Mother’s Day 2024 jewelry sales are expected to hit $7 billion, outperforming all other retail categories by a wide margin.
According to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics, Special Outings are projected to come in second at $5.9 billion in sales, while Electronics should rank third at $3.5 billion.
Overall Mother’s Day spending is expected to reach $33.5 billion this year. That figure is the second highest in the history of the survey, following last year’s record $35.7 billion.
“Mother’s Day is a time to celebrate the women who play a meaningful role in our lives,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Retailers know the significant importance of this day and are ready to help their customers with a wide selection of meaningful gifts for loved ones to show their appreciation.”
Exactly 40% of respondents said they will be buying jewelry for their moms this year. That’s 8 percentage points higher than the tally achieved in 2014.
According to the NRF, 84% of US adults are expected to celebrate the holiday. Of that group, most (59%) will be purchasing gifts for a mother or stepmother, followed by a wife (22%) or daughter (12%).
On average, those celebrating plan to spend $254.04 on Mother’s Day gifts and celebrations, the second highest per-person figure in history. The biggest spenders are expected to be those between the ages of 35 and 44, who are budgeting $345.75.
As the leading authority and voice for the retail industry, NRF provides data on consumer behavior and spending for key periods such as holidays throughout the year. The Mother's Day spending survey of 8,213 U.S. adult consumers was conducted April 1-8 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you classic songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, we feature three-time Grammy winner Tim McGraw singing Billboard's #1 country hit of 1998, “Just to See You Smile.”
In this song about selflessness, unconditional love and heartbreak, McGraw portrays a hard-working Texas miner who is willing to do just about anything to make his girlfriend happy — and that includes delighting her with fine jewelry.
McGraw sings in the very first verse, “You always had an eye for things that glittered / But I was far from bein’ made of gold / I don’t know how but I scraped up the money / I just never could quite tell you no.”
The miner leaves his job in Amarillo to relocate with her to Tennessee, but the relationship quickly breaks down. The girlfriend finds a new lover and our hero graciously tells her that he’s happy for her.
“And given the chance I’d lie again,” he admits. “It’s worth all that’s lost / Just to see you smile.”
Released in August 1997, the song would go on to spend 42 weeks on the Billboard Country chart — the longest chart run for any country single in the 1990s.
“Just to See You Smile” was the third single from McGraw’s fourth studio album, Everywhere. Both the song and the album topped the Billboard Country charts.
The son of New York Mets star pitcher Tug McGraw, Samuel Timothy “Tim” McGraw was born in Delhi, LA, in 1967. Tim was brought up by his step-dad, Horace Smith, and didn’t know that the famous athlete was his biological father until he was 11. He signed his first record deal with Curb Records in 1990 and married country singer Faith Hill in 1996.
McGraw has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, and 25 of his singles have gone to score a #1 position on the Billboard U.S. Hot Country Songs chart. In addition to his three Grammy Awards, the artist has earned 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 Country Music Association (CMA) awards, 10 American Music Awards and three People’s Choice Awards.
He is currently embarking on his "Standing Room Only Tour '24," with 27 performances scheduled from coast to coast through June 29.
Please check out the audio track of McGraw’s performance of “Just to See You Smile.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“Just To See You Smile”
Written by Mark Nesler and Tony Martin. Performed by Tim McGraw.
You always had an eye for things that glittered
But I was far from bein’ made of gold
I don’t know how but I scraped up the money
I just never could quite tell you no
Just like when you were leavin’ Amarillo
To take that new job in Tennessee
And I quit mine so we could be together
I can’t forget the way you looked at me
Just to see you smile
I’d do anything
That you wanted me to
And all is said and done
I’d never count the cost
It’s worth all that’s lost
Just to see you smile
When you said time was all you really needed
I walked away and let you have your space
Cause leavin’ didn’t hurt me near as badly
As the tears I saw rollin’ down your face
And yesterday I knew just what you wanted
When you came walkin’ up to me with him
So I told you that I was happy for you
And given the chance I’d lie again
Just to see you smile
I’d do anything
That you wanted me to
And all is said and done
I’d never count the cost
It’s worth all that’s lost
Just to see you smile
Just to see you smile
I’d do anything
That you wanted me to
And all is said and done
I’d never count the cost
It’s worth all that’s lost
Just to see you smile
During Thursday's installment of Today With Hoda & Jenna, co-host Jenna Bush Hager recounted how she nearly lost ALL of her fine jewelry — including her sapphire and diamond engagement ring — at JFK Airport in New York City.
The 42-year-old daughter of former President George W. Bush recalled how she lost track of a bag of jewelry as she was "racing to a shoot" while on assignment for the Today show.
Hager explained to co-host Hoda Kotb, "I don't have much nice jewelry, but everything I had was in there."
When Hager finally arrived at the shoot, she realized her precious keepsakes were nowhere to be found.
“I was stressed," she said. "I get to the shoot and I’m looking around. I’m like, ‘Oh no, I had a whole bag of jewelry.’”
Hager quickly reached out to Jack, a member of the NBC morning show's security team.
She explained: “I said, ‘Jack, I just took off at JFK. I know it’s gone, but can you just see what the airport says?’"
In a stroke of good fortune, a fellow traveler had spotted the unattended bag and did the right thing.
“Some lovely man who I’ve never met returned it to security,” she said.
Even though the story had a happy ending, Hager didn't share it with her husband of 15 years, Henry Chase Hager. He only learned about the incident on Thursday morning — at the same time as Kotb and the show's five million viewers.
“I couldn’t even tell Henry because if I lost our engagement ring, it’s priceless,” she said. “So, I harbored a secret from Henry, too, which was hard.”
Jenna and her twin sister, Barbara, were 20 years old when their dad, George W. Bush was inaugurated as President of the US in January of 2001. Henry popped the question to Jenna in 2007, and the couple tied the knot the following year. They have three children.
Seven-time All Pro center Jason Kelce revealed on Wednesday that he lost his 2018 Super Bowl ring in a kiddie pool full of chili during the "Lombaby" Games on the campus of the University of Cincinnati (UC).
The Lombaby Games pit UC student-athletes against academics in goofy, Olympic-style games, including one where contestants searched two pools filled with Skyline Chili for Kelce's Super Bowl ring along with other decoy rings.
In the end, the decoys were found, but the authentic Philadelphia Eagles ring emblazoned with 219 diamonds and 17 green sapphires had disappeared.
"I legitimately lost my Super Bowl ring in this event," Jason Kelce said during Wednesday's episode of "New Heights," a podcast he hosts with his brother, Kansas City Chiefs star, Travis. "They could not find it."
The rings were hidden in socks and submerged in the chili. Jason Kelce feared that the sock containing his Super Bowl ring might have been kicked out of the inflatable pool and thrown away by mistake.
"What did you expect to happen?" Travis said. "You're such [an]… imbecile."
"So I think we safely assume that my Super Bowl ring is now in a landfill somewhere in the Cincinnati tri-state area," Jason told his brother.
Jason and Travis had served as referees and commentators for the UC event.
Jason had hoped that his support team might be able to use a metal detector to scan the chili after the event was over. As it turns out, Skyline Chili has trace amounts of iron in it, which rendered the metal detector useless, according to the recently retired 36-year-old center.
He has since submitted an insurance claim and hopes that the ring manufacturer, Jostens, can supply a replacement.
Each 10-karat championship ring boasted a gemstone total weight of 9.15 carats and contained symbols on every surface that told the story of an underdog team that overcame all obstacles to roll through the playoffs and eventually defeat the Tom Brady-led Patriots by a score of 41-33 in Super Bowl LII. It was the first time the Eagles raised the Vince Lombardi Trophy aloft in the team's 85-year history.
Jason, who is considered one of the best centers of all time, announced his retirement on March 4, 2024, after 13 NFL seasons with the Eagles. Younger brother, Travis, 34, just claimed his third Super Bowl ring as a tight end for the champion Kansas City Chiefs. He is famously linked romantically to pop princess Taylor Swift.
