Modern Minis That I Do Like

In a recent post I was ranting about how much I don't care for modern mini cards.  I also mentioned that 2007 Goudey was an exception since the main set was all minis.  Here are 20 examples, including the great "heads up" cards.

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It "Could" Be Real

This was a gift many years ago from a friend of my dad's  I took off the plastic cover for the scan and the card didn't slip right off so I let it be.  It might release given a little help but why chance it.  The signature looks legit but I wouldn't make any bets.  The back of the plaque is blank.  Lord knows.   If I never have it authenticated I can tell myself I have a Ted Williams autograph, right?

I never get tired of these:

New Wave McCartney?

On Sunday evenings Iowa Public Radio has a feature called Beatles Medley.  It's a set of songs, often suggested by listeners, that feature the Fab Four.  The rules are that the songs can either be by the Beatles or any of the members but not more than two in a row by any of them and they have to time out to as close to 27 minutes as possible.  I'm often in the car at that time and it always makes for a pleasant stretch.  As much as I think I know John, Paul, George and Ringo I'm surprised sometimes to hear a song I never heard before.  Such was the case this past Sunday.  In fact there were two of them, both from Paul McCartney's second solo album.  I guess it's not a total suprise given that the album was not  well received critically, though it did chart as high as #3 in the US and #1 in the UK.

Here's a different side of McCartney:

Here's a recent live version:

Here's the other song that was new to me.

Paul did comment on TLC's 1995 similar themed "Waterfalls":

"McCartney himself called out TLC in a 2007 interview with the A.V. Club:
AVC: Are there any songs of yours that you think deserved to be bigger than they were?
PM: There's quite a few, actually. I like…. There's one called "Daytime Nighttime Suffering," which I think's really cool. One called "Waterfalls," I think is nice. In fact, somebody had a hit, a few years ago, using the first line, "Don't go jumping waterfalls/ Please stick to the lake…." And then they go off into another song. It's like, "Excuse me?"
AVC: TLC ripped off Paul McCartney? I had no idea!
PM: I think so."

Were you familiar with either of these songs?  Like them?

Canadian Callison

This isn't terribly exciting but I'm sharing it just the same.  One of my collecting goals for 2015 was to add to my Johnny Callison collection..  Unfortunately my top goal, organization,  has not extended to the Phillies slugger and I'm still not 100% sure which cards I need.  I was sure that I did not have any of his O-Pee-Chee issues.  This near mint 1969 beauty appeared on Ebay so I snatched it up.  It's in considerably better shape than the better of my two copies of his Topps card, shown below, that I collected as a kid.  How are you doing so far with your collecting goals?

Hallelujah

Even though I'm old enough,  I'll admit Leonard Cohen hasn't really been on my music radar screen.  I remember seeing the sheet music for Suzanne in a book of songs of the 1960's.  Later I did have a CD of Cohen songs, Famous Blue Raincoat,  by his former backup singer Jennifer Warnes (most famous for her movie soundtrack duets with Joe Cocker and Bill Medley).  A couple of years ago I became more interested after reading, I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen by Sylvie Simmons.  I was somewhat suprised to find that there had been a Leonard Cohen "card" produced.  It's really a postage card sized sticker but it was sold in packs.  If you guessed it's a Panini product you're right.  It's from a 100 card set issued in Germany in 1975.  The checklist is pretty amazing, from The Beatles and Elvis to to Frank Zappa, Abba, The Jackson Five and Melanie etc, etc.  It's an eclectic mix and includes a bunch of acts I've never heard of.  Randy Pie anyone?

I guess Mr Cohen, and yes he fits nicely into my Jews on Cards collection, isn't particularly sought after (or I got really lucky) as I picked him up on Ebay for 25 cents.  Try to find another, though.

