92.7 & 98.5 the Planet's Reevis

Johnny Van Zant - Brickyard Road

2011-02-10T16:05:00.000-05:00

Let's Hire Him!

2011-01-04T16:46:00.002-05:00

This is from the Columbus Dispatch. Homeless dude with an AMAZING VOICE!

Lunar Eclipse SUCKED!

2010-12-21T13:52:00.001-05:00

Because of the weather last night in Huntington...But CNN has some decent footage of it...

The Planet in the Herald Dispatch!

2010-12-10T15:24:00.002-05:00

Dave Lavender: Plenty of local rock happening live and on the airwaves

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/life/x2097926786/Plenty-of-local-rock-happening-live-and-on-the-airwaves

December 09, 2010 @ 10:15 PM
The Herald-Dispatch

For those about to rock and for those who've just rocked on national radio we salute you.

OK, first to the latter.

A nationwide Stone Machine

Got to give some major props to the nationally syndicated radio show Lex and Terry for last Friday serving up some southern-fried rock goodness straight out of Kenova rock city.

Stone Machine is an all-star band put together by veteran Kenova native guitarist and songwriter, Dirk Blevins (formerly of Ten Years Gone), featuring Blevins' Les Paul-crunched classic rock riffs melted down by Split Nixon's killer lead vocalist Jason Mays and a host of other local top-shelf musicians including Scott Ross of Split Nixon, Ten Carp Lie's guitarist Matt Parkins and drummers, Jeremy Hall and Rodney Crisp.

Lex and Terry toss in a different regional band's CD every week during their "Music Meeting," and usually blow rocket-launcher-sized laughs into the tunes. They got thrown for a loop when they put on Stone Machine's "Dirty Sweet," and got their ears blown back comparing May's melodic power growl to Sammy Hagar.

"I want to make fun of it so bad but I really really like it," Lex said. " ... This genre is ice cold right now but this is good. If I was hanging out somewhere I could listen to this all night."

Not only did the boys get part of three cuts played on the national radio show, but Gary Kesling, owner of the Ashland-based studio 2 Cats Studios and 9 Lives Records, which put out the CD, came on the show and gave Lex and Terry more info about one of the region's coolest and mostly-studio-based supergroups.

Following the appearance on Lex and Terry, which is heard locally on 92.7-FM and 98.5-FM, The Planet, Blevins stopped by The Planet studios Friday to chat it up with Reeves "Reevis" Kirtner.

Lucky for the rest of us, Stone Machine ain't done recording yet, as Blevins had just popped me over three new songs, "Use You Up," "Slow Down" and "Cornbread," that the band recorded, and of course, Mays and the Split Nixon boys are about to make some more noise come 2011.

In the meantime, you can go on iTunes and get the CD, or drop in at www.2catstudios.com/9lives. Click onto store and get the CD for $12.99.

My Finger After Paintballing

2010-12-06T14:12:00.001-05:00

“Somebody is going to eat my ___ or I’m going to cut your _-ing throat.”

2010-11-05T15:44:00.002-04:00

WOW. WOW. WOW.

Woman Utters Line Never Previously Recorded In A Police Report

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/west-virginia/woman-utters-line-never-previously-recorded-police-report

Meet Melissa Lee Williams. The West Virginia woman, 41, is facing assault and weapons charges after allegedly waving a knife at two men who declined her demands to engage in sexual conduct at a West Virginia motor inn.

The October 22 incident is detailed in an amusing/gross Jackson County Sheriff’s Department report excerpted here.

According to investigators, Williams--who lives four doors down from her estranged husband at the 77 Motor Inn--showed up at his door and asked Danny Williams and another man to “eat my pussy.” At this point, Williams, pictured in the mug shot at right, “commenced to undress herself,” reported Deputy Ross Mellinger.

While Danny Williams “declined said invitation,” the other man, Adam Watson, told cops that he “agreed to perform at her request.” However, as Watson approached Williams, “he became overwhelmed by horrible vaginal odor emitting from Melissa Williams.” Watson, understandably, “declined to proceed any further.”

This is when Melissa Williams allegedly “produced a lock-back folding knife,” opened it, and pointed the weapon at her estranged husband. She then reportedly uttered a line never before memorialized in a police report: “Somebody is going to eat my pussy or I’m going to cut your fucking throat.”

When Deputy Mellinger arrived on the scene he observed Williams--who, like the two men, appeared to be intoxicated--nude from the waist down. After pocketing a knife that was on the coffee table in front of Williams, Mellinger arrested her for domestic assault and brandishing a deadly weapon.

Williams, who was released from jail after posting $3000 bond, is next due in Jackson County Magistrate Court on February 16.

My Mutha Effing Pumpkin

2010-10-21T13:45:00.003-04:00

Great Article on the Reds' Dusty Baker

2010-10-05T13:50:00.002-04:00

Dusty Baker a symbol of perseverance

Link to the story and video here: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2010/columns/story?columnist=bryant_howard&id=5647446

CINCINNATI -- "Light a candle," Dusty Baker says, his lone voice softly skimming the looming silence of the empty church. "I'm sure there's someone out there you want to pray for."

He lights a candle, points the flickering matchstick downward in his large hands, the athlete's hands, dousing it into the cool sand. It is here in the solitude of St. Peter in Chains Cathedral -- funded by Ohio Catholics who donated 12 cents per month toward its construction in 1841 -- where Johnnie B. Baker, born Baptist in California, raised in the traditions of the southern black church, kneels alone among the long pews and nourishes his spirituality.

In guiding the Cincinnati Reds into this year's playoffs, Dusty Baker is taking his third different team to the postseason.

After several moments of prayer, he rises and walks gingerly toward the altar, marveling at the Greek architecture, the Corinthian columns and stained glass mosaics, comforted, despite its bruises, by the sanctuary and the ritual of the church.

"I come in here before homestands, sometimes a couple of times a week during the season," said Baker. "I pray for my family, for my team, and for Barack Obama, because I've never seen people try to take a president down like this, never seen such anger. I mean, what did he do to anybody?"

History surrounds Baker this morning, as it does every morning. He is humbled by its density, energized by its lineage and his place in it. The ghosts are touching him. History is not something that happened to others a long time ago, but alive as the river upon whose banks his team plays. His baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds, the original professional ballclub in America, proud but down and dowdy in an era of big money, is on the cusp of a first playoff series since 1995, revived by a man who has won three Manager of the Year Awards but was run out of two big jobs in San Francisco and Chicago, and out of baseball in 2007.

Thirty-eight years ago, Baker had just completed his fifth season in the major leagues when Jackie Robinson threw out the first pitch before Game 2 of the 1972 World Series between the Reds and Oakland A's at old Riverfront Stadium.

Robinson would be dead nine days later, but before he passed, he said famously he hoped there would one day be a black third-base coach or field manager in the major leagues. The National League, first to integrate, would not integrate the managerial ranks until 10 years after Robinson's death. Robinson died in 1972, and Baker, 36 years after, became the Reds' first African-American manager.

"I think about that. He said that here," Baker said of Robinson. "Imagine being able to win a World Series in the place where Jackie Robinson made his last public appearance, where he said that."

Baker lurches his silver Toyota Tundra along West 8th Street south, toward the Ohio River and the Great American Ballpark. The river stirs more ghosts. In September 1841, when the region's Irish Catholics donated their pennies to build St. Peter's, where moments earlier Baker's hands waded through holy water, black and Irish dockworkers engaged in three days of rioting, quelled only when the city dispatched the military.

The fighting took place above ground ("Riots and Mobs, Confusion and Blood Shed," wrote the Sept. 6, 1841, Cincinnati Daily Gazette) but under the streets, at the grassroots, whites and blacks conspired to subvert the system. Baker -- known since his playing days as a bridge between black, white and Latino players -- feels these ghosts, too, understanding that he, as the poet Maya Angelou once wrote, is the dream of the slave.

He points directly in front of him, at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center, situated next door to the ballpark, a museum that displays portions of the original Underground Railroad. He mentions that behind him, in the deep basement of the watering hole O'Malley's in the Alley off of Vine Street, just under his feet, remnants of other tunnels that weaved from the south to Canada, to freedom, still remain.

"You have to remember that Ohio was a free state and Kentucky was a slave state," Baker says. "The Underground Railroad was right here. Sometimes I close my eyes and think about that, about what that must have been like. 'Just get across the river and you're free. Just get across the river.'"

The survivor

Forget all the details of everything that happened in San Francisco to turn a baseball renaissance into the bitterest memory: from former Giants managing partner Peter Magowan attempting to diminish Baker's achievements (as the walls closed in, Magowan once said that Baker's Manager of the Year awards had less to do with him and more with the organization), to the 5-0 lead and nine outs from the first World Series championship in San Francisco Giants history to the runaway envy that led club executives to privately refer to Baker derisively as their "celebrity manager." Forget Chicago 2003, when Baker was a hair from taking the Cubs to the World Series, up three games to one on the Florida Marlins, coming home with Kerry Wood and Mark Prior on the mound to close out the National League Championship Series. Forget Steve Bartman.

"Chicago wasn't good to me at the end, but it was good for me," Baker said. "You don't want it to end like that, because everybody wants to be the one to do it, to win the World Series. I still think I was the one to do it. Didn't happen."

Think instead first about him being a kid, and the promise of having your entire life in front of you, 19 years old, protected by the great Henry Aaron. It was Henry who promised Johnnie and Christine Baker back in 1967 to always look out for their son. It was Henry who introduced Dusty to the world, jazz clubs and civil rights and the big leagues. It was Dusty who was on deck when Henry hit home run No. 715 that night in April 1974. It was Dusty -- oldest child, Marines platoon leader, big league manager but always heir to Aaron and his dad and the dreams of Robinson -- who was always the prodigy.

Today, the prodigy is gone. Only the adult remains. Dusty Baker is 61 years old and the hell of aging conflicts with his boyish fire for baseball. His dad, Johnnie B. Baker Sr., always a signature presence in the dugouts pregame where his son managed, died in 2009 at the age of 84 from, as Dusty says, "diabetes, high blood pressure, dementia, everything."

“
This is a resilient team. The more we were tested, the more we came back and won. I kind of believed in July, after the All-Star break.

”
-- Reds general manager Walt Jocketty

To be the adult means looking ahead and seeing no one ahead of him, no one leading the way. It means walking to the mound to remove a pitcher while talking to your father, who is gone physically, as Baker has done this season.

In November 2001, after a routine checkup, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The doctors were aggressive, immediately removing the prostate -- no radiation treatments, no chemotherapy.

"They told me I had to have a PSA [prostate-specific antigen]. They had been charting me, told me it was 1.0, 2.1 and then they told me I spiked to 4.0 [PSA levels under four nanograms per millileter generally indicate the absence of cancer]. It wasn't a huge surprise because all the Baker-Russell men died early," Baker said. "They took out the entire prostate."

The 242 home runs he hit as a player, the three World Series appearances, all the years he walked into a bar and the place -- the women, especially -- went wild, all those years in the clubhouse as a member of the world-class athlete fraternity, all disappeared in the face of his mortality. Baker was the leader of a group of men whose identities are forged on the physical, and accepting the withering effects of cancer -- being unable to maintain an erection, for one -- was a difficult reality to confront.

"It changes your idea of your own manhood. You think you're this macho cat, but you're not," he said. "With some patients, the nerves never come back and you lose your erection permanently. With others, it can come back on its own. I was lucky, some of the nerves returned. Luckily, they have those blue pills these days, knock on wood. People may laugh, but these things mess with your head, make you rethink how you see yourself. You question your whole sense of being.

"Some of the guys used to make fun of me back then -- I'm not ashamed to say it -- because one of the side effects is incontinence. I was walking around wearing a diaper because I couldn't stop peeing all the time. The guys would see those things in my office, look at me and say, 'Are these your diapers?'"

Still, don't forget the slights because they are unimportant. Forget them because, they are today, in the face of disease attacking his body and age taking his family from him, unimportant gnats to be brushed aside. Still, Baker remembers them all, and at times in his office, hours before the Reds will clinch a division title, it requires enormous concentration for him not to think about the member of the Giants ownership team who once sat him down and told him he needed to learn to be "more of a company man." To not think about the fact that he has taken three different teams to the postseason, could win a fourth manager of the year award and yet finds himself constantly hounded by the criticisms of what he supposedly cannot do, that he cannot win with young players or handle pitching staffs.

More painfully, Baker still believes Magowan and the Giants showed a complete lack of compassion regarding his cancer.

"I was diagnosed in November 2001 and cleared in February 2002. I thought that was pretty fast, and yet there were people who were saying that I was asleep, incapable," Baker said. "And I made some choices. Everybody remembers my son Darren being on the field during the World Series and everyone saying that having him on the field was proof that I had gotten too big, that I was a 'celebrity manager.' They said I wore wristbands because I wanted to keep playing. I wear wristbands because I've always worn wristbands. They said I kept a toothpick in my mouth so I could be noticed. I chew on a toothpick to try and quit tobacco. My daughter dumps it out. My son wants me around. He wants me alive until I'm 130.

"But during that year, when every night I wasn't sure if I was going to wake up the next day, I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to see his face. I didn't know how much time I really had left. He was going to be with me at every opportunity, for every day that I had left."

A surprise for everyone

July 8, Philadelphia: The Reds are ranked 21st with a $68 million payroll and before this season hadn't enjoyed a winning season since 1999, when they won 90 games. With most winning clubs living on the margin, seasons are made and broken at critical junctures. The Reds enter Philadelphia for the final four games before the All-Star break with 11 more wins than losses, and the two-time defending National League champion Phillies represent a great test.

"When you're a manager, you have a pretty good idea if you have a shot, and a pretty good idea if you have too many holes," Baker said. "That weekend was the low point."

When it was over, the Phillies -- whom the Reds will play in the National League Division Series, beginning on Wednesday -- had swept the Reds, each game more excruciating than the last. In the opener, the Reds led and lost in 12. In the next game, the Reds led 7-1, gave up six runs in the ninth inning and then Ryan Howard ended it with a two-run homer in the 10th.

The next night, rookie Travis Wood pitched a perfect game into the ninth against Roy Halladay. The Reds lost 1-0 in 11 innings. And in the finale, the Reds lost 1-0 again, swept into the All-Star break.

It appeared to be a nice story, the Reds hanging in contention until the season wore them out. But then Cincinnati won 15 of 22 games after the break.

"It wasn't one moment. It was a series of moments when people thought we were going to crack and we didn't," said Reds outfielder Jonny Gomes. "We went on the road in Seattle, [and] got swept. Those games in Philly were rough. Getting beat by the Cardinals at home was embarrassing, but then we won seven straight. Every time there was a fork in the road, we took the right turn."

Even in September, the Reds closed unimpressively. Against rivals and contenders (St. Louis, Philadelphia, San Diego, Colorado, San Francisco and Atlanta), the Reds were 17-33 on the season. Outside of Cuban phenom Aroldis Chapman, the Reds don't expect to scare anyone -- and yet Cincinnati won more series than any team in baseball.

"I think we did sneak up on a lot of people, especially after St. Louis," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said, referring to the Aug. 9-11 disaster, when the Cardinals swept the Reds at home. "This is a resilient team. The more we were tested, the more we came back and won. I kind of believed in July, after the All-Star break."

The Reds finished September 12-15, adding suspense to a division race that watched the defending division champion Cardinals finish August and September with a 25-30 record. Still, on the day Baker prayed for his team, Jay Bruce won the division with a first-pitch home run in the bottom of the ninth later that night.

"Now that's how you make the playoffs!" Baker cried during the clubhouse celebration.

That night, awash in victory, the manager drove to a local restaurant, where he was feted as the savior of what had been a moribund franchise. In stopped traffic, revelers noticed the manager and Baker bathed in the evening with the fans -- hugs, handshakes, drinks and pictures with one caveat: That none ever showed up on Facebook.

'A heck of a life'

Away from the champagne spray, the kaleidoscope of influences is apparent on the walls of Baker's office: A commissioned photo of the Native American warrior Tecumseh, photographs of Miles Davis, Henry Aaron, Junior Gilliam and and two of Jackie Robinson. On the far wall is a misty and dreamy drawing of guitar legends: Gregg Allmann, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix. Closer to his desk is a photograph from the film "Easy Rider."

The prodigy is long gone and the adult is left. One of his larger paintings is of a healing center in Kauai, Hawaii, from his cancer recovery. The photograph resembles a Mayan temple with beams of rainbows darting through the windows of the shelter.

"That one," he says, "told me everything was going to be all right."

