From a Brooklyn Basement

An Artist I Love: the everybodyfields

Posted on October 14, 2013 by fromabrooklynbasement

They sound exactly how you’d expect them to

Yes, their name is all lowercase. Yes, it pained the copy editor in me to leave the headline like that. But I’m willing to overlook it because I love this band so much. How much? On Friday night, I got home from a jam at about 2 a.m., and I found in my inbox an e-mail from my buddy Andrey, who had found a video of the everybodyfields performing that was dated 2013. “Did they get back together?” he asked me.

His message sent me into a paroxysm of googling. You see, Andrey and I discovered the everybodyfields back in 2010–the year after the band split. Sadly, my research quickly revealed that they had gotten back together to play at a festival in Knoxville in April (they’d also played a couple of shows in 2011), but there was no plan to do a full reunion of the band.

The everybodyfields were comprised of Jill Andrews and Sam Quinn, plus a rotating cast of supporting musicians. Andrews and Quinn met when they were nineteen, while working as camp counselors in Tennesse (I’m not kidding). They released their first album, Halfway There: Electricity and the South, in 2004, and it sounded exactly the way you’d think an album with that title would: dusty, acoustic songs that feel like they could have been written during the Great Depression. My favorite tune is The Red Rose, a song with the incomparably awesome chorus “I think God is a moonshiner/His skin is gold from the whiskey in his blood/I think in heaven there is a barroom/A place where the men go to forget about their wives.” Here’s the band performing the tune at the Independent in San Francisco. (I used to live across the street from this place, but I didn’t know about the band at the time. Goddammit.)

Other highlights on the album include Pairlee, a song about a young girl found dead under an apple tree, His Pontiac, about a girl running away from home, and T.V.A., a blast from the Depression-era past that won Sam Quinn a major songwriting award in 2005. The combination of this songwriting and Jill Andrews’ phenomenal voice (and serious hotness) promised great things for the band.

They released their sophomore album, Plague of Dreams, and it was a worthy follow-up to the debut. Among the best tracks are The Only King, a song that offers a sad, sympathetic look at Elvis’ lonely last days; By Your Side, a lovely song about heading down to the seaside with a lover; Baby Please, an upbeat dancing song with the chorus “If the world does end, I want to be in your arms/Scooting cross the floor, with a buzz on”; and Good to be Home, an extended bluesy Quinn tune about coming in off the road.

Their third album, Nothing Is Okay, came out in 2007, and the title was right on the money. The music is still beautiful, but the songs are emotionally taxing; they’re pretty clearly about Quinn and Andrews breaking up, almost an Americana version of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. To be honest, this is the everybodyfields album I’ve listened to the least–it’s just too painful. It’s the best/worst right in the middle of the album, when Wasted Time (a song about a 3 a.m. phone call with lyrics like “If you hold me now/I promise to let go when you leave” and “If that’s all you’ve got to give/I guess nothing will make this right/I’ll call it wasted time”) transitions seamlessly into Everything Is Okay (which features a call and response verse between Quinn and Andrews with the lyrics “And you told me that everything was okay/I bit my lip a little tighter/And walked away/(It’s not your problem)/I walked away/(It’s not your problem)”). It’s heartbreaking.

It’s actually amazing, given what you hear on Nothing Is Okay, that the band stayed together for two more years. But it’s a total bummer that the inevitable breakup happened, because Goddammit I’m sure they would have found something resembling mainstream success if they could have worked things out. They were too good not to.

I’ve often complained that too many of the artists I like, even the contemporary ones, are dead by the time I discover them. Andrews and Quinn are both alive, of course, but I’m probably never going to get to see them play together live, and there most likely won’t be any more everybodyfields albums. I’ll just have to be thankful for the existence of YouTube, where I found all these great videos, and of course for those three great albums, which have gotten me through a lot of lonely nights. Thanks, Sam and Jill.

Posted in Music | Tagged americana, Jill Andrews, music, Sam Quinn, the everybodyfields | Leave a comment

Another Oakland A’s Choke Job

Posted on October 11, 2013 by fromabrooklynbasement

Yesterday afternoon, a friend called to ask if I was going to watch Game 5 between the A’s and Tigers. I said no, because I knew the A’s were going to lose. She asked, “Why?”

I just laughed.

Why? Because I was watching in 2000, when Terrence Long misplayed a flyball and Gil Heredia gave up six runs in the first inning and the upstart A’s lost to the long-in-the-tooth Yankees in Game 5.

