The devil may have gone down to Georgia, but it appears he took a detour to a bar in Nashville and possessed a middle-aged mom on his way down there.

In a TikTok video that’s been viewed 5.5 million times, Olivia Reeth’s daughter shared that her family had gone to the Whiskey Bent Saloon in Nashville and was watching the Moonshine Outlaw Band perform. Her mom told the band she played the fiddle, and mid-song, the fiddle player decided to hand his instrument over to her.

You kind of have to wonder what the guy was thinking. Did he imagine she’d be able to keep up with the band? Did he figure she’d play a few bars and then hand it back?

---

Whatever he was picturing, it almost certainly wasn’t what she ended up laying down.

Mom might as well have said, “I’ll bet a fiddle of gold against your soul, dude” because she came prepared. In hindsight, her whipping off of her scarf was the sign it was all over, but who’d have known?

Watch her shred that man’s fiddle and see how he reacts:

@skootbutt123

#nashville #whiskeybentsaloon #fiddle

The best part is when the guy pretends to boot the band’s fiddler out of the bar. And then Mama got sassy with it! Absolute legend, making her skills appear effortless as she walked around the room. Didn’t even take her coat off. Looking like she walked in off the street, which she basically did.

The woman’s daughter shared that her mom is classically trained and that her dad was the one who introduced her to country and bluegrass music. They both play in two bands, Coconut Radio Band and Barney’s Bullet.

Seriously impressive talent. And you gotta love the respect the band’s fiddle player gave her, despite her basically stealing his soul. What a fun exchange between musicians who clearly love what they do and love to share it with others.

This article originally appeared on 12.28.22

Eighteen year old Samantha Frye has traded college life for entrepreneurship, and she has no regrets.

Frye began working at Rosalie’s Restaurant in Strasburg, Ohio at 16 as a dishwasher, working up the ranks as a kitchen prep, server, then line cook. All while working a second job, sometimes third job.

After graduating high school, Frye started college at Ohio State with plans of studying business or environmental engineering. But when she came back to work a shift at Rosalie’s for winter break, an opportunity arose—the owners had planned to sell the restaurant.

---

“I was thinking that maybe [buying] was something I wanted to do,” she told News 5 Cleveland. “I had savings because I was saving for college, so I had quite a bit of money saved away. And I was like, I could possibly do this.”

Frye acted on that gut feeling, and used her college funds to buy Rosalie’s. Now she spends every day at her new business, either in the kitchen, on the floor or in the office meeting with sales reps.

This Ohio diner is under new ownership: an 18-year-old who started out as a dishwasher and is carrying on a legacy of the past. https://t.co/7VShD0O6n0

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) May 13, 2023

Though Fyre’s mother, Brandi Beitzel, confessed to USA Today that she wasn’t initially “on board” with her daughter abandoning college plans, over time she became very “proud” of her for forging her own path, and applauded her “drive and ambition.”

That sentiment is echoed both by Rosalie’s regulars and staff, who are amazing at the young woman’s drive and confidence.

“I just really think she’s a great example of a young lady that is following her dreams and doing what she loves,” said Leanna Gardner, an employee.

It’s no secret that there are significantly less students attending college—down by about a million since the start of the pandemic. And while there are no doubt potential long term collective consequences to that, with exorbitantly high student loan rates, it’s easy to see why young adults would avoid massive debt for careers that don’t require a college degree.

Luckily, there are more efforts to make college an affordable option being made nationwide, like offering a free two years worth of college to graduating students.

And as Frye is proving by example—not going to college is certainly not a death sentence for one’s future. There are many ways to plant seeds for success. Honestly, college or no college, no matter which path is taken, there will likely be more uncertainty than there are guarantees. Perhaps the best bet then is trust those pings of intuition.

“You don’t need college to make a decent living, and I think that’s what a lot of people think nowadays,” Frye attests. “Follow your instinct, honestly. If it feels right, just do it.”

This article originally appeared on 5.22.23

Childless women in the public eye are often plagued by the question: “So, why don’t you have any children?” It’s a deeply personal question that cuts right to the bone, and there can be many answers. But, if the woman doesn’t want children and says so publicly, she is bound to face some judgment.

