The foremost paleontologist of the western Carolinas, The Paleorider, submitted to the Heavy Artillery editorial board this week via text two unsolicited items which have been approved for publication on these digital pages. [Unsolicited works submitted to HA become the intellectual property of this publication and cannot be returned except by formal written request, a self-addressed and stamped envelope plus purchase of a slice of pizza and ice cold beverage, adult or otherwise.]
First to materialize on the editor's desk was a photo of The Paleorider mowing the lawn of his neighboring ranch circa 1974:
What the reader should observe here is not the sterling work ethic of a 3-year old nor the Herb Tarlek-inspired vetements (hey, we were all guilty) but rather the stark contrast differentiating between the bucolic vistas which brought the first mid-century settlers to this part of the Township from the blight which later residential development brought to Curve Road now familiar to anyone who's visited The Ranch in the past 30 years [fx: cue The Pretenders]. A oh, way to go Ohio indeed. In addition to regular exploratory adventures in those fields and woodlands, Lou and I used to launch model rockets that rained down all over the sparsely-populated neighborhood. Kids today don't know how awful they have it. Would that we could return to those sunny days of our Nixonian Administration youth.
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This month's issue of Car and Driver magazine (on newsstands now) makes further reference to everyone's favorite Canadian Power Trio.
That's two Rush references in two months. C/D is rapidly re-branding itself as Car and Rush Fan. Added editorial bonus; this C/D excerpt ties into the The Pretenders' "My City Was Gone" by way of Rush Limbaugh. Whoever said Heavy Artillery can't also be sneaky?
On the subject of cars and rock music, another late-late night on patrol this month in the Jeep Main Battle Tank was Clash-intensive:
Nothing like a London Calling/Communista! two-fer to keep the adrenaline flowing at midnight.
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This week's second Paleorider submission arrived in the form of a brief PBS video clip which, perhaps none too coincidentally, also featured sights and sounds from the Age of Nixon. The declaratory purpose of the video clip is to inform viewers of the revolutionary work of Pete Townshend and by further inference of the superior degree of quality found in his recorded demonstration tracks (or "demos").
A handful of official compilations of Townshend's demos have been released, notably the Scoop series of double-albums. Scoop, released in 1983 right around the time of the demise of The Who, then Another Scoop (1987) and Scoop 3 arrived in record stores in 1994. More of Pete's demos could be found on an assortment of releases in the year 2000 which related to his sprawling Lifehouse Chronicles project. While unofficial/bootleg compilations of his demos are too numerous and too illegal to identify here you should operate with the understanding that I have them all. For purposes of research only, of course.
Recently you enjoyed a selection of my favorite Scoop 3 demos. Herewith, a more comprehensive listing of my favorite Pete Townshend demos from the first two installments of Scoop. The Scoop albums have detailed liner notes informing the listener as to dates of recording, venue, instruments used and backstories about the individual tracks. Time constraints prevent me from consulting those for use here. As such, a fact-check may reveal errors in my brief annotations below. My added comments are just meant to serve no more than thumbnail sketches. At any rate, you'll find a musical style for just about everyone.
So Sad About Us/Brr
"So Sad About Us" was recorded by The Who and appeared on their 1966 album A Quick One. "Brr" - completely unrelated to "So Sad About Us" - was a jazzy experimental track recorded in 1972 intended for use on the 1973 Who album Quadrophenia but was ultimately unused.
Politician
"Politician" takes a sympathetic look at political leaders, perhaps just as controversially in the mid-1960s when he recorded it as it would be today. Dig the vibrant Motown groove, true to the early Who ethos of Maximum R&B.
Dirty Water
"Dirty Water" is a country-tinged exposition of, well.... dirty water. Gotta be a witty metaphor for something I'm too dense to figure out.
Unused Piano: Quadrophenia
Like "Brr," recorded with the intention of using for Quadrophenia in 1973. Elements of this theme were eventually incorporated into the album.
Things Have Changed
Mid-1960s pop/country-tinged demo not recorded by The Who.
Popular
Recorded for the Who's 1981 Face Dances album. The band liked the New Wave-inspired sound but didn't like the lyrics. It was re-written and renamed as the title song for The Who's 1982 album It's Hard.
Cookin'
There may be are more country influenced songs among Pete's demos than you might think. Are the lyrics here a metaphor? Are they not? It's funny, for sure.
