Four Things to Look Forward to in April 

a1. King Scott’s Birthday.

A Drunk Guy Took His Friend to the Hospital in the Bucket of a Front-End Loader – 1011Now

Elon Musk is pleading for engineers, technicians, and other experts to move to South Padre, Texas, to work for SpaceX – BusinessInsider

The Exact Numbers of Good Friends, Great Friends, and Acquaintances We Need – DailyMail

Suez canal chaos & two other disasters in Egypt blamed on ‘Pharaoh’s curse’ over plan to move Ramesses II’s body – TheSun

Burger King in Chile is getting mixed reactions for a tweet where they Photoshopped a picture of a Whopper blocking the Suez Canal.  (Full Story

Tax preparer pulls gun on client, attacks another – WPDE

Former Florida teacher admits to sending white powder, threatening letters to schools that fired her – WFTV

A Woman’s Excuse for Driving 149 Miles-Per-Hour Is . . . She Thought She Was Only Doing 128 – KMBC

Are April Fools’ Day Pranks Funny or Annoying? – YouGov

Here Are the Most Common Ways People React to April Fools’ Day Pranks – NationalToday

Nine Past April Fools’ Day Headlines That Turned Out to Be . . . True – TheWrap

I have tragic news to report this morning about the new “Obi-Wan Kenobi” show on Disney+:  Obi-Wan’s old buddy Jar Jar Binks will NOT be making an appearance. Someone asked AHMED BEST if he’d be back and he said, quote, “Thanks for the love, but I will not be in this series.  As much as I would’ve loved to be a part of it.  But I’m ecstatic to see folks who I love dearly back together doing great things.” Another fan asked if we’d see more Jar Jar in the future, and he said, quote, “I don’t know how likely either of those will be, but it brings me joy to know that I’ve brought joy to the galaxy.”

After getting moved from January to April 16th, Mortal Kombat’s film premiere date has been delayed again.The good news?  It’s only been pushed back only one week, premiering on April 23rd instead. Deadline says studio execs want to give movie-goers some breathing room between the US release of Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat.  Godzilla vs. Kong is big overseas, pulling in over $121 million.  The film has been released to more theaters than any other film during the pandemic and is streaming on HBO Max now.  

LIL NAS X knows…The more parents attack artists and blame them for the “inevitable” downfall of society, the more kids are going to want to listen to them.  And you can bet Lil Nas X is riding that train. Yesterday, he Tweeted that if “Montero” goes to #1, he’s buying all his followers a 12-pack of Hanes socks.  By the way, Nike won a temporary restraining order against the company that took their sneakers and turned them into Nas’ “Satan shoes.”  So if you ordered a pair but haven’t gotten them yet, you might be out of luck 

In April 2020, the San Diego Comic-Con announced that for the first time in its 50-year history, the flagship convention was canceled. Now, Comic-Con organizers have said it will take place over Thanksgiving weekend, Friday through Sunday, from Nov. 26-28. Which some find very odd. A studio rep says “We love San Diego Comic-Con and would love to support, but what actor or producer is going to give up their first post-vaccine Thanksgiving holiday with family to travel to San Diego to publicize a project?”  Talent are not going to want to give up time with their families at Thanksgiving this year of all years. I have no idea what the organizers are thinking.” A PR rep with clients who have appeared in Hall H panels notes their talent is, so far, “refusing” to attend, though the rep adds they would likely come around if ordered to by a studio. One studio source suggests that rather than Thanksgiving, Halloween would have been a better time for a Comic-Con return. Currently, it’s open on the San Diego Convention Center’s schedule. 

DEMI LOVATO has made it SUPER-CLEAR that she’s not interested in guys these days.  And she may have found a special lady to do naughty things to:  NOAH CYRUS . . . Miley’s little sister. They recorded a song together, and one source says they’ve been spending a lot of time together since . . . possibly SEXY TIME. But another source says, quote, “They have dinner sometimes, but they’re not romantic.  They got together for this song that sorta came together a bit last minute, and they hang out.”  

Girls liking girls is kind of the “in” thing these days, and on the new episode of “Red Table Talk”, both JADA PINKETT SMITH and her daughter WILLOW admitted they’re in the club. Willow said, quote, “I don’t feel like I’ve been in love with a woman just yet, but I definitely feel like it could happen because I’ve had very strong feelings for women before.” And Jada revealed that there were two times when she was in her 20s that she was, quote, “infatuated with a woman.”  

