Game 92: 46 Days

For some odd reason, even though the Yankees got a late start after the All-Star Break and weren't doing any traveling after the three game series against the Rays, yesterday was an off day for them. It doesn't really matter now, but that rest probably could have come in handy sometime during the next 46 days, during which the Yankees are scheduled to play 44 games.

Tonight, Phil Hughes takes the mound for the first time since taking the loss in the All-Star Game. Fortunately he'll be facing the relatively marginal Angels' lineup instead of the best players in the National League and the opposing pitcher will be 22 year old right hander Sean O'Sullivan, who has only 58 MLB innings under his belt and a relatively uninspiring Minor League career backing that up.

The Yanks have a two and a half game lead over the Rays at the moment and perhaps there isn't much reason for concern, as Joe from River Ave. Blues said this morning. But as they begin this tough stretch, most of which they will likely have to navigate without Andy Pettitte, it would be nice if Hughes and the offense can get them off on the right foot against the Halos.

Leigh Fordham sold me out,
46 days and the coal ran out,
Please come round here another day,
Sit yourself down when you're ready to stay.

She dug down when they took the town,
Lookin' for clues but they couldn't be found,
Leigh found out she was ready to roam,
47 days and the coal came home.

Taste the fear,
For the devil's drawing near.

[Song Notes: There's a few numerical coincidences here, with 46 being Andy Pettitte's number as well as half of 92. This is a relatively new Phish tune, off of the album Round Room, which they released in 2002.]

-Lineup(s)-

Yankees: Jonathan Albaladejo, who has been doing excellent work this season as Scranton's closer (46.2 IP, 0.96 ERA and a club record 31 saves already) has been called up to take Andy Pettitte's roster spot. The Yanks have passed over him for guys like Mark Melancon, Ivan Nova, Romulo Sanchez and (repeatedly) Boone Logan this season, but Albie is finally joining the Big League club for the first time in 2010 tonight.

He doesn't have to eat up batters (4.8 Hs, 2.4 BBs & 11.8 Ks per 9) like he has been doing in the minors to be valuable to the team. He just has to be better than he has in the parts of three seasons he's spent in the Majors or just more effective than fucking Joba, neither of which is asking a whole lot.

As for the lineup, Jorge Posada will be behind the plate while Curtis Granderson hits 7th and Juan Miranda DH's and bats 8th against the righty O'Sullivan.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Ganderson CF
Juan Miranda DH
Brett Gardner LF

Games 67-69: A Trio Of Phish Tunes

During the first installment of the Subway Series back in May, the Yankees lined up Javier Vazquez, Phil Hughes and CC Sabathia and the Mets scheduled Hisanori Takahashi, Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana for a Friday-Saturday-Sunday set at Citi Field. This time, as the rivalry shifts to the Bronx, the matchups and days of the week will be exactly the same.

Similar to the series the Yanks just completed against the Phillies, they won the most unlikely pitching match up of the previous series against the Metropolitans - the first game - but were doomed by an offense that went cold in the final two contests, scoring just three runs between them.

The two New York teams are in very different places that they were just about a month ago when the Mets were seven games out of the NL East lead and the Yankees were sitting four games in back of the Rays. The Mets, winners of seven straight and eleven of their last twelve, are just a half game behind the Braves. Meanwhile, despite losing two out of three against the Phillies, the Bombers are still even with Tampa with the Red Sox just two games behind them.

As the Yanks have clawed their way back into a first place tie with the Rays, we've taken a bit of a step back in our bloggerly duties. Matt's been busy with his job and I've been working outside, so we've been producing less content during the weeks that we typically aspire to.

I can't keep up with my Google Reader, so the linkarounds have run dry and I've been slacking off on getting up our recaps right after the games are over like we did in the beginning of the year. And when the weekends roll around, we've both been trying to make the most of our summers without worrying too much about what gets posted here. Which is good, because that means that we are treating this like a hobby and not a serious obligation like I have in the past and it's not like most of you stop by frequently outside of the work week anyway.

