Latest news with #Happy'sPlace
USA Today
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Kelly Clarkson's ex-husband Brandon Blackson was Reba McEntire's stepson: 'He's my total'
Kelly Clarkson's ex-husband Brandon Blackstock died this week, but he is also related to another music royal: Reba McEntire. Blackstock's family confirmed the death in a statement to USA TODAY on Thursday, Aug. 7. "It is with great sadness that we share the news that Brandon Blackstock has passed away," the statement read. The news comes one day after Clarkson, 43, announced on social media that the August dates of her Las Vegas residency will be postponed while she tends to her family. The family statement said that Blackstock "bravely battled cancer for more than three years. He passed away peacefully and was surrounded by family." Blackstock was McEntire's stepson. McEntire married Blackstock's dad and fellow music manager Narvel Blackstock in 1989 and the two divorced in 2015. They had one son together of their own, race car driver Shelby Blackstock. McEntire is one of the biggest stars in country music industry's modern era. A three-time Grammy winner, with 17 nominations, she has become a successful actress, including on the self-titled TV sitcom "Reba" from 2001 to 2007 and now on the NBC sitcom "Happy's Place," which premiered last year and returns for a second season this fall. During a 2018 interview with People at the Academy of Country Music Awards, McEntire called Blackstock and Clarkson's children – River Rose, 11, and Remington "Remy," who is 9 – her grandchildren. "I don't ever see the grandkids!" McEntire told People. "It was a lot better when everybody was not so busy, but I've got seven grandchildren, so they're scattered all over the country and busy doing stuff, but I love them." After Clarkson and her husband announced their split in 2020, McEntire told "Entertainment Tonight" that she wasn't taking sides during the divorce. "Brandon's been my son forever it seems. Although he's my stepson, I still love him like he's my total – my blood, so I'm praying for 'em both 'cause I love 'em both," McEntire said, but told ET's Rachel Smith that "Kelly and I do talk, we text and I love them both, and so I can't play favorites because I've been a friend of Kelly for a long time." In 2023, Clarkson told Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live!" that she and McEntire "text each other all the time," adding that they are "both women of sound mind that know that life doesn't work out sometimes," saying that "she would know best" because "it's literally the same thing." "No hard feelings there. Just feelings!" Clarkson added. "We've even worked together since then — on 'The Voice' as well." On Season 23 of "The Voice" in 2023, McEntire served as mega mentor to contestants while Clarkson sat on the judging panel with Blake Shelton (who was once managed by the Blackstocks), Niall Horan and Chance the Rapper.
Hamilton Spectator
25-06-2025
- General
- Hamilton Spectator
St. Thomas public library CAO
After 27 successful years at St. Thomas Public Library, Heather Robinson doesn't mind telling you that her career is now going to the dogs. She's retiring as chief administrative officer (CAO), or chief librarian, in December and Ms. Robinson is committing her golden years to working as an end-of-life doula for dogs. Dog doulas provide non-medical, emotional support and guidance for pet owners and their canine companions during the end-of-life process. 'It will be very strange not to come here (the St. Thomas Public Library, at 153 Curtis Street) and not to come up those stairs,' Ms. Robinson said in a recent interview, 'but I've got a few things in the works, more around animals and nature. 'Right now, I'm adoptions co-ordinator for Happy's Place, a senior dog rescue,' added Ms. Robinson. 'I'll continue to do that and I have taken an end-of-life, companion animal doula course, with the goal of helping people who either have a palliative animal or have lost an animal.' Ms. Robinson shares her Sparta home with two Pugs named Newman and Frannie. 'I've always loved animals,' she added. 'I'm very much a nature person and as I get older, I've just given in to my love of dogs. 'A dog doula is not something that is really mainstream yet, but more and more people are seeing the importance of this,' she said, who has also studied to become an animal communicator. 'I didn't even know about any of this (canine end of life). I just started to do some research, watched some podcasts, took courses, was mentored by people … and there were certain people who I really resonated with, so I contacted them.' St. Thomas Public Library Board – an independent body reporting to the City of St. Thomas – is expected to launch a national recruitment campaign to replace Ms. Robinson later this month. A new CAO is slated to be announced at the end of December. Originally from Wingham, Ontario, Ms. Robinson grew up in London and earned an English Honors degree at Western University before also completing librarian studies at Western. 'Libraries have never not been in my life,' she said. 