Things I am Thankful for...

vicodin
my movie collection;
the three best ones I saw were:

1. Good fellas

2. A League of Their Own

3. The Right Stuff

(I don't remember much about the rest)

A great orthopedic surgeon...

"well, once we got in there, I noticed some bone spurs and some bursitis, so we took those out, you'll be good as new in nine months"...urgh!"

vicodin

A remote for the TV. I swear I would kill myself if I had to be cooped up at home all day everyday watching daytime TV.

Short term disability..."you mean I CAN'T work for two weeks?"

music

There is a new expanded release of "Street Survivors" by Lynyrd Skynyrd that is tres cool, I will delve into that next post, which will be tonight

basketball

The NBA playoffs are in full swing. I can't stand the NBA until the playoffs roll around, it came at a good time this year

dreams

I have had some of the most hullucinogenic dreams ever, I mean stuff that has no rhyme or reason. I kept having these dreams of a bridge to nowhere, I mean a bridge at sea where you kept driving and all there was noting around me except water, as far as the eye could see. Then I got on the computer a couple of days ago and saw these pictures..

Kyndall Raley Dobbelare
After years of trying, my brothers girl finally gives birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. She is the most beautifullest one. Congrats, Nicki and Bill. Your father would be ecstatic, I know I am. She looks like your grandma Lorraine.


vicodin

ummm...er...wha?

WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

back very soon. hard as hell to operate with just one side of your body engaged and it's not the right side

the picture sums up my dream pattern lately.

Saturday Morning (barely)

Truly saddened by the passing of Danny Federici, it's that gutteral Hammond b3 in songs like "My Hometown" and the solo on "Hungry Heart" that gave the Boss his spice. It was interesting to read that it was Danny's band to start with and he kept adding parts. It must be tough for the rest of them to continue. I am glad I got to see them as many times as I did.
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It's another cloudy, gray day here but I have been rescued. I have work to do in my flower patch and I am preparing to dig up part of my yard to plant my "Giant Tomato Trees" (as seen on TV). Yes, I ponied up $15 bucks for an add I saw on TV the other night that will allow me to grow GIANT tomatoes. I have the shovel at hand and I am not afraid to use it.
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It looks like my shoulder trouble was more than just that. According to my orthopedic guy, I have a complete tear in the rotator cuff. I will be on the DL for 8-9 MONTHS. Holy schmoley, I can't even grasp not being able to play ball for that long. It has been coming on for awhile but I didn't think it would be this bad. I go in on Wednesday and can't drive for at least ten days afterward. From what I hear, the rehab is painful. Short term disability at work and hopefully, a full lifestyle and basketball about the first of the year. For the next couple of weeks it's all the movies and vicodin I can handle. I type a lot with my right shoulder but I hope to be blogging while buzzed on painkillers > can't wait for that can you?

R I P Danny Federici

Danny Federici, one of the original members of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, died Thursday. He was 58.

The keyboardist passed away at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City after battling melanoma for three years, according to a posting on brucespringsteen.net.

His organ-playing can be heard in the classic "Born to Run," the 1975 song that launched Springsteen's career. He also played the organ and glockenspiel in the 1984 hit "Born in the U.S.A."

Robert Hilburn, former pop critic for the Los Angeles Times, said Federici brought a "soulful seasoning" to the band. "Sometimes it felt like the New Jersey shore, where he came from: sometimes bright, sometimes melancholy," Hilburn said.

"Danny was a marvelous musician, but for fans . . . his importance went beyond his keyboard work," Hilburn said. "There has long been a sense of brotherhood and community surrounding the E Street Band and Danny, through his playing and personality, contributed an essential element to that spirit."

Hilburn said of Springsteen's concert last week in Anaheim, "You couldn't help but miss Danny's presence. Without him, the band was not whole."

