The Star Careers

Prince Rainier III (1923-2005)
Rainier’s mother, Princess Charlotte, was actually illegitimate. Her father Louis II, getting older and with no legitimate children, legitimized her and made her his heir. She never took the throne, and in fact renounced her rights to her son, Rainier, the day before his 21st birthday.
Rainier became the Sovereign Prince of Monaco upon the death of his grandfather in 1949.
During WW2, Rainier served in the Free French Army. During the 40s and 50s he was in a long term relationship with the French film actress Gisele Pascal. Rainier’s sister, Princess Antoinette, wanted her own son to ascend to the throne, and spread rumors that Pascal was infertile. The rumors along with her treatment by the press and public ended their relationship.
After the war Monaco, a country who made its money primarily as a gambling origin, was in crisis as wealthy Europeans found their funds diminished after the war. To restore Monaco’s treasury Rainier decided to promote Monaco as a tax haven, and he personally took control of SBM (the company who owns the Monte Carlo Casino, Opera, and Hostel de Paris) in 1964. Prince Albert still retains a large share of the company and profits from it today.
Marriage:
Everyone knows this one. Rainier married American film star Grace Kelly in 1956.
Their marriage is rumored to have been turbulent. It is said that Grace struggled with adjusting to royal life, regretted ending her film career, and that Rainier had extramarital affairs. Her children have stated that though she was a loving mother, they spent more time with nannies than with their parents.
Grace's dress is iconic, but here you go if you want to revisit some photos from that day.
Rainier smoked up to 60 cigarettes per day, and in the last years of his life his health steadily declined. On March 8th, 2005 he entered the hospital for a lung infection and by the end of the month he was on a ventilator suffering from renal and heart failure. On March 31st he officially announced his son Albert, as regent, and on April 6th he died.
The Constitution
Monaco’s constitution stated that Monaco is a constitutional monarchy ruled by the hereditary princes of the Grimaldi. If the reigning prince were to die without leaving a male heir, Monaco, according to the treaty, would be incorporated into France. In 2002, realizing he had a 43 year old bachelor son, Rainier amended the constitution to allow the crown to pass to his daughters should Albert not marry.
Grace, Princess of Monaco (1929-1982)
Grace was born in Philadelphia to an affluent and influential family. Her father was an Olympian and a Democratic nominee for Mayor of Philadelphia and was appointed by President Roosevelt as National Director of Physical Fitness. Her mother taught physical education at the University of Pennsylvania and coached women’s athletics at Penn.
Her Uncle, George Kelly, was a Pulitzer prize winning dramatist, screenwriter, and director and used his influence to gain Grace admission to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Grace became one of the biggest movie stars of her generation.
In 1955 she was sent to the Cannes Film Festival and invited to appear in photos with Prince Rainier. After a year-long courtship, they were married in 1956.
Grace was not allowed to continue her acting career after her marriage. She instead devoted herself to her role as Princess, become heavily involved with the Red Cross of Monaco and the Rainbow Children Coalition.
On September 13, 1982, Kelly was driving back to Monaco after spending time at her country home. During the drive she had a stroke, lost control of her vehicle, and drove off the mountainside. She died a day later.
An article on their relationship
Prince Albert II (b. 1958)
Prince Albert is one of the wealthiest royals in the world with a net worth at more than $1B. He attended Amherst College in Massachusetts, studying political science, economics, music, and English literature, and completed his education with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. He toured Europe in 1979 as part of the Amherst College Glee Club.
Albert competed in the bobsleigh for five consecutive Winter Olympics on behalf of Monaco, and was their flag bearer at the 1988, 1994, and 1998 Olympics. He is also a judo black belt.
He became Prince of Monaco when his father died in 2005.
Marriage:
Prior to his marriage his status as a bachelor was a hot topic of discussion. He was known to date well-known fashion models and actresses, however at age 53 had never married. It was rumored that Albert was gay, something he expressed great frustration with in the press. In 2006 he attended the opening ceremony of the Torino Olympics with South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock. They were engaged in 2010, and married in 2011.
There are rumors that Charlene tried to flee the country the day before their wedding. It is reported that the future bride, after discovering Albert may have fathered yet another child during their relationship, attempted to flee as many as three times before their wedding, however was always intercepted at the airport. It is also said she attempted to seek refuge at the South African embassy, and that officials in Monaco ended up hiding her passport so she could not leave the country.
Moreover, during their wedding, Charlene openly cried at parts, and Prince Albert was caught on camera begging her to kiss him. Honestly, she looked pretty miserable the whole time. The palace has denied all of these claims.
During their honeymoon, they stayed in separate hotels
Here's everything you ever needed to know about their wedding
Watch it
Prince Albert is passionate about the environment and an avid sportsman. Prince Albert speaks French, English, German, and Italian. He speaks English with basically no accent thanks to his American mother.
Illegitimate Children
In 2005, the day before Prince Rainier died, Albert publicly acknowledged he had fathered a son out of wedlock. In 2006, he confirmed he had also fathered a daughter. These children were barred from the line of inheritance because of a 2002 constitutional amendment requiring an heir’s parents to be married.
Alexandre (b. 2003)
Alexandre’s mother (Nicole Coste) was a flight attendant for Air France and met Prince Albert when he was a passenger on a flight. He asked for her number, the beginning of a years-long affair. The relationship ended at the insistence of Prince Rainier. Albert visited Alexandre and Nicole often, however when he refused to acknowledge Alexandre publicly, Nicole sold an interview and pictures to the media. Albert was in mourning for his father and made no public comment, but later did acknowledge paternity. Alexandre and Nicole live in France at an estate given to them by Albert.
Jazmin (b. 1992)
Jazmin’s mother, Tamara, met Albert while working as a waitress. Albert knew of Jazmin and visited her, however did not acknowledge her publicly until she was in high school to protect her identity. In 2006 the French magazine Voici published photographs of Jazmin and her mother on a visit to Monaco, outing her as Albert’s daughter. She has attended events with Albert and Charlene, and is listed as a sponsor for her father’s royal foundation.
An interview with Jazmin
Princess Charlene (b. 1978)
Born in Zimbabwe, Charlene’s family relocated to South Africa in 1989. She represented South Africa at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, finished fifth in the 4x100 meter relay.
Albert and Charlene met at the Mare Nostrum swimming competition in Monaco in 2000, however were not seen together until 2006.
Charlene converted to Roman Catholicism for her wedding, and has learned French and Monegasque after her move to Monaco. She is an ambassador for the Special Olympics, patron of the South African Red Cross, and is passionate about sport.
In recent news, she completed “the crossing” water bike challenge, a 180 kilometer water bike race for charity.
An interview with Charlene and Albert on the 1st birthday of their twins
Albert and Charlene have 2 children:
Hereditary Prince Jacques *twin* (b. 2014)
Princess Gabriella *twin* (b. 2014)
Gabriella was born 2 minutes before her brother, however because of the constitution her brother will inherit the throne. They are super sweet together and you see them at events often.
Princess Caroline of Hanover (b. 1957)
Caroline is the eldest child of Rainier and Grace Kelly, however because of the constitution her brother, Albert, sits on the throne of Monaco. She served as de facto first lady of Monaco until the marriage of Albert and Charlene.
Until the birth of her niece and nephew she was heir presumptive to the throne, although she had only held that title since 2005 after the change of the constitution to include female heirs.
Caroline received her French baccalaureat in 1974, and received a degree in Philosophy from Sorbonne University. She is fluent in French, English, Spanish, German, and Italian. Her hobbies include horseback riding, swimming, and skiing.
Marriages:

• Marriage 1: Philippe Junot

Married Phillippe, a Parisian banker, in 1978. The couple divorced in 1980 with no children.

• Marriage 2: Stefano Casiraghi

Married Stefano in 1983, the sportsman heir to an Italian industrial fortune. The two had to marry in a civil ceremony rather than a religious ceremony because Caroline, a Catholic, was divorced. Caroline was 3 months pregnant at the time of their wedding.
They have three children:

1. Andrea Casiraghi (1984)

• Married to Tatiana Santo Domingo and has 3 children

1. Charlotte Casiraghi (1986)

• Married to French producer Dimitri Rassam and has two children

1. Pierre Casiraghi (b. 1987)

• Married to Beatrice Borromeo and has 2 children

Note: The Casiraghi’s are all very beautiful and very fashionable but I don’t want to go much into them here because they are so far down the line of succession. They’re fun to follow for their fashion if you have the time to check them out.

• Marriage 3: Prince Ernst August of Hanover

Married Ernst August, a Prince, in 1999. They have one daughter, Princess Alexandra.
Caroline is thus a Princess twice-over, through her family and through her husband. She and Ernst August have been separated since 2009 however are still legally married, thus she retains the title of Princess Caroline of Hanover.
Read about all of her weddings here
See her speaking in English around 12:00 here
Princess Stephanie (b. 1965)
Stephanie was in the vehicle with her mother when Grace died. She suffered a fracture of the neck.
She has studied classical dance and piano, and competed in gymnastics and horse riding. She interned at Christian Dior and debuted as a model in 1984. She has a swimwear and perfume line, and owns cafes and stores in both Monaco and Barcelona. She also has sold more than 2 million copies of her song, Ouragan, and sold 1.5M copies of her album Besoin. She recorded “In the Closet” with Michael Jackson, however is listed as “mystery girl” in the credits.
Marriages/Relationships:

• Marriage 1: Daniel Ducruet

Stephanie married her former body guard, Daniel Ducruet, in 1995. When Rainier learned of their relationship Daniel was not only still his employee, but had a pregnant girlfriend too. Stephanie gave birth to their two children “out of wedlock” because Rainier refused to grant permission for them to marry, however eventually relented. The two divorced a year later after Ducruet was photographed naked with a stripper.
Read more
They have two children:

1. Louis (b. 1992)

• Married Marie Chevallier in 2019

1. Pauline (b. 1994)

​

• Relationship 2: Jean Raymond Gottlieb

Stephanie and Jean never married, however have a child together. He was Rainier’s Head of Security. She did not identify him on the birth certificate and it was not confirmed that he was Camille’s father until she confirmed it herself on her Instagram.
More about Jean
​

• Marriage 3: Franco Knie

Stephanie met elephant trainer (yeah, you read that right) when she presented him with the award for “best animal tamer” at the Monaco Circus Festival in 1997. Franco, a decade older than Stephanie, was married with two children at the time. Franco left his family for Stephanie, moving her and her three children into his circus caravan in Zurich. Marrying in 2001, their relationship lasted 18 months until their divorce.
An interview with Stephanie in English in 1990
Why is he a Prince and not a King?
From vogue:
It goes back deep into the history of Monaco. Monaco has always been a tiny nation, and, for protection, allied itself with (or, at some points, was flat-out annexed by) big powerful countries, with big powerful rulers—aka kingdoms, or, a nation ruled by a king or queen. So Monaco’s rulers styled themselves as prince and princess. That, by definition, made the nation a principality, or one ruled by prince or princess.
Regardless, Albert actually plays a bigger role in the day to day operations of the country than most of his European peers. Legislative power is divided between the Prince who initiates the laws, and the National Council who votes on them. Executive power is retained by the Prince, and he has full judiciary powers.
Jewels
See their tiara collection
I think the Ocean Tiara, gifted to Charlene for her wedding, is particularly interesting. You either love it or you hate it.
The Grimaldi Curse
What do you think?

​

Title	Price	Ends Date	Metacritic
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6180 the moon	$1.99	9/17	-
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Arrest of a stone Buddha	$11.24	10/1	64
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Black Paradox	$5.09	9/23	-
Blacksad: Under the Skin	$24.99	47 hours	60
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Hook	$0.99	9/30	-
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Nicole	$14.24	9/28	-
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Radio Squid	$3.74	9/28	-
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Roulette at Aces Casino	$2.99	9/27	-
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Season Match 2	$7.99	9/25	-
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Slain: Back From Hell	$4.99	9/23	47
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Sudoku Universe	$3.49	9/23	-
Super Bit Blaster XL	$0.09	10/4	-
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Taxi Sim 2020	$9.99	9/30	-
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The Bug Butcher	$2.95	9/27	80
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WARSAW	$17.99	9/24	-
Where Angels Cry	$4.99	9/24	-
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Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives.
PREVIOUS YEARS ARCHIVE:
1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999

1-3-2000	1-10-2000	1-17-2000	1-24-2000
1-31-2000	2-7-2000	2-14-2000	2-21-2000
2-28-2000	3-6-2000	3-13-2000	3-20-2000
3-27-2000	4-3-2000	4-10-2000	4-17-2000
4-24-2000	5-1-2000	5-8-2000	5-15-2000
5-22-2000	5-29-2000	6-5-2000	6-12-2000

What's up everybody. Hope everyone's doing well. Just a heads up, there will be no Rewind posts for the rest of this week. I won't be around on Wednesday or Friday this week so the next post after today will be next Monday. Hope everybody has a good Thanksgiving. Also, ham is better than turkey and I will die for that belief, fuck you, fight me if you disagree.

