AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Tracie Thoms, Jesse L. Martin and company

Artist:Tracie Thoms, Jesse L. Martin and company
Song:Seasons Of Love
Album:Rent: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack



Rent was a hit Broadway musical in the 90s and it was turned into a film in 2005. The signature song that opened the film Seasons Of Love was a top 40 pop hit. The music for Rent was written by Jonathan Larson based on the opera La Boheme. He had written other shows but Rent made him famous. Then he died in 1996. Rent opened on Broadway in 1996. It was a huge hit and won several Tonys. Then there was talk about turning it into a film. Robert DeNiro's company Tribeca produced the film. The director was Chris Columbus who did some Harry Potter films among other things. Columbus wanted to use as many of the original cast as possible. Jesse L. Martin, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal and Idina Menzel all reprised their roles from the original cast. Fredi Walker played Joanne in the original show. She turned down the movie because she thought she looked too old. Tracie Thoms played Joanne in the film. Seasons Of Love leads off the film and the single reached #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. Tracie Thoms and Jesse L. Martin are the soloists. Martin is best known for his work on TV especially his long run on the TV series Law & Order. He is currently set to play Marvin Gaye in a biopic to be directed by Julien Temple. Tracie Thoms is best known for her run on the TV cop drama Cold Case. She has appeared in films like The Devil Wears Prada and Death Proof and is currently working on a remake of the musical Annie starring Jamie Foxx set for 2014 release. The film Rent got mixed reviews and did OK at the box office. The soundtrack is available in a 2CD package. Here's Tracie Thoms, Jessie L. Martin and company performing Seasons Of Love on Ellen Nov. 2005.

Gail Kim is the new TNA Knockouts Champion

Here is the match video of the three way match for the TNA Knockouts Championship from Sunday's TNA PPV. ODB won the title recently when Mickie James' contract ran out. Gail Kim and Brooke challenge for the title. The Knockouts division has been terrible lately. Recently TNA hired former WWE producer John Gaburick as Vice President of TV Production. Gaburick has said that TNA management has allowed the Knockouts division to deteriorate and he plans to beef it up. Allowing Mickie to leave is one thing. But the other thing was they were planning a big push for Taryn Terrell and then she got pregnant. And not hiring Ivelisse Velez was a huge mistake and she may not want to work there now. As long time readers will know, I hate three way matches especially when they are booked for no reason like this one. But that is typical of TNA. When in doubt, overbook. The one thing I will say is Gail Kim takes some heavy bumps compared to the other two. This is mainly to get her out of the way so ODB and Brooke can work. But neither of are very good. We have a ref bump at the end. And then Lei'D Tapa comes out and helps Gail win. So I guess she will be Gail's bodyguard, huh? Haven't I seen that somewhere else recently? Morons! Enjoy the video!
Bound For Glory 2013 - Brooke vs Gail Kim vs ODB by MarcLovley

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Kajagoogoo

Artist:Kajagoogoo
Song:Too Shy
Album:The Very Best of Kajagoogoo and Limahl




The British group Kajagoogoo scored a top five hit in 1983 with Too Shy. In North America they are perceived as a one hit wonder. They were a bigger deal in England and lead singer Limahl went on to solo success after he left in 1983. The band was formed in 1979 as Art Nouveau in Leighton Buzzard, England. They were an instrumental group with Steve Askew on guitar, Stuart Croxford Neale on keyboards, Nick Beggs on bass and Jeremy "Jez" Strode on drums. They released a single but they realized they needed a singer and they held auditions in 1982. They chose Christopher Hamill who went by the stage name Limahl. The name Kajagoogoo is based on baby talk. While working as a waiter at London's Embassy Club, Limahl met Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran. He got them a deal with EMI Records and Rhodes produced Too Shy. It topped the British Singles chart and then reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Follow up singles and the album White Feathers did well in England. While on tour in England, tension rose between Limahl and the rest of the band. He was fired and Nick Beggs took over as lead singer. It was a clash of egos. Limahl was becoming difficult to work with and he had to go. Limahl signed a solo deal and had success with the theme from the 1984 film The NeverEnding Story. Kajagoogoo continued and with their third album Extra Play, they renamed themselves Kaja. But it didn't help and they split up in Dec. 1985. This EMI Europe comp has Kajagoogoo and Limahl hits. Kajagoogoo reunited for VH1's Bands Reunited in 2003. The original five members released an album in 2008. They have individual projects but we could see new music from Kajagoogoo in the future. Here's the video for Too Shy by Kajagoogoo. The girl in the video is played by model Carolyn Espley. She went on to marry comedian Dennis Miller.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Tavares

Artist:Tavares
Song:Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel
Album:The Greatest Hits





