Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Kim Burrell

Song:I Keep Holding On

Album:Everlasting Love

Kim Burrell is a gospel artist from Houston very popular with other singers. Too bad that can't get her a decent record contract. She was spotted singing in a choir and signed with Tommy Boy Gospel. The 1998 CD Everlasting Love was produced by veteran producer Asaph Ward. Burrell writes & arranges most of her own material. Tommy Boy Gospel closed in 2002 and Kim has not released a record since then. She did sign with Sony after appearing on a Tye Tribbett CD. There was supposed to be a CD released a couple of years ago but it never came out. With all the mergers & acquisitions at Sony, I checked to see if she's still signed but it doesn't look like it. Singers like Beyonce, Faith Evans & Angie Stone have expressed their admiration for Kim. She even recorded a recent duet with Harry Connick Jr. and he loves her too. It's a shame that someone as talented as Kim Burrell hasn't released a CD since 2001. She continues to tour and appear on other folks records. Here's Kim Burrell singing Thank You from one of those Christian networks in the US. The website shown on the screen is kaput.

Michael Waltrip redeems himself and qualifies for the Daytona 500

The Duel 150s were run today to determine the qualifying order for this Sunday's Daytona 500. But the big story is that Michael Waltrip has qualified for the Daytona 500. It's been a bad week for Waltrip. During Sunday's pre-qualifying inspection, a foreign substance was found in the intake manifold. The car was impounded and it appears the substance may have been some sort of gel that's used in jet fuel. Waltrip was fined and penalized 100 points. Crew chief David Hyder and Michael Waltrip Racing director of competition Bobby Kennedy were ejected from the Daytona 500. Hyder has been fired and replaced by Scott Eggleston. Waltrip apologized and said that an employee did this on his own without management approval. There were also penalties given to the teams of Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler & Scott Riggs. Here's a Fox Sports video explaining their penalties.

But Michael Waltrip was still eligible to qualify for the Daytona 500. But he had to start at the back of the field in a backup car he had never driven. But he knows how to drive at Daytona. Tony Stewart won the first race but Michael Waltrip Racing got great news from this race. All three cars qualified for the Daytona 500. It's very convoluted but Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett & David Reutimann are all in the race. Jeff Gordon won the second race but then flunked post qualifying inspection and he will have to start at the back of Sunday's field. Joe Nemechek & Mike Wallace qualified in that race. Sterling Marlin was locked in and let both guys pass him so they could qualify. The other Toyota teams did poorly. Both Red Bull Racing Toyotas, Brian Vickers & AJ Allmendinger, crashed out and Jeremy Mayfield & Mike Skinner of Bill Davis Racing failed to qualify too. David Gilliland & Ricky Rudd are still in the front row for Sunday's Daytona 500.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Kenny Dorham

Song:Hill's Edge

Album:Round About Midnight At The Cafe Bohemia

Kenny Dorham was an excellent trumpeter who was somewhat overshadowed by guys who were considered more innovative. But he was a great musician and composer and is worth a listen. He was born Aug. 30, 1924 in Fairfield, TX. He was in Charlie Parkers's band 1948-49. He was an original member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1954. He left in 1956 to form his own group The Jazz Prophets. This live recording is from that period. It was originally released on two LPs. In 2002, Blue Note reissued the entire concert in its entirety on 2CDs. It's a great recording. Musicians are JR Monterose on tenor sax, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Bobby Timmons on piano, Sam Jones on bass and Arthur Edgehill on drums. Dorham replaced Clifford Brown in Max Roach's band after Brown's death. He left in 1958 and recorded several solo albums in the early 60s. Kenny Dorham's career faded in the late 60s and then he died of kidney failure on Dec. 5, 1972 at age 48. Not surprisingly, there is very little video footage of Kenny Dorham available. But I was able to find a short clip on through Blinkx and I posted it on blip.tv. So here's Kenny Dorham performing Scandia Skies.

Click To Play

This is Kenny Dorham performing Scandia.

Athtresses get revenge on Caribbean Army in JD Star

The war between the Athtress Army and the Caribbean Army continued on JD Star's Feb. 11 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show. Shuu Shibutani has been getting clobbered but they have to let the Athtresses get a little revenge to make it interesting. Also, Fuuka takes on Kyoko Inoue. Guess how that turns out.

The opener has Kaori Yoneyama & Yasusato Nakajima coming over from JWP to take on rookies Bisa Ohata & Hiroyo Matsumoto. The JWP isolate Ohata and Yoneyama finishes her off with a double arm suplex at 12:33. Next was HIROKA vs Bullfight Sora. This was billed as HIROKA's final match in JD Star. Bullfight Sora wone with a high kick and some sort of submission shoke at 9:30. I haven't seen anything about HIROKA's future.

Fuuka challenged Kyoko Inoue to a Topgun match. Well, that's what they called it. Not surprisingly, Kyoko controlled the match. She did hurt her ankle during the match. She's been having trouble with it for a while now. Fuuka tries to attack but it doesn't work. Kyoko hits a lariat and a power bomb for the win at 10:53. The main event had Shuu Shibutani, Cherry & Lily Urai against CARIBBEAN KIM, RUM & MOON. Shibutani has taken a lot of grief from these three and that continues in this match. But KIM accidently nails MOON and Cherry uses her Cherrybomb to win at 22:21. The post match celebration is challenged by KIM. If the Athtresses are so confident, let's put together three singles matches on an upcoming show and if the CARIBBEAN Army loses, they'll leave JD Star. I say future show because I don't think they're doing this on this Friday's show. They already have matches scheduled for that show including Saki Maemura & Shuu Shibutani vs Fuuka & Hiroyo Matsumoto.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Grant Green

Song:Time To Remember

Album:Alive!

Grant Green was a very popular jazz guitarist in the 60s. His career faded in the 70s and then he died. But his music has had a rebirth because of sampling by hip hop guys. Also, there aren't a lot of jazz guitarist around today so that causes fans to look at music from the past. He was born June 6, 1931 in St. Louis. His dad taught him guitar and he was playing professionally in a gospel group by age 13. His sound was a mix of R & B and jazz. Lou Donaldson, a sax player with a similar sound, brought Green to the attention of Blue Note and Green moved to New York in 1960. After playing a few sessions, Green made several very popular albums in the 60s. This 1970 CD Alive! was recorded at the Cliche Lounge in Newark, NJ. It's one of Green's best records and a good introduction for newcomers. Musicians are Claude Barlee on tenor sax, Billy Bivens on vibes, Neal Creaque & Ronnie Foster on organ, Idris Muhammad on drums and Joseph Armstrong on congas. A Tribe Called Quest sampled this album. Grant Green had drug problems and died on Jan. 31, 1979 at age 47. He's an unsung hero of jazz. Usually when folks hear his music, they want to hear more because it's very accessible. There's not much video footage of Grant Green but here's short clip of what appears to be some sort of guitar summit from the early 70s.

Well, we finally got that big snowstorm overnight. It was pretty bad on the streets this morning and it's still snowing. I certainly hope it stops soon or I may have to buy a plow.