'I always went to them as a child and when I turned 14, I got a job at London Public Library as a page, and I worked through to university.' After graduating, Ms. Robinson started out as a children's librarian in the City of York, in the Greater Toronto Area, then later worked at the Kingston Public Library, before coming to St. Thomas. She started here as children's and teens' librarian, then moved into the public service department where she led the library renovations project in 2011-2012 and has served as CAO for eight years. Among her accomplishments in St. Thomas, Ms. Robinson also oversaw creation of the library's Kids Spot, as well as the creation of outdoor murals and various community art projects. In 2004, she was given the Ontario Public Library Association's Children's Librarian of the Year award. 'You just need someone to steer the ship because there's a lot going on in a library that people don't realize,' she said. 'It's programming, selection of materials, services that we offer, online presence.' Ms. Robinson is aware of the general public's perceptions of chief librarians as introverted nerds who are employed to check books in and out of the library. 'Maybe there is some truth to that, but once you get into it, you realize just how rich it is,' she said. 'The number of experiences and the amount of experience I've had in this career, is unprecedented. You are doing personnel stuff, renovation projects, you're looking after a building, looking after collections, and programming.' 'I just love the diversity of people that you serve,' she said. 'It's a career where you really can make a difference, especially with young people. 'When I was a children's librarian here, it was (a time when) there was a community around the (downtown) library, with community schools. Now they're all bused to the larger schools on the outskirts. 'These kids would come with their classes weekly, and we'd do programs for them,' she explained. 'You got to know them, and they got to know one another. They would come and hang out all the time. 'For some of them, the library was their warmth. They didn't have any heat at home. Or they didn't have any food at home, so you became a trusted person to them. 'Same with the teens. We'd do intergenerational programs. We'd teach them about finance, take them on book-buying trips, teaching them essential skills, and it felt like you were making a difference in their lives. 'It isn't the same as it was,' she added. 'Things have just changed.' However the library system continues to evolve to maintain its relevance in the community, she observed. 'I've seen libraries since we had card catalogues still and I think that libraries have been incredibly adaptable, so there still is the traditional idea of libraries out there as being a place to house books,' she said. 'Statistics don't support that people are reading solely online or e-books. 'E-books are increasing in circulation however people are still reading books,' she continued. 'Add to that, programs. This is a place where you can come for free and connect with people to learn things.' The library's Tech Talk group, for example, meets regularly and responds to all types of questions and challenges, he said. There are also one-on-one sessions, in which library staff provide walk-throughs on a wide range of interests, such as ancestry searches. Ms. Robinson said 'maker spaces' are also popular, with equipment to, for example, make signs, buttons, or stickers for businesses, or to construct things from wood. 'We adapt by bringing in things that we think will help people,' she said. 'People can learn how to use a 3D printer, or a vinyl cutter. 'We really are places where people can come to connect and in a world where technology separates us from people, they're craving a place, even if they're working online, they'll come and work at the library so that there are people around,' said Ms. Robinson. 'We have a lot of social capital.' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘So indescribable and special': ‘Happy's Place' stars Belissa Escobedo and Melissa Peterman on working with Reba McEntire
"It feels very nostalgic," says Melissa Peterman of the new sitcom Happy's Place, which has hit the airwaves "in a time where I think people are hungry for that feeling." What's unique about the series, which reunites Peterman with her Reba costar Reba McEntire, is that it features "a lot of characters that we haven't often seen in a sitcom. I love the makeup of our cast. I love what each actor brings to that character from their own life, and their own upbringing and background, which I think is very unique." Another costar, Belissa Escobedo, grew up watching sitcoms because her mother loved them so much, and as she told Gold Derby, "something I always found was I want to see more people who look like me on these sitcoms." That's certainly the case with Happy's Place, which has six main cast members, three of which are people of color. That, Escobedo states, "is really amazing, because this is our world as well. We can be this joyous and funny and carefree. So it feels really special to be apart of it as my first sitcom." More from GoldDerby 'The Diplomat's' David Gyasi weighs in on a Dennison and Kate romance: 'Eventually something's gotta give' Vote for the 2025 Gold Derby TV Award nominees now! 