Is the Iran Deal a Good One?

I honestly don't understand the issues well enough to offer an educated opinion, but this article by an expert in weapons inspections is a great read.

It's a long and thorough analysis of a pretty difficult-to-understand situation. The headline says it all: "This is an astonishingly good Iran deal"

I hope he's right.

Et tu, Netflix?

One of the biggest complaints about Hollywood these days is that they recycle ideas rather than take risks with bold new concepts. Places like HBO, Amazon, and Netflix have been the exception. Their original series have tended to push the envelope, and they've been rewarded with viewers and Emmy awards.

Scratch Netflix from that list.

Their latest proposed series is a "Full House" revival.

Sounds Painful

Thanks to "JD" for this one...

Elliott Harris

Elliott Harris was a sportwriter for the Chicago Sun Times for many years. When I started up Just One Bad Century, he was working on a book about the 1908 Cubs, and we exchanged notes to help each other out. He also posted a number of stories about my website, and I was always grateful about that. I only met him once in person (at the release party of our book "Cubbie Blues"), but I've always considered him a friend and a heck of a guy.

When I saw another "Cubbie Blues" contributor (Brian Bernardoni) post this tweet yesterday, I feared the worst...

My friend @elliottharris wrote the hardest & most beautiful piece about fatherhood & love. http://t.co/TGGMBrBxxq

— B.A. Bernardoni (@BrianBernardoni) April 2, 2015

Elliott's daughter (only 36 years old) passed away. Elliott wrote a gut-wrenching and heartbreaking tribute to her. You can read it here.

My deepest condolences and prayers go out to Elliott and his entire family.

Only in Germany

Volker Kraft hung 10,000 colored eggs in his apple tree this week in Saalfeld, Germany...(Source: USA Today)

Wrigley Construction

Here's an update, with then and now photos...

Wrigley Field construction then and now. 1937 bleachers 2015 videoboard #TBT #WrigleyField pic.twitter.com/0PDn1vxLlA

— Wrigley Field (@WrigleyBlog) April 2, 2015

Another update. First things first...

Budweiser sign now up in Right Field #WrigleyField #WrigleyRenovations pic.twitter.com/SX95RmA285

— Wrigley Renovations (@WrigleyRenovate) April 2, 2015

Doing the Impossible

Escaping a Tow Truck. Watch the video below. Anyone who has ever lived in Chicago will be cheering on the crazy man in the white car, because tow truck drivers in Chicago are notorious for their aggressive towing practices. Once you've been towed, even if you were towed incorrectly, you still have to pay the towing fee. It's happened to me.

Roberto Garza Leaving the Bears

This is a bummer, but it's the reality of professional sports.

According to a Chicago Tribune report, the Bears are releasing their long-time offensive lineman Roberto Garza.

It's a Good Thing I Didn't Go To Law School

I just read this article about the ways Indiana lawmakers are changing their "religious freedom" act to make sure they are clear it does not allow discrimination. I read it four times.

I'm still not 100% sure I understand what is says. I think it sounds like a reasonable fix, but I can't be positive there wasn't some sort of loophole inserted.

Legal-ese really makes my head hurt.

Julian's Tribute to his Mom

Cynthia passed away yesterday. Julian wrote a song about her and posted it...

RIP Cynthia Lennon

Sad news, delivered by her (and John's) son Julian.

Cynthia Lennon has passed away at the age of 74.

Her story and John's treatment of her is actually pretty tragic. It's hard for me to reconcile John the man (who treated his wife so terribly) and John the artist.

Eddie V

This month's Illinois Entertainer column has been posted.

I spoke with Eddie Volkman about his new podcast, the current status of his relationship with Jobo, and his plans for the future.

You can read it here.

Joni Mitchell

This news broke late last night. Joni Mitchell was found unconscious in her home and was taken to the hospital.

She has since regained consciousness, but as of this morning, she was in intensive care. Sending positive vibes to Joni--I hope she fully recovers.

I met Joni back in 1985 when she came to Champaign-Urbana for Farm Aid. Our radio station had a party the night before the concert, and she was one of the artist who came to say hello. She was super nice and gracious to us. (I met most of the others backstage the next day at the show--and trust me--they weren't all that way)

She's probably best known for "Woodstock", but to me, this one is her masterpiece...

