American Morning
Leno Spoofs American Morning
Couch, desk, microphone.
The formula for the successful late night set hasn't changed since the early days of TV, but Jay Leno was a little intrigued with our new layout.
Bad hair days
The roots are growing in. The extensions are coming out. And the era of super-expensive haircuts is now like your 401K—a thing of the past. This immutable reality has salon owners across the country biting their nails as more and more clients decide to skimp on beauty treatments.
“We haven’t seen it this bad in the 22-years we have been,” said the owner of the J.Sisters, a high-end salon in Manhattan, where hair extensions will run you anywhere from $1500 to $3000 and Brazilian bikini waxes (their specialty) are $75.
“People are scared.” It’s no better on the West Coast, according to stylist-to-the-stars Jose Eber. “I’ve been in Beverly Hills for 30 years and it’s never been this bad.”
Salon owners say that clients are stretching the weeks between treatments. “They don’t come as often,” said Eber. “Instead of 4-6 weeks, it’s 10-12 weeks.” And they’re cutting back on everything from blowouts to hairweaves.
Free store! No, really!
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/03/16/ogunnaike.freestore.art.jpg caption=" Crowds line up to shop at a store where everything is free."]
It was a frigid morning in downtown Manhattan. A day made for blankets and good books. But instead of hibernating at home, dozens of people were shivering in front of the Free Store, waiting to walk away with the ultimate bargain. The old adage says that “nothing in life is free”, but at this New York City store, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Everything—and I do mean everything—is F-R-E-E, Free.
Naturally I was skeptical when I walked in, after all, I’m a journalist, paid to be skeptical. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that nothing in this place had a price tag. The store’s “owners,” Athena Robles and Anna Stein, don’t have to worry about turning a profit because the space is actually an art exhibit funded by grants. Instead, they just do their best to manage the frenzied customers.
Phish returns: A 'phan' reflects
Phish is back… again!
After a nearly five-year absence, the kings of the jamband scene reunited for a three-night run at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton Virginia last week. The venue occupies a special place in the hearts of many Phish fans because their incredibly popular live album Hampton Comes Alive was recorded there.
Phish opened the show with their classic anthem “Fluffhead,” a lengthy, multi-sectioned tune from their debut 1988 album Junta..
It was the band’s first performance of the song since 2000 and the fans responded with raucous applause.
The crowd’s raw emotion can be clearly heard on a clip posted on youtube by a fan here.
By all accounts, they not only played “Fluffhead,” they nailed it. This also goes for the rest of the Hampton shows. In all they performed 86 songs over three nights. Internet message boards still lit up with comments about songs they didn’t play; I leave it to the reader to name another band that can play nearly 90 songs and still manage to leave something out!
Minding Your Business – Cramer vs. Stewart
Watercooler consensus this morning is Jon Stewart won the battle of the funny man and the money man. Stewart's ratings are up 20 percent since this 5-day feud erupted. Cramer's are down. No way to measure the value of all the free publicity these guys are generating because of it. (Though Stewart poked fun at being able to raise advertising rates because it.)
Stewart made the most eloquent assessment yet about how Wall Street's side-bets in complicated derivatives and its aggressive leveraging hurt the responsible buy-and-hold investors who are the backbone of the financial system. And CNBC was nothing more than a cheerleader, he blasts.
Leave it to the Daily Show's staff: They certainly watch ALOT of cable tv news tape. The big showdown last night between Stewart and CNBC Mad Money man Jim Cramer was chock full of embarrassing videotape of Cramer. Clips from 2006 (some featured a couple days ago by CNN's own Jim Acosta) that showed Cramer seeming to talk about manipulating the market.
"If He Hits You Once, He Will Do It Again"
Chris Brown's arrest for allegedly beating his girlfriend Rihanna has sparked a nationwide conversation on domestic violence. In fact, Oprah Winfrey was so moved by the story she dedicated a whole hour to the subject on her show yesterday.
Oprah has not been shy about offering her advice to singer Rihanna, and women who are in abusive situations. "If you have been abused once, she says, it will not be the last time." Oprah devoted a whole hour to the subject on her show yesterday. We wanted to talk about it with a clinical psychologist. Dr. Jeff Gardere joined us live.
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