Unkle Dave
“I am not a bum. I’m a jerk. I once had wealth, power, and the love of a beautiful woman. Now I only have two things: my friends and… uh… my thermos. Huh? My story? Okay. It was never easy for me. I was born a poor black child. I remember the days, sittin’ on the porch with my family, singin’ and dancin’ down in Mississippi.”
OK, you got me. That was Steve Martin’s character, Navin Johnson from The Jerk. My favorite movie. My story is very similar to Navin’s…the rise to power, the wealth, the love of a beautiful woman…and my thermos, of course.
I started my career in radio in 1993 at Oklahoma City’s KATT-FM running the board for Rock Line so Greg Zoobeck could go home early (or wherever he went) on Monday nights. It snowballed from there. I picked up a few weekend shifts, produced the Rick & Brad show for a while and then took on the job of Market Research Director…managing high school students in a tele-marketing-type position. You know, those people who interrupt your dinner and ask if you like these songs, or not. Not really my cup of tea, but who likes tea anyway? That is where I met Bladerunner and started the legendary Raunch-n-Roll band, the Raunchy Katt’s. Legendary to us, at least.
From there, I went to work for KRXO-FM in OKC doing weekend overnights for 3 months until a one day the evening slot opened up and Unkle Dave was born…playing the Classic Rock that people grew up listening to, myself included. You know, those albums your crazy uncle use to let you listen to when your parents were out of town. That lasted for over 19 years until…well, you know what happened to that station. If not, Google it and have a tissue handy. It’s a sad story.
I love music! This is why I do what I do. Steve Vai is a true Guitar God as well as Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Hoey and the Master of the six-string, Yngwie Malmsteen, the Ultimate Guitar Shredder. He took the 2 genres that I dig the most and wove them together…Classical and Hard Rock. Rippers & Shredders is my weekly show that spotlights those who sat in their bedrooms practicing while the other kids were outside playing (there’s a song written about that, I think). I hope you enjoy listening to Rippers & Shredders as much as I do creating it.
As a toe-tappin’ Navin Johnson once said, “This is the kind of music that tells me to go out there and be somebody!” And like Navin, I did find my special purpose. 😉
Rippers & Shredders
Steve Vai, John 5, Satriani, Gary Hoey, Uli Roth Sky, Billy Shehan, Vinnie Moore, Tony Macalpine, Eric Johnson, Andy Timmons, Buckethead, Joe Stump, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Randy Rhodes, Brian Setzer, Jimi Hendrix, Richie Blackmore, Steve Morse, Orianthi, Dimebag Darrell and Dave Ellefson…the list goes on and on.These are just a few of the Axemen (and Axewomen) you’ll hear each week on Rippers & Shredders. It’s all about the rock on Bladerunner Radio and Rippers & Shredders is all about the guitarists of rock and roll, blues and sometimes jazz and big band. Anybody can sing but it takes a special talent to make a guitar scream and cry. Rippers & Shredders is my creation from inception to completion every week and it’s what I love to do and I hope you love to listen to it as much as I do creating it.
