Item:
The baseball season is getting in full swing (no pun intended), hockey is beginning its trek to the Cup and the NBA Playoffs kick off this weekend. With spring in the air, life is good in the land of Fodder.
~~~
Item:
Here's some food for thought.
What do we as a society want from our homeless population? Homelessness is a reality. An unfortunate one but in a country of this size and complexity, a reality nonetheless. The reasons are myriad and not our focus in this post. The solutions aren't really the focus here, either. What we are talking about is what we want to "do" with the ones that are on the streets now. By and large, as harsh as it sounds, we as a society want them to be invisible. We don't want to be asked for money at a traffic light. We don't want to see abject poverty in our lovely little suburbs. In short, we generally don't want to deal with it. Or them.
Now there are plenty of organizations -- and individuals, ourselves amongst them -- who feel differently. But as a whole, society just doesn't want to be faced with the homeless population on a daily basis.
We give you Camden, New Jersey. More specifically, an area of Camden located in a secluded wooded area between an offramp and some railroad tracks called Tent City. It is in this area that over 100 homeless people have lived for over four years. In that time, this self-sufficient village has had precisely four arrests for domestic violence. There have been zero sexual assaults, zero murders and zero armed robberies. Can your neighborhood say that? The people of Transitional Park, as the residents call it, eat communal meals, prepared by village cooks. Regardless of what they have going on, they take the time to eat dinner together. Does your family do that? The community has sixteen simple laws. Everyone has an assigned job and they all perform theirs. There is a mandatory community meeting and bible study every Tuesday night. Violators and malingerers are banished.
So what you have is a self-sufficient (albeit with the help of private donations of food and cookware) community of several hundred people, living in a low-crime environment, without a penny of governmental assistance. And they like where they live.
Enter the suits. The (ya gotta just love the irony in this name) Camden County Community Development Program has decided to shut down Tent City. So, instead of 200 people living in the woods, supporting themselves and not bothering anyone, South Jersey and neighboring Philadelphia will be the recipients of a diaspora of hungry, desperate, pissed off people that local social agencies are inadequately equipped or funded to assist.. Smooth move, Camden County.
That's change we can believe in.
~~~
Fare thee well, Dixie, we'll see you on the Other Side. Save us a room. While you're at it, go ahead and Design it for us.
Fare thee well, Robert, Jaimie and John, we'll see you on the Other Side. Save us a Hero, some class and...wait for it...and Angel.
and this just in:
Fare thee well, Daryl, we'll see you on the Other Side. Save us a beat-down.
~~~
Item:
NBA Playoff Predictions
EASTERN CONFERENCE
(1) Cleveland Cavaliers vs (8) Chicago Bulls
Vinnie the Hair and John Paxon are having fistfights, the Bulls didn't clinch the last playoff slot until the final night of the season and the Cavs have LeBron. Still, the Bulls will steal one. Maybe.
Cavaliers in 5.
(2) Orlando Magic vs (7) Charlotte Bobcats
The Bobs are heading to the playoffs for the first time. They are greatly overmatched in this series and there are questions about Tyson Chandler's health. Still, Charlotte is coached by The Greatest Basketball Mind of Our Time and that will get them a win. Two if Chandler is healthy.
Magic in 5
(3) Atlanta Hawks vs (6) Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks are one of the season's pleasant surprises -- ok, outright shockers. Brandon Jennings appears to be the real deal, Andrew Bogut is finally playing like a lottery pick and Methusala Stackhouse brings the mean. The Hawks appear to have maxed out. They're a good to very good team who won't ever get past the Big Dogs. Whether it is the Celtics and Pistons of the last few years or the Cavaliers and Magic of today, Atlanta always seems to have a couple of teams that play a tier above them. And it will always be that way because no one wants to play in Atlanta and they have a poorly-run organization. With Joe Johnson getting ready to bolt for the NYC, 2010 is probably where the Hawks peak, before a gradual slide back to mediocrity. With the Bucks' injuries though, the party should go one more round.
Hawks in 6
(4) Boston Celtics vs (5) Miami Heat
Ugly. This is one of those series that is very hard to pick, not because the teams are so good but rather we're trying to pick which one sucks less. Old Men vs D-Wade and the Salary Cap Spacers. Neither one will deserve the win but the Celtics will suck slightly less. Maybe.
