How To Sound Like A Crackpot

I have to lay off hikers, I think. Every single day here in AZ, there's another morbid story about something that happens to a hiker. Today is one I have not heard before. The story of Japanese love for baseball just might astound you. I lived there for three years. And a top ten rock story out of the hundreds I could tell.

Transcript

Welcome And Quick Catch-Up

Intro Host Chrissie Hanes 0:00

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back. And with Blade today on the podcast, Blade plays in front of a sold-out crowd in Japan. The definition of crackpot. You know a few. And they are almost gone. Happiness is back. Go get them, Blade.

Bee Stings And Hiking Rants

Kids Walk In At Worst Time

Blade 0:19

Sponsored by Judgedesigns.com. My WQDR mug that he made for me, which will last me for 20 years. These mugs are fabulous. On the other side, Daddy Jack's A Taste of New Orleans. His dad's homemade coffee, which I'm drinking now. Man stung over a hundred times by bees while hiking in the Arizona foothills. Now that's original, that's unique, I'll give you that. You know, I've heard of all kinds of different injuries you could get while hiking, and you know my stance on hiking if you've watched any one of my segments. I overdo it. Because this hiking is wildly popular around here, and I don't understand why. And I try not to talk about it on every episode, but I can't help it. Man stung a hundred plus times by bees. It's a big room. And I've got like six different stations where I could film a show from. So different backdrops and all that kind of thing. But anyway, I was just getting out of the shower and I was naked, you know, and I just so happened to notice as I'm combing my hair, you know, uh three kids sitting in the entrance of the bathroom staring at me. Looking at me, making small talk. The oldest one who's 10, and the other one's eight, they're making small talk and they're staring at me. And you know what they're staring at. Little four-year-old kid, you know, and he's like, oh daddy, you got a big one. I'm like, thank you, son. You know, I wasn't the only man in the house. Those girls are fascinated by it. What do you do? Get a towel on and say, get out of here. This is my room, I'm filming. You know the rule in daddy, when Blade is filming, scram.

Merle Haggard And 1969

Merle Haggard "Okie From Muscogee" 3:07

We don't burn a trap.

Blade 3:09

You know, I just came across this the other day and it made me laugh so hard. Okie from Muscogee.

Merle Haggard "Okie From Muscogee" 3:14

We like living right. Being free. We don't make party out of loving. We don't let up long and shaggy. Like the hippies a prince and Francisco too. I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee. Place where even squares can have a ball.

Moon Landing Pride And Artemis II

Blade 4:01

We're just good old boy Okie from Muskogee. Where beads and Roman sandals won't be found, ladies and gentlemen. They're too forward to be renamed Birkenstocks. You see. You just watch it and just laugh. And they were asking old Merle Haggard, who sang that about that afterwards. You know, and how'd you come up with that song? Why'd you write that song? And he's like, it had to be written. Because that was 1969. You know, when that song came out. You know, you can you know it was happening in 69. It was it was all starting then, and you know what I mean by it was all starting then. At that point, we were in Japan. My dad was in the Air Force, I've told you that a hundred times. We were in Japan and they had put a man on the moon. Now I've got a buddy, he's like seven, and he swears they didn't put a man on the moon. There are people out there that are like that that think that we didn't really put a man on the moon. You know, those quote unquote conspiracy theorists, and uh I don't believe in conspiracy theorists, I just believe in theorists. People have their theories, you know. And true or not true, I'm not telling you they did or didn't, you know, true or not true. Any guy that will tell you that we didn't put a man on the moon, that was strictly a presentation thing to try to, you know, outdo Japan and Russia, sounds like a complete crackpot. When they say it. You don't sound like a crackpot when you say, Remember 1969 when we had a man on the moon, and Neil Armstrong said, you know, one giant step for mankind. When you say, You think that's true, that was a big hoax, you sound like a crackpot. You know, let me just tell you something. We are in Japan and we lived on Canomura Air Force Base in 1969 when this happened, and they're all the bases are surrounded by Chain Link. And uh everybody in the United States was watch everybody in Japan on the Air Force Base was watching when this happened, and I don't remember how.

