Earlier I said:
“Personally, I’d rest Rasner and give him a moment to catch his breath and allow Giese to take his next start.”
Then the Yankees said:
“The Yankees announced Monday that Dan Giese will take over as the team’s fifth starter, while Rasner will settle into a long relief role. Giese’s first start will come Friday in Anaheim after a string of successful relief performances earned him a promotion.”
Got that one right
It’s a sign of the times when the passing of one of the true literary greats has been accorded so little attention in the media in the UK. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn passed away, aged 89 years. His writings had gone from very high profile (“One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, “Cancer Ward”) to no profile (the volumes in his “The Red Wheel” series). The quality of his work never faltered but the press only paid attention whilst he was politically significant and criticising the Soviet bloc. When he turned his insights on the state of the West, he was quietly pushed to one side. I’m glad he was able to return to his beloved Russia in his last years although there is more than a little irony in the way that his body is going to be laid in State – after all the country did its best to act as though he did not exist for a large part of his life. For my money, the extended revised version of “August 1914” (not the shorter version published in the early 70s which is in reality almost a different book) is his masterpiece but I love all his writings and long for the day he will be recognised in the West as a writer beyond his political significance.
On the whole, July has been a good month for pitching for the Yankees with few exceptions. Even those who didn’t do so well managed the odd good outing:
New York Yankees – Pitching – Month – July
Name GP IP H RA ER BB SO W L Sv ERA OBA
Ramirez, Edwar 10 11.1 0 0 0 3 16 1 0 0 0.00 .000
Giese, Dan 6 10.1 8 2 2 2 5 0 0 0 1.74 .211
Farnsworth, Kyle 10 8.1 4 2 2 4 9 0 0 0 2.16 .133
Chamberlain, Joba 6 35.2 30 11 10 10 43 2 1 0 2.52 .227
Mussina, Mike 5 31.0 36 9 9 2 27 3 1 0 2.61 .300
Veras, Jose 11 10.1 8 3 3 5 13 0 1 0 2.61 .211
Rivera, Mariano 9 11.0 11 4 4 1 15 2 1 4 3.27 .262
Hawkins, LaTroy 6 6.2 6 3 3 1 5 0 0 0 4.05 .240
Pettitte, Andy 6 38.0 41 23 20 10 33 3 3 0 4.74 .281
Robertson, David 12 12.2 8 7 7 7 16 2 0 0 4.97 .174
Rasner, Darrell 4 21.2 29 16 15 11 11 1 2 0 6.23 .333
Britton, Chris 1 3.2 7 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 7.36 .438
Traber, Billy 2 2.1 2 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 7.71 .222
Marte, Damaso 3 2.1 4 2 2 1 4 0 0 0 7.71 .364
Ponson, Sidney 4 20.2 33 18 18 8 8 1 1 0 7.84 .379
Pluses
Edwar Ramirez. In 10 appearances in July, Ramirez didn’t give up a run and achieved 11 1/3 innings on the mound. He’s already experienced a wobble in August but in July he was as good as it gets
Joba Chamberlain. Joba is finally settling into this starting business. In July, he achieved two wins and was solid in every other statistical category.
Mike Mussina. Moose continues to enjoy his indian summer. With solid support from the offence and some canny pitching, he continues to succeed despite allowing two many runners.
Minuses
Sidney Ponson. Despite the occasional good start this has not been a good month for Sidney. 7.84 ERA and only 5 innings (on average) per start.
Darrell Rasner. Rasner and Ponson give us two games in every five where we’re lucky to be level when the starter leaves. Personally, I’d rest Rasner and give him a moment to catch his breath and allow Giese to take his next start.
David Robertson. After beginning well, he appears to be fading fast. His ERA was a whisker under 5 for the month.
Surprises
Kyle Farnsworth. Farnsworth was finally in his stride. An OBA of .133 on the month was positively miserly resulting in a 2.16 ERA for that period. It must have hurt Girardi to see him go.
