Month: June 2026

Monday marks the 35th anniversary of the death of one of Motown’s greatest performers: David Ruffin of The Temptations.

Ruffin passed away from a drug overdose on June 1, 1991 at the age of 50. More than three decades later, the Mississippi-born singer is remembered for a storied career as well as the personal demons that led to his early demise.

An all-time soul legend

During his run as The Temptations’ primary vocalist, Ruffin led the way on hits such as 1965’s “My Girl,” the group’s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 and one of the greatest love songs of all time. That same year, he was the lead singer on two more hits, “Since I Lost My Baby” and “My Baby,” and went on to serve the same role on “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep,” “(I Know) I’m Losing You,” and “I Wish It Would Rain,” among other works.

However, during his time with The Temptations from 1964-68, Ruffin’s issues with drugs began to surface, ultimately leading to his departure from the group. While he would go on to have solo success, scoring multiple top 10 hits, Ruffin would not be able to overcome the problems that plagued him throughout his life.

A tragic end

On June 1, 1991, Ruffin, who had faced a slew of drug and legal issues over the years, was found passed out in a crack house in West Philadelphia, according to authorities.

A friend drove Ruffin to the hospital, but doctors were unable to revive him and he was eventually declared dead of a cocaine overdose. Ruffin’s death was ruled an accident.

“He walked in the line of fire,” Ruffin’s then-girlfriend Dianne Showers said at the time. “I asked his ex-wife and daughters a lot of times to have him committed somewhere for approximately two years. He usually denied that he was doing anything.”

A lasting legacy

Ruffin, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two years before his death in 1989, was ranked 66th on Rolling Stone’s 2023 list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

“Bruce [Springsteen] is just one of many great singers in awe of Ruffin’s distinctive sandpaper tone, a vocal texture that countless soul and rock musicians have envied in the peak Motown years and afterward,” Rolling Stone wrote. “On hits like “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “Beauty Is Only Skin Deep,” and “My Girl,” Ruffin was the earthbound anchor for the Temptations’ heavenly harmonies, the guy whose flawed humanity enriched their greatest love songs. “I know you wanna leave me,” he sang, with a singular rasp that guaranteed we never would.”

On June 1, 1998, Nintendo released an RPG title that would go on to become one of the company’s most polarizing games ever.

Quest 64 was originally released on the Nintendo 64 and is widely credited as the first role-playing game released in North America for that console. The Nintendo 64 had been released two years prior, and was generally known for its popular Super Mario games, such as Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64.

The console’s unique controller and increased gameplay capabilities made it a perfect fit for these innovative Super Mario titles, and that became a huge part of Nintendo’s marketing for the console. However, by 1998, the company was ready to branch out and release some new, original titles on the Nintendo 64.

Quest 64 was one of these games; in many ways, it was something of an experiment for the publisher. Nintendo hadn’t released any RPGs on the console yet in North America, and they already had Mario Party scheduled to come out later that year, so they needed an original title.

The game was a moderate financial success, with plenty of fans purchasing it just to test out the new console’s RPG capabilities, but critics were surprisingly harsh on the title. It received a score of 54% on popular review aggregator GameRankings, with critics generally praising the graphics but calling the story and gameplay mechanics underwhelming.

In their review, GameSpot wrote: “Quest 64‘s individual puzzles and challenges are similarly straightforward. Go to Town #1. Converse with townspeople. Discover that there’s a villain scaring everyone and making it impossible to get through Forest #1 to Town #2. To boot, he’s stolen Unique Elemental Magic Item #1 from Lord #1.”

The general consensus was that Quest 64 checked all the boxes for a successful RPG but lacked the ambition and creativity to make it stand out among the rest. Perhaps audiences’ expectations were simply too high, given the massive success of Nintendo 64’s prior successes, but Quest 64 quickly became irrelevant.

Nintendo had even considered making a sequel following the game’s financial success, but Quest 64‘s reputation quickly soured to the extent that a follow-up just didn’t make any sense. There has been a strong effort to reevaluate Quest 64 in recent years, with modern audiences claiming that it was misunderstood by contemporary critics, but fans’ opinions still remain split.

Over the years, Delta Air Lines has emerged as one of the best and most consistent airlines in terms of customer satisfaction, but it sounds like that customer satisfaction is at risk in one of the airline’s most important routes.

