Next Week's Auction For A Private Concert

Next Week's Auction For A Private Concert

Hey, next week the auction begins for the private acoustic concert by me in your house!

As you may know, I am up for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training MAN OF THE YEAR! Yeah, I know what you're thinking- I'm not worthy! It's true, I'm not, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm trying to raise money to defeat cancer. It's sooooooooooo important that we keep the research going. A breakthrough is just around the corner! Let's keep the pressure on.

So, you can go over to the KFOX.COM website and click on the auction page and make a bid. Just think- I'll come to your house and play an entire acoustic gig just for you and your friends! Cool, huh?

All you have to do is make the winning bid at KFOX.COM. Auction ends on next Friday about the same time I get off the air. This is one of my favorite promotions here at KFOX and it's a great chance to raise some money to crush cancer.

I'll probably be playing the acoustic 12 string Boulder Creek guitar...



...and no doubt my Voyage-Air fold-away guitar...



...plus I'll most likely play my recently rebuilt by C.B. Perkins Guild 12 string from 1967. It's my most prized possession and I love that old guitar.



Help me strike a blow for the good guys and kick cancer's ass! This concert comes with a full measure of attitude and just the right groove.

Make your bid starting Monday! I'll see you at... your house!

Mello Yello Commercial 1983

Mello Yello Commercial 1983

Back in 1983, when we were flying high, the Coca-Cola Company hired the Greg Kihn Band to do a series of Mello Yello TV commercials. One of them was inspired by Jeopardy- it had the same music with new lyrics which I still remember to this day- imagine these words sung to the melody of Jeopardy-
Mello Yello to the rescue, Mello Yello to the rescue, Mello Yello to the rescue, Drink Mello Yello and go!



Mello Yello was similar to Mountain Dew- a high caffeine 7-up style soda that was marketed to young adults. I thought it was vile.



They flew us to Atlanta to shoot an entire concert during which we would stop and do several versions of the Mello Yello commercial. The crowd took it all in stride, plus they were probably pumped up to be in a TV commercial.



Backstage we had to shoot a series of pick-up shots of the band chugging Mello Yello after a hard concert. We did take after take- and we had to drink a few gulps of Mello Yello each time.

After about 10 minutes, my partner in crime- Steve Wright (bass player and co-songwriter) says to me, "Screw this, I'm pouring this swill out and refilling this can with beer!" And he did! He poured it out and carefully replaced it with ice cold Budweiser, which we chugged happily take after take. After an hour we were completely tanked. The shots of us drinking were particularly effective, according to the director. "You guys look like you're really lovin' it!" We didn't have the heart to tell him.



That TV commercial ran on the east coast in the mid 80's and we actually saw it a few times on tour. Those satisfied smiles after we chugged the drink were truly genuine! Little did they know we were chugging beer!

If you can find a live video of the GKB doing Tear That City Down, it was recorded later that same night. It featured Greg Douglass on lead guitar.

Oh, and one other thing- they paid us a freakin' fortune to do it! Years later, the money is all gone, and the commercial is lost to the sands of time, but the memory lingers on- in the form of this blog. Ain't life strange?

Oh, and one other thing-
Robert Berry (bass player in the Greg Kihn Band) is playing an acoustic show tonight in Felton, CA. at Don Quixote's. Apart from being a member of the GKB, Robert is an accomplished musician in his own right. This is first acoustic gig and I know he'd love it if you could show up.

Incredibly Strange Albums

Incredibly Strange Albums

I remember buying some weird albums over the years. Why? Hell, I don't remember. Maybe they were heavily discounted, or maybe I was just plain nuts, I don't know.

Most of these albums came out when I was young and impressionable.

The first really strange album I bought (right out of the cut-out bin) was Sounds Of The Zodiacon Elektra Records. Cyrus Faryar narrated some goofy spoken word stuff over space-themed other-worldly music with lots of reverb. I lit incense and played it in the dark. It set astrology back 500 years. That was my first. There were others, I'm ashamed to say. I went looking for some other incredibly strange albums on the web and here's what I came up with.



