Rambling Rhoads

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.)

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

March 28, 2016 – Blue Jays 2, Phillies 1 – Dunedin FL

Another late loss (story, box)

Weather: 77 degrees, overcast (brief periods of ominous darkness early on and sunshine a bit later, with the lights on for for most of the afternoon. Light rain started just a few minutes before the game ended.)

Time: 2:22

Attendance: 4,975

Section 110, Row 7, Seats 13-17 – Almost the same relative location as Saturday’s game, so again we had to stay alert, although no balls came particularly close to us.

Food item of the day: salmon sandwich, about the size of a burger, and a bargain at $7.75.

Florida Auto Exchange Stadium is quite a different experience from Bright House and Champions Stadium – older and much smaller (actually the smallest total capacity of any spring training site in Florida, since there’s no berm or any other general-admission area). That does give the place a certain throwback charm, although fans have to put up with certain limitations in the amenities (only one men’s room and women’s room). For the most part, the Canadian hospitality was great; I met one usher originally from Hershey PA, so we reminisced for a bit about high school basketball and the Hershey Bears. There were a couple of exceptions; I wound up having to check my small folding umbrella outside the gate (after a VERY thorough bag search). And after the game, one of the staff took the “no re-entry” policy to a ridiculous extreme, as one member of our party who wandered outside the gate for a minute or two was almost prevented from coming back in to join the rest of us. On the good side, it wound up being a great place for the youngest member of our crew to get a number of autographs.

This one turned out to be a pitchers’ duel, as well as the best-played game of the trip to date. Marcus Stroman tuned up for his Opening Day start on Sunday by tossing four scoreless innings. Vince Velasquez did a masterful job of blanking the powerful Blue Jays lineup for six, giving up just two hits and three walks while fanning eight. The Phils struck first when Darin Ruf led off the top of the seventh by homering off lefty specialist Randy Choate, who somewhat oddly entered the game to face two right-handed hitters, followed by a right-handed pinch-hitter and a switch-hitter. Mujica pitched a perfect seventh, but in the bottom of the eighth, Dalier Hinojosa grooved a 3-0 pitch to Darrell Ceciliani, which he took out of the park for a two-run shot that gave the Jays the lead and the victory.

Monday, March 28, 2016

March 26, 2016 – Tigers 5, Phillies 4 – Clearwater FL

So close and yet so far (story, box)

Weather: 83 degrees, cloudy (significantly warmer where we were sitting!)

Time: 3:10

Attendance: 8,382

Section 118, Row 7, Seats 11-15 – just beyond third base, and close enough that eternal vigilance could be seen as the price of survival. While there was an occasional breeze going, the temperature display above the scoreboard was in the 89-91 degree range all afternoon with a bright sun, so sunscreen and copious beverage consumption were also essential. We weren’t complaining one bit, however.

Food item of the day: rice bowl with chicken (new this year) from Tijuana Flats. Quite good.

The game was pretty close throughout, tied 3-3 after 6 featuring a solo homer by Freddy Galvis and two by Detroit’s Justin Upton. Verlander went 5-plus for the Tigers, giving up the first 3 Philadelphia runs. The Phils used 9 relievers for one inning each as they attempt to clarify their muddled bullpen situation. (This led to the oddity of James Russell being the starting pitcher after appearing in relief the night before.)

The Phils took the lead with two in the bottom of the seventh, on singles by Galvis, Blanco, and Herrera, with the second run scoring on a Ryan Howard fielder’s choice. The Tigers, however, cut the lead to one in the top of the 8^th, and won it with two more in the 9^th.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

March 25, 2016 – Phillies 4, Blue Jays 4 – Clearwater FL

This tie was better than kissing your sister (story, box)

Weather: 72 degrees, cloudy

Time: 3:08

Attendance: 8,537

Section 105, Row 23, Seats 10-14 – back row of lower level, directly behind first base. We were under cover in case any more rain materialized. (Fortunately the deluge we had earlier in the afternoon was not repeated, and it was a perfect evening weather-wise.) Easy to get in and out, only drawback was that it was difficult to hear the PA announcements.

Unfortunately two members of our crew weren’t able to make it, but we managed to have a good time anyway. I had forgotten how good the fan experience is at Bright House Field, especially the staggering variety of concessions options. (And a plethora of small stands leads to mostly short lines.) I certainly would recommend the grouper nuggets (new this season), and the cheesesteaks got a thumbs-up as well. Since I wasn’t driving (just a 10-15 minute walk to/from the motel), I took advantage of the opportunity to get a 24-ounce glass of craft beer on tap (New Belgium Brewing’s “Fat Tire” amber ale).

Despite the lack of closure, the game was interesting, if not exactly perfectly played. Odubel Herrera returned to the lineup after his bruised finger and made a great leaping grab at the CF wall on the second pitch of the game. Neither starting pitcher got through even 5 innings, as Toronto’s Marco Estrada is running behind due to an earlier injury, and Jeremy Hellickson struggled some, hitting the 90-pitch mark before getting the final out of the fifth (although the only damage was a 2-run homer by Casey Kotchman). Maikel Franco had gotten the Phils on the board an inning earlier with his eighth round-tripper of the spring.

