REVIEW: Rich Robinson - Paper [2004 - Keyhole Records]

So you were disappointed by Chris Robinson's solo albums? They seemed interesting, but not ... complete? Like Chris needed a band that understood him? Well friends I have the antidote and the cure and the acorn did not fall far from the tree...

From the first stuttering riffs of Yesterday I Saw You on Rich Robinson's Paper, it's as clear who is the soul of the Black Crowes. As clear as the difference in the Mick Jagger and Keith Richards solo records.

Don't misunderstand, I love Chris Robinson's lyrics, but Rich is a capable singer, and the music carries this record far. I don't mean that as a swipe; Chris was probably trying to move beyond or away from the Black Crowes sound, where as Rich embraces and expands it a little, and that familiarity draws you right into this record. Rich has none of Chris' yelp or strut in his singing voice, but that's okay.

What can you expect? Well the first three cuts are walls of swirling guitars; Yesterday I Saw You, Enemy and Leave It Alone picking up where the Crowes Lions left off. Know Me and it's slide and lower production value harken back earlier days sounding like a lost late era Zeppelin track, something cut at the same time as Wearing and Tearing and Ozone Baby that came out on Coda. Forgiven Song and it's slow funeral speed, pedal steel and fiddles play like Jerry Jeff Walker's Lost Gonzo Band doing the Stones Moonlight Mile. Veil and When You Will are cousins of the Crowes' Evil Eye and Non Fiction.

But with Places Rich explores an evil feedback drenched overdriven riff unlike anything ever heard on his other band's records. Not Black Sabbath heavy, not CCR swampy, it's just a plodding and insistant groove that just drags you under with it. The mood is lightened by Begin and it's pre-Joker Steve Miller sound with nice keyboards by Crowes mainstay Eddie Hawrsch. Falling Away is a great slow acoustic ballad over which Rich lays some of his signature blues bending. The keyboard driven Baby and Oh No allow Rich some open tuning slide time. Answers with a string quartet in the background and It's Over are rhythym driven tracks, Answers being a bouncing rhythym and It's Over following a turnaround waltz !?!.

I say again, Rich is no singer, but his voice is as passable as anything. I want to use Steve Miller as an example, but he's even more deadpan than that. But that's not the point. This is a GREAT album that you may have missed.

Game On !!!! [Finally]

I know y'all have been waiting for this one, my take on the return of the NHL.

Well it's about time.

I know a lot is going to be made about who 'won' and who 'lost' in all this. I'm not worried about that. I believe that player salaries were escalating out of control and needed to be in check. I think owners spent unwisely and needed to be slapped for it. But ultimately, I think the players and owners needed to be tied together in the same boat, hence, a partnership with salaries tied to revenues. Now the players have incentive [continue] to be some of the most available and down to Earth athletes in professional sports, to be ambassadors of the game of hockey and help the sport grow south of the Mason-Dixon line. Grow the game, increase revenues, increase salary caps. Ownership gets a chance to stand on level ground, knowing labor costs and not having to worry AS MUCH about Detroit, Colorado, Dallas, NY Rangers buying up all the prized free agents. Smaller markets can compete, if the numbers fall right, for a superstar like Peter Forsberg, Jaromir Jagr, Keith Tzchuk, Tony Amonte, Joe Thornton and build their market. In Edmonton, Carolina, Calgary and Nashville, they are doing cartwheels. Bill Wirz, the penny pinching owner of the Chicago Blackhawks and Jeremy Jacobs in Boston are smiling at a salary minimum and are doing everything in their power to exceed it by only $ 1.00. The players gain younger free agency and a higher minimum salary. Arbitration is revamped, but not a way I'd like to see it.

So now it's game on with and emphasis on 'offensive flow,' meaning [stop me if we've heard this before] a real emphasis on 'cutting down on obstruction especially in the neutral zone,' removing the red line for passing to allow 'the bomb,' and the shootout. I like the shootout. One thinks it favors the offensive player, but the goal wins more than he loses.

Also, for the first time, there's going to be a real shake-up in rosters. With almost 400 players available as free agents, plus an unprecedented buy-out period [Tony Amonte and John LeClair are just the first; expect Pierre Turgeon to be axed by the Stars and possibly Bobby Holik and/or Jaromir Jagr by the NY Hockey Rangers] which will free up some more folks. Will teams pass on borderline/aging veterans to bring up youngsters who will play for the new minimum? Have we seen the last faceoffs for Mark Messier, Chris Chelios, Steve Yzerman, Al McIness, Ron Francis, Marc Bergevin? Where will players like LeClair, Amonte, Turgeon, et al wind up? All of us who played fantasy hockey with salary caps may be in better position to be GMs than the guys there now. Will there be more movement in restricted free agents like Martin St. Louis and Jerome Iginla to teams that have room under the cap?

