Matthew

As these are being released individually on the 23rd, at the very least check out Bee Gees' 1st. Though I'm very happy with the box of the 1st 3. I hope they continue on with Odessa & Cucumber Castle. It's important to note that while the first three albums are being released individually on the 23rd, those individual releases will NOT include the mono mixes that are found in the limited edition box set. That might not matter to everyone, but I personally love the mono mix of the first album in particular, it's much more punchy and sounds quite different than the stereo mix. FYI....

Peter Brotzmann: Never Too Late But Always Too Early. Knocked flat on my rear-end first time I heard it.

SW loves 5.1, so that's half of it. He's also a perfectionist, and it's OOP, so I'm guessing he thinks he can improve on the sound (which sounds fine to me already). Given that this was the last recording before they signed with Atlantic/Lava, I'm guessing he wants to make it available now to the newer fans. It would be nice if there was more/different music on the bonus disk, maybe disk two with the Recordings tracks on it -- I can dream can't I.

Might have to get me that when it comes out. Don't know why Lightbulb Sun is being redone, the cd is not that old, and it sounds great to me. Guess it's that 5.1 that's the hook.

So am I, that's all they wrote about when Blyleven's name was mentioned and they still do. Blyleven's not alone, there's a ton of great players from the 70s & 80s who get overlooked; case in point, Al Oliver. Great player, great line-drive hitter but it's like he never player the game.

Raffy was run out of baseball, to a large part because he threw Tejada under the bus. Hershiser got the pub, playing in L.A., beating a famous Met team, while the only thing a fan ever heard about Blyleven was how many homers he gave up. Heck, at the top of his game Randy Jones was equal to Hershiser but no one claims Jones for the HOF, and for heavens sake, I saw Jones pitch so often in his prime at the 'Murph, it's not funny, even was there when he hurt his arm. No one noticed he was hurt because Mike Ivie was kicked out of the game on the same play. Ivie, now there was wasted talent, he was compared to Johnny Bench for crying out loud. What a nut case! Sorry for going down Padre memory lane -- I wasted a lot of my youth watching them at the 'Murph.

More on the Barry Bonds front: NEW YORK -- Barry Bonds failed a test for amphetamines last season and originally blamed it on a teammate, the Daily News reported Thursday. Barry Bonds Bonds is still under investigation as to whether he perjured himself when he testified in 2003 that he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs. When first informed of the positive test, Bonds attributed it to a substance he had taken from teammate Mark Sweeney's locker, the New York City newspaper said, citing several unnamed sources. "I have no comment on that," Bonds' agent Jeff Borris told the Daily News on Wednesday night. "Mark was made aware of the fact that his name had been brought up," Sweeney's agent Barry Axelrod told the Daily News. "But he did not give Barry Bonds anything, and there was nothing he could have given Barry Bonds." Bonds, who has always maintained he never has tested positive for illegal drug use, is already under investigation for lying about steroid use. A federal grand jury is investigating whether the 42-year-old Bonds perjured himself when he testified in 2003 in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid distribution case that he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs. The San Francisco Giants slugger told a 2003 federal grand jury that he believed his trainer Greg Anderson had provided him flaxseed oil and arthritic balm, not steroids. Under baseball's amphetamines policy, which went into effect last season, players are not publicly identified for a first positive test. A second positive test for amphetamines results in a 25-game suspension. The first failed steroids test costs a player 50 games. Bonds did not appeal the positive test, which made him subject to six drug tests by MLB over the next six months, according to the Daily News. "We're not in a position to confirm or deny, obviously," MLB spokesman Rich Levin told the Daily News. According to the newspaper, Sweeney learned of the Bonds' positive test from Gene Orza, chief operating officer of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Orza told Sweeney, the paper said, that he should remove any troublesome substances from his locker and should not share said substances. Sweeney said there was nothing of concern in his locker, according to the Daily News' sources. An AP message for Sweeney was not immediately returned late Wednesday. The Giants are still working to finalize complicated language in the slugger's $16 million, one-year contract for next season -- a process that has lasted almost a month since he agreed to the deal Dec. 7 on the last day of baseball's winter meetings. The language still being negotiated concerns the left fielder's compliance with team rules, as well as what would happen if he were to be indicted or have other legal troubles. Borris has declined to comment on the negotiations. He didn't immediately return a message from the AP on Wednesday night. The 42-year-old Bonds is set to begin his 15th season with the Giants only 22 home runs shy of surpassing Hank Aaron's career record of 755. Bonds, considered healthy again following offseason surgery on his troublesome left elbow, has spent 14 of his 21 big-league seasons with San Francisco and helped the Giants draw 3 million fans in all seven seasons at their waterfront ballpark. After missing all but 14 games in 2005 following three operations on his right knee, Bonds batted .270 with 26 homers and 77 RBIs in 367 at-bats in 2006. He passed Babe Ruth to move into second place on the career home run list May 28. Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press I know BB is a ahole to the nth degree but I just get sad about his life. "I didn't know what kind of pill I was putting in my mouth." What is up with that? I always pop pills in my mouth that I have no idea what they are -- hey, it's fun! Jeesh, what an idiot.

