Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Branford Marsalis

Artist:Branford Marsalis

Song:Cheek To Cheek

Album:Contemporary Jazz

Of course sax player Branford Marsalis is part of a legendary musical family. He was born Aug. 26, 1960 in Breaux Bridge, LA. His father Ellis Marsalis is a pianist and Branford is the oldest of four jazz musician brothers. He studied music at Southern University & Berklee and then toured Europe with Art Blakey in 1980. Branford played in trumpeter brother Wynton Marsalis' band from 1982-85. He became more famous by playing with Sting in 1985. But he always returned to jazz and signed with Columbia Records in 1986. Branford also turned up in a couple of Spike Lee films and became musical director of The Tonight Show in 1992. He tired of that after two years. He then tried funk with Buckshot Lafunque but then Branford returned to jazz. Sadly his regular pianist Kenny Kirkland died in 1998. The 2000 CD Contemporary Jazz was Branford's first recording following Kirkland's death. Fortunately he found a more than able replacement in painist Joey Calderazzo along with bassist Eric Revis and the fabulous drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts. This is now his regular quartet. This is a killer band by anyone's standards. Branford left Columbia in 2002. He started his own label Marsalis Music distributed by Rounder Records. As a solo artist, he signed with A & M Records and released Braggtown in 2006. But he continues to produce other artists on his own label including Harry Connick Jr. & Joey Calderazzo. And like a lot of New Orleans musicians, Branford and his family are major participants in the post Katrina recovery. His music is recommended to all jazz fans. Here's Branford Marsalis performing A Love Supreme with Joey Calderazzo, Eric Revis & Jeff "Tain" Watts. This is from the 2004 DVD A Love Supreme Live.

A Love Supreme
Uploaded by Steelydan

Matsuo wins NEO double titles

NEO's Sept. 17 Korakuen Hall show was called BEAT UP 07 but they might as well call it The New Generation. Haruka Matsuo won the NEO Singles & NWA Pacific Titles from Yoshiko Tamura. The way NEO GM Koda was trying to sell Matsuo as a future ace, it was certainly possible that she would win. But she is unproven and giving her a sudden championship win could backfire. It looks like Tamura is going to be involved in the tag title picture for a while. Koda couldn't use her in both angles so he had to make a choice. It remains to be seen if he made the right choice. They also ended the NEO Machine Gunz nonsense, I hope.

The opener had Aya Yuki & Atsuko Emoto over Mariko Yoshida & Hiroyo Matsumoto with Yuki over Matsumoto with a kamikaze attack at 11:35. Etsuko Mita, Miki Ishii & Makoto defeated Nagisa Nozaki, Aoi Kizuki & Hikari Manami when Makoto used a double arm suplex on Manami at 13:17. Misae Genki & Kaoru Ito went 15 minutes to a draw. Then they did the NEO Machine Gunz match it was a three way match for the right to use the name NEO Machine Gunz. It was Tanny Mouse & Yuki Miyazaki vs the Cantonese Machine Gunz vs the Szechwan Machine Gunz. The Cantonese were revealed a few days ago to be Kaori Yoneyama & Kayoko Haruyama. The Szechwan turned out to be GAMI & Toshie Uematsu. They were all made up to look like Tanny Mouse & Yuki Miyazaki. Of course the real NEO Machine Gunz won in 12:35 and will retain their name and appearance.

Ayako Hamada said a few days ago that she was disappointed that she and Kaoru Ito weren't defending the NEO Tag Team Titles against Sakura Emi & Yoshiko Tamura. She'll probably get that match now that she won over Sakura Emi with the AP Cross at 17:52. Of course the main event had Haruka Matsuo win the NEO Singles & NWA Pacific Titles from Yoshiko Tamura with the Mack at 18:33. She didn't even use her normal frog splash finisher. The major criticisn of the match is it needed to be more special for a title change. Tamura held the title for almost two years. Matsuo hadn't had a title shot for two years. They could have had a series of matches to build up to the title change. Koda has a couple of reasons for the title change. Maybe Tamura is getting stale and he also wants to use her in the tag titles angle. But the big question remains is Matsuo ready for this. If not, Koda has a big problem. We will find out if Haruka Matsuo is ready to be NEO's ace. Many of us have doubts. Congratulations on winning the titles.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-The Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra

Artist:The Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra

Song:Tow Away Zone

Album:Central Park North

Big bands were not in vogue in the 60s so the longevity of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra was somewhat surprising especially since it was always a part time group. Flugelhornist Thad Jones was born Mar. 28, 1923 in Pontiac, MI. He bacame known for his work with Count Basie in the 50s. Drummer Mel Lewis was born May 10, 1929 in Buffalo. He became known for his work with Stan Kenton in the 50s. By the mid 60s both guys were session musicians. They decided to form a band and play every Monday night at the Village Vanguard in New York starting in 1966. Jones did most of the composing and conducting and over the next decade the band attracted some great musicians. They recorded several albums for the Solid State label including Central Park North in 1969. The great pianist Roland Hanna was a regular with this group along with bassist Richard Davis. These guys are world class musicians. Others include Joe Farrell & Eddie Daniels on sax, Jimmy Knepper on trombone and Snooky Young on trumpet. The band continued to record until Jones left and moved to Denmark in 1978. Lewis continued to lead the band until he took over the Count Basie Orchestra in 1984. Thad Jones died on Aug. 20, 1986 at age 63. Mel Lewis died on Feb. 2, 1990 at age 60. Here's The Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra performing Groove Merchant in 1969 featuring Roland Hanna & Richard Davis.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Michael Bloomfield

Artist:Michael Bloomfield w/Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Song: Work Song

Album:Don't Say That I Ain't Your Man

Michael Bloomfield was a very good blues guitarist who seemed very uncomfortable with the spotlight and also had drug problems. He was born July 28, 1943 in Chicago. He received his first guitar at his bar mitzvah and would sneak out to jam at blues clubs. John Hammond signed him to Columbia in 1964. While they tried to figure out how to market a white blues guitarist, Bloomfield joined the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. This comp features previously unreleased recording from Bloomfield's early days at Columbia. Work Song is actually from the classic Butterfield album East-West. Bloomfield also played on the Bob Dylan album Highway 61 Revisited. His extended solos attracted a following. Bloomfield moved to San Francisco in 1967 and formed the group Electric Flag with Butterfield vocalist Nick Gravenites. The group bickered and was short lived. Bloomfield received his greatest acclaim in the band of organist Al Kooper. The 1969 album Super Session was a best seller. Bloomfield quit because he didn't like the fame and he recorded occasionally during the 70s. He also was addicted to heroin and died of a drug overdose on Feb. 15, 1981 at age 37. Michael Bloomfield's guitar work is worth checking out. Here he is with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Son House at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

Details announced for upcoming commemorative shows

Details have been announced for a couple of upcoming commemorative shows. The full card for the Devil Masami 30th Anniversary show and some details about the Michiko Ohmukai Retirement show. The Ohmukai show is called Final Egoist and will be Dec. 9 at Shunjuku FACE. Participants will include Michiko Ohmukai of course, Mariko Yoshida, GAMI, AKINO, Tojuki Leon, Bullfight Sora & Ayumi Kurihara. Kurihara is scheduled to return from her shoulder injury next month. But the big news is that a retired ARSION wrestler is returning to the ring for one night only. There are three names that come to mind; Yumi Fukawa, Ai Fujita & Rie Tamada. It's a little bit of a risk for Fukawa to wrestle again as she retired due to concussions. She probably can't take bumps. Ai Fujita is currently pregnant. I'm not sure when she's due. Rie Tamada had her baby a few months ago and I think she would be the most likely to return to the ring. I'm sure all three will be at the show.

