Saturday, September 29, 2007

wise wise words.



“There’s certainly a lot of room for spontaneity, for this wonderful thing that happens live that is so unpredictable. And I’ve already let it be known to the musicians that they have to be ready to move in a very spontaneous manner during the concerts, and they’re really going to have to be on their toes—as will I, because these are great players. So they know what concept I’m looking at in terms of the music.



“I think the set list will vary from night to night because of the amount of music we do have. There will probably be some standard pieces that we’ll play every night. Some pieces lend themselves to continuous evolution, and some are meant to be played with more sobriety. And so, with the pieces with sobriety there will be less evolution in any kind of flamboyant way, they’ll be more discrete, more interior. But then there are pieces, particularly where you have harmonic possibilities of extensions, rhythmic possibilities of extensions. These are ones that I’ll really exploit to the maximum. So you might hear a piece that will be played in one particular rhythmical expression, it will be the same form, but it will be transformed into a different extension one night, and on another it may be entirely different.



“I think this is how it should be for me. I don’t want to predict and say, ‘We’re going to do it like this.’ Yes, the melodies and the basic structures we start with, but then it’s not just playing notes, and trying to get in touch with your soul, getting to the level where you have true freedom. It’s also the interaction between spirits you have in the band, because they’re all aware, all alive, so how do we interact and which way do we interact? So it’s not just the playing of the notes, it’s the playing of the people; and the minute you start playing with the people on the stage you start playing with the people in the audience and with their minds also, which I think is a wonderful thing.




“Spontaneity is the key word here. Of course, to get to that point, it’s hard work, which is why we spend our entire lives dedicated to music. To get to the unknown, which is where spontaneity exists, you have to go through the known. Sometimes you’ll spend a whole night getting through the known and never getting to the unknown [laughs]. Them’s the breaks.”

-John Mclaughlin

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

A Bronx cheer for our Bums.



As another Dodger season meanders down the flush hole, let's all say a big cheer and thank you to the boys in blue who stunk up the joint from foul pole to foul pole. Where does one even begin? How about with the dividend destroying signing of a wretched and gnarled pitcher. Jason Schmidt pitched all of six games for the Bums, his three year $47 Million dollar deal as aromatic as an Armenian fart. Or how about the remarkably pathetic Nomar Garciaparra and his arterial blockage of first base, while a potent and endowed James Loney withered on the vine in Vegas. Or, p'raps the ankle spinning Rafael Furcal (you like the double entendre?), who made shortstop look like a position reserved for the Special Olympics. One could go on and on, hey I've got plenty of time. But it's time to get to...our man Grady.

Has there ever been a moron of this stature in the major leagues before? I'm not talking about the fans of LA (oops), I'm talkin bout this hillbilly cotton pickin varmint who made a mockery of the game of baseball in front of 3.8 million of the happiest go'lucky people on the planet who came to Dodgerland for the Dodger Dogs and the Wave (no doubt learned on 94.7 FM). Straight outta Casting (hey, is that a rap song?), Grady was hired to be the perfect animatronic manager. That certainly explains why he was anchored all season long draped over the dugout "protective" railing. That clearly was his power source, which obviously short circuited his hampster wheel pea brain. A book could be written, albeit a picture book, showcasing his now infamous managerial blunders. His alcoholic wet brain slopping enzymes down into his automatonish behemoth special hat sized head. There is a control room in there somewhere. Mad magazine couldn't have written this.

And how bout Ned Colletti and his merry band of gashouse guys. Let's all cheer Esteban Loaiza (uncle Estaban), Mark Hendrickson, Brett Tomko, David Wells (okay, effective at sea level), Shea Hillenbrand, and the call up of one thousand kids to further cramp a divided and racially impure dugout, right Mr. Kent?

I'd like to tip my hat to the women of the organization. Thank you Kim Ng, you dragon lady you, for making sure that Jeff Kent got his 550 hits thus vesting his $9 Million dollar option for '08, just keep those cards and numbers coming. And Camille "back off Bob Harvey" Johnston for supporting her wunderling Josh "I'd rather be singing" Rawitch. Oh and let's not forget our lady in waiting, Mrs. Jamie "Hadassah" McCourt and her paisley seats. Kenny Lofton and Juan Pierre would like to thank her personally, in her boudoir that is.

