SERVER DOWN

 The server has been down since around noon. I have a Facebook friend who is affiliated with the hosting company of the server, and he has been made aware of the situation. It involves a datacenter network outage, and all I've been told at this point is that it "should be fixed anytime now." Your patience is greatly appreciated.

TODAY'S "FIVE FRESH FISH" - AUGUST 12TH

 Here are today's "Five Fresh Fish":

1. Scorpions - "Still Loving You" - '84

2. Stevie Nicks - "Leather And Lace" - '81 With Don Henley

3. The Dream Academy - "Indian Summer" - '87 Single Edit

4. Gregg Rolie - "The Hands Of Time" - '87

5. Tiffany - "I Saw Him Standing There" - '88

I know that #5 is not everyone's idea of a favorite cover, but I may have another entry coming soon that could give a "thumbs down" just as quick as the Honky Tonk Man laying down for the Ultimate Warrior at Summerslam '88: The Wrestlers' "Land Of 1,000 Dances!"

I recently received a request for more Scorpions, so look forward to "Crazy World," "Wind Of Change," and "The Zoo" also coming soon. The latter received a lot of rock radio airplay back in the day. #Scorpions #StevieNicks #TheDreamAcademy #GreggRolie #Tiffany #ISawHimStandingThere

OZZY OSBOURNE TRIBUTE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT

 As most of you already know, legendary heavy metal artist Ozzy Osbourne passed away yesterday, a little over two weeks after doing a final solo set and a final set with his original Black Sabbath bandmates in the UK. Awfully Awesome 80's will pay tribute this Saturday night, July 26th, at 8 PM eastern with a 15-song set that will strictly focus on his solo material from the early 80's into the early 90's. In case you were wondering, these tracks will be the original classics and won't feature any re-recorded instruments.

RIP Ozzy, and thank you for rocking our world for all of those years!

AWFULLY AWESOME EIGHTIES NEEDS YOUR HELP MORE THAN EVER!

As most of you already know, I had a major health scare recently with my heart, and my recovery will take quite a while. I lost my main freelance gig shortly after coming home from the hospital without any explanation, even though I always delivered high-quality work and could work as little or as much as I wanted. Running my stations costs over $200.00 every month, and I will be unable to cover the costs until an equally attractive freelance gig comes along.

I am asking for your help with keeping this station going. For a nominal $30.00 PayPal donation, I will let you have a half-hour showcase of your requests three times a week for the next month. The requests should be hit or lost singles from the 80's and early to mid 90's with as varied an artist roster as possible (I am not allowed to do a showcase on one specific artist). I will allow one album track in your showcase as long as it isn't full of profanity or controversy. Using the PayPal button, filling out a contact form, leaving a chat message, and asking any general questions can be done through this webpage. Thank you in advance!

A FEW NEW ADDS FOR TONIGHT

 The following are now part of the AA80's family:

  1. The Alarm - Sixty Eight Guns - US single edit

  2. The Alarm - The Deceiver - US single edit

  3. The Alarm - Strength - US single mix

  4. Fun Boy Three - Our Lips Are Sealed - single edit

  5. Art Garfunkel - A Heart In New York

  6. Siedah Garrett - K.I.S.S.I.N.G.

  7. Genesis - Tonight, Tonight, Tonight - US single mix with full fade(not the early fade that you find on the compilation albums)

  8. Pearl Harbor & The Explosions - You Got It(Release It)

  9. Night - Love On The Airwaves

10. Ted Nugent - Wango Tango

11. Prince - Batdance - album version with guitar solo, Vicki Vale, etc. (Let the haters hate, I don't care!)

12. Rush - Subdivisions

13. Salty Dog - Come Along - one of the better "hair band" jams, and so what if it has sleazy lyrics?

14. Split Enz - One Step Ahead

I have hundreds more yet to add, so relax in your beanbag chair and chew on some Bubblicious! #TheAlarm #FunBoyThree #ArtGarfunkel #SiedahGarrett #Genesis #PearlHarbor&TheExplosions #NightFeaturingChrisThompsonAndStevieLange #TedNugent #PrinceHisPurpleMajesty #RushBand #SaltyDogBand #SplitEnz

NEW ROTATION ADD - VANITY 6 - "HE'S SO DULL" - 1982

Vanity 6 were Prince proteges who caused a brief stir during 1982-83 with their suggestive dance numbers and scantily-clad outfits. Their sole self-titled album was released on CD during the late '80s and has been unavailable since around the early '90s, mainly because Vanity(aka the late Denise Matthews - no, there's no relation) became a born-again Christian and didn't want to be reminded of her "nasty girl" past.

"He's So Dull" was the lead-off single from the album and was written by former Revolution guitarist Dez Dickerson(he was the guy who traded vocals with Prince during the first half of "1999"). It was a non-charter, but most 80's fans will remember it from its short inclusion in the 1983 comedy classic "National Lampoon's Vacation." MTV did briefly play the below video, but I only remember seeing it during Adam Ant's Guest VJ Hour in January 1983; it was severely edited at the end, totally eliminating the segment where the man gets pushed down the stairs.

Awfully Awesome Eighties' playlist can't be delirious enough without more Prince-related material, so look forward to "Drive Me Wild," Vanity solo, Apollonia 6, The Time, and Jill Jones arriving soon. #Vanity6 #HesSoDull #PrinceProteges #DezDickerson

NEW WIDGETS FOR CURRENTLY PLAYING AND PLAYLIST HISTORY

 I'm just letting my listeners know that the "Now Playing" and "Recently Played" widgets on the station's webpage have been updated to newer versions, mainly because I had no choice. The old versions are being phased out to the point where artist images were completely eliminated, and I don't even have the ability to custom-upload my own image choices on them.

The new versions have a fairly reliable stock library of artist images, and I can upload my own when necessary; obviously, the more obscure the artist is, the less likely the stock library will have something. I can't stop you from mentioning that an artist's image is missing or could be better, but trust me, I am well aware of the issues and will strive to perfect them the best I can. 

Most artist images will have biographies attached to them on the "Now Playing" widget, and all tracks on that widget have a Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down feature. The "Now Playing" widget has a player attached to the top of it if you don't want to click on the blue "Listen Now" button above it(which leads to a more robust player, but that's just my opinion). Gone are the Wikipedia, "Tweet Song" and Amazon purchase links; the widget developers probably don't think they're relevant anymore, and they're probably right. Everyone knows how to use Wikipedia and Mr. Musk made it financially impossible for anyone to autopost on X/Twitter anymore.

The "Recently Played" widget shows a history of the last 100 tracks played. It refreshes at a rate of every 90 seconds, and I can't do much more than that without the distinct possibility of the widget missing a track. Be aware that the refresh isn't instantaneous due to the sheer volume of tracks in the history. 100 tracks is the maximum capability, so please don't ask me if it can show the last three days, the last week, etc.

I apologize if I don't sound overly positive about these changes. Maybe I'm in the minority, but it seems to me that these days the phrase "New And Improved," whether it refers to technology or the foods we eat, isn't worth a hill of beans anymore. I MISS THE OLD, and that especially means the pre-2016 days of internet radio. I'll let Satchmo conclude this post: "And I think to myself, what a wonderful world..."

UPDATE: After hearing such phrases as "craptastic" and "amateurish," I have reverted back to the old widgets. Hopefully, the company I deal with will at the very least let me upload my own artist images to them if they do in fact no longer have access to the old third party image provider.