The tradition of avoiding pitchers during their throwing of
a no-hitter started in the 1890s when a pitcher named Rube Bellweather of the
Atlanta Confederates refused to shower while he was doing well. During a
lengthy streak of success, Bellweather’s odor began to wear on his team. No one
said anything, however, as he continued to pitch well and the team continued to
win.
During one game, the odoriferous Bellweather was
particularly effective, holding the opposing team without a hit through seven
innings. As it was a typical Atlanta day, with the temperature well over 90
degrees and a stifling humidity caressing the air, Bellweather’s body odor was
too much to bear for his teammates. When in the dugout they purposefully
avoided him, staying to one side or even leaping the barriers and sitting with
the fans to watch their teammates at bat.
Unfortunately for Bellweather’s teammates, they had trouble
of their own at the plate as the opposing pitcher also held them hitless
through eight innings. After a scoreless and hitless ninth, tenth, and then
eleventh innings, and a growing gross aroma permeating from Bellweather, his
team decided to take matters into their own hands. In the bottom of the twelfth
inning, Bellweather’s teammates pulled a defensive mutiny on the pitcher,
dropping fly balls, kicking ground balls, and throwing the ball all over the
field until three runs scored.
But the bottom of the twelfth brought positive tidings for
the hometown nine. After quickly getting two outs, the opposing hurler hit the
next two Atlanta hitters and issued a walk to load the bases. Bellweather
himself strode to the plate with an odor so raunchy neither the umpire nor the opposing
catcher could look in the direction of either the pitcher on the mound or the
pitcher at the plate. Fortunately, they needn’t hold their breath nor watch the
action for long. Bellweather swung at the first offering and hit the ball far
beyond the outfield field fence for a game winning grand slam. In honor of
Bellweather’s heroics and his teammates’ poor actions, the tradition of
avoiding a pitcher while he is throwing a no-hitter continued.
I recently acquired Jedi robes. I bought them from an ancient dealer of fine attire in the cyberspace realm of the Amazon. They have served me well. Although not a Jedi, I do consider myself strong with the Force. Due to the cost of the Jedi Academy, I could never afford to be properly trained in the art of the Jedi. And now I am too old to begin my training. But wearing the robes of the Jedi is to me akin to wearing the sports jersey of my favorite team. I am showing my support to the cause.
So it was apropos that I wear my Jedi garb to Star Wars Night at the Clearwater Threshers baseball game. It was a fun night at the ballpark, good food, good people, and a great fireworks show.
Until I was detained. Apparently, Clearwater is under the rule of the Empire and had the 501st Legion patrolling the premises, looking for Jedi. Luckily, they let me go. I may or may not have used an amateur Jedi mind trick on them.
I'm glad I didn't bring the lightsaber I acquired on the moon of Ord Mantell.
I haven't written about music in a while, but a new Ice Cube album is great reason to get back to it.
I grew up on Ice Cube. Without knowing anything about Ice Cube, The Predator was the first CD I ever owned. I asked for it for Christmas 1992 on the strength of the Wicked video. I didn't know anything about Cube's history, NWA, or his political views. For a suburban white kid who owned MC Hammer, Kid'N'Play, and the Fresh Prince, Ice Cube was eye-opening. He was punk, metal, and everything my parents didn't want me to listen to.
(This was when rap surpassed heavy metal as White America's most objected music. Parents went from being scared of Satan and suicide to objecting to anti-police and pro-Black messaging. The early 90s were an interesting cultural zeitgeist.)
After Cube's Lethal Injection album, I tuned out. I migrated into a rock/post-grunge phase only picking up the occasional Wu-Tang, Def Squad, or Boot Camp Clik album. By the time I got back into hip-hop, Cube was making club songs with the Westside Connection and had gotten into acting. He wasn't the angry political commentator of years before.
With the election of Donald Trump, I predicted political hip-hop would make a resurgence. The anti-Trump movement was too powerful for hip-hop not to capitalize. Sure enough, artists who have rarely been political such as Snoop Dogg have released songs or images bashing President Trump. With that in mind, an Ice Cube comeback was not surprising. It was almost expected.