Dan Giese. Giese continues to be successful. Soon I’m going to stop being surprised by this. Proportionally, he gave up a lot of hits but very few of those passed home plate.
Mariano Rivera. Rivera is struggling when he comes into a game level or behind and generally it is the first batter he faces who hurts him. Maybe this is psychological at the moment but it is a mar on an otherwise great season.
Mmmmm…….. Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez for Kyle Farnsworth. Girardi described it as robbing Peter to pay Paul. Too true. The last two months are the first time that I’ve been glad to see Farnsworth on the Yankees roster sheet and now he is gone. Pudge is not the player he once was but he seems to have matured as a person. So I guess this one hangs in the balance and may do until late September. July was a very mixed month for the Bronx Bombers. Here is how it played out on the offensive side of the account (I’ve included the stats for actual Yankees appearances for the incoming players):
New York Yankees – Batting – Month – July
Name AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO SH SF SB BA SLG
Mussina, Mike 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500
Christian, Justin 10 2 4 3 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 .400 .500
Rodriguez, Alex 95 20 32 21 6 0 7 9 20 0 1 4 .337 .621
Rodriguez, Ivan 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .333 .333
Sexson, Richie 15 1 5 2 0 0 0 4 5 0 1 0 .333 .333
Cano, Robinson 101 11 33 17 6 1 3 3 9 1 0 0 .327 .495
Damon, Johnny 54 11 17 11 4 0 1 7 6 0 0 2 .315 .444
Abreu, Bobby 97 21 29 20 11 0 4 14 15 0 0 2 .299 .536
Jeter, Derek 100 14 28 14 8 0 2 10 16 0 0 1 .280 .420
Nady, Xavier 18 6 5 4 2 0 2 2 4 0 0 0 .278 .722
Cabrera, Melky 92 11 25 3 3 1 1 2 13 1 0 2 .272 .359
Giambi, Jason 64 7 15 16 1 0 3 14 18 0 1 0 .234 .391
Molina, Jose 50 8 11 1 2 0 0 5 9 1 0 0 .220 .260
Betemit, Wilson 46 4 10 3 1 0 0 3 15 1 0 0 .217 .239
Posada, Jorge 42 5 9 2 2 0 0 8 14 0 0 0 .214 .262
Gardner, Brett 56 8 9 7 1 0 0 5 16 2 1 4 .161 .179
Moeller, Chad 12 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 .083 .083
Gonzalez, Alberto 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000
Pluses
Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod continues to be consistent and impress. Of the players who have been on the roster all month he leads in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging average, home runs, and is tied for lead in stolen bases.
Robinson Cano. Having begun to turn things around before the All-Star break, he was red-hot immediately after the restart. A swollen hand saw him dip again at the end of the month and then drop out of the lineup in early August.
Bobby Abreu. .299 in July with 11 doubles and 4 home runs. It’s the nearest he’s come to his previous from during this season.
Minuses
Alberto Gonzalez. Gonzalez looked a good prospect at the beginning of the season. He was only given 1 at bat in July, leaving him at .173 batting average and .212 slugging for the season. Not surprisingly, he was traded at the deadline for anything we could get.
Jason Giambi. 3 home runs and .234 batting average. Giambi is busy turning a comeback year into nothing special.
Chad Moeller. 1 hit in 12 at bats for Moeller and third string catcher gave us enough reasons to be sure that a Molina-Moeller tandem was never going to cover Posada’s absence. So Moeller is gone and Pudge is in but we have had to give up Farnsworth to achieve this.
Surprises
Wilson Betemit. Betemit was poor for the part of the season, massively improved for the second and hit the skids again shortly after. Defensively he’s been okay but poor offense has let him down – somehow we think Sexson is going to be an improvement.
