WWE Hall of Famer RIKISHI "IN YOUR FACE" Tour @ Zanies Nashville (Tue.March 26th at 7:00 p.m.)

courtesy photo:

@TheREALRIKISHI

What a treat for Wrestling fans The Great RIKISHI who has tackled everything from The Squared Circle, to the CBS Extremely Popular TV program "The World's Best" where he served as a Wall of the World Judge to a memorable role in the Netflix movie Sandy Wexler Co-Starring with Adam Sandler, and now a venture in the world of Stand-Up Comedy! Watch one of the WWE's most graceful and agile big men share funny stories and memories like you have never heard or experienced them before in a fantastic intimate setting at Zanies Nashville on Tuesday March 26th get tickets here: http://zaniesnashvilletickets.laughstub.com/event.cfm?id=523039

This is a one night only performance so be sure to go and get a seat as there are limited!

According to press release and bio for the show:

WWE has been home to many giants, but few big men have been as agile as the 400 plus-pound Samoan wonder known as Rikishi.

A member of the famed Anoa'i wrestling family, known as to the world as the Samoan Dynasty, Rikishi made his WWE debut in the early 90s under the name Fatu. The Superstar immediately teamed up with his cousin, Samu, to form the Headshrinkers and the mad pair captured the World Tag Team Championship in 1994 and the rest is history, culminating in his enshrinement in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015.

While you can still see him in the ring from time to time, recently Rikishi has made his way to the small screen as an entirely new performer. First as Tsunami in Adam Sandler’s “Sandy Wexler” and most recently as one of the Wall of the World judge on the new CBS smash hit “The World’s Best” from executive producers Mike Darnell and Mark Burnett.

Now for the first time in his career, join Rikishi as he ventures on stage to share some laughs about his life in the ring, answer some questions, sign some autographs and bust out the Stink Face for this one of a kind stand-up comedy event.

*Let me add on a personal not RIKISHI is one of the NICEST People I have ever had the privilege to chat with! You can hear it in his voice he truly love what he does and loves his fans and I thought I was pumped before, but now I am really excited that he is Headed to Nashville!!! He said he is ready to hit up the Waffle House lol I Hope the Waffle House is ready for him!!! 

RIKISHI was kind enough to speak to me before the show, this is what we discussed:

-Hey Man so Excited to come to Nashville can't wait to hit the Waffle House! You know we gotta get that smothered covered all the time!

What made you decide to pursue Stand-Up?

Well you know I am a fan of comedy, I am a fan of comics. In my down time when I do come home, so I always look into some old Richard Pryor and Larry The Cable Guy. I am a fan of comedy! Coming off this big show The World's Best on CBS I was one of the 50 expert Judges from around the World. I was representing the country of Samoa. And they had Drew Barrymore as an American Judge alongside Ru Paul , and also Faith Hill is from Nashville Tennessee! And I happened to be around a lot of experts out there , and in the pod if you watched the show on CBS I was actually sitting by a field of comics that where there. I was sitting by a guy from South Africa his name was Tats and so everyday and we where in the studio for a whole month shooting the season and man I found myself just laughing all the time at his jokes and so forth and when I was telling him some of my road stories, not only the Samoan Dynasty but what I like to eat, and he was laughing too as well. Then I thought If I can make this Comic laugh then I Damn sure can make my old fans laugh as well!
And on a personal note this is another platform for me to connect with my fans and in my own personal way to say thank you of all the years because my story has become their stories and memories and what better way to do that than come to comedy clubs! I like the smaller one where we are like intimate. I have always been around big arenas with 20,000 plus fans, but this one here where the rooms are like 400 or 500 I kind of like that a little better because I can kind of like sit in the crowd with you like I am just talking to you! I made my Comedy debut on March 16th in my hometown of San Francisco, California near the Bay Area where I was raised at and also been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame there in 2015, so what a beautiful way to come back and start off my Comedy journey!

RIKISHI serving as Judge on The World's Best

courtesy photo: Kishi, Samoa Photo: Ray Mickshaw/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

What made you decide to pick Nashville as one of your Inaugural stops on the In Your Face Tour? 

You know I have a Huge love for Tennessee not only with respects to the Lawler's that are out there in professional Wrestling, but one of my best friends in the business that just passed away Grand Master Sexy but this one here in Nashville the In Your Face stop is going to be a tribute to my friend!

