John Lennon Was Right, or How I Got Into The Baseball Hall of Fame

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" sang John Lennon in his song "Beautiful Boy". I could not agree more.

Like all musicians, I'm susceptible to all the usual musician's daydreams. Sold out shows, hit songs, hit albums, Grammy awards, world-wide tours, etc. These sorts of daydreams usually strike when you are younger, when the whole world of possibilities is in front of you. You think "if I do this and this and this, then that will happen", but it usually doesn't. The so-called "experts" tell you to set goals and plan in order to steer your career in the direction you intend it to go.

The reality is practically all of it is beyond your control. My "day job" is in TV sports broadcasting, and one day back in the '90s I had a gig coming up at a local club. A couple nights before the show I was working on the Yankees broadcast of a Twins/Yankees game, and I put a poster advertising my gig up near the production truck. The Yankees TV producer saw the poster, and asked if I could write a song for the show about how host Al Trautwig was off and Mike Crispino was sitting in for him. I had to go home to get my guitar, and I wrote the song as I drove. When I got back we taped the song for the open of the pregame show. I guess it went well, because I did two more songs for them the next time the Yankees were in town. When I started working Twins home shows, the producers said I should do a song for their show, but there was nothing seriously proposed and I didn't have any ideas anyway.

In 2002 Twins TV analyst Bert Blyleven began circling people with the telestrator, which is a device which is used as a "drawing board" so to speak. John Madden first started using it on NFL broadcasts to illustrate the development of a football play. Bert started circling fans at the ballpark, and a craze was born. Soon people started bringing all sorts of "Circle Me Bert" signs to the games. So I wrote a song called "Circle Me Bert" and brought it to the Twins TV producers. They liked it, and we shot a video for the song in front of the Metrodome. The video was of a fictional band (think Spinal Tap or The Rutles), which included me, Fox Sports North sideline reporter Clay Matvick, and Bert Blyleven in a wig playing tambourine. The video aired on the Twins pregame show. The Twins saw it, liked the song, and decided to give away CDs of "Circle Me Bert" to the first 10,000 fans in attendance at a Twins game. I got a little $ for that, and I figured that was pretty much the beginning and end of "Circle Me Bert" for me.

Fast forward to 2011. Bert Blyleven is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. A month or so later, I got an email from the Hall asking for a copy of "Circle Me Bert" for their library. This was a big surprise, certainly nothing I envisioned or planned, and, frankly, kind of cool. I just spoke to Tim Wiles at the Hall today, and he told me that "Circle Me Bert" will be there as long as the Baseball Hall of Fame exists. And I suppose hundreds of years from now, someone may take a listen to it and wonder "who the hell is this?" So if it's 2111 and you are reading this, that's the story.

Life is definitely what happens when you're making other plans.

Rain, Russians and Belly Dancers

Saturday night I was booked for a private party. I played for this particular client before, and I was happy to find out that they hunted me down for another gig. It shouldn't have been that hard to find me--Google will take you to the website, and on the website is a contact link. And I really should've made it easy for them by sending them a letter with some biz cards after the first time I played for them. That was my aim anyway, but I didn't know how to spell the wife's first name (Terry? Teri? Terri?) and I wound up not sending anything at all.

Luckily they hunted me down through a mutual contact. The client, a well-to-do chiropractor, seemed pretty loose about the start time so I got there around 8 PM and began setting my gear up on the patio. Of course, as soon as I got set up it began to sprinkle, then a downpour, and with the help of a few party attendees I managed to move my PA to a dry overhang under the house. 12 or 15 miles away at TCF Bank Stadium U2 was being rained on as well, but they played in the rain. I could not afford for my gear to get ruined, plus nobody was going to stand out in the rain with me anyway.

So I waited. I joined the party in the house, having a beer or two and marveling at the decor. A driveway full of vintage cars, motorcycles for knickknacks in the basement. So, this is what studying hard and doing well in school can get you, I thought. Maybe I should've tried harder, stopped writing songs durning class, not gotten kicked out of engineering school. Yeah, right!

Besides me, they had hired a psychic (who I never saw) and a couple of belly dancers (who I did see). I downed two or three Stellas and waited for the rain to stop. The belly dancers would do their thing, then take a break. I decided I might as well play acoustically between their sets, so I went outside under the house and got my guitar and did just that. So I would play a set, then the belly dancers would come out and do theirs. I had never worked with belly dancers before, and I have to say I liked it.

