Hey, ya know who would make a great manager?

Mickey Hatcher. Hey, Kansas City, you should hire this guy. Now. Hurry, before someone else snatches him up.

Angels - very few: Tigers - more than the Angels (game 2)

Another game in which the Angels offense makes the opposing pitcher look like Cy Young. Washburn wasn't awful, but he was worse than his numbers look to this point. Another first inning in which he was bailed out by his defense. Home runs to noted sluggers Craig Monroe and Brandon Inge. But really, the way the offense looks, once he gave up the homer to Monroe, he was pretty much going to be a loser. Give up one run, give up a hundred. Once you give up one, it's over.

Hey, remember when the Angels offense used to be good because the didn't strike out too much? Me too. And we can't even blame McPherson. We're through five innings of game 2, and they've already struck out 15 times today. 15!!!! Bonderman is good, but he only went six innings. Maroth is mowing them down throwing nothing but fastballs for strike one, then just taking what they're giving him. McPherson gonna stand 15 feet away from the plate? Just throw sliders away. Easy. Even the pitch-watchin' A's are striking out less than the Angels this season.

Note to Mike Scioscia: THIS is when you conceded runs. When you're up by 3 in the 6th against a team that really really sucks at the plate.

Just when you think there's a bit of life, they go right back and suck it out of you. Losers.

Angels 4; Tigers 2 (game 1)

Well, that's sort of how it was supposed to work. Get a good effort from your starter, push a few runs across to get a lead, and turn it over to the bullpen. Colon was limited to five innings due to the rain delays, but the Angels bats came alive in the sixth and produced a couple of runs to tie the game. In the seventh, they added two more on a perfect squeeze bunt by DaVanon (who played surprisingly well), which led to a wild throw, allowing Kennedy to get to third. Kennedy then scored on a passed ball from Pudge. It didn't get too far away, and a great play might have had him. But let's just say German doesn't move to cover the plate quite as quickly as Frankie.

Horrible start to this one, with Bonderman really dominating in the early innings before the Angels finally got to him for two runs, and before the rains came back. Tremendous relief work from Donnelly (two innings), and Shields (one) who both made the Tigers just look foolish. Frankie had it going early, but seemed to lose his location, walking Inge on five pitches, and the first pitch was probably a ball as well. Frankie had Pudge pretty well taken care of, but I-Rod got just enough of one, and put it in just the right place, to pick up an infield single, and bring the winning run to the plate. But Frankie relaxed and got the grounder to short to end the game.

Let's face it. Wins and runs are very scarce right now, so they need every bit of both that they can get. This was a much needed good start to the road trip, because the rest of the trip could get ugly.

Big question for the day: Are the extra innings folks smart enough to realize that these teams are playing a double header today, and if so, will both be televised? I'm guessing a generous 'maybe' on the former, and an almost sure 'No' on the latter. The other game they have scheduled for that channel doesn't start until late on the West Coast, so that shouldn't be an issue. But it would be almost anathema to these folks to actually think ahead for once. I'll gladly eat crow if either a) I'm wrong and it is televised, or b) neither team is carrying the second game (but I'm 99% sure that at least the Tigers are carrying it, and we've had the Tigers feed all day). We'll see if they carry it on MLB.com.

Congratulation, Comcast! For once, a complete fuck up isn't your fault!

A change in the odds

The other day, I posted this:

Gregg: 2 to 1
Bootcheck: 6 to 1
Woods: 10 to 1
Four man: 50 to 1
Santana: 200 to 1

Those were the odds I gave each of the candidates to replace Escobar in the rotation during his stint on the DL. Those odds are changing radically. The news odds look like this:

Santana: 3 to 1
Gregg: 5 to 1
Bootcheck: 15 to 1
Woods: 50 to 1
Four man: 200 to 1

Why? Just got this bit of news from Kevin Goldstein's excellent Prospect Report, available at Baseball America

LAA E.Santana 2.1 IP, 0 h, 0 r, 1 bb, 3 k - held to 30 pitches, possible spot start for Angels coming

Looks like a pretty good sign. It's either gotta be that, or another injury concern.

Science - Schmience

Rainout tonight, so not much baseball junk on which to report. So in it's place, I thought I'd let you know that science is a crock. The truth lies in Giblets.

