Guided by Hutchinson
I often can't stand Jay Mariotti of the Sun-Times; while I think he's a fine, often-insightful writer, he's completely overexposed via his TV gigs, and he's relentlessly negative. Which, of course, "sells papers" here in this two-paper town. He also makes a number of factual/statistical mistakes and won't deign to answer your e-mail if you call him on it. (Bitter? Who, me?)
But he's right on today. While no self-respecting Bears fan would ever honestly think that because Chad Hutchinson had a great game yesterday he's automatically the answer at quarterback in Rex Grossman's absence, Bears management continues to look fairly inept by doing things like keeping Hutchinson on the bench while Craig Krenzel and the far-from-mighty Jonathan Quinn stunk to high heaven. In the very weak NFC, the Bears are now 5-7 and, with merely adequate QB play in the eight games between Grossman's season-ending injury and Hutchinson's breakout, they'd be in at least the wildcard hunt and possibly in reach of the division title.
The Bears signed Hutchinson right after Grossman got hurt and then made excuses for him ("He doesn't know the playbook") that made him seem like he was a slow-learning doofus. Now, it turns out he might possibly be a legit answer in the short term, but all the Bears will get out of it is probably a .500 record at best, when they could've scored a playoff slot in the midst of remaking the team in coach Lovie's Smith image of speed and a turnover-hungry defense.
Such is the life of a Chicago sports fan. Hey, at least the Bulls have won twice so far.
And here's the second installment of the award-winning, eagerly anticipated GBV Review Countdown. Today's review is from the Sept./Oct. 2001 issue of Magnet:
Airport 5, Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks
Robert Pollard and his Soft Rock Renegades, Choreographed Man Of War
These LPs are further proof Guided By Voices wonderboy Robert Pollard and former GBV-er Tobin Sprout write songs as often as normal humans perform mundane tasks like blinking or breathing. Tower is the second full-length post-GBV collaboration between Pollard and Sprout; as with 1997's Tonics And Twisted Chasers (released under the GBV flag), Pollard has added vocals to hypnotic, repetitive backing tracks Sprout sent him. Somewhat less accessible than Tonics, Tower is dominated by slow, dark tunes. Pollard is in fine form vocally and lyrically, and Sprout's music, especially "Total Exposure," the jangly "Circle Of Trim" and the poppy "Stifled Man Casino," is the equal of his cohort?s performance. Still, Tower is really just for GBV-obsessed fanboys, surely the intended audience anyway.
Pollard's Soft Rock Renegades (GBV emeritus members Greg Demos on bass and Jim MacPherson on drums) kick up a fairly strong garage-rock ruckus on Choreographed Man Of War. Whereas GBV's Isolation Drills found Pollard continuing to grasp for a scaled-down version of rock's brass ring, here he reaches back into his less-slick past. The wacky titles ("40 Yards To The Burning Bush," "Kickboxer Lightning"), proto-Who stomp ("I Drove A Tank") and instantly hummable melodies (take your pick) are here in spades; all that's left to contemplate is whether a Pollard saturation point can ever be reached.
But he's right on today. While no self-respecting Bears fan would ever honestly think that because Chad Hutchinson had a great game yesterday he's automatically the answer at quarterback in Rex Grossman's absence, Bears management continues to look fairly inept by doing things like keeping Hutchinson on the bench while Craig Krenzel and the far-from-mighty Jonathan Quinn stunk to high heaven. In the very weak NFC, the Bears are now 5-7 and, with merely adequate QB play in the eight games between Grossman's season-ending injury and Hutchinson's breakout, they'd be in at least the wildcard hunt and possibly in reach of the division title.
The Bears signed Hutchinson right after Grossman got hurt and then made excuses for him ("He doesn't know the playbook") that made him seem like he was a slow-learning doofus. Now, it turns out he might possibly be a legit answer in the short term, but all the Bears will get out of it is probably a .500 record at best, when they could've scored a playoff slot in the midst of remaking the team in coach Lovie's Smith image of speed and a turnover-hungry defense.
Such is the life of a Chicago sports fan. Hey, at least the Bulls have won twice so far.
And here's the second installment of the award-winning, eagerly anticipated GBV Review Countdown. Today's review is from the Sept./Oct. 2001 issue of Magnet:
Airport 5, Tower In The Fountain Of Sparks
Robert Pollard and his Soft Rock Renegades, Choreographed Man Of War
These LPs are further proof Guided By Voices wonderboy Robert Pollard and former GBV-er Tobin Sprout write songs as often as normal humans perform mundane tasks like blinking or breathing. Tower is the second full-length post-GBV collaboration between Pollard and Sprout; as with 1997's Tonics And Twisted Chasers (released under the GBV flag), Pollard has added vocals to hypnotic, repetitive backing tracks Sprout sent him. Somewhat less accessible than Tonics, Tower is dominated by slow, dark tunes. Pollard is in fine form vocally and lyrically, and Sprout's music, especially "Total Exposure," the jangly "Circle Of Trim" and the poppy "Stifled Man Casino," is the equal of his cohort?s performance. Still, Tower is really just for GBV-obsessed fanboys, surely the intended audience anyway.
Pollard's Soft Rock Renegades (GBV emeritus members Greg Demos on bass and Jim MacPherson on drums) kick up a fairly strong garage-rock ruckus on Choreographed Man Of War. Whereas GBV's Isolation Drills found Pollard continuing to grasp for a scaled-down version of rock's brass ring, here he reaches back into his less-slick past. The wacky titles ("40 Yards To The Burning Bush," "Kickboxer Lightning"), proto-Who stomp ("I Drove A Tank") and instantly hummable melodies (take your pick) are here in spades; all that's left to contemplate is whether a Pollard saturation point can ever be reached.
posted by MH at
3:31 PM
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