Boris Yeltsin Loves The Cardinals

An Elvis sighting at a baseball game in Springfield Missouri?  That's sooooo passé.  Springfield has their own style and haven't you heard?  Boris is the new Elvis, and he's a fan of the Cardinals.

Ok, if you want to get technical, he's not a "he", "he's" a band, and they are Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, but they do love their "Redbirds", which in this case is the AA minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Springfield Cardinals.  (no not Homer Simpson's Springfield - that was never determined to be a real place).

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin is an indie band out of Springfield, Missouri, started by high school friends; Will Knauer and Philip Dickey.  After meeting up and playing together, they needed to decide upon a name, and according to the website www.iamwarmandpowerful.com, inspiration struck:

... needed a new band name, so we chose something really dumb, because we were only practicing in Will's attic. There were 2 girls who would watch us practice and I wanted to make them laugh...and I wanted the guys in Wharf to laugh...so that's when I came up with Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Boris Yeltsin recently resigned and I was 17.

In 2005 the band released their album "Broom" to favorable reviews from popular indie/alt sites such as Pitchfork and Spin Magazine and in 2006 their song "Oregon Girl" was heard on an episode of "The OC."  In 2009 they signed with Polyvinyl Record Co., and their latest album (due in mid 2010) was produced by Chris Walla of Indie fav Death Cab for Cutie.

Today's Baseball Song of the Day is "Cardinal Rules", a peppy Weezeresque tune about listening to your team on the radio, and getting up for that night's game.  This is what the minor leagues and baseball are all about.  Enjoy folks, it doesn't get any better than this.



Baseball Song of the Day: 3/22/2010
Song: Cardinal Rules
Artist: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Released: 2009
Band Site: www.sslyby.com
Socialites: myspace.com/boris & facebook.com/sslyby

Phillip Dickey - vocals/drums/guitar
John Robert Cardwell - vocals/guitar/bass
Will Knauer - guitar
Jonathan James - bass/ drums

PS: Make sure to take a listen to a few of their songs from their Daytrotter session in 2006.

Cardinal Rules Lyrics

I was driving down 44
Got my red on the radio
We were coming back, rally cap
Made it time for one more bat
My Cardinal rules are all I got
We can't lose we got one more shot, tonight
I'm going downtown
Springfield, alright!
Oh, tonight

I got Jackie on my mind
And Payne in my heart
Hey Melody, we need 3
Hey Ned (it's the place to be!)
This could be our night
My cards are playing right

Many thanks to Phil Dickey for being kind enough for the lyrics to the song, and to let us know a little bit more about the second verse's inspiration.  Via email with Phil, who informed BSOD that he used to work for the Springfield Cardinals and that he's a "huge (Cincinnati) Reds fan":

"The second verse is about Springfield sport figures: Jackie Stiles and Melody Howard of the MSU Lady Bears, Payne Stewart, and TV sports reporter Ned Reynolds."

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BSOD's Pepper Questions: (Answered by Phil Dickey)

1. What's your favorite baseball song?

That's a tie. I love the theme song to This Week in Baseball with all those classic sound bites. Also, the 1990 Cincinnati Reds recorded a song that sounds like the "The Super Bowl Shuffle." I think it's called Reds Hot. Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bwIPRUnQkU&hl=en&gl=CA&client=mv-google

** Editor's Note: I sense a future article about the "Reds Hot" song. **

2. What do you put on your hot dog?

I like chetzels. The Springfield Cardinals just got them last year. It's a hot dog in a pretzel bun with nacho cheese poured over it. It's really gross and overpriced. But it's worth it for the pretzel bun.

3. What's the best performance that you've seen live or on tv that was at a baseball game (major, minor, little league, or wiffleball back yard)?

We were on tour with the Cinematics from Scotland in 2007 and they got asked to play a tailgate show before opening day at Miller Park and I tagged along. The pitchers of Miller were plentiful and I think Ben Sheets pitched a brilliant two-hitter. Also, the Cinematics didn't know anything about the rules of baseball and that made the game even better.

4.  Which of your bandmates is the best wiffleball player?

Probably John Robert. I didn't think he was that great at baseball but I saw him hit one out of the park at a softball game.

5. If you were manager, who of the following would you have start the 7th game of a world series:  Jerry Garcia (he's dead), Jenny Finch (softball heroine), Paul Sprangers (Free Energy), Antony Hegarty (Antony & The Johnson's), or Steve Earle?

Sprangers! He's built like Eckersly.

Thanks for the insight, now anything that you wish to shamelessly plug?

Free Energy and the Mommyheads reissue I just found out about yesterday: http://www.dromedary-records.com/news/dromedary-to-reissue-the-mommyheads-flying-suit-cd