AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Jon Pardi

Artist:Jon Pardi
Song:Up All Night
Album:Write You A Song





Jon Pardi made a big splash on the country charts with his debut CD Write You A Song and the single Up All Night. He was born May 20, 1985 in Dixon, Ca which is near Sacramento. Pardi was a big Hank Williams Jr. fan growing up and liked to imitate him at family functions. He was in bands as a teen and was in the band Northern Comfort while attending college. Pardi moved to Nashville in 2008 and worked as a lifeguard while writing songs. He got a publishing deal and that's where he met his songwriting partner and producer Bart Butler. Butler had worked with Dierks Bentley and Bentley's frequent songwriting partner Brett Beavers. This led to a deal with Bentley's label Capitol Nashville. Up All Night reached #10 on the Country Singles chart in 2013. The song was written by Pardi, Butler and Beavers. The CD Write You A Song was released Jan. 2014. Pardi is currently touring with Alan Jackson. The one criticism of Pardi is he sounds too much like Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line. So his big challenge is to distinguish himself from other country singers. But even if he fizzles, Pardi could still have a long career as a songwriter. Here's the video for Up All Night by Jon Pardi.

Review of The Ultimate Fighter 20 episode 9

This episode of The Ultimate Fighter 20 begins with a Team Melendez slumber party to celebrate Rose Namajunas' win. Some of the girls get drunk and some go to another room to sleep. Felice Herrig vs Randa Markos is the first quarter final. Anthony Pettis has a problem because Carla Esparza has been vocal about not training or even being in the same room with potential opponents. Some other fighters don't care about that. Pettis has a team meeting and his mistake is he puts this issue to a vote. It's a mistake because as he admits later, he can't enforce the result of the vote. Of course Carla, Felice and Jessica Penne are pals so they vote together and training sessions are split in two. Randa ignores this and tells the coaches she is coming in for the second training session to work on cardio. All hell breaks loose. And Pettis isn't there on that day. The coaches can't deal with it. One of them tells Carla what all of us are thinking. She's being silly. When Pettis returns, he admits he can't force Randa to do anything. The team thing is over. Carla and Felice harass Randa. Randa ignores them which makes them angrier. There was also a coaches trivia challenge which was a waste of time. I have covered Felice Herrig's entire career going back to the Fight Girls reality show. And there are two things I can tell you about her. She likes to use animosity towards her opponent to motivate herself. Sometimes she needs to create animosity when it doesn't exist. Manufactured drama. Most fighters don't need to do that. The second is Felice is a kickboxer with zero ground game. Randa knows this so her goal is to take Felice down and submit her. And Randa does that with a very slick scarf hold armbar. You don't see that every day. Anyone thinking this loss would shut Felice up is dreaming. But the real problem seems to be with Carla who offers to fight Randa right there. BTW, I don't expect these two to face each other on TUF. It could happen at the finale. Randa is a poker face and won despite the harassment. Carla is the complete opposite and it could cost her. Next week will have Aisling Daly vs Jessica Penne. Enjoy the video!

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Powder Blues Band

Artist:Powder Blues Band
Song:Doin' It Right
Album:First Decade/Greatest Hits




The Powder Blues Band have been around since the late 70s and though they tour internationally, they have been very successful in their native Canada. Doin' It Right is probably their best known song. The leader of Powder Blues Band is lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Tom Lavin. Lavin is from Chicago but he moved to Vancouver in the 70s. He was the guitarist for Prism on their 1977 debut album. He formed Powder Blues Band as a house band for a Vancouver club. They started out playing blues covers and then Lavin started writing songs. The band included Lavin's brother Jack Lavin on bass, Willie & The Walkers leader Willie MacCalder on keyboards, Wayne Kozak, Gordon Bertram and Dave Woodward on sax, Mark Hasselbach on trumpet and Duris Maxwell of Skylark on drums. They recorded the album Uncut and after every record company in Canada rejected it, they released it themselves. When Doin' It Right got airplay on Canadian radio, RCA Canada picked up Uncut and Powder Blues got a US record deal with Liberty Records. Powder Blues Band won the 1981 Juno for Most Promising Group of the Year. They recorded three albums in the early 80s. They had some chart success in Canada and became a popular concert attraction. They won the 1986 W.C. Handy Award for Best Foreign Blues Band. This comp is a good intro to their music. Lavin still leads Powder Blues Band. They last recorded in 2004. Lavin has produced albums for Stony Plain Records and he is the director of the Pacific Audio Visual Institute in Vancouver. Here's Powder Blues Band performing Doin' It Right on the TV show On Stage in Edmonton 1991.

Ashlee Evans-Smith to replace Holly Holm on Dec. 6 UFC show

Ashlee Evans-Smith

Last week Holly Holm's manager Lenny Fresquez announced that a neck injury forced Holly to pull out of her Dec. 6 UFC debut against Raquel Pennington. Ashlee Evans-Smith has been confirmed as Raquel's new opponent. Ashlee announced it on Twitter. Ashlee is best known for beating Fallon Fox in the finals of that CFA tournament last year. For all the uproar about Fox being transgender, somebody around here predicted that Ashlee would win that fight. Oh, that was me. Fallon can only beat tomato cans. I knew she would lose to a decent fighter. Ashlee has a wrestling background and has been friends with Carla Esparza for years. Ashlee tried out for The Ultimate Fighter 18 but didn't make it. I think she is better than some of the fighters who were on that show. Last time we saw Ashlee was on the prelims of the June 21 WSOF show beating Marciea Allen. For some reason, Ashlee tried to outbox a boxer for the first two rounds. Once Ashlee took her down in the third, she finished her. I presume she asked the WSOF for her release when this opportunity came up. Were they ever going to use her again? Ashlee is undefeated at 3-0. And despite Raquel's 4-4 record, I think this is a step up in competition for Ashlee. This show will be at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. This match was supposed to be on the main card of UFC 181 but I think it will be dropped to the prelims.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Survivor

Artist:Survivor
Song:Eye Of The Tiger
Album:Ultimate Survivor





Eye Of the Tiger topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks in 1982. As I'm sure you know, it was the theme of the film Rocky III. Survivor are from Chicago. Jim Peterik was lead singer and guitarist of The Ides Of March who scored with Vehicle in 1970. Then Peterik was in the jazz rock group Chase. As you may know, most of Chase died in a 1974 plane crash. Peterik and bassist Dennis Keith Johnson were supposed to be on that plane but couldn't make it. That's where the band name Survivor comes from. After recording a 1976 solo album, Peterik formed Survivor with Johnson, drummer Gary Smith, lead singer Dave Bickler and guitarist Frankie Sullivan. Sullivan was in the band Mariah who released an album on United Artists in 1976. Peterik and Sullivan had worked on jingles and wrote all of Survivor's songs. They signed with Scotti Bros. Records who were distributed by Atlantic at the time. After their 1980 debut album Survivor, Johnson and Smith were replaced by Stephan Ellis and Marc Droubay. Peterik thought Johnson and Smith were jazz musicians and he wanted a rock group. The album Premonition was released in 1981. Then Scotti Bros. moved to Columbia Records. Sylvester Stallone heard the Survivor single Poor Man's Son and he asked Peterik to write a song for Rocky III. At first Peterik thought the title Eye Of The Tiger was a little too obvious and he was going to call the song Survival. But sometimes the obvious choice is the best choice. The song was a huge hit of course. Dave Bickler was forced to leave Survivor due to vocal cord problems. Jimi Jamison was the new lead singer for the 1984 album Vital Signs. Survivor had four more top ten hits including Burning Heart from Rocky IV. You can get all their hits on this budget comp. Survivor faded and split up in 1989. Jamison continued to tour as Survivor. He eventually reformed with Peterik and Sullivan but Jamison seemed to prefer leading his own version of Survivor. Bickler returned to Survivor and they toured for a couple of years. Then Peterik left and Sullivan won the legal battle with Jamison for the Survivor name. Jamison replaced Bickler. This back and forth with Jamison would continue until his death on Sept. 1, 2014. Bickler had returned to Survivor and they were on tour at the time but that has been cancelled. Here's the video for Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor.

