TimWresPowr
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Posts posted by TimWresPowr
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Picked up Luke Bryan's new CD "Crash My Party". If you are into Luke you will love this one. If you equate "radio friendly" country with "pop fluffy" then this probably toes that line, but to me Luke is the perfect mix of commercial appeal, infectious songs & real talent. Luke's star is still on the rise and this CD goes right along with his current wave of popularity.
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I flipped thru the Mooneyham book at Fanfest. It's basically a collection of profiles on who was appearing at Fanfest, laid out like those books like The Tag Teams, etc. that Oliver & Johnson put out. I didn't have any interest in it personally.
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I'm done with going to see Jamey Johnson live. I own a majority of his music but live, I just can't do it anymore. His shows are long and 90% of them is SLOW old school country stuff and I just can't handle it. I've seen him twice live and he does give people their money's worth in that he plays for 2:40 or more but the song selection just doesn't jive with what I want to hear. I prefer the more upbeat stuff. He patently refuses to ever perform anything from The Dollar CD. The last time I saw him he didn't even get to "In Color" until about 2:30 in. As an artist I appreciate that he has the right to sing what he wants to sing but it seems like he much prefers to do covers of slow 70s songs and the more obscure slow songs from his collection than the songs that have a more commercial appeal. He also doesn't interact or acknowledge the audience much at all, like he's too shy or he's in the mode of just having a jam session tha happens to be in front of an audience. I don't think he had any banter in between songs or acknowledgment of the crowd until about 2:30 into the last time I saw him. So I decided I'd rather just listen to him on CD than go live.
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Probably the same as what happened to him when Eddie lived, if Eddie had backstage power in WCW, Doug would have done jobs or worked on the Saturday Night circuit with TX Hangmen, etc. But ultimately he probably would have ended up where he did, just with a few more years in the late 90s of being on the radar instead of in small indies.
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I'm pretty much the only poster in a country music thread on another board so thought I'd drag some content over here.
Personally I'm into more of the singer/songwriter types, I like the stuff that is a hybrid of rock & country with some folk mixed in. Not much into the pop fluffy/radio friendly stuff but I do enjoy 80% of what is on country radio as long as it's not played to death. Automatic channel switchers for me: Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, and sometimes Zac Brown Band.Some recommendations I've written about this year:
--Ashley Monroe released her first solo CD (she's 1/3 of Pistol Annies), "Like A Rose". She had tried 6+ years ago with a solo career but I'm pretty sure due to label disputes, etc. nothing ever got a proper release. Good classic country sound to this one.
--Kacey Musgraves' "Same Trailer, Different Park" is her first national, mainstream release. I've been a fan of hers since 2008 and have an autographed CD from that time. (She opened for Miranda & Blake at Ran's first ever Cause For The Paws.) Apparently that particular CD is very hard to come by/expensive online nowadays. But there's an excellent cover on there of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold". Anyway, glad to see she's finally made it. It's almost shocking just how fast she went from being an unknown, 4 years removed from her Texas-only releases and just having a songwriter deal to now all of a sudden she's got award nominations and opening spot on the Kenny Chesney tour. Hopefully she has the maturity & work ethic now to capitalize on this success as she was kind of seen as lazy and not motivated when she was still in Texas. This CD is quite different than most mainstream country releases and to me is a blow-away artistic success and if there's any justice should win all Album of the Year awards.
--Highly recommend "Classic" by Terri Clark which is a collection of covers & duets of classic country songs. Great CD!--Eric Church's Live CD is awesome and there are 3-4 bonus tracks floating around too. The obsession continues. Get a testosterone boost by listening to this.
