So, Zippy Zappy, You Send Me a Marlin....

After I took on the challenge of listening and commenting on the 10 songs that Kenny a/k/a Zippy Zappy posed to me (and don't worry -- I'll give you more commentary!), he promised that he would send me some cards as a reward. 

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When you see the Torrens leading the way, you know you've been Zippy Zapped. See, it says so right on the card. That confirms it. 

The Torrens was the front side of the package -- in a penny sleeve and a toploader. On the back side of the package was another toploader...with a Marlin?

When I first opened the package, I was a little confused. I know ZZ knows what he's doing, and that he must be sending this card to me for a reason. That reason became eminently clear when I turned over the card:



Yes, it's a beautiful chrome card numbered out of 250, but his Up Close section holds the clear answer: "Hit College World Series-clinching home run for Vanderbilt in '14." Ah yes, there it is. He hit the homer off Virginia's Nick Howard -- who had been the Reds 1st Round pick in the 2014 draft (and who currently sports a less-than-stellar K/BB ratio for his minor league career of 0.88 -- no kidding, he's walked 101 and struck out 89 in 112 innings).

Funny thing, though, is that Norwood made it all the way through that same 2014 draft completely undrafted. The Marlins scouted the Cape Cod League heavily, and Norwood looked good with a wood bat. So, to buy out Norwood's senior year of college, the Marlins handed him a $275,000 signing bonus. Norwood has made it to the Florida State League now, and actually looked okay there -- .271/.347/.397 on a Jupiter team that hit .237/.308/.322 and in a league that hit .250/.321/.356.  He was pretty age-appropriate there too, so hopefully that's a good sign that he's on his way to the pros.

Now, I have my doubts that I'll start a John Norwood collection of any kind, but this one will go into my "Random Cards I Like" binder next to a few soccer cards, a couple of Georgia Bulldog football players, and some other random things I've gotten over time.

Thankfully, though, ZZ didn't stop with Norwood. But, let's use Norwood as a crutch for this post...Norwood's favorite musical artist is Jay-Z, so that's what will power me here.

Let's start with "Otis," a song with Jay Z, Kanye West, and featuring Otis Redding. I swear I hear a little sample of Spandau Ballet at the beginning. 

What they do to this car in the video is just wrong. Yeah, sure, I guess all they are talking about is how much money they have and all that, so they can afford to tear up that Mercedes. But damn, why? 



That is usually the response I have to seeing a Panini Prizm card. "Damn, why?" DeMuth is shown in his college uniform at Indiana University -- airbrushed away so don't sue Panini! -- and Medeiros is probably shown in his high school uniform. From this card, he could be a conehead, though.

DeMuth finally made it to Double-A this year. I say finally because he was drafted after his senior year, so he has to develop quickly. DeMuth's biggest problem may be the rather imposing shadow being cast by 2016 draftee Lucas Erceg (a kid with an incredible story), the Brewers 2nd Round pick in 2016 who, by all indications, is a very talented player with a strong potential to move quickly. 

Medeiros was the 1st round pick for Milwaukee in 2014. As happens for high school pitchers sometimes, his development has hit some speed bumps due to his inability to throw strikes. He's still rated as the 12th best Brewers prospect, so there is still hope. He is only 20, after all.

Yeah, okay, Jay Z and Pearl Jam together playing "99 Problems." This reminds me of the crossovers that happened about 25 years ago when Anthrax and Public Enemy played together, except that at least Public Enemy let the guys from Anthrax actually sing/rap along with them rather than turning them into some kind of glorified backup band.

I mean, "99 Problems" is a good song. Don't get me wrong here. It's just that if you're going to pair Jay Z with Pearl Jam, how about giving Pearl Jam something to other than play their guitars?

On the other hand, I think we can hold it against Anthrax that their existence probably led directly to the abortion called Limp Bizkit.



A couple more young guys. Wagner was part of the Jean Segura trade to the Diamondbacks after the 2015 season. Of course, the Brewers got Isan Diaz in that trade, so I'm okay with that.

Jake Gatewood was a compensatory pick in the first round of the 2014 draft out of high school in Clovis, California. He's listed at shortstop on this card because, as an 18- and 19-year-old, he was still playing up the middle. He spent 2016 still with the Timber Rattlers as a 20-year-old (he turned 21 on September 25), but he spent his time playing third base. He needs to learn some plate patience, though -- 18 walks, 141 Ks in 524 plate appearances (but with 14 HRs and 33 2Bs) for a slash line of .240/.268/.391. The OBP is clearly not optimal.

So, this song is 13 years old, but it rocks. "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" has a great grinding beat that you can't help but bob your head along with and a hook that gets stuck in your head immediately. Thank Timbaland for this.

Plus, you can't go wrong with a rap that includes the line "I check cheddar like a food inspector." You really can't. Unless that Italian dude that ZZ was listening to before was the one saying it.

