Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-The Big Bopper

Artist:The Big Bopper

Song:Chantilly Lace

Album:Hellooo Baby!:The Best Of The Big Bopper 1954-1959

The 1958 novelty song Chantilly Lace was the only hit for JP Richardson AKA The Big Bopper. Of course he is best known as one of three stars to die in that tragic 1959 airplane crash. He was born Oct. 24, 1930 in Sabine Pass, TX and grew up in Beaumont. He worked part time as a DJ at KTRM in Beaumont while studying pre-law at Lamar College. He left school to work in radio full time in 1949. He was drafted into the Army in 1955 and after being discharged, he returned to KTRM in 1957. When he was moved to a new time slot, he came up with the name The Big Bopper after watching kids do a dance called The Bop. Richardson played guitar and started writing songs. He got the attention of Mercury Records promotion man Harold "Pappy" Daily. The Big Bopper wrote & recorded Chantilly Lace for Daily and he sold it to Mercury. It reached #6 on the pop charts. The song is a lot of fun and still very well remembered today. I dunno about this Rhino comp. I think most folks would prefer the song on a various artists comp. The Big Bopper took time off from KTRM to tour with Buddy Holly & Richie Valens and died in the plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959 at age 28. The story is The Big Bopper wasn't feeling well and Buddy Holly guitarist Waylon Jennings gave him his seat on the plane. It's likely that The Big Bopper would have returned to radio after the tour. He was a novelty act and there's usually not a long term future for that sort of act. But his songs started becoming hits for others. George Jones had a hit with White Lightning and so did Johnny Preston with Running Bear. That was the likely direction of his musical career. Too bad he never got to do that. Here's The Big Bopper performing Chantilly Lace on American Bandstand 1958.

Let's all see the cherry blossoms at LEE Presents BEGINNING

It was a fairly quiet week in the joshi business. There will be a big explosion at next week's OZ Academy show. Of course spring in Tokyo means the blooming of the cherry blossoms is a big deal so most of the events on blogs and websites was related to that. There was one stand alone show at Shin-kiba 1st Ring on Apr. 6 called LEE Presents BEGINNING. Yes, that is Lee Jeans and they have done joshi shows before and will sponsor another one later this year.





The star of the show was Fuuka so they had a fan event on Saturday with Fuuka meeting fans. She was telling fans that Nanae Takahashi would appear on the May 5 Fuuka Matsuri. Takahashi confirmed that today. Before the show, Smackgirl fighter Hitomi Akano sang and Mio Shirai, Shuu Shibutani & Fuuka were signing autographs. The opener had Haruka Matsuo vs Mio Shirai. Mio attacked Matsuo with punches & dropkicks. But Matsuo came back with a half crab followed by a suplex for a two count. Mio came back but Matsuo regained control and after a superkick, Matsuo won with a Northern Lights suplex followed by a German suplex in about seven minutes.




Next was Arisa Nakajima & Toshie Uematsu vs Yumi Ohka & Hanako Kobayashi. The match started with Uematsu abusing Kobayashi. Ohka tagged in and got the same treatmant including a double team suplex. A Kobayashi cross body block on Nakajima turned things around and then Ohka wrapped her legs around Nakajima's hean from the top turnbuckle. An Ohka power bomb gets two. Uematsu tags in and catches Kobayashi on the top rope for a superplex. Ohka comes in to help but Nakajima outmaneuvers both with a cross body. Uematsu's Northern Lights suplex on Kobayashi is broken up by Ohka. This is followed by a fisherman's suplex and a cradle roll for the win at 16:32.




Next up was Hikaru & Yuu Yamagata vs Takako Inoue & Mai Ichii. The match begins with Ichii controlling Hikaru. Takako tags in and nails her with a spin kick. Yamagata tags in and Takako is double teamed. Ichii tags in and pounds Yamagata followed by a double team in the ropes. Hikaru tags in and is kicked by Ichii. A couple of stiff kicks by Takako gets a two count. Ichii crashes & burns when she misses a flying move. Yamagata finishes her with an avalanche style brain buster at 12:51.





