Top 19 -- N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton

On Facebook I was asked to list my top ten all-time albums that most influenced me. Since I can't list anything without a huge explanation, this is it. Not only that but I'm writing about my Top 19 instead of my Top 10. 

Here's what I wrote on Facebook today, "Here's another quick story: when I first heard this album, I was about 15-years-old. When you're 15-years-old, there is a weird dichotomy in your brain. You want to be part of a group, but at the same time, you want to be unique. You want to tell the entire world to go fuck itself but at the same time you're deathly afraid of doing so. You done with being a kid but you can't begin to handle adult responsibilities. Therefore you begin to find ways of trying to express yourself, your frustrations, your confusion, find someone or something that has similar problems; otherwise you might explode. For me, it was this cassette tape put out by five guys who were figuratively and literally the opposite of me and my entire surroundings. They expressed the frustrations and confusion that I was experiencing every day. Maybe what they were rapping about wasn't exactly relatable--I didn't have a problem with the police or women weren't rying to convince me that they were carrying my baby--but the emotions that they conveyed did."

I've written about NWA a lot. Probably more than any other band that I've listened to, which is weird because they only really had one album that I liked. The other two, "100 Miles and Runnin' " and "Efil4Zaggin" had their moments, but once Ice Cube left, the band sort of fell apart into a self-parody of what they once were. 

So I think what prompts me to continuously write about a band--actually an album--that I really loved when I was 15-years-old is how it made me feel at that age. Like I wrote up top, there's a lot of pushing and pulling in a teenager's head. You need to make sure that you get that frustration out before it boils over. Just be listening to "Straight Outta Compton" allowed me to relieve some of that pressure. It was loud, it was aggressive, it was in-your-face, it didn't give a fuck. All of those things are the opposite of me. When I rapped along with NWA, I wasn't Byron Magrane anymore. I was someone completely different. 

And I think that's why this album was such a hit with a lot of kids that I knew. Sure, the words and what they say are shocking the first 100 times you listen to them. After awhile though, if you're still listening, the message is even more reticent. Like everyone wants to be in a gang--I'm not talking about the crips or the bloods--I'm talking about being in a group of people with like minded thoughts. Not only that but you want your gang on the outside. There's no fun in being the favorite, the underdog, the downtrodden, the group that's going to rise up and show those bourgeois pigs who's boss was where you wanted to be. You want to be the group of people who sees through the bullshit and speaks truth to power. 

That was NWA. This group was popular, but they couldn't get on MTV or the radio. They sold millions of albums, yet you never saw them on any late night shows. They were the World's Most Dangerous Band and when you're 15 or 16-years-old, that's how you feel. No one really recognizes you. You're doing stuff, some of it great, but no one cares. In fact the only responses you get are negative. "Clean your room!" "Do your homework!" "Dump that beer in the fire!" "Run 15 laps!" 

You're powerless and it sucks. You know who else was powerless? Ice Cube, MC Ren, Dr. Dre, Eazy E and Yella Boy. You know who fought back? That's right, NWA. If they can do it, why couldn't we? At least that was the theory. 

One day we were all talking. The annual lip-sync was approaching and they were looking for acts. Wouldn't it be awesome if a bunch of us did "Fuck the Police"? Could you imagine the principal and the vice principal and everyone else totally freaking out? They'd talk about us for years! We'd be the (very white) NWA of Amesbury, MA. The more we talked about it, the more a plan formed. "I have a White Sox, Raiders and LA Kings hat!" "I have these awesome Locs!" "I know the dude who does the PA for the lip sync, we can tell them that we're going to do 'Express Yourself' and at the last minute substitute 'Fuck the Police'!" 

We must have talked about this plan for hours, getting us more and more excited. The lip-sync day came and went, and myself and my friends sat in the audience. We never put the plan into action. In fact, I don't think we ever talked about it again. 

We weren't NWA. We weren't anywhere even close. We were just four scared white boys who talked shit and never backed it up. NWA may as well have been Spider-Man or Bat Man; we'd never be like them. That's okay. Not everyone can be iconoclasts. That's what makes them special. The rest of us just have to bask in their glory and dream. 

Tom Glavine 1996 Topps Classic Confrontations

On March 30, 2017 I received this card from the Baseball Card Bandit (BCB):

On Facebook, I wrote: There's a lot to say about today's letter from the BCB. 

The return address is from one town away: Billerica, MA., so I knew the card would belong to the pride of Billerica: Hall of Famer Tom Glavine. 

But what I did not know is that I would receive a hand written letter, purportedly from the lanky lefthander, letting me know that HE is a fan of ME! You can imagine my joy in reading this communication and when Glavine said he'd meet me on the softball field, you know that I'll be there. 

I wonder if that's a metaphor? Maybe he means the softball field of life? What would that be though? Church? The Mall? Mac 2's? I'll have to think about this. 

Glavine is probably the best athlete to come out of Massachusetts in the last 40 years. He was drafted by the Braves and the NHL's LA Kings. He chose baseball, giving up being teammates with Wayne Gretzky to sharing a locker room with John Rocker (amongst better, less racist guys).

Glavine won over 300 games, a couple of Cy Youngs, a World Series and with fellow HoFer Greg Maddux starred in the last great Nike ad, "Chicks dig the long ball." Not a bad choice, in retrospect. 

Aside to the BCB, one of Glavine's Brave teammates lived closer to me than Glavine. Burlington native Pete Smith pitched for Atlanta from 1987 through 1993, before calling it a career in 1998. The MVC must have been a lot of fun in the early 80s.

2019 Notes: The MVC means the Merrimack Valley Conference, which is where Burlington High School and Billerica High School were grouped. I'm not sure if they're still grouped that way any more. I should check, but I don't want to. 

I don't have a lot to say about Tom Glavine other than I thought that it was really cool that he was from Massachusetts and was so dominant. There are a lot of baseball players, but not many seem to come from New England. You get your Billy Swifts, your Gary Disarcinas, your Jerry Remys; but you don't get a lot of Hall of Famers, like Glavine.

The one thing I really remember about Tom Glavine is getting his 1988 Score Rookie card, looking at the back and getting excited because he was from Massachusetts. Then looking at his win loss record that year and seeing 7-17, with the 17 in bold indicating that he led the league in losses. That tempered my excitement a bit. I had no idea that he was going to the Hall. 

I counted 14 Hall of Famers from the Bay State and other than Jeff Bagwell, most of these players died before I was even born. So it was pretty great to see someone so dominant in his era come from the same place you did. 

Even though he was elected to Cooperstown on his first ballot, where would you rank Tom Glavine amongst the pitchers of the 1990s and 00s? Behind Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux. Behind Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez. Probably above Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling and John Smoltz. Well ahead of David Cone and Kevin Brown, right? Not using any numbers (dangerous, I know) and going on what I remember, I'd say that Tom Glavine was probably the fifth best pitcher of his era.

Not too shabby, Glavine. And that gets you a street named after you in your hometown.