He started singing at the tender age of five under the direction of Priscilla Psaila. In 2016 James took part in the Singer Stage International Festival, finishing third, and that same year took part in the Konkors Kanzunetta Indipendenza with the song Ahwa Maltin, Ahwa Ghawdxin as part of the supergroup K4 featuring Graziella Vella, Maria Desira and Justine Delmar. James has also made appearances on Malta Llejla, Kalamita and Twelveto3.

Whats the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

I take a shower and have a bowl of cereal, to give me a boost for the day ahead.

What is the best advice youve ever received?

No matter how hard life gets, keep smiling.

What do you never leave the house without?

My mobile phone and wallet.

Pick three words that describe yourself

Hmm I really dont like describing myself but people say Im quiet, shy and calm.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

My greatest achievement is working in a school environment with children of all ages. It was always my dream job, since I was a child myself.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Eating a lot of chocolate.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

Giving up is never an option, especially if you believe in yourself.

Whats the most expensive thing youve ever bought?

My car for sure.

What is one thing you wish you knew when you were younger?

Playing the guitar, even though its never too late to learn.

Whos your inspiration?

My mother! I have always looked up to her.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Due to the fact that my voice changed when I was younger, there was a time when I had to stop singing completely so getting back in music was quite challenging, especially getting back on stage, but I am glad to have taken that step.

If you werent a musician, what would you be doing?

Most probably I would practise a sport. Football and tennis are definitely at the top of the list.

Do you believe in God?

Yes!

If you could have dinner with any person, dead or alive, who would it be?

There are way too many people whom I would like to meet up and have dinner with, but if I had to choose just one person, it would have to be Freddie Mercury because he was incredibly talented and would surely share a couple of stories.

Whats your worst habit?

Putting unfolded clothes in my wardrobe instead of hanging them (Sorry ma!)

What are you like when youre drunk?

Extremely funny, and loud.

Who would you have play you in a film?

Hugh Jackman.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Being double-faced, I cant stand it.

What music would you have played at your funeral?

Any music, but preferably, it wouldnt be sad, because I want it to be a celebration of my life.

What is your most treasured material possession?

My laptop as I watch a lot on movies on it in my free time.

What is your earliest memory?

My earliest memory has got to be of me singing for the first time in a singing competition. I was about five years old.

When did you last cry, and why?

Not so long ago. My dog hurt her leg and couldnt walk easily. But somehow, miraculously, after four days she was back to normal.

Who would you most like to meet?

Billie Eilish as she is my favourite singer at the moment. I would like to pick her brain.

Whats your favourite food?

Mixed shellfish and fish.

Whos your favourite person on social media right now?

Sarah Zerafa and Tamara Webb are definitely at the top of my list.

If you could travel in time, where would you go?

I would go back to when I was still in secondary school. It was definitely the best time of my life with no real responsibilities. The only worry I had back them was how I was going to complete the objectives on my playstation games.

What book are you reading right now?

I dont read a lot of books as I find online news more interesting.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Being invisible or teleportation.

Whats one thing you want to do before you die?

Seeing the Northern Lights has always been on my bucket list.

What music are you listening to at the moment?

A myriad of musical songs by Disney with the re-release of Aladdin and Lion King.

In the shower or when youre working out, what do you sing/listen to?

It depends on my mood and how tired I am but normally I would prefer to hear some relaxing music.

Go here to read the rest:

Brad James: 'Seeing the Northern Lights has always been on my bucket list' - MaltaToday

MANSFIELD - The summer concert series for 2020 in and around the Boston area just keeps getting better and better. Not only will Green Day, Weezer, and Fall Out Boy be joining forces to make a big splash in Massachusetts. Not only will Taylor Swift hold one of only two U.S. tour stops in Foxborough in 2020 for her Lover Festival. Not only will Billy Joel break a record with yet another concert on the diamond of Fenway Park. Not only will James Taylor croon at the very same baseball stadium. But now, another legend is making his return to our music-loving state this coming summer in 2020. But the catch is that it is for justone night only, as shared by Masslive.

Jimmy Buffett, an iconic musician who has inspired legions of fans to follow him wherever he goes and proclaims themselves to be "Parrot Heads," will have the cool, relaxing vibes and good times coming with him on his Slack Tide Tour in 2020. Part of this tour will take him to Mansfield, Massachusetts on August 8 this summer. Joined by his Coral Reefer Band, the tunes of summer will be palpable at this Xfinity Center concert towards the end of the season.

This is Buffett's one night in Massachusetts in 2020 so New England Parrot Heads will definitely want to make the most of this when they can. Tickets will officially be on sale this Friday at ten o'clock in the morning so devoted followers of the seventy-three-year-old musician will have to set their alarms if they want to be privy to the first-come, first-serve nature of the event's exclusive ticketing availabilities. The "Margaritaville" and "Cheeseburger in Paradise" musician has limited the buying power of his concert to eight admissions per purchaser.

If August 8 is not a good time for you and you are a devoted Parrot Head, there are more opportunities to experience the music of Buffett this summer whenEscape to Margaritaville, Buffet's original Broadway musical, tours in Hartford, Connecticut from June 9 to June 14. It might just end up being the summer of Buffett!

Image via Wikimedia Commons

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Jimmy Buffett Returns to Massachusetts This Year - Up To Boston

Heres hoping that your holiday season has been filled with joy, loved ones, and good health. But if were being honest, were pretty sure that the past month or so has been filled with over-eating, nonstop celebrations, an endless supply of champagne (or whatever your beverage of choice may be), and not nearly enough sleep. Dont worry, youre not alone. Ask literally anyone you know and were willing to bet youll find that people dont sleep enough during the holiday season. But the really excellent news is that as we kiss the holidays and New Years Eve madness goodbye, we have a new excuse to celebrate January 3rd is the Festival of Sleep, which is literally the BEST way to kick-off 2020.

No, were not making this up. The Festival of Sleep is actually a thing. It might not be a national holiday or an official awareness day, but its definitely a day we can get behind.Imagine, a day to focus on nothing but rest. An opportunity to relax, re-invigorate, and reboot. A day that is entirely dedicated to sleeping and catching up on the shut-eye you totally neglected since Thanksgiving.