You're So Clever
Early 1980's New Wave electronica.
Body Language
See above. Sounds much like some of the material that appeared on Townshend's 1982 solo album All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes.
Initial Machine Experiments
Early 1980s, just what the title implies. Toying around in the home studio with a new synth.
To Barney Kessel
A guitar solo tribute to a noted jazz guitarist. You'll find a lot of jazz-inspired demos in Townshend's catalog and I quite like them all.
You Came Back
More jazz, this about re-incarnation. The album's liner notes reveal that Pete couldn't work out a solo for the break so he left it with just the backing track. I think it's understated and that works well, and yes I'm very biased.
Girl In A Suitcase
A mid-1970s song about the hardships of life on the road for a popular touring musician and the photos of family carried along.
Brooklyn Kids
Symphonic Townshend from the mid-late 1970s.
Football Fugue
More symphonic Townshend from the same era as above, this with a more comical lyric which mashes up an orchestra and a soccer (football) game.
Substitute
Circa 1966 demo for The Who classic single of the same name/year.
Holly Like Ivy
Recorded one night in a Dallas hotel room on tour with The Who in 1982 about a girl Pete had just met at an after show party.
Vicious Interlude
1970s home recording interrupted by a bit of fatherly scolding. Hilarious and hilarious reaction by his daughter.
Cat Snatch
In 1983 Townshend began putting together demos for a proposed Who concept album to be titled Siege. It would have marked a significant aural change in the sound and direction of The Who, which one might assume the rest of the band would have resisted. It was futuristic and experimental and I think it would have been revolutionary. Or maybe it was just funkadelic Who? It matters not because shortly after initiating home demos for Siege Pete Townshend pulled the plug on The Who.
Prelude #556
An unused electro-symphonic intro from the early 1980s.
Praying The Game
An exploration of spirituality combining acoustic guitar with an orchestra. Mid-late 1970s.
Don't Let Go the Coat
Demo for a Who song of the same name on the 1981 album Face Dances. Many of the demos for this album have a more nimble, New Wave influenced sound than The Who as a band were able (or willing) to capture.
Never Ask Me
Recorded for The Who album Who Are You (1978). Rejected by the band. Townshend also submitted it to Quincy Jones for Frank Sinatra to record. They rejected it also. I think it may be his best-ever demo for an unrecorded song.
Ask Yourself
Another of the Siege demos from 1983. Hard to see how The Who would have been receptive to it's style. Had they gone forward, this project might have given the band a much-needed revitalization.
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When The Who convened to begin recording for what initially was to be the Lifehouse concept double-album, the demos they were presented with by Pete Townshend didn't incorporate synthesizers. Piano and organ, yes, but Townshend hadn't yet discovered synths. The Lifehouse concept proved to be too complex thematically to pull off. It was a difficult idea to convey and probably wasn't a fully-realized concept in the mind of Townshend to begin with. The recording process was fraught with technical problems. The band went from recording studios in England to New York City and back to England. 1970 bled into 1971. Along the way Townshend began using synthesizers and their producer (seen in the PBS clip, above) finally convinced the band - and Pete - to drop the concept, drop the idea of a double-album, just record the strongest material and arrange the album's playing order without any pretense of an overarching theme or narrative. Who's Next, one of the all-time greatest albums, is what resulted.
Roll the credits!
In the days leading up to The B Team Syndicate's big Breeders' Cup Saturday pilgrimage to the Indiana Grand racino in scenic Shelbyville, Indiana the personnel roster of our touring party came under withering assault. Some key members of Mr B's cosa nostra of old school horse players were unavailable due to other commitments and so our standard two-table reservation was halved. The next to RSVP his regrets was Lou. His wife's beloved aunt passed away earlier in the week and their presence was rightfully and understandably needed elsewhere that Saturday. Then that Friday the last of Mr B's cosa nostra vacillated. Ultimately he joined us but that brought our surviving battalion down to three.
Commanding the Jeep Main Battle Tank on a blitzkrieg westbound on I-74, my determined focus on the roadway led me to forget about charging my trusty Android Galaxy S8000. An hour or so into our wagering assault I observed a low charge on my Android and so I powered it off during the bulk of our parimutuel mission. As such, there are but a few surviving digital images with which to visually convey this narrative.
