You can have
roman noir and film noir – Stan Ridgway is the king of music noir, if that’s an
actual thing. (It’s no accident that the title of this song is identical to
that of the 1953 movie starring Glenn Ford.) This one is Ridgway’s best, but if
you like it, check out “Peg And Pete And Me”, “Drive, She Said”, and “Camouflage”.
Friday, September 29, 2017
#156 (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone – The Monkees (1967)
Like many
other red-blooded American 13-year-olds, I refused to watch the 1966 TV series
starring the “Prefab Four” (who didn’t even play their own instruments!), which
we saw as a cynical corporate creation to make tons of money and drive our
female counterparts crazy. (They were, of course, wildly successful on both
counts.) I did, however, actually buy two of their 45s on the strength of their
B-sides: this one (which backed “I’m A Believer”) and “Words”. Later in life, I
did come to appreciate the quality of the material, arrangements, and production
of much of their oeuvre. It didn’t hurt
that “Pleasant Valley Sunday” (by the always-excellent team of Gerry Goffin and
Carole King, and the A-side of “Words”) could be interpreted as a somewhat
sarcastic ode to the college where I spent four mostly wonderful years.
Two things
really make the song great: the overall garage-band sound, and the drum solo.
It was first recorded by Paul Revere & The Raiders, but I didn’t hear their
version until a few years ago. I still like the Monkees’ rendition better.
#155 Don’t Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes – Iain Matthews (1978)
I remember
picking up Ian’s Stealin’ Home album
(he only used one “I” in his first name back then) for a buck in the cutout bin
of an Ames store in Prince George’s Plaza a few years after it was released,
largely on the strength of his hit single “Shake It”. It turned out to be one
of my best musical bargains, featuring the title track and a few other Matthews
originals, along with some well-chosen covers, such as Robert Palmer’s “Gimme
An Inch”. “Dancing Shoes” and “Shake It” were both written by one Terence
Boylan, a fact that intrigued me enough to almost buy Boylan’s album featuring
his versions when I ran across it in a Fairfax warehouse. A couple years ago I
finally did get a Boylan compilation CD, which had some other good material but
was marred by severe overproduction, most likely due to the number of
well-known session musicians that were featured.
Monday, September 25, 2017
Ari Hest w/ Ken Yates – AMP, 9/24/2017
Great “VIP” seats, at the rear of a table in the front row, near the
center
Although Ari Hest featured strong singing and guitar work (excepting
his three-song detour to the piano mid-set) throughout his 70-minute show, he
saved most of the best for the end, finishing the main set with “I’ve Got You”,
and then encoring with “Heart Of A Lion” from his recent album Natural and a nice cover of Paul Simon’s
“Still Crazy After All These Years”. My other favorite was “The Weight” (a Hest
original, not the Band tune), which appears most recently on his
Grammy-nominated Silver Skies Blue
duet album with Judy Collins.
Ken Yates, a Canadian singer-songwriter who’s played a number of house
concerts in this area, provided a 40-minute opening set whose most memorable
songs included “Huntsville”, “Keep Your Head Down”, and “Roll Me On Home.”
