BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
✳ Theater impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber is planning to transform the 2003 screen comedy “School Of Rock” into a stage musical. In the movie, Jack Black portrayed a struggling singer who pretends to be a supply teacher and turns his young students into a rock band. The Brit composer has purchased stage rights and plans to incorporate his own songs plus tracks that featured in the film from the likes of The Clash, Led Zeppelin, and The Who. (The film was loosely based on the real-life Paul Green’s Rock School, an after-school program in Philadelphia PA where 9-to-17-year-olds were taught to play rock.)
– CBC.ca
✳ Simon Cowell doesn’t wear underpants. According to the music mogul’s fellow “Britain’s Got Talent” judge Amanda Holden, the 53-year-old likes to go ‘commando’ all the time, maybe because he has such a busy life he doesn’t have time to put tighty-whities on or take them off. Holden’s advice: “Perhaps he should get someone to do that for him.” (Sounds like a set-up to shore up flagging audience interest in the UK version of “The X Factor”.)
– BBC Radio 1
✳ Former “Harry Potter” actress Emma Watson has gained new respect for strippers after learning to pole dance for Sofia Coppola’s new movie “The Bling Ring” (opening June 14th). Watson admits she now sees exotic dancers in a new light. Quote: “I was incredibly ungraceful at first. The upper-body strength and the core strength you need to do it gracefully is crazy. I take my hat off to the women who can do it. You have to be incredibly strong.” (For this film, she’s clearly shed more than just her ‘Hermione’ image.)
– “GQ”
✳ Tom Cruise has a private jet on standby for Suri. The actor is so determined to see his daughter, who lives with her mom Katie Holmes in NYC, he has splashed out more than $4.5 million on a Cessna Citation business jet to fly her out to LA to visit him. After her upcoming 7th birthday visit on April 18th, Suri will have permanent access to the jet, which will be based at a Manhattan heliport. (Yeah, this kid’s going to grow up totally normal for sure.)
– TheSun.co.uk
✳ Since giving birth last September, 38-year-old Drew Barrymore has been busy promoting her new ‘Flower’ makeup line and ‘Barrymore’ wine collection. But now she says she is convinced working mothers can’t ‘have it all’ and is choosing to step away from her filmmaking career to focus on bringing up baby daughter Olive. She says if she continued to direct films, she would miss out on her daughter. Quote: “It was heartbreaking to let go but it was a clear choice.” (It’s OK. We weren’t all that jazzed about the prospect of “Whip It 2” anyway.)
– UsMagazine.com

TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Chelsea Lately” (E!) – Kid Rock (“Rebel Soul”).
• “Dancing With the Stars” (ABC) – Andrea Bocelli & Jennifer Lopez perform; Brad Paisley performs (“Wheelhouse”, out today); the couples face elimination.
• “Ellen DeGeneres Show” (syndicated) – Brad Paisley again.
• “In Performance At the White House: Memphis Soul” (Washington DC) – Barack & Michelle Obama host this PBS music special being taped in the East Room for broadcast April 16th. Performers include Alabama Shakes, Ben Harper,  Cyndi Lauper, Justin Timberlake (seriously?), Mavis Staples, Queen Latifah, Sam Moore, and Steve Cropper.
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC) – Foals (“Holy Fire”).
• “Last Call With Carson Daly” (NBC) – Curtis Peoples (“Curtis Peoples”).
• “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” (NBC) – Jonas Bros (“Pom Poms”).
• “Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS) – Gary Clark Jr (“Blak & Blu”).
• “Ready For Love” (NBC) – Debut of a new Eva Longoria-produced reality dating series. Tonight Plain White T’s singer Tim Lopez is one of the contestants.
• “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” (NBC) – ‘90s boy-band Hanson (“Anthem”, out June 18th).
• “The Voice” (NBC) – Vocalist ‘blind auditions’ continue.
• “Wendy Williams” (syndicated) – Luke James (“Made to Love”).

