If you caught the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this morning you may have notice that a float with local roots. For the second consecutive year, the Oneida Indian Nation was featured in the parade.
Their float was called “The True Spirit of Thanksgiving.” It features a 30-foot-tall white pine “Tree of Peace” growing from the back of Turtle Island, spreading the message of peace and thanksgiving.
A country band with upstate roots beat out Lady Gaga to win the Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award at last night’s American Music Awards. According to WKTV, the band, Gloriana, was officially founded in 2007 and features two brothers originally from New Hartford, Tom and Mike Gossin, in addition to two other members, Rachel Reinert and Cheyenne Kimball. It has been a big year for Gloriana whose single “Wild At Heart” is currently best selling single by a new country artist with sales reaching upwards of 350,000 copies.
An upstate NY rape and murder case that has been open since 1985 will get nationwide attention soon when the case is profiled on “America’s Most Wanted.” The case of 16-year-old Kimberly Simon, whose bruised and partially nude body was found in Whitesboro in September 1985, was thought to be closed when Marcy resident Steven Barnes was convicted of her murder in 1989. But Barnes was released from prison last year after DNA tests exonerated him, prompting investigators to reopen the case. According to the OD, “A crew from the show will visit the Utica area to interview those involved with the case, and re-enactments may be filmed on location here or in a studio, depending on the show’s needs.”
Stephen Colbert took his show on the road this weekend and went on a ride with U.S. bobsled driver Steven Holcomb in Lake Placid.
“Having won today’s competition, you are today the fastest in the world at this,” Colbert said to Holcomb and his team. “I had to pick the fastest team. Thank you. It felt like I was being hit in the head with ice hammers. It was like losing the worst snowball fight of your life.”
On Ugly Betty Friday night, during episode 4.6, entitled ‘Backseat Betty’, Syracuse got a bit of a shout out.
Hilda set Betty up with Larry (Archie’s nerdy bookkeeper) but Betty left dinner halfway through to hang out with the much more dangerous and intriguing Bobby. But, before she leaves, Hilda mentions that Larry had visited his family in Syracuse!
You can read more about the episode here.
A new movie is being shot in Niagara Falls this month and its has some big name stars.
The cast and crew for the dramedy “A Beginner’s Guide to Endings” will be filming around the region for the next four weeks. The film stars Dennis Hopper, Tricia Helfer (”Battlestar Galactica”), JK Simmons (”Spiderman”) and Jason Jones (”The Daily Show”).
The movie has already shot a big boxing scene that used several local actors. The film’s stars have also been spotted out on both sides of the falls (U.S. and Canadian sides).
If you’re in Western NY and have an encounter with any of these stars, let us know in a comment below!
Here’s a fun fact, or at least a fact, about Utica’s history in pop culture. In the very first episode of Matlock, the victim, a news anchor, is buried in her hometown of Utica, NY.
This is just one in a long line of mentions of Utica on television. Another notable mention was on Jenny McCarthy’s short-lived sitcom, Jenny. Her character had just moved to L.A. from Utica.
