www.mynameiscorey.net

HEY JIMMY! (Part 2)

2012-01-28T15:23:00.000-05:00

HEY JIMMY! part 1

2012-01-28T09:38:00.002-05:00

So, Jimmy Fallon is going to be filming shows in Indy this week. They have some sort of big football game downtown and he wants to be in the center of the excitement. I applied for tickets on his website. The theatre has 1,400 seats so I figured there was some sort of chance.

We were supposed to hear via email or a phone call by 1/23 if we had tickets. You could tell that the application form was weeding out the non-fans. So I filled ours out with such confidence, but nonetheless...denied.

So I took my campaign to Twitter. I thought I would sit down at our piano and just let my feelings out with a simple song... twitvid.com/NNCOV

Well, I have this friend named Mike. So, Mike retweets my plea and moments later hears from Jimmy Fallon's producer. Another friend named John calls and says he has friends who have friends that can possibly get me in the door.

So, "some irons are in the fire" and we'll have to see how this week shakes out. Hopefully it shakes, rattles and rolls.

MOVIES FROM 2011

2012-01-21T11:48:00.001-05:00

I love lists. A recent magazine article had a list of the top money-makers of 2011. I still love seeing movies but my attendance is way down. I'm not a fan of 3D, although if its done right and plays a role in the storytelling, I'm in, ("Hugo" & "Tin Tin").
So as I was reading this list, I thought I would blurt out my faves from this past year.

1. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Final movie of the franchise. I loved it. The Part 1 put me to sleep numerous times, but the final bow did the story a great send off.)
2. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (The 4th movie in the franchise, and Tom Cruise still knows how to make a great action movie.)
3. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (This is probably my favorite movie of the year. Andy Serkis' portrayal as Ceasar deserves recognition.)
4. Captain America (Even though it was a set up to the Avengers movie, just as "Thor" was, I thought Captain America was much more entertaining.)
5. The Help. (Great acting. It stirred my insides about racism.)
6. Bridesmaids. (One of the funniest movies of all time.)
7. X-Men: First Class (Great reset of the X-Men franchise. I hope they stay this course.)
8. Super 8. (A fan of both J.J. Abrams and Spielberg, this is such a throwback to the 80's movie style..loved it.)
9. The Muppets. (Fun, great return of Kermit.)
10. Real Steel. (Caleb loves robots as of right now, and we both got a kick, or a punch, out of this one.)
11. The Adventures of Tin-Tin. (This movie looks amazing, a simple story, but the technology alone was jaw dropping.)

Movies that I was looking forward to but was a let down...

1. Green Lantern. I've never been a huge fan of this character, but I thought the storytelling could have been better, and the villian wasn't anything worth getting worked up about. "Oh No, you are fighting a giant cloud!"
2. Hangover 2. Recycled jokes from the first film.
3. Pirates. I don't even know the full title. I was hoping for more fun. It sunk.
4. Cowboys & Aliens. Great idea, great director, great actors. Lousy, boring, slow moving story.
5. Green Hornet. Another great character from back in the day. Too bad they trainwrecked this adaptation.

LET'S DANCE

2012-01-16T16:31:00.002-05:00

I was invited to MC the Penn High School Snowball at Granger Community Church recently. I haven't "dj'd" an event in a really long time. I'm on a microphone almost every day, but the music-side, its been a while. It was fun seeing some of the 'old gang' working behind-the-scenes, and I also knew a handful of students, (including my own daughter) and they seemed to be having a great time.

Thanks to Chris Whitmire for inviting me.
(photos by Mark Beeson)

BIRTHDAY PARTY

2012-01-08T20:02:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Caleb's 5th birthay at Gymnastics Michiana. What a great place to have a party. The host worked those kids into a sweaty mess. I would highly suggest this facility for a young kid's party. Transformers was the central theme again, Caleb loves them robots.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB

2012-01-04T20:11:00.001-05:00

Today we are celebrating Caleb's 5th birthday. Whenever I meet someone new and we get to talking about family, when I get to the part about our kids being 10 years apart, I get a "deer in the headlights" stare from that person.

After Chloe, we tried for more kids. But after some stumbling blocks, we had gotten to a point where we thought that it just wasn't in our future. That's when all of a sudden, here comes #2 kid!

Caleb is crazy about Transformers, robots, Star Wars, Legos, with a little bit of trains-adoration left over. He's a funny boy.

He calls the restaurant Hacienda "Hot Santa".

He calls a puzzle a "prezzle".

He constantly tells us that he loves us. Who knows how long that will last, but for now we are loving it.

Happy Birthday big boy.

INSPIRATION FROM PASSION 2012

2012-01-04T13:28:00.001-05:00

My notes can be a little "all over the place", and I was also typing as quickly as possible on my iphone notepad. But there was some great encouragement in Atlanta, as 42,000+ gathered for Passion 2012. Here's a glance at my notes...

(Louie Giglio) Luke 7..."God is back, looking to the needs of His people"
The 'stretche'r is symbolic of something that is carrying us out of town & to our death
...that 'stretcher' is just simply sin

A rabbi, or religious leader would never touch a dead guy...Jesus blew their minds by touching the dead guy.

Jesus knew what he was supposed to do...not caring about what everyone else thought.

Jesus is FOR me.

Majesty stepping into the mess, (the mess of a cave, born in hay, surrounded by shepherds).

Jesus raises the dead (it's the gospel story)

Ephesians 2:1

(Beth Moore)

Luke 8:40-55
There was an interruption in scripture...
Matthew, Mark, & Luke (all give an account of the woman grabbing the tassel)

We live our lives between a different narrative ....

We are surrounded by a greater need, but Jesus stopped long enough to make that need a priority.

You cannot use Jesus up.

v47 "seeing that she could not go unnoticed..."

We cannot go unnoticed by God

The story loses its power if it loses it's discomfort (a woman bleeding for 12 years)

Our biggest secret is where we need out most healing

Numbers 19:22 (whatever she touches is unclean)

Our prayer should be "Jesus, Clean me!"

Numbers 15 (grabbing the tassel)

Instead of her making him unclean, he made her clean.

He came so that He could be 'touchable'.

There are no secrets from God. He already knows what kind of person I've been.

Like the woman grabbing the tassel, grab on to him!

Hebrews 10 (his robe fills the temple - there's enough robe to go around for everyone)

As long as we feel unclean, we won't let Him do to us what we need (healing & restoration)

It was faith that invoked the touch that brought the healing

You cannot consume Jesus, but He can consume us.

(Christine Caine - This was very inspiring, I woul recommend watching it online)

When divine interruptions happen, lives are transformed.

We are meant to be interruptions on Jesus' behalf to bring healing & restoration in our world.

Luke 10:30
Compassion doesn't happen until you allow yourself to be interrupted.

God wants to use rescued people to rescue people.

(Francis Chan)

Refuse to be reserved

"You're gonna have to get ugly"

Romans 1:16
"There are times when I don't wanna talk about Jesus...because what would they say?"

We use God's Word to justify what we want.

Watch out for liars. Liars who manipulate the Word of God.

BUH-BYE 2011...

2011-12-31T17:51:00.001-05:00

And so another year out the window. Thanks to this blog, (Daddy's diary), I can look back at this year and reflect on highlights, (and low lights). I write this now in hopes that someday my kiddos will get something out of taking a glance at Daddy's rants, videos, etc.

2011 started off with me passing my first kidney stone. Good Golly, does that hurt. We were in Detroit when I was rushed to an E.R. for pain, and that ultimately led to a 'wild goose chase' to find out what else was wrong with me.

I got on an airplane in the spring and headed to Texas for Passion's Spring Gathering. Debbie and I used to go together when the event was held in Nashville, (back in 2005, 2006), it was great to be a part of that gathering with some great radio friends.

Caleb tried baseball for the first time while Chloe was putting the wraps on a challenging volleyball season. She is a great athlete, and it was great traveling with her all over the midwest. She's been playing since 4th grade. She has jumped into high school with a dance class, spanish, and she's very active with your youth group. Not only attending, but participating in a leadership role with middle school students.

I took a trip to Nashville to hear Needtobreathe's album "The Reckoning". One of my favorite bands. Then off to San Diego for a little gathering with Switchfoot" as they unvelied "Vice Verses", (another personal favorite.)

I don't have near the stamina that I used to, and I found that out by traveling to Nashville to see U2, (thank you Chris!), come home, turn around and head to Chicago to see U2, (thank you Mike!). I was wore out..but you know what they say? "You only live once, right?" (Advice: don't wear flipflops when you park 4 miles away from the stadium.)

Caleb became quite the swimmer this past summer, and his enthusiasm for trains still was strong as we ventured to Coldwater, Michigan or Heston, Indiana to ride trains.

This was my 3rd year on staff at Pulse FM and the undertaking of the World Pulse Festival in August. Chris Sligh, Dara MaClean, Hyland, Jars of Clay, Third Day, (Newsboys did not perform, a storm blew through...which ended up working its way right down to Indy and creating a tragedy at the Indiana State Fair.)

Debbie celebrated her birthday at Beaver Island up in Michigan. I gathered some pals and went to a baseball game. (Joel & Luke, thanks for coming by).

In September, I headed down to Orlando for a radio conference. What a great time to catch up with radio friends from around the country, and the artists as well. I came home with "Air Personality of the Year, (Small Market)"...an honor.

I love taking Chloe to concerts. We saw Owl City in Chicago, Switchfoot / Anberlin at a college, I'm glad we can agree on some music.

Caleb dressed up as Darth Vader for Halloween. I loved watching him storm the neighborhood with his light saber. I joined a men's small group for the first time in a long while. We worked our way though Romans.

One of the ministries at LeSea is "Feed the Hungry". LaMar invited me to visit Nicaragua and see for myself the ministry partners and what they are doing. It was a whirlwind of a trip, but it made a huge impact on my life.

Caleb had an overnight change from a love of trains, to a love for Transformers and robots. Easily some of the hardest toys to navigate, but he is currently digging robots. Chloe is a full on teenager with her first year of high school behind her in the coming months.

Now, whats up for 2012? When Caleb was born, I was in the best shape of my life, then it all went downhill. My dream is to get back to that, also opening more books and reading. DC Comics relaunched all of the 52 titles this past October and I jumped into comic collecting once again, (I tell people that I'm saving them for Caleb, but I have enjoyed reading them along the way.) I also "gave up" Facebook. Its an experiment...we'll see how that pans out.

I love that I'm surrounded by a great family, a tight group of friends, and a job to go to each day.

So for 2012...Eat less, Move More, Love better.

CHRISTMAS 2011

2011-12-27T19:35:00.000-05:00

When Chloe was little, we would be up before her on Christmas morning and just wait for the sound of little feet to come zipping down the steps to see what Santa brought. Who would have thought we would be doing that ever again? Here comes Caleb. I think age 4 - 9 is the best at Christmas. The magic, wonder, suprise, enthusiasm, and all the while trying to remind each other what the true meaning of Christmas is all about.

On Christmas Eve, we went to dinner at Hana Yori, (a yearly tradition now apparently), took a drive through Winding Brook to look at Christmas lights, and then to a church service. We got home, and the boys could barely keep their eyes open...so we went to bed.

We got up around 8ish, and the unwrapping began! Caleb loves Transformers this year, and Chloe loves clothes and such. Debbie got a new laptop, and I got a Jimmy Fallon sweatshirt. My mom and Steve came down from St. Joe to open some more gifts and have lunch. My cousins Karen & William stopped by too. That evening we were off to Edwardsburg to visit with Debbie's brother Matt and his girlfriend Jill and her family. Good times with great people.

Late Christmas night, Caleb asked me "Daddy, when does Santa come again?" I told him next year. Then he asked, "Am I on the Naughty List?"....not yet.

