Apache

1965 Topps Al Downing

Here's the last of the '65s mainly because it's the last card in the set.

Al is mostly known for giving up Hank Aaron's 715th home run today, but he was a pretty solid pitcher for the Yankees and Dodgers. Check out the strikeout line on his '64 stats below, those 217 strikeouts led the league. He would go on to be an All-star in 1967 and win 20 games for the Dodgers in 1971.

But I'm still having a major mental block writing about baseball cards so here's Big Al Downing (no relation) playing Mr. Jones live in 2004.



Aw yeah, this is real country right here.

Dangit, I coulda had a blaster - part 2

After squandering my chance to get a Lineage blaster with that pile of vintage stuff I posted yesterday I had the audacity to do it again with a few trips to the CD Warehouse for some cheep tunes. I could be ripping open a blaster of Bowman Platinum right now, but I'm typing out this post and listening to some music instead. How foolish I am. Here's three 'gently used' discs that I actually paid money for instead of just torrenting like a normal person because sometimes you just want to hold the goddamn album in your hands.  Yes, I'm old. Absolutely none of these I walked into the shop hoping or expecting to find, but I was pleasantly surprised nonetheless.

Not gonna lie. I discovered this band through ponies. I've discovered a shitload of bands through ponies, including Boards of Canada which is one of the bands I have been desperately searching for in my music shopping. I've actually found two CDs by them in my travels: a 3 song EP of a John Peel session, and a live album (bootleg?) I forget the name of that I just couldn't pull the trigger on because you can hear people talking during the show. Actually I had heard Boards of Canada before someone improved/ruined one of their songs with pony giggles, I just didn't start listening to them for hours on end until ponies. MGMT I had never heard of before. Well, I had probably heard of them, but I certainly didn't pay attention to them and I never would have stopped dead in my tracks when I saw their album up on the shelf. I suck at describing music, so I'll just say there's a lot of guitars and electronic stuff in their music, something I'm really into right now. There's also a good remix of Electric Feel by Justice, another band I've been looking for in my music hunts lately. Here's the non-pony version of Time to Pretend.

The sketchy cover sold me on A Sunny Day In Glasgow's debut album. No, really, drawing is relevant to my interests, so I picked up the album when I saw sketches on the cover. Basic marketing, folks. Of course  if there were nekkid wimmin on the cover it probably would have sold more copies, but that's neither here notr there. The cover worked at least this one time. I got Autumn, Again by these guys last year when it was free on Amazon and enjoyed it so I figured I'd check it out. More electronic, more guitars and female vocals to boot. This sucker's right in my wheelhouse. It's a bit... eclectic. And not as chill as Boards of Canada. But I like 'em dammit, even if no one else has ever heard of them. Here's Things Only I Can See. Well, click on it and you can see it too.



Ok, I'm gonna catch hell for the next one but I DON'T CARE.

Yes, I bought an album from a band called The Unicorns.

Twilight is apparently a fan

FINE, I HAVE A PROBLEM. I KNOW THIS. I'm a tad magical horse crazy at the moment, but seriously this album is really, really good. Oddly enough, I did not find this band through ponies. I think it was through Erasure, actually. Which has kind of formed a theory in my head that [adult swim] helped pave the road for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic's popularity with slacker male cartoon addicts with their game Robot Unicorn Attack as a favor to Lauren Faust. A twitchy, silly unicorn game as a sort of John the Baptist heralding the upcoming pony cult. But I digress. This album is really really really good. They only did one full-length CD (and a couple of EPs) before breaking up, but this shit is goooooood. I really suck at writing about music (I can dance like a mother%ucker about architecture though) but I'll give it a shot by comparing it to other stuff I like. It's kinda got the energy of Franz Ferdinand with the loose goofiness of Dead Milkmen with just a touch of Modest Mouse depression for flavor. Does that make any sense? Of course it doesn't. Just listen to the actual music.



Yes, yes, yes. The song is about Unicorns. BUT IT'S GOOD. I don't care, I'll like it if I want to.

So there's my musical purchases for the past couple of months. All three were just under twenny bux. So waddya think? I should have just gotten a Value Box and one of those 100 card junk wax racks, shouldn't I?

(nah)

Sleigh Bells - Riot Rhythm

Editor's note: I meant to post this in my other blog. The one I've neglected for half a decade. Since I screwed it up already I'll just leave this here and post it over there as well. If you're interested, I'm sure you can find it. I'm not going to link to it because I'm a fuckup, not a whore. 