“[I don’t] like [the pressure] that people put on me, on women—that you’ve failed yourself as a female because you haven’t procreated. I don’t think it’s fair,” Jennifer Aniston told Allure. “You may not have a child come out of your vagina, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t mothering—dogs, friends, friends’ children.”

---

On the Monday, March 6 episode of “The Diary Of A CEO” podcast, host Steven Bartlett asked actor Seth Rogen about why he’s childless, and it was a rare moment where a man in the public eye was challenged on the topic. Rogen gave a thoughtful explanation for his and Lauren Miller’s decision to be child-free.

Rogen and Miller were married in 2011.

“There’s a whole huge thing I’m not doing, which is raising children,” Rogen told Bartlett. The host attempted to play devil’s advocate and asked Rogen if he considered whether having children might have made him and his wife “happier.”

“I don’t think it would,” Rogen responded.

Then, as if anticipating the question, the “Pineapple Express” star upended one of the arguments that people who have children often make: that people who don’t have children have no idea what it’s like.

“I’ve been around obviously a lot of children; I’m not ignorant to what it’s like…Everyone I know has kids. I’m 40, you know? I know,” Rogen said. “Some of my friends have had kids for decades. Some people want kids, some people don’t want kids.”

He added that many people seem to have kids without considering the issue.

“I mean, a lot of people have kids before they even think about it, from what I’ve seen, honestly,” he said. “You just are told, you go through life, you get married, you have kids—it’s what happens.”

Rogen and his wife have only grown stronger in their decision and they believe that it has helped their relationship.

“Now, more than anything, the conversation is like, ‘Honestly, thank God we don’t have children,’” he continued. “We get to do whatever we want.”

“We are in the prime of our lives. We are smarter than we’ve ever been, we understand ourselves more than we ever have, we have the capacity to achieve a level of work and a level of communication and care for one another, and a lifestyle we can live with one another that we’ve never been able to live before. And we can just do that, and we don’t have to raise a child—which the world does not need right now,” Rogen concluded.

Everyone has the right to choose whether or not to have children, and no one has the right to judge them. Rogen and Miller have thought their decision through and should be applauded for living how they see fit. It’s cool to see Rogen with such a thoughtful opinion on the matter. It’d be even cooler if celebrities never had to discuss the topic in the first place.

This article originally appeared on 3.9.23

As long as humans have endeavored to do anything great, there have been those who have tried to take them down. These are the opposite of the creators in life: the bullies, haters and naysayers who only want to bring people down to their level.

But when you have a dream and desire, its easy to tune out the voices of negativity. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better,” Theodore Roosevelt once said. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.”

Some folks use the naysayers as fuel to push them to work even harder. Basketball legend Michael Jordan was infamous for letting his thirst for revenge drive him to even greater heights on the court.

---

Another Michael Jordan, “Black Panther” star, Michael B. Jordan, came face to face with someone who doubted that he could reach his dreams, and he wasn’t shy about letting her know that he remembered. What’s Upworthy about the encounter is that he did so with class and confidence.

In 2023, Jordan was on the red carpet for the premiere of “Creed III,” a film he starred in and directed. He was interviewed by “The Morning Hustle” radio show host Lore’l, who had recently admitted on the “Undressing Room” podcast that she used to make fun of him in school.

“You know what’s so crazy? I went to school with Michael B. Jordan at a point in life,” Lore’l said. “And to be honest with you, we teased him all the damn time because his name was Michael Jordan. Let’s start there, and he was no Michael Jordan.”

“He also would come to school with a headshot,” she added. “We lived in Newark. That’s the hood. We would make fun of him like, ‘What you gonna do with your stupid headshot?’ And now look at him!”

In addition, her co-host, Eva Marcille, referred to Jordan as “corny.”

Jordan had no problem discussing their past on the red carpet. “We go way back, all the way back to Chad Science [Academy] in Newark,” Lore’l told the actor. Oh yeah, I was the corny kid, right?” Jordan responded with a smirk.

“No, you did not hear me say that! I said we used to make fun of the name,” Lore’l said.

