La Vie En Robe

Dance Round The Maypole

If Roy Wood commands it, then it must be done.

Best Baseball Film Of All Time?

For me, that would have to be 1976's The Bad News Bears — and I explain why in the latest edition of High and Tight, my weekly baseball column for Rolling Stone Online. Our esteemed rock n' roll panelists — now including George Thorogood and ALICE FRIGGIN' COOPER!!! — come up with some interesting choices of their own, ranging from Eight Men Out (which I clearly need to give another viewing, though the "Say it ain't so, Joe" newsie bit made me want to hurl my mitt at the screen) to such old-school faves as The Pride of the Yankees, It Happens Every Spring and Fear Strikes Out. Check it out!

Farewell, Levon

With the news breaking that Levon Helm may not be long for this world, this afternoon kinda came to a screeching halt for me. The Band's music has been a presence in my life since childhood; and while I would in time come to appreciate the brilliance and beauty of Richard Manuel's and Rick Danko's vocals, it was Levon's voice that I responded to first, and which really summed up the magic of The Band to me from the get-go. The guys might have all looked like Civil War vets in a Matthew Brady photo, but Levon was the only Band member who actually SOUNDED like one. Throw in an idiosyncratic-but-authoritative drumming style, and the ability to totally get down on mandolin and guitar, and you had pretty much the real-deal complete bad-ass package.

I'm so sad that I never got to see one of his Midnight Rambles; I never did get to see Levon perform live, in fact. But I've watched The Last Waltz countless times, as well as the great Band footage of Festival Express, and absorbed as many other clips of him in action as I've been able to dig up on YouTube over the years. (As bitter as it is in some parts — notably the sections pertaining to Robbie Robertson — his autobiography This Wheel's On Fire is still a must-read for any Band fan.) The four-song clip below, from Pittsburgh's Syria Mosque in late 1970, is new to me, but it's another beautiful example of Levon doing his thing, especially on such signature numbers as "The Weight" and "Up On Cripple Creek".

We never met, Levon, but I thank you for filling my life with your wonderful music, and wish you a peaceful and painless journey into the next world. I (and a whole lot of other folks) may not be ready to let you go yet; but if it is indeed time, you can go with the knowledge that you brought considerable joy to a whole lotta people in this lifetime...

Commish For A Day

This is Bowie Kuhn, Commissioner of Baseball from 1969 to 1984. He was kind of a tool, though to be fair he was woefully unprepared for the changes (social and otherwise) that shook the sport during the 1970s. And at least he wasn't a total puppet of the owners, a la Bud Selig...

Which brings us to the second installment of "High and Tight," the new weekly baseball column I'm doing for Rolling Stone Online. This time out, I consider the current (ineffectual) state of the Commissioner's Office, and ask our panel of rockers the burning question, "What are up to three things YOU would change about baseball if you were Commish for a day?" Read their answers HERE.

In other news, a tip of the Monsanto Toupee goes out to Trevor Seigler, who made a nice mention of Big Hair and Plastic Grass (which comes out this June in paperback, btw) in his Paste Magazine look back at Jim Bouton's Ball Four. Any time your work is mentioned positively in the same breath as one of the greatest baseball memoirs of all time, you've just gotta say, in the immortal words of Seattle Pilots manager Joe Schultz, "Aw, Shitfuck!" Now to go pound some celebratory Budweiser...

High And Tight: Rolling Stone's New Rock N' Roll Baseball Column

Just wanted to hip you all to the fact that I'll be penning a weekly rock n' roll baseball column for Rolling Stone Online, called "High and Tight" — which will also feature such musically-inclined seamheads as Anthrax's Scott Ian, The Baseball Project's Steve Wynn and Scott McCaughey, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and the great Handsome Dick Manitoba weighing in on a new topic of discussion each week.

Check out the inaugural installment of "High and Tight" — in which we reflect on our favorite Opening Day memories — right here. More entertaining than game of whist with Bud Selig, or your money back!