From the Wikipedia: Maceo Parker

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At Madison Square Garden a couple weeks ago, Prince pulled a beautiful young woman up on stage and serenaded her with “I Love U But I Don’t Trust U Anymore.” The song featured an alto saxophone solo by Maceo Parker, throughout which Prince kept asking the woman if she knew who the saxophonist was, and she kept nodding as if she did even though it was clear from her eyes that she didn’t.

It turns out the woman was Leighton Meester, from the Matt Cerrone-favorite show Gossip Girl, which I have never seen. Anyway, I really hate it when people find out you’ve never heard of something and then act incredulous and make you feel stupid. That’s not what Prince did, but it’s something that comes up all the time, especially in music.

You’ll be talking to someone and they’ll be like, “You’ve never heard of HAWKWIND!? How can you even call yourself a music fan you poser!” Well, sorry but I haven’t. I’m confident in my base of knowledge, and I’m sure there are plenty of bands I’ve heard of that you haven’t. For example, I had no idea who Leighton Meester was, which might surprise and for some reason bother fans of contemporary pop culture and the show Gossip Girl, but I did very much know who Maceo Parker was. And I think sharing knowledge is more productive than mocking someone for lacking it, so this is for Ms. Meester and anyone else who doesn’t know about Maceo, because you should.

From the Wikipedia: Maceo Parker.

Maceo Parker is a funk saxophonist. Nay, Maceo Parker is the funk saxophonist. His Wikipedia page says he plays the tenor and bari saxes, but he is mostly associated with the alto sax. He grew up in North Carolina playing in church, and got his big break when James Brown recruited Parker’s brother Melvin to play drums in his touring band. Brown agreed to take on Maceo as well, beginning a rocky association that lasted a quarter of a century.

Maceo would ultimately serve as Brown’s band leader in some of his most popular bands. He played the classic sax line on the recorded version of “I Got You (I Feel Good).” Like many of Brown’s recruits, he left the band multiple times over disagreements with the notoriously rigid Brown. He played in multiple iterations of Parliament-Funkadelic and on numerous projects with funk heroes (and fellow former James Brown bandmembers) trombonist Fred Wesley and bassist Bootsy Collins.

There isn’t much about Parker on his Wikipedia page that’s not about music, and that seems reasonable because he probably doesn’t have much time to do anything else. According to the page, he has played as a sideman on 88 albums since 1964 and recorded 15 of his own. His resume includes gigs with the Brown, P-Funk, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Living Colour, De La Soul, the Dave Matthews Band, Prince, 10,000 Maniacs, Color Me Badd and Keith Richards.

During the Prince concert, Prince would just occasionally call out for Maceo and Maceo would just walk on from offstage and rip into a sax solo. This is notable because I’ve seen this happen in multiple shows with multiple bands in various venues. I think Maceo Parker might just sort of show up places with his saxophone then stand offstage and assume people will call him on to jam, which they should because he’s awesome.

Plaxico Burress: Do it

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The Giants’ official, on-the-record position on Burress, as spoken through Reese, has never changed from the moment he was sent away to prison. They simply won’t publicly rule out a possible return. That doesn’t mean that they’re readying for his return or that’s the reason why they’ve yet to give out his old No. 17. Reese doesn’t rule anything out. He investigates everything. And he’d be crazy to rule out any player, not knowing what the future holds.

However, if you are for some reason holding out hope for a Burress return next season — if there is a next season — there are some other factors to consider. The biggest one may be that Giants officials, off the record, are much more leery of Burress II than Reese’s public stance would indicate. It’s not that they’re against second chances or feel that he’s somehow irredeemable. It’s about a host of other factors, including these:

– Ralph Vacchiano, N.Y. Daily News.

Vacchiano lists the reasons the Giants won’t and probably shouldn’t re-sign Plaxico Burress once he’s out of jail. They include: He’s old, he’s a distraction, he violated a bunch of team rules even before he shot himself, and they’re happy with their crew of young receivers.

That all seems to make sense. But I can see none of those things precluding the Jets from pursuing Burress this offseason, assuming the lockout eventually ends and any team ever pursues any player this offseason. Under Rex Ryan and Mike Tannenbaum, the Jets have frequently looked to find value from aging stars on short-term deals late in their careers.

Plus, they’ve welcomed players labeled distractions or reputed to have “character” issues — Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes, Antonio Cromartie, Joe McKnight — and mostly met with success.

Assuming the Jets will not have the funds to return both Edwards and Holmes, Burress might make a nice, big, inexpensive target for Mark Sanchez in the 2011 season. So I say do it.

Sorting something out

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Indulge me for a moment while I sort something out:

This site has never strived for objectivity. I don’t believe any such thing exists, for one, plus this is inherently an opinion-based blog, not a news outlet. My primary goal is clarity, both in my thought and in my writing (I often fail to achieve both, but that’s besides the point).

So I am trying to elucidate why, when I read this story in the Times this morning, my initial, visceral response was a pang of concern.

I have mixed feelings, as I suppose many Mets fans do, about the team’s ownership situation. Obviously I would prefer my favorite team not be riddled with debt, and I realize that there are prospective buyers out there whose involvement, both as part- or full-owners, will benefit the team in the long term (and some who could hurt it, too).

But I know I would prefer that this network not change hands. (And I should note that I have never met Fred or Jeff Wilpon outside of public forums. I don’t know what or how much involvement they have with people up the chain from me at SNY, as I am not privy to those details.)

I like my job. It puts a roof over my head and bacon on my table, for one, and it provides health insurance that I need very desperately. It affords me the opportunity to do all sorts of awesome things, many of them involving my favorite sport and my favorite team. No outlet before this one gave me the chance to write or opine in any quasi-professional setting.

And perhaps most importantly, no one has ever told me what to write about or what not to write about. No one tells me not to rip the Mets or their management, and no one tells me not to review sandwiches.

That’s something I value very much, and I fear that if this network changed hands, I could lose that freedom. And I honestly don’t know what I’d do if I did. So it is probably impossible for me to weigh in on the inclusion of SNY in any sale of the Mets without letting my massive — and, as far as I’m concerned, wholly justifiable — biases get in the way.

I will continue linking relevant news items and adding my two cents where appropriate.