#i keep forgetting pete plays the harmonica

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

[amthoughtsintowords]

Remembering Stan the Man

(From January 2013)

Thoughts on Stan Musial

  January 22, 2013

 You never forget your first time.

Certainly it was true in this case; the case being my initial meeting with Stan Musial.

I was born a year before he retired as a player, so my recollections of his on-field exploits were built from highlight clips and baseball cards, as well as through the eyes of others.  But what struck me about this man – no, THE Man –was how important he became to people in the generations AFTER he played.  You just can’t say that about many people.  Growing up, and in the years that followed, it’s amazing to me that, sports fans or not, multitudes of people are familiar with and have grown to love Stan Musial.

I worked on a lengthy piece for television with Mike Bush several years ago – long enough ago that Stan still occupied an office at his old restaurant on Oakland Avenue; a building that is nothing more than a faint recollection to anyone born after 1970. In any event, I had interviewed Jack Buck about Stan, and I heard him affirm aloud that while he may have seemed too good to be true as a man apart from his sport, he indeed “may have been about the nicest man on the face of the earth.”  I also interviewed Harry Caray, who described Musial’s heroics to Cardinals fans over the airwaves for 17 of Stan’s 22 seasons.  Harry could be downright unfair toward some players, but he was nothing but reverent when he spoke about Musial that day; in fact, his voice rose into a feverish pitch as he described the day 32 years earlier when Stan the Man hit five home runs in a doubleheader --and nearly hit more!, he exclaimed like a little kid.

I went with Mike the day he interviewed Stan.  My head was filled with his achievements:  the 3,630 career hits – amazingly, 1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road – the 24 All-Star games, the homer to win the 1955 Classic, the swan song base hits past a rookie named Pete Rose in 1963.  And I was aware of the way others felt about him, but meeting him only affirmed what a decent man he was:  engaging, a smile that never left his face, filled with stories, and though we were there for a while he never once looked at his watch or gave any indication that he had more important things to do.  And when we left, it was if we left the company of an old friend, one you couldn’t wait to see again.

My favorite story that he told involved his milestone 3000th career hit.  He went on to say that there were only about ten thousand people in attendance at Wrigley Field that day, but since then probably three times as many folks had come up and told him they were there.  And then he reared his head back and laughed at his own joke as if someone was telling it to him for the first time.

The comparisons to his contemporaries were inevitable; with Williams, with DiMaggio, with Mays. Willie was flash and boyish enthusiasm but “The Say Hey Kid” could also be prickly with outsiders.  Williams may have been a more explosive hitter but he didn’t limit that explosiveness to hitting a baseball:  his hate-hate relationship with the Boston media was well known.  And the great DiMag, the man revered in literature and song, was aloof and kept his distance from the admiring throng, as if he walked on a higher plane than mere mortals.  But Stan – that man, The Man, embraced everyone in his midst.  He made us all as much a part of him as he was a part of us. Those other megastars may have flashed more brightly or more keenly, but not one of them – no one, perhaps – carved out heroics as consistently, as steadily, and yes, as decently, as our Stan. Nothing speaks more to his perfection in knighthood as does his 71-year – let that sink in for a minute – 71-year marriage to his fair lady, Lil.  And less than a year after her passing, Stan decided it was time for him, too, to go. He had been away from her too long, perhaps.  Don’t we all aspire to, and so many of us fall well short of, such a tender bond enriched by so many years together?

Whether in giving out autographs by the pen-load, serenading thousands on the harmonica, or greeting everyone in his path with a trademark, “Whaddayasay, whaddayasay, whaddayasay?!,” Stan Musial lifted us up to his level as opposed to deigning us with his presence.  It was no wonder that this man, The Man, who lived through the terms of 17 U.S. presidents and rubbed elbows with twelve of them, was embraced by succeeding generations of St. Louisans who learned the legend of his baseball feats from their elders but carried him in their hearts merely by what he did..and was..long after he retired.

I remember seeing Stan hit a home run in a Sunday Old Timers’ game at Busch Stadium – in the highlights on television; my best friend got to see it in person.  He was over 50 when he did it, a poke over the right field wall, and I still recall the thrill I had in seeing it.  To my young eyes, it was if this great baseball player could be retired but still come back and hit a homer any time he wanted to.  If I was more in touch with my thoughts at that young age (I was ten), I might have had a similar notion to the one Mr. Buck did after he witnessed that five-homer day in Jack’s first year in calling major league games:  “Does he do this every Sunday?”