A bad day for Sonoko Kato at Feb. 10 OZ Academy show

As many fans are aware, Sonoko Kato returned to joshi after a five year injury layoff because of several knee surgeries. She has worked mostly for her old pals at OZ Academy and seems to be the designated whipping girl for now. Kato took an extra helping of abuse on the Feb. 10 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show. The attendance was announced as 350 and the Wizard Of OZ tournament continued too.

The opener was described as an "Annoying Match" between Chikayo Nagashima & veteran garbage wrestler Shark Tsuchiya. It looks like Shark won but there are no details on the OZ website. Shark has a long history of using weapons on Nagashima for over a decade so I'm sure we can inagine the finish. Next was Dynamite Kansai against Sonoko Kato. It seems Kato wants to team with Kansai. Kansai didn't waste any time and after several German suplexes and a diving foot stomp, Kansai won in 4:21.

Kansai agreed to team with Kato after the match. Mayumi Ozaki, Aja Kong & Police came to the ring and that would set up a tag team match. Ozaki & Aja concentrate on attacking Kato's knees. It also looks like Kansai may have abandoned Kato. After a severe beating, Aja used a kneelock to get a submission from Kato at 16:43. The main event was a Wizard Of OZ tournament match between Aja Kong & Carlos Amano. With some help from Police, Aja dominated the match but couldn't put Amano away. It was a ten minute time limit draw. Aja currently leads the tournament. The next OZ Academy show is Mar. 10 at Shinjuku FACE.

Shinobu Kandori wins All Star Strongest Woman tournament

When Shinobu Kandori announced the All Star Strongest Woman tournament a few months ago, she claimed that her motivation was to show that joshi puroresu could still put on a big show. So she decided to book the finals in the 10,000 seat Sumo Hall. When she was accused of being delusional, she said the tournament wasn't about making money. It was about restoring luster to the joshi business. She forgot to mention that she would torpedo the whole thing with mind boggling selfish and silly booking. That didn't improve on LLPW's Feb. 12 Sumo Hall show but they did find 5,832 fans at the show. Harley Saito & Eagle Sawai also celebrated their 20th anniversary in joshi with a special match.

The opener was LLPW newcomer Francoise against Bambi. I guess Francoise is Kandori's idea of an idol wrestler. Francoise won her first match last month. She hit Bambi with three missile dropkicks but Bambi used a high kick to win at 8:52. Then a comedy match with Bolshoi Kid over Obacchi Iizuka in 7:22. Next was the tournament semi final between Meiko Satomura & Mayumi Ozaki. It was the usual stuff with Police helping Ozaki and wrapping a chain around Satomura's neck. But Satomura came back and won with the Scorpion Rising at 10:06.

The other semi final had Shinobu Kandori against Dump Matsumoto. How do you think this ended? Dump did her usual shtick and busted Kandori open with a fork. And of course Sasori helped her. But then Dump was DQd for hitting the ref at 8:12. If you're keeping score, that's the third DQ in this tournament and the second to benefit Kandori. How lame is that? The final will be the main event. Next was a six person tag with Eiger, Sayuri Okino & Amazing Kong over Noriyo Tateno, Yumiko Hotta & I Haran in 14:12. Then Kyoko & Takako Inoue vs Dynamite Kansai & Kaoru. It's mostly a power match with lariats and footstomps. Kyoko won over Ito with a lariat in 14:12. I understand Kyoko's ankle was really hurting.

The special mixed match for Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito's 20th anniversary was next. Saito teamed with Ichiro Tenyru against Sawai & Hika Kitahara. The main thing that was talked about was the action between Tenyru & Eagle. He said he had a lot of fun and would like to work with her again in a singles match. He won with a lariat at 9:21.The final of the tournament was the first ever meeting between Shinobu Kandori & Meiko Satomura. Anyone hoping for a classic matchup with Satomura prevailing would be disappointed. Satomura would get some offense in but Kandori wore her down with a sleeper and finished her with two power bombs at 11:37. Afterwards, Satomura admitted some disappointment with the match. It doesn't look like fans liked it much either. Kandori didn't care. She stood in the ring with the trophy. Talk about delusional.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Curtis Mayfield

Song:Superfly

Album:The Anthology 1961-1977

The songs Curtis Mayfield wrote as leader of The Impressions would have been enough to make him one of the all time greats of R & B. But he reinvented himself in the early 70s with music that was just as good. His music from the film Superfly is better than the film and cemented Mayfield's place in music history. This 2CD Anthology comp is the only one that covers both periods. Mayfield continued to tour through the 80s though not with the same success. He became paralyzed when a lighting rig fell on him during a concert in Brooklyn on Aug. 14, 1990. He continued to record and tour until his death on Dec. 26, 1999 at age 57. Here's Curtis Mayfield performing Superfly in 1972 just to give you a taste of his talent.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Lester Young

Song: Just You, Just Me

Album:Lester Young and The Oscar Peterson Trio

Lester "Prez" Young is one of the all time greats of jazz saxophone. He was born Aug. 27, 1909 in Woodville, MS, moved to New Orleans and moved to Minneapolis at age 11. By age 18 he was touring with Art Bronson's Bostonians. He played for various bands until he joined Count Basie in 1934. He left Basie to replace Coleman Hawkins in Fletcher Henderson's band but that didn't work out and he went back to Basie in 1936. That's where Young's lifetime association with Billie Holiday began. He was Billie's favourite sax player. It's said that Young wasn't the same after his time in the service but this 1952 session with Oscar Peterson for the tiny Norgan label is one of his best. It also features Barney Kessell on guitar, Ray Brown on bass & JC Heard on drums. Verve picked it up after Norgan went under and the 1997 CD reissue is essential listening. Lester Young had a serious drinking problem and died on Mar. 15, 1959 at age 49 in New York. Here's Lester Young with Hank Jones, Ray Brown, Bill Harris & Buddy Rich from 1950. It's actually part of a longer film featuring Charlie Parker but this part features Young.

Hank Jones Ray Brown Lester Young
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Robert Yates Racing on front row of Daytona 500

As I've said in the past, Daytona 500 qualifying is very convoluted. Today's qualifying simply sets up the running order for Thursday's Duel 150s. Those races set up the actual running order. Only the front row is complete and Robert Yates Racing had the two fastest qualifiers. David Gilliland won the pole in his very first Daytona 500 in the #38 M & M's Ford. His teammate Ricky Rudd returned from a one year hiatus to be in the second position in the #88 Snickers Ford. The top 35 in 2006 owners points are locked into the field. The top three qualified cars that are nor locked in are now locked in. They are Boris Said-#60 No Fear Energy Drink Ford, Sterling Marlin-#14 Waste Management Chevy & Johnny Sauter-#70 Yellow Freight Chevy. Either Dale Jarrett or Bill Elliott will get a past champion provisional. That leaves four spots for the other 21 cars. Michael Waltrip's car was impounded after the race so we don't know about him yet. Anything can happen in Thursday's races and probably will. Some big name teams will miss this race.

Womens MMA history made at EliteXC show

Showtime's MMA company EliteXC debuted last night. Of course most fans are talking about the unsatisfactory finish to the main event between Frank Shamrock & Renzo Gracie. But womens MMA took a big step last night with a match appearing on live TV in North America for the first time. It was on Showtime in the US and The Fight Network in Canada. And many fans praised it as the match of the night. Here's my take.

