Deano And The Purvs Fit Well Opening For The Sadies

I see Chicago's Waco Brothers every chance I get, and Jon Langford has become an annual visitor to Toronto for shows with The Sadies and the Burlington Welsh Male Chorus, but other Waco side projects don't make it to town too often.
So it was great that singer/guitarist Deano Waco (or Dean Schlabowske as he's known in his other life as a wine store owner) made the trip north of the border with three members of Austin, Texas high-octane bluegrass outfit The Meat Purveyors (guitarist Bill Anderson, mandolin player Pete Stiles and singer Jo Stanli Walston) to open for The Sadies' public CD release show for Darker Circles on Saturday night at Lee's Palace.

I admit that I'm a bigger fan of the Wacos and Deano's other band, Dollar Store, than the tracks that can be downloaded for free from his web site in this latest collaboration, which bills itself as Deano Waco And The Purvs. But the quartet really brought the songs to life during its 16-song set in front of a steadily growing audience. There were no drums or bass, but the mix of Deano's electric and Anderson's acoustic (they swapped near the end of the set) guitars and Stiles' mandolin virtuosity made you forget that fact.

The band opened with "Workin' For The Devil" and hit my favourite of its songs, "Vacant Lot," a bit later. The show progressed with "Taken," "Reality Blues," "Maid Of The Mist" and one of the most heavily bluegrass-based tunes of the night, the fine "Box Store." There was a great mandolin solo in "Bottle Of Wine" and "Stuck In The Mud" rocked harder than anything else in the set.

Deano And The Purvs ended on a surprise high note, a cover of The Adverts' 1977 punk classic "Gary Gilmore's Eyes," which Deano had recorded on the 2002 compilation, The Executioner's Last Songs, Vol. I.

The Sadies followed and I've seen and written about the Toronto band so often that I elected not to take notes and just enjoy the show and the company of the many friends who came out to show their support. 

The group played a fine mix of old favourites and Darker Circles material. Dallas and Travis Good's mother Margaret came out and sang a few songs, and Ron Sexsmith joined in for sterling covers of Johnny Cash's "Guess Things Happen That Way" and The Who's "The Seeker."

The Sadies brought things home in the encore by blending "Gloria" and "Baby, Please Don't Go," the A- and B-sides of a great 1964 single by the Van Morrison-fronted Them. It was a brilliant way to cap the night off at Lee's. 

But the party continued at my friends' Jeff and Tara's place, where the musicians and some insiders returned for conversation, several Keith's and Big Fat Burritos (thanks again for those, Mike). I've talked to Deano numerous times over the years, but it was nice to meet The Purvs, who were also swell folks.

When the always gracious hosts wanted to go to bed, a couple of other pals and I moved a block down the street for a couple of nightcaps. I arrived home at 7 a.m.

Good times.

Brittlestar and my high school collaborate on new single

Kids who wouldn't know Shakespeare from shaving cream are discovering my hometown of Stratford, Ont. because it's also where teen heartthrob Justin Bieber grew up before attaining worldwide stardom.

Stratford is best known as the home of two globally respected theatres. But it's also the final resting place of the late The Band keyboardist Richard Manuel and the home of John Till, who played guitar in Janis Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band.

My friend Stewart Reynolds (pictured above) is behind Brittlestar, a Stratford-based pop-rock project that has released three full albums, EPs and singles, and had songs included in television programs and commercials. Brittlestar's work has included contributions from the likes of Emm Gryner, The Spoons' Gord Deppe and The Lilac Time's Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy, Nick Duffy and Claire Worrall Duffy. 

Brittlestar’s latest single, “You’re Just So,” features Bieber’s friend, Ryan Butler.

Now Reynolds is the "big name" in a collaboration with my alma mater, Stratford Central Secondary School. He's working with students to write, record and perform a song that will be released via iTunes and other digital music retailers to raise funds for the school. Reynolds will also guide the students through creating artwork for the single and promoting it. 
“The aim is to release a song that isn’t just something that families and friends will feel obligated to buy, but one that everyone will like and will appeal to people around the world,” says Reynolds. “I am not aware of any other high school that is a doing a fundraiser like this, and I think the potential for success is massive. The students bring an enthusiasm that is incredibly infectious.”

