Ran YuYu to get JWP title shot

JWP used their May 18 Cinema Club show to set up the first challenger for Kayoko Haruyama's JWP Open Weight Championship. That's what the main event tag match was all about. It hasn't been announced yet but the likely date for this will be the June 1 show at Taisho Azeria in Osaka. There wasn't anything else notable on this show other than some silliness between Toshie Uematsu & KAZUKI.





The opener had JWP rookie Pinkie Mayuca against debuting Ice Ribbon wrestler Kazumi Shimouna. I guess the idea is to keep Pinkie on a winning streak. It was your basic rookie match and Pinkie won with a diving body press at 8:33. How about a REDRUG reunion? That's right. Commando Bolshoi teamed with GAMI vs Arisa Nakajima & Kana. So the veterans reprised a lot of their REDRUG shtick and the youngsters provided a lot of the action. Nakajima got a lot of her spots in including a double German suplex with Kana. The end came when GAMI used her Greco Roman eye poke to allow Bolshoi to apply a Sensei Hold on Kana for the tap out at 20:40.





Tojuki Leon defeated Kei'to with a captured buster at 12:55. So next was a oone count cosplay match with Toshie Uematsu & KAZUKI. Bolshoi announced last week that Uematsu had asked for KAZUKI to be dressed up as a nurse like she had at a recent dojo show. Before the match, KAZUKI told Uematsu that she had to be in costume too and handed her pom poms. That's right, Toshie Uematsu as a cheerleader. Apparently the rule was that Uematsu had to do a cheer at every break. So KAZUKI took her temperature and used a stethoscope and Uematsu danced until she got serious and won with a Dragon suplex at 5:20.





The main event had Kayoko Haruyama & Tsubasa Kuragaki vs Kaori Yoneyama & Ran YuYu. The concept behind this match is that Ran had to drop out of the #1 contender tournament due to injury and was never defeated. So she wants a title shot and she and Haruyama are eying each other warily. It's standard booking. Naturally they weren't involved in the ending. Yoneyama tries to pin Haruyama twice with Majistral cradles but Haruyama reverses her Hurricanrana attempt and wins with the Keene Hammer at 19:49. As I said, expect Kayoko Haruyama's JWP Open Weight Championship defense to happen at the June 1 Osaka show. I don't expect the title to change hands but it should be a good match.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Boozoo Chavis

Artist:Boozoo Chavis

Song:Keep Your Dress Tail Down

Album:Boozoo Chavis

Zydeco pioneer Wilson Anthony "Boozoo" Chavis would have been a much bigger star if he had chosen to remain in the music business in the 50s. But like a lot of black musicians, he made a strong return in his later years. He was born Oct. 23, 1930 in Lake Charles, LA. He grew up on a farm and taught himself the accordian bought for him by his father and started playing local clubs with Morris Chenier and his sons Clifton & Cleveland. Chavis had the very first Zydeco hit with Paper In My Shoe in 1954. But when the record company told him it only sold 150,000 copies, he had his cousin look into it and discovered that it was a million seller. So he quit the music business and raised championship racehorses for many years. He finally returned to the music business in the 80s with the encouragement of fans like NRBQ pianist Terry Adams. Chavis started touring and playing music festivals and became a star again. Adams produced this 1993 CD on Elektra Nonesuch. Chavis' music isn't as polished as some of the more recent Zydeco groups but it's great music anyway. Zydeco fans should check him out. Boozoo Chavis released CDs on Rounder through the 90s until his death on May 5, 2001 at age 70. Here's Boozoo Chavis performing Johnny Billy Goat in Lafayette, LA circa 1993.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Toots Thielemans

Artist:Toots Thielemans f/Djavan

Song:Obi

Album:The Brasil Project

Jean "Toots" Thielemans popularized the use of the harmonica in jazz. He was born Apr. 29, 1922 in Brussels, Belgium. He first learned the accordion as a teen and started playing the harmonica at age 17. But he first became known in Europe as a Django Rheinhardt influenced guitarist in American GI clubs in Europe. He came to the US and played with Charlie Parker in 1949. For most of the 50s, he played guitar for the George Shearing band. He had his first solo hit with his composition Bluesette in 1961 featuring his harmonica & whistling. He's been in demand ever since and he's still touring today. The Brasil Project was a surprise hit on the Contemporary Jazz Charts in 1992. It features Thielemans playing harmonica with Brazilian artists like Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, Luis Bonfa & Eliane Elias along with Brian Bromberg, Mark Isham & Dave Grusin. Obi was written by and features the fabulous Brazilian singer Djavan. It sold so well that Private Music released a second volume. Toots Thielemans most recent CD One For The Road was released in 2006 by Verve. Here's Toots Thielemans performing Bluesette in Brazil 2007.

Joshi wrestlers on Nikkan Mobile

Here's a video from Nikkan Sports promoting what appears to be a regular column by joshi wrestlers. Kyoko Inoue, Toshie Uematsu, Fuuka & Arisa Nakajima appear in the video. The concept appears to be "four generations of joshi puroresu". It's commentary from wrestlers in various stages of their career. Kyoko started in the 80s. Toshie started in the 90s. And the other two started more recently. I guess Fuuka is a little more established and Nakajima is still a teenager. I'm not exactly sure what the girls are supposed to be doing or how they're supposed to do it. However, it looks like it's going to be on the Nikkan Mobile service so we may not have access to it anyway. Maybe they'll all do a video column. That would be good. I'll keep my eyes on things at Nikkan Sports. In the past, Nikkan has promised more joshi coverage and hasn't come through. Anyway, at least you get to watch the wrestlers speak in this video and I know fans enjoy that. Enjoy the video!

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Inner Circle

Artist:Inner Circle

Song:Bad Boys

Album:Bad Boys

Of course Bad Boys is best known as the theme song of the long running TV series COPS. But Inner Circle has been popular in the Jamaican music scene since the 70s. The group was started in 1968 by brothers Ian (bass) & Roger (guitar) Lewis. Other members were guitarist Steven "Cat" Coore and keyboard players Michael "Ibo" Cooper & Richard Daley. Coore & Cooper left in 1972 to form Third World and Bernard "Touter" Harvey was brought in. They recorded a couple of albums for Trojan but things changed for the better when the great vocalist Jacob Miller joined in 1976. Inner Circle had a lot of success in the late 70s but Miller's death in a car accident on Mar. 23, 1980 devastated the group and they split up. The Lewis brothers and Harvey moved to Miami and opened a recording studio. In 1986, they reformed Inner Circle and brought in singer Carlton Coffie and drummer Lancelot Hill. They originally recorded Bad Boys on their 1987 album One Way. FOX chose the song as the theme for COPS in 1989 and the song was finally released on CD in the US by Atlantic in 1993. It became a top ten hit and Bad Boys won a Best Reggae Album Grammy. The CD also has a David Morales remix of Bad Boys. Then the song was used in the 1995 film Bad Boys. Coffie left Inner Circle after an illness and was replaced by Kris Bentley. Inner Circle continues to tour the world but they haven't recorded lately. Bad Boys has certainly made them financially secure and they are a good band. Here's the video for Bad Boys by Inner Circle.

Carina Damm busted for steroids

Anyone who follows MMA knows that guys getting busted for steroids is nothing new. But today for the first time a female fighter was caught with her hand in the steroid cookie jar. The California State Athletic Commission announced that Brazilian fighter Carina Damm tested positive for Nandrolone following her win over Sophie Bagherdai at the Apr. 3 Fatal Femmes Fighting show in Los Angeles. Her nanogram count was 37.9ng which exceeds the threshhold of 2ng. The CSAC has suspended Damm for one year and fined her $2500. She does have the opportunity to appeal. Damm was scheduled to fight Debi Purcell at the June 27 ShoXC/Strikeforce show in San Jose. Debi says she has been in contact with EliteXC officials and expects to have a new opponent shortly. Because EliteXC signed Damm based on her Apr. 3 performance, I would not be surprised to see them void her contract.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Joe Jackson

Artist:Joe Jackson

Song:Sunday Papers

Album:Look Sharp!

