Flicks of Keith Haring…bombing, over at Subway Art Blog.

What New Yorkers are reading on the train.

[Photo Credit: New York Magazine]

Here’s a great gift idea for the movie nyerd in your life. Thomson is terrific fun to read even when you don’t agree with him.

Here’s a few other movie books of note…

“Lulu in Hollywood,” By Louise Brooks:

“The Parade’s Gone By,” By Kevin Brownlow.

“Picture,” By Lillian Ross:

“The Pat Hobby Stories,” By F. Scott Fitzgerald:

“Hitchcock,” By Francois Truffaut:

“Chinatown and The Last Detail: Two Screenplays,” By Robert Towne:

So Zack Greinke went to the Brewers and the Yanks are still waiting to hear from Andy Pettitte…Grienke wasn’t a New York Guy…

Things are slow for the Bombers as Christmas approaches. But that doesn’t mean the Yankee blogosphere is dormant–peep the latest from the fine folks at Replacement Level Yankees Weblog,  Pinstriped Bible, Was Watching, The Captain’s Blog,  River Ave Blues, It’s About the Money, Stupid, Yankeeist, Zell’s Pinstriped Blog,No Maas, and of course the Lo-Hud Yankees Blog.

In the meantime, dig this real rap session on the craft of hitting featuring Don Mattingly, Wade Boggs and Ted Williams. Peter Gammons is the writer, SI is the mag–back from April, 1986.

[Photo Credit: Nittanywhiteout.com, the Boston Globe.]

Long Sunday for the Giants. Long day. This one will sting for more than a minute…

Here’s a homemade hot coco recipe from the folks over at Serious Eats.

The Knicks lost their third straight last night, but UConn Women’s goes for a record-tying 88th consecutive win today. This afternoon also brings Giants and Eagles as well as Jets and Steelers. Greinke to the Brewers and also some big names moving in the NBA.

Should be a good sports Sunday, Cha-Cha. Enjoy.

The wife and I took a ride up to Port Chester this afternoon to check out the Mario Batali-Joe Bastianich food jernt, the Tarry Market.

Nice place. Not cheap, but no surprise there, right?

Then we stopped in for a bite next door at the Tarry Lodge:

Artichokes with mint.

Pizza with Guanciale, black truffles and a fried egg. Ka-Boom.

..yer listenin’ pleasures while yer doin’ the chores…

[Picture by Bags]

The passing of Don Van Vliet a/k/a Captain Beefheart this morning is news most people will react to with an unknowing shrug of the shoulders or a chuckle at his odd stage name. For the rest of us, this cuts deep.

Beefheart (along with his high school chum Frank Zappa) virtually invented avant-garde or underground rock music. At its heart, his music was based on the blues (the influence of Howlin’ Wolf on the Captain’s vocals is undeniable), but the blues was never a staid museum piece to Van Vliet – it was a living, breathing thing that he could mold, bend, even mangle to his liking. His early albums Safe as Milk and the double lp Trout Mask Replica (produced by Zappa) didn’t sell much, but found a home with adventurous and discerning listeners, including the famous or soon-to-be-famous, like John Lennon, Joe Strummer, Mark Mothersbaugh and Tom Waits.  Waits once said of Beefheart: “Once you’ve heard Beefheart, it’s hard to wash him out of your clothes. It stains, like coffee or blood.”  Beefheart continued through the 70s and early 80s with great albums, among them Lick My Decals Off, Baby, The Spotlight Kid, Bongo Fury (live, with Zappa & the Mothers), Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) and what may be his best and most accessible album, Clear Spot.

Personally, I first heard Trout Mask Replica when I was 18 or 19, and I was never the same.  It was so weird and off-kilter to my ears, and yet oddly welcoming: as if he was opening a door to somewhere exotic, but slightly forbidding, seeing if you were game for the journey.  I’ve never regretted accepting the invitation. Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons spoke of hearing Trout Mask at 15 and thinking:

“…that it was the worst thing I’d ever heard. I said to myself, they’re not even trying! It was just a sloppy cacophony. Then I listened to it a couple more times, because I couldn’t believe Frank Zappa could do this to me – and because a double album cost a lot of money. About the third time, I realised they were doing it on purpose; they meant it to sound exactly this way. About the sixth or seventh time, it clicked in, and I thought it was the greatest album I’d ever heard.”

Even though the Captain hadn’t made an album since 1982 (he’d retired to his other creative outlet, painting), the mark he left on modern music is as indelible as his album titles were indecipherable.  Thanks, Don…the dust blows forward and the dust blows back.