This week, an internal memo warned pilots of plummeting customer satisfaction on one of its key routes and offered support and guidance to those pilots as the airline looks to boost customer satisfaction once again.

According to the memo, the warning comes after Delta’s Net Promoter Score (NPS), which measures customer satisfaction, has fallen significantly on the route.

How Customer Satisfaction is Measured

For decades, airlines have used NPS to measure customer satisfaction internally. If you’ve ever been asked how likely you are to recommend an airline on a scale of 1 to 10, then you have probably taken part in an NPS survey.

Airlines do not typically publish this information publicly as it is sensitive commercial information, but it does allow the carriers to test the impact of changes and initiatives internally.

“NPS has become increasingly important for the aviation industry as it allows airlines to quietly test whether customer investments are worth the money, or, conversely, whether they can make cutbacks without customers noticing in terms of satisfaction levels,” Mateusz Maszczynski wrote for PYOK.

Obviously, this metric can also inform an airline if there is a problem or if its performance is lagging behind other carriers, as seems to be the case with one of Delta’s most important routes.

Delta Issues Warning

Last week, trusted aviation industry insider JonNYC shared a leaked memo on X in which Delta warned its pilots of falling customer satisfaction on its transcontinental service between New York JFK and Los Angeles.

As the memo explained, this route is important to Delta not just in terms of the revenue it represents to the company, but also in terms of the visibility and the “high-profile” customers.

“We’d like to take a moment to talk about JFK–LAX and LAX-JFK – two of the most important markets we serve and routes that consistently carry high expectations – from our customers, from Delta and from all of us who operate it. Together, JFK–LAX–JFK represents one of the top revenue markets in Delta’s system and stands as the largest domestic market in the U.S. by seat capacity,” the leaked memo reads.

“In addition, this route carries a high level of visibility, with a significant presence of high-profile customers, business travelers, and social media influencers. Customer experiences on these flights are often shared widely and in real time, further amplifying the impact of every interaction.”

The memo acknowledged that the route is more prone to delays than other routes, which could impact customer satisfaction, adding that these delays are often “not driven by pilot performance or flight deck decision making.” Still, the airline warned that “the impact is real,” adding that “because these are premium, high revenue markets, those gaps matter.”

“The best way our pilots can help is simple: Remain focused, as you always are, on Delta’s Impactful Behaviors – Greet Me, Recognize Me, Be Kind to Me and Inform Me – to ensure every customer interaction is kind, attentive, appreciative, and informative. In particular, it’s proven that our NPS scores improve significantly during a service disruption or delay when our pilots provide timely updates and engage positively with our customers,” the memo said.

If this is a route you fly regularly, it’s worth noting that Delta has identified it as an area in need of improvement.

Don’t look now, but the ultimate finishing touch to your home bar setup is available on eBay. 

A keg? A jukebox? Just a nice piece to look at? 

Miller High Life has come up with something that is all three.  

Behold the JukeKeg 

Can’t decide if your favorite home drinking space — home bar, garage, man cave or barndominium — needs a jukebox or kegerator more? 

You don’t have to choose, at least if you are the lucky one to win the eBay auction for the JukeKeg that went live June 1. 

What is a JukeKeg, you might be asking. 

Well, it is a one-of-a-kind jukebox from classic music machine maker Crosley that also has room for a 1/2 keg with tap and CO2 canister to make sure there is plenty of cold beer to keep any party going. 

(That’s 124-165 drinks depending on the size of your pour.) 

This thing might look like it’s straight out of a vintage rock and roll bar, but it has both the newest — and not so newest — technology inside to pump out the tunes. 

The JukeKeg plays CDs for those eager to escape the algorithm when it comes to choosing tunes.

It also has a radio antenna and can connect to your phone or another device via Bluetooth to get the tunes it needs to fill the room with good vibes whether they are rock, rap, country or any other genre. 

At five-feet tall, it will definitely stand out wherever it goes in your house, and that’s a good thing because it is a really stylish piece of furniture even if it weren’t functional. 

How to get the JukeKeg 

There is only one Miller High Life JukeKeg, and it can only be acquired one way: Via eBay. 

