The New Ringo Starr Album

This past week the legendary Ringo Starr was inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. He was the final Beatle to be inducted as a solo artist. So now all the members of the Beatles are in the hall of fame twice. Once as a member of The Beatles, and then as individual solo artist.

I am beyond thrilled that Ringo finally receive this high award. For the longest time, I have felt that his solo career has been grossly overlooked. (About two years ago, I wrote a posting discussing this very subject matter. You can find that post here.) Ringo has some absolute hidden gem albums such as: Ringorama, Beaucoup of Blues, and his latest album Postcards From Paradise.

His new album, Postcards from Paradise is particularly ear grabbing. It is home to some fiercely catchy songs such as Rory and the Hurricanes, Bridges, and the title track Postcards From Paradise. Once again Ringo delivers an album that radiates positivity, terrific drumming, and his trademark wit. I highly recommend checking out Postcards From Paradise. It is a great introductory album to Ringo's solo career.

The Craziness of the Past Two Weeks

I knew last week was going to be busy, but I had no idea it would be as crazy busy as it was. At the radio station I oversee, we installed a brand new on-air automation and scheduling system. It's a computer system that picks what music gets played on the air, and then plays it on the air.

We ended up going with the WideOrbit automation system and MusicMaster on-air scheduling. Both systems are very impressive, and is taking me a while to get used to it. When you work with one particular automation system for 13 years, it was a little foolish of myself to think I would master these two new programs over night.

Luckily the growing pains are beginning to end, and the student staff is taking to the new system very well. I promise next week, I'll return with a more "exciting" posting.

The WWF in 1992

Well, this past weekend was WrestleMania 31. And man was it a great 'Mania. It was stacked full of excellent matches, surprise victories, guest appearances, and The Undertaker going 22-1 at WrestleMania. Overall, it reminded me how much fun wrestling can be. It also reminded me of what wrestling was like when I first became a fan in late 1991/early 1992.

Hulk Hogan was the WWF champion, Bret Hart won the Intercontinental title for the first time, the "rookie" of the year for the WWF was the Undertaker, and Ric Flair just debuted as the "real" world's heavyweight champion. With all of this in mind, I thought it would be fun to go back and watch the PPVs from that year. Let me tell you, 1992 was a tremendous year for the WWF. Here is a very brief recap of 1992 WWF.

Royal Rumble:


- Ric Flair enters #3 in the Royal Rumble and goes onto to win the match and the vacanted WWF heavyweight championship. The lowest entry to win at that point. Plus we got, what can be considered the greatest promo of all time.

-Roddy Piper defeated the Mountie to win his first and only Intercontinental championship.

- The Macho Man Randy Savage is reinstated by President Jack Tunney after a dastardly attack by Jake "The Snake" Roberts, in which Roberts unleashes his king cobra on the Macho Man. The intensity of the rival is unparalleled.

WrestleMania 8:


-Ric Flair and Macho Man Randy Savage have an unbelievable match for the WWF championship, in which Macho Man wins the title.

-Shawn Michaels competes in his first WrestleMania as a singles wrestler. This sets the stage for him becoming known as Mr. WrestleMania

-Bret the Hitman Hart defeats Roddy Piper for the Intercontinental championship in one of Piper's best matches. 

- The Undertaker, who recently became a babyface, easily defeats Jake Roberts. This is the beginning of the Undertaker.

-Hulk Hogan retires for the first time and the Ultimate Warrior returns.

SummerSlam 92:


- Takes place in front of 80,000 people in Wembley Stadium.

-The British Bulldog defeats Bret Hart for the Intercontinental championship belt in an absolute classic.

-Macho Man and the Ultimate Warrior have a very good match for the WWF Title.

-The Undertaker makes the first, of what would become many more, memorable entrances.

Survivor Series 92


- The brand new WWF champion Bret The Hitman Hart defends the WWF championship against the brand new Intercontinental champion Shawn Michaels. This is their first headlining PPV against one another, and is a hidden gem of a match.

-The Underaker Kamala casket match. No more needs to be said.

- Mr. Perfect joins forces with Macho Man Randy Savage to take on Ric Flair and Razor Ramon.

And the icing on the cake, majority of these PPVs are called by the great Gorilla Monsoon and the one and only Bobby The Brain Heenan. 

So in short, the WWF/WWE in 1992 has some fantastic wrestling, fun story lines, and the Brain. If you are a wrestling fan, what more do you need?

