I used to have a big record collection.  Used to.  And the resurgence of vinyl makes me miss it.  Since high school, I collected vinyl records, and had built up a collection of 600-700 samples of the finest in rock, jazz, and heavy metal … and even a few items that would be embarrassing now.  I most absolutely did NOT have any Barry Manilow records anywhere near my Iron Maiden records.  Nope.  In the meantime, since the early 1990s, I had migrated to CD for most newer purchases, particularly in the new age (Tangerine Dream!) and heavy metal realms.  But I kept the vinyl around for the older stuff.  I dragged five or six of the old wooden record crates from Ohio to Delaware to Washington DC to Bloomington IN and then to Valparaiso.  And then it happened – the great Luther Basement Flood of 2003.  Or whatever the hell year it was, I don’t remember now.  The whole collection went bye bye.  I saved some of the actual vinyl discs, but all the covers were ruined.  And those vinyl discs weren’t really playable, I just kept them out of stubbornness.  Eventually, I upgraded my most favorite artists to CD (Blue Oyster Cult, Yes, Triumph, Journey, etc)  but left a lot of bands by the wayside.  Today I have no more vinyl, and I certainly will not jump back into the new vinyl fad, where I could pay $35 for a record that cost me $8 – $10 back in the day!

During Fall semester 2016, I started getting nostalgic for bands like Foghat, the Outlaws, and even Wang Chung – bands I used to listen to all the time on vinyl and via my song selections transferred to cassettes for car rides.  And I figured since I’ve been paying for Spotify Premium for a while, it was time to put it to use and make lots of playlists.  And so here are some random thoughts I’ve had while assembling these playlists since then.

• I used to have all the Foghat albums from the first through (the red one).  If anyone had asked me a decade or two ago which was my favorite, I may have said Boogie Motel since it has a couple of my favorite Foghat songs: the title track and Don’t Run Me Down.  But Night Shift is the most consistent one all the way through.  I don’t think there’s a weak song on that record.
• Wang Chung: Dammit, Points on the Curve is a great album!   The soundtrack for To Live and Die in L.A. is good, and you should watch the movie.  Other Wang Chung albums aren’t that great all the way through, but some songs are just spectacular – like Tall Trees in a Blue Sky off The Warmer Side of Cool, or even Driving You off their newer one Tazer Up!
• David Gates:  remember Bread?  Oh, don’t want to admit you liked them?  Gates was their singer and had solo albums.  And Goodbye Girl is a good album, I don’t care what you say.
• Molly Hatchet: I just love the long double and triple guitar trading in the extended songs, like Fall of the Peacemakers,
• I had no idea Steve Miller’s discography went so far back into the late 60s and early 70s.  Interestingly, one of his very early songs contains the same guitar riff he later incorporated into Fly Like and Eagle: it’s called My Dark Hour, on the 1969 album Brave New World.
• Modern Times and Freedom at Point Zero by Jefferson Starship are fantastic rock and roll albums, and make up one of the best one-two punches of consecutive albums I knew of.  Winds of Change sort of spoiled that streak though.
• Is there a better live version that jacked up a good studio song into the stratosphere of awesome more than Astronomy by Blue Oyster Cult, off Some Enchanted Evening?
• OK, I’ll say it.  My sister Helen is going to hate me.  But I prefer most of the Tommy Shaw written Styx songs over the Dennis DeYoung songs.
• I wish I had explored the three pre-Steve Perry Journey albums more back in the day.
• A Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering are my favorite Genesis albums.  In my younger years it would have been Abacab, my first Genesis album, but now having spent years with the rest things are different.  These two are the best mix in between the too-weird early Genesis and the too-poppy later Genesis.
• Eric Carmen is the best Billy Joel that isn’t Billy Joel himself.  Try out Haven’t We Come a Long Way, off his best album Change of Heart.  And then listen to the title track from Boats Against the Current to get the feels.
• I wrote off Ted Nugent’s output from the 80’s onward, and I wrote off his political views, too.  But damn, Penetrator is a great album.  Too bad he’s such a douchenozzle and I can’t separate the musician from the vile human being anymore.
• The Outlaws are the best southern rock band that really wanted to be a heavy metal band – particularly Freddy Salem, who wrote lots of their heavier songs.  Just try Long Gone or Freedom Walk.  They also have great guitar work, although they did not crank it up and out like Molly Hatchet …
• If you are trying to get someone to want to play guitar, Molly Hatchet is the strategy.  The extended triple guitar trade-offs that break out at the end of songs like Dreams I’ll Never See, Gator Country, Fall of the Peacemakers are inspiring.
• Albums from which I’ve put every song into a playlist for the artist:  Images and Words, by Dream Theater.
• I stopped following Kiss after the Dynasty years, although I did nab the album (Hot in the Shade) with the Michael Bolton-written song (Forever) on it.  Meh.  But now going through the more “recent output, Carnival of Souls is a really strong album.  I like the raw sound.
• Fleetwood Mac: I owned Rumors at one point.  And it turns out that Fleetwood Mac only had two albums I like to hear overall, their self-titled album and Rumors … although, some of the older records had some highlights on them, mostly because I was always a fan of Bob Welch, and it was good to hear his voice from an unexpected source.

