iStock/Vladimir Vladimirov(NEW YORK) — As part of his daily coronavirus-related press conference, embattled New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that movie theaters in the Big Apple will be allowed to reopen March 5.
However, there’s a catch: Movie houses will be capped at 25% capacity — with no more than 50 people allowed in each theater at the same time.
Masks, social distancing and increased sanitizing procedures will also be mandated.
The movie theater announcement comes days after Cuomo, currently under federal investigation for allegedly hiding the death toll caused by his COVID-19 nursing home mandate, allowed similar limited openings for sporting arenas.
Country Music Association The Country Music Association is launching a new platform to support musicians in need.
CMA is expanding its Music Industry COVID Support initiative to partner with nonprofit Touring Professionals Alliance to fund the Touring Professionals Alliance Kitchen program that provides meals to employees in the live music industry who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the course of a month, the program brings together a range of chefs from Nashville-based restaurants including Chopped judge Maneet Chauhan of Chaatable and Sean Brock, chef at his flagship restaurant Audrey.
Each week from February 24 though March 24, music industry professionals can sign up to receive a meal from the participating restaurant.
“The aid provided through the Touring Professionals Alliance Kitchen goes so much deeper than simply offering meals to industry professionals in need—TPA has created an environment for our friends to come together for a brief moment of relief in what has been an incredibly difficult year,” CMA CEO Sarah Trahern says in a statement.
Touring Professionals Alliance Kitchen is also accepting donations here.
Beth GarrabrantTaylor Swift has just accomplished something that only country icon and American treasure Dolly Parton has managed to do before: Hit number-one twice with two different versions of the same song.
As Billboard reports, “Love Story (Taylor’s Version),” the re-recorded version of Taylor’s 2008 hit, has debuted at number-one on the publication’s Hot Country Songs chart. It’s her first number-one debut on this chart, and her eighth number-one on the chart overall.
But this also marks the second time that “Love Story” has been number one on this chart. The first time was, of course, in 2008, when “Love Story” was first released, and Taylor was a huge country star. The only other time this has happened is with Dolly Parton’s classic song “I Will Always Love You.”
The original version of Dolly’s song was number-one on the Hot Country Songs chart in 1974, and then again in 1982, in a new version Dolly recorded for the soundtrack of her movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
In a statement, Taylor tells Billboard, “This is my first time having a No. 1 debut on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and I’m so grateful to the fans for making this a possibility. They’re the ones who emboldened me to reclaim my music and they really showed up this week to see it through.”
“It blows me away that they’ve sent a song to No. 1 that had its first life over a decade ago,” she adds. “I couldn’t be happier that it happened now, and in this way.”
Taylor’s re-recording is also being played on pop radio stations.
Vera Anderson/WireImage(TURKEY) — Hugh Grant now has firsthand experience with the fear and frustration parents are feeling as the COVID-19 lockdown keeps their kids away from schools.
In an otherwise cheery interview last week, moderated by his former Song and Lyrics co-star Drew Barrymore, the pair began talking about the difficulties their kids are having with remote learning.
“It’s ghastly,” Grant admitted, before saying, “my son self-harmed himself in front of this tutor.”
The gravity of the comment apparently took Barrymore by surprise, judging by the look on her face.
“He stabbed himself…in the face with a [pen]” Grant says, mimicking repeatedly stabbing himself, “because he couldn’t do a basic bit of arithmetic.”
During the chat, part of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s “Conversations At Home” series, the 60-year-old Undoing star said he’d moved the family out of UK quarantines to be with him in Turkey where he’s shooting a film — and where he hired a pair of teenage tutors to work with his children.
Grant has three children with his wife since 2018, Anna Eberstein, as well as two with former partner, Tinglan Hong.
Unfortunately, Grant isn’t alone: The isolation and lack of social interaction has taken a toll on remotely-taught students’ mental health all over the globe, with the experts asserting the problem is only growing as lockdowns continue.
Jeff Ray Chase Bryant is opening up about his experience with attempted suicide.
In a video titled “This Is Me,” Chase emotionally shares how he took a three-year hiatus from the music business after scoring two top 10 singles “Take it On Back” and “Little Bit of You” in 2015, referring to himself as “very confused” and “very sick” as he battled depression and anxiety during his rise to fame.
“I was chasing success…I wasn’t chasing happiness,” Chase recalls to People. “I was trying to be something I wasn’t.”
One night in 2018, Chase got in his truck with a long hand-written note and a .357 revolver with six bullets in it and drove to a gas station. He placed the gun to his head and screamed “sorry” at the top of his lungs before pulling the trigger. But when he looked down, he found that the gun only had five bullets in it.
“I realized that life is too short, don’t make it any shorter,” Chase recalls of what he thought when he got out of his truck that night. “Be yourself, love the people around you, and don’t ever forget your upbringing.”
Soon after, Chase returned to his roots in his home state of Texas, which inspired his new collection of music, including the single “Upbringing” that will be released on Friday.
“What we’re doing here is a brand new beginning. The old me will never be forgotten, that’ll always be a picture in the back of my mind,” the singer says. “But the new me is the person I’ll get to live the rest of my life with.”
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, or worried about a friend or loved one, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK] for free confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Even if it feels like it, you are not alone.
iStock/Vladimir Vladimirov(NEW YORK) — As part of his daily coronavirus-related press conference, embattled New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that movie theaters in the Big Apple will be allowed to reopen March 5. 
