Sunday, January 30, 2011

more lyrics

This morning, I heard Bob Dylan singing his wonderful song "Mr. Tambourine Man" on the radio. His performance of it isn't one I've heard very often. Rarely, in fact. Back when my computer was able to handle YouTube videos, I watched him singing the song while standing behind a lectern, as I recall. It was in glorious black-and-white.

Most of us (in the older generation anyway) are quite familiar with the Byrds' version of the song. Which I observed one day as being quite unique in that it simply goes chorus-verse-chorus, as opposed to what I imagine to be the more common verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus of most popular songs on the radio. I'd actually read that there were more lyrics to "Mr. Tambourine Man" than were used by the Byrds when they recorded it, which is probably why I looked it up and Dylan's performance in the first place.

Of course, I love the Byrds' arrangement and that gorgeous opening by Roger McGuinn's Rickenbacker guitar and the trademark vocal harmonies - just a beautiful rendition. It helped define the music of a generation! But listening to Dylan sing the song with its additional lyrics seems to give it more perspective. Here is one site's listing of the lyrics for "Mr. Tambourine Man."

Another song whose lyrics are stunning to read and moreover to hear performed is "Hallelujah" by the singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. My first experience with it came from listening to Jeff Buckley's version on his album "Grace." Stunning, absolutely stunning. Over the years, I pay attention whenever I hear the song and also found myself looking for performances on YouTube and
more information in general. Before Jeff Buckley, it seems that the singer John Cale first revived the song to greater popularity and what I believe is the arrangement that most contemporary performers more or less follow now.

The story I read is that John Cale contacted Leonard Cohen about wanting to perform the song and asked for the lyrics; Cohen generously faxed Cale the lyrics in their entirety and there were verse after verse, maybe even more than ten in all! So it came down to Cale choosing which ones he wanted to include. Here is the same above site's listing of the lyrics for "Hallelujah" (I wonder if there are even more written down somewhere in Cohen's possession?).

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Billie Jean Moffitt

Okay, you're probably wondering - "Who's Billie Jean Moffitt?"

Back in the day, and if you're a long-time fan of the San Francisco Giants you'll remember him, there was a pitcher on the Giants named Randy Moffitt. I was just a kid when he was on the team, but I remember him being a relief pitcher. In fact, I can still picture how he looked from one of my baseball cards. Well, he had a sister named Billie Jean.

Exciting, isn't it?

Well, there's more... living here in the Bay Area, I recall how my family would drive past these particular apartments near Emeryville and someone would invariably say that Billie Jean lives there. Just a little something that caught my imagination at the time.

Oh, wait a minute, this story is only interesting because Billie Jean Moffitt is better known as Billie Jean King. Pretty neat, huh? Impressive that they both achieved such high levels in their respective sports.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

worst call in football

This call may sound good, but it's rather silly:

"What a catch!!! He just reached his arms out... and snatched that ball right out of the air!"

Wait, so you mean he caught a pass? That's what catching a pass is, isn't it? The ball gets thrown into the air, and it gets caught. It's not a hand-off; it's a pass. It's like describing a run by saying, "Wow - what a run! He just kept putting one foot in front of the other over and over again." Or describing throwing a pass with, "What a throw! He flung his arm forward and then let go of the ball!"

I suppose by describing a great catch by saying that a player 'snatched the ball out of the air,' it distinguishes it from plays where the ball is allowed to hit the chest, cradled from falling to the ground, and caught that way. Still, the 'snatched the ball out of the air' call makes me roll my eyes a bit. Now, if something else about the catch was extraordinary, then describe that...

Thursday, January 20, 2011

those were the days (with hair!)

Some time ago, I had a blog entry (rock and roll photographs) that included a picture of the band U2 when they were much, much younger... back when they were teenagers! Difficult to believe that they are the same set of people that we see today. Of course, I've aged over the years as well, but that's not the point.

Anyway, I thought I'd give equal photo time to another band that has meant a lot to me and was a big part of my life, particularly in my 20's and 30's: R.E.M. I suppose that for the many people that are too young to remember, Michael Stipe has always kept his head clean-shaven, whereas for me, I still have a picture in my mind of the long locks he used to have... seriously! Not just a head of hair, but his hair was beyond shoulder length.

