AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Sonora Carruseles

Artist:Sonora Carruseles

Song:Micaela: Reggaeton Remix

Album:Que No Para La Rumba

If you're a salsa fan, you will love the Colombian salsa band Sonora Carruseles. They have been around since the late 90s. They haven't recorded lately but they still tour and appear on TV. Their record label Discos Fuentes was the first Colombian record label. They were founded by Antonio Fuentes Estrada in 1934. Upon his death, the label was taken over by Mario "Pachanga" Rincon. In 1995, he wanted to start a new salsa band called Sonora Carruseles. They released their debut album in 1995. Micaela is one of their most popular songs. It was on the 1998 album Heavy Salsa. That album is out of print. But you can get a remix of Micaela on the 2004 album Que No Pare La Rumba. This is an album of remixes by Reggaeton artist Bimbo. It's available as a budget CD. Sonora Carruseles moved to Miami several years ago and and they started their own record label Miami Records. They have also appeared on TV shows like So You Think You Can Dance. They haven't recorded new music since 2015. But they still tour and salsa fans should check them out. Here's Sonora Carruseles performing Micaela 2021. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-JJ Grey & Mofro

Artist:JJ Grey & Mofro

Song:A Woman

Album:Country Ghetto

Because they are from Florida, JJ Grey & Mofro is sometimes described as Southern Swamp Rock. I would describe them as Blues Rockers typical of the kind of bands that Chicago based Alligator Records has released for decades. JJ Grey & Mofro are from Jacksonville, FL. led by lead singer and songwriter John "JJ Grey" Higginbotham. Grey and guitarist Daryl Hance became friends when they worked for the same air conditioning company. They moved to England and formed the band Mofro Magic. Grey says Mofro was a nickname given to him, But he decided to give that name to the band. They signed with a British label and toured Europe. The record deal didn't work out. So they moved back to Jacksonville and signed with the San Francisco based indie label Fog City. After two albums, Grey changed the band name to JJ Grey & Mofro and signed with the much larger label Alligator Records. A Woman is from the 2007 album Country Ghetto. It was their debut album on Alligator. The music is a cross between country and soul. Grey wrote all the songs and sings lead. The producer is Dan Prothero who has produced Galactica an Garage a Trois among others. He produced all six Alligator albums. Country Ghetto is available on CD. Hance left JJ Grey & Mofro in 2010. So that means that Grey is the only original member. For the 2015 album Ol' Glory, JJ Grey and Mofro switched to The Dutch label Provogue. They only recorded one album there and returned to Alligator for the 2024 album Olustee. Grey is now self producing. They are off the road right now but will begin a new tour in Feb. 2026. Here's JJ Grey & Mofro performing A Woman at The Shed in Franklin, TN Apr. 26, 2024. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-The Drifters

Artist:The Drifters

Song:Under the Boardwalk

Album:The Definitive Soul Collection

Of course The Drifters have a long history going back to the early 50s. A version of The Drifters still performs today. But their prime was when they recorded for Atlantic Records in the early 60s. The 1964 single Under the Boardwalk was their final top ten hit. The Drifters were formed in 1953 as a backup group for former Billy Ward & his Dominoes lead singer Clyde McPhatter. At this point, The Drifters were a standard doo wop group. After McPhatter left to go solo in 1955, The Drifters manager George Treadwell tried different singers. Then he saw the doo wop group The Five Crowns featuring lead singer Ben E. King. He fired the original Drifters and The Five Crowns were renamed The Drifters. Treadwell owned the name The Drifters. The good news was King sang lead on the 1960 #1 hit Save the Last Dance for Me. The bad news was he soon left The Drifters to go solo. So now Treadwell had to find a new lead singer. King wanted more money. Charlie Moore sang lead on a few singles. But they weren't hits. So Treadwell hired Rudy Lewis from the gospel group The Clara Ward Singers. After he sang lead on the 1963 top ten hits Up on the Roof and On Broadway, Treadwell thought Lewis was the answer. They were going to record Under the Boardwalk with Lewis singing lead. The night before the recoding session, Lewis was found dead of a suspected drug overdose. Instead of postponing the session, Johnny Moore sang lead on Under the Boardwalk. He returned to The Drifters in 1963. It reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The record was produced by Bert Berns who had recently replaced Lieber & Stoller as staff producer at Atlantic. The song was written by Kenny Young and Arthur Resnick who had written several songs together but this was their biggest hit. Under the Boardwalk was only released as a single. But when it became a hit, Atlantic retitled a greatest hits comp Under the Boardwalk and added the song. This would turn out to be The Drifters' final top ten hit. You can get all their Atlantic hits on this 2CD comp. The Drifters continued to record. And a version of the group still tours. Here's The Drifters performing Under the Boardwalk. This seems to be from the late 60s and it is lip synced. 