--Pistol Annies and Natalie Maines CDs came out on the same day in May. Annies is really good. Maines' disc is not 100% my style, some of the songs I really like, some are not my style but it's definitely an artistic success. I've been a huge Dixie Chix mark from way back.--"Thorn In My Heart" Kim RicheyKim was my favorite singer from 1995 to 2005. She's one of my favorite people to talk to when I see her live and I consider her more like family or a friend than an artist I'm a mark for. I'm a Kim completist as I have everything she's ever put out including a lot of CD singles. Only thing I'm missing is "Little Record 3" which is only sold at live shows. Over the past few years, Kim's music and my tastes in music are going in direct opposite directions. This one unfortunately MAY be the end of the road on me buying her music. She's gotten a lot more into the "lounge singer" type stuff and this one has even more slow-tempo ballady stuff than her previous 2 releases. No surprise that my favorite song on here is the most up-tempo one. Her voice is still amazing and I admire the art that she, Dan & Neilson created here on this CD but honestly it's just too slow & mellow for me. She's not quite to Mary Chapin Carpenter levels of "put you to sleep" ballady stuff but she's trending that way unfortunately. I've only listened to it once but I much prefer Chinese Boxes and Wreck Your Wheels for Kim's post-US living creations.--"Chaos & Bright Lights" The McClymontsSo a lot of times I try not to get multiple discs at a time so I don't directly compare them but within 30 seconds of listening to this I was like, "now this is more my speed" after listening to Kim's disc. I had been hearing of these 3 sisters for years from people that attend CMAFest. They are from Australia and always played the Int'l Showcase show before Fanfair each year. It wasn't until last year that I ever heard them and I fell for them immediately. Very catchy, upbeat stuff here. This is their 2010 release (I had gotten their most recent one when I met them last year) and they are on par with each other. Beautiful vocals & harmonies. It's really a shame these girls are unknown in the states as any of the songs on the 2 discs I own would fit right in on today's country radio. Talent & good looks, what a combo. You can't go wrong listening to any McClymonts' music.
--Matt Mason's new EP: A word of warning, it's a burned CD (greenback) rather than a pressed CD so budget must be tight. But it's highly recommended if you are a fan of Matt's music. My wife commented that there's a lot of drinking & drugs in the songs but a lot of that has been whitewashed off country radio these days. I really wish Matt hadn't been screwed out of whatever was promised him for winning CMT Next Superstar and that he will see an uptick in popularity & success because the talent is there.
--"Amelita" by Court Yard Hounds. This is the 2 sisters from the Dixie Chicks if you aren't aware. Upon first listen, I think I like this one more than their first CD as this has more rockers on it. If you like Sheryl Crow style with some fiddle and more country picking thrown in, give this one a try!
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More thoughts listening to the Luger show. I totally remember the Lee Scott squash, that was one of the few squashes I kept on the "permanent tape". If I recall Lex may have been in street clothes and pinned him with one foot on him while holding the top rope. Total dick move on all levels.
Regarding the post-Bash 1988 discussion, I haven't gone looking for attendance figures but I know the Luger/Flair rematches did tremendous business, even better than the Bashes in some/most cities. The TV after that screw job pushed that all these cities were in the bidding for THE rematch. They played it up as one and only one rematch. Then your localized promos tried to sell it like your city was getting the match even though it was going around the horn. The Lex/Flair matches on this tour were accompanied by the first run Midnights/Arn & Tully feud so that may have played a part too in the boosted attendance. I'm guessing after Luger failed yet again to capture the title that by December's Starrcade fans were kinda burnt out on being screwed out of Lex winning the belt.
I went to one of the Bash 89 shows with Flair/Funk and Lex/Steamboat and Lex was bumping like crazy. He was not completely carried by Steamboat and I know hindsight is 20/20 but I see that feud as one of the in-ring highlights of Lex's career.
Regarding going to WBF, I'm pretty sure there was a non-compete & this was their way around it. I think at the time everyone tried to say with a straight face that he was retiring & going into bodybuilding but at the very least he was going to be presented as a cross over star between WWF & WBF programming & eventually was expected to wrestle again once the non-compete ran out. Someone would need to take the time to find old Observers for the full details.
