Elite opens official Instagram account amid rise in popularity
Member Linda Rafar, who shared the good news, said that the account @eliteofficialmy is open so that they can share their activities with the fans, especially since they have received lots of invitations following their performance at the concert.
"We used to have an Instagram account in the past. But since then, everybody became busy with their own careers that the account became no longer active," she said. "But after we got involved in the GenKRU concert, suddenly we received a lot of attention. We didn't expect so many people want to know about Elite's activities."
When asked if this means that Elite will one day hold their own concert, the singer stated that they will take whatever opportunity that comes their way.
"We do receive lots of offers to hold a concert. But even before accepting them, we have to do a lot of preparations and not just in terms of singing. We are all in our 40s now. We have to start exercising and taking vocal lessons. Even KRU started doing fitness six months prior to their concert," she said.
It was back in May that Linda was reunited with the rest of the Elite members; Abby Abadi, Sasha Saidin, Watie Sadali, and Azza Zawari to perform the song, "Di Pintu Syurga" with KRU. The group made their debut in 1995 and is known for hits like "Tamparan Wanita", "Manisnya Senyumanmu" and "Trauma".
(Photo Source: Elite IG, Sasha Saidin IG)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Anajak Thai's renovation uncovers relics as the restaurant readies to reopen this weekend
On June 30 Justin Pichetrungsi posted news on his restaurant's Instagram account that drew thousands of responses in shock, dismay and support: He would be closing his generational family business, Anajak Thai Cuisine, for nearly two months. What followed was a complete renovation that uncovered family relics and reimagined the space that helped raise Pichetrungsi, and catapulted the chef and his Sherman Oaks restaurant to international fame. 'In order to preserve something,' he posted, 'you have to change it.' The neighborhood Thai restaurant, founded 44 years ago by husband-and-wife team Ricky and Rattikorn Pichetrungsi, served the Sherman Oaks community for decades. But when their son, Justin, took over the restaurant several years ago, his own vision began to take hold: new dishes, new formats for enjoying them, an expanded wine program and a new energy. Its generational blend of old and new helped it garner accolades including being named the L.A. Times Restaurant of the Year in 2022. That same year, Justin Pichetrungsi received the title of best chef in California from the James Beard Foundation. If all goes as planned and Anajak reopens on Friday it will feature entirely new equipment — except, that is, for his father's original three-hole wok station, which has been refurbished. His mother, still a fixture in the restaurant, will finally have her own workstation dedicated to her famous mango sticky rice. Guests will find an additional dining room, an entirely new and more open kitchen, an overhaul of the original dining space, his grandfather's art, a repaving of the alfresco area (the venue for its popular Thai Taco Tuesdays) and more. It all started with the dish pit. Anajak ran through a lot of plates, flatware and wine glasses by hosting 250 guests a night. Washing them all in one three-compartment sink located alongside the cook line, wok station and grill finally proved untenable. Pichetrungsi first asked where he might be able to move the sink, and it all unraveled from there: He'd have to place it where the bathrooms were. To offer guests new bathrooms, he would have to renovate and open the adjacent wine storage room. And if a wall would have to come down in order to renovate, he might as well redo it all. 'The hardest part of the business is the organization part of it, not the innovation,' he told The Times. 'Innovation is so fun: You dream of new dishes, new ways to talk to your customers and things like that. But with all the behind-the-scenes stuff, people never saw how broken it was in order to make the show go on.' In January the staff began in small phases, such as moving the contents of the wine storage room to the office and storage space in the alley. Then on July 1, construction began in earnest. On the first day, the staff passed a sledgehammer between themselves, each taking a swing at a wall, including Ricky Pichetrungsi, who attacked it from his wheelchair. 'Everyone on the team has a hand in breaking that wall down, which was a beautiful moment,' Justin Pichetrungsi said. As they renovated, they uncovered Anajak relics: a box of old celebrity photos and headshots of those who've visited through the years, the original, grease-coated cash register, old menus, branded matchbooks and an entire mirror his father built walls around during his own renovations 30 years ago. 'I was hoping to find money, but unfortunately… ,' Pichetrungsi laughed. Pichetrungsi, a trained artist who formerly worked at Disney Imagineering, wanted to make changes for a long time — longer than he'd known he wanted to become a chef or take over the family restaurant. While revisiting his sketchbooks from years prior, Pichetrungsi found a list. He was flipping through a book he hadn't used in a decade and saw various notes of changes he would make to Anajak. 'I realized that a lot of my decision making in the last couple of years has really been about how to get to this specific point,' he said. 'A point where I can have a kitchen that I was happy to work in — not that I wasn't happy to work in my father's kitchen, but it was very uncomfortable — and it wasn't about my uncomfortability. It is and it was about developing a space that would feel in line with who we wanted to be.' Pichetrungsi was still drawing and teaching when he began helping his parents keep their restaurant afloat after the 2008 economic crisis. But in 2019, after his father suffered a stroke, he left Disney and took over Anajak full-time, working alongside his mother, his aunt and occasionally his father. In a bid to once again keep the family business alive, he pivoted during the pandemic, flipping the vacant alley space to host Thai Taco Tuesdays, a wildly popular weekly event with lines around the block. Then, he pushed its boundaries even further with a constantly evolving Thai tasting menu. When Pichetrungsi began cooking at the restaurant there were eight staff members, including himself and his relatives. Now there are nearly 60. Near the center of the restaurant, Ricky Pichetrungsi's former office — which once served as a de facto daycare center but became storage for pots and pans — will be home to a new climate-controlled wine cellar overseen by wine director Ian Krupp. The construction team works six days a week, beginning at 5 a.m., with multiple crews overlapping. They've installed a new oven hood, a floating kitchen pass, new plumbing, new electrical systems and new banquettes in the dining room. The new dining room, which the staff calls the East Wing, will offer two dozen seats and a hallway to the new bathrooms. Oil paintings and watercolors by Pichetrungsi's late grandfather were flown in from Thailand. The old, now-gone carpet, as well as a tarnished 'butt print' section of the wall where for years guests and staff leaned while waiting for the restrooms, are also being framed. 