As we wind down the year and the decade...

As we welcome in 2010, it has been quite a year and decade for music. Nielsen SoundScan who compiles the data for Billboard Magazine notes The Beatles "1" CD was the best-selling for the decade (selling nearly 11.5 million copies). Probably the biggest surprise of the 2000's though was that EMINEM was the biggest selling artist selling just over 32 million CD's (just over 10 million of his "The Marshall Mathers LP" good enough for #4 for the decade, and just under 10 million of his "The Eminem Show" hitting #5 for the 2000's).

For this year, iTunes says Kings Of Leon's "Only By The Night" was their most downloaded album followed by The "Twilight" soundtrack, "The Fame" Lady Gaga, and the lady that seemed to be everywhere lately Taylor Swift's "Fearless" came in #4.

According to "ROLLING STONE'S" Readers Poll GREEN DAY (who earned their "Favorite Album Of The Decade"..."AMERICAN IDIOT") was named "Favorite Artist Of The Decade!"

Here's to more great music in the coming year and decade.

Nice to see everyone at the World's Largest Disco!

Wonderful to see everyone at this year's World's Largest Disco Saturday night! Even our Star 102.5 staffer's were there...pictured at left that's Brian Demay (right) and brother Drew at the party, and our graphics/web designer extraordinaire Heather Harwood (above right...and thanks for all your pictures Heather).

Rescheduled AGAIN!

If you didn't hear...Billy and Elton's Buffalo Tour Stop has been rescheduled again, now until Tuesday MARCH 9th, 2010! I had a feeling it would be moved again since Billy has now "MEDICAL REASONS" (we can add this to FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS the reason of the last cancellation) according to his website, and after rescheduled concert dates to February for recently cancelled concerts in Denver, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, and Oklahoma City. Apparently Sir Elton is OK after his recent hospitalization in the U.K. for flu/E. Coli virus.

Again, according to the promoter, "all tickets being held for the December 4th (and July 24th) Face 2 Face concert will be valid for the rescheduled March 9th concert, and tickets are still available at www.Tickets.com, The HSBC Arena Box Office, or charge by phone at 888-223-6000 (if necessary, refunds are available at point of purchase)."

Veterans Day-USA...Remembrance Day-Canada

Ways to thank our troops... www.amillionthanks.org

Care packages to our troops... www.opgratitude.com

Salute and Celebrate Veterans... www.military.com/veteransday/Celebrate_Kids.htm

Not bad for the first half!

You can't fault Bills Safety JAIRUS BYRD who had 2 more interceptions, but with with an Offense that couldn't produce or just stay on the field to help the defense in the second half an all too familiar outcome for the Bills Sunday. It didn't help that a back-up running back for the Texans, RYAN MOATES (above), rushed for 3 TD's in the Bills loss.

The best thing for the Team next week...a bye!

Great play by Buffalo Rookie defenders!

Wonderful wins by Buffalo sports teams over the weekend thanks to two stellar rookies! Saturday night the SABRES won in come-from-behind fashion in a shootout in Tampa

Bay thanks to 6 foot 8 inch rookie #57 TYLER MYERS (pictured at left) who scored the winning goal and is playing "way beyond his teenage years" and is certainly a candidate for Rookie-Of-The-Year in the NHL!

Sunday's BILLS win at Carolina came at the hands of another rookie #31 JAIRUS BYRD (right) who had 2 interceptions in the game leading to scores (his 5th pick in the last 3 games)!

You never thought the Bills would LOSE to the Jets...Nah!

You never thought Ryan Fitzpatrick (pictured above) could come off the bench, if ever Trent Edwards was injured, and win a game and look like the next coming of Jim Kelly...Nah. Your friends thought the Bills would get crushed by the Jets Sunday...Nah.

Did you hear the billboard on the 190 will be changed from FIRE DICK JAURON to DICK JAURON FOR PRESIDENT...Nah.

All Hail the U.S. Women's Chess Champ!