Joe Jackson started out as a new wave singer songwriter similar to Elvis Costello or Graham Parker, but like Costello he has experimented with all kinds of music though a lot of us still like his early music. He was born David Ian Jackson Aug. 11, 1954 in Burton-upon-Trent, England. He suffered from asthma as a child and became interested in music because he couldn't do sports. He was classically trained but became interested in jazz as a teen and started playing piano in pubs. He joined a band called Edward Bear. Because there was already a Canadian group with that name, they changed their name to Arms & Legs but split after a couple of failed singles in 1976. It was at this time that David was nicknamed Joe because of his resemblance to a TV puppet. In 1977, he formed his own band with guitarist Gary Sanford, bassist Graham Maby & drummer Dave Houghton. The idea was to save enough money to record & release his own album. One of his demos got the attention of A & M Records producer David Kershenbaum and Jackson was signed. Look Sharp! was released in Jan. 1979 and though it didn't chart initially, it got enough attention on FM radio to turn Is She Really Going Out With Him into a top 20 hit when it was releleased in May and then the album went gold. Sunday Papers was the follow up single. Of course it's about the British tabloids and has a pretty good ska beat. Look Sharp! was released on CD with two bonus tracks in 2001. So Joe Jackson was now a pop star but would soon grow weary of new wave and started to try other kinds of music. People thought he was nuts when he released the Louis Jordan inspired Jumpin Jive in 1981. He's still trying different things today and his latest Rykodisc CD Rain was released in Jan. and features most of his original band. But Joe Jackson's Look Sharp! still holds up well today. Here's Joe Jackson performing Sunday Papers on The Old Grey Whistle Test 1979.

Ito Dojo visits Nikkan Sports

Ito Dojo visited Nikkan Sports today to promote their May 18 Shin-kiba 1st Ring. Kaoru Ito, Ayako Hamada, Ayako Sato, Hanako Kobayashi & Tomoko Morii all appear in the video clip. They talk a bit about this weekend's show and also talk about the Ayako Hamada 10th Anniversary Show coming on Sept. 7 at Shinagawa Club Ex. Then they go to the playground for a while. The main event for the show is Kaoru Ito & Yumiko Hotta vs Ayako Hamada & Nanae Takahashi. Of course Ayako & Nanae held the WWWA Tag Team Titles a few years ago. Ayako said she's very excited to team with her again. Ito said she's a little leery of Hotta but Hotta said she wants to have an old school AJW style match and Ito's excited about that. Other matches are Ayako Sato vs Manami Toyota, Aki Kanabayashi vs Eiger, Mai Ichii vs Takako Inoue and Hanako Kobayashi vs Tomoko Morii. Enjoy the video!

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Doyle Bramhall

Artist:Doyle Bramhall

Song:(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame

Album:Bird Nest On The Ground

Singer songwriter drummer Doyle Bramhall is a mainstay of the Austin, TX music scene and is known for his days with the Vaughan Brothers. He is also frequently confused with his guitarist son Doyle Bramhall II of the Arc Angels. He was born Feb. 17, 1949 in Dallas. He grew up listening to the blues on the radio. In high school he joined The Chessmen which included Jimmie Vaughan on guitar. They opened for Jimi Hendrix in Dallas in 1970. They moved to Austin and formed Texas Storm. Jimmie's brother Stevie Ray Vaughan joined on bass. Jimmie left to join The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Bramhall & Stevie Ray started The Nightcrawlers. Eventually this led to Stevie Ray Vaughan signing with Columbia and the hit album Texas Flood. Bramhall contributed several songs to the album. He also worked on the Vaughan Brothers 1990 album Family Style. Bramhall played drums for Marcia Ball and played a lot of sessions in the Austin blues scene. He finally signed a recording contract with Antone's and his debut Bird Nest On The Ground was released in 1994. It featured his son Doyle Bramhall II on guitar along with the Vaughan Brothers. It's recommended to those who like the Austin blues rock sound. Doyle Bramhall continues to produce and record other artists like Marcia Ball & Jennifer Warnes. He records occasionally for Yep Roc and his latest CD Is It News was released in Sept. 2007. Here's the video for Change It by Doyle Bramhall featuring Doyle Bramhall II on guitar.

Womens match added to June 26 SHOOTO show

Fans may recall that SHOOTO once owned a womens MMA promotion called G-SHOOTO. The promotion closed at the end of 2006 but SHOOTO has occasionally added women to their usual shows. SHOOTO announced yesterday that they have added a womens match to their June 26 Kitazawa Town Hall show for the first time in 2008. It will be a Strawweight bout between Yasuko Tamada & Kayo Nagayasu. I think Strawweight is between Flyweight & Lightweight. I think it's only in SHOOTO but I could be wrong. They're both veterans. Tamada is 6-4-2 and is on a four bout winning streak. She most recently won over Maho Muranami on the Dec. 26 Smackgirl show. She trains at AACC. Nagayasu is 7-5-1 and most recently lost to Sachiko Yamamoto on the Feb. 24 DEEP show. She trains at Paraestra. The two have fought twice previously. Tamada has a win and there was a draw.





Meanwhile, it seems DEEP has been having some difficulty finding an opponent for DEEP Lightweight Champ MIKU for their June 1 Toyama show. So they've decided to put her in a kick rules match against 16 year old shot boxing super rookie Lena. I guess it's sort of an exhibition match. MIKU does have some experience at kickboxing and Lena has been working at the J-GIRLS kickboxing company. Apparently she is the daughter of former Japanese Super Featherweight Champ Shihiroshi Oikawa and she's been training at J-GIRLS in secret. I guess it's not a secret anymore.

Gina Carano on ESPN's E:60

With her big fight with Kaitlin Young coming up on the May 31 EliteXC show to be aired live on CBS, ESPN featured Gina Carano on last night's edition of E:60. I am posting the video for the benefit of fans who live outside the US. One thing Gina mentioned at yesterday's EliteXC media conference is American Gladiators has really cut into her training but she has told NBC that she isn't making anymore appearances. Of course one of the problems is she weighs about 160lbs in American Gladiators and she has to get down to 140lbs for the big fight. The video includes comments by Gina's parents along with Shayna Baszler and notorious trash talker Tara LaRosa. I believe that underestimating Gina Carano could prove to be a fatal error of her detractors but I also don't believe Kaitlin Young is underestimating her. I can't wait for the fight. Enjoy the video.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Johnny Hodges

Artist:Johnny Hodges w/Duke Ellington Orchestra

Song:Things Ain't What They Used To Be

Album:Passion Flower 1940-46

Alto sax player Johnny Hodges spent most of his career as a main soloist for Duke Ellington and was one of the most respected and influential musicians in jazz history. He really didn't record as a leader much. He was born July 25, 1907 in Cambridge, MA. As a teen, he was taught soprano sax by the legendary Sidney Bechet but soon switched to alto. Early in his career he played with Bechet, Chick Webb & Willie "The Lion" Smith. But Hodges career really began when he joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1928. He quickly became one of Ellington's most important soloists. Ellington usually wrote and arranged material for specific soloists and Hodges was one of his favourites. Hodges remained with Ellington through the 40s and this RCA/Bluebird comp covers that period. Things Ain't What They Used To Be is one of several Ellington tracks featuring Hodges. It also has several tracks from sessions Hodges recorded as a leader for Bluebird in 1940-42. Johnny Hodges left Duke Ellington in 1951 to lead his own band. He recorded for Norman Granz' Norgran label. But he wasn't successful and returned to Ellington just in time for their triumphant 1956 Newport Jazz Festival performance. Hodges remained with Ellington until his death on May 11, 1970 at age 62. Consider this an opportunity to become more familiar with one of the unknown legends of jazz. Here's Johnny Hodges with the Duke Ellington Orchestra performing Things Ain't What They Used To Be in the mid-60s.

Duke Ellington - Things Ain't What They Used To Be
Uploaded by Delta_Mike

EliteXC plans full womens division

Gary Shaw of EliteXC held a media conference call today to promote the May 31 match between Gina Carano & Kaitlin Young that will be broadcast live on CBS. The big news coming out of this is that Shaw announced that he is planning a womens title later this year and intends to stage an all womens show in 2009. Shaw confirmed that the first title would be for 140lbs and may have titles for other weight classes in the future. When asked about Dana White's reluctance to have female fighters in UFC, he said it's good for EliteXC as there are a lot of talented and exciting women fighters that deserve to be showcased.

