AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Dream Academy

Artist:The Dream Academy
Song:Life in A Northern Town
Album:The Dream Academy





The 1985 top ten hit Life In A Northern Town was the only big hit for the British group The Dream Academy. A couple of their other songs charted but they recorded three albums and only the first one did much business. Lead singer and guitarist Nick Laird-Clowes and keyboard player Gilbert Gabriel met in the late 70s when Laird-Clowes was in the group The Act. They wanted do do pop music using strings and woodwinds and other things that aren't normally used in pop music. They were called The Politics Of Pop. Laird-Clowes met oboist Kate St. John at a party and she joined the band. She had been a member of The Ravishing Beauties. They changed the band name to The Dream Academy. They were rejected by every record company in London before they signed with Warner Bros. in 1985. Laird-Clowes was friends with Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and he agreed to produce their album. Life In A Northern Town was a bigger hit in the US than in England. It reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album The Dream Academy reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 200. So it did pretty well and it's available on CD. Laird-Clowes says he wrote Life In A Northern Town as a tribute to legendary ill fated British singer songwriter Nick Drake. The other Dream Academy song that charted was The Love Parade. The Dream Academy's 1987 album Remembrance Days did not do as well despite high profile producers Lindsey Buckingham, Patrick Leonard and Hugh Padgham. They took a break and returned with the 1990 album A Different Kind Of Weather. Gilmour even returned to produce. It didn't help. The album tanked and The Dream Academy split up in 1991. Nick Laird-Clowes released a solo CD in 1999 and continued to work with Gilmour. He has turned to film composing and wrote the score for the upcoming film About Time. Kate St. John has released two solo CDs and is a member of Channel Light Vessel who have also released 2CDs. Gilbert Gabriel is a member of the band The Believers. I'm sure Life In A Northern Town will bring back 80s memories for many music fans. Here's the video for Life In A Northern Town by The Dream Academy. There were two videos for this song. But I think this one was played on MTV in the 80s.

Julie Kedzie vs Aleksandra Albu added to Dec. 7 UFC show

It was announced yesterday that a women's match has been added to the Dec. 7 UFC show in Brisbane, Australia. This show will air in North America on Dec. 6. Veteran Julie Kedzie will face Russian newcomer Aleksandra Albu. When news of Aleksandra's UFC signing surfaced a couple of weeks ago, there was an awful lot of Chicken Littles predicting impending doom for the UFC women's division. These idiots have been predicting doom from the moment the UFC announced the start of a women's division. Anyone who believes that one fighter will make a difference one way or another is out to lunch. The UFC has plans to go to Russia in 2014 and though the experience level of young Russian fighters is not high, they need to sign some Russians for the local market. Aleksandra is 23 years old. She is a former bodybuilder and powerlifter and karate is her basic training. Supposedly she is 5-0 but her management claims that four of those fights were in Thailand and are undocumented. I'm not really buying that nonsense. Her one Russian fight is on Youtube. She won easily but I wasn't impressed with her. The book on her is she is a good striker but not so good on the ground. Just remember that unknown doesn't mean not good. But she has to prove herself and that's tough to do in the UFC without seasoning. I'm not crazy about the UFC signing a female fighter who has no track record but it's not the end of the world. In this case, Julie Kedzie makes for a good gatekeeper. Julie did not look good in her first UFC fight against Germaine De Randamie. She needs to win this fight or she could get cut. She knows as much about her opponent as the rest of us. I hope the fight is decent.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Lalo Schifrin

Artist:Lalo Schifrin
Song:Pampas
Album:Latin Jazz Suite





Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin is best known for his film and TV music. But he started out in jazz and has always mixed jazz with classical music. Recently he has done a lot of guest conducting with regional orchestras and the 1999 CD Latin Jazz Suite is representative of that. He was born June 21, 1932 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father was a violinist. While Schifrin studied at the Paris Conservatoire in the 50s, he played jazz in Paris clubs at night. He met Dizzy Gillespie in 1956 and this led to the Schifrin composition Gillespiana and then Schifrin became Gillespie's musical director in 1960. Then he got into composing film scores at MGM. The 1966 theme from the TV series Mission; Impossible is probably his most popular song. But he became very popular with studios infusing contemporary jazz into film music. Occasionally he recorded albums. But he was very busy with films in the 70s and 80s. In 1997, Schifrin started his own label Aleph Records and he has released a lot of his film scores on CD and a few jazz recordings. The 1999 CD Latin Jazz Suite was recorded in Cologne, Germany with the WDR Big Band along with special guests Jon Faddis on trumpet, David Sanchez on alto sax, Ignacio Berroa on drums and Alex Acuna on percussion. Schifrin first recorded Pampas on the 1978 album Gypsies. It is based on a theme he wrote for the 1979 film Boulevard Nights. Latin Jazz Suite was nominated for a Grammy and was taped for DVD release. As I said, Schifrin does a lot of guest conducting so this is typical of his current activity. Schifrin's most recent significant film score was for the Rush Hour series. And he last released a jazz album in 2011. He has been working on a 4CD retrospective of his music called My Life In Music to be released next month. So if you are only familiar with Lalo Schifrin's film music, I think you might enjoy his symphonic jazz. Here's Lalo Schifrin with the WDR Big Band featuring David Sanchez and Jon Faddis performing Pampas from the Latin Jazz Suite DVD.