Why? Because I was watching in 2001, when the A’s were up 2-0 on the Yanks, coming back to the Coliseum, and then Barry Zito threw one bad pitch to Jorge Posada and Jeremy Giambi’s fat ass didn’t slide when Derek Jeter made that fucking play that I’ve had to watch replayed a million times since then, and the A’s lost Game 3; and then Jermaine Dye broke his leg in gruesome fashion in Game 4; and the A’s went back to Yankee Stadium and Eric Chavez let a groundball go through his legs and the A’s lost in 5 again.

I would have embedded video, but I can’t bear to watch it

Why? Because I was watching in 2002 when Billy Koch gave up a ninth-inning home run to the least likable player in baseball, A.J. Pierzynski, and an A’s team that won 20 games in a row earlier in the season lost in Game 5 of the ALDS again, this time to the Minnesota Twins. I was so traumatized by this, I wrote a column for my college newspaper about it. (I can’t believe that’s online!)

Why? Because in 2003 I was watching when the A’s went up 2-0 on the Red Sox, a team I hate even more than the Yankees or Dodgers, only to have Byrnes and Tejada blow it on the basepaths in Game 3; only to have Keith Foulke keep pumping fastballs to David Ortiz, never throwing his best pitch, his changeup, until finally that fat, gap-toothed fuck blasted a game-winning double in Game 4; and I was sitting in the stands at the Coliseum when Manny Ramirez hit a home run and stood watching it for five minutes, when the A’s had the tying and winning runs on in the ninth, only Ken Macha stupidly pinch hit for Jermaine Dye, a former All-Star and the only guy who swung the bat well in that series, with his backup catcher, who struck out looking, and then Terrence Long also struck out looking, and that shitbag Derek Lowe showed up the A’s dugout as the Red Sox–and all the Masshole fans who infested the Coliseum that night–celebrated.

Why? Because I went to A’s-Tigers Game 5 last year and watched Justin Verlander shut out the A’s and silence what had been an insanely raucous crowd.

Where I was sitting for last year’s Game 5

Why? Because the A’s blew their shot to close out this series in Game 4 in Detroit on Tuesday, giving up not one but two leads and then failing to score when they had the bases loaded and nobody out in the eighth inning.

Why? Because you know who started last night for the Tigers: Verlander, who damn near threw a no-hitter and who is basically baseball’s version of a T-1000 Terminator (unless he’s facing Pablo Sandoval–Pandas eat Tigers).

Just put a number 35 Tigers jersey on him

Why? Because I knew how it would end. I’ve seen this movie before.

Posted in Baseball, Sports | Tagged Baseball, Detroit TIgers, Justin Verlander, mlb playoffs, oakland a's | 2 Comments

Niners Week Five Awards

Posted on October 10, 2013 by fromabrooklynbasement

Editor’s Note: I was out of pocket last weekend at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, so I didn’t get to see the Niners game. But I didn’t want to leave my faithful readers (both of you) hanging, so I called in From a Brooklyn Basement’s first ever guest columnist to hand out some awards: Allow me to introduce my attorney, Cornelius Cornhagen.

We all know Patrick Willis and Justin Goldman have much in common. Sometimes it’s easy to forget which one is the savage all-pro linebacker and ESPN Magazine Body Issue Adonis, and which is the nerdy hipster with the ethereal singing voice. This week both were forced to sit out, and two benchwarmers were called upon to attempt to fill the massive roles they play. Michael Wilhoite fared well in Willis’ stead, recording 11 tackles. Your guest author, nervously anticipating primetime, has donned his finest floral print cowboy shirt, and is bumping Led Zeppelin and sipping an expensive whiskey, all in an effort to channel the Goldman mojo.

A few short weeks ago, the sky was falling. The Niners, ravaged by injury and scandal, had been annihilated in consecutive games, the clear low-point thus far in the otherwise glorious Harbaugh era.

Now they’ve trounced teams in consecutive weeks, most recently crushing the Texans in a 34-3 blowout that wasn’t really in doubt after about 30 seconds. Things are better in Ninerlandia, thanks largely to our first award recipient…

The Adam Walker Award (Player Whose Actions Most Led to Defeat): Matt Schaub

In the long and storied history of this hallowed award, no player was more of an odds-on favorite to win than Matt Schaub was coming into this game. Schaub had been on an incredible streak, having thrown an interception that was returned for a touchdown in three straight games, tying an NFL record. His most recent backbreaking pick-six will go down as one of history’s worst—a completely unnecessary, bafflingly stupid, effeminate heave that fluttered into the waiting arms of none other than Niners Awards persona non grata numero uno, Richard Sherman, who strutted into the end zone. Thus were the odious Seahawks, once on the brink of defeat, gifted an entirely undeserved and unjust victory. Texans fans burned Schaub’s jersey.