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To me the Luger version of the Horsemen is unnecessarily shit on/ignored. My opinion might change if I went back & watched it but having just come back from Mid-Atlantic Fanfest, this is fresh in my mind. Year after year, the group speak/mindset at these conventions is that the Barry version of the Horsemen was by far the best and the Ole version is revered since it is the original. The Luger version and all post-Barry versions are written off/not discussed as if they are unimportant and/or never should have happened. Some of this has come from the guys themselves as Tully, Flair, and Ole have all written off the Luger version in Q&As at these things. Sure Luger was green at the time and not as good a worker as he became a couple years later but I don't remember his Horsemen days being terrible or anything.
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Haven't read this whole thread so I might duplicate something. I heard his name on a recent Stern podcast & wondered this very thing so cool to see a thread on it.
Eddie died right before the Attitude Era so I'd be curious to see where he would have ended up. I totally think he would have been in WCW at some point behind the scenes even if he wasn't in the ring. He would have been a part of the booking committee/agents along with Sullivan, etc. I think he probably would have gotten fed up with some of the BS and/or been replaced when the Russo regime came in. I don't think it's out of the question that he would have ended up back in ECW by the end as they were kind of grasping at straws. I don't think anyone ever completely burns a Memphis bridge so he may have been there too by the end or been a 3rd wheel in the mess of the sale of USWA in 1997. Almost assuredly he probably would have been in the XPW/Philly start-ups post-ECW.
Very interesting topic.
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Yeah I think ROH of that era desperately needed some variety on the card. Most people thought there was too much of the Davey/Eddie/Roddy/faux MMA stuff even if they were fans of it. The $5 Wrestling point I hadn't heard brought up before but I can totally see how that connection soured Jim on Colt forever. I think Colt's portrayal of "funny doesn't equal money" is too simplistic. Sounds like Jim's issues with Colt were his outside of ROH pursuits rather than anything he did AT the shows.
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I'm admittedly far less connected to wrestling this year than ever but am always a dork for lists of this type. Remind me or tell me who the following are/where they work.
18. Rampage Brown
19. Robbie Dynamite
23. KT Hammil
39. Alan Extreme
49. Jeff Cobb
55. Cyrus The Destroyer
61. Namajague
64. Astral
67. Califan
78. Tank Norton
81. Manabu Suruga
93. Keith Hammil
94. Andrew Alexander
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Some ROH notes coming out of the Mid-Atlantic Fanfest.--Briscoes are planning to return this fall. They were all but signed with WWE when Jay made his twitter remarks & the offer was pulled. Jay is not having shoulder surgery, they are just taking time off to sell the storylines at this point.--Notes from Cornette's Q&A: The Steen DVD has been pulled from distribution (if this had been widely reported, I missed it). He said "that weasel" video guy Ross and Shane Hagadorn shot this interview & released it without Delirious' knowledge and it has since been pulled from distribution. I had noticed it wasn't on Highspots or ROH a week or 2 ago when I went looking for a match list (I just assumed the search function wasn't working right). I thought it was really ironic at the time that ROH would have an official release where the guy goes into detail about how they faked & set up the whole feud, and essentially that was the company's thought as well. He said they are fine with that kind of thing from a 3rd party distributor. That and apparently some of the stuff he knocked Cornette for was Delirious' decisions. Cornette harped on how Steen was fat & should have lost weight like they asked him to in order to be taken seriously as an athlete. He went into all the stuff from his previous podcasts about how they asked he & Generico to tone down their stuff due to sponsors, etc. He said Steen was a pain to deal with unless he's getting his way, that Gabe had warned Pearce of him & Pearce warned him of it. Sounds like he never wants to deal with Steen again.As far as his opinion on Colt Cabana, it seems his issue isn't with Cabana's comedic ring style itself, as he actually says he's a very good showman who really should be in WWE as they like that kind of thing there. He mentioned how it didn't fit in with what they were trying to present with Davey, Eddie, Roddy, etc. but the main issue is with Cabana's involvement with $5 Wrestling. He buried this concept as heavily as I've heard him badmouth anything talking about how WWE, TNA, Russo etc. have parodied the business so much over the years & killed its credibility that he takes great offense at people promoting a line of videos expressly making fun of wrestling as its main selling point. He basically cussed out Highspots, Jake Manning, and Colt for their involvement & creation of the whole thing. Rather ironic too given that Jake was sitting there producing this Q&A for Highspots PPV.Basically while not spelled out, Cornette said the experiment has failed & wrestling can't be taken seriously again after all the damage done. But he did admit all the frustrations that ROH was run on such a shoestring budget by Sinclair that they really hamstrung the whole thing from the start saying they routinely questioned minor expense reports, etc.