I'd spent much of the preceding week in blissful solitude - just a boy and his Daily Racing Form - studying with exacting detail the facts and figures found within the past performances of hundreds of horses from five continents, just as I do every October that the Reds aren't in the World Series. [If you were looking for a mention about the stunning result to this year's Fall Classic, that's a subject for Jude's blog "Cubilation." The title is a mash-up of the words Cubs and jubilation.] Jude updates it about as often as he buys lunch for me and Joe.
Here are a few international gems discovered within the sacred pages of this year's DRF Breeders' Cup Advance issue:
We think, correctly, that the Kentucky Derby 20-horse field is too large by about six thoroughbreds. At least over the course of a mile and a quarter there is some distance of terrain over which the field might separate. One of our visiting European competitors took part earlier in a six-furlong (or three-quarters of a mile) 23-horse sprint. Talk about your cavalry charges, indeed!
Another of our trans-Atlantic equine friends once took part in a race held on an English course laid out in a figure eight. Good luck applying your traditional North American-centric handicapping principles to that bewildering outing!
Yet another put upon Old World racehorse recently carried 140 pounds. It's routine for horses in Europe to carry more weight than their North American counterparts but even so, 140 pounds is just about the upper limit. If jockeys weigh 110 .lbs, more or less, this unfortunate steed carried the equivalent of a jockey (in this example, the excellent British jock Ryan Moore) plus 120 McDonald's Quarter Pounder cheeseburgers.
Year after year and seemingly without fail the maitre d'racino seats us on the third tier of four, high above the track and just steps below the all-you-can-shovel prime rib buffet. In past excursions we've been fortunate enough to have an automated betting machine immediately adjacent to our table on the tier immediately below. We were surprised to find this year that our betting machine had been replaced with a human-operated betting terminal. A veritable betting window without the window!
That is the wagering clerk you see just over my right shoulder taking bets from a green polo shirted bettor. While anyone else would have had to get up from their table and make a short walk over to the terminal, we lucky elements of Mr B's cosa nostra could merely reach over the ledge to make our bets. Ad slogan: Improved wagering opportunities! Now without getting up from your seat at table #308! Thank God for good ol' American sedentary ingenuity. How many of the calories from my turkey sammich, Saratoga chips, two sugar cookies, one M&M cookie, three servings of prime rib, two servings of mashed potatoes with gravy, a dozen or so steamed carrots, helping of corn pudding, bowl of beef & vegetable soup, and chocolate cake would you estimate I burned off that day? I eschewed the shrimp cocktail and clam chowder both of which Mr B extolled the virtues thereof. One could also have dined on roast beef, ham, chicken, haddock, potato salad, Asian stir fry, pasta, tossed salads, chips, pretzels..... It should be evident why Mr B prefers Shelbyville to any other race day alternatives.
Soon, between mammoth caloric intakes, we got down to the business at hand. Right out of the gate, to exploit an obvious horse racing term, my week-long handicapping sabbatical paid off handsomely when I hit Win and Place on a 30-1 long shot. In the very next race my 18-1 "pick o' the day" ran third, killing my Win and Place wager on her, but the filly's on-the-board finish at long odds swelled the payout on my successful Superfecta nobly aided by the winning ride of the greatest jockey in the history of mankind, Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori. When I hit the back end of my Win and Place wager in the race that immediately followed I basked in the shower of adulation Mr B poured upon me. Or was that au jus which splashed from his plate? At any rate, after the first three Breeders' Cup races I was up big and - best of all - playing with house money for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
But do not mistake playing with house money, as it were [that's a misnomer; at the races you're not betting against the house but rather against other bettors. It was their money I was walking around with. OK, OK. Walking back and forth to the buffet with. Happy?], with going home flush with added cash reserves. So please put down that phone. Don't alert the IRS just yet.
As the day wore on, and despite twice more cashing winning tickets on Win/Place wagers (including one at odds of 12-1), the tide inexorably turned against me. This was due, yes, to a decreased rate of winners but also due - perhaps primarily - to my wagering strategy. Like a champion golfer who nevertheless tinkers with his swing in order to improve his game, I've been adjusting my wagering strategies in recent years. I've eased off considerably from the Exactas and Trifectas [full disclosure; of Saturday's nine Breeders' Cup races I placed 4 Exacta Box wagers and one Tri Box wager - all losers], focusing my parimutuel efforts on the good old fashioned Win/Place wager as well as Pick Threes, Pick Fours, the Derby Day & BC Day Pick Sixes and ten-cent Superfectas (a relatively recent development in wagering and they cost the bettor a mere $2.40, inexpensive!). Excepting the ten-cent Supers, this strategy allows me to just focus on one horse (winning) per race and sets aside the arduous task of figuring out a deeper order of finish for each race. I think my adjustments are paying off, to grossly exploit another wagering term, as you might compare the volume of winning tickets I cashed on Saturday compared with other race days of recent vintage.
