Shuffle #119 (September 28, 2019)

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – The Rolling Stones

Closer To Me – Dar Williams

Heartbreaker – The Crystals

I Feel Lucky – Mary Chapin Carpenter

Numb – Linkin Park

A Face In The Crowd – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Boogie Oogie Oogie – A Taste Of Honey

He Will Break Your Heart – Jerry Butler

Take My Love With You – Bonnie Raitt

The Chariot – The Cat Empire

Favorite Musical Artists: Gordon Lightfoot

Speaking of musical genres, I’m not sure whether Gordon Lightfoot was held back by their boundaries or transcended them – I prefer to think the latter. Although his earliest material had a decidedly country sound (and his later “Sundown” actually hit #13 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart), he first gained attention as a folk artist, with performers such as Peter, Paul & Mary recording some of his material. Because of that background, I was always surprised when I found his albums in stores filed under Pop/Rock rather than in the Folk section. Similarly, I could never quite understand why he didn’t get nearly as much attention as did others (Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Carole King, fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell) during the 1970s “singer-songwriter” craze. Was it because he didn’t live in or hang around L.A.? Was it because his music leaned more “adult contemporary” than rock? (Although JT was certainly never known for rocking out.) Maybe it was because his songs never felt all that introspective: allmusic.com refers to typical singer-songwriter lyrics of the era that “were personal, although … often veiled by layers of metaphors and obscure imagery.”

 

All that aside, I’ve always had this somewhat fanciful notion that there’s some supernatural power that assigns all of us some fixed number of great songs. (For most of us, of course, that number is zero.) During his prime years during the 1960s and 1970s, Gordon Lightfoot certainly came up with far more than his share.

 

Favorite songs:

 

Canadian Railroad Trilogy

The Way I Feel (version from the album of the same name)

The Last Time I Saw Her

The Circle Is Small

Early Morning Rain

 

Summer Side Of Life

Did She Mention My Name

If You Could Read My Mind

10 Degrees & Getting Colder

Song For A Winter's Night

 

For Lovin' Me

Crossroads

Softly

Same Old Loverman

Endless Wire

 

Pussywillows, Cat-Tails

Sundown

Can't Depend On Love

Sit Down Young Stranger

That Same Old Obsession

September 15, 2019 – Nats 7, Braves 0 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/howie-kendrick-sparks-nationals-win

 

Weather: 81 degrees, Sunny.

Wind: 5 mph, In From LF.

Umpires: HP--Welke, 1B--Muchlinski, 2B--Drake, 3B--Timmons.

Time: 3:03

Attendance: 29,350

 

After being outscored 15-1 in the first two games of the weekend series, pretty much extinguishing any faint hope the Nationals had of catching the first-place Braves, Washington got a small measure of revenge Sunday afternoon and kept pace in the standings with their Wild Card challengers. Former Brave Anibal Sanchez was brilliant, going 7 innings and not allowing an Atlanta runner to reach second base other than Freddie Freeman, who doubled with two outs in the first. Hunter Strickland handled the 8^th, while Doolittle pitched a 1-2-3 9^th, albeit with all 3 outs coming on long fly balls.

 

Atlanta lefty Max Fried had owned the Nats 10 days earlier, allowing only one baserunner in his 7 scoreless innings. This Sunday, however, the tables were turned. The onslaught started in the second, when Kendrick singled, Robles doubled, and Yan Gomes got a ground ball through the infield to score both. Fried would be gone an inning later, after Kendrick’s two-run single with the bases loaded and a walk to Brian Dozier. Reliever Jeremy Walker then walked Robles on 5 pitches to force in Washington’s 5^th run. Kendrick continued his big day with a solo homer two innings later, and Robles scored on an odd inning-ending double play in the 6^th to finish the scoring.

September 13, 2019 – Braves 5, Nats 0 – Nationals Park

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/max-scherzer-nationals-lose-opener-to-braves

 

Weather: 71 degrees, Overcast.

Wind: 5 mph, In From RF.

Umpires: HP--Drake, 1B--Timmons, 2B--Welke, 3B--Muchlinski.

Time: 3:16

Attendance: 39,730

 

Section 419, Row M, Seats 1-2 – one row below the top of the stadium, although we were so used to our top-row seats from previous “extra” games that we actually sat in Row N instead

 

A decent-but-not-great start from Scherzer, two more runs surrendered by the Bullpen From Hell, and an almost-complete lack of offense produced the expected result, as the Nats (Naughts?) fell once again to the 2019 NL East champs-to-be. Most of the members of the sellout crowd were left to hope that their Tony Two-Bags bobbleheads would not be the final Washington giveaway item honoring the wildly popular pending free agent.

 

Despite inconsistent command, Max battled the Braves successfully for the first three innings, most notably in the second when he struck out the side after a Nick Markakis single and a Matt Joyce walk. Things didn’t go as well in the 4^th, when Atlanta scored their first run on a Markakis double and a Joyce single, and a second when Dansby Swanson doubled two batters later. Markakis, in his first game back off the IL, struck again an inning later with a bases-loaded sac fly to make the score 3-0. The Braves added what proved to be unnecessary insurance runs in the 7^th (when Ozzie Albies went yard on Tanner Rainey’s first pitch of the inning) and 8^th (when Hunter Strickland retired only one of his four batters faced, before Javy Guerra came in to limit the damage).