Friday Random Ten

I think Amanda at Pandagon stole this from Tbogg, and I usually post it over at her and Jesse Taylor's site, so I figured I might as well start doing it here, then I can just copy and paste. I think the idea is that you set your iPod to random and list the first ten songs, or if you're a cheater, you skip the ones you don't want anyone to know you've put on your iPod. Me? I don't have an iPod, so I use Rhapsody, which ends up doing pretty much the same thing. So here goes for this week:

• "Waterfall" - The Stone Roses
• "Get Off" - The Dandy Warhols
• "Mansion in the Sky" - The Brian Jonestown Massacre
• "Dylan" - Throwing Muses
• "Mambo Sun" - T. Rex
• "Breezing Up" - The Ocean Blue
• "Dream All Day" - The Posies
• "Drink To Me Babe, Then" - AC Newman
• "The Have Nots" - X
• "Pwdyn Wy 1" - Gruff Rhys (that's not a typo - the album is in Welsh)

Feel free to leave your own in the comments, all two of you. More Angels crap tonight.

Spoon Update

First off, the new album is terrific. Standout tracks so far seem to be "My Mathematical Mind", "Sister Jack", and "I Summon You", but they don't stand out too much, because the rest is so damn good.

But anyway, they're on Morning Becomes Eclectic right now from KCRW in Santa Monica. Same deal as the other live shows. A short set, a little interview, and a closing set. A good introduction to Spoon if you haven't heard much from them. The link to the audio and video will be live on the MBE page for a while (meaning a few weeks). Then it will be archived.

Setlist:

• The Beast and Dragon Adored
• The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine
• I Summon You
  
• Sister Jack
• Break for Interview
  
• Utilitarian
• Everything Hits at Once
• Someone, Something
• My Mathematical Mind
  

If you're like me and listen to this stuff at work, it's a good site to peruse and check out some live performances of bands you might like while having it play in the background. Of course, you can do this at home, too. Or wherever else you damn well please. Who am I to judge what you do in your spare time?

They've archived a ton of performances. Personal favorites are performances by the Dandy Warhols, Doves (who will be appearing soon), the Beta Band, Ivy, the Arcade Fire, and well, so many more than I can't list them all. That's what the search feature is for.

Earlimart w/ Okkervil River and Kevin Devine at Schuba's

That's right, lucky readers, you get concert reviews of bands you've never heard of on back to back days!

Earlimart

WoW! These guys kicked some serious ass. Loud. Very loud. For those unfamiliar with Earlimart, they're a lo-fi act out of LA (I believe Aaron Espinoza has a studio in lovely Eagle Rock). If you listen to their albums, it's kind of a mix of slow stuff, somewhat low key yet more up-tempo stuff, with a few rockers thrown in there. Not in person. Sure, the slow stuff is still slow, but everything is loud. And boy, do they rock. One of the best shows I've EVER seen. Keep in mind that Schubas is tiny, like half the size of the Double Door, which is also tiny. It's like seeing a show in someone's stomach one night, then seeing a show in the stomach of a person who had gastric bypass the next night. And they have Blue Moon on tap, so thumbs up for Schubas, but I digress. The set list, to the extent I can remember (and as a bonus, I'll try to do the first couple in order):

• First Instant, Last Report
• The Hidden Track
• We Drink on the Job
• The Movies
• Sounds
• All They Ever Do Is Talk
• A Bell and a Whistle
• Broke the Furniture
• Unintentional Tape Manipulations
• Heaven Adores You
• Burning the Cow
• There were a couple in there that I didn't know, and they might have played Dreaming Of, but I can neither confirm nor deny that.
• The Valley and 808 Crickets was piped in as sort of mood music between songs
  

All in all, it was a pretty good set, in terms of songs selected. I can't really think of anything that I wanted to hear that they didn't play, although it would have been cool if they'd played their cover of R.E.M.'s "Strange", available on Rhapsody. Anyway, I can't complain. Good mix of old stuff and new (of course, I recently got into them, so it's mostly all new to me). I thought they might skip Burnin' the Cow, but they opened their encore with it by request, and I'm guessing that if they play a similar setlist every night, it's probably always the first requested in the encore.

This was another in the "bands with babes" series, building on last nights Raveonettes/Autolux/Peels show. This trend should continue if I go see Ivy next month. This isn't the most flattering picture of Arianna Murray, but she's pretty attractive in person. And she plays a mean bass, and keyboards to boot.