Celtics in 7
Conference Semifinals:
Cavaliers over Celtics in 4
Magic over Hawks in 5
Eastern Conference Finals
Cavaliers over Magic in 6
WESTERN CONFERENCE
(1) Los Angeles Lakers vs (8) Oklahoma City Thunder
The Lakers do not scare anyone anymore and even if they did, the Okies are too young to know any better. They will run the Lakers up and down the court and put up a noble fight, before eventually falling.
Lakers in 6
(2) Dallas Mavericks vs (7) San Antonio Spurs
The underrated Mavs are clicking at the right time, Jason Kidd is a man on a mission and the Spurs look old and slow. Dallas is simply the better team. We'll give Popovich one game and pride another, but that's about it.
Mavericks in 6
(3) Phoenix Suns vs (6) Portland Trail Blazers
Blazers PG Brandon Roy's injury killed their chances in this series, which we would have really liked. We think the Suns are overrated but with the injury situation, Portland is overmatched.
Suns in 5
(4) Denver Nuggets vs (5) Utah Jazz
This is going to be a phenomenal series. And the winner will beat up on the Lakers in the next round. "Win one for the Gipper" vibe aside, we learned long ago to never bet against Jerry Sloan in an evenly-matched series.
Jazz in 7
Conference Semifinals:
Lakers over Jazz in 6
Mavericks over Suns in 6
Western Conference Finals
Mavericks over Lakers in 6
NBA FINALS
Cleveland Cavaliers over Dallas Mavericks, in 6
~~~
Quote of the Week:
“Government taxes are but a pittance compared to the more grievous obligations we face, for we are twice as much by out idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly.”
--Benjamin Franklin
~~~
Internet Link of the Week:
In a nod to Epic Beard Man's video of posts past...
Click here.
~~~
Ridiculous Story That Actually Appeared in a Publication of the Week:
Here.
Wow. That's all we got. Wow.
~~~
Idiot Criminal of the Week:
Ben Roethlisberger of The Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh wait -- he's not been convicted of anything? Or even charged?
Then why is everyone looking to punish the guy? Don't care if it is the second woman; don't care if it is the 22nd woman -- dude was not charged with a criminal act. That means as far as the law is concerned, he did nothing wrong.
Let's be careful about wanting guys to suffer for things we think they did but they never got convicted of doing. Sometimes it's pretty clear the jury got it wrong. But what would you want people to do if it were you being accused of something you never got charged for?
~~~
Guest Rant:
[I have] to wonder, just what the fark is wrong with Peter Angelos, owner of the Baltimore Orioles. In a recent report, about hiring Cal Ripken in a baseball capacity, Angelos, nixed the idea in a separate conversation with Ripken, telling him, according to three sources, that he did not want Ripken to receive credit once the team returned to prominence.
Really? So now you're incapable of giving credit where it would be due. Seriosly? You're 1-10. Winning less than 10% of your games. Allow me to introduce you to a new dessert, Peter. It's called humble pie.
Never mind the 9,123 you drew to a game with NOTHING else going on in your town. There was no question about the Capitals making a playoff spot, nor was there any doubt the Wizards were going nowhere. So the distractions of other sports' playoff races was a non-factor, yet you drew 9,123 to watch Tampa (who was in the World Series in 2008) play your miserable, uninspired, unmotivated team. Please, do not be like the Brewers, and bitch about not having the money to spend on top-tier talent. With the luxury tax dollars and revenue sharing you're getting from teams that have the testicular fortitude to go out and spend some cash on players/managers/front office staff, you've got plenty of money to spend. This, is just more reason baseball either needs to contract, get rid of revenue sharing/luxury tax or institute a payroll floor that teams must spend xx amount or give back the revenue sharing money.
--Adamant baseball aficionado, road-trip buddy and Friend of Fodder Richard " 'lil Ricky" Adams.