• The long-rumored split of AJPW has finally come to pass, as company president Mitsuharu Misawa resigned his position on on 5/28. All sides attempted to keep it quiet to ensure a smooth transition but when word leaked to the media a week or so later, an emergency board of directors meeting was called and 5 more members of the board (wrestlers Kenta Kobashi, Akira Taue, Mitsuo Momota, along with front office exec Yoshihiro Momota and AJPW managing director Kenichi Oyagi) all formally resigned as well. It confirmed that virtually the entire company has decided to leave Motoko Baba. It's strongly believed that will Misawa will be starting his own promotion, probably in September (ends up being August actually). Misawa had hoped to avoid a public promotional war with the wife of Giant Baba and had attempted to negotiate with her to use the AJPW name for his promotion to preserve the legacy and history of what Giant Baba built without it turning nasty. But Motoko Baba refused the proposal and refused to give up any financial control of the company (she owns 85% while Nippon TV owns the other 15%). Both Misawa and Motoko Baba are expected to hold separate press conferences this week to detail their future plans. According to sources, every single wrestler in the company with the exception of Toshiaki Kawada and Masa Fuchi have pledged loyalty to Misawa and pretty much the entire front office is going with him as well. Kawada will likely be named the new AJPW president this week. Kawada and Misawa have known each other since high school but haven't ever really fully gotten along, with Kawada feeling like Misawa was holding him down from being the top star in AJPW. With him in charge, it's expected he will become the top star and will attempt to form a working relationship with NJPW while also bringing in indie talent to fill out the now-empty roster to keep the company afloat.
  
• Misawa and Motoko Baba have never gotten along since Misawa took over as company president following Giant Baba's death. A lot of the problems stem from Baba wanting to maintain the status quo in a company that has been floundering, while Misawa wanted to make major changes, push younger wrestlers, and things like that, only to find himself often overruled. Dave notes a specific show last year when Misawa booked Budokan Hall and put Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori in the main event, which Baba was adamantly against, feeling a Budokan show shouldn't be headlined by wrestlers who weren't yet established main eventers. Misawa also wanted to modernize the contracts, with wrestlers having medical coverage if they're hurt, full pay while out injured, and things like that. Usually every year at the end of March, the wrestlers get raises but that didn't happen this year and as a result, nobody re-signed, so currently the entire AJPW roster of wrestlers are free-agents right now, which is why they're all able to up and leave with Misawa. As much as everyone loved Giant Baba, his wife has always been notoriously unpopular in Japanese wrestling circles and was nicknamed "Dragon Lady." Shortly after Giant Baba's death, she forced Jumbo Tsuruta out of the company after he had worked there for 27 years.
  
• Needless to say, there's some potential legal hurdles here. It's believed Misawa may have a non-compete clause in his previous contract that hasn't run out yet. There's also the possibility that Baba will file a lawsuit claiming that Misawa had started working to set up his new company while still employed as AJPW president. During the meeting where Misawa resigned, Baba didn't attend, instead sending her lawyer with a note saying that she wasn't going to be there. The key to this whole thing is Nippon TV, which has been broadcasting wrestling weekly since the Rikidozan days. Dave says this whole thing is really similar to the 1972 situation when Giant Baba left the old JWA promotion (Rikidozan's company) and started AJPW, and Nippon TV went with him. 7 months later, JWA was dead. Publicly, Nippon TV isn't saying anything but it's believed that they are likely going to side with Misawa also, so AJPW's days on television may be numbered. If for some reason that doesn't happen, the Fuji Network in Japan is interested, so Misawa's promotion will surely end up on TV one way or another. All in all, this is pretty devastating for AJPW.
  
• The situation with AJPW's foreign wrestlers is uncertain. They all ride on the same bus and were told to clean out all their stuff. They also checked to see if their hotels were booked for the upcoming July tour only to find out they haven't been booked yet (they usually are by now) so the foreign stars are said to be pretty concerned that they suddenly might not have jobs. Many of the foreign wrestlers are closer to Mrs. Baba since, well, she writes the checks and the money's never late. But they've all been told not to worry, although they haven't been given any details of what their futures hold. Steve Williams and Johnny Ace are the closest to her on a personal level. Stan Hansen, the highest paid foreign star in AJPW, is staying out of the situation. He's just about ready to retire anyway and has saved his money well, so he's just chillin' and waiting to see how this whole thing shakes out.
  
• Things are only slightly less chaotic in the United States. The WWF vs. USA Network trial began this week and the futures of both WWF's Raw and ECW as a whole probably depend on what happens. USA Senior VP David Brenner testified during the first 2 days and revealed that USA pays WWF $42,000 per episode for Raw. Last year during negotiations, USA had offered to increase the payment to $80,000 per episode in 2001, $85,000 in 2002 and $90,000 in 2003 as well as offering increases in payments for the other three weekly shows on USA but Vince McMahon turned them down. USA then increased the offer but McMahon again turned it down and began negotiating with Fox.
  
• More talk about the future of WCW also. The SFX talks to purchase WCW have seemingly gone nowhere so far but are still ongoing. Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan have been meeting with Fox about a deal. The idea being that Bischoff and Hogan would go to Fox to start a "new promotion," which would then do a big inter-promotional angle against WCW. Meanwhile, WCW is also still reaching out to ECW about possibly working together, but Heyman has once again refused because he wants no part of anything to do with WCW.
  
• Oh yeah, speaking of....ECW is pretty jolly well fucked up right now too. Heyman has also had discussions with Fox but they haven't gone anywhere. Even though WCW is suffering financial losses the likes of which have never been seen before in professional wrestling, ECW is actually the company in the most danger right now. They're in a major financial crunch and wrestlers are weeks behind on getting paid. Several sources are said to be willing to loan ECW money or to buy a stake in the company, including WWF, which has offered several times to bail Heyman out. But the loan would come with certain conditions that Heyman isn't willing to accept because they would basically give WWF too much control over his company. Furthermore, the situation with the WWF/USA lawsuit is precarious because it's entirely possible and likely that TNN will boot ECW off the network if/when they get WWF Raw, which would leave ECW sitting on a mountain of debt without a national TV deal. Heyman is hopeful that they can survive on syndicated TV, just as they did before they had TNN, but things have changed a lot since then. If TNN ends up getting Raw, ECW's best hope is that they will be picked up by USA but that's by no means a guarantee. Given the state of the company, Dave says they're going to need a major network deal and a much larger production budget from that network if they hope to survive or be competitive.
  
• WCW's Great American Bash is in the books and after a heavily-hyped build-up that something game-changing would happen, the big surprise ended up being the heel-turn of Goldberg. Dave says the show was a huge let-down. Endless run-ins, 3 big "stunt" spots which meant none of them stood out, predictable swerves, and the 3rd straight PPV with the same finish. Goldberg's heel turn got a lot of heat but Dave says it's way too soon in Goldberg's career, plus he just came back after being injured for 6 months and the fans have been dying to see him back. But Russo was determined to turn him heel immediately because "omg swerves are awesome!" so....here we are. Needless to say, Dave thinks this is just about the dumbest thing WCW could have done. It also re-solidifies Hogan and Nash as the top 2 babyfaces in the company, because this company just refuses to fucking learn. Coming out of the PPV, it seemed like the obvious direction for the next PPV would be Hogan vs. Jarrett for the title and Goldberg vs. Nash, but in their infinite wisdom, they went ahead and gave away both matches for free on Nitro the very next night, which, to be fair, it's not like anyone buys WCW PPVs anymore anyway so it probably doesn't really matter. To show just how far WCW has alienated its fans, both Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan were in matches on this PPV where their career was at stake if they lost. Two of the biggest names in history in potential retirement matches should be an instant sellout and monster buyrate but needless to say, they only drew 4,600 paid (in Baltimore, a city where both Flair and Hogan have been huge draws during their careers) and the buyrate is expected to be among the lowest ever. Dave says try to imagine a scenario in Mexico with El Santo and Perro Aguayo in retirement matches only selling 4,600 tickets to Arena Mexico, or Inoki and Riki Choshu putting up their careers and drawing 4,600 to the Tokyo Dome. It would be unthinkable, but welcome to WCW in 2000.
  
• Other notes from the show: the opening cruiserweight match ending got screwed up because the guy who plays Rection's dad came out 5 minutes early and since his run-in was part of the finish, they had to rush to it early. How does that even happen? Kanyon turned on DDP, making it 3 PPVs in a row that DDP lost because someone betrayed him. In the words of Raylan Givens, "If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole." I'm just saying, maybe we should start asking why all of DDP's friends keep turning on him. Hogan vs. Kidman was about what you expect: Hogan overcoming all the odds and beating Kidman like a jobber. Ric Flair's entire family got involved in his match with David Flair, including his daughter Ashley (Charlotte) attacking Russo. Vampiro beat Sting in an inferno match, with "Sting" (a stunt double) being set on fire and knocked off the top of the video screen and Dave hated this. And of course, finally, the Goldberg heel turn.
  
• WWF is planning to slowly enact a new rule banning all moves in which a wrestler might land on his head (aside from tombstones and DDTs). The details are still scarce but it would essentially ban all forms of piledrivers, brainbusters, and other back and overhead suplexes. It won't be an immediate change, and wrestlers who use those moves will be asked to move away from them and gradually change their moveset. The idea, of course, is to try to lower the injury risk of guys dealing with neck issues who are working 4 shows a week. Dave talks about major injuries that have happened, particularly the Masa Chono and Steve Austin neck injuries which both came from botched piledrivers and nearly ended the careers of both. No word on why exactly this was decided, but Dave talks about a crazy looking DDT from the top rope that Dean Malenko did to Scotty 2 Hotty at Backlash that scared a lot of people backstage. And of course, there's also the issue with Droz being paralyzed (although that was a freak accident) and things like that. Tazz had already been told to limit his suplexes and wasn't allowed to use some of his more dangerous ones. And Perry Saturn was told to change his brainbuster finisher so he's using an elbow from the top now as his finish.
  
• The New Jersey state assembly passed a bill to regulate "extreme wrestling." It's a bill clearly designed to shut down Jersey All Pro Wrestling and Combat Zone Wrestling, while not applying to other promotions that operate in the state, like WWF, WCW, or ECW. The bill still has to pass the state senate and the governor (who has come out in support of it) before it becomes law. There's a lot of direct quotes from the bill in here that tries to distinguish between WWF/WCW/ECW and promotions like JAPW and CZW and it's pretty bullshit. Most of the things that are listed as being banned in CZW and JAPW happen regularly in the main promotions too. Dave talks about Jeff Hardy doing dives off ladders in WWF, or New Jack jumping off balconies in ECW. Those would still be fine on those shows, but Jeff Hardy or New Jack went to an JAPW or CZW show and did the exact same thing, it would be banned. Any "extreme wrestling" promoter or wrestler that allows someone under 18 into a show would be subject to a $5,000 fine. Other wrestling promotions can run shows without a license but "extreme" promotions (only CZW and JAPW) have to not only get a license to operate, must notify the public safety director 20 days beforehand to get permission in writing, and a bunch of other shit. It's also subject to a bunch of taxes that the other companies aren't. And the biggest thing is that "extreme" shows must carry medical insurance on all the wrestlers and have 2 doctors and an ambulance on site at all times. For these small companies that only draw a couple hundred fans, that's an expense they can't afford. In short, the entire purpose of this bill is to run JAPW and CZW out of business, or at least out of the state, and it looks like it's likely going to become law.
  
• A&E aired a Biography special on Hulk Hogan and I can already tell this is going to be good. Dave's itching to point out the lies and inaccuracies. In an interesting note, after the show finished filming, they got a negative response from an early screening because they never acknowledged Hogan's role in the current downfall of WCW. So they tacked on a thing at the end mentioning that WCW had declined in popularity due to promoting wrestlers who were too old. Anyway, the rest of the documentary was basically Hogan and his friends and family telling a wonderful tale of fiction. Some of it is nitpicky stuff but others, like Vince McMahon's role in Hogan's success and the 80s boom of wrestling, was completely downplayed. He told a bunch of lies about his past steroid use, basically just that he dabbled in them when it was legal. Of course, none of that's true and Hogan's own testimony in Vince's 94 steroid trial contradicts it, but whatever. Overall, it doesn't sound too bad compared to the tall tales Hogan usually tells, but Dave always delights in nitpicking Hogan's conveniently selective memory.
  
• This week's ratings fun: on Raw, the Crash Holly vs. Gerald Brisco match did double the rating of Nitro's Nash/Goldberg main event, which was Goldberg's first match since turning heel the night before. As soon as Nitro ended, 40% of fans switched over to Raw, which is much higher than the usual number.
  
• NJPW experimented with selling tickets online for a show this week. It was a 17,000 seat arena but since this was an experiment, they only put 2,000 of the tickets online for sale and they sold out within an hour, so needless to say it was a success and they'll probably start doing that more often. Watching the business slowly begin implementing technology and taking advantage of the internet is one of the more interesting parts of doing these Rewinds to me.
  
• There was a big news story in Japan due to a recent incident where RINGS president and former wrestler Akira Maeda attacked Pancrase president Masami Ozaki at a hotel. Ozaki ended up pressing charges against Maeda for the attack. From reports, apparently Maeda lost his temper for some reason and punched Ozaki and threw him into a table. Around the same time, a newspaper article ran with Maeda talking about having a friend in the Yakuza, which seems like a pretty thinly-veiled threat.
  
• A newspaper in Sydney Australia reported that promoter Andrew McManus would be running some shows, including a major show headlined by Dennis Rodman vs. Brutus Beefcake at a 19,000 seat arena. The largest crowd for wrestling in Australian history is around 12,000 for an Andre the Giant match several years back. Word is Rodman will work several shows and will be making 7-figures. Dave is skeptical of this to say the least (turns out it was sort of true. Rodman did end up wrestling one show, headlining against Curt Hennig but I'm sure we'll hear more about it when the time comes).
  
• The FX Network is airing a toughman contest featuring wrestlers against football players. Most of the wrestlers are no named indie guys. The biggest names are XPW's Damien Steele and Mustafa from the Gangstas. The Fox Family channel is currently casting roles for a show called Los Luchadores about a group of Mexican wrestlers (this was a kid's show, only lasted 1 season).
  
• Memphis Championship Wrestling has been taping shows at the nearby Sam's Town casino but because no kids are allowed in the casino, the shows have been basically empty so they're moving them back to an all-ages venue in Memphis. Several of Shawn Michaels' students are expected to start working there soon.
  