The match was between Gina Carano & Julie Kedzie. Carano was 3-0 and made a big splash on December's Strike Force show and this was a very big opportunity for her. Kedzie was 6-4 and the Bloomington, IN native is a Hook 'N' Shoot veteran. Both are trained in Muay Thai and are adept strikers. It was a pretty good match won easily by Carano by unanimous decision. She landed some very hard shots but couldn't put Kedzie away. And though Carano faded a bit in the third round, she had enough of a lead to hold on. Carano was fortunate that Kedzie isn't much better on the ground than her. It looked like neither of them knew what to do on the ground. Kedzie was a good opponent to showcase Carano. So the fight did succeed in showcasing women as fighters. But if Carano is moving up to fight more formidable opponents, she's really going to have to work on her ground game. I can think of several fighters that would be willing to take a couple of shots to get her on the ground. She wouldn't last long. The fight was a very positive experience and the promoter deserves a lot of credit for putting women on the show. Here's Gina Carano's post match interview courtesy of Sherdog.

Gina Carano post match interview
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Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Tramaine Hawkins f/Walter Hawkins

Song: The Potters House

Album:8 Great Hits:Women Of Gospel

Tramaine Hawkins is a very popular gospel singer and is a member of the Hawkins family from Oakland, CA. She started out as a teenager with The Edwin Hawkins Singers and was on their landmark hit Oh Happy Day. She married Edwin's brother Walter Hawkins in the early 70s and they've been working together ever since. Walter Hawkins is a tremendous talent and Tramaine is a great singer. Tramaine started recording solo in the mid 70s and had some mainstream success with the 1983 hit In The Morning Time. She continues to tour today with her husband and the rest of the Hawkins family. Her new CD I Never Lost My Praise will be out next month on GospoCentric. The Potters House is from Tramaine's 1990 CD Live on Sparrow Records. I would recommend that over this EMI Gospel budget comp. Live has guest appearances by Carlos Santana, Stanley Turrentine & Jimmy McGriff. The Potters House was written by veteran songwriter V. Michael McKay with a great arrangement by Walter Hawkins. And here is Tramaine & Walter Hawkins performing The Potters House from this very concert. Enjoy!

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:The Temptations

Song:Ball Of Confusion

Album:Anthology

By the late 60s, Berry Gordy had to make Motown's music more socially & politically relevant. Of course Marvin Gaye was at the forefront of that. But The Temptaions had some great songs too. Norman Whitfield had taken over from Smokey Robinson as Temptations producer in 1966 and gave them a harder edged sound. Then David Ruffin was fired in 1968 for missing dates and was replaced by Dennis Edwards of The Contours. He took over a lot of the lead vocals including this great song Ball Of Confusion written by Whitfield & Barrett Strong. You'll notice by this video from The Smokey Robinson Show from 1970 that the clothes became flashier. They still had the dance moves though. Ball Of Confusion was a hit single and then tacked on to Greatest Hits Vol. 2. This Anthology comp is out of print so I recommend The Ultimate Collection. The video quality isn't up to par because this guy taped it from his TV.

NASCAR preview

NASCAR Nextel Cup is back this weekend with tomorrow's Bud Shootout leading up to next week's Daytona 500. The major change for the 2007 season is Toyota's entry into Nextel Cup. There are 61 entries at the Daytona 500 and only 43 spots. It's going to be more competitive just to qualify for races and no one really knows how Toyota will do. Only Dale Jarrett & Dave Blaney are guaranteed spots and next Thursday's Duel 150s are going to be very intense. The other thing is the introduction of the Car Of Tomorrow at Bristol. That will be completely integrated by next season. NASCAR made a couple of tweaks to the Chase format mainly that 12 cars will qualify for the Chase. Juan Pablo Montoya's performance will be a big story too.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the biggest story in NASCAR this week. His contract with Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) is finished at the end of this season. He could leave. He has not had a cordial relationship with stepmother and DEI owner Teresa Earnhardt. He had a meeting with her, longtime DEI president Richie Gilmore and newly hired president of global operations Max Siegel. It looks like Siegel could be a key figure in the negotiations because he's new and adds a fresh perspective. Who is Max Siegel? Despite his name, he's black and his background is the black gospel music business. He's the former president of Verity Records & Tommy Boy Gospel Records. So as a marketing guy, he seems to understand that letting Jr. leave would be a public relations nightmare for DEI. Jr. told the media yesterday that he has asked for majority ownwership of DEI. Is the relationship between Jr. & Teresa so bad that she won't do that? Who knows but Siegel could be the right guy to smooth things over. This will be very interesting.

I'm looking forward to the 2007 NASCAR season because for the first time, Canadian NASCAR fans will get to see all the races in the top three series. That's because TSN has agreed to carry Busch Series races for the first time. There's no doubt that they wanted the Montreal race and NASCAR told them they had to take all the races. ESPN is showing the Busch Series in the US so if NASCAR & ESPN hadn't twisted TSN's arm, we wouldn't have got to see any of the races. I don't know if they're showing the races live. I'm looking forward to the 2007 season. It should be fun as usual. Here's a recent clip of Dale Earnhardt Jr. defending Teresa Earnhardt after Kevin Harvick called her a "deadbeat owner".

Smackgirl announces Open Weight tournament matches

Smackgirl has announced the semi final matches for the Super Gals Mix Cup Open Weight Tournament. These matches will be on the Mar. 11 Shinjuku FACE show and the final will be on May 19. The winner gets a shot at Amanda Buckner's Smackgirl Open Weight Championship. One match will have Smackgirl veteran Tama Chan (pictured in polka dots) against Michiko Takeda. Tama Chan's record is 12-5 and her last fight was a win over Mamiko on the Nov. 19 G-Shooto show. Next week she will be in Costa Rica for the Bodog Fight tapings. Takeda is 1-0. She won over pro wrestler Atsuko Emoto on August's Wrestle Expo show. The other match will have Yuiga vs HIROKO. Yuiga is a pro wrestler who works for Nightmare Pro Wrestling. Her MMA record is 3-3. Her last fight was a KO win MIKA on the Nov. 29 Smackgirl show. HIROKO's one fight was a win over Rie Murakami on that same Smackgirl show. A Flyweight Title match between Satoko Shinashi & Misaki Takimoto has already been announced. Tama Chan looks like the favourite in this tournament but I wouldn't normally describe her as a serious title contender.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Sam Cooke

Song:Twistin' The Night Away

Album:One Night Stand:Sam Cooke Live At The Harlem Square Club 1963

Sam Cooke is one of the all time greats of R & B and his music is still very memorable today. He started out in gospel as lead singer of The Soul Stirrers. Though Cooke eventually signed with RCA Records, he wrote most of his own songs and owned publishing rights. This was very unusual in the 50s. He did compromise and his RCA recordings were more pop than R & B. His live show was a different story and that's what One Night Stand is about. This live recording sat in the RCA vault until it was first released in 1985. It includes saxman King Curtis' band. This 2005 remastered version is a must for R & B fans. Cooke is just fantastic. Like a lot of R & B artists, Cooke was a gospel singer at heart. Sam Cooke died in mysterious circumstances in a Los Angeles motel on Dec. 11, 1964 at age 33. There have been rumours over the years that it was a mob hit. Here's Sam Cooke performing Blowin' In The Wind on Shindig in 1964.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Gerald Levert w/Eddie Levert Sr.

