TIME FOR A LITTLE FREE STYLE RAP

BASEBALL

Why is baseball my favorite sport? What makes it not boring to me while it seems to be so boring to so many others? Baseball is like chess.....all the action happens between the moves. The move is the result of all the thinking and all the strategizing. I find it fascinating when in attendance at a major league game, college game...even a little league game to watch all the nuisances that take place on the field.....every fielder having to think of what might happen next, every catcher and pitcher holding a silent conversation in order to decide the type and location of the next pitch.....every batter thinking through his options now that the count has changed. Baseball is boring if you're only going to pay attention when the ball is put into play. Baseball is interesting if you're staring at the second basemen in between pitches to see if he is signaling the shortstop, pitcher, or catcher that there is a pick off attempt coming at second base. It's a quiet sport in that sense. This game is played primarily with silent communication and I think for those who like silence there is a lot there to enjoy.

THE ELEPHANT MAN

Absolutely no relation or transition this time. It's free flow people...deal with it. OK...I know, I know..it's a depressing movie but man oh man...Anthony Hopkins in his younger days, plus the film being shot in black and white and the remarkable John Hurt as the Elephant Man. For some reason, every time I find this film on TV I have to stop and watch it. It puts me in a trance. It places you in a time and location and sets rather uncomfortable, often somber but and at times hopeful tone. The film received 8 Academy Award nominations in the year it was released.....why Hopkins didn't receive a supporting actor nomination I don't know. So, perhaps on a rainy, depressing day, when you're not feeling so good about your own life I would recommend looking at what John Merrick had to go through in his own life.

HERE IS MY RAP

My rap is that I like rap and always have. I think there are two reasons for this. The first reason is that the music itself uses rhythm as the number one musical element as part of the compositional structure (sounds serious huh?). This is in contradiction to most western arts music that relies heavily upon melodic and harmonic material in order to form the important basis of the work. The other reason is that the lyrics play a much more significant role in rap than they do in most other popular music. You can disagree with me all you want but if the lyrics mean nothing, the piece of rap music is not going to make it. That is quite different from other popular music. In many pieces of pop music, a riff, a guitar sound, an overall sonic appeal is what catches the listeners attention. Very often we can't even hear the lyrics or tell what the hell the singer is saying. I will say that there is plenty of pop music I like as well, but I am one that does respond to a good rhythmic groove and words that have meaning.

GRIPE OF THE DAY

My gripe is against anyone who ever utters the statement "well....rap isn't music". These people are often unable to give an adequate definition of the word "music". I admit, it's a tough one but if you're going to rule it out as music based on lack of melody or harmony you'll have to also rule out most tribal drumming that comes out of Africa and also that wonderful cadence that the local marching band drum line is playing while marching down the street. Enough said.