RIP John Carlos Maciel 02.12.48 - 12.13.10

Photo taken 11.14.10, Maryville, TN

A-Rod and Bush

From the NY Post:

Yankees not worried by road troubles
“We have played bad baseball. Our situational hitting hasn’t been good and we take pride in doing that.” Rodriguez said.

Sounds like something ol' Dubya might have said.

A song for Steve

I had just finished reading Jimmy Buffett's autobiography, "A Pirate Looks at Fifty" about a week or so ago. He wrote it as he flew from Florida, across Cuban airspace to Grand Cayman Island, and then to Costa Rica where he spent some time before flying to Venezuela, the Amazon in central Brazil, then back north again ...stopping at several islands in the Lesser Antilles, including one where he lived for a while. I had always wanted to visit the Caribbean Islands, and added Costa Rica to the list after listening to Steve talk about his prior trip to CR, and after reading of Buffett's time spent there. It truly sounded like a magical place to visit or to live. My head spins from the thought of a senseless act of violence that happened to Steve in such a beautiful place. I don't know exactly which harbour he wrote this song about, but this version was recorded on one of those islands. I suppose it could have been written about Costa Rica. I can picture Steve there, a beautiful place to leave this realm, no matter what the circumstances are. A song for Steve.

One Particular Harbour, by Jimmy Buffett

Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei

I know I don't get there often enough
But God knows I surely try
It's a magic kind of medicine
That no doctor could prescribe

I used to rule my world from a pay phone
And ships out on the sea
But now times are rough
And I got too much stuff

Can't explain the likes of me
But there's this one particular harbour
So far but yet so near
Where I see the days as they fade away
And finally disappear

But now I think about the good times
Down in the Caribbean sunshine
In my younger days I was so bad
Laughin' about all the fun we had

I've seen enough to feel the world spin
Mixin' different oceans meetin' cousins
Listen to the drummers and the night sounds
Listen to the singers make the world go round

Ia ora te natura...

Lakes below the mountains
Flow into the sea
Like oils applied to canvas
They permeate through me

And there's that one particular harbour
Sheltered from the wind
Where the children play on the shore each day
And all are safe within
Most mysterious calling harbour
So far but yet so near
I can see the day when my hair's full gray
And I finally disappear

Ia ora te natura...
Ua pau te maitai no te fenua
Te zai noa ra te ora o te mitie

The Music-Copyright Enforcers

David Gans wrote on Facebook: “There are more people listening to music now than ever before.... But because of this new kind of accessibility, people feel like they don’t have to pay. Why is that?

This was in response to a NY Times article titled "The Music-Copyright Enforcers." That posting on Facebook was followed by 33 comments. I wanted to chime in with my thoughts and wrote more than I expected to. Not wanting to get to windy on Facebook, I am posting it here instead.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Music is not something that you can hold in your hand, you hear it with your ears. Yes, it is art, but compare it to a painter or a sculptor. Artists of those genres sell their art, something solid they can hold in their hands, and get paid for the object, then the buyer becomes the owner of that piece of art.

There is the strong perception that music business executives have been ripping off artists, withholding royalties, etc., practices that have been going on since radio was invented. If I buy a CD and that musician does not get his fair share, then why should I pay money to fuel some coke head music biz exec’s drug habit?

The end user, the listener of music played by a radio station does not have to pay money to listen to the music played by that station. The station pays the fees, the listener then must hear the commercials, but also has the option of switching stations.

Pioneering jam bands such as The Grateful Dead, Phish and String Cheese Incident, among many others, discovered that audience taping can be used as an advertising tool. By trading music (remember “BnP’s”), a new ‘customer’ was found who would pay to see that band. But if I buy a CD and love it so much that I have to get my best friend to hear it, too, and I burn a copy of it for him, uh-oh, I’m in trouble, despite that band gaining a new customer. (Bands who have a different set list every night benefit from this the most. Bands or singers who play the same 105 minute repertoire every night do not benefit from this.)

Some bands are not taper friendly because they are concerned about the quality of the recording. With today’s technology, audience recordings are extremely listenable, and better than playing a store bought CD in a rag top car, better than vinyl, and better than cassette tapes.

