Shakespeare In The Alley

yeah the jim james album is out there if you know where to look

i enjoy it. if you think hes heading too far into space-y funk territory, steer clear, but if not its a pretty solid album.

 

Hoping for a Queens of the Stone Age release in 2013, but have also heard rumors of another Them Crooked Vultures album.

 

Looking forward to Wild Belle.

 

happening

will be out before their june festival dates

id like another TCV album but it'll probably have to wait till QOTSA finishes touring for their new one and dave finishes promoting his movie

im enjoying thinking about an al east where the yankees could conceivably finish last

i dont think they will, but it's seeming more and more possible lately

NWA gets in...that means that joke Flava Flav get in...

you clearly know a great deal on the matter

i'm loving that span deal for the nats. i was worried they were gonna throw way too much money at bourne or upton, and they'd lock him up for too many years and block some of their top prospects from getting a shot down the line. span seems to be just a tad below bourn on most of the important leadoff stats, and a hell of a lot cheaper, and only signed for two more years. it prevents a logjam in the outfield in a few years and frees up money to pursue a starting pitcher. the guy they gave up is a well regarded young arm, but still probably 2/3 years away from the majors. it could end up being one of those rare trades that does huge things for both teams.

i think upton signing with the braves this week is gonna set a lot of other stuff in motion, including hamilton, bourne, greinke, laroche, etc.

 

Every HoF candidate should be judged based on the context in which they played.  

i think it comes down to this, personally. accept that the steroid era was a thing, elect some of the best players from it (acknowledge the era on their plaque if you must), move on. i think guys like bonds, clemens, etc will be made to wait a few years, but they'll get in.

one could make a semi-convincing argument that Ty Segall (Slaughterhouse, the record w/ White Fence, Twins) or Guided By Voices (Let's Go Eat The Factory; Class Clown Spots a UFO; The Bears For Lunch) could singlehandedly take top 3 honors this year.

i havent heard the ty/white fence album yet, but i really need to get on that. i loved twins, liked slaughterhouse, and really enjoyed both family perfume releases. 

what is this? i remember seeing a copy in a book store a few years ago, and really diggin the cover, but i never looked it up and now i cant remember the artist or album title

edit- Some intrepid long term VCer needs to collate a list of all the buzz bands we used to talk about here, including the Pernice Brothers, The Wrens, The Decemberists (still slightly buzzing I guess), and all the others. So many have fallen out of the music business.

ive been listening to a lot of the wrens lately. the meadowlands is an absolute classic, and secaucus is quality stuff too. theres been talk of a new album next year, but who knows if itll actually happen.

i'm not a fan of that trade but its kinda hard to sympathize with buehrle since the marlins are known for not giving out no trade clauses for this exact reason

its fantastic. probably my second favorite of hers

anything we want and every single night are two of my most played songs this year

Honorable Mention: Mark Lanegan - Blues Funeral, got me back into his work. Haven't really been interested since Screaming Trees.

really? i dont dislike them at all, but that's by far my least favorite lanegan project. i think his solo work is him at his best.

i know you didn't, but ive seen it suggested elsewhere. just bugs me a bit.

i (like most people) have mixed feelings on the steroid business. you can juice all you want but if you dont have the swing to begin with, you wont suddenly be a great hitter. im not saying steroids have no affect, but it's not like you can chalk all a player's success up to the drugs he took.

i suspect most of the big names from that era (with a few exceptions. palmeiro's defiant finger wag certainly doesnt look good in retrospect, and for all canseco's honesty in blowing the whistle, he's pretty much the scapegoat for all that went wrong with baseball in the steroid era. and if you've ever happened upon his twitter, he's not letting it go) will be inducted to the hall of fame eventually. writers being the petty traditionalists they are, they'll certainly keep them waiting for a bit, but i feel they'll get there. the fact that mcgwire has his second big post-career gig in mlb now is a good sign, i think.

but id induct pete rose if i had any say in it, so what do i know.

he broke a rule, served his suspension, took a significant reputation and financial hit ($16 million is obviously still a big contract, but had he not been caught he was heading for a gigantic payday) and now he's presumably clean, with a chance to redeem himself. isnt that the point of punishment?

people (not necessarily you) acting like he should be banned for life are ridiculous. i thought hed only get a one year deal, but if toronto believes he'll remain a great hitter (a reasonable gamble, considering he didnt magically turn into a power hitter while on PEDs this year) then that contract is a steal.