Tavares were regularly at the top of the R & B and dance charts in the 70s. A couple of songs crossed over to pop including Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel in 1976. Tavares is a family group. The parents immigrated from the island of Cape Verde off of Africa to New Bedford, MA. The five brothers are Ralph Tavares (born Dec. 10, 1941), Arthur "Pooch" Tavares (born Nov. 12, 1943), Antone "Chubby" Tavares (born June 2, 1945), Feliciano "Butch" Tavares Jr. (born May 18, 1948) and Perry "Tiny" Tavares (born Oct. 24, 1949). They started out as Chubby and the Turnpikes in 1959. They recorded a couple of singles but then they changed their name to Tavares and started their successful run with the 1973 top five R & B hit Check It Out produced by Johnny Bristol. Their next two albums were produced by the songwriting and production team of Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter who had produced The Temptations. Their first number one R & B hit was the Hall & Oates song She's gone in 1974. Their next number one R & B hit was It Only Takes A Minute. It also cracked the pop top ten. With the 1976 album Sky High, Capitol Records house producer Freddie Perren took over and got Tavares more into the disco music that was popular at the time. Perren had been part of The Corporation that produced The Jackson 5 and he also produced Boogie Fever by The Sylvers. He wrote Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel with partner Keni St. Louis. The song reached #3 on the R & B Singles chart and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100. Tavares won a Grammy for recording More Than A Woman on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Then they started to fade and they left Capitol in 1980. You can get all their hits on this budget comp. After recording two albums for RCA, Ralph Tavares left the group in 1984. I'm not sure if Tavares is still touring but Chubby Tavares released a solo CD last year. Here's the video for Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel by Tavares.

Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Jessica Eye vs Sarah Kaufman

Here's the match video of Jessica Eye vs Sarah Kaufman from last night's UFC show in Houston. Sarah was the betting favourite because the perception is that Jessica is a 125lb fighter moving up up to 135. I think that may have been blown out of proportion. Jessica said in a recent interview that she only fought at 125 because the opportunity to fight in Bellator was what was presented to her at the time. She says Sean Shelby contacted her a couple of years ago when he was booking Strikeforce. She also prefers the weight cut to 135. Both Jessica and Sarah like to stand and bang so I didn't expect any takedowns and I think both are good strikers so I expected a close fight. I was not surprised by a split decision. I scored round one 10-9 for Jessica and round three 10-9 for Sarah. Round two was very close. I thought it was close enough that in Japan, the round would have been scored a tie and the fight would have been a draw. But here in North America, judges don't like to score tie rounds. But I scored round two a tie so for me, the fight is a draw. Yeah, I know, it's like kissing your sister. But sometimes the reluctance to score tie rounds results in odd judging decisions. I don't think that was the case here. One of the judges scored round two for Sarah and round three for Jessica. I don't see how anyone can score round three for Jessica. It was a close competitive fight and it could have gone either way. So I have no problem with Jessica getting the win. And I don't think a split decision one way or another does anything for Sarah Kaufman. With her loss to Ronda Rousey still fresh in people's minds, she needed to win in a more decisive way. If she had done in round one what she did in round three, she would have won. But she didn't. And of course she won a split decision over Leslie Smith in April that a lot of fans thought she lost. But if she thinks fights like that are going to get her back in the title hunt, she is sadly mistaken. Maybe she needs a new strategy. Enjoy the video!

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Ratko Zjaca

Artist:Ratko Zjaca
Song:Kandinsky Night
Album:Now & Then: A Portrait





If you're a jazz guitar fan, you may not have heard of Ratko Zjaca but you should probably check him out. This CD is a comp of his recordings to date. Zjaca was born in Croatia and studied at Zagreb University and then The Rotterdam Conservatory in The Netherlands. Then he moved to New York and led his own band and was a member of trumpeter Benny Bailey's band. He moved back to Europe and signed with the German jazz label In & Out Records and recorded his first CD A Day in Manhattan in 2000 with veteran musicians Reggie Workman and Al Foster. Kandinsky Night is from the 2011 CD The Way We Talk. This is Zjaca's main band known as ZZ Quartet with Italian accordionist Simone Zanchini, bassist Martin Gjakonovski and drummer Adam Nussbaum. The song is a tribute to legendary bassist and Weather Report co-founder Miroslav Vitous. Now & Then was released in 2012 and it is a comp of Zjaca's solo recordings. it's a good intro to his music. Miroslav Vitous, Steve Gadd and Randy Brecker are among the musicians who appear on this CD. Zjaca's latest CD Beyond The Lines was released a few months ago under the name ZZ Quartet. Here's Ratko Zjaca with the ZZ Quartet performing Kandinsky Night at Spring Jazz in Italy 2011.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Kurt Elling

