Some Creedence for Page

Just ordered the complete Creedence Clearwater Revival boxed set on amazon containing every note they ever put on vinyl as well as some outtakes which are always fun. Fogerty is unique and the playing is great for the sculpting work–long jams that get you in a groove and keep you there. So it’s basically a business expense. It’s amazing how quickly you blow through 11 gigs of music on an MP3 player while sitting/crouching/kneeling/standing around with the tools and wood. So much so that I’ll even take a flyer on some Edith Piaf. Anything.

And musically, I don’t much care anymore about the music that I used to get all worked up about in my youth. In fact, the one overwhelming thought whenever I listen to, or think about the music that I listened too (mostly classic rock, the usual), is embarrassment. Because we took this stuff so seriously and it is SUCH A JOKE! These guys had really very little talent and we just worshipped them all out of proportion with what it was. I see it all from my dad’s perspective now. Dad, you were right. They were a bunch of overpaid bums.

That’s not to say that I still won’t appreciate some artistry from time to time, but for the most part, it’s not worth talking about. Take Jimmy Page for instance. I was listening to the new Zeppelin channel on XM coming into work today and they were playing the live Dazed and Confused and they get to that part where Page plays the electric guitar with a violin bow (cue Spinal Tap). I almost drove off the road laughing and I was laughing at how reverently we kids talked about this act. How much esteem we held this in. It was like Page was Jesus for banging a bow on a guitar and making just the most rudimentary amplified noisy sounds! hahaha! He’s a real Joshua Haifitz, isn’t he? hahaha. What a rocket scientist there. Actually, it was brilliant, just not musically, but rather it was brilliant in the same way that P.T. Barnum was brilliant in that he hoodwinked a generation of some pretty smart people into thinking this was “cool”. I bought in. Now I laugh.

But Page is special musically in some ways still. I laugh at his sloppy play and just horrible technique; particularly live. You can listen to the drugs take his playing as the years go by. It starts out decent and steadily declines all the way from 1970 to 1980, when he was so cooked that he wouldn’t have won a high school talent show (Knebworth). But Page was a great producer of records and he got some great sounds like the tube miking for Houses of the Holy and In My Time of Dying. Good production, sloppy play. But the sloppy play is forgivable because most don’t listen close enough to really hear it anyway and it certainly didn’t hurt their sales.

There is a phrase in the song, In My Time of Dying where Plant is singing in silence, “Oh My Jesus, Oh My Jesus, Oh My Jesus, Oh My Jesus,” several times. On the “Oh”, start counting. 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4 etc. Page comes in with the slide on a 3, and I’ve always thought that where he comes in is TOTALLY unexpected, but perfectly brilliant, if such a thing can be. The timing is exquisite. I would never think to DO that, if it were me. And I find that while listening to Page, you follow along and mentally try and anticipate what note should follow and he’s always going to a note that (a) I wouldn’t think to (b) is very pleasing.

So I look at it this way. If you broke everyone’s guitar solos/riffs into one-note-at-a-time, and graded them for each note selected in “pleasingness” to the general public, Page’s batting average would be Ty Cobb high. He just “gets it” and selects the best note most of the time or certainly a high percentage of the time. There’s a reason everybody liked, and still likes, those Zep tunes. You want to say he’s brilliant? Ok, fine, whatever. But leave the bow out of it.

Reading a tremendous book on Kid Delicious called Running the Table. What a great book! You hate to finish it because you just don’t want it to end. It’s interesting reading for me also because of the statue I’m doing. I find a lot of the stuff Delicious deals with or experiences to be similar–very, very, eerily similar, but of course on a much smaller scale. The maniacal aspect of it and the highs and lows of self esteem and mood swings, tied directly to how it’s going. Getting in the zone when time becomes elastic and you just feel like superman for a while. Then also the times where it all seems so elusive and pointless. A very good book. I hope they don’t scroogie up the movie (they will). Kid Delicious should play himself!

Click here to launch Kid Delicious’ site in a new window

Delicious’ Road Partner is a pretty fair painter.  I like the style and I am tough

How does this come to be?

Click here:  Absolutely a must read.  Beautiful.

 

and top it off with this one.  Also a gem: Click here 

Overstimulation

I really like the Clarinet (Bassinet) that Mrs. Pinetar bought (or was given) for the Tomster. It has these little controls on the side and it will play a little music (something they played at our wedding but I didn’t know that-was told) and it has a little “activity center” for Tommy’s “activity time”.

Anyway, it has these bears that hang on a little dry-cleaning rack and you press a button and the bears spin around over Tommy.

But you have to swing it into position first.

 So I’m admiring the thing and we put him down and I swing the thing into position and Mrs. Pinetar says, “…Wait! You can’t do that yet.”