Welcome to Music Friday when we like to shine the spotlight on inspirational songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, five-time Grammy nominee Brandon Heath seeks divine intervention in “Diamond,” his 2012 song about a young coal miner who "has only scratched the surface." He wants to be a better man, but needs God’s help to find the “diamond” buried deep inside.
He sings, “I got something down inside of me / That only You can see / Help me dig a little deeper now / And set that diamond free.”
For Heath, the diamond symbolizes the ability to bring his life to the next level — a life of clarity, not confusion, of compassion, not cruelty, of ambition, not excuses.
In the last lines of the song, Heath invites the Almighty to seek him out in the coal mine: “Come down with your old flashlight / Underground, black as night / No telling what you’re gonna find in me.”
“Diamond” is the fourth track on Heath’s fourth studio album, Blue Mountain. The album is unique because each song takes place in the Blue Mountains and is told from the point of view of a particular character. The real and fictional players featured in the songs include his grandfather, his mentor, a farmer, a coal miner and a death-row inmate. Each song weaves a message of hope, love and redemption.
When it was released in 2012, the album earned strong reviews and a #5 spot on Billboard‘s US Christian Albums chart. It also reached #97 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
“[The songs] are all kind of telling my story a little bit,” Heath revealed to The Clarion-Ledger. “[They talk] about my own fears, and my own desires. As a songwriter, it was more fun to give someone else my own voice. I think the best way to describe a place is to describe its people. And so, all these characters tell a story about what Blue Mountain is and who lives there.”
Born in Nashville, TN, Brandon Heath Knell turns 45 in July. The son of a police officer dad and hairdresser mom, Heath received his first guitar as a Christmas gift when he was 13. In high school, he converted to Christianity and explored his spirituality by participating in faith missions to India and Ecuador. Those trips helped inspire a career in contemporary Christian music.
Please check out the audio track of Heath performing “Diamond.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“Diamond”
Written by Brandon Heath, Ross Copperman and Lee Thomas Miller. Performed by Brandon Heath.
My father’s father broke this ground
Daddy mined till we laid him down
Only God knows what they found beneath
Now here I stand in my own boots
Ax to grind and a point to prove
Tangled up in my own roots, it seems
I got treasure up in Heaven
I got dirt all over me
I have only scratched the surface
Of the man I’m meant to be
I got something down inside of me
That only You can see
Help me dig a little deeper now
And set that diamond free
Why do I do the things I do
All the things that I don’t want to
Act like I don’t fear You at all
Hard head and a heart of stone
Older now but I haven’t grown
Any riches that I have to show are small
I got treasure up in Heaven
I got dirt all over me
I have only scratched the surface
Of the man I’m meant to be
I got something down inside of me
That only You can see
Help me dig a little deeper now
And set that diamond free
Set it free
Set it free
Set it free
Set it free
Come down with your old flashlight
Underground, black as night
No telling what you’re gonna find in me
Set it free
Set it free
Lord, set it free
Set it free
Come set it free
Set it free
I got treasure up in heaven
Set it free
I got dirt all over me
Set it free
I got treasure up in heaven
Come dig a little deeper now
And set that diamond free
Back in October of 2017, thousands of astronomers from around the globe joined together to confirm the first-ever sighting of two neutron stars colliding in space. In just one second, the “kilonova” located 130 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra triggered the equivalent of 50 Earth masses of silver, 100 Earth masses of gold and 500 Earth masses of platinum.
The scientists estimated that the gold alone was worth more than $100 octillion. That’s $100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1 followed by 29 zeroes).
The astronomers aimed their equipment at the super-dense kilonova, looking for the signatures of heavy metals. They recorded visible light, radio waves, X-rays and gamma rays. The data confirmed the birth of massive amounts of precious metals and seemed to put to rest the long-standing mystery of how these and other “heavy” elements are formed.
A newly published study, however, is challenging conventional wisdom and deepening the mystery.
Northwestern University researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study a mammoth stellar collapse were stunned when they found absolutely no evidence of heavy elements.
The collapse, first registered on October 9, 2002, resulted in the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever recorded. Scientists gave it the nickname B.O.A.T. (“brightest of all time”).
“When we confirmed that the GRB was generated by the collapse of a massive star, that gave us the opportunity to test a hypothesis for how some of the heaviest elements in the universe are formed,” said Northwestern’s Peter Blanchard, who led the study.
“We did not see signatures of these heavy elements, suggesting that extremely energetic GRBs like the B.O.A.T. do not produce these elements. That doesn’t mean that all GRBs do not produce them, but it’s a key piece of information as we continue to understand where these heavy elements come from. Future observations with JWST will determine if the B.O.A.T.’s ‘normal’ cousins produce these elements.”
“This event is particularly exciting because some had hypothesized that a luminous gamma-ray burst like the B.O.A.T. could make a lot of heavy elements like gold and platinum,” added second author Ashley Villar of Harvard University and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. “If they were correct, the B.O.A.T. should have been a gold mine. It is really striking that we didn’t see any evidence for these heavy elements.”
The findings were published last week in the journal Nature Astronomy.
According to a Northwestern University press release, the powerful B.O.A.T. explosion occurred approximately 2 billion light-years from Earth, in the direction of the constellation Sagitta and lasted a few hundred seconds. It was so bright that it saturated most of the world’s gamma-ray detectors.
“The event produced some of the highest-energy photons ever recorded by satellites designed to detect gamma rays,” Blanchard said. “This was an event that Earth sees only once every 10,000 years. We are fortunate to live in a time when we have the technology to detect these bursts happening across the universe.”
Credit: Image by Aaron M. Geller / Northwestern / CIERA / IT Research Computing and Data Services.
A Kansas baker warned her customers on Facebook last week to bite down gently on cookies purchased from Sis’ Sweets Cookies and Café in Leavenworth. You see, the owner's engagement diamond fell out of her ring at some point between rolling the dough and placing the uncooked treats in the oven — so there's a chance the bauble was baked right into a batch.
Baker Dawn "Sis" Monroe broadcast her alert via the store's Facebook page on the morning of Friday, April 5, just after she prepared the day's cookie dough and scoured the prep area unsuccessfully for her precious keepsake.
"Bonus if you buy cookies today. My diamond is missing," she wrote on Facebook. "My heart is beyond broken. It’s been on my hand for 36 years. If you happened find it, I would forever be in debt if you would return it. It’s a marquise cut."
She was particularly concerned about the customer who might bite down onto the precious stone, which Monroe estimates to be worth $4,000.
”Mainly ‘cause I don’t want anybody to break a tooth,” Monroe told Kansas City ABC-affiliated KMBC.
Based on the variety of cookies she prepared that Friday morning, she is certain the diamond would be one of three batches: chocolate chip, sugar or peanut butter.
She also said there might be "a ton" of free cookies for the person who returns the diamond.
The baker told KMBC that her husband had picked out the marquise-cut center stone especially for her and that she hadn't take the ring off in 36 years.
“I was crying, and all [my husband] could say was, ‘You still have me,’ so that made it all better," Monroe said.
On Thursday, April 11, Cherokee Street neighbor First City Cheese Market injected some levity into a sad situation when proprietor Ryan popped into Sis’ Sweets Cookies and Café with a "diamond" cookie. Essentially, it was an Oreo with a diamond-shaped decoration protruding from the cream center.
Monroe shared a pic of Ryan and the cookie on Facebook and wrote, "Someone came in [and] brought me a cookie with a diamond in it. It’s a Topaz! We have great neighbors. We all work together to help each other!! Love our community, it’s the best! Thanks Ryan."
The baker added a final note about the missing diamond: "NO it still hasn’t been found."
As of Sunday evening, April 14, the diamond had yet to turn up. The story, on the other hand, has gone viral and circulated around the globe — delivering unmeasurable publicity to the Leavenworth baker.
Welcome to Music Friday when we feature wonderful tunes with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, introspective indie artist Briston Maroney sings about achieving his life-long dream of dating a girl with "eyes of gold" and then comes to the realization that he still feels empty in his 2017 release, "June."
He sings, "Well, I don't know, but I've been told / My woman, she's got eyes of gold / Well, I spend all day and I search all night / 'Til I see 'em in that perfect light / Oh, I'm gonna see 'em in that perfect light."
