Goose Gossage's Big Day

"Fearsome and fearless"* Yankee reliever Rich "Goose" Gossage is to be inducted into just about an hour to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. I wish I could be there! It will be a crowded one I'm sure. Also, I once had the great fortune to meet the Goose in the best of all places, a Willie Nelson show (see photo at right!). He's been friends with Poodie and all in the Willie camp since he was blazing fastballs in the 70s, and had his own bus backstage.

But mainly, I remember his White Sox cards, then heading to Pittsburgh and over to the Yankees as a big free agent, even though Sparky Lyle had won the Cy Young Award as a reliever in 77 (and a few others afterwards too). Those Yankees were incredible! As we face the Sox and go into tonight's game w/an eight game win streak, I hope we win one for the Goose tonight.

It would be hard to imagine Goose's speech won't include Thurman Munson, Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Graig Nettles and other (Cliff Johnson?) Yankee teammates.

I saw him do it to the Red Sox on the last day of the 78 season, the pine tar incident and heard the tape where he told reporters to "take it to the fat man upstairs" many times before finally running into him in 2003. What a great guy.

I saw him pitch for the Giants, A's and Mariners at the end of his run. He may have been on one or two others too. Texas? Cubs. Anyhow, many cheers for the GOOSE!

Congrats to the great Goose Gossage on your induction to the Hall!

MLB All Star Game Review

A week later, I'm looking back on the 2008 MLB All Star Game and am happy the whole thing is over. I am very pleased the game turned out so well, because everything else felt like a rip off. The "Fan Fest" had very little content that wasn't an ad, even though it cost $30 to get in. The tickets were priced exorbitantly, but the parade was pretty excellent.

More than any other time since I've been a baseball fan, MLB is marketing very aggressively and I think I've had enough. And I'm a fan of marketing! I like logos, street teams, contests, events, promo items AND the game of baseball, so to have been pushed to far is really saying something.

I currently go to games, watch them on cable tv, have an online subscription for MLB.TV I am usually asked to upgrade, play fantasy baseball w/my friends and horde memorabilia. I have stopped buying the swag, but that's another post!

The thing that got me was the "MLB Insider's Club," an official fan club licensed by MLB that focuses on a publication they will create from fan's written contributions. Of course they will get a credit towards MLB merch if their material is used. This magazine sinfully emulates many of the features we love about Baseball Digest, such as letters (MLB just stole the title -- "The Fans Speak Out" outright), history, "The Game I'll Never Forget," "Quick Quiz" and its general perspective on the game. "Warm Up Tosses" is something I look forward to reading.

Baseball Digest is down to 8 issues per year and I believe MLB should buy it and make it the official (old) fan's journal. The history of the game is its focal point, so everyone who goes to the Hall of Fame should get a subscription included in their admission price. I don't know why Baseball Digest is unable to market effectively (it may have just been a way to sell souvenirs all these years -- look at their ads). Are Golf Digest and their other publications suffering too?

MLB Insider Club is "ONLY $2 a month!" That's $24 per year in my book, more than enough to treat yourself to a Baseball Digest subscription and still have enough for a soda.

Buddy Guy "Skin Deep" solo guitar!!!!

Please enjoy earbender.com's first video exclusive (please share it far and wide) from Buddy Guy!!!!!!

Buddy Guy and A Professional Note for Fourth of July

In large part, this site is meant to be a place for me to learn about marketing on the net by being a blogger myself, having a slight technical knowledge and getting some hits, but ultimately just so I could be more familiar with the experience. As more folks land on this page through my professional efforts, I thought I needed to make a more business to business style post.

Since I am promoting the new Buddy Guy album Skin Deep, I am putting some content up here for folks to use on their own sites, such as the following streams:

• Every Time I Sing the Blues (with Eric Clapton)
• Skin Deep (with Derek Trucks)
• Best Damn Fool

For the latest Buddy Guy tour dates, please click here, and the latest bio is now available here.

And of course if you are in need of a promo cd or would like to try to arrange an interview, please write to me at earbender@earthlink.net.

Freedom's just another word for not having an office!

Steely Dan Takes Over New York

The other night I saw Steely Dan, one of my favorite bands during the critical high school years, and captured a bit of video to share.

In the first clip, Steely Dan nears the end of an amazing show Tuesday night with their ode to radio, "FM," a massive hit from their "Aja" period. Walter Becker casually picks out the great guitar that is a foundation of their sound with a nicely extended version (like the instrumental that appears on the b side of the single and maybe the lp too, I'm foggy on that.). Everyone always talks about Larry Carlton and even Denny Diaz and Skunk Baxter, but Walter is the guy on guitar not just fresh rhymes. He also sang "Gaucho" quite adeptly at the Beacon.

They focused on Aja, Gaucho, and the two latest albums. Along w/"New Frontier" and the aforementioned FM, the show I saw was mostly the yuppie years of the band. But what a trip to remember stereo stores, magazines and the hifi music culture of the seventies. Discwasher, Sennheiser, Gerrard, BIC, Marantz, Kenwood, Sherwood, Pioneer, Teac, Akai, Macintosh, Bose, Polk Audio, JBL, Yamaha and finally Technics are a few big names from that time. I believe the popularity of high quality recordings, side-long songs, gatefold album covers and the ability to spend on the equipment, often made in America, reflects a lot of socio-economic influence on the art. Talk about white music for white teenagers with disposable incomes. This is what the Clash, Pistols and others rebelled against!

We didn't know the stereos were in "stand alone" stores just like the records. They are all gone now, relegated to a p&l'd "footprint" in bigger stores.

I bought Aja on sale at Korvette's for $3.66. I later worked for Johnny Barbis who often told the story of ABC being shut down when it was sold to MCA. Steely Dan actually got into a dispute w/MCA and their first album for MCA under the new arrangement, Gaucho, ended up w/a high list price of $7.99. They subsequently made no more albums for MCA or anyone else for 17 years or so!



"Kid Charlemagne," on video below, is one of their more beloved songs from the later period too. Its coke references and theme of lost popularity reminds me of W.

It contains the refrain, "Did you feel like Jesus? Did you realize, that you were a champion in their eyes?"

"Get along W., get along Kid Charlemagne!"



All praise is due to Walter Becker, Donald Fagen and their great band Steely Dan!