NCP: Browns Need to Strut into Heinz Field Chris Jericho Style.

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Two weeks ago in honor of WWE coming to Fox, Miles Garrett and the Browns made a full heel turn against the Steelers. Should we go face this Sunday in Pittsburgh or just hire Paul Heyman to manage the team and give them a Brock Lesnar type beating?

Big$: I'm an AEW guy, so I suggest strutting into Heinz field, chests out Chris Jericho style. The team is on a hot streak and needs to start acting like winners and ditch the victim mentality.

Seriously, would you wear Browns colors in the stands this weekend?

Big $: By and large, NFL stadiums are packed with people drinking to forget they have to be at work in 12 or 13 hours. Common sense is not something you're going to find in abundance. If you really feel the need to show your colors on enemy soil, you should probably be ready to throw some hands.

Is this the biggest Browns game in the past 20 years and how do you see it playing out?

Big $: This team needs to win out for the post season, so every game carries more weight than the past 10-15 Decembers. With that said, they are facing a Duck Hodges led team that they already dominated 2 weeks ago, I foresee a similar outcome to the Starrcade '86 esque game in Cleveland. Browns 24 Steelers 10

OSU wins over UM - Some Favorites; The Poaching of UM Asst's; The Playoff Picture ....Colin-Baver Q&A: THE GAME week (Part 2 of 2)

Click here for Swear Free Dead Schembechler Spotify Playlist

Colin: We have had so many sweet wins against Michigan since 2000. What are your personal top five favorites?

Baver: I’ll go ahead and exclude the 2002 win that sent OSU to the Nat’l Title Game and the 2006 battle between undefeated #1 vs undefeated #2....those two are too easy. Of the rest of the Buckeye wins, I took the most enjoyment from these...(listed pretty much in ascending order)

Ohio St 37 Michigan 21 (2004) – You want to talk about a “1-game season”....ask a Buckeye fan what they remember about the 2004 season, and you might get, “Isn’t that the year Ted Ginn had the punt return down the Michigan sideline for a touchdown?” Another fan might say, “That was the year Troy Smith had his coming out party against Michigan.” I think those two things come to mind first, as opposed to Ohio State having 3-consecutive losses at one point that year, on the way to a 4-loss season. This game trumped the 4 losses.

Ohio St 25 Michigan 21 (2005) – With 7:49 remaining, UM kicked a field goal to go up 21-12....this after Ohio State had dominated early on, leading 9-0 in the 2nd quarter. I was sick to my stomach. I had watched the game at the Worthington Legion, and a friend of mine was so disgusted that he left at that point to leave early for a hunting trip. A little over a minute later, Troy hit Santonio Holmes for a TD. Not long after came the Gonzo Catch, and that set up the Antonio Pittman’s game-winning TD. 

Ohio St 26 Michigan 20 (2001) – In games I attended in Ann Arbor, Ohio St was 0-3 in prior to this one. This game backed up the comment Jim Tressel made the day he was hired (Jan 18, 2001), “I assure you that you will be proud of our young people, in the classroom, in the community, and most-especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the football field.” I ended up getting food poisoning having to stop on the way home several times to throw up. It was well worth it.

Ohio St 62 Michigan 39 (2018) – OSU came into this one a 4½-pt dog, having given up 51 pts the week before to a Maryland team that finished 5-7. It was finally time for the dominance to end, with Michigan having their best team since 2006 and a top-4 ranking. That kind of talk was music to Urban Meyer’s ears. This game was way worse than the score, and Ohio St figured out that they had a little-known weapon named Chris Olave. When the clock hit 0:00 “Revenge Tour” t-shirts hit the discount racks.

Ohio St 30 Michigan 27, 2OT (2016) – Watched this one with my old man. Come late 2nd quarter I had stopped yelling at the TV. Ohio State was only down a FG but they were getting physically dominated. It seemed like the day had finally come, and yelling wasn’t going to change things. But with a 3-0 lead and 4:10 to go in the half, on first down, Harbaugh chose to throw from his own 6 yd-line. Malik Hooker picked off Speight’s errant throw, returning it for six changing the complexion of the game. Then the last 5 minutes of regulation and the two overtimes were mind blowing. 

Colin: Ohio State poached two assistant coaches from the Michigan in the offseason. These two guys have obviously help transform this Buckeye defense from mediocrity to possibly the best defense in the country. Your thoughts on how their hires molded this Buckeye team, could their hires work against OSU tomorrow?