Federici, who has played with Springsteen since the late 1960s, dropped out of the group's U.S. tour in November to undergo treatment for the skin cancer. He made a special appearance in Indianapolis on March 20.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band began last year its first full-scale U.S. and European tour in four years.

Federici was born in Flemington, N.J., a long car ride from the Jersey shore haunts where he first met kindred musical spirit Springsteen in the late 1960s. The pair often jammed at the Upstage Club in Asbury Park, N.J., a now-defunct after-hours club that hosted the best musicians in the state.

It was Federici, along with original E Street Band drummer Vini Lopez, who invited Springsteen to join their band.

Federici became a stalwart in the E Street Band as Springsteen rocketed from the boardwalk to international stardom. Springsteen split from E Street in the late '80s, but they reunited for a hugely successful tour in 1999.

The Cuss-O-Meter

Created by OnePlusYou


I'm not sure what that means, but I think I said shit somewhere before, but I am not sure, damn it.

Dr. Sardonicus had a 10.8%
my man brian had a 28% tsk,tsk.

I know there was a fuck in there somewhere, too.

Scott Spiezio

The Cardinals paid you off to the tune of 2 million dollars. You approached The Braves and they took a chance on you with the stipulation that you be sober and "ready to play". You could have made everyone say they were wrong, you could have shown them (and me). You came to the ballpark not "ready to play" and the Braves released you. Get help now. So sad.

Backstage Pass Number 16

I don't remember a thing from this show. I know that about two weeks before the show, I interviewed Paul Rodgers. He was very nice and we had a wonderful time talking about obscure Free songs. Three days before the show (ticket sales were not at expectations) I talk to Jimmy Page live on the air from his hotel room in Dallas. Jimmy f*(king Page. Halfway through the interview, he drops the phone and I can hear background noise, but no Jimmy. Apparently, he passed out or something while talking to me. The running joke for the next forty five minutes was me constantly checking back with Jimmy and him not being there, but hearing people talking and traffic noise in the background. After about 45 minutes, some cat picks up the phone and says hello. I introduce myself and he tells me that Jimmy's "out cold". 4:45 in the afternoon and Page is out. He had a show that night in Dallas. I hope he gave them the best show he could. Might not be saying much.

"...What A Drag It Is To Get Old..."

Evidence A

After over 30 years under the headphones, my hearing is shot. I have tinnitus pretty bad. There is a constant swarm of cicadas around my ears, but of course, there really isn't. I can't hear the coffee maker beep. It hasn't affected my job, I just turn the headphones up louder. Ask anyone who's been in the business in the long term...they can't hear. Certainly, I can hear the phone, the person on the other end of the phone, and can function quite well in the everyday normal world, but the cicadas keep singing till August, when they are for real, but who's to tell?

Evidence B

Of all my body parts, my teeth suck the most. My mom took some kind of thyroid medication when I was inutero and my teeth have paid the price. I still have them (most of them) but now, they are probably going to undergo some kind of highway 40 restoration project (inside joke in St. Louis). The front two are glued in and bonded together (that's another story) and it feels like that we have a problem. Let's hope for the best, but I am very uncomfortable in that chair. My guy knows that if I sit in the chair, I get the gas, and it had better be cranked up. On the dread meter, this is a ten.

Evidence C

After years of hoisting three point bombs on the unsuspecting, helpless, hapless foes of mine (and making a couple), my shoulder's out of whack. I had an MRI on it the other day and I am still awaiting results, but doggone it, this stinks. I think it's a rotator, but I also thought I was an orthopedic surgeon once, then mom woke me for school.

Other than that, clean bill of health. I am blessed.

The Next Sign of the Apocolypse

rain 39 degrees

The headline on CBS news at 1 am last night..."this breaking news, reports from LA say that Britney Spears was involved in a minor traffic accident earlier today. No injuries were reported and police are not she if she was driving or not"...

I have nothing else to add.

