ghost of miles

Rain Parade doing "No Easy Way Down" in 1984 or '85 (performance starts about 2:35 in): No Easy Way Down Also a recent story about the Plimsouls on NPR: Plimsouls

Video of Let's Active doing "Waters Part" in 1984: Waters Part Video itself nothing to write home about, but I still love that song (and all of CYPRESS).

Will be interesting for sure--in the first game you guys are going up against Vasquez, who's been one of the few weak links for NY so far, and in the second game against Phil Hughes, who had a pretty decent outing in his first start, but who's still certainly a bit of an X factor in NY's starting rotation. I'm hoping he develops into a solid-to-very-good starter, as Andy Pettitte can't keep pitching forever (and is probably a good bet to retire after this season).

Wish there could've been a recording of Dameron's Lexington band.

for another year of the King's reign!

Man, good thing the Yanks took 2 of 3 from Tampa Bay earlier this month, as TB seems incapable of losing to anybody else so far (and they're currently batting in the top of the 9th with a 7-0 lead over the Red Sox at Fenway, meaning they'll likely end the day tied with NY at 9-3 atop the AL East). Pettitte looked great today for NY, and it was nice to see Gardner (batting lead-off!) and Pena (filling in for Jeter, who has a cold) make important contributions. Gardner racked up three infield hits yesterday and is a menace whenever he gets on... not bad for the guy who normally bats 9th. Beginning to wonder if we should eventually move him or Granderson into the #2 batting slot at some point this season... Nick Johnson has piled up a lot of walks so far, but little else. He's hitting .176, but has a .429 OBP! Crazy...he's also K'd a lot so far (11 times) and has no speed. Hopefully he'll start to get a few more hits. Speaking of slow starts, Tex finally hit a HR today. Overall, NY looks very, very good so far--certainly off to a much better start than last year. Age and the wear and tear of a long season obviously concerns for NY, but we've got two very good back-ups (Cervelli, who's proving to be a dynamic battery-mate for CC, and Pena) to spell two of the vets (Posada and Jeter), so that helps. But man, Tampa Bay is looking awfully good, and Boston's sure to bounce back sooner or later. Going to be quite a firefight in the AL East this year! On another note, here's a NY Times article about former Yankee Alfonso Soriano's struggles with the Cubs so far this season. Whatever Soriano's issues, anybody else wonder if the blog/twitter/non-stop 24-7 sports coverage cycle is provoking fans and journalists to jump the gun more and more on making trade-'em/fire-'em, he's-all-washed-up speculations?

Great time at Landlocked here in Bloomington today--this year they asked me to do the jazz set from 1-2 p.m. Here's what I played (all-vinyl, per their requirements): Bud Powell, “Bouncing With Bud” (THE AMAZING BUD POWELL V. 1) Billie Holiday, “I Only Have Eyes For You” (SOLITUDE) Jackie McLean, “Consequence” (CONSEQUENCE) Wes Montgomery/Montgomery Brothers, “Jeannine” (GROOVE BROTHERS) Nina Simone, “To Love Somebody” (A VERY RARE EVENING) Stan Getz, “La Fiesta” (CAPTAIN MARVEL) Ramsey Lewis, “Back in the USSR” (MOTHER NATURE’S SON) Bix Beiderbecke/Frankie Trumbauer, “Riverboat Shuffle” (THE CLASSIC HOAGY CARMICHAEL) Charlie Parker, “Dewey Square” (CHARLIE PARKER ON DIAL, V. 4) Bobby Hutcherson, “Una Muy Bonita” (STICK-UP!) Duke Ellington, “Cottontail” (THE BLANTON-WEBSTER BAND) Miles Davis, “Honky Tonk” (GET UP WITH IT) Oscar Brown Jr., “The Lone Ranger” (BROTHER WHERE ARE YOU) Rahsaan Roland Kirk, “Volunteered Slavery” (THE VIBRATION CONTINUES) Charles Earland, “More Today Than Yesterday” (BLACK TALK)