Baver: I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that excited to get Greg Mattison as defensive coordinator. At age 69, he was 4 years removed from his D-coordinator job at UM, having been downgraded to D-line coach in 2015. But this is why Ryan Day is paid millions, while I am making a wee bit less. The difference in this defense from last year to this is simply unreal. I was though happy at the time OSU landed Al Washington Jr. Washington was the best recruiting assistant UM had, and I had little doubt that he’d be an upgrade over Bill Davis as OSU’s LB coach. And the results he has gotten as LB coach have been HUGE.

I’m sure these hired give UM players & coaches more of a reason to want to beat Ohio St, but I don’t think this helps their chances tomorrow. After a couple of drives, emotions settle down, and the game usually comes down to: who is more talented, who wins the battle in the trenches, and whose coaches make the better calls. And I trust Ryan Day to ensure that his assistant’s tendencies don’t translate to UM advantages.

Colin: What does tomorrow’s game mean for OSU’s playoff chances and how do you see the entire playoff picture right now?

Baver: My thoughts...

--Ohio St: A win in the B10 Title game puts OSU in; a loss in that game leaves them out. OSU-UM game would only effect seeding if OSU is in.

--LSU: The Tigers are in if they simply win 1 of their last 2 gms.

--Clemson: May need to win both of their last 2 gms. A tight loss in one of the two of them makes it close to a 50/50 call as to the Clemson getting in.

--Georgia: Need to win out. A loss in either game, they are out.

--Alabama: Need a win & a couple upsets to get in, but one of the upsets CANNOT be Ga over LSU. 

--Utah and Oklahoma: If one team wins out and the other doesn’t, the team wining out is likely in.

--Baylor: Need to win both the next two, do so impressively, and need help.

—Brent Baver and Colin Gawel

"Nothing matters if we don't win this Game" --Ryan Day, 11/26/19 ....Colin-Baver Q&A: THE GAME week (Part 1 of 2)

Colin: The Penn State game was the first time Coach Ryan Day and QB Justin Fields faced adversity during the 2019 season. How do you think they handled it? 

Baver: I think the team as a whole handled it very well. For Penn St, replacing an injured Sean Clifford with Will Levis had its advantages. Levis’ running style had OSU out of sorts for a bit. But like they have done all year, this Buckeye D adjusted within a few drives. Chase Young was out there for more plays than he usually is, and looked tired in the 3rd qtr. But after the two short-field PSU TD drives, Chase and the rest of the Buckeye D played with a sense of urgency, blanking PSU the rest of the way. 

I thought some of the decisions from Coach Day were puzzling, but we aren’t privy to the info Day has when making those decisions. He coached another “W”, and that’s what counts. As for Justin, I thought he hung in there well. He had several big runs, some key throws, and drove the O for a much-needed TD early in the 4thqtr. 

Colin: After such an incredibly easy stretch of games, it felt like both the team and the fans were surprised when Penn State actually kept trying to win the game despite being down 21-0. Was this a needed reality check before heading into the Big House? 

Baver: Without a doubt, they needed this. The TO’s caused a 17-point swing in the game, otherwise you are maybe looking at a 35-7 OSU win. But I’ll pass on a 28-pt margin, and take the 28-17 win that included this team’s response to Penn St’s 3rd quarter surge.

Colin: I haven't looked at the snap count, but is it time to say Chris Olave should be on the filed every play no matter how deep our WR rotation is? 

Baver: I don’t know about every play, but I was pretty vocal in the stadium after a first quarter that saw Olave on the field only for a few plays. I have no real issues with the senior Mack getting the start each week in front of him, but Olave is by far the best receiving target they have. No doubt about it, Olave HAS TO play more in Ann Arbor, and HAS TO be targeted more often. 

Colin: Boy, we rode JK Dobbins hard. Any concerns about him or Fields being a little worn out this week?

Baver: I’m not so worried about Dobbins, with him having little wear and tear prior to Penn St. I think JK will be fine. It is Fields that I am much more concerned about. With the lack of pass attempts against a struggling PSU secondary, you have wonder how bad Fields was hurting. And while Chase Young is the best player in the country, Fields is unquestionably the player Ohio St can LEAST AFFORD TO LOSE. 

Colin: Michigan is playing much better and they have to win a game in the rivalry sooner or later. Tell me why this could be their year?

Baver: UM is a far better team at home than on the road, and Shea Patterson has not lost as a starter in Michigan Stadium. As always, their D is very solid. Their offense has probably improved as much as any team’s O over the season, and is certainly not the offense we saw at Wisconsin in Gm 3. And unlike last year, this UM team will not be overconfident. OSU is back at #1 in the playoff ranking, and Michigan has taken plenty of “62 to 19” abuse. 

Colin: Tell me how the Buckeyes get another huge win in Ann Arbor? 

