John Finger dot com

So long, Dave

What’s the world like without a David Letterman show? What’s it like when the most dependable and consistent comedian heads off into retirement?

How much do we lose?

OK, this is probably the wrong question to ask a devout non-TV watcher. Sitcoms, dramas, reality TV … sorry, it’s too tough to sit still. Besides, The Wire, Taxi, Barney Miller, Johnny Carson and Cheers are off the air.

What’s the point?

That’s especially the case now that Letterman is finished. Frankly, it was a perfect show. It had it all, complete with solid interviews, sketch comedy, jokes and jokes and jokes, and, of course, music …

Lots and lots of music.

Maybe what made the Letterman Show so perfect was the music. It was the cornerstone of the show with Paul Shaffer’s band to the nightly guests. What could be better than a ripping house band that can play every single song worth playing as well as a different live band playing something new every night?

Some nights, the band saves the day. Maybe the guest isn’t interesting or the comedy a little lacking … at least Shaffer’s band and the musical guest are there to deliver. Better yet, Dave often broke bands that would otherwise be ignored simply because he liked them. He wasn’t afraid to book bands that rocked or we’re avant garde or whatever. As a result, other late-night shows followed Dave’s lead.

And lucky for us because there’s nothing like live music. Mix it with Letterman’s sensibility and comedy and it was the perfect TV show.

Anyway, here are the best music performances that stuck with me over the years. Some are on here simply because I like the artist. Others are here because I find myself thinking about them from time to time for whatever reason.

So, here we go … (not in any particular order)

1. James Brown 
Last week I was in the audience for the show and Paul Shaffer told a great story about the Godfather of Soul visiting the show. Though this one isn’t up to the level as James Brown doing 45 minutes on Soul Train in 1974, it’s pretty damn good:

2. Letterman and Nugent 
I met Ted Nugent at the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. He was funny and cool, which made him stand out in that crowd. Funny goes far in my book. The Nuge is funny in this one:

3. Joe Strummer 
Joe died not too long after this appearance and it could be my favorite of the bunch. The performance is right on the money, especially when Joe tosses his Telecaster to his guitar tech, and the song is beautiful. It’s also a bit melancholy because Joe is gone … we could sure use some more of Joe these days.

4. Beastie Boys 
Surprisingly, no other group pulled off the street/studio performance before this one. But if it was going to go down, the Beastie Boys had to do it. And, of course, it may be Adam Yauch’s last appearance before his fatal cancer diagnosis …

5. Foo Fighters 
When Dave came back from his bypass surgery, he requested the Foo Fighters perform at his first show back. So the band stopped their tour in South America, flew to New York, played the song and went back to South America.

6. Red Hot Chili Peppers
Here’s an oldie from the NBC days. The story here is I saw the band the next day in Philadelphia at the Chestnut Cabaret. It was an over-21 gig and I was only 18 … yep, we snuck in the backdoor and saw a pretty great show.

7. Bruce Springsteen 
This is the last performance from Dave’s NBC show. It’s a bit of a middle finger to a company that didn’t treat Dave very well. I like it.

8. Pearl Jam 
This is a Bob Dylan eff you song. Dylan’s version is better, but it’s fun to see it on corporate television.

9. Bob Dylan 
Bob isn’t particularly good in this one, but the band is as hot as they come. Plus, the whole 10th anniversary episode was terrific. I wore out a VHS recording of it.

10. Warren Zevon 
Warren Zevon is one of those artists that a lot of people would have missed if it had not been for Dave. He filled in for Paul Shaffer a handful of times as the leader of the band and when Warren had terminal cancer and was dying, Dave gave him a week-long residency on the CBS show. This is his last performance a few months before his death …

11. Bob Mould 
This is one went down last month and it already is an all-timer. Word is, Bob’s band — Jason Narducy and Jon Wurster — knocked the plaster off the ceiling. Yep, this one …

ROCK!

12. The Ramones 
Joey Ramone would have been 64 today. The Ramones broke up shortly after this taping …

13. Sex Pistols 
Imagine the Sex Pistols on corporate TV in the ‘70s or ‘80s … it wouldn’t happen. When they put together the original lineup and went out on the road, a stop on Letterman was mandatory.