Artist:Kurt Elling
Song:And We Will Fly
Album:Nightmoves





Jazz singer Kurt Elling was headed to divinity school and a career in religion. But then he got into jazz and started singing in Chicago clubs. Now he's a popular jazz singer. He was born Nov. 2, 1967 in Chicago. His father was music director at a Lutheran church and Elling sang in the choir. He does recall seeing Tony Bennett on TV but Elling was not exposed to jazz as a child. He first listened to jazz while at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. Then he studied at the University of Chicago Divinity School with the likely goal of teaching religion. But then he started singing jazz in Chicago clubs and he left school in 1992. Elling started working with pianist Laurence Hobgood and they recorded a demo which got the attention of Bruce Lundvall and a contract with Blue Note Records. Elling and Hobgood still work together today. Elling's 1995 debut CD Close Your Eyes was nominated for a Grammy. He recorded six albums for Blue Note and then moved to Concord Jazz in 2007. Nightmoves was his first CD for Concord. Elling wrote And We Will Fly with Phil Galdston and Alan Pasqua. Galdston is a veteran songwriter who co-wrote the 1992 Vanessa Williams hit Save The Best For Last. Pianist Pasqua was a founding member of Giant. In recent years he has turned to jazz and works a lot with drummer Peter Erskine. Musicians are Laurence Hobgood on piano, Willie Jones III on drums, Christian McBride on bass, Rob Mounsey on electric piano and Guilherme Monteiro on guitar. The harmonica solo is by Gregoire Maret from Switzerland. Nightmoves is available as a budget CD. After several nominations, Elling finally won a Best Jazz Vocal Grammy for the 2009 CD Dedicated To You. His latest CD 1619 Broadway-The Brill Building Project was released last year. Kurt Elling is currently on tour. He is married with one daughter. Here is Kurt Elling performing and We Will Fly at the 2007 Montreal Jazz Festival. The harmonica solo is by Howard Levy of Bela Fleck & The Flecktones.

Review of The Ultimate Fighter 18 episode 7

Here's the video for episode 7 of The Ultimate Fighter 18. Unfortuntely, the guy who posting episodes to Daily Motion disappeared. So I have to find it someplace else. And this guy likes to upload videos like there is still a ten minute time limit. There isn't. The fight on this show is Josh Hill of Team Tate vs Michael Wooten of Team Rousey. UFC president Dana White was hoping to end the blowups between the two teams. He comes into the gym and finds pictures that he knows will antagonize Ronda Rousey and especially trainer Edmond Tarverdyan. It's a picture of a character from the film Dodgeball and they are using it to irritate Edmond. White is not happy and takes most of the pictures down. But he misses a couple and Anthony Gutierrez finds one and shows it to Ronda and Edmond. Ronda interprets this as racist to Armenians. It's not but it is childish especially when Miesha Tate knew that White didn't want any of this stuff going on. And then Miesha wonders why Ronda gives her the finger instead of shaking her hand after a fight. Well, DUH! We also get to see a couple of Ronda's unorthodox training methods. On to the fight. Josh Hill is a good grappler but he's not a finisher. Michael Wooten prefers standing. Hill takes Wooten down and controls him but doesn't do much. Wooten comes back but Hill wins round one. Wooten nails Hill with a knee at the start of round two and Hill never recovers from that. So we have a tie and a third round. Wooten wins and shows he is a more complete fighter. When Miesha attempts to shake Ronda's hand, she gets the finger again. Ronda explains that she believes Miesha is fake and is just putting on a show for the camera. She won't go along with it. And I don't know why some think she should go along with it. Next week will be a recap show. And in two weeks it will be Peggy Morgan of Team Rousey vs Sarah Moras of Team Tate and Anthony Gutierrez of Team Rousey vs Cody Bollinger of Team Tate.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-W. Lee O'Daniel & His Hillbilly Boys

Artist:W. Lee O'Daniel & His Hillbilly Boys
Song:There'll Be Some Changes Made
Album:Southern Style Western Swing





