Baby, Don't You Wanna Go?

Last Thursday (16 August) my Blues Brother Jake and I met up in Chicago for a blues pilgrimage weekend. (Jake and I are old Blues Brothers partners, brothers since 1980, though we're now separated by about 1300 miles and only see each other maybe once a year.) The plan was simple, hit as many blues clubs as we could in our 4-night stay. And the more local talent we saw, the better.

Thursday night was easy, as we'd picked a hotel only two blocks away from Buddy Guy's Legends. (We stayed at the TraveLodge on E. Harrison.) Jimi "Primetime" Smith was playing there that night, and he put on a great show, playing guitar and a little harp with a full band and one of the best keyboardists we'd seen.

As luck would have it we were there on a night when Buddy himself came in and hung out at the bar, and we were able to chat with him for 10-15 minutes before other folks noticed he was there too. We'd seen Buddy play with Junior Wells several times in the Boston area back in the 80s, and he seemed to enjoy reminiscing about one of the blues clubs that used to be there (Nightstage in Cambridge) with us.

We also were blessed when he got up on stage and did a song with the band (singing, no guitar) before he left for the night. Even the band seemed pretty blown away by that!

(Buddy Guy on stage at Legends... Sorry for the crappy picture, just had the cellphone with me in the clubs.)

Friday afternoon we had a great lunch at the (original) Pizzeria Uno... something I never miss when in town, so much better than the chain (which we love too)! After that we were able to get together with ChiTown John, whom we'd hooked up with through an online forum... the man told us to stay put in front of Uno, and he'd pick us up. We saw him coming from a block away as that beautiful, low-slung beat-to-stuff black and white sedan rumbled towards us! I'm sure there were a few looks of envy as we hopped into his '74 Dodge Bluesmobile. We spent a couple of great hours cruising around Chicago, taking some photos at Legends and at the House of Blues, then spending some time at the Navy Pier (where they had some good beer and another blues band was playing), and then had a cruise up and down (well, down and up actually) on Lower Wacker Drive.

(Jake, me and Chitown John in front of Legends with his Bluesmobile.)

After John dropped us off so we could peruse the Jazz Mart record shop, Friday night we went to Blue Chicago where we saw John Primer playing with his "Real Deal" blues band. Primer had played with Muddy Waters and was true old school, and we had a blast again! He also had a female blues singer with them for parts of their set, "Peaches", and she really knew how to work a crowd and belt some blues. We had a chance to chat with both Peaches and Primer during the evening.

(John Primer, far left; Peaches center stage at Blue Chicago.)

A great egoboost for me was, after hearing me quietly blowing my harp along to a juke box tune between sets, Primer came over and asked if I was a musician. I said no, really just amateur... he said, "But you do play, right?" I admitted as much and he said I should come back Monday night for his open jam session! (We were leaving on Monday but I thought that was pretty cool coming from one of Muddy's guys.)

Saturday it was up north to Kingston Mines, one of the better-known clubs with a 4am liquor license. We got there at 8:30pm, and left at about 4:45am... sweet! Eddy Clearwater was the main stage entertainment (alternating with Linsey Alexander on the back stage), another very high-powered band that kept the place hopping throughout the night. We made some friends there and had another great time. Earlier Saturday we'd found a brewpub we really liked (and would revisit on Sunday), the Rock Bottom Brewery, and it turns out there's a couple here in Massachusetts as well if I can ever get 'round to tracking them down! We also found time to share some sake in a small Asian lounge, and then took a stroll around the Grant Park fountain. Best known from the opening f "Married: With Children", it was also the location for a car chase scene in the original Blues Brothers movie that was filmed but never included.

Sunday night it was B.L.U.E.S... a surprisingly small club considering its reputation but another great spot. It was pouring rain that night, so we decided we would be smarted to just walk back over to Legends rather than go all the way up to B.L.U.E.S... a lengthy train ride followed by a 6 block or so walk at the other end. Yup, that's what we decided as we just marched right back onto the train anyway! We arrived at the club soaking wet but delighted to see a new (to us) club. They waved cover for us going in, just 'cause, "You guys are cool." We also scored a couple of free whiskey shots from the waitress.

Note, we were in street clothes all weekend... well, club clothes, jeans and button-down patterned shirts, but of course we always had the shades on the entire weekend. So I guess two Hawaiian shirt-wearing, shades-wearing guys in pouring rain at 9pm was "cool".

We were, incidentally, identified at pretty much every place we went all weekend as the Blues Brothers... John Primus was especially into it, and indeed they closed their gig with The MG's "Time is Tight"... the bass and organ lines used in the "I Can't Turn You Loose" Brothers intro. We certainly got a lot of dancing in! The other interesting part of that is at Kingston Mines, a college-area club that was filled with, to use the Aykroyd term, "foxes", the ladies were all very intent on borrowing our shades all night. Now there ain't much on me I'm not gonna let an attractive lady in a blues club touch... but the shades gotta stay on MY face!