Ga Yeon Song vs Sarami set for Dec. 14 Road FC show

After being called out by veteran DEEP fighter Satoko Shinashi, Road FC has chosen not to take that bait and announced today that 19 year old actress, singer and fighter Ga Yeon Song will face DEEP JEWELS veteran Satomi "Sarami" Takano on the Dec. 14 show in Seoul, Korea. DEEP matchmaker Shigeru Saeki wanted Ga to face Shinashi on DEEP's New Year's Eve show. I'm glad that ROAD didn't fall for that and instead matched Ga up against a lesser opponent. Sarami is more experienced than Ga's first opponent. But she's still not very good. Her record is 3-5. She's on a three fight losing streak. Her last fight was a loss to Mina Kurobe on the Nov. 3 DEEP JEWELS show. She trains at Club Barbarian in Yoyama, the home of MIKU, so one would think she could be a decent fighter. But she's not. Ga should win fairly easily. Sending Ga to Japan or anywhere else would be a huge mistake right now. She is a celebrity in Korea because of her appearance on the reality show Roommates and her singing. So she is a draw in Korea but is unknown elsewhere. They may have to send her elsewhere someday but it's not something ROAD should do in the near future.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Jets

Artist:The Jets
Song:Crush On You
Album:20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best Of The Jets




The music business has a long history of family groups aimed at the teen market like The Jackson 5 and The Osmonds. The Jets were a family group who had success in the 80s with frothy pop songs like Crush On You. The Wolfgramm family moved from their native Tonga to Minneapolis in 1965. There were 17 children and eight of them formed The Jets. The oldest was Leroy Wolfgramm on guitar followed by Eddie Wolfgramm on tenor sax, Eugene Wolfgramm on congas and alto sax, Heinrich Wolfgramm on bass, Rudy Wolfgramm on drums, Kathi Wolfgramm on keyboards and Elizabeth and Moana Wolfgramm on lead vocals. They signed with MCA Records and their debut album The Jets was released in 1985. The producers were David Z (David Rivkin) who worked with Prince. His brother is Prince drummer Bobby Z. The other producer was former Slade drummer Don Powell. Crush On You was the second single and it reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by former Raydio bassist Jerry Knight and studio musician Aaron Zigman. They wrote several songs on the album. The album was certified Platinum and the single You Got It All was also a top five hit. After a Christmas album, Magic was released in 1987 also produced by Powell. They had three more top ten hits. Eugene Wolfgramm left The Jets in 1988 to form Boys Club as Gene Hunt. The Jets 1989 album Believe did not do well and MCA dropped them. You can get all their hits on this budget comp. Elizabeth attempted a solo career. Today The Jets are still touring. They have recorded gospel CDs and a couple aimed at the nostalgia market. If you were around in the 80s, I'm sure you will remember The Jets. You may wonder why you listened to them in the first place. Here's the video for Crush on You by The Jets.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Passenger

Artist:Passenger
Song:Let Her Go
Album:All The Little Lights





Passenger is another singer songwriter attempting to hide behind a band name. Let Her Go was a surprise smash hit in 2012. Passenger is Mike Rosenberg. He was born May 17, 1984 in Brighton and Hove, England. His father is from New Jersey and his mother is British. He wrote songs at an early age. His father worked in film and introduced him to Jamie Catto of Faithless and this led to a gig on a 2002 benefit show where he met Andrew Phillips and they started working together. They formed The Mike Rosenberg Band which was changed to Passenger. Passenger released an album in 2007 and then split up. Rosenberg kept the name Passenger and moved to Australia. All The Little Lights was Rosenberg's third album as Passenger. A Dutch fan emailed Rosenberg asking if he could promote Let Her Go. The song grew from there and got a big boost when it was used in a Budweiser commercial shown during Super Bowl XLVII. It reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was an international chart topper. Rosenberg is unlikely to have another hit like that. But it got him a deal with Nettwerk Records and he has been very successful on tour. He's buddies with Ed Sheeran and has opened for him. He works with Aussie musicians on his albums and they also tour with him. But it is not officially a band. His latest CD Whispers was released June 2014. Here's the video for Let Her Go by Passenger.

Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Jessica Eye vs Leslie Smith

Here's the match video for Jessica Eye vs Leslie Smith from last night's UFC show in Mexico City. This is one of those fights that is not for the squeamish. If you can't stand the sight of blood, don't watch it. The main reason Jessica lost her last fight to Alexis Davis is she wasn't aggressive enough. She acknowledged that it was a missed opportunity and she would never allow that to happen again. Opportunity is what Leslie Smith is all about. She did well as a late replacement losing to Sarah Kaufman and then won by TKO over Jessamyn Duke. Jessica looked great in round one. She was quicker than I had seen her fight over the last couple of years. Leslie couldn't keep up with her. The key blow in the fight was a right cross to Leslie's ear with a minute left in the round. Her ear burst and there was blood all over the place. Like a lot of fighters, Leslie has cauliflower ears. It's an occupational hazard. We don't see this sort of thing often but it does happen. I thought they should have stopped the fight between rounds because the ear was only going to get worse and the fight would have to be stopped anyway. The ear was a target that Jessica was going to go after. And she should go after it. She's trying to win the fight. Not surprisingly, ref Herb Dean stopped the fight about a minute into round two. And the ringside doctor advised him to stop the fight. Leslie said in Spanish that she wanted to continue. But she admitted afterwards she didn't know how bad the ear looked. The last thing the UFC needed was Leslie Smith's ear laying on the mat. And that could have happened. One who can identify with Leslie's problem is veteran WWE wrestler Mick Foley. Foley lost an ear while working a WCW European tour in the early 90s. Foley declared that Leslie is his favourite fighter and he tweeted her a picture of himself after he lost his ear. So Leslie may have lost the fight but I think she gained a lot of respect for her willingness to continue. And Jessica got a big win. I'd like to see her face Jessica Andrade in Brazil. That could be fight of the night. Enjoy the video!

