Hard to believe Juan Pierre is worth $45 million and Ross is worth nothing.

But that is where the similarirties end. One is the best player on his team if not in the league. The other is not even the second best player on his team. One is in his prime and the other is closer to social security benifits than his rookie year. I hope Kend's bat holds up like last year. But at age I'm afraid the odds are much against it.

Not sure if I contributed to the clubhouse divide or not with this chat, but it was fun nonetheless. I even got a great photo out of the encounter which I'll gladly bore any of you with if you want visual proof of this encounter.

dt

With Karl Dorrell, Bruins win.

Without Karl Dorrell, Bruins lose.

YDTM

dt

Also, I don't think Kent ever failed to recognize the talent of younger guys.

In the end, if the Dodgers compete for the NL title, you will hear lots of things on how Joe got them all to work together. Whether or not its true, that will be the party line.

I here you Jon, the Tower record store near my house has closed down (it is now a walgreens) there disappearing before our eyes...

kobe is competitive as heck, but he's not grumpy or old.

While this isn't the point of the post, however it was mentioned. The Blazers aren't really rebuilding. They are ready now. Winners of 10 in a row. Only 1/2 game out of first behind Denver whom they have beaten twice.

The ice cream had apples in it.

But when the coach was named, there wasn't just one guy in the room. There were the three main candidates and it was announced as if they were giving out an Oscar.

Now, about that criticism of Arcade Fire...

You seem to be assuming that

1. There was a real problem
2. Kent was on the "right" side of the problem

I'm not sure I accept both of those. Either there was no problem (and people started nit-picking (see, for example, the trash can incident) because the team was losing), or there was a problem, and the vets (Kent, Lowe, LuGo) played a big part in it.

They're only ranked because of last year's team. They haven't done anything this season to warrant national respect.

Sloth is the most underrated of the seven deadly sins.

I remember going to the corner market & playing arcade games, you just don't see that anymore.

Although watching Fred Taylor make Oakland's defense look like they were all on Ambien was entertaining.

I wouldn't want to be Kent's dog or his motorcycle next season, but I don't think he'll have the same ability to mess up the Dodger clubhouse as he did in '07.

He also like Kuroda.

Came upon this article on the "All-Overpaid Team" for current players it seems. Pretty solid list.

http://mlbfleecefactor.com/2007/12/23/the-all-overpaid-team/

the 2 sides of Daybe Perry. There is the cool one here [ http://tinyurl.com/2b43bu ] & this one [ http://tinyurl.com/26yaqg ]

25 okay, recommend me some arcade fire songs. i'm open minded enough to give them a second chance.

"Let me touch you, let me touch you, let me touch you, let me toooooouuuch you where the rooyyyyallll jelly gets made."

Weird Al's "Bob" is worth a listen.

The funny (or apropos) thing is that the Dylanesque stuff for Walk Hard was written by songwriter Dan Bern, who is one of those artists that sounds a lot like Dylan (on his original stuff).

My personal favorite songs on the Walk Hard soundtrack are "Let's Duet," of course, and "Guilty as Charged."

So transparent.

Against Wheelaboards!

Joan Baez
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dD191qnqkI
(skip forward to 9:30 mark)

Loudon Wainwright:
http://tinyurl.com/yt7a95

Josh Ritter:
http://joshritter.com/historical/

Sanchez went 1-for-19 with a double and 18 strikeouts.

However, I still can't find the NYT article.

Here's the version with the original lyrics. I been Walt Disney'd, Diz Disley'd...

http://djallyn.org/archives/83

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD0GHx980CU

Oh. I have flashblock, so I didn't see the screencap; the title should have been enough.

http://tinyurl.com/2ru5gd

I learned today that I could take 23 five year olds. Though that seems low, to me.

http://www.howmanyfiveyearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com/

I managed to get through this entire Christmas buying season without even stepping into a Borders or Barnes & Noble. The only time I went to malls was to help my mother.

Viva Amazon!

1) Be nice to people because I can only beat up 15 5 year olds.

2) Never play whiffle ball with college kids.

Merry christmas to all the DT'ers, and thanks Jon for such a great site.

