BASEBALL FLASHBACK!

As we countdown to OPENING DAY, I thought it would be fun to post a pic from 1998. This picture was taken at batting practice during the McGWIRE/SOSA homerun race in St. Louis. My friends Woody, Mark & Judy are pictured with DICK CLARK and ESPN anchor MATT WINER.

MONDAY MORNING SNAPSHOTS AND STUFF

KATY PERRY surprised me Saturday night at HOUSE OF BLUES. She is so much more than a one-hit wonder. The sold-out show had several highlights including the ballad "Thinking of You", "Hot and Cold" and her signature song "I kissed a Girl" closed out the show. Backstage, she could not have been kinder after the show.

INTERN JACOB had his last show with us on Friday morning. He has given the show 6 months of hard work and dedication. He graduated this past week. He has a bright future..we look forward to following his career.....

THE CAVS won a franchise record 12th game in a row Sunday at The Q...after the game, I met up with Archie, Steph and Micah at FLANNERY's downtown.....

Hangin' in my friend Ken's suite during the 102-74 win over Dallas.

My friend LISA is the biggest CAVS fan I know!

ELLIOTT YAMIN STOPS BY SHOW...

AMERICAN IDOL ELLIOTT YAMIN stopped by the show Friday morning. He is on a promo tour promoting his new music and is currently putting together a tour. This is the fourth time we have had him on the show. He's a genuine person and is much more talented than he gets credit for.

ARE THE CAVS TOO COCKY???

I took some heat during Wednesday's show when discussing The Cavs and their over-the-top pre-game rituals. I'm a huge fan of the pre-game pyrotechnics and player intros. The music, the video and the energy is AWESOME! What I don't like is when the players pose for fake photo-ops and all of their other gestures and such. I love the SHOW of a sporting event...but why not let the show speak for itself? And why not let the actions of players on the court speak for themselves. Showboating doesn't belong in sports. It's poor sportsmanship and takes away from the game. I don't think it's cool for all this to happen as the opposing team is waiting for the game to begin.
I was surprised to hear listeners mostly disagree with me about this. I thought there would be more respect for the game. Perhaps I'm too much of a sports traditionalist. Based on the reaction, I very well could be wrong.
My hope is that the team won't believe it's own hype and stay focused on bringing a long-awaited championship to Cleveland.

"AIR IN YOUR BRA"

ADELE AT HOUSE OF BLUES

My daughter GABBY and I attended ADELE's soundcheck at The House of Blues Saturday afternoon before her show. She is an amazing singer who makes it look effortless. While watching her behind-the-scenes she seemed quiet and shy. She seemed to be in a good-enough mood when we met her, but the picture does not reflect that. Her show was very strong.

Sidebar: The opening band THE SCRIPT has a very bright future ahead of them. Their music was strong and their lead singer has a great stage precense. I'm more than confident that you will be hearing from this band. Check out some of their stuff on youtube.

RANDOM SNAPSHOTS

This was taken from our suite at The Cavs game earlier this week when the CAVS beat the KNICKS.

My daughter Gabby enjoyed some bike time during the warm weather last week. We plan to get out and do a lot of biking this Spring and Summer. There is also talk of doing Pedal To The Point or some other major ride soon.

My daughter Gabby and I really enjoy playing the dice game "TROUBLE"....although it is a game of chance, we both feel that we are very skilled and evenly matched. She is the current reigning champion in our house...

I LOVE SUSHI! My two favorite places to go here in Cleveland are GINZA near the stadium downtown and SAKURA in Brecksville near my house. Every once in a whilte, I need to get a quick fix for lunch. Heinin's in Brecksville does a pretty nice job....

This pic was snapped in GLENN THE FUNNY SONG MAN'S studio during post-show production on Friday. On Friday's, after our show, we tape WILDE AND FEE WEEKEND that airs Saturday 6-10am.

St. Patty's Day was pretty low key for me this year. It included a flyby to see some friends in the 'hood. Brian and Patrick are part of our dinner group. Yes...that really is green champagne...

My friend KEN in his suite at The Cavs game at The Q.

ROCK THE PUZZLE AT HOUSE OF BLUES

Earlier today, I taped a promo at WKYC channel 3 with GOOD COMPANY HOST ANDREA VECCHIO for an upcoming event I will be hosting next month.

ROCK THE PUZZLE is a local fundraising event to help autism. I will be hosting the event on April 3 at The HOUSE OF BLUES in downtown Cleveland. The event will feature entertainment from five bands and various auctions throughout the night. There will also be a wine tasting with GRAND RIVER CELLARS. All proceeds stay local to benefit children and adults with autism in our area. For more, go to www.neoag.org or www.rockthepuzzle.com

BACKSTAGE AT HOB!