Song:Baby Hold On To Me

Album:Private Line

R & B singer Gerald Levert had some pretty big shoes to fill growing up in Cleveland. His father is Eddie Levert Sr. of the O'Jays, a living legend of R & B. Gerald started out recording with his brother Sean Levert & Marc Gordon as Levert. After some success, Gerald recorded his first solo album Private Line in 1991. He continued to work closely with Gordon along with another writer producer Edwin Nicholas. Baby Hold On To Me is a great duet with Gerald and his dad. Gerald wrote and produced it with Nicholas and it was a #1 R & B hit. Gerald & Eddie would go on to record the album Father & Son in 1995. Gerald Levert continued to have great success through the 90s not only as a solo performer but as part of the group Levert, Sweat & Gill. He also produced acts such as The Winans & Patti Labelle. Suddenly Gerald Levert died of a heart attack on Nov. 10, 2006 at age 40. It's a great loss as there's no doubt at he would have produced a lot more great music. But he made his daddy proud with what he did accomplish. Here's a video of Gerald & Eddie Levert singing Baby Hold On To Me.

I started a blog yesterday for the co-op. It's called the Robert Cooke Co-op Community Blog. I'm still working on it but feel free to check it out. I have added it to the links and have also added a few other links like the video sites Veoh, Viddler & Daily Motion. I found Viddler at the Webware news blog so I have added that site too. It's very useful.

Gerald Levert / Eddie Levert - Baby Hold On to Me

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HIROKA flattens Fuuka at Feb. 4 JD Star show

So JD Star hasn't said anything about the POP Title since Fuuka dropped it to Natsuki*Taiyo at the Dec. 31 Junior All Star War. Neither has Pro Wrestling SUN but it's not their belt. So I don't really know what JD Star is thinking but it's interesting to note that the Athtresses have been losing consistently on all their shows. The Feb. 4 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show had Fuuka eagerly awaiting her match with HIROKA. And the Athtress/Caribbean Army war continues along it's path.

The opener was Bullfight Sora vs Hiroyo Matsumoto. Sora is a comedy gimmick and they had her upset with Matsumoto over something she said about the previous show's Cow On A Pole match. A little conflict never hurts. Matsumoto won with a Majistral Cradle in 10:00. Next was Ayumi Kurihara & Bisa Ohata vs NEO Tag Team Champs Misae Genki & Haruka Matsuo. This was Ohata's first tag match. Not surprisingly, Kurihara carried the match and had some good exchanges with Matsuo. But in the end Matsuo pinned Ohata with a diving body press at 19:53.

Shuu Shibutani keeps getting hammered in this Athtress/Caribbean Army war. This time she teamed with Marcela against CARIBBEAN KIM & MOON. It looks like Maecela is scheduled to return to Mexico after this match. As usual, the CARIBBEANS beat up Shibutani and finished her with the Caribbean Impact double team at 17:05. Fuuka vs HIROKA was the main event. Marcela seconded HIROKA. Technico & Rudos together? Impossible. The fans booed HIROKA. HIROKA controlled the match with occasional help from Marcela. HIROKA blocked Fuuka's F Doll finisher and then hit her Hirokeya (AP Cross) and then her Muerte de Christ finisher for the win at 15:13 (pictured). Muerte de Christ has the opponent suspended in the air like a crucifix and she drops her face first on the mat. The two shook hands afterwards. Things aren't likely to improve for Fuuka next week. She will face Kyoko Inoue. Unlike Marcela, HIROKA will remain in Japan.

Feb. 4 JWP Dojo show is all beans

I don't usually get to write about JWP's Dojo shows but I have a detailed report on the Feb. 4 show. It's a smaller and shorter show with silly gimmick matches. There were 104 in attendance. And the matches aren't taped and don't mean anything in storylines. The opener had Leon vs rookie Kaori Oki. Oki didn't get much offense and Leon won with a spear at 6:50.

Next was a gimmick tag team match. It was Tsubasa Kuragaki & ECO vs Azumi Hyuga & Commando Bolshoi. The gimmick is like calling shots in billiards. Each team has to name a finisher and when they hit it, the match is over. Hyuga & Bolshoi named a double dropkick and Kuragaki & ECO named a body slam. There's no three count. I'm sure it won't surprise you that there were a lot of false finishes but Kuragaki hit a lariat and then a body slam at 12:52.

The main event was another silly gimmick match and that's normal for these dojo shows. It was Sachie Abe, KAZUKI & Kayoko Haruyama vs Kaori Yoneyama, Leon & Yasusato Nakajima. Yoneyama had beans declared as a legal weapon. That's right, a food fight. And if a wrestler falls outside the ring, she has to eat a plate of beans in order to return to the ring. Yoneyama pushes Haruyama into the corner and stuffs beans in her face. At one point, there are four wrestlers on the floor eating beans. Haruyama gets revenge on Yoneyama by stuffing beans up her nose. Eventually it turns into a normal match for a while and then Haruyama gives Nakajima a Pedigree onto a plate of beans in the middle of the ring at 17:01. Think about that for a second. The next JWP show is Feb. 11 at Cinema Club and the lineup for the JWP Tag Team Title #1 Contenders tournament will be named.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:The Four Tops

Song:Baby I Need Your Lovin'

Album:The Ultimate Collection

Not only are The Four Tops one of the greatest vocal groups of all time but they've stayed together since forming in a Detroit high school in 1954. The Four Tops are Levi Stubbs, Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson & Lawrence Payton. Stubbs is one of the best singers in pop music history and could have just as easily gone solo if he wanted to. They originally signed with Chess in 1956 but didn't get far until Berry Gordy signed them in 1963. Baby I Need Your Lovin' is a 1964 classic and one of many Four Tops hits written & produced by Brian & Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier, known as Holland/Dozier/Holland. They left Motown in 1968 and Frank Wilson produced the Tops until The Four Tops left Motown for ABC in 1972. The group continues today. Lawrence Payton died of liver cancer in 1997 and was replaced by Theo Peoples but the other guys are still touring. The Ultimate Collection has all their hits and is perfect. Here's The Four Tops performing Baby I Need Your Lovin' in 1965.

