The enigma that is the San Francisco Giants

Have you ever cooked something new and a little complicated without following the recipe?

Let's say that with some luck, you come up with decent tasting fare even though you didn't spend a lot for the ingredients. Heck, it beats whatever else you had lying around, and it's something you might even be able to chow down seconds of.
But odds are someone else will show up in the kitchen and ask to try what you've whipped up. Or maybe you'll ask them to give it a taste.
"Not bad, but I think it needs something," they might say (they often do). "What, you say? Salt?"
"Yea, try adding a little more." So you do, and that doesn't quite satisfy either of you.
"Ah, maybe a little hot pepper seasoning or hot sauce?"
"Right! Throw some of that at it. Can't hurt."
So you do. And now it tastes completely different.
"Criminy," you utter. That's not what I had in mind. So you add something else to try to bring back something good and right again. 
Now you realize that you've got a concoction that might not make ANYONE happy (and by the way, you missed the right spice to add to the thing. It was right in front of your nose).
Imagine that you have time contraints, or perhaps you bought the last available ingredients, and you can't just start over.
You have to live with the thing you've been messing with, and you have to hope SOMEONE likes it when the party starts!

I'm a San Francisco Giants fan win or lose, and I have been for a long time, and this is just an observation: Although amateur, one-off efforts can end up well, mostly they don't. You have to be really lucky.
And you know what they say about too many cooks... 

Bits of musical genius

Jazz is an interesting musical form in that even if you have a good musical ear, you may not like Jazz until you hear a lot of it.

I had a radio station gig in college (Berkeley), and my slot was rock and roll for four hours once a week. I really liked R&R, and I liked some classical - esp. Beethoven, but Jazz? No. Could not get into it. A lot ot notes going nowhere, I thought.
However, the guy with the radio station slot before me was playing Jazz; only Jazz. And each week I had to listen to his selections for at least an hour as I picked out my own R&R stuff from the station's library. That first week I hated everything he played. Second week, one tune by Keith Jarrett's band sounded OK. Third week, I thought that a few from Jarrett's album were worth listening to, and well, maybe some from that other Pop-Jazz group...
Then I expressed my frustration with Jazz to him, and he played me some Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Shortly ater that, my 'problem' with Jazz music in general was over.
Of course, someone tried to upset my uptake by playing post-1964 Coltrane, when he was headed into difficult musical terrain, with some dissonance and other odd sounds. However, by the time I discovered his musical sweetspot - arguably his prime years, which is roughly between 1957 and 1963, I became a huge fan.

Miles Davis has a wider sweetspot; maybe 1963 to 1976. Arguable again, of course.

Anyway, if you want to hear a real example of genius saxophone by the master, listen to this. Miles' solo comes first, and it is very cool, but then John Coltrane makes everybody sit up and take notice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjwVwASlVn4&feature=fvwrel

Let me know what you think. Give it more than one listen, if you need to. It's ultimately well worth it.

The San Jose Giants - AA excellence

I was listening to San Jose Giants radio Monday night (no S.F. Giants game that night) and, holy smokes, are those boys doing well! They won they're eighth game in a row that night in a shutout behind a guy called Craig Westcott.
But fact is they've got several good pitchers, and they've also got fielders who can hit the baseball. Mr. Tommy Joseph behind the plate has got real power, and centerfileder, Gary Brown, has been leading the league in batting average.

But the team is more than the sum of its parts. I think after Monday and half a season, they're record was 46 and 17, which is ridiculous; with 12, that's twelve shutouts.

On Tuesday, they went out and won another, beating Bakersfield in game two of that series. Who's gonna stop these blokes? Probably nothing. They plan to win a bunch more before it's over.

I'm goin' out to see 'em as soon as possible, and that will be before their All-Star game. Heck, this weekend is as good a time as any. Look for me in a box seat!

The Return of The Panda

I don't know about you San Francisco Giants fans, but I'm trying to hold back my enthusiasm about the return of the Panda, Pablo Sandoval, to the Giants on-field lineup. You can't expect Pablo to flog that baseball right away (I almost said 'right off the bat' - heh) because he hasn't seen major league pitching for two months.
It's Spring Training for Pablo all over again.

But don't we wish him well?!

Go Giants!