Musicians are All Aboard at the Station; Playing Blues, Paying Dues, Keeping Roots Alive

Singers, songwriters, musicians and music fans everywhere are encouraged to celebrate the source of modern music: our American roots music of the 20th century.

Bound Brook, NJ (PRWEB) March 25, 2006 -- Singer-blues harp player, Nasty Ned will host "American Roots Open Mic" every Thursday at 8 p.m. starting April 6, 2006 inside the historic Bound Brook train station at The Rail Bar & Grill located at 350 E. Main St. Bound Brook, NJ.

Nasty Ned invites singers, songwriters and musicians everywhere, as well as music fans of all genres, to come and enjoy American Roots Open Mic and share in the celebration of American roots music of the 20th century.

Players and singers of all music styles are encouraged to participate in this effort to focus attention on American roots and help preserve our musical heritage.

“There’s finally a place for musicians and fans to come together to play or just listen and remember where it all came from,” says the blues man and open mic host.

From blues to jazz to be-bop and rock & roll – to rock, country, R&B, soul, bluegrass, folk and zydeco – all are the birthplace of today’s music, according to Nasty Ned.

“You can’t hear all of this music on the radio anymore,” says Ned. “But you can hear it if you come to The Rail in Bound Brook on Thursday nights. You can’t miss it.”

The “it” he refers to all happens inside the historic Bound Brook train station; a fitting venue for an American roots music event. The Bound Brook station is a turn-of-the-century-railroad-house where the trains on the old Central Jersey Line still rumble in today. But now, the big engines stop just ten feet from the American Roots Open Mic stage.

The Rail - 732 748 RAIL
The Rail on Main

Nasty Ned has played with:
Albert King
Bobby Blue Bland
James Cotton
Delbert McClinton
Big Jack Johnson
The Nighthawks
Jim Weider
Garth Hudson
Sid McGinniss
Jimmy Vivino
Wet Willie Band
38 Special
...and more

Nasty Ned Discography
1982 “All I do these days…” Nick Petti, Interstate Records
1991 “A Storm is Comin’” Famous Chili Dogs, Interstate Records
1993 “Hot Wired” Johnny Charles, Blues Cat Records
1994 “Just Like Life” Famous Chili Dogs, Interstate Records
1997 “Moon Over the Trailer” KC Carey, Black Potato Records
1997 “Garden State Blues” Comp, Taxim Records (Euro)
2004 “Red Hot Blues” Comp, United Blues Network
2006 “Straight Eight Blues” Johnny Charles, TBA

###

Nasty Ned LIVE at The Rail

Nasty Ned & the Noo Dogs plug in 'cross the tracks for some smokin' live blues and rockin' R&B
by Danny Planet

It all happens at The Rail in Bound Brook, NJ, Friday March 10th, at 10PM when Nasty Ned & the Noo Dogs take the stage and welcome old friend Dick Craig from TV's "Not Just Rock & Roll" who'll be rollin' tape for an upcoming episode of his zany motor driven public access television show.

You'll want to be a part of this if you're in the New York-New Jersey area.

What's cool about the Rail in Bound Brook is you can hop off the train at he front door. The big diesel locomotives rumble into the station within ten feet of the stage.

The Rail is in the historic Bound Brook train station building. So from Newark to High Bridge and all points in between getting there is easier than hopping a frieght.

Also joining the fun Friday night is Ned and Lee Fink's old friend and bandmate, Tommy Fuller. This should be a don't miss! Tommy is a seasoned guitar pro, singer-songwriter who currently holds down Tuesday nights at the Rail.

Last week Ned and Lee laid down some tracks for Chaz of Section 8 for his new CD over at Freddie Macarone's studio. So, good money says Chaz and Freddie show up Friday night and hit the stage with Ned and Lee for a taste of what they recorded Sunday.

I'm going to block out my calendar this Friday so nothing gets in my way of enjoying what's in store.

Dick Craig's Not Just Rock & Roll airs regularly on public access television almost everywhere. Check local listings for your cable carrier's designated public access channel.

