You know I have talked about Chicken Fingers at Raising Cane's...

Parker McCollum joined the ranks of superstars who have worked the drive thru for the fans.  Parker served up food at his hometown Conroe, TX location of Cane's that led up to him opening up the Houston Rodeo tonight.  Cane's also had a Koe Wetzel Day too.  Now I'm hungry.

I don't really consider myself a gamer. It's mostly because I'm really bad at them, like extremely bad. If I do play a game, it's usually a life sim or a puzzle that doesn't require a ton of skill to be good at. But as of late, I've really been getting back into the Fallout series!

Somehow, despite being terrible at shooting games, I love this series. I've only played a handful of them, and I've only "finished" one, but juggling between four at once has been fun! A few days ago I finished Fallout 4 for the first time, and it felt like such a huge accomplishment! I first played the game when it was released six years ago, but I was too scared and too bad to finish it. But after playing a little bit of Fallout 76, I decided to get back into it. I'm having a blast trying to get all the endings, playing all of the DLC stories, and even playing a little bit of Fallout 3 and the first game as I go along!

To those who are better or more dedicated to games this might seem pathetic, but I'm having fun, and in my book that's all that matters!

If you missed it, there were a couple country appearances on TV last night. Dierks Bentley, celebrating the release of his new album Gravel & Gold, made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to sing "Sun Sets In Colorado":

Blake Shelton stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to talk about many things, including his last season on The Voice: 

Four Tuesdays in February and in case you missed any of them in my Year Long Countdown of My 50 Favorites From 40+ Years, here's a monthly Recap

#43 - If Lovin' You Is Wrong - Barbara Mandrell

#44 - Lotta Leavin' Left To Do - Dierks Bentley

#45 - How Do You Like Me Now - Toby Keith

#46 - Roll On Big Mama - Joe Stampley

Gotta love a good noodle.  Even when you're out of everything else in the house you always seem to have noodles of some kind.  AND generally something to throw on them. 

Here's fun article for your noodle.

Lots Of Noodles!

With the Car Show going on this week at the I-X Center, that got me thinking. I'm not a car guy. I could go to the car show and be entertained for a bit, but I would likely get through it pretty fast.

The RV Show on the other hand...I can spend hours tour those things! Now I missed it this year (happened in January). However, I went several years ago with my dad and both of us were in awe of how spectacular and fancy some of these things are. The most expensive one we toured that day was over $300,000!

I have no interest in owning one, but I think it's really cool to tour them and look at what accessories they may have. Imagining myself on a vacation staying in one - will likely always be that...my imagination.

Sunday Morning Song 2/26 - Hannah Ellis

Eat Of The Week

50 Favorites From 40 Years #43

The Forgotten Jukebox 1 B-34

Country Music Memory Lane - Were They Or Weren't They

Wynn At The Movies And More

Box Office Results -  Antman – 35 Million /  Cocaine Bear - 23 million  / Jesus Revolution 15 million

New This Week - Creed 3 / Operation Fortune

SAG Awards - Everything Everywhere All at Once and three members of its cast won big  (Story)

We Have Cocaine Bear – NOW get ready to Meth Gator this summer  (Story)

Cocaine Bear  - Expected to be far bigger when it streams than right now  (Story)

Brendan Fraser - Walked away with a SAG Award - best lead actor for The Whale

The Oscars – Say they will have a “crisis team” in place this year just in case a Will Smith situation happens again  (Story)

Jamie Lee Curtis - Says a Freaky Friday sequel is “going to happen.”  (Story)

This Weekend – Check out my Country Music Memory Lane  (link)

Also - My 50 Favorites Over 40+ Years This Week #43  (Link)

Plus -  My Sunday Morning Song 2/26  (Link)

The saying, "That ain't country" is nothing new. It's been going on the entire time I've been in country radio, and continues today.  Sometimes it's right on the money, and then there are times it's up for debate. For the next few weeks, I'll feature artists that got a fair amount of play on country radio at one time, and we can decide if in fact they were or were not.  Keep in mind when these artists were getting play on country radio, country was not the massive popular format it is today.  Sometimes -  in fact we always -  needed real star power, and these artists did supply it and gave us a bit more street cred -  especially with young fans that we had a very tough time attracting then.  I played all these artists on various stations on the air.

Of course they are long gone from country radio as we are now the big dogs on the block with plenty of star power. But keep in mind these fringe acts were incredibly influential to our future stars and that is absolute fact.  After a few weeks we can decide, were they or weren't they? - Country!

Jimmy Buffett

He is still massively popular on the music scene, he packs concert venues and people from all kinds of music love him.  Here's a guy that is kind of format-less when you think about it. He has some mild hit songs, (only 1 number 1) and a much loved lifestyle and that's good enough. In the day, I played Maragaritaville on many stations, Come Monday  too, and he even released a few songs off a totally dedicated country album in mid the 1980's.   During Urban Cowboy those mentioned songs did blend in well and didn't sound out of place.  Since then Buffett has recorded with many country stars in duets and had success there, of course everyone loves, It's Five O'clock Somewhere with Alan Jackson.  In the end, he's a tough call, hey he's - Jimmy Buffett!

The Eagles

I played the Eagles on many stations in my career, and we did get a lot of mileage out of them.  When you think about it, Desperado, Take It Easy, Peaceful Easy Feeling, Lyin' Eyes, Tequila Sunrise, Best Of My Love, and New Kid In Town, are far more "country" sounding than much of the music played today.  But then there's Take It To The Limit, Heartache Tonight, Hotel California, and Life In The Fast Lane, and we are back at square one.  But with that said, Vince Gill has joined the Eagles from their invitation, so they get the connection, and he's as country as it gets.  Also, the Eagles are incredibly popular with most who call themselves "country fans," so it's a good marriage. In the 1990's there was an Eagles Tribute album recorded by Nashville's biggest stars of the time, and it was very popular spawning a few hits.  In the end, they are another tough call.  But they are the Eagles, just about the most popular band of any kind anyone has ever seen.

 John Denver

Take Me Home Country Roads was a big hit on the pop charts and was played on country stations, so there's no real big controversy there. Then it gets a bit dicey. Thank God I'm A Country Boy was a HUGE award winning Country hit, but much of Denver's stuff was not geared country.  I played a ton of John Denver for years. Rocky Mountain High, we played it, not sure how loved it was. Annie's Song is loved by everyone on the planet so no damage there, and Back Home Again was a number one. As time went on he geared his singles more country than earlier.  He also had a big song with Some Days Are Diamonds and I loved that song, and it did well country.  But in the end, he looked country to a degree, and on the surface seemed like a natural, but much of what he sang about went around us. Another tough call, but without any question a few gigantic country songs that were played for years.

We're getting into the time of year that has A LOT of birthdays (including mine). Saturday night, I along with Rachel Evans and weekender Tristan Sanchez attended a surprise birthday party for our co-worker and weekender Nick Hershey. It was held at The Rollhouse bowling alley in Solon. There were a ton of family and friends there! He was extremely surprised to see all of us there to celebrate his birthday. Then, we got to bowling! Tristan and I bowled a couple games together in which we didn't do so bad! It was a lot of fun, and we want to thank Nick's friends who organized it and invited us. Happy birthday, Hersh!

That's not it though...Our very own Sarah Kay's birthday is Monday (as you may have heard by now). She will be celebrating at the Elle King show at Temple Live - so say "hey" to her if you are going as well. Lastly, one of my great friends (and ex) has his birthday on Tuesday. It is that busy birthday time of year for sure!