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Temptations

Artist:The Temptations
Song:Silent Night
Album:The Temptations Give Love At Christmas




Around this time of year I always get asked about Christmas CDs. AccuRadio could play anything at random. So if something is played and I have a decent video clip, I could do it. The Temptations scored a top ten hit with Silent Night in 1968 and I think their version is very popular today. They recorded Silent Night three times. The first time they recorded it was for the 1970 album The Temptations Christmas Card. It was released after Ball Of Confusion. The group at the time was Dennis Edwards, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin and Otis Williams. Kendricks sang lead on Silent Night. The album was very successful. The second time they recorded Silent Night was on the 1980 album The Temptations Give Love At Christmas. This was right after they returned to Motown after recording two albums for Atlantic. Dennis Edwards had just returned from a modest solo career. You have to remember Edwards didn't get along with Otis Williams which is why Edwards left The Temptations in the first place. The other two members were Richard Street and new addition Glenn Leonard. Street joined The Temptations in 1971 and was a mainstay of the group until the 90s. Very underrated guy. The third time The Temptations recorded Silent Night was for the 2001 CD The Best Of The Temptations Christmas. Williams had recently brought in G.C. Cameron as lead singer to replace Barrington "Bo" Henderson. Other members were Ron Tyson, Harry McGilberry and Terry Weeks. All three CDs are available as budget CDs so take your pick. I like the 1980 album best. Any one of them would make for a great R & B Christmas. Here are The Temptations performing Silent Night around 1997. Bo Henderson was lead singer at the time.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Sylvia

Artist:Sylvia
Song:Pillow Talk
Album:Intimate Portrait: Women With Soul





Pillow Talk may seem like a fluke one hit wonder. But there is much more to Sylvia Robinson than one song. And Pillow Talk paved the way towards more explicit content in black music. Sylvia was born Mar. 6, 1936 in New York City. Until Pillow Talk, she was best known as one half of Mickey & Sylvia and the 1956 smash hit Love Is Strange. They split up in 1959 and Sylvia married Joe Robinson. She recorded as Sylvia Robbins and then reunited with Mickey Baker until he moved to France in 1964. Then the Robinsons moved to New Jersey and started All Platinum Records. The label's biggest success was The Moments' Love On A Two Way Street and Shirley & Company's Shame, Shame, Shame. Sylvia co-wrote both songs. She wrote Pillow Talk with Michael Burton for Al Green. But Green thought it was too explicit so Sylvia recorded it. I'm sure no one was more surprised than Sylvia when Pillow Talk reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973. Because there was no album at the time. But they did record a Pillow Talk album but they rushed it so it's not very good. It is available on CD but instead I suggest this various artists budget CD released by Rhino as a companion to the Lifetime series Intimate Portrait. And if you don't think Pillow Talk was influential, remember Love To Love You Baby by Donna Summer was a huge hit in 1975. Would that have even been recorded without the success of Pillow Talk? Sylvia went on to form Sugar Hill Records and helped give birth to rap music with The Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash. And until her death on Sept. 29, 2011 at age 75, Sylvia Robinson continued to develop new acts. Producer Paula Wagner recently announced plans for a Sylvia Robinson biopic with Joe and Sylvia's son Joey Robinson to co-produce. Here's Sylvia performing Pillow Talk on Soul Train 1973.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Pharrell Williams

Artist:Pharrell Williams
Song:Happy
Album:G I R L





Pharrell Williams is so busy as a producer I'm surprised he had time to record his own album. Happy is a song Williams wrote for the film Despicable Me 2 that grew into the biggest hit of 2014. He was born Apr. 5, 1973 in Virginia Beach, VA. He met his long time partner Chad Hugo at summer camp. They formed The Neptunes in the early 90s. While in high school, they were discovered by producer Teddy Riley and they worked with him after graduating high school. The Neptunes stopped bring a band and the two became producers. Their first number one hit was I'm A Slave 4 U by Britney Spears in 2001 followed by Nelly's Hot In Here. The Neptunes released a remix CD in 2003 but they never recorded a CD of original music. Williams decided to release the solo CD In My Mind in 2006. It did OK but there were no hit singles. The Neptunes continued to produce artists like Britney Spears, Beyonce, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and others. And The Neptunes also recorded as N.E.R.D. Williams worked on the 2010 film Despicable Me with composer Hans Zimmer. Then he worked on the sequel Despicable Me 2 in 2013. While working on that, Williams signed with Columbia Records and released G I R L Mar. 2014. Happy became a huge worldwide hit helped by a video featuring celebrity guest shots. Happy doesn't have any verses. It just has a chorus and a bridge and he just repeats them. It's like they used to say on American Bandstand. It's got a good beat so we'll give it a 95. So now Williams is a pop star and out on tour. Happy was nominated but did not win an Oscar. But there are plenty of Grammys in Pharrell Williams future. I don't know how he's going to juggle everything and still record his next solo CD. He's a busy boy. Here's the video for Happy by Pharrell Williams.

Miesha Tate vs Sara McMann added to Jan. 31 UFC show

Miesha Tate, Sara McMann

On last night's episode of UFC Tonight, it was announced that Miesha Tate vs Sara McMann has been added to UFC 183 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Jan. 31. I expect this to air on the main card. I've known about this for a couple of weeks but I didn't know the date. Both fighters want to get back into the title picture but they have to do more than just win. Neither has done that lately. Miesha won her last fight over Rin Nakai but if Rin comes out more aggressively at the start of the fight, it might have been a different story. Sara got the decision over Lauren Murphy in her last fight. But a lot of observers thought Lauren got robbed. Those kind of wins don't lead to title shots. One of them has to stand out and I don't know if either can do that. There was talk of Miesha possibly facing Bethe Correia. They were yammering at each other on Twitter. Today Bethe told Guillerme Cruz of MMA Fighting that she is out with an injury and will return in March. In other injury news, Holly Holm is out of her fight vs Raquel Pennington. Her manager Lenny Fresquez told the Albuquerque Journal she suffered a neck injury in training. She could be out for a while if she needs surgery. A replacement has not been announced.

Review of The Ultimate Fighter 20 episode 8

With Bec Rawlings vs Tecia Torres as this week's fight on The Ultimate Fighter 20, things are getting very testy in the house towards Tecia. Some of the girls are upset that Tecia accepted Dana White's offer to get back into the tournament when Justine Kish dropped out. They're blaming Tecia for accepting an opportunity that any of them would have gladly accepted when they should be mad at White as he could have brought in an alternate. Oh wait, he's the boss. He can do what he wants. It reminds me of when women go on Dr. Phil and blame the other woman for the husband's cheating. Why aren't they mad at him? To her credit, Tecia ignores them and gets ready for her fight. The worst thing is it overshadows Bec's story of leaving an abusive relationship and raising two sons as a single mother. The stuff in the house is childish nonsense. So the first half of this episode is a waste of time. I expected the fight to be close as neither are dominant fighters. They prefer striking but neither has knockout power. And neither has much of a ground game. So it was a technical fight and Tecia won both rounds by a very narrow margin. Her striking was crisper and she landed more volume. But there was never going to be a finish. Some of the girls booed after Tecia was announced as the winner. Joanne Calderwood, who usually has little to say, told them to knock it off. So afterwards, it was announced that Felice Herrig vs Randa Markos will be the first quarter final fight. That could be a tough fight for Felice. The key fight is Joanne Calderwood vs Rose Namajunas. I think the winner of that fight could win the championship. Their staredown was epic. Enjoy the video!

