Show Biz: Tuesday 03/31/09

*** Anytime you can get two Huey Lewis and the News songs on the show, especially ones that we don't play all the time, it's a good day.

The reason for the double-dip today...Sean Hopper's birthday. He's the keyboard player for the band.

First up, during the birthday segment, we featured "I Want A New Drug".





*** For the 80's Escape, the choice was "Walking On A Thin Line"





*** One more clip for you: Earlier in today's show we told you the story of the dumb criminal that attempted to break into a bank with a backhoe.

I joked that maybe he wasn't trying to steal any money, but he was just doing it because he always wanted to become a banker. A not-too-subtle reference -- among our many -- to a Seinfeld episode.

Whenever a bank, or a banker is mentioned now, the first thought for Jay and I is the classic Newman scene where he's trying to get Kramer to go along with a made up story about Kramer's desire to be a banker to help get Newman out of a speeding ticket.

Show Biz: Monday 03/30/09

*** A lot of birthday song options today: Celine Dion, Tracy Chapman, Norah Jones, and even M.C. Hammer are all celebrating birthdays today.

But, for me, the clear choice was Eric Clapton. "Slowhand" turns 64 today. Unfortunately I left several of my Clapton CD's at the compound, so my choices were limited.

The song I chose is one of his underrated hits of the late 70's, "Promises".

Now, I looked long and hard for a proper music video of the song, but what I've found is ten times better, and 100 times creepier.

I present this fine video of a flabby middle-aged dude jumping rope to the song.

This is the type of video that is found at a man's house after he's been arrested for soliciting a minor.

Enjoy.




*** One of the best albums of 1989 was Journeyman by Clapton. The lead track is "Pretending", and it was the choice today for the 80's Escape.

This video -- which includes no jump roping -- is from a concert from Argentina.




*** Thanks to the folks at Rent-A-Center for having us do a broadcast at their grand opening Saturday.

We gave away a bunch of prizes at the store on Route 6 in Morris, and each of the station employees there did a nice job containing ourselves to just one plate of food.

I Love College Basketball!

Turns out I've won our office pool. How 'bout that?!

Just a week or so ago, I crumpled up my bracket printout on the air because my surprise final four team -- Wake Forest -- got bounced in the first round, as did Florida St., the team I had upsetting Pitt in the sweet 16.

Well, fortunately, my other final four teams survived and made it to next weekend. Thankfully, nobody else picked Villanova to get this far, and I'm the only one that has UConn making the title game, although that is moot at this point.

Villanova beating Pitt eliminated several from contention -- including Jay -- and when Louisville lost yesterday to Michigan State (I had Louisville getting bounced in the 3rd round by, ahem, Wake Forest), that made me the winner.

The best part, since I had North Carolina beating Villanova to get to -- and win -- the championship game, with the pool already sewn up, I can just go ahead and root for 'Nova (my team, since they're from Philly).

I love college basketball!

Show Biz: Friday 03/27/09

*** Mariah Carey is turning 39 today. Our birthday segment song was her 1995 hit, "Fantasy".

I can't seem to find an embeddable clip of the actual video, but the audio of the song is below.




*** One of the members of INXS -- Andrew Farriss -- turns 50 today.

I'm not sure INXS gets/got the credit they deserved for creating such accessible, fun music back in the era of cheesy synth pop and hair bands.

They gave us a slew of fun, catchy, cool sounding songs, while lead singer Michael Hutchence taught the world a valuable lesson about the dangers of auto-erotic asphyxiation.

Here's one of their bigger hits of the 80's, and a song we featured on Friday's 80's Escape, "Need You Tonight"

A Supply Of Air

After talking about it again yesterday, it seemed appropriate to post the Air Supply video for you to enjoy.

We've referenced this many times on the show, usually when an Air Supply song makes its way onto the show: Jay stumbled upon this infomercial months ago, featuring the dudes from Air Supply, selling a soft rock CD.

Besides the banter, and occasional unplugged interludes, the funniest part of this may just be that darned pitcher of lemonade.

Whenever an Air Supply song plays on 'JDK, Jay and I usually seek out one another, and mimic the pouring of a glass of lemonade.