Well, this is another one of those mail-it-in weekends. I'm going to three Phish shows starting tonight in Hartford and continuing with Saturday and Sunday at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, so I won't be catching much Yankee baseball much less previewing or recapping it.

Since I am a big Phish fan but can never find a way to work their songs into previews (unless the stars align perfectly) I'm going to throw three songs from live shows from places in New York. If you look hard enough, you might be able to find some significance in the tunes as they relate to the matchups between Yankees and the Mets. If you score some mahlz in the lot and take some pulls of the endochronic skunkfunk, it will all make perfect sense.

Enjoy the games and we'll catch up with you Fackers on Monday morning.

=====

Game 67: Javier Vazquez vs. Hisanori Takahashi

Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan from the show on my birthday last year at Jones Beach (the first time they played it live). It's easy to hate on a band's new material but if you are a Phish fan and don't like this one, you probably aren't being fair. It has some nasty, snarling guitar work and pretty good lyrics to boot.

Gonna steal time from the faulty plan,
Gonna act as though I'm still a man,
Gonna give you one last chance to see,
Gonna shrug demands off of me.

Gonna dream, gonna dream, gonna dream,
Gonna dream, dream of being free.

Gonna steal time from the faulty plan,
Steal time from the faulty plan,
Gonna steal time from the faulty plan,
Steal time from the faulty plan.

Game 68: Phil Hughes vs. Mike Pelfrey

Character Zero from the David Letterman Show on March 5th, 1997.

I was taught a month ago,
To bide my time and take it slow,
But then I learned just yesterday,
To rush and never waste the day,
Well I'm convinced the whole day long,
That all I learn is always wrong,
And things are true that I forget,
But no one taught that to me yet.

Game 69: CC Sabathia vs. Johan Santana

It's Ice from the Roseland Ballroom on May 3rd, 2000.

He's fallen on the ice, it cracks,
Will he plunge in and join me here?
He meets my eyes, to my surprise,
He laughs in full light of my frown,
My double wants to pull me down.

Game 10: Wilson

The Yankees welcome the Rangers to the Bronx tonight for the first of a three game set. The weather isn't looking too promising, but if/when action gets under way tonight, the pitching match up will feature a duo of of double initialed left handers.

CC Sabathia is fresh off an excellent start against against the Rays in which he flirted with a no hitter but had to settle for it's still attractive younger sister, 7 2/3 shutout, one-hit innings. Joe Girardi is looking to keep the magic alive from that last outing as Francisco Cervelli is scheduled to be back behind the plate. It's too early to tell if Girardi is planning on making this a "personal catcher" situation but Jorge Posada is going to need days off and Cervelli and Sabathia have had considerable success together. Now that Burnett and Posada are working together, it might make sense to ride the CC-Frankie wave as long as it will take them.

For the Rangers, famous Twitterer C.J. Wilson will be starting his second game of the year. Wilson was originally supposed to start against the Indians on Wednesday but came down with a case of food poisoning and was pushed back to today.

Wilson has been a reliever for the majority of his Big Leauge career, and a pretty decent one at that. He's thrown 259 innings to a 3.65 ERA out of the 'pen, which is pretty good but certainly not jaw-dropping. Wilson saw his strikeout rates jump over one per inning last year, his ERA and FIP drop to around 2.90 and the Rangers decided to give him a chance to start this spring.

The move was justifiably met with some scrutiny but Wilson shined in his first outing of the year, throwing seven shutout innings against the Blue Jays, allowing just five hits and two walks while striking out nine. Wilson saw a notable decrease in velocity during the start but some of that could be attributable to the fact that the season has barely begun and he obviously found a way to make his diminished stuff work for him. Will he enjoy the same success against much better offense tonight?

You got me back thinkin',
that you're the worst one,
I must inquire Wilson...
Can you still have fun?

