This is from Dan Kelly's excellent classic rock blog you can find here or permanently on your right.
The Countdown is over - and the best market for radio is: Chicago! "A huge, eclectic variety and still the best morning-show slate anywhere."That according to Sean Ross and the staff at Edison Media Research - who have been counting down their list of the ten best markets for radio over the past several weeks in their excellent "Infinite Dial" blog.
Let's face it, this stuff is very subjective (any top ten list is) but I, like Dan, thought Denver would do better. Denver is (and has always been) one of the bright spots when it comes to radio
If you are not from Kansas City, this post won't mean much to you, but to those of us who know Jack, he is as about as quirky as an icon can get for a major metropolitan area. Jack has pretty much made his fame a lot of his fortune by reviewing movies for Kansas City media outlets. I met Jack in about 1978 when I first arrived in KC from a much smaller market (Quad Cities). At the time he was filming a semi-pornographic movie that featured a giant penis running down the streets of Kansas City. Nice. First impressions as they say.. At that time on KY 102 every night at 5:50, we ran a feature called "Nighttime Magazine" which basically brought you up to date with everything going on in the city. For the next ten minutes or so, someone; whether it be Ted Nugent, Alan Carr, Pee Wee Herman, etc or the local bar owner or client that had something going on in the city was on that night. It was our chance to stop the station for about ten minutes and have some fun with whoever it was. "Nighttime Magazine" was one of the most popular features ever and it was just the station being local, topical, entertaining and fun without playing music. What a concept! Anyway, Friday night was "Jack Goes To The Movies Night" when that ten minutes would stretch to twenty because Jack brought real good shit to the party. Like the time he brought producer Alan Carr on the show becasue Alan was in town for the (shitty) remake of "Where The Boys Are". Alan takes a seat, the interview begins and Alan decides to drop his hand right on my leg. The audio is brilliant and Jack has it somewhere. The concept was brilliant, sure...let's get a guy with a German accent and have him come in every week and review movies...sure. Max Floyd was a friggin genius with that move. Jack has been just about the face of KY over those years. Jack and I have known good times and bad and ups and downs, he remains a guy of great class and dignity. I have never seen him drive anything but a Mercedes. His weird fetish for "Mama Mia" aside, Jack is a guy you can really have a good time with just sitting and drinking. I know because I have. Many times. As his show gets ready to celebrate it's 30th anniversary (on one station, pretty much uninterrupted), I am proud to consider him as a good friend. Here's the link to his website.
This was in Cincinnati during the lost weekend 1984, I believe. We ate at a German restaurant and dined with Randy Micheals. Got really really really trashed. Left to right: Jack, Paul Fredrocks, Skid Roadie, me. Jack at his other job with Sheldon Travel. He is a great travel guy, also.
We know the kids in this video. This band is very good and is doing very well. The edit job is by someone who was taught to do this by the wife. I think he learned very well. I think you'll enjoy this tune.
I must say, I grew up in a great time in the USA. In the early 70's, Saturday afternoons were full of cool stuff to do. If I wasn't working, riding my bike, going to the head shops or bowling I was watching "ABC's Wide World of Sports." Every six months or so would come on this flamboyant man dressed in a cape and he would jump over cars with his motorcycle. Sometimes he'd crash! Cool. If you were in your teens at that time, Evel was about as cool as it got. He had a beautiful wife and jumped junk for large sums of money, how great it would be to earn a living doing that, huh? Evel passed yesterday at the age on 69. My first response was how lucky he was to make it that far. My friends we are at a time in our lives when all of the people we followed in our youth (whether they are our "heroes" or just people we had a passing interest in) are leaving for the next life. My mother said that was her first inclination she was getting old. Evel represented to me all the stuff I could never do (a future post will detail the time I tried to jump a motorcycle at Arrowhead Stadium) Thanks Evel for one of my most forgettable interviews, too. He came through KC in about 1984 and while he was at the studio, he hit on my girlfriend so mercilessly that she finally had to leave the room. He was a bit hammered, too. I am sure he had his share of painkillers (legal or not) in his life. For doing all the things I could never do, here's to you, Evel.
BILLY JOEL has passed along his latest composition, "CHRISTMAS In FALLUJAH," to emerging artist CASS DILLON. DILLON's rendition of the song -- produced by TOMMY BYRNES and JAY BAUMGARDNER and recorded with members of JOEL's ensemble -- will be available for purchase exclusively on the ITUNES STORE beginning TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4th. Net proceeds from "CHRISTMAS in FALLUJAH" will be donated to "Homes For Our Troops," a nonprofit organization that builds specially adapted homes for service members returning from IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN with severe disabilities. BILLY JOEL is an avid supporter of the organization. JOEL wrote "Christmas In Fallujah" earlier this year as a response to letters he's received from soldiers in Iraq, men and women who've found solace, inspiration and comfort in his songs. "I didn't feel I was the person to sing this song," said JOEL of the decision to work with DILLON, 21. "I thought it should be somebody young, about a soldier's age. I wanted to help somebody else's career. I've had plenty of hits. I've had plenty of airplay. I've had my time in the sun. I think it's time for somebody else, maybe, to benefit from my own experience."For more information, please go to www.homesforourtroops.org .
