See You Next Week

Did anyone else listen to drivin' n' cryin' 25 years ago, like I did? In college in the South in the early 1990s, every big frat party that featured a DJ seemingly was required to play DNC's "Straight to Hell."

I even sang the song -- poorly, I'm sure -- at a friend's 30th birthday party about 14 years ago. 

I was reminded of those days recently because drivin' n' cryin' was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame about a week ago. I recorded it on the off-chance that there would be something worth watching.  I was surprised when the final half hour was all Kevn Kinney and his usual gang of friends (including former REM guitarist Peter Buck).

My wife said I looked positively giddy watching the show. I was too -- I listened to DNC a ton from 1991 to about 1994 and saw them live two or three times in addition to seeing Kevn Kinney live in Athens a time or two.  I even met Kinney once randomly in Athens in 1996. Dude had some seriously bad teeth back then.

This memory, though, was all spurred on by my failure to get anything scanned and written prior to leaving on a business trip for which I'll be gone for nearly the entire week.  I started thinking about the whole cliched "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" idea...but I prefer the version DNC put out in 1997 covering John Denver's classic folkie song.

That said, it's been awhile since I've had to travel for an entire week for work. I have two days of depositions in beautiful Omaha, Nebraska -- my first trip there since 1993 -- followed by two days for an ABA meeting/seminar in Austin, Texas.  I just hope I make my connection next Wednesday. 

Today, I stopped off today for a couple of hours at my local card show and spent 10 whole dollars on cards -- mostly newer stuff but a few oddballs as well.  And, I received an envelope of cards recently as well (for which I'll be putting together the return envelope next weekend).  

Of course, this is a baseball card blog, so I need a baseball card or two to show off from today's purchases.  I paid no more than 15 cents for any of the cards I got, and both of these cards were in the midst of a dime box heaven.

I think this is a box bottom card from the 1988 Score sets. The card stock is much thicker than other companies' boxes, though, which is what threw me off on it.  Not having encountered one before is another reason it threw me off, as did the fact that the card does not look like the 1988 Score design at all.

Not bad for a dime, really.

Here's what the back looks like:

The other fun dime card that I bought was not one I found. Over the last 18 months of going to this show, I've run into Von of Von's Cards and his daughter a couple of times. We were barreling through the dime boxes when he handed me this next card and said, "do you collect Molitor on the Twins?"

Why, yes I do, Von.  Yes I do.  Especially when it is one of Topps's most, well, Nineties set: 1996 Topps Laser. The details are pretty intricate for the laser cuts -- the fire cut out under the ball behind Molitor's bat, the oddly-positioned catcher dude, and even the brand's name are all pretty impressive. It's nothing I'd encourage Topps to bring back, mind you...or maybe it would be a good insert with Archives to change things up a bit?

I hope y'all have a great week.