The Chicago Bears might end up being what I hoped they would not be after all. Maybe they are what the pundits thought they were. I've been letting them off the hook. I've been crowning them. But, that hopefulness was as on paper as the upside of the 2014 Chicago Bears.
I expected to see some excellence, or at least improvement, during training camp. They say that they don't play those games to win, but rather to determine the ultimate composition of the team. They might try a few new plays, but they go vanilla and worry more about avoiding injury. That said, they were 2 for 4 in the pre-season and only scored more than 20 points once.
Yesterday against the Bills, they came out strong in the very first drive, and I thought it was going to be a quick, decisive win where the biggest concern was how much the defense could keep the Bills from scoring. Turned out to be a struggle through the end of regulation. From there, it was the opposite of the Lovie Smith era, where he'd defer on the coin toss and let his defense get the ball back in OT. Mentally, that had to be crushing for the opponent when it worked.
Unfortunately, when the Marc Trestman offense gets the ball, it's less of a sure thing that they'll drive enough to hit a field goal. And even if that was the outcome, the new rule would allow the Bills a chance to match. Based on what we saw yesterday, I'm fairly certain they would have scored.
Lovie's old coaching philosophy seemed to be "don't let their offense beat us" and the new Trestman philosophy appears to be: "we're playing to not lose". This has to become more mercenary if the Bears are going to get into the playoffs at all. The offense has to be able to score at will. There need to be more plays like the first drive. If it worked once, they should keep doing it until the other team can stop it.
Overall, I know it's just the first game and probably a little early to panic, but the next seven games should be more difficult than the one they just lost at home, at noon. They fly to SF for a Sunday night game this week, to NY for a Monday night game the following week, then they face the Packers, Panthers, and Falcons before facing the Dolphins (the next game they should be able to win). Then back to NE to face the Pats before the bye. Tough stuff.
Just to leave on a positive note, I saw some great stuff from Willie Young on defense and the replacements on the o-line. No real drop in production there after the starters went out with injuries. And, as usual, Matt Forte was consistent and excellent.
September 8, 2014
August 27, 2014
Bands You May Have Missed
In the 90s, during my 20s, I lived music - listening, making, and discovering it with a fervor. There wasn't an internet like there is now, so learning about new stuff hinged upon your network: what you read, who you talked to, and whether someone surprised you as an opening band.
Some excellent bands got through the cracks and didn't become the national treasures that they deserve to be. Here are a few:
1. Hum - These guys made it to the national level, but are still mostly forgotten (except for the incessant Cadillac commercials featuring their biggest song a few years back). Pity, because they were both an excellent band, but also really nice guys. I met them on one of their first tours (I think) at Otto's (my stomping ground back then) supporting their first release - a cassette called Filet Show. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Their songs undulated like waves. They didn't follow typical song structure, but even with odd time signatures, there was something comfortable about the music. And the heavy was awesome.
A year or two later, I got to open for them (and Shiner) at an outdoor festival. I stood with the drummer from Hum (Bryan St. Pere) through the entire Shiner set, talking gear, music, and what a beast Tim Dow was. ("Dude's a weapon!") By then, they were locally huge, getting national attention. Hell, I saw them on MTV playing live in studio. I'm not sure what happened, but after their last record in 1998, they disappeared.
2. Shiner - Similar to Hum, they made music that spoke directly to me. I'm not sure if it was some kind of communal lexicon of local source material that spawned this Midwest wave of post-punk (not grunge), but whatever it was, I loved it. Where Hum seemed to have 10 guitarists on the stage, Shiner was a power trio that exemplified the term, although eventually they added another guitarist. Out of Kansas City and contemporaries with Hum, they never really got the exposure they were due. Two of their records are two of my all-time favorites. This is a pretty inventive, solid band that also basically dissolved, but apparently they went out on tour a couple years back:
3. Riddle of Steel - I'm late to the game on these guys. Too late, it seems. But they made a record that I have recently discovered based on some mix somewhere that contained the song Aquiline. There's still something transcendent about the way that song hits my ears. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it doesn't really sound like the rest of the album, and it casts some sort of spell on me. After finding a few other songs, I realized that I should just buy the whole thing. That wasn't so easy. Not only did they not become a household name, but their excellent record (Got This Feelin') was nowhere to be found. I bought the CD used from an online seller and it turned out to be in nearly perfect condition. Then I found the Riddle of Steel bandcamp page. Seriously, check them out.