Society and technology are constantly evolving. The law is always playing catch-up with new technology. The law needs to be proactive and not reactive, and to get priorities straight. Go after the guys who are copying and burning CD’s in mass quantities. Don’t go after the guy who burns a CD for a friend. Wait a minute… what’s a CD? I mean, don’t go after the guy who sends a file of a song to his friend.

Advertising is constantly evolving as well. Five years ago, you could watch a youtube video of a song by your favorite band, a highlight of a key play in last night’s ball game, or a news item without any advertising. Pop-up blockers eliminated that form of advertising. Now, you are subjected to 15 seconds of advertising before you can watch that video. Someone’s getting paid.

I’m all for musicians, singers, and songwriters getting their fair share. If I buy a CD, then lose it, or break it, or it just gets old, and a friend burns a copy from his purchased CD for me, should that be a crime?

Then there was the joke about Metallica suing someone over the use of an ‘E’ chord. And isn’t Disney trying to collect royalties on “It’s A Small World After All”?

Relationships

I no longer think of being in a relationship with that someone special. I thought I had learned my lesson about falling in love too fast, or like, or lust, for that matter, back in the mid ‘90’s. Twice in the early part of this decade I forgot those lessons and let myself get too attached too soon, and got burned. Last year, I went to a party and met someone who was really nice and seemed really interested in me. This time, though, I went slow, really slow. I learned that she and I had many similarities in our lives- we both had kids in late teens or early twenties, we both were born and grew up in the northeast portion of the country (PA & RI), we both had lived in northern Florida (Pensacola and Tallahassee), we both had lived in Southern California (San Fernando Valley & San Gabriel Valley), we both listed Edward Abbey as one of our favorite authors, we both like baseball, we both have psychiatric issues (bipolar and depression), we had several friends in common, our music tastes were very similar, and at the time we met, we were both thinking about moving to Sebastopol.

I was bound and determined not to let my emotions run ahead unchecked. We were seeing each other occasionally for about 3 months learning about all our similarities. I felt we were growing closer, and at a pace that was much slower than in the past with others. We went to see the Grateful Dead (or whatever they were calling themselves at the time) and spent the night in a motel with three others as we didn’t want to be driving 2 hours to get home that night. While at the show, the relationship took a turn towards the physical, very unexpectedly for me, yet very nice. I thought I had died and gone to heaven, that’s how nice it was!

Four of us took off for San Francisco the next morning after a great breakfast at an IHOP next to the motel we stayed in and dropped off Tom & Steph. We jumped into my car and started driving to Marin, as she left her car at my place. As we were driving, she very unexpectedly announced that she was not interested in a relationship with me. Talk about getting hit upside the head with an 18# sledgehammer! I mean, she could have at least waited a couple of days or so! Talk about buzz kill! I asked her what happened in between Deal (the last encore) and breakfast, but never got a clear answer.

It could have been worse, but I had to get busy right away looking for a place to move to. Fortunately, I was extremely busy for the next several months and was able to not let that interlude affect me more than it did. It hurt, no doubt, probably more than all of the previous non-relationships put together. This one ranks a definite #2 in heartaches in my lifetime. I mean, I really, really, really tried to not let myself get too attached too soon. And then it happens again.

It saddens me when I think about why I have spent so much time alone in my lifetime, so I try not to. But when I do think about it, I try to figure out why, but I can never find an answer to that question. I try not to think about it because it hurts when I do think about it. So I now immerse myself in music, baseball, cancer benefits, writing, my old photos, and anything else artistically creative that I can.

UPDATE:
 I found this photo in Stephanie's Facebook photos. It was taken at The Dead show with the woman in question..

Dave's not here...

Anybody seen Dave?

I have been on a mission to lessen my time in front of the computer, unless it has something to do with my baseball writing for Fenway West, or my music. Social networking sites like Tribe and Facebook are taking the biggest hits. Contributing to my diminished visits to these 2 sites are my increased involvement in 4 bands (Planet Waves, Stackabones, Cancer Sucks Band, Leadfoot Betty, and for a while last year, Dave Stein’s Grateful Dead Acoustic Tribute Band.) Also taking a hit is writing about anything other than baseball. I’ve weaned myself off of the many variations of Law and Order and CSI, but discovered Criminal Minds and NCIS. LOST finally ended with a very disappointing resolution. I’m glad that’s over.