Not getting enough sleep seems harmless enough the holidays were busy, you were stressed from social engagements and family reunions and gift-giving, etc., so you slept less and felt exhausted more. But that lack of sleep can actually do more damage to your overall health than you might realize. Experts agree that sleep is crucial to good health, and many of the costs of poor sleep go unnoticed. Medical conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease have been linked to insufficient sleep, and sleep deprivation is considered an important risk factor for several illnesses according to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

We all know how crappy we feel when were exhausted, sleep-deprived and operating on post-holiday fumes. Which is why this Festival of Sleep falling just days after New Years Eve wraps is such a genius day of rest we all deserve. Think of it as a vacation from your vacation a day to relax after a far-from-relaxing festive month of fun. Seriously, put on your PJs and get back in bed, on January 3rd you have our permission to just chill.

Cant skip work and spend the entire day in bed drifting off to dreamland? No worries, there are a lot of ways you can observe this day without your head even hitting the pillow. Listen to relaxing music as you wind down from the day. Take a relaxing bath instead of a quick shower to help your body and your mind relax. Keep your clothes comfortable, your sheets clean and soft, and your clutter to a minimum. Use the day as an excuse to keep things simple, soothing, and mellow.

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Why We Should All Start Our New Year by Observing the Festival of Sleep - BELatina

Activate Your Vagus Nerve

Its the secret to calming down

Activate what now? Stick with us: The vagus is the largest and longest of the 12 nerve fibers emanating from your brain. It branches out to reach every major organ in your body, making the mind-body connection a literal one. Researchers hypothesize that the vagus is part of whats known as the microbiota-gut-brain axis, and John Cryan, an Irish neuroscientist, has identified the nerve as one way that microbes in your gut send signals to your brain. Which, as he likes to say, proves that what happens in vagus does not stay in vagus.

Why should you care?

Because the vagus nerve is a link to your parasympathetic, or rest and digest, nervous system. When stimulated, it slows down your heart rate, switches off your fight-or-flight response, and relaxes you. Things like yoga, deep breathing, massage therapy, and moderate exercise can activate it, which might help explain the positive feelings we get when we do them.

In an effort to trigger my own vagus nerve, I began searching for a quick and effective technique. Beyond stimulation therapy, in which surgeons implant a device that sends electrical impulses to the brain, there are no other FDA-approved methods to get the health benefits. Ive yet to find a piece of scientific evidence that doesnt get extrapolated well beyond where it should be, says Mike Tipton, a professor of environmental physiology at Englands University of Portsmouth.

I ruled out any method that required surgery, hiring a specialist, chanting, or gagging (the vagus nerve is connected to the throat muscles), as well as long-term investments like changing the composition of my gut microbiota or developing more meaningful friendships. The technique I kept returning to was cold-water face immersion. A number of experiments have shown that dunking your face in cold water reduces your heart rate and blood pressure. Even Tipton agrees that its a legitimate way of stimulating the vagus nerve, but notes that the therapeutic benefits are currently unproven.

A group of scientists in Luxembourg recently tested wearable devices that cool the vagus nerve via a patch of skin above the clavicle, but you dont need to buy any new gadgets. Simply submerge your face in cold water for a few seconds. I tried it for several days, using water at about 55 degrees, and found the experience refreshing and, after the initial shock, somewhat calming. Even a quick splash can work. Ahhhhh. Feel that? Thats vagus-nerve stimulation. Peter Andrey Smith

Just go outside. Thats it.

The crux of Jenny Odells argument in her book How to Do Nothing is that a narrow definition of productivity, which plays out on devices and social-media platforms, has monopolized our minds. Her solution? The 33-year-old Stanford lecturer urges us to pay attention to the natural world wherever we arewhether thats the wilderness or the middle of the city. We asked Odell what that looks like. Molly Mirhashem

I dont spend time outdoors to think about myself. Its not about self-improvement. Its about fundamentally refiguring your relationship to everything around you.

My book isnt anti-technology. I teach digital and internet art, and there are amazing things online. But within the attention economy and social media, time feels very stunted. Youre trapped in an endless urgent present. When I think about how it feels to go for a walk around the block and just look at things, its almost the direct opposite.

I use the crowdsourcing app iNaturalist to help identify local flora and fauna. It works well in places like the Bay Area where theres an active community of users. And I find it heartwarming to know that someone else is paying attention to the same thing as me and cares about it.

I considered myself to be in conversation with the outdoors as I worked on the book. Whatever environment I was in played an active role in how I formed my thoughts. It sounds cheesy, but I considered parks a collaborator, just like if you had a partner on a project who you talked through your ideas with.

(Photo: Hannah McCaughey)

Binge-watch Netflix. Eat pizza. Take that tequila shot. Not every day, but some days. Because a little indulgence is liberating.

Its good for your brain

Each time we acquire a complex skill, our brains spring into action, shifting gray and white matter around in a process sometimes referred to as activation-dependent structural plasticity. To use an analogy from running, its like trading a steady 5K jog for a series of high-intensity sprints. It might be painful at first, but it makes your brain stronger. Even more appealing, developing new abilities may make us less stressed.

I reminded myself of this one morning last fall as I stood on the deck of the Wild Pigeon, a J/24 keelboat with a jaunty red hull owned by the Manhattan Yacht Clubwhich, despite its name, islocated at Jersey Citys Liberty Harbor Marina. I was here to learn to sail, but also to explore the broader upside of doing so. In instructor Krista DeMille, I had an encouraging role model. She started sailing only a few years ago. A classically trained dancer and actor who also led river-rafting trips, she was a walking advertisement for the polyvalent self.

With the metallic clang of nearby construction as a backdrop, DeMille kicked off the two-day intensive course by guiding me through sailings dizzying multitude of terms. I struggled to keep up with the flurry of hanks and clews and halyards, my Scrabble arsenal expanding by the minute. Next we moved to knots: square knots, slipknots, figure-eight stopper knots. To teach me the bowline, DeMille used a little story of a rabbit and a tree. Then she had me raise the jib and mainsail and fix the trio of tensioners, each with its own dynamics. It felt like doing a full-body workout while standing on a balance board.

This dockside training was a tonic for my brain, suggests Denise Park, director of research at the University of Texass Center for Vital Longevity. There is some evidence, she says, that engaging in cognitively demanding tasks over a sustained period of time keeps our brains sharp as we age. The ideal task is something intellectually challenging and preferably novel. As much as the brain likes a mental workout, it also likes physical exertion: exercise has been shown to enhance cognition.