'How to Train Your Dragon' flies to a franchise-best $83.7 million debut, dethrones 'Lilo & Stitch' Happy's Place stars McEntire as Bobbie McAllister, who inherits a bar from her father, Happy, after he dies. Upon returning to Knoxville, Tenn., she discovers she has a much-younger half-sister, Isabella (Escobedo), who also inherits half of the bar. As they navigate their newfound roles as co-owners and half-sisters, they're helped along by their chatty bartender, Gabby (Peterman). "These are three women at very different points in their life," Peterman explains, "and they all have something to learn from each other. Ultimately, it is about these three women, and what they give to each other and bring to each other." The nostalgia of Happy's Place comes from its classical format. Unlike the single-camera comedies that have become the norm, Happy's Place is a multicam that's taped in front of a live studio audience. "It's so electric," divulges Escobedo, who, like Peterman, has her roots in theater. To merge the rush of live performance with television "is something so indescribable and special," and it's all because of "that energy you get from the audience." Even with all of the read throughs and rehearsals, "it's never as good as it's going to be on show night." When the audience comes in for the taping, "something different just happens. The world starts making more sense, the jokes start landing." She firmly believes that, "we wouldn't get the performances that we do without the audience there." SEE Reba McEntire ('Happy's Place') and Melissa Rauch ('Night Court') discuss importance of network comedies at NBC Fall Comedy Celebration Peterman has experience with both formats, having starred on the single-cam Big Bang Theory spinoff Young Sheldon. "I love every medium for different reasons," she divulges, as each stretches "a different muscle." At the same time, "there is nothing like a multicam," which is essentially "a one-act play. I've known Reba for a long time, and she's meant to be on a stage. So when she comes alive, I come alive." The audience is also a great indicator as to whether or not the episode is funny, because, "when a joke works or it doesn't work, they let you know, and they let you know right away." For Peterman, "it sharpens your performance in a way" that's different from single-cams or movies. Having worked in the industry for so long, Peterman remembers a time when "there could be a Tuesday night or a Friday night, and there could be 20 sitcoms with a live studio audience. You could come into L.A. and have your choice of what shows to go see." Because the experience is so rare, "we want it to be fun for [the audience]. We've had people who are flying in from out of state" because "they want to see Reba. I feel very grateful that we get to do it." It's part of what makes Happy's Place such a throwback to "the shows that I go back to all the time, whether it was during the pandemic or any stressful moment, which I think we are encountering a lot." It certainly helps that the show is led by McEntire, who has been a TV staple for decades. What struck Escobedo immediately about her onscreen sibling was "her humility," as well as "the passion and joy she has for what she's doing. She's been doing it for so long, and it's easy to lost the spark," yet, "she walks in every day so happy to be here. She knows how special it is, and that reminds us of how special what we're doing is. It's awesome to work with someone who's leading the show that's happy to be on the show, and loves it just as much as anybody." Peterman's working relationship with McEntire goes back decades, encompassing not just Reba, but the podcast Living & Learning as well. "It does trickle down from the top," she proclaims. "We're here to have fun, and everyone is empowered to do their job." In addition to her singing talents, "she's instinctively really funny, which makes her such a great choice for a sitcom." Yet the broad comedy only works "if it has heart," which McEntire is always striving for. "I've been lucky to hitch myself to that wagon a couple of times, and it's a great place to be." As the show heads into its second season, Peterman is "expecting some big-gun guest stars" to make appearances, including some "blast from the pasts from our Reba cast." One guest star she's hoping will play her often hinted at but never-seen mother is Hacks star Jean Smart. "That would be my everything," she admits. More than anything, she hopes as Happy's Place continues, it will become a show that "people will want to watch over and over again. I can rewatch the six or seven seasons of a sitcom over and over again. I hope that we can do that." Happy's Place is streaming on Peacock. Best of GoldDerby Sam Rockwell on Frank's 'White Lotus' backstory, Woody Harrelson's influence, and going all in on 'this arc of Buddhist to Bad Lieutenant' Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh admit they 'never had the audacity to realize' a show like 'Deli Boys' was possible From 'Housewives' overload to the 'shadiest queens' alliance: The dish on 'The Traitors' Season 4 lineup Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sam Rockwell on Frank's ‘White Lotus' backstory, Woody Harrelson's influence, and going all in on ‘this arc of Buddhist to Bad Lieutenant'