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Adele – She’s reportedly set to start work on her 3rd album, assembling a team that includes Arctic Monkeys producer James Ford and Florence & The Machine songwriter Kid Harpoon. Word has it they’re working to create an ‘edgy’ record to follow-up her smash hit “21”.
• Baauer – Tonight in Houston TX the “Harlem Shake” artist begins the “Worst Of Both Worlds” tour, co-headlining with rapper Danny Brown.
• Craig Morgan – Today the country singer embarks on the 6th annual Fjallraven Polar, a 200-mile dog sled excursion above the Arctic Circle in Sweden. He’s among 20 people from 10 countries participating in the 5-day adventure. Hope he still knows how to build a “Bonfire”.
• Paramore – Today they release their self-titled 4th studio album. The band, now down to a trio, says the whole process of making this album was rediscovering themselves as a band and as friends.
• Postal Service – Today they release a ‘Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition’ of their only album, “Give Up”. The remastered original album also contains a bonus disc of 15 additional tracks. Tonight the band begins a reunion tour in Reno, Nevada.
• Stone Sour – Today the 2nd portion of their 2-part album, “House Of Gold & Bones”, is out. Their current tour wraps up with a performance at the 5th “Revolver Golden Gods Awards” May 2nd at LA’s Club Nokia.

TODAY’S VIDEO RELEASES:
• “Hyde Park on Hudson” ( R-Rated Biographical Drama ): In June 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and his wife Eleanor (Olivia Williams) host the King and Queen of England (Samuel West, Olivia Colman) for a weekend at the Roosevelt home at Hyde Park on Hudson, in upstate New York.
• Also released today: “Boss: Season 2” (TV); “The Cary Grant Film Collection” (Compilation); “Errol Garner: No One Can Hear You Read” (Music Documentary); “Family Ties: The 6th Season” (TV); “The Great Barrier Reef” (Documentary); “Into the Cold: A Journey Of the Soul” (Documentary); “The Last Flight of Petr Ginz” (Documentary); and “Love Free or Die” (Documentary).

MARRIED MONEY FIGHTS:
Do you fight about money with your spouse? Financial matters trigger an average of 3 arguments per month for married couples, and that rises to 4 per month for those aged 45-to-54, according to a new survey. The most common disagreement is over what’s a ‘want’ and what’s a ‘need’. (What’s a need according to you? We’re guessing her needs might include clothes, makeup, and white wine. And his needs could be golf, beef, and beer.)
– American Institute of CPAs

GREENS WASHING:
When you buy a package of pre-washed salad, should you wash it anyway? Not really. Health experts say if lettuce is contaminated with the kinds of organisms that can make you sick, washing it won’t protect you. What’s more, the typical kitchen sink is so germy, you’re more likely to splash bacteria onto your ready-to-eat greens by cleaning them at home. (Look at that scummy dishcloth in your sink! Seriously, isn’t it time?)
– “Good Housekeeping”

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING:
Two US politicians are demanding Beyoncé & Jay Z face investigation over their recent vacation in Cuba to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary. It’s a bit silly considering policy changes by the Obama administration earlier this year allow Americans to take part in tours to Cuba that encourage ‘people-to-people’ contact. However, they must travel with a Cuba travel organization that has an official license from the US State Department. (Could Mr & Mrs Carter’s trip be their friend Obama’s way of testing the waters for further normalizing relations?)
– HuffingtonPost.com

THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT CUBA:
✓ Tourism attracts over 3 million visits to Cuba per year, making it one of the island’s leading sources of revenue. Visitors come primarily from Canada and western Europe.
✓ Cubans enjoy one of the best healthcare systems in the world. Cuba provides more medical personnel to the developing world than all of the G8 countries combined.
✓ Cuba puts great importance on education. It spends 10% of its central budget on education, compared to 4% in the UK and just 2% in the United States, according to UNESCO.
✓ The 52-year US embargo against Cuba has accomplished little other than driving the country into trading partnerships elsewhere – first with the USSR, now with China and Venezuela.
✓ The USA assumed territorial control over the southern portion of Cuba’s Guantánamo Bay under the 1903 Cuban-American Treaty, essentially a lease. The rent? $2,000-a-year. It continues to be a thorny issue. Some legal scholars now judge that the lease may be voidable.
– BS original

WHO TRAVELS MOST?
The Chinese have become the single biggest source of global tourism income after spending a combined $102 billion while traveling abroad in 2012. That total is 40% higher than the year before, and puts China well above the next 2 highest-spending countries on tourism, Germany and the United States. (Meaning … all those signs on tourist traps in Japanese left over from the ‘80s-‘90s need to be translated.)
– BBC News

WINE COOLER:
Most wine is best served at 45-60 F (7-15 C) so if you pull a bottle off your wine rack, it’ll take a while to lower the temperature in the fridge. But there’s a much quicker method. All you need to do is toss a few frozen grapes into your glass before sipping. The advantage of grapes is they won’t water down your drink or cool it too quickly like ice cubes. Plus, once you’re done drinking, you have a delicious snack waiting for you at the bottom of the glass. (Biting into a glacial grape … a whole new way to get an ‘ice cream headache’!)
– “The Improvised Life”