14. Amy Winehouse 
A lot of talent here. Prophetic, too.

15. Sonny & Cher 
Only Dave could get a divorced couple to sing a song on his show.

16. Liberace 
If you grew up watching Johnny Carson in the late 1970s, there were certain celebrities that made you sit really close to the TV set. Don Rickles was one and Richard Pryor was another. They were unpredictable and wild. But a notch above Rickles and Pryor was Liberace.

How do you describe Liberace?

If you didn’t see it, you missed it. Liberace was a piano player, I guess.

Watch and figure it out for yourself …

17. Bill Murray
Here’s Bill’s homage to Liberace:

And here’s Bill from the very first episode of Letterman’s show at NBC:

From first to last … how will Bill close it out?

If only Dave stuck around long enough for The Sophisticates to make it ... 

Oh, the places you go

NEW YORK – It wasn’t too long ago that Major League Baseball clubs used to fly commercial. These were in the days before a person had to take their shoes off and throw away their toothpaste just to walk into the waiting room before boarding a flying Greyhound bus, but it’s still amazing nonetheless.

Imagine dropping in to Denver International and seeing the Kansas City Royals these days. The traveling secretary would be gathering all the suitcases and bags while Mike Sweeney and Zack Grienke sported over-tailored suits with single-breasted jackets and mock turtle neck shirts.

Someone get those guys an Oxford shirt and a clip-on tie.

Yes, we’ve come a long way since 1974... kind of. These days teams like the Phillies fly chartered planes from city to city because they don’t want to mix with the rabble lying shoeless about the concourse inhaling Cinnabon and begging for autographs or snapshots from a cell phone. They also get to avoid the security lines by going through their preflight screening at the ballpark.

Yes, that’s right. Big league ballplayers go directly from the clubhouse and through a metal detector with a TSA representative waiting on the other side so the players can autograph the Homeland Security-issued handheld scanner.

Nope, don’t expect to see pro ballplayers dashing through the airport like O.J. in that old TV commercial on his way to the Hertz counter. Hell, don’t expect to see anyone you recognize from red-and-white pinstriped double knits renting a car at the airport. Not when it’s easier to send for a town car if the shuttle from the hotel to ballpark leaves early.

Anyway, aside from the splendor of private, first-class travel with no lines or shoe removal, ballplayers get their own private cars on the Amtrak train when they roll into towns less than two hours away. Oh, even though the MLB players’ union is the most powerful union in history (you know, since the average salary of the rank-and-file is over $2 million), even they aren’t so wasteful on insisting on a chartered flight from Philly to New York or D.C. … you know, because buses and trains are so efficient.

The point is the Phillies are rolling up to New York for a four-game (wrap-around) series this weekend and Monday. In an unforeseen twist of fate, the series isn’t built up as a clash of teams seeking revenge or battling for the top spot in the NL East. Instead, the big news is the return of an ex-Met turned Phillie and an ex-Phillie turned Met.

Weird, wild stuff.

But not as weird and wild as the stories coming out of some of the other transportation hubs in and around New York City. According to reports via the wonder of social media, musicians Ted Leo and Biz Markie were stranded at LaGuardia Airport. The thing about that is Ted Leo was supposed to be in Toronto with his bandmates, The Pharmacists, for an opening spot on a bill with Pearl Jam.

You know… that Pearl Jam.

Apparently three-fourths of the quartet, including Philadelphian Chris Wilson, made it Toronto ahead of the fierce weather the tore through the eastern seaboard. Leo, however, spent the day wiling away the time in Queens hoping for a flight to get him to the gig on time.

Word has it he’s still in Queens… right next door to CitiField, in fact.

A text message was sent to Chris Wilson – the splendid drummer as well as hardcore Phillies and Eagles fan – for the finer details of the evening, but according to preliminary tweets from Leo, The Pharmacists will play before Pearl Jam’s proper set this evening. We haven’t heard back from Wilson yet probably because, you know, he’s on stage rockin.