RIP Penny Banner

Pro wrestling hall of famer Penny Banner died today at age 73 after a long battle with cancer. Penny is considered by many to be the greatest North American female pro wrestler in history. Penny disagreed with that and usually gave props to Mildred Burke and her idol June Byers. One thing is for sure. Penny's many battles with June were one of the most consistent draws of the 1950s. Any promoter that put them on the marquee was guaranteed a full house. That's the story of Penny Banner's career. She always gave fans more than their money's worth. That's the highest compliment any pro wrestler can be given.

Penny Banner was born Mary Ann Kostecki Aug. 11, 1934 in St. Louis. Her stumbling into a pro wrestling career is a well known story. St. Louis wrestling promoter Sam Mutchnick saw something in Mary Ann and sent her to train with legendary womens wrestling promoter Billy Wolfe in 1954. She changed her name when a ring announcer couldn't pronounce Kostecki. Penny had many accomplishments during her 23 year wrestling career. The big one was probably that she was the very first AWA World Womens Champion in 1961, won in a battle royal. She was also very proud of being one half of the Canadian Womens Tag Team Champions with Lorraine Johnson. That happened in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary. Of course she married wrestler Johnny Weaver and moved to Charlotte and they had one daughter Wendi.

Penny retired from pro wrestling in 1977 after 23 years because in her words, there was no one left to wrestle. Her final match was against Susan Green. Penny became a successful real estate agent in Charlotte, a vocation suited to her larger than life personality. She also shared an avid love of horses with Wendi. In recent years, she was very active in the Senior Olympics and traveled across the US to compete. Penny was on the board of directors of the Cauliflower Alley Club and was a fixture greeting fans at the annual CAC convention in Las Vegas. Penny was an advocate in recognizing the pioneers of womens pro wrestling and is in several halls of fame herself. She could also be found online at her Yahoo group responding to fan questions with her trademark grace and humour.

Penny Banner was not very happy with the state of today's womens pro wrestling, especially in the WWE. She was PGWA commissioner. She knew a lot of today's wrestlers and also knew who was good. I told her about SHIMMER and she was happy about that. She was also a big joshi puroresu fan and regretted that she never went to Japan. Hiro Matsuda asked her to go to Tokyo in the early 60s but Wendi was young so the timing wasn't right. But she certainly respected joshi wrestlers and was a big Manami Toyota fan. She would say "They wrestle like I used to." She watched matches if I sent them to her and I know she really enjoyed Mariko Yoshida vs Manami Toyota from ARSION Nov. 2001. She got to meet Yoshida at one of the CAC conventions.

I had the opportunity to spend some time with Penny Banner when she came to Toronto for the world premiere of the documentary Lipstick & Dynamite in 2004. We had dinner together and Penny was exactly what I expected. It was a big deal for me and I'll never forget it. You don't meet a legend every day. I highly recommend Penny's autobiography Banner Days to any womens wrestling fan. It's a very unique story and I'm just glad she wrote it all down because she had to be talked into it. Last I heard, a biopic of Banner Days is still in development at the script stage. Unfortunately, there's very little film footage of Penny Banner available. But I do recommend you check out Dale Barnes' half hour Legends Of Wrestling about Penny Banner. You can get a DVD of that and Banner Days at http://www.bannerdays.com/ Penny Banner was a significant figure in pro wrestling and was respected by her peers and by fans worldwide. We love you and we will miss you. RIP Penny Banner.

Roxxi Laveaux goes bald

Here's video of Sunday's match at TNA Sacrifice concluding with Roxxi Laveaux having her head shaved. This clip ends during the shaving but you can find Part 8 at Daily Motion to see last couple of minutes of the segment. You may have noticed there has been a lot of controversy about this match. Roxxi fans are outraged. And though I understand what TNA is trying to accomplish, it's like everything else they do. It's done in a half assed convoluted manner that defies logic.




TNA was trying to accomplish two things with this match. They were trying to turn the Roxxi character completely babyface. The other thing is they've been having trouble getting fans to boo Angelina Love despite her heelish behaviour. It looks like they succeeded despite idiot fans chanting "Fire Russo". The girls worked very hard during the match and special kudos to Gail & Roxxi's ladder match. But TNA fails to understand that simple is always better and this combination of a battle royal, ladder match & hair match was utterly ridiculous. They don't think. For me, the biggest problem was giving Gail Kim immunity as a five minute throwaway segment on Impact. They shouldn't have done that at all and a ladder match between Angelina & Roxxi would have been OK and more significant because the two are feuding. And if tou've seen the spoilers for this week's Impact, Gail winning meant nothing. So, no problem with the execution by the wrestlers. Big problem with TNA booking. Enjoy the match.

Tna sacrifice 2008 Part 7
Uploaded by WWEdouzeman

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Eddie Henderson

Artist:Eddie Henderson

Song:Involuntary Bliss

Album:Sunburst

Trumpeter Eddie Henderson had some success with his fusion era albums in the 70s. He still performs part time but is a full time psychiatrist. He was born Oct. 26, 1940 in New York City. His mom was a Cotton Club dancer and with her sister were The Brown Twins. At nine years of age, Louis Armstrong gave him an informal trumpet lesson. The family moved to San Francisco and Henderson studied at the San Francisco Conservatory Of Music. Miles Davis was a friend of his parents and Eddie got to jam with him as a teen. Then he went to medical school and graduated from Howard University in 1968. Henderson became known to jazz fans as part of Herbie Hancock's fusion group of the early 70s. Henderson released his first two albums on Phil Walden's Capricorn label, a label better known for Southern rock. The music was very similar to what he was doing with Hancock. He moved to Blue Note in 1975 and Sunburst was his first album there. It's very much in the vein of the jazz rock fusion that was popular at the time. Musicians are George Duke on keyboards, Bennie Maupin on sax, Julian Priester on trombone, Alphonso Johnson on bass and Harvey Mason on drums. Henderson made some more commercial albums on Capitol in the late 70s. His music did well in England but like a lot of jazz musicians, he's not that well known in the US. Meanwhile he was setting up his psychiatry practice in San Francisco and he's been doing both ever since. In the 90s he went to a hard bop style and his latest CD Precious Moment was released in 2005. Eddie Henderson's fusion music of the 70s is worth checking out. Here's Eddie Henderson with sax player Peter King performing All Blues in England Feb. 2008.

Plenty of swerves at OZ Academy Tag Team Tournament

Anyone who thought that things were going to calm down in OZ Academy after Mayumi Ozaki had her head shaved can be assured that nothing has changed. The May 9 Shinjuku FACE show featured the first part of the OZ Academy Tag Team Tournament. The craziness began at the press conference when Aja Kong messed with Dynamite Kansai by announcing Manami Toyota as her partner instead of a youngster as expected. With Kansai's partner Tomoka Nakagawa out with a shoulder injury, who knows what might happen in this tournament. And new OZ principal Carlos Amano hasn't named her partner yet. More on that in a moment.





The opening match was supposed to be Mayumi Ozaki & Hiren vs Dynamite Kansai & Tomoka Nakagawa as part of the tournament. Of course Nakagawa is injured. Ozaki says that she has decided to switch partners with KAORU. Hiren will team with KAORU and Takako Inoue will now team with Ozaki. Kansai is told that she doesn't get a new partner. Uh oh. Looks like a lynching. Police & Mika Nishio join the fun and Nishio brains Kansai with a chair. They all pound with chairs & chains on Kansai until Ozaki finishes her with the Ozakick at 9:16. I guess my only problem with this is they've made Kansai look like a dope lately and this makes it worse. But Amano doesn't have a partner yet and they seem to be making things up as they go along.





Next up was Ran YuYu against the soon to retire Obacchi Iizuka. Ran wins in eight seconds with an cradle. But the match is restarted when Iizuka starts crying. Iizuka gets to do her usual crappy comedy and Ran wins again with a running elbow at 13:07. Next was Devil Masami, Kana & Carlos Amano vs Aja Kong, AKINO & Hiroyo Matsumoto. A lot of great action in this match but things got interesting when they went outside the ring as D-Fix attacked Amano. Aja won over Kana with a backdrop at 23:25. Afterwards, Dynamite Kansai came to the ring and discussed things with Amano. Something's cooking.