DeMille took us into New York Harbor, one of the worlds busiest, filled with a staggering array of large vessels, most of which seemed to be bearing down on us. Raise the jib! she shouted. I clambered toward the bow and began hoisting. The sail unfurled a few feet and then refused to budge. DeMille took a look. Sailing, she told me, is about problem-solving. Eventually, she found that Id shackled the line not only to the grommet (correct), but also to the forestay (incorrect).

Once that was sorted, she handed me the tiller, and all that previously abstract instruction became very real: we were a crew of two, and the winds were robust. Sailing demanded all my attention. This itself, in an age of endless distraction, has benefits. While at the tiller, I couldnt reach for my phone or think about the sources of anxiety in my life (bills, story deadlines, middle school application forms). No surprise there. But the fact that I was also learning a new skill provided its own form of stress reduction. As a recent study in the Journal of Applied Psychology on stress in the workplace suggests, learning gives us powerful psychological tools to combat job stressors, building our feeling of competence and enlarging our sense of self.

In my case, Id studied several things at once: knots, navigation, the wind, the etiquette of the seathe 100-question certification test I took afterward (I passed) only scratched the surface. Ultimately, sailing seemed like a metaphor for learning itself: something that takes you to new places and uses the power of nature to make you feel better.Tom Vanderbilt

It isnt making you happier

Caffeine is the worlds most popular psychoactive substanceAmericans alone spend $72 billion on coffee each year. But surprising research suggests that it doesnt work the way we think it does. According to Jack James, former editor of the Journal of Caffeine Research, if youre a regular coffee drinker, caffeine doesnt make you sharp, improve mood, or perk you up. And some of the worlds leading drug researchers, including David Nutt at Imperial College London and Peter Rogers at the University of Bristol, have confirmed that caffeine doesnt boost wakefulness above baseline for those who are dependent on it. They explain it this way: You feel fatigued as your first espresso wears off, and you start going into withdrawal. So your next jolt is really just bringing you back to normal. Thats pleasant and encourages caffeine consumption, Rogers says, but its not providing a net benefit to functioning. Given that, and the fact that caffeine can cause sleep disruption and elevate blood pressure, it may be time to wean yourself. Life really is possible without it.Peter Andrey Smith

Hang time is easy and portable with the Eno DoubleNest. Its small and light enough to bring on any adventure, easy to set up, and roomy enough for two.

Three simple steps

Jennifer Stewart is a cofounder of Gateway Productivity, which coaches business owners on how to be digitally organized. She shares the core principles that help her clients. AbigailBarronian

(Photo: Hannah McCaughey)

Multitasking is a myth, Stewart says. She recommends that you turn off all notifications except texts and phone calls and consider installing an app and website blocker like Freedom, which forces you to choose when you digitally engage.

We hold everything in our head, and that causes stress, says Stewart. Pick a place where all those things can go. That way your brain can relax. Things 3 is a simple management tool that allows you to sort and schedule your chores.

Wonder where the day went? Try Toggl, a piece of time-tracking software. You record how you spend your work hours. After a few days, youll have a clear sense of where your energy is going and how you can adjust.

Avoid the stress of airport lines and delayed flights and be a tourist in your own town.

You need more sleep

Ive always been a morning person. I set my alarm for before dawn and head to the trail or gym when most people are still asleep. Then I shower and sip coffee while I catch up on the news or sift through e-mail. But a few months ago, I started to feel sluggish during those sunrise jogs, and I watched my mile times slow. As I yawned through the day, I wondered whether I was a morning person after all.

It turns out a lot of us feel tired. According to a Gallup poll, 40 percent of Americans report getting less than the recommended seven hours of sleep per night. The fewer zs we get, the more our bodies and brains are compromised. You might see a significant decline in physical performance over a period of three or four days, says W. Christopher Winter, a sleep researcher, neurologist, and author of The Sleep Solution. And youre likely to make three times as many mental errors.

So I vowed that for two weeks, I would sleep in. I reset my alarm from 5 a.m. to 6:30, kept my regular bedtime of 11:30 P.m., and meticulously tracked how every day went.

It didnt go well. Each morning, I woke up before my alarm and forced myself to close my eyes again. When the alarm went off, Id bolt upright, race to the shower, and start my day feeling unprepared. That frazzled state stuck with me as I hurried to meetings.

Yet I did notice that I was more engaged at work and made fewer mistakes. I started running in the evening and shaved five seconds off my mile time. While sleeping later isnt for me, it confirmed that my body feels healthier and my brain sharper when Im getting at least seven hours. So Ive set my alarm for 5 a.m. again, and I now have a second alarm that chimes at 10 P.m., telling me to go to bed. What I needed all along was to get more overall rest, something a lot of us could use. Abigail Wise

Exposure to biodiverse soil is good for your microbiome, which has been correlated with improved mood. Plant a tree, start a gardenor dig in at the Many Hands Peace Farm in Highlands, North Carolina, where guests learn and practice regenerative agriculture.

Want to relax? Tryknitting. Seriously.

Last winter, bucking gender stereotypes and the derisive looks of my 11-year-old daughter, I became a proud knitter. But lets back up. It all started as I was preparing for a podcast interview with Cal Newport, the author of Digital Minimalism, a bestselling book that examines the pitfalls of our screen-addicted lifestyles. My work project quickly evolved into a self-help mission. Newports book described a litany of bad habitstuning out the world with music, mindless social-media scrollingthat sounded eerily familiar. So I decided to commit to his prescribed digital declutter30 days without recreational screen time.

Newport is careful not tocall his plan a detox, a word he worries implies a short-term break rather than the transformation of ones relationship to technology that hes promoting. One of the things Ive noticed is that the people who succeed actually took advantage of the 30-day break to think seriously about what they really want to do with their time, Newport told me. You have to have a positive thing to replace this with. In other words, you need a hobbysomething you value that can fill the time you once spent scrolling through your Instagram feed when the monthlong moratorium expires.

(Photo: Hannah McCaughey)

Thats when I picked up knitting, essentially by default. It was February, so gardening and other outdoor hobbies werea no-go. I love reading, butI knew my passion for dense nonfiction would inevitably be overrun by the lure of Twitters more snackable nuggets. Woodworking sounded cool, but I have few tools and zero carpentry skills. Knitting? That seemed doable, perhaps even easy. I picked up two pairs of needles and two balls of yarn, recruited my wife to join me, then briefly broke my digital fast for a quick YouTube tutorial.