Somewhere, Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell are smiling.



If you're really feeling adventurous (i.e., bored), the entire infomercial is available as well. Here is part one, part two, and part three.

You don't even have to thank me.

The clip at the top of this post, and many other of our faves, are available on the Mike and Jay Youtube channel that we've created.

Show Biz: Thursday 03/26/09

*** On Diana Ross' birthday today, we played "I'm Coming Out" during the birthday segment.

The song was written in part by Nile Rodgers, legendary guitarist and producer. Since I couldn't find a good video of Diana singing the song, check out this clip of Rodgers explaining how the song came about.




*** Steven Tyler is 61 today. Back in 1989, Aerosmith released the album Pump, which featured the song that we played today on the 80's Escape, "Janie's Got A Gun".

Show Biz: Wednesday 03/25/09

*** Elton John turns 62 today. During the birthday segment, it wasn't a question that we were going to play an Elton song -- although, it's also Aretha Franklin's birthday, but, Elton is more of a 'JDK staple -- it was simply a question of what we would play.

With a career as long and successful as Elton's, how do you pick just one song?

I wanted to go with something non-80's (so I could save an 80's tune for the 80's Escape), and his 70's work is too strong to ignore in favor of some of his 90's or '00's work.

Truth be told, I had "Rocket Man" cued up and ready to go, but our birthday segment ran about a minute too long, so I made an adjustment on the fly -- I am a professional disc jockey, after all -- and went with another 70's classic, and one that we don't play hardly ever, which made it an even better choice, "The Border Song".

Check out this 1970 live performance...




*** For the 80's Escape, I chose one of my favorite Elton songs, although it's associated with one of the worst days in music history, the assassination of John Lennon.

"Empty Garden" was written shortly after Lennon was gunned down. The two legends had been friends for a number of years, after Lennon had enlisted John for the tune "Whatever Gets You Through The Night".

The two performed the song at an Elton John concert at Madison Square Garden -- the Garden in "Empty Garden" -- in 1974. It turned out to be Lennon's last stage performance.

Here's the "Empty Garden" video, with a replica of The Dakota building -- where Lennon was shot -- set up next to Elton.

An Ernest Discussion

The topic of Ernest came up this morning, in a roundabout way, as Jay revealed his fondness for the "Ernest" films when he was a kid.

I mentioned that I have never seen an "Ernest" film, but was familiar with the actor -- Jim Varney -- who was also one of the voices in the Toy Story movies.

For some reason, neither of us could remember how the Ernest character came about.

Only because it would have bugged me the rest of the day to not know the answer to this, we looked it up, and, of course, it all started with a series of commercials with Varney portraying the Ernest character.

Problem solved.

Show Biz: Tuesday 03/24/09

*** It isn't every day of the week that we get to celebrate the birthday of a member of Supertramp. But, today isn't just any other day my friends.

Dougie Thomson -- not to be confused with former WJDK morning man, Doug Thompson -- the bass player for Supertramp turns 58 today.

A logical song choice for our birthday segment, "The Logical Song".




*** I was scrolling through my folder of 80' Escape tunes, aimlessly wandering, searching for something that inspired me.

Then, it hit me. Pet Shop Boys!

Show Biz: Monday 03/23/09

*** Chaka Khan celebrated a birthday today, and the undeniably catchy "Feel For You" was the song of choice during the birthday segment.

Since I think we just featured Chaka on an 80's Escape not too long ago, I thought I'd bring you this much more entertaining video of a high school dance, with some of the kids from the school singing the song.

Much more entertaining. Check out the rapper's moves!




*** I was in a Romantics mood this morning, so for the 80's Escape, we played one of my favorite songs -- and videos -- of the 80's, "Talking In Your Sleep".

Doug Evans Resigns As Coach

This was not a big surprise at all, but Seneca head boys basketball coach Doug Evans has resigned.

During an interview with Evans today -- that will air on Spotlight On Sports tomorrow morning at 9:00 am -- he said that this has been in his mind for the last couple of years, and that it was about a 90% certainty during this past season.

