2018 XPoNential Music Festival, July 27-29, Wiggins Park (Camden NJ)

Friday wound up being unattractive due to parking and weather issues. The “neutral” (i.e. not from the always-optimistic WXPN folks) weather forecasts from Weather.com and KYW called for a strong probability of storms mid-evening. The frequently-changing info from the XPNFest web site indicated that only one lot south of the Ben Franklin Bridge would be available prior to 6pm. The RiverLine light rail, which I used before, was not particularly useful, since the last train left the XPNFest neighborhood around 9:30. So Plan A was to get to Camden around 2:30 and (hopefully) park. As it turned out, after circling around several times I was completely unable to find the promised “Lot 6”, and decided to just catch the Wiggins Park performances on the radio. As it turned out, the skies opened up between 7:00 and 7:30, forcing the cancellation of the planned Lone Bellow set. They also wound up closing the XPNFest section of the RiverLine due to flooding, and one couple I talked to while waiting in line Sunday said they wound up parking in a chop shop Friday. In other words, no regrets.

 

Saturday was hot and humid, but with only a slight chance of rain, so I got there before the gates opened, had no problem parking and stayed for the duration of the Wiggins Park sets. Sunday was better weather-wise, with mid-80s temperatures and nominally low humidity, but it was still really hot in the sun. The crowd seemed like one of the largest I’ve run into, making it difficult to catch the Marina Stage performances if you were set up by the main stage. I found myself running out of gas several hours in, and decided to leave around 5:15.

 

Two sets were particularly noteworthy, both on Saturday.

 

I wasn’t especially familiar with Mondo Cozmo, but they took the River Stage midway through the afternoon and absolutely crushed it, winning ovations not only from the up-front standees (a crowd which ultimately extended almost halfway back the main walkway) but also from those of us sitting on the lawn. Frontman (and Bucks County native) Joshua Ostrander got things off on the right foot by sporting a blue Joel Embiid jersey, with the band’s opening “Come With Me” bringing to mind U2 in their prime. Other highlights included “Shine”, “Automatic”, “Tonight Tonight”, and a special, family-friendly edited version of the title track from their latest EP.

 

A few hours later, Margo Price ended the Wiggins Park portion of Saturday’s festivities on a high note. While I suppose she can properly be classified as “country” – her lyrics definitely fit the mold, and a couple of her songs did feature pedal steel – her top-notch band nevertheless rocked as hard as anyone else who took the stage during the festival. (This includes Price herself, who in addition to her work on rhythm guitar took her place behind the drum kit on two numbers.) Their set featured mostly original material, most notably “A Little Pain”, but they also changed things up by throwing in three well-chosen covers: “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”, “Casey Jones”, and the closing “Proud Mary”.

 

Quick notes on some of the other performances are below. More detailed recaps are available from WXPN’s “The Key”; some include setlists and/or links to the audio of the performances.

 

The National Reserve (Friday) – on my target list, reminded me of the Bodeans, bought the last available copy of their CD from the merch booth on Saturday

 

Katie Frank (Saturday) – reminded me of Paramore, but definitely old Paramore, not the “Ain’t It Fun” lighter sound

 

Hurry (Saturday) – excellent sense of humor, brought to mind Fountains of Wayne

 

&More (Saturday) – promising local hip-hop duo, who get bonus points for building their final song “War” on a sample from “The World Is A Ghetto”

 

Natalie Prass (Saturday) – had a real neo-soul vibe, which for some reason I wasn’t expecting

 

Lo Moon (Sunday) – Broken Bells, anyone?

 

Hiss Golden Messenger (Sunday) – possibly the chattiest set of the weekend, but in a good way

Shuffle #107 (July 29, 2018)

It Takes Two – Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock

Down On The Corner – Creedence Clearwater Revival

We’re Rolling On (Part 1) – The Impressions

Good Timin’ – The Beach Boys

Dead And Gone – Gypsy

Get A Job – The Silhouettes

Feel Good Inc – Gorillaz

The Reflex – Duran Duran

Don’t Give Up – Peter Gabriel

Shuffle #106 (July 28, 2018)

Iuka – The Secret Sisters

10 Rocks – Shelby Lynne

Drown In My Own Tears – Eva Cassidy & Chuck Brown

I Was In The House When The House Burned Down – Warren Zevon

Not For Me – Marshall Crenshaw

Valerie – Richard Thompson

Dead Flowers – The Rolling Stones

Nights On Broadway – The Bee Gees

Closer To Fine – Indigo Girls

July 22, 2018 – Nats 6, Padres 2 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/kelvin-herrera-bryce-harper-lead-nats-to-win/c-286907108

 

Attendance: 39,063

Duration: 3:26

Weather: 76 degrees, Partly Cloudy

Wind: 4 MPH Varies

Umpires: HP: CB Bucknor. 1B: Chris Conroy. 2B: Brian O'Nora. 3B: Fieldin Culbreth.

