Madonna Omits Michigan From Her 2008 Tour Schedule

Last Thursday, the dates for Madonna's 2008 Sticky and Sweet tour were announced. Once again, the former Material Girl has left her home state of Michigan off the list of places where she will perform. Although Madonna has toured the U.S. in 2004 and 2006, her last stop in Michigan was in 2001 as part of her Drowned World Tour. As of now, the closest her 2008 tour comes to Michigan is when she performs in Toronto on Oct. 18 and Chicago on Oct. 26. This makes me mad for a couple of reasons:

1. Although she is in no way obligated to play in her home state, you would think that she might take into consideration the fact that she has many fans in Michigan who would love to see her live. Some might argue that those fans could travel to see her at one of the nearby cities I mentioned earlier. However, I think that asking a fan to buy a concert ticket and on top of that shell out more money to travel to a show outside their area is asking alot.

2. Also, Madonna bringing her tour to Michigan would help pump some life into our sluggish economy. There are those who might say that the state of the economy would have a negative effect on ticket sales and that's why Madonna has chosen to skip Michigan. However, things are tough all over the country and I think that Madonna's most ardent Michigan fans would pay to see her no matter what.

I heard someone speculate that Madonna's decision not to tour Michigan over the past several years stems from her reluctance to deal with her relatives who still live in the state (apparently some are would-be hangers on). However, I think that someone of Madonna's stature can make herself inaccessible if she so chooses. If Madonna has relatives here who are sponges, I don't blame her for not wanting them around. However, I don't think it's fair to punish her fans in Michigan.

To be fair, there could be other valid reasons why Madonna has decided to leave Michigan off her tour schedule for the 3rd consecutive time. However, I can't imagine what they could be. Given that Michigan is the home of such major concert venues as The Palace of Auburn Hills and The Fox Theatre, Madonna's decision not to bring her tour here seems to be a conscious snub.

Because of the space between dates on the tour, there's a possibility that more shows will be added. However, chances are that these new dates would involve additional shows at venues already on the schedule instead of dates in new cities.

Can you imagine Michigan bred artists such as Bob Seger, Aretha Franklin, and Kid Rock consistently giving the brush off to their fans from here? Me neither.

Please Take A Moment To Vote In the Current "Music In Commercials" Poll... Thank You

The Retro Mix Playlist For 5/9/08

7 pm hour

Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)- The Gap Band

Butter Boy- Fanny

Indian Reservation- The Raiders
Dance Little Sister- Terence Trent D'Arby

Bust A Move- Young MC
Space Age Love Song- A Flock of Seagulls
Ring My Bell- Anita Ward

Common Thread segment: A set of Billy Joel tunes in honor of his 59th birthday

Moving Out (Anthony's Song)

It's Still Rock and Roll To Me

You May Be Right

Say Goodbye To Hollywood

Best of My Love- The Emotions
I Feel Sanctified- The Commodores
Are You Sure- So

8 pm hour

Kiss Me Deadly- Lita Ford

Parental Guidance- Judas Priest

Love Rollercoaster- The Ohio Players

The World Don't Owe You A Thing- Freda Payne

Once In A Lifetime- Talking Heads

Let Me Tickle Your Fancy- Jermaine Jackson
You're the One That I Want- John Travolta & Olivia Newton- John
Did You Boogie With Your Baby?- Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids

#1 segment:

Nite and Day- Al B. Sure (song was #1 on the Billboard R&B chart this week in 1988)

She's Strange- Cameo

Don't Leave Me This Way- Thelma Houston

You Little Trustmaker- The Tymes

She Blinded Me With Science- Thomas Dolby

Hot Number- Foxy

Owner of A Lonely Heart- Yes

Retro Mix videos:

Top 5 On Friday, Week 174

Top 5 On Friday - Week 174

From Music Memoirs, Top 5 songs that remind you of your mother.

BTW a happy Mother's Day to all the mothers, grandmothers and godmothers out there!

1. Minnie the Moocher by Cab Calloway- I remember my mother telling me a story of when she saw him perform live during his heyday and he would shake his hair and it would fall back into place perfectly.















2. The Thrill Is Gone by B.B. King















3. Dancing Machine by The Jackson Five- My mother loved to watch one of her grandsons do "The Robot" (the dance that Michael Jackson did to this song)















4. How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You by Marvin Gaye- If he wasn't my mother's favorite singer, he was near the top of the list.















5. What You Won't Do For Love by Bobby Caldwell















Below is a clip of the legendary Cab Calloway in action.

Country Legend Eddy Arnold Dies At 89

I was a bit saddened this morning when I read that country singer Eddy Arnold had died at the age of 89. Although no cause of death was given, Arnold was at a care facility near Nashville when he passed away. In March of this year, he fell outside his home, injuring his hip.