Congratulations to ANNA ZATONSKIH who just won the U.S. Women's Chess Tournament in St. Louis (picking up the $15 Grand first-place prize money)! Anna, who's from Long Island, is the nation's #1 ranked woman player and is an International Master and Woman Grand Master who won a Gold Medal at the 2008 Chess Olympiad, and is now qualified for the next Women's World Championship that will be held in Istanbul, Turkey in 2010.

Anna says Chess is tough, but not as demanding as her 2-year old daughter!

Something's gotta change!

I didn't think it could get much worse than the Miami game, but it did Sunday. Bills COO/GM Russ Brandon probably said it best "a low point for all of us" for the most penalized team in the NFL. If nothing changes the Bills may not win another game this season!

Painful to watch!

Did you feel, like me, that Sunday's game was OVER at half-time. NO good news to report about the BILLS' latest loss in Miami (can you remember a time that the BILLS beat a Division foe). Even the BILLS once stellar Special Teams is the most penalized unit in the NFL!

If the Team can't take care of "one of the WORST" team's in the NFL, the 0-4 Cleveland Browns Sunday at 1 at the RALPH, Bills fans are in for an even longer season!

D-Yea...O...Nay!

About the only POSITIVE about the game was that the Saints didn't score 40 points in the Bills 27-7 loss...Perry Fewell's D had a great game plan, but players "ran out gas in the 4th quarter." Bobby April's Special Team's "razzle-dazzle" TD looked good early (the only BILLS TD)...but Alex Van Pelt's "O" looked like pre-season, the "rookie" O-Line was man-handled by the Saints D, and with T.O. NO catches...it all needs work!

It's on to LAND SHARK stadium in Miami Sunday at 4pm where, the Dolphins now 0-3 and with QB Chad Pennington hurting, it will be a great opportunity for a Bills division win.

Nice to get Home Opener "must win"

Very nice to see T.O. and Lee Evans getting their first TD catches of the season in the Bills "must win" home opener Sunday! Note to Coach Jauron...you may want to re-think starting Marshawn Lynch over Fred Jackson when #23's able to return. All in all a great game (especially if you watched just the 1st and 4th quarter's) for the Bills, but beware of The Saints who've scored nearly 50 points in each of their first 2 games and roll into The Ralph on Sunday at 4!

The ALMOST Miracle!

The Bills ALMOST Miracle, well do I need to say they just can't "close the deal!" Plenty of positives..."rookie" O-Line, Fred Jackson (who is #23?), Alex Van Pelt, Trent Edwards, and D-Fense all something "good" to take out of the game (and they beat the spread if you go that way).

It should make for an exciting home-opener this Sunday versus the Tampa Bay Bucs in a game that should really define this Bills season.

Could it just be an elaborate ploy?

Now that the BILLS pre-season is thankfully OVER, I'm wondering if the 1st Team Offense's poor play (NO TD's) was just an elaborate ploy to throw off New England Patriots Coach BILL BILICHICK so he'd have nothing to view on video of the Bills but the first pre-season Hall Of Fame Game to get ready for the season opener in Foxboro, MASS. on September 14th? It's interesting that T.O. didn't play in any game except for the Hall Of Fame Pre-Season game against the Titans, even though he probably could have in the last two games...it's tough for other NFL Teams to game-plan against T.O. when there's no video to see!

Thank goodness for TECH SUPPORT!

I only got 2 hours sleep last night, but the peace of mind far outweighs the lack of zzzz's. Last week my laptop computer began giving me funny pop-ups while on the internet...every time I would "x" out of a page I would receive the box saying "Internet Explorer has stopped working, searching for a solution" and while never giving me a "solution" I would have to restart the computer. After receiving many people's opinions of how to fix the problem I decided to call my manufacturer HP and was transfered to Tech Support for a PC TUNE-UP (for a nominal fee). It seems the Team is in Kolkata (Calcutta), India in a huge world-wide tech center, and after doing some 3 hours of scans on the laptop, it was found I had about 20 corrupt files that needed to be "purged" from the computer. Having all the "cleaning" performed, and a little more to get rid of files that were slowing the start-up of my laptop, I'm now "good to go" with no viruses, spyware or whatever else messed up my computer...thank you HP Tech Support!

It's still a beautiful place after all these years!

