Mixing My Love for Sports and Music
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted on here, but life has been hectic. Having a 6-year-old, working a full-time gig (one that I am extremely grateful for), and hosting a very successful podcast definitely takes its toll. It also doesn’t leave a lot of room for free time.
Speaking of that podcast I mentioned, something very exciting happened recently and I felt the need to write about it. For those who don’t listen, my St. Louis Blues hockey podcast, Lets Go Blues Radio, kicked off its seventh season this summer and we have started out with a bang. The original Blues podcast (yes, we were the first) had a big summer, as I decided to wrangle personalities in and around the Blues hockey team and interview one or two each week during the off months. Usually, we sign off for the summer, but I decided to try something different.
The result? Our listenership more than tripled from our last regular season show in 2017-18 to our first live regular season show in 2018-19.
When I began brainstorming this idea in early April, I decided that the Talkin’ Blues Summer Interview Series deserved a new theme song. I thought back to the heyday of my Blues fandom, early 2000s, and one song stood out from that time. Local musician and DJ from St. Louis’ KSHE95 and KLOU, Smash, had recorded a song with fellow musician and leader of the local band Butch Wax and the Hollywoods, Gene Ackman. This song was aptly named Let’s Go Blues. What better song for Let’s Go Blues Radio?
Personally, this song always meant a lot for me. It goes beyond the fact that this was written for my favorite Blues team (2000-01). It goes beyond the fact that local legendary pianist Johnnie Johnson was a part of it. It even goes beyond the fact that Smash was a staple to my radio-listening younger years. This was something associated with my late father.
Yes yes, another post about dear ‘ole daddy Ponder. Don’t worry, I’ll make this part short.
When I was 15, and this song was released, I was at the height of my Blues fandom. It was 24/7 Blues hockey, whether I was at home or at school, discussing every play and emulating each play when I took to the rink (as best I could). My dad was at the center of this, taking me to games, letting me stay up late for the California road trips and even surprising me with Blues merchandise he had won in golf tournaments. One day, he discovered Smash and Gene had released an album titled, St. Louis Sports Songs, which included the aforementioned Blues song, as well as Rams song Gotta Go to Work, Cardinals song Pennant Fever and a mix of cover songs, including my favorite, Higher, originally performed by Jackie Wilson. He bought it while I was at school and surprised me with it when I came home.
Needless to say, it became the one CD we listened to when we drove downtown for Blues games. It was as much my teenage years as Surge soda, Pro Beach Hockey and Batman: The Animated Series.
Fast forward to my interview series. I decided to reach out to Smash and Gene to see if they were willing to let me use their song for the summer. Not only were they accepting, they were excited to have their song revived and agreed to come on for an interview at some time to discuss the creation of the Blues’ anthem.
We met for dinner and did the interview at a fine establishment in Chesterfield. Talking for about an hour, Smash, Gene and I first joked about rewriting the song to include current Blues players and themes. After a few mentions of it, Smash and Gene shook hands in front of me and decided to actually follow through and have it ready early in the season.
[Listen to this interview in its entirety at LetsGoBlues.com or iTunes, Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts]
The next few weeks were spent with emails back and forth between the three of us. They asked my opinion on some lyrics, I told them which players definitely need to be mentioned, etc. The day they went in the studio and sent me pictures of them working on it was a thrilling experience, even just receiving updates on my phone.
This past Friday, Smash and Gene joined me on a special edition of Lets Go Blues Radio to release the song. That’s right, our listeners were first to hear this exclusive new song.
If you’ve ever heard anything from Smash or Gene, you know what you are getting. Supreme quality, passionate lyrics and an enjoyable tune that will stick in your head for days. They delivered with the new Let’s Go Blues, as this IS St. Louis music. This is what the team was named after and it adds wonderfully written lyrics to an already enjoyable melody.
[Hear the song’s release on this special edition at LetsGoBlues.com, as well as wherever you get your podcasts]
And it all happened on my little Blues podcast. Along with my co-hosts Curt Price and Bill Day, we’ve seen this show grow exponentially from the start and we couldn’t be prouder of the final product we release each week. This was just icing on the cake for what was a thrilling summer for our show. We only continue to crank out quality shows every week, too (in my opinion, which is always correct).
As I say probably too much on Twitter, I do want to thank each and every one of you for tuning into our podcast. You’ve helped it become the highest rated Blues podcast on iTunes and one of the most listened to St. Louis podcasts. I’m always humbled by the reviews we’ve received on iTunes, the tweets we get during the show and the praise we receive on all social media platforms. It’s the listeners that make all this work worth it.
To Smash and Gene, I can’t thank you guys enough for what you’ve done for the Blues community over the years. I know I am not the only one who enjoys this new rendition; it will be playing in stereos, Bluetooth speakers and phones everywhere in the area soon enough. Keep up the excellent work.
