everything you ever wanted to know about nothing at all...

Monday, October 30, 2006


Vacation Day Blues #2

I had a four day weekend. The worst thing about taking days off is going back. I'm never in a worse mood than the day I have to go back to work after being off. Every small problem or issue that occured while I was going seems 10 times worse than it probably was. Oh well, back at it. There's inventory Wednesday, going through reports on Thursday then I'm off to the Dylan concert Thursday night at the Palace. Why the Foo Fighters are opening up for him is beyond my comprehension, but that's okay, I probably won't get there early enough to see them anyway.

My oldest sister has continued her lifelong mission to emberass me well into adulthood, see here. At least Sophia didn't kick me or laugh at me, although I did see a smirk on her face. At least now, when I'm a grouchy ol' uncle, I can tell her "I changed your diaper, you little smartass...".

The green ball has been neglected during the Tigers playoff run, so back at it tonight.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

No Man's Land-Sufjan Stevens, The Avalanche

Everytime I see one of those signs on the beach that says "Private Property, No Trespassing" I think of the great Woody Guthrie song, "This Land is Your Land". I saw a sign that said no trespassing, but on the other side, it didn't say nothing, that side was made for you & me...This song is pretty good too.

Here's to Richard Nixon-Phil Ochs, the Stable, East Lansing 1973

Uncle John's Band-the Grateful Dead, Workingman's Dead

Daylight-Drive By Truckers, A Blessing & a Curse

Quite fitting for driving home from work in the dark.

While We Still Have the Daylight, I might look these lessons in the eye.
While We Still Have the Daylight, I might become some brand-new kinda guy.

The Truckers are the cat's ass...

We Built Another World-Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary

Only Skin Be a Woman-Joanna Newsom, Green Man's Festival 2005

15 minutes of shrieking beauty.

Okay, so it's six.

Happy Monday, friends, keep it real!

andrew



Saturday, October 28, 2006

Days

What are days for?
Days are where we live.
They come, they wake us
Time & time over.
They are to be happy in:
Where can we live but days?

Ah, solving that question
Brings the priest & the doctor
In their long coats
Running over the fields.

Philip Larkin, The Less Decieved 1955

Apparently, days are for cleaning the bathroom & the kitchen, burning every decent Bob Dylan cd for little Dan before he heads out, eating Italian & drinking wine at Vitales, a barn party out in the country & visiting the family.

By the way, cleaning is quite cathartic, I can understand why Mark likes it so much.

It was a good run for the Tigers, the best year that I've watched in my lifetime maybe next year. Christie was complaining that I haven't blogged recently, so you have her to blame for this one.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Abandoned Love-Bob Dylan, the Gaslight, 1975

What Can I Do For You?-Bob Dylan, Portland, 1980

You're a Big Girl Now-Bob Dylan, Old Orchard Beach, July 3, 1988

Nettie Moore-Los Angeles, 2006

Notes on Air-Alejandro Escovedo, the Boxing Mirror

Happy Saturday, friends!

andrew

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

A New Path That We Trod...

It was 1989, I was ten years old, & my fascination with baseball was at it's zenith. The Tigers made it to the playoffs two years earlier, when I first started to get really interested in baseball, they were in the pennant race in 1988. I remember Sam Patterson & I rented the highlight video of the 1984 World Series & watched it over & over. As far as I knew, the Tigers were always a decent team. Then 1989 hit & it all came crashing down. The Tigers were the worst team in baseball with no prospects, no good pitching, the remaining stars from '84 were either hurt or disinterested. They were old, & not very much fun to watch. To make things worse, the heart & soul of the team, my favorite baseball player of all-time Alan Trammell was injured for most of the year.

Around that time, my parents shocked us & the world around us by getting cable television. There was this channel called ESPN that propelled my love of baseball into an all out obsession. There was Baseball weekly, Baseball Tonight, & my personal favorite, the Home Run Derby from the 60's where they would have two major league sluggers have a home run competition on television. I was buying baseball cards by the skidload, & playing baseball every night, my baseball world was complete. All except for my Tigers. I was all dressed up for the prom, but had no date.