 

Game notes – Nats took a quick lead in the bottom of the first on an Eaton leadoff single, Harper walk, 2-run triple by Rendon and an RBI groundout by Juan Soto … Scherzer allowed 8 hits and ran up a high pitch count through the first 4 innings, but was able to go 6 and depart with a 3-2 lead … the home team added insurance runs in the sixth (consecutive 2-out singles by Eaton, Turner, and Harper), seventh (RBI single by Matt Adams following a Soto double), and eighth (Harper round-tripper) … meanwhile, 4 Nats relievers allowed 6 more Atlanta hits but no runs over the final 3 frames, with Kelvin Herrera recording the 5-out save … Nats defense was stellar, robbing two Atlanta hitters of extra bases and rubbing out two runners at second base

 

Other – after all-day rain forced the postponement of Saturday night’s game, this one had a 1:55 delay (featuring a major storm in the middle) before finally getting underway at 3:30, as well as a 1:38 delay at the end of the 6^th inning (we left partway through the latter)

July 17, 2018 – American League 8, National League 6, 10 innings (All-Star Game) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/news/american-league-wins-all-star-game-in-extras/c-286288460 

Attendance: 43,843

Duration: 3:34

Weather: 82 degrees, Partly Cloudy

Wind: 3 MPH Out to Center

Umpires: HP: Ted Barrett. 1B: Jim Reynolds. 2B: Alfonso Márquez. 3B: Andy Fletcher. LF: Mike Muchlinski. RF: Cory Blaser. 

Section 312, Row D, Seats 18-19 – great seats, on the aisle and almost directly behind home plate. Not sure how we managed that … 

Overall summary – It was the perfect game for 2018, with almost half of the plate appearances ending in one of the Three True Outcomes (strikeout, walk, homer). The 10 home runs obliterated the previous All-Star record of 6, and there were more strikeouts (25) than hits (20). Only one run scored on something other than a four-bagger. Somewhat unexpectedly, relief aces for both leagues were pounded, and a starting pitcher got the save. Beyond that, it was actually a calm game for the first 7 innings, and an offensive explosion for the final 3. 

Game notes (innings 1-7) – hometown hero Max Scherzer got the start for the NL, fanning Mookie Betts and Jose Altuve to begin the evening, adding Ks of Jose Abreu and Salvador Perez to end his outing in the second after an Aaron Judge homer … Mike Trout added to the AL lead with a round-tripper off Jacob deGrom an inning later, but Willson Contreras got the home team on the board in the bottom of the frame by taking Blake Snell deep on his first pitch … the NL finally tied it following the seventh-inning stretch on a shot by Trevor Story off Charlie Morton … other than that the pitchers were in control, with Phillies ace Aaron Nola tossing a scoreless 5^th … Bryce Harper struck out in both of his plate appearances

Game notes (innings 8-10) – in the top of the 8^th with 2 on and 1 out, Joey Votto dropped a pop fly for an error (drawing boos and sarcastic cheers for the rest of the game), and Jean Segura made him pay by homering on the next pitch for a 5-2 AL lead … Christian Yelich got one back in the bottom of the inning with a HR off Morton … in the bottom of the 9^th, pinch-hitter Scooter Gennett electrified the crowd with a one-out, two-run homer of AL saves leader Edwin Diaz to tie the game at 5 … the hometown good feelings wouldn’t last long, as the visitors scored 3 in the top of the 10^th, starting with back-to-back longballs by Houston teammates Alex Bregman and George Springer off Ross Stripling … Votto only partially atoned for his earlier miscue by homering on the first pitch from J.A. Happ, who nevertheless earned the first save of his career

 

Other – there was a big storm earlier in the day, but only a brief, relatively light rain during the game … we were able to get going quickly on the Green Line after the game (which ended just before midnight), and a Red Line train was just arriving when we got to Gallery Place, but we then had a lengthy wait there waiting for a problem ahead of us to be cleared up

 

July 15, 2018 – Team USA 10, Team World 6 (All-Star Futures Game) – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/news/usa-defeats-world-in-futures-game/c-286024578

 

Attendance: 38,071 (many disguised as empty seats)

Duration: 3:01

Weather: 86 degrees, cloudy

Wind: 9 mph, Out to LF

Umpires: HP: Malachi Moore. 1B: Edwin Moscoso. 2B: Kyle McCrady. 3B: John Mang

 

Section 306, Row C, Seats 3-5 (still on the 3B side, but down the LF line)

 

Game notes – back and forth game, with most of the runs scoring on the 8 home runs, 2 of them courtesy of Dodgers OF prospect Yusniel Diaz (World) … 18-year-old fireballer Hunter Greene (USA) of the Reds, who was the 2^nd pick in last year’s draft, hit triple digits with each of his 19 fastballs, one of which (at 102.3 mph) was turned around for a 2-run HR by White Sox OF Luis Alexander Basabe … the US finally took the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh off Philadelphia pitcher Adonis Medina, a last-minute addition to the roster (he replaced Enyel de los Santos, who wound up as the starting pitcher for the Phillies earlier in the afternoon) … frequent mid-inning pitching changes contributed to the length of the game

It’s not just Roe. Worry about Chevron too.

