10 Things You Don’t Know About Chad Benefield

Moon here. I always enjoy showing the worst possible pictures of Chad I can find. Don't you love this one? Let's check in with my morning co-host and find out:

I am complete geek, but I actually have a playlist of DRIVING SONGS on my Ipod.  Here are some of the random highlights (20 of them) that are currently on it.  As you'll see . . . my musical tastes are all over the place.

The Edge of Glory- Lady Gaga

Sing-  My Chemical Romance

Use Somebody-  Kings of Leon

Uprising- Muse

Tonight-  Sugarland

Firework- Katy Perry

Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)-  Beyonce

All In-  Lifehouse

Trouble- Ray LaMontagne

F#%kin Perfect-  P!nk

Don't You Wanna Stay- Jason Aldean & Kelly Clarkson

Just The Way You Are & Grenade-  Bruno Mars

Valerie- The Cast of Glee

The Cave-  Mumford and Sons

How Far We've Come-  Matchbox Twenty

Dog Days Are Over-  Florence & The Machine

If I Had You-  Adam Lambert

Follow The Leader- Soca Boys

Rolling In The Deep-Adele

Thinking Over- Dana Glover

(And I am about to add Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5!)

I actually love to cook.  And, yes, I have a “Kiss The Cook” apron.  LOL.  But I don't get to go all Bobby Flay as often as I like because my life is CRAZY!  I will admit that I am not real creative in the kitchen, despite the fact that I watch Food Network every single day!

I am more of a recipe follower than a recipe creator!  But I do make homemade marinara that'll make you want to slap an Italian and I make a homemade coconut cake that's so sweet it causes instant tooth decay!

Oh, this is easy!  I stick my foot in my mouth ALL THE TIME!  Seriously, my foot is in my mouth so much I could eat my own toenails.

Apparently, when I was developing in my mother's womb, something happened.  Maybe she smoked once.  Dropped acid.  Had a few cocktails.  Not sure!  But that part of the body between the brain and the mouth (known as a filter) ended up on the cutting room floor with the umbilical cord.  The speed at which my brain works is my greatest strength and greatest weakness.  Sometimes it tells my mouth to say something before my lips have time to know better.  And oh dear Lord!  I would love to share examples, but they're all SO WRONG and I would hate to have to relive them.  Just know that I've had my feet in my mouth everywhere imaginable . . . funeral homes, support groups, churches, traffic stops, and, yes, even on the air.  Thank goodness my brain is able to kick into overdrive when it happens and work to repair the damage.  And thank even bigger helpings of goodness I have the ability to pretty much say anything to anyone and get away with it.  At least so far . . .

I have the attention span of a 2-year-old, so I'm not much of a reader.  I do read magazines and currently subscribe to New York Magazine, Time Out New York, ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Tennis, Food & Wine, and Travel & Leisure.  As for books . . . UGH!

If fact, I can't tell you the last book I read from cover to cover.  Oh, wait!  That's not true.

When I was on my cruise in December I read 150 Movies You Should Die Before You See.  Yep!  You read that title correctly.  LOL!  It was a very funny collection of movies you should NEVER see!  Movies like Evil Bong, Nudist Colony of the Dead, The Wasp Woman, Satanic Yuppies, The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, Monsturd, and Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter.

I bought Kathy Griffin's autobiography and thought that would be funny.  It wasn't.  She rambles in print like she rambles in person.  It's like a meth-head mated with a parrot!  I made it through about four chapters and tapped out like a UFC fighter.

I am going on an 8-day cruise in December and have decided to try and give this reading thing another go!  I am going to attempt Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror.  It's a book about horror movies and the folks who make them . . . like John Carpenter, Wes Craven (who started out in porn!  WHAT???) and Brian De Palma.  Looks like a good read.  And heck, I am going to Aruba, which seems scarier everyday!  I think this will be a good fit!

I am a sports FANATIC!!  But, it's funny!  Unlike Moon (who worships the Yankees), I don't really have a favorite team.  I watch basketball, football, baseball and stuff . . . but there's not one team in particular I root for.  I don't really care who wins.

Now, that's not true of tennis . . . which is my FAVORITE sport of all!

I definitely have my favorites (Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer) and will rudely and shamelessly root against someone I don't care for (Rafael Nadal)!!

If I had to pick a team though, I would most definitely pick TEAM USA.  If you listen to The WBKR Waking Crew, you know that I LOVE the Olympics.  Summer and Winter!  BRING THEM ON!!!  And I will sit in front of the television and cheer for Americans in everything . . . from the premiere events like swimming and gymnastics to crazy-ass sports like fencing and synchronized swimming.  I am counting down the days to the Summer Games of 2012.  London, England!!  My goal is get there in person . . . but if not, I'll spend 17 days straight with Bob Costas and NBC!!  TEAM USA, BABY!!!  ALL THE WAY!!!!  Beat those 13-year-old Chinese gymnasts!!!!!  (Oh, sorry!  Still holding a grudge from Beijing 2008.)  Told you I am a fanatic!

Oh, Lord!  Well, I have always claimed to be a slave to trash television, but I actually do watch some shows that are great!  Dexter rocks.  I love Modern Family.  I never miss a season of Survivor.  I watch at least 20 hours of the Tennis Channel a week.  I hit ESPN and ESPN 2 throughout the day.  And though it pisses me off EVERY YEAR, I still watch American Idol. Now, here's where it gets a bit shady and dramatic.

I watch True Blood, though I truly believe it's one of the worst shows in the history of television.  But it's just so sleazy and ridiculous and full of bad acting, I HAVE TO WATCH!  I watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette (though I bailed after two episodes of the most recent season.  Ashley grated on my nerves like a howler monkey and I felt sorry for that poor chap who proposed to her.  And, while we're on the subject . . . can they get a “Bachelor” who's not a complete d-bag??!  Down with the Jake D-Bag Pavelkas and the Brad D-Bag Womacks of the world!!!)

I watch The Next Food Network Star, Dancing With The Stars, Nancy Grace, Joan Knows Best, The Voice, Top Chef (Moon got me hooked on that one!), America's Got Talent (and my question is . . . when will they actually find it??), Project Runway (clothing designers are freaks), Celebrity Apprentice (still loving the Nene Leakes-Star Jones war of 2011!!), and, yes, RuPaul's Drag Race.  I warned you it was going to get shady.

Oh, let me count the ways . . . Terrell Owens, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Craig Ferguson (who is that schmuck??), Jane Velez Mitchell (why does she always suck in her cheeks and purse her lips?), any female co-host ever on “Dances With The Stars”(Samantha Harris sucked eggs, but Brooke Burns is even worse.  She's so wooden, it's like Geppetto made Pinocchio a sister!), Star Jones (she truly rhymes with “witch”), Jay Leno (who took it on the chin and decided he was funny??), Paula Deen (that accent makes me want to drive an ice pick into my ear), Gayle King (a.k.a. Little Red Riding Coattails), Rita Cosby, Greta Van Susteren, Drew Carey, Wayne Brady and OPRAH WINFREY!!!!!!!!!  (Oh, and I am getting REALLY tired of Betty White.  I mean, I love her and all, but does she have to be on EVERY channel??)

Of all-time?  I love this question.  But answering it is very tricky.  I spent ten years reviewing movies, but rarely re-watched a movie that I loved.  I just don't really have that kind of personality where I obsess over “how good” something is . . . so much that I have to see it or hear it again immediately.  Same thing goes for music.  I can love a song and not be able to tell you a single lyric from it!  (Heck, the other day, I couldn't ever remember the chorus of a song I wrote!!  Not kidding.  Not a word!)

But, all that said, there are a few CD's that, for me, have stood the test of time . . . and I literally could put in the disc changer anytime . . . and enjoy them all over again.

I think one of the best albums EVER is the soundtrack to Purple Rain.  Really, Prince??  “When Doves Cry,” “Let's Go Crazy,” “I Would Die for You,” Purple Rain,” and 'The Beautiful Ones” all on the same album??  That CD is musical genius.  It's absolute perfection and, for me, was the best album of the 80's!  Sorry, Michael Jackson.

But, hey, Michael!!  You made the list too!  What can be said about Thriller that hasn't already been said?  That album defined my generation.  It made Michael Jackson the King of Pop.  “Billie Jean,” “ Beat It,” 'Thriller,” “Wanna Be Startin' Something,” “Human Nature!”  My god!  To have included ONE of those songs would have been enough!  But  ALL of them???

Same goes for Michael's album Bad!  Yep.  He's on the list twice.  And how couldn't he be?  He follows up one gigantic CD with another.  “I Just Can't Stop Loving You,” “Dirty Diana,” “Man in the Mirror,” and, one of my all-time favorite songs . . . “Smooth Criminal.”  This is ear candy and it STILL sounds perfect!

And, the only person capable of going toe-to-toe with Prince and Michael Jackson in the hits category . -- Garth Brooks.  His The Ultimate Hits package is ridonkulous!!  Garth is THE MAN.  I know our radio station plays the holy hell out of his songs, but why wouldn't we?  Garth IS modern-day country and this greatest hits collection is full of tracks that helped moved country out of honky-tonks into mainstream stadiums!  34 songs.  All insanely good.  My personal favorite:  “When You Come Back To Me Again” (from Frequency).

Ah . . . this is easy.

I have one staple karaoke song (that usually earns me tips from drunk cougars if they're around)!!  It's 3AM by Matchbox Twenty.  (I will say that one night in Memphis, I laid into Rob Thomas and earned more beads than a topless woman in New Orleans.)  I can lay that puppy out.  (Ask Jaclyn . . . she'll tell you!  At our St. Jude conference last January she said, “My boyfriend rocked that s#%t out!”  LOL!)  I do have a few others that I love to do too.  “How Far We've Come” by Matchbox Twenty, “Use Somebody” by Kings of Leon, and “Lightning Crashes” by Live.  (Though I must say, “Lightning Crashes” contains the line “Her placenta falls to the floor” and that can kill a karaoke buzz right quick!)

I would LOVE to be the host of a reality television show or a game show.  If Drew Carey can do it, so can I, right??  Or, I would like to own my own theatre.  Or be a songwriter and get paid for it (love ya, Jaclyn . . . but let's be making “She's Not Me” a hit, yo!  Big Daddy needs to get paid!).  Or I would love write for a sitcom.  Or be the real Dr. Frasier Crane (I actually worked on a Masters Degree in Mental Health).  Yeah, that would be fun!  I could do therapy on the air.  That would freaking rock!!