Monday morning it was time to check out, though we both had fairly late flights that day. So we went back over to Legends for lunch, and hung out there for a couple of hours as they had a live solo guitarist entertaining. I never got the guy's name but he played a variety of styles and was very good, and it was a nice, low-key way to end the weekend as we were definitely feeling the blues about leaving by that point.


(More photos available at my Flickr site.)

Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet

Ssshhhhh! I'm sleeping (apparently)........

Close Encounter

A friend & I just took a brief break from work here and climbed up onto the roof... and saw "Atlantis" and the ISS zoom over! Not too often that we get a really good sighting opportunity this far north but they were at a near-90-degree elevation and not long after sunset, so they were very bright... one trailing the other by maybe 10 degrees of arc, taking about four minutes to cross the sky. Beautiful! (We'd tried last night, but it was overcast... they were much lower in the sky last night anyway so tonight was perfect!

A Sunday at the Ballpark

(Edited Tue.6/19 to add photos. More photos from this day available at my Flickr site!)

A near perfect Father's Day yesterday! Buster and The Momma took me (well, okay, let me take them!) to a Brockton Rox baseball game. The Rox are an independent league team and Campanelli Stadium is one of my favorite ballparks to go to these days, very nice yet roomy and not overcrowded, with good food and beer (yay, beer!).

The game itself was great, a pitcher's duel which the home team lost in the 10th inning, 3-2. We weren't sure who to root for though as they were playing the Nashua Pride, who, when we lived in New Hampshire during the first 5+ years of Buster's life, we would often go see at their home ballpark! It was also a bonus that we got to see former fan favorite Red Sox relief pitcher Rich "El Guapo" Garces, who now pitches for the Pride (and is still, uh, larger than life!). Guapo came in to close in the bottom of the 9th, with the Pride winning 2-1, but he gave up the tying run forcing extra frames. After the Pride retook the lead in the top of the 10th Garces came out again to this time successfully close the door and get the win.

The Rox do a great job of upholding the minor league tradition of making a day at the ballpark fun for the whole family. Before the game Buster was able to get a free horseback ride (he was psyched to be first in line, our timing was perfect!), and then they let us go down on the outfield and play catch for about 20 minutes before clearing the field for the game. After the game we all went down again to run the bases and touch home... naw, I ain't too old for that!!

The day was very, very hot though, which led to a couple of interesting moments. While Buster was waiting to go into a kids' bounce house at the ballpark I went to buy him his ($1) ride ticket. The kid (alone) at the ticket counter was weaving, holding himself up with his arms, frequently wiping his face... obviously in severe distress. He insisted (without much focus) that he was fine, and when I insisted he needed to drink some water (offering him ours) he said he had his own. Without really seeming to know what he was doing he reached under the counter and pulled out an unopened bottle of water, put it on the counter and instantly forgot all about it.

I called The Momma over (she's an RN) and she was on the case, getting the kid into the shade and getting the staff to call for medical help. I've seen her step in like this before and it's always a proud moment, and I was glad I had a chance to help in this case as well.

Then the shoe was on the other foot... Buster hadn't worn shorts (long story) so was spending about every other half inning staying up on the shaded concourse rather than in our (excellent but very hot!) field seats. We'd go check on him every now and then and he had a comfortable spot against the wall of the concourse, sitting on a small ledge ("lip" might be a better word!) near the bottom of the wall and enjoying the gentle but pleasant breeze up there.

The Momma came down at one point after she had been up there and was upset that they had told him he couldn't sit there! Now, I doubtless overreacted a bit (but really, just a bit) in the heat out of fatherly concern (and testosterone), but I went and talked to the person that had told him he couldn't stay there and after asking if she'd really said he couldn't stay there, basically opened the discussion with asking her if she was aware that we had just saved the life of one of their employees (and hopefully that was an exaggeration, but there was definitely truth to it as well) and now my sweat-pants wearing son couldn't sit in the shade? (I didn't quite raise my voice but it was implied... again, yeah, I probably overreacted a tad!)

She handled this excellently though and comped us some passes to an air-conditioned luxury suite they had set up for just such heat-related situations in the extreme heat. Apologizing and thanking her I went up there with Buster and The Momma, then seeing they were all set went back down to our field seats. The box was very nice, including outdoor seating in the shade right over home plate, but I still preferred the field seats myself. The family came back down a few innings later feeling much better, and really the whole thing just made for a better day. (And we were quite friendly with the security attendant for the rest of the game as well.)

They'd given us a cool parking spot for the Bluesmobile, as well, by herself at the front of a lot on the street and therefore visible to everyone going in and out. Yay.