How this Supreme Court pick could cement Trump’s real economic legacy

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/07/11/how-this-supreme-court-pick-could-cement-trumps-real-economic-legacy/?utm_term=.83b20cccf1a8

 

“In its 1984 Chevron decision, the Supreme Court declared that when a law passed by Congress is silent or ambiguous on an issue of how an agency should exercise its regulatory authority, the courts should defer to the reasonable judgment of the agency. In the years since, this “Chevron deference” has provided the legal basis for hundreds of regulations protecting consumers, workers and the environment promulgated under laws that, in many instances, could never have anticipated the economic, social and technological changes that would necessitate them decades later.

 

“But to the business community and legal and ideological conservatives, Chevron has come to be seen as a giant legal loophole that has led to the creation of a vast “administrative state” that has encroached on the power of Congress to make the laws and the judiciary to interpret them. And no two judges have been more closely associated with the campaign to pare back Chevron, or overturn it completely, than President Trump’s first two Supreme Court nominees, Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.”

Indigo Girls w/ The War & Treaty – Wolf Trap, 7/10/2018

Row A, Seat 31 – front row (other than pit), rightmost “center section” seat

 

As usual, Amy and Emily (along with violinist Lyris Hung) put on an excellent, high-energy set at Wolf Trap, starting around 9:00 with “Hammer And A Nail” and finishing (with “Closer To Fine”, naturally) just 10 minutes or so before the venue’s 11:00 curfew. While they threw in some relatively new material – “Elizabeth” and “Spread The Pain Around” early in the show, and a solo number from each of them closer to the end – most of the night consisted of such crowd favorites as “Get Out The Map”, “Shame On You”, and “Chickenman”.  Nevertheless, every time I see them, I come away discovering a song or two that I had either never heard before or had forgotten about; this time it was “Devotion”, “Come On Home”, and “Let It Be Me”. The vocals haven’t lost anything over the years, and Amy Ray remains among the most intense, charismatic live performers I’ve seen.

 

Other highlights:

Power Of Two

The Wood Song

Watershed

 

The War & Treaty consists of African-American married couple Michael and Tanya Trotter, supported by instrumentalists on guitar, bass, and drums. (Michael handles the keyboards.) Their 40-minute opening set primarily featured songs from their upcoming album Healing Tide. They drew standing ovations for each of their last two songs, the sultry “Til The Morning” and “Wanna Get Out Of Here” (my favorite), which segued into “When The Saints Come Marching In”. The duo was most notable for their powerful, soulful vocals, although they could perhaps have benefited from stronger material.

July 8, 2018 – Marlins 10, Nats 2 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/tanner-roark-struggles-as-nats-fall-to-marlins/c-284840526

 

Attendance: 30,464

Duration: 3:43

Weather: 77 degrees, Clear

Wind: 9 MPH In From Right

Umpires: HP: Jim Reynolds. 1B: John Tumpane. 2B: Mike DiMuro. 3B: Mark Wegner.

 

Beautiful weather, lousy ballgame

 

Game notes – Tanner Roark’s struggles continued, as he required 102 pitches to get through 4 innings, allowing 15 baserunners and 4 runs … the short outing forced Grace, Miller, Kintzler, and Madson to each throw at least 17 pitches despite plenty of other recent work … Mark Reynolds had to record the last out in the top of the 9^th, after Madson retired only 2 of the 8 batters he faced … going into the 9^th, Miami had 18 hits, all of which were singles … Nats drew 9 walks but managed only 5 hits, leaving 13 on base (the Marlins stranded 17) … Nats scored 14 and 18 runs in the 2 games of the series we did NOT attend

July 6, 2018 – Nats 3, Marlins 2 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/mark-reynolds-hits-pinch-hr-for-walk-off-win/c-284551684

 

Attendance: 32,652

Duration: 3:13

Weather: 85 degrees, Mostly Cloudy

Wind: 11 MPH In From Center

Umpires: HP: Mike DiMuro. 1B: Mark Wegner. 2B: Jim Reynolds. 3B: John Tumpane.

 

Section 318, Row C, Seats 3-5 (about halfway between home and first base)

 

Game notes – Gio struggled with his pitch count from the outset, finally giving up a run in the top of the 3^rd … Nats took the lead an inning later when Rendon and Harper drew walks to start the inning, followed by RBI singles from Eaton and Difo … Gonzalez issued a bases-loaded walk in the top of the 5^th to tie the score, but then finished his 114-pitch outing by fanning Justin Bour and Garrett Cooper … Rendon and Harper also led off the bottom of the 8^th with walks, followed by a Matt Adams infield single, but Washington stranded all 3 runners … Mark Reynolds pinch-hit for Doolittle to lead off the 9^th and hit a walk-off HR to left

 

Other – comfortable evening after several days of intense heat and humidity … long concession lines despite a less-than-sellout crowd for the Bryce Harper bobblehead