Toronto expanded their lead to 4-1 with single tallies in the sixth and seventh, but Peter Bourjos hit one out with one on off Brett Cecil in the bottom of the seventh to trim the lead to one. With two outs in the frame, the Phils played classic small-ball to tie the score. Galvis singled, stole second, and with no one paying attention to him there took off for third with Hernandez up. Cesar then proceeded to tap a soft grounder to second for an infield single, with Galvis scoring all the way from second.

We also got to see former Nat Drew Storen throw a clean 6^th inning for the Jays. The highlight of the evening for me, however, was an appearance by switch-pitcher Pat Venditte. (I had previously seen him pitch a few years ago in a AA game in Harrisburg.) He replaced Estrada with 2 outs in the 4^th and retired Ruiz (pitching righthanded). He stayed in for the bottom of the fifth, retiring David Lough, Ryan Howard, and switch-hitter Cesar Hernandez while throwing from the left side.

Friday, March 25, 2016

March 24, 2016 – Phillies vs. Braves (rainout) – Lake Buena Vista FL

Phillies game cut short by thunder

Section 216, Row M, Seats 12-16 – upper level, near the top, just on the third-base side of home plate. Plenty of other Phillies fans in our section.

Oddly enough, this game was exactly one year after my last trip to Champion Stadium. The variety of stadium concessions hasn’t improved much (never did find the flatbread they were bragging about), and the lines were long at all the main stands. The game was scoreless through 3 innings before it was called because of an impending storm, which arrived shortly thereafter with a vengeance. (They actually evacuated the stands before the final half-inning was over.) They waited quite a while (seemed like well over an hour), but things didn’t improve and they finally cancelled the game.

The pitching matchup featured Matt Wisler vs. Adam Morgan, who’s in a two-man competition for the final spot in the Phillies rotation. He did fine overall (although I’m sure he wished he could have kept pitching), although the leadoff 3^rd inning walk to weak-hitting Gordon Beckham with the pitcher on deck was not his finest moment.

So, uncooperative weather and a long drive each way. Fortunately the company was good.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Marshall Crenshaw & The Bottle Rockets – The Birchmere, 3/18/2016

Table 317 – close to the center, one of the tables that are parallel to the stage and just in front of the divider. One of the best seats I’ve had there. Arrived around 4:30 to find a couple dozen or so people ahead of me in line waiting to get in (and was able to watch the last half-minute of the Michigan State upset on the iPad of the guy standing in back of me). Wound up with number H29 to get in (starting point was H17).

There was no crying at the Birchmere, although (probably by coincidence) Crenshaw opened with “Calling Out for Love (at Crying Time)” and closed the main set 70 minutes later with Buddy Holly’s “Crying, Wishing, Hoping” (which he performed when he portrayed Holly in the 1987 Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba). When they came back, they started their 3-song encore by honoring the crowd’s request for his only top-40 hit, “Someday, Someway”, joking that he would make it a special performance by using the Bernie Sanders guitar pick he had recently been given. He then sent everyone home happy by doing two more favorites, “Something’s Gonna Happen” (the demo that got him his initial record deal) and “Mary Anne” from his classic debut album.

As I remembered from the last time I had seen him (which I found was January 25, 2002, thanks to the wonders of the Internet), Crenshaw and his band play pretty loud (let’s say a 9). This doesn’t always serve his catchy, melodic material all that well; I’d suggest dialing the volume back to 7 or thereabouts. At times he sounded as if he was straining to be heard over the band, and they also slowed “There She Goes Again” down a little, which removed even more bounce. For me, the show really caught fire about halfway through, when he performed some later, less-familiar (to me at least) material: “Passing Through”, “Move Now”, “Red Wine”, and a great cover of Richard Thompson’s “Valerie”. Four of the songs in his set that I hadn’t heard before were co-written with Dan Bern, who also wrote and performed one of the best baseball songs of all time.

As is frequently the case these days with Marshall Crenshaw shows, his four-man backing band, the Bottle Rockets, also served as the opening act, playing for almost a full hour (including all 11 tracks from their latest CD). Good cowpunk sound (two guitars, bass, drums), with some interesting material, notably “Dog” and “Building Chryslers” (which I suspect they don’t perform in their Michigan gigs) from the new CD, plus “Radar Gun” and “1000 Dollar Car” (don’t ever buy one). They joked that one of their new songs was written with Tom Jones in mind; oddly enough, Jones’s “Help Yourself” was featured on the playlist during intermission. And be warned that if Crenshaw’s set was at a volume level of 9, the Bottle Rockets by themselves pushed the knob to 11 – definitely the loudest set I’ve heard in my years of Birchmere shows.

By the way, all three of us at my table were surprised (and not in a good way) that the Birchmere no longer provides pitchers of water. Instead, they’d be happy to sell you water in plastic bottles. What is this, Flint?

Setlist

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Trumpmusic

Chris Richards has a great article in today’s Washington Post about the musical selections played before and after Donald Trump rallies. (Note – the publication of this link does NOT constitute a political endorsement!)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/authoritarian-hold-music-how-donald-trumps-banal-playlist-cultivates-danger-at-his-rallies/2016/03/16/723159ac-eab1-11e5-bc08-3e03a5b41910_story.html