Box Office Results - Dr. Strange  -  (61 Million)

New This Week - Downton Abby: A New Era  -  Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers  (Disney Plus)

Netflix - Just laid off about 2% of its workers due to a slowing revenue stream  (Story) 

Roasting Tom – There will be a Netflix celebrity roast of Tom Brady – then he will produce a series of other roasts  (Story) 

Paramount+ - Says its subscriber count has ballooned to almost 40 million  (Story) 

Yellowstone Prequel - Will star Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren and be called 1932 - Coming in December!  (Story) 

Top Gun – Word is the new Top Gun which opens May 27 – is very good

Chow Yun-Fat - Turned 67 this week, there was a time he was the number one box office draw in the world! Dethroned - Jackie Chan

This Weekend – Check out my Country Music Memory Lane (link)

Dana asked if I would feature Tim McGraw this week as he kicks off the summer concert season at Blossom Music Center on Thursday.  Well, yeah! - McGraw is certainly going into the Mega Star Series as his career has been nothing short of incredible.  I have played his music on great radio stations all across the country.

Six Weeks Number One!

TM had an interesting road to the top, and is proof positive that it isn't always easy as it may look.  Most of us can go back to the time we first heard, Indian Outlaw and the rest is history. That song, although not a huge chart hit, was a gigantic hit with the listeners and really got him noticed at last. It then paved the way for Don't Take The Girl, which in turn paved the way for decades of great success.  But there was a time before that where the dream seemed far away.  Much like Tracy Lawrence, TM was very young when started recording, and was 26 when he finally hit.

Breakthrough Hit Single

But in the 1990's and well into the 2000's it seemed that McGraw could do no wrong at all in any way. It was just hit after he hit and all of them simply huge.  His appeal was sweeping as he was popular with guys, women, young, old, fringe country listeners, traditionalists, he was just a huge star that everyone liked.  When he was really rolling, TM was on par with any of the mega stars of the era, or any era, and being honest, he outlasted most of them. He was not a part of the class of 1989, but you thought he may have been.

When I Heard This Song, I Knew There Was Something There -  (Should've Been A Hit)

His breakthrough came in 1994 with the album, Not A Moment Too Soon, after the lack of success from his debut album of 1992 that was self titled.  There was a song on that first album though that only went to #47 on the charts that I absolutely loved called, Welcome To The Club.  I thought it was a hit, others didn't, but I loved what I heard.  I heard something in the song that told me he was going to make it in time. As his debut album faded, the Not A Moment Too Soon album took hold, and TM was on this way to superstardom.

This Song Made Him A Star  (Huge Video Too) 

I always felt that the calling card that McGraw had was the quality of his entire albums.  One of the reasons the 1990's is such a great decade for us, artists in general started paying much deeper attention to the overall quality of the entire album. For decades for many, it was two great songs and fillers, and more albums in a short period of time.  The 1990's erased that for good, and McGraw was a big part of it.  I always felt Earl Thomas Conley in the 80's was the real trailblazer on that, as his albums were stocked from start to finish. McGraw would record great album after album, that featured many great songs start to finish with huge success.

What A Song!

The Everywhere album in 1997 to me, is the best country album of the last 40 years, and one of the best albums of any genre  - period  - of the same era. That album to me is the kind of project that every recording artist dreams about when they get their record deal. To me, it i was a career crown. It boasted 6 singles, 4 number ones and Just To See You Smile was number one for 6 weeks!  The YouTube views on those videos are huge. There would be great albums of his to follow that enjoyed tremendous success, but Everywhere is a gem plain and simple.

Beloved Duet - Will Be For Generations  (With Faith)

McGraw married Faith Hill of course and their duets have always been popular as have their incredibly successful Soul 2 Soul concert tours.  He has recorded with artists like, Def Leppard, Florida Georgia Line, JoDee Messina, Nelly and countless others. During this amazing run, he has become of of the most popular recording artists in any format.  McGraw has some insane stats, including 80 million albums sold, some 25 number one songs, and a list of top 5 songs that is borderline ridiculous. He has also recorded some songs so big, so powerful, they will be played on the radio for generations to come, without any question.

