WDSY - Stoney's Blog

Stoney's Blog

Welcome to my blog page of y108.com! Here you'll find my thoughts on things I'm doing, places I'm going and music I'm listening to. Thanks for stopping by. Make sure you leave me a comment at the bottom of the page.

Stoney

Soup's On

Well, okay, not soup but salmon. One of our long time friends, Tracey Ambrose has a big farm in Sarver and every year about this time she brings in a harvest of hot peppers and corn. I got the peppers this year and couldn't be happier. I love hot peppers with sausage and pasta. That's marathon runners food!
But tonite I hurried home, clicked on the grill and made some fresh salmon with peppers and capers.
You take two large hot peppers, slice the ends off and split. You'll end up with four stalks. Put them directly on the grill and on top of the peppers put a piece of salmon that's been marinated in lemon juice and soy sauce. Turn the grill on high and let it cook for about twenty five minutes depending on the size of the salmon.
When it's done, take it off the grill with the peppers still under it as a bed and remove to a plate. Add some fresh ground pepper, dill and capers. Serve it with a small portions of rice or pasta.
I suggest a cold chardonay.
That is heavenly summer dining at its finest and not available at any any restaurant I know for any price.

Mmm-mm.

A Pefect Fit

Yes, I'm one of those freaks who loves exercise. I run marathons, 17 of them so far, all over the country, play hockey and generally can't sit still.

The one thing about running though, is that it's very linear, one step in front of the other for ten, twelve, twenty-six miles and it gets a little monotonous. So, every once in awhile I like to break the boredom.
Here's something that may fit into your schedule as you try to stay in shape. By the way, feel free to alter this up or down to suit your needs.

I started out on the treadmill with a warm-up mile.
Then to the floor for a hundred sit-up crunches, twenty five at a time alternating with a fifteen set of push-ups four times for a total of sixty.
Then back on the wheel as I like to call it for a solid two miles at a ten minute a mile pace.
Again to the floor for a hundred bicycle crunches at twenty five a crack, a hundred wall sits at four times twenty five, a slap of cold water and to the "wheel".
The final and fourth mile was done with an increase of incline and speed each quarter of a mile. So I ended up at six and a half miles an hour at an incline of four percent.

I'll tell ya' after that, I felt like I'd run 12 miles but it was all done in just under an hour.

Give it a shot. It's terrific.
If ya' do it while listening to my show, I'll send you a t-shirt.

Rock on.....

Sing Us a Song Piano Man

Well it doesn't get any better than this. In all my years of broadcasting I've never been asked by a performer to come up on stage and sing. Never. Till last night. Phil Vassars manager set the tone for the show when he said, "Phil wants you to come up onstage with him and the end of the show to sing Piano Man with him."
Now Phil Vassar, as you know is one of Nashvilles more prolific songwriters, hitmakers and a great spellbinding performer. Yes, I know, none of those adjectives describes ME!

So, for the next 45 minutes we tried to remember the words to the great Billy Joel classic and could only come up with..."oh na-ni-ni-na-ni-ni-na-na..."
There were words and phrases..."talkin' with David who'se still in the Navy..'but not exactly a performance rehearsal.
So, to compensate every memory lapse we simply lined up a ton a Bud Lights and pounded them everytime our memory needed refreshing.
By the time Phil got to the end of the first verse of the song which was our cue to take the stage, we were all a little weak in the knees. But, we, Mike Tyler our night guy, Jane O'Malia our promotions director and yours truly knew that the show must go on.
So there's our cue, we're goin' out there hoofers but we're going to come back...well you finish the line.
I'll say one thing...."That was SOOO cool."

Phil couldn't have been nicer, the wave of love and participation from that audience at the Big Butler Fair directed at Phil was absolutely overwhelming...and we didn't forget a single word!

We were ready for the next song in the set, and perhaps a solo when Phil rolled his eyes in not believing we pulled this off and high fived us off the stage.
Phil Vassar....you ROCK!