From Steve Mays

Steve writes well. I stole this because he is SO right...

from www.smays.com

Bring back the draft
Viet Nam wasn't going well. We needed more "boots on the ground," so they re-instituted the draft on December 1, 1969 with a lottery. Low number, you're on your way to Viet Nam. High number, you okay. My number was 213 (out of 365). The draft was frozen at 195 in December of 1970. I dropped out of law school the next day.
In 1968, we had 536,100 troops in Viet Nam (compared to our 140,000 in Iraq). If we had the draft today, the war in Iraq would be over by the Fourth of July.

My brothers number was 4. He enlisted real soon. If we would have had 500,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, then Osama would be dead by now; then on to Pakistan. Iraq had nothing to do with this.

Route 66

Had a decent show after getting off to a rough start. It would be like a pitcher who gave up two runs in the first inning but settled down and delivered a win. I felt real good after a fellow employee called and told me how much he enjoyed the fabric of the show. I got a call from some guy in Cedar Rapids who couldn't believe I knew where he was. Hey, it's the second largest city in Iowa, right Jess? He was a fan of me at KSHE and wanted to hear The Doors. Not tonight but, how cool to be listening 250 miles away. What a trip to be responsible for 50,000 watts of holy light and a small part of countless lives, if only for 30 seconds or so, across two thirds of the US.

It was very very cool to play tunes by Buddy Holly, The Four Seasons, Bobby Darin and the like.

See ya next week.

The Dark Knight

The Killing Joke: The book which Heath Ledger was given as research for his role as the Joker. This is not your Adam West Batman. This is not your Jack Nicholson Joker, there is no room for anything other than madness. This is your madman on steriods Batman. Bruce Wayne saw his parents murdered in front of him at an early age. He did not take it well. This comic book is a fast track to the dark side to really try and understand the "Dark Knight" for who he is. Superman is The Beatles, all you need is love. Batman is the Stones, sympathy for the devil.

I.can't.wait.

Heath

Dude!

Annie Moses Band part two

One of the cool things about working in the media as that you never know who or what is coming next. A couple of weeks ago, I got a press release from Nashville asking for some mentions for an upcoming concert at a church in Belleville. It was a family and they knew it was a long shot to get on the big city radio station but it was worth a try. I became intrigued by this and ran it by John Carney who, bless his heart, said "why not". Thursday is the night we like to focus on music and told the publicist that we would love to have them but they had to come in the night before the show and play live. She asked if we could feed them in return for playing live. I went upstairs to the sales floor and worked it out so we were set. If you will see a previous post, I was just stunned when I saw these guys on youtube and couldn't wait to make their acquaintance. We met at "The Fountain on Locust" and had a wonderful dinner. Mon and Dad met early in life, became Nashville songwriters,starting having kids and each kid wanted to out do the other as far as musical talent is concerned. Two are Julliard trained, one was tutored by Itzak Perlman and were some of the nicest, most wonderful people I had ever met. After dinner, we hauled their equipment from across the street to the third floor of the Gateway Tower. They wanted to bring a harp, but space wouldn't allow. So, live in the studios of KMOX were a keyboard, an upright bass, a cello, a viola, violin and a mandolin, along with some box drums.Five microphones for all of this along with three people who sang. This is the way radio was 70 years ago, when it was ALL live. These guys were SO good, it was an incredible night of tight playing and hair standing harmonies. They told great stories and I think the audience was enthralled. John Carney mixed some of the best sounding music ever in mono. With what he had to work with, it sounded excellent. I became a fan and immediately started listening to the new CD "Through The Looking Glass". While listening to it at home, the words "they don't sound like a Christian band" were heard. Shades of Kansas, Dan Fogelberg, and even Mahavishnu Orchestra are heard. Annie (the oldest) is the front person and it's easy to see why. It's all good and me, being a music connoisseur, found it incredible. Anew fan with new friends, it doesn't get any better than that.

Thanks, God, for the joyful noise.

This is my favorite song of theirs and one they played for me Thursday night.