The two guys on the 2016 Brewers team that deserve an anthem like this are easy to name -- Ryan Braun and Jonathan Villar. I'm fully into the "Ryan Braun is an a-hole but he's our a-hole" feel right now after Braun's come back season. That probably means that he'll get traded this offseason to the Dodgers for Puig and a couple of minor league arms, but hey, that'd be cool too so he wouldn't be our a-hole any more.

Jonathan Villar is like a shortstop version of Carlos Gomez in some respects. He makes some crazy decisions on the basepaths from time to time, and he'll get thrown out doing something dumb like trying to go from first to third on a bunt or something (no, I don't think that happened). But, he makes things happen good as well. The upside, though, is that many in the organization think he is eminently more trainable than Gomez was -- that the team will be able to adjust his thinking somewhat without taking away his ability to be aggressive. I hope so. I like him -- and all he cost was a Cy Sneed (who, truth be told pitched respectably in the Texas League this past season...but he might be Mike Fiers reincarnated).

A little shout out to ZZ here -- not only with the "Empire State of Mind," but also the little A-Rod cameo at the beginning of this video from the American Music Awards from 2009. This song is damn cool, and Alicia Keys has an incredible voice.

You know what's fun, though? Falling down into the rabbit hole that are comments on YouTube. Between trying to figure out what some of the people are actually saying, following the trolls in their flame wars, and then getting past the spam merchants, it's actually incredibly entertaining.



When I think of Zippy Zappy and New York, I think of the Sega Card-Gen cards. ZZ is the guy who first sent me cards from these Japanese releases...and to think he kind of had to talk me into taking the first ones. That was my own ignorance, of course -- once I found out what they were, I snapped those suckers up immediately. Now, I look forward to getting more of them. So, when I got these two from ZZ in his most recent mailer, I was super excited.

Excited enough to play that Japanese song again by Frederic!

Here's hoping this is enough to get it stuck in P-Town Tom's head. Maybe it can be the victory theme for Tom for the Cubs!

Thanks a ton, Kenny, for the great cards!

I've Been Called Out, It Seems

My musical tastes tend to be very eclectic. If you've read through my blog when I am showing off cards I have bought/received in trade/found in the gutter along side of the highway, you have been treated to/abused by many of my various tastes. Sure, I will go the way of the random song from time to time and just see what happens, but most of the time I tend to stay reasonably close to my heart.

Because I will listen to and talk about any and every song around, people in my office often get tired of hearing me say, "that reminds me of a song." Today, for example, a woman was talking about taking a hike in a canyon in a state park here, and all I could hear in my head was "Down in It" by Nine Inch Nails... because she mentioned being down in the canyon and then up above it on the canyon rim.

I'd almost forgotten how good early NIN is. 

Still, my loner qualities mean that I have spent an inordinate time in my life listening to music. When I find kindred spirits -- or even just a song on someone else's blog that strikes a chord with me -- I often can't help myself and have to comment. That's what has led to this post. You see, our good friend Zippy Zappy may be a bit burned out on collecting -- probably because school has intervened and, well, the minor league season ended too -- but he isn't burned out on music. 

In fact, he called me out about music. Twice. He said that he "expect[s] you people who fall into this category [complete with two links in the same sentence to my blog] to listen to all of these and respond with feedback for each song ;)."

Not being one to turn down a challenge, I thought, "why not?" My next thought was, "well, it's not like I have a ton of backlog to post either, so this will be a good one to give me something to write about."

So, here goes. In the order that ZZ posted them, I'm going to put these up and go stream of consciousness on them -- listen once, gather my thoughts, and type.

First up -- some old Italian guy:

I learned Italian about 8 years ago, and I remember a little of it -- mostly the stuff that sounds exactly like the Spanish words that mean the same thing. As I watch the video for this song, I think "I didn't realize Ric Ocasek learned Italian! I mean, I know he married Paulina Porizkova, but wasn't she Czech?" 

Then Battiato starts moving a little bit, and he looks a bit like David Byrne. On meth.

This song is harmless enough. It's your basic 80s synthpop mixed with a crooner's sensibilities and sung in Italian. It probably helps not knowing exactly what he's saying, though this title means something like "Center of Permanent Gravity" (though I feel like it should be "Permanent Center of Gravity").

I'm excited for the next song...always love a new Georgia artist to get into.

So yeah, Tamar Chokhonelidze is Georgian as in the country next to Armenia and not next to Alabama. As I listen to this song, I can't help but wonder if Zippy Zappy is pulling my leg about this song. That, or he's got a 2-year-old that he has to figure out how he'll get the child to sleep every night.

As ZZ said, lavnana means "lullaby" in English. It's definitely quiet, slow, peaceful, and meant to help a little one feel safe at night. If you're looking for a song like that and either (a) speak Georgian or (b) don't care about knowing what the lyrics are, then this song should be right up your alley.

It really is not up my alley, though. Or in my wheelhouse. Or any other analogy you might use.

Let's go to Japan now.

The band is called Frederic, and the song is called "Oddloop." You can read more about that name on ZZ's post.

The weird dancing girls appear are just weird. Even weirder is that it appears that these two appear in several of Frederic's videos, such as Owarase Night.