Ice Cube has an interesting background with Donald Trump, however. Besides citing Trump as a rich stereotype in a song (as most rappers in the '90s did) , Cube was also misquoted as supporting Donald Trump in a 2016 interview. In the interview (see below) Cube says "Trump is what every American aspires to be" but advises that Trump will have a problem relating to poor people.
Ice Cube wasn't angry at Donald Trump in 2016, although he did later tweet that he would never vote for that "m*therf*cker". So where does the anger at Trump come from? The song "Arrest the President", while good, lacks detail. None of the verses back up Cube's claim that Trump is Russian intelligence.
Where Ice Cube does have legitimacy is his anger towards white supremacists, who he talks about in "Arrest the President" and in "Chase Down the Bully". Cube discusses their hypocrisy and their bullying tactics and meets their aggression with his own.
Other positives on the album are the Parliament tribute "That New Funkadelic", "Everythangs Corrupt", and the final track "Good Cop, Bad Cop", which quotes Ice Cube's verse in NWA's "F*ck the Police".
After the aforementioned songs, the rest of the album misses the mark. After going for the jugular and attacking the President and the enforcers of systematic racism, Ice Cube then attacks drug dealers and users. That angle might have worked in NWA's "Dope Man", when Ice Cube's vision was limited to the streets of Compton, but with a huge platform and a vision from the boardroom, Ice Cube should be attacking the systems that keep people poor and on drugs. Instead of going after pill users, he should be going after doctors prescribing or corporations producing and marketing opiods and other drugs.
Another negative I have with the album is that Ice Cube doesn't dip into the well enough. Although he quotes his "F*ck the Police" verse in "Good Cop, Bad Cop", he would have been well-suited to drop other references to his classic works throughout the album. He would frequently reference his previous albums during his prime, I am not sure why he opted to do so now. This would have made his intro much stronger, where instead of saying he is the Super OG (his new gimmick name), he could have said the N*gga You Love to Hate (his old gimmick name).
Other problems I have with the album include Ice Cube's lack of song direction and lyrical missteps. For example, the song "Fire Water" is particularly a mess. It not about anything and during the journey to nowhere Ice Cube calls Princess Leia a "crazy bitch". Why did Ice Cube think calling a feminist hero a crazy bitch was a good idea? With so many other crazy women to choose from (any on reality TV, for example, or a Kardashian), that was one example of a really bad lyric.
"it's not even fair at the state fair" - "Arrest the President"
"Nobody serving Cube but maids and waiters" - "Streets Shed Tears"
"Yup, the guys call me Samson, I'm dangerous with a Samsung" - "Non Believers"
I hate to say this, but Ice Cube may have needed a co-writer.
Everythangs Corrupt is not Paris's Sonic Jihad, the Coup's Party Music, or anything from Public Enemy or Dead Prez. It also definitely isn't Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly. Socio-political rap has soared since the days of AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted. Early in his career, Ice Cube kicked in doors and continued where he left off with NWA. These days, he seems to have lost his fastball. His best now would be an average track on his first four albums.
Perhaps on his next album, Ice Cube needs to dip further into his past. Releasing a track with Chuck D would be helpful. Having cameos from Paris and Kendrick Lamar would great as well. Not since Mack-10 has Ice Cube brought up new rappers, maybe the time is now.
But then again, when you have your own basketball league bankrolled by the Qataris and you have another Friday movie and another Ride Along movie coming out, maybe you only have energy for one good pitch per album. Maybe you want to save your fastball for other fields.
Of course, I can't hate on Ice Cube for putting his energy into his other passions. The Big 3 and his movies have done very well. He is a multi-media superstar who has transcended music and become an entertainment icon. But can hip-hop take an entertainment icon seriously? Should listeners believe Ice Cube is legitimately angry at the system that has paid him millions?
