Entertainment
Delaware’s best entertainment moments of 2024: Quirky, fun, and sad
Delaware Star Cars’ Damian Muzzi talks about making replicas of famous cars
Damian Muzzi of Delaware Star Cars shares how he got started making replicas of famous cars from movies and television, beginning with K.I.T.T. from “Knight Rider.”
This year has been a whirlwind, with so much happening in Delaware’s entertainment scene that it’s hard to keep up.
Here’s a look back at just a few of the big entertainment moments from 2024 in Small Wonder:
Aubrey Plaza had biggest year of career in 2024
A-list Wilmington actor Aubrey Plaza had a career-defining year that kicked off at January’s Emmy Awards with her first nomination for HBO’s “The White Lotus.” Although she lost “Outstanding Supporting Actress” to co-star Jennifer Coolidge, Plaza won the internet on the red carpet with her bold yellow Loewe dress featuring a giant needle.
Plaza kept the momentum going, reuniting with “Parks & Recreation” co-star Nick Offerman in a quirky Super Bowl ad for Mountain Dew Baja Blast where she rode a dragon. She also debuted in her first Francis Ford Coppola film, “Megalopolis,” and earned acclaim at Sundance for “My Old Ass,” which has proven a streaming hit.
As if that wasn’t enough, Plaza announced the U.S. women’s basketball team for the Paris Olympics in a Team USA commercial — capping the WNBA’s most-watched season in 24 years. That attention was driven by WNBA rookie sensation Caitlin Clark.
Plaza even crossed paths with Clark at the WNBA All-Star Game after tearing her ACL playing a game of knockout earlier that week.
In September, her MCU debut in “Agatha All Along” premiered on Disney+, and her first Howard Stern interview made headlines for its awkward moments. The New York Times profiled Plaza and spotlighted her dream to host the Oscars, and it will be interesting to see if that comes to pass someday.
Dover hotel cancels on Phish fans
When complaints first surfaced from Phish fans about the Wyndham Garden Dover hotel canceling their nearly year-long reservations a few days before the Mondegreen festival, we started making calls.
At first, the hotel representatives placed the blame on the Dover Air Force Base, saying reservations were pulled at the last minute because of the hotel’s contract with the military. But then military officials told us there had been no such request. When faced with that denial, the hotel’s leadership changed their tune and blamed “room maintenance issues.”
Soon, the Delaware Attorney General’s Office contacted the hotel over the cancellations and shifting reasons behind them. A resolution has yet to be announced by the Delaware Department of Justice, which does not comment on, confirm or deny any investigations.
Eli Manning spotted at Chick-fil-A in Delaware
Lot of famous people have been spotted in Delaware over the years, and New York Giants legend Eli Manning kept that tradition alive when he visited Chick-fil-A in north Dover in July.
We learned about Manning stopping by at Chick-fil-A after the restaurant made a Facebook post that featured a group photo of him posing with restaurant staff.
Considering Delaware is Eagles country, it was bold of Manning to show up in Delaware. Then again, the quarterback was smart enough to slide into Chick-fil-A because he knew he wouldn’t have to deal with any beef there.
Famous Hollywood car replicas turn heads on Delaware’s streets
Wilmington’s Damian Muzzi has spend untold amounts of money and several years of his time to build replicas of instantly-recognizable cars from ’80s and ’90s television and movies.
His Delaware Star Cars now has five replicas on its roster: K.I.T.T. from “Knight Rider,” the “A-Team” van, the DeLorean from “Back to the Future,” “The Blues Brothers” Bluesmobile and the Mirthmobile from “Wayne’s World.”
“The older guys become young when they walk past and realize what they’re looking at,” said Muzzi, whose co-pilot in the DeLorean is always Stella, his German shepherd. “Their past comes alive. I’m an ’80s kid, so I get it.”
TikTok star Stevo praised by Kai Cenat
A former nerd from Hodgson Vo-Tech now has 1.9 million TikTok followers and he caught the attention of celebrities for his flashy dance moves.
Stephen “Stevo” Kirton of Newark is a dancing sensation with 59 million likes on TikTok (@SmooveStevo). Some of his supporters include big names like influencer Kai Cenat and rapper Lil Nas X, who both praised Stevo.
Kirton is known for his fast style of dancing. He’s helped to gain attention by performing viral dances that include the Jubi Slide, a move that makes a dancer look like they’re gliding on air.
George Thorogood hates beach balls
Ahead of Brandywine Hundred native George Thorogood’s Delaware homecoming show at the beach, he spoke to Delaware Online/The News Journal and had a message to his upcoming fun-in-the-sun beach audience.
