PERFECTION!

I will forever remember this day: July 23rd, 2009.

I sat at my work desk yesterday, and listened to the White Sox on the radio - and what I heard was legendary.

Mark Buerhle threw a perfect hame! The 2nd no-hitter of his incredible career, as well as the 2nd perfect gamein White Sox history (first since 1922). Only the 18th perfect game since the creation of the great game of baseball!

Think about these interesting facts about Mark's perfect game...

1) Mark is only the 16th pitcher to throw a "perfecto" since the year 1900.
2) Only 6 players - EVER - (including Mark) have thrown both a no-hitter AND a perfecto.
3) 18 of the 27 at-bats in the game were under 1 minute in duration.
4) Mark was technically only on the field for 32 minutes out of the entire 2 hour and 3 minute game.
5) Both Mark's no-hitter and his perfecto lasted EXACTLY 2 hours and 3 minutes, and involved the same home plate umpire
6) Only 2 other guys, besides Mark, have the following accomplishments (all as members of one team): 1 no-hitter, 1 perfecto, & 1 world series win. Those 2 players? CY YOUNG AND SANDY KOUFAXAnd lets not forget that Mark also SAVED a world series game, AND has was credited with an All-Star game victory.
7) The man who caught Mark's perfecto was Ramon Castro, whom Buehrle had never thrown to before.
8) In the history of no-hitters, no pitcher did it against a better offensive team. The Rays, as of yesterday, ranked 3rd in the major leagues in runs scored - and were also amonth the elite in On Base Percentage.
9) And most impressive - Mark is the ONLY PITCHER IN THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL to throw 2 no-hitters in which he faced the absolute minimum amount of batters in BOTH games. Let me say that again....THE ONLY PITCHER IN HISTORY!
10) Oh, Mark is the first pitcher to have the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES call to congratulate him directly from Air Force One. Ridiculous.

The debate will rage for some time as to whether Mark is the best pitcher in the history of Chicago baseball. But if you ask me, I'll say that no other pitcher will ever reach the legendary status that he achieved yesterday afternoon.

Congrats Mark!

ROCK/ROLL,
Matt

Setlist: 7/11/09 The Abbey, Chicago, IL

On the Mend
Pell Mell
Muster Buster
Can't Stand Losing You
Room to Improve
Ponzi*
Daybreak
Renegade
Off the Record
SFE
Agent Estimation
Hard to Handle

*first time played

Abbey Show - Saturday, July 11!

Come out to the Abbey this Saturday night, July 11. Print out the flyer above to save at the door.

$6 w/flyer! 21+ JPD takes the stage promptly at 10 PM.

TELL THE DOORMAN THE CODEWORD "SUBLIMINAL" TO RECEIVE $5 ADMISSION!

Don't miss our big Chicago show of the summer.

NEW BEGINNINGS!

This week has been one of the more productive ones the band has had in some time!

Earlier this summer, we began writing new music - tinkering with old riffs - and generally focusing on finding the new music we want to showcase in our new EP (to be released this fall or winter). But sometimes the writing process gets stalled. And in our case, we got really busy planning our show in Boston (which was awesome!!! - pics and video coming soon), and we lost some writing time because of it.

This week though, we went back to the drawing board with one previously unfinished song that Dave wrote (called "Ted's Dancin"), and we finished it Tuesday night. But we also started writing, and basically finished, 2 OTHER brand new songs. One is an absolutle ROCKER that Brian wrote which is still untitled. And there is another groovy one that we'll either be calling "Ponzi or "Weekend w/ Bernie" - I'll let you figure out the subject matter of that song for yourselves.

And the more I think about the 3 new jams, along with other semi-new songs like: Daybreak, Set it Right, and On the Mend, I can't help but be incredibly excited to hear what the finished EP will sound like. Those six songs listed above are all so incredibly unique to each other, and all have so many different stylistic influences, that almost any type of music appreciator should be decently entertained at SOME point in the EP's duration. At least I would hope so!

Either way, the band is ROLLIN right now and kickin-out some cool tunes. I'm excited for you all to hear them!

ROCK/ROLL
~Matt

More Cartoons!

And this one is topical! To be perfectly honest, I miss Michael Jackson. I'm not going to spend my entire blog post in tears, lamenting the loss of our Ultimate King of Pop (in fact, I do have pressing issues to discuss), but before I get to those, you should watch this cartoon. Apparently, the Jackson 5 had their own cartoon show back in the old days, and apparently it didn't make much sense. There's some animation of the Jacksons dancing, but the focus is primarily on a psychedelic horse. What could be better? (The song kicks ass too!)



Anyhow, let's get down to brass tacks. Jackpot Donnie is making their glorious return to Chicago in 9 DAYS! We would really love for people to join us at the Abbey Pub on July 11th, at 9 PM, for booze and an unusual amount of great rock music. We've got NEW MUSIC and HOT GROOVES to debut, and we're getting really anxious. Personally, I really can't wait. I feel like the italian sportscar that is Jackpot Donnie is running on all cylinders right now, and we're ready to show this Lamborghini off! Plus, we're playing with a band called Green Sugar that will knock your socks off, with their dual-drummer, home cookin' action!

I say this a lot, but it is going to be a REALLY fun night, and I'm going to be dancing onstage like a foolish maniac. Or like Michael Jackson. Or, more likely, Tito Jackson.

RIP King. (Not Elvis, damn it!)