GOD USES EVERYONE

2011-12-24T15:00:00.000-05:00

Ever have one of those days when you think, "There's no way God can use me."

Open the Bible and see for yourself who God uses...

Jeremiah & Timothy were too young...
David committed adultry and murdered...
Elijah was suicidal...
Jonah ran from God...
Naomi was a widow...
Job went bankrupt...
John the Baptist was called names like "The Devil"
Peter denied Jesus...
The Disciples fell asleep while praying...
Martha worried way too much...
Mary Magdelene was from the streets...
Mat

MY FAVORITE THINGS: MUSIC OF 2011

2011-12-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

Love music...and there was plenty to choose from this year. In no particular order...

Needtobreathe - The Reckoning (I've followed them since the beginning. They know who they are and this record sounds great.)
Switchfoot - Vice Verses (My favorite album would be "Beautiful Letdown", this was be their second. It sounds like the follow up to "Letdown" to me, even though there are albums in between.
Abandon - Control. (Great up and coming band. They deserve more attention.)
ADELE - 21 (I'm so mad that I waited almost a full year to get on board with this woman. She is phenom..."Rumor Has It" is my favorite song on the album.)
The City Harmonic - I Have a Dream.
Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
Dara Maclean - You Got My Attention (This young lady can flat out sing.)
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light.
Mat Kearney - Young Love (I love music that both my daughter & I enjoy together. We both dig "Ships in the Night". Plus, his concert will be forever emblazoned in my mind as the night I met Bears QB Jay Cutler.)
Luminate - Come Home. (I dig these boys. I hope to hear much more from them.)

MY FAVORITE THINGS: MOVIES 2011

2011-12-24T10:58:00.001-05:00

In no particular order, movies I loved in 2011.

1. X-Men: First Class (This made up for that God-Awful 3rd movie)
2. Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Great ending to a huge story)
3. Captain America (surprisingly good superhero movie)
4. Super 8 (reminded me of my childhood..Goonies, ET)
5. Battle: Los Angeles
6. Limitless
7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (This is probably my absolute favorite of the year)
8. Kung Fu Panda 2
9. Bridesmaids (I love to laugh, this made me laugh.)
10. The Mechanic
11. Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows (great ending)
12. The Help (Very moving...racism sucks.)
13. The Muppets (so much fun)
14. Warrior (I missed this at the theatre, but when I rented it, I loved it.)
15. The Ides of March (I loathe politics, but I really liked this story)

BUH-BYE FACEBOOK

2011-12-22T15:42:00.003-05:00

I remember when my friend Jason told be about FACEBOOK. He said it was this cool 'online community for college kids'. It was gaining popularity so quickly. I remember hearing stories of this young college kid that came up with the idea, and the rest is history,...or the future.

People came out of the woodwork on FACEBOOK. Childhood friends, ex-girlfriends, distant relatives, former classmates, creepers, co-workers, ex co-workers, etc.

I have been keeping track of how many times I check FACEBOOK on a daily basis. I wake up at 4:30am, and I immediately check status updates from overnight. I look to see if anybody is commenting of "liking" anything I wrote. I go on-air and sign on at 6am and open FACEBOOK and leave it open until 10am. I usually write stuff on our radio station wall, but keep an eye on what else everyone is doing. I'll check in on FACEBOOK an average of 10-15 times a day.

I put photos, video, and other random items up on my wall from time to time. I basically put up photos of the kids, or our family.

As of lately, I've noticed a couple of things that have really, really bothered me.

1. Laziness. There are a good handful of people that I never talk to anymore because its just easier for me to look at their "wall", not call, leave them a quick comment and move on. I do not like that kind of relationship.

2. "Unfriending". I cannot believe how many people actually take it personally when I "unfriend" them or not "friend" them. I would like my relationships with people to go beyond a status of a website.

3. Drama. Its easy to talk / not talk behind a computer screen. Its easy to give your opinion without any kind of real feedback sitting on a keyboard. Its easy to take every word read out of context because you or I read it differently than how it was written.

4. Trouble. Loyola University did a study this year, and FACEBOOK is cited in 1 out of 5 divorces, and FACEBOOK is the #1 spot for online evidence. (Don't worry, Debbie and I are not getting divorced)...lots of poor decision-making happens on FACEBOOK.

5. Privacy. I tend to live my life like an open book but as of recently it bothers me when a complete stranger approaches me and says "Hey, I read on FACEBOOK that..." or "I saw your daughter's photos." Very disturbing, and I'm at fault for that.

I used to blog an awful lot. I enjoyed journaling, writing, expanding an idea. Twitter has edited our thougths to 140 characters at a time. Now, I still like Twitter, and I am still hanging on to the blog, (granted not nearly as many people stop by as they did 5 years ago but then again, I have been absent in blog posts.)

So...I'm getting off the FACEBOOK wagon January 1st, 2012. I made a joke to myself recently, "My God, how did we all get along without FACEBOOK a few years back?.....very well, thanks."
I'm going to keep a profile and remain "friends" with my wife, daughter, moms, and dad...but thats it. I'm also staying on for "work" purposes. Its a great connection to listeners and that audience, but personally, I'm done. The only reason the immediate family made the cut is because I want to make sure they have access to photos and such. But I also want them and you to know that there is this amazing piece of technology called a PHONE. Lets use it. I miss talking to people.

Don't get offended if you got deleted. Don't get pissed if I "unfriended" you, I did it to everyone.
I'm still a tweetin' madmann at www.twitter.com/mynameiscorey and I'm going to continue blogging, (been doing so since June 2005!) You can find me there, ok?

So...so long FACEBOOK, you have been fun, but you've also been a huge pain in the butt.

HE SAID WHAT?

2011-12-21T09:56:00.001-05:00

John Maxwell's new book is called, "The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential".

They are:

Position. People follow you because they have to.
Permission. People follow you because they want to.
Production. People follow you because of what you have done for the organization.
People development. People follow you because of what you have done for them.
Pinnacle. People follow you because of who you are and what you represent.

Good stuff.

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY:CALEB MEETS SANTA

2011-12-20T06:34:00.000-05:00

CALEB SINGS AT CHRISTMAS 2011

2011-12-19T20:58:00.000-05:00

CALEB & SANTA 2011

2011-12-18T18:01:00.000-05:00

WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME

2011-12-13T07:31:00.000-05:00

COMET WAS A BULLY

2011-12-07T09:45:00.000-05:00

COMET WAS A BULLY

NICARAGUA 2011

2011-11-05T21:28:00.000-04:00

HALLOWEEN 2011

2011-10-31T18:33:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY "CONCERTS"

2011-10-26T19:24:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY "TOUR BUS"

2011-10-19T19:47:00.000-04:00

CASTING CROWNS "COME TO THE WELL"

2011-10-17T12:32:00.001-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY "WARMING UP"

2011-10-15T12:03:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY "CALEB & HIS BIKE"

2011-09-27T07:30:00.000-04:00

MELANIE IN HAITI PART 2

2011-09-22T07:56:00.000-04:00

MELANIE IN HAITI PART 1

2011-09-22T07:37:00.000-04:00

A PLACE ONLY YOU CAN GO

2011-09-20T07:19:00.000-04:00

MATT MAHER - NEW ALBUM

2011-09-13T10:36:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY "I WON?"

2011-09-12T08:16:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY "HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER!"

2011-09-12T08:15:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY "GAINING MOMENTUM"

2011-09-12T08:11:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY "TRAINS"

2011-09-06T10:09:00.000-04:00

LUMINATE "INNOCENT" LIVE @pulsefm

2011-09-02T14:28:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY 13

2011-09-01T08:14:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY 12

2011-08-30T07:56:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY 11

2011-08-29T07:35:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY 10

2011-08-24T08:02:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY 8

2011-08-18T08:17:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY 9

2011-08-17T12:17:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY 7

2011-08-02T06:58:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY 7.5

2011-08-01T07:12:00.000-04:00

VICE VERSES

2011-07-29T09:25:00.000-04:00

I got invited out to San Diego to hear Switchfoot's new album "Vice Verses". It hasn't left my cd player yet, I love it sonically, and content-wise, its a great next season for these guys. This video is Jon Foreman performing the title song in their new studio...enjoy.

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY 6

2011-07-19T09:52:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY 5

2011-07-17T10:25:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY 4

2011-07-13T20:09:00.000-04:00

MIXTAPE: DEF LEPPARD "PHOTOGRAPH"

2011-07-10T17:00:00.001-04:00

So its 1983. I'm in 8th grade, and I'm hanging out a lot with Craig down the street. Craig's older brother Tony had a record player. He had a cool collection of albums like Kiss, Cheap Trick, ELO, and Def Leppard. I can remember staring at the album artwork on "Pyromania". I think I may have even attempted to draw the cover from memory.

Pastor Larry was our youth pastor and he actually spent a couple of weeks trying to show our youth group the dangers of rock n' roll and the secular messages it sends. Def Leppard was a target with "Rock of Ages", but when he fired up the VCR and showed us the videos, most of us were singing along, rocking back n' forth on the stinky youth couch, or catching each other's glances wondering what other rock songs were from the DEVIL!

The pastor's son once mail ordered some British Flag shorts after seeing this video. They didn't leave much to the imagination so he had to really pick and choose when they came out of the drawer. Still one of my all time favorite albums to listen to.

AQUA MAN

2011-07-10T16:28:00.002-04:00

At the beginning of summer, Caleb climbed up the ladder at the pool, came flying down into the water, and basically forgot everything about swimming from the previous summer.

Fast forward to this weekend, I couldn't keep this kid OUT of the deep end. Whether he was jumping off the diving board or sliding down the slide, he was loving it.

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY 3

2011-07-07T19:50:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY #2

2011-07-06T19:07:00.000-04:00

COREY'S VIDEO DIARY #1

2011-06-30T06:01:00.000-04:00

POOL BOY

2011-06-25T15:45:00.000-04:00

MATT MAHER

2011-06-22T21:35:00.001-04:00

Matt Maher's new album comes out in September. It's so good. I like this new season of music he is heading into. Matt says we'll hear lots of songs that were inspired by his marriage, wife, and life.

KIDS ON FATHER'S DAY 2011

2011-06-20T18:58:00.001-04:00

MIXTAPE: IT TAKES TWO

2011-06-18T09:57:00.001-04:00

"I wanna rock right now, I'm Rob Base and I came to get down! I'm not internationally known, but I'm known to rock a microphone!" So on Sunday nights in Bridgman, Michigan there was a golf course called Pebblewood Country Club. They would do these teen dances that would bring out every kid in the local high schools. I can't remember what year I finally got to go out there on a Sunday night, but it was THE place to be and the talk of the school the next day.

There are photos somewhere of some of the outfits I decided to wear out to Pebblewood. I went through a "Howard Jones" phase, and spent an enormous amount of time on my hair. What I liked about going out there was that you ended up meeting people from other schools. There were certain songs that would set this place off. I can remember "Everyday is Halloween" by Ministry, any of the Beastie Boys stuff from "Licensed to Ill", and "Mony Mony" by Billy Idol had some intereting audience chanting happening.

So fast forward to 1988. I got a call from a buddy who was dj'ing out there to fill in for him. This was a big deal to me. This was right around when I was started getting into that sort of stuff and this was a huge audience on Sunday nights. I remember being really nervous and getting all my albums out so they were easy to grab, I had my music videos lined up so I could play those, and my cassettes were properly labeled too. I wasn't doing any "mixing" back then, but song selection and order were very important.

Never, ever play your big songs at the beginning of the night. Nobody was there yet, you don't want to waste it.

Don't show off all the cool lights yet either. Once again, save it.