A 44-year old man is rocking out to M.I.A's "Kala" at 2:06am PST. He is hours away from a marathon skateboarding session with four young kids who know how to skateboard which is more than can be said for him and he has to prepare a family meal.

Will someone slap him in the head, very hard?

Thank you. And Happy Holidays to the greatest group of commentators on the net.

I'm not easily ticked off but those Amoeba guys are punks with a capital "p" and yes, it's a great record store.

Although the box was shipped from Medford, OR, the label indicates that the fruit was grown in our beloved Tulare County.

And what about Steve Winwood? Does he count as white? Blind Faith gets some sort of special white people exception.

Really.

i guess i'm asking for a russian exception clause.

100 still thinking of an arcade fire rec for me? (55 )

My obedience to rule four is not flawless.

It's not very exciting when you're seven.

Glad to see your taste has improved. Now we just need to work on Andrew.

I did like the cheese factory.

Mmmm.... Cheese....

It's not exciting when you're twenty-seven, either.

I joined in October 2005. I was immediately introduced to a lot of music that I didn't know was missing from my life. It was terrific.

Over the next year, just as I had picked over the most obvious choices, new labels like Drag City and New West joined up and I found bands that others had been longing for, gave 'em a shot, and was not surprised to dig. The rumors were that emusic would get even better -- indie giant Sub Pop was rumored to be joining.

But then, instead, Drag City and others disappeared. I'm now where I was a year ago, trying to find new music by giving unrecommended stuff a try. That's not bad at $0.25 per track -- if you don't like it, you're only out a quarter -- but it takes some more diligence. You have to seek out the stuff you think you'll like based on tenuous connections.

In recent weeks, customer service has taken a hit (a lot of reasons too obscure to go into). I haven't noticed it myself, because I'm two years into my membership, but service for new members -- if you believe the message boards -- has been poor. I'd ask SB -- knowing what you know today, would you recommend emusic to a new user, or would you advise them to wait until these problems are sorted out?

Of course, the problems might not get sorted out. The rumors are that the owners of the site want to sell the service... and if that's true, who knows what the new owners will do.

http://tinyurl.com/yve483

In it, he implies* that Juan Pierre costs his team as many as 13 runs a year, compared to a "typical" team with the save BA, OBP, and SLG stats.

This might be as good a time as any to say peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

*He notes it, but I don't think he actually thinks that Juan Pierre costs his team 13 runs per year.

"a 'typical' team with the same BA, OBP, and SLG stats."

As good as Mozart.

I've never had any problems with clerks in Amoeba. Even though I live in LA, I've visited the SF store just off Haight-Ashbury a few more times than the Hollywood store, and always enjoyed myself immensely, and never felt eyeballed.

Maybe I just have extraordinarily cool taste in music. (Which would be news to my son.)

And Bix Beiderbecke, Bill Evans, Benny Goodman, Bob Dylan, Levon Helm, Bill Monroe, Peter Green, Mose Allison....

Aretha's got more soul than anybody, granted. But:

Janis Joplin
Dusty Springfield
Tracy Nelson
Peggy Lee
Amy Winehouse
Bonnie Bramlett
Annie Lennox

...to name a few, got soul. All born in the 20th century.

And, jeez, what about Van Morrison?

People pretend that taste is subjective, but sometimes it isn't.

http://www.greatbigradio.com/Welcome.html

Peggy Lee and Annie Lennox make me think you're arguing against yourself. But still: give me Aretha, Tina Turner, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Big Mama Thornton, Billie Holiday, and Koko Taylor, and you can keep Janis Joplin.

But...you're resting your case on a Temptations/New Kids comparison? Sheesh...that's pretty narrow field. It would be like me using a Johnny Mathis/Bobby Hatfield comparison to prove white people have more soul.

Anyway, I'm going to bow out of this. It's all a matter of taste, not pigmentation.

RIP Oscar Peterson....