Baver: After this past Saturday, I guess “not turning the ball over” has to get the first mention. I would think Day has spent extra time on ball security this week in practice. OSU’s offense ran the ball 73% of the time against Penn St. If Ohio St is going to throw the ball more Saturday, they need a better effort out of LT Thayer Munford, and Justin has to get rid of the ball quicker. And if Dobbins is having success, giving him the rock 30 times makes sense. 

On defense, OSU simply needs to respect this UM offense. As long as they are healthy, I think this Buckeye D will be fine. It hasn’t gotten much mention, but OSU’s D has not given up 300 yards in any game this year. That’s unheard of. 

Colin: Could the Buckeyes lose and still make the playoffs?

Baver: Yes, as long as they win in Indy....let’s revisit this and some other OSU-UM history Friday. 

Colin: Final thoughts and prediction? 

Baver: Too much panic in Columbus after the Penn St game. Ohio St still dominated the top-10 ranked Nittany Lions, and the final was misleading. I like the matchup of the OSU corners against UM wideouts...this despite the fact that the Michigan WRs have made huge strides. And I expect Chase Young and Dobbins to be game changers.

I think Day will again take a more conservative approach this week, and simply want to secure a win over Michigan. I have this one: Ohio St 31 Michigan 20.

—Brent Baver and Colin Gawel

Ricki C. & JCE Talking Boston's Finest Sons: The Neighborhoods, including a brand new record.....

In the age of the internet, it’s possible to have a friend you have never actually met. Ricki C and JCE are fast friends after years of correspondence, and one of the things they have always agreed upon is the greatness of Boston’s best band, THE NEIGHBORHOODS. After literally years of anticipating a new record, it’s finally here. Titled “Last Known Address,” the new ‘Hoods record is worth talking about, so Ricki C hatched a plan to do just that. Below, he and JCE discuss the new record and The Neighborhoods in general, through a back and forth conversation. Here you go…..

How did you first learn about the Neighborhoods anyway?

JCE: I went to school in Charlottesville, VA, and I lived there afterwards - pretty much all of the 1980’s. One day, probably in 1985, this guy named Maynard was tacking up flyers around town that said “Fire Is Coming” (the band’s then-current indie release). Maynard played in local bands, managed a band and booked shows for bands he wanted to bring to town. Anyway, I had never heard The Neighborhoods until that day.

RICKI C.: My high school best friend & bandmate Dave Blackburn (who taught me more about music and rock & roll than anybody else in my existence) moved to Boston in 1972 after intentionally flunking out of Ohio State University. My visits to Dave in Boston over the next couple of years is what launched my love of Boston rock & roll. That love affair started with The Modern Lovers, who Dave saw play at a high school – with a young up & coming band called Aerosmith OPENING the show – pretty soon after he got to Boston. Said love affair continued through the 1970’s with Willie Alexander, The Real Kids, The Nervous Eaters and about twenty more. (see appendix A below)

In mid-1980, on one of those visits, I happened on a new magazine called Boston Rock that featured The Neighborhoods on the cover of its debut issue and it was literally love at first sight. I sent away for their debut single on the Ace Of Hearts label – “Prettiest Girl” b/w “No Place Like Home” – when I got back to Columbus and the rest is history.

The Neighborhoods in 1980 / David Minehan on guitar, John Hartcorn, bass, Michael Quaglia, drums.

What’s been your experience seeing them play—how many times have you seen them?

JCE: I saw that show in Charlottesville when I first heard of them, at a place called the C&O, I believe. After that I was hooked. I’ve seen them in their hometown of Boston at Bunratty’s, I’ve seen them in Richmond, VA Beach, at least twice in D.C. and probably at least three other times in Charlottesville. One time I even saw them at a frat party at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, VA. My wife (fiancé at the time) and I lived in Charlotte, NC, for a year. On our last night there, before we moved back home to VA, we saw The ‘Hoods play a club called The Pterodactyl. All the boys in the band were wearing matching black t-shirts that said “Fuck You, We’re From Boston” on the back. I’m forgetting some, so I would say I’ve seen them about 12 or 13 times. They are so spectacular live that me and my friends in Charlottesville would never miss them if we were within a couple of hours. My friends’ band 98 Colours opened for them sometimes and they slept on the couches and floors of people I knew on multiple occasions.

RICKI C.: Oh man, this live category has GOT to be the one where I’m most jealous of my long-distance compatriot, JCE. Virginia & Washington being on the East Coast means he got ‘Hoods live opportunities WAY more often than this Midwest/Ohio boy. I had to FLY to Boston to see The Neighborhoods in the early years. (Flying to Boston To See The Rock & Roll) Luckily, from 1980 to 1984 I was working in the stockroom of Ross Laboratories here in Columbus, and it was simultaneously the HIGHEST-PAYING and EASIEST job I ever had, affording me the cash to indulge myself in live ‘Hoods.

