Classic Rant #1,020 (August 14, 2013): Various Matters

Nothing out there is really catching my eye as a single subject to talk about, so rather than focus on one thing today, I am going to talk a little about a few subjects near and dear to my heart.

Nassau Coliseum Bid Winner Expected Today: After numerous delays, grand standings, and much else, today is reportedly the day that Nassau County will pick its winning bidder to develop the Nassau Coliseum into something supposedly viable for the county.

This has been going on for so long that it is hard to get overly excited at the prospects.

The two finalists--the Barclay Center people and the Madison Square Garden group--have basically put up what amounts to roughly the same vision for the arena, so what's to get excited about?

You know, the usual mix of entertainment, retail, and almost as an afterthought, housing.

But once the winner gets picked, the work can begin, I think.

Maybe this thing will get done before I collect Social Security. Let's see.

Yankees Win Four of Five: And yes, they are doing it with a non-PEDed Alex Rodriguez in the lineup.

The entire season they haven't been hitting, and with all of the injuries they have had, they have had to field teams that look like Little League teams--and bad ones at that.

But all of a sudden, with some of their stars back--A-Rod, Curtis Granderson, and the guy they supposedly didn't want, Alfonso Soriano--they have become terrors on the diamond.

They actually won a series against maybe the best team in the league, the Detroit Tigers, and now they are beating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, a really bad team ...

Like the Yankees were for most of the season.

Can they get back in the playoff race?

They have dug such a hole for themselves, it will be difficult, but at least now, they are getting fun to watch again.

Rochdale Village Reunion Getting Closer: And that is really good for me, because I have tired of this whole thing at this point.

I have mentioned this event sparingly here, but I am on a committee to put on a Reunion event for my old neighborhood.

Things are picking up steam now, and we will have a good gathering of people attending this affair.

Being on a committee of four where three people are against you has made me a committee of one.

Without going into detail, I found a little bit of a problem with the some things in the background of this event, brought it up to the other three, and they basically poo-pooed the whole thing.

But I didn't, and I am glad that I didn't.

We met on Saturday, vented on whatever was going on, and I thought everything was settled, but evidently, one of the people didn't see things that way, and put up a Facebook post that I had to remove.

Yes, once this thing is done and over with, the truth will come out, but right now, our focus should be on making this Reunion the best it can be, but I guess others have their own agendas.

Monkees' New Box Set Out: To coincide with another leg of the quasi-Monkees tour featuring Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and yes, Mike Nesmith once again, Rhino Records has released the fourth--and supposedly last--of its big Monkees box sets, this time chronicling the LP "The Monkees Present," which originally came out in 1969.

In 1969, the Monkees, although still popular, were just about on their last legs. Tork had left, Nesmith was on the way out, so it was just Nesmith, Dolenz and Davy Jones on this LP.

The album actually stands as their best effort as a Tork-less outfit, and features one of their best songs, "Listen to the Band," as well as several other standouts, including "Mommy and Daddy" and "Good Clean Fun."

But with the show in reruns, the interest simply wasn't there, and the LP faded into the mist.

However, this boxed set--with three disks and a bonus single--shows the the threesome still had a lot in them at this point in time, and it really was a shame that few were listening at this point.

After this LP, Nesmith left to pursue a solo career, and Dolenz and Jones carried on to record the abysmal "Changes," which will reportedly not get the "Big Box" treatment.

And thank goodness for that, because if "The Monkees Present" had been their true swan song, it would have stood as a very solid bowing out.

Instead, the twosome fulfilled their contractual obligations, and put out a piece of trash that is hard to top for its shallowness and lack of musical vision.

"The Monkees Present" is an excellent pop album, and I would certainly give the box set a good, thorough listen.

And that is it for now.

Personally, I am pooped from work, but I will be back tomorrow with some more scintillating chatter that comes to my mind at 5:30 in the morning East Coast time.

Have a nice day.