'It's gross, but it's art made by millions of people,' Pichetrungsi said. He alerted the restaurant's staff throughout the last year, giving time to make plans or find temporary employment for the month and a half of closed business. Many took vacation. Some staged at other restaurants. Some are working through construction, writing the restaurant's first official training manuals. Pichetrungsi declined to share the cost of Anajak's overhaul but said, 'It'll be a lot of pad Thais.' Pichetrungsi's parents raised concerns about the renovations: Think of the cost. Did it all really need to be done? But they've come to appreciate the changes. 'They're not as nostalgic about it as I am,' Justin Pichetrungsi said. 'They've seen it so much, they're okay letting it go. But I wasn't able to. I was here during the demo day, and it was a hard time for me.' As different as the restaurant will look, much of it will remain the same. The Kobe basketball jersey will still be hanging over the dining room. Thai Taco Tuesday is set to resume immediately, and the restaurant's omakase will return as well, albeit at a later date. With so much more kitchen space, new dishes might crop up at Anajak, too. Today, Pichetrungsi's notebooks are filled with sketches of floor plans, the views from various tables, the new server station and dishes he might like to execute in the new kitchen: The addition of a second deep fryer could one day mean whole fried fish. There could be enough space at the pass to shuck oysters and build seafood towers. Or maybe, he joked, these are the changes guests will see in another decade, when he decides to shake things up all over again.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Seth Meyers mourns death of dog Frisbee
Seth Meyers is mourning the loss of his beloved dog, Frisbee. The Late Night host paid tribute to his family's late Italian greyhound in a poignant Instagram post, sharing snapshots of her as a puppy. "RIP to Frisbee, our OG IG who I was happy to go grey with," Meyers wrote. "She was at her best curled in your lap and patient when we dressed her up like a pilgrim. Thanks for 14 amazing years, girl." The comedian's former Saturday Night Live costars took to the comments section to pay their respects to the little dog. "Noooo! Frisbeeee!" Rachel Dratch wrote. "Sorry for your loss." Amy Poehler, who cohosted Weekend Update with Meyers, added, "Frisbee forever." Aidy Bryant also commented three pink heart emojis. Meyers gave an update on Frisbee's declining health during an episode of The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast released earlier this month. "She's just really old," he said at the time. "She's not actively dying, but I would say that even a seven-year-old who's not a vet is like, 'Last days?'" Many of Meyers' fans also pointed out in the comments that the announcement of Frisbee's death comes just one day after Andy Samberg's 47th birthday. The comedian and Hot Rod star had publicly dunked on Frisbee for years.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Actor son of murder-suicide victim issues stepdad funeral plea
An actor whose mother was the victim of a murder-suicide in France has urged her friends not to attend his stepdad's funeral. Callum Kerr, who appeared in Hollyoaks and Netflix's Virgin River, said it would be "inappropriate" for the memory of his mother, Dawn Searle, to be associated with her husband Andrew Searle. The couple's bodies were discovered by a neighbour at their country home in the Aveyron region on 6 February. The prosecutor in charge of the case previously told the BBC it was murder followed by suicide and there was no evidence that another person was involved. The statement, issued on Kerr's Instagram account on behalf of the actor and his sister Amanda, comes more than six months after the couple were found dead. It is unclear why it has taken so long for Mr Searle's body to be released by the French authorities or when his funeral is scheduled to take place. Deaths of British couple in France treated as murder-suicide Actor's grief after mum and husband die in France French prosecutors confirm how British couple died Mr Kerr, who is also a country singer in the US, and his sister said that while the investigation into the deaths was ongoing they "cannot ignore the circumstances as they stand". The statement continued: "For this reason, we must respectfully but firmly request that our mother not be included in any way in the funeral arrangements being made for Andrew." They urged friends of their mother's not to attend the ceremony and asked people not to share photographs of Mr and Mrs Searle together. The statement concluded: "It would be inappropriate for her memory to be associated with a service honouring the man who, based on all available evidence, may have been responsible for her death. "We ask for understanding, privacy and respect as we continue to grieve and seek justice for our mum." Mrs Searle's body was found in the garden of the couple's property in the hamlet of Les Pesquiès, with severe wounds to her head. Mr Searle's body was found inside their home, about an hour north of Toulouse. Police were alerted to the incident by a neighbour who had gone to check on them when they failed to turn up for a planned dog walk. Post-mortem examinations confirmed Mrs Searle suffered "multiple blows to the head with a blunt and sharp-edged object" while Mr Searle died from hanging. Mrs Searle, 56, grew up in Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders, and Mr Searle, 62, was originally from England. They previously lived in Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, and married in France in 2023. Prosecutors said they had lived in the Aveyron region for five years. According to his LinkedIn page, Mr Searle previously worked in financial crime prevention at companies including Standard Life and Barclays Bank.
