I’m getting more sensitive. Oh, I’m not as touchy as I used to be. I don’t take offense so easily, I don’t take things as personally as I once did. On the other hand, I can’t stomach violence. I don’t play Grand Theft Auto, or watch boxing, forget about UFC. I recoil when I see parents berate their kids in public.
Last month I was between 8th and 9th avenue when I looked up and saw a father walking down the block, his son, maybe 7 or 8, walking closley next to him. As I looked at them I heard the father say, “You are so f***-ing stupid, how can you be so goddman dumb?” It felt like a punch in the gut.
Last night, I read an article in the latest issue of the New York Review of Books about the Congo by the historian Adam Hochschild. I should have known that it would be a tough read but there was a story on the first page (fourth paragraph) of such unspeakable horror that I couldn’t finish the article. I skimmed the rest of it, not wanting to read anything so terrible again.
I was on the subway coming home. And I was rattled. I put the article down and tried to distract myself. I couldn’t. So I put on my headphones and scanned the i-pod for something soothing. Couldn’t find a thing. Then I happened on Some Girls, one of my favorite albums by the Rolling Stones. Listening to “Beast of Burden,” I was able to forget the savage imagery of the article for a few minutes.
I grew up on Some Girls–still one of my favorite Stones records–Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You. They may not be the Stones’ best work–Let it Bleed, Beggar’s Banquet, and Sticky Fingers are the Stones at their peak, though there have always been hardcore Stones fans who swear by Exile on Main Street (with Black and Blue as the sleeper pick of cherce)–but in some ways they are the ones that I hold most dear. The Stones were my first favorite band. As a kid, I thought Mick Jagger was a bad ass and a clown.
I remember a British friend of my mother’s laughing in those years when she heard “Emotional Rescue.”
“The Stones are making disco records now.”
Maybe the Stones were already a parody of themselves by the late Seventies, but they lived in New York City, and their records sounded good. Even if they were corny at times. “She’s so Cold,” that was my joint. I never especially loved “Beast of Burden,” but listening to it last night–and thinking about “Waiting on a Friend” at the same time–I felt reassured and calm.
Nice to know we’ve got distractions–a way to escape–from the incredible terrors, large and small, that exist in the world.
I'm actually reading "King Leopold's Ghost" right now (partially because my curiousity was piqued by your post of a few weeks ago, Alex), great stuff. Definitely not for the squeamish, but truly fascinating.
And "Exile" is the best post-Jones Stones record, no doubt.
[0]
Sadly Alex, your story pales in comparison to this ....
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/24/national/main5185433.shtml
(not for the squeamish)
i grew up in a Stones household. those albums are tough to beat, i don't care who you are.
how many rock songs are out there like 'waiting on a friend?'
plus, nobody could touch those old album covers.
Interesting post, Alex. (sorry, can't touch that link) but I don't think I've ever turned to the Stones for shelter, or comfort.
I grew up a Beatles and Who freak. Didn't really connect with the Stones, or come to fully appreciate them until college. I spent a good part of my early 20's catching up.
But I'm with you, Alex. I love Some Girls, and I know it's not a popular choice among Stones fans but the cover of Just My Imagaination is one of my favorites in the catalog. The band completely nailed that one out of the park for me.
I also agree with the hardcore Stones fans (which I'm not) that Exile and Black and Blue might be the band's best work. Those are the two albums I spin the most. Some Girls is probably my third favorite.
Pete Abe has some audio from the pre-game interview with Cashman.
It's hard to figure out what he's saying (partly because of the audio, partly because he's being intentionally uninformative), but if you put together everything he says, it does sound like the Yankees intend to put Joba back in the bullpen pretty soon. (Cash says (i) they are going to respect the innings limit they established at the beginning of the year, and (ii) there is no prospect of "shutting him down". So, yeah, that means bullpen.)
The audio is in the Game 95 entry.
[5] "two albums I spin the most".
heh heh heh ....
Whenever I say something like that at home, my kids give me one of those "Oh Dad ..." looks, as if I'm some sort of ancient being found frozen in a warehouse.
They get a real kick out of my mom's telephone. It has a dial. And a real bell that rings, not some little electronic gizmo that chirps annoyingly. And a cord! A long curly one. They look at the dial and don't have a clue what to do, lol. Kids will never understand what it was like to spin an album.
I was never a Stones guy, although I have warmed to them in my dotage. I was a Led Zeppelin guy.
[6] if they do move Chamberlain, it creates a rotation opportunity for Hughes. They seem to be clones of each other. dominant in the late innings out of the pen, shaky and high pitch counts in the rotation. But maybe the confidence build up for Hughes from his bullpen experience will translate into above average starts. We'll see.
[7] yeah, I like to think vinyl's making a comeback, but I've done nothing to help the cause. Haven't bought a record since 1986 I think (pretty sure it was APB's Something To Believe In).