• Sable is on the cover of the new Muscle & Fitness. In the article, it described her as "the most popular female athlete in wrestling history" and Dave supposes you could make a case for it. The story also said she can bench 225 and squat 405, to which Dave says he hasn't laughed that hard in weeks.
  
• Dave notes 2 promotions that are apparently starting. One is called Urban Wrestling Federation and is gonna be based on hip-hop and target Spanish audiences and they're bringing in Koko B Ware to build it around. On the other end of the spectrum is the Christian Wrestling Federation, which is wrestling without the vulgarity and sexual stuff and at the end of the show, all the wrestlers return to the ring for a big group prayer. I'm absolutely baffled that neither of these clearly brilliant ideas are still around today.
  
• ECW's Heat Wave PPV will take place in Los Angeles which is the first time the company will attempt a west coast show. Dave thinks it might be interesting since that's XPW territory (boy, I'll say....)
  
• Regarding the incident mentioned last week with Sandman being drunk at a show in Florida and making a scene in the ring, word is it got heated backstage afterward. First, Tommy Dreamer and Sandman got into it physically but were quickly broken up. Then shortly after, Jack Victory and Sandman got into a fight that left Sandman bleeding from a cut above the eye.
  
• Notes from WCW Nitro: we're starting out at peak stupid this week. Commentator Scott Hudson did the entire show shirtless because on Nitro last week, Vince Russo got his shirt torn off and all 3 announcers made jokes about his physique. So Russo thought it would be great to order all 3 announcers do the entire broadcast without shirts to get him over as a heel. Mark Madden and Schiavone apparently refused but Hudson went along with it. They showed Vampiro talking to a mystery man in a robe in a smoke-filled room, who is expected to be revealed as Christopher Daniels. They wanted to name him God or Lord but the Turner standards and practices people shot that down and he still has no name (this ends up going nowhere but yes, it was indeed going to be Daniels before it got forgotten). They also had an idea for Vampiro to set the dressing room on fire and Asya would get burned, to set up a feud with Vampiro vs. KISS Demon (who is Asya's real life fiance). Also, the Millionaire's Club group has been rendered pretty much dead because most of the guys are out. DDP and Flair are on the shelf with injuries. Sting is out ("another vacation, what a great job he has," Dave says) and Luger is, of course, gone after walking out last week over creative differences. They had a bit where Kevin Nash's fake 8-year-old nephew Hunter (3 guesses why they picked that name) gets left with Scott Steiner to babysit and Steiner just leaves him with one of his half-naked women. They did an angle with Vince Russo shaving Ric Flair's head and Dave admits it was a really great angle and really well done (including another run-in by daughter Ashley, aka future Charlotte). But much like everything else in WCW, they left money on the table. This is Ric Flair's trademark hair that he's had for 30 years. They could have turned it into a huge deal on PPV or built up to it or something. Instead, just shaved his head with no notice on free TV. It was a great angle, but it puts all the heat on Russo and the end game is still Flair vs. Russo, which isn't exactly going to sell out arenas. Dave suspects Flair went along with it because he's trying to help David Flair get over but the kid just isn't any good and he's being pushed way beyond his capabilities.
  
• Goldberg was quoted in an AP news story criticizing the direction of WCW. "We are farther away form the kids and closer to pornography. It bothers me. Absolutely. We have a show that has a girl in a bikini in every single segment. I'm not in favor of that. I voice my opinion on everything I have a problem with. We can't shut our eyes on the kids who watch. There is a time and a place for segments where kids can watch with their parents, and we don't have it."
  
• WCW head Brad Siegel called both Bischoff and Russo in for a meeting regarding the 6/7 Nitro rating because everyone was hyping that show up and it was expected to do a bigger rating than it did, but it pretty much flopped and Siegel wanted answers. This Russo/Bischoff team isn't exactly doing great things for WCW, you see.
  
• Christopher Daniels made his WCW in-ring debut at a World Wide taping, losing to Chris Candido in a decent match.
  

WATCH: Christopher Daniels vs. Chris Candido - WCW WorldWide (2000)

• Regarding the incident a couple of weeks ago when a horse almost kicked Terry Funk during a hardcore match, turns out the horse had been traquilized beforehand (Dave believes it had been given PCP) and had also been harnessed. But it still lashed out and kicked Funk when he got too close. Dave points out how we could have seen a tragedy on live TV if the horse had kicked Funk in the head (let's be honest though: getting kicked to death by a horse in a hardcore match would be the most Terry Funk way to die. If you told me that happened, my first response would be, "Yeah that sounds about right.")
  
• Random WCW notes: WCW is once again considering bringing Dennis Rodman back in for some matches, in hopes of getting some publicity out of it. Elix Skipper was in a serious car accident and will be out for a few weeks. Lance Storm's debut has been delayed due to visa issues.
  
• WWF has hired a guy named Stuart Snyder to be the President and COO of WWF. That position used to belong to Linda McMahon but she has been given the new title of CEO while Vince remains Chairman of the Board. Snyder used to work for USA Network and will be helping lighten the workload on Linda. He'll handle more of the day-to-day stuff while Linda will focus on Wall Street and stockholder business. He will report directly to Vince and Linda (not sure how long he was with WWF, but he later became the head of Cartoon Network I believe).
  
• Judgement Day is looking to be around a 1.05 buyrate which will be the lowest WWF buyrate this year (but still, like, 10x the numbers WCW is doing on PPV).
  
• Triple H fought Chris Jericho in probably the best Raw match of the year and Dave actually says that Triple H put on a master class in how to get yourself over, get your opponent over, protect the integrity of the title, and entertain fans all at once. Dave says with a match this good, it's an easy thumbs up for the entire show, even if everything else sucks. Luckily it didn't because Benoit vs. Matt Hardy was really good too. But Dave really heaps the praise on Triple H for this one (yeah, 2000-era Triple H was absolutely on fire before injuries slowed him down and paranoia led to him burying everyone).
  
• Jim Ross sent all the wrestlers a memo saying they can't do anymore media appearances or interviews without office approval. Vince McMahon apparently feels that doing interviews with other media outlets is basically competition for their own website and they want to be in control of when WWF wrestlers talk to the media and what is said publicly.
  
• Random WWF notes: Chyna is doing a fitness video that will be released soon. Billy Gunn is expected back from injury in September. Shawn Michaels may still be used sporadically, but there are no real plans to bring him back for any weekly role.
  
• NCAA heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar signed a WWF developmental deal this week and will start in OVW this summer. Lesnar will be the 3rd NCAA wrestling champion under contract, with the other 2 being Kurt Angle and Sylvester Terkey. Dave talks about the history of NCAA champs in pro wrestling and starts listing names like Verne Gagne, Dick Hutton, etc. He doesn't know about Lesnar or Terkey, but he predicts Angle is going to end up being a top star in this business sooner rather than later (2 out of 3 did okay for themselves. The other guy probably would have done better if his name was Sylvester Ham though).
  
• Giants Stadium in New York and Soldier Field in Chicago have officially been named as 2 of the home fields for upcoming XFL teams.
  
• Curt Hennig's WCW contract expires soon and it's thought that WWF isn't interested. At 42 years old, and after years of being a big star, there's doubt that he would even want to come in and accept a lower card role. They have no plans of pushing him as a focal point of the company and think he might not be easy to work with if they want to use him to put over others. There's also the question of whether WWF would accept Lex Luger back if his current WCW issues lead to him being fired. Henning is still a good worker and while he left WWF on bad terms, they weren't unfixable. Luger, of course, left on the worst terms possible, literally walking out of a WWF house show on Sunday and showing up on WCW Nitro 24 hours later. So it's more likely that Hennig will end up in WWF than Luger, but Dave doesn't seem to think either guy has much of a shot (Hennig returns at the 2002 Rumble. Luger, to this day, hasn't stepped foot back in WWF or even gotten a HOF induction, although he has done a couple of DVD interviews and things like that).
  

NEXT MONDAY: more on AJPW/NOAH split, WWF/USA trial continues, Vince Russo "quits" WCW again, and more...

I’m an American.
Hello, NZ Herald! I'm sure you want to know all about me.
...annnyway,
In 2010, I came to NZ on a working holiday visa, but (for various reasons including homesickness), I decided to return to the states.
In 2018, I’ve decided to send in my Expression of Interest letter for the Skilled Worker Visa, with the intent to permanently emigrate.
So, if you want to know what an American really thinks of New Zealand, and has thought about New Zealand long enough to write a (sold-single-digits) book on it’s political structure, here’s what I come back with.

• I’ve met everyone on your political spectrum from sandwich-wearing conspiracy theorists to Prime Ministers (Geoffrey Palmer, Jenny Shipley, Jim Bolger, and then-shadow-deputy PM Bill English). They were willing to give me the time of day. It was easier and more accessible for a complete foreigner to get in touch with the highest echelons of power, just by asking, than it is for an American to get in touch with their own state representative.
  
• I disagree with the right wing on general principles in New Zealand — but they make reasonable points and logical assumptions. In other words, I can have a discussion with a National supporter and disagree but know that they’re coming from a place of information (though we may make different mental models of how the economic system works.) The fact that a National MP who made the big “big gay rainbow” speech would never happen in America. In fact, Republicans and Democrats do not talk to each other, nor do they have anything to say to each other as the common ground - the very reality itself, is different. In short, I don’t have to hate political opposition in order to disagree with them.
  
• Winston Peters is the Donald Trump of New Zealand.
  
• Proportional Representation has done more, I think for New Zealand than most Kiwis realize, as it has changed the game theory so that corruption is rooted out quickly by the parties themselves. Cabinet Sackings have occurred more often since MMP was adopted, in addition, you have more diversity in your Parliament, and your voters aren’t locked into a situation where they feel they MUST “vote for the right lizard so that the wrong lizard doesn’t get in.”
  
• There are some foods I missed from the U.S.: Root Beer a.k.a. Sasparilla, is nowhere to be found. Neither is Grape Jelly/Jam (which Americans serve with peanut butter - a favorite from our childhood.). There was also no Taco Bell, but I missed that a bit less.
  
• Similarly, there are foods from my days in NZ that I miss here. Coffee is not as good. Nor do Americans have pies the same way that NZers do.
  
• Wellington in winter can be so gray that you want to slit your wrists open just so that you can see some color. But it’s also true: You can’t beat Wellington on a good day.
  
• I found it horrifying when a Maori friend said “What up my N-words!”. I guess you’re less sensitive to that because you don’t have the years of slavery, etc. Then again, I think nothing about strapping on a “fanny pack”.
  
• You’re more friendly than New Yorkers, less friendly than Texans from Austin.
  
• Kiwis are more racist as a group than they think they are, but they’re still less racist than Americans or Australians.
  
• Kiwis think Kiwis as a group are more racist than Americans or Australians think Americans or Australians are as a group.
  
• Chocolate Milk.
  
• They call it Rotovegas, but I couldn’t find a single casino. And yes, it does smell.
  
• Internet is slower, but not unreasonably so. Long story short: throughput is okay, latency is a bitch.
  
• This is a big one - you don’t have a homeless “problem.” Or you do, but the problem is not having enough affordable housing. That is not to say that you don’t have homeless. I’m saying that the homeless in America can’t afford to see a doctor or dentist, so they can develop some really chronic problems which can mark them for life. There are ways to bring yourself up out of poverty or homelessness in NZ - in the U.S., once you become homeless, it can be a trap you can’t get out of. When one conjures images of the homeless problem in the U.S., you picture tent cities of people deformed by disease, stuck in addictions, often with mental problems which either caused their homelessness or were caused BY their homelessness. In fact, Roy Morgan conflates “house prices” with “homelessness” in their poll of Kiwi issues. In the U.S., those are seen as - are - two separate problems.
  
• Stores close way too early. Banks are closed on weekends. It’s a pain in the butt.
  
• I will never take the ozone layer for granted. And when I move back I will slip-slap-slop. The sun is a harsh mistress….
  
• Nor will I take home insulation and central heating/central cooling for granted. Though an oil heater does an okay job.
  
• Love or hate his policies, Peter Dunne is a mensch.
  
• Pharmaceutical ads are exactly like they are in the States. NZ and the U.S. are the only countries that allow TV pharmaceutical ads.
  
• You guys are way more aware of wealth inequality than Americans are. Subsequently, compared to America, NZ is an egalitarian paradise. Not to say that you don’t have a problem, or that it’s not getting worse, but your inequality graph doesn’t look like a hockey stick.
  
• Your people are better educated, mostly because of zero-interest student loans that you only have to pay off the minimum each month. In America, students are saddled with tens of thousands of dollars - at the minimum - in debt before they even start their careers. But your secondary education is a little more rigorous too.
  
• If I had kids, I wouldn’t have waited one second before deciding to go to New Zealand.
  
• I find myself wanting to eat healthier (and I’m a typical fat American gourmand.) Your vegetables don’t taste like crap because of racism.. You also don’t put corn in everything.
  
• When I move back, I’m planning on spending extra to get a flat in or near the CBD so that I don’t have to buy a car so that it’ll force me to walk more. Your public transportation isn’t as good as the one in Sydney, but it beats ANY public transportation system in America save New York, SF, and Chicago.
  
• Tall poppy syndrome is an overall negative, in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, New Zealanders take care of the least of their own, and are a much better society, but there’s a positive for America in that, yes, you can reach for the stars here, and you’re encouraged to go for it. Our kids grow up wanting to be astronauts, run Fortune 500 companies, be a world-famous singer or dancer or anything… and that’s not a bad thing. Sometimes those kids make it. In short, America says "Some people are going to be superstars, some people are going to starve to death." NZ says: "Nobody starves to death here, but set your goals realistically."
  