It makes sense, with Evans having coached at Seneca for 26 years, amassing 497 wins, a state championship in 2006, and -- what is the most logical tipping point -- his son, Seth, graduating from high school this year.

There's not much more for the coach to accomplish, and now he'll get the chance to follow Seth's college career at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and spend time with his family.

We've been doing "Spotlight On Sports" for over 14 years now -- where has the time gone? -- and Evans was one of the few remaining coaches to have been the head coach with the same team for that entire run. He may have been the last one. It's been so long now, I can't even remember.

Longtime assistant, and former golf coach Jeff Stenzel also resigned.

We'll have more tomorrow, plus part of our spring baseball and softball preview.

Show Biz: Thursday 03/19/09

*** Tough choice today as far as our musical tie-ins. I was pretty much sold on the songs, but wasn't sure which one would go in which place.

I usually save the more schlocky tunes for the birthday segment, so I can get a reaction from Jay. Couple that with the on-the-spot Stevie impression -- the character in Malcolm In The Middle that talked slow -- and it all added up to a playing of "Respect" by Bruce Willis, who has a birthday today.

How is it possible to pick which bad song by an actor is your favorite from the 80's. This one, or "Heartbeat" by Don Johnson? How about "Party All The Time" by Eddie Murphy?

While you stew over those choices, enjoy Bruce -- I mean, Bruno...





*** While we're (somewhat) on the topic of Malcolm In The Middle, I have to take this moment to recognize the brilliance of Bryan Cranston.

The actor, who played Hal -- the dad -- on that show, is continuing his excellent, Emmy Award winning work, as Walt White in season 2 of the terrific Breaking Bad on AMC.

Cranston, who, for Jay and I, will always have a place in our hearts after his many years of quality guest turns on Seinfeld as Tim Whatley, has been so good in this new role, that it's hard to remember him from his comedic roles of the past.

He was a popular character actor in many shows and movies during, and shortly after his run on Seinfeld. Whenever I'd see him pop up in whatever it was, I'd look at my wife with a smile and say, "Hey! It's Tim Whatley!"

My wife was never all that impressed.

Then, Malcolm came along, and Cranston dove so far into that role as wacky, hapless, but always meaning well, Hal, that, even though he looked pretty similar to the Whatley character, there was very little else that connected him to his Seinfeld days, which just allowed me to enjoy his work even more, without being distracted by the fact that "Tim Whatley" was the dad on the very funny Malcolm series.

Cranston was nominated for an Emmy three times for that role, but never won. The actress that played his wife Lois, Jane Kazcmarek, usually got all of the accolades -- and, rightly so -- for her performance, but Cranston was always fearless, and always delivered.

Now, fast forward to his role on Breaking Bad, and it's just a joy to watch him bring it every week as Walt White, the cancer stricken science teacher, who turns to cooking meth to make the money his family will need for their future.

The show is dark, tense, and excellent.



*** When the 80's Escape rolled around today, that left me with the second song that was up for grabs today, "Neutron Dance" by The Pointer Sisters.

Ruth Pointer turns 63 today.

This song was one of the many that we had to dance to in my junior high P.E. class, so, I always wince a bit when I hear this song.

Show Biz: Wednesday 03/18/09

*** Adam Levine of Maroon 5 is turning 30 today.

For the birthday tie-in, we brought you the group's hit collaboration with Rhianna -- a future song on the 'JDK playlist perhaps -- "If I Never See Your Face Again".




*** Irene Cara is 50 today, and that gave us a chance to bring out one of the all-time classics of the 80's.

Cara's 1980 smash hit, "Fame", was the title track for the movie, and subsequent television show -- that I watched religiously -- although the television version was actually sung by Erica Gimpel (Coco).

No, I'm not reciting all this from memory.

Show Biz: Tuesday 03/17/09

*** Happy St. Patrick's Day. Baby Jack Capron is sporting the green this morning.

However you choose to celebrate, be smart about it. Jack, as a matter of fact, will be drinking today -- but not driving.

Not sure exactly what it is he's drinking, but I have confidence that he will be responsible about it.