W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel was a very important figure in the early days of Western Swing. He went on to be Governor of Texas and a US Senator. He was born Mar. 11, 1890 in Malta, OH and grew up on a cattle ranch in Kansas. He worked in flour milling and in 1925 he went to work for Burris Mills in Fort Worth, TX. O'Daniel was put in charge of the company's radio advertising and he thought music was a good way to promote the company's products. The band was called The Light Crust Doughboys after the company's Light Crust Flour. Milton Brown and Bob Wills were among the original members of the band in 1931. a lot of great Western Swing musicians went through that band but O'Daniel is the guy who started it. In 1935, O'Daniel left Burris and started his own company W. Lee O'Daniel Flour Co. The brand was Hillbilly Flour. And he started the band W. Lee O'Daniel & His Hillbilly Boys. The band was led by his son Pat O'Daniel and his other son Mike was in it too. Leon McAuliffe was among the musicians who went through the band. They had a very popular 15 minute radio show which included Pappy O'Daniel's preaching the Bible. They recorded for Okeh and There'll Be Some Changes Made is on this various artists CD from the Dutch label Southern Style. The singer is one time Bob Wills vocalist Leon Huff. Other members when this was recorded in June 1937 were Pat O'Daniel on banjo, Mike O'Daniel and Caroll Hubbard on fiddle, Curly Perrin on guitar and Wallace Griffin on bass. W. Lee O'Daniel is credited as leader but he wasn't a musician so he never played on any of the records. In 1938, O'Daniel used his radio fame to become Governor of Texas. In 1941, he beat Lyndon Johnson to become a US Senator. Apparently he wasn't all that effective and he quit in 1948. Attempts to run for Governor of Texas in the 50s were unsuccessful. W. Lee O'Daniel died on May 11, 1969 at age 79. Fans of the 2000 Coen Brothers film O Brother, Where Art Thou will know that Charles Durning played a character based on O'Daniel. Here's a video for There'll Be Some Changes Made by W. Lee O'Daniel & His Hillbilly Boys.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Champs

Artist:The Champs
Song:Tequila
Album:Oldies But Goodies Vol. 7





I think most music fans are familiar with the instrumental classic Tequila but probably don't know much about The Champs. Tequila topped the charts in 1958. But The Champs weren't even a band until the song was a hit. The guy behind The Champs was guitarist Dave Burgess. Burgess was on the fringe of the Los Angeles music scene. Singles he recorded for Okeh and Tampa went nowhere. In 1956, he was working as a DJ in Lancaster, CA and writing songs in search of a publishing deal. His songs got him a house session guitarist job with Challenge Records, a new label owned by legendary singing cowboy Gene Autry. After finishing a session, he had studio time remaining and asked the musicians to help him with a B-side for single he planned to release. The key figure was sax player Danny Flores. He came up with the main riff for Tequila and he played sax on the record. He used the name Chuck Rio because he was under contract to a different record company. Tequila was recorded in ten minutes. It was released as a B-side to Train to Nowhere but DJs flipped it over. And before long Tequila topped the Billboard Hot 100 and sold a million copies. It even won a 1959 Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording. But there still wasn't a band. The name The Champs was after Gene Autry's horse Champion. Burgess formed a touring band with Rio and drummer Gene Alden who both played on the record. And they added guitarist Dale Norris and bassist Joe Burnass. They continued to record but never could repeat the success of Tequila. There are Champs comp CDs available. But I think most fans will only want Tequila and you can get it on this edition of the long running Oldies But Goodies series. Among those who were members of later versions of The Champs were Glen Campbell, Delaney Bramlett and Seals & Crofts. Tequila is considered to be an influential song. And Danny Flores is hailed as The Godfather of Latino Rock. Unfortunately, he sold Tequila many years ago and never got the windfall he deserved. Danny Flores died in 2007. Here are The Champs performing Tequila on the Dick Clark Beech-Nut Show May 1959.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Del Reeves

Artist:Del Reeves
Song:Girl On The Billboard
Album:Road Music: 23 Truckin' Hits





Girl On The Billboard was the only number one country hit for Del Reeves in 1965. He is not related to Jim Reeves. These kind of truck driving songs were very popular in the 60s. He was born Franklin Delano Reeves July 14, 1932 in Sparta, NC and yes, he was named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt who had just been nominated for president. Reeves performed locally as a teen and attended Appalachian State College. After a stint in the US Air Force, Reeves moved to Sacramento, CA. He was a regular on The Chester Smith Show and then moved to Nashville in 1961. Reeves recorded for Decca, Reprise and Columbia before signing with United Artists in 1965. Girl On The Billboard was his first single for United Artists and it topped the Country Singles chart in 1965. The song was written by Hank Mills and Walter Haynes. Haynes was a steel guitarist who probably played on this recording session. Mills was a lyricist who worked with a lot of songwriting partners. Reeves never topped the charts again but he had several top ten hits. There are no decent Del Reeves comps available. His UA recordings are owned by Capitol. Beware of comps with re-recordings. This various artists CD of truck songs was released by TeeVee Records in 1978 and released on CD in 1994. Reeves also appeared in several films including the 1969 western Sam Whiskey starring Burt Reynolds. He also hosted the TV show Del Reeves Country Carnival. In 1979, Reeves semi-retired from recording and touring and became a record executive. He apparently introduced Billy Ray Cyrus to Mercury Records exec Harold Shedd and then sued Cyrus for a percentage. Del Reeves performed occasionally usually on the Grand Ole Opry until his death Jan. 1, 2007 at age 74. Here's Del Reeves performing Girl On The Billboard on The Jimmy Dean Show 1965.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Anna Karina

