My Hero

I don't care how self-serving this is, I am re-posting this because it makes me happy.

Old BT photos

For those of you not on Facebook, here are some links to galleries of old photos I recently scanned:


Facebook 1


Facebook 2


Facebook 3

Speaking of the Reach of the PTMOR Blog....

As noted in the below post, the PTMOR blog has been getting around -- to the Alps in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, e.g. I see, via Google Analytics -- an amazing tool, by the way -- that I have been getting page visits from 44 countries in the past month. We would love to hear greetings from all of the different places -- I see a scattered few visits from Russia, Turkey, India, Argentina, Poland, etc. Please say hello in the comments. All of you in more predictable places like the U.K, Canada, Australia, Benelux, etc., don't be shy either. I appreciate the give/take. Feliz Navidad, and happy holidays to you all.

Richard Wilbur

The House


Sometimes, on waking, she would close her eyes

For a last look at that white house she knew

In sleep alone, and held no title to,

And had not entered yet, for all her sighs.

What did she tell me of that house of hers?

White gatepost; terrace; fanlight of the door;

A widow’s walk above the bouldered shore;

Salt winds that ruffle the surrounding firs.

Is she now there, wherever there may be?

Only a foolish man would hope to find

That haven fashioned by her dreaming mind.

Night after night, my love, I put to sea.


-- Richard Wilbur




Taken from the New Yorker August 31, 2009

Back to Work

This page has gotten a bit self-indulgent, I would say; an awful lot of "sharing." Thanks for your patience, especially those mentioned in some of the more personal ramblings. Back to a basic music blog with shorter posts, I promise.

Signed Exile books

We sold 30-something books at the Exile show last week. I can either return the balance (I ordered 50 to be safe), or I can send out signed copies. If anyone is interested, please email me at janovitz.bill@gmail.com. I am not sure how much they are to send, but I will figure $2.00. So let's say they will cost $12. You can send check or money order (or try cash). No bartering yak milk or shoe shines.

Clams

Hey, someone asked me what a "clam" is, as referenced in my last post. Well, I assume more people don't know the term either. So, a clam is a mistake/bad note. Old music-dude terminology. See: Buddy Rich balling out his band on a bus.



"...while you clam all over this fucking joint....

Public Radio Piece

I think I forgot to post this here, though I had posted it over at Facebook. It is a piece I wrote and narrated about my childhood friend Chris Campion for the "Here and Now" program produced by my poker buddy, Chris Ballman, for Boston's NPR news station, WBUR. Campy wrote a highly engaging memoir called Escape From Bellevue: A Dive Bar Odyssey, about his struggles with booze and other substances, while trying to get his band off the ground in the 1990s NYC alt rock world.

Older Guys

Now on Twitter

I needed yet another way to waste time and connect to "the people."

Find me on Twitter @billjanovitz or click the icon on the right below the links section.

Well, it was nearly all summer we sat on your roof
Yeah, we smoked cigarettes and we stared at the moon
And Id show you stars you never could see
Baby, it couldn't have been that easy to forget about me

Wow -- Some Sort of Translation

I found this in a feed I get. I have no idea, but it is clearly some sort of aggregate translator of blog content. The wording is hilarious and I am thinking of replacing everything I wrote with it. This is a translation of my most recent post.

The Ballad of Tim Wakefield ({Non}Cover of the Week 29)

Wake and me rocking Hot Stove Cool Music at Fenway 2005 (photo by Steve Latham)

Buff Tom was in the studio this week working on new songs. Work has also been very busy in my day job. I feared not being able to get to the Cover of the Week this week and, while that is technically true, I did get inspired by another dazzling knuckleball performance by 42-y.o. Red Sox legend, Tim Wakefield last night. So with 2 cups of coffee in me, I whipped this little homage up this morning. Also, finding it's way into the song is this article from the Boston Globe this AM.

When rock and rollers hit a certain (middle) age, many of them feel compelled to write a baseball song. But having one of our own still going at 42, well, that just begs a song. So in the tradition, hopefully, of Zevon and Dylan (and not so much Fogerty), here is mine:

The Ballad of Tim Wakefield



Lyrics:


The Ballad of Tim Wakefield


He don't need no injections in his ass
He makes the ball flutter, it don't need to go fast
Hitters swinging just like a cartoons when it passes
The knuckleball from Timmy Wakefield

I remember all the late innings of June
But there came a night with a big harvest moon
And an October game when a Yankee named Boone
Hit a long one off of Tim Wakefield

But fishing off of Melbourne in the off-season glare
Knowing that middle-aged men everywhere
Are harboring dreams that they could be up there
Pitching just like Timmy Wakefield


When the boys are all flailing as the weather gets warm
He always remain the calm eye of the storm
There are 18 year-old people who might have been born
When a night game was pitched by Tim Wakefield

Batters strike out, pop up, heads bowed low
And into dark dugout tunnels they go
And still confused as the video shows
They were defeated by Timmy Wakefield.

Boston may not be the easiest place
It's not every player they warmly embrace
So just go ask Keith Foulke if he would trade places
In history with Tim Wakefield

You know what they say about saving nine
Well Doug Mirabelli was his stitch in time
The State Police escorted him for no crime
We just needed him to receive Tim Wakefield

Taking the mound or offering his time
for charity's sake and then on down the line
There are plenty of people who will be crying
When they hang up the spikes of Timmy Wakefield

Dylan has written all about Catfish
I may never write like Bobby, Wake like Pedro won't pitch
But true Red Sox fans will always know what they wish
To have nine players just like Timmy Wakefield
Nine players just like Timmy Wakefield
Give me nine players just like Timmy Wakefield

Buffalo Tom Tonight

http://www.volvooceanrace.org/ports/boston

Live at the Fan Pier.

Free, full set, starting at 9:00

Buffalo Tom Live

Hi -- We have just added a one-off show to try out some new material and play some of the oldies as well. June 26 at the Paradise in Boston. Tix on sale Thursday 4/16:

Livenation.com

Part Time Man of Rock T Shirts

Kids -- What's it gonna take to get these babies moving? See the link over on the right. Is it design? Price? What's holding back all but the most dedicated from purchasing? You name it, I will make it happen. Testimonials from those lucky consumers who have chosen to do the right thing and buy one of these would be great to see as well.

Keep the love flowing....B