Justin Christian. Christian was called up ahead of Brett Gardner. Gardner seemed to settle more quickly and the edge in speed on the bases. But Christian has persevered and whilst Gardner’s confidence seemed to fail as July progressed (resulting in him being sent back to Scranton), Justin produced 4 hits in 10 at bats. He’s going to see more bench time than playing time but he’s earned his spot
Richie Sexson. Five hits in his first fifteen at bats. No home runs. No extra base hits. Not sure what to make of this but it certainly wasn’t what was expected.
It’s been a grim few weeks. But there have been some glittering things in the dross.
First highlight was the Bob Dylan “Drawn Blank” exhibition at Halcyon Art Gallery near Green Park in London. A few years ago, Dylan was a writer and his “Chronicles” book was well-worth the investment. A few months ago, he was given a Pulitzer but I’m not exactly sure what for. This isn’t to imply he doesn’t deserve one. I’m just not sure why then. Now he’s an artist. And somehow he still manages to always be on tour and make the occasional album.
“Drawn Blank” however is a little unusual even by Dylan’s standards. First published in book form in 1994, these drawings were hardly noticed. Then his critical rating was low and nobody cared what he was drawing. Now painted, the “Drawn Blank” exhibition comes at a time when his star is in the ascendancy. Consequently, it is all over the broadsheets (The London Times, no less) and is worthy of an art gallery exhibition on the continent and two here in the London and no doubt some others I’m missing. Then, no-one cared, now the £1250 signed prints are all sold out and the first book is selling for £400 a copy. Strange. Of course, with Dylan, we’ve encountered this before. When he went electric, he was a Judas, until we decided he was a genius. His “Jesus” shows were dire for many, but are now spoken of as amazing feats where an artist like Dylan chose to perform only new songs in a show of passion, energy and commitment. Then few could see past the evangelism and booed his accompanying girl vocalists. I’m waiting for the “Empire Burlesque” reassessment.
I purchased the 1994 book of “Drawn Blank”. I purchased the 2008 book of the same drawings painted. I thought they were okay. Some good, a few very good. However, seeing them extremely well presented at the Halcyon, moved them up a notch in my estimation. Well worth seeing.
Second highlight. John Foxx’s “Tiny Colour Movies” at the Apple Store, Regent Street, London. Musical artist again but this time not paintings but films. Now I’m not much for the world of contemporary commercial films and I hate most cinemas. I do mean hate. So that I have now gone to see “Tiny Colour Movies” three or four times must mean that this set of films has something more going on than simply being the work of one of my favourite musicians and the fact that I have to keep going beacuse despite my persistent requests Mr Foxx will not put it on DVD.
Tiny Colour Movies is a collection of 14 concept pieces assembled from the home movies of a bygone generation. It is moving, thought-provoking, vivid and imaginative. It has a tremendous ambient soundtrack which the artist accompanies his films with, standing alongside, like the pianist adding sound to a silent movie. It is quite, quite wonderful and if it comes to a town near you, I might just follow it there.
Finally, on this smorgasbord of updates, a little baseball. Surprise, surprise. As the trade deadline approaches the Bronx is seeing new faces. First in was Richie Sexson. Now in 2007, Sexson, then at Seattle, hit .205 BA with 21 home runs. Fortunately, he turned this all around by storming to .218 with 11 homers by the first week of July. Not surprisingly, the Mariners released Richmond Lockwood Sexson. I’m not quite so sure why the Yankees decided to sign him later in the month. Perhaps it had something to do with that florid name. At least they didn’t invest in Bonds. I’m not holding my breath for this acquisition to be a great success. Indeed, I’m praying that by the time of my return to the Bronx in September, he will have headed toward waivers. We’ll see.
More significant (hopefully) was the trade made yesterday which has brought Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte over from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Marte, who actually spent a little while in the Yankees system a few years ago but never made it to 161 St. and River Avenue, is that crucial item a left-handed relief pitcher. Occasional promotions for Billy Traber and Kei Igawa have not added such a thing to the roster for very long. Marte with his 3.47 ERA, 4 Wins (no losses), and 5 saves seems a much better prospect.