• Americans and Kiwis are equally friendly when formally introduced through a third party, but Americans are more willing to be friendly to complete strangers.. You can become fast friends on the subway, at the bar, on the plane, etc. And it’s genuine friendship. That’s true, but on the flip side, that means that we spend less time going to formal social groups.. That might be one of the reasons our democracy has frayed so badly, as fewer and fewer of us find that the League of Women Voters, or the United Way, or the Shriners, or the monthly bridge club, or even a Sunday picnic with friends fits the way we have come to live. Americans have a “social capital deficit” and New Zealand, I think, less so.
  
• That said, Kiwis are more informal than most Americans when interacting with strangers. Kiwis do a bit of "good natured ribbing" with one another that you'd reserve for close friends in America.
  
• Kiwis are less rushed and more willing to help out strangers even if it takes out time from their day. That's... not necessarily untrue of Americans from my home city, Austin, but NY, Chicago, or SF, that's not likely.
  
• Salaries in the U.S. are much higher in my field, software engineering. But let's be honest, once you make enough, you can't buy the improved quality of life a more equal society provides.
  
• Mt. Manganui’s beaches are as good or better than any beach in the Continental 48 states. Hawaii, however, edges you out, but I’ve never been…
  
• Dick Smiths is like Radio Shack, only with useful stuff.
  
• I don't need a gun to feel safe in New Zealand, probably because there aren't tons of people around me who feel that they need a gun to feel safe.
  
• Your politicians are surprisingly chill. That one guy on John Oliver took a flying dildo to the face, and took it in stride, joking about it. The protester who threw the dildo wasn't even charged with anything, (despite it being, if one wished to call it, assault and battery with a large floppy phallus.) Compared to the inauguration protestors in the U.S., who faced riot charges.
  
• I also have more faith in the justice system of New Zealand. Rongomai Bailey was charged with terrorism, got out on bail, and had the charges dismissed considering that they didn't really have any evidence, and the review said the police were responsible. In the U.S., police literally get away with murder.. This is why, if I'm ever robbed, I don't even bother calling the police in the U.S. - they can do nothing to help you, they can only hurt you.
  
• I will never get used to calling it "EnZed" rather than "EnZee." It will mark me for life.
  
• I still get stuck on some aspects of NZ English, like, for example, putting punctuation outside the quotation marks.
  

"Hello," he said. "Hello", he said.

Hi guys! So I was on the /rupaulsdragrace sub and I got so inspired by u/evilsnowcookie's "Where Are They Now" post that I decided to incorporate that idea for ANTM
  So this will be a compilation of the different websites and news articles, as well as posts from the girls' social media accounts on what they are up to these days. Maybe if you guys enjoy this, I'd consider making one for the succeeding seasons but for now, lets reminisce on the girls from Cycle 1.
 
  Name: Tessa Carlson Placed: 10th Age: 33 First Call Outs: 0 Bottom 2: 1 Twitter Followers: N/A Instagram Followers: 521 (@tessacarlson) Tessa Carlson on IMDB
  ANTM CYCLE 1 Tessa was a contestant on the first season of America’s Next Top Model. She, along with fellow model Giselle, were the only models of the cycle who were not part of the pool of 20 semi-finalists (they were scouted for and joined the cast after a separate audition). During her brief stint on the show, she was shown to bond with fellow contestant Adrianne Curry through smoking after moving into their NYC Apartment. At their first photo shoot for swimsuits from J.Lo by Jennifer Lopez, photographer Elizabeth Moss commented that “She probably had people teach her how to model the wrong way … that was her problem.” In the end, she was eliminated for lacking a dominant personality and her inability to pose.
  POST-TOP MODEL After the show, Tessa modeled for Noah Kalina and Joey Quintero, but has since decided not to pursue modelling. Despite being eliminated after the first photo shoot, she was included in the next photo shoot for Stuff Magazine, but was not shown in the episode. Since the show premiered in 2003, Tessa has gotten married and has focused on being a mother to two beautiful children.
  Name: Katie Cleary Placed: 9th Age: 36 First Call Outs: 0 Bottom 2: 1 Twitter Followers: 47.1k (@katie_cleary) Instagram Followers: 29.2k (@katiecleary11) Katie Cleary on IMDB
  ANTM CYCLE 1 Katie was a contestant on the first season of America’s Next Top Model. During the casting week, she was called fifth out the eight finalists for the first season (Tyra and the producers planned for 10 models to move into the NYC apartment, but could only agree on 8. The last 2 were scouted in a separate audition). She was eliminated in the second episode for because the judges felt the she photographed too sexy.
  POST-TOP MODEL Katie has been busy since the show’s premiere in 2003. She’s appeared in spreads for Maxim online, Rukus magazine, Marie Claire, Lifestyle magazine, and Vegan lifestyle magazine among others. She has appeared in over a dozen national advertising campaigns for brands such as InterContinental Hotels, Sketchers, Elastiderm Skin Care, AT&T, Nike, Chandon Champagne, Supreme Protein, Cadillac, ProActive, Payless, and as part of the Refreshment Duo for Labatt's Blue Light. She has since landed a role on NBC’s Deal or no Deal where she starred for over four years. She has hosted shows on the TV Guide Channel, E! News Now, as well the travel show “Get Out,” on HDTV. Katie has also has roles on popular TV shows such as CSI NY, Las Vegas, Entourage, *Rules of Engagement, Chuck, Working Class and more recently on How To Get Away With Murder and Two And A Half Men. She is currently represented by Paradigm Talent Agency, Abstract Talent Agency, and CESD Talent.
  Katie is also a philanthropist, founding the Peace4Animals organization. She is also an award winning creator and producer of the documentary Give Me Shelter which premiered on Netflix in 2015. Katie is also the Founder & Producer of the network World Animal News on the popular animal news site WorldAnimalNews.com.
  Since the show, Katie has dated Evan Liss and Gregg Pitt. She was also married to married to Andrew Stern from 2010 until his death in 2014.
  Name: Nicole Nastazio, née Panattoni Placed: 8th Age: 37 First Call Outs: 0 Bottom 2: 1 Twitter Followers: 3,280 (@NicolePanattoni) Instagram Followers: 6,172 (@nicolepanattoni)
  ANTM CYCLE 1 Katie was a contestant on the first season of America’s Next Top Model. During the casting week, she was called first out the eight finalists for the first season (Tyra and the producers planned for 10 models to move into the NYC apartment, but could only agree on 8. The last 2 were scouted in a separate audition). She was eliminated in the third episode due to her lack of commitment (in both her photo shoot and in the makeover).
  POST-TOP MODEL After Cycle 1 aired, Nicole appeared in several maternity catalogs and magazines. Like all the girls from this cycle, she has appeared in a spread for Stuff Magazine. She has appeared in Maxim, Rebel Ink Magazine, ePregnancy, and Surf Illustrated. Nicole has also modeled for Yandy Lingerie, Bikinilicious.com, Nordstrom, Due Maternity, Gnar Lube, For Issuez, Inc., Top Floorr, & La Isla couture. She has been featured in advertisements for Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and for Palm’s Casino Resort.
  Nicole has started Bronzed Body SD, Mobile Sunless Tan Mobile Spray Tan servicing all of North County SD. She has also been featured as one of the models on “Deal Or No Deal”, and has appeared on The X Life with boyfriend BMX rider Cory Nastazio. The couple has 2 beautiful children and recently tied the knot in October 2017.
  Name: Ebony Haith Placed: 7th Age: 38 First Call Outs: 1 Bottom 2: 2 Twitter Followers: 464 (@EbonyHaith) Instagram Followers: 539 (@haithebony) Ebony Haith on IMDB
  ANTM CYCLE 1 When Ebony became one of the finalists in America’s Next Top Model, Cycle 1, she was met with harsh criticism from the two very devout Christian ANTM finalists, Robin and Shannon. The conflict escalated when Ebony’s partner dropped by the house, further angering Shannon and Robin. Things turned uglier for Ebony during the judging, as she became the fourth contestant eliminated. The judges reasoned that it was Ebony’s weak performance that drove them to cut her from the show. Source
  POST-TOP MODEL After the show, Ebony was signed onto Downtown Model Management, before moving on to Uptown Model Management (UMM) and Models Management Group (MMG). Currently, I’m not sure what agency she is signed to. She has walked in fashion shows for SA-SHEA and Ice Blue. She’s been shot by photographers such as Quavondo Nguyen, Isabelle Choi, and Umari Jason and has appeared in spreads for Esquire, and Height Magazine. She has also appeared in appeared in Real Gay (a 2005 TV film) and Violet Tendencies (A 2010 movie). According to her instagram, she has shot her first sports shoot/TV show.
  Name: Giselle Samson Placed: 6th Age: 33 First Call Outs: 0 Bottom 2: 2 Twitter Followers: 249 (@GiselleSamson) Instagram Followers: 1,295 (@GiselleBelle84) Giselle Samson on IMDB
  ANTM CYCLE 1 Giselle was a contestant on the first season of America’s Next Top Model. She, along with fellow model Tessa, were the only models of the cycle who were not part of the pool of 20 semi-finalists (they were scouted for and joined the cast after a separate audition).During the fifth week of Cycle 1, both Giselle and fellow finalist Ebony fell into the bottom 2. Giselle was spared as Ebony was sent home, but her performance the following week betrayed her lack of confidence. Her photos with 2003 NFL Rookie of the Year Clinton Portis were not impressive enough to convince the judges to keep her, and so she became the fifth finalist to be cut from the show. Tyra said it was her lack of confidence that hindered her performance. Source
  POST-TOP MODEL After her season aired, Giselle appeared in SWITCH magazine and modeled for the brand Simply Fashion. Giselle was also a model on Deal or No Deal, has hosted segments on the Tyra Banks Show, Fox Sport's Net's "54321", and has appeared on TV shows such as Chuck, The Bold and The Beautiful, the short “Black?”, and has attended The 18th Annual Soul Train Music Awards. As a dancer, she has performed in Disney’s Fantasmic and in Pitbull’s music video Blanco, as well as dance for late Michael Jackson’s 45th birthday celebration. These days, according to her LinkedIn, she works as an Account Executive at HireTalent Executive Search, Temporary Staffing, Recruiting & SOW and is the founder of GLS Enterprises LLC, as well as the CEO of Kiss the Planet. She is currently listed as a model on the Trade Show Models (TSM) agency website.
  Name: Kesse Wallace Placed: 5th Age: 35 First Call Outs: 1 Bottom 2: 2 Twitter Followers: N/A Instagram Followers: N/A Kesse Wallace on IMDB
  ANTM CYCLE 1 During the sixth week, the show flew Kesse and the other remaining Top Model finalists to Paris, where they were asked to pose with a male model wearing only lingerie. The challenge allowed a number of Parisian designers to view the models, and although all of them tried their best to produce spectacular pictures, the judges felt that Kesse did not possess enough desire to advance in the competition. Consequently, Kesse became the sixth finalist to be eliminated. Source
  POST-TOP MODEL As of late, Kesse has been keeping a relatively low profile. Since appearing on the show, Kesse has gone on to work under the management of Gilla Roos (but closed in 2009). Her runway projects include Yeohlee Teng Fall 2005/Spring 2006, Renee Larc for Milan and Francis Hendy. Kesse has also graced the pages of King Magazine and Complex Magazine and has appeared in a Church’s Chicken television commercial. She has also appeared in King Magazine and in Complex Magazine.
  Name: Robin Manning Placed: 4th Age: 41 First Call Outs: 0 Bottom 2: 1 Twitter Followers: 208 (@Robbyne) Instagram Followers: 554 (@robbynemanning) Robin Manning on IMDB
  ANTM CYCLE 1 Being a Devout Christian like her fellow finalist Shannon Stewart, Robin often criticized the other girls when she felt that they were doing something immoral. She was extremely affected when openly gay model Ebony brought her partner to the house. On the seventh week, the challenge was to pose nude for a jewelry advertisement. She, along with Shannon, refused to participate, saying that it was against her morals. Consequently, she was eliminated from the show, becoming the seventh contestant to be cut. Source
  POST-TOP MODEL Robin, who now goes by the name Robbyne, has kept a relatively low profile since the show. She was the only contestant whose photos were not included in the Stuff Magazine shoot featured during the third episode (even though Tessa, the first contestant eliminated, was included in the issue). After her appearance on the show, Robin went on to do a Baby Phat fashion show with Elyse and Kesse. She was featured in the July 2003 issue of the TV Guide, on the cover of the 2003 Holiday Issue of Grace, as well as appear next to Janice Dickinson in an issue of O. She has also appeared in the popular soap, The Young and the Restless, and the films, Without You and Holla. Robin is pursuing an acting career and has been in two movies. She did some church-related print work and some test shots, as well as a pictorial for Especially Yours, but is not currently with an agency. Robin’s name was once again brought to the attention in the media in 2014 when Dominic Jeffries (together with his 6 year old sister) went missing from Manning’s home. Robin is the child’s legal guardian, but it is not certain why (Dominic’s mother and Robin know each other from pre-school).
  Name: Elyse Sewell Placed: 3rd Age: 35 First Call Outs: 2 Bottom 2: 2 Twitter Followers: N/A Instagram Followers: 1,031 (@_elysesewell) Elyse Sewell on IMDB
  ANTM CYCLE 1 Sewell's was a contestant on the first cycle of America's Next Top Model. She was known on the show as the "edgy pre-med student". She placed third, after Adrianne Curry and Shannon Stewart. She was eliminated due to the fact that her intelligence came across as “derogatory”, despite her high fashion look. Her infamous confessional clip from the show, in which she expressed a profanity-laden rant against the people on the show, earned her 16th place on E!'s Most Outrageous TV Moments in 2005. She attributes this outburst to the unusual requirement on the show to voice one's private thoughts and to soliloquize in a "confessional booth".
  POST-TOP MODEL Elyse is probably the most successful girl out of all the contestants on Cycle 1. As a model, Elyse has been incredibly successful, especially in Asia where she has had print advertisements for Giordano, Chanel and Chow Sang Sang Jewelry and appeared on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar Hong Kong. Sewell’s first book, Beauty and The Biz: The International Adventures of America's Third-to-Next Top Model, based in part on her LiveJournal Weblog, was published in Hong Kong in 2006. She appeared in multiple book signings across Hong Kong. She has been featured in advertisements for brands such as Azona, Chow Sang Sang, Dao, Darquer, DTC Diamonds, Flair by Joc, Giordano, iMaroon, Mae Von, Motorola, Paule Ka, Sa Sa CyberColors, and Staccato.
  Overseas, Elyse has been signed with Zucca Tokyo, ZEM Osaka, Mannequin Singapore, Model Genesis Hong Kong, Chadwicks Sydney, Eye For I Milan, Dream Models Hong Kong and Elite Santiago. Locally, Elyse has also been signed with Wilhelmina West Models, M4 Models, Q6 Models Portland, Model One (Hong Kong), Studio KLRP Paris, Seattle’s Model Guild, M4 Hamburg, Good Fashion Shenzhen and Model 1.
  Elyse dated Martin Crandall of the Shins until January 2008, when he allegedly assaulted her in a Sacramento hotel. Both Crandall and Elyse were charged with felony domestic assault, though their cases were later dismissed. Previously, Elyse told the Singapore Straits Times in an interview that she had dumped her boyfriend because he cheated on her while she was working in Japan, though they reconciled shortly afterwards. She’s not active on social media, and only has an instagram (which was last updated in 2015). A facebook page pops up if you search her name on facebook, however, I’m not sure if she runs it or if it is a fan account. She also participated in a Reddit AMA where she spoke about her experiences on the show.
  Name: Shannon Ratcliff, née Stewart Placed: 2nd (Cycle 1)/6th (Cycle 17) Age: 33 First Call Outs: 3 (Cycle 1)/0 (Cycle 17) Bottom 2: 2 (Cycle 1)/2 (Cycle 17) Twitter Followers: 17.3k (@ShannonStewart1) Instagram Followers: 12.5k (@shannonstewartratcliff) Shannon Stewart on IMDB
  ANTM CYCLE 1 Stewart competed on the first season of America's Next Top Model. In the first week of competition, Shannon landed in the bottom two and if she hadn't won that week's challenge, she would have been eliminated. However, the following two weeks Shannon received two consecutive first call-outs, and performed consistently in the following weeks. But, in the semi-finals during a nude photoshoot in Paris, Shannon and fellow contestant Robin Manning caused controversy when they refused to take part in the photoshoot because of their Christian faith. However, this did not hinder Stewart's progression in the competition finishing second overall to Adrianne Curry. Source.
  Shannon later appeared during a fashion show during the show’s 7th season, in the 8th cycle of the show as a guest for one of the photo shoots, and was also the only contestant from Cycle 1 to be invited to participate in the All Star cycle.
  ANTM CYCLE 17 In 2011, Shannon was invited back to participate in the first All-Star edition of the show, together with several other returning models from the different seasons. Stewart placed 6th overall in the All-Star competition after confusing the judges for refusing to wear lingerie that looked like a bathing suit while allowing herself to be photographed in a skimpier bathing suit in a previous week. She was the only model in the top 6 to have not won best photo.
  POST-TOP MODEL Since America’s Next Top Model, Shannon has modeled for Harmony Bell Boutique, Nuj Novakhett, Macy’s, Dillard’s, Sephora, Bakers Shoes, Speedo, and Allyson Smith Jewelry.
  She has appeared in magazines such as Elle Girl Magazine, Teen Vogue, Sydney Magazine, Six Degrees Magazine, and Ford Fusion. Shannon has appeared on the cover of Nashville Lifestyles Weddings, Arizona Foothills Magazine, and Sound & Vision Magazine.
  Her runway shows include Richard Tyler, Alvin Valley (2004), Alice and Olivia (2006), Sprite Street Couture (2006), and Elle Girl presents Dare To Be You: Wal-Mart Meets America’s Next Top Models (2005), Fashion Institute of Technology (2006), Gustavo Arango (2006), Alice Dobson (2006) and Olympus Fashion Week (2006).
  During Cycle 8, Shannon told the contestants that she had switched over to Elite Model Management in Chicago. She was also signed to Bleu Model Management. Fashion Model Directory states that she is currently signed to Major Model Management in New York and Factor Women in Chicago. Nowadays, Shannon actively interacts with her fans through her different social media handles, and runs her own personal blog. She has been married to Matthew Ratcliff, a fellow Christian model, since 2007.
  Name: Adrianne Curry Placed: 1st Age: 35 First Call Outs: 1 Bottom 2: 2 Twitter Followers: 416k (@AdrianneCurry) Instagram Followers: 132k (@AdrianneCurry) Adrianne Curry on IMDB
  ANTM CYCLE 1 Adrianne Curry competed on the first season of America's Next Top Model. She beat out fellow contestant Shannon Stewart. After her stint on ANTM, Curry has been very outspoken about her time on the show . Curry told various interviewers, including Steppin Out Magazine, that she wasn’t given the Revlon modeling contract that she was supposed to get as winner, and that “Tyra really didn't help us out and the show didn't put any money into us.” She even went as far as saying that “Basically, it was our show that saved the network and it was the biggest show ever…We trusted Tyra, but we've all been screwed over.”
  POST-TOP MODEL Nowadays, Curry continues to act, model, and do cosplay. She was signed to Wilhelmina Models in New York City. She has modeled for several magazines, including Life & Style Weekly, In Touch, Sync Magazine, Us Weekly, Star, OK!, Stuff, People, Maxim (and made the Maxim Hot 100 list in 2005), both the North American and Spanish editions of Marie Claire, Lucky Magazine, Supermodels Unlimited, Agenda Magazine, Von Dutch, Von Dutch Watches, Salon City, Macy's, Famous Stars and Straps, Lucky, Ed Hardy, Kinis Bikinis, NailPro, Beverly Hills Choppers, and Merit Diamonds. In 2016, she was briefly signed on to LA Models, however, she was quickly dropped from their roster. According to her personal website, where she constantly updates her blog, she is also works as an avon lady.
  Curry's runway shows include Anne Bowen Spring 2005, Jaime Pressly, Pamela Anderson's line, Ed Hardy, Von Dutch, and Christopher Deane. She has appeared in a commercial for the Merit Diamonds Sirena Collection that ran from November 2004 to January 2006.
  She appeared on the cover and in a nude pictorial for the American edition Playboy in February 2006. She returned for a second cover and nude pictorial in the January 2008 issue. Curry made Playboy´s 2008 top 25 sexiest women, along with the top 100 Playboy spreads 2008 edition. In late 2006, Curry modeled for a technological demo created by Nvidia to showcase their video cards. She is a spokesmodel for The Flex Belt with Denise Richards.
  Curry was a co-host on the television game show Ballbreakers. In 2006, she appeared on Gameshow Marathon as a celebrity panelist on the Match Game episode. She starred in Rock Me Baby (2004) and Half & Half (2003) on UPN. Curry also appeared on Dirt starring Courteney Cox, with whom she shared scenes. She appeared in rock band's The Click Five's music video "Just the Girl", along with her then husband Christopher Knight. She has also starred in the films Fallen Angels, Light Years Away and Jack Rio. In early 2005, Curry appeared on VH1's fourth season of The Surreal Life. On September 11, 2005, VH1 began airing My Fair Brady, a show that documented their life together and paid her an estimated US$450,000. The show led her to being featured in Maxim's Hot 100, a list of the "hottest" women on earth. and ranked #100 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2005.
  Adrianne loves cosplay and video games. Between November and December 2010, Curry worked as the Resident Celebrity Gamer panelist judge on the second series of The Tester, a reality program on the PlayStation Network. She has returned to the panel in the third series which began on the 7th February 2012. Curry hosted live coverage of Blizzcon for Direct TV in 2011, as well as hosting live from E3 for Namco Bandai in both 2011 and 2012.
  Christopher Knight proposed to Curry on the season finale of My Fair Brady, on VH1, which aired on November 6, 2005. The show was renewed for a second season that began in June 2006, and focused on the couple's wedding preparations. In 2007, Curry and Knight appeared on the Dr. Phil Show to discuss their marital issues on an episode dealing with large age gaps in relationships. Dr. Phil predicted that their style of arguing, particularly Knight's hurtful comments, was a strong predictor of impending divorce in couples.The couple announced their separation on May 29, 2011. The couple filed for divorce on August 19, 2011 and it became final in 2013. As of 2017, she is currently engaged to Matthew Rhode.

