Kanye West's Yeezus Tour Among Highest Grossing Tours of 2013

Kanye West's gamble on the risky Yeezus album and tour has paid off; the album has been a critical success, topping many year end lists and now the tour has been named one of the highest grossing shows of 2013.

According to Billboard, the list (which gathered it's data from individual legs of tour and not overall gross) the Yeezus tour hit #2 on the year's highest grossing runs making $25 million across 18 dates. His only competitor? Paul McCartney, who lead by a larger gross of $40 million.

It is interesting to note that both Yeezus and McCartney's album New weren't exactly a home run commercially, both did fairly low key numbers compared to their past releases, but the two artists cleaned up on the road. Kanye's stage show has been praised as being daring and almost operatic, drawing in show goers who wanted to see the spectacle.

RELATED: Live Review: Kanye West as Yeezus Christ Superstar in BrooklynRELATED: In Kanye West's Final 'Yeezus Tour' Rant/Stream of Consciousness, He Explains How Focused He Is With Adidas

Thousands in suburbs now have health insurance, but some decide to wait

Article updated: 12/31/2013 5:19 AM

After two stressful years without health insurance, Arlington Heights residents Keith and Joyce Moens went on healthcare.gov and could hardly believe their eyes.

There, on the computer screen, were five insurance plans they were eligible for and could afford, thanks to the new federal health care law.

'We just looked at each other, and we looked back at the screen, and it's like we saw the light at the end of the tunnel,' Joyce said. 'I started to cry.'

The Moens will be among thousands of suburban residents who, starting Wednesday, will have health insurance as a result of the new federal act.

Others decided not to enroll, perhaps stymied by problems with the federal website, confused by shifting deadlines or, like Valentine and Maria Dominquez of North Aurora, put off by costs that still seemed too high. They decided to gamble a little longer on getting full-time work with employer-paid benefits.

As of Dec. 1, roughly 68,000 applications had been filed in Illinois seeking health insurance for more than 124,000 people. Roughly 7,000 people statewide have signed up for private health insurance, including the Moens. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported numbers jumped as people raced to beat a Christmas Eve application deadline, which was pushed back from Dec. 23.

The Moens chose a Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO that will cost roughly $300 a month and will cover them and their youngest son, a 19-year-old college student. The plan has high co-pays and a $10,000-per-person deductible, but it's an amount they said they can live with if one of them is hospitalized or gets sick.

Keith Moens, 61, a finance executive turned Chicago Public School teacher, and Joyce, a 55-year-old part-time day care worker, both lost their jobs and their health insurance in 2011. Figuring their unemployment was only temporary, they looked into getting Cobra continuing health insurance. But Keith says the Cobra insurer wanted $14,000 upfront, plus monthly payments that would escalate from $400 a month to a budget-busting $1,750 a month.

They soon found new jobs, but those were part-time and didn't come with benefits. So they started shopping for private insurance.

That also was a bust. Keith and the kids were eligible for coverage, but Joyce was not. The insurance companies repeatedly cited Joyce's 'pre-existing conditions,' which were a thyroid condition, knee pain and a 2006 case of West Nile virus.

Rather than pay premiums to insure only healthy members of their family, the Moens opted to do what many people did - go without insurance and cross their fingers that no one got sick or ended up in the hospital.

Their pay-as-you-go approach had obstacles. Some doctors rejected them because they lacked insurance. Instead of the lower prices negotiated by major health insurance carriers, the Moens were charged full price for everything, such as a $700 thyroid blood test or $200 eye drops.

After a veterinarian gave their family dog a comprehensive blood test for $25, they joked, 'Maybe he can test us?'

'It's been awful. It took a toll on everything and everyone,' Keith said. 'You live with the nagging feeling of 'what if.''

One night at midnight, their son Eric - now 26 and with his own insurance through the federal act - ended up in the emergency room, unable to breath because of a severe cough.

Since he didn't have insurance, Eric had what he describes as 'a shakedown in my hospital gown' - being asked to pay a few hundred dollars upfront before getting treatment. Lying on the hospital bed, he handed over his credit card.

'It was crazy,' Eric said. 'You shouldn't get sick and say, 'Oh my gosh, how much is this going to cost me?''

