Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Amanda Lucas vs Yumiko Hotta

Today on Big Bad Blog Video Theater I have Amanda Lucas vs Yumiko Hotta from yesterday's DEEP show at TDC Hall. This was for a worthless DEEP Open Weight Championship. Of course the problem is that Hotta is a broken down has been pro wrestler who hadn't fought MMA in over a decade. The result was that none of the Japanese media took the fight seriously. Their questions for Lucas the other day at her open workout were about Star Wars, not the fight. As for Hotta, even her fellow pro wrestler and best friend for 25 years Mima Shimoda laughed at her. And she admitted at her open workout that she was talked into taking the match against her better judgement. As expected, Lucas dominated the fight. Some reports have said that Hotta was surprisingly tough. I don't know what people are watching. In round one, Hotta exhibited good ground defense by pulling Lucas into guard. But she exhibited no offense and a Lucas armlock attempt was saved by the bell. I thought Lucas should have pounded her more. And I guess her corner told her that too because she did exactly that in round two. And I think the fight should have been stopped. I've seen a lot of fights stopped for less. Hotta was just squirming around. She wasn't responding. Not surprisingly, Lucas was getting arm weary. So at the start of round three, Hotta landed a couple of punches. When Lucas took her down, she fluked into a guillotine choke. But Lucas escaped easily and then ended it with a V1 armbar. It was about what I expected. I'd like to see Amanda Lucas fight someone halfway decent instead of tomato cans set up for celebrity fawning. Until then, I can't tell you if she's good or not. Supposedly she wants to drop to 145 but she's never done that. If you recall, she missed weight for her fight against Hikaru Shinohara. Why do you think this was Open Weight?

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Mountain

Artist:Mountain
Song:Mississippi Queen
Album:On Top





The 1970 hard rock classic Mississippi Queen was the biggest hit for Mountain. They likely would have had more success if they had remained together longer. Mountain was formed in the wake of the split of Cream. Lead singer and guitarist Leslie West led a band in New Jersey called The Vagrants. Cream producer Felix Pappalardi had produced some of the band's music. When The Vagrants split up, West started the new band Leslie West Mountain. This was a reference to West's physical bulk. Pappalardi expressed an interest in Mountain and joined the band playing bass. The drummer was ND Smart of The Remains. The band recorded an album and played Woodstock. That performance was not filmed. Soon after, Smart was replaced by Canadian Corky Laing. Pappalardi knew him from his band Energy. Mountain signed with Windfall Records with distribution by Bell Records. Climbing! was their debut album and it reached #17 on the Billboard Hot 200. Mississippi Queen reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also got a big boost when it was used in the 1971 film Vanishing Point. Laing had written the song before he joined Mountain and pulled the lyrics out of his pocket when West was looking for new songs during the Climbing! sessions. Today the song is considered a southern rock classic though Mountain isn't from the south. They recorded a couple more albums that didn't sell as well and a combination of West's drug abuse and Pappalardi's dislike of touring split Mountain up in 1972. This budget CD is a good intro to their music. West and Laing formed West, Bruce & Laing with former Cream bassist Jack Bruce. They recorded a 1973 album and Bruce left. In 1974, West and Pappalardi reformed Mountain with session musicians Alan Schwartzberg (drums) and Bob Mann (keyboards) and recorded a live album. Felix Pappalardi was murdered by his wife in 1983. She was convicted of criminally negligent homicide. West and Laing reformed Mountain in the 80s and the band still tours today. Here's Mountain performing Mississippi Queen on Randall's Island from the 1970 film The Day The Music Died.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Lee Ann Womack