But most of all, I would like to thank an Irish drunk from Boston, Mr. Frank McCourt. God bless you and sure and be'gorah. You managed to take and take and take from wee little people of LA LA. and turn it all back into lucky charms for you and your family. The product you oversaw in '07 will never be forgotten, and truly will never be matched for embarrassment and ineptitude. Your parking lot dreams now realized, you have turned your attention over to the "concourse", where bathrooms and kitchens co-mingle to create the ultimate shitty experience for the fans. Gold dabloons, flush em. God forbid you should take the time to learn the fucking game pal!

Congratulations Dodgers on turning 50 in LA, and to Tommy for turning 80. "I don't get heart attacks I give 'em". I think its time you gave one to this team on life support.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

You do the Hokey Pokey...




T.J. SIMERS
More than a Little wrong with this bunch
What an embarrassment, what a disgrace. What a bunch of losers, so short on collective wherewithal down the stretch that the Dogs won't even be in the position to choke with a week still to play.
T.J. Simers

September 22, 2007

PHOENIX -- What an embarrassment, what a disgrace.

What a bunch of losers, so short on collective wherewithal down the stretch that the Dogs won't even be in the position to choke with a week still to play.

How appropriate that they will return Tuesday to Dodger Stadium for "Fleece Night," ah, "Fleece Blanket Night," ripping off the fans once again who Think Blue, believe in preseason expectations and buy so many tickets.

Take a look around the clubhouse here in Arizona, and it appears as if your heroes are just fine with their present plight, yucking it up and having a grand old time, the guaranteed contract money apparently just the right salve for any feelings that might've been hurt.

The pressure is off, and the guys looked just fine with that, because there's no need to worry any longer about pitching matchups, injuries or anything else to do with the playoffs.

Those are the Angels' problems now.

"The season is over and I'm mad," said the exception, Jeff Kent, still steaming. "Look around this clubhouse -- is there any sense of loss? They don't get it. There's no sense of failure in here."

The only game remaining for the Dodgers now is the blame game, some of these guys playing it pretty darn well.

The other day in Colorado, A Martinez, who covers every home and away game for radio, went on TV, telling the KCAL Think Blue pregame audience the manager of the Dodgers has lost his grip on the team.

"The sentiment is that Grady [Little] is starting to lose some of these guys and may have been losing them for a couple of weeks now," Martinez said on TV, while indicating that he was getting this from a number of unnamed Dodger players.

Martinez, who goes by A with no period although his real name is George and he thinks the Dodgers have problems, then told his KFWB "Dodger Talk" audience the same thing.

Martinez said it's the toughest criticism he's offered on the air in his seven years working for the Dodgers' flagship radio station, and when the conductor of the Coca Cola Fan Challenge at all Dodgers home games starts zinging the team's manager -- what next, Nancy Bea Hefley letting him have it on the organ?

"This wasn't one bad day, one disgruntled guy, or one ticked off player saying this," Martinez said.

No, it appears the Dodgers have a whole bunch of gutless players short on accountability, showing no desire to take the blame for falling short of expectations, while instead pointing to Forrest Gump over there in the dugout.

"I have never lost a clubhouse in my life," Little said. "That hurts, putting that out there with so many people listening and believing what he has to say."

And there's no question a good number of fans will believe it, many already coming to the conclusion that Little has no idea what he's doing when he writes out the lineup.

He's a very easy target, all right, but what an embarrassment, what a disgrace. What losers to point to their own manager as the failed leader while failing individually to produce with everything on the line.

Has Little lost some of the Dodgers because they've lost some playing time?

"I was 21 years old and playing in Fort Lauderdale for a manager by the name of Bobby Cox,"Little said. "A player might have a bad season, and suddenly Fort Lauderdale was a bad place, the ballpark was bad and the manager was no good. The same player has a great season, and all of a sudden he has a totally different opinion of the manager."

Little has a .556 winning percentage in four years with Boston and Los Angeles. Mike Scioscia has a .544 winning percentage with the Angels. Scioscia was 157-167 in his first two years with the Angels, Little 167-149 so far with the Dodgers.