Joyce tried to avoid doctors, fearing big bills or a financially disastrous hospital stay. As time went on, though, her health problems multiplied. Her knee pain worsened and it's now difficult for her to walk.

She's been letting her thyroid go unchecked.

'I kept saying, 'What did we ever do to deserve this?' Joyce said, her eyes welling up with tears. 'I went to work. I paid my bills. I want to take care of myself ... and be with my family like everyone else. I should have health insurance. It's not my fault.'

Even with Joyce's health struggles, Keith still feels they dodged a bullet, surviving two years without racking up tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills.

'I know a lot of people have it much worse than we did,' Keith said.

'We didn't get blown away, but we did get hit (by the health care crisis). Just because you didn't file medical bankruptcy doesn't mean you didn't get hit.'

The Dominguez family found itself in a similar predicament. Valentine's home inspector business crashed in 2008 along with the housing market, forcing him to take a night-shift factory job to support his wife and two children. He'd been there for five years when the factory downsized and laid him off a few months ago. Maria's jobs as an English literacy volunteer and office worker don't have insurance benefits.

Maria suffers from high cholesterol and fibromyalgia, causing severe hand pain. With insurance, her doctor visits cost $3 each. Since losing their insurance, they've been $30 each. She also now must pay full price for her medications, getting by with a few samples from her doctor.

'All the money we saved up is being used for medical bills,' Maria said.

The couple shopped for insurance on healthcare.gov but decided not to enroll. Instead, they decided to gamble a little bit longer, hoping Valentine can land a full-time job with benefits before the spring deadline to have health insurance.

Valentine found the healthcare.gov options expensive, and after a job interview last week, he feels hopeful that he'll be employed full time soon.

'I'd like to get my insurance from my next employer,' he said.

'So I'm going to wait a little longer.'

The Moens aren't going to wait. Now, with their new health insurance, they are feeling better about their future.

'I already have my list of doctors I plan to see,' Joyce Moens said.

'I can't wait to start taking care of myself.'

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West enjoy s'mores around the campfire on festive ...

The Kardashian Klan are making us VERY jealous as they enjoy a family holiday in snowy Utah

It makes a change from seeing celebrities show off their tanned limbs in teeny tiny bikinis on golden beaches in Barbados, but seeing the Kardashians enjoy a fun and festive family break still isn't doing much to cure our Christmas hangover.

Reality TV royalty Kim Kardashian, perma-grumpy hubby-to-be Kanye West and baby North West are holidaying in Park City, Utah, and looked a picture of happiness as they chowed down on yummy-looking toasted s'mores around a very large campfire (certainly not the type we were taught to make in Brownies).

The power couple were joined by Kim's big sister Kourtney, Scott Disick, their tiny bundles of joy Mason and Penelope and momager Kris Jenner, who posted a shot of the yummy looking s'mores to her Instagram account.

Wish we were there

While Kim and Kanye braved the cold without jackets, Kourtney, Penelope and Kris looked super-stylish as they bundled up in fur-trimmed outfits.

Last Friday, the Klan were pictured boarding a swanky private jet in Los Angeles after spending Christmas at home, where they lavished gifts on each other - including a minature black Lamborghini that Kanye bought for six-month-old North.

The mini black sports car is an exact replica of Kanye's $750,000 car and has the same matt paint finish.

Snap happy Kim was armed

Kim posted the snap under the caption: 'Like father like daughter.'

While rapper Kanye treated his missus to a one-of-a-kind hand painted George Condo Hermes bag.

Contemporary artist Condo has painted the piece directly onto the tan leather bag. His image shows two nude figures with what appears to be a monster in the background.

Big shot Kanye knows the New York-based artist from asking him to create a series of pictures for fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - which features a naked Kanye being straddled by a female with no arms.

Ohio gets $10.8 million bonus for getting low

DISPATCH FILE PHOTO

Santa's elves (center Steve Myers, defensive back Neal Colzie, and tailback Elmer Lippert) are shown with Santa and the Coach.

In late December 1973, Santa Claus -- also known as Ohio State football player Jim Kregel -- made an appearance at a party in Pasadena, Calif.

Santa took Woody Hayes, right, by surprise when he asked him if he was having a good time. The coach answered 'yes,' and Santa said, 'That sure is a switch.'

The remark brought the house down.