Sam Rockwell's now-legendary monologue in The White Lotus almost sounded very different. As you may recall, Woody Harrelson was originally slated to play the role of Frank, the 10-month sober and celibate friend of Walton Goggins' Rick. Due to a scheduling shift, Harrelson dropped out and Rockwell stepped in. "With that monologue, there's many ways to go, and I think someone's tendency might be — or even my tendency was — to do a Southern accent. I guess because Woody was gonna do it, I had a kind of very sort of masculine Southern accent in my head," Rockwell tells Gold Derby. "So occasionally I would do that [while prepping]. And then I just realized that in order to really get to what was really great about that monologue, I had to get more of Sam in there." More from GoldDerby 'Prizzi's Honor' at 40: How John and Angelica Huston made history together with his penultimate picture 'So indescribable and special': 'Happy's Place' stars Belissa Escobedo and Melissa Peterman on working with Reba McEntire 'Arcane' cocreator reflects on Season 2 and looks ahead to the future of 'League of Legends' The simpler the better, he thought, because creator Mike White encapsulates the theme of Season 3 in those five minutes. "The conflict between the search for spirituality and selfishness, that's what most of the characters are struggling with," Rockwell says. "That's why it has to be uber, uber, uber honest and come from this place of gravitas." Should the Oscar winner take home his first Emmy, he'll have many reasons to thank his partner, Leslie Bibb. After White, who worked with Rockwell on 2009's Gentlemen Broncos and 2020's The One and Only Ivan, offered him the part, Bibb convinced him to take it. She'd already been cast as pseudo Real Housewife of Austin Kate, devoured the scripts, and knew how special the monologue was: "Really, this is what Mike is talking about: How we want to live our life, and the honesty with which we want to live our life, the vulnerability with which we want to live our life, and risking getting to know who we are, and is who I am in here different from who I am out here — that balance between spirit and form,' she told Gold Derby. Rockwell only hesitated because he was filming Gore Verbinski's Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die, with its own 10-page monologue, and was afraid he wouldn't have enough prep time to do White's writing justice. He'd normally want four months to go through his process; he had something like six weeks, he recalls. Bibb visited him on location in South Africa, and while the two were on safari, they spent their afternoons between game drives drilling lines to get him off book. He half-joked with White that he might need a teleprompter or cue cards, and the White Lotus crew had an earwig prepared to assist him, but he didn't need it. He was able to film the length of the monologue in single takes. "What's great about Mike is he told me to slow down. I was doing it very fast, and he's not afraid of pauses and taking time," Rockwell says. He consulted with his longtime acting coach, Terry Knickerbocker, who helped him get to the heart of Frank. For the monologue, they discussed Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now. "Because [Frank] is struggling with spirituality and selfishness, and the need for pleasure and this inward femininity, I really think the exterior needed to be very masculine to juxtapose that, for me to make it interesting," Rockwell says. It was implied in the script that Frank and Rick were ex-military. "Frank gives him a gun, we had a checkered past. Maybe we were mercenaries. We didn't want to get too specific about it, but I got a Navy SEAL tattoo that nobody would notice, the frog skeleton, and I got some scars to kind of rough up my exterior a little bit. I shaved my head," Rockwell says. SEE Leslie Bibb breaks down her aha moments filming The White Lotus: 'Kate suddenly got jealous' He drew from own past roles as well: "Choke [2008] was a movie I did that was about a sex addict, and that was good preparation for this monologue. And then I'd done stuff where I played an ex-Navy SEAL, so I'd already done that research. And then there was the Buddhism aspect, I just watched a couple of documentaries. And I did Drunks [1995] with Parker Posey, which was about Alcoholics Anonymous and NA. It's funny, it's like you play Laertes before you play Hamlet, you know, and there's an apprenticeship. So a lot of the parts that I've done, there were aspects of Frank in and it all came together." Knickerbocker suggested an idea that Rockwell ultimately pitched to White: That when Frank poses as Hollywood director Steve to aid Rick's revenge, it's almost a separate character to play. "That's why we had the Tony Scott sort of baseball cap, and the Members Only jacket, kind of what Frank's idea of a director might have been from the '80s or '90s." When Frank and Rick celebrate the latter's short-lived closure with a night on the town and return to the hotel with company, the scene was originally scripted as Frank just having sex, Rockwell shares. "I said, 'You know, we should really do this arc of Buddhist to Bad Lieutenant, and maybe I should be smoking crack. And there should be something kind of dangerous, like a knife or something. And we had some nunchucks — I mean, that got a little silly. So we had the crack pipe, and the girls were there hanging out, and I just said, 'Let's do this [bit showing them my knife skills].' I'd done this movie Mr. Wright [2015] where I learned some of this knife stuff. … It was a way to show his nuttiness." As for the hilarious roll Rockwell performs when Frank chases a departing Rick down the hallway, the actor says that probably came from his fight training for 2024's Argylle. "That was a bad roll. That