The term "eyes of gold" reflects songwriter's perception that the girl was beautiful, precious, perfect, unattainable.
According to Maroney, most people believe the song is about a college romance that ends after graduation. Throughout the song, he repeats the line, "Ain't it funny how I fell in love and then came June?"
But, in an interview with rockamag.com, Maroney revealed that the song actually reflects something "much bigger," a time in his life when many important relationships were breaking down and he didn't feel good about himself.
“I hated myself. I hated my friends, and my girlfriend at the time was so mean to me," he said. "Life had always gone up and down, but that time in my life felt different. I wrote to disconnect from everything.”
A year after releasing "June" as the first track of his Big Shot EP in 2017, he broke up with his girlfriend and dropped out of Lipscomb University in Nashville, where he studied music.
Born in Jacksonville, FL, in 1998 and brought up in Knoxville, TN, Maroney got his first taste of stardom at the age of 15, when he tried out for the 13th season of American Idol. After showing off his talent at one of the show's audition bus stops in his town, he was invited to perform in front of the American Idol judges in Salt Lake City. From there, he was sent to Hollywood as one of the 30 semi-finalists.
Maroney released his album Paradise in 2021 and followed it up with Ultrapure in 2023. The singer/songwriter will be making some high-profile appearances over the next few months: High Water 2024 (North Charleston, SC), Whale Jam 2024 (Boston, MA), Summerfest (Milwaukee, WI), Lollapalooza (Chicago, IL) and Osheaga Festival (Montreal, QC).
Please check out the video of Maroney performing "June" live at Studio C in Akron, OH, in August of 2023. The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…
"June"
Written and performed by Briston Maroney.
Pick up the phone to calm me down
I never got used to that ringing sound
And drinking out of the same cup
When I run low, you fill me up
Yeah, when I run low, you fill me up
So dress up in your finer things
And the smile can't hide anything
And pin the flower to my chest
And count the days that I've got left
Oh, I'll count the days that I've got left
And I don't know how we got so far away
From what I had in sight
Are you gonna sleep tonight?
And I don't know where it's gonna be a year from now
Or anyhow, how it's gonna be tonight?
Ain't it funny how I wanted this all my life?
Ain't it funny how I got it here and it don't seem right?
Ain't it funny how we all want to be someone new?
Ain't it funny how I fell in love and then came June?
Well, I don't know, but I've been told
My woman, she's got eyes of gold
Well, I spend all day and I search all night
'Til I see 'em in that perfect light
Oh, I'm gonna see 'em in that perfect light
And I don't know how we got so far away
From what I had in sight
Are you gonna sleep tonight?
And I don't know where it's gonna be a year from now
Or anyhow, how it's gonna be tonight
Ain't it funny how I wanted this all my life?
Ain't it funny how I got it here and it don't seem right?
Ain't it funny how we all want to be someone new?
Ain't it funny how I fell in love and then came June?
There you go, you let me walk away
With nothing left to say
Or think, or dream, or feel, or do, or be
Oh, but I give myself a week until I'm down on my knees
'Cause I can't find what I'm supposed to be
Ain't it funny how I wanted this all my life?
Ain't it funny how I got it here and it don't seem right?
Ain't it funny how we all want to be someone new?
Ain't it funny how I fell in love and then came June?
Ain't it funny how I wanted this, oh, all my life?
Ain't it funny how I got it here and it don't seem right?
Ain't it funny how we all want to be someone new?
Ain't it funny how I fell in love and then came June?
Ain't it funny how I fell in love and then came June?
Ain't it funny how I fell in love and then came June?
Ain't it funny how I fell in love and then came June?
Credit: Screen capture via Youtube.com / TheSummitFM.
During the April 7 episode of Gold Rush: White Water, Dustin Hurt and his mining team are moved to tears after pulling a near-6-ounce nugget from their Alaskan claim.
The extraordinary find — which is estimated to be worth more than $20,000 — came at a time when the crew was struggling to make ends meet. They saw the nugget as the late Fred Hurt's way of saying thanks to the team for following his crazy dream of white water gold mining.
Fred was 80 years old when he succumbed to brain cancer only four month's after being diagnosed with the disease. The veteran miner and father of Dustin was the inspiration behind Discovery Channel's second most popular show. He was an active cast member right until the end of his life.
The April 7 episode is titled "Fred's Golden Gift."
The clip, below, opens with crew member Carlos Minor trying to contain his emotions after finding the massive nugget in the sluice box of their white water mining operation.
"Holy stinking moly, man, you see the size of that nugget?" Minor asks a member of the TV production team as he points to the heavens. "I wish Fred was here to see that. I literally do. Amen, amen, double amen, oh wow!"
Dustin reminded the show's fans that Fred was the one who assembled the team and got them to their current claim.
"He's still here with us. He's helping us out. I know he'd be so proud right now," said Dustin. "So this is definitely the high that we needed today. It's been seven years just killing ourselves and now we got this badass nugget that's just kind of like a trophy."
He continued, "We stuck it out. We put in the effort. We finally figured out the right place and the right technique. We got this. Now let's do great."
The narrator then explains that Minor's discovery is proof that there's ancient gold "here for the taking."
At their camp site, the crew members gathered to celebrate the giant find, pay homage to Fred and to determine the actual weight of the giant-sized nugget.
They put the nugget on the scale and it weighed in at 5.81 ounces, which translate into a gold value of $13,671.
Dustin explained that nuggets that size deliver extra value as specimen pieces, so it may be worth almost double the spot gold price.
The 47-year-old crew leader noted that the surprising find could be just the beginning of what may be discovered at Nugget Creek.
"There were stories up until today, but it's a reality for us now that there are big nuggets in this creek," he said. "I absolutely guarantee it."
Credits: Screen captures via Youtube.com / Discovery.
Determined to keep her relationship status with pro football player Nnamdi Asomugha a secret, actress Kerry Washington pinned her engagement ring to her "undergarments" — for three years.
"I loved my ring so much, so I would sleep in it at night, and then in the morning, I would pin it to my undergarments so that nobody knew we were engaged," she told James Corden during a recent appearance on his SiriusXM show, This Life of Mine.
She explained that she took extreme measures to keep their three-year engagement and summer 2013 wedding hidden from the prying eyes of the paparazzi because they were both going through a "really crazy time."
"He had a groundbreaking, record-breaking contract... and he had been in three or four Pro Bowls, you know," she told Corden. "When I met him, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated (August 2011), and I was on this hit show (Scandal, 124 episodes).
When Washington finally revealed her bridal jewelry in August of 2013 during a Television Critics Association event in Beverly Hills, fashion writers weren't sure if the ring was a wedding band, eternity band, engagement ring or some combination of the three.
Glamour.com contributor Kim Fusaro opined at the time, "So we finally got a glimpse at her ring finger, which is sporting a dainty diamond band stacked on top of a plain gold one. I'm not sure if the diamond band is an engagement ring {I do LOVE an eternity band engagement ring!} or if the two rings are a wedding set, but either way, I adore how gorgeously understated they are."
Prior to August 2013, however, her ring remained pinned — and out of sight.
"We kept our relationship very private when we were dating, I think mostly because we just wanted to protect ourselves and each other," the 47-year-old told Corden.
The Golden Globe winner had been previously engaged to actor David Moscow from October 2004 to March 2007, and when they broke up, the actress was inconveniently appearing on the cover of a bridal style magazine.
"I think it's really hard when people have a lot to say about your relationship," she said during the SiriusXM interview. "I had been in a really public engagement that, when it ended, I was in the unfortunate position of being on the cover of a bridal magazine, and it was a bridal magazine that came out quarterly, so for three months I walked around and I thought: 'I think I'm done talking about my personal life in the public.'"
Washington and Asomugha tied the knot during a top-secret Idaho event in June of 2013 and honeymooned at a remote resort off the coast of Zanzibar, Tanzania.
There, she collected shells that remain among her most prized possessions. She told Corden that they represent the "happiest two weeks" of her life.