The item went on sale June 1 with a first bid of $1.23, a reference to the number of years High Life has been flowing for people who want a cheap beer that is just a little fancy (a.k.a. The Champagne of Beers, of course) to help pass the time. 

You can find the link to bid here or visit MillerHighLife.com/soundtrack for more information. 

Bidding runs through June 8, and the winner will also get a bonus gift card worth $150 to use to fill their new keg. 

Proceeds going to charity 

On top of getting the perfect finishing touch to any home bar or garage, the winner of the eBay auction can also rest knowing their money is going to a good cause. 

According to the announcement of the JukeKeg going on sale, 100% of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI). 

That is an organization that supports local musicians and venues. 

What if you don’t win? 

If you happen to not come up with the highest bid for this unique piece of Americana, real jukeboxes are available for purchase for anyone — for a price of course. 

Rock-Ola and Sound Leisure sell new ones for a cool $10k (or more) while Crosley offers versions for as little as $1995 and as much as $12,995. 

Crosley also offers a tabletop Bluetooth jukebox for $119. 

As for Miller High Life, well you can find that at any grocery store or carryout for not much more than a song. 

Though it’s their 1976 album Hotel California that’s generally considered their best work, American rock band Eagles first broke into the rock scene with their self-titled debut four years earlier. The album, which is often overshadowed by other contemporary releases, was an enormous success that paved the way for one of the defining rock voices of the ’70s.

Eagles had only just been formed in 1971 when they were sent by record executive David Geffen to Colorado in order to bond and develop their sound. While the band clearly had talent, it took a while for them to find the unique country/rock sound that would eventually drive them to the top of the charts.

Lead singer Glenn Frey and lead guitarist Bernie Leadon initially had different visions of the band, with Frey seeking a classic rock-and-roll sound while Leadon wanted to incorporate more elements of traditional country music. During their time in Colorado, they managed to blend the two genres together and eventually persuaded record producer Glyn Johns to produce their debut record (via History of the Eagles).

Initially, Johns had been put off by the band’s lack of cohesion when they first arrived in Colorado. Frey and Leadon’s differing visions of the group made it difficult to market them as a rock band, but that all changed when he heard them play their song “Take the Devil”.

“There it was, the sound,” Johns said. “Extraordinary blend of voices, wonderful harmony sound, just stunning.”

The band travelled to London with Johns to record the album, taking turns providing harmonies and experimenting with acoustic instrumentals to blend the Frey’s preferred classic rock sound with elements of country and blues.

The record was an immediate success, with critics praising the unique production and charming vocal performances from the entire band. It rose to No. 22 on the Billboard 200 in its second week, cementing the Eagles as undisputed rising stars within the rock world. Lead singles “Take it Easy” and “Witchy Woman” also broke into the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the years since its release, Eagles has frequently been ranked among the greatest albums ever recorded. Rolling Stone placed the record at No. 207 on their famous ranking, making Eagles one of the few bands to have multiple entries on the list alongside Hotel California.

To kick off June, SONIC dropped its new $7 Big Deal Meal on Monday morning, giving customers a four-part order for an affordable price.

The new combination won’t be around forever though. The Big Deal Meal is only available for a limited time at participating SONIC locations throughout the United States.

Details on SONIC’s $7 Big Deal Meal

Described as a “value-driven meal bundle” that combines “fan-favorite menu items into one complete meal” for only seven bucks–tax not included–the Big Deal Meal consists of the following components.

• A SONIC Cheeseburger 
• Small Premium Chicken Bites 
• A Medium Drink (soft drink or iced tea) 
• Choice of Medium Tots or Fries

Additionally, SONIC updated its popular $1.99 Menu, which now includes these four value items:

• Jr Bacon Cheeseburger
• Vanilla Soft Serve Cup
• Cheesy Baja Crispy Tender Wrap
• Small Root Beer Float

You can learn more at the official SONIC website.

SONIC also recently welcomed back a beloved menu item

Last week, the fast food chain announced the return of its Red, White & Blue Slush Float, a summer tradition back in time for America’s 250th birthday.

The Red, White & Blue Slush Float combines “icy blue raspberry slush, creamy vanilla soft serve and real strawberries” for $2.50. This year, the treat will be served in limited edition cups featuring U.S. landmarks to honor the country’s 250th anniversary.