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Ramsey Lewis

Artist:Ramsey Lewis w/Earth, Wind & Fire
Song:Sun Goddess
Album:Sun Goddess: Expanded Edition





Pianist Ramsey Lewis has always mixed jazz with R & B. He had a big hit with The In Crowd in 1965. His second biggest hit was Sun Goddess in 1974. This song has been very influential and is frequently sampled by hip hop guys. The two hits are on different labels and don't appear on the same CD. Lewis was born May 27, 1935 in Chicago and played piano in church. He started out in jazz in the 50s and signed with Chess Records and recorded for Argo and Cadet. After the In Crowd was a big hit in 1965, drummer Isaac "Redd" Holt and bassist Eldee Young left to form Young-Holt Unlimited. The new drummer was Maurice White. White left to form Earth, Wind & Fire in 1969. Lewis moved to Columbia Records in 1972 which was also EW&F's label. After Lewis recorded a couple of albums with his trio, White suggested recording with EW&F. That was the 1974 album Sun Goddess. The single Sun Goddess was Lewis' biggest hit since The In Crowd. And the album was very successful on the R & B charts. Sun Goddess was written by Maurice White and Jon Lind. White produced the album and several EW&F members appeared including Charles Stepney on guitar, Verdine White on bass, Maurice White on drums, Don Myrick on sax and Philip Bailey on background vocals. This was the first time Lewis played electronic instruments. EW&F plays Sun Goddess on their live shows. An expanded edition of Sun Goddess was released on CD by the R & B reissue label Funky Town Grooves as a budget CD. Sun Goddess was sampled by Mos Def on the 1999 song Mr. Nigga. Lewis' next two albums were produced by Stepney who he knew from his Chess Records days. But Stepney died in 1976. Lewis recorded for Columbia until 1989 and has also recorded for GRP, Narada, Concord and Hidden Beach. He still tours and lives in Chicago. His Ramsey Lewis Foundation is dedicated to teaching music to at risk children in Chicago. Here's Ramsey Lewis with Henry Johnson on guitar, Mike Logan on keyboards, Chuck Webb on bass and Steve Cobb on drums at Jazz Club in Germany Mar. 1990.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-5 Star

Artist:5 Star
Song:Love Take Over
Album:The Greatest Hits





The R & B group 5 Star were much more successful in their native England than in North America. They had a few R & B and dance hits in the mid-80s. They were a family group. Buster Pearson was born in Jamaica and was a session guitarist in the 70s. After he moved his family to England, he decided to form a group with his children obviously influenced by the Jackson 5. Denise Pearson was the lead singer. The others were Doris, Lorraine, Steadman and Delroy Pearson. Doris was the choreographer. They got a record deal with RCA Records. It took a while but All Fall Down was their first big hit in England in 1985. They had success on the US R & B and Dance charts with Let Me Be The One and Love Take Over. But they were unable to cross over to pop. Their 1985 debut album Luxury of Life was certified Platinum in England. Most of it was recorded in Philadelphia by producer Nick Martinelli who also produced the British group Loose Ends who played on the album. Love Take Over was written and produced by the Dutch duo of Bernard Oattes and Rob Van Schaik who recorded as The Limit. 5 Star continued to have success in England with hits like System Addict and Rain Or Shine. And the won some BRIT Awards. So they were big in England at the time. They started to fade in the late 80s and tried to project a more mature image. So they left RCA for Epic in 1990. You can get all their RCA hits on this budget comp. Epic dropped them after one album. 5 Star split up in 1995. Denise Pearson moved to the US and attempted an unsuccessful solo career. Delroy Pearson moved to the US and was in the group Immature. Denise returned to England in 2001 and reformed 5 Star with Steadman and Lorraine. All five reunited for a couple of shows in 2012. Denise released her debut solo CD Imprint in June 2014. Here's the video for Love Take Over by 5 Star. I guess this typifies the 80s.

Analysis of Invicta FC10 card

Michelle Waterson

The entire card for Invicta FC 10 was announced today. The show will be Fri. Dec. 5 at the Arena Theatre in Houston. It will air on UFC Fight Pass. They announced a couple of matches on the Nov. 1 broadcast but I decided to wait to give my analysis once the whole card was announced. The main problem with the last couple of Invicta shows is the main events have sucked. It doesn't look like they have learned their lesson. The main event will have Michelle Waterson defend her Invicta Atomweight Championship against Brazilan fighter Herica Tiburcio. Tiburcio was supposed to be on the last Invicta show but had visa problems. Her record is 8-2 but she has never fought outside Brazil. So she's unproven. When this match was announced on the broadcast, matchmaker Julie Kedzie was immediately defensive about Tiburcio getting a title shot meaning they know it's poor matchmaking. Unproven fighters shouldn't be on main events. She needs to establish herself first. Good matchmaking is not rocket science. She's also 4'11" which is short for Atomweight. It makes me think they are looking to establish a Pinweight division especially with the return of Satoko Shinashi. I know they are trying to establish Michelle as a star but main event mismatches won't help her. I would rematch her with Lacey Schuckman because a lot of fans thought Lacey won their fight. They have unfinished business that's worthy of a main event. The semi-main will have Tonya Evinger vs Belgian Cindy Dandois. Cindy was also supposed to be on the last show but pulled out due to visa problems. Cindy is returning after over a three year break after having a baby. I think Tonya is a good opponent to test her out. The winner of Vanessa Porto vs Roxanne Modafferi will get a shot at Barb Honchak's  Invicta Flyweight Championship. Barb has beaten both of them so I'm not sure either of them deserve a title shot. A more interesting fight in the same weight class is Jennifer Maia vs DeAnna Bennett. DeAnna looked very good winning over Michelle Ould on the Sept. Invicta show. Jennifer is probably not as good as her 9-3-1 record. In a Featherweight match, Charmaine Tweet will face New Zealander Faith Van Duin. On the Sept. Invicta show, Charmaine did us all a big favour by beating the overhyped Veronica Rothenhausler. This will be Faith's first fight outside Australia. It's a big step up in competition for her. Mexican Irene Aldana returns to face Marion Reneau. Irene looked good winning over Peggy Morgan on the Sept. Invicta show. Marion is 4-1. She trains at Elite MMA in Visalia, CA with Bellator fighter Doug Marshall. This is a step up in competition for her. The aforementioned Peggy Morgan moves back to 145lb to face the debuting Andria Wawro. Peggy was on TUF18. I'm not a fan of hers. But she might be a good test for Andria who is 4-1 and trains at Renzo Gracie Philly. The other Mexican fighter Alexa Grasso will face Alida Gray. Alexa beat Ashley Cummins on the Sept. Invicta show but I wasn't impressed with her. Alida lost to Jessica Aguilar on the Jan. 18 WSOF show. It was a predictable mismatch. She needs to show she is better than that. Jinh Yu Frey will face Cassie Robb. Jinh lost a split decision to Jodie Esquibel on the Sept. Invicta show. Cassie is 0-2 and is from Casper, WY. This will be her Invicta debut. And the opener will have Rachael Ostovich vs Evva Johnson. Rachael has a 1-1 record and is from Honolulu. I guess what some will point out her 6-0 amateur record which doesn't mean anything in the pro game. Evva also has a significant amateur record and won her pro debut in Sept. She's from Somerset, KY. Both are making their Invicta debuts. I have no problem with unproven fighters opening the show. I just have a problem with unproven fighters in main events.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Jordin Sparks

