In an effort toward pushing the premiere of Batting for Punto: A Salon forward last night I missed out on the most exciting conclusion to a MLB season possibly ever and for that I am sorry for me and sorry for you, my dedicated readers. I should be telling you about something you missed from the tag-team action of last night's late night conclusions.

I can tell you this: I made and brought flier for the event for next Wednesday, Oct 5th in Minneapolis and if you're reading this from anywhere close to that, stop on by, hear a tale, buy a beer...

And in my defense, when I left home last night the Yankees were holding a 7-0 lead over the Rays, who had mustered but 2 scant singles over 6 innings and looked done; all over but the shouting. And the Orioles/Sox game was in a rain delay and with the weather being what it has been it seemed like I chose the correct course of action. I could not have been any more wrong. I chose poorly...

And although getting updates from NY were grand (it's usually me supplying them to others) it wasn't like watching; for once in front of this machine would have been more enjoyable than even a night in a treehouse with good beer and friends. Oh well...

So, the playoffs start tomorrow and I no longer have Tracy Ray's great tattoo studio from which to watch. I'll be utilizing that TBS on-line feed of their extra cameras and the broadcast sound. At least this year they've made the "bonus features" very affordable; I suspect I'll be watching much of this in bars which is not so inexpensive but will have no choice when freakin' Fox takes over from TBS. Meh...

I'll write about AL/NLDS predictions and thoughts tomorrow; today is not the day for that...

Cheers,
Brian

Spent the weekend on the road as quasi-tour manager, part roadie and mostly just hanger-on with my friend's Prog-Math-Metal instrumental four-piece Zebulon Pike. And although I won't ('cause there ain't really much: Editor) divulge dirty road stories since a few of them are married with children (oh, so metal!) and I don't want to get them in hot water. Uh-hem...

And yes, we did hit the road the first time having forgotten the bass player but not for too long. But for me having seen so many bands, put band members up in my house, been put up by bands when I was the one on the road and even set up some gigs for visiting bands and put them up as well, this was the first time I had actually been in the van with the band and that was fun; wish I had brought the video camera to capture some of it.

First night was in a small and stinky joint not far from the Capitol Building in Madison, WI called The Frequency. This was the warm-up for the bigger show the following night. Good hoppy beer on tap and the Brewers clinching the NL Central on the TV and a really, really bad (see: guys in matching headbands and a fan blowing their hair when removed) by-the-book heavy metal  was the main highlights of the evening,

Chicago's North Side the following night was a horse of a richer hue. The Abbey, which I'd heard had been featured on some reality TV show about saving bars, was a legit sized stage and a real room with a great sound system-- if you like heavy metal. Zeb Pike aren't really, but the bands that they played with are and I was happy for earplugs and for the pole that was situated from my spot behind the merch' booth and the center of the stage where I was blocked from the primping and pompous lead singers. I can deal with the guitars and the loud but the "singing" is where they lose me. Even the band with the 2 screaming (not kidding) singers - one who looked something like a college prof' and the other, maybe 4 months pregnant (it's hard to ask exactly when mom's chain-smoking) - were not my thing although I was able to stand about 3 songs before hearing, seeing enough.

But all in all it was a great experience of a weekend through a few states and some bars and a lot of time back in the same green van that I had just returned from Burning Man in - so there.

Baseball playoffs start this week so I will be picking up that mantle again and telling you about all the things you either missed or that I feel you need to know more about. Yeah, something like that; mostly I'm just trying to wake up after a weekend of rather limited sleep, road food, booze and the last 10 innings of the Yanks sox series which were, it seems, the only 10 innings worth missing.... Damn you heavy metal!

Cheers,
Brian

The Yankees clinched the AL East a couple days ago with an impressive sweep of a day/night double-header in the Bronx combined with yet another crushing defeat of the reeling redsox by the mighty Orioles. Can't believe I was happy to see a smile on Buck Showalter's face; what's so much worse is that any bosox fan worth his weight in chowder was rooting for the Yanks this week. That has got to be so hard to stomach: in one game they had to cheer A-Rod; oh, the indignity of it all...

The Yanks pretty much took last night's game off and handed it to the Rays. Well, Colon maybe didn't mean to but he looks like he is pitching with nothing left in the tank. His body language sure showed it to me, but maybe he's being wise and holding something back for the post-season. And maybe that is a little wishful thinking because we need someone to step up. I believe when the bell tolls, CC will be ready to be CC again and when it really matters. Ivan Nova looks so sharp these days and really has taken the next step but who knows if he is ready and will have the poise to keep it up when the ALDS starts next Friday night.

Because after CC and hopefully Nova things get a little less promising. Hughes had an old herniated disk issue pop up and may not be able to pitch. This could be devastating to the Yanks' post-season as Garcia, much like Colon looks like he doesn't have much left and please, please, please don't get me started on AJ "Pass me the Bottle" Burnett. I don't want to see him on the playoff roster, let alone starting a game; thank heavens for the bullpen but that is not how championships are won.

And while I am on the subject of the bullpen, here's a big tip of the hat to Mariano Rivera. Mo, who has  long been considered the greatest closer the game has ever -- or will ever -- see and now, having carved save #602 (passing Trevor Hoffman for 1st all-time) giving him the numbers to back up all comers, all arguments he really is the best ever. Congrats Mo!