So many celebrity deaths lately. Blake Edwards, most popular for his work with Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther movies, passed away yesterday.

Here’s a You Tube highlight reel:

From “The Party”:

Mary Poppins is a Goin Off:

General Silliness:

January 29th, 2011 is the annual SABR Day, with SABR chapters hosting events nationwide to celebrate the grand old game and publicize SABR.

In New York, our chapter will be teaming up with the folks from Baseball Prospectus for a gathering at Foley’s Pub in Manhattan.  The list of guests is quite impressive (including SNY’s Gary Cohen, and MLB.COM’s Cory Schwartz), and for $20, you get to nosh and schmooze and hobnob with some of the brightest minds in the game.

You need NOT be a member of SABR, or a subscriber to Baseball Prospectus to attend.  However, tickets are going fast (less than 20 left at this writing). (update) now sold out.

Hope to see you there!

(image: slurvemag.com)

The Yanks land a lefty…

And some other stuff.

;

Now that Cliff Lee has taken his thumb out of his mouth–I was going to write some other part of the body, but thought better of it–the Yankees have wasted little time in moving onto the business of real Hot Stove League baseball. In fewer than four days, Brian Cashman has landed Russell Martin and appears on the verge of signing lefty specialist Pedro Feliciano. That’s two for two in my book.

First off, I’m a fan of Feliciano. He’s been a consistently effective late-inning left-hander, pitching well season after season amidst the rubble of so many Mets disasters. His three-quarters/sidearm delivery is made to order against lefty batters, making him a more effective version of Damaso Marte (who will be out until at least August after labrum surgery). He throws strikes, has a close-game toughness about him, has no qualms about pitching in New York, and always takes the ball. Over the last three years, no one has appeared in more games than Feliciano. With Feliciano and Boone Logan pitching from the portside, the Yankees should be well-stocked in terms of left-handers in the bullpen.

Martin is a more complicated issue, though I’m generally pleased with his acquisition, if for no other reason than he will limit Francisco Cervelli to backup status, a return trip to the minor leagues, or the trade market. Martin is a much better player than Cervelli. Even in a down season, he hit five home runs last year, or five more than the punchless Cervelli. More importantly, Martin is a sound defensive catcher who blocks balls well and throws even better. In 2010, he threw out 38 per cent of opposing base stealers, and has never fared worse than 25 per cent in a single season. In contrast, Cervelli played like Venus de Milo, throwing out a mere 14 per cent of runners in 2010.

Aside from knee and hip injuries, the questions about Martin reside almost exclusively with his bat. After hitting at an All-Star level in 2007 and 2008, his numbers have fallen off badly the last two seasons (with OPS marks of .680 and .679), even though he won’t turn 28 until the spring. It can’t be age, so perhaps a change in approach or extra visits to the videotape machine would pay some dividends. A change of scenery might also help Martin. Not only will he be surrounded by better hitters in New York, but he’ll have a chance to work with one of the game’s best batting coaches in Kevin Long.

If you’re an optimist like me, you’ll be encouraged most by Martin’s similarity scores, available at baseball-reference.com. Who is Martin mostly equivalent to through his age-27 season? None other than a fellow named Thurman Munson. That’s not to say that Martin will go on a three-year tear like Munson did from 1975 to 1977, but he does have a similar game to the old Captain. Martin has some of Munson’s toughness behind the plate, along with a similar level of power; both players have (or had) maximum 18-20 home run capability. Like Munson, Martin is at his best going to right-center field; he has an excellent opposite field stroke that will be welcomed by the new Yankee Stadium.

Some have already amounted Martin as the No. 1 catcher, but that could change if Martin cannot reignite his offensive game. By June, Jesus Montero could be doing a good portion of the catching, with Martin spotted against teams that have a tendency to run, like the Rangers and Rays. All in all, a solid pickup for the Yankees, with very little downside…

(more…)

She’s still a Beaut, ain’t she?

[Picture by Bags]

I haven’t thought about this tune in years but I started singing it in the shower the other night out of the blue:

Bob Klapisch just tweeted that the Yanks are “getting closer” on Jose Feliciano. Sctach that, Pedro Feliciano.

Discuss.

At least it did for me. My wife got me the complete Larry Sanders Show dvd set. It arrived in the mail last week. She said, “G’head, open it.”

Hey, Now.

I only saw about a dozen episodes when the show was originally aired so this is my first time watching it through.

I’m a heppy ket.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Feller.

Thank you for Soul Sides and Long Live La Murga!