Latest news with #TakingCareofBusiness
The Guardian
13-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Donald Trump feted with standing ovation as he enters UFC 314 in Miami
US president Donald Trump entered to a standing ovation and cheers from a crowd of thousands attending a UFC event on Saturday night, shaking hands with supporters against a backdrop of fans waving his trademark Maga hats. Just as Trump entered, he greeted podcast host Joe Rogan, who sat to the right of the president. On the other side of Trump sat Elon Musk, billionaire and chief of the Department of Government Efficiency. Trump, who accented his dark suit with a bright yellow tie, pumped his fist in the air, prompting cheers to strains of Taking Care of Business. He brought along several members of his administration and White House team, including Health and Human Services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, FBI director Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and White House communications aides Steven Cheung and Taylor Budowich. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US senator Ted Cruz also joined Trump for UFC 314. Trump entered the arena with UFC president Dana White, with whom he has been close for decades. He was also accompanied by his granddaughter, Kai Trump, the daughter of Donald Trump Jr. Throughout the fight, the UFC jumbotron frequently featured the president, drawing roars from the sold-out arena. The crowd periodically cheered 'U-S-A', and Trump briefly danced to the Village People's YMCA standing from his seat, firing up the crowd. In between fights, Trump would occasionally shake hands with people who approached him and lean in to speak to Musk, who at times held his son on his shoulders. However, he mostly stayed seated, acknowledging and speaking to fighters who would go against the net to greet the president. The Republican president is a longtime UFC fan and sports enthusiast, who has frequently attended major fights. The mixed martial arts fight at Miami's Kaseya Center was Trump's first UFC visit since he took office in January, and it came weeks after Trump attended the Saudi-sponsored LIV golf tournament at his golf club in Miami. In a further nod to his sports enthusiasm, Trump has also attended the Super Bowl and Daytona 500 since taking office. He sat cageside at a UFC championship fight in New York City last November, shortly after he won the 2024 election. Aside from the president, the main event for the UFC 314 fight is a championship bout between Australian former champion Alexander Volkanovski and Brazilian fighter Diego Lopes, who are competing for the featherweight championship title. It's the fourth UFC event in Miami, in a county that supported the president by about 11 percentage points in the November election. The president arrived in West Palm Beach on Friday for his 10th visit to South Florida since he became president, spending the evening in his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. He flew to Miami after playing golf at his club in West Palm Beach. 'You know who's going to win? Dana White. Dana White's gonna win,' Trump told reporters Saturday night aboard Air Force One. His close affiliation with UFC helped boost his 2024 presidential campaign among young male voters prior to the November election, where he made promoting hypermasculine tones a signature of the campaign.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mel Brown still provides the backbeat to Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Mel Brown quickly dismissed any mention of being a musical legend in Portland. 'No. No, no, no,' Brown, 80, told KOIN 6 News. 'I'm just one of the musicians that grew up around here and lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.' Inarguably, Mel Brown's drumming places him as one of the most influential musicians in the history of the Rose City. In fact, his portrait hangs on a wall at the . Honoring Portland's Godfather of Jazz, Mel Brown His talents took root in Portland's jazz heyday. Black railway workers and porters moved west in the early 20th Century and brought the blues and jazz from big cities back east. When World War II broke out, many people came to Portland from the South Despite the and ongoing struggles in Portland's still-largely segregated communities, a rich jazz scene in historically Black Albina flourished. Brown grew up not far from clubs that brought in top tier talent. 'We had a paper called the Oregon Journal, and I used to deliver the newspapers around town. So you're around the music up and down Williams Avenue and you'd hear the door open up and you'd hear the music coming out in a whole bit. And it was like, 'Oh, OK, I think I want to do this,'' Brown said. 'But the people who were actually performing inside, those people also lived in the neighborhood. And so they would hear me sometimes during the day trying to beat on something and they would say, 'Oh, little kid, come here, let's show you what this is about.' I was like 14 or 15 years old and they just started coming out and just trying to help me out to get with the music.' Already playing professional gigs by his senior year of high school in the early 1960s, Brown attended Portland State University on a music scholarship. 'I got a call to play a show. The drummer got sick, it was down at the Crystal Ballroom and it was a last minute thing, 'Come in, we need you quick.' And I go on to play not knowing the person I had to play behind,' he said, 'and that was Ike and Tina Turner.' A later gig in Vancouver, British Columbia playing with Tommy Chong paved the way for a contract in Motown. Where We Live: Portland's Mel Brown 'They had a TV special in LA, it was called 'TCB, Taking Care of Business'. It was The Temptations and The Supremes. And they called me to play the drums on that. And Barry Gordy said, 'I like the way he plays. I'm going to move him and put him with The Temptations. And that's how I got with The Temptations.' After literally touring the world, Mel Brown returned to Portland in the late 1970s. Since then he's been a fixture of the city's live local music scene, still playing weekly gigs. 'I'll always be doing that all my life because people don't realize it, music kind of keeps you together. I've been around the world about nine or 10 times, and I may not speak the language, but every other country I've gone to, if you play music and play well, you end up having friends who you stay in touch with,' he said. 'Music is everything, brings everybody together.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