Espinoza is a master at finding the right sort of ambient sound at key points in the song, which make the keyboards especially important. The best examples of this are at the end of "Heaven Adores You", the chorus of "All They Every Do is Talk", and through "Unintentional Tape Manipulations". This creates sort of a secondary epiphany, at least it did for me. The first few times I heard these songs, I thought "hey, this is a really good band, and stuff that I could really get into." Then on about the fifth or sixth listen, I heard that extra instrumentation at the end of "Heaven Adores You" and thought "Holy crap! This song is incredible!" Now I listen to it again and again just waiting for that payoff, and it never disappoints. You can go to their site and stream them for yourselves (click on songs-->newsletter-->stream tracks). You'll see what I mean.

By the way, did I mention how loud it was? And that's not a bad thing. I love it loud.

Anyway, it was a terrific show. I'm starting to sound like someone who fawns over every band I see. Truth is, it doesn't take that much to entertain me. And if I leave entertained, I'm not gonna complain. And last night I was at a great venue, listening to good bands, at a place that sells Blue Moon, so I was more or less gonna be entertained no matter what. Anyway, on to the other two.

Okkervil River

Never heard of them before, but they had a bit of a fanbase at the show. There were a couple of people who seemed to know every song. Big act (six guys) for a tiny stage, but they made it work. These guys were very good. I was impressed as I could be, considering I had no idea what to expect. These guys are available on Rhapsody, so I would imagine that I'll spend part of the day familiarizing myself with their stuff. I can't even post a partial setlist, although I know they played a song called "Blacksheep Boy" (see below) and one called "Kansas City", which prompted someone in the crowd to confuse everyone by requesting it as "Home of the Barbeque". Man, that was a lame joke (his, I mean).

**UPDATE**

Per the comments (and thanks for visiting, Heather - you're now the second visitor who got here in some search engine contrived manner - please come back, oh, and don't let all of the Angels stuff scare you away), it turns out that I screwed up the setlist, which is tough to do when you only post two songs. Although I did notice that the Blacksheep theme made it into a couple of songs when I listened to some of the album on Rhapsody the other day. So the following is the updated setlist. If it's wrong, blame Heather. Although, I know she got the second and last songs in the right order, so she's probably not only right, but also has the right order. She's only a commenter, and she's already written the most accurate thing on this blog.

• Some Weird Sin (Iggy Pop cover)
• For Real (this one honestly really did rock)
• Westfall (makes you jealous, huh BHW)
• Get Big
• The War Criminal Rises and Speaks
• The Latest Toughs (not to be confused with Spoon's 'The Minor Tough' available on A Series of Sneaks).
• Seas Too Far to Reach
• Red
• Song of our So-called Friend
• A Favor
• Kansas City (the only one I got right)
  

Kevin Devine

Another person I'd never heard of, but he was pretty entertaining as well. Kind of what you'd expect from a singer/songwriter, and seemed like a pretty good natured guy. Kind of reminded me of Jeff Mangum, though not quite as good. Admittedly, that's a virtually impossible standard to live up to. It's like saying UCLA's basketball team this season reminded me of Illinois, but not as good.

Anyway, an evening of quality entertainment, in a quality setting, with quality beer, garnished with quality orange slices. I give the evening a big thumbs up.

Escobar to the DL

This just gets better and better, don't it? Double whammy, as he's the only player from the Angels on my fantasy team. Still, it's pretty impressive to get nine k's with a messed up arm.

So who replaces him? The Rev's got a thread and poll over at Halo's Heaven. I can't imagine that they'll go to the four man rotation. I think Gregg is the most likely candidate, because it fits pretty well with the safe route that management likes to take in these types of situations. Personally, I'd give Bootcheck a shot. Let him sink or swim. They've been waiting long enough, he's been solid this year. Let's see if he can earn a role. Woods looks like the other candidate, but I like his left arm in the pen. I see it like this:

Gregg: 2 to 1
Bootcheck: 6 to 1
Woods: 10 to 1
Four man: 50 to 1
Santana: 200 to 1

The Raveonettes, Autolux, and the Peels at the Double Door (5-11-2005)

The Raveonettes

Did you ever find yourself listening to a Buddy Holly song and thinking "Damn, I wonder what that would sound like if it were covered by the Jesus and Mary Chain?" No? Me neither. But it appears at some point that Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo did, and just like that, the Raveonettes were born. Anyway, I already posted about these guys a while back, and on repeated listens, my opinion hasn't changed all that much. But they are somewhat of a guilty pleasure. They do tend to get stuck in your head. Listen to "That Great Love Sound" a few times and tell me I'm wrong.

