Hear the Hurd

Peter Jackson's The Beatles: Get Back

For anyone that knows me, it should come as no surprise that I was highly intrigued by this project. To those uninitiated, there was an attempt to record both an album and a live TV show/film in 1969 which ended up breaking down to much acrimony by the end due to mainly business between the various members and the songs set on the shelf for some time before Phil Spector produced what we know as the album Let It Be. Between what was later called the Get Back sessions and what eventually became the album, the film by the latter name was released and was not terribly well received. The Beatles themselves did not care for it. It has colored many peoples attitude towards their break up ever since. Also, while I'll admit I've never seen the original film in its totality, it has been roundly panned over the years and more - most consider it a document of the greatest band ever breaking up. Part the reason I'd like to see it, but it's not so easy to find.

Now I will be honest with you, dear reader. I hold only one song The Beatles ever released as poor. Revolution #9. That belonged on Two Virgins (the album John and Yoko did together in 1968...and was assisted by none other than Sir Paul McCartney.) Other than that, I believe them all to be genius. They are my favorite band of all time and so I have no issue watching hours upon hours of them working, or not working such as it appears. And there can be no doubt that this documentary just as the film that preceded it shows very much both. It is bittersweet, to be sure. These four men had created something not yet seen. Not Elvis. Not Buddy Holly. Not Chuck Berry. Not Little Richard. Not yet The Rolling Stones (though they did give the Stones their first hit with I Want to be Your Man.) Not quite 8 short years of recording (and some years before honing their craft) they broke up. Went their own way. Who does that? The Beatles. That's who.

By 1969 their path together was spent, it seems to me. Both films show this. The first by Lindsey-Hogg and now this by Jackson really don't show too much difference. The biggest that can be seen is that the original showed a break up (so it has been said) and this one shows a group unsure of the next steps. George Harrison is surely looking to break out and use his talents gained over these many years. Ringo is happy (and hungover a lot) and seemingly pleased to remain (which is weird since he was the one that often left because of internal rancor.) John seems quite happy, especially I suppose because Yoko is there, but he may or may not be in the midst of drugs (weed or heroin - take your pick) and Paul? He's just desperately trying to keep it together. There is a moment when he speaks with Lennon and makes a point of saying that John was and is the leader. John doesn't want it. He's already on the way out. So Paul tries to pick it up and pisses off George (which I think he'd been doing for years.)

The largest difference between the two films and the one I find most welcoming is the little moments between each member. Yes, the infamous moment between Paul and George is mostly included ("I'll play or not play...just tell me what will please you.") And there is plenty of uncertainty with all of them as to what they want to do ultimately. Yet what I found most happily was how they got on when times were not stressed. Just playing. Together. Ringo has an idea for a song and George moves over to help him (Octopuses Garden from Abbey Road.) Much as been said about the origination of Get Back and rightly so. Paul has a noodle of song and then one by one they all join in. Lennon comes in late after they've figure out a structure and just joins in with the rest. Early bits where no one really has a song, because they wanted to do all new material, John is working with Don't Let Me Down and then later with I've Got a Feeling. The brilliance of that working relationship between John and Paul can be seen here.

More? That relationship, to me, is the greatest thing I witnessed while watching this documentary. I'm a fly on the wall watching these two master song writers create more of their long history. Their amazing songbook. There's no doubt I feel poorly for George Harrison (who would create great songs and had done so already) but there was a difference at that time. Lennon/McCartney had been a thing since 1958 or so. George himself has said that he had to catch up. I love much of his music, but there are few things I love more than watching those brief moments between John and Paul...when they know what the other is saying without having to say it. They just want to impress the other. Always did (and led to some bitter songs by John later, sadly.)

More than anything else? I always love hearing John, Paul and George harmonize. Don't get me wrong. I love the Beach Boys (more than I ever thought I would) and CSNY but nothing brings me greater joy than hearing those three voices together. John and George backing Paul on Let It Be (and I think John plays bass on that.) Trading vocals on I've Got a Feeling and then sharing them on Two of Us. Both of them backing George on I Me Mine (at least on the track.) And as always, Ringo's amazing timing. His drums always fill it out. These four always knew what they needed to do to make perfection. Not a one of them held back, no matter what else was going on. Irritating filming? They still played. Bullshit business? They still played. Marriages and what else taking away? Drugs? They still played.