If someone put a gun up to my head and demanded I tell them my favorite album from 2010 I would immediately blurt out ARCADE FIRE!!! SUBURBS!!!





But got-DAMN ain't Sleigh Bells catchy.....

(bang)

Quarter Box Bounty - Part 7 A&G Mini Inserts

We have reached the end of our quarter box journey. I've saved the best for last: Allen & Ginter mini inserts. I found three National Heroes and two Hoaxers Bamboozlers and All -Around Bullshitters cards. I knew I had at least a couple of these, but I got 'em anyway. Maybe someone out there will need 'em.

Ethiopia Hero Haile Selassie

Jamaica Hero Marcus Garvey

Both of these dudes are big in the Rastafarian movement. Haile Selassie is really REALLY big in the Rastafarian movement. You know who else is big in the Rastafarian movement?


Yeaaaaaaah Peter Tosh. Peter needs a card too.

Iceland Hero Jon Sigurosson

This guy's like, George Washington of Iceland or something. It's Friday night. You don't need history lessons, you need music.

Hoax - Millard Fillmore bought a bathtub and Taft was too fat for it

H.L. Mencken, you big kidder.

The Cardiff Giant

Pretty much everybody involved with this mess was a big kidder.

One more song for a Friday night. Not from Cardiff, Might be Giants.

The Heroes Obsession Begins

Remember how I was with Allen & Ginter last month? Well, that's what you're going to get with American Heritage Heroes Edition until I complete the set. Luckily it's a small set. I have my want list typed up already, but I have a couple of new jumbo packs to mix in before I post it. Here's one of 'em, the others will be on the way soon. I'm not doing the whole "list every damn card out of the pack" thing right now and I may just quit cold turkey on that. I will show you the top 5 cards in the pack though. In this pack 5=7. If two plus two always makes five, then five can just as easily be seven. Oh, yeah, lots of references this post from obscure to mainstream.

Jimmy Stewart

This might be the Duke Ellington of this set. I haven't looked over a checklist yet, but it will be DAMN hard to top this card. Sheer awesomeness as evident by who he beat for #1 card in this pack. TR is up there with Yogi on my list of all time faves, but Stewart in uniform takes it. Here's my favorite scene from Harvey featuring some Jimmy wisdom.

Teddy Roosevelt

This is the card I drooled over when I first saw it online, but inexplicably it got beat. Topps has used this photo a little too much, I think. Now, if I can get a Chrome version of this card then I'll have a TR Finest Finest card. Now that would be slick. Here's a cartoon featuring Mr. Roosevelt from one of my favorite cartoonists. This toon is PG-13 rated but be careful if you wander around the archives. My favorite cartoon from that artist is absolutely filthy.

Erin Brockovich Chrome

My first Chrome, and it's a pretty cool one. I'm astounded by how much better the real life Erin looks than Julia Roberts does in that movie or otherwise. Ok, not that astounded.

Roy Campanella Heroes of Sport

Campy! This... was a kick ass pack. Here's Roy on What's My Line.

Ralph Ellison

Awesome writer who was just featured on an NPR story about writers who got their start in the WPA during the depression that was on the air this weekend on 90.1. If you even get some free time and want something good to read, check out Invisible Man. Very well written and eye-opening.

First American Spaceflight

My first space card from this set! I want the entire Space Heroes set so somebody out there trade 'em all to me. Plus, it's an excuse to link some Pixies.

Women's Suffrage Movement

Wooooo! Women who vote are SEX-AY. The fact she can play a mean horn is a bonus. I ain't posting anything about politics right now if I can help it so here's some female musicians who are awesome and probably voted at one time or another.

The Runaways
Delta 5
Ruth Underwood
Au Revior Simone
Siouxsie Sioux
Kim Deal oops, I mean Kim Deal
Ella Fitzgerald
Laurie Anderson
The Go-Go's
Missy Elliott
ISIS
The Slits
Cibo Matto

And many more but it's getting late...

Why do 23 of you not want me to listen to beautiful music?

Seriously, I ask for help deciding between some CDs and 23 of you want me to listen to nothing. I know I have eclectic tastes in music, but sheesh. Well, I went back and got a CD anyway so ppphhbbbbbbt.