The past 18 months or so went like this: I was tapped to play drums for a Stackabones show in 2009 at The Connecticut Yankee with short notice, meaning I had a lot of new songs to learn in a short period of time; getting a long notice from my very cool landlord, (he was in the Jerry Band for 3 years), that I would have to move at the end of June (he waited until after my daughter graduated from high school to move back in there!); her prom and graduation; countless trips to Sonoma County looking for affordable housing; moving my daughter in with her mother; moving me; my longest trip back east ever; setting up the new place; playing in 4 bands; throwing a party; getting sucked into my neighbor's energy and time sapping drama; buying a new vehicle and getting rid of old vehicle; producing a cancer research fundraising benefit; tryin' like hell to get rid of stough; writing for Fenway West; playin' in the aforementioned cancer benefit; another trip back east, which included trips to McCoy Stadium and Fenway Park to cover ball games there; transcribing my father's memoirs; and I now am in the middle of scanning 1200+ slides that I shot in the mid '80's. I’m sure I’ve missed a few other time consuming issues. A lot of bullshit has finally been put behind me! I am now able to scan these slides, and soon will resume writing about something other than baseball, and practicing my drums and piano a little more.

This past year, there were lots and lots of trips to Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Novato, San Rafael, and San Francisco, as my whole world for the past 16 years had been centered in Marin. Sierra was getting used to living in a new town as well and didn’t know her way around RP, and neither did she have much money to do anything anyhow. She is now working 20 to 25 hours a week and taking classes at Santa Rosa Junior College. I am driving much less these days, thankfully!

I live way up on the Russian River now, out in the sticks where I like it in a rental that’s actually bigger than a shoebox. I'm above the flood plain, I have a great covered patio and a huge fenced in yard, and when it's 95 outside, it's nice and cool inside. My daughter lives only 20 miles away and comes to visit once in a while.

While I do miss being closer to friends, I am enjoying the solitude. It is nice not to have to worry about my daughter every minute of the day while she was a minor in high school living under my roof. She’s almost 20, has a job, goes to school, and lives with her mother. I have no housemate(s) to deal with. The last one before Sierra moved in with me turned into an unholy creature from the Great Abyss. I don’t have to slap the alarm clock around 5 mornings a week. I was seriously overdrawn in the REM department! I am able to get the rest that my body and mind need so badly. I don’t have to worry about bosses and/or jobs from hell. While my last job was one of the better ones I have had, it was not the smoothest functioning accounting department. Come to think of it, I don’t recall any smooth running accounting departments wherever I have worked. Every one of them was either understaffed or in serious disarray.

My health has slowly declined in the past 2+ years that I have been virtually without health insurance. COBRA costs were over $700 per month. For a while, my old caseworker in Marin County finagled my and Sierra’s accounts so that I was able to see my GP (but not my neurologist), and get my meds. Once Sierra emancipated, though, my share of cost with MediCal zoomed over $700. I have been able to get the single most expensive prescription on a program from the manufacturer, but the rest were paid out of pocket and have sucked most of the savings I was able to squirrel away when I was receiving State Disability payments and Social Security for both me and Sierra. MediCare starts up in less than a month! I have an appointment with a neurologist and my GP scheduled already.

My mother has been suffering from something for years now, but I don’t know what. I have a couple of close cousins on her side, one is struggling with Alzheimer’s and his son, very close to my age, has recently been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Thankfully MS has been scratched off my list; a 2nd opinion MS specialist at UCSF said this was more like Parkinson’s. I saw one more neurologist at a low cost clinic who said it wasn’t Parkinson’s, but I still don’t know what ‘it’ is.

I should have the slides all scanned this week, and the scanner rental returned. It will take me a few more days after that to finish my father’s memoirs. With those two time sensitive projects moving behind me, my schedule becomes extremely flexible.

On tap for the near future are to start writing more; lyrics, essays, poetry, maybe even a novel. I have lots of words in my brain trying to get out and into the computer. I will be playing the piano, playing the drums set and the hand drums daily. I hear music and songs in my head at times so I will be learning how to record, mix, and balance (relatively) simple projects. I need to be paying more attention to my plants, as well. Maybe someday I’ll get to those fountains that I have wanted to build. I have ideas for home based businesses that hopefully will provide some much needed personal revenue.