Then came the Cubs. My grandma was a huge fan, she watched all the games on WGN. I figured, if the Cubs were good enough for Grams, they were good enough for me. With this newfound television fortune I'd stumbled across, & with a summer in Waltz, I could watch all the games I could handle. It turns out the Cubs had one of the best years they've ever had (which ain't saying much) that year. My first loyalties were of course with the lowly Tigers, but now I had something I could be excited about. My favorite players were Jerome Walton, he was Rookie of the Year that year, Dwight Smith, his outfield partner who was second in the running for ROY, Mark Grace, Andre Dawson "The Hawk", & of course the great Ryne Sandberg. I liked Sandberg because he reminded me of Tram, he played hard, was softspoken & a team player. The Cubbies made it to the playoffs that year, I forget who they lost to, but they made for a great summer for me, listening to Harry Carey (God rest his soul) blathering on about whatever between sips of beer.

I never watched the Cubs after that year, they fell back into their losing ways. I saw them lose in 2003 in typical fashion. I always felt bad for that poor schlub who "interfered" with that ball hit into the stands during a play that supposedly lost the series for them.

I was happy to see Alan Trammell was involved in the pregame festivities at the World Series this year, he deserves to be there more than anybody. I was even happier to read today that the Cubs signed on Tram to be the bench coach starting in 2007. There's reason to watch the Cubs again. Read this article about Tram's thoughts. He is all class, all the way.

In other news, check out this setlist from a recent Bob Dylan show. I can't think of a better collection of songs to hear in Detroit next week.

Maggie's Farm
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
High Water (for Charley Patton)
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum (he can pass on this one, though)
Spirit on the Water
Highway 61 Revisited
Sugar Baby
Cold Irons Bound
Every Grain of Sand
Desolation Row
Rollin' & Tumblin'
Workingman's Blues #2
Summer Days
Thunder on the Mountain
Like a Rolling Stone
All Along the Watchtower

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Tangled Up in Blue-Bob Dylan Los Angeles, 10.20.2006
Rollin' & Tumblin-Bob Dylan, Los Angeles, 10.20.2006
The Long Cut-Uncle Tupelo, Anodyne
Arizona-Alejandro Escovedo, the Boxing Mirror
I'm Going on a Long Journey Never to Return-T Bone Burnett, The True False Identity

Happy Tuesday, friends! Keep your hands out of the pine tar!

andrew

Thursday, October 19, 2006

(this picture was stolen from my mom's blog, mom you wouldn't happen to have that picture of dad from the last game at Tiger Stadium, would you?)

You Buy 'Em Books & You Buy 'Em Books...

My old man used to say this alot when I was growing up, usually jokingly. I never quite understood what it meant when I was a kid, but I think I get it now. I think it means that the elder buys the young little shaver books over & over again, but the punk never picks up on the information found in said books. I find myself saying this alot to my staff, who aren't much younger than myself. I hope I finally picked up on most of the lessons from those books. There were plenty of them.

My old man turns 56 today, & believe it or not, he doesn't seem all that old to me. Maybe because it's not too long ago when we'd play basketball out in the driveway every night in the summer time, or because he still has most of his hair, & half of it isn't even gray, yet.

My old man was always a bit of a contradiction; an old man & a little kid at the same time. Whenever we have family functions, he always seems the most comfortable when he's playing with the grandkids (has he introduced them to the sandwich machine, yet?) or when he's talking with the older people in the room. It's as if there's always more fun to be had with the young, & more to learn from the old. It always amazed me how him & my grandpa could sit in the den for hours on end talking about all kinds of things from farming to tools to politics. Part of me thinks he did it to give my grandpa somebody to talk to, but deep down I know he enjoyed it as much as my grandpa.