“I heard it,” Jordan said. “I heard it. It’s all good. What’s up?” he responded. “But yeah, [you are] obviously killing things out here…you’re not corny anymore,” Lore’l clarified.

After the exchange went viral, Lore’l admitted that she teased Jordan in school, but they were only classmates for one year.

“So the narrative that I bullied him all throughout high school—this was 7th grade. We were like 12 years old, and everyone made fun of each other,” Lore’l said. “That was school, you know. That was one year. And, again, I’ve never bullied him. That just sounds so outrageous to me.”

Jordan later shared some advice on how to deal with bullies.

“Just stay focused, just stay locked in,” he told a reporter from Complex. “You know, just follow your heart, try to block out the noise and distractions as much as possible and run your race. Don’t compare yourself to anybody else. Just keep going.”

This article originally appeared on 4.19.24

Have working conditions really gotten better?

On the one hand, with more work-from-home opportunities, more allowances regarding parental leave, more awareness around the importance of taking days off for mental health reasons, and more businesses adopting four day work weeks…you’d think yes, definitely, things are getting better!

And yet, it definitely can feel like a one step forward, two steps back situation a lot of the time. Many people still woefully lament unlivable wages, having to take on extra work just to make ends meet, and somehow having most of their lives revolve around working. In many ways, all the progress we’ve made toward productivity hasn’t made the common person any freer. Rather, it only moved the goalpost further. Which, needless to say, is exhausting.

It’s this phenomenon that inspired a “cheeky country music duo” named The Doohickeys to make a modern day revamp of everybody’s favorite twangy anti-work anthem: “9 to 5.”

The tune was made famous by Dolly Parton whose character in a movie by the same title bemoaned the common working man/woman’s curse of toiling day in, day out just to essentially be a cog in the corporate greed machine. Serious subject matter…but a very catchy song!

The Doohickeys’ parody cover shows that things have changed a bit…the most notable change of all being that, as the new title suggests, “9 to 5” is out, and “9 to 6” is in.

“Like everyone, we love Dolly’s song ‘9 to 5,’ but we realized that neither of us have ever actually worked those hours — 9 to 6 would be more accurate…Turns out that additional hour struck a chord with viewers ‘cause people started sharing their insane work schedules in the comments, and boy, some of those hours suck!” Doohickey vocalist Haley Brown told Upworthy.

In this version, our singing hero still stumbles outta bed and tumbles to the kitchen. But instead of pouring herself a cup of ambition, she “checks her phone while she eats to see what she’s missin.’”

There’s no time to yawn and stretch, or even take a shower, you see. This working gal has to rush out the door because “there aint no time when your job is 9 to 6.”

Take a listen below. Holy cow, did Brown really nailed Parton’s signature airy twang.

See on Instagram

That’s Part 1. In Part 2, The Doohickeys hilariously sing about the foibles of racking up student debt in college. Surely nothing any Gen Xers and Millennials can relate to. Plus, again, the need to work an additional job…which is 8 to 1.

See on Instagram

All in all, the Doohickeys seemingly did the impossible by making their own unique version of a beloved, almost untouchable classic song, while still holding onto the original’s essence. It’s unfortunate that we still are having these issues, to be sure. But that’s another conversation.

And while we might not see sweeping improvements to the workplace quite as fast, the Doohickeys did immediately fulfill the people’s request to make a full version of the song, which you can listen to on Spotify.

But wait, there’s even more awesome ditties where that came from. Follow the Doohickeys on Instagram here

.

With temperatures rising worldwide, it’s essential to know how to stay cool by reducing your body heat. It’s important to keep hydrated and wear breathable clothing, but if you want to cool off quickly, the military has a trick to reduce body temperature in minutes.

According to a CBS report, research shows that submerging your forearms and biceps in ice-cold water can help prevent overheating. That’s why the military uses arm immersion tables when training in hot weather or stationed in places where the heat is unbearable and it’s impossible to get to an air-conditioned room.

“It’s low-tech, it’s inexpensive, it’s easy to implement,” Lt. Col. Dave DeGroot, who runs the Army Heat Center at Fort Moore, told CBS. “It’s a bucket of water.” Arm immersion tables are long, narrow troughs filled with ice-cold water that stand on four legs.

