Musings from the "Red Mooner"

 From fairly early on in the 2004 baseball season, even from my far away vantage point on the left coast, I could sense something very special was brewing. A certain subtle electricity about all things Red Sox permeated everywhere under the moon. You could see it in the signs the Sox Faithful held for us Expatriots relegated to watching our New England teams on only National TV broadcasts: WE BELIEVE!

When Nomar came back still stumbling, and when Theo & Co. traded him, I was as guilty as most in losing confidence in the Sox and their management. Yet, somewhere very deep inside I held on to a secret. I still kind of believed we could do it. And that if I didn't jinx it by daring to say so aloud, that we might even do it this year. After all, Sox management moves had greatly increased our chances…

Conceived months after the Red Sox won the World Series in 1918, my Dad's life spanned the almost 9 decades of “The Curse”. He is a BU Hall of Famer who was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 to compete for the second base slot against a kid named Jackie Robinson. When a fastball crushed his cheekbone and his major league prospects, he bounced back with a lifelong devotion to youth sports, and to the Boston Red Sox, and like all good New England fathers who could, he took us to the games often. He taught us how to keep box scores, to appreciate the rules and strategies and to enjoy family bonding and fan fun surrounding the event. So naturally, we too, Loved The Red Sox. Dad arranged perennial “Special Service” SRO ticket season passes for us to get into any Fenway regular season Game for, get this, 50¢!!!! That sure dates me! When then State Representative Dave Flynn took us to a game and asked my rapt 5 year old brother James what he liked about it, the response was: “There are no commercials!” When James got a few years older (after our family hosted TED WILLIAMS at our home in Bridgewater and gave Jimmy a batting lesson, ate all my sister Jean's baked cookies that were destined for cousin Richard Balboni in Vietnam, and allowed me the indelible memory of being his golf caddy), James sat next to his cousin, Steve Balboni, both saying how someday they'd like to play there. Steve, of course did, including for the Yankees and the then World Champion Kansas City Royals. When the '67 Sox beat the Twins for the American League pennant, I ran wildly about the Fenway field, and in the pandemonium I even climbed the backstop to get a close look at Curt Gowdy. I grabbed a handful of Fenway dirt and turf that I brought home and treasured for years. The jar might still be in the attic in our Bridgewater home. I could go on and on, about the hope and the heartbreak, and about my personal connection to the Sox Fan ethos and pathos, but I digress. The point is, that like so many New Englanders, I have an indelible connection deep in my soul to the Red Sox.

So here I was 51 years old, 37 years away from the gate crashing days of the 1967 Pennant Year, and at least weekly I had a recurring Sox fantasy: “How about if the Red Sox won the last 8 games of this year?” I tried to shake it, but it just kept coming back. I knew that it was akin to blasphemous to test “The Curse”, and I never wanted to go quite as far as making a Faustian Bargain to make the 8-straight finish come true. Nor, of course, did I dare to wrongfully test the Real #1. Haunted by dark pasts, I was almost convinced that even if I could make such Deal with the Devil, or even a Pact with The Splinter's current C.O., that I'd be played with: The Sox would stay in first or close behind in second in the division until mid-September, then they'd simply fall 8 1/2 games back during the regular season before winning the last 8. Great! Destined for Heartbroken Again. Every fiber in me wanted to change that attitude and the apparently associated results, but HOW?

The fantasies kept coming. And the Fenway signs kept flashing. And the conviction on the faces of the Sox Nation kept reaching me through the TV screen. And Veritek got in A-Rod's fancy face. And the signs at Fenway changed to WE STILL BELIEVE. And although I dared not utter it for fear of giving into a jinx, the fantasy of The Red Sox winning the last 8 straight AND IN SO DOING, WINNING THE ACLS AND THE WORLD SERIES, persisted and got even stronger, even as we fell out of reach of the Evil Empire for the AL lead at summer's end.

Something just plain kept lingering in the air. It wasn't by any means just me. The New Spirit of the Sox Nation was breaking through. Something turned deep inside of me. So as I tried to rationalize in my conscience my persistent naughty fantasy of 8 straight finishing wins, It finally really, really, really resonated within my core too: Why not Us? God Loves Sox Fans too. We Believe. Why not us? What's wrong with refusing to be 2 nd best any longer? We can be #1! Not just Curt Schilling who'd been there and done that, and not just the most fervent of fans. It spread to me too. And millions like me.