We're #10!

The top billing radio stations in America were revealed yesterday, and Chicago only has one of them. From Tom Taylor's NOW newsletter...

Three CBS all-newsers are in the top ten (at #4, #7 and #10). And you’ve already read about Hubbard’s #2-ranked WTOP Washington DC. So here’s the BIA/Kelsey top ten list - #1, iHeart CHR KIIS Los Angeles ($65.9 million). #2, all-news WTOP at $63.5 million. #3, iHeart CHR “Z100” WHTZ New York at $51 million. #4, CBS Radio’s all-news WCBS New York at $49.2 million. #5, iHeart hot AC KBIG Los Angeles at $42.9 million. #6, iHeart adult contemporary “Lite” WLTW New York at $41.5 million. The #7 rank is a tie between two CBS-owned stations in New York - all-news “1010 WINS” and all-sports WFAN-AM/FM, both at $41 million. #9 is CBS Radio’s alternative rock KROQ Los Angeles at $40.2 million. And #10 hails from Chicago – CBS-owned all-news WBBM (780/105.9 FM) at $39.2 million. Once upon a time, if a Chicago station made the national top-ten list, it was Tribune’s talk WGN. Now we see the muscle of all-news.

Harvey Weinstein Accused of Groping

I suspect if Hollywood was ever fully investigated for this sort of thing, there would thousands of similar stories (the casting-couch phenomenon). The one line that jumps out at me in this article about Harvey Weinstein is that the woman in question didn't know who he was. It shouldn't matter, of course, but if she did know he was a powerful and feared Hollywood producer, would she have gone to the police?

Again, it shouldn't matter. I just wonder.

It's also important to note that Weinstein hasn't been charged with anything. He was only questioned by police.

The Next Live Musical?

I'm still not over the live Sound of Music starring Carrie Underwood as Fraulein Y'all and Nazi's with American accents, so I may not be the right target audience for this.

I would like to point out, however, that The Wiz was never good.

Why on earth would you remake that one? An attempted explanation is here.

Van Halen on Jimmy Kimmel

David Lee Roth hit himself in the nose with a microphone, and that's why he has it taped up.



Here's the video of the first take, with David Lee Roth getting taped up off-stage...

Today on JOBC (March 31)

A year ago the Cubs playing on Opening Day. We're still a few days away from that this year, and the construction crew at Wrigley is pretty happy about that. Have you seen it lately? Cross your fingers.

The Cubs plan to honor the late Ernie Banks on Opening Day. Ever wonder how Ernie's stats line up based on modern baseball statistics? The Sun Times did an analysis yesterday. Turns out, Ernie really was one of all-time greats.

Yesterday the Cubs sent Bryant, Russell and Baez down to the minors. All three figure to be in the starting lineup for Triple-A Iowa in April. Javy's situation is analyzed by CSN Chicago.

On JOBC...

How long ago was 1908? Chicago had a Republican Mayor and the wrong "inventor" of baseball was declared. He didn't invent baseball, but he did start the Civil War. Abner Doubleday was the man who led the Union troops at Fort Sumter. All that and the Cubs barnstorming their way back to Chicago at This Week in 1908.

Today's Cubs birthdays include a tongue twister.

Who will replace Jon Stewart?

According to Variety, one of the people being considered as the new host of the Daily Show is named Trevor Noah.

Read about him here.

UPDATE: He was just named new host of the show. So there.

A sampling of his stand up comedy...

Hot Rod Hundley

Sad news from Arizona in Tom Taylor's NOW column...

“Hot Rod” Hundley played eight seasons of pro basketball with the Lakers – both in their original market of Minneapolis (where the name made sense) and then L.A. (where the team became legendary, despite the relative lack of lakes). When Hundley’s playing days were over, he made the difficult transition to sportscaster, working for the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns - then calling the games of the NBA Jazz for 35 years. He followed the expansion team from New Orleans to Salt Lake City in 1979. The Jazz announced over the weekend that Hundley passed away at 80, at his home in Phoenix. He’d been dealing with Alzheimer’s. The Sporting News says in 2010, “the Jazz hung a banner in his honor, and redecorated the press room, featuring a mural with his signature phrase, ‘You Gotta Love It, Baby.”

