Welcome to Frank Pozen's Big Bad Blog. A lot of folks have been asking me to update them about my recovery. So I thought I would start a blog primarily to do that but also to talk about other topics of interest including the wrestling business and whatever else I can think of. I plan to update this on a regular basis so check back and leave a comment if you wish.
Singer Tito Nieves was a big star in Puerto Rico for about three decades. He was known as El Pavarotti de la Salsa. He was born Humberto Nieves June 4, 1958 in the San Juan district of Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. I assume Tito was a childhood nickname. It's a common nickname in Puerto Rico. He grew up in New York City. In the late 70s he started out with Orquestra Cimarron, Hector Lavoe, Conjunto Clasico and The Fania All Stars. He was with Conjunto Clasico from 1979-86. He had his first success as a sol artist when he signed with RMM Records in 1988. Probably his biggest hit from that era was his cover of the Ray Rodriguez boogaloo classic I Like It Like That in 1994 with The Blackout All Stars. Nieves signed with WEA Latuna in 2001 and La Salsa Vive is from the 2002 album Muy Agradecido. For most of his career, Nieves worked with producer Sergio George who also wrote most of the songs. He still works with George. Nieves has recorded for his own label and George's label Top Stop. This 2CD budget comp is a good intro to his music. Based on his Facebook, Nieves has had some recent health problems. He seems to be recovering but it remains to be seen if he will perform again. Here's the video for La Salsa Vive by Tito Nieves. Celia Cruz, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Cheo Feliciano and Ismael Miranda make guest appearances.
The 1964 single Oh, Pretty Wonan was one of two #1 hits in the 60s for singer Roy Orbison. He had other hits but Running Scared and Oh, Pretty Woman are about even according to Music VF which assigns point value to hit singles. He was born Apr. 23, 1936 in Vernon, TX. His family moved to Fort Worth in 1942 so his father could find work in the aircraft industry. They returned to Vernon after a polio scare. Orbison's dad bought him a guitar on his sixth birthday. And that was it. From there, Orbison wanted to be a musician. He was a big fan of country music guitar legend Lefty Frizzell. All the Orbison children had poor eyesight. So he had to wear thick glasses. And his hair was white so he dyed his hair black. He went to high school in Wink, TX. I assume his dad worked in the oil fields. Orbison was in the band Wink Westerners. They played local dances. After they were paid $400 for a gig, Orbison thought he could make a living in music. But he studied geology at North Texas State just in case. He was encouraged that classmate Pat Boone got a record deal. The Wink Westerners got their own TV show in Midland, TX. When Johnny Cash toured the area in 1955 and appeared on a TV show with Wink Westerners, Cash suggested Orbison approach Sun Records owner Sam Phillips but Phillips told him to get lost. Then they got another TV show, changed their name to The Teen Kings and recorded the song Ooby Dooby on a local label. When a record store owner played it over the phone for Phillips, he offered The Teen Kings a contract. Ooby Dooby reached #59 on the Billboard Hot 100 and The Teen Kings toured. The music was rockabilly and Orbison started writing songs. The band split up over money but Orbison continued to record at Sun. Phillips and Sun producer Jack Clement liked Orbison's guitar playing but they never thought he would make it as a singer. Orbison left Sun and worked as a songwriter for Acuff-Rose Publishing in 1959. He kept trying to record and get with a label without successful. Finally Wesley Rose of Acuff-Rose introduced Orbison to producer and Monument Records owner and producer Fred Foster. And that's when things really picked up for Orbison. His first big hit was the 1960 single Only the Lonely followed by his first #1 hit Running Scared in 1961. Orbison had a total of nine top ten hits from 1961-64. The biggest and final of these hits was Oh, Pretty Woman which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. The song came from a comment that Orbison's songwriting partner Bill Dees made to Orbison's wife Claudette. She said she was going out and Orbison asked her if she had enough money. Dees said "a pretty woman never needs any money". After that, the song wrote itself. Monument released Oh, Pretty Woman as a single and it was added to albums afterwards. You can get it on this 3CD budget comp from Sony in The Netherlands. Orbison left Monument for MGM in 1965. He just didn't have the same success there. Then Claudette died in a 1966 car wreck. Then his house burned down in 1968. Orbison was on tour in England at the time. Orbison's music career appeared to be over until Don McLean's 1980 cover of Crying topped the charts. This led to several collaborations. But the big one was when Electric Light Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne put the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys together. And that got Orbison back in the spotlight. It was short lived because Orbison died from a heart attack on Dec. 4, 1988 at age 52. Virgin Records released Orbison's final album Mystery Girl in 1989. The single You Got It reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Orbison wrote the song with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne and Lynne produced. Then Pretty Woman was used in the hit 1990 film Pretty Woman. So Orbison went out on a high note. Here's Roy Orbison performing Pretty Woman with his band in 1965. BTW, that's Bill Dees on piano and backup vocals.
