments section below.

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