“One of
the great break-up songs in soul music” was one comment I found for this one online, and it
sums things up pretty well. This was the group’s last big hit before leaving
Motown records, and it’s a high point both for the group and for songwriter Jim
Weatherly, who’s also responsible for their post-Motown classics “Midnight
Train To Georgia” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me”.
Friday, August 8, 2014
#36 The Impossible Dream -- The Temptations (1967)
I liked
the Temptations and the other Motown acts when I was growing up in the sixties,
but until Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder really took charge of their own careers
with classic albums such as What’s Going
On and Innervisions, I didn’t
really buy Motown LPs. (In my defense, as was the custom of the time, most of
them contained a couple of hits and a lot of filler.) I probably just bought
the Temptations In A Mellow Mood
album on a whim; it’s certainly not as though it had any hits on it. It’s
extremely well done though, with great soulful arrangements of show tunes and
some other standards that I wouldn’t necessarily have cared for in versions by
other artists. “The Impossible Dream” is the best of the bunch – it brings a lump
to my throat whenever I hear it.
August 6, 2014 – Nationals 7, Mets 1 – Nationals Park
Umpires:
HP: Larry Vanover. 1B: Dan Iassogna. 2B: Vic Carapazza. 3B: Paul Nauert.
Weather:
80 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 3
mph, L to R.
T: 2:31.
Att:
26,701.
Long-time
Orioles manager Earl Weaver always preferred long ball to small ball, so he
certainly would have been impressed with this Nats victory. Washington gave
starter and winner Doug Fister a nice lead in the bottom of the first on a
Rendon double, a run-scoring single by Werth, and a two-run homer by the
suddenly-hot Adam LaRoche. The Nats doubled their lead in the sixth, as Danny
Espinosa continued his success against lefty pitchers with a three-run shot off
Jon Niese, following a Desmond single and steal, and a walk to Bryce Harper.
LaRoche finished the Nats scoring with an eighth-inning homer off Carlos
Torres.
Meanwhile,
Fister turned in another fine outing, shutting down the Mets with his usual
alacrity, being charged with only one (unearned) run which scored after he was
taken out in the middle of the eighth. (We joked about the Nats possibly
putting in a “Fister season ticket plan” for 2015, designed for fans who enjoy
quick, crisply-played games.)
Caught a
ride down and back with the Pierce clan, and actually was home before 11:00 –
first time in recent memory that’s happened for a night game. Was thinking of
getting something from Taste of the Majors, but due to the line decided to
settle for a couple of Nats dogs.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
August 3, 2014 – Nationals 4, Phillies 0 – Nationals Park
Umpires:
HP: Eric Cooper. 1B: Tom Hallion. 2B: Hal Gibson III. 3B: Chris Guccione.
Weather:
82 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 7
mph, In from CF.
T: 2:47.
Att:
30,038.
If you
came to this game expecting a pitcher’s duel between Cole Hamels and Stephen
Strasburg, you didn’t go home disappointed.
Each
starting pitcher retired the first 7 batters he faced. The third inning was
really the key to the game. With one out, each team’s #8 hitter reached first
base and was sacrificed to second by the pitcher. In the top of the inning,
Phillies leadoff man Ben Revere was unable to plate the run, while in the
bottom of the frame Denard Span singled to center to score Jose Lobaton for an
unearned run and a 1-0 Nats lead.
Hamels and
Strasburg continued their dominance through the next 4 innings, with neither
team mounting a major threat to score. With Strasburg having thrown 99 pitches,
the Nats replaced him with Tyler Clippard in the top of the eighth, and the
Phillies, still down by a run with time running short, were forced to pinch-hit
for Hamels. Unfortunately for them, the Nats were able to plate three runs in
an ugly bottom of the 8th for the visitors, which gave Soriano
plenty of breathing room as he completed the shutout in the 9th. The
Phils were shut out for the second straight game, managing only three hits and
one walk while whiffing 13 times.
Traffic
was uneventful, and the afternoon was much sunnier than I had expected, with
the thunderstorms holding off until the evening. The Taqueria continues to
produce excellent pork tacos (although very slowly), and my eCash card again
proved useful to avoid the long regular line for ice cream.