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Marcus Thames is in the lineup again after going 2 for 3 last night against Scott Kazmir but he will be playing left field instead of DHing. Nick Johnson gets the start after drawing a walk in his pinch hit appearance last night. Cervelli gets the 9 slot, pushing Granderson up to 8th.

Jeter SS
Johnson DH
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Thames LF
Granderson CF
Cervelli C

Rangers:

Julio Borbon CF

Michael Young, 3B

Josh Hamilton LF

Vladimir Guerrero DH

Nelson Cruz RF

Chris Davis 3B

Joaquin Arias 2B

Taylor Teagarden C

Elvis Andrus SS

Today In Headlines That Shouldn't Need To Be Written

Why Last Night’s Loss Doesn’t Necessarily Mean This Is 2004 All Over Again

Jon DeLessio over at The Sports Section at New York Magazine would like to talk you down from a metaphorical ledge. His hostage negotiation tactics include A) comparing 2009 A-Rod to 2004 David Ortiz, B) saying that the homefield advantage is somehow better this time although both teams went (57-24) at home, and C) pointing out that CC Sabathia would start a Game 7 should it be necessary. Guess which one of these is a valid point. If you said C, congratulations, you may be a rational person!

The problem is that the people who are standing on said ledge are not going to be talked down from it.

If you've given up on this series after one loss, you're a special kind of pathetic. That's the kind of fatalism reserved for Red Sox, Cubs and Mets fans.

Here are some reasons that this year, even if the worst case scenario comes to fruition, isn't 2004:

1. The deficit wasn't 3-0
2. These aren't the Red Sox
3. This isn't 5 years ago
4. There are 5 players out of 50 that the two playoff rosters have in common - six if you count Johnny Damon, which I don't

So no, Wallace Matthews. This wouldn't be worse than 2004, you moron.

Just as a blowout victory in Game 4 didn't predict success in last night's game, one tough loss doesn't mean the Yanks are going to drop the last two. Relax everyone, it's still match point and we've got the next two serves.

Remember when everyone was in agreement that this was going to be a great series? Well, in a great series, there are going to be triumphs and tragedies. Glorious victories and heartbreaking losses. Let's try not to lose our minds so badly in the latter that we can't enjoy the former.

It's Friday night. Blow off some steam. I might be witnessing some amateur pugilism. Some of you are probably planning to get extremely drunk. Others may be doing slightly more respectable activities like going out to dinner and seeing a movie. Do your respective things and let's meet back here sometime tomorrow afternoon.

How High The Moon

Yesterday, on the long drive out to Darien Lake (which is just outside of Buffalo) to see Phish, I was tooling around on my iPhone and came across the unfortunate news of Les Paul's passing on Baseball Musings. I only say "unfortunate" because when someone dies, it's always unfortunate, but Paul lived a fantastic life and died at the ripe old age of 94.

If you're a guitar player or fan of rock music, you probably recognize his name from the famous line of Gibson guitars he endorsed, played by legends such as Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, Warren Haynes, Pete Townshend, Peter Frampton, David Gilmour, Keith Richards, George Harrison, Slash, Jimmy Page, Neil Young and Frank Zappa, to only skim the cream of the crop. Chances are, if fancy yourself a guitar player, you either have a Les Paul or have wanted one badly.

If his only accomplishment was pioneering the solid body electric guitar by crafting it out of a four inch thick piece of a railroad track, he would have had an incredibly successful career in the music business. However, that was only the tip of the iceberg. He also invented multi-track recording, which allowed multiple instruments and vocal arrangements to be stacked on top of each other, which is how virtually every album is recorded in the modern day. A musician in his own right, Paul played his regular gig at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York city until within just months of his death, a performance that we urged you all to experience and one I'm ashamed to say I never did.

To learn more about his long and rich life, head over to the Gibson website for a full scale tribute.

There is also a great PBS special on him, which I'm guessing will be re-aired in the near future. Keep an eye out for that as well.