The main event was Fuuka & Apple Miyuki vs Shuu Shibutani & Io Shirai. It's amusing to see Fuuka wearing a chamionship belt (EWA Womens Titile). Io seems to like playing heel as she doesn't shake hands with Fuuka. The match goes back and forth for a while until IO and then Shibutani get the edge on Fuuka. Apple turns the tables and after a jumping moonsault press and a Northern Lights suplex softens Io up, Fuuka finishes her with two straight F-Crashes for the win at 12:50. After the show, they all went to look at more cherry blossoms. It is good to see Apple Miyuki on one of these shows.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Jimmy Cliff

Artist:Jimmy Cliff

Song:Sitting In Limbo

Album:The Harder They Come

The 1972 cult film The Harder They Come and the soundtrack played a big part in popularizing reggae in North America. Jamaican superstar Jimmy Cliff starred. He was born James Chambers Apr. 1, 1948 in St. James, Jamaica. He moved to Kingston at age 14. He renamed himself Jimmy Cliff to indicate the heights he was going to climb. Another Jamaican music legend Derrick Morgan discovered Cliff and took him to producer Leslie Kong. Though most Jamaican singers would flit around to various producers, Cliff stayed with Kong until Kong's 1970 death. This paid off with many hits in the 60s. Chris Blackwell licensed Cliff's music for release in England on Island Records and convinced Cliff to move there in 1968. Island licensed Cliff to A & M Records in the US and songs like Wonderful World, Beautiful People built him a fanbase there. Sitting In Limbo is a great song that Cliff wrote in the wake of Leslie Kong's death. It appeared on the 1971 album Another Cycle but was also added to the soundtrack for The Harder They Come. The film built a cult following in the US but Island turned their attention to Bob Marley and never capitalized on the success of the film to promote Cliff. Cliff moved to Reprise in the US and EMI in England in 1974 but has never reached the heights of The Harder They Come. I suspect many folks are more familiar with his acting but you don't want to overlook Jimmy Cliff's music as an important part of the Jamaican musical landscape. His most recent CD is 2004's Black Magic on Artemis Records. Here's the video for The Harder They Come by Jimmy Cliff.

Shayna Baszler wins in ShoXC

Here's the video of Shayna Baszler's win over Tama Chan on Saturday's ShoXC show. For some reason The Fight Network didn't pick up the show and I didn't get to see it live. Shayna puts on quite a show but I wasn't surprised by the result. I was not enthusiastic about the fight because I'm familiar with Tama Chan and I didn't think there was any way she could win this fight. It was pretty much over once Shayna suplexed her. Her performance made some of us think she's been watching pro wrestling. The fight is entertaining for what it is. Enjoy!

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-The Capris

Artist:The Capris

Song:There's A Moon Out Tonight

Album:The Doo Wop Box

There's A Moon Out Tonight hit #3 on the pop charts in 1961. It's well remembered today but the song and The Capris have a strange history. There's nothing unusual about their formation. The group started in 1957 by Queen's, NY high school students Nick Santa Maria (lead), Mike Mincelli (first tenor), Steve Reina (second tenor), Vinnie Narcardo (baritone) & John Apostol (bass). They recorded There's A Moon Out Tonight in 1958. It was picked up by Planet Records but the label only pressed 1,000 copies and couldn't promote it properly. The Capris split up and were destined for obscurity. In 1960, a record collector named Jerry Greene of Times Square Records heard the song and gave it to Allen Fredericks to play on his Night Train radio show. The phone lines lit up. Greene pressed some copies himself but was unable to keep up with the demand. So he sold it to Hy Weiss of Old Town Records. Meanwhile, Nick Santa Maria came out of the Army and heard about the song getting airplay. Then popular DJ Murray The K featured it on his Rate A Record feature. The Capris reformed in 1961 and played The Apollo a week later. That's when There's A Moon Out Tonight reached #3 on the pop charts. It's strange because it was a remnant of the doo wop era but was a hit after doo wop was finished. The Capris never reached those heights again and Santa Maria left to go solo. That didn't work out and he became a New York City cop. Santa Maria reformed The Capris in 1982 and continued to tour the oldies circuit until their final show in Dec. 2007. Here's The Capris performing There's A Moon Out Tonight.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Lyle Lovett

Artist:Lyle Lovett

Song:She's No Lady

Album:Pontiac

Singer songwriter actor Lyle Lovett is classified as a country artist. But he's much more diverse than that and his unusual look has given him a second career in acting. He was born Nov. 1, 1957 in Klein, TX. Nanci Griffiths recorded one of his songs in 1983 and one of Lovett's demos got the attention of singer songwriter Guy Clark and he took it to MCA Records producer Tony Brown. Lovett signed with MCA/Curb. Pontiac was his second CD in 1987 and She's No Lady reached #17 on the Country chart. But it was always clear that Lovett was more than a country artist and his jazz influence became more pronounced with 1989's Lyle Lovett And His Large Band. The CD went gold so though his country fanbase shrank, he gained a lot of new fans. Lovett moved to Los Angeles in 1991 and made his acting debut in Robert Altman's The Player. It was here that he met and married Julia Roberts. It didn't last long. The public viewed them as an odd couple. Lovett became an Altman favourite and appeared in several of his films. He also got a lot of acclaim for his work with Randy Newman in Toy Story. Lyle Lovett continues to record for Universal's Lost Highway label. His latest CD It's Not Big It's Large was released in Aug. 2007. Universal hasn't yet released a Lyle Lovett comp but they probably should. Here's the video for She's No Lady by Lyle Lovett.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Kenny Neal

