Papi and Caroline

With the exceptions of the Olympics, the Boston Marathon, and whatever my sister is doing, I truly could not care less about what happens in sports. However, from a pop culture frame of mind, I do admit to a curiosity as to how the song Sweet Caroline became the "unofficial"-maybe official- theme song of the Boston Red Sox. 

The song, written and recorded by Neil Diamond in 1969, was inspired by a 1964 magazine cover which included a then-eleven year old Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy. It would eventually reach #4 on the Billboard chart, and would go on to sell millions of copies.

Zip forward 29 years to 1998 Boston. Amy Toby was Fenway Park's musical director; a big part of her job was to choose the music to play between innings at the Sox games. She chose to play Sweet Caroline because she had heard it at other sporting events, but she played it  only if the Sox were winning, and only in the later innings of the game. The fans took this as a good luck charm.

The tradition as we know it today, however, didn't start until John Henry and partners bought the Sox in 2002. At that time, Toby's new bosses requested the song be played during the eighth inning of every game, no matter what.

In the time since then, other Fenway musical directors have put their own take on the song. For instance, Megan Kaiser turned off the volume during the most well known parts of the song, as the fans know the lyrics so well, they just sing it on their own.

And so it's gone through the years. But, it seems now that the romance may be over: Caroline is out, and a new song is in--At Fenway, by Haverhill, MA native Brian Evans. As reported in this April 1st, 2013 post by the Boston Dirt Dogs, Evans' song has taken Caroline's spot in the eighth.

According to the report:

The Red Sox brass behind this effort, specifically Tom Werner and Dr. Charles Steinberg, are reportedly hoping fans sing this part of the chorus aloud: "Gonna spend the day, over at Fenway. Gonna see them hit that ball ... a mile high. No matter where you sit. You’re in heaven for a little bit. It’s gonna be a great day, At Fenway."

Given the date of the BDD post, and the fact that I cannot find any other media sources that reported this, I'm thinking it's not true. (Readers-Can you help with this?) One thing I know for sure is, if it's true,  I'm not convinced Evans' song is going to work. It's OK, I suppose, for a jazz song, but this guy is no Neil Diamond. And, as I said at the top, I'm no expert in sports, but I think this will take some of the energy out of the crowd. The appearance of Shatner in the video is a plus, however.

Either way, Sweet Caroline will always mean Boston to me.

Odds and Ends

Now that summer is over and fall is starting to get into full swing, I'm looking through my desk doing some fall cleanup and finding little interesting stories I've collected the last few weeks. Nothing really to make a whole post over individually, but interesting none the less. So, I present some "Odds and Ends", which you may or may not have missed.



Miss Piggy Goes To Washington

In celebration of Jim Henson's 77th birthday, his daughter Cheryl Henson and other family members have donated over 20 puppets and props to the National Museum of American History. The new collection includes early versions of  Miss Piggy-- Kermit the Frog's girlfriend--among other characters such as Gonzo, Rowlf the Dog, and several Muppets from Sesame Street including Count Von Count and Bert and Ernie.

The announcement included a photo shoot in Smithsonian Magazine, in which Miss Piggy wore a silver evening gown, and posed with Dorothy's ruby slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" and the real Hope Diamond.



Who Knew? Gates Hates Ctrl-Alt-Del

Well, hate is a bit of a strong word, but he certainly thinks it was a mistake. Speaking at a Harvard fundraiser for his foundation on Sept 26th, Microsoft founder Bill Gates says that he wanted a single-key solution for rebooting a PC,  but "the guy who gave us our IBM keyboard design," referring to IBM engineer David Bradley, "wouldn't give it to us."

Bradley, for his part, says that he invented what Gates calls the "three-fingered salute" because it is too easy to accidentally bump the left side of the keyboard and reboot by mistake. Since Ctrl-Alt-Del has to be typed with both hands, this problem is eliminated.

In any case, Gates is proud of the work the two companies did together. And Ctrl-Alt-Del is one of those things Gates made famous.


Potter Revisited

In mid September, JK Rowling announced she is working on her first movie script, based on the Harry Potter-related book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The spinoff book, written by a character called Newt Scamander, was one of Potter's textbooks at Hogwarts.

The movie's plot will feature Newt's story, and will take place in New York 70 years before the start of Harry's story.

"I always said that I would only revisit the wizarding world if I had an idea that I was really excited about and this is it," said Rowling.


Earthquake Island

After an earthquake off the coast of Pakistan on Sept 24th, a mud island appeared out of nowhere.

Scientists believe the island is a result of the eruption of a "mud volcano", which erupted as the earthquake released trapped gasses.

Based on the history of previous such events, the island should not last more than a year, as erosion from monsoon waves washes it away.



For my chemist friends.....

I'll end with a joke....


Two chemists walk into a bar. The first guy says, "I'll have a glass of H-2-O".

Second guy says, "I'll have a glass of H-2-O, too."

Second guy dies.

An encore for my physicist friends.....

Heisenberg gets pulled over.

Cop says, "Do you know how fast you were going?"

"No," says Heisenberg, "But I know where I am."