Hello, everybody. The biggest entertainment story of this week was not the release of the highly-anticipated "Sex and the City" movie or the denial of Angelina Jolie giving birth to twins in France, but of this man.

For the last 72 hours, the attention of Alaska was focused on Sir Elton John, who played this state as only he could with sold-out shows in Anchorage on Wednesday and Friday and here in Fairbanks on Thursday. And even though I failed in trying to get a ticket to the Fairbanks concert (I already told you about that last time), I'm pretty sure the crowds at both the Carlson Center here and the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage weren't sorely disappointed.

As far as the Fairbanks show went? Well, from what I've learned, parking at the Carlson Center was so full it stretched to as far as Pioneer Park right next door. Also, Elton drew the largest attendance in the venue's 18-year history (it opened in 1990; but was new to me when I returned in '92) largely thanks to an additional 100 or so floor seats being up for grabs on Tuesday, giving us one more chance for tickets. One local TV station did cover the concert...only to have their tapes confiscated by security! But as expected, somebody did manage to get "Rocket Man" and a portion of"Benny & The Jets" and put it on good ol' YouTube; most of the other stuff were from the first Anchorage show.

(UPDATE (6/4): It appears that all the videos from Elton's Anchorage and Fairbanks shows were removed from YouTube)

Like I said, even though I missed out on all this, I'm sure the rest of Fairbanks had the time of their lives on Thursday night. We had the brief meeting of Pope John Paul II and President Reagan in 1984, the 2003 Iditarod restart, and John Leguizamo at the Ice Park in 2006...but Elton John setting foot here on May 29, 2008 is yet another chapter written in the Fairbanks history books. And to quote a line from "Rocket Man"...the wait for a mega-star act in the Golden Heart City was indeed a long, long time. So long and stay strong!

Hello, everybody. As always, lots of ground to dig up, so let's get on with it!

First up...WHEN WILL HILLARY THROW IN THE TOWEL?!?!?!? She may have clinched the West Virginia primary last week, but with Oregon and Kentucky this week she has lost lots of steam as Barack Obama still leads the delegation count with 1,904 to Hillary's 1,717. Obama's now 221 away from the target number of 2,025 and it looks like he may be hitting it. But of course, anything could happen between now and August, when the superdelegates convene in Denver.

Oh yeah, in case you're wondering...I decided to throw in the towel as far as Elton John is concerned. I was hoping for any good seats left for his Fairbanks show on the 29th, but in the words of Jim McKay, they're all gone. But I'm sure a much better act than Elton will play the Carlson Center pretty soon and that this time, I'll have the golden ticket...Kelly Clarkson or Leona Lewis, are you reading this? By the way, the second Anchorage show sold out in over an hour.

Now...We make all kinds of blow-ups from time to time, whether it's financial (and that is the case for most of us), physical, or mental. But if you happen to make a verbal blow-up and the cameras are unexpectedly on you...you know the whole world will take notice! And for two television personalities last week, that was the case.

Sue Simmons, a longtime anchor at New York's WNBC, accidentally dropped the F-bomb live on the air while doing a bumper for the 11:00 news. Moments after realizing her mistake, she apologized for the gaffe.

But perhaps one blow-up that made more news than Simmons' belonged to Bill O'Reilly. A video of Bill from his "Inside Edition" days in the early '90s mouthing off like there was no tomorrow made the YouTube rounds, and everybody including Keith Olbermann of course had quite a field day with it; some even made remixes. I tell you, no wonder why Irish people are known to have tempers!

Simmons and O'Reilly have now joined a long line of people who've made some on-air meltdowns over the years. Former Detroit news anchor Bill Bonds started all this in the early '80s when he went into some R-rated tirades while doing a promo for the 5:00 news (maybe Will Ferrell was taking notes for his Ron Burgundy character), while Alex Trebek was in a cussing spree and drinking a beer (Molson? He's Canadian after all) in between doing "Phone Jeopardy!" promos. Other inductees into the On-Camera Blow-Ups Hall of Fame include Sam Donaldson, Jessica Savitch, Chris Berman, and Bill Plante.

And then of course there's the king of angry on-air blow-ups: Casey Kasem. One time while segueing from an up-tempo song to a "dead dog" dedication on "American Top 40", Casey streamed a river of profanities which he, like Miley Cyrus and that infamous "Vanity Fair" photo, is still embarrassed over that to this day. And way before my time, it was Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis who had fun doing radio spots for their movie "The Caddy" by launching some very raunchy remarks of their own...and this was in 1953!!

Whether you're an anchor, a game show host, or a DJ and you happen to suffer a verbal malfunction on the air, forget about getting your mouth washed out with soap; Clorox seems to be more apt these days! And with that, so long and stay strong.

Elton John tickets sold out...or are they?

Hello, everybody. Last week after my comments about the Miley Cyrus "Vanity Fair" photo scandal (which I'll get to in a bit), I broke the news here about Elton John coming to Alaska with shows in Anchorage and Fairbanks. Well, guess what? Tickets for the May 28 show at Anchorage's Sullivan Arena were sold out in record time -- 58 MINUTES!!!!! As a result, a second show was added for May 30, giving everybody a second chance.

Meanwhile, the Carlson Center here in Fairbanks broke a sales record as well when tickets for May 29 were sold out in three hours. Many fans even camped out all night outside the venue waiting for the clock to strike 10:00 am on Saturday hoping to get the first seats available.

Now for many of us including yours truly, that's the bad news. The good news? The tickets that were sold out were for the front row, which are the costly $118 ones ($116 plus an additional $2 donation to the Elton John Aids Foundation). That means that the mezzanine and balcony (ugh!) seats are still up for grabs...at least for now.

Why "for now"? I'm still fearing for the worst because those tickets may be or have been gone as well. And if they are...well, the odds of seeing Elton John in your area may or may not be against you, but when another top act like him comes to Fairbanks next, better be quick as a flash to grab the first seats possible. If not...good luck!

Now...days after the backless shot of her in "Vanity Fair" caused firestorms around the world, Miley Cyrus' reputation as a teen queen was put to the ultimate test over the weekend when she performed at the Disney Channel's DC Games in Orlando; which will air in July. The end result? Her fanbase was behind her 100%.

At least Miley's wasn't tarnished unlike Sinead O'Connor, who two weeks after tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II to pieces and saying "Fight the real enemy!" on "Saturday Night Live", she got a smattering chorus of boos at Bob Dylan's 30th anniversary tribute concert at Madison Square Garden. Miley was just a newborn when all that happened by the way (this was in 1992).

By the way..."Hannah Montana" had its first all-new episode since the scandal on Sunday, and it will be later this week when we find out the ultimate verdict as far as the ratings are concerned. I'm pretty certain it may have beat out the NBA playoffs and of course "WWE Raw" to become the week's top show.

In the end, it appears that this whole matter is almost over. I wouldn't be surprised if Miley Cyrus sits down with Larry King or "60 Minutes" or posts a video on YouTube on her Miley and Mandy channel and buries the hatchet altogether. Oh yeah, if she does the latter, I bet it will make us all forget about that whiny obnoxious divorcee and her videos! And she can prove a point that Miley Cyrus is still Miley Cyrus (I really need to make a T-shirt out of this)!

With all that said...so long and stay strong!