They’re calling the event “Local Music Is Sexy”, though I personally prefer to use the word “sensual”. So consider the following option (before? during? afterwards?) the Shannon & The Clams / Bad Sports / Woven Bones / Harlem bill at Trailer Space; there’s a zillion and one band bill happening at the Mohawk and Club De Ville the same evening. Black Before Red and Beautiful Supermachines are at CDV between 9:15 and 10:30 ; Manikin and The Distant Seconds are playing the Mohawk outside at 8:30 and 9:30pm respectively. Air Traffic Controllers (me & JJ) are inside at 10:15pm. The event is free, and that’s nice, because we don’t want to haul our shit down there to put even $1 in TV Torso’s pocket,
I usually try not air dirty laundry from the CSTB Fantasy Football League, aka “Relax, It’s Just A Bruise” in public. But please consider the .GIF above a graphic reminder the WWL’s competitors in the FFL field might be worth a shot next autumn.
Gelf Magazine’s Varsity Letters Series returns to Jan Larsen Art Studios in Brooklyn tonight (October 1), with an all-baseball night featuring authors Jennifer Ring (Stolen Bases: Why American Girls Don’t Play Baseball, Larry Tye (Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend and Joe Posnanski (The Machine: A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds).
And who better than to interview the prolific Posnanski (above) than CSTB’s own prolix wordsmith David Roth? My favorite parts of the interview involve Posnanski’s ever-smart, yet not dogmatic take on baseball stats and Moneyball, including several anecdotes he shares about Joe Morgan:
Bill James tells a great story about how one time Jon Miller showed Morgan Bill’s New Historical Baseball Abstract, which has Morgan ranked as the best second baseman of all time, ahead of Rogers Hornsby. Well, Morgan starts griping that this was ridiculous, that Hornsby hit .358 in his career, and Morgan never hit .358, and so on. And there it was, perfectly aligned—Joe Morgan the announcer arguing against Joe Morgan the player.
You’re right about Joe Morgan being the ultimate Moneyball-style player, too. It wasn’t just his style of play, either; Joe Morgan quotes from 1975 sound like they could have gone into the book Moneyball, verbatim. He talked all the time about how batting average was overrated, and how you had to get on base, and how RBIs were just a context statistic, and how you had to steal bases at a high percentage, and so on and so on..
There’s at least a half dozen jews in the greater Austin area, and I’m confident all of them will be attending tomorrow night’s Air Traffic Controllers show. Joined by guest drummer J.J. Ruiz, whose guitar playing is well known to fans of Naw Dude, Wild America and the Teeners, Sunday’s ATC set is especially geared to commemorate Yom Kippur 2009, as the following actvities will be prohibited on the venue premises :
1. No eating and drinking
2. No wearing of leather shoes
3. No bathing or washing
4. No anointing oneself with perfumes or lotions
5. No marital relations
After sundown on Monday, as is the ATC custom, we’ll all go out for Chinese. Heck, I’m open minded. Even Tebow’s invited!
…presenting the first-ever Air Traffic Controllers signature model G&L ASAT. Featuring a unique three-string setting, charred P90-style pickups and a roasted finish, the ATC ASAT is available in a limited edition of one and is currently up for bids on eBay. All proceeds from this auction will benefit the American Red Cross and the Austin Humane Society.
[This is what a working baseball reporter looks like. I wish he had Michael S. Schmidt's job]
The backpeddling officially started yesterday, as The New York Times Michael S. Schmidt shifted gears leading up to today’s David Ortiz press conference at Yankee Stadium. The same reporter telling you that Sosa appeared on the list of 104 last June, now saying Ramirez and Ortiz both appear on a list of “roughly 100,” got some fact corrections this afternoon – like that his sources don’t even know what the actual list is. The list confirmed by the players union, which once had sole possession of it, claims 96 names – 21 of which don’t prove players tested positive for banned substances. I quote from The New Jersey Star-Ledger:
In the supposedly anonymous and confidential testing conducted in 2003, there were only 83 failed tests, MLBPA general counsel Michael Weiner said. There were 13 other tests with “inconclusive” results. Weiner specified that these refer to test results, not players. It is possible that players may have tested positive twice.
“The number of players on the so-called ‘government list’ meaningfully exceeds the number of players agreed by the bargaining parties to have tested positive in 2003,” Weiner said in a statement. “Accordingly, the presence of a player’s name on any such list does not necessarily mean that the player used a prohibited substance or that the player tested positive under our collectively bargained program.”
With 13 inconclusive, we can also remove some 8 more results from the “prohibited” list. As Schmidt wrote in the Times yesterday: “Officials in the commissioner’s office and the players union have said they believe at least 8 of the roughly 100 players who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003 were using the supplement 19-norandrostenedione, which was sold over the counter at the time and contained a powerful steroid.”
So, 96 tests make up the list: 83 positive, 13 inconclusive, and of the 83, 8 for legal-in-2003 19-norandrostenedione. So, 75 illegal users? Which list was Schmidt using? The much-publicized 104, the union’s 96, or his vague “roughly 100?“ Or all three? Obviously, players appear on one list but not on another – why? Do substantially different lists of players make up the different lists? Confusing, sure, but don’t look to the Times for an answer.
If the union’s 96 is right, and they should know – the gov’t took it from them, it sounds like the killer number here is 75 players for illegal, anabolic steroids with 8 legal users (83). Did Schmidt get his names from the confirmed 75 or not?
In my recent back and forth here with Schmidt’s editor at the Times, Tom Jolly, he pointed out to me that Ortiz a) admitted he “failed” the test, and b) “The point is that banned substances were found in the samples from Rodriguez, Sosa, Ramirez, Ortiz and David Segui.” Actually, Ortiz confirmed his name appeared on a list, but did not know why. 13 tests, we now know, came back inconclusive. Ortiz and his union say he’s one of those. It means that unless Schmidt can verify specifically what Ortiz or other players he outted tested positive for, if they did test positive, he’s reporting that being on the list alone is de facto proof of using banned substances (as per Tom Jolly’s statement above).
As of today, that’s a rather reckless assumption if only 75 players of the “roughly 100” are confirmed as unquestionably positive. Do Schmidt’s sources know which listed players did not test positive for banned substances? Schmidt sure doesn’t. Unless Sosa, Ramirez, or Ortiz pull an A-Rod confessional for Schmidt’s benefit, his stories are so much hearsay and rumor.
Ortiz claims he did not know his result came back positive. As one of the 13 or more inconclusive results, that makes sense because Ortiz’ name does not appear in The Mitchell Report. As Schmidt wrote yesterday, “All players who tested positive in 2003 were told that their tests had been seized by the government, according to the report presented to Major League Baseball by George J. Mitchell ….” The report never cites Sosa, Ramirez, or Ortiz – maybe because they didn’t test positive. At any rate, that’s as plausible as Schmidt’s vague sources.
Yesterday, Schmidt started posturing. The headline of his analysis reads: “Ortiz’s Explanation Is Unlikely to Reveal Much.” This assumes Ortiz has something to reveal. Today, Schmidt’s assumptions have less credibility on this than Ortiz. In the first paragraph of his story, Schmidt writes:
Since it was first reported nine days ago that the Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was among the roughly 100 major league baseball players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, he has repeatedly said he would get more information about the test result so he could provide an explanation.
Again, more like 75, as I read it, substantially fewer than the “roughly 100,” or 104, Schmidt cites in different stories, both of which “meaningfully exceeds” the real results. “Repeatedly” is an odd word, too, as if Ortiz is a liar, rather than that he’s answered the question repeatedly asked of him. You’ll find no recognition whatsover from Schmidt that he based his claims on an exaggerated or varying lists, as he now apparently accepts Weiner’s word on the union 96 list without question or challenge. As Weiner noted of the Times reporting:
“The result is that any union member alleged to have tested positive in 2003 because his name supposedly appears on some list — most recently David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez — finds himself in an extremely unfair position,” Weiner said in the statement. “His reputation has been threatened by a violation of the court’s orders, but respect for those orders now leaves him without access to the information that might permit him to restore his good name.”
Indeed, violations that Schmidt sought/received from anonymous, unreliable sources, with agendas unknown. I’ve asked repeatedly why all four leaked player names (including A-Rod, outted in Sports Illustrated) are Latino players – and repeatedly why all but Oritz are well known, grandstanding, arrogant divas appearing to get some kind of petty payback via these leaks. It’s only my opinion, or “analysis” as the Times might call it, but I believe Ortiz’ name was thrown to Schmidt along with Ramirez’ in order to make that story a headline. Ramirez’ name alone isn’t steroid news after his 50-game suspension this summer. I mean, 2003 results are a bit of a so-what in his case. Ortiz’ name makes it a Boston World Series headline, and a screamer at that.
Schmidt then offers some self-serving For the Good of Baseball, Please Fess Up tripe:
The court restrictions also mean that the Red Sox faithful, who largely adore Ortiz, may not get full disclosure. Ortiz was a fan favorite as he helped the franchise end an 86-year World Series championship drought and add another title three years later.
Knowing the exact substance that Ortiz tested positive for would shed significant light on what he might have put in his body in 2003. What his fans and peers think of him and his hitting feats could be influenced by what illicit substance he is linked to.
Yeah, if only David Ortiz came clean and verified your threadbare story admitted his sins, those poor suffering Boston fans could find some closure. Mr. Schmidt, here’s an idea, how about you report the rest of the story? You didn’t with Sosa or Ramirez, and now you want Ortiz to confirm what you couldn’t find out about him? Since the Times story that started all this is so much gossip, maybe full disclosure of Schmidt’s weak reporting is what the Boston faithful need.
In today’s press conference, Ortiz gave his side of it. It’s on Schmidt to dispute it. Schmidt has another problem, i.e., following up on his claims re Sosa and Ramirez. Are they in the 13 inconclusive or 8-possible-positives for legal-in-2003-but-not-now supplements? Tom Jolly would say “no,” if they’re on the list they used banned substances. But how does he know?
Finally, Schmidt reported one fact that at least narrows down somewhat who’s been leaking to him. He wrote: “In a statement Saturday morning, Major League Baseball said it did not possess the list of names of players who tested positive in 2003.“ If MLB itself doesn’t know who is on the list, the lawyers he refers to in the Sosa and Ramirez/Ortiz story seem to be from the players union or the government. Maybe there’s lawyers on the players union side with their own self-righteous crusade to save baseball. Or maybe it’s the gov’t – whose case against Barry Bonds fell apart last February, just as A-Rod’s name somehow leaked. I still say Schmidt got played by his sources.
