Nick Johnson to the Yankees?!

Just heard some rumblings last night that the New York Yankees are close to signing a 1 year deal with their former prospect & Yankee hand, Nick Johnson. I was a big proponent of Nick Johnson when he was coming up through the ranks with the Yankees playing for the Columbus Clippers, but being injury prone was the major 'achilles heal' of Nick's career up to this point. Nick really reminded me of Don Mattingly with his style of play both defensively & his batting style. Even Donny baseball made the comment that Nick J has the makings of being a batting champion if he can remain healthy. Johnson also has great baseball chromosomes in his family with his uncle being Larry Bowa. NJ was supposed to be the heir to Tino Martinez but Jason Giambino soon took that role if you can remember or forget, I should say. What Nick presents to the Yankees at this current time is great on base percentage, a familiarity in donning pinstripes, & being a crafty hitter that sprays his hits to all fields. Wouldn't Johnson make a great 2nd hole hitter behind Jeter? With the on base percentages of Jeter,Johnson, & Nick Swisher, TEX & Arod would have a field day with RBI's! Nobody can ever replace the man from Japan in the clutch as Matsui, but Nick Johnson sure does make it sound interesting on paper. Now, let's hope Nick Johnson doesn't sneeze the wrong way or else, he might crack a few ribs & call it a career!

"Art of the Samurai:Japanese Arms & Armor 1156-1868 Exhibition" @ the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC

For the avid fans of the Samurai, there is an exhibition called the "Art of the Samurai" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City running until January 10,2010. The exhibit contains a massive exhibit of samurai hardware from the period of 1156-1868. That covers a tremendous time period in history including the warring state years of the late 1500's in Japan!
So, get in the spirit of the Seven Samurai & Zatoichi and don't let the chance of seeing the spirit of what these warriors in Japan represented during the fuedal times in the land of the rising sun!

Metropolitan Museum of Art
5th Avenue & E 82nd St, Manhattan, New York

Yellow Fever @ Death By Audio in Brooklyn NYC December 12,2009

Check out the quirky,lo-fi sounds of Yellow Fever @ their record release party at Death by Audio in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn! The lineup that night included Happy Birthday,Yellow Fever, & then the Vivian Girls. It was a great night of happy people bopping around,flopping their hair from side to side, & just having a great time! Let's celebrate Yellow Fevers performances from that night with "ratcatcher" & "bermuda triangle" below...

Vivian Girls @ Death By Audio in Brooklyn 12.12.09

The Vivian Girls played @ Death by Audio in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn on December 12th,2009. I'm beginning to really dig this venue! It's a cool,unpretentious music hall that is no-frills as can be with friendly & laid back peeps running the show. The Vivian Girls were also great that night! It was Yellow Fever's record release night with their laid back self. The Vivian Girls are a trio of kickass throwback chics playing their brand of surf tunes! VG's sound like an eclectic mix of 60's girl bands,with a sparkle of hippie surf music,& a touch of the Ramones with some reverb feedback! Check out some of my vids of the Vivian Girls that night! Sit back & enjoy!
--pcimprezz

Allison Weiss & Bess Rogers @ Rockwood Music Hall in NYC 11.28.09

Check out Allison Weiss & Bess Rogers perform @ Rockwood Music Hall in NYC on Allen St. on 11/28/09.(From my Youtube videos below) What was the special occassion? It was Allison Weiss's CD release party for her 2nd album! Get her new album 'Allison Weiss was right all along' & her debut album of 'Allison Weiss & the way she likes it! Bess Rogers was really good, too! I discovered Bess Rogers when she was backing up Ingrid Michaelson @ Webster Hall. Bess has a great voice in her own right! I got her to sign my CD copy of her EP "Travel Back".

Hong Kong pics from 4/09

Big Buddah on Lantau Island

Fishing in Pt. Pleasant Beach @ the Jersey Shore

Just a few pics of the baby shark that I caught in Point Pleasant Beach on a nice November day!....The black fish & sea bass proved to be elusive that day.



