Why should Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame?

In case you are not familiar with who Pete Rose, or his story.. he was a baseball player. A damn good one. At 3,000 hits.. a baseball player is considered incredible, Hall of Fame type player... Pete Rose had 4,256... one of two players to have over 4,000 hits. And yes, he has more hits than the other guy... making him the all time hit leader. Why he isn't in the Hall of Fame you ask? Because he broke a particular rule. It states:

Any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible.

There is no doubt that he in fact did bet on a baseball game he was connected with, however he bet on his OWN TEAM TO WIN. The rule most likely originated because if you bet your team to lose, you may throw the game. Or if a umpire/ referee bets on the game, they have too much control over the outcome. So the rule is well defined, and many will say: He broke a well-defined rule and must live with the consequences of his actions. However, I'm here to tell you, there are some rules that deserve an exception. And this is one of those cases.

In what cases is there an exception to a rule? I'm glad you asked. Lets step away from baseball and look at some random ideas for a bit.

Rule: You cannot kill someone.

Exception: Unless it's self defense.

Rule: You cannot start a fire.

Exception: Unless its contained in a fire pit.

Rule: The speed limit is 25mph.

Exception: 26- 30 mph, isn't particularly dangerous... and you may not be pulled over for doing so.

I'm gonna do a few more silly ones.

Rule (in my moms house): You can't wear shoes in the house.

Exception: You forgot your keys and have to grab them real quick.

Rule: A noun is a person, place, or thing.

Exception: They may someday become a verb. For example: "Texting"

Now for my favorite on this list.

Rule: You can't bet on baseball if you're involved in the game..

Exception: UNLESS YOU ARE PETE F*CKIN ROSE

Allow me to elaborate. As stated, he bet on his OWN team. He did so because he loved his team. He believed in his team. And he is not a perfect person. (Are any of us?) He definitely had a gambling problem, but he is still human, one of us. He has since apologized for disrespecting the game of baseball, and those who heard his public apology considered his remorse for his actions very sincere and genuine.

At the very least, I believe they should hold a trial for the man.. The Hit King. The man nicknamed "Charlie Hustle".. because nobody played the game with as much heart as he did. Rules do have exceptions as you saw earlier. Rules can get amended. And this is just heart-breaking to me. It's sad that the baseball community cannot forgive a man that gave so much to the game of baseball. Better yet, there should be a vote. A vote in which the fans of baseball decide. Because the switch hitting, hard-working, leader in MLB hits, deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame. Sure, a rule is a rule. But love is love. And that man loved baseball, his teammates, and its fans. And it's about time that love was reciprocated.

Peace & Love,

Yours truly

Inspiration behind "My First Dog" (as if it wasn't obvious)

Sooooo, I'm gonna try to make this a little thing. Where I talk about my songs and go more in depth on em. We'll see if I actually keep this up! Time will tell. Either way, "My First Dog." It's about Minnie! Now much of this story could be grasped in my song so feel free to skip to the end. But yeah, the idea to tell a story about Minnie came from Ashia, my muse and creative director... so make sure you give her props on the idea! I was like, "I wanna do a song about Minnie, what should I do?" And she said "You should tell a story!" Wallah! Now lets talk about Minnie. About her origin story, her personality, and our most epic adventure.

I'm not sure if you've met Minnie but she is a wild little sweetheart! Back when I first got her, I was in college and in a fraternity. There was a greek figure related to SAE, Minerva. I believe she was a goddess or something, I don't completely remember the connection to my fraternity. Either way, I was also with a girl who loved Disneyland at the time. So Minnie's name was a mix between the Minnie Mouse from Disneyland, and a shortened version of Minerva. Man I have too many stories about Minnie. Where to start! Lets start with how I have no idea what kind of breed she is. I got her at Helen Woodward with my dad, and they said she was part Sharpei part Beagle.. but honestly she looks like a sphinx to me! At least now she does. She's a beautiful creature I tell ya. And as a puppy she was just plain adorable. She was all by herself when I looked in the kennel full of her brothers and sisters.. and I was just drawn to her.

Her personality can best be desribed as a sweetheart that gets a bittt excited upon meeting. Definitely the toughest part about having her was she had a little social anxiety when I brought people over, but also just got overly excited. Like excited to the point it didn't really look like a fun excitement for her! It was sadddd. Her little heart beating so fast for the first half hour to an hour that guests were over. Eventually she would calm down, but that first impression may have scared some people off. It's okay! Other than that, she was just a normal dog. She liked to bite stuff she shouldn't. She hated when I left the house. But as for some unique things, for one, she loved to get chased around the backyard. I was playing flag football at the time and I would try catching her. Basically tackling her, but much more playful than your typical football tackle. I figured if I could tackle a dog, I could tackle a person! She was so fast!!! And her long tail was like a little rutter, helping her stay balanced during her high speed turns, it was incredible! And a split second before I would grab her, she would turn on another gear! That team ended up playing in Nationals for intramural flag football... so I like to think Minnie helped out. Now, I'm a bit older and a few knee surgeries later, so I can't quite chase her like I used to... but man that was one of my favorite things to do with her. When indoors, her favorite toy was the rope. Tug a war was her jam. When she was really young... a story I didn't talk about in my song... is she would just sit in my lap while I played video games. It was so cute. Sometimes I would smoke bowls in there, ya know, and blow the smoke through a toilet paper roll with a dryer sheet... so my parents couldn't smell it... lol. Good times.