Artist:Anna Karina
Song:Roller Girl
Album:Best of Pop a Paris: Psyche-Rock et Minijupes




Danish born actress Anna Karina moved to France in the late 50s and became famous for her marriage to legendary film director Jean-Luc Godard and appearing in his films. But she also had success singing with legendary French badboy Serge Gainsbourg in the late 60s. Roller Girl is one of the songs she recorded in 1967. She was born Hanne Karin Bayer Sept. 22, 1940 in Solbjerg, Denmark. She bounced between her parents, grandparents and foster care and started singing in clubs as a teen. After an argument with her mother, she hitchhiked to Paris in 1958. She lived on the streets for a while. But a photographer spotted her and brought her to Pierre Cardin and Coco Chanel. Chanel hired her to model and gave her the name Anna Karina. Jean-Luc Godard saw her in a Palmolive ad. She was in a bathtub covered in suds. He offered her a role in his debut film Breathless but Anna refused to appear nude. He didn't realize she was wearing a bathing suit under the suds. Anna did appear in Godard's 1960 film Le Petit Soldat and they married while shooting the 1961 film A Woman Is A Woman. Their relationship was rocky and they divorced in 1965 though she continued to appear in his films. Anna also appeared in Jacques Rivette's 1966 film The Nun and Luchino Visconti's 1967 film The Stranger. It was around this time she met Serge Gainsbourg and he wrote the 1967 film Anna for her. The film was directed by Pierre Koralnik and also starred Gainsbourg, Jean-Claude Brialy and Marianne Faithful. Anna performed Roller Girl in the film. The film aired on French TV and Roller Girl was a big hit. You can get it on this 2CD budget CD Best of Pop a Paris from the series released by Universal France. After that, Anna returned to films. She didn't record again until 2005. Anna Karina has had a long film career in France. It looks like she could have done more with music if she chose to do so. Here's Anna Karina performing Roller Girl in the 1967 film Anna.
Anna Karina - Rollergirl from Georg Best on Myspace.

Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Ashlee Evans-Smith vs Fallon Fox

Here is the fight video of Ashlee Evans-Smith vs Fallon Fox from Saturday's CFA show. Of course the controversy about Fallon Fox is she is transgender and should she be allowed to fight women. I agree with medical experts who know the fight business that she should have been tested before being approved to fight women. The transgender advocates who don't like that position don't know the fight business. The problem was Fallon's transgender status was discovered by accident and she had no intention of revealing that to potential opponents. Not even the promoter knew. No matter what she and her scumbag manager say, that kind of deception is not acceptable. She became a cause celebre for politically correct dopes. And she was the odds on favourite going into this fight. But I saw in her last fight that Fallon had trouble with a fighter who she should have beaten easily. She was having trouble with her gas tank. So I thought a more accomplished fighter would have a good chance of beating her. And Ashlee is a four time All American wrestler. In the first round, Fallon makes the mistake of not respecting that and she ends up on the bottom. She does come back and scores with knees. But Ashlee takes her down again. I scored round one 10-9 Ashlee. Ashlee did the same thing in round two and Fallon was saved by the bell. The ref messed up. He didn't hear the bell. I scored round two 10-9 Ashlee. Fallon tried to take Ashlee down in round three but the main reason Ashlee was winning this fight was her superior wrestling skills. And this time Ashlee got in a good ground and pound position and the ref stopped the fight. Ashlee Evans-Smith wins by TKO. You will notice the idiot in Fallon's corner was whining about the stoppage. The stoppage was fine. She wasn't getting out of that and she was losing anyway. Maybe the lack of respect for Ashlee and stupid arrogance led to Fallon's loss. Instead of whining about nothing, eat some humble pie and show some sportsmanship. Fallon Fox is someone who thought she could use deception to sneak into women's MMA. But it turns out she's not as good as she thinks she is. The first time she faces an accomplished fighter, she loses. I guess it surprised a lot of people. But not me. Enjoy the video!

