Favorite Musical Artists: Del Amitri

I did a rather lengthy write-up of this wonderful, if relatively little-known, Scottish band previously, so I won’t repeat it here. (They’re also pretty great live.) Going back and listening to some of their material again, I was struck by the endings of several of their songs. “Be My Downfall” keeps the suspense going throughout the song – will he stay or will he go? “Always The Last To Know” contains a surprise twist at the end, while “Nothing Ever Happens” features, almost as a throwaway, an ominous pair of lines that not only re-color the rest of the song but remain relevant 30 years later. They also have an endearing habit of tossing in British expressions (car park, chat show, matchlight) that are seldom heard on this side of the pond.

 

Favorite songs:

Driving With The Brakes On 

Always The Last To Know

Be My Downfall

Roll To Me

In The Frame
 

Some Other Sucker's Parade

Nothing Ever Happens

Before The Evening Steals The Afternoon

Kiss This Thing Goodbye

Not Where It's At
 

Spit In The Rain

Sleep Instead Of Teardrops

Move Away Jimmy Blue

When You Were Young

Just Before You Leave
 

The First Rule Of Love

Out Falls The Past

Hatful Of Rain

In The Meantime

Long Journey Home

Democrats’ policy plans would probably mean tax hikes for the middle class

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/03/28/democrats-policy-proposals-likely-require-tax-hikes-middle-class/?utm_term=.63460e24695d

 

Check out the Jeffrey Sachs comments. Only a matter of time before “Democrats think higher taxes make you happier” shows up in Republican campaign ads …

Not a Russian agent, just a Russian stooge

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-may-not-be-a-russian-agent-hes-just-a-russian-stooge/2019/03/28/a9c2a2f4-5183-11e9-88a1-ed346f0ec94f_story.html?utm_term=.83b88af7e149

 

Columnist Michael Gerson on Trump: “Perhaps behind the compulsive, simplistic, narcissistic exterior, there is a compulsive, simplistic, narcissistic interior.”

Ranking Roger

https://variety.com/2019/music/news/ranking-roger-english-beat-general-public-dies-dead-1203173371/

 

Born Roger Charlery, he was a vocalist and toaster for two of the leading “two-tone” bands of the late 1970s and early 80s (The English Beat and General Public), which came up with two of my all-time favorite songs (“I Confess” and “Tenderness”, respectively).

March 28, 2019 – Mets 2, Nats 0 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/mets-vs-nationals/2019/03/28/565895#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=wrap,game=565895

 

Weather: 56 degrees, Partly Cloudy.

Wind: 3 mph, R to L.

Umpires: HP--Miller, 1B--Eddings, 2B--Torres, 3B--Conroy.

Time: 2:44

Attendance: 42,263

 

Section 112, Row TT, Seats 14-15 – lower level, somewhat beyond 3B, near the top of the section.

 

Although Scherzer was dominating for most of his 7.2-inning performance, allowing only 2 hits and fanning 12, the Nationals failed to take advantage of their opportunities against Jacob deGrom, and managed only one baserunner in the final 3 innings against the New York bullpen. 2018 Cy Young winner deGrom and runner-up Scherzer did make some history by becoming only the second pair of opposing pitchers to each notch double-digit strikeouts on Opening Day.

 

In a game where every run was likely to be precious, Max fanned the first two Mets he faced, but missed his spot on a changeup to Robinson Cano, who knocked it into the seats in left-center. Over the next 6 innings, however, he allowed only 3 more baserunners, none of whom got as far as second base. With the Nats still trailing by a run, Martinez raised some eyebrows by allowing him to hit for himself with two out and none on in the bottom of the seventh, his pitch count into the 90s. In the top of the 8^th, he sandwiched a walk to Dominic Smith between two more Ks, which proved costly when Justin Miller and Matt Grace allowed consecutive singles to Pete Alonso and Cano, respectively, to score what proved to be the final run of the afternoon.

 

The Nats had some bad luck in the bottom of the first, when Zimmerman lined a shot right at the third baseman with 2 on and 2 out. Two innings later, they had their best scoring chance of the afternoon when Victor Robles led off with a double and went to third on a single by Eaton. Turner, who had singled and stolen second two innings earlier, fanned on a high fastball. Rendon hit a relatively slow grounder to third, but Robles was indecisive on the basepaths, getting caught between third and home to retire the side after the Mets got the force at second.

 

Washington’s final chance came in the bottom of the 6^th. Turner got his second single of the game and reached third via two steals with one out, but Soto fanned and Zim flied out to right.

 

Our Metro trips were uneventful, albeit packed, in both directions. Armed with coupons, we descended upon the nearby Subway, which proved prescient given the lengthy and slow-moving concession lines inside the park.

Scott Walker

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/experimental-singer-songwriter-scott-walker-dies-at-76-812694/

 

I can’t say I know anything about Scott Walker’s days as an “experimental” musician, who was apparently a major influence on Radiohead and presumably others. I do remember him as the lead singer of the Walker Brothers, who were neither related nor born with the surname Walker. As Wikipedia notes, “they provided a unique counterpoint to the British Invasion by achieving much more success in the United Kingdom than in their home country, a period when the popularity of British bands such as The Beatles dominated the U.S. charts.” Nevertheless, the managed to release three singles (“Make It Easy On Yourself”, “My Ship Is Coming In”, and “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)”) that rivaled the best blue-eyed soul that the Righteous Brothers (or anyone else) could come up with.

March 25, 2019 – Nats 5, Yankees 3 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/yankees-vs-nationals/2019/03/25/568441#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=568441

 

Attendance: 22,735

Game Time: 2:50

Weather: 59 degrees, Cloudy.

Wind: 11 mph, In From RF.

 

Section 306, Row D, Seats 3-4 – out just beyond 3B

 

In their annual final exhibition at Nationals Park before the real season starts, the Nationals fielded a reasonable approximation of their regular lineup and came away with a 5-3 victory. They never trailed in the game, starting off quickly in the bottom of the first on a one-out Turner single and a two-out Rendon homer, his 5^th of the spring. They loaded the bases with none out in the 4^th, scoring runs on a Suzuki sac fly and a Dozier single. Matt Adams homered two innings later to complete the Washington scoring, just before Martinez gave most of his starters the rest of the day off.

 

Anibal Sanchez turned in a relatively uneventful outing for the Nats, giving up a Troy Tulowitzki homer in the 3^rd and walking the leadoff hitter in the 6^th. Comeback kid Aaron Barrett relieved Sanchez with one out and allowed the inherited runner to score on a Greg Bird double. Barraclough, Rosenthal, Grace, and Doolittle finished up, with the visitors notching one more run in the 8^th.

 

As usual, the non-baseball side of the operation had numerous kinks to work out prior to Opening Day. Most of the concession stands were open, but numerous menu items were not available. At least one stand experienced a computer systems outage, and my eCash couldn’t be read off my phone when I went to get pizza. The scoreboard operator had quite a bit of difficulty keeping up with New York’s defensive substitutions. On the brighter side, my Nats Park Lanyard Radio worked like a champ to bring in the play-by-play from 106.7.

 

Perhaps as many as half of the 22,000 fans came disguised as empty seats. The good news weather-wise was that the “light intermittent rain” held off entirely until midway through the game, and never became much of a problem. On the other hand, the combination of temperature and wind made it feel much colder than the listed 59 degrees, so much so that I finally pulled out my gloves, and we left the building entirely after the 6^th inning.