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.)

Sunday, July 16, 2017

James Taylor / Bonnie Raitt – Nationals Park, 7/14/2017


FL 3, Row 15, Seats 27-28 (on the field, 15 rows back from the right edge of the stage)
 
Bonnie Raitt – playing with her longtime bandmates, was in fine voice and form throughout her 11-song one-hour opening set, starting with “Unintended Consequence of Love”, the best track from her most recent album … “Something to Talk About” and “Angel From Montgomery” were particular crowd favorites … Taylor, after introducing her, came back at the end of her set to join her on “Thing Called Love” … I missed “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, but she atoned by doing “Nick of Time” and Mose Allison’s “Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy” 
 
James Taylor – Taylor and his aptly-named “All-Star Band” gave a wonderful performance, over 90 minutes prior to the 3-song set of encores, with mostly original material spanning his entire career … effective use of the huge video wall behind the band, notably mid-set on “Mexico” followed by “Steamroller” … other personal favorites included “Never Die Young”, “Sweet Baby James”, and “Your Smiling Face” 
 
Other – we were extremely fortunate weather-wise, as it rained hard during much of our drive through the District and they kept people out of the seating areas until close to the scheduled 7:00 start, but the rain stopped for good shortly thereafter and the storms brought the temp down into the 70s … getting our wristbands was quicker than I expected, although actually getting onto the field was still a somewhat slow process
 

Monday, July 10, 2017

July 9, 2017 – Nats 10, Braves 5 – Nationals Park


 
Attendance: 35,030
Game Time: 3:32
Weather: 80 degrees, sunny
Wind: 9 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Bruce Dreckman, First Base - Mike Everitt, Second Base - Chad Whitson, Third Base - Jordan Baker
Seventh-inning stretch song: Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations
 
Highlights – Nats jumped out in front with 3 in the first, keyed by a 2-out, 2-run double by should-have-been-All-Star Anthony Rendon, who reached base 4 times … after the Braves tied it in the third, Washington outscored them 7-2 the rest of the way … top of the order (Goodwin/Difo/Harper) reached base 8 times and scored 6 of the 10 runs … Murphy put things out of reach with a 2-out, 2-run double in the bottom of the 8th
 
Other – Nats starter Joe Ross gave up a 3-run homer to Nats-killer Freddie Freeman in the 3rd, then left an inning later with triceps tenderness (and sub-par fastball velocity)

Rain? We don’t have no stinkin’ rain!


 
At this point, I’m sure that thousands of words have been written and tweeted about the Nationals’ 3-hour “no rain” delay this past Thursday night. Chelsea Janes provided a nice summary here, hitting on the biggest failure with the following: “The rain delay was one thing. The lack of updates was another. With no explanation about why they were not playing despite the lack of precipitation, those inside the clubhouses and out were left to wonder about the Nationals’ motives.”

Serendipity #68


Feel It All – KT Tunstall


Heard 7/8/2017 around noon at Roti (Pike & Rose)

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Comic of the Day #7 – July 5, 2017


A little blogger humor
 

July 4, 2017 – Nats 11, Mets 4 – Nationals Park


 
Attendance: 37,120
Game Time: 3:17
Weather: 84 degrees, cloudy
Wind: 3 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Carlos Torres, First Base - John Libka, Second Base - Dana DeMuth, Third Base - Paul Nauert
Seventh-inning stretch song: Living In America – James Brown
 
Section 220, Row H, Seat 17 – club level (a long story) behind first base, in the shade
 
Highlights – after giving up a homer to the first batter he faced and allowing multiple baserunners in each of the first 4 innings, Joe Ross completed 7 innings, allowing only 2 runs … Nats started scoring in the third on 2-out RBI singles by Harper and Murphy … also put up curly numbers in the 5th, 6th, and 8th, notching double-digit runs for the 14th time this season … Met-killer Murphy wound up with 4 hits and 5 RBI … Rockettes put on a short performance before the game, and another one between innings
 
Other – “be sure to drive over the white box on the way out of the parking lot”

Thursday, June 29, 2017

June 27, 2017 – Nats 6, Cubs 1 – Nationals Park


 
Attendance: 31,202 (below the team’s season average)
Game Time: 3:09
Weather: 79 degrees, partly cloudy
Wind: 3 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Larry Vanover, First Base - Tim Timmons, Second Base - Chad Fairchild, Third Base - David Rackley
 
Highlights – Nats scored in 4 of the first 5 innings, chasing Jake Arrieta in the fifth … Trea Turner tied his career best with 4 steals, and the Nats set a team record with 7 stolen bases off Arrieta and soon-to-be-ex-Cub Miguel Montero … Taylor finished off the scoring with a 2-run double … after giving up a first-inning run, Scherzer blanked the Cubs through the end of the 6th, allowing only one more baserunner … Nats bullpen held the visitors scoreless over the final 3 innings
 
Other – left Rockville around 4:45 and didn’t get into the park until shortly after 7:00, as traffic crawled both on Falls Road and much of the way down the GW Parkway

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Shuffle #97 (June 27, 2017)


Joy To The World – Three Dog Night
That’s All Right – Elvis Presley
Ain’t Even Done With The Night – John Mellancamp
Rock Skippin’ – Jim Hall
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours – Stevie Wonder
Wheels – Emmylou Harris
Right And Wrong – Joe Jackson
Sweet Thing – Rufus & Chaka Khan
Louisiana 1927 – Randy Newman

Monday, June 26, 2017

June 25, 2017 – Reds 6, Nats 2 – Nationals Park


 
Attendance: 35,387
Game Time: 3:07
Weather: 84 degrees, partly cloudy
Wind: 13 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Brian O'Nora, First Base - Quinn Wolcott, Second Base - Ramon DeJesus, Third Base - Paul Emmel
Seventh-inning stretch song: I Can’t Help Myself – The Four Tops
 
Highlights – Michael A. Taylor hit a 2-run homer in the 4th, his third tater in two days … Roark held the Reds to one run in his final 5 innings of work … Nats bullpen held Cincinnati scoreless over the final 3 innings … great James Brown medley during the Reds’ 8th-inning pitching change … a little hot in the sun for the first hour or so, but perfect weather otherwise
 
Other – Reds got more runs than they needed in a 5-run top of the first … Bryce contributed to the damage by misplaying a ball to deep right that allowed the final 2 runs to score … Nats offense blew some opportunities, going 0-5 with runners in scoring position … in the bottom of the 5th, Henley unwisely tried to score Brian Goodwin from first with no one out on Harper’s double … ice cream stand had no chocolate