James Grady Johnson^[1] (February 5, 1940 – June 23, 2006) better known as professional wrestler Crazy Luke Graham, was a member of the Graham family, a storyline family of wrestlers.

Career[link]

He began his career as the storyline brother of Dr. Jerry Graham after fellow wrestler Freddie Cain (The Great Mephisto)suggested they resembled each other.^[2] They began wrestling together in 1963 in Stampede Wrestling.^[1] Later that summer, Johnson wrestled a series of matches against Chief Big Heart.^[1]

He wrestled in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) with Jerry Graham beginning in 1964.^[1] They won the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship from Don McClarity and Argentina Apollo, holding it for eight months, before losing the belts to another heel tagteam, Gene Kiniski & Waldo Von Erich.^[1] It was during this time that he became known as "Crazy" Luke Graham.^[1]

Graham enjoyed most of his success for the Los Angeles territory in the mid to late 1960s. He held the WWA World Title for that office in 1965.^[1][3] He dropped the belt to Pedro Morales.^[1] In the late 60s, he was a mid card performer for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) out of Minneapolis.

After leaving the AWA, Luke had a brief run with Tarzan Tyler as the first WWWF Tag Team Champions in 1971.^[1][3] One story was that the team allegedly defeating Dick the Bruiser and The Sheik for the belts, however, no record of any match between the two teams has ever been documented. The other story is that they won it from Bepo & Geeto Mongol. Once champions, the team held the belts for six months while feuding with Chief Jay Strongbow, Gorilla Monsoon, and Pedro Morales.^[1]

In 1974, he was the United States Champion in the Pacific Northeast.^[1] He retired in the late 1980s.^[1] He teamed with his son, Luke, Jr., however, in 2001 and started Galaxy Championship Wrestling, Inc.^[1] Galaxy Championship Wrestling, Inc. went on to become publicly-traded under the symbol GXCW on the NASD OTCBB and was eventually merged with FUSA following Luke Sr. heart attack and deteriorating health.

Personal life[link]

Johnson died, aged 66, from congestive heart failure on June 23, 2006.^[1] He had a pacemaker installed prior to his death.^[1] He is survived by his four daughters, and son Scott, eleven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.^[1][3]

Graham family[link]

Luke Graham's Sr. storyline brothers are "Doctor" Jerry Graham (Jerramiah Martin Mathews), "Superstar" Billy Graham (Wayne Coleman), former wrestler/promoter Eddie Graham (Eddie Gosset). Other Family members include: Tommy "T.G." Graham (William Pawlak), Troy "The Dream Machine/Warrior" Graham (Troy R. Tompson), Eddie Graham's son Mike Graham (Mike Gosset), and Luke Graham's son, "Crazy" Luke Graham (Donald J. Jolly), Jr. and Nephew, Gerry "Chubby" Graham (M. Gerald Sadler).^[3]

Gimmick[link]

Grady Johnson's Luke Graham persona was known for his "craziness".^[1] Whenever someone referred to Johnson as "Crazy Luke Graham", as part of his gimmick, he would claim to be sane and cover his ears.^[1] He had bleached hair and goatee.^[1] One of his signature moves was to stab people with his taped thumb, called The Golden Spike.^[1] Most all Graham Family members had the trademark bleach blonde head and facial hair for most of their careers. Gerry "Chubby" Graham was the very last known "Golden Grahams" family wrestler of this dynasty. All the members of the Graham Family are reported retired.

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• Central States Wrestling

• NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[1]

• Mid-South Sports/Georgia Championship Wrestling

• NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[1]
• NWA Georgia Television Championship (1 time)
• NWA Macon Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Moondog Mayne
• NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Georgia version) (1 time)
• NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) (1 time) - with Al Galanto

• NWA Detroit

• NWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (1 time) – with Ripper Collins

• NWA Mid-America

• NWA Alabama Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ripper Collins
• NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ripper Collins
• NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (1 time) – with Karl Von Brauner

• NWA Mid-Pacific Promotions

• NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[1]
• NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ripper Collins

• World Wrestling Association (Los Angeles)

• WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Gorilla Monsoon

• World Wrestling Council

• WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• WWC North American Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Gorgeous George, Jr. (1) and Bulldog Brower (1)

• World Wide Wrestling Federation

• WWWF International Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Tarzan Tyler
• WWWF United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Dr. Jerry Graham^[1]
• WWWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time, Inaugural) – with Tarzan Tyler^[1]

References[link]

Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew is a rock band formed in 1996 from Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

History[link]

Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew first started in 1996 with Chris Colepaugh on lead guitars and vocals, Lynn Daigle on bass and Craig Watson on drums. Craig Watson, Chris’s long-time friend from high school, was the major lyric writer for Chris at the time. Chris and Lynn recorded “Galaxy” in 10 hours at “Alta Studio” in Dieppe, New Brunswick and launched the album.

After a year of touring the Maritimes, Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew won an east coast talent search and went to Halifax, Nova Scotia to record their next album Mazes and Mirrors live off the floor with producer Kevin Scott McMichael. Prior to this, Craig Watson had left the band to attend Bishop's University and had joined the band “Clay” with Nick Hamilton, Chris Frost and Eric Finkle. Sitting on drums for Mazes would be Cameron Murphy who had toured extensively with the band. The album earned them rave reviews and allowed them to expand their touring base to Quebec and Ontario.

In 1998, Cameron Murphy left the band to pursue his own music, and so started the influx of drummers that would make up the Cosmic Crew. Kevin Macintyre and Danny Bourgeois were the regular drummers during that year, and a fourth member was briefly added: Andre Leblanc on keys.

16 Second Solace[link]

While Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew continued to make headway in to the Canadian Music scene, lyricist Craig Watson moved back to Moncton and took up the drummer’s throne with CCCC once again. In the spring of 1999, Chris Colepaugh, Lynn Daigle and Craig Watson recorded 16 Second Solace at Staccato Studios with producer John Maher and embarked on a five month tour from New Brunswick to British Columbia and down to California and all the way back for their final stop at the 2000 East Coast Music Awards for a performance and album nomination in Sydney, Cape Breton / Nova Scotia, Canada. Reviews and accolades for the group’s prowess and incredible energy were accumulating, and so was their skill from constantly performing.

Trip[link]

In 2001, the band made a bold move and had Chris Colepaugh record all the instruments himself. They returned to Staccato and work with John Maher again to create Trip with fifteen songs plus a bonus track. In addition, Chris Colepaugh expanded his writing and wrote a third of the lyrics on the album. With the release of Trip, the band enlisted Danny Bourgeois and Remi Bourque as drummers and toured countless times across Canada. The band played dates with the North Mississippi Allstars, played the House of Blues, were finalists in CBC’s Great Canadian Music Dream and played for over half a million people on the East Coast Music Awards.^[1] They were nominated for an ECMA that year, and the song “Bookmark” was breaking ice on radio stations across the country.

In Time[link]

At the end of 2002, Remi left the band and Chris returned to the studio to record “In Time” in early 2003. Considered a slightly darker album than the rest, Chris Colepaugh again worked with friend John Maher at Staccato Studios and also wrote just under half of the lyrics. CCCC continued to tour the album nationally, received airplay and were nominated for and ECMA award. It was also in July 2003 that CCCC played the Northern Lights Festival Boréal in Sudbury, Ontario with Craig Watson and met future drummer Shawn Sasyniuk.

In late 2004, Chris accepted an offer from a friend to stay with him in San Francisco. For the month of October, Chris played the clubs in San Francisco. It was in this beautiful environment that he wrote the music and lyrics for all but three of the songs of what would be “In Your Backyard”.

Early 2005, plans were underway to record the next album and demos were in the process of being made. In March, Chris suffered a severe gallbladder attack and was rushed to hospital. He had immediate surgery for its removal and had an extensive stay due to complications. It was very tough on him, his family and his band and recovery was lengthy. That fall, with Shawn Sasyniuk comfortably filling the drummers position, the band returned back on the scene to tour the Eastern United States and Canada.