Backstage with the PLAIN WHITE T'S at HOUSE OF BLUES

HANGIN' WITH THE ROCKSTARS...

THE PLAIN WHITE T'S played a private show for our listeners at ANTE UP STUDIOS in downtown Cleveland on Thursday afternoon. About 50 people were there to hear them play a handful of their songs and answer questions. They sounded great and were pretty cool. The first time I saw PWT's was at their first Cleveland show at HOB. I was lucky enough to have a backstage pass where I could watch the show from the soundboard. It was awesome hearing "Hey There Delilah" for the very first time just a few feet from the band.

Earlier this week, JUSTIN NOZUKA stopped by the show on the morning of his House of Blues show with MISSY HIGGINS. This is his second visit to our show and I was once again impressed with how good he could sing at 6:30 in the morning! He played three songs for us including an incredible version of OTIS REDDING's "Sittin' on the dock of the bay". I love the origional AND was blown away by JUSTIN's version of the song....

Later that night at the show, I was very disappointed with the crowd reaction to JUSTIN NOZUKA as he opened up for MISSY HIGGINS. During a quiet acoustic song, he had to ask the crowd to quiet down and show respect to the live performance. It always amazes me when concert-goers are so loud duirng a show that they paid money to see. I can understand a loud rock show...but singer/songwriters should never have to ask the crowd to quiet down. It ruined what was a very strong performance musically. This very same thing happened the last time he was in town at The Cambridge Room at HOB. I can understand one or two people being rude...but an entire crowd treating an artist like background noise is just not right.

FLASHBACK PHOTO OP!

JOHN MAHONEY. You know him mostly as the dad on FRAZIER. He also had a role in the movie "IN THE LINE OF FIRE" with Clint Eastwood. I met him in his hometown of Chicago. This pic was snapped in The John Hancock Building in 1995.

MEETING LEN BARKER...

This past week, I had the opportunity to meet Cleveland Indians legend LEN BARKER. I met him at the HANK AARON dinner in Solon. Not only was it a pleasure to hear INDIANS broadcaster TOM HAMILTON interview AARON, it was cool being able to talk with LEN for a minute. He's clearly a nice guy who enjoys meeting fans.

BARKER threw his PERFECT GAME on May 15, 1981 in a 3-0 win over Toronto. Instantly, he became part of an elite group of baseball pitchers. He will always be a bright spot in Cleveland sports history.

NOTE: The format for the evening included a one-on-one sit-down interview with TOM HAMILTON and HANK AARON. In that conversation, it was interesting to learn how AARON looked at his homerun chase as a rough time in his life. As a black man challenging for the HR title, he faced death threats in a very hostile environment. He often would spend his non-baseball time in his hotel room. He said that time was very tough on him and his family. He also reminded us that during his time as a player, he had to spend the off-season doing another job just to make a living. The salaries today vs back then are

much bigger. AARON says that today's athlete needs to use their down time doing more to give back to their communities. It truly was a gift to spend an evening listening to a baseball legend and meeting another.

FLASHBACK PHOTO OP!

I met DONNY OSMOND in 1994 when he was in Chicago for JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT. I was producing a morning radio program and he stopped by our early morning broadcast at THE HARDROCK CAFE. He performed a hard-rock version of "PUPPY LOVE" with rockers ENUFF ZNUFF. Donny was a good sport and quite genuine.

RICK BECKETT

RICK BECKETT died last week. Rick was the anchor for 'THE RICK, DARLA & SCOTT SHOW" at WGRD in Grand Rapids, Michigan when I was there in 1996-97. He was only 54 years old when he died of a heart attack.

Rick was funny, sarcastic, tough, honest, real and was dominant on the radio in the morning. He had plenty of issues with his health and drinking and would often make his struggles part of the show. Through it all, he managed to stay on top of the market and make the people around him successful. He is one of a handful of people in this business who truly made me laugh.

As Rick's program director and afternoon guy, I owe a lot to him. He was instrumental in my success at 'GRD. He had huge ratings and put the radio station and my career on the map. His success built a strong foundation for the radio station and enabled me to get my first big break at The POINT in St. Louis.

I enjoyed my time working with Rick. Yes, it was difficult for me and others at times to deal with some of his off air struggles, but overall he was loved, admired and he delivered when it came to his craft. Over the years, I have missed those magical times. Even today, he has an influence on my show. His raw chemistry on air with his co-hosts, Darla & Scott, is something I strive for each morning.

It's sad to think he has passed at such a young age. But rather than be down, I am chosing to remember a wonderful time in my life. A time where Rick was the ringleader of the best time in my career so far.

I have so many great memories of Rick. From the crazy stunts he would pull with "RALPHIE" on the air to his on and off air arguments with Darla. His endless appreciation (every morning) for HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH when they weren't as cool as they once were. To his love for my friend ANDY's band DOMESTIC PROBLEMS. There was plenty of drama at Sluggo's Down Under. It was real, it was raw..it was how he rolled.

