Rush - La Villa Strangiato - LIVE

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Still getting it done after all these years. I love you, Rush!

RUSH's 2013 Hall of Fame Acceptance Speech

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It's about time. These guys are the greatest of all-time. No doubt about it. They've had more influence on me, and most of my favorite music than anyone else I know of.. blah blah blah... blah blah blah blah, and yes Alex is one of the most underrated guitarists of his time. We all know Neil is the master. No one else has won as many awards as this man. No one will ever be better than Neil Peart. And we all know Geddy Lee is universally revered for his technologically-advanced multi-tasking, and superb bass-playing.. Kudos to Alex Lifeson for this bit! These guys... They are.. well,

Simply the greatest band of all-time!

For Dale Murphy, From Your Son

Artist: Tyson Murphy / Image Source

The image above is a cartoon drawn by one Tyson Murphy for his father Dale Murphy. Dale was one of my all-time favorite players growing up as a baseball-loving kiddo. This is a great story I was turned onto at Deadspin. The article is written by Deadspin's Barry Petchesky:

It's Dale Murphy's 15th and final year on the Hall of Fame ballot, and while his chances of getting in are slim, his children are doing their part to honor him the way they remember him. Tyson Murphy isn't a sports fan—he's an artist at Blizzard Entertainment, the video game developer responsible for the World of Warcraft games. But he drew his dad this doodle for Christmas, as a tribute to the man whose non-baseball exploits meant more to him.. (cont'd)

Continue to the rest of the article..

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That Would Be A Record

On Aug. 4, 1982, Mets center fielder Joel Youngblood had driven in two runs against Cubs pitcher Ferguson Jenkins in an afternoon game at Wrigley Field when he was traded in mid-game to the Montreal Expos.

He left the game and flew to Philadelphia in time to take up a position in right field at Veterans Stadium at the bottom of the sixth in an evening game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

In the top of the seventh he singled

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against Steve Carlton. That makes Youngblood the only player in history to get a base hit for two different teams in two different cities on the same day — and he did it against two future Hall of Famers.

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Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame: The Top-10 Snubs

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A band is eligible for induction into Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25 years after they release their first record. This year's finalists were announced Sept. 24 — giving new hope to fans of two long-suffering bands — but the gala will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of fans of many bands whose idols haven't yet made the cut. Here are 10 of the Hall's most notable snubs.

KISS
Could this be the year? When the list of 2010 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced Sept. 24, KISS made the list, despite the fact that they might have been a greater gimmick than a band. Despite the recent surge of nostalgia for the rockers and talk of (God forbid) a new album, the Hall of Fame has never seemed inclined to let Gene Simmons and his posse of masked hell-raisers gatecrash. Maybe 1978's four simultaneously released (and equally awful) solo albums doomed KISS chances, but no matter. Hell hath no fury like an aging KISS fan scorned, and the Hall learned that in 2006 when nearly 200 of them protested the band's snub, many dressed in full KISS regalia.

Their enshrinement in 2010 is no sure thing: only five of the 12 bands nominated will make it into the Hall, based on the decision of 500 voters. Protesters shouldn't stow away those masks just yet.


Def Leppard
If lyric writing and making sense were not part of the job description for a great band, you could argue that Def Leppard is the greatest band of all time. "Pour Some Sugar on Me," "Animal," "Armageddon It" — these monster hits off the band's 12-million selling Hysteria album (1987) aren't just favorites of the exotic dance industry, they're unbeatable for singing along with at the top of your lungs. They are also so devoid of meaning that it's possible they were written with an R-rated version of Refrigerator Magnet Poetry. Oh, and if that's not enough for you, remember that Def Leppard has the world's greatest one-armed drummer.


Boston
Bands named after cities just can't get any love. Boston was never a critical darling, but their songs were woven into the fabric of the '70s. Lead singer Brad Delp had a soaring range, which he put to heavy use during days spent slaving in the studio overdubbing and harmonizing with himself. Boston's first album, 1976's self-titled release, went platinum 17 times, but Boston could not parlay that success into long-term relevance.


Rush
Rolling Stone has called Rush fans the "Trekkies" of rock — they defend their Canadian rock heroes vehemently. The band certainly has carved out a place in rock history. With 24 consecutive gold or platinum albums, they trail only The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Aerosmith. But commercial success belies a career that took the occasional wrong turn. Critics cite the band's over-fascination with synthesizers in the 1980s, but fans say the period is simply proof that Rush doesn't care about convention. That independent streak might keep Rush from the Hall, but it doesn't seem to bother them in the slightest — guitarist Alex Lifeson called the Hall selection process a "joke."

Continue on to the rest of the article, and the other 6 snubs..

