Thursday, May 31, 2012

Audio Artistry: The Samples-The Last Drag

The Samples  are in my opinion one of the most obscure, underrated bands from the last 25 years.

I first heard the song Everytime at a Coop records in Peoria in 1993. I asked the clerk who was playing and he said "It's The Samples".

I said '"A sample of what?"

He laughed and said "No, the band is called The Samples".

After feeling a bit stupid I went over to where the tape section was and picked up the album The Last Drag.

As soon as I left the store it was already playing in my car. It stayed in there for weeks.

I listen to it once in awhile now but back then every song sounded like perfection. Now I wish I had bought the cd, which is impossible to track down.

I thought this album would go gold and be the popular music of that summer but it just never got mainstream. I guess when you are a small town band from Colorado it never works that way.

But they have been pretty successful and have a cult following.

This song always makes me think of the setting sun, cows in the fields, a tractor harvesting crops, and a general evening on a farm. You'll understand why when you here it:



Have a great weekend!


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Ever Checked Out The Baseball Card Database?

The Baseball Card Database is site that lets you view every Topps base set card from 1952-2009.

Just enter the year at the top and it will display cards numerically like this:


Then just click on the name of the player and you get a popup that shows you the front of the card along with the card info.

Then just click on the picture and it flips over and shows the back of the card.

I love it.

Somebody put some effort into this and I'm glad they did.

I thought if you had never heard of it you might want to give it a glance.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Audio Artistry: Animals As Leaders-Tempting Time(2009)


Animals as Leaders is a progressive metal band formed by Tosin Abasi. Hearing this song makes me think this guy has 4 hands. I can't believe somebody can move their fingers and hands so fast and yet not just up and fly away. I thought Yngwie Malmsteen was fast.



Have a good Friday!


Thursday, May 24, 2012

Such A Pretty Schedule.....................

                                                            
                                                                 for such an ugly team:



Monday, May 21, 2012

Remember When These Mattered?

I picked up one of those two pocket rack packs of 2006 Upper Deck series 2 recently at the local Kmart.

It cost about $1.50. Pretty good deal, actually. Wish I had grabbed more.

The promotional hook was getting two of these in every pack:























Saturday, May 19, 2012

Audio Artistry: Abakus-A Whole New Way of Looking At the Day

Abakus is actually Russell Davies, the son of Dave Davis, who is the Man who founded The Kinks.

This song is off the That Much Closer To The Sun album, his first album.

The album was very different from most kinds of chillout music and is referred to as balearic or goa ambient. However it's referred to, I just find it good stuff.

It definitely has been one of my favorites since I came upon it around three years ago.

Plus the animation is neat if not a bit weird.

Just enjoy the song!


Have a good weekend!


1991 Conlon Collection-Cards 51-60

Continuing on in showing the first series of 1991 Conlon Collection Cards numbered 1-330.

I just present them as they are. Don't want to ruin them with a bunch of blah blah blah.

Here are cards 51-60:






















Friday, May 18, 2012

This....is.........


                                                              C H I C A G O !!!!!

Happy Trails, Kerry

It was announced today that Kerry Wood is set to retire very soon, most likely after he pitches one more time. That will happen sometime during the Crosstown Series against the Cubs and White Sox.

During his heyday, Sammy Sosa was the most popular Cub. But he wasn't the most revered Cub.

That title belonged to Kerry Wood.

A true professional in every sense of the word, he never displayed any negative emotions except recently when he left a ballgame and threw his glove into the crowd. That was frustration of his own failure and wasn't aimed at anyone else. Being hurt probably has a bit to do with that.

Most fans of the game believe Don Larsen's perfect game in the World Series was the best pitched game ever.

 I don't agree.

I believed the best game of pitching occurred in May of 1998. A twenty year old from Texas with DNA borrowed from Nolan Ryan showed the world what it meant to be in the zone and at the top of your profession.

After the first couple innings you could see the look in the eyes of the Astros players and see they were defeated before they even stepped in the box for their second at bats against this kid.

What Kerry did to the Houston Astros on that cold, dank, typical spring day at Wrigley was nasty.

Apparently, he was given the ok to use a wiffleball during the game.
  • 9innings
  • 0 hits
  • 20 strikeouts
  • 0 walks
  • 1 badly scored dribbler of a hit that was ruled a hit instead of the error it was.
The most impressive thing of that day was his curveball. There's only been one curve since I saw that game that even comes close to his-Rick Ankiel. His curve was breaking 20 inches that day and the last strikeout and out of the game was a ball that started out heading for the inside part of the plate then breaking to the left handed batting box-still probably the greatest pitch I have ever seen.

It was a wiffle ball.

Here's to Kerry Wood. For bringing pride and honor to the Cubs for all the time he was here.




Thanks, Kid K.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

My Oldest Card

It's not that old.

Take a look:

1957 Topps

It's dog eared, creased in six places, smells like a 50 year old hymn book and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's supposed to look like that. The kid who had this card definitely shuffled through his cards on a regular basis.

My second oldest card:


1958 Topps
 It's in about the same shape so this card could have belonged to the same kid.

I like to believe that it did.

Results of Willie Mays Card Contest

The set in the Willie Mays contest was correctly identified as 2000/01 Fleer Tradition Glossy Basketball by Chunter and his alter ego Chunter.  A two blog collector that will come at you from the right and the left.  You can't stop him, you can only hope.........alright, I'm done.