*** As you can imagine, music from Irish bands are the norm today, so for the birthday tie-in, we featured some U2.

Went off the playlist for you today -- always love doing that -- with one of their big hits from 1991's Achtung Baby, with the song "Mysterious Ways".





*** Sinead O'Connor -- about as Irish as they come -- was our featured artist for the 80's Escape.

You may not remember this song, which is kind of the point with his feature, it was a modest rock hit for O'Connor back in 1989.

We played it fairly regularly at my college station, for whatever that's worth.

The tune is called "Emperor's New Clothes".





*** Of course, it goes without saying, there's no one as Irish as Barack Obama.

Show Biz: Monday 03/16/09

*** Nancy Wilson of Heart turns 55 today. Heart is pretty big -- and I'm not talking about Ann Wilson, but rather popularity -- so we featured them twice today.

For the birthday tie-in, the tune of choice was "Never".




*** At 80's Escape time, we went back to a hit for the band near the end of the decade, "What About Love".

Here's a live version...




*** We had a lot of fun Saturday at Menards as we did a broadcast during their March Madness Sale.

Thanks to the good turnout, we gave away our Rialto Square tickets -- to upcoming Temptations, and Manhattan Transfer shows -- within a few minutes.

Some pictures below, along with partially correct captions...

My first interview with Cassie from the delivery department went a little off the track when I broke into my rendition of "Too Much Heaven" by the Bee Gees.


"Hey young man, I'm looking for a little extra cash...need any help at the lemonade stand this summer?"


Here's me posing with one of our concert ticket winners. For some reason, I never trust that the person taking the picture is able to fit me in the shot, so I awkwardly lean in toward the other person.


After I fell asleep mid-interview, Sarah from the paint department contemplates waking me up by dousing me with a can of Dutch Boy B-18-5 Hydrangea Blue.

Show Biz: Friday 03/13/09

*** I get a kick out of our head honchos in the music department choosing U2 as our artist of the month, when the only songs by the band that we play are "With Or Without You", and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".

You'd think an artist of the month would be a group that has more of its music playing on the station, even if it's only for that month.

Look, I'm a fan of U2, and would welcome the addition of more songs from their discography to our playlist. But, to make them the artist of the month when we don't play any of their songs -- except for their two biggest hits, that if they were human, would be old enough to drink legally in the U.S. -- is a tad humorous.

Following this logic, the next artist of the month will either be R.E.M., or Billy Idol.

So, I tried to do a little better job of representing the "artist of the month" by playing one of their brand new songs during the birthday segment. Bassist Adam Clayton turned 49 today, so we played "Magnificent", which U2 recently performed on the David Letterman show.




*** For the 80's Escape, we brought out some U2 again -- team player that I am -- by playing the song that is probably better known for its video, "Where The Streets Have No Name".

Show Biz: Thursday 03/12/09

*** Sweet Baby James Taylor turns 61 today.

I've always been a big fan of his. He has such a warm sound to his voice. Whenever I hear a James Taylor song, I picture him sitting in some cabin in the winter, sipping on hot chocolate in front of the fireplace.

I prefer picturing him like this, rather then envision what he was like in his early days, strung out on heroin and methadrine, during his two separate bouts with drug problems.

That's going back to the late sixties, so, while not a condonable activity, it's at least a little more understandable given the culture back then.

One good thing that came out of all that, Taylor wrote "Fire and Rain", which is partly in reference to his time spent in psychiatric wards.

For the tie-in, we featured "Shower The People", a typical Taylor song, in that it makes me feel good.




*** In an American Idol shocker last night, Jeff Lockridge was sent packing.

That was fortunate for us though, because we needed Jeff in the newsroom today to fill-in for Jay Capron, who should be back tomorrow.

Jeff, or J-Lo as I like to call him, has been with us in some way or another for a very long time.

Anyone remember the Saturday Student Hour? We used to do that segment back in the early days of WJDK. Every Saturday morning in the 8 o'clock hour, I'd interview a student from each of our area high schools about things going on at the school.

Jeff was one of our representatives from Seneca High School. After hearing his low, booming voice for the first time, it was pretty apparent that a radio gig was at least a possibility for him.