All of my records are gone. Unfortunate because the guy I bought my house from left me a nice turntable. I'll break it out one of these days, and yeah, the kids will get a kick out of it.
I have an old beater truck that I use to plow my driveway, tow my boat, haul firewood, etc. It has crank down windows. I attracted a crowd of first and second graders when I drove it down to the lake earlier this summer. Instant show and tell time. The kids couldn't believe you used to have to roll yer windows. heh.
[7] "Whenever I say something like that at home, my kids give me one of those “Oh Dad …” looks, as if I’m some sort of ancient being found frozen in a warehouse."
LOL!
When they do that, just be sure you shake your fist at them and feebly say in a crackly old voice, "Get off of my lawn!"
: )
[0] Sorry Alex, I'm a Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) man m'self...
: )
King Leopold's Ghost is one of those books that harrows even if you KNOW (or think you know the story). The modern tribal tragedy harrows in part because we try to avoid knowing the story. That's why, Diane, I'm afraid I disagree ... nothing in a single appalling instance in Arizona comes close to institutionalized tactic-of-war rape on the scale being embodied in the current Congolese conflict. If you add the extreme likelihood of infecting the women with HIV, it gets worse - if such a thing can be imagined.
I think there's an important distinction to be drawn between aberrational crimes, even if we might say society has encouraged or condoned, or not done enough to stop them, and what is happening in the Congo.
But this is a baseball site, so I'll stop here. Alex made me do it.
[11] A greatest hits record? That doesn't count.
I still have manual windows and locks on my car, which I bought new in '97 (hmm, that was 12 years ago, wasn't it?), and a basement full of vinyl. That said, I had no idea you could still use a dial (or pulse) phone. That was the phone we had when I was a kid. I remember dialing 9 or 0 hurt my finger and I'd often have to start over because my finger would slip out of the dial on the way around (the phone was hung high on the wall and I was just a tyke).
As for the Stones, Some Girls is a great record, but I'll take Sticky Fingers and Let It Bleed first. And, yeah, the '60s singles, but we're talking albums here . . .
[13] A pulse phone ought to still work - many of the non-cordless phones sold still have a P/T button, I believe - but the best part about those phones is how ingeniously they were designed. Power goes out, phone stays on because it gets its power from the phone line. I keep one in the house just for emergencies.
[9] Similarly, we were at a kids' museum somewhere (maybe Boston?) and saw an old-style rotary phone. My kids were intrigued - a phone with no buttons! They didn't know what to do with it. Of course they get confused when they're at someone's house and commercials come on the TV, since everything at home is filtered through the TiVo and all commercials are skipped, religiously.
[13] "A greatest hits record? That doesn’t count."
"Hey you! Get off of my cloud!"
: )
[14] Yeah - me too (phone that is powered by the line - use it quite a bit out here in the woods). My Mom's phone was from the era when the phone company owned the lines in the house and the phone. Heck, I remember when I could call my Mom at work with just 5 numbers.
And I'm not that old! Really!
Enough Ma Bell history for one day.
(The articles linked by Alex and Diane are just too much to read. I can't even get past a sentence or two. Man's inhumanity to man, indeed. Sad beyond belief.)
I was going to talk about how much pure awesomeness is stuffed into "Exile on Mainstreet," but then I read that article, and now instead I think I'll go curl up on the floor and hug my dog.
[15] there's an Irish joke where the punchline is, "Hey Mcloud, get off my ewe!!!" i like the Paul Gilbert, "Get Outta My Yard" bit! i'm practicing it for when i get a house...
[0] i can't stomach violence, either. i hate it. well, 'cept for say The Battle At Helm's Deep, 'coz i love all things Middle-Earth! : )
i definitely grew up more of a Zep, Beatles and Who guy, than the Stones. but i do like them. i can't stand Charlie Watts though. in my massive music collection, i don't own ONE Stones album (or cd!), but my brother has a bunch. i loved playing "Jumping Jack Flash" in a band in high school. on gigs here now, i sometimes play "Satisfaction" and "Sympathy for the Devil". they're really a great rock band!
i remember seeing them live at Shea Stadium, on the Steel Wheels tour. Living Colour opened the show and there was a terrific African Drum Troupe on the bill, as well. i'm sure people here were at that show, also. Mick Jagger was just an unbelievable frontman. i can't imagine much better than him and Steven Tyler.
i'm always joking with my students about things like roll-up windows in cars and manual locks. i remember when i got my car in '02, i had no clue what keyless entry was and planned on using my key every time. i think i used the key once and said, "ta hell with this shit!". i have a pulse phone and one with a cord here. i don't use the one with the cord, though it's still set up...
