September 2011
1 post
A word from the publisher
As part of the Great Thunderegg Web Presence Consolidation of 2011, all the content here at Four-Track Kings has been moved to the blog at the official Thunderegg Web site: www.thunderegg.org. Visit there often for all the latest on Thunderegg (for there is much), as well as the same hard-hitting reportage on baseball, baseball cards, and baseball mustaches that you’ve come to expect here....
June 2011
4 posts
Mike Stanton hits a BOMB →
Giancarlo Cruz-Michael “Mike” Stanton just played his 162nd career game, exactly a season’s worth (between his rookie year and this year). Totals: .258 38 100, good enough, in the pre-roids era, to tie with Frank Robinson and Wally Berger for most rookie homers ever. Ever! This kid is sweet at baseball.
Baseball the day I was born
Orioles 14, White Sox 4. W: Doyle Alexander (5-1), L: Eddie Fisher (5-4), S: Grant Jackson (2)
Red Sox 5, Royals 4 (10 innings). W: Bill Lee (6-3), L: Doug Bird (1-1)
Angels 7, Tigers 4. W: Bill Singer (10-2), L: Joe Coleman (10-4), S: Dave Sells (4)
Twins 7, Indians 3 (game one; 15 innings). W: Ray Corbin (2-1), L: Jerry Johnson (2-3)
Twins 13, Indians 9 (game two). W: Joe Decker (1-0), L:...
April 2011
2 posts
March 2011
7 posts
Minutemen, “History Lesson Part II,”...
Thunderegg History Lesson, Part Two: Tonight!
Last March, I launched the Thunderegg History Lesson concert series at Freddy’s Backroom in Brooklyn. About three weeks later, they tore the place down. But tonight, in honor of my imminent departure for the West Coast (I leave Friday), the series returns at the fancy new Freddy’s in the fabulous South Slope.
Thunderegg History Lesson Part Two: Farewell to Thunderegg Tonight:...
Urban decay as documented by Google Street View,...
Lucy Avenue between Latham and Sardis streets, Memphis.
So THAT'S how you do it
Foxx, whose last CD, Intuition, featured the Grammy-winning single “Blame It,” says teaming up with top rappers and R&B artists is the secret to making hit records.
—from “Jamie Foxx: His Secret to Making Hit Records,” Jet, January 24-31, 2011
February 2011
12 posts
Booker T. & the M.G.’s, “Never My...
Kui Lee, “I’ll Remember You,”...
Richard Ashcroft, “Paradise,” from...
The Perfectionists: A Play in One Act
I “wrote” this on the subway sometime in the winter of 1996-1997, then decided three years later to include it in my MFA thesis as one of 35 short stories/miniatures. Although the thesis was generally well received, this one part was specifically called out by the committee as drivel. Obviously they had no idea how hard it actually is to get to bizz-buzz.
Setting: A rectangular...
Badfinger, “Know One Knows,” from Wish...
January 2011
16 posts
Brian Jonestown Massacre, “She Made...
Urban decay as documented by Google Street View,...
East 83rd Street between Higbee Avenue and Kinsman Road, Cleveland.
I forgot. Thunderegg had a MySpace blog. →
In which Thunderegg scuffles along from August 2006 to September 2008: Witness various aborted forays into marketing, damning Jonathan Coulton with faint praise, pissing and moaning about the now-defunct digital distributor Snocap, and pondering at great length whether Thunderegg qualifies as emo (conclusion: “90 percent too old, too fat; 10 percent quiveringly sensitive”).
Or just take my word...
Urban decay as documented by Google Street View,...
Desire Street between Law Street and Florida Avenue, New Orleans.
Once in a while I still watch this. It makes me... →
July 22, 2009: On Manny Ramirez Bobblehead Night, Manny hits a pinch-hit grand slam on the first pitch he sees to give the Dodgers a 6-2 lead.
“I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit,” said Ramirez, who arrived at his locker and peeled off his Dodgers shirt and white pants to reveal street clothes.
Urban decay as documented by Google Street View,...
W Fayette Street between N Mount and N Gilmor streets, Baltimore. The small street in the middle of the block is N Vincent.
The First Line of Every College Paper Still on My...
…consolidated into a single, extremely long paragraph.
The bravery of Akhilleus, the cunning of Akhilleus, the untapped strength of Akhilleus: throughout the Iliad , these traits of Peleus’ son are spoken of reverently, and often nostalgically, by the Akhaian troops. The Greek city-state was a bastion of democracy, where the participation and equality of all citizens was the primary goal of...
Inferno: The Lost Canto
I actually submitted this as a paper for English 129 during my freshman year of college. It’s about a previously unknown circle of hell in which fratboy lacrosse players are forced to wear black turtlenecks and berets and listen to feminist theory and Beat poetry. The whole thing is in Iambic pentameter. I think I got a B.
March 2, 1992 English 129
Dante’s Lost Canto
From a...
Thunderegg, “Till It Shines.” This...
Baseball Players Playing Music, pt. 1: Tommy...
A couple years ago, I separated out a pile of ’70s Topps cards on which guys were called out as music lovers: generally little cartoons of a baseball player wearing headphones, with a bubbly caption to the effect of “Bob enjoys listening to records.” Then, with some help from Jack Smalling’s essential book of ballplayer addresses, I wrote to these players, and included a...
Urban decay as documented by Google Street View,...
N Marston Street between W Jefferson and W Master streets, Philadelphia.
The Sensational Nightingales, “It’s...
Merry Clayton, “Glad Tidings,” from...
November 2010
9 posts
Bill Evans interview on NPR, 1979
Some real nice holiday listening. Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks to the amazing Doom & Gloom from the Tomb for the heads-up.
Bobby Hutcherson with Harold Land, “Prints...
Thunderegg, “Thunderegg Feels Rich”...
Neil Young, “Revolution Blues,” from...
KWFM reunion
Some love for my late great uncle Bob Cooke (middle), DJ for KWFM in Tucson in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Think Johnny Fever, except with a tragic, senseless ending.