Alaska Employment Law

Love That Dirty Water – The Standells and the Improbable Red Sox Victory Anthem, by Chuck Burgess & Bill Nowlin.

Now this is a specialty book, but it’s a lot of fun.  More about music than baseball (but not forgetting baseball), it tells the story of how the ‘60s group The Standells came into being, recorded their timeless masterpiece “Dirty Water” – which, as good fans know, is played in Fenway at the end of every Red Sox victory – fizzled out after a few hits, and then returned in glory to make a surprise appearance at Fenway in Game 2 of the 2004 World Series. Along the way the writers will (a) tell you that John Kiley played for four professional teams in Boston, not three as commonly assumed, (b) explain the history of “Tessie,” another Sox anthem that debuted way back in the 1903 World Series and lives on in an updated version recorded and still performed by Quincy’s own Dropkick Murphys, (c) describe the all too brief recording career of handsome, doomed Tony Conigliaro, and (d) even explain how “Sweet Caroline” got its start in Fenway Park (in 1998). 

All of that is excellent stuff, but my favorite bit is Bill Nowlin’s description of sitting in the front row on June 24, 1966, when the Rolling Stones played at Lynn’s Manning Bowl in a driving rain.  And the connection?  The Standells opened for Mick and the Stones that day, and played “Dirty Water.” My mind truly boggles over this: in 1966, when they were an internationally famous act, the Rolling Stones played the Manning Bowl.  The Manning Bowl, for God’s sake.   A riot ensued, by the way. Tear gas, the works. The police weren’t well prepared.  But I love that dirty water - ah-oh, Boston you’re my home.