Another Classic - Will Be For Years Still To Come

Lucky for us, TM is still recording and releasing hit songs, and even luckier for us, he is still touring. He is a sensational performer and his shows are not to be missed.  It's almost difficult to think, he's been around for 30 years now, but it's true. Not bad for a performer that whiffed on the charts with his first album, only to go on and become one of the biggest international stars we have ever had.  That does happen sometimes, just ask George Strait, happened to him as well.

McGraw 21st Century - Still GREAT!

Tim McGraw - one huge star!

Others In The Exclusive Mega Star Series  (So Far)

Alabama

Vince Gill

George Strait

Shania Twain

Hank Jr.

  How GREAT are croutons?  I love them in soup, salad and wherever else you want to put them. They give a nice, or additional crunch to a ton of good foods.  Yesterday was National Crouton Day  - Not so sure we need all that, but what the heck!

Ruby Tuesday has croutons that I could eat with a spoon, especially if they are warm on the salad bar. The are soft and pumpernickel.  They solely have been the reason I have gone there many times for just the salad bar.

Store bought are fine, but what if we could make them at home and keep them warm?

Well, here we go!!!

Made At Home Croutons!

Well the weekend is here and THURSDAY on Prime Time TV, the NFL finally announced their entire 2022 football schedule including the Browns.

They had leaked bits and pieces all week, and made a big deal about the entire deal, as they do with about everything.  They are masters of that. They can create a real thirst with fans with about anything they see fit.  And the public just eats it up. This amazing marketing is one of the absolute separators the NFL has in contrast to other sports. Think about this, these busy weeks have the following:

NBA Playoffs  -  NHL Playoffs  - MLB on every night - and the PGA is in high gear.  But they all have to get in the back seat yet again as the NFL decided to make announcing their schedule an event!  We have known for many months who the Browns are playing this year, and where.  We just didn't know when. The NFL puts all other sports on the back burner by just making you wait to learn the actual dates of the games.  It also shows you how little many people care about other sports.

I say, who cares?  Well  - I do get it to a degree for those who may travel to a game, as Browns fans are known to be some of the most traveled in the league, especially to warm weather cities. So it's nice to be able to plan.  But laying that aside, you're playing 17 games and you get around to playing everyone on your list eventually. But for many, things like this are a very big deal.  And now it's out there for all the amateur experts to break it down for us on Twitter and Facebook and tell us what it all means.  Oh, happy day.

So thanks to the NFL we can all resume our daily lives.

Browns Official 2022 Schedule

Over the weekend, the Dewsweepers and I made the trek to Sawmill Golf Resort in Sandusky and played on Sunday morning. 

We play there about once a year and it's great!  If you really want to play a tough, well designed, incredibly maintained golf course this is your place.  A pro design, and everything about this place is first class.  The rate was not horrible, as it was less than you would think.

Course is fantastic, the setting is also, wonderful electric carts and just a golfers dream that you can afford.  It's about an hour from Akron and the surrounding area.

Sawmill Creek - Worth the day and the drive!

I was saddened to hear the the winner of the Kentucky Derby, Rich Strike would NOT run in the Preakness this week,  thus ending any chance of a Triple Crown for the amazing horse that came out of nowhere to win the Derby.  I admit, I wanted to see him give it a go.  But there are always reasons that horse people make these kinds of decisions.  Protecting the horse is right thing to do in any circumstance.

We have a ton of what I call "Horse People"  that listen to WQMX and the morning show.  They love horses and have us on in the barn every morning throughout Summit, Portage, Medina, Wayne and Stark counties. They are busy and don't have time to call or text on the regular, but they do let us know they are there when the can. Horses are a real passion for those who are around them.  Many times it's their whole life and I admire that, as horses need friends in today's world.

