My Movie and Stage Production Lists for 2015

In case you missed it on The Clubhouse Podcast, here are all of the films I saw this year and their rankings.  On the show, I only covered my top and bottom ten:

1     1 He Named Me Malala
2 The Hateful Eight
3  Star Wars: The Force Awakens
4 Paddington
5 Kingsman: The Secret Service
6 Batkid Begins
7 Inside Out
8 Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made
9 Bridge of Spies
10 The Peanuts Movie
11 Spectre
12 Avengers: Age of Ultron
13 Ex Machina
14 Spy
15 Ant-Man
16 Minions
17 Spotlight
18 A Walk in the Woods
19 Southpaw
20 The Martian
21 The Night Before
22 My All-American
23 The Woman in Gold
24 The Walk
25 Victor Frankenstein
26 Joy
27 Miss You Already
28 Little Boy
29 Paper Towns
30 Tomorrowland
31 Sleeping With Other People
32 Hotel Transylvania 2
33 Home
34 Beyond the Brick: A Lego Brickumentary
35 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2
36 Goosebumps
37 Suffragette
38 Macbeth
39 The Transporter: Refueled
40 Dope
41 Predestination
42 Pixels
43 Aloha
44 Learning to Drive
45 Spare Parts
46 Monkey Kingdom
47 The End of the Tour
48 Seventh Son
49 The Last Witch Hunter
50 Ricki & The Flash
51 Lone Star Holy War
52 Hitman: Agent 47
53 Adult Beginners
54 Kidnapping Mr. Heineken
55 99 Homes
56 The Overnight
57 Bravetown
58 The D Train
59 No Escape
60 A Most Violent Year
61 Good Kill
62 Fantastic Four
63 The Gunman
64 Strange Magic
65 Poltergeist
66 Blackhat
67 The Boy Next Door
68 Mistress America
69 Clouds of Sils Maria

 And as a special bonus, here is my list ranking the stage performances I saw this year as well:

   1.       Motown

   2.       The Sound of Music

   3.       Peter Pan 360

   4.       Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage

   5.       Jersey Boys

   6.       A Christmas Carol

   7.       Moonshine: The Hee Haw Musical

   8.       Kinky Boots

   9.       Cavalia: Odysseo

   10.   The King & I

   11.   Newsies

   12.   Pippin

   13.   The Illusionists

   14.   Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella

   15.   Clarkston

   16.   Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy

   17.   Bull

   18.   Annie

   19.   Matilda

Rob

Farewell To A Friend I Have Never Met

In the fall of 1991, I was a freshman in college at the University of South Florida.  I was starting to truly embrace my love of radio and broadcasting, and I was about to change my major to reflect it.  I loved the power that a microphone, mixing board, and music source had: they could change the mood in a room, help heal wounds, give hope to life as we know it, and even make us feel a little better about ourselves and each other.

One day, someone that lived in my dorm told me that they had a cassette (OK, kids: there used to be these things... nevermind... ask your parents) that I HAD to hear.  Coupling my love of radio with my obsession with stand-up comedy, I put the tape in my player, and over the next sixty minutes, my life would change forever.

It was called "With a Little Help from Our Friends," and it was done by something called "The Bob & Tom Show".  They were a morning radio show broadcast from Indianapolis, and I could not get enough of that tape.  I wore it out, got a second one from my friend, and lost it a couple of years later when I lent it to another friend.  The bits on that tape stayed with me over the years, from "18 Wheels on a Big Rig" by Heywood Banks (yes, Dallasites... that bit Kidd Kraddick used to play was the EXACT track from "The Bob & Tom Show"... you can hear Heywood actually say "OK, Mr. Smart Bob" on it) to the Love Brothers to "The Chicken Song," I could not stop laughing even after the billionth time listening.

After I lost that tape, I would go into a B&T void for many years until 1999.  I was in the music store in my local mall, and as was my custom, I would head straight for the comedy section to seek out the next big thing that no one was listening to.  Rummaging through the CD's, I found "Greatest Hits, Vol. 1" and it was like I had found something Indiana Jones would drop everything he was doing to go after.