Scioscia played catcher for the Dodgers, a gutsy performer standing his ground at home plate, making it easy to understand how competitive he must be as a manager.

Little never played in the big leagues, and comes across like a preacher with a bunch of marbles in his mouth. There's no reason for anyone in L.A. to feel any allegiance for the guy, who already has a history of being second-guessed out of a job.

But was this horrible letdown season Little's fault?

He was given one-armed pitchers in Jason Schmidt and Randy Wolf, Juan Pierre to make the jump from Little League to the majors in center, Wilson Betemit to start at third and his choice of Brett Tomko or Mark Hendrickson to round out the rotation. Then, when things got really tough, he was given Shea Hillenbrand.

His team had more wins than any other in the National League in mid-July. But rather than go for it all, he was given the edict at the trading deadline to play on with the youngsters so that they might learn on the job, the mistakes piling up as expected, and ultimately bringing out the worst in some of the team's sniping veterans.

Little had little chance of succeeding this season, trying to satisfy the players who are about to leave the Dodgers, those who are about to begin their careers here and an ownership group that had already sold its 3.5 million tickets and seemed just fine with blowing off the rest of the season.

"I accept all responsibility," said Little, who said he has been unable to sleep at night in recent weeks. "I did the best I could, but if I was a fan, I wouldn't blame them for being really upset, what with all the expectations here coming into this season."

Anyone who singles out Little is ignoring the obvious, the clubhouse that now appears so woefully weak on character, and just maybe talent. Hard to say which should frighten Dodgers fans more.

Friday night Little took on the Diamondbacks with Esteban Loaiza, GM Ned Colletti's latest blunder, and youngster Tony Abreu's mental error igniting a Diamondbacks' rally and eventually an Arizona win.

Now tell me again that Grady Little is the Dodgers' problem.

T.J. Simers can be reached

at t.j.simers@latimes.com.

(Here is my response to T.J. Simers ludicrous editorial in today's LA Times Sports section in defense of Grady Little. What an embarrassment indeed!)

Hello Senor Simers,

My goodness, between you and Bill Plaschke, the spin around is making me dizzy. ("There's more than a Little wrong with this bunch". Saturday, September 22, LA Times, Sports). Sorry sir, there's no way to get out of the "Little is not the problem" angle anymore. This is now a national story. The good people who watch EVERY SINGLE GAME, and have virtually no life, cannot be fooled. While Ned Colletti has made personnel mistakes, Grady Little's "Merkle Boner" incompetence has been the signature disaster of the 2007 season, and the LA Times recent PR campaign/collaboration with the organization to sugar coat this reality is transparent to say the least. The Jason Schmidt and Randy Wolf losses are insignificant, as the pitching staff until recently was the second best in the NL. The core group of kids have been the most consistent and dependable Dodgers all season long, with apologies to our whining anti-leader Jeff Kent. The waiver wire pickups were basically lousy, but David Wells was not. Rafael Furcal was atrociously alcoholic as usual, and Nomar HGH'd himself right out of baseball.

No Senor Simers, the lack of pride down the stretch is due to the recognition that Grady has had his finger all season long on the red button, and has always had the trump card to press it at his discretion. HE, and no one else, is the toxic dysfunction allowed to roam free, his wet brain sloshing back and forth in his bonce as he tries to repair whatever childhood issues he has not resolved with his father or anybody else associated with his family of origin/inner child brutalizers. He is a sick individual and has used the Dodgers as his canvas of destruction. For that may he rot in the minor leagues for eternity.

Bring us the head of Tony LaRussa.

Monday, September 17, 2007

SanGabrielValleyTribune: Dodgers fail in chemistry

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I couldn't agree more. Dodger Tony


Dodgers fail in chemistry - Paul Oberjuerge, Staff Writer

Paul Oberjuerge: LOS ANGELES - For the good of the game, some teams shouldn't win anything. Those who spend profligately. (Write us a check, New York Yankees.) Those who misbehave shamelessly. (Assume the position, Cincinnati Bengals.) View Full Story


http://www.sgvtribune.com/sports/ci_6914254
http://www.sgvtribune.com

This e-mail was initiated by machine [10.148.8.5] at IP [10.148.8.5].

