Matthew

Matt Cain & Joey Votto are going to make a combined total of $352,500,000.00 off their contracts -- two players!!??!!??!!. I usually don't mind large contracts, but this is getting ridiculous, twenty-million a year is becoming standard now.

Blues March. Don't know if it's a standard or not, but since it is off "Moanin'" everyone in the world has heard it. In fact, there is no jazz recording that has the "march beat" that I like, it just grates on my ears and nerves.

Honestly, I had something good for this thread earlier today, but it's completely gone from my mind. Instead of getting wiser with age, I feel I'm getting dumber....

Jimmy Lyons: Box Set. Disk four -- Tufts University, Medford, MA February 12, 1985. Karen Borca....

There hasn't been, but some kind soul has posted all the songs from the double LP on Youtube, as well as the entire Push/Pull LP. Edit: My spelling and syntax still haven't improved...

I'll wait and see on this one, McCourt is still involved under this deal, and that was the reason the other two groups dropped out. Even though I love Magic, his presence means nothing in my mind. Still, the Dodger tv rights have to be at lest fifty-percent more than the Angles -- really, no one cares about the Angles in L.A., it's all Dodger blue here.

I'm sure others have beaten me to it, but welcome back, Matthew. Thanks, I just have had a killer travel schedule for the past eight months.

A killer travel schedule. I only have one more major trip (five weeks in Africa in May/June), so I'm actually starting to have some free time to get back into music, and enjoying the pleasures of life again.

Well, it seems as if Jimmy Lyon's album Jump Up is finally going to be released, which is great news for this Lyons' fan. Now if they would just release Push / Pull, that would be the icing on the cake.

Byrds: Requiem For The Timeless by Johnny Rogan. 1,200 pages on everything you ever wanted to know about the Byrds, and some stuff you didn't (I'm looking at you, David Crosby!). Highly recommended if you're interested in the Byrds, the L. A. rock scene, or just the 1960's.

Great, the biography finally came out, and I know it will worth the wait. Little did I realize it would take so long, but it's great Mr. Pullman got it on Kindle.

There's one comment there that I want to set straight: Joe West, has been, is now, and always will be, the worst umpire in baseball! Great arm. Great talent. I forgot, though, he was actually a five tool guy. He also had a temper. http://www.youtube.c...h?v=oAKkHxkkCyA Did you see Eric Gregg trying to "settle things down" at the dugout? Way to go Eric. One thing: Joe West was terrible then, he's terrible now, and forever and ever and ever and ever, will always be a terrible umpire.

Miles Davis: Ascent from Directions. I found it incredibly beautiful last night, especially Wayne Shorter's soprano sax solo.

So I'm watching a Hollywood A Go Go show from 1966, and the host, Sam Riddle is interviewing Cher (I never realized how pervy Sonny Bono looked next to her until this show), and Riddle casually mentions that Dylan has a tv show in England. Really? I checked Dylan's IMBd entry, and nothing is listed for England 1966. Anyone know anything about this supposed English tv show in 1966? I've never heard of it -- which, granted, doesn't mean a whole lot.

Because Americans love to drive non-native and non-American English speakers nuts over how we use and spell the language. Hey, it helps to pass the day for us.

Hollywood A Go Go Vol. 1. A dvd I bought from a pretty scruffy outfit, I'm sure it's a boot, xeroxed paper cover, no copyright information anywhere. It has two complete show, one from 1965, and one from 1966. I watched the 65 show, and it was very cool (I'm becoming a sucker for these things), the line up was: Ray Peterson, The Impressions (with a heartbreakingly young Curtis Mayfield), The Sinners, Jody Miller, Glenn Yarbrough, The Challengers, and Jimmy Witherspoon. It's a strange time in rock, as the acts are very much "clean cut," and SoCal sunshine is being spread all around by freshly scrubbed highschoolers on the dance floor, with the Gazzarri GoGo Dancers providing the eye candy with great dancing and routines. In fact, it stuck me how the dancing seemed to be way ahead of the music, it had a kind of abandon to it that the rock acts could not compete with. Maybe the "rock revolution" was felt by the dancers first, before anyone caught on to what was happening.