Artist:Jordin Sparks
Song:Tattoo
Album:Jordin Sparks





Jordin Sparks was 17 years old when she won American Idol in 2007. She's had a couple of hits including Tattoo. But her third CD wasn't released due to record company problems and her talent may be more suitable for Broadway anyway. She was born Dec. 22, 1989 in Phoenix. Her father is former NFL defensive back Phillippi Sparks and Jordin grew up in New Jersey while her dad played for the New York Giants. She performed as a child and was named Coca Cola's Rising Star in 2002. She released an EP in 2003 and she looked to be headed for a Contemporary Christian Music career. She also did plus size modelling. She's a big girl with potential for weight problems. This all changed when she made American Idol in 2007. She had auditioned in 2006. She won probably because of her age. Tattoo was released Aug. 2007 and it reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written and produced by the Norwegian duo StarGate who have worked a lot with Ne-Yo. The CD Jordin Sparks was released Nov. 2007 and sold over a million copies. Her follow up single No Air reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. That was a duet with Chris Brown who was hot at the time. Jordin Sparks is available as a budget CD. Though the first single from her second album Battlefield was a top ten hit, the album didn't sell well compared to the first one. That has been typical of AI winners. It's hard to follow up that sales spike from the AI win. After touring, she made her Broadway debut in 2010 in the musical In The Heights. She also signed to make her film debut in the remake of the 70s film Sparkle starring with Whitney Houston. That was released in 2012. She records her third album but she can't seem to come to an agreement with RCA about a release date. They keep pushing the release date back supposedly to avoid conflict with Jordin's other activities. The single Vertigo with Jason Derulo was released Sept. 2013. She was dating him at the time. Then she signs to appear in the film Left Behind starring Nicolas Cage which was released Oct. 2014. Jordin announced she left RCA for producer Salaam Remi's new label Louder Than Life distributed by Sony. A new CD will be released in 2015. Whether she can recover from the delays remains to be seen. If it doesn't work, she can always go back to Broadway and films. here's the video for Tattoo by Jordin Sparks.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Ella Fitzgerald w/The Count Basie Orchestra

Artist:Ella Fitzgerald w/The Count Basie Orchestra
Song:Oh, Lady Be Good
DVD:Ella Fitzgerald & Other Jazz & Swing Greats Live From Lincoln Center




Though she continued to tour, it looked like Ella Fitzgerald's career was winding down in the late 60s. After MGM bought Verve Records, her contract wasn't renewed and she bounced around labels like Capitol, Atlantic and Reprise with little success. This all changed when former Verve owner Norman Granz started Pablo Records in 1972 and immediately signed Ella. This revived Ella's career. Meanwhile she appeared on the 1972 NBC TV special Timex All Star Swing Festival and kicked off the show with a performance of Oh, Lady Be Good with The Count Basie Orchestra. Ella first recorded with Basie on the 1957 album One O'Clock Jump and they also recorded the 1963 album Ella and Basie!. Oh, Lady Be Good is a Gershwin song first recorded by Ella in 1948. She also recorded it with Louis Armstrong on the album Ella and Louis. She didn't record it with Basie so it's not on a CD. But it is on the DVD of this TV special. It was hosted by The Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen and taped live at Lincoln Center in New York City. Others who appeared on the show include Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Bobby Hackett and Dizzy Gillespie. And there is a tribute to Louis Armstrong. The show won a Peabody Award. It's been released on DVD twice by dodgy companies. I am told the video quality isn't the greatest and could probably use a remastering. And the show is not complete on either DVD version. But at least it's out there and those who want it can get it. Though he voice was declining, Ella continued to record for Pablo and in the late 70s she recorded three albums with Basie. Here's Ella Fitzgerald with The Count Basie Orchestra performing Oh, Lady Be Good on the 1972 NBC special Timex All Star Swing Festival.

Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Juliana Lima vs Nina Ansaroff

Here's the match video of Juliana Lima vs Nina Ansaroff from last night's UFC show in Uberlandia, Brazil. The last time we saw Nina Ansaroff she was pounding out a win over Munah Holland on the Dec. 2013 Invicta show. She was an alternate on TUF 20. But I think she's a better fighter than some of the girls who made the show. She says she was thinking about retirement when she got called by the UFC. Juliana Lima was one of the 11 fighter contracts purchased from Invicta last year. They decided not to have her on TUF because she doesn't speak much English. Then she got pounded by Joanna Jedrzecyk in her UFC debut. She claimed she wasn't feeling well. Ugh! I hate excuses. Nina completely underperforms in this fight. And I think she had bad luck too. Juliana won the fight but the only thing she showed me is that she knows how to lay and pray. Nina is supposed to be a striker but she never got her act together. Early in round one, Nina stumbled trying to break away from a Muay Thai clinch and Juliana jumped on her. Does that even count as a takedown? Juliana did nothing from top position. But Nina didn't do enough from the bottom and many times judges look at top position favourably. The ref threatened to stand them up a couple of times. But Juliana did just enough to prevent that. Nina gets her in a standing guillotine. Then she takes her down but Nina's on the bottom again. A guillotine is a very low percentage submission and she would have been better off disengaging and striking with her. The fight was stopped for Nina's illegal upkick. I scored the round 10-9 for Juliana and I expected the judges to score it that way too. Top position is important even if the fighter does nothing with it. Round two was very similar. Juliana grabbed Nina's leg and she wasn't able to shake her. Down she went. Both attempted ineffective submissions. And the ref finally tires of Juliana's stalling in top position. I also scored this round 10-9 Juliana. In round three, Nina needs a finish. But you wouldn't know it by the way she was fighting. There was a lot of stalling on the fence. Juliana was tired and playing it safe because she won the first two rounds. But Nina didn't do enough and all three judges scored the fight 29-28 for Juliana. I scored it that way too though I didn't like her lay and pray strategy. Like Kenny Florian said, maybe it was the UFC jitters. Not a great performance by either fighter. Check out the video.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Godfathers Of Groove

Artist:The Godfathers Of Groove
Song:The Okie Doke
Album:The Godfathers Of Groove





The Godfathers Of Groove are three veteran jazz musicians playing old school organ jazz. Organist Reuben Wilson has been around since the 60s. He was born Apr. 9, 1935 in Mounds, OK and grew up in the Los Angeles area. He became friends with Richard "Groove" Holmes and started playing sessions. He recorded for Blue Note in the late 60s and for Groove Merchant in the 70s. He retired from music in the 80s. But he returned when hip hop guys started sampling his music in the late 80s. Drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie is probably the most recorded musician in history. Though he occasionally records as a leader, he has recorded on thousands of records since the early 60s. The third member is guitarist Grant Green Jr. who of course is the son of legendary 60s Blue Note guitarist Grant Green. He plays just like his dad. When the band formed in 2001, they were called Masters Of Groove. That's what they were called on their first couple of CDs on Jazzateria. Wilson and Green recorded solo albums on Jazzateria so it looks like the label may have suggested forming a band. When they moved to 16th & Vine Records for this 2007 release The Godfathers Of Groove, they decided to change the group name to The Godfathers Of Groove. They usually have a guest musician sit in. On this CD it is veteran session bassist Jerry Jemmott. Wilson writes and arranges most of the songs including The Okie Doke. The Godfathers Of Groove last recorded in 2009. I'm not sure if they are still together but all three guys are still around. The Godfathers Of Groove are recommended to fans of 60s organ jazz. Here's The Godfathers Of Groove performing The Okie Doke in the studio 2007. This video is on Youtube but this is the full version.