These days Leonard Cohen is best known for his enigmatic and arguably over covered song, Hallelujah.  Here's what he said about it in 2012:

This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled," Cohen has said, "but there are moments when we can transcend the dualistic system and reconcile and embrace the whole mess, and that's what I mean by 'Hallelujah.' That regardless of what the impossibility of the situation is, there is a moment when you open your mouth and you throw open your arms and you embrace the thing and you just say, 'Hallelujah! Blessed is the name.'…

"The only moment that you can live here comfortably in these absolutely irreconcilable conflicts is in this moment when you embrace it all and you say, 'Look, I don't understand a fucking thing at all – Hallelujah!' That's the only moment that we live here fully as human beings."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/exclusive-book-excerpt-leonard-cohen-writes-hallelujah-in-the-holy-or-the-broken-20121203#ixzz3l5tVoTjJ
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This is the most popular version to date:


The artist himself:


John Cale


Bob Dylan


Some others:







Leonard interviewed on Candadian television

This Blog is Not Dead, It's Just Resting -- I've Got a Pack Break

Here's a random pack from my stash.  Just four cards.  Maybe we'll find something fun.  We are after all, promised "the history of yesterday and today!"  Not to quibble but if history is "the study of past events", isn't the phrase "history of today" rather nonsensical?  Just saying.

Card #1

Success?  I'll say!  206 hits, 124 runs scored, 39 doubles added to his 39 home runs.  2017 Hall of Fame?

Card #2

"Shark" or as I prefer to call him, "The Swashbuckler".  I couldn't find a good example to show you but when I look at this card I'm reminded of those 18th century portraits by itinerant painters.  Jeff is having an off year on the south side.  He's a free agent after the season.  I wonder where he'll end up.  I haven't heard of the Cubs having any interest at this point.

I admit I've never watched his ND highlights before.  The kid could ball!  Hard to fault his choice considering his baseball career but how popular would he have been had he become a Bear (not that that would have happened.)

Card #3

Scanned a little dark.

Well, this pack has gone from being a good one to a great one. Rimshot

Card #4

I love old tobacco cards.  I collect them.  They're authentic.  They're small on purpose. Have you ever seen the packs of cigarettes they came in?  I'm not a fan of cards like this.  It's like, "Honey, they shrunk my card!"  I paid full price for a shrunken card?  I'd be more likely to go along with it if the whole set was this size.  I liked Upper Deck's 2007 Goudey partly for that reason.  Oh, well, hater's gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.

I was the 1,017, 011, 297th view of this video.  Holy @#$%!

1953 Bowman TV and Radio Stars of NBC

I'm still looking for a particular star from both the 1953 and 1954 Bowman sets but I do love the Carl Reiner.  The William Conrad was a bonus.

In addition to being the co-creator of Rob Reiner, Carl created the classic sit-com, "The Dick Van Dyke Show".  This is a classic moment featuring Carl as Alan Brady:

Conrad may be best known for his starring roll in the 1970's cop show, "Cannon".

Hello, Dolly!

This is the only card in this year's set that I was interested in and a friend from my local card shop gave me this copy.  It cracks me up.

Dolly was in fact named after the curvaceous Dolly Parton.

This is Dolly the Sheep's taxidermied remains.

Awwwwww! They're So Cute When They're Sleeping

David Ross posted this on Monday night.

I Try Another Random 2015 Pack

It's only money.  I bought a pack of 2015 Topps Heritage.  Will I do any better than I did with Stadium Club?

Card #1

Not a great start.  Asdrubal signed with Tampa Bay before the 2015 season.  He's the only Asdrubal to make it to the major leagues.  I do like the cartoon.

Card #2

I like this one.  The back extols Bruce's success as a manager.  The photograph seems to capture Bruce with an enigmatic Mona Lisa smile and a faraway look in his eyes.  Intriguing if accidental.

Card #3

This one reminds me of Torii Hunter and that's good.  Only one Asdrubel and only one Kennys.  In fact Mr Vargas may be the only notable Kennys ever (please correct me).  Kennys is apparently not in a smiling mood these days, having been demoted to AA Chattanooga.

Card #4

Nothing for me here.

Card #5

Meh!  Tanaka's won his last three starts.  Whoo, Hoo!

Card #6

I'm sorry but I've never heard of this guy despite his 14-8 record in 2013.  I guess he's just returned to the D-Backs.

Card #7

What,Darwin Barney wasn't good enough for the Dodgers?  Guess not.Is this the rare scratched up negative version?

Card #8

Um, I like the Dodgers red.

Card #9

When I saw the butterscotch color I thought it might be a Cub.  No such luck.

Well, I guess I'm still going to be the crabby old man of the card blogging world.  I got two cards that I was mildly happy with.  I promise to post something more positive next time.

Now get out of my yard you miserable kids and the next time that ball comes over my fence I'm going to keep it!