"Whenever I look at that collection of shells, it reminds me of the space that we gave ourselves to start our life together as a couple in this really sacred way," she said. "You know, having this sort of very private, secretive wedding and then just jumping off into this very remote place to really begin our lives together. I love that. I love that jar. It always makes me feel so grateful for the life that I have."
Welcome to Music Friday when we unravel the mysteries behind famous songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, we're bending the rules a bit to visit Carly Simon's 1972 hit, "You're So Vain," the most popular song ever to use the phrase "total eclipse of the sun."
This is a particularly timely subject because on Monday, April 8, a rare total eclipse — and the resulting "Diamond Ring Effect" — will be visible to curious sky gazers on a long, bending path that starts at the Texas/Mexico border and exits in the Maritime provinces of Canada. The next total eclipse to span North America will take place in 2045.
In the famous line from Simon's chart topper, she sings, "Well, I hear you went up to Saratoga / And your horse naturally won / Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia / To see the total eclipse of the sun."
On Monday, at exactly 4:39 pm Atlantic Daylight Time, viewers in Nova Scotia will see the extraordinary celestial display mentioned in the song. The “Diamond Ring Effect” occurs when the moon completely masks out the sun during a total solar eclipse.
Due to the rugged lunar landscape, the black outline of the moon is not smooth. Tiny beads of sunlight can still shine through in some places and not in others as the moon slowly grazes past the sun. These are called Baily’s Beads. When only one dazzling “bead” remains, momentarily, the view of the eclipse resembles a diamond ring. The ring’s glow is produced by the sun’s corona remaining dimly visible around the lunar silhouette. This phenomenon was first explained by Francis Baily in 1836.
The Diamond Ring Effect will actually happen twice on April 8. The first time will occur in the moment just before the total eclipse, and the second will occur just after the total eclipse.
Now, back to the song…
Historically speaking, Simon's reference to Nova Scotia's total eclipse seems plausible. That Canadian province did, in fact, experience a total eclipse on March 7, 1970. Simon wrote the song in 1971 and released it in November of 1972. It appears on her third studio album, No Secrets.
For 52 years, fans and music critics have wondered out loud about the identity of Simon's vain character. Was it Warren Beatty or James Taylor or Kris Kristofferson or Mick Jagger or Jack Nicholson or Cat Stevens?
In 1974, she told Modern Hi-Fi and Music: "That song is about a lot of people. I mean I can think of a lot of people. The actual examples that I've used in the song are from my imagination, but the stimulus is directly from a couple of different sources. It's not just about one particular person."
In 2012, Simon revealed to variety.com the inspiration behind the guy wearing the apricot-colored scarf in the first verse.
“In the case of ‘You’re So Vain’ I had the chorus: ‘You’re so vain/You probably think this song is about you.’ I had that written on a piece of paper a year before I got the rest of the song. I thought, ‘that’s kind of funny, it’s sort of a nice twist’ so I put it down in my notebook," she said.
"And then about a year later I was at a party at my sister’s apartment and a man walked into the party with a big long scarf and he looked at the mirror, which was right as you entered the front door, and he whisked his scarf around his neck as he saw himself and he tilted his hat slightly to the left. I thought, ‘Wow, he’s really vain…'"
Simon offered more details about the second verse while promoting her memoir Boys in the Trees in 2015. That's when she confirmed that the guy who "gave away the things he loved" was Beatty.
"Warren thinks the whole thing is about him," she said.
The guy in the third verse with the racehorses, LearJet and interest in the solar eclipse has yet to be identified conclusively. She offered a clue in her 2010 remake of "You're So Vain," where she whispers the name "David."
Some have concluded that it must be record executive David Geffen, who has owned racehorses. Simon pushed back in an email to Showbiz 411, saying that she had yet to meet Geffen when she wrote the song in 1971. On his radio show, Howard Stern claimed that Simon told him the identity of the mystery person, and it was definitely not Geffen.
So the intrigue will linger a bit longer. Simon celebrated her 80th birthday in June of 2023. Beatty is 87 and Geffen is 81.
Trivia: Jagger sings the memorable ("Don't you? Don't You?") backing vocals on the original track. He is uncredited on the album jacket.
Please check out the video of Simon's spectacular live performance of "You're So Vain." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…
"You're So Vain"
Written and performed by Carly Simon.
Son of a gun
You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot
You had one eye in the mirror, as you watched yourself gavotte
And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner and
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain (you're so vain)
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?
You had me several years ago when I was still quite naive
Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair and that you would never leave
But you gave away the things you loved
And one of them was me
I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee and
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain (you're so vain)
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you? Don't you?
I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee and
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain (you're so vain)
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?
Well, I hear you went up to Saratoga
And your horse naturally won
Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia
To see the total eclipse of the sun
Well, you're where you should be all the time
And when you're not
You're with some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend
Wife of a close friend and
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain (so vain)
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you? Don't you now?
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
Credit: Screen capture via Youtube.com / Carly Simon.
In honor of April’s official birthstone, we shine our spotlight today on a scintillating and spectacular item from the Smithsonian National Gem Collection. Gifted to Empress Marie Louise by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1811 to celebrate the birth of their son, Napoleon II, the "Napoleon Diamond Necklace" is now an American treasure.
Before taking residence in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals in Washington, DC, the 234-diamond, 260-carat neckpiece was owned for a very short time by American businesswoman and socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post.
The necklace, which was designed by Etienne Nitôt and Sons of Paris, consists of an inner circle made up of 28 old mine-cut diamonds, suspending a fringe of nine “pendeloques” (five pear shapes alternating with four ovals) and 10 briolettes.
Mounted above each pear shape is a small round brilliant diamond, while the four ovals are attached to motifs decorated with 23 smaller diamonds. Each of the 10 briolette mountings is accented with 12 rose-cut diamonds. The largest single diamond in the piece weighs approximately 10.4 carats.
According to the Smithsonian, when Marie Louise died in 1847, the necklace was given to her sister-in-law, Archduchess Sophie of Austria. The necklace was bequeathed in 1872 to the Archduchess’ son, Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria. The necklace remained in the Austrian royal family until 1948, when Archduke Ludwig’s grandson, Prince Franz Joseph of Liechtenstein, sold it to a French collector who, in turn, sold it to Harry Winston, Inc., in 1960.
Post, the heiress to the Post cereal fortune and a big fan of Napoleonic jewelry, was one of the richest women in the world when she acquired the necklace — in its original case — from Winston that same year. In 1962, she donated it to the Smithsonian Institution.
Post was not only famous for her business acumen and acts of philanthropy, she was also the original owner of Mar-a-Lago, which she built in Palm Beach, FL, between 1924 and 1927. Post died in 1973 at the age of 86. Former president Donald J. Trump acquired the 126-room, 62,500-square-foot mansion in 1985.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Smithsonian/Chip Clark and digitally enhanced by SquareMoose.
The face of the Texas Rangers' 2023 World Series Championship ring is removable and reversible. Players and coaches learned during a team dinner on Friday night that the face of the ring could be spun off and flipped to reveal an alternate design choice.
The first option features the Rangers "T" logo rendered in white diamonds and accented with rubies against a ground of blue sapphires. The alternate design has the "T" logo rendered in rubies and accented with white diamonds against a white "baseball" background.
Affixed to the back of the removable face is a piece of leather from a baseball that was used during the World Series.
With the face removed, one can see a hidden message titled "11-0 ROAD DOMINANCE," with the letters in the word ROAD spelled out in the logo font of the teams the Rangers beat as the away team to capture the franchise's first title. They included Tampa Bay (R)ays, Baltimore (O)rioles, Houston (A)stros, Arizona (D)iamondbacks.
The unique rings, designed in collaboration with Jason of Beverly Hills, were presented to players and coaches on Saturday during a special on-field ceremony before the game with the Chicago Cubs at Globe Life Field.
"There was a lot of pressure when designing this ring, not just because it was a first for the Rangers, but because it is also our very first World Series Ring," said Jason Arasheben, CEO of the jewelry company. "With this delivery, Jason of Beverly Hills will have designed championship rings for the 'Big Four' major professional sports leagues in North America."
In addition to the ring's neat mechanical components, the precious stones in the design symbolically tell the story of the championship season and other franchise milestones.
