Benny Bell "Shaving Cream"

It had gotten pretty bad.

My friend Amy Vanneman reminded me of the cautionary tale of Thidwick The Big Hearted Moose.  I certainly didn't want anything living in there.

Literally, with 2 outs in the top of the 9th, during Game 6 of the World Series, I went into the bathroom and plugged in my electric razor for the first time in weeks.

I'm not a huge fan of shaving.  I find it to be a messy hassle, a real drag on the morning routine.

Fortunately, I married a woman who likes a bit of facial hair on me, so I'm okay.

In fact, the last time I was clean shaven---shaved with a straight-edge razor---was my wedding day 8 years ago.

Since then, every week or two I use an electric razor to shave down to a 5 o'clock shadow and then let it grow for another week or two.

This was the longest I'd ever let it get.  I was doing it for the Sox---so I said.

But c'mon, I might as well be truthful, if this year's "thing" was to grow a rat-tail or get a Neil Diamond tattoo or walk around with a ferret dressed as Paul Revere, I wasn't likely to do it.

I like the Red Sox.  But I'm a bigger fan of not shaving.

So after the razor was charged up over night, I sheared my face.

And since then I've let it grow, all over again.

Hear the song on Youtube.

Kansas "Dust In The Wind"

Baseball is a slow game.  So despite the excitement of the World Series, there was plenty of time between innings and between pitches, to think about songs that would make fun (but ultimately stupid) music cues for some of the players, like Dustin Pedroia.

Dustin The Wind.  Get it?


Hear the song on Youtube.

Flatt & Scruggs "Salty Dog"

Baseball is a slow game.  So despite the excitement of the World Series, there was plenty of time between innings and between pitches, to think about songs that would make fun (but ultimately stupid) music cues for some of the players, like Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jon Lester.

I'm sure a guy nicknamed "Salty" has heard this one before.  But hey, it's performed by a guy named Lester, too!


Hear the song on Youtube.

Little Feat "Don't Bogart That Joint"

Baseball is a slow game.  So despite the excitement of the World Series, there was plenty of time between innings and between pitches, to think about songs that would make fun (but ultimately stupid) music cues for some of the players.

Since Xander is from Aruba, which is part of the marijuana-friendly Netherlands, I'm most certain that he never bogarts a joint . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Mario Galaxy Orchestra "Overture"

My mother-in-law bought Wii a few years ago as a fun Christmas present for me and my wife.

But honestly, having little kids, it was pretty rare that we took the time to play it ourselves.

Feeling bad about it gathering dust, I did some research last winter on good Wii games for kids 3 to 5.  Santa delivered a copy of "Ready, Set, Grover" to our house.

The game is cute, and very, very basic.  It's also, secretly, a way to get the kids to exercise.  Because Elmo and Grover are doing things like jumping over mailboxes and touching their toes and running in place and such.

The kids liked it.  But it did make them curious about the other games on the shelf.

I set them up to play "Epic Mickey" but they quickly got frustrated, as the motor skills necessary are way above a small kid's level.

"You do it, Daddy."

In short order, watching Daddy or Mommy play Wii became more popular than episodes of "Curious George."  The kids will literally sit for an hour and watch one of us play a game, offering helpful back-seat-Wii-ing instructions like, "You shouldn't have let that bad guy get you, Daddy."

"Epic Mickey" actually became kinda stressful in the later stages of the game, and that's when Mario returned to my life.

The first real arcade game I ever played was a knock-off version of Donkey Kong called "Crazy Kong."  When I was 11, my friend Jay Armstrong and I would ride our bikes all the way down to the D.A.V Hall---because it was one of the few places in town with an arcade game---with a few quarters, to play.  Years later, I got Donkey Kong for Atari, and played it endlessly.

For that last month or so, my son wakes up and the first thing he says is "Daddy, can you play Super Mario Galaxy?"

Mario is now in space and there is some complicated back-story about a princess and Luma creatures and the universe and I don't worry too much about that.  I just run around and collect coins and jump on the heads of bad guys.  And whenever I complete a level, my boy does his "we completed a level!" dance.  To some typically ear-wormy Mario music.

How ear-wormy?  Even at the dinner table, my boy is humming it.  Me too.

So it wasn't a big surprise that when we asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween, he said "Super Mario!"

My wife made the costume---it came out pretty darn good.

And (now that the Sox have won the World Series) there will be two of us losing a mustache tomorrow.

Hear the song on Youtube.

The Beards "Got Me A Beard"

It's itchy.  It's getting so long that the mustache part is interfering with eating.  It's about to go from "Hey, that guy looks like he's not really taking care of himself" to looking like "Hey, get ready to dial 911, that guy looks crazy."

But The World Series starts tonight, and I'm not shaving my beard.

For those of you who aren't into baseball . . . The Red Sox are in the World Series.  And many of the players on the team have grown these long, wild, I'm-In-Fleet-Foxes style beards.  "Fear The Beard" has become a meme.