While the dancers danced, I had an interesting conversation with a Russian fellow named Raulf (spelling?, again). Raulf was at the party the last time I had played there, about two years ago, and then, like now, I was not quite sure what his role in everything was. He seemed to be in charge of the caterers, in charge of the household in fact. He is probably mid 50's to early 60s, with a thick Russian accent, and had lived in the US for 16 years. We spoke about our favorite musical artists, and found we both loved the Beatles. It was interesting to hear how risky it was to even own a Beatles album in the Soviet Union when he was young, how his father took great risks in getting it for Raulf, and how he couldn't even take a chance of sharing it with his friends.

The dancers took a break, and I played another set, playing as many Beatles tunes as I could remember. You just can't go wrong with the Beatles.

New Band

Last September my drumming buddy Mitch Griffin sent me a Facebook message entitled "basement playing" and "you game. what's your sked?" in the text. Mitch and I had played together about 10 years ago in a band with various names--"Tools For Tots" is one that comes to mind--that eventually morphed into "Jim Pellinger and the Folkups". Anyway, it sounded like a good idea and I said yeah let's do it.

So Mitch and I got together in his basement and kicked around a few of my songs with just drums and guitar. It was cool, but I thought it would be really cool with a bass. As luck would have it I had already been jamming with former Folkup bassist Dave Meier, so it wasn't hard to get him involved in the new project.

To date we've managed to have a semi-regular practice schedule, as semi-regular as our schedules will allow anyway. And I have to say it's been sounding pretty good. We started kicking around the old Folkups material, which we fell into pretty easily, and I have a bunch of new songs since then which I feel we have begun to nail.

So far the toughest part has been coming up with a name for this outfit. I won't list the candidates here, because I don't want some other bands to snag them. But I think we're zeroing in on a name. Stay tuned.

Twins Song: The Report

It's been quite nearly a month since I was hired to write and perform a song for the Minnesota Twins. If you're wondering what that is all about, you can read my last post and catch up. I'll wait.

OK, now that you're up to speed I'll let you know how the whole thing went. The party for the team was thrown at the Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis the evening of Sunday September 19. I got there around 5, but it was way too early as the guests were not to arrive till around 6:30. So I called my buddy Joe, who happened to be nearby at a bar, and stopped by the bar and had a couple of beers. This may or may not have been a good idea.

So after a couple beers it was getting close to 6:30 and I headed back to the Chambers. The first person I ran into was Jim Thome, in the Men's Room no less. "Hey, Jim Thome!" I said, cleverly enough. An awesome homerun hitter--he's number 8 on the MLB all time home run list. Number 5, if you don't count the steroid users, which I don't. In other words, he's a big deal. As we were leaving the men's room I noticed he had a bit of a hitch in his gait, so with that and the fact that he's 40 years old I felt a little twinge of guilt that in the first verse of my song I was making fun of the way he runs.

My instructions were that the song had to be funny, and I think it's kind of funny the way he runs "like a Rock'em Sock'em Robot."

Anyway party guests began trickling in. Members of the team, coaches, front office people, big shots from FSN, FSN talent, and of course the Pohlad family.

The plan was that I would perform the song right before dessert. They were serving a four or five course meal, so I had lots of time to get uncomfortable. Basically I was hanging around--in the lobby, in the courtyard, here and there--just waiting. As I was wandering about I ran into Twins play-by-play announcer Dick Bremer, who was having a conversation with Twins infielder Nick Punto and his (Nick's) wife. Dick introduced me to the Puntos, and explained that I was there to perform a song about the team. I mentioned to Nick that he is in the song, and he got all serious and said "What do you MEAN, I'm in the song?" And Mrs. Punto asked "Am I going to have to throw a shoe at you?" And so now I had that to think about.

Later while wandering about I ran into the Twins CEO Jim Pohlad. Mr. Pohlad explained that his niece, Sarah, has a lovely singing voice and thought I should ask her to join me in singing Happy Birthday to Twins players Danny Valencia and Scott Baker. So Jim took me over to Sarah's table where she was sitting with her husband Joe. (This is where I realized that there are more Pohlads than I even knew. I had seen Joe in the pressbox many times and always thought he was an intern. He's young.) Anyway Jim Pohlad introduced me to Sarah and Joe, and I sat down. I mentioned that her uncle had said she was a very good singer, and would she care to join me later in singing Happy Birthday? Well she was absolutely not interested, and I said of course that's fine, I understand. And Jim Pohlad, who was standing right there, said "No you don't. Keep trying," which I was not comfortable doing, but I made a half-hearted attempt anyway. Joe was not amused with my second attempt and signaled that we were through by saying "Nice talking to you Jim," and turning away from me. Wellll, THAT was kind of awkward.

