It got lost in the end of year Best Of's but sadly Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens died in December. Jersey rockers to the core, The Smithereens were banging it out for over 30 years with some national success in the late 80s. Pat DiNizio was the voice and considered an all around great guy. He'll be missed.
(1 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Loading... I was surprised this album was so good. This song is a great LCD Soundsystem song and is a good window to their entire oeuvre.
(2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)Loading... I have a soft spot in my heart for songs that include a well placed cowbell. Typically at the end of a song when the cowbell comes out of nowhere and signals that the end of the song is upon us.
One great example is the cowbell at the end of the Rolling Stones’ Dead Flowers. The cowbell comes in right near the end of the song at the 3:48 mark. Two stark and clear peals, it’s off the beat and partly masks Mick’s singing but provides such a coda. The cowbell effectively ends the song and is the ultimate kiss off on what is an excellent kiss off song. It’s a great little touch from Charlie Watts.
Another great example is the cowbell at the end of The Replacements’ Don’t Ask Why. Different from Dead Flowers in that its part of the cacophony at the end of the song. It first comes at 1:41 of the song and and its three strikes mirror Paul singing “Don’t Ask Why.” Actually the first time there is only 2 peals and I always wondered if that was an error. Technically I don’t think this is a cowbell as there is an upward tone in the 3rd peal, although it could be where the bell is struck. Much like Dead Flowers, the bells put emphasis on what is another fantastic kiss off song. It drives me crazy. I was at the Replacements Tribute last weekend at the Turf Club and I missed it when the band didn’t have those bells.
Honorable mention goes to what I think is an electronic chime at the end of The Tourist from Radiohead. It’s literally the last thing you hear at the end of the song and the last thing you hear at the end of the entire album. I could write a whole post about the meaning of that chime.
Are there other small elements of a song that you always look for? Any good examples? Also drop your lists.
Is there a concert or recording session that you wish you were at to experience? Recording sessions would be cool to see how an iconic song or album was created and of course who wouldn’t want to see Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison or The Rolling Stones at The Excelsior Amusement Park?
A couple shows I’d love to have seen include The Beatles at the Cavern Club and maybe the Elvis Comeback show. Also when Dylan went electric at Newport to figure who booed.
Discuss and drop your lists.
It's the start of Wilco week here in the Twin Cities as our buddies from Chicago come to the Palace Theater next week for three shows. Apparently it will be Wilco's last three live shows for a while as they are taking 2018 off. We'll see. Wilco gets derided by some (including me at times) as Dad Rock, and let's face it songs like Box Full of Letters, definitely fit that bill. But Wilco puts out some pretty creative music too, especially since Nels Cline joined the fold. Above is Spiders (Kidsmoke) which I would argue is some pretty challenging music for dads to be rocking out to. Apparently they've been playing it a bunch on this tour. I'll get to see it on Thursday. I can't wait.
Drop your lists, if you got 'em.
Rough day Monday. Las Vegas. Tom Petty. All of which pushed the crisis in Puerto Rico, North Korea... off the list of latest things that outrage/sadden us.
That's why we need this. The improbable run. This plucky band of brothers who thrilled us, made us smile, made us care about baseball again. Even if it's for one day, we need this. And we need it to be against the Yankees. It just feels like it was meant to be -- win or lose.
Winning would be great, but it's not necessary. It's playoff baseball and the Twins are participants. And for one day, heck for three (plus) hours, all will be right in our little corner of the world. The problems won't go away and there is a lot of healing that needs to be done, but for one evening, we can watch, rejoice, thrill, even cheer at a bunch of grown men trying to hit, throw, and catch a little ball.
Really not much to say here. The Twins on the path for the 2nd Wildcard and Cleveland winning at an historic rate lately, while still fighting for home field through the ALCS and perhaps World Series so both teams have something to play for.
Should be a fun series.