In short, I loved the documentary. Of course, I am the MOST amenable to it. I want hours and hours of it. I want to see the Sgt Peppers sessions. I want to see the Decca Records session! I want every hour or minute I can get from them. I love them that much. Part the reason I love One After 909. Early days. Early songs. And Paul and John remember it and well.

I will say that it is not their best album. If you want to ask, I will tell you. But it is messy, no doubt. The Spector cut is what came out first and then McCartney did his own with Let It Be...Naked. I'm told there is a Glyn Johns version. They all have differences. The worst of the Spector version is leaving Don't Let Me Down off the album...why???, but the others don't have Lennon doing his asides. I'd also say that McCartney's version starts and stops with his songs. It really doesn't matter at this late date. If you are a fan, you've heard these permutations and like or dislike them. In the end, it is no more than what the documentary suggests. They could play these songs a million times and be different each time. Each one different and just as special.

They are The Beatles! Of course they can. And they broke up and this is what we have left. Lennon is dead. Harrison too. Paul and Ringo are octogenarians (well Paul almost.) We're never going to get anything more from this Fab Four. This is the closest we're going to get. Every bit to me is a window into the greatest four men to ever play rock and roll together. Sorry kids. You missed out, but you have this. That is all.

The Atlanta Braves - 2021 World Champions

I'm not sure if you heard, but late last night (or early this morning depending on which way you look at it) the Atlanta Braves...my Atlanta Braves...somehow, someway managed to actually win the World Series! We have to flash back here...go way back. All the way to the 80's when I first watched/saw a Braves baseball game. The years of Bob Horner, Bruce Benedict, Phil Niekro and Dale Murphy. I wasn't much of a fan and they did not give me/us many reasons to be so. But then...BUT THEN...1991 happened. I was a freshman in college and this team went worst to first and I watched my first World Series in earnest.

Many people call that 1991 World Series the very best ever and I've no reason to dispute it. Outside of the result, every pitch...every at bat...every everything including that game 7...was thrilling. It hooked me line and sinker on baseball and these Braves. 1992 was the first year I watched the Braves all year only to be disappointed at the end at the hands of the Blue Jays. 1993 was the first year I followed all of MLB when the Braves won 104 games to the Giants 103 only to lose to the Phillies in the NLCS. Then The Strike in '94. And then the magical 1995! A strike-shortened season that still pit us against one of the greatest line-ups of all time in the '95 Cleveland Indians (yes, that was still their name.) Maddux won the Cy Young that year and gave us a great game 2. But it was Tom Glavine that pitched 8 innings of 1 hit ball and that 1 home run by David Justice brought it all home!

I was 22 years old at the time. Still in college. I celebrated with my friends at a bar in Athens and none of us could believe it. Atlanta finally had a championship. For the Braves, it was just their 3rd. One each in every town they have played - 1914 in Boston, 1957 in Milwaukee and now 1995 in Atlanta. It seemed like we were finally going to roll and it would last. But then 1996 and the Yankees. The evil, foul Yankees! Leyritz in '96 and then the sweep in 1999. Plenty more division titles (14 years in total and a record) but we would never again reach that peak...that mountaintop.

Glavine would move on to the Mets before coming back for one last ride. Maddux would go back to the Cubs. Smoltz would go to Boston. Chipper Jones would eventually retire as the baby Braves were coming up. Great teams and winning teams, but never enough to achieve the ultimate goal. Francouer would fail out and McCann would even move on to the hated Yankees! But then...but THEN...in 2007 the Braves drafted a young 17 year old named Frederick Charles Freeman. He would debut with the major league team three years later in 2010 while still managed by the great Bobby Cox. That year we would win 91 games but lose to the Giants in the NLDS. That would be Bobby's last season, but we had what seemed a core and returned to the playoffs in 2012 as the Wild Card. Lost. 2013 we won the division but lost again in the NLDS to the Dodgers.