But the important thing is, it's game on again. It's time to get back out on the ice and play the game. We can get a meaningful TV contract, especially with the shootout providing 'instant highlights' for local news and Sportscenter. Let's put the bitter pills behind us and prove how great this game is again.

Can Sidney Crosby Save Hockey in Pittsburgh?

The Pittsburgh Pengiuns won the NHL's draft lottery today, guaranteeing them first pick in the upcoming NHL draft and 17 year old phoneme Sidney Crosby. [Nashville drafts 18th, Marty. Colorado 27th the rest of you.] This is akin to Pittsburgh drafting Mario Lemieux again. This kid is supposed to be the second coming. Even Wayne Gretzky has said something like 'this kid could give my records a chase.'

But the question remains: does anybody in Pittsburgh CARE?

The Pens have been begging for a new arena since about 1996. They haven't gotten one. The Pirates [13 straight losing seasons] have a great new park. Heinz Field is shared by Pitt [University of Pittsburgh] and the Steelers. One might think that an arena that was 29 years old and had just hosted 2 Stanley Cup championships [and an Eastern conference final - anyone ELSE remember the Pens took the Florida Panthers to 7 games before they fell in 4 to the Avs? How exciting would a Mario /Jagr /Francis /Nedved Pens vs Sakic /Forsberg /Roy Avs been?] would qualify for rebuilding before the destruction of Three Rivers stadium built three years later. But no...

So now Mario takes his deferred salary by taking over ownership of the team who desperately needed rebuilding and revenue sharing. The Pens traded Jaromir Jagr because he was locker room poison and made too much money. The Pens traded Alexei Kovalev because he made too much money. They had a 30 million dollar budget BEFORE the cap and revenue sharing. Of course now they are set up for a cap. They have a franchise goalie in Marc-Andre Fleury and should be able to get last year's #2 overall pick Evengi Malkin to come over from Russia with the addition of Crosby and Mario committed to playing this year and youngsters Ric Jackman and Brooks Orpik on the blueline, plenty of young veterans like Rico Fata, Milan Kraft, Konstantine Koltsov and Ryan Malone... this team should be GREAT in two-three years.

But again, will anyone in Pittsburgh care?

Mario is selling the majority of the team to a group of west coast investors. The team has 'cost certainty,' now they need to figure out a way to get people interested again. No one is kidding themselves saying the Pens will knock the Steelers off as favorite sons, but they only play football one day a week and the Pirates [unless Dallas Mavs owner Mark Cuban DOES buy them, a rumor I have heard] aren't going to be playing in October. The rules changes, especially removing the red line for passing will allow an offensively aggressive group to play firewagon hockey again. The Pens weakness, since Kjell Samuelsson retired anyway, had been defense and goaltending. [And OH BOY, Duane Sutter could cure those defensive lapses, but Mario's buddy Ed Olczyk is in as coach. Maybe new ownership will bring in a discipline guy again!] There were no changes in the size of the net and no significant changes in goalie equipment, so the athletic goaltenders still have rule of the roost. The shootout may help TV ratings, but a young goaltender is going to have trouble... or maybe the older ones who didn't play in the AHL or ECHL and have to face that. And the thought of facing Mario in a shootout probably isn't exciting any goalies... Anyway, this is a team that will need to win games 7-5. That may be exciting, but any team with a disciplined defense [NJ Devils] can shut that down.

Will anyone in Pittsburgh be watching? Or will we be looking at the Portland or Seattle Penguins be hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2008?

Eye Candy

I have been seeing Sara Evans on CMT again lately... lordy, if anyone meets her twin, send her my way. That woman is stacked like the proverbial brick 'outhouse'.' Can't listen to her sing much ... she goes for long drawn out 'MEEEEEE' that sounds like 'MEAAAAAAYYYYYY,' but I can watch that video for Perfect all day long.

I've been saying that today's country is just slightly watered down 80s pop with fiddles instead of Yngwie/Biff guitar solos, but it appears the women of country have discovered the push up bra and the spiked heel. Nuthin' wrong with that.

Crowes of Black are Back

The Black Crowes are coming to town - Nokia in Grand Prairie, of the $ 12.00 parking out in the middle of nowhere [thought to be fair, they are getting 8.00-10.00 in Deep Ellum and at the stadiums]. I am torn. It's still Chris and Rich and Marc Ford [Southern Harmony-Three Snakes] is clean and back in the fold, Sven Pipen is sufficient on bass, 'old weird Ed' on keys [hopefullt higher in the mix this tour] but I don't know who is drumming. And I always thought Steve Gorman's inventive drumming was a key to that band. It might be like seeing the Stones with somone other than Charlie Watts behind the tubs.

