Well, THAT Was Random

Here in Atlanta, we used to have one incredible Alternative Rock station called 99X -- 99.7 FM on the radio dial. 99X was renown for its music director, Leslie Fram, who was one of a threesome (along with actor/DJ Steve Barnes and actor/DJ Jimmy Baron) who hosted the morning show called "The Morning X." As this story from Atlanta Magazine points out, the three were incredibly influential in Atlanta and nationally in music -- breaking acts like Shawn Mullins, Marvelous 3, and John Mayer.

These days, we actually have three alt-rock stations, but two of them are nearly impossible to hear outside of a streaming format. The one that can be heard is a Clear Channel abomination, er, station called Radio 105.7. The company that owned 99X got rid of it a few years ago, brought it back at 98.9, axed it again, then brought it back again. Its signal is not strong. The weakest of the three signals is an HD2 station for a 70s & 80s rock station called The River (think Eagles, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin). The HD2 station is called The Other Side of the RIver, and it is programmed by Leslie Fram's co-music director Steve Craig. 

The Other Side of the RIver has two things going for it. First, they are the radio partner/broadcaster for the Gwinnett Braves Triple-A team (they also broadcast the Atlanta Gladiators minor league hockey, but...well, it's hockey). Second, they play about 40 years of alternative rock -- from the Sex Pistols to Fitz and The Tantrums and Cage The Elephant. If you're interested in that (and not having commercials), take a listen here.

That's a long way to get where I'm going with this post. Oftentimes, I listen to The Other Side of the River on my Sonos system in my office. I thought today that I'd just let the music play and see what gets played -- and incorporate that into my post. So, let's see where this takes me.

1.  Boomtown Rats -- "I Don't Like Mondays"

Bob Geldof rose to prominence in the mid-1980s to everyone who didn't know his music when he put together two massive aid projects to provide relief for the famine in Ethiopia at that time. The first was Band-AId -- the incredibly successful supergroup -- and its song, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" The second was the summer festival that took place both in Wembley and in Philadelphia called "Live Aid."

This song has always been a favorite, and it reminds me of the year I worked between college and law school in Milwaukee. The place I worked bought a keg of beer at a nearby karaoke bar, and we had a party. It was great fun, mainly because I'm a ham and will sing (probably badly) at the drop of a hat. A buddy of mine, though, sang this song incredibly well and led off the festivities that way. 22 years later, I still associate this song with that night at the Brass Ring Pub.

Going appropriately old school, I picked up these four items from early Brewer Oddball days from my pal Frank Moiger, the proprietor of my local show. He had bought a bunch of old oddballs like the 1971 Topps Coins and the 1973 and 1975 Kellogg's cards recently, so I swiped the Brewers I could find that I needed. 

Thanks to how bad the early Brewers were, picking up the Ellie Rodriguez from the 1973 Kellogg's set means that it is now complete for me, and the same goes with that Briggs from the 1975 set (though, of course, if someone wants to send me a pristine, uncracked version I'd take it). I still need one more coin, though -- Danny Walton.

2. The Killers -- "Mr. Brightside"

I really liked The Killers a lot when I heard their first album. There were a lot of Britpop sensibilities in their music -- soaring, jangly guitars in places, synthpop in others -- that drew me in immediately. Then, I heard about lead singer Brandon Flowers and his massive ego and it was off-putting. 

Still, I enjoy their first two albums a lot. It's good, catchy, pop music. And, in particular, this song is made better when it's used as a tribute in Killorglin, County Kerry, Ireland, to one of their great friends, Ger Foley:



What could possibly follow that?

Only Molitor and Yount could. The Molitor Immaculate Collection -- serial numbered 90 out of 99 -- cost me just $3, and the Yount/Ozzie dual relic from 2002 set me back about the same. Seriously, just crazy deals right there. The other two cards were similarly inexpensive -- the Molitor Diamond King was a quarter, and the Yount was a dime. 

I can't even complain about Panini's lack of logos at that price.

3. Andrew McMahon in the WIlderness -- "Cecilia and the Satellite"

Andrew McMahon's song about becoming a father to a daughter named Cecilia -- and yes, that is impetus for the song -- is just awesome when put into that context. 

Now, don't get me wrong, the woman in the nearly sheer white dress is a great attraction in this video, but this is the first time I've seen the video, though, so that had nothing to do with me liking this song. I'm a lyrics guy. When you listen to the lyrics and know it is about his daughter -- and with the video of him with his daughter in his lap mixed in -- it's tough for me not to be emotional about the song.

Then again, perhaps I'm just in a very emotional mood this morning. Let's cure that.