For instance, the 103 blue sapphires on the face of one design signify the total number of wins in 2023 (regular and postseason), while the 23 red rubies outlining the "T" on that design represent the year the Rangers won the World Series (2023).
The 49 rubies used to render the "T" on the alternate face equals the number of players who held a spot on the active roster in 2023.
Exactly 52 points of white diamonds are utilized to spell "CHAMPIONS" on the face of the ring, and that number honors the Rangers' first World Championship during its 52-year history.
One side of the ring has the catchphrase "Went and Took It" along with a bezel-set diamond overlaying a rendering of the World Series trophy. That single gem also represents the franchise's first championship. The diamond measures exactly 3mm, and that aligns with the the number of American League championships won by the franchise.
The other side of the ring shows the player's name and number. The three diamonds set horizontally under the player's name reflect the team's three pillars of baseball: "Compete with passion, be a good teammate, and dominate the fundamentals."
The 72 points of diamonds on the border of the bezel represent the year the Rangers moved from Washington, DC, to Arlington, TX (1972). And the 30 stones on the inner bezel represent the 30 home runs the team hit during the postseason.
The 2.33 carats of white diamonds used to adorn the side of the ring represent the 233 home runs the club slugged during the regular season.
Around the ring's bezel is an architectural design element that looks like the rafters at Globe Life Field. Inside the shank of the ring is an engraving of the player's signature, as well as the postseason series records and the clubhouse motto, "AS ONE."
Please check out the short video by Jason of Beverly Hills here…
Credits: Screen capture composite via Instagram / jasonofbeverlyhills. Ring images courtesy of Texas Rangers.
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you awesome songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, R&B legend Stevie Wonder teams up with pop princess Ariana Grande in the high-energy, gospel-tinged showstopper, "Faith," from the soundtrack of the 2016 animated family flick, Sing.
In the first line of the song, Wonder describes a young woman with unusual footwear and a spring in her step: "See the girl with the diamonds in her shoes? Yeah / She walks around like she's got nothin' to lose / Yes she's a go-getter, she's everybody's type / She's a queen of the city but she don't believe the hype."
The meaning behind gem-embellished footwear has been hotly debated since Paul Simon first performed “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” on Saturday Night Live in 1986. In reviewing Simon's song about the unlikely romance between a poor boy and a rich girl in New York City, critics wondered if the diamond/shoe reference symbolized conspicuous consumption or something more positive and upbeat?
One contributor to songmeanings.com compared wearing diamonds on the soles of one’s shoes to looking at the world through rose-colored glasses.
“Everywhere you go, your interaction is done through the diamonds on your shoes,” he wrote, “and diamonds as a symbol of wealth, happiness and love mean you are interacting with your world through a constant ‘happy’ filter, you have a skip to your step, you are happy.”
We believe this is exactly what Wonder and his co-writers are conveying in "Faith," which can be heard during the opening credits of Sing, which featured an all-star voice cast (Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane and Scarlett Johansson) and grossed $634 million worldwide. It even spawned a sequel, Sing 2, in 2021.
Grande was only 23 years old when she was invited to join Wonder (then 66) in a sound booth to record "Faith" in 2016. The spellbound singer recounted the experience during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
"Not only did I get to sing with him, but we were in the same booth," Grande said. "So it was like me and Stevie Wonder, arm in arm, holding hands in the booth, singing together, laughing, having a good time. I was like, 'Whoa.'
"Every time I got comfortable with the fact that I was in a booth arm-in-arm with Stevie Wonder, then he would hit a Stevie run and I'd be like 'Oh [bleep]' Stevie Wonder. It was surreal."
"Faith" charted in seven countries and was nominated for Best Original Song at the 74th Golden Globe Awards.
Please check out the video of Wonder and Grande performing "Faith." We also have the lyrics, below, if you'd like to sing along…
"Faith"
Written by Ryan Tedder, Stevie Wonder and Francis Farewell Starlite. Performed by Stevie Wonder, featuring Ariana Grande.
[Stevie Wonder:]
See the girl with the diamonds in her shoes? Yeah
She walks around like she's got nothin' to lose
Yes she's a go-getter, she's everybody's type
She's a queen of the city but she don't believe the hype
She's got her own elevation, holy motivation
'Til I wrote some letters on big bold signs
[Together:]
I got faith in you baby, I got faith in you now
And you've been such a, such a good friend of me
Know that I gotta love you somehow
I met you, hallelujah, I got faith
[Ariana Grande]
See the boy with the Stevie Wonder swag?
Ain't gotta clue all the magic that he has
He's a go-getter, he's everybody's type
I'ma make it my mission, make him feel alright
He's a twelve on a ten point, rockin' out to his joint
Just say the word 'cause I can sing all night
[Together:]
I got faith in you baby, I got faith in you now
And you've been such a, such a good friend of me
Know that I love you somehow (love you somehow)
I met you, hallelujah, I got faith
[Wonder:]
Faith, yeah
Yes I do, mmm
I get it runnin' and my mind goes crazy
I think about you mornin', noon, night and day
[Together:]
I get it runnin' and my mind goes crazy
I think about you mornin', noon, night and day
I get it runnin' and my mind goes crazy
I think about you mornin', noon, night and day
I got faith in you honey, I got faith in you girl
I met you, hallelujah
I got faith in you baby, I got faith in you now
And you've been such a, such a good friend of me
Know that I love you somehow (love you somehow)
I met you, hallelujah, I got faith
(Faith, faith, baby)
I got faith in you baby, I got faith in you now
And you've been such a, such a good friend of me
Know that I gotta love you somehow (love you somehow)
I met you, hallelujah, I met you, hallelujah
I met you, hallelujah, I got faith
Faith
Credit: Screen capture via Youtube.com / Stevie Wonder.
After enduring a COVID-related slump, marriage rates in the US are finally back to pre-pandemic levels, according to stats released by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Exactly 2.06 million couples took their vows in 2022, the first time the number has surpassed 2 million since 2019. The rate of 6.2 marriages per 1,000 population was the highest since 2018, when it was 6.5.
The CDC has yet to release its numbers for 2023, but all signs point to a continuing upward trend.
The number of marriages in 2020 (at the height of COVID) was the lowest recorded in the US since 1963, as many couples had to delay weddings during the pandemic.
The beginning of a recovery was seen in 2021 as COVID-related restrictions eased up. The number of marriages increased from 1.67 million in 2020 to 1.98 million in 2021, and the rate increased from 5.1 marriages per 1,000 to 6.0.
Across the nation, 36 states and the District of Columbia reported marriage rates in 2022 that either matched or exceeded the levels seen in 2019.
The six states with the highest marriage rates in 2022 were the following:
-Nevada (25.9)
-Hawaii (14.4)
-Montana (9.9)
-Utah (9.9)
-Arkansas (7.9)
-Vermont (7.8)
The unusually high rate for Nevada is attributed to Las Vegas being the "wedding capital of the world." The CDC's data reflects the location where the marriage occurred and not necessarily the place of the couple's residence.
The six states with lowest marriage rates in 2022 are shown here:
-Louisiana (3.7)
-New Mexico (4.2)
-Illinois (4.9)
-Maryland (5.0)
-Delaware (5.1)
-New Jersey (5.1)
Historically speaking, marriage rates in the US have progressively declined since the early 1980s. The 6.2 rate in 2022 stands in sharp contrast to the all-time high of 16.4 in 1946, when soldiers returned home after serving in WWII.
The CDC also reported that the number and rate of divorces in 2022 (673,989 and 2.4 per 1,000 population) ticked down slightly from 2.5 in 2021, continuing a longstanding downward trend. In 2010, the divorce rate was 3.6 per 1,000.
The glint of gold caught the eye of early man more than 5,000 years ago and has been coveted by ancient and modern civilizations ever since. We can all agree that gold is rare, valuable and astonishingly beautiful, but here are some little-known, fun facts about the precious metal — as provided by the World Gold Council — to share around the water cooler.
Gold by the Numbers:
49 - The portion of all mined gold that is made into jewelry. This industry is the single largest consumer of the precious metal.