The full card for Marvelous Night Miracle Game has been announced. This is Devil Masami's 30th Anniversary show and will be on Sept. 30 at Differ Ariake. The show is produced by Chigusa Nagayo and Devil Masami & Jaguar Yokota's company Empress Produce. The show has a definite GAEA flavour to it but I'm not sure what distinguishes it from a regular show. I guess it's the ceremonial stuff. The main event will be Devil Masami, Dynamite Kansai & Manami Toyota vs Aja Kong, Yumiko Hotta & Kaoru Ito. Other matches include a GAEA Reunion match with Meiko Satomura, Toshie Uematsu & Chikayo Nagashima vs Sonoko Kato, RanYuYu & Carlos Amano, a Sendai Girls match with T-Rex Okuda & Mizhaaya vs Dash Chisako & Sendai Sachiko, a mixed match with KAORU & LTP vs Ayako Hamada & El Blazer and Azumi Hyuga vs Bolshoi Kid. So no Jaguar Yokota or Mayumi Ozaki and no wrestlers from the 80s. And the Sendai match seems like it doesn't belong. The card is a little strange.

Gina Carano wins in EliteXC

Gina Carano continued her journey to become the face of womens MMA at Saturday's EliteXC show in Honolulu against Tonya Evinger. Or that's what Showtime is trying to sell us. This match wasn't as successful as Carano's February match against Julie Kedzie. Evinger gave us a lot of trash talk before the match and as usual, Carano had trouble making the 140lb weight. Of course the long term problem is that many of the top female MMA fighters are in the lighter weight classes. It's unlikely that Carano will fight any of them and EliteXC would be making a huge mistake to have her do that.

The match started with Tonya Evinger getting a quick takedown on Gina Carano. Ground work is supposed to be Evinger's strength so one would think that she would take advantage of this situation. But she just didn't. Carano showed a lot of poise and that's a good sign. Evinger wasn't getting anywhere so eventually Carano was able to turn her over and mount her. Then Evinger did something really stupid. With round one coming to a close, Evinger should have rided it our and start over in round two. Instead she tried to get up and when she got to her knees, it gave Carano the opening to apply the guillotine choke. Evinger tapped out at 2:53 of round one. It's a big win for Carano but Evinger was terrible and admitted that on her website.

The fan reaction after the match hasn't been good. Some fans are even complaining that it was a work. It was a poor match mostly because Evinger did not perform up to expectations. She fought a stupid match. Carano took what was given to her and won by submission for the first time. She deserves credit but EliteXC has a lot invested in Carano and they need to give her a better opponent. That's going to be very difficult in her weight class. I don't think they want a repeat of the weigh-in for this match but there aren't many fighters in her weight class. Maybe they should find someone lighter to be the face of womens MMA. Here's the video of last night's match.

Gina Carano vs Tonya Evinger EliteXC
Uploaded by Princenino

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Aretha Franklin

Artist:Aretha Franklin

Song:Think

Album:Aretha Now

Of course it's classic songs like Think that made Aretha Franklin The Queen Of Soul. These days she tends to be uninspired and erratic. She was born Mar. 25, 1942 in Memphis and grew up in Detroit. Her father was Rev. C.L. Franklin and she learned to play piano and sing in his church. John Hammond signed her to Colunbia and her early 60s recordings weren't as successful as they should have been. She moved to Atlantic and producer Jerry Wexler decided to forget about trying to make her a pop singer and sent her to Muscle Shoals to record with musicians like Roger Hawkins, Spooner Oldham, Jimmy Johnson & Tommy Cogbill. Think was a top ten pop hit and a #1 R & B hit in 1968. Aretha wrote the song and of course plays piano. Aretha Now is only a half hour long so I would suggest one of the many Aretha Franklin comps now available. Aretha Franklin is a living legend of music. But she left Atlantic for Arista in the 80s and her more recent music simply doesn't hold up the way her Atlantic recordings do. Of course she got a big boost when she was asked to perform Think in The Blues Brothers film. And here's the clip of Aretha Franklin performing Think from that film.

Penny Banner Icons Of Wrestling review

Since the womens wrestling documentary Lipstick & Dynamite was released in 2004, many fans have expressed their dissatisfaction with the short length of the film and the short shrift given to Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame member Penny Banner. There's no question the filmmakers could have done more with the film but I suggest you take a look at this half hour episode of Icons Of Wrestling. The series is produced and directed by Canadian Dale Barnes and the one thing that is clear is that Dale loves pro wrestling and respects the wrestlers.

Of course anyone who wants to know the complete story of Penny Banner should buy her autobiography Banner Days. http://www.bannerdays.com/ But this film certainly allows Penny to tell her story in her own words. I had the opportunity to spend some time with Penny at the Lipstick & Dynamite world premiere in 2004. This film gives you the opportunity to meet Penny without actually meeting her. And if you've read the book, you'll realize it's the same voice. Penny talks about how her childhood, how she got into wrestling and how she became the first AWA World Womens Champion. Of course she also talks about Elvis.

The film also includes comments by photographer Dr. Mike Lano, wrestling legend Nick Bockwinkle and womens wrestling legends Kay Noble and Marie Laverne. There is some match footage including the video of Penny Banner vs June Byers reproduced below but there's so little Penny Banner footage available that there's no real way for fans to properly judge Penny's career by watching matches. Mildred Burke presents a similar problem. This film helps. But you can be sure that many in the wrestling business acknowledge Penny's status in the industry. You can see that in the brief clip from the Cauliflower Alley Club convention in Las Vegas. Cheerleader Melissa sees Penny at ringside and wants to impress a Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame member. This film is available on DVD and you can get details on how to get it at Penny's website. It may also be on TV in your area. Check your local listings. I saw it on The Fight Network in Canada.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Winans Phase 2

Artist:Winans Phase 2

Song:Come On Over

Album:We Got Next

The group Winans Phase 2 proves that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. They are all third generation members of the Winans gospel music family from Detroit. You have Marvin Winans Jr., Mike Winans Jr. and his brother Juan Winans and Carvin Winans III. All are sons of the group known as The Winans. As teenagers they did a TV commercial in Detroit and were spotted and singed to Word's contemporary label Myrrh. Their 1999 CD We Got Next did very well but they've never done a follow up. Come on Over is an excellent song written and produced by Narada Michael Walden. Mike Winans released his own CD called Only Me and he also worked with Mario Winans on New Edition's 2004 reunion CD. BTW, Mario Winans isn't a Winans. He's the son of Vickie Winans and her first husband and became a Winans when Vickie married Marvin. Like his mom, he only uses the name. Marvin Winans Jr. produced a CD for his mom Vickie Winans and it looks like his debut CD Image Of A Man is coming soon. So there's talent everywhere in that family. Winans Phase 2 did have a very popular music video for It's Alright (Send Me) featuring Samuel L. Jackson. I could only find it on this Gospel House video also featuring videos by Da Truth & Onitsha. Winans Phase 2 is the third video.