And whatever you do, never, ever, ever play "It Takes Two" until the place is absolutely packed and its time to kick this party off. When that bass-keyboard starts in and that low voice says "Right About Now...."....Girls would scream and every kid would try to squeeze their way onto the dance floor. You could see the heat coming off the crowd. What was even more important was the next song.
"Push It" by Salt N' Pepa was usually a good choice, or maybe a Run D.M.C. classic. "Girls" by Beastie Boys" always got some mad props, or sometimes a walk on the wild side with some Violent Femmes would set that place on fire.

It got violent out there too. Opposing schools, testosterone, ex-girlfriends and boyfriends, fighting. Turned ugly in the late 80's. I moved on.

But when I hear Rob Base now, I think of all these kids trying to wave me down in the DJ booth telling me to stop smoking them out with the smoke machines that were blown right in the middle of the ceiling straight down on the dance floor. It was like foggy Londontown after I got done.

I would later DJ at some other bars in town, but it wasn't the same. Older adults weren't as fun to DJ for like the teens at Pebblewood.

"It takes two to make a thing go right! It takes to to make it outta sight! HIT IT!"

MIXTAPE: LIVIN' ON A PRAYER

2011-06-18T09:38:00.001-04:00

I started dj'ing the high school dances in 1986. I worked with a friend named Doug. It was all his equipment. It was the most random bunch of "stuff" ever. There were wires everywhere. We set up behind this random counter that was never used in the lunch room. I think we had 2 sets of lights, red and blue...thats it.

One particular football game, I can remember literally every single kid coming up and asking "Can you play Bon Jovi "Livin' On a Prayer"? I would turn to Doug and ask him if he was going to play it. He kept putting me off. I thought that maybe he was saving it for later when the dance was really full and would get all the Lakeshore Lancers fist pumping.

Little did I know, he didn't bring a copy of the song. I asked him why he wouldn't bring it. He says, "Dude, I didn't think anybody actually liked that band or song." This song was huge in October 1986. Luckily, Doug lived close by. Actually, he lived behind the Junior High which was across the street. So we grab another buddy, tell him to play these next three songs and we are going to truck to Doug's house to get the "Slippery When Wet" cassette.

I drove, and we were hauling to his house. His room was a classic high school...a total mess. Albums, clothes, sound equipment, band instrument, books, so much stuff. He were on a hunt for Bon Jovi. Luckily, he found it and we were back at the dance queing it up. The high school crowd went nuts! I remember ending up playing that song maybe 3 more times that night and each time the kids were even more into it.

I worked at a department store for a while in the late 80's. Inside the store was a Radio Shack hub with a car stereo wall. When "Bad Medicine" came out, I would crank that song so loud on those stereos and act like some customer came by and turned it up.

I took Debbie and some friends to Bon Jovi in Indianapolis for the "Keep the Faith" tour. We were supposed to meet the band that night, but got there too late. I remember being impressed by a great show.

Every time I hear "Livin' On a Prayer", I think of the high school dance.

SUPERCOOL

2011-06-18T09:04:00.002-04:00

Along the way of this ol' radio thing, I've made some friends. This is Nic and Tricia. Nic plays guitar for Stellar Kart. I met him in L.A. 2 summers ago. We were on the Price Is Right together. Nic was in Thousand Foot Krutch back then. He's a songwriter/producer, and good guy.

Tricia is the lead singer of Superchick. We met last summer at a festival and hit it off. Her sister, Melissa is a hoot too. Nic, Tricia, and I are Twitter buddies, but they stopped by recently to share Tricia's new worship cd "The Road" with us.

CALEB AT 4

2011-06-15T19:10:00.002-04:00

Caleb enjoys going to the movies. He was excited about Kung Fu Panda 2, or as he called it, "Kung Fu KaPanda".

We went to an outdoor band concert and they had vintage cars to check out. Caleb got a kick out of the Jeff Gordon car and this "very, very blue car" that the owner said we could only look and not touch.

Caleb is playing baseball for the first time. Its very first time-instructional, but he seems to be having fun.

MIXTAPE: SUBDIVISIONS

2011-06-15T19:01:00.001-04:00

When I was younger, if you liked Rush you were a nerd. Now, its almost as if Rush has finally become "cool" after all their years. My relationship with the 3-headed triumphant has been an interesting ride. It starts in Jay Thomas' bedroom. He was a drummer with a massive drumset in his room. There was literally no room to move in his bedroom because all his drums took up most of the square footage. He would put on some Rush and just go off on his set. All these drum fills and tom rolls, and cymbal splashes. I didn't get it.

A couple of years later, I would befreind another drummer named Jeff who loved Rush. He was much more into the triple-headed hydra from Canada. He had a Rush velvet poster in his room with a black light. He could play Rush songs note-for-note which was no easy task. I still didn't get it.

We headed off to band camp one year. The upper classmen got to stay in this cool side room of the main dining room. After Terry Meyer and I set up our bunks in our scary cabin with what felt like 50 other underclassmen, we went over to the older guy's room. Terry was friends with most of them, so that was my "in." You wouldn't believe how much equipment these guys brought with them to band camp. Ron Jaworski was an uber-nerd who also ran sound for the school dances. That's the equipment he brought with him. These gigantic speakers, a couple of amps, the biggest tv I had ever seen in the mid-80's, and a VCR. What in the world were these guys going to do?

I found out that night. Ron brought his Rush Live (1982) video cassette. They watched this concert twice a night at full volume. Because they were in a side room of the main dining area, it was far enough away from everybody else, that the band director didn't care how loud it was, or apparently how late they stayed up either. The first night, I made it through one viewing. By the third night, I knew the songs by heart. I was hooked.

Fast forward to 1991, "Roll the Bones". I made friends with a guy in South Bend who worked at a local record store called "Karma", and he could get awesome concert tickets. He asked if I wanted to go with him to Rush and Mr. Big in Indianapolis. Why not? I had never seen Rush live, lets go! The band Mr. Big was having a huge year with "To Be With You" on the charts, but Rush was insane. With their amazing light show, random video interludes, giant inflatable rabbits, and just the fact that so much sound came from only 3 guys...I was blown away.

I had a new boss in 1997, named Bill. He, too was a Rush fan. He asked me if I wanted to tag along with he and his wife to see Rush in Grand Rapids. Who passes up a free ticket to Rush? Bill didn't let me in on the cool moment when we went down into the locker room of the Grand Rapids Griffins before the show to meet Rush! There were about 15 of us in the locker room. In walks Geddy and Alex, wow! They worked the room pretty well. I shook Geddy's hand, introduced myself, and told him I loved "Test for Echo". He thanked me and said he appreciated me coming to the show. I then asked, "Where's Neal?" Geddy looks above his round glasses and says, "Have you heard our song Limelight?" Sure! Geddy says, "Well, thats Neal. He's shy."

The guys autographed my backstage pass and cd cover, snapped a photo that I have never seen, and we were off.

Last summer, a handful of us Rush fans went up to Benton Harbor to watch the Rush movie-documentary. We were in nerd heaven. I'm still a little upset that Tommie didn't share any of his popcorn with us that night.

MIXTAPE: DON'T BRING ME DOWN

2011-06-14T22:15:00.001-04:00

When I think of really discovering rock music and radio, I think of WLS out of Chicago. I spent many a summer at my grandmother's house, (Mammie), and I would listen to a radio all the time. I can remember ELO, Cheap Trick, Styx, Journey, Billy Squier, Kiss, Eddie Money, and Boston.

I also fell in love with the dj's who did all the between-song goodness. It would start with Larry Lujack and "Animal Stories", John "Records" Landecker, Steve & Gary, Fred Winston, and a slew of others.

I didn't get to buy the full albums, but I would get a chance every now and then to buy a 45. (One song on each side.) I got The Blues Brothers "Gimme Some Lovin'" and Paul McCartney "Coming Up" because my grades were fairly decent. I accidentally left the Blues Brothers 45 in the back window of my grandma's car. Oops.

I can remember owning J. Geils Band "Freeze Frame", "Centerfold", and the B-Side was "Flamethrower", (Cool song.) I can remember getting such a stupid laugh from playing Billy Squier's "The Stroke" on slow speed. I had the Theme from "Greatest American Hero", "Mickey" by Toni Basil, "Too Much Time On My Hands" & "Renegade" by Styx.

My first venture into the world of Electric Light Orchestra was "Don't Bring Me Down". I had heard them on WLS, but never jumped on board until I got the 45. I loved the song so much but remember that I didn't have the little adapter that you stuck in the center hole of the 45 to play on the big record player. So, I had to carefully place it as dead center to get it to play.

ELO is still a great band to listen to. I have been promising myself to pick up a Greatest Hits CD and just leave it in the car for emergency situations/road trips. It helps that and ELO song showed up in an Adam Sandler movie a few years back,...every now and then Chloe requests some "Mr. Blue Sky" in the car.

MIXTAPE: LOOKS THAT KILL

2011-06-12T10:24:00.001-04:00

I really didn't know if I was allowed to listen to this music or not. I walked into Scott's room and he had all these pictures of these guys dressed in black with big hair and make up. One guy had bleach blonde hair, and they had chains and studs on their outfits. If Satan had a house band, I think it may have been Motley Crue in 1983.

The craziest thing was that Scott was a pastor's son, so how he got away with Motley Crue pictures hanging up on his wall was beyond me. My friend Marc from school had Motley photos all over his room too, but Marc was a big football player who was older than me and loved heavy metal. I can remember having a sleepover with Marc and his utter dismay of the release of "Theatre of Pain" because Motley had completely "sold out."

Scott let me borrow the "Shout at the Devil" cassette. Like I said, I didn't know if I was allowed to listen to this music. There were upside down stars, & creepy dudes in make up. Then I would put the cassette in my sweet jambox that my parents got me from Sears. First, I had to remove my Michael Jackson tape, put it to the side, and slide in the Motley cassette.

Wow, this was indeed 'heavy metal', (or what I thought was heavy in 1983.) "Looks That Kill" was the greatest song I had ever heard, (that week....my musical tastes were going through a roller coaster then.) Then I saw the video! Oh my! There was fire, smoke, naughty girls, and even more fire!

Years later, on the Dr. Feelgood tour, I would meet Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx backstage in a hallway jammed with hot girls. I would have 5 minutes with these guys to let them know that "Looks That Kill changed my life dude! I love you guys, Dr. Feelgood is so awesome, Kickstart My Heart rules!....can I get a photo?"

MIXTAPE: Candy Girl

2011-06-12T10:07:00.001-04:00

My friend Craig's mom taught aerobics. His job was to listen to the radio all the time and get her the newest songs. He would have to record them on cassette and then transfer them to another cassette editing out the commercials and dj banter.

We would have sleepovers at his house, because he had Intellivision, a swimming pool, and cable. We would stay up all night and watch TBS' "Night Tracks". They would play videos all night long. (We didn't have MTV for the longest time growing up.) Craig would videotape them in case we would doze off at 4am in the morning.

I can remember the first time we saw New Edition. What a catchy song, and they can dance too. Craig figured out a way to record the audio from the tv onto a cassette. So not only did we learn the words to the song, but we tried to figure out the dance moves with his older brother Tony.

We got caught "rehearsing" in the basement by his mom. She was so amused that she wanted to inegrate some of our sweet dance moves into her aerobic routine. So imagine, me, Craig, Tony, and their mom in the basement of their house. The ping pong table has been folded up and moved for more space. And now we have our own rehearsal space and all 4 of us are dancing the "Candy Girl" routine trying to teach their mom the sweet moves of Ralph Tresvant, Bell, Biv, Devoe, and a very young Bobby Brown.

We thought "Candy Girl" was the jam...until "Cool It Now" came out.