"It changes your outlook. And I want to win the World Series. I hate the question of 'how much longer do I want to do this?' Why would I sell myself short? Joe Torre managed much longer than I. So has Bobby Cox. This is a heck of a life. I've never stopped aspiring, never stopped learning to do this job better. I take pride in being prepared. I take pride in having faith, in myself and in my players. I'm happy.

"Since cancer and my dad, all that other stuff, I try to leave it. This is a life much more fulfilling," Dusty Baker says. "The stars are brighter. And the birds sing louder. I hear them more now than ever."

Howard Bryant is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He is the author of "The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron," "Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston" and "Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball" He can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/hbryant42 or reached at Howard.Bryant@espn.com.

Huntington Music & Arts Festival in the HD

2010-09-30T14:15:00.001-04:00

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/entertainment/x1092384513/Inaugural-event-puts-area-bands-in-spotlight

Festival spotlights local music

American Minor reunites to headline the inaugural Huntington Music and Arts Festival starting at noon Saturday at the Ritter Park Amphitheater.
September 29, 2010 @ 07:00 PM

DAVE LAVENDER

The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON -- Remember those hazy hey-days when rock 'n' roll acts piled by the dozen into Ritter Park Amphitheater?

And when tickets weren't $69.75, and you could pop down a $10 bill to see more than a dozen acts?

Well, come back to the future friends on Saturday, Oct. 2, as the hills hugging the Ritter Park Amphitheater are alive with the eclectic sounds of live music for the first Huntington Music and Arts Festival.

Gates open at noon. Music starts shortly after 1 p.m.

Tickets are $10 advance or $12 at the gate. Kids 10 and under get in free.

The event is alcohol-free. Wristbands are being sold for re-entry during the nearly eight-hour-long festival.

Advance tickets are on sale at Shamrock's Pub, 2050 3rd Ave., or at Happy Camper, 1323 4th Ave., Huntington.

Put together by local musician Ian Thornton, who has booked the music for two years at his brother Shane's Shamrock's Pub across from Marshall University's Joan C. Edwards Stadium, the fest is stuffed with 15 regional bands of all flavors taking to the stage.

Not to miss is a one-night-only reunion of the seminal Southern rock act American Minor, the Bud Carroll-guitar-greased band that was signed to Jive Records (label home to Britney Spears and R. Kelly) and spent a summer playing Bonnaroo as well as opening dates for Tom Petty and The Allman Brothers, before breaking up.

Acoustic acts such as Sasha Colette, Adam Bieniek, Jess Graham and Alex Altizer are tucked between such acts as the Gypsy-jazzed street band, Qiet, regionally-traveling jam-band, Fletcher's Grove, rowdy Eastern Panhandle-based national rockers, The Demon Beat, New Songs Recordings artist Jeff Ellis and Minor, which hasn't been seen out live for nearly five years.

Thornton, who played bass in the pop-rock unit The Love Coats and several other local bands, said the festival idea was birthed because he and others in the scene, felt like more people need to see the high-quality and diverse music being made in Huntington.

While national and regional music stream constantly into Shamrock's and the V Club, Thornton said in a college town many bands don't go on until 11:30 p.m. or midnight.

"We really thought about it and it is so limited to see a good club show," Thornton said. "To see a headliner it might be 1:30 a.m., and there are just so many good bands. It's a bummer to see such good bands playing to a light crowd so we thought maybe it's time to tap into other audiences. There's a lot of music lovers out there whether they are high school kids or families."

Not unlike a Thursday night Pullman Square, this festival atmosphere will be primed with food vendors, including the main vendor, Buddy's All American Bar-B-Que, as well as Happy Camper, The Phone Store, and eight to 10 local visual artists showing off their works.

The fest will have a merchandise booth set up for all the bands, where local fans can get the sometimes hard to find CDs.

Rob Roy, of Family Conspiracy, the Beck-ish rocked-up hip-hop unit that has played at Shamrock's for the past two years, will be shooting a DVD of the festival.

Unlike the Pullman Square concert series, which is often booked with older-skewing acts, this fest is filled entirely with college-age kids in some of West Virginia's best live acts that range from Americana and pure folk to rock 'n' roll of all stripes.

"All of the acts are from West Virginia or the area, and it's not just rock but folk and country and experimental, there really is no style borders," Thornton said. "It's really a chance for people to come out and see what amazing bands our state has to offer."

Thornton said the scene has really gotten deeper and wider with younger bands in the past few years.

"Huntington's always really been such a heavy town, and when the Lovecoats were playing we were one of the only bands playing pop indie rock and so we didn't play with hardly anybody, we learned a three-hour set and would bring Richie Tipton on," Thornton said. "For the past few years being on the other side of it, there is just a lot of stuff springing up and most of them are Marshall kids, and there's just a growing trend of diverse music here in Huntington and it's like crazy, cool stuff like Bad Employee's and Andy (Rivas) and John (McComas) using guitar and turntables and a projector. I think in that aspect Huntington has grown incredibly. I can match bands up when I get out of town bands. There's a lot of different stuff to grab from so it's a lot easier to get shows when there's diversity in town."

Local guitar hero Bud Carroll, who had moved American Minor's home-base to Champaign, Ill., agrees.

Carroll, who'd been playing in clubs around here since he was 15, has been back for the past five years fully submerged in the scene playing guitar with dozens of bands, producing and recording in his Huntington studio, and honing his Southern Souls unit up to razor-sharp national level where they've played Mountain Stage and started to travel all over the region.

"I'm finding out about new stuff all the time, and having a studio people are reaching out to me that I would have never heard of otherwise," Carroll said. " We're playing a lot on Fridays and Saturdays and so I might not be able to see everything happening but I think the scene is really good, especially some of the standouts like Sasha (Colette) and Jeff (Ellis), and not I'm not just saying that, even if I wasn't doing anything with them I would still be out checking them out."

Add to that list some of his favorites like Pillow Talk (former members of Ladybird), the Librarians out of Morgantown, the Reptals, out of Huntington, Fletcher's Grove (out of Huntington and Morgantown) and Carroll said he thinks the scene is getting really strong like it was back in 2000-2001 when Calamity Cafe was fired up and Complete Strangers were prowling and Bobaflex was breaking.

Carroll said seeing so much energy for creating original songs has kept him fueled.

"Anytime somebody is playing I like to go out and check out what they are doing," Carroll said. "It's important for me to know just for myself and for remaining creative to go out and see what somebody else is doing. That gives you a whole new perspective on what you are doing and it helps you get really excited about what you are doing when you see somebody else and so many other great bands."

Carroll, who just played the Loud and Local stage at X-Fest, said the Huntington Music and Arts Festival seemed like the perfect time to do a reunion of American Minor, a band that started up playing places like Calamity Cafe, before honing its game to national tours that hit mega festivals like Sturgis (the world's largest biker rodeo), and playing with bands such as the Drive-By Truckers.

"When Ian decided to put this on we talked about a headliner and a couple of the guys are still local so we talked about it and we didn't want to veer away from the West Virginia thing so we thought it was the perfect opportunity," Carroll said to get the band back together. "Before American Minor we were all playing a lot of all-ages rock and punk shows, so this kind of show made a lot of sense."

Carroll, the bass player, Dwight Young, "Bruno," one of the head chefs at Huntington Prime, and Josh Knox, the drummer, have been working up the songs while Minor's other members, Josh Gragg, the other guitarist, and vocalist Rob McCutcheon are coming in from Pittsburgh and New York to play the show.

"You forget how special those times were and not that it was anything pivotal in the great scheme of things, but in our lives, it was pivotal and you realize how much it meant," Carroll said. "Within the span of the time we were together, we were together constantly and went through the best of times and the worst of times, and that comes through in the music. There's a tightness that is ingrained. I hadn't played anything for about half a decade and it comes right back because we played so many shows and practiced so much. My mind hasn't even calculated it yet and my hand just goes to the right place."

Carroll said for the fest they only wish that could have put even more bands on the bill, but hopes that the all-ages fest will inspire the next generation of musicians who may be seeing some of these bands for the first time.

"We've always had places like Common Grounds and Night Owls for people to get their starts and we truly need that," Carroll said. "Hopefully this is another link in that chain of tradition. This is something that 10 years from now, maybe some younger kids who are there will be doing something similar and maybe they'll see some bands that inspired them to go on and do something."

If you go: Huntington Music and Arts Festival
WHAT: The first Huntington Music and Arts Festival

WHERE: Ritter Park Amphitheater, located in the hills of Ritter Park above the tennis courts.

WHEN: Gates open at noon and music starts shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 2

HOW MUCH: $10 advance at Shamrock's Pub, 2050 3rd Ave., and Happy Camper, 1323 4th Ave., Huntington. Tickets are $12 day of show. Free for children ages 10 and under.

ON THE WEB: Go online at www.hmafestival.com to listen to the bands playing the festival.

THE SCHEDULE: 1:10 p.m. Deadbeats and Barkers; 1:50 p.m. Family Conspiracy; *Alex Altizer; 2:30 p.m. Sly Roosevelt; *Adam Bieniek; 3:10 p.m. Universes; *Jess Graham; 3:50 p.m. Pillow Talk; *Richie Tipton; 4:30 p.m. Qiet; *Sasha Colette; 5:10 p.m. Fletcher's Grove; 5:50 p.m. The Demon Beat; 5:45 p.m. Jeff Ellis; 7:45 p.m. American Minor. *Acoustic in between sets.

WHAT ELSE: A variety of local art booths as well as soda and food vendors including: Buddy's All-American Bar-B-Que

THE AFTER PARTY: Shamrock's Pub, 2050 3rd Ave., is hosting the official after-party with Bud Carroll and the Southern Souls, Sasha Colette & the Magnolias, and Attack Flamingo.

LOCAL FEST ON DECK: Local jam-band Genuine Junk Band is hosting its fourth annual Junk Jam Fest in Cannonsburg, Ky., on Nov. 5-6. Acts include: Genuine Junk Band, Mark Smith, Tyler Kesling, Aaron Lewis, Sasha Colette, Deadbeats and Barkers, Eazy, Zack Kouns, The Judy Chops, The Neverly Brothers and The G-TONES. Go online at www.myspace.com/genuinejunkband for more info.

Nate & Reevis on the news!

2010-09-27T16:48:00.001-04:00

Doing what we do best...standing in the background, eating and drinking...He's the bald guy with the Ohio shirt...I'm eating a piece of cookie-cake and wearing a We Are...Marshall shirt...

Click below for the video...

Tornado Relief at Battle for the Bell

I hate to say this, but Courtney Love looks good...

2010-09-27T15:32:00.002-04:00

Doesn't even look like the same person, but it's Courney Love...She says it's all natural (I don't believe that)...

Lynyrd Skynyrd is Dead...

2010-09-21T14:14:00.003-04:00

I mean Leonard Skinner...

Looks like he needs to trim his hair!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/sns-ap-us-obit-skynyrd-inspiration,0,7172773.story

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Leonard Skinner, the basketball coach and gym teacher who inspired the name of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, died Monday in Florida, his daughter said. He was 77.

Skinner died in his sleep at the St. Catherine Laboure Manor in Jacksonville, where he had been living for about a year, his daughter Susie Moore said. Skinner had Alzheimer's disease.

He was working at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville in the late 1960s when he sent a group of students to the principal's office because their hair was too long. Those students later formed a band, using a variation of Skinner's name for their own.

MASCOT FIGHT! Ohio & Ohio State

2010-09-20T14:05:00.000-04:00

I think mascot fights are one of the gayest things ever. Seriously, two grown men wearing oversized costumes and getting into fights, while wearing the oversized costume?

Dumbass's Mugshot

2010-09-14T14:06:00.002-04:00

Mugshot and booking information of the dumbass that ran onto the field during the Marshall-WVU game Friday night.

Fan Getting Taken Out

2010-09-13T15:19:00.001-04:00

Rumor on some message boards is that this was a WVU fan who put on MU gear before running onto the field during the Marshall/WVU Friends of Coal Bowl -- who knows (I really don't believe it)...

Slash: The Productive Junkie

2010-08-25T14:00:00.001-04:00

Cool article on Slash from cnn.com

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/24/slash.talkasia/#fbid=yH0D_M4PphW&wom=false

Slash: 'I was a productive junkie'

(CNN) -- He's the rock demigod who lives and breathes music, but whose heart beats thanks in part to a pacemaker.

The former Guns N' Roses guitarist, whose real name is Saul Hudson, is probably the most recognizable man in rock 'n' roll. Yet beneath the mane of curly locks and leather top hat is a devoted musician who kicked a drug and alcohol addiction because it was getting in way of the music.

"I was a productive junkie ... I was driven by music. I did have these distractions, but I managed to be functional as best as I possibly could," he told CNN.

"What helped clean me up at the end of the day was the fact that, after a while, it started to get in the way of being able to do what it is I wanted to do... I've done more in the last four years than I could have possibly done if I was still using," he continued.

Since leaving Guns N' Roses in 1996 -- "As I walked out it was a huge weight off my shoulders" -- he's produced his own material, collaborated with numerous musicians and was the driving force behind supergroup Velvet Revolver, a band he's trying to revive once again.

He fixed his place in the pantheon of rock stars during his time with Guns N' Roses ("If I wasn't in that band, it would have been my favorite band") and it's been almost 15 years since he spoke to lead singer Axl Rose after their much-publicized split.

However, the idea of a Guns N' Roses reunion isn't completely out of the question.

"I used to be very sort of negative about it 'cause I just don't see it happening," he said, "but at the same time you just never know. No efforts have been made to try and do anything about it so I guess you just leave it to chance. Maybe it will; maybe it won't."

While a potential reunion might please thousands of fans, Slash is looking forward to Velvet Revolver and other projects, despite the music scene experiencing what he calls "a very weird time."

"This whole thing with the internet being the mainstay of the industry at this point is taking a lot of adjusting and it hasn't really settled yet," he told CNN.

"[A] certain energy and a certain attitude and that to me is very rock and roll. And that seems to be lacking in commercial music, especially in commercial rock and roll right now. I'm sure there's a lot of guys out there who have it all together but then they can't get a record deal."

Man Caught with Pants Down and an Armless Mannequin in Public Park

2010-08-09T13:55:00.001-04:00

The one thing that this story leaves out is the fact that this guy has an awesome beard.

From WSAZ.com:

UPDATE 8/9/10 @ 12:10 p.m.
KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The Kanawha County Sheriff's Office tell WSAZ.com Campbell was spotted in the park just before 9 a.m. Sunday.

When Deputy Middleton ordered Campbell to stop, Campbell replied, "Just trying to have a little fun."

In a press release, the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office says they "have yet to interview the mannequin, so they are unsure if it was picked up off the street or the two met for a date in the park, however the mannequin is now being held as evidence."

Campbell is still being held on at the South Central Regional Jail on a $2,500 bond.

Keep clicking on WSAZ.com for the latest information.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ORIGINAL STORY 8/8/10
KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A man is behind bars for committing "lewd acts" with a mannequin in a public park Sunday morning.

According to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department, 61-year-old Eddie M. Campbell from Belle was caught at Booker T. Washington Memorial Park in Malden with his shirt off and his pants around his ankles.

Deputies say Campbell was sitting on a park bench with an armless mannequin on his lap, holding it with one hand -- pleasuring himself with the other.

When the deputy identified himself, Campbell stopped, pushed the mannequin off him and pulled his pants up.

All of this happened in a residential area and close to a church, according to Deputies.

Campbell has been charged with indecent exposure. He gave up his right to have an attorney represent him during arraignment

Campbell is in the South Central Jail on a $2,500 cash only bond.

The Planet's Miss Rally Real Rock Bikini Contest Sash

2010-07-27T16:59:00.002-04:00

I wanted to show it off with a bikini on...

New Marshall Football Helmets

2010-07-26T14:04:00.002-04:00

Back to the white, but now with a "rounded" "M."

Like or don't like?

I dig it. Better than the green ones, in which we only won half of our games...

Dick In Huntington

2010-06-29T17:26:00.002-04:00

Andy Dick back in Huntington

From the Herald Dispatch (http://www.hdonline.com/).

Andy Dick case goes to grand jury

June 29, 2010 @ 11:58 AM
CURTIS JOHNSON
Herald-Dispatch.com

HUNTINGTON — Evidence in Andy Dick’s sexual abuse case will be considered by a West Virginia grand jury.

That was the decision of Cabell County Magistrate John McCallister. The judge found there was enough evidence to reject a defense argument to dismiss the case.

