Counting Crows w/ Toad the Wet Sprocket, Wolf Trap Filene Center, 7/5/2014

So Wolf Trap has a sun field – who knew?

Unlike most evenings at Wolf Trap, this one started at 7:00 rather than 8:00. A band from Nashville, Daniel and the Lion, started things off with a short 6-song, 20-minute set. Pretty much standard pop-rock, can’t say any of the material made a particular impression on me.

20 minutes later Toad came out (to the strains of 2Pac’s 1996 rap classic “California Love” – OK, the band is from California). At that point, the band was looking directly into the late-afternoon sun, which prompted lead singer Glen Phillips to borrow a pair of shades from a fan sitting in the pit. They played a tight, enjoyable 55-minute set that started with the lead single (“The Moment”) from their latest album, but focused on their 1990s pop-rock hits and near-hits, winding up with “All I Want”, “Fall Down”, and “Walk on the Ocean”.

Adam Duritz and the rest of The Counting Crows came out shortly after 9:00 and went until close to the 11:00 Wolf Trap curfew. They started off well with “Sullivan Street” from their first album, and kicked things into high gear near the end, ending the main set with “A Long December” and “Hanginaround” before returning with a three-song encore, highlighted by an extended version of “Rain King” that featured most of “Oh Susanna” in the middle. I wasn’t as taken by the middle of the show – a lot of unfamiliar cuts (at least to me), coupled with an overabundance of rock-star shtick (fog, strobes, lights shining uncomfortably into the audience, etc.). Their version of “Round Here” (not one of my favorites to start with) was pretty over-the-top in a MeatLoafish sort of way. A couple of songs from their upcoming album did show promise, notably “Palisades Park” (their first encore) and “Earthquake Driver”.

July 6, 2014 – Nationals 2, Cubs 1 – Nationals Park

Replay is our friend

Umpires: HP: Mike Everitt. 1B: Paul Schrieber. 2B: Ted Barrett. 3B: Will Little.

Weather: 85 degrees, partly cloudy.

Wind: 13 mph, R to L.

T: 3:12.

Att: 32,941.

Unlike the previous day’s 13-0 dismantling of the Cubbies, Sunday’s game was close throughout – one of those games where one or two close plays could make the difference. Thanks to two favorable rulings on replay challenges, the Nats were able to pull out the victory.

Chicago starter Jake Arietta had gone deep into each of his two previous starts without yielding a hit, but any suspense in that regard was gone early, as Denard Span led off the bottom of the first with a shot to center that Justin Ruggiano misplayed into a double. Two ground balls later, the Nats had a 1-0 lead.

Ryan Sweeney led off the top of the third for the Cubs with a grounder to Rendon at second and was initially ruled safe at first, but Williams challenged the call and it was overturned on replay – a good thing, as it turned out, as the next two Chicago batters followed with singles. With the first out in the books, however, Jordan Zimmermann was able to get out of the inning with his shutout intact.

Zimmermann ran high pitch counts in the early innings and scattered seven hits, but he was able to hold onto the lead through his six innings of work. (Unfortunately, in the bottom of the fifth, he dampened the Nats’ chances for an insurance run or two by failing to lay down a sacrifice after Desmond and Ramos led off the inning with singles.)

Drew Storen has pitched extremely well for the Nats all season, but was not able to hold onto the lead, giving up a sacks-loaded sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh to knot the game at one. Jerry Blevins, who has had his struggles, did come in with two outs to prevent further damage by fanning Luis Valbuena. Clippard made things interesting in the top of the eighth by allowing the first two Cubs batters to reach base on a single and a walk, but after a Darwin Barney sac bunt he got out of trouble by striking out pinch-hitter Welington Castillo and getting Sweeney on a ground ball.

Span led off the bottom of the inning with a line drive to right on which he aggressively went for a double. He was called safe on a close play, which was challenged by the Cubs but ultimately upheld by the replay crew. After Rendon and Werth were retired, the Cubs decided to play the percentages by intentionally walking the left-handed LaRoche to face Ryan Zimmerman, who unfortunately for them singled in Span to regain the lead for the Nats. Zimmerman also fielded two grounders in the ninth without incident after Williams opted not to replace him with Espinosa to improve the defense.