Nady is a good addition at least because Matsui and Damon are not likely to see much time in the outfield for the remainder of the season. However, there may be more. His contract has another year beyond 2008 and he is 5 years younger than Damon. He is batting .330 with 13 home runs. There might be quite a lot in this for the Bombers.
A slight downside to this came in the final detail of the trade. The original detail suggested that the Yankees were giving up Ross Ohlendorf and three minors who were barely on my radar. Now Ohlendorf looked good earlier in the year but then his mechanics fell apart and he might not be a huge loss but I was a little more disappointed with today’s update. The news is that the Pirates final list for the trade sees Jeff Karstens heading over to Pittsburgh. Now I’m not sure quite where Karstens’ career was headed (he’s been rather injury prone) but I’ve followed his career since seeing his early appearances for the Staten Island Yankees some years ago. I’m disappointed that he will never be established in the Bronx. It was an interesting journey.
The final footnote to this was that the very disappointing LaTroy Hawkins was designated for assignment and that Kei Igawa was removed from the 40-man roster and outrighted to Scranton (AAA). The Yankees are paying him in excess of $5 million – and they finally seem to have given up on him. Now that’s an amazing story.
So yesterday we look at the performance of the Yankee hitters in comparison with predictions compared by myself and the Bill James Handbook 2008. Today, we do the same for the pitchers…….
Mariano Rivera
Predictions: Games – 41, Saves – 21, ERA – 2.72
Actual: Games – 38, Saves – 23, ERA – 1.06
Mariano Rivera is a model of consistency. That he is still able to do this at this level at 38 years of age is nothing short of amazing. His ERA is one and a half runs ahead of where I thought it would be.
Kyle Farnsworth
Predictions: Games – 34, Wins – 2, ERA – 3.86
Actual: Games – 41, Wins – 1, ERA – 3.51
Farnsworth has had a much better year than I could have anticipated. His ERA is better now than at any time since he became a Yankee and since Chamberlain moved to the rotation, he has a clearly defined role in bridging the gap between the starter and Rivera
Mike Mussina
Predictions: Games – 16, Wins – 6, ERA – 3.74
Actual: Games – 19, Wins – 11, ERA – 3.61
Everybody expected Moose to bounce back a little but nobody tipped this to happen. He has had high run support but this can’t account for all his wins. He has been a substantially better pitcher than he ever looked like he would be again.
Andy Pettitte
Predictions: Games – 19, Wins – 8, ERA – 3.78
Actual: Games – 20, Wins – 10, ERA – 4.03
Pettitte had a horrible post-season that he brought upon himself. The official Yankees website has been talking about him having a poor first half. In reality, he has been as good as we could have hoped for. The veteran starters have kept us in the race.
Chien-Ming Wang
Predictions: Games – 18, Wins – 8, ERA – 3.75
Actual: Games – 15, Wins – 8, ERA – 4.07
Wang began to lose his form before his injury. Given the time that he has spent on the DL and that slow down, his performance has been pretty good.
LaTroy Hawkins
Predictions: Games – 35, Wins – 2, ERA – 3.60
Actual: Games – 30, Wins – 1, ERA – 5.79
Girardi has no confidence in Hawkins. His appearances have come in non-crucial innings and it is difficult to imagine he would still be around, if they could’ve got a deal for him and if it wasn’t for the injuries. His ERA has bloated but whether this is entirely due to a loss of form or whether this is partially due to a confidence-crisis is difficult to discern.
The less predictables
In addition to these mainstays, it was impossible to make predictions for Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes, Kei Igawa and Joba Chamberlain because they didn’t really have whole seasons at the Major League level to bases guesses upon. However, there can be no disguising the fact that no-one would have hazarded that Hughes and Kennedy would fall apart quite so badly as they did. No-one would have guessed that Igawa (and his huge contract) would really have no role to play whatsoever. The Steinbrenner (junior) influenced transfer of Chamberlain from successful reliever to average starter was a hasty decision always destined to get off to a slow start and so it has.
