Matthew

Sorry I missed the fun, I was in New Jersey. Happy Birthday!

Now I know why there's not too many Texas Rangers fans around here. Jose freaking Vidro hits two home runs!?!? And he needed oxygen at second base before he could continue with his home run trot.

The story of the Funk Blast: Sexson’s got the funk – and the groove to go with it LARRY LARUE; The News Tribune Published: April 4th, 2007 01:00 AM Richie Sexson became a funk master Monday. It wasn’t entirely his doing. Over the years, the Seattle Mariners’ marketing folks have come up with any number of ways to celebrate a home-team home run on their big scoreboards. They’re always looking for new ideas. This offseason, they came up with one. It wasn’t entirely their doing. It began when one of the team’s public-relations executives, Warren Miller, had a CD on his desk – “Funk Blast,” a greatest-funky-hits of the 1970s. General manager Bill Bavasi, prowling the offices, saw it and borrowed it. “Pretty cool,” he told Miller. Then the Mariners’ vice president of marketing, Kevin Martinez, wandered into Bavasi’s office and saw the CD on his desk. “I saw ‘Funk Blast’ and immediately thought about home runs,” Martinez said. So the team decided, for fun, to work “Funk Blast” and a song from Parliament, “Give Up the Funk,” into its celebrations. Enter Sexson. Monday, Sexson homered – his and the team’s first home run of the season. As Sexson went into his trot, the scoreboard beyond left field lit up with the words “Funk Blast!” and fans rocked to the tune “Give Up the Funk.” Sexson didn’t notice. “It said what?” he asked. “Maybe I should wear tie-dye the next time I hit one.”

Well the Dodgers are like the west coast Red Sox what with Grady "i'm gonna stick by my pitcher" Little, NomaH , Derek Lowe. Padres too with Cla Meredith, Wells, Bard. Sox should have never traded Meredith and Bard ! That's why you guys need to hop on the Mariner bandwagon before it gets too crowded. Besides what other team announces a home run with a ......

This might sound crazy, but I feel differently about downloads, as if they're not real, cheap, disposable, no quality to them. It's a feeling I can't shake. I prefer something solid in my hands.

I love the results of the Mariner seven game road trip: 1-1

Hernandez was getting the calls last night, but it's that old baseball axiom, "if you're around the plate, you'll get the calls." Anyone trying out MLBtv? They have this five day trial offer for internet broadcasts and they're not too bad at all. I used one of my parents credit card, since my parents live in the Bay Area I could get the Mariner broadcasts (MLB blacks out local teams), which is great because I have to do a lot of stuff on my laptop at night. A good way to make time go by easier.

Felix Hernandez is the man, great game. That deserves.....

IMHO: MLB should never had retired #42 across the board. There were players out there who took it as a great honor to wear that number. Now Robinson is safely on outfield walls all over the league. I really never liked that decision....

It's the Clash Of The Titians today: Dice-K vs. Hernandez. Should be interesting, to say the least. I have a feeling it'll wind up 2-0 for Boston. The Mariner offense is horrible right now. Imagine having Jose Vidro as you #3 hitter.

I'm starting to really enjoy the Columbo DVDs that are out there. They're from the 1970s, and the production values of the series is incredible. Locations, filming, writing, directing, you get a wonderful feel of what NBC could do with a series when they pulled out all the stops and of the major talent behind the camera. Only downside is that they don't have the very cool opening with the man waving the flashlight, set to Mancini's music. PS: Found the opening on YouTube, of course.

The Mariners are snowed out again today. Thanks mlb -- idiots.

It is confusing. Just looking at the discography section of the booklet, it's obvious that they mix-and-matched various sessions from different releases for the box set cds.

Han Bennink. For some reason this guy just bugs the crap out of me.

No, Pineiro was a starting pitcher who was terrible -- and he looked worse in the pen. His ERA was 6.36 No, he was better in the pen, with an ERA a hair over 4. He also showed better velocity in short stints (93-94) and better results in first innings than later innings. Its a risk, and I'd rather have Timlin and Donnelly as the primary 8th inning guys, but Piniero may surprise some people. Re: Baseball Fans. We all drink our favorite teams Kool-Aid. That's indeed true, Matthew, but it is a fact that his ERA was better in the bullpen, not worse, and that he's showing better velocity and better results in one inning stints. That's not kool-aid, thems are facts. Re: Pineiro. Get use to it Red Sox fans, now you know what we endured with this guy.