It was perfect ice-cream weather – warm, but not hot enough to cause immediate melting – so after finishing my roast beef sub from Subway I took advantage of my eCash card to bypass the horrendously long line at the Sweet Spot stand. Traffic seemed a little lighter than usual both coming and going.

Serendipity #16

I Want To Be Your Girlfriend – Mary Chapin Carpenter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAIet_q5HpQ

Heard 7/4/2014 shortly before noon, at Roy Rogers in Gaithersburg

Shuffle #15 (July 4, 2014)

Billie Jean – Michael Jackson

Where Have All The Flowers Gone – Peter, Paul & Mary

How Long – Ace

Smooth Operator – Sade

Looking Through The Eyes Of Love – Gene Pitney

Roll To Me – Del Amitri

Kick It Around – James Hunter

Mama Said – The Shirelles

Chain Gang – Sam Cooke

I’m Still In Love With You – Al Green

#45 Live To Tell – Madonna (1986)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwGQeNteog8

While Madonna has certainly inflicted tons of utter crap upon the world (“Hanky Panky”, the totally lame “American Pie” remake, Sex, just about any acting performance she’s ever attempted), she’s also hit her share of musical home runs over the years. This poignant ballad is the best of the bunch.

#46 One Fine Day -- The Chiffons (1963)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvyOqKhKWQ4

This is not only one of the greatest collaborations between the late Gerry Goffin and Carole King, it also features what might be the coolest piano intro ever. (In particular, just about anyone who has ever been at a piano, however briefly, has to be thinking, “I could play that!”).

July 1, 2014 – Nationals 7, Rockies 1 – Nationals Park

Rocky mountain high

Umpires: HP: Marty Foster. 1B: Rob Drake. 2B: Alan Porter. 3B: Joe West.

Weather: 91 degrees, partly cloudy.

Wind: 1 mph, Out to RF.

T: 3:19.

Att: 26,033.

The Colorado Rockies got off to a great start this season, but have been slumping badly in recent weeks. The Nats showed no signs of allowing them to turn things around, following up Monday evening’s 7-3 victory in Bryce Harper’s return with an even more convincing 7-1 thumping on Tuesday.

Things unraveled quickly for Colorado starter Christian Friedrich, as he walked the first two Nats batters in the bottom of the first. Jayson Werth smashed a double past the third baseman to score two runs. He then moved to third on a LaRoche infield single and scored on a Zimmerman sacrifice fly.

Perhaps not satisfied with the three-run lead, Strasburg took matters into his own hands with one out in the bottom of the fourth, sending a Friedrich fastball deep into the right field corner. He thought about going for a triple, but decided that discretion was the better part of valor and settled for a double. Remaining cautious on the base paths, he stopped at third on a Denard Span single (after which the Rockies replaced Friedrich with Chad Bettis), and stayed put on a subsequent wild pitch on which Span took second. Rendon finally provided a no-effort path for Strasburg to score with a double that plated both baserunners. Werth then knocked in Rendon with his second double of the game, moved to third on a LaRoche ground out, and scored on Bettis’s second wild pitch of the inning. With the bases now empty, the Nats added singles by Zimmerman and Harper before the inning finally ended.

Strasburg had to make a lot of pitches in the first two innings, but was never seriously threatened. Given the heat and the Sunday and Thursday off days, I thought they might lift him relatively early to give the bullpen some work, but he pitched into the 8^th, finally giving up a home run to DJ LeMahieu and his first walk of the game before Stammen came on to get the final 4 outs.

I started things off with a frozen lemon ice, with a grilled chicken sandwich later for something more substantial. Since I had been up late the night before and had to do volunteer work in the morning, I took off around 9:45 (end of the sixth), getting back to the Shady Grove Metro at 11.

The other highlight of the evening was bumping into our former section mates the Schroders for the first time all year. (Due to an ongoing schedule conflict, they had to switch to a different partial plan this season.)

Lydia Pense & Cold Blood at Rams Head on Stage (Annapolis), 6/30/2014

Along with the justifiably famous San Francisco bands of the late 1960s such as the Jefferson Airplane, there were quite a few lesser-known groups that produced some great music back in the day. My two favorites were Quicksilver Messenger Service and Cold Blood (“one of the original R&B horn bands from the late 60's/ early 70's that exemplified the … melding of funk & rock with blues and jazz elements”), so when this appearance was announced I was quick to get a ticket. (Great seat dead center in the second row of tables, 105/3.) The current version of the band is still California-based and makes relatively infrequent trips to the East Coast, so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity.