Later I ran into Twins President Dave St. Peter, who had a big smile on his face and asked "how did that go?" Clearly Dave had witnessed the exchange and knew quite well how it went.

Jim Pohlad had said that I should have some food, which I hadn't done up to that point because seeing as that I was the hired help I didn't think I was invited to sit down and eat with all the guests. But by then I was not too hungry, and though it was a very gracious offer I declined and continued to wait to perform.

Ocassionally while I was waiting I went "backstage", behind a little partition in the dining room, to go over the song. I have to confess that since I had just wrote it I was not entirely comfortable with the song. I was, in a sense, learning it myself even though I had written it. So after going over the song again, I came out from behind the partition and ran into William Pohlad, who I regard as the coolest Pohlad.
He said to me "You're that guy!"
And I said, "Yes I am."
He put out his hand and said "Bill Pohlad. They're looking for you."
And so it was showtime.

I was glad it was Danny and Scott's birthday, because at least that gave me an opening song I was familiar with. I noticed Jim Thome out there, and I made a little speech about running into Jim, thinking "wow, that's Jim Thome!", and then apologizing for the first verse. And Nick Punto was right up front, but I didn't notice his wife anywhere. So without further ado I launched into the song. And while I don't remember much about the performance, I can tell you that the Jim Thome verse got a big laugh, as did the verse about Ron Gardenhire. Other than that, it's a blank. I've performed lots of shows at lots of places and I don't get nervous, but I have to say that this night as soon as I started singing my mouth went as dry as a desert. Lips sticking to teeth, cheeks sticking to gums--I had to enunciate with as much precision as I could muster to make sure the song was intelligible. That may have been a good thing. Why the nerves? Maybe it was due to singing a song I wasn't yet comfortable with that is supposed to be funny in front of the people I was singing about? Maybe I was looking for a flying shoe?

But I guess it all went well, at least that's what people have told me. Though Twins bullpen coach Ron Stelmaszek said I was a bit rough on Thome.

A Very Different Writing Assignment

Just yesterday I got a call from Patrick Klinger, VP of Marketing for the Minnesota Twins. It seems the Pohlad family, owners of the Twins, are throwing a dinner party for the team. As Patrick told me, Donna Pohlad thought it would be nice to have an original song about the team written and performed at the party. So Patrick wondered if I'd be interested.

"Of course", I said. "When is the party?"
"This Sunday," said Patrick.

This was on Tuesday. Four or five days to write a song? No problem! I can do that. I wrote one that afternoon in fact. I'll write another one tomorrow. And a third on Friday. Then I can pick the best one.

Oh, and they want it to be humerous. And I have to say I am struggling a bit with that. Not that I can't do it, but I'm wondering what's funny about this team? The song I wrote has some funny bits in it. But I think it's mostly inspirational, uplifting--with a bit of humor.

Joe Mauer's unoffical nickname, Baby Jesus, is funny. At least I think so. A drummer I know, Connor McRae, calls Target Field "the manger" because of Mauer's nickname. I've been advised that I can make reference to Baby Jesus, but only once. That's OK. I'm not going to write a whole song just about Baby Jesus. It's been done.

I almost wish the party were tomorrow, so I wouldn't have all this time to overthink the song. Then I'd write the best song I could come up with, and go with it.

The real story of this season, in my opinion, is the new stadium. And the 40,000+ fans that are there every night.

Anyway, I got my writing shoes on. I'm going to work.

Free Music

Hey, step right up--it's free! For a limited time I have decided to give songs away. Yep, that's right, totally free. All you have to do is go here, enter your name and email address, and choose a song. If you'd like you can preview songs here.

And if you know someone who may like my music, you can send them a song as well. There is a space on the form for your friend's email address, and you can either choose a song for them or I will email them with the great news that they have been given a free song and let them know how they can choose one.

So c'mon! Get your free music!

One song per customer please.

A Flurry of Upcoming Gigs

Just like the headline says, I've got a flurry of upcoming shows at the end of August. August 26 and 27 I'll be at the French Crepes Stage at the Minnesota State Fair. I still don't know what the set times are for those shows, but I'm guessing late afternoon/early evening, happy hourish.

Then August 28 I'm back in the neighborhood for a show at the Riverview Cafe & Wine Bar. This gig starts at 8 PM and finishes promptly at 10 PM, if weather allows me to play outside. In the event of rain I'll be inside and play till around 10:30 PM

Then the 29th and 30th I'm back at the French Crepes Stage for a couple more happy hourish gigs.

Get more info here.

Yeah, I gotta update that url.