Johnny B

To say that Johnny B has landed on his feet is putting it mildly. Today his show debuts on 100 stations nationwide. From this morning's Radio Ink...

Westwood One says The Jonathon Brandmeier Show is rolling out on 100 stations today. The 10 to 1 weekdy talk program will incude as affiliates, KABC-AM in Los Angeles, KLIF-AM in Dallas, WWBA-AM in Tampa and KKAT-AM in Salt Lake City. Brandmeier's home bas affiliates is WLS-AM in Chicago. Westwood One’s SVP for Affiliate Sales Dennis Green said, “We are elated to be launching Jonathan Brandmeier on 100 stations. Our affiliates have come to trust the Westwood One team to provide the best talent for stations and Brandmeier will be no exception. The new wave of Talk Radio Unhinged is coming to your market as we feature news as entertainment as only Johnny B can deliver!”

Johnny B could be the first step in syndicated radio's movement away from political talk. Several of those stations he's appearing on used to be 24-hour conservative-talk stations.

Every Cub Ever (Z)

Today Just One Bad Century features EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter Z. 12 entries in all–from Zip Zabel to Dutch Zwilling.

What will you find there? Four classic baseball cards, three videos, one manager, three Cubs who played in the first season at Wrigley, a player who was banned from baseball and worked in a speakeasy, Big Z, Bunions, Popeye, and the very last entry in the baseball encyclopedia.

Check it out here.

Spring Break

I enjoyed everyone's spring break pictures on Facebook. It inspired me to take my family to Greece. Uh..I mean Greektown. Sort of like going to a foreign country.

The Bernstein-Spiegel Apology Tour

If you've missed the controversy, two talk-show hosts from the Score (Matt Spiegel & Dan Bernstein) have been in hot water over tweets they made discussing the physical anatomy of a female CSN sports host, Aiyana Cristal.

Both men apologized profusely on the air already.

Cristal's statement leads you to believe she isn't completely satisfied with the apologies.

The Association for Women Journalists is definitely not satisfied either.

I get what people are saying about the apologies--claiming both men are only apologizing because they were caught. But while I'm not a big fan of the way Bernstein conducts himself on the air (there is no-one who belittles his own listeners more than he does), I also listened to his apology, and it was obvious to me that he was sincere. He knows he absolutely shouldn't have said what he said, and is truly sorry for saying it. Spiegel's apology was even more heartfelt and authentic, in my book. These were not the typical "I'm sorry you were offended by my comments" apologies that blame the offended and not the offender.

I understand why both Cristal and the AWJ are still upset, but I honestly don't think Bernstein and/or Spiegel should have to say or do more than they already have...other than to never do it again.

I'd be shocked if either of them ever did.

On the other hand, it's not too late for sports radio to add more female voices, and more women behind-the-scenes (producers, management, etc.) From that perspective, this can turn into a positive moment. It's about time to end that whole locker room mentality. It's not even appropriate in a locker room anymore. There's no doubt that it exists in sports radio. No doubt at all.

In offices where there are more women around, men simply don't feel comfortable saying these sorts of things. They'll still think them, but at least they'll have the common decency not to say them out loud.

Midnight Rider

Pretty darn awesome version of the tune...

More Cosby Accusers

Same story. Same ickiness.

Two more women.

If this is a conspiracy against Cosby, it's a massive one.

Happy birthday JRL

Every Cub Ever (Y)

Today we feature EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter Y. Everyone from George Yantz to Eric Young–12 entries in all.

What will you find there? Two classic baseball cards, a video, two Yerkes, a scribe, a wartime Cub, a 1969 Cub, a player who inspired a classic poem, a pitcher who went 27 straight starts without a win, and a player who dropped a fly ball and ignited a controversy.

Check it out here.

Gregg Jarrett

The Fox News anchor has returned the airwaves after a battle with alcoholism.

TV Newser has the story of his harrowing attempt to get help, and believe it or not, Roger Ailes is the good guy in this story.

WGN Walk of Fame

WGN's Walk of Fame is inducting ten more WGN legends. According to Robert Feder's column this morning, they are...

