#73 Beyond the Sea -- Bobby Darin (1960)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8OlDPqYBLw

Great swingin’ summer song, which also provided the title for Kevin Spacey’s 2004 Darin biopic. The movie wasn’t a bad effort, but had the misfortune of opening just a few months after Ray (better movie, more influential musical figure), which probably contributed to its grossing only around $8M worldwide (according to IMDb).

 

#74 Satellite – Guster (2006)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekt6PELAcEg

The first time I heard Guster live was several years ago at WXPN’s XpoNential Music Festival, held every July right across the Delaware River from downtown Philly. They were the final act Sunday night, but there was a thunderstorm earlier in the evening, so I adjourned to my hotel and listened to the remainder of the show on the radio. Suitably impressed, I picked up one of their CDs, and several more later.

I did actually see them on October 23, 2010, a date which for other reasons will live in infamy. (The Phils lost the deciding game of the National League Championship Series to San Francisco.) The band came on stage at DAR Constitution Hall to the strains of “Hail to the Chief” (which I thought was cute, given the venue), and everyone naturally stood up. I was a little surprised that nearly everyone remained standing after that, for pretty much the entire show. Same thing (without the fanfare) when I later saw them at Wolf Trap.

They’ve done a lot of great stuff over the years – it was tough to choose between “Satellite”, “Careful”, “Amsterdam”, and “One Man Wrecking Machine” (which was apparently used in the movie Disturbia).

April 10, 2014 – Nationals 7, Marlins 1 – Nationals Park

Nats continue to bully the meek

Umpires: HP: Toby Basner. 1B: D.J. Reyburn. 2B: Jeff Kellogg. 3B: Dan Bellino.

Weather: 67 degrees, sunny.

Wind: 6 mph, Out to LF.

T: 2:53.

Att: 20,869.

Odd 4:05 starting time, small crowd, great weather. The afternoon did not start auspiciously when I was unable to find parking in the “west” parking lot at the Shady Grove Metro station. (Buzzed the parking attendant so I could at least exit without having to pay.) After some agonizing, I finally decided to park in the large Rockville Town Square garage (“Garage A”) off 355 and walk to the Rockville Metro station. This turned out pretty well – I still got to the park around 3:30, and did remember to get off at Rockville on my way home. Was originally planning to grab a couple of the wonderful tacos from the Taqueria sometime mid-game, but wound up just getting a slice of pizza in order to miss as little of the game as possible. (After having a Curly W pretzel earlier, I decided that if the Nats had a special container that fans could use all season to recycle excess pretzel salt, the District might have enough to keep their roads passable all next winter.)

The game did not start out all that well, either. Christian Yelich led off for the Marlins by lining a single to center off Strasburg, and promptly stole second. Sandy Leon’s throw went into center field, and after McLouth overran it Yelich took an extra base – runner on third, no outs. Fortunately, the #2 batter hit a comebacker right to Strasburg. Not clear whether Yelich thought it was going through or believed that the Nats would just concede the run, but he broke for the plate and had no chance in the ensuing rundown, which basically ended the threat.

The Nats didn’t break through until the third inning. Marlins starter Tom Koehler temporarily lost the plate with two out, walking Rendon and falling behind 3-0 to Jayson Werth. Werth got the 3-0 green light and didn’t miss the cripple, giving Washington a 2-0 lead.

Both Strasburg and Koehler put up goose eggs for the middle three innings. The Nats threatened in the fourth – Harper led off with a single, and went all the way from first to third on a hit-and-run ground out to second by Desmond, but Leon and Strasburg took called third strikes to end the inning.

Meanwhile, Strasburg was masterful, fanning a total of 12 Marlins. He finally ran into some trouble in the seventh – Marcell Osuna hit a solo homer with one out, and a two-out walk to normally inoffensive Marlins catcher Jeff Mathis ended his afternoon.

The Nats bullpen, which has struggled at times during the year, came up big today in the tense 2-1 game. Jerry Blevins retired pinch-hitter Reed Johnson to end the seventh, then fanned Yelich and Derek Dietrich to start the eighth. Rookie Aaron Barrett was then called on to face the righthanded-hitting and always dangerous Giancarlo Stanton. With the Marlins one big swing away from tying the game, Barrett struck out Stanton to end the inning.

The tension was mounting as Soriano started to warm in the bullpen, which did not seem to fill several fans in Section 416 with a high degree of confidence. Fortunately, Miami turned to the recently-recalled (and wonderfully named) Arquimedes Caminaro to pitch the bottom of the eighth. With Rendon (leadoff double) on third and Werth (single and stolen base) on second with one out, Caminaro proceeded to walk pinch-hitter Kevin Frandsen and Bryce Harper on 4 pitches each, forcing in a run. After a mound visit by the Marlins’ pitching coach, Caminaro did blow a fastball by Desmond, followed by a second one that he took for a ball. The third pitch proved to be the charm, as Desmond knocked it out to center for the Nats’ second slam in as many games.

