Dave McKenna

1 week ago | defector.com | Dave McKenna

Fifty years ago, the hot comedy skit was Saturday Night Live’s “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!”, a play on the coverage of the Spanish dictator’s demise. That gag came to mind when I read yet another update on the terminally ill Washington Post, a newspaper that I delivered each morning back when the Franco punchline and the newspaper were among the biggest deals in town.

2 weeks ago | defector.com | Dave McKenna

Brian Wilson, the guy behind some of the happiest sad songs in pop history, is dead. Take “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” which I’d say is my favorite Beach Boys tune if you asked me right now, the day after Wilson died at 82 years old. The song, the first track from Pet Sounds, the band's peerless 1966 album which Wilson produced, arranged, and wrote most of, finds a young man wanting more out of life and love than he’s getting, and hoping a day comes when he gets it. Wouldn’t it be nice to be happy?

2 weeks ago | defector.com | Dave McKenna

Cork upset dynastic host Limerick at a sold-out Gaelic Grounds on Saturday on penalty shots to take the 2025 Munster hurling championship in the first final decided on penalty shots in the 147-year history of the annual provincial competition. With the win, Cork booked a spot in the semifinals of this year’s All-Ireland tournament.

3 weeks ago | goworldtravel.com | Dave McKenna

Can you see Vietnam’s vast collection of curiosities, sights and delights in just three weeks? In short…no…you can’t. But as I’ve recently found out, you can certainly get a taste of this vibrant slice of South East Asia in 21 days. So if it’s financially viable for you and you’re after an Asian adventure, I’d urge you to do so. I must add at this point, it probably wasn’t financially viable for me. I sold my car to finance this trip; that’s what winter in England will do to a man.

4 weeks ago | defector.com | Dave McKenna

Rick Derringer, a rock and roll lifer, a force behind the “rock 'n wrestling” melding of the 1980s and other sporting and music nexuses, is dead. Derringer died Monday in Ormond Beach, Fla. No official cause of death was released, but a family member said he'd been suffering from complications from heart surgery earlier this year. He was 77. Derringer’s rock-jock bona fides date back to his being a member of the midwestern band The McCoys as a 16-year-old.