* * * *

The 1973 Buckeyes compiled a 10-0-1 record, including a win at the 1974 Rose Bowl, where OSU won 42-21 against USC.

* * * *

Thank you for reading 'A Look Back' on Dispatch.com, produced by the Dispatch Librarians. Best wishes for a Happy New Year!

Best of 2013: Live Concerts From One Direction to Kanye West

Year-end lists -- most of which have already emerged -- generally calculate the best in recorded music, celebrating the albums and songs critics deem most innovative and most skillful. But in many ways, it's the live performances of these recordings that tell us the most about both the artists making them and the fans consuming them. A One Direction show reveals far more about the community of people invested in the British boy band and their present cultural impact than one of their albums, because a live performance is entirely contingent on the relationship between the artist and those who adore them.

VIDEO: Best of 2013: Top 10 Music Collaborations

The past 12 months were defined by grandiose tours, those featuring expensive production, extensive tour dates and artists looking to define themselves visually as well as musically. Everyone from Taylor Swift to Rihanna to Kanye West to Nine Inch Nails invested in the aesthetic marriage of visual production and expressive music, their choices guided by the premise that experiencing something on multiple sensory levels can truly augment a song. For West, whose Yeezus Tour was one of the year's biggest and most involved, the stage production took on a theatrical quality, employing a massive set and multiple backup dancers to create a mood that suited the artist's dark, angry album. West donned masks for almost the entire set each night, revealing himself only late in the show when a Jesus figure literally unmasked him.

Drake represented the alternative side of hip-hop, presenting himself on a modernly stark stage in equal sized venues (both artists headlined the Staples Center in L.A. this year). For Drake, the performance was about his connection with the audience, something he spent a large portion of each show actively cultivating. It's an aesthetic that resonates with his emotionally driven, deeply personal music. Jay-Z, who toured both individually and on a co-headlining summer run with Justin Timberlake, cultivated a similar tone onstage, allowing the music and its relationship with the fans to be the primary motivator of his production and self-presentation.

The pop stars focused on glamorized, exciting ways to bolster their radio singles, with Rihanna relying on sex and drugs to sell her music onstage and Lady Gaga resorting to bizarre theatrics. Artists like Selena Gomez and Swift kept things simpler, perhaps because fans feel more in tune with them on a personal level, whether that connection is manufactured or not. Where Gaga faltered, caught up in an overwrought onstage narrative and too many self-important speeches, the more personable pop stars prevailed, most notably Swift, Beyonce, Ellie Goulding and Paramore.

LIST: Best of 2013: Top 10 Movie-Music Moments

The most fascinating of all tours this year was One Direction's run, which held court at the Staples Center for numerous nights in 2013 (the band will return to L.A. next year). For someone who is largely not a fan of the music, the performance was more about the fans than it was the band's songs. Talking to the teenage girls in attendance offered a sincere understanding of the band, who are worshipped in a way exclusive to them. One Direction fans, as it turns out, are rarely fans of other musicians; they are fans of One Direction - and anyone who tours with One Direction - alone. The band members, adorable in their feigned innocence, embrace this adoration onstage, delivering a solid performance every night.

Both if the hip-hop and pop tours focused heavily on production, choreography and ensuring that the fans felt their connection, real or staged, the best rock shows of the year were about genuine rawness. Nine Inch Nails celebrated the release of their latest album with a concert at the Troubadour, eschewing traditional production and light shows for an almost punk rock vibe that involved only Trent Reznor, his band and the extreme pummel of the music itself. The band's subsequent arena tour, which hit Staples Center in November, involved a light show second only to the one Muse hauled around earlier in the year, removing the band from the audience with a transparent curtain of lights.

Queens of the Stone were perhaps the best live rock band of 2013, perpetually extending their tour in support of new album ...Like Clockwork due to popular demand. But it was it was Paul McCartney who was hailed as one of the best performers of the year, largely thanks to his set at Bonnaroo in June, a performance that embodied the vigor of a much younger musician, circumnavigating his entire musical career.