Rush movie review

Though auto racing fans will love Rush, I don't necessarily think you need to be an auto racing fan to enjoy the film. At its core, Rush is a character study of two polar opposites who both have a passion for racing. The setting is the 1976 Formula One season. British driver James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian driver Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) have one thing in common. They like to win races. Other than that, they are polar opposites. Hunt is a notorious hard drinking party animal. Lauda is more serious about everything. They had been rivals for a few years but it comes to a head when Hunt joins McLaren in 1976 and becomes a serious challenger to 1975 F1 champ Lauda. Until then Hunt didn't have the equipment to challenge Lauda. Director Ron Howard does a very good job building the back story leading to the turning point of the film. It is pouring rain at the 1976 German Grand Prix at Nurburgring. Lauda wants to cancel the race but the other drivers led by Hunt vote to race. Lauda is seriously injured in a horrific crash. Somehow he only misses two races. And the championship comes down to the final race in Japan where it is pouring rain again. Lauda starts the race but then quits because he thinks it's too dangerous and the big question is can Hunt finish high enough to win the championship. The idea for this film came from screenwriter Peter Morgan who worked with Howard previously on Frost/Nixon. Morgan says he was a big James Hunt fan. Howard decided that if he was going to make a racing film he was going to make the racing scenes as realistic as possible. He does this mostly using stunt drivers and camera tricks and special effects. I do recommend seeing this film on the big screen for that reason alone as it's the only way to get the feel for the speed of the cars. Both Hemsworth and Bruhl do a great job inhabiting these real life characters. Unfortunately, I don't think Universal has done a very good job promoting the film. I'm sure racing fans will love it. But they need to sell it as more than a racing film and they haven't done that. It's very well done and seemed a lot shorter than two hours long. Even non-racing fans should enjoy it. Check out the trailer.

AJ Lee retains WWE Divas Championship but suffers concussion

Here's the video of AJ Lee defending the WWE Divas Championship against Brie Bella from Sunday's WWE PPV. The match is nothing special with a terrible ending. But there are a couple of things I wanted to talk about. Early in the match, AJ has her head slammed into the turnbuckle. She finished the match as planned but arrived at RAW yesterday in Pittsburgh showing concussion symptoms. She was sent home after the WWE doctor examined her. Who knows how long it will take for her to return? So the latest on this angle is AJ's paranoia has alienated all the other Divas and she has hired the physically imposing Tamina Snuka to be her bodyguard. This was influenced by Shawn Michaels and Diesel in the 90s. Of course Tamina is the daughter of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. She is just returning from a concussion herself. The WWE has attempted pushes of Tamina over the last couple of years and each time they just stopped pushing her. Her problem is she is 36 years old and is relatively inexperienced at pro wrestling considering her age. And when the WWE has attempted to push her, that inexperience has been fairly obvious. This new role looks like it may be a last chance for her. As I said, the match was OK. The one thing I did not like was the showboating by both girls in a title match. As crazy as AJ is supposed to be, she shouldn't be showboating in a title match. One thing I would like to see is the WWE should bring Mickie James back and do an program with AJ. I don't care if they are rivals or allies. But I know Mickie can elevate AJ. And it may be time to bring Paige up from NXT. She can be plugged in to this angle and will do great. Also, I am starting to wonder how long The Bella Twins are going to hang around. Of course they are getting a lot of airtime because of the Total Divas show. But Nikki still hasn't returned from her ankle injury. I don't know if she will ever be an active wrestler again. Meanwhile, Brie seems unhappy with her face turn. And she has announced her engagement to Bryan Danielson. My guess is they will marry on Total Divas and then The Bella Twins will quit the WWE. Brie will want to be off the road to start a family. And they have done a couple of movies that will be out by that time. I wonder what the WWE will do to try to keep them but that's what happens when they hire girls who really don't want to be wrestlers. Enjoy the video!
Battleground 2013 - Brie Bella (Nikki Bella) vs... by MarcLovley

