Eric Clapton Invited to North Korea

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Rick Watts

Feb 27: On This Day in Music

In 2008 – Eric Clapton is invited to play a landmark concert in communist North Korea, according to an official at the country’s embassy in London. The confirmation follows a report in today’s Financial Times which claimed that North Korea had invited Clapton to perform in the capital Pyongyang in 2009.

In 2004 – A worker in a supermarket in Aspen, Colorado alerted the police-after seeing a man shopping with his face covered by a mask. Police arrived on the scene and identified the man as Michael Jackson who was in town on holiday with his children.

In 1977 – Not a good day for Keith Richards. While sleeping at Toronto’s Harbour Castle Hotel, he’s awakened by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who search the suite. They find 22 grams of heroin, 5 grams of cocaine, and drug paraphernalia. The Rolling Stones guitarist is arrested and charged with possessing cocaine and heroin with intent to traffic. He’s released on $25,000 bail and trial is set for October.

And in 1967 – Pink Floyd record Arnold Layne, their first single.

Freight Rail Car Incident Training to Be Held

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Rick Watts

(KNOXVILLE, Iowa) – In 2008, the Federal Railway Administration (FRA) reported there were more than 7,000 rail car accidents and incidents, 20 of which involved hazardous materials requiring the evacuation of over 5,000 people. In the last five years there have been 166 incidents involving hazardous materials, most of which occurred in rural America according to the FRA.

As more and more rail traffic involves the transportation of valuable cargo and hazardous materials, the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium (RDPC) is providing critical training to help rural first responders, government administrators, and emergency managers in the Knoxville, Iowa area respond more effectively to a freight rail car incident.

RDPC will be delivering a free Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-certified course, AWR 147 – Rail Car Incident Response, from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM on March 10, 2018 at Marion County Public Health Department, 2003 N. Lincoln Street, Knoxville, Iowa. The course will educate those on the frontlines of defense in their community on what to do in the event of a rail car incident involving hazardous materials.

The eight-hour, instructor-led course will introduce the rural responder community to basic rail car design and construction features as well as damage assessment strategies to help interpret damage to the rail cars in a hazmat incident. Upon completion of the course, participants will be better prepared to respond to a freight car incident without endangering the health and safety of the responders and the environment.

To register – contact: Iowa Homeland Security & Emergency Management or contact Kim Pettyjohn at 641-828-2256 or email kpettyjohn@co.marion.ia.us.

Offbeat News: Exercising Demons, A Wiz Kid & More

Posted on February 27, 2018February 27, 2018 by Rick Watts

“Exercising Demons”

The Vatican is set to hold a week-long international conference in April after demands for exorcisms have increased. The church is particularly concerned about the inconsistent skills in current exorcists and fear priests are no longer willing to learn how to do it.

This all comes after a four-day meeting in Sicily where one of the organizers, Friar Beningo Palilla, said there are at least 500,000 cases asking for exorcisms a year in Italy. Why so many? Palilla thinks it’s because people often see fortune tellers and Tarot readers that “open the door to the devil and to possession.” Regardless of the demand, Palilla thinks priests could use some extra training.

He suggests intense training for priests to become exorcists including an apprenticeship. The goal of the conference will be “to offer a rich reflection and articulation on a topic that is sometimes unspoken and controversial.”

“Vote ‘The King’ for Congress”

It seems that Elvis Presley is gunning for the open congressional seat in Arkansas. We’re not talking about the actual King. Elvis D. Presley actually impersonates the rock and roller Elvis A. Presley, but now he’s switching gears to run as the Libertarian nominee for congress in Arkansas. His opponent? Republican Rep. Rick Crawford, who’s held the position four terms.

“Wiz Kid in a Doozy”

A boy got trapped on an elevator in China after peeing on the control panel. Surveillance camera shows the boy taking a wiz on the buttons, which caused the elevator to malfunction. The doors never fully open and the elevator eventually goes dark sending the boy into panic. Turns out his pee caused the control panel to short circuit. He was eventually rescued, but he and his family are expected to pay for the damage he caused.

“Think Before You Ink”

A U.K. tattoo artist, Eli Ink has inked his entire body including his eyeballs and the inside of his mouth. The process for inking his eyes could have gone terribly wrong, but he doesn’t care. It’s all part of his plan to look like a character in a Pablo Picasso painting.

“In my opinion, the only person who will only ever understand my transition properly is me. I don’t attempt to describe it to anyone,” Ink says. “I wanted to look like an abstract character in one of Picasso’s paintings. I love the abstract look, no thought, just pure expression.”