I think Houston fans are burning the bridge…

The Niners-Texans matchup was heralded as a clash of two strong but staggered teams, and looked like it would be a good game. But on the fourth play, just as the announcers were discussing Schaub’s streak of game-destroying throws—and a few yards from where this award’s namesake coughed up a fumble that helped end the Niners’ promising 1995 campaign (and your guest author’s childhood)—Schaub served up another godawful interception. He looked left, then threw an out route, never bothering to look to see whether a defender was nearby. Niners cornerback Tramaine Brock jumped the route and took it to the house. Schaub had now entered a class of his own—the owner of a new NFL record for the worst play a quarterback can make.

The play that broke the 1995 season

The game, and probably Schaub’s career, was basically done at that point. But alas, Schaub was not. He threw another interception to Brock, who probably would have returned it for another touchdown if he had caught the ball cleanly. Then Schaub somehow threw another interception to a third-string lineman. And he tried to serve up several more along the way, including one that Eric Reid dropped and might have scored on, and another one that Brock almost had. Fans are now trying to burn down his house.

The semi-sad thing is the Texans are, but for Schaub, a pretty good team, and if they had a quarterback who could walk and chew gum at the same time, they’d be much more competitive.

Matt Schaub, the NFL’s newest bottom feeder, has become the Daniel Day Lewis of the Adam Walker Award.

The Joe Montana Award (Coolest Guy on the Field): Tramaine Brock

He may have ended two careers last weekend—Schaub’s and Nnamdi Asomugha’s—and he did it with style.

On that note, the defense has been good all year, even in the blowouts, where they didn’t give up many points until the wheels fell off at the end. Backups such as Brock have stepped up and the coaches have called more blitzes, leading to more big plays.

The Jerry Rice/Justin Smith Award (Most Dominant Player on the Field/Big Guy Who Breaks Things): J.J. Watt*

The Niners Awards first dual recipient, Watt gets an asterisk because he’s either juicing or is some sort of mythical beast in a defensive tackle avatar. He completely dominated the Niners’ offensive line, particularly Anthony Davis. He had three tackles for losses, and three hits on Kaepernick, including the hardest hit Kaep has taken in his professional career.

Can you imagine what would happen if Schaub gets picked up by, say, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Watt gets to face him twice a year? I’m thinking a Mortal Kombat fatality…

The Ronnie Lott Award (Guy Who is Such a Badass He’d Cut His Own Finger Off to Make a Play): Eric Reid, again

One of the questions going into Superbowl XXIII was whether the Niners could stop Bengals star rookie running back Ickey Woods, a bruising runner and the famed progenitor of the Ickey Shuffle. Early in the game, Ickey took a handoff and got blasted by Ronnie Lott. That set the tone for the game, which the Niners won 20-16. The next year, Ickey tore his ACL and never really accomplished much else of note.

Early in the first quarter last Sunday, while the Texans still had a modicum of hope, Eric Reid, the once and future Ronnie Lott Award recipient, gave us a Lott-Woods type moment. Stud Texans running back Arian Foster broke through the line, and Reid, like a missile, shot onto the screen and absolutely pasted Foster.

One of the big question marks before the season was whether the Niners could replace All-Pro Dashon Goldson, who left to sign a huge contract witrh the Bucs. Reid might already be an upgrade. He looks good in coverage and hits as hard as Goldson, but doesn’t get the stupid penalties, and seems like an all-around good, smart guy. Even though he dropped that interception, the dude’s a stud.

The Jeff Garcia Award (The Best Quarterback on the Field, by Default): Colin Kaepernick

Your guest author is a known Kaepernick evangelist. After week 1, when Kaep threw for over 400 yards, this excitement reached theretofore untold heights. After that game Kaep had two shit games and one decent game. Against the Texans, he started strong, completing four passes on the Niners’ first drive, which ended with a Frank Gore touchdown. But then he didn’t complete a pass for two quarters. When he finally did, though, it was a beautiful strike to Vernon Davis for a 64-yard touchdown.

Kaep finished the game with six completions. SIX!!! To put that into perspective, Schaub had half as many completions to the Niners (and probably should have had about six). Then again, Tramaine Brock also looked like our most competent receiver…

Overall Rating For This Game (On a scale of Zero to Twelve Anchors, in honor of San Francisco’s favorite beverage): 4 Anchors

It was beautiful to see the Niners dominate, but the game was utterly devoid of drama, mostly because the other team fucked up. Sounds like 4 Anchors.

: Mmm … Six pack of Anchor

At 3-2, the Niners have limped their way through what looked like the hardest part of their schedule, though the Rams and Texans have turned out to be total dumpster fires. Now the Niners have a relatively easy stretch coming up. Several players will return from injury soon. There’s a possibility this team could string together some wins and be healthy by the time it plays the Saints and the hated Seahawks.