For the next month or so, we set aside our phones and plopped on the couch for nightly sessions of knit one, purl one. As soon as I had the basics down, I found that the repetitive, mindless task was relaxing and meditative, helping me to decompress from office life. Turns out research backs that up. In 2013, British well-being coach and knitting advocate Betsan Corkhill teamed up with an occupational-therapy researcher to survey more than 3,500 active knitters from 31 countries. Their conclusion: people who knit more than three times a week report improved moods, reduced anxiety, and less stress.

When the weather improved and the days got longer, I confess I put away my needles. But I plan to be a knitter for life. Winter is here, and theres a yard-long stretch of stitches in my closet yearning to become a scarf.Christopher Keyes

The scent of trees relaxes us. Skylonda Lodge, an hour south of San Francisco, has four-to-seven-day retreats that include strolling among redwoods reaching 300 feet.

Rest is an opportunity for reinvention

No one likes getting hurt, but sometimes the forced pause leads to much needed downtime and an opportunity for introspection. Last May, professional ultrarunner and coach Megan Roche ruptured her hamstring when she stepped into a prairie dog hole while training near her home in Boulder, Colorado. Initially, the prognosis was that shed never compete at the same level again. But Roche found a surgeon who told her that a reconstructed tendon could make her stronger than she was before. She had surgery soon afterward.

It was a crazy moment in my athletic career, because I fully contemplated what my life would look like without having that competitive outlet, 29-year-old Roche says. I went through every stage of the grieving process before ultimately getting the news that I should be OK. The episode made her acutely aware that she didnt want her identity wrapped up in something that could vanish in an instant. Roche, who also has a medical degree, says that her injury woke her up to the fragility of her career and inspired her to go back to school to pursue a Ph.D. in epidemiology.

Roche also points out that an injury often leads athletes to come back to their sport with a more well-rounded training approach. She appears to have found a middle ground: her research centers on bone health and the genetic predictors of sports injuries, and she plans to continue to coach and run.Martin Fritz Huber

(Photo: Hannah McCaughey)

Theres solid research on the stress-reducing benefits of having a pet. Meanwhile, Harvard researchers recently noted that walking is one of the healthiest forms of exercise.

Theres a reason tai chi has been aroundhundreds of years

Im a skier, biker, and climber with a full-time job, which means I obsessively cram my free time with as much high-impact activity as possible. But lately, recreation has felt less like fun and more like an urgent invitation to beat myself up, so I decided to slow things down. Which is why, on a sunny Friday afternoon, I find myself standing at the back of a martial-arts studio, relearning how to walk.

Jill Basso, a tai chi instructor for more than 20 years, comes over to correct my form. Im moving forward too much, she says. Which until now I considered the primary goal of walking. Tai chi, however, isnt really about getting anywhere.

The ancient Chinese martial art has been steadily growing in popularity in the U.S. over the past decade, boosted in part by support from the medical community. Research about its potential to build strength, balance, and stability, particularly in older practitioners, has led doctors to prescribe it to their patients. But those benefits probably extend to young people as well, explains Elizabeth Eckstrom, a professor at Oregon Health and Science University who has been studying tai chi in a clinical setting for nearly two decades. The practice can improve sleep, teach mindfulness, and help athletes advance in their sport. Its a good partner for all the things we do, says Eckstrom.

A typical session involves a slow series of movements. In Bassos class, the mostly over-60 students move fluidly and confidently through side steps, lunges, and sweeping arm motions. Without the goal of getting faster or going bigger, I learn about smaller limitations: my ankles are rigid, my quads allow my knees to bend only so far, my hips catch with certain movements. My limits are internal.

I have a complicated relationship with exercise. Its deeply tied to my sense of self-worth, and if I havent gotten my heart rate somewhere near 180 in a few days, I can get manic. Its something Im trying to change, healing my relationship with physical activities that are supposed to be enjoyable but have become a form of self-flagellation.

Tai chi, on the other hand, kept my heart rate around 80. It plugged me into a welcoming community of people who are tending to their bodies like a slow-growing garden. I started going to class twice a week, moving as deliberately as my body would allow. I learned that my sports habits and tai chi actually have the same goalsmental calm, physical strength, and overall well-being. And tai chi doesnt put me at risk of broken bones or a bruised ego.Abigail Barronian

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How to Chill Out and Relax Already - Outside

Jamie Grill | Getty Images

When do you plan to retire?

Many individuals have an age at which they want to call it quits. And then there's the age when you really stop working.

If you're lucky, those ages are one and the same. But research shows that they're likely not.

Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies recently found that a majority of workers 54% plan to stop working after age 65 or never at all.

"By and large, many simply have not yet saved enough to retire comfortably," said Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, of the research.

More from Personal Finance: Why Americans are contributing more to their 401(k)s Social Security narrows wealth gap but many retire in poverty New parents can take penalty-free early retirement withdrawals

But a September survey from personal finance website NerdWallet found that today's retirees stop working at age 59, on average.

That's much earlier than when experts generally recommend retiring. For one, Medicare eligibility doesn't generally kick in until age 65. What's more, full Social Security retirement benefits are now starting as late as age 67, depending on your birth year.

NerdWallet's survey found that some of those retirees 36% said they didn't have a choice as to when they retired. Moreover, 18% said they had to stop working because of their health, and 9% said a job loss forced them into retirement.

Right now, you're probably saving as if you will be the one deciding when you retire. You may not have to retire unexpectedly early, but you should save as if you may have to.

If you're in your 20s, putting more money away now means that you will have to save less over time, noted Arielle O'Shea, investing and retirement specialist at NerdWallet.

Even if the idea of retirement itself doesn't motivate you, the flexibility that having those funds will give you should.

"You're giving yourself options," O'Shea said, including the ability to pursue a different career if you choose to.

If you're in your 30s or 40s, do not get discouraged, O'Shea said.

Take advantage of any changes to your expenses, such as children switching from private day care to public school, to invest that extra money toward your retirement.

Bottom line: "Save as much as you can," O'Shea said.

One thing all retirement savers should do: calculate how much you need to save for based on multiple retirement ages. Non-retired survey respondents most commonly said they expect to retire between 60 and 66.

By moving your target retirement date higher and lower, you can see how that changes your retirement savings targets, O'Shea said.

"Americans aren't saving enough for retirement, and we're hoping to open their eyes about that and do whatever they can to boost those numbers," O'Shea said.

NerdWallet's online survey was conducted by the Harris Poll in July. It included 2,027 individuals ages 18 and up, 1,605 of whom are not currently retired.

