inky ink, inc. | Matador Playlist(s)

05 Sep Matador Playlist(s) – 8/20/15 & 8/27/15

Posted at 02:20h in Music, Playlist, Uncategorized by inkyinkinc

Strangely enough, tis a quandary, Gentle Reader(s). The situation is quandrous. Your Humble Narrator is quandrified. I am in a state of quandrification. Why, wherefore, and of which? you might well ask. Well you might. As previously established (see the March 5 posting on this page), YHN is a fan of the Great American Game of Baseball. The team to which my allegiance has been allegied for lo these many years is the Cubs of Chicago. One of the great institutions of this nation, the Cubs are the oldest active American sporting club, established in 1874 and having remained firmly rooted in their namesake town for the entire duration. They are also a storied hard-luck crew. They last appeared in the World Series in 1945 and have not been World Series champions since 1908. That’s 107 years of woulda/coulda/shoulda tough breaks, bizarre incidents, self-induced collapses, purported curses and just plain rotten luck.

The reason for this quandrifiriousness is that the Cubs are having an amazingly great season. The baseball wünderkind Theo Epstein was engaged by the Cubs just under four years ago, charged with the task of reversing the fortunes of this most epic bunch of beautiful losers, the most prodigious underachievers in all of baseball history. Theo is the man who, at 28 tender years, became the youngest general manager in Major League history and helped lead the Boston Red Sox to World Series glory after 86 (86? Pffft!) years in the wilderness. The Cubs have been through three managers since Theo came on board but they have now settled upon the man who seems destined to lead them to their ultimate reward, the great Joe Maddon. The team has two solid ace pitchers—Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta—the latter of whom pitched a no-hitter in his last start against the Dodgers on August 30. The bullpen, anchored by Pedro Strop and Héctor Róndon, is non-cringe inducing for the first time in recent memory (I’m still trying to forget Carlos Marmol), and the team is well-stocked with hot young guns like Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant. Today is the 4th of September and the Cubs are 19 games above .500. They clobbered the Arizona Diamondbacks today, 14 to 5. The mind doth boggle, well and truly.

Problem is, I’m not sure if I’m ready for the Cubs to be genuine, certifiable, no-questions-asked winners. Sure, winning is better than losing and I love it when the Cubs win. Every season I start off with a sliding scale of hopes and desires for the team: Winning their division—a wonderful fantasy (which they haven’t fulfilled since 2008, but have achieved 15 times since 1900); After that hope fizzles, then there’s the possibility of having at least a .500 season (last achieved in 2009 and something that the Cubs have managed 52 times in the last 114 years); Then, finally, when all else fails, there’s the consolation prize of not finishing last in the division (the final result of the last five seasons). This is what it means to be a Cubs fan. But the way I look at it, it’s a zero-sum game: Someone’s got to lose and, quite reliably, it is the Cubs. And that’s okay. My love for the game and my love for the team continues on unabated, regardless of the season-end stats. But the stated goal, which it seems pretty certain that Theo and his management team and the ownership and the city of Chicago will not be denied, is a World Series championship.

World Series champs?? The Cubs? I don’t know if I could handle it. The concept is rather overwhelming. First of all, there would be the almost unbelievable pressure of the process of getting there: Getting into the post season, winning the division pennant or a wild card game, battling through the league championship series and then, ultimately, the World Series. It just sounds too stressful. I’ve become very comfortable with the concept of a nice, relaxing month of October, deciding which team(s) to root for, enjoying the games in an abstract sort of way, lamenting the end of the season and looking forward to the return of spring training in March. The notion of the Cubs as serious contenders would throw my entire fall season into disarray! Since just about everybody I know knows that I’m a Cubs fan, if they won I would be besieged with congratulatory phone calls and texts and emails and I would be endlessly saying ‘Thanks! Yes, it’s amazing, but I—personally—had very little to do with it!’ (Word to the wise here, Gentle Reader[s]: Beware those who refer to their sports franchise[s] of choice as ‘We.’ You should at least be a home field peanut vendor in order to refer to a sports team as ‘we.’)

Tomorrow the Cubs will play again and I will listen to and/or watch the game as I always do, 162 times each and every year. If they win, I will be happy. If they lose, I will be disappointed. I will commiserate with my mom on the phone accordingly. If the Cubs end up playing more than 162 games this season, well… then we’ll just have to wait and see. I’ll believe it when Pat Hughes tells me to.