Garage A Trois is a side project led by Galactic drummer Stanton Moore. When he isn't touring with Galactic, he tours with Garage A Trois. The formation of Garage A Trois came out of the recording of Moore's 1998 album All Kooked Out!. Moore, guitarist Charlie Hunter and saxophonist Eric "Skerik" Walton thought they could turn it into a band. So with the assistance of Fog City Records owner Dan Prothero, they recorded the album Mysteryfunk. They decided to call themselves Garage A Trois. The music is not jazz. It's more experimental than jazz. Moore and Hunter are jazz musicians but are open to adventurous music. Walton plays saxophonics which is experimental as well. Moore was happy with the results so he decided to keep Garage A Trois Going. For the 2003 album Emphasizer, Moore added vibraphonist and percussionist Mike Dillon who he knew from Galactica. For the 2009 album Power Patriot, Garage A Trois signed with the indie label The Royal Potato Family and they added keyboardist Marco Benevento from El Michels Affair. And those four are the band for the 2011 album Always Be Happy, But Stay Evil. Other than this cover of John Carpenter's theme from the 1976 film Assault on Precinct 13, all the songs are written by the band. This album is available as a budget CD. I guess Moore was busy with other projects because Garage A Trois returned with the 2021 album Calm Down Cologne. Hunter returned for this album along with Moore and Walton. They toured and who knows if Garage A Trois will record again. Here's Garage A Trois performing Assault on Precinct 13 at Regattabar in Cambridge, MA May, 20, 2011.
Chances are pretty good that if you were hanging around a dance club in 2000, this song was played. It was never a hit in North America. It was barely released here. But it was a big hit in Europe especially in Sylver's home country of Belgium. Wout Van Dessel plays keyboards and writes all the songs. The singer is Sylvy De Bie. They were called Liquid when Turn the Tide was first released in 2000. After they signed with the Belgian label Byte Records, the group name was changed to Sylver probably for copyright reasons. Turn the Tide was rereleased when the 2001 album Chances was released. Turn the Tide topped the Belgian chart and did well in other European countries. They released five albums from 2001-09. This comp is a good intro to their music. Silvy left in 2014 to go solo. But when that didn't work out, she returned to Sylver in 2016. Since then they have released a few singles and they still tour. Here's the video for Turn the Tide by Sylver.
Here's the fight video of Veronica Hardy vs Jamey-Lyn Horth from last night's UFC show in Austin, TX. This fight is at Flyweight. Veronica is 28 years old. She was born in Venezuela but she has trained all over Europe. She is married to former UFC fighter Dan Hardy and he coaches her in Nottingham, England. She's 2-4 in the UFC but a few months ago she won her first fight after a three year layoff. Jamey-Lyn is 33 years old from Squamish, BC. Her coach is former UFC fighter Cole Smith. She won her UFC debut a few months ago. The most notable thing about this fight is Jamey-Lyn's size advantage. But she didn't use it until it was too late. I thought Veronica won the first two rounds 10-9. Round two was close enough that one of the judges scored it 10-9 for Jamey-Lyn. Jamey-Lyn won round three 10-9. If she had fought like that in the first two rounds, she would have won the fight. Veronica won the fight by split decision. Because of Veronica's size, I doubt she has much luck against better competition. Enjoy the video!
Here's the fight video of Miesha Tate vs Julia Avila from last night's UFC show in Austin, TX. This fight is at Bantamweight. Miesha is 37 years old. Since returning to the UFC in 2021, she has gone 1-3 and she hasn't looked good. One would think that if she lost this fight, she might retire. And she talked about that this week. Julia is 35 years old. She owns her own gym with her husband in Oklahoma City. We haven't seen her since 2021 because of pregnancy and knee surgery. She is 3-1 in the UFC but what will she be like after a long layoff. I don't think she's a great fighter. But in this situation, she's a good test for Miesha. Well, Miesha just killed Julia through two 10-8 rounds and then won in round three with a rear naked choke. I looked at Miesha's entire career and she has never won a fight this dominantly. But was this a fluke. Maybe she was just fired up because of the retirement talk. The best way to find out is to have her fight a top contender. Pickings are slim in the Bantamweight division. But the winner of next month's Ketlen Vieira vs Macy Chiasson fight could be the way to find out if Miesha is for real. The winner could get a title shot. Well, at least Miesha got a $50,000 bonus for winning this fight. Enjoy the video!