ABC’s new dog grooming competition show “Pooch Perfect“ debuted Tuesday night . . . and it’s already on PETA’s radar. REBEL WILSON hosts the show, which pits dog-grooming teams against each other for a chance to win $100,000.  Their tasks include turning a dog into an entirely different animal, which often involves dyed fur and crazy accessories. PETA says, quote, “Dogs are smart, loyal individuals . . . they’re not here for human amusement, and unfortunately, shows like ‘Pooch Perfect’ can encourage people to restrain their dog and reach for the dye . . .”Even though doing so runs the risk of causing an allergic reaction that could even be fatal, in addition to stressing the animal.” The show also earned some angry Tweets, including this one:  “You can’t convince me dogs like being poked, cut, bejeweled, and dressed up like this.” 

Bonnaroo is set for 2021!After canceling the festival in 2020 due to COVID-19, Bonnaroo is set to return over Labor Day weekend in Tennessee. Foo Fighters will headline the festival on Friday night, September 3rd.  Deftones, Incubus, Run The Jewels, Primus and more are also on the bill for Bonnaroo’s 20th anniversary weekend. Tickets at bonnaroo.com

The surviving members of Soundgarden allege that Vicky Cornell, the widow of late front man Chris Cornell, has locked them out of the band’s official website and social media accounts by changing all of the passwords. Now, they want a judge to step in. The band filed papers on March 25th asking a judge to order Vicky Cornell to hand over every single password to their online accounts, saying she’s “holding hostage the login information.” They want Vicky to stop identifying herself as “Soundgarden”.  A hearing is set for April 6th. Cornell filed a lawsuit against Soundgarden in 2019, asking a judge to name her the owner of Chris Cornell’s unreleased recordings, name and likeness. She’s also claimed that the surviving members have been hiding royalties from her.  A judge recently threw out a couple of Cornell’s lawsuits, saying there was insufficient evidence that Soungarden was hiding funds from her.

U2 continues its Virtual Road YouTube Concert series this Thursday, April 1st, with their December 1997 show from Mexico City. Show starts at 9:30pm EST.

Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy will play a set from the Whisky A Go-Go on April 2 at 10pm EST.  Get tickets at veeps.com.

Phil Anselmo and his band, The Illegals, will pay tribute to the singer’s previous band, Pantera, with a live performance April 9th at 7pm.  Tickets for A Vulgar Display of Pantera are up at IllegalsLive.com.

Sevendust has two back-to-back livestreams planned.  The band will play their studio album, Seasons, in its entirety April 10th at 9pm, then play their sophomore album, Home, on April 11th at 7pm.  Get your tickets at nocapshows.com

Weezer will team up with the LA Philharmonic and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles to debut their entire album, OK Human, live on Friday, April 16th at 9pm EST.  The band will also perform their hits, like “Buddy Holly”, too. VIP tickets for this one includes a 30 minute Q&A with Weezer after the show.  Info is up at weezer.com.

Korn: Monumental marks the live debut of material from the band’s latest album, The Nothing, on April 24th at 4pm EST. Ticket bundles for the show, including VIP tickets for a virtual meet and greet are available at KornLive.com

Staind is releasing a live album, Live: It’s Been Awhile, on May 7th and performing a two-part livestream series starting May 1st at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.  The first livestream is Staind’s comeback show; the second, on May 8th, will see the band play Break The Cycle in its entirety to celebrate its 20th anniversary.  Staindlive.com has your ticket details.

Amazon has Stone Temple Pilots’ July 2020 stream when the band performed its 1992 album, Core, in its entirety as part of the streaming service’s new Coda Collection.

.38 Special and ZZ Top are headlining Missouri’s Town & Country Fair on August 5th and 7th. Tickets for Missouri’s Town & Country Fair are on sale now at washmofair.com.

Garbage has announced that its releasing a new album on June 11th called No Gods, No Masters. The Men Who Rule the World  

Somebody turned Smashing Pumpkins’ “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” into an ’80s soft rock pop song.  

It’s opening day in baseball!  Things get started with the Blue Jays and Yankees at 12:05PM.  The Cardinals open their season in Cincinatti as they take on the Reds.  First pitch for that game is at 3:10PM and Jack Flaherty gets the start!

The New York Mets and shortstop Francisco Lindor have agreed to a 10-year, $341 million deal. Lindor’s deal will be the third largest based on total value in major league history, trailing only the deals for the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout ($426.5 million) and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Mookie Betts ($365 million).

Today is Opening Day for baseball, and if you’re thinking of attending a Cleveland Indians game this season . . . you’ll need to leave your Native American costume and red face paint at home. Cleveland has already announced that they’re changing their name . . . at some point in the future.  But in the meantime . . . while they’re still the Indians . . . they’re prohibiting fans from dressing like Indians. This isn’t a shock.  The NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs did the same thing last year.  The Chiefs haven’t said anything about changing their name yet, but it’s probably inevitable.  They’ve been under increasing pressure to switch, along with the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Blackhawks.

