JSngry

There's more than a grain of truth in that!

You know who should the greeter at The 3000 Hits Club? Not Roberto Clemente, because he's in the club, dig? Hangin' at the bar, fending off advances from shapely baseball babes, trying to book a flight out of town at 2AM (but being very careful about who his pilot is), shooting pool while on the Bluetooth with his agent, you know, the stuff that always goes on in those exclusive clubs. No way RC stands outside this club of which he's a member. That's undignified and also a violation of the club charter (it's a matter of public record, just look for it!). No, if you want a for-real greeter, you gotta have somebody with curb appeal, somebody to draw you up and make you want to come in, but somebody who's not an actual member. Somebody who you'd not mind being, just not as much as the people who you'd really like to be, like the people who are already members in the club. Somebody you can envy and look down on at the same time. Of such things clubs are made. For The 3000 Hits Club, who better than.... Sam Rice! 2087, an unlucky 13 away from membership, a perfect topic of conversation for the numerically & statistically obsessed, qualities which are found in baseball fans at a rate which is far out of the proportion found to that found in the civilian population. And he looks good in a tie! By all accounts, a nice, affable man who would be able to pleasantly keep the riff-raff out but still discretely pull the rope aside for people like Frank Robinson & Ted Williams. Plus, he's proven that he can keep a secret, an invaluable quality in dealings with and around professional athletes. So whaddya' say, dig the old guy up, send him off to Disney & have them reanimate him, put him outside, at the door, leave Roberto his dignity, and laissez les bontemps rouler!!!

Johnny Desmond Johnny Guitar Watson Octomom

Martha White Mark White Bill White

Homes Homey Homme

Pretty sure I've told this story before, but just in case not....I met the guy once, he came to NT in 74 or 75, did a clinic, had the 1:00 play "The Duke" & "Lennie's Pennies" (with bass sax, as written!). I chatted with him a bit, had him autograph my copy of Thesaurus (he did note the cutout hole with some amusement..), noted that the cover showed him in "fat mode", and then started going off on the DB review of the album (by you, Larry!) and how Bill Perkins was really hurt by it and how if he ever met that SOB who wrote it, he's like to punch him out, or some such, Bill Perkins was the kindest, most gentle soul who ever lived, and this bastard tears him down like that, what did HE ever play, huh? etc. It was a nice little rant actually, had a very artful arc to it, and then it was over. Over. I left with the impression that if you hung with Claire Fischer, you did so ready to bail when the shit got too thick, and ready to come back when things got back to normal. Probably worth the effort, because the guy does have a lot of interesting music in him as well as some other things as well... Butcha' know, from the oyster comes the pearl, and all that.

That's one from the posthumously-released Vulnerable album, Marvin's "final statement" over the Bobby Scott arrangements that he had been on-and-off obsessing over and with since sometime in the mid-60s. Marvin had always wanted to be a "crooner", and did some work in that vein, but he knew inside himself that he wasn't getting into the material or himself. For some reason, the arrangements that Scott did for him struck a chord and he held on to them, continuously coming back to them, reworking his approach to the songs. Some earlier versions surfaced on Columbia, and there are moments, but the versions later released on some Motown box, and then separately as Vulnerable are pretty much definitive. By then (middle 70s, iirc), Marvin had really found himself vocally (and personally, as much as he was going to...). He had learned the arrangements inside and out, so he was able to do those multiple vocal parts that to me are arguably the most stunning part of his legacy (and to that end, anybody who has not yet checked out Here, My Dear & In Our Lifetime, get fortified and do so, please. You'll be hearing so many voices that you'll be hearing voices, if you know what I mean...). It's a short disc, and a few of the tunes are not really distinctive on their own terms, but Marvin himself...yeah, Marvin. Marvin still reaches a spot that not too many others do.

Nelson Cruz Nellie Fox Nell Carter

Got to get it on indeed!

Here's the song's premier recording: And here's the one that fleshes out the narrative in a way that Mr. Webb may or may not have had in mind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8eGgJoE42w Isaac Hayes was in a ZONE in those days...it's too long, but not on the front end, that's for damn sure!

Jeez Louise, a late night at the office, when I leave it's 1-0 Astros, I get in the car, it's 5-0 Astros, I get out of the shower, it's 7-0 Astros. Maybe I should've worked later?

The Flintstones Fred Gladding Glee Club

Marvin was one of the greatest singers ever, period.

There are those who would argue that this makes him the ideal embodiment of The Yankee Ideal as it pertains to the franchise relative to the rest of baseball, I'm not one of them, but there are those who would say it!

The original was by Johnny Rivers, of all people, and is worthy of consideration as the arrangement (by Marty Paich?) is not dramatically deviated from by many subsequent versions.

Hey, that's the whole thing right there. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Fuck kindergarten - everything you needed to know, you learned on the back of a shampoo bottle!

Inner Fully Mounted Colby Lee hits a double, then takes the mound and turns into ScaryBad Colby Lee just - like - that. Six innings of Zen, then 2/3 inning of Suck. Unbelievable. But for those six innings, geez...yeah, THAT Colby Lewis, please! Dammit does his job, as does Mister (Aim High) Mark Lowe, and the always entertaining/"entertaining" Neftali Feliz, who's rapidly developing the ability to be Good Colby & Bad Colby, not just in one inning, but in one at bat. Mentorship of the unexpected kind! But answer me this - who the hell in their right mind sends tying run, but not fleet of foot, Carlos Lee from first on a 1-out, 3-2 count in the bottom of the ninth with Feliz on the mound. The game-ending strike 'em out - throw 'em out was over almost before Lee came into camera range. Oh well, that's the Astros' problem & I thank them for having it. I'm just sayin'...DAMN. And now them Angels startin' to play some ball, so...here we go.

Dude - EVERYBODY wants to TAKE your money...

One of the best Warne Marsh solos ever recorded on "Lennie's Pennies" (which also sports a great chart) is I I need to know, but there's some more good writing. Other than Warne, the soloing is kinda generic (but hip enough, and I can use that becasue it comes from a time and a subsection of a place where hip was in the mix, although not as a primary ingredient), but really, the fix is in Warne and the charts. Oh yeah, and a good rhythm section, Larry Bunker on drums, iirc. For < $6.00, ghee yeah.

Cliff Lee he's not (and never will be), but a Ranger he is (at least for this year), and CJ Wilson continues to go out there and lay it on the line. 7 innings tonight, a few scattered hits and runs, two innings with a numb finger from trying the bare-hand stop, making his pitches when he had to, scoring a NL run after hitting a NL lead-off NL triple, hey, this CJ Wilson guy's got guts and skills, and he looks to be trying to get better every time out (and quite often does). So, much love for CJ Wilson tonight, and to the Rangers as a whole for getting that funk outta their head, and for accepting a favorable blown call as if they were entitled to it, which in fact they were, since the Devil never runs a tab that God doesn't make him pay. Kudos also to Andres Blanco for showing big glove and good bat in a sub role for Elvis, and to Jeoshus for giving it up on that dive out in center that probably saved CJs inning (or at least incintivized CJ to not let his teammates' hard effort go to waste through pitching indifference, as has happened too many times on this team this year). The team cyllinders were kinda firing together this evening, not just the individuals.The Rangers played Ranger baseball this evening (mostly, Yoshi got two in the ninth but then squandered some hits & made Feliz come in to close out, which he did w/no drama). I like Rangers baseball when played according to plan, and would like to see some more of it as we go along. And CJ Wilson = Work Ethic. Teach your kids, tell your neighbors, and take it to heart your ownself. Work Ethic RULES.

Percy France Joe Cuba Kathy Ireland