But a lot needs to change for this team to be considered a contender again. Foremost is getting Kaepernick on track. He has shown that he still has a lot to learn. Having another receiving target would help, but it’s hard to see anyone on the Niners roster really stepping up. The Niners will continue to be vulnerable to teams that can shut down their run game. (And next week’s opponent, the Cardinals, have a very good defense. Hopefully Carson Palmer does his best Matt Schaub impression.) I expected Kaepernick to have some rough games, but this prolonged slump is the biggest issue facing this team going forward.

Posted in football, Guest Column, Sports | Tagged Colin Kaepernick, eric reid, football, houston texans, matt schaub, NFL, san francisco 49ers | 3 Comments

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2013 Recap

Posted on October 8, 2013 by fromabrooklynbasement

I’ve got this really disgusting bruise on my leg … I got a stain on my favorite jacket … I think I might have an ulcer … So, yeah, Hardly Strictly was a success, as always.

When you get this close to Emmylou Harris, no matter what else happened, you’re a winner

I elected to skip the first night of the festival this year, in favor of seeing some friends in the East Bay. Friday is usually my favorite day to go, but between the short amount of time I was in the Bay, and the artists I wanted to see being heavily tilted toward the Sunday lineup, it was a sacrifice worth making. I missed Bonnie Raitt, but oh well.

I hopped BART from Walnut Creek on Saturday with my good buddy Sam, and we made it to my friend Michelle’s house, near Golden Gate Park, right at noon. We hiked over from there, and fought through an insane crowd to catch a few minutes of the G. Love and Special Sauce set. They’re the very definition of a college band–I Like Cold Beverages just made my feel old–and after they were done we fled to the Porch Stage, where we saw Mike Scott and Steve Wickham of the Waterboys perform a set of songs that seemed to be a 50/50 split between Irish punk and traditional fiddle music. It was excellent, especially their rendition of the classic Will the Circle Be Unbroken.

Afterwards we meandered to the huge Banjo stage, where I ran into my buddy Zane, also in town from Brooklyn, in one of those chance encounters that make Hardly Strictly feel like home. We were mostly unenthused by Jerry Douglas’ set–until the last three songs, when he brought out an unbilled Allison Krauss, whose vocals would have blown the roof off the park if the park had a roof. We then watched Steve Earle, generally one of my favorite songwriters, although his set ran a bit heavy toward his new album, which I haven’t heard much of yet. Still, his performance of Galway Girl was a highlight.

Sam and I ended up bar-hopping in the Mission after the festival on Friday, an entertaining evening that included eating Pittsburgh-style sandwiches at Giordano Bros., where we saw the Oakland A’s walk off over the Detroit Tigers in Game 2 of the ALDS, and a bunch of drinks at the 500 Club, a classic Mission dive. Even better, we met up with my old buddy and fellow blogsmith Juanito, who kept buying me drinks well after my liver had informed me that it was not having it anymore.

One of the best neon bar signs anywhere

I woke up feeling rather unwell on Sunday, but had planned ahead enough to have a bottle of Champagne waiting for me in Michelle’s fridge. The time it took us to get ready on Sunday resulted in us getting to the park too late to see Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, which bummed me out because they were one of the bands I had been most excited about seeing. On the flipside, we got the Rooster Stage right in time for Ryan Bingham, one of my favorite artists. We were really close to Ryan Bingham.

Bingham with his fiddle player, who was also awesome

He played a great set as well, sprinkled with great songs from across his catalog: The Poet, Tell My Mother I Miss Her So, South Side of Heaven, Bread and Water. It was a near-perfect set, and the highlight of the festival for me.

After Bingham, we ran to the Towers of Gold stage to see Billy Bragg, who opened with one of my favorite songs, Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key, and who uttered my favorite quote of the weekend: “Americana is country music for people who like the Smiths.” We then made our way back to the Rooster Stage in time to see Buddy Miller, who did duets with Emmylou Harris (pictured up top) and Richard Thompson, and who played another of my favorite songs, That’s How I Got to Memphis. We closed the festival by watching Emmylou perform with Rodney Crowell back at the Banjo Stage, where we also met up with my buddy Cory. It was somewhere in this general timeframe that I decided to jump a fence and ate it and totally bruised my leg. Because of course I did.

So there you have it: the blow-by-blow for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2013. Tonight I’ll be on a red-eye flight back to New York and real life, but I had a great time, and I’ll see y’all next year.

Posted in Music, Uncategorized | Tagged allison krauss, billy bragg, Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris, hardly strictly bluegrass, music, ryan bingham, San Francisco, Steve Earle | 2 Comments

My Completely Off the Cuff MLB Playoff Preview

Posted on October 2, 2013 by fromabrooklynbasement

In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t had a ton of time to work on the blog lately. It turns out having an editorial job in New York City is really hard. Who knew?