22 – All of the gold ever mined would fit into a cube measuring 22 meters.
187,200 – All the gold ever mined would tip the scales at 187,200 tons.
9 – One ounce of pure gold can be hammered into a single translucent sheet 0.000018 cm thick and 9 meters square.
11.2 million – If all the existing gold in the world was pulled into a 5-micron-thick wire, it could wrap around the Earth 11.2 million times.
31.103 – There are just over 31 grams in a troy ounce of gold.
1/5 – It is rarer to find a one ounce nugget of gold than a 5-carat diamond.
1849 – The year of the California Gold Rush, when 40,000 miners headed west to seek their fortunes. They were called 49ers and the vast majority never got rich.
1885 – While digging up stones to build a house, Australian miner George Harrison found gold ore near Johannesburg in 1885, sparking the South African gold rush.
2,316 – “Welcome Stranger,” the largest gold nugget ever found, weighed an astonishing 2,316 troy ounces (144.75 pounds). It was unearthed at Moliagul, Australia, in February of 1869.
200 – This how many gold coins Julius Caesar presented to each of his soldiers for defeating Gaul in 52 BCE.
400 – The “London Good Delivery” is an investment-grade gold bullion bar containing 400 troy ounces of gold.
530,000 – The number of gold bars held by the US Federal Reserve. The bars weigh a total of 6,700 tons.
750 – Gold is often alloyed with other metals to change its color and strength. Eighteen-karat gold is composed of 750 parts of pure gold per 1,000.
Credits: Image by Stevebidmead, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you wickedly fun songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, a giant-sized, treasure-hoarding coconut crab named Tamatoa brags about sparkling like a wealthy woman's neck in “Shiny” from Disney’s 2016 animated blockbuster, Moana.
The song's official video has been viewed more than 596 million times on YouTube.
Voiced by New Zealand’s Jemaine Clement, Tamatoa is a dastardly — but lovable — Disney villain who collects rare sea treasures from the seabed and conspicuously displays them on his shell. Among the treasures he’s salvaged from the depths are pearls, diamonds, gold and a power-granting magical fishhook that was lost by the film's hero, Maui.
The crab sings, “Watch me dazzle like a diamond in the rough / Strut my stuff; my stuff is so… Shiny.”
Even though Tamatoa is able to overpower Maui, he is no match for the strong-willed and clever teen, Moana, who tricks the crab into relinquishing the magical hook.
Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Mark Mancina, “Shiny” is the eighth track from the two-CD set titled Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. The album peaked at #2 on the US Billboard 200 and charted in 17 countries. The single reached #6 on Billboard‘s Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
Miranda is the Pulitzer Prize, Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award-winning composer, lyricist and actor, who is best known as the creator and original star of Broadway’s Hamilton. Clement is a comedian, actor, voice actor, singer, writer, director, multi-instrumentalist and one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords.
Moana was released in theaters on November 23, 2016, and went on to gross more than $687 million worldwide.
Please check out the official video of the animated Tamatoa (Clement) performing “Shiny.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“Shiny”
Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Mark Mancina. Performed by Jemaine Clement.
Well, Tamatoa hasn’t always been this glam
I was a drab little crab once
Now I know I can be happy as a clam
Because I’m beautiful, baby
Did your granny say listen to your heart
Be who you are on the inside
I need three words to tear her argument apart
Your granny lied!
I’d rather be…
Shiny
Like a treasure from a sunken pirate wreck
Scrub the deck and make it look…
Shiny
I will sparkle like a wealthy woman’s neck
Just a sec!
Don’t you know
Fish are dumb, dumb, dumb
They chase anything that glitters (beginners!)
Oh, and here they come, come, come
To the brightest thing that glitters
Mmm, fish dinners
I just love free food
And you look like seafood
(Like seafood)
Well, well, well
Little Maui’s having trouble with his look
You little semi-demi-mini-god
Ouch! What a terrible performance
Get the hook (get it?)
You don’t swing it like you used to, man
Yet I have to give you credit for my start
And your tattoos on the outside
For just like you I made myself a work of art
I’ll never hide; I can’t, I’m too…
Shiny
Watch me dazzle like a diamond in the rough
Strut my stuff; my stuff is so…
Shiny
Send your armies but they’ll never be enough
My shell’s too tough
Maui man, you could try, try, try
But you can’t expect a demi-god
To beat a decapod (look it up)
You will die, die, die
Now it’s time for me to take apart
Your aching heart
Far from the ones who abandoned you
Chasing the love of these humans
Who made you feel wanted
You tried to be tough
But your armor’s just not hard enough
Maui
Now it’s time to kick your…
Hiney
Ever seen someone so…
Shiny
Soak it in ’cause it’s the last you’ll ever see
C’est la vie mon ami
I’m so…
Shiny
Now I’ll eat you, so prepare your final plea
Just for me
You’ll never be quite as…
Shiny
You wish you were nice and…
Shiny
Credit: Screen capture via YouTube / DisneyMusicVEVO
Michael Shaw, the collector who lent his pair of Dorothy's Ruby Slippers to the Judy Garland Museum in August of 2005 only to be shocked by news of a brazen smash-and-grab one week later, was recently reunited with his treasured Hollywood memorabilia in a private ceremony at the scene of the crime.
“It’s like welcoming back an old friend I haven’t seen in years,” said a teary-eyed Shaw as he stood beside a display of the slippers, along with the federal agents and local authorities who spent almost two decades tracking down the Technicolor treasures featured in 1939’s beloved The Wizard of Oz.
Shaw, a former child actor, had acquired the slippers from Kent Warner, a Hollywood costumer who discovered them in an MGM warehouse shortly before the famous May 1970 auction that liquidated costumes and props from Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Shaw told The Los Angeles Times in 1988 that when Warner brought him the ruby slippers, “I was so thrilled I literally started crying… I told him that if I never owned another possession, I’d be happy.”
Shaw eventually amassed an impressive collection of movie memories and traveled them around the country as part of a show called “Hollywood on Tour.” Shaw said last week that when people saw the slippers in person, “It was like they became 12 years old again.”
Just after the emotional reunion ceremony at Garland's restored birthplace home, Shaw surprisingly turned over the slippers to Heritage Auctions, which will spotlight them during an international tour — with stops in Los Angeles, New York, London and Tokyo — and then auction them some time in December.
“You cannot overstate the importance of Dorothy’s ruby slippers: They are the most important prop in Hollywood history,” said Heritage Auctions executive vice president Joe Maddalena.
Gilbert Adrian, the chief costume designer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, created the ruby slippers for Victor Fleming’s big-screen adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s children’s novel. (The magical slippers were silver in the book, but Adrian reinterpreted them as ruby because this was to be the first feature film shot in Technicolor).
Adrian had intended to use bugle beads to simulate ruby, but they proved to be too heavy. Instead, most of the bugle beads were replaced with sequins, 2,300 on each slipper. The butterfly-shaped bow on the front of each shoe features red bugle beads outlined in red glass rhinestones in silver settings.
Only four pairs of Ruby Slippers are known to have survived. One pair remains among the most popular attractions at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.
Each of the pairs is believed to be worth about $3.5 million, according to federal prosecutors.
In 2005, the Judy Garland Museum borrowed Shaw’s Ruby Slippers for its annual Judy Garland Festival. It was to scheduled as a 10-week exhibition, but on August 28, 2005, someone slipped into the museum after hours, shattered the plexiglass case holding the slippers and stole them, leaving behind only a single red sequin.
“It’s the worst nightmare for me,” Shaw said at the time.
In July 2018, after Shaw and investigators feared the slippers had disappeared forever, the FBI and Grand Rapids Police Department recovered the pair during a sting operation.
In May 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Terry Martin for stealing “an object of cultural heritage” from the museum. Five months later, Martin pleaded guilty. Shortly before sentencing last month, Martin told the court he’d stolen the shoes because he thought the sequins were genuine rubies.
Unable to sell them on the black market, Martin said he ditched the slippers with someone who had recruited him for the job. Martin's accomplice was charged last week with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering.
According to Heritage Auctions, Dorothy's Ruby Slippers will once again dazzle and delight crowds around the world before stepping up to the auction block.