Okay, Oddloop. If the guys from a-ha ever listened to the song, they'd sue. It's not so close to "Take on Me" that it's obvious, but it definitely was the first thing that came to mind in the opening riff of the song to me. The lyrics are really repetitive, so the chorus words can get stuck in your head really quickly. Or maybe that's just me.

It's a decent song. It's catchy and derivative, so it's pretty much every song that has been made since 1969 after the Beatles broke up.

Or, at least that's what the music critics will have you believe.

Scotland's up next.

Oh yeah. This is much more my speed. I'm someone who really got into bands like Keane and Snow Patrol, so Frightened Rabbit is right in that sweet spot. 

I'm actually a bit embarrassed that I haven't listened to this band before for a very personal reason: my brother-in-law Matt has built guitars for both Scott Hutchison (the lead singer/lead guitarist) and Billy Kennedy (the bass player), among others. In fact, when Frightened Rabbit played Austin City Limits, Scott was using his Copeland Guitar (as you can see in the video here on Red Bull TV).

So, yes, this is great. More! More!

Continuing our tour around the world, let's go to Finland:

I had no idea that Macklemore could speak Finnish. Incredible.

Oh, what? That's some Finnish group called JVG? Okay. That's cool.

My impressions? Well, like any good rap video, this has a lot of hot women in it, but too many skinny sweaty guys with their shirts off. I have to admit that the groove to the song is cool, but I really wish I could understand the words. When you get down to it for me, I am into lyrics in songs. 

This song sounds like something I might have heard on a FIFA soundtrack, though. Except that the song supposedly means "Funky Badonk" in English. That's funny, of course, because Badonk is pretty much a meaningless word anyway. The translation I linked to actually has footnotes that say that "Mauton Jasso" is something to the effect of sick ass. Also funny is that at least one line translates to "Girl twerk that ass" (likka twerkkaa sitä jassoo, in case you find yourself in Finland and want to talk to that hot girl in a way to get you slapped).

See, you always get useful knowledge from me here.

Catfish and the Bottlemen are a Welsh band who are actually playing in New York tonight and at the Variety Playhouse here in Atlanta next week Wednesday (but the Atlanta show is sold out already...). They will hit DC, Norfolk, and Nashville before going back to the UK and Ireland for a month. Then, they are back in the US for 6 shows before heading to Australia right after Christmas. And who can blame them for that, since that's the beginning of summer there?

I had heard this song -- "Pacifier" before on XFM out of Manchester/London on TuneIn Radio. Zippy Zappy rightfully said their band name reminds him of Echo and the Bunnymen. He said their sound reminds him of Kings of Leon. I can see that some. I'm a fan and I need to listen to more of them.

Yeah, this song is actually from 1906. I personally would have preferred if ZZ would have linked to Murray's song "Under the Anheuser Bush" just because, you know, beer.

This song feels a bit like a college fight song. It's probably that low brass line you hear in the background -- the trombones and tubas with their somewhat staccato notes that move the song forward but make it sound like a marching band rather than anything else. I guess that probably has as much to do with the fact that people really hadn't figured out jazz or blues or chord progressions or anything like that.

In the end, this song would not feel out of place in a silent movie.

The Babies are a four piece band out of Brooklyn. This song's rhythm guitar line makes me think of old 50s music -- it's repetitive, all major chords (for the most part), and it's the same rhythm all the way through the song (again, for the most part). It's not a bad song. 

The band apparently took a hiatus in 2014 because band members Cassie Ramone -- real name: Cassie Grzymkowski -- and Kevin Morby decided to focus on their solo careers more. Oddly enough, Cassie Ramone cites to The Ramones as one of her influences.

You don't say.

Cara Salimando is trying to make her name in music the newfangled old-fashioned way: building up a grassroots following by getting her music out to people. I say newfangled because there's a lot of the "do-it-yourself" feel that MySpace used to have for music about 10 years ago -- you know, back when there were actually people on MySpace and not the skeletal remains of profiles that are all probably porn bots.

This song sounds like it could have been an album extra on Taylor Swift's last album. It's poppy, and Cara's voice is very "sweet". There's nothing wrong with that, mind you. With a sweet sounding voice like that, though, I'd prefer a little more edge to it -- more like Luscious Jackson from 20 years ago ("Naked Eye" is what I was thinking of here).

Out of curiosity, I listened to "Dust" by Cara Salimando while typing this. The "sweet" part of her voice has faded, but I like the song more. It's got more of a lyrical edge and is a bit more wistful and darker. 

Not bad at all.

And finally:

Lord Huron is a Los Angeles "indie folk" band. It's a pretty good song, but it strikes me like a weird folk version of Enya or something. I'm not being critical by saying that -- Enya's "Orinoco Flow" had that expansive sound that made it sound, well, BIG. Enya did it orchestrally with big strings and such, but Lord Huron does it with a big percussion section -- you can hear the timpani in the musical breakdown as the "credits" roll at the end of the video.  

It's a pretty cool sound. 

Many thanks go out to Zippy Zappy for bringing a few of these songs to my attention.

But you can keep Franco.