What's old is new...and what's new is spring training

Last week, the 25th Anniversary of Thriller was released. Since I was with one of the people involved in working on the reissue, I went out and bought it last week. As of late last week, it was tracking as the #1 album in country for this week. They digitally enhanced the tracks, added some duets, an unreleased track, and an extra disc for videos and I bought it for $14.99. A venerable bargain for The World's Biggest Selling Album of All Time (it says so right on the disc). This week, what's old is new.

In music, at least what I like, what's old is new pretty often. Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood are playing a full concert together for the first time in over 30 years at Madison Square Garden.

Over the weekend, I went to see Southside Johnny at the Morristown Community Theater. For the first time since the original recordings, a string section was added to the show on certain songs. La Bamba wrote the charts for the Randolph High School Orchestra, which did an amazing job, especially on Hearts of Stone.

The Police just announced the last leg of their reunion tour and will play this leg with Elvis Costello as the supporting act. They come to the PNC Arts Center in early August. I think that's a can't miss show.

Billy Joel is playing the last concert ever at Shea Stadium. He hasn't released an album of new material since 1992's River of Dreams. That said, when I saw him at Madison Square Garden two years ago, it was much better than I thought it would be. I think I am skipping Shea though. It's too much a pain in the ass to get to.

Paul Simon is taking up residency at a theater in Brooklyn for a string of shows in April. He couldn't find somewhere in Manhattan???

So what's new? Well, Bruce's next leg of the Magic tour starts next week also in Hartford. For the record, it isn't new just because it's Bruce. It's new because unlike all of the shows mentioned above, he is actually touring behind a new release. Eddie Vedder is doing a two week solo tour of theaters on the west coast. I think the Vedder show is the first notable show that hasn't hit NYC since...well, ever.

All of that said, what's really new this week is that spring training is entering it's first full week. Hopefully, by next week, the Mitchell Report, the Clemens/McNamee fiasco, and all steroid talk will be OLD and we can focus on what really matters. The greatest game ever invented. Get ready...the last Opening Day at Yankee Stadium is six weeks from today. Who's in???

Some thoughts from spring training so far:
- Randy Johnson must really love the competition to come back again from back surgery. Either that or he really wants to get the 16 more wins he needs for 300. Any which way, I commend him for the attempt.
- Pedro's quotes about dominating the steroid era clean were some of the best quotes I have seen in a long time and much to my dismay, he is 100% right. He was totally dominant when steroid use was at its peak.
- I am happy to root for guys that admit mistakes. For that reason, I will cheer for Andy Pettitte and vow to not harass anyone in the Mitchell Report who came clean. Doesn't Rocket know that if he has just admitted it, the story would have been gone by now?
- Joba shows up at camp with his nipples pierced and it's news. Gotta love this guy.
- Barry Bonds doesn't have anywhere to go for spring training. I hope that remains the case. I think we have all had enough.

That's all for now. "Stay hard, stay hungry, stay alive...if you can."

JN