4. Clockhammer - This is kind of an anomaly, even by the standards of this post. I accidentally discovered this band while moving LP racks in the record store I worked for in the very early 90s. It was a demo CD sent by First Warning (part of BMG) that literally slipped through the cracks. I picked the disk up off the floor and had no idea who they were, but gave it a spin in the store stereo. I was stunned. It was beautiful. How had I never even heard their name before? Why were these not flying off the shelf? (Did we even have it in stock?) They seem to have suffered the fate of many bands who didn't have a strong, built-in following before signing with a major.
They were another power trio, getting maximum sound from minimal instrumentation. (This is probably a concept worthy of its own post.) The music is also melodic and interesting - maybe that's the common thread here, but I don't understand how that doesn't translate to "popular" somehow. Try to see past the quality of this video and dig what they're doing musically:
5. Jawbox - this is one that got through my radar field undetected. I've known about them since the 90s but had been ignoring them. Possibly, I heard a song or two that didn't inspire me to research further, and now I'm catching up. These guys might not be such a revelation as they got some notoriety along the lines and level of Hum. Still, though - not a household name, and there's really no good reason for it.
P.S. - Metroschifter.
Some excellent bands got through the cracks and didn't become the national treasures that they deserve to be. Here are a few:
1. Hum - These guys made it to the national level, but are still mostly forgotten (except for the incessant Cadillac commercials featuring their biggest song a few years back). Pity, because they were both an excellent band, but also really nice guys. I met them on one of their first tours (I think) at Otto's (my stomping ground back then) supporting their first release - a cassette called Filet Show. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Their songs undulated like waves. They didn't follow typical song structure, but even with odd time signatures, there was something comfortable about the music. And the heavy was awesome.
A year or two later, I got to open for them (and Shiner) at an outdoor festival. I stood with the drummer from Hum (Bryan St. Pere) through the entire Shiner set, talking gear, music, and what a beast Tim Dow was. ("Dude's a weapon!") By then, they were locally huge, getting national attention. Hell, I saw them on MTV playing live in studio. I'm not sure what happened, but after their last record in 1998, they disappeared.
2. Shiner - Similar to Hum, they made music that spoke directly to me. I'm not sure if it was some kind of communal lexicon of local source material that spawned this Midwest wave of post-punk (not grunge), but whatever it was, I loved it. Where Hum seemed to have 10 guitarists on the stage, Shiner was a power trio that exemplified the term, although eventually they added another guitarist. Out of Kansas City and contemporaries with Hum, they never really got the exposure they were due. Two of their records are two of my all-time favorites. This is a pretty inventive, solid band that also basically dissolved, but apparently they went out on tour a couple years back:
3. Riddle of Steel - I'm late to the game on these guys. Too late, it seems. But they made a record that I have recently discovered based on some mix somewhere that contained the song Aquiline. There's still something transcendent about the way that song hits my ears. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it doesn't really sound like the rest of the album, and it casts some sort of spell on me. After finding a few other songs, I realized that I should just buy the whole thing. That wasn't so easy. Not only did they not become a household name, but their excellent record (Got This Feelin') was nowhere to be found. I bought the CD used from an online seller and it turned out to be in nearly perfect condition. Then I found the Riddle of Steel bandcamp page. Seriously, check them out.
4. Clockhammer - This is kind of an anomaly, even by the standards of this post. I accidentally discovered this band while moving LP racks in the record store I worked for in the very early 90s. It was a demo CD sent by First Warning (part of BMG) that literally slipped through the cracks. I picked the disk up off the floor and had no idea who they were, but gave it a spin in the store stereo. I was stunned. It was beautiful. How had I never even heard their name before? Why were these not flying off the shelf? (Did we even have it in stock?) They seem to have suffered the fate of many bands who didn't have a strong, built-in following before signing with a major.
They were another power trio, getting maximum sound from minimal instrumentation. (This is probably a concept worthy of its own post.) The music is also melodic and interesting - maybe that's the common thread here, but I don't understand how that doesn't translate to "popular" somehow. Try to see past the quality of this video and dig what they're doing musically:
5. Jawbox - this is one that got through my radar field undetected. I've known about them since the 90s but had been ignoring them. Possibly, I heard a song or two that didn't inspire me to research further, and now I'm catching up. These guys might not be such a revelation as they got some notoriety along the lines and level of Hum. Still, though - not a household name, and there's really no good reason for it.
P.S. - Metroschifter.
August 26, 2014
Cutting the Cord on Wireless (Not Really)
Since June of last year, I've had three Motorola Droid Razr M phones. The first one had some odd manufacturing troubles, although I already can't remember what they were. The replacement had a shudder that affected the entire phone. The display would shift when it happened (randomly - couldn't detect a pattern) and I once captured it in a double-exposed photo. Very odd.