Masters of Groove ("The Okie Dokie" video) from seth jacobson on Vimeo.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Robin S.

Artist:Robin S.
Song:Show Me Love
Album:Show Me Love





The 1993 top five hit Show Me Love was the only big hit for Robin S. It was a hit in Europe and then on the dance charts. Then it crossed over to pop. It is not to be confused with the 1997 hit Show Me Love by Swedish pop singer Robyn. Different songs. Robin Stone was born Apr. 27, 1962 in Queens, NY. She grew up singing in church. As a teen, she sang in New York clubs and was lead singer of The New York Soul Syndicate. It was while she was lead singer of Top Shelf that she met producers Allen George and Fred McFarlane. McFarlane plays keyboards and George is a recording engineer. They had worked with Evelyn "Champagne" King and Jocelyn Brown. It looks like Robin reminded them of Evelyn. Show Me Love was released in 1990 by the British label Champion. Then it was remixed by Swedish DJ StoneBridge (Sten Hallstrom) and became a big dance hit in Europe. That's when it was picked up by Atlantic Records subsidiary Big Beat Records. Show Me Love topped the dance charts and reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. George and McFarlane produced most of the album Show Me Love. The album didn't do all that well but it's available as a budget CD. Her 1997 album From Now On was more R & B than dance and it went nowhere. Since then she has released several remixes of Show Me Love. Supposedly she has recorded new music but can't get a record deal. She has always been bigger in Europe so she tours there frequently. Maybe she should try to get a record deal there. That's how Show Me Love became a hit in the first place. Here's the video for Show Me Love by Robin S.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Carly Simon

Artist:Carly Simon
Song:That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be
Album:Reflections: Carly Simon's Greatest Hits




Though it wasn't her biggest hit, That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be was Carly Simon's first hit. So it set her up for bigger things. She was born June 25, 1945 in New York City. Her father was Simon & Schuster publishing house co-founder Richard Simon. In the 60s, Carly recorded with her sister Lucy as The Simon Sisters. They recorded children's music for Columbia Records. When Lucy got married and started her family, Carly signed with Elektra Records. That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be was the first single from her 1971 debut album Carly Simon which was produced by veteran producer Eddie Kramer. The song is a cynical look at marriage and Elektra was concerned about releasing it as a debut single. But it reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made Carly a star. Carly wrote it with long time collaborator Jacob Brackman who at the time was a film critic for Esquire Magazine. The two met at summer camp in 1968. They would go on to write several songs together including Haven't Got Time For the Pain. Carly's second single Anticipation also did well. But then she blew up with the 1972 number one hit You're So Vain with everyone guessing who the song is about. That would turn out to be Carly's only number one hit. She married James Taylor in 1972 and their duet Mockingbird was a top five hit in 1975. Other top ten hits were Nobody Does It Better in 1977 and You Belong To Me in 1978. She faded in the late 70s wasn't as successful in the 80s until she signed with Arista and Coming Around Again got her back on the charts in 1987. You can get all her hits on this budget comp. Carly and James Taylor divorced in 1983. They don't speak but she is good friends with his brother Livingston Taylor. She won a Grammy and an Oscar for her work on the 1988 film Working Girl. Carly is still active. She was never big on touring because she gets major league stage fright. And she had a major bout with breast cancer in 1998. She was one of the first pop singers to record standards and those albums did well. She last released a new album in 2009. She appeared on stage performing You're So Vain with Taylor Swift last year. But she seems to be semi-retired at this point. Here's Carly Simon performing That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be on the ABC TV special Good Vibrations from Central Park Aug. 19, 1971.

Review of The Ultimate Fighter 20 episode 7

At The Ultimate Fighter house, Heather Clark is accused of faking a knee injury. After she produces an MRI confirming the injury, the other girls have to apologize to her. Heather said today she will appear on the TUF finale and then have surgery. And of course the girls are still upset that Tecia Torres got back into the tournament. So this week's fight has Rose Namajunas of Team Melendez against Alex Chambers of Team Pettis. I expect Team Melendez to get off the schneid. Rose talks mostly about using MMA to overcome past abuse. And now she wants to set an example for others. I think Rose has a lot of talent. Her only flaw is she sometimes lets her emotions get the best of her and that can be a problem in the cage. She sure cries a lot. Alex has a degree in astrophysics, hence the nickname Astro Girl. Her parents don't approve of her fight career and have never watched her fight. She also admits that at age 35, time's a-wasting. She thinks this is her last run. The fight is over very quickly. Rose uses a side kick to set up what she wants to do and the fight is over via rear naked choke at the end of round one. Alex just never got going. Melendez was happy because he finally got a win. And Rose could win this whole thing. Her next fight will be against Joanne Calderwood. That should be interesting. And today NASCAR's Kevin Harvick announced that his company is managing Rose Namajunas. They already manage Miesha Tate and Donald Cerrone. Next week is the final first round match with Bec Rawlings vs Tecia Torres. Expect more bitching about Tecia especially if she wins. Enjoy the video!

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Howard Da Silva

Artist:Howard Da Silva
Song:Politics and Poker
Album:Fiorello! Original Broadway Cast





Character actor Howard Da Silva usually played tough guys in movies. But he had a long career in Broadway musicals and was Tony nominated for the 1959 musical Fiorello! He was born Howard Silverblatt May 4, 1909 in Cleveland. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. His father was a dress cutter. Da Silva worked as a steelworker before moving to New York. He debuted on Broadway in 1930. His first musical was The Cradle Will Rock in 1938. But his first significant musical was as Jud Fry in the original 1943 production of Oklahoma. Meanwhile, he started doing films like The Sea Wolf and Sergeant York in 1941. His most memorable film role was as the bartender in the 1945 film The Lost Weekend. Da Silva's career came to a screeching halt when he was the first actor blacklisted by the HUAC communist witch hunt. He returned to Broadway in the mid-50s and got his acting career back playing political strategist Ben Marino in the 1959 musical Fiorello!. This show starred Tom Bosley as New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. It was the first successful show written by the team of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Hamrick. It won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony. The original cast album is available as a budget CD. Da Silva was nominated for a Tony but did not win. Politics and Poker is early in the show. Marino and his pals are deciding who to back for mayor. Da Silva even recorded an album based on Politics and Poker but it is not available on CD. The main thing was Da Silva got his career back and started appearing in films again. His most significant role late in his career was as Benjamin Franklin in the Broadway musical and film 1776. He played Nikita Kruschev in the 1974 TV movie The Missiles Of October, Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1977 film The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover and Louis B. Mayer in the 1981 film Mommie Dearest. That was his final film and Howard Da Silva died on Feb. 16, 1986 at age 76. Here's a video of Politics and Poker from the 1959 Broadway musical Fiorello!.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Sam Hunt

Artist:Sam Hunt
Song:Leave The Night On
Album:Montevallo





Sam Hunt made a big splash on the country charts with the single Leave The Night On and is likely to continue that with his debut CD Montevallo. He's similar to other popular male country artists. I guess his challenge is distinguishing himself from those guys so he doesn't get lost in the shuffle. He was born Dec. 8, 1984 where he was a star quarterback in high school. He played at Middle Tennessee State and University of Alabama at Birmingham. He was not drafted but he signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Chiefs. Hunt had already been tinkering with music. So when things weren't working out in football, he moved to Nashville. After he co-wrote the 2012 Kenny Chesney hit Come Over, Hunt released a single and a mixtape and signed with MCA Nashville. Leave The Night On reached #2 on the Country Singles Chart. It also crossed over to the pop top 40. After the EP X2C was released in August, his full length debut CD Montevallo was released Oct. 27, 2014. The album was produced by Zach Crowell. It's his first full length CD as a producer. He has done mostly remixes. Hunt wrote Leave The Night on with co-producer Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. They wrote Come Over with Hunt and are the guys behind Kacey Musgraves. Hunt is currently on a CMT tour with Kip Moore and Charlie Worsham. He's off to a good start but it's very crowded in country music. We'll see how he does down the road. Here's the video for Leave The Night On by Sam Hunt.