[9] my brother and i, say "spin" cd's. i guess, they actually DO spin! vinyl IS making a comeback. in fact, i'd say it already did and has for awhile. i don't support it, either. i like my cd's! i DON'T like digital downloads. there are TONS of "audiophiles" out there, who swear by the warmth in the sound and collect vinyl. it's still the most popular format at record conventions. there's like crazy $10,000 record players available that people buy. it's nuts.
Being a Beatles/Jefferson Airplane person, I tended towards the Stones' earlier stuff, "the sixties singles," as Cliff says, but you know, the album Between the Buttons was always my favorite, as far as albums go. I think it's a legitimately excellent album. And of course, Beggar's Banquet and Let it Bleed are perfect, too.
[18] I think "Sympathy for the Devil" is their finest track. Not that I'm a hardcore fan or anything, but that's a hard song to top.
The rhythm section is just ungodly.
Shaun, push-button phones also work when the power goes out. It's having a cord, rather than a dial, that makes the difference.
Hm, now I'm guessing you knew that.
I'm with Cliff: Sticky Fingers, if I had to pick one Stones album. When I was in eighth grade (the album was a few years old by then) the girls in my class really, really liked the cover, too.
This one's for the Who fans.
A Quick One While He's Away from the Rolling Stones Rock N Roll Circus 1968. I read somewhere that the Stones shelved this footage for over 20 years because the Who blew them off the stage with this performance. I doubt that, but few bands can compete with this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlBip8CV1P8
[21] Yeah, I do. I wasn't very clear - I meant that corded (ie non-cordless) phones are ingeniously designed. Its Friday, what can I say?
I never got into the Stones, and once I made the bold claim that I wasn't sure I could even name more than 5 songs by them. When challenged, I was able to name five exactly: "Satisfaction", "Beast of Burden", "You Can't Always Get What You Want", "Paint it Black", and "Jumpin' Jack Flash". I was not proud of this then, and really am not now. I think I'm missing out.
[18] Now Tolkien, that I know very well! I didn't know you were a Tolkien fan, thealarmis.
[23] i dunno, i don't really feel like i'm missing out not being a big Stones fan or Pink Floyd or Bruce Springsteen, etc. i don't own anything by those artists...
yup, i LOVE Tolkien. back in 2000-2004, or so, i'd say i knew more about Middle-Earth than our own planet! : )
you lied to me, Shaun - you promised to take out the "a" in my name!!! thelarmis (think: "thelonius"), not The Alarmis!!! ; )
[18] I was at one of those Shea shows on the Steel Wheels tour. The only time I saw the Stones. I was on the floor near the soundboard. Great view, great sound. We stood on our chairs and sang for two hours. Even in his "old age" at the time (the joke was it was the Steel Wheelchairs tour) Mick was something to behold.
[24] thelonious.
[25] i went with my cousin. we had great seats on the 3rd base side, iirc. i got a t-shirt. steel wheelchairs = that's funny!
[25] btw, what year was that? i'm guessing it had to be around 1990, or something...
[28] fall of '89 or '90. 20 years ago. Unbelievable.
[29] wow, that's crazy.
thelarmis, you ever dispose of a snare mid-performance the way Moon does at 4:45 of the clip from [22]?
what follows is pure rock n roll esctacy
My mom loves the Stones so I grew up hearing them a lot but I've never really connected with them. I like some of their stuff a lot but I've never loved them. There's a whiff of mintrelsy about their bluesier stuff and I hate that. I guess its just Jagger; he can be awful at times.
[29] hey, i was at one of those shows at Shea. It was a crazy story too. my car died pulling into my friends place to pick him up. so we took his car. only he wasnt driving it because the brakes were bad. and he was too scared to drive it into the city so i drove. good fun. unlike you though, our seats thoroughly sucked. :)
Hi Alex, sorry the pain that surrounds you ~ life is just a cocktail party on the streets! I share the same love for "Some Girls"; in my "Almost Famous" moments, I used to go into my plder sister's room and "borrow" her albums without asking or intent to return, and Some Girls was a heavy rotation pick (they somehow managed to find their rightful home, those clever LPs).
Underrated, the title track is right at the intersection of Svengali/country honk/womanising d##khead, and it all works for me.
Personal fav Stones = Get Yer Ya Ya's Out. The JJF and Live with Me (Fav Stones song never used in a Scorcese Film) alone make it in the top 5.
Go Yanks, bye Holliday.
Love, Eddie
The Who at their best certainly could blow the Stones off the stage..but Stones easily win in terms of album quality..really only like "Who's Next" as a whole album by the Who.
[0] The tragedy in the Congo is a shame on the world at large..just horrific and endless violence on the people there, with no end in sight...
I love Beast of Burden and the entire Some Girls album, but that may be reflective of what I was doing back then.
[35] ironically, most of Who's Next were out-takes from what became Tommy (originally called Lifehouse). Think I'd give Quadrophenia credit as a complete and proper album. It's all good.....