“Word I'm getting is that there WILL be a Pharamcists' show, just w/o the ‘Ted Leo & the’ part!” Leo tweeted. “I have to admit, I wish I was in the audience.”

Yeah… here-here. Then again, it’s always a good thing to be in the audience for a Ted Leo & The Pharmacists show. More intriguing is the idea of Eddie Vedder & The Pharmacists, which just might be the opening act in Toronto this evening.

Ain’t that something?

Anyway, maybe the best way to make up the gig would be for TL/Rx to play one of the four shows at The Spectrum in late October.

Finally, it’s worth noting that even some of the Phillies had trouble getting out to Queens this afternoon. Pedro Martinez was supposed to be at CitiField for a press conference at 3:30 p.m. but got snarled up in the traffic leaving Manhattan. In one of the stranger sights the visitors’ clubhouse was completely bare at 3:30, though since the game was delayed by 76 minutes at the outset, it all worked out in the end.

It is worth noting that the baseball scribes were all seated in the press box long before 3 p.m. …

That No. 7 train runs like clockwork.

updated Aug. 25 Eddie Vedder + The Pharmacists

Full plate

So I went into Starbucks this morning and ordered the big, big Sidamo coffee. Of course I mispronounced it which drew a bunch of blank stares from the baristas, before they realized what I wanted and corrected me. "Oh... you mean Sis-AH-mo." "Yeah. Coffee." The Sidamo brew was described on the board above the urn as "delicate yet complex." OK. But when I quipped, "Delicate yet complex... sounds like me!" I got nothing. Blank stares. Anyway, there is a lot going on today. To start, the struggling Phillies offense takes its road show to Arlington, Texas this evening to play the Rangers. Actually, when I write struggling offense, I really meant all-or-nothing offense. That really seems to describe the Phillies' hitters perfectly. Need proof? Check out this stat I was e-mailed about the all-or-nothing Phillies: The Phillies have scored 10 or more runs in eight games this season for 110 runs. In the other 72 games, the Phillies have scored 294 runs, or 4.08 runs per game. When scoring 10 or more runs the Phillies are 8-0. In the other 72 games they are 35-37. Feast or famine. When was the last time a team with numbers so skewed won the World Series? *** Meanwhile, the track portion of the Olympic Trials begins in earnest tonight in Eugene, Oregon at Hayward Field. For those who don't follow the sport (and you know who you are), holding the track trials at Hayward Field is staging the World Series in Wrigley Field, Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium rolled into one. Yeah, it's a pretty big deal. It's an even bigger deal when one considers that the Olympic Trials are about as dramatic as it gets in sports. Think about it -- athletes get one chance once every four years to qualify for the Olympic team. If they don't finish in the top three in their event, they have to wait another four years for the next chance. Needless to say, they bring it at the Trials. Tonight at 9:20 p.m. the women's 10,000-meters team will be determined. But if Shalane Flanagan doesn't run away with this one, something is up. I'm also predicting that Katie McGregor and Elva Dryer will take the other two spots on the Olympic team. What about Kara Goucher? Come on, you can't go with the chalk all the time. *** Finally, the final appeal of the Floyd Landis case will be issued on Monday by the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport. At last. *** There's more coming later today. I went to see Ted Leo and Pearl Jam in Washington last Sunday so I figured I might as write about that, too. *** Cryptic sentence of the day: Clips are back.