So, I found a couple of photos online, one that shows approximately what they look like today: contemporary R.E.M. (left to right: Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe)

and yesteryear R.E.M. (left to right: original drummer Bill Berry, Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck)

Over the years, it's been interesting for me to see their looks change - Peter for awhile wore his hair longer than shoulder length himself, Mike started wearing his hair longer, lighter, and wavy (and even more striking were the shimmering clothes he started wearing on stage), but the biggest adjustment was getting used to a bald Michael.

It's a lot of fun going back through the years and remembering each album release, the articles about them, the I.R.S. years, the years with their original drummer Bill... those were the days.

Monday, January 17, 2011

mammoth park

Crazy people - what are they thinking?

There is an article on the Yahoo! home page today that states that Japanese researchers are planning to resurrect the extinct mammoth from tissues that have been preserved and discovered in the permafrost of Siberia. Sure, I doubt that having living mammoths among us would be as harrowing as the bringing of dinosaurs back to life in the movie Jurassic Park, but I don't think this is a good idea. It might seem like a 'neat trick' and a cool challenge but it spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E to me.

Even if the mammoths themselves cause no obvious outward signs of problems, where would this new game end? What other extinct species would scientists strive to bring back just because... it's fun to play the role of creator? Why not put their energy, our energy, into restoring the balance to and preserving what's here now?

Here's the link to the article.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

learning chess

Yesterday's newspaper featured an article about young chess players and the popularity of the game. It reminded me of when I first learned how to play:

As I recall, I first learned how to play back in fourth grade. The teacher had arranged for a guy to come in and teach us - I can still picture what he looked like (imagine a slighter Eddie Money). Anyway, he taught us how each of the pieces moved and the basic rules, probably up to castling but short of en passant. What he didn't emphasize, probably because he didn't think he needed to, was that pawns can't move backwards.

I remember our first foray into playing games - my classmate and I would move a pawn a square forward and on our next turn, move it back again. Ah, those were the days. Non-aggressive, non-obtrusive, so peaceful. Nice, neat and tidy. Move a pawn forward, then move it back; then maybe next time, move a different pawn forward, then move it back again. I loved it.

Then that teacher guy happened by where we were playing and he broke the news to us: pawns only move forward. How horrifying! Looking back, that change to the rules, to the correct rules, ruined the game for me. There was no more retreating; the game became so much more, well, war-like. There would be no more peaceful co-existence and live and let-live platitudes.

I'd rather go bird-watching.

Friday, January 14, 2011

misnamed birds

Here are only a couple of examples, but who named these birds? Were they being ironic or something? Bird-watching is serious business, so this kind of humor is unappreciated:

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Okay, maybe there is a subtle, rosy-colored blush on its belly at certain angles, but if someone actually went looking for a woodpecker with a red-belly, this isn't the bird that would be focused on.


Hooded Oriole

So the entire bird is a yellowish-orange with black highlights (facial mask, wings, and tail) and it's called a Hooded Oriole? What's up with that? Why isn't it called something like the Black-masked Oriole?


Well, I don't really mean that bird-watching is serious (although it can be) - it should be relaxing and bring people closer to nature. But the naming of certain species leaves a lot to be desired.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Dance of Joy!!!

Well, the 49ers landed their big fish - Jim Harbaugh has just been announced as their new Head Coach... Whew!

Things were getting scary there for awhile with stories going every which way. No one was really sure just what to report, so everything was being reported: the 49ers are out and Miami is in; Elway and the Broncos are scheduling an interview; the 49ers are moving on to their second and third choices; Harbaugh is considering remaining at Stanford; etc. Having gotten hyped up with all the talk about getting Harbaugh as new head coach of the Niners, that's who I wanted and now he's signing his contract this afternoon!

Now that he's the guy, I can say that I'm okay with how it was handled. I actually liked how he had the media running around not knowing what was going on. They got played - which is what I look forward to happening to opposing defenses in years to come: running around not knowing what's going on. I am SO excited about this.

I love his history and ties to the Bill Walsh legacy, I love his offensive savvy, I love the prospect of looking forward to his twice-a-year facedowns with Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks, just off the top of my mind. And his decision makes sense to me - why uproot his family and move out of the beautiful Bay Area and relocate across the country? This is the most excitement I've felt for the team since their last appearance in the playoffs. Mad props to Jed York, Trent Baalke, and the 49ers organization for getting this done.

And now cousin Balki and cousin Larry are doing the 'Dance of Joy!'

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

"don't be ridiculous!"