Last night at the Phish show, they stopped briefly before setbreak to acknowledge Paul's passing, explaining that if he hadn't decided that guitars weren't just for background filler in a band, rock and roll as we know it may never have come to fruition. They played a short version of "How High The Moon", which was perhaps Paul's biggest hit and led into Golgi Appartus, a song replete with lead guitar and a beautiful quiet jazzy solo, a signature of Paul's own music. It was a great moment and I thought of all the other concerts going on simultaneously with similar tributes prompting burts of cheers in outdoor amphitheaters across the country and around the world.

The video below was captured during the advent of multi-tracking at which point it was still a novelty, not the standard industry practice. Most songs don't have 26 tracks (except maybe this one) but this video depicts a man far ahead of his time, bright an vibrant, which is exactly how he should be remembered. Rest in peace, sir.

Somewhere there's music,
It's where you are,
Somewhere there's heaven,
How near, how far.

The darkest night would shine,
If you would come to me soon,
Until you will, how still my heart,
How high the moon.

My New Favorite Reader

Most of the time, a blog is a one way mode of communication. Only a small fraction of those who read posts make comments and an ever tinier percentage feel compelled to write an email to us saying that they enjoy the site, there is an egregious error in one of our posts or to ask why there are no women listed as contributors. It's really exciting whenever that happens because I get to connect names with the numbers I see on Google Analytics and have actual proof that writing for this blog isn't a complete and total waste of time.

Well, over the weekend I received far and away the best email in the history of the site from a reader named Giles McNamee (presumably of no relation to this man). Here it goes:

Dear Jay:

I was just over at Fenway Park with some friends who were recording your friend Youk and a couple of the other Socks players singing Sweet Caroline and Dirty Water. Youk is putting out an album for his charity.

Interesting that the Socks would play Sweet Caroline, a song which was written by a 40 year old man in tribute to an 11 or 12 year old girl, in the eighth inning of every game. “Touching me, touching you.” Think about it. This has to be on the pedophile classic hits top ten list, don’t you think?

Anyway I was there because a band I’m in laid down the instrumental tracks for the songs. As a Yankee fan, I only agreed to do this because I could then bring my kids, who are Bostonians and died-in-the-wool Red Sock fans, to meet Youk and some of the other players. Being a dad sometimes trumps being a Yankee fan... Sort of...

Anyway, I had Youk sign a ball to you because I thought you would enjoy it (see attached photo).

Shoot me an address and I will send you the ball.

Keep up the excellent work on your blog.

Best,

Giles

Pretty sweet, right? I don't gather that Giles told Youk that the person he was signing the ball for actually created a blog named after his hatred of him, but that is quite understandable. The event was for a good cause, after all.

I made sure he was okay with me turning the email into a post and his response he also added:

Four explanatory things for the record: (1) Youk’s charity is called “Hits for Kids” and it supports a number of worthy children’s causes in the greater Boston area; (2) The CD is being produced by Rounder Records and, in theory, all the bands who have played at Fenway Park (Jimmy Buffett, Bruce Springsteen, Phish, Dave Matthews, etc) are going to donate one song each to put on the album; (3) The little girl about whom Sweet Caroline was written was Caroline Kennedy which makes Neil Diamond seem even creepier; (4) My band is called EGGSLAP, a recent incarnation which includes myself and the drummer from my former band, the Rockhoppers.

So, Bostonian readers, keep an eye out for EGGSLAP appearing to a music venue near you. And if any of you happen to meet our boy Youk, you know what to do if you would like to star in your very own guest post. Operators are standing by.

Game 52: You Enjoy Myself

Taking the mound tonight, at least as far as I'm concerned, will be Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Paige McConnell and Jon Fishman at the Jones Beach Ampitheater. They are pictured above after jumping the bump at Fenway Park to sing an a Capella version of the Star Spangled Banner before the show they played there on Sunday.