(to be continued / expanded?  Maybe I’ll go back and include more YouTube links, diving into the YouTube vortex is always fun…)

New Generation Wrestling held their 10th Anniversary Show at 6:30pm EST at the National Guard Armory in Crawfordsville, IN on Saturday April 28, 2018.

For this show, I brought recording gear and have an audio recap captured as the show was taking place.  It will be broadcast during Mostly Metal & NWIWRAP, which runs 8:00 – 10:00pm Sunday night April 29 on WVLP, 103.1FM in Valparaiso (streaming on http://www.wvlp.org).  It will be rebroadcast at 10pm on Wednesday, April 25.  And at some point soon (i.e. when I get around to it), it will be made available on the NWIWRAP YouTube channel, and I’ll hopefully remember to put the link here!  But in the meantime, here is a very brief recap and some photos:

1. (Preshow match) El Muchacho defeated Thomas Keith.
2. Jared Kripke defeated Johnathan Wolf.
3. Gideon defeated Brently Alexander Dawson, retaining his Hoosier State Championship
4. Pinnacle Fight Club (Drex Odell and TK Zero) defeated Louis Rojas and Jason Levi for the NGW Tag Team Championships
5. Jared Kripke won the $1000 Open Invitational Battle Royal
6. Flawless Dave Allen defeated Kenny Kage and Kenneth James in a triple threat match.
7. Justin Myers defeated Jeremy Hadley, and is the new NGW World Champion
8. The Rock and Roll Express defeated the Bambino Family.

El Muchacho going up on Thomas Keith, and Jared Kripke flying out at Johnathan Wolf:

Kenny Kage attacking Gideon while Brently Alexander Dawson distracts the ref; Louis Rojas dropping an elbow on TK Zero:

Pinnacle F.C. and Louis Rojas / Jason Levi:

Poffo spearing both El Muchacho and Jared Kripke while Kripke was about to backdrop El Muchacho during the Battle Royal; Kenneth James stands by while Dave Allen holds Kenny Kage upside down:

Hey, now it’s Dave Allen’s turn to stand by while Kenneth James holds Kenny Kage upside down:

Jeremy Hadley with a high elbow drop on Justin Myers:

The Bambino Family is in disbelief that they lost to the Rock and Roll Express:

 

Backbreaker Wrestling held On the Ropes at St. Mary’s Hildebrandt Hall in Griffith, IN on Saturday April 21, 2017, 6:00pm CST.

Note to self: Right down the road from this venue is Twincade, a pub filled with arcade games.  I need to go there the next time Backbreaker has a show in Griffith.  But they are not helping me out, as their next show is in Hobart, not Griffith, argh!  (See below.)