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Brian Hyland

Artist:Brian Hyland
Song:Sealed With A Kiss
Album:Greatest Hits





Brian Hyland was still a teenager when he had two really big hits in the early 60s. Like a lot of artists of that era, his career was killed by The Beatles and he turned to country music. Today he tours the oldies circuit. He was born Nov. 12, 1943 in Woodhaven, Queens, NY and he grew up singing in church. As a teen, Hyland and his doo wop group The Delfis couldn't get a record deal. But in 1959, Hyland signed with Sammy Kaye's label Kapp Records. When his first single Rosemary went nowhere, Kapp hired Brill Building songwriters Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance to write a song for Hyland. They came up with the novelty song Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. It topped the charts in 1960. So Brian Hyland was a pop star at age 16. The song was used in the 1961 James Cagney film One Two Three. When his second single Clickety Clack Song didn't do as well, Hyland left Kapp for ABC Records to work with the songwriting and production team of Gary Geld and Peter Udell. After Hyland's first few ABC singles didn't catch on, he finally struck gold again when Sealed With A Kiss reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. The song was recorded by The Four Voices in 1960 and it was also a hit for Bobby Vinton in 1972 and for Jason Donovan in 1989. But I think most would agree that Hyland's recording is the most memorable version of the song. With the British Invasion taking over the music scene in the mid-60s, Hyland turned to country music and producer Snuff Garrett. The Joker Went Wild was a top 20 hit in 1966. Then he recorded for UNI Records and had a top five hit in 1970 with his cover of the Curtis Mayfield classic Gypsy Woman produced by Del Shannon. You can get all his hits on this budget comp. Hyland moved to New Orleans in the late 70s and continues to tour the oldies circuit today. Here's Brian Hyland performing Sealed With A Kiss on Hollywood A Go Go 1965.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Barbara Stephens

Artist:Barbara Stephens
Song:Wait A Minute
Album:Wait A Minute: The Stax & Satellite Story




Barbara Stephens recorded a few singles in the early days of Stax Records. None of them were hits so she went on to be a backup singer until she retired in the early 70s. She was born Boysa Stephens Nov. 1, 1939 in Atlanta. She grew up singing in church. As a teen, she was in The Gardenias. Then she was the featured singer at The Royal Peacock, the largest black nightclub in Atlanta. Then she joined The Deltones not to be confused with a different 50s girl group also called The Deltones. It appears that this group called The Deltones were touring backup singers for big name acts and I don't think they ever recorded. In 1961, Barbara was spotted by producer Chips Moman and he brought her to Memphis to record for Satellite Records. Satellite would soon change their name to Stax because there was already a Satellite Records in California. Moman worked for Stax in their early days and produced the Carla Thomas hit Gee Whiz. He left Stax in 1964 and has had a long career in Memphis and Nashville. Barbara's first single The Life I Live was notable for two reasons. It was the first songwriting credit for Stax singer songwriter producer David Porter. And the single was first released on Satellite and when the name was changed to Stax, it was the first single released on Stax Records. Wait A Minute was Barbara's second single. She wrote that song. She recorded three singles and none of them went anywhere. You can get it on this 2CD budget CD. I'm sure Stax used Barbara as a studio singer for a while but she left and went back to being a touring backup singer. After touring with Joe Tex in the early 70s, Barbara Stephens retired from music to start a family. Now she only sings in the church choir. Here's a video for Wait A Minute by Barbara Stephens.

Two fights added to Nov. 4 DEEP JEWELS show

Megumi Sugimoto, Sachiko Fujimori

DEEP JEWELS announced two more matches have been added to the Nov. 4 Shinjuku FACE show. Of course this show is headlined by a Lightweight Championship tournament and Ham Seo Hee defending her DEEP JEWELS Flyweight Championship against Sadae Manhoef. The most interesting of the two matches will have two relative newcomers facing off. It will be Megumi Sugimoto vs Sachiko Fujimori. Both won their debuts at the Aug. 31 DEEP JEWELS show. Sugimoto is very interesting because she trains with Megumi Fujii at AACC. She won the 2011 and 2012 All Japan Student Wrestling Championship at 51kg. So that means she can wrestle and she has the best trainer. That's gotta be good. Fujimori trains at Brightness Monma. She won her debut in 49 seconds with a rear naked choke. DEEP JEWELS is selling this as a showdown between promising rookies. But they seem to be more excited about the much younger Sugimoto. The other fight has grizzled veteran Yukiko Seki facing the returning Madoka Ebihara. Seki trains at Fightchix. Her record is 11-23 and she lost to Yasuko Tamada at the last DEEP JEWELS show. At age 42, she is obviously not a prospect. Ebihara trains at Paraestra Kashiwa. Her record is 4-3. She is returning to MMA after a four year break. Her last fight was a loss to Sugi Rock on the Oct. 24, 2009 Valkyrie show. So obviously DEEP JEWELS matchmaker Yasuko Mogi knows Ebihara. Seki is a good test for Ebihara's return. If she is halfway decent she could add some much needed depth to the Flyweight division. Stay tuned for more additions to this show.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Willie Nelson

Artist:Willie Nelson f/Merle Haggard
Song:Pancho & Lefty
Album:The Essential Willie Nelson