You can see and hear more of Brittlestar here.

Harbourfront Centre: Toronto's all-season lakeshore entertainment destination

Though things are changing for the better, Toronto traditionally hasn't made the best use of its Lake Ontario shoreline when it comes to people who take holidays to Canada. But the one major exception for the past 38 years has been Harbourfront Centre.

The non-profit cultural organization oversees 10 acres of facilities (including three marinas) at 235 Queens Quay West, directly south of the downtown core. It attracts 12 million visits annually for more than 4,000 events presented with some 450 partner community and cultural groups. It showcases works in contemporary visual arts, crafts, literature, music, dance and theatre for adults and children.

Perhaps the highest profile Harbourfront events are its weekly World Routes Summer Festivals, which showcase a diverse range of cultures, entertainment and food. This season's events include: Barbados On The Water (May 28-29); Franco-Fete (June 12); Canada Day (July 1), featuring a performance by my favourite local band, The Sadies; The Hot Spot (July 2-4); Break, Beats & Culture (July 9-11); Expressions of Brazil (July 16-18); Love, Saskatchewan (July 23-25); Island Soul (July 30-Aug. 2); What is Classical? (Aug. 6-8); Hot & Spicy Food Festival (Aug. 13-15); Fortune Cooking Food Festival (Aug. 20-22); Telus TaiwanFest Crossover (Aug. 27-29); and Ashkenaz (Sept. 4-6).

HarbourKIDS' freee programming, dedicated to children ranging in age from five to 12, will include the HarbourKIDS: Circus from May 22-24. The Free Flicks program will feature films at the Sirius Stage on the edge of the lake. Look for tall ships in port as part of the Great Lakes United Tall Ships Challenge from June 30-July 4.

There are a number of places to eat, drink and shop. A variety of boat cruises leave from Harbourfront, and the ferries to the Toronto Islands are also nearby. Or you can just take a pleasant stroll and take in the sights, sounds and smells of the lake and its environs extending west through Ann Tindal and HTO parks to Toronto Music Garden. There are five parking lots and the centre is well-served by public transportation.

Art exhibitions, plays and other performances are held year-round, and the Natrel Rink offers what is (with apologies to Nathan Phillips Square) probably Toronto's most entertaining and picturesque place to skate for free during the winter.

Visit the Harbourfront Centre web site for more information.

Toronto's Rogers Centre remains an attraction

I wrote about New York City's two new baseball stadiums last month, so I thought I should let people who take holidays to Canada know about Toronto's Rogers Centre.

The retractable-roofed stadium formerly known as SkyDome opened in the summer of 1989 and has since hosted more than 2,000 events and 60 million people. The prime tenant is the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, which used to regularly draw more than 50,000 people to games when it was winning World Series' in the early '90s. The Jays aren't what they used to be, and now attract an average crowd of well under 20,000 to games.

Some people blame the stadium as one of the main reasons for the decline, and the impersonal concrete structure certainly doesn't hold the same appeal as the more charming retro-styled ballparks that have been built over the past 20 years — including the two aforementioned NYC stadiums, Baltimore's Camden Yards, Pittsburgh's PNC Park, Detroit's Comerica Park, Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park and Cleveland's Progressive Field.

Retractable-roofed stadiums have become more common in the past two decades, but the Rogers Centre remains a model for architects and engineers to learn from. And while locals now largely take the stadium for granted, it remains one of Toronto's top tourist attractions and many people who witness the 20-minute transformation from enclosed to open air venue (or vice versa) for the first time still marvel at it. 

The 11,000-tonne roof is divided into four sections, three of which move. When it's closed, a 31-storey building located in the centre field area could fit underneath it. Eight Boeing 747 jets can comfortably fit on the field when it's in baseball mode.

The Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League also play at the Rogers Centre, as do the National Football League's Buffalo Bills as part of an agreement whereby the team plays at least one game a year in Toronto. The stadium also hosts major concerts and a variety of other events.

Even if you don't attend a game or some other happening, the Rogers Centre offers one-hour guided tours that cost $10 for children, $12 for youths and seniors and $16 for adults. Tour stops include a recently renovated museum featuring a model of the Rogers Centre, memorabilia from past events and a multi-screen video wall showcasing highlights from the facility's history. Visitors can also check out the Blue Jays Hall of Fame, a press box and a luxury suite.

If you find you like the Rogers Centre enough, you can stay at the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel, which offers a number of rooms overlooking the field. Many of the city's top attractions — including the CN Tower and Hockey Hall of Fame — are located within a few blocks.

Danko Jones — Below The Belt

Here's a sentence from the promotional biography for this record: "So long as guys keep thinking with their dicks instead of their heads and so long as beautiful women have the power to reduce men to drooling, deviant, irrational idiots, Danko Jones records will continue to sound like Danko Jones records."

While that may seem like a good thing to most followers of the man and his identically named band, it isn't for me. I've enjoyed songs from Danko Jones' four previous albums and the My Love Is Bold EP, and there are tracks on Below The Belt that fit into that category as well. But they all start to sound too similar, as are Jones' lyrical themes dealing with his strength, sexual prowess and ability to be mean and ornery.

I've seen Danko Jones perform several times and still chuckle when I think about a comment from a friend (and like myself, somewhat of a fan) who said that the frontman's big stock stage move was to "look left." The stage show is powerful and rocks hard, but really hasn't progressed too much. And with Below The Belt, neither has Danko Jones.

If that's okay with you, you should really like this album.

Thieves By Law Can Chill Viewers On Different Levels

Having previously read articles and watched television shows about the Russian mafia made me interested in seeing Thieves By Law as part of the Canadian International Documentary Festival this week. While corruption in the former Soviet Union is commonly acknowledged, this film's examination of three gangsters and their cronies showed me how frighteningly widespread, accepted and legitimized it is.

"Show me one person in Russia who doesn't have a criminal record," challenges one of the subjects, who describes himself as a businessman. Largely uneducated, having spent as much or more time in prison than in school, these three men aren't afraid of revealing things to writer/director Alexander Gentelev that make you question why they're still not living behind bars instead of in luxury through wealth gained via extortion and violence.

Want an example of how violent these guys can get? Start by abducting a homeless person. Then you dress him in a suit and take him to the office of an executive targeted for protection money collection, where his head is cut off on the spot to show what happens to people who don't pay up.

Yet these men also claim to live by an honourable thieves code, which began in Stalin-era gulags in the 1930s, and continued until Mikhail Gorbachev put perestroika in effect in 1987. Money — big money — could now be made. And to my eyes, at least, that moral code seemed to be hit as hard as the victims of the criminal groups that sprang up during this time.

Gang wars throughout the '90s wiped out many mafia soldiers and leaders before survivors realized that large profits could still be made without all of the bloodshed through the influence they'd attained with businesses, the government, police and the church.

An Interpol agent, mafia lawyer and Russia's first millionaire are also interviewed in the film, along with some lower-ranking thieves by law, but it's the three main protagonists who really drive this documentary. And aside from the one who's now making a theatrical film, which includes footage of his actual victims being beaten up to add realism, they seem likable at times.

That can be almost as scary in a personal sense as realizing the power that men like this wield on the global stage.

Thieves By Law is 90 minutes long and in Russian, French and Hebrew, with English subtitles. It will receive a second Hot Docs screening at 10 p.m. on Sat. May 8 at Toronto's Isabel Bader Theatre.

A Film Unfinished

A Film Unfinished, a documentary written and directed by female Israeli filmmaker Yael Hersonski, had its Canadian premiere at the Canadian International Documentary Festival this week.

The 89-minute film is the first to use almost all 62 minutes of unedited, silent footage shot over four reels by Germans in the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland in May 1942 and not discovered until after World War II.