For this show, I brought recording gear and have an audio recap captured as the show was taking place.  It will be broadcast during Mostly Metal & NWIWRAP, which runs 8:00 – 10:00pm Sunday night April 22 on WVLP, 103.1FM in Valparaiso (streaming on http://www.wvlp.org).  It will be rebroadcast at 10pm on Wednesday, April 25.  And at some point soon (i.e. when I get around to it), it will be made available on the NWIWRAP YouTube channel, and I’ll hopefully remember to put the link here!  But in the meantime, here is a very brief recap and some photos:

1. Johnny Motley defeated Perfect Silence Kevin Crowley by DQ upon interference from Dick Davis.
2. Dave Allen and Louis Rojas (w/ Jeremy Hadley) defeated The Bambino Family.
3. Dick Davis defeated Angus McDuff
4. Vince Capri defeated (and gave an atomic wedgie to) Brently Alexander Dawson
5. Shooter McGavin (6,winner) became the first BBW Heavyweight Champion in an 8-man Over the Top Rope Gauntlet Match, featuring Ryu Shinzake (F4,1), Ace (F4,2), Kurt Joseph (F4,3) , Trog the Caveman (F4,7), TK Zero (5,4), Gabe the Brave Juarez (7,5), Universal Bomber (8,6).   (The numbers next to each are their order of entry, and order of elimination – the first four, F4, began the match in the ring together.) 

Kevin Crowley is up on Johnny Motley.  Davis stands on Motley after his interference:

The Bambino brothers chopping Dave Allen.  Dave Allen saying, “Look, I’m a wacky waving inflatable tube-man!!”  Or, Allen and Rojas leaping out of the corner just as Dom Bambino goes in for a spear.

Ref Z cheks on Angus McDuff as Dick Davis chokes him:

The Ice Pick Vic Capri about to give Brently Alexander Dawson a rude landing:

TK Zero gives Trog the Caveman “thumbs up” for how he was biting his opponent.  Shooter McGavin has gone around the ring and shown off his chest hair to each direction of the crowd.  Lucky us!

The next Backbreaker Wrestling show is “Famfest”.  It’s at 3:00pm June 16 2018 at Cornerstone Community Church in Hobart, IN. The event also has live bands, concession stands, and activities for the kids like a bounce house and obstacle course.

_________________________

If you’ve read this far, you might like wrestling?  So maybe, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:15pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:15pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN. If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app. Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP. You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter. And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region. 

ACW held Franklin Fight Night 2 at Clark High School in Hammond, IN.  Or Whiting, IN.  Whatever.  If the name / location mix is confusing, it was a fundraiser for Franklin Elementary School.  But Clark HS has the big gym.  Or they’re better at cleaning out the bloodstains.

General Manager Michael Allen came out first, as always.  He called Arun to the ring, and explained that Arun deserves more chances in ACW, and if he is able to beat TK Zero in the next match, Arun will get a match against Cliff Caviar for the ACW Tough Man Championship next time.  (Apparently Hammond / Whiting is not luxurious enough a location for Caviar to make an appearance.)  TK Zero came out for the match, heckled children in the audience, and eventually lost to Arun by a move much like Chris Jericho’s Codebreaker.  Here, TK Zero wonders what he got himself into.

Next, Brently Alexander Dawson (BAD), Thomas Keith, and Kujo went at it in a three way match to become number one contender for Jared Kripke’s Intercontinental Championship.  This match was mostly 2-on-1, with BAD and Keith teaming up against Kujo, but of course when the moment of truth would come and one of them would attempt a pin on Kujo, the other would break it up.  The 2-on-1 scene allowed for quite a lot of blindside attacks on Kujo.  Poor guy.  Eventually Thomas Keith won with what I’ll call (until I learn better) and Underhanded Sister Abigail: he sets up his opponent like Bray Wyatt does for Sister Abilgail, but then hooks his arm underneath his opponents shoulders for extra oomph on the move.  I was so worried about Kujo, I forgot to take a picture during this match!  To make up for that, I’ll post extra pictures of the next couple of matches.

