I saw the Feelies last night(!) and will have a post shortly, but at least in terms of bands, I try to keep things more or less chronological around here; so I wanted to say I caught the Baseball Project at the Bell House, a couple of weeks back. They are the rock “super-group” formed around their shared passion for our national pastime.
“In our sundown perambulations of late, through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of youngsters playing ‘base’, a certain game of ball.... Let us go forth awhile and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our close rooms.... the game of ball is glorious.” — Walt Whitman
As Ken Burns or Bernard Malamud would tell you, baseball is stories and metaphor, and Scott McCaughey and Steve Wynn are really good songwriters, so the songs stand on their own, whether or not you’re a baseball fanatic (I’m not). I go for the music, not the trivia — though Harvey Haddix is someone worth knowing about.
When I saw them last year, Mike Mills filled in, but at this gig, his fellow REM’er Peter Buck, was in at his regular spot. Craig Finn of the Hold Steady came up to sing a funny song he wrote about his hometown Minnesota Twins.
Comments