My sister actually bought this one by the fake Beatles- The Buggs! Obviously a rip-off.



Christmas with the Colonel? You gotta be kidding! Original or extra crispy? Hand me that drumstick.



I wish I could have been there for this one...



This one requires no explanation, or maybe I just don't have one...



One can only conjecture what this Yule Tide Classic sounds like... John Waters? Does Divine do a solo?



From an era of album cover art that will never be repeated!



Even the great Mohamed Ali got in the act.



And finally this... I have nothing to say. Your guess is as good as mine.

Sgt. Pepper/Giants/Troopfest

Sgt. Pepper/Giants/Troopfest

On this date in 1967, the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. I remember going to the record store that very day (I think it was a weekend) and staring at the cover and wondering what new madness the Beatles had dreamed up this time. We loved the Beatles and the release of every album was a major event.

It blew our minds. What a cover! There were cut-outs inside, plus printed lyrics!



Looking back, it's hard to believe that one band could hold us all in their sway like that- but the Beatles did! They were magic. Music really mattered back then. In fact, music was the most important thing in our lives.

In those days it wasn't unusual for people to go to the record store the very day a record came out just so they could be the first on their block to own it. I went with a buddy of mine. We both had enough money to buy one album. After hours of discussion we decided that he would buy Sgt. Pepper and I would buy Jimi Hendrix (Are You Experienced?) which had just come out that same week. We each kept our respective albums for a week, then switched. I loved the first Hendrix album... but Sgt. Pepper was beyond the beyond.

It was the greatest rock and roll album of all time.

It still is.

I traveled all the way to Abbey Road Studios in London a few years ago for the anniversary of Sgt. Pepper and I got to sit down at the famous piano in Studio One, and play the final monumental chord of A Day In The Life. It was spectacular... except for one thing. When I got back to the States and checked it, I found out that I had spent all that energy to play the WRONG CHORD! I played a "G" chord and it turns out the last chord of A Day In The Life was an "F!" God, did I feel like an idiot!



Thanks to all the listeners who showed up on Sunday at AT&T Park for the Giants Vs. Arizona. I sang God Bless America and Take Me Out To The Ball Game during the 7th inning stretch. Operation Care and Comfort was there to collect money and everyone had a great time. I'll have the video of that posted here shortly.



Speaking of Operation Care and Comfort- this year's TROOPFEST will be coming up in 2 weeks June 19 at the Britannia Arms and I will be performing an acoustic set. There are a limited amount of tickets so it might be a good idea to buy early. More on that later...

Memorial Day

Memorial Day

Memorial Day Weekend is here! Have a great one!

Here's the man I honor on this day- my father.

Lt. Stanley J. Kihn, U.S. Army, 289th Infantry, 75th Division, wounded in battle December 26, 1944, Battle Of The Bulge, awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in the Ardennes Forest while recovering in a Field Hospital somewhere in Belgium.



Dad's letters from WWII are incredible. I plan to publish them someday, but in the meantime, here's a direct quote from one dated Jan 1, 1945:

"...the Germans kept coming, wave after wave, and the boys, green in battle, mowed 'em down, until it got so you couldn't reach out of your foxhole without touching a dead German..."

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge opened on this date in 1937. Construction began on January 5, 1933, at the height of the Great Depression.

Workers overcame many difficulties: strong tides, frequent storms and fogs, and the problem of blasting rock 65 feet below the water to plant earthquake-proof foundations. Eleven men died during construction. On May 27, 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge opened to great acclaim, a symbol of progress in the Bay Area during a time of economic crisis. At 4,200 feet, it was the longest bridge in the world until the completion of New York City's Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in 1964. Today, the Golden Gate Bridge remains one of the world's most recognizable architectural structures.