We went from a 96 game winning season to four years of losing records. The Great Rebuild. Fredi Gonzalez would be fired and in came long timer Brian Snitker. GMs would trade players, sign new players and get fired (or banned.) All the while, young Freddie Freeman continued to play and well. Early on, he and Jason Heyward were offered long time contracts. Heyward said no but Freddie said yes. And when the rebuild started, they came to him and asked his opinion. He said he was willing to wait, willing to watch, and willing to grow with the team.

In 2018, the wait was finally over. We vaulted from a 72-90 record to a 90-72 record and shocked all of baseball. Once again we would lose in the NLDS to the Dodgers but it seemed as if we'd arrived. In 2019 we won 7 more games and the division again until losing to the Cardinals in that year's NLDS. 2020 was...2020. But even under COVID, we would win the division a 3rd time in a row and take the Dodgers to a 7th game. But again, we lost. Yet that year began with Freddie himself getting the virus before going on to win the shortened season's MVP. So we, all of us, began this year of 2021 thinking it was finally our time. This would be our year.

And then the Braves went four months without a winning record. The division lead would switch over throughout the season with the Mets (the stinking Mets) leading much of that time. Then the Phillies (the filthy Phils) tried to take over. But then on August 8th, after a win over the Washington Nationals, we broke through and got over .500 ball. It was win and then loss, win and another loss. Back and forth. We'd already lost Mike Soroka early in the season when we depended on him as the supposed ace of the pitching staff. Our all world player (and arguably the best player in the game) Ronald Acuna, Jr. went down for the rest of the season a month earlier. GM Alex Anthopolous had a great decision to make. Buy or sell. We might lose Freddie in the offseason as a free agent and he would certainly bring back a huge haul. So would many others. But instead, he rolled up his sleeves and pulled off some huge trades. First Joc Pederson. Then Duvall (which he should have already signed after the last season and had beat us once or twice already by himself), Rosario and Soler. He gave up nothing in doing so. And we started winning.

He was in it to win it (a cliched phrase but true nonetheless) and while some Braves fans were skeptical, many others saw potential. Down the stretch of the season it was a near run thing. The Phillies put up a fight (and may end up with this year's MVP in Bryce Harper) but failed in the end. We won the division with only 88 wins. Every single media outlet suggested we were lucky to be there and would not go far. The Milwaukee pitching staff would be too much for us (especially with potential Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes) but a home run by Freddie off of all world closer Josh Hader in game 4 put paid to that. Then everyday Eddie Rosario took over in the NLCS against the hated Dodgers. Once again we got up 3 games to 1 and everyone thought...here we go again. Atlanta teams just lose the big games. 28-3 with the Falcons. How many series with the Braves. Bulldogs up on Bama twice in the last five years only to lose it at the end (most especially in 2017.) We weren't going to do it.

Game 6 saw Rosario definitely earn his NLCS MVP honors with a 3 run shot and the true MVPs were the bullpen. Jackson (who had seen some trouble), Minter, Matzek and Smith (who every Braves fan hated near the end of the year for giving up too many homers.) Somehow we had bested the hated Dodgers! No one gave us a shot, but here we were...in the World Series!!! Against the cheating Astros who had just put a beating on the Boston Red Sox. Surely we would fail against that vaunted line-up!

None of us knew it at the time, but the first at bat told the tale of the series. Jorge Soler (mid-season trade pick up, recall) took game 1 started Framber Valdez deep in Houston. We would go on to win that game but lose starter Charlie Morton after a shot off the leg by Gurriel. He still got batters out on a broken leg but he'd be gone for the rest of the Series. Our advantage was gone. And then we would lose game 2 behind our best starter Max Fried. His second poor game in a row after a lights out two months. So back to Atlanta with the Series tied.

We needed to win 2 out of 3 and somehow did so. Ian Anderson pitched the game of his life with 5 no hit innings in the middle of what seemed a snow storm and then the first of two bullpen games. We split those. But after game 4, we were once again at the 3-1 advantage. And once again Atlanta fans freaked out. We've seen this movie before. We know to expect the worst because it always happens. And especially after game 5, that narrative maintained. A handy victory by Houston (and after an Atlanta grand slam by Duvall in the 1st.) 3-2 and back to Houston. We had to wait a day to live with our guts and anxieties. Our worries and assumptions.