Artist:Kenny Neal

Song:Fly Away

Album:Let Life Flow

Kenny Neal is a very popular blues guitarist & harmonica player known for Louisiana Swamp Blues. He was born Oct. 14, 1957 in New Orleans and grew up in Baton Rouge. His father was blues harmonica player Raful Neal and as a child Kenny hung out with legends like Buddy Guy & Slim Harpo. Harpo gave him a harmonica when Kenny was three years old. He started playing in his dad's band at age 13 and by age 17 he was recruited to Buddy Guy's band. In the 70s, Kenny moved to Toronto and formed the Neal Brothers Band with brothers Raful Jr., Noel, Larry & Ronnie and also was lead singer of the Downchild Blues Band but then moved back to Baton Rouge. In 1987 he recorded his first solo album with bassist Bob Greenlee. This got the attention of Alligator Records owner Bruce Iglauer and Kenny had a long run with Alligator. Alligator's wide distribution gave Neal greater stability and he's been a popular touring act ever since. He's an excellent guiraist and has great stage prescence. He moved to Telarc Records in 1998 and recorded three albums for them. He also appeared in the 1991 Broadway show Mule Bone and composed music for the 2003 film Love, Sex & Eating The Bones. In Sept. 2006, Kenny Neal contracted Hepititis C and took time out. But now he's back with a new contract with Blind Pig Records and his new CD Let Life Flow is out next month. Kenny produced the CD with his son Kenny Neal Jr. Here is Kenny Neal performing Who's Loving You Tonight on Neal's Place on the Palo Alto Community Media Channel in Mar. 2008.

Nanae Takahashi to return in May

Nanae Takahashi announced on her Chick Fights SUN blog that she is returning to the ring in May. She said she is tired of sitting around waiting for First On Stage to figure out what to do with the wrestlers under contract to SUN. Takahashi described the status of the company as dormant and she wants to get back to work. She will appear on the May 11 Jaguar Yokota/Lioness Asuka show at Differ Ariake and the May 18 Ito Dojo show at Shin-kiba 1st Ring. I think she's teaming with Ayako Hamada on the Ito show as Ayako asked her to appear on the show. Also, Fuuka was telling people at a fan event that Takahashi will be on an upcoming Fuuka Matsuri.





Saki Maemura & Hikaru are now starting to turn up on shows. They were on yesterday's Pro Wrestling WAVE show. I have no news about Natsuki*Taiyo. Maybe she's quit the joshi business. She hasn't posted on her SUN blog since Jan. 25. And Kana has announced she will appear on the upcoming AJW revival shows. But there hasn't been a peep from Yoshiyuki Nakamura or anyone else from First On Stage about SUN's future. Like Takahashi said, the company is dormant. It's time for those cowards to officially close and release the wrestlers from their contracts.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Amel Larrieux

Artist:Amel Larrieux

Song:Even If

Album:Infinite Possibilities

You may recall that R & B singer songwriter Amel Larrieux turned up in a video I posted a while back by the British group Sweetback. I think a lot of fans think she's European. But she was born Mar. 8, 1973 in New York City. Her mom is a dance professor so she grew up in a very artistic household. Amel is probably best known for her R & B duo with Bryce Wilson called Groove Theory. Their 1995 single Tell Me reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Amel left to go solo and signed with Epic Records. Her 2000 debut Infinite Possibilities did well on the R & B charts. Amel wrote & produced the album with husband Laru Larrieux. But as seems to happen with a lot of R &B artists these days, it didn't sell well enough for Epic and Amel didn't want to water down her music to be more commercial. So she started her own label called Blisslife Records and has released three CDs. Her May 2007 CD Lovely Standards has done well on the R & B and Adult Contemporary and Jazz charts. She also had the single No One Else on the Why Did I Get Married soundtrack. Going the indie label route seems to be the way to go for many R & B artists today. Amel Larrieux is worth checking out. Here's the video for Get Up by Amel Larrieux.

