Stacy Keach and Disney's Planes!

Today Chris Farber and I phone interviewed actor Stacy Keach on Y105!  Keach plays Skipper in Disney's Planes which opens today.

Keach was great to talk with!  And of course, I absolutely love his voice.  He loved doing the voice of Skipper.  One thing he misses doing voice acting is he rarely gets to be with the other voice artists except for a cast picture since they separately record in the studio each of their characters.

I'm excited to see Planes!  It looks like it will be a fun and "uplifting" (only a slight pun there) family movie!

Instead of a song today, check out the trailer for Planes by clicking here!

Interview with Chris Daughtry!

During my summers I intern at Cumulus Broadcasting here in Dubuque.  I help out Chris Farber on the morning show on Y105 every weekday.  I love it!  I learn so much and it is a lot of fun, too!

Today Chris and I did a phone interview with Chris Daughtry of Daughtry!  I researched all about him, though I knew quite a bit already because his song "Over You" is one of my favorite songs.  Recently, I listen to it at least once a day.  No joke!

So the interview went great!  We got his thoughts on the current American Idol format, his songwriting process, and asked some questions from listeners who wrote in on Facebook.

Daughtry is coming to the Dubuque County Fair on Friday, July 24, and I'm pretty sure I'll be there...

So here's one of my favorite songs "Over You" by Daughtry!

Work and A Nice Clean Room...

You know that accomplished feeling that distills on you when your room is clean?  My, it's a mighty fine feeling!

Okay, I'll have to be honest...my room is only partly clean.  It will take another day to get everything in place, but it's much more organized!  And I finally got everything out from under my bed.

Now if only I had a dog's life!  But then again, I love to work!  Which reminds me, tune in to Y105music.com tomorrow and Monday 7:00-10:00 a.m. CST to hear me on-air during the Morning Wake-Up with Chris Farber!

So, in honor of work...well, actually I don't have a song that has to do with work.  Consequently, this song has nothing to do with work or anything else in this post, but it is a great tune.  Here's "Doubts."

Another Review, Free Song, and Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve brings us to a new review from Stubby's House of Christmas of "I Wonder as I Wander," the free song (click song name for the download link) from my album Jazzy Christmas to You II.  Here's a taste of the review (thank you, Stubby!):

"Well, as good as ["Jazzy Christmas to You!"] was, "Jazzy Christmas To You II" is unbelievably better.  It's simply amazing!  A true jazz tour-de-force.  You should buy it.  Seriously.  Go now (I'll wait)!"

Read the full review!

And, of course, since it's Christmas Eve there is lots of fun stuff happening at the Chaston household!

Today my sister came into the Y105 radio studio with me to be on air on the Morning Wake Up with Chris Farber.  It was awesome and lots of fun!

Loved having Amy in studio!

I couldn't contain my Christmas cheer and had to wear my "White Christmas" dress--even though no one would see it since I was on the radio!  But Chris had a brilliant idea: Amy took a picture of me while Chris held a poinsettia in the picture to make the picture completely festive.  (I think the floating poinsettia is my favorite part of the picture!)

Those are Chris' hands!

The Chaston's Christmas Eve traditions have continued to be just that!  We've already reenacted the Nativity, opened Ornaments, opened our Christmas Pajamas, opened our Children's Christmas Books, Caroled (yesterday), and are currently watching our favorite Christmas movies and shows!

Here is a funny aside:  Today my mom made her almost famous buns (dinner rolls) plus she made a new recipe of dinner rolls today because my sister wanted something besides the traditional Chaston buns.  BUT my mom's buns were not to everyone's liking so my brother, Keith, offered to make them again.  He botched the first batch so he made a second batch and they were VERY light and tasty!  So in preparation for Christmas dinner, we have made four batches of buns!  It is another Chaston tradition to keep finding ways to create joy for each other--even if it means making four batches of buns in one day!

Have Yourself a Merry [Little] Christmas!

Saying Goodbye...

So what does it mean when I wake up and wish my alarm were going off, telling me I had to get up at 5:50 AM to go to work? It means I miss my internship with Cumulus! (Check out more pictures on Facebook!)

Erik, my brother, and I absolutely LOVED interning at Cumulus! Last year we interned during the summer and returned again!

I thoroughly enjoyed being on-air daily with Chris Farber on Y105! I learned how to prep news for the Hollywood Scoop, Music Minute, and Weird News. Then Chris gave me my very own spot: Olympic Moments!

During the Olympics I scoured the news (and, of course, watched the Olympics) for not only results but also noteworthy human interest stories revolving around the Olympics. The first week had a lot of Michael Phelps...the second week a lot of Usain Bolt! But I learned to sift through the mounds of information I had collected and compile it into a 3-minute informative yet interesting daily piece.

After the Olympics ended, I thought my spot would end, too. But it continued as Back to School Tidbits. This spot was a real challenge for me! How many different items of Back to School news could there really be to talk about?

My first spot was easy: Back to School shopping. Then Back to School anxiety the next day. I wasn't sure where to go next.

Fortunately, the ideas started coming. I talked about Back to School for senior citizens, safety tips for college students, communication ideas for parents and new college students, communication ideas for parents and k-12 students, reducing Monday morning stress by having a homework plan for the weekend and packing backpacks Sunday night. I loved finding new and fun ways to talk about one subject: Back to School!

I learned a lot of other things from Chris, too! Will tell you about them tomorrow, as well as what I learned from everyone else at the station!