Read more here:
The retirement savings blind spot you don't realize you have - CNBC

Kyle Long's retirement is a stark reminder of how much he's meant to the Bears

Maybe the craziest Kyle Long fact of all is that his football career started because he was tired of stocking the shoe room.

That was 10 years ago, and Long was 21. Then, playing at Saddleback College in California, not only did he switch from defensive end to guard(which Im sure never comes up in the Long household), but he picked it up so effortlessly that Pac-12 powerhouse Oregon offered him a scholarship after one season of JuCo ball. Playing on the offensive line against D-1 talent for the first time, Long started six of 12 games for the Ducks before being taken 20th overall in the 2013 NFL Draft.

But anyways, hows your early-20s hobby going?

We think the world of [Long], Ryan Pace said at the Bears end-of-season press conference. Its unfortunate hes had a handful of injuries. Hes tried to battle through all of them.

Those injuries are why, 10 years later, Long is hanging it up. Turns out, theres not a whole lot of individual accomplishments left after earning three different Pro Bowl selections and a spot on the team-sanctioned Top 100 Bears of All-Time list.

Unfortunately -- not to mention unfairly its his time spent off the field thatdominatesthe conversation these days. Long played 16 games only twice (2013 and 2015 seasons)and hadnt played in more than 10 since 2015. His labrum, triceps, foot, ankleand shoulder all failed him at one point or another along the way, and the collective toll outweighed another grueling offseason of rehab.

"Some Chicagoans are probably happy to hear I'm finally stepping away and getting my body right," Long tweeted. "Some Chicagoans may be sad to hear this. Either way u feel about it, I want u to know how lucky I am to have spent time in your city. I became a man while playing in Chicago. Thank you."

The end of Longs career was objectively hard to watch; you dont often see someone getting placed on IR after playing a full game just days before. But like Long tweeted, the writing was on the wall. At his peak, though, Long was not only one of the best players on the Bears, but one of the premier offensive linemen in football. According to Pro Football Focus, he graded as an elite or above-average NFL starter in every year from his rookie season in 2013 through 2017.

Hes also entertaining as hell, bringing his energy to both Halas Hall and The Web. The Bears locker room isnt short on vocal leaders anymore, but it was Long who stood up and talked for teammates while the team limped to various third- and fourth-place finishes in the NFC North. This past summer, in the span of a month, Long got kicked out of practice for fighting AND went full-frontal (accidentally, which cannot be stressed enough) on Tarik Cohens Instagram without so much as one preachy column about Athletes These Days.

Hes also more Logged On than his brother, retired NFL star Chris Long, which is arguably more of an accomplishment than the Pro Bowl at this point. The way Kyle used Twitter to hint at his retirement was a master class in content creation. Hes got a future in media should he want it.

As for Long's on-field abilityat his peak, fellow O-lineman Charles Leno Jr.summed it upbest.

"I told him I've seen how dominant he was, Leno said after the Bears put Long on IR. Literally seen him pick 350-pound guys up off the ground. That's really hard to do if you guys don't know. He would do that consistently. It just really sucks because I remember what he used to do and I just wanted to always get him back there.

The 2020 NFL draft will be here before you know it. The Senior Bowl gets underway with practices beginning on January 20, and the NFL Scouting Combine will follow soon after from February 23 to March 2. Add in a slew of college pro days, and it's draft weekend.

Free agency will play a big part in which positions the Bears target with their two second-round picks, but the way the 2020 draft class is looking right now after the slew of underclassmen declarations, there are two positions that may make the most sense for GM Ryan Pace: quarterback and tight end.

This year's quarterback class will feature several first-rounders, including LSU's Joe Burrow, Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon's Justin Herbert. Other prospects like Utah State's Jordan Love and Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts have also received some first-round praise. But that doesn't mean Chicago won't have a chance to land a promising player with starter's upside at picks 43 or 50.

Washington's Jacob Eason, for example, is a prime candidate to come off the board in the early portion of Day 2, and with Mitch Trubisky's status as the team's starter in 2020 on shaky ground, it's an absolute necessity that Pace add a prospect to the roster from this year's class.

Whether he pulls the trigger on a quarterback in the second round is anyone's guess, but if he does, Eason would be hard to pass up. Here's how The Draft Network broke down his game:

Eason has a cannon for an arm and projects best into an aggressive vertical passing offense to take advantage of his arm talent to the deeper levels of the field.

He'd bring that touchdown-to-checkdown mentality that Matt Nagy has preached to Trubisky, who has yet to look like anything resembling a consistent NFL starter.

Quarterback won't be the only focus for Pace early in the 2020 draft. He has to fix the tight end position too, and the recent decision by Notre Dame's Cole Kmet to declare for the draft was great news for the Bears.

Kmet will jockey for the right to be this year's top tight end prospect throughout draft season. But even if he earns that title, he probably won't be a first-round pick. The top tight ends in the 2020 class are clustered together as early second-rounders, which, again, is fantastic for the Bears.Chicago can upgrade from Trey Burton and Adam Shaheen with one pick, and Kmet could be that guy.

Kmet's skill set as a receiver, whileoffering the baseline minimum as a run blocker, make him an every-down player who could eventually do for the Bears what many of the league's more reliable tight ends do for their offenses. He'd be a massive upgrade over anyone Chicago fielded in 2019, and that includes Burton.

If the Bears were able to come away from the second round of the 2020 NFL draft with Eason and Kmet, the offense would at least have a candidate to start immediately next season and a much-needed prospect at the game's most important position.

And that would be an absolute win.

The 2020 NFL offseason is already underway for the Bears, but the real fun won't get started until March when free agency officially kicks off.

Here are some key dates to circle on your calendar if you plan on tracking what general manager Ryan Pace does over the next few months:

Pace will have some difficult decisions to make between March 16 and 18, and some of those decisions will involve the futureof current Bears players.

Here's the list of current Bears who are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents, per Spotrac:

The good news for the Bears is there are only a few names on this list who warrant serious consideration to be re-signed. Kwiatkoski, Trevathan, Williams and Clinton-Dix immediately come to mind, but McManis and even Daniel deserve some attention. It isn't easy to find a special teams player as productive and selfless as McManis nor is it a simple task to land a backup quarterback who can serve as a coach and mentor without a starter's agenda.