Tragically, it is estimated that over 1200 people have committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. It is the most popular suicide spot in the entire world. The fall takes over 4 seconds and the jumper hits the water at 75 mph, a speed that renders the surface of the water like concrete. 98% of those who jump die on impact. I once talked a guy out of jumping during my first year on the air. He called in while I was on 7-midnight and claimed to be a jumper. I asked why. He said because his girlfriend left him. I told him that was the dumbest reason to jump I ever heard. If I felt like that every time I broke up with someone, I'd be dead twenty times over by now! I suggested he call a buddy and go have few cold ones. He called back the next night and thanked me. Apparently she just wasn't worth it! I have since met this guy at gigs over the years and he always refers to me as "the guy who saved my life" but I'm not really. He is. I just pointed out the obvious.

The bridge is still the #1 tourist spot in the Bay Area. I always take out of towners there for sight-seeing, even my mother when she was still alive.



Once, when my son Ry was about 10 years old, we bought some balsa wood gliders and walked out to the middle of the bridge and threw them off. They sailed forever before hitting the water- must have been miles! What a thrill. You can't do that anymore. There are laws now that prohibit throwing anything off the bridge- much less balsa wood airplanes.

The Golden Gate Bridge has always represented the California dream to me. When I first came here from Baltimore, I went out and saw it and it filled me with wonder. I knew I was in God's country. Anything was possible here. Is that still the dream? Is it still possible? I don't know anymore.

Remember the words of the immortal John F. Kennedy when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather, what you can do for your country!" My God, what an idea! We need to get back to that philosophy.

On tomorrow's show- comedian Pablo Francisco!

John Wayne and the KGB

John Wayne and the KGB

One of my all-time favorite movie stars, John Wayne, was born on this date in 1907. He was 6'4" and weighed 250 pounds.

He hated communism. A lot. He was an American patriot who believed strongly in personal freedom.



His iconic image had been painted and sculpted by many famous artists including Norman Rockwell and Andy Warhol.





But he was much more than just a movie star and the airport in Anaheim.



Did you know that John Wayne was nearly assassinated by Russian agents of the KGB? It's an incredible story, but true. I just read a new biography about John Wayne by Michael Mumm called John Wayne, The Man Behind The Myth, and I learned these facts (gleaned here from Guardian.co.uk).

From a review at Guardian.co.uk, Nick Walsh writes:

Joseph Stalin ordered the KGB to assassinate John Wayne because he considered his anti-communist rhetoric a threat to the Soviet Union, according to a new biography of the film star based on interviews with Wayne's close associates and the movie legend Orson Welles.



Stalin apparently learned of Wayne's popularity from the Russian filmmaker Sergei Gerasimov, who attended a peace conference in New York in 1949. Michael Munn, a film historian and author of John Wayne - The Man Behind The Myth, said Gerasimov told Stalin of Wayne's fervent anti-communist beliefs.

"Stalin decided that he would have him killed," said Mr Munn, who says he was told of the plot by Orson Welles at a dinner in 1983. Welles had said that the KGB was given the task of assassinating Wayne.

A prominent Russian filmmaker, Alexei Kapler (who was imprisoned for an affair with Stalin's 16-year-old daughter, Svetlana), had told another Russian filmmaker, Sergei Bondachuk, about the order. Bondachuk was sceptical at first, but after Gerasimov confirmed the story, Bondachuk told Welles.



Mr Munn said Wayne had also told him that his friend, the stuntman Yakima Canutt, had "saved his life once". Mr Munn later asked Mr Canutt what he had meant by this comment. The incident is thought to have taken place in the early 50s.

"Yakima told me that the FBI had discovered there were agents sent to Hollywood to kill John Wayne," said Mr Munn. "He said the FBI had come to tell John about the plot. John told the FBI to let the men show up and he would deal with them."

Wayne then apparently hatched a plot with his scriptwriter at the time, Jimmy Grant, to abduct the assassins, drive to a beach and stage a mock execution to frighten them. Mr Munn said he did not know what transpired, but heard the two men stayed in the US to work for the FBI.

A further attempt to kill Wayne was made in Mexico on the set of the film Hondo (which was released in 1953), led by a communist cell, according to Mr Munn.