I don't know who the Sox have lined up to sing the National Anthem, but let me suggest that they embrace the beard, and fly in Australia's The Beards.

The band is know for not only having great beards, they write songs about beards with titles like "Got Me A Beard," "You Should Consider Having Sex With A Bearded Man" "The Beard Accessory Store" and "If Your Dad Doesn't Have A Beard, You Have 2 Moms."

Beard Up!  Go Sox!


Hear the song on Youtube.

Neil Diamond "Sweet Caroline"

I've been away for the last 10 days, on vacation in North Carolina.  10 days is a looong time ago.

Hell, even as a write this on Monday morning, it still hasn't been a full week since the Boston Marathon bombings took place, never mind the craziness of the manhunt, lockdown and capture in the days that followed.

It was pretty weird to be away from here while all this was taking place.

On the one hand, watching it unfold on TV in North Carolina was almost like being home, because the NC stations often just carried the feed from local Boston stations.  We saw familiar faces and heard familiar voices, talking about familiar places---it was like watching it at home.

And on the other hand, we were removed from it all.  There was a bit of a disconnect, since we weren't among a population that was in the thick of it.

On Saturday morning, we started our trek off Ocracoke Island, and the long drive up the Outer Banks.  The last stop before crossing the bridge back to the mainland is a rest stop at the Monument to the Wright Brothers at Kittyhawk.  While our gang used the facilitites, I took a moment to look at Facebook to see what was going on among my friends.

"Did Papi just drop the F bomb?"

There were a good dozen friends who posted this or something similar, moments after David Ortiz addressed the crowd, the City Of Boston and the World before Saturday's Red Sox game.

We got back on the road, and I found the game on the radio.

When they brought out Neil Diamond to sing "Sweet Caroline," we turned it up, and I looked over at my wife.  We both had tears in our eyes.

Why?

While going through a range of emotions over the course of the week---scared, shocked, saddened, angry, worried, relieved---neither of us had cried.

Why now?

We talked about it, but couldn't quite wrap our hands around the answer.

Was it a release?  Was it a connection to the City as a community?  Was it simply the power of music?

I can't say.

But I watched it again this morning, and teared up all the same.

Thanks Neil.


See the video on Youtube.


Hear the original on Youtube.

Ryan Adams "Rosalie Come And Go"

I've already offered myself as a Professional Athlete Theme Song Consultant---a job that is totally imaginary.

A more realistic music-meets-baseball job would be "that guy at WEEI."

I don't know who does this job---it could very likely be an intern---but if you listen to the Red Sox on WEEI, they transition back from commercials to the announcers with a short music bumper.

I always wanted to be pals with whoever was doing the job around that magical 2004, World Series season, because he/she and I had the same taste.

There were lots of familiar and unfamiliar alterna-hits and special nuggets.

And when they were using this Ryan Adams semi-obscurity, I was super-impressed.  Only a real music-head would know this tune, as it's from the bonus "Side Four" ep from Adams' "Gold" album.

I don't know if I could top this nugget as we tossed to Joe Castiglione, but I'd love to try . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

The Replacements "Left Of The Dial"

I went to Fenway Park for last night's Red Sox game (they won; 4 in a row!).

Even at a major sporting event, it's hard to stop being a DJ.

"Bon Jovi?  Really?  This song is older than he is."

Did you know that each Sox player gets to pick his own song that will play for 10 to 15 seconds on the Park P.A. as he steps to bat?

There are a surprising (or perhaps unsurprising) number of rap songs in the lineup.

But the only really familiar, popular song I heard was when Cody Ross stepped to the plate to the tune of Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer."

"Terrible," I said, each time he came to bat.

"They're baseball players, not DJs," said my sensible sister.

And in my mind, I briefly entertained the idea of a new career as a professional Professional Athlete Theme Song Consultant, where Major League ballplayers would pay me handsomely to work with them to find the ideal song to both motivate themselves and get the crowd going.

I quickly moved off that pipe dream, to ask myself what song I would use, if I were, say, a Minor League utility player suddenly called up from Pawtucket and inserted into the big game at a crucial moment.

I settled on The Replacements "Left Of The Dial."

Its first 15 second are ringing, anthemic and powerful, and would set the tone for my history making at bat.

Yeah, not going to happen, either.

Not coincidentally, "Left Of The Dial" is the song I'll put on the air for myself, if I am ever fired from my radio job, as they drag me kicking and screaming, my nails dug into the door frame, out of the station.

Hopefully, that won't happen either.

And, of course, I would want this one to be the track playing, as my casket exits the church, and I (metaphorically) let the static rise and say to my friends "see you on the other side."

That, I suppose, is the most likely opportunity I'll get to use this as a theme song . . .


Hear The Replacements on Youtube.


Hear Bon Jovie on Youtube.

Judd Fuller, Liam Bailey, Tom Major "The Red Sox Game!"