After retaining her DEEP JEWELS title, Ham Seo Hee signs with the UFC

The big story of of yesterday's DEEP JEWELS show at Shinjuku FACE isn't the show itself but the UFC signing DEEP JEWELS Featherweight Champion Ham Seo Hee. This was announced today by Road FC in Korea and and reported by MMA In Asia. But on the main event of yesterday's DEEP JEWELS show, Ham won over Saori Ishioka by armbar in round two after Ishioka won round one. Afterwards, DEEP JEWELS matchmaker Shigeru Saeki said there would be a forthcoming announcement about Ham. But he didn't announce her signing with the UFC. I'm not surprised by her signing with the UFC because that's where the money is. The drop to 105lb was recent and she has fought most of her career at 115. Fans have wanted her to be in Invicta for two years. But they offered her flash title shots and she didn't want that. Now she has to prove herself against UFC level competitors. It's interesting considering that chronic back problems almost forced her into retirement five years ago. The rest of the DEEP JEWELS show shows how low the talent level is these days. And the show itself was over in two hours. In the semi-main, Emi Fujino won easily over Ayaka Miura who has no business being that high up on the card. Then you have Shizuka Sugiyama winning for the second time in two years over Yurika Nakamura by unanimous decision. Then she asked for a match on DEEP's New Year's Eve show which I think she will get. Amiba started her match with two yellow cards after missing weight. And that was probably why she lost to Tomo Maesawa by unanimous decision. This kind of yellow card nonsense needs to stop. It's amateurish BS. Mina Kurobe beat SARAMI with a first round rear naked choke. I expect Kurobe to move up the card now. Chinese fighter Pan Hui won her MMA debut over Brittany Decker by unanimous decision with more effective striking. And old lady Yukiko Seki won over Naomi Taniyama by second round TKO in the opener. Saeki said the next DEEP JEWELS show will be in January. But first there will be some women's matches on the New Year's Eve show. He also suggested a possible 45kg division which is predictable with the return of Satoko Shinashi. The loss of Ham Seo Hee to the UFC is a big hit to the DEEP JEWELS talent level. I expect MIZUKI to follow shortly. I don't know how they can continue like this. That's why I would like to see DEEP JEWELS closed and women's fights folded into DEEP. But Saeki is very stubborn.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Charlie Wilson

Artist:Charlie Wilson
Song:You Are
Album:Playlist: The Very Best Of Charlie Wilson




I have been a huge Charlie Wilson fan going back to the 70s when he was lead singer of funk pioneers The Gap Band. So it's gratifying to see his recent career revival mostly the result of respect from rappers like Snoop Dogg. He was born Jan. 29, 1953 in Tulsa and like all great soul singers, he grew up singing in church. Of course he was very successful in the 70s as lead singer of The Gap Band with his brothers Robert Wilson and Ronnie Wilson. After The Gap Band faded in the late 80s, Wilson released the 1992 CD You Turn My Life Around produced by the team of Buster & Shavoni. The album did OK but Wilson was having drug problems and ultimately wound up homeless. He entered rehab in 1995 and met his wife Mahin. She was his rehab counselor. He worked as a drug counselor for a while before getting back into music with the 2000 CD Bridging The Gap. This led to a deal with Jive Records and the 2005 album Charlie, Last Name Wilson. His biggest booster at the time was rapper Snoop Dogg. They have worked together on albums by both guys. You Are is from the 2010 album Just Charlie. If you listen to it closely, it's basically a gospel song. And like most of Wilson's singles, it has done very well in the Urban Adult Contemporary market. Wilson wrote and produced most of Just Charlie with producer Wirlie Morris who produced R & B singer Lloyd. Wilson's latest CD Love, Charlie was released Jan. 2013 and he is working on new music. This budget comp is a good intro to Wilson's music. Wilson received a BET Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008 and is currently a spokesman for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. After all these years, it's great to see Charlie Wilson get the respect he deserves especially in a business that usually serves youth. Here's the video for You Are by Charlie Wilson.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Larry Adler

Artist:Larry Adler f/Django Reinhardt
Song:Body and Soul
Album:Virtuoso of the Mouth Organ





The harmonica doesn't get a whole lot of respect unless it's played by either Toots Thielemans or Larry Adler. Adler was mainly known for playing classical music. But he also played jazz occasionally. Body and Soul is one of four songs Adler recorded with guitar legend Django Reinhardt in 1938. He was born Feb. 10 1914 in Baltimore. He taught himself the harmonica which he called the mouth organ and began his professional career as a teen. After winning a Baltimore Sun talent contest, Adler moved to New York City. He started out in vaudeville but eventually he worked with singer Ruth Etting, dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and with Fred and Adele Astaire in the 1931 Ziegfeld show Follies. After a dance band arrangement of Ravel's Bolero got him some attention, Adler moved to Hollywood and appeared in films. Though Adler was mainly a classical musician, he would occasionally work with jazz musicians. Adler always said that jazz musicians brought out the best in him. So in 1938, Adler went to France to record with guitarist Django Reinhardt and his Hot Club Quintet. You may not know that Reinhardt played with US jazz musicians and there is a box set that covers that. Reinhardt had already recorded Body and Soul. On this recording, he had violinist Stephane Grappelli play piano so Adler would get the spotlight. Other musicians were Joseph Reinhardt and Eugene Vees on guitar and Roger Grasset on bass. Other songs recorded on this May 31, 1938 session were Lover Come Back To Me, My Melancholy Baby and I Got Rhythm. You can get all four recordings on this CD from Avid Records which also includes recordings Adler made with The John Kirby Orchestra. In the 40s, Adler appeared frequently with Jack Benny. And then in the 50s he was blacklisted by the HUAC witchhunt. He moved to England and continued his career until his death on Aug. 6, 2001 at age 87. I have already written about George Martin's 1994 Larry Adler tribute CD. Here's a video of Body and Soul by Larry Adler featuring Django Reinhardt.

