Coming Attractions - Week of March 8th 2010

Three shows lined up for this week. First up is Surfer Blood @ Schubas's - 3/10/10



Second one is Thursday night - We Were Promised Jetpacks @ Lincoln Hall:



Last show of the week is Ted Leo on Saturday night @ the Bottom Lounge:

Foreign Born w/ Free Energy & Clovers @ the Empty Bottle - 3/5/10

Alright, so I missed Clovers, but my excuse was that I was pretty sick this weekend, so it's a minor miracle that I made it out for Free Energy and Foreign Born, but I'm glad I did. I'd heard mention of Free Energy here and there, but this post by Jim Kopeny (I went to law school with his brother) at Chicagoist sold me on getting there in time for their set. I read someone who compared them to Thin Lizzy style 70s guitar pop/rock, and I think that's a pretty good description. They had a bit of their own following, and the crowd in front of the stage was really digging their set. They were definitely worth my time, and a band I'd like to catch if they come back and headline somewhere.

At some point last year, I made a list of bands on my radar that I needed to check out, which includes stuff like the Thermals, Passion Pit, Cymbals Eat Guitars, etc. One of these bands was Dirty Projectors who, as it turns out, made my favorite album of 2009. Another one was Foreign Born, who made my third or fourth favorite album of 2009 (Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear are in the mix as well). I don't know how they got on the list. I literally cannot recall what made me want to listen to these guys, but whatever, it was a good decision.

I saw them live for the first time back in December. I was flying home for the holidays, and was able to push my flight up a day so that I could get home in time to catch them at Spaceland. They put on an excellent show that night, and it was a pretty good crowd. We even ran into Arianna Murray and Aaron Espinoza of Earlimart, a fellow Silverlake band. I had a chance to chat with Matt Popieluch, the front-man and one of the creative forces behind Foreign Born, and was able to tell him how much I enjoyed that last show.

They played an efficient 45-50 minutes or so, playing pretty much the entire first album, minus the final two tracks (See Us Home, and Wait in This Chair). They also played Into Your Dream for their first album, and a song off of their EP, released prior to their first album. Highlights were 'It Grew On You', which they didn't play in LA. They also opened with a great version of Early Warnings, into which they built about a one minute intro. I'm not usually one for audience participation, but I couldn't keep from clapping along at the appropriate point. Vacationing People is always a treat, and Blood Oranges also sounded really good.

You can check the previous post for a couple more vids, but here are live versions of Blood Oranges and Vacationing People. Pics from the show below the vids. First three pics are Foreign Born, last two are Free Energy.

Coming Attractions - Foreign Born

Foreign Born is the next show on tap for 2010. They'll be playing the Empty Bottle for a mere $5, plus some small service charges. 'Person to Person' was one of my favorite albums of 2009, and their show at Spaceland in December was excellent. Really looking forward to this one.

The first song is "Into Your Dream" from the previous album 'On the Wing Now' (and apparently it was on the Chuck soundtrack. The next two are "Winter Games" and "Early Warnings" from 'Person to Person'. They played all three at Spaceland. Anybody who has been to Catalina Island should like the video for "Early Warnings". You can also check out a live version of my favorite FB song, "Vacationing People" here at Song of the Day.

St. Vincent @ the Metro - 2/18/10

I said I was going to do this more often, so here it is. First show of the year for 2010 was the lovely Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, at the Metro last week. Really an excellent show. She played almost all of her most recent album "Actor". I think she only left out "Neigbors". She also played many of the highlights from "Marry Me".

Best moments of the show for me were Marrow, which actually stuck pretty closely to the album version, and Save Me From What I Want. I'm pretty sure she played a solo version of Paris is Burning, but I'll admit that the whole night isn't crystal clear, and I may remember that from reading about her playing it at another show. It was almost a week ago, and I met someone out for a couple drinks before the show (also why we missed the opener), so things are a bit fuzzy. She finished the night off with a tremendous version of Your Lips Are Red, which descended into a cacophony of angular fuzz guitars, piano, and horns before flowing into the laid back major key ending. Kind of reminds me of a river flowing through a very rocky rapids before emptying into a wide, calm valley. Really a great way to end the show. Pictures and a vid below (vid not from the show, obviously).

Getting back into baseball

The Olympics are in full swing, and after last night's epic victory over Canada, I'm pretty pumped for the medal round, but Spring Training is underway, and it's time to start thinking about baseball. The other day a friend asked me the following question:

Are you seeing tough times for the Angels this year? Seems like everyone else is improving and you guys are getting worse. I think you're potentially in the best division in baseball. Even better than the AL East.

And here's my response:

Health is the one thing I can’t account for. But if they’re healthy, their starting pitching is better, their relief is better, their offense should be better or just as good at every position except third base, where it actually may end up being better if Wood can settle into an everyday role instead of being jerked around. So no, I don’t see tough times. Now they may not win it, because the division is better, but I still think they’ll be very good.

They have Kazmir for a full season, and he was nails down the stretch last year. Weaver had an excellent year. Saunders was great other than the month and a half he tried to pitch though injury. When he finally went on the DL and came back healthy, he was lights out. Ervin Santana got messed up, got sent down, got his head together, and had a 3.09 ERA in the last two months. And Piniero is their fifth, which isn’t too bad for a fifth starter. They get Shields back in the pen, and add Rodney, who isn’t great, but should help.

Morales and Aybar had breakthrough years. I figure much of the same for Hunter, Rivera, and Abreu. Kendrick went the Ervin Santana route, came back up and put up a 351/387/532 line over the last three months, and had a solid post-season.

Figgins is a loss, but they might make that up. Lackey had an OK year, but it was nothing special. 118 ERA+, which doesn’t factor in the 60 or so innings that were replaced by guys like Shane Loux when he spent the first month and a half on the DL. I love his BR sponsor, by the way.

So I think rumors of their demise are a little pre-mature. PECOTA now has them at 80 wins (after they fixed all the things they screwed up). Based on how accurate PECOTA usually ends up in projecting the Angels, I figure that makes them good for about 135 wins.

Obviously the last comment is in jest, but I really have a quiet confidence about the Angels this season. I think they'll surprise people, and there's no reason a successful season should come as a surprise. This is a good baseball team.

State of the Blog

Whoa. Little dusty in here. Just thought I'd post something about what's coming up in the newish year. I fully intend to resume some modicum of Angels blogging once the season starts, but geez, it's been kind of a boring off-season for the last couple months. I don't think I'll take on any big projects, but I'll still write as things hit me, and I may do some game recaps when I think I can say something insightful.

I'm probably going to keep up the music stuff, too. I'd like to post some stripped down comments about shows, if nothing else then to keep some sort of journal about shows I've seen. The numbers have gone way in the last year or two, and I'm starting to forget who I've seen, so this will serve as a nice contemporaneous reminder. Expect to see some pictures as well.

And in that vein, here's another edition of Coming Attractions:

St. Vincent @ Metro - 2/18/10 (I can't get over how beautiful Annie Clark's eyes are in the second video, or all of them for that matter.


St. Vincent - "Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood"

st. vincent | MySpace Music Videos

Halleluja!

There is a God!

Sometimes I hate to be proven right, but I think it's safe to say that Gary Matthews Jr. will go down as one of the worst free agent signings, not just in Angels history, but in baseball history. Funny thing is, it still didn't keep the Angels out of the playoffs in those three years. Oh well, thank God there's a team as dumb as the Mets.

Burned By the Hot Stove?

Let's take stock of what we've seen from the Angels so far this off-season, both positive and negative:

1. Matt Brown, Jose Arredondo, and Dustin Mosely were non-tendered.
2. Kelvim Escobar signed a minor league deal elsewhere.
   
3. Chone Figgins signed with the Mariners.
4. John Lackey signed with the Red Sox.
5. The Angels re-upped with Bobby Abreu for two more seasons.
6. The Angels signed Hideki Matsui for one year at a decent number.

The Non-Tenders

The only one that surprised me somewhat was Dustin Mosely, especially with the impending loss of Lackey at the time. He was capable, when healthy, of providing league average innings, and I figured that would make him at least a candidate in spring training for a fifth starter job, now that one appears available. But there may be more to his injury than we know, and with Matt Palmer, Trevor Bell, Sean O'Sullivan, and possibly Trevor Reckling in the mix, I'm assuming the Angels were comfortable with their options.

Matt Brown looked like a AAAA type that could take over the Robb Quinlan role, but those guys aren't particularly hard to come by. Not a back-breaking loss.

Jose Arredondo looked like he had figured things out in 2008 when he tossed 61 innings with an ERA of 1.62. Arm problems held him back in 2009, and he was set to undergo Tommy John surgery in the off-season. But his real problem was that he never got his head screwed on straight. Asked to go to Arizona to stay fresh in case he was needed as a post-season replacement, he defied the organization and went home to the Dominican, effectively punching his ticket out of Anaheim. All in all, these non-tenders, as well as the loss of Escobar, will have a negligible effect on the 2010 Angels.


Chone Figgins

I can't say I'm surprised by Figgins decision to sign elsewhere, and Seattle is a logical destination, what with the loss of Adrian Beltre. It will be difficult to see Figgins in another uniform, especially one within the division, but this was the right move by both teams. From Figgins' standpoint, he needed to take the best deal he could get, and while the Angels would have taken him back at their price, he did better than he would have done in Anaheim. When he was a pinch runner in 2002, I doubt too many of us thought that we'd get production from him that we saw over his Angels career. But he's not getting any younger, his stolen base success was down last year, and honestly, he's probably more valuable as a guy who plays every day, but plays three positions per week. The Mariners won't use him that way (the Angels wouldn't either). We'll have to wait and see if his 2009 was a case of a guy exploding in a contract year. I don't think it was, actually. I think he'll have a couple really good seasons in Seattle, then decline. I think it's a good deal for both player and team.

But the Angels have got to do something with Brandon Wood, and they appear ready to give him the shot that he's earned in AAA. Wood hasn't shown much at the major league level, but he's never been in a sink or swim situation. He was either up for the purpose of giving guys random days off, or because injuries necessitated it. His major league power numbers through his age aren't all that different from Kendry Morales, and if he continues to improve his discipline, even a little bit, he can be a productive power hitter who plays very good defense at third base. I think he got screwed by the organization in some ways last year, and it took him a while to get it rolling, but if he puts up another spring like he did in 2009, there will be no question that the job is his, and we'll finally see if he's been worth waiting for. It will be worth it for the closure alone.


John Lackey

Tony Granato played six seasons for the Los Angels Kings. He went to a Stanley Cup finals with the Kings. His gritty style and attitude made him a fan favorite of Kings fans for his entire tenure in L.A. Kings fans stuck by him when he took a two handed slash to the head of Neil Wilkinson. We stuck by him when he missed a lot of time due to a brain tumor. To this day, I remember being at a Kings game while he was recovering, and when they flashed his picture on the jumbotron, everyone in the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Then, in 1996, he turned down a comparable offer from the Kings to sign with the San Jose Sharks, arguably my most hated franchise at the time (still is, really, tied with the Ducks). To this day, I hate Tony Granato. That's how I feel about John Lackey.

My feelings regarding Lackey are almost completely opposite to those of Figgins. Granted, he took a lot more money than the Angels were probably willing to offer, and more money than he's worth, but I have nothing but antipathy for players who leave as free agents and sign with their longtime fanbase's most hated franchise (which I think the Red Sox are for Angels fans). I may be rationalizing, but over the last couple years, I don't think Lackey was an Angels warrior. I think he was a warrior who happened to pitch for the Angels, but I don't think he had much, if any, loyalty towards the franchise. He badmouthed his teammates at times, he had issues with his manager, and I think we all knew that when he blew up at Scioscia in the ALCS, he had thrown his last pitch as an Angel.

I will not root for John Lackey the way I rooted for Garret Anderson in Atlanta. I will not crack a tiny smile when I see that he's had a good performance, like I will for Chone Figgins. I will not celebrate a John Lackey day at Anaheim Stadium like I did for Chuck Finley. I won't wish him any physical harm (then again, I won't shed any tears if he shreds his elbow), but I will root for him to get lit up every single time he takes the mound, and I would love to see "Red Sox Nation" turn on him 10 starts into his Red Sox career. His is this decade's Jim Edmonds in terms of how much I'll root for him to fail (and hopefully he won't still succeed like Edmonds did).


Hideki Matsui and Bobby Abreu

The Abreu deal is a month old, and we already know what he bring to the table. I don't have much to disagree with there, and all I would say is that I hope he takes Erick Aybar under his wing and teaches him to be patient and the advantages that come from it. I think Aybar matured a lot this season, and I think with another year studying under Abreu, if he can learn to take a few more walks, he could replace Chone Figgins as a quality lead-off hitter.

I like the Matsui deal as well, though it likely means that Vladimir Guerrero is done as an Angel. It's only one year, and it's not for very much money. When it comes to free agent deals gone bad, it's almost never the dollars that kill a team, it's the years. Gary Matthews would have been palatable (though still overpaid) at $10MM per for two years. It's the third, fourth, and fifth years that made that deal awful. Even if Matsui blows up in the Angels' faces, it's just a minor blemish. He only missed 20 games last year, and had OPS+ of 131 with 28 homers. Those number are almost identical to Vlad's 2008. I'll gladly take that for $6.5MM for one year.


The Future

So where do the Angels go from here? They'll likely make some sort of play for another pitcher, or Jason Bay, or both. Hopefully the rumored deal of Juan Rivera for Derek Lowe is not close to reality, as it would be a horrible deal for the Angels. Lowe had a very subpar season last year, with his peripherals down across the board. You could expect a bounce back year from a 31 or 32 year old, but I wouldn't expect one from a 37 year old. Worse yet, he's got three years at $15MM per left on his deal. That's not the type of acquisition we've seen Tony Reagins go in for (see Abreu and Matsui). Reagins' only big splash has been for Torii Hunter, younger and more productive than Lowe. Honestly, I'm more confident handing the fifth starter job over to Matt Palmer than I am giving it to Derek Lowe.

So the starting staff, assuming no major injuries, looks to be Weaver, Saunders, Kazmir, Santana, and one of Palmer, O'Sullivan, Reckling, or Bell. I'd expect Saunders to put together a better overall season. Weaver may regress a bit, but not much. Kazmir will be an upgrade over what they got from the third spot last year, and Santana looks like he has regained his form. I honestly don't see a major drop off. If Shields can come back healthy, the bullpen won't be any worse (not a very high bar).

I see the offense as probably being down a bit. The projectors will say that Kendry Morales will regress, but I see him as just as likely to improve on last season, and if I were a betting man, I'd bet on similar production to what he did in 2009. I have pretty high hopes for Kendrick. I see Aybar dropping the average a bit, but hopefully picking up a few walks to balance out the OBP. Wood, obviously, is a question mark. Angel fans have reason to be optimistic after seeing what Morales could do with a full season of at bats, but I wouldn't pencil the kid in for a .300 average and 30 homers. I'll be happy if he just holds down the starting job for the whole year. In the outfield, I think we can expect similar production to what we saw last year, with maybe more from Matsui at the DH than we got out of Vlad.

If the Angels make no more moves right now, I think they'll be picked second by most of the media, with the Mariners looking like the trendy pick. And as always, it's baseball, so anything can happen. Guys blow up, guys fall off cliffs, and guys get hurt. So I think it's safe to say that the division is wide open, but I still expect (however irrationally) the Angels to win it.

It's a long way to April, though, and what happens between now and then could make this entire analysis moot.

Morning Mix 12/3/09

Pre Holiday-Party:

• Cheerleader - Grizzly Bear
• Spit it Out - Brendan Benson
• Les Yper-Sound - Stereolab
• One to Another - Charlatans UK
• Splash #One (Now I'm Home) - Mighty Lemon Drops
• Hypnotized - Spacemen 3
• Bright Yellow Gun - Throwing Muses
• Soma - the Strokes

Here's the first single from the first CD I ever bought.

Morning Mix 12/2/2009

Sausage Fest today:

• Billy Liar - the Decemberists
• Come Together - Spiritualized
• Jackass - Beck
• Morning Bell (version from Kid A) - Radiohead
• Planet of Sound - the Pixies
• Something So Strong - Crowded House
• Slash N' Burn - Manic Street Preachers
• Juicebox - the Strokes
• Begin the Begin - R.E.M.

The Pixies/Crowded House back to back was an interesting change of pace. I think the Spiritualized song is the best song on this list, but Slash N' Burn is what got me interested in Manic Street. See the video below.

Morning Mix 12/1/09

First one of December.

• Quick Canal (w/ Leatitia Sadier of Stereolab) - Atlas Sound
• All of the Things That Go To Make Heaven and Earth - New Pornographers
• The One Who Got Us Out - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
• Futures and Folly - Blitzen Trapper
• Cracking Up - the Jesus and Mary Chain
• High and Dry - Radiohead
• Let the Serpent Sleep - Elf Power
• Run - Spiritualized
• In the Flowers - Animal Collective

The last song serves as a good reminder that year end lists are coming up. Animal Collective will likely be featured prominently. Here's Run, from Spiritualized. Originally released as the first song of the second movement of Laser Guided Melodies, it has also been released as a single in its own right.

Morning Mix 11/30/09

Post-Thanksgiving and ready for three weeks of work before I go home for Christmas:

• Fall On Me - R.E.M.
• Lovecats - the Cure
• On and On - the Longpigs
• Four Sticks - Led Zeppelin
• Sons of Cain - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
• So Much - the Sundays
• The Piccolo Snare - Super Furry Animals
• Big Red - Frank Black
• You're Not Very Well - Charlatans U.K.
• Squint - Grant Lee Phillips

Maybe the largest concentration of "acts I've seen live" today. All but Zeppelin, if you give me credit for Frank Black, who I've seen with the Pixies. And not one song released this year. Which reminds me, year end lists start soon. Here are the Longpigs and Frank Black.

Cheatey Petey Shows His True Colors

Is there a bigger cocksucker in sports than Pete Carroll? Fresh off bitching about Stanford trying to hang 50 on him, he runs up the score with a meaningless touchdown in the final minute against UCLA.

If I were Rick Neuheisel, I would have called an out pattern on that last drive, and instructed my receiver to forget the ball and bury a U$C coach, preferable the cocksucker Carroll himself.

Morning Mix - 11/23/09

Ran into some disaster this morning, but here's what came up first:

• Motor Away - Guided By Voices
• Only Shallow - My Bloody Valentine
• Nice Dream - Radiohead
• Mason City - Fiery Furnaces
• Sonny - Paloalto

Then I ran out of juice. Apparently it had been a while since I powered up the old iPod, and now, roughly 700 songs into a 1,400 song playlist (give or take), I have to start all over. Ugh.

Today you get two videos. First the is the short and sweet GBV video for both Auditorium and Motor Away. Next up is the long, meandering, sort of all over the place Mason City, by the Fiery Furnaces, which features one of my all-time favorite guitar solos right around the two minute mark.

Morning Mix 11/20/09

After three straight days of driving 50 miles in traffic back and forth to the suburbs for training (teaching this week after attending last week), I was finally back on the train this morning. You SoCalers who drive every day don't realize how nice it is to live close to reliable and clean public transportation.

• In the Flowers - Animal Collective
• The King of Carrot Flowers - Neutral Milk Hotel
• Blue Spark - X
• Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before - the Smiths
• Not Even Jail - Interpol
• Pandora's Box - Throwing Muses
• Seems So - the Apples in Stereo
• Can You Feel It - the Apples in Stereo

I think that's the first time since I've started this that I've had two songs from the same band back to back. First time Animal Collective has popped up as well, the first track from what will probably be my album of the year, in a close race with Dirty Projectors.

Morning Mix 11/16/09

Back from training and back on the train. Here's today's lineup:

• Human Being - the Beta Band
• Ballad of the Lonely Argonaut - Beulah
• Bye Bye Badman - the Stone Roses
• Ex-Girl Collection - the Wrens
• Things Are Getting Better - the High Dials
  
• Lay - the Peels
• Tin Pan Alley - the Apples in Stereo
• 9-9 - R.E.M.
• Alone Again Or - Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs
  

A bunch of tracks that are arguably the best on their respective albums. Still not sure how the Peels never made it, with Robyn Miller's voice and good looks. I've seen six of these acts in concert, and I skipped the one chance I had to see Matthew Sweet.

Here's the High Dials. This is the only good version of this song that I can find on Youtube, but it really doesn't do justice to the live version, which is an incredible 10 minute jam.

Morning Mix 11/9/09

Happy Berlin Wall day. My brother was actually there in Berlin when it all happened, just by chance. He was studying in Heidelberg and had made a weekend trip to Berlin and ended up in the middle of everything. I still have a piece of the wall in my apartment.

On a programming side, this bit will go on hiatus for about a week since I have to go to a worthless training that I'm pretty pissed off about.

• I'll See You in the Evening - Mazarin
• Bellyache - Echobelly
• Just Like Heaven - the Cure
• Everyone Chooses Sides - the Wrens
  
• The Everlasting Scream - Elf Power
• T.V. Mystic - the High Dials
• The Connection - Travis
• The Caterpillar - the Cure
• The Fishhook Girl - Echo and the Bunnymen
  

The last one is a B-Side. I probably only have about five or six Cure songs on this playlist, so it's a bit surprising to see two come up in one morning. Of the eight bands, I've seen all but Echobelly and Elf Power in concert.

Morning Mix 11/6/09

Let's get to it:

• Break Me Gently - Doves
• The Tourist - Radiohead
• Misty Mountain Hop - Led Zeppelin
• Show Me Mary - Catherine Wheel
• Bad - U2
• Seen the Light - Supergrass
• Ontario - the Posies
• Modern Love (David Bowie Cover) - the Last Town Chorus

Lots of British stuff today until the Posies came in and broke the streak. Every time I hear Show Me Mary, I can never tell at the beginning whether it's that song or Wembley, by the Candy Skins. I'd post the vids, but Universal doesn't want me embedding videos, so here's the lovely Megan Hickey instead.

Morning Mix 11/5/09

Today's random commuter music:

• What the World is Waiting For - the Stone Roses
• Testimony - Grant Lee Buffalo
• Waking Up Tired - the Hoodoo Gurus
• In Between Days - the Cure
• Going Down - the Stone Roses
• Generals and Majors - XTC
• Jean - Billy Bragg (cover of the Smiths B-Side)
• Fight - Art Brut
• the Commuter - Simple Kid
• Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend
• St. Expedite - Grant Lee Phillips

This was like two sides of a mix tape, with the classic stuff on the first side and the contemporary stuff on side 2. Five of the first seven songs were released in the '80s, and the other two were mid-'90s. Also notable, three of these were released as b-sides (the other two from the Stone Roses). Finally, Art Brut followed Billy Bragg, and the song 'Fight' repeats the variations on the lyric "Some things are really best left unspoken but I prefer it all to be out in the open", which is lifted directly from Billy Bragg's hit 'Sexuality'. Funny coincidence.

I'm going to throw a change up today and post the Smiths' version of Jean.

Morning Mix 11/4/09

Here's today's commuting music:

• Tornado Alley - Viva Voce
• Streethawk I - Destroyer
• M79 - Vampire Weekend
• Big Sur - The Thrills
  
• M62 Song - Doves
• Low - Cracker
• Empty - Metric
• Ain't That Enough - Teenage Fanclub
• The State I Am In - Belle and Sebastian

Two things stand out today. After yesterday's sausage fest, we had some ladies today, with Anita Robinson taking vocals on Tornado Alley, and Emily Haines on Empty. Also, pretty poppy, with the exception of maybe Cracker. Also a bit odd to have both M79 and M62 Song in the same morning.