Michael McDowell walked away from this crash

Now I'm not one of those racing fans who watches to see crashes. But this crash during today's qualifying for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Texas was the hardest hit I've seen in many years. The driver is rookie Michael McDowell in his second ever Sprint Cup race driving the #00 Aaron's Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. While watching the crash, you're going to think he was seriously injured or killed. But amazingly he walked away unhurt and will drive in this Sunday's race. This was the ultimate test for the Car Of Tomorrow and it's improved driver cockpit. It 's also another example that the SAFR barriers made of tubular steel and styrofoam has been the greatest safety advance in auto racing history. Think about what the impact against concrete would have done to McDowell. And it only took an hour to repair the wall. Hats off to NASCAR for all the safety advances. Check out the video.


FreeVideoCoding.com

Roxanne Modafferi retains FFF Lightweight Title

Fatal Femmes Fighting held their fourth show at the Shrine Expo Center in Los Angeles. They seem to be gathering more steam as when they had their first show, it was difficult to get any info online. Now they're starting to get recent coverage. Their first attempt at a show outside Los Angeles didn't work out but I assume they will try that again. There was a mix of experienced and less experience fighters but the main event was from two reliable fighters snd some of the undercard had interesting results.




The main event had Roxanne Modafferi defending her FFF Lightweight Title against Vanessa Porto. Roxanne is a US fighter who has been training in Japan the last few years and Vanessa has been on a good winning streak. It had been almost a year since Roxanne won the K-Grace tournament and she wanted to win this fight very badly. Roxanne began the fight with strikes. Vanessa took her down but Roxanne continued her offense while on her back when round one ended. Roxanne continued to display her striking in tound two. Vanessa took her down again but Roxanne's attempts at a triangle choke and an armbar kept her under control. Roxanne continued striking in round three and landed knees & elbows until the ref stopped the match at 53 seconds. Roxanne Modefferi wins by TKO.





The semi main had Brazilian Barbie Carina Damm against FFF regular Sophie Bagherdai. Damm is trying to establish herself as more than a pretty face against the undefeated Bagherdai. The first round had Damm trying various strike attacks and Bagherdai mostly staying away from her. But Bagherdai wasn't as successful in round two. Damm took her down with a double leg takedown and immediately mounted her and hooked an armbar for the submission at 1:52 of round two. Afterwards, Damm was offered a match on an ProElite card. I guess she's on her way.




FFF Heavyweight Champ Lana Stefanac wasted no time with Teyvia Reid and submitted her with an atmbar at 36 seconds of round one. She had beaten Reid before but Reid wanted a rematch. Lethal Lana left no doubt. It will be difficult to find opponents for her. Fan favourite Amanda Buckner was up against Smackgirl veteran Takayo Hashi. Hashi's only loss in her career was to Hitomi Akano and Hashi avenged that. Buckner's strength is her ground game so it was odd that the entire match was standing up. That was probably a mistake as Hashi won by unanimous decision. Buckner admitted the mistake afterwards.





In other matches, Canadian Alexis Davis won by unanimous decision over Liz Carriero. Sarah Schneider followed up her recent win over Kaitlin Young by using superior ground skills to get a unanimous decision over Ashley Sanchez. Sally Krumdiak came from behind to win a unanimous decision over Jamie Lynn. Breanne Vickers made her MMA debut on one day's notice and lost to Emily Thompson by TKO at 53 seconds of round three. Jenna Babcock won over Tammie Schneider by TKO at 1:05 of round one. Michelle Roody won her MMA debut when a combination dropped Franita Gathings and the ref stopped the match at 2:54 of round one. Tamara Parks won over Lina Koukov with an armbar at 2:24 of round one and Tierra Arnold won over Veronica Locurto by split decision. All four fighters were making their MMA debuts. It looks like a fun show and I like that FFF continues building momentum. We're all looking forward to the next show.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Miles Davis