Then, after graduating I had to move out of my moms house. Mainly because she didn't like that I was selling weed out of her house, so I can't blame her. I ended up staying with some friends at what we called The Hotel. Until of course.. the housemates got tired of the high kid (me) crashing on their couch with his dog. So I posted a facebook status about finding a place. Then a friend told me about Austin, Texas. I looked it up and I didn't know that it was the Live Music Capital at the time. I was sold! Once I found a job, Minnie and I packed up my car, and went on our way! Our first stop was New Mexico. I stayed the night there, hooked up with a girl with a huge butt!.. then kept going to Austin. It was really tough getting settled in Austin. I never really felt super comfortable. I did make a lot of friends, some who I still talk to today... but yeah its hard to describe. Regardless, my main goal was to just work on my song-writing. So I was able to do that. And I really brought that a long way in that year I was there. Not to mention I did my first live performance there. Can I get a hell yeah?! And even though my craft improved, my state of mind did the opposite. I just felt lonely. Even with Minnie there, it was tough. I was working a couple jobs, I was barely home and could hardly even hang out with her or anyone for that matter. My roommate worked at a bar, so luckily she wasn't completely by herself during the day. Either way, my time in Austin came to end. We did the same thing but in reverse... and headed back to San Diego. I'm so glad to be back. I just feel at home in San Diego. I don't see myself ever leaving again! I also can't imagine making that crazy drive without Minnie in the car with me. I needed her on an emotional level, and I'm just so thankful she was such a trooper.

She's getting old now. 12 or 13. And that's what really inspired me to write a song for her. It could be considered a love song for her. And ya know what, she deserves it. And I just wanted her to have a song dedicated to her before she checks out ya know. She just sparked so many moments of joy in my life and it was about time.

Peace & Love.. from my heart to yours,

Billy

A blessing & a curse- the internet and music

Music has definitely evolved. It used to be, the only way to get your music heard was to step 1: sign to a record label and step 2: get signed to a record label. But the internet changed everything. With the internet, a musician can now distribute their music independently and get their music heard around the world via streaming; but there is one drawback: the noise.

Distribution is half the battle for any product entering the market. In the classic baseball movie Field of Dreams, there is a famous line “If you build it, they will come.” However that was a fictional movie. In reality, if you build it, you still have to distribute it. You can have the best product, best invention, but without marketing and distribution… your product doesn’t stand a chance. With the advent of the internet, music distribution drastically changed. Instead of literally needing a record label to take care of that side of things, anybody can distribute songs onto streaming platforms (like YouTube, Spotify, and iTunes) with a simple membership through an online distributor (personally I use Distrokid). This is where the title comes in: it’s a blessing & a curse.

The blessing: Anybody can make and share their music! When record labels reigned (sounds like I’m talking about Ancient History, and I kinda am) the only and I mean ONLY way to get your music heard by even a single soul was to sign to a record label. Period, end of story. I can’t imagine how tough it would have been for musicians even just 20- 30 years ago… much less 50 years ago. They had no choice but to sign to a record label, and those roster spots were limited. And even then, their label had to DO WORK to get their musicians on the radio, or get their records, tapes, or cd’s made, and in front of people. It was no easy task and just like my previous Payola post, this probably left thousands of musicians and their music SOL. I can’t imagine how tough it would have been. But with the internet… boom!… blessings! This is no longer the case! Anybody can make and share music. It’s truly an incredible time to be a musician. The music can be distributed by the musician themselves, and there is hardly even a reason for a record label (I mean their marketing budget would be nice to have though). I’m so grateful for the internet allowing me to share my music. Whether it be on SoundCloud or the more popular streaming sites.. it can be sent into the universe with the click of a button.

Now for the curse: Anybody can make and share their music. And that has lead to an over-saturation of the market. In other words, there’s too much damn music out there! There’s tons upon tons of music out there… so getting heard through the noise is now the battle for the modern day musician. Theres shitty music, good music, and everything in between. Listeners are tasked with discovering the good, and musicians are tasked with being discovered. Yet again, no easy task.

This all begs the question, how does one get heard through the noise? Unfortunately, that’s a blog post in itself so I cant expand on that now. But the fact remains, the internet has changed everything. It’s a beautiful blessing. It’s an insurmountable curse. And like life itself.. you gotta adapt to survive.

Peace & Love,

From my hearts to yours