In the Nasty Ned central New Jersey area Dick Craig's Not Just Rock & Roll can be seen on Cablevision's channel 22. Check your ClubNed Nooz for air times and dates as they become known or hop off Friday night and ask Dick Craig in person.

Friday, March 10 - Nasty Ned & the Noo Dogs - LIVE at The Rail
(see details below)

Ned and the Noo Dogs are really looking forward to seeing ya'll Friday night so please tell all your friends where you'll be - better yet, bring your friends with you and email this post to everyone on your email list right now. Ned says, "even yo' mamma."

Planet out.

Get your ClubNed Nooz for the latest on Nasty Ned.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Buy Nasty Ned & the Famous Chili Dogs, Just Like Life CD Here


Friday March 10, 2006
Nasty Ned & the Noo Dogs
10PM to 1:30AM
Tommy Fuller at 8PM
Come early for dinner.

The Rail
350 Main Street
Bound Brook, NJ
732-748-7245 (RAIL)

Nasty Ned Photos by: Ed Pampani

Nasty Ned Live Blues, Classic R&B, Classic Rock

Satellite TV

Beaming about Satellite TV - My search for reality in TV revealed a look at television’s future, now. by Danny Planet



Recently, during an emergency replace-ectomy of a dying Zenith behemoth, I realized I was in deep trouble. Never mind DVD. Who knew of progressive scan and digital convergence? Aspect ratios and digital comb filters - anti-glare coatings and so many lines of resolution? I knew of the TV satellite dish, but...

…satellite TV and all the new bells and whistles is light years away from the TV I was beamed up on.

I never dreamed of TV becoming amazing again. I was the guy with 12 o’clock blinking-green on his VCR. Yes, VCR. Getting the hang of today’s TV was not a piece of cake for me.

I can remember Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show gyrating inside a black & white-glass-globe-picture-tube about as small as the window on a front-load washer.

The glow of that box-at-the-end-of-a-wire got me excited.

I watched plenty alright! And I can’t remember ever complaining about having to get up from the couch to change the channel… or adjust the antenna.

Wagon Train, then Star Trek on a 19 inch “color television set” became as good as it got...

I lost sight of television’s high technology after that I suppose. Yes, I saw TVs getting bigger and I got hip to cable and the remote control, but distracted by intelligent life forms and a gazillion other things, today’s satellite TV and a whole new world almost passed me by.

It wasn’t until my first trek to a home-electronics super-store to replace that dinosaur 25inch Zenith color-console in a polished-wood-cabinet that matched our living-room furniture so long ago that I realized - I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. I was lost.

Lost in a new-world-unknown.

A world of satellite TV on flat-screens square and wide. A world where thin plasma televisions hung on walls and flat-panel LCD TVs framed in silver sat upon slender, tilting pedestals.

I saw TVs that connect to your computer and one giant-screen, rear-projector that eats digital camera memory sticks to show your photos of grandma on vacation – in larger than life and surround!

TVs are still getting bigger alright. But now they're amazing again and I’m excited. And with that “excitement and amazement” comes downright confusion. How do they do that? And what of “all that” is right for me?

So began my personal quest for reality in TV.

I like the idea of a TV satellite dish on my roof, but it’s a new-tech jungle out there my friend. Prepare if you too are from Kansas.

I’ll help you get a clue about what's beyond the cornfield before you go out and buy “what could become” the most incredible entertainment experience you and your living room - or Elvis, could ever dream-up. And for a lot less than you probably think. I learned some tricks.

Keep your eye on the Planet. I’ll fill you in on why I can’t leave home anymore. Hint? My final destination of wide screen TV, hi-def receiver, TV satellite dish and provider of satellite TV.

OK, for my choice of Satellite TV provider look here or here at Dish Satellite TV.

Danny Planet is author of Danny’s Planet, the hippest free zine out there, hundreds of articles, radio spots, web pages and celebrity ghost scrawling. Reserve your seat on Danny's Planet Ark with the short form at the top of this page. Email questions to Planet here.