I don't care if Phish wore Red Sox jerseys when they sang the National Anthem, just as I don't care if A-Rod listens to Madonna, Hideki Matsui likes Menudo, Nick Swisher blasts Kenny Chesney, or A.J. Burnett rocks out to Godsmack. For all the melding of music and sports were do here at Fack Youk, they are still very separate pleasures.

Today also happens to be the anniversary of my emergence from the womb (in case you were wondering why I wrote this post), so the title of the song below is as self-indulgent as it is apropos. It represents everything people dislike about Phish songs: The extended composed sections and jams make it so long that almost every version on YouTube had to be split up into two, if not three parts. There are hardly any lyrics and the ones there don't make any sense. Odds are you won't like it, and chances are I don't really give a shit. Not today, anyway.

Matt is still away in the land of the Canucks so there won't be a game recap, either. Fear not, Fackers, we will be back in full force tomorrow. 

Time Turns Elastic

As Matt mentioned last night, the penultimate destination of my road trip was a stop in Baltimore to see Trey Anastiasio (the frontman of Phish), play with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. If you aren't familiar with Phish's music, you might think this would be an unlikely match. That's probably because you didn't know that all four members of Phish are classically trained musicians and that many of their longer songs are tightly composed and would be well suited to an orchestral backing.

I've seen symphony performances before at SPAC, but never at a concert hall specifically designed for acoustics. We lucked into some pretty good seats - first row of the lower balcony - which certainly enhanced the experience as well. Above the stage at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall there were bowed wood panels, and on the ceiling there were giant half spheres with a slot down the middle that looked like flat head screws. The doors where you entered your section were closed and soundproof, each balcony was it's own little pod, the ledges of which were gently sloped and aimed (not surprisingly) right towards ear level. Each one of these design features were put in place solely for acoustical purposes, and last night, they were put to their full use.

There was a stringed band playing in the entry way across from a cocktail bar and the crowd was an interesting mix of dreadlocks and blazers, summer dresses and t-shirts. Trey walked on stage with conductor Marin Alsop, wearing a black suit and blue dress shirt, a pretty drastic departure from his normal stage attire, and was met with a rousing applause.

Standing in front of the orchestra and off to

Alsop's left, Trey then picked up his spruce-topped Languedoc, which was plugged in to a modestly-sized Fender amp, and delved into Divided Sky. The tone was clean and and carefully balanced with the mostly stringed arrangement. The crowd sat quietly through the roughly 10 minute version of the song but erupted with what I'm guessing was the loudest applause in the history of the venue when Alsop halted the strings. These being mostly Phish fans, the typical clapping was backed by plenty of "Wooohooo!!!"s and "Yeah, Trey!!!"s. It was a breathtaking moment, and one that made it impossible for me to suppress a smile.

Next came the mellow Brian and Robert (which I simulcasted via iPhone to Sampson), followed by the short, acoustic The Inlaw Josie Wales. Trey then took a moment to thank the crowd and said how honored he was to be able to do something like this.

The most emotional moment of the night came when he dedicated the next song to his eight year old nephew. Three weeks ago his mother, Trey's sister, Kristy Manning lost a long battle with cancer and they played a beautiful rendition of Water In The Sky in her honor. As I listened, I couldn't help but think back to the heartfelt post that Matt wrote earlier in the day and appreciate one of those times when life comes together - when for a short while it all seems to make sense. Last night was one of those fleeting moments.

The title song of the show was called Time Turns Elastic and was a 13 minute opus consisting of 9 shorter, interwoven songs that they played at the beginning of the second set. Next came what they call "Guyute" the orchestral composition of what is from Trey's album Seis De Mayo, and starts and ends with the intro from My Friend, My Friend. I recorded all 12 minutes of it on my phone, but haven't figured out how to get it off. The encore, If I Could, hadn't been played live in almost nine years.

Here is a link to the full setlist.

