The Sporting Life

Please break my heart: Duets bring back memories of Johnny & June, George & Tammy

Someone apparently should deliver a beatdown on a stylist at YepRoc for trying to make Thad Cockrell resemble a Keith Urban/Rascal Flatts clone. However, that doesn't take away from the fantastic album that is Begonias, his 2005 CD with Caitlin Cary.

I didn't hear it until I received it for Christmas, so I'm a little late to the game.

If you are, too, here's your chance to give it a listen:

• Cary and Cockrell bring back the '70s
• Cary and Cockrell on NPR's "The State of Things"
• Cary and Cockrell on NPR's "Weekend America"

On football, bathrooms and Doves

· Auburn graduates are everywhere, it seems. The latest example: a journalist at USA Today. How else do you explain this story mentioning LSU fans breaking windows on the UT team buses? After all, it has to be yet another example of one of those tall tales wussy Auburn fans tell about bad experiences in Baton Rouge.

9/28 UPDATE: My attempt at humor here was apparently unclear to fellow Auburn fans, judging by e-mails and visits I'm getting from Rivals. My sarcasm is weaker than I thought. Carry on.

· Like Courtney Love in the first five minutes after a 12-step program, Auburn and Alabama fans already are falling into familiar patterns only four games into the season.

After facing Middle Tennessee State, Southern Miss, South Carolina and Arkansas, the Tide finds itself undefeated and many of its faithful in a state of delusion. I kid you not: "Rose Bowl," "Heisman Trophy" and "back on top" are phrases that are being bandied about by some within the Cult of the Bear.

On the opposite end of the spectrum we find many in the sometimes dysfunctional Auburn family on suicide watch because of the Tigers' season-opening loss to Georgia Tech. You'd think 13-0 would mean something, but it didn't take long before it gave way to stereotypical woe-is-weism once the final second ticked off the clock vs. the ‘Jackets. Some who had been saying "9-2" are now moaning "maybe 6-5."

Something to watch for: The reactions on both sides of the rivalry to Auburn's performance vs. the Gamecocks on Saturday. If Auburn doesn't win as decisively as Alabama did or (God forbid) loses, untold numbers of fans from both camps will be convinced they know who will win the Iron Bowl at season's end.

Meanwhile, the rest of the country doesn't care. They consider it an argument between a has-been and a never-was in a state they know not by the Louvin Brothers, the RTJ Trail or Harper Lee but by Bull Connor, George Wallace and My Cousin Vinny.

· I turned the corner to the restrooms at work just as a member of the cleaning crew pushed her cart away from the door to the men's. That meant bleached tile, sanitized air and quiet awaited.

But seconds after I unzipped at a urinal, someone appeared at my side, separated only by a pressboard partition. And then he spoke.

"There's nothing like a freshly cleaned bathroom."

Huh. Really? Of all the things you could say to a co-worker you don't know while he's spraying urine into a porcelain bowl mounted to the wall, that's your choice?

But let's put that aside for a sec. Don't people usually mean "nothing quite as nice as" when they say "nothing like"? So I'm supposed to agree that there's nothing better than this moment the two of us are sharing? It's better than fried catfish? Ranks right up there with watching the sunset on the Gulf of St. Lawrence? As satisfying as the birth of your firstborn?

Don't get me wrong: A clean public bathroom is something to be thankful for. But if I ever give you a list of a few of my favorite things, a freshly cleaned bathroom won't be among them. Maybe I'd feel differently if I regularly attended games at Turner Field.

· If you were at the Doves' show in Atlanta last Tuesday night, then rest easy that the guy who spent the entire evening leaning against the back wall wasn't a narc. He was yours truly. Coldplay wannabes, my ass. Martin and crew, though I enjoy them, don't hold a candle.

 

I'm not scared of being alone
I'm just happier being confused
Beside the fire, as long as it's with you

I really like those lines from "Why Should the Fire Die?", the title track from Nickel Creek's latest CD. I don't really know why I think you'd care, but it's a good excuse to pass along a couple of links regarding the band.

You can check out their performance at NPR's World Cafe here, or you can listen to clips of the album here.

Doves stripped down

I'm a little late in discovering this performance, but, if you wonder whether the Doves are worth hearing without the studio trickery, have a look at their performance for KCRW from this spring. I'd love to have a copy on CD, particularly the first song, "Snowden" (of which you can find the video for the single here).

Easy listening

It's one of those songs you wish you'd written.

That's what a friend of mine who's in a band here in town said of "Newborn History," a track on a CD by The Damnwells that I let him borrow a couple of months ago.

He said they remind him of The Replacements, and I said you could even throw in a little of the Finn Brothers (which to many people means throw in Badfinger). I don't know a lot about the band, but I'm surprised they've more or less flown under the radar.

The same goes for Thad Cockrell. I've yet to tire of the album of heartache he assembled a couple of years ago but I stumbled upon only a few months ago, courtesy of another friend of mine. His sound transports me back to my dad's old yellow Chevy pick-up, listening to the likes of Charlie Rich, George Jones and Crystal Gayle on eight-track.

