If you really want to know what’s going on with the controversy over
Billboard magazine’s treatment of “Old Town Road”, this is THE deep-dive
article to check out. (Warning – it takes a lot longer to read the article than
to listen to the song.)
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Friday, April 12, 2019
Average White Band – Rams Head on Stage, 4/11/2019
Table 100, Row A, Seat 3 – front row of tables, at the left side of the
stage. Somewhat surprisingly, only 3 of the 6 seats were occupied, although it
was a large crowd overall.
Cranky? Irritable? Just generally out of sorts? Just take 90 minutes of
AWB. Repeat as often as necessary.
Seriously, this show just reinforces my impression from two years ago
that this is one of the best live bands around today. Great solos by the entire
crew, stunning soul vocals by Brent Carter, great crowd rapport. The audience
seemed more diverse than I remember from last time, and had a high energy level
throughout. “A Love Of Your Own” continues to be a show-shopper, although there
really wasn’t a weak spot in the entire evening. The couple I sat with
mentioned that they come to see them every year; I may have to join them in
that.
Highlights: setlist
Monday, April 1, 2019
March 31, 2019 – Nats 6, Mets 5 – Nationals Park
Weather: 55 degrees, Cloudy.
Wind: 16 mph, In From LF.
Umpires: HP--Torres, 1B--Conroy, 2B--Miller, 3B--Eddings.
Time: 3:15
Attendance: 23,430
Section 313, Row E, Seats 18-19 – our new “home away from home” for the
season. Directly behind home plate, on the aisle, one row from the top of the
section.
Although Washington’s bullpen was ineffective for a third straight
game, the Nats managed to pull this one out, avoiding a season-opening sweep at
the hands of their division rivals. Patrick Corbin kept things under control in
his first start for the team, allowing plenty of baserunners and failing to
record a single 1-2-3 inning, but giving up only 2 runs in his 6 innings of
work. Washington got on the board in a big way in the bottom of the third on a
3-run Trea Turner homer, following a Robles double and an Eaton single. They
added a run in the 5th on a 2-out Rendon RBI single, and one more
2-out run the next inning on Robles’ second double of the game.
As was the case Saturday, the Washington bullpen started off well, with
Justin Miller retiring the Mets in order in the seventh. Recently-signed LOOGY Tony
Sipp allowed singles to both left-handed hitters he faced in the 8th,
while getting out the right-handed J.D. Davis in between. He was replaced by
Trevor Rosenthal, who failed to retire any of the four batters he faced the
previous day and continued his streak by giving up a single to Amed Rosario on
his first (and last) pitch of the afternoon. Normally-reliable closer Sean
Doolittle entered and fanned Jeff McNeil for the second out, but former Nat
Wilson Ramos and Juan Lagares then notched consecutive hits to tie the game.
The score remained tied for the next two half-innings, but Trea hit his second
homer of the afternoon with one out in the 9th for the walk-off win,
earning himself a Gatorade shower on a chilly afternoon for his trouble.
Leaving Rockville at 10:00 and getting to the Nationals neighborhood
around 10:45 turned out to be not quite early enough to claim parking in our
usual area, so we circled back to the Lot-Formerly-Known-As-HH, which wound up
costing $15 rather than $10 as in the past. It may have actually been windier
than Monday’s exhibition game, but it was sunny and perhaps a bit warmer.
Saturday, March 30, 2019
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:
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
Friday, March 29, 2019
Democrats’ policy plans would probably mean tax hikes for the middle class
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
Columnist Michael Gerson on Trump: “Perhaps behind the compulsive,
simplistic, narcissistic exterior, there is a compulsive, simplistic,
narcissistic interior.”
Ranking Roger
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
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 8th, 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 6th.
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.
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Scott Walker
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
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 5th of the spring. They
loaded the bases with none out in the 4th, 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 3rd and walking the leadoff
hitter in the 6th. 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 8th.
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 6th inning.
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