Pluses: Mariano Rivera, Kyle Farnsworth, Mike Mussina
Minuses: LaTroy Hawkins, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Kei Igawa
Surprises: Dan Giese, Jose Veras
Jose Veras has been another key piece of the puzzle. I wouldn’t have expected him to be a regular part of the bullpen at all at this stage but he has stepped in Chamberlain’s role very effectively.
Dan Giese wasn’t even on the compass. He has filled some gaps very nicely.
So what happens next……? We’ll see
I averaged out predictions I made before the season began with those made by the Bill James Handbook 2008 and compared them with the stats actually produced up to the All-Star Break.
Here’s how the Yankee hitters are doing compared to those pre-season expectations:
Hideki Matsui
Projected: Games – 79, Average – .293, Home Runs- 15.
Actual: Games – 69, Average – .323, Home Runs – 7.
Two factors here – the first is the inability to hit for power (markedly less home runs), the second is the inability to play the field on a regular basis. Both of these point up the significance of his problems with his legs which may have finished him for the rest of the season. By contrast, his batting average is up as much as his slugging is down. A future as a successful singles hitter and DH (an unusual combination) or early retirement. Time will tell.
Johnny Damon
Projected: Games – 89, Average – .278, Home Runs – 9
Actual: Games – 82, Average – .319, Home Runs – 6
Similar story for Damon. His decline began in the second half of 2006 and is also associated with aging legs. His average has rebounded to 2005 (Boston) heights but power is down and he has his first period on the disabled list. The twist in this is that his injury is a damaged shoulder and nothing to do with his legs. This suggests that there is more hope in him continuing as an outfielder than Matsui but he is another reason for the dramatic reduction in the Yankees’ power production.
Alex Rodriguez
Projected: Games – 93, Average – .300, Home Runs – 28
Actual: Games – 75, Average – .312, Home Runs – 19
Rodriguez’s stint on the disabled list has hampered his home run total but not his slugging pct. (I had him at .586, he is actually 581 – a very minimal difference. Not many people expected A-Rod to still be a Yankee right now. Given the shenanigans of the close season and the off-field rumours as well as the injury, he is doing remarkably well.
Derek Jeter
Projected: Games – 93, Average – .312, Home Runs – 9
Actual: Games – 88, Average – .284, Home Runs – 5
Jeter is just not quite himself at the moment. His figures are still good but he has set a remarkable standard for himself which he is not matching. Difficult to know if this is just a blip or whether it is a sign of a slight downturn.
Bobby Abreu
Projected: Games – 94, Average – .285, Home Runs – 12
Actual: Games – 92, Average – .274, Home Runs – 10
Again, a slight downturn but it is made more significant because there is a trend like this across the team. 10 points off average and only 2 home runs down but we need him to step up as one of the few injury-free players in the squad.
Jorge Posada
Projected: Games – 84, Average – .281, Home Runs – 12
Actual: Games – 49, Average – .272, Home Runs – 3
Posada had a BIG year in 2007. So far, injury and lack of managerial confidence have spiked his year in 2008. He spent a long time out (35 games down on prediction) but despite the fact that Molina didn’t carry the responsibility of being first choice during the actual injury time, part of this is because Girardi has continued to favour Molina since Posada’s return; citing arm strength as his reason. During this period of uncertainty, Posada’s batting average has dropped off markedly but his home run production and slugging has never got out of the doldrums.
