GNR Live Version: "Street of Dreams"

Great music is often creative and unique sounding. That's what I've always loved about Guns N' Roses. 

Love or hate him, lead singer Axl Rose is a bad ass. Dating back to the days when they barely survived living in Los Angeles when the band went from being Hollywood Rose to Guns N' Roses, they always brought something different to the radio. 

Combining the edge in which Slash played the guitar with the belting out of lyrics at thr top of his lungs by Rose, you had the makings of something special. Original Gunners Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, and Steven Adler all combined to make a memorable album that's still frequently played on stations and in stadiums. 

Appetite For Destruction remains one of the best rock albums from the 1980's. "Welcome To The Jungle," is still blasted at the start of games. "Paradise City" is one of the prettiest sounding and epic songs that we can still hear. There's too many to list. It's timeless. 

When the original group split up due to creative differences, Axl was the only member left, along with Dizzy Reed, who joined during the Use Your Illusion era. He's superb on the piano and keyboard. Astonishingly, he's the second longest lasting member. 

Before GNR released the long anticipated album Chinese Democracy, fans got to hear some of the featured tracks during shows. That included "Street of Dreams." Originally titled, "The Blues," it features the outstanding piano playing of Reed. It always had a bluesy sound. 

Maybe that's why I liked the original title. When my brother and I went to see Guns N' Roses play in December 2002 at Madison Square Garden, it was a great show. Along with "Madagascar," and self-titled "Chinese Democracy," "Street of Dreams" was played live on that snowy night. 

Over two decades later, it still remains one of my favorite songs from that album. If you listen to it, there are plenty of good tracks. It may have took forever to release due to Axl, but it still delivers in how music should sound. Something that's not as frequent these days. 

Here's how "Street of Dreams" sounded in Rock In Rio some 22 years ago.

Dominguez goes yard again

There's something about watching a young player play the game of baseball. Especially when it's a prized prospect. 

Jasson Dominguez is only 20 years old. He was elevated to Triple-A Wilkes-Barre Scranton after finally rounding into form at Somerset. After only playing nine games with instant success, the center fielder found himself in Yankee pinstripes. 

In his major league debut, he homered off future Hall Of Famer Justin Verlander in his first at bat. It doesn't get much better than that. Dominguez hit two homers to help the Yankees sweep the Astros. 

How's he done since? He hit safely in his first five games highlighted by his first Yankee Stadium home run. He also recorded his first three hit game against the Tigers. It's only a small sample size but there's a lot to like about Dominguez. 

After going down swinging in the first inning tonight against Milwaukee, he came up and hit a line drive home run to right field on a 2-2 pitch. It was exciting how the ball jumped off the bat. Here's how it looked and sounded.

Yankees finally giving kids a chance

Once upon a time, I covered minor league baseball out here in Staten Island. Believe it or not, there used to be rookie A ball on the north shore by the Ferry. 

The Staten Island Yankees were a fun team who won six New York Penn League championships. In 2005 and 2006, they won back-to-back Penn League championships. Most exciting was seeing some of those players make it to the big leagues. That included Brett Gardner, Eduardo Nunez, Francisco Cervelli, Mark Melancon, Dellin Betances, and George Kontos. All had successful major league careers. 

Kyle Higashioka is the remaining holdover from the Baby Bombers. He's the backup catcher on the Yankees. Coincidentally, they've fallen on hard times. Continuing to rely on old and stale veterans such as Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson finally caught up. Even though he's having a strong finish to the season, it's hard to tell if D.J. LeMahieu will return to the high contact hitter he was when he first arrived.  He's in his mid-30's. The Donaldson experiment failed miserably with the organization releasing him. 

As for Stanton, he is a declining slugger who occasionally still hits home runs. But his body is so beat up that he adds little else. Injuries have taken their toll. The Yankees remain on the hook for another few years. Unless they decide to grow a pair and pay him to stay home next year. 

At least in a down year, it's forced the Yankees to reevaluate how they do things. By finally promoting top prospects Jasson Dominguez and Austin Wells, they're getting a glimpse of the future. Oswald Peraza is also playing regularly. With rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe reaching the 20/20 plateau in an otherwise tough year hitting wise, there are some bright spots on a team that will likely miss the playoffs. With Dominguez hitting safely in his first five games with three home runs, the promise is there. The future of center field will continue to learn at the age of 20. 