Oh, and here’s some playlists for you. Some highlights: Some great early Zeppelin clips (‘How Many More Times’ and ‘Dazed and Confused’), live Badfinger (‘Day After Day’), early live Stones footage with that blonde guitar player dude (‘Satisfaction’), crazy European footage of the NY Dolls (‘Lookin’ For A Kiss’), vintage Tammy Wynette (‘Stand By Your Man’—that hair!), but mainly the insane clip of late, full-bloat Elvis weeping and rambling semi-incoherently through ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’ Not for the faint of heart! Also—new favorite band name: The Tremolo Beer Gut. Brilliant!

Matador Playlist 8/20/15

Grammar of Life – Charles Bukowski
Krewe d’etat – Galactic
She Cries Your Name – Beth Orton
Song for Helen – 18th Dye
When I’m With You – Best Coast
On Your Way – Corrosion of Conformity
I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times – the Beach Boys
Loverman – the Mopeds
Sunshine Superman – Donovan (request)
Clayton’s Hotrod – The Tremolo Beer Gut
Suspicious Minds – Elvis Presley
Rude Boy Gone Jail – Special Skank feat. Neville Staple
Needles & Blades – Koffin Kats
How Many More Times – Led Zeppelin
Me Me Me – Lars and the Hands of Light
Back Stabbers – the O’Jays
I Belong to You – oh sunshine
Lola – the Kinks
Get Away – Yuck
Rip It Up – Orange Juice
Andy Warhol – David Bowie
Bodies Made Of – Parquet Courts
Cinnamon Girl – Neil Young
Voodoo – Neville Brothers
Dry – PJ Harvey
Monkey Man – the Rolling Stones
Come As You Are – Nirvana
Possum Kingdom – Toadies
Bikini Girls with Machine Guns – the Cramps
Here Comes My Girl – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Statik Electrik – Vaz
Day After Day – Badfinger
Volcano Girls – Veruca Salt
Earn Enough for Life – XTC
Pay To Cum – Bad Brains
Kiss, Kiss – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gloria – Patti Smith
Cardiac Arrest – Bad Suns
Born to Lose – Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers
Black Egg – Snake & Jet’s Amazing Bullitt Band
Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now) – Cracker
Ozone Baby – Led Zeppelin
The Longest Shadows – High Places
Gimme the Drugz – Powersolo
Are You Lonesome Tonight? – Elvis Presley (The King losing it before your very eyes, 1977)
Spinners – the Hold Steady
Go n’ Go – 18th Dye
Move Fast (feat. Mystical & Mannie Fresh) – Galactic
Black Tie White Noise – David Bowie
Satisfaction – the Rolling Stones
Treat Me Like Your Mother – the Dead Weather
Suburban Home – Descendents
Wouldn’t It Be Nice – the Beach Boys
(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais – the Clash
D’yer Maker – Led Zeppelin
George Jones Talkin’ Cell Phone Blues – Drive By Truckers
Clear Spot – the Mark Lanegan Band
Absynthe – the Gits
Fatty Boom Boom – Die Antwoord
Travelin’ Riverside Blues – Led Zeppelin (request)
Black Moon Spell – King Tuff
Papa Don’t Take No Mess, Pt. 1 – James Brown
Hey Porter – Johnny Cash
Corpse Grinder – the Meteors
Dazed and Confused – Led Zeppelin
Overkill – Motörhead
Listen to My Heart – the Ramones
Magdalena – Pixies
Gimme Shelter – the Rolling Stones (request)
Tall Man Skinny Lady – Ty Segall
How Soon Is Now – the Smiths (request)
La Bamba – Ritchie Valens
Panic – the Smiths
Love – the Cult
Paint It Black – the Rolling Stones (request)
Still Ill – the Smiths
Tattooed Love Boys – the Pretenders
Fairies Wear Boots – Black Sabbath
Mother Popcorn – James Brown
World Without Tears – Lucinda Williams
Buona Sera – Louis Prima
Happy Trails – Roy Rogers & Dale Evans (feat. Trigger on Gindle-Humeric Lute)
Taxi – Bryan Ferry