Did Ortiz juice hardcore, needles and all, a la Mrs. Roger Clemens? These days it wouldn’t surprise me if he did. Still, I can’t say “yes” based on anything Michael S. Schmidt wrote – nor can Schmidt. Since it appeared in the Times, however, Ortiz has been vilified over Schmidt’s inconclusive half-story. Boston’s Ortiz had the guts to hold his press conference in Yankee Stadium. I hope Schmidt has the nerve to hold his at Fenway.
Times sports editor Tom Jolly wrote in to CSTB’s comments section, pointing out a fact that needed correcting in my story. In both my responses to the Ramirez/Ortiz and Sosa stories, I said that Schmidt based his reporting on evidence thrown out of Federal Court by Judge Susan Ilston in the Barry Bonds case. That was my basis for saying the Times based their stories on “discredited evidence.” I still say it’s discredited, or at least too weak to prove anything on its own. Jolly’s correction gives me different reasons to believe this.
As Jolly points out, Judge Ilston allowed the Bonds test results to remain as evidence. As I gleaned from this report, it’s the 104 names list she has problems with, as well as much of the evidence needed to corroborate the Bonds test results. I misread the report and took that she wants the 104 names list tossed out, which includes the Bonds original test, later retested by the Federal Govt, allegedly showing that he took designer steroids. It’s the retest she’s allowing as evidence. Confusing? Yes, but I should have gotten it right.
What was thrown out was a pile of evidence corroborating the Bonds test results needed to prove him guilty. That is, without corroboration, the admissible Bonds tests aren’t enough. The government case against Bonds collapsed in February. The prosecution currently scrambles to find a new way to nail the Sultan of Surly. The Bonds test, and anonymous lawyers quoting the players’ 2003 test result lists, are all The New York Times has on which to base the credibility of their Sosa, Ortiz, and Ramirez claims. That’s the evidence that gets you nowhere in court on its own. If not “discredited,” it’s at least too flimsy to mean anything by itself – unless you’re The New York Times. Selena Roberts’ A-Rod story for Sports Illustrated has something the NYT still doesn’t have – a confession from the named player, vindicating the reporter’s anonymous sourcing and accusations. I imagine it’s what the Federal Gov’t wishes they had from Bonds, too.
I definitely stand corrected on the fact of what got thrown out of court and what didn’t. My own ineptitude aside for the moment, you can decide for yourself on whether the government’s evidence looks even more discredited because Bonds’ tests are admissible and the case still collapsed – or not. You can also read the same flimsy, in-need-of-corroboration evidence Schmidt uses, and decide on the Times case.
Fact Correction Acknowledged. I’m sorry Jolly didn’t address the bigger ethical problems of what the Times is doing to player reps on such evidence. It’s the reason I wrote the stories I did. Michael S. Schmidt, in this blogger’s opinion, is still getting played by someone with a creepy agenda. Here’s Jolly’s comments section note to me, and my response to him.
Tom Jollysays:
8/1/2009 at 9:03 am
Ben,
Two points about Barry Bonds’s drug tests from 2003:
1. The 2003 test list has not been discredited. Judge Ilston threw out positive tests seized from the Balco lab because she said the government cannot authenticate them without Greg Anderson’s testimony. The judge is is permitting the government to present the results of Bonds’s 2003 tests.
2. Unlike Ortiz, Ramirez, Rodriguez, Sosa and Segui, Bonds’s name is not on the anonymous list of those who tested positive in 2003 because he did not come up positive when MLB conducted the test. However, the sample was later seized by federal authorities, who retested it for the designer steroids that Balco used and that’s when it came up positive.
First, thanks for the gentlemanly level of restraint in your response, something I probably don’t deserve, but then, around here, am never expecting. Re your two points:
1) I’m assuming you mean the judge is allowing the gov’t to present both Bonds’ players union result (negative) and then the govt’s retest (positive) – all from the same sample. The judge’s admission of the govt retest adds up to the same thing – it isn’t enough to nail the Sultan of Surly for something we all “know,” or assume, he did – take steroids. That requires more evidence, something the NYT stories don’t add to the 104 names list. That seems pretty discrediting to me re the Ilston decision, in that the positive results don’t prove anything in and of themselves. So why does it matter what it says about Sosa, Ortiz, etc?
What Schmidt’s stories argue is that Sosa, Ortiz, and Ramirez are on the 104 list. That’s it. Ok, but that list isn’t helped much by its standing in the Bonds case. Also, apparently, it tests for some steroids but not others. Do you know which steroids? I had an asthma medicine with steroid in it – would that show up on the 2003 test? Has the NYT investigated the specific medical procedures of the test and which steroids it detects? If you want me to believe this list matters, I’d like to know some of that (more on this below).
2) well, that’s why I included Schmidt’s background stuff on the 2003 tests in my post, to point out that Bonds was positive on the retest, not the initial test.
Here’s some other stuff that’s come up since I posted this piece: Nomar Garciaparra’s interview, wherein he further questions the credibility of the 104 names list as false and rigged by players:
If Michael S. Schmidt is in the mood to make some calls, I hope NG is on his list. Garciaparra specifically states players from the White Sox lied and said they were positive. That’s a lead, right? A day later (the same day?) White Sox mgr. Ozzie Guillien said he wants the whole 104 list released instead of the drip-drip-drip list of names. As a Cubs fan, I definitely want to know which Sox are on the list and how many played for the 2005 WS championship team. I would forgive Schmidt everything on a purely partisan level if he publishes that list. Again, though, Nomar raises questions about the testing process – what was it? How does a player just put himself down as “positive?” You could opt out of physical testing if you just put “positive?” Is that the list you want to damn these players with?
Secondly, here’s a timeline that bothers me: 1) the A-Rod/steroids story broke in SI as the gov’t’s case v. Bonds crumbled and A-Rod was on a long, off-season PR binge of Madonna, money, and sex workers. 2) When Sammy Sosa announced his retirement he smarmily said he planned to wait by the phone for his call from the Hall of Fame. A week later (?) Michael S. Schmidt ran his Sosa story, handing Sosa a timely comeuppance. 3) Manny Ramirez gets busted for steroids, does a 50-game suspension, and comes back to standing ovations from LA fans and seemingly no dent in his career. Within a month, Schmidt ran the Ramirez/Ortiz story. Why the coincidence of Ramirez/Ortiz’ names doled out at once, btw? That’s as nice a built-in an angle as the Sosa take down, as both were on the Curse Breaking Red Sox team. Nice of those anonymous lawyers to provide your angles, I guess.
Given the timing of all three stories, whose agenda is the NYT on? I realize you can’t reveal sources, but whoever leaks these stories sure has it in for smug, unapologetic players who your sources know to be on that 104 list. This is why I think Michael S. Schmidt looks like he’s being played (unless he’s calling the lawyers first in order to knock the players down a peg). After Garciaparra’s public statement, I fully expect Schmidt to get a call about him. Or, that the next player the NYT outs will have some similar recent public hubris some anonyous lawyer feels he needs to pay for. Are you at least confident that the lawyers familiar with the case aren’t all the lawyers on the same team with the same agenda? Schmidt looks like he’s taking dictation on these stories, and not asking around for information to balance anything beyond what’s given him. I mean, thanks for the press release, but does the NYT have anything to add to anonymous lawyers attacking players, or is a sensational leak really news enough? I think Schmidt’s stories serve people with a nasty, petty vendetta of some sort.
Why are all the 2009 stories about Latinos? I ask not because I believe the NYT has a problem with Latinos – Selena Roberts wrote her A-Rod story for “Sports Illustrated,” not the NYT – but who ever doles out the names for you has offered up only Latinos.
Finally, is Schmidt looking into which steroids these players tested positive for? So the players tested positive on this creaky list – for what? how much? Is the test just +/- like Garciaparra says, or is there more detailed information that would give us a clear picture of abuse, severity, or possibly legitimate use of medicines prescribed by doctors (again, like my asthma medication). Players’ careers and reputations are getting permanently damaged by the NYT, so it’d at least be considerate to ask such questions or make clear some limitations on what you know – adding context and the possibility that not all these players are dead to rights cheats because of a questionable list and shady leakers.
All in all, if Obama had me and Michael S. Schmidt over for a beer, I might not call him names, but I’d still have some real issues with how the NYT handles these stories. Thanks for writing in – as a freelancer myself, I doff my hat to any editor who sticks up for his writers.
Or easier to spell, in any event. If you’ve not seen the The Young, your life is most assuredly poorer for it. The same is true of the evening’s other performers to a lesser or greater degree depending on your sensibility, but a performance by these guys in a rock club environment should be worth everyone’s time.
While I was in Flushing watching Bobby Parnell and Ken Takahashi suck up a storm, a disaster of the natural variety was narrowly averted last night just miles from CSTB headquarters when the greater Austin area was threatened with a genuine-no-fooling tornado. (video link courtesy Sally Crewe). As one member of the CSTB editorial staff already has some experience living in a trailer (and I might opt for one myself if these Yardbarker payouts don’t increase), I’m aware such incidents are no laughing matter. So with that in mind, while I’m not a religious man, I would like to sincerely thank Allah for sparing Cartwright’s.
While the Sunday evening Church Of The Up All Night film series is done and dusted, we found the modern frozen-nazi-zombie epic “Dead Snow” — receiving an ATX screening for the first time —- far too compelling to simply stay in Max’s DVD player.
Appropriately enough, we’ll precede “Dead Snow” with Ken Wiederhorn’s 1977 offering “Shock Waves”, starring Peter Cushing and John Carradine. There is no better way to prepare yourself for nazi zombies coming out of the snow than by watching nazi zombies EMERGING FROM THE OCEAN. Weenie roast on the Beerland patio between films. You fuckin’ weenies.
No word yet on veggie snacks for Prince Fielder, but the Milwaukee Brewers have announced they’ll be showing drive-in movies this summer in the parking lot of Miller Park, with a double feature of “Anchorman” and “Jaws” kicking things off this Friday night. If the folks in charge in Milwaukee had any taste, they’d instead opt for the local premiere of “Dead Snow”, which coincidently, is being shown next Tuesday night (June 9, 9:30 pm) at Austin’s Beerland.
The Brewers can’t offer free admission, free hot dogs or a full bar, or the hosting skills of Max Dropout. No wonder CC Sabathia had to leave town.