Fortunately, they didn’t disappoint, although I wish the vocals (particularly Lydia’s) had been louder in the mix. The six guys in the band (guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, sax, and trumpet – all fantastic musicians) come out and did an extended version of the instrumental “Valdez in the Country”, and then introduced Lydia, who kicked things into overdrive with the Willie Dixon classic “I Just Want to Make Love to You.” While they also covered tracks by Etta James (“Tell Mama”) and Bill Withers (“Kissing My Love”), the real highlights of the show were some of the band’s original cuts, including “No Way Home” and “Funky on My Back”. They wound up their main set with “You Got Me Hummin’” (the closest thing they ever had to an actual hit), and quickly returned for a great version of “Down to the Bone”, finishing up (almost two hours after starting) and sending everyone home happy with “It Takes A Lotta Good Lovin’”.

It was a good and enthusiastic crowd (although not a complete sellout). Wasn’t sure what exactly to get for dinner, but finally decided to go with the blackened chicken flatbread, which turned out to be an excellent choice.

Cold Blood CDs are not that easy to come by these days, but fortunately their music is well-represented in iTunes. I’d recommend picking up their first album (simply titled Cold Blood) for a mere $5.99, plus the original LP versions of “Funky on My Back”, “No Way Home”, and “Down to the Bone”, which will give you a great feel for the band for less than ten bucks.

June 22, 2014 – Nationals 4, Braves 1 – Nationals Park

Brave new world? 

Umpires: HP: Mark Carlson. 1B: Tim Welke. 2B: Todd Tichenor. 3B: Clint Fagan.

Weather: 78 degrees, cloudy.

Wind: 0 mph, None.

T: 2:54.

Att: 39,473.

Along with St. Louis, Atlanta had been the Nats’ kryptonite since October of 2012, beating them out for the 2013 NL East title and dominating them in head-to-head play. The trend continued in 2014, with the Braves winning 7 of the first 8 encounters, including a disheartening loss Friday night where the Nats tied the game in the bottom of the ninth with a two-run Anthony Rendon homer off the normally-untouchable Craig Kimbrel but went on to lose in extra innings. Things looked up on Saturday, when the Nats won behind a clutch pitching performance by Doug Fister, so with a victory on Sunday the Nats could at least split the 4-game series.

The Nats took a 2-0 lead off Ervin Santana in the bottom of the first on a walk, two singles and a sac fly. Santana and Nats starter Tanner Roark then traded zeroes for the next several innings. In the top of the fifth, with two outs and Santana on first, Braves second baseman Tommy La Stella worked a walk off Roark with a 12-pitch at-bat, including 5 full-count foul balls. This effort seemed to take a lot out of both Roark and Santana, who had to head for second on each of the 3-2 pitches. After their first-inning outburst, the Nats had had little success against Santana, consistently swinging and missing at his offspeed stuff, but they plated their third run in the bottom of the fifth on a Sandy Leon single, a two-strike sacrifice bunt by Roark, and a double by Denard Span.

Roark was named the player of the game, but the award could well have been shared by all four Nats pitchers who appeared. Craig Stammen relieved Roark with two on and one out in the top of the sixth and retired all 5 batters he faced. Clippard pitched a 1-2-3 eighth. We thought Soriano might need a day off after pitching 4 of the previous 5 games, but he wound up putting an exclamation point on the win by striking the side out in the ninth to earn the save.

No traffic issues either way, with a little bit less of a backup on the Legion Bridge than usual. Went with a bowl of Cincinnati chili from Hard Times.

Shuffle #14 (June 29, 2014)

Long Live Our Love – The Shangri-Las

A Change Is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke

Turn The World Around – Eddy Arnold

Marie – The Bachelors

Summer Side Of Life – Gordon Lightfoot

Blow On, Chilly Wind – Jesse Winchester

True Blue – Madonna

Twisted – Joni Mitchell

Owner Of A Lonely Heart – Yes

Don’t Do Me No Favours – James Hunter