My proudest moment during those segments -- and I'm being sarcastic here -- was when I was talking to one student who was going to be in an upcoming school play.

I mentioned how courageous it was for kids to get on stage in front of their peers, family, etc. and perform either in a play, or a musical. But, if I had only said "courageous."

I was trying to say that it takes a lot of "nerve", or that it takes a lot of "guts". Well, my mind was thrown for a loop, and it came out that "it really takes a lot of nuts to get up on that stage."

Oopsies. Well, at least it was a factually correct statement. It just came out a little different than I had envisioned.


*** Al Jarreau is having a birthday today as well. For the 80's Escape we brought you "We're In This Love Together."

In this live clip, it looks as though Al is dealing with some initial shoulder pain.

You know, it takes a lot of guts, I mean, nerve, oh whatever, you get the idea.

Show Biz: Wednesday 03/11/09

*** Lisa Loeb is celebrating a birthday today. She, and her band Nine Stories, had a hit about 15 years ago with the tune, "Stay", which we played for out tie-in today.




*** Early in the show, Jay and I had a fun discussion about being in a band in high school.

The topic came about after I recalled my Monday night viewing of a Styx concert from a couple of years ago on one of my new favorite cable channels, Palladia.

All the channel shows are music specials, concerts, videos and more. It's outstanding, and it's in high-def.

Now, I'm not a particularly big Styx fan -- I like a few of their songs, but I don't have any of their albums -- but I sat, transfixed for a good thirty minutes or so, watching them perform all of their hits, minus Dennis DeYoung.

One of the treats was watching the keyboard guy (too lazy to look up his name). He was playing on a keyboard that would rotate on stage -- he stood the whole time.

He was real adventurous, too. There were times when he was looking at the crowd, with his back facing the keyboard, still playing his solo. Other times, he'd stand behind the keyboard, and reach his arms back over to the keys, basically playing upside down.

Cool, dude.

Look, no matter how hard you try -- and this guy was using every trick in the book -- it's impossible to make keyboard playing look cool. I know. I play keyboards.

Don't try to look cool, buddy. Grab a chair, sit down, and play. You're never going to surpass the cool look of guitar players, or drummers. And, it's not like he was pulling a Steve Wonder or Elton John, and singing as well.

After Jay and I talked about our respective bands in high school -- a story that included Jay's reference to his dad being in a battle of the bands in high school against a band that included two original members of Styx -- it would have been great for me to drop down a clip of my band for you, but I don't have any of the tapes. Yet.

Many years ago, the drummer in our band came to my house to borrow the cassettes that had all of our songs on it. He never returned, and I lost touch with him for the better part of almost 20 years.

But, through the magic of Facebook -- a site that really is like walking into a time machine -- I've been able to track him down, and he's looking for those tapes as I type this, so audio of my high school garage band (Tempus Fugit) could be hitting the 95.7 FM airwaves soon.

Consider yourself warned.


*** The 80's Escape today featured another person having a birthday, Bobby McFerrin.

I really don't care for his one and only hit, although I played it anyway, but on the blog, I thought I'd change things up a bit, by featuring Darth Vader (or at least a slowed down version of McFerrin's tune) taking a crack at "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

Show Biz: Tuesday 03/10/09

*** Former American Idol winner -- and one of the most successful singers to emerge from the competition -- Carrie Underwood turns 26 today.

Starting this week, we'll be hearing Carrie's version of the Motley Crue song "Home Sweet Home" on Idol elimination shows after that week's loser gets sent packing.

During the birthday segment this morning, we featured a hit for Carrie from a couple of years ago, "Some Hearts."




*** Yesterday was a treat. I had the pleasure of removing a dead skunk from my yard.

A few days ago we had noticed a skunk smell, but it wasn't constant. That happens about 50 times a year usually, right? I thought nothing more about it.

Then, a couple of days ago, I had to walk down the side of our house to get to the backyard when I smelled it again. I stopped, got my skunk detecting radar out and spotted some white and black hair in amongst some leftover leaves from the fall.

