Can I Win The Stuffed Balloon?

Thanks, Homer.

Yep, Tuesday was my birthday. Both Jay and my mom seem to think I turned 40 this year. They're kidding. I think.

I'm not quite to 40 yet, although after chasing around two young girls all day and night, I feel a lot older than 40!

The girls I'm chasing are my daughters, Megan (turning nine next month) and Sarah (turning three), not two random young girls. Although, if I was chasing around two random young -- but, legal -- girls, I'd probably feel a lot younger than 40.

But I'm digressing, and regressing. Not to mention, digging myself quite a big hole, so let me take off my South Carolina governor's hat for a minute, and finish the post.

I had a great birthday, spread out over a couple of different days, celebrating with my folks this past weekend, and with my family on Tuesday.

Nice gifts, great food and beverage, plus plenty of laughs and good times.

You may have noticed that the amount of blogging, and perhaps the quality, has been cut back a bit over the last few weeks. There's a very good reason for that, which you'll find out about soon.

Show Biz: Monday 06/22/09

*** During the birthday segment -- as we recognized Kevin Schramm's birthday from Sunday -- we discovered a very entertaining sound clip from Kev.

Kind of a groan that sounds filled with anguish. Hard to explain.

Keep listening, as it will most likely make a return appearance soon.

And often.



*** Gary Beers from INXS had a birthday today, so we featured one of my favorite pop hits of the 80's during the birthday segment, "What You Need".





*** Lou Gramm is most recognized as the lead singer for Foreigner, but it was one of his solo songs that was featured today on the 80's Escape.

"Midnight Blue" -- which has an incredibly toe-tapping hook to open the song -- was a hit for Lou back in 1987.

The only decent video I could find was this clip from The Today Show, with Jay Leno!

Show Biz: Thursday 06/18/09

*** Paul McCartney is turning 67 today. Did I need to put "Sir" in front of his name?

Oh well.

We delved a little deep into Macca's collection of hits for the birthday segment, and gave you "Listen To What The Man Said" from his days with Wings.





*** The Nineties Nugget From The Newsroom was "Out Of My Head" from the group Fastball, who enjoyed success with several hits at the end of the decade, but then seemed to disappear.

They're still together, but, obviously haven't been able to recapture any of their original success.

Their debut album, which featured their three most popular songs, went platinum. The followup album? 85,000 copies sold.

Yikes.

Thhe Moosst Commmonly Misssspelled Worrds

Spelling isn't a priority in this age of texting and Twittering, but a new survey of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language reveals a list of terms that have probably never seen the light of day on a text or a tweet.

OnePoll.com recently surveyed five thousand people and found the top ten most misspelled words. They are:

1. Definitely
2. Sacrilegious
3. Indict
4. Maneuver
5. Bureaucracy
6. Broccoli
7. Phlegm
8. Prejudice
9. Consensus
10. Unnecessary

Now we need a list of the most commonly -- and purposely? -- mispronounced words. The one at the top of my list that makes me want to put my fist through a wall, or at least into a pillow, everytime I hear it...Supposably

Show Biz: Friday 06/12/09

*** Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick is having a birthday today, and with it being Flashback Friday, the tune "Surrender" was the perfect choice.

Just as it was for Conan O'Brien's cross-country run from New York to L.A. to get ready for the Tonight Show gig.

Show Biz: Tuesday 06/09/09

*** As you know by now, I'm back from my weekend with the boys in Ohio. Nobody got arrested, and everybody made it back safe and sound.

While most of the guys were eager to hit the night spots at Put-In-Bay each of our two evenings, the treat for me was having Friday night, and all day Saturday with no major responsibilities, other than helping to make sure the fridge or cooler of choice was properly stocked.

There were several guys on the trip -- out of the 18 total -- that are married with kids, and a lot of our enjoyment was just having the time, and freedom, to sit on the deck of our cabin and waste away a Saturday, reading a magazine, staring at ladies at the pool, playing bags, staring at ladies at the pool, and staring at ladies at the pool.

It was a fun weekend, but I'll admit, it was nice to get back home.