Again, Invicta show ruined by terrible main event

So the big news at last night's Invicta show wasn't the show itself which was ruined by a terrible main event. The big news is that Cris Cyborg suffered a ruptured ligament in her ankle and will be out for a long time. An injury like this is worse than a break because of uncertain rehab. For now, she is trying to forego surgery but if it doesn't heal properly, surgery may be required. If that happens, she'll be out for at least a year. Obviously she's not on the Dec. 5 Invicta show. They announced that the main event will have Michelle Waterson defending her Invicta Atomweight Championship against Brazilian Herica Tiburcio. Wait a minute. Isn't this the same girl who pulled out of a fight scheduled for last night's show? I didn't know that fighters with "visa problems" got rewarded with title shots. They announced a couple more fights but I plan to analyze the full card when it is announced. But I don't believe that any unproven fighter deserves a title shot. It's lame. In last night's main event, Barb Honchak successfully defended her Invicta Flyweight Championship against Takayo Hashi. It was terrible. And Hashi is to blame. As she did against Sarah Kaufman and Tara Larosa, she didn't fight to win. She fought to survive five rounds. There was way too much clinching on the fence. And with Hashi's back to the fence, the judges perceive Honchak as winning though most of the time nobody was really winning. I know fans want the fight to play out naturally. But this kind of stalling can be stopped by the ref stepping in and warning them to knock it off or he'll take off points. That's at the ref's discretion. It's funny. Hashi doesn't fight like this in Japan. But she's done this before and that's why I predicted she would do it again. And because this fiasco was predictable, ultimately Invicta is to blame for booking it in the first place. The co-main event made up for it with Karolina Kowalkiewicz beating MIZUKI by split decision. I scored it 29-28 for MIZUKI but it was close enough that I have no problem with the decision. Karolina threw a lot of punches but a lot of them didn't land. And judges can be fooled by quantity over quality. In the second round, MIZUKI nullified this with a takedown. I think MIZUKI needed to be more aggressive and not respect her so much. That respect cost her the fight. It was the fight of the night and I think a lot of fans wanted it to go five rounds. Late replacement Raquel Pa'aluhi beat Kaitlin Young by unanimous decision. Kaitlin battered Raquel in round one. But she ran out of gas as she tends to do and Raquel easily won the other two rounds. And her lack of any ground game was completely exposed. Kaitlin had potential at one time but she has never progressed past being a kickboxer. And I know she's popular with fans but I don't care. she has to be embarrassed by this. Jodie Esquibel won an easy decision over Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc and Nicdali retired afterwards. I had heard that was her plan anyway. Nicdali was ineffective. She did nothing. I liked her early in her career. But I don't think she was the same after MIKU knocked her out in Japan a few years ago. Amber Brown won by split decision over Liz McCarthy. I scored it 29-28 for Amber. The key to this fight was Liz was ineffective from top position. Amber landed more from the bottom. But sometimes judges mess that up and it could have gone the other way. Amanda Bell clobbered Maria Hougaard- Djursaa with ground and pound before the ref stopped the fight at the end of round one. Maria missed weight and I had seen her before so I knew she wasn't very good. Andrea Lee beat Shannon Sinn by unanimous decision. I had never seen either fighter but when I saw Andrea is much younger, I thought she would win and she looked good. She also has a marketable look. Same thing with Jamie Moyle beating Jenny Liou Shriver by unanimous decision. I wasn't familiar with them but when I saw the age difference, I thought Jamie would win. She was much more energetic and Jamie won a performance bonus. Jenny just looked lethargic to me. The opener had Kelly McGill over Maegan Goodwin by unanimous decision. Maegan missed weight which is usually a bad sign. Kelly was much quicker and busted Maegan open on the ground. I didn't mention it but there was a lot of blood in this show. So Stitch Duran was busy. The only time I thought maybe the fight should have been stopped was when Liz McCarthy was cut over the eye. It was bad but it made Liz more difficult to hold on to so the blood may have helped her. This show is not for the squeamish.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Carly Rae Jepsen

Artist:Carly Rae Jepsen
Song:Call Me Maybe
Album:Kiss





Call Me Maybe was the biggest hit of 2012. It's not my kind of music but I think it's instructive to look at how someone like Carly Rae Jepsen could come out of nowhere like that. I think she was fortunate that the right people got interested in her and the big question about her is career longevity. She was born Nov. 21, 1985 in Mission, BC. She finished third on the 2007 season of Canadian Idol which led to a contract with 604 Records which owned by Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger and his manager Jonathan Simkin who became Carly Rae's manager. Her debut CD Tug Of War was released in Canada by Maple Music in 2008. She didn't have a US record deal at the time. The album was produced by songwriter Ryan Stewart. The album went nowhere but Carly Rae wrote the song Sour Candy with Marianas Trench lead singer Josh Ramsey and he became the producer of her next album. She also toured with Marianas Trench. With her second album Kiss, it was decided that Carly Rae should be more of a pop singer as opposed to a singer songwriter like Colbie Caillat. The single Call Me Maybe was released but like a lot of Canadian Idol contestants, Carly Rae was going nowhere. But when Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were in his home town of Stratford, ON on holidays, they heard Call Me Maybe and Tweeted about it. This got her a deal with Schoolboy Records owned by Bieber's manager Scooter Braun and distributed by Interscope. Call Me Maybe became a worldwide chart topper based on Bieber's Tweets. Think about that for a second. It didn't hurt that the music video made her look much younger than her mid-20s. Carly Rae writes all her songs and she wrote Call Me Maybe with Ramsey and her guitarist Tavish Crowe. It's one of those songs that gets in your head and then you can't get rid of it. This was demonstrated on last week's episode of The Good Wife. Carly Rae had one other top ten hit with Owl City called Good Time. And considering how big Call Me Maybe was, the album Kiss didn't do that well. So is that all she has? Well, her next album was supposed to be released this year. Until that comes out, who knows? She may turn out to be a flash in the pan. At least she can still write songs for others. Here's the video for Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.

AccuRadio Song of The Day-Silk

Artist:Silk f/Temo West
Song Freak Me
Album:The Best Of Silk





The R & B vocal group Silk was very similar to Boyz II Men except Silk sang about sex as opposed to love. Freak Me topped the charts in 1993. Silk was from Atlanta. Timothy "Timzo" Cameron, Jimmy Gates Jr and Johnathen "John John" Rasboro started singing together as teens while working together at McDonalds. Gary "Big G' Glenn joined the group and they started singing gospel in church basements. They were discovered by R & B star Keith Sweat and Silk signed with his Keia label distributed by Elektra Records. Tyga Graham was the fifth member of Silk but Sweat decided the group needed a lead singer. Auditions were held and Graham was replaced by Nashville native Gary "Lil G' Jenkins. Sweat wrote and produced Silk's 1992 debut CD Lose Control with Alton "Wokie" Stewart who produced Bell Biv Devoe. The album was certified 2XPlatinum. Freak Me was the second single and it topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1993. Sweat wrote the song with former Malo drummer Roy Murray. They wrote several songs on the album. The rapper on the record Temo West only had one credit and he is now a lawyer. Silk continued to have success on the R & B charts but they never had another top ten pop hit. This comp has all their hits. As Silk progressed, Jenkins took control of Silk and he wrote and produced a lot of the 2001 album Love Session. When that didn't sell, Elektra dropped them and Jenkins left Silk.  Silk recorded two albums independently and then Jenkins returned to Silk in 2008 and they still tour. Silk last recorded in 2006. Here's the video for Freak Me by Silk featuring Temo West.