---

To cool down, soldiers place their hands, arms, and wrists in the cold water for 3 to 5 minutes. Then, they raise their arms above their heads. This allows cooled blood to circulate throughout the body, lowering its temperature. It also allows the water to drip down their arms, cooling their core from the outside.

Soldiers who practice the technique say that while their arms are submerged, they feel the cold water circulate throughout their body, starting in the chest and then moving to their back.

“Your car has a radiator. Well, so do we. It’s our skin,” DeGroot said. “Our blood is going to cool off and circulate back to the core and eventually, with several minutes of exposure, bring the core temperature down.”

Arm immersion tables cool approximately 13% of the body, enough surface area to transfer body heat to the water. According to TechLink, immersing one’s arms in cold water can reduce core body temperature by 2° F in 3 to 10 minutes. Two degrees may not sound like much, but considering that the average body temperature is usually between 97 and 100 degrees, it makes a huge difference.

In severe situations where hot soldiers appear pale, wobbly, or mentally incapacitated, the military uses ice sheets to cool them down. “An ice sheet is nothing more than a simple bed sheet that we use,” Fort Jackson safety specialist Vinson Washington told the U.S. Army. “We submerge these in ice, and when a casualty overheats, we wrap them in these to cool them down until we can get medical personnel on the scene.”

“We put them in a human taco, basically,” 1st Sgt. Brendan Cain, an Air Assault School instructor, added. In the event a soldier goes down with a heat injury, they use the sheets to “cool down the (soldier’s) core temperature,” then “it’s an automatic call to 911.”

Arm immersion tables and ice sheets work because, according to TechLink, the heat transfer of water is 25 times greater than that of air. So, to cool someone off, it’s much more effective to immerse them in water than to place them in front of a fan.

There’s no need to worry if you’re looking to beat the heat and don’t have a military-grade arm immersion tank. You can make something similar by taking a large cooler filled with ice water and placing it on a table or by filling your kitchen sink with water and adding some ice.

LeBron James arrived in Las Vegas for USA Basketball camp ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Friday, as a stacked Team USA roster sets its sights on a golf medal run.

His eldest son, Bronny, will join him in Vegas soon as he begins his NBA career as part of the Lakers Summer League team after signing a 4-year deal with the Lakers after being drafted 55th overall. While those two ply their trade in Vegas, Bryce James is enjoying his last summer in high school, and as any good teenager does, he’s killing time by poking some fun at his father. Bryce decided to go out back to the pool on a sunny Friday afternoon in L.A. and recreate LeBron’s “smiling through it all, can’t believe this is my life” post that became an enduring meme.

It’s pretty great work by Bryce, who followed that post up with a “iykyk” post on his story. I want to know how long he’s been thinking about recreating this, because the original post is six years old — LeBron posted it in response the the infamous “shut up and dribble” remarks. In any case, the moment of inspiration arrived on Friday and he nailed it.

The biggest free agent left on the market after a busy first week of deals is DeMar DeRozan, who has made waves this summer with appearances alongside Compton native Kendrick Lamar, and is looking to leave the Chicago Bulls as they set their sights on a franchise reset. The problem for DeRozan is, almost all of the teams that started this summer with cap space have used it up and the options for a sign-and-trade have gotten a bit thin.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, DeRozan is looking for $20-25 million per year, and a sign-and-trade has to be for three years, so it’d take a healthy commitment from a team to bring him in at that number. Beyond that, the Bulls don’t want to take back money (especially nothing long-term), per Woj, further complicating matters.

There will be suitors for DeRozan, but figuring out the terms of a deal is a bit tricky given these parameters. For example, there are teams like the Clippers and Lakers that would probably love to bring him home to L.A., but whether they’d want to do so at the cost of Norman Powell or Rui Hachimura to make it work financially is a very different question, especially since they’d need to find a third team to take themm in. Here we’ll look at a trio of possibilities for the former All-Star, including one complicated (but fun) deal to start.