Willie Nelson didn't become a big star until Waylon Jennings made him a country music outlaw in the mid-70s. After that success, he finally had some solo hits like Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain, Georgia on My Mind and others. In the 80s, Nelson became the king of duets. His 1983 album with Merle Haggard and single Pancho & Lefty dominated country music for a year. It's funny because if you listen to the album, it doesn't seem like Haggard is participating very much. Nelson did very well with albums he recorded with Leon Russell and then Ray Price. Though Haggard was a country music legend, he wasn't as successful in the late 70s as he was in the 60s. This was partly because Haggard moved from Capitol Records to MCA and his MCA albums did OK but not as good as his Capitol albums. So Haggard signed with Epic in 1981 and his first Epic album Big City was certified Gold. Nelson was already on Epic and decided he wanted to record with Haggard. So in 1982 Nelson brought Haggard to his recording studio in Texas. The album Pancho & Lefty was recorded in five days. Both guys were night owls and liked working into the wee hours of the morning. Apparently Nelson wanted to record Always On My Mind with Haggard but Haggard didn't like the song. Of course later that would become Nelson's signature song. Pancho & Lefty was written by legendary Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt and recorded by Emmylou Harris on her 1977 album Luxury Liner. Nelson's daughter Lana suggested Pancho & Lefty and brought the Luxury Liner album so the guys could listen to it. They liked it. Nelson recorded most of the song solo at 3AM in the morning. He woke Haggard up to have him sing his verse. That's why Haggard sounds a little sleepy. He thought they were going to re-record his part in the morning but they didn't. Both the single and the album topped the charts in 1983 and the album was certified Platinum. You can get it on this 2CD Willie Nelson comp. It revived Haggard's career and he had a string of country chart toppers in the mid-80s. Of course Nelson was also very successful. They recorded a second album together Seashores Of Old Mexico in 1987 and the two also recorded Last Of The Breed with Ray Price in 2007. Here's the video for Pancho & Lefty by Willie Nelson featuring Merle Haggard.

Invicta announces main card for Dec. 7

Invicta announced the main card for Dec. 7 at the Ameristar Casino in Kansas City. This will be available on PPV. The interesting thing is there are three title matches on this show and they haven't announced prelims yet. So the likelihood that this show will run longer than previous shows is pretty good. The problem with that is when a show runs too long, you run the risk of tiring out the live crowd and they have nothing left for the end of the show. Supposedly they are going to run 8-10 shows in 2014. Whether they can afford to do that without a TV deal is another story. A broadcaster wouldn't let them run shows this long. They only want two hours of airtime. So with three matches possibly going five rounds each, that's an hour and a half. This show could run to 3AM. And there are a couple of announced matches that maybe should be prelims. I see a couple of attempts at women's MMA nostalgia that I could live without. The main event will have Barb Honchak defending her Invicta Flyweight Championship against Leslie Smith. Barb wasn't all that impressive in her first title defence and Leslie just dropped from 135 to 125. Leslie prefers standing but she can handle herself on the ground. Carla Esparza will defend her Invicta Strawweight Championship against Claudia Gadelha. Because Claudia is dropping from 125 to 115, she should have a strength advantage. The other title match will be in Bantamweight between Lauren Taylor and Miriam Nakamoto. Invicta keeps losing 135lb fighters to the UFC. In fact Miriam was offered a UFC contract but that would prevent her from continuing in kickboxing. I understand that she wants to do both but I think most would agree that is a poor career decision. I expect this fight to be a kickboxing match. Neither of these fighters has much of a ground game and Miriam is a really good kickboxer. Invicta's 135lb roster is always going to be thin. So then we have a couple of Strawweight fights, Felice Herrig vs Tecia Torres and Joanne Calderwood vs Katja Kankaanpaa. Last time out, Tecia got a big win over Rose Namajunas and I think she's a better fighter than Felice though Felice is better known because she's a really good self promoter. Joanne is primarily known as a striker. Katja is an interesting opponent because she has a pretty good jiu jitsu game. It could be interesting if she takes Joanne down. The first few matches on the main card aren't as interesting. Julia Budd will face Charmaine Tweet to determine Cris Cyborg's next victim. The 145lb weight class is very thin. Zoila Gurgel will face Vanessa Porto. The loser gets a one way trip to Palookaville. In a women's MMA nostalgia match, Kelly Kobold will face Tonya Evinger. I would have been interested in seeing this in 2007. But not today. Kelly hasn't fought since Apr. 2011 and her last significant fight was a loss to Gina Carano on a 2008 EliteXC show. I know she was doing lingerie football for a while. We saw Tonya recently in the TUF tryouts. At least she has been  more active than Kelly. The other match has Munah Holland vs Nina Ansaroff. Munah is a championship boxer but is a work in progress in MMA because she has no ground game. Nina is 5-3 but has never fought on a national show. She won her last fight in Brazil in June. The one name not on this show is Cris Cyborg. Supposedly Invicta was trying to find her an opponent at 155lb. I guess they couldn't find an opponent but it was a dumb idea anyway. Remember they haven't announced any prelims yet so if you're going to the show, take a pillow so you can be comfortable for hours.