I do believe Ice Cube still has some anger left in him. He still looks at the world through his perspective. But I believe in his time away from music he has regressed as a socio-political voice in hip-hop. Whereas in years past he could make an album that had meaning from top to bottom, today he is good for a few good songs and a solid tribute to George Clinton.
Years ago, I wrote for the FSView and Florida Flambeau, the unofficial newspaper of Florida State University. Writing for the FSView was an awesome experience as it got me really into writing for purpose and introduced me to great people, both in the community and in the FSView office.
One of the people I had the pleasure of working with was Khuong Phan. Khuong was one of my editors and was a great person to work for. While I explored the outsider communities, Khuong often wrote about his family or his fraternity - and not the stereotypical frat dude way. He wrote in a very humanistic style that made you relate and grow with him.
After graduating, Khuong went on to write for local newspapers and then moved to New York City and Los Angeles to do public relations for the food industry. He has made a great career of writing about food, chefs, and restaurants. Recently, he was interviewed for the website CulinaryAgents.com. It is a great interview that provides insight into Khuong's life and career lessons.
Of his many answers, this was my favorite:
Don’t simply chase money or title. I promise you that if you do something well enough for a long enough time, both of those things will come your way. Instead aim for the opportunities that will provide you the strongest connections, access to the people you admire and the experiences you find most fulfilling. These things really pay off in a major way down the line. Your career is a long arc, so play the long game.
I did stand-up comedy years ago. I wasn't very good. I wasn't very good because I didn't do it enough to be good. But like most comics, I got better as I went along. I was terrible in Tampa, ok in Ocala, and got a few laughs in Lakeland.
That was 2012. I have barely been on stage since. I like to say I left Afghanistan with PTSD - post-traumatic silence disorder. That's what happens when a comic gets so shook after a bad set they never get back on stage.
But a recent article in Vulture.com made me think that maybe in 2019 is the year I return to comedy.
Entitled "Why is PowerPoint Having a Comedy Moment?", the article discusses how several comics are blending PowerPoint presentations into their sets. I am great at PowerPoint. I can do that.
I know, I know. Comedy is about being funny first, props and gimmicks second. Comedy isn't a TED Talk, the audience should be focused on the performer, not words on a screen. But that's when I'll make a slide with a big arrow pointing back to me. The eyes of the audience will follow the arrow back to me. Easy as microwavable pie.
As a medium, PowerPoint is easy for comedy. Every slide can build suspense opening the door for a visual twist. Images also keep people interested if the comic is not. Slides give the audience something read.
And I've already made a presentation that is perfect for comedy: my Guide to Winning a Woman's Interest.
To date, this video has only has 177 views on YouTube. But what if I brought it to comedy shows? What if my entire YouTube channel was filled with funny presentations?
Comedy is calling me again and my perfect platform is PowerPoint.
The weapon is popular - both with collectors and those with bad intentions. According to experts cited by the New York Times (it would be nice if they put a name to at least one expert, by the way), "there are easily several million in the nation’s rifle racks and gun safes".
But is it really needed? Do we really need millions of rifles in the hands of private gun owners across America?
The rest of the top 10 were 8 pistols and a shotgun. While there is no arguing the presence of a firearm can help home defense if used by someone who knows what they are doing, and there is no arguing that the "intimidation factor of a pump action shotgun can’t be overstated" as the article says (shlack-lack), why is an AR-15 on this list?
According to the article, "If your home or your property is unfortunate enough to be targeted by multiple intruders" it is best to have an AR-15 handy. Does this happen often enough that the rifle has to be number 2 on the list? Are there groups of robbers and home invaders breaking into houses throughout America?
Also in the description, "In a multiple bad guy situation, an AR-15 will help even the odds by giving you the advantage of distance, velocity, and ammunition capacity". Are gun owners defending their homes or guarding the front lines at the Battle of the Bulge? If the average size of an American home is 2,600 square feet (792.5 meters) with walls, do gun owners really need a weapon with a maximum effective range of 400 meters to 1 mile (1,609 meters), depending on the configuration and ammunition?