Mary Chapin Carpenter with the National Symphony Orchestra, Wolf Trap Filene Center, 8/1/2014
On the
first Tuesday of this year, Mary Chapin Carpenter released her latest CD, Songs From The Movie, featuring orchestral
versions of 10 songs chosen from her previous albums. Friday evening’s Wolf
Trap performance, with Vince Mendoza (who was the arranger and conductor for
the album) conducting the National Symphony Orchestra, was the on-tour version
of the album. The orchestra was augmented by Matt Rollings on keyboards,
drummer Peter Erskine, and bass player Edwin Livingston, who are traveling with
Carpenter for this tour.
The
evening’s performance began with Elmer Bernstein’s suite from To Kill a
Mockingbird, after with Carpenter and her band mates came on stage to a warm
welcome from the crowd. (Nice size, but definitely not a sellout.) The
remainder of the set closely paralleled the album, albeit with a few minor
changes in order. “Where Time Stands Still” was the only song from the CD that
was omitted, replaced near the end of the show with “Stones in the Road” and “10,000
Miles”.
The arrangements
and performances were very professional, and Carpenter clearly enjoyed the
opportunity to present some of her slower songs in this setting. Personally, I
would have enjoyed them more in non-orchestral versions that were closer to the
original recordings. I didn’t think that old favorites such as “I Am A Town”, “Come
On Come On,” and “Stones in the Road” benefited from the added instrumentation.
And, although it was clearly by design, the predominance of Carpenter’s more
contemplative material led to a certain lack of energy and sameness in tempo,
which was finally remedied by the encore version of “The Hard Way”, which
elicited the most enthusiastic audience response of the evening. Prior to that,
my clear favorite was “10,000 Miles”, since it had originally featured an
orchestral arrangement on the Party Doll
compilation and in the movie Fly Away
Home.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Shuffle #21 (August 3, 2014)
I Met Him
On A Sunday – Laura Nyro
Once In A
While – The Chimes
Wicked
Game – Chris Isaak
Dance
Across The Floor – Jimmy Bo Horne
Don’t Hang
Up Your Dancing Shoes – Ian Matthews
Fool’s
Paradise – Sam Cooke
Check Out
Your Mind – The Impressions
Someday
Soon – Gin Blossoms
Don’t Cry
Baby – Madeleine Peyroux
The Sweet
Escape – Gwen Stefani
Friday, August 1, 2014
#37 (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher -- Jackie Wilson (1967)
The late
Jackie Wilson was one of the most dynamic performers in soul music history. His
repertoire ranged from shouters such as “Reet Petite” and “Baby Workout” to
lushly arranged (many would say over-arranged) ballads such as “Night” and “To
Be Loved”. Virtually all of his hits came between 1957 and 1963, but this
classic didn’t come out until 1967. Great for parties, road trips, or
practically any other occasion. (And, if you need something to put you to
sleep, check out Rita Coolidge’s cover version from 10 years later, which was
inexplicitly an even bigger chart success.)
#38 Bright Side Of The Road -- Van Morrison (1979)
Picking a
favorite Van Morrison song is almost as difficult as picking one favorite by
the Beach Boys. This one is so upbeat and positive, though, that it has to get
my vote.
2014 XPoNential Music Festival, July 25-27, Wiggins Park (Camden NJ)
Missed
WXPN’s annual music festival in 2012 and 2013, but was able to make all three
days this year (Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday). Weather held up pretty
well – brief shower early Satuday afternoon, sun alternating with clouds Sunday
with some threats but no actual rain. (The thunderstorm that would have really
disrupted things didn’t come until around 1am Monday morning.)
Best sets
–
1. Lake Street Dive – I had been looking forward
to this one ever since picking up their latest CD, and they did not disappoint.
The crowd, particularly those of us who were standing right in front of the
stage, was really into it. Highlights included “Bad Self Portraits” and “Use Me
Up” (my current favorite) near the middle of their 45-minute set, and “You Go
Down Smooth” at the end. Several of the songs featured notable, but not overly
long, instrumental solos on upright bass, guitar, trumpet, and drums. Normally
mid-afternoon festival sets don’t get encores, due to the need to stay on
schedule, but those of us in front refused to leave, finally organizing a “one
more song!” chant. They did reappear, and ended things on a high note with a
singalong version of the Hall & Oates (this was Philly, after all) classic
“Rich Girl”.
