The Columbus, OH band Two Cow Garage is on tour again and stopped in NYC Tuesday night. I’ve seen them twice here before. They put on quite a show. All six of their full-length records are great and their decade-plus of doing long strings of live performances across the US has made frontmen Micah Schnabel and Shane Sweeney a very cohesive pair both vocally and during the jam sequences.
At one point during the show at The Studio at Webster Hall, Sweeney lunged head-first into Schnabel’s shoulder during one of the latter’s guitar solos. There were several times when the pair played off each other with long glances or fun, faux-menacing approaches to the other. The crowd of loyal fans on hand sang along on “Should’ve California” which is a tune about regret. About wasting time being in a band.
Admission was 12 bucks. Beers were pricey but it’s a Webster Hall property. A great venue. Great bathroom.
-The upcoming Yankees baseball season has an extra layer of intrigue with last week’s retirement date announcement by Derek Jeter via Facebook. Playing his 20th big league season, Jeter will turn 40 a few weeks before the All-Star break. His season-long farewell from the game will be even bigger than Mariano Rivera’s. Why? The Captain is even more beloved than Mo – if that’s possible. Second, there’s a profound feeling of uncertainty about how Jeter goes out. Does he exit on top? Or does he limp out with the game passing him by? At a Wednesday news conference in Tampa (carried live by both local sports radio stations – albeit truncated by WFAN), Jeter said he disclosed his intention to quit in advance of the season because waiting until the end would have been “more of a distraction.” I totally buy that explanation. In what was really a vintage performance in front of a big throng of New York baseball writers, Jeter said his steely, stoic demeanor off the field is what’s allowed him to survive in the Empire. In the Zoo. When Heyman asked a question meant to elicit the kind of deep introspection that perhaps will come at season’s end, Jeter firmly held it together and gave the assurance he’s “not emotionally stunted.” Lots of people are buying up tickets to see Jeter play one last time in person. Girardi is gonna be in a pickle trying to figure how and when to rest his aging shortstop. Francesa says Jeter is probably only good for about 120 games. But Jeter said Wednesday he feels great and never had a more rigorous off-season regimen than what he’s coming off of. How it plays out – and how much #2 plays – is gonna be really fun – or really awkward to watch. Given who we’re talking about, I think the Captain goes out big and strong.
-It’s impossible for me not to have an ill feeling about the Olympic hockey tournament now that the John Tavares injury in Sochi has ruined the balance of the Islanders season. Tavares means everything to the Isles. To Mike Babcock’s Canadian squad, he was just a fourth-line center on the receiving end of what looked like a clean hit by former Chicago Wolves defenseman Arturs Kulda of Latvia. Johnny’s left knee was twisted on the collision as he fought for a loose puck. That knee now needs major surgery on return to New York. I was among those who thought Kyle Okposo of the Islanders deserved a roster spot on the US team. Now having seen what happened to Tavares, I’m glad Okposo was left behind. It’s the NHL players themselves who insist on stopping their league’s season to participate in the Olympics. For many hockey players born outside the US, it’s a source of great national pride. I’d personally rather see the US program field an amateur squad with the NHL making no space in the schedule for players who choose to play in the Olympics. Injuries aren’t the only disruptive force. The gaping hole in the NHL game slate upends momentum of a long season. Yeah, there’s some buzz surrounding individual participants when they return to their teams. Hockey fans tune in. But the real league – the real game – makes its stars available at great risk to its own product with no real prime time return on its investment.
-The over-the-air NBC television network (for me here it was WNBC-TV in New York) carried the entirety of the thrilling women’s ice hockey gold medal game Thursday afternoon. Not only was it an entertaining contest, but NBC gave us every bit of the medal ceremony afterwards including the handout of bronze medals to the third-place Swiss team. I’m serious when I say this is what you want to see when you watch the Olympics. You want to see participants get handed medals. You want to hear anthems and see flags raised. The joy on the faces of those Swiss women getting bronze medals as the US women wore maximum sourpusses while waiting for their silverware was stirring. And then as the Canadian women mugged for pictures with their golds, the long-faced American women dabbed tears. Some appeared to scowl. They probably should have headed directly to the dressing room. That NBC stuck long with all of that was unexpected but really interesting to watch.
-The pie-making sisters of Gowanus will expand the reach of their rolling pins by selling pie at the Central Branch of Brooklyn’s Public Library system. A news release posted Wednesday on the BPL web site says Emily and Melissa Elsen (the pair behind Four and Twenty Blackbirds) have opened a café that will soon sell pie, sandwiches and coffee in a renovated space inside the library. Emily Elsen told the writer Edna Ishayik that some of the pies served at the new place will have literary themes. I look forward to the Rhubarbara Kingsolver slice.