As a fan of a wide variety of popular (and not-so-popular) music from the 1950s (and sometimes even earlier) up through the present, one of my bucket list projects for years has been to put together a list of my 100 favorite songs of all time. At some point I decided that, once I got around to figuring that out, I could put it out on a blog, for the infinitesimally small proportion of the Internet world that might be interested. So, here we are. While the Top 100 will be a major focus, I also plan to post on a variety of other musical (and occasionally non-musical) topics, in which you may or may not be interested. (If a particular posting doesn’t ring your bell, you’re only a few clicks away from a dancing cat video on YouTube.)

Sunday, October 20, 2024

Shuffle #176 (October 20, 2024)

Sugar Mountain – Neil Young

Bad Girls – Donna Summer

Soul Searching – Average White Band

Take My Love With You – Bonnie Raitt

Pedal Pushin’ Papa – Billy Ward & His Dominoes

Going Mobile – The Who

The Work Song – Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

Hypnotized – Linda Jones

The Worst Is Yet To Come – Keb’ Mo’

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Larry Hogan should have partied alone

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/07/larry-hogan-maryland-senate-race-independent/

 

Excellent opinion column by Matt Bai on Larry Hogan’s decision to run for the Senate as a Republican.

 

“Hogan had an option here. He could have formally left his party and run as an independent. This isn’t crazy. In my native state of Connecticut, the Land of Steady Habits and Mean Drivers, two political giants pulled this off after they were bounced from their parties for being insufficiently doctrinaire: Former Republican Lowell Weicker won the governorship in 1990, and former Democrat Joe Lieberman was returned to the Senate in 2006. Right now, in Nebraska, an independent candidate for Senate, Dan Osborn, has effectively drawn even with the Republican incumbent, Deb Fischer. … For all his defiance, when it really mattered most, Larry Hogan chose the path of party tribalism over the harder road of going it alone.”

 

Larry Hogan is certainly not a MAGA Republican. But Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell (who begged Hogan to run), and every MAGA Republican wants him to win. The alternative is to go with Angela Alsobrooks, who’s supported by Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, and Joe Biden, among many others. A subtle point: U.S. Senators serve six-year terms. So, even if Maryland doesn’t wind up being the tipping point for which party has the majority in the Senate next year, electing Hogan would improve the odds of Republican control after the 2026 and 2028 elections as well.

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

September 29, 2024 – Phillies 6, Nats 3

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS202409290.shtml

 

Start time: 3:05pm (the common starting time for all games on the final day* of the regular season)

Time: 2:40

Attendance: 26,729

Start Time Weather: 69° F, Wind 6mph in from Rightfield, Overcast, No Precipitation.

 

* - OK, not quite the final day THIS year …

 

This was a much drearier day for the hometown team, in terms of crowd size, result, and weather (at least it didn’t rain, but the sun went back into hibernation for the day), as the NL East Champion Phillies avoided the ignominy of being swept by a sub-.500 team in its final series before heading into the postseason.

 

Jake Irvin dug a hole for himself right away, sandwiching full-count walks to Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos around a Trea Turner single to load the bases. Infield grounders by cleanup hitter (!) Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm each plated a run to give the visitors a quick lead, which the Nats immediately cut in half on a leadoff home run by Luis García Jr. off Aaron Nola.

 

Irvin then settled down, retiring the Phillies in order over the next three innings. Washington also failed to score, although they made it interesting in the 3rd when, with runners on first and third and one out, Dylan Crews was caught attempting to steal home. Irvin walked the leadoff hitter again in the top of the 5th, however, before two singles again produced a bases-loaded, no outs situation. This time Philadelphia took full advantage, with a two-run Schwarber single and a two-run double by Weston Wilson that ended Irvin’s outing.

 

The Nats again answered back in the bottom of the inning, scoring a pair of runs on four base hits off Nola. That would prove to end the scoring, despite mild threats by Washington in the 6th and Philadelphia in the 8th. The Nats did make things interesting in the bottom of the 9th against Phillies’ closer-for-the-day José Ruiz, loading the bases (walk-single-walk) with no outs. Ruiz recovered to fan García Jr. and James Wood, and Kody Clemens made a leaping catch at the left-field wall to retire Juan Yepez for the final out of Washington’s season and provide Ruiz with the first save of his 8-year major league career.