Astronaut drops in on Kraftwerk gig, plays duet from space
Berlin (AP) – Kraftwerk fans are used to hearing otherworldly tunes, but the German electronic music pioneers took it to another level at a gig in Stuttgart. Video posted Saturday by the European Space Agency shows German astronaut Alexander Gerst “dropping in” for a live performance from the International Space Station. Using a tablet computer with a virtual synthesizer, Gerst played a duet of Kraftwerk’s 1978 song “Spacelab” with the band Friday night to cheers from the audience. He’s not the first space musician. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and played a duet with the Barenaked Ladies while 400 kilometers (250 miles) above the Earth in 2013. American astronaut Ron McNair planned to play saxophone from orbit with Jean Michel Jarre in 1986 but died in the Challenger tragedy.
Video: https://youtu.be/rCQEzgtWv-E
Art dealer buys storage locker for $15,000, finds treasures
New York (AP) – A New York City art dealer who bought the contents of a New Jersey storage locker filled with paintings for $15,000 says he got more than he bargained for. He found half a dozen paintings he believes were done by artist Willem de Kooning, whose works have sold for millions of dollars at auction. The New York Post reports David Killen bought the contents of the Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, locker last year. The paintings were originally from the studio of art conservator Orrin Riley, who died in 1986, and his partner, Susanne Schnitzer, who died in 2009. The paintings aren’t signed, but Killen reached out to an expert who’s confident they were done by de Kooning, an abstract expressionist from the Netherlands who moved to the United States and died in 1997.
Cow breaks Connecticut farm worker’s jaw
Ellington, Conn. (AP) – A worker at a Connecticut dairy farm was taken to the hospital with a broken jaw after being head-butted by a cow. Seth Bahler, owner of Oakridge Dairy Farm in Ellington, tells the Journal Inquirer the 23-year-old man suffered the injury at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday when a cow swung its head and hit the man in the face. The victim was flown to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. The man’s name was not made public, but Bahler says he is a local resident who has worked at the farm for about five years. He called it a “freak accident.” The 2,900-acre Oakridge Dairy Farm is the largest dairy farm in the state with 2,400 cows that produce 25,000 gallons of milk a day.
Driver hits 142 mph … right after being cited for speeding
Hershey, Neb. (AP) – An Iowa woman who was ticketed for speeding in Nebraska perhaps didn’t take the citation seriously – deputies clocked her driving at 142 mph as she accelerated away from the traffic stop. The Lincoln County sheriff’s office says the 31-year-old woman from Council Bluffs was eventually arrested on suspicion of willful reckless driving after deputies caught up with her for a second time early Saturday. Deputies first stopped the 2018 Ford Mustang around 1 a.m. Saturday on Interstate 80 near North Platte after it was recorded driving 92 mph in a 75 mph zone. The driver was cited and told she could leave. But she took off at speed and the deputies gave chase, using radar to clock her driving at 142 mph. Online court records don’t indicate formal charges.
Hungry headache: German city seeks to evict big catfish
Berlin (AP) – A German city is looking for a way to get rid of a giant catfish that is believed to have developed a taste for ducklings after eating all of its fellow fish in the municipal pond. The roughly 1.5-meter (4.9-foot) fish has been making waves in Offenbach, near Frankfurt. News agency dpa reported that the city government said Monday that it has found a professional angler to catch the fish, first seen about a year ago, but a formal contract has yet to be signed. The city plans to have its unwelcome guest caught alive and taken to a private pond somewhere, but officials will first have to be satisfied that it can’t escape into flowing water and that its new home is suitable for a catfish.