I never got to see the John-Hartcorn-on-bass era band but I know I saw the Tim-Green-on-bass Neighborhoods twice. I was still drinking heavily AND smoking pot in those early-80’s days, though, so those shows are kinda hazy. I don’t even recall what clubs they were at, but one seemed to be in a strip-shopping-center with a carry-out and maybe a laundromat or tanning place in it. For sure it wasn’t The Rat, which I had been to a few times earlier in the 1970’s.

By far my favorite place to see The Neighborhoods in Boston was The Channel, a 1700-person capacity bar near Boston Garden, right on a subway line, really easy to get to from my Commonwealth Motel Boston home base. As much as I’ve come to enjoy seeing bands in small (50-200 capacity) clubs, I dearly LOVE watching rock & roll bands kick out the jams in big-ass bars, auditoriums & theaters like the shows I grew up on in the 1960’s: Veteran’s Memorial (capacity 3172) and later the Columbus Agora (still in operation, now called The Newport, capacity 1500 or so).

The Neighborhoods @ The Channel, 1982 / Minehan & Quaglia, Lee Harrington on bass.

The Neighborhoods only played my home town of Columbus, Ohio, once, in May of 1986. This is a review I did of that show for The Noise, a Boston fanzine I dearly loved back in the day. (Along with Boston Groupie News and the short-lived Frenzy.) All tolled I probably saw the guys maybe 7 times, i.e. not nearly enough.

Tell me about the best show you ever saw them play…..

JCE: That’s impossible. The show I saw in Richmond had my friends as the opener and The Neighborhoods had a guest guitarist that night. It was this guy from a Richmond band called The Good Guys. He was great and Dave Minehan loved him. He invited the guy, right there on stage, to officially join the Neighborhoods as a second guitarist, but the offer was declined. I honestly believe it was a serious offer though. Another good one was at a club in D.C. called 15 Minutes. They announced that they were calling it quits and it would be their last show. They played with a vengeance that night (the Dave, Lee and Mike lineup). Afterwards I got a CD signed by them and Dave wrote “Neighborhoods, R.I.P.” under his name. It was heartbreaking. All the shows in Charlottesville were good, because all my friends were always there and they knew us. They would take the stage and my friend Tracy would start yelling for them to play her favorite song, “Shake” before they even played the first note.

RICKI C. I’ve gotta say one of The Channel shows in either 1982 (when I went to Boston to spend my 30th birthday alone, when I was first sobering up), or 1985 were the most rocking shows I ever saw from David, Lee Harrington & Mike Quaglia. But that Columbus show in Stache’s - capacity 85 people (though the club owner once sold 300 tickets to a Dream Syndicate show there) - was the BEST show. When you pack the sheer excitement of a band like The Neighborhoods - who regularly played 1700 capacity venues in their hometown - into a tiny rock club roughly the size of some rich guy’s frickin’ LIVING ROOM, the magic was just OVERWHELMING.

Plus that show was the only time I ever got to talk to & hang out with the guys in The Neighborhoods. It was a genuine bonding experience for me, and I treasure that rock & roll memory TO THIS DAY, 33 years later.

Rank their records from best to worst.

JCE: Reptile Men, The High Hard One, Last Known Address, Hoodwinked, The Neighborhoods, Fire is Coming, The Last Rat.

Hoodwinked and The Neighborhoods have mostly the same songs. Hoodwinked has that amazing cover of “Southern Girls” by Cheap Trick. Also, I am one person who happens to absolutely love the version of “Prettiest Girl” that is on the self-titled Atlantic release. A lot of people would disagree.

RICKI C.: Wow, their recorded output is a place we really diverge on The ‘Hoods. My best to worst: The High Hard One, Fire Is Coming, The Last Rat, and Reptile Men are the great ones. I haven’t absorbed Last Known Address enough yet to drop it into the canon, but I gotta think it’s gonna slot between Fire Is Coming and The Last Rat. Further, I find Hoodwinked and the self-titled Atlantic CD almost unlistenable. (Indeed, that Brad Whitford-produced record is why I couldn’t ever get people to take The Neighborhoods seriously when I pronounced them my “favorite Boston band ever” and “better than The Replacements” in blogs like this one, on my old site: Growing Old With Rock & Roll / The Neighborhoods “Cultured Pearls.”)