Blade 6:03

Maybe we were listening. I'm not sure. I don't remember, but I remember when it happened, and the second that Neil Armstrong uttered the words, every single person on that Air Force base ran out of their headquarters, they ran out of their bachelor's quarters, and they ran out of their base housing, all waving flags or American flags, big ones, small ones, little ones, screaming and yelling, yay, we did it. I mean, it's probably the proudest I've ever been as an American, and I was 10, I think. Really. I mean, I mean, the state of pride in the United States of America may not have ever been higher since that moment. And part of it was because we had this incredible competition going on with Russia. You know, move ahead 11 years to when we beat Russia in the Olympics in 1980, right?

Blade 6:52

The whole idea is to is a race, not to find out what's happening in the universe and the galaxies and all the stars and all that shit. You know, it's to beat everyone else to it. We had to get on the moon first to beat Russia just because of competition, our egos, and Japan. You know, and I guess we did. You know, and I bring that up today because today is the day that Artemis II is supposed to, you know, splash into the United States into the water, and nobody cares. And don't even tell me the first time you heard about Artemis II that you didn't think about Artemis Pyle of Leonard Skinnard as your first thought.

Artemus Pyle-Lynyrd Skynyrd 7:27

I decided at the 40-year mark that I was gonna stop being sad because I've been sad for 40 years. So now I just celebrate the music. Um, and that's why we did this tribute album, and um we have Dolly Parton singing Freebird.

Stupid Interviewer 7:44

Oh, I love that!

Japan Baseball Through Chain Link

Blade 7:46

He's like he's like the only guy left, he and Ricky Matlock from the uh pre-crash hanging in there. But the Japanese, they love their baseball, let me tell you. I told you about the chain link fence. In the corners of those chain link fences in Japan, excuse me, on the Air Force bases, we would play our baseball games. You know, that's the thing. All the uh the Air Force, you know, vets were all kind of young guys and they had young kids, you know, and we could have every single day of the week 10 to 18 to 20 guys out there playing a game of baseball. And the corners were perfect. And those chain link fences, you put the home plate in the corner, and down a third baseline is one part of the chain link, and down the first baseline is the other part of the chain link. And on the outside is Japan. And we'd go out there every single day in the afternoon after school, we'd walk home from Chofu school, you know, at three o'clock, and we we'd be on that field ready to rock by 3 30. You know, 18 guys, the kids, 10 years old, 11 years old, and by the minute we threw the very first pitch, the place would be sold out.

Blade 8:55

Japanese would stop, they'd be on their bicycles, riding down the roads in Japan, you know, and they'd stop, get off their bikes, they'd be looking through the chain link fence, looking for a spot. And you could see as far as the eye could see, people lined up watching 10-year-old kids play baseball. That's how much they love baseball. First baseline, crowded as could be. Storefront owners close down shops just to come watch 10-year-old kids play baseball. Never thought much about it. That's the biggest audience I've ever had playing baseball, and I've been playing for 50 years. You know? If you don't know to the extent of how how much Japanese people love baseball, maybe that'll tell you something about it.

Blade 9:35

First baseball game I ever saw was Karakwan Stadium in Japan, Yamiuri Giants, and they had Sadaharu Oh. If you don't know who he is, he's hit more home runs. He's a professional. They played on professional fields in Japan, still do, as you know, you know, and he hit more home runs than anyone by far. 868. And I got to see him play one time.

unknown 9:58

I don't think I took the feature.

