New Year’s Eve: News of the Week – Edition 6

Will Mummers Strut Their Stuff On New Year’s? [MyFox Philadelphia]
Philadelphia’s budget crisis has raised questions about a New Year’s tradition. We’re just a few weeks away from the parade, and the struggle continues to ensure the Mummers strut their stuff. Just 20 days before the Mummers are scheduled to step onto Broad Street, the city — which has always financed the parade — is saying it can only cover up to $300,000. That’s compared to last year’s parade price tag of $1.1 million.

Katy Perry to Perform at Gridlock’s New Year’s Eve Los Angeles [NewYears.com]
Katy Perry has confirmed that she will be spending New Years Eve at Hollywood’s Paramount Lot for a live concert with Gridlock. Perry, who was nominated Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, shared her excitement. “Its gonna be really fun cause I love to party it up on New Years Eve.”

Trace Adkins, Lynyrd Skynyrd Change Their Tune for New Year’s Eve [CMT]
Another one bites the dust.  The Trace Adkins and Lynyrd Skynyrd concert has been cancelled because of the current economic crisis.

New Years Eve events in Las Vegas [LA Times]
The LA Times has a pretty good summary of 2009 New Years events in Las Vegas, ranging from a Liberace tribure concert to the opening of XS at the Wynn to the Akon show and more.

New Years Restaurant Ripoffs [SF Gate]
A good review of many San Francisco restaurant’s “special” New Year’s menus.  As the author says, “All the special menus for New Year’s Eve are coming in. Looking over them, it feels like many restaurants are trying to alleviate all their financial woes on Dec. 31. This is traditionally the busiest night of the year, and restaurants have jacked up the price, justifying the tab by offering a fixed-price menu and perhaps a sparkling wine toast.”

New Year’s Eve: News of the Week – Edition 5

Las Vegas rates down on New Year’s Eve [Forbes]
In more troubling news for the economy, a JPMorgan analyst said Monday that New Year’s Eve room rates at Las Vegas casino resorts appear to be 27 percent lower this year, marking another sign of weakness for the city’s gambling market. Also noted is that local gaming activity in Las Vegas appears sluggish and hotel rooms are still available for New Year’s Eve.

Lewis Hamilton to spend New Year with the Pussycat Dolls [Telegraph]
Well, I guess we could find worse ways to spend a New Year’s Eve!  The Telegraph is reporting that Lewis Hamilton, the racing driver, is planning to spend New Year with the Pussycat Dolls. Mr Hamilton and his girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger, a singer in the girl group, are planning to host a New Year’s Eve party in London. The pair have been looking in London estate agents for a £3m townhouse in St John’s Wood, London, so that they can host the end of year gathering, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.

How to Throw A Fantastic New Years Eve Party [eHow]
This article lists a number of good ways to put together your own unique New Year’s Eve party. This includes planning, music, food, and more.

Celebrating New Year’s Eve in Copenhagen, Denmark [AC]
Celebrating New Year’s Eve in Denmark virtually guarantees a fun filled New Year’s party, festivities, food and beautiful sights. This story outlines six activities taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark’s most famous city.

TV Land Celebrates the New Year with ‘Lucy’s New Year’s Eve Countdown’ [MarketWatch]
Looking for an at home New Year’s Eve?  TV Land viewers are ringing in 2009 with “Lucy’s New Year’s Eve Countdown” on Wednesday, December 31 from 8AM to 9PM ET/PT, a hilarious showcase of “I Love Lucy” episodes specially voted on by them. Throughout the month of December, TVLand.com has been inviting viewers to vote for their all-time favorite madcap episodes of this series. Tune in on New Year’s Eve day to see which episodes made the cut…

New Years 2009 Delayed By One Second To Correct Atomic Clocks

“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, one one-second, … Happy New Year!”

If you want to be extremely accurate, this is the countdown you may have to recite as you count down to 2009.

The New Year is going to arrive one second late this year as a “leap second” is added onto the clocks to adjust for the fact that the planet is gradually slowing down as it spins on its axis.  This tweak helps to correct the time-lag which shows up on the ultra-accurate atomic clocks which are used by many things including GPS systems and the Internet-based Network Time Protocol.

The extra second will make 2008 – already longer because of the extra day on February 29 – the longest year since 1992.

For a more complete description, check out the link below.

- This year will be just a second longer [MSNBC]

Sydney to Spend $5 Million on New Year’s Eve

We previously wrote about the New Years Eve festivities in Sydney, Australia, and now The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the festivities are estimated to cost a whopping $5 million Australian.  The good news is that the 1.5 million people expected to be in attendance will generate about $40 million for the local economy.

The 2009 New Year’s Eve spectacular will feature two fireworks shows: a family fireworks display at 9pm that will be the biggest ever, lasting for eight minutes and featuring six barges; and the midnight display which took 15 months of planning and will last for 12 minutes.  The midnight display will feature newly invented “z-sequential”  fireworks, which shoot horizontally, and sun-pods, which explode in from the top of the bridge. There is also a suprise “bridge effect” which officials are keeping mum about.

Following the fireworks is the Harbour of Light Parade, which will feature 50 vessels decorated with illuminated patterns and symbols in this year’s theme of Creation.  Sounds like Sydney is the place to be for New Year’s Eve fireworks.  More details after the jump.

- Sydney’s NYE spectacular to cost $5m [The Sydney Morning Herald]