Wayne also told Mr Munn about an attempt to kill him by an enemy sniper while he was visiting the troops in Vietnam in 1966. "One of the snipers was captured," said Mr Munn, "and said there was a price on John's head, put there by [China's communist leader] Mao Tse Tung."

Wow! What a story! What other actors can you name that have been targeted by the KGB? It's like something out of 24. Did you get the part where the hapless Russian filmmaker had an affair with Stalin's 16 year old daughter? What a death wish! Plus, the guy was a Jew! A Jew in Stalin's Russian having a fling with the dictator's underage daughter? Outrageous! He was later thrown in prison for life, of course. But what was he thinking?

Anyway, I thought you might enjoy that little bit of Hollywood history.

Support The Troops Day!

Support The Troops Day!

Tuesday 05-25-2010 10:11am PT

I will be singing at the Giants game at AT&T Park this Sunday May 30th at 1:00pm vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks for SUPPORT THE TROOPS day. Now, I just checked, and the situation is this- I will be singing "God Bless America" and "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch. I WON'T be singing the National Anthem (my usual performance) for some reason that was not revealed to me.

But, that's cool. I am more than happy to do those two songs...

Of course, it's quite an honor to sing at the ballpark any day, and I always jump at the chance to see some great baseball.

It will be SUPPORT THE TROOPS day at AT&T Park. Operation Care and Comfort (one of my favorite charities) will be on hand to collect donations and items to send to the troops at all the entrances. Patrons can make cash donations OR bring items to be shipped, which are always popular. OCC has also arranged for a goodly number of military families to view the game. There will be lots of men and women in uniform. Come out and shake hands with the troops! Everyone who donates at the ball game will get a special gift from Operation Care and Comfort.

Operation Care and Comfort has been doing a great job sending care packages to our troops all over the world. So far they have sent over 585,000 pound of stuff! That's not just talk! That's a lot of work, and Julie DeMaria, Cookie Crissman and their band of volunteers work very hard. I try to contribute every month and I recommend you do the same. After all, these troops are the ones who keep us safe and guarantee all those freedoms we take for granted every day. God bless 'em. They are our children, our sons and daughters, our nephews and nieces, our neighbors and co-workers, and they are in harm's way. Anything we can do to help them is greatly appreciated.

So, come on out to AT&T Park on May 30th, this Sunday, and help support the troops and see some great baseball at the same time. Oh, and you can also hear me do my best Kate Smith impression!

Wish me luck!

The pitching match-up depends on whether or not Wellemeyer pitches in his spot in the rotation, if he DOES, then Tim Lincecum will be on the mound for the Giants on Sunday, and if he DOESN'T, then it will be Matt Cain on the mound. It's too early right now to tell and these projections are based on my own feeble information, but hey! It's looks good either way!

Boulder Creek Guitars, Harley Davidsons, and Slash!

Boulder Creek Guitars, Harley Davidsons, and Slash!

Monday 05-24-2010 10:34am PT

The Boulder Creek Solitaire acoustic guitar is up for auction at eBay right now, all proceeds go to The Leukemia and Lymphoma society.

This guitar also comes with a guitar lesson! If you're a beginner, I'll give you your first guitar lesson in life, or, if you are advanced, my son Ry (a professional guitar teacher- college trained at Cal Arts) will handle the chores. Ry is involved with teaching guitar in the Bay Area and is one of the best guitar teachers around for advanced and beginners alike. The lesson will be included with the price of the guitar so whatever the final bid might be, the guitar lesson comes with it.

This is a beautiful guitar. I own several Boulder Creek Guitars and they are outstanding instruments. They have a revolutionary new way of bracing the underside of the top of the guitar so it resonates like you wouldn't believe, plus you probably noticed that there is no sound hole in front. The sound hole is located on top of the guitar! What does that mean to you? It means lively, bright, clear, sharp guitar tones!

This acoustic guitar features an exotic spruce top, rosewood sides and back, and the famous "Cabo Sunset" sunburst finish. It has a Dreadnought style body. It also has a built-in pickup so you can run it through an amp or a sound system.