By the time I get back to New York this afternoon I will have logged over 2,000 miles on my Grandma's Mercury Sable and slept in 5 different states in 6 days. We ran into all sorts of pitfalls and obstacles and very little went according to plan, save for the show last night. I was lucky to have a traveling companion who in addition to being easy going, was a top notch iPhone navigator and text-retary who rolled with the punches at every juncture. We've been friends since Semester At Sea, so that last part came as no surprise. She's not a Phish fan, but I prepped her a little bit while we were sitting in traffic on the Baltimore-Washington Expressway and unless she was bullshitting me (unlikely), she came away almost as impressed and satisfied as I was.

Swept Away

As far as sweeps go, that one was pretty bad. It occurred against the Red Sox, involved a blown save by Mariano Rivera, a fackin' Kevin Youkilis walk-off homer onto Landsdowne St., a grand slam by Jason Varitek, games called by Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan, and the coup de grace, a fucking steal of home by Jacoby Ellsfairy. 

It's only one run. It didn't decide the game. I'm guessing it probably won't happen again. But that perfectly placed the poo cherry right on top of the shit sundae that was this series. If you look closely at the replays (or watch the end of the slideshow below), you'll see that he tripped about 10 feet from home plate, which actually helped him barely sneak under the tag. The expression on Andy Pettitte's face pretty much says it all: 

It looks like he just watched someone kick his dog. Although, to complete the analogy, Pettitte would have been holding the leash when it happened. 

The only thing that eases the pain is the fact that this weekend was absolutely beautiful this weekend here on the Eastern seaboard, and still is. Would you trade three Yankee wins for three straight days of 50 degrees and rain? I'll get back to you in September. 

It's still April, and the Yanks are 9-9. They are heading to a pitcher's park and will have their ace on the hill tonight. I just hope this is the last sweep at the hands of the Sox this year, because this is (not surprisingly) the only song in my iTunes library that has anything to do with sweeping. 

[Disclaimer: It's only a little over a minute long, but please be sure to remove all sharp objects from your reach, because this show is about three times more depressing than I intended it to be.]

Old Home Place

[Ed Note: This has absolutely nothing to do with sports, so feel free to take a pass. I'm taking the weekend off from blogging since I'm upstate but figured (something > nothing)]

It was about 65 today, so I decided to cue up a playlist of relatively obscure Bob Marley songs, and take a walk in my development's common land and snap some pictures. Despite what the musical selection might lead you to believe, no illegal activities occurred during the process of producing this post. Well, actually, there was about 45 seconds worth of trespassing.

I mentioned it in the Snow Day post, but here is little more about the common land, if you are so inclined: The company that developed this neighborhood had the foresight to set aside 50 of the 130 acres it is set on for the shared usage of the homeowners. Those fifty acres border on the Mohawk River and would be absolutely prime if they weren't located directly across from Knolls Atomic Power Lab and a GE Research and Development facility.

It's probably not the greatest time of year to be taking pictures back there. Actually, scratch that, it's the worst possible time. The snow is gone, aside from a few frozen waterfalls on the South side of the river, and nothing has started to come to life yet. It's gray and drab, but I think it's still incredibly beautiful in it's own way. It makes the things that are colorful stand out even more.

It was a somewhat bittersweet photo safari, as many of the trails that Sampson and I used to mosey along are totally grown over. No one really goes down there anymore, so the homeowners association has really let the place go. In a way, that's better though, because it's a lot cooler feeling like the only person to take advantage of it. It also makes the song choice even more appropriate. It's a version of The Dillard's Old Home Place performed by Phish on 06/11/98 at the Worcester Centrum.

If you watch closely, you can see Llenroc peeking through the trees in one of the pictures.

Moogis!

One of the reasons content has been a little abbreviated/slow around here lately is that after work, instead of queuing up a post or two for the following day, I've been watching the Allman Brothers' shows live on Moogis. (The name comes from drummer Butch Trucks' kids' mispronunciation of "music" when they were young.)