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Laura Izibor

Artist:Laura Izibor
Song:Don't Stay
Album:Let The Truth Be Told





Laura Izibor is an outstanding R & B singer songwriter who has everything it takes to be a big star. But she is the victim of record company dithering and indecision. No one can figure out how to sell her. It doesn't seem like rocket science to me. She was born May 13, 1987 in Dublin, Ireland. After performing in drama class, she began writing songs at age 13 and taught herself to play piano. At age 15, she won an RTE radio song competition. This got her a manager and a contract with Jive Records. She dropped out of school and started recording her album. Apparently Jive didn't like what they were hearing and she left with her mentor Steve Lunt and signed with Atlantic Records. She released a couple of live EPs and we also started to hear Laura's music in films like Nanny Diaries, P.S. I Love You and Why Did I Get Married? and TV shows like Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill and Bones. Finally Laura's CD Let The Truth Be Told was released in 2009. It only took four years and two record companies. Laura wrote all the songs and produced it herself. She got some help from Christopher "Tricky" Stewart who has had a lot of success producing female R & B artists. The album did OK especially in England and Ireland. But there was no hit single to break Laura to a broader audience. Atlantic thought placing songs on TV was the way to sell Laura. Maybe they should stop looking for a shortcut and sell her as a great musical talent. That can work. Laura released the EP The Brooklyn Sessions Aug. 2012. She's working on a new full length CD but there is no release date yet. I hate to see great talent wasted by a dithering record company. Here's the video for Don't Stay by Laura Izibor.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Tab Hunter

Artist:Tab Hunter
Song:Young Love
Album:Dot Records Cover To Cover...Hit Upon Hit




Actor Tab Hunter topped the charts with Young Love in 1957. He is frequently lumped in with other teen idols of the era but it's a little more complicated than that. He was born Arthur Andrew Kelm July 11, 1931 in New York City. When his parents divorced, his mom moved the family to California and went back to her maiden name of Gelien. So Arthur Gelien was given the name Tab Hunter by his agent Henry Willson. He started acting in movies and the film that really got a lot of attention was Battle Cry in 1955. He was becoming a star. Dot Records president Randy Wood called Hunter and asked him if he wanted to record. Hunter told Wood that he wasn't really a singer. But Wood told him he didn't need to be a great singer to make a good record. Young Love was the record with...ahem...The Jordanaires singing backup. Young Love topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1957. Young Love was written and recorded by Ric Cartey and the Jiva Tones in 1956. But it was not a hit. Hunter and country singer Sonny James had hits with the song and so did The Crew Cuts. Wood had Hunter record an album. But Hunter was under contract to Warner Bros. And they prevented Dot from releasing the album. This led to the formation of Warner Bros. Records. But Hunter's Warners recordings weren't successful. You can get Young Love on this Dot Records comp from Ace Records. Hunter was in the 1957 hit musical Damn Yankees. He turned to TV in the early 60s and eventually moved to Europe. Hunter never recorded again. After a career revival in 80s films like Grease 2, Tab Hunter returned to obscurity. He still appears on the stage occasionally. There is currently a Tab Hunter documentary in the works. Here's a video for Young Love by Tab Hunter.

Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Megumi Fujii retirement match and ceremony