 

There isn’t much to say about the Washington “offense”. They wasted scoring opportunities in the 2^nd and 4^th against Braves starter Mike Soroka, who gave up just one hit, along with three walks, in his six innings of work. Doubles by Robles in the 8^th and Soto in the 9^th were too little, too late.

Kacey Musgraves w/ Yola – Wolf Trap, 9/7/2019

Row C, Seat 37 

 

With “Old Town Road” dominating the cultural conversation for the past several months (as well as the Billboard charts on which the powers that be have allowed it to appear), 2019 is a big year for defining, or disregarding, musical genre boundaries, specifically what is or is not “country”. Saturday evening’s sold-old show provided two excellent examples.

 

Kacey Musgraves’s latest album, Golden Hour, accomplished a rare trifecta by winning top album awards from the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music, and the Recording Academy (Grammies for both top country album and top album overall). She did this with virtually no support from country music radio, which I was tempted to point out to those staffing the WMZQ booth at the concert. To be fair, Lil Nas X probably had at least as many “elements of today’s country music” in “Old Town Road” as appear in most of “Golden Hour”; banjos do turn up now and again, and there is of course “Space Cowboy”, but most folks playing the album would probably file it under Pop rather than Country, if they felt compelled to make a choice at all.

 

Over the course of her 90-minute set, Musgraves did two covers (including an energetic version of “I Will Survive”), two songs from each of her first two albums, and all 13 tracks (!) from Golden Hour. (Since it was one of my favorites from last year, I certainly didn’t complain.) The crowd (many of whom seemed to know all the words to every song) was justifiably enthusiastic throughout; my favorites were “Lonely Weekend” (with a particularly psychedelic light show) and “Love Is A Wild Thing” from Golden Hour, plus “Merry Go ‘Round” and “Follow Your Arrow” from her debut, Same Trailer, Different Park.

 

Setlist

 

Opening act Yola – black, British, and billed as the “Queen of country soul” – is if anything even less likely than Musgraves to get airplay on country radio; even when that genre was at its peak in the 60s, people like Ray Charles, Solomon Burke, and Joe Simon got airplay on R&B and Top 40 stations but were ignored by country outlets. Labels aside, she did a nice 45-minute set that generated an appreciative reaction from the crowd, especially with her note-perfect rendition of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”. “Walk Through Fire” and “Shady Grove” were my personal favorites. The “soul” side mostly dominated, particularly with the smoking ballad “It Ain’t Easier”, although “Love All Night (Work All Day)” and “What You Do” both had enough traditional country to them to possibly be hits, if they were recorded by someone (probably white, alas) with some pre-existing country cred.

 

Setlist

Shuffle #118 (August 31, 2019)

If You Don’t Want My Love – Robert John

American Woman – The Guess Who

Sally – Sade

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John

He – The Righteous Brothers

A Matter Of Minutes – Shawn Colvin

I.G.Y. – Donald Fagen

The Way -- Fastball

August 28, 2019 – Brewers 4, Cardinals 1 – Miller Park (Milwaukee)

https://www.mlb.com/news/keston-hiura-has-3-rbis-as-brewers-beat-cardinals

 

Weather: 70 degrees, Partly Cloudy.

Wind: 21 mph, Out To LF.

Umpires: HP--Woodring, 1B--Torres, 2B--Hernandez, 3B--Marquez.

Time: 2:50

Attendance: 33,045

 

Section 217, Row 6, Seat 19 – second level, just to the first base side of home plate

 

As I was in the bag-inspection line to enter the park, the woman behind me was looking at the list of prohibited items, and asked me why anyone would want to bring a broom to a baseball game. I explained to her the concept of “sweep”, and how we hoped that it would not be an issue that afternoon. Fortunately for those in the crowd not wearing bright red, the home team combined excellent pitching and timely hitting to salvage the final game of the series and remain on the fringes of the wild-card race.

 

Jordan Lyles continued his post-trade revival, fanning 5 of the first 7 Cards he faced, and 9 in all. After he gave up a leadoff homer to Kolten Wong in the top of the 6^th, then allowed 2 of the next 3 batters to reach base, Junior Guerra induced the red-hot Yadi Molina to ground into a double play, then struck out the side in the 7^th. The slumping Josh Hader pitched the final two innings for the save, allowing only a Wong double in the 8^th.

 

Meanwhile, Milwaukee made the most of its six hits, pushing across single runs in four of their eight times up. Second baseman Keston Hiura drove in three of the runs, with a groundout in the 1^st, a homer in the 4^th, and a double in the 8^th.

 

Kids and seniors got 50% off on all tickets, and seniors got to stroll on the warning track after the game. (No “special ticket” required: Nats please take note.) I decided to avoid the interstates on both legs of the drive – slower, but less stress.

August 27, 2019 – Cardinals 6, Brewers 3 – Miller Park (Milwaukee)

https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/brewers-bullpen-falters

 

Weather: 77 degrees, Partly Cloudy.

