August was a very long month for me. I tried moving down to Richmond until I realized how horrible my neighborhood was. Live and learn I guess. I realized throughout all of this madness that Rochester, NY really isn't that bad and I feel more comfortable referring to this place as "home" now. In fact, I feel so at home that I actually have a bedroom completely set up for the first time in nearly five years! Living like a hippie/boxcar Willie got old after a while. If and when I try to move again (Denver????), I am going to make sure I have a lot more money saved, more work lined up, and have a place lined up that isn't in the middle of the ghetto.
In other news, the Cro Mags are playing Buffalo next month! I will more than likely be in attendance for this experience, as well as possibly their shows in Baltimore and DC the following two weekends.
I didn't really pay much attention to sports over the last month. Unfortunately the time and access wasn't really there for me. No worries though, I will be back up to full steam in time for the start of the next NBA Season.
Big ups to Boise State. When I fell asleep last night, it looked like they had the game easily won. Virginia Tech made things interesting and Boise State came back to win the game in the fourth quarter. It looks like this team just might be competing for the national title this year.
7.27.2010
Rock Steady Crew 33rd anniversary/ Jimmy Cliff!!!!
I would really like to be in attendance for this show on Sunday. It is doubtful that I will make it. I will passing through that area one day earlier and it really doesn't make sense to change trip plans to see this show. But it would be nice. There are at least ten artists on this list that I would like to see for the first time, some I have been waiting a long time to see (EPMD!!!!). Hopefully, they will do a few more dates this year.
I saw Jimmy Cliff at the Party in the Park a couple weeks back. I was happy to be able to have this opportunity. He played a lot of classic songs like The Harder They Come, Vietnam (Afghanistan), Many Rivers To Cross, and I Can See Clearly Now. This was a free show and there was more diversity in the crowd at this show than I have probably ever seen at any single show.
Chris Coghlan injured celebrating.
Chris Coghlan is headed to the DL with a somewhat hilarious injury. . Well, hilarious I guess if you're not Chris Coghlan or a Marlins fan (all 9000 of you). Didn't he learn anything from Kendry Morales? I'm guessing even more teams are likely to tone down their post game celebrations after this.
Matt Garza dropped a gem on em
I've seen a lot of baseball games over the years. I was watching when Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds made "history." I saw Cal Ripken's 2131 consecutive game. I saw Stephen Strasburg's MLB debut. I remember Joe Carter celebrating like a child. I remember Bo Jackson dominating the 1989 All Star game. I even saw a brawl live at Silver Stadium once when I was in elementary school. But one thing I recently realized I have never seen from start to finish was a no hitter.
Last night, Rod Carew was making an appearance at Frontier Field. I have a 1985 topps Rod Carew that I really wanted to get signed. But I am lazy and decided at the last minute not to go. While flipping through channels, I saw the Tigers were playing the Rays on ESPN. It was a pretty slow night for sports so I figured I would check that out. Then I saw Max Scherzer was the starter for the Tigers and I knew I was going to see a good game. I dropped Scherzer after he was recently hit kind of hard by the Indians. That was his only poor start since he has returned from the minors. I really don't have very much patience though. I remember thinking I bet Scherzer throws a gem just to spite me (yes, me). When I realized Scherzer had sent down the first six batters he faced, I thought there is an outside chance for me to finally see history. Then I quickly realized that Garza was no hitting the Tigers! This went back and forth for almost six complete innings, with each pitcher merely walking one batter each in the first four innings. One thing Harold Reynolds pointed out on MLB tv last night was that Garza was very fortunate to be facing Max Scherzer on a night where he was pitcing like he was. This made it easier for Garza to quickly return to the mound for each inning. The lone exception being the sixth inning, where Garza spent about half hour watching his team put up four runs, all on one hit (a Matt Joyce grand slam). After this, Garza returned to the mound in the top of the seventh with a 4-0 lead. I remember thinking the first pitch would probably be lined up the middle for a single. All Garza did was retire the next nine batters. I couldn't believe it. I had witnessed a no hitter finally! I can thank Matt Garza, Max Scherzer, and (most importantly) Ben Zobrist for this. Below is a must-see video, which MLB will probably take down before you read this. Here is the box score.