The nationally known comedian appeared Tuesday, June 29 in Cabell County Magistrate Court for a preliminary hearing.

Dick, 44, of South Pasadena, Calif., was arrested Jan. 23 and charged with two counts of first-degree sexual abuse. The charges are linked to allegations that the comedian groped two men at Rum Runners, a nightclub at 819 3rd Ave.

A March 22 hearing was postponed until Tuesday based upon an argument from the victims' attorney that his clients were not subpoenaed. Therefore, a motion stated they could not attend.

The victims are a 33-year-old bar security guard from Ashland, Ky., and a 24-year-old bar patron from Catlettsburg, Ky.

Dick has been remains free on a $60,000 bond.

Dick has said there are two sides to every story, according to a Jan. 23 message posted at Twitter. He is represented by Los Angeles attorney Mark J. Geragos, and locally by Marc Williams and Robert Massie.

Geragos’ client list has included actress Winona Ryder, pop star Michael Jackson and former congressman Gary Condit.

The Jan. 23 allegations occurred as Dick visited Huntington for performances at the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Pullman Square.

Ultimate Man Room Stuff

2010-06-08T10:19:00.001-04:00

Let's take a look at some of the "stuff" apart of the Ultimate Man Room, courtesy of Daydreams & Night Things...

Gary Coleman's Casket

2010-06-04T16:18:00.003-04:00

It already has his name on it.

Modern Family Mom's Breastfeeding Boobs?!

2010-05-19T16:28:00.005-04:00

Julie Bowen, the mom from Modern Family (also from Happy Gilmore), went on the George Lopez Show and talked about breast-feeding her twin boys...at the same time, and she brought a picture to show how she does it! I can't tell if this is hot or just effed up...I'm thinking effed up.

The Planet Bottle Koozies

2010-05-18T16:04:00.003-04:00

I really want to test mine out this afternoon!

Funnybone Comedy Club Memorabilia

2010-05-14T15:11:00.001-04:00

This is a collector's item -- let me know if you would like to purchase one.

Green Day: Rip This Joint

2010-05-11T16:39:00.001-04:00

With the Rolling Stones rereleasing their classic Exile On Mainstreet Album, it's "Exile On Mainstreet Week" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and to kick the week off Green Day performed "Rip This Joint." It's pretty killer...

Kid Gets Tasered.

2010-05-04T15:18:00.004-04:00

To sum it up, the kid is 17, ran onto the field during a Philly's game, got tasered by a cop. The kid looks like a dumbass -- he probably deserved to be tasered before he even walked into the stadium. Here's the video:

Safe!!!!!!

Two Surgeries Later...

2010-04-12T15:00:00.009-04:00

*WARNING: This blog is descriptive and bloody, and has bloody pictures. Don't say it's gross, because you've been warned.

Holy cow, what a week and a half. I'm going to attempt to explain why I haven't been at work or on the air in since March 31! After you read this, you'll either understand, or just think I'm a pussy -- either is fine!

I had endoscopic sinus surgery Thursday April 1 (it was one of the worst April Fool's Days ever!). I've been dealing with sinus problems for five+ years, and I have literally had the same sinus infection since October. Medications weren't doing anything so the doctor recommended surgery.

I was nervous about the surgery, but I did a lot of reading about it and asked a lot of questions, and decided it would be for the best. I was most concerned with the recovery. People have told me they were down and out for as little as four days, or as many as two weeks. I thought to myself -- I'm tough, I'll be back by Tuesday at the latest. However, as program director of the station, I did my best to cover everything for a full week after the surgery (that wasn't even enough).

So they did surgery on Thursday April 1, and I came out of it feeling ok. There's a picture of me in the recovery room. I just had this bandage thing taped up under my nose, that had to be changed out a bunch on the first day. It was just dripping blood non-stop.

There's another nice picture of me without the bandage on.

Once I got home, I felt ok. I just napped a bunch, had a little food. Not too bad. Friday was pretty good too. My family did an awesome job of taking care of me. Saturday, more of the same. Sunday is maybe when things started to go down hill.

Sunday was Easter Sunday, and I decided not to go to church (that was probably the problem!). After church, my wife picked me up and I went to her folks' house for one of two Easter Sunday dinners. I just sat around, ate, and sat around. Then, we went up to my parents house. Same thing, sat around, ate, watched the kids have a little Easter Egg Hunt. I was on my feet a bunch -- I thought I was feeling fine. Maybe I did too much?

Here's our family Easter picture -- I like the last year's picture better.

Monday. One of the worst days. I woke up early to go pee, and then I just started gushing blood. GUSHING. I could feel it coming down the back of my throat, then it started pouring out of my nose. I was freaking out, so I called the doctor, and he told me to do a couple of things, and if it happened again, call back. There's a picture of a my sink. Well, the rest of the day was normal -- not too many more problems, until late that night.

It happened again -- just started gushing blood. Worse than the first time. I had so much blood, my father-in-law saw my sink and bathtub and thought it looked like we had butchered a horse. Yeah. So we called the doctor, and he told us to get to the emergency room.

That's me at the emergency room. It sucked. To stop the bleeding, they stuck these tampon looking things up my nose -- dude, they were long. Then, they pumped them full of water to expand! I really thought I was at one of Dick Cheney's torture centers. It kind of worked, but then it messed up some of the structural stuff from the first surgery.

Here's a close up with the things up my nose -- you can't really see how big they are, but look at how big my nostril's are!

So, they gave me an I.V. and a room at the hospital at like 4 a.m., and then I sneezed, and it started gushing blood again -- not as bad as the first or second times, but it was gushing. So, early Tuesday morning, my doctor came in to do surgery again! What the hell?! Two surgeries? This one was to stop the bleeding, and to repair where the tampon things messed stuff up.

Woke up from surgery some time later the morning, and they kept me in the hospital another night. Keep in mind, my goal was to be back at work on Tuesday! I was also going to be on a panel about broadcast journalism at Marshall on Thursday that I was really looking forward to! That wasn't going to happen!

After they took my blood a bunch of time, and pumped me full of antibiotics, they sent me home on Wednesday. It was like I was back to square one! Just rested a bunch on Thursday, went to the doctor for a checkup on Friday.

Saturday, I felt awesome. Not too much pain, not too much nausea (that was something I was dealing with a lot, too). I even took my daughter for a walk to get some ice cream (that was awesome!), and gave her a bath later that night! Maybe I did too much again, because Sunday sucked!

I had been dealing with nausea a bunch, but never puked or anything like that, until Sunday. I threw up like four times Sunday. It sucked! I called the doctor, and he said it was from all the blood and mucus going down my throat into my stomach! Great. He said to take some motion sickness medicine. I took some of that, took a nap, and woke up around 10 p.m., and actually felt pretty good.

Monday rolled around, and well, here I am! Back at the station. Not on the air -- gonna try to do that tomorrow. Just trying to get caught up today!

So there you go. Hopefully it wasn't too gross for you. If you want more gross? Come over and watch me do one of my sinus rinses -- those are REALLY gross!

St. Panty's Day 2010 T-Shirt

2010-03-16T13:49:00.002-04:00

Panties not included.

Pour Guy: Rejected on Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T17:11:00.000-05:00

However, the more I see it, the more I think it might have been a setup.

New UK Uniform's? New way to spell Kentucky?

2010-02-11T15:06:00.003-05:00

Are the Cats getting new uniforms? Coach Calipari tweeted this picture and said at a photo shoot for Slam Dunk magazine that will be out in March. My question is, how is Kentucky spelled on John Wall's uniform? Looks like "KENTCUKY"? Is it John Wall's way of saying he's leaving after this year, as in "C-U KY"??????

Other than the misspelling, what do you think?

Father-Son Fight at the Lawrence County Demolition Derby

2010-02-10T15:35:00.002-05:00

Today we're playing "Have You Ever?" And the question is, have you ever been in a fight with a family member? We've received some good calls, but Catliff called to say he had been in a fight with his dad, at the Lawrence County Demolition Derby, and he said there was even video proof on YouTube.

I've saved you the time from having to search for it. The fight starts about :22 into the video. Pretty good stuff, enjoy:

Planet Bowl I

2010-02-01T15:20:00.002-05:00

I'm looking forward to Planet Bowl II this Sunday at the End Zone in Ironton...Here are some of the highlights (and low-lights) of last year's inaugural Planet Bowl I. Enjoy.

Andy Dick & Jonathan Kraft Photos

2010-01-26T14:21:00.005-05:00

Today we'll be chatting with Jonathan Kraft, the guy in all of the pictures with Andy Dick that have made their way up to www.tmz.com. Jonathan is a first-hand witness as to everything that happened at Rum Rummers in Huntington, where Andy Dick was arrested. We'll also be chatting with Tom Knight, the D.J. at Rum Runners, who also has an interesting perspective. Below are the pictures of Kraft (in the blue shirt) and Dick.

And just for fun, here is the mugshot from the Western Regional Jail.

Hey Huggins, Heckling is a Part of Life

2010-01-21T12:10:00.009-05:00

Lot to get to in this post, including: heckling Bob Huggins, how he called some Marshall fans a "piece of shit" and asked us if we wanted "a piece of this," and how even I get heckled, so stay with me:

Last night was the annual Capital Classic between Marshall and WVU. It is my favorite sporting event every year, and one of those reasons is, I get to heckle WVU coach Bob Huggins the whole game...

Now, I keep it classy, I don't cuss, but I sit on the second row right at half court so I've got a direct shot to Huggins' ears. I just made fun of his weight (his gut is huge!), his dressing skills (a pullover isn't professional, but again, having to button that top button would be tough for the guy), his D.U.I. while at Cincinnati, I called him Nancy Zimpher a few times (she was the president at Cincinnati who had it out for him and fire him), and I called him Elvis every now and then (we'll get to that later).

I also wasn't the only person doing this -- pretty much every Marshall fan around me was on him, yelling the same things.

Well, with about 15 seconds left in the game, WVU had the game wrapped up, somebody about three rows up from me yelled something at him. I don't remember it being anything horrible, but it set Bobby off and he clearly mouthed "you want a piece of this?" Then, pointed to himself and his area, and said it again "you want a piece of this?" When the buzzer sounded at the end of the game, he went to shake the Marshall players and coaches' hands, he was still looking up at us and clearly said "you piece of shit."

It doesn't end there! The fans stayed on him after this because of his immature reactions, and he had to be held back by as assistant coach! Then, he was pointing at us to a public safety officer/police officer/security guard, whatever you want to call it!

Need proof that this happened: http://www.thedaonline.com/sports/west-virginia-marshall-rivalry-heats-up-in-annual-capital-classic-1.1079947.

The only thing wrong with the article is, it had nothing to do with the student section -- it was the alumni baby!

Here's what I think the craziest part of all of this is: Huggins has won something like 600 games, obviously, he knows what he's doing on the court, and he's been coaching for like 40 years. But, how is he going to let a few Marshall fans yelling the same things I'm sure he's heard ever since the D.U.I. and after he's packed on the weight get to him? He's making like $2 million a year and he can't deal with a few fans? The guy is going to have another heart attack! I would have loved to have seen him enter the stands and get in a fight -- let him get fired again!

So now to my next point: Heckling is a part of life. It is. My close friends will make fun of me for this next part, but that's fine. I was a student manager for the Marshall basketball team while I was in school, and when we traveled on the road, one of my game-time duties was setting the stools out on the court for the players to sit on during time outs. One year, we played at Winthrop (who was a good team at the time -- went to the NCAA tournament like 6 straight years!). There were probably about 2,000 people in the crowd, but you could hear every word from every person.

Well, the first time out gets called, and I get up do my job, pick up the stools, and start to set them out on the court. While I'm doing this, I hear a fan up in the stands shout, "Stools? What the hell is this, a camp out?" That was only the beginning. For the next 35 minutes of basketball, I was "Stool Boy." Even the freaking cheerleaders were making fun of me, calling Stool Boy -- the cheerleaders! I'm supposed to be making fun of them!

I won't lie -- it sucked. The game is going on, and Winthrop has the ball, Marshall has the ball, and I'm still being heckled as Stool Boy.

Did I react? No. I just took it, because that's what I had to do. But then guess what happened? We won the game! There's not much of a better feeling than being heckled an entire basketball game, and then hearing the final buzzer go off, with your team in the lead! It made the bus ride home a lot better, and I was able to joke about it too (some of our players heard them yelling at me, and were joking about me being the legendary "Stool Boy.")

Our coach then, Greg White, was heckled at every school where we played! Ohio, Bowling Green, Central Michigan -- it didn't matter. Did he ever react? No. Did he ever even say anything about it after the game? Nope. He just took it, because it's a part of life, and sometimes part of the job.

I even get heckled now in my job. Yeah, it's true! Working in radio will get you some hecklers. Prank phone calls. You might get yelled at while on site broadcasting. You even get heckled on message boards. Do I react, no. It's just a part of life.

But, how does a Bob Huggins, who has more to lose than I do, respond to fans and asks "do you want a piece of this?"

Last point: So I called Huggins Elvis. Why? Because the guy looks like Elvis (and to the King of Rock and Roll, I'm sorry I'm insulting you by comparing you to Bob Huggins). Need evidence?

OK:

15,000 Huggins Fans Can't Be Wrong.

Actually -- he looks more like Fat Elvis (again, sorry King):

And just for fun:

After police officers from vomit on his car door, a watery-eyed Huggins politely asked the nice police officer, "do you know who I am?" Too bad he was an Xavier fan.

Adam "The Hitman" Mays

2010-01-20T13:55:00.002-05:00

Undeafeated professional MMA fighter -- fighting in the first ever professional MMA fight apart of Spartan Fighting Championship, this Friday night at 9 p.m. at the National Guard Armory in Ashland.

This guy is a BEAST, and we'll be chatting with him today (Wednesday Jan. 20) around 3 p.m. Watch the highlight reel of the guy:

Dick Loves the Cats

2010-01-13T14:27:00.002-05:00

Dick Vitale says UK has the best coach and the best player...

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/columnist/vitale/2010-01-11-vitale-midseason_N.htm

C-A-T-S!!! CATS!!!CATS!!!CATS!!!

Check My Brain

2010-01-06T13:41:00.003-05:00

Here's the CT Scan of my FACE and of my BRAIN (mainly the doctor is just looking at my sinuses though).

Pretty cool, huh?

What I Done in 2009

2009-12-29T15:22:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year.

Here's a month-by-month look at my highlights 2009:

January: Saw AC/DC in Cincinnati -- that's a good way to start off the year...went on my annual ski trip to Snowshoe!

February: Saw Papa Roach, Buckcherry and Avenged Sevenfold in Pikeville, Kentucky...did a lot of wedding preparations like getting the license, painting rooms in my house, tuxes all of that stuff...

March: Got married on the 21st...enjoyed a mini-honeymoon weekend in Columbus...had a great bachelor party...saw Billie Joel and Elton John in Cincinnati (great freaking concert!)...Also, after only being married for like four days, my wife left me to go see Britney Spears in Pittsburgh (because she felt bad she bought me the new Papa Roach CD which came out a few days earlier)...Oh, and how can I forget -- St. Panty's Day!

April: Had the original Guns N Roses and Velvet Revolver bass player Duff McKagan in the studio for a live performance with his band Loaded...Helped play an awesome April Fool's Joke with the station when we said you could no longer smoke in your car in Ashland and in Huntington!

May: Saw Bruce Springsteen in Greensboro and also jumped out of a moving cab later that night...Went to Gatlinburg...

June: Went on the real Honeymoon -- a cruise to Grand Turk and the Bahama's -- it was awesome...Saw the Single A All-Star Baseball game in Charleston...

July: Had a birthday...Went to Hilton Head, S.C. to see my brother-in-law's Marine boot camp graduation...Saw Green Day in Pittsburgh...Hosted the Planet's Miss Rally Real Rock Bikini Contest...Snuck off to Las Vegas at the end of the month with Nate -- what an awesome trip -- we were out their for like 36 hours -- from 8 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Sunday and we slept for about five hours the whole weekend, played in a poker tournament, played a lot of craps, blackjack and roulette, enjoyed free drinks from the casinos, and saw MOTLEY CRUE AND GODSMACK, where we ran into Vinny Paul from Pantera, and I am not lying -- I walked by Pamela Anderson...July was awesome!

