The List for Friday, July 21st 2023

Welcome to The List,

We start today with some sad news, Legendary singer Tony Bennett has passed… His publicist, Sylvia Weiner, confirmed Bennett’s death to The Associated Press, saying that Bennett passed away in his hometown of New York.  As of now, there has been no specific cause of death announced, although Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016. A performer for seven decades, Bennett played his last concert in 2021 at Radio City Music Hall with frequent collaborator and friend Lady Gaga…Tony Bennett was 96.

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Carly Pearce got served some humble pie this week, and had a good sense of humor about it.  She was on a Southwest flight on Wednesday when her “CMA Fest” set was airing on ABC. And apparently NO ONE on the plane knew who she was.  She was watching on her laptop and showed people while she walked around with it.  Whoever she was flying with filmed the whole thing….See the video HERE

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Nobody even had it on their radar, but “Sound of Freedom”, a faith-based movie about human trafficking starring Jim Caviezel, just passed the $100 million mark.  And it only cost $15 million to make. He plays a Homeland Security agent who makes it his mission to find a girl in the jungles of Colombia and rescue her, and other children, from human traffickers. It continues to play in more and more theaters as cinema owners see its numbers and rush to carry it.  It’ll be in 3,287 theaters this weekend, and could surpass “The Flash”, which has earned $107 million.

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Movies in theaters this weekend are “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”.  Business Insider says the “Oppenheimer” IMAX film reel weighs 600 pounds and stretches 11 miles. The physical film is so massive that it can barely fit into IMAX’s film projectors. Director Christopher Nolan says the three-hour movie was the “absolute limit” for an IMAX film print. It is the longest film that Nolan has ever made. Some movie goers have bought tickets to see BOTH movies back to back. It’s a “Barbieheimer” weekend for some…or “Oppenbarbie”..or whatever…

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Jelly Roll recently granted a dying wish for a Madison, Tennessee woman. Suzanne Durham was diagnosed with untreatable lung cancer and given five months to live. Her dying wish was to meet Jelly Roll because she, like him, is a former addict, who turned her life around. Jelly Roll visited Suzanne in the hospital. He even performed a song.

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Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” seems to be benefiting from all the controversy.  The song has over 3.8 million Spotify streams and reached Number One on iTune’s Top Song chart.  The video has been the Top Trending Video on YouTube.

You can catch The List, weekdays at 2:20 and 4:20 on Iowa’s Best