Friday, May 4th:
 

• "Mel Brooks" - Young Frankenstein (May 4-Jun 2): TheatreWorks, 20 Elm Street Ext, New Milford, Various dates & times, $25-30, - Grandson of the infamous Victor Frankenstein, Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced "Fronk-en-steen") inherits his family's estate in Transylvania. With the help of a hunchbacked sidekick, Igor (pronounced "Eye-gore"), and a leggy lab assistant, Inga (pronounced normally), Frederick finds himself in the mad scientist shoes of his ancestors. "It's alive!" he exclaims as he brings to life a creature to rival his grandfather's. Eventually, of course, the monster escapes and hilarity continuously abounds. May not be suitable for children under 12.
  
• THE ILLUSIONISTS (May 4-6): The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave, Hartford, Various times, $22.50-103.50, - Direct from Broadway, the world’s best selling magic show is coming to Hartford! This mind blowing spectacular showcases the jaw dropping talents of five of the most incredible Illusionists on earth. THE ILLUSIONISTS™ – LIVE FROM BROADWAY™ has shattered box office records across the globe and dazzles audiences of all ages with a powerful mix of the most outrageous and astonishing acts ever to be seen on stage. This non-stop show is packed with thrilling and sophisticated magic of unprecedented proportions.
  
• Connecticut Spring Boat Show (May 4-6): Town of Essex, Brewer Essex Island Marina, 11 Ferry St., Essex, Various times, $5 donation for ages 13 & up, - A boutique in-water boat show, located on the scenic Connecticut River, features both sail and power boats. See over 60 boats of all sizes and talk directly with dealers and manufacturers. Visitors attending the show will enjoy seeing a wide range of new and brokerage, power and sail models. In addition to boats on the docks, gear, accessories and service companies will be on site.
  
• Fantasticon (May 4-6): Elm City Games, 760 Chapel Street, New Haven, Various times and dates, 0-$40, - Fantasticon brings together game designers, publishers, artists, and game enthusiasts for a weekend of playtesting, networking, and having fun! Our primary focus is on designers connecting with each other for high level playtesting and in depth discussions about theory and practice, but we welcome anyone with an interest in games and how they're made. We've got 6,000sq/ft of prototype gaming taking over Elm City Games' historic building right in downtown New Haven. Our open gaming style schedule means playtesting can happen whenever, wherever, and with whoever throughout the weekend. But don't worry if you don't know anyone, we'll be working hard to connect players with designers.
  
• HAYLEY JANE & THE PRIMATES: Friday, May 4, Infinity Music Hall, 20 Greenwoods Rd W, Norfolk, 8:00PM, $19-34, - We are so excited to announce Hayley Jane and the Primates. You’ll absolutely love her onstage energy and the Primates bring some serious chops and theatrics with their Jazz-Funk-Blues-Indie fusion. Opening up for them is the ever talented James Maddock who is bringing his solo performance for an intimate and unique performance!
  
• ALWAYS AND FOREVER: AN EVENING OF LUTHER VANDROSS STARRING RUBEN STUDDARD: Mohegan Sun, Wolf Den, 8:00PM, Free
  
• Night at the Cantina - Star Wars Trivia: Friday, May 4, The River's Edge Pub & Grille, 29 North Main Street, Beacon Falls, 6:30PM-8:30PM, FREE (Suggested donation of $40 per team), - Think you know more about Star Wars than anyone? Harness your inner Force and join us in celebrating May the Fourth down at The Mos Eisley Cantina (aka- The River's Edge) with a night of Trivia and fun to benefit the Beacon Falls Youth Theater Group. Trivia will consists of 6 Rounds (with Bonus Round in case of a tie). Costumes are encouraged, so break out your best Wookie and Sith Lord outfits.
  
• Chive Rocks - May the Fourth be With You: Friday, May 4, Hard Rock Cafe, Foxwoods Casino, Mashantucket, 9:00PM, $35-300, - Please join Chive New England in our 4th Chive Rocks as we raise money and awareness for the Childhood Apraxia walk in June! This year will be more epic than ever before. We will have the honour of partying hard with New England’s premiere DJ JD! We are also partnering with Patron for some awesome drink specials to keep you partying all night long. (Sing that last part in your Lionel Richie voice)
  
• Reality Fighting: Friday, May 4, Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, 7:00PM, $40-75, - Reality Fighting heats up Mohegan Sun Arena with all the mixed martial arts action you can handle! Check back soon for bout details.
  

 
Saturday, May 5th:
 

• The Full Monty (May 5-13): Warner Theater, 68 Main Street, Torrington, Various dates and times, $19-27, -* Based on the cult hit film of the same name, The Full Monty, a ten-time Tony Award nominee, is filled with honest affection, engaging melodies and the most highly anticipated closing number of any show. The powerhouse team of Terrence McNally (Ragtime) and David Yazbek (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) cooks up an aggressive crowd-pleaser that both entertains and grabs your heart.*
  
• Cinderella (May 5-6): Warner Theater, Nancy Marine Studio Theatre, 82 Main Street, Torrington, Various times and dates, $12.50, - The timeless enchantment of a magical fairy tale is reborn with the Rodgers & Hammerstein hallmarks of originality, charm and elegance. Originally presented on television in 1957 starring Julie Andrews, Rodgers & Hammerstein's CINDERELLA was the most widely viewed program in the history of the medium. Its recreation in 1965 starring Lesley Ann Warren was no less successful in transporting a new generation to the miraculous kingdom of dreams-come-true, and so was a second remake in 1997, which starred Brandy as Cinderella and Whitney Houston as her Fairy Godmother. As adapted for the stage, with great warmth and more than a touch of hilarity, the hearts of children and adults alike still soar when the slipper fits.
  
