Brian Rickman comes to us from Muscle Shoals, Alabama (yep – he's a “Roll Tide” kinda guy) but, throughout his 20+ years in the radio and music business, Brian has called many places home. Rickman started his career and path to deafness as a musician. Brian was the guitarist and primary songwriter for the grunge-era band Another Roadside Attraction. They didn't get famous (probably because their name was too long) but they did sign a record contract, had big shot managers in New York City, toured with bands that did get famous and were part of the same Midwestern scene that spawned Smashing Pumpkins and such. After life as a rock star didn't pan out, Rickman returned to the job he had in high school. At 16, he'd landed a part-time gig as a weekend DJ on his hometown radio station in Decatur, Illinois. While promoting the band, Brian became a popular guest on cheesy morning radio shows all over America (and sometimes Canada). After he took his guitars to the pawn shop, a news/talk radio station in New Jersey hired him to ramble on nonstop for many hours at a time and even proposed to pay him for this. He accepted. This began a long journey up and down the radio dial in places like New York City, both Carolinas, Los Angeles, Georgia, the aforementioned Alabama and now Texas. Brian was also the third wheel on the syndicated Mad Max Morning Show. You might have also heard him previously on Hard Drive with Lou Brutus, sparring with Eddie Trunk about which Motorhead album is the best or on countless radio commercials over the years (lots of concert commercials – he's the guy that yells at you on the radio about the Black Sabbath reunion tour coming to town). Rickman is also a published writer. He's worked as a critic for AllMusic, rock journalist for hipster websites like Consequence of Sound and Pitchfork and has published, to date, four novels (all in the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre). Last year, someone even bought the movie rights for that series. What a sucker. Throughout the years, Brian has collected numerous rock and roll experiences. He was super-pals with Dimebag Darrel, was David Lee Roth's drinking buddy, once bought Dave Mustaine new socks and one time got into a shouting match with Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot back stage after a show. Before fists were thrown, the fight was stopped by Ronnie James Dio...which is pretty hilarious. Now, Rickman joins us in East Texas to play the greatest Rock ever recorded, tell funny stories and write a bunch of weird crap for you to read on the internet. Enjoy!
Brian Rickman
Where Immigrants Are Going In Texas
For years, Texas has been one of the most popular destinations for immigrants to the United States. In fact, our state's economy, from workforce to education, is greatly fueled by immigrants. A quarter of all business owners in Texas are immigrants, according to findings from the Partnership for a New American Economy and the American Enterprise Institute...
UPDATE: Father Of Baby Drinking Alcohol in Viral Video Found
The internet was outraged yesterday regarding a viral video that appears to show two adults giving a baby shots of alcohol in a hotel room. A Facebook user in Tuscumbia, Alabama discovered the video on a discarded SD card and uploaded it to his social media account in hopes of identifying the parents...
Police Searching For Parents of a Baby Seen Given Liquor on Video
A video of a baby being given shots of liquor in what appears to be a hotel room has began going viral in Alabama.
In the cell phone video, seen below, the child is seen being given sips of the liquor from hotel-sized room service bottles by a woman on the bed as his father video tapes his reaction to the strong drinks...
#growingupintexas Trends on Twitter
There's certainly something unique about everywhere in these 50 states, but Texas presents its own set of "uniqueness" as evidenced by the trending hashtag on Twitter, #growingupintexas.
Enjoy a few of our favorites that we compiled from the feed and feel free to add your own...
Texas Cop Suspended For Ordering Food At Whataburger Instead of Helping Other Officers
San Antonio cop Gary Nel has been suspended for 30 days after choosing to order food at a Whataburger instead of assisting another police officer with a DUI suspect.
According to the incident report, when Nel arrived at the burger joint, the store's manager asked if he had come to help detain a drunken customer...
Unassuming Bingo Hall in Houston Turns Out To Be Crazy Doomsday Shelter
On Friday, authorities in Houston raided the Paradise Day & Night Bingo Hall based on tips that the unassuming hole-in-the-wall was actually a haven for hardcore criminals.
What they found was shocking to say the least.
Inside was a stash of guns, cash, body armor and and insane amount of ammunition.
...
Texas ‘Demon Sorority House’ Goes Viral
A Texas sorority house has gone viral and not for reasons its members might have hoped.
University of Texas at Austin's Alpha Delta Pi posted a recruitment video to Twitter last week and it quickly began making the rounds on the web with many declaring it "creepy"...
Child Dies At Schlitterbahn Water Park
A family day out turned tragic on Sunday as a 10 year old boy died at Schlitterbahn water park while riding what is billed as "the world's tallest water slide".
The accident occurred at the Texas-based waterpark chain's Kansas location...
Oil Field Giant Announces Thousands of Job Cuts, Huge Loss.
Houston-based Baker Hughes announced Thursday morning a devastating round of cuts following a $911 million 2nd quarter loss.
The loss occurred despite a $3.5 billion payment from Halliburton following a failed merger which fell through in May after the Justice Department intervened because of anti-competitiveness concerns...
Texas McDonald’s Employee Fired After Refusing To Serve A Cop
An off-duty police officer and his two children were refused service at a McDonald's near U.S. 290 after a woman behind the counter, whose son is presently in police custody, declined to take their order.
Brenham police officials took to Facebook on Wednesday evening to stress that they understand this to be an isolated incident...
State Officials Want To Shut Down Indian Casino-Style Gambling In East Texas
Two months ago, the Alabama-Coushatta tribe opened a casino-like gambling facility just south of Livingston on its 10,000-acre reservation. Now, court documents filed in Lufkin's federal court show that state officials are making a move to shut the operation down...
Online Outrage Causes A Texas Roadhouse Waitress To Lose Her Job
A Texas Roadhouse employee has been fired after sparking online outrage regarding an offensive tweet.
Megan Olson, it appears, was not tipped to her liking and took to Twitter to express her discontent with her customers:
"If we had a real life purge I would kill as many Mexicans as I could in one night #learnhowtotipyouf---ingtw---"
Her Twitter account, @MeganCjOlson, has since been de