The winner of the poll was Radiohead's OK Computer and I certainly can't argue with that. That CD is utterly fantastic and has three songs that continually jockey to be my favorite Radiohead song. (The current song atop the leaderboard is this one) I didn't get that CD though. Why not? Two reasons ultimately influenced my decision. First, this is the most 'mainstream' band on the list (probably why it won in a romp) and I'm sure I'll eventually be able to find it again if someone snatches it up. Second, a small part of me wants to wait and just buy the box set and get 'em all in one fell swoop. Yeah, I know I can go to Pirate Bay and get 'em all in one fell swoop if I wanted to, but I like holding CDs in my hand, ya know? Here are the other CDs that didn't make the cut:

Kraftwerk - The Mix



This turned out to be a remix CD of Kraftwerk's stuff. You can hear a taste of his above. Yyyyyeah... not what someone who likes the original German version of Die Roboter best is looking for.
The Specials - The Singles Collection



I might need to scrounge up those U2 CDs I haven't listened to since college and trade 'em in for this one. The Specials rock and that 12" version of Ghost Town is freaking fantastic.

Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom

Basically I wanted this CD for the awesome album cover and the song Bus To Beelzebub. I'd link to the song, but it seems to have been caught in the YouTube Copyright Vortex. I might be better off just scrounging up the Greatest Hits CD for these guys. They also had these CDs which were mightly tempting...

They Might Be Giants Lincoln
Presidents of the United States of America These Are The Good Times, People
Ween Chocolate & Cheese

But this is what came home with me:

Camper Van Beethoven - Camper Vantiquities

Camper Van is my favorite band and this was the only CD of their pre-Cracker work that had eluded me. This CD has the Vampire Can Mating Oven EP on it, which I have been lusting after for ages. It kept going out of print and selling out on me too so I didn't want to miss it again. Totally worth it for two things alone: Axe Murderer Song and this picture from the liner notes:

Now that's awesome.




No, there aren't any cards in this post. I'm having card ennui issues at the moment so I'm taking a break. You'll get your filthy cards soon enough!

Harrumph!

(forgets about cards and chills to indy-folksy-country-ska for just a moment)

Important poll and assorted A&G stuff

Ok. First things first.

Tomorrow, I am hoping to pick up my box of Allen & Ginter from the hobby shop. However, while I'm there I think I'll pick up a couple of packs of Topps Magic Football just to see what they look like. I will obviously be obsessing over the A&G first, but I will be posting the Magic packs as a palate cleanser in the midst of my Ginter feast. Now, I need your input on something very important:

What song should I post from YouTube to accompany the Magic Football pack?

That Old Black Magic - Louis Prima & Keely Smith
Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf
Magic Man - Heart
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic - The Police
Magic Johnson - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Magic America - Blur

If you have a better suggestion, post it tonight and I'll think about it. Any suggestions without "Magic" in the title will be deleted forever. Unless there's an overwhelming concensus I'll put up a poll tomorrow morning so you can vote on it.

Ok, A&G case breakers have been hard at work today and here's some interesting stuff:

Negro Leaguers Willie Williams and Herb Simpson have an autogaph cards in the set. I love this. The more Negro League player autographs there are in packs, the better I like it.

The Ginter Code is going to be a real pain to crack. How do I know this? The code cards are PARALLELS.

Great googely moogely the silk cards look good.

If you haven't checked out the black frame cards yet, do so. They're nice.

Finally Travis sent me this pic of a Jordan Schafer No Numbered mini card:

Holy crap. Topps serial numbered them! Waaaait a minute. This is Travis. He's been known to bamboozle people from time to time. Trust, but verify.

HOLYCRAP! They did number 'em! This is the part where I complain about eBay being PayPal only now. Dammit. Oh well, I'll most likely have a box of my own tomorrow...

July 4th unsolicited Amazon plug + another contest

Amazon.com is giving away a free MP3 of The Star Spangled Banner to anyone in the US with an Amazon account.

My choice: MOJO

If MP3s aren't your thing, Bad Wax has a Mystery card giveaway contest up, try to figure out the card from the clues!

This song is for Chemgod

And yes, that IS Ray Manzarek on keyboard.

I <3 Al.

A treat for Dayf

I have had a long, but very productive day. Heck, the past week has been pretty dang good to be honest. So, on the way home I stopped off and got myself a special treat.


It doesn't always have to be about baseball cards, you know... Card posts will be up later tonight.

A Song for Every Team

Chris Jaffe of the Hardball Times chose 30 theme songs that sum up the 2008 season of every major league team. You may not agree with your favorite team's song, but he nailed the Braves in my opinion.