As a kid, the extent of my knowledge of Eddy Arnold didn't go beyond hearing snippets of his songs included in one of those mail order greatest hits compilations advertised on TV. However, when I subscribed to the digital service Music Choice in the mid 90s, I immersed myself in various types of music... one of which was classic country from the mid 40s through the early 70s. Along with artists such as Hank Williams Sr, Connie Smith, Buck Owens, and Patsy Cline, one of my favorites was Eddy Arnold. I really enjoyed the recordings he made during the "Tennessee Plowboy" phase of his career of the 1940s and early 1950s (songs such as "Full Time Job", "There' s Been A Change In Me", and "I Wanna Play House With You"). Along with these three chart toppers, Eddy had 25 other #1 hits on the Billboard Country chart. In fact, he ranks as the #1 artist in the history of the Billboard Country chart.

Eddy Arnold's death comes a couple of months after the death of his wife of 66 years, Sally. He is survived by a son and daughter, as well as two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Below is a clip of Eddy performing his 1948 hit "Anytime".

"Marvin Gaye: What's Going On" Premieres On PBS On Wed May 7th

As part of the PBS series "American Masters" series, "Marvin Gaye: What's Going On" will premiere on Wednesday May 7th at 9 PM EST and be repeated thereafter. Along with clips of Marvin both on and offstage, the documentary will also feature interviews with artists such as Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, and Mos Def. My only complaint is the program's length: it's only 60 minutes! Surely they could have given more airtime to an artist of Marvin Gaye's stature. For more information on Marvin Gaye as well as future airings of the documentary, please click here.

Below is a clip of Marvin performing his hit "Hitch-Hike" on the 1964-66 ABC series "Shindig".

Dance, Ellen Dance!!

On Saturday May 3rd, I did a post about the 75th anniversary of James Brown's birthday. Holly (a regular visitor and commenter whose blog is titled Mama Pajama) mentioned that one of her favorite JB tunes is "Get Up Offa That Thing". Holly added that Ellen Degeneres dances to this tune all the time. Since I am at work during the day and don't record "The Ellen Degeneres Show", I don't see it often. However, when I do watch, one of my favorite parts is when Ellen dances after her monologue.

Holly's comments led me to pay a visit to cyber crack (aka You Tube) and see if there were any clips of Ellen dancing available. Here is a montage of clips of Ellen dancing, set to "Get Up Offa That Thing". Props to lunaep11 for putting the montage together. Just watching this makes me smile... I hope it does the same for you.

Tuesday Tunes - Week 31

From Music Memoirs, Tuesday Tunes - Week 31. Word associations again! Remember, answer with the first band/artist/song/album etc that you think of when you see these 10 words:

Rocking: Rockin' Robin by Bobby Day














Bird: Surfin' Bird by The Trashmen

















Art: You Don't Have To Paint Me A Picture by Gary Lewis & the Playboys
















Mountain: Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
















Road: Why Don't We Do It In the Road by The Beatles
















Animal: We Gotta Get Out of This Place by The Animals
















Car: Fast Car by Tracy Chapman
















Walk: I'm Walkin' by Fats Domino
















Cloud: Cloud Nine by The Temptations

















Wilderness: A Forest by The Cure

Final Results of the Recent Celeb/Politics Poll

By a very slim margin, a majority of voters said that they were in favor of celebrities voicing their political opinions. For the record, I feel the same way. To me, celebrities are no better or worse than the rest of us and have as much right to voice their opinions as we do.

In the comments section, there were a couple of points that were brought up repeatedly by voters:

1. Celebrities who feel that their status gives their opinions more weight.

2. The danger in people listening to the political opinions of celebrities without educating themselves on the issue(s).

As I mentioned when I replied to the comments of voters, it all comes down to people learning to think for themselves.

Here are the final poll results:

Question: Are you in favor of celebrities voicing their political beliefs?

Yes- 41%
No- 39%
No opinion- 18%

Below is a clip from an episode of the late, great political talk show "Politically Incorrect". The clip features host Bill Maher and his guests (author Christina Hoff Summers, actress Sandra Bernhard, filmmaker Michael Moore, and actress Yancy Butler) discussing feminism and how it's evolved.

James Brown's 75th Birthday Anniversary

Had he lived, James Brown would have been 75 years old today. What can I say in regards to the greatness of James Brown that hasn't been said and that you don't know? Since the answer to that question is not much, here are my top 5 tunes by The Godfather of Soul (in no particular order):

Say It Loud- I'm Black and I'm Proud-1968
Think-1960
Cold Sweat-1967
Get Up Offa That Thing (Release the Pressure)- 1976
The Payback-1974

Shit, narrowing it down to just a quintet is hard. Here are five more:

Papa's Got A Brand New Bag-1965
I'll Go Crazy-1960
Out of Sight- 1964
I Got Ants In My Pants- 1973
Body Heat- 1976

What are some of your favorite James Brown songs?

Below is a clip of JB from the 1964 concert film "The T.A.M.I. Show". This is one of the most dynamic performances ever committed to film!