2nd time around the block for the post-King Coffey ATC, and we’ll be debuting new material and trying to remember the old on a favorite stage. If you’ve not seen Elvis before, all prior notions of “menacing stage presence” will require revision (though to be fair, the R.S. Howard-esque guitar playing is an equal draw)
All good things must come to an end. And so must the ‘Church Of The Up Night’ film series as curated by Max Dropout and myself. You’ve not supported this wonderful endeavor in nearly big enough numbers and as such WE’RE SHUTTING THE FUCKER DOWN, with a final edition planned for Sunday, May 17th at 9pm . Max has a Happy Hour movie night in the works. And me….I’m just gonna sit around the house cursing Sean Green.
In the meantime, we’re gonna send the Church off in style. Max has the classic “Street Trash” headlining, while I’ve picked Robert Altman’s criminally ignored “O.C. & Stiggs” based on the fantastic National Lampoon stories of the same name. If I was booking the big high school dance, I’d sooner invite Drunks With Guns than King Sunny Ade, but we all have our favorites. As always, admission is free, the drinks are cheap…and so are you! See you at Beerland.
More info on this event as it draws closer, but I’m pretty sure Andre Rison won’t be able to make it. In the meantime, you can familiarize yourself with Elvis and decide for yourself if one local’s description of their “post-punk confrontationalism” is particularly apt (or totally full of shit)
Air Traffic Controllers Kingdom Of Suicide Lovers Diamondhead
Gelf Magazine’s ongoing Varsity Letters sports reading series returns to Brooklyn’s JLA Studios this Thursday night at 7pm, when longtime CSTB contributor Jason Cohen (author of ‘Zamboni Rodeo’) , the New York Times’ hockey scribe Jeff Z. Klein and Laura Robinson (author of “Crossing the Line: Sexual Assault in Canada’s National Sport”) will read portions of their work and field questions.
Proving this is an all-too tangled web, Jason is the subject of a lengthy Gelf interview this month, as penned by CSTB colleague David Roth.
Which is all well and good, except I misidentified the author. The entry in question was composed by Newsday’s Anthony Rieber, not Jim Baumbach. I’d like to offer Jim a very sincere apology for the error.
CSTB Contributors: At this point, any posts added to CSTB may be temporarily lost in the coming transition across the following day (April 21-22). This is the situation until further notice.
Go ahead and add them, but keep safety (local) copies of text and images on hand. The next 24-36 hours might not be the right time to unveil your magnum opus without a backup.
The migration is going real well, I’m just waiting on the domain name changeover or the original server being shut off, whichever comes first.
CSTB will be undergoing maintenance / server migration today, so site availability will be sporadic. If all goes well, this will not last more than a period of hours as all changes shake out in the wash.
Cross fingers, – or if you’re Octavio Dotel, maybe you should ask for another hug from the President for good luck.
How do I best describe Tommy Keene? America’s great living songwriter? A guy who transcended the power-pop scene long enough to see it revived for the 80th time? The only man to have backed both Bob Pollard and Paul Westerberg and lived to tell the tale? A man whose blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in the Anthony Michael Hall star vehicle “Out Of Bounds” should have led to other starring roles? A chap who effortlessly fuses all the good bits from Big Star, the Flamin’ Groovies or the Only Ones and came up with an achingly smart, funny hybrid that sounds like no one as much as himself?
None of the above descriptions really do the Washington DC native / LA transplant justice, but over the last quarter century Keene’s recordings for a succession of labels (amongst them Park Ave., Dolphin, Geffen, Matador, Spin Art….I’m leaving a few out mostly to keep the discussion short) have combined for a staggering body of work — his 2009 ‘In The Late Bright’ (Second Motion) might be the best of the pile.
Keene’s not played Austin in ages (fronting his own band, anyway) and on this occasion he’s supported by pals Sally Crewe & The Sudden Moves (w/ whom he’s touring this month) and Austin’s criminally overlooked (by me, anyway) MonkeyTown. The show starts a tad earlier than most Emo’s events, in deference to the delicate sensibilities of the promoter, who has a plane to catch the next day (sorry)
These pale blue pages don’t serve their half-dozen readers by magic, you know. No, there’s a whole latticework of software and hardware dedicated to properly spraying the bits into your eyeholes, and sometimes, well, software gets old and it needs to be fixed.
Today, I upgraded CSTB to the modern version of Wordpress (2.7.1) in order to prepare for its coming migration. Contributors, be aware of the new interface and enjoy the far less sucky experience.
So far I see only one glitch: the posts are being divided by day on the front page, which I bet I can make go away pretty quick – at least as quick as I made Schwartz’s posts go away. Kidding.
Throw a comment up here if you spot anything else weird.
Alright, it’s the return of the Church Of The Up All Night film series, hosted by Max Dropout & myself. Max picked a couple of classics for next Sunday night (9pm) at Beerland, and while we cannot offer free Brooklyn Lager this time (thanks to whoever blew the whistle), the entertainment on offer is gonna be intoxicating enough (NO, JUST KIDDING. Please buy many drinks)
“Vice Squad” (1982, dir Gary Sherman). Season Hubley plays a mom-turned-hooker enlisted by the LA vice squad to ensnare a murderous pimp named Ramrod (Wings Hauser). LOTS OF BAD SHIT HAPPENS NEXT.
This is an all-time fave of Max and myself…and anyone else that’s seen it. If that’s not enough the film’s LOVE THEME (”Neon Slime”) is sung by Hauser in what might be the finest vocal performance of the 1980’s.
“Maniac Cop” (1988, dir. William Lustig). The godlike Bruce Campbell tries to stop a psychotic, NYPD killing machine. The film’s poster reads, “You have the right to remain silent…forever.”
(Xavier’s Terrell Holloway, determined to command more viewers tonight than Alec Baldwin)
Pittsburgh and Xavier will be tipping off in Boston very shortly, and in the unlikely event you’d prefer to follow my as-they-happen observations from the TD Bank North Garden than follow CBS’ analysis or a more qualified live blogger, you do so in the box to the right, or by following the CSTB Twitter feed.
I’ll be hanging around for Duke/’Nova, too, unless there’s an impromptu DMZ reunion happening somewhere down the road.
Though I’m abdicating my Church Of The Up All Night responsibilities this evening, Max Dropout will be your host for an evening of exceptional cinema at Beerland (711 Red River) , screening “Rocktober Blood” (1984, dir. Beverly Sebastian) and Brian DePalma’s directorial debut effort, “Phantom Of The Paradise” (1974) Brooklyn Lager are supplying the free beer, there’s free pizza and i’m so jealous I cannot attend I’m literally shaking with rage. No wait, that’s just a minor stroke!
Do Not Feed The Rat (Bastard). The chap on the left’s amazing Laundry Room Squelchers are playing tonight at the Hideout at 1:30am. Alternatively, if you’re still looking for afternoon entertainment, FXFY v2.0 is ongoing throughout the day. Free beer, free form, but sadly, no free love (as I’ve already left).
Props to the organizers of this ambitious event, and while King and I are dearly looking forward to it, I’m not sure which of the following I find more distressing ; a) once again I have to tell an (admittedly) small audience how happy we are to be playing with Black Cock and b) 3 shows with Woodgrain in 15 days is sort of pushing the limits of shotgun marriages.
…and it’s not necessarily for the love, as you can see by the image of this (possible) prize. Choose wisely, and you could be bringing home The Franchise (in lumpy digitized form). Or an autographed photo of me in my Corliss Williamson jersey and favorite pair of corduroys. These sound like threats, that was not my intention. Sorry.
Anyway, a reminder: the CSTBracket is live and fairly lively, and still your best value when it comes to sharing a bunch of ill-considered predictions with a few dozen people you don’t necessarily know. Go here if you’re interested and haven’t joined yet — the league ID is 49714, the password is cstb, and your instincts on Western Kentucky totally make sense.
Cynics might call this the play-in-game for the real tournament, but they’d be wrong. First of all, much the way supermarkets and taverns are legally prevented from using phrases such as “Super Bowl” and “March Madness”, you’ll note that I’m not claiming connection to a rather prominent music conference/trade fair happening in Austin this week. Instead, like so many others, I’m merely taking advantage of all their years of hard work.
Secondly — and I can’t believe I have to mention this again — there is no need to RSVP for tomorrow’s party. Just show up. In the very unlikely event the venue is filled beyond capacity (and with so much else happening on the same block, I’m not counting on it), if you come back 15 minutes later you’ll probably get in.
How exactly did someone manage to program a 3 night (alleged) psych fest in Austin this weekend but neglect to book San Pedro, France’s GUNSLINGERS? A deconstructo trio whose not-so-nuanced approach recalls at various times the Groundhogs, Mick Farren’s Deviants, Sonics Rendezvous Band or the sludgier moments of the Bevis Frond, the Gunslingers are making their first Austin visit this Sunday. That it falls outside the confines of anything Black Angels-sanctioned is all the more reason why these visitors to our beautiful city need our help.
“In a systematic act of alchemy clearly designed to upstage in one fell swoop every budding Asahito Nanjo, every rising Kawabata Makoto, every post-Reck and neo-Keiji Heino, nay, every occidental Japrock wannabe combined, French super freak and guitar mangler Gregory Raimo has – with this solitary Gunslingers album release – put to shame each’n’every proto-metal musician across this lickle planet with a spiteful racket so accursedly evil, so mischievously demonic, so gurningly and grinningly piss-taking that barbarians across the globe (myself included, natch) can only drool in disbelief and green-eyed envy. For NO MORE INVENTION is nothing less than the sum total of every move culled from every essential No Wave, Post Punk, Free Rock statement thus far spewed forth onto vinyl and CD.
I know, you know, we ALL know the French might not know how to rock’n’roll 99.999999% of the time. But when they get it right, boy, does it smoke pole! And, like existentialist hero Albert Camus’ bizarre death in the back seat of a massively expensive Facel Vega HK550 supercar, Gunslingers’ NO MORE INVENTION is a raging and fumingly Gallic summation of all things Righteous, Nihilistic and Stylishly Paradoxical simultaneously.” – Julian Cope, August, 2008
Yes, people with the Mountain West TV network are at an advantage (if also clinically proven to live shorter, less-satisfying lives). Yes, people without the money to go out at night — and here I am speaking of myself — are disproportionately benefitted by the amount of useless conference tourney games they get to (?) watch. And no, there’s not really a way to be good at NCAA predictions, no matter how much time you spend watching the Colonial Athletic Association or Summit League finals. But none of these things are reasons not to join this year’s Third Annual CSTBracket. Sure, the brackets haven’t been announced yet, but if you want to come up with the really excellent/stupid bracket name you deserve, you should probably sign up now and give yourself plenty of time to edit.