The Yankees have played better recently since going with the youth movement. They even swept the hated Astros last weekend. Aaron Judge still has over 30 home runs to lead the club. Had he not gone down due to a freak injury on an outstanding running catch into the Dodgers wall back in June, who knows how many home runs he'd have. The rating AL home run record holder remains a force when he's healthy. 

Gleyber Torres has provided some good production at second base. He's made a strong case to stay in the Bronx. How much will he get on the open market? It looks like Brian Cashman will have to pony up if he wants to keep Torres. 

The only negative has been the disaster Carlos Rodon has been. His achy back kept him out the first three months. Since returning, he's been consistently inconsistent. He's not pitching deep enough into games. Then, there are miserable starts like last night in a blowout loss to the Tigers. They paid him too much money to be so underwhelming. 

At least Gerrit Cole has delivered a big season. He's the front-runner to win the AL Cy Young. He takes the ball every fifth day and pitches well. Cole has silenced the critics who were under the assumption that his previous success was all due to the sticky stuff, which MLB cracked down on. Not so fast.  

The biggest question is for Hal Steinbrenner. Is Aaron Boone safe? If Cashman is coming back, does that mean Boone stays as well? We'll see what happens. 

BC Girls

New Podcast

The return of the Flex Podcast comes to Hard Hits Network. Derek Flex Felix gives his thoughts on the Knicks hire of Tom Thibodeau, the Jets finally trading disgruntled safety Jamal Adams and hits hard at the New York Liberty and Seattle Storm of the WNBA for an unnecessary act that won't help their cause. 

The Chatroom Brigade

Who is Kovy274Hart? Someone who perseveres despite the easily triggered. Derek is a former employee of ESPN having worked in a statistical research capacity by providing graphic ideas for national broadcasts for both NHL and WNBA games. 

Moving on from life in Bristol, Connecticut, he would work in Jersey City in the Garden State while beginning to provide sports columns for a  cool site NY SportsDay. Derek covered consecutive Staten Island Yankees New York-Penn League Championships. Those teams that won at Richmond County Bank Ball Park in St. George over by the Ferry terminal, featured future major leaguers Brett Gardner, Eduardo Nunez,  Francisco Cervelli and Eduardo Nunez. 

All four came up with the Yankees with Gardner and Cervelli playing roles on the 2009 World Series Championship team. In fact, both Nunez and Kontos played roles in World Series Titles elsewhere. Nunez with the 2018 Red Sox and Kontos with the 2012 Giants. 

Derek also covered future ace reliever Dellin Betances, who is a local product from Grand Street High School. After spending over a decade in the Yankee organization, he will move to the other New York local in the Mets. It'll be a interesting transition for the flamethrower who is looking to successfully come back from a torn Achilles tendon last year. He's a four-time American League All-Star who's recorded 100 strikeouts or more in five consecutive seasons (2014-18). With a career 2.36 earned run average (ERA), 36 career saves and 621 K's in 381 and two-thirds innings, the 32-year old should play a key role in the Mets bullpen. 

Derek has also hosted his own show on the internet. Hard Hits primarily focuses on daily sports happenings and hot topics. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting so many, it's been expanded to music and important current issues. The show is hard hitting and opinionated. It frequently features guests such as Colin, Nate, Justin, Dan, Brian and Madison. All are valued members of the Chatroom Brigade. A group formulated at the turn of the 21st century.

The Brigade included originators Colin, Nate, Justin, John, Corey, Greg, Mike and Rob. A unique blend of humor due to a penchant for wrestling during the height of the Monday Night Wars between WWE Raw and WCW Nitro, the cohesive original eight used their sarcasm to take over chat rooms while being in character. They were creative in their unique setting. Better known as Vanwarinator, NASIllmatic, NYYNYRS94, JPG915, Whipwrecker, TheGreatGQ, Metallica36883 and KrAzE96, they delivered their own promos, shoots and no sold everyone. And by the Colin rule, No Side comments please. 

Between their epic battles with Eugine, they recruited Derek as Kovy274Hart in 2002. While he had no idea what he got himself into, eventually he became trusted. But for a while, they mocked him for not staying on topic with mastermind Rob floating the theory that Justin was Derek. That he didn't have a older brother. It took some time for them to prove the untrustworthy Kraze wrong. Once they did, chaos ensued. 

Following Derek's successful recruitment of longtime St. John's college friend Brian, it would only become even more unpredictable. Pretty soon, the Brigade was having interesting battles with Eugine, who had a habit of creating imitation screen names to message each member. War (Colin) was only too happy to oblige. He even successfully swerved Eugine as another character called ConfirmationDale on the old AOL messenger.

