JSngry

It still cracks me up that he was as recently as just a few years ago just discovering The Beatles. The more wonky elements of all the fusion RTF (and there were many, even on the good stuff) might have had significantly less wonkiness if he would have known that you can still rock out and have a great melody. I mean, the guy's been a freakin' Melody Monster over the years, but his electric stuff tends to not "sing" as much as it does flail (not always helplessly, though...). I don't get it. You yourself can write great melodies, you want to reach a broader audience, you chose to do so through electric music, and you don't even bother to check out The Beatles until 35 or 40 years after they freakin' break up? How does that work, anyway? I just don't get it. To me, that's a strange quote from Chick Corea, or would be if I could find it...

The Marichal/Roseboro thing was indeed ugly, but time has passed and they themselves have made their peace with it (Roseboro was not entirely without blame, btw, he was doing what Koufax refused to do), so I figure I can too. Which is not to say that it's to be regarded casually now, anything but. But good people can do some pretty bad things, and I believe that if redemption is sincerely sought that it can usually be found.

Crass is playing like you want to get laid even when you don't because it feels good anyway, and besides, it might help somebody else. Cynical is playing like you want to get laid even when you don't because you think it will get you laid anyway. Jaded is when it works often enough that you can't tell the difference. Lost is when you finally do realize the difference but don't care anymore. Gone is when you try to care but can't. It's probably best to not let the crass thing get out of hand.

Hands being held!!!!!!!

Herman Cain Herman Franks Herman Munster

I remember Matty quite well. He was one helluva ball player!

The first "perfect pitchers" in my lifetime that pop to mind are Bob Gibson, the mature Sandy Koufax, Jim Palmer, Tom Seaver. Put Juan Marichal in there too. From a little later, maybe Randy Johnson. I'm sure there's many I'm forgetting. As for the mature Nolan, not a perfect pitcher, for the reasons already delineated, but I'll put it this way - if I had to choose between facing him as a hitter or having him on my rotation, I'd take him on my rotation, and have him pretty high in the order.

Nudie Bluie Chewy

I tend to not mind crassness nearly as much as I do cynicism. I can have fun (as both player & end-user) with crass. Not so much with cynical.

Mitch Marine Lou Marini Dan Marino

Lion with longass tail!

Can't say that it "makes up for it" for me, but it does at least keep me open to the possibilities of Chick Corea.

But that need will be met only if there is some sort of consensus along the same lines as the artist's vision...which mean that the artist will have found an audience. I pretty much think that anybody who creates in the marketplace and says they don't want to communicate is either crazy or a liar. Or both! The question is - how much of your ideas do you want to communicate, are you going to be satisfied getting some of your points across to more people, or do you need to make all of your points to whoever will listen. The only real "sellout" is to say that you want to be heard even if you don't get to make any of your points. Everything else is...a decision.

Implicit in Monk's statement is the recognition that there will be an audience, and that your music will be heard, and yeah, that's a good thing. So play for the people who will listen, even if they're not here yet. It's one thing to say follow your muse, there is worth there, people will see it someday and just saying, hey, this is what I want to do, I don't give a rat's ass if anybody ever likes it or not. The irony in that last statement is that somebody probably sooner or later will like it, so there's your audience that you weren't looking for, there's your "cultural relevance" that you didn't give a damn about, there's you getting the attention you never really cared about. But - if you really don't care if nobody likes it or not and nobody ever does, then what is the point relative to anybody outside yourself? That's pretty much rhetorical, though, because damn near anything and everything can find some kind of an audience. What is a fair question of Corea is this - what motivates you to be so many things so visibly to so many different people? I mean, this is a guy who has spent a lot of his time making "fusion" music of widely varying quality (some of it seminal, some of it...quite unnecessary, imo) who also admitted only a few years ago that he was "just now" discovering The Beatles. Cart before the horse, to put it mildly... It's all good if the music's good (or mostly good), and Chick's scorecard there over the last 35 years or so is certainly open for debate.

No, it basically says that music is better heard than unheard (I agree) and/or that music made without any real desire to be heard is lacking in some essential human element (not so sure about that one, but it's not totally wrong, imo). There's nothing in that statement that equates the mere presence of an audience with the worth of the music itself. It's talking about the intent of the music, whther it is to be heard by an audience or to strictly satisfy a self-need. I certainly do believe that the line of "wanting to communicate" goes from the nasty extremes of outright rejecting an audience to all-out whorish pandering, but there's a lot of room in between, much of it worthy of serious consideration and honorable acceptance.

Artist, studio board

Sweet Lorraine Sweathogs Loretta Swit

Became a great pitcher, but never developed a good move to first, nor as a fielder, therefore not doing himself any defensive favors. Had to hit while in the NL on a punch-hotting outfit, never got the knack, not doing himself any offensive favors. Not helped by the teams he played for but not helped by himself to the extent that he could have been either. What you do with runners if they get on is just as important as keeping them off. That makes good, measured sense. Doesn't disregard the truth of the stats, but gives perspective that explains some "discrepancies". Of this type discussion, I am assuredly a fan! You sure you don't run a baseball board somewhere? You could...

Phil Cobb Gene Street The Black Eyed Peas

No, I got it. Axelrod had SCOPE! Gillette was not who I would have expected. I wonder if it might have been his swan song at Capitol as well...

Lee Gillette, actually.

So...you want me to send you a copy of that Kenton/Hair album? Great version of Jack Sheldon doing "Sodomy"!

Yeah....but....in the process he empowered players over coaches, enabled self-indulgence to become a work ethic, created a culture of denial, and just... Let's just say (again) that in my experience, the idea of Mark Cuban is a lot better than the reality of Mark Cuban. He's the dad that everybody wants but nobody needs.