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Christopher Cross

Artist:Christopher Cross
Song:Sailing
Album:The Very Best Of Christopher Cross




In the early 80s, singer songwriter Christopher Cross had a ridiculous amount of success with his 1979 debut album. Sailing was the biggest of those hits. But by the mid-80s he seemed to fall off the face of the earth and is a regular topic on Whatever Happened To. He was born Christopher Geppert May 3, 1951 in San Antonio, TX. His father was a pediatrician in the US Army and Cross grew up in Washington, DC. His dad was pediatrician for President Eisenhower's grandchildren. Cross moved back to San Antonio and led a local cover band before signing with Warner Bros. in 1979. He wrote all the songs on his debut album. It was produced by Michael Omartian. Omartian was a Los Angeles session musician who was just becoming an in demand producer. The success of Chtistopher Cross really took him to a new level. The first single Ride Like The Wind reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Sailing topped the chart. The album Christopher Cross was certified 5XPlatinum and was the biggest selling album of 1980. It won the Album Of The Year Grammy. Cross also won Best New Artist and Sailing won Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Arrangement. he was the first artist to win all four major Grammys and no one has done it since. It was all downhill from there. Cross' other number one hit was the theme from the 1981 film Arthur but that was a very successful film. He also had a top ten hit in 1984 with Think Of Laura which was played a lot on the daytime soap General Hospital. By his 1985 album Every Turn of the World, Cross had dropped off the charts and he left Warner Bros. in 1988. You can get all his hits on this budget comp. So what happened? Why did he fade that quickly? I dunno. I didn't like him much. I didn't like his voice or his songs. So I'm not sure why he was popular in the first place. His music seemed to appeal to the Easy Listening market and that is a significant audience. But why didn't they keep buying his records? Maybe Christopher Cross' early 80s run was one big fluke. He's still around. Cross' latest release was a 2CD live set A Night In Paris earlier this year on his own label. I guess he's a nostalgia act now. But he was big for a couple of years. Here's Christopher Cross performing Sailing 1980.

Review of The Ultimate Fighter 18 episode 6

Here's the video for episode 6 of The Ultimate Fighter 18. The match on this show has Jessamyn Duke of Team Rousey vs Raquel Pennington of Team Tate. The UFC liked the fight so much they wanted to concentrate on the fight so there is very little drama on this episode. The boredom level in the house is so high that Julianne Pena talks Raquel and Sarah Moras into letting her dress them up to look like hookers. Of course they look ridiculous but I guess that's the point. Everyone watches the fights at a pool party. There was no drama but Jessamyn stays behind. She says she wouldn't normally go out the night before a fight so she wasn't going to do it now. She also said she could have been a model but didn't like it much. She could do both things. Money is money. When everyone gets home, Anthony Gutierrez acts like a drunken idiot while the girls are trying to sleep. They turn the tables on him the next morning. Neither of these fighters has much of a ground game. Both prefer to stand. So the fight was a stand up war as expected. And it was very close. In the past, I have noticed that Raquel is a counterpuncher and that's what she does in round one. Jessamyn initiates more of the action. She is particularly effective with a front kick to get distance followed by a clinch. She also had a standing guillotine for a while. So I gave round one to Jessamyn. Between rounds, Miesha Tate tells Raquel to be more aggressive and do more than counterpunching. That was very good advice and Raquel actually did that and won round two. But where were Jessamyn's front kicks to set up the clinch? She stopped doing that. I thought the tide had turned and Raquel carried that momentum into the third round and I thought she won decisively. I think both will get UFC contracts. I enjoyed the fight but I'm going to be a little contrary. It was a glorified kickboxing match and it's funny how fans always seem to enjoy that more than grappling or jiu jitsu. Throw in the standing guillotine and I guess we could call it Shoot Boxing. But don't you think one successful takedown with a submission attempt or ground and pound would have tipped the scales in favour of one of them? But neither of them is any good at that. They will have to work on that stuff because other fighters are good at that. So afterwards, Miesha attempts to shake hands with Team Rousey and Ronda tells her to take a hike. So the usual idiots are whining that Ronda is a poor loser. Well, DUH! Why is anyone surprised? She also thinks that Miesha is full of crap. Next week's episode will have Josh Hill of Team Tate vs Michael Wooten of Team Rousey. And it looks like Dana White tires of Team Tate's baiting. Enjoy the video!
UFC The Ultimate Fighter S18E06 - Full Show (HQ) by WrestlingVidsUploaderHQv2

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.