I wasn't sure at that time whether Pepe La Pew was still alive, so I tossed a couple of rocks in that direction, and there was no movement.

Great. Dead skunk. After a hopeful call to animal control, I was told that since it was in my yard, it was my responsibility to remove it.

Thanks.

So, after putting a yard bag in one of our backup trash cans, I shoveled up Pepe, dumped him into the bag, tied it tight, and tossed his body into the Hudson River. Well, not quite.



*** It's always nice when an artist that enjoyed success in the 80's has a birthday. It makes selecting 80's Escape tunes so much easier.

Today, Edie Brickell cooperated. The 43-year old had a big hit back in 1989 with her band, New Bohemians.

The tune, "What I Am".

Here's Edie performing the song on Letterman

Photo Caption Results

Here are some of the captions we received for the above photo that features me looking at Kevin Schramm, while on a boat last fall.

"NOBODY needs to know about this!"

"Don't worry about the Cubs, Kev. There's always next year."

"I can't quit you!"

"We're gonna need a bigger boat."

"Hey Mike, with all the attention I've been getting today, do you think it's my legs or the hat?"

"What do you wanna do? I don't know, what do you wanna do?"

"So, is this a good enough spot to dump Jay's body?"

"100 years aren't that long for the Cubs, Kev. Let's recap them: 1909..."

Good job, guys.

Show Biz: Monday 03/09/09

*** Robin Trower was the artist that was featured for the birthday segment today. Trower, who turns 64 today, was a part of Procol Harum, so our tie-in song for today was "Whiter Shade Of Pale."

I think Jay and I should re-create the opening sequence of this video. We already own the outfits.





*** During the birthday segments, we often mention an event for that day that was created, or at least sponsored by Tom and Ruth Roy of Lebanon, PA.

They are usually idiotic and non-sensical, which is why we mention them

Today, apparently, is Panic Day, where you are supposed to run around all day in a panic, telling others you can't handle it anymore.

Isn't that every day considering our dire economic times?




*** It's also Barbie's birthday today. She looks great for 50.

We've got more than a few Barbie dolls at the Williams' compound. My wife kept a lot of her collection, and passed those along to our daughters, who have picked up some Barbie stuff of their own as well.

Did you miss Jay's story from his childhood? Since he was into G.I. Joe, his older sister -- a big Barbie fan -- would set up weddings with Barbie and the military man.

Bored, Jay would turn to gunfire, sending Joe into a machine gun rage, gunning down all of those in attendance.

I swear that was the plot of a Schwarzenegger movie once.

If you missed the discussion, it might make tomorrow's opening segment, or at least a promo later this week.


*** Also celebrating a birthday today, Jeffrey Osborne, who turns 61. For the 80's Escape, rather than play one of my least favorite songs of the 80's, "The Woo Woo Song", we chose to get your toes tapping even more, with "Stay With Me Tonight".

Sign Of Spring

Less than a month to go until opening day. To help get in the mood, let's enjoy a little "Batting Stance Guy"...

White Sox batting stances, past and present



Batting Stance Guy demonstrating his Carlos Quentin stance to Carlos Quentin



Here are some Cubs' batting stances

Show Biz: Friday 03/06/09

*** We ran out of time today during the birthday segment to fit a tie-in song in before the top of the hour.

I had "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" all cued up -- it's Kiki Dee's birthday -- but by the time we wrapped things up, it was already 6:58a, and only two minutes for that song wasn't enough.


*** I'm getting pretty good at predicting this American Idol thing.

Here's what I said yesterday...

As far as tonight's wild card round...you can go to Vegas that Anoop and Megan are in.

Choice three should be Matt Giraud -- the dueling piano player guy -- but since there's already a big numbers advantage for the guys, my thinking is they'll pick a girl for the third spot.

Not bad. Seems the judges thought the same thing, so they let Matt and a second girl (Jasmine) get in.

As far as who's going to win the whole thing, I still think it's going to be a guy (Gokey, or the blind dude), or Adam Lambert.