Sonny Boy's rollin' over

Fighting For The Biscuits
...by John Babich

Outrage Over “King Biscuit” Title Fight

Blues radio show King Biscuit Hour debuted on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas in 1941. For 21 years Helena has also sponsored the King Biscuit Blues Festival. The "Biscuit" and the Blues are old friends but these cherished Blues institutions are in danger of extinction.

The friendship is in mortal danger from outside as a New York court has ruled the New York company that produced rock shows for radio in the 1970's, King Biscuit Entertainment Group, has exclusive rights to the name "King Biscuit". King Biscuit Entertainment has leased the rights to a Memphis promoter, Performa Entertainment, who is planning a giant music festival with the same name, on the same weekend as the original festival.

They also are starting a radio station on Beale Street in Memphis that will commandeer the name from KFFA.

Long considered one of the most authentic Blues festivals in the country, The King Biscuit Blues Festival (KBBF) has been known for its down home atmosphere, free admission, and total dedication to Blues past, present, and future. The festival takes place at various venues around Helena affording fans a venerable Blues-O-Rama experience.

The King Biscuit Hour radio show is credited with bringing Blues to mass media with it's daily noon-time show. The stations listening area included most of the Deep South. Sonny Boy Williamson II, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Pinetop Perkins, among others jammed away listener's Blues for several years and took the music to new commercial levels.

Performa Entertainment plans the King Biscuit Music Festival to include Pop and Hip-Hop acts coordinated with a new radio station from Beale Street and possibly a chain of King Biscuit restaurants. It's ambitious plan would certainly raise the profile of the King Biscuit name once again, and with it the Blues.

The debate rages as to weather eviscerating two long standing Blues institutions will help the Blues or just bury it in corporate conformity. The House of Blues started out as actual Blues clubs but has transformed to multi-genre music venues where Blues is rarely featured, due of course to financial pressures. Performa will no doubt go this route to maximize their profits.
Here comes the headlines but there goes the authenticity.

If you object to evolution of the King Biscuit name you can sign a petition to help convince Performa they are hurting the Blues by visiting my site and following the live link. If you don't object, please support the new King Biscuit Music Festival.

Just please keep the music alive.

###

John Babich, known as JB on the Blues scene, is a professional musician who has played the US, Canadian, and European Blues circuits for 20 years. He records for Virgin Records, Ichiban Records, and Kingsnake Records, and tours as a piano, Hammond B3 organ, and accordion player. You can visit his guide to the Blues at http://blues.about.com/

Life 101

Simple Reasoning for a Complex World
…by Danny Planet

When life becomes too complicated, take a moment to reflect on this simple logic. It could change the way you live.

A professor of philosophy stood before his classroom silently as the last of his students filed in and found their seats. A number of items on the table in front of him, he waited motionlessly for the late bell before lifting a large, empty glass beaker over his head for all to see.

Like a magician showing nothing up his sleeve, he panned all corners of the room, placed the beaker back on the table and quietly began filling it with golf balls, one by one.

When finished, he raised the vessel over his head again and spoke. “Who among you will tell me this beaker is full?” The students, anticipating something, slowly raised their hands looking around at each other. A few answered yes, aloud.

But everyone agreed the beaker was full.

The professor placed the beaker down on the table and quietly continued. Picking up a pail of pebbles he poured them clanging into the glass container. He peered over his glasses at the group.

Giving the large container an easy shake, the pebbles dutifully settled into open spaces around the golf balls. He then topped it off pouring in the rest.

He raised the beaker, now filled with golf balls and pebbles above his head again and asked, “who among you will tell me this beaker is full?” Again an uncertain show of hands and a smattering of yeses confirmed the glass was full.

The professor stared at his students. Still holding the beaker above his head, a tense quiet filled the room.

He set it back on the table and reached for another container pouring its contents into the large glass. Students in muffled mumble watched grains of sand find every void left by the irregularly shaped pebbles and golf balls until the glass beaker could hold no more.