More here. This guy is remarkably ignorant of NYC. There was only one baseball team in NYC from 1957-1962- who would a kid from Brooklyn or Queens root for? In '62 the Mets began, and only those who are attracted to lovable comic losers, or Yank haters or die-hard NL fans rooted for them. I went to my first baseball game in 1962, a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium and became a Yank fan for life there. I'm no Iscariot and any suggestion of same is a steaming pile of poo. That said, I'm not too crazy about the young kids who are Yank fans and only know winning and playoffs, etc. and are spoiled rotten. Yanks lose two games and they want to trade the team. I was a Yank fan in the dark years of Horace Clark, the reign of error of Stump Merrill, etc. This guy's an ignorant yutz. ...and there's no reason why anybody here should have to justify rooting for whatever team they happen to like, or make apologies, or offer notes of contrition. And yeah, Joe Queenan's the same guy who thinks jazz is a bunch of shite. The "I'm-gonna-tell-it-like-it-is-'n-kick-a-sacred-cow" schtick can be as phony as the things it supposedly decries. PhillyQ, I know of what you speak...over at Pinstripe Alley a running joke is to post "FIRE GIRARDI!" any time one little thing happens to go wrong on the field. Still, any successful team will always attract its share of bandwagon jumpers (like, say, Boston after winning '04 and 07 WS, ahem... the whole "Red Sox Nation" phenomenon, etc.).

Are you fucking kidding me? "Saw the light"? You were six years old and you saw a winner. Everybody loves to root for a winner, even more so at that age if you don't have familial ties to a team with a more benighted history. You are exactly the fan Queenan writes about, and longevity will never alter the reality of why you became a fan. Its too bad you were too young to understand what "rooting for U.S. Steel" meant. And as for GoM, let's just say that I've often wondered what if he was studying the Plains Indians when he looked for a team? That would have been tough, finally having a good team and always going to the playoffs but only winning it all one time. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: What the hell does it matter? Jesus Christ, Dan, I am so SICK of this shit. Grow up. Talk about beneath contempt...so much for the "new and improved" version, I guess. What prompted this jeremiad in the first place, anyway--NY's good start this season? You called somebody else out on troll-like behavior the other day and by posting Queenan's goofy column you've replicated exactly what you were knocking elsewhere. You're attacking posters here simply on the basis of a baseball team they happen to like. Why can't you just talk about the game and what's happening on or off the field? You have a lot of insight to offer--why go off into some obsessive degeneracy over the Yankees? I'm sorry to sound rather angry and personal, but your diatribes against Yankee fans have taken that personal tack here. Telling Dave James, a nice, smart guy and a longtime poster, that he's "beneath contempt" because he's a lifelong Yankee fan? I mean, c'mon--you can go to any Yahoo message board and find plenty of like-minded folk if that's what you're into. It's not worthy of you.

More here. Hey now, Mr. Ghost is an out of town Yankee fan! And I've explained why here, since it seems to be such a crime against humanity. I've been a fan for going on 36 years now, through some good times and some lean. If Indianapolis ever got a major-league baseball team, I'd be inclined to root for them as well...but it ain't happened and it ain't likely to happen anytime soon. BTW, as a reader of the late, great SPY Magazine, I also recall Mr. Queenan's "telling it like it is" piece "Jazz: Admit It, It Sucks!"

I thought it was rather nasty of the NY fans to boo Vasquez yesterday--clearly because they still have not forgiven him for surrendering that grand-slam to Damon in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS. Get over it! Dave, I'm not so much concerned by his two blown starts as I am by his reaction to said blown starts... hopefully he won't let it mess with his head. Let's see how he's done by the All-Star break IMO. I'm also eager to see how Phil Hughes does over the first half of the season as a starter. Per other slow starters, following his one breakout game against Tampa Bay, Tex has gone back to being a near-automatic-out in the #3 slot of the order...good thing most of the rest of the lineup is hitting. Eight games in and no HR yet from either Tex or A-Rod, though A-Rod's smacked a few off the wall. Overall, though, a much better start so far than what we did last year. Dan: John Lackey's certainly living up to expectations in his first two starts. I was sorry that NY didn't pursue him in the offseason... we'll need somebody to replace Pettitte soon, most likely after this season ends.

David Remnick, THE BRIDGE: THE LIFE AND RISE OF BARACK OBAMA.

Jerry Hairston Jr. took a red-eye flight so that he could be at Yankee Stadium today to get his ring along with other members of the 2009 team. Great picture in the Times of him and the other players greeting Matsui after he got his ring too (nice coincidence that Matsui's new team was on the bill for NY's home opener): DaveJames, marty, Paul, other NY fans--the video is even better...really beautiful at the end when they all rush over to hug Matsui. Man, that was a special team we had last year! I can understand why Hairston, who was only on it for half a season, wanted to fly back for the ceremony today: Video of ring ceremony ...and some article links: To get ring, Hairston flies all night Yankees raise World Series flag

Cripes, Dave, a bit of a meltdown by Dave Robertson this afternoon sure made the Angels-Yanks game interesting at the end...we ended up having to pull in Mo, who got Matsui for the last out. Good thing Posada and Granderson bagged a couple of insurance runs for us in the bottom of the 8th.