Anyway, as a result, I haven’t had much time as of late to do long, comprehensive, well-thought-out pieces. As such, you won’t be getting a 2,000-word MLB playoff preview. (Also, I’ve watched a grand total of two baseball games in the last three months, so I’m not exactly an expert on what’s gone on this season.) But here is some ridiculous, uninformed wishcasting for this year’s Playoffs, which began last night with the Pirates-Reds Wild Card game–which I happened to be listening to while I typed this:

A’s vs. Tigers (ALDS)

Before the season, I predicted the Tigers would make it to the World Series (and lose to the Nationals–oops). They’ve got a great core to their lineup with Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, and Austin Jackson, and maybe the best top-end starting rotation in all of baseball with probable Cy Young-winner Max Scherzer, one-time MVP Justin Verlander, and Anibal Sanchez.

But you know what? I think the A’s are going to beat the Tigers.

The reason is hardly scientific. It’s simply that the Tigers have beaten the A’s in the playoff a couple of times in the last few years, and I think whenever one team takes several series in a row, eventually the other one gets some get back. I firmly believe that the A’s would have beaten the Tigers last year if Verlander hadn’t gone Robocop on them in Game 5 in Oakland. Well, this year, that won’t happen, because Scherzer is the Game 1 starter, meaning if there’s a Game 5, he’s the guy the A’s will see. And while I know he was probably the best pitcher in the AL this year, he doesn’t scare me like Verlander does. No one scares me like Verlander does. Not even Robocop. Jim Leyland did the A’s a huge favor. Add in the fact that Cabrera is playing hurt right now, and that the A’s have a huge bullpen advantage, and I’m saying Oakland over Detroit in 5.

Red Sox vs. Indians (ALDS)

Well there’s an immediate prediction for you: I think the Indians are beating Tampa tomorrow night. They won 10 in a row to close the season (against sucky competition, but still), they’re at home, and Tampa burned David Price in the tie-breaker game last night. Also, one of my co-workers is a huge Indians fan and he got tickets to the game and drove from Brooklyn to Cleveland last night, and I really don’t want to have to look at the guy if his team loses.

And I’ll take it a step further: I think Cleveland will beat Boston. Again, no science or stats involved. But if you look at the playoffs since the dawn of the Wild Card era, the team that has the best regular season almost never goes on to win the World Series. And since I’m a writer and, hence, a sucker for narrative, I like the idea of the whole Francona-goes-back-to-Boston-and-wins story (even though I know this will have no actual bearing on the series.) Also, fuck the Red Sox.

Indians vs. A’s (ALCS)

Come on, you know what’s happening: Cleveland will go up 3-1 and then lose three straight to blow the series. Because people from Cleveland aren’t allowed to be happy. A’s over the Indians 4-3.

Pirates vs. Cardinals (NLDS)

The Cards are loaded and they have a lot of experience. But they have pitching depth questions now, and man, I’m listening to the Pirates on the radio right now and that crowd is LOUD, and Liriano is pitching really well, and I like PNC Park and the city of Pittsburgh and Primanti Brothers sandwiches … so fuck it, Pirates in 4.

Look, mortals, upon the Primanti Brothers sandwich, and tremble

Dodgers vs. Braves (NLDS)

The Braves always choke in the playoffs. The Dodgers have Clayton Kershaw in games 1 and 5. Los Angeles in 5.

Pirates vs. Dodgers (NLCS)

On the other hand, if the Dodgers have to burn Kershaw in Game 5 of the first round, they’ll be at a disadvantage against the Pirates. Also, I hate the fucking Dodgers. Pirates in 6.

A’s vs Pirates (World Series)

And it comes to this. Two small market franchises. Two blue collar cities. Two die-hard fanbases. Is this a rational prediction? Hell no. This is just what I’m hoping will happen. You know what else I’m hoping? That the Oakland A’s will beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in Game 7 of the World Series at the Oakland Coliseum, and that my buddies Alex, Curtis, and Dan, who all bleed green and gold, will be in the stands losing their shit when Grant Balfour strikes out Pedro Alvarez to close it out. And that Balfour will climb into the stands and start punching my buddies in their faces. Because look at Balfour:

That’s exactly the sort of thing he would do.

Posted in Baseball, Sports | Tagged Baseball playoffs, cleveland indians, grant balfour, oakland a's, pittsburgh pirates, world series | 2 Comments

Niners Week Four Awards

Posted on October 1, 2013 by fromabrooklynbasement

Touchdowns! We scored touchdowns!

Niners 35, Rams 11. Looks like I don’t have to go into hibernation for the winter quite yet. And I actually get to give out some awards!