Outside of this area, there had to be reminders to his greatness in later years:  Baseball commissioner Bud Selig had to use the powers of his office to add Musial to the All-Century team in 1999, for example. Writer Joe Posnanski wrote a terrific cover story on Stan in Sports Illustrated a few years ago, letting the rest of the world in on our little secret – the greatness and sheer decency that was, is, and forever will be, Stan Musial.  He painted a loving portrait, enhanced with stories such as the time the veteran Musial rapped a late-inning, bases-loaded double against the Cubs that was wrongly called foul.  Two Cardinals were thrown out of the game for vehemently arguing the call, and nearly a third.  Musial calmly asked what the hubbub was about, shrugged his shoulders, and went back to the plate and stroked an identical double, a ball hit mere inches and yet, obviously more fair than the last.  Posnanski added keen brushstrokes, such as the amazing note that in over three thousand big league games, Musial was never ejected.  People from in and out of the game of baseball shared to the writer what we in St. Louis have never taken for granted:  Stan was a treasure to meet, to know, to be with.  It was a painting that we in St. Louis had in our mind’s eye all along, but millions more were allowed in to see and appreciate the masterpiece that had always been in our very midst.

I got to see and talk to Stan several more times over the years; always an honor, never taken for granted, and every time as special as the first.  But never quite like the first.

People who have never called St. Louis home wonder how a man can mean so much to one city.  Perhaps it will be a secret we’ll keep from those outsiders – how The Man will always be so important to this city.

[wellamarke]

ULTIMATE PLAYLIST: 2016 EDITION

Woops, it got to be March without me posting these. Here’s a little thing I’ve been doing since 2010, where I make a playlist of my favourite songs from the year. The 2016 list is very Lenka/Ingrid Michaelson heavy, for various reasons (but a big one being that Ingrid’s newest album ‘It Doesn’t Have to Make Sense.’ is one of my favourite albums of all time. The entire record features on this list - that’s never happened before.)

Putting the track listing under a cut because I tend to ramble on!

1. Blue Skies - Lenka “It's gonna be blue skies for you and I, we'll step out of the shadows and walk into the light” In some ways this song doesn’t feel very Lenka-y, being a little bit techno-y with echoes and such, but in all the ways that matter it’s a classic piece of Lenka goodness, uplifting and cutely cutely cute. 

2. Somewhere Out There - Danny Pudi and Donald Glover “And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby, it helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky!” So, if you’ve been following me for any amount of time you probably know that I became utter trash for the show Community this year (like, we’re talking, top 2 TV shows of all time level of trash, I love it so much, I don’t know how or why I lived before it) and especially Troy and Abed and their friendship. They sing this song as a duet to their rat in season 1 episode 10, aka the episode where my soul was finally consumed into Community hell never to return. The whole end section of that episode is a true gift, and it’s overlaid with this song. Which then becomes HORRIFICALLY APPROPRIATE for the two characters later in the show, leading to me just wanting to cry and/or die every time I hear it. So y’know. Top quality stuff. 

3. Another Life - Ingrid Michaelson “It's in the galaxies and all the history books - I think we shared another life, don't you?” A beautiful song to start off the torrential downpour of tracks from this album (I’m not joking, every multiple of 3 on this list is from ‘It Doesn’t Have to Make Sense’. This is serious obsessive business.) 

4. Get Together - Lenka  “Now we're all together and I hope it lasts forever, got my people here tonight” Listen, show me a song that somehow alludes to a group of friends who love each other, and I’ll show you my new favourite song. I can’t. Get. Enough. (If you were wondering what appeals to me about the aforementioned Community, I’ll, er, give you 3 guesses?) 

5. Ampersand - Bittereinder  “Daar’s iets primitief in ’n stem en ’n beat, dis die eerste musiek, dis die voete om ’n vuur” I think this is the first year that Afrikaans has made it as the only extra language (not an Italian track in sight, woops) and this is prooobably the first song that’s ever got on one of these lists that could properly be called a rap, haha. I don’t know what it is about Bittereinder...I don’t usually like anything like this....but... it’s Bittereinder. They own me. 

6. Celebrate - Ingrid Michaelson “This is my throwback song, it’s just like the ones, the ones that we used to know” My my, is this a nostalgia song? Welcome to my favourite songs ever, you rose-tinted bag o’ wistful feelings! 

7. No Harm Tonight - Lenka  “Nothing will harm you tonight, all of your darkness will turn into light”  This song is sooooo beautiful, lyrically and musically and gaaaaah, it’s just so adorable. In a year when I have become even less emotionally demonstrative than ever (I know, but yeah apparently there was room to go further) I have compensated by collecting some of the mushiest songs going. Ya gotta reroute it to somewhere, I guess.