There is no rationalization here. The guy is angry. And probably not very sophisticated. (Both points are really very obvious).

 

In the past, Secessionists have been fringe dwelling nuts. Now, things are...different. Still on the fringe, still nutty...but now getting attention. Positive attention...negative attention...but attention all the same.

 

Just remember, these divisions in American society have existed from the beginning. At times of great stress and turmoil, what were considered fringe elements became mainstream. The Great Depression led to a flowering of the influence of the progressive elements that ultimately led to (among other things) the end of de jure segregation and a changing of the public psyche with respect to race relations.

 

Not saying that we are seeing the beginning of a great separation; just saying that you ignore or ridicule these 'movements' at you own risk. People find common cause and they find other items of common ground.

and what risk is that?

50 states or not, these petitions are meaningless. i could go on right now and "sign" every state's petition multiple times. the fact that so many legitimate news outlets seem to take these things seriously is baffling.

im a huge gio fan, but couldnt be happier for dickey. his late career surge is awesome to see

at the same time, you can't really blame the fans for not getting emotionally invested in a team they can reasonably assume will be stripped for parts several times a year. that franchise is just a mess, and it sucks for their real fans (and the folks who paid for that new stadium) and their remaining talent. stanton especially. he deserves a better team.

next year's al east should be interesting now.

i always kinda assumed his real solo debut would go deeper into spacey prince-y territory, so this was about what i expected. as someone who loves mmj's continuing voyage into weird r&b sounds, im very excited to hear the rest of this. only 9 songs, so it should have a few longer songs like this single.

the yim yames thing was weird but i never quite understood why it bothered so many people. its not like is the only example of jim being an odd dude.

sweet. he's been teasing that full solo album for a few years now. really diggin' that song.

His age will still be a big factor in the length of the contract,though. 7 yrs/$175 M for a 31/32 yr old non-tobacco chewing ex-junkie is pushing it....

i totally agree. i think anything over 3 years is pushing it, and that goes for just about anyone of his age, junkie or not. hell i think anything more than 3 years is a huge risk for anyone, regardless of age, but im not an executive and we're apparently in the era of 7-10 year contracts, so here we go. wouldnt surprise me if he gets exactly what he wants, if not more.

i would hope that the a-rod situation in NY has scared teams away from high risk deals like that, but you never know. free agency's an absurd thing. all it'll take is more than one interested team and that 7/$175 deal will be on the conservative side of things.

wow. thats such a totally made up and unnecessary award, but still. for a team as scrappy as the giants were this year they certainly could have found a better choice.

I think the problem is that it's an awful song

its a baseball tradition id love to see disappear completely.

kinda feel the same way about the pre-game anthem, but thats going nowhere so w/e.

anyway, didnt expect a world series sweep, and certainly not by the giants. they deserved it for sure, but you wonder how much the time between the alcs and the ws affected the tigers. team looked absolutely lifeless the whole series. a series with both teams firing on all cylinders would have been thrilling stuff, but oh well. overall these playoffs werent lacking crazy tense moments, so a one sided world series isnt too bad an end to the season

the giants have a rock solid franchise going, so ive got no beef with them winning another title. props to guys like lincecum, romo and scutaro who stepped up big at all the right times.

now for a few months of hot stove rumors

I wonder if this kind of weather has the same impact for weathermen as fire does for pyromaniacs?

im friends with this dude who's in meteorology school now

yes, yes it does. him and his weatherfolk friends are having a field day with this thing