Here's another contradiction about my old man. You see him at church talking to people, reaching out to those who need it the most, remembering names of people who've only been there once or twice, making everyone feel welcome--you'd think he was a real people person. He's not. He's much more comfortable when he's all by himself working outside, chopping down trees, planting trees, mowing the grass (mowing the grass to him is being lazy), planting flowers, hoeing the garden, feeding sheep & all kinds of other things. This isn't to say that his work at church is an act, it's quite the opposite, his work in the fields & his work at church feed off each other. Some of his best sermons are when he ties together working in the fields with working in the mission fields. It's all the same, really.

I'm sure he doesn't think of himself as an environmentalist, but I do. For every tree he cuts down, he plants two. For every person who's been kind to him over the years, I'm sure he's been kind to many more in return. Who knows how many people have heard the good news of Jesus Christ through my old man?

Happy birthday, dad, you always were & always will be my hero.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Every Grain of Sand-Bob Dylan, Llubjana, 1999

In the Summertime-Bob Dylan, Avignon France, 1981

i'm still carrying the gift you gave, i got it with me now, it's been cherished & saved, it'll be with me unto the grave, & on into eternity...

Rock of Ages-Bob Dylan, Santa Cruz 2000

God Said No-Dan Bern, New American Language

Forever For Now-Harry Connick, Jr, We Are in Love (man, I haven't heard this in AGES!)

Raise a glass of Manschewitz, friends, grab yourself a cracker full of Winn Schulers Bar Scheeze, click on Click & Clack on the radio & wish my old man a happy birthday! Do you know what that paper was? Hot?

andrew

Monday, October 16, 2006


This is Not My Tune, But It's Mine to Use

Listening to Katie & Christie share their mutual loathing of one of my favorite female singers yesterday really made me want to listen to Joanna Newsom (pictured above) today. I think the words they used were, squealing, shreiking & trying to sound like a four year old. Oh well, one man's junk is another treasure, I'm sure I have alot more junk stashed away on the shelves. Hear for yourself, here. She's got a new album coming out now, I don't even know what it's about, apparently the shortest song is eight minutes long. I can't wait to hear it.

Here's another Philip Larkin poem, for no particular reason. From now on, when someone asks me why I have so many cds, I'll just give them this poem to read.

Love Songs in Age

She kept her songs, they took so little space,
The covers pleased her:
One bleached from lying in a sunny place,
One marked in circles by a vase of water,
One mended, when a tidy fit had seized her,
And coloured, by her daughter --
So they had waited, till in widowhood
She found them, looking for something else, and stood

Relearning how each frank submissive chord
Had ushered in
Word after sprawling hyphenated word,
And the unfailing sense of being young
Spread out like a spring-woken tree, wherein
That hidden freshness sung,
That certainty of time laid up in store
As when she played them first. But, even more,

The glare of that much-mentioned brilliance, love,
Broke out, to show
Its bright incipience sailing above,
Still promising to solve, and satisfy,
And set unchangeably in order. So
To pile them back, to cry,
Was hard, without lamely admitting how
It had not done so then, and could not now.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

En Gallop-Joanna Newsom, the Milk Eyed Mendor

Clam, Crab, Cockle Cowrie-Joanna Newsom, the Milk Eyed Mendor

Thunder on the Mountain-Bob Dylan, Seattle 2006

I told myself that I wouldn't listen to any of the new songs played for the first time on the current tour until I see Bob in concert in November but I couldn't resist. I had a feeling that this song could be much better live than on the album & I was right.

Love Minus Zero/No Limit-Bob Dylan, Gothenburg, 2001

she doesn't have to say she's faithful, yet she's true like ice, like fire...

Song of Joy-Kevin Davis & Jason Lamb, Symphony Valley Visitor's Bureau

Happy Monday, friends!

andrew

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Friends Will Arrive, Friends Will Disappear

It was a bittersweet weekend spent working & spending time with friends. Friday night I went to a Muskegon Fury hockey game. It was interesting, to say the least, not something I'd do every week, but still fun.