*** Jay's choice today for the Nineties Nugget From The Newsroom was "Freshmen" by the Verve Pipe.

Back On Monday

Hey gang. Sorry, I'm a day or two behind on posting. It's been a bit crazy the last few days, so, my apologies.

Just a couple of things for ya...

*** Don't forget to tune in this weekend to the sister station, 103.1 FM, WCSJ for coverage of the Coal City Lady Coalers at state. This is the first time the softball team has made it this far.

Coverage begins today at about 4:15pm, with the first pitch at 4:30 against Stanford Olympia. We'll have more on today's game, and a preview of Saturday's game during Spotlight On Sports tomorrow at 9:00am.

I've had these two vacation days -- today and tomorrow -- set in stone for months now, so I won't be on the call. Jay will get the chance to bring home a champion.

With the way Kirsten Verdun is pitching, I wouldn't bet against them.

If betting on high school sports was legal, of course.



*** Yesterday's Nineties Nugget From The Newsroom was the 1995 mega-hit from Oasis, "Wonderwall".





*** As for me this weekend, I'm headed off to a bachelor party for one of my best friends, Brian, who is getting married in July.

Here's the video of him proposing to his longtime girlfriend at the end of an ABC7 10pm newscast last spring.



I've known Brian since junior high, and the two of us have shared many a laugh over the years, poking fun at just about everything in the pop culture world, and spending a lot of our chats and conversations rehashing all the silly things we've done over the years.

When I play back my feeble attempts at play-by-play at Blackhawk games from my earlier years, Brian was usually right there next to me.

His is the voice yelling "Shoot it!" in one of the clips.

The bachelor party is in Ohio, and we leave this morning and get back Sunday. There will probably be between 15-20 guys in attendance. Hopefully, we all make it back.

Don't worry, I've left all of my auto-erotic asphyxiation equipment at home.

Not sure if Norm will think to play a little INXS for the 80's Escape in honor of the passing of David Carradine, who appears to have died the same way Michael Hutchence did.

At the very least, our first beverage of the trip should be a "Grasshopper".

Show Biz: Tuesday 06/02/09

*** Charlie Watts, drummer of the Rolling Stones has a birthday today.

Watts is one of the only drummers I've seen that while playing a simple 4/4 beat, would not hit the hi-hat when hitting the snare drum.

Not sure the significance of that, just thought I'd share.

We featured a Stones' classic from the 70's at the end of the birthday segment, "Miss You."





*** The Nineties Nugget From The Newsroom debuted today -- it will air again Thursday morning at 7:50am -- and the first song chosen was "Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum.





*** For the 80's Escape, we played something from The Bangles.

Their bass player -- Michael Steele -- turns 55 today, and our song of choice was their 1988 hit, "Hazy Shade Of Winter."

Nineties Nugget

We debut a new musical feature today, the Nineties Nugget From The Newsroom.

The segment -- in the tradition of the 80's Escape -- will feature a popular song from the nineties that you don't normally hear on WJDK.

Jay is choosing the songs, although that doesn't necessarily mean they are all favorites of his. So, if you hear "Achy, Breaky Heart", don't assume it's straight from Jay's personal mix tape. Not saying it didn't come from there...just sayin'.

Don't worry, you (most likely) won't be hearing Billy Ray, or Vanilla Ice, or the Spice Girls. There will (most likely) be no "Macarena", or "The Thong Song", or "Rico Suave".

The goal is to simply play a song that was popular when it came out, could pass as a regular song on the 'JDK playlist, and is entertaining to listen to - for you, and us.

We're going to do the segment two days a week: Tuesday at 7:20am, and Thursday at 7:50am.

If you have a suggestion for a song you'd like to hear, send it here.

Show Biz: Monday 06/01/09

*** Alanis Morissette turns 35 today. For some reason, we don't play any of her songs on WJDK - until today.

At the end of the birthday segment, we brought out her 1996 hit, "Head Over Feet."






*** It's always a treat when we have an excuse to play some Air Supply on the show -- if only because it reminds Jay and I of the hilarious infomercial that we always mimic while their songs are playing -- and for the 80's Escape today, we played "The One That You Love" on Graham Russell's (the blond one) birthday.



This video always makes me thirsty for some lemonade...