“This is a day that is years in the making, a real-life Hollywood ending,” Maddalena said. “It took an ensemble cast of law enforcement professionals giving the performance of a lifetime — and their coordination, cooperation and commitment restored the ruby slippers to their rightful owner. As we all look forward to the next chapter in their storied history… we are reminded of what these legendary objects are and what they represent: an iconic piece of our collective history, an enduring symbol of the magic of storytelling and an ever-shimmering reminder that dreams are best in Technicolor.”
Credits: Photos courtesy of Heritage Auctions / HA.com.
Fifteen-thousand light years away in the northern constellation of Sagitta (the Arrow), a pair of aging Sun-like stars orbited each other so closely that the larger of the two eventually completely engulfed the other.
Nasa scientists believe that the smaller star continued orbiting inside its dominant companion, increasing the giant’s rotation rate. The bloated companion star spun so fast that a large part of its gaseous envelope expanded into space.
Due to centrifugal force, most of the gas escaped along the star’s equator, producing bright diamond-like flashes that are actually clumps of dense gas that span 12 trillion miles.
The Hubble telescope captured a beautiful pic of what Nasa has nicknamed the "Necklace Nebula." The space agency shared the photo last week on its Hubble telescope Instagram page, here. As of Sunday night, the post titled "Happy #JewelDay!" has earned more than 84,000 Likes.
Nasa explained that the dominant star and its companion are only a few million miles apart, and appear in the photo as a single bright dot at the center of the formation. Radiating from the center, one can see the glow of oxygen (green), hydrogen (blue) and nitrogen (red).
Credit: Image courtesy of ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Noll.
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you wonderful tunes with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, the brainy British performer who blinded us with science in 1982, admits to being “Cruel” in a deeply personal song about an emotionally lopsided romance. Thomas Dolby, with a sweet assist from Eddi Reader, uses jewelry imagery to tell the story of a thoughtless boyfriend who refuses to change his ways.
He sings, “You were a shining pearl / In a broken shell / Under moonlight / And I was cruel.”
Dolby and Reader trade verses throughout the song, but join voices in a line about chasing false hope.
Together they sing, “But when my tears are washed away / You’ll still be blind / Skin-diving / For jewels.”
“Cruel” was released in 1992 as the second track from Dolby’s fourth studio album Astronauts & Heretics. Although the song failed to meet the commercial success of his biggest hit, “She Blinded Me With Science,” Dolby told PopMatters.com in 2008 that “Cruel” was one of three songs that best defined him as an artist.
When asked by PopMatters.com what he wanted to be remembered for, he answered, “My more obscure songs like ‘Screen Kiss,’ ‘I Love You Goodbye’ and ‘Cruel.’ I think it’s inevitable when you have hits as big as I had with 'She Blinded Me With Science' and 'Hyperactive,' that still get played on the radio 20 years later, people will tend to assume those songs define your music. But in my case, the music I really care most about is my quieter, more personal side.”
Thomas Morgan Robertson was born in London in 1958. The son of a distinguished professor of classical Greek art and archaeology, Dolby sang in a choir at age 11 and learned to sight-read music shortly thereafter. The artist’s stage name is a nod to Dolby noise-reduction cassettes. His schoolmates razzed him about the Dolby cassette player that he carried everywhere.
Dolby is primarily known for synth-pop, a subgenre of New Wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s. Dolby said he “got his hands on a kit-built synthesizer and never looked back.”
Early in his career, he promoted himself as a kind of musical mad scientist. Later on, he would become a technology entrepreneur in Silicon Valley.
He is currently the head of the Peabody Conservatory’s Music for New Media program at Johns Hopkins University. The four-time Grammy nominee will be touring this summer with appearances scheduled for Riverside, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Irving, TX; Houston, TX; Boston, MA; Atlantic City, NJ; Rochester Hills, MI; Cincinnati, OH; Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; and London, UK.
Please check out the audio track of Dolby and Welsh songstress Reader singing “Cruel.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“Cruel”
Written by Thomas Dolby. Performed by Dolby, featuring Eddi Reader.
Cruel – what a thing to do
I’ve been cruel to you such a long time
And how can I hide my shame
‘Cause there I go again
At the wrong time
And I know that it was just the fear of flying
And I know it’s hard to keep myself from crying
But when my tears are washed away
You’ll still be blind
Skin-diving
For jewels
You were a shining pearl
In a broken shell
Under moonlight
And I was cruel
And I know that it was just the fear of flying
And I know it’s hard to keep myself from crying
But when my tears are washed away
You’ll still be blind
Skin-diving
For jewels
Cruel – I’ve been such a fool
And I’ll be missing you
Such a long time
I was cruel
With many of you starting to plan your summer vacations, it's important to take note of the best ways to safeguard your fine jewelry when traveling. The importance of getting this right can't be overstated. In a recent survey by Jewelers Mutual (JM), nearly all respondents admitted to bringing their treasured pieces with them on holiday, while a surprisingly large chunk also reported suffering a loss.
For many women, their engagement ring is, by far, the most expensive piece of jewelry they possess, yet a whopping 87% of respondents regularly travel with this precious keepsake.
The pleasure of wearing your best jewelry on holiday has to be weighed against the risks. The JM survey revealed that a whopping 35% of respondents reported losing jewelry away from home. (Hotel rooms emerged as the most common location for such misfortunes).
JM recommends balancing fashion options with the purpose of your trip. If you are going to a beachy resort, you may get away with a few pieces of casual jewelry or no jewelry at all. If you're traveling for work or attending a destination wedding, it's likely your better jewelry will be making the trip.
Says JM, be sure to take an inventory of the pieces you choose to bring for your records. Pack them securely in your carry-on bag and wear any jewelry that reasonably suits your traveling attire. For added security, avoid wearing overly flashy or expensive jewelry while traveling.
Make sure to keep the carry-on bag in your sight at all times. That includes offers of help from airport staff, cab drivers, bellhops and the like.
If you do decide to remove your jewelry for whatever reason, put it into your carry-on bag, not in a TSA bin or bowl.
Never, never, never pack your fine jewelry in checked luggage.
According to the JM survey, approximately 40% of respondents said they insure their travel jewelry. Yet, nearly half of these individuals rely on their homeowners' policies, which typically have lower, insufficient coverage limits for jewelry.
In fact, about 50% of travelers attested they were uncertain whether their insurance policies provided adequate coverage while traveling abroad.
Travelers with insurance were more likely to secure their jewelry in hotel safes and dedicated travel cases, while those without insurance tended to keep their jewelry close by during their travels, reported JM.
The JM study also revealed that younger adults are more likely to opt for specialized jewelry insurance, recognizing the unique advantages it offers in safeguarding their precious possessions beyond traditional homeowners' or renters' policies.
"Our goal is to educate and empower consumers to safeguard their jewelry so they can wear it without worry,” said Howard Stone, vice president of Global Risk Services and Analytics at Jewelers Mutual. “The insights gained from our latest study underscore the need for more informed decision-making when it comes to traveling with jewelry, and we are committed to being a trusted advisor for loss prevention education and helping consumers keep themselves and their jewelry safe."
The Jewelers Mutual study of 300 adults was conducted in August of 2023 by usertesting.com via an online survey.
Panamanian archeologists have recovered a trove of golden treasures from the 1,200-year-old tomb of a powerful chief at El Caño, an ancient necropolis about 110 miles southwest of Panama City in Coclé province.
Among the artifacts discovered in the tomb were gold breastplates, gold bracelets, gold belts adorned with gold beads, gold-clad whale teeth earrings, a set of gold plates and gold earrings in the likenesses of a man, woman and crocodile.
Also in the funerary trousseau were two bells, skirts made with dog teeth and a set of bone flutes.
A more disturbing finding was that the tomb held as many as 32 other occupants, who were likely sacrificed to accompany the powerful leader to the "beyond." The archeologists said the chief was buried face-down, as was the custom of that society, but are unsure of the exact number of those who joined him because the excavation has yet to be completed.