Buy the Jamey Johnson

I just got an advance release of the new Jamey Johnson CD. Oh Lord. get this!
It's at once great and sadly touching just like a country song should be. The songs are truly one hundred percent country which is great and sadly touching because you could sit in your truck all day and never hear songs like these on what passes for country radio. I mean. I AM country radio and for some reason there just ain't enough of this kinda' stuff around. This is WHY we, excuse me I love country music. Jamey Johnson wants me to leave everything I have and pick up my guitar and banjo and run off and play with his band. It ain't right and nothin' good can come from it but the chance to play smokey clubs and stay up till dawn workin' on songs with a bottle of JimBeam close by is as tempting as it gets. That's what this CD promises. Nothin' much that you can use except for the moment it's exactly whatcha' need.

His voice is pure Waylon the lyrics are trueKristofferson. The arrangements are simple and pure with cryin' steel and sweetly slided notes. The High Cost of Livin' Sure Beats the Cost of Gettin' High, The Door is Always Open and the Light's on in the Hall is pure Willie, Waylon Outlaw music.
Cut four should be covered by my friend Kenny Chesney...immediately. I Hope I'm Sane by the Time I'm Done is the perfect marriage of Jimmy Buffett to down home country, Jamey Johnson style. And I'm Mowin' Down the Roses That You Planted in Our Yard...well start up the "Jawn" Deere!

You may know Jamey from The Dollar or Honky-Tonk Baddonkadonk but if that's all you know about Jamey, ya'll don't know 'im. Ya' Shoulda' Seen it in Color is a true country power ballad in the style of Earl Thomas Conley. If you say, "Who's that?" well, don't depress me anymore okay?
I would preview this whole CD for ya' now but it's an advance copy and believe me, Jamey would kick my ass if I did. We'll wait till it comes out but be warned....this is real country music. I wish we could get most of the folks on the country charts now to listen and record songs like this. Knowing Nashville, if this CD takes off, they will!Jamey, let's get a bottle and play brotha'.

The Cup Came a' Calling

A little out of order but I had to show ya' my moment with Lord Stanley. I swear I never touched it but unlike the drunken Chris Chelios of the Red Wings I sure didn't drop it and dent it in a bar in Detroit!
Did you hear about that?
What a drunken dunce!
Anyway, it was cool to see the Cup that close again, too bad it didn't stay.
Next year we clean it with a Terrible Towel.
We're gonna' need a little Myron Magic. I'm sure Mike Lange will welcome it.
Say it with me class, "Lord Stanley, Lord Stanley bring me the brandy."

Pictures FINALLY

Well, there's my favorite guy. Keith Urban rocked the house again and was nice enough to spend some time with me backstage. Always gracious, always real. Keith Urban doesn't know he's a star. He sees all this stuff going on around him but he just wants to play that guitar. And I've never seen anyone from Clapton, to Hendrix to Brad Paisley and I've seen 'em all live, I've never seen anyone play that guitar with such talent and soul. God bless you Keith. Rock on brother.

And the star of our show...Kenny Chesney has such class that he showed up at the Next Big Star event we did at the Hard Rock. Yeah there's always rumors he might not be there but the guy showed and the guy played and sang. Again, another unaffected superstar. I don't think country music will ever see a performer like this again. Kenny as cool as he was backstage, fooling around turns into this giant ten foot tall icon onstage. He was telling me stories about his bus and boat one minute, I'm sipping on a Corona...and suddenly he says, "Ooops, let's go!" He leaps out of the room, runs to the stage and BANG the stadium erupts...and there he is...ten feet freakin' tall! Thanks for the best show of the year, Kenny.

There's Kenny at the Hard Rock bein' humble and cool at the same time. Calls me over, says, thanks for lettin' me do this.
I'm stunned. I gave him such a big hug. That audience in front of us got about ten minutes they'll never see again.
I mean Kenny Chesney, right there singin' Ol'Blue Chair!
C'mon. Country music...rocks!!

