Famed wrestling manager and early ’80s rock cross-hanger on Captain Lou Albano died this week. A lot can be learned about a Townsperson by determining whether knowledge of Captain Lou Albano first came to you through his profession as a wrestling manager, his work with NRBQ, or his work with Cyndi Lauper.
NEXT: Rock Town Hall’s Official Eulogy…
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I like The Boss a bit, but I generally can’t stand his long, romantic, working class-hero ballads: “Thunder Road,” “Sandy,” etc. When I saw Him and His E Street Band at the soon-to-be-demolished Spectrum in Philadelphia, on His tour supporting The River, I was strongly annoyed by most of the first 2 1/2 hours of his set, especially when he played the title track from his new release and all the Philly and South Jersey Boss fans in attendance stood on their seats and waved their lighters. Ugh.
Finally he played “Born to Run,” “Rosalita,” and that “Devil in a Blue Dress” medley. Finally the show was a lot of fun. For some reason, today, I was reminded of some fun Boss songs that never appeared on his real studio albums (if memory serves), like “Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)” (if that’s the actual title), and his versions of “Because the Night” and “Fire.” How much more would I have liked The Boss if he’d released more of that stuff, no matter how clunky it might have been produced, on his real albums rather than all those lighter waving make-out songs? The answer is At least a bit better. The more journeyman bar band songs by The Boss the better, as far as I’m concerned!
Do you have an artist you might like better if the unreleased and b-sides you’ve heard by said artist actually appeared on their studio albums instead of the more typical fare that never impressed you?
I’m getting a late start on my series-by-series analyses of the walk-up music used by teams in the 2009 playoffs. My apologies to fans of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Boston Red Sox, and the Minnesota Twins for not being able to prepare you for your teams’ getting swept out of their Division series battles owing to inferior playlists. Red Sox fans, however, must have had a clue once it was announce that Rocco Baldelli and one of the coolest playlists in baseball was being left off the team’s postseason roster.
This evening the Philadelphia Phillies have a chance to eliminate the wildcard Colorado Rockies in frigid Colorado. The Phillies starting eight is not that different than last year’s World F’in’ Champions‘s lineup, so much of our focus will be on what noise the Rockies are bringing. We’ll dig into the Phillies’ playlist in more detail when – I’m sorry, make that if – the Phils continue to the NLCS.
Both skippers in this series, the Rockies’ Jim Tracy and the Phils’ Charlie Manuel, have made it clear that they’re managing with all hands on deck. We’ve already seen Manuel use three starting pitchers out of the bullpen/off the bench in Game 2, and in last night’s game, both Tracy and Manuel had their starters on a short leash. The walk-up music of the expanded, fluid bullpens will be key in this series, and the Rockies prepared for just this situation by acquiring former Dodgers’ lefthanded situational reliever Joe Beimel prior to the trade deadline. We know what Beimel brought to last year’s NLCS, and this year he’s back with a new, hip walk-up tune.
Those of you who frequented the Halls of Rock during last year’s baseball playoff season will recall some groundbreaking analyses of the role of players’ walk-up music in determining the outcome of a playoff series. The 2008 Phillies collective playlist was accurately predicted to contribute to wins of both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays. Looking back, who can’t recall the damage inflicted on the Dodgers’ playoff hopes by Derek Lowe‘s choice of intro music? Remember how we identified the flaws in master baseball DJ Joe Maddon‘s management of his team’s playlist? Rock Town Hall’s tracking of this stuff is probably the next wave of baseball analysis, now that SABRmetrics is becoming established.
In the coming weeks, Rock Town Hall will resume its analysis of the role of walk-up music in the playoffs. We encourage you to begin taking notes on this subject and preparing your own analyses.
To help distract me from the major annoyances that have followed skidding out on a slick road this morning, barely hitting the back of an SUV, then getting hit in the back by a car that did likewise to my back end, I’d like to throw down this Last Man Standing challenge.
We can include songs about motorcycle and bus accidents, but not surfing wipeouts, plane crashes, train derailments, or nuclear rocket sled explosions.
If you’re interested, the SUV suffered the slightest nick that may cost me a couple of hundred dollars to buff out (the driver was extremely cool about the whole thing, so hopefully there will be no additional problems from him). The back end of my car bumper has yet another tiny nick that’s no problem for me, regarding the woman who skidded into me. The hood of my car, however, is badly damaged thanks to SUVs having to sit so high up. Ugh. Most importantly, everybody’s healthy and the Phillies kick off their defense of their 2008 World Championship.
The Beatles‘ “Penny Lane” b/w “Strawberry Fields Forever” single is rightfully acknowledged as one of the finest pairings of songs ever committed to 7 inches of vinyl. What’s less often acknowledged is the band’s landmark display of facial hair, as presented on the promotional films for each song. Although rock facial hair had already been in bloom in the rock underground, John, Paul, George, and Ringo busted out an astounding array of complimentary moustaches (and one Van Dyke) to support their dazzling new sonic achievements. Paul will forever get his share of grief for being the most ambitious and glib of the Fab Four to reach old age, but along with all the praise due to his musical abilities, let’s not forget to recognize the perfection of the man Sgt. Pepper’s-era ‘stache.
While The Beatles were experimenting with mind-expanding sounds and drugs – and fashion-expanding facial hair – The Rolling Stones were searching for an appropriate response. Their Satanic Majesties Request was such a poor attempt at psychedelia that they would be bested in their efforts to follow the times by the likes of The Four Seasons‘ Genuine Imitation Life. I’m not kidding, and Frankie Valli and the boys put their thick, dark Italian follicles to great use, helping to launch the overlooked genre of Goatee Rock. The best the Stones could manage was Brian Jones‘ fabulous mutton chops.
Let it ride, Townspeople, any way you see fit, but especially feel free to kick out the Burly Rock!