• Spring on the Farm Festival Weekend (May 5-6): Stamford Museum & Nature Center, 39 Scofieldtown Rd., Stamford, 11:00AM-3:00PM, $10, children under 3 free, - Join us for this fun family weekend on the farm and meet the newest additions to the Heckscher Farm family. There will be activities for all ages including face painting, crafts, a plant sale, bee demonstrations, farm tool demonstrations, animal tours, seed planting and oxen demos. On Sunday, watch as our flock of sheep gets its annual shearing and learn about what happens with their woolly coats. Additionally, an assortment of local food trucks will be on site and our Museum Galleries will be open, featuring the Birds in Art 2017 fine art exhibition.
  
• Walking Tour - Architecture-Homes and Histories: Saturday, May 5, Litchfield History Museum, 7 South St., Litchfield, 10:00AM-11:00AM, $5, - Why does the center of Litchfield have so many white homes? Learn how the history and stories of old Litchfield are preserved in the architecture of the town. The walk will cover North and South Streets. The tour last about an hour, be sure to wear comfortable shoes and bring a bottle of water. Registration is required and payment is required with registration.
  
• Derby de Mayo: Saturday, May 5, The IRONS Restaurant & Bar at Hilton Mystic, 20 Coogan Blvd., Mystic, 2:00PM-11:00PM, $15, - Party all day and night in the heart of Mystic. Only once in every seven years or so, does the Kentucky Derby fall on Cinco de Mayo. We're combining the two and throwing a Derby de Mayo Bash. Mint Juleps to Margaritas and Tacos to Fried Chicken. Plenty of cold local craft cervezas on tap and in bottles.
  
• 5th Annual Hats & Horses Derby Party: Saturday, May 5, Henry Carter Hull Library, 10 Killingworth Hwy., Clinton, 5:00PM, 7:00PM, $25, - Watch the Kentucky Derby live on the big screen and enjoy light refreshments. Dapper attire encourages, including fancy hats. Wear your best and you could win a prize. Enjoy a wine and bourbon tasting, and a silent auction featuring gift baskets and items from local shops and artisans.
  
• NICK DI PAOLO: THE NICK IS RIGHT TOUR: Saturday, May 5, Shubert Theater, 247 College Street, New Haven, 8:00PM, $25-30, - Nick Di Paolo, one of the sharpest minds (and tongues) in stand-up comedy over the past 20 years, is coming to the Shubert for one big night of comedy with “The Nick is Right Tour.” Prepare for a night of hilarious, brutally honest, unapologetic comedy!
  
• Bon Jovi: Saturday, May 5, Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, 7:30PM, $130-200, - Do I need to explain Bon Jovi?
  
• Uncle Kracker: Saturday, May 5, Mohegan Sun, Wolf Den, 8:00PM, Free, - Uncle Kracker; Follow Me (2000)
  
• Pomfret Town Wide Tag Sale: Saturday, May 5, 7:00AM, Maps are sold for $1 at 7 a.m. in the Pomfret Community School (20 Pomfret Street) and will lead to approximately 50 tag sale locations throughout town.
  
• MIKE BIRBIGLIA: "THE NEW ONE": Saturday, May 5, College Street Music Hall, 238 College Street, New Haven, 6:00PM, $27.50-49, - MIKE BIRBIGLIA is a comedian and storyteller who has performed in front of audiences worldwide, from the Sydney Opera House to Carnegie Hall. His most recent shows, My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend and Thank God for Jokes, were both filmed for Netflix. Mike has released four albums for Comedy Central Records, including My Secret Public Journal Live, which was named one of the “Best Comedy Albums of the Decade” by The Onion AV Club. In addition to performing live, Birbiglia is an author and filmmaker who wrote, directed, and starred in the acclaimed films Sleepwalk with Me and Don’t Think Twice. His book, Sleepwalk With Me and Other Painfully True Stories, was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the Thurber Prize For American Humor. As an actor, Birbiglia has appeared on Orange is the New Black, Inside Amy Schumer, and Girls as well as in the films Trainwreck, The Fault in Our Stars, and Popstar. Birbiglia currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife Jen
  
• Griswold's Night Light Festival: Saturday, May 5, Griswold Parks and Recreation, Veterans' Memorial Park, 68 Ashland St., Jewett City, 5:00PM-10:00PM, Free, -* Let's light up Jewett City with a parade of floats & a festival in Veteran's Memorial Park. Food Trucks will be offering all different types of treats, foods and unique meals PLUS Wolverine Radio will be holding a DISCO PARTY! All are welcome to join the parade!*
  
• Cinco de Mayo Zip & Sip Adventure: Saturday, May 5, EMPOWER Leadership Sports & Adventure Center, 2011 South Main St., Middletown, 9:00AM-6:00PM, $45, - Thrilling and exciting tree-top zip lines and aerial adventure challenges, all led by energetic guides, followed by "rehydration" at the Inn at Middletown's Tavern. All zip line participants, ages 21+, receive a drink voucher for a house margarita or local draft beer at the Tavern at the Armory. Drink voucher valid on May 5, 2018 only.
  
• Northeast PEZ Collectors Gathering: Saturday, May 5, Sheraton Stamford Hotel, 700 East Main St., Stamford, 10:00AM-2:00PM, Adults $5, Children 8 and under free, - Do you have a "Sweet" spot for candy? Well, why not come to the "sweetest" place in Stamford, The Northeast PEZ Collectors gathering. Bring the entire family to see the largest PEZ gathering on the east coast. It's a fun event for collectors of all ages. You will see the newest PEZ, vintage PEZ, United States PEZ and even PEZ from Europe. You will see regular sized PEZ dispensers to "Giant PEZ." You might even see "The Worlds Smallest PEZ" on display. PEZ collectors from all over the United States converge on Stamford for this annual gathering. Come be part of the fun. It only happens once a year in Connecticut.
  
• Cinco de Mayo Cruise: Saturday, May 5, Departs from Eagle Landing State Park, 14 Little Meadow Rd., Haddam, 5:00PM-7:00PM, $30, - Take a relaxing late Saturday afternoon cruise as we celebrate Cinco De Mayo and the beautiful spring foliage on the lower Connecticut River. Cinco De Mayo is a Mexican holiday that has become quite popular in the United States as a fun, festive day! On this cruise, as we celebrate Cinco De Mayo, we will see a nesting Osprey and other wildlife, and enjoy the beautiful scenic river views. There will be soft Mexican music. Bring your favorite “Mexican” or any beverage and a picnic if you’d like. And Captain Mark will be making his famous Key Lime Pie. No one under 12 years old please.
  
• Tom Jones: Saturday, May 5, Grand Theater, Foxwoods Casino, Mashantucket, 8:00PM, $65-105, - Tom Jones' 50-year career has remarkably gone from strength to strength. Along with sustaining his popularity as a live performer and recording artist for five decades, he has garnered - at the age of 77 - the best reviews of his career for his most recent albums, Long Lost Suitcase, Spirit In The Room and Praise & Blame (Island/Universal). Critics across the world are unanimous in their approval and admiration for both the recorded work and the performance of it in concert.
  

 
Sunday, May 6:
 

• 5th Annual Run the Gauntlet Obstacle: Sunday, May 6, East Rock Park, 41 Cold Spring St., New Haven, 9:00AM-12:00PM, Adults $50, Students $35, Spectators Free, - A spring race in the Denali Gauntlet Race Series. Run the Gauntlet at East Rock Park features a 5K obstacle course with 15-20 man-made and natural obstacles. After the race, participants are invited to enjoy a post-race party with pizza from Old World Pizza Trucks, beer from Thimble Island Brewing Company, and live entertainment. Proceeds from Run the Gauntlet at East Rock Park support The Denali Foundation Scholarship Fund for children attending the New Haven Parks and Recreation ECO Adventure Camp.
  
• 9th Annual Girls Just Wanna Run 5k Race: Sunday, May 6, Town of Litchfield, North Shore Road, Litchfield, Registration 10:30AM-11:30AM, Race begins 12:00PM, $35, Free for spectators, -* A 5K race which focuses on health and wellness in girls and women. Walkers, joggers, runners, girls and women of all ages and abilities are welcome to participate. Prizes will be awarded to the Overall First Female Finisher, the first female finisher in each age division and to the Most Glamorous Runner(s).*
  
• Stone Temple Pilots: Sunday, May 6, Oakdale Theater, 95 S Turnpike Rd, Wallingford, 8:00PM, $20-43, - Stone Temple Pilots; Plush (1992)
  
• The Dance Collective at Hog River Brewing Co.: Sunday, May 6, 1429 Park Street, Hartford, 6:30PM, $25, - The Dance Collective is back at Hog River Brewing Co. on Sunday, May 6th at 6:30pm. We had so much fun last November, we decided to do it again! Keeping the evening casual and cool, come join us and grab a pint while you sit back and enjoy professional contemporary dance performance! The Dance Collective brings you cultural & art performances outside a formal, traditional setting. This performance highlights the work of various female choreographers and dancers from across the United States. A bill consisting of solos, duets, and group performances; dancers will surround the brewery, conveying themes of empowerment, strength, and more. The choreographic artists that will be presenting are Dot Armstrong, Emory Campbell, Meghan Dodd, Fran Fuller, Alice Halter, Sheila Huggins, Rosanna Karabetsos, Betsy McMillan, and Kirsten Schranze. Your ticket comes with 1 free drink.
  
• TYLER BRYANT & THE SHAKEDOWN: Sunday, May 6, Webster Theater Underground, 7:00PM, $13-15, - After relocating to Nashville at the age of 17 from Honey Grove, Texas, Tyler Bryant met drummer Caleb Crosby. After only a week, the two formed "The Shakedown" and began performing as a group with Calvin Webster on bass. Bryant was later introduced to Boston guitarist Graham Whitford (son of Aerosmith's Brad Whitford) and immediately asked Whitford to relocate to Nashville to join the group. Noah Denney was the final addition to the group, cementing the current lineup
  

