NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Pop star Kelly Clarkson will ride as celebrity grand marshal when the Krewe of Endymion parade rolls on the Saturday before Mardi Gras in 2013.
Clarkson was the first winner of the Fox reality show “American Idol” in 2002. Her hits include “A Moment Like This” and “Because of You.”
Organizers say she’ll perform at Endymion’s ball at the Superdome after the parade.
Clarkson may be upstaged at the Feb. 9 parade by a float that organizers say will be the largest and most elaborate in Carnival history.
The super float will be 250 feet long and carry more than 200 riders. Its design focuses on Pontchartrain Beach, the amusement park that entertained generations on the New Orleans lakefront before closing in 1983.
NEW YORK (AP) — Carly Rae Jepsen has had a breakout year, and now she’s being rewarded by Billboard, which has named her its Rising Star of 2012.
The “Call Me Maybe” singer will be honored at Billboard’s annual Women in Music event, to be held in New York City on Nov. 30. She’ll join Katy Perry, who has been named Woman of the Year.
In a statement Thursday, Jepsen says she was influenced by many female artists and hopes to inspire budding musicians the way her heroes inspired her. Jepsen says she is truly honored by the award.
Previous recipients include Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga.
UNDATED (AP) – Matthew Morrison will sing the national anthem before tonight’s second game of the World Series. Zooey Deschanel (ZOH’-ee day-shuh-NEHL’) will do the honors before game three on Saturday night and Demi Lovato will perform before game four on Sunday. If there’s a game five, Aretha Franklin will sing the “Star Spangled Banner” on Monday night. Phillip Phillips sang the anthem last night before the opening game of the series.
NEW YORK (AP) – The Rolling Stones 50th anniversary book has come out as an e-book. “The Rolling Stones 50” digital edition allows readers to tap on photos to get a closer look, scroll through archival negative strips of the Stones in concert and pore over playlists of their major shows. It also comes with an interactive world tour map, rare audiovisual material, a gallery of posters and flyers and a vault of 100 rare photos. The e-book is on sale now for $20.
PARIS (AP) – The Rolling Stones announced a surprise “warm-up gig” in Paris, and within an hour the Champs Elysees was swarming with fans hoping to get satisfaction with one of the 350 tickets for the Thursday night show.
The (euro) 15 ($19.5) tickets, announced on the Rolling Stones Twitter account, came with strings attached: No more than two per person, names printed on them and IDs required at the door at the show intended as a prep for the band’s 50th anniversary arena shows in London and Newark, New Jersey.
Guitarist Ronnie Wood had said in an interview with NME this week that the Stones could play several small clubs, possibly under the name the Cockroaches, an alias they’ve used before.
The group has not played together live in five years.
Chadron State College will be moving dirt during its upcoming “Zombie Apocalypse,” but it won’t be to unearth spooky corpses.
A highlight of the institution’s homecoming celebration, with the theme of Zombie Apocalypse, will be the groundbreaking for the renovation and expansion of the Armstrong Physical Education Building.
The ceremony will be at the southwest corner of the building directly after Saturday’s football game between the Eagles and the Western New Mexico Mustangs. The game kicks off at 1:30 p.m.
Excitement has been building for the Armstrong project, the first phase of which includes a new 2,100-seat sports arena to the south of the existing structure.
Homecoming organizers expect a lively participation from students and the greater community, despite the subjects of the theme.
“Zombies are popular these days, and with homecoming being so close to Halloween it will be a fun theme,” said Dr. Rick Koza, the CSC faculty member who leads the homecoming committee. “We expect to get a lot of involvement from the community.”
An annual highlight of homecoming is the parade, set for Saturday at 9:30 a.m. CSC’s chapter of the Blue Key honor society organizes the parade. Entries need not pre-register for the parade, but must be lined up along First Street before 9 a.m. to participate.
Area firefighters, who have battled numerous catastrophic wildfires in the region this summer and into the fall, have been chosen to serve as the parade marshals.
“We just can’t say enough about the work the firefighters have done to keep the region and community safe during these dry conditions,” Koza said. “We’re proud to recognize them during our homecoming celebration.”