Hopefully no more bullshit will come my way- landlords, housemates, bosses, and jobs from hell for starters. I got a speeding ticket in Novato on my last trip there for anything related to moving. I received a fix it ticket during my last week of work for driving an unregistered vehicle. I registered it that week, again that same year, and again the next year, but no one at the DMV bothered to tell me that I hadn’t cleared the fix-it ticket. I neglected to inform the court in Santa Rosa that I had complied with the law. I had informed the DMV of my new address every time I registered my vehicle, but they never updated it for my license. The court kept sending notices to an old address that was listed on my license, so a $120 ticket had zoomed up to $520. My landlord’s girlfriend was interested in buying my Subaru. In between the time she took it for a test drive and the time I took it to get it smogged, something happened to one of the front brakes. It was making some seriously annoying sounds. As it turned out, I needed to spend over $200 to get that one brake fixed. Why that didn’t happen until after I sold it, I’ll never know, but that’s the way everything in my life goes.

Anyhow, I really, really hope that I have reached a point where I can concentrate on the things that I want to do, and not what I have to do, without all the bullshit that I have had to endure over the years- depression, horrible high school experiences, hospital time, cocaine addiction, homelessness, divorce, jobs & bosses & house mates & landlords, etc., from hell. Parenthood is not bullshit, and although it never does really end, it is extremely time consuming up until your offspring become emancipated.

As long as my health does not deteriorate any more, I will be fine, I will get by, I will survive.

Rock and Sox Photos

MA native, Sox fan, and SF poet Sam Flot

Berklee grad and Red Sox fan Stu Allen

Pat Nevins and Stu Allen

OUCH! That wasn't so bad after all!

Erik Wikman, bagpiper, playing the 'Old Timey Baseball Version' of "Tessie" while Dave gets his hair cut

Dave Maciel, Mike Chase

A happy Red Sox fan!




More photos on the Rock and Sox Facebook page

The 1st Annual Rock and Sox Benefit for The Jimmy Fund and The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (v.2)

The '1st Annual Rock and Sox Benefit for The Jimmy Fund and The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute' was held at The Connecticut Yankee in San Francisco on Saturday, June 26th. The Yankee, as it is known locally, is a great Red Sox and Boston sports restaurant, bar, and live music venue located less than 2 miles from the Giants' AT&T Park. The Benefit was scheduled to coincide with the Red Sox 1st trip to play the Giants in San Francisco for the 1st time in 6 years.

The inspiration to produce this event was a result of several different events that occurred within a short time period. My oldest brother was diagnosed in November of 2008 with stage 4 lung cancer despite quitting smoking 2 years prior. His doctors gave him about a year to live. November of 2009 came and went with him still alive and battling his affliction. The 2010 MLB schedules were released and I saw that the Red Sox would be playing the Giants here in San Francisco in June. Coverage of the 2010 Hot Stove Cool Music event that takes place in Boston this past winter was published. Fenway West had become one of the more popular Red Sox fan sites on the Internet according to RedSox.100.com, and at times had been clearing 10k hits per month. Two friends, one a former band mate, were diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer and passed away earlier this year. All these events got me to scratching my head and coming up with an idea of staging a similar event, but on a smaller scale this year, as the Hot Stove Benefit. I ran the idea by Matt, he liked it, and before we knew it, we realized that this benefit was actually going to happen.

I assembled a house band which I dubbed ‘The Cancer Sucks Band’, consisting of some of the finest musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Pat Nevins, Mike Chase, Dave Stein, Sam Flot, Jeff Faust, and myself. Red Sox fan Stu Allen sat in on a few numbers. Stu has played with Dark Star Orchestra (DSO), which is a nationwide touring Grateful Dead tribute band. Sam Flot and Jeff Faust are MA natives and Sox fans. I am a RI native and a Red Sox fan since at least 1967. The band was booked to play at The Connecticut Yankee on the only night that would allow fans to be able to attend the event without missing any of the games. Fritz Frisbie is the owner of The Yankee and a NH native. Click here if you would like to know how a Red Sox bar came to be named The Connecticut ‘Yankee.’ Susan J. Weiand, a native of Holbrook, MA and a Sox fan, is a regionally and nationally known concert photographer who donated her time to document this Benefit.