August: Got home from Vegas (boo!) to see my wife the sickest I had ever seen her -- she was apart of a massive boozefest of a bachelorette party...hosted Molly Hatchet and Blackfoot at Ribfest in Huntington...went to an insane bachelor party, let me just say this Sunday night and a limo -- talk about random awesomeness (and a horrible hangover on Monday)...saw my two-best friends get married...ROCKED Rally on the River with Lex and Terry and about 35,000 people over the weekend...went to Myrtle Beach to try to catch my breath after Rally on the River...Saw Old Crow Medicine Show in Huntington where I took my shirt off for the first time ever at a concert (it was outside, it was raining, and I was drunk)...

September: Marshall football time featuring some killer tailgates...

October: More Marshall Football...Saw Jay-Z in Concert (I know I'm a "rocker," but dude, if you like music -- you'll like his concerts -- it was probably the best concert I saw in 2009!)...Got a sinus infection that I've literally had since October (today is December 29!)...Saw my first ever MMA fight live with Spartan Fighting Championship...Saw the Avett Brothers in Huntington -- really good show...

November: Celebrated the wife's birthday in Gatlinburg...Thanksgiving...Saw the Bengals and the Browns play in Cincinnati...Marshall basketball time!

December: More Marshall basketball...Got a CT Scan on my sinus problem (probably going to have surgery in 2010 on my FACE)...Company Christmas Party at the dog track and casino in Cross Lanes...First Christmas with my new family...Got an XBox 360 and Call of Duty...typed this...wondering what I left out.

Have a safe and happy new year.

Show Some Grace for Three Days Grace: 250+ Hot Wheels and Canned Foods

2009-12-10T15:46:00.003-05:00

Craig Williams of Chesapeake came through with his offer to "Show Some Grace for Three Days Grace!" He delivered on his offer of more than 250 Hot Wheels and a case of canned foods! This will definitely make a bunch of kids in the Tri-State happy this Christmas, and will help put some food into some families' bellies! Craig is also happy now because of his killer donation he has tickets to see Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin this February in Huntington!

Cool Website - Whats Up WV

2009-12-01T16:27:00.003-05:00

If you live in or around WV and you're looking for stuff to get into, check this out: http://whatsupwv.com/.

Pretty cool website listing bands at bars and venues all across the state, along with sports, festivals and more.

Follow their music listings on Twitter: http://twitter.com/WhatsUpWVRocks.

Reevis

Bud Carroll in the HD

2009-11-23T17:14:00.002-05:00

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/life/x384280180

Nice little write up on Huntington's own Bud Carroll and the Southern Souls on the new album, "Wasted Words and Best of Intentions." The Planet also received a nice little mention in the article.

Strip? Love the Herd? Here you go!

2009-11-10T16:23:00.002-05:00

If you're a stripper, professional or amateur, and you're a Marshall Thundering Fan, then I've got the perfect stripping outfit made especially for you!

Check this out, this is for real, and it's currently on sale on Ebay:

See the listing for youself: http://cgi.ebay.com/Marshall-University-Stripper-Outfit-Small-0-5_W0QQitemZ320445174142QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9c05517e.

Marshall vs. UAB: Breakfast Beers

2009-10-26T13:19:00.004-04:00

Great win for the Herd on Saturday over the UAB Blazers, 27-7. It was a noon kickoff, which means -- breakfast tailgate, and breakfast beers! The breakfast beers got the best of me!

Here's me and Woda in the bathroom, posing for some reason...

As you can see, I was headed in the wrong direction...

After the game, me and Woda decided to played a game of drunk, sloppy football in my front yard at my house. Keep in mind, I live on a big hill, and while trying to catch a ball, I fell off my hill into my driveway, but I think, I still caught the ball! Here's me half sleeping and half talking after both "games" (notice the dirt and grass stains on my jeans).

Go Herd! The early tailgates and games are fun, but I am glad they are done for the year! I'm much better with the 4:30 kickoffs!

Meghan McCain: Is It Really That Big of a Deal?

2009-10-16T15:18:00.003-04:00

Meghan McCain, daughter of John McCain, posted this picture via Twitter yesterday, and received a bunch of crap for it! Yes, she is hot, and yes, she has big boobs, but when I heard about this photo and when I finally saw it, I was really disappointed! I thought it would be showing more (it just makes me want more)!

What do you think (other than nice rack)?

Broadcasting 1,500 Feet in the Air!

2009-09-29T16:01:00.012-04:00

I've done a lot of remote broadcasts, meaning the business has us come out to talk about their product or event, and they are usually a good time because it gets you out of the studio, you're usually outside, and you get to hang out with listeners one-on-one. Well this past Sunday, I probably had the most fun ever doing one of those broadcasts!

The Tri-State Pilot's Association had us out for their annual Community Day and Fly In at the Lawrence County Airport in South Point. It was supposed to happen on Saturday, but Mother Nature had a different plan (she dumped about a foot of rain on the tri-state, which isn't good flying weather!).

It's a really cool deal -- they let people take plane rides, offer flying lessons, serve breakfast and lunch, and tell people about the Angel Flight (transports people who need medical attention to hospitals in cities like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland for free - free flight, fuel, everything!).

The broadcast started at 10 a.m., and I was already having a good day -- it was good to be up early, nice to be outside, and it was just a beautiful morning! It was also cool to talk about airplanes, pilots, and hang out at an airport!

Then, one of the members of the association, Nelson, asked if I wanted to go for a ride, and I was like "sure! Do you think I can get cell phone service, and I'll call-in to do one of the breaks from the air?" He said it shouldn't be a problem if we stay low.

So we took off in a Cessna 182 and were circling the tri-state in no time.

I even got to wear a cool headset with a microphone. It was neat hearing the pilot talk to people back at the airport and at air traffic control at the Huntington Tri-State Airport.

I made several phone calls to the Planet studio to make sure they could hear me, and to make sure I could hear them, and I was good to go! I had surprisingly great cell phone service -- full bars at 3G.

The flight was great. We stayed relatively low, between 1,500 and 1,800 feet just to stay close to a cell phone tower. Nelson thought it would be bumpy because we were low and it was windy on the ground, but it was fine.

We flew back in forth along the Ohio River up to Ironton and down to the 31st Street Bridge in Huntington. It was cool being up high, but still low enough to see your town! We were able to see the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, our station's building -- the Coal Exchange Building, the Pullman Plaza Hotel, and Pullman Square.

We even got a great view of the Marshall Football Stadium, Marshall's campus, and Cabell Huntington Hospital, and on down to Ashland, we saw the refineries at Ashland Oil.

Like I said, we were just doing big circles, and for the most part, I have a pretty strong stomach, but every now and then, when we would make a turn, my stomach would get a little queasy! I kept it together (I didn't want Nelson to think I was going to puke in his plane!).

Then, it was time to check in one final time to do the broadcast -- I had Josh, who was running things back in the studio, record the break so I could hear it and share it with my friends!

It was a simple break, just as if we were on the ground, but we were at 1,500 feet in the air! I just talked about everything that I could see just by turning my head, and told the listeners that they could do the same if they came down the Lawrence County Airport!

Then, it was time to head back to the ground. Nelson said the landing might be a little bumpy because of the wind on the ground. I think he was trying to make himself look cool because it was as smooth as it could be! He's a pro! No, really, he is a pro -- he gives advanced flight lessons, and has been flying for like 30 or 40 years!

As soon as we got back on the ground, which was about 11:20 a.m., there were a bunch of people at the airport ready to go for a ride just like me! Even a few people who had never been in a plane before! It really was awesome...

Thanks again to the Tri-State Pilot's Association for having us for their Community Day and Fly In-- we hope we can do it again next year!

It's Not a Hairy Ass

2009-09-22T16:43:00.007-04:00

Right now, we are hosting of one my favorite contests of all-time: The Best Tattoo on the Planet Contest. Listeners send us pictures of their favorite tattoo and we put it on our website, and then you can vote for your favorite picture, person with the most votes wins a new tattoo.

Well, all of the pictures come to my mailbox, and then I send them to our web guys. Usually, I'll take just a quick glance at the picture and then send it, and that's the case for this story.

So, yesterday, I was looking at all of the pictures, which you can also see, here:

http://www.planet927.com/best-tattoo-on-the-planet-2009.html

And, I stopped at this one...

...wait a minute...is that a...?

I looked at it over and over.

That's some dude's hairy ass! That's nasty -- we can't have that on our website...

I was trying to figure what else it could be, and I just kept seeing a hairy butt...

The picture was from Eric Lewis of Ironton -- I actually called him and left a message, asking what his picture was of...

Before he got back to me, I reached out to my facebook friends, and asked, is this a hairy butt?

Here are their responses:

Ryan
Yes it is
Yesterday at 6:43pm · Delete

Matthew
Yuck!
Yesterday at 6:53pm · Delete

Adam
You know what they say...burns coming in burns going out
Yesterday at 7:14pm · Delete

Heather
it's a chest .....but it looks alot like a butt! haha
6 hours ago · Delete

Thank you, Heather -- I was never able to see it until I got that comment! It's a chest -- I thought it could have been, wasn't able to tell...But, yeah, it's a chest.

Just before I posted this, Eric returned my call to confirm it -- he was laughing though -- someone else had him and said that it looked like an ass! He defended himself by saying, "I don't have two tailbones."

Now, the picture below Eric's...it's definetely a badonkadonk...

Hahaha! Thank you so much Jami Hackworth of Ironton! I love Planet listeners!

If you want to get in on this contest, send a picture of your favorite tattoo to tattoo@planet927.com.

Megan Fox: Hot Rolling Stone Cover

2009-09-17T15:13:00.002-04:00

I'm a longtime Rolling Stone Magazine subscriber, and I am very much so looking forward to this issue -- one of their hottest issues in a long time!

Cameras & Alcohol Don't Always Mix

2009-09-09T16:04:00.015-04:00

Hey boys and girls, A couple of Friday's ago me and my friends got drunk. Shock, I know, but one of the friends had the camera going, and here are the results. They aren't pretty, but it's good to know what all exactly happened that night. Enjoy laughing at me:

OK, so this is the first picture on the camera. It's me and my buddy Woda. He says it looks he wrote a book about being gay, and I'm at his booksigning!

All of these pictures are from the Paddock in the West End, and we go there for one reason, and one reason only, and that is to karaoke. I do a freaking mean Mr. Brownstone from Guns N' Roses.

Now my wife is singing, and here's me being a douche getting in the picture.

We ran into a dude I went to middle and high school with. He's a good guy, it was good to see him, but he was drunk and just kept talking. Here's me saying "you're drunk and you just keep talking." He had no idea we even took this picture. He just kept going! Even as my friends pose, too!

I tried to sneak into the women's bathroom with my wife for a little something something, but she wasn't having anything to do with it! Dammit. Don't worry, she never reads my blogs (and I ask her all the time if she reads them)...

This is one of my favorite pictures from the night. I'm starting to wind down, starting to hit the wall. We had been drinking for a while, and so I've decided to belly up to the video lottery machines, and play me a little Keno. I didn't even remember doing this until I saw this picture! But now, I remember putting $1 and winning $2! Being the high roller that I am, I took the $2 and bought another beer! Look at the freaking determination on my face to double up.

This is my favorite picture from the night. Pimpin' ain't easy at the Paddock. These people were into it! I actually took the picture, and look behind them, someone else is taking the same picture! Haha! They didn't even care!

So there you go! Drunk pictures is fun!

Kurt Cobain: Lead Singer for Bon Jovi & Bush???

2009-09-02T13:53:00.003-04:00

According to Rolling Stone:

Warning: Unlocking the Kurt Cobain character on Guitar Hero 5 generates some horrifying results. If you dare, click above to watch Cobain front Bon Jovi and Bush.

I love Nirvana...I also like Bon Jovi, Bush, Billy Idol, David Bowie and the other bands in this video...but watching Kurt Cobain as a "front man" makes me sick to my stomach!

This is so weird to watch for me!

Michael Jackson is Alive?

2009-08-26T14:00:00.002-04:00

This is from LiveLeak.com with the following description:

This video shows that Michael was still alive after his dead body was transported to the Los Angeles Dept. of Coroner I checked the license plate number and it looks like the King of Pop is jumping out of the same van, his dead body has been in. I got the original video tape from a trustworthy source. I know him for years. And I am sure it´s real and Michael is alive.

It's probably fake, but it is kind of freaky! Makes sense if he is alive and faked his own death: He was broke -- you're always worth more when you are dead (Elvis), and his body has still not yet been burried!

Rally on the River, Ribfest and Lex and Terry: Pictures & Video

2009-08-18T16:46:00.002-04:00

The pictures and video of this past weekend are all online now at www.planet927.com.

To see Lex and Terry at Rally on the River pix go here: http://www.planet927.com/pictures-2009-08-17-LT.html. To see the video, go here: http://www.planet927.com/video.html.

To see Rally on the River pictures go here: http://www.planet927.com/pictures-2009-08-17-Rally.html.

For Ribfest pictures: http://www.planet927.com/pictures-2009-08-17-ribs.html.

It's some kickass time-wasting stuff.

This Past Weekend: Ribfest, Rally, Lex and Terry, and a Wedding

2009-08-16T22:44:00.004-04:00

Wow. I am way behind on blogging. I'll promise I'll get caught up, I've got some crazy stories on my 36-hour trip to Las Vegas and Woda's kickass Sunday Night Bachelor Party, but first let's talk about what just happened -- this past weekend.

The Planet and I had our biggest and busiest weekend, EVER. No seriously, EVER. If you walked outside and had some fun in the tri-state this weekend, chances are, you saw someone or something from the station. It all started Thursday night.

Thursday Night:

We had two major events going on Thursday night. First, we were the presenting station at Ribfest, and we were there for the best night. This year, we had Molly Hatchet and Blackfoot on stage! Both of those bands were awesome. The crowd was insane -- the amphitheater was as full as it could be! I had the pleasure of bringing all of the bands on stage. That is one of my favorite things to do with my job. I know the crowd doesn't care about me, and they just want me to walk off the stage so the band will start playing, but when you say the band's name, and the crowd is going nuts, it's just an awesome feeling to be apart of! How was the show? Both bands were great. Molly Hatchet is a great live act, but Blackfoot's "Highway Song" was worth the price of admission for me!

In addition to having Ribfest going on Thursday night, it was also the first night of Rally on the River! So, Nate and I were doing dueling broadcasts! I would tell you about ribs and Southern Rock, and he would tell you about bikes and brews! I wasn't at the Rally Thursday night, but it sounded like they had their biggest Thursday ever! Ribfest also had their biggest Thursday night!

Friday:

The people that really know me, know that I stress out a lot when it comes to station promotions and events. So this weekend, I was pretty stressed. Nate does a great job of telling me to just calm down, and he's usually right! But, Friday, I was pretty stressed, we had day two of Rally on the River, and we had to get Lex and Terry from the airport.

I did my broadcast that afternoon from the Rally. We couldn't have asked for better weather this weekend, maybe a little cooler, but no rain, you can't beat that! Everything at the Rally was running very smooth, which was great. I had to leave a little early to get the Givers.

Lex and Terry, along with Dee, flew in to the Charleston airport that evening around 6:30 p.m. I had never actually met them before, so I won't lie, yeah, I was a little nervous. But as soon as they all got loaded up in the car, I saw that what you hear on the radio every morning is what you get. They are truly great people. I even got to be a part of a little prank on Peter!

Dee had the idea to call Peter, their producer, and say that I hadn't shown up at the airport to pick them up. So he kept going with the story (you know Dee's a great liar if you listen to the show), and said that Terry was really pissed and was trying to book a private plane back to Dallas! Dee said that he tried to call my phone, but it kept going to my voicemail. Then, Peter called me and the guys just told me to let it ring and not answer. Peter called Dee again, just trying to figure things out. You could tell from Dee that Peter was stressing. It was pretty good. Then, Peter called me again, and the guys told me to answer. Lex has been filming the whole thing on his flipcam and said to me, "let's see what you got." I answer the phone kind of calm, Peter says, "Reeves, the guys have been waiting on you for an hour, where are you?" I told him that I was about to pull up to the airport. He asked why I was an hour late, and I just said I thought he meant they were landing at 6:30 Central Time, 7:30 Eastern Time -- it sounded good, he bought it. So then, Peter called Dee again, and told him that he had talked to me and I would be pulling up shortly. I'm cracking up and loving all of this! Terry asks Dee for the phone, and just says, "Peter, sorry, we were just screwing with you!" I couldn't make out what was being said, but Peter wasn't happy at all, it was great!

Once we got to Huntington, the guys checked into their hotel, then we had a great dinner with our station's general manager and sales manager and wives. Then, it was time to call it a night.