(above : not David Roth)
I’m aware — and aware that I’m the only person aware — that this year’s introductory post lacks both the garment-related stylistic frissons of last year’s and the dewy earnestness of the inaugural invite. (Also different: the fact that I promised the first five people who re-upped from last year a photo of me wearing my Corliss Williamson Arkansas jersey. I don’t know if there’s demand for that, but it’s a new twist) For all those differences, though, the stakes are just as high this year as in years past, because the 2009 CSTBracket Champion will receive a new car as many basketball cards as you want from me (Taurean Green/Jarrett Jack dual autograph card…just saying), as well as a complimentary backrub from Rog and…well, I asked Gerard what he thought would be a good look here as a centerpiece prize. “Let’s find a shitty old video game title on ebay,” he writes. “4-6 year old versions of most EA sports games can be had for a few bucks. I’ll spring for it.” Well shit, if he’s buying, let’s start this thing up!
So: same deal as in years past. Go here, to Yahoo Sports’ Tournament Pick ‘Em page, and sign up. The league ID is 49714, password is cstb. The memories of your bracket’s punny name and your inexplicable faith in the Big Sky Conference champs…are forever.
Many readers may feel that if you are going to complain about crowd noise at a football match, then an angry letter about the fact that your view of the pitch has been severely impeded by 22 men in shorts who insist on running about all over it during the entire length of your visit is surely on its way. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the average age of those attending football matches is rising (or at least craning) ever upwards. Soon, most of the grounds will be, more or less, entirely in the knobbly hands of the prostate generation. It will alter the game irrevocably. For a start, the interval will have to be extended to an hour just so we all have time to piddle.
The fact is that when you are getting on in years, you increasingly find high-tempo, all-action entertainment physically and mentally draining. I had to spend the day in bed after watching The Dark Knight, a film that frankly made me feel as if I had been falling down the stairs into a darkened cellar for two and a half hours. No, there will come a time when fans at football matches will no more want explosive excitement from their afternoon match than we do from our afternoon TV schedule. We will want something light, cheerful and familiar, possibly refereed by Hannah Gordon or Alan Titchmarsh.
edition no. 3 of the free Sunday night film series curated by Max Dropout and myself features Richard Lowenstein’s “Dogs In Space”. The perfect antitode for your busted Valentine’s Day heart, and featuring a young Michael Hutchence (and a soundtrack including the pre-Birthday Party Boys Next Door, Ollie Olsen and others).
It all kicks off around 9pm with a special early presentation of “Black Roses” (1988, dir. John Fasano). Ever wondered what happens when the public is hypnotized by demons posing as a rock’n’roll band? No, this isn’t the Fleet Foxes story, but it does star drumming titan Carmine Appice (as Vinny Apache) and Vincent “Big Pussy” Pastore.
Excuse me for having to spell this one out for our European readers. Pro Bowl Sunday is a BIG event for Americans. All over the country, families come together for Pro Bowl Parties. Advertisters pay hundreds of dollars to televise commercials featuring their newest products. Each year on Pro Bowl Sunday, battered womens’ shelters report the number of victims admitted to their care decreases by two percent, testament to the calming nature of the contest . If the NBA All-Star Game is, in the words of Michael Wilbon, Black Thanksgiving, then the Pro Bowl is sort of like Yom Kippur for Gambling Degenerates & Football Obsessives of All Races.
In this household, the Pro Bowl’s importance is matched only by that of the NHL Skills Competition (skate-sharpening, carrying Eric Lindros off the ice) and the entire NASCAR calendar. And with that in mind, here is CSTB’s Award Winning Pro Bowl Chilli Recipe :
Ingredients :750 g of Sainsbury Lean Minced Beef
1 jar of Uncle Ben’s Hot Chili
simmer the minced beef in a wok or non-combustible container until brown.
drain the fat in a collander.
remove half the beef and serve to CSTB’s Dog Mascot (allow some 20 minutes for cooling or you’ll be very very sorry)
put the other half of the beef back in the wok, add the contents of the Uncle Ben’s jar.
go watch NFL Countdown for 30 minutes
serve over a bed of white rice (if you don’t have any white rice, you can always try to cut the taste by swallowing without chewing)
Serves 1 – possibly two if you can get anyone to come over to your house for the Pro Bowl.
Pt. II of the free Sunday film series hosted by Max Dropout and myself, The Church Of The Up All Night, continues February 8 at Beerland (711 1/2 Red River, Austin) with “Payday”. Coming soon : “Dogs In Space”.
While much of Austin is in depths of post Free Week depression, Max Dropout and I have addressed the crisis with the debut of a new (free) monthly film series at Beerland, The Church Of The Up All Night.
We’ll get things started this evening with “The Boy Who Cried Bitch” (1991, dir. Juan José Campanella), according to MoiraKelly.net (seriously), “one of the most reprehensible films ever made….what are we to make of this gratuitous farrago involving two of the most unappealing characters ever to be featured in a movie? Pity? Sorrow? Fear? The one emotion it’s sure to incite in audiences is impatience for the actors to get that last dirty deed done so they can be liberated from the suffocating, grotesque atmosphere that has been created.”
I dunno about you, but I’d pay to see that. Luckily, we don’t have to.
(ED. NOTE : sorry this is running so late, but apparently it was some kinda New Year’s Eve in Chicago — if Mr.’s Scheid and Warmowski wish to hand in their entries after the hangovers pass, so be it. Here’s the 2007 edition. Best wishes to all CSTB contributors, readers, comment pests and legal advisors for a healthy and prosperous 2008. Happiness, is of course, an illusion, as is the hope CSTB’s advertisers might pay a competitive rate. Without exception, I am wishing them a shitty 2009. – GC)
Ben Schwartz
[Team of Rivals indeed: 2008 saw me vote for this Sox fan.]
Let me be clear, I do not respect 2008 personally or professionally.
First, some qualifiers: Since we rarely get a babysitter around here for our two-year-old, the year in review for me pretty much means the year as I witnessed it from my living room couch. I saw two movies in a theater this year. So, my top ten list, in order, is Iron Man and the Chicago punk doc, You Weren’t There. Together, they have it all: music, terrorists, flying men in armor, a guy named Stain that’s not in the punk movie, and (in the punk movie) lots of disgruntled South Siders talking about the “real Chicago” and who comes from the “burbs” and who doesn’t. That this South Side whining is captured on film by the “rockumentarians” is perhaps You Weren’t There’s most important contribution to Western Civilsation, but by no means its only contribution.
That said, 2008 debuted with much promise by offering the spectacle of Roger Clemens in front of the Congress of the United States answering questions on his steroid use. David Roth’s near live-blog of it contained (I said it then and say it now) my favorite CSTB line of 2008, which you can check out here, regarding Republicans and millionaires. And yes, that tops Rog calling me a racist in the comments section.
Certainly The Chicago Tribune’s “White Sox Fan Photos” section brought some much needed comic relief to Our Year. Sox fans come across as they really are, which means Cub fans probably took the pictures. Hosers love watching games at the appropriately named “cell” with their dogs, which gives the fan photography a “dogs playing poker” motif I especially like. Dogs watching Ozzie, the at-home Bud Light neon lights over the basement wet bars, the bad orthodontic work – all the South Side esprit one could hope for in 2008. The 3-3 draw the Sox and Cubs fought to this summer, and their seasons in general, still amaze. Yes, the Pale Ho’s took advantage of some biased umpiring against the Cubs, but they also brought out some great posts from CSTB resident Sox reporter, Rob Warmowski. His brilliant insight into the Bennigans chain closing and a beating administered by sociopathic Cub fans sent into a mid-season wilding frenzy (the Cubs in first place post-July makes weird things happen) shows that not all Sox fans waste their GEDs working out at O’Hare. I can’t knock the South Side completely. It is the home of Hawk Harrelson, an announcer beloved by North Siders, since we don’t have to listen to him and Sox fans do.
My son learning how to speak was a highlight of 2008. Like when he plays Spiderman in the back seat of the car while I drive and “throws webs” at me. “Why are you throwing webs at me?” I asked, “What did I do? Why is daddy the bad guy?” “Because that’s how is,” he shrugged. It’s now the answer he’s taken to giving whenever I ask him, oh, why he’s hitting the tv with a drum stick, or screaming “HI!” out the screen door at no one, or needs to see the same Backyardigans episode for the 30th time.
Certainly 2008 closed on epic notes of inspiration and desperation. I loved the Palin family’s unwed pregnant teens, meth dealing mom-in-law, babies born to debatable parentage, its snowmobile salesman secessionist dad urging his wife on us as Vice-President of the United States, the Wasilla Warriors high school gun show fund raisers, church burnings, and their family witch doctor. I never thought George Bush could close his tenure in office on anything close to the disasters of Katrina and Iraqghanistan. And then came the economic collapse. Even the Cubs owners, the GOP propaganda machine known as the Tribune Corporation, went bust. What did I get for Christmas in the mail? Two copies of the Tribco bankruptcy filing. I guess they sent it to me because I freelanced for their LA Times – a paper making history today as America’s only Wikipedia generated daily. It’s quite a list of ruined properties. And that may be the final insult of the welfare Republicans to their own vertebrae-free evangelical-business base – they ruined Christmas. Fans of It’s A Wonderful Life may recall the Christmas Eve scene where where Uncle Billy loses the $5000 to a cackling Mr. Potter and leaves the Baileys in ruin, prompting this breakdown from George Bailey:
GEORGE (screaming at Billy): Where’s that money, you stupid, silly old fool? Where’s the money? Do you realize what this means? It means bankruptcy and scandal, and prison! That’s what it means! One of us is going to jail! Well, it’s not going to be me!
What I wouldn’t have given this year to see that scene played out by Bush and his Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, with Old Man Cheney guffawing on his way out the door.
Yeah, a nice note to walk out on – followed by the best 2008 had to offer, Obama’s win, which I believe has been covered in the MSM a bit. That’s how bad the country’s doing. America has turned to a Sox fan.