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Legendary

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Wow, what an amazingly touching acceptance speech by Emmitt Smith. One of my all-time favorites was just given the greatest honor any player can receive - And no player deserves such an honor more than Emmitt Smith.

Here is the speech: Part 1 -- Part 2 -- Part 3

11 Ways I'd Fix (And Save) The Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame

...a SUPER review by the guys over at 11points dot com.

I first went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum when I was in high school. They were throwing some banquet there for nerds from different area schools and I snagged the invite to this one.

That was 1996, one year after the Hall opened. I distinctly remember my thoughts back then: "Meh. It's like a really big Hard Rock Cafe."

This week, while visiting my parents back here in Cleveland, I returned to the Hall for the first time in 14 years. My thoughts now: "They've had a decade and a half to improve this place and it's still like a really big Hard Rock Cafe. Only less crowded."

I don't think this list topic is particularly commercial... nor do I think this list will even crack my top 200 most viewed. But it's something I need to write for three reasons. One: On the outside chance that someone from the Hall reads this, takes it to heart, and saves the place and helps the city. Two: I need a cathartic outlet after going to that place with optimism in my heart. And three: They charge a jaw-dropping $22 for admission. I need to make a list about it so I can write that insanity off.

Here are 11 steps that need to be taken to fix (and, quite possibly, save) Cleveland's beloved Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Because, quite frankly, it sucks worse than the Shitty Beatles. (Which isn't just a clever name.)

1. Allow people to take photos.
Normally, when I write a travel list -- like my 11 Points on the Jack Daniels distillery or Fenway or Wrigley -- every point is accompanied by a photo I took. That is not the case here. The Hall does not allow photos.

And they MEAN it. You have to check your camera at their coat check. There are signs every few feet reminding you. And I even passed a SNIPER as we went on the top floor... literally, an employee who stands there, from on high, radioing down to the guards below when he spots someone taking a photo.

They say this is because many of the artists (or their estates) agreed to donate their stuff under the condition that it not be photographed. That may be sporadically true, but seems suspect to me. My most cynical side says they don't want a ton of photos out there because, once people actually see the crapiness within for free, it will discourage anyone from actually coming to the Hall.

Fortunately, with the rest of my plan items below, the Hall would become so much more of a multimedia experience that a photo of John Lennon' Sgt. Pepper's jacket could hit the Internet and not push the Hall into the red for a quarter.

Let people take photos of their trip to the museum. They're paying $22 and seeing stuff they want to remember. And if the photos are of cool enough stuff, it might even... wait for it... make people want to actually travel to Cleveland to see the Hall.

2. Don't cluster everything on the ground floor.
So you enter the museum, head to the ground floor, and go into the main display area. You walk around for at least an hour, seeing memorabilia and such, and say to yourself, "Wow! This was just one floor! I can't wait to see the rest of the museum." Then you leave the ground floor and find... virtually nothing. A few random cases of more of the same memorabilia, a few exhibits that may or may not interest you... and that's about it.

For some reason, the Hall decided to put 99 percent of the museum in one huge room on the ground floor. It was like that in 1996, and it's like that today.

It's kind of like someone who decided to watch "The O.C." on DVD. You get about halfway through the first season and you think, "This show is amazing! There's a fight at a rich people's party every episode. Not to mention so many sexy results." Then, eventually, you find yourself halfway through the third season realizing the show used up everything it had in the first season and is now just presenting a meager shell of itself. That's a completely terrible metaphor for the basement of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Having everything on one floor creates all sorts of problems. One: Congestion. Everyone's in the main room. Two: It renders the rest of the museum useless. And three: It makes this giant building feel like an enormous waste of space.

So, here's what I propose: Split it up and use the full museum. Divide the main room into smaller rooms and take us on a tour through the history of rock and roll through those rooms.

You know how an art museum has an ancient Egyptian room, a Renaissance room, an Impressionism room and on and on until finally you're in a modern art room where the pièce de résistance is like a giant jar of fish heads with a Ziggy cartoon taped to it? Do that. Give us a Motown room, a '60s San Francisco room, a grunge room, a Beatles room, an Elvis room. Start with the roots of rock in the basement, then take us all the way up through today by the fifth floor. And when we get there, have it lead right into the Hall of Fame itself.

3. Break the displays up by performer.
Right now the displays are by era -- everyone from one era stuffed into one or two cases. It's OK, but it leaves them so incredibly jammed that you can't possibly examine everything. It really doesn't have the (I think) intended effect of making you see how these acts all contributed to these major musical epochs -- it just looks like a glass-encased thrift store.

Continue to the rest of this gem..

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Jordan’s Night To Remember Turns Petty

~ Related ~

But Thank You David!