This kid was excited as he caught one,too!


If you want to go fishing on a party boat, I can definitely recommend the Norma K in Point Pleasant on the New Jersey shore. The last 2 times I went fishing on this boat, the Norma K provided a good experience. The boat is clean & the crew mates are very helpful in setting you up with a pole,jigs,hooks,& bait. If lines get tangled up, or if you need help unhooking a fish, the ship mates provide a helping hand. The crew mates are also available to help clean the fish @ the end of the day. Half day fishing was $40 from 8am-12:30pm & 3/4 day fishing from 8am-2:30pm was $55. If you want a nice day out on the ocean, fishing check out Captain Ken & the Norma K in Point Pleasant, exit 98 off the Garden State Parkway! They fish all year round.

Ken's Landing-Norma K Fishing Fleet
30 Broadway Pt Pleasant, NJ 08742
http://www.normak.com/index.htm

"Orthodox Stance" Documentary

This is my 2nd time watching "Orthodox Stance" , a boxing documentary following the trials & tribulations of an orthodox jew named Dmitriy Salita. Salita is a throwback boxer-jew from the crown heights section of Brooklyn-NYC originally from the Ukraine. Amongst the city & hip hop elements of Crown Heights - Brooklyn, Salita practices Judaism & does not fight on the Sabbath or Jewish Holidays. He is a very soft spoken young man with religious beliefs of the orthodox way of Chabad. Despite, the quiet ways & calm waves of this young man, Salita has a roaring fire burning inside of him when he steps into the ring. Salita is not a devastating knockout specimen, but a definite throwback boxer with relentless proportions armed with speed & great timing. Salita often enters the ring being serenated with the energy & sounds of reggae performer of judaism proportions, 'Matisyahu'. Salita is also a New York Golden Gloves champion to boot. He trained in the legendary Starrett City boxing club @ the age of 13 under the tutelage of the great Jimmy O, amongst Salita's training partners includes Zab Judah. Due to an aging Jimmy O, Oscar Suarez took the reigns in training Salita. In the documentary, check out a brief cameo of a young Miguel Cotto & an already boisterous Floyd Mayweather. Dmitriy is currently 30-0-1 with a scheduled bout against Amir Khan on Dec.5th,2009. Represent NYC boxing & get a copy of "Orthodox Stance", its a knockout or at least a TKO, anyway!

"Harlem Hellfighters" documentary

Recently, I caught up on some movie time & watched a really entertaining sport documentary. "Harlem Hellfighters" was about a High School football team based in Harlem, NYC which is run under a program hosted by the NFL. Head coach Duke Fergerson stepped up to the plate to take the challenge of teaching & being a mentor to these young kids in NYC. Coach Duke played in the NFL as a wide receiver for 4 or 5 seasons with the Seahawks & the Bills. He was very passionate about being the "foster parent/coach" for the Harlem Hellfighters who's main purpose in his mind was to prepare these city kids for the next step up in adulthood, to make the right decisions, & use football as a catalyst to go to college. The Harlem Hellfighters is a NYC high school football team which ANYBODY that is going to High School in New York that does NOT have a football team in their own high school can try out for. Of course the documentary shows a lot of bumps, hills, & downfalls of the protaganists in the film, mostly pointing to the head coach. Coach Duke should be commended in his efforts in being a role model to these kids on his team, but there were a few instances in the film that made you scratch your head. One was for the 'no mercy' attitude of blowing out a team from the South Bronx. His excuse was that he lets his players call all the plays on the field despite them already blowing out the other team. This excuse was appalling! Players might call their own plays, but the coach should set the mood & has the final say with any doings on the field. Bad bad sportsmanship! The 2nd downfall seemed to be a lack of organization & planning of his own team. The NFL brasses who ran the high school program had to consul the coach a few times. The third & most critical seemed to point to the lack of communications between his players and himself. The coach seemed 'out of touch' with his players & did not seem to make himself available in terms of being human. The movie also portrayed the coach doing a horrendous job in judging talent on his team, almost giving his players false hope for some of the seniors playing in Division 1 colleges when in reality their football skills were marginal at best. All in all, Coach Duke had good intentions to uplift these kids to another level with the catalyst being football. If anything, this football program gives the kids another vehicle to ride out to better pastures. If you get a chance, watch the 'Harlem Hellfighters' documentary!