If, at the end of a year, you find that you've experienced nearly every major tour of the past 12 months and attending almost every notable performance and festival, it seems like an opportunity to take stock, to determine what connects those live experiences in an overarching way. In 2013, that connector seems to be artists searching for ways to truly connect with their fans onstage. While that may seem reductive and hardly revelatory, there is a sense that musicians must embrace every possible way of audience relation, from social media to revealing interviews to 3D movies and biographical TV specials, to keep from falling out of the zeitgeist and losing coveted album sales. So it makes sense for Drake and Lady Gaga and One Direction to plot their set lists around planned moments of recurring fan engagement in a way they might not have in years past.

PHOTOS: Best of 2013: The Year in Concert Pictures

Kanye West, critically, had one of the most impressive and interesting releases of 2013, however, his tour felt notably overwrought. The music sounded good, sure, and it's always entertaining to see what West will do next, but having the album of the year doesn't mean the tour in support will be the comparable best.

My favorite live moments of the year aren't necessarily represented on the critical year-end lists: Baroness' aggressively heavy set at Bonnaroo during an oddly appropriate thunderstorm, Fall Out Boy's unabashed enthusiasm during their performance at the Roxy just after reuniting, Phoenix's standout set during the two-day iHeartRadio music festival in Las Vegas and Explosions In the Sky opening for NIN at Staples Center. In all these moments, I felt connected to the musicians onstage and the music they played, each for various reasons and in various ways. The best live performances are those that allow you to transcend the moment itself, whether by the merit of impressive pop production, a sincere delivery of the music, or some combination of the two. A live show lets you experience the music in its most expressive, genuine form alongside others in equal rapture. In this way, it's no wonder that the most instructive tour on fan unity in 2013 was that of One Direction.

Khloe Kardashian: North Has Dad Kanye West's 'Confident' Personality

Khloe revealed that her niece, North's personality is already so dominant and distinct! The proud auntie said in a new interview with 'Cosmopolitan UK,' that she has 'no doubt' North will be strong and confident - just like her parents, Kim and Kanye!

Khloe Kardashian is so impressed that her 6-month-old niece is already developing the 'strongest' personality traits of her parents Kim Kardashian and . She can already see that North is going to have quite a dominant personality, and she's even 'nervous' about how it will manifest when she's older!

Khloe Kardashian: North West's Personality 'Strong' & 'Confident' Like Kanye's

Khloe gushed that Kanye's parenting is having a direct effect on Nori's development. 'Kanye is such an awesome dad, and he's so opinionated and passionate,' Khloe, 29, told Cosmopolitan UK.

Take Our Poll

'North is only five-and-a-half months old but you can see she has opinions and a strong personality already,' Khloe explained of Kanye's influence.

'I'm kind of nervous to see what she's like when she's older,' Khloe admitted of her fears of having another strong personality in the family. 'But I think she'll be incredibly confident because Kim and Kanye are.'

Khloe Kardashian: 'I'm Very Happy With Who I Am'

Khloe has quite the strong personality herself! Despite a roller coaster ride of a year 2013, complete with marriage woes and a divorce filing, Khloe says she has absolutely no regrets because her experiences have made her who she is now.

'I don't regret anything about my life. My life has made me who I am at this moment and I'm very happy with who I am,' Khloe told Cosmo UK. 'No matter if it's great, disgusting, beautiful or ugly; it happens and it makes you you. Life is about how you process things.'

What do YOU think, HollyMoms? Do you think North will be more like Kim or Kanye?

- Kristine Hope Kowalski More North West News: Kim Kardashian Reveals North West's Pricey Designer Baby Gifts Kim Kardashian: Mason Disick Bosses Around North West & Penelope Disick Kim Kardashian Reveals Surprising Plan For North West's Schooling

Deadline Nears For Minn. Health Plan Sign

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Just two shopping days left for Minnesota health insurance shoppers who expect to have coverage as the new year starts.

Tuesday is the final day to enroll for a plan through the state's health insurance exchange, known as MNsure. The deadline had been moved from Dec. 23 to accommodate consumers struggling to navigate the clunky Website.

Meanwhile, the board that oversees MNsure will meet Monday afternoon. Members will hear from interim chief executive Scott Leitz, who has been on the job less than two weeks after replacing the prior executive director.

People who sign up by Tuesday have until Jan. 10 to pay their first month's premium. Those that miss the pre-Jan. 1 enrollment deadline have until the end of March to pick a plan before facing penalties.

(© Copyright 2013 HEALTHYINSURANCENEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)