So Megumi Fujii retired yesterday at the VTJ show. You can watch her retirement match and ceremony right here on the blog. I'm sure you have read already that her fight against Jessica Aguilar did not turn out well because of Jessica's carelessness and Shooto's bungling. This nonsense reinforced my belief that Megumi should have had an exhibition match instead of a real fight. It makes no difference to Japanese fans. They go to see the retirement ceremony. Megumi knows the tradition. And if the opponent hadn't been Jessica, it would have been an exhibition match. Fans here don't understand this because we don't have that tradition. And exhibition matches are usually a lot of fun. This fight turned into a nightmare. Jessica poked Megumi in the eye. Megumi was fine. But then she does it a second time. That's just wanton carelessness. There is really no excuse for it. But then those Shooto idiots make it worse. The procedure for eye pokes is the fighter is given five minutes and if unable to continue, the fight is declared a no contest. These dopes waited almost twenty minutes before Megumi agrees to go ahead and it was obvious she couldn't see out of her right eye. The fight should have been stopped. And then when the doctor stopped the fight after round two, Shooto declared Jessica the winner. They claimed that after the fight resumed, it couldn't be a no contest anymore. Huh? Where did those morons get that idea? Obviously the fight should have been a no contest. It's pathetic bungling. The retirement ceremony is typical of others I have seen in the past. The highlight is Megumi's parents and her niece. Remember her dad started her in judo when she was five years old. He looked so proud that he would burst. Then the ten bell salute and Megumi Fujii's retirement is official. Megumi said she will continue to lead martial arts in Japan. And that's why I posted the group picture with Megumi's family and friends. Look at all the kids. Megumi Fujii's legacy is much broader than MMA and began many years before she became a pro fighter. Did you know there was a fighter on yesterday's show making his MMA debut and Megumi has trained him since he was eight years old. That will be Megumi Fujii's continuing legacy. Pro fighters will continue to come from all over the world to train with her. She has started officiating at amateur judo tournaments. She will be a broadcaster at VTJ. But the most important thing is she will continue to teach the largest children's martial arts program in Japan. And teaching kids is more important to her than any of her MMA accomplishments. Megumi Fujii has contributed to martial arts for many years and that will continue. I look forward to her future accomplishments. Enjoy the videos!

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Anna Kendrick

Artist:Anna Kendrick
Song:Cups (When I'm Gone)
Album:Now That's What I Call Music! 47





Here's an example of how strange the music business can be. This cover of The Carter Family chestnut When I'm Gone became a top ten hit when it was performed in a unique way in a film that was very popular with teens. Suddenly Oscar winning actress Anna Kendrick is a pop star. She has been on Broadway but don't expect her to record an album. She was born Aug. 8, 1985 in Portland, ME. She made her acting debut at age 13 in the Broadway musical High Society. She was nominated for a Tony. After appearing in some other musicals, she made her film debut in the 2003 musical Camp. Other films include Rocket Science in 2007 and the Twilight series. Of course she won an Oscar for the 2009 film Up In The Air. The 2012 film Pitch Perfect is a Let's Put On A Show musical based on a real college a capella competition. Anna Kendrick's character auditions singing an a cappella version of When I'm Gone using cups as accompaniment. This is based on a video of When I'm Gone performed with cups by Lulu & The Lampshades in 2009. There was a viral version by Anna Burden that was a Youtube hit. The version from Pitch Perfect that is on the soundtrack CD is only a minute long. When the song charted, the producers decided to release a longer version as a single and produce a video. It reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified 2XPlatinum. Instead of adding the longer version of Cups to the Special Edition of the soundtrack of Pitch Perfect, Universal released it on the CD More From Pitch Perfect which was less than a half hour long. That means the only CD where you can get the single Cups without getting hosed is on one of those Now That's What I Call Music various artists CDs. Maybe Universal will correct this error and place the single on a Pitch Perfect CD someday. There will be a sequel to Pitch Perfect set for 2015 release. But Anna Kendrick hasn't signed up for that yet. She is currently working on the film version of the Stephen Sondheim musical Into The Woods to be released in 2014. She will sing in that film. But I don't expect any albums from her. Here's the video for Cups (When I'm Gone) by Anna Kendrick.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Brett Eldredge

Artist:Brett Eldredge
Song:Don't Ya
Album:Bring You Back





After a couple of false starts, Brett Eldredge scored a top five country hit with Don't Ya from his from his debut CD Bring You Back. I would describe his music as country pop. He was born Mar. 23, 1986 in Paris, IL. His cousin is Terry Eldredge of the bluegrass group The Grascals. He got interested in country music when he heard Brooks & Dunn at age 16. Eldredge moved to Nashville to study at Middle Tennessee State University. He started writing songs and performed at songwriters nights at Nashville clubs. He was introduced to veteran producer Byron Gallimore and signed with his publishing company. Gallimore told him to keep writing and he would get a record deal. One of Eldredge's songs was recorded by Gary Allan and this led to a deal with Atlantic Records. The single Raymond was released in 2010 but it only reached #23 on the Country Singles chart. Then a second single It Ain't Gotta Be Love was released in advance of Eldredge's debut CD in 2011 and only reached #46 on the Country Singles chart. So Atlantic pulled the album and reworked it. Don't Ya was released Oct. 2012 and reached #5 on the Country Singles chart. So this time they got it right. Eldredge wrote Don't Ya with Chris DeStefano and Ashley Gorley. DeStefano produced the song. He has produced several American Idol contestants including Kelly Clarkson, Lee DeWyze and Haley Reinhart and also produced The Voice winner Javier Colon. Eldredge's debut CD Bring You Back was released Aug. 2013. Several songs were produced by Luke Laird who has produced Carrie Underwood and Kacey Musgraves. Eldredge opened for Taylor Swift's Red Tour and is now headlining his own tour. He's done well so far. Here's the video for Don't Ya by Brett Eldredge.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-John Lloyd Young