As the parade ends at the corner of 10th and Main, a variety of clubs and organizations will sponsor games and activities on the Dean’s Green. The event, which will have food, has been aptly named Carn Evil.
Leading up to the parade Saturday will be the annual Eagle 5k Run/Walk. Registration will be 7-7:45 a.m. at the corner of 12th and Main streets.
Another way the community can get into homecoming is to show its CSC spirit in the annual contest for yard art and business art. People who want their entries judged may contact Laure Sinn, CSC student activities coordinator, at 308-432-6455. The judging will begin Thursday at noon.
The homecoming festivities will begin with the Cardinal Key honor society’s annual lighting of C Hill on Wednesday at 6 p.m. near the Lindeken Clock Tower. Thursday night will feature the annual Spirit Rally at 6:30 p.m. in Armstrong Gym. The rally will feature the crowning of the homecoming king and queen.
Ashley Riesen and Adam Neumann, 2011 Chadron State College homecoming queen and king, help unveil the winners of the bed sheet decorating contest. The annual contest is one of the many fun events occurring for homecoming this week. (Photo by Justin Haag)
CSC also will honor seven successful CSC graduates with its Distinguished Alumni Award and Distinguished Young Alumni Award. Another 13 will be inducted to the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame. The honorees will be recognized during a luncheon in the Student Center on Saturday.
One of the groups gathering for homecoming is alumni of the “Golden Era” who graduated 50 years ago. Also meeting this week will be “The Survivors,” a group of alumni from the eras of the Great Depression and World War II.
A coffee for alumni, which is free of charge, will be in the Student Center at 8 a.m. Saturday.
NEW YORK (AP) — In an illustration of how the television world is changing, the hottest drama this fall is on cable.
AMC’s creepy “The Walking Dead” pulled in 9.5 million viewers for its first showing on Sunday. It was the second episode of the show’s third season. A week ago nearly 11 million people watched the season premiere of the show, about a sheriff’s deputy fighting zombie-like people.
The network airs a new episode three times on Sunday night. The Nielsen ratings company says a total of 14 million people watched at least one of them this week.
The most-watched drama on broadcast TV last week was “Person of Interest” on CBS. It had just under 14 million viewers. It was even more dominant among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic, which advertisers crave.
NEW YORK (AP) — MTV says it will air a live 30-minute interview with President Barack Obama across its various networks and platforms on Friday at 5 p.m. Eastern time and on tape delay at 5 p.m. Pacific time.
Viewers are being invited to submit questions for the president on MTV’s Facebook page. MTV News correspondent Sway Calloway will interview Obama at the White House, while Andrew Jenks will be reporting from a Washington-area college campus.
MTV hopes many questions will focus on issues important to young voters, such as jobs and the cost of college.
The interview will air on five different networks, MTV.com and its mobile platform.
Spokeswoman Janice Gatti says the network has reached out to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for a similar special, but hasn’t gotten a response.
NEW YORK (AP) — The “Spider-Man” saga is going from the stage to the page.
Glen Berger, co-writer of the disaster-prone “Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark,” is working on a book. “Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History,” will come out next year, Simon & Schuster announced Tuesday. Simon & Schuster publisher Jonathan Karp said the book would be, “entomologically speaking,” the “ultimate fly-on-the-wall account” of how a musical is made.
The big budget production became notorious for a series of stunt accidents during previews. The show was eventually revamped and the original director, Julie Taymor, was fired. Taymor later sued the producers, who countersued. A tentative settlement was reached over the summer.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bobby Brown has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving for the second time this year.
Los Angeles police spokeswoman Venus Hall says the singer’s car was stopped in the Topanga area at around 1 a.m. Wednesday.
Police say he was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence at the Van Nuys jail but was later released.
A representative for Brown could not immediately be contacted.
The 43-year-old pleaded no contest to DUI earlier this year following a March arrest in Los Angeles. Under a plea agreement, Brown checked himself into a rehabilitation center in August.
Brown’s first album in 14 years came out this summer.