Then again, in the first decade of this 21st century I was lucky enough to be supplied – courtesy of Eric Law of Boston and Vic Gagnon of Ann Arbor, MI. (among others) – with a couple dozen live sets of The Neighborhoods from all over America stretching from 1979 to well into the late 1980’s, and any number of those live sets just MIGHT be better than any of the ‘Hoods official releases. They were just such a GREAT live band.

Let’s (finally) get to the new record. Review it in 1,000 words or less.

JCE: Well, I obviously love it, since I have it ranked right after The High Hard One. First off, there are no clunkers on it whatsoever.

It starts strong with “Half Life” and if every song was about that good, I would be happy. But it gets even better.

I really get fired up starting with track two. “ByGone Era” is a killer, probably my favorite or second favorite on the record. I love the sort-of play on words, and the sentiment—is it ‘good bygone era’ or is it ‘goodbye gone era’? The answer is both.

Tracks 2-5 are my favorite, I think. Track 3, “I Go Dark” is strong. For track 4, we get “Billy the Kid” which is maybe my third favorite on the record. I like the slow, melancholy start and then the way it kicks into gear. Tracks 5, “Don’t Look Down,” is excellent and probably my second favorite.

Track 6, “In Case of Creeps” is great. Unfortunately, it has this section that is just talking/noodling that goes on way too long and ruins the song. I cured that by using iTunes to clip the song at the 1:45 mark. That way it’s short, but it’s perfect.

Tracks 7-10 are very good, maybe not great. Track 8 is called “The Stowaway” and it is my least favorite. Track 10, “The Parasites” is a song most ‘Hoods fans already know. It’s never been a favorite of mine but it’s still damn good.

Track 11 jumps up a notch. It’s called “The Tiled Room” and it has a Replacements vibe to me.

The record winds down with track 12, “We Are All Alone.” It’s a really cool slower song. I really like this one a lot, but I think because it is so repetitive that it would have been better if it were four minutes long instead of 5:26.

Overall, it’s just so good. After all these years I feared the possibility of disappointment, but to the contrary, this exceeded all my expectations. I will say that the CD packaging is really weak, but hey, it’s about the music, right? Still, after all these years some liner notes or lyrics would have been nice.

RICKI C.: I concur about the CD packaging. Artists & labels these days just seem NOT TO CARE at all about CD’s as a physical product, everything is just about downloads: Spotify and Rhapsody rule. I really miss jewel-case CD’s with cool covers and inside booklets with credits and lyrics, like JCE said. (I suspect that’s all just about economics in the indie world, and I FAILED Econ 101 in school all those decades ago.)

Musically the record is BEYOND solid: crunching guitars, cool bass, kick-ass drums, great vocals; what else and what more can a rocker gonna ask for these days? Plus, lyrically the songs are actually ABOUT something, and how many places do you get that in 2019, where every band I hear writes maybe two verses and then just bores us with a chorus until the (oftentimes merciful) conclusion of the tune? “Half Life,” “Bygone Era” and “Billy The Kid” are my early standout favorites. (And are you gonna find lyrics as sharp, heartbreaking AND insightful as “Standin’ here as sad as birthday candles blown out so long ago / If you could only tell us not to worry, ‘cuz everything is beautiful / We’d let it go” from “Billy The Kid” about a departed compadre on a rock record this year? I gotta doubt it.)

So the entire disc is kinda like a supercharged Cheap Trick rumbling with The Jam in a dark alley in Boston sometime in the summer of 1979, only with WAY better lyrics and I’m gonna leave it at that. David Minehan is absolutely one of my top 10 rock & roll songwriters of all time and bassist Lee Harrington comes up with a couple of solid tunes on this disc. Buy it, or download it, NOW!

The Neighborhoods, 2010 / Minehan & Harrington, John Lynch on drums.

Final words or stories?

JCE: I would just say that this has been a long time coming. I discovered a website called Hoods Online years and years ago. At one time, they would post a live show once in a while. I started getting emails from an email list I signed up for, and at one point, they were promising not only a new record, but the release of an apparently finished record called “Last of the Mohicans.” Neither ever came out, that was like eight years ago, or more. Then this one started being teased and there were even little clips of the songs on that website for a couple of years. Guitarist & main songwriter David Minehan is obviously a busy man, but it was so worth the wait. I hope I can see them play live again. I saw Dave play with the Replacements a couple of years ago and he is still just the best to watch.

Oh yeah, and thanks to you, Ricki C, for asking me to do this. You are a real friend, a great writer, and you have pretty decent taste in music. And thanks for the GIANT pile of live Neighborhoods CD’s that you gave me!

RICKI C: I can’t think of a better present for the rockers on everybody’s Christmas list than Last Known Address. It’s on Spotify & all that, or you can order from my favorite Boston-related merch outlet QRST’s Store, linked here…….Neighborhoods & Boston rockers merch.