Rob Warmowski
TOP TEN THINGS OF 2008
1) The Chicago White Sox finally ending a grueling, punishing campaign unparalleled in recent history for its interminable discomfort. But enough about Nick Swisher’s dugout antics, they also took the AL Central in an overtime shootout, sending Burl Ives and his hated Twins moping home back up I-90 West. Jimmy crack corn, motherfuckers.
2-5) LA’s James Loney’s four RBI in the fifth inning of Cubs/Dodgers NLDS Game 1. Sorry, Ben, but that was like the sweet warmth of falling off the wagon after a year of teetotaling. To which NL West team will Lou and company drop three straight NLDS games this year? I’ll give 3-1 that it’s the Giants.
6) Being mistaken for an undercover cop while marching in the Fifth Anniversary of the Iraq War protest in downtown Chicago. It didn’t help that I spotted a CPD patrolman along the march route who I hadn’t seen since we went to elementary school together, prompting a nice gabfest in the middle of the Michigan Avenue ruckus.
7) Releasing a 7″. I love seven inches. This one had a song about a kidney and the chorus goes “urine for a treat.”
Wearing a “White Devils For Obama” t-shirt while visiting the campus of University of Chicago. I haven’t confused that many Ph.D. candidates since Tom Frank had my band play a Baffler party and we brought a balloon-twisting, bicycle-horn hoking clown with us to the gig.
9) Seeing CSTB whipping boy Will Leitch finally retired from regular abuse in these powder-blue pages after a good run. Not that he didn’t deserve it – but it’s time to consider complaints about his beat-biting in a new light. If they banned the practice of running with somebody else’s ideas from, say, rock music, the damage to the Interscope roster would be incalculable.
10) Discovering that CSTB’s Ben Schwartz is in fact Bertold Blecht from the paleo-blog suck.com, of which I was a huge fan. I had no idea! Man, what happened there, anyway? I just saw Ana Marie Cox on C-SPAN chirping about Rod Blagojevich’s hair. Rog, if you feel like changing targets this year, email me, I have an idea.
Jason Cohen’s 2009 Top 10
1. The Phillies
2. The Philles
3. The Phillies
4. The Phillies
5. The Phillies
6. The Phillies
7. The Phillies
8. The Phillies
9. The Phillies
10. Phleet Phoxes
Liz Clayton’s Top Ten Unordered Memorable Things of 2008!
1. Accidentally paying a dollar to see a midget at the Wisconsin State Fair
2. Tim Midgett’s smoked pork (just under the deadline)
3. The “You don’t know me! You don’t know a thing about me! Word up!” guy on the B43 bus
4. Almost spilling a large pop on Anthony Bourdain at Hot Doug’s
5. Getting called a “cracker” on the street
6. Trip to Shea to celebrate CSTB’s 5th anniversary with 12 other people, and only talking to the four people there that I already knew really well. (oops)
7. That picture of Chris Nelson in the Moore/Coley No Wave book
8. Meeting my long-lost cousin in Portland, and trying to figure out both genetics and how many macchiatos and orders of candied bacon to get.
9. Doubles (from A&A Trinidad Roti on Fulton, or Doubles King on Nostrand)
10. My Bloody Valentine at All Tomorrow’s Parties New York, louder than I ever rememebered (surely it’s not my age)
David Williams
Some shows:
Beerland’s non-sxsw Sunday 2008.
The Kadane Brothers at Emo’s inside. Sublime.
The New Year at Emo’s outside. Criminally under-attended. Hey, Pinback was up the street.
Almost any Dikes Of Holland show, but especially the one I mixed at Beerland, because it was the best-sounding. Heh.
Those kids from Mexico. Did sound for that too, they were great.
Distant Seconds at Beerland with Air Traffic Controllers and Aaron Blount. The last time I try the idealistic booking of different kinds of bands thingl in Austin, a town where that once would have mixed the different crowds together nicely.
I missed A H Kraken, dammit.
Wes Coleman vs. John Schooley at Beerland. Schooley, the aptly-named song scholar, playing reluctant straightman to Wes’ most entertaining implosion of the year.
Most impressive, easily predictable but taunt-you-with-hope collapses of 2008: (Cowboys, Mets)
Records
In spite of my dormant freelancer tendencies, now residing in a drawer somewhere in the Houston Press offices (freelance contracts worth the paper they are printed on), I was denied access to the milky teats of promosexuality this year, and didn’t buy a lot of records (except for tons of 7″ vinyl) but (no order here, really):
Prisonshake “Dirty Moons” the last gasp of the “record” in the original meaning, a grown-up and wistful record in all the right ways, worth the wait that was so long I’d forgotten about them. Older punks and “punks” take note: here is a way to grow older gracefully, not taking refuge in fiddles and banjos. I turned friends on to this record and their responses became the same kind of sorting bin as “Letterman People vs. Leno People” can be. Thee Oh Sees “The Master’s Bedroom…”transcending the reverb mannerisms etc etc
New Times Viking: everything I liked about Demolition Plot J-7 (except the lost mint copy my ex helped disappear) + 10 times the art school damage
Actually, I’d like to write a book about art school ‘fags’ turning out good music. Or find a ghost writer for it. Someone else can do the London School of Economics book.
Monotonix: Like the cliché about bee aerodymanics, it shouldn’t work, but it treads the line between Neanderthal and Australopithicus perfectly for me.
The New Year. Stretched their style a bit, and made another slow-burning beauty that, like their others, isn’t really as melancholy as superficial listening suggests. Just honest and clear-eyed.
Jay Reatard. Somewhere between the anti-hip backlash and the backlash backlash, just a buncha good songs.
2008 pet peeve that I can’t really mind that much:
Bands mining retro sounds of the 60s, 70s, 80s, many of whom I like a lot: If the bands you are mimicking did this, there would have been a flood of 70’s acts sounding like Bing Crosby and Burl Ives.
2008 Pet peeve I haven’t made peace with yet:
How Facebook usurps the pleasure of catching up with friends when you see them out.
Chuck Meehan
All in all 2008 was pretty kind to Philly sports fans as for the first time since 1981, all 4 major sports franchises made it to the playoffs and of course, the quarter century championship drought was vanquished
The Phillies finally managed to ride one of their annual late-season surges through the month of October by winning the World Series and doing so in a near seamless fashion.
No flukes, no “Rocky” bullshit, the Fightins won it primarily with via the”Weaverball” of strong pitching and the longball. Even with this WS victory, the partnership that owns the Phillies are still viewed with suspicion and now that Pat Gillick as hired gun is finished, the Phils are going back within their organization by handing the GM reins to former batboy Ruben Amaro Jr, who was literally born into the Phillies country club. It remains to be seen if Amaro can maintain the Phillies as a top flight NL club, but for the near future, the Phillies fan base is happy, the squad will be in the thick of things and for a change, they actually have some serious pitching prospects that are ready/near-ready, although positional prospects remain very thin outside of the currently somewhat blocked Jason Donald and Lou Marson.
Igglephans were a fed-up lot fatigued with either/or/both coach Andy Reid and Donovan Mc Nabb, but with the ridiculously improbable events of this past Sunday that landed them the 2nd wild card, everything is on hold to see which Eagles offfense shows up in the playoffs. The Brian Dawkins-led defense has been very formidable as of late, but Reids overly pass-happy play calling and awful clock management looms over the Birds chances at advancing through the playoffs. The Birds are very capable of advancing to the NFC Championship game and they are just as capable of an embarrasing offensive crapout. A wild-card loss to the Vikings this Sunday will certainly revive the clamor for both the Reid and McNabb eras to be finished that has quieted this week.
The Flyers made a huge bounce back in 2008, and after a slow start for 2008-2009 have been raging as of late, should go deep into the playoffs this coming spring and regardless of their eventual outcome, they will be beloved by their faithful fans who are as ever sunny and optomistic as you are going to find in Philly.
The 76ers made an effort with the Elton Brand acquisition, but Brand got hurt before it could be seen if the team could congeal and the ever-classy Mo Cheeks took the fall. For the time-being the Sixers will remain an afterthought and continue to struggle at the gate.
As far as Phlly music, I have to qualify that I dont keep up as much as in the past but I will cite releases by avant grinders Total Fucking Destruction and the melodicore Paint It Black and am sad to say that reports have the on-hiatus Clockcleaner playing their final show this coming spring.
Tim Cook
The year of Stephen Baldwin’s Lord, 2008, is over, at last. Some important things went well enough (my continued employment, the 2008 US election), and other events maybe less so (my continued employment, Geopolitical tensions, Seattle’s amateur and professional athletic sporting teams I happened to for), but I lived, maintained if not improved slightly, so I’ll call it a win.
In case you had been lulled to indifference, please note that The Best Show on WFMU has never been better than it is right now. Scharpling and Wurster’s institution has gone on for nearly a decade, so I find this achievement very impressive, and a mark of true greatness.
2008 musik I listened to a lot:
1. The New Year The New Year (CD, Touch and Go)
2. Bottomless PitCongress (CDEP, My Pal God)
3. Magik Markers Gucci Rapidshare Download (CD, 3 Lobed)
4. Fabulous Diamonds Seven Songs Time 24:16 (CD, Nervous Jerk)
5. Times New Viking Rip It Off and Stay Awake(CD and 7″, Matador)
6. Wire Object 47 (CD, Pink Flag)
7. Dawn Smithson Earth Machine (CD, Mind Expansion)
8. Awesome Color Electric Aborigines (CD, Ecstatic Peace!)
9. Destroyer Trouble in Dreams (CD, Merge)
10. Jennifer O’Connor Here With Me (CD, Matador)
11. Shearwater Rook (CD, Matador)
Kevin T. Rys
LPs
Wax Museums – S/T (douchemaster records)
JT IV – Cosmic Lightning (drag city)
King Tuff – Was Dead (colonel records)
Dutchess & the Duke – She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke (hardly art) [this record is fucking bananas, love it so much]
Cheap Time – S/T (in the red)
Nobunny – Love Visions (bumbledumb records)
Shows
Cat Burglars/Wax Museums/Busy Signals/Cheap Time – (1/11/08 Lucky Gator Loft) I’m not gonna lie, I forget the order they played as this was my birthday show at a loft in Wicker Park. I know the Wax Museums were sick but I remember the Busy Signals being amazing as they always were. I really miss having them around. I think I bought beer for some underaged kids, unless the statute of limitations hasn’t run out in which case I know I didn’t.