Iverson to the Knicks?

We've been hearing rumblings or should I say whispers of Allen Iverson possibly signing with the Knicks? AI apparently is not happy with his situation with Memphis & his status of coming off the bench from such a lowly team is too demeaning for him. I suppose the signing of AI would fill more seats in the Garden & also provide some bait for Lebron James to sign with the Knickerbockers for next year!

Manny Pacquiao vs Miguel Cotto

Wow...Manny Pacquiao casted a victory over Miguel Cotto tonight in Las Vegas! The referee puts a halt to the fight in the 12th round due to the beating that Cotto had taken throughout. The corner from the puerto rican native wanted to make the 11th round his last, but Cotto decided to come out for the 12th despite his battered & bruised self with blood gushing out from his nose. Cotto came out fast & fierce in the first two rounds of boxing, setting the pace with some jabs that went through the guard of Pacman & showing some speed, but Manny staggered Cotto in the 2nd with a right which proved to Manny and the puerto rican that he had some thunder in his gloves. After Manny was able to adjust to Cottos inline speed & jabs by doing what pacman does best - move laterally,step in,step out,step to the side,and then throw punches from angles that Cotto could not see. It also appeared that Pacman was playing rope a dope a few times trying to sucker Cotto in after Manny had proved to himself that he could take some of Cottos lightning! Miguel really took a beating from Pacman as his corner looked bewildered and helpless. We heard from Larry Merchant and Jim Lampley from HBO that Miguels father wanted the fight to be stopped by the 10th or 11th round. Cottos wife and child could not bare to see the battered image and left the arena a few rounds earlier. Miguel Cotto really tried to hang on till the end but he was definitely outclassed tonight by a great smaller fighter. Miguel proved to be a standup guy by sticking around after the fight to talk to Larry Merchant and to congratulate Manny on the win. Miguel Cotto told Larry Merchant that he had fought some really great fighters
like Zab Judah, Clottey, Mosley, and Margarito , but Manny is one of the all time greats! We are really lucky to witness one of the legends of pugilism - pound for pound one of greatest fighters in boxing history with Manny Pacman Pacquiao! The most refreshing part of this story is that this man is of humble stature!
The next proposed fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr will be epic and money! This fight against Floyd will determine Pacquiaos status of being an elite pugilist or one of immortal status! Sugar Shane Mosley is also waiting in the wings if he can get pass a tough young stud in Andre Berto!

quotes & thoughts

Sometimes you need to step away for a bit to appreciate what you have & sometimes learning something new will add a new spice & dimension to what you already know.

Jersey Shore reality show?

Oh, boy - another senseless reality show stereotyping New Jersey & it's inhabitants of the Jersey shore, more specifically - Seaside Heights. 'Jersey Shore' is supposed to bring to light the young muscleheads, self conscious metrosexuals about the day in the life of a bling, bling grease head & the sensitive independent woman(sarcasm) that are attracted to them. I hope this show is not going to stereotype a certain race, Italian americans to be exact. To me, it's seems demeaning to try to depict a certain lifestyle of clubbing, being gym meatheads, & tan concsious to a certain ethnic group. Maybe, I've been out of touch for a while & not in tune with these young gunners nowadays , but when I grew up, I thought the term guido was more of an attitude, dress style, & the link to dance music from KTU 103.5 (in my days it was on 97.1 FM). I would even bet that the Jersey Shore is filled with numb nuts from New York, specifically Staten Island giving the real flavor of the Jersey Shore a different taste. Thank you MTV for embarking on another train wreck show...bada bing bada boom....December 9th, 2009 for all the fist pumpers!