The explanation for why I didn't charter a helicopter ride home from the track was that I calculated a plan of attack that emphasized using my early windfall to fund a series of rolling Pick Threes with a buy-in substantially higher than the minimum fifty-cent variety. Had I wagered the minimum Pick 3 and Pick 4 amounts I would have driven home - or choppered - a victorious conqueror. Instead, my calculations and my mounting losses found me minutes before the last race of the day, the $6 million Classic, at just about the break-even point. In fact, for the BC Classic I placed a $12 wager on a five-horse Superfecta Box which - were it to be a loser (and it was) - would have ended my day precisely even, not one dollar up nor down.
And then it happened......
I looked down at my growing stack of dead tickets and saw that I still had a betting machine voucher (betting machines don't pay out in cash money, only in vouchers which may be used again at a betting machine, at a betting window or redeemed for cash at a betting window) in the amount of $36.
Hmmm.... what to do? What to do?
The 3-to-5 odds-on favorite in the Classic was the world's #1 ranked horse (seriously, this really is a thing) California Chrome. The second wagering choice was Arrogate at Even Money odds. Certainly, the Classic was a two-horse race and neither offered an attractive wagering proposition as a single. And so there I sat 15 minutes to post, peppering The Old Master of the Turf with a variety of pace scenarios in which an alternate outcome could theoretically result in a more profitable payout. In the final analysis we determined it really was simply a two-horse race. Looking at the odds, Mr B posited that if the odds on California Chrome were to rise to Even Money that he himself would "load up" on Chrome. With minutes to go and millions of dollars already wagered into the betting pools it would have taken a miracle - or a "late money" wager(s) in the tens of thousands - to change the odds that dramatically. And change they did! Chrome rose to 8-5, Arrogate dropped to 4-5 and I dropped my $36 voucher on a straight Win bet on California Chrome.
Post time! "Racing!"
The gates opened and California Chrome jumped out to an early lead. He led the field through the opening quarter mile, the opening half mile and through the first three-quarters of a mile in easy fractions. Turning for home Arrogate, running fifth early, made his move on California Chrome and the anticipated two-horse duel was fully engaged. Mere strides from the finish Chrome was still ahead in the race just as, metaphorically, I had been ahead for the whole day. Chrome was caught and passed in the shadow of the finish line, a dissatisfying end to what had been a successful race up to that point. Similarly, I had a disappointing end to what had been a wildly successful day of wagering. For that sunny Indiana day and cool Hoosier state autumn evening California Chrome was my spirit animal. As he went, so did I.
I exited Shelbyville down just the $36 I wagered with my voucher.
The Old Master had a sizable straight Exacta that had Arrogate on top of Chrome. This information he did not share with me until after the race.
The race itself lived up to its name. It truly was a classic that long will be remembered. Take a look at my spirit animal here and see the parallels in my own experience that day.
On-track wagering at Santa Anita for Saturday's Breeders' Cup totaled $14 million. Off-track wagering soared to $95 millionz, worldwide.
The statistic that most of you are interested to know (?) is how well my handicapping stacked up against that of the pros at the Daily Racing Form. For this year's BC, the DRF assembled 15 members of its illustrious staff to make their picks for all nine of Saturday's BC races. Just one DRF expert, Chuck Kuehhas and his five winners (!), exceeded my three correct Win picks. Two DRF writers - David Grening and Dan Illman - equaled my total. Four pros who shall remain nameless were shut out completely.
Remember my #1 tip when wagering on the Breeders' Cup; Don't bet favorites!
Next year's Breeders' Cup will be hosted by southern California's other notable racetrack, Del Mar. Del Mar opened in 1937 and was built by a partnership which included, among others, Bing Crosby and Gary Cooper. It's popular slogan is "Where the turf meets the surf."
Roll the credits!
