So in 1985 Sting released Dream of the Blue Turtles. (If you are new to the blog you may not know that the Police part of this is about the band) – today I saw an article that said today is the 35th Anniversary of the album being released.
The album made a clever reference to Sting’s already storied past, with a new version of The Police’s Zenyatta Mondattatrack Shadows in the Rain, which he felt was ripe for reinvention. “They’re my songs,” he says, “and having a band, you want to reinterpret the songs the way maybe jazz players do.
“Some jazz repertoire is the same songs just reinterpreted every time they record. I don’t treat my songs as being museum pieces or holy relics. They’re there to be used. They’re there to be adapted and have new life breathed into them.”
Now I recall buying the album (on cassette) when it came out, and then that night being one of those nights where my dad came home from work with extra Mets tickets. My dad was a bartender and there was this old guy Pat who had had season tickets since 1964 so they were REALLY GOOD seats and my dad and I went to a lot of games with Pat. Like 30 a year.
I thought I’d do a post about that game, then I saw on July 12, 1985 the Mets were AT Houston. Wait, what? I’m positive I listened to the album and then ran out to Shea.
Then it hit me – check when the album was released in the USA….and Google tells me that the album was released on July 1.
Ah yes, the Mets hosted the Pirates. I was there. I don’t recall a thing about the day other than playing Blue Turtles in my old stereo system. Let’s check the boxscore.
Darryl Strawberry started in CENTER??? Foster-Darryl and Heep in the OF.
A basic Keith-Wally-Santana-Knight infield, with Carter.
Kelvin Chapman, who had disappeared for a while, resurfaced an appeared in the game.
Sid Fernandez, 7 innings one run and a LOSS. Pirates 1, Mets 0.
TIME OF GAME 2:21!!!!! I keep telling you guys that baseball used to be fun.
2:21? With a beer cutoff? My dad must have really chugged that night (he and Pat enjoyed the beer vendor.)
As for July 12, 1985 – Ronnie goes 9 and gets the win in a 10 inning game vs the Astros. You kids don’t realize how good Ron was. Read more about Ron here.