Of course I can't afford a ticket right now, but when my raise kicks in I might consider one.

UPDATE: Billboard reported May 6th that "Original Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman has rejoined the band, after opting out of the initial dates on the band's reunion tour." I guess this ensures I will be travelling to Grand Prarie to relive some of my youth. Last time I saw the Crowes was Sept 2001, about 1 week after the 9/11 trgedy. They played a good set of rock and roll even though guitarist Audley Freed was WAY too loud in the mix and Ed was way way buried. That was also my last show at Bronco Bowl. The BEST Crowes show I saw was at the old Bomb Factory, 1st of two nights that they just rip-raored through a HOT HOT set. Worst was the Sportatorium about three weeks after the Stones in 96. Marc Ford was WAY WAY out of it that night.

Roller Derby Report

Hunter Thompson once wrote that the Circus Circus was what the world would be like if the Nazi's had won the war. And while I think part of that analogy is true, I think it misses a key part of what we would all be doing: Roller Derby.

First, I was surprised by the large turnout yesterday. I thought we were talking about a fringe of a fringe sport here, but they sold out the roller rink this all happened in. Lots of tattoos and coolers and beer in cans, but a surprising number of young kids and older folks... maybe they were all family of the roller girls, but I doubt it. Lesson one was :Next time buy tickets in advance.

Second: I had no doubt seen roller derby before, but I didn't understand it. Now I get it. Of course this isn't 70's TV roller derby with the banked track with the rails, it was just on the regular roller skating floor... and they used old style 4 wheel skates, not in lines. I don't know if that's keeping the 'Classic look and feel' or [as Amanda pointed out] possibly keeping injuries down. But anyway, I understand scoring now. And the girls were mean and rough. Amanda's friend was # 666 Marco the Beast and she is really mean at blocking out, clean but rough. Unfortunately her team Truth and the American Way lost to Lies and Conspiracy, but Lies had the better jammers... boy they were fast.

Overall it was good clean family fun and I hope the good turnout allows them to keep having matches.

Hall of FAME, not Hall of the Very Good

Rafael Palmeiro is not a Hall of Fame player. I heard a guy on Sporting News Radio say it: "Hall of Famers are OVERACHIEVERS."

Palmeiro is a good example of a VERY GOOD player, but not a Hall of Fame player. Tommy John, Rick Sutcliffe, Ryan Sandberg, Craig Biggio, Dave Andreychuk, Cam Neely, Dino Ciccerelli, Claude Lemieux, Dale Hawerchuk... all good players, but NOT Hall of Famers.

To be a Hall of Fame guy you have to be more than a talented guy. You have to play with guts, Crash Davis' 'Fear and Arrogance.' Raphael Palmeiro isn't one of those guys.

RETHINK:

I was watching Sports Century this afternoon [7/20] and it was on Hank Aaron. Hank never had overwhelming numbers for many seasons either[though he did win some batting titles], but he had good numbers over a long career. If he had only hit 600-650 home runs he would probably still be in the Hall. So maybe I am wrong.

$ 50.00 ???

I was killing time in Forever Young yesterday and I just walked by looking for something and I saw one of my fave's, the Rave Ups Town and Country. I picked it up just to get an idea and it had a $ 50.00 tag on it!

Now realizing Dave isn't in the business to lose money, I take that with a small grain of salt, but $ 50 for the Rave Ups? I checked it: no autographs or anything to drive the value up, just the Rave Ups on the Fun Stuff label. I didn't see if it still had the insert [mine does].

Now we're not talking Guns N Roses Appetite for Destruction original cover [$ 250.00] or Lynyrd Skynyrd in flames, we're talking about a little band out of the Pittsburgh area that the old Zoo loved and me and Marty and Nate all have copies of and love the record. So why $ 50?

The only thing I can think of it's a small label, low run and suddenlyRyan Adams or someone in Japan or England has named them an influence.

The other point is Dave may never get $ 50.00 for that record. [Dave is also convinced people will want first run CDs like they do original copies of vinyl.] But you add the Rave Ups and the GNR and my Evening With Groucho... suddely I have a record collection that might be worth something.

What Did We Do Before DVD?

My sister, Cory and the girls are off on a road trip, their first major DRIVING vacation as a family, going down to Corpus as the hurricane approaches... anyway they were thinking they had to get a new DVD player since one of the springs is broken on the current one, but we fixed it with Duck tape.

I was just thinking, 'we were such easily entertained kids, just load up some comic books [or a couple books in later years] and a couple dolls/action figures and we were good to go.' Of course our generation's idea of fun was a Spirograph: some colored pens and plastic disks you made designs with. I didn't have Playstation or Gameboy, I had to play baseball games using a pair of dice. [Not Stratomatic, but a made up version.] We used to play Monopoly or Yahtzee or Sorry [or the equivelent with the plastic gameboard and pegs and 'Pop-O-Matic die in the bubble]. I am STILL not allowed to play Aggrivation [similar to Sorry but with marbles] because last time we played my cousins Hal and Craig were ganging up on me.