I mentioned it in a previous post, but for $125, you can watch all of the shows from this run at the Beacon as they are occurring or archived up to six months from now. There are also some older performances archived, which might be useful for nights like last night when there was no show or some Monday evening when the Yankees aren't playing a few months from now. I'm obviously a pretty big ABB fan so maybe I'm not speaking for everyone, but its pretty amazing to be able to cook dinner (or just sit on the couch) and watch the set lists as they are unfolding right around the block.

Nothing can replace the energy (or people watching) you experience at a live show. However, you still get the same feeling when a band whose catalog you know intimately goes into a song you love. Two nights ago, they launched into Desdemona, which I heard live at the Beacon the last time I saw them there. I wasn't any less excited this time around. Of course, there are other things you can do in the comfort of your own home that you can't do very freely at a newly renovated venue. Plus, you can drink good beer at grocery store prices and don't have to wait for the bathroom!

Another benefit is that the views from the eight cameras that Moogis uses are much better than anywhere in the venue. It's not perfect video quality, but the camera work is comparable to most concert DVDs that get produced. They zoom in during guitar solos, which is especially interesting to me since I could clearly use some schooling on the axe.

The only drawback I've noticed so far is that the sound mix isn't that great. It doesn't seem to be constantly adjusted throughout the show by their sound guy like what you would hear if you were there. It must be a direct feed to the interwebs. As a result, Warren's guitar is too loud which is extremely awesome when he is blazing through a solo, but when he is playing rythym, Derek's guitar and the vocals sometimes get drowned out. The last time I was at the Beacon (before the renovation) the sound quality in the balcony wasn't great either, so maybe it's not a colossal drop off.

Moogis is going to be especially awesome tonight and tomorrow, as it seems Eric Clapton is almost certain to make an couple of appearances. The slideshows to Little Martha they have played during this 40th Anniversary run have focused more on Duane than the nearly 38 years they have been playing since his death (for good reason).

Consequently, I'm expecting that the sets with Clapton will be fairly Derek and the Dominoes heavy, considering Duane sat in on the sessions for the album. Furthermore, Derek Trucks went on tour with Clapton in 2006 & 2007, filling in Duane's parts on those tunes. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is probably my favorite album of all time, so they really can't do wrong by me. (But Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad would be sensational. Please?)

Here are some screen shots I nabbed off of Moogis over the past few nights:

Greg towards the end of Soulshine

Trey having a guitargasm during In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed
(my favorite song of the run so far)

Warren and Derek ripping through the Desdemona jam

Derek and Tommy Talton playing Please Be With Me

John Hammond starting up So Many Roads, So Many Trains

The Weight, featuring Bonnie & Bekka Bramlett and Derek's Wife Susan Tedeschi

A picture of Duane from the Little Martha slide show

The cheapest ticket on StubHub for tonight is $469 (tomorrow - $417, which is only headed up).

I've got my seat. (There may still be a few available...)

Second Thoughts...

While Syracuse and UCONN rocked the sports world with their epic six overtime clash, right around the corner from my apartment, a much smaller number of attendees were rocked in a much different way.

Yesterday, Fat Jon informed me via text message of an internet rumor that Trey Anastasio and Paige McConnell from Phish might be joining the Allmans on stage at the Beacon Theater that night (part of their 40th Anniversary Run). I took this pretty seriously because Trey lives on the Upper West Side and I've had the chance to chat with him before at a street fair (extremely cool). Phish had just wrapped up Hampton and it seemed to make sense.

If you have been reading this site carefully, you could have probably guessed that this was right up my alley.

Allmans + Phish + Beacon = Me

I left work and walked right over to the Theater and check out the ticket scene. It was about 7:00 and the show didn't start 'til 8, but there were far fewer scalpers out front than usual. Since Fairway is right across the street, on my way to get groceries, I'll get caught in the crossfire if there is a show that night. As a result, I've got a pretty good feel for the atmosphere despite not going to all that many shows there.

