Prof: Yesterday morning, we awoke with the very sad news of the loss of one of the greatest rock vocalists of a generation, Chris Cornell. Most know him from his work with Soundgarden and Audioslave, but he also had a well regarded solo career as well as supergroup Temple of the Dog. As much as I wouldn’t consider myself a big Chris Cornell fan, looking back I realize that he had a part in songs that I consider some of the finest of the nineties. For example, “Blow Up The Outside World” was probably one of my favorite songs in high school. I was a moody kid, what can I say?
Today, I’m pulling a power trip and we’re featuring a bunch of songs with a Chris Cornell vocal. Rest in peace, sir. And God keep Eddie Vedder safe, please.
Red Sox 3, Athletics 8 – Scouts: Hector Valazquez’s MLB debut did not go as well as he would have liked, giving up 6 runs on 9 hits including home runs by Khris Davis, Jed Lowrie, and Chad Pinder.
White Sox 4, Mariners 5 – Scouts: Guillermo Heredia walked it off with a RBI single.
Marlins 2, Dodgers 7 – Scouts: Miami has apparently decided to roll over and play dead. They have won just 1 in their last 10 and are on a 4 game losing streak in which they aren’t even playing competitive ball. How can we blame this on Jeffrey Loria?
Rockies 5, Twins 1 (Game 1), Rockies 0, Twins 2 (Game 2)- Prof: LET’S PLAY TWO. Because they were stormed out last night. A split decision. In game one, we had Nolan Arenado doing his usual thing; kicking ass and chewing bubblegum, you feel me? In game two, the spotlight moved over to young Jose Berrios who pitched a majestic outing for Minnesota, allowing only two hits and struck out eleven. Good on ya, Twins.
Nationals 4, Pirates 10 – Prof: Adam Frazier is making the best of a bad situation for Pittsburgh. Last night, he had a career high four ribbies, and John Jaso – he of the worst hair in baseball – hit a home run to completely break apart Washington.
Phillies 4, Rangers 8 – Prof: WE GOIN’ STREAKING! The Rangers have won nine in a row, powered by newbies and vets alike. First baseman Ryan Rua hit a three run homer to push Texas over Philadelphia.
Reds 5, Cubs 9 – Prof: I SEE YOU JAVIER BAEZ! Javy smashed a huge grand slam and Kris Bryant added another pop of his own to propel Chicago over the Reds for the series sweep.
Brewers 4, Padres 2 – Prof: Eric Sogard! He’s back, and got that nerd swag going once again. Sogard got called up on Friday, and since then he’s hitting .476 with two home runs. I always liked Sogard, probably because of those glasses. Y’all know I like guys in glasses. Anyway, one of my favorite young pitchers, Zach Davies, gets the win for the Brew Crew.
Blue Jays 9, Braves 0 – Prof: Freddie Freeman has a busted wrist and will be out for at least eight weeks, possibly ten weeks. Goodbye MVP season. Goodbye any momentum the Braves had. Hello darkness, my old friend. Anyway, Julio Teheran picked like crap and Marcus Stroman didn’t. The Braves had a stupid retaliation against Jose Bautista for his dumb bat flip. I knew this was going to be a crapfest so I didn’t even follow it on Twitter like I usually do. I’m just… yeah.
Yankees 1, Royals 5 – Prof: Danny Duffy had a fantastic performance against a red-hot Yankees squad. Mike Moustakas (MOUSTAKAS MOUSTAKAS MOUSTAKAS!!!) hit a three run homer to put the cherry on top.
Orioles 5, Tigers 6 – Scouts: Looks like the O’s are back to their usual selves. Driving many balls out of they yard, but pitching just can’t keep up. The Martinez gang both went yard for Detroit. Dylan Bundy had his first bad start of the season.
I am doing a crash course on Chris Cornell right now. I have to confess that the ’90’s seem to have been the nadir of my life in keeping up with current music. I was probably working to hard on the career and not really appreciating the good stuff.
Not a problem any more.
My condolences to those of you who found him a real influence in your lives. Music does that, it reaches a primal place in all of us. Last year was terrible for my generation; but I also appreciate what the next generation loved in their music.
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Whereas I share your goodwill towards those who enjoyed him, I never found his music compelling or original. We both mostly skipped the 90s musically, but I suspect in both of our cases it had less to do with our preoccupation with our careers than with the generally poor, unoriginal, trivial quality of the music itself.
By the way, that’s a helluva good team you got. What a pity to waste it on designatedhitterball.
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A niece of mine was in college in the late ’90’s and I remember that at her graduation my wife and I took her and several of her friends out to breakfast at a Mexican place in Austin. The conversation turned to music, and the material that the young women were commenting on was all from the ’70’s. I told them that I happened to be a big fan of the ’60’s/’70’s advances in rock, jazz and blues, but didn’t they think their own generation needed a statement of their own music? The general reaction seemed to be “Nah, the old stuff was better.” So I get your point, and obviously a lot of the kids from that time thought so, too.
As to the ‘Stro’s, we are going with some friends to see them tonight. I see Cleveland as one of the big obstacles to the World Series, so it should be interesting. I still think they need one more #3 or better starter. But I am obviously having a more enjoyable baseball year than you are. Here’s to Miami closing that ownership deal.