(Not so) tough as nails

It's kind of fun to see Lenny Dykstra turning up everywhere as the veritable media dynamo that he has become. By now, most folks have caught the new Lenny on HBO's Real Sports talking about his career as a day trader with Bernie Goldberg. There Lenny was again in the pages of The New Yorker (yes, The New Yorker), discussing his latest venture called The Players Club, which is a magazine aimed at professional athletes on how they can better invest their high incomes so that they don't squander it all before their playing days end. Dykstra says it will be "the world's best magazine" and throws around such superlatives about nearly everything he has purchased as if he were out for revenge or if he had somehow been shortchanged somewhere along the line. His car, a German Maybach, is "the best car." He bought a Gulfstream plane because, "it's the best in the world and there isn't even a close second." It doesn't stop with the big things, either. He raves about a door in his $17 million house purchased from Wayne Gretzky, as well as about the house itself and the weather in Southern California. It's all the best and more than mirrors Dykstra's style as a player that was, needless to say, all about him and "look at me." Oh sure, Dykstra wanted to win and all of that. But given a choice between running into a fence and injuring himself or remaining healthy and on the field, Dykstra always went for the short-term glory. But that theory flies in the face of the mission behind his The Players Club. As he said in The New Yorker: "I'm forty-four, with a lot of mileage, dude. A lot of mileage." The chaw is gone, and he hasn't had a drink in years. "When the market opens at six o'clock in the morning out here, I mean, dude, you got to be up," he says. "You get to a point in your life where, yeah, I loved baseball, but baseball's a small part. I'm going to build something that can change the fucking outcome of people's lives." Yes, because helping multi-millionaires from separating themselves from their money is soooooo altruistic. Anyway, in addition to Real Sports and The New Yorker, Dykstra's name has also appeared in a story in which an accounting firm is suing him for $110,000 for money owed for accounting and tax work. Then Dykstra's name showed up a handful of times in The Mitchell Report, which didn't really come as a surprise to anyone. Yet, the Mitchell Report and Dykstra's physical health is the one issue that seemed to be glossed over during the HBO profile and the magazine story. With Goldberg, Dykstra's speech was somewhat slurred, a point exemplified in Ben McGrath's story: His hands tremble, his back hurts, and his speech, like that of an insomniac or a stroke victim, lags slightly behind his mind. He winks without obvious intent. In his playing days, he had a term for people like this: fossils. Nothing about his physical presence any longer suggests nails, and sometimes, as if in joking recognition of this softening, he answers the phone by saying, "Thumbtacks." But that's it. Dykstra's health, just like the depth and true worth of his financial portfolio are taken at face value. In fact, the only nuance presented in either story came from Dykstra's personality. There, Dykstra appears to be in 1993 form. *** Meanwhile, the final stop on Floyd Landis' appeal hearing has planted itself in New York City where the case enters its third day. Landis and the USADA will present cases today and tomorrow before wrapping it all up on Monday. Then they will wait for the panel of three arbitrators with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to make a decision, which will come sometime during the calendar year... probably. Nevertheless, there has been very little in the way of rumblings from the USADA or Landis camps, which is quite the opposite from last May's hearing. Plus, Floyd likes to talk and hasn't said anything to anyone. But for a preview of the proceedings in NYC, here's a story from ESPN's Bonnie D. Ford. *** I don't like to brag[1], but I went 14-for-16 in the first day of NCAA tournament selections. I tripped up on the UNLV-Kent State and West Virginia-Arizona games. Still, it's not too bad for someone convinced that the tournament is nothing more than a lot of hot air until the second weekend begins. *** Finally, in an interesting development, arena rock stalwarts Pearl Jam announced that they will take Ted Leo and his Pharmacists out with them for the first part of their U.S. tour, which opens in Camden, N.J. on June 19. Certainly such a decision means that Pearl Jam aims to bust their collective asses during the six dates in which Teddy Rock Star opens up the shows. After all, if Eddie Vedder and the gang give just the slightest of inches, Ted + Rx will own them. Fortunately for the Pearl Jammers, work ethic has never been an issue. That means it will be an action-packed six shows for all involved. Jun 19 -- Camden, N.J. -- Susquehanna Bank Center Jun 22 -- Washington, D.C. -- Verizon Center Jun 24 -- New York, N.Y. - Madison Square Garden Jun 25 -- New York, N.Y. - Madison Square Garden Jun 27 -- Hartford, Conn. -- Dodge Amphitheater Jun 30 -- Mansfield, Mass. -- Tweeter Center The always interesting Kings of Leon will take over the opening duties after Ted Leo leaves the tour. More: Ted Leo covers Rush on WFMU

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[1] Uh, yeah I do.