                            courtesy photo: Scotty 2 Hotty, RIKISHI, GrandMaster Sexay


That is Awesome that you enjoy connecting with your fans at a level that you are willing to share these stories with all of us!

I am coming home! When I hook up with these comedy clubs its like I am coming home to my own living room. And I want to be able to shake everybody's hands I want to be able to save thank you to everybody because in big coliseums I can't do that I can't reach out to everybody. You know really I don't even call it a comedy thing to me, to me I like to call it a reunion. RIKISHI and his fans. To be able to do this, if it takes me to go all across the country and all across the world I am going into wonderful places such as the Zanies and the Punchlines and all the comedy clubs around the world I just see it like I owe it to my fans to tell my story, the story of family.

I also imagine you don't get many hecklers while you perform in fear of them getting a Stink Face?
Well you know if we get um well be ready, we know what to do with hecklers. When its time to shut up its time to shut up! Put up or shut up!



One last thought and speaking of Comedy you did he Netflix movie with Adam Sandler "Sandy Wexler" what was it like working with the Sandman?

I have been a fan of Adam Sandler for a long time and I had no idea when I was casted for this part they actually had Terry Crews and they where looking for a person to be able to play that part to Wrestle and when I read that part I said that sounds every bit like its me! So when they trained Terry Crews they actually came to Knokx Pro Wrestling Academy , which is my Academy in Los Angeles and I had to hang there and so Terry was there with a stunt coordinator and out of the blue I go to stop in and I see Terry Crews in there and I se the coordinator guy in there trying to teach him so I just rolled up in there. And Terry came to me and he was very respectful and very nice and he really wanted to learn how to take bumps, he really wanted to learn the moves, because he wanted to play that part to a tee. So we got in there and we mixed him up, you know that's what we do as wrestlers is to teach them fundamentals and the little inside techniques and next thing you know the producer set me a meeting with Adam Sandler and I went to CBS lot and I pulled around the lot and there was three bulldogs running around the grass with a trailer and I looked over there and there he is sitting with a cigar and I come around the corner and he stood up and he said RIKISHI it is nice to meet you! I am a big fan! And the producers did not know who the hell I was so Adam loves hiring people from Hawaii as well, he threw up th 'shaka sign"he hugged me and embraced me like we knew each other for a long time  and that was the beginning as a new friendship. And I got hired for the part right there, I wasn't even supposed to be in the movie I got hired right there!

To here more on this story and several others go get your ticket! Once again the link is at the beginning of this article!

Brian Vodinh of 10 Years talks New Music,Touring and Taking Chances!

One of Tennessee's finest rock exports will be playing a show in Nashville in support of Breaking Benjamin on May 7th in Nashville Tennessee at Marathon Music Works: https://www.marathonmusicworks.com/event/1660268-breaking-benjamin-nashville/

Knoxville Tennessee's very own 10 Years is at it full swing with (in my opinion)the  best album they have released to date. The album is titled (how to live) AS GHOSTS on Mascot Records.

10 Years, (how to live) As Ghosts Track Listing

1. The Messenger
2. Novacaine
3. Burnout
4. Catacombs
5. Ghosts
6. Blood Red Sky
7. Phantoms
8. Vampires
9. Halos
10. Lucky You
11. Insomnia

The album, the maturity of the group, the line-up changes and the reunion with  Brian Vodinh and Matt Wantland back on guitars. The group has come full circle and took their music possibly to a whole new level. Brian Vodinh also played drums on the new album and speaks on his reunion with the band via press release:

"We're bringing it back to the way it should be," says Vodinh, who left the band due to family commitments in 2013. "It feels great to be back with these guys and we're in such a good place musically and creatively." He goes on to add, "It used to be that just Jesse and I would write the full song, and the other guys would add a little spice to it. This time, we're starting the writing process as a full band. Sometimes it starts with a riff. Sometimes it starts with a vocal. Our formula is no formula, and it kind of works. And, we work together in a constructive and healthy environment now."