“Why?”, I say.

“You’ll overstimulate him. It’s too much for him”, She replied.

“Oh”, I said.

How cute is it, that the three little flying stuffed bears will overstimulate him?

***

This clarinet has one other thing that I really, really love. The vibration button. You can even adjust the frequency (although not as low as I would like, but I’ll take it). It is like Tommy is at the belly of a big cat that is purring. It’s very soothing and pacifying.

There is some newer research that indicates that the vibrations that cats produce is very, very healing and beneficial to the cats themselves. They actually have been shown to HEAL faster from wounds for purring. This is verifiable data, not the global warming hooey that you see on CNN.

I went through a phase a few years ago where I read anything I could get my hands on re ‘after death experiences’ or, NDE (Near Death Experiences). They have gone on for all history but are more prevalent now due to advancing medical technology (the same amazing medical discovery and technology that Al Gore and Hillary say isn’t fair and needs to be curtailed by government intervention). What’s even more true today is that with medical tech being what it is, people are simply more inclined to entertain the POSSIBILITY that these folks come by some information that they really don’t or shouldn’t have access to, if you discount the “experience”.

The books are fascinating reading and they make you think plenty, especially about some of our downright silly religious customs and institutionalized hokum. The book, “Embraced by the Light” by Betty J. Eadie, is by far, the best book I’ve ever read in my life. I’ve read it over 10 times and it has influenced me far more than any other book, no question. There is a bookend book to it that is also amazing: “Beyond the Darkness” by Angie Fenimore. They compliment each other and should be read together, and read in the order listed. They are quite different so don’t assume…

Anyway, in the dozens of books I’ve read on this topic, one of the things that strikes you about these experiences is their diversity. All are different and highly personal. However, there are still many similarities. One is that many of these folks report on the “music” or “vibrations” that run through and permeate EVERYTHING on the spiritual side. Everything vibrates and resonates and all things are in vibrational/musical harmony “over there”. In this other dimension, these vibrations are described as “healing” and “loving” and “containing great intelligence”.

It is interesting that we are finding out that cats’ purring heals wounds. I predict that in the future, more money and effort will be spent looking into the effect of vibrations on living tissue. I don’t think enough is being done but the vibration gizmo on the clarinet is a good start.

***

We had Tommy outside a lot yesterday and like rookie parents, got him a little too warm in his fleece swaddling blanket. But on day 4, the jaundice is at maximun, so I insisted that we get him some light (indirect) to break down that bad old Billy Rueben. I also decided it was time to fly the Bunker Hill flag. You don’t see many outside of New England.

And this morning he was opening his eyes more than usual. I used a no-flash setting and it was dark so don’t worry about his color there. He is looking great. It’s just hard to get him to open the eyes. A lot of the time, he just opens one eye. It’s funny to see him fall off the feeding spout and then get mad. Unfortunately, it’s a family trait to quickly get pretty mad at something very simple in the scheme of things. Oh well.

We are baptizing him at about 1 month. This shocked the church down the street. They grilled my wife about it. That’s how it was done in the old days (25 years ago and before) but now it is wigging them out. Almost any time I have “official dealings” of any sort with a member of the church, I walk away shaking my head. I’m trying.

Since Mrs. Pinetar may not be able to make the baptism class, I will have to go alone. I told Mrs. Pinetar, “…wait until they get a load of me…”

And she basically said, “Don’t get excommunicated again!”

And that would be the second time this year! The odds on excommunication are currently running about 7-1. We’ll see.

***

For the record, Julio Franco is now 1 for 12 with the Atlanta Braves. I’ll say it again: Somewhere out there, there is a golf-course missing a guy. –fog

Getting the Belly

Mrs. Pinetar is afraid of McGonnigle, the cat. Not really afraid but she thinks he doesn’t like her and is wary of him. He has nipped at her hand in the past, apparently.

 

Today, I showed her that when he is nice and sleepy, he will be good and he purred for her and he even rolled over and “gave the belly”, or, felt comfortable enough to roll on his back for belly scratches.

 

She said, “yea, he gave the belly for YOU! He wouldn’t do that for me”

 

I said, “…you have to do it right. You have to approach slowly and let him smell your hand for a while, because that’s how he identifies you and assesses threat level. Then, you start with safe scratchies that he likes and keep doing that until he trusts you more and more and then slowly work the scratchies under him and he’ll just flip over and stretch and give you the belly.”

 

She said, “yea, sure, that works for you…”

 

–fog

World Series Odds

From the Boston Office…Thanks PJ–Go Sawx

[Fog NOTE: With money considered, it only starts to get interesting at LA: Dodgers, A's, Twins, Indians, Marlins... also could take a flier on Atlanta and Milwaukee. Good payout and stranger things have happened. In fact, if I was betting this for a goof, I'd throw $100 on Milwaukee and if they run the table, I'm cashing a $5,000 ticket. Realize that it's a su[ker bet, these things. Only do it for fun and with money you never expect to see again (because you won't).]

