Steely Dan – Wolf Trap, 6/26/2022

Prime Orchestra, Row F, Seat 119. The Filene Center added two more aisles over the winter, dividing the “Front Orchestra” area into three roughly equal-sized sections. I was six rows behind the pit, in the middle section on the right-hand aisle. The view was great, and it was easy to get in and out. Downsides: there was a surprising volume of other people needing to get in and out past me, and one of the round lights at the edge of the aisle floor was right next to me, and bright enough to be annoying.

 

The bucket list is complete – I have now seen each of my 12 favorite musical acts live. Interestingly enough, I have seen 5 of the 12 exactly once, while the other 7 I’ve caught on at least 4 occasions.

 

As I expected, the show was professionally done throughout, with high levels of musicianship and impeccable staging. Donald Fagen cuts an interesting figure behind the keyboard, with mannerisms that reminded me a lot of Ray Charles. At least for me, his vocals tended to get buried underneath the band – not sure whether this had anything to do with my aging ears and/or my location in the audience. (On the other hand, their female vocal trio, the “Danettes”, came through loud and clear.)

 

The first hour or so of the 110-minute set featured a few of my personal favorites (“Hey Nineteen”, “Black Friday”, “Kid Charlemagne”), along with a couple of the more meandering cuts from Aja and a few selections that seemed to be deliberately obscure – most notably, for the first time on this tour, “Any Major Dude Will Tell You”. Things really picked up when the Danettes handled the vocals on “Dirty Work”, followed by rousing renditions of “Bodhisattva”, “Keep That Same Old Feeling” (a cover of a track by the Crusaders that was used to finish the band intros), “Peg”, and finally “My Old School”. “Reelin’ In The Years” was a perfect choice for the first encore, and an instrumental take on Joe Williams’ “A Man Ain’t Supposed To Cry” ended the performance.

 

Setlist

 

The evening opened musically with an impressive 45-minute set of jazz by the Dave Stryker Trio, with Stryker on guitar, Jared Gold on the organ, and McClenty Hunter handling drums. Prior to that, there was a short burst of rain just before 6:00; fortunately, I had made it to the Associates Pavilion for dinner just before the heavens opened. Following the show, I didn’t make it out to the parking lot all that quickly, but I somehow managed to get out of the parking lot in under five minutes, and arrived back home just an hour after the music stopped.

 

June 19, 2022 – Nats 9, Phillies 3

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/phillies-vs-nationals/2022/06/19/662553#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=wrap,game=662553

 

Time: 2:57

Attendance: 32,261

 

Because of the huge “Something In The Water” music festival finishing up on Sunday, we decided to use Metro rather than worrying about whether we would be able to find parking. That wound up going relatively well, with smooth transfers, no unexpected delays or other incidents, and (to my relief, despite donning an N95 mask) cars that were not packed like sardines. The unusually early 12:05 start time (courtesy of one of MLB’s streaming partners) prevented us from having our usual leisurely lunch before going into the park, so we took a chance with the Nats Park concessions (everything actually went relatively smoothly). I had a cheesesteak “witout” in honor of the Phillies being in town. An additional drawback to the early start was that our seats were in the sun until mid-game, instead of for just an inning or two. (That sun was hot, although it was a beautiful, mild day overall.) Although certain other individuals predicted a large crowd, I personally was shocked that they sold over 30,000 tickets, especially since they had struggled to draw 25,000 for earlier games with bobblehead giveaways and other big promotions.

 

The home team took control early, leaving no doubt that it would end its losing streak at eight games. They put up four runs in the second inning off Phils starter Zach Eflin, climaxed by a massive 3-run homer by previously-struggling franchise cornerstone Juan Soto. Philadelphia scored in the 4^th and 5^th thanks to Washington errors, but the Nats answered back both times to maintain a comfortable lead.

 

Jackson Tetreault, making only his second appearance in the bigs, became only the third Washington starting pitcher this season to complete seven innings, holding the visitors to six hits (all singles) while walking only two, and finishing the 7^th despite taking a hard comebacker off his left shin. In a nice Father’s Day touch, both of his parents were in the stands to witness his first major-league victory.

 

Not surprisingly, fans of the red-hot Phillies showed up in force for the finale of the 5-game series. Since Philadelphia won the first four games, we were not as upset by Sunday’s outcome as we otherwise might have been.

 

June 12, 2022 – Brewers 4, Nats 1

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/brewers-vs-nationals/2022/06/12/662542#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=wrap,game=662542

 

Time: 3:11

Attendance: 22,549

 

It wound up being a great afternoon, although the contest on the field had very little to do with it.

 

The weather forecast left us expecting some late-morning rain, along with possible severe thunderstorms sometime in the afternoon. Instead, it turned out to be sunny and not extremely hot (as long as you were in the shade). The traffic was relatively light in both directions, so we arrived in plenty of time to enjoy lunch on Wiseguy Pizza’s outside patio. My college roommate and his wife were in town and attending the game, so I was able to sit with them and a couple of local friends, swap Springsteen stories, and catch up on old times.

 

The Nats went with a bullpen game, while the Brewers sent out rookie starter Jason Alexander. (Sorry, but all the Seinfeld jokes have already been used.) It was probably inevitable that the Brewers would eventually end their 8-game losing streak, and that the Washington offense would fall back to earth after notching 11-5 and 8-6 victories to start the weekend. Sunday afternoon, they did get 8 hits (7 of which were singles) and drew 4 walks, but went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10. Shortstop Willy Adames was the offensive star for Milwaukee, with an RBI double in the third off Paolo Espino and a two-run homer in the fifth off Evan Lee.