Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Mar 10, 2022

There's a film biography in the works about Billy Joel. Called (you could see this one coming) "Piano Man," the film will reportedly be about Billy’s early years from his discovery while playing piano by his first manager, to playing in a Long Island cover band in the 60s, to his performance in 1972, after which Clive Davis signed him.

And while we're talking about Clive Davis, there's a new four-part mini-series about Clive coming on Paramount Plus. “Clive Davis: Most Iconic Performances,” will have concert clips and interviews from stars he's repped, including Tina Turner, the Notorious B.I.G., Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, H.E.R., Aretha Franklin, Rod Stewart, Bee Gees, Alicia Keys with Jay-Z, Joni Mitchell, Ray Charles and Willie Nelson. And there'll be interviews with the stars as well. Variety says the first part will air Wednesday, March 23.

Look for a new children's book inspired by the Don McLean classic, “American Pie,” which first came out 50 years ago. 'Don McLean’s American Pie: A Fable' is about a newspaper delivery boy in the 1950s who discovers the joy of friendship and music, eventually learning that when you recognize what makes you happy, you are never truly alone. The book will be in stores June 7th.

He's dead, Jim: Sorry to tell you that the guy who had a transplant of a pig's heart has died, two months after his surgery. David Bennett had terminal heart disease, and was the first person to get an animal heart instead of a human heart, since he was ineligible for a human transplant. Rather than die, he opted for the pig heart transplant, knowing the risks and said at the time he knew it was "a shot in the dark".

Also sorry to hear Conrad Janis passed away March 1st. He was a star a legendary jazz trombonist and also appeared in a number of sitcoms, including playing the father of Mindy (Pam Dawber) on the Robin Williams comedy “Mork & Mindy.” He was 94. He also co-starred in movies including “Airport ’75,″ “The Happy Hooker,” “The Buddy Holly Story,” “Brewster’s Millions” and others.

How can you accomplish this? A 30-year-old man attempted to evade U.S. border agents at the San Ysidro border crossing in California yesterday. That's because he had 52 lizards and snakes hidden in his clothing. The nine snakes and 43 horned lizards were tied up in small bags which agents said “were concealed in the man’s jacket, pants pockets, and groin area.” If it was you, would you put the snakes in your groin, or some of the horned lizards? Just asking.

Ukraine news: Add Addidas to the list of retailers temporarily shutting their stores in Russia as well as its online shop there. The company has about 500 stores in Russia out of a total of 2,168 worldwide. Nike and Puma have also closed their stores there as well.

Sci-Fi News #1: Paramount+ has a new "Star Trek" series coming out, about the years that Captain Christopher Pike --played by Anson Mount-- ran the U.S.S. Enterprise before Capt. Kirk got there. “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” will also star Rebecca Romijn as "Number One" and Ethan Peck as "Science Officer Spock."

Sci-Fi News #2: Disney Plus has “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” a new “Star Wars” limited series premiering May 25. Ewan McGregor stars as Obi-Wan Kenobi, the famed Jedi master and Anakin’s former mentor before his young student turned into Darth Vader.

What's wrong with this picture???
--a Greenville County, South Carolina councilman wore a T-shirt featuring the Confederate flag at a community event for black and Hispanic kids.
--The assistant principal at a Byram, Mississippi elementary school was fired last week after reading the children's book "I Need a New Butt!" to a second-grade class. Toby Price told WLBT when the principal didn't show up to the class as planned, Price said he was told to read them a book. “I grabbed one of my favorite books that I had nearby, I read it to them. It’s a funny, silly book," he said.