For a larger sampling of these artists, check out the clips at amazon.com:

Warmth & Beauty by Thad Cockrell
Bastards of the Beat by The Damnwells

'It's easy once you know how it's done'

Does anyone else think "Jerk It Out" by the Caesars, the catchy song playing in the latest iPod Shuffle commercial, sounds a little like Smashmouth covering (not a work-safe link) "Girls on Film" by Duran Duran?

I'm not only dating myself by referencing an early '80s New Wave song that was never a hit in America but also making a sad statement about myself by admitting I know a non-hit Duran Duran song well enough to accuse a band in the 21st century of nicking their work.

I haven't yet placed the '80s song that "Somebody Told Me" by The Killers reminds me of, but I'm working on it.

Sign language

"He lied to us. What a jerk."

"I hope he's happy. Moron."

"Glad to see you made the right decision for your life by becoming a (insert mascot name here), son!"

"Did you see who (insert rival school's name here) fans are bragging about landing? That kid sucks. He'd never play a down for us."

"We didn't really want him."

It's unsettling to see the varied reactions of so many grown men regarding the decisions of a group of 17 and 18-year-olds. Today is signing day for college football, and I'm glad to see recruiting season come to an end.

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Easy listening

Songs I can't get out of my head these days, many of them because of someone burning a couple of samplers for me:

"She Ain't No You" by Thad Cockrell
"Buick City Complex" by the Old 97s
"Pounding" by the Doves
"Sleepsinging" by The Damnwells
"Gravity" by Alison Krauss and Union Station 
"Without You" by Mark Eitzel
"If I Could Talk I'd Tell You" by the Lemonheads

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A commercial success

After lampooning a Nike ad earlier in the week, I thought I'd mention a company I think has gone from bad to pretty good where commercials are concerned: Geico.

Their ad campaign involving the gecko lizard has been as awful as Ditech's efforts and as in need of being put out to pasture as the Chick-Fil-A herd.

But the new ones, which, with a slight nod to Energizer's old bass-drum-pounding rabbit, spoof other campaigns, are a big improvement.

My two favorites: the send-up of ads for CBS' Big Brother and the almost flawless copy of spots by Old Navy.

Of interest on the Web

• Is it fun to be a Yankees fan? Commentator Frank DeFord wonders. He suggests pulling for the Bronx Bombers is akin to rooting for OPEC.

• If Carlos Beltran opts to remain in Houston, which appears unlikely, don't expect Chronicle sportswriter Richard Justice to start his fan club. Justice says the game is about only one thing for the sought-after slugger.

• You've probably seen the billboards and print ads for Starbucks' new hot chocolate, Chantico. Be prepared to shell out some cash and max out your limits on carbs and fat to give the cocoa shot a shot.

• Sick of sitting in traffic? Had enough of your high cost of living? Some rural areas are offering major incentives to woo new residents. Free land is one of them.

• Alison Krauss and Union Station stopped by NPR for a performance and, in doing so, reveal their fixation on perfection.

• Nickelback, the much-maligned band often referred to as Canada's answer to Creed, takes another hit. A listener places "Someday" over "How You Remind Me" to illustrate why he believes the two tunes are the same song.

• Willie Nelson performs tracks from and discusses his new album, It Always Will Be, for NPR.

• NPR takes a look at two films creating a buzz: The Woodsman for its controversial subject matter and In Good Company for its diamond-in-the-rough status this winter.

• Lockout got you longing for hockey? Commentator Mark Phelps says some of your neighbors and co-workers could be among those carrying on with the game in their older years.

Willie, wailin' and 'the boys'

Whiskey River, take my mind.

Because, if Willie Nelson is going to portray Uncle Jesse in the motion-picture version of The Dukes of Hazzard, I'm going to need enough booze to wipe away all knowledge of it.

In general, I'm not exactly a supporter of making movies out of old TV shows, and this one is no exception. Is creativity in such short supply in Hollywood these days that I should expect to see The Red Hand Gang, Sara and Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch on a screen near me sometime soon?

And speaking of desperate — Willie, c'mon. I thought the financial troubles were over. But maybe I'm taking this all too seriously and you're just trying to have a good time in your twilight years. Or maybe Johnny Knoxville is set to supply the cast and crew with premium-grade pot.

(Hat tip: davedorm.)

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Lutherans on the halfpipe
My brother will be beside himself when I share this news with him: Davy and Goliath will return to TV on Dec. 19 in their first new cartoon in 30 years.

I think that show is why "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" is as catchy and hummable to my brother as any Beatles, Carpenters or Simon and Garfunkel song.

(Hat tip: Holy Weblog.)

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Only in the South

The little white blobs on the ledge outside my window in this cameraphone photo resulted from a storm that came through today. Yep, it's hail. On Dec. 10.

And plenty of lightning and thunder, just like an afternoon storm that rolls through in July or August, accompanied it. Tomorrow's high is expected to be in the mid-40s (F), though today it was probably in the mid-60s.

A perfect Union

I've deleted the post regarding Willie Nelson's latest album, as I was taking up a lot of my Typepad allotment with the two songs I had offered.

If anyone would like to sample Alison Krauss and Union Station's new one, released Tuesday, you can take a look at "Restless" or listen to the band perform live on KRCW.