I was a big Fred Lynn fan as a kid (yes, Dan, part of my "Bosox-are-my-favorite-team-after-the-Yanks" heresy ) and really treasured this one--can't remember if Topps did these composite-rookie cards any other year besides '75 or not: ...saw Armbrister play for the Indianapolis Indians a few times when I was a kid. Indpls was Cincy's farm team during the Big Red Machine years, so Cincy's annual visit to play their Triple AAA counterparts was always a big deal... Bench, Rose, Morgan et al usually played for the first 2-3 innings.

We re-aired The Birth of the Cool Songbook last week and it remains archived for online listening.

Updated with several more quotes from Mark, including why modern musicians have found Nichols' music so appealing, and the Monk-Nichols relationship: Herbie Nichols' Third World

My dad sent me this link in an e-mail--believe it or not, I had all of these cards at one time or another: 10 pleasingly hideous baseball cards from the 1970s

DaveJames, martyjazz, other NY Yankee fans--did you follow today's game at all? Curtis Granderson! Among others...great start to the season, taking 2 of 3 on the road from our top two rivals in the AL East. Here's hoping Matsui doesn't eat us alive during the first homestand... he's off to a great start himself with the Angels.

No, no, I assure you a middle-finger gesture does not make me think, "Hey, that's just like Matthew!" Just that I know from your previous posts that you're none too happy about his presence on the Mariners....and I thought Griffey's comment was pretty funny.

This one's for Matthew--speaking of inappropriate gestures! Larry LaRue writes:

I'm sure I haven't watched as much baseball as you have in the past few years, but just Googling around on this is leading to all sorts of accounts of other players (Jose Reyes from the Mets, for example) doing similar things. Also claims that Papelbon has occasionally done it when it's NOT the last out--true? I think there's an onus on Joba's doing it in part because he's a Yankee...and that's because (1) the Yankees, for better or worse, do have much more high-profile coverage and (2) lots of people are just inclined to hate on the Yankees for stuff that others get a pass for. No, truth be told, I'm not all that crazy about Joba having to fire himself up that way, but I at least feel in his case that that's what he's doing, that it has nothing to do with "showing up" the other player (whereas I do feel like Papelbon, who often faces the batter afterwards and even screams at him after getting him out, IS doing that). But that's nuance-splitting. I don't think baseball should ban it or anything, but if they do, it should be banned period. Is it not OK for guys to high-five and fist-pump after hitting a dramatic HR in the middle of the game, as opposed to the end of it? (And in the case of Cervelli, who simply pumped his fist once or twice as he walked away from the plate...it WAS dramatic, it was taking the no-hitter into the sixth inning, which is when such bids really start becoming serious.) Aside from all that, did you just hear/read that Lowell's going to retire at the end of the year?

Oh, so it's only allowed at certain times by the DG Rules or some such? Then it's NOT an insulting, in-your-face gesture? C'mon! It's only OK to act like an ass if you win the game? And he's not the only guy in the MLB to do it by a long-shot. (There's K-Rod, for starters.) And I think deliberately throwing at somebody IS a "punk" thing to do, whoever does it, Yankee or non-Yankee...esp. over something like a fist-pump. EDIT: I can't say for sure whether Papelbon started the whole fist-pump thing or not...somebody may have been doing it regularly before him. He's the first player I can remember doing it on a regular basis, however. I don't hate the Red Sox--I think the whole "hate-your-team's-rival" stuff is childish to a T--I bring up Papelbon only because he's rather notorious for his "celebrations," which proceeded Joba's. And I don't see any difference in the nature of the act...it's like saying it's OK to give your opponent the middle finger at the end of the game, just not after a dramatic strikeout.

Really, so fist-pumping is a punk offense that deserves getting thrown at? Hmmm...well, I can think of a certain reliever/performer who was fist-pumping before Joba or Cervelli: ...off with his head, right?

Well, we've got slightly different definitions of a punk then--I've always taken it to mean somebody who's rather cowardly/gutless, as opposed to an exuberant personality thought to be excessive and offensive. Wow! This report surfaced not long after the game ended: Girardi: "Shoppach was CC's last hitter no matter what happened" Really? OK, let's assume CC got Shoppach out, using, say, 4 more pitches (count was 0-1 when Shoppach got his hit). You're going to pull a workhorse pitcher after 8 innings of no-hit ball because he's at 115 pitches? Yeah, that's certainly on the high end, but he's pitching on five days' rest! EDIT: here's the play A-Rod made to end the 7th and keep CC's no-hit bid alive: A-Rod's dive and throw EDIT TWO: I just saw on replay the Cervelli reaction after the K in the 5th. Are you kiddin' me? That was nothing! A quick fist-pump from the catcher for a K that takes a no-hitter into the 6th? BFD!