As for me, I am off for the weekend (missing the sox/Yanks weekend series, but gosh it would be great to sweep 'em and knock 'em out of the playoffs like Russell "I hate the red sox" Martin has hoped for) "tour managing" Zebulon Pike through Madison, WI (tonight) and Chicago, IL (tomorrow night). Math-metal is the order of the weekend...

Cheers,
Brian

I missed history being made in the Bronx yesterday as the game against the Twinkies was blocked out locally on my MLB package. I could have gone to a bar to see Mariano Rivera carve his name next to 602 saves in the record books. Mo is far from done even at the age of 41 so he will further distance himself from Trevor Hoffman, but it's not like there had been any doubt who was and is the greatest closer the game has ever seen. It's nearly incomprehensible that some pitcher will eclipse all that Mo has done over the last 15+ seasons. Look at the post-season record and then look deep into the rear-view mirror which is where all the other closers in the history of the game sit...

Going to get to at least one more regular season Twins games this week- a businessman's special on Thursday afternoon; a good opportunity to root for the hapless home team. They have really gone down in flames this year.

Speaking of going down in flames, the bosox maybe salvaged their chances in unloading on the O's during the night-cap of a day/night double-header last night. Again I hope it really galls bosox fans as they HAVE to root for the Yanks vs the Rays this week and into next.

Had a pretty good surprise of night out in the NE; actually couldn't get into Grumpy's NE on Saturday night when I went, I didn't have that problem last night. 1/2 priced MN beers which means $2.50 for a pint of Furious got me in the door, the cool-kid bluegrass band playing out back kept me there. I was meeting a friend and turned out she was friends with the band; turned out I knew one of them too from Recovery Bikes here in the NE.

Wound up back at the "big house" where 6 of these kids will be hibernating for the winter; yes, there was a "little house" as well. A couple of them were Burners; one a virgin this year, the other was just back from her 2nd burn. Neither of them really knew any burners in the 612, didn't even know that there was such a big and tight community of long-time and newer burners out here. I will make that connection for them and not only because one of them was a very pretty tall girl. Nope, that will have nothing to do with anything.

Today will be spent doing an edit pass-through "Giving In," the novel that maybe needs to be read. I am caught up in the whirl of it wishing that I could share some of what I had written before I even knew what I was writing about, but I will just have to sit on that "knowledge" until the timing is right. You may get to read it before she does...

Cheers,
Brian

Well, sorry it has been a full week since the last post. Hopefully you've been watching the Yanks and keeping an eye on those dreadful Bosox as they collapse like it's April all over again. Johnny Damon had the quote of the day with this one: "They couldn't root for me when I played for New York. Now they have to root for the whole team." 


And it's funny cause it's true. With the Yanks playing the fast-charging Rays 7 times out of the last 10 games, the "nation" must root for the Evil Empire. Gosh darn, but I hope that hurts... real bad.


But it has also dawned on me this past week or so - or maybe I've been distracted (Editor's note: Yes, he has been "distracted.") - but it's seeming like something of a ho-hum baseball season, but I suppose the post-season should amp all of that right up...




I had to push the maiden voyage of "Batting for Punto: A Salon" back from September 22 to a date to be determined this week as I personally dropped the ball and didn't get the event of my own personal part of it where they needed before disappearing off into the desert for 2 weeks and really, the subsequent following 10 days of attempted decompression.
Yes, I still have the faded mohawk atop my head and blue polish on 2 of my finger nails. Sue me...


But it is Autumn clearly and time for work as soon as I am able to settle into a new place to live and a new place from which to write. Hopefully both of those will be solved sooner rather than later; saw an apartment that I want on Friday night and had a meeting in regards to the studio space, but the previous sharer in that has yet to move out. This is fine (to some degree) as it means I didn't have to yet pay for a space that I am not mentally prepared to move into.


But all this will change -- and soon! Watch this spot for some real updates. Yeah!


Thanks
Brian

I have seen others having those painful, extended far-wells at Burning Man; it's sometimes hard not to stare when you see two people who probably just met that week holding on to each other for dear life. It is from some of those "hurts too much to say goodbye" goodbyes that lead to a slew of people picking up and moving to another city or in some cases, just never returning to what had been home until that week in the desert...

Last year on Sunday night after the Temple was reduced to ash and the dust devils had their way I had a surprising farewell that left me feeling exhilarated, hopeful and blessed. This year, I had a far more extended version with the same person and although it left me feeling blessed yet again, the sense of hope has changed into something more concrete and yet hard to hold and pick up; parting was sweet indeed but it was also topped off with sorrow. Had this long-playing, see you next year moment  occurred when the commissary was open and teeming with DPW crew, it probably would have gone down a little differently.

They would have demanded -- much like seagulls screaming -- that I kiss her, but I can't and I won't until I can and that is that...

And whilst some very big questions got replied to this year, I returned home with an equal number of still unanswered ones and new ones. I know what I need to fully settle and I almost feel like there is something like a ticking clock; it's music in 4-4 time and the chairs are being re-arranged and two weeks ago I thought I knew exactly where I wanted to be sitting when the tone arm gets lifted and the serenade ceases.

I know what needs to be done with what is in my control to handle and I have to trust the road after listening to the dust along the journey...

Yeah, it's good to be home and it's amazing that so much came back with me because at this precise moment it does feel like there was less waiting here and more that I need to create. And while I make it practice in the desert to ask for what I would like or for what I think I need, I need to bring that back with me, dust it off and put it into action in the so-called default world as well...

A dusty cheers to you,
Brian