Radio Friends And Sports Memory

Seven Mary Three Plays For Five

Blade 10:01

And so I can sit here and tell you the lineup of the 1970 Yami Uri Giants, because that was the year that I saw the game. You know, Kiroi and Doy and Takahashi and Hiroshima and Sadaharu Oh and Mota, the catcher. I can tell you the batting order and their names, you know. And this is why I love talking with Bob Walton, who's a guy that I worked with for many years at WRDU, Rolling Stone Magazine, radio station of the year, two years in a row. We were both there. 8990. I told you that last week. You know, I felt bad because I talked shit about Rolling Stone magazine and how I hate him. I kind of de-glorified the award and the honor that we got, which it was great. But anyway, I talked with Bob about that, and he he's a guy like me. He can tell you the batting order of the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates, but he couldn't tell you what he had to eat for lunch yesterday. He told me that the same way. What's the deal? But I said, I win because I know and I can tell you in Japanese. Seven Mary Three. I always kind of figured they were around our area and Raleigh Durham. We played him in 1995. They had that song Cumbersome. Which I really liked because there's a little passage in the middle, doo-doo doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, which always reminds me of Zeppelin. And I know they're not trying to be Zeppelin. It just turned out that way, and it's just I just love it. Cumbersome, great little rocking song. But I've got so many millions of stories that I can tell you about the rock people that I've met and known, and the rock industry, and the business, and the songs, and the shows. I've got so many million stories that I could tell you. But you know, when it comes down to it, I have to tell you, there might not be more than 15 that are really worth telling that I still remember to this day that made this huge impact on me. Like this one from Seven Mary III. This is one thing about Raleigh is they have these friggin' races, these running races basically every weekend and takes up the whole fucking town. It's annoying as hell. It was anyway. They don't do that here. You know, they close it downtown, and you gotta run around downtown, and you can't. You gotta you know, you gotta run around anywhere around, you can't, because there's a race. Police cars everywhere. Sorry, it's blocked, and you gotta, you know, try to turn around and go somewhere else.

Blade 12:53

Irritating as fuck. You know. It is, it was. It got really bad there for a while. So many runs. But at any rate, I was at stay, I was at 96 Rock at the time, and they had uh Seven Mary III come down to play, and they were gonna be the entertainment for this whatever race they had. I think Russ Thompson was down there too, and I always loved that guy. I think. Uh, and it was an overcast day, and uh right about the start of the race, it started pouring down rain and kept raining and kept raining and kept raining. The stage was set up in the middle of the glorious downtown, you know, and the guys were on the stage, you know, ready to play. You know, it was ten o'clock and it was time to play. You know, and they said, sorry, the race is canceled, and everybody took off, and there was nobody left except for that band and me and three other people, sound guy, and I think that's it. I think there were five people still there. And that band, Seven Mary Three, put on a show that you have never seen before. I've always said shows outside in the rain, saw something about it. I've always loved it.

Blade 14:07

Always.

Blade 14:08

And they kicked ass from the beginning to the end. And they have my respect until the day I die. I'll always remember that. You know, sometimes I think about it and I'm in tears. I'm like, guys, it's just me. You played for me and maybe two other people, and you gave it all you've got. And it did this song, you know, that I never heard before that it did called Water's Edge. Really deep, disturbing song. And I listened to the words and I go, wow, and it really touched me and really hit me. You know, and they were laughing and smiling like there was a hundred thousand people there when there was really five. You know, you could go up there and be a slack ass and you know say, oh fuck it, we'll go too. But they played and they did it. Well, they're getting paid for it, I'm sure. You know, but still, they put everything they had into it. I was so damn impressed. You know, and I uh that was I don't know, 2009 maybe? 2009 or something, 17 years ago, you know, and that's gonna be one of my top ten memories. That story right there. Watch a little bit of this water's edge.

7 Mary 3 15:21

No sound of fury, no shout of pain.

Blade 15:24

These guys are from uh Williamsburg, I think, Virginia. No broke up in 2012.

unknown 15:59

She got there down by the street, cause I'd seen her minute before. Ben pulled up and open the door. I can't say a single word that would I solve because of killers.