The ghetto's population was estimated to be 440,000. Disease and starvation were rampant and more than 100,000 people died before some 250,000 were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp from July to September 1942. 

Excerpts from these films have since been used as objective illustrations of what the ghetto was like shortly before the Jews were shipped off to Treblinka, but Hersonski's documentary reveals that they were propaganda tools and that many of the scenes were staged. 

Participants co-operated out of fear of the repercussions if they refused. Nazis used the ghetto as a film set, the inhabitants as actors, and dead and decaying bodies lying on the streets as exhibits.

The historic, heartbreaking and frequently disturbing footage is interweaved with readings from diary entries written during the period and testimonies from ghetto survivors and a German cameraman who took part in the filming. This helps contextualize things, but still leaves the viewer with questions that will likely never be answered. Documents revealing who initiated the project and why it was never completed have yet to be found.

Hersonski's aim was to examine both the potential and limitations of images to bear witness to the truth. She wasn't completely successful in coming up with answers, but A Film Unfinished certainly makes you think about the complex subject. And with modern photo, film and video-editing technology, it's becoming more complicated all the time.

A Film Unfinished is in English, Hebrew, German, Polish and Yiddish, and uses English subtitles. It won the editing award in the World Doc Competition at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

Marwencol Is A Whole New World

Mark Hogancamp was viciously assaulted by five men outside a bar in his hometown of Kingston, N.Y. in the spring of 2000 and spent nine days in a coma. After regaining consciousness, the 38-year-old had no memory of his previous life and had to learn how to do the things that the rest of us take for granted all over again. Marwencol, a 1/6th-scale World War II-era Belgian town that he created in his backyard as self-administered therapy, is his story.

Hogancamp populated Marwencol with dolls that represented his alter-ego, friends, family members, attackers and others, and came up with storylines to help him cope with his pain and avoid the outside world that he still sometimes fears. He eventually started photographing these scenes, and the detail and realism of the shots started to catch people's attention — including an art magazine editor, the curator of a New York City gallery and filmmaker Jeff Malmberg. 

The director shot Marwencol over four years, and his documentary tells a touching, sometimes disturbing and occasionally funny story of a man who plays with dolls.

Towards the end of the 83-minute film, which has an intriguing twist part-way through, Hogancamp admits that he prefers to live in Marwencol over the real world.

While I find myself pulling for Hogancamp so he can re-integrate himself more fully with human society and financially take advantage of his talents, this beautifully made film makes me realize that a big part of what makes him so compelling and unique might be lost if he did. And that seems like something he's not willing to sacrifice at this point.

As Marwencol's tag line says, "If you aren’t accepted in the real world, create your own."

Marwencol premiered at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, where it won the Grand Jury Award for best documentary feature. It also won the Nesnadny + Schwartz Documentary Film Competition for best documentary at the Cleveland International Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize for best documentary at the Independent Film Festival of Boston.

Marwencol and Malmberg, who was on hand at Tuesday night's Canadian premiere at Toronto's Isabel Bader Theatre and answered questions after the screening, both received rousing ovations when the lights came up. It wouldn't be surprising if the film won another prize as part of this week's Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. I doubt that I'll see many films better than this over the rest of the year.

Marwencol will receive a second screening at 1:30 p.m. on May 6 at Toronto's Cumberland Cinema 3.

The documentary will also be shown at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 30 and 31 and at the June 17-27 Los Angeles Film Festival. 

You can visit Marwencol at www.marwencol.com.

The John Henrys — White Linen

The John Henrys first came to my attention a few years back when I saw the Ottawa band open for The Sadies at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern, and I was immediately impressed. 

I've seen the talented quintet a couple of more times since, and enjoyed its Sweet As The Grain sophomore album.

This third LP, which came out in Canada last month via Linus Entertainment and will be released in the U.S. on Aug. 31, draws from the same Americana, rock and alt.country influences as its predecessor. The band had a larger budget and recorded 17 songs over seven months before winnowing the final product down to 11, which is divided into two sides like a vinyl LP. The first five songs are supposed to be the city side, while the country is represented by the final six tracks.