Artist:John Lloyd Young
Song:Can't Take My Eyes Off You
Album:Jersey Boys: Original Broadway Cast Recording




John Lloyd Young's claim to fame is he is the only actor to win a Lead Actor in a Musical Tony Award in his Broadway debut. He played Frankie Valli in the very popular show Jersey Boys. He has since moved to Los Angeles and released a CD last year. He was born July 4, 1975 in Sacramento, CA and went to high school in Plattsburgh, NY. Young graduated with honours in Theater Arts at Brown University. Then he moved to New York City and appeared in small roles in several shows. One of the current trends in Broadway musicals is the Jukebox musical. There's no actual story. The show consists of popular songs by a famed recording artist. The success of musicals about Buddy Holly and Abba convinced original Four Seasons member Bob Gaudio and producer Bob Crewe that there should be a Four Seasons musical. They hired director Des McAnuff to create the show and he built it around the band's story. John Lloyd Young auditioned for Frankie Valli but David Norona played the role when the show debuted in San Diego Oct. 2004. But Norona had voice problems and Young replaced him for the Broadway run. Jersey Boys premiered on Nov. 6, 2005 and it's still running. And there have been many regional productions. So Jersey Boys has been very successful. Young won several awards including the Tony for Lead Actor in a Musical. The original cast album won a Grammy and is available as a budget CD. Young left Jersey Boys in Nov. 2007 and has returned for a couple of Broadway runs including a current one. Young moved to Los Angeles and was the very first guest star to appear on the TV series Glee. He released the CD My Turn on his own label in 2012. Here's John Lloyd Young performing Can't Take My Eyes Off You and Who Loves You on the 2006 Tony Awards broadcast.

Review of The Ultimate Fighter 18 episode five

Here's the video for The Ultimate Fighter 18 episode five. In the aftermath of last week's loss, this episode begins with the camera finding Roxanne Modafferi trying to avoid the cameras to have a good cry. She immediately stops when she spots the camera. She still wants to be The Happy Warrior but at this point it seems like a facade. There's nothing happy about losing. This week's fight is Davey Grant of Team Rousey vs Louis Fisette of Team Tate. Fisette lost his qualifying match and then got into TUF as an injury replacement. So he would be the underdog no matter who he was fighting. And Grant is really good especially at Muay Thai. In his background video, Grant talks about his kids and how he got into MMA. All Fisette talks about is being the underdog. It doesn't help when Anthony Gutierrez calls Fisette the weak link of the cast. Fisette seems very unsure of himself. There is discussion how some guys eat too much and how will they cut weight when the time comes. And Raquel Pennington comes out as gay. I guess this is a big deal to some but not to me. The special guest coach this week is Ronda Rousey's mom. As most fans should know by now, Dr. AnnMaria DeMars was a world judo champ in 1984. And of course she trained Ronda. She knows her stuff. But viewers should get a clear idea why Ronda is so intense and competitive. She gets that from her mom. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Ronda has said that her number one fear of losing is facing her mom afterwards. Think about that. Fear can be a very powerful motivator. So now we get to the fight. Grant dominates round one but Fisette is saved by the bell. The domination continues in round two and Grant wins with a rear naked choke. It turned out pretty much as expected. Next week's fight will be Jessamyn Duke of Team Rousey vs Raquel Pennington of Team Tate. There seemed to be less drama in this episode. But Ronda's mom is more interesting than any drama. Enjoy the video!
UFC The Ultimate Fighter - S18E05 (HQ) by WrestlingVidsUploaderHQv2

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Alan Silvestri

Artist:Alan Silvestri & Outatime Orchestra
Song:Main Theme
Album:Back To The Future: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack




Film composer Alan Silvestri is best known for his work in the films of Robert Zemeckis including Back To The Future. He is one of today's top composers. He was born Mar. 26, 1950 in New York City and grew up in Teaneck, NJ. Silvestri studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Then he moved to Las Vegas and toured with Wayne Cochran & The CC Riders. Eventually he made his way to Los Angeles and lyricist Bradford Craig got him a job scoring the 1972 film The Doberman Gang. For most of the 70s Silvestri scored the music for the long running TV show CHiPs. In those days, composers were pigeon holed as TV guys and it was tough to get film work. In 1983, director Robert Zemeckis and producer and star Michael Douglas were working on post production of the 1984 film Romancing The Stone. Editor Frank Morriss remembered Silvestri from CHiPs and brought him in to score the film. He composed a demo overnight and Zemeckis was so happy with it that Silvestri was hired to score the film. Since then Silvestri has worked on all of Zemeckis' films including Back To the Future in 1985. He was nominated for a Grammy for that one. Silvestri also scored the other two films in the Back To The Future series. He has been nominated for two Oscars. The first was for the score of the 1994 film Forrest Gump. The second was for the song Believe from the 2004 film Polar Express. As I said, Silvestri has scored all of Zemeckis' films, the most recent being Flight in 2012. He also scored the hit film The Avengers. Silvestri's most recent films are The Croods and RED2. In 2011 he was given the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award. And here's Alan Silvestri conducting the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra's performance of the main theme of Back To The Future at Hollywood In Vienna 2011.

AccuRadio Song Of the Day-Krysta Rodriguez

Artist:Krysta Rodriguez
Song:Pulled
Album:The Addams Family: Original Broadway Cast




Krysta Rodriguez is a musical theater performer who had her Broadway breakthrough playing Wednesday in the 2010 production of The Addams Family. She has done some film and TV but she is currently on Broadway in the musical First Date. She was born July 23, 1984 in Orange, CA. She appeared in musicals while in high school and appeared in the Trinity Broadcasting Network TV show Colby's Clubhouse from 1995-2000. She moved to New York City and made her Broadway debut in the short lived 2005 Beach Boys musical Good Vibrations. She also appeared in the 2007 revival of A Chorus Line and some other shows. The Addams Family comic strip has been successful as a TV series and a film. The plan to turn it into a musical was announced in 2007. The music was written by Andrew Lippa who also wrote the 2001 musical A Little Princess. His full time gig is musical director for Kristen Chenoweth. The show starred Nathan Lane as Gomez Addams and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia Addams. Krysta played their daughter Wednesday and Pulled was her big song in act one. The show opened April 2010 and ran for a year and a half. So it was successful. Krysta left the show in Mar. 2011. You may have also seen her on the second season of the NBC TV series Smash as Katharine McPhee's new roommate. I watched the first season of Smash. But it went off the rails in season two and I'm sure I'm not the only one who gave up on it. Krysta is back on Broadway starring in First Date The Musical. The show opened in August. Here's Krysta Rodriguez performing Pulled in the 2010 show The Addams Family.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Alabama

Artist:Alabama
Song:The Closer You Get
Album:The Essential Alabama





Alabama was the most popular country band of the 80s. They have had a total of 34 number one country music hits including The Closer You Get in 1983. A lot of Alabama's longevity is they are family. Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry are cousins and grew up together in Fort Payne, AL. They both sang in church. In 1969, Owen and Gentry formed a band with a third cousin Jeff Cook and the three have been together ever since. Owen and Cook attended college while performing on the side as Young Country and then Wildcountry. They moved to Myrtle Beach, SC and were the house band at The Bowery. They went through several drummers but hired Mark Herndon in 1978 and he was the drummer through the 80s. In 1977, they signed with GRT Records and the name was changed to The Alabama Band. They released a single but then GRT went bankrupt. Then manager Larry McBride signed them to his own label MDJ. That did not end well. Owen says they paid $2M to get out of the contract. RCA Records bought the MDJ contract in 1980. Producer Harold Shedd took their MDJ album and reworked it. Tennessee River was Alabama's first number one country hit in 1980 and they just took off from there. Feels So Right was their first gold record in 1981. The Closer You Get is from the 1983 album the Closer You Get. The song was written by Mark Gray and JP Pennington of the group Exile. They recorded it in 1980. Don King had a top 30 country hit with his version in 1981. Rita Coolidge also recorded it. Alabama's version was more country rock with distorted guitars. King's recording was acoustic. Alabama's success continued through the 80s and didn't slow down in the mid-90s. They are certainly one of the most durable bands ever. All their hits are on this 2CD comp. Herndon left in 1997 and Alabama did a farewell tour in 2003. They reunite occasionally and even made a guest appearance on Brad Paisley's 2011 number one hit Old Alabama. They released an Alabama & Friends tribute CD this year and have toured to support it. Here's the video for The Closer You Get by Alabama.

Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Pancrase 265

Here's what you have all been waiting for. It is the entire video for Sunday's PANCRASE 265 show, their 20th anniversary. The main thing you are all interested in is Rin Nakai vs Tara LaRosa. The judges scored the fight as a majority decision for Rin. It was NOT a split decision. The scores were 30-29, 30-28 and 29-29. I agree with 30-28. My main criticism of Rin in recent fights has been her lack of aggression. And we see this in round one when neither of them do much of anything. All three judges scored the round a tie and I agree with that. In the second round, Tara rocks Rin a couple of times. And one judge scored the round 10-9 for Tara based on that. But that ignores that after that Rin got Tara's back and controlled her for the rest of the round. That shouldn't be ignored. The other two judges scored it 10-10. I scored it 10-9 Rin because of the ground control but I don't have a problem with the 10-10 scores. Rin won the fight in the third round with ground control and a kimura attempt in the second half of the round. One judge scored it 10-8 for Rin and the other two scored it 10-9 for Rin. I don't think it was enough for 10-8 so I scored it 10-9. So I scored the fight 30-28 for Rin. In the end it was the correct decision though I don't agree with some of the judges decisions. You can decide for yourself and watch the entire PANCRASE 265 show right here on the blog. Enjoy!

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Stonewall Jackson

Artist:Stonewall Jackson
Song:Waterloo
Album:Original Greatest Hits





Honky tonk singer Stonewall Jackson is a long time member of The Grand Ole Opry and had most of his success in the 60s. Waterloo crossed over to the pop charts in 1959. He was born Nov. 6, 1932 in Tabor City, NC. Stonewall is his real name. His family claimed to be descendants of Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. His dad died when he was two and mom moved the family to her brother's farm in Georgia. Jackson was in the US Navy from 1950-54 and moved to Nashville in 1956. He signed with Acuff-Rose publishing owner Wesley Rose and was the first artist to join The Grand Ole Opry before signing a record contract. After touring with Ernest Tubb, Jackson signed with Columbia Records in 1958. His breakthrough hit was the George Jones song Life To Go. It reached #2 on the Country Singles chart. The next single Waterloo not only topped the country chart in 1959. But it also reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was his biggest hit and his signature song. The song was written by legendary songwriters John D. Loudermilk and Marijohn Wilkin. Loudermilk is best known for writing Tobacco Road and plenty of other songs. Wilkin was known as The Den Mother Of Music Row. Her best known song was the 1980 Christy Lane monster hit One Day At A Time. Her son Bucky Wilkin was the leader of Ronny & The Daytonas. She was a major figure in the music publishing business in Nashville. Jackson's only other number one country hit was B.J. The D.J. in 1964. But he had plenty of top ten hits until he left Columbia in 1971. You can get them all on this comp from the reissue label Real Gone Music. Jackson last recorded in 1983. But he continued to perform. He sued The Grand Ole Opry in 2006 after GM Pete Fisher threatened to get rid of all the old people. The lawsuit was settled out of court and Jackson returned to the Opry. Jackson and his wife live on a farm outside Nashville. Here's Stonewall Jackson performing Waterloo in the 60s.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Chaim Topol

Artist:Chaim Topol w/chorus, John Williams & Orch. f/Isaac Stern
Song:Prologue/Tradition/Main Title
Album:Fiddler On The Roof: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Recording: 30th Anniversary Edition


Israeli actor Chaim Topol is best known for playing Tevye in the London production and the 1971 film of Fiddler On The Roof. Fiddler On The Roof was written by Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein based on the Sholem Aleichem story Tevye and his Daughters. The setting is a Jewish community in Tsarist Russia. The musical opened on Broadway in 1964 starring Zero Mostel as Tevye. It ran for several years. There was also a London production starring Topol as Tevye. That opened in 1967. Topol was born Sept. 9, 1935 in Tel Aviv, Israel. He appeared in the 1964 film Sallah Shabati which was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar. His English film debut was in the 1966 film Cast A Giant Shadow. So when it came time to cast the film adaptation of Fiddler On The Roof, it was assumed that Mostel would be hired. So it was somewhat controversial when director Norman Jewison chose Topol instead. Jewison said that Mostel's larger than life personality wouldn't work on film and audiences would see him as Mostel the actor, not the character Tevye. The film is fairly close to the play. There aren't that many changes. Tradition opens the show and explains Jewish traditions and the major characters. It starts with a Prologue written and conducted by John Williams followed by Topol performing Tradition followed by the opening credits featuring Isaac Stern on violin. The film was very successful and it won three Oscars including one for Williams' score. The soundtrack is available as a budget CD and the 30th Anniversary Edition contains some bonus tracks. Chaim Topol starred in the 1976 musical The Baker's Wife. But he was fired after eight months for unprofessional behaviour. This was confirmed by co-star Patti LuPone and composer Stephen Schwartz blamed Topol for killing the show. Topol has appeared in films like Flash Gordon in 1980. In 1983, he appeared in a London revival of Fiddler On The Roof and he has appeared in other revivals of the show. He's made a career out of one role and that's what he is known for. Here's Chaim Topol with chorus performing Tradition from the 1971 film Fiddler On The Roof.

