www.donaldmarino.com

KEXP in Seattle, Washington has two great podcasts.

In-Studio Live performances:

http://www.kexp.org/podcast_instudio.xml

Song Of The Day:

http://www.kexp.org/podcast_songoftheday.xml

I got next game.

I wonder what happened to my old homeboys from Southside. Back in the early and mid 80’s, I attended a private school just south of downtown Richmond, VA, Sared Heart/St. Augustine catholic school at 14th & Perry Streets. It so happens that in those particular times, this was a pretty serious ghetto area. I assume its still the same today, but I haven’t been down that way for a while, so I can’t say if its any different now. The school opened around 1910 and closed in 1986, one year after I left. I think it was last used as a homeless shelter. It may still be.

Most of the neighborhood kids did not attend the school. First - even though I don’t think it was very expensive, there was at least some tuition so most of the area kids couldn’t afford to go. Second - we wore uniforms, went to church during school and were taught religion in school. So pretty much there weren’t a whole lot of the people who lived in the hood there at school.

Two notable exceptions stand out in my memory. Cleveland Bassfield and Oran Jones. These two fellows somehow ended up attending Sacred Heart from the 6th grade on. Sacred Heart was about 180 students with 1-12 grades and later K, so my grade was about 25 kids every year. We all hung out togther all day every day. Most of us for all 8 years together. Oddly, I don’t keep contact with anyone from those classes, even though I spent my formative years with them. Probably because (much to my relief) I then went on to a public high school out in Chesterfield county. Cleveland, Oran and I, along with some of the other kids were really into early hip-hop. Think Run-DMC, Breakin’, Tha Real Roxanne, UTFO, Melle Mel, Whodini etc.. Back in the day when that stuff was current, we’d hang out all day and talk about hip-hop, get as much hip-hop style worked in to our school uniforms as we could get away with, write graffiti with paint markers, and of course, breakdance. I used to do the belly spin on top of Cleveland’s head. We could get down. Oran could beatbox like crazy. We all rocked fat laces. It was goin’ on.

Cleveland Bassfield was probably 15 or 16 when he joined us in the 6th grade. He was a huge person already like a body builder. He had a real moustache. Oran was basically a street G before that was a hip-hop phenomenon. He had to live his life like that because that’s just where he was from. I remember Oran was basically illiterate, he just hung out at school all day. The teachers were afraid of him. I think his folks sent him there to keep him off the street. These guys used to invite me when I was like 12 years old to go out drinkin, smokin weed, screwin hoes (literally), and painting tags with spray paint. I had to expain to them I would be out in the ‘burbs with my folks and there was no way that was gonna happen.

So, I spent my youth bussing into the ghetto to go to school every day. I got to know lots of people and places that most white kids in the burbs don’t get exposed to. I wonder what happened to old Cleveland and Oran. I can’t imagine either one had too bright a future lined up, but you never know. People in the ghetto are pretty resourceful. They just have different values than most of us. Those guys were good folks, but their trajectory was so different in life. I sometimes wonder where my old homies are and if they’re alive.

I went to see Dinosaur Jr. at the Fox Theater in Boulder. I had some old friends of mine from high school and college along and it was totally fun. Several of us had gone to see Dinosaur Jr. in Charlottesville VA together in 1993, 13 years ago. It dawned upon us that we were going to the oldies show. ha. Not diminishing this notion in the least was the appearance of J Mascis, sporting ass-length silver hair. Oldies show, fully equipped with grey-haired rockers.

However, this did nothing to quell the enthusiasm of the band who proceeded to blast through their catalog of old favorites with serious sonic fury. I mean they rocked the shit out of it. These guys hadn’t talked to each other for a decade over some old feud. Recently, Lou Barlow was interviewed, saying they all finally realized that they had done their best work together in Dinosaur and none of thier solo work had even approached it, which is true. So they got it back together after 10 years and are tearing this stuff up. I mean really tearing this stuff up. Damn.
For myself and a lot of folks my age, this was formative-years music. J Mascis and Dinosaur Jr introduced the notion of virtuoso guitar into indie rock, which during the 80’s was mostly just punk maybe revved up a notch. Guitar technique was not necessarily an emphasis in most non-mainstream indie rock. Dinosaur was different because of that and Mascis creates an effective kind of rock fury of his own that really no one had done before and it connected with a huge audience that were perhaps a bit too cerebral for the low-tech angry punk.

It was pretty cool to see they’re not only playing all your old favorites, but jamming on them and unleashing some serious sonic fury. Go see them, but your ears will certainly be ringing for a while, because they’re all LOUD AS HELL, which is pretty fun, too.

Great show. I heard the Pixies reunion tour was supposed to be pretty good, too, but I’d say if you ever liked Dinosaur Jr. now’s the time to go see them. They blew the doors off the Fox friday night.

I cannot stop listening to Jose Gonzales. The sad part is I only have 3 songs from the Veneer record. Does it make you old if you still say record? Anyway, Jose is this Swedish dude with a Mexican name who plays intense acoustic rock songs on a classical guitar. After the third listen, I guarantee it’ll be in your heavy rotation for a while. He got somewhat famous after they used his song in a Sony TV ad.

You left a lovestain on my heart when you left a bloodstain on the ground.

But blood comes off easily.

“lovestain”

If you record some cheesy songs on your mac and no one hears them, do they still make a sound?

Rock Groove
Darker Rock
Softer Rock

It’s finally baseball season! Woohoo!

I greet few occasions during the year as enthusiastically as baseball season. Go Orioles!

I firmly plan to enjoy this baseball season. I have a strategy: selective hearing. I refuse to hear any of the following words on any baseball telecast or from another fan:

Barry, Bonds, Barry Bonds, Steroids, Game Of Shadows, BALCO, Barry Bonds, B-12, Sammy Sosa, Cream, Clear, Winstrol, Bud Selig, Congress, Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro (oh Raffy, you know how to breaka heart), Juice, George Bush, Mark McGwire or Barry f&^$ng Bonds.

OK. That should do it for starters. I may begin not hearing other words and phrases as appropriate. I h ave a long standing policy of only hearing Joe Morgan, whilst ignoring the ultra-annoying Jon Miller, so I have a little practice with all this.
I do, however plan to enjoy some baseball. I will in particular be looking for the following this season:

Players who play hard every play (rarer than you think). Miguel Tejada should be the role model for all up-n-comers. That guy plays his heart out every night. Just watch him once, you’ll notice.

Throwers who learn to pitch. I love it when this happens. I’m praying (hehe) that it happens to Daniel Cabrera this year under the tutelage of Leo Mazzone. Cabrera has nasty, evil stuff, but he hasn’t learned to pitch yet. He could become dominant.

Catchers. The toughest job in the game. And they expect 30 HRs & 100 RBIs now, too.

Real fans. People who really like baseball and don’t care about newsmedia scandal. There are a lot of us out there. This is what keeps the game alive while the lame-o’s that run it screw up over and over.

The Rockies upside pitching staff. They might actually have a decent staff this year. They definitely have players who hustle (see above). Some pitching could keep them in it longer than people expect.