In reality, AR-15's make excellent hunting rifles and are normally used for that purpose. They are configurable via a separate upper and lower part that make it possible for the user to configure the rifle for various types of bullet cartridges. Depending on what game is being hunted, and what bullet the rifle is configured to fire, virtually all AR-15 rifles are useful for hunting.
Can a weapon be good for home defense and hunting? Or is there another reason for the weapon's popularity? Could the answer be in the home defense ranking article?
Look again at the first picture. Notice the ads? Both ads are for accessories for an AR rifle. There are many parts gun owners can add to the AR-15 "platform" that increases distance or power. Smaller weapons such as pistols don't have as many parts to add on as larger rifle platforms. Selling these parts are big business. The companies that sell the parts rely on the sale of the platform and their ads to continue their revenue.
The parts companies want to sell more parts, so they buy more ad space for parts on gun websites. Those sites see where the ad revenue is coming from and promote the applicable weapon in an effort to increase the sale of weapon and then tell the advertiser that the ads on their sites are working. Then the website can increase the cost of advertising on their site.
All the website needs is text to pitch a need to gun owners that fits the narrative to support the website's ad selling business.
Like most internet business, selling AR-15s is a shell game based on ads and marketing. Seeing through propaganda is important if societies want to have rational debates about the safety and practicality of purchasable products.
Personally, I refuse to buy a home assistant. I don't want an Alexa, a Siri, or anything else that can record my voice and the voice of those around me. Having a smart TV is scary enough. My goal in the near future is to learn how to firewall my house so no signal can get out or in without me knowing about it. That would prevent my toaster, refrigerator, or toilet from telling a data server about my habits.
"Michael, your toilet says you have been using a lot of toilet paper recently. I've ordered some from Amazon, but should I also contact your doctor? And from the change in atmospheric pressure in the house, you have also been passing a lot of gas. Should we order Gas-X as well?"
I am far from a Ludite, but I draw the line with allowing AI into my house. L1ZY is why.
Over at Financial Times, writer Ian Gittins wrote an awesome history of the classic rock song "Hey Joe". Made famous by Jimi Hendrix, "Hey Joe" was actually sung by a few bands prior to Jimi making it his own.
After Jimi, a few more bands tried to rock "Hey Joe", but they paled in comparison to Jimi's version.
For most of 2018 I lived in Doha, Qatar. Life in Doha was an amazing experience, full of cultural and culinary exploration. Doha is a beautiful city and a melting pot of various cultures and people.
But something was missing. Despite the beautiful skyline, expansive malls, and elaborate museums, sometimes Doha seemed fake, manufactured, and prefabricated, especially in entertainment. In my 9 months there, I only twice saw signs of an underground scene. I don't mean a subway, metro, or tube - Doha is building an extensive underground metro that will connect the city and possibly reduce traffic. What I am talking about is local entertainment. Especially entertainment that takes a stand and talks about struggle.
Like most Arabic cultures, Doha imports a lot of entertainment. There are DJs, dance clubs, and top 40 radio stations. International performers are brought in for concerts and performances.
EDM doesn't talk about the struggle. Top 40 rarely talks about the struggle - often quite the opposite. Very few English-speaking songs played in Qatar talk about the plight of the working class, although I was surprised one morning when the English Qatar National Radio played Dolly Parton's "9 to 5", a song about a woman's grind in the labor force that contains lyrics such as "It's a rich man's game / No matter what they call it / And you spend your life / Putting money in his wallet."
The closest I found to underground, anti-establishment entertainment was a local comedy show where comics poked fun at Qatari culture and a local rock concert. Both of these occurred in international hotels, where non-Qataris can congregate and enjoy alcohol and other things forbidden under Sharia Law. Of the two events, the rock concert was the most counter-culture, especially when a group of Filipinos covered songs from Rage Against the Machine. I did not expect that at all and I wonder if their selection was noticed by management.