The replacement for that phone was a refurbished one which came to me with a limp on/off button and scratches on all the corners. Not only had it been used before, but it was pretty worn out. On the other hand, it's a device that runs faster than the first three or four computers I owned, loads things from the Internet quicker than our home DSL, takes better photos than our first few digital cameras, plays every song under the sun, shows feature films from every era, and fits in my pocket.
So, in keeping perspective, as long as it would turn on and off and do the basics (phone calls, texts, camera), then I could live with some of the other stuff. Then they updated the software, which broke wi-fi and bluetooth. It's a tricky issue because there are layers of culpability.
Layer 1: Android. Owned by Google, this is the operating system that rivals Apple's iOS. The major difference between the two is that iOS only appears on Apple devices, where Android appears on many manufacturers' phones. So, when Android updates their kernel (base software), the OEMs need to retrofit the changes in the software to the hardware they've developed.
Layer 2: Motorola. I jumped in with Motorola (now also owned by Google) with my first smartphone, which I loved. That was a giant leap from a flip phone to the world of smartphones. From that first smartphone to the Razr M, it was more of a refinement in what I wanted, and the Razr M covered everything. Small form factor, minimal bloatware, solid performance across the board. However, there must have been manufacturing issues, or maybe the size/performance ratio was too good to be true. Either way, I have had three already with a fourth on the way.
Layer 3: Verizon. The juggernaut. We'd been on AT&T and T-Mobile in the past and neither came close to the coverage that Verizon has. We figured that since the cost was so similar, we might as well be on the best network, and we've been with them for quite a few years now. The Razr M would have been my choice on any network, but as luck had it, they were very inexpensive coupled with a 2-year contract on Verizon. And, when the first two went awry, Vz was very good about issuing replacements (although they also had defects).
Earlier this year, Android put out an update to their kernel to address a security issue they had discovered. In the meantime, they also tidied up some other things, including their bluetooth implementation. After having some work done on my car where the power was disconnected for a while, I could no longer pair my phone to the car anymore. Worse yet, wi-fi barely worked, and if an app didn't have the directive to only use wi-fi, it would revert to network data. I first noticed the difference when our bill arrived the month after the update.
There were clearly numerous issues, but it was hard to pin down who would be responsible. My first point of contact is Verizon, since I got the phone through them. Since my warranty was up, their primary directive was to sell me an extended warranty, but really, a warranty would only cause them to send me a new phone with the same software, and thus the same issue. (Until there's an update to the car stereo or the phone's OS bluetooth implementation, nothing will change.) So, I'd be spending more money to not have a phone that would be constantly in transit.
Second contact was to Motorola, who seemed to be much more contrite and offered to send me another replacement "just in case" it works. My hopes are low, but I figured I might as well get a newer phone in the short term. However, since it's out of warranty, they're not taking any chances with me; my options are to send out my phone and wait for the replacement to arrive, or let them hold $100 on my credit card and ship the replacement first.
I opted to send my phone out first and take a few days off from smartphones. It's a little startling how embedded it has become in my daily routine. I can't check the traffic en route to work. I can't quickly access the weather. I can't dictate a quick message to Jennie.
On the other hand, I read a whole article in Wired (the paper version) this morning, was able to call my folks from the car on my old flip phone (battery lasts forever!), and I looked up the weather when I got to work. Maybe I need to be more conscientious about when and where I'm using it when I get it back. I feel like I had been using it less, but not having it in my pocket leaves me feeling exposed. I can't call up an answer at any given moment.
Maybe that's not the worst thing. I've toyed with the idea of going back to a standard phone (man, that sounds like an addict talking, doesn't it?) but I think I get enough value out of the smartphone on a regular basis that I'll keep it. It's changed how I get places, find my car, track my fitness, and other things I didn't have options for in the past. Mostly, though, I think I had an inclination that this day would eventually come when I was selling modem attachments for Palm Pilots around Y2K. The utility of a smartphone is everything I had hoped for back then and much more, but it's the coolness factor that will probably keep me hooked.
The replacement for that phone was a refurbished one which came to me with a limp on/off button and scratches on all the corners. Not only had it been used before, but it was pretty worn out. On the other hand, it's a device that runs faster than the first three or four computers I owned, loads things from the Internet quicker than our home DSL, takes better photos than our first few digital cameras, plays every song under the sun, shows feature films from every era, and fits in my pocket.
So, in keeping perspective, as long as it would turn on and off and do the basics (phone calls, texts, camera), then I could live with some of the other stuff. Then they updated the software, which broke wi-fi and bluetooth. It's a tricky issue because there are layers of culpability.