was a terrible role. I would hope I could do a better role than that, but he's sort of still drunk," he explains, laughing as he remembers that he took pictures off the wall in some takes. The animal-print briefs he was wearing were "an homage to Ray Liotta in Something Wild, or maybe Richard Gere in American Gigolo, an homage to those kind of dangerous archetypes, Tom Berenger in Looking for Mr. Goodbar.' There could have been even more action in Frank's arc, it turns out. "We had a bar fight that we shot that was cut," Rockwell reveals. "It was a bar fight where I defend this transgender waitress from these Russian guys." All in all, he spent about two and a half weeks on the show, filming his scenes as director Steve to get his sea legs before tackling the monologue opposite Goggins, whose reaction shots are priceless. Those two have been good friends for 15 years, since meeting on 2011's Cowboys & Aliens. 'I don't know if I've ever had that experience, acting with a close friend playing close friends," Rockwell says. "I had an instinct that we would have this kind of Butch-Sundance thing going. You know this Cagney-and-Lacey kind of thing. I think Walt did, too, and Leslie did. I knew we'd have a shorthand, and we could make each other laugh. … Walt and I come from a similar background. We're both latchkey kids, [raised by] single parents, and we both performed with our mothers when we were very young. He did clogging contests with his mother, which is kind of Southern tap-dancing, and I did a play with my mom when I was 10. I'm a city kid, he's a country kid, but we definitely identify. We've worked in restaurants, and we've been broke, me and Walt. So we have a lot in common." It's difficult to imagine another actor playing Frank — even Harrelson has said he wouldn't have done as fantastic a job as Rockwell did. "I think he would have been amazing. I'd love to have seen Woody's version of Frank," Rockwell says of his costar from 2012's Seven Psychopaths and 2012's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. "I couldn't stop thinking about him, actually, while I was doing it. It definitely influenced my interpretation." To date, he hasn't heard Harrelson's review in person. "I haven't seen him in a while. I'm sure he'll have something to say. He'll make some joke," Rockwell says with a grin. "He's one of my favorite people. He's one of the funniest people I know. He's mischievous. I love Woody. So we'll talk about it at some point, and he'll say something really witty, I'm sure." Best of GoldDerby Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh admit they 'never had the audacity to realize' a show like 'Deli Boys' was possible From 'Housewives' overload to the 'shadiest queens' alliance: The dish on 'The Traitors' Season 4 lineup Leslie Bibb breaks down her aha moments filming 'The White Lotus': 'Kate suddenly got jealous' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Reba McEntire Reveals What It's Like to Act Alongside Boyfriend Rex Linn and the Big Difference Between Their Approaches
When it comes to acting, Reba McEntire and her boyfriend Rex Linn couldn't be more different. During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Tuesday, May 13, the 70-year-old country star opened up about season two of her NBC show Happy's Place — and what it's like starring alongside her boyfriend of five years. "He is probably the sane one in the group. On the Reba show, I was the voice of reason, and now he is. So I get to be in the whirlwind of chaotic stuff," McEntire said of his character, Emmett. When asked if they have the same approach to acting, the "Fancy" singer was quick to shake her head "no." "Who takes it more seriously?" asked host Seth Meyers. McEntire responded: "He does. Rex is a stickler on rehearsals. So we'll wake up... every morning we have 'Coffee Camp.' And so, I'll go get the coffee, and he's got a script. I'm like, 'Can we have coffee first?'" She then imitated him and said, "Gotta get to rehearsing right now!" Still, McEntire clarified that she's OK with it because Linn, 68, is a "good guy," and "I like him a lot." McEntire first met Linn while starring in a Kenny Rogers film together in the 1990s. However, their relationship did not turn romantic until 2020. They reconnected after the death of her mother and grew closer during quarantine. Ahead of the 2025 ACM Awards, which she hosted, she told Fox News that she and Linn "get along in every aspect." "He's a better cook than I am, so I like that, for sure. We love Longhorns, we love the cowboy way of life, cowgirl way of life, and we both got into the entertainment industry," she continued. "He's an actor. I'm a singer. I love to act. Now we act together." She went on to call their relationship the "perfect union," adding, "We get along great. We do argue now. We argue a lot, but we have fun doing that too." In addition to Happy's Place and the Rogers film, McEntire and Linn reconnected on the set of Young Sheldon and then went on to costar in the Lifetime original movie The Hammer. In 2022, they played a married couple, Buck and Sunny Barnes, on the third season of ABC's Big Sky. In October, Linn told PEOPLE that they're "running lines constantly" for Happy's Place. "But every once in a while, I'll sneak by for a quick kiss, just a peck on the cheek and keep on moving. It's fun," he said. Read the original article on People
