Zolz Entertainment

ZOLZ "IN THE NEWS"

From the Poughkeepsie Journal:

Angry player stops game - By Ken McMillan

One evening, 1995 veteran Nate Vopata actually called time-out in the batter’s box, turned to Zolzer in the PA booth and gave a cutting motion across his throat, demanding a certain song be cut off. He is also the same player who ‘‘aged’’ Zolzer with a request. ‘‘He came up to me with a straight face and said, ‘Zolz, I need some of that old school music, like Earth, Wind and Fire and the Gap Band,’’ Zolzer recalled. ‘‘Those two bands were like my favorite bands in high school and college. The one thing he said that crippled me was, ‘My mom and dad had them on 8-track.’ I pretty much wanted to jump off the back deck because now I am associated with old school.’’

Old-school music is not the usual request of players, although current outfielder Chad Hill has asked for ‘‘Let’s Get it On’’ by Marvin Gaye. No, today’s players want brief cuts from DMX, Bone Thugs N’ Harmony and Marilyn Manson. ‘‘No, that’s just not going to happen,’’ Zolzer tells them. ‘‘If it’s a ‘B’ side of a song, I can’t do it,’’ Zolzer said. ‘‘If it’s an underground rap song, I can’t do it.’’ ‘‘If it’s something that is noticeable and people will identify (the song) as controversial, we won’t do it,’’ VanDeWater said. Zolzer and VanDeWater agree on another thing: Pitchers tend to request hard rocking songs while hitters tend to select more Top 40 hits.

Reid Ryan, of the 1994 team, requested ‘‘Hell’s Bells’’ from AC/DC. Teammate Bucky Buckles liked ‘‘Enter Sandman’’ from Metallica and ‘‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’’ from Def Leppard. This season, Justin Schuda has selected Pink Floyd’s ‘‘Another Brick in the Wall,’’ and Adam Bonner has asked for the Chipper Jones welcome from Ozzy. Zolzer’s all-time favorite ‘‘name’’ player — catcher Kenn Wakakuwa — was heralded with the Hawaii 5-0 theme song (composed by Morton Stevens) before he decided to retire early in the season. ‘‘I was distraught for a week,’’ Zolzer said. ‘‘It was the greatest name I ever had. I was going to pay his rent the rest of the year just to get him to stay so I can keep saying his name.’’

VanDeWater listed some of his most requested player songs as ‘‘Getting Jiggy With It’’ by Will Smith; ‘‘Back in Black’’ by AC/DC; ‘‘Bulls on Parade’’ by Rage Against the Machine; the theme song to ‘‘Shaft’’; and, ‘‘Welcome to the Jungle’’ by Guns N’ Roses. The Latin players get a free pass from Zolzer. ‘‘They give me CDs and tell me to play cut two,’’ he said. ‘‘They could be playing ‘Kill all the kittens and stomp on their heads.’ I have no idea because they are singing in Spanish.’’

Since baseball players are a very superstitious lot, oftentimes a hitter in a slump will request a change of songs. ‘‘For whatever reason, they aren’t supposed to be listening but they do hear and they know what’s going on,’’ VanDeWater said. ‘‘A couple of the fellas, if they go 0-for-8 (at the plate), the next night they will be switching their songs.’’