Layer 1: Android. Owned by Google, this is the operating system that rivals Apple's iOS. The major difference between the two is that iOS only appears on Apple devices, where Android appears on many manufacturers' phones. So, when Android updates their kernel (base software), the OEMs need to retrofit the changes in the software to the hardware they've developed.
Layer 2: Motorola. I jumped in with Motorola (now also owned by Google) with my first smartphone, which I loved. That was a giant leap from a flip phone to the world of smartphones. From that first smartphone to the Razr M, it was more of a refinement in what I wanted, and the Razr M covered everything. Small form factor, minimal bloatware, solid performance across the board. However, there must have been manufacturing issues, or maybe the size/performance ratio was too good to be true. Either way, I have had three already with a fourth on the way.
Layer 3: Verizon. The juggernaut. We'd been on AT&T and T-Mobile in the past and neither came close to the coverage that Verizon has. We figured that since the cost was so similar, we might as well be on the best network, and we've been with them for quite a few years now. The Razr M would have been my choice on any network, but as luck had it, they were very inexpensive coupled with a 2-year contract on Verizon. And, when the first two went awry, Vz was very good about issuing replacements (although they also had defects).
Earlier this year, Android put out an update to their kernel to address a security issue they had discovered. In the meantime, they also tidied up some other things, including their bluetooth implementation. After having some work done on my car where the power was disconnected for a while, I could no longer pair my phone to the car anymore. Worse yet, wi-fi barely worked, and if an app didn't have the directive to only use wi-fi, it would revert to network data. I first noticed the difference when our bill arrived the month after the update.
There were clearly numerous issues, but it was hard to pin down who would be responsible. My first point of contact is Verizon, since I got the phone through them. Since my warranty was up, their primary directive was to sell me an extended warranty, but really, a warranty would only cause them to send me a new phone with the same software, and thus the same issue. (Until there's an update to the car stereo or the phone's OS bluetooth implementation, nothing will change.) So, I'd be spending more money to not have a phone that would be constantly in transit.
Second contact was to Motorola, who seemed to be much more contrite and offered to send me another replacement "just in case" it works. My hopes are low, but I figured I might as well get a newer phone in the short term. However, since it's out of warranty, they're not taking any chances with me; my options are to send out my phone and wait for the replacement to arrive, or let them hold $100 on my credit card and ship the replacement first.
I opted to send my phone out first and take a few days off from smartphones. It's a little startling how embedded it has become in my daily routine. I can't check the traffic en route to work. I can't quickly access the weather. I can't dictate a quick message to Jennie.
On the other hand, I read a whole article in Wired (the paper version) this morning, was able to call my folks from the car on my old flip phone (battery lasts forever!), and I looked up the weather when I got to work. Maybe I need to be more conscientious about when and where I'm using it when I get it back. I feel like I had been using it less, but not having it in my pocket leaves me feeling exposed. I can't call up an answer at any given moment.
Maybe that's not the worst thing. I've toyed with the idea of going back to a standard phone (man, that sounds like an addict talking, doesn't it?) but I think I get enough value out of the smartphone on a regular basis that I'll keep it. It's changed how I get places, find my car, track my fitness, and other things I didn't have options for in the past. Mostly, though, I think I had an inclination that this day would eventually come when I was selling modem attachments for Palm Pilots around Y2K. The utility of a smartphone is everything I had hoped for back then and much more, but it's the coolness factor that will probably keep me hooked.
August 12, 2014
Mark Lanegan Band - 4AD Sessions
This dude is the real life analogue to Tom Waits and his persona. That grindy voice? It's earned. That growl? It's fair warning. I've been a fan of the guy since my friend Bill played Orange Airplane for me back in the day. Got to see the Screaming Trees live in the tiny Eagles Club and then was pretty excited to recognize his voice as part of Queens of the Stone Age years later. And now this:
He's been mostly off the mainstream radar, but making music that I love all along. Thanks for the tip, Brad!
He's been mostly off the mainstream radar, but making music that I love all along. Thanks for the tip, Brad!
August 4, 2014
Doctor Werewolf - Trololo Man Remix (Doctor Werewolf Troll Face Mix)
This is at once everything that's wrong with music these days and also something I can listen to for days on end. It's a Youtube-generated meme coupled with dubstep, but then there's that basic, simple beat appended - totally makes the song. I don't really go for the idea of "guilty pleasure" because if I like it, I like it. This song stretches my boundaries - I feel a little guilty.
Decide for yourself:
Decide for yourself:
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