Appendix A: the track listing of Ricki C.’s homemade-from-vinyl 2-CD set Best of Boston Rock & Roll

(note: I’ve made individual “best of” CD’s of The Modern Lovers, The Sidewinders, The J. Geils Band, Aerosmith, Reddy Teddy, The Cars, The Neighborhoods, Mission of Burma and 'til tuesday for my collection. These are the other Boston bands I love.)

CD-1 / Boston Rocks / 1975 – 1977

1) Kerouac

2) Mass. Ave. – Willie Alexander, indie single, ’75

3) Holiday Fire – Marc Thor

4) Boystown Boize – The Boize, split indie single, ’75

5) Prized Possession – Fox Pass, indie single, ‘76

6) Loretta – The Nervous Eaters, indie single, ’76

7) All Kindsa Girls

8) Common At Noon – The Real Kids, indie single, ’77

9) Lift Up Your Hood – DMZ, indie ep track, ’77

10) You Looked So Pretty When – Willie Alexander, indie single ’76

11) Boys & Girls

12) Romance – Reddy Teddy, album tracks, ’76

13) Hot For Teacher – Thundertrain, indie single, ’76

14) Pup Tune – Willie Alexander & The Boom Boom Band

15) Boy From Nowhere

16) Ball Me Out – DMZ

17) Better Be Good

18) Who Needs Ya – The Real Kids

19) I’ve Got To Rock – Thundertrain

tracks 14 – 19 from Live At The Rat album, 1976

CD-2 / Boston Rocks / 1978 – 1986

1) Baby Boom – DMZ, album track, ’78

2) Psycho Blonde – Pastiche, compilation track, ’80

3) Better Off Dead – La Peste, indie single, ’78

4) When You’re Young

5) Teenage Flu

6) Big City Rock – The Atlantics, album tracks, ’79

7) Everybody Wants To Survive – The Infliktors, indie single, ’79

8) I’m Talking To You – The Maps, indie single, ’79

9) When Things Go Wrong – Robin Lane & The Chartbusters, ’79

10) Stuck On The Same Refrain – The Peter Dayton Band, ’81

11) Ina’s Song – Limbo Race, indie single, ’83

12) Tiger, Tiger – Scruffy The Cat, indie ep track, ’86

13) The Room Starts Spinning – Classic Ruins, album track, ’86

14) I Want To Help You Ann

15) High On Yourself

16) What A Girl Can’t Do – The Lyres, indie ep tracks, ’83

17) Generic New York City Woman

18) Junk Train

19) Motherfuckers – The Blackjacks, album tracks, ’86

20) I Couldn’t Say No – Robert Ellis Orrall w/ Carlene Carter, ‘83

Bucks, Nits meet for 34th time. Mother Nature to comply with OSU-PSU contractual obligations, and bring rain. 2019 OSU Football begins now – Colin & Baver Q&A

Colin: In 2017 Penn State had a 4th Quarter win percentage of 93.1% and in 2018, 96.7% but lost both games to the Buckeyes. How different would history look if they had won those two games? 

Baver: Urban’s health problems would have started a lot earlier. (I’m only half-kidding in saying that.) Simply flipping the wins to losses for Ohio St means the Buckeyes wouldn’t have won the Big Ten East either year. That wouldn’t fly in Columbus, as fans here are quite so understanding of short-comings. As for Penn St, they would have likely made the 2017 playoff. PSU had also capitalized on their 2016 upset of Ohio St with top-15 recruiting classes each of the next three years. Had Penn St won the ’17 and ’18 games as well, James Franklin would have parlayed that into even bigger recruiting gains, and done so at OSU’s expense. Even if I am overstating the effect here, I can guarantee you that the phrase, “There’s a new sheriff in town” would have been directed at Ohio St fans countless times over the past 12 months. And THAT would have driven Buckeye Nation insane. 

Colin: Having said that about the last two games, I feel like this year the Nittany Lions are headed to the woodshed, why should I believe their 2019 squad can compete with the Buckeyes? 

Baver: Only once in the last five seasons has this game been decided by more than a touchdown, while each of the last three games was decided by 3 pts or less. So, OSU is an 18½-pt favorite? They were 19-pt favorites in 2016 and lost.

But I am playing devil’s advocate to simply answer your question. You can argue that Penn St was fortunate to get W’s against Pitt, UM, and IU. The Buckeyes on the other hand have steam-rolled every opponent on their schedule. If Penn St’s do-everything guy KJ Hamler can’t go Saturday, you have to wonder where the Nits points are going to come from.

Colin: Okay...sounds like we are on the same page which isn’t always the case. So give me your full take on this one.