In Your Backyard[link]

With plans already behind for the new album, 2006 was a year of change. Colepaugh decided that it was time for him to produce the new album himself at his own studio. Having never produced a full length album, Chris had a large learning curve. During the summer, Chris Colepaugh wrote all the music, performed all the parts, produced, recorded and engineered the entire album. On the last day of his recording, he left for Austin, Texas to work under the mentorship of Gordie Johnson at Willie Nelson's Perdanales Studio for two weeks on the new Grady album. He returned in September to get the final masters on the album, and “In Your Backyard” was released in the fall of 2006.

“In Your Backyard” drips with thick electric guitars, Bonham-esque style drums, massive bass, and soulful songwriting and lyrics. From the heavy guitar-soaked-rocker-single "Caught Up To You" , to the acoustic guitar/mandolin picking of "Don't Want You 'Round No More", "In Your Backyard "is a guitar-intense, southern jam rock album. Fans loved it, critics admired it and the album secured Chris Colepaugh as a formidable talent in the Canadian Music scene. The album accrued more praise and credentials on its own than his entire previous discography combined.^[2] Chris signed an endorsement deal with Gibson Guitars, Sennheiser Microphones and Traynor Amplifiers, and signed a deal with his Management Company and Fontana North Distribution. Also, Chris won the 2007 Contact East Touring Award, was a finalist in the 2008 International Acoustic Music Awards, won four Toronto Exclusive Music Magazine awards^[3] and was nominated for two ECMA awards.

Though he lives in Ontario, Shawn Sasyniuk continues to play drums with Chris Colepaugh. He shares his duties with Maritime based Danny Bourgeois and the two of them keep CCCC constantly on the move.

Roch Voisine[link]

In early 2009, Chris Colepaugh received a call from legendary Canadian icon Roch Voisine's camp and was asked to join them on tour of France, Belgium and Sweden for several months over the year. Chris accepted, and was joined by CCCC drummer Shawn Sasyniuk.

Burning[link]

In September 2009, Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew released their first live album, "Burning". This live album consisted of songs recorded over their annual series of Boxing Day shows in Moncton, New Brunswick, and was released to excellent reviews. After touring, Chris Colepaugh returned to tour France with Roch Voisine for three months.

Missed a Page[link]

In 2010, Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew released "Missed a Page", their 7th studio album. As with the last few studio releases, Chris wrote the music, played all the instruments, recorded and produced the album himself and shared lyric-writing duties with Craig Watson. The record was released to excellent reviews.

The group was twice honoured during the 2011 East Coast Music Awards, winning Rock Album of the Year for "Missed a Page", as well as the Fan Choice Entertainer of the Year Award.^[4]

Members[link]

• Chris Colepaugh - lead vocals / guitar
• Lynn Daigle - bass guitar
• Shawn Sasyniuk - drums
• Danny Bourgeois - drums

Discography[link]

• Galaxy (1996)
• Mazes and Mirrors (1997)
• 16 Second Solace (1999)
• Trip (2001)
• In Time (2003)
• In Your Backyard (2006)
• Burning (2009)
• Missed a Page (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site
• Chris Colepaugh on Sonic Bids
• Chris Colepaugh on Myspace

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008)

The Walls are an Irish rock band. They were formed in 1998 by two ex-members of The Stunning.

Members[link]

• Steve Wall
• Joe Wall
• Carl Harms (Guitar/Keyboards) (left February 2004)
• Rory Doyle (Drums)
• Jon O'Connell (Bass) (joined February 2004)

Biography[link]

1998–2000[link]

Brothers Steve and Joe Wall (previously of The Stunning) returned to Ireland after a two-year failed label stint in London. Their Camden housemate Carl Harms joined the band on guitar and keyboard duties. Drummer Rory Doyle joined soon afterwards. They set up their own label, Earshot Records (later changing it to Dirtbird Records) and recorded and released a string of singles. A remix of one of the album tracks, "Bone Deep", clicked with radio and became a nationwide hit. Many of the songs have featured on a number of TV series and feature films such as Bachelors Walk, Dead Bodies, Goldfish Memory and On the Edge (starring Cillian Murphy).