MIXTAPE: BEAT IT

2011-06-12T09:59:00.003-04:00

I can remember going with mom school-clothes shopping and see a Michael Jackson red jacket like in the "Beat It" video on sale at Chess King. (There was a white version too.) It wasn't leather though, it was 'pleather'.

There was a house in our neighborhood that kids all gravitated too. There were 4 brothers and sisters that lived there and they all had 10 friends each in the neighborhood, so we all would hang out there. We played football, basketball, smear the queer, kick the can, find the flag, swimming, video games (Atari's Pitfall), Dungeons & Dragons, play pool, listen to music, sleepovers, comic books, everything.

I was friends' with Von and his older brother David. Von had a Batman and a Spiderman painted on his bedroom wall by his older cousin who was a giant football player at UCLA. Von wasn't as into music as I was, so when he would zone out on video games or comics, I would venture down into their family room, flip through all of his parent's albums, and then put together a mix tape. (I started at a very early age.) I can't remember who tought me how to use their equipment, but there was a lot of button pushing and flipping on the reciever, tape deck, and turntable.

I remember when the "Thriller" album made its appearance in the record collection. Everybody was listening to that one. I particularly gravitated towards "Beat It" because I still couldn't believe that Eddie Van Halen lent his guitar skills to that song, but it sounded so cool. I would listen to that album every time I had a chance. It was a double fold out album and on the inside cover was Michael laying down with a tiger! All of us kids tried to learn how to "moonwalk" in the kitchen because it had a slippery floor. We tried to learn all the dance moves in the "Billy Jean" video. NBC had a show called "Friday Night Videos" and I begged my dad to stay up late that night to see the world premiere of Michael's epic "Thriller" video.

At the middle school dance, the dj broke out "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and we all were clapping and yelling "Mama-Say-Mama-Sa-Ma Ma-Koo-Sa!" I had a Michael Jackson poster on my closet door. It was Michael in a tan leather jacket, with a giant guitar belt buckle and penny loafers.

Years later, I would date a girl for a while that was nuts over Michael. One time, all she wanted to do was stay home for the whole weekend and watch the Michael Jackson Marathon Weekend on MTV.

One of the first cd's I bought was "Bad".

I remember "World Premiering" the song "Black and White" the same night the music video was on right after an episode of The Simpsons.

When Michael died, I was a little rattled. Debbie was out of town that weekend and so Chloe and I spent a bunch of time together. I sent an email to a buddy of mine who was the program director of a local AC station that also played "all 80's" on the weekend. I told him, "If you aren't playing Michael all weekend long, you screwed up." They ended up playing about 3 songs an hour.

By the end of that weekend, I had Chloe singing his songs. I would add my 2 cents to every song giving her a story about me growing up when that song was out, and whatever knowledge I had about that song or album. I took Chloe to the "This Is It" movie when it came out. I kept whispering to her, "Michael wasn't this weird when I was younger."

I can still put on the "Thriller" songs to this day. That was 42:19 of music greatness. You can't help but get up and dance and move around, even if you can't, like my friend Von who never really wanted to learn the "moonwalk."

MIXTAPE: MIXED EMOTIONS

2011-06-09T16:45:00.001-04:00

So how do you get great concert seats in 1989? You camp out in front of the local Ticketmaster outlet all night long with a lawnchair and hopefully a friend to keep you company. We had a local music store in Benton Harbor called "Music Magic". When you walked in, it always smelled like patchouli. The guy always working there had incredibly long curly hair, and colored sunglasses, and a Grateful Dead t-shirt. I remember people calling him Mike.

Tickets would usually go on sale at 10am on Saturday morning. I had camped out in line a couple of time before. Van Halen, Cinderella, and ZZ Top all lured me into an all-nighter in one of the scariest parts of town at the Fairplane Plaza. The Rolling Stones were going to tour, and some were saying "This is it, the last time!" I wanted to see them at least once in my life, and figured this would be it. So, the date was announced for the Pontiac Silverdome near Detroit. I asked my dad if he wanted to go, he was in. So, along with another buddy from the radio station, we decided, (and by we, I mean I) would camp out in front of the store to make sure I got us tickets.

What I know now from what I knew then about ticket sales is hilarious.

This would be the last time I would stay up all night camped out. Because I didn't know that you could befriend the manager of the music store, (Mike), give him an $20 to pull you some seats for the show so you wouldnt even have to stand in line. I also found out that when you talk about the local music store and the cool folks that work there, they get a kick out of that, so you wouldn't even have to give them and extra $20 the next time tickets went on sale. A simple funny birthday card or a goofy christmas present did the trick too. (A case of beer worked too.)

So I fall asleep in my lawn chair, out in front of Music Magic, wake up real early to the commotion of people starting to form a line behind me. By 10am, this line stretched pretty far.

What I also didn't know is that most ticketmaster venues would have a little deal worked out with ticket brokers who paid large amounts of money for these managers to pull tickets as soon as they went on sale. So if you thought you were getting the best seats because you were first in line that morning, think again. Months later, Mike would invite me down one Saturday morning to watch how many tickets he would pull before the first person got theirs. Wow...I ended up getting 15th row that morning for the Stones, but later Mike would tell me that he got all kinds of seats in the the first 10 rows, but he would also show me the stack of money that these brokers would pay for those seats. This is way before the internet too.

So, me, my dad, and Shannon are heading to the Pontiac Silverdome. Its a long haul, (4 hours?) so my dad pulls a cool move and gets us a hotel room across the street from the stadium.

We get to the hotel a couple of hours before the show. This was easily the scariest motel I have ever seen. It was one of those "no name" motels, and there was a sign that said "We rent by the hour." My dad goes in the lobby, comes back with the key, and we pull around to the back of the hotel for our room.
We walk inside our room and we walk into what felt like 1977. The rug was the completely worn out red, green, and black pattern. I immediately started looking for a chalk outline of a body.

Hanging from the tv was a pair of pliers with a chain. This was to change channels because the channel knobs were missing. I went into the bathroom, looked in the shower and saw some soap....unwrapped.

We sat on the beds, turned on the local news, and saw stories about all kinds of shootings in Detroit, followed by a live shot from the stadium for that night's show! "Lets just walk, it will save us parking!", was the advice from my dad. So off across the street we went. I purchased my $20 black "Steel Wheels" tour shirt, and got to our seats. Main floor, 15th row, this was going to be awesome. Living Colour, ("Cult of Personality") opened the show. It was ok at best. The Silverdome was huge. Wrestlemania set an attendance record there a couple years earlier with over 90,000 people. They had announced that close to 90,000 were in attendance that night.

Lights down, here we go! Mick Jagger comes prancing out like a wild rooster, Keith Richards comes stumbling out like a complete drunk, Bill on the bass, (doesn't move the entire night). This was the biggest show I had ever seen. 2 songs into the show, this really huge guy next to my dad hands him a giant bag and says, "Here you go man, take one." This was the most massive zip lock bag of joints I have ever seen. My dad says, "no thanks."...he looks at me, I just shake my head, (like I would even do that....in front of my dad). That fat man would eventually empty the bag before night's end.

Amazing concert. On the way walking back to the hotel, we hit the Burger King. We get it to go, back at the room we are sitting there talking about our favorite songs, moments, etc. We are dead tired, more thank likely coming off a contact buzz like no other and fall asleep.

The next morning plays out like this. My dad wakes me up and says, "look at the Burger King bag on the table." The bag was completely covered in ants!

Then he says, "Look at the carpet." I kid you not, the carpet is moving. Something is underneath the carpet moving. My buddy Shannon wakes up and says, "This is the strangest pillow ever," and pulls out old nylon pantyhose out of his pillow. It was stuffed with old pantyhose!

This all literally happens within 2 minutes. My dad says, "Get your stuff and get to the car!" We grab whatever, and open the door to the room, and it has snowed, and there is about 2 inches of fresh snow on the ground and our car. My dad the jokester, decides to walk out to the tree and then have us pick him up. He thought it would be funny for the maid or whoever to see these tracks leading up to a tree and thats it.

We got home later in the day, and I had my first real cool concert story to share on the air when I did 7p-Midnight at Magic 107. About a week and a half later, I was back up near the Silverdome for another show. I was going to show the people I was with this fleabag of a motel we stayed at. No joke, it was completely demolished and leveled. There was absolutely no proof that there had even been a motel there maybe a week earlier.

Every time I hear the Stones, I think of pantyhose, ants, pliers, and a giant fat bag of doobies.

"You're not the only one with mixed emotions."

MIXTAPE: CHRISTINE SIXTEEN

2011-06-08T20:51:00.002-04:00

Matt and his older brother Jim were huge Kiss fans. I can remember staying home for Halloween one night, answering the door and handing out candy. It was dark out, there was a knock on the door, and when I opened it, Matt was in full Ace Frehley makeup, and Jim was Gene Simmons hovering over me. They had big black curly wigs, black turtle necks, black jeans and their make up was perfect. Back then you could actually purchase a Kiss make up kit.

Matt and his brother moved away, and 2 new brothers moved in. Craig and Tony Cruise from Kansas City. Craig and I hit it off, (he was a year younger than me), and Tony was 2 years older. Tony was cool, he had an orange VW Beetle and took us to movies like "War Games".

He also had some great rock records. After school we would sit in Tony's room and I would open up the Kiss records and just stare at the artwork. Tony had the first couple of live albums so there was a huge crowd shot from a Detroit show to stare at all the fans. The other live album had close up shots of the band we always debated if the blood oozing out of Gene's mouth was indeed real or not.

I remember when Tony bought "Love Gun" and the album came complete with an actual cardboard cut out gun. The 3 of us had Kiss trading cards, Craig had the Kiss action figures, and we would trade cards, look at album lyrics, and chew all the gum that came with the Kiss cards.

I can remember staying up late to watch "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park" movie. I never saw the big rock show complete with make up but I did see one tour, "Hot in the Shade"....it was ok. I will get mocked for this, but I was more excited to see Winger and Slaughter, (the opening bands), what can I say, loved the hair bands. I can even admit to trainwrecking a few Kiss songs in a couple of bands I played in.

MIXTAPE: BAD

2011-06-08T20:30:00.001-04:00

I started dating U2 in 1985. We went out for a few years, got real serious, then they dumped me in the 90's, (they were going through a Zooropa phase), but we reconciled, got back together and have been in love since.

Kim was in my youth group in church. She was unique, with her semetrically challenged hair, complicated shoes, difficult wardrobe, and alternative music listening habits. She was a couple years older than most of us, but her coolness factor was pretty high because she listened to band we'd never heard of. The Alarm, Siouxie & The Banshees, Simple Minds, Madness, and other such artists from a land far away.

I got invited to Kim' graduation party and I remember going up to her room with a couple other kids and she said, "Have you ever listened to this?" She held up a U2 record. It was "Wide and Awake in America". I had heard of them, but never invested any real listening time to this band with the lead singer who had an amazing mullet in 1985.

Kim, let side 1 rip with "A Sort of Homecoming" live, followed by "Bad." In those few moments in Kim's room listening to that record, I felt like I was being let in on the biggest secret about this cool band. We ended up digging deep into the U2 archives with "Boy", "War", "October", and I was hooked.

But it wasn't until I was watching Live Aid in July of 1985. An all day concert both in the states and overseas. Phil Collins played in the states, jumped on a concord jet, and then played in his homeland that same day. There were a handful of bands that I knew, but when U2 took command of the stage, I was mesmorized. It was as if they played forever, and yet it left me wanting more.

So I started a pretty strict diet of U2, leading up to 1987 when "The Joshua Tree" came out. I went to the record store after my summer job, bought the cassette and drove around town so I could hear the whole project. I had already (seen) heard "With Or Without You" on MTV, but these other songs...wow.