Thanks for taking the time Kenny. Some things you just don't forget.

Oh, Mr. Big Shot here on stage at the Hard Rock. That was such a ball. Great crowd, thank you all for being there, and the great bands, Those four finalists all did such a great job. You guys were all winners.
Nomad won the night with the decision of the judges, Steeler Chris Hoke, promoter Ed Travasare and Marketing Manager for the Hard Rock Roy Smith. Great guys all..and what a night.

Gary Allan is one of those unique Southern California guys. Would rather be surfing, grew up at the beach but now lives in Nashville with his family.
It's always fun to see him and great to hear him play.
One of the most unique and coolest voices in country music today. Oh yeah, we're in the Steeler locker room.
Thanks for your hospitality Gary. See you along the road soon.

Gotta' call LeAnn the babe of the broadcast because she was. Actually she was the babe of the show.
I don't get to see her enough so it's always a thrill. Both she and Kenny have been to the station and they both came at the height of their popularity. That's why I love country folks so much.No pretense, real people and such talent.
She's so tiny and, well, smells just like her voice...beautiful.
I'd better stop now. Thanks LeAnn.

This guys, is Luke Bryan and I'm here to say, Luke Bryan is a rock star. This guy gets an unbelieveable reaction from our audience. And why not. Luke has the talent, the looks and the songs. Keep it goin' brotha'.
See ya' soon.

So, there you have it...the pictures of our Kenny Chesney Poets and Pirates tour at Heinz field June 14th 2008.

It Can't Get Any Better

This past Kenny Chesney weekend was the best ever. For the second year in a row Kenny Chesney played Heinz field and owned this town. I really have never seen anything like it.
We did the Kenny Chesney Next Big Star at the Hard Rock on Friday and while the rumors were wild that he might show, when he actually showed up and played two acoustic songs I couldn't believe it and neither could about a thousand folks on hand at "The Rock".

What followed tonite on Saturday night was THE concert of the season. I know we got a great line-up for the rest of the summer but if this show can be beat, well I wanna' see it. Luke Bryan seeemed to be everybodies favorite, Gary Allan was fantastic, LeAnn Rimes had some of the best hits but Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney, made the rain stop and made the night. These two guys are the biggest forces in country today and play the audience as deftly as they play their guitars.

I had the chance to spend some real quality time with Keith and Kenny and I thank them for being so gracious. Both of them in real life are great guys and as real as you or me but moments after joking around with these guys they appear onstage bigger than life singing songs that in many cases are our lives. It's just fantastic. Yeah, it's early but Kenny, Keith and the gang.....come on back!

First Big Show of the Year
How much better can it be. Kenny Chesney kicks off our concert season for 2008. Ya' always like to get going with a bang but this is big enough to be the finale too. Kenny, Keith, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan and Luke Bryan....it really doesn't get better than this.

It really all started, as it always does in the cold and grey of January, as Heinz was being shrouded for the off season in snow and new turf(again) that Kenny made the announcement and the Poets and Pirates tour was on the way.

Immediately we began with plans for Tiki-Town as a pre-show kenny experience. the tickest went on sale and we(Y108)began with ticket giveaways, t-shirt drops and then Kenny bestowed us with the search for the Next Big Star competition. Ten bands selected from hundreds of entries and hundreds of thousands of clicks later, we had the final four. They meet tonite at the Hard Rock in Station Square where our judges, Chris Hoke(of the Steelers), Ed Travasare(of hundreds of concerts in Pittsburgh), and Roy Smith(of the Hard Rock), will pick the winning band who gets to open our show with Kenny at Heinz tomorrow. This was all Kennys idea, to give a band a chance, a chance that he never had. Kenny made his was from the bars and open mike nights at college campuses to become the biggest most popular country star in history. Bigger than Alabama, yeah, bigger than Garth? yeah, probably for today the competiton and the choices that people make are wider and in greater number than they were 15 years ago. So, yeah, Kenny Chesney is 'da man and we get to see him on Saturday.
Ironically enough, one of the first times I saw him was at Three Rivers stadium when he was part of the George Strait tour. At that time Kennys biggest song was hi first major hit, She Thinks My Tractors Sexy.
I remember standing backstage with Kenny and laughing as he and the stage crew were trying to figure out the "blocking" for getting a gorgeous model to ride a John Deere tractor up a stage ramp, do a lap onstage during kennys set, throw out a beachball, tun and head back down the ramp in the three minutes and forty-three sesonds it took Kenny and his band to do the hit! that's show biz folks!

