Mark Dawson and the Kings of Snack’s ‘One Saturday Night’ is refreshing

You already know Mark Dawson as the lead singer (since 2011) for The Grass Roots. Dawson has been performing with them full time since 2008, having been selected by Rob Grill to handle the major vocal duties as he battled health issues during his final performing years. But Mark is also a singer-songwriter in his own right, and plays regularly with many bands he helped co-establish, including Simulcast, particularly focusing on the Florida performing area. The Chicago native also sings with vocalist Gladys Justiniano, and these are two of the six members of the newest, hippest band to form, Mark Dawson & the Kings of Snack. You can hear Mark Dawson each Thursday Night on Our Generation Radio with his own 2-hour funky, creative, sometimes off the wall radio shows, complete with stories from the road. Mark Dawson and Grass Roots' guitarist Dusty Hanvey will be on the 2015 Happy Together Tour, which will make all the Grass Roots fans happy to hear their songs. Here's the link to the full CD Review for the inaugural release by Mark Dawson & the Kings of Snack, called "One Saturday Night."

Here they are: Mark Dawson & the Kings of Snack. Check them out. You'll be glad you did. No Grass Roots fan should be without this CD--their version of "Temptation Eyes" is worth owning for that song alone.

To order the CD, click here.

Sasha Alexander lands guest-starring role on ‘Shameless’

You have to give credit to actress Sasha Alexander. She's smart enough to not be typecast in some role for longer than a year or two. TV fans may have first come to know her from Dawson's Creek, and surely from "NCIS" as Special Agent Caitlyn Todd, a former U.S. Secret Service agent on Presidential Detail. Then she's a natural as child genius turned Boston Medical Examiner, Dr. Maura Isles on the TNT Drama, "Rizzoli & Isles." Now she'll have a six-episode story arc on Showtime's "Shameless." Personally speaking, she'd do better to guest on "Mom" for CBS but perhaps TNT contracts prohibit her from going back to the big-3 while the run is running? "Rizzoli & Isles" is on its mid-summer to mid-fall break right now and will be back in the season TNT calls "Winter." Meanwhile, I'll miss "Shameless" but be glad for the actress who's acting. That's Hollywood for you...you gotta do what they say you gotta do, if you want to keep on working.
Sasha Alexander and her husband, director Edoardo Ponti, Getty Images, used with permission for Examiner.com

Image courtesy of TNT Drama.

Still, TNT Drama is offering quality programming alternatives to a lot of the yada yada boring programming on the Big-3.

Full story: Click here.

Texan Matthew McConaughey, Ellen DeGeneres, Lincoln MKZ and Cyrus the bull

So you're watching TV and you see this guy who looks familiar, driving in a car by himself, late at night on what is likely IH-35 in Austin....and you recognize the movie star, still looking rather gaunt from his "Dallas Buyers Club" box office smash. Then you ask yourself....why is it again that "The Lincoln Lawyer" is selling cars? Oh wait, Lincoln, Lawyer, someone over at Ford Motor Company's Lincoln Division saw the perfect product placement, eh? Texas men are fearless, generally, and undoubtedly there’s definitely a stereotype of many a southern gentleman as the “strong, silent type,” and so it is that Lincoln Motor Company chose Matthew McConaughey, a native son to market their 2015 Lincoln MKZ. So far there are a series of spots with the award-winning actor, his Lincoln, and you—the audience—engaged, but there’s another version of the commercial that’s doing even better—one posted on Sept. 23, 2014 by television star Ellen DeGeneres, who cyberjoins “Mumblin’ Matthew.” If you haven’t seen it, check it out in the accompanying video link. Full story, click here .

"All right, all right, all right, let's drive a Lincoln, man. It's all good." (Photo from bridalguide.com)

Did Flo & Eddie beat SiriusXM or will they force classic rock off car radios?

Flo & Eddie, who by lawsuits long ago and far away, are advertised on tour today as “The Turtles Featuring Flo & Eddie” (exact wording from their official web site) harken back to other legal issues that they resolved ultimately in their favor, after being taken advantage of by several of their managers in days of old (watch the YouTube and see "what happened" back in the day). Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, adopted the “Flo & Eddie” identities as shortened monikers, short for a 1972 album “The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie,” released by the duo, who also sang with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, as well as also singing prolifically in studio sessions for other rock artists.

Now there are times when you can't take these guys seriously but they are Sirius about their complaints against not being properly compensated, hence the law suit. Questions remain, however, as to who wins and who loses based on this one suit in California. Other states to be sued, other artists to do the suing, theoretically. ALl SiriusXM has to do is pull the plug on their best 60s on 6 and 70s on 7 channels and watch how quickly the music, and interest in classic rock, fades away. The 60s on 6 station is one of the few remaining stations in America to play classic rock without changing the format every 10 minutes, the way so many of the larger, corporate "terrestrial" radio stations do. Plus, there are no commercials, which enhances the listening experience. So what, again, is considered a 'win'? Full story and details on the suit, click here

Singer Phillip Phillips Brings National Tour to College Station, Texas

Phillip Phillips, An American Idol winner, is coming to Aggieland, Oct. 8, 2014, Rudder Auditorium, performing hit songs from latest album, "Behind the Light"--students have first-option on tickets, beginning today--links to $15 great tickets inside story. Click HERE to read.

Some of Phillip Phillips' hits:
"Home"
"Gone Gone Gone"
"Raging Fire"
"Alive Again"
"FACE"
"Midnight Sun" Order the album today:

Tickets on sale Sept. 23, 2014 for Texas Aggie and Blinn TEAM students;
Rudder Auditorium, Texas A&M campus, Oct. 8, 2014, 8 p.m.
General public can purchase tickets (only $15!!) one week from today.

Chicago's Own Band, The Ides of March, to Celebrate 50th Anniversary in Style

S O L D - O U T  N I G H T !! This event is sold out!
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On Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014, Chicago music history will be made as The Ides of March will be celebrating 50 years in performing. The Boys from Berwyn will be celebrating at the McAninch Arts Center on the campus of the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The evening's hosts are the great Bob Sirott and the legendary Dick Biondi, two voices of entertainment who everyone regards so highly. Special guests who will be there as the Cornerstones of Chicago Rock
Jim Peterik - The Ides of March
Tom Doody - The Cryan' Shames
Carl Giammarese - The Buckinghams
Jimy Sohns - The Shadows of Night
Ronnie Rice - The New Colony Six

                                                                     The Ides of March.

Great poster for this 50th Anniversary Show for The Ides of March

Ides of March!

                                                These are definitely X-treme Ides Fans.

The Boys from Berwyn always draw a crowd!

More Ides of March!

It's great when you get your own...way. The Ides of March Way, that is.

Click to read the full story on AXS Entertainment web site here:

Leonard Cohen’s 80th Birthday Celebration is Cause for National Tributes

Perhaps no singer-songwriter has had more of an impact—of some kind—on his contemporaries, and those who came a decade or two later, than Leonard Cohen. Cohen, who turns 80 years old on Sun., Sept. 21, 2014, is being given a celebration or two (or many) in his honor across the United States simply for remaining an inspiration. 

Read the full story here.

Order Leonard Cohen's new album/CD/mp3 "Popular Problems," from Amazon.com
Official Release Date: Sept. 23, 2014.




All photos from Leonardcohen.com web site 

Artwork for new Leonard Cohen's new album, released in conjunction with his 80th birthday.