Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein and legendary sportswriter Peter Gammons have been teaming up for the profitable Hot Stove Cool Music series for nearly a decade now. Monday night’s VIP party before the Counting Crows show at the Bank of America Pavilion is just the latest event for the worthy cause.
The concert series and CD releases, featuring such acts as Bill Janovitz and Kay Hanley, also have showcased Gammons and Epstein on guitar, as well as former Red Sox players Johnny Damon, Lenny DiNardo and Bronson Arroyo. Even Tim Wakefield has been a front man from time to time.
Will any other Red Sox or Red Sox-adjacent personalities be willing to jump into the mix for the next go-round?
Perhaps Red Sox principal owner John Henry would like to give it a whirl. While Henry may not seem to be the most likely candidate to perform on stage, it wouldn't be a first for him. Fans who've read Seth Mnookin's Feeding the Monster, an exploration of the building of the 2004 Red Sox championship team, know that Henry, in college, played in a progressive rock band called Elysian Fields.
The band’s main focus was a rock opera based on aliens from the Cassiopeia constellation. Band members also shaved their eyebrows to appear more in character.
With this kind of musical background, how long before Henry returns to his roots and jumps on stage to jam with Gammons, Epstein and a warbling Wakefield?
Surely, Epstein's Foundation to be Named Later — which benefits disadvantaged children and their families and is the beneficiary of Hot Stove Cool Music's proceeds — would appreciate the act.
And we know Red Sox fans would get a kick out of it.