That's why we needed Rich Strike.  Even though many of us cannot relate to the passion and commitment that horse people have for their incredible animals, we all as Americans share the DNA of rooting for the underdog, or under horse in this case. Rich Strike was the biggest of underdogs you can imagine in any sport man or beast, coming out of the shadows and winning Horse Racing's biggest prize.

Let's be honest, for many reasons things are tough right now. Things are expensive, gas prices are high, there are shortages, the pressure is on for many.  We are in one of those lousy overall trends that hopefully ends soon as they usually do.  So where does Rich Strike come in?  Well, he for a short time, showed us all that no matter who you are and what your circumstances are, great things can happen to you and all of us. And that made us all happy inside, even it we didn't know that in that amazing moment.

We as Americans have the Underdog Mentality. We were founded as an underdog nation by breaking away from the worlds superpower 250 years ago. We love cheering for the underdog as a rule. Sure there are those "front runners" that shuck that theory, but that's a small minority.  Most of us love to see someone come from the back of the pack in life, on the job, and in sports.

Rich Strike made us all happy even for a short while and restored some faith that no matter who we are, and no matter what is going on in our world, good and miraculous things can and do still happen for us all to witness.

And the time was right for that.   We will see him in the Belmont in a few weeks....

Box Office Results - Dr. Strange   -  (185 Million!)

New This Week -  Firestarter  (Steven King Story)

Dirty Dancing Sequel - 2024 date set and yes, Jennifer Grey will star in it.  (Story)

Avatar Update -  The original Avatar will be re-released on September 23.  The Way of Water opens December 16.  THEN - The third is coming December 2024. The fourth in December  2026. Film five will be released in December 2028. 

Netflix – The Marilyn Monroe documentary is totally worth a watch!

More Marilyn - Andy Warhol's iconic painting of Marilyn Monroe sold for $195 million at a Christie’s charity this week. That set a record for the most expensive piece of American art ever sold. 

Big Numbers - Disney Plus has 137.7 million subscribers. Netflix has about 214 million subscribers.

Eva Mendes -  10-year acting break is ending. With four kids. She says No violence, No sexuality (Story)

Ray Romano  - Will play legendary college basketball head coach Jim Valvano in a bio-pic.  (Story)

This Weekend – Check out my Country Music Memory Lane (link)

Mothers Day was yesterday, and I hope you had a great day with your mom.  I ran across this picture Sunday and it took me back and got me thinking.  My mom passed away last year at 94, lived on the same piece of land for 62 years.  She owned a 3 acre wooded lot that ended going into the MetoPark's Rocky River Reservation.  Enviable, try buying a piece of property like that today.

The barn in the picture was in her backyard, it had a few names over the years. The Barn, The Stable, The Old Crows Nest, and Bab's Barn. And It had many uses over the years too.  Of course we sold the house a few months back after she died.  I wish I had more pics of it.

The simple cinder block barn was built by a small farmer named Horn about 1940.  He had goats we understand, and there was a good sized pen that was attached to it years ago with access in and out. The house then was purchased by a big time Cleveland florist for a short time as a weekend retreat for his grand kids, and he kept the goats.  My mom and dad bought the home in 1959, (sans goats)  before I was born.  But I remember the pen, as it housed a sheep, Carmen, we had for a while for some reason, and a duck too.

In the early 1970's we took down the pen and built horse corral that attached as well, when my older siblings decided they wanted horses.  So for a few years we owned two and a pony, Echo Springs, Glow Bob, and Sparky respectively. They all lived in the barn with the barn cat, Fred Pepper, (the worlds biggest cat). About that same time, my mom decided that she wanted the upstairs of the barn to be an artists studio so she could paint, and so it was made so.  It was refurbished nicely and a large deck was built off the upstairs door, by us. And the studio was named, The Old Crows Nest.

In time it became a place to live for us kids in the summer time and that was cool, as you could play the stereo as loud as you wanted.  The horses were sold and the downstairs was converted into a tennis house, as my parents decided to build a tennis court next to the barn during the tennis boom of the mid 70's.  Then in time it became a winter storage garage for my uncles car, and then for me as I stored my first car in there for a few winters.  We also used to climb on the roof and watch the Berea Fireworks show as it was positioned perfectly for that.