Eddie Schwartz, Franklyn MacCormack, Steve King and Johnnie Putman, Steve Bertrand, Lyle Dean, Dave Eanet, Ron Santo, Lou Manfredini and Ward Quaal.

Dylan Gardner

Really enjoyed the Dylan Gardner show at the Beat Kitchen last night. It was like a Landecker & the Legends reunion in the audience. All the surviving band members were there (with their spouses).

After the show I sat down and interviewed Dylan and John Landecker. It will be a very entertaining piece. Look for it on May 1st in the Illinois Entertainer.

Ode to Bleacher Seat Ticket Holders

April Fools Day Bits

A word of caution for radio shows from today's Tom Taylor column...

Time to revive the annual tradition here of suggesting a little time-out, for second thoughts and some advice from real pros. Today, the hard-earned counsel of consultant Alex DeMers of DeMers Programming – “The best advice we can give is to make sure you've vetted your April Fools concept with a wider group of internal experts than your morning show co-host. While you may lose some of the fun of shocking your co-workers with a great bit, having other stakeholders in on the secret beforehand will likely cause less stress during the aftermath. The personalities and stations that pull off great April Fool stunts are the ones who know their listeners the best. They have a good handle on not just what appeals to their fans and can make them laugh, but they also have a good idea just how far they can ‘fool’ their listeners without risking a really negative backlash. The smartest product managers also keep in mind ‘the little things’ - like the law, Public Safety, FCC regulations, advertisers and their superiors.” The FCC has a “Hoax rule” – and they definitely investigate complaints. Final word today from Alex DeMers – “April Fools stunts are like fireworks...best handled by professionals.”

In my 20+ years of radio, I was involved in exactly three stunts, and two of them were in college. The first one was a fake concert we staged in the cornfields outside Champaign-Urbana. We pretended it was a weekend festival, and we introduced each of the bands as if we were on stage, played live music from albums, and even on-stage banter (when we could find it). Of course it seemed pretty obvious to us that it was a bit--The Beatles played there and it was 1984--but people still drove around looking for the concert.

The next year my co-host and I called my mom on the air (my co-host at that time was a girl) and told her that we had eloped to Las Vegas because "we had to". My mom didn't say anything for about ten seconds before saying "I think you better talk to your father." When I told her it was an April Fools joke, she said she was going to kill me.

We never did it during the Steve & Garry years, and we only did it once during my Landecker years. That time we pretended like John was doing a bit with a zookeeper and was bit by a snake. People called us with ways to save his life, as Catherine Johns took over the show.

Looking back, I'd say that none of those bits were that funny. Maybe because the whole idea of making people feel foolish isn't that funny. It could also just be that I'm getting old and crabby.

Every Cub Ever (X)

Today we feature EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter X.

OK, Mea Culpa. There weren’t any. However, we do feature two players who are associated with that letter–one because of his first name, and the other (a Hall of Famer) because of his nickname. There’s also a video and a classic baseball card.

Check it out here.

Dylan Gardner

Great article in today's Sun Times about Dylan Gardner. I'll be at his show tomorrow night at the Beat Kitchen, along with John Landecker, who will be introducing him on stage. The Gardner/Landecker history is a fun and interesting one that begins with the announcement of Dylan's birth on John's radio show. I'm going to interview both of them for an upcoming column in the Illinois Entertainer.

Here Comes Van Halen!

I've missed the last couple of tours, but I think I may just have to make it to this one. David Lee Roth will be the frontman.

They come to Chicago on July 24th.

I haven't seen them in concert since 1979.

Every Cub Ever (W)

Today we feature EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter W. Everyone from Tsuyoshi Wada to Hank Wyse–118 entries in all.

What will you find there? Five Hall of Famers, 15 classic baseball cards, 15 videos, 11 Cubs named Williams, 8 named Wilson, 6 named Walker, 5 named Wright, 4 named Ward, two executives, two classic audio clips, a manager, a scribe, two broadcasters, a celebrity fan, A father/son team, a player shot by a crazed fan, another who firmly believed the world was flat, the man who built Wrigley Field, the man it’s named after, and the man who made it a destination, plus Kettle, Tarzan, Rabbit, and the Arkansas Hummingbird.