So the 49ers have chosen Trent 'Baalke' Bartokomous to be their new general manager (sorry, but I saw the 'Perfect Strangers' reference on a website and couldn't resist!). Not surprisingly, a whole lot of discussion and fuss is going on right now; I might as well throw in some of my thoughts too:

I'm fine with it! As has been said, Baalke has been unofficially interviewing for the job ever since former G.M. Scot McCloughan left the team, and after all that, if Jed York believes he is the best choice, then there it is. It appears that many other people throughout the league think very highly of Baalke as well.

The time is not now to assume that he's the wrong choice as many fans are doing... we won't know for several years. And more immediately, will he be able to produce the popular pick of Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh as new Niner head coach? Well, it will reflect well on his ability to get things done if he can, although it appears that Jed York has been working on the prospect of getting Harbaugh for some time now. I've read too that Harbaugh himself has 'approved' the hiring of Baalke, even though that's kind of backwards. Harbaugh has that much clout right now, doesn't he? After all, the Stanford Cardinal did just win the Orange Bowl!

It wasn't long ago that fans and pundits were wondering why Mike Singletary was shown the door with one game in the regular season remaining... why not just let him finish out the season? Well, if the Niners have Harbaugh in their sights, then they had no time to waste in getting everything into place including the interviewing and selection process for the general manager position which Jed York wanted to have done first.

Was Jed York running a little 'misdirection' in the process of choosing the new G.M., stating that he wanted to run extensive interviews with every good prospect available? Well, if he wanted a realistic chance of getting Jim Harbaugh as his coach, he couldn't very well wait until he could interview every good prospect because he would have had to wait for the post-season to end. He doesn't have to tell the press everything that's going on in his mind, does he? If he's a little bit wily, and as long as everything turns out alright, I'm okay with it!

Which leads to the big question: Is Harbaugh worth it? NFL history is littered with successful college coaches that failed at the NFL level - why would Harbaugh be any different? Well, it's said that he runs an NFL-style of football at Stanford, and his coaching staff has many years of NFL experience among them. Harbaugh has coached (albeit briefly) at the NFL level as an assistant, so he knows the pace of the game. If he is hired, perhaps he would be bringing several of his assistants with him - I am particularly excited at the prospect of him bringing his offensive coordinator... in the Orange Bowl, Stanford proved themselves of utilizing tight ends in their offense: Vernon Davis and Delanie Walker, anyone?

Even though Jed York seems to be moving really quickly, I wouldn't draw too many parallels with his hiring of Singletary a few years ago; Harbaugh and Singletary seem to be polar opposites in their qualifications and approaches to the game. Of course, as of this writing, no decision has been made on the head coaching position, but I am excited at the prospect of landing Harbaugh. Time will tell...

Monday, January 3, 2011

Week 17 - Cardinals vs. 49ers

What to say? Should I admit how uninvolved I felt while watching yesterday's game? It's like watching a suspense movie after knowing how it ends, or reading a book already knowing how things turn out - there wasn't much to root for. It was only after the game and reading how excited the players were to get the victory that I was happy about the win.

(Interim) head coach Jim Tomsula brought joy to the team, something that had been missing for years. Joy as in playing the game. He was smiling, players were smiling, even before the outcome of the game had been decided. And the Arizona Cardinals were in the same boat as the Niners: record-wise, disappointing season-wise, etc. So it's not like they had that much more reason to play sullen yesterday.

As far as draft position goes, the victory only meant losing two spots, from the 5th overall pick to the 7th, so I do believe that the win meant more to the team than what might have been gained in April's draft. Trading up from 5th to the 1st overall pick is about as daunting as up from the 7th pick - it could well be impossible anyway. If QB Andrew Luck declares for the 2011 draft, I'm part of the vast majority that believes that he will be picked first. After that, teams just have to pick wisely; one never knows if the 7th pick will have a much better NFL career than the 5th pick.

And much more important to the future of the 49ers is the hiring of their next general manager and head coach. I'll just have to trust the Niners ownership and brain-trust to make the right decisions. And the jury, so to speak, will be out on them for a few seasons anyway. We'd all like the next Bill Walsh to be found and hired, but even he had a couple of disappointing win-loss records to begin his career as the 49ers head coach. I wonder if in this day and age of the Internet, Bill Walsh would have gotten another season after going 2-14 and 6-10 his first two seasons. Would Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. have been seen as such a genius for hiring Walsh in the first place? What if Walsh hadn't been able to draft Joe Montana because some other team had beaten him to the punch?

Thank goodness things worked out from top-to-bottom back then! Now... can it happen again?