Next was Manami Toyota vs Toshie Uematsu. Toyota won with the Japanese Ocean Queen Bee Bomb in 13:21. The final tournament match was KAORU & Hiren vs Chikayo Nagashima & Sonoko Kato. KAORU & Hiren do a pretty good job of using heel tactics to control the match. But mistakes allow Nagashima & Kato to come back. The end comes when KAORU sprays Kato with a green mist. But she gets Kato's knees on the follow up moonsault and Kato wins over KAORU with the Crown's Gate at 21:46. The craziness at OZ Academy will continue on June 7.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Wall Of Voodoo

Artist:Wall Of Voodoo

Song:Call Of The West

Album:Call Of The West

Wall Of Voodoo was a Los Angeles post punk band heavily influenced by the film music of Ennio Morricone. They lucked into some success with the 1983 hit Mexican Radio. The group started in 1977 producing music for films as Acme Soundtrack. Led by singer songwriter Stan Ridgway (born Apr. 5, 1954 in Barstow, CA), they soon got caught up in the punk movement of that time along with their interest in spaghetti westerns and film noir topics for songs. The Skulls guitarist Marc Moreland started jamming with Ridgway and they formed a band. Marc brought in his brother Bruce Moreland to play bass along with Chas Gray on keyboards and Joe Nanini on drums. Wall Of Voodoo self released an EP in 1980 featuring a loopy cover of Ring Of Fire. This earned them a contract with IRS/A & M Records. Bruce Moreland left the group. Gray moved to bass and Bill Noland joined on keyboards. The 1982 album Call Of The West was their biggest success and Mexican Radio reached #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. The video got a lot of airplay on MTV. Just when Wall Of Voodoo was building momentum, primary singer songwriter Stan Ridgway left for a solo career. He has said that there was a lot of drug use within the band. He was replaced by Andy Prieboy but Wall Of Voodoo was through by 1987. Ridgway continues to record and write for films today. He reformed a version of Wall Of Voodoo for one gig in 2006. Joe Nanini died in 2000 and Marc Moreland died in 2002. Wall Of Voodoo was one of the more interesting groups of the early 80s. Here's Wall Of Voodoo performing Call Of The West in 1982.

Mariko Yoshida looking for gaijins

Quite a bit of news from Mariko Yoshida's Ibuki. I'll start with the full card for the Ibuki 3rd Anniversary show May 25 at Korakuen Hall. As I mentioned on my report about the most recent Ibuki show, the whole idea of a 3rd anniversary tournament is somewhat uninspiring. The card needs some sizzle. The matches are Akiko Narikuni (Ice Ribbon) & Mai Ichii vs Sakura Emi & Ayako Sato, Hanako Kobayashi vs Shuu Shibutani in the first tournament semi final, Atsuko Emoto vs Hiroyo Matsumoto in the second tournament semi final, Tojuki Leon & Yoko Yamada vs Cherry & Natsuki*Taiyo, Mariko Yoshida & Kyoko Kimura vs Ray & Misaki Ohata followed by the tournament final. And Tomoka Nakagawa is out indefinitely with a separated shoulder.






Also, Mariko Yoshida announced that she will have her 20th Anniversary show Aug. 31 at Shinjuku FACE. We have a lot of these coming up this year. AKINO, Ranmaru, Ayako Hamada & Hiroyo Muto all have 10th anniversary shows coming and NEO announced that Kyoko Inoue's 20th Anniversary show will be on Oct. 10. I'm still waiting for Takako Inoue to announce her 20th anniversary show which I assume will be produced by the Ito Gym as will Ayako's 10th anniversary show. And don't forget Devil Masami is retiring this fall.





Mariko Yoshida has announced on the Ibuki MySpace http://www.myspace.com/ibukipro that she is looking for female pro wrestlers worldwide that want to train with her. This is a tremendous opportunity for women in North America and elsewhere to be trained by a world renowned 20 year veteran of joshi puroresu. A few years back, Cheerleader Melissa and then Sara Del Rey went to Japan to train with Yoshida. They can tell you what she did for them. They are asking prospective applicants to fill out an application form that you can find on the MySpace page and they also want a highlights video. So they're not looking for beginners but they are looking for wrestlers who want to take their training to the next level. You can't get Yoshida style training for women wrestlers anywhere else. Successful applicants will work for other joshi companies as well. All the info is on the Ibuki MySpace page so be sure to check it out.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-The Eternals

Artist:The Eternals

Song:Babalu's Wedding Day

Album:The Doo Wop Box II

Here's another obscure doo wop classic courtesy of Rhino's 4CD box set The Doo Wop Box II. The Eternals already had a hit with Rockin' In The Jungle and this song was the victim of legal wrangling. The Eternals were a standard doo wop group formed in the Freeman Street neighbourhood of The Bronx. There were black groups and white groups. These guys were Puerto Rican. Lead singer Charlie Gerona, first tenor Fred Hodge, second tenor Ernie Sierra, baritone Arnie Torres & bass Alex Miranda started out in junior high as The Gleaners. Gerona started writing Coasters influenced novelty songs. They started calling themselves The Orbits and Christmas In The Jungle got some airplay on local New York radio. DJ Cousin Brucie Morrow got his pal Bill Martin to manage them and he took them to veteran A & R man Morty Craft to record on his Melba label. The song became Rockin' In The Jungle and they were now The Eternals. Craft released the song on his new Hollywood label and it was a big hit in New York and got some national attention in 1959. Babalu's Wedding Day was the follow up but legal problems between Martin and Morrow prevented wider distribution of the song. Babalu's Wedding Day was kept alive by becoming a jingle for WABC DJ Bruce Lewis. George Villenueva was brought in as new lead singer and The Eternals attempted to recover in 1961 but legal issues killed them again and they split up in 1962. Of course they reformed in 1972 and have been touring the oldies circuit ever since. Here's The Eternals performing Babalu's Wedding Day on a recent PBS doo wop special.

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MAHEKEN producing joshi show

MAHEKEN announced on Friday plans to produce an all joshi show on June 1 at Shin-kiba 1st Ring. I think it's the first time MAHEKEN owner Tomo Hashimoto is doing this but we are seeing this with a couple of the men's companies that employ joshi wrestlers. Both Union & K-Dojo recently produced similar shows. I guess there's some concern that the girls will leave if they aren't thrown a bone. The Shirai Sisters have a bit of a cult following now mainly because they're young and cute but it's difficult for them to go to other promotions and get anywhere other than the lower midcard. I like them because they're willing to be heels and that's something most idol wrestlers are unwilling or incapable of doing. They have potential. So it is a good idea for Hashimoto to showcase them in a MAHEKEN joshi show and perhaps they will be elevated at some point.