The album which was released this October was produced by fellow Tennessean Nick Raskulinecz who has a list of artists to impressive to name just a handful but I did just so I could give an idea of his talents (Rush, Alice In Chains, Evanescence, Apocalyptica, Korn) 

"Novacaine" being the most recognizable song from the album the band points to a trio of songs as anchoring the album key tracks, each of them dealing with mankind and mortality in one way or another. Those songs include the title track, which also addresses how some people can use spirituality to point fingers at others, "Burnout," about never getting too caught up in yourself to see the opportunities the world has to offer, and "Blood Red Sky" about the struggle to fight through everyday life.

And who better to discuss the phenomenal album, tour and new project Brave The Royals with founding member of 10 Years Brian Vodinh


You played drums and guitar on (how to live) AS GHOSTS what was it like recording multi instruments on one album? To be honest with you it's weird because I have always had an identity crisis as far as what instrument to play and when I write songs on the guitar I automatically kind of know what I want the drums to do so in a weird way those instrument are kind of married to one another for me and its fun to do them both they satisfy very different emotions. Drums are very barbaric in a way  you are passionately hitting something as hard as you can and expressing yourself in that way and with guitar there is a certain emotional articulation to it that is just different than drums. I do love them both I started the band in 1998 with a Marshall half stack and a Les Paul thinking I would just be the guitar player and things end up working out in mysterious ways and I ended up being the drummer for about fifteen years but I will probably always play drums on the albums just because of the relationship that my riffs have with the drums it just kind of works out that way. The short answer is it is very fun to do both they are just very different.

Jesse Hasek (Lead Vocals) credits Matt Wantland and your return to the rebirth of the band, how does that make you feel?
When Matt left the band originally it was 2009 and he and I did not speak again until 2016. He and I grew up together and we started playing  guitar together at the age of 14 and we have been best friends for a long time and we where able to pick up right where we left off and in a weird way he and I we almost communicate better thru our instruments then we do thru actual talking. So when we sit down together and we started to jam after we had reconnected these songs literally wrote themselves. It was a very painless process and it just felt good again, it was like revisiting the old days in high school and how everything felt so new and so fresh and everything. Except this time we are more older and more mature, our heads are screwed on straight this time. It was just very productive and I am very happy with (how to live) AS GHOSTS but I can't wait to start working n new material just because It was so much fun.

Do you guys like playing shows in your Home state of Tennessee?
The hometown shows are great and its nice to have the support of friends and family but to be totally honest it can be stressful because at home sometimes the family comes out, I'll have my kids out and things like that and it's a lot of distractions that  mentally can take you away from the show. I love hometown shows and getting to see every one but at the same time they can be kind of exhausting and you are always running around entertaining people and there is a million people to say hi to so if you don't let it distract you to much it is always a blast!

The album Division is turning 10 years old in May will there be any live shows in the future dedicated to the album in it's entirety?

Maybe. We have talked about it but we are not sure as of right now. Every album for us is such a snapshot of where we are at as a band in a specific time. Division being the follow up to The Autumn Effect, it was a really special album to us and the thought of playing it in it's entirety we would definitely have to rehearse and have some time to primp that and make sure everything was correct.


Brave The Royals is a great project you have on your hands! Let's discuss.
For me BTR is me capturing moments in my studio. It's really just me and it's kind of a glorified solo project but when I'm home in between 10 Years tours, I just love to write and record and I know very quickly when I'm working on a new idea if it should live in the 10 Years house or if it can go to something different and Brave The Royals for me the name of the band means having the guts to take on something bigger than you. The music industry is really brutal and when you start something new even though I have a little bit of recognition from 10 Years it is still a grass roots thing for me starting from the ground up is a daunting thing but at the same time the whole spirit of the project is to take chances to dream big to not let anybody tell you that you can't do something or let the constraint of life hold you back.

Mark Hall-Patton (Pawn Stars) on President Polk's 3rd Relocation

In recent weeks a lot of attention has been focused on The 11th President of the United States James K. Polk. On Monday April, 16th 2018 The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill for a study to determine the feasibility of placing the James K. Polk Home & Museum on the National Park Service registry.The measure will now go to the Senate for a vote, where a similar bill is already pending.

Also another proposal is on the rise concerning the remains of President Polk and his wife Sarah.

After receiving approval from the Tennessee House State Government Committee, the resolution to move the remains of President James K. Polk and his wife Sarah to the James K. Polk Home & Museum in Columbia will go before the House.