Goner Showcase SXSW – (sometime in March, Beerland) My favorite band in the world, Cococoma, played the best show I’ve ever seen them play. Lisa told me it was because they’d come back from a European tour two weeks before and playing every night had made them really tight but holy god damn I don’t care what the reason was, they were fucking AMAZING. Also great was the surprise set by Gentleman Jesse & His Men. I happened to wander near the front of the stage because everyone was going outside to grab some air and wasn’t surprised to see Jesse on stage thinking it was the Carbonas but when I saw Dustin and Dave Rahn I started pushing my way closer. Glad I did. GREAT FUCKING BAND.
Paul Collins Beat, SXSW (whatever that resale shop is next to Antone’s) – After seeing Jack Lee at the Radio Heartbeat show the year before I was on the fence about seeing Paul Collins but holy balls if this wasn’t the best show I saw at SXSW. And there were a ton of good ones, including that Unnatural Helpers/Cococoma/Birthday Suits/Hex Dispensers show at the Parlor. Pizza and beermosas at noon was a habit that proved hard to give up.
The Dials/Lover!/Black & Whites – (5/3/08 Beat Kitchen) I was supposed to go to a going away party this night but I blew it off for this show and I’m so glad I did, I’ve been a huge fan of both Rich Crook and Talbot Adams for a while and this night was totally bananas.
King Khan & His Shrines/Jay Reatard/Cheap Time/A/V Murder – (7/19/08 Bottom Lounge) Best I’ve ever seen Cheap Time and they’re on this list a couple times. Every band was stellar but Cheap Time was the best I’ve ever seen them.
Dutchess & the Duke (9/9/08 Town Hall Pub) Acoustic, no microphones, no lights, no percussion except for Matt Williams forgetting how to count to four, it was great. So simple and so awesome, those songs are tremendous.
Intelligence/AV Murder/Magas – (10/02/08 Empty Bottle), Intelligence/Oh Sees (10/02/08 Permanent Records) I left work early that day to get to instore and I’m glad I did because the Oh Sees were mind-warpingly good. It’s too bad their show at the Cobra that night couldn’t have been incorporated into the Empty Bottle show because the Intelligence were ferocious later that night. I love them every time I see them and this time was no different.
Wax Museums – (12/30/08 Cobra Lounge) Holy crap they were a lot of fun.
Gerard Cosloy
recorded :
Prisonshake – Dirty Moons (Scat)
The Notwist – The Devil, You + Me (Domino/City Slang)
Endless Boogie – Focus Level (No Quarter)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Anti/Mute) The Distant Seconds – Spectral Evidence (Sweetheart Contract)
Fennesz – The Black Sea (Touch)
Jesu – Why Are We Not Perfect? EP (Hydra Head)
18th Dye – Amorine Queen (Crunchy Frog)
Gentlemen Jesse & His Men – s/t (Douchemaster)
The New Year – The New Year (Touch & Go)
Cheap Time – s/t (In The Red)
Steinski – What Does It All Mean? 1983-2006 (Illegal Art)
Jarboe & Justin Broadrick – J2 (The End)
Retribution Gospel Choir – s/t (Calo Verde)
The Busy Signals – s/t (Dirtnap) The Young – “Get Out Of My Face” 4 song 7″ (Supersecret)
Rock City Sixteen – “Lunette Noires Nuits Blanches” 7″ (Cigarette Music)
Box Elders – “Hole In My Head” 7″ (Grotto)
V/A – Messthetics Greatest Hiss, Vol. 1 (Hyped 2 Death)
live :
AH Kraken, Beerland, Austin TX
Marked Men finale / Wax Museums / Bad Sports, Rubber Gloves, Denton, TX
The Notwist, ULU, London,
Black Time, Hi-Tone, Memphis
Tyvek / The Homosexuals, The Crofoot, Detroit
(photo by Brian Turner)
Los Llamarada, Spiros, Austin,
Dikes Of Holland, everywhere, everytime, Austin
Awesome Color, Mohawk, Austin
Wire, Irving Plaza, NYC
Witch Hats, Santos Party Haus/ Cake Shop, NYC
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, James Dolan’s Party Barn, NYC Total Abuse, not often enough, Austin
non music : The Guardian setting David Mitchell and Russell Brand loose on the sports pages, Hai Ky (e. oltorf st., Austin, TX), “Pineapple Express” and the continued ascent of Gary Cole, election night 11/04/08, Austin’s taco trailer population explosion,, “Peep Show” season 6, “The Best Show On WFMU”, Derek Erdman.
Bad stuff : Mets bullpen, Mets relievers, the guys who pitch for the Mets after the starters leave the game. Mets closers, set up men, mop up men, their families and friends. Prop 8. Twitter/F-book pests. Not necessarily in that order.
First off, I hope you all had a terrific holiday. Much as I’d like to claim I did my part by denying you a escape-the-family-valve in the form of 3rd hand sports gossip/news/griping, CSTB’s record breaking two days AWOL had less to do with your editor’s laziness and totally down to a denial of service attack launched by Colin Cowherd billing issue we’ve thankfully resolved.
Normal service will resume just as soon as I can remember which room I watch television in.
[Mr. Cosloy, pictured, receiving late breaking news of a new Mushnick column.]
An internet adult friend finding service networking hotspot, Facebook, currently lists today as the birthday of one Gerard Cosloy. My best to you, sir. As such, I think it might be a good thing for all of us to take a moment from enjoying our holiday to appreciate CSTB. In much the same way George Bailey came to appreciate his life’s worth at the end of It’s A Wonderful Life, viewing a world he never touched, I wonder what the sports world would be without this forum. In that nightmare world, Will Leitch is a respected sports journalist at a major magazine. The Mets continue to make ineffective deals and questionable hires for manager each year. Sports journalists like Phil Mushnick write without fear of looking ridiculous. Tim McCarver and Joe Buck’s broadcast careers go unhindered, making baseball fans everywhere miserable. And this reporter? Without CSTB, I would have been unable to offer managerial advice to stop the Cubs from choking in post-season, push Sam Zell to sell to Mark Cuban, and with unrelenting posting, land Jake Peavy or Randy Johnson. It was here I broke the Roger Clemens steroid story, years before the Mitchell Report. I had no proof, just malice and a venue to print such spite, called CSTB.
Persons familiar with the more avant side of Austin nightlife are already well aware the Dikes Of Holland are America’s Finest Band (Without Any Music Available Via MySpace). The Palin Brothers —- Trig (guitar), Track (guitar) and Traps (drums) are making just their second local appearance after wearing out their welcome during a succession of Alaskan all-ages shows. The Brothers may or may not include members of the Air Traffic Controllers and The Black — much like the disappearance of Eddie Wilson, this is one of rock’s great mysteries.
Who amongst us hasn’t seen The Shitty Beach Boys and wondered out loud, “wouldn’t it be nice if they just did their own songs?” That few of you, huh? I’m very confident, however, that on Saturday evening, the Stuffies will do their part to dispell the myth that the suicide rate skyrockets during the Christmas season. Not with charts or statistics, mind you, but through the gift of song.
[Golfer John Daly, seen here, literally pissing away a great life.]
CSTB’s Gerard Cosloy was provided today with the 4000th opportunity to use his favorite Animal House quote, “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life son.” Paramedics found John Daly passed out near a Hooter’s restaurant in North Carolina. Reports that he let himself into his own cell with the key, provided by the local sherriff and his deputy, are as yet unconfirmed. Cosloy has no plans to retire the joke.
WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (AFP) — Two-time major golf champion John Daly spent a night in jail at the weekend after police here found him drunk outside a restaurant, the Winston-Salem Journal reported on Wednesday.
Police Lieutenant Tyrone Phelps told the newspaper that Daly was held at the Forsyth County Jail early Sunday morning to sober up.
According to the newspaper, paramedics went to a Hooters restaurant at 1 am after receiving a report that Daly had passed out.
When police arrived, they found Daly drunk and unwilling to go to hospital. He was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct.
The newspaper reported that Daly was traveling on a tour bus and told police that others on the bus didn’t want him back on it after the restaurant closed.
According to North Carolina state law, police can jail a person overnight to sober up.
Because it’s even sillier than liveblogging: I shall attempt to Twitter from tonight’s World Series contest. I intend to focus more on the pre-game ticket hustle and the post-game celebration riot wake whatever, though I’m sure I’ll update between innings too.
(l-r : Mr. November, Senator I’m Not George Bush, eagerly awaiting an 11th hour audience with Sports By Brooks)
“Only a very few sports blogs have been covering the Presidential election in a way that clearly declares their position,” declares Sports On My Mind’s MODI, suggesting that just like a daily newspaper, a sports blog oughta weigh in. “A typical week for Deadspin will net more than two million page views. After Al Gore lost the 2000 Florida election (technically speaking) by 537 votes, silence can’t possibly be golden.” Hey, don’t think I haven’t tried to find a way to blame the W. presidency on Deadspin’s former editor.
Deadspin is in fertile territory to potentially influence the political process as any perusal of its comment section will find no shortage of “blithering idiots”. Or is Deadspin a 40 Million-Page-View-Slave?
And what about that other big-but-not-as-big blog The Big Lead? TBL is a self-described “Independent” that likes to slip in an important political links when nobody is looking. It might be an SNL video on Palin or this really scary video at the Vegas McCain rally. So here is a very modest proposal to Jason McIntyre: a) Grab your balls; b) come out of your Obama closet; and c) don’t disclaim, preface, or apologize because your article might have some educational significance. If Obama can have great faith in “the American people”, then you can go out on a limb with your readers. Instead of merely linking to Colin Powell’s endorsement as you did (and it was a fine endorsement), why not lay out your systematic reasons for your Obama vote. Go ahead. Just do it. …or do Republicans click web sites too?
While I don’t know if any sports blogger is obliged to formally endorse a candidate, I have no objection to someone doing so. At the same time, I don’t entirely agree with MODI that a failure to do so is entirely based on cynicism — some of the most frequently visited sites in the blogosphere feature decidedly dogmatic political content. In many instances, the political blogs rank far ahead of their sporting neighbors when it comes to ad revenue. While TBL could run the risk of alienating some portion of the readership with overtly political content, there’s no shortage of short-fused characters from all over the political spectrum who have axes to grind. Their traffic counts, too!
Though I acknowledge there’s much at stake in the general election, a proper endorsement of Sen. Obama from this corner feels a little too much like grandstanding. Endorsing the front runner a week before the election isn’t exactly going out on a limb. And given that I’ve already voted for Obama in both the primary and in early voting for the national ballot, it did occur to me there’s something far more useful that I can do, an effort likely to have a much greater impact than a mere thumbs-up from a poorly read sports blog.
