Welcome to the Friday Mailbag. It’s been a terrible week. Police brutality, vaccine paranoia, COVID resurgence… I’m fed up with this world. Let’s talk about other stuff for awhile.
PAT’S eBAY CORNER
I love baseball jackets. Call them coaches jackets, satin jackets, dugout jackets–whatever–I just love them. In games, they serve a real purpose. They keep a player’s arm warm when his team is up to bat, which in turn prevents injury. Baseball gets played from April until (ideally) October. It’s cold out there.
Off the field, a baseball jacket looks cool. You don’t have to wear one every day, but it’s nice to have one in the closet for when your team’s on a roll or a guy throws a no-hitter or whatever. Organizations release a staggering amount of merchandise. Some good, some bad, some “so bad it’s good.” Whatever your taste, there’s bound to be something for you on the vintage market.
I like to go on eBay and search “vintage White Sox jacket.” Here are some of the gems currently being offered:
1) 1980s XL satin bomber by Starter ($130)
2) Mitchell & Ness embroidered wool jacket ($275)
3) 1980s “script logo” satin bomber by Starter ($200)
4) 1990s satin bomber by Chalk Line ($180)
5) Vintage coaches jacket with snaps by Apex One ($45)
AND NOW TO THE MAILBAG…
Loyal N.E.H. reader, Nick, asks:
What other artist would you like to see go through the exercise of re-recording old material? This wouldn’t be a rights issue, so any work by any artist is at play.
Great question. Taylor Swift’s decision to re-record her back catalog interests me, but the music itself is probably the least interesting thing about the project. In theory, Taylor’s re-recordings should devalue Shamrock Holdings’s investment (cool), spite her enemies (very cool), and divert money to Taylor Swift Inc. (fine). Is this a win for artists? Would Taylor Swift be an enormous celebrity today without the early support of Big Machine? Do millionaires deserve our sympathy? I’ll let you answer those questions for yourself. In the meantime…
I know Nick told me to disregard concerns about rights, but to do so would be to open a can of worms. I love a lot of songs with bad production. I don’t need artists to go back and remake them.
So let’s turn our attention to Britney Spears. Unfortunately, I haven’t watched Framing Britney Spears yet, but from what I can tell, Britney could benefit from re-recording her greatest hits. I believe her fans would rally behind her and listen to those versions instead. To do so would be to align with Britney and not the parasites who used her to advance their own agendas. Two problems, though. One: Britney didn’t write her biggest songs. She’d have to track down Max Martin and Pharrell and–sigh–R. Kelly for permission to re-record them. Then she’d have to actually record them, and I have no insight into the state of her voice. Big question marks. Problem two: She’s still under her father’s conservatorship. Yikes. Maybe let’s leave Britney alone for now.
I hate to admit it, but when Nick asked me this question, the first person I thought of was Kanye West. Obviously, Taylor and Kanye have a fraught relationship, but he could definitely take a page from her playbook by re-recording his back catalog. To do so would be to wrest some ownership from Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella, an organization he has tussled with in the past. And unlike Britney, Kanye wrote most of his music. He’d have to clear the samples again, though, which requires money and resources. He’s got plenty of the former, but does he have the infrastructure in place to get in touch with David Foster’s people and clear that famous Chaka Khan sample? My instincts tell me yes, but Kanye probably has no interest in doing so. He just wants to design the perfect Croc. Well okay, but selfishly, I wonder if revisiting that old work would reignite Kanye’s creativity. He hasn’t been interesting–musically or otherwise–for some time, and it’s been hard to watch. I miss the old Kanye.
Epilogue: Remember when Paul Simon re-recorded old songs in 2018? That was cool.
Got a question? Feel free to comment on this post or e-mail me at newexperimentalhours@gmail.com. Thanks!
Enjoy your weekend, friends. Go sit quietly at a park. Read a book. Make an egg salad sandwich. It’s your life, it’s now or never. You ain’t gonna live forever.
Hi Pat.... Here’s my question: You are an MLB player. What is your walk out song?