Dr. Julia Mayo, the director of the El Caño Foundation, believes the tomb was constructed in 750 AD and that the gold items belonged to a high-status adult male from the Rio chiefdom who died in his 30s.
She added that the recovered items possess not only economic value, but also "incalculable historical and cultural value."
In ancient times, El Caño was considered a city of the dead. The necropolis was built circa 700 AD and abandoned circa 1000 AD, according to the researchers. In addition to monoliths, the site contained a cemetery and a ceremonial area with wooden buildings.
Mayo said the findings are significant because they shed new light on "multiple" or "simultaneous burials" of the Coclé society, which included a high-status person, as well as eight to 32 others, who were sacrificed to serve as companions in the afterlife.
Credit: Images courtesy of Ciudad del Saber/Panama Culture Ministry.
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you romantic songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, a giddy and love-struck Brad Paisley is about to propose to his girlfriend, but accidentally leaves the engagement ring at home in 2001’s “You Have That Effect On Me.”
In this song, Paisley takes on the role of a young man who is so head-over-heels in love that he can hardly think straight. He tells his girlfriend how anxious he’s been during the past few weeks — that he’s been haunted by the vision of getting down on one knee and forgetting what to say. Each morning, while brushing his teeth, he’s rehearsed the lines, but still can’t get them straight.
He successfully acquires the ring of her dreams, but when it's finally time to pop the question, the awkward boyfriend comes up short.
Paisley sings, “You’ve had your eyes on a 2-carat ring / I finally went out and I bought it / Right now it’s at home sittin’ on my TV / Would you believe I forgot it.”
Our protagonist tries to explain away his absentmindedness: “You can’t blame me ’cause it’s plain to see that you have that effect on me.”
The character Paisley portrays in the song may be a close reflection of himself.
The singer famously recounted how, as a 19-year-old, he became spellbound by actress Kimberly Williams, who starred in 1991’s Father of the Bride. Paisley developed an instant crush when he saw her on the big screen and his feelings only grew stronger when he saw her in Father of the Bride II in 1995. It wasn't until 2001 that he gathered the courage to contact the actress and ask her out on a date.
In Paisley's world, good things come to those who wait. Williams accepted his marriage proposal in August of 2002 and the couple tied the knot in March of 2003.
“You Have That Effect On Me” was the 11th track of Part II, his second studio album — a release that rose to #3 on the US Billboard Top Country Albums chart and #31 on the US Billboard 200 chart.
Born in Glen Dale, WV, in 1972, Bradley Douglas “Brad” Paisley was introduced to country music by his grandfather, Warren Jarvis, who gave the eight-year-old his first guitar, a Sears Danelectro Silvertone. Jarvis taught his grandson to play, and by the age of 10, Paisley was already performing at his church.
While in junior high, Paisley was doing a show at a local Rotary Club, when he was discovered by a program director for a Wheeling, WV, radio station. He was invited to be a guest on the popular radio show “Wheeling Jamboree” and the rest is history.
Paisley has sold more than 11 million albums, won three Grammy Awards, 14 Academy of Country Music Awards, 14 Country Music Association Awards and two American Music Awards. In 2001, at the age of 28, he became the youngest artist ever to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.
He is currently on a European tour with performances scheduled in Glasgow, London and Belfast.
Please check out the audio track of Paisley performing “You Have That Effect on Me.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“You Have That Effect On Me”
Written by Brad Paisley and Frank Rogers. Performed by Brad Paisley.
Every morning the last couple of weeks
In between shaving and brushing my teeth
I’d lean on the sink and practice my lines
By now you would think they’d be memorized
But leave it to me to come all this way
Get down on one knee and forget what to say
I’m at a loss, should have known this is how it would be
‘Cause you have that effect on me
I must admit I still don’t understand
Why I lose my head holding your hand
There’s no explanation, no simple excuse
For this intoxication I feel around you
Now truth be known since I’ve met you girl
I’ve been walkin’ around in my own little world
One look in my eyes, oh and darlin’ any fool could see
That you have that effect on me
You’ve had your eyes on a 2-carat ring
I finally went out and I bought it
Right now it’s at home sittin’ on my TV
Would you believe I forgot it
But you can’t blame me ’cause it’s plain to see
That you have that effect on me
Yeah, you have that effect on me
Girl, you have that effect on me
Launched by the Lego Group in the summer of 2001, Bionicle was a line of articulated plastic action figures that deviated from the Danish toy company's core business of interlocking building blocks.
Lego pulled the plug on Bionicles nearly 14 years ago, but the legend lives on — thanks to a 14-karat, super-rare, special-edition Bionicle Hau mask that surfaced at a Goodwill store in western Pennsylvania and recently sold at auction for $18,000.
During the era of Bionicles, the now-$10-billion-a-year toy company ran competitions with the top prize being a "playable" golden Hau mask. It is estimated that only 30 of the special collectibles were ever created, with approximately 25 presented to competition winners and the rest handed out to Lego employees.
Each piece measured one inch tall and weighed 26.14 grams (0.922 ounces). At today's gold price of $2,126 per ounce, the value of the precious metal content alone is approximately $1,146.
When the golden Bionicle Hau was found in a box of donated jewelry at the Goodwill store in DuBois, PA, employees didn't think much of it. But when the item was listed on Goodwill's online store, offers began flooding in and supervisors began to take notice.
“We didn’t know it was worth anything until people started asking if they could buy it for $1,000,” Chad Smith, the vice president of e-commerce and technology at the Dubois store, told USA Today.
Offers for the 14-karat Bionicle Hau topped out at $33,000 during an early February Goodwill auction, but that buyer couldn't come up with the funds. Goodwill re-listed the item with the bidding starting at $3,000. After 48 bids, the piece sold it to an anonymous collector for $18,101.
Goodwill spokesperson Jessica Illuzzi told USA Today that all of the money earned from the sale of the Lego collectible will support Goodwill's mission of helping people with life challenges and providing training opportunities.
In the lead-up to the the 1954 Miss Universe pageant, the runaway favorite to win the title was Maria Martha Hacker Rocha, a statuesque 21-year-old Brazilian beauty with captivating blue eyes. She had captured the title of Miss Bahia in her home state and went on to become the first-ever Miss Brazil.
The pageant took place at the Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, CA, and although Rocha eventually would become the runner-up to American Miriam Stevenson, the Brazilian won the hearts of fans all over the world. They were smitten by her grace and elegance.
Around the same time as Rocha was competing on the world stage, an incredible 74.5-pound aquamarine crystal was unearthed on a farm near Teofilo Otoni, Brazil. Its color was so rich, so intense that the Brazilian gem dealers needed to come up with a special name to distinguish it from the rest.
The rare, intense blue aquamarines from the Santa Maria de Itabira mine in Brazil were called “Santa Maria.” Similar-color aquamarines from Mozambique and other countries in Africa were named “Santa Maria Africana.” Lighter hues were named after the Brazilian state where they were mined, specifically “Espirito Santo.”
The new classification would be called “Martha Rocha,” representing a tone and intensity of the finest-color aquamarines. Even today, gem experts use this rating as a lasting tribute to the Brazilian beauty queen with captivating clear blue eyes.
Rocha, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 87, continues to be a symbol of beauty in Brazil. She has streets named after her in Bahia, Santa Catarina and São Paulo. The Brazilians even named a delicious and decadent dessert after her. Ask for a "Martha Rocha" at a Brazilian fine dining establishment and you will receive a treat made from white and chocolate cake with cream, peaches, creamy egg custard and walnuts.
Aquamarine, the official birthstone for the month of March, is the sea-blue variety of the mineral beryl, whose family members include emerald (intense green) and morganite (pink to orange-pink). Aquamarines can range in color from light blue to pure blue to shades of greenish-blue. The variations in blue color are dependent on trace amounts of iron in the gemstone’s chemical composition. Interestingly, pure beryl is absolutely colorless.
Aquamarines are mined in many countries, including Nigeria, Madagascar, Zambia, Pakistan, Mozambique and the US, but most of the finest-quality gemstones still come from Brazil.
Credit: Martha Rocha image by Gráficos Bloch S.A., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Aquamarine image by Greg Polley / Smithsonian.
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