Big Bad Blog Video Theater-IYO Sky vs Kairi Sane

Here's the match video of IYO SKY vs Kairi Sane from last night's episode of RAW. What many fans may not know is that IYO trained Kairi when both were at Stardom. IYO taught Kairi the Insane Elbow finisher. So if you think they have similar wrestling styles, that's not an accident. First, one of my pet peeves is when the WWE goes to commercial right at the start of a match. After they return, the match is reasonably competitive. But the result was never in doubt. And that's becoming a problem with this feud. If the babyfaces win all the time, the heels lose their heat. I don't know what the WWE will  do about that. Maybe have Rhea turn on IYO. Enjoy the Video?

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Gavin Creel

Artist:Gavin Creel w/Will Swenson and company

Song:Hair

Album:Hair: The New Broadway Cast Recording

Of course most folks should be familiar with the Broadway musical Hair which emerged in the 60s in the wake of hippie culture. After Hair was turned into a 1979 film, it was finally revived on Broadway in 2009 starring Gavin Creel as Claude. My guess is that producers looked at Hair as an anachronism in 2000s society and maybe theater goers wouldn't want to see it. But it did well and the show went on a national tour after the Broadway run. The stars of the 2009 revival were Gavin Creel as Claude, Will Swenson as George and Caissie Levy as Sheila. Creel was a Tony winning actor. He was mainly a Broadway performer. He did very little TV and no films. He was born Apr. 18, 1976 in Findlay, OH. He was raised in a devout religious home which alienated him. And he got into theater to escape. Creel earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theater at the University of Michigan. He started working in regional theater in the late 90s. He went on a national tour of Fame in 1999. He moved to New York in 2001. Creel made his Broadway debut in the stage adaptation of the 1967 film Thoroughly Modern Millie. Sutton Foster was his co-star. He was nominated for a Best Actor Tony. He was in the 2004 revival of La Cage Aux Folles followed by a 2006 London production of Mary Poppins. Creel was supposed to star as Jesus in a 2008 revival of Godspell. But the show was cancelled when an investor pulled out. And that allowed him to replace Jonathan Groff in the Hair revival. The show did very well and Creel was nominated for a Tony. The original cast album is available on CD. Creel appeared in the 2012 production of The Book of Mormon. Then he won a Tony for the 2017 revival of Hello, Dolly!. Creel was diagnosed with cancer and he died on Sept. 30, 2024 at age 48. The Broadway lights were dimmed in his memory. Here's Gavin Creel with Will Swenson and company performing Hair on the 2009 Tony Awards broadcast. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Tokyo Police Club

Artist:Tokyo Police Club

Song:In a Cave

Album:Elephant Shell

Tokyo Police Club was an indie band that had modest success as an album and touring band in their native Canada. They were never on a major label so I don't think they saw themselves as having mainstream potential. I know what you are thinking. Why are they called Tokyo Police Club? Tokyo Police Club are from Newmarket, ON. which is north of Toronto. The much more famous band Glass Tiger are also from Newmarket. The band members attended school together. They were lead singer and bassist Dave Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook and drummer Greg Alsop. They were in a band called Suburbia during high school. Tokyo Police Club was formed in 2004. The name is from an online band name generator. Obviously it would have been preferable to have a more personal band name. But sometimes it's hard to come up with a name. So I guess that is a solution. But not a very good one. The band is credited with writing all the songs meaning the royalties are split evenly. They started playing locally and released a couple of EPs on Toronto based indie label Paper Bag Records. While playing a 2007 show in Omaha, Tokyo Police Club signed to release their 2008 debut album Elephant Shell on the Omaha based indie label Saddle Creek Records. After playing several music festivals, Elephant Shell was released. The album was very short so it came with a bonus CD of remixes. The album is available as a digital download. The band wrote and produced with recording engineer Jon Drew. He had worked on their EPs. For the 2010 album Champ, Tokyo Police Club switched to Dine Alone in Canada and Mom + Pop in the US. For that album, the producer was Rob Schnapf. He was best known for producing Elliott Smith. They released two subsequent albums. They were still playing shows. And they were even nominated for a Best Alternative Rock Album Juno in 2018. But they weren't getting anywhere. And after releasing a couple of anniversary editions of early albums, Tokyo Police Club disbanded in 2024. Dave Monks is currently a member of the band Anyway Gang with singer songwriter Sam Roberts and Chris Murphy of Sloan. They have released two albums. Here's the video for In a Cave by Tokyo Police Club. 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Moist