Saturday was quite possibly the longest 9 hours anyone could possibly spend at work-a slow day after a very long week. Saturday night Christie & I met Dan at the Cottage Bar in Grand Rapids for food & to watch the Tigers game (the end anyway). When a friend tells you he's got news for you, you make sure you drive to find out what it is, no matter how far. It turns out that soon after getting a new job & moving to Indiana, Dan got called up to go to Iraq for over a year. He'll be leaving for Texas for training, & soon after that will be sent to Iraq. My stomach dropped to the floor. The fact that one man's life can be turned upside down & put in danger in order to appease another man's whim continues to amaze & disappoint me. What's it all for? Can anybody truthfully answer that, & if so, can it be justified?

The Tigers game was a pleasant distraction, but it was just that, a distraction. I hope Dan finds all kinds of distractions like these. I hope Bob Dylan plays the best show he's ever done when we go November 3 (with lots of songs from Nashville Skyline, Dan's favorite Dylan record). I hope the Tigers win the world series. Keep him in your prayers, & pray that something good comes out of all this. It's all in God's hands, I guess.

Today, my pal Katie came over from the Detroit area. We had a great time, doing nothing in particular but playing cards & shooting the breeze. Christie made a great dinner of chicken, cheesy potatoes & salad. It was good to see Katie. It was good to play euchre again. It's been awhile.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

I Died a Little Today-Alejandro Escovedo, The Boxing Mirror

Love Would Come-Kevin Davis & Valerie Marincic, Eulogies for November

Harsher Winters-Kevin Davis & Valerie Marincic, Eulogies for November

Not Dark Yet-Bob Dylan, Time Out of Mind

Thin Blue Flame-Josh Ritter, the Animal Years

Happy Sunday, friends.

andrew

Thursday, October 12, 2006

























Sing a Little Bit of These Workingman Blues

It's Thursday, but Saturday's coming. By the time of close of business at 5:00 on Saturday, I will have logged in around 53-56 hours at work. Somewhere in the world, people work from 9:00 to 5:00 Monday through Friday, but for me it's a distant dream. My boss is coming to town for his bi-annual visit tomorrow, & although it's never as bad as it seems, I can't wait 'til it's over. By the time it's all over, I'm open I have something to show for it other than paint stains on my hands & a messy house.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Cellphone's Dead-Beck, The Information

one by one, I'll knock you out!

The Perfect Crime-the Decemberists, the Crane Wife

The Island-Come & See-The Landlord's Daughter-You'll Not Feel the Drowning-The Decemberists, the Crane Wife

Workingman's Blues #2-Bob Dylan, Modern Times

sometimes no one wants what you got
sometimes you can't give it away

I hope Bob plays this one when he comes to the Palace on November 3...

Strange Apparition-Beck, the Information

Happy Thursday, friends, don't work too hard!

andrew

Wednesday, October 11, 2006


I Wish I Was Back in the City...

I don't think I'll ever regret moving to Grand Haven. Life has been alot more fun since I moved. That being said, after spending some time back in Grand Rapids the last couple of days, I realize there's some things in Grand Rapids that you'll never find in Grand Haven. I miss the old neighborhood, driving out of downtown Grand Rapids through the fall leaves & the streets lined with little ol' brick houses & passing the John Ball Park Zoo at rush hour was always a treat. It always gave you the feeling that everyone was going to work & coming home from work at the same time. Or some days, in the wintertime, if you drove down Walker heading east, you could see the tall buildings of downtown towering over the small, two story houses with small front yards. If you wanted to see how some of the nicer houses, you could drive a little farther west down Leonard & see the really old, well built, well established homes with fruit trees, fences, large gardens, & front porches with lights on, illuminating dining room tables with flowers on them.