So even apart from the heat and indeed because of it to some extent, a terrific day. We were mighty exhausted when we got home, and pretty grungy from sweating and pouring water on ourselves throughout the afternoon, but it was a terrific time. (I'll try and get this blog entry updated again in the next day or two with some photos from the day.)

Less of a fun day today though, as before going into work I attended a memorial service for a good friend's mother. I didn't really know her (had met her only once or twice and a great many years ago) but I've known her son and his wife for a very long time and they were hurting... my sympathies and prayers go out to you, Dave and Leslie.

A-Rod's True Colors Showing Again

There's been some controversy regarding a play in Toronto earlier this week, where Alex Rodriguez from the Yankees reportedly yelled - something - as he was rounding second behind a Toronto infielder lining up to catch an infield pop-up. Jays say he yelled "Mine!", so the fielder backed off thinking it was his teammate coming in to make the catch. A-Rod claims he just yelled "Hah!", hoping it would distract the fielder.

Either way, the ruse worked and the ball dropped for an infield hit and ultimately, a couple of runs. Opinions around baseball are split on if A-Rod broke the "unwritten rules" of baseball, or if he was just pushing the edge. He himself admitted they were playing desperately.

I find the idea of the play pretty Bush League, as the Jays manager called it, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it absolutely shouldn't have happened... I gotta think it's not beyond what a desperate team would do. (And let's face it, we can happily label the Yanks as a "desperate" team for the time being.)

But the arguments all miss the point of why this upsets me. I am angry that A-Rod would resort to this tactic, sure, but I don't really blame him for it.

But, what really pisses me off at him is that I strongly believed he lied about it afterwards... and that's pretty pathetic. Unfortunately it appears the clip has been pulled at the request of MLB so I can't link it here, but there was a clip on YouTube showing the play with a close-up on A-Rod, and even very limited lip-reading abilities make it seem pretty clear he said "mine", not "hah". Mmmmmm-i-nnnnnne. The consonants were pretty easy to pick out! But I can't back it up here now with the clip removed so just call it my strong opinion.

So if he said "Mine", why cover up by claiming to have just made some random verbalization? That's what's so amazingly sad about this guy. He'll "cheat"... even if within the "unwritten rules", but then just try to cover it up rather than just owning up to an attempt to gain an advantage by Any Means Necessary.

What a loser.

Remembering....

My heartfelt condolences go out to our friend Betsy tonight. I just heard that Betsy's husband Jim passed away unexpectedly yesterday (Memorial Day). We've know them a long time and they're good people. Jim will be missed and both of you will be in our thoughts.

(Jim playing with"Buster" when he was two... Buster was, that is, not Jim!)

When It Was a Game

It's obviously a fun time to be a Red Sox fan. We're 11.5 games up on second-place Baltimore, and better still 13.5 games up on the Evil Empire, with the Yanks now tied with the D-Rays for last place. There's actually been a couple of moments in the past month when I actually felt a twinge of sympathy for the Bombers, especially when they lost two pitchers that were hit by batted balls up the middle. Still, I got over that quickly, and here's why... their fans need a reality check.

Last week I ready an article in one of the NY papers, I unfortunately wasn't able to find the link today so I'll have to paraphrase. But it was the night after the Yanks lost a game despite threatening in the 9th inning. The article was something like this - The situation is so familiar, Yanks down by a couple of runs but with runners on second and third with Jeter at the plate we just knew what would happen, we've seen it so many times before... but it didn't happen, and the Yanks lost.

What amazes is is the expectation of winning over and over again, year after year. From today's Globe is another excerpt along the same lines -

(Begin quote)

One now former rooter over the weekend announced she was "divorcing" the New York Yankees due to their losing ways. Here are a few gems from Jane Heller, whose declaration was published in the "Cheering Section" of the New York Times:

# "The grounds for the divorce will be mental cruelty. I mean, I made a commitment to these guys, emotional and financial, and they betrayed and humiliated me by allowing the Red Sox- the Red Sox! - to run away with the division."

# "I will tell you how [the Yankees] treated me - as if I were a Kansas City Royals fan."

# "When, exactly, did I fall out of love with the Yankees? (To clarify: I will always love them, but I am no longer in love with them. There is too much anger, too much baggage between us now.) "

# "As for the Yankees, if they suddenly start winning and somehow become not only the American League champions this season but the World Series champions, I will take that as a sign that they want me back and I will give them serious consideration.”

(End quote)
Original post here

Y'know, Sox fans have, by and large, been loyal fans through years and years (how many was that again? 86?) regardless. In fact, current NY fans' parents went through similar stretches with the Yankees. But the Yanks' dominance over this past decade, despite their post-season woes, has their fan base very, very spoiled. Win, or else you're not my team? Please.... Just enjoy the game, enjoy your team and enjoy baseball! Winning is only special if you know what losing feels like too.