Unlike the very weird show that Union produced for Cherry last week, it appears MAHEKEN is going for a more serious tone. Aja Kong, KAORU, Commando Bolshoi & Toshie Uematsu have all been announced as appearing on this show. They've announced some matches with more to be announced at a later date. Aja Kong will face Mika Mizunuma, KAORU will face Hiroyo Matsumoto, Commando Bolshoi will face Io Shirai and Mio Shirai will face an opponent to be announced. Toshie Uematsu, Kana and gaijin Hailey Hatred will also be appearing. She has previously worked for MAHEKEN. It appears to be a veteran vs youngster show and Matsumoto said she is looking forward to facing Kaoru and plans to win.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Kenny Garrett

Artist:Kenny Garrett

Song:Pressing The Issue

Album:Triology

Kenny Garrett is one of today's top jazz sax players. Of course he's heavily influenced by John Coltrane and he served an apprenticeship with Miles Davis. He was born Oct. 9, 1960 in Detroit. His carpenter father played sax in his spare time and taught Kenny the sax at an early age. While in high school, he studied with trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and started performing in the Duke Ellington Orchestra under the direction of Mercer Ellington. He decided to skip college and went on the road with them. He moved to New York in 1982 and now lives in New Jersey. He recorded as a sideman in the 80s but his big break came with the Miles Davis band of that era and he toured with Miles for most of the 80s. Kenny Garrett has recorded for Warner Bros. since 1992. Triology is a 1995 album with either Kiyoshi Kitagawa or Charnett Moffett on bass and Brian Blade on drums. Garrett said he wanted to explore trio formats at the time. He writes some of his own songs but Pressing The Issue was written by pianist Mulgrew Miller when he was in Woody Shaw's band in the 70s. Garrett's latest CD Beyond The Wall was released in Aug. 2006. Jazz fans should check him out. Here's Kenny Garrett performing Left Alone with Junko Onishi, Chris Thomas & Brian Blade in the Blue Note in Tokyo Oct. 22, 1991.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Elisabeth Withers

Artist:Elisabeth Withers

Song:Be With You

Album:It Can Happen To Anyone

One of the trends we're seeing in R & B is young singers gaining experience on Broadway and then getting the attention of record companies. That's where the fabulous Heather Headley came from. This is also true of Elisabeth Withers. She was born in Joliet, IL and left home with a scholarship to study music at Berklee School Of Music in Boston. After graduating, she moved to New York and earned a masters degree at NYU in 2000. She worked as a backup singer and started hanging around New York clubs. In 2003, she recorded some dance singles under the name Elie Patrice. These got the attention of Nick Ashford (Ashford & Simpson) and he told her to audition for the Broadway musical The Color Purple. Elisabeth won a Tony Award for her performance as Shug Avery. Afterwards, she started singing in clubs with her drummer husband Damon Mendes. She was spotted by Blue Note Records head Bruce Lundvall and he signed her on the spot. Elisabeth has a great voice comparable to Anita Baker and writes a lot of her own songs on her 2006 debut CD It Can Happen To Anyone with German producer Toby Gad. Gad got his start in the 80s with producer Frank Farian (Boney M). In recent years, he seems to specialize in teenage female vocalists like Kaci Brown, Keke Palmer and yes...Hannah Montana. But he produced Elisabeth Withers in a more mature R & B style and the album did well on the R & B charts. Keep your eyes open for more from the very talented Elisabeth Withers. Here's the video for Be With You by Elisabeth Withers.

Shinashi's opponent announced for May 19 DEEP show

I guess it was about a month ago that it came to my attention that DEEP Flyweight Champ Satoko Shinashi will appear on the May 19 Korakuen Hall show. DEEP held a press conference Thursday to announce that Shinashi's opponent will be pro wrestler Mai Ichii. Of course Shinashi is one of the tiniest and best fighters in Japan. Her record is 28-1-2 and she most recently won that mini tournament on the Feb. 24 DEEP show. Ichii is a pro wrestler who works for the Kaoru Ito Professional Wrestling Classroom. She has one MMA bout. It was a loss to Emi Fujino on the Nov. 29, 2006 Smackgirl show. I guess the big thing is Ichii has a 10kg weight advantage. When asked about the weight difference, Shinashi said she's thrown much bigger girls over her shoulder. She said she would rather fight within her weight class but is not concerned. The two were joking around during the press conference. Ichii said something about world domination. Uh, I don't think so.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-The Marcels

Artist:The Marcels

Song:Blue Moon

Album:The Doo Wop Box

This doo wop cover of the Richard Rodgers/Moss Hart chestnut Blue Moon topped the charts in 1961 and was The Marcels' only memorable song. The group was from Pittsburgh with lead singer Cornelius Harp along with Richard F. Knauss, Fred Johnson, Gene Bricker and Ron Mundy. The group was named after Harp's hairstyle. They sent out demos and one of them landed in the hands of Colpix Records producer Stu Phillips. He brought them to New York and Blue Moon was the only song he liked. So The Marcels took the intro from The Cadillacs hit Zoom and Blue Moon was a huge international hit. The Marcels appeared in the Chubby Checker film Twist Around The Clock and cut an album for Colpix. Allen Johnson & Walt Maddox replaced Knauss & Bricker making them an all black group. Their follow up Heartaches hit the top ten in 1961 but that was all for The Marcels. Of course Rhino's 4CD Doo Wop Box is the best place to get all the doo wop classics. Harp & Allen Johnson left in 1962 and they faded away. The Marcels reunited in 1973 and a version of the group has toured the oldies circuit over the years. Walt Maddox currently owns the rights to The Marcels and the group reformed for the PBS special Doo Wop 50. And here is The Marcels performing Blue Moon on Doo Wop 50.

Mommy Kyoko wins NEO titles

Golden Week ended with the big May 5 NEO show at Korakuen Hall with an announced attendance of 1200. Of course the main event had Haruka Matsuo defending the NEO Singles & NWA Pacific Titles against Kyoko Inoue. It turned out as expected. The rest of the show was the usual mix of silly comedy and some decent matches NEO could have done more with.





The show began with Nanae Takahashi vs Kana. Obviously NEO president Koda's motivation was to have Takahashi make her return in NEO. Too bad Fuuka Matsuri jumped the gun. The match began as a slugfest and then Takahashi gained control with an armbar followed by a reverse half Boston crab. Takahashi won with a lariat at 12:26. She told the crowd afterwards she hopes to work more for NEO in the future. She hasn't announced specific plans yet. Next up was Toshie Uematsu vs Mariko Yoshida. Considering that these two had never faced each other before, why did NEO treat it like a throwaway match? There was nothing unusual about the match and Yoshida won with the Air Raid Crash at 10:30.





Next was Fuuka, Riho from Ice Ribbon & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Sakura Emi, Makoto & Misaki Ohata. Fuuka, Riho & Sakura Emi wore schoolgirl uniforms but Emi wrestled in hers. Obviously the match was light comedy and Riho pinned Emi at 12:58. Why is she doing the job? Well, she wants to put over an Ice Ribbon wrestler. Next was an Iron Woman match Kyoko Kimura, Atsuko Emoto, Tomoka Nakagawa & Vanessa The Mountain vs Yoshiko Tamura, Misae Genki, Etsuko Mita & Aya Yuki. Most falls in 30 minutes with overtime if they're tied. Kimura starts bleeding from her light tubes match yesterday. Vanessa won the first fall with a super power bomb on Genki at 17:30. Yuki ties it up over Vanessa at 24:48 when Mita nails Vanessa with a series of chair shots. It goes into overtime and after a one minute rest period, Emoto wins over Yuki with a lariat at 32:21. Nakagawa is nursing a shoulder injury suffered on Saturday's Ibuki show. Yoshida says Nakagawa will take some time off.





Not surprisingly, Tanny Mouse & Yuki Miyazaki defended the NEO Tag Team Titles over Cherry & Shuu Shibutani when Tanny used a muscle buster on Cherry at 18:43. Afterwards, Atsuko Emoto & Kyoko Kimura demanded a title shot and got it on the May 6 Itabashi show. That's a match worthy of a larger show. The title match between Haruka Matsuo & Kyoko Inoue went as expected. Kyoko controlled the match. Matsuo got in some offense like a plancha from the top rop to the floor. But Kyoko hit a lariat and a power bomb followed by the Niagara Driver to win at 15:23. So Kyoko Inoue is the new NEO Singles & NWA Pacific Champion. I don't believe Kyoko is being selfish though she has been selfish in the past. Koda's booking of Matsuo as champ was some of the worst booking I've seen in years. I could list the mistakes but there were too many. So the result was inevitable and the show itself doesn't look like my cup of tea.