The live show, I'll admit, was fantastic. To start with, I was in a pretty good spot, about 15-20 feet from the stage, right in the middle. The Double Door can sound kind of crappy if you're on the edges, but the sound is pretty good if you're in a good spot. This is a band who's stuff lends itself well to live performance. Loud, heavy on the guitar, pretty up-tempo. The following is an incomplete and out of order setlist:

• Attack of the Ghost Riders
• Beat City
• That Great Love Sound
• Noisy Summer
• Let's Rave On
• Heartbreak Stroll
• Little Animal
• Untamed Girls (I think)
• Chaingang of Love (I think - I could just be remembering how much the dudes standing next to me wanted to hear it)
• Love in a Trashcan
• My Boyfriend's Back (Yes, that one)
• Red Tan
• Somewhere in Texas
• Twilight
• Ode to L.A. (complete witht the Ronnie Spector part piped in)
• You Say You Lie

I'm not real familiar with the new album, Pretty in Black, so I might have missed a few there. Twilight and You Say You Lie were probably the highlights (I think they closed the first set with Twilight, and if I'm right, that was pretty awesome, and they probably should have finished on it). They did play a fair amount from the exclusively b-flat major Chain Gang of Love, and the exclusively b-flat minor Whip It On. The lovely Sharin Foo was hotter in person.

Yowza!!

You could tell that this is a band that really seems to enjoy performing, and feeding off the packed crowd, they generated enough energy to power a small city. Considering that this is a performance that I seriously considering skipping, I came away pretty impressed. Final verdict: I wouldn't be surprised if I made the effort to see them again.

Autolux

Let's face it, these are the guys I came to see. I love their album Future Perfect, and I was really looking forward to their live set. I also was looking forward to seeing Carla Azar in person (who may or may not be dating Giovanni Ribisi - they apparently have a lot of young actor fans).

She's the girl

For the most part they didn't disappoint. They were loud, drenched in feedback, and generally interesting to watch on stage. While I normally hate to complain about the setlist, well first, here it is, to the extent I can remember:

• Turnstile Blues
• Subzero Fun
• Blanket
• Robots in the Garden
• Asleep at the Trigger
• A couple more that I can't remember

The problem is that they left out Angry Candy, Sugarless, and Here Comes Everybody. Hey, it's their setlist, and they'll play what they want, but personally, those three tracks plus Subzero Fun were what I was really looking forward to hearing. Oh well. They were still worth the price of admission, and I'm sure I'll make every effort to catch them next time they're in town.

The Peels

Never heard of this band before last night, but they were pretty good, even though I missed the first song or two. I'm not even gonna make an attempt at a setlist, although I know the last song was called Lay. Robyn Miller is the name of the lead vocalist as this was apparently a three babe gig with Azar and Foo. She was pretty hot herself, and man, she can belt out a tune. I can't find any pictures of her, so you're just gonna have to take my word for it. Kind of a deep voice that reminded me of Kristin Hersh in sound if not so much in style. Pretty much a straight forward rock band that really got into it on stage. I'm planning on doing a little research into them. I don't know if I'll like them in a week, but they certainly entertained for the half hour or so that they were on stage.

Day Game

Have I mentioned how much I hate day games? Well, I do. At least on weekdays. I'll semi live-blog this one while I'm still around. I'm meeting my cousin for dinner at 5:30 CDT, so I'll probably miss the end.

• Nice start by Kelvim. That's 8 of the last 9 outs by Angels pitchers recorded by way of the strike-out. Shields struck out the side in the 8th last night, Frankie K'd 2, and Kelvim matched Shields in the first today.
• Finley batting second? I can't argue with it. Let's hope it shakes some things up. Hey, he's in scoring position, so......GA base knock brings the run home, and HEY!!! two games in a row with a lead in the first inning. It must feel like hitting the lottery for Kelvim.
• The OC gets a hit! That makes him one for last 19 (and by implication, 2 for his last 20).
• Erstad with the day off. Probably a good idea. You figure it can't hurt, but then again, you just hope it's not one of those days that an error at first, or a ball that isn't scooped, doesn't cost you the game.
• Pitch out on a two one count following a walk. We'll see if Kelvim can pitch around it.
  