Match three had the Prince of the Raveyard Kyle Kaylor take on the Intercontinental Champion Jared Kripke.  To show he’s edgy and ravey, Kaylor came to the ring with a small flask, from which he took sips several times during the match.  I think Ref Zoran should have carded him.  Jared Kripke’s entrance music makes me irrationally angry, and I need to work on that.  In this match, Kripke and Kaylor traded submission moves (such as the one below right), going through the ropes to the outside (like below left), coming off the ropes (like pic 3), Ric Flair Whooo knife edge chop-slaps, and they almost knocked over one of the light poles.  When Jared Kripke finally won the match, Thomas Keith came out to remind him who his new #1 contender is, and gave him the “I’ll see you soon!” gestures.

Dave Allen and Billy the Kid have the pre-intermission slot locked down.  They came out for their Last Man Standing Match.  The action started in the ring, but soon went out of the ring, and even out of the ring area – they dragged each other around the perimeter of the chairs and along the bleachers, around 3 sides of the room.  Although you can’t see either competitor, below right shows a crowd of kids (and adults) with phone cameras blazing, following the two around the outside of the gym and to the bleachers.  They didn’t come over to my side, though, not wanting to disturb this journalist at work.  Knowing they were in a school, Billy the Kid helped the kids learn to count by having them count to 10 while he punched Dave Allen (below left).  A chain-wrapped baseball bat was involved (Billy the Kid brings it to the ring with him) when Dave Allen went outside the ring, picked up the bat and brought it in.  According to the Rules of Wrestling, then, you know that he eventually became the victim of the bat. Pictures 3 and 4 below here show Kid slamming Allen to the mat, and also showing off the bat he’s about to use. The match ended when Billy the Kid dragged Allen feet first to a corner, pulled his legs out past the ring post, then duct taped Allen’s legs around the ringpost, preventing him from being able to stand and answer the 10 count.  Clever!

After intermission, we had Phantasmo (perhaps making his first appearance) vs. Crimson Dynamo.  This match was pretty one sided, with Phantasmo dominating.  During this match I got a notification it was time to play Cash Show Trivia.  I could do this and watch the match at the same time, but I only got one picture (of Phantasmo) .  I know this is totally disrespectful to the performers, but I did win $0.02 in the trivia game, bringing my grand total winnings so far to $2.44, so get off my case.

Being a school event, ACW had the “teacher special” match – a Teacher Battle Royal.  A few of the regular workers participated to make sure things didn’t get too crazy, but the match came down to the same two teachers who fought last year as well (shown here posing before they got to it), and Mr. J took the win.  A good number of the kids then cleared out, and missed the main event:

Rockstar Jonny Nigh took on Drex Odell for the ACW Heavyweight Championship, which Odell has held for quite a while, much to the chagrin of General Manager Michael Allen.  Eventually this one went to a No Contest, as the ref could not get the men to separate from each other when battling in a corner.  Rockstar was desperate to get his hands on Odell again, so he offered a “career vs title” match at an upcoming ACW event, School’s Out  – if Rockstar wins, he becomes champ.  If he loses, he will retire from ACW completely.

The next ACW event is on May 11 at Lake Village Elementary School in Lake Village, IN.  Then the big annual event “Schools Out” is at Lincoln Elementary School at Roselawn, IN on May 18.

_________________________

If you’ve read this far, you might like wrestling?  So maybe, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:15pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:15pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN. If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app. Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP. You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter. And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.com Google calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region. 

ARWPRO held a fundraiser for Morton High School at that location at 7:00pm CST, Saturday April 14.

You know, sometimes you just want to sit and enjoy a show rather than taking notes and worrying about getting too many pictures.  So this recap is a bit spotty, but here we go:

Match 1: X-Calibur defeated Christopher St. Michaels with a nice 450 splash, retaining his Indiana State Title.