Baver: I’ve predicted tight games with Penn St each of the past 3 years, but I’m guessing this one isn’t so close. The PSU corners (Reid and Castro-Fields) have been torched the past 2 weeks, and are not up to normal DB standards in Happy Valley. Gopher QB Tanner Morgan vs PSU was18 for 20, 339 yards, 3 TDs, no picks. Hoosier QB Peyton Ramsey was 31 for 41, a career-high 371 yds, no picks, and he lost his top WR in the first half of the game. Ryan Day will obviously look to exploit the matchups against the Nittany Lion corners. Penn St is however holding opponents to the lowest per-play, rushing yard average in the country, allowing just 2.2 yds per rush. Still, OSU piled up 323 yds on the ground against Sparty, and 264 against the Badgers, both of whom came into Ohio Stadium with top-5 ranked rush D’s. While I think Penn St’s rush D will fare a bit better, I still expect OSU to eclipse 200 yds on the ground. As for PSU’s front seven, it goes without saying that they need DEs Yetur Gross-Matos and Shaka Toney to return to early season form. And honestly, they need all hands on deck against Fields, Dobbins and company.

On the other side of the ball, WR/KR/PR KJ Hamler was the #1 difference maker in last year’s game until Ohio St scored twice late to steal the win. Hamler left the IU game with a possible head injury. Will he play Saturday? Regardless, Penn St needs TBs Journey Brown and Noah Cain (health pending, as well) to tote the load, and will need QB Sean Clifford’s athleticism to extend plays. And if I am PSU OC Ricky Rahne, I’d more often want to take my chances against OSU’s run D. The alternative is testing the Buckeye corners through the air which requires simultaneously dealing with Chase Young and OSU’s athletic front. That is a tall task.

Heavy rains could make this more interesting, but I have this one: Ohio St 41 Penn St 20. 

Colin: Okay, before we go.... Obviously this Buckeye team had better not be looking at the point spread and thinking about playoff opponents, but you and I of course can afford that luxury. Who does Ohio State want or not want in the CFB playoff?

Baver: I said early on when Clemson didn’t look as good as expected that Dabo would have this team ready to go come playoff time. I think they are more than ready now. Haven’t played anybody? Shouldn’t matter, as they’ve been to the playoff four straight years...and they certainly weren’t intimidated in postseason games against Bama and Ohio St when those two schools were the top programs in CFB. 

If OSU gets in, and draws a team other than Clemson or LSU in the semi, that would be a big break in my mind. OSU-Clemson I think would be a dog fight, and OSU-LSU possibly would be as well. Other than those two, I’d feel pretty good about OSU matching up against any of the other potential playoff teams.

--Brent Baver and Colin Gawel, Pencil Storm 2019

Slayer Concert Review: Columbus, OH 11/12/2019 - by Kevin Montavon

The Slayer "Last Campaign Tour" rolled into Columbus on Tuesday, Nov 12th. Having seen them nearly every time they have played Columbus since 1986, but having missed their last stop here, as well as this tour being advertised as their final trek, I had to catch this show. When the opening acts were announced for the tour, there was one act that sold me on going. In the opening slot was Phil Anselmo, the former lead singer of Pantera, and his band The Illegals, performing for the first time in decades a full set of that band's songs. I was a huge Pantera fan in their heyday, seeing them 17 times in the course of 7 years, from 1991-98. I was unfortunately also present at The Alrosa Villa in December of 2004 when Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott was murdered onstage along with 3 others during a concert by his follow-up band Damageplan. My Pantera bonafides run deep. I don't listen to the band that much anymore but they still loom large in my concert history. So there was no way I was going to miss this show.

I had received word from friends who saw tour stops in other cities that Phil was hitting the stage at 5 minutes to 6:00, so I made sure I was inside Nationwide Arena by 5:45. I went straight to my purchased seat location, towards the back of the lower level and took my seat in a largely empty section. The cavernous Nationwide Arena had been scaled down to half-size for this show, and the upper level had been darkened and curtained off. The result was a smaller arena feel, while still providing a venue 3 times the size of Slayer's usual spot in town, the Express Live Indoor pavilion. The only other time I had seen Slayer in an arena over the years was in 1991, on the Clash Of The Titans tour with Megadeth, Anthrax, and Alice In Chains...a show where they turned the reserved seating Battelle Hall, in what is now the Columbus Convention Center, into a raging general admission mosh pit where security couldn't remove the rows of seating fast enough. The show tonight was far from sold out, but it was a respectable draw for a record-cold November weeknight, and still over twice the audience size that Slayer normally plays to in this market. In fact the only larger audience they have played to in Central Ohio was when they played the main stage at Rock On The Range in front of a full soccer stadium.

