Catch Spenny live, every weekday on the air from 10am to 3pm, with his Blue Plate Specials every weekday at noon
9-7-26
It was Labor Day, so I had the day off. I don’t even know who filled in, if anyone. Outta sight outta mind, ya know?
Fun Fact: I got high, and it was a lot of fun.
9-8-26
Ben Orr of The Cars born today. He would have been 79 today. Unfortunately, he passed away at 53 following a bout with cancer. He and Ric Ocasek split vocal duties in The Cars and were sometimes even a little indistinguishable from each other. Today, though, we played three songs that were definitely Benjamin Orr-sung songs on the BPS. And, look, I’m not telling you what they were. If you weren’t here for this one, it’s okay. I’m not mad. I’m just trying to tease people to come hang out for the segment. We have a lot of fun trying to find stuff and make it a unique thing (if we can lol) day-to-day. So, sometimes I’m gonna leave a little sweet info out of the blog to keep ya wanting. Keep you yearning for more. And also, I forgot to write the song names down.
Fun Fact: I am a forgetful man. I hope it had nothing to do with how high I got the night before.
9-9-26
The 19th anniversary of the Outlaws founding singer and guitarist’s death. Hughie Thomasson, co-founder of the Florida southern rock band Outlaws, passed away on this date in 2007. They’re one of the handful of bands that originated (from Florida too) during the late ’60s and ’70s and helped pioneer the southern rock genre alongside the likes of Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Outlaws are most well known for their epic “Green Grass and High Tides”, which we played on the show for today’s episode, hailing from their debut album Outlaws in 1975. Their biggest, highest charting single came via way of covering the country song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” by Stan Jones on their sixth album Ghost Riders in 1980, giving them a bit of exposure beyond the southern rock circle of music fans. The band is actually still active as of a reunion in 2005 following a breakup in ’96. Hughie, who was our focus for today’s show, was only able to play with his reunited bandmates for two years until his eventual passing away in his sleep at 55 years old.
Fun Fact: Hughie Thomasson is in the Fender Guitars Hall of Fame.
9-10-26
Joe Perry of Aerosmith born in 1950. He is, of course, best known for being the lead guitarist and cofounder of Aerosmith, formed in 1970. The only known record of theirs he did not appear on was 1982’s Rock in a Hard Place. The band had great success throughout the decade but began declining sometime around 1979 when turmoil from within began rising to the surface. Following some heavy drug use and a fight between Tyler and Perry caused by a fight between Tyler and Perry’s wives, Perry left the band. Yes, that’s right. The wives started fighting, and it snowballed into a much larger ordeal.
This wasn’t the first incident of rampant drugs and quarrels within the band, as the media had come to known Steven Tyler and Joe Perry as the “Toxic Twins” for their antics throughout the decade – a stark contrast to the Rolling Stones monicker of “The Glimmer Twins” for Jagger and Richards. Perry left the band halfway through recording their Night in the Ruts album, leading session guitarists to finish his work. He formed The Joe Perry Project afterward and eventually rejoined the band Aerosmith in ’84 after a friendly reunion in-person. The band is still around doing their thing even today after over 50 years of rockin’ and rollin’.
Fun Fact: Joe Perry still plays with Joe Perry Project, including some recent work with Chris Robinson (of Black Crowes) on vocals, Aerosmith bandmate Brad Whitford on guitars, Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo, and more.
9-11-29
Tommy Shaw’s birthday. Co-lead vocalist for Styx, Damned Yankees, Etc. He turned 73. Of course, he’s best known as co-lead vocalist for Styx, but you might be surprised to know, like my ignorant self was, that he joined the band after they’d been around for almost 15 years at the time. Their previous guitarist and co-singer, John Curulewski, left the band right before a tour through the states in December ’75. So they scrambled and found Shaw, hiring him almost immediately due to his singing prowess. Prior to his Styx tenure, Shaw had left his hometown of Montgomery, Alabama to join the Nebraskan rock ‘n rollers The Smoke Ring, eventually joining another group called MSFunk out of Chicago for 3 years.
During this time Styx caught one of Shaw’s performances with the band, which is what led to the call for his audition as a last minute replacement. In 1989 he joined a rock supergroup consisting of Jack Blades from Night Ranger, and Ted Nugent, all of whom were brought together by producer John Kalodner due to declining sales with the artists’ respective bands. Michael Cartellone (of eventual Lynyrd Skynyrd fame) also joined on as drummer. Shaw and Blades would eventually split and form a duo dubbed Shaw Blades in the 90s. On the show we played “High Enough” from Damned Yankees, as well as a couple Styx staples sung by Tommy.
Fun Fact: I don’t know what I’m doing half the time.