Check it out here.

Tom Hanks Help Inaugurate New Late Late Show

James Corden owes Tom Hanks bigtime. This is pretty cool...

Yoko's Private Collection

I must have somehow missed this story 15 years ago today. From Bob Dearborn's The Olde Disc Jockey's Almanac...

March 24, 2000…World Wide Video paid $1,079,500 for more than nine hours of film taken in February 1970 by Yoko Ono's ex-husband, Anthony Cox. The film contains shots of John Lennon smoking hash, blow drying Yoko's hair, composing "Mind Games," and talking about his political beliefs. The company edited the film into a two-hour documentary called "3 Days in the Life." Yoko Ono, claiming ownership of the film's copyright, sued World Wide Video in 2008 to stop distribution of the documentary. In Boston on June 30, 2009, a federal judge ruled in favor of Yoko Ono, that she is the rightful copyright holder of this rare, intimate footage of John Lennon. Ono says she intends to keep the material private.

It's hard to imagine there is something that Yoko hasn't released by this time...Here's the track John was working on in the unseen film...

FCC Fines TV Station for Indecency

I'm not a big fan of indecency fines, but I can see how this one crossed the line. From Tom Taylor's NOW column...

Warning – FCC is back in the indecency business...an accidental three-second Full Monty by a Roanoke TV station in its 6pm news has brought out some serious moralizing and protect-the-kids language from the FCC. For the first time ever, it’s imposing the maximum one-time fine of $325,000 – raised ten-fold in the wake of Janet Jackson’s 2004 Super Bowl nipple-flash. The object of the fine is Roanoke’s WDBJ-TV...First, the Channel 7 news team was doing a feature on “a former [female] adult film star who had joined a local volunteer rescue squad.” Somebody in the newsroom found some clean footage of the actress’ previous line of work online and thought it was okay for airing. But the photojournalist said “when I recorded the screen shots off a computer, I did not notice the small ’boxes’ at the right of the screen showing other films available from the distributor.” That’s when the trouble started. The FCC says viewers could plainly see “the graphic display of an erect [you know what] being stroked during a news report.” Ironically, the image had nothing to do with the local rescue squad volunteer. It snuck into the frame because the journalist didn’t see the box off to the side.

Johnny B

He made his debut on WLS yesterday. Here's the report from the RAMP Newsletter...

Jonathon Brandmeier debuted his new Westwood One-syndicated talk show yesterday on Cumulus Media's WLS-AM/Chicago. The show airs weekdays from 9-11am CT. Peter Bolger, OM/PD of WLS-AM said, "Chicago loves its personalities. With a line up including 'Big' John Howell, Rush Limbaugh, Steve Dahl, and now Jonathon Brandmeier, WLS-AM can rightfully claim the position as 'Chicago's Talk Leader.'" Brandmeier added, "This is extremely exciting for all of us at The Jonathon Brandmeier Show. Chicago listeners are the best -- intensely spirited, animated and opinionated. And, personally, I finally get to say the call letters I've been practicing to say since I was a kid growing up in Wisconsin -- 'W-L-S!'"

Every Cub Ever (V)

Today we feature EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter V. Everyone from Mike Vail to John Vukovich–37 entries in all.

What will you find there? A Hall of Famer, six classic baseball cards, four videos, one song, two executives, two celebrity fans, a manager, the pitcher who tossed two no-hitters in a row, the pitcher who lost the double no-hitter, a legendary father/son team, an incredible mustache, the most annoying Cubs fan in history, plus Hippo and the Antelope.

Check it out here.

Rotary Club Luncheon

I'm speaking at a local Rotary Club on Thursday.

I used to be a big fan of their phones. I think my mom still has one in her house. :)

Bravest Man Alive

Bruce Bohrer, author of Diary of a Wrigley Field Usher, is entering the belly of the beast for an author event. He will be appearing at the Beverly Arts Center on the south side of Chicago on April 26th. Details below...

3 years ago today

Best Cub Ever (U)

Today we feature EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter U. It’s true there weren’t a lot of them, but there were three.

What will you find there? A Canadian pitcher/outfielder, a batter with a perfect on-base percentage, a classic baseball card, and an usher who worked at the ballpark for nine seasons and wrote a book about his experiences.