It only motivated Eugine to go further. With unique terms like piggy, oh fick, oh shoot, I cry and my hobbies are kicking ur ooses, he continued to harass the brigade. However, some were wiling participants like Kovy (Derek) and Brian (Sambone). They enjoyed having bizarre chats with Eric  (Eugine). Pretty soon, Kovy was known as a hockey oos while he mistook Brian for the strange Chris (Stevens8204). 

Derek and Justin also had to contend with the odd RVD, who was from the same area and paraded around in a van with his girlfriend, smoking bowls and hoping to meet them. They feared this loose cannon. 

Another member is Dan. Originally WCWIcon24 (later NCIcon24), he was a interesting character whose love for WCW was his calling card. Having epic battles with various Brigade participants including Whip (Corey), he often feuded with Eugine and Jeff (MeccaOfManhoood). These were classic times for the Brigade. 

Graduating to form his original show All Sports Radio on the airwaves of Blogtalk Radio, Dan would frequently invite the Brigade to be part of the fun. He also featured a co-host when times became chaotic due to ring leader Derek. A button pusher by nature, Kovy took it to a new level with JPG. Their intense rivalry still exists today with nerdy scienterrific stats and strange graphs being the focus. John's insistence on Wins Above Replacement (WAR) being the be all for determining how great a baseball player is has never agreed with Derek. 

They've clashed over WAR, Stanford, JPG turning on hometown teams the Da Bears and Bulls, Kovy's Core Four (Cahr Fahr) in MLB, polarizing NBA superstar LeBron James and Derrick Knee Rose, they have continued to feud like classic rivals. Think Randy Orton and Edge.

Greg (GQ) had his own show in the old Chatroom. Appropriately called, The GQ Show, it never drew ratings. However, despite his contemporaries mocking his show including Rob using his Opposite Rawb gimmick that has made him famous, GQ remained undeterred. He always entertained and even guested on Hard Hits with former co-host JPG. Now that the well traveled John is free from the corrupt United States that is in danger due to progressive liberals, he's embraced Taiwan life with his girlfriend. 

A unique character who is originally from Illinois, his best sports moment came in 2016 when the Cubs finally won their first World Series in 108 years to end the Billy Goat curse. They came back to defeat the Indians (soon to be canceled by left wing nuts) in seven games winning the final two games in Cleveland. Having turned on both his basketball and football teams, he no longer watches sports. But he's always there to make commentary, which nemesis Derek finds ironic. 

Unique rivalries exist including Rob vs Nate with sister trash talk. Brian vs Derek despite 25 years of friendship due to strange accusations made by the Big Man that his friend openly roots for his Buffalo Bills and Sabres (HAWAB) to lose. Kovy has always denied the charges and has supported Sambone's teams in the past. But that's not good enough.

There have also been the Chatroom Brigade version of leaks with members Rob and John logging and saving Derek quotes and sending them to Dan or others as ammunition.  An illegal tactic. They've even corrupted newest addition Madison into it. She hosts her own sports podcast on Anchor and has been a guest on other shows including Hard Hits and What's BREWIN', the latter hosted by converted and confused Vegas Brew. Formerly a Yankee fan, he now fully supports two Boston teams including the Red Sox (Saaahhxx) and Bruins. However, he's now also a Golden Knights fan. Maybe he's going through a midlife crisis. It's all very confusing. 

There will be more details added as we go on. Stay tuned. The show must go on.

The Beauty Inside

This goes out to someone special. 

"The Beauty Inside"
By Derek Felix 

The beauty inside 
Can be seen if you really look 
It's always been there like a surprising ride 
One conversation is all it took 

I knew it the first time I met you 
Chilling at my homie's place 
It's so long ago as if the time flew 
I can still see your precious face 

A cool down to earth chick with flow 
Soft spoken and fun to be around 
A special talent to those who already know 
Whenever we hung out, you were always down

Even though our paths have taken different directions
I believe we will meet up again soon 
Knowing full well it's up to me to make the connection
I can still see you all beautiful as I admire the moon

The beauty inside 
Lights up when you speak to her 
Because you're just as mesmerizing on the outside
There's nothing fake because you're real and always were 

Sometimes, I reflect back on those fun nights 
Fully understanding why we are where we are 
It's a different time now and my eyes are turned on like lights 
They've never been shut off from your shining star 

