As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Saturday, May 17, 2014

May 16, 2014 – Nationals 5, Mets 2 – Nationals Park



Umpires: HP: Dana DeMuth. 1B: Ed Hickox. 2B: Jon Byrne. 3B: Lance Barrett.
Weather: 67 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 6 mph, In from LF.
T: 3:08.
Att: 34,413.

Section 107, Row FF, Seats 11-12 – our “home away from home” for several bobblehead games (same row as the April 27 Padres game)

One of the Nats’ biggest problems so far this season has been falling behind early, especially in the first inning. (Comeback victories are nice, but it’s even nicer not to have so many early deficits to overcome.) Friday night was a welcome exception, as Tanner Roark retired the visitors with relative ease in the top of the first, while the Nats combined some timely hitting with Mets defensive miscues to put up three runs in the bottom of the frame. They added to their lead two innings later, with three hits (Ramos, Hairston, and Moore) and two more runs.

Roark pitched effectively through the first 4 innings, never allowing a runner to advance beyond first base. However, his pitch count was climbing rapidly, as the Mets seemed determined to wait him out. (The first time through the order, not a single New York batter swung at the first pitch, although 8 of the 9 were strikes.) The visitors finally caught up with him in the fifth, scoring two runs and waking up the bullpen before Roark retired David Wright with two out and two on to end it.

Ross Detweiler replaced Roark in the sixth and retired the 3 (lefthanded) hitters he faced, and Storen turned in an efficient seventh. Clippard allowed a single to the first batter he faced and a two-out walk to Bobby Abreu, but escaped without damage. There was a little more excitement in the ninth, as Soriano began by allowing a deep fly ball from the light-hitting Anthony Recker that Span turned into an out. With Tejada at the plate, a fan ran onto the field (first one I can remember at Nats Park) and made it almost all the way around the bases before being corralled by security. Soriano got Tejada out, but then proceeded to walk two more weak hitters, Juan Lagares (on 4 pitches) and Eric Young Jr., bringing one of the Mets best hitters (Daniel Murphy) to the plate as the tying run. Murphy drilled Soriano’s first pitch deep to right, but Jayson Werth made a leaping catch to end the game.

Traffic on the way there was the usual rush-hour mess, but we made it down in about an hour. Decided to go with the Cincinnati chili bowl from Hard Times, a relative bargain at $7.00. Weather was relatively comfortable, although much to everyone’s surprise we started to get some light rain in the 8th inning.

In a minor highlight, former Phil Greg Dobbs got a pinch single in his first Nats’ at-bat.

The Fan of the Game contest produced a mild upset (since a kid almost always wins), with the loudest applause going to a guy sitting near us sporting a cap with buffalo horns (presumably to match the Wilson Ramos bobblehead giveaway).

Friday, May 16, 2014

#59 Stray Cat Strut -- Stray Cats (1983)



The Stray Cats were one of my favorites of the early 1980s – actually saw them live up in Baltimore back in the day, with local power popster Tommy Keane opening.

#60 4th Of July – X (1987)



Dave Alvin, formerly of The Blasters, was only with X for a year or so, but this song of his is one of the band’s best ever, featuring much more of a roots-rock sound that was typical for the group. I try to listen to this one every Independence Day.

#61 The Carnival Is Over -- The Seekers (1965)



Like “Substitute”, I heard this one for the first time on WKBO’s Sunday night British Invasion show – not surprising, since it hit #1 in the UK but missed the Top 100 entirely over here. It’s a slow, stately ballad, unlike such Seekers hits as “I’ll Never Find Another You” and “Georgy Girl”, but hauntingly beautiful. There’s a great blog post in The Guardian talking about the impact of the song in the group’s native Australia.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

May 13, 2014 – Hagerstown Suns 3, Kannapolis Intimidators 1 – Municipal Stadium (Hagerstown)



Umpires: HP: Randy Rosenberg. 1B: Brad Polk.
Weather: 71 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 4 mph, R to L.
T: 2:21.
Att: 1,280.

Section 3, Row K, Seat 1 – It was Eats 4 Seats Tuesday, so by bringing a nonperishable food item (2 cans of corn in my case, which seemed fitting for a baseball game), I was able to get a general admission ticket for the bargain price of $4.00. Since it promised to be a hot day (it topped 90 in DC), I joined almost everybody else in sitting in the covered grandstand behind home plate. Grabbed an aisle seat in the section directly behind home plate, with a great view despite being one row from the top.

Hagerstown schedules very few day games – even their Sunday games don’t start until 5:05 – so it was good to get to this one which started at 10:35 am, probably the earliest professional baseball game I have ever attended. Quite a few cars in the parking lot when I arrived (plus school buses, since it was also “Education Day”). The ticket purchase line was short but extremely slow. No free programs (unlike Bowie and Frederick), but the programs did come with printed sheets that included up-to-date stats, rosters, and lineups. Eats were pretty cheap as well – wound up getting a $3 bottle of Pepsi (20 oz.) and a decent $6 pulled pork sandwich.

The game itself was a briskly-moving pitchers duel between Kannapolis’s Jake Sanchez and Nats #8 prospect Jake Johansen. Kannapolis plated a run in the top of the first, but Hagerstown tied it in the fourth on a homer by aptly-named catcher Spencer Kieboom, and went ahead two innings later when Sanchez threw past first base on an infield single by Suns first baseman Jimmy Yezzo, allowing DH John Wooten to score from second. The Suns added an insurance run in the eighth on doubles by Wooten and Yezzo.

The win pushed Hagerstown’s record to 29-8 (eat your heart out Nats). Many of the players (as well as the manager) moved up from last year’s Gulf Coast League team, which finished with a ridiculous 49-9 record.

Tall pitchers department -- the Suns have 3 right-handed pitchers listed at 6-6: Johansen, Ryan Ullman (who pitched innings 6-8 and got the win on Tuesday), and top prospect Lucas Giolito.

Managerial trivia – Suns manager Patrick Anderson grew up in Silver Spring and attended Paint Branch High School. The Intimidators are managed by Pete Rose Jr.

Shuffle #2 (May 15, 2014)


The Bottle – Gil Scott-Heron
Rock Skippin’ – Jim Hall
Come A Long Way – Michelle Shocked
Tell It Like It Is – Aaron Neville
Massachusetts – Bee Gees
Johnny Hold Back – Charlie
Lonesome Traveler – Joe & Eddie
Things We Said Today – The Beatles
Have You Ever Had It Blue – The Style Council
Lonesome Town – Ricky Nelson
Thieves in the Temple – Prince
Guess Things Happen That Way – Johnny Cash
All Day Music – War
California Girls – The Beach Boys
Having A Party – Sam Cooke