Fingers Metal Shop! a two hour hard rockin heavy metal radio show that went on the air 10/23/83. FMS played every category of music in the genre. It reflected the current scene and in some cases created it. It was my life's passion and a dream come true. Every week the airwaves of 102.3 WBAB-FM on Long Island would bristle with sound of the loud and proud metal legions. After tens of thousands of
songs and hundreds of interviews Fingers Metal Shop lay dormant at the ripe old age of 21. During last years anniversary show I let the cat out of the bag that FMS was approaching its final hours. The following five shows featured Vince Neil from Motley Crue, Geoff Tate from Queensryche, John Bush from Anthrax, Bret Michaels from Poison and the final show on December 18th 2004 was our Annual Kissmas special with Mark "The Animal" Mendoza from Long Islands own Twisted Sister. The Final song was Gene Simmons version of "When you wish upon a star" And then silence... FMS was 21 and over... Why? One reason was the station wanted it off the air and I finally acquiesced because for quite some time I had this burning desire to do something different. Television was the focus but I was not sure in what capacity I would chase the medium. As a child I grew up watching Johnny Carson. He was funny talented quick on his feet and did great interviews. He was himself. I have been on television several times ranging from cable to network usually interviewed about music or life. I have even been on MTV twice. Once filmed during FMS when Halford came out and once in a music video as a metal Santa for Big Mouths Christmas song with Rick Derringer. I am not telling you this to boast, alright maybe a little. My point is I just seem to gravitate towards the medium, I got all this TV stuff without trying it just happened. And it always felt good. Still does. In part I think because I am always me just living some kind of weird dream. OK so what am i gonna do? Another music show? I actually was part of a show called the Downtown Vibe with the good folks over at Video Vibe productions. It is my nature to create and while trying to explain a place I ride on my bike to a fellow rider I remember wishing I could show him. That's when I started thinking about a motorcycle show, Short Scoots, an online community and television venture is a result of that process. I am very excited about and confident in this entire project. Because it brings with it the sense of community I felt with FMS, I love people and I love getting people to react and give feedback. I am also very passionate about Motorcycling. So I have stepped out of my box to try something new and different. I am chasing my next dream and I hope you will join me for the ride, whether it turns out to be a long haul or just Short Scoot. It was my hope to archive FMS in a section of my Short Scoots site. Until someday in some capacity FMS returned. Well life does not always go in the direction you believe it will. After four years of energy, time and money I finally aired my pilot for Short Scoots things were looking good. Then in 2007 a divorce and a house fire changed everything and my TV endeavor went on the back burner. Staying focused on my children and my main job doing afternoon drive at WBAB was about all I could stay on point with. I write stories and create videos as a creative outlet. Through all of this, music helped me through good and dark times and some days all I needed was to crank something loud and heavy to shake off the dread. FMS always made me happy in more ways than one, as it did to everyone who listened. Over the years many have asked over and over again "Why don't you bring back FMS?" and "When are you gonna bring FMS back?" Well with the way corporate researches everything I never really had a leg to stand on. Coming in everyday and stating "I ran into another person who wants FMS back!" was not cutting it. I would need to show hard numbers to back up that FMS was still valid and relevant. Finally I said F*ck it and started this grass roots campaign to get Fingers Metal Shop back on the air. My goal is to start as a podcast or Pod-castration as I like to call it and build from there to the air. Effective 12/25/11 Fingers Metal Shop is back on the air!!!! Sunday nights 9-11 on on 102.3 WBAB and streaming at www.Fingersmetalshop.com & .www.wbab.com
Up next syndication and television!! To all the people who have listened, helped, supported, visited and championed Fingers Metal Shop over the years I thank you from the bottom of my metal heart...Fingers