Last night, Rod Carew was making an appearance at Frontier Field. I have a 1985 topps Rod Carew that I really wanted to get signed. But I am lazy and decided at the last minute not to go. While flipping through channels, I saw the Tigers were playing the Rays on ESPN. It was a pretty slow night for sports so I figured I would check that out. Then I saw Max Scherzer was the starter for the Tigers and I knew I was going to see a good game. I dropped Scherzer after he was recently hit kind of hard by the Indians. That was his only poor start since he has returned from the minors. I really don't have very much patience though. I remember thinking I bet Scherzer throws a gem just to spite me (yes, me). When I realized Scherzer had sent down the first six batters he faced, I thought there is an outside chance for me to finally see history. Then I quickly realized that Garza was no hitting the Tigers! This went back and forth for almost six complete innings, with each pitcher merely walking one batter each in the first four innings. One thing Harold Reynolds pointed out on MLB tv last night was that Garza was very fortunate to be facing Max Scherzer on a night where he was pitcing like he was. This made it easier for Garza to quickly return to the mound for each inning. The lone exception being the sixth inning, where Garza spent about half hour watching his team put up four runs, all on one hit (a Matt Joyce grand slam). After this, Garza returned to the mound in the top of the seventh with a 4-0 lead. I remember thinking the first pitch would probably be lined up the middle for a single. All Garza did was retire the next nine batters. I couldn't believe it. I had witnessed a no hitter finally! I can thank Matt Garza, Max Scherzer, and (most importantly) Ben Zobrist for this. Below is a must-see video, which MLB will probably take down before you read this. Here is the box score.
7.23.2010
Dog days of summer
It's around that time of year again. July is about to turn into August and for sports fans there's not a whole hell of a lot going on. Baseball is starting to heat up, but there's still a lot of games to be played. I hope the Dodgers get Roy Oswalt, but I don't really see it happening. They need to acquire some sort of starting pitcher(s).
NBA summer league wrapped up over the weekend. I saw way more games this year than I ever have. I obviously have a better opinion of Luke Harangody now. I do think he will have a somewhat solid future in Boston. I think my original assessment of the Minnesota Timberwolves is correct. This team is going to be terrible this year. If Kevin Love and Michael Beasley are your best options, you have problems. Chase Budinger started has career off for me as one of those Brian Scalabrinesque punching bag players. I realized quickly however that he does have a great game and his athletic abilities give him tremendous upside going forward. He should show even more improvement in his second season. Is Eddy Curry's NBA career finally over? Unfortunately, it looks like Michael Redd's is. Bummer about Epke Udoh and David Lee, looks like the Warriors are going to be using a lot of D League Select players again this season. Did John Wall really already win rookie of the year? This Chris Paul mess is kind of ridiculous to me. I think he will be a Knick before the season starts though. I hope he doesn't go to the Lakers. Speaking of which, the Lakers have quietly assembled a team this offseason that might just be better than the Heat. And that is without Chris Paul. They have already added Matt Barnes, Steve Blake, and Theo Ratliff this offseason. Finally, a Lebron vs. Kobe showdown in the finals? Check out the Nets roster next time you have a second, not exactly the Blueprint for success. Tracy McGrady to the Bulls?
NBA summer league wrapped up over the weekend. I saw way more games this year than I ever have. I obviously have a better opinion of Luke Harangody now. I do think he will have a somewhat solid future in Boston. I think my original assessment of the Minnesota Timberwolves is correct. This team is going to be terrible this year. If Kevin Love and Michael Beasley are your best options, you have problems. Chase Budinger started has career off for me as one of those Brian Scalabrinesque punching bag players. I realized quickly however that he does have a great game and his athletic abilities give him tremendous upside going forward. He should show even more improvement in his second season. Is Eddy Curry's NBA career finally over? Unfortunately, it looks like Michael Redd's is. Bummer about Epke Udoh and David Lee, looks like the Warriors are going to be using a lot of D League Select players again this season. Did John Wall really already win rookie of the year? This Chris Paul mess is kind of ridiculous to me. I think he will be a Knick before the season starts though. I hope he doesn't go to the Lakers. Speaking of which, the Lakers have quietly assembled a team this offseason that might just be better than the Heat. And that is without Chris Paul. They have already added Matt Barnes, Steve Blake, and Theo Ratliff this offseason. Finally, a Lebron vs. Kobe showdown in the finals? Check out the Nets roster next time you have a second, not exactly the Blueprint for success. Tracy McGrady to the Bulls?
G-Funk Era
I was flipping through the channels last night and I happened upon the "Welcome to Death Row" documentary on the Fuse network. Whenever I get the chance to I always check stuff like this out. Like a lot of people born in the early 80s, I grew up listening to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. You could say that these were my favorite rappers in sixth grade. Being so young, I don't think I realized how influential and important these musicians were going to be for hip-hop. I don't think very many people at all could have realized how tremendous of an impact this sound was going to have on the music industry as a whole.
1992 was around the time everything really got going. In early 1992, Dr. Dre introduced Snoop Doggy Dogg in the "Deep Cover" video, from the soundtrack to the film of the same name. That movie is worth checking out if you haven't seen it by the way. Anyway, this song basically introduced us all of things to come over the next few years from Dre and Snoop.