I dated a girl whose 2 older brothers bought tickets to U2 at the Hoosierdome in Indy. It would be my first U2 experience. I can remember this shadow of a man strolling out on to the stage during the long intro of "Where The Streets Have No Name" and when they hit a certain part of the song, these massive white hot lights hit the audience and you could hear the hum of the lights over the music for a moment. I've never gotten as emotional at a show until that moment. It felt like church.

When "Rattle & Hum" the movie came out, I took a portable cassette player and recorded the audio so I could listen to it until the album came out. My friend Mark Mason got a bootleg of Rattle & Hum a month before it came out. He made me a copy, and I thought I was the coolest kid with inside info on the planet.

I took Debbie to see U2 on the ZOO TV tour in the early 90's. U2 played the Notre Dame Joyce Center in South Bend on the third leg of the "All You Can Leave Behind" Tour, we were there. We went again in 2005 on a Saturday night at the United Center in Chicago, and I went back the following Monday night. That show was filmed for the "Vertigo" tour DVD. If you watch real close, you cannot see any kind of glimpse of me.

I've read books, bought many, many, many bootlegs of shows, made many a mixtape of the many moods of U2.

The last song I played at U93 was "Beautiful Day" by U2. They have played a huge role in the soundtrack of my life. I'm sure I'm not the only one...

MIXTAPE: I WANT A NEW DRUG

2011-06-06T21:29:00.001-04:00

Have you ever not had the right words yourself to express feelings for someone, so instead you just "borrowed" some lyrics from a song that fit the emotional moment?

Have you ever been talking to a girlfriend on the phone and all of a sudden your mom pops into the conversation and says something like "Get off the phone and get up here now."....?

I was writing a girl a note and went ahead with some lyrics to a song that helped me sum up my feelings for her at the time...

"I want a new drug, one that won't hurt my head. One that won't make my mouth too dry, or make my eyes too red....

One that won't make me nervous, wonderin' what to do, one that makes me feel like I feel when I'm with you, when I'm alone with you!"

Now, these days you know those are words to the classic Huey Lewis & The News song "I Want A New Drug", in fact, that song was massive hit back in the 80's. I thought it would be cool to send these words along to this girl...but my mom found the note.

I was summoned into her room and she had the note, and read the words to me. She was visibly upset. Part of me thought she was kidding, but I noticed that there wasn't even a smirk from mom. I had to explain to her that Huey Lewis had summed up perfectly my feelings so I just jotted them down in a love-letter. I think I may have mentioned that I found it hard to believe she didn't notice that the lyrics rhymed? I am not the sharpest crayon in the box, there's no way I could have come up with those words.

I don't remember how that incident ended up but thinking back now...but it could have been a lot worse. I could have gone with some George Michael lyrical tapestry..."Why don't you do it, why don't you set your monkey free?"

MIXTAPE: RULES

2011-06-06T20:54:00.002-04:00

I loved to buy the 2-pack of blank cassettes. They were either going to be used for an album on each side, a greatest hits compilation, or a straight up original mixtape.

I got into the art of the mixtape. Song selection, song placement, song length, themes, and much, much more.

I had some habits, that eventually would turn into rules that went into the mastering of a mixtape.

Starting with the purchase of the blank cassettes. I rarely bought a 10-pack case of blanks. I always went with the 2 pack.

I never, ever bought "normal" bias cassettes. I was told that those were only good for recording your voice, but I always went with chrome. I once bought a "metal" cassette and actually still have it. It may even have a die-cast metal frame. I put so much effort into that particular cassette calling it "U2:Fire & Desire". 45 minutes on each side, carefully selected to capture the catalogue of one of my favorite bands. Not just the radio friendly songs, but the deep album cuts that I came to know and love.

I always used white-out to paint the cover ends, covering up the Maxell logo and 90 minute number, so I would have more room to write.

Speaking of writing, I only used some sort of thin, felt tip pen. Never, ever a ball point. It just didn't do the trick, and you never put the cover back into the plastic case without giving the ink a chance to dry.

Also, never, ever, ever write your songs on the cassette sleeve. Always use a notepad to not only work on your font and penmanship, but just in case you have to make a song change on the mixtape.

I always went with black ink. Never a colored pen. Those seemed to fade.

Now, there was always a perferated sleeve that I always put to use. I would usually buy a rock magazine, or keep an eye out for some sort of photo that could represent the mixtape as far as a visual. We didn't have Google back then, so you would have to get real creative with your roll-on glue, and/or scotch tape not to leave fingerprints on the scotch tape.

When labeling the cassette sides, I would always write the title out first on the label, peel the sticker off, then place it perfectly in the slot provided. I would then take the the sticker page and lightly press it over the label to provide a more secure fasten.

I would take my small finger or a pen and roll the actually tape to the moment it began. I put a very small amount of time in between songs getting the most out of my 45 minute sides.

I only bought 90 minute blanks. I stayed away from anything higher. Anything lower seemed to short.

Titling the mixtape was always a thoughtful process as well. Almost like an artist naming their album, I too would "sweat the titles".

The other day, I found a mixtape that I had made in the early 90's. It was a mixtape of some rockin' tunes I was trying to convert Debbie to. Towards the end of the cassette, the last song was Honeymoon Suite, "Feel It Again". I was so pumped at this point because you can't find that song around anymore. But I broke one of my own rules...the tape ran out and the song ended mid-guitar solo. I boo'ed myself out loud.

For my birthday this year, I've asked for an old-school jambox. I used to listen to the radio for hours with my finger on the pause button just waiting for the perfect song. One time I got "Mickey" by Toni Basil back to back with Paul McCartney "Wonderful Christmas time". That was magical.

Mix cd's are ok....but there was true magic in the mixtape.

Were there any rules that YOU had during the creation of the mixtape?

MIXTAPE: WHO CAN IT BE NOW

2011-06-05T20:52:00.001-04:00

We had this massive sized VCR from Curtis Mathis. It had channel changer knobs on the front. When you hit the eject button, this large tray would shoot up from the top. I always made the joke that Fred Flinstone could literally drive this bad beast to the quarry, it was so huge.

We had HBO back then and every now and then they would show a concert. I caught the Men At Work concert every time it was on. I loved "Down Under" and "Who Can It Be Now". Back in that day, it was tough to differentiate if I liked the song for the song or for the video. The lead singer's eyes scared me most viewings.

Thanksgiving rolled around and my dad decided to rent a video camera. These big, bulky machines that sat either on your shoulder or a super-strong tripod were apparently very expensive, but he found a place in Berrien Springs to rent the camera for a few days. He would bring it with us to a family gathering and record the day's events.

When the party slowed down, dad announced he was heading home and I went along with. My mom stayed back at the party. When we got home, my dad said, "Wanna have some fun with this video camera before we take it back?" I was up for it.

For the next couple of hours, we made some of the most insane home videos you could possibly imagine. We did comedy skits, music videos, I sang to a Sandi Patti cassette, my dad dressed up like Boy George and performed a song, we cut out chin holes in my Peanuts bedsheets and our chins were their faces...we tried some stop-animation,....cutting edge stuff for 1982. It was so crazy and fun, we had some friends come over the next year to help with the wacky home videos.

We set up a single chair with a lamp and I performed "Who Can it Be Now" complete with the sax solo note-for-note played with a baseball bat. I only had a trumphet, I wouldn't have fooled anyone.

The song was playing from the console stereo and when I was done performing and the song ended, the dj came on the radio. Remember this is 1982. It was a dj out of South Bend on U93 named "Uncle Bobby" and he said "Music to molest your pillow by....". Years later, (1991) I would replace him at U93 on the 7p-Midnight shift. I was 12 when I heard the dj I would someday replace.

That home video is still around but in the hands of someone who won't give it up. Believe me, if I could get it, it would be ALL OVER YouTube for our viewing pleasure.

MIXTAPE: POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME

2011-06-05T20:34:00.001-04:00

The last cassette I probably bought in 1987 was in August just before my attempt at college would begin. The album "Hysteria" was coming out from Def Leppard. It had been a long while since we heard from these guys, (1983's "Pyromania"), and those were some great songs.

The first single "Women" really didn't take off at all. Then came "Animal", and the hysteria took off. There were a couple of guys that I saw at the college that were a year ahead of me. They had mentioned that they were getting a group of guys together, buying tickets, and seeing Def Leppard in South Bend. I had to be a part of this entourage. At the same time, another buddy of mine that I worked with at a department store bought 2 tickets for Chicago at the Rosemont Horizon. His other ticket-buyer backed out so I got the offer. 2 Def Leppard shows in the same month? So we went to Chicago and saw Tesla and Def Leppard. Our seats were the absolute worst ever. We sat behind some sort of massive pole that held the whole place up. I barely remember anything and that wasn't because of any "additives", just wasn't in to it that night.

But when the tour rolled into Notre Dame, 6 of us piled into Larry Fitzgerald's car and headed south. I picked out a shirt from the tour, and we had awesome seats. This was the first show I had ever seen "in the round" and there wasn't a bad seat in such a small venue like Notre Dame's basketball arena. Tesla was loud, "Modern Day Cowboy" was a rocker.

Def Leppard was amazing, (at least thats what I thought in the fall of 1987.) I knew their back catalogue but these new songs from "Hysteria" were a whole new level. When they got to the part of the show where Joe Elliot introduced "the Return of the Thunder God" Rick Allen, he played this "We Will Rock You" type beat that had that place rumbling. It was "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and the place went nuts. I hadn't really listened to it much on my cassette, but I knew I would be spending some time with the song the next day on my way to LMC.

I carpooled with Jenny from St. Joe to college. We worked together at the department store, and I had "Pour Some Sugar on Me" cued up and ready to roll when she got in the car. I was driving a Ford Escort back then, and my dad installed some real nice speakers under my seats. When I clicked side 1 of "Hysteria" in my Radio Shack special, that Escort was-a-rockin'.

The song wasn't released to radio until April 1988. "Women", "Animal", and "Hysteria" all came before it. I played that song incredibly loud at the Sunday night teen dances at Pebblewood. Every kind of kid fist-pumped to that song. That's another one of those cassettes that nothing else lived up to when it came to future releases. "Adrenalize"? Eh. I met Def Leppard a couple of years later. They were pure rock star yahoos. Fast forward to 2008, met them again. They put on a great show! They were all healthy, sounded great, it was basically a 'greatest hits' show, but thats what we came to see.

I had 3 Def Leppard shirts in rotation. The 2 white ones had some of the worst yellow pits ever. The black one with the "Hysteria" album cover last a long time. Also, if you purchased the 45 singles, the covers made a Def Leppard poster puzzle too. They had some awesome b-sides, "Ring of Fire", "Tear it Down", and "Ride Into the Sun". "Hysteria" was also the first album I had to purchase as a cd replacement for the cassette because of its awesomeness.

Click this link for some photos from 91' and 2008 with Def Leppard.

MIXTAPE: PANAMA

2011-06-05T10:26:00.002-04:00

I love Van Halen.

I firmly believe that any kid who had any kind of access to a piano, learned or tried to learn "Jump". I think I may have even had my mom buy me the sheet music so I could learn.

Lance and Scott Reub were "PK kid" and had a passion for Van Halen that rubbed off on me. I can remember listening to "Unchained" a million times. I can remember studying the cassette cover to "Fair Warning", I can also remember trying to perfect the Van Halen logo on many a school folder, and atempting to sketch the "1984" baby complete with the cigarette in hand.