Ward vs Yoshida main event of womens MMA show in LA

Lisa Ward has become one of the rising stars in Womens MMA over the last few months. Her record is 7-2 and she's won her last four fights including a win over Misaki Takimoto on the Nov. 29 Smackgirl show in Tokyo. So it's not surprising that she will be in the main event of a womens MMA show called Fatal Femmes Fighting. The show is being presented ny Invincible Fighter on Feb. 17 at the Japan America Theater in Los Angeles. Her opponent will be veteran Japanese fighter Masako Yoshida. Her record is 13-6-5 and most recently lost to Megumi Fujii at the Shooto Battle Mix show on Jan. 26. Apparently the match will be in a cage. Ward is definitely the favourite. Tow other bouts have been announced. Veteran fighter Roxanne Modafferi has been training in Japan for the last year. Her record is 7-3 and this is her return to America. Cassandra Rivers-Blasso is her opponent and she had one loss in 2004.The other announced fight is Brandy Nerney vs Sofie Bagherdal. Both appear to be newcomers. There are more bouts scheduled to be announced with at least one more Japanese fighter to be signed. Check it out at http://www.invinciblefighter.com/

Sendai Girls announces first anniversary tournament

Sendai Girls held their latest show on Feb. 4 at Zepp Sendai. The format of the show was identical to previous shows. This time wrestlers from LLPW came to Sendai to face the Sendai rookies with Meiko Satomura facing Sayuri Okino in the main event. The results were identical to previous shows. When Satomura came out and dressed down the rookies at the Dec. 3 show and said one of them would be fired at the Jan. dojo show, that seemed interesting but then she didn't follow up on it. The rookies faced each other in five minute matches that were mostly draws. Then each of them was buried by the boss. No one was fired and this show goes back to the standard formula. It looks like she's planning to change things for the first anniversary. I sure hope so.

Let's go through the first four matches. Mizuki Endo beat Akari Okuda with a lariat at 9:21. Harley Saito beat Kaneko Yurie with an Achilles lock at 10:21. Takako Inoue beat Chisako Kanari with a back fist at 14:06. Eagle Sawai beat Sachiko Kanari with a missile kick at 7:55. In the main event, Meiko Satomura beat Sayuri Okino with a Death Valley bomb 10:54. Okino attempted to use a chain & a bamboo sword but Satomura had no trouble with her. Afterwards, Satomura talked about next week's LLPW tournament when she faces Mayumi Ozaki in the Semi finals of the All Star Strongest Woman tournament. She wants to face Shinobu Kandori in the final.

Sendai Girls announced the Battlefield WAR Tournament to celebrate Sendai Girls' 1st anniversary. Sixteen wrestlers will participate in the tournament and they will be announced in March. The first round will be at Zepp Sendai on April 7 & 8. The quarter finals will be at Zepp Sendai on May 6. The semi final & final will be at Sendai SunPlaza on July 22. I guess she'll have to book this differently.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Jimi Hendrix

Song:Machine Gun

Album:Voodoo Child:The Jimi Hendrix Collection

Newcomers trying to figure out where to begin with the music of guitar legend Jimi Hendrix would be wise to start with this 2CD comp Voodoo Child. It's got all his most popular songs from The Jimi Hendrix Experience along with The Band Of Gypsys. This version of Machine Gun was recorded with The Band Of Gypsys at the Fillmore East in New York Jan. 1, 1970 with Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums. The Fillmore East concerts have been released on 2CDs. A comp like Voodoo Child give neophytes the opportunity to figure out what they like. Otherwise the Hendrix catalog is very confusing. Here's Jimi Hendrix performing Machine Gun at the Fillmore East Jan. 1, 1970. Jimi Hendrix was like a comet. He shone brightly but didn't last very long. His music is still fresh today.

bog machine gun
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Takahashi confirms NEO participation at Feb. 3 show

NEO's Feb. 3 Itabashi Green Hall show was headlined by an eight woman 2 of three fall match that was supposed to fuel the Etsuko Mita/Kyoko Kimura feud and the AWA World Womens Championship match between Amazing Kong & Kyoko Inoue. But the big story was Nanae Takahashi's announcement regarding the big Feb. 18 Kawasaki City Gym show. Also, more on the wedding match and the usual NEO nonsense.

The opener had Misae Genki against rookie Nagita Nozaki. It's an uphill battle for the rookie as she tries to use her quickness. But she is overwhelmed by Genki and Genki wins with the Big Boots at 11:58. Then Genki called out Nanae Takahashi and wanted an answer regarding the Feb. 18 show. Takahashi entered the ring and agreed to team with Genki against Azumi Hyuga & Meiko Satomura. The two shook hands and there's your match. Next was Yoshiko Tamura vs rookie Irod Watanabe. Tamura wins with a Fisherman's suplex at 14:08. The rookies are facing each other on Feb. 18 so NEO is trying to give them credibility by giving them lengthy matches against their top wrestlers. I'm not crazy about that strategy.

Next was Tanny Mouse & Haruka Matsuo vs Manami Toyota & Sakura Emi. Tany & Matsuo get to do the usual Machine Gunz comedy stuff and Toyota gets a big pop when she does the rolling cradle. Thend comes when Matsuo hit a frog splash on Emi and then a high kick for the win at 21:30. NEO general manager Koda came to the ring. His goal was to recruit Toyota to his side of the wedding match. Of course Tanny Mouse had the same goal. It seems that Emi Motokawa has been talking to Toyota about this for a couple of weeks. After both Motokawa & Tanny stated their cases, Toyota said that she couldn't approve of the marriage because she's six years older than Motokawa and still isn't married. So Toyota will be on the Machine Gunz team.

The main event was a two of three fall eight woman match. On one side was Kyoko Inoue, Yuki Miyazaki, Marcela & Etsuko Mita. on the other side was Kyoko Kimura, Amazing Kong, Toshie Uematsu, & HIROKA. Kyoko Inoue wins the first fall over Uematsu with a lariat, power bomb & a Niagara driver at 18:35. Miyazaki attempts to get a quick fall on Uematsu but runs into Amazing Kong and her lariat at 1:02. Since they're trying to build two feuds with this match, the third fall had a lot of action between Kyoko Inoue & Amazing Kong. AK does an avalanche style brainbuster on Inoue. The Mita & Kimura hook up. Mita seems to get the best of this but Kimura tags in Amazing Kong and she uses a spiral bomb on Mita to win the match at 18:58. Afterwards, Amazing Kong & Inoue had a war of words on the mike to continue to set up the Feb. 18 title match.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Aaron Neville

Song:Tell It Like It Is

Album:The Very Best Of Aaron Neville

Of course Aaron Neville is part of the New Orleans based Neville Brothers. He's pretty popular these days because of his recent recordings. But Tell It Like It Is was a big hit way back in 1967. By the time the song was a hit, the record company was out of business and Neville was back to working a day job and working occasionally with his brothers. He didn't really surface again until the 80s and now it's like he's always been around. This comp just throws in a couple of older songs and mostly covers his A & M recordings of the 80s. The recent Music Avenue comp Mojo Soul consists of his recordings from the 60s & 70s. His latest CD is called Bring It On Home...The Soul Classics on Sony BMG's Burgundy label. It's newly recorded covers of classic soul. Here's Aaron Neville performing Tell It Like It is with an all star band including Gregg Allman & Bonnie Raitt.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Lou Reed

Song:Walk On The Wild Side

Album:The Definitive Collection

Of course Lou Reed started out as leader of the Velvet Underground, one of the most influential groups in pop music history. Reed went solo when they finally broke up in the early 70s and though Reed has had some commercial success, he sometimes does things that intentionally alienates fans. This Definitive Collection comp is a good example. Reed chose the songs himself but he intentionally chose some of his more obscure songs. Anyone looking for a more accessible comp should go with Different Times:Lou Reed In The 70s. Walk On The Wild Side was his biggest hit in 1972 despite the seedy subject matter. That's what happens when you add a good hook. He still records occasionally and released the CD Inner Spaces two weeks ago. Lou Reed is rightfully considered a legend of rock music but he's always been conflicted about his success in the music business. Here's Lou Reed performing Walk On The Wild Side from 1982.