NEO press conference on Thursday

Neo held a press conference Thursday to promote their Sept. 17 Korakuen Hall show. They had the contract signing for the Yoshiko Tamura/Haruka Matsuo title match and they continued this very silly NEO Machine Gunz angle. That will be a three way tag match and I'll get to the specifics later. They previously announced Sakura Emi vs Ayako Hamada and also Misae Genki vs Kaoru Ito, Etsuko Mita, Miki Ishii & Makoto vs Nagisa Nozaki, Aoi Kizuki & Hikari Manami and Aya Yuki & Atsuko Emoto vs Mariko Yoshida & Hiroyo Matsumoto. But they concentrated on the two main angles.




So they did the contract signing for Yoshiko Tamura defending her NEO Singles & NWA Pacific Titles against Haruka Matsuo. The other part of this angle had Tamura talking Sakura Emi into facing Ayako Hamada to get revenge for losing the tag titles to Ayako & Kaoru Ito. I don't know if it will happen at this show but I get the impression that Tamura will turn on Emi. Don't know if they'll do that on this show or what they're going to do after but that's how it seems. Meanwhile, the talk during the press conference centered on Matsuo as future ace of NEO. Matsuo said that it's not good for NEO for Tamura to have had the belt for so long and it's her turn to be the NEO's ace. Tamura's response was "We'll see if you have what it takes to be the ace." Probably not. Hopefully it's a good match but Tamura will win. Here's video of the contract signing.


FreeVideoCoding.com



The NEO Machine Gunz have been involved in this Chinese angle for a while now. Last week, NEO general manager Koda announced that Yuki Miyazaki was attacked and injured by the Chinese Machine Gunz. Of course there was no video footage or pics. They had Miyazaki come out on crutches on last week's show but she did work in the match against the Cantonese Macine Gunz. Some injury, huh. Then a third team described as Szechwan Machine Gunz cane out and it was decided that there would be a three way match and the winner will retain the rights to use the Machine Gunz name. History tells us that Tanny Mouse & Yuki Miyazaki will probably win. The idea behind this is the Chinese teams resemble the NEO Machine Gunz. You'll notice the above pic of the Cantonese Machine Gunz resemble Kaori Yoneyama & Kayoko Haruyama. At the press conference, Koda pretended he couldn't tell the teams apart. Then they started fighting with each other. That's not on the video here but they are yelling at each other.


FreeVideoCoding.com

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Anita Baker

Artist:Anita Baker

Song:You're My Everything

Album:You're My Everything

R & B singer Anita Baker was very successful in the late 80s. To many fans, she disappeared in the mid 90s. After her 1993 CD Rhythm Of Love she took several years to raise a family. Her mother died in 1996 and then her father died in 1998. Then she had a dispute with Elektra Records. I guess they wanted her to go back into the studio and she wasn't ready. Anita moved to Atlantic Records. She was recording a new album in 2000 but it seems the masters were destroyed by faulty recording equipment. She sued the company for $500K and left Atlantic. Finally Anita Baker signed with Blue Note Records and You're My Everything was released in Sept. 2004. Anita produced and wrote the CD along with veteran producer Barry Eastmond. Anita sounds as good as ever. She released a Christmas CD in 2005. Both CDs did very well so I guess she's working on a new one. Here's the video for You're My Everything by Anita Baker.

Anita Baker - You're My Everything
Uploaded by capitainfunkk

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Johnny Coles

Artist:Johnny Coles

Song:Heavy Legs

Album:Little Johnny C.

Johnny Coles was a very good trumpeter who rarely stepped out to lead a band. This 1963 album was rare for him. He was born July 3, 1926 in Trenton, NJ. He mostly played as a member of bands such as Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (1948-51), Bull Moose Jackson (1952), Earl Bostic (1955-56), James Moody (1956-58) & Gil Evans (1958-64). He also toured Europe with Charles Mingus in 1964. He went on to play with Herbie Hancock (1968-69), Ray Charles (1969-71), Duke Ellington (1971-74), Art Blakey and many others. He kept working so he was obviously a fine musician and reliable. but he wasn't a band leader. Little Johnny C was released on Blue Note in 1963. It's mostly arranged and composed by pianist Duke Pearson. Other musicians are Leo Wright on alto sax & flute, Joe Henderson on tenor sax, Bob Cranshaw on bass and either Walter Perkins or Pete LaRoca on drums. That Coles was a lesser known musician shouldn't deter you. It's great jazz. Johnny Coles died of cancer on Dec. 21, 1996 at age 70. Here he is with the Charles Mingus band in Oslo in 1964.

Maemura to get AWA title shot Oct. 8

Pro Wrestling SUN had another one of their press conferences on Wednesday setting up shows on Sept. 22, 23 & Oct. 8. So there's a lot of stuff. Last week First On Stage announced that they are running a two day tag team tournament called the Passion Cup. The announcement wasn't clear but they have now announced that there will be a SUN tournament on Sept. 23 and a ZERO-ONE MAX tournament om Sept. 24. Both shows will be at the Kimitsu Aquamarine Studio. There are six teams in the tournament. One round one match will have Fuuka & Saki Maemura vs Kayoko Haruyama & Arisa Nakajima. The winner of that match will face Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki*Taiyo in the semis. The other first round match will have Hikaru & Atsuko Emoto vs Aja Kong & ZEST.CO. The winner will face Kana & Shuu Shibutani in the semis. Don't know who ZEST.CO is. She will wear a mask. Uematsu said she is the younger sister of THE*ZEST. He's appeared in a past mixed tag match in SUN.

They had already announced Kana will return on the Sept. 22 Shinjuku FACE show against Nanae Takahashi. Other matches are Bullfight Sora vs Shuu Shibutani, Natsuki*Taiyo & Fuuka vs Toshie Uematsu & ZEST.CO and Hikaru vs Aja Kong. They also announced that Jamie Dee will defend her AWA World Womens Championship against Saki Maemura on the Oct. 7 Osaka Prefectural Gym show. Tracy Taylor will come in from Hawaii to face Nanae Takahashi and Natsuki*Taiyo will face Kana.

The press conference attempted to set up some conflict between Nanae Takahashi & Kana. It's hard because they're pals. They had Kana berate Takahashi for booking herself in two matches on the Sept. 22 show. She says to Takahashi "What if you get hurt in the first match?" Takahashi tells her not to worry about it. Then they start fighting each other. Then Kana has a stare down with Natsuki*Taiyo to set up their Oct. 7 match. Then Maemura said she knows she is the underdog in her title match with Jamie Dee but she has a secret plan. Takahashi says she's still upset about losing the AWA title to Jamie Dee and wants a rematch so she won't watch Maemura's title shot. She also says she plans to challenge Azumi Hyuga to a singles match at the Oct. 16 JWP show.

Hikaru started to talk about her Sept. 15 match in Hawaii against Tracy Taylor & Malia Hosaka for the EWA Womens Championship. Of course Aja Kong came in and disrupted the press conference. I think she may have ripped up a show poster. She told Hikaru she's not facing anyone interesting in Hawaii. Toshie Uematsu beat Malia Hosaka years ago. Of course she callenged Hikaru and the Sept. 22 match was set. Aja also said she plans to bring a mystery gaijin tag team partner for the Oct. 7 Osaka show. I'm sure that will be the subject of their next press conference.

GAMI admits to padding WAVE attendance figures

Pro Wrestling WAVE had their latest show on Sept. 11 at Shin-kiba 1st Ring. Unfortunately, the big news on this show is not good. The attendance was 86 fans. But then it got worse. GAMI admitted to Lady's Ring magazine that the announced attendance of 128 for the Sept. 3 show was padded. The real figure was 55 fans. She apologized and promised not to do that again. Padding attendance figures at Japanese wrestling shows isn't unusual. Getting caught is another matter. This should be very alarming to the company. The problem may be no one wants to go to mid week shows. It's more likely that the ticket prices are too high. They should cut the prices and they'll get more fans. They're running shows every week so how long can WAVE go on like this?