It was my pleasure to DJ a wedding reception for Michael and Melanie over the weekend at a place where I had never played before, The Terrace Room at the Statler Towers in downtown Buffalo. I had played the Statler's Golden Ballroom and Rendezvous Room many times before but never the magnificent Terrace Room a place where my parents had their wedding reception back in the late 1940's (before they left on their honeymoon on a cruise of the great lakes from Buffalo to Duluth, Minnesota and back...a very cool trip at the time). It was also a thrill to be involved with the recent new "owners" of the Statler, Park Lane Catering, who I know will do a wonderful job of updating this incredible Buffalo landmark!

I vote YES for Vick!

Lots of rumors that Michael Vick may be coming to the BILLS! Don't call me a dog-hater (I love dogs) but on pure playing ability I think Michael Vick would be a big asset to the Bills this season (and beyond)...if we had Vick and T.O. on the team do you think it would make for an even more exciting season?

Thanks for coming out to see Ingrid

Thanks to all who came out and enjoyed INGRID MICHAELSON at SONOMA GRILLE in Amherst Wednesday night (my official proof that I was there in the above picture, Rob Lucas, Ingrid, Moi, and Brian Demay). It was a wonderful show for all our winning listeners and long-time friend/owner of Sonoma Grille, Michael Militello, always puts out a fabulous spread and beautiful venue for us!

Lots of BUFFALO on TV Monday night

Both THE TRAVEL CHANNEL and Vh1 had a lot about Buffalo Monday night.

Anthony Bourdain's NO RESERVATIONS on the Travel Channel (www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain) showed Buffalo with local musician Nelson Starr (above left) hitting ULRICH'S Tavern on Ellicott Street for some wings and more, then off to SCHWABL'S on Center Road in West Seneca for some beef-on-weck (a place my Grandfather took me a long time ago), and finally catching Nelson's band at NIETZSCHE'S.

Then The T.O. SHOW really came to Buffalo on Vh1. Great shots of his arrival at the airport to the Maid Of The Mist at The Falls, to the Key To The City on the steps of City Hall all made Buffalo look good.

Did you love The T.O. SHOW?

Did you love the T.O. SHOW on Vh1 Monday night? I must admit I watched it TWICE (they repeated the show after midnight), get me a rented Bentley GTC like he drove around LA. It looks like the scenes in the upcoming episode in Buffalo are awesome, and if his playing here on the Bills this season brings good publicity to the area I say "bring it on!"

Please vote for my buddy VAN!

Please vote for my buddy VAN MILLER, former long-time Sports Director of Channel 4, who's up for induction into the National Radio Hall Of Fame. I had the good fortune to work as Buffalo Bills executive radio producer with Van and Stan Barron back in 1980-1981 during the Bills season's when our sister station WBEN broadcast the games.

Like I always say in a general election "vote early and often" at http://www.radiohof.org/.

Johnny surprises the kids!

Last week Johnny Depp dropped by The Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to surprise sick kids there while he was in the UK to promote his new movie "Public Enemies." Johnny even dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow from "Pirates Of The Caribbean" and visited several wards at the hospital and posed for pictures with kids and staff.

It's not the first time Johnny has been to the hospital, he was there with his daughter Lily-Rose when she was treated for kidney failure back in 2007. Johnny even donated $1.5 MILLION to Great Ormond Street Hospital as a way of thanking them for taking such good care of his daughter during her stay.

STYX at The White House

Tommy Shaw of STYX (above) had a day off last Monday before their show Tuesday night in Washington, D.C. so like any good rockers STYX took in a visit to the White House. This wasn't just any tour though, the band actually held a question and answer session in the Briefing Room on the podium where members of the press corps were able to interact with the band and get pictures.

After their "briefing" STYX got a private tour of the White House, and the guide asked drummer Todd Sucherman if he knew President Obama was a fan, Todd said "someone had mentioned that we are in his iPod, but I can't substantiate that."

It's all in a name or spelling!