The room became hush. The students anticipated their next question.

Now too heavy to lift, the professor stepped back and asked again, “who among you will tell me without a doubt this beaker is full?” Every student in the room shot his hand in the air certain the glass was full and pay-off was immanent.

He had a unanimous yes.

Showing a hint of smile, eyes still fixed on the group, the professor reached below the table and produced a large cup. He held it up for all to see then began pouring its contents into the glass over the golf balls, pebbles and sand. All watched intently as coffee filled every last void the grains of sand had not.

This time moans and laughter filled the room.

“Now! the professor bellowed, I want you all to look at this glass beaker as your life. It is strong enough to hold all of its contents inside, yet frail enough to be destroyed with one careless move.”

“The golf balls, he continued, represent the most important things in your life; your family and friends, your faith, your good health and your passions – things that if all else in your life were lost, you would remain full.”

“The pebbles represent other things in life that are important such as your job, your house, your car and your most important possessions. The sand - the sand is everything else."

"The sand is the small stuff."

The professor then jumped up and stood on the table. He pointed down at the beaker and seriously toned, "if you fill your life with small stuff first, there will be no room for the things that are important in your life like the things these pebbles represent.”

“And if you fill your life with small stuff first there is no room for the things that truly give your life meaning like those things the golf balls represent.”

He leaped down from the table and began pacing the floor in front of everyone. He stopped, looked at the class, and removing his glasses said softly, “please realize, if you spend all of your energy focused on the small stuff - life’s minutia – you will never find the energy to devote to the things that truly define your lives - the things that truly shape your existence.”

“Don’t sweat the small stuff,” he slammed his fist down on the table.

“Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Enjoy your family. Love your brothers and sister, parents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Appreciate your grandparents if you are fortunate enough to still have them with you."

"Then take time to take care of yourself - your health, your peace of mind and your emotional stability. Without these things you are nothing.”

“There will always be time to play, to go to the mall, to watch television, to relax. But you have to learn to appreciate the air you breathe, the ground beneath your feet, the roof above your head and the stars beyond that. You see intelligent people, everything else is just sand.”

The class, stunned, remained silent for several moments.

Then one student raised his hand and asked. “What does the coffee represent?” The professor smiled. He seemed almost satisfied.

"I'm glad you asked, he said, returning his glasses to his face. It’s one thing I want you never to forget.”

He turned, collected his papers and leather bag then looked at the group one more time and said, “how ever full your life may seem, there's always room for a cup of coffee with a friend. Now go experience life. Class dismissed."

FREE $5000 for College Tuition

Danny Planet is author of Danny’s Planet, the hippest free zine out there, hundreds of articles, radio spots, web pages and celebrity ghost scrawling. Reserve your seat on Danny's Planet Ark with the short form at the top of this page. Email questions to Planet here.
http://www.satellitedirectconnect.com/

It's you and me kid

Sail the Slender Seas in a Partnership
…by Bobby Ball

A quick “how-to” look at today’s couples who slim-down and firm-up together.

I’m not suggesting by this title you take a cruise. But if you and your mate have found yourselves drowning in a sea of soft comfortable habits – like over eating and under activity - a sea cruise for two does seem like an appropriate reward for slimming down and firming up together.

Have you heard the old saying, “the quickest way to get where you want to go is to help somebody else get there”?

Well the proof is in the low-fat pudding.

A recent study conducted at Indiana University in Bloomington found 94 percent of spouses who exercised together stayed with it longer and were able to achieve goals compared with only 57 percent who tried it alone according to Better Homes & Gardens.

You see, dieting with your spouse and enjoying the right combinations of foods for the good of your common goal is equally rewarding and can be great fun. Couples who dive into dieting and healthy living together enjoy consistently more success and lead happier, longer lives!

When couples plan their weekly meals together, they're able to choose the right combinations of foods in advance, and they're able to implement proper strategies when faced with awkward dining out or home entertaining situations. It's win, win.