Jason Giambi
Projected: Games – 72, Average – .249, Home Runs – 15
Actual: Games – 83, Average – .253, Home Runs – 19
Going into the season, Giambi was going to share DH with Matsui and 1B with a whole range of possible candidates. Not many of those candidates reached expectations and with Mientkiewicz already gone to other pastures and Shelley Duncan failing miserably, Giambi became the most prominent first baseman due primarily to his huge contract – if we’re going to have to pay him, he might as well play somewhere. The remarkable thing is that this undue perseverance actually paid dividends. First, he began to hit for power and then his average perked up as well. Things are a little quieter right now and whilst no-one is going to make this guy a sporting hero (stache or no stache), he is so much more valuable than I expected.
Robinson Cano
Projected: Games – 88, Average – .322, Home Runs – 11
Actual: Games – 93, Average – .246, Home Runs – 6
Robinson is stranded in a season-long funk (so far) and his fall off in every offensive category is more marked than anyone else on the team. The only positive is that his batting average in July (but not his slugging) has taken a marked upturn to .273 on the month. This is still nowhere near what we expect but it is a step in the right direction.
Wilson Betemit
Projected: Games – 77, Average – .263, Home Runs – 10
Actual: Games – 47, Average – .243, Home Runs – 4
It’s hard to be positive about that second line but I’m going to be. Simply put, prior to his time on the disabled list, Betemit was awful. Since that time, he has become our most important bench and utility player. Offensive figures don’t show everything (particularly not the meagre selection presented here) and he has done very well defensively as well as putting up .267 BA in June. So far, July has seen him back in the doldrums with the bat but the mere fact he is still here is quite something after the opening to the season he had.
Melky Cabrera
Projected: Games – 90, Average – .283, Home Runs – 6
Actual: Games – 92, Average – .241, Home Runs – 8
With Cabrera I’m looking for a good day in the field and a clutch of singles. Perversely, his home run hitting is up! Defensively, he has been fine but that 40 point drop in average is part of the general trend but is worrying all by itself. You begin to wonder about the coaching staff when the malaise is this wide spread.
So that it’s for the hitters:
Pluses: Alex Rodriguez, Johnny Damon,
Minuses: Jorge Posada, Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera
Surprises: Jason Giambi, Wilson Betemit
There are many ways to consider the Yankees performance in the first half of the season. One of the main things to influence our performance (and put us in third place) is the extensive list of players who have spent time on the disabled list during this period. Here they are (in alphabetical order):
RHP Jonathan Albaladejo — Out for the season with a stress fracture in his right elbow. Albaladejo was a surprising breakthrough but he will have to do it all over again.
IF Wilson Betemit — Missed 19 games beginning on April 14 with corneal conjunctivitis, then was on the disabled list in May with a strained right hamstring. Fortunately, he’s come back a better player for the examinations he received during that time.
RHP Brian Bruney — Tore a ligament in his right foot in April; avoided surgery and could rejoin the Yankees in late July. We need him back and we need him to be the player that he was this season rather than the player he was at the end of last year.
OF Johnny Damon — Hit the disabled list for the first time in his career on July 6 with a sprain and contusion of the left joint of the left shoulder. His best-case return would be 15 days, and his throwing may be limited. The good money is that he will be out quite a bit longer.
1B Shelley Duncan — Separated his right shoulder while diving for a ball in a game at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and may be out for the season. Let’s face it, he was going nowhere before he was sent to Scranton.
RHP Phil Hughes — Has been on the disabled list since April 30 with a stress fracture in one of his ribs. He could return in August. Let’s hope the 2007 guy show’s up if he does make it back then.
SS Derek Jeter — Was hit in the left hand by a Daniel Cabrera fastball on May 20 and fell into an extended slump immediately after. Things have improved since then but he’s still not the Jeter of old.
RHP Ian Kennedy – Went to disabled list but there’s obviously far more going on here mechanically than a simple injury. I don’t expect to see him making a run at the Major Leagues before Spring Training
DH Hideki Matsui — Aggravated his left knee by playing the outfield for two games in Houston and is currently on the disabled list. Season-ending surgery is a possibility. He was the guy to cover for Damon’s aging legs. He can still hit but his fielding days might be behind him.