It finally occurred to me that my thinking and attitude about the Sox, like that of too many fellow fans over the recent century or so, was just plain wrong. Why did we think of the Sox achievements as those of “The Impossible Dream? Our Dreams Are Not Impossible! We were not destined for heartache. We can achieve whatever we can conceive and believe! Indeed, thanks to John Henry, Larry Lucchino, Theo Epstein, and the constant and concentrated support of the Sox Staff, Team and Nation, winning IT ALL had actually become quite probable!!!! And it will continue to be.

Sox Nation Fever permeated the players and the Sox Nation in the region and beyond. We knew, deep down inside, that we were “The Its' Possible Team”.

The Angels series showed us that. Our “Idiots” faltered against the Yanks, and it was somewhat agonizing to watch the games. I yelled plenty at the TV. And each and every play of every series I considered to be critical to the entire outcome. During the worst of times, I, for one (and these comments are on my real time audio taped narrations of the three series), repeatedly told all who would listen that “The Red Sox were just setting them up for the Greatest Comeback in the History of Sports!”

It couldn't have been any sweeter than to vanquish both the Yankees and our nemesis of 1967, the Cardinals. (OK, the Mets could have been a darn good foil too.) As the final out of the World Series was made, and I ran out howling to the RED MOON of The New Sox Destiny, IT HIT ME like a Ramirez line shot. I immediately got on the phone to some of my excellent friends and spontaneously conceived announced that we were going to do a TRIBUTE ALBUM to the Sox, and that, in order to help this new generation appreciate that anything is possible in this wonderful country of ours, that we would call it not the “Impossible Dream”, but rather: “The It's Possible Team”. (These pronouncements are also recorded on real time audio tapes.)

The project has been the epitome of our non-Quixotic Quest. Yes, we started and continued through the time of this writing during spring training on a wing and a prayer. This, time, though, we based our business plan on BELIEF and TEAMWORK, and a NEVER QUIT attitude. We always believed that if we did our best, that all manner of spiritual assistance and material help would come about the make it work. And, by God, it seems to be working!!!!

Almost everyone associated with this project has done so with no pay, or very little pay. I flat out abandoned my thriving energy efficient lighting business to shepard this project, and just kept at it until the force of it's goodness brought along all of good will who also believed.

We've been plenty idiots along the way, of course. Like when the studio computers crashed, causing us to lose most of our music before it was fully mixed and mastered. After I finished chewing Steve W. out for not backing things up, I proceeded to lose all of my data on my computer while trying to back it up! To Steven's credit he maintained the belief that the apparent setbacks would result in our doing a better job. Indeed, my sweetheart Thuy got me a new and much better MAC 5 computer, without which this project could never have been done, and 5 AM Deep, Grammy winner Samuelle, LAIV, and the other supporters redoubled their efforts to make the music even better and fresher than before, which it is. We hit some potential snags with song licensing issues, but got excellent legal help from Larry Roberts and Ken Kaufman of Skadden Arps, and Tom Dent, Jeff Brown and Jeff Sanders of Seyfarth & Shaw, LLP. And again the TIPT Team responded by making better music, and a far better marketing plan, always making Musical Lemonade for the Sox Nation from the giant Lemons that seemed to appear in front of us.

So what if we seemed less established and way different from the music industry at large. This is a new day. Like the 2004 Red Sox, we'd make our uniqueness an ally. And as Steve Jobs recommends, we would think differently.

Larry Bond, who is like a brother, made his biggest contributions as a different thinking and constant consultant. He was also the first to make a major cash investment in the venture, followed soon thereafter by more from my brother Bob, Debbie and Tom Dent and Thuy Vo. Bob, aka Mr. Slim, is the Greatest Friend that anyone could ever ask for. If one ever has to go to war, this is the guy you want by your side. And he is a creative genius. Dr. Walker, who had been monitoring progress from afar and intervening from time to time to help over rough sledding areas, came in strong as we needed him towards the end of production. The cast of supporters is immense, and by the time that this gets read by you, the calm I'm writing it in will have given way to a storm of activity around project implementation, and by then, I know so many more will have made huge contributions to the cause. You know who you are. I give my sincere apologies for not having mentioned you yet by name.