You're like a twinkle that lights up each day 
No matter how cold or dark, you stand out from the rest 
There are other fish in the sea, but they don't give me the words to say 
You're the kinda person who makes us smile and laugh because deep down, you're the best 

I'm proud of what you've accomplished so far 
I admire the unique and creative person you are 
Doing what you love and creating folklore
In many ways, it's what I want for myself to reach the stars

The beauty inside 
Has never felt so real 
If my heart were visible, it would've cried 
It's never stopped beating to tell you how I feel 

I still have dreams about you 
Only to awaken in a cold sweat wondering why 
What's in the mind subconsciously is very true
What it comes down to is even my alternate universe cannot lie 

I told you once that I wish things could be different 
You knew what I meant and appreciated my kind sentiment 
Of course, I want what's best for you, but my knees are heaven bent 
I bet you taste so sweet like chocolate or peppermint 

You give the best hugs and are so warm 
It's why a piece of me is broken like The Crow 
Redemption is strong like a perfect rainstorm
It can't rain all the time, but the sun will come out followed by your rainbow 

The beauty inside 
Is why I'll start over again 
The beauty inside 
Gives me the motivation to win 

The Uphill Climb

For quite some time, I've been battling myself. It's not always as simple as it seems. As someone who goes through anxiety and depression, there are peaks and valleys to this mental illness that affects so many people.

As I've often said and of course heard like a broken record, mental effects physical. If we aren't ourselves, there's a good chance we aren't gonna feel like doing anything. Even our normal routine, which should be automatic. Unless you're out of work as I am due to an issue with my job. Let's just say being a substitute teacher in NYC isn't easy due to all the red tape. I'll just leave it at that and work on getting things righted.

I admit to being very down right now. How down? Down enough not to do what I'm capable of, which is discouraging. I know what I must do to get out of this funk. No conversation I have is going to help. It's up to me to pick myself back up. I'm a grown adult. Nobody else is going to do it for me. I take full responsibility.

I've been listening to a lot of depressing songs that I like from 90's groups such as Nine Inch Nails and Red Hot Chili Peppers. I think you kinda get the idea what I've been listening to and the lyrics that I identify with. I guess depression brings that out. My writing hasn't suffered. Not at least on our hockey blog. Writing is something that comes natural because it's a way to express myself and relieve the stress.

So, what is needed to change for the better before my birthday in two weeks? Get to the gym. Working out produces endorphins and creates energy that's been missing. I last went a week ago and it was positive. The gym is a positive place to take out your energy and bring back some enthusiasm and life into your body. It also improves one psychologically. You can bet I'll find myself there before this ugly wintry mix hits tonight.

I also find that music is something that is always good for the psyche. It brings out the energy and electricity. A good song will do that for you. Not just the depressing ones I can relate to either.

Walking and drives help. Sometimes, we need a different scene to get away as a means of escape. I'm not talking about running away from my problems. A walk or a nice drive usually can improve our attitude as well as give us a unique perspective on life. As much crap as this area gets, there are a lot of good places to go. We aren't the park borough for nothing. There is also plenty of history here as evidenced by Richmondtown and The Conference House along with other landmarks or favorite areas that make the Island unique.

Reading or watching a good movie can be thought provoking. I like a good novel or interesting movie with suspense that makes me think. I'm very good at discovering new under the radar stuff that isn't as hyped as most flicks in the theater. It's my specialty.

As the weather gets noticably colder, I can remind myself that this is one of my favorite times of year. Sure. Baseball is gone, and the football teams stink. I'm a Giants fan. At least we got our four Super Bowls that I've been around for to experience. I feel for Jets fans. I doubt I'll ever see the Knicks win a championship. Thankfully, the Rangers gave me one in '94 along with a memorable moment in 2014. They're at least exciting to watch. Sports in this town for the winter are a nightmare otherwise.

I really need more to do with my free time. I have friends who live close by, but I've been neglecting them like everything else. Let's call it laziness. It's not intentional. It's just my current situation. When you're in this fragile state, it's like a black hole you're trying to climb out of.

Sometimes, I wish I could go back to happier moments when I was younger and carefree. But I can't change it. This isn't Back To The Future with the futuristic time machine Doc and Marty use to go from 1985 back to the year 1955 to change history. The only thing I can do is work little by little and improve myself day by day.

Rather than overthink and overanalyze everything which I often do, I need to simplify it. Break it down into little pieces. Once I do that, I'll be more successful. I know I'll get out of this. I have before and I'm stronger than I look or make myself out to be.

For now, it's live in the moment and be productive.