On my street, I saw my neighbors' kids outside, playing with the dog, or the older ladies meticulously sweeping their driveways, maintaining their tiny little castles, or "Gert" who would walk by my house the same time everyday, huddled in her knit cap made of yarn & her decrepid looking blue winter jacket.

Here's some of my favorite places in Grand Rapids.

Immanuel Lutheran Church

Since I moved away from home, no church has made me feel at home like Immanuel. It started with Pastor David Davis, who was a fantastically warm speaker, who didn't preach at you, but who invited you along to study the word with him, & he interspersed it with personal details that you could relate to. Sound like anybody you know? Immanuel was without a paster until about a year ago, but they still maintained uplifting services with guest speakers, & with the youth minister & a retired pastor, two perfect opposites, filling in.

Vertigo Music

I don't envy too many people in the world, but I think I envy Herm, the owner of Vertigo records. He owns his own record store where he sells mostly the music he loves, to people who love it as much as he does. It's nestled downtown in the heartside district, keeping away the riff-raff. Herm knows his customers, always greets you by name when you walk through the door. He knows what kind of music you like, too, & makes recommendations accordingly. What more could you ask for from a store owner? He got me started on the Great Lake Swimmers, Nick Drake, Iron & Wine, & Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, & also hosted one of my favorite musicians, Bonnie Prince Billy, for a solo performance at his store. He also sponsored "The Decemberists" in concert at the intersection & does many other things to support local music. If you are a music geek like me, there's no better place. By the way, I stopped by yesterday for the first time in a long time. New Releases from the Decemberists, Beck, Bonnie "Prince" Billy & Los Lobos.

The Shawmut Inn

I spent my 21-26th birthdays at the Shawmut Inn, & alot of time in between. It's certainly not the classiest place, but once you've been their a few times, it feels like home. It's the traditional default meeting place for just about all of my friends, even those who've moved away still want to visit the Shawmut when they visit. I miss Carl (the bartender), Mary Lou & Jill, the friendliest folk you'd ever want to meet. Well, I take that back, Carl's not necessarily friendly in the traditional sense, but once he gets to know you, there's no better bartender in the world.

Vitale's Restaurant

Great pizza, great Italian food, great wine. It's the only place for Italian food in Grand Rapids, if you ask me. It's the kind of place you could imagine mobsters meeting at.

The Cottage Bar

Great food, not your typical bar fare, with great beers on tap. I could really go for a Cottage Bagel right about now.

Wolfgangs

We used to go to this greasy spoon called "New Beginnings" for breakfast every Sunday, until one day we tried Wolfgangs in Easttowne. I've never been back. I've probably been to Wolfgangs a hundred times & have never gotten anything except for a half order of Spinach Benedict, with Red Skin potatoes, no onions & hazelnut coffee. I've tried for several years to duplicate the potatoes from Wolfgangs, I guess the secret is adding Rosemary, but I've only failed miserably.

Marinades & Sicilianos

I discovered this place only a year before I moved, but a perfect night would include getting a specialty pizza from Marinades, a six pack of Newcastle from Sicilianos & watching an old movie in my cold, drafty back room at my old house, with one light on & one chair. Good stuff. By the way, the corner of Collindale & Lake Michigan Drive has everything you need to survive, a grocery store, a gas station, the Shawmut Inn, Sicilianos & Marinades.

There's plenty more places, including Little Mexico, the UICA, Schulers, Dillenbecks, but I fear I've bored you enough already.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

God's Small Song-Bonnie "Prince" Billy, the Letting Go

Think I'm In Love-Beck, the Information

The Town-Los Lobos, the Town & the City

Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)-the Decemberists, the Crane Wife

That Lucky Old Sun-Bob Dylan & Tom Petty, 1986

Happy Wednesday, friends!

andrew

Monday, October 09, 2006

























































Summer Days, Summer Nights are Gone, but I Know a Place Where Something's Still Goin' On!