Later that year, Dr. Dre released the much anticipated Chronic album. Again, at the time I don't think very many people realized exactly how classic of an experience was going on right in front of them. As a child, I didn't really understand anything beyond the music. I didn't know who Suge Knight was, nor did I really care very much for that matter. I saw and heard things Eazy E said about getting royalties from The Chronic, but I didn't really understand what all of that meant at the time. By the time the winter of 1992 rolled around, I was in sixth grade, playing as much basketball as possible at the Monroe YMCA. By now rap music was providing my everyday soundtrack. When I couldn't get them myself, I would dub a lot of tapes from friends. I remember getting a lot of cassingles back then, too. One of them being Nuthin But A G Thang. Most of the videos released are similar on this record, simple shots of Dre and Snoop creating some sort of mischief throughout Los Angeles. While these videos introduced the world to Snoop and Dre, everyone who bought the Chronic was also introduced to Lady of Rage, Daz, Kurupt, and Nate Dogg.
There were several other great musical releases during the G-Funk Era, but only The Chronic is a perfect record. Eighteen years later, all of the music on here still sounds fresh to me. All of the artists mentioned in this post have gone on to do their own separate things in the music and entertainment industry. Snoop has released several albums and has become somewhat of an actor, most notably appearing in Half Baked, Training Day and Starsky and Hutch. The Lady of Rage unfortunately only released one album. She has done a handful of acting roles since then and recently was featured on the Eternia and Moss album "At Last." I hope that her run on Rock The Bells this summer will make her release another album. Kurupt and Daz remain active, although their relationship in Tha Dogg Pound seems to have soured (and desoured) over the years. Nate Dogg has obviously had his share of recent health problems. He has become one of the more respected voices in hip hop over the years, being featured on just about every release imaginable over the last two decades. I haven't heard anything noteworthy from Warren G since Regulate. I did walk across the street from him after he played here in 2000 though.
At some point, Detox is going to come out. I wouldn't be all that suprised to see most of the supporting cast from the Chronic feature on there at some point. While I do want to hear this record as much as the next hip hop fan, I am not really as excited about it as I was five years ago. Nothing will ever be on the level of the Chronic again, not from Dre or anyone.
While the production on The Chronic is on its own level, there are a couple other sadly overlooked groups from this era and more specifically from the very same region. The first group, Above the Law actually had some of their early work produced by Dr. Dre. I remember seeing their tapes around back in the day and skipping right past them. Groups like this are influential to the G-Funk sound in the same way that groups like Outburst and Absolution were important to the NYHC. They might not be the first groups people mention, but that doesn't mean they don't have a catalog full of bangers.
Another good west group from this period that probably wasn't quite as overlooked is Compton's Most Wanted. What is interesting about CMW is that they were mainly around at the same exact time as NWA. They fell off around the time The Chronic was released, as MC Eiht pursued a solo career as a rapper and an actor (Menace II Society). CMW has however released a few releases over the last fifteen years. None are as good as their first two records though.
Finally, I think it is great to leave you with a video from one of the great ghost writers of the G Funk Era. If he hadn't had vocal cord troubles, he would be one of the great MCs rather than ghost writer extraordinaire. Anyway, I'm not sure how many of you knew where "Y'all ready for this" came from either, so if you've read this all the way through, you now have received a small reward.
1992 was around the time everything really got going. In early 1992, Dr. Dre introduced Snoop Doggy Dogg in the "Deep Cover" video, from the soundtrack to the film of the same name. That movie is worth checking out if you haven't seen it by the way. Anyway, this song basically introduced us all of things to come over the next few years from Dre and Snoop.
Later that year, Dr. Dre released the much anticipated Chronic album. Again, at the time I don't think very many people realized exactly how classic of an experience was going on right in front of them. As a child, I didn't really understand anything beyond the music. I didn't know who Suge Knight was, nor did I really care very much for that matter. I saw and heard things Eazy E said about getting royalties from The Chronic, but I didn't really understand what all of that meant at the time. By the time the winter of 1992 rolled around, I was in sixth grade, playing as much basketball as possible at the Monroe YMCA. By now rap music was providing my everyday soundtrack. When I couldn't get them myself, I would dub a lot of tapes from friends. I remember getting a lot of cassingles back then, too. One of them being Nuthin But A G Thang. Most of the videos released are similar on this record, simple shots of Dre and Snoop creating some sort of mischief throughout Los Angeles. While these videos introduced the world to Snoop and Dre, everyone who bought the Chronic was also introduced to Lady of Rage, Daz, Kurupt, and Nate Dogg.