Artist:Lee Ann Womack
Song:I Hope You Dance
Album:Greatest Hits





I Hope You Dance is the signature song and only number one country music hit for Lee Ann Womack. It also crossed over to pop. Her career seems to have stalled. She hasn't released an album since 2008. She was born Aug. 19, 1966 in Jacksonville, TX. Her father was a DJ. Her original plan was to get into the business end of country music. While attending Belmont University in Nashville, she was an A & R intern at MCA Records. She got married. She had a daughter in 1991. The marriage broke up. Lee Ann signed a publishing deal in 1995. And after a couple of her songs were recorded by others, she auditioned for MCA Records and signed a record deal. She released her debut CD in 1997 and The Fool was a top five country hit. There was some concern that folks would confuse her with LeAnn Rimes but it wasn't a problem. Her 1998 CD Some Things I Know had two top five hits. But then she hit it big with her 2000 CD I Hope You Dance. Not only did it top the country chart but it reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. She had also married producer Frank Liddell and had her second daughter. Of course country music purists criticized the song for being too pop. I Hope You Dance was written by Mark D. Sanders and Tia Sillers. Sanders is a veteran Nashville songwriter. This is his biggest hit and he also won a Best Song Grammy. Tia Sillers usually performs with her blues musician husband Mark Selby. The vocal group Sons Of The Desert perform the harmony vocals. Lee Ann Womack's subsequent albums haven't done as well. You can get all her hits on this budget comp. Her most recent CD Call Me Crazy was released in 2008. Apparently there were plans for new music in 2010 but nothing has been released. Her song Liars Lie appeared in the 2010 film Country Strong. This indicates that she may be having record company issues but there is no news to report. I think she's a very good singer but she's 45 now. Time's a-wastin'. Here's the video for I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack. And her daughters appear in the video.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Jack DeJohnette

Artist:Jack DeJohnette
Song:One For Eric
Album:Special Edirion





Drummer Jack DeJohnette is one of the all time jazz greats. He is best known for his albums on the German label ECM including this 1979 CD Special Edition. He was born Aug. 9, 1942 in Chicago. He took piano lessons as a child and got interested in jazz as a teen. Ahmad Jamal was a big influence. He switched to drums in his late teens and backed up John Coltrane when he came to Chicago. He moved to New York in 1966 and got his big break as a member of Charles Lloyd's band. Keith Jarrett was also in that band. DeJohnnette appeared on a Bill Evans live recording in 1968. He recorded his first solo album The DeJohnette Complex on Milestone Records in 1969. But at the same time, he replaced Tony Williams in the Miles Davis band and played on the groundbreaking recording Bitches Brew. When he left Davis in 1972, DeJohnette took a detour into jazz rock territory with Compost along with Bob Moses and Harold Vick. They recorded two unsuccessful albums for Columbia. I saw Compost at the Colonial Tavern in Toronto. They were a good band but weren't commercial enough. Then DeJohnette formed Directions with guitarist John Abercrombie. Those two guys have recorded together a lot. Abercrombie was already on ECM Records. So naturally DeJohnette joined the label too. One For Eric is from the 1979 album Special Edition with David Murray on tenor sax, Arthur Blythe on alto sax and Peter Warren on bass. It's a classic jazz album and was released on CD in 2008 as part of the ECM Touchstone series. Since the 80s, DeJohnette has been a member of Keith Jarrett's Standards with bassist Gary Peacock. Since 2003, he has been part of Trio Beyond with John Scofield and Larry Goldings. He has also toured with Bruce Hornsby and his current band The Jack DeJohnette Group includes Rudresh Maranthappa on sax, David Fiuczynski on guitar, George Colligan on keyboards and Jerome Harris on bass. So Jack DeJohnette is turning 70 this year but doesn't appear to be slowing down. Here's Jack DeJohnette with Howard Johnson on tuba and baritone sax, David Murray on tenor sax, John Purcell on alto sax and Rufus Reid on bass performing One For Eric Warsaw, Poland 1983.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Emmylou Harris

Artist:Emmylou Harris
Song:Two More Bottles Of Wine
Album:The Very Best Of Emmylou Harris: Heartcahes & Highways