8. Toe Vind Ek Jou - Francois Van Coke (with Karen Zoid) “Ek het genoeg gegee, ek het genoeg geskree, ek het lankal terug geleer, maar nog steeds het ek probeer” AAAAH this song maaan. So good. If you’ve ever read one of these lists or just in general seen me talking about music, you may know I have a bIG weakness for duets, and particularly male/female duets, so, with the added bonus of it being Francois, this was always going to be a winner for me. Such a good song UGH. 

9. Drink You Gone - Ingrid Michaelson “Like a sinking ship while the band plays on, when I dream you're there, I can't even sleep you gone” This song is honestly so painful. Aaah the emotion in the chorus is just, that shouldn’t be allowed in mp3 format. No, Ingrid, stop. (By which I mean never stop.) A deliberate misinterpretation of this song makes it an EXCELLENT and DEVASTATING Karen/Pete song (Humans ship of sadness). She can’t drink him gone, she can’t smoke him out... she can’t eat away the way that he ate her heart out.... because she’s a robot... ha .... geddit.

10. Joni Was Right - Marit Larsen  “Time just sent me off to bed, love was just a word we said, I thought someone would always keep me safe” For obvious title-based reasons, I would have loved this song even if it was three hours of a duck trying to play a harmonica, but as it turns out, it’s my favourite kind of nostalgia-laden, bittersweet lyric and it’s so, so beautiful. Like, Marit Larsen didn’t even have to try to win me here but she still brought this masterpiece. Amazing. (More on the ridiculous levels of coincidence surrounding this album later in the list.) 

11. Grow - Frances  “You know I'm here holding on, tying up your loose ends and your drifting esteem” I can’t remember how I came across this song now... was it a fanvid for something?... but I’m glad I did, because it’s beautiful. You know how my writing is so often in a kind of wannabe hurt/comfort genre? Yeah, my music isn’t all that different. Supportive friendship is such a great concept! The application is... ew.... but the theory’s great. 

12. Hell No - Ingrid Michaelson  “Stop crying, stop crawling, can’t you see that I have stopped falling?” This sooooong has the kind of attitude I strive for, I LOVE it. As much as it’s a rage anthem, it has a positive message about self-reliance and is SO FUN TO SING. That’s an important ingredient for me. (Also, there are lines in it - like the ones quoted - that are scary relatable.) 

13. Roll With the Punches - Lenka “When life tries to knock all the wind out of you, you've got to roll, roll, roll with the punches” Now THIS is the Lenka I have known and loved for so long - she made my first Ultimate Playlist and she’ll probably make my last. But for so long I had only ever heard ‘The Show’, the album I was obsessed with in 2010. This year I discovered, like, 3 other Lenka albums, which was a joy, and this song....SO FUN. SO CUTE. SO SINGABLE. SO LENKA. I can’t say enough good things about it. 

14. Fools - Lauren Aquilina  “I don't want you to go but I want you so, so tell me what we choose” I kind of wish this song had come to me earlier, because it really caught me on the very tail end of its relevance to my life, but then, these things often do. I like having a concise way to look back on things, though, so this works just as well in hindsight as it might have in realtime :D 

15. I Remember Her - Ingrid Michaelson  “Things they fade, things turn to grey. As much as I try to save them, they turn to grey.” Just. I cannot. This song is sooo sad. It might be the saddest one ever to make it to one of these lists, unless I had ‘Song for Josh’ last year, which I think I did, so call it the joint saddest. I mean I guess both subjectively and objectively 2016 was a pretty sad year, so it makes sense. Damn it, Ingrid!

16. Kwaad Naas - Bittereinder “I grew up in the Moot, but my Afrikaans is limited to net ‘n paar woorde” Another awesome bilingual raptastic track from Bittereinder, my loves. This lyric especially illustrates why I love it so much, for I too communicate sometimes in a mixture of Afrikaans and English (usually when trying to Afrikaans and forgetting half the words. Dis ‘n curse, ek kan nie help dit.) 

17. Sad Song - Lenka “Everyone's compelled to look into the mirror when they're crying, but just because your tears are pretty doesn't mean they'll get you by” Oh Lenka, you sound so happy but you talk so wise. I love this song so much, it doesn’t sound like it’s gonna be deep when you hear the general sound of it, but then it is. That’s kinda Lenka’s thing, I guess. The chorus especially is IMMENSELY singable. 

18. Light Me Up - Ingrid Michaelson “Well you’re not what I was looking for, but your arms were open at my door” There are a whole bunch of repetitive lyrics towards the end but my oh my, what a beautiful sound. Just gorgeous. 