Here is the set:

2000/01 Fleer Tradition Glossy

And here is a pic of how curvy they are:


Anytime a card can stand on its own two feet you have to admire that.


And here is a bad pic of the gloss:



A simple fix would have been a single coat of varnish to the backs or heavier stock.


So, congrats to Chunter on the correct answer. He's double holstered and......okay!.....I'll stop.

And check out his blogs. Did I mention he has two of them....../ducks.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Audio Artistry: Pat Metheny Group-Are You Going With Me?

If you've never heard this song or of Pat Metheny before then you are in for a big dose of ear candy.

This song sounds good when you are relaxed, most likely the evening.

Whenever you listen to it, it almost takes you to another place.

It can, too, if you let it.



Have a good Friday!

Monday, May 7, 2012

The Babe Isn't.........

worth his weight in gold.

1996 CMG

There are 27 of these on Ebay with Buy It Nows ranging from $3.99 to $100.00.

24k gold is 24k gold.

Condition wouldn't even matter with this card on those cheaper offers because it can be melted down.

Looking at the front it looks like the Bambino is already melting, most likely from being sealed in airtight plastic for 16 years.

The case is scratched to heck but the card is good.

I like the back because of the full stats. But these eyes have no shot at being able to read them.


See what I mean?

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Say Hey! Contest

With today being Wilie May's 81st birthday I thought I would give this card

2000 Topps HD Images of Excellence #IE1
away to celebrate the fact.





All you have to do is tell me what set these cards


come from.

This is the warpiest(?) set I've ever seen.

Everyone gets 3 guesses.

Hint: It has the curves of chrome except the other way.

Hint #2: The fronts of the cards are bowed inwards and the set is 10+ years old.

Hint #3: It is not a baseball set. That should help out a bit.

Hint #4: Released the same year as the giveaway card.

Hint #5: Last hint. These cards have 20 layers of varnish on the fronts.

Hint #6: Another last hint. A basketball set. Here's a visual clue:


I really can't give anymore hints because there are no more.

He Doesn't Seem To Get Any Older

2001 UD Revolution Ryan Dempster #72



The bottom picture was taken in 2009.

I wish I had this ability to stay the same.

I hardly recognize myself since 8 years ago.

There's a lot to be said for the 'same old, same old' adage.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Just Realized This

The two most dominant players of our generation will probably never meet up again.









Update:

Or maybe not...........

Audio Artistry: Julian Lennon-Valotte(1984)

When you hear somebody say it sounds like somebody is channeling somebody when they sing this is precisely the song they would point you to.

It's amazing to listen to this song and realize that this is not John singing but his son, Julian.

Julian star started to shine when this bubbly pop hit blew up. I loved it and thought this was the only thing he ever did off the Valotte album.

It wasn't until last year that I listened to the whole album and heard the title track.

How had I never heard this?

 This should have been the first single as it is clearly the best song, and also, the best instance of a fallen man being able to sing again-through his own flesh and blood.





Have a good Friday!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

One Of These Things.........

is not like the others:


1993 Upper Deck Series 2 #474

Don't even think about it.

You know what I mean.

I Guess It's Easy To See.....

where to start plastering all the astericks.





2004 Topps #100
 Or , better yet, the question marks.

Shouldn't You Be...........

a teenager to qualify as a Teen Idol?


2000 Bowman Chrome Teen Idols #TI15

Until today this card has been in the same sleeve and top loader since the day I opened it 12 years ago.

It smells just the way you think it would.

Like a new car.

Comments.

Over at Nick's ridiculously awesome blog he made a post about why we write. I won't tell you why I write right(is that some kind of pun?)here because I said why in all the comments I dropped on his comments section of that post(sorry Nick).

He also brought up the subject of comments(or lack thereof) on some posts. I had that same feeling when I made a huge, studied post and no one said a word. Could also just be my fabulous writing abilities(for a fifth grader).

But I realized there is a reason why most of our posts don't get comments:

                                            Don't restrict people from making them.

What that means is relax your commenting security. Just a bit. I have found that sometimes when I go to comment and I fill the comment in and then the crapcha comes up I don't feel like trying to read that gibberish with these blind eyes and just forget about the comment.

My blog isn't read that much so that might be why I don't have one single spam comment yet. But here is what I have set up so commenting is easy for the reader and safe from most spamming at the same time. Go to your Blogger Dashboard or settings page and go to the settings link on the bottom left.

Here is how I have it setup for better commenting for the reader with a good shield against spam:
  •  Who can comment?     Registered User-Includes Open ID
  • Comment Moderation?   -Never
  • Show Word Verification?  -Never
That's how I have it on my blog and I haven't had one instance of spam or abuse.

It doesn't hurt to write a thanks for commenting note either.


Just thought you might want to rethink your commenting guidelines if comments inspire you in your blogging journey. Feedback is nice though, isn't it?


Thanks for reading.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Updated Card Blog OPML and Cubs Blogs

I've put a pastebin together of all the card blogs I'm following. They are 350 blogs and 95% have been updated in the past month or newer.

I have also pastebin'ed  a collection of blogs and sites that pertain to the Cubs.

Card blog OPML: Card Blogs

Cubs Blogs and Sites: Cubs Sites

Just in case you need more online content to swamp you even more.


www.listia.com more free stuff on Listia