Straight No Chaser – Weinberg Center for the Arts (Frederick MD), 11/9/2016

Row O, seats 6 and 8 (right side)

 

It was almost exactly seven months since we last saw Straight No Chaser at the Weinberg in “Fredrick” (their spelling, not mine); this show was equally great, with a similarly enthusiastic crowd that mixed first-timers and veterans. This time they used their medley of “Thriller” and “Uptown Funk” to start the show with a bang, rather than saving it until the end of the second set as they did in April. The encore was also similar, beginning with their now-more-seasonal take on “The 12 Days of Christmas” and ending with “Make You Feel My Love”. They also used their opening set to repeat a number of other highlights from the previous show, such as “All About That Bass”, closing with “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” morphing into “Proud Mary”. They did add some great material that they didn’t use in April, most notably a three-song Prince medley near the beginning and a hilarious medley of sitcom themes a little later.

 

The second set was almost entirely Christmas songs, most of which were from their just-released I’ll Have Another …Christmas Album, with “Feels Like Christmas” and “To Christmas! (The Drinking Song)” among the highlights. They got out of the holiday mold and ended the set with their must-see take on the Beyoncé hits “Crazy in Love” and “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”. The whole show lasted just under two hours, with a 25-minute intermission.

 

Setlist

Owen Danoff – The Mansion at Strathmore, 11/2/2016

Along with two bandmates – drummer Nate Read is a dead ringer for a former work colleague of mine – Danoff did a relatively short (about an hour) but still sweet set in a much more intimate setting that his show at the Hamilton earlier in the year. His solo acoustic mini-set in the middle of the show produced some of the best moments, including a medley of “Fire and Rain” and his own “No Such Thing”, as well as his cover of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”. The material with the band was strong as well, especially on “See This Through” (which closed the main set), although on a couple of occasions the full-band arrangements were a bit much for our front-row seats in the tiny (100-seat) venue.

 

Highlights – Hometown Headstone, Fire and Rain / No Such Thing, (If I Had A) Starship, Don’t Think Twice, See This Through, Alone Life

 

Setlist

Serendipity #64

Learning The Hard Way – The Gin Blossoms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtUekBjlYW4

Heard 11/4/2016 around 10:00am, at Wegman’s (Germantown)

#132 Can't Hold Us – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SihoKQ-uLqE

 

Regardless of all the crap these guys got about beating out Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Kanye, and Jay-Z for Best Rap Album, this song has one of the great anthem-type choruses of the century. (They also deserve credit for “Same Love”, and “Thrift Shop” is kind of fun if you stick to the version edited for radio airplay.) I fully expect it to be played at sporting events as long as, say, “Seven Nation Army”, and hopefully long after the powers that be mercifully retire the woefully-overplayed “Mammy Blue”.

How to address the post-election anger

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/even-if-trump-loses-big-the-anger-will-remain-heres-how-the-left-can-address-it/2016/10/14/c848c4b0-8f02-11e6-9c52-0b10449e33c4_story.html?utm_term=.d667a962afd9

 

Great column by the always-thoughtful E.J. Dionne Jr. about how we need “to understand why Trump happened and to face up to how failures on the left and center-left have contributed to the flourishing of a new far right…”

October 13, 2016 (NLDS Game 5) – Dodgers 4, Nationals 3 – Nationals Park

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/206007428/dodgers-beat-nationals-in-nlds-to-go-to-nlcs/

 

Attendance: 43,936

Game Time: 4:32 (!)

Weather: 67 degrees, clear

Wind: 11 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Jeff Kellogg, First Base - Manny Gonzalez, Second Base - Dan Bellino, Third Base - Chris Guccione, Left Field - Ron Kulpa, Right Field - Tom Hallion

Seventh-inning stretch song: We’re Not Gonna Take It – Twisted Sister

 

Highlights – Nats took a quick lead in the bottom of the second, when Murphy singled, stole second, and scored on an Espinosa single … Max held LA scoreless until the seventh, pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth … after the Dodgers took the lead with 4 in the top of the seventh, the Nats rallied after the stretch, cutting the lead to one on a leadoff walk by Espinosa and a pinch-HR by Chris Heisey

 

