Favorite. Sox Player. Ever.

[9th inning, Game 6, 2003 ALCS, Sox up 7-6, 1 out, 1 on]

What wasn't to like? Yankee slayer. Gamer. The original "dirt dog". Played for one organization. Our organization. For his whole career. Put more pine-tar on his hat and helmet than any other player in the majors. Ever. Including the dead ball era. Game winning homerun in the Clemens-Pedro epic at Yankee Stadium in 2000. Eat it, Rocket. The guy was getting tossed out of games when he was on the DL. Batted .357 in the 2004 World Series. Batted .333 with 3 HR and 5 RBIs in the "oh so close" 2003 ALCS against the damn Yankees. Played hurt and his stats suffered. Played for the Sox. Loved the fans. And we loved him.

Farewell Trot. Goodbye number 7. Thanks for the memories.

After his final game in a Sox uniform:

"I heard so many great things, I can't thank those fans enough," Nixon said after his last game playing for the Red Sox last October. "Tipping the hat, blowing kisses here or there, that's not me. But maybe they pick up the paper tomorrow and read the fact it truly means a lot to me what they've done for me the eight years I've been here.

"I did care about this organization and did care about this town. This town has been unbelievable for my family and I, absolutely unbelievable." [Boston.com: Extra Bases]

I am ashamed that there hasn't been more outrage. Or at least something nice. They gave Johnny Damon a photo gallery of memories when he rolled out to the Yankees. But no more than a whimper for the Yankee killer? Nothing for the guy with dirt on his shirt, pine-tar on his hat, and you can't see the "B" on his helmet because there's a pound of pinetar on it? Nothing for him? Say it ain't so. The Herald had a nice article, but The Soxaholix were prepared for the blow. I guess we all were.

And now Trot, one of eight guys still on in Boston from the 2004 Championship team, is gone. Another byline on the Red Sox blog. An AP article at ESPN. Sure the writing was on the wall. We knew it was coming as early as late summer of last year. But it still stings. It still hurts.

Someone shoot me an email or give me a ring when Wily Mo Pena/J.D. Drew hits a pinch-hit homerun to save a postseason series. I'll be at the bar. Wondering what happened to that Championship team.

[An Open Letter to Trot | 2004: The Trot Nixon Show]

MP3: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "Love Song No. 7"
MP3: Forward, Russia - "Seven"
MP3: Interpol - "Song Seven"

!Forward, Russia!, Snowden @ Black Cat, 12.16.06

!Forward, Russia!




Snowden









This past Saturday might have marked the last show of the Metro D calendar year. Snowden brought the melody and the beauty (Corinne Lee) while !Forward Russia! turned the energy up to 11 and never looked back.

Snowden had me at "Anti-Anti" (the first track I caught) and it wasn't because of the wire-tight melodies or Corinne Lee's show-stealing rock posture stage right. They just bring it. Great songs steeped in energy and conviction came to life throughout their set. Several songs took on new meaning for me and let's just say that JK wasn't lying when he said I would be digging the vibe. While I wasn't completely floored by the album on first listen months ago, they have definitely grown on me. The live performance brought some new perspective on previously avoided tracks and on repeat listens I am drawn into their fold, impressed and glad I made it out on Saturday. We were close to throwing in the towel after a stop at a Christmas party, but the effort proved fruitful. It didn't hurt that I slammed about five solo cups of holiday punch at aforementioned party. Delicious drink. Godforsaken hangover.

The danger with !Forward, Russia! lies in the comparisons they elicit. People start throwing bands like At the Drive-In and Bloc Party out there and it doesn't fit. Similar approach? Perhaps. Peers? Doubtful. While Tom Woodhead threatens to strangle himself with the mic cord throughout the set, I am never truly afraid of the possibility. Anyone who has seen Cedric Bixler-Zavala (of ATDI and The Mars Volta) live knows that anything is possible. If he ever wrapped a mic cord around his neck I would be afraid. Very, very afraid. His presence and stage activity is equal parts chaotic, disturbing and frightening. This isn't to say that !Forward Russia! doesn't bring the dance punk and bring it well. They do. The energy and furor they bring to each track is riveting and fun in its own right. But let's keep it in persective. None of the tracks echo Bloc Party's "Banquet" or even Franz Ferdinand's finest. But they do make you move and keep you wanting more. The matching t-shirts with the two lane highway of exclamation points is an added bonus, of course, as are the songs with actual names instead of numbers. At the end of the night, Snowden had stolen the show, but I left impressed and looking forward to a new album, which !Forward, Russia! gave us a taste of during their 50 minute set.

  

MP3: !Forward, Russia! - "Nine" (Moons of Neptune Remix)
MP3: Snowden - "Like Bullets"
MP3: Snowden - "Counterfeit Rules"

Snowden, ¡Forward, Russia! @ Bowery Ballroom, 11/28

Sadly, this could very well be my last show of 2006. The lineup of December shows in the city is severely unintersting and last night's show brought a good, not great, ending. Snowden far surpassed my expectations. I have only a handful of tracks from their album Anti-Anti but seeing them live brought their somewhat monotonous studio tracks to life. Their bass player really steals the show on stage and I should mention that she could very well give Stellastar*'s bassist a run for her money. I'll let InMyTree report back on that after their Black Cat show in December.

¡Forward, Russia! have received quite a bit of acclaim this year for their spastic live shows. I do love the album and their set last night was certainly entertaining but I can't say that it was necessarily jaw-dropping. The entertainment is completely based on the stage antics of lead singer Tom Woodhead (the drummer looked like she could have fallen asleep at any time) and there's no denying that he's a complete wild man on stage. I think he travels with an extra long mic chord to wrap around himself on stage. He also seems to have the mic toss and catch routine down which he also breaks out several times during a song. Strangely, in-between songs he turns into shy guy and barely says a word to the crowd. The bass player, Rob Canning does the talking. Now I could rattle off a bunch of numbers (Thirteen, Fifteen Pt. 1, Seven, Fifteen Pt. 2) that would consist of the song titles from their setlist but I'm not sure that would mean anything to most. They did play, for the first time in the States, a new song that breaks the trend of numbered titles, "Don't Be a Doctor" which actually sounded more like 8 songs rolled into 1. Overall, the setlist was short, as expected, and consisted of a one song encore.

Related:
AOL Spinner was there and they have a ton of pics from last night
NME was there too and they called it "triumphant"