Rapid City Journal (RCJ) - January 21st Edition
1965–1970: Early career Influenced by early-rock-and-roll and rhythm-and-blues artists, including groups such as The Beatles, The Drifters and The Four Seasons, he favored tightly-structured pop melodies and down-to-earth, unpretentious songwriting.[20]
After seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, Joel decided to pursue a career in music. In an interview he said of the group's impact, "That one performance changed my life … Up to that moment I'd never considered playing rock as a career. And when I saw four guys who didn't look like they'd come out of the Hollywood star mill, who played their own songs and instruments, and especially because you could see this look in John Lennon's face – and he looked like he was always saying: 'F--- you!' – I said: 'I know these guys, I can relate to these guys, I am these guys.' This is what I'm going to do – play in a rock band'."[21]
Joel joined the Echoes,[22] a group that specialized in British Invasion covers. The Echoes began recording in 1965. Joel (then 16) also played piano on several records released through Kama Sutra Productions and on recordings produced by Shadow Morton. Joel played on a demo version of "Leader of the Pack", which would become a major hit for the Shangri-Las.[23] Joel states that in 1964 he played on a recording of the Shangri-Las' "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" but he is unaware of whether he played on the demo or master version;[24] The released single included a co-producer credit for Artie Ripp,[25] who later was the first to sign and produce Joel as a solo artist after Michael Lang, who had given Joel a monetary advance, passed Joel along to Ripp to focus his attentions elsewhere instead.[26]
In late 1965, the Echoes changed their name to the Emeralds and then to the Lost Souls. Joel left the band in 1967 to join the Hassles, a Long Island group that had signed with United Artists Records.[27] Over the next year and a half they released four singles and two albums (The Hassles and Hour of the Wolf). All were commercial failures. Joel and drummer Jon Small left the Hassles in 1969 to form the duo Attila, releasing an eponymous debut album in July 1970. The duo disbanded the following October when Joel began an affair with Small's wife, Elizabeth, whom Joel eventually married.[28]
1970–1974: Cold Spring Harbor and Piano Man Joel signed a contract with the record company Family Productions (owned by Artie Ripp but backed by Gulf + Western[29]), with which he recorded his first solo album, Cold Spring Harbor (a reference to Cold Spring Harbor, New York, a town on Long Island). Ripp states that he spent $450,000 developing Joel;[29] nevertheless, the album was mastered at the wrong speed and as a result, the album was a technical and commercial disappointment.[30]
The popular songs "She's Got a Way" and "Everybody Loves You Now" were originally released on this album, but went largely unnoticed until being released as live performances on Songs in the Attic (1981). Columbia released a remastered version of Cold Spring Harbor in 1983.
Joel began his Cold Spring Harbor tour in the fall of 1971, touring with his band (Rhys Clark on drums, Al Hertzberg on guitar, and Larry Russell on bass guitar) throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico, opening for groups such as the J. Geils Band, The Beach Boys, Badfinger, and Taj Mahal. Joel's performance at the Puerto Rican Mar Y Sol Pop Festival was especially well-received; and although recorded, Joel refused to have it published on the Mar Y Sol compilation album Mar Y Sol: The First International Puerto Rico Pop Festival. Nevertheless, interest in his music grew.[31]
During the spring of 1972, the Philadelphia radio station WMMR-FM began playing a concert recording of "Captain Jack", which became an underground hit on the East Coast. Herb Gordon, a Columbia Records executive, heard Joel's music and introduced him to the company. Joel signed a recording contract with Columbia in 1972 and moved to Los Angeles; he lived there for the next three years.[1][32] For six months he worked at The Executive Room piano bar on Wilshire Boulevard as "Bill Martin". During that time, he composed his signature hit "Piano Man" about the bar's patrons.[33]
Despite Joel's new contract, he was still legally bound to Family Productions. Artie Ripp sold Joel's first contract to Columbia. Walter Yetnikoff, the president of CBS/Columbia Records at the time, bought back the rights to Joel's songs in the late 1970s, giving the rights to Joel as a birthday gift.[34][35] Yetnikoff notes in the documentary film The Last Play at Shea that he had to threaten Ripp to close the deal.
Joel's first album with Columbia was Piano Man, released in 1973. Despite modest sales, Piano Man's title track became his signature song, ending nearly every concert. That year Joel's touring band changed. Guitarist Al Hertzberg was replaced by Don Evans, and bassist Larry Russell by Patrick McDonald, himself replaced in late 1974 by Doug Stegmeyer, who would stay with Joel until 1989. Rhys Clark returned as drummer and Tom Whitehorse as banjoist and pedal steel player; Johnny Almond joined as saxophonist and keyboardist. The band toured the US and Canada extensively, appearing on popular music shows. Joel's songwriting began attracting more attention; in 1974 Helen Reddy recorded "You're My Home" (Piano Man).
1974–1977: Streetlife Serenade and Turnstiles In 1974, Joel recorded his second Columbia album in Los Angeles, Streetlife Serenade. His manager at the time was Jon Troy, an old friend from the New York neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant; Troy would soon be replaced by Joel's wife Elizabeth.[36] Streetlife Serenade contains references to suburbia and the inner city. It is perhaps best known for "The Entertainer", a No. 34 hit in the US. Upset that "Piano Man" had been significantly cut for radio play, Joel wrote "The Entertainer" as a sarcastic response: "If you're gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05." Although Streetlife Serenade is often considered[by whom?] one of Joel's weaker albums (Joel dislikes it himself), it contains the notable songs "Los Angelenos" and "Root Beer Rag", an instrumental that was a staple of his live set in the 1970s.
In late 1975, Joel played piano and organ on several tracks on Bo Diddley's The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll all-star album.
Disenchanted with Los Angeles, Joel returned to New York City in 1975 and recorded Turnstiles, the first album he recorded with the group of hand-picked musicians who became the Billy Joel Band. Produced by James William Guercio (then Chicago's producer), Turnstiles was first recorded at Caribou Ranch with members of Elton John's band. Dissatisfied with the result, Joel re-recorded the songs and produced the album himself.
"Say Goodbye to Hollywood" was a minor hit; Ronnie Spector recorded a cover as did Nigel Olsson, then drummer with Elton John. In a 2008 radio interview, Joel said that he no longer performs the song because singing it in its high original key "shreds" his vocal cords; however, he did finally play it live for the first time since 1982 when he sang it at the Hollywood Bowl in May 2014. Though never released as a single, "New York State of Mind" became one of Joel's best-known songs; Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett have each recorded covers (Bennett's a duet with Joel on Playing with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues). Other notable songs from the album include "Summer, Highland Falls", "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)", "Say Goodbye to Hollywood", (a live version of which became a Top 40 hit), and "Prelude/Angry Young Man", a concert mainstay.
1977–1979: The Stranger and 52nd Street Columbia Records introduced Joel to Phil Ramone, who would produce all of Joel's studio albums from The Stranger (1977) to The Bridge (1986). The Stranger was an enormous commercial success, yielding four Top-25 hits on the Billboard charts: "Just the Way You Are" (#3), "Movin' Out" (#17), "Only the Good Die Young" (#24), and "She's Always a Woman" (#17). Joel's first Top Ten album, The Stranger was certified multi-platinum and reached number two on the charts, outselling Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge over Troubled Water,[37] Columbia's previous best-selling album. The Stranger also featured "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", an album-oriented rock classic, which has become one of his best-known songs.
The Stranger song "Just the Way You Are" — written for Joel's first wife, Elizabeth Weber[38] — was inspired by a dream[39] and won Grammy awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.[40] On tour in Paris, Joel learned the news late at night in his hotel room.[22] Rolling Stone ranked The Stranger the 70th greatest album of all time.[41]
Expectations were high for Joel's next album, 52nd Street, which he released in 1978, naming it after Manhattan's famous 52nd Street, which, at the time of its release, served as the world headquarters of CBS/ Columbia. The album sold over seven million copies, propelled to number one on the charts by the following hits: "My Life" (#3); followed successes from the album were "Big Shot" (#14), and "Honesty" (#24). A cover of "My Life" (sung by Gary Bennett) became the theme song for a new television sitcom, Bosom Buddies, which featured actor Tom Hanks in one of his earliest roles. 52nd Street won Grammy awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male and Album of the Year.
In 1979, Joel also traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival that took place between March 2–4, alongside Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Billy Swan, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnegan, Weather Report, and an array of Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines and Orquesta Aragón.[42] His performance is captured in Ernesto Juan Castellanos's documentary Havana Jam '79.
1979–1983: Glass Houses and The Nylon Curtain The success of his piano-driven ballads like "Just the Way You Are", "She's Always a Woman", and "Honesty" led some critics to label Joel a "balladeer" and "soft rocker". Joel thought these labels were unfair and insulting, and with Glass Houses, he tried to record an album that proved that he could rock harder than his critics gave him credit for, occasionally imitating and referring to the style of new wave rock music that was starting to become popular at the time. On the front cover of the album, Joel is pictured in a leather jacket, about to throw a rock at a glass house (referring to the adage that "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones").
Glass Houses spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard chart and yielded such hits as "You May Be Right" (used as the theme song, covered by Southside Johnny, for the CBS mid-1990s sitcom Dave's World) (#7, May 1980), "Don't Ask Me Why" (#19, September 1980), "Sometimes a Fantasy" (#36, November 1980) and "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", which became Joel's first Billboard number-one single (for two weeks) in July 1980. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" spent 11 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and was the 7th biggest hit of 1980 according to American Top 40.
Glass Houses won the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. It would also win the American Music Award for Favorite Album, Pop/Rock category. The album's closing song, "Through The Long Night" (B-side of the "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me" single), was a lullaby that featured Joel harmonizing with himself in a song he says was inspired by The Beatles' "Yes It Is".[31] In a recorded Masterclass at the University of Pennsylvania, Joel later recollected that he had written to the Beatles asking them how to get started in the music industry. In response, he received a pamphlet about Beatles merchandise. This later led to the idea of Joel conducting Q&A sessions around the world answering questions that people had about the music industry.[43]
His next release, Songs in the Attic, was composed of live performances of less well-known songs from the beginning of his career. It was recorded during larger US arenas and intimate night club shows in June and July 1980. This release introduced many fans, who discovered Joel when The Stranger became a smash in 1977, to many of his earlier compositions. The album reached No. 8 on the Billboard chart and produced two hit singles: "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (#17), and "She's Got a Way" (#23). It sold over 3 million copies. Though not as successful as some of his previous albums, the album was still considered a success by Joel.[31]
The next wave of Joel's career commenced with the recording of his next studio album, The Nylon Curtain. With The Nylon Curtain, Joel became more ambitious with his songwriting, trying his hand at writing topical songs like "Allentown" and "Goodnight Saigon". Joel has stated that he wanted the album to communicate his feelings about the American Dream and how changes in American politics during the Reagan years meant that "all of a sudden you weren't going to be able to inherit [the kind of life] your old man had."[44] He also tried to be more ambitious in his use of the recording studio. Joel said that he wanted to "create a sonic masterpiece" on The Nylon Curtain. So he spent more time in the studio, crafting the sound of the album, than he had on any previous album.[44] Production of The Nylon Curtain began in the fall of 1981. However, production was temporarily delayed when Joel was involved in a serious motorcycle accident on Long Island on April 15, 1982, severely injuring his hands. Still, Joel quickly recovered from his injuries, and the album only ended up being delayed by a few months.[45]
In 1982, he embarked on a brief tour in support of the album. From one of the final shows of the tour, Joel made his first video special, Live from Long Island, which was recorded at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on December 30, 1982. It was originally broadcast on HBO in 1983 before it became available on VHS.
The Nylon Curtain went to No. 7 on the charts, partially due to heavy airplay on MTV for the videos to the singles "Allentown" and "Pressure". "Allentown" spent six weeks at a peak position of No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the most-played radio songs of 1982, pushing it into 1983's year-end Top 70, and making it the most successful song from The Nylon Curtain album, besting "Pressure" which peaked at No. 20 (where it resided for three weeks) and "Goodnight Saigon" which reached No. 56 on U.S. charts.[46]
1983–1988: An Innocent Man and The Bridge Joel's next album moved away from the serious themes of The Nylon Curtain and struck a much lighter tone. The album An Innocent Man was Joel's tribute to R&B and doo wop music of the 1950s and 1960s and resulted in Joel's second Billboard number-one hit, "Tell Her About It", which was the first single off the album in the summer of 1983. The album itself reached No. 4 on the charts and No. 2 in UK. It also boasted six top-30 singles, the most of any album in Joel's catalog. The album was well received by critics, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine, senior editor for AllMusic, describing Joel as being "in top form as a craftsman throughout the record, effortlessly spinning out infectious, memorable melodies in a variety of styles."[47]
At the time that the album was released, WCBS-FM began playing "Uptown Girl" both in regular rotation and on the Doo Wop Live.[48][49] The song became a worldwide hit upon its release. The music video of the song, originally written about then girlfriend Elle MacPherson, featured future wife Christie Brinkley as a high society girl, whose car pulls into the gas station where Joel's character is working. At the end of the video, Joel's "grease monkey" character drives off with his "uptown girl" on the back of a motorcycle. When Brinkley went to visit Joel after being asked to star in the video, the first thing Joel said to her upon opening his door was "I don't dance". Brinkley had to walk him through the basic steps he does in the video. Their work together on this video shoot sparked a relationship between the two which would later lead to their marriage in 1985.[50]
In December, the title song, "An Innocent Man", was released as a single and it peaked at No. 10 in the U.S. and No. 8 in the UK, early in 1984. That March, "The Longest Time" was released as a single, peaking at No. 14 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. That summer, "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" was released and it hit No. 27 while "Keeping the Faith" peaked at No. 18 in January 1985. In the video for "Keeping the Faith", Christie Brinkley also plays the "redhead girl in a Chevrolet". An Innocent Man was also nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy, but lost to Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Joel participated in the USA For Africa We Are The World project in 1985, capping off a series of successful singles.
Following the success of An Innocent Man, Joel was asked about releasing an album of his most successful singles. This was not the first time this topic had come up, but Joel had initially considered "Greatest Hits" albums as marking the end of one's career. This time he agreed, and Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and 2 was released as a four-sided album and two-CD set, with the songs in the order in which they were released. The new songs "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young" were recorded and released as singles to support the album; both reached the top 40, peaking at No. 9 and No. 34, respectively. Greatest Hits was highly successful and it has since been certified double diamond by the RIAA, with over 11.5 million copies (23 million units) sold. It is one of the best-selling albums in American music history, according to the RIAA.
Coinciding with the Greatest Hits album release, Joel released a two-volume Video Album that was a compilation of the promotional videos he had recorded from 1977 to the present time. Along with videos for the new singles off the Greatest Hits album, Joel also recorded a video for his first hit, "Piano Man", for this project.
Though it broke into the top ten, Joel's next album, The Bridge (1986), did not achieve the level of success of his previous albums, but it yielded the hits "A Matter of Trust" and "Modern Woman" from the film Ruthless People, a dark comedy from the directors of Airplane! (both #10). In a departure from his "piano man" persona, Joel is shown in the video playing a Gibson Les Paul. The ballad "This is the Time" also charted, peaking at No. 18.