The Joe Montana Award (Coolest Player on the Field): Frank Gore

FRANK THE TANK

As the Niners offense went into the tank the last few weeks, there has been a great deal of discussion about their struggles running the ball. They didn’t run all that well against the Packers, they were stonewalled by the Seahawks, and then against the Colts they started off with a great pounding drive … and then abandoned the run for the rest of the game. Had the Niners forgotten their identity? Had they been too seduced by Colin Kaepernick’s talents and gotten too far from what they did so well during the first couple of years of the Harbaugh era? Was Frank Gore … gulp … over the hill?

Uh, no. Against the Rams the Niners went back to their bread and butter, pounding Gore behind their offensive line. Frank the Tank gashed the Rams for 153 yards on 20 carries, more yards than he’d gained in the first three games of the season, and Kendall Hunter added a nice 29-yard TD in garbage time.

The Jerry Rice Award (Most Dominant Player on the Field): NaVorro Bowman

Sam Bradford’s Nightmare

NaVorro Bowman has looked fantastic for his whole Niners career, but the big question has always been, how much of his success comes from playing next to the best linebacker in football, Patrick Willis? One game doesn’t totally answer that question, but HOLY SHIT did NaVorro Bowman look fucking awesome last night. In the second half, the Niners kept blitzing Bowman right up the middle, and he kept just running over the Rams’ pass protecting running backs on his way to destroying Sam Bradford. He had two sacks, three tackles for loss, and a forced fumble, and if you told me all those numbers were doubled, it wouldn’t surprise me. No Willis and no Aldon Smith, and it didn’t matter even a little bit. I’m pretty sure by the fourth quarter, Bradford was pissing down his leg every time he looked across the line of scrimmage at Bowman.

The Emmitt Smith Award (Most Hated Opponent): Chris Long

In fact, the whole Long family can go to hell.

The Adam Walker Award (Player Whose Actions Most Led to Defeat): Sam Bradford

Normally, this award is reserved for a Niner who played like shit. But man, if there’s ever a player who deserves to be held up for his complete, unreserved shittiness, it’s Sam Bradford. He was the inverse of Bowman–he threw for 202 yards, and I can’t believe he got even half that many. His throws weren’t even close to on the mark, he was running for his life half the time, and he had a deer-in-the-headlights look that you rarely see on the football field. There were three players on the field Thursday night who were most responsible for the Niners victory: Gore, Bowman, and Bradford.

The Where Have You Gone Joe Nedney? Award (For Why Can’t We Have a Good Kicker?) Phil Dawson

Seriously, Phil Dawson? You’ve already missed more field goal attempts than you did all of last year (he went 29-for-31 with Cleveland in 2012). Get your shit together!

Overall Rating For This Game (On a scale of Zero to Twelve Anchors, in honor of San Francisco’s favorite beverage): 6 Anchors

It’s entirely possible that the Niners are still screwed, and only looked that good because the Rams reeeeeeaally fucking suck. But given that the Niners got crushed two weeks in a row, they were on the road on a short week, and they went winless against the Rams last year, I was terrified of this game, and I’m relieved it went the way it did. So that game gets a solid six-pack.

100427649-anchor-steam-six-pack-courtesy.600x400

Mmm … Six pack of Anchor

If the Niners lose that game, that’s it: Their season is over. Now? Hope is still alive.

Posted in football, Sports | Tagged football, Frank Gore, NaVorro Bowman, NFL, Sam Bradford, san francisco 49ers | 1 Comment

Five Bands I’m Excited to See at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Posted on October 1, 2013 by fromabrooklynbasement

My favorite weekend in San Francisco is here!

If you’ve never been to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, you’ve missed out. The festival, which takes over Golden Gate Park for the first weekend of October every year, was started in 2001 by billionaire financier and banjo hobbyist Warren Hellman. It’s completely free, paid for by Hellman, and has grown in popularity every year, to the point where it draws hundreds of thousands of people to the park every year, making it one of the world’s largest music festivals. The event is so beloved that when Hellman died shortly after the festival in 2011, he left a fifteen year endowment in his will to ensure that the city would continue to put it on. The city responded by changing the name of Speedway Meadow, the festival’s main throughfare, to Hellman’s Hollow.

Obviously, a lot of people really love Hardly Strictly, but very few people love it more than I do. The only time I’ve missed it since 2007 was in 2010, when I had moved to New York a month before. I’m in New York now, of course, but you bet your ass I’m flying back to the Bay this weekend. It’s my favorite weekend of the year, in part because of the great free music (people I’ve seen at past HSBGs include Robert Plant, John Prine, Gillian Welch, Allison Krauss, Steve Earle, Merle Haggard, John Paul Jones, the Civil Wars, Del McCoury, Conor Oberst, Lucero, Buddy Miller, I could keep going…), but also because it’s usually the weekend that has the nicest weather of the entire year in San Francisco. Last year it also coincided with Fleet Week, and while music played on six stages the Blue Angels did loop-de-loops over the park.