Debi Purcell signs with EliteXC

Debi Purcell has announced on her website Fightergirls that she has signed a three fight deal with EliteXC. The first fight will be June 27 against Brazilian Carina Damm. Debi's record is 4-1. Her most recent fight was a loss to Hitomi Akano on the Feb. 15, 2006 Smackgirl show. But she hasn't been sitting around. She's very active training fighters at her dojo in California. She's been trying to work out a deal with EliteXC for a while now so this is a big deal. Carina Damm's record is 9-3. Her recent win over Sophie Bagherdai on the Apr. 3 Fatal Femmes Fighting show earned her a contract with Elite XC. Her most recent win was over Lashonda Knox on the May 3 Freestyle Combat Challenge show in Racine, WI. The fight will be at 130lbs so Debi will have to drop some weight and Carina will have to add some weight. Congratulations to Debi Purcell on getting that big deal.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Kem

Artist:Kem

Song:Cherish This Moment

Album:Kemistry

Kem Owens is a young R & B singer songwriter who has gotten off to a strong start in his musical career. He was born in Nashville and grew up in Detroit. Apparently he had addiction issues after graduating high school and wound up homeless and isolated from his family. Kem has said that his singing career didn't begin to take off until he connected with his spirituality and that's why he now ministers to people on stage. Kemistry was his debut CD and he wrote & produced it himself. He financed it and self released it by singing in a wedding band and waiting tables. Motown Records signed him and rereleased Kemistry in 2002. It did very well on the R & B charts and the adult oriented music charts. His second CD Album II was released in 2005 and did even better and reached #1 on the Urban Adult charts. I haven't seen any news of his next CD but Kem has a five album deal with Motown and he is out touring so I expect we'll hear more from him in the future. Here's the video for Love Calls by Kem.

Love Calls - Kem (Live)

Joshi wrestlers go hardcore

Joshi puroresu TV commentator and journalist Hirotsugu Suyama presented Hardcore Ladies 2008 on May 4 at the Kitsura Studio. I'm not a big fan of hardcore matches. As anyone who watches Big Japan can tell you, some wrestlers aren't very good at those kind of matches. But those who are good at it can be very entertaining. So I don't mind a show like this once in a while and with Kyoko Kimura & Mayumi Ozaki headlining, it's likely to be a lot of fun.





The opener was a standard tag team match with wrestlers from Ibuki. It was Mariko Yoshida & Ray vs Hitoyo Matsumoto & Misaki Ohata and her new hairdo. The match began with a test of strength between Yoshida & Ohata. Ray tags in and chokes Ohata with her foot in the corner. Yoshida tags in and continues this. Matsumoto tags in and gets a suplex on Yoshida followed by an Argentinian backbreaker. Ray does her flying with a moonsault press on Ohata followed by a missile dropkick. Yoshida get the win over Ohata with a vertical suplex followed by the Air Raid Crash. Next is a table match with Misae Genki vs AKINO. Genki is another wrestler experienced at this kind of match. Most of the spots have the two smashing each other into a table or hitting each other with a table. But Genki power bombs AKINO from the top rope and finishes her with a G-Driver through a table.






When Suyama first announced the barbed wire board match, it was supposed to be Mayumi Ozaki vs Arisa Nakajima. Then he decided to turn it into a tag match. He added Chikayo Nagashima as Nakajima's partner and then made Bambi as Ozaki's partner. I have to admit Nakajima looked very cute even for a match where she was obviously going to get her ass kicked. Ozaki & Bambi didn't waste any time hit a spike piledriver into a table on Nakajima. Then Ozaki nailed her with a chain followed by a chain choke. Next was a barbed wire face wash and Nakajima was busted open. Nakajima came back against Bambi but Ozaki hit her with a chair and choked her with a belt. Nagashima tries to come back but also winds up with a chain around her throat. Nakajima gets tossed out of the ring and is attacked with a chair. Finally Nakashima beats up Bambi for a while including a trip to the barbed wire. Just when it looks like she's getting over on Bambi, Nakashima gets hit with a chain and Ozaki tags in and then Nakajima attempts and misses a missile dropkick. That sets up the finish and Ozaki's power bomb onto a barbed wire board finishes Nakajima





Next was a ladder match with Yuu Yamagata & Apple Mayuki vs KAORU & Caribbean RUM. What's at the top of the ladder? A bottle of Dom Perignon champagne. Like with the table match, there are standard sposts in a ladder match like using it as a weapon, tipping the ladder while someone is on it. Miyuki is on the top of the ladder and gets knocked down by RUM while reaching for the bag. Yamagata & KAORU battle at the top of the ladder. KAORU knocks her off but can't get the bag. The end comes on a scaffold. Miyuki throws RUM off the scaffold and after Yamagata hits a suicide dive on RUM & KAORU, Miyuki gets the champagne and they drink it while on the scaffold.





The main event was Kyoko Kimura vs Yuko Miyamoto in a Fluourescent Death Tube match. The two begin by exchanging hammerlocks. Yuk yuk. But Miyamoto get Kimura on the floor and hits her with a light tube. Back in the ring, he grinds a broken light tube into Kimura's forehead and busts her open. Well, what did you expect? He continues to punish her but Kimura fights for a light tube and gets the advantage and busts him open with a light tube. It goes back and forth until Miyamoto finishes Kimura with a moonsault onto light tubes for the win. I know there are fans who get very squeamish about these kind of matches but this show looks like it was a lot of fun.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Ray Charles

Artist:Ray Charles

Song:You Don't Know Me

Album:The Complete Country & Western Recordings 1959-1986

Of course Ray Charles was one of the most influential black musicians of the 50s with a string of hits on Atlantic Records. Ray left Atlantic for ABC-Paramount Records in 1960 to get more creative control over his music. His initial ABC-Paramount releases like Georgia On My Mind & Hit The Road Jack were slightly more polished and still successful R & B recordings not much different from his Atlantic recordings. But when Charles announced that he was planning an album of country music, people thought he was crazy. But Charles performed the songs with all the emotion and intensity of his R & B recordings. He also hired noted jazz musician Gerald Wilson to do the arrangements and Marty Paich arranged the strings & backup vocals. The result was the groundbreaking 1962 album Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music. I Can't Stop Loving You was #1 on the pop singles chart. You Don't Know Me was the follow up and reached #2. The song was written and originally recorded by country music legend Eddy Arnold in 1955 and charted for pop singer Jerry Vale in 1956. But Charles delivers a superior vocal performance and his version of the song is the best. This Rhino 4CD box set not only covers Charles' ABC-Paramount recordings but includes his later visits to country music. The album Modern Sounds In Country & Western Music is available on CD with bonus tracks. These recordings were influential as it encouraged other soul singers like Solomon Burke to interpret country music as well. Here's Ray Charles performing You Don't Know Me in Sao Paulo, Brazil 1963. The audio is a bit loud.

Fuuka turns the tables on Yumiko Hotta

The fourth Fuuka Matsuri was held on May 4 at Shin-kiba 1st Ring in front of 360 fans. Obviously with Fuuka, there's more to this show than wrestling matches. Fuuka is more personality than wrestler so fans want to see her sing with her group Panic Power with the Shirai sisters & RICA, she opened the show with a dance number and in honour of Children's Day, Fuuka gave a karate demonstration in the ring with some kids.





The big news at this show was Nanae Takahashi's return to the ring teaming with Fuuka against Yumiko Hotta & Haruka Matsuo. Remember when Hotta owned A To Z and drove fans nuts with her selfish booking running roughshod over everyone? If you've checked LLPW lately, she's still being booked that way. But a very strange thing happened in this match. Takahashi & Matsuo began with some fast paced action with Matsuo taking Takahashi down with flying head scissors. These two have worked together well in the past. Fuuka tagged in and after a double team kick off the ropes, Fuuka kneed Matsuo. Fuuka was wearing a new black costume. Takahashi hung Matsuo in the ropes and Fuuka hit a 619. Takahashi gets Matsuo in a camel clutch and Fuuka kicks her followed by a flying mare and more kicks.





Hotta tags in and nails Fuuka with elbows and kicks while Matsuo has Fuuka in a camel clutch. Fuuka & Takahashi attempt a double team but Hotta eludes them and hits a double face crusher. They all go outside the ring. While Matsuo hits Takahashi with a plancha, mean ol' Hotta grabs a chain and strangles Fuuka. This continues in the ring while Matsuo distracts the ref. Then Matsuo hits a suplex and Fuuka gets hung in the tree of woe and Hotta kicks her repeatedly. Hotta follows this with a reverse piledriver and a boston crab. It's looking grim for Fuuka. But Takahashi turns things around with two missile dropkicks on Matsuo. Then she exchanges blows with Hotta followed by a double team on Hotta.





