Photo Courtesy YouTube

Check out 14-year old girl named Tina shred Van Halen’s ‘Eruption’!

- Adam Greenwald, 104.1 Jack FM Minneapolis

“The Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration” kicks off June 18 in Pittsburgh, where Haynes will be joined by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The tour will continue with two bursts of dates throughout the summer, with Haynes being accompanied by local orchestras in each of the eight cities. (Full list of performances here.)

Haynes, of course, has a history with the Grateful Dead. He played in bassist Phil Lesh’s band, Phil Lesh & Friends, for years, and produced Lesh’s 2002 album There And Back Again. He also did some time in The Dead, which featured Grateful Dead members Lesh, guitarist/singer Bob Weir, and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann.

Haynes organizes some annual musical events — the Mountain Jam festival every summer and the Christmas jam in December — but he says this tour wasn’t his idea.

“We got a call from the people representing the Garcia Estate, saying they wanted to do a series of symphony shows doing Jerry’s music, and that they were going to have a few guest performers, and they wanted to know if I wanted to be the first guest artist,” he told Radio.com. “I was very honored.”

It turns out, Haynes had wanted to go the orchestral route for some time, but never had the right concept, until now.

“I’ve always wanted to do something with a symphony, but I never have, so it’s a really great challenge for me, and I was really psyched. I think it’s gonna be really amazing.”

Of course, a hallmark of both Garcia’s and Haynes’ music is improvisation. But how much can you improvise with an orchestra, particularly when you are performing with a different one every night?

“I felt like it was very important that we take the Grateful Dead spirit and to approach the symphonic production in a way that is different from the norm,” he explained. “I didn’t want it to be just like a symphony playing that music. We’re starting to figure out that there are ways to make it work. There are going to be certain windows that allow for improvisation. Other times, I have to keep my solos more part of the structure.”

He says that he’ll draw from both the Grateful Dead’s songbook, but also from Garcia’s solo career (the tour’s poster resembles Garcia’s 1978 album Cats Under The Stars). But Haynes is selecting the songs methodically.

“I’m picking some songs that I’m less familiar with, and some things that I’ve never sung or played before, mostly because of how wonderful I think they’ll sound with the orchestra,” Haynes said. “I didn’t want it to be  just a random selection of cool Jerry Garcia songs. It’s gonna be all music that the orchestra is gonna embellish in a way that’s gonna freak everybody out.”

He’s hoping to have a few special guests join him when he’s in the Dead’s hometown of San Francisco on August 1 and 2.

“Well, I spoke to Phil [Lesh] when the opportunity first arose and kinda got his thoughts about it,” Haynes said. “After I accepted the offer, we started looking at possibilities for  arrangers, I sent the list of candidates to Phil to get his thoughts, because he’s so well versed in classical music, and that’s just not my area of expertise. I’m hoping we see Phil or Bob when we play the Bay Area, it would be great to see those guys, if the schedules permit. And who knows, maybe we could make it work out to play together.”

Haynes also notes that he wants to release a live album from the tour. Today (May 23) Haynes will host a chat on Jerry Garcia’s officialFacebook page at 4 p.m. ET to discuss the tour.

– Brian Ives, Radio.com

(Photo by Joern Pollex/Getty Images)

Butt-dialing is never good and almost always embarrassing.

Two thieves were up to no good when one’s cell phone accidentally dialed 911. According to the Huffington Post, the dispatcher listened in for awhile when she got no answer but could still hear voices on the other end of the line. When the two thieves began talking about breaking into a car and where they could obtain drugs, she dispatched a police car to find the pair.

The dispatcher remained on the line until Nathan Teklemariam and Carson Rinehart, both 20, were arrested. On the phone, the two men can be heard wondering why a cop was following them.

- Jack FM Dallas

Jack FM’s Memorial Weekend Party Trains — 18 hours of full throttle raging on us, liquor tap, blown ear drum, and EPIC hangover on you!

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Thirsty and on the run? The police can wait a few while you grab a cold one.

A 21-year-old Andrew Fatzinger was caught early Sunday morning looting a home in Lighthouse Point, Florida and vandalizing it with graffiti and mustard. According to the Huffington Post, he’d also been filling a suitcase with laptops, medications, and other electronics. He fled when he spotted police, which turned into a ground and helicopter chase.

A deputy in the helicopter says he watched Fatzinger dart into a second house and come back out with two bottle of beer in hand. Sadly, he didn’t have time to drink them as he later discarded the beverages while trying to get away.

A K-9 eventually cornered the man, but he allegedly punched the dog. He was finally apprehended and charged with burglary, grand theft, striking a police dog, and resisting arrest with violence.

The owner of the pilfered beer bottles is also seeking to press charges.

- Jack FM Dallas

Juggling isn’t just for clowns and circus performers anymore. Now Juggling is for athletes. Major League Combat features the sport of combat juggling, which is a combination of dodgeball, tag, and juggling.

Buzzfeed is reporting that juggling enthusiast, Jason Garfield founded the league back in 2010 after several years of planning and preparation. The league has turned a game that jugglers used to play with one another into a formal sport.

The basic idea of the sport is to maintain control of your own juggling clubs while preventing your opponent from juggling. The last juggler standing wins the game.

Players are out when their club hits the floor, one of their clubs is stolen, or they stop juggling for any reason. The sport has a physical side to it as well, light bumping and arm-to-arm altercations are permitted. There are several different variations of Combat Juggling including, Sumo Combat, 360-Degree Combat, Kill the King and  Zombie Combat.

The sport has held tournaments in several cities including Brooklyn, Las Vegas, and Quebec (let’s keep our fingers crossed for DFW). Garfield claims that there are 50 regular players that make up ten different teams currently in the league.

According to the MLC website they plan to grow the sport globally by airing coverage of our events on broadcast television. They have made progress in that direction, ESPN streamed the MLC tournament that was held in Vegas last year, you can see the highlights from that tournament in the video above.

What do you think of Combat Juggling? Let us know in the comments below.

- Jack FM Dallas

Check out this video by Jeff Loven filmed in Hudson, WI and get your polka on!

- Adam Greenwald, 104.1 Jack FM Minneapolis

A spokesperson for Franklin said that the 71-year-old singer will reschedule her two dates from May 20th in Chicago and May 26th in Connecticut and pick up the remainder of her tour in July.

Franklin announced the canceled dates earlier this month to seek medical treatment under doctor’s recommendations for an unspecified health issue. This isn’t the first time the Queen of Soul had to postpone shows due to medical reasons in recent years. Franklin previously canceled a tour in 2010 to undergo surgery for a pain her side, which sparked rumors that she was seeking treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Though her health has posed some interference with shows in the past, Franklin has never been interested in divulging specific details of her health with the media. After her surgery in 2010, Franklin told Jet magazine that she doesn’t “talk about my health with anybody other than my doctors” and only revealed that “the problem has been resolved.”

Last week, Franklin appeared in good health when performing on the season finale of American Idol via satellite singing a medley of her greatest hits with the female finalists.

– Britt Bickel, K-EARTH Los Angeles

Will Ferrel, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and David Koechner are back in this new Anchorman 2 teaser trailer.

The new teaser features each actor back as their iconic character from the Anchorman movie.

The high anticipated and long overdo sequel will also star Christina Applegate, Kristen Wiig, James Marsen, Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson, and Chris Parnell. It will also feature cameos from Harrison Ford, Nicole Kidman, Drake, John C. Reilly, and Kanye West.

The sequel is set to be released on December 20th of this year.

Are you excited for an Anchorman sequel? Let us know in the comments below.

- Jack FM Dallas