I know that whoever has the number one-rated show in HEAVEN this past ratings period better look out...

be@peace. ~a

THE SUNDAY COLUMN

It's the first day of the new month, and with it comes the re-launch of my website www.allanfee.com. The site will be up by this evening. It will have a whole new look with photo galleries and the same features from the previous site. Coming soon, I am thrilled to be adding both audio and video to the site. There will be interview clips and other moments from my radio show. It will also have video from behind the scenes and video access with a live webcam. I'm excited about the re-launch and look forward to the many exciting features coming soon!

JUMP BACK BALL AT PLAYHOUSE SQUARE

Last night's JUMPBACK BALL was another huge success for PLAYHOUSE SQUARE! It's their largest funraiser of the year and it didn't disappoint. Despite the attendance being off from last year, they rolled out the red carpet and put on an awesome night. I'm proud to have been apart of hosting with my co-host REBECCA WILDE.

My daughter GABBY is coming off a huge night with the girlscouts. Several hundred girlscouts from the area had a huge sleepover party at SOUTHPARK MALL. I'm always impressed with the many fun and origional events the mall puts on. My daughter had a blast watching HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 and staying up all night. Upon arrival early this morning, she reported good times and then zonked out on the couch soon after....it's safe to say it's a quiet Sunday here at the house.

...from Dad....to uh....OCTO-DAD i go........Listener Steve is back again with another edition of FUN WITH PHOTOSHOP...this is me, as , uh...The Octo-Mom.....ish....

....note the lil baby with the cigar...still makes me laugh....

This past week, my friend TOM SEASHOLTZ introduced me to a great bar from his past. We stopped by THE ORIOLE in Berea. It's my kinda place! Casual, fun and great food! It's an awesome place to get a Dortmunder from Great Lakes and they have the 'BEST WINGS IN BEREA" I'm not sure who else has wings in Berea, but I do know The Oriole gives good wing! I will certainly be back. I enjoy those kinds of bars. Real people, casual. A place to hang with friends. If you know of any, I'm open to hear about more. Leave your favorites on the comment page of this blog below. Some of my all time favorites; Hotz Cafe, Hooples, Edison's, The Parkview, Thirst and Ten, Scoundrals, SCOREBOARDS in Northfield, ZIGS. I also enjoy NIGHTTOWN on the East Side. Where else??

PERSON OF THE MOMENT

ELLEN BASINSKI. The 70 year old Elyria woman who thwarted would-be robbers with an EMERIL frying pan. Brings new meaning to BAM!! She was also an awesome guest on our show. I love her spirit.

THE RANDOMS

Spring Training is underway and it's time. I'm really happy with the new look of my website. FACEBOOK is like crack. Soccer sign ups are underway and the season can't come soon enough. I stand by Cavs over the Lakers in six in The Finals. It's well worth YOU TUBING the dance scene during the credit's of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

SHOUTOUTS

My brother Ian for settin' a new record in Salton City at Captain Jim's. My friend JEN TOOHEY for STARBUCKIN' this week. "Lethargic" Mark for coverin' for Producer Nick. TOM SEASHOLTZ for introducin' me to THE ORIOLE. NORM from HOOPLES for buyin' 7 boxes of thin mints from my daughter for girlscouts.

be@peace ~a

FACEBOOK.....

All of a sudden, EVERYONE is on FACEBOOK! And I do mean EVERYONE! Not only is it a great way to connect with old and new friends, it's an ADDICTION! For me it has been a great resource to stay connected to many friends around the country...and now, I have branched out to multiple accounts! How did this happen...???? Not only do I have to manage several email accounts, a cell phone, TEXTING and my own website....NOW, I have to ..I mean, GET to, oversee my FACEBOOK accounts...

My NHSA SOCCER FACEBOOK page is intended for the soccer league I helped create in Nordonia Hills. The Nordonia Hills Soccer Association is a youth soccer league that covers Sagamore Hills, Northfield, Northfield Center and Macedonia. I try to limit the friends to parents and associates to the league. It's informational for what the league is doing.

My personal page is the ALLAN FEE page with my picture. This is for friends, family, listeners and whoever else. I consider this my MAIN FACEBOOK page.

The WILDE AND FEE FAN PAGE and profile is for interactive purposes for our radio show listeners. We often read the comments that are posted live on the air. Its a great way for us to stay connected to our audience..something we pride ourselves in. Rebecca and Glenn are also great on staying on top of their individual pages.

Overall, I love keeping my FACEBOOK pages updated. I try to keep the photos updated and as interesting as possible. Soon, I'll be adding video to each of the pages. I invite you to "friend" the pages and check them out!