Amazing Kong has a full dance card in SUN, NEO & SHIMMER

When Carson, CA native Kia Stevens was training at the New Japan Los Angeles dojo in 2002, I doubt she could have predicted that she would become one of the biggest international stars in pro wrestling today. The joshi business hadn't had a real gaijin heel since Rhonda "Monster Ripper" Sing. But I think most of us can agree that Amazing Kong is quickly approaching Rhonda's level. Amazing Kong has improved in the ring tremendously since she's been in Japan and now she can do anything that only much smaller wrestlers are supposed to be able to do. She didn't have to work hard and take her craft seriously but she has and it's paying off. And her appearance in SHIMMER has raised the level of awareness with fans who don't watch joshi. And she's not slowing down anytime soon.

Pro Wrestling SUN had another one of their typical press conferences on Friday to promote the Feb. 21 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show. Nanae Takahashi & Hikaru were there to talk about their match but as usual, Amazing Kong disrupted the proceedings. This time her wrath was aimed at Natsuki*Taiyo. She was talking about wanting to face Amazing Kong. AK came in and proceeded to grab Natsuki around the throat. Toshie Uematsu came in and said that she had spoken to her tag team partner Steve Corino and he approved a three way match for the World 1 Womens Championship between Amazing Kong, Toshie Uematsu & Natsuki*Taiyo. Takahashi asked Natsuki if she really wanted to do this and of course Natsuki said she was ready to win the title. I doubt that but it could set up some conflict between the REM members.

NEO also held a press conference on Friday to make a couple of announcements about their Feb. 18 Kawasaki City Gym show. First, Amazing Kong has signed to defend her AWA World Womens Championship against Kyoko Inoue. This was a little more orderly and Kyoko of course said she is looking forward to the challenge and will win without fail. The other big announcement relates to a tag team match on the card. Misae Genki is just returning from injury. She wants to have a tag team match at this show that is worthy of a main event. So she asked JWP Open Weight Champ Azumi Hyuga to participate and she agreed. NEO GM Koda said on the NEO blog that he would attempt to get Meiko Satomura & Nanae Takahashi to appear in this match. They announced at the press conference that Satomura has agreed to appear and will team with Hyuga. They didn't know about Takahashi. But I can confirm that Takahashi was at the Feb. 3 NEO show at Itabashi Green Hall and agreed to be in the match. So it will be Misae Genki & Nanae Takahashi vs Azumi Hyuga & Meiko Satomura. That should be pretty good. Of course if they got those two for this match, why couldn't NEO get either of them for the main event? Sorry about the use of logic, folks. They also got four brothers who have won wrestling medals in primary school to join the wedding match. That's a little more typical of NEO silliness.

Meanwhile, Dave Prazak has announced that Amazing Kong will appear at the SHIMMER tapings in Berwyn, IL on Apr. 7. AK literally made a big splash at last May's tapings. No matches have been announced yet but Nikki Roxx is still making noises about a rematch with AK. AK's response was "Bring it on". Also, Cheerleader Melissa is scheduled to go to Japan to challenge for the AWA World Womens Championship in Pro Wrestling SUN so she's probably interested in locking up with Amazing Kong too. We don't know yet when Melissa is going to Japan. If it's not April, I expect her to go in July. And of course will SHIMMER have an Amazing Kong title defense at this show? Lots of questions and Amazing Kong is in the middle of all of it here and in Japan. Here's a video of Amazing Kong & Kyoko Kimura defending the NEO Tag Team Titles vs Misae Genki & Haruka Matsuo Nov. 3, 2006.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Warren Zevon

Song:Werewolves Of London

Album:I'll Sleep When I'm Gone (An Anthology)

Singer songwriter Warren Zevon wasn't looking to be a legend. He just wanted to make a living in the music business. He was born Jan. 24, 1947 in Chicago but travelled a lot as a child as his father was a professional gambler. His 1969 album Wanted Dead Or Alive flopped so Zevon went back to session work and was guitarist for The Everly Brothers. He seemed to be satisfied with this when Jackson Browne talked him into recording another solo record. The result was the 1976 album Excitable Boy featuring the top 50 hit Werewolves Of London. Zevon received a lot of acclaim for his sense of humour in his songs. But he had problems with alcoholism and wasn't very productive when he fell off the wagon. He would make comebacks when he was sober. Werewolves Of London is a great song and features Mick Fleetwood & John McVie from Fleetwood Mac along with some of Zevon's session musician pals. This 2CD comp is worth getting. Warren Zevon was making another comeback when he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2002. He died on Sept. 7, 2003 at age 46. There is a common video of Werewolves Of London around but I found this concert performance of the song from Passaic, NJ Oct. 1982.

Warren Zevon - Werewolves Of London - Live 1982

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Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Muddy Waters

Song:Mannish Boy

Album:The Chess Box

If you want to talk about The Blues, you have to start with McKinley Morganfield AKA Muddy Waters, probably the greatest of all blues artists. He was born April 4, 1915 in Rolling Fork, MS. But he went to the big city of Chicago like a lot of Mississippi Delta blues artists when musicologist Alan Lomax found him in 1941. He became a fixture on the Chicago blues scene and he was well established by the time he wrote the classic Mannish Boy in 1955. It was based on a riff from Willie Dixon's Hoochie Coochie Man and was an answer to Bo Diddley's I'm a Man. Waters played slide guitar with Little Walter on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elgin Evans on drums, Big Crawford on bass and Otis Spann on piano. This 3CD Chess Box covers all of Waters' Chess recordings and is a must for blues fans. Mannish Boy was covered by tons of rock musicians and Waters even rerecorded it in 1977 with Johnny Winter. Those 70s records put Waters back on top by the time he died on Apr. 30, 1983 at age 68. Muddy Waters was one of the all time greats of black music and his impact is still felt today. Here's Muddy Waters performing Mannish Boy in 1971.