FOR THE RECORD:
The world record for ‘Most People Simultaneously Hula-Hooping’ was recently broken at Thammasat University Stadium near Bangkok, Thailand. The 4,483 people simultaneously hula-hooping for 7 minutes broke the previous record held by Taiwan.
– Reuters.com

BS AMAZING FACT:
‘Holly Golightly’, heroine of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, was originally going to be called ‘Connie Gustafson’.
– “The Independent”

BS CHRONOMETER 04.09.13

TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1926 [87] Hugh Hefner, Chicago IL, “Playboy” magazine founder/creepy old man who wed 26-year-old Crystal Harris on New Years Eve 2012

1954 [59] Dennis Quaid, Houston TX, TV actor (‘Sheriff Ralph Lamb’ on “Vegas” since 2012)/movie actor (“GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra”, “Flight Of the Phoenix”)

1966 [47] Cynthia Nixon, NYC, movie actress (“Sex & The City” movies)/TV actress (‘Rebecca’ on “The Big C” since 2010, “Sex & The City” 1998-2004)

1980 [33] Albert Hammond Jr, LA CA, indie rock guitarist (The Strokes-“Under Cover of Darkness”, “Juicebox”)

1982 [31] Jay Baruchel, Ottawa ON Canada, movie actor (“How to Train Your Dragon”, “Knocked Up”)

1990 [23] Kristen Stewart, LA CA, movie actress (“The Runaways”, “Twilight Saga” films)

1998 [15] Elle Fanning, Conyers GA, movie actress (“We Bought a Zoo”, “Super 8”)/younger sister of actress Dakota Fanning

TODAY’S BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Be Kind to Lawyers Day”, a day to be nice to attorneys instead of lambasting them with beefs and demeaning them with stereotypical jokes.
NET: http://bekindtolawyers.com

• “Cherish an Antique Day”, one of the few things that increases in value the older it gets.

• “Equal Pay Day”, originated by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men’s and women’s wages. Today’s date symbolizes how far into 2013 women must work to earn what men earned in 2012.
NET: http://www.pay-equity.org/day.html

• “Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day”, observed annually to commemorate the outstanding sacrifices made by members of the armed forces who’ve been held captive.

• “Name Yourself Day”, a day for anybody with a name they hate to tag themselves with a brand new label.

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
2005 [08] Britain’s Prince Charles & Camilla Parker Bowles are wed in Windsor, England

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENTS . . .
2003 [10] Willie Nelson celebrates his 70th birthday (April 30) at NYC’s Beacon Theatre, with performances by Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, ZZ Top, Leon Russell, Ray Price

2008 [05] Elton John’s benefit concert at NYC’s Radio City Music Hall raises $2.5 million for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign

TODAY’S FIRST . . .
2009 [04] Honda FCX Clarity, a 4-door sedan billed as the 1st hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicle, wins the ‘World Green Car Award’ at the New York Auto Show

TODAY’S RECORD . . .
1992 [21] ‘Heaviest Chocolate Easter Egg’ weighs 10,483 lbs and measures over 23-feet-high (Ringwood, Australia)

COMING UP . . .
[Wed] SPCA Day
[Wed] Farm Animals Day
[Wed] Sibling Day
[Thurs] Country Thunder begins (Florence AZ)
[Thurs] Pet Day
[Thurs] World Parkinson’s Disease Day
This Week Is … Window Safety Week
This Month Is … Amateur Radio Month

BULL’S BITS

BANK INSECURITY QUESTIONS:
✗ Which part of your body are you most uncomfortable with?
✗ When you chose that outfit this morning, how did you think you looked?
✗ How does it feel watching your friends become successful?
✗ On a scale of 1-to-10, how much does your birth-father look like you?
✗ Could a stranger theoretically have a copy of your front-door key?
✗ Are you sure about your answers so far?
✗ What does your partner say to other people about your sex life?
✗ Do you ever wonder what people think of your speaking voice?
✗ Do the rumors going round lately concern you?
✗ Why do dogs look at you like that?
– Thanks to Nick Asbury

BS RANDOM JOKE:
Ever notice wind velocity increases directly with the cost of the hairdo?

BS PHONE STARTER:
☎ Complete this sentence: “My favorite room is …”

BS WEB GOODIE:
Wanna live in the late Notorious BIG’s old apartment?
NET: http://bit.ly/XZs3ME

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Question: 29% of working guys do THIS while on-the-job.
Answer: Look for another job.

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
To rest is to rust.