The most likely scenario to unfold this offseason is this: Pace will identify two of the Bears' unrestricted free agents as priorities (my guess would be Kwiatkoski and Clinton-Dix) and will do everything in his power to re-sign them before March 16. He'll allow the market to dictate the terms for Trevathan and Williams; if their contract offers from other teams are reasonable and Chicago can offer the same terms? Maybe the hometown club gets the nod.

Pace acted swiftly to extend safety Eddie Jackson last week, and there's no reason to believe he won't (or shouldn't) do the same with wide receiver Allen Robinson. Then it'll be time to turn his attention to the team's players who are ready to cash-in on the open market before getting raided by clubswith more money and bigger needs.

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Why the Bears will miss Kyle Long on and off the field - NBCSports.com

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Thinking of retiring abroad in 2020? Have you seen these headlines in recent months? Death Toll in Chile Protests Since October Rises to 27, Nicaragua Has a Simple Message for Protesters: Dont, Thousands Flee to Shore as Australia Fires Turn Skies Blood Red," Hong Kong Protesters Return to Streets as New Year Begins, Strike Bites French Economy and Seven Days of Unrest and Counting: Thousands Stream Into Ecuadors Capital.

On the face of it, the news about these protests, strikes and fires might seem enough to keep you firmly planted in the United States for retirement (we never have such problems here, right?). But the truth is, no place in the world is immune from altercations or natural disasters. So, if you are considering retiring abroad, keep that in mind. Better yet, do your homework to learn about the pros and cons of potential locations.

One way to start is by poring through the Best Places to Retire Around the World lists just out from International Living (The Worlds Best Places to Retire in 2020, which ranks 24 countries) and Live and Invest Overseas (Worlds Top 10 Retirement Destinations for 2020), the two colossals on the subject. Both crunch numbers for key factors ranging from cost of living to health care to climate, though they often come up with different places.

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For 2020, however, both lists cite Portugal as No. 1; Live and Invest Overseas lists cities or regions, so its winner is actually the Algarve area of Portugal, for the fifth year running and its now tied with Mazatln, Mexico.

Another way to prepare for retirement abroad is to read stories with advice about such relocations; Next Avenue has published a bunch, and theyre noted at the end of this post.

Dan Prescher, an International Living editor who lives with his wife Suzan Haskins in Merida, Mexico, notes that his publications reporters around the world factor in safety when producing their annual rankings. If a correspondent feels a place is not safe or secure, theyll tell us, he says.

So, protests aside, International Living believes its Top 10 places to retire abroad for 2020 five in Latin America and Mexico; three in Europe and two in Asia are safe for American expats. Two of them werent in its Top 10 in 2019: France and Vietnam (theyve replaced Peru and Thailand).

1. Portugal

2. Panama

3. Costa Rica

4. Mexico

5. Colombia

6. Ecuador

7. Malaysia

8. Spain

9. France

10. Vietnam

The Live and Invest Overseas Top 10 list for 2020 (five in Latin America and Mexico, four in Europe and one in Asia):

1. Algarve, Portugal

2. Mazatln, Mexico

3. Cuenca, Ecuador

4. Valletta, Malta

5. Citt Sant Angelo, Italy

6. Ambergris Caye, Belize

7. San Ignacio, Belize

8. Bled, Slovenia

9. Medellin, Colombia

10. Chiang Mai, Thailand

"Many of the new destinations are not well-known and not yet on the mainstream radar," says Kathleen Peddicord, author and publisher of Live and Invest Overseas, about her list.

One reason Portugal rose to the top of the International Living list this year is that this ranking organization changed the way it scored countries for climate. Countries with a range of climates were given more weight than just ones that are warm all-year-round, says Prescher.

Portugal also doesnt seem to be going through the flips and twists that a lot of European economies have been going through," Prescher adds. Its incredibly affordable and not a basket case. Portugal received the best International Living score for Housing, Health Care and Climate of all 24 countries ranked.

International Livings Portugal correspondent, Tricia Pimental, says Portugal is the second least expensive country in Europe, after Bulgaria. Pimental and her husband spend about a third of what they did in the United States, adding that you can live a comfortable lifestyle in Portugal for about $2,500 a month. By contrast, International Livings report says a couple can live in Mexico for $1,500 to $3,000 a month, depending on location.

Panama, No. 2 on International Livings list for 2020, frequently ranks at or near the top of its annual list. This year, it had the top scores in the categories of Retiree Benefits & Discounts, Visas & Residence and Opportunity (how well the local authorities support small business, whether its easy to work remotely and whether theres a strong economy).

Panama made residency a lot easier to get, says Prescher, who describes the country as a very cosmopolitan place and with a government as stable as governments in the Americas get.

He adds: Theyve standardized the amount needed for a retirement visa and an investment visa. It used to be a lot more complicated and costlier. U.S. expats can get the Friends of Panama visa by having at least $5,000 in a Panama bank account, and either buying real estate, starting a business or getting a job in the country.

Frances appearance on International Livings Top 10 for 2020 may surprise you, considering the high cost of living in places like Paris and Lyon. Truth is, the country only scored a 66 out of 100 in the Cost of Living category.

Yes, France can be expensive, but it doesnt have to be, says Prescher. You can live in the countryside very easily. International Livings France correspondent, Tulla Rampont, writes in her Best Places to Retire report that outside of major cities like Paris and Lyon, rent is about a third of what I paid in California and so is my mortgage payment. She manages an English-language school in Toulon, in the south of France.

Prescher offers a word to the wise about retiring to Mexico: Health care is in flux there right now, he says. The country has plans to combine private health care and public health care so everyone has access to the same, affordable health care. But no one knows when that will happen.

That said, according to the new book about boomer retirement in Mexico, The Fun Side of the Wallby Travis Scott Luther, more than a million U.S. citizens currently live in Mexico and the country is the No. 1 nation for American expats. The most popular cities for them: Tijuana; San Miguel de Allende; Mexicali, Ensenada and Chapala. And, Luther notes, Puerto Vallarta, Merida and Tulum are growing fast as expat hotspots.

Luther writes that Americans considering retiring in Mexico need to prepare themselves for a slower pace of life, which has its pros and cons.

A leisurely life may sound great when you decide to bury your watch in the sand and just lay on the beach until you feel like going home, but it might not be so great when you are waiting for someone to come repair your broken shower, Luther says in the book.

Also, Luther notes, for almost all Mexico boomers [from the U.S.], working in Mexico is impossible. Even if they wanted to pursue meaningful employment, they would be locked out due to residency or tax and benefit restrictions.