These are the cds from the 30th anniversary box. The ones with Lacy are very good. Thanks for the link - looks different from the ones I have, or I haven't looked close enough to see... John Carter/Centazzo/Vinnie Golia/Gregg Goodman - USA Concerts West (Ictus Reissue Series #3) (trio with Carter/Golia, duo with Goodman - all previously unissued) Centazzo/ALvin Curran/Evan Parker - Real Time One (Ictus Reissue Series #4) (#1-4 orig. released as Ictus 0006, #5 prev. unreleased) Centazzo/Trovesi - Shock!! (Ictus Reissue Series #9) (orig. released as Ictus 0016) Centazzo/Lol Coxhill/Franz Koglmann/Giancarlo Schiaffini - Situations (Ictus Reissue Series #12)* (first 7 tracks - prev. unissued - are Koglmann/Coxhill/Centazzo, rest is Ictus 008 with Schiaffini & Coxhill) These are on the Felmay label, rather than on Ictus itself, numbers are rdc 5028, rdc 5029, rdc 5043 & rdc 5046. Comparing your list with the 30th Anniversary booklet, this is what I come up with: Centazzo/ALvin Curran/Evan Parker - Real Time One = In Real Time John Carter/Centazzo/Vinnie Golia/Gregg Goodman - USA Concerts West = The New US Concerts. It says in the booklet that it is a melding of "USA Concerts West" & "USA Concerts East" and other unreleased stuff. Centazzo/Lol Coxhill/Franz Koglmann/Giancarlo Schiaffini - Situations (Ictus Reissue Series #12)* (first 7 tracks - prev. unissued - are Koglmann/Coxhill/Centazzo, rest is Ictus 008 with Schiaffini & Coxhill). From what I can understand from the listings, the music here are spread across two cds: Thirty Years From Monday and Rebels, Travelers & Improvisers Centazzo/Trovesi - Shock!! = Thirty Years From Monday. Don't know if the entire lp in on this cd. The two tracks of Trovesi/Centazzo are Trovecen #1 & #2. It would seem to me that most of the music you have are a part of the 30th Anniversary set. Be warned though, I was a notoriously bad proof-reader in college, so I would not be surprised if I missed something.

Warning Old Geezer Rant: I'm just so sick and tired of movies that feature violence. Crap, can't directors and writers come up with anything worthwhile? What's especially sickening is setting through commercials for this straight-to-dvd sleezefest that boasts how it "too intense" for theaters. I would love to know what kind of exit survey they take at these movies: Not enough blood? Did the decapitation scene look real enough?

These are the cds from the 30th anniversary box. The ones with Lacy are very good.

I was just over at HMV Japan and couldn't find the box. Could you provide a link? I couldn't find it either. It's been going fast whenever the box set appears. Keep checking from time-to-time and it should be up there again.

I've been listening to the Genesis sacds today, and I'm very happy with the sound quality. Very nice and enjoyable. I had forgotten how good Genesis was after Gabriel left, high quality stuff that I had lost touch with over the years. A Trick Of The Tail & Wind & Wuthering being the standouts. Haven't looked at the DVDs yet, that'll come later. HMV Japan turned out to be very easy to deal with, and I saved money with them to boot.

On to something different: I highly recommend the daily Pod-cast that you can listen to off the ESPN MLB page. They last about fifteen minutes, have interesting writers talking about the daily happenings in baseball. I slam ESPN a lot, especially because so mauch on their coverage in on the "Insider" page, but this is something they got right.

That was some crazy stuff yesterday. Beltre with three errors; Byrd have a no-hitter going. Surprised a UFO didn't land on the field.

Soulstation1: Heh, heh, Hargrove got the game called off when only one more strike would have made the game official. You know things are bad in Cleveland when Grover outsmarts the Indians.

They are the same. Each cd in the thirtieth anniversary is available individually. I happen to enjoy what I've heard so far, especially the cds with Steve Lacy. The other one I'm enjoying more than I expected. There is some very nice use of electronics, and some great moments outside the Lacy cds. I've enjoyed the set more that I thought I would. As to whether the Penguin's are missing the boat, I don't know because my taste/judgment on music often differs from them -- a lot.