The mix of scalpers outside of the Beacon is always a treat. There are the stereotypical skeevy-looking, quasi-homeless fat old white dudes with tattered jackets on. You could pick these creepers out of a scalper line up in a heartbeat. They tend to cluster towards the corner of 75th and Broadway, while the black dudes stay closer to 74th. They are the characters. They also look about one bender from being a full blown vagrant, but unlike the standoffish white guys, they are more friendly and engaging.

Within 12 seconds of walking up alongside Beacon Wine & Spirits, one of the guys was grumbled, "Do you need any BUD maaaaaaan?". Yes. This is how I would like to acquire some drugs. Right on a crowded street corner in Manhattan. Don't worry, there aren't six cops within 50 feet of us. All set in that department, champ. Do you have any tickets?

He directed to a bearded gentleman in a camouflage coat with the hood up who informed me that he had one ticket in the Orchestra, Row 9, for $175. I didn't even bother to bargain with him since it was so far out of my price range. I scoured around for a little while longer to no avail, and went back to my apartment to regroup.

I re-emerged at 7:30, hit the ATM and decided I would be willing to push my budget to about $100 or so to adjust to the sellers market I detected. When I got back, it was even worse. The buyer to seller ratio was roughly 50:0. No joke. I walked around until 8:15 and did not see one ticket change hands, at any price.

I was pretty disappointed, but just headed over to Fairway and picked up two crab cakes and a sirloin that was sliced off the ol' block 10 seconds before my boy Ralph the butcher bagged it for me. It was a decent consolation prize.

I checked the setlist after the 'Cuse game and indeed, Trey and Paige showed up (along with Buddy Guy).

Set 1
Little Martha
Trouble No More
Leave My Blues at Home
Who’s Been Talking (old Howling Wolf Song)
Black Hearted Woman
You Can’t Lose What You Never Had
The Sky Is Crying (with Buddy Guy)
You Don’t Love Me (with Buddy Guy)
Southbound (Buddy Guy/Page/Trey)

Set 2
I Know You Rider (w/Trey & Page)
In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed (w/Trey & Page)
Dreams
Jessica

Encore
Statesboro Blues (extended version)

Here is an awesome review of the show (where I pulled the pics from).

$175 for 9th row seats doesn't seem like that bad of an investment anymore. This post would have been roughly 2000 times better. There is an unoffical guest list floating around that details who is going to be playing with them at the Beacon, and so far it has been pretty close. Boz Scaggs is up tonight (Loan Me A Dime?) and Clapton is playing on the 19th & 20th (Mean Old World?).

Well, since I probably won't be able to get tickets to any of those without falling into a never ending spiral of credit card debt, I think I'm going to have to settle for Moogis. For $125, you can watch every one of the shows live or on demand. It's not just confined to the Beacon run, you can watch performances from 2007 at Piedmont Park. They claim to be adding more shows as well.

Who wants to have a simulcast party???

Sanity Never Came My Way

I've been getting text updates from all three Phish shows this weekend from my (ironically averaged-sized) friend Fat Jon, and one of my buddies who I goaded into doing a version of Guitar Solo Sunday.

Tonight's opener was one of the tunes I've never heard live:

The stars in the sky are very bright.

(Stars are bright)

The stars in the sky are very bright.

(Are bright)

The stars they really suck tonight!

(stars suck)

The stars in the sky are very bright.



And I don't care if the world explodes.

(world ex-plodes)

No, I don't care if the world explodes.

(Ex-plodes!)

You can save the whales, you can save the toads.

(Toads)

But I don't care if the world explodes.

As you know, I am a fan of wildlife conservation (and nihilism)...

This Is F___ing Depressing

I'm still at work, and obsessively hitting the Refresh button on Phish.com so I can torture myself with the fucking sick setlist they are playing.

Kill me.

It's cool though, I get paid extra for staying after 9 on a Friday.

(Oh wait, what's that? I don't?)

Sweet.