Anyway, I’m rambling. The point is, I’m excited. And I thought I’d write a little preview. So here, in no particular order, are five artists I’m excited to see this weekend.

Justin Townes Earle

Earle is of course the son of Hardly Strictly mainstay Steve Earle. I’m a huge fan of Steve’s and at the Hellman tribute show back in 2012 I got up real close to watch him give an awesome performance (I’ve seen him on several other occasions as well). But he always closes on Saturday night, and by that point it is REALLY hard to get anywhere near a stage. So I’m looking forward a little more to watching his son, Justin, who has three pretty awesome namesakes: his dad, songwriting legend Townes Van Zandt, and me! I’m kidding, but Justin comes straight out of the hard-living, story-telling songwriting tradition of his father and Townes, and I’m really looking forward to seeing him play.

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell

A confession: Even though I’ve gone to HSBG almost every year for five or six years now, I’ve never seen Emmylou there. She always closes the festival on Sunday night, and the crowd is truly a nightmare by then (remember: hundreds of thousands of people.) But this year she’s performing with Rodney Crowell, with whom she recorded an album earlier this year. Crowell wrote one of my all-time favorite country songs, Bluebird Wine, and I’ll be damned if I’m not gonna see him and Emmylou sing it on Sunday.

Billy Bragg

I’ve never seen Bragg, the great English singer-songwriter who recorded one of my favorite albums of all-time, Mermaid Avenue, on which he collaborated with Wilco to write music for fifteen songs that Woody Guthrie had left behind lyrics for. My favorite: Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key.

Ryan Bingham

I covered Ryan Bingham extensively already. So just watch this and appreciate that Ryan Bingham is awesome and I will get to see him this weekend.

Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers

San Francisco–based roots rock/Americana band with instrumental chops, a smoking hot lead singer, and a song with a hook that goes “It’s a little too late to die young” (which is so awesome I’m thinking about getting it tattooed on my body)? Yes please, more please.

Man, I’m excited about this weekend.

Posted in Music | Tagged hardly strictly bluegrass, music, San Francisco | 1 Comment

Niners Week Three Awards

Posted on September 25, 2013 by fromabrooklynbasement

This will be quick, because I really don’t want to talk about that game.

The Mike Nolan Award (For an Apocalyptic Disaster of a Football Team): Your San Francisco 49ers!

I mean, this game had it all. The receivers couldn’t get open downfield at all; the team abandoned the running game in the second half (reportedly leading to a shouting match between Frank Gore and Jim Harbaugh); the defense fell apart after being left on the field for basically the entire second half; injuries continued to ravage the team (add Patrick Willis to the list); and then there’s the unspeakable Aldon Smith situation.

Basically, in the last two weeks, I’ve gone from being sure the Niners were a Super Bowl favorite to seriously wondering if this is going to be a lost season. At least they don’t go on the road tomorrow, just four days after getting whupped, to play a division rival who matched up extremely well with them last year … oh yeah, at the St. Louis Rams Thursday night. If they lose that game, it’ll be panic time in Niners-land.

No more awards this week. I’m too depressed. I award that game zero Anchor Steams, and may God have mercy on our souls.

Posted in football, Sports | Tagged NFL, san francisco 49ers | Leave a comment

On Gospel Music

Posted on September 23, 2013 by fromabrooklynbasement

I’ll just get this right out of the way: I think religions are dumb. All of them. People may laugh at Mormons and Scientologists and make fun of their obviously ridiculous origin stories, but the only difference between those myths and the ones on which, say, Christianity are founded is that the ones in the Bible are older. Being older does not make them more legitimate. They’re stories, engineered for the purpose of comfort, moral guidance, and social control.

So, why do I like gospel music so much?

I got to thinking about this recently when I was at a jam at a friend’s apartment and we played I’ll Fly Away.

No, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings were not at my jam. But, at the end of the song I looked around the room and realized that all four of us were Jews–secular, pot-smoking, guitar-playing New York Jews. And yet we were all sitting around singing songs about Jesus and Heaven and all this other stuff none of us buy into. I think there are a couple of reasons for this.

First, all of us were big fans of traditional American music. Like it or not, traditional American music mostly comes from the Bible Belt, and it’s pretty hard to get into this stuff without listening to some songs about Jesus. And at some point, you’ll find yourself singing along to one of those songs, and then you’ll realize what the words are and you’ll be like, wait, what the hell am I singing?