Emmylou Harris has one of the alltime great voices of country music. She has had five number one country hit plus two as part of a duo or group. Two More Bottles Of Wine was her second number one hit in 1978. Emmylou took a very unconventional route to stardom. She was born Apr. 2, 1947 in Birmingham, AL and grew up in North Carolina and Woodbridge, VA. Her father was in the Marine Corps. While attending the University Of North Carolina at Greensboro on a drama scholarship, she decided to become a folksinger and moved to New York City. But by the late 60s, folk music wasn't popular anymore. She recorded an album in 1969 that went nowhere. She married songwriter Tom Slocum and split up after having a daughter. So she moved in with her parents in Maryland. Her big break came one night in 1971. She was performing with her trio and Chris Hillman of The Flying Burrito Brothers was in the audience. He introduced Emmylou to Gram Parsons who had just left the Burrito Brothers and was recording his solo album GP. She joined his band and made her name performing vocal harmonies with Parsons. After Parsons' 1973 death, Emmylou started her own band. She signed with Warner Bros.' Reprise label and she was introduced to Canadian producer Brian Ahern. He was best known for producing Anne Murray. Her 1975 debut album Pieces In The Sky did very well and had two top ten singles. It wasn't a typical Nashville country album. She then formed The Hot Band with guitar legend James Burton, pianist Glen Hardin, pedal steel guitarist Hank DeVito, bassist Emory Gordy Jr. and singer songwriter Rodney Crowell. Unlike other country artists, Emmylou's music was marketed to the album market though she did have some big country hits. Burton and Crowell left and were replaced by Albert Lee and Ricky Skaggs. Two More Bottles Of Wine is from the 1978 album Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town. It was Emmylou's second number one country music hit. The song was written by Delbert McClinton, best known for his hit single Giving It Up For Your Love. Emmylou Harris and Brian Ahern were married in 1977. In the 80s, Emmylou's music went in a traditional bluegrass direction. Her biggest success was the 1987 album she recorded with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton. Their cover of Phil Spector's To Know Him Is To Love Him topped the country charts. Since then, Emmylou Harris has continued to be one of the most respected performers in roots music. She still records for Warners' Nonesuch. And she's a grandma. This comp is a good intro to her music. Here's Emmylou Harris performing Two More Bottles Of Wine on Austin City Limits early 80s.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Pink Floyd

Artist:Pink Floyd
Song:Money
Album:The Dark Side Of The Moon





Pink Floyd started out as a standard psychedelic band and in the 70s became the most popular progressive rock band ever. Money was their first US hit single and helped them reach a much larger audience. Roger Waters and Nick Mason met in 1963 while studying architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic in London. They formed the band Sigma 6 with Richard Wright and others. Then they met Syd Barrett. He came up with the name Pink Floyd from blues singers Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. They played gigs in London and eventually attracted record companies. They signed with EMI in 1966. For the first couple of years, Barrett was Pink Floyd's main songwriter. The problem was his LSD usage caused increasingly erratic behaviour and he was fired in early 1968. David Gilmour had already joined Pink Floyd. The band's music took a more progressive turn at that point. Pink Floyd was doing well but needed a breakthrough especially in the US. Albums like Atom Heart Mother and Meddle didn't do that. They decided to record a concept album based on things that make people mad. Waters wrote most of the lyrics. The Dark Side Of The Moon was well received but Capitol Records went the extra mile in the US and got Money significant radio play. It reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. That propelled the album to a much bigger audience and it is one of the best selling albums of all time. It remained on the Billboard Hot 200 for 741 weeks. It set up Pink Floyd for long term success especially since The Dark Side Of The Moon was their last album for Capitol. They moved to Columbia for the 1975 album Wish You Were Here. The band's success continued with that album and the 1979 album The Wall. Normally I would recommend a comp but The Dark Side Of The Moon was a concept album and the songs should be heard as a unit. Syd Barrett died in 2006 and Richard Wright died in 2008. But Gilmour, Waters and Mason are still around and perform as Pink Floyd when they aren't busy with other projects. Here's the video for Money by Pink Floyd.

Gail Kim retains TNA Knockouts Championship

Here's the match video of Gail Kim vs Tara from Sunday's TNA PPV. My main complaint about the match is it's way too short. TNA gave the girls six minutes and the Garrett Bischoff nonsense got 12 minutes. It just shows that no matter what the TNA Knockouts do to improve the product, they will still be low in the pecking order. You'll notice they are doing an injury angle with Tara. I wonder if this will lead to retirement. There's no question she has lost a step and her moves aren't as crisp as they once were. And of course as we first saw at Impact a couple of weeks ago, they are splitting Gail Kim and Madison Rayne up which will lead to a title match on the next PPV. And they are still the tag team champs. I'm not surprised they are splitting up but I think it's too soon for that. I expect Madison to get booed because she is more cowardly than Gail. It should be clear by now that TNA really really likes Madison because she does whatever she is asked to do including dumbing down her mat skills. But like Velvet Sky, I don't believe Madison has the ring skills to deliver a good match on a PPV. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that Vince Russo left TNA today. Two years too late, I guess. Bruce Prichard has been head of creative for a while. I wonder if Dave Lagana will be brought in as he has been working on the Indian show. BTW, other than the Mickie vs Melissa match, I hate that show. None of the Indian guys can wrestle and the matches are terrible. And for all the supposed crowd enthusiasm, they're still adding a lot of crowd noise in post production.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Martha and the Muffins