Tightening Up

Well, I continue to tweak this blog and correct errors. It is a constant state of flux, but that's part of the fun. So, a new poll, some new stuff on the right and I am still trying to find a way to post a podcast on this thing. I am not easily deterred so I hope to have podcasts up and running soon.

There should be a couple of new jukeboxes going up, one that's a smooth jazz offering and the other will probably be a classic country one, but I'm not sure.
I sure like the Radio One channel (it just now flipped to "South City Midnight Lady" from "In Dreams" by Roy Orbison) and Route 66 is still having songs added to it. You might want to check them out, I am getting some great emails on them.

Let me know if there is something that you would like to see on here.

Mascot Bloopers!

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

The Sherbs

Three big songs that I remember..."No Turning Back" and "I Have The Skill"


....from "The Skill".

Damn, I was 24. Jeez, that was 28 years ago. Ouch! Then, in 1981, "We Ride Tonight was a big hit in KC at KY.



I had this song on a cassette in my brand new "Walkman" with the special ear-fob headphone, tucked under my motorcycle helmet. Better song than video.

The Sherbs (nee Sherbet)

Tuesday early evening

Here are a couple of things that I have learned about the game of basketball. This is not an all-inclusive list but a couple of the fundamental things that were taught to me at a very early age...never, ever say you don't take free throw shooting seriously. You're kidding, right? You don't have your team practice free throws because "it hasn't hurt us yet". Nice. Here's another one...when the opposing team is down by three points and they have the ball with the clock winding down, I would think that the first thing I do in that situation is foul the shooter. He only gets two shots. Duh. But, I'm not the genius of John Calipari. He is a much better coach than me or anyone else, just ask him. I hope the smirk has left his face because his team choked. Up by nine late and you lose? A fundamentally sound Kansas team that did NOT play their best game exposed your team, finally. I wonder how far Davidson would have gone if they hadn't played Kansas and woke them up.

Congratulations to Bill Self, who now will get millions and millions of dollars thrown his way by two different schools. When he was at OSU, his wife (who is beautiful), was a cheerleader...still waters run deep.

We are having a group of Julliard trained musicians coming in the studio Thursday night (it's music night) on KMOX. The Annie Moses Band is a group of Christian musicians that really play.

obviously

I am taking them out to dinner on Thursday night and they will be the house band for KMOX. They are touring the US by bus and one of the requests we received was to feed them if we could. We can and will. I hope that their time in St. Louis is a pleasureable experience for them

Here they are live...

I think it will be a great show. This is one of the cool parts of the job.

Very funny!

Even though I am an Obama guy, this is hilarious!

Things Radio People Like Number 13

Outside of a dark production studio or dank, smelly on-air studio, a Radio Person feels most at home at Outback Steakhouse. It is risqué since its foreign but accessible since they speak English in Australia. When Outback Steakhouse was founded in 1998 in Tampa, FL few knew what a mark it would leave on the radio industry. But since it was well placed within driving distance to the legendary WFLZ, its culinary stranglehold on Radio People began to bloom.

Since then, Outback has become a place for Radio People to hold jock meetings, celebrate ratings, meet with their sales people, or record company reps. It’s also a great place to drown their sorrows after a period of “poor diary placement”, discuss HD Radio, have a send off to a downsized comrade, or just to ogle waitresses (since there isn’t a Hooters in their market).
While the theme of Outback restaurants are Australian (stuffed crocodiles, boomerangs, sting ray jokes, etc.) Radio People seem to flock to these restaurants not for the decor, but for the menu featuring reasonably priced steaks and most importantly, the infamous “Bloomin’ Onion".