Singer KATY PERRY (above) is ready to launch her new signature line for Fashion Against AIDS (it's a trendy bodysuit as Katy describes it "it reminds me of something a teenage girl would wear to a dance class). Katy would like there to be no confusion with her "line" and is thus suing a Sydney, Australian fashion designer KATIE PERRY who's had a fashion label and boutique for a couple of years. Katy (the singer) is threatening legal action against the Sydney designer Katie, demanding her to remove her name from her clothing line. The Australian designer says she was stunned to receive a letter from the singer's lawyers and has vowed to fight their demands in court..."I got such a huge shock it really felt like I was being intimidated and bullied into signing everything away...it asked me to give up the trademark, withdraw sale of my clothes, withdraw any advertising and any websites, and sign that I will not in the future use a similar trademark to KATY PERRY...I pretty much burst into tears, I love my business and I'm not going to give it away without a fight, I'm not trying to become a singer, I'm not trying to be her, this is my income and the livelihood of my contractors as well ."

We'll let you know how this turns out.

Have you tried www.bing.com?

Have you tried Microsoft's new search or as they say "decision engine" www.bing.com?

It's supposed to give Google some competition, do you think it will or is Microsoft just "late to the party?"

It's kind of funny, for me to ad Bing's logo to this blog I had to get it from Google!

I suppose it's only fitting...

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will play the final concerts at GIANTS STADIUM in East Rutherford, NJ. The dates will be September 30th, October 1st and 2nd just before the old stadium will be demolished, replaced by the new Meadowlands Stadium.

Did I tell you how good LIZ JOHNSON is...

After winning the Queens Tournament in Reno, NV last month, LIZ is really on a roll (no pun intended) winning the George A. Obenauer Masters Championship at the Airport Lanes in her hometown of Cheektowaga over the weekend! Liz is the first woman to win the tourney beating Mike Mallwitz of Grand Island and collecting the $1,400 prize money and getting paid entry and travel to the 2009 USBC Masters Tournament coming up in Las Vegas.

Good Luck Liz, we'll all be rooting for you!

I suppose if you had to root for a team to win The Stanley Cup...

I suppose if you had to root for an NHL team to win The Stanely Cup (now that the Sabres are out) my pick would be The Chicago Blackhawks. With local ties like ex-Sabre Brian Campbell and of course Buffalo's own Patrick Kane, who scored a hat trick to advance his team past The Vancouver Canucks the other night, it would be nice to see the Hawks lift the Cup rather than The Detroit Red Wings.

My Jack Kemp story...

Jack Kemp, may he rest in peace. My one great "brush" with the BILLS #15 and our longtime congressman came in 1979 when I was attending the NFL Hall Of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. I had just been named the executive radio producer of the Buffalo Bills radio broadcasts which our now sister station WBEN was to begin broadcasting in the 1979 season with Van Miller and the "late-great" Stan Barron, and I was attending the Hall Of Fame Game with The Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders at the invitation of long time friend executive producer of The Raiders radio broadcasts, Ron Fell. It was a couple of hours before the start of the game and I was making my way up a staircase to the press-box at the stadium when I happened to meet up with Jack who was actually coming down the stairs. I was so astonished to see my local congressman and one of my favorite BILLS of all-time, I remember just blurting out "hi Jack I'm a constituent from Buffalo!" Jack was so kind, he stopped and talked with me for quite a while and even introduced me to his then teenage son Jeff (who of course went on to play quarterback himself in the NFL), and I just remember it was such a gracious thing for him to do to take the time out of his busy day to spend some time with me.

Thank you Jack, I know I'll miss your "class," and again may you rest in peace!

Kudos to another Buffalo Champion!

Congratulations to Cheektowaga's LIZ JOHNSON who won the 2009 United States Bowling Congress Queens Tournament in Reno, NV! Liz had advanced to the same tournament 4 other times but never won until this year. ESPN2 broadcast the event in which Liz won $ 30 GRAND plus the cool TIERRA pictured above!

Could you handle a hockey rink (with Zamboni) in your basement?

Don't ask me why but I was up late the other night watching GEORGE STROUMBOULOPOULOS and his show THE HOUR on CBC interviewing Ryan Peake and Chad Kroeger of Nickelback. Chad mentioned how he loved Hockey so much he has put in the basement of the addition of his home (a 20 acre spread in Abbotsford, BC about 20 miles from Vancouver) a complete (3 on 3) hockey rink with ZAMBONI that he drives. Chad says he hates to "go into town for anything!"