Again, tomorrow, I look forward to standing backstage with Kenny, who, gracious as always will always ask first, "how'reYOU doin?...everything good with the station?"
He's at the top of his game and the top of his popularity and noone deserves it more than Kenny.
Welcome to Pittsburgh bud!

The Cup Changes Everything

It really does. The Stanley Cup, the real thing visited Y108 on Friday morning. It was a magical day. Our staff came out like a meet n' greet with Kenny Chensey with no music or food!
What a great tradition. I've "met" the Cup twice before. Once in "96 when the NHL draft was here at the Mellon and once in it's proper place in the NHL Hall of Fame in Toronto. If you've never been, it's a wonderful place and a great visit for the entire family.
So, tonite it's game 4 and we'll see. Who wins tonite, wins the series. That seemed to be the consensus of all the fans at the Souper Bowl tonite at our pre-game pep rally on Fifth and Washington Place. If the Pens win, the series goes back to Detroit and will be back here on Wednesday. See ya' then.
But the Stanley Cup is what they're playing for and what we're rooting for. No other sport has a trophy that is as coveted or more mysterious. It is what every real hockey fan worries about. As hockey becomes more popular and it is doing that, us died in the wool "Hosers" worry that the sport will lose it's mystique and tradition. Hey, at this point, let's just take it a game at a time and see what's what. First task is to bring the Cup back to the 'burgh eh.
Go Penguins.

I've Got You Into My Web
Well, I've got my new wireless laptop fired up. That means I can drone on about totally useless things at the drop of a heartbeat, from anywhere I am, to you almost immediately/
Lucky you.
See, I can be watching some inane TV show with my laptop close at hand and be able to still send hapless blather for you to read, thus cluttering up your life.
Ain't the Internet wonderful?
Al Gore, you IS a genius!
Well, but this is great because no matter where I go, I can stay connected to you and tell you, well nothing new but again....ain't the Internet great?!
Coulda' had this laptop at the hockey game last night and well, I coulda' sent you the play by play essentially.
I guess you are the lucky one.
So this is my first entry from my couch in front of the TV(Alby Oxenreiter looks so much better in person)but I can't burn incense in the family room. So says my loving wife.
Hmmm. This Internet thing is lacking a bit of zen wouldn't you say?
We'll work on it eh.

A Great Night for Hockey
How sweet is this. The Penguins, down, on the ropes, almost lifeless. The sportscasters dooming them as too young and too inexperienced to take on the hockey gods of hockeytown...

Hah-Ha. The sleeping giant has been awakened.

The young lads who are the Penguins are like a father playing street hockey with his grown son. Once the kid knows he can beat the "old man" there's no longer any more friendly games and the result is usually the same. The kid wins and the Old Man sits winded on the curb sipping a beer! That's what happened at the Mellon.
The Pens saw what they had to do to beat the Red Wings and it's a lot. But they did it, fair and square. And now the Red Wings have to, for lack of a better term, watch out.

The seemingly effortless goaltending of Marc Andre Fleury, the unstoppable energy of Sidney Crosby and Brooks Orpik on the boards hitting anything that moved for 45 seconds. This was a moment we will always look back on as yet another turning point for this ever-changing, always growing hockey team.