The show started with a brief ceremony in tribute to the 2nd anniversary of the death of Mirai. She died Sept. 12, 2005 in a bathtub accident. Of course she was very good friends with GAMI. They had a ten bell count and a minute of silence. Opening WAVE had KAORU over Kyoko Kimura with a moonsault press at 19:07. Lucha WAVE had AKINO over Shuu Shibutani with the noki-A backbreaker at 16:38. Shibutani was still talking about her upcoming trip to Mexico and becoming KAORU's disciple. The two will team up next week.

Comical WAVE had Toshie Uematsu & Ran YuYu over GAMI & Bullfight Sora when some comedy nonsense resulted in Uematsu pinning Sora. The main event had Yumi Ohka continue Resurrection WAVE against Nanae Takahashi. Ohka tried hard and was said to have performed better than she performed last week. Takahashi won with a backdrop at 21:24. Toshie Uematsu challenged Ohka after the match and that will be the main event for Sept. 18. Comical WAVE will have Lingerie Muto vs Bullfight Sora. Lucha WAVE will have KAORU & Shuu Shibutani vs AKINO & Tojuki Leon. Opening WAVE is GAMI vs Ran YuYu vs Kyoko Kimura in a 3 way match. We'll see how many fans they get next week.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Alicia Keys

Artist:Alicia Keys

Song:If I Ain't Got You

Album:Unplugged

Unlike a lot of today's female R & B singers, Alicia Keys clearly has the talent to overcome stereotypes. She was born Jan. 25, 1980 in New York City. She started training in classical piano at age 7 and went to high school at New York's Professional Performing Arts School. At age 16, she signed with Jermaine Dupri's SoSoDef label. She had one song on the Men In Black soundtrack and then nothing. I recall seeing her on BET's Planet Groove at the time wondering who she was. She signed with Arista and Clive Davis took her to his new J Records label when he left Arista. Her 2001 debut Songs In A Minor was a huge hit. She's obviously very talented and her looks help too. Her subsequent CDs have done just as well. This Unplugged CD was recorded July 14, 2005. You should start with her two previous CDs but she's a very strong live performer. Keys has also gotten into movies. She made her film debut earlier this year in Smoking Aces. She has a film deal with Disney and is developing a remake of the 1958 film Bell, Book & Candle. Her new CD As I Am is due in November so I'm sure we'll start seeing her promote that shortly. The main thing is Alicia Keys continues to write & produce her own songs with Kerry "Krucial" Brothers so she'll be OK if she stays away from gimmicks. Here's the video for If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Charles Brown

Artist:Charles Brown

Song:They All Say I'm The Biggest Fool

Album:Honey Dripper

Smooth singing Charles Brown is probably best known for his classic Merry Christmas Baby. But he was very consistent over his fifty year career. He was born Sept. 13, 1922 in Texas City, TX. A classically trained pianist, he earned a degree in chemistry before moving to Los Angeles in 1943. He made his name with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers and the 1945 hit Drifting Blues and the 1947 hit Merry Christmas Baby. The group was patterned after the popular Nat Cole Trio but with Brown's more laid back vocals. Brown went solo in 1948 and had several hits on Aladdin Records from 1948-52. Brown's musical style never changed when R & B became more brash and for decades he just went about his business without much notice. His career revived in the 80s when Bonnie Raitt took him on tour as her opening act. He started recording again and this 1996 CD Honey Dripper is on Verve Records. He sounds as good as ever with his guitarist and musical director Danny Caron. It's good to see that Charles Brown had a career renaissance before his death on Jan. 21, 1999 at age 76. Here's Charles Brown performing Drifting Blues at the W.C. Handy Awards.

Sendai Girls vs Ito Gym

Sendai Girls had their latest show on Sept. 8 at Zepp Sendai. Like a lot of their shows, it was against a visiting promotion, the Kaoru Ito Professional Wrestling Classroom. At the start of the show, the new names for the Sendai trainees were announced. This is probably a good idea because then they can develop their own personalities and look and it's also good for merchandising. It's probably not a great idea to put these girls on other promotions main events but I guess they're perceived as special. One of the names doesn't translate very well so until I can find out what it's supposed to be, I will use the real name. Sachiko Kanari is now called Sachiko Sendai. Chisako Kanari is now called Dash Chisako. Akari Okuda is now called T-Rex Okuda. Ayane Mizumura is called Mizhaaya. Yurie Kaneko doesn't translate.

The opener was Yurie Kaneko against Mai Ichii. Kaneko starts with two dropkicks. Ichii comes back with a kick and a camel clutch. Kaneko comes back with a kick, dropkicks and a facebuster. Ichii hits a missile kick and then a Comet kick for the win at 8:27. Next was Sachiko Sendai against Hanako Kobayashi. Sachiko is now a blonde. Sachiko starts with a dropkick and Kobayashi counters with a camel clutch. Scahiko hits two tackles and an achilles hold. After exchanging elbows, Sachiko hits two dropkicks. Kobayashi comes back with a DDT. Then Sachiko misses a missile kick. Kobayashi attempts a body attack from the corner but Sachiko hits a DDT and a German suplex for the win at 9:27 (pictured). This was her first win.

Next was Mizhaaya against Midori. Midori is also from Sendai. Mizhaaya started with a body ram and a camel clutch. Midori hits a body press from the corner. They exchange elbows. Mizhaaya's missile kick gets a two count. After three lariats, Mizhaaya wins with a diving guillotine legdrop at 8:04. Next was Dash Chisako against Kaoru Ito. Ito uses her size advantage with a lariat and a footstamp followed by a hip attack in the corner. Chisako attempts to counter but it doesn't work and Ito comes back with a body press and a back throw. Chisako knocks Ito out of the ring with a dropkick and then dives from the corner to the arena floor. Back in the ring, Chisako hits two missile kicks. Ito hits lariats for a couple of two counts and then finishes her with the diving footstamp at 11:40.

The main event was Ayako Hamada & Ayako Sato against Meiko Satomura & T-Rex Okuda. The story is that Satomura is still upset about her recent loss to Hamada. Hamada & Satomura tag in at the five minute mark. They go back and forth as one would expect until Satomura hits a dragon screw. Okuda tags in and is hit by a double dropkick. Satomura is back in with Hamada. Hamada hits a missile kick and a moonsault. Satomura comes back with a footstamp, a middle kick abd a savat kick. They hit a lot of big moves. Okuda hits four jumping knees on Hamada. Hamada comes back with a moonsault and Satomura breaks up the pin. Hamada hits Okuda with three spin kicks followed by the AP Cross for the win at 25:39. Sato cut Satomura off at the pass. Afterwards. Satomura announced that the Oct. 5 show will be Sendai vs JWP.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Bob Marley & The Wailers

Artist:Bob Marley & The Wailers

Song:Is This Love

Album:Kaya

By the time Kaya was released in 1978, Bob Marley was already a worldwide phenomenon. But some in his homeland of Jamaica perceived him as a threat. So after he was wounded in a Dec. 3, 1976 assassination attempt, he was forced to leave Jamaica for his own safety. He continued to make great music including this 1978 album Kaya. A lot of the album including the lovely Is It Love was more spiritual and less political in nature. He would return to more political waters with Survival and Uprising. Kaya was rereleased on CD in 2001 with the bonus track Smile Jamaica. This was a B side never released on LP. Sadly, Bob Marley collapsed and died while jogging in New York's Central Park on May 11, 1981 at age 36. Here's the video for Is It Love by Bob Marley & The Wailers.