Match 2: Anthony Toatele defeated Dave Allen in a fun back & forth match.  This is Dave Allen making all the blood rush to Toatele’s head:

Match 3: Originally scheduled as the Mexecutioners vs Aggravated Assault for the ARW Tag Team championship, this match was rearranged due to some travel difficulties or what not, to become Machine and Johnny Showtime (rather than Santana Starks, thus not the actual Mexecutioners) vs Punisher 747 and Maverick Cage (rather than B.O.W., thus not the actual Aggravated Assault).  I guess you could say we got “close enough”, i.e. maybe the Texecutioners vs Slightly Irritated Assault?  Anyway, Machine and Johnny Showtime got the win, and Joey Boom Boom awards them the Tag Team Titles, until Chazz Moretti points out that the contract for the match said that the Moretti Agency would be facing “The Mexecutioners”, and so since they did not actually face that team, this should have been a non-title match.  ARW owner King Bishop reluctantly agrees.  But it’s on for sure at the next ARW show on May 12.  This is Maverick Cage getting kicked in the face by Johnny Showtime:

Stacey Shadows is snowed in, and so Moxie Mollie instead takes on Dementia DeRose (I think?) for Mollie’s ARW Women’s Championship.  DeRose eventually just gives up trying to win fairly and begins a long choke-hold on Moxie Mollie, with a couple of shoves of the ref thrown in for good measure – so she gets DQd.

Guest star Marshe Rockett defeated Nick Cutler in my favorite match of the night.  Both men were really good at getting the crowd involved.   Yes, Mr. Cutler, it is too late to get out of the way of Marshe Rockett’s boot that is about to introduce itself to you.

Ivan Manson and Max Holiday were set to face The Family, with Charlie Junior assembling the team of Old School Manson and a mystery partner … who turns out to be Drex Odell!  There was a lot of mass in the ring for this match, and the ring ropes tapped out for their own safety … at least the second one did: a bump into a corner resulted in one of the turnbuckles.  But all four gentlemen carried on valiantly, and Drex Odell even managed to get up to the top rope for a moonsault … which missed, ha!  That’ll teach him to join The Family.   Here is his missed moonsault, along with the suicidal ring rope: 

After getting tossed out of the ring like refuse (look, I used a British term!), Drex Odell re-enacts a scene from The Wizard of Oz:

The next ARWPRO show is Saturday May 12 at Edison Junior-Senior High School in Lake Station, IN.

_________________________

If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:15pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:15pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN. If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app. Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP. You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter. And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.comGoogle calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region. Because WRESTLING!

ACW held their third annual “Hebron Havoc” fundraiser for Hebron Middle School, on Friday April 13, 2018 at 7:00pm CST.

Just before the show, Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold” began to play as house music, but it was stopped after just a few seconds.  I am not sure whether this was for keeping the show PG, or if it was in recognition that Nugent has gone from being a rock and roll icon to being a total whacko douchnozzle, and ACW did not want to be associated with him.  But either way, good is good.

The first match had Rockstar Jonny Nigh vs Justin Myers.  If Rockstar wins, he gets a title shot against Drex Odell at next week’s “Franklin Fight Night  2” show at Clark High School in Whiting.  And Jonny did pull out the victory, so watch out Drex!  Shown below, Myers poses to the crowd, and then later on gets planted face first into the mat by Nigh.

 

The next match featured “The Varsity” from Hebron High School.  They came out proclaiming that since their victory last year, no one is willing to take them on.  Cue the team from the middle school who comes out … and eventually loses, allowing The Varsity to take home another trophy.  Ref Zoran went above and beyond the call of duty directing traffic and making sure there were no catastrophic injuries.

Dave Allen and Billy the Kid lit up the place next, with lots of two counts, a ref bump, and a chair!  Allen clobbered Billy the Kid to get the win.  General Manager Michael Allen was appalled at (the other) Allen’s behavior and set another match between these two next week.  It will be a Last Man Standing match.  The kids in the audience are also appalled, chanting “Cheater!” at Allen.  Allen went up into the stands to debate them and explain his rationale for his actions, but they had none of it.  Good for you, kids! Below, Allen introduces Billy the Kid to a ringpost and then starts practicing for their wheelbarrow race, but Allen’s position is all wrong for that.

