FAT-ELVIS baseball collective

the fab four.  the kids from liverpool.  i can still hear the tv replays (because i wasn’t born yet) of ed sullivan making the announcement, “ladies and gentlemen … the Beatles”.  to many people, one of the greatest bands to ever take the stage.  their music carries on, covered by many popular artists even 50 years later.  FIFTY YEARS!!

i’m in that group, but i don’t think they’re one of the best bands ever. i think they ARE the best band ever.  they weren’t the greatest of musicians, but they knew how to craft a melody and align the lyrics that would turn the music world on it’s ear.  elvis may be the king of rock and roll, but the Beatles are the ones that solidified it’s position and then elevated the overall music quality.

elvis hit with a splash and brought about a lot of flash in the pan artists, but when the beatles came along, rock-n-roll was in a funk.  elvis was in the army and music nearly sucked.  the Beatles brought in their version of what america’s rock had started and took it to a whole new dimension.  if you’re not quite believing me yet, take a good hard look at rock-n-roll from 1960 until the Beatles hit the scene in america.  BORING.

while they may not have been the best musicians, i think we all owe george martin a huge thanks for getting ringo.  they were a big local band with pete best, but i don’t know they would have reached their pinacle with him as drummer.  not that ringo was great by any stretch, but he was better than best, pun definitely intended.

i stumbled across this little pie chart nugget this morning which is what prompted this Beatles post.  it’s a poignant reminder of how the Beatles approached all of their lives: with a simplistic humor that was immensely contagious to all of their listeners.

i’ve told my kids thousands of times not to do drugs.  i would never tell them otherwise.  but i always thought the Beatles music took a significant upturn when they progressed from the “gateway” drugs into the harder stuff.  it’s amazing they escaped from this era with their minds somewhat in tact.  many of the late 60s music stars lost their lives, figuratively and literally, in the world of substance abuse that is so deeply intertwined in all of rock music.

there are some who just don’t care about the Beatles or their music.  i don’t trust those folks.  they’re either idiots or egomaniacs proving themselves by standing against the tide.  i’m not one who encourages following for following’s sake, but the Beatles really did put out great music.  it’s been re-created by modern musicians in every flavor of music and regardless of style, it’s still magnetic.

while paul may have been lost in the world of silly love songs john was lost in some ethereal utopian dream.  both of their music lived well beyond the groups disbanding (curse you, yoko!).  george and ringo did ok on their own, but it was paul who continued to hit the charts with Wings and then with his solo stuff.

paul will always be my favorite musical artist and it’s amazing to me that he charges into his latter 6th decade with a zeal for writing and performing still.

NOW, what does all of this have to do with the FEBC?  well, nothing really.  but there was a time when we almost went a different route.  instead of the Fat Elvis Baseball Collective, we were almost the Beatles League.  the thought behind it was (tongue in cheek) there would be four divisions, just like the Beatles when they broke up.  instead, the FEBC is now in it’s 12th season and the Beatles are playing on my iPod rather than in a baseball league.

-chief