Yuka Kobayashi interview

Since she is appearing on the upcoming Fuuka Matsuri show, I thought it would be a good idea to make us all a little more familiar with the Karate Idol, Yuka Kobayashi. And Livedoor Sports did an interview with her a few days ago. You can check out their site for a large photo gallery. I didn't know anything about her either, just that she's a karate ace. She's a little older than I thought. Yuka Kobayashi was born Mar. 22, 1986 in Tokyo so she's 21. She won the Catchweight class at the 2005 All Japan Woman Karate championship and was third in the Lightweight class at the 2005 World Cup.

Looking at Yuka Kobayashi, you wouldn't guess that she has a black belt in karate. She is very petite and has the girl next door look. Her appearances on TV in Japan have made her a celebrity. Keep in mind that she is about to have her 2ooth karate bout in competition. Yuka seems to delight in this and hopes that she encourages other young girls to take up the sport. She's busy in college too. She's in her fourth year and majoring in psychology. She was asked if psychology comes in handy during competition. She says she doesn't think too much during a match.

When did Yuka Kobayashi start studying karate? She said she was looking at activities during her second year in junior high. She tried softball, piano, penmanship, swimming and then looked at judo & karate and settled on karate. Was Yuka surprised ny the striking & kicking? She says it didn't apply in training at first but eventually started sparring. She also ran 1000 meters to build her endurance. It gets easier as she got used to the training. She also said she wasn't interested specifically in grappling but was interested in martial arts as a whole. She says her older brother is involved in karate too but they don't fight. Some of her friends had trouble accepting it though.

Over the following year, she got better at it and then started competing in local school tournaments. She won her first two matches in her first tournament and then lost. Losing was a big deal at the time but she says it made her better. It's also difficult fighting the same girls repeatedly. She has to find new ways to win. Then the pressure to win increased as she started competing in larger tournaments, not to mention the travel to out of town tournaments.

Does Yuka have a fear of being hit? Well sure, a little bit. but then she forgets about it. What about the media coverage? They don't teach you about that in karate lessons but she actually thought it was delightful when people started recognizing her. Yuka Kobayashi says that she is also looking at a future in the entertainment industry. She already has a DVD released and she's now known as the Karate Idol. But first she wants to have her 200th match and then go to the 2008 Olympics. Looks like the Karate Idol has a bright future no matter what she decides to do.

Fuuka's little sister to debut?

Fuuka held a press conference on Sept. 7 to announce the full card for the debut of Fuuka Matsuri on Sept. 30 at Shin-kiba 1st Ring. Obviously the card is all about Fuuka and it should be like that. It's got her name in the title. They didn't talk about this at the press conference but I seem to recall that at the July press conference announcing the project, it was said that Fuuka will be doing more than wrestling on these shows. They want to showcase her singing and dancing talent. I don't know if they're still doing that.

The big announcement at this press conference is the apparent debut of Fuuka's little sister. They're calling her Fuuka Kid and she's wearing a mask. Her opponent will be The Bolshoi Kid. It is claimed that her real name is Fuuko Kakimoto. That is Fuuka's real last name and her brother is a wrestler and uses that name. Is she really her sister? I dunno. They're trying to shroud this in an air of mystery. And why the mask? It appears that they're trying to sell Fuuka Kid as a character that will appeal to kids. Fuuka Kid admires Fuuka and little kids will admire both of them. Maybe it can be spun off as a cartoon show on TV.

The other interesting thing is that Fuuka will be doing a special martial arts match with Yuka Kobayashi. Kobayashi is known as Karate Idol. Kobayashi is a 17 year old amateur karate champ. She's very hot in Japan right now. She's young, pretty and she'll kick your ass. Livedoor Sports recently did an interview and photo spread on her. Maybe I'll try and dig that up. There has been some speculation in the media about what Kobayashi may do professionally after next year's Olympics. She obviously has talent.

The main event for this show will be a special tag team match with Fuuka, Shuu Shibutani, Nanae Takahashi & AKINO. The gimmick is that the girls will switch tag team partners every five minutes. Fuuka said she's greedy and this way she can team up will all three in the same match. Well, it's different. Apparently this will be Shibutani's final match before leaving for Mexico. Kana will be on this show against an opponent to be announced. She'll make her re-debut on the Sept. 22 Sun show against Nanae Takahashi. And there will be a youngster match with Yuri Urai & Mio Shirai against Arisa Nakajima & Io Shirai.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Chuck Berry

Artist:Chuck Berry

Song:Maybelline

Album:The Chess Box

Obviously Chuck Berry is one of the most important figures in the history of pop music. Maybelline was his first chart hit in 1956. Berry had been playing clubs in St. Louis in 1954 when he went to Chicago. A short conversation with his idol Muddy Waters encouraged Berry to Approach Chess Records. He sent his demo to Leonard Chess and Chess liked a little hillbilly song called Ida Red. He brought Berry in to the recording studio in May 1955. Berry thought he was a bluesman but Chess liked his lighter songs. The title of Ida Red was changed to Maybelline. Chess cut a deal with Cleveland DJ Alan Freed to get the song airplay and the first chart hit by a black rock & roll singer was born. Of course a lot of people didn't know he was black and the song was as much a country song as it was a rock song. The song appeared on an album of songs from the movie Rock, Rock, Rock and didn't appear on a Chuck Berry LP until 1959. This 3CD Chess Box is one of many Chuck Berry comps. The best single CD comp is probably the 2006 The Definitive Collection. Here's Chuck Berry performing Maybelline and two other songs on a French TV show.

chuck berry @ l'ortf_1
Uploaded by adrien_fournier

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Jefferson Airplane

Artist:Jefferson Airplane

Song:Somebody To Love

Album:Hits

Jefferson Airplane was probably the first group from the San Francisco psychedelic scene of the 60s to get national attention. Later on they morphed into a more mainstream group. The group satarted with Marty Balin. He was singing in a San Francisco folk group called The Town Criers in 1964 when the popularity of The Beatles convinced him that the merging of folk and rock was the way to go. His first recruit for his new group was guitarist Paul Kantner. He recommended guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. Balin wanted a female singer to complement him and Signe Toly joined along with bassist Bob Harvey & drummer Jerry Peloquin. The group name was based on Kaukonen's nickname of Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane because of his blues style of playing guitar. The group started playing San Francisco clubs in 1965. Peloquin & Harvey were replaced by Skip Spence & Jack Casady. Toly was married and was now Signe Anderson. The group signed with RCA. Then Anderson had a child and Spence was replaced by Spencer Dryden. They released their first LP Jefferson Airplane Takes Of in 1966. Anderson had to leave the group and Grace Slick came over from The Great Society. They had released one record and then split. She joined up and contributed the song White Rabbit. Somebody To Love was written by her brother-in-law Darby Slick. He was guitarist for The Great Society. The LP Surrealistic Pillow was released in Feb. 1967 and Somebody To Love was the first single to feature Slick as lead vocalist. It was their biggest hit and reached #5 on the singles chart. Jefferson Airplane continued to have success over the next couple of years. Internal bickering eventually killed the group and then it somehow turned into the more mainstream Jefferson Starship. This comp Hits covers Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship & Starship. I never cared for the later groups but the original Jefferson Airplane still sound great. Here's Jefferson Airplane performing White Rabbit & Somebody To Love on the Smothers Bros. Comedy Hour in 1967.