~~~
Vintage Album Review of the Week:
Billy Joel
Glass Houses
1980You May Be Right - (4:15)*
Sometimes a Fantasy - (3:40)*
Don't Ask Me Why - (2:59)*
It's Still Rock and Roll to Me - (2:57)*
All for Leyna - (4:15)
I Don't Want to Be Alone - (3:57)
Sleeping with the Television On - (3:02)
Cétait Toi (You Were the One) - (3:25)
Close to the Borderline - (3:47)
Through the Long Night - (2:43)
* - singles
After the breakout The Stranger and its Grammy Award-winning, Album of the Year follow up 52nd Street, suddenly Billy Joel went from opening act/small club player to arena filler. Trouble was, he didn't feel he had the kind of material he needed to play the bigger venues. So, on his seventh album, be set about writing some rockers. The results, released 30 years ago this week, were mixed.
Billy has always had a hate/hate relationship with his record label. He has always felt they have tried to pigeonhole him in the crooner's corner, while he has adamantly protested that he's a rock 'n roll guy. Or as Rob Michaud, front man of Responsibly Johnny once put it, "he's pissed that he is famous but not for what he wants to be famous for". And while part of Joel's gripes with the label may be true, as evidenced by Columbia Records' single selection on his albums, the fact is that at the height of his creative career, at a time when he could have pretty much turned in anything and they would have had to accept, release and promote it, Billy only rocked so hard.
The very best material on this album never made it to the airwaves. Fortunately, neither did the very worst. All for Leyna, with its staccato keyboards and desperate lyrics perfectly encapsulate the angst of the spurned teen, who thinks he'll never meet another girl like her again. The masturbatory anthem that is Sometimes a Fantasy (with the second-best Billy Joel video ever) was released so late in the album that it never had a chance and Sleeping with the Television On was so perfect a pseudo-new-wave-yet-still-acceptable-in-the-suburbs tune, so singularly perfect a song for its time in popular music that the only way we can understand it not being released as a single is that some suit at Columbia went all Jack Wotlz on it, "it's perfect for him...it'll make him a big star! So Billy Joel never gets that single!"
As for the rest of the unreleased stuff, it ranges from mediocre (I Don't Want to Be Alone as a poor man's Piña Colada Song) to atrocious (Through the Long Night being, outside of If I Only Had the Words, Joel's absolute worst song. Ever.). Throw in some bad French on Cétait Toi (we checked with a buddy in Montreal to verify the poor quality) and his worst single ever, the uber-saccharine Don't Ask Me Why, and you have a not-so rocking, not so great set at times.
Still, You May Be Right closes Joel's concerts to this day, It's Still Rock and Roll to Me was his first number one single and the old folks love Don't Ask Me Why. The good stuff on this album is really good and many of them are amongst our favorite songs. The bad is tolerable, and is minimal. If looking for hidden gems, this is one of the best Billy Joel albums one could buy.
Music: 3 (of 5)
Lyrics: 3 (of 5)
Authorship: 4 (of 4)
Production: 3 (of 3)
Packaging: 2 (of 2)
First Blush: 2 (of 2)
Aging: 2 (of 3)
Videos: 1 (of 1)
Total: 20
Stars: 4.0 (of 5)
~~~
Parting shots:
Big props to Arizona, who is about to make it a state crime to be in the United States illegally. Heretofore, it was a federal infraction that local law enforcement had no power to enforce. This is not racism. This is protecting the border. As we've said ad nauseum, we have no problem with legal immigration. Pass a background check, get a job and come on in. But if you are here illegally, by definition everything you do here is illegal...Big thumbs down to Georgia which just became the first state without an arts agency. Because surely they're not wasting money elsewhere that could have gone to it...Idiot of the week runner-up goes to the ACLU (shock), who are actually opposing the Alabama Department of Corrections' policy of segregating HIV positive prisoners. Yeah, let one of them go to prison for, say, writing a bad check, then get ass-raped and come out of the pen with AIDS. Let's see how they feel about it then...Lest we be deluded into thinking the Donkeys have cornered the market on wasting our tax dollars, Taxpayers for Common Sense statistics place seven Elephants amongst the top 15 securers of earmarks paid to private companies...And finally, we leave you with this:
How bad does it suck to be Mayor Barbara Brock, of Tracy City, Tennessee, outside of the obvious fact that she lives in Tracy City, Tennessee? Well, she just lost her reelection bid to Carl Geary, by a vote of 268-85. Geary died three weeks before the election. To paraphrase the late, great Al Johnson, "It just ain't your damned day if you win an election and don't get to keep the job just because you're dead."
Until next time,
Keep the Faith