Sacramento Kings

The Kings are the known suitor for DeRozan at the moment (he’s a good wing and they’re interested in all of them), but the trick is figuring out the third team to take salary back, as the Bulls apparently aren’t interested in taking on a contract like Harrison Barnes or Kevin Huerter. You could do a three-team deal and loop in Detroit or Utah and see if they’d be willing to eat a pair of contracts and, at $20 million per year, the Kings could make it work. That’s probably the route they will try to go, but let’s think bigger.

I would like to propose something bolder and more aggressive that I think would help four different teams achieve their goals this summer. The Orlando Magic can get to $8.6 million in cap space if they want to, and while they’ve done well this summer in adding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, I think they still could use some shooting. If the Kings are ready to move on from Kevin Huerter, feeling he is repetitive with Keegan Murray and Malik Monk, that’s the kind of reserve shooter that would be very helpful for this Orlando team. You can make it work financially (according to the Fanspo trade machine) by having Orlando send Anthony Black to Chicago, where he can provide some point guard depth behind Josh Giddey and fit into their timeline entering his second season while the Magic seem to be accelerating faster than he may be able to keep up. While I understand the Bulls are looking to avoid being a tax team and don’t want to take back money, we can bring the Jazz in as the Lonzo Ball dump site, tacking on Portland’s lottery protected 2025 first (which rolls over all the way to 2028 before becoming a second) to facilitate that part of the deal. The Kings, meanwhile, could send Chris Duarte’s expiring and a future second the way of the Jazz.

All four teams would end up under the tax (I know, throw the parade) and I think it would actually push each of them towards their goal for this season. The Magic get another legit shooting threat and bolster their backcourt rotation. The Kings get the frontcourt upgrade they’ve been desperate for and still could look to move Harrison Barnes for something else. The Bulls get out of the tax and add a young guard. The Jazz add more picks to their stash and don’t cost themselves any future flexibility by eating two expirings.

The Trade
Kings get: DeMar DeRozan
Bulls get: Anthony Black
Magic get: Kevin Huerter
Jazz get: Lonzo Ball, Chris Duarte, 2025 lottery protected Portland first, future second

San Antonio Spurs

Perhaps DeRozan would consider a return to the Spurs, where he spent three seasons and had a lot of success playing with Gregg Popovich. They could give DeRozan the kind of three-year, ~$60 million deal he’s seeking and add another veteran to bring some structure alongside Victor Wembanyama after already adding Chris Paul. The Spurs are reportedly interested in Lauri Markkanen as well, but DeRozan wouldn’t preclude them from making other additions as they could flip Devonte’ Graham’s non-guaranteed deal, cash to cover the $2.9 million he’s owed if waived, and a second round pick to the Bulls to help them create a large trade exception.

The Trade
Spurs get: DeMar DeRozan
Bulls get: Devonte’ Graham, future second round pick, cash

Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks cannot tank, because the San Antonio Spurs own too many of their first round picks. That means they really need to remain competitive even as they retool the roster, having already traded away Dejounte Murray to the Pelicans. While Dyson Daniels is a nice piece and they recouped some draft assets, they are severely lacking in terms of self-creation options besides Trae Young. DeRozan would certainly fill that need, and the Hawks have a few deals in the $22 million range that would be able to make the money work. Perhaps they could get the Jazz to take on Clint Capela’s expiring deal for the price of a couple seconds, and send a protected second the way of the Bulls, allowing Chicago to emerge unscathed financially from a DeRozan deal. Ideally, the Hawks would send out De’Andre Hunter, but with three years left on his deal, it’s very hard to figure out who would take that deal on without asking for first rounders that Atlanta won’t want to part with.

The Trade
Hawks get: DeMar DeRozan
Bulls get: Protected future second round pick
Jazz get: Clint Capela, two future second round picks

The Best New Hip-Hop This Week includes albums, videos, and songs from 42 Dugg, Eminem, and Killer Mike.

Holiday weeks are notoriously slow for new music releases, but that didn’t stop several hip-hop artists from taking advantage of the open window to get some new songs out there. Notably:

Eminem continued his rollout for The Death Of Slim Shady with the Spider-Man-influenced Michigan posse cut, “Tobey,” featuring Big Sean and BabyTron.