I recently had this exact experience with another Gillian Welch song (yes, I’ve been on a big Gillian kick lately). Check out By the Mark.

“I will know my savior when I come to him/By the mark where the nails have been.” Hard to get more Jesus-y than that. But it sounds so fucking good! Why is that? Other than the fact that Gillian Welch is awesome, I mean.

There are a couple of reasons: First of all, a song’s lyrics don’t actually have to make any sense for the song to be good. A good melody and a sweet voice go a long way. But there’s more to it than that. I think the thing is that gospel songs are inherently hopeful. They’re about finding a happier life, a home where things make sense, where they aren’t so hard. In a gospel song, that place is heaven, of course, but you don’t need to believe in a literal heaven for that sentiment to lift you up. When someone, say, the great Sam Cooke, sings, “Farther along, we’ll know all about it/Farther along, we’ll understand why/Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine/We’ll understand it, all by and by,” I don’t have to believe in God, Jesus, or Heaven to say, “Amen, brother.”

Posted in Music | Tagged gillian welch, gospel music, music, sam cooke | 2 Comments

Niners Week Two Awards

Posted on September 17, 2013 by fromabrooklynbasement

Lightning struck the Niners in Seattle

That wasn’t as much fun as last week. Let’s get this over with.

The Jerry Rice Award (Most Dominant Player on the Field): Richard Sherman

Really, this award goes to the whole Seahawks defense. Fuck, man, they pounded the Niners’ offense. But the biggest problem was that the Niners’ receivers just couldn’t get open downfield. There were a lot of plays where the offensive line gave Colin Kaepernick plenty of time to throw, and he ended up scrambling around and throwing the ball away because nobody got open. And Seattle was missing one of their starting corners, Brandon Browner. This was the exact scenario we feared before the season started, and the thing that worries me most about future Niners-Seahawks matchups. Anquan Boldin destroyed the Packers last week, but Richard Sherman held him to one catch this week.

The Joe Montana Award (Coolest Player on the Field): Marshawn Lynch

I’m starting to thoroughly despise this Seattle team, but I just can’t hate a guy who’s from Oakland, played at Cal, and has an awesome nickname, “Beast Mode,” that he wears in a blinged-out grill. But it’d be nice if he stopped scoring touchdowns against the Niners.

Did you think I was kidding about the grill?

The Emmitt Smith Award (Most Hated Opponent): Richard Sherman

He talked shit before the game. Then he shut down Anquan Boldin, intercepted a pass, and totally stuck Kyle Williams to shut down what looked like a play that was going to go for a huge gain. And then he talked shit after the game. Dammit.

The Justin Smith Award (Big Guy Who Breaks Things): Tierney Cooke

My friend Tierney is probably the most insane Niners fan I know. We watched the game at the back bar at Finnerty’s, and when the Niners blocked a punt in the first quarter, Tierney got so fired up she literally broke off a section of the bar, sending drinks scattering everywhere. I only wish she could have bashed in Pete Carroll’s smug face with that piece of the bar.

The Ronnie Lott Award (Guy Who Is Such a Badass He’d Cut His Own Finger Off To Make a Play): Patrick Willis

Nobody on the Niners really did anything worthwhile, so this one will be a bit of a digression. One of my favorite games to play is figuring out what a pro athlete would have done in life if he hadn’t been a pro athlete. On Sunday, while looking at Patrick Willis, who I’m pretty sure is the biggest badass in all of sports, it occurred to me that if he hadn’t played football, he absolutely would have been a member of SEAL Team 6. I’m pretty sure he would have been the guy who put a bullet in bin Laden. Seriously, just watch this clip, and swap Obama in for Kenny Powers, and I think you’d have exactly how that strike would have gone down.

The Adam Walker Award (Player Whose Actions Most Led to Defeat): Justin Goldman

The Niners were thoroughly outplayed. Kaepernick had the worst start of his career. And I blame myself. I’ve been on the Kaepernick bandwagon from his very first start, even when a lot of people thought the Niners should have gone back to Alex Smith. Hell, I drive the Kaepernick bandwagon. During that first start against the Bears last year, I said during the first quarter that I was going to buy a Kaepernick jersey. But I hadn’t actually bought a jersey–until Sunday, a couple hours before the game, when I ordered one. So, I jinxed everything. My bad.

Overall Rating For This Game (On a scale of Zero to Twelve Anchors, in honor of San Francisco’s favorite beverage): 2 Anchors

Remember when you were like 15 years old, and somebody bought you a six pack of beer for the first time, and you drank like two beers and then puked all over yourself? That’s basically what the Niners did on Sunday.

Posted in football, Sports | Tagged Colin Kaepernick, Finnerty's, football, NFL, Patrick Willis, san francisco 49ers, Sports | 1 Comment