A “Bloomin Onion” is the signature dish at Outback, and what better way to wet one’s appetite than with an onion that has been breaded, deep fried and blossomed to the tune of 2200 calories and 134 grams of fat. Radio people like nothing more than being able to ingest the maximum amount of calories in the shortest amount of time (they are lazy by nature), and the Bloomin Onion is the best way to accomplish this outside of the Triple Big Mac. This monstrous item is also a great centerpiece for meetings. You can always spot the Radio People in an Outback Steakhouse, they’re the ones in the back corner wondering who notices them and who average 1 “Bloomin’ Onion” per 2 Radio People (unless they are in sales or production…in that case double the average), and are usually asking their waitress for extra Cajun mayo aioli (usually referred to by Radio People as “the sauce”). Radio People love to follow up a freshly fried “Bloomin’ Onion” with one of Outback’s signature steaks. What could be a better way to wash down a battered and fried whole onion? Obviously, a steak that’s been grilled in butter!



So if you find yourself navigating any of our countries major highways or biways, take comfort in knowing that you’re only one or two exits from the next Outback Steakhouse, and there’s a damn good chance that it will be filled with Radio People hogging all the aioli.

I'm A Man...M-A-N...

Today, while the weather was fine, I decided to tackle a manly chore that, in the past, I hired someone to do. I gave my lawn mover it's every other year checkup. I drained the tank, grabbed a newly gapped spark plug, washed and changed the filter, took off every wheel, oiled the axles and washers and put it all back together again.
I pulled the string........ and it stated on the very first pull. I'm up to changing my own oil next weekend. Uh, where do you put the old oil?

Sports Illustrated Lists The Top 25 Toughest Athletes

Yep, she's on the list.

Overlooked Gem

On the heels of "New Girl Now" (3 minutes of great power pop), I liked this song much better.
Pretty cool video for it's day, too.

Honeymoon Suite website

April 5th

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun

And I say it's all right

Little darlin' it's been a long cold lonely winter

Little darlin' it feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun

And I say it's all right

Little darlin' the smiles returning to their faces

Little darlin' it seems like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun

And I say it's all right

The end of the world part 134, Mariah Carey now has more number one songs than Elvis, I'm afraid I can't name one...

The Clinton's made over $109 million dollars in the last 7 years, and gave away a lot to charity. The charity was the Clinton foundation. I don't think I can take another four years of these guys. I voted for Bill twice. The drama was unending, please go away.

The Atlanta Braves have put Scott Spiezio on their roster, this is all that's wrong in sports. So, Scott will not only draw the $2 million the Cardinals owe him, but will be double dipping with The Braves, too. What a country.

Elizabeth Hasselbeck, who, somehow landed a plump role with the other hissy "View" gals, (because she was a"Survivor") has made some strange connection to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jeffrey Dahmer and peanut butter sandwiches. Journalism circa 2008.

This pregnant guy story has made me queesy. I am not sure what to feel here, other than utter comtempt and sorriness for a person so begging for attention.

The retro MLK tributes take me back to a time, living in Rock Island and going to school in East Moline. My parents were apart (again) and being twelve, I didn't quite grasp what was happening except the country was coming apart at the seams. I feel that way again now. The oil companies get richer becuase price of gasoline is going through the roof and now, in St. Louis the water company wants a lot more money every month. Not to be outdone, our local electric outlet wants more than the $310 million pure profit they made last year. They have announced they want a 12 percent increase. My escrow payments went up $80 a month. I feel again like I did when I was twelve. I keep hanging on, but the perch is dwindling day by day.

Thank God for music and a sunny day. We have new "Indiana Jones", "Batman" and "James Bond" movies coming, something to look forward to. I have to rescue my back yard. There isn't much left of it after this winter and spring.