RHP Carl Pavano — Continuing to rehab from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery and could be ready for a big league promotion in August. But why would you need to work for a living when you can earn all that money for doing nothing?
C Jorge Posada — Was on the disabled list from April 28 through June 3 with right rotator cuff tendinitis that curtailed his throwing. Since then has done far more at DH and 1B (!) since then. What’s that about? Girardi doesn’t trust his arm.
3B Alex Rodriguez — Missed 16 games with a strained right quadriceps after turning a strain into something more serious by rushing back. It was Rodriguez’s first stint on the DL since 2000. He’s one of the few who’s bounced back from injury.
RHP Humberto Sanchez — Currently pitching in the Minor Leagues, Sanchez (acquired from Detroit in the Gary Sheffield trade) could be considered for his big league debut in September. However, we are not holding our breath.
RHP Chien-Ming Wang — Suffered a partially torn tendon in his right foot on June 15 while running the bases in Houston. He is on crutches and is out until September. Along with Bruney and Damon, one of the three costly on-going absences which might cost us a spot in the post-season.
It’s been a good month for getting to talking to some of my favourite musicians. As I have mentioned before I’ve been working hard on an interview project with Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield, Poco, Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, solo career etc. etc.) We had just about finished this when I mentioned to Richie, it would be nice to get an alternative view on some of the key periods in his life. We came up with the idea of getting Bernie Leadon (Hearts and Flowers, Flying Burrito Brothers, Eagles, Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades Band, solo career etc. etc.) to comment on rivalry and admiration between Poco and the early Eagles. I was expecting a few words, enough to mould into a paragraph of the article. Bernie went to town and has written an article of his own about his admiration of Poco. Great stuff!
I’m also hoping for a contribution from Al Perkins who played a particularly important role in developing Richie’s musical and spiritual life.
Next up to the plate is Michael Georgiades who was Bernie’s partner-in-crime in the aforementioned Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades band and in the short-lived spin-off, Zoe. I’m going to be speaking to him next Saturday. His album, Natural Progressions, is a particular favourite of mine and interviewing him is the realisation of a long-held ambition.
Looks likely then that the next stage in the on-going project that I have rolling with Mr Leadon will be in August as we talk about his period with Hearts & Flowers.
These articles will appear in Cross Rhythms magazine and Natural Progressions Magazine. The first of these can be located on the web, subscription information on the second can be obtained from me.
Joyce lived on her own. She’d pretty much given her life caring for her aging Mum. When Mum died, Joyce lived on her own. Each Sunday, her friends from the local church would come and collect her to take her to a service. Her neighbours avoided her. Joyce lived on her own.
Joyce died on her own. One Sunday, her friends from the local church came to collect her to take her to a service and there was no answer. Her friends from the local church called around the hospitals. The strain of life had given Joyce some mental health problems and it wasn’t unusual for her to need to go away for a week or two. But the hospitals didn’t know. Her friends from the local church called the police. They came and opened the door to Joyce’s lonely house and found her in her bed. The coroner said that she had stopped breathing. Her heart wasn’t in it. He said it was good that her friends from the local church noticed. Joyce died on her own.
When you’re poor and you die on your own, you become less important than you were in life. The local authority had to wait “for a convenient slot” for Joyce to be buried. There was no money in this departure. It was a little inconvenient. Nobody wanted to know. Her friends from the local church felt that this wasn’t right. So they told the local authority so. It didn’t make a lot of difference. They offered to pay for the funeral. The money was declined. But slowly, because they were a nuisance, things began to change. Finally six weeks after her death, Joyce was allowed to be buried. Joyce was not buried unnoticed. Her friends from the local church saw to that.
Some tell me that religion divides and cause war. I think they’re right. But a true faith in God and the proper understanding of the nature and worth of humanity – now that can be something else. It brings dignity and respect in a society that fast seems to be losing those things.
twilightdawning 