The New England Sport Nation Highway is littered with terrible, terrible attempts at creating a hit song to be played at a Patriots, Bruins, Celtics or Red Sox game.

Generally, they're hokey. Or poorly done. Or just bad.

But every once and a while, you get a "Tessie" instead of a "New England, The Patriots And We."

A group of our favorite Islanders have taken a stab a glory with this one. And I have to say, it's just insanely catchy enough, that it could work.

Good luck, guys!


See the video on Youtube.


See the video on Youtube.


See the video on Youtube.

The Baseball Project "Buckner's Bolero"

As improbable as the first album from The Baseball Project was, a second batch of songs seemed as likely as a game with 2 triple-plays.

But Volume 2 is here, and there are a couple of tracks of special interest to Red Sox fans, including one about Tony Conigliaro.

However, the neat feat of the bunch, is a song about Bill Buckner.

Lazy Sox fans blame the loss of the 1986 World Series on that ball the rolled through Buckner's legs.

But anyone who knows anything about baseball---or life, for that matter---knows it's a game of many, many intersecting decisions and paths. And today's result is not due to the last thing that happened, but due to the hundreds of choices and accidents that lead up to the moment.

Improbably, all of the inopportunities and bad breaks and poor decisions leading up to Buckner's replay-ready moment, are documented in this song.

Really? A song that puts Calvin Schiraldi in context? That takes Jim Rice to task for not legging out an extra base here or there? Or that remembers that former Met Tom Seaver was supposed to pitch Game One of the series for the Sox, but injured his knee?

You'd expect to hear this on some nostaglia Sports Yappers program, but not in a song.

A song that also reminds us of Buckner's many talents and achievements, as a rock solid, tough-as-nails career player.

Good on you, The Baseball Project.

Here's to a "Volume 3", as I'm looking forward to a song about the life lessons that can be gleaned from Grady Little's decision to pitch Pedro in the 8th inning of the 2003 ALCS.


See the video on Youtube.

The Beatles “Old Brown Shoe”

Seminal Moments . . .

The whole point of this blog is to write about the songs around me, that have effected me in one way or another. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of songs in my life, that have some kind of story attached, or make me think of something specific.

But at the top of the list, there are a few songs that are truly life-changing. Their impact on me, was big enough to alter the course of my life, in sometimes major ways, sometimes subtle ways, but always in definable ways.

I was going to do a week’s worth of Seminal Moments, but there are probably more than five, so I’m going to sprinkle them in, here and there, as they strike me.

Here’s the first one . . .

At some point in my elementary school years, I discovered two things---Casey Kasem and my parents’ record collection.

I’ll have to write more about Casey Kasem in another post---he was definitely an influence---but listening to his Top 40 Countdown every week, brought statistics to music. My Dad was a baseball coach, so I already understood the importance Stats, in appreciating and understand the impact of something.

Around this same time, I graduated from Sesame Street records, to hunting and pecking through our small stack of vinyl. No surprise that I found The Beatles there.

Dad had the Blue album, which was a multiple record set of the hits from the 2nd half of the Beatle years. I listened to those records over and over, reading the lyrics, staring at the album cover, absorbing the music.

One night at dinner, I asked my parents, “How many number one hits did The Beatles have?”

It was a perfectly natural question, in my mind.

If I had said, “How many home runs does Jim Rice have this year?” or “What’s Carlton Fisk’s batting average?” Dad would have answered that without missing a beat.

But “How many number one hits did The Beatles have?” provoke unsure looks.

“Uh. I don’t know. 50?”

I can remember being shocked that my perfectly natural question, had stumped my parents.

I learned two things that day.

My parents apparently didn’t know everything.

I might just grow up to be a music chart geek.

The Baseball Project “Ted F---ing Williams”

I was watching a bit of the ALCS the other night . . . watching the Yankees pull away from the Angels, when that four letter word passed my lips. And it made me think of this song.

The Baseball Project practically constitutes a genre of its own---a band that writes song only about specific baseball players. Some of the musicians behind the project are probably familiar, including Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Scott McCaughey who plays in R.E.M.’s touring band and leads both The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus Five.

Steve Wynn, the group leader, is a big baseball fan, and spearheaded the debut album, (which also spawned a follow-up EP), featuring songs about Fernando Valenzuela and the story of Chavez Ravine, Curt Flood and the rise of Free Agency and Mark McGuire’s testimony before Congress on steroid abuse in Major League Baseball.

But as a Red Sox devotee, I loved hearing their take on the oft-repeated legend that Ted Williams used to, while taking batting practice, yell out “I’M TED FUCKING WILLIAMS AND I’M THE GREATEST HITTER IN BASEBALL!!!”

Ted Williams was not the cuddly sort, and the song looks at baseball fandom from the perspective of someone who is perhaps the greatest, but not the most beloved. And he can’t understand why.

Hear a sample and buy the song:


Check out all the lyrics, and a little bit about each song on the album, then buy the album here.

See the band live, and on Letterman, here