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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Jan 28, 2014
January 28, 2014
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Grace notes:
Legendary folk singer and activist PETE SEEGER is dead. The New York Times says he passed away yesterday at age 94. Pete was one of the first folks singers who lost the toothy grin and realized that those songs were a call to action, and if the people had the same ideas, the music would help them get there. Pete was a member of the WEAVERS, one of the greatest folk groups of all time. His high tenor and banjo opened up folk music to the world. Pete and the Weavers had a number one hit with LEADBELLY's "Goodnight Irene," and songs written or co-written by Pete including "If I Had A Hammer," and "Where Have All The Flowers Gone," which became a song of protest against the war in Vietnam.
THE BYRDS picked up on Pete's arrangement of passaged from the Bible's Book of Ecclesiastes, "Turn! Turn! Turn!" Pete Seeger was a huge influence on so many artists, especially BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN who did a studio and live album of nothing but Pete's timeless tunes. Pete recorded more than 100 albums, but never considered himself a celebrity. In 2009 he said (quote), "My job, is to show folks there's a lot of good music in this world, and if used right it may help to save the planet." (Marino)Also pushing up daisies:
Need more proof that smoking isn't good for you? ERIC LAWSON --a tough-as-nails former model who played the Marlboro Man passed away due to COPD on January 10th. The manly man appeared on shows like "Baretta," "The Streets of San Francisco," "Charlie's Angels," "Dynasty" and "Baywatch" and picked up his first cigarette at the tender age of 14. His wife, SUSAN, tells Fox News that he simply couldn't quit and tobacco had a "hold on him." Mr. Lawson was 72. (Lee)
Beatles reunion (again):
Last night was the taping of "The Night That Changed America," an all-star tribute to THE BEATLES, celebrating the group's first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," 50 years ago. Folks who were lucky enough to be at the taping at the Los Angeles Convention Center were told to not give away anything about the show, but, thanks to social media, some leaks have already come out.
The big news is that PAUL McCARTNEY and RINGO STARR do perform together, just like they did at the Grammys on Sunday. But, this time they closed the show with six Beatles songs, including, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "Hey Jude." You'll get to see the two-hour special on CBS, February 9th. (Marino)Super Bowl update:
Madden NFL 25 --a game that thinks it can accurately predict the outcome of football games, predicts that the Denver Broncos will win the Super Bowl.
Of course, a few weeks ago, the game said the 49ers would beat the Seahawks. (Maiman)Watercooler:
Data from online meeting company FuzeBox underlines the dangers of multi-tasking for businesses, including the cost of distracted workers for businesses --an estimated $450 billion per year, globally. According to FuzeBox:
--People check phones an average of 150 times per day
--Most are "on task" for just over a minute before being interrupted
--Post-interruption, it takes about 25 minutes to resume a task
Multi-tasking was also found to lead to a 40 percent drop in worker productivity and to make up to 50 percent as long to finish a task as those who do not multi-task. As for where all this multi-tasking Happens: more than 90 percent say they multi-task during meetings, 57 percent during phone calls and 23 percent during web conference calls. (Kaye) -
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