Lowlights – in the bottom of the sixth with two outs, Nats 3^rd-base coach Bob Henley attempted to score Jayson Werth from first on a Zimmerman double (He was out. By a lot.) … Scherzer’s only pitch in the seventh was hit out of the park by Joc Pederson … 5 Nats relievers (!) allowed 3 more runs before the inning was over, keyed by a pinch RBI single by Carlos Ruiz and a two-run triple by Justin Turner … LA put closer Kenley Jansen in the game with one on and none out in the bottom of the seventh … after Jansen walked two in the bottom of the ninth, Clayton Kershaw came in after pitching into the seventh inning two days earlier to retire Murphy and last-man-standing Wilmer Difo to end Washington’s season, losing yet another first-round series despite having home-field advantage

 

Other – Livan Hernandez got a nice round of applause for throwing out the first pitch … in typical Nats fashion, they ran out of paper towels in one of the men’s rooms before the game even started, and ran out of pizza on the upper level in the fifth inning … we all booed the “last call” announcement for Metro in protest of WMATA’s decision not to extend the midnight closing time … game lasted 45 minutes longer than September’s Springsteen concert … getting out of DC seemed to take forever; it was past 2am when we finally got back to Westat

 

 

The GOP’s venomous charlatan

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/donald-trumps-vile-candidacy-is-chemotherapy-for-the-gop/2016/10/10/73e40f30-8f05-11e6-9c85-ac42097b8cc0_story.html?utm_term=.18774f9ead40

 

Very seldom am I a fan of George Will’s political columns (as opposed to his baseball columns, which are fantastic), but I did enjoy this one.

 

Question: Is DJT on his way to taking down more people along with him than anyone since Samson? (Please forgive me for mixing Trump and a Biblical reference in the same sentence.)

#131 Home Is Where The Hatred Is – Gil Scott-Heron (1971)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtzlFO19m3k

 

Although I’d heard a few Gil Scott-Heron cuts (“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, “Johannesburg”) back when they came out, I didn’t become aware of this one until Kanye sampled it for “My Way Home” on his Late Registration album. (In case you’re wondering, I bought that album because another one of its tracks, “Hey Mama”, sampled “Today Won’t Come Again,” by folk singer-songwriter and WAMA Hall-of-Famer Donal Leace.)

Shuffle #93 (October 11, 2016)

Rocket Love – Stevie Wonder

Black And Blue – The Secret Sisters

Dreams – Fleetwood Mac

America – Simon & Garfunkel

Tobacco Road – Lou Rawls

I’m The One Who Loves You – The Impressions

When My Time Comes – Dawes

Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things) – Martha & The Vandellas

October 9, 2016 (NLDS Game 2) – Nationals 5, Dodgers 2 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/205513796/nationals-even-nlds-after-game-2-victory/

 

Attendance: 43,826

Game Time: 3:55

Weather: 62 degrees, sunny

Wind: 8 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Chris Guccione, First Base - Ron Kulpa, Second Base - Tom Hallion, Third Base - Jeff Kellogg, Left Field - Manny Gonzalez, Right Field - Dan Bellino

Seventh-inning stretch song: Jump – Van Halen

 

Highlights – Nats catcher Jose Lobaton turned the game and series around with a 3-run homer in the bottom of the fourth (after ending an earlier bases-loaded threat with an inning-ending double play and dropping a throw at the plate as LA scored its second run) … Daniel Murphy had 3 hits and a walk, driving in insurance runs in the fifth and seventh … Trea had two singles, a stolen base, and a run scored … Roark was not at his best but limited the damage to 2 runs in 4.1 innings … 5 Nats relievers blanked the Dodgers on 1 hit the rest of the way

 

Other – first inning was déjà vu all over again, as Seager hit a solo homer for LA and all 3 Nats batters fanned in the bottom of the frame … enjoyed an early lunch at the “Budweiser Brew House” (fish tacos, pizza, wings, hot cider, and hot chocolate) … the sun made it surprisingly comfortable during the game in the upper level, despite windy conditions on the field … not sure whether official crowd figure counted the many pigeons that decided to attend … our chauffeur won the Designated Driver of the Game drawing; we all chuckled when his prize turned out to be a Nationals beer stein … game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but they decided to postpone it about 5 minutes after we arrived (we had expected a delayed start but not a postponement)