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.