Detroit at 5 to 1? Joke. And I don’t know what’s worse, Cubs 0r Whitesox. Of course the Cubs are worse. How long into the season before people are writing about the Cubs wasted money and another “lost” season. I mean, Lou ain’t pitching for them! The Cubs have been cursed (true curse, not like the hokey Babe curse) since they stole the 1908 pennant from John J. McGraw and the rightful owners: The New York Giants. The Cubs need to send the 1908 Woil Serious shares (with interest) to the descendants of the 1908 Giants. Then, maybe, the curse would be lifted.

If you click here, you will see the inflation / CPI calculator. They only have data from 1914 on but that’s only 6 years from late 1908 so we’ll go from there.

The inflation rate from Jan 1914 to Jan 2007 is 1,924.16%

The 1908 Winner’s share was $1,317.58

A single dollar in 1914 is now worth 19.24 dollars. So (19.24 * 1,317.58)= $ 25,352.35

Let’s round up to 30,000 to make it back to 1908 with compounding and all. Hmm, let’s see, a 25 man roster plus McGraw and the coaches comes to 30 * 30 G’s or $900,000

That’s it! A bargain after what they just shelled out in subpar playersl. If I’m them, I’m trying to pay this out and lift this curse. –fog

There is a season

This is the time of year that people will start yammering away at you for little reason about who they’ve picked in the NCAA office pool. Memo to all those guys: I don’t CARE who you “have” in the tournament.

A tax on stupidity

Duke professors Charles Clotfelter and Phillip Cook did a study that found that 10% of lottery players account for 68% of lottery purchases. [From a great read on Neatorama on the 10 things that casinos don't want you to know]

McGraw of the Giants and the OTB

With baseball right around the corner I thought we could use a blast of baseball past. I recently reread John McGraw’s bio by Charles Alexander and at the end, they give the street address of McGraw’s palatial home, where he spends his last days dying of prostate cancer. The address was right around the corner from the Bronx office where I work. In fact, I passed it every day while going for pizza or the garlic eggplant at Number One Chinese in Pelham.

So one day, I had the digital camera and swung down his street and took this photo.

Not a big deal really but I couldn’t help but think that Casey Stengel and Bill Terry and Mel Ott all walked up that path. And in the 1920’s, that was a big mansion. And it’s just so absurdly close to the Bronx now that it makes you laugh. Pelham was THE place for the rich New Yorkers to settle but it’s proximity to the Bronx would unsettle me now.

In fact, just a half mile down the road from McGraw’s is the Bronx OTB, where I placed my last bet on Barbaro (an Exacta Box with the eventual winner)

I think that McGraw would have liked the proximity to the OTB as he was a big horse player and all around gambler.  In fact, in his early days with the Giants in the early oughts, it was not uncommon for him to leave the team in a coach’s hands and go to Belmont Park to the races.  In fact, Giants’ owner John T. Brush had to discipline him for doing just that.

In the 1905 World Series against Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics, McGraw could be seen openly betting with A’s fans down the first and third base lines.  The Giants won a classic series (the second ever as McGraw refused to play in 1904) and McGraw cleaned up on his bets.

A few things struck me while reading the book.  One, was the preponderance of Irish-American ballplayers.  Back then in the 1900-1910’s, you could probably still find signs in windows saying “NINA” or “No Irish Need Apply”.  Baseball was considered fairly lowly work and this image was only starting to be flipped by the rare college educated players like Eddie Plank and Christy Mathewson.  Otherwise, some hotels wouldn’t take “ballplayers and actors”. There were Italian immigrants pouring in at that time as well, but the names on the rosters were mostlsy Irish.  The Italians don’t get into it until more like the 1920’s and 1930’s. 

The other thing that is amazing about the era is the number of times that guys like McGraw and McGinnity and Bresnahan would get into these near riots and fistfights.  It’s a wonder they could play the games.  They’d have to dress at the hotel and ride to the park in wagons sometimes, while the home town fans threw things at them, often as big as bricks.  It was a whiskey-soaked, rough-and-tumble time for sure. 

He managed the Giants from 1902 to 1932 and with the dead ball and lively ball.  Between he and Connie Mack, you have 80 years of major league managing experience.  An interesing character in American History. –fog 

What Font Has Prince’s Symbol?

It came up last night during the Superbowl: What font do I have to install to be able to render Prince’s symbol? Do you need your coolcard to download it? –fog

Superbowl Frequent Scores Best Box Pool Numbers-What are your odds?

This table is the result of all the quarters played in Superbowl history: