Do As I Say Anything, Not As I Do Nothing

Recently, Max Bemis, leader of hipster group Say Anything, announced to his fans that he would write songs. Not settled for this great achievement, Bemis promised he would let fans have input on the songs he wrote for a low, low price of $150 a pop. When this scheme opportunity was announced on Punknews, the usual comments followed: some humorous, some supportive, some ad hominem, and some legitimate criticism.
Rather than allow the rather innocuous new item and the comments pass, as most artists do, Mr. Bemis chose to issue a "clarifying" statement to punk site Absolutepunk.net. In this statement, Bemis stated that the Punknews commenters were "strange, slow, old people" and that they should "keep listening exclusively to hot water music and shut up." See what he did there? He took the if-you're-not-my-friend-you're-my-enemy approach. That always works. But whatever your thoughts on this songwriter-for-hire program that he has set up, keep the following information in mind.
Say Anything's debut album is titled Baseball (now it comes full circle). It was released in 2001 and there may be as few as 200 copies of this album ever printed. Even the most committed Say Anything fans may have never heard the band play a song off this album live. Why not? Bemis refuses to play those songs and even refuses to reprint the album. So Bemis has an album full of original songs that he could play and his most loyal fans would love; however, he chooses to have his fans contribute inspiration for a price. With all this revealed about the frontman, I'm not sure how anyone can support a person who won't play Baseball.

Image via Colin Smith at distorted perspective. Check out his stuff. It's great

Bemis let's us know where the hurt is and Dr. Ragan provides the remedy.

At-Bat Songs and the Totalimmortal Curse

My most loyal commenter, Alex Canteen, mentioned that new New York Met Daniel Murphy uses AFI's "TotalImmortal" as his at-bat song. Using an AFI song is infinitely cooler than how some Met fans pay tribute to the kid. I haven't seen a Mets game since the rookie was called up, so I haven't had a chance to hear it myself. While the song is indeed an AFI creation, found on their All Hallows EP, the more popular version is the Offspring cover, found on the Me, Myself & Irene soundtrack and Alternative radio stations 8 years ago. The song is good, but serves as a mark of where both bands start embarrassing themselves.

Before:


AFI via 1992 or so. Nice clean kids.

After:

Seriously, what the hell happened? Don't be surprised if Daniel Murphy starts looking like this in the next couple weeks. Damn you, "Totalimmortal!"

Moving on, MLB has been chronicling at bat songs of some players around the league in the MLB Entertainment blog. Silly me, I thought baseball itself was entertaining but MLB thinks they need to appeal to every last soul on the planet. (Coming soon: MLB feminine hygiene products. Get a tampon emblazoned with you favorite (or least favorite) baseball team. Giambi-approved!) So far, the team with the "best" overall music taste is the Cleveland Indians but really no one wins here. They only feature a couple players from each team and even fewer songs. ("What this team needs is WAY MORE METALLICA!") I was hoping they'd have C.J. Wilson's musical picks but, alas, no such luck. His taste doesn't even rub off on his teammates, but I have a feeling his cohorts don't want to hear him. What with C.J. saying his teammates are ignorant and selfish and Manager Ron Washington demanding R-E-S-P-E-C-T:



We still love you C.J. even if you won't be a Ranger next year. Especially if you won't be a Ranger next year.

Here's the two versions of Totalimmortal. PunkOnDeck takes no responsibility in the listener of these songs wanting to crank up Conspiracy of One. (You forgot that album, didn't you? We all did.)

Stuck Between Station to Station

While the infallible Wikipedia says The Hold Steady are "Brooklyn-based," it's no secret that the band exudes Minneapolis pride. That is no more evident than in their professed love for the Twins. While I am not as versed in The Hold Steady as I perhaps should be, they supposedly reference the Twinkies in a number of their songs. At live shows, they give history lessons on the team and they were recently asked to record a rendition of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" (see below), which is played at the Metrodome.

First, check out this interview with singer Craig Finn by Ezra Ace Caraeff of the Portland Mercury from May 2007. Excerpt:

I went down to Fort Meyers, Florida, for two games, and had a lot of fun. I was talking to this guy Jim Walsh, who is doing the Replacements oral history and he told me Paul would be down there. I kind of had my eye out looking for him, and sure enough, he was there with his son. I've never met him before, so it didn't seem like the right time to go bother him. It's funny because even before we did "Take Me out to the Ball Game" for the Twins, I was at the Metrodome last year and noticed how great the music was during the games. They played a lot of the Replacements.

Next, if you have patience with buffering, check out this video with Finn and guitarist Tad Kubler talking about the Twins and baseball in general.




And finally some tunes, of course:

Photo courtesy of Blue Collar Distro.

Speak Up

A blog that has significantly more traffic than mine recently did an interview with Scott Radinsky (Ten Foot Pole, Pulley). Radinsky talks to Huggin Harold Reynolds about music, coaching, and his skate park venture. Here's a little to wet your whistle:

How do you juggle running the park, singing in the band and coaching?

I am surrounded by some pretty good people. I could not run a business if there wasn’t someone I could trust. So I am lucky to have that. The band has been going now for over 20 years in this same format, so I think it’s safe to say it runs itself. We have all learned how to make it work this way and get the most out of it. Coaching, well for me its the same as when I was playing as far as the time it takes away during a year. So it has been easy for all of us.

Meanwhile, this interview/confrontation recently came to my attention. I already thought Billy Beane was the most interesting GM in baseball. Do yourself a favor and read Moneyball if you haven't already. It will most likely change how you see the game and you will realize why so many people hate Joe Morgan .
Anyway, Billy Beane is an unabashed rock fan so this interview with Johnny Ramone is a gushing fanboy mess. I think the interview took place in 2002, which would be about 2 years before Johnny's death. It was presented by something called Chin Music magazine. It looks like this 'zine had a similar mission to Punk on Deck. So if you have some time to kill while refreshing the Punknews boards, check out the Chin Music archives. A wee bit of ultra-interview:

BB: Well, when I gave Hatteberg "The Filth & the Fury," I explained to him the differences between the New York scene and the English scene. He actually went home and watched it and he was just blown away. He couldn't believe how great it was!
JR: Oh, he was liking it then?
BB: Oh, he loved it!

So if you see Billy Beane out and about in Oakland, challenge him to some Guitar Hero or something.

Pick a Side

Quick post. You have to pick one: Phillies or Mets. I like this rivalry. It's nowhere near Yanks/Red Sox or Cards/Cubs, but it's better than Giants/Dodgers. I'll help you with your decision. Here is a 2007 picture of the Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino.



Granted it's a Chuck Liddell style mohawk but kind of cool. Here's the Mets' leadoff man Jose Reyes:


Defend this, Mets fans. I'm sorry to kick you while you're down, but c'mon.

Photos courtesy of Bugs & Cranks and Newsday (via: Sportingnews)

Steal Your Words -- Ryan Paul Interview

Shortly after posting the "Pro Ball Punk" feature on Giants prospect Ryan Paul, I got an e-mail from the man himself. This being such a small blog, I was surprised that he even found it but it was an honor to say the least. He even offered to field some questions so I sent a few basics to him. Enjoy.

When you were growing up, who was your favorite ballplayer?
I always liked the Seattle superstars, Ken Jr and the Big Unit. (I had a coach who called me the medium unit, brutal nickname, haha) But the first player I really got excited about watching was Scott Radinsky. Go figure! The best part was, during the time he was with the Dodger, I had no idea about the other side of him. Didn't know he was a local guy, I was singing Pulley tracks not knowing he was on vocals, and had no idea about the skateboard side either. Later on, when I discovered all of this, he pretty much became my idol. One of the biggest compliments I ever received was this high school coach, my pony ball coach at the time, telling me I reminded him of Scott Radinsky.