Bartolo Colon on the mound and based on previous starts, may not have a whole lot left or at least batters have figured out to just go after that big and sexy first pitch. Josh Timlin on the mound for the Wahoos and while his season numbers are 9-9 with a 4.98 ERA, he is 5-0 in his last five starts. Thus proving that old adage: when a team goes 29-2 over 31 games, the pitchers are going to pick up a bunch of wins.
Game time at 6:10p local. By 10:00p, we could be celebrating a playoff birth. What a country.
It’s been fun over the years reading about WGOM citizens as they started having kids and going over the joy and frustration of parenthood. I’ve had a lot of “yup, I remember that” as I go through FKB posts and other discussion threads. I smiled knowingly when Stick would be amazed at how fast Louisa was adding to her vocabulary or SoCal’s son Trey would have another good day out at the ballfield or someone would wonder about birthday parties and how to handle misbehavior. I lived those years too with all those same, and not so same, joys and frustrations. Given that, I beg of you to not take this the wrong way when I say: I’m done with parenthood.
Oh, I still love my kids and want to see then do well and will undoubtedly provide guidance when it's needed, but my kids are 22 and 24. I’ve been at this for nearly a quarter century and frankly it's time they make their own decisions, pay their own bills, fight their own fights. Sure, it hasn’t helped that I’ve been a single parent for over three years now with not even an Ex to help out but I also believe that it’s time for me to shuffle off into the corner and let the kids figure it out on their own. They’re old enough and and I'm not sure I have a whole lot to add.
Luckily, I have two great kids and in the past few months they have officially launched. Frances has been in Milwaukee for a couple of years now but recently moved to Chicago and got a real salaried job in the HR department of Guaranteed Rate Mortgage. So no more rent payments, supplemental deposits, or health care benefits from me. Charlie graduated in May and moved back home in August but he also recently got a job with a real nice salary. He’s going to stick around the house for a little bit and who knows, maybe I can get him to pitch in on groceries every once and while.
Parenthood is a great blessing and while there will never be a day that I’m not a dad, it’s also nice to retire from the day-to-day burdens of being the all-decision maker, the responsible party, the fixer-upper. I can still play those roles, but now it’s only in a limited, or emergency basis. Right now, you may be in the midst of full-on parenthood and can’t even imagine that the end is out there or that you will even welcome it. I’m here to tell you (and I bet Twayn, Runner, and brianS can also attest) that there will be a day when you will gladly handle over the reins. I bet your kids will grab them lustily, looking forward to the day when they can make their mark as a parent.
Now get off my lawn you snot nosed punks!
Admit it, you’re nervous. Sure, there are only twelve games left and the Twins have an easier path than the LAAAA but man can the Twins just pull off a nice 5 game win streak? Can they take advantage of facing a pedestrian Jaime Garcia and win the first game of the series against the Yankees? Can’t the Angels just fall on their face for 4 games or so and then we can all relax? In my estimation Twins need one win at the Yankees and one win at Cleveland then take at least 5 from the lowly Tigers to assure a playoff berth.
Tonight we get old versus young, fat versus skinny, $25,000,000 versus $507,500. CC Sabathia against Joes Berrios. Live from Yankee Stadium at 6:10p.
Nineteen games. Over 88 percent of the season is complete and the Twins still in the driver seat for a one game playoff against the Yankees. Since the Twins have hit this “easy” part of the schedule, they’ve kind of scuffled. Lose a couple here, win three in a row there. The other teams in wildcard contention are scuffling too and it seems that LAAAAAA is the only team really interested in playing the spoiler to what was considered unthinkable five months ago: The Twins could be a playoff team.
Two game series against the woeful San Diego Padres. Gibby on the mound and he’s been pretty decent of late, including a 3-0 record and a nice 1.69 ERA. Travis Wood on the mound for the Padres. He came over from the Royals so there is some familiarity there. Wood hasn’t had a lot of luck against the Twins so let’s hope this is the start of a nice winning streak. Game at 7:10p. Going to be gorgeous evening… just what you want in September: Meaningful baseball with fantastic weather in a beautiful ball park.