2001–2004[link]

The Walls heard rumour of a second Slane Castle date for U2 (as the first concert had sold out in hours). They sent four copies of their album to the band. Bono loved it and offered The Walls a support slot. That day the band played to their biggest crowd to date – around 80,000 people. "To the Bright and Shining Sun" was their next single. That June they supported Red Hot Chili Peppers. They spent the next year gigging while building their own studio in Dublin.

In February 2004, original member Carl Harms decided to leave the band to make his own record. They recruited bassist Jon O’Connell, who had just 2 weeks to learn all the songs before a two week tour of the new EU accession states: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. "To the Bright and Shining Sun" also featured on the EA Sports soundtrack for the UEFA Euro 2004 official licenced game.

2004 - 2006[link]

For the next album, the band went to Studio Black Box in France to record with producer and ex-The Frames guitarist David Odlum. Originally scheduled for a release date in September 2004, The Walls decided to hold their album until the new year. U2 were releasing How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb that autumn and according to Steve "we thought that it would be a fair and gentlemanly gesture to stand back and give them a fair crack of the whip, so to speak".^{[citation needed]}

In October 2004, they released a taster - "Drowning Pool" - a blistering, spleen-venting, blues explosion, 2min 52sec long. It took people by surprise and divided opinion - exactly what the band wanted. They supported Bob Dylan to a capacity crowd in Galway that summer and played a storming set that showed there were changes afoot in The Walls sound. They christened the album New Dawn Breaking after the final track on the record. It went straight into the Irish charts at No. 5 in its first week of release in June 2005 and has produced four hit singles: "To the Bright and Shining Sun", "Passing Through", "Drowning Pool" and "Black and Blue".

2007[link]

The band kicked off 2007 with a gig in Dubai and are presently negotiating gig offers in France, Italy, the Czech Republic and China. They also supported Crowded House on their Australian comeback tour before retreating into their studio to work on album number three.

2010 - 2012[link]

In 2010, the double A-side "Carrying The Fire"/"Phantom Power" was released. Following this, in March 2011, the "Bird In A Cage" EP was released, of which the title track was revealed to also be on the bands forthcoming album "Stop The Lights", which is to be released in 2012. Following this announcement, the band's new single "Stop The Lights" was released in January 2012. The band are currently using the innovative "Fund It" in order to finish their third album. The welcome newcomer Kevin Crowley from Newcastle West playing the spoons.

Discography[link]

	"To the Bright and Shining Sun" (2002) noicon From the 2005 album " New Dawn Breaking".
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Studio albums[link]

• Hi-Lo (released May 2000).
• New Dawn Breaking (released June 2005) (reached No. 5 in Irish charts)
• Stop The Lights (released 2012)

Singles and albums[link]

• "The Night I Called It A Day" (Single, released Feb 1999)
• "Broken Boy" (Single, released Sept 1999)
• "Something's Wrong" (Single, released Apr 2000)
• Hi-Lo (Album, released May 2000). A remix of one of the album tracks, Bone Deep, was popular in Ireland. Some songs featured on TV series and feature films: Bachelors Walk, Dead Bodies, Goldfish Memory and On the Edge (starring Cillian Murphy).

• "To the Bright and Shining Sun" (Single, released 2002) reached No. 11 in the Irish charts.
• "Drowning Pool" (single, released 2004)
• New Dawn Breaking (Album, released June 2005) reached No. 5 in Irish charts and has produced four hit singles: "To the Bright and Shining Sun", "Passing Through", "Drowning Pool" and "Black and Blue".

• "Carrying the Fire" / "Phantom Power" (double-A sided single, released Jun 2010)
• "Bird In A Cage EP" (4 Track EP, released Mar 2011)

Cover versions[link]

• Cover version of Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 1
• Cover version of Natasha Bedingfield's "These Words" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 2
• Cover version of U2's "With or without you" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 3

Career highlights[link]

• Supported U2 at Slane Castle, 2001
• Supported Red Hot Chili Peppers, 2002
• Supported Bob Dylan, Galway, 2005
• Supported Crowded House, Australia, 2007

References[link]