Saturday:

The first couple of hours on Saturday really sucked. I didn't do anything except wait! It was going to be a huge evening for the station and I couldn't wait for it! But first, my two best friends were getting married! Yeah, so I snuck a wedding in on this day at 3:30 as well! My wife and daughter were both a part of the wedding and they all looked and were great (wife, daughter, bride, groom, everyone!) My daughter acted up a little during the service. OK, she acted up a lot and I had to take her to the lobby -- that was a little frustrating, but whatever! I saw them say their "I do's" and kiss, I saw the important stuff! As soon as the service was over, I had to jet to get over to Ironton.

Also happening at 3:30 was the Lex and Terry V.I.P. reception at Austyn's. I didn't get their until around 5 p.m., but it sounded like everything was cool. Our sales manager drove the guys over and took care of the show. After the V.I.P. thing was over, it was time for the main events! Lex and Terry were apart of the Parade of Heroes, which was a ride with about 2,000 bikers through Ironton. I didn't get to see it, but it sounded like there were about 30,000 people along Second Street. Once they got back to downtown, they watched the 21 Gun Salute in front of the Planet stage, then the guys took the stage! The crowd was awesome, and the guys thanked everyone for coming out. Then, they wrote their name about 1,000 times each.

While the guys were on the Parade of Heroes, there were maybe about 20 or 30 people lined up to meet them. I was thinking to myself, I hope more people want to meet them! When we were all on stage, yeah, there were more people that wanted to meet them. That line grew from about 20 or 30 to about 1,000! They did not stop signing autographs and taking pictures for two and half hours straight. It was awesome. I had never seen anything like that. If you met the Givers, thank you for coming out!

The Herald-Dispatch put up some great pictures from Saturday night, check 'em out here: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/multimedia/galleries/news/x1886684550/Gallery-Rally-on-the-River-Saturday.

After they were meeting everyone who wanted to meet 'em, they were ready to call it a night. They had a 7 a.m. flight to catch Sunday morning!

The drive back to Huntington was cool. We were all just chatting about the Rally, their appearance, and the tri-state in general. They really loved everything. They thought it was a great bike rally, were pumped so many people came out, and kept talking about how beautiful our tri-state is (it really is). Once back to Huntington, everyone was pretty hungry, so we went to Five Guys in Pullman Square (I'm pretty sure they actually went twice in the same day!). It was cool there, the cashier recognized the guys and got a picture with them. I think it made his night!

After the guys got back to their hotel, I had to catch up with the wedding. Remember that?
Get a refresher about three paragraphs up. The wedding party, including the bride and groom, were at the Union Pub and Grill. I was really glad I got to see Woda and LeeAnn. I had felt bad for missing the reception and all of that stuff, but I felt I hadn't really missed too much because of all of the stories and good times at the bar! Woda got all of his groomsmen tuxedo t-shirts, and even got one for me (that meant a lot to me!). It was a little after midnight, and time to head home, I had to be up at 4:30 a.m. to take Lex, Terry and Dee to the airport!

Sunday:

Whenever I have to be up super early, I can never sleep, and this was definitely the case for Sunday morning. I finally fell asleep at about 2 a.m., only to wake up at 4:30 a.m. Hopefully I didn't stink, because I didn't take a shower. Just threw on some deodorant and brushed my teeth! Even though the three of them get up five days a week before 4 a.m., they were tired as well. They were all dozing in and out on the ride to Charleston. We got to the airport without any incident, and I dropped them all off out front at about 6 a.m. to catch their 7 a.m. flight.

Then, it was time to head back home, and get back to bed! I had to tell my wife to scoot over, where I had left, she managed to takeover the entire bed! Slept for a couple of more hours, then was up once again, and back on my way to Ironton to close out Rally on the River. It was really calm Sunday afternoon at the Rally. Just watched the vendors tear down, saw a great Santana tribute band, then tore our stuff down, and called it a Rally.

It was a kick ass weekend through and through, and we can't wait to do it again next year. Hopefully Ribfest and Rally don't fall on the same weekend, but if they do, it's all good, we can handle it! I'm already pumped for next year's Rally, the Friends of Ironton have some big time things lined up! You'll be impressed.

My Favorite Concerts

2009-07-17T16:26:00.002-04:00

Random blog time -- I don't have too many good, timely stories to share right now, so let's elborate on some of my favorite concerts and concert experiences.

I've been to a bunch of shows. Wanna know my first one? Michael Jackson, 1987 Louisville, Kentucky at Freedom Hall. Back then he was only a little weird, but the coolest dude in the world! I don't remember to much of the show, I was soooo wasted, just kidding, I was soooo young! But I do remember him doing Thriller wearing the werewolf mask, and doing the "Smooth Criminal" "lean," and many more. Not a bad first show for my list of many.

Also, so now to my favorite rock shows.

1. Staind, Seether and Papa Roach - 2008 - Huntington, WV

I don't need to tell you why this was my favorite concert experience. Just read this: http://reevis927.blogspot.com/2008/12/november-24-2008-we-partied-with-papa.html. Unreal night! I get sad when I think about it, because it will probably never happen again!

2. Crue Fest - 2008 - Cincinnati, OH

I was pumped to see this show. Trapt, Sixx: AM, Papa Roach, Buckcherry and Motley Crue all on one stage! The bands were great. Seeing Sixx: AM live was awesome, especially after reading the Heroin Diaries, and listening to the album. Motley Crue is a great live band, well maybe they are -- it's too damn loud to really tell, but it just adds to it -- it's like getting punched in the face and you see boobs instead of little stars floating around your head.

Yeah, the music was great at this show, but we had so many random things happen during and after the show. In between bands, this jackass sat next to us, he saw I had a Marshall shirt on and told us that his wife went to MU, that was cool, but then he just told me how much Huntington sucked, then just left. He was the definition of a tool.

After the show, we hit up a random bar in Norwood, Ohio, it was near our hotel. When we got there it was empty, and the bartender was on the phone talking about how someone had just died. We found out it was the saxophone player from the Dave Matthews Band. It was just a weird moment -- she was talking like it was a personal friend. Then the crowd at this place showed up, and we met some aspiring hip-hoppers, seriously, some white kids from Cincinnati Tech who wanted to be the next Lil Romeo.

That was the abbreviated version of Crue Fest, but it was awesome.

3. Green Day - 2004 - Louisville, KY

Green Day is definietely one of the best live bands of this decade. Billie Joe Armstrong puts everything he has into every one of their shows. The Louisville Gardens, where the show took place, is a tiny arena, and it was barely half full. This was when Green Day was still making their "comeback" and before "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was released. It was before the band really blew up to big arenas and even stadiums. However, Billy Joe treated it like it was 60,000 people at Giants Stadium! Great band, great energy, great album and a great tour.

4. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - 2009 - Greensboro, NC

Bruce is nearing 60, but still puts on a show like he's 25. Awesome amount of energy, and the E Street Band (featuring Little Steven Van Zandt, your host for the Underground Garage Sunday nights at 10 on the Planet) is the tightest band! Nearly three hours of music, it's a great show. After the show, I jumped out of a moving taxi-cab, seriously. The cab driver wanted to charge us a b.s. $20 surcharge, I called b.s., and he started mocking me, so I said, I'm out, and everyone followed. I still hate that taxi cab driver! And he talks like Louis Armstrong.

Now I can't pick out a fifth one! It's too freaking hard! The top four really stand out, and so do so many others! But here are the honorable mentions: AC/DC - 2009, Metallica - 2004, Oasis - 2005, Hank Williams Jr. & Lynyrd Skynyrd - 2006, The Rolling Stones - 2001.

There you go, some of my favorite shows. What are yours?

The Ultimate Man Room Giveaway: Son of a Bitch

2009-06-12T17:06:00.003-04:00

Son of a bitch, there were a bunch of people at Mac-Reedo's for the Ultimate Man Room Giveaway! We had an idea of what we thought would show up, but we were way off! It was freaking packed -- so much in fact we had to spill over into the parking lot!

If you were there, you know what I'm talking about!

Here's a recap of the day/night and some of my thoughts on the whole event, as well!

I got there around 4 p.m. to start broadcasting and to get things setup and even by then people started showing up to check-in, get their Planet Hats, and get a seat. By 5 p.m. most of the deck was filled! Planet listeners are the most freaking dedicated!

By 6 p.m. it was getting crazy, crazy filled in there. The staff at Mac-Reedo's were busting their ass to serve as many beers, drinks and dinners as they could. We told them to expect a BIG crowd, maybe they thought we were bluffing. It's all good -- we'll get it worked out for next year!

We drew out our first two finalists before we brought the band on. We knew you were there for one thing, and one thing only, the Ultimate Man Room -- so we did what you guys wanted it!

Then it was time to rock! The band, Mojo King, was awesome! They played some kickass classic rock covers (Nugent, ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan), and even threw in some Tone-Loc! You'll get to see them again this summer at Rally on the River in Ironton!

After their first set, time to draw out a couple of more finalists...In between the drawings it was really cool to get to chat with everyone that was there. It was great to finally put a face to a name and a voice! That's what a bunch of people said to me, too!

Just before 9 p.m., it was time for THE main event. Time to giveaway all $10,000 of the Ultimate Man Room! We drew our fifth and final registrant up on stage, and our final person proved why it is important to stay until the very end!

After we got him up on stage, the five finalists all grabbed a remote control. Only one of the remote controls worked, the other four did not. One by one we went through the finalists...Johnny Dameron, Sherry Smedley, Ken Smith, Eric Russell...None of them worked! Now, I won't lie -- I started to get nervous. What if none of them work! Oh crap! And we just tested them all out five minutes before!

But before I could freak out too much, Ed McComas came up, pressed the power button, and about three seconds later the beautiful 42" LG Plasma TV fired on announcing "Congratulations, You are the Grand Prize Winner of the Ultimate Man Room!" Ed went nuts! Some great "wooo's!" Ed was awesome, and so was his wife -- they were great.

If you were there, thank you. Seriously, it meant a lot to us to see so many people there! I hope you like your Planet hat -- I think they turned out looking pretty badass! Wear it with pride! Also, if you were there, sorry it was so freaking packed! Like I said, we didn't know that many people were going to show up!

Because of the awesome turn out, we have already made plans for next year. Next year, Mac-Reedo's is going to close down the parking lot. We're going to put a stage in the parking lot, you'll be able to drink out there, and we're going to have some kick ass contests throughout the night like a beer drinking contest, and more! We're going to make it like a festival or something. Maybe even a drunk dancing contest, because there was definitely some of that going on Wednesday night!

So, thanks again for everything. Thanks for trying to get registered -- we loved seeing the Real Rock Lines light up every time we played the Real Man's Mating Call, thanks for showing up, thanks for hanging out, and of course, thanks for listening to the Real Rock Station, 92.7 & 98.5 the Planet.

3 Doors Down & Hinder: Pretty Badass Show

2009-05-27T16:41:00.003-04:00

Last week 3 Doors Down and Hinder rocked the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington and I have to say I was really impressed (not that I'm surprised!). It was a really good rock show!

Safety Suit was the opener, and I was only able to catch their last two songs -- I was wrapping up some work back at the station, and had to get some preshow drinks and dinner down at the Marshall Hall of Fame. Based off the last two songs, they are a pretty good alternative band, but they weren't what I was there for -- dirty rock n' roll and killer anthems, and that's what you get from Hinder and 3 Doors Down.

Hinder was up on stage first, and the first note was "hhhhhhuuuhhhhhhggghhh!!!!!" -- the opening hook for "Use Me." It was a great opener -- great song, too. Hinder reminds me of a cross between Def Leppard and Buckcherry, and that is a compliment. They definitely have a lot 80's influences -- the way the dress, their live shows, their song topics, their stage antics, and their ballads. Their set list was everything you'd expect -- a few new songs from the new album, the current singles ("Use Me," and "Up All Night"), their hits from the last album ("Get Stoned," and "How Long"), and of course...the ballads ("Lips of an Angel" and "Better Than Me"). All in all -- good band, they exceeded my expectations.

Speaking of "Lips of an Angel," me and my buddies that I went with were joking and asking the question -- while receiving oral pleasure from a groupie, do you think a girl has ever looked up at one of the guys from Hinder and said, "Do I have the 'lips of an angel'?" Com'on, you know someone has! Or...do you think one of the guys from Hinder during falatio has ever said to girl, "You have the 'lips of an angel." We laughed at that for about the whole time between Hinder and 3 Doors Down. Yeah, that's my sense of humor.

Then 3 Doors Down hit the stage. I was pumped to see this band -- they have been around for a long time, and I had never seen them before. I'm not exactly sure what song they opened with, but during the second song, Brad, the leader singer, through his microphone stand to the side of the stage, and whoops, it hit Todd, their bass player! Hit him so good, he didn't come back on stage! I've been searching all over the internet to see if there was a story, a blog, or an update with what exactly happened to him! If you know of anything, let me know, reevis@planet927.com. So they continued after a little break as a four-some. I'm not exactly sure who played bass. Maybe someone from the road crew did, or maybe Todd did from the side of the stage, but there wasn't a bass player on stage.

Aside from the microphone stand vs. the bass player fight where the microphone stand won, 3 Doors Down delivered all their hits, and there are a bunch of them: "Kryptonite," "Loser," "Duck and Run," "It's Not My Time," "Behind Those Eyes," "When I'm Gone," "The Road I'm On," "Landing In London," "Away from the Sun," "Citizen/Soldier," "Here Without You," and a some more. It was definitely a "greatest hits" type of show, which is what you want!

Another side note: If you ever see 3 Doors Down, don't ever play the "My Friends" drinking game. Brad says "my friends" more than John McCain! The guys I went with already knew this from seeing them before, so we started counting, and kept counting, and kept counting! He said "my friends" 21 times! Before every song, after every song -- it was funny (I can't make fun of him too much, count how many time's I say "sounds like a plan" or "we can do that" while I'm on the air!).

So there you go, that's my recap/review of the show. It wasn't the best rock show I had ever been too (those are going to be tough to top), but it was a great time in Huntington on a Wednesday night!

Duff Tweeted About Us

2009-04-29T23:31:00.002-04:00

How cool is this...Duff McKagan (Guns 'N Roses, Velvet Revolver, and Loaded) tweeted about us on twitter.com, and we took his twitter v-card...

When we had him in the studio last week, he said he just tweeted for the first time about getting ready to perform on our station...

Well here it is...

In Huntington, W. Va. Going to do a live radio (WCMI) acoustic performance of Wasted Heart. This is my first ever 'tweet'.1:42 PM Apr 24th from web

That's pretty cool.

The Dancing Outlaw, back in jail...

2009-04-28T16:56:00.002-04:00

Jesco White, the Dancing Outlaw, is in jail for a little drug deal...Here's the picture and article from the Charleston Daily Mail (www.dailymail.com).

This guy could have made some serious money in the 90s after the first documentary came out, but he's too ignorant to realize it!

I'll do a blog soon about my "history" with the Dancing Outlaw -- no seriously, he's been to my parents' house, and I've seen him live several times -- I'll post one of the pictures to prove it!

Jesco White arrested on drug charges

Jesco White is in the South Western Regional Jail.

MADISON, W.Va. -- Jesco White, known as West Virginia's 'Dancing Outlaw,' has been arrested on drug charges, Boone County Sheriff Rodney Miller said.

White, 58, and a relative, Sue White, 40, were both arrested Monday night at their separate residences in Madison, Miller said. It was not immediately clear how the two are related. The arrests were made after police received a tip that the pair had participated in buying cocaine, Miller said. Both were charged with conspiracy for delivery of a controlled substance and are being held in the Southwestern Regional Jail, Miller said.

He and his family are the subject of a current documentary "The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia" debuting at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

White was made famous by the "Dancing Outlaw" documentary for PBS.

Hangin' with Duff

2009-04-27T16:06:00.004-04:00

This past Friday we were honored to have Duff McKagan, founding member of Guns 'N Roses and Velvet Revolver, in our studio with his band Loaded. We interviewed Duff, chatted a little about Guns 'N Roses and Velvet Revolver, and he even performed two songs from the new album "Sick." You can check all of that at http://www.planet927.com/, we have video, audio and pictures of it.

Here's my take on the whole thing...It was awesome!

Nate and I picked up Duff and the band at the Pullman Plaze Hotel, which is barely a block away from the station. I told the manager that we could walk them over, but he insisted we drive over, which I completely understand. So we pull up to the bus, wait for everyone to get out, load up the guitars, and get everyone in the cars, and then make the long one block drive over. We are sitting at the stop light in front of the station, and I point and show Duff where we are going, and he goes, "That's it?! Why didn't we just F@#&ing walk over?!" I said I told his manager that, and Duff just laughed.