“Please tell everybody there to leave the beach balls home. We are not The Beach Boys. We’re not Jan and Dean. I hate it when they start hitting beach balls while I’m performing. I feel like stopping the show,” he said. “If you want to play with a beach ball, go to Rehoboth Beach. This is a rock performance.”
The 74-year-old “Bad to the Bone” rocker had a big First State summer. Not only did he play his first beach show since he was 17 at a Rehoboth Beach party in 1967, he stopped in Newark to receive the University of Delaware’s Medal of Distinction. A plaque dedicated to Thorogood was also unveiled by the City of Newark on Main Street near where the legendary Stone Balloon rock club once stood.
Flavor Flav taps in for Hip Hop Cultural Summit
There are national treasures, and then there are global icons. Flavor Flav undoubtedly belongs to the latter category.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer headlined the second Hip Hop Cultural Summit at the Delaware Art Museum in October. The event, presented by AllHipHop.com, Guerrilla Republik, and the museum, added to an already legendary year for the Public Enemy hype man — much of it fueled by Flav’s love for Red Lobster.
In the spring, Flav went viral after ordering the entire Red Lobster menu to support the chain amid its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. His influence paid off when the restaurant announced in September it had “successfully exited” bankruptcy.
A month later, Flavor Flav’s signature grin lit up the summit, thrilling fans who came to see the clock-wearing star in person.
Hockessin singer Olivia Rubini shines on ‘The Voice’
Hockessin singer Olivia Rubini shined on “The Voice” earlier this year, lasting two months on the NBC reality TV series, earning praise from star judges ranging from John Legend to Dan + Shay.
Even though she was voted off the show in the playoffs as 52 contestants were whittled down to 20, she made her mark on national TV and has since been performing across the region lifted by her “Voice” success.
Earlier this month, she had her biggest gig yet: performing the National Anthem at the 67,000-seat Lincoln Financial Field before the Philadelphia Eagles played the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Remembering Delaware’s weird Swamp Monster
Imagine coming across a hideous, ape-like creature while you’re driving through Sussex County. This is a terrifying experience that some folks have had around Great Cypress Swamp, near Selbyville, when they crossed paths with the Selbyville Swamp Monster.
The first time a photo of the Swamp Monster was made public was on April 23, 1964, when the then-Delmarva News (DelmarvaNow.com) published it in the newspaper.
This year marked the 60th anniversary of that photo causing a commotion in lower Delaware, and it seemed fitting, as recent reports of mysterious drones scaring people have given off serious Swamp Monster vibes.
Firefly Music Festival breaks promise & cancels 2024
It was February when the fears of Firefly Music Festival fans became a reality: the mammoth annual four-day party party in Dover was not coming back for the second year in a row.
It was tough to swallow, especially because, festival producers AEG Presents promised Firefly would come back to The Woodlands of Dover in 2024 when it announced it was not being held in 2023. They said they were just going to “recharge our lights.”
With Firefly seemingly dead for good, Phish’s Mondegreen festival moved in for its own four-day festival this year, but it’s unclear if any music festival will be held at The Woodlands in 2025.
Delaware’s huge Phish fan sees band 184th in Dover
Attending 10 concerts by the same band might seem like a lot to many fans, but Wilmington’s Matt Urban is on another level.
In August, the jam band Phish launched its Mondegreen festival at The Woodlands of Dover Motor Speedway where Urban watched his 184th Phish concert as the band played a four-day run.
Mondegreen was Delaware’s most talked-about festival of the year, attracting an estimated 45,000 people to Dover from all over the country.
David Bromberg leaves Delaware for New York
After spending 22 years in downtown Wilmington, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist David Bromberg left Delaware.
It was from the downtown of The First State’s biggest city that he rekindled his music career to the delight of fans nationwide and earned the first Grammy Award nomination of his vaunted career. Bromberg and his wife, artist/musician Nancy Josephson, sold their four-story, 8,900-square-foot North Market Street home, which also housed a violin shop he established.
“It’s something we always kind of wanted to do: end up in New York,” Josephson, a New York native, said of their move, which put them only a few blocks from Central Park.
Ken-Del Studios closes after 75 years
For 75 years, everyone from Bill Monroe and Solomon Burke to Jim Croce and “Weird Al” Yankovic recorded projects with Delaware’s Ken-Del Studios. But it all ended this year when the studio, located in a nondescript industrial park building near Newport, was closed for good.
With its closure, the state lost its largest commercial recording studio, which was designed by innovative architect and acoustician John Storyk, who started his career in 1968 when he built the famed Electric Lady Studios for Jimi Hendrix in New York’s Greenwich Village.
In addition to national acts, it was a favorite recording spot for local and regional acts, including The Hooters, Boysetsfire, Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers, the late Johnny Neel and more.
Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and X (@ryancormier).
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