I don't know if the Penguins will win the Cup this year but they surely have the talent and know how to do it.
They hopefully will keep winning at the Mellon(how can we tear this hallowed place down) and win just one game on the road at the fated "Joe" and... "Lord Stanley"...well you know the rest.

And what about the ju-ju of the Mellon Arena. The grand dame that is this silver dome has given this team it's greatest gift...dominance on home ice.
Tear it down? No. Put a statue of Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux and Badger Bob in front of Gate Three and we'll worship hockey in Pittsnurgh forever and ever amen!

The ACMs That Was

Whew! That was an ACM show.
Biggest surprise? The Miranda Best Album. Loved the album and told her so when she was here, remember. But the winner? Well congrats anyway darlin'.

Who deserved it more? Nobody but Jack Ingram. I love that guy. He's all class and he really worked his butt off for that award and the audience.

Hi-lite?
Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley doing Eddie Arnold Make the World Go Away.

And come on...Garth needs to tour. We Love You Garth!

What's the Big Deal
With the way all the media is talking in Pittsburgh, Detroit and across the country, you'd think the Penguins are playing the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.
We are not.
This Red Wing team is hardly the teams that won the Cup for Hockeytown after a forty year drought.
The Red Wings are much older than the Penguins, have a back-up goalie as a last ditch effort to salvage their playoff bid and have a history in collapsing in the playoffs.
Detroit media blames lack of season attendance on the poor Detroit economy saying the first game is a sell-out but let's face it a lot of those fans want to see the face of the NHL...Sidney Crosby, or how about Evgeni Malkin or Marc Andre Fleury.
Talk about collapses, ask any Detroiter how they felt when they almost collapsed against the Nashville Predators.

Remember Detroits' collapse against Anaheim last year?

Osgood is a good hybrid goalie but get him moving and the Red Wings are victim to their weakest link. Granted the Red Wings don't allow many good shots on their goalie but I sure do want to see 45 year old Chris Chelios defeated like a rented mule by 19 year old Kris Letang or Jordan Staal or beauty of beauties, Sidney Crosby hissef'
Um-Hmm.

On the other end, Dallas and Nashville both seemed to think it was okay for the boys in red to park their big kielbassa asses in front of their goaltenders. Boys, two words....Hall Gill.
I believe the Mike Lange term is..."Get your dog off my lawn."

Now the Detroiters may not understand this if they are able to read this at all...there are some big words in it.
But know this....this may be the best Stanley Cup Final series ever. This may go back to the Finals Detroit used to play at the old Olympia against, Toronto and Montreal. How do I know???
That's where I grew up.
Pens in 6.

HOT Country

Can't get much hotter than this.....105 degrees in Vegas and the biggest stars of country music. We're bleary-eyed from our ACM talk-fest but what a ball. You can check out as many of the interviews as we were able to get up on the ACM page and we've got a lot more to post for ya'.

Sounds like it's gonna' be a great show and that it follows the Penguins tomorrow makes it all the better.

I'll be back in Pittsburgh on Monday so we'll explore, hopefully the Pens win, what the hec is going on in the Detroit series and hash out who wore what at the ACMs.

Ya' cain't get no sleep in this town....no sir!

What Does It All Mean Stoney?

Don't worry kids. It's alright. So, Dallas found a way to get through to Ozzie and take the series to five games. That's okay. Wait till the Penguins get to this European sissy goalie mask freak! Osgood is the Red Wings Achilles heel. The guy is a back-up. He's been lucky and defended vigilantly...until tonite. The Stars got to him. And the Penguins will get to him more, I assure you. The Red Wings are strong but their weakest link is Osgood.
If he got shaken, being three up on Dallas to butt end Ribiero, wait till the Penguins dump three in in his net before the midway point of game one. The chain breaks at the weakest link. "Oz-good. Oz Goood. Ozz Goood!"
Um Hmmm.