From that day forward, I would hit every music store that I could find to forage through and find any B&T CD's that I could get my grubby little mitts on.  Over the years, I have amassed quite a bit, and even though I have a ways to go, I am proud of the collection that I have.  I have even gotten to go to Indiana a couple of times and gotten to listen to them live on the radio, which was a true treat for me, along with the television show they had on WGN America for a time, as well as a VIP Membership with their website so I can get the show each and every weekday in my iPod to listen in.

About a month ago, I woke up to read the news that at their Radio Hall of Fame induction, one half of the duo, Bob Kevoian, announced that he would be retiring at the end of 2015.  As heartbroken as I was to read the announcement, my heart was also warmed to know that he will be able to continue on with his wife travelling across the country in their Airstream and will be able to enjoy their twilight years together.  I have no doubt that the show will go on just like it has with the time Bob has taken off over the last few years (hindsight being what it its, they have been setting this up, but I guess I had blinders on), but today is a bitter sweet day for me to know that he has just finished up his last show with Tom, Kristi, and Chick and I patiently await for today's show (which is also their last show before their end-of-year break) to download.  (Also being the day that I get to see "The Force Awakens" just furthers the emotional roller-coaster of this day.  So, there is THAT.)

There are people in this world that we feel like are a part of our being.  They touch our lives in ways we never thought imaginable.  They are like family to us.  In this case, it is someone that I have never been in the same room with, never had a conversation with, and may never do so.  Bob: thank you for being part of an entity that has brought me more joy that I could have ever imagined for over half my life.  You have given all of us a debt that we will never be able to repay, and we are all totally OK with that.  Enjoy retirement, but don't be afraid to call in and say hey to the gang every once in a while.  It will be good to hear your voice and maybe even see some pictures of your exploits.

And one more thing: if you drop something on the floor, be careful getting back up if you are under a desk.  All the best to you and your family, sir.

Why Do Old People Discount Young Love?

I have often said that one of the great things about music is that listening to a song can bring you back to a specific place and time in your life to the point that you can even hear certain sounds and even remember specific scents of that time.  I had one of those moments this morning with a song I won't name... OK, it was "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You" by Michael Bolton... and it made me think of something.

When I wore a younger man's clothes (Billy Joel reference... nailed it), my luck with the ladies was not something you could consider stellar.  I seemed to be the King of the Friend Zone even before the Friend Zone had a name.  I even had a group of friends in that same boat and we called ourselves The Stepping Stones because we tended to be the nice guys girls dated in between the jerks.  It seemed to be our lot in life.  (Don't think this is a pity party here; we are all married and some of us have provided a new generation to our shenanigans.)  When we were fortunate to be able to call someone our girlfriend (much less have them refer to us as their boyfriend), life seemed a bit brighter.  The sun was warmer, food tasted better, air was cleaner to breathe, and we would waste more notebook paper on notes than we would on the classwork we were supposed to be paying attention to.

And then, there was the summertime.  There were quite a few times where I would go on vacations or to summer camp and somehow meet up with a young lady that would make my heart go pitter-patter.  I seriously was trying to figure out how to move to certain sections of the country so that I could meet girls based on where they were from.  It was like I had a War Room in my mind with maps of the United States everywhere, color coded based on my luck meeting girls from the different states.  Sad?  Maybe a little.  But I DO have an overactive imagination that I am not afraid to admit to.

But what happens when that budding love affair in those adolescent years ends?  Oh dear.  Hide the sharp objects and bring on the emotional rollercoaster that can only be equated to the effect they used on "Star Trek" whenever the Enterprise was fired upon: back and forth and back and forth and a lot of shaking.  We didn't want to talk and we felt that we were the only person in the world that understood what we were going through.  All the while, there were the adults in our lives telling us that we would see how silly we were when we got older.

Now that we ARE those adults, we do tend to use phrases like "Kiddo, you have not BEGUN to understand this," or "Everyone has to go through this at least once to grow," or even "Suck it up, buttercup: it's all downhill from here."  I get the fact that we have been there, done that, and have the scars to prove it, but why do we tend to discount these things to the generations that follow us?  It is true that we get frustrated that our kids don't want to listen to the advice of "the old people," but we all did the same thing.  Add to that the fact that each generations problems seem to get more complex (two words: THE INTERNET), and some of these kids don't know whether they are coming or going sometimes.  Heck, the same could be said of some of the adults that I know.

But here is where the complication comes in for me.  As I was listening to the Michael Bolton pseudo-power ballad lamenting for lost love and how it affected the songwriter's very existence, it made me realize something that young love lost has to deal with that we really don't.  Outside of the "summer love" that can truly be a struggle for young people in our age before computers made the entire planet accessible from our living rooms, most of their romantic relationships happen in school.  And what happens when they break up?  THEY STILL HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL.  They still have to see their former flame's friends, and they even have to see the next person they decide to bestow their affections on, and that has to be TORTURE.  As adults, it is a lot easier to bury our heads in the sand and avoid the other person.  (Unless you are dating within your office, and we all know the old saying about doing things where you eat.  That is just a tough deal.)  And outside of convincing your parents to put you in private school or one of the two of you moving to a different continent (because that is how we felt at that age... crossing international borders was the only solution), you were in that bubble five days a week for half of the year.  And heaven forbid if you had any classes together.  The mere proximity that you could not avoid was brutality, and it was somehow worse if it was not them in the class but one of their inner circle.  You KNEW that they knew stuff you didn't and that was enough to drive even a sane person to the brink of darkness.

Combine that with the hormone levels that can only be measured by the Hubble Telescope and you have a recipe for disaster.  Sure, the generation that dealt with that before us truly wants to help us through these times, but it was one of those things that we just had to fight through to get to the other side of. And all that us old people can do is wait for them to come to us.  And then we just tell them that this too will pass and to wake up and start another day tomorrow.  Because we were there and we understand on a certain level.

So, when the former Master of the Hair Cape sings about living without someone, remember how WE heard that song and it affected our world.  It's still going on with the younger people, and we need to respect that because all they have been living for may truly be gone in that moment.

Inside Prison Walls And Why I Can't Wait To Go Back

It is the night before a performance, and I can't go to bed just yet.  I know that I have to be up at 4:00 in the morning to get on the road to meet up with my guitarist down in Gatesville, Texas to do at least one (if not two) services in the morning.  Ken Belcher and I have been collectively known as Grace Descending for almost four years now, and I still get restless the night before we perform.

Many people have been clamoring to see us do what we do, and some have been able to see us at things like the Biker Bash in Granbury, Texas (which we will be at this year on September 5th in the late morning), or as part of the Battle of the Bands earlier this year in downtown Dallas.  Friends have been kind enough to check out our limited list of songs on Soundcloud and Reverb Nation, and some have even asked us to come and play for their churches, and we could not be more thankful for the friends we have made over the years that have also become some of our biggest supporters.  But the largest crowds that we have been able to play in front of are some of the most amazing and participatory crowds you will ever see.

They are in prison.

Now, when I say "they are in prison," I don't mean metaphorically (although some of them do qualify under this category).  I mean it literally.  Most of you know this, but for those of you that don't, Ken and I have been a part of a network of ministries that take the time to bring the Gospel to the men and women of various prisons of all levels around the state of Texas.  The first time I was able to do this was about four years ago when we were part of a Praise and Worship team at our church.  I have always been a "Lord, I will go where you send me" kind of guy, but when I agreed to do this for the first time, even I had to look up and say, "Did I hear you right?  THIS is where you want me to go?  Are you SURE?"  But knowing that I was going in surrounded by people that truly would not leave me on my own was enough to say I would try it at least once.

What I was not prepared for was how heavy the Holy Spirit would be in that place that evening.  These offenders truly had a heart for God that even made me ask myself some hard questions.  Their willingness to participate truly blew me away and it even made my faith a little bit stronger.  What I thought would be going into the darkness and hoping that a single person would hear what we had to say turned into a room with arms raised and voices singing that almost brought me to tears.

Since that day, we have just about seen it all in these services, but the biggest thing that we have seen is people changing their lives and focusing them on God.  I have heard my share of detractors that have a very jaded view of what may or may not go on while we are in there, but people will only believe what they want to believe.  I want to believe that we are truly doing our best to help people see the love of Jesus through us and want to be a part of the body of Christ.  Recently, we were even able to take our full band in with us thanks to the great Tammy Schaefer Ministries, who have stood by us through thick and thin with more love and support than any group of people should be allowed.  That service was one of the best services I have ever been a part of in any capacity.

And tomorrow, we get to do it again.  I have spent over 42 years on this planet, and my God has shown me so many things that I cannot understand what makes me worthy of the blessings that He gives me.  I am truly one of the luckiest souls on the planet on SO many levels: to be able to call Grace Descending a ministry that I am part of, to have people like Al & Tammy Schaefer and their entire ministry team past, present, and future in my life that support and give the chance to do what we do, to have people like Ken and Heather Belcher in my life as friends (someday, I will chronicle the Grace D story... it is an AMAZING one, kids) who I can honestly say are the yin to my yang, and I theirs, and to have so many great people that I have had the privilege to call "friend" and/or "family" that have lifted us up even when we didn't want to be.

Sure, the road can be long.  The temperatures can be less than desirable.  The hours can start early and end late.  But I would do it every day for the rest of my life if I could.  Hindsight being what it is, this thing called "music ministry" is something that has been in my blood my whole life.  Sometimes, I wish I could have figured it out much earlier, but there was no way that I would be ready for it.  Whether we want to believe it or not, God's time is on time, every time.  We can question why, we can shout to the heavens "WHY ME, LORD?  WHY NOT SOMEONE ELSE?"  But what we realize in the end, the answer is simple.

"Because it is part of My plan for you."

We don't always understand that plan; we are not meant to.  Sometimes, a leap of faith is just that.  It took me walking through that metal door for the first time to understand that plan, and that plan has taken me to places that I never thought possible and those places have made my understanding of the plan stronger and stronger.  I will tell you what I know is this: I can't wait to go through that metal door again and again and again.  I can't wait to bring The Word to the crowd in front of us.  I can't wait to see Kenny, Heather, Al, Tammy, and the rest of the crew.  And I hope someday, that we get to see all of you worshiping with us on the OUTSIDE of those gates.

I love you all more than you may ever know.

Rob

How Ring of Honor May Be Shooting Itself In Its Foot

With all of the turmoil surrounding TNA in recent months (talent not being paid in a timely manner, filming post-PPV episodes before the event, a lack of house shows), nothing has grabbed more headlines than the possible cancellation of “Impact Wrestling” from Destination America.  The rumors began in mid-May when there were allegations of an e-mail sent from TNA President Dixie Carter that spoke of the network in a very low light that was also sent to a Destination America executive.  As a result, a memo was allegedly leaked that spoke of the network dropping the show after the third quarter of 2015, even going so far as to say that it would delight their “DNA” sponsors (standing for “Do Not Advertise,” meaning they have certain sponsors that do not want their commercials to run during TNA programming).  Destination America would also cancel their Saturday morning recap show (hosted by Mike Tenay), where they would also reveal the Top 5 contenders for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship as well as a deeper look into the matches and storylines featured on “Impact Wrestling”.

Some saw the move of the show from Friday night back to Wednesday as a sign of some faith from the network because Friday night has always been seen as a “death slot” for programming.  Most people do not watch television on weekend nights, so many shows are sent to those slots to fade into obscurity.  With the advent of the DVR, the damage here has lessened and the reliance on the “+3” rating (meaning the number of people that have watched the show within three days of it airing on their DVRs) has helped more than one program stay on the air, albeit still on Friday nights.  Carter herself would tout these numbers on the Steve Austin Podcast recently, almost wearing it like a badge of courage.  There were many people that heard that interview, as well as her posts on social media, as rhetoric and spin to keep her talent happy and sticking around.  This may have been futile.

After the recent Slammiversary Pay-Per-View (which was POORLY attended last year in Arlington, Texas and took place in the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida this year holding about 1,000 people), a number of stars on the roster including mainstay James Storm, strong performer Magnus, up and coming personality Gunnar, and superstar Austin Aires left the company after their contracts expired, leaving larger questions of the company’s stability.  The rumors of trouble become even stronger with the departure of Storm, who has been there since the company’s inception and even was rumored to turn down an offer from World Wrestling Entertainment to make the jump a couple of years ago hot off of the very successful run of Beer Money, a tag team he was in with Bobby Roode and could be argued to be one of the greatest tag teams of the last two decades of the business.