I'm not sure if Bob Dylan was writing about America's Pasttime when he wrote Summer Days, but it certainly fits.

I can't say how many professional sporting events I've been to in my day, probably too many to count. If Saturday's Tigers victory over the Yankees was the last game I ever attend, I'm satisfied. When Christie called me up & told me tickets were available, I was excited, but I didn't think for a second that I'd be watching the final game of the series. It wasn't until I watched Kenny Rogers' incredible pitching performance on Friday that I started to get giddy.

Things only got better when we were driving to Detroit Saturday & we found out that there might be an extra ticket for my best pal Ryan (pictured above scaring the daylights out of me by picking me up when I didn't know it after the game).

What a game it was! I've never seen Comerica Park sold out, I don't remember ever being to Tiger Stadium when it was sold out. Things inside the park were electric, & we had great seats. Jeremy Bonderman's perfect game run was only a sidemark with a game full of highlights, the biggest was after the game just as we were about to walk into the tunnel when all the players came onto the field for a great celebration, a great tribute to the fans. I've never seen so much comraderie among fans at a sporting event, people were giving high fives to complete strangers long after the game was over. Incredible.

A huge thanks to the pretty gal pictured above for taking pictures & for making the entire evening possible. Ain't she somethin', folks?

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Alabama Getaway-Bob Dylan, New York City, 1995 (song by the Grateful Dead)

Tangled Up in Blue-Toronto, 2004

George Recile, the drummer, comes in a bit too early before a verse, changing the tempo of the entire song. Instead of mumbling his was through a verse until the band can straighten itself out, Bob takes advantage of the situation & comes up with impromptu lyrics, sung with the fire of a new great song he'd just written. He could've kept riding the wave of the band's new beat, but instead, he stops the song on a dime, with the funkiest harp solo he's ever done.

Sinners in the Mansion of the Lord-Kevin Davis & Jason Lamb, the Symphony Valley Visitor's Bureau

Everybody Loves a Train-Los Lobos, Colossal Head

One Too Many Mornings-Bob Dylan, NYC 1995

you are right from your side & I am right from mine, we're just one too many mornings & a thousand miles behind...

Happy ALCS, friends!

andrew

P.S. Here's hoping that Alan Trammell can enjoy the Tigers' success as much as all the other former Tigers who didn't get fired as manager. He had alot to do with it.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

(I didn't take this picture, I stole it off the internet, apparently it was taken by kopernik, so thank you kopernik)

Turn Your Eyes to the Lord of the Skies

I must admit that since I've lived in Grand Haven, I've never walked on the Pier by myself, I usually save it for when I have company. It was a gorgeous, cool evening, though so I decided I'd take a walk & listen to a Jeff Tweedy show I just downloaded.

What an incredible evening. The temperature was in the low '50s, just how I like it. There was very few people on the pier. My walk was timed perfectly, the sun dropped behind Lake Michigan just as I was about twenty yards from the end of the pier. A few clouds provided a nice backdrop around the most perfect sunset I've ever seen. Lake Michigan was smoother than I've ever seen it, so smooth that there was a duck leaving a wake behind him.

As if that wasn't enough, as I was walking back towards land, a perfect full moon high above the dunes guided me back to my car. What an incredible place. I ought to do this more often.

Wait! Wait! There's more! As if Christie isn't incredible enough, she also has connections to get tickets to all kinds of things, so guess who's going to game four of the Tigers vs. Yankees? I don't think I've ever been to a playoff game for anything, except maybe for the consolation trophy for soccer at St Johns.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Airline to Heaven-Jeff Tweedy, Chicago 2005 (lyrics by Woody Guthrie)

Someday Some Morning Sometime-Jeff Tweedy, Chicago 2005 (lyrics by Woody Guthrie)

All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! Or Forever Hold Your Peace!-Sufjan Stevens, Michigan-Greetings from the Great Lake State

