Haven't posted much this week. I've been busy recovering from promoting the race, posolutely crushed at work, and slipping 20 hours of continuing legal ed into the week. Up this morning at 3:00 AM to do some drafting, into work at 7, off to CLE at 9, back to the office at 4:00 for some more work... yeah, I'm dyin' heah.
But good things are happening. For one thing, it's hockey season again. And you know what that means?
It means it's also Hockey Fight Season! And it's not really a hockey fight unless it spans two or three periods, guys get ejected, and the goalies try to kick the shit out of each other. Here's a good 'un for you:
I guess you're expecting some music now, huh? So, now for something completely different. Here's a little Hank. Hank Sr., that is. The Long Gone Lonesome Blues. Great song.
For those of you who are starting to prep for road season with those long solo base rides and whatnot - I'm lookin' at you Betty - here's some Lost Highway by Hank.
That's country. I kind of like classic country - from the early stuff by Hank and Woodie, to the later stuff by Willie and Waylon and Merle. There's a simplicity and honesty to it that's refreshing.
Bluegrass, on the other hand, is not simple. Here's Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, with Foggy Mountain Breakdown. The precision of their playing is really amazing - pitch perfect, and fast.
Bluegrass is funny because it's a periodic pop sensation. You may have been exposed to it a bit in O Brother Where Art Thou. That triggered widespread interest in it. But that was the second big boom of my lifetime. The first one? On the corny Beverly Hillbillies, of course. Check out the amazing banjo licks overlaid on top of Hollywood schlock here:
Man. Pure weirdness. Of course you listen to that song, and you know where these guys got the idea from.
Same song, basically, performed after a couple hefty hits of LSD. Yeah, Dave Matthews can get all progressive political and whatnot, but you're looking at the roots of jam bands here when you look at classic country and bluegrass.
Extra special bonus in that last video: crazy dancing hippie chicks. That's for FatMarc, who I know loves hippies.
10 comments:
Those are some great old songs. I hate hippies but I love crazy hippie chicks dancing.
So, you're not a normal lawyer, huh? What do you do? If you have fun, and like your job, please shoot me an email at andrew(dot)brautigam@gmail.com. I'm a law student, and I need all the help I can get when it comes to future planning/job availability/options.
lol @ those hippie girls.
Man, I miss those Flyers. Thanks for that, Jim.
OK Jim, have you ever played hockey... I mean really played hockey? As a Canuck I started at 4 and well haven't stopped yet. I played competitive right up into junior.
Here's the rules on the fight. The ref stands back to size up the penalties. The linesmen are left to break it up there are only two.
They only half heartedly try to break the fight up until both men hit the ice... that's the rule.
It's hard on the knuckles. There is so much plastic in the gear. the helmets the shoulderpads etc. etc. sharp plastic edges cut your knuckles all to shit. You bleed and bleed.
Only assholes fight with goalies, goalies fight with goalies. Same as when the game was Canadian, nobody ever hit a goalie. Period.
Now that the game has become american telivision anything goes. Guys run at the goalie all the time.
The old rules have gone out the window.
I could go on but who care it's hockey... were only interested in the fights.
-B
Bluenoser, I put that on there only because a 5 minute video of tactically astute line changes would only be interesting to you and me.
I think you're wrong to think most people only like the fights. There are some people who only love the fights, but most people really love the game and the fights are an entertaining diversion from time to time, especially when done properly, which is when one bruiser punishes the other team's bruiser, or a journeyman player, for a cheap hit on one of the more delicate skill players.
Say what you will about expansion, but in some places they get it. I've been in Raleigh NC during the playoffs, and the fans there do in fact cheer good line changes by the 'caines. I think a lot of us newer fans south of the St. Lawrence - I've only been a fan since about 1977 so I'm newer - don't appreciate fighting as the main show, but view it more as some of the Northern Ontario types or Western CA types might view it, as an organic and occasionally entertaining part of the game.
Yes, I may have just admitted to membership in the genus Redneckus Northamericanicus.
Jim,
You have to be on the ice and have something at stake to understand it.
Not just be out there in the seats or playing pick up with the guys.
Hockey started 40 miles up the road from where I live... so explain it to me will you?
-B
Tell you what, Bn. How 'bout we declare you the Pope of Hockey, and then anybody challenges your viewpoint, you can legally excommunicate them, and sentence them to Rochester Amercs games or something?
Hey. I used to go to Amerks games all the time when I lived in Rochester. I want to be the pope.
An Amercs fan? Figures you'd like 'Cross. Lotta cowbell in Rahchacha hockey. Readers who don't know the Amercs well, feel free to start wondering if I've gone stark raving nuts.
BTW Bill, I would have pictured you as more of a Vatican functionary than the pope - kind of like the editor of L'Osservatore Romano or something.
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