A filly named “Devil May Care” will try to be the 4th female horse to win the Kentucky Derby when the Run for the Roses happens tomorrow (Saturday). The last time a filly won at the Derby was 1988. But last year, 2 fillies-Rachel Alexandra & Zenyatta- won the Preakness & the Breeder’s Cup. And this year, a female TRAINER-Alexa Barba- will try to become the 1st woman trainer to win the Derby. She says she hates the gender references. I wonder if she throws like a girl?? Ouch…!#%*  just KIDDING!   Cal Exp..BTW..is a great place to catch the races…

If you wanna talk drivers, putters, pitching wedges… don’t miss the phenomenal Golf Expo at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex. It’s  America’s largest demo days, now through Sunday.  Try new gear from all the major manufacturers, get the latest on new technology, fitness…  even trade in your old clubs.  No one does it better than Haggin Oaks… Fulton Ave. and Capital City Freeway.

It’s amazing that other bands haven’t hit the wall, but it looks like The Who may be finished. Barring a miracle, Pete Townshend’s hearing damage makes him almost unusable, unless new in-ear monitors to help his tinnitus. Roger Daltrey even sounds less than optimistic saying, The Who should “stop now. Entering old age is a silent world — nothing is worth that [going deaf]… We’re trying to deal with issues that we have never dealt with before. Our bodies are beginning to give up on us. I’ve had voice problems in the past year that I’ve managed to sort out and I’m really enjoying singing again but you have to be realistic — I am 66 years old.” Stay tuned.

It’s not quite Steven Tyler falling off a stage, or Bret Michaels with a flying piece of set landing on your head, but Mark Knopfler apparently is hurting now. Actually, I think we are lucky to hear that there aren’t more injuries from our classic rockers. The former Dire Straits front man, somehow hurt his left pelvic area, which has forced him to play sitting down for the whole show. The good news, his band says he’s playing better than ever, with the new playing technique! His guitar player told him he should incorporate sitting for part of his setlist in the future. How funny is that?

Pete Townshend, Prophet?

Pete Townshend is generally acknowledged as a gifted writer/composer, a flamboyant guitarist and one of the true iconic figures in the history Rock N Roll, but a prophet? Yep!  Certainly not in the Biblical sense, but Pete was a bit of a futuristic visionary back in 1970.

I’ve recently been reading, “Who Are You: The Life of Pete Townshend by Steve Wilkerson (great read by the way) and I was at the point in the book where Pete is struggling to wrestle the concept for his next “Rock Opera” he had in his brain into a form the rest of the members of The Who could understand and embrace. He never did. Pete was calling the story, “Lifehouse” and the core of songs he had composed for “Lifehouse” were eventually re-tooled and become, “Who’s Next”. A brilliant rock album, one of The Who’s best, but it was a far cry from the epic sci-fi movie Pete had in his head and he always considered the album a compromise.

It would take almost 30 years for Pete Townshend to actually flesh out the concept of “Lifehouse” and technology to catch up so it could be performed on stage. Roughly the story is about a fictional post-apocalyptic society where people are cloistered in cities and forced to stay indoors… nothing new there, we’ve all seen plenty of movies and books with this theme. But it’s the next part I found so amazing and bit prophetic. People never left their homes they were forced to wear “Experience Suits” that were plugged into boxes that were in turned wired into a government system called, “The Grid”. This was a network that fed them “life experiences” – everything they were deemed to need, from entertainment, news, social interaction and even sex. The story goes on to find a Hacker breaking into the system.

This was 1970!!! Long, 30 plus years, before the Internet, the World Wide Web, household computers… and porn sites would become ubiquitous. I would say Pete Townshend’s vision was pretty prophetic.

Oh, the “Lifehouse” story goes on to have that Hacker producing a rock show in a theater and inviting people to leave their homes once more to experience music together, person to person as a community. So I say, log off, unplug, get out of the house and head to a live show with some friends sometime soon… Ok, you can bring your iPhone… (Cold turkey can be tough, I know!)

What does it cost to rent a movie now..  a couple of bucks?  Even less?  A lot of us don’t even want to go down the street anymore.. we demand home delivery!   You may be too young to remember this, but in ancient times Fotomat had these drive-thru kiosks, where you could rent those early VHS movies.  It seemed like there were nine VHS titles in the entire world..(and one of ‘em was Mary Poppins)..  and it cost something like $13.95 to rent one movie for three days.  No choices, no instant reviews, no overnight service.  Yikes.  It’s easy to complain about a lot of things…. but for the most part, we are spoiled.

Tom Petty has been slowly adding details to his website regarding Mojo, the new album due in June.

Find out what else he has told us in our latest Music News below.

John Mellencamp fans, you are in luck. He’s got a big box set coming out on June 15th, the same day as Tom Petty’s new album.

Watch below for more.

NORTH CAROLINA TOWN BANS THONGS

Swimmers at Kure Beach in North Carolina will have to leave their thongs at home.

The town, nicknamed “Mayberry with a beach,” has banned swimmers from wearing revealing swimwear, thus making thongs illegal.

Mayor Dean Lambeth said, “We’re going to keep this as close to Mayberry with a beach as you can keep it.”

It’s a good thing, I mean would you want to see Aunt Bee in a thong? Somehow Mayberry with a beach is just plain wrong.

Todd Wellemeyer was trying to save his Giants career… Aubrey Huff finally hit an outside-the-park home run.   There were even timely hits by Matt Downs, Edgar Renteria and the Panda.  I mean we are talking about the vaunted Phillies here.  But my favorite moments?  Those rifle shots by right fielder Nate Schierholtz… to gun down Ryan Howard at second..  then again later to humiliate  Chase Utley. Roberto Clemente would have been proud.