Web sites were set up to disseminate information regarding the show and to collect donations. I composed an ambitious set list of songs about Boston (the city), songs by bands from Boston, and songs that are played at Fenway Park. A likewise ambitious goal of raising $2000 was set.

The lengthy set list of Boston songs would have to be cut in half, as it became apparent that it would be very difficult to learn 2 full sets of songs that most in the band had not ever played before. Sweet Caroline and Tessie were on the set list, but as this was the 1st time in many years that I had produced a public event of this size, mistakes were made, and circumstances beyond my control left the show vulnerable to a late start and eliminated those 2 songs, as well as a couple of others. Unfortunately, a last minute equipment issue pushed the start back even furthur. ‘Take Me Out To The Ball Game’, ‘Dirty Water’, and ‘Centerfield’ remained on the list. I instructed the singer of ‘Centerfield’ to change ‘Joe’ DiMaggio to ‘Dom’ DiMaggio. Bob Dylan’s ‘Maggie’s Farm’ became ‘Yankee’s Farm,’ (no, I ain’t gonna work for Yankee’s farm no more…) Neil Young’s ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ and ‘Powderfinger’ made the list as Theo Epstein has played these 2 at the Hot Stove benefit. Another Dylan song, ‘Tom Thumb’s Blues’ made it onto the set list as a last minute replacement and included lyrics that were changed to take some serious jabs at the Yankees that I was unaware of.

After my brother was diagnosed with his cancer, after 2 friends in their 60’s passed away this year, and after I started experiencing as of yet still undiagnosed neurological symptoms, I decided that life was too short to be hatin’, ya know what I mean? The Yankees aren’t worth wasting time on, so I stopped wearing my ‘Yankees Suck’ t-shirt and passed that along to someone at the Benefit.

Press releases billed the event as a ‘musical journey from Fenway Park to San Francisco.’ As the musicians in The Cancer Sucks Band have all played in several Bay Area Grateful Dead tribute bands, in addition to DSO, the 2nd set would be comprised of San Francisco’s own Grateful Dead music. Little or no rehearsing would be necessary for the Dead Set. The band was of such a high quality of musicianship, the music that was performed was performed well. We were well received by all in attendance that night. Fritz was happy with the total of his till, as well.

Donations of prizes from Narragansett Brewing Company, and Red Sox merchandise from the personal collections of Matt and myself were given away over the course of the evening. Fritz generously donated dinner for 2 and a pair of tickets to the Sunday Sox-Giants game. We had received 3 signed balls to be part of a silent auction. The Mike Lowell ball received a generous donation of $100, while the Dice-K and V-Mart balls will be up on eBay next month. $900 was raised prior to and at the show. With the $100 from the Mike Lowell ball, and the proceeds from the 2 remaining balls, we will have raised over $1000 for The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Donations are still being accepted at the Rally Against Cancer web site.

As representatives of The Jimmy Fund and Rally Against Cancer, Tim Wakefield, a fine guitarist in his own right who has played at Hot Stove, and Clay Buchholz were invited to perform at the event. Theo Epstein, another guitarist who has performed at Hot Stove, was invited, along with Jerry Remy. Realistically, I did not expect them to make an appearance, as Wake and Clay had already fulfilled their required public appearances. I did leave enough wiggle room to be pleasantly surprised, though.

At first, I said that I would have my hair cut on stage if any of those mentioned in the previous paragraph showed up and played. By the time the show came around, I decided that I was tired of buying Drano and would have my hair cut anyhow. Many could not believe that I was serious.

Big Thanks go out to Fritz Frisbie, owner of The CT Yankee, Matt O’Donnell, owner of Fenway West, Mike DeGuglielmo of The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, photographer Susan J. Weiand, Geraldine Cohen, Sarah Hamilton and all of the musicians mentioned above, especially Pat Nevins, Mike Chase, and Stu Allen.

Check back here at Fenway West for links to youtube videos taken at the show, links to the audio recordings, and links to the signed balls being auctioned on the eBay site.

The Red Sox won’t be playing in San Francisco next year, however, the Oakland A’s remain on the schedule. Once the 2011 MLB schedules are released, I will take the lessons learned from this year’s Rock and Sox event and will make next year’s even better.

Photos coming in the next post!

ISO 'Tessie' for SF (CA) Jimmy Fund Benefit

Fenway West presents 'Rock & Sox~ A Benefit for the Jimmy Fund' on the night of Saturday, June 26th at The Connecticut Yankee, a Red Sox and Boston sports restaurant, bar and music venue less than 2 miles from the Giant's ATnT Park. 'The Cancer Sucks Band' will bring patrons on a musical journey from Fenway Park in Boston to San Francisco. All proceeds will go to The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund. As part of the night's enjoyment, I will be having my hair cut to donate to Locks of Love. We're looking for a hair stylist who ideally somewhat resembles 'Tessie' in the Dropkick Murphys video of the song. If you have an outfit that somewhat resembles Tessie's in the video, that puts you up to the top of the list. If you're coming to San Francisco for the Red Sox @ Giants series, send an e-mail to RockAndSox@gmail.com with photo(s) and a brief summary of your hair styling background. Since it is a benefit, there is no pay, but it will get you a $20 ticket to the show, which has some very special guests who have been invited to appear and to perform. Red Sox merchandise will be given away in drawings over the course of the evening. Tickets are now on sale. Go to RockAndSox.com for ticket purchase information.

And if you're curious as to how a Red Sox bar got a name like Connecticut Yankee, just click here.

Cancer Benefit band ISO keyboard player

'The Cancer Sucks Band' will be playing 1 night only on Saturday, June 26th at The Connecticut Yankee in San Francisco. This is a benefit sponsored by Fenway West for The Jimmy Fund and The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. This Benefit is scheduled to coincide with the Boston Red Sox 1st trip to San Francisco and ATnT Park in 6 years. We have secured official recognition of this event from Dana-Farber. The 1st set will consist of songs about the City of Boston, songs by bands from Boston, baseball songs, and songs that are played at Fenway Park. The 2nd set will have a distinct SF flavor- all Grateful Dead, as we bring patrons on a musical journey from Fenway Park in Boston to San Francisco. The house band for the night has been assembled and includes Dave Stein, Pat Nevins, Jeff Faust, and yours truly. We have invited some very special guests to sit in with us, including Stu Allen of Front Street, JGB, and Dark Star Orchestra. The Connecticut Yankee is a Red Sox and Boston sports bar less than 2 miles from ATnT Park. Tickets are available at Rock and Sox~ A Benefit for The Jimmy Fund. If you are interested, please send an e-mail to RockandSox@gmail.com with your contact info, web site, and samples of your playing. Rehearsals will begin soon. Charts, lyrics, chords, and links to download the covers are ready to go out. This is a benefit, so there will be no pay as we raise funds for 2 very worthwhile charitable organizations and have a lot of fun doing it. I'm even having my hair cut on stage for Locks of Love.

Do you like baseball AND the Dead?

I’m lookin’ for my fuzzy little hippy girl who likes baseball and the Dead. Growing up 60 miles south of Fenway Park, I became a Red Sox fan, still loyal to them to this day 43 years later. Ironically, my favorite NL team was the Giants, followed closely by Chicago and Pittsburgh- my first ball game ever was at old Forbes Field. These days, I find myself writing for a Red Sox blog that frequently gets over 10k hits/month. I still like those three NL teams, and I’ll root for the A’s, too, unless they’re playin’ against the Sox.

Besides writing for the blog, I find myself playing in anywhere from 2 to 4 bands at any given moment.

I have 2 tickets to CHC @ SFG, August 9th in the official Jerry section, meaning we’ll get a pair of Jerry bobblehead dolls, and be surrounded by a bunch of freaks! We are everywhere!

I also have 2 tickets to the Sunday, June 27th Red Sox @ SFG game. I will be hosting a Benefit for The Jimmy Fund the night before at The Connecticut Yankee, less than 2 miles from ATnT Park. Some of the Bay Area's finest musicians will be playing, and there have been some very special guests invited, too.