Check it out here.

Rick on the Mike Tomano Show

I did an interview with the Mike Tomano show the other day, and it was posted this morning.

The interview starts at about the 17 minute mark.

Wrigley Construction Update

I was in the Wrigleyville neighborhood yesterday to pick up my Cubs tickets for the season, and took a look at the construction progress. They say this is going to be ready by Opening Day? I have a hard time believing that...even before today's snowstorm.

Gold Medal Winners

Last night my youngest son's U12 soccer team (Green White) won the Gold Medal in our indoor soccer league. Congrats to the boys for winning it, despite the subpar coaching.

Classic Rockin'

From Tom Taylor's NOW newsletter this morning, this little tidbit about younger listeners and classic rock...

Younger listeners are rockin’, at record levels. Classic rock “has seen steady growth among 18-34-year old listeners over the past year,” says Nielsen, and is “now consistently the second-most popular rock format with that audience, behind Alternative.” The format of the Stones, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and the rest of the classic rock Valhalla of heroes “broke records for 18-34 share” at a 4.4 mark. It also “set a new all-time high among audiences 6+ with a 5.1%” and matched the all-time PPM record for 25-54s at a 5.6 level. Alternative also continues to perform well, and “tied its own all-time best mark for audiences 6+” with a 3.0-share. The format hasn’t risen to that average since February 2011.

I've only got one in that demo in my family, but he's definitely a classic rock fan, and the 17-year-old is right behind him. His favorite band is Queen.

That's Mark Prior?

"PEDs? What are those?" RT @Schmutzie_ Something looks different about Mark Prior pic.twitter.com/4sYqFkqC4g

— Dave Wischnowsky (@wischlist) March 20, 2015

RIP Michael Brown

I'll admit I didn't know Michael, but I did know three of the songs he brought into this world. Ron Smith reported the news on his facebook page this morning...

Michael Brown (nee Michael Lookofsky), keyboardist with the Left Banke and Stories, died Thursday of unknown causes. He was 65. Michael’s father, a session violinist, owned a recording studio in New York and produced, published and managed the baroque-oriented Left Banke when they formed in 1965. Michael wrote their two hits-- “Walk Away Renee” (#5-1966) and “Pretty Ballerina” (#15-1967), but when he recorded another-- “Ivy Ivy” (#119-1967) using studio musicians, the resulting friction caused the group to disband (though they later reformed without Michael and without any more hits). He went on to play with Montage before joining Stories, having been introduced to Ian Lloyd by their fathers. He stayed with the group for their first album and first three singles, including “I’m Coming Home” (#42-1972) and “Brother Louie” (#1-1973-- which initially was missing from the album). After forming the unsuccessful group, the Beckies in 1976, he eventually gave up music.

I owned this 45 RPM...

Toilet Paper Controversy Finally Ended

The patent for toilet paper should settle the over vs under debate pic.twitter.com/arZl6l6ALn

— Owen Williams (@ow) March 17, 2015

It's an age old argument...does the toilet paper roll go over or under? I'm an under guy myself, and according to the original patent (which was unearthed this week) I've been doing it incorrectly for more than 50 years.

I blame my mother.

First day of (Jack) Spring!

Happy First day of Spring, on behalf of the only Cub ever named Spring….

~Jack Spring (Cubs 1964)
He pitched for seven teams in his eight big league seasons, and for exactly one month that team was the Cubs. They acquired Jack in May of 1964, and he pitched in seven games over the next few weeks. But then on June 15, 1964, Spring was called into the manager’s office and told he had been traded again. This time he was the throw-in in the trade that sent Lou Brock to the Cardinals. In St. Louis, Spring won a ring (although he didn’t make the postseason roster that year). Not sure what happened to that Brock character. One of the most miraculous stats of Jack’s career is this little tidbit: He once went 19 consecutive outings without recording a strikeout. That’s the longest streak since 1957.

NCAA Basketball

For the first time since 1981 (no joke), I didn't fill out an NCAA bracket this year. I feared it would make the experience less enjoyable, but I was wrong. I rooted for all the upsets and had a great time.

What a great event this is.