19. Morgan, I Might - Marit Larsen “I might have been guilty of thinking one day I'd find myself waking up with you.” Listen, Marit Larsen has always had a timeshare on my brain. I just accept that now. That’s the only way it makes sense that she can write things so exactly right. But she used to be subtle with it, you know? She used to leave the names out, so that I could sleep at night able to tell myself that it might just be a coincidence, that she can’t have actually stolen my diary. But this year? All of that went out of the window. She wrote the sequel to the first song that ever made me go, “damn, somebody gets it”, she splashed that name all over this song, and then she splashed my name all over the album title. Honestly, woman, was it so hard leaving room for reasonable doubt? (At least she had the decency to get the timing a little off, because this isn’t how this is anymore, but it so, so, so was.) 

20. Mr Brightside - The Killers “Jealousy, turning saints into the sea, turning through sick lullabies, choking on your alibis” This song is such a classic but it became much more meaningful to me this past year, mainly because it featured on our group’s roadtrip playlist for Scotland in May, and...yeah, it’s just a #quality song and finally its time has come.  21. Miss America - Ingrid Michaelson  “I am the one who is always singing, louder than the rest, louder than the others” Songs that mention singing are the best songs, okay? I don’t make the rules. However, I wish I could get out of the habit of singing ‘I wanna be Miss America’ instead of the actual lyric, which is ‘I’ll never be Miss America’. I mean, there’s basically no way to get the song’s ethos more wrong. Shame on my tongue’s faulty muscle memory. 

22. When It Comes to Us - Frances (& Ritual) “You and I, we're one too many worlds apart, it really shouldn't work, but it does” Oh what have we here? It’s another male/female duet. Which is a shame, really, because if it was a female/female duet, it would be a really great Nistrid song. But anyway. Beautiful track with beautiful words, yes please stay with me forever thank you.

23. The End of the World - Lenka  “At the end of the world, we will kiss for the last time, and we won't feel the earth collapse into a mess of flood and fire” Listen up, The 100 and other angst-fest post-apocalyptic nightmare shows. This is how you do this. Cheesy and cute and with lots of “aahhh-aahhs”. Get on it. (No, but this song is adorable, truly.) 

24. Old Days - Ingrid Michaelson “Heaven help the ones who fly away, heaven help the ones who have to stay and place the blame” Honestlyyyy, what a haunting and beautiful song. All of the lyrics are just so... atmospheric? Like, in an almost eery way but still so pleasing to listen to. I dunno what it is, but this is a damn fine song from my main girl Ingrid. 

25. Quicksand - Tom Chaplin “Love's gonna leave you broken, time's gonna work you over; you get up, you get up, you keep rolling on” Awww, it’s Keane’s voice but without the rest of Keane! I love this guy, what a pro. Considering that a massive part of my early music life was taken up by Keane, I really haven’t grown out of my love for his voice. Aaanyway. This is actually thematically quite similar to Roll With the Punches. Was it really that hard of a year?! Ha. 

26. Unique - Lenka “No, I don't really make sense, but I know that you know what I mean” Hehe, such a cute song. I want to be Lenka if I grow up.

27. Still the One - Ingrid Michaelson  "We dance in the living room, and we dance to the beating of our blood” Aaaah this song is so great, so singable. This was one of the first ones I fell for before hurtling deep into the abyss of adoration for this album. 

28. No - Marit Larsen “You could give up, I won’t give in, ‘cause where you end is where I begin.” Another beauty from my girl Marit. A little lighter on the coincidences in this one, thank goodness, because I don’t know if I could take another hit, but still solid gold. 

29. We Are Powerful - Lenka “We fell in love on the same dark night, when the moon was high and the stars were bright” Another adorable song, another catchy, catchy tune. Lenka, my love, never stop with your beautifully singable tunes. (When I say singable, I mean both fun to sing and not vocally challenging enough to make me have to swap octaves halfway or sit out the middle 8 because the tune is too crazy. Aka the best kind of music.)  

30. Whole Lot of Heart - Ingrid Michaelson  “I said, "Let's rule this kingdom now, let's live and love and tear it down, to build it up"” Well, when I listen to this playlist in order, I will fittingly be left with the achingly catchy notes of this last Ingrid track in my head once it’s over. By faaar the catchiest of the bunch, this kind of addictive pulsating sound I can’t get enough of. I think this is might be my favourite from IDHTMS, but that changes regularly, so I won’t commit. Suffice to say it’s a fitting song for the end spot, down to the very last ebbing notes. 

.....

Well, that’s it!

I haven’t done the math for every year, but I think this is the most female my playlist has ever been. Only 1/5 of the songs have male lead vocals, compared to the copious amounts of Frank Turner etc that have dominated previous years. GIRL POWER! 

If you’ve actually read this post, I applaud you, and I also worry about your apportioning of time. What should you have been doing instead?!

As always, if you make your own one of these lists, please tag me for the sake of my ego and to give me new songs to listen to, because if we’ve learnt one thing from 2016′s list, it’s that I could do with some variety! ;D