Takahashi misses a splash in the corner but hits Hotta with an insiguri. But Matsuo hits two missile dropkicks. A kick from Fuuka stuns Matsuo in the corner. Takahashi hits an avalanche style brain buster and then a Fuuka flying body press. Matsuo blocks Fuuka's F-Crash but Fuuka gets a cross arm breaker. Fuuka hits a missile dropkick followed by the F-Crash for two. Matsuo comes back with a missile dropkick and a frog splash for two. Fuuka hits Hotta with a mule kick followed by a Takahashi lariat and an F-Doll. Fuuka hits a high kick and then Takahashi uses Fuuka as a vaulting horse to deliver a shining wizard. Fuuka rolls up Hotta for the win at 23:44.





So did Hotta run roughshod and beat up Fuuka after the match? Nope. She admitted defeat and raised Fuuka's hand in victory. So did hell freeze over? Has Hotta mellowed in her old age? Well, it is Fuuka's show so you can't have her lose no matter who the opponent is. And I'm sure Hotta's former A To Z partner Hiroshi Ogawa was very convincing in getting her to do this. Fuuka said afterwards it was a tough match and she couldn't breath when she had the chain around her throat. Other matches on the show were Tanny Mouse & Yuki Miyazaki over Io & Mio Shirai at 12:02 when Miyazaki used a moonsault on Mio. Daichi Kakimoto (Fuuka's brother) defeated Chou-un Shiryu with a German suplex at 13:02 and Tsubasa Kuragaki defeated FUUKA Kidd with a POK Counter at 10:05. Fuuka is off to Mexico in a couple of weeks for the Ultimo Dragon show. The next Fuuka Matsuri show will be in August in Fuuka's hometown of Nara.

Ibuki in Osaka

Ibuki has announced a tournament for their third anniversary show at Korakuen Hall on May 25. It's a bit of a head scratcher because it's not like Ibuki has a title belt or any other sort of prize. It's almost like Mariko Yoshida couldn't think of anything else to do on the anniversary show. Misaki Ohata, Hanako Kobayashi, Shuu Shibutani, Tomoka Nakagawa, Hiroyo Matsumoto, Ray & Atsuko Emoto are the participants. The quarter finals were on the May 3 show at the Delfin Arena in Osaka. Emoto got a bye to the semi finals.





The opener was a tournament quarter final match between Misaki Ohata and Hanako Kobayshi of Ito Dojo. Ohata is now a blonde. Kobayashi controlled the match and won with a fisherman buster at 7:35. Next up was Tojuki Leon vs Yoko Yamada. This was not a tournament match. Yamada is still pretty green and tried to attack Leon with kicks but Leon had no trouble with her and won with the Mad Splash at 7:25. Next up was a tag match to break up the tournament. Atsuko Emoto & Kyoko Kimura vs Mariko Yoshida & Io Shirai. Yoshida got her licks in but Emoto & Kimura teamed up on Io and while Kimura distracted Yoshida outside the ring, Emoto won over Io with a Texas Cloverleaf at 15:58.





The show ended with the next two tournament matches. Shuu Shibutani won over Tomoka Nakagawa with an ankle lock at 7:48 and Hiroyo Matsumoto defeated Ray with a backdrop at 10:47. So the semi finals for the Ibuki third anniversary tournament are Hanako Kobayashi vs Shuu Shibutani and Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Atsuko Emoto. Emoto is the obvious favourite but I wouldn't be surprised to see Matsumoto win the tournament.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Brenda Holloway

Artist:Brenda Holloway

Song:You Can Cry On My Shoulder

Album:20th Century Masters:The Millenium Collection:The Best Of Brenda Holloway

Brenda Holloway had the talent and potential to be one of Motown's biggest stars. But conflict with the company and her faith led her to premature retirement. She was born June 21, 1946 in Atascadero, CA and grew up in the Watts section of Los Angeles. She grew up singing in church with her sister Patrice and sang professionally as a teen in LA. Her big break came when she performed My Guy at a 1964 DJ convention in LA. Motown owner Berry Gordy was there and signed her immediately. Her debut single Every Little Bit Hurts was a smash and reached #12 on the pop singles charts in 1964. Part of Brenda's problem is she lived in Los Angeles and had to travel to Detroit to record. There were follow up singles in 1965 like You Can Cry On My Shoulder but her second album was scrapped. Brenda felt that she was getting second rate material because she lived in LA and started writing her own songs. She didn't have a hit with her 1968 song You've Made Me So Very Happy but Blood Sweat & Tears turned it into a smash in 1969. A second Brenda Holloway album was finally released in 1968 but she immediately announced her retirement and married a minister. She believed the music business conflicted with her Christian beliefs. Brenda Holloway's music continued to be popular in Britain's Northern Soul scene. She recorded a gospel album in 1980 and returned to secular music in the 90s with her 1999 CD It's A Woman's World on Volt Records. She still performs locally in LA. This budget comp is worth checking out. Here's Brenda Holloway performing You Can Cry On My Shoulder on Hullaballoo in 1965.

Chick Fights SUN is still around...sort of

Fans have been asking since the beginning of the year of any activities at Chick Fights SUN. Other than the one show in March, Saki Maemura & Hikaru have been working pointless matches on ZERO-ONE MAX shows. Of course Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki*Taiyo have left SUN and are working freelance. I've been monitoring the SUN website and it has finally been updated. It's not very encouraging. They have deleted all references to Nanae Takahashi & Natsuki*Taiyo including their blogs and any history of the promotion. They announced that Hikaru will host some sort of talk show on May 3 before her match with Maemura on the May 4 ZERO-ONE MAX show in Nagoya. I expect this to continue and don't anticipate any further SUN stand alone shows. Why keep the two around? Obviously they're still under contract and the First On Stage office handles their booking. So yes, FOS is now allowing Hikaru & Maemura to work for other joshi companies but FOS still gets a cut of all of their bookings. Touching, isn't it? Don't know when the contracts end.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas

Artist:Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas

Song:Outside People

Album:Zydeco:The Essential Collection

This Rounder various artists comp is an excellent introduction to the wonderful sound of Louisiana Zydeco music. He's not on this CD but Clifton Chenier was THE pioneer of zydeco. Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas are firmly set in Chenier's tradition. Nathan Williams was born Mar. 24, 1963 in St. Martinville, LA. His father died when he was seven and Nathan grew up admiring his uncle Harry Hypolite. He played guitar for zydeco legend Clifton Chenier. Nathan moved to Lafayette to live with his brother Sid and started practicing the accordion. He got the attention of Buckwheat Zydeco leader Stanley Dural and when Buckwheat Zydeco left Rounder Records for Island, Dural recommended Williams and Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas have been recording for Rounder since 1989. Outside People is from the 1991 CD Your Mama Don't Know. His most recent CD Hang It High, Hang It Low was released in 2006. This various artists comp features Boozoo Chavis, Buckwheat Zydeco and several other great groups and is worth checking out if you want to know more about zydeco. Here's Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas performing at Harrahs Casino in New Orleans May 3, 2008. Yeah, last night. I love Youtube.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Buddy Guy

Artist:Buddy Guy

Song:First Time I Met The Blues

Album:The Complete Chess Studio Recordings

Today George "Buddy" Guy is hailed as one of the all time great blues guitarists. But there was a time when he had trouble getting his recordings released. This 2CD comp covers that period. He was born July 30, 1936 in Lettsworth, LA. He started out in Baton Rouge clubs and moved to Chicago in 1957. He first recorded for Cobra Records in 1958 but when they went broke, he went over to Chess. Leonard Chess used him mostly on sessions and didn't like Guy's recordings. He thought they were noise. First Time I Met The Blues was his first Chess single in 1960. So the music on this comp is outstanding but a lot of it was never released at the time. Guy continued to play on sessions for Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Koko Taylor and others until he left Chess for Vanguard in 1967. When rockers like Eric Clapton started touting Guy as a favourite, Chess started releasing his music after he left the label. Through the 70s, Guy toured and recorded with harmonica player Junior Wells. He didn't record much until the 90s when he signed with Silvertone Records. Now you see his high energy guitar licks everywhere. His most recent CD was 2005's Bring 'em In on Jive Records and he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2005. This comp is recommended to his fans. Here's Buddy Guy performing First Time I Met The Blues in the 1970 film Chicago Blues.