*** The 80's Escape today featured Paul Simon. Not sure why. Sometimes there is no explanation available.

Maybe I was subconsciously thinking about Flight Of The Conchords from Sunday night, where the show -- which actually centered around Art Garfunkel, but who knows any music he's done in the 80's -- did feature a brief glimpse at the end of Brett doing a Paul Simon imitation.

The actual Art Garfunkel made a cameo as well.



Here's their attempt at "Scarborough Fair" during the episode. Any excuse to get a clip of band manager, Murray is alright by me.



So, whether that was why I went with Paul or not, the fact is, today we played "Graceland".

Home and Health Expo

Here are a couple of pics from the recent Home and Health Expo at the Morris District 101 Rec Center...

In the above picture, Jay Capron (left) laughs uncontrollably as I (right) destroy another girl's dreams by letting her know her spin for a prize has come up short.

Actually, I have no idea what's going on in this picture. I think I just spotted a nearby table with a great supply of free pens.

This could have been the moment I realized -- with nearly three hours of the event still remaining -- that we were about to run out of prizes.

Either that, or one of us made a wisecrack about the color of our sweatshirts.

Plenty of material there.


Okay, try not to stare at this picture too long. We're talking a serious potential for irreversible retinal damage.

The collective effect of all of that lime green coming at you could be catastrophic.

This would have been a good one for the caption contest as well.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome the vocal stylings of the 'Kermit The Frog Lookalikes'"

"Does anyone know where the green screen room is? We're ready to film the scene with the six people with no upper body."

"Superman had no chance as he faced off against the group of six people wearing sweatshirts made out of kryptonite."

"WJDK, putting the 'radio' in radioactive."

In the picture from left to right, Joe Munsell (Sales), Harriet Osborne (Sales) Kevin Schramm (WCSJ host - of course he has a green Cubs hat to match), Jasmin Chacon (Sales), me, and Jack Daly (General Manager).

E-Z Party Kits Stuffed Balloon Prizes

We're about a month into our new birthday prize giveaway, and there's a little bit of -- expected -- confusion.

The fine folks at E-Z Party Kits are offering a stuffed balloon to one person each week, out of all of those that get their birthday or anniversary announced on the segment which airs weekdays at 6:50 a.m., and Saturdays (and Sundays) at 7:50 a.m.

We gather the names as they're called in each day, then select a winner randomly on the Saturday show.

The problem is, that a lot of times, the person who's having their birthday called in to the station is either not aware of this, or just don't happen to be listening when we announce the winner.

Since we have no real smooth way of getting contact information for each call that comes in -- which, while practical, would make for some really boring radio if we had to interrupt each call with gather phone numbers off-air, etc. -- it really ends up being the responsibility of those that made the initial call to get word to the winner that they have a prize waiting for them at E-Z Party Kits.

That's just the way it'll have to work, for now at least.

I'll do my best to announce the winner each week more frequently, as hopefully that will also help alert the winners of their prize.

We send E-Z Party Kits the winner's name each weekend as well, so if you want to call them to see if you are the winner for whatever week we're dealing with, you can call them at 815-828-5557.

By the way, our most recent winners have been Macy Rogers, Nicholas Mathias, Nicole Bennett, and Connor Shaw.

Show Biz: Thursday 03/05/09

*** Happy Birthday to Eddy Grant. The 80's one-hit wonder was born on this date in 1948.

I would have loved to have thrown you a curveball and offered a less obvious song, but stumbling upon Eddy Grant album cuts is not the easiest task in the world.

So, we grooved you a fastball right down the middle with "Electric Avenue" for our birthday tie-in.




*** Some quick 'Idol thoughts: As I predicted on Wednesday's show, the three American Idol contestants moving on from this week's performance round are Jorge, Scott, and 'Lil Rounds.

I hate to say it, but Scott is simply getting by on the fact that he's blind. C'mon, admit it, you agree with me.

Hey, the guy is nice as can be, has a great smile, attitude, the works. I hope he does well in this competition. But, it's clear that, while he's a good singer, he's not a great singer.

Once he made it past his very first audition a couple of months ago, I told my wife that, "there's your winner."

He might not win, but he certainly could -- and it won't be because of his voice.

As far as tonight's wild card round...you can go to Vegas that Anoop and Megan are in.

