29 thoughts on “May 8, 2019: That Time Of Year”

  2. I want to watch more of the NBA playoffs, but to be quite honest, this Twins team is a lot of fun and really interesting so I've been watching them instead. I suppose I could pop the NBA up on a tablet or something. Might do that to watch Giannis tonight.

    1. I will most likely make it a point to watch the what I hope will be the 76ers getting knocked out of the playoffs. I really can't stand Butler and Embiid.

        1. Ugh, Embiid is just an annoying troll. Personality-wise, he borders on Dwight Howard.

  3. That's quite the cup in the CoC header. Reminds me of Wallace and Grommit, with a bit of WTF.

      1. heh, sorry, a little crass, but i saw someone post something like, "sorry, but to be fair, they were also staring at me."

    2. No Kind of Blue? Or is it just assumed to be essential, doesn't need a citation?

        1. but there may be a bit of animus reflected in his omission from the short list.

          Vancouver, June 1986
          We were in the car approaching the city when the subject of Miles’ repeated disrespecting of me and my family came up. Marcus, Tain and Bob began yeasting me, “Man, how long you gonna just let him say you ain’t shit and do absolutely nothing.” “Yeah man, Davis is always slapping you.” “We think you must be scared of him.” Then someone (I think it was Tain) said, “He’s playing tonight and we’re off. I think you ought to go up there and jump on him.” I said, “Man, I have too much respect for him to do that.” Then they started betting I wouldn’t. We were joking and laughing. The pot hit $100 apiece and I said, “Ok. I’ll do it.” And I did.
          He was actually playing the organ when I walked on the bandstand. So far as him saying anything to me, it was too loud to hear whatever he said. When the band stopped, he said something, but ‘fuck’ was not one of the words. And so far as him hitting me, I made sure to stay to the left (I’m left handed) and avoid that at all costs, because that would have put me in an unwinnable situation. I came to respond to his constant public shit talking about me, not to whip a much older (and infirm) man’s ass, which certainly would have happened at that time and would have caused my father to whip mine. And…..I never collected that $300.
          The story hit the street and became a much bigger deal than it was or than any of us thought it would be.

          1. this story also provides a bunch of context.

            The contradiction at the heart of Wynton Marsalis is that he is relentless in his pursuit of his vision of jazz (he gives me a long and comprehensive definition, but basically it must swing in the “ding-ding-a-ding” sense of the word), yet refuses to accept that his public utterances and his role at the Lincon Center should be seen as anyone’s business but his own. In fact, his position as an arbiter of what constitutes jazz is so commanding that everything he does has consequences. During our interview he denies his authority time and again – “it’s not for me to say whether it’s right or wrong” – when it’s perfectly obvious he has strong opinions on almost all areas. He is unafraid to judge, but is wary which of his judgements he reveals, hiding behind a bland wall of “it’s not my place to say…”. Flashes of what he really thinks come out when he’s pushed. After stressing his good relations with David Murray (Marsalis plays basketball with Murray’s son, Mingus) he concedes the point: “Did some people lose some gigs because I don’t like their style of music? Maybe that’s true, maybe that’s false, I don’t know. But that’s not controversial to me.”

            When I ask if he felt hurt by the comments Miles Davis and the avant-garde trumpeter Lester Bowie made about him (Davis: “that motherfucker’s not sharing a stage with me”. Bowie: “everybody knows this cat ain’t got it”) he replies “not at all.” He then goes on to describe Davis as “a genius who decided to go into rock, and was on the bandstand looking like, basically, a buffoon”, and Bowie as “another guy who never really could play.”

      2. While I’m very pleased to see Mary Lou Williams on his list, I’m disappointed that he has only one album post-1969 (and none that have been released in the last quarter-century?!). Then again, it is Wynton Marsalis’ list.

        ETA: It looks like his longer list has a few additional recordings from the Seventies—present, and a handful of active artists. But it’s pretty clear that Marsalis thinks jazz belongs in a museum or exists primarily in the grooves of a piece of vinyl nearly old enough to collect Social Security, rather than out in the world where it can still provoke & enlighten. It’s hard not to think of him vested in the same perspective on modern practitioners & their craft as Joe Morgan, John Smoltz, Harold Reynolds, or Bob Costas.

    1. Six of eight Twins regular position players have an OPS+ above 100. Three Twins starting pitchers and three relievers have an ERA+ above 100. When Sano gets back, he should be able to hit his way into an every day slot at third base and raise the slugging curve even higher.

  6. I've been the opposite. I'm much more interested in the hockey playoffs (Let's Go Blues!). Unlike Rhu, I'm not getting dragged along, I'm hopping onto the caboose of the bandwagon. Always sorta liked the Blues, but they rarely get this far in the playoffs.

    Basketball just does not interest me in the least. (except for NCAA tournament, but that's mostly because of the bracket). I'd almost rather watch soccer.

  7. I know it's been advertised from here to Fargo, but the $5.00 Twins ticket in May thing is pretty slick. I picked up two for Monday night against the Angels. The weather is even forecast to be decent. It truly is $5.00 with no fees. Seats are way the heck up there but I don't plan to sit anyway.

            1. In the last two days, both Barcelona and Ajax had three goal leads to get to the Champions League final. All they had to do was kill time and defend. Somehow both teams lost in spite of the three goal leads.

              (Ajax lost today with the winning goal being scored at 95:05 when there was going to be five minutes of extra time. They only had to hold on for another few seconds.)

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