Tattooing his eyes could have had horrible consequences, but that was a risk Ink was willing to take. “That’s the risk you take letting anyone near your eyes, even trained surgeons can make mistake,” he notes. “Body modification is a risk taker’s lifestyle.”

So with all he’s done to modify his body already, what’s next? “I will never be finished,” he offers. “It will take me the rest of my life to finish my studies but I am dedicating the rest of my life to body modification and perfecting my work.”

STUPID CRIMINALS:

Australian police have arrested a man who managed to fit 650 pounds of the meth ingredient ephedrine inside highlighter markers. The New South Wales Police Force teamed up with the Australian Border Force after finding 50 boxes of 21,000 pens containing the substance. This amount of ephedrine could have been used to make $120-million in meth.
Police in Missouri have arrested Jonathan A. Menth after he led cops on a chase while driving an ATV naked. Menth led the chase for about 20 minutes and even went on the interstate. Police were eventually able to arrest him and he’s charged with second-degree burglary, tampering with a motor vehicle, and first degree sexual misconduct.
A Florida man was arrested after setting his neighbor’s Corvette on fire. Brandon Rivera claims his neighbors have stolen things from him including his lawnmower. Rivera used a Gatorade bottle filled with gasoline and poured it into the car. He then lit it on fire with a lighter, closed the door of the car, and walked away. His neighbors’ roommate was there at the time and put the fire out with a garden hose. Rivera was charged with burglary and arson.

For more Offbeat News, check out DJ Bob Allen’s Facebook Page, tune your dial to 99.5FM KMZN, or click here to listen live.

Osbourne Family Creates Podcast

Posted on February 23, 2018February 23, 2018 by Rick Watts

Believe it or not, it’s been 13 years since “The Osbournes” ended its run on MTV. Now the family is getting back together for a Podcast called “The Osbournes Podcast”. New episodes are slated to come out weekly, beginning on March 5, 2018.

Jack Osbourne will serve as the host, and the family will talk about their old TV show, and have guests like comedian Sheryl Underwood and singer Carnie Wilson.

Jack says, “There’s been talk about bringing ‘The Osbournes’ back, but it would never work. I thought, ‘Well, this is probably the next best thing.'”

An UNCENSORED preview is available at TheOsbournePodcast.com.

Dire Straits First U.S. Tour

Posted on February 23, 2018February 23, 2018 by Rick Watts

Feb. 23: On This Day in Music

In 2003 – Howie Epstein, 47, former bassist for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, dies at a hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A female companion who transports Epstein to the hospital claims that he had been doing heroin and taking prescription antibiotics for an illness.

In 1983 – A collection of former studio musicians who call themselves Toto win Album Of The Year for “Toto IV” and Record Of The Year for “Rosanna”, at the 25th Grammy Awards.

In 1979 – The first tour of the U.S. and Canada by Dire Straits opens at the Paradise Club in Boston. The group logs 51 sold-out shows in 38 days.

And in 1944 – Johnny Winter is born. Signing to Columbia records in 1969 called largest solo artist deal of it’s time, Johnny immediately laid out the blueprint for his fresh take on classic blues a prime combination for the legions of fans just discovering the blues via the likes of Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton. Constantly shifting between simple country blues in the vein of Robert Johnson, to all-out electric slide guitar blues-rock, – Johnny has always been one of the most respected singers and guitar players in rock and the clear link between British blues-rock and American Southern rock (a la the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.) Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, Johnny was the unofficial torch-bearer for the blues, championing and aiding the careers of his idols like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.

Offbeat News: A Message in a Bottle, Stupid Criminals & More

Posted on February 23, 2018February 23, 2018 by Rick Watts

“Message in a Bottle”

Kent Howlett and his father Jack found a bottle containing a message on an Australian beach 60 years ago. The message, which was written by a man named Billy Hare and mentioned the Hare family, included a menu of a voyage from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand.

Kent says his father searched for the Hare family but had no luck finding them and the message was forgotten in a drawer ever since. But through social media, Kent was able to contact Lindy Hare, daugher of William “Billy” Hare and Kent took to Facebook to announce the two would be meeting up soon and exchange stories surrounding the mystery message in a bottle. Lindy says her father died in 2013, but she still has photos from their trip to New Zealand.

Turns out Billy had an incredible life. Besides his link to the message in a bottle, he was Australia’s first radiology professor who brought about the country’s first ultrasound, angiograms and breast screenings.

As for what to do with the message in a bottle, Kent wants to leave that up to Lindy. “I’ll leave it to her whether she wishes to keep them herself or, if not, perhaps it’s museum fodder,” Kent says. “It certainly would be unfortunate to see it in the back of a drawer for another 50 years.”

“Treat Yourself”

A U.K. nursing home is feeling the heat after hiring pole dancers as entertainment for its elders. Local counselors deemed the choice “inappropriate,” but the managers over at Fairmile Grange care home are proud of the decision.

According to operations and quality director Izzy Nicholls, the “residents were given several choices of activity.” Turns out they chose the pole dancers to perform.

Counselor Peter Hall says it’s inappropriate. “It’s not really the sort of entertainment I would have thought that the residents wanted or would have encouraged,” Hall said. Social media, on the other hand, is praising the home with many people saying residents should be able to enjoy themselves.

“Ketchup Fiend”

A Mumbai man now holds the Guinness World Record for slugging down a bottle of ketchup in 30 seconds. Dinesh Shivnath Upadhyaya holds a few Guinness World Records now, including fitting 88 grapes in his mouth and eating nearly 10 ounces of peanut butter in one minute. He says, “I am doing this record to prove myself as best in this amazing world in this particular record field.” You can see the video here.

STUPID CRIMINALS:

Troy Miller has a striking resemblance to Mathew McConaughey, but he’s not fooling anyone. After police got a call of a suspicious person ringing doorbells in Georges Township, Pennsylvania, they found Miller sitting in a resident’s car claiming to be McConaughey. He was arrested and charged with attempted theft of a motor vehicle, false identification to law enforcement, and loitering and prowling at night. If you’d like to judge for yourself, you can check out the photo at the Bob’s Morning Brew Facebook page.
Louisiana police have arrested a man who broke into a home wearing a towel over his head. After breaking into the home, Rashawn Cooper realizes there’s a security camera and walks out of view. Later he’s seen with a towel over his head to disguise himself. Cooper ended up taking a PlayStation 4 and the security camera. The footage was backed up on to a cloud so it really didn’t matter that he took it. Police found him with the help of the public.

Mahaska County Wind Farm Now Complete

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Rick Watts

(MAHASKA COUNTY, Iowa) — MidAmerican Energy Company has announced that it has completed two new wind farms in Iowa that add 338 megawatts of wind generation capacity, with one of those farms located in Mahaska County.

According to a news release sent by MidAmerican, the Beaver Creek Wind Farm in Boone and Greene Counties as well as the Prairie Wind Farm in Mahaska County are now in operation. The 168-megawatt Prairie Wind Farm began generating electricity in the Fall 2017, with the final four megawatts put into service Jan. 2018.

Construction started in the spring of 2017, following approval by the Iowa Utilities Board in 2016.

“We’re committed to providing reliable service and outstanding value to our customers, and wind energy accomplishes both,” says Mike Fehr, vice president of resource development at MidAmerican Energy. “Wind energy is good for our customers, and it’s an abundant, renewable resource that also energizes the economy.”

The release states that MidAmerican Energy anticipates that renewable generation will equate to more than 90% of its customers’ annual retail electricity usage by 2020.

By Hailey Brown, KBOE/KMZN

Offbeat News: Friday the 13th, Weird Criminals & More

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Rick Watts

“Gotta Get Down on Friday”

If you’re a fan of the movie “Friday the 13th” – you can now enter for a chance to win a stay the campsite where the movie was filmed. A VIP package for Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, which is typically used as a Boy Scout camp, is up for auction until Feb. 27. The package includes an activity with dinner, a stay in the camp’s log cabins and breakfast with another activity in the morning.

The overnight stay will take place on April 13, which just so happens to be a Friday. Crystal Lake Tours is also offering a lottery for tours of the camp to take place April 13-14. The deadline for that ends March 4.

Tickets are going for $135 to $175. Adrienne King, who played the lone survivor in the movie, will attend the festivities. No word if Jason Voorhees will make an appearance.

“💩”

Poop is becoming a very popular trend among toy companies. Mattel is the latest to jump on the bandwagon with their new game Flushin’ Frenzy, which features a flying brown plastic poop. Hasbro’s toilet trouble was popular last year and they’re adding to their poop games with Don’t Step In It. The game has players avoid stepping in poop shaped clay while blindfolded.

But that’s not all. Sticky the Poo is a squishy fellow with eyes and can cling to walls and ceilings. Toy company, Hog Wild also created a rainbow version, Sticky Unicorn Poo. Of course Sticky the Plunger is sold separately. So what’s with the poop? We can thank a certain poop emoji for that.