LLPW wrestlers on Feb. 10 Sendai Girls show

As many fans are aware, Jan. 31 is the anniversary of the death of legendary puroresu star Giant Baba. But some fans may not be aware that Meiko Satomura & Giant Baba are both from Niigata. So Sankei Sports interviewed Satomura on the anniversary of Giant Baba's death. Satomura said she is proud to be from the same hometown as Baba. She takes his legacy very seriously. She did get to meet him when she started with GAEA in 1995. She visited his house in Niigata last June prior to the Sendai Girls debut. She hopes that the success of Sendai Girls continues Giant Baba's legacy. The next Sendai Girls show will be Feb. 10 at Zepp Sendai. LLPW wrestlers Eagle Sawai, Takako Inoue, Eiger, Sayuri Okino & Harley Saito will be there to face Satomura's trainees. It looks once again like the matches won't be announced in advance. Then on Feb. 12, Satomura will face Mayumi Ozaki in the semi final of LLPW's Strongest Woman tournament.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:10CC

Song:Life Is A Minestrone

Album:The Very Best Of 10CC

10CC was a very popular British pop group whose music can best be described as a mix of pop craftsmanship and cheeky nonsense. All four members were veterans of the British music scene. Guitarist Graham Gouldman was a member of The Mockingbirds and guitarist Eric Stewart was one of Wayne Fontana's Mindbenders. Pianist Lol Creme & drummer Kevin Godley were veteran session men. They called themselves Hotlegs and had a UK hit with Neanderthal Man. in 1972, they signed with Jonathan King's (Everyone's Gone To The Moon) U.K. Records, he renamed them 10cc and they had several huge hits in England. Eventually their music would cross the pond on Mercury Records and they had a big hit in 1975 with I'm Not In Love from The Original Soundtrack. The Stewart/Creme song Life Is A Minestrone is also from that album and is complete nonsense. 10CC were very good pop musicians not only influenced by British pop but by The Beach Boys and a healthy serving of Frank Zappa. Their success continued until Godley & Creme left to form their own duo and become pioneers in music videos. Gouldman & Stewart brought in others to 10CC but they've never been able to recreate the success they had with the original group. This comp is just perfect for anyone. Here's 10CC performing Life Is A Minestrone from Top Of The Pops in 1975.

JWP sets up tag team picture at Jan. 27 show

JWP's next big Korakuen Hall show is on Apr. 15 so a lot of their efforts until then will set up the matches for that show. They used the Jan. 27 Akatsuka Public Hall show to set up the picture for the JWP Tag Team Titles. Sachie Abe & KAZUKI reunited Wanted and won the titles a couple of months ago and since then they've been hounded by former champs Toshie Uematsu & Ran YuYu. Also, HIROKA & Marcela make an appearance.

The opener had KAZUKI against rookie Kaori Oki. KAZUKI won easily with a diving kneedrop at 7:04. Next was Toshie Uematsu & Ran YuYu vs ECO & JWP Junior Champ Yasusato Nakajima. Nakajima is improving and put on a good show but Ran won with a running elbow at 11:14. Sachie Abe won her match over Kaori Yoneyama with a victory roll at 6:35. KAZUKI interfered to help her partner. Toshie Uematsu & Ran YuYu came to the ring to challenge Wanted for the JWP Tag Team Titles again and it was decided that there would be a number one contender tournament and the title match will be on the Apr. 15 Korakuen Hall show. Uematsu & Ran and Yoneyama & Leon will be in the tournament and the other teams and the brackets will be determined on the Feb. 11 Cinema Club show.

HIROKA teamed with Commando Bolshoi against Azumi Hyuga & Marcela. Hyuga & Bolshoi are quite adept at the lucha style so it was very good. HIROKA pounds Hyuga for the first part of the match but Marcela turns things around and Marcela pins HIROKA at 17:31 while the other two are outside the ring. The main event was Tsubasa Kuragaki & Manami Toyota vs Kayoko Haruyama & Leon. Kuragaki was looking to stick it to Haruyama and did exactly that with a lariat at 17:18. JWP's next show will be Feb. 4 at the JWP Dojo and then Feb. 11 at Cinema Club.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:The Harptones

Song:Life Is But A Dream

Album:The Doo Wop Box Vol. 2

The Harptones were a second tier doo wop group who likely would have been bigger if they had been able to record for a major label. They would have a hit and their record company would go out of business. The Harptones were originally called The Skylarks and were led by New York City high school student William Galloway in 1951. In 1953 they merged with a group called The Winfield Brothers led by lead tenor Willie Winfield and pianist Raoul Cita and changed their name to The Harps. A performance at the Apollo amateur night got the attention of an MGM Records executive but he wasn't around when they came to his office. While practicing their harmonies in the hallway, Bruce Records owners Morty Craft & Leo Rogers heard them and signed them. There was another group called The Harps so the name was changed to The Harptones. They had some hits including the 1956 great Raoul Cita song Life Is But A Dream but the limited distribution really hurt them and they never had a chart hit. They bounced around various labels and like a lot of doo wop groups petered out in the late 50s and disbanded in 1964. Cita & Winfield reformed The Harptones in 1970 and they've been touring the oldies concert circuit ever since. Rhino's first Doo Wop Box was so popular that this second 4CD Doo Wop Box followed in 1996. They are both great comps and worth the investment. Here are The Harptones performing Hot Rod Baby from the 1956 film Rockin' The Blues. It's very entertaining. That's Willie Winfield singing lead and Raoul Cita on piano.

The Harptones - Hot Rod Baby
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Emoto gets a shot at the boss on Jan. 28 Ibuki show

For most of her wrestling career to date, Atsuko Emoto has been perceived as a comedy wrestler because of her Bullfight Sora gimmick. It's still difficult to take her seriously when she wrestles without the mask. So Ibuki owner Mariko Yoshida gave her a main event slot against the boss on the Jan. 28 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show. The only special guest on this show was Ran YuYu. The rest was unremarkable. She's better have big plans for the May Korakuen Hall show.

The opener had Ran YuYu against rookie Hiroyo Matsumoto. Matsumoto has been very impressive against veterans. She's a good athlete and she works hard. All she has to do is continue to improve and learn from veterans like Ran. Matsumoto gave Ran a good match but Ran won with an elbow smash at 13:10. Next was Cherry vs Mai Ichii. Ichii seems to be improving since leaving Gtkn for Kaoru Ito Professional Wrestling Classroom. Cherry won with the Cherry Bomb at 10:01.

Sakura Emi returned to Ibuki and teamed with her trainee Aoi Kizuki against Ayako Sato & Leon. Of course with Sakura Emi you get a lot of comedy but Leon won with the Mad Splash on Emi at 16:13. The masked wrestler Rei is another one who has improved since leaving Gtkn. She likes to fly but needs to be more consistent. Her opponent was Ayumi Kurihara. Kurihara controlled the start of the match but Rei came back and won with a version of a moonsault drop called the Bright Red Angel at 13:10.

The main event had Atsuko Emoto against Mariko Yoshida. Yoshida said on her website that she felt Emoto was trying not to lose instead of win. This is probably because Kyoko Kimura drew with Yoshida at the last Ibuki show. Emoto wants to be taken more seriously. Yoshida says Emoto is very strong and she was not able to beat her. It was a thirty minute draw. It appears that what Emoto is really after is a match with Kimura. Yoshida said Emoto did well and she would think about it. The next Ibuki show will be March 18 at Shin-kiba 1st Ring.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Ella Fitzgerald

Song:Hard Hearted Hannah

Album:Ella:The Legendary Decca Recordings

This 4CD box set thoroughly covers Ella Fitzgerald's early recording. Because her first hit A-Tisket A-Tasket was a cute novelty song, Chick Webb had her do more of those kind of songs. When Webb died in 1939, Ella eventually got more into jazz in the 40s and this great version of Hard Hearted Hannah reflects that change. She was able to get the respect of all the great musicians and worked with all of them. Most of the Ella Fitzgerald video footage available is from TV shows from the 60s. There's even footage of her with Lester Young & Charlie Parker from 1950. I'll save that for another time. I did find one clip from the 40s. It's Ella Fitzgerald singing A-Tisket A-Tasket from the 1942 Abbott & Costello film Ride 'Em Cowboy. I don't think most folks have ever seen this younger version of Ella Fitzgerald.