Monday, September 10, 2007

ASSHOLE!



Unfortunately, the debacle of leaving Pedro Martinez in during the ALCS Lo those many moons ago was merely the tip of the iceberg. According to Boston fans, Grady Little had been doing knuckle headed stuff like that all season long. The rest of the country merely hadn't seen it.

At this point, any further discussion of Grady's incompetence is redundant. He is massively incompetent, as we by now have assessed. It seems time to me to begin the focus of our ire on the man who is responsible for his employment: Ned Colletti.

Knowing what occurred in Boston, how could Colletti have placed his faith in such a loser? Beyond that, how could the Dodgers coaching staff have placed their faith in one Dioner Navarro? Had he not been accidentally injured by a roving fastball, Russell Martin would still be taking ground balls in Vegas.

This is an organization that is in disarray. The owner is far more concerned about the development of the land adjacent Chavez Ravine to really be concerned about winning at all costs. Four million automatons will come through the turnstiles each and every year, win or lose. As long as the perception of stability is maintained, aided and abetted by the out of town owned press and lack of independent criticism, then the Dodgers will remain an attraction rather than a team.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Oh my achin Grady!





In spite of the bizarre lineups and Rafael Fecal Matter's implosion as a baseball player, the Blue are still in this thing. Whatdoyaknow?
It now comes down to the ballclub itself versus...no, not the other teams it is playing...but itself. Yes, we are fighting Grady Little and F'urkle to somehow get ourselves into the post. Unfortunately, Little still holds all the trump cards and can push the red button, destroying the world at any time. He can write out the lineup card to destroy us, he can continue to have Fecal play short and leadoff, he can mangle and Mengele the bottom of the 7th inning every single night by having pitchers hit for themselves in the "top 'o 'the 'sementh" and then vaporize, leaving him with mental retardation in trying to figure out the lefty/righty combo. "Hell, I'll just throw up a cotton ball and see which way the wind blows...yuk yuk yuk..."poot".
How do the boys and Bums overcome such Gomer Gump self destructiveness? Has anybody asked Dave Jauss how he feels about all this?

Friday, September 07, 2007

Before Dodger Tony there was...

 Happy Felton, of the Knothole Gang.

Clearly this was my previous incarnation.

 

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Reductio Dodgers Absurdim.



As I continue to rationalize my way into right thinking, I find myself catapulted back in time to the period of early Neanderthal Man. I scratch the side and back of my head like the primate I am/was, attempting to understand why this once proud franchise is mired in its own demise. The myriad explanations swirl in my head, and I emit ape like noises in attempting to figure out this now cosmic mystery of the Dodgers twenty year ineptitude.

I will not bore you with the details that we all know, but I will state the rather obvious. This franchise has no identity, and the over-riding theme is its inability to gel and play with chemistry. This has been the main constant since '88. The talent is there, the coaching, so-so. But season after season, GM after Manager, the anthem is 1-12 in the playoffs, trading a winning philosophy for "The Dodger Way".
Dodger Stadium has become an attraction, four million fans pushing five million will come through the turnstiles if the team is 20 games up or 20 games out. God Bless them Tommy!

Winning is messy (see "Bronx is Burning" on ESPN). A shakeup is needed from top to bottom, first and foremost to remove the rust from the stoicism and blandness in which this team plays the game.

It is HARD to be a Dodger fan.

Or is it something else? Something far more ominous?

Is it Karma? The uprooting of all the residents of the ravine looms over this franchise, as does the broken hearts of all those residents of Brooklyn. Is it BAD LUCK, a frightening thought as Gypsy curses aren't real, are they? Or is it something even more sinister, which may be finding its way into baseball altogether, as Tim Donaghey's recent exposure now gives us all pause. That game looked quite funny to me last night, if you know what I mean. "Say it ain't so, Juan Pierrre"!

Whatever the case, perhaps The Dodgers will be the team one hundred years from now with its curses and sage and dark clouds hovering ominously over each and every game. Only time will tell.