Author Archives: Jerry Grillo

For starters, this doesn’t feel right. This feels out of order, a cosmic square peg trying to force itself into an elusive round hole. I am rambling while trying to do my dear friend a modicum of justice. Anyway, years ago I wrote something about Tommy Deadwyler, something really nice that I can’t remember, butContinue reading “Tommy”

The truth is, Johnny Mize was always supposed to be first. The other truth is, I’m really glad that he wasn’t. Last year on April 1st, an appropriately foolish day, my first book, The Music and Mythocracy of Col. Bruce Hampton, was released by the University of Georgia Press. I worked long and hard onContinue reading “The Whys of Mize”

Who hit the first home run in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium? Hint: His name was Aaron. That was one of Col. Bruce Hampton’s favorite trivia questions, partly because Bruce was there to witness that inaugural moonshot, and partly because most people got the answer wrong. The correct answer is Tommie Aaron, who was Hammerin’ Henry’s littleContinue reading “Happy Home Run Anniversary”

With apologies to the great Ogden Nash, whose “Line-up for Yesterday” is a classic. That poem, though, doesn’t mention any of the baseball greats who were banned from Major League Baseball because they were Black. This poem that I’ve cobbled together focuses entirely on the Negro Leagues (everyone or everything mentioned is related to that).Continue reading “Another Line-Up for Yesterday”

This was a small-world story, though it has nothing to do with small worlds, but is one of my favorites (at least among those written for Atlanta magazine). The picture of my beautiful wife surrounded by balloons on a long-ago New Year’s Eve is part of the small-world story. To sum up quickly: Jane andContinue reading “Gransden Band Story”

One reason that I’m glad the Atlanta Braves will be playing the Houston Astros in the World Series is purely nostalgic. The first Major League Baseball game I ever covered was Astros at Braves on my birthday in 1986. Got to meet Yogi Berra, who was a coach for the playoff-bound Astros at the time.Continue reading “Astros, Braves, Yogi, and The Hillside Tattler”

I’ve taken my son to more minor league baseball games than I can remember, but not enough to call it a day yet. We have many more to see. But we’ve only gone to two major league games together. The first time was when the Society for American Baseball Research held its annual meeting orContinue reading “A Father-Son Baseball Tale”

The first time I saw and heard Yonrico Scott share his immense rhythmic gifts he was playing with Francine Reed at the Sautee Nacoochee Center, the same place where I first saw Col. Bruce Hampton perform. It’s one of those nice little Bruce synchronicities that seem more and more inevitable the older I get. BecauseContinue reading “Yonrico’s Mighty Heart”

Sixty one is a lot of years to be alive, but not too many, and hopefully there are plenty of good ones left in the cosmic stash. The more spins I take around the sun on this big, rotating blue dance floor, the more I’m reminded of how melancholy and gratitude are such close danceContinue reading “Gratitude and Faith at 61”

This is from my book, The Music and Mythocracy of Col. Bruce Hampton: A Basically True Biography. It tells the story of how Bruce got back into making albums, thanks mainly to Michael Rothschild and Landslide Records (which is celebrating its 40th anniversary with the release of a new album, this one here). Michael basicallyContinue reading “Creating a Landslide”