Salsa music fans are going to want to check out Cuban singer Rey Ruiz. He's been around since the 90s and he topped the Latin charts with the 2004 single Creo en el Amor. He was born June 21, 1966 in the Havana suburb of La Lisa, Cuba. He performed on Cuban TV as a child. After attending Havana's Conservatorio de Musica, Ruiz toured with the group Cabaret Tropicana, He defected during a Dominican Republic tour and he has lived in the US since then. Ruiz signed with Sony Latin in 1992 and has recorded for them for most of his career. He currently records for his own label though he last released an album in 2015. Creo en el Amor topped the Latin charts in 2004. It is from Ruiz's 2004 album Mi Tentacion. You can get it on this 2CD budget comp. From what I could tell, Ruiz still performs live. He just hasn't recorded recently. Here's the video for Creo en el Amor by Rey Ruiz.
Here's the match video of Bianca Belair vs Kairi Sane from last night's episode of Smackdown. This angle is going where I expected after the reconciliation of Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. This will likely lead to IYO Sky defending her WWE Women's Championship against Bianca at Royal Rumble. She has to beat Kairi and Asuka to get there. There is also the tension between Damage CTRL and Bayley who was told to remain backstage. The match was OK but nothing special. The main thing that made no sense was after the ref sent Charlotte and Shotzi to the back for interfering. For some reason, Asuka entered the ring and got herself and IYO tossed out. Of course this led to Bayley interfering which led to Bianca winning the match. They don't seem to be in any hurry to move this angle along because the Royal Rumble isn't until the end of January. That's why they are doing Charlotte vs Asuka next week. They have plenty of time to kill. Enjoy the video!
Creed guitarists Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy announced the formation of Alter Bridge as soon as Creed lead singer Scott Stapp announced he was going solo in 2004. Creed had been on hiatus and they weren't getting along so the split was not surprising. Alter Bridge has been successful as an album and touring band. But they have never had that big hit single to take them to a higher level. The result is they have bounced around several record labels. I do think hard rock fans will enjoy their music. After the end of Creed's 2003 tour, Tremonti started making plans to form a new band with Creed bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips. Kennedy was going to be the lead singer. So Alter Bridge was going to be Creed minus Scott Stapp. They had already recorded their debut album One Day Remains when Creed officially announced the split in June 2004. Alter Bridge signed with Wind-up Records and the album was released Aug. 2004. The album was certified Gold so it did OK. It got a boost when WWE wrestler Edge used one of the songs as his theme. But reviews were mixed and the band and Wind-up did not see eye to eye. The main complaint was they sounded like Creed with a new singer. Tremonti said Creed would never reform. I'm sure Stapp owns the name. So that's not a good start. Alter Bridge signed with Universal Republic for the 2007 album Blackbird. The album didn't do as well as the first album though it got positive reviews. After Creed's 2009 reunion tour, Alter Bridge signed with Roadrunner Records for the 2010 Album ABIII. They released two albums for Roadrunner and Kennedy and Tremonti released solo albums. But again they switched labels to the Austrian hard rock label Napalm. Native Son is from the 2019 album Walk the Sky. They released a new album last year and Alter Bridge still tours. But there were high expectations for Alter Bridge after Creed's success. And I think it's fair to say that they have been disappointing. Now they are on a label that doesn't have the money to spend. So the expectations aren't as high. I don't think that's what Tremonti wanted when he started Alter Bridge. Here's the video for Native Son by Alter Bridge.
British singer songwriter Maxi Priest had success in the early 90s with his mix of reggae and pop. He topped the US charts with the 1991 single Close to You. He was more successful in England. He was born Max Elliott June 10, 1961 in Lewisham, London, England. His parents were Jamaican immigrants. He was the eighth of nine siblings. Priest's mother was a Pentecostal missionary so he learned to sing in church. Priest grew up listening to Jamaican singers like Dennis Brown and Gregory Isaacs. He started out as a member of the reggae soundsystem Saxon Studio International. After releasing a couple of singles independently, Priest signed with Virgin Records in England. His albums were on Charisma in the US. Both are EMI companies. Priest's first big hit came when his 1988 cover of Cat Stevens' Wild World reached #5 on the British singles chart. It reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. He did even better when the 1990 single Close to You topped the Billboard Hot 100. It reached # 7 on the British Singles chart. This turned out to be Priest's biggest hit. This is from Priest's 1990 album Bonafide. It was certified Gold. Priest wrote most of the songs on the album with co-writers. Priest wrote Close to You with veteran British songwriter Gary Benson and Jamaican musician Winston Sela. This was the biggest hit for both guys. The main producer on this album was veteran Jamaican producer Geoffrey Chung along with Handel Tucker and Sly Dunbar. You can get both of Priest's hits on this budget comp. Priest continued to record for Virgin until the late 90s but without much success. He's still around. He released an album on S-Curve Records in 2019. Here's the video for Close to You by Maxi Priest.