There we go. A bunch of random cards from a bunch of different companies draws me back to reality. The Weeks relic and the Spivey relic both cost $2, I think. The Trent Clark was 15 cents, if I recall correctly. The D'Amico came from a nickel box, as did Aoki, Hoffman, and the Weeks SPx. So, for a quarter, I got 5 cards I actually needed for my collection. 

Fantastic!

5. Iggy Pop featuring Kate Pierson -- "Candy"

Iggy Pop seemed old to me when that song came out in 1990. At the time, he was 43, or a year younger than I am now. Along with his band The Stooges, he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Every so often, one of his songs jumps into my head -- either this one or one on which he sang for Swedish band Teddybears called "Punkrocker" which appeared in a Cadillac commercial:

The man is a legend -- about that there is no question. The last of the Brewers I got at my card show had hopes -- or still have hopes -- being legends themselves:

All autographs, all the time here folks. None of these cost me more than $2, and some of them were in quarter boxes. I made an exception in picking up the Josh Hader autograph, in that he is pictured as a member of the Astros. He was, of course, a part of the Carlos Gomez trade. He quickly showed himself to be the best pitcher in that deal. Though he's struggled a bit in Triple-A -- and pitching in Colorado Springs will do that to a pitcher -- he appeared in the Futures Game during All-Star weekend.

The thing scouts point to with Hader going forward are his mechanics are a bit wonky and look like they put some stress on his arm. Here's a game from last August in which he struck out ten batters.

I've seen other videos where Hader's mechanics are even a bit weird. Still, results are not lying for him. He's still young, but I have hopes that he'll become an integral part of the next good Brewers team.

Of course, I hope that for Nathan Kirby as well. Tyler Wagner is now a D-Back (going with Jean Segura). Daryl Clark was a never was in the early 2000s. And, Luis Sardinas was sent to the Mariners in the offseason for outfielder Ramon Flores, a former Yankees prospect, in hopes that Flores might develop into something more. He's not hitting for power this year -- .224/.304/.274 is not good, nor is an OPS+ of 56 where 100 is league average. He's still young, but not good is still not good. 

However, this card show was very, very good to me. Thanks for reading today, and watch for the Milwaukee Braves haul tomorrow!

"That's a peach, hon!"

Finally. Finally I have done most of the work I needed to get done this month. I've still got a few errands to run and all, but my work is nearly done. So, I can finally sit down and bang out some posts to thank all of you who sent me cards this month.  It's quite a few.  The first group of cards comes from a reader, Mr Haverkamp. His want lists can be found here in case you might want to trade with him.

By Golly, I'm hot today! 

No, literally, it's like 65 degrees here today and it will be warm for most of the rest of the year. 

Anyway, I already showed off the super-cool 1970 Topps Scratch Off of Mike Hegan. The rest of the package was filled with stickers -- lots and lots of 1980s stickers!

That is a ton of stickers, and it knocked most of the 1981 Topps Stickers, the 1983 Fleer stickers, and the 1984 Topps stickers off my want lists -- or at least made some headway in getting stickers to me that I need for my player collections.

To go with all those stickers from the classic era of baseball stickers, we need musical accompaniment from a classic rock band -- the Rolling Stones -- with "Brown Sugar," which was the first track off their first #1 US Album, Sticky Fingers. Supposedly, this song was written for any one of a number of African-American women whom Mick Jagger either had sex with/had feelings for.

Of course it is. Mick would sleep with nearly anyone -- over 4,000, according to his biographer. He couldn't be arsed to recall which of the black women he wrote the song for, right?

Back to cards...quickly...

Mr Haverkamp also sent another early 1970s oddball my way:

Too bad I have written up Ted Savage in my Meet the Brewers series (which has taken a backseat as much as blogging has lately for me!). Then again, it's my series, so perhaps I'll go in and add this in as an "update." 

Someone needs to tell that dude on the left that he's really worthless. But then again, they are all just coins.

Okay -- a few more items to show. These are all cards (though some are still oddballs!), so hopefully y'all will forgive me for closing with them.

)

Mr H hooked me up with several random cards and oddballs from the 80s and one from the early 1990s that I needed for either my team set or for my player collections for these players. For some reason, though I have never had any problem finding either 1983 or 1984 Donruss Action All-Stars, the 1985 ones have been elusive to me. I don't know that I've ever seen an unopened 1985 pack in the wild or in captivity, for that matter.

But wait. There's one more card:

A well-loved Harvey Kuenn 1959 Topps, with a photo from an angle that makes the chaw in his left cheek look deceptively small.  Then again, it's just a pinch between your cheek and gum, right?

Yeah. That's about what I'd expect for that too.

HA!

Yup, it's just the Boys Round Here, with their "chew tobacco chew tobacco chew tobacco spit." Guess we'll never get that song live with Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert getting divorced.

Don't worry about that, though. Just send Mr Haverkamp cards. Because these cards are a peach!