 

Ref Zoran got to upgrade to a Fatal Four Way match next, featuring Austin Fury, X-Calibur, Jared Kripke, and Xavier Black – for Black’s Intercontinental Championship.  This was a really good match, which was eventually won by Kripke, making him the new ACW Intercontinental Champion.  Below, you see all four men waiting to square off, and a picture of X-Calibur handling Xavier Black.  It’s not that exciting of a picture, but since I finally got a picture of X-Calibur when he’s not upside down in the middle of his standing moonsault, I wanted to show it off.

 

Whoops, nevermind, I did find a picture of X-Calibur upside down, except for a different reason (left, below).  Also is a picture of the group of kids huddling around Jared Kripke to get the new champ’s autograph during intermission.

During intermission, the crowd tapped out the concession stand, which was out of almost everything but popcorn and pickles.  Someone should alert the ring announcer before he announces at the end of intermission all the stuff that’s (not) available!

After intermission, things got started again in a six-man tag match with Brently Alexander Dawson, TK Zero, and Cliff Caviar vs Arun, Kujo, and Crimson Dynamo.  The bad guys had a funny bit where they stood on the floor psyching themselves up to all leap into the ring together, but when they signalled go, TK Zero and Cliff Caviar held back, and Dawson went all by himself into the midst of the other team in the ring.  Later in the match, Caviar accidentally hits TK Zero with Dawson’s golf club, then after more mayhem, Arun gets to pin Caviar.  Below, Kujo is about to do the 10-count of doom on Dawson, and TK Zero is seen wondering why all his strategizing went down the toilet.

 

The (real) main event was Drex Odell defending his ACW Heavyweight Championship from Kenji Brea, making his ACW debut.  GM Michael Allen has run out of most of his internal options for getting the title away from Odell, so he’s inviting people from the outside.  Kenji Brea controlled a good portion of this match and we all thought maybe the ACW nightmare was over, but no, Drex Odell attacked with a “clothesline out of nowhere!” and people usually don’t get up from a Drex Odell clothesline – Kenji included.  And so, Drex Odell remains the ACW Heavyweight Champion.  After the match, when Odell moves to inflict more punishment on Brea, Jonny Nigh runs out from the back to intervene.  And remember, as a result of the first match tonight, it will be Nigh vs Odell for Odell’s title next week at Franklin Fight Night 2.  Below you see two eventually futile attempts of Kenji Brea to keep Drex Odell down, to no avail.

The final match of the night had Principal Brooks of Hebron Middle School vs Mr. Adamczyk, and if Mr. Adamczyk wins, he becomes principal of HMS. The kids in the crowd definitely wanted Mr. Brooks to win, since Mr. Adamczyk promised more homework and more standardized testing!   This was a hardcore match.  Mr. Brooks had a friend in the crowd who was on crutches; late in the match the friend got in the ring looking to aid Mr. Brooks, but instead hit Mr. Brooks with a crutch, allowing Mr. Adamczyk to get the win!  Man, those kids were pissed.  I wonder what life will be like for them Monday?

ACWs next show is coming up fast, Friday April 20: Franklin Fight Night 2, a fundraiser at for Franklin Elementary school, held at Clark High School in Whiting, IN.

_________________________

If you’re so inclined, check out the Northwest Indiana Wrestling Action Program (NWIWRAP) broadcast Sundays at 9:15pm, right after Mostly Metal, which runs Sundays from 8:00-9:15pm CST, on WVLP 103.1FM in Valparaiso, IN. If you’re not in Valpo, catch it streaming on http://www.wvlp.org and the Tune In Radio app. Rebroadcasts happen Wednesdays 10pm – midnight, and NWIWRAP is archived on YouTube, just search for NWIWRAP. You can find @nwiwrap on Twitter. And you can subscribe to the nwiwrap.wvlp@gmail.comGoogle calendar, where I try to keep up to date calendar postings of shows in and around the NWI region. Because WRESTLING!