"Little One" opens the album and probably sounds more like Tom Petty than anything on the last Heartbreakers record — voice, guitars, organ ... everything. And there's nothing wrong with that, coming from a Petty fan.

"Hit The Floor" and "Empty Pockets" are pretty straight-ahead, mid-tempo rock tunes. There's some extra jangle to the guitars on "Peace Of Mind," and lots of pedal steel on "Good Man," but "Stars Align" may be the most country-leaning song on the album. Organ is most prominent on the title track and White Linen ends with the acoustic "Patriot Song," about the 1838 Upper Canada rebellions.

The John Henrys are in the midst of a Canadian tour with labelmates Madison Violet and, in the past, have accompanied the similarly minded Sadies, Elliott Brood and Cuff The Duke. I have a strong hunch that the songs on White Linen will draw me in more when I hear them performed on stage, so I'll be on the lookout for future Toronto shows. For now, I'll give White Linen a 6/10.
Listen for yourself here.

Gogol Bordello — Trans-Continental Hustle

Gogol Bordello keeps getting more attention without pandering to mainstream tastes, and two of the latest ears the New York City-based group made stand up belong to record executive and mega-successful producer Rick Rubin, who was at the studio controls for this record and released it on Tuesday through his American Recordings label.

The band's fifth studio album, the follow-up to 2007's Super Taranta! (and last year's Live From Axis Mundi DVD), opens with lead single "Pala Tute." It's an effervescent track and continues the expansion of the gypsy punk sound that Gogol Bordello first made a name for itself with. 

The nine-piece band fronted by Eugene Hutz is exploring the world musically and makes audible stops in eastern Europe, Brazil, Jamaica, the U.S. and elsewhere on this 13-track record. "Sun Is On My Side" and "When Universes Collide" both start with gentle acoustic guitar before they gradually pick up, while "Immigraniada (We Comin' Rougher)" is essentially a punk song with a great guitar tone and angry, sloganeering lyrics.

Reggae is thrown into the mix on "Raise The Knowledge" and "Last One Goes The Hope" on the second half of the album, which is where things particularly pick up steam for me. "In The Meantime In Pernambuco" dares you not to dance, and that's a challenge you're bound to lose.

The socio-political card is thrown down hard on the final two songs, "Break The Spell" (about discrimination against the Roma people) and the title track, which promotes racial cross-pollination.

I was a bit concerned that Rubin would temper Gogol Bordello's all-over-the-map approach to its music, but Hutz and his cohorts were given the freedom to roam like the people who are still commonly (though ignorantly) referred to as gypsies.

The Sadies' Darker Circles excels on disc and stage

The Sadies' Darker Circles won't be released until May 18 (through Outside Music in Canada and Yep Roc elsewhere), but the Toronto quartet launched the album with an April 26 performance at the intimate Rivoli.

The Sadies are my favourite local band and I've seen them dozens of times, to the point where they've likely surpassed The Lowest Of The Low as the group I've witnessed the most in my life. I'll add to the total on May 22, when the band plays Toronto's Lee's Palace, where the guys and many of their musical friends recorded Live In Concert — Volume 1. And I don't think I've ever been disappointed.

This was the case again at Monday's too-short showcase, where The Sadies played 20 minutes of material from Darker Circles before ending with crowd favourite "Tiger Tiger," which came complete with Travis and Dallas Good simultaneously playing Travis' guitar. 

I'm sure I've heard a few of the songs from the new album mixed in with older cuts at Sadies shows I've attended over the past few months, but this was the first time they were put out there on their own. And they passed the audition with flying colours.

"They just keep getting better," a friend standing beside me at the show rightly observed. "It's really not fair."

Darker Circles follows a similar path as its predecessor, 2007's New Seasons, and again was produced by Jayhawks member Gary Louris. The Sadies effortlessly blend their alt.country and psychedelic rock influences and focus on complete compositions, as the album-closing 'Ten More Songs" is the only instrumental on the 11-track record.