Enter once more one Max Fried. He of two poor starts of late. His stuff still wasn't sharp but he got through the first with little damage. And then nearly exited the game after getting his foot stomped on a weird play at 1st base. Yet he would trudge back to the mound for six full innings. Gutting it out and giving up nothing, these were six innings without a run scoring. Meanwhile, we got hits. None more than a mammoth home run shot by Soler once again. I'm still not sure that ball has landed. It was his third of the Series. Swanson (who'd seen some odd defensive errors in the Series) added on. So did none other than Frederick Charles Freeman. Again.

I must admit that I am a superstitious man when it comes to sports. My dog Max has been forced to endure much during this season and certainly during the playoffs. For this game, he was dressed in a Ronald Acuna, Jr. jersey the entire time and found his spot on the couch next to me once again. Hey...it worked before! But even in the 6th...the 7th...the 8th and 9th inning...we were up by 6 and then 7...but still I would not let him change. I would not let him get down. Don't change what works. And then Will Smith came in to close out a game that was not a save situation normally, but was for an entire season on the line.

I barely recall anything about that last inning. I remember thinking it could still all be lost. It's happened before (again...Leyritz or 28-3.) I remember thinking that Max could finally go to bed after days of very late nights. I remember thinking it might be the last time we see Freddie Freeman in a Braves uniform, though I don't think so because he pretty much said it himself - he doesn't want to play anywhere else. I remember that I considered that it had been 26 years since the last time I saw something like this. A championship. For one of my teams! And most of all, I remember thinking of my best friend Keith Konior who passed away in January and saw none of this season. He would have loved it...I think...and sadly missed it.

We won!!! We fucking won!!! Braves win!!! Braves fucking win!!!

A long journey. For myself. For Atlanta fans. For Brian Snitker. For Freddie Freeman. Even for Keith even if he was not around to see it. I'm honestly still numb. It really hasn't hit. A team I root for won a championship. That just doesn't happen. But it did. Last night. And I could not be happier. Braves win! And that is all!

Frank Wren...Psychic?

[Posted by Keith Konior]

He looked like a villian, didn't he?  Discarding Braves' legend Tom Glavine without a second thought.  Telling another future Hall-of-Famer, that being John Smoltz, that he was not willing to pay what was being asked for his services.

HA!

Tommy Glavine hasn't had a nibble so far as employment goes...Not one.  John Smoltz has, on the other hand, been designated for assignment by the Boston Red Sox.  It seems that a record of 2 - 5 and an ERA of 8.32 was not what they had in mind when they signed him to an insane $5.5 million dollar deal for ONE FREAKING YEAR.

The Atlanta Braves are not a contender this year.  On this date, that being August 8, 2009, it is official.  They are not gonna make the playoffs.  But, to Wren's credit, he did not choose to trade away the future of the franchise  by giving away any of our very talented farm system players in a desperate attempt to sieze the day this year.

Wren did what he could.  I liked the move for us gettin' that Garrett Anderson fellow.  I loved the move that he made getting Nate McClouth.  We have that young man for a couple of more seasons, at a very reasonable price.  The man (Wren) did everything he could to try and win this year.

Our starting pitching is excellent.  Superimpose our starting pitchers numbers over those of the LA Dodgers...They'd have won a billion games already.  We need power, plain and simple.  The Atlanta Braves do not have power.  Nor do they have speed.

I feel badly for the Braves legends that are Smoltz and Glavine, I really do.  But Frank Wren was right to cut them loose in order to make way for future masters like our own Tommy Hanson.  Frank didn't do the popular things, he simply did the right things.

And for that, I salute him.

P.S.  This is Hurd's guest-blogger, Keith Konior.

P.P.S.  That is all.

Guest Blogger - Keith Konior

Given that my blog has seen less activity from myself in recent days, I thought I would open up the floor to someone else that might be able to assist in adding content.  Thus from time to time you may get a post from my good friend Keith Konior.  He'll let you know when it is him speaking.  Hopefully it adds to the blog and as stated - adds content.  I'll certainly be adding stuff myself as it comes up but hopefully an added voice helps keep ye olde blog moving forward.  That is all.