It felt like everybody else had MTV but me. Even Lance and Scott by some strange crossing of wires had MTV in their basement and could get it on the FM dial on their "jambox". MTV ran so many promos, 'THIS SUNDAY, THE WORLD PREMIERE OF THE NEW VIDEO FROM VAN HALEN, PANAMA!" Now, this was such great news, but also seriously bad news. The great news is that we could watch the world premiere, (on a small black and white tv) but 7pm on Sunday night? That was during the evening church service at First Assembly of God in Benton Harbor. This would be one of the greatest covert missions ever taken. The pastor's house was directly behind the church, so this would have to be performed with such precision.

Church started at 6pm. The 3 of us decided that we would all "go to the restroom" at staggered times so we could run over to the house, get to the basement, and get in position for the new video from Van Halen. Lance would leave at 6:55pm, Scott would leave at 6:57pm, and I would leave just seconds before 7pm. The youth group used to sit in the front pews of the church on Sunday mornings, but at night we were staggered. We purposely didn't sit together that night so it wouldn't look like we all were getting up from the same spot.

We knew we would be back in the pew by the absolute latest 7:05pm because "Panama" was only 3:32. *(we timed it.) So Lance gets up and is out the back door of the church sanctuary at 6:55, then its Scott's turn. I tell my mom I have to use the bathroom and the second the sanctuary door closes I am running at full speed down the stairs to the church basement, down the hallway, back up the steps just past the pastor's office, and out the back church doors. I am sprinting to the pastor's house, in through the garage, down the stairs to Lance's room. They are already in place and I dive into the room just as the airplane is heading towards the screen at the front of the video. We are gathered around this small black and white tv as if it was the first moon landing. Funny thing is, they would show this video every hour for the next 24 hours. But we had to see it first.

OMG! The massive wall of speakers, Eddie swinging from the rope with bowling shoes? Yes, those are bowling shoes!! Diamond Dave and his swordsmanship, Michael playing a Jack Daniels bass? Do you think there is any actual Jack Daniels in the bass? Dave's motorcycle and car? This is the greatest video we have ever seen!

The video ended. We took a deep breath and headed back to church. As we settled back into our pews and Lance's dad was still dissecting Levitical law, we all caught each other's eyes as we had just witnessed rock supremecy with "Panama".

That was, until we saw "Hot for Teacher".

MIXTAPE: WHEN DOVES CRY

2011-06-05T09:53:00.001-04:00

The summer of 1984 will be forever tattooed on my musical heart with the "Purple Rain" soundtrack from Prince. The cassette came out one month before the movie would hit theatres. I can remember hearing "When Doves Cry" on the radio and being completely hooked immediately. I was already somewhat of a Prince fan with "Little Red Corvette", "1999" and some of the older stuff too. Back before we had MTV, I would be at Craig's house down the street watching TBS's "Night Tracks" all night long and they played Prince to death. I can remember paying money to watch a Prince video at the video game room at Marriotts Great America. "Automatic" was a naughty song but I never saw the video til I watched in my first ever video jukebox, (while on a youth group excursion to the amusement park.)

That was also the summer I met Tom Harmon. I don't quite remember how this all happened, but ultimately Tom's dad had been recently divorced and worked all day long. He asked me if I could hang out with Tom during the day and he would actually pay me. Tom was really shy and took a while to warm to me. The day would start with me riding over to his house, watching "Raiders of the Lost Ark" on laser disc, (a giant album sized DVD that you had to turn over mid-movie.) Tom had 3 laser disc movies, but we only watched "Raiders", because the other 2 were his dads.

I remember Tom saying "I don't think we are supposed to be doing this" a lot. I was a rebel. We would swim at my house, we would ride into town and play "Dragon's Lair" at the arcade across from Lakeshore High School. We would make wooden ramps and jump them with our bikes. We would eat. We would play tetherball in Tom's back yard.

Tom and I would get on this tetherball marathons in the late afternoon and play forever. I had this old school cassette player, (it may have been a Realistic), but it was nowhere near a "jambox". I would play "Purple Rain" over and over and over. As soon as side 1 was done, I would call time out from tetherball, and flip the cassette over. Side 1 ended with "Darling Nikki" and some weird backwards chanting, and I knew it would be time to flip it. "I don't think we should be listening to this kind of music", Tom would say.

A girl I liked had the Purple Rain album. I can remember studying Prince's motorcyle, staring at the flowers, trying to read all the lyrics to the songs on the inside sleeve. I had a Michael Jackson poster in my room, (it was the one where he had a tan leather jacket and a guitar belt buckle). I took it down that summer and replaced it with many, many, many Prince posters and pictures.

My friend Frank was old enough to get us into Rated R movies. "Purple Rain" came to the Southtown Twin theatres on July 27th, 1984. I hadn't talked to Frank most of the summer, but I had to call him and ask if he would take me to see the movie. Frank had already seen it a few times, (I think he told me had had gone 8 times that summer with different people.)

So we went and I was in awe, I thought it was the coolest movie ever too because I already knew all the songs. I developed a love for Doritos because Prince ate Doritos. I started liking the color purple, because Prince wore purple. I may or may not have gotten a perm and only "glazed" one side of my hair because I thought that is how Prince wore his hair. From time to time, Frank would lean over and say, "Here comes a naughty part." I can remember dj'ing the school dances that next year and playing so many of those Prince songs, with a few Morris Day & The Time songs thrown in too, "The Bird" and "Jungle Love" got the kids jumping.

The anticipation for "Around the World in a Day", (Prince's next album), was insanely overwhelming for me. I was hoping for a "Purple Rain" sequel. It came out April 1985, and aside from "Raspberry Beret", I absolutely hated this album. I wanted so badly to want to like it, but just couldn't embrace "Tamborine" or "America". Actually, nothing from Prince ever came close to "Purple Rain" ever again.

One of my friends in high school went to see Prince in concert in Chicago that fall. I got a Prince sweatshirt out of it. It wasn't the manliest thing I've ever worn. Lots of doves and flowers and such.

I still listen to Purple Rain from time to time. TIME magazine named it the 15th best album of all time. ROLLING STONE named it 2nd best album of the 80's, it went platinum 13 times over.

You have to admit, the guitar solo at the end of "Lets Go Crazy" was epic back then.

MIXTAPE: ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE

2011-06-05T09:03:00.001-04:00

Two sources introduced me to rock music. At school, I became friends with Marc who was a year older than me. I don't recall how we met, (maybe band) but Marc also played football, and was a pretty big and tough dude. The other friend was Lance. Lance was the pastor's son and he and his brother Scott were classic "PK kids", rebellious, and loved rock music.

After school, I would ride my bike over to Marc's house. If we would hang out before Friday night's football game, Marc would play all this heavy metal to get psyched up for that night's game. We would listen to the Scorpions, Dio, Ozzy, old Motley Crue, ("not that crappy "Theatre of Pain" junk) old Van Halen, and some heavier stuff that I didn't really get into like Metallica, and Accept.

Marc had "Love at First Sting" on cassette. Lance had it too. I can remember unfolding the cassette cover and staring at this guy not only kissing the woman but tattooing her leg at the same time, now thats CRAZY! I remember MTV playing the "Hurricane" video to death. I also remember when we listened to the other songs, there were times when I had no idea what Klaus Meine was singing. But them Germans sure could rock.

Years later, we would end up loading a mini van to see the Scorpions in concert in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I, through the radio station, got tickets for us. So it was me, Marc, some girl I was dating, and my MOTHER and one of her friends. I have no idea why my mom agreed to go with us, but I thought it would be fun. I helped her pick out her outfit that night, I slightly remember denim. We headed up to Wings Stadium, and took in the opening band, Trixter. I secured some backstage passes for them, and took my mom back to meet them. I said to her, "If you wanna say something cool, tell them you like their new song "Give It To Me Good". After a few photos with the band, she says "I like your song Give it to YOU Good". They had a good laugh about that one.

I was trying to impress my, then, girlfriend and so we met the Scorpions. They were more impressed with her than me. She had this American Flag sweater on and I remember the guys speaking german to each other, pointing at her, and laughing and making jokes. While we were taking pictures with Klaus, he says to me "America!" I just realized what had their attention.

During the show, my mom had earplugs in, and from time to time I would look at her reaction to their songs. She had a look like someone gave her a bad tasting lemonade. Afterwards in the car, we were all yelling, (since we couldn't hear each other-our ears were indeed ringing) and my mom was very unimpressed with Klaus' vocals. "He was singing off-key all night long!" Mom wouldn't be invited again after comments like that.

MIXTAPE: WHEN ITS LOVE

2011-06-05T08:38:00.001-04:00

I don't remember when we finally got MTV in Stevensville, Michigan. I used to have to watch at our pastor's house. His sons figured out a way to get their MTV pumped into their basement. I'll never forget the "Panama" video...(but I'll save that story for later.)

I was a Sammy Hagar fan. After seeing the "I Can't Drive 55" video, I pledged my allegiance to Sammy's red-rocker flag. So when "Why Can't This Be Love" started playing on local radio, I was in! Now, this started quite a debate amongst the Van Halen fanbase. You had your David Lee Devoted who said Van Halen will never be the same, and you had your Red Rocker Royalty who said "Bring on the New Era!" I didn't care, I liked both. I was more infatuated with Eddie Van Halen's playing than any singer. But in my opinion, Sammy brought some new energy to the table.

A couple of us went immediately to the "under the steps" record store in St. Joe to purchase our copy of "5150". Terry Meyer had more money than us so he got to purchase this new shiny thing called a "cd". I can only remember 3 times when we either went right after school to buy music, or actually "left a little earlier" to get music. (1. Beastie Boys "License to Ill", 2. Van Halen "5150", 3. U2 "Joshua Tree")

We wore out "5150" in Terry's Camaro. From the opening song "Good Enough", all the way to the throw away song "Inside" and everything inbetween, "Dreams", "Summer Nights", "Love Walks In", pure awesomeness even with the electronic drums that Alex Van Halen was pounding on.

On our way to band camp, somebody brought their "jam box" and played side 1 of Dire Straits "Brothers In Arms", and then switched over to "5150" and to my enjoyment played the entire cassette as we traveled to some random camp that to this day I have no idea where we were. Arguements sparked in the bus about Dave Vs. Sammy. I kept my cool. I didn't have much cool to keep back then, but I actually preferred "5150" over Dave's EP and then full length "Eat Em & Smile" cassette.

I graduated high school in 1987, and the following year was me just spinning my wheels. I tried community college for a month. I worked a couple of different jobs. My dad bought our first family cd player, along with a big sound system including a double cassette recorder, record player, and these huge box speakers. Our first family cd purchase was Elton John's Greatest Hits. With my part time job money, I bought Metallica "Garage Days Re-Revisted", Michael Jackson "Bad", and Van Halen "OU812". I remember getting into a heavy discussion with my friend Joel on VH's next musical step. He still wasn't sold on Sammy Hagar as lead singer. He actually had the cd before me, so he was giving me a play-by-play, song-by-song review over the phone. "Finish What You Started" sounds country, there's still a bunch of keyboards all over the cd, and there's this cheesy ballad "When Its Love" on there too.

This was right around when I started working part time at the radio station. I loved "When Its Love". The radio version edited the opening keyboard run. I always played the "album version". That summer of 1988, me and Joel and Toby went to the Monsters of Rock opening night tour in Wisconsin at Alpine Valley. My ultimate reason was to see Van Halen, (it would end up being my first time) but also because there was this other band in the line up called "Metallica" that I had heard about. The Scorpions, Dokken, and Kingdom Come rounded out the day. So right after honor's night at the high school, we grabbed Joel and headed to Wisconsin. We stayed at a friend's house, (I met at church camp) and the next day we would go to Alpine Valley. I remember water being so expensive, I remember buying a handful of shirts, I remember Joel's feet getting sunburned, and I remember seeing some of the "cool guys" from high school sitting by us on the lawn who also made the trek.