But anyway, my question is this: If kids today have TV/DVD/CD and Gameboy/Playstation 24/7, what are their kids going to be entertained by? Will their 'rebellion' be 'Anti-tech?'

Random Notes:

1. BUSINESS This Weekend:

Nate Fowler's Elixer is opening band on a three band bill at the Double Wide this SATURDAY night [July 16]. They're opening for The Golden Falcons and Max Cady, both, I am assured, good rock and roll bands.

SUNDAY, I venture down to What's Hot Roller World in Pleasant Grove for some good old fashioned American entertainment: ROLLER DERBY! Amanda's friend Robin is on one of the teams and it sounds like fun! Anyone interested is encouraged, and I see the Young Heart Attacks and Golden Falcons will be playing! Doors open at 630.

2. Coaching changes in the NHL

Pat Burns out in NJ due to second bout with cancer, Dave Lewis not re-signed in Detroit, but those jobs are pretty spoken for. Looks like Larry Robinson will be behind the Devils bench for the third time and Mike Babcock will be lured away from the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, though I am not sure why the Wings want him. He's gone to the Cup finals riding a hot goalie the same way Calgary did, he's got no long track record. What about Barry Smith who was passed over when Scotty Bowman retired a couple years back?

My group has been discussing Duane Sutter and we're thinking he may end up in Columbus. If he does, look for the Blue Jackets to push for a playoff berth.

3. Live 8: What was that all about?

'Hey let's make people aware of crippling poverty in Africa even though they get billions and billions of dollars in aid every year.'

Getting African debt dismissed is... well, I don't have an opinion on that. I am sure some banks around the world will have some heavy losses on their ledgers, but will be given breaks for it on their taxes. Woo-hoo.

The problem in Africa is still the same: The money is going to corrupt governments who are not spending it to better their people's lives.

Now you want industry to ivest in Africato help bring them up. Great. We're complaining now about India and Pakistan taking American phone in tech support and computer programming jobs and China making clothing for Wal Mart so cheap that American industry can't compete. What industry do you want to move to Africa?

People want the freedoms afforded them by the standard of living of the G8 [US, UK, France, Germany, Russia[??], China [???], Italy, Japan] or the basically Industrialized nations. Unfortunately the never had facist dictators there, never got the snot bombed out of them and we never had to help rebuild their economies. Start moving jobs there and we're gonna start honkin' about that, too. But face facts: If you want to raise the standard of living somewhere else, you're going to have to make sacrifices in your own back yard.

I've seen this addressed on the West Wing, jobs being sent overseas and Union guys losing jobs here, and it's true: the low end jobs go first. And as long as they [Indonesia, China, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, etc] are doing the same work cheaper, that's the way it's going to be.

Just a side thought: What market would be so great to get American products into? How about Cuba?

4. Being Bobby Brown

Television sinks to a new low with this on Bravo. I update Andy Warhol's words: Everyone will have their own 'Reality Show' on Bravo. Hasn't Bobby been arrested for drugs and not paying child support and beating up women? Oh, then he's perfect for 'Reality TV.' P-U.

5. I mean it, I am going to write a book...

And I am calling it My Family's Nuts, You're Family's Nuts, We're All Okay. Let's Go Get A Beer and Talk About It. And I will make a gazillion dollars and move to Acapulco and be a one man boost to the Mexican economy. Or I'll buy the Chicago Blackhawks and return a once proud franchise to respectability. Yeah! All my cousins love Chicago, Cheap Trick is from there, it can't be all bad...


6. Star Wars Episode III

Well, I saw it. Unfortunately, that's about all I can offer. It's kind of neat that there's some cool sword fights and a big double cross, but the suspension of disbelief required approaches James Bond level, especially when they find Anakin and 'rescue' him. It's not the worst of the series, but it's not the best.

7. Rip Off

I cannot BELIEVE you people in the general public. GM says 'We're going to give you the same price out employees pay' and you rush right out like it's the second coming. Folks, GM SUSPENDED the use of the discount by the employees this year because DEALERS WERE MAKING BETTER DEALS THAN DISCOUNT TO MOVE CARS. But leave it to marketing... call it a sale though it's not and look at the people come running. Suckers!!!!

8. Ed V and Mr D

Though I rarely just answer the phone anymore, I was surprised and pleased to hear two old friends on the other end of the line. Ed's working out a new band amd getting ready to cut some solo tunes in November; Jim has weathered more surgery for Danni, Danni's Mom passing, other family illnesses, moving and all the OT he can stand and then some, but he's alive and well...