On November 18, 1986, an extended version of the song "Big Man on Mulberry Street" was used on a Season 3 episode of Moonlighting. The episode itself was also titled "Big Man on Mulberry Street".
The Bridge was Joel's last album to carry the Family Productions logo, after which he severed his ties with Artie Ripp. Joel has also stated in many interviews, most recently in a 2008 interview in Performing Songwriter magazine, that he does not think The Bridge is a good album.
In October 1986, Joel and his handlers started planning a trip to the Soviet Union. He became one of the first American rock acts to play there since the Berlin Wall went up, a fact not lost on history buff Joel.[51] There were live performances at indoor arenas in Moscow, Leningrad and Tbilisi. Joel, his family (including young daughter Alexa), and his full touring band made the trip in August 1987. The entourage was filmed for television and video to offset the cost of the trip, and the concerts were simulcast on radio around the world. Joel's Russian tour was the first live rock radio broadcast in Soviet history.[52]
Most of that audience took a long while to warm up to Joel's energetic show, something that had never happened in other countries he had performed in. According to Joel, each time the fans were hit with the bright lights, anybody who seemed to be enjoying themselves froze. In addition, people who were "overreacting" were removed by security.[53] It was during this concert that Joel, enraged by the bright lights, flipped his electric piano and snapped a microphone stand while continuing to sing the current part of the set.[54] He later apologized for that incident.
The album КОНЦЕРТ (Russian for "Concert") was released in October 1987. Singer Pete Hewlett was brought in to hit the high notes on his most vocally challenging songs, like "An Innocent Man". Joel also did versions of The Beatles' classic "Back in the U.S.S.R." and Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin". It has been estimated that Joel lost more than $1 million of his own money on the trip and concerts, but he has said the goodwill he was shown there was well worth it.[31]
1988–1993: Storm Front and River of Dreams The recording of the album Storm Front, which commenced in 1988, coincided with major changes in Joel's career and inaugurated a period of serious upheaval in his business affairs. In August 1989, just before the album was released, Joel dismissed his manager (and former brother-in-law) Frank Weber after an audit revealed major discrepancies in Weber's accounting. Joel subsequently sued Weber for $90 million, claiming fraud and breach of fiduciary duty and in January 1990 he was awarded $2 million in a partial judgment against Weber; in April, the court dismissed a $30 million countersuit filed by Weber.[55]
The first single for the album, "We Didn't Start the Fire", was released in September 1989 and it became Joel's third and – to date – most-recent US number-one hit, spending two weeks at the top. Storm Front was released in October, and it eventually became Joel's first number-one album since Glass Houses, nine years earlier. Storm Front was Joel's first album since Turnstiles to be recorded without Phil Ramone as producer. For this album, he wanted a new sound, and worked with Mick Jones of Foreigner fame. Joel is also credited as one of the keyboard players on Jones' 1988 self-titled solo album, and is featured in the official video for Jones' single "Just Wanna Hold"; Joel can be seen playing the piano while his then-wife Christie Brinkley joins him and kisses him. Joel also revamped his backing band, dismissing everyone but drummer Liberty DeVitto, guitarist David Brown, and saxophone player Mark Rivera, and bringing in new faces, including multi-instrumentalist Crystal Taliefero.
Storm Front's second single, "I Go to Extremes" reached No. 6 in early 1990. The album was also notable for its song "Leningrad", written after Joel met a clown in the Soviet city of that name during his tour in 1987, and "The Downeaster Alexa", written to underscore the plight of fishermen on Long Island who are barely able to make ends meet. Another well-known single from the album is the ballad "And So It Goes" (#37 in late 1990). The song was originally written in 1983, around the time Joel was writing songs for An Innocent Man; but "And So It Goes" did not fit that album's retro theme, so it was held back until Storm Front. Joel said in a 1996 Masterclass session in Pittsburgh that Storm Front was a turbulent album and that "And So It Goes", as the last song on the album, portrayed the calm and tranquility that often follows a violent thunderstorm.
In the summer of 1992, Joel filed another $90 million lawsuit against his former lawyer Allen Grubman, alleging a wide range of offenses including fraud, breach of fiduciary responsibility, malpractice and breach of contract[56] but the case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.[57]
In 1992, Joel inducted the R&B duo Sam & Dave into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That year, Joel also started work on River of Dreams, finishing the album in early 1993. Its cover art was a colorful painting by Christie Brinkley that was a series of scenes from each of the songs on the album. The eponymous first single was the last top 10 hit Joel has penned to date, reaching No. 3 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and ranking at No. 21 on the 1993 year-end Hot 100 chart. In addition to the title track, the album includes the hits "All About Soul" (with Color Me Badd on backing vocals) and "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)", written for his daughter, Alexa. A radio remix version of "All About Soul" can be found on The Essential Billy Joel (2001), and a demo version appears on My Lives (2005).
The song "The Great Wall of China" was written about his ex-manager Frank Weber and was a regular in the setlist for Joel's 2006 tour. "2000 Years" was prominent in the millennium concert at Madison Square Garden, December 31, 1999, and "Famous Last Words" closed the book on Joel's pop songwriting for more than a decade.
1993–present: Touring Beginning in 1994, Joel toured extensively with Elton John on a series of "Face to Face" tours, making them the longest running and most successful concert tandem in pop music history.[58] During these shows, the two have played their own songs, each other's songs and performed duets. They grossed over US$46 million in just 24 dates in their sold out[59] 2003 tour. Joel and John resumed the Face to Face tour in March 2009[59] and it ended again, at least for the time being, in March 2010 in Albany, New York, at the Times Union Center. In February 2010, Joel denied rumors in the trade press that he canceled a summer 2010 leg of the tour, claiming there were never any dates booked and that he intended to take the year off.[60] Joel told Rolling Stone magazine: "We'll probably pick it up again. It's always fun playing with him."[61]
Joel performing in 2007 in Florida On August 25, 1994, Joel and second wife Christie Brinkley divorced, but they remained friends.
1997's "To Make You Feel My Love" and "Hey Girl" both charted from Joel's Greatest Hits Volume III album. Joel wrote and recorded the song "Shameless" that was later covered by Garth Brooks and reached No. 1 on Billboard's country charts. Joel performed with Brooks during his Central Park concert in 1997. To add onto his achievements Joel was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. Ray Charles made the induction speech and mentioned the duet Joel wrote for the two of them, "Baby Grand" (a track on Joel's album The Bridge released in 1986).
On December 31, 1999, Joel performed at New York's Madison Square Garden. At the time, Joel said that it would be his last tour and possibly his last concert. Two of his performances from that night, "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" were filmed and featured that night as part of ABC's special New Year's Y2K coverage. The concert (dubbed The Night of the 2000 Years) ran for close to four hours and was later released as 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert.
In 2001, Joel released Fantasies & Delusions, a collection of classical piano pieces. All were composed by Joel and performed by Hyung-ki Joo. Joel often uses bits of these songs as interludes in live performances, and some of them are part of the score for the hit show Movin' Out. The album topped the classical charts at No. 1. Joel performed "New York State of Mind" live on September 21, 2001, as part of the America: A Tribute to Heroes benefit concert, and on October 20, 2001, along with "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)", at the Concert for New York City in Madison Square Garden. That night, he also performed "Your Song" with Elton John.
In 2003, Joel inducted The Righteous Brothers into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, noting that his song "Until the Night" from the album 52nd Street was a tribute to the duo.
In 2005, Columbia released a box set, My Lives, which is largely a compilation of demos, b-sides, live/alternate versions and even a few Top 40 hits. The compilation also includes the Umixit software, in which people can remix "Zanzibar" and a live version of "I Go to Extremes" with their PC. Also, a DVD of a show from the River of Dreams tour is included.
Billy Joel with his band performing in California On January 7, 2006, Joel began a tour across the U.S. Having not written, or at least released, any new songs in 13 years, he featured a sampling of songs from throughout his career, including major hits as well as obscure tunes like "Zanzibar" and "All for Leyna". His tour included an unprecedented 12 sold-out concerts over several months at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The singer's stint of 12 shows at Madison Square Garden broke a previous record set by New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen, who played 10 sold-out shows at the same arena. The record earned Joel the first retired number (12) in the arena owned by a non-athlete. This honor has also been given to Joel at the Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia) (formerly the Wachovia Center) in Philadelphia where a banner in the colors of the Philadelphia Flyers is hung honoring Joel's 46 Philadelphia sold-out shows. He also had a banner raised in his honor for being the highest grossing act in the history of the Times Union Center (formerly the Knickerbocker Arena and Pepsi Arena) in Albany, New York. This honor was given to him as part of the April 17, 2007, show he did there. On June 13, 2006, Columbia released 12 Gardens Live, a double album containing 32 live recordings from a collection of the 12 different shows at Madison Square Garden during Joel's 2006 tour.
Joel visited the United Kingdom and Ireland for the first time in many years as part of the European leg of his 2006 tour. On July 31, 2006, he performed a free concert in Rome, with the Colosseum as the backdrop.[62]
Joel toured South Africa, Australia, Japan, and Hawaii in late 2006, and subsequently toured the Southeastern U.S. in February and March 2007 before hitting the Midwest in the spring of 2007. On January 3 of that year, news was leaked to the New York Post that Billy had recorded a new song with lyrics—this being the first new song with lyrics he'd written in almost 14 years.[63] The song, titled "All My Life", was Joel's newest single (with second track "You're My Home", live from Madison Square Garden 2006 tour) and was released into stores on February 27, 2007.[64] On February 4, Joel sang the national anthem for Super Bowl XLI, becoming the first to sing the national anthem twice at a Super Bowl. and on April 17, 2007, Joel was honored in Albany, New York, for his ninth concert at the Times Union Center. He is now holding the highest box office attendance of any artist to play at the arena. A banner was raised in his honor marking this achievement.
On December 1, 2007, Joel premiered his new song "Christmas in Fallujah".[65] The song was performed by Cass Dillon, a new Long Island based musician, as Joel felt it should be sung by someone in a soldier's age range (though he himself has played the song occasionally in concert.) The track was dedicated to servicemen based in Iraq. Joel wrote it in September 2007 after reading numerous letters sent to him from American soldiers in Iraq. "Christmas in Fallujah" is only the second pop/rock song released by Joel since 1993's River of Dreams. Proceeds from the song benefited the Homes For Our Troops foundation.
Joel with Mike DelGuidice in 2016 On January 26, 2008, Joel performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra celebrating the 151st anniversary of the Academy of Music. Joel premiered his new classical piece titled, "Waltz No. 2 (Steinway Hall)" arranged by Brad Ellis. He also played many of his less well-known pieces, with full orchestral backing arranged by Mr. Ellis, including the rarely performed Nylon Curtain songs "Scandinavian Skies" and "Where's the Orchestra?".
On March 10, 2008, Joel inducted his friend John Mellencamp into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
Joel's staying power as a touring act continues to the present day. He sold out 10 concerts at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut from May to July 2008. The casino honored him with a banner displaying his name and the number 10 to hang in the arena. On June 19, 2008, he played a concert at the grand re-opening of Caesars Windsor (formerly Casino Windsor) in Windsor, Ontario, Canada to an invite-only crowd for Casino VIPs. His mood was light, and joke-filled, even introducing himself as "Billy Joel's dad" and stating "you guys overpaid to see a fat bald guy". He also admitted that Canadian folk-pop musician Gordon Lightfoot was the musical inspiration for "She's Always A Woman".[66]
On July 16, 2008, and July 18, 2008, Joel played the final concerts at Shea Stadium before its demolition. His guests included Tony Bennett, Don Henley, John Mayer, John Mellencamp, Steven Tyler, Roger Daltrey, Garth Brooks, and Paul McCartney. The concerts were featured in the 2010 documentary film Last Play at Shea. The film was released on DVD on February 8, 2011. The CD and DVD of the show, Live at Shea Stadium were released on March 8, 2011.
On December 11, 2008, Joel recorded his own rendition of "Christmas in Fallujah" during a concert at Acer Arena in Sydney and released it as a live single in Australia only. It is the only official release of Joel performing "Christmas in Fallujah", as Cass Dillon sang on the 2007 studio recording and the handful of times the song was played live in 2007. Joel sang the song throughout his December 2008 tour of Australia.
On May 19, 2009, Joel's former drummer, Liberty DeVitto, filed a lawsuit in NYC claiming Joel and Sony Music owed DeVitto over 10 years of royalty payments. DeVitto had never been given songwriting or arranging credit on any of Joel's songs, but he claimed that he helped arrange some of them, including "Only the Good Die Young".[67] In April 2010, it was announced that Joel and DeVitto amicably resolved the lawsuit.[68]
2011 marked the 40th anniversary of the release of Joel's first album, Cold Spring Harbor. According to Joel's official website, to commemorate this anniversary, Columbia/Legacy Recordings originally planned "to celebrate the occasion with a definitive reissue project of newly restored and expanded Legacy editions of the complete Billy Joel catalog, newly curated collections of rarities from the vaults, previously unavailable studio tracks and live performances, home video releases and more", although this never fully came to fruition.[69] The album Piano Man was re-released in a two-disc Legacy edition in November 2011.[69]
In 2012, Joel signed an exclusive worldwide publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), and its subsidiary Rondor Music International. Under the agreement, UMPG and Rondor replaced EMI Music Publishing in handling Joel's catalog outside the U.S. Additionally, the agreement marked the first time since Joel regained control of his publishing rights in the 1980s that he began to use an administrator to handle his catalog within the U.S. The agreement's focus is on increasing the use of Joel's music in movies, television programs, and commercials.[70]
On December 12, 2012, Joel performed as part of 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden, a concert held for all the victims of Hurricane Sandy. He changed the lyrics to "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" to make it relate to all the damage caused by Sandy.
In May 2013, it was announced that Joel would hold his first ever indoor Irish concert at the O2 in Dublin on November 1. He subsequently announced his return to the UK for the first time in seven years to perform three dates in October and November. Joel played two arena dates in Manchester and Birmingham plus a very special show at London's Hammersmith Apollo. In October, Joel held a surprise concert on Long Island at The Paramount (Huntington, New York) to benefit Long Island Cares. The venue holds a capacity of 1,555 and sold out in five minutes. Joel headlined a solo arena concert in New York City for the first time since 2006 when he performed at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on December 31, 2013. In 2015, Joel performed 21 concerts (in addition to his Madison Square Garden residency) from January 7 to August 2 in various cities around the U.S. and Canada.
On December 3, 2013, it was announced that Joel would become a franchise of Madison Square Garden, playing one concert a month indefinitely, starting with a date on January 27, 2014.[71]
Joel performing at Madison Square Garden in 2016 On January 7, 2014, the Billy Joel in Concert tour began. Joel kicked off the 2014 New Year in the Amway Center (in Orlando, Florida) and performed several cover songs such as Elton John's "Your Song", Billy Preston's "You Are So Beautiful" (in tribute to Joe Cocker), The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Can't Buy Me Love", and "When I'm 64", Robert Burns' "Auld Lang Syne", and AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" (with Brian Johnson). Rufus Wainwright joined Joel during the concert to sing "New York State of Mind".[72] Joel also performed an unusual set, including the song "Souvenir" (from 1974's Streetlife Serenade) and excluding "We Didn't Start the Fire".[73]
On August 4, 2015 Joel played the final concert at Nassau Coliseum before the arena underwent a $261 million renovation.[74]
On April 5, 2017 Joel played the first concert at the newly renovated Nassau Coliseum.
On June 24, 2017, he returned to Hicksville High School fifty years after his would-be graduating class received their diplomas,[75] to deliver the honorary commencement address. It was also the 25th anniversary of receiving his own diploma from the same High School.