Lake Street Dive w/ The Lone Bellow - Wolf Trap, 6/16/2016

Row AAA, Seat 1 (front row of the pit, all the way over to the left)

Folks, it doesn’t get any better than this. Their tour isn’t over, so planning a trip to coincide with one of their upcoming dates wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. It would be tempting to characterize them as a largely undiscovered treasure, but they did draw a nice crowd (although well short of capacity) to Wolf Trap and sold out the 9:30 Club a couple of years ago.

Figuring out a genre into which to fit the quartet isn’t an easy task. Their Allmusic.com bio at one point describes it as a “bright, fresh, charming, and exploratory version of jazzy pop/rock, full of hooks and plenty of R&B and soul flavors, with a big dose of the Beatles and British Invasion bands.” The instrumentation is certainly a little unusual, with percussionist Michael Calabrese (who came up with an unbelievable drum solo midway through their set), enthusiastic upright bassist Bridget Kearney, and Mike “McDuck” Olsen, who alternates between guitar and trumpet (sometimes within the same song). Vocals are the group’s trademark, however – Rachael Price (who’s recorded a couple straight jazz albums) has a combination of chops and stage presence that few can match today, and the others contribute harmonies on most of their material.

During their 100-minute set they got to almost all of the tracks from their recent Side Pony album, most notably “Godawful Things” (which opened the show), the equally rousing “Hell Yeah”, and a poignant rendition of “So Long” that they dedicated to Prince. Other highlights included a great mid-set cover of “Lola” (for which they brought out opening act The Lone Bellow), “Bad Self Portraits” (the title track from their previous CD), and a magnificent you-had-to-be-there version of “Bohemian Rhapsody” to end the evening. I have no problem giving the show a 10; had they squeezed in my personal favorite “Use Me Up”, I guess I would have had to go to 10.5.

To get a better idea of the group’s sound, check out any or all of the following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EPwRdVg5Ug (I Want You Back – the video that went viral on YouTube)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNCwoT96lZU (Use Me Up)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRgvrEmwxJ4 (Godawful Things)

The Lone Bellow, also favorites in XpnWorld, fully deserved their one-hour opening slot. More in a folk/Americana vein than LSD, and with more conventional instrumentation, they also emphasized great vocals, whether on rockers like “Green Eyes And A Heart Of Gold”, the classic “You Never Need Nobody”, or acoustic single-mic ballads such as “Watch Over Us.”

Setlist

Colorful politics in Washington DC

Say what you want about Washington’s government, bureaucrats, or traffic jams, but you can’t deny that their politics at least have a bit of style.

 

Tuesday’s D.C. Council elections saw victories by (Vincent) Gray, (Trayon) White, and (Robert) White. The latter defeated incumbent (Vincent) Orange.

 

All of which should certainly fuel some speculation that the “White people” are on their way to taking back control of Chocolate City.   ;-)

Jackson Browne – Wolf Trap, 6/14/2016

Row K, Seats 64-65 (right hand section)

 

Despite the audience being somewhat subdued during much of the show (a perennial Wolf Trap headache), Jackson and his bandmates put on a great show, taking the stage shortly after 8:00 and not leaving until they were close to the 11:00 curfew, with one brief intermission. They started off, appropriately enough, with “Doctor My Eyes” (his first hit single), and then proceeded to mix crowd-pleasers such as “For Everyman” and “These Days” with some newer and/or lesser-known material. I was especially happy that they got to a number of my favorites in both sets: “Fountain Of Sorrow” near the beginning, “Sky Blue And Black” to close the first set, a moving version of “For A Dancer”, and “In The Shape Of A Heart” near the end. The crowd was polite throughout and generous with its applause, but it didn’t really come to its feet until “Boulevard” (with a subtle nudge from Jackson) and then “Running On Empty” to close the second set; somehow almost everyone managed to stay seated during both a kick-ass version of “Redneck Friend” (a crowd request) and the penultimate “The Pretender”. The high point of the evening was probably the enthusiastic crowd sing-along to “Take It Easy”, which was the first encore. (However, the funniest moment for me was when someone in the crowd yelled out his desire to hear “Lawyers In Love”, at which someone sitting in our row responded with a vociferous “No!”)