Our most fundamental supporters, of course, are our service men and women throughout the world, who are sacrificing to keep us safe and free. It is the least we could do to come up with a plan to get our music to them to enjoy. (Yankee fan troops, we'll see what we can do about shipping out earplugs for you!)

Grammy Winner Dan Carter, who along with his brother Tim, performed with no up-front payments, upon hearing of our plans for the troops immediately suggested that we go on tour to entertain them! Let's see what happens.

My biggest supporter, of course is the guy whose life spanned the 86 drought years, my Dad, Larry Folloni. I couldn't be more delighted that this project, the seeds of which you sowed in us, is coming to fruition in a way that will help your beloved school sports programs, and that will bring all of your kids back around the “Folloni Compound” in Hampton, N.H., for another productive, sports and fun related project for the public good!  

Mike, “Red Mooner” Folloni

March 6, 2005

March 7: Robert called to discuss difficulty getting copyright permissions. Suggested we try to find “Tavares” Tom Dent put us in touch with his law firm partner in New York , Joe Sanders, who knows Ted Weiss, partner of Monster Mash copyright administrator Joseph Serling. Joe will arrange an introduction.

March 8, 2005

I tracked down Ralph “T” Tavares in New Bedford , MA . Told him the story. He spoke with his Brother “Tiny” about the project. I sent off an email to copyright administrator for MM. My sister Debbie Dent responded to my Dad's emailed copy of a Don Shaughnessey column about a deceased Sutton H.S. Hoop Coach by saying that she lived in the same house as Dan in Georgetown during her 1 st year of law school! Tom & Debbie also urged us to get a packet together for investors so that we could afford the roll out of CD's we'll need to respond the great demand this great product will generate. James M. Walker moved CD jacket cover forward. Web site moving forward. Decision made to give hardcopy CD's to troops overseas.  

March 9,2005

Ralph T. called back to check whether or not we were supporting charity. He liked the troops support and the Save our School Sports Program. Said that the two of them would be interested!!! Gotta get a package out to him right away! Robert L. & Steve to work on mix. James on cover. Bob on Lyrics. We need publisher / writer clearance. I got the overnight package for the Tavares Brothers ready and out to the Airport Fedex 18 seconds before the 6:15 deadline. This is a game of inches and long blasts.

March 10, 2005

I moved to create this album because I wanted to emphasize some of the right messages that the 2004 Red Sox sent to young Red Sox Fans of all ages – Keep Faith, Don't Ever Quit, Have Fun, etc.

I heard it said this week that it is when one presses oneself to do more and to be more than one thought that s/he could ever be, that one finds out who they really are. This “TIPT” ( T he I t's P ossible T eam) journey has taught many of those involved just how true this is.

Story behind the making of song, “ The It's Possible Team ” : We originally made a take-off on the old classic “ The Impossible Dream ” from the story “The Man of La Mancha” (Don Quixote, the conquistador who went a little bonkers and started trying to slay giant windmills!). Now as a parody of an original work, we believe that relatively recent US Supreme Court rulings show that our song clearly had a “fair usage exemption” from copyright permission (and royalty payment) requirements. Nonetheless, out of respect for the old classic, and as a courtesy to it's publishers, we extended an offer to enter into discussions with them, to see if we could come to some reasonable cooperative commercial agreement. The music publisher's representative, however, from NEW YORK CITY , took pains to call and write us several times to threaten to sue us if we used his work. Oh yeah, he did, in an earlier conversation say that they weren't interested in supporting the charitable causes we're sponsoring, but that for $150,000., (plus royalties) he'd consider licensing it. Well we couldn't well do without a song to tell the musical story that I wanted to tell from the beginning, so I got together with my partner Steve Walker of 5am Deep Records and SAMUELLE, and we said to heck with these N.Y. Publishers. They don't believe in us any more than the Yankees respected the Red Sox by the end of Game 3 of the 04 ACL Series. We'd find another, BETTER way to get the music done, and let those publisher's reps (and the publishers they represent) pound sand over missing out on the great royalties that we would have graciously offered. Thus a double meaning in TIPT with the chorus “And a Message was sent.” And, even more to the point: “No more Don Quixotes, chasing empty dreams”.

We didn't much like our original version anyway, that's why we brought LAIV & HIP in to liven things up in the middle of it. They did such a fabulous job, that when we scrapped our parody in favor of our new original song, we transferred their original riffs right into the heart of it!