That’s right. Voter fraud. Any schmuck can vote for Barack Obama once. But it takes a truly committed schmuck to visit a succession of battleground states on Nov. 4 and through a variety of means (stolen ID’s, disguises, chloroform), vote for the Illinois Democrat as many times as possible. And don’t think I’m above supressing the vote, either. Whether it’s a matter of spreading a little “siting around money” through a country club or locking hundreds of people in a gymnasium who think they’re attending a free Lee Greenwood concert, I am prepared to do whatever it takes, even if it means pissing all over the electoral process. Rig the election? YES WE I CAN.
And on Yom Kippur, too! Cha-ching, that’s at least $5 towards the Bleedin’ Bandwidth fund, courtesy of Allianz. Just because the Jersey Giants were skittish about taking dough from a company that profited wildly from the Holocaust is no reason for yours truly to uh….sell out my ancestors? Thanks a million, Yardbarker Ad Network.
Earlier this year, Topps issued a 12-card insert in its 2008 Topps Baseball product called “Campaign 2008” featuring Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden and nine other presidential hopefuls.
Today, Topps announces that it has added an additional subject to the set . . . Republican vice president hopeful Sarah Palin. But her card will have a twist!
Palin will have two cards: one pictured as you see her today and pictured as an Alaskan Beauty Queen.
This seems like as good a time as any to mention that The Palin Brothers will be making their lower 48 debut tomorrow night (Thursday) at Austin’s Beerland, supporting Glasses and Snake Farm. The show is free and I would like to refute rumors the PB’s feature any players involved in this band. Or this one.
Man, I don’t know who to thank more. The 15 or 16 of you who stuck around for all 3 1/2 hours of miserable baseball (perhaps not so miserable for Ms. Clayton) at Shea last night, Ben Schwartz for the partisan live blogging, Mr. Roth for the unhappy recap, or the staff and management of St. Marks Place’s Sing Sing for graciously including Sham 69’s “Borstal Breakout” amongst their karaoke offerings. Were it not for Jon Niese serving up-a-spicy-meatball to the Cubs’ resident Mark E. Smith acolyte Jason Marquis Cha Cha, the ballgame itself might’ve been something or other besides a footnote in what is feeling more and more like Collapse II.
Besides the camraderie of a tremendous bunch of humans, I am struggling to take something positive away from the Mets’ 9-5 defeat. It boggles this very hungover mind that this team is reduced to leaning on the likes of Niese and Brandon Knight during the final week of a pennant race, much as I cannot quite remember the last Mets position player (Carlos D.? Roger Cedeno? Robbie Alomar? Sir Bonilla? Rafael Santana? Hey, my memory’s coming back!) to generate as much genuine hatred as Luis Castillo. But here’s all I can come up with :
a) Aaron Heilman pitched a scoreless 8th inning. I know, BFD, but given the workload the rest of the pen is likely to face over the next 6 days, sparing any of Heilman’s colleagues just one more appearance might actually be consequential.
b) Carlos Beltran hit with the centerfield wall while making a fine running grab of Mark DeRosa drive in the top of the 7th last night, sustaining some damage to his ribs and left knee. Beltran stayed in the game despite the Mets being down by 6 runs at the time, and emerged from the trainers room to take his at bat in the last of the 7th, singling off Neil Cotts in the process. This made no difference in yet another must-win turned into a defeat, but at some point NYC’s legion of hate fuck radio screamers are gonna have to acknowledge Beltran’s determination and character have been grossly misjudged. This is the same player who had his face rearranged in a violent collison with Mike Cameron in 2005, yet returned to the lineup shortly afterwards, despite the club being far out of contention. We’ve routinely heard the whispers from certain WFAN hosts that Beltran is “aloof” or “not a big game kind of guy”. Not for the first time, this bullshit agenda has been exposed.
Back to internal affairs for a minute, I’m still trying to figure out what’s up with Live Nation advertising a Dice Clay show on CSTB. Maybe it was all those old references to “Hitz”. Either way, I’m not about to tell the planet’s premiere concert promotion monopoly firm they don’t know their demographic.
I trust that GC — once he’s done belting out karaoke favorites (here’s a clip of our camera-shy webmaster at work) and drowning his memories of tonight’s 9-4 Mets loss in the cocktail of his choice — will eventually deliver a more in-depth summary of the gala CSTB event that unfolded parallel to the three-plus hour tumble down the stairs that was the Mets’ surpassingly out-of-it performance tonight. But I thought I’d get in there while he’s still singing.
Excepting the fact that the Mets were weapons-grade terrible, the evening itself was quite enjoyable — I met some nice people (one of whom, reader Colin, is actually at work right now: hang in there, homey), somehow managed to score two beers for the low, low price of $16, and got to see the Home Run Apple come up for what’s probably the last time in celebration of a seventh-inning David Wright home run. The game itself, as you’ve probably learned from Ben Schwartz’s CSTB live-blog, was pretty rough from a Mets fan’s perspective.
Unfortunately, without my internets near at hand, I was unable to answer some of the questions that came up during the game. Now that I’m home, I’ll field a few.
Q: “What’s the record for grand slams given up to pitchers in a season? This has to be it, right?” — Ira, Hoboken, NJ, after Jason Marquis’ home run slipped over (by like 20 feet) the right field fence.
A: I would’ve guessed that the Mets had set that record tonight. Marquis’ homer, along with Felix Hernandez’s opposite-field grand slam off Johan Santana earlier this year, makes two pitcher-authored slams on the year. It turns out that the Mets are indeed the first team to yield two grand slams to pitchers in the same season…since 1977. The other team to do it? That would be the 1977 Cubs. This bunch of buttheads, who employed both Donnie Moore and Rick Reuschel’s brother, and whose double-play combination was Manny Trillo and Ivan DeJesus. It’s been that long since a team managed to poop itself in this way twice in the same season. Thanks for asking, Ira, that was fun to look up!
Q: “Is there a way that Luis Castillo could be any worse?” — David Roth, New York, NY
A: You are kind of pushing the limits of the FAQ format here, hombre.
Q: “How so?” — David Roth, New York, NY
A: It’s the meta…
Q: “Maybe just answer the question? And we can do the ontological stuff offline?” — David Roth, New York, NY
A: Thanks so much for making this so easy. The answer to your/my question: no, absolutely not, there’s no way Castillo could’ve been shittier in this game, unless he could somehow have also been Brian Schneider (0-3, GIDP with a strikeout), which thankfully he is unable to do as of now. Castillo made Miguel Cairo look like Chase Utley. The worse news being that Damion Easley, during his pinch-strikeout, did not make much of a case for being ready to take over at second. Castillo’s the guy for now, and I guess for the next three seasons, if you believe in things like “contracts.” Which I do not: I worship an awesome God who will somehow deliver Brian Roberts to the Mets next year in exchange for Aaron Heilman and a photo of Ricardo Rincon in an undershirt.
Q: “Two-part question: do you guys need a decent-ish spot-starter type or fireballing set-up guy? We’ve always thought the Mets have cool uniforms and fit those descriptions, respectively.” — Brian B., Kansas City, MO and Matthew L., Miami, FL
A: We have no positions available at this time. Thank you for your interest in the Mets organization, but we’d prefer to trade you for a domestic-abusing washout and a guy who looks and pitches like Jonah Hill. Respectively.
Q: “Is there really a chance the Mets could miss the playoffs again?” — Any Attendee Tonight, Queens, NY
A: Yeah, sure. If the Brewers can turn around their even-more-extreme tailspin, the Mets — currently a game and a half up in the Wild Card standings — could easily give this away. But the bigger question is…
Q: “Why do you really want to see this particular Mets team make the playoffs?” — David R., New York, NY
A: You again.
Q: “Indeed, ‘you.’ Again. Answer the…” — David R., New York, NY
A: Okay, yeah. I don’t know why. I guess because I don’t want to have seen my favorite team blow things the same way in two consecutive seasons. Last year’s Mets team, right up until the moment that their season finally crashed and burned, seemed like a team that could win a World Series to me. I harbor no such fantastical optimism about this depleted, defeated bunch of humps. The bottom third of the batting order as presently constituted is as thoroughly useless as it has been since Wilson Delgado and Danny Garcia were holding it down, and even if the team were getting any offensive push from anyone but the first four batters in the lineup, the bullpen is so blown-out that a postseason run would require a truly miraculous run of starting pitching, in addition to some 18 Again-style twist in which Francisco Rodriguez suddenly enters the body of Duaner Sanchez. I’ve tried, because I have the time and the unfortunate inclination, to imagine Luis Ayala getting the last out in the World Series. It’s incredibly difficult. Harder still, after having heard his transcendently un-intimidating ranchero/polka intro music when he entered tonight’s game.
In the end, the Mets are probably about at the level of the team currently fouling its beery nest in Milwaukee. Whether the Mets make the playoffs and get in a last postseason game or two at Shea or whether the Brewers somehow sneak in after losing 50 of their last 52 doesn’t matter much, except to those of us for whom it matters too much. Neither team is going far, and both will face the same task entering next season: finishing the process of taking a roster comprised of four really great offensive players, a few solid role-playing hitters and some good starters and turning it into a viable winner.
I love these Mets, much as I’m sure the Brewers fans love them some Brewers. But the real answers to the question of why it matters so much to me that the Mets make the playoffs all have to do with me, my goofy life, my own weird tendency to ask athletes I don’t know to toss me some free-of-charge fulfillment when I’m feeling thwarted and small. The answer to the question above, and I know this now, is certainly not because I think these Mets are going to win a World Series. I still hate watching them lose, but despite myself and against my better judgment, I still somehow want to watch them try.
[CSTB blogger Ben Schwartz, assuming command of the blog]
Live Blogging 7:24 PST: Well, the Mets are fighting back in the 9th (Delgado just grounded out to knock a run in), to make it 9-5. Look, my wife is really serious now. I told her I’m live blogging this thing on my blog, and she said “Are you getting paid for it?” I said “no,” and that was it, you shoulda seen the look I got. I gotta go out to that Brazilian place. Anyway, don’t drive angry.