The Blues are off until tomorrow, but  there is a bit of hockey news.  Earlier this week we told you about how the Sabres have lost 18 games in a row.  Well, yesterday they had a chance to break that streak.  And…when the final buzzer sounded….it was 6-1.  And the Sabres got their first win since February 20^th.  In that time span they have gone 1-15-3.  Yikes.

NFL commish Roger Goodell said Tuesday that he expects to have stadiums packed with fans when the 2021 season kicks off around five months from now. During the NFL’s annual league meeting, Goodell discussed vaccination education and recommended that coaches encourage their players and staff to get vaccinated. Goodell added “All of us in the NFL want to see every one of our fans back. Football is simply not the same without fans, and we expect to have full stadiums in the upcoming season.” Despite the pandemic, the NFL was able to house 1.2 million fans into stadiums during the 2020 season.

Two more lawsuits alleging sexual assault and inappropriate behavior were filed against Deshaun Watson on Tuesday evening, including one that states the Texans quarterback has “unsent” messages on Instagram and has contacted the women who had previously massaged. On Monday, Watson’s lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said in a statement that Watson has not deleted any Instagram messages over the past two weeks and denied that his client contacted any of the women directly. After the two newest lawsuits appeared, Hardin released statements from 18 women who say that they have worked with the quarterback and that he “never made them feel uncomfortable or demanded anything outside the scope of a professional massage.” Watson’s attorney said the statements were voluntary and from women who have collectively worked with Deshaun over the past five years.

The Los Angeles County sheriff says detectives have determined what caused Tiger Woods to crash his SUV last month in Southern California but would not release details Wednesday, citing unspecified privacy concerns for the golf star. Later Wednesday evening the sheriff’s department attempted to clarify its position, saying in a statement on Twitter that “the release of accident reports is governed under California Vehicle Code Section 20012. When we are able, we intend to release the information learned during the traffic collision investigation involving Tiger Woods.” Woods suffered serious injuries in the Feb. 23 crash when he struck a raised median around 7 a.m. in Los Angeles.

We now have the Final Four set in both the men’s and women’s NCAA tournament.  On the men’s side…#1 Baylor will host #2 Houston on one side of the bracket.  On the other side….#1 overall seed Gonzaga will take on #11 UCLA.  UCLA was one of the teams that played in the “First Four” game before the tournament of 64 even began.  Both of the games are on Saturday with the finals on Monday.

On the women’s side, two number one seeds with go at it on one side of the bracket as South Carolina takes on Stanford.  On the other side, #1 UCONN will take on #3 Arizona.  Both of those games are on Friday with the finals on Sunday.

A referee collapsed early in the first half of Tuesday night’s Elite Eight matchup between Gonzaga and USC. Official Bert Smith was alert as he was placed on a stretcher and moved off the court. The NCAA said he left the game with a medical issue. On the TBS broadcast, they said Smith was feeling lightheaded and was being tended to in the locker room.  He must have been OK because he was not taken to a hospital.

The Utah Jazz’s team charter plane had to make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff Tuesday afternoon after striking a flock of birds, which caused an engine fire and failure. The Jazz were en route to Memphis where they are scheduled to play the Grizzlies tonight. No injuries were reported. The Jazz confirmed their plane for Wednesday’s game returned to Salt Lake City International Airport shortly after takeoff. A team source who was on the plane said that players heard a loud bang and saw a flash from the left engine. The game last night still happened after the Jazz took a later flight on Tuesday.

Nate Diaz is back. Diaz, one of the most popular fighters in MMA, will meet Leon Edwards at UFC 262 on May 15. Both fighters have verbally agreed to the fight, though the contract is not signed yet. The fight will serve as a five-round co-main event for the card headlined by Charles Oliveira versus Michael Chandler for the vacant UFC lightweight title.  Diaz hasn’t fought since November in 2019 when in a lost to Jorge Masvidal.

And finally – Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson are among the latest current and former NBA players to invest in Dapper Labs, the startup company behind the NFT trading-card platform NBA Top Shot. The company announced a $305 million funding round on Tuesday as the digital collectibles market continues to boom.  According to Business Insider, the latest batch of funding brings Dapper Labs’ valuation to $2.6 billion. NBA Top Shot was developed in partnership with the NBA and National Basketball Players Association, providing an online forum for trading virtual basketball cards in the form of video clips of their favorite players called “moments.” Less than five months into beta testing, the platform has more than 800,000 registered users. As of March 17, more than $370 million had exchanged hands between users on the marketplace with millions more believed to be spent on packs.