What was the best concert you've ever attended?
Well Strung Out always puts on a great show, the small local places are the best, it's always the same people in the crowd. That said, my favorite was None More Black. It just so happens, that it ties into baseball. In 2006 I was playing at CSUF at the time, and we had a series against Long Beach state. Originally the show was scheduled or mislabeled to be on a Sunday night. We play day games on Sunday, so I would have plenty of time to make it. Turns out the show was on Saturday night. I was crushed! NMB was playing on the west coast, 15 minutes from my apartment and I cant see them. Anyways, Saturday night comes and we are warming up for the game. About 30 minutes prior to the start a transformer blows up on one of the light poles. The game is delayed for sometime, and finally cancelled. I get all excited about making it to the show. Of course we hit traffic on the way back to Fullerton, and I'm thinking all is lost. To sum it up, I managed to change, pick up my bro, and drive to Chain Reaction (the club) in record time. We rolled in and NMB was just stepping up to the stage. I think we all know what happened after that. The whole day of events seemed like they were out of a movie. That was a very special show for me.

Do you have any music recommendations for my dozens of readers?
Obviously I recommend anything by Strung Out, Kid Dynamite and NMB, but that's boring, everyone knows those bands. I'll try to throw out a few people may have never heard of.

Shook Ones - Sixteen I'm pretty sure these guys are out of Washington. I was online somewhere searching for a Kid Dynamite replacement and found Shook Ones. Pretty fast, sloppy at times, and rough vocals. Perfect! The album is something like 16 songs and only 20 minutes long with "Crunch time in tooth town" being my favorite track.

Battleflask - Pledge Your Allegiance. Saw these guys open up for Strung Out in the San Fernando Valley. I have never seen this kind of energy from a lead singer. During the song "World Class Hero" Phillipe screams out "ARE YOU READY!? ARE YOU READY!?" While pointing at people in the crowd and staring them down. He pointed at me and I almost crapped myself. I was thinking "Dude, I dunno what he is talking about, but I'm sure as hell going to get ready for it." Anyways, "Pledge Your Allegiance" is only a couple song EP, but it's worth checking out. Go see them live!
Drunk in Public - Tapped Out This band is from Lompoc, Ca. That's all I got on these guys, they probably are not even around anymore. A friend dropped off the album a long time ago. It's punk with just a hint of twang mixed around. Dude, the album cover has astronauts hooked up to kegs, floating in space. What else do you need to know?

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If you haven't clicked on those band links, do so. Ryan has some great taste in music. Remember, Ryan pitches for the Augusta Green Jackets in the Class A South Atlantic League. If you are near Augusta or a team that plays in the league, be sure to go to a game to see him pitch. He's a reliever (mostly), so you never know when he'll get the call. But when he warms up in Augusta, his walk out song is "Drop the Pop" by None More Black.

I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on his progress over the season and beyond. Good luck, Ryan and thanks for the interview.

Photos courtesy of SJGiantsFan.org and Doug Pensinger/Getty Images.

Pro Ball Punk -- Ryan Paul

Our first minor league pro ball punk is found all the way in the single A South Atlantic League. Ryan Paul is a relief pitcher for the Augusta Green Jackets, an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, located in Augusta, Ga. The south paw was the Giants 10th pick in the 2006 draft. He spent some time in high A ball with the San Jose Giants this year but was demoted to make room for another pitcher.
He pitched collegiately for the Cal State Fullerton Titans. His college bio is the only clue I have that he is into punk. Under favorite musical artists he lists Kid Dynamite, None More Black, and Strung Out. The dude is "Orgcore." I wonder if he knows about the band that never was, LaGrecia. Their new and only album On Parallels is awesome, by the way.

So if anybody lives near Augusta and goes to a Green Jackets game, let me know what song they play when he enters a game. If you are feeling industrious, try to interview the guy.