The resolution will move to the Calendar and Rules Committee to be scheduled for a vote on the House floor later this session.

So then I thought in my head to ask Mark Hall-Patton the "Beard of Knowledge" on History Channel's Pawn Stars what he thought about the potential 3rd relocation of the former President's remains? Considering his favorite president of all time is James K. Polk 

Here is what the famous Historical Genius and go-to-guy on Pawn Stars and Administrator of The Clark County Museum in Nevada had to say: 

  "It looks like the Polk House is doing well, with good state support, though I am sure federal dollars would not hurt either.  I do think there would probably be some loss of local control over the house if the National Park Service was to take over, but the funding would be there at least.

In terms of your question about moving the President’s and his wife’s remains, I will have to say I do not think it is a good idea.  I think using the house to showcase his extraordinary career and accomplishments is a wonderful thing, but I believe that without an overarching need to disinter remains and move them, they should stay where they are.  I understand that he was moved to the Capital grounds and is often overlooked, but that is more a matter of publicity than need for relocation.  I would suggest first working with the state capital in joint promotions and advertising.  Polk is one of our most overlooked and underappreciated Presidents.  He deserves the credit for creating the country as we know it today, not just for the Alta California and New Mexico territory, but also for concluding the Oregon Treaty with Britain.  Even the end of the Mexican American War and the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is an amazing effort, with Polk working with the Whigs rather than his own Democrats to conclude a treaty which gave Mexico back to Mexico, paid them $15,000,000 for the Alta California and New Mexico territories, and took on another $3,000,000 in debt owed by the Mexican government to American companies." 

Cowboy Mouth Never Ceases to Amaze! (Nashville)

Concert Review: Saturday April 14th at Exit Inn Nashville Tennessee

Show 5 out of 5 😆 Belches (Hints My Last Name:Belcher)

By: Josh Belcher 

Cowboy Mouth, arguably the "Greatest Live Band of All Time" made the Nashville concert a celebration that was over-the-top exciting! They came they saw and they conquered and left the fans in better shape then before they arrived. As a musician, fan and journalist  I can safely say a Cowboy Mouth concert is the most intense yet peaceful display of the human condition you can be a part of. "Life is to be Celebrated and not Endured" is a saying Drummer/Front man Fred LeBlanc embodies as he walks the walk and talks the talk during the entire performance. Beginning to end, show after show. Fred is consistent in that he always gives his all, heart and soul down to the last squeeze of life. Giving and taking from the audience to complete exhaustion on both ends of the spectrum. I alongside my cohort Zach Rodriguez left hoarse from singing and cheering and exhausted from jumping up and down and rocking! It was raining outside, but it was all warm and fuzzy when Cowboy Mouth hit the stage.

A very honorable mention is bass player Brian Broussard played the show with what could have very possibly been a broken leg or knee, from a injury apparently sustained while performing on the Kid Rock Cruise a few days before the Nashville stop.

I had the opportunity to wish Cowboy Mouth co-founder and Vocalist/ Guitar Player extraordinaire John Thomas Griffith a Happy Belated Birthday his was on April 3rd. A interesting fact is prior to saying hi to John a lady beggar approached my friend and I with a list of stories and conditions and reasoning as to why we needed to give her money. She also caught John in regards to the same question. Sorry John, I feel like if I hadn't of stopped him to say hi and Happy Birthday he would have not been approached by the female pan-handler. * My apologies 

Matt Jones played a very awesome Gretsch guitar white with gold trimming that was a new addition in the wake of an equipment robbery Fred had mentioned to us.

Set List:

    Fooled Intro

E-Belly

Iko Iko

Everybody Loves Jill (Accompanied by a shower of red spoons)

E Fire

Bad

Drama

Tell The Girl

Joe Strummer

Prison

NOLA

How?