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2 New Retirement Abroad Authorities Issue Their Best Places to Retire Abroad in 2020 - Forbes

By Leslie Hunter-Gadsden, Next Avenue Contributor

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If youre thinking about running a part-time business in retirement, researching and even starting it while youre still working full-time is a smart move.

Its great to see if there is a market for your business while not depending on it for an income, said Phillip Phan, a Johns Hopkins Carey Business School professor as well as an editor on the EIX Editorial Board of the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. (EIX is a funder of Next Avenue.)

Whether youll want to, say, provide a concierge service to care for pets, create craft items or run a nonprofit for a cause you love, getting things going before you retire also offers an opportunity to assess if there is a demand beyond your friends and family, said Kimberly A. Eddleston, a Northeastern University entrepreneurship professor and a senior editor on the EIX Editorial Board.

Mary Pender Greene, a psychotherapist, social worker and career coach, laid the groundwork for incorporating her consulting business in New York City MPG Consulting during her last full-time year as an executive at The Jewish Board of Family and Childrens Services in 2010. She had worked at that nonprofit for 26 years.

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MPG Consulting is committed to ensuring that organizations serving populations of color are prepared to provide transformative culturally and racially attuned clinical, programmatic and administrative services, noted Pender Greene. Between 2010 and 2013, Pender Greene continued working at The Jewish Board in a smaller capacity, roughly six hours a month, keeping a connection to the organization while expanding her consulting firm.

There was never a moment when I thought: Oh, what else am I going to do? I was always thinking about what else I could do, said Pender Greene, author of Creative Mentorship and Career-Building Strategies: How to Build Your Virtual Personal Board of Directors. No matter what, there are always transferable skills.

Having a wide swath of contacts helped Pender Greene grow her consulting practice to a team of roughly 60 diverse consultants with a broad range of experience as coaches, clinicians, trainers and managers.

Launching a business perhaps one to five years before retiring from your current one provides the chance to test the market for your product or service. By starting a business before you stop working, you can see what your time commitment will actually be. It will help you to understand what your actual day would look like once you are doing it full-time, said Eddleston.

Pender Greene agrees. When youre thinking about leaving your current job, you need at least a year to plan before you leave, she said. A part of what makes it successful during the transition is to keep your focus open. If you hold on too tightly to a goal, you might not see the new opportunities.

Also, said David Deeds, Schulze professor of entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas, and EIX executive editor, You need to really take the time to do your research getting feedback from potential customers.

If youll be test marketing a new business while fully employed, there are two things to keep in mind:

For one, make sure theres no conflict of interest between your idea and what you do for your current employer. You dont want to be accused of stealing intellectual property.

Sometimes, this just means having a conversation with your employer ahead of time, noted Phan.

Youll also want to learn your states tax reporting requirements for small businesses. Work with an attorney and accountant, said Phan.

Taking these steps to slowly roll out your business idea lets you find out if what you want to do provides the profit margins that you need. You want to fail early and cheap, without putting your retirement savings and investments at risk, said Deeds.

(This article is part of Americas Entrepreneurs, a Next Avenue initiative made possible by the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation and EIX, the Entrepreneur and Innovation Exchange.)

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Starting A Part-Time Retirement Business Before You Retire - Forbes

When you first start saving for retirement, you might think youll never get to the point where you can max out your annual contribution. But perhaps your income has leveled up significantly since then, or youve prioritized saving for retirement. You might see yourself approaching that annual $19,500 limit for your 401(k) or $6,000 for your IRAs.

May as well throw in a little more, right? Not so fast. Saving for retirement is sort of like playing The Price is Right: You want to get as close as possible without going over.

Want to know what happens if you do? (Heres a hint: Youre going to lose some of that money.)

First, exceeding your contribution limits for retirement accounts doesnt usually happen. If you have one retirement account, your risk of exceeding the limit is very low, since the firm that manages your plan will keep an eye on your contributions for the year. But if your finances are more complicatedperhaps you have a few different retirement accountsyou may need to pay more attention.

The biggest cause of this is when the taxpayer switches jobs during the year and essentially has two retirement accounts that are not being monitored to the annual limit, said Mike Savage, CPA and founder of 1-800Accountant. If they only have one retirement account, usually the financial institution will make [them] aware of the excess contribution, he said.

Another way you can get stuck in this situation is when you hit an income limit for your retirement account, like a Roth IRA. Maybe you fully funded your Roth for the year, but were also eligible for an employer-sponsored plan. Most people that end up with an excess do so because its hard to measure where the income will be at the end of the year, said Amin Dabit, director of advisory service at Personal Capital.

If you go over the limit for your retirement account, the IRS is not going to let you skate by unnoticed. You need to remove the excess from your account as soon as possible, or youll pay an excise tax penalty of 6%.

If you can remove the excess contribution before you file your taxes, you wont have to pay the 6% penalty. You will, however, have to report it as income (which means it will be taxed) and youll probably have to pay a 10% penalty for early withdrawal from your retirement account.

You might be tempted to just leave the money there and take a 6% penalty over a 10% one. But it doesnt actually work that waythat 6% doesnt go away if you dont make amends. The IRS will impose a 6% IRS excise tax penalty for every year that amount remains in the account, Dabit explained.

If your retirement account is through your employer, youll have to ask them to pay back the excess deferral to you, including any earnings on it, said Caleb Silver, editor in chief of Investopedia. If youve already received a W2 from your company, theyll need to then provide an amended one.

You can also file an amended tax return; you can avoid the penalty if you remove the excess and refile by the October extension deadline.

Pay attention to your earned income, modified adjusted gross income, and the annual contribution limits, Silver said. Keep track of any contributions youve already made for the tax year, and be sure you allocate to the correct year any contributions you make between January 1 and April 15.

If you think the upcoming year is going to be unusually robustmaybe youre expecting a raise or a bonus you want to put toward retirementyou can contribute toward last years limit now to avoid an issue after your income (and your contribution) increases. One of the best ways to avoid contributing too much is to discuss with a tax advisor and look to make a contribution for the previous year at the same time you file taxes, Dabit advised.

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Heres What Happens If You Go Over the Limit for Retirement Contributions - Lifehacker Australia

Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll was a hard-ass. He transformed his team from an NFL punchline into a powerhouse. He was known to chew out players after terrible games and inspired the kind of respect that would lead his team to four Super Bowl wins, two of them against the Cowboys.