Ella Fitzgerald-A Tisket, A Tasket
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Wizard Of OZ tournament continues at Jan. 28 OZ Academy show

The Wizard Of OZ tournament continued at the Jan. 28 Shinjuku FACE OZ Academy show. This is one of these round robin tournaments with one point awarded for a win, half a point for a draw and no points for a loss. These are ten minute matches. It looks like this is going to go on for a couple of months with some sort of championship match at the end. There were two tournament matches on this show with Aja Kong vs Mayumi Ozaki in the main event. Chikayo Nagashima, Carlos Amano & Dynamite Kansai are the other participants. Also, AKINO returns to the ring and Takako Inoue makes a rare appearance outside LLPW.

The opener had Mayumi Ozaki & Chikayo Nagashima vs Sonoko Kato & AKINO. This was AKINO's first ring appearance since taking a sabbatical in September. She's supposed to be taking up golf and in fact she did play in a tournament last month. And she just returned from a vacation in North America. Of course Police was there and it appears that he clobbered Kato to end the match at 18:51. She wasn't very happy with Ozaki afterwards. As for AKINO, I don't know if she is returning to the ring on a regular basis but she has posted on her website that she will appear on the Jaguar Yokota 30th Anniversary show on March 11.

Next was a rare OZ Academy appearance by Takako Inoue. She teamed with Eagle Sawai against Dynamite Kansai & Carlos Amano. Takako posted on her blog that she was knocked loopy by a Kansai kick and wasn't of much use for the rest of the match. Eagle had to carry it. Takako said she was unconscious for a few seconds and this is the third time this has happened in her career. Accidents do happen and Takako was joking about it afterwards so it looks like she's OK. Kansai used the Splash Mountain on Eagle for the win at 15:58.

The other two matches were part of the Wizard Of OZ tournament. First was Chikayo Nagashima vs Carlos Amano. Amano used her head butt attack but Nagashima did the same in return. It appears that Nagashima won the match with a rollup reversal with four seconds left in the match. Next was Mayumi Ozaki vs Aja Kong. It seems that Aja went into a rage when she saw Police at ringside. She chased him around the arena and the distraction helped Ozaki win at 8:43. The current Wizard of OZ standings have Mayumi Ozaki & Aja Kong tied for the lead with 2 points, Chikayo Nagashima & Carlos Amano with 1 point and no points for Dynamite Kansai. The tournament will continue at the Feb. 10 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:John Scofield

Song:Do I Crazy

Album:Works For Me

John Scofield is one of the top guitarists working today. He's basically a jazz musician but he seems to go back and forth to jazz, fusion & rock. He was born Dec. 26, 1951 in Toledo, OH. He studied music at Berklee and was playing around Boston when he was hired for the Billy Cobham-George Duke Band in 1975. He had played on some of Cobham's solo records. In the 80s, he toured with Miles Davis for four years. Since then, he's led his own band and played with all the top musicians. He's recorded for Verve since 1995. Do I Crazy is a great track from the straight ahead 2001 jazz album Works For Me. Musicians are Kenny Garrett on alto sax, Brad Mehldau on piano, Christian McBride on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. Scofield's most recent record was a 2005 tribute to Ray Charles though I think he has a new one coming shortly. He also toured last summer with former Grateful Dead member Phil Lesh. John Scofield is a very versatile guitarist and is always worth a listen. Here's John Scofield performing Wabash III with Joe Lovano on tenor sax, Bill Stewart on bass and Mike Riley on drums. You can also watch videos at his website http://www.johnscofield.com/

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Cannonball Adderley

Song:Fiddler On The Roof

Album:Money In The Pocket

When Riverside Records went bankrupt in 1963, jazz sax legend Julian "Cannonball" Adderley signed with Capitol Records. They did commercialize his music and Adderley had a huge pop hit in 1966 with Mercy Mercy Mercy. A lot of Adderley's success can be credited to Austrian pianist arranger Joe Zawinul. He wrote Mercy Mercy Mercy. Zawinul went on to greater success on Miles Davis' ground breaking jazz fusion album Bitches Brew and as co-founder of Weather Report. The Mercy Mercy Mercy album was supposedly recorded live at "The Club" in Chicago. In fact, producer David Axelrod set up a nightclub setting at the Capitol Records studio in Los Angeles. The recordings were severely edited for release. Money In The Pocket is a 2005 restoration of this session with previously unreleased extra tracks including this great version of Fiddler On The Roof. Musicians are Nat Adderley on trumpet, Joe Zawinul on keyboards, Herbie Lewis on bass and Roy McCurdy on drums. This CD is a must for Cannonball Adderley fans. Adderley left Capitol for Fantasy Records in 1970 and died suddenly of a stroke on Aug. 8, 1975 at age 47. Here's Cannonball Adderley performing on the Jazz Scene USA TV show in 1962 with Nat Adderley, Yusuf Lateef, Joe Zawinul, Sam Jones & Louis Hayes. There are clips of this show floating around on the internet but this is the full 25 minute show.

Cannonball Adderley 6et
Uploaded by madafonka2

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Tonex

Song:God Has Not 4got

Album:O2

Anthony Williams II is a multi talented gospel artist originally from Chicago. His daady's a preacher and his mama sings. He now lives in San Diego. He's a tremendous singer and goes by the name Tonex (pronounced Toe-Nay). He also produces himself and other artists as T-Boy. So T-Boy the producer, Tonex the singer and Anthony Williams the songwriter are one and the same. I read a review of one of his records that didn't seem to understand that. Like a lot of other contemporary gospel artists, he gets a lot of heat from the church for reaching out to the secular market. But that's what he has to do in order to save souls. The 2002 album O2 emphasizes his singing ability and God Has Not 4got is a beautiful ballad. His most recent record was the 2003 live CD Out The Box. But he must have a new CD coming out soon because I have for you his brand new video called Fail U. Never let it be said that I'm not up to date. It's pretty slick and if you didn't know that Tonex is a gospel artist, you wouldn't know it by this video. Also check out Youtube & MySpace as Tonex likes to vlog...a lot.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST song of the day

Artist:Nappy Brown

Song:That Man

Album:Night Time Is The Right Time

Nappy Brown is a very entertaining singer who has been straddling R & B and blues since the 50s. He was born Napolean Brown Goodson Culp Oct. 12, 1929 in Charlotte, NC. He started out as leader of the gospel group The Heavenly Lights. In 1954, Savoy Records owner Herman Lubinsky convinced Brown to go secular. Brown recorded several excellent R & B songs in the 50s including That Man. His gospel tinged vocals were usually punctuated by the tenor sax of Sam "That Man" Taylor. Things petered out for Brown by the late 50s but he returned to music in the 80s with Black Top Records. I guess he would be classified more as a blues artist today but I would say his 50s recordings are more R & B than blues. This 2CD comp of his Savoy recordings is worth getting. Nappy Brown last recorded in 1997 but he's still touring. I didn't expect to find any video footage of him but here he is singing Squeezin' Lemons. It looks very recent.

Nappy Brown-Lemon Squeezin Part 1

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