Live Blogging 7:17 PST: Pitcher Jason Marquis hits a grand slam? Felix Pie claims an RBI in the 9th? It’s the latter play that compels me to raise the specter of illegal gambling, and to formally insist that the commissioner’s office investigate the Mets “throwing” this game. Cubs lead 9-4, heading into the bottom of the 9th.
Live Blogging 6:38 PST: Bottom of the 7th, Mets rebound on David Wright’s 33rd HR, which brings Jose Reyes in with him. Cubs lead 8-4, and slugger Jason Marquis has been pulled for reliever Neal Cotts. Btw, Jeremy Piven won an Emmy last night, and I think he deserved it, no matter what the tabloids say about him.
Live Blogging 6:25 PST: The Cubs haven’t scored for two innings, and I just got a call from my wife that I’m going to go out and meet her at that Brazilian chicken place we like, so I may not be able to finish blogging the game. But as things are going … well, anyway, there have been some rude remarks left in the comments section. Trust me, the new CSTB isn’t going to tolerate that sort of thing. This is a blog that will Maintain Order. Anti-Cub comments will be deleted for the duration of Our Year. And one commentor, “Marc,” advocating violence, might like to know that I am not at Shea Stadium, but in Los Angeles. Even if the former absentee COO of CSTB were to throw a Bud Light at me, he would have to have a hell of an arm.
Live Blogging 5:55 PST: Cubs lead the Mets 8-2 going into the bottom of the 5th, having picked up two more runs from a Derrek Lee HR in the 4th and series of knocks that sent Felix Pie (subbed for Reed Johnson) around the bases and home.
Btw, I’ve been looking for the opportunity to expand CSTB from simply a “sports blog” to one that also welcomes coin collecting topics across the board. In our own way, coin collectors (or “change hounds,” as we like to call each other) are certainly “sportive.” At the moment, I’m currently looking for an Indian head nickel with the corrupted Denver mint imprint, but NOT the 1904 – nice try! So if you have one, or just want to talk some coins, feel free to add some comments below.
Live Blogging 5:17 PST: Struggling pitcher Jason Marquis hits grand slam to increase the Cub lead, 6-2. That said, I hope the Cubs bench is taking into account that it would probably benefit Chicago to play the Mets in the play-offs, not the Phillies.
Live Blogging: The Cubs manage to produce a run in the 2nd inning through old-fashioned, “inside” baseball run production, on hits, a walk, and then Mark DeRosa plating the virgin run of the game. Then the Cubs threw a run away on a Jason Marquis wild pitch that allowed Carlos Delgado to score. While CSTB is occupied waiting on-line, looking for Val Kilmer in the bleachers with Vince Coleman, or witnessing farewell performances by actors playing Howard Johnson and Mookie Wilson, CSTB readers need not worry. In the worlds of Alexander Haig, “I’m in charge here.”
Late last night, the ever erudite Matt Horsehit reduced his fellow revelers to silence when offering the observation, “I’m really getting into that new Blind Melon album”. After witnessing this fantastic attempt at killing the party vibe, I wondered, what else could someone utter in a social gathering that would suck the air out of a room?
“Man, some of that child pornography from the former Soviet Union is getting really violent!”
“The usual, Mr. Sizemore?”
By all means, give this one your best shot. In the meantime, a couple of tickets remain for tonight’s CSTB 5th Anniversary party in Section 19 of Shea Stadium’s upper deck. If you’re a Mets fan, a Cubs fan or perhaps have always wanted to spend 3 1/2 hours sitting near me (but not very near, mind you. those seats are already reserved for my security detail), this is your big chance (info@cantstopthebleeding.com)
And who knows? Much the way Reggie Jackson visited Yankee Stadium’s bleachers for the first time on Saturday, perhaps a former Mets great will grace us with his presence later this evening. And if Jeff Innis needs to take the service elevator, who am I to begrudge him the VIP treatment?
…and gone for good in another day or so. There’s a handful of tickets remaining for the CSTB group outing to Shea Stadium Monday evening, an event that not only commemorates the start of this blog’s 6th year in business, but also happens to feature a contest between two of the NL’s division leaders (as of this writing), Ben Schwartz’ Chicago Cubs versus the New York Metropolitans. It’s the final Monday regular season game at Shea, and who would you rather spend the evening with than me and 25 weirdos? But enough about the Cubs, some of your favorite CSTB contributors and commentators will be in attendance, too. I don’t want to give away all of the special features I’ve put together with the assistance of the Mets’ marketing deparment, but suffice to say your mind will be blown when Repoz is introduced as the new trainer for Challenger, the enduring symbol of freedom.
Tickets are $11.50 (including all service charges), and you can pester me via info@cantstoptbleeding.com
Wearing a “White Devils For Obama” t-shirt while visiting the campus of University of Chicago. I haven’t confused that many Ph.D. candidates since Tom Frank had my band play a Baffler party and we brought a balloon-twisting, bicycle-horn hoking clown with us to the gig.
Ben,
Two points about Barry Bonds’s drug tests from 2003:
1. The 2003 test list has not been discredited. Judge Ilston threw out positive tests seized from the Balco lab because she said the government cannot authenticate them without Greg Anderson’s testimony. The judge is is permitting the government to present the results of Bonds’s 2003 tests.
2. Unlike Ortiz, Ramirez, Rodriguez, Sosa and Segui, Bonds’s name is not on the anonymous list of those who tested positive in 2003 because he did not come up positive when MLB conducted the test. However, the sample was later seized by federal authorities, who retested it for the designer steroids that Balco used and that’s when it came up positive.
Here are a couple links to reports on this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/sports/baseball/20bonds.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/02/20/MN8M161I4R.DTL
Best,
Tom Jolly
Sports editor
The New York Times
Tom,
First, thanks for the gentlemanly level of restraint in your response, something I probably don’t deserve, but then, around here, am never expecting. Re your two points:
1) I’m assuming you mean the judge is allowing the gov’t to present both Bonds’ players union result (negative) and then the govt’s retest (positive) – all from the same sample. The judge’s admission of the govt retest adds up to the same thing – it isn’t enough to nail the Sultan of Surly for something we all “know,” or assume, he did – take steroids. That requires more evidence, something the NYT stories don’t add to the 104 names list. That seems pretty discrediting to me re the Ilston decision, in that the positive results don’t prove anything in and of themselves. So why does it matter what it says about Sosa, Ortiz, etc?
What Schmidt’s stories argue is that Sosa, Ortiz, and Ramirez are on the 104 list. That’s it. Ok, but that list isn’t helped much by its standing in the Bonds case. Also, apparently, it tests for some steroids but not others. Do you know which steroids? I had an asthma medicine with steroid in it – would that show up on the 2003 test? Has the NYT investigated the specific medical procedures of the test and which steroids it detects? If you want me to believe this list matters, I’d like to know some of that (more on this below).
2) well, that’s why I included Schmidt’s background stuff on the 2003 tests in my post, to point out that Bonds was positive on the retest, not the initial test.
Here’s some other stuff that’s come up since I posted this piece: Nomar Garciaparra’s interview, wherein he further questions the credibility of the 104 names list as false and rigged by players:
http://www.cantstopthebleeding.com/?p=18466
If Michael S. Schmidt is in the mood to make some calls, I hope NG is on his list. Garciaparra specifically states players from the White Sox lied and said they were positive. That’s a lead, right? A day later (the same day?) White Sox mgr. Ozzie Guillien said he wants the whole 104 list released instead of the drip-drip-drip list of names. As a Cubs fan, I definitely want to know which Sox are on the list and how many played for the 2005 WS championship team. I would forgive Schmidt everything on a purely partisan level if he publishes that list. Again, though, Nomar raises questions about the testing process – what was it? How does a player just put himself down as “positive?” You could opt out of physical testing if you just put “positive?” Is that the list you want to damn these players with?
Secondly, here’s a timeline that bothers me: 1) the A-Rod/steroids story broke in SI as the gov’t’s case v. Bonds crumbled and A-Rod was on a long, off-season PR binge of Madonna, money, and sex workers. 2) When Sammy Sosa announced his retirement he smarmily said he planned to wait by the phone for his call from the Hall of Fame. A week later (?) Michael S. Schmidt ran his Sosa story, handing Sosa a timely comeuppance. 3) Manny Ramirez gets busted for steroids, does a 50-game suspension, and comes back to standing ovations from LA fans and seemingly no dent in his career. Within a month, Schmidt ran the Ramirez/Ortiz story. Why the coincidence of Ramirez/Ortiz’ names doled out at once, btw? That’s as nice a built-in an angle as the Sosa take down, as both were on the Curse Breaking Red Sox team. Nice of those anonymous lawyers to provide your angles, I guess.
Given the timing of all three stories, whose agenda is the NYT on? I realize you can’t reveal sources, but whoever leaks these stories sure has it in for smug, unapologetic players who your sources know to be on that 104 list. This is why I think Michael S. Schmidt looks like he’s being played (unless he’s calling the lawyers first in order to knock the players down a peg). After Garciaparra’s public statement, I fully expect Schmidt to get a call about him. Or, that the next player the NYT outs will have some similar recent public hubris some anonyous lawyer feels he needs to pay for. Are you at least confident that the lawyers familiar with the case aren’t all the lawyers on the same team with the same agenda? Schmidt looks like he’s taking dictation on these stories, and not asking around for information to balance anything beyond what’s given him. I mean, thanks for the press release, but does the NYT have anything to add to anonymous lawyers attacking players, or is a sensational leak really news enough? I think Schmidt’s stories serve people with a nasty, petty vendetta of some sort.
Why are all the 2009 stories about Latinos? I ask not because I believe the NYT has a problem with Latinos – Selena Roberts wrote her A-Rod story for “Sports Illustrated,” not the NYT – but who ever doles out the names for you has offered up only Latinos.
Finally, is Schmidt looking into which steroids these players tested positive for? So the players tested positive on this creaky list – for what? how much? Is the test just +/- like Garciaparra says, or is there more detailed information that would give us a clear picture of abuse, severity, or possibly legitimate use of medicines prescribed by doctors (again, like my asthma medication). Players’ careers and reputations are getting permanently damaged by the NYT, so it’d at least be considerate to ask such questions or make clear some limitations on what you know – adding context and the possibility that not all these players are dead to rights cheats because of a questionable list and shady leakers.
All in all, if Obama had me and Michael S. Schmidt over for a beer, I might not call him names, but I’d still have some real issues with how the NYT handles these stories. Thanks for writing in – as a freelancer myself, I doff my hat to any editor who sticks up for his writers.
Ben