At 5:55 PM, the houselights fell and The Amboy Dukes' 1967 album track "Down On Phillip's Escalator (D.O.P.E.)" played over the PA, as The Illegals took the stage. When the song ended, Phil walked onstage with arms raised. Taking the mic he said, "This is for Dime and Vince [Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul Abott, also deceased]", and the band launched into Pantera's "Mouth For War". The still-filling general admission floor became an instant swirl of moshing, and the audience took over backing vocal duties flawlessly. The band was tight as could be with the lead guitarist in particular channeling his inner-Dimebag. As for the man of the hour himself, Phil has seen better days. His voice and stage presence are a mere shell of their former glory. At one time in the 1990's no one could touch Phillip Anselmo on the stage. While it was somewhat disheartening to watch him slowly walk back and forth, throwing his arms in the air as if trying to start a Metal wave in the cavernous hall, it was also a testament to his status as an elite frontman that even in his diminished capacity he could command the attention of every eye in the house. For pure nostalgia it was great. The audience continued to sing along with every song, to the point where Phil would just let them sing the chorus of many songs. After a far too short 7-song set, he bid us all a good night and asked us to help him "end this the right way" as we all sang together "And she's buying a Stairway to Heaven." Should Phil eventually decide to do a full Pantera revival tour with the other surviving member, bassist Rex Brown, I would be first in line for tickets.

Ministry was next. They too have a unique connection to Pantera history in Columbus. They played here on the same night Dimebag was murdered. I had to choose between going to The Newport that night for their show, or the cheaper priced Damageplan show. As they hit the stage this evening, I once again was lost in the throes of nostalgia, as at least half of their set was literally made up of the dance songs of my college years. Industrial bangers like "Burning Inside", "Thieves And Liars", and set closer "Jesus Built My Hot Rod" had me time-traveling to the late 80's and early 90's Ohio State south campus bar scene. They even found time to squeeze in the 1,000 Homo DJ's cover of Black Sabbath's "Supernaut", which went over great with the metalhead crowd. Newly sober frontman Al Jorgensen, author of one of the most absurd autobiographies in music history, actually appeared to be having fun on stage. Amazing.

Primus took the stage next. On paper, the band sticks out like a sore thumb on this lineup. But in execution, the audience loved them. It didn't hurt that the house had filled up considerably during the course of the two previous acts. They played a set of career highlights, but the funnest part of their set for me was when they covered "Cygnus X-1" by Rush. I had last seen Les Claypool and company all the way back in 1994 when they opened for Rush on the Counterparts tour, and I had witnessed my final Rush show in this very arena, so the moment was a bit surreal. They finished their set with their mid 90's MTV hit "Jerry Was A Racecar Driver", sending the masses on the floor into another whirlpool of moshing.

A large curtain was dropped to cover the stage, and after listening to most of AC/DC's "Back In Black" album over the PA, the moment had finally arrived...Slayer were about to begin their final set ever in Columbus. If I told you I didn't go total fanboy when their intro tape started, and began screaming "SLAAAAAYER" at the top of my lungs, acting like a 15-year old girl in the throes of Beatlemania, I would be lying.
Slayer, being the extraordinarily consistent band they have always been on the live stage, played a set of songs covering all eras of their career. The big chestnuts of their catalog, the material from their first 5 albums, were mostly saved for the second half of the set, resulting in a crowd that stayed hot throughout the entire night. Speaking of hot, the pyro budget for this tour must be outrageous, as blasts of fire and large banks of flames burned behind them for a significant part of the show. I could feel the heat all the way at the top of the scaled-down arena. It was quite kind of the guys to keep us all so warm on a freezing autumn evening.

When the last notes of "Angel Of Death" had faded, the guys remained onstage with the houselights up, interacting with fans, handing out guitar picks, drumsticks, setlists, etc. They stayed out there for an extraordinarily long time, even as many people filed out of the building. For most of this time, frontman Tom Araya stood motionless at the edge of the stage just staring at the audience and the arena, soaking it all in. He finally walked around onstage a bit with the other guys until they all eventually left him by himself to speak to us one last time. His voice cracked as he said, "Thank you for being a part of my life." The mood was very somber, and you could feel Tom's sincerity that this really was the end.

As I type this, rumors of a Mötley Crüe reunion tour are swirling for 2020, and The Black Crowes are already comfirmed for a reunion next summer as well, illustrating that no one ever stays retired in Rock. But if this was indeed Slayer's final show ever in the Buckeye State, then it was a fitting end to the decades of destruction they have wrought on the concert scene. Long live FUUUUUCKING SLAAAAAYER