So we got everyone into the studio, and it was a tight fit (check out the pictures -- it's a small studio!). Then they did a sound check, and worked on getting all their harmonies together. To all of us who were in the studio -- that was freaking awesome. They were doing a little mini-performance just for us, yeah I know they were tuning up, but they were jamming the single "Flatline" out and even did a cool cover of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," and we were the only ones that were hearing it!

Then it was time for the interview, and if you watch the video, you'll see Duff still strumming his guitar and singing when I crack the mic to start the interview -- I told them 30 seconds and all of that stuff, but they were all into it! It was cool. I thought the interview went pretty well, you can be the judge of that. Then they did the song "Flatline." I really do like that song -- it's catchy, it has a great intro, and great harmonies. While they were doing it, you'll see this in the video, the drummer was playing a shaker and a tambourine, and he was rocking up against one of our CD racks, and it is not the sturdiest thing to begin with! As he was playing, the rack kept rocking, and rocking, I was just waiting for it to fall and all 400 or 500 CDs to fall as well! Luckily it didn't! Then they did another tune, "Wasted Heart," it wasn't as fast, so there wasn't as much shaking on the rack!

After the interview, we all chatted for a minute, and I just have to say Duff McKagan is a really nice guy. He took time to sign some stuff for us and took some pictures. Before we left from the hotel, their manager told us to bring them back to the V Club. Well, after the interview, Duff and the band weren't really interested in that -- they wanted to walk around town! After talking with them before the show, we found out the went to Glenn's, Now Hear This and the Pita Pit, then they walked back to the venue. Nate drove their bass player, Jeff, back to the V Club and all of the guitars. Jeff said he had already walked around town earlier this morning, and wanted to relax. The thought of Duff McKagan just walking around in downtown Huntington just makes me laugh, he's cool.

Now it was show time. It wasn't the biggest crowd at the V Club, but it was definietely a rock crowd filled with some old school GNR fans. Loaded started the show with the title track to the album, "Sick," and about midway through the second verse, the left side of the stage pretty much lost all power, including Duff's vocals. Yeah, it sucked, but what was really cool about it was, while they were getting it fixed, the drummer, Geoff, was just banging away on this really cool beat, and the lead guitarist, Mike, was just rocking out some cool riff he was improvising on. Then Duff started getting into it was clapping and keep the crowd alive. Once his mic came back on, he was having the crowd do some shout alongs -- you can tell this band is made up of pro's!

Even though it was just a club show, you would have thought they were playing a stadium show! They put a lot into the gig, and just kept playing, and playing, and playing! They easily played for two hours, and did a couple of Guns 'N Roses tunes, and Duff really nails 'em! They did "Dust and Bones," "So Fine," and "It's So Easy." Those really got the place going!

It was a killer show and a great day with Duff McKagan's Loaded. If you're a Guns 'N Roses fan, or a Velvet Revolver fan, or if your just a Rock N Roll fan, you need to come out and support this band! I wouldn't be surprised if they came back to the area soon.

Marshall Green & White Game: Nice Crotch Shot

2009-04-27T13:41:00.002-04:00

Check out this nice crotch shot from the annual Marshall Green and White Spring Football Game taken and posted by the Herald-Dispatch (http://www.herald-dispatch.com/multimedia/galleries/x1653871027/Gallery-Green-White-game-action). I'm sure the photographer will say he had no idea you could see up the girl's skirt! Enjoy!

150 Pairs of Panties and a Wedding

2009-03-25T16:48:00.004-04:00

Last week was a pretty crazy week for me -- on Tuesday (March 17) I helped collect about 150 pairs of panties, and then on Saturday (March 21) I got married! That's a complete week!

We'll start with the panties. Instead of celebrating St. Patrick's Day, we, here at the Planet, celebrate St. Panty's Day! We drive around the tri-state collecting panties in exchange for a St. Panty's Day t-shirt. We had 144 t-shirts, and they are all GONE, so do the math as to how many panties we collected!

Here are some of my favorite highlights from St. Panty's Day this year (in cronological order):

1. At our first stop in Huntington at the Happy Camper, two girls were waiting for us to show up with their panties in hand! Planet listeners are so freaking dedicated, I love it!

2. While I was in the studio, Nate and Lenny were at Goodfella's Tobacco in Flatwoods and collected more than 50 panties in just two hours! It was so crazy down there, even WSAZ came to check it out. Here's the video:

3. Once we got to the End Zone in Ironton, it was ON. We arrived with about 70 t-shirts and they were all gone before sunset! There it was our St. Panty's/St. Patty's Day Party, and Ironton and everyone down at the End Zone knows how to party. It got a little crazy. One girl really wanted a St. Panty's Day shirt, but didn't have any panties to give up, except the ones she had on...So, she went to the bathroom, took them off, and gave them to us (you'll see it in the video)...
You can see our pictures by going here, http://www.planet927.com/pictures-2009-03-19.html. Here is our video from YouTube:

To wrap up my take on St. Panty's Day, we were all trying to come up with some cool ideas as to what to do with all of the panties. Well, this year, for some reason, we thought it would be funny to put them for sale on eBay. I thought we make get one or two bids, or a bid from some freak in Montana, but no, not even close! The starting price was $0.92, and one week later, after 23 bids, from eight different people, the panties sold for $40! "Congratulations" to Amanda in Ironton for winning the panties! She also wins the final St. Panty's Day t-shirt (just to let you know, the box of panties smells a little funky!).

Now to the wedding...

Saturday I got married, and yeah, I'm happy about it! Married a girl I dated in high school and a little in college, broke up, remained best friends, then we got back together a couple of years ago. The wedding was great, the reception was awesome. You'll like our wedding favors -- beer bottle koozies (classy, I know!). I gotta admit, it was awesome seeing all of our friends and family, especially the ones that came in from out of town and far away and stuff, but if you've gone through a wedding before, you'll probably agree with me, once it's over, don't you take a huge breath of relief. I know I did. However, we were really lucky, everything went as smoothly as possible! Here's one picture from the day, I'm only posting this for the girls, you know they want to see pictures...don't I look badass in a tux! :) I thought I was James Bond all day. There's a rumor, that me and the groomsmen were "tailgating" in the parking lot before the wedding. The Miller Lite kept me calm!

We went to Columbus for a little mini-honeymoon (we're taking a longer honeymoon in June). Columbus treated us good -- great hotel, great restaurants and great bars! Speaking of bars, hit one of my favorite's -- O'Shaughnessy's, which is an Irish bar with a great house porter beer. We also went to an awesome dueling piano bar. We went there on Sunday night, so there wasn't much of a crowd, but the pianists didn't seem to mind. They played everything including AC/DC, Green Day, Oasis, Springsteen, Billy Joel, Elton John (those were obvious), and Bob Seger.

We came home Tuesday afternoon, and came back to reality -- we're still moving her in and all of that good stuff! The living room has been overtaken by boxes!

2009 St. Panty's Day T-Shirts!

2009-03-16T16:48:00.001-04:00

These are awesome -- the best we've done so far!

See you and your panties tomorrow.

Reevis

My Bachelor Party: Seven Bars, One Night!

2009-03-09T15:27:00.003-04:00

Well this past Saturday was my bachelor party -- that's right, I'm getting married in two weeks -- but it wasn't a "real" bachelor party, however, it was exactly what I wanted -- It was me and my best friend Woda, and we went to seven different bars in one night!

We started the day/evening at the dog track in Cross Lanes -- I wanted to gamble and lose some money! Yeah, I lost like $80 bucks, but I had a freaking good time doing it! I lost quickly on the roulette table, but then started to pace myself on the craps table. I had never played that game before, but it's pretty fun and addicting! I actually made some money there! Then I moved to the a blackjack table, and made some more money! Hell yeah! Then I got stupid -- I went to a Texas Hold'em table -- and that is my favorite game of all time, but playing it for cash sucks! I'm a tournament player! Then we ended the evening of fun at the craps table! Again, lost money, but had a good time doing so (the beer was tasty there too!).

Then, back to Huntington. I wanted to hit some spots I used to go to back in the day, including Davis' Place. We didn't stay there for long, just had a beer and jetted, there kitchen was closed, and we were a little hungry!

So, then we were off to Mac-Reedo's. That's a great bar, it has the best patio in town! On the patio, I met Brandon -- a Planet listener! I can't remember how he knew who I was (probably a picture online, or my voice? I dunno). But, I had some chicken fingers and some fries, and I was reloaded!

From Mac's we went to the Paddock on the 'Stend, a.k.a. the West End baby! We wanted to do some karaokeing, and we thought the Paddock would serve us well, and it did! I sang a little Mr. Brownstone from Guns N Roses -- a song I had always wanted to do, I know pretty much every word! I pretty much blew the crowd away (just kidding!), then I did Papa Roach's Scars -- I was getting into! Woda and I also made some friends -- Alan and his wife were the shit! Alan, Woda and I all did Man of Constant Sorrow from the movie O' Brother Where Art Thou (why, I have no idea! It was Alan's idea!) I also went to high school with the bartender, so it was cool to see her. It was now time to leave the West End, but I promise we'll be back before the night is over...

After the Paddock it was off to Hank's. Had a beer, and then hit the road, another cool Huntington bar. It's the only piano bar that I know of that doesn't have a piano bar. From Hank's it was time to hit up the U-Pag (Union Pub and Grille).

I pretty much lived in the Union my senior year at Marshall -- that is also a badass bar! There, I ran into my fiance -- she was having her little bachelorette party -- her's was more traditional, than just mine, which was barhopping! She was great -- they were having a blast. Funny story, I wasn't driving (I'm smart!), but my fiance said I was drunk (and I probably was, but I said I was good), so I took one of those blow tests at the bar, and passed it (yeah, it was waaaaayyyyy off!). She took off from the Union and headed home, but I stayed out a little longer.

After we left the Union, we went back to Hank's, and then it was on...

Originally, I wanted to go to a strip club in the afternoon, and see some daystrippers -- just for the comic-relief of it. I'm not a strip club guy, but it's funny and random, especially if you go at 2 in the afternoon. Well (sorry broseph), Woda's fiance wasn't too comfortable with him going, so I was like alright whatever, I can live without it.

Well, when we were at Hank's, his fiance came with us. She was a little tuned as well at this point. We were all trying to figure out where to do next, and I said, "com'on let's go to the Carousel Club!" She was drunk, and she was down with it! So I got the next best thing to day strippers -- Carousel Club girls! And it was freaking awesome -- they were all great, and the club was everything I wanted and more. We sat at a table right next to a dude that was past out on a table! It was a great way to end the night (told you I'd be back on the 'Stend!)! She know understands why we wanted to go!

So that's the end of the night, except that I now had to break into my house! Seriously -- I left my car at my parents' house, and for some reason the keys too! I won't tell you how I did it, but I'll just say this, it was easier said than done at 2 in the morning, especially when you've had like 40 Miller Lite's!

Sometime early in the morning I was burning up, so I moved downstairs to my couch, and left my phone upstairs, so that next day, I literally slept in till 2 (don't forget the time did jump ahead one hour). I didn't answer any calls or text messages, but my fiance called me like 20 times, and I never answered, so she came down that afternoon to make sure I was alive! I was fine, just sleeping!

So there you go, it was my bachelor party, but really just another random night on the town. But count them up, if you include the dog track -- seven bars in one night!

Buckcherry, Avenged Sevenfold & Papa Roach: Pikeville Rocks!

2009-03-02T16:00:00.004-05:00

Went down to Pikeville, Kentucky last week to check out Buckcherry, Avenged Sevenfold and Papa Roach at the Eastern Kentucky Expo Center, and saw a great rock show!

Saving Abel were the openers, but we didn't get down there in time. As we walked in Papa Roach were doing their thing, and they are a great live band! It's hard to believe, but Papa Roach have been around for 10 years! But after you see them live (this was my fourth time), and they do hit after hit, you're like, "wow, I guess they have been around for 10 years!" They have so many killer songs that they even skip over a few of their singles like "Take Me," and "She Loves Me Not." The new songs are awesome live -- "Hollywood Whore" and "Lifeline." I can't wait for their new album Metamorphosis, which comes out on March 24.

Next on stage was Avenged Sevenfold. This was the band that I was most anxious to see, because I had never seen them! From the moment the curtain dropped I was hooked! The opened with the first track on the new album, which has an organ part at the beginning, and then just tore into their set! It was pretty badass from start to finish. I've been listening to their stuff a lot lately ever since I saw them.

Then it was time for the headliners -- Buckcherry. This was my fourth time seeing Buckcherry (and sixth time seeing lead singer Josh Todd -- he did a little solo thing while Buckcherry were split up). Buckcherry's another band that has been around for a long time -- their debut album came out in 1999 (but again they were split for about three years)! Live, they are a great Rock n Roll Band -- just down & dirty, and take the waitress home with you Rock n Roll -- exactly what I like!

Side note -- the Eastern Kentucky Expo Center is a great venue for shows. It's not too big, not too small, it's new, it's clean, it's nice -- but the whole time I was driving down U.S. 23, I was like, "are you sure there's an arena down here?" "In Pikeville?!"

My Day's at the Showboat Marina

2009-02-23T13:54:00.003-05:00

I don't know if you've heard about this yet, but the Showboat Marina and the Cajun Kitchen are under the waters of the Ohio River, which is really sad news to me -- I grew up there! Check out the picture from the Herald-Dispatch (http://www.hdonline.com/)...

My parents used to have a boat there, so when I was a kid I was there pretty much every weekend, and if we weren't on the boat we were eating at the Cajun Kitchen.

Then, I actually worked at the marina one summer when I was in high school, which was one of the worst jobs I ever had, but it was also one of the most fun summers of my life!

Why the job sucked:

1. TRASH DAY. On Monday's, I had to empty out all of the trash cans on all of the docks. Doesn't sound too bad, it's just a couple of trash cans, right? Yeah, true, but after a weekend of boating those trash cans will be overflowing, with more trash and bags sitting next to the trash cans than in them! Hopefully you're not reading this during your lunch break because a lot of time there would be maggots every where in them! Yeah, sorry. If there weren't maggots, the smell of warm beer and leftover food would do it for you!

2. THIS ONE BOAT. This one guy, boat this one boat that was crappy to begin with, but he wanted to have it refinished from top to bottom. So it was my job to do the bottom part -- literally. We sandblasted the bottom part of the boat, so I would be laying on my back under this boat (the boat was out of the water, obviously), spraying the bottom with the sand and just getting covered and blinded by the sand! Then once it was smoothed out and ready to go, then I had to tar it! So again, laying on my back, just painting back in forth this tar on the huge-ass bottom part of this boat. And yes, gravity was not my friend with tarring the boat because it would drip all over me! Once that job was done I was very happy!

3. OVERALL REASON: MANUAL LABOR. I suck at manual labor. I am clueless. Hanging a picture at my house is a big deal; I feel like I've really accomplished something. So there, I felt stupid, I would be told to grab a tool, and get the wrong one half of the time!

Why it was one of the best summers ever:

1. WATER: I love water -- ponds, lakes, rivers, oceans -- whatever, I just love watching the water. So it was always cool to get to work near the water -- it seemed to make the days go by fast! You could also jump in every now and then to cool off if you needed to.

2. RANDOM THINGS: Random things were always happening at the boat dock. I don't know if you remember this, but that summer (I think the summer of 1999) a little fishing boat hit a barge head on right by the marina. A couple of the guys survived the crash, but one guy was missing. So that next morning, the Coast Guard, Police and other agencies pretty much took over the marina. I was told to grab some doughnuts for everyone, then me and boss went to the movies -- that was a crazy couple of days until they found the guy (yeah, he was dead).

3. THE CAJUN KITCHEN: Dude, lunch and dinner was awesome, because we always ate at the Cajun Kitchen, which had some great food!

4. NOT A PUSSY ANYMORE: I felt like I grew up a little bit that summer. I was always a little, clueless, pussy of a kid, and that summer -- I started to get "it." I started to become a man (I know, I'm a pussy for writing this part!). But I was like 16 when I started there, so you know what I mean.

I'm sure there are some more reasons why the job sucked, and why it rocked, but there are a few decent stories about my summer at the Showboat Marina and the Cajun Kitchen. But anyway, it really sucks that the whole damn marina is looking like the Titanic.

The Planet's St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Mission Accomplished!

