Hello ALDLANDers! Lots to talk about today, including Felix Hernandez’s historic performance for the Seattle Mariners, which saw him notch the 23rd* perfect game in major league history. Also on the table are discussion of pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg, and the antics in the Red Sox clubhouse, not to mention our recap of the Olympics. So join AD and me for a half hour of discussion and good times.
Lest the recent hype, comparative success, and sort of Bad Boy image fool you, the Detroit Lions are still the Detroit Lions, which means you should expect them to have crippling injuries at all times. Add in the context of a preseason game, and it should be no surprise that they’ll be without ten players for tonight’s game against Cleveland. Still, let’s take a look at that injury report:
Safety Louis Delmas, who underwent knee surgery on Tuesday, running back Mikel Leshoure (hamstring), receiver Ryan Broyles (knee), defensive tackle Sammie Hill (back), safety Don Carey (hamstring), offensive linemen Jonathan Scott (knee) also will not play tonight.
Running back Jahvid Best (brain) and cornerback Chris Greenwood (abdomen) remain on the physically unable to perform list.
What??
Head injuries are serious, and so is mental illness, but what does that even mean? Is that what we’re calling concussions now?
ESPN Dallas/Fort Worth reports that Rafael Palmeiro, apropos of nothing at all, said that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens belong in the baseball Hall of Fame. Palmeiro certainly doesn’t have any personal interest in Bonds’ and Clemens’ induction. It’s not as though, if Bonds and Clemens don’t get in, Palmeiro has no shot at all, or anything.
Palmeiro was voted on just 11 percent of the ballots in his first attempt at the Hall of Fame in 2011. He received 12.6 percent in 2012, well short of the 75 percent needed from voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America to make it in.
Oh well. Maybe he wasn’t going to make it anyway, regardless of what happens to those who rode the PED wave to higher heights than he. Why he wants to cast his lot with these two is beyond me, though, as is how exactly we let him finger-wave his way back into the news, if only for a moment.
I’m slowly making my way back here from vacation, and with that and the looming football season ahead, a return to regular content is on its way. The latest ALDLAND Podcast is up on the Podcasts Page There’s also a Lyle Lovett concert report and some Olympic coverage in the can, and I plan to acknowledge the now-passed one-year anniversary of this site’s launch.
I knew Neil’s song from one of my favorite live releases, Stephen Stills’ Live. There, Stills actually introduces the song by acknowledging Neil by name, which is one of the reasons it always has stuck out to me from among a pretty fluid B/acoustic side.
Here’s Neil’s original, which sets a pace suitable for a rainy Friday afternoon:
Greetings, loyal listeners. Today, blog founder AD joins me to discuss the big sports topic of the last two weeks . . . the Olympics. Listen as we discuss everything from soccer, to track and field, to how much better the US is than China. That’s right China, we’re better than you. And ALDLAND is better than the Chinese equivalent of ALDLAND.
_______________________________
Download the ALDLAND podcast at our Podcasts Page or stream it right here:
Hoodoo Man Blues is one of the truly classic blues albums of the 1960s, and one of the first to fully document, in the superior acoustics of a recording studio, the smoky ambience of a night at a West Side nightspot. Junior Wells just set up with his usual cohorts — guitarist Buddy Guy, bassist Jack Myers, and drummer Billy Warren — and proceeded to blow up a storm, bringing an immediacy to “Snatch It Back and Hold It,” “You Don’t Love Me, Baby,” “Chitlins con Carne,” and the rest of the tracks that is absolutely mesmerizing. Widely regarded as one of Wells’ finest achievements, it also became Delmark’s best-selling release of all time. Producer Bob Koester vividly captures the type of grit that Wells brought to the stage. When Wells and his colleagues dig into “Good Morning, Schoolgirl,” “Yonder Wall,” or “We’re Ready,” they sound raw, gutsy, and uninhibited. And while Guy leaves the singing to Wells, he really shines on guitar. Guy, it should be noted, was listed as “Friendly Chap” on Delmark’s original LP version of Hoodoo Man Blues; Delmark thought Guy was under contract to Chess, so they gave him a pseudonym. But by the early ’70s, Guy’s real name was being listed on pressings. This is essential listening for lovers of electric Chicago blues.
Many of the cuts on this album are traditional blues numbers, but Junior Wells and Buddy Guy put their own spin and rhythmic emphasis on these otherwise familiar songs. Today’s Jam is a good example:
(If the title of this post jogged something in you, here‘s what you need.)
The summer season has provided inspiration for both popular and classical compositions for centuries. One of the earliest examples, circa 1260, is the English Medieval round “Sumer is Icumen In.” The translation from Middle English shows us that thirteenth century songwriters were motivated by the activities of summer. Sly Stone was similarly inspired in his 1969 hit “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” and a verse from each song seamlessly spans the centuries:
From “Sumer is Icumen In”:
Summer has come in, loudly sing cuckoo
The seed grows and the meadow blooms and the world springs anew
From “Hot Fun in the Summertime”:
Boop boopa boop when I want to, out of school
County fair in the country sun and everything is cool.
Instrumental music has its share of summer songs as well. … Keep Reading
ALDLAND 