Matches set for DEEP JEWELS Lightweight Championship tournament

Mika Nagano, Emi Fujino, Emi Tomimatsu, MIZUKI

DEEP JEWELS held a press conference today to determine the matches for the DEEP JEWELS Lightweight Championship tournament. The show will be Nov. 4 at Shinjuku FACE. The main event for this show will be Ham Seo Hee defending the DEEP JEWELS Flyweight Championship against Sadae Manhoef. Ayaka Hamasaki was forced to forfeit the DEEP JEWELS Lightweight Championship due to ongoing problems with her left knee. It is likely that Ayaka will be forced to retire from MMA. It says here they did a public draw to determine the tournament matches. In this picture, it looks like the girls did rock paper scissors to do that. Not really. They are goofing around. Emi Fujino posted an equally goofy picture on her Twitter. The matches are Mika Nagano vs Emi Tomimatsu and Emi Fujino vs MIZUKI. Nagano has already beaten Tomimatsu earlier this year at the March JEWELS show. MIZUKI faced Fujino in a J-Girls kickboxing match July 2010. And if I recall correctly, MIZUKI broke Fujino's nose with a high kick. MIZUKI says she really wanted to win the belt from Ayaka to avenge her only defeat. But she says she will use that motivation to win the belt this way. Nagano thinks this will be her last chance to win the title. We could see retirement if she doesn't win. MIZUKI is the favourite to win. I doubt that any of these girls can beat her.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Ricky Van Shelton

Artist:Ricky Van Shelton
Song:I'll Leave This World Loving You
Album:16 Biggest Hits





Ricky Van Shelton had ten number one country hits in the late 80s-early 90s including I'll Leave This World Loving You in 1988. The last of these was in 1991. He did not adapt very well to changing musical trends and faded by the mid-90s. He retired in 2006. He was born Jan. 12, 1952 in Danville, VA and grew up in Grit, VA. His surname is Shelton. Van is his middle name. I thought maybe he was of Dutch descent but apparently not. I didn't know that and I have known about Shelton for years. He grew up singing in church and then performed in local clubs. He moved to Nashville in 1984 when future wife Bettye got a job there. In 1986, newspaper columnist Jerry Thompson heard Shelton's demo and became his manager. This led to an audition and a record deal with Columbia Records. Shelton had most of his success working with Columbia Nashville house producer Steve Buckingham. Buckingham worked with Dolly Parton for many years and is currently a VP at Sugar Hill Records. Shelton's 1987 debut album Wide-Eyed Dream topped the charts. His first number one single Somebody Lied was recorded by Conway Twitty in 1985. Shelton didn't write much so Buckingham was really good at finding songs for him. Life Turned Her That Way and Don't We All Have The Right were also number one hits from Wide-Eyed Dream. I'll Leave This World Loving You was the first single from the 1988 album Loving Proof and it topped the Country Singles chart. That song was written by Wayne Kemp and he recorded it in 1974. Kemp has had more success as a songwriter than a recording artist. Shelton's other number one hits from Loving Proof were a cover of the 1962 Ned Miller classic From A Jack To A King and Living Proof. From his 1989 album RVSIII, Shelton's only number one hit was I've Cried My Last Tear For You. He also recorded a Christmas album and wrote two children's books. I Am A Simple Man and Keep It Between The Lines were number one hits from his 1991 album Backroads. He also recorded the #1 duet Rockin' Years with Dolly Parton which was on her album Eagle When She Flies. All of Shelton's hits except Rockin' Years are on this budget comp. Then Shelton started to fade. He was a traditionalist and did not adapt well to rock music creeping into country with guys like Garth Brooks. Shelton also acknowledged alcoholism in 1992. Shelton left Columbia in 1994. He released an album on his own label through Vanguard Records in 1997 and recorded for Audium. He last recorded in 2000. Ricky Van Shelton retired in 2006. Here's the video for I'll Leave This World Loving You by Ricky Van Shelton.