Quavo teamed up with Lana Del Rey after months of speculation to release “Tough,” the pop star’s latest hip-hop collaboration.

French Montana, Fabolous, and Fivio Foreign celebrated the impending launch of their Gotta See It To Believe It Tour with “To The Moon.”

Killer Mike addressed his Grammy Awards arrest in the reflective “Humble Me.”

Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending July 5, 2024.

Albums/EPs/Mixtapes

42 Dugg — 4eva Us Neva Them

The Detroit rapper’s momentum may have stalled as a result of ill-timed incarceration, but that hasn’t stopped him from releasing what he’s calling his official debut album anyway. After his release earlier this year, Dugg hit the ground running, dropping videos for tracks like “Wock N Red” and “N.P.O.” featuring Sexyy Red. The album is 21 tracks with features from CMG labelmates Blac Youngsta and EST Gee, Jeezy, Lil Baby, Meek Mill, Rylo Rodriguez, and the aforementioned Sexyy Red.

P-Lo & Kool John — Moovie! 2: The Yequel

Bay Area indies P-Lo and Kool John link up for 13 tracks of post-hyphy lyrical shenanigans. This probably isn’t your project if you’re looking for a lot of introspection or thought-provoking wordplay; it’s an unabashed party album, with plenty of upbeat bops and bangers to keep you going dumb through the rest of the summer. Guests include fellow Norcal stalwarts ALLBLACK, Iamsu, Kamaiyah, and Nef the Pharaoh.

YTB Fatt — On Zai

West Memphis, Arkansas native YTB Fatt has been on my radar for a minute, slowly but steadily building a buzz in the Southern underground over the past year or so. That buzz has garnered him a few notable co-signs from fellow Dirty South artists like GloRilla, Lil Baby, NoCap, and Rylo Rodriguez, but on his latest, he handles business himself for the majority of the project’s 19 tracks.

Singles/Videos

Big Moochie Grape — “Fun” Feat. Young Dolph

The owner of one of the best stage names in all of rap music drops a video for a standout from his album, East Haiti Baby: Incarcerated, featuring a posthumous verse from his mentor, Young Dolph. It’s stunning how hard a new Dolph verse can still hit so long after his untimely death, and Mooch makes the most of the moment with this rib-bruising banger.

Chow Lee — “Practice!”

The “sexy drill” movement has been picking up steam lately — largely as a result of the efforts of rappers like Cash Cobain and Chow Lee. The latter makes a play on his new single, “Practice!,” with a video referencing one of the most infamous basketball-related memes of all time and verses addressing just how grimy the dating game can really be these days.

Kyle — “Dirty” Feat. Hit-Boy

Although he’s got a few years of rep as a lightweight pop rapper under his belt, Kyle zigs instead of zags here, employing a soulful instrumental produced by Hit-Boy to address one of his favorite topics — a defunct relationship whose end took him by surprise. Hit-Boy chips in a topical verse of his own, making this something of a departure for both artists — but not too much of one, as they sound completely cozy even outside their supposed comfort zones.

Caitlin Clark came into the WNBA with the reputation for having unlimited range, as we saw over and over again during her time as a standout at the University of Iowa that Clark was comfortable pulling up from the logo and knocking down threes. While she hasn’t quite been able to get into a rhythm from deep as a member of the Indiana Fever, we have seen her frequently launch from back there.

Clark has gotten into more of a rhythm from deep lately — she’s at 38.5 percent from downtown over her last 10 games after connecting on 29.7 percent of her threes in her first 11 games — and seeing as how she’ll participate in the WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix a little later this month, it’s fair to wonder if she’ll participate in the 3-Point Contest. Clark got asked about this on Friday, and, well, she didn’t say that she’s going to.

“Remains to be seen,” Clark said as a smile started to come across her face. “We’ll see. I don’t know. I’m excited, I dunno. I can’t give you guys every answer today.”

Now, I do not want to make any assumptions, but I think Caitlin Clark is going to participate in the 3-point contest. Regardless, Clark will be suiting up in the All-Star Game, which will pit a collection of the W’s best players against the team representing the United States at the Olympics in Paris.