Here’s a short video that should perfectly convey how I felt the day I found out about the changes to Star 102.5 nights.

I should let you know, I was told about this a couple weeks ago and just haven’t been able to talk about it.

I hope you enjoyed the night shift and all the elements I had added to it.

I’m not going anywhere – I’ll still be here at Star 102.5. I actually do a lot of other things at Star behind the scenes. I put together the programs that keep four of our Entercom stations on the air each day, I’m music director for an HD station called Subterranean (airing in a bunch of cities throughout the US), and I help Rob with the Star music.

And I’ll continue to be on-air every weeknight at 6pm with the 80’s After Work – the newly relocated 80’s At 8. It’ll still be by request, we’ll still do 80’s Trivia, and Fridays at 6:15pm will be the new home for Sweet Dreams with Pumpernick N’ Pastry Shoppes.

And the new home for the reality show interviews will now be on the audio page of my blog (watch for one later this week with Kathy / KB, who left Survivor in the last episode).

All in all, I’m still having fun and every day I’m stunned that they pay me to do this.

On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t say that!

Since Wicked is coming to Shea’s this June, the producers of the show wanted to send some of us to see it before it came to Buffalo. (It helps to know what you’re talking about on the air.) Since we flew Delta – no surprise – our flight ended up being delayed 4 hours. We got to the airport 9am, didn’t take off until after 3pm, but we somehow made it to our hotel and the Gershwin Theater on Broadway with 5 minutes to spare.

Wicked is a prequel to the Wizard of Oz. Kind of a back story to the legendary book and movie, focusing on the friendship of the witches, with lots of interesting plot twists and “what if” scenarios explaining how the main characters came to be. I had no expectations going in, I’m really not into musicals as a rule – but this one blew me away.

Stephanie Block played Elphaba, the green Witch of the West, and she was spectacular. What a voice! Being green caused Elphaba to be an outcast among her family and other kids at school, and the timidity and shyness that comes with being different came through brilliantly in Stephanie’s acting and singing. Later, after she befriended Glinda, the “good witch,” she became popular – and Stephanie’s acting and singing likewise grew more confident.

The keynote song of the night was “Defying Gravity,” in which Elphaba rises above the stage and belts a song of triumph:

“So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky!”

Wow – we all got goosebumps! This is definitely a show for all ages, and you should REALLY get your tickets while you can: a special pre-sale is going on now at our website.

It was my first trip to New York City, and here it is in a nutshell:

* Flying Delta to JFK – a painful experience
* Wicked on Broadway – tremendously cool
* The Hudson Hotel – a chic hotel lobby, but the smallest, most uncomfortable room I’ve ever stayed in, bar none. It was a wood paneled 8 x 10 foot room/jail cell!
* Dinner at Da Tommaso – the best Italian I’ve had in quite some time. No waiting, attentive servers, piping hot food quick to the table. It was just what we needed after our 12 hour airport experience.
* Columbus Circle – 6 levels of hip stores and restaurants across from Central Park, and a great breakfast Sunday morning.
* Central Park – so much bigger than I thought. Every city needs green space like this.
* NYC Taxi Drivers – nobody weaves in and out of traffic like these guys, even if you can’t understand a darn thing they’re saying.
* La Guardia – if you fly into NYC, go there – not JFK.

And definitely check out Wicked when it comes to Shea’s. You won’t be disappointed!

–Brian

Starting Monday night (March 31st), 80’s Trivia, all your 80’s requests, and the entire 80’s at 8 will be on at 6pm weeknights.

So it’ll be the 80’s At 8 at 6 – kind of makes the name a bit confusing now, doesn’t it?

I need to rethink that name…

Last week, I had talked about how Heather Mills was so angry with Paul McCartney’s attorney (Fiona Shackleton) that she poured water on her head as she was leaving the courtroom. Heather told the press afterwords that Fiona had “been baptized in court”.

Here’s a before and after picture of Fiona and her hairdo that day. (No, not the one above – that’s Heather and her dog!)

And now you can do the same thing Heather did with a game based on the incident. Check it out here…

A washing machine & toilet combo!

I know you want this.

Read more about it here.

And don’t forget to put the lid down!!!

I finally got around to looking at our “Spring Storm 2008″ shots, and here’s a cool one. Halfway to our 25 inch snow total, Rocky and I wonder what the heck happened to our driveway. This is after I shoveled! I called the plow the next morning.

Check out more amazing snowshots here:

And here’s a plate of delicious Demay Easter eggs, long unsafe for eating, but very artfully decorated nonetheless.

More here.

–Brian

The second season of Jericho ends tonight at 10pm on CBS. And that is also the end of Jericho – at least on CBS. They officially cancelled the show last Friday.