Tsuji wins, two title changes on Sept. 6 Smackgirl show

The whole purpose of the Sept. 6 Korakuen Hall Smackgirl show was for Yuka Tsuji to avenge her only career defeat to Brazilian fighter Anna Michele Tavares. There were also a couple more title matches and Next Cinderella tournament finals. They had a good crowd with 1,596 fans in attendance. It doesn't change that Smackgirl is unable to pull the trigger on Yuka Tsuji vs Megumi Fujii. This would be their biggest fight ever but it seems more likely to happen in Bodog Fight now that Fujii is working there. Also, the time has come for Smackgirl to finally adopt full MMA rules. The silly gloves and the limited ground & pound hurts them internationally. I've called for this before and will continue to call for it until Smackgirl wises up.

It looks like Yuka Tsuji had more trouble than usual with Anna Michele Tavares. Tavares started out with a punch and then took Tsuji down. She mounted her and got a few shots in but of course the Smackgirl rules forced then up at 30 seconds. Tavares takes Tsuji down again but this time Tsuji is able to kick her way out. We don't normally see punching power from Tsuji but she nailed Tavares with some punches and knocked her down. Tavares is back up but Tsuji goes in for the kill and after battering Tavares with more strikes, the ref stops the match at 4:47 of round one.

There were two title matches on the show. Hitomi Akano defended her Smackgirl Middleweight Title against Takayo Hashi. It looks like round one was fairly even but Hashi took control in round two. She was much more active than Akano and Akano wilted under the pressure. Takayo Hashi is the new Smackgirl Middleweight Champion by unanimous decision. Veteran Yoko Takahashi defended her Smackgirl Open Weight Title against the youngster HIROKO. They exchange strikes but HIROKO gets the edge with her longer reach. Takahashi's takedown attempts are reversed by HIROKO. This is the way the fight went. Takahashi couldn't break through HIROKO's defense. HIROKO is your new Smackgirl Open Weight Champion by unanimous decision.

So a funny thing happened before Emi Fujino's match with Yukiko Seki. You may recall that Fujino was scheduled to fight pro wrestler Fuuka but Fuuka dropped out due to a knee injury. So before the match, Fujino called out Fuuka. She accused Fuuka of faking the injury and challenged her to a match in a cage. Fujino even joked about selling herself as a heel. Fuuka's reaction to this is bewilderment and she's trying to laugh it off. But this has gotten media coverage in Japan seperate from the show. She's a little busy with her Fuuka Festival but if this doesn't go away, maybe she has to accept a match with Fujino. Fujino won over Seki by unanimous decision.

In other matches, Korean Seo Hui Han won over Ayumi "Edge" Saito by unanimous decision. Saori Ishioka won over Masako Yoshida by unanimous decision. Rin Nakai won over Aussie kickboxer Asha "The Basha" Ingeneri with an arm bar at 1:03 of round one. Why am I not surprised? V1 won the Lightweight Next Cinderella Tournament over former JD Star wrestler Emi Tomimatsu by split decision. Maho Muranami won the Flyweight Next Cinderella Tournament over Madoka Ebihara by unanimous decision. Smackgirl has a grappling tournament in a couple of weeks.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-The Byrds

Artist:The Byrds

Song:Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season)

Album:20 Essential Tracks From The Box Set:1965-1990

The Byrds were one of the most popular groups of the 60s and were very influential in shaping folk rock. I'm going to talk about their early days. The group was formed by Jim (Roger) McGuinn, David Crosby & Gene Clark. They were all veterans of the folk scene. Clark approached McGuinn about forming a duo. They added Crosby and released a single on Elektra as The Beefeaters. That failed. They added drummer Michael Clarke and mandolin player Chris Hillman. Hillman played electric bass and McGuinn took up his famous Rickenbacker electric guitar. Playing folk music on electric instruments was new at the time. Their first single on Columbia was a version of Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man. Once that topped the charts, The Byrds were dubbed The American Beatles. Turn! Turn! Turn! was a #1 smash in 1965. It may have been the first pop hit adapted from the Bible as adapted by folk music legend Pete Seeger. McGuinn had played the song while he was guitarist for folk group The Limeliters. Then he did an arrangement of the song for Judy Collins. The Byrds' version is simply timeless. This comp from the box set is OK for beginners. Gene Clark left The Byrds in 1966 over a fear of flying. The problem was he was the lead singer and wrote original songs. The Byrds would regroup in a somewhat different form. That's for another time. Here's The Byrds performing Turn! Turn! Turn! on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1965.

Ice Ribbon getting into the idol business

Up to now, I haven't written much about Makoto's company Ice Ribbon. I really don't like their product. They started out using pre teen girls similar to Sakura Emi's company Gtkn. The two companies merged at the beginning of this year. Because Ice Ribbon uses a mat instead of a ring, it appears that they can afford to run shows regularly in front of 49 fans. Now they're on TV and you can check out some videos on Youtube. The pre teen wrestlers are untrained and Ice Ribbon's product looks more like elementary school gym class than pro wrestling. It's a little creepy. With JD Star closing, Ice Ribbon has decided to step into the idol wrestler business and have added four idols to their roster. I have no idea if they're trained. I'm not sure it matters.









Hikaru Tukioka-Born Apr. 12, 1988 in Hyogo Prefecture. She has studied ballet for ten years. She ran the 100 meter hurdles in school. She's appeared on several TV shows including Super VIP in Nov. 2006, MONDO21/Mermaid Of Temptation in Mar. 2007 & R30 on TBS in May 2007. She released a DVD in Feb. 2007 and has a CD coming next month.

http://tukioka-hikaru.blog.players.tv/










Momoe Seasami-born Mar. 14, 1986 in Tokyo. She also appeared on MONDO21/Mermaid Of Temptation in Feb. 2007, a show called EX on MONDO21 in Mar. 2007 & Art Love Real on YTV in April 2007. She's released two DVDs and is on the same CD that the first girl will appear on. I think they work for the same agency. Idols are a dime a dozen in Tokyo.


http://momoeseasami.blog.players.tv/








Andou-born July 9, 1986 in Tokyo. She says she's trained two steps in kendo. She's appeared on several TV variety shows and one drama called Delicious Dish School. She has also appeared in three 2007 films including one called The Battle Of KAORU. She is also a 2007 Aeon poster girl and she has done a DVD. She seems to be the most experienced of the four.




http://www.newgate-pro.co.jp/prof/andou.htm









Natsumi-born July 8, 1987 in Fukuoka Prefecture. She had a semi-leading part in a Nov. 2006 stage production called Mud Turnip. I guess she's done a lot of car shows. Just kidding. I guess it remains to be seen what these four will do as wrestlers. But you all know how much I love idol wrestlers.