And it's no secret that couples who play together stay together. It’s because supportive partnered-activities produce healthier bodies, healthier relationships and healthier sex lives.

When you give thought, it makes natural sense for couples to set common goals to improve themselves. And if you’ve wrestled weight loss and fitness on your own you might agree a tag-team is the way to go.

Dig in. Attack those love handles. Fight fatigue. You can do it if you plan and eat the right foods and keep active. And what ever you do, don’t procrastinate. Procrastination only makes a good plan bad. When you wait to do something it usually doesn’t happen.

Better Homes and Gardens gives us this from Martica Heaner, author of Cross-Training for Dummies, "The later you wait the more reasons you'll have for not doing it."

So high five your partner and get started!

And remember good people, every body loses weight differently. Peaks and valleys are to be expected. One of you may lose weight faster than the other. Actually, men do tend to lose weight quicker than women, but stay aware of these differences and support each other. Don’t criticize. Don’t lecture. Celebrate every milestone together and feel good about yourselves.

Even if you arrive at your goals at different times you’re still sailing in the same direction... in a partnership.

Losing the weight you want is as easy as reminding each other to do the right things while avoiding the wrong. Stay dedicated. Stay focused. Choose the right combinations of foods and get active together. And when you are slender, energized and feeling sexier, it will be time to book that sunny Caribbean cruise – why not? You’ve earned it.

And don’t fret if you’re not currently in a relationship. Ask a friend or family member to call and remind you to put down that biscuit and get moving.

Hey, figure out what works for you and just do it! The point is to look and feel your best. And I hear singles cruises can be a lot of fun, too!



Bobby Ball is a former NFL football player who has taken weight loss, nutrition and physical conditioning to a new level. For more dieting information visit Bobby Ball at 2weekdiet.com/

King's New Clothes

Stern fined $2.5 million for indecency on regular radio, but back in old groove with new unregulated format.
...by Danny Planet

Opening to the theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey"
and loud obnoxious farting, How weird was off and
running on his Sirius Satellite Radio debut
logging 5 plus commercial-free hours day one.

Although the King wore new clothes, he was up to his old tricks…

Right out of the box he engaged in phone sex with former Playboy Playmate Heidi Cortez - no doubt boosting her upcomming "Tissue Time" on Sirius - and revealed an inadequacy:

"I hyped this thing up so much it could never, ever live up to anyone's expectations,” the king spilled.

…then he poo-poo’d rumors of marriage to Beth Ostrosky, tossed around a few obscenities while vowing to tone it down, played the uncensored Pat O'Brien voice mail tapes and grilled a gay about his sexual preferences.

This time it was George Takei, who played Sulu in the original Star Trek and now the Stern channel’s official announcer, being basted. The revolution has begun, indeed Sulu!

After trying to phone David Lee Roth the only things missing, really, were the left handed lesbians and two headed midgets.

USATODAY approximated 172 swear words between 6 and 10 am- collectively - not just Stern, but all is not said and done. Howard has drawn nearly 2 million new subscribers to second fiddle Sirius. You can bet XM hears them coming. He had 12 million loyal listeners when he stepped from earth-bound radio in December.

"I feel that this is the culmination of a dream for me," he said to later add, satellite radio subscriptions cost "only 43 cents a day." Hey that's less than a USATODAY a day.

And in just 5 days, or Monday the 16th depending on when you swallow this, the Stern staffer behind the quote, "I have spent well over $10,000 on Internet porn will be revealed. And who may that have been revealing the "waking-up-in-the-hospital-after-having-his-stomach-pumped" story? Will it be Babba Booey? Don’t touch that dial sports fans.

But friends, if you haven’t subscribed to Sirius Radio or my free Planet, click here right now

Planet out.

Get the Best Satellite Radio – Radios now as low as $49.99

Danny Planet is author of Danny’s Planet, the hippest free zine out there, hundreds of articles, radio spots, web pages and celebrity ghost scrawling. Reserve your seat on Danny's Planet Ark with the short form at the top of this page. Email questions to Planet here.