2009-02-14T11:47:00.005-05:00

Wow -- the Planet's St. Valentine's Day Massacre was truly a success! When we first came up with the idea to destroy items leftover from your former boyfriends, girlfriend, wives, and husbands -- we had no idea what the reaction would be. We thought, well, maybe one or two people might come by, and they'll bring something lame for us to destroy, like a card or something.

However, once again, the Planet listeners showed why they are the greatest listeners in the world and rose to the occasion! We had more than 30 people show up as the day went on, and people brought everything from stuffed animals to porn!

The guy that brought us porn to destroy said one of his ex-girlfriends got it for him, and it's not even good porn!

Who knew people would want to destroy their ex's cellphones, but we had 4 different people who brought that!

We destroyed several CDs. Those were great -- some where just regular old studio albums (from the likes of Hank Williams Jr., Heart, Papa Roach, and Boba Flex), and of course...MIX CDs (Including Jenny's 20 New Songs!)!!

The stories from some of our listeners about their past relationships were classic as well!

Charles was in Ironton visiting his lawyer regarding his forthcoming divorce when he stopped by to see us!

Crystal didn't have anything for us to destroy, but showed us what her husband left her -- his name tattooed on her lower back!

Frank had the most screwed up story of them all. Frank drives up in a big red truck, and gets out and we can see that he is missing the lower half of one of his legs. It turns out, he was accidentally shot a couple of years ago, and had to have his leg removed. While he was in the hospital and doing his recovery, his wife of five years (five years!) said, "see ya, I don't want to deal with this and take care of you!" Frank said she didn't really pack up much, just took what she could, and she left behind a bunch of jewelry, and Frank went to town on that!

Happy Valentine's Day, and we'll have to do that again next year! Thanks to everyone who came out and made the Planet's St. Valentine's Day Massacre bad ass! Thanks of course to the End Zone in Ironton for having us! Check out the highlights below. Keep listening for details because St. Panty's Day is just around the corner!

That wasn't really Pink Floyd, or was it?

2009-02-12T21:32:00.004-05:00

Went to the Pink Floyd Experience show last night at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena and that some really cool stuff. I had never seen the show before. We got into the arena a little late, just after the show had started, and as soon as I heard the music, I was like "holy cow! That really sounds like Pink Floyd"

Once we got to our seats, I enjoyed the show even more. The band was tight! Great keyboards, organs and synthesizers -- Richard Wright would be very proud. The David Gilmour of the group was dead-on -- he even looked like him! Every time the saxophone player had a solo, I just wanted it to keep going! I love that kind of stuff!

The special effects were cool, too -- you had the flying pig (I think some people paid just to see that). They had surround sound -- I've never seen or heard anything like that for a live show! They had very cool lights, and cool videos going during the songs.

The crowd was really into the show, too. While not large in size, they really love their Floyd. Most of the time, the crowd just sat and took the show in -- it's Floyd, it's mellow, but them sometimes, some would have to get out of their chairs and get into it! There were also a lot of very deserving standing ovations! The crowd also featured some really good air guitar players! A lot of them!

I really enjoyed seeing a lot of father & son duos. We saw a lot of dad's taking their sons to their first concerts, and the entire family was really enjoying it (real rock brings families together!). It was a great first show for a lot of kids!

There was also that one drunk guy. You know who I'm talking about -- the guy that stands up more than anyone else, that is louder than anyone else, that annoys the people who he is sitting by. He was classic! He would go up to the front of the stage and stand right up on the stage, it looked like he was putting money up on the stage! And, of course, "that guy" didn't make it through the entire stage! He had too much before the show started!

Hopefully they'll bring the Pink Floyd Experience back to town next year -- it was a great Wednesday night!

I still like winter, but...power outages, off the air, leaks? Com'on!

2009-01-29T15:11:00.003-05:00

This past week of winter has sucked! Thousands went and are without power! Trees were down everywhere. The roads were crap. And it has REALLY screwed with things here at the Planet.

It started Tuesday when I got a call from Nate saying he wasn't going to be able to make it in. He lives in Crown City, Ohio. He said he was snowed in. So we had to fill his shift -- the Dirtman took care of that.

I was able to get to the station just fine. I live about two miles away, so not many problems, it was a little slick, but that was it. And for the most part, the rest of the day went really well. It's fun working in radio when the weather is acting up. You feel like you are providing a public service -- letting people know what roads are in bad shape, where accidents have happened, announcing school and business closings -- it's different from your normal days.

Then, as the night went on, we know what happened next -- the ice came, and it came, and it came! My parents lost their power, and all of our radio stations went off the air during the middle of the night. It came back on for a few hours that morning at like 10 a.m.

So I'm driving in Wednesday morning, again Nate couldn't make it in, and one of my coworkers calls me and wants to give me a heads up that the Planet studio is leaking. What does that mean? I walk in, go straight to our studio, and see that it is a train wreck!

There are like five trash cans collecting water that is more than just leaking from the studio -- it was raining from the studio! I put in one more trash can -- it still didn't do any good. Water was everywhere. Our I.T. bought a few tarps to cover up the equipment.

So around noon, we go completely off the air. You could only hear us online. That's the worse thing in radio. I still did my shift for the people that may have been listening online! I did a few breaks holding an umbrella just to prove a point! The station came back on the air around 5:30 p.m. that evening.

Today, things are kind of back to normal. When you first walk in, it smells like ass in here! You know that musty smell of water. The ceiling in the studio is brown from the water. The floor is pretty dirty looking (even though it was always kind of dirty).

I like snow and winter, but this has been a little much!

Check out the video below to see what we were dealing with yesterday...

The 2nd Shot 'Herd' Round The World: And I Was There!

2009-01-22T17:29:00.005-05:00

Bruce Morris meet Markel Humphry.

Holy Cow! In case you missed it -- Marshall won Wednesday night (Jan. 21) 53-50 over SMU. Sounds like a close, exciting game doesn't it? Actually it was kind of a boring, low scoring game up until the final seconds!

The game is tied at 50-50 with about :20 seconds left and SMU has the ball and tries to score with just a few seconds left on the clock but misses. Marshall's Markel Humphry (who actually has worked here at the station for the past couple of summers) rebounds the ball with about three seconds left on the clock, dribbles the ball twice and launches a 75-foot prayer. Well, his prayer was answered and he banked it in!

How far is 75 feet? Basically, he shot it from their three-point line and made it into our basket.

Before he shot the ball, Marshall head coach Donnie Jones was trying to call a time out. Good thing the ref's didn't see him! After the buzzer went off, the crowd was going nuts! The team was running around the court like they had just won the World Cup in soccer. The ref's checked the review footage to make sure he fired it off in time, and there was no doubt about that!

If you're not a big Marshall fan, the reason I titled this blog "The 2nd Shot 'Herd' Round the World" is about 20 years ago, Bruce Morris fired in an 80-foot buzzer beater to end the half. That was "The First Shot 'Herd' Round the World." If you ever go to the Henderson Center, he's the guy that has his footprints on the court. But, this one might have been sweeter, we won the game because of it!

One more cool thing about the game winning shot was that fact that it was all over the national media. Check it out below:

What'd You Do This Weekend? I Saw AC/DC!!

2009-01-12T17:59:00.002-05:00

If your weekend included going to see AC/DC in concert, chances are you had a pretty good weekend. This past Sunday (January 11), I saw AC/DC in Cincinnati at the US Bank Arena, and yes, I had a good weekend!

It was my first time seeing one of the heavy weights of Real Rock, and they did not disappoint. From the opening video bringing the band on stage and straight into "Rock N Roll Train" to the final cannon's during "For Those About To Rock," it was a bad ass show all the way through!

I thought that Brian Johnson's vocals might be a little weak -- he's 61 years old, he's pretty much screamed lyrics for the past 30 years, and maybe he has smoked a few too many cigarettes in his day. With that, I figured the music would be much louder than his vocals to make up for it. Man, was I wrong! Brian can still tear it up! He's a great lead singer, and a great front man. He's one of those lead singers that is going to make sure everyone in the crowd is going to have a great time! One thing that really impressed me about him was, when Angus would be doing playing a long solo, or having fun with the crowd, Brian will still be out on the side, jamming next to guitarist Malcolm Young. A lot of times, lead singers will leave the stage when the spotlight isn't on them. That's not the case at all with Brian. I loved that -- he watched Angus do his thing as if it was the first time he had even seen him!

Speaking of Angus...WOW! What a freak! He has more energy than anyone I have ever seen! Watching him in his trademark schoolboy uniform was worth the price of admission! From the moment he led the band on stage and to the very end - he doesn't stop! He runs all over the stage, does his classic duck walk, falls down a few times, and, of course, shows off his devil horns, but one thing he doesn't do is miss a note! He plays so freaking perfectly with out ever looking at the fretboard!

The other guys in the band don't get as much credit, but Malcolm Young, Angus' brother, and bass player Cliff Williams, and drummer Phil Rudd are a great rhythm section. Cliff and Malcolm stand so tight right next to Phil, and only walk out to the front of the stage for backing vocals.

AC/DC could do a show with just their instruments and microphones and nothing else, and it would be a great show! However, they do pull out some great stunts and props! For starters, the show began with a derailed train exploding on the stage for "Rock N Roll Train;" you had the bell for "Hells Bell" of which Brian Johnson hung off'; Angus did a little strip tease during "The Jack" that ended with him mooning the crowd, showing off his AC/DC Boxers; the gigantic blowup doll for "Whole Lotta Rosie;" and of course the six enormous cannons for "For Those About To Rock." I still had all of my hearing up until the cannons went off!

If you have ever seen AC/DC then you already know this -- if you tell a friend or a co-worker that you saw AC/DC, they are all going to say the same thing back to you -- "you suck!" AC/DC is one of those bands that every one likes. Even my parents like 'em. No one doesn't not like AC/DC!

To be honest, the only negative thing I can say is ticket prices, but they are what they are, and compared to some other shows, AC/DC charged pretty much what everyone else charges. Tickets were a little more than $90 (plus the Ticket Master charges and stuff). But looking back on the prices, they played for an hour and 45 minutes, and it amounted to a little less than one dollar for every minute, and one minute of AC/DC is definitely work one dollar!

Here's the set list:

Rock n Roll Train
Hell Ain't a Bad Place To Be
Back In Black
Big Jack
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack
Hells Bells
Shoot to Thrill
War Machine
Anything Goes
You Shook Me All Night Long
TNT
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock

Encore:
Highway To Hell
For Those About To Rock

I Love Winter

2009-01-06T15:29:00.004-05:00

Guys & Girls,

I know most people hate winter and are already looking forward to the coming of spring and summer, but I just have to say it, "I love winter." I love it when it snows, and I love it when its like 15 degrees at night, I love the way people freak out when there is the chance of an inch of snow (however, I hate days like today -- mid-40s and rain. That sucks -- rain always sucks).

I just really like winter, but what's my main reason for liking winter so much? I love to ski! It's one of my favorite things to do, and me and a couple of friends of mine hit the slopes this past weekend for our first trip of the year. We went to Winterplace, which is a great place to go to because you can be there in less than two hours. It's just past Beckley and right off of the Interstate. I hadn't been there in several years, and forgot that it is THE redneck ski resort! The people watching was just as fun as the skiing!

I took a little video camera along too, check it out the day.

Ragin' on the Road: Columbus - Theory of a Deadman & Pop Evil

2008-12-08T16:45:00.004-05:00

This past Saturday, me and my buddy Woda hit the road to see Theory of a Deadman and Pop Evil in Columbus, Ohio at the Newport Music Hall. Anytime me and Woda hit the road together, there's always a story or two to tell:

We left from South Point at about two in the afternoon, and if you remember the weather on Saturday, it was a little crappy (to say the least!). Snow & ice! Should we have braved the roads? Probably not, but we're not the smartest guys in the world. It was like a graveyard of cars driving up U.S. 23 -- one spunout or stuck car after the other! But, we took our time and got up there safely.

We stayed with Woda' uncle -- who was an excellent host (had burritos ready for us, and fixed a great breakfast the next morning)! Because we're experienced roadtrippers -- we called a cab to take us to the show so we didn't have to worry about driving back.

Pop Evil Interview on "Stink Water"

I had an interview setup with the opening band, Pop Evil, so we needed to be down there around 6 p.m. We call the band's tour manager, and we got to sit in for the soundcheck, which was very cool. The interview took place on the band's bus/R.V. -- also known as "Stink Water."

The band was awesome to talk to -- we'll have the interview at www.planet927.com as soon as it's produced and ready to go. They're very hungry, and a diverse, great group of guys. Listen to the Planet for their latest single, "100 in a 55." Check 'em out at www.popevil.com.

Slutty Nurses

Before the show, we had one of those WTF moments -- we're standing on the side of the venue, and in walk these two girls dressed as slutty nurses. We had to check our calendars to make sure it wasn't Halloween! Every guy there is starring with their jaws dropped, and every girl is giving them bad looks. Woda and I really didn't give them much attention, however, maybe because we acted like we didn't care, they walked up and started talking to us (girls like that never walk up and talk to me)!

They told us why they were dressed as slutty nurses, and maybe you already know, apparently in Theory of aDeadman's "Bad Girlfriend" video there are slutty nurses. That's cool, die-hard fans (or maybe they were just trying to get banged after the show). They were from Cincinnati, and when we told them we were from Huntington, they actually knew the town and some people pretty well. I'll have more on them later in the story.

Showtime

Show starts -- Pop Evil does there thing, and definitely made some fans as the show went on. They are a killer live band. Then, it was the headliner's turn. Theory of a Deadman is a cool band. I love their style, and really liked the guitars they used (pretty Gibson's!). For the most part it was everything you'd expect -- all their hits and some cool guitar solos. Not that much interaction with the crowd, but I'm ok with that, if they want to just play, go for it!

After the show, a fight broke out! Yes! Right by us. Woda said he heard a punch land. I just saw a bunch of pushing and shoving, and people holding others back (you gotta love drunk people). We start to make our way out of the building and chat some more with the guys from Pop Evil, who are hanging out at the merchandise table (they were all pretty tuned up at this point). Leigh, their lead singer, tells us, drunkingly, that we are now a part of the Pop Evil Family! It was funny -- he signed Woda's CD twice. He's awesome.

Then, the slutty nurses walked through. Obviously they didn't get anywhere with Theory of a Deadman, so it looked like they would try with the opening band. However, they were getting no love! They were trying to get free stuff from the merchandise table, but Pop Evil were having none of that (what they sell at that table is pretty much their food and gas money!). I love when girls like that get rejected.

We get some food at the "legendary" Raisin' Canes, which is a chicken finger place right by the Newport. The food is tastey, no doubt, but Woda has been telling me how great this place is for months (his girlfriend was only jealous about our trip because we would get to go to Raisin' Canes!). Expectations were high, but it was good.

Taxi Cab Confessions

We hale for a cab and start to make our way back. Our cab driver was awesome. He was from somewhere in Africa. We could honestly understand every word he said except for his home country! We'd ask where he was from, he'd say the country and we would have no idea. Then he would tell us what it was near, like Sudan and Ethiopia -- we knew about those countries, but still couldn't make out his! Woda and I think it was either Uganda or Rwanda. We recorded the whole conversation for some reason, hoping we'd get some crazy story.

It wasn't our craziest road trip, but it was still a great time. I'm sure the next one will involve more awesome stories (ask me about our trip to Crue Fest this past summer, it was like a freaking circus).

November 24, 2008 - We Partied with Papa Roach, Staind, & Seether? Really?

2008-12-04T15:43:00.000-05:00

**This is from the archives...

This past Thursday Staind, Seether & Papa Roach rocked Huntington, and we were fortunate enough to have a couple of the guys from Papa Roach in the studio. Check all of that out here: www.planet927.com. After the interview, their tour manager said he would leave me some tickets to come to the show, along with "VIP" passes to come back stage after the show. When he said VIP passes, I honestly just thought it would be like a meet and greet, or it wouldn't turn out to be much – man was I wrong, and what an adventure the rest of the night turned out to be!

So me, Nate and a couple of buddies of ours went to the show, and had a blast watching three killer bands – there was a fourth band to start the show called State of Shock, but we didn't get into the arena until closer to 7 p.m. as they were wrapping up. So, after the show, we decided to see what these VIP passes are all about. We wondered down to the side of the stage, ask some security people where we needed to go, and we were told the passes didn't mean anything, “the bands had already taken off, and that the ‘after show party’ was at Fluid!” I called B.S. and we left. We then walked completely around the arena to the other side and found some smarter security guards who showed us where to go, kind of.