Kayoko Haruyama is the new JWP Open Weight Champion

JWP had their MANIA-X show on Apr. 29 at Korakuen Hall in front of 964 fans. That's not too bad. The main event had Azumi Hyuga defending her JWP Open Weight Championship against Kayoko Haruyama. In her ten year career with JWP, Haruyama has never been the top dog. Normally I wouldn't pick her over Hyuga because Hyuga is a better wrestler. But Hyuga has been having serious problems with her left knee and is likely going to require surgery. One other note. Sachie Abe had eye surgery a couple of weeks ago and is resting at home. I haven't seen an indication of how long she'll be out. A few months perhaps.





The opener had JWP rookie Pinkie Mayuca vs Mio Shirai of Maheken. Pinkie? Yeah, they've given Mayuca Niizeki a new name and dressed her in a sailor costume. Maybe it's a Sailor Moon tribute. I don't know. Mayuca got Mio in a camel clutch. Mio controlled most of the match but Mayuca reversed a sunset flip into a backslide for her first singles win at 9:37. Next up was Tyrannosaurus Okuda & Ryo Mizunami vs Arisa Nakajima & Kana. Nakajima wore a new costume. It went back and forth as one would expect with equally ranked juniors. Mizunami & Nakajima began with an elbow battle. Okuda tagged in and applied an ankle lock. Kana tagged in and hit a dropkick and a couple of Jaguar style butt bumps. Mizunami tagged in and took over on Kana. Nakajima & Kana hit a double dropkick. Nakajima attempts a cross body from the top rope but Mizunami catches her and hits a power slam and the pin is broken up by Kana. After a guillotine leg drop, Okuda tags in and Nakajima hits a top rope plancha to the floor. This is followed by a missile dropkick and a Northern Lights suplex for two followed by a German suplex for two. Mizunami comes in to turn the tide and Okuda wins over Nakajima with a German suplex at 12:30.





Next up was an eight woman match with Jaguar Yokota, Manami Toyota, Fuuka & Yumi Ohka vs KAZUKI, Megumi Yabushita, Kei'to & Sonoko Kato. Generally speaking, this kind of match is too cluttered. It starts out calmly enough with Fuuka's monkey flip on Yabushita, Kato's face buster on Ohka and Toyota's moonsault on Kato. But the end is too chaotic until Toyota hits the Queen Bee Bomb on KAZUKI for the win at 20:30. Kaori Yoneyama defeated Atsuko Emoto with a US-ZOU at 12:05. This appears to be a variation on a sunset flip. Then another cluttered tag match with Tsubasa Kuragaki, Bolshoi Kid & Tojuki Leon vs Devil Masami, Toshie Uematsu & Ran YuYu. Because of her upcoming retirement, Devil is the focus here. But the end comes when Kuragaki hits a splash mountain followed by a lariat on Uematsu for the win at 11:43.





Now it's time for Azumi Hyuga to defend her JWP Open Weight Championship against Kayoko Haruyama. Hyuga starts with a running knee to the face but Haruyama comes back with a high kick. Hyuga hits a German suplex followed by a kick and a running knee to the corner. But when she attempts to take Haruyama to the top rope for a superplex, she gets her knee caught in the ropes. Hyuga gets loose and hits a plancha to the floor followed by a missile dropkick. But Haruyama trips up Hyuga and follows with a leg lariat. A missed move sends Hyuga to the floor and Haruyama hits a suicide dive. She nails Hyuga with a chair. Back in the ring, Haruyama gets a dragon sleeper but misses a knee drop from the top rope. Hyuga hits a German suplex for two. She goes to the top but Haruyama catches her and hits a superplex for two. Haruyama follows with a guillotine leg drop from the top rope. Hyuga gets a dragon sleeper but Haruyama goes to the top and Hyuga hits a power bomb from there for two. This is followed by running knees to the back of the head. Both wrestlers are very tired and Hyuga is favouring her knee. Hyuga hits her Michinoku Driver II finisher for two followed by a German suplex from the top rope. Hyuga misses a footstamp from the top rope and Haruyama comes back with a lariat followed by a leg drop on Hyuga's knee. Haruyama hits another top rope move but can't follow up. They exchange moves but Haruyama hits the Keene Hammer for the win at 23:51. Kayoko Haruyama is the JWP Open Weight Champion for the very first time. I've never thought of her as a main event wrestler. We'll see how she does. Azumi Hyuga is having arthoscopic knee surgery to determine what needs to be done. We don't know how long she'll be out but she usually handles the booking during her time off. She's a great performer so let's wish her a speedy recovery.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-The Band

Artist:The Band

Song:Time To Kill

Album:Stage Fright

When The Band became one of the most popular rock bands of the late 60s, they seemed to come out of nowhere. But they had actually been working together for several years as a backing band. The group started as a backing band for singer Ronnie Hawkins. Hawkins moved from Arkansas to Toronto in 1958 and brought drummer Levon Helm (born May 26, 1940 in Marvell, AR) with him. Hawkins started looking for local musicians and asked keyboard player Scott Cushine to join up. He did so on the condition that his pal Robbie Robertson (born July 5, 1943 in Toronto) join too. Bassist Rick Danko (born Dec. 9, 1943 in Simcoe, ON) joined in 1961 followed by keyboard player Richard Manuel (born Apr. 3, 1943 in Stratford, ON) and organist Garth Hudson (born Aug. 2, 1937 in Windsor, ON). Hawkins was a big star in Canada but he's a bigger than life personality and tended to go through a lot of musicians. The whole group tired of his personality and left in the summer of 1963 and were renamed Levon Helm & The Hawks and then The Canadian Squires. In 1964 they got together with blues singer John Hammond and that led to a 1965 New York gig with Bob Dylan. They remained with Dylan for several years but eventually manager Albert Grossman convinced them to record as a group. Helm had left but returned for their 1968 Capitol Records debut Music From Big Pink. The Band's mix of rock & roll and R & B musicianship was intially championed by the music press but eventually the public caught on and they became very popular. Stage Fright was their third album and is now available on CD with bonus tracks. This version of Time To Kill is an alternate take. All five guys wrote music and the music holds up well today. The Band split up in 1973 but have reunited occasionally with varying degrees of success. Also, Robbie Robertson & Levon Helm have had successful solo careers. Richard Manuel committed suicide in 1986. The Band is considered today as the quintessential American band which is ironic because they're mostly Canadian. Here's The Band performing Time To Kill in Pittsburgh Nov. 1970.

Yahoo LAUNCHCAST Song Of The Day-Classics IV

Artist:Classics IV

Song:Spooky

Album:The Very Best Of Classics IV

Classics IV had a couple of hits in the late 60s and quickly faded. They started out in Jacksonville, FL as Leroy & The Moments with Wally Eaton on bass & vocals, James Cobb on guitar and Joe Wilson on keyboards. Drummer/singer Dennis Yost had been in a group called The Echoes. When they split up, he joined Leroy & The Moments and they became The Classics. This Jacksonville cover band signed with Capitol in 1966, released a couple of singles, moved to Atlanta in 1967 and producer Bill Lowery signed them to Imperial Records. There was already a group called The Classics so the group name was changed to Classics IV. James Cobb and producer Buddy Buie based Spooky on an instrumental that was a regional hit in the southeast. The song is a mix of blue eyed soul and Yost's love of doo wop. It was a top 5 hit and the band hired Kim Venable to play drums so Yost could concentrate on singing. Cobb was replaced by Auburn Burrell so he could concentrate on writing and producing. So Classics IV was a touring band but the records were made mostly by session musicians. They had a couple more hits but Yost took the group to MGM Records and changed the name to Dennis Yost & Classics IV. James Cobb & Buddy Buie went on to form Atlanta Rhythm Section in the early 70s. Yost has been leading a version of Classics IV on the oldies circuit since the 70s though he's currently recovering from injuries suffered in a July 2006 fall. This comp is less than a half hour long so you might want to get Spooky on a various artists comp like Varese Saraband's Rock & Roll:The First 50 Years/The Late 60s. Here's Classics IV performing Spooky in 1968.