There were several other great musical releases during the G-Funk Era, but only The Chronic is a perfect record. Eighteen years later, all of the music on here still sounds fresh to me. All of the artists mentioned in this post have gone on to do their own separate things in the music and entertainment industry. Snoop has released several albums and has become somewhat of an actor, most notably appearing in Half Baked, Training Day and Starsky and Hutch. The Lady of Rage unfortunately only released one album. She has done a handful of acting roles since then and recently was featured on the Eternia and Moss album "At Last." I hope that her run on Rock The Bells this summer will make her release another album. Kurupt and Daz remain active, although their relationship in Tha Dogg Pound seems to have soured (and desoured) over the years. Nate Dogg has obviously had his share of recent health problems. He has become one of the more respected voices in hip hop over the years, being featured on just about every release imaginable over the last two decades. I haven't heard anything noteworthy from Warren G since Regulate. I did walk across the street from him after he played here in 2000 though.
At some point, Detox is going to come out. I wouldn't be all that suprised to see most of the supporting cast from the Chronic feature on there at some point. While I do want to hear this record as much as the next hip hop fan, I am not really as excited about it as I was five years ago. Nothing will ever be on the level of the Chronic again, not from Dre or anyone.
While the production on The Chronic is on its own level, there are a couple other sadly overlooked groups from this era and more specifically from the very same region. The first group, Above the Law actually had some of their early work produced by Dr. Dre. I remember seeing their tapes around back in the day and skipping right past them. Groups like this are influential to the G-Funk sound in the same way that groups like Outburst and Absolution were important to the NYHC. They might not be the first groups people mention, but that doesn't mean they don't have a catalog full of bangers.
Another good west group from this period that probably wasn't quite as overlooked is Compton's Most Wanted. What is interesting about CMW is that they were mainly around at the same exact time as NWA. They fell off around the time The Chronic was released, as MC Eiht pursued a solo career as a rapper and an actor (Menace II Society). CMW has however released a few releases over the last fifteen years. None are as good as their first two records though.
Finally, I think it is great to leave you with a video from one of the great ghost writers of the G Funk Era. If he hadn't had vocal cord troubles, he would be one of the great MCs rather than ghost writer extraordinaire. Anyway, I'm not sure how many of you knew where "Y'all ready for this" came from either, so if you've read this all the way through, you now have received a small reward.
7.15.2010
mish mash of nba news
Wes Matthews is leaving Utah for Portland and Raja Bell is replacing him.. It is kind of surprising that Bell didn't take the easy way out and sign with LA. Maybe he couldn't bring himself to team up with Kobe after all of these years. It seems weird that the Blazers would go through all of this just to sign someone to backup Brandon Roy. They could have a nice little team in place if some of their players can stay healthy for a full season (Grandpa Greg).
The Heat's roster is about to become more concrete in the next day or two. It has been funny to watch everything play out over the last week and to watch Lebron James become public enemy number one in several cities following his DECISION. What I love about all of this is that EVERYONE is talking about the NBA right now. People that I know don't care at all about sports have been asking me frequently what I think about all of this. My opinion hasn't changed since I first heard everyone was going to Miami.
All of this makes me think we're in for one hell of a basketball season. The Heat and Lakers are obvious giants right now, with Orlando, Boston, Dallas, and even Oklahoma City not far behind. The Bulls are going to be a question make for me until they actually play a game together. I realize I should say the same for Miami, but let's not kid ourselves here. I would love to include the Rockets in this list of elite teams but I'm just not ready to yet.
Shaquille O'neal, Richard Jefferson, and Luis Scola remain on the free agent market. I still firmly believe Scola will be wearing red and white again next year.
I am pretty sure I am going to see Jimmy Cliff tonight.
The Heat's roster is about to become more concrete in the next day or two. It has been funny to watch everything play out over the last week and to watch Lebron James become public enemy number one in several cities following his DECISION. What I love about all of this is that EVERYONE is talking about the NBA right now. People that I know don't care at all about sports have been asking me frequently what I think about all of this. My opinion hasn't changed since I first heard everyone was going to Miami.
All of this makes me think we're in for one hell of a basketball season. The Heat and Lakers are obvious giants right now, with Orlando, Boston, Dallas, and even Oklahoma City not far behind. The Bulls are going to be a question make for me until they actually play a game together. I realize I should say the same for Miami, but let's not kid ourselves here. I would love to include the Rockets in this list of elite teams but I'm just not ready to yet.
Shaquille O'neal, Richard Jefferson, and Luis Scola remain on the free agent market. I still firmly believe Scola will be wearing red and white again next year.
I am pretty sure I am going to see Jimmy Cliff tonight.
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