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I saw this at the "world premiere" late Friday night at Fanfest. I was blown away by it & honestly think it's probably the best documentary I've seen on wrestling. I'm biased due to the subject matter being the promotion I grew up on for sure but this was SO well done. I only have a few minor quibbles with it, one being that they reused a lot of the same pictures over & over in the B-roll. I think I would have rather them just keep the camera on whoever was talking for longer rather than showing the exact same picture of Crockett Sr. for the 15th time. Maybe they could have gotten scans of old posters or newspaper ads for shows to spice up the B-roll a bit. My other complaint is I thought the ending part of how the promotion died, what the money issues were, who was "at fault" etc. dragged on a bit too long. Cutting 5-10 minutes out of that segment would have made the movie much more concise. I don't think it's an exaggeration that the last 20-30 minutes were spent on the end of the company so the movie clocked in at around 2:15.I take my hat off to the producer for bringing this in on time though. I was among a group that talked to him after the screening & he had 3 days after getting home from interviewing Crockett Jr. until the deadline to get the film edited, etc. to be sent to the duplicator. It would have been a very different movie without Jim Jr. or even David & Jackie Crockett. The way I understand it he may not have had any Crocketts at one point.The DVD set has arrived at my house but haven't watched any of the extras yet. The doc will enthrall you though & it's easy to sit thru the whole thing in one sitting. Highest possible recommendation.
The ROH Thread
in FEDS JUST TRYING TO MAKE A BUCK
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Been working on catching up on ROH TV this week. I watched the 8/3 show last night. Very good show. I didn't like the opener (3.0 vs. Adrenaline Rush) as much as some reviewers I've seen. I prefered the Wolves/Party Boys match from the previous week. Interview segment with Nigel, Redragon, Wolves came off well. Inside ROH did a pretty good job condensing several weeks of online stories into a few minute recap of the title tourney situation. I still wish they could make steps to make the TV more timely. Even if they tape matches for 3-4 weeks at once there's no reason they have to post produce all the shows immediately following. If they post-produced 1-2 at a time instead they could make them more current with what's going on online. 3-way with Young/Page/Marshall was pretty good, high action and about all you could ask of these guys. I'm not sure how over Young is but I would like to see him be used & pushed more. Main event was a really good TV match, *** range, maybe a bit higher. Match quality wise this show seemed like a throwback to the HDNet days. ROH seems to be hitting their stride in-ring wise right now too bad there are reports they are struggling behind the scenes.
As for the Cornette talk, it's not like he had no history with ROH prior to his latest run. He had worked with them a couple stints before dating back to 2003 or 4. So he kind of had a link to them all along so it was more a natural return to a company he had been with before than him coming in cold to the biggest company left that would give him a job. Based on Cornette's latest Q&As it sounds like he was really disappointed in how the company was run after he basically sold Sinclair on buying the thing. It seems since he left they are moving back towards an indy dream card kind of model & not really worrying about growing so much, just providing the best product they can with whatever budget they have for as long as SBG feels like footing the bill.