Quotes of the Month: May 2015

Quote of the Month: "I want to make a heartfelt apology for whatever it is I end up accidentally saying during the forthcoming Jurassic World press tour."
-Chris Pratt

Stupid Quote of the Month: "I gotta pay the bills."
-Bill Clinton

and the rest...
"She's absolutely wrong."

-Barack Obama on Elizabeth Warren

"I'm naked and afraid."

-David Letterman on retirement

"Members deserve to be paid, staff deserves to be paid and the cost of living here is causing serious problems for people who are not wealthy to serve in this institution."

-Rep. Alcee Hastings

“When will the media ask @BarackObama & @HillaryClinton key question for 2016- Knowing what we know now, would you still have abandoned Iraq?”

-Liz Cheney

"I created a monster."

-Art Garfunkel on Paul Simon

"Let's be honest: Some black lives really don't matter. If you are a young black man shot in the head by another young black man, almost certainly no one will know your name. Al Sharpton won't come rushing to your family's side with cameras in tow. MSNBC won't discuss the significance of your death. No one will protest, or even riot, for you. You are a statistic, not a cause. Just another dead black kid, politically useless to progressives and the media, therefore all but invisible."

-Rich Lowry

Joe DiMaggio: Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 1955

Born: November 25, 1914

1932: Made professional debut

1933: 61-game hit streak in PCL

1934: Tore knee ligaments stepping out of a taxi

1934: Traded by San Francisco Seals to Yankees

1935: DiMaggio remained with Seals for one season as part of the trade. Seals win PCL & DiMaggio is MVP.

Debut: May 3, 1936 (Yankees)

1936-39: Yankees win World Series

1937: Married actress Dorothy Arnold (later divorced)

1939: Dubbed “The Yankee Clipper” for the first time

1939: Lou Gehrig retires

1939: Won Batting Title (.381)

1939: AL MVP

1940: Won Batting Title (.352)

1941: 56-game hitting streak

1941: Yankees win World Series

1941: AL MVP

1942: Yankees lose World Series to Cardinals

1943-45: Military service in World War II

1947: Yankees almost trade DiMaggio to Red Sox for Ted Williams. Yanks bow out when Sox demanded Yogi Berra as well.

1947: Yankees win World Series

1947: AL MVP

1949: Becomes the first player to earn $100,000 (under $1 million in today’s dollars)

1949-51: Yankees win World Series

1951: DiMaggio is blamed for a career-threatening knee injury to Mickey Mantle.

1951: Retired

1954: Married Marilyn Monroe (they divorced 274 days later)

1955: Elected to Hall of Fame

1962: Monroe died and DiMaggio handled the funeral arrangements

1968: Dubbed “The Greatest Living Ballplayer” by writers

1968: Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” asks “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?”

1968-70: A’s coach (worked with Reggie Jackson)

1970s-90s: Mr. Coffee spokesman

1999: Died

1999: Elected to All Century Team

2011: USPS unveils DiMaggio stamp

Accomplishments

9x World Champion

13x All Star

3x MVP

2x batting champ

.325 career hitter

Hit .300: 11x

Hit .350+: 3x

1390 runs

100+ runs: 8x

Led league w/151 runs (1937)

2214 hits

200+ hits: 2x

389 doubles

30+ doubles: 7x

40+ doubles: 2x

131 triples

10+ triples: 8x

15+ triples: 2x

Led league w/15 triples (1936)

361 home runs

Led league in HR: 2x

30+ HR: 7x

46 HR (1937)

1537 RBI

100+ RBI: 9x

150+ RBI: 2x

Led league in RBI: 2x

790 walks-369 strikeouts

.398 OBP

.400 OBP: 5x

.579 slugging

.500 slugging: 11x

.600 slugging: 4x

Led league in slugging: 2x

.977 OPS

OPS 1.000+:  5x

3948 TB

300+ TB: 9x

418 TB (1937)

Led league in TB: 3x

Postseason: .338, 8 HR, 30 RBI, .760 OPS (10 World Series-Won 9)

Top 200 Albums of All Time: S Artists part 1

Never Mind the Bullocks: The Sex Pistols (1977)
The Sex Pistols took punk confrontation to its logical conclusion in 1977. The combat boot wearing spike haired band defined the movement socially, musically, and cosmetically. The band professed anarchy and dissed the queen scaring some record companies and fans. The punk music as a whole confused most people. After all, why would fans want to be spit on?

Key Tracks:
God Save the Queen
Anarchy in the U.K.
Pretty Vacant

Graceland: Paul Simon (1986)
Hard to believe Graceland is 25 years old. The album includes South African influences essentially merging Simon’s personal beliefs, humor, and South African culture. It also provided the classic “You Can Call Me Al.”

Key Tracks:
Graceland
You Can Call Me Al
All Around the World of the Myth of Fingerprints

Bridge Over Troubled Water: Simon and Garfunkel (1970)
Simon and Garfunkel released one of the last albums to close the sixties and open the seventies. They captured a time and place on vinyl, which is why it connected. Like the next entry does for 1992, Bridge Over Troubled Water provides a time capsule to 1970.

Key Tracks:
Bridge Over Troubled Water
El Condor Pasa (If I Could)
Cecilia
The Boxer

Singles: Soundtrack (1992)
If you want to understand 1992, then listen to the Singles soundtrack. The album is loaded with so-called grunge artists as well as classic rockers like Hendrix and Heart. Singles explains disillusionment, youth, and hope that permeated the period and Bill Clinton tapped.

Key Tracks:
Would? (Alice in Chains)
Breath (Pearl Jam)
Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns (Mother Love Bone)
State of Love and Trust (Pearl Jam)
Waiting for Somebody (Paul Westerberg)
Nearly Lost You (Screaming Trees)

Reign in Blood: Slayer (1986)
In 1986, Slayer released the Trash Metal classic Reign in Blood. The album lasts about a half an hour, but fills the listener with Slayer’s brutality. This is the album to listen to if one wants to understand thrash and compare it to classic metal or hair metal.

Key Tracks:
Angel of Death
Raining Blood

#37 Simon and Garfunkel

Folk music became huge in the early 60s between Elvis induction into the army and Beatlemania. Simon and Garfunkel found their calling during this period. The childhood friends decided to do music. After a false start, they recorded “Sounds of Silence” in 1966. They continued to release hit singles. In 1968, they worked on the soundtrack to “The Graduate.” In 1969, “Mrs. Robinson” won the Grammy for Record of the Year. Their last major hit occurred in 1970. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” capped their career. The two split in 1970. Paul Simon continued to record (see #56) and was very successful. Art Garfunkel recorded and acted. Simon was clearly more successful. They’d reunite occasionally through the years including the 1981 Central Park concert, the 2003 Grammy Awards, and a two month tour in 2003. They toured again in 2005 and plan a 2009 tour.

Rock n Roll Moment: They played to 500,000 fans at their 1981 Reunion Concert in Central Park.

Essential Simon and Garfunkel:

Sounds of Silence (1966)
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme (1966)
Bookends (1968)
Bridge Over Troubled Waters (1970)

S&G’s Top 10:

The Sound of Silence
Homeward Bound
I Am A Rock
A Hazy Shade of Winter
Scarborough Fair
Mrs. Robinson
The Boxer
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Cecilia
America