"Scrubs" seasons one and two. Enjoying them a lot more than I thought I would. Great series. Watched most of season one today because everyone was snowed in.

That was the biggest piece of chicken-shit I've ever seen. My regard and respect for the HOF sunk after that vote.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!!

Disk two this morning. Every time I hear JJ my regard for him soars.

Think Rice is very much hampered by his relations with the media, which Rice felt always treated him unfairly. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Albert Belle when his name comes up. One last thought on Rice: his stats don't that great compared with what's going on now but in context, those were big-time numbers.

i hear you Matthew but... but... amid all the well-turned & sometimes goofy bullshit-- re-read the parts abt late '50s, early '60s NYC. it contextualizes in ways that were ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS fuckin' obvious except that latterday Dylan Cultists rarely bothered to learn. (Some Minnesota stuff also.) True 'heads wouldn't be without their Fred Neil records, and at least be intimate w/ Dave Van Ronk, Holy Modal Rounders & the '50s hillbilly music Zimmy heard in Minnesota... also-- ah, well... another time but tho' some people didn't need it-- it was OBVIOUS-- if you or others dunno, go back & listen as Dylan did then. see what happens c I can understand all that (well not all but some). It seems that the reason the early section actually had some passion to it is that Dylan still retains that image of himself as a "Folksinger-hobo-on-the-road." After all, isn't that what the NET is accomplishing? It's Dylan living out that image to its fullest; it's just been updated with buses instead of trains. He just keeps coming back to these early days, no matter what he says.

I remember watching Gwynn play a pretty mean point guard at San Diego State. He was chunky even then but had a very nice cross-over move off his left hand dribble. Outside shot was hopeless though. PS: The Goose not getting in is sick! WTF were these sportswriters watching anyway, Ron Guidry??

Actually, I am so thinking about it, put it on my desk, how cool would that be? All for $16.95.

Dan's not a fan of Paul O'Neill? Who would've thunk it?

Chronicles is just typical Bobness: I read it as a comedy because if there's one thing that book is not is revealing anything about the life or thought of Dylan. I thought it was a joke, and misleading to boot.

JJJ Disk one. What a wonderful set.

Long live Jimmy Page! One of my music heroes in the 70's. My all-time fav writting credit: Page/Plant/Trad.

Thinking about the upcoming HOF announcement, I am realizing how old I'm getting. I followed all these guys careers from the start........... YIKES, I'm an old fart now.

What Chuck said....

Congratulations! Lovely baby.

Reading a book I've been interested in for a long time: Siegfried Sassoon: The Memoirs of George Sherston. Really a fascinating read, a whole world that has just disappeared forever. Still on Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Sassoon writing of his country life, WW I hasn't even started yet. For some reason, I was caught off-guard by the style of writing, it's very good in its descriptive character, and it'll be interesting to read how he handles the war. I lucked out at a used bookstore and bought a 1937 edition for $8.00. Highly recommended. I'll have to reread Fussell's chapter on Sassoon in The Great War and Modern Memory after finishing the book.

Had some Hennepin Ale tonight, not sure if I liked it are not; had what was for me, a very usual taste to me. I'll have to try some more to figure it all out.