Damn, how cool. Way to go Billy, you have just cemented my respect. His time is done and he passes the torch to the next generation. I salute you, Mr. Joel.
Bud Light Presents: Real Men of Genius(real men of genius)
Today we salute you, Mr. Excuse Ridden Over-Confident Kansas Football Fan. (Mr. Excuse Ridden Over-Confident Kansas Football Fan) Eleven straight wins, you wore that classy “Muck Fizzou” shirt like you meant it (Pinch me, I'm dreamin'!) A season of bloated statistics and over-hyped wins against Junior Varsity competition (Serve another cupcake!) Losing to a superior team with better players is no match for your what-if scenarios and could-have-been dreams (The field goal missed by inches!) So crack open an ice-cold Bud Light you emphatic engineer of excuses. After all, you would’ve won the game if it was played somewhere else! (Mr Excuse Ridden Over-Confident Kansas Football Fan.)
From Wikipedia: Crabby Appleton was an early 1970sband who scored a Top 40hit with their first single, "Go Back". Though nearly everybody in the group was from a LA based band called Stonehenge, the group was re-vamped with the introduction of Michael Fennelly to the line-up. Although Fennelly was the final addition to the group, he was the group's leader, writing all of their material and being the sole guitarist and vocalist. Fennelly had previously been one of the principal vocalists and songwriters in The Millennium, whose sole album (Begin, 1968), is considered a classic of sunshine pop. In addition to Fennelly, the group's members included Felix "Falco" Falon (percussion), Casey Foutz (keyboards), Hank Harvey (bass), and Phil Jones (drums). The group was signed to Elektra Records, probably at the insistence of JacHolzman, who was a big fan of Begin, and was later responsible for Curt Boettcher being signed to Elektra. The group recorded their first album for the label, and things looked promising when their debut single, "Go Back", climbed to #36 on the Billboard Hot 100chart. However, the album, Crabby Appleton, stalled at #175 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart, which would mark the extent of the group's chart success. Their second (and final) album, Rotten To The Core, as well as their subsequent singles, all missed the charts, and the group disbanded. Fennelly went on to attempt a career as a soloartist and studiomusician, though none of his later efforts as a solo musician were successful. Both Crabby Appleton albums have been reissued on CD by Collector's Choice Music, and "Go Back" has been released on many "Hits of the 1970s" compilations. The group is apparently named after the character of the same name from the Tom Terrific cartoon.
The first time I heard this song was (of course) on late night radio. I was blown away. Just the tome of the song and that monstrous sounding drum kit along with that tasty guitar hooked me big time. I immediately went and ordered the song from my hometown record outlet,(Cummins Electric, whose proprietor and I became great friends) took it home and proceeded to drive my family crazy. I was a master air guitar and air drummer and this song fulfilled my needs. After all these years, whenever I hear the song, I get out the old air guitar and completely embarrass my family. Micheal Fennelly went on to sing with Steely Dan on the song "Boston Rag" and had a solo career featuring two "KSHE Classics" including "Touch My Soul" and "The Day of The Fire".
This post was originally to be about Kevin DuBrow passing, but instead turned into video tribute to Slade, a band I saw in Davenport friggin Iowa in the late 70s. They rocked me out of the house and so now you know how this post became so ADDish. Here's Quiet Riot's bio. Kevin DuBrow was found dead today at the age of 52. He was the lead singer of Quiet Riot who basically, on the strength of two awesome Slade songs got their fifteen minutes of fame. Every time I met this guy, he was not a pleasant person. I met him three times in five years and each time I wanted to say.."do you really believe that you are that important?" He pretty much pissed off his fans, his band, any connection with radio and ultimately, the band known as giving Randy Rhoads his start slipped underneath the radar for good. It's not good karma to talk about the dead this way, so I will give him credit for exposing a whole new generation to the power that was Slade.
Noddy Holder rocks! How much? check this out: "While Slade's attempts at cracking the United States market were largely unsuccessful, they left their mark on a several US bands who cite Slade as an influence. Kiss bassist Gene Simmons readily admits that his band's early songwriting ethos and stage performance style was influenced by Slade. In his book "Kiss and Make-Up," Simmons writes on page 85, "the one we kept returning to was Slade," and "we liked the way they connected with the crowd, and the way they wrote anthems... we wanted that same energy, that same irresistible simplicity. but we wanted it American-style." Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick has said that his band went to see Slade perform, and that they used "every cheap trick in the book", thus inadvertently coining his group's name. Quiet Riot had a U.S. hit with their cover of Cum on Feel the Noize."
My video tribute to Slade starting with their great reunion drinking song:
Noddy Holder rocks! How much? check this out: "While Slade's attempts at cracking the