centerfield maz

As we all know Dwight Gooden was picked up the other morning in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey after fleeing the scene of an accident. Franklin Lakes is an exclusive North Jersey town also home to Phil Simms, Willie Randolph, Sam Huff & other notables. Gooden, (45)was charged with driving while under the influence of drugs, endangering the welfare of a child, leaving the scene, and DWI with a child passenger (his five year old son). It’s just a shame. I am not going to beat him up here like everyone else seems to want to do. It’s just a shame that he cant overcome his demons. For two seasons he was the best pitcher I ever saw on a day to day basis besides Tom Seaver. There was nothing like Doc in his prime, that rising fastball that would just blow hitters away. He brought the Mets back to the top after some pretty bad years. I was the same age as him, when he came up, and a life long Met fan, was happy to get back out to the excitement of Shea. Again, there was nothing like Dr. K in ...

Ace is back & he told you so! After the release of the great Ace Frehley album last year, I was looking very forward to seeing him live. The Spaceman did not disappoint. There was no make up, & no massive stage set ups. Just a laid back Ace Frehley wailing away on the guitar & casually singing his songs. Backed by a great tour band with resumes' of their own; bass-Anthony Esposito (Lynch Mob), guitar-Todd Youth (Danzig) & drums- Scott Coogan (Brides of Destruction). They played,harmonized & shared some lead vocals, sounding much like Mr. Stanley & Mr. Simmons. First the negatives: which are really my own issues. I don’t like general admission, where we have to stand. The $32 ticket was worth every bit the price of admission, but I’d rather pay more to be closer in a private seat. It was predominantly a male crowd of true Kiss/Ace fans over 35 & definatley into the music. There were a few obnoxious drunks who stumbled into us as they played air guitar...

If you were an adolescent rock & roll boy like myself in the late seventies, you were fascinated by the Runaways from the pages of Creem magazine. You said to yourself "that’s a different kind of girl than the ones I see on TV. I am a little scared of her but when I become a teenage I have to get me one of those!! " The new movie “The Runaways” is the long overdue story of the band- the Runaways. They were the first all girl rock band to ever make a name for themselves. Although they never hit the mainstream in America, they earned a huge following in Japan, opened for Van Halen, Cheap Trick & the Ramones in America & were true pioneers. A few famous rock chicks came out of the Runaways; the great Joan Jett, & metal queen Lita Ford the most famous. There’s also Micki Steele who went on to play bass in the Bangles & drummer Sandy West, (possibly the best female drummer ever) who remained friends with Joan Jett until her untimely passing from lung cancer i...

Alex Chilton was born December 28th, 1950 in Memphis Tennessee. His father was a Jazz musician and Alex played the guitar & sang too. After winning a local talent show with his singing, he was recruited by a local high school band called the Devilles. They blew the small town high scholars away with their sound. The band changed their name to the Box Tops and went into Muscle Shoals Studios to record a record with Chips Moman (who had worked with Elvis & Aretha Franklin) and songwriter Dan Penn. The group was told to pick from a bunch of songs on the demo tapes, but told they had to do "The Letter”. "The Letter": Released in July 1967, The Letter hit #1 in September and stayed t here for four weeks. It was one of the biggest singles of the year and was a success around the world. Young Alex Chilton was only 16 years old at the time of its success. He will probably be most remembered for the way he sang the opening line “Buy me a ticket for an aero-plane...” Joe ...

“In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs, Of every head he’s had the pleasure to know. And all the people that come and go - Stop and say “Hello.”’ Back in 1967 when Paul McCartney wrote those famous lyrics, the barber shop was mentioned was owned by an Italian family called Bioletti. Old man Bioletti had shaky hands when the young Beatles, only school kids at the time would get their haircuts. Rumor had it old man Bioletti was involved with Guiseppe Garibaldi in Italy's battle for independence and statehood. The Bioletti family had old guns‚ bullets‚ grenades and pictures of Italians waving fla gs on the walls of the barbershop. Paul mentions the name in the Beatles Anthology movie, and a picture of the shop is seen in the Free As a Bird Video. The original shop which has been called Tony Slavin’s for a long time is in Smithdown Place, & is widely recognized as the one in the song. Beatle Taxis, Magical & Mystery Tour buses stop at the location. tourists & ...

The National Ethnic Heritage Foundation in partnership with the Order of Sons of Italy in America has just released a beautiful 100 baseball card set of Italian American Baseball Players. The cards cover great Italian American Players from Lewis Pessano (Buttercup Dickenson) the very first Italian American baseball Pioneer to Sal Maglie, Roy Campanella, & Yogi Berra of the 1950's. The tradition continues through time from Sal Bando & Gene Tenace to Tommy Lasorda, Terry Francona & Mike Scioscia. Of course former Italian American Mets Mike Piazza, Lee Mazzilli, John Franco, Bobby Valentine, Frank Viola, Robin Ventura, Kevin Tapani & Joe Torre are all included. Only 10,000 sets of these beautiful cards have been produced. They are made up of original oil portraits by a team of artists supervised by the acclaimed artist George Kotsovos. The backs feature short bios & stats of the individual subjects. Not only are players included, but other key figures in the It...

Hard rock is alive and well but not in the United States. For me, most of the best new music is coming out of Europe. Gothic Metal is currently pretty much the mainstream in Europe right now. This sub genre of Heavy Metal takes many different forms. I have become a huge fan of the female fronted Goth bands. Some of it can be labeled as Gothic Femme Metal and others as Symphonic Metal. I only hope America will catch on and this wave can save the music scene over here. There are still the classic rock acts which will continue to dominate the concert venues, and some good female jazz vocalist as well. #1 LACUNA COIL: SHALLOW LIFE This great Italian ba nd is out of Milan, Italy and have broken into the American mainstream. H opefully they will open the door on European Gothic Metal in America. The SHALLOW LIFE debuted at #16 on the US Billboard charts & became Lacuna Coil's first top 20 US Album. They have toured North America in small clubs. The band is fronted by two singers ...