Neither Dallas nor Travis are classic crooners, but their voices fit the material and their intricate yet powerful guitar licks play off each other so cohesively that you'd swear the two of them shared bloodlines even if you didn't know they were brothers. Upright bassist Sean Dean and drummer Mike Belitsky are as solid as ever on the back line to complete the package.

Darker Circles may take a few more listens before it impacts me the same as some of The Sadies' earlier albums, but it has a place in my top 10 of 2010 list so far.

Library Voices — Denim On Denim

Library Voices have followed their 2008 Hunting Ghosts (& Other Collected Shorts) with a very accomplished 12-track debut album that was produced by the band and Orion Paradis. 
Andy Shauf and members of Woodpigeon, Rah Rah, Sylvie and Northcote contributed to the worthy cause.
This eight-piece collective is full of classic pop influences, but there's more than enough modern indie pop in the grooves to keep hipsters happy. "Model City" and "Balloon Menageries" are the only two songs that didn't do much for me, but everything else is bursting with goodness that at times may remind you of fellow Canucks The New Pornographers and Hidden Cameras. It's not just mindless fun either, as the lyrics are literate and intelligent.
Denim On Denim has just moved up to a prominent spot on my list of possible Polaris Music Prize first-ballot candidates.
This Regina group should inspire as much local pride as its football team that can't keep track of how many players it has on the field during the last play of the Grey Cup.

The Slackers — The Great Rock-Steady Swindle

It doesn't seem like The Slackers have been around for 19 years and a dozen studio albums, but they have. 

And with this latest effort, the New York City group's sense of humour shows up in the album title — which now has added significance with former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren's recent passing. More importantly, the group still has a great musical formula that blends elements of ska, rock-steady, reggae, dub, soul, old-time R&B, garage rock and classic pop — and the musical chops to deliver it all. Singer/keyboardist Vic Ruggiero calls the group's sound "Jamaican Rock n Roll," and I'm good with that.

The sextet that make folks sweat at its performances recorded the album in Berlin, Germany, with Ruggiero producing and all the members sharing in the songwriting. There's also a dark, keyboard-driven instrumental cover of Bill Withers' 1971 hit, "Ain't No Sunshine."

"Mr. Tragedy" opens with a spoof of The Specials' version of "Enjoy Yourself," and uses some of the Muzak-like elements found on that recently reunited British group's second album.  Sixties rock and soul come together on "Sabina," dub echo infuses "Cheated," while rock-steady mixes with vintage pop on "Daddy." 

"Bo Evil" is full of raw R&B and "Thank You" is a soul stomper. For those who prefer purer reggae, "Tool Shed," "Don't Look Back" and "The TV Dinner Song" fit the bill.

Things end with "The Same Everyday," which has a lyrical theme revolving around boredom but, ironically, is the bounciest and most danceable song of the 15 on the album.

The Great Rock-Steady Swindle isn't my favourite Slackers album, but I'll keep listening to their records as long as Hellcat keeps releasing them because they're just so hard to resist. And the band is even better live.