Toy analyst for the NPD Group Juli Lennett says, “Yeah, poop is a theme.” Experts say the wildly popular poop emoji is making poop toys cool for parents to buy their kids. Lennett adds, “Kids think it’s funny.”

“Read Label Before Using”

A Detroit man used a smoke bomb in his crawl space to get rid of the skunks in his house. Though it worked, he nearly burned his house down in the process. When firefighters arrived, his crawlspace and first floor already had flames. Officials warn that pest control should be called if critters are in the home, but if you’re desperate to take care of the situation yourself, understand the instructions on a smoke bomb before applying it to your home.

“In West Philadelphia, Born & Raised”

Philadelphia police received a strange call that a dinosaur was roaming the streets. Officers responded to the call, but were put at ease once they realized what was going on. They posted a video of a person dressed as a T-Rex taking their kid to school. Officers completed their investigation with a “No problem. Clear.”

WEIRD CRIMINALS:

Surveillance footage shows a burglar glance at a picture of Jesus before he proceeds to rob a church in St. Louis. Police say the man forced his way into Most Sacred Heart Catholic Church and stole property. Police haven’t described said property, but ask for help finding the suspect.
A North Carolina man was arrested five minutes after he robbed a bank with a stick. Police say Kendrick Hart “walked into the bank holding a large stick” and “yelled, ‘This is a robbery.’” He proceeded to jump over the counter and grab an unknown amount of money. Five minutes later he was found in the parking lot of a Rob and Ray’s Grocery and taken into custody. He’s ben charged with armed robbery.
A New Brunswick man and woman were arrested at a drive-thru after robbing a bank. Jody Sanipass and an unnamed woman just robbed an RBC Royal Bank before stopping at the Tim Horton’s drive-thru, but police got to them before they could place an order. Officials say thousands of dollars were recovered.

The Eagles Add More Tour Dates

Posted on February 21, 2018 by Rick Watts

The Eagles continue to expand their tour. The group has now added more shows to their current schedule, including new dates in New York and Newark, second and final shows in Chicago and Detroit, and a third show in Los Angeles. The tour will bring the group to Iowa in March as well.

The Eagles’ trek, which will feature Deacon Frey and Vince Gill in place of the late Glenn Frey, is set to kick off March 12, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Tickets for the new shows go on sale Friday, March 2 at 10 AM.

Check out the new dates below and click here for a complete schedule.

September 15: Inglewood, CA – the Forum

October 9: New York, NY – Madison Square Garden

October 12: Newark, NJ – Prudential Center

October 14: Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena

October 15: Chicago, IL – United Center

Source: Eagles

Posted on February 21, 2018 by Rick Watts

February 21st: On This Day in Music

1961: Three gigs – One day. That was The Beatles m.o. on Feb. 21, 1961. The first show was a lunchtime exhibition at The Cavern Club, then at night they appeared at the Cassanova Club in Liverpool and then at Litherland Town Hall, also in Liverpool.

1964: At the time an unknown piano player, Billy Joel is recruited to join The Echoes, a band from New York.

1967: Pink Floyd starts their first sessions at the EMI Studios in London on their debut album.

1968: Otis Redding enters the UK singles chart for the first time with ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay’. It goes on to be a No. 3 hit and the song became the first posthumous single to top the charts in the US.

1970: Simon and Garfunkel rockets to No. 1 on the UK chart with ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’.

1972: Led Zeppelin releases ‘Rock And Roll / Four Sticks’ as a 7 inch single in the US, peaking at No. 47 on the chart.

1986: Metallica releases their third and highly influential album, Master of Puppets. This was the last Metallica album with bassist Cliff Burton who was killed when the group’s tour bus overturned while touring to promote the album.

2004: Mud singer Les Gray dies of a heart attack while fighting throat cancer at the age of 57.

2008: A computer expert is jailed for two years for stalking Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington electronically. Devon Townsend worked at a US national security laboratory in New Mexico, where she allegedly used a computer to track Bennington. She admitted to obtaining family photos, accessing e-mail and voicemail, and threatening his wife.

2014: A statue of a weeping Kurt Cobain (of Nirvana fame) is unveiled in his hometown of Aberdeen, Washington.

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Feb 27: On This Day in Music

“Exercising Demons”

“Vote ‘The King’ for Congress”

“Wiz Kid in a Doozy”

“Think Before You Ink”

Feb. 23: On This Day in Music

By Hailey Brown, KBOE/KMZN

“💩”

WEIRD CRIMINALS:

February 21st: On This Day in Music

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