Rock & Sox~ A Benefit for The Jimmy Fund

Rock & Sox - A Benefit for The Jimmy Fund,

with ‘The Cancer Sucks Band’

featuring Dave Stein, Pat Nevins, Jeff Faust and Sam Flot

and very special guests to be announced soon.

Fenway West’s California Cancer Benefit

will be held after the SOX @ SFG game on

Saturday, June 26th at

The Connecticut Yankee

Connecticut Avenue & 17th Street, San Francisco,

located less than 2 miles from The SF Giants' AT&T Park.

After the game is over, come on over to The Connecticut Yankee for a night of great food and great music as The Cancer Sucks Band features some of the best Bay Area musicians and will bring you on a musical journey from Boston to San Francisco. The Connecticut Yankee has a great menu, great food, great beer, wide screen TV, and regularly hosts nationally known bands as well as up and coming bands that have great potential for success.

Bookmark Rock & Sox for updates about this event.
Facebook group page, click here
Facebook event page, click here
Follow on Twitter, too: http://twitter.com/FenwayWest

And if you’re curious as to how a Red Sox bar came to have a name like 'The Connecticut Yankee', or as it is known locally, The Yankee, click here.

Baseball Nightmares

From Jon Miller’s “ Confessions of a Baseball Purist”

“… Don Aase…told me of a dream he’d had several times. It had a baseball context, but unlike mine, there was nothing cryptic about it. In Don’s dream, he was on the mound when a scorching line drive was hit right at his head. Just then, he would invariably sit bolt upright in bed, throw his arms in front of his face, and let out a bloodcurdling shriek.”

Picture yourself at the plate, bat in hands, waiting for the pitcher. He winds up and throws the ball. Picture a 90+ mph fastball coming right at your head.
Picture it…

Scary, huh?

I used to compete in water ski jumping for distance. The boat runs parallel to the center line of the jump ramp 30 to 45 feet away from that centerline. The jumper pulls out far to one side of the boat and then cuts across the boat wakes as late as possible trying to generate as much speed as possible, speeds as high as 65 mph. A jump ramp is about 22’ long by about 8’ wide and is 5’ to 5 & ½’ high at the top. The sides have thick plywood aprons to keep a jumper from going under the surface of a ramp if he were to be cutting too late.

This is the way it's supposed to be done.

I’ve had nightmares of hitting the side of the ramp after I cut too late. I have gone over the surface of the ramp making very small mistakes, flying ass end over bandbox and crashing on my back or sides several times. I have seen a fellow competitor flying through the air, arms and legs akimbo, after making the tiniest of errors. I watched him eat his ski as it hit his mouth the instant he was crashing against the water.

Typical jump crash

I read that passage from Miller’s book last night. As soon as I had finished it, I had to put the book down as I immediately came down with a severe case of heebie-jeebies thinking about that fastball, and then all those jump crashes. It takes a very long time to learn an athletic skill such as hitting a baseball or jumping for distance to the point where you just do it without thinking. There is no time to ‘think’, only do. There are less than a couple of seconds from the time one starts his cut to the jump to the time one actually makes contact with the ramp. Every bone and muscle in your body needs to know what to do without thinking about it. Hitting a baseball takes the same discipline. A batter has a fraction of a second to decide whether to swing, stay, or duck once the pitcher releases the ball.

I crashed so hard one time that I ended up spending two weeks in the hospital with a pair of collapsed lungs, but as soon as I was able, I went right back to jumping the next year. Fear was not known to me back then. Respect, yes, but not fear. Unfortunately for my friend and fellow competitor, fear did become of him, as he no longer jumped after his crash.

Tallahassee, FL 1979

Fenway West 03.04.10

Planet Waves

These videos were shot at Brown's Binyerd in Novato on Friday, February 19th. Dead Set opened, Jimmy sat in with them.




'Put Your Shoes in My Closet'; Dead Set w/Jimmy




'Friend of the Devil'; Dead Set w/Jimmy




'She Belongs to Me'; Planet Waves





'Simple Twist of Fate'; Planet Waves

Stackabones 02.06.10 at The Connecticut Yankee

I'm in there tucked in the corner behind Butch and Brad. I was playing congas and percussion this show, multi-instrumentalist Scott Cooper played drums this time.

Now if Mike would get the 05.09.09 show to me!