Even if it feels a little hollow without a certain team from downstate Illinois.

Ben Finfer back at ESPN

Last we heard from Ben Finfer he was finding out live on the air (from a Robert Feder tweet) that he was about to be fired. You probably remember the video--it went viral. Robert Feder has another scoop about Finfer today. He will be filling in at ESPN for a few days next week. It appears that he may get more time on the air there soon. I'm sure Feder got a kick out of scooping Finfer again. I found out by seeing it on Finfer's facebook page: "I was going to announce this later today, but naturally Feder beat me to it."

Finfer is a smart guy, a good broadcaster, and is highly regarded by his former colleagues. I'm hoping this part-time gig leads to something a little more permanent. (I interviewed Ben for Chicago Radio Spotlight about five years ago. That interview is here.)

Dylan Gardner

Looking forward to this show at the Beat Kitchen next Thursday night. John Landecker will introduce Dylan, and I'll be interviewing both of them for an upcoming article. Come on out if you like good pop music. Dylan is signed to Warner Brothers records...

AA Might Not Be The Only Way

Let me preface this by saying that I personally know at least a dozen people who were saved by AA. They swear by it. They attend regular meetings. They seem totally genuine and I have no reason to doubt them. I ask a ton of questions whenever I run into someone in the program--so many questions they probably think I'm ready to go there myself. (No. At least not yet. But never say never.) The reason I ask so many questions is because I also know a few who went the AA route and it wasn't successful for them, and I'm trying to figure out why.

This article in the Atlantic questions AA's results--and points to a few other potential treatment options. I have no idea if the writer's assumptions about AA are true or not (and neither does the writer--the second A in AA stands for anonymous--which means the actual results cannot be known or tested), I simply present it for those of you who have tried AA (maybe even multiple times) without success.

It's a subject near to my heart because alcohol led directly to the death of a person I loved very much. I don't want to disregard any possible cure or remedy. I'm encouraged by the science-based brain research at the heart of these new approaches. Maybe it will work for you.

Please don't get me wrong here. I'm not trying to besmirch AA. I have a ton of respect for anyone who has the courage to do whatever is necessary to stop--and AA has worked for many of them--including some very close friends of mine. My goal in sharing this article is to point out that failing at AA doesn't mean it's time to give up on life and just succumb to the bottle. If might just mean that a different path could be better for you.

Eddie V

Eddie Volkman recorded his first podcast yesterday. Eddie will be the subject of my April column at the Illinois Entertainer. Tony Lossano posted this photo on Twitter...

Holy Cow! Eddie V is BACK! @HarryCarays pic.twitter.com/yJiOrMGxXP

— Eddie V's Road Show (@EddieVsRoadShow) March 18, 2015

Every Cub Ever (T)

Today we feature EVERY CUB EVER beginning with the letter T. Everyone from Jerry Tabb to Mike Tyson–73 entries in all.

What will you find there? A Hall of Famer, 18 classic baseball cards, eight Cubs named Taylor, five videos, two classic audio clips, the man who hit one of the most famous homers in history, a 1908 Cub, two brothers, the winner of the double-no-hitter game, two Japanese players, a broadcaster, a manager, a celebrity fan, a Cubs scribe, plus Chink, Dirt, Rainbow and Bird Eye.

Check it out here.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

There's some star power again this year. From the RAMP Newsletter...

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced most of the presenters and performers for the 30th Annual Induction Ceremony, which is scheduled for April 18 at Cleveland's Public Hall -- all part of Cleveland Rock Week -- the event will be heavy on star power, not the least of which will be the appearance of both surviving Beatles, as Sir Paul McCartney has graciously agreed to induct Ringo Starr. McCartney did the same for John Lennon in 1994. Stevie Wonder will induct Bill Withers; Patti Smith will induct the late Lou Reed; Peter Wolf will induct The Paul Butterfield Blues Band; Fall Out Boy will induct Green Day; John Mayer will induct the late Stevie Ray Vaughan and Steve Cropper will induct the "5" Royales. Joan Jett's inductor is still TBA.
The list of performers announced so far include Beck, Dave Grohl, Joe Walsh, Tom Morello, John Legend, Stevie Ray's big brother Jimmie Vaughan and more TBA!