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Monday, September 18, 2017
September 17, 2017 – Nats 7, Dodgers 1 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 29,155
Game Time: 3:22
Weather: 78 degrees, clear
Wind: 4 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Hunter Wendelstedt, First Base - Adrian Johnson,
Second Base - Gabe Morales, Third Base - Gary Cederstrom
Notes – ESPN Sunday night game, so first for us in a while to start
well after sundown … Strasburg finally gave up a run in the top of the 2nd,
ending his 35-inning streak of scoreless innings, but otherwise blanked the
Dodgers through 6, despite allowing 3 stolen bases … he also contributed at the
plate, running up Hyun-Jin Ryu’s pitch count with 2 outs in the 5th
with a 9-pitch at-bat ending in a walk, forcing LA manager Dave Roberts to lift
his starter after he then walked Trea Turner … Nats offense, quiet while losing
4 out of 5 games since last Sunday’s clincher, finally woke up the next inning,
when Zim hit a 3-run homer after a Rendon walk and a Murphy single … added one
insurance run in the 7th, and 3 more the next inning on a solo HR by
Zim and a 2-run shot by Adam Lind, who set the Nats career record for pinch-hit
homers with his 4th
Friday, September 15, 2017
How Silicon Valley is erasing your individuality
Why some of us refuse to get Facebook accounts or Amazon Echo devices …
"Facebook has nurtured two hive minds, each residing in an
informational ecosystem that yields head-nodding agreement and penalizes
dissenting views. This is the phenomenon that the entrepreneur and author Eli
Pariser famously termed the “Filter Bubble” — how Facebook mines our data to
keep giving us the news and information we crave, creating a feedback loop that
pushes us deeper and deeper into our own amen corners." https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/how-silicon-valley-is-erasing-your-individuality/2017/09/08/a100010a-937c-11e7-aace-04b862b2b3f3_story.html?utm_term=.0400e12e33ea
September 10, 2017 – Nats 3, Phillies 2 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 32,627
Game Time: 2:16
Weather: 69 degrees, partly cloudy
Wind: 5 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Sean Barber, First Base - Tripp Gibson, Second
Base - Jeff Kellogg, Third Base - Will Little
Nationals notes – Stephen Strasburg extended his scoreless streak to 34
innings, allowing only 3 baserunners through 8 innings, none of whom reached
second … offense broke through in the sixth, on a leadoff triple by Turner and
doubles by Adrian Sanchez and Victor Robles … Turner homered in the eighth for
the final run
Phillies notes – Maikel Franco’s singles in the fifth and eighth were
the only hits off Strasburg … Ben Lively pitched the entire game, matching
goose eggs with Strasburg through the first 5 … Phils rallied for 2 runs in the
ninth off Ryan Madson, on singles by Crawford, Herrera, and Nick Williams
Other – shortest game of the year in Nats Park brought the team to the
brink of clinching the NL East, pending the outcome of Miami’s game in Atlanta,
which was tied 5-5 as the Nats completed their victory … Marlins took the lead
on Dee Gordon’s second HR of the year and later added 2 more, but the Braves
rallied for 3 in the bottom of the 9th to send the game into extra
innings … finally, almost 90 minutes after the game ended in Washington, Lane
Adams hit a 2-run walkoff homer for Atlanta in the bottom of the 11th
to clinch the division for the Nats … we were among the hundreds of fans who
stayed around to watch the Miami-Atlanta game on the big video screen and join
in the celebration
September 9, 2017 – Phillies 5, Nats 4 – Nationals Park
Attendance: 35,694
Game Time: 3:23
Weather: 69 degrees, clear
Wind: 6 mph
Umpires: Home Plate - Will Little, First Base - Sean Barber, Second
Base - Tripp Gibson, Third Base - Jeff Kellogg
Nationals notes – Edwin Jackson struggled, giving up two solo homers in
the second, then allowing three singles and two walks in the fourth while
recording only one out before being lifted … after coming in and retiring Nick
Williams for the second out, Solis walked Rhys Hoskins with the bases loaded to
force in the fifth and final run for the visitors … Nats cut their 5-1 deficit
to 5-4 on Michael A. Taylor’s 2-run HR in the fourth and RBI single in the
sixth
Phillies notes – Hoskins and Maikel Franco answered Howie Kendrick’s
first-inning homer for the Nats with solo shots of their own in the top of the
second … Mark Leiter Jr. pitched well enough to get the win, allowing 4 runs in
6 innings … bullpen kept the Nats off the board for the final 3 innings, with
Garcia fanning Murphy, Zimmerman, and Rendon in a 1-2-3 eighth
Other – sunny but not especially warm day, which got quite chilly as
the evening progressed … went to the Season Plan Holder Appreciation Party at
the park Saturday afternoon, a well-organized event featuring
question-and-answer sessions (general and kids-only), games, autograph
stations, and free snacks
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)