It was a marathon day. I wasn't the concert veteran I am now so I didn't know how to pace myself for the long haul. I saw Van Halen one other time on that tour, this time at the Notre Dame Joyce Center. I had 2nd row seats. (I camped out all night long at our local ticket master outlet in Benton Harbor. That's another story.) My pal Joel painted a giant Mighty Mouse character on the back of my dad's army jacket. Where the "M" on the chest of Mighty Mouse, was the "VH" logo. I safety pinned a note to Sammy on the sleeve, then in the middle of the show, I threw the jacket on stage. Sammy put on the jacket, read the note, and gave me a thumbs up. I pee'd a little. He never threw the jacket back.

I've remained a Van Halen fan. But during those "Sammy years", some great memories indeed. My first concert-date with Debbie was Van Halen. We've seen them many times since. We've vacationed at Cabo, and if you are lucky, you've caught a glimpse of my Sammy tattoo on my left leg.

Like I said, big fan.

MIXTAPE: DONT LET HIM GO

2011-06-04T17:55:00.001-04:00

My first real rock concert was REO Speedwagon and Survivor at the Notre Dame Joyce Center in South Bend, Indiana. I just started high school in 1984, and met an older guy named Frank. We hit it off, and I thought I was pretty cool with an older friend who not only had his own car, but could get us into Rated R movies. (Frank would come in handy down the road for Prince's "Purple Rain" and "Breakfast Club").

Frank's brother Mack had a "monster truck". This thing was huge, had giant tires, and you had to use a ladder to get in it. Frank would drive it to school every now and then, but when he did I would beg him to take me for a ride in it, hoping that my other friends would see my high up in the monster truck.

Frank's brother bought tickets to the REO concert. The band's 11th album "Wheels Are Turnin'" was out and "Can't Find this Feeling" was a huge song. I remember being at a school dance one night, and the dj played it twice! Frank asked if I wanted to go too. Wow, REO? Survivor? "EYE OF THE TIGER?" This would be my first real rock show. I wasn't anywhere near a diehard fan of REO or SURVIVOR, but it was show with cooler, older dudes and I wanted in.

It was on a school night. I can remember trying to pick out what to wear. I think I went with some sort of black t-shirt and jeans. Frank and his brother picked me up in another one of Mack's cars. It was a small car and Frank and I were jammed in the back seat with, oh my gosh, a case of beer!

I lived in Stevensville, Michigan back then and when you went to the big metropolis of South Bend, Indiana you would take a road through Berrien Springs, through Niles, and ultimately up 31 into South Bend. I had been to South Bend before for some other concerts. (The Gaithers, Amy Grant, and some other christian shows at the Morris.) But Mack was taking the back way. "Why are we going this way?" I asked. "Because, we wanna drink this case of beer and there are hardly ever any cops on these back roads."

So we were taking the scenic route through Baroda, Bridgeman, Buchanan, all these back roads all the way to Notre Dame campus. I had one beer, and I remember it tasting horrible but I didn't want to be left out with the big boys. Mack was cranking ZZ Top and Van Halen in the cassette player. We couldn't hear a word we were saying to each other.

Survivor had a new lead singer. I was never a fan, "Eye of the Tiger" was cool, but I never gravitated towards "High On You", or "The Search is Over"...(I wish it WAS over.)

Then REO Speedwagon took the stage. All of a sudden all these older songs take me back to a few years earlier. I spent many a summer at my grandmother's house and I would listen to the radio all the time. I can remember hearing the big time Chicago radio stations playing all this great rock music and listening to AM radio all day long. One night, real late, the DJ on WLS was going to "unwrap the new album from REO Speedwagon and play both sides!" He mentioned he didn't have permission but knew that his listeners had to hear the new stuff from REO. I can remember him pulling apart the shrink wrap on the air, and putting the needle on the record. The only song I can remember from that night was 'Don't Let Him Go". I couldn't believe this guy was breaking the rules by playing this song without permission!

When REO started playing that song live, I felt I had come full circle! The lead vocal of Kevin Cronin and his massive perm-mullet, the guitar majesty of Gary Richrath with his Gibson Les Paul and cool wallet chain. At the end of the show, I used my extra money to purchase my first ever concert shirt. It was a grey jersey with red sleeves, with the "Wheels Are Turnin'" album cover on the front and the tour dates on the back.

I couldn't wait to wear this shirt to school the next day. I had seen so many other kids wearing their new concert shirts the next day to school. Judas Priest and the long sleeve red shirt from "Defenders of the Faith" tour, ZZ Top "Eliminator" with the cool car on the front, Ratt, Journey, and Cheap Trick.

I remember walking into Lakeshore High School the next day with my new concert jersey that smelled like stale Budweiser, cigarettes, and my dad's deoderant. "Did you go to the show last night?" "Duh! Where do you think I got the shirt?"...I remember high-fiving Frank at lunchtime that day, as he too sported the new REO jersey too.

MIXTAPE: MY SHARONA

2011-06-04T17:22:00.001-04:00

We were on a family trip to Tresvant, Tennessee. My grandmother on my mom's side had sisters who lived there. It was a really small town with not much to do but sit on the porch all day, eat enourmous amounts of fried food, and then sit some more. We had a cousin named Jimmy who had a massive record collection. I remember Jimmy pulling out these 45's of some great songs like "Hey Jude" by The Beatles. The 45 had a picture of a green apple on it and took up all the space that the little record could hold, it was a long song.

We went into town one day and stopped at some type of department store. I was really starting to get into music, and so I would thumb through the albums not only looking at what songs were on them, but was sucked into the album cover artwork too. My dad caught me off guard and surprised me with this offer..."If you would like to pick one full length album, I'll buy it for you."

This was officially the first time I would own an album. I've had many since then, but this would be the first. I can't quite remember if it was their may have been a 45 purchased beforehand, but I do remember this being the first full length album.

I narrowed my choices down to 2 albums. It was either going to be "The Knack - Get The Knack", or "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack. I had seen and heard the Saturday Night Fever songs on the radio and at this doctor's house that my other grandmother used to house sit for. I didn't see the movie, but I had heard the Bee Gee's on the car radio. "Stayin' Alive" was so awesome, and "Open Seseme" by Kool & The Gang had a great opening and some sort of Genie-character throughout the rest of the song rattling off "genie" dialogue. The real reason though I picked this album was because it was actually a 'double-album", we are talking 17 songs when most albums were only 12 songs total.

My dad took a close look at the album and then the price tag on the front cover, "Nope, too much money." I had to pick another one. The 2nd album I had sort of picked out was The Knack. "My Sharona" was on the radio, seemed like every hour. WLS in Chicago would play it all the time. I remember the DJ saying "Here comes some 'new wave' rock from a band out of Detroit, Michigan!" (Which I thought was cool since I lived in Michigan too.) I would have never pegged this band as 'new wave', but what did I know..I was 11ish.

So The Knack album it was. I couldn't wait to get home and hear side 1, kicking off with "My Sharona". Funny thing was, that song was the first song on side 2. I had to make my way through "Let Me Out", "Good Girls Don't", and "Your Number Or Your Name" first. I would stare at the front of the album cover and Doug Fieger and his band with their cool skinny ties, and rock faces. I thought the black and white photo had reminded me of another album cover....Oh yeah, the Beatles record. My dad had a bunch of those from when was a teenager. The back cover was the band all spread out getting ready to perform live in some sort of all white studio, maybe it was at the video shoot for "Sharona". We didn't have MTV back then, so all I had was my imagination of what these guys looked at when the drums would kick in on "Sharona".

"Muh-muh-muh-muh-muh-muh-MY-YAH-YAH-YAH-YAH-WHOA! Muh-muh-muh-My Sharona!"
Get me some sort of tennis racket or anything that may resemble a guitar, this song is mine!

Years later, watching "Reality Bites" when Winona Ryder and Jeanene Garafolo would hear that song at the convenient store and ask the guy to turn it up? That movie-moment kickstarted another round of popularity for that song all over again. I went along for the ride too.

MIXTAPE: NEVER TEAR US APART

2011-06-04T10:28:00.001-04:00

I was so hungry that night. I had no idea that I would probably get hungry in the middle of the night during a marathon shift at the radio station. I mean, I had never been up at 3am in the morning working before, so why would I be hungry?

I had just gotten my first radio job at MAGIC 107, WIRX in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Looking back now, you could have called them a "Jack FM" type of format. If you listened for any period of time, you would hear Anita Baker, Guns N' Roses, Whitney Houston, INXS, Chicago...so incredibly random.

I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I was working some goofy jobs, (Wendy's, local hospital, a video store) but this wasn't anything I wanted to do. So one day, I call the local morning DJ at the radio station, (Jim Gifford) and ask if I could just come see what he does. (I had been a long time fan of music and radio), this was a bold move. Jim actually said, "Come on down!" So I get up real early one morning and sit in with "Jim Gifford and the Champions of Breakfast." My world was rocked! I thought there were going to be 20 people in this little studio with all sorts of instruments, equipment, etc. It was Jim by himself, all his comedy bits were on a cd, and the news person was in 2 rooms over and would only speak up when the mic was turned on.

I had never done anything like that before. Well, actually...I made a 'demo' with Terry Meyer for "Mass Communication" class. We had an assignment to make a radio station demo tape. So I became "Tony Stone", part of a fictional radio morning show playing songs from ZZ Top "Afterburner" and Journey 'Raised on Radio". It was horrendous, but a total blast to make. We ended up dogging everyone in class on this demo that ended up being played in front of the entire class. We even took a shot at the teacher's 'sweat rings' in her armpits.

Jim Gifford actually gave me a chance. He had a shift that nobody wanted to work. Saturday night 12am to Sunday morning 8am. He had me record some stuff in a production studio and before the morning was over, offered me a part time job! I couldn't believe what just happened! The station, I (kinda) grew up listening to was now where I would have employment for the next 4 years. When I say "kinda" listened to, I loved Chicago radio and we could pull it in, (an engineer told me it was because we could catch the signal 'on the skip' over Lake Michigan.)

So that next weekend, I would have this goofball of a guy named Chad train me for 3 hours and then at 3am, I got to sign on for my first radio shift. Chad was a classic stereotype overnight part time guy. Bad clothing, bad breathe, bad hair, bad speech, bad sight, bad everything. But he gave me the basics, and at 2:52am I started to sweat. My big moment was coming! The world was listening, and it was my time to shine. What would I say, and what would I play?

I had thought about that for a while. I wanted to play a song that would mark the moment and I could always remember it like some goofy trivia question if I ever became famous. So at 3am, I chose Dan Reed Network, "Ritual". It was so 'not a hit' and Chad quickly pointed out, "You can't do that! You are breaking format!" Sure, like anyone at 3am will notice this mediocre song sandwiched between Robert Palmer "Simply Irresistable" and Beach Boys "Kokomo".

So I would do my other jobs during the week, but when the weekend came, I got to immerse myself in the music of the 80's overnight for 8 hours,..actually 7 hours, because the last hour was church programming, or as I like to call it...sleepytime.

INXS was huge at this moment. "What You Need" was a cool song in high school, (actually "Listen Like Thieves" is a great cassette!) but "Kick" had so many hits. "New Sensation", "Devil Inside", (which was always a little creepy feeling in the middle of the night), and the ballad "Never Tear Us Apart". What a great song, guys and girls used to call in and request this song on their way home from the bars, "Hey could you play INXS for Deena?" Sure, I play it right after this live version of Chicago's "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" (9 minute song-perfect for a bathroom run.)