Soriano’s 2 Ks in the ninth brought the whiff total to 17 for the game, which tied a Nats record for a nine-inning contest.

What Buzz Band at the Lab School, 4/5/2014

The pride and joy of Westat and Ijamsville, What Buzz Band, came out of winter hibernation recently to play their annual benefit for the Lab School of Washington. There was a nice crowd, and apparently a good time was had by all. For some reason the atmosphere and setup, with the dance area directly in front of the stage, reminded me of summer evening shows at Rockville Town Square (minus the need to bring your own chairs).

The band’s two sets featured a few Tim Kirkner originals (“Paris Portal”, “Save Me Too”), plus a lot of well-chosen covers. Springsteen’s “Atlantic City” got things off on the right foot, followed by versions of classics by such luminaries as Al Green (“Take Me to the River”), Aretha Franklin (“Chain of Fools”), Bob Dylan (“Things Have Changed”), and Bill Withers (“Use Me”). Other highlights included Steely Dan’s “Black Friday”, which filled the dance floor, “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding” (which ended the first set on a high note), “Congo Square”, and the penultimate “Fever”.

WBB has promised another appearance sometime this summer – keep an eye on their site (or better yet join their mailing list) for details.

Keb’ Mo’ at Strathmore, 4/3/2014

Along with Casey Wasner on percussion and Tom Shinness on various string things (including a harp guitar), Keb’ Mo’ brought his acoustic tour to the Music Center at Strathmore this past Thursday evening. Another great show for Keb’ (we had seen him at the same venue a few years earlier), featuring such classics as “Rita”, “Soon As I Get Paid”, “Suitcase”, and “Shave Yo’ Legs”, as well as cuts from his upcoming BLUESAmericana album, including “The Worst Is Yet to Come” and the instant classic “The Old Me Better”. We had excellent aisle seats (115-116 in Row K), with the added bonus of no inordinately tall people right in front of us.

April 6, 2014 – Nationals 2, Braves 1 – Nationals Park

Nats get desperately-needed win

Weather: 50 degrees, sunny.

Wind: 7 mph, Out to LF.

T: 2:44.

Att: 34,327.

Umpires: HP: Doug Eddings. 1B: Marvin Hudson. 2B: Cory Blaser. 3B: Jim Joyce.

Section 416, Row C, Seat 1 (in our regular seats for the first time)

First “normal” trip to Nats Park, following the rained-out exhibition game vs. the Tigers and the home opener on Friday the 4^th. The drive down was uneventful and took the predictable 35 minutes, with the former “HH” lot off South Capitol St. under the freeway still in operation and still $10. (The lot was originally operated by the Nationals, but taken over by a different operator starting last year.) Walked down to Subway and, instead of my usual roast beef, picked up the “$5 Footlong of the Month” (Turkey Breast and Black Forest Ham). Sunny, but colder than I had expected – really wished I had brought gloves (for warmth, not for catching foul balls).

Our friend Jeff was back, heckling the umpires and leading a couple of Charges. Don’t think he made his traditional announcement of the elapsed time of the National Anthem, however.

No line for the men’s room today, but there was a fairly long line for pretzel bites – naturally, there is no eCash express line at the Pretzel stand. Was happy that the Nats featured a video montage to Pharrell Williams’s “Happy” in the middle of the sixth and again in the middle of the eighth. (Would make a great postgame victory song as well …)

By Sunday, the euphoria generated by the season-opening sweep of the Mets had pretty much vanished. The two losses to the Braves featured almost no Nats offense, a shaky Strasburg start on Saturday, and a “lost at the plate” Bryce Harper. Worse, Zim’s sore shoulder and throwing woes had resurfaced, contributing to the Saturday loss and keeping him out of the Sunday game. Topping things off, Hairston went on the DL with a strained oblique.

Sunday turned out to be another pitcher’s duel, mirroring the Friday game. Nats scratched out a run in the top of first on a Rendon bunt single, a single by Kevin Frandsen (starting in LF for the first time in seven years), and a Dan Uggla throwing error, but their offense was silent against Alex Wood for the next 5 innings. Meanwhile, Taylor Jordan pitched an excellent game against the Braves, throwing groundballs all over the place, getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the 4^th and allowing only one run in the 6^th after the inning started with Braves on second and third with no outs. First base ump Marvin Hudson was in the middle of close calls all day – Williams challenged his out call on Desmond in the bottom of the first, but Hudson’s ruling was upheld on replay.

The Nats took the lead for good leading off the bottom of the seventh, when Wood served up a hittable first-pitch fastball to exactly the wrong guy, and Desmond deposited it deep into the left-field stands. Blevins and Clippard took care of the Braves in the eighth. Things got a little uncomfortable in the bottom of the ninth with consecutive two-out infield singles, but Soriano finally fanned Heyward to send most of the crowd home happy.