Choice three should be Matt Giraud -- the dueling piano player guy -- but since there's already a big numbers advantage for the guys, my thinking is they'll pick a girl for the third spot.

I frankly don't know any of the remaining girl's names, except for Tatiana, but they wouldn't be that cruel to send her along to the next round, would they?


*** The keyboard guy for Dire Straits, Alan Clark, turns 57 today. For the 80's Escape, we played "So Far Away", which has no distinct keyboards in it at all.

What can I say, I like that song.

"Walk of Life" would have been much more obvious, but that song gets played too often for it to be an 80's Escape song.

Dat be da rules, kids.

Show Biz: Wednesday 03/04/09

*** Chris Rea was our feature on the birthday segment today. The singer turned 58 today.

Back in 1978, he had a hit with "Fool If You Think It's Over."




*** Emilio Estefan -- Gloria's husband, not to be confused with Emilio Estevez -- is also having a birthday today.

For the 80's Escape, listeners all across Grundy County were certainly singing "uh-oh-uh-oh" along with the Miami Sound Machine's 1985 hit, "Falling In Love".




*** The strangest story of the morning was about the woman in Florida that called 9-1-1 because the McDonald's she was at had run out of Chicken McNuggets.

The counter person tried to get the woman, LaTreasa Goodman, to take other food instead. Goodman wanted her money back, didn't get it, and called 9-1-1. Of course.

She actually called three separate times. The audio can be found here.

Goodman has been cited for misuse of 9-1-1.

Authorities have said to her that if she calls 9-1-1 about a McDonalds food complaint one more time, they're going to super-size the charges.

Show Biz: Tuesday 03/03/09

*** Happy Square Root Day, everyone. What time's the party?

For the birthday tie-in, we brought you a little Jennifer Warnes, who celebrated her birthday -- and probably Square Root Day as well -- by playing her duet with Joe Cocker, "Up Where We Belong."




*** A few days ago we talked about some of the strangest courses available at colleges and universities throughout the country (The Joy of Garbage?).

Here's the list, highlighting the top 15.


*** For the 80's Escape, we brought you a 1989 jam hit from Little Feat, "Let It Roll".

Here's an extended live version for you.

Star Mangled Banner

Today is National Anthem Day. The Star Spangled Banner became the U.S. National Anthem on March 3rd, 1931.

Seems like the right time to look back at some memorable renditions of the anthem from the past...good, bad, and ugly. In no particular order:

Roseanne



Head Banger at the hockey game



Cop Rock



Mo Cheeks' best assist ever



Marvin Gaye



Whitney Houston



Wayne Messmer at the 1991 NHL All-Star Game. I still miss the Chicago Stadium.



Cop Rock the Sequel



I could only find the audio of the classic Carl Lewis butcher job.

Someone named Sissel, who at least knew the melody

Show Biz: Monday 03/02/09

*** Happy March! I know we're a day late on the new month wish, which is hardly keeping with the theme of coming in like a lion -- more like crawling in like a caterpillar.

Keeping with the "lion" thing, our poll question this week has to do with your favorite lions. You have until next Monday's show to vote.


*** Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, turns 32 today.

For the birthday tie-in we gave you one of the other songs off Coldplay's hit album Viva La Vida...The Death Of All His Friends, "Lost".




*** We let our hair down for the 80's Escape as Jon Bon Jovi turns 47.

Most of the reaction I get from the female audience regarding musical requests are related to three artists: Bryan Adams, Rick Springfield, and Bon Jovi.

Hopefully we satisfied any thirst for Jon Bon when we played "Livin' On A Prayer."




*** Some housekeeping from the last few days: The folks at Chicago Home Health Care were the winners of the Heroes West Sports Grill "Feed Your Office" promotion.

Congratulations, guys. If you're not sure what we're talking about, check out the info on the right hand side of the blog.


*** Saturday we awarded the stuffed balloon prize from E-Z Party Kits in Chanooka to 7-year old, Macy Rogers.

Macy, the folks at E-Z Party Kits have your name, and balloon, at the store waiting for you.

Hope you had a great birthday.