While listening to the Rubble Collection, I'm trying to think of cool names for Psychedelic Rock comps, so far: The Clouds Are My Friends Raking The Sky Magic Mystical Marriage in Madness

First time evah, that a Yankee has made sense...

The famous appearance of The Bobby Fuller Four on Hollywood A Go Go. I've heard it claimed that what Gazzarri Dancers did here, was one of the most influential routines in the 60s. I'm stuck in a sixties timewarp right now...

Yeah, I distinctly remember reading various articles from the 60s that portrayed him as "moody", "sullen", things like that. There's a reason besides "regional pride" why he's a hero and a role model to so many Latino players. I see the Ubaldo Jimenez commercial running on MLB TV now, the one where he's looking for a gift-shop license plate with "Ubaldo" on it, sure that it's got to be there somewhere, maybe it's in the back, tell the bus to hold up a minute, and I remember the baseball cards of "Bob" Clemente that I had as a kid, and how it came out later that Clemente himself insisted that he be called "Roberto" by god, because that was his name, stop trying to make me a "Bob", I'm not a "Bob", and I think to myself, "what a wonderful world!" Not really. But if the notion of him being a "greeter" in his "baseball afterlife" appealed to me, maybe I would. Interesting in the Youtube video, Bob Prince calls Clemente "Bobby."

Just to let people here know, since some are "Facebook Friends": For various reasons, I've deactivated my Facebook account. PS: Same for my blog.

My favorite 3000 hit story was George Brett's. On the final day of a road trip vs. the Angels he goes 4 for 4, the 4th being 3000. A sad one, but how about Roberto Clemente? Gets his 3000th hit on the last day of the season and dies in the offseason in a plane crash delivering supplies to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua. And he got the hit in front of a "packed house" of 13,117 By Tyler Kepner, New York Times When Derek Jeter reaches 3,000 career hits, he will achieve more than a milestone. At that moment, Jeter will match the career hit total of Roberto Clemente, the Hall of Famer who stands forever as the greeter to the club. Clemente collected exactly 3,000 hits before dying on Dec. 31, 1972, in a plane crash off the coast of Puerto Rico while delivering relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. His final at-bat in the regular season came that Sept. 30, against the Mets at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The night before, Clemente had reached base against Tom Seaver with a chopper that bounced off an infielder's glove. The scoreboard flashed hit, but the official scorer ruled it an error, keeping Clemente on the verge of history. Yet the Pittsburgh fans were largely oblivious. The next day was an overcast Saturday, with televised college football perhaps a more appealing entertainment option. Just 13,117 fans went to the ballpark, and even the Mets' starter was unaware of what could happen. ``I was a 22-year-old rookie that had absolutely no clue this baseball icon was sitting on 2,999 when I went out to pitch that game," Jon Matlack said. ``None." The Rest Of The Story

All I can think of when I hear Gary Templeton's name is that he was traded for Ozzie Smith. I think the Padres got the short end of the stick on that one...

When I was growing up, there were two teams: The San Diego Padres, whose games I went to all the time, and watched some gawd awful baseball, but also had a couple of outstanding players at the same time. The Los Angeles Dodgers were my team though, and during the 1970s, it was a great team to follow -- you had Lasorda as manager; Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey, in the infield, and a whole host of others. I forced my parents to drive me at least once a season to Dodger Stadium so I could watch them in their native habitat. I still follow them, but with the McCourt's, I was just completely turned off by them and what they were doing. I didn't help that in my non-organissimo life, I know (slightly) the O'Malley family, and have been impressed with their classiness, the exact opposite of the McCourts. With the McCourt's out of the picture, I'm starting to come back to The Blue, but I still also follow the Giants, who I associate with my 20s, and my six years in Berkeley.

Many thanks!