Noll wasnt one to mince words. Whenever a player was too old and broken for the game, the Hall of Fame coach would call him into the office and tell him that it was time for him to go find his life's work. It's a story, a legend, really, people in Pittsburgh hold dear to their hearts, much like the image of former Cowboys coach Tom Landry's stoic sideline figure still inspires a legion of older Cowboys fans. It's a tale Texas Radio Hall of Famer Mike Rhyner told in his farewell video to The Ticket fans on Monday.

Rhyner, 69, announced his retirement from The Ticket in a video he posted online and shared on his Twitter account. He leaves behind a 40-year career in sports radio and a legion of disheartened fans.

I dont have to find my lifes work, he said in the video. This has been it, and I am damn proud of it, and I thank you, The Ticket listener, more than I can tell you.

Danny Balis, a Dallas musician who's worked with Rhyner since 2000, was as surprised as everyone else when he found out last week. Mike is a total pro, one of the smartest people I've ever met, and has such an oddball goofy sense of humor, he tells the Observer. I knew I was working with a legend, and I never took it for granted.

A Southwest Oak Cliff native, the "Old Grey Wolf," also known as "The Godfather," Rhyner didn't set out to become The Tickets version of Reggie Jackson (as he's referred to in the book The Ticket, Full Disclosure by Scott Boyter). He was a drummer in search of a rock n roll band.

Rhyner began gigging in bands when he was 15 in the 1960s, jamming at gigs in Abilene, Tyler and Wichita Falls. My parents thought this was a folly that would pass, but as it happened, I was able to make a little money at it, and they surely liked that idea, Rhyner recalled in Boyter's book.

After 15 years of jamming, he decided to set aside his drumsticks and return to school for radio broadcasting at the University of Texas at Arlington. When he was a kid, hed been a fan of the magic Russ Knight, The Weird Beard, who would spin on KLIF.

Ive never been able to put my finger on it, but radio was always magical to me, Rhyner told the Observer in January 2006.

In the late70s, he landed a radio gig as a news intern for The Zoo KZEW, but longed to do sports radio. He eventually got his chance at The Zoo and stayed with the station until 1986 when it closed its doors.

Six years would pass before he hatched the idea of an all-sports station with his friend Geoff Dunbar. They were watching the 1992 Duke-Kentucky basketball game when they came up with the idea. It wasnt an original idea for Dallas. Local icons Brad Sham, Norm Hitzges and Randy Galloway were doing sports talk shows. But no one was operating a 24-hour all sports station.

Two years later, The Ticket hit the airwaves.

Anybody that tells you we werent strongly influenced by Howard Stern, well, fold up your notebook and go home, because theyre lying, Rhyner told the Observer. We knew we wouldnt sound like the other guys in the market.

Or as D Magazine pointed out in a January 2014 profile: Early listeners found someone more than sports on The Ticket. They stumbled upon a fledgling community of off-the-wall personalities whose stories, bits and observation on everything from football to the trivial frustrations of everyday life struck a chord.

Like Sterns popular radio show, Rhyners The Hardline program on The Ticket has had its fair share of controversy. His co-host Greg Williams resigned in early 2008 after a 13-year relationship with the program. He walked off in mid-syllable and checked into a drug rehab, as the Observer wrote in a July 3, 2008, cover story.

Then 105.3 The Fan tried to steal it away from The Ticket, but Rhyner decided to keep the show on the 1310 AM airwaves in an 11th-hour contract agreement after station owner Cumulus Media presumably forked over more cash.

It was close, very close, Rhyner told the Observer in February 2009. The Fan made a really strong run at us. I mean, really strong.

Rhyner has won numerous awards over the years as part of The Hardline lineup, including ESPN Sports Radio Personalities of the Year on several occasions. He was able to move on from the loss of Williams with Corby The Snake Davidson, a Fort Worth native who received a beating from fans when he first slid into Williamsstill-cooling co-host seat.

In 2014, Rhyner was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.

Over the last 30 years, Rhyner had become the "Weird Beard" for The Ticket fans and was called the voice of the radio station. His legion of fans 90,000 followers on Twitter alone would tune in to hear the Old Grey Wolf howl from 3 to 7 p.m. daily.

When he decided it was time to step away from the mic, Rhyner didnt pull a page from Jerry Jones How to Fire a Coach playbook and drop hints about it in the press or hold a news conference. He simply uploaded a video online where it wasnt open to interpretation or spin by the media.

Here youre getting it straight up from me, he said in the video. Were on vacation right now. Happens every year at this time. January rolls around, and we go back. We attack the new broadcast year. That will be the case this year as well with one difference. And that difference is, I wont be there. Its time for me to step away from the gig at The Ticket.

Tributes to Rhyner poured in from Dallas media, and The Kessler changed its marquee to read: Stay hard Rhyner. The lil Ticket. Hell of a run.

Fans were quick to post their responses on social media.

Legions are going to miss the hell out of you, one fan wrote.

Been home sick all day. Jump on Facebook to find out a big part of my teenage years, early adulthood and current adulthood is gone, wrote another fan.

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman tweeted, Listening to @dfwticket and hearing Mike Rhyner make the announcement that hes moved on to the next phase of his life. Like many, my afternoons of listening to The Hardline wont be the same. Youve given us so many years of radio gold. A heartfeltthank youto @theoldgreywolf.

Balis can recall nearly all the pranks they pulled on Hardline, but Alarmgate is the one that immediately comes to mind. He and Davidson broke into Rhyner's hotel room and stashed 12 battery-operated alarm clocks around his room. They set the alarms to go off 30 minutes apart starting at 3 a.m.

We stood outside their room all night and listened to the frantic chaos unfold, he said. None of us got any sleep that night, but it was worth it the next day on the air.

Now that Rhyner is gone, Balis isn't sure what will happen to the show.

The bench is deep at the station, he says. It's gonna be weird for a while, and I have no idea what the brass will ultimately decide. But we'll roll with it and work as hard, or harder than we ever have.

The Old Grey Wolf Mike Rhyner, pictured here presenting an award at the 2019 Dallas Observer Music Awards.

Mike Brooks

Christian McPhate is an award-winning journalist who specializes in investigative reporting. He covers crime, the environment, business, government and social justice. His work has appeared in several publications, including the Dallas Morning News, the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the Miami Herald, San Antonio Express News and The Washington Times.

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Radio Legend Mike Rhyner Announces His Retirement From The Ticket - Dallas Observer