New U.S. Monopoly Champion is from SLOAN!

Congratulations to Sloan's RICK MARINACCIO who just became the U.S. NATIONAL MONOPOLY CHAMPION in Washington, D.C. (Rick is pictured above being congratulated by MR. MONOPOLY). As winner Rick will receive $20, 580.00, the equivalent in the Monopoly Bank, and will represent the USA at the Monopoly World Championships in Las Vegas in October. Rick is also planning on getting married later this year, so we know where some of his winnings will be going...good luck Rick!

Nice Prom Dress story!

Taylor Swift (pictured above with her best friend Abigail Anderson on the left) has donated her Prom Dress to http://www.donatemydress.org/ who auctioned it off for $1,200! Taylor said "I wore it once and loved it but to keep it around, hanging there all by itself and lonely in my closet never to be worn again seemed a little pointless...I want another girl somewhere to feel good in it and have a great prom night because of this dress!"

A sign of the times!

London, England's UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM is offering a Masters Degree in Facebook and Twitter. The Course teaches students how to set up blogs and podcasts and also how to use the sites in communications and marketing.

Could this be today's version of a course we used to call "basket weaving?"

I say LET 'EM PLAY!

I don't know if this FEAR has been media driven, but I say (like Erie County Executive CHRIS COLLINS) let the Bills play another HOME game in Toronto...especially if it means the Team would move out of the area altogether. Collins accurately points out that any more games played at the "out-dated" Rogers Center would require Toronto to build a new stadium at a cost of upwards of $1 BILLION (not likely). I think T.O. set it up perfectly when he said at his introduction press conference "I'm going from America's Team, to North America's Team!"

You can't say he's still not relevant!

Last week Michael Jackson literally sold-out all 50 upcoming concerts at London's O2 Arena for his THIS IS IT Tour. The shows will go July 8th-September 29th and January 7th through February 24th next year. 750,000 tickets sold in just 5 hours (that's 11 TICKETS PER SECOND), some going for as much as $14,000 a ticket on eBay!

T.O. to Buffalo!

Now I've been around the BILLS for a long time (even acting as executive radio producer when our sister station WBEN broadcast the Bills back in 1979-1980 with Van Miller and the late-great Stan Barron) but NEVER have I seen the Team make such a "splash" in the league as they did last Saturday evening! By now everyone has an opinion about T.O. coming to Buffalo, but after last week's release of the Cowboys #81 when all the national TV sports programs covered his story ad nauseaum, it's nice to imagine that all that emphasis will focus on Buffalo at least through training camp (and probably beyond). You can't argue that T.O. won't bring (like the Rod Stewart song) PASSION to the Bills, something the team has sorely lacked for many years and if we get any National TV games this year you can surely credit T.O. for the network's interest.

#81 on the Bills already belongs to James Hardy, maybe T.O. will do like many baseball players used to do to get "their number" when they moved to a new team (ie. Roger Clemens) and buy James a new ROLEX watch to give up his number .

March Of Dimes MARCH FOR BABIES

It was pleasure to host the Corporate Kick-Off Breakfast for the MARCH OF DIMES March For Babies this year to be held on Sunday April 26th in Delaware Park. STAR 102.5 is again the proud co-sponsor of the event that will raise money to support the March Of Dimes mission to give every baby a healthy start. Money is used to fund important research and community programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives, so that one day every family will know the joy of a healthy baby.

You can sign up today at http://www.marchforbabies.org/ to MARCH with us at The Marcy Casino in Delaware Park (Registration at 9am, with the WALK starting at 10am) on Sunday April 26th with Brian Demay your WALK host.

Tim McGraw wins an award for his BOOK!

Nice to see Tim McGraw win the MOM'S CHOICE AWARD for Outstanding Children's Book for his book "MY LITTLE GIRL."

Tim says "this was a family effort, my daughter's were involved in the concept of the story and making sure we included our family dog PALIO and (wife) Faith (Hill) was a huge supporter, it's a nice honor for all of us."