Good News For Subhumans Fans
Vancouver punk band The Subhumans has re-recorded its 1980 Incorrect Thoughts debut album and released it under the title Same Thoughts Different Day through Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label.
The Subhumans originally broke up in 1982, but reformed in 2005 as Subhumans Canada. It planned to reissue Incorrect Thoughts because of fan demand, but there was a snag in that plan.
The Subhumans' original label (Friends Records) was long out of business and the band had no written record of its agreement with the company. A San Francisco label called CD Presents, which is now also defunct, released what the Subhumans claim was an altered and aesthetically inferior version of the album in the mid-'80s. 
The head of CD Presents claimed ownership of Incorrect Thoughts, but the band says it's unaware of any legal basis for it and that no documentation to support it was ever presented to it. Here's a brief synopsis from the liner notes for Same Thoughts Different Day:
"The band had never had any business dealings with CD Presents. None of the members of the band had ever authorized the release. We were never contacted by CD Presents; no royalties were ever paid to us, and we have never received an accounting of the quantities manufactured or sold."
In order to avoid a legal battle over Incorrect Thoughts, singer Brian "Wimpy" Goble, guitarist Mike "Normal" Graham, bassist Gerry "Useless" Hannah and non-original band member and drummer Jon Card recorded new versions of the album's songs at the Hive Studios in Burnaby, B.C. in 2008 and 2009. The group also re-recorded two songs that originally appeared on an obscure compilation and four others that it played but never recorded back in the old days. All of them have been assembled and released on the 20-track Same Thoughts Different Day.
"We had a lot of fun making this new album and we think it turned out really well," the band wrote in the liner notes. "In fact, re-recording these songs ended up providing us with an opportunity to improve on some of the things that we were never that happy with on the original recordings."
I'm happy to report that the album sounds great and the songs still sound fresh. Some of the snarl and menace from the original "Slave To My Dick" may be missing, but perhaps that comes with the penis emancipation that may have occurred over the past 30 years.
If you want to relive the glory days of Vancouver's early punk scene, or hear some of the best songs to emerge from it for the first time, pick up a copy of Same Thoughts Different Day. It's available on CD, as a digital download and as a double-vinyl LP set that comes with a digital download card.

New Yankee Stadium doesn't drop the ball

There was no more fabled stadium in all of professional sports than Yankee Stadium, the ball park dubbed "The House That Ruth Built" when it opened in 1923.

But all good things must come to an end, it seems, and that time came for Yankee Stadium after the close of the 2008 Major League Baseball season. But right beside it across Babe Ruth Plaza at the corner of East 161st Street and River Avenue in the New York City borough of The Bronx sits new Yankee Stadium, which seems poised to carry on its predecessor's proud tradition far into the 21st century and make it an important stop for those taking New York City breaks. 

The new stadium incorporates many of the design elements from the old park, but adds all of the modern amenities that fans have come to expect these days. The outfield dimensions, including the short porch in right field that's a magnet for home runs, are also similar.

History was further acknowledged by moving Monument Park across the street just beyond the centre field fence, giving fans the chance to pay their respects and see plaques dedicated to some of the greatest players in history — including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

There's also a Yankees Museum on the lower level that displays a wide range of memorabilia and uses a tribute of Don Larsen pitching his 1956 perfect game to catcher Yogi Berra as its centrepiece. Another Yankees catcher, the late Thurman Munson, has his clubhouse locker on display.

The seven-storey Great Hall features large banners featuring photos of past and present Yankee stars, and there's no shortage of places to purchase souvenirs and memorabilia.


There are also lots of dining options, including NYY Steak, a Hard Rock Cafe, the Audi Yankees Club, the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar, 25 fixed concession stands and 112 moveable ones serving hot dogs, French fries, pizza, sandwiches, nachos, burritos, chicken fingers, Philly cheese steaks, sausages, hamburgers, barbecue, noodles, sushi, cookies and ice cream. 

There's also a martini bar and three Beers Of The World concessions offering regional brews from North America and Europe. You may want to eat before you go to the stadium, however, as the food and drink prices are the highest I've ever seen at a ball park. 

Bruce Willis, Paul Simon and former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani didn't seem to mind, however, as they attended the same Yankees-Red Sox game as I did last August and were shown on the huge video screen on the centre field scoreboard. Smaller scoreboards are on each side of the main one, and there are even smaller manually operated ones located in the outfield fences.

I could see the entire field well from my grandstand seat in the upper deck along the left field line that had a $20 face value, but I had to pay more than twice that to a ticket broker to get into the sold-out game against the Yankees' arch-rivals.
Yankee Stadium seats 51,000 people, about 4,000 fewer than the original held. But with the price the team charges for many of them (as well as for all of the luxury suites), there's no need to be concerned about a loss of revenues driving club owner George Steinbrenner to the poor house.