Also, while I don't have a theory of why white people stopped being good at music, I don't assume there's a biological reason for it. I don't assume the reason that nearly every good writer is/was a man is biological either. For a long time, I thought that the baby boomers were an aberration; that as soon as we were rid of them, maybe white people would get better at music. But I'm not so sure, now. I think they may have permanently ruined music. It's sad, really. Maybe nanotechnology will fix it, though, so, fingers crossed.

And now I'm done. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

The entire Dusty in Memphis album is great. You're right, a lot of her backup musicians were white, many of them the same guys who backed up Aretha, Otis and Wilson.

Peggy Lee and Annie Lennox are so cool, they can afford to look like albinos. I mean, come on, "Fever?" And as for Lennox, listen to "I've Tried Everything" from the Sopranos soundtrack. Or "Why," or "Would I Lie to You."

The reality of pop, blues, jazz, soul, country, rock and hip-hop is that they have represented a cultural hybrid from their beginnings. There is no pure black or white music. That's why the forms are so strong and have such global appeal. The influences play out in unexpected ways. Was Louis Armstrong a purely black artist? He grew up in New Orleans, the most culturally diverse city in America at the time. Duke Ellington? He was exposed to European classical music at an early age, and matured artistically in Harlem nightclubs from which blacks were excluded as patrons. Miles Davis learned from Charlie Parker but also from Debussy. And the biggest cultural crossroad figure of them all --Elvis Presley. He was no Pat Boone. He got inside those R&B tunes, mixed in a little of that Appalachian mountain lonesome and created a style that was heavily influenced by black singers who were in turn heavily influenced by him.

To be sure, there are white artists who seem to have less of a black influence than others -- the whole "indie rock" movement seems to be pretty much jazz, blues and soul-free -- but even Neil Young played in a band with Rick James, so you never know.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

Be safe Marty & a happy & Merry Christmas to one & all.

Holidays are special time for Loney

http://tinyurl.com/38kzhr

>> A turning point occurred during a meeting to decide the roster for the 2005 season. Longtime star Vinny Castilla had returned to the club in 2004 to drive in an NL-leading 131 runs. Sentiment abounded to re-sign him, but Atkins had been a standout in the Minors and needed his shot.

"I think the question was pointed at Clint, 'If we keep Vinny, then we've got to trade Garrett Atkins,'" Charlie Monfort said. "And he said, 'Well, I don't want him playing for another team.' So all of a sudden, Garrett Atkins is our third baseman." <<

## Such pitchers as Steve Trachsel, Esteban Loaiza, Matt Morris and Brett Tomko were available, if the Rockies were willing to give up their future. ##

%% "I go to these baseball meetings and it amazes me when you talk with some of the other people," Charlie Monfort said. "The decisions they make are because the media is going to kill them. You can't have the media making decisions for you." %%

http://tinyurl.com/yv8f9t

>> The absence of a serious NL option remains one of the ongoing mysteries in Minnesota's deliberate efforts to trade Johan Santana. The Twins surely would rather deal him to the Mets or Dodgers than to the Red Sox or Yankees —for that matter, anybody but the Red Sox or Yankees—but haven't been presented with a compelling offer. <<

http://tinyurl.com/23zayr

Re: Music and music stores: Today's kids care little about the context of the music to which they listen. Music removed from the stores, the album (yes, I said album) covers, the lyrics, the liner notes, the inside jokes and other crytpic comments, etc., takes so much away from the intent of the music. I invested hours devouring that context as a teenager. I wanted to understand what the hell Quadrophenia was about, not just listen to the symphony of Townshend et al.

But the digital age has killed off the learning and knowing of the context of the music. Ipods allow such ease of use and the internet provides those digital bullets that bring any music on demand right now. With such ease at our fingertips, what teenager is going to spend the time to understand context? They don't have the inclination to do it. They just want to hear it NOW, and move on to the next one NOW.

I fear this music issue is only a smaller metaphor for a cultural slide. It's how my students approach history. "Just give me what I need to know NOW so I can pass the exam and get an A."

I don't want my music only available digitally. It's so . . . pathetic!

On a sad musical note: Oscar Petersen passed away at 82. My wife and I brought a son into this world with the sounds of "Kind of Blue" and "Night Train." RIP, OP.

Merry Christmas, people.

Blaine <