Remember the Mountain Bed-Jeff Tweedy, Chicago 2005 (lyrics by Woody Guthrie)

Kindness-Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Exploration

you bring your own god & I'll bring mine, we can lay down our arms & get along fine...

happy thursday, friends!

andrew

Tuesday, October 03, 2006







































19 Years, such a long long time, 19 years was it a waste of time?

I remember that cold October day in 1987 when the Tigers lost to the Twins in the playoffs. Even at the tender age of 8, I had a premonition of doom. We'd sold away our youth (John Schmoltz) to the Braves who went on to a span of baseball greatness unmatched by any other team in baseball & we, the lowly Tigers, labored in futility. 1988 we had a shot at the playoffs, & in 1989 things hit rock bottom & never really got better since.

So, as we prepare for the first playoff game versus the Yankees tonight, let's reflect on the past nineteen years of bad baseball in Detroit. Sure, there's been highlights, Cecil Fielder's 51 home runs (he's in jail, right?), the last game at Tiger Stadium where Robert Fick hit a grand slam (didn't he & Jeff Weaver get caught smoking weed & treating flight attendants badly?) the opening of Comerica Park (actually, that's a bad memory, I still prefer Michigan & Trumbull, oh & remember the Juan Gonzalez debachle? he should be in prison for the way he treated the tigers), Ernie & Paul's last game (no wait, another bad memory, the way he was screwed by the organization, wasn't that Bo Schembecler's call?), the hiring & firing of the most loyal Tiger of all time, Alan Trammell. Come to think of it, nothing really good has happened to our beloved Tigers in the past 19 years. I remember Sammy Sosa broke the record for most home runs in one month at Tiger Stadium, I was there for that game. Todd Jones became the Tigers all-time save leader when I saw the Tigers earlier in the year. Hmm... They miraculously avoided being the worst team in baseball history in 2003, that was kinda cool, right? Maybe not.

Well, let's dwell on the positive. Let's remember the players that made the last 19 years at least somewhat tolerable. Not the good ol' guys that date back to '84, they're already up on a pedestal, let's give some other guys some credit. If anybody can think of noteworthy players I missed, feel free to tell us about him.

Come on, Detroit, make us forget about the last 19 years. By the way, what were the names of the two idiots who replaced Ernie & Paul? Goodbye mr. baseball. Don't be stupid.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Via Chicago-Wilco, Summerteeth

Looking for a Way Out-Uncle Tupelo, Still Feel Gone

Poor Places-Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Touch a Hand (Make a Friend)-the Staples Singers

Dr King-Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Exploration

Happy playoffs, friends...

andrew

Monday, October 02, 2006
























Riding the Rails

180th Chorus

When you work on that railroad
You gotta know what old boy's
sayin

In that en-gyne,
When you head brakie
just showin up for work
on a cold mist dusk
ready to roll
to on down the line
lettuce fields
of Elkhorn
& sea marshes
of the hobo highriding
night, flash Salinas--

"Somebody asked me where
I come from
I tell them it's none a their
business,
Cincinatta"--

Poetry just doesn't get there

Jack Kerouac, Mexico City Blues

This sounds just as much like Woody Guthrie as it does Jack Kerouac. Come to think of it, they both had a lot in common. Time to re-read On the Road & finally finish Bound for Glory. Come to think of it, it was Katie who originally lent me On the Road, & I talked to her tonight, maybe that's what made me think of this poem, who knows.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Sunken Treasure-Wilco, Being There

Reservations-Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

i've got reservations about so many things, but not about you...

Bisbee Blue-Calexico, Garden Ruin

Real Live Bleeding Fingers & Broken Guitar Strings-Lucinda Williams, World Without Tears

Epistrophy-Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane, at Carnegie Hall

Happy Monday, friends...

andrew


Blog Archive

About Me

Grand Haven, Michigan
the sun shines on a dog's ass every now & then...