Artist:Miles Davis

Song:Lonely Fire

Album:Complete Bitches Brew Sessions

The 1970 Miles Davis album Bitches Brew was the first jazz album I ever listened to. At the time, Miles was chastised by jazz purists for selling out. But the album was always intended as a musical bridge between progressive rock, funk & jazz so the jazz purist wasn't the intended audience. By the late 60s, Miles Davis was already one of the most acclaimed & popular jazz musicians and he was making a good living. But he wanted to be bigger than jazz. His wife at the time Betty Mabry intoduced him to music by Jimi Hendrix, James Brown & Sly & The Family Stone. So Miles started experimenting with electric instruments. His usual pianists Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea hadn't played electric piano so he brought in Cannonball Adderley pianist Joe Zawinul along with guitarist John McLaughlin for the 1969 album In A Silent Way. Six months later he brought in more musicians and had producer Teo Macero use cut and paste editing to form Bitches Brew. The album was a huge success and became the best selling jazz album in history. Columbia has so much Miles Davis in their vault they may never release all of it. But they have been releasing the major works in comprehensive box sets. The 4CD Complete Bitches Brew Sessions was released in a metal box in 1998. The only change in the 2004 rerelease is the cardboard packaging. Lonely Fire was part of the Bitches Brew sessions but wasn't on the original album. It was released on the 1974 2LP set Big Fun that had previously unreleased tracks from various sources. Musicians are Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Bennie Maupin on bass clarinet, Khalil Balakrishna on sitar, Chick Corea & Joe Zawinul on piano, Dave Holland on double bass, Harvey Brooks on Fender bass, Jack DeJohnette & Billy Cobham on drums and Airto Moreira on percussion. The music on Big Fun has a decidedly Indian flavour. Lonely Fire also appeared in the film Finding Forrester and was sampled by Notorious BIG. Miles Davis' music would quickly travel to other places especially funk but Bitches Brew is a landmark album and is essential listening. Here's Miles Davis performing Bitches Brew with Chick Corea, Dave Holland & Jack DeJohnette.

WINDY Tomomi returns to Smackgirl

Of course the Apr. 25 Korakuen Hall Smackgirl show will feature the semi finals of the two World REMIX tournaments. The two additional fighters in the Open Weight tournament are to be announced. But Smackgirl did hold a press conference today to announce three more matches for the show. The big news is that WINDY Tomomi will make her Smackgirl return on this show. Tomomi returned to MMA after a year off with a broken ankle with a win over Emi Tomimatsu on the Jan. 30 Pancrase show. Her record is 10-8. Her opponent AZUMA is making her MMA debut. But she has a 7-3-3 record with the J-GIRLS kickboxing fed. So they know each other and AZUMA said she has wanted to fight WINDY for a while. It could be interesting but I favour WINDY because of her MMA experience and AZUMA may not have the ground game to exploit WINDY's weakness on the ground.




Smackgirl has also added two Discovery fights to the card. The first is a Lightweight match with Asami Kodera vs Mika Nagano. Kodera is 2-2 and lost her most recent match to Masako Yoshida at the Feb. 14 Smackgirl show. Nagano is a former amateur grappling champ and she lost her MMA debut to Megumi Fujii on the Dec. 26 Smackgirl show. The other is a Middleweight match with Megu vs Hitomi Sakamoto. Megu made her MMA debut with a win over Harumi at the Feb. 14 Smackgirl show. Sakamoto's one previous match was a loss to Benkei at the Mar. 11, 2007 Smackgirl show but she is now training with Megumi Fujii & Hitomi Akano at AACC. That could make a difference. Speaking of Akano, she will be singing at a joshi puroresu show called LEE Presents BEGINNING at Shin-kiba 1st Ring Apr. 6. Pro wrestler Fuuka is headlining this show.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Hall & Oates

Artist:Hall & Oates

Song:Maneater

Album:Greatest Hits:Rock 'n' Soul Part 1

Hall & Oates were one of the biggest acts of the 80s and main purveyors of Blue Eyed Soul AKA R & B by white guys. Maneater was one of several smash hits. Daryl Hall (born Oct. 11, 1946 in Philadelphia) & John Oates (born Apr. 7, 1949 in New York City) were attending Temple University in 1966. Hall was a member of Kenny Gamble & The Romeos along with future Philly Soul legends Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff & Thom Bell. The two started performing together but split up when Oates transferred schools. Hall formed a group called Gulliver that made one terrible album for Elektra and disappeared. Oates returned to Philadelphia in 1969 and they started working together again. They were spotted by Tommy Mottola and he became their manager and got them a contract with Atlantic. Though their three early albums were unsuccessful, I prefer their earlier music. It's not as gimmicky. Hall & Oates moved to RCA in 1975 and scored their first Top Ten hit with Sara Smile. Atlantic rereleased She's Gone in 1976 and that was a hit. Rich Girl was their first #1 hit in 1977. But they really hit their stride with Kiss On My List in 1980. It was the first of several smash hits including 1982's Maneater. It's fairly typical of their music and actually holds up well today. This comp was originally released in 1983 and went platinum. This 2006 reissue has three bonus tracks and a different cover. Hall & Oates left RCA for Arista in 1985 and faded in the late 80s. Hall usually sang lead but he hasn't been all that successful as a solo artist. Oates has also recorded solo albums and the two have reunited occasionally. But for a few years in the 80s, they were hot enough to surpass The Everly Brothers as the most successful duo in pop music history. Here's the video for Maneater by Hall & Oates.

Someone's going bald in OZ Academy

OZ Academy's Mar 30 Taisho Azeria show in Osaka set up the main angles for the Apr. 12 Differ Ariake show. They also held a press conference today to announce the full card and the stipulations for the Mayumi Ozaki/Carlos Amano match. I'll get into the specifics later but one of them will have a chrome dome afterwards. They're also going to come up with a name for the Aja Kong Army. They're having a special fan event this

Saturday where all the factions will appear seperately. Nice touch. And Lady's Ring magazine is helping get fans to send in new theme songs for the OZ wrestlers. So they're busy.





The opener had Devil Masami over Sonoko Kato with the Fire Valley at 13:18. They've been doing these matches for the soon to retire Devil as tribute matches. Then Dynamite Kansai beat Tomoka Nakagawa with the diving foot stomp at 10:02. It's what you would expect. Kansai no sold Nakagawa's offense and won easily. Next was Aja Kong with her new protege Hiroyo Matsumoto vs AKINO & Ran YuYu. The idea behind this match was to test Matsumoto. From what I can tell she did pretty well. The end came when Aja nailed her by mistake and AKINO used a hurricanrana on Matsumoto for the win at 19:31. Aja seemed happy with her afterwards.





Next was KAORU vs Manami Toyota. Before the start, Police & Mika Nishio come out and attack Toyota with chairs & chains. But Aja Kong comes out for the save. She no sells a KAORU chair shot and clobbers KAORU. It's utter chaos in the ring. KAORU misses a moonsault press
and Toyota uses the rolling cradle for a two count. Then a backdrop and a missile kick for another two count. Nishio & Police return and Toyota is beaten with a steel chair followed by a brain buster on the chair. Toyota comes back with the Queen Bee Bomb. KAORU rolls outside
the ring and Aja is waiting for her. She also fights off Police & Nishio. Back in the ring, KAORU hits two Excaliburs but pulls Toyota up at two. KAORU goes up for a moonsault press but Toyota gets her boots up and nails KAORU. Toyota hits the Japanese Ocean Suplex but Police & Nishio hit her with the chair. The three trap Toyota and KAORU is going to finish her of with The Green Mist but she hits Nishio by accident. Aja nails KAORU & Nishio with the back fist and kicks police to the floor. Toyota hits the Japanese Ocean Queen Bee Bomb for the win at 10:45.





The weird thing about the main events with Mayumi Ozaki & Hiren vs Carlos Amano & Chikayo Nagashima is there wasn't anything unusual about it. There was no D-Fix interference. It was a standard match with Nagashima pinning Hiren with a Fisherman Buster at 14:58. So they announced the complete card for the Apr. 12 Differ Ariake show at today's press conference. Of course the main event is Mayumi Ozaki vs Carlos Amano for control of OZ Academy along with the OZ Academy Title. The loser has her head shaved. There's no time limit, no DQ, no countout & falls count anywhere. And they can use weapons. Here's where it gets a little silly. Amano's Carlos Ghosn finisher is banned and outside interference is banned. That doesn't mean anything if there's no DQ. Anything goes. It should be fun because Ozaki is very good at this kind of stuff. Other matches are KAORU, Takako Inoue & heel in training Hiren vs AKINO, Manami Toyota & Ran YuYu. Ran has had to drop out of the JWP league with a back injury so we don't know if she'll be ready. There's also hikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato vs Yoshiko Tamura & Misae

Genki, Aja Kong & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Dynamite Kansai & Tomoka Nakagawa, Devil Masami vs Kana, Leatherface vs Shirigami and GAMI vs Bullfight Sora. Well, I guess they need a
couple of time wasters on the show.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-The Hollies

Artist:The Hollies

Song:Bus Stop

Album:30th Anniversary Collection 1963-1993

The Hollies were one of the top British Invasion bands and Bus Stop was their first big hit in North America. The group started with childhood pals Allan Clarke (born Apr. 5, 1942 in Salford, England) & Graham Nash (born Feb. 2, 1942 in Blackpool, England). They grew up dreaming of stardom and formed a group with bassist Eric Haydock (born Feb. 3, 1943 in Stockport, England). EMI producer Ron Richards signed them in 1963 after seeing them at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. Original guitarist Vic Steele was replaced by Tony Hicks (born Dec. 16, 1945 in Nelson, England). Drummer Don Rathbone was replaced by Bobby Elliott (born Dec. 8, 1942 in Burnley, England). Haydock, Hicks & Elliott played together previously in The Dolphins. The Hollies were a very solid band but not as popular as The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. And they went nowhere in the US until Bus Stop in 1966. Nash, Clarke & Hicks wrote a lot of the songs but Bus Stop was written by legendary songwriter Graham Gouldman. He wrote a lot of great songs of the era and would go on to form 10cc. The Hollies continued to have pop success but Nash was getting restless and left in 1968 to write more serious material. Of course he would be part of Crosby, Stills & Nash. He was replaced by Terry Sylvester of The Swinging Blue Jeans. It looked like The Hollies were fading when they had their biggest hit in 1972 with Long Cool Woman. Clarke had left to go solo but then returned. The Hollies continued to record occasionally over the years. This 3CD box set was released when they returned to EMI in 1993. There are leaner comps available. Hicks & Elliott still tour as The Hollies today. Here's The Hollies performing their classic Bus Stop in 1966.

Ric Flair retires

I don't normally write about the WWE on this blog but Ric "Nature Boy" Flair's Farewell Address on last night's RAW is worthy of notice for a couple of reasons. First, we're talking about Ric Flair, probably the greatest combination of in ring and talking ability in pro wrestling history. A lot of guys can do one or the other but Flair is a rare bird. It was also one of the most memorable RAW segments in several years and even non-wrestling fans should watch it because it's just great TV. Of course I have video footage (in two parts) so you can watch it right here on your favourite blog.

Ric Flair is arguably pro wrestling's greatest of all time. He's become more beloved by fans in recent years. They couldn't even get fans to boo him anymore regardless of what he did. It was first rumoured last summer that he would retire after Wrestlemania 24. And that's what happened when he lost to Shawn Michaels on Sunday. So on last night's RAW, Flair gave his Farewell Address. Thankfully it became a celebration of an all time great. The WWE looked at several Ric Flair highlights during RAW and one of Flair's greatest opponents Dusty Rhodes added his comments. Flair came out at the end of the show to thank the fans. But that was only the beginning.

HHH came out and said that now it was time for the WWE and the fans to thank Ric Flair. First he brought out JJ Dillon, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard & Barry Windham of The Four Horseman. It's difficult to say what type of wrestling career Anderson would have had without Ric Flair. Next out was Dave Batista of Evolution followed by two of Ric Flair's greatest opponents. Ricky Steamboat had his greatest matches against Flair in the NWA in the 80s and Harley Race had some great matches with Flair earlier in the 80s. BTW, Anderson, Windham & Steamboat all have backstage roles in the WWE.

They were followed by Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, former Horseman Dean Malenko (also works for the WWE) and current WWE stars John Cena & Chris Jericho. Next Flair's family came out including his son Reid who is currently a WWE developmental wrestler. And finally Shawn Michaels came out and HHH noted their matching Rolex watches. Michaels gave one to Flair on Sunday. At that point, the entire WWE locker room came out to thank Flair led by Edge, The Big Show, Kane & Dave Finlay. And that was a great scene until the show ended.

After RAW went off the air, The Undertaker came out followed by the McMahon family. For those who are wondering, the WWE is protecting the Undertaker character but he wanted to participate. Of course the only one fans would have liked to see was Sting as he was one of Flair's greatest opponents but he works for TNA so that wasn't going to happen. Both Roddy Piper & Bobby Heenan have had recent health issues and weren't in Orlando. The only guy I would have liked to see out there is Bob "Black Jack Mulligan" Windham. He was in Orlando and is very close to Flair. Flair will continue to work for the WWE probably as a goodwill ambassador. He has admitted in interviews that he doesn't have the patience to be a trainer. He could certainly help guys with promos. He could be a great mouthpiece for a young guy but that's something that's not in vogue today. Ric Flair has given all wrestling fans a lot of great memories but it was time to go. Thank you Ric Flair.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Little Walter

Artist:Little Walter

Song:Blues With A Feeling

Album:His Best

Blues harmonica legend Little Walter was best known for his days with Muddy Waters. He has influenced anyone who has ever played blues harmonica. He was born Marion Walter Jacobs May 1, 1930 in Marksville, LA. He arrived in Chicago in 1946 and along with Jimmy Rogers & Babyface Leroy Foster, became part of Muddy Waters & The Headhunters. This band shook the blues world. By 1950 he was also playing harmonica on plenty of Chess sessions. An instrumental called Juke that was recorded at the end of a Waters session became Little Walter's first hit in 1952. So then he formed his own band called The Aces with guitarists Louis & David Myers and drummer Fred Below. Also, Leonard Chess continued to use him on Waters recordings. Little Walter had 14 Top Ten R & B hits from 1952-58 on the Checker label including Blues With A Feeling. This comp is a perfect intro for beginners. Like a lot of blues artists, Walter's star faded in the 60s and he was a serious alcoholic as well. That combined with a hot temper resulted in a 1968 street fight and he died on Feb. 15, 1968 at age 37. Little Walter was deservedly inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2008. Here's Little Walter with Hound Dog Taylor performing Wild About You Baby in 1967.