 

And as a bonus, walking through the parking lot on my way in, I ran into a couple old friends from Westat, whom I had been hoping to see (but missed) at the company picnic two days earlier.

 

Band -- Val McCallum (guitar), Mauricio Lewak (Drums), Jeff Young (keyboards), Bob Glaub (bass), Alethea Mills (Vocals) and multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz (guitar, lap steel, pedal steel)

 

Setlist

June 13, 2016 – Nationals 4, Cubs 1 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/183910758/scherzer-turns-in-dominant-start-vs-cubs

 

Attendance: 37,187

Game Time: 2:44

Weather: 80 degrees, partly cloudy

Wind: 6 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Dan Iassogna, First Base - Dale Scott, Second Base - Bob Davidson, Third Base - Lance Barrett

 

Highlights – led by Max Scherzer’s 7 dominant innings, Nats pitchers retired 27 of 29 Cubs (2 hits, 0 walks, 16 Ks) … Scherzer fanned 9 of the first 10 batters … Nats drew first blood in the bottom of the third on a one-out Werth walk followed by a Harper single, on which Werth headed for third and scored when Fowler’s throw got past Kris Bryant … after the Cubs briefly tied it with an Addison Russell HR in the top of the sixth, the Nats answered back with 3 in the bottom of the inning, starting with a Wilson Ramos leadoff homer that went off Jason Heyward’s glove directly to Sammy Solis in the Nats’ bullpen

 

Other – perfect day for baseball … smooth Metro trip down, wandered around the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail and ate at TaKorean for the first time this season

#121 Ramblin’ Rose – Nat King Cole (1962)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mae_NJ_12sc

 

Obviously I don’t need to explain the rationale for this one. Until I started the blog, however, my favorite by Nat King Cole was actually “Looking Back” (1958), which is still pretty great in its own right.

#120 It’s Not Unusual – Tom Jones (1965)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yca2BCwAnBQ

 

This is another one that’s really grown on me over the years. The Nats started playing it some a few years ago at random times, such as during mid-inning pitching changes, and the crowd always had a great reaction, which made me think that it would be a good choice for the seventh-inning stretch. Someone must have agreed, since it’s been turning up in that position on a regular basis during the past two seasons.

June 11, 2016 – Nationals 8, Phillies 0 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/183449438/tanner-roark-leads-nationals-over-phillies

 

Attendance: 38,044

Game Time: 2:56

Weather: 84 degrees, partly cloudy

Wind: 5 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Tripp Gibson, First Base - Jerry Layne, Second Base - Scott Barry, Third Base - Gabe Morales

Seventh-inning stretch song: Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson f/ Bruno Mars

 

Section 129, Row PP, Seats 1-2 – lower level, just inside first base, far enough back towards the concourse that we were in the shade for the first 3 innings or so

 

Highlights – Tanner Roark tossed 7 scoreless innings on an extremely hot day, pitching out of a couple early-inning jams … Nats got more than enough runs with a 4-spot in the bottom of the 2^nd off Aaron Nola, and added 4 more off the Phillies’ bullpen (with the biggest blow being a two-run double by Rendon in the fifth)

 

Other – Nola uncharacteristically struggled with his command, and didn’t make it through the 4^th inning … Phils started off the second with a single and double, then failed to score when the next 3 batters fanned … Tommy Joseph, who’s relatively new to first base, prolonged the fatal second inning by trying unsuccessfully to make the play at home on Roark’s sac bunt, rather than taking the sure out at first … leaving early (9:45) was again the trick to minimizing GW Parkway traffic … the grilled chicken peri-peri sandwich from Change-Up Chicken was good, but certainly didn’t pack much heat … appearance of the lemon ice vendor halfway through the game was greatly appreciated