Artist:Martha and the Muffins
Song:Echo Beach
Album:Then Again: A Retrospective





This New Wave classic by the Canadian band Martha and the Muffins was not only a big hit in Canada but in England. They had additional success in the 80s when they changed their name to M + M. The band was formed in Toronto in 1977 by Ontario College of Art students David Millar and Mark Gane. Millar recruited Martha Johnson to play keyboards and she brought her friend Carl Finkle to play bass. Gane's brother Tim Gane played drums. Martha was lead singer when they played their first shows at the OCA. The name Martha and the Muffins was supposed to be a counterpoint to some of the aggressive names used by other punk bands. They added sax player Andy Haas and Millar left to be the band's audio engineer. Martha Ladly replaced him. She knew the Ganes in high school. They released a single independently and then signed with Virgin's Dindisc label. They recorded their debut album Metro Music in England with producer Mike Howlett formerly of the group Gong. Echo Beach reached #5 on the Canadian Singles chart and #10 on the British Singles chart. Today it's considered a New Wave classic. There is no Echo Beach in Toronto. The song is about Gane daydreaming about going to Toronto's Sunnyside Beach while working a very boring job. The word Sunnyside wouldn't have worked in the song. Their next two albums didn't do as well and members were leaving anyway so Virgin dropped them. So at this point the band was Mark Gane, Martha Johnson, Jocelyne Lanois and Nick Kent. Jocelyne is the sister of producer Daniel Lanois and he produced the third album. They signed with RCA's Current label and Gane changed the group name to M + M. After the 1983 album Danseparc, M + M became the duo of Gane and Johnson. They used session musicians on the 1984 album Mystery Walk and had success with the single Black Stations/White Stations especially on the dance chart. They recorded one more album and moved to England in 1987. You can get all of their hits on this EMI Canada comp. The group has reunited occasionally and released new albums in 1992 and 2008. Martha Johnson recorded an album of children's music and the duo have worked on film music. Here's the video for Echo Beach by Martha and the Muffins.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-John Michael Montgomery

Artist:John Michael Montgomery
Song:The Little Girl
Album:The Very Best Of John Michael Montgomery





John Michael Montgomery had a total of seven number one country music hits mostly in the 90s. The somewhat controversial The Little Girl was the last of those number one hits in 2000 though it did cross over to the pop charts. He built his career on songs that were more romantic than this. He was born Jan. 20, 1965 in Danville, KY. His father led the family country music band and his brother Eddie Montgomery is half of Montgomery Gentry. He was discovered playing a club in Lexington and signed with Atlantic Records in 1991. Life's A Dance was his 1992 debut CD and I Love The Way You Love Me was his first number one country hit. His second CD Kickin' It Up had three number one hits including I Swear which was a pop hit for the boy band All-4-One. Montgomery continued this success until he started to fade with the 1996 CD What I Do The Best. The decline continued until he topped the country charts with the 2000 song The Little Girl. It also was a top forty pop hit. The song features Allison Krauss on harmony vocals. The song is about a girl who witnesses the murder and suicide of her alcoholic parents. She was adopted and then finds her faith. The song is not based on fact. Songwriter Harley Allen based the song on an urban legend that was given to him and wrote it in 15 minutes. Allen is the son of bluegrass musician Red Allen. He has recorded solo albums but most of his success has been writing songs for others. This was Montgomery's final number one hit. Atlantic's Nashville office was closed and Montgomery was moved to Warner Bros. He recorded two underperforming albums there and left Warners in 2004. You can get all his hits on this CD. Montgomery had some health problems and prescription drug problems. He was in rehab in 2008. He recorded a CD on his own label in 2008 and still tours today. There is a music video for The Little Girl but like a lot of Warner Music videos, it's nowhere to be found. I wish Warners would join Vevo. But here is John Michael Montgomery performing The Little Girl on TNN 2000.