2. Ingrid Michaelson – She’s certainly grown up
some musically since I saw her at the festival several years ago; full band
this time, which she used well. Had a nice mix of songs from her latest album,
notably “Girls Chase Boys” and “Afterlife”, along with older classics such as
“Way I Am” and “Be OK”. Great crowd rapport throughout, as well.
3. Rodrigo y Gabriela – The visuals are a big
part of the attraction with this acoustic guitar duo; if you ever go to see
them, get as close as you can. (Pit seats at Wolf Trap might even be worth the
hefty price.) Gabriela was the bouncier of the two, moving all over the stage
and frequently jumping up and down while playing, while Rodrigo tended more to
take up one stance for the duration of a song and let his fingers do the
talking. Everything I had ever heard by them had been instrumental, so I was
taken by surprise when during the second half of the set they proclaimed a “karaoke”
portion of the show and Rodrigo led the crowd in singalong versions of rock classics by
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, and Pink Floyd. Hopefully the fact that a few
of the lyrics were not suitable for the live radio broadcast won’t prevent them
from being invited back in the future.
;-)
4. Marah – I wandered over to the Marina Stage
Sunday afternoon to see Marah, since they had been cult favorites around
Philadelphia for a long time. Since I hadn’t kept up with them, I wasn’t aware
of their latest project (Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania), which involved
arranging, recording (in an old church) and performing old songs that had been collected
in 1931 by folklorist Harry Shoemaker. Quite a different sound, featuring banjo
and fiddle (and, on one song, bagpipes), along with guitar and keyboards. Also
noteworthy was that the fiddle work and some cigar box guitar was performed by
10-year-old prodigy Gus Tritsch, probably the youngest band member in XPN
Festival history (although his younger brother did join the band for the last
couple of songs). Interestingly enough, the final Marina Stage act on Friday
night featured 79-year-old blues harmonica player James Cotton.
5. Dawes – Dawes performed at the 2012 festival
(which I wasn’t able to attend), and were also at the 2013 festival (which I
also didn’t attend), but got rained out. Those were also the first two years
that WXPN (for financial reasons, apparently) partnered with the next-door
Susquehanna Bank Center (formerly known as the Tweeter Center) on the evening
portion of the festival. SBC schedules evening shows on Saturday and Sunday
featuring WXPN-type artists, and festival attendees with “go-anywhere” tickets
get lawn seats for the evening shows at SBC, as well as first crack at
purchasing inside reserved-seat tickets. So, when I heard that Dawes would be
on the Saturday night bill, along with Jenny Lewis and Ryan Adams, I decided to
spring for an in-house ticket for Saturday.
Although I
did finally get to see Dawes (more or less), the nearly $60 I spent on the
ticket did not turn out to be a particularly good investment. For starters,
when the full festival lineup was posted, I saw that Dawes was only getting a
30-minute set; I had figured the division of time among the three acts would be
somewhat more equitable than that. I was also not particularly overwhelmed by
the SBC experience (yes, I’m spoiled by Wolf Trap). The venue seems to exist
primarily to sell beer and liquor (and also cigars). To give them some credit,
there did seem to be plenty of tables outside where the beverages and food
could be consumed. (Needless to say, you couldn’t bring anything in except
water.) The final straw was when I got to my seat -- 104/C/17, in case anyone
would like to avoid it in the future. The theater portion of SBC is extremely
wide, with 104 being on the far left side, and 17 being the leftmost seat in
that section. From that position, not only could I not see the drummer at all
due to the stage monitors (and was also blocked for a portion of the show from
seeing the keyboard player by someone doing video), but the sound was truly
atrocious. Due to the brevity of the set, the band was limited to 5 songs,
which meant that they did only one tune from Nothing Is Wrong, which is by far their best album. All of which
means that next year I will probably vote with my credit card for the cheaper
3-day pass that does not include the SBC shows, and get more sleep to boot.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Serendipity #18
Someday, Someway – Marshall Crenshaw
Heard 7/23/2014 around 6:00pm, at California Tortilla
(downtown Rockville)
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