In early June, Destination America made the announcement out of nowhere (and with little fanfare) that Ring of Honor would start airing a weekly show directly before “Impact Wrestling” on the very night that TNA would move to Wednesday nights.  There are two distinct schools of thought on this move: 1 – It was done in order to help boost ratings for TNA, as the two promotions have a long-standing relationship of talent swap and even full-time movement, or 2 – Ring of Honor was brought in to outshine TNA and therefore give Destination America sufficient reasoning to cancel “Impact Wrestling” and do its best to save face for the network.  Whether they would keep Ring of Honor after that can be left to speculation.

Where the fatal flaw in this plan lies is within the Ring of Honor organization.  For a time, their show aired on what used to be HDNet (currently known as AXS TV).  They had a little over a one year run on the premium cable network, and really knew how to focus on the wrestling aspect, letting the storyline aspect organically work its way out of the matches themselves.  It was wrestling for the sake of wrestling without having to try to beat that into the heads of its audience (reference the TNA campaign of “Wrestling Matters,” which it really did not seem to).  Once HDNet cancelled the show, ROH would bounce around here and there until landing a syndication deal with Sinclair Entertainment.  This would get them in some markets, but not enough to really give them the spark to get things moving.  For instance, there was no affiliate in the Dallas/Fort Worth market until recently, and now it is local, on the NESN channel through the cable sports package, and now Destination America.  The show still has the quality that it had before.  ROH seems to get it right: keep your shows in small arenas, focus on both your established talent and up-and-comers, do quality talent trades with promotions like New Japan and feature them on your programming as much as your partners feature your talent.  It does not have the big-time feel that WWE has, or the sitcom production vibe that TNA has; it is its own element.

But here lies the problem.  When Destination America aired the first episode of Ring of Honor on its network, IT WAS THE SAME EPISODE THAT NESN SHOWED THREE DAYS EARLIER.  The new episodes usually air on Saturdays and re-run throughout the week.  Some attributed that week to the short notice that ROH had to get SOMETHING on the air for 8 Eastern on Wednesday night (the announcement came down about four days earlier to those who pay attention on the Internet), but when it happened the next week, and the next, and the next, concern has started to set in.  It could be understood if the deal that ROH made with Destination America was more of the second school of thought two paragraphs ago, but this could also be seen as a golden opportunity.

By showing an episode that has been aired a half-dozen times before it hits Destination America lessens your chance of going out there and truly making your mark.  It would seem like ROH would treat Destination America like WWE treats the USA Network: as the flagship.  Make that the show where you make your moves and shakes, and work with Sinclair and NESN to do shows like WWE used to do with its syndicated affiliates with the lesser shows like “Wrestling Challenge” or “Superstars”.  These were one-hour shows that did not necessarily move any storylines forward (mostly main roster guys getting wins over a combination of local wrestlers or guys on the roster that would be the Washington Generals to the star’s Harlem Globetrotters, known as “jobbers to the stars”.  This would give the audience on Destination America the opportunity to have something truly for themselves, and ROH would have a show to develop any main angles that they want to but give their whole roster more time to get the exposure that they need.

To take it one step further, ROH could even use NESN for a B-show, as WWE uses SyFy for “SmackDown!”.  (That show will be moving to the USA Network in January of 2016, but they are both under the NBC/Universal umbrella, so it’s more like a lateral move for the network.)  This would give them another outlet to expand a bit more, and given that all of their programming are one-hour blocks, they could even get an entire week of programming in one or two nights per week by staying in the same venue and taping the Sinclair matches, followed by the NESN and Destination America shows.  Live shows may not benefit them at this point, but they also tend to tape a bunch of episodes in advance as well, evident by the episodes that have aired since they had their latest Pay-Per-View, “Best in the World,” that do not really deal with any fallout from the show.

Ring of Honor have a true opportunity here to show the strength of their promotion, as long as they do not squander it in the manner that they currently are.  Even the rumors of them getting a deal with Spike TV after “Impact Wrestling” was let go could fire back up in a strange reversal of fortune.