The bidding is on now at eBay! Make your bid today! It wraps up at the end of the week. The link is on the Morning Show Page on this website.

Nothing like an auction, is there? The idea that you could actually get a bargain is a hell of a motivator. It's for a great cause, too- to destroy cancer!

And it's all on eBay!

No more will you have to endure the unpleasantness of the smoky backrooms of the auction house of old Shanghai, full of smarmy men of indefinite lineage and questionable breath, shouting gibberish in foreign tongues. No more will you have to put up with the smell of cheap cologne mixed with the scent of angst. Never again will you be forced into uncomfortable positions with cruel shoes and even crueler socks. Because now, you can make your bid on this fine guitar out in the open on eBay, with the light of reason splashed across your face.

So, shake off the yoke of oppression and breathe free!

Thanks to everyone who showed up at House Of Thunderin Morgan Hill for the Harley Days of May on Saturday and participated in our Harley Davidson Motorcycle give-away. Tons of people were there. I saw more black leather than at a Judas Priest gig! Rob Halford included!

Oh, and speaking of black leather-

On Tomorrow's show- SLASH!

Ralphie May/House of Thunder/SJ Sharks

Ralphie May/House of Thunder/SJ Sharks

Friday 05-21-2010 10:09am PT

We had comedian Ralphie May on the show this morning and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Ralphie was hilarious! I got a cramp from laughing! He's appearing the Improv this weekend and I recommend his show- it's fresh, topical, and very funny. Ralphie's rapid fire delivery is infectious. I predict Ralphie becomes a big star. He's just too funny to not make it.



I will be at the HOUSE OF THUNDER in Morgan Hill this Saturday at 12:00 noon for the big HARLEY DAYS OF MAY. 98 people will try their keys, one of which will unlock a new era in your life with a new "Street Bob" Harley Davidson motorcycle.



If you're in Morgan Hill this Saturday, you should stop by and say hello at HOUSE OF THUNDER. Also, a few keys will be held out for people who show up in Saturday- just so they can have a chance to win the bike too.

We'll have two bands playing live and bar-b-que up the wazoo! Drop in and have lunch and check out some hot r&r, plus possibly even win a motorcycle!



And last but not least, the Sharks travel to Chicago to play the Blackhawks tonight in game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and they really need to win. It is very important that you root for the Sharks tonight. Of course, that game (and every Sharks game, playoffs of not) will be broadcast right here on KFOX. Dan Rusanowsky will do the play by play with his sidekick Jamie Baker. The pressure is on. The Sharks are down 2-0 and it is imperative that they win tonight!

This game should be an epic struggle. The Sharks need to win one of the next 2 games in Chicago to bring the series back here to San Jose. Make some noise even if you're alone at home!

McCartney/Dolley Madison/Praying Mantis

McCartney/Dolley Madison/Praying Mantis

Friday 05-21-2010 10:07am PT

First things first:
Sir Paul at At&T Park! On tomorrow's show- McCartney Tickets!
This is the toughest ticket in town and we got 'em! I don't know if you've checked the prices but these tickets are not cheap! And you can win them tomorrow! For free!

OK, back to normal...
Yesterday, my first batch of praying mantises hatched! I got a couple hundred healthy little buggers! I kept about a dozen and let the rest go in the yard. I'll have more updates tomorrow and maybe even some video!

And so it begins again...

My favorite First Lady of all-time was born on this date in 1768. Dolley Madison was married to James Madison, fourth President of the U.S. (It was her second marriage.) James was 17 years older than Dolley and a confirmed bachelor.



She was a plucky woman with a strong personality, but the reason I really like her was what she did during the war of 1812. When the British troops invaded Washington D.C. in the War Of 1812, they intended to burn the entire city down. Dolley loaded up all the expensive silverware, jewels, and valuables from the White House and secertly shipped it to Maryland for safe keeping.



Then, in a burst of patriotism, she took down the portrait of George Washington and removed it from the White House before the English troops torched it!



Dolley- we need more like you today!