http://www.newgate-pro.co.jp/prof/natsumi.htm

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Seals & Crofts

Artist:Seals & Crofts

Song:Diamond Girl

Album:Greatest Hits

People find it hard to believe that 70s soft rock staples Seals & Crofts were also responsible for The Champs 1958 classic Tequila. These days fans want to know what happened to them. Jim Seals was born Oct. 17, 1941 in Sidney, TX. Dash Crofts was born Aug. 14, 1940 in Cisco, TX. They toured with The Champs from 1958-65. They joined a couple more bands until deciding to record as a duo in 1969. Seals played guitar, sax & violin and Crofts played drums, mandolin, keyboards & guitar. They recorded a couple of albums for the Talent Associates label. It revealed their tremendous harmonies but the label was too small to promote them. But it got them a contract with Warner Bros. and they had five best selling albums from 1972-76. Diamond Girl was a top ten hit in 1973 and the album also topped the charts. This Greatest Hits comp has all their hits. They had faded by the late 70s and were dropped by Warner Bros. in 1980. In recent years, they have devoted a lot of their time to the Baha'i faith. Seals & Crofts have reunited occasionally mostly at Baha'i events. There's a clip on Youtube of them performing with Dizzy Gillespie at a Baha'i event. Crofts recorded a solo CD in 2000 but they're not really in the music business anymore. But Seals & Crofts were very big for a few years. Here's Seals & Crofts performing Summer Breeze on ABC In Concert in 1974.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Santana

Artist:Santana

Song:Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen

Album:Abraxas

I guess these days Carlos Santana is looked at as some sort of guitar legend. There's no question he has the technical ability. Musical taste is another matter. I wonder if he ever listens to Abraxas. He was born July 20, 1947 in Mexico and moved to San Francisco in the early 60s. He formed the Santana Blues Band in 1966 with singer/pianist Gregg Rolie. The personnel changed constantly. The group was spotted by promoter Bill Graham and he put them on his Fillmore West shows. Santana signed with Columbia and their 1969 debut was moderately successful. Rolie was still part of the band along with bassist David Brown and percussionist Mike Carabello. Then they added drummer Mike Shrieve and percussionist Jose "Chepito" Areas. Areas did a lot of the arrangements for Abraxas. The album was huge and the classic Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen was a top 5 hit. What eventually happened was Santana became a disciple of Sri Chinmoy and his music changed. He just seemed to have less fire and I don't think he's ever got that back. Abraxas is a must anyway. Columbia/Legacy rereleased it in 1998 with some bonus live tracks from London in 1970. Here's a video of Black Magic Woman by Santana.

Santana - Black Magic Woman
Uploaded by manon42

Can Yumi Ohka's knee hold up?

Pro Wrestling WAVE had their second show on Sept. 3 at Shin-kiba 1st Ring. It seems they're going to be running a lot of their shows during the week. In recent years, joshi shows have run mostly on weekends. They're also running a lot of shows for a new promotion. They've got another one next Monday. One of the potential problems is they're banking very heavily on Yumi Ohka to draw fans. The big problem is no one knows if Ohka is physically capable of working regularly. If her knee starts giving her real trouble, that's trouble for WAVE. The attendance wasn't announced but a fan counted 128.

The Opening WAVE on this show was Kyoko Kimura vs Cherry. Kimura dominated with a couple of pinwheel backbreakers and finished her with the Kimura Lock II at 13:10. Next was Lucha WAVE with KAORU & GAMI vs Tsubasa Kuragaki & Shuu Shibutani. Many fans should be aware that KAORU spent a lot of time in Mexico in her early days. Before the match, Shibutani told KAORU that she wanted to learn some lucha from her. The idea behind the match was to use lucha moves. Though Kuragaki did get some offense in, most of the match saw Shibutani getting hammered. After a dropkick and a swinging DDT, GAMI made Shibutani submit with a hanging bat hold at 19:15. She folded her up like a pretzel. Afterwards, Shibutani revealed that she will be going to Mexico to train in October. Atsuko Emoto will go with her.

Challenge WAVE had Arisa Nakajima & Tomoka Nakagawa challenging the veteran team of Toshie Uematsu & Ran YuYu. The youngsters get some offense but Uematsu & Ran use several missile dropkicks and Ran finishes Nakajima with an elbow smash at 16:29. Resurrection WAVE had Yumi Ohka continuing her comeback against Misae Genki. Ohka gives up a lot of size and she has to be careful because of her knee. Genki used a couple of lariats and the Big Boots and finished her off with a G Driver at 16:21. It's not going to get any easier for Ohka. Her opponent on the Sept. 10 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show will be Nanae Takahashi. Other matches are Kyoko Kimura vs KAORU, Toshie Uematsu & Ran YuYu vs GAMI & Bullfight Sora and Shuu Shibutani vs TBA. It is very risky to base a promotion on a wrestler with a bad knee.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-India.Arie

Artist:India.Arie

Song:I Choose

Album:Testimony, Vol. 1:Life & Relationship

India.Arie has been at the forefront of the Neo Soul movement and her songs of female empowerment have been very successful. She was born India Arie Simpson Oct. 3, 1975 in Denver. Her father Ralph Simpson played for the Denver Nuggets of the NBA. That would explain her height. Her mom was a singer under contract at one time to Motown. The parents divorced and mom and the kids moved to Atlanta. Whilre attending college in Savannah, India decided to get serious about her music. This eventually landed her a spot on the 1999 Lilith Fair and she was spotted and signed to Motown. Unlike a lot of female R & B singers, India.Arie has not depended on sex appeal. Instead, Motown has focused on her writing ability and that has proven to be very successful. This also means she will have a lot of longevity in the music business. I Choose is from her 2006 CD Testimony Vol. 1:Life & Relationship. She co-wrote and produced it with recording engineer Dru Castro. The CD reached #1 on the Billboard 200. India.Arie's new CD Testimony Vol. 2:Love & Politics should be out shortly. I expect it to be as good as previous CDs. Here's the video for I Am Not My Hair featuring Akon by India.Arie.

Matsuo gets NEO double title shot

NEO has announced two matches for BEAT UP 07 Sept. 17 at Korakuen Hall. The main event has Yoshiko Tamura defending the NEO Singles & NWA Pacific Titles against Haruka Matsuo. There's nothing wrong with Matsuo but I don't think any fan believes that she a chance of winning this match. I don't think NEO GM Koda believes that either but he's been trying to convince himself on the NEO blog. Matsuo last had a title shot two years ago and Koda says she's hungry enough to beat Tamura. He also describes Matsuo as a "Future Ace". He's even suggesting that the match could be a 30 minute draw. What fans really would like to see is a Tamura/Azumi Hyuga rematch. I expect that to happen at Christmas and anything else is a stall.

The other match follows up on the July 29 tag title change. Kaoru Ito & Ayako Hamada won the titles from Yoshiko Tamura & Sakura Emi. Ito & Hamada have been in Mexico for the last month and Koda has been negotiating with them by phone. Because Tamura is busy in the main event, it has been decided that Ayako Hamada & Sakura Emi will have a singles match in the meantime. Again the match seems like a stalling tactic designed to build up to something else. I would not be surprised to see Tamura & Ito get involved in this match.

Devil Masami 30th Anniversary show

Of course earlier this year we had the Jaguar Yokota 30th Anniversary show. Chigusa Nagayo Produce & Empress Produce has announced that the Devil Masami 30th Anniversary show will be September 30 at Differ Ariake in Tokyo. The show is titled Marvelous Night Miracle Game. Jaguar Yokota has confirmed that she will appear on the show. Empress Produce is Devil's company. Of course Devil Masami is one of the all time greats of joshi puroresu. She started out in the 80s as a great heel and eventually was just as good as a babyface. She worked mostly for GAEA in the 90s. I don't expect her to retire so I'm not getting into that. Here's a video of a very heelish Devil Masami squashing a very young Chigusa Nagayo in the early 80s.