Lots of yuks in Pro Wrestling WAVE

It appears at this point that Pro Wrestling WAVE has resigned itself to a mix of silly comedy and idol wrestlers. This is not surprising considering GAMI & Yumi Ohka are behind this promotion but the results are underwhelming. They're drawing a little better but 125 fans at the Mar. 30 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show is still pretty bad on a reasonably quiet weekend. Their big hiring of Moeka Haruhi was just laughable. And Ohka wants to build an idol wrestler army. Uh huh.




The show began with the aforementioned Moeka Haruhi against Toshie Uematsu. Uematsu is training her so she's going to try to make her look good. Clearly she needs a lot of work to be any good. And like a lot of idol wrestlers, she can't throw a punch. But Uematsu tries really hard to get a decent match out of her and after Haruhi misses a missile dropkick, Uematsu uses a dragon suplex and an atomic bomb for the win at 14:48. Next the return of a bad comedy gimmick. A few years ago Kaori Yoneyama used to do this masked Sarubobo (Monkey Baby) gimmick. Lately WAVE has had Bullfight Sora facing various animal characters. A similar program was done in A To Z a few years ago. Sarubobo brings a friend who I think is supposed to be a bear. It's all played for laughs as Sarubobo wins with a cradle at 4:17. I think the bear is next on Sora's dance card.




Next Noriyo Tateno made a rare appearance outside LLPW against GAMI. Of course GAMI trained in LLPW. Tateno won at 9:34 when she reversed the Adios Amiga. GAMI said she plans to bring in more joshi legends to WAVE. This was followed by a mixed match between Kyoko Kimura & Shuji Ishikawa designed to promote the upcoming Hardcore Ladies show. That show's promoter Hirotsugu Suyama was at the show selling tickets. He no sold a lot of Kimura's offense and won with a rocket launcher at 11:09. I understand WAVE is planning to run more matches in April to promote the Hardcore Ladies show.





The main event had WAVE ace Yumi Ohka against Kayoko Haruyama. Ohka has been involved in JWP's current #1 title contender league and Haruyama is the likely favourite. JWP owner Commando Bolshoi was watching from ringside. It was a decent match. They even went outside the ring as Ohka nailed Haruyama with a chair followed by a brain buster. Haruyama came back with a Pedigree on the floor. The end came when Haruyama hit a hanging crucifix and a Bloody X followed by a diving guillotine leg drop for the win at 22:12. I don't think anyone thought Ohka could win but it's good that she can have a lengthy match with someone like Haruyama.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Chris Potter

Artist:Chris Potter

Song:Migrations

Album:Traveling Mercies

Chris Potter is one of today's top jazz sax players. He was born Jan. 1, 1971 in Chicago and grew up in Columbia, SC. His mother taught psychology at the University Of South Carolina. His interest in the saxophone began when he heard Paul Desmond performing Take Five with Dave Brubeck. He started playing locally as a teen and was spotted in 1985 by legendary pianist Marian McPartland. She told his dad that Chris was ready to tour with a band but dad wisely insisted that Chris finish high school. His big break came in 1989 at a local jazz festival. Legendary sax player Red Rodney was asked to play a couple of songs with the local phenom. Red said that normally they just send the kid away after a couple of songs. But he was so impressed with the 18 year old Potter that he asked him to stay for the whole set. So Potter joined Rodney's band when he went to New York. By 1994, Marian McPartland got him a contract with Concord Jazz and Potter has recorded as a leader ever since. Migrations is from the excellent 2002 Verve CD Traveling Mercies and features John Scofield on guitar along with Kevin Hays on piano, Scott Colley on bass and Bill Stewart on drums. Potter suffers from Meniere's Disease which has eroded the hearing in one ear. But he worked through it and continues to lead his own band also played in Dave Holland's group. He currently records for Sunnyside Records and his latest CD Follow The Red Line was released in Oct. 2007. Here's Chris Potter performing with Craig Taborn on electric piano, Adam Rogers on guitar & Nate Smith on drums.