For those of you who enjoy my work on the podcast, stay tuned to my Twitter (@jponder94), as I have another project in the works. It’s still a long ways off, but it’s something I’m excited to roll out hopefully sometime in 2019. Let’s just say my fellow comic book nerds may enjoy this one.
I just need to find the time to get started on it. Now I must go pick up the kid, play in a hockey game, work on a marketing project or hang up Christmas lights. I can’t remember which takes more importance…
Until next time.
The result? Our listenership more than tripled from our last regular season show in 2017-18 to our first live regular season show in 2018-19.
When I began brainstorming this idea in early April, I decided that the Talkin’ Blues Summer Interview Series deserved a new theme song. I thought back to the heyday of my Blues fandom, early 2000s, and one song stood out from that time. Local musician and DJ from St. Louis’ KSHE95 and KLOU, Smash, had recorded a song with fellow musician and leader of the local band Butch Wax and the Hollywoods, Gene Ackman. This song was aptly named Let’s Go Blues. What better song for Let’s Go Blues Radio?
Personally, this song always meant a lot for me. It goes beyond the fact that this was written for my favorite Blues team (2000-01). It goes beyond the fact that local legendary pianist Johnnie Johnson was a part of it. It even goes beyond the fact that Smash was a staple to my radio-listening younger years. This was something associated with my late father.
Yes yes, another post about dear ‘ole daddy Ponder. Don’t worry, I’ll make this part short.
When I was 15, and this song was released, I was at the height of my Blues fandom. It was 24/7 Blues hockey, whether I was at home or at school, discussing every play and emulating each play when I took to the rink (as best I could). My dad was at the center of this, taking me to games, letting me stay up late for the California road trips and even surprising me with Blues merchandise he had won in golf tournaments. One day, he discovered Smash and Gene had released an album titled, St. Louis Sports Songs, which included the aforementioned Blues song, as well as Rams song Gotta Go to Work, Cardinals song Pennant Fever and a mix of cover songs, including my favorite, Higher, originally performed by Jackie Wilson. He bought it while I was at school and surprised me with it when I came home.
Needless to say, it became the one CD we listened to when we drove downtown for Blues games. It was as much my teenage years as Surge soda, Pro Beach Hockey and Batman: The Animated Series.
Fast forward to my interview series. I decided to reach out to Smash and Gene to see if they were willing to let me use their song for the summer. Not only were they accepting, they were excited to have their song revived and agreed to come on for an interview at some time to discuss the creation of the Blues’ anthem.
We met for dinner and did the interview at a fine establishment in Chesterfield. Talking for about an hour, Smash, Gene and I first joked about rewriting the song to include current Blues players and themes. After a few mentions of it, Smash and Gene shook hands in front of me and decided to actually follow through and have it ready early in the season.
[Listen to this interview in its entirety at LetsGoBlues.com or iTunes, Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts]
The next few weeks were spent with emails back and forth between the three of us. They asked my opinion on some lyrics, I told them which players definitely need to be mentioned, etc. The day they went in the studio and sent me pictures of them working on it was a thrilling experience, even just receiving updates on my phone.
This past Friday, Smash and Gene joined me on a special edition of Lets Go Blues Radio to release the song. That’s right, our listeners were first to hear this exclusive new song.
If you’ve ever heard anything from Smash or Gene, you know what you are getting. Supreme quality, passionate lyrics and an enjoyable tune that will stick in your head for days. They delivered with the new Let’s Go Blues, as this IS St. Louis music. This is what the team was named after and it adds wonderfully written lyrics to an already enjoyable melody.
[Hear the song’s release on this special edition at LetsGoBlues.com, as well as wherever you get your podcasts]
And it all happened on my little Blues podcast. Along with my co-hosts Curt Price and Bill Day, we’ve seen this show grow exponentially from the start and we couldn’t be prouder of the final product we release each week. This was just icing on the cake for what was a thrilling summer for our show. We only continue to crank out quality shows every week, too (in my opinion, which is always correct).
As I say probably too much on Twitter, I do want to thank each and every one of you for tuning into our podcast. You’ve helped it become the highest rated Blues podcast on iTunes and one of the most listened to St. Louis podcasts. I’m always humbled by the reviews we’ve received on iTunes, the tweets we get during the show and the praise we receive on all social media platforms. It’s the listeners that make all this work worth it.
To Smash and Gene, I can’t thank you guys enough for what you’ve done for the Blues community over the years. I know I am not the only one who enjoys this new rendition; it will be playing in stereos, Bluetooth speakers and phones everywhere in the area soon enough. Keep up the excellent work.
For those of you who enjoy my work on the podcast, stay tuned to my Twitter (@jponder94), as I have another project in the works. It’s still a long ways off, but it’s something I’m excited to roll out hopefully sometime in 2019. Let’s just say my fellow comic book nerds may enjoy this one.
I just need to find the time to get started on it. Now I must go pick up the kid, play in a hockey game, work on a marketing project or hang up Christmas lights. I can’t remember which takes more importance…
Until next time.
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