WrestleMania Week

If you are a wrestling fan, this week is the best week of the year. WrestleMania week. This year's WrestleMania features the debut of the one and only Sting, the return of The Undertaker, and Roman Reigns challenging the beast incarnate known as Brock Lesnar.

Below are my predictions:



Roman Reigns defeats Brock Lesnar and becomes the WWE World Heavyweight Champion

Sting defeats Triple H

John Cena defeats Rusev and becomes the United States Champion

Daniel Bryan wins the 7 man Ladder Match and becomes the Intercontinental Champion

The Undertaker defeats Bray Wyatt

Seth Rollins defeats Randy Orton

Damien Sandown wins the Andre the Giant Battle Royal

AJ Lee and Paige defeat The Bella Twins

Cesaro and Tyson Kidd win the four corners tag team match and the WWE tag team championship

Plus how great is it the the Bushwackers are going into the Hall of Fall. 

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

I am a child of the 1990s, and because of this I am a HUGE fan of Nirvana. In fact I feel that Nirvana and The Beatles are the most important musical acts of all time. When you look back at Nirvana's discography, they technically only released three albums. (Bleach, Nevermind, and In Utero. Their album Incesticide is nothing but B-sides and Unplugged is a live album.) Yet their impact on music is undeniable.

With Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, a public yearning to learn everything there is to know about him has evolved. He has become a mythical rock figure much like John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, or Elvis Presley.  Montage of Heck aims to change all of that. Produced by Cobain's daughter Francis Bean, Montage of Heck will show the very human side of this alternative icon.

The trailer for this new documentary was released last week, and after viewing it I was utterly speechless. Actually, I was very close to tears at its end. And this was just the trailer. It looks like Montage of Heck achieves its goal of showing the person that is Kurt Cobain. And I for one cannot wait to see it.

Look to the Cookie

This past weekend, March 6th - 9th, was the one year anniversary of my visit to New York City. To celebrate the occasion, I baked the cookie immortalized by Seinfeld. The black and white cookie. I always try to be humble when I cook. I don't want to come across as arrogant with my cooking. But I must this is one of those rare occasion that I will pat myself on the back. I hit a home run with these cookies. I put them right up there with my cinnamon rolls. Look to the cookie Eileen. Look to the cookie.

The Punch Brothers and Season 6 of Community

The Riviera's Marquee for the Punch Brothers

Whoa!! That's the first word that comes to my mind after seeing the Punch Brothers live this past Saturday night at the Riviera Theater. For an hour and a half, the Punch Brothers delivered an energizing, toe tapping, hit featured set. Just a few observations from the show:

1) They sounded impeccable. Step One, buy one of their CDs. Step two, put CD into CD player. Step three, listen. (I'm old fashion. You can also create a Spotify playlist.) The way they sound on their albums is the way they sound live. I was simply blown away by how great they sounded. The levels between the microphones and the instruments were perfect. You heard every word spoken or sung, yet you also heard all of their instruments. It was amazing. Plus I was able to leave a show without any ringing in my ears. Always a plus.

2) Great stage presence. The hour and half set flew by. The band interacted very well with the audience. They talked, they joked, they danced, they did it all. You could really tell that the band was having a great time. And seeing that, only added to the fun that I had.

3) Great set. They played a lot from the new album, The Phosphorescent Blues, they did a cover of Radiohead's Kid A, and a nice set of classics. I felt like they covered a vast array of great music from their catalog.

I cannot recommend enough that you go and see the Punch Brothers live. They have now joined the club of Paul McCartney, Muse, William Elliott Whitmore, and St. Vincent. Which is every time they come to Chicago, I must see them perform.

Below is their set-list from Saturday night, if anyone wants to make a Spotify playlist, I highly encourage it.

Punch Brothers Set-list 2.28.15 at the Rivera Theater:
My Oh My
Boll Weevil
Watch 'at Breakdown
This Girl
Familiarity
Movement and Location
Passepied (Claude Debussy cover)
Another New World (Josh Ritter cover)
Through the Bottom of the Glass (The Seldom Scene)
I Blew it Off
Flippen (The Flip) (Vasen cover)
Rye Whiskey
The Auld Triangle (Brendan Behan cover)
Julep
Kid A (Radiohead cover)
Wayside/Back in Time (Gillian Welch cover)
Magnet

Encore:
New York City
Little Lights

Also earlier today, Yahoo released the trailer for Season 6 of Community. It is entitled:
Community: Age of Yahoo. It is magnificent.