While popular Qatari entertainment avoids stories of the lower class, many laborers in Qatar live in squalor, in poor neglected ghettos where men are packed in until their multi-year labor contracts expire. Amnesty International and other watchdogs occasionally publish reports on the conditions of immigrant workers and are usually the only outlets that broadcast their stories.
I would be very curious to know how many of the immigrant workers in Qatar's Industrial Zones are musically inclined. I wonder how many have instruments. Are they singing about their plight? Are they composing rap songs or poetry describing their conditions? It will be interesting to hear ifQatar's new Asian-speaking radio stationsplay any songs of struggle.
Coming from America, I found the lack of struggle in popular entertainment in Qatar very odd. American music is often full of struggle, from folk to punk to blues to hip-hop. For the first 100 years of American commercial broadcast, the struggle sold. It was music people could identify with, as America is a land of overcoming odds, rolling sleeves up, and the pursuing happiness.
Perhaps Qatar doesn't want people to hear the plight of workers or the lower class. Perhaps the government - specifically the Cultural Ministry - only wants people to see a crown jewel of the Middle East. They want Qatar to shine. Perhaps the powers that be in Qatar are scared that if enough people hear songs about the lower class, they will grow apathetic to their plight, or there may even be social change. Monarchies don't like social change unless they can control it.
That's why there is no underground in the desert. Because the underground has the potential to rise, and when it does, it often conflicts with power.
My apologies for being a few days late on this letter. It has been a very busy week. It has been the week I returned to the US after 9 months living in Doha, Qatar.
Before I summarize my adventure, here are the high points of my final month abroad:
It rained. A lot. A few weeks before I left, Doha had its biggest thunderstorm in years. Unfortunately, with rain rare in Qatar, drainage is minimal or non-existent in the buildings or roads.
Although for Florida, the rain would not be a big deal, for Qatar, the rain made a mess. Roads were completely impassable; debris from construction sites floated into intersections; and parking garages were flooded. The rain even made its way into my apartment, causing puddles in my living room and bedroom.
A few days after the great flood, I visited the Mall of Qatar. As I’ve mentioned before, Qatar is huge on mall culture. Their malls are cultural gathering centers and celebrations of commercialism. Bigger than many airports, the Mall of Qatar is the biggest mall of them all. It is extravagant. During my visit, I ate at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant because nothing screams local Qatari culture more than a Texas-themed chain restaurant.
The next weekend, I finally did sightseeing at The Pearl, Qatar’s giant man-made residential islands. Very little at The Pearl is genuinely Qatari. The buildings are made to look like European architecture to attract European residents. But the prices at The Pearl are so high only senior level personnel or the Qataris themselves can afford to live there. But the architecture and development is very impressive. Not my type of neighborhood, but impressive nonetheless. And the food is delicious.
During my final weeks, I met three international professional basketball players. They were American, new to Qatar, and preparing to play in the Qatari National Basketball League. While probably not good enough to play in the NBA, they were still fulfilling their dreams of playing professional basketball and seeing the world one basketball season at a time. How cool is that?
Concluding my final days in Qatar, I saw another symphony performance, this time at the Islamic Museum of Art. The museum oversees the city skyline, so as you can see in the link below, I was able to get some more great pictures.
Then it was off to the airport for my return home. It was a long flight, but I watched several in-flight movies and was even able to get some sleep.
It is weird for me to say I headed “home” as I made Qatar my home for 9 months. But Florida is home, even if I don’t have my own place to rest my head at the moment. I am working on that.
Overall, this was an experience I will not soon forget. I did a lot in 9 months. I saw the sights (over 500 pictures!), ate awesome food, made great friends, and met many amazing people. Living overseas was something I had always wanted to do and I embraced the experience. Given the right opportunity, I would definitely do it again. But for now, I’m back. Time to see family and friends, find another job and another place to live, and enjoy the holidays.
Again, many thanks to everyone who followed along. Thanks for reading, replying, and staying in touch.