Another Grey Morning

cloudy (again) 42 degrees

When I feel as though my love is sinking down

The sun doesn't want to shine

When it feels like she won't face another day

Life is unkind

She's frozen in time

And here comes another grey morning

A not so good morning after all

She says "well, what am I to do today

With too much time and so much sorrow"

She hears the baby waking up downstairs

She hears the foghorn calling out across the sound

Repetition in the morning air

Is just too much to bear

And no one seems to care

If another day goes creeping by

Empty and ashamed

Like an old unwanted memory

That no one will claim

The clouds with their heads on the ground

She's gonna have to come down

She said "move me, move me

I'm locked up inside"

Well, I didn't understand her

Though God knows I tried

She said "make me angry

But just make me cry

But no more grey morning

I think I'd rather die"

Refrigerator art

From the mind of babes...
Of course they are scissors

Thanks Beth

The Latest Entry Into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Even though her album "Hard Candy" doesn’t come out until April 28th, the Telegraph UK says that Madonna has already made millions off it by selling tracks for commercials and advertising.

Nice, we are all so proud. Good job RandR Hall of Fame, nothing like corporate greed that defines what we were all about, huh? Keith Moon is spinning so fast...

Things Radio People Like Number 14

14) The Spring Book
04/03/2008

Today marks the start of the only real “official” Radio Person holiday, The Spring Book. For a Radio Person the Spring Book is like Chanukah except longer and has less candles or any religious connotation. The Spring Book is when Radio People drastically change everything they are doing in order to make a stellar impression on the listener for the next three months and ultimately get the Holy Grail for Radio People…”A Good Spring Book.”

The first thing a good Radio Person does to prepare for a Spring Book is to tighten up. You will hear all sorts of Radio People say they are dropping music, adding music, changing formats, adding talking animals, shifting air shifts around, maybe even air-checking their DJs to make sure everything is tight.
In fact, the cornerstone of a good Spring Book is that everything is tight and once the level of “tightness” is established, the Radio Person then gets to pick their catch phrase de jour for the next three months all of which sound like sexual euphemisms:

“Tight is Right”
“Gonna Tighten Here Down This Weekend”
“If It Ain’t Tight, It Ain’t Right”
“Got to Tighten Down Before My Competition Does”


It is actually a pretty fun exercise, even if you aren’t a troglodyte. All you have to do is take something you would do on a daily basis that might be for recreation and replace that action with the word “tight” or “tighten” and you can create your own Radio Person Spring Book Catch Phrase, which I think the Nintendo Wii version is coming out in 2009.


The next thing you have to do is “Make A Big Splash.” This involves giving something away to your listener that you don’t do for the rest of the year. Could be cash, a car, a boat, or even somebody’s child… The ideal formula involves a big-ticket item (like a car) surrounded by a contest that would get you exposure on some other media (like TV or Perez Hilton) and has at least a slight probability to land you in jail even if it is for rigging that same contest.
A good one that leaps to mind might be:

“Kill A Konvict for a Korvette”

(make sure to change all the letters to “k” for the alliteration)

Then before you execute the contest, after you have gotten the exposure you reveal that it is just a highly trumped up version of Whack-A-Mole for a chance to drive away in a new car and your Spring Promotion is in the bag The final thing you have to do is some “Spring Cleaning” of your imaging and positioner, because if you don’t reinvent the station from the ground up for these pivotal three months, you are going to have a bad year my friend. Start by taking all the imaging you currently have and get rid of it and then replace it with new imaging preferably done by the Space Ghost guy, the Master Shake guy, or Don Lafontaine. Then have them say really obscure things like “putting the “o” in iPhone” and sandwich it between those guys reading your new positioner which should be like “The Best Mix of the 80’s, 90’s and Today for the Springtime with more than 96 minutes of music an hour.”


To see it in context it should look like this:
The Best Mix of the 80’s, 90’s and Today for the Springtime with more than 96 minutes of music an hour, we’re putting the “o” in iPhone… The Best Mix of the 80’s, 90’s and Today for the Springtime with more than 96 minutes of music an hour 108.97 WGRR


And that should do it.

Radio People love this time of year when they take the 9 months leading up to today and call it practice in order to completely change the format and feel of the radio station so as to insure having “A Good Spring Book” so they can pitch that to their clients.

See, it really is all about the listeners after all.

Cool stuff