And, about DH Ball, I agree with your position. Sadly, that horse escaped the barn a long time back.
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The ones who really reached me are still alive with the exceptions of Scott Weiland and Layne Staley. Drugs suck.
Now, if The Edge or Noel Gallagher were to shuffle off to the next life I might actually be a horrible, sobbing mess.
Today is Pete Townshend’s birthday, who is my greatest musical hero. I’m thinking of him today. I’ve got a Gibson, without a case…
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Scouts: I have no problem whatsoever blaming the current state of the Feesh on Scrooge McLoria. He imposed the budget that has constrained the staffing of this team. He hired the incompetent factotems like Michael Hill who signed these washout pitchers. He’s the one who decided not to trade for or sign some solid situational hitters and put the same lineup that finished 27th in runs scored last season back out on the field this season.
And he better hurry up and sell this platoon of sad sacks before Hair Quisling is impeached and his dream of an ambassadorship disappears – and he never gets to follow in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin after all.
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From what I’m reading, the Jeter group is falling fast.
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You can have Julio Teheran, Dickey, and Emily Bonerface for Christian Yelich. 😉
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I had a co-worker in the 90s who looked to be the definition of studious, mousy, smart woman; Carnegie Mellon grad, as I recall, great at her job, but just didn’t seem to be “cool”, you know?
Anyway, one night she hosted a team gathering at her home, and Superunknown is playing on the CD player, which jostled the foundations of my perception of her, and then the best part happened… She told a story of how her daughter’s kindergarten teacher (fresh out of college herself) had requested a meeting because she was concerned that the youngster knew the lyrics to Black Hole Sun and was fond of singing them in class. In that moment, I realized I might think of myself as cool, but I’d never be “My kid sings Soundgarden in kindergarten cool”. She’s since shuffled off this mortal coil way too early (fuck you, cancer) but I still remember her fondly.
As for baseball, the Nats seem bored, and they played like it the last two days in the ‘Burgh. Blah blah blah fundamentals, yadda yadda yadda bullpen, still 8 games up in the Least, yawn.
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If I ever had a kid (sadly probably will never happen now), I don’t think I’d be the “cool mom” but my kid would have definitely had a musical education.
‘Um, Mrs. Prof, why does your kiddo know every word of “Rooster” and “Closer”?” “Because that’s what Mommy listens to in the car.”
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My kids favor the latest in Top 20 Hits, and now that they’re old enough to sit up front in the car I’ve lost control of the radio.
They used to surprise me, though, by knowing the words to various older rock songs that would play when they let me control the radio, but every time I’d say, “Where did you hear that?”, they’d say, “Glee!”.
My older daughter has a friend that’s into rock and roll, though, so there’s hope there as she absorbs some stuff through osmosis.
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Top 20 these days is terrible. My apologies. 😦 and this is coming from someone who LIVES for pop music.
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Also, try Canadian stations if you can ever swing it. The Sam Roberts Band and Yukon Blonde are great!
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He gets off on country music
Cause disco leaves him cold
He’s got young friends into new wave
But he’s just too friggin old
I’m way too friggin old. The bands of the late 60’s and th 70’s formed my musical tastes, and I’m too fossilized to want to change. For me, Led Zepplin is still the best ever (including Cream).
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I’m a huge Who fan. Like, rabid. I love them. Even Endless Wire and It’s Hard. Roger and Pete are my personal idols.
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I really like the Who. Pete doesn’t get enough credit for his guitar work. They’re solidly on my top 10 list, barely out of the top 5. Since music is such a subjective choice, I usually can’t narrow it down much more than top 5/10. There have been so many absolutely transcendent groups that it’s impossible for anyone to do so.
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I don’t have a favorite favorite. I have a top four and then “the rest”. Lol.
Btw, that would be The Who, U2, Oasis, and Pink Floyd.
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I ackcherley saw the Who perform the entire Tommy album at the Fillmore East back during the last glaciation. I liked the music. I thought the lyrics were inane. This despite some really good mescaline.
I haven’t taken any mind goodies for over 40 years now. I still like the music. I still think the lyrics are inane.
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Tommy is always brought up, but Pete’s best work, in my humble opinion, is the stuff from Quadrophenia.
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Led Zepplin was great. One of my brothers was inspired by Ramble On to hatch a hare brained scheme to run off into the woods. But I gotta go with the Stones, except when drunk, then it’s the Lettermen.
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I’m willing to admit I get stuck on music too, but I just can’t listen to much Beatles or Stones or Who or Zepplin these days. Lots of stuff I grew up with I just heard too many times. Somebody gave me some B-52’s anthology and I’ve really enjoyed it. I did listen to London Calling a lot back in the day and recently dusted that off and enjoyed. Perhaps it’s time to revisit those 60’s & 70’s classics again.
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Well that’s the damn problem isn’t it!!!!! I hear a snatch of the Stones from a passing vehicle and for the next week every time my mind goes in to idle I hear it in head!!!!
“Please allow me to introduce myself…”
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