Drummer Man

Easy

I Believe

Jenny Says 

Mick Foley Talks 20 Years Of Hell In A Cell! (Nashville)

By: Josh Belcher

Tickets and Info available at: http://nashville.zanies.com/

WWE Hardcore Legend Mick Foley is Coming to Nashville tomorrow Tuesday April 17th to discuss his larger than life Hell in a Cell Match and celebrating "20 Years of Hell" 

Mick Foley may very well be one of the most brilliant entertainers that came out of the world of professional wrestling. Three Time WWE Champion, a member of the WWE Hall of Fame, New York Times Best Selling Author ( to date he has pinned five books) To loving and caring deeply for the traditions of Christmas and is a true ambassador to Santa Clause. He also has braved the world of one man show spoken word  stand up comedy and taken it head on and has shown to be very funny and successful in that genre as well. Whether you are a wrestling fan or not Mick's stories he shares of years of wrestling with so much honesty that it would be virtually impossible for anyone to enjoy them.

Mick is now touring comedy clubs all across the nation sharing his milestone story "TWENTY YEARS OF HELL". The Hardcore Legend as Mick is respectfully called will share an in-depth story of super hero proportions about the most famous match of his hall of fame career- which is arguably one of the most talked about performances in sports-entertainment history. A journey back to June 28th 1998- the night of the infamous WWE Hell in a Cell match. On that night Mick Foley by a miraculous act from God not one but two falls of a humongous high rise cell structure, laid unconscious, came to, refused medical treatment and was stretcher bound, got back on his feet bruised and blood soaked with his front tooth logged in his nose and finished the match with fellow WWE legend The Undertaker.

What made you decide to pick Nashville as a stop on your 20 Years of Hell tour? 

Well Nashville has been a great city for me and I have been to Zanies twice before and we definitely wanted to do a few shows in the southern part of the united states so we are hitting Nashville, Huntsville and Birmingham Alabama as well. I hope people are willing to drive a little ways because out of the twenty shows in North American those are the only three we are doing below the Mason Dixon line.

(In July 2014 Mick Foley did a one man show in Austin Texas for his "Tales from Wrestling Past" in which the Undertaker was in attendance, he mentions that in this next answer) 

Has the Undertaker seen the show and have you and him discussed the 20 year anniversary of the match?

This is a show that is entirely dedicated to the 20 year anniversary so he has seen a show but not this show. The words that he and I shared that night in Austin Texas a guess four years ago come to life in this show and had a pronounced effect on me. I have only done the show twice and it has really enlisted a nice response from people. 

Is this a comedy performance or is it more like spoken word? 

Its spoken word with the stories there is a lot of laughs, but I don't base the success of the show on how many laughs I get. I base it on the way people feel when they leave the venue and so far we are two for two and Nashville is the third show and I suspect that will be the same thing people will really enjoy themselves.

The last time you where in Nashville, ahead of me in line at the meet and greet was a couple and the husband was a Marine who had just returned home from deployment and he told you he was more excited to meet you then the time he met President Obama. How did that make you feel? 

(Laughs) I have actually heard that a few times from service members. It is truly flattering. There was one injured service member one instance his uncle came running after me the  soldier was in ICU and he said his nephew had just missed the President he could dare miss Mick Foley as well, its the mindset of people like him that put me in a very lofty position.

You are doing a Q&A during this show will that portion be no holds barred when it comes to fans participation? 

Yeah every subject is fair game. I do like the questions to be respectful. I can count on one hand the number of times in doing it all these years the questions have not been respectful but I give people honest answers and answer them to the best of my ability and I am very open with my opinions I tell it like I think it is or should be.

In that Hell in a Cell Match at the end after all the aftermath and the Undertaker laid out a bag of thumb tacks and pinned you in them where the thumbtacks real? 

(Laughs) yeah I think to this day they have not found a way to make thumbtacks stick to human flesh unless they are real. Unless there is some type of magnetic field I am unaware of. With all of the things that went on with the match it was hard something that was of equal impressiveness to end the match. And you know at that time tacks had not been used in the U.S. they where solely a Japanese creation. I was a part of the first ever push pin misery match in Japan and so I am kind of like the guy who brought the starlings over to the U.S., seemed like a good idea but became something of a nuisance.

Is there any chance Mr. Socko is going to make a appearance at this show in Nashville?  

Well Mr. Socko had not been created yet at the time of the Cell Match. It is highly unlikely but you never know I mean we are going to have some special guests in the audience who played a role in my past, a couple of people from the country music world are stopping by to see the show so you never know what can happen every show is different and I am really looking forward to telling this stories at Zanies in Nashville