We get backstage, and like most arenas, backstage is just concrete, a bunch of chairs, forklifts, and that kind of stuff. Where we were standing, we saw some of the guys from the bands, and members from the road crew – didn't really recognize any faces. They were all going in and out of the dressing rooms, talking, looked like they were having a good time. I asked a security guard nearby where we now go with our VIP passes; he said this was as far as we could go. We all felt awkward and like losers. We were like 30 feet away, staring at where the party was! Have you seen Wayne’s World 2? Remember when Wayne was trying to get backstage and said "my girlfriends back there!" "A lot of people's girlfriends are back there." It was totally like that.

But then, we saw our savior – Eddie. Eddie is the tour manager for Papa Roach, the guy that gave us the tickets and the passes. I shouted for Eddie, he came over, we talked about the show, and I thanked him for the tickets, the passes, and for letting us interview Papa Roach. I then asked him if we could get a drink. It was like the secret code. He said “of course, come on.” So we start heading into Seether's dressing room. While we are walking in, we all give devilish grins to the security guards who kept trying to keep us away from the fun!

We get inside, it's dark, there's random songs playing over the speakers, and holy cow, there's everyone – Aaron Lewis from Staind, Shaun Morgan from Seether, and Jacoby Shaddix from Papa Roach. We were literally at the "after show party." We all just kept looking at each other like, “are we really here? Seriously?” Eddie grabbed us a couple of beers, and we just kept starring at everyone! We were such tourists.

Then, Jacoby came by and I introduced him to everyone (as if we were best friends, close enough, I interviewed him on the air for about a half an hour!). He's a great guy to talk to.

One thing I learned backstage, when Nate gets a little alcohol in him, he also gets confidence in him! He became everyone's best friend! He would just go up to everyone, introduce himself, say that he was from the Planet and told them he loved the show! It was hilarious to see. He had no fear at all!

To prove how confident the guy is – later on, Aaron Lewis was playing the music, and like I said, everything was very random. You would hear Led Zeppelin followed by a-Ha's "Take On Me!" I told Nate, "it would be awesome if Aaron played some Oasis right now" (which is my personal favorite band – grew up listening to them in my "formative" years). Nate said, "you want some Oasis, I'll make it happen." Before I could stop him, he walks to the front of the room where Aaron is messing with the computer, and apparently introduces himself and says "my buddy back there would really love to hear some Oasis." Aaron was down with the request. Nate walks back and about 30 seconds later "Champagne Supernova" comes over the speakers. Wow.

The night was awesome. We totally didn't belong back there, but no one questioned us, and everyone was extremely friendly. It was getting late, all the beer was gone, and it was definitely time to get rolling. On our way out, we saw Eddie and Jacoby, and we spent the next 30 minutes talking music, and about this band Parmalee, which they managed and are working on getting a record deal. Check 'em out: www.myspace.com/parmalee. They're going somewhere. We then said our good-byes, and we were out.

This next part of the story isn't as cool as the earlier parts, but it makes me freaking laugh: Nate had a few too many beers, and definitely didn't need to drive home, especially to Crown City, Ohio at 2 a.m. He had to be at the station at like 5:30 a.m. So he stayed on my couch for basically like a two hour nap. He drove my car to work the next morning, then came back and got me around 9 a.m. Early in the morning, he didn't sound too good. He didn't smell too good either – had the same clothes on from the night before, and no shower! He was dragging a little bit to say the least.

So that's it. It was the most surreal night of my life, and it was freaking fantastic. I've told the story to my fiancé, friends, family members, and now to you, and after hearing about it, you still don't understand what it was like. It was freaking unreal!

November 11, 2008 - The Worst Tattoo on the Planet?

2008-12-04T13:07:00.000-05:00

**This is from the archives...

The entries are in for The Best Tattoo on the Planet contest, and I have to say, I am very impressed! When we came up with the idea for this contest, I was hoping to maybe get 10 entries, but we got that in the first weekend! So then, I was hoping we could get 20. We ended up with 27, and you have to admit some of the entries are badass!

So, I started thinking, should we ever do a contest for the Worst Tattoo the Planet? I'm sure we have a few listeners that might have one or more tattoos that they kind of regretted getting.Maybe give away some tattoo removal procedures. Would the Worst Tattoo on the Planet Contest look something like this?:

Green Day is one of my favorite bands, and this dude's tattoo makes them look like choads!

Native Americans are still getting oppressed!

The guy died for your sins, and you honor him with this?!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Clay Aiken? Seriously?

Hey look, Jabba the Hutt has a crappy tattoo of everyone from Star Wars on his back!

Whatcha gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on you!?!?

Hot.

This one is funny, but is it funny enough to have on your leg for the rest of your life?

What are the odds of this guy being a Kindergarten teacher?

So, to wrap this up, before you get a tattoo, make sure it's the Best Tattoo on the Planet, and not the Worst. Girls, don't forget, this is so true:

SNL Tattoo Removal
Funny tattoo removal bit that was done on Saturday Night Live. This video really makes a good point about girls with tattoos. They might look cool now but just about how you will look when you are a grandma!

October 28, 2008 - 2008? Or 1988?

2008-12-04T13:03:00.000-05:00

**This is from the archives...

Over the weekend, I did my American duty. No, I didn't vote early, I went to Wal-Mart and picked up the new AC/DC album Black Ice. I haven't listened to every track yet, but I really dig what I've heard so far. The guitars, the rythms and the vocals all sound great! "Anything Goes" gives me a "Moneytalks" feel; "War Machine" makes me want to get into a fight. Any time I play the lead single "Rock N Roll" train, I turn the studio speakers up to 10! They may all be over 50 years old, but they can still freaking rock!

Then I started thinking about some of the other "new rock" that is out – “new" as in new Metallica, new Tesla, new Queen, new Guns N' Roses, new Motley Crue, along with the previously mentioned new AC/DC. Is this 2008, or 1988? Seriously, think about it! If I asked you, Metallica, Tesla, Queen, Guns N' Roses, Motley Crue and AC/DC all have new albums out (or coming out, Guns N' Roses is out in November), what year is it, you would probably guess a year in the 80's!

And I'm not complaining, all of the old dude, new rock is great!

Metallica's new album Death Magnetic is killer, especially if you're a fan of 80's Metallica, going back to their true thrash metal days of Kill 'em All, Master of Puppets and And Justice of All. The average length of each song is more than seven minutes long. The songs go back to the days of telling cool stories, complete with epic guitar solos and riffs! The first single, "The Day That Never Comes," is a prime example of what the whole album is all about.

Tesla, one of the most underrated bands of the 80's, has made a statement with their latest effort, Forever More, featuring the song "I Wanna Live." To me, Tesla sounds like a new band! The album is great. You feel some of the sounds from their roots in the 80's, but it sounds just as current as some of the new bands out today. The album has everything you'd want and expect from Tesla – anthems, power ballads, and straight up rock 'n' roll tunes.

"New Queen? Isn't their lead singer Freddy Mercury dead?" Yes, he's dead. "Then, who's singing for them?" Paul Rodgers. "The lead singer of Bad Company?" Yep, that's the guy. To bring you up to speed, a few years ago, a couple of guys from Queen wanted to get back on the road and play the music of Queen. And literally, just a couple, only guitarist Brian May, and drummer Roger Taylor are still with the band, original bass player John Deacon wanted nothing to do with this. They decided to get Paul Rodgers on vocals. May & Taylor said they didn't want anyone to sound remotely like Mercury, and they definitely got that in Rodgers. So they toured, doing old Queen and Paul Rodgers songs. Let me say, I'm a HUGE Queen fan, but I wasn't a fan of the live album they released. It just didn't "sound right." But if you put Queen & Paul Rodgers in the studio together, it sounds awesome! It sounds like the music of Queen and the vocals of Paul Rodgers, and it does "sound right." The new album, The Cosmos Rocks, was made for the hardcore fans of both Queen & Rodgers. It features the weird, but cool effects Queen were known for, the killer guitar licks from May, and some strong vocals from Rodgers. Check it this one out if you're a true classic rock fan, or a fan of Queen or Rodgers.

Guns N' Roses. You know the story, Chinese Democracy, Axl's been working on it for 15 years, it's cost over $20 million to make, half the album has leaked online, and there have been multiple rumored release dates. However, the end of the story says the album will be released in November exclusively through Best Buy, and we all get a free Dr. Pepper. With all of that, let the debate begin – is this really Guns N' Roses. No, not even close, but I'm just hear to talk about the music, you can sort that out amongst yourselves. The first single is the title track, and it rocks. It does, you have to agree. Does it sound like vintage GNR? No. Do the guitars and vocals sound a little funky? Yes. Does it lack a chorus? Yes. Is it the best song on the album? Hell no. Based on the leaks, there are some killer songs on this album. The power ballads "Better" and "Madagascar" are tunes straight from the Use Your Illusion days. "Shackler's Revenge," which is on the video game Rock Band 2, reminds me of "Nightrain" and "It's So Easy" but sounds “new.” "I.R.S." shows how great of a songwriter Axl really is. You'll dig it. The first single, "Chinese Democracy," is just Axl's way of saying, "no really, we are going to release this album."

How are all of the members of Motley Crue still alive and able to like each other long enough to record an awesome album, their best since 1989's Dr. Feelgood? Well, that's what the most decadent band of the 80's did with The Saints of Los Angeles. All of the members may be approaching or over 50, but they still have something to say, and that something is "we are still badass." The singles, "The Saints of Los Angeles" and "Motherfucker of the Year," certainly say that, along with "Welcome to the Machine," "This Ain't a Love Song," and "Face Down in the Dirt." Turn this one up real loud!

So there you go, the spandex and the big hair may have gone away, but the bands and the music are definitely here to stay! Makes me wonder what will happen to the bands of today? Do you think Nickelback, Three Doors Down, Three Days Grace, Papa Roach, Staind, Seether, Breaking Benjamin, and Buckcherry will be making "new" music in 2028? Time will only tell.

October 13, 2008 - I haven't blacked out in a while

2008-12-04T13:00:00.000-05:00

**This is from the archives...

Had a good weekend, went to my fiancé’s mother's 50th surprise birthday party. I was in charge of getting the keg, so that's always fun. I'm also proud of myself, we had a pony keg of beer, along with a bowl full of spiked punch, but I didn't go "over the limit."

“Over the limit:” you know, when you have five or six more beers or drinks than you really should have had and you start to black out, throw up on the kitchen floor, you pee on the side of the house, you demand that you sleep on the bathroom floor, and your friends don't talk to you for a few days? I haven't been to that point in a while, and I promise you, I'm not complaining!

The last time it got that bad was probably back in March. Went to a show at the V Club in Huntington, the band was great, and the beer was better. The night ended with me ear-banging the lead singer, Chris Batten of Chris Batten & the Woods, telling him that they were the best band ever! That picture is me with Chris; I'm all bloated and pudgy just about to explode! Then, my soon-to-be fiancé drives me home, and we stop just off of the interstate so I can throw up. Then, we get to her house; I pee on the side of the house, and sleep on the bathroom floor. Yeah, she wasn't too happy with me. I made it up to her by buying her a milkshake the next day (remember that guys, girls loves sweets).

Yeah, those nights and next mornings aren't fun. I've got a very similar New Year's Eve story, which had me spending a few hours of the new year on a hardwood, bathroom floor (aren't cold floors the best in those situations?). And there was one time I saw Seven Mary Three at the old Monkey Bar in Huntington on 3rd Avenue when I woke up in my bed at Courtyard Apartments to find a trail of vomit leading into my bedroom all the way from outside! It was like solving a mystery the next day.

This past Labor Day weekend, I hosted a cookout at my house with my family and my fiancé’s family. It was really the first time our families had hung out like that, and it was a true success! So I celebrated...a little too hard. I was actually drinking my own beer that I had brewed (that's a totally different story), along with wine (I think that was "the" mistake), and miraculously, I didn't puke, but I wish I would have. The next day was the worst day ever! I was in the fetal position from like 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.!

I've got plenty more stories like this, but I'm trying to slow down! My stomach and body can't handle that anymore (not that it ever really could!).

September 29, 2008 - I Quit!

2008-12-04T12:58:00.000-05:00

**This is from the archives...

I may seriously considering quitting watching sports! This past weekend was not a great one for me and my teams. It started Saturday afternoon in Morgantown. I went up for the annual Friends of Coal Bowl between Marshall and West Virginia. And for the first time in this series, we, Marshall, actually thought we had a chance to win, but after that first quarter, it was like déjà vu from the last time we were up there. As you know, the Herd went down 27-3 (Three points, that's it, we scored 14 against Wisconsin, and we had so many trips into their red zone, and just came up empty!).

I do have to say the West Virginia fans were much more courteous this year. I only had two fans say "f&#k the Herd!" Way to step it up. Two years ago, it was horrible (I guess that's what happens when you're not doing as good as you thought you would this year!).

Then, Sunday, back from Morgantown, it's time to watch my beloved Cincinnati Bengals. What a match-up – Bengals versus the Cleveland Browns, in the Battle of Ohio. Both teams were 0-3, somebody had to win! And that somebody was the Browns.

Should I quit watching sports? No, that's impossible. Should I be a bandwagon fan and just cheer for teams that consistently win (like North Carolina, Penn State, Duke, Steelers, and Cowboys fans)? No, losing just builds character. Go Herd, and Go Bengals.

To wrap this up, today Nickelback released their new single, "Gotta Be Somebody," and it's a killer track. We've got it setup where you can download it for 24 hours through our website. In my last blog, I talked about how I got to hear, what I thought was, the new single, "If Today Was Your Last Day." At the last minute the record guys decided to change singles and go with "Gotta Be Somebody." I was bragging on here that I heard the new Nickelback single before everyone else, but in the end, nope, I heard it today just like you! Both are hits, so it’s all good.

September 22, 2008 - Where Was Reevis?

2008-12-04T12:49:00.000-05:00

**This is from the archives...

It's good to be back in Huntington and back on the Planet, but where have I been? I was in Austin, Texas at a radio convention. Lot of learning, sessions, panels, refreshing and that kind of stuff, but I've got a say, Austin knows how to entertain! We had some real star power at the convention.

The highlight of the convention for me was the fact that Motley Crue & Sixx: AM's Nikki Sixx was featured at one of the sessions. He talked about his career, which includes being the leader of Motley Crue, an author, a fashion designer, and more. It was very cool and interesting. After the session -- I had to try to get an autograph and a picture, right? It's Nikki Sixx! So, like a groupie, I stood by the door that he would be coming out of for about 20 minutes, and finally got to meet him-- had him sign my "Heroin Diaries" book.

Earlier that afternoon at one of the luncheons, we had Wayne Brady as our entertainment. You know, the guy from "Whose Line is it Anyway," "The Wayne Brady Show," and other shows. I kept thinking about when "The Dave Chappelle Show" said "white people love Wayne Brady because he made Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X." He has a new album out and he's trying to get some pop radio stations to play it, so he performed a few songs, and I've got to say, it's not my favorite type of music, but it was a helluva performance -- great band, and he's got a great voice. "I'm Wayne Brady bitch!"

One night I was having a couple of beers with some radio and record dudes, when I was invited up into a hotel room. I won't lie, I was a little nervous, it was my first convention, I was thinking there was going to cocaine, heroin, and hookers up there...sadly it was just an empty hotel room. But one of the record guys took us up there to hear the new Nickelback song "If Today Was Your Last Day." It's not even out yet, but we'll have it on the Planet in less than 10 days, and we're even working out a way for you to download it for free at Planet927.com all day when it first comes out. If you love Nickelback, you'll love the song. I got to hear it twice, and it's been stuck in my head all week. It sounds like a cross between "Someday" and "Photograph." The album will be out in November, tour to follow this winter.

If you love beer, live music and bars, then you need to move to Austin! That's all it is! It is the self-proclaimed "Live Music Capital of the World," and I'm not disagreeing. Every type of band was playing every where, and best of all, no cover charges!

One last celebrity sighting. Down in the hotel lobby, and there was this tall, blonde hot chick getting a drink right in front of me. I thought she was just another hot Texas cowgirl, but a someone pointed out to me that she was Adrianne Palicki, one of the stars from the TV show "Friday Night Lights." I guess she was staying there, because apparently they film the show in Texas. Google her if you don't know what she looks like -- hot. She also has a nice lower back tattoo (tramp stamp!).

To wrap this up, I saw one of the coolest shock-value t-shirts I've ever seen in my life. It simply said, "F#&k Ya'll, I'm From Texas." I hope you enjoy your new t-shirt, Dad!