The producers of Jericho filmed two endings for tonight’s episode. One is a season finale which sets things up for a third season – the other, a series finale wrapping up the show. Supposedly, the main difference is some closing narration added to the end. We’ll see tonight which version they air.

A second season DVD was tentatively scheduled to be released June 10th, but that date is no longer being confirmed by the studio. That DVD set will probably be the place to see the alternate ending.

One final mystery needs to be solved for Jericho – what’s with the Morse code beeps in the opening sequence every week?

The answer to that can be found at the Wiki website for the show – here’s the translations for season one episodes and season two episodes.

Last Thursday during Lost, did you catch the three advertisements for the upcoming season of The Mole?

It’s understandable if you missed them as each was less than a half second in length. They aired after a promo for another ABC show and just before Lost returned.

Here’s a clip someone put on YouTube of one of the “flash teasers” as ABC is calling them.

Be prepared to see (or not see) these more often on ABC. I know it definitely worked on me. I had taped Lost and actually rewound back to the commercials to see what the flash was.

For the past year, I’ve been doing Sweet Dreams with Pumpernick N’ Pastry Shoppes Friday nights during the Night Nights on Star 102.5. If you heard it, I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about the incredible danish tray they offer.

Why am I so obsessed with danishes? I have no idea, but I think the obsession began when I was in Los Angeles and tried to sell a script to the TV show The Nanny which featured an entire story centered around a danish.

It didn’t sell. The producers read it, but didn’t even give me a comment on it other than “no thanks” through my agent at the time. A previous script I attempted to sell to that show got a slightly better “no” response where they liked the script but they didn’t feel it fit in with the direction the show was going.

It was a very strange script I guess. Way too wacky for the show. Maybe someday I’ll post it here if I can figure out the legalities of doing that.

Anyways, I love danishes, especially the apple ones. And I want to thank Pumpernick N’ Pastry Shoppes for giving Star the chance to do the Sweet Dreams contest and putting up with my hyping the danish tray so heavily (what they really want mentioned is the “finest freshest ingredients” and the “personalized service second to none”).

If you’d like to win a danish tray (or whatever you want with the $25 in Star cash to Pumpernick), sign up for Sweet Dreams at mystar1025.com.

Along the lines of the “sheeple” test I posted the other day, here’s an “awareness test”.

Let’s see how observant you are. Can you come up with the right number in this video?

I’m embarrassed to say this, but I failed!

I don’t know how anyone can run for President and stay sane. Would Thomas Jefferson or George Washington even survive in today’s 24-hour news cycle? How can you even make it to the convention, when someone you half know, speaking off the record to someone overseas, says something that could show up on CNN and cast doubt on your entire candidacy?

This month alone we’ve seen: Hillary Clinton having to separate herself from feminist icon Geraldine Ferraro, for what is now perceived as racist speech; Barack Obama denouncing his pastor for things that were said (while he wasn’t even in church); and John McCain trying to explain away the fact that his spiritual advisor, televangelist John Hagee, thinks the Catholic Church is the anti-Christ.

What?

Is this guilt by association even pertinent to the issues that affect you and me? What about the economy, Iraq, health care, education, the environment?

Poof…

But what’s even more disturbing about politics in this country is how everything boils down to the lowest common denominator. Whatever negative sound bite prevails today, shapes our view of that candidate forever. The average voter relies on hearsay and innuendo instead of an honest search to discover the truth.

It’s no wonder government leaves us with such a sour taste in our mouths. The people who survive are the ones who know how to play the game, who have the money to pay for smears and character assassination, and who know how to lie, cheat, and steal their way to….victory?

Forgive my pessimism. I freely admit to reading way too much news. That’s the former radio news director in me, I guess. On this first day of Spring, I definitely need to get outside and ponder nature, instead of our desperate political climate. I’ll leave you with this:

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)

–Brian

LOST FILMING ???

Wanted to get this posted before Tomorrow’s LOST episode. While in Hawaii we saw a lot of the areas they film LOST, studio’s at the base of DIAMOND HEAD where they shoot interiors, and while on a cruise saw them actually filming a scene from a future episode. WE THINK…

The tour guide told us it was definitely LOST, and that they had been shooting there for 2 days. But we saw no STARS, no JACK, no KATE, no SAWYER or HURLEY. And if you look closely at the pics, you’ll see it is an 1800’s era scene. The big thing to notice is a sign that says “Welcome Princess.” Should be easy to spot in a future episode. But the time period means they would flash-back to the 1800’s!?!

Click on the pics to make’m bigger. You decide. Oh, out of frame is a Burl Ives looking character who is up on a stage addressing those looking on.