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?”

I’m new to living in the Russian River area. Used to camp here in the past, but now live in Forestville, and looking for new local friends. I have friends, but they’re spread out over several Bay Area counties. I play drums in two bands regularly, and a couple of others occasionally. I’m the exception to the drummer rule- I arrive at shows an rehearsals on time and sober, have reliable transportation, rarely make it past beer #2, don’t smoke anything while playing, and despite not having a girlfriend, I’m not homeless.

Living on disability, I don’t have much money for widgets, useless trinkets, and premium cable TV. As to the disability, you probably wouldn’t notice it at first. Too many water ski jump crashes, mountain bike crashes, a couple of yard sales on 2x black diamond bump runs at Kirkwood, and a head on car wreck** have led me to a more sedate lifestyle. When not playing at rehearsals, sessions, or shows, I spend way too much time surfing mindlessly on the internet (but getting better, though, really!) That and Criminal Minds reruns takes up much of my time. In the wintertime, anyhow.

I like working out in the yard and the garden, playing backgammon and chess, baseball (I write for a baseball blog that gets over 10k hits/mo), writing, reading, and watching DVD movies. I’m not really into Rocky/Rambo/Ah-nold & Bruce Willis smash-em-up thrillers or gratuitous violence, rather I like quality psychothrillers that challenge your mind (hence Criminal Minds; also NCIS, Law & Order, and CSI), old Bogey movies, and adult comedies (‘About Schmidt’, fr’instance.) I’ve read many baseball books, The Hobbit and LotR I-II-III, Jimmy Buffett, Edward Abbey, Dave Foreman, and John Muir. Currently reading Kerouac’s ‘The Town and The City.’ My politics are far left, but I’m not really active right now, outside of voting.

I used to go to tons of jam band, jazz, and bluegrass shows, but these days I prefer going out when I’m playing. I’ve got a daughter who just graduated high school and moved back in with her mother after 3+ years of living with me. (Nothing toxic in the ex department, we actually get along better now than when we were married.) I rarely drink anymore. I’m 420 friendly and legal, too, but no tobacco! Yuk.

If you’re still reading, well then… I have an extra ticket to see Marley’s Ghost at the Sebastopol Community Center, Saturday, February 6th. Meet first some afternoon somewhere in the Sebastopol, Forestville, or Guerneville area for coffee, tea, or one of those infrequent beers I mentioned?

* Yoda
** As Short Round would say, “Not my fault! Not my fault!”

Rhode Island Is Famous For You; Blossom Dearie

Quotes from 'Criminal Minds'

"The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body. After all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind."

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

"It has been said that time heals all wounds. I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue, and the pain lessens, but it is never gone."

Rose Kennedy

Put Down the Cell Phone NOW!!!

I dare anyone to watch these videos and then continue to use a cell phone for talking or texting while driving. You will never do it again. No phone call is that important! Let it go to voice mail or pull over! If you start watching these videos, you could literally follow links to many more videos and be there watching for hours.

One more graphic video, embedding disabled by request, so you have to click on the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUzQAmWKOw8

Now this is how it's s'posed to be done

In 1983, I was practicing on Scott Pond in Lincoln, RI with Greg Collins, Kenny Waitt, and Lyle Perkins. We tied two 70' ropes together. One end was tied to the jump, the other end was pulled taut and a buoy was set there. I passed it a few times that year, so I'm guessing my longest in practice was about 145'. My longest in a tournament was about 115'. Never could figure out why I could never perform as well as in practice until many years later.

The following photo was taken in Tallahassee, FL, in the winter 1978. This jump was probably my best, cleanest jump ever, estimated at 120'. Fortunately, the school photographer was there to preserve the moment. The boat speed for the jumps in 1983 was 35 mph, the ramp height, 5.5 feet; while the boat speed for the jumps at FSU was 32 mph, ramp height 5'. (There were slightly different rules for intercollegiate skiing from open amateur competitions.)

I have been wanting to write to my brother in TN who got me into skiing. He sent me a link to a 'redneck water skiing' youtube video. I started clicking on other ski videos and discovered the video at the top of this post. This gave me an opportunity to write to him.

In 1983, the world record was 187'; John Mondor, if I'm not mistaken.