Mizuki Endo named LLPW president

LLPW had their 15th Anniversary show at Korakuen Hall on Aug. 31. Time flies when you're having fun. It had the usual LLPW silliness. But the notable event was that LLPW veteran Mizuki Endo was named LLPW president. I guess Shinobu Kandori is too busy in the senate. I'm not sure if the change means anything. Endo said something about wanting to form a partnership with an outside company. She also said that LLPW needs to start recruiting and training new wrestlers and Harley Saito will be in charge of training. This has been a real problem for LLPW in recent years. Francoise is the only wrestler under 30 in the company and she's no prize.

The opener for this show was a special 15th Anniversary six girl tag match that probably should have been the main event. Noriyo Tateno, Harley Saito & Takako Inoue defeated Shinobu Kandori, Mizuki Endo & Jumbo Hori when Saito reversed Hori's powerbomb attempt into a hurricanrana at 8:13. That's a short match. It's good to see that Tateno's injury wasn't serious. I've been asked what the deal is with 80s veteran Hori. She's appeared on LLPW shows for about a year now. She certainly raises the average age of the LLPW roster. I'm not sure but it's possible that she has invested in the company. This was followed by a transvestite match. Sawaco wore a tutu and won over Jukka with a ballerina kick at 3:47.

Next was a match with two wrestlers from the Ito Dojo. Mai Ichii defeated Midori with a comet kick at 8:11. Then a JD Reunion match. Jaguar Yokota & KAZUKI defeated Obacchi Iizuka & Megumi Yabushita when when KAZUKI used the K-Crusher on Iizuka at 10:34. After those time fillers, it was time to bring on Francoise. They put her in there with Yumiko Hotta, queen of the no sell. Hotta won at 3:12 with her palm strike and then she trampled her. Afterwards, Francoise appeared with a couple of masked characters designed to get her heat. The main event was for the vacant LLPW Tag Team Titles. Eiger & Sayuri Okino defeated Sendai rookies Sachiko & Chisako Kanari at 10:40 when Okino used a Michinoku driver on Sachiko. The whole show just seems ass backward and it just illustrates how pathetic LLPW has become. Maybe Endo can change things. I guess not. It seems she was responsible for the booking of this show.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Django Reinhardt

Artist:Django Reinhardt

Song:Marie

Album:Djangology 49

Guitarist Django Reinhardt was the first major jazz figure to come out of Europe. He influenced generations of guitarists. He was born Jean Baptiste Reinhardt Jan. 23, 1910 in Liberchies, Belgium. He grew up in a gypsy camp near Paris. He lost the use of two of the fingers on his left hand in a 1928 fire. But he figured out a unique fingering style. Apparently at some point he heard a 78 of Louis Armstrong and continued to play guitar in Paris cafes. In 1934, he was approached by Hot Club owner Pierre Noury with the idea of an all string jazz band and The Quintet Of The Hot Club Of France was born. Of course the other key figure in the group was violinist Stephane Grappelli. They were very successful and their music is outstanding. WWII broke up the group as Grappelli moved to London and Reinhardt remained in France. They reunited after the war. Djangology 49 was recorded in Rome in 1949 and apparently it was their final recording together. Reinhardt & Grappelli always had natural chemistry that is very clear at all times. Django Reinhardt died of a stroke on May 16, 1953 at age 43. Here's Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli performing J'Attandre in 1939.

Hikaru & Malia Hosaka to Hawaii

You may recall that Pro Wrestling SUN's Hikaru went to Hawaii last month for an HCW match against Tracy Taylor. The promotion has announced that Hikaru will return to HCW on Sept. 15 for a three way match with Tracy Taylor. The third participant in this match will be veteran wrestler Malia Hosaka. Malia is an American of Japanese descent and is a 20 year veteran of the wrestling business. She has wrestled all over the world but she has never worked for a joshi fed in Japan. She did work for FMW once. So I am being a little selfish when I say that I would love to see Malia enter the upcoming Pro Wrestling SUN gaijin tournament or make her a part of REM. She'd fit right in with that heel group. I don't know if Malia's schedule would allow that but I think an extended run in Japan would be an appropriate cherry on top of Malia's stellar wrestling career. However, Malia did work with joshi wrestlers when GAEA was part of WCW in 1997. Here's video evidence. It's Malia Hosaka vs 17 year old Meiko Satomura followed by Satomura vs Toshie Uematsu from WCW in 1997. Toshie defeated Malia in the finals of the WCW Womens Cruiserweight Championship tournament.

Mickie James vs Jillian on HEAT

This week's edition of WWE Heat leads off with Mickie James vs Jillian. In the past, the WWE has separated the HEAT matches. They have decided now to put the whole show on one file. Maybe they know that fans don't want to watch Snitsky. So it's a little inconvenient but the Mickie/Jillian match is first so you can watch that and ignore the rest of the show. I suppose I could download the file and edit it accordingly and I may do that in the future but I don't really want to. Enjoy the match.


FreeVideoCoding.com

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Donnie McClurkin

Artist:Donnie McClurkin

Song:Here With You

Album:Donnie McClurkin

Gospel artist Donnie McClurkin has had major mainstream crossover success with We Fall Down. He was born Nov. 9, 1959 in Amityville, NY. He grew up in an atmosphere of abuse but was saved by an aunt who was a background singer for gospel music legend Andrae Crouch. He formed his own group called the New York Restoration Choir and later was hired as an asociate pastor for Marvin Winans' Perfecting Church. He signed with Warner Alliance and this 1997 debut CD was the result. Stand was the big hit but Here With You is another excellent McClurkin song. Producers on the CD included Cedric & Victor Caldwell and Mark Kibble of Take 6. Warner closed the label so McClurkin went to Verity and had a huge hit with 2002's We Fall Down. He also performs with his sisters in The McClurkin Project and had a co-starring role in the film The Gospel. Donnie McClurkin continues to have a lot of success and here's his video of the Stairsteps classic Ooh Child featuring Kirk Franklin.

Fuuka drops out of Sept. 6 Smackgirl show

Fuuka announced today on her blog that she suffered a knee injury during training and will have to drop out of her match against Emi Fujino on the Sept. 6 Korakuen Hall Smackgirl show. Fujino's opponent will be named. Also, Ayumi "Edge" Saito has been added to the show against an opponent to be announced. One match has been added to the show. Asha "The Basha" Ingeneri (pictured) will be coming in from Australia to fight Rin Nakai. From what I can tell, Ingeneri is a kickboxer and this appears to be her MMA debut. She trains at Team Schaffa in Sydney. Nakai's record is 2-0 and her last win was over Kazue Matake at the May 19 Smackgirl show.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Fishbone

Artist:Fishbone

Song:Ma And Pa

Album:Truth And Soul

Fishbone is a group that emerged in the late 80s. They developed a cult following but never quite made it to the mainstream. The group started in Los Angeles by vocalist/sax player Angelo Moore while still in junior high. Other members were Kendall Jones on guitar, Chris Dowd on keyboards, John Norwood Fisher on bass and Philip "Fish" Fisher on drums. Fishbone came out of the LA punk scene so they were influenced by that along with R & B, funk and ska. Their live shows earned them a contract with Columbia and Truth And Soul was their second album in 1988. Ma And Pa is a frenetic ska influenced song about divorce. The album did well but then they didn't release another CD for three years. Eventually they faded from the spotlight. Fishbone was never able to rise past their cult following. They're still around and Angelo Moore & John Norwood Fisher are still in charge. Their latest CD is 2006's Still Stuck In Your Throat on Discograph. Here's the video for Ma And Pa by Fishbone

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