Artist:Moist

Song:Silver

Album:Silver

The alternative rock band Moist had success in the 90s in their native Canada. Attempts to break into the US market were unsuccessful. Keep in mind that Canadian radio stations are mandated to play CanCon and frequently the music isn't good enough to get played anywhere else. And that's probably true of Moist. All the members of Moist are originally from Ontario. Lead singer and main songwriter David Usher grew up in Kingston, ON and he moved to Burnaby, BC to study political science at Simon Fraser University. By 1992, all the members of Moist had moved to BC from Ontario. They were Mark Makoway on guitar, Kevin Young on keyboards, Jeff Pearce on bass and Paul Wilcox on drums. They recorded a demo in 1994 with recording engineer Kevin Hamilton. Their sound was heavily influenced by the Seattle grunge movement of bands like Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. They made 500 cassettes and took them to the Vancouver record store Sam the Record Man. There was enough interest in Moist that EMI Canada signed them to a record deal. Their debut album Silver was released in 1994. Singles like Silver did well in Canada. But as I said, radio stations and the video station MuchMusic are mandated to play CanCon. The album didn't do well internationally. It was released on Chrysalis in the US. My guess is Moist was too similar to the more successful bands to stand out. Typically, Moist's success in Canada was misleading due to CanCon regs. Moist wrote and produced with Hamilton. This album is available as a budget CD. Moist released three albums for EMI Canada. EMI tried to bring in different producers and released the albums on Arista and Capitol in the US. It didn't help and they split up in 2002. Usher recorded several solo albums for EMI Canada. His 2001 single Black Black Heart was a top five hit in Canada. Moist reunited in 2013. They have released two albums, most recently on their own label in 2022. They tour across Canada and I expect that to continue. Here's the video for Silver by Moist.

 

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Neil Finn

Artist:Neil Finn

Song:Sinner

Album:Try Whistling This

Neil Finn is best known as the lead singer of the Australian band Crowded House. Their 1986 single Don't Dream It's Over was a top five hit. Finn was also in the 70s band Split Enz. He has recorded solo since 1997 and has had chart success in Australia. I would think that Crowded House fans would enjoy his music as he writes and produces everything just like he did with Crowded House. I also know that radio station programmers have short memories. Finn was born May 27, 1958 in Te Awamutu, New Zealand. Finn's mom was a devout Catholic and Finn says that Catholicism has always been fertile ground for song lyrics. His father served in the army during WWII and became an accountant. Finn's older brother Tim Finn says they used to perform at family gatherings. And both learned to play guitar and piano. Both attended the Sacred Heart College boarding school in Auckland. Tim Finn was one of the original members of Split Enz when it was formed in 1972. He shared lead vocals with Phil Judd. When Judd left the band in 1977, Neil Finn replaced him. After Tim Finn left Split Enz in 1984, they soon disbanded and Neil Finn formed The Mullanes with Split Enz drummer Paul Hester, guitarist Craig Hooper of The Reels and bassist Nick Seymour. They signed with Capitol Records and the band name was changed to Crowdrd House. They had success with the 1986 top five hit Don't Dream It's Over. They split up in 1996. Since then, Finn has recorded solo. Try Whistling This was his debut album in 1997 on EMI's Parlophone label. Finn's solo albums have done well in Australia and New Zealand and to a lesser extent in England. Finn writes and produces all the songs. His main collaborator is British producer Marius de Vries. He won a Grammy for his music for the 2016 film La La Land. They wrote the song Sinner. The other musicians are Sebastian Steinberg of Soul Coughing on bass and former Split Enz drummer Michael Barker. This album is available as a budget CD. Finn reformed Crowded House in 2007. They recorded an album and toured. Finn and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers toured with Fleetwood Mac in 2018.  Finn released a new live album earlier this year. He reformed Split Enz and they will tour Australia beginning in Feb. 2026. Here's the video for Sinner by Neil Finn.