After that, it kind of became a storage barn, and my mom had it restored as it had some issues.  She painted the doors too, and the horse faces you see, she did many years ago, and they still look great today. (I think -  haven't been there in a while) But Windy took this pic in November.  The horse faces were so good, her dog Summer, used to bark at them when she would run back there on occasion.

It has always had the vines on it, as they keep coming back, but that's part of the allure of it.  Bab's Barn has a story to tell, and now as it approaches 90, it's good to see it's still in one piece.  It has a long way to go to catch the original house that is now 169 years old.

My mom loved that barn and she loved the stories associated with it.

Hope you had a GREAT Mothers Day!

Brittany sent me a note wanting to see if we could feature her favorite, Tracy Lawrence.  You bet Brit, what a great run he had and what great music he recorded.  I have played all of his hits on great radio stations across the country for years.

This Is About As Good As Debut Songs Get

TL was one of those really great artists that was part of the 1990's for the most part whose success was so big, he just blended in with many of the gigantic superstars of his era.  He was a couple years behind the class of 1989, but as time went on, you thought he was. He recorded a ton of great songs, and really dominated his era alongside Garth, Alan, George, Clint, Travis, and Randy Travis.  But what made his early success all the more impressive, is that he was only 23 years old at the time of his debut in 1991.  That is more than common today, but it certainly was not then.

Great Early Success - One Of The Best Songs Of the 1990's!

It all started with a song with a simple title in 1991, Sticks And Stones, and it went number one, and you could tell from that single, there was something special here. This was an incredible debut song. There was a strong sense of real in his music, and fans noticed that from the get go.  Sticks And Stones the song, set the stage for real success. In fact, from that song in 1991, till late 1997, every single from him made the top 7 with seven going number one. That was a remarkable feat in any era, as usually with a newer artist there is a slip up or two, but not with Lawrence.

Alibis - Was A Very Big Song!

Tl was right on time in 1991, as he was heavy on honky-tonk and he was a true hat wearing, Neo-Traditionalist. His warm country voice was welcome, and in short order he was in the same conversation as any big star in country.  He was on Atlantic Records for the bulk of his run, and when that country division closed down about 2001, it seemed to really take a toll on his charting career. 

This Song Spoke To Fans Directly

He did have success after that, and scored some real nice songs over the next number of years.  But Lawrence is another great example of just tough the biz can be.  Here's a guy on a roll, and in the same breath as many of his contemporary giants of the format, and then things change, listeners change, styles evolve, and society changes.  Again, we are reminded that the 20-25 year successful chart run of some, is certainly the exception and not near the rule.

I Always Loved This Song

I thought musically Lawrence was true and honest.  I believed his music. There was nothing phony about it, and when listening to a TL album, there was no doubt you were hearing country.  These songs were not going to cross over to the pop charts, and I think that was his absolute key. He was country from day one, and remained country throughout his entire run, and that garners a ton of respect.  His traditional fans loved that and I did too. He sold about 15 million albums and had solid chart success for a good long while.  His first five albums all multi platinum.

Classic Lawrence!

I'm very proud to have my name next to Habitat Of Humanity of Summit County. They are amazing people that do great work.  I have been the Honorary Chair for their golf outing for 13 years and I am again this year in July.

They asked me to host this event too, but I can't this year because of a prior station commitment, but my friend, fellow Dewsweeper, and co-worker Mason Meyer is going to, and I hope to join him next year for this really cool event at Baxter's Speakeasy, downtown Akron on May 19.

So support Habitat and go to this event next Thursday May 19!  I mean, Bourbon, food, and raising money for Habitat?  Can't go wrong there.  See you there next year!!!

(In the meantime, I'll see you at the Tim McGraw Concert the same night at Blossom)

Habitat's Bourbon Build Event May 19