Wind: 13 mph, R To L.

Umpires: HP--Marquez, 1B--Woodring, 2B--Torres, 3B--Hernandez.

Time: 3:27 (:09 delay)

Attendance: 36,690

 

Section 124, Row 18, Seat 1 – lower level, just beyond third base

 

This turned out to be a great game (for non-Brewers fans anyway), with a pitchers’ duel at the beginning, 7 runs scored in the last 3 innings, suspense to the very end, and what was probably one of the shortest rain delays in MLB history.

 

The Brewers kicked off the scoring with a two-out RBI single by Orlando Arcia in the second. St. Louis responded two innings later on a solo homer by Yadier Molina. That’s the way it stayed until the seventh, with Adrian Houser lasting 5 innings for Milwaukee before leaving with hip discomfort and Miles Mikolas going 6 for the Cards. St. Louis pulled ahead before the stretch with 3 off ex-Nat Matt Albers, highlighted by another Molina dinger, this time with a man on first. Milwaukee narrowed the lead with a 2-run Yasmani Grandal shot in the bottom of the 8^th off Andrew Miller, but the Cards answered right back with 2 in the top of the 9^th, starting off with a Molina double. Hope seemed lost as St. Louis closer Carlos Martinez retired the first 2 Brewers in the bottom of the inning, but after an infield single and a 4-pitch walk, Hernan Perez came to the plate representing the potential tying run. On a 1-2 count, he sent a 97-mph high fastball deep to right-center, but Dexter Fowler made a leaping catch at the wall, directly in front of the Cards’ bullpen, to nail down the win.

 

Just about all of us were astonished when, with 2 outs in the top of the 7^th, the skies opened up, sending many fans scurrying for cover (I was far enough back to stay dry) and the players off the field. Fortunately, the roof closed perfectly (to the strains of “Who’ll Stop The Rain”), and play resumed less than 10 minutes later.

 

I was also bemused when Christian Yelich used the Police’s “Roxanne” as his walk-up music during his first at-bat. Turns out there was a story behind that.

https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/christian-yelich-body-issue-reaction

 

The stadium is reasonably nice, although the all-weather design of necessity makes it less airy and open than many. The same stands tended to repeat throughout the lower level, with not as much variety as I would have liked. I had a brat (OK) and custard (terrific). Getting in and out of the parking lots was not as difficult as I had feared, although it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. (Things were reasonably well-marked, although they could stand to freshen up the lane striping on their roads.)

Trump’s wall is child’s play compared to Bernie Sanders’s climate plan

Key quote from David Von Drehle’s column: “Voters appear to want grand gestures more than they want achievable policies. They’d rather be bathed in agreeable hogwash than be tasked with achievable goals. … Of course, it’s part of a president’s job to paint a bold vision of America’s future. But the art of leadership includes the politics of the possible.”

 

https://beta.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-wall-is-childs-play-compared-to-bernie-sanderss-climate-plan/2019/08/23/cfb69490-c5da-11e9-9986-1fb3e4397be4_story.html

Favorite Musical Artists: Lyle Lovett

It’s more or less a coincidence that Lyle Lovett comes up right after Mary Chapin Carpenter. Fans of the latter, of course, are sure to be familiar with these lines from “I Feel Lucky”:

 

Now eleven million later, I was sittin' at the bar.

I bought the house a double, then the waitress a new car.

Dwight Yoakam's in the corner, tryin' to catch my eye.

Lyle Lovett's right beside me with his hand upon my thigh.

[obviously with her consent; see chorus below]

…

I feel lucky,

I feel lucky, yeah.

Hey Dwight, hey Lyle, boys, you don't have to fight.

Hot dog, I feel lucky tonight.

 

(I have to admit I started to wonder, when in recent years it became annoyingly typical for the two of them to appear at Wolf Trap on back-to-back evenings, forcing me either to choose between them or endure two late nights in a row.)

 

The best summary of Lovett’s music I could find came from Last.fm: “Lyle Lovett is an Americana singer-songwriter and actor from Klein, Texas, who has been described as "the thinking man's cowboy". While typically associated with the alt-country genre, his albums typically incorporate folk, swing, blues, jazz and gospel music as well as more traditional country & western styles.”

 

Concert notes (all from appearances at Wolf Trap with his Large Band unless otherwise noted): 2019 2018 2017 (at Strathmore with John Hiatt) 2016 2015

 

Favorite songs:

 

If I Had A Boat

That's Right (You're Not From Texas)

Here I Am

Closing Time

Church

 

She's No Lady

I Will Rise Up/Ain't No More Cane

What Do You Do/The Glory Of Love

Simple Song

Penguins

 

Nobody Knows Me

Don't Touch My Hat

L.A. County

Good Intentions

My Baby Don’t Tolerate

 

North Dakota

Family Reserve

Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior

Wallisville Road

Which Way Does That Old Pony Run

 

Bonus tracks -- Funny How Time Slips Away (duet with Al Green), and Francine Reed’s performance of Wild Women Don't Get the Blues (always a highlight of his Large Band shows)