So its really late one night. The calls have completely died down. Everyone is in their drunken slumber, and I am trudging forward playing the songs all night long. I'm so hungry. So, like every good overnight guy, I go hunting for food. I go through offices, desks, I try to shake the snack machine free of something. I can't find a thing. I stumble across a set of keys that open a promotional closet. Inside this closet are t-shirts, coffee mugs, frisbees, beach towels, and "JACKPOT!" cases and cases of a new potato chip brand coming out called "Crunchers".

There's no way they will miss one bag of "Crunchers" right? So I literally polish off a bag within minutes. But much like some cereals, the entire roof of my mouth is ripped apart. These chips were tough stuff...and of course I wanted more. So I grabbed "Kick" by INXS and started with track 2, "New Sensation", and just let that bad boy run. Why? Because it was hit-after-hit, and up next was "Devil Inside", "Need You Tonight", all the way to cut 8 "Never Tear Us Apart". When that song played, I knew it was time to exit the promotional closet and get back in the air-chair.

8 songs had played while I was dining on the many different flavors of "Crunchers" potato chips. Overnights can play tricks on your mind. I thought I had just one bag of chips, but after 8 INXS songs, I polished off an entire box of bags, (no joke, probably 10 bags). My mouth was on fire, ripped to shreds, and it was time to do the weather for the 3rd shift workers. When the song ended, I tried to conjure up the words to say the weather, and particles of chips were spitting everywhere all over the mic and board in the studio.

Later that week, a memo would go out to the staff, (before emails) that whatever was in the promotional closet was meant for on-air giveaways and promotion, not for personal consumption.

I stayed clear of the promotional closet for months....until we had the new "Slim Jim Mini-Slims" giveaway promotion.

The Police - Spirits in the Material World

2011-06-04T09:35:00.000-04:00

MIXTAPE: SPIRITS IN THE MATERIAL WORLD

2011-06-04T08:58:00.003-04:00

I didn't get the joke at first. Jack Cates walks into the prison and you can hear singing from one of the jail cells. "Roxanne! You don't have put on that dress tonight!", Reggie Hammond was lost in the moment with his Sony Walkman and sunglasses singing to the Police song from 1978's album "Outlandos d'Amour". "48 Hrs" came out in 1982, but I didn't really get that Eddie Murphy's character was singing a song from a guy's perspective of being in love with a prostitute. Ironically enough, later in the movie, Reggie meets up with a 'woman of the night", and ends up telling her maybe they could meet up after he gets out of jail.

Guys who listened to the Police in high school were of the 'nerd' type. I remember them being really smart, in band, in science club, glasses, bad hair, and using really big words.

My real first entry level to the Police was Jay Thomas. He was the son of Linda, who was friends with my mom. Linda was divorced, and it felt like Jay got whatever he wanted, did whatever he wanted, listened to whatever he wanted, and said whatever he wanted without any repercussions.

We would escape to his downstairs bedroom filled with posters, a cool tv with video games, men's cologne, and a full drumset. Jay would ask me if I had heard of certain groups. These were groups I had never heard of or maybe heard in a passing conversation with a group of boys that I didn't really run with. "Hey, do you like Rush?" (No idea who they were at this point.) "How about Kansas? Carry on My Wayward Son?" (Nope.) "Do you like anything from The Police?" (Wait a minute, I think I have heard of this band.) "Have you seen '48 Hrs.' with Eddie Murphy? He sings 'Roxanne' in jail? ROOOOOOXXXANNE, PUT ON THE RED LIGHT!"

I knew that song. Well, it was at this point that Jay began to give me the history of this 3 piece band that were so incredibly talented, and would end up making a lot of sound for just 3 guys. (Jay like the 3-member rock bands...Rush, Police, Triumph, The Outfield?)

"Dude, you've got Sting on the bass and vocals." (Sting? What kind of name is Sting? Later, I would learn that his real name was Gordon Sumner...which was always helpful when throwing out useless 80's trivia when I rocked the "Flashback Lunch" on the radio.) "Andy Summer on guitar, and one of the greatest drummers of all time, Stuart Copeland, who put the band together, on drums."

Jay would explain this to me even before he put on a song to listen to. I asked him what they sounded like. He said, "Put some jazz, reggae, punk, and really high vocals in a blender, and press stir." Like a well thought out chess move, Jay pulls out his "Ghost in the Machine" album, and decides on Side 1, Song 1, "Spirits in the Material World." He carefully wipes down the record with his cleaning cloth, then blows off the dusties, puts the needle on the record, and out through this (at the time) amazing sound system, comes the coolest collection of bass, drums, saxaphone, and guitar...ever.

I will still argue that the bass riff in "Spirits" is one of the best. Now, growing up in church, a part of me was a little scared to be listening to this song. "Spirits"? "Material World?" Those haunting harmonies from Sting singing...

Where does the answer lie?
Living from day to day
If its something we can't buy
There must be another way

I wasn't at a point yet where the songs were really "talking to me" or I could pick a song, sit down with my mom, and say "This song sings about exactly how I feel." (That didn't come until much later.) But I sure thought this Police music was cool.

So did everybody else when "Every Breath You Take" came out. It seemed like in 1983, The Police were everywhere. "Synchronicity" had so many hits. That album reminds me of band camp, but thats another story for another time.

So when and if you ever see me listening to "Spirits", you will more than likely catch me playing my air-bass trying to keep up with Sting's sweet riff magic, or Stuart's splashing of cymbal-greatness.

Unfortunately, I also remember immediatley after experiencing the Police in Jay's bedroom, he would reach for the Showbiz Pizza record of the band singing "Happy Birthday" with his name actually in the song....so much for an extended rock n' roll moment.

FRESHMAN

2011-05-31T20:21:00.002-04:00

I sat on the front porch this afternoon waiting for Chloe to get home from school. She got on the bus this morning an 8th grader, and she trotted off the bus this afternoon a high school freshman. Oh my shorts, where did the time go?

We are very proud of her. She's athletic, smart, and she's excited about her next run of school. In fact, today she said, "Hurray, I get to carry my cell phone in school now!"

ABANDON "NEW YEARS DAY"

2011-05-26T14:47:00.000-04:00

ABANDON "HERO"

2011-05-26T14:46:00.000-04:00

NEEDTOBREATHE NEW PROJECT

2011-05-25T15:22:00.002-04:00

Recently, I was invited to Nashville to hear Needtobreathe's new project. I'm not supposed to say what the album title is, (yet) but the 10 songs that I heard....wow.

They will spend 5 months starting Friday opening for Taylor Swift. On the nights off from the tour, the band is going to do "secret shows" where they will play a full show with new songs!

I was told "We are playing Schuba's in Chicago!"

To which I replied, "I want to go to there."

NEEDTOBREATHE

2011-05-25T15:15:00.000-04:00

STAR WARS BAND CONCERT

2011-05-18T12:39:00.000-04:00

CALEB PLAYING BASEBALL

2011-05-11T08:09:00.000-04:00

BASEBALL

2011-05-01T17:43:00.001-04:00

FINAL WORDS

2011-04-28T08:10:00.001-04:00

Rev. David Wilkerson was killed in a car accident yesterday in Texas. He was the author of "The Cross and the Switchblade" and also the founder of Teen Challenge. Yesterday, he wrote this on his blog before he was killed...

"To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word: Weeping will last through some dark, awful nights, and in that darkness you will soon hear the Father whisper, "I am with you,'" Wilkerson wrote. "Beloved, God has never failed to act but in goodness and love. When all means fail-his love prevails. Hold fast to your faith. Stand fast in his Word. There is no other hope in this world."

EASTER SUNDAY

2011-04-27T21:03:00.002-04:00

Have a great Easter Sunday with our family. Started with some church, (great service), on to the Sigsbee side of the family for an egg hunt for the kids, dinner with the family, and some massive candy sugar-buzz.

ABANDON

2011-04-27T21:00:00.001-04:00

Spent the day with the band ABANDON from San Antonio, TX. They have a new cd called "Control". Today, they were on the morning show, did a Studio B taping, and then a free concert at a local church in front of a great crowd.

DARA MACLEAN

2011-04-14T16:18:00.001-04:00

So much talent comes out of Texas these days. You've got MercyMe, Robbie Seay Band, Shane & Shane, Chris August, Chris Tomlin, Addison Road, Jason Castro, Jason Patrick Clark,...and now Dara Maclean. Her new song is called "Suitcases" and her new album comes out in July. Hey, if you can keep a secret? We've also asked her to come out and play the 2011 World Pulse Festival too. It will be one of her first big festival audiences so we are excited about this partnership. I love introducing folks to new music, and Dara is a real up-n'-comer.

PASSION 2011 MEMORIES

2011-04-05T13:20:00.001-04:00

PASSION 2011

2011-04-04T07:33:00.005-04:00

Debbie and I attended the Passion conferences back in 2005, and 2006. It was a great way to start the year off. Time and lives are much different from then. A lot has changed. It was great to be invited back this year to Passion / Forth Worth.

10,000+ screaming college kids singing, worshipping,and praying together to the music of Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band, Kristian Stanfill, and the teaching of Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, and John Piper.

I had some great conversations with friends throughout the weekend about the difference of opinions with Rob Bell's new book and John Piper's stance (and also Francis Chan who referenced 'the writings of false teachers' in his message.)

Behind the scenes at Passion is pretty incredible. Volunteers everywhere waiting to serve, all the speakers, artists, and their extended families all together. We had lunch and dinner with the Passion group on Saturday. Over the past couple of years I have made some friendships with a few folks, so it was good to catch up and meet some new faces too.

David Crowder...He has a very small "hoola hoop", (which means personal space.) As a joke, I got a little too close to him but explained I did the same thing years earlier in Pittsburgh at my first Youth Specialties conference. I bear hugged David after a session. "I totally remember that dude!"
He also told me that the band has recorded and finished a full christmas album and a bluegrass gospel album too. "What else are we gonna do all day during the Winter Jam tour? We play for 30 minutes each night, but all day we just sit around." They also have a tour coming up with Gungor, John Mark McMillan, and Chris August.

Kristian Stanfill...I love this kid. He is electric. He introduced me to his wife. They are about to head out on a well deserved vacation. Kristian just wrapped up a tour with Brandon Heath and Dave Barnes, and had a great time. He also asked me how I was doing, he knew about some of my health problems and it was cool of Kristian to ask.

Louie and Shelley Giglio...wow. What a cool couple. They are on mission. I've met Louie a handful of times throughout the years, and it was great to meet in that setting.

I loved the "tangible expression" of doing something with our collective resources. In one hour, 2100 students gave $114,000 to have the Bible translated for an unreached people group in Africa, and by the end of the weekend, the goal was met. Thousands of towels and socks collected for all the local homeless center outlets in Fort Worth / Dallas. Amazing.

If you ever have a chance to attend a Passion event, (Atlanta 2012), just do it.

Trust me.

ECHOING ANGELS "SAY WHAT YOU BELIEVE"

2011-03-29T06:28:00.000-04:00

NEW FRIENDS

2011-03-28T20:44:00.003-04:00

Keep an ear out for these guys. "Royal Tailor". They went to Bible College in Indianapolis, have a great fresh sound that Christian music can use. I will throw out comparisons of Maroon 5, & Bruno Mars...

"Hyland" is from Minnesota. Their first cd comes out in May called "Weights & Measures".

Southern fried boys from Atlanta, "Echoing Angels". Great guys, genuine and the real deal.

HYLAND "THIS LOVE IS FREE"

2011-03-28T17:57:00.000-04:00

HYLAND "THIS LOVE IS FREE" by Corey Mann

NEW FRIENDS

2011-03-11T14:43:00.000-05:00

AMY, ME, & MICHAEL

2011-03-09T14:51:00.000-05:00

CHLOE VOLLEYBALL IN WARREN, MI

2011-03-06T18:47:00.000-05:00