• One pitch later, Crisp goes and takes second (on a strike, obviously).
• And a walk. Two on, one out. I really question the value of that pitch-out.
• Indians anouncer mentioning that Escobar isn't really bringing it this inning. The two walks speak for themselves as to his command. Possible that this could be Escobar's last start for a while? I hope the arm isn't acting up again.
• What the?? I know this thing jumps around a bit (the computer broadcast is occasionally unreliable), but where was I when Broussard homered? Damn!
• HO-HO-HOSAY!! That's nice to see.
• I didn't think that was a strike to GA. Admittedly, I might be biased.
• Broken bat. Infield hit. Wild pitch. One hard hit ball, and just like that, the game is tied.
• 2nd and 3rd with no one out, and the Angels play the infield back. Tough situation, I guess, but conceding a run when you're offense really, really sucks isn't a very good idea, in my opionion. And it ends up costing a run. We'll see how much it hurts.
• 10 straight retired by Cliff Lee: Ahhhh, that's the Angels offense I remember. On the bright side, they're already losing, which means this one is pretty much over. At least I won't be missing too much at dinner.
  

"I just don't see a reason for any optimism"

It could just be posturing, but it looks like bad news on the Weaver front. Stoneman doesn't think it's going to happen, although Arte is still holding out hope.

Weaver, the 12th overall pick in the draft, was seeking a signing package in the $8-million range. The Angels offered the choice of a five-year major league deal for about $5 million or a minor league deal with a $4-million signing bonus.

That's a gulf as wide as the distance between the Dominican Republic and Anaheim.

Angels 5; Indians 4

Good win to help halt the momentum a bit. If they get a good effort out of Kelvim tomorrow, scratch out a few runs, then maybe all of the sudden a three game losing streak turns into a two game winning streak. There were some good signs tonight. Timely hitting (Josh Paul?), fantastic relief yet again, some struggles from Byrd, but another quality start. They picked up a run in the ninth despite a blunder from Vlad. The last few games, they wouldn't have had a baserunner to screw up, so even the screw up was a good sign. The infield single by Kennedy was lucky, but clutch. Those are the types of things that have to happen for a team to turn things around. Very nice play by Cabrera to end the game, with a good strong throw (blog foreshadowing). It's got to be nice to know, as an infielder, that there's a vacuum at first who's going to suck up almost any mistake you toss his way.

That brings up a question, and I'd love to hear any responses. Consider it an informal poll, as unscientific as it can be at a site which has seen all of five commenters to this point (and that includes me). Orlando had to range to his right to make that play, get up and fire it to first to get the final out. Does Eckstein make that play, and if so, does he make it look easier, and why? Superior positioning? Quicker lateral movement? I'm not sure he makes the throw if he starts it from the same position. I guess the question is, does he end up in the same position as Cabrera, or does he field it in position to throw? I don't have anything negative to say about Cabrera's defense so far (or McPherson's for that matter). I just wonder, 33 games into the season, what people think about the comparison of Cabrera and Eckstein defensively now that we've had a chance to see a fair amount of him (admittedly, I hadn't seen that much of him until last year's playoffs)? Keep in mind that I was watching the game on the computer (see post below), so I didn't have the chance to rewind and watch that play a couple of times.

Pitching matchup favors the Angels tomorrow (Escobar vs. Lee). The good news is, Kelvim is used to the Angels never scoring any runs, so it shouldn't rattle him. Day game, which sucks. That means I have to keep minimizing the screen when people walk by my desk. That's really gonna suck in the new building, where there will be less privacy. They're probably going to expect me to actually work and stuff over there.

I hate Comcast. With a passion

So it's a night later, cable is working again, with one small caveat. Only 9 of the 10 MLB Extra Innings channels are currently working. Which one is out, you ask? You guessed it. The one showing the Angels and Indians. Hey, Comcast, why not come over and drink all my beer while you're at it. Cocksuckers.

As of now, Byrd pitched well through the first inning. Tonight's contest will be to see how long the Angels can go until the unofficially lose, also known as when the opponent scores their first run. I'm betting on the third inning. For a sub-contest, let's see how long the Sabathia carries his no hitter. I'm guessing it gets broken up with one out in the seventh.

**UPDATE**

Vlad busts it in the first. Good job, Vlad.

OH! MY! GOD! The Angels actually scored a run! Two, to be exact. GA breathes life into the Angels offense!

5th inning:
I haven't seen Garret Anderson hustle all season. It just cost them at least one base. Hopefully it won't cost them a run.

Byrd got out of it. But he's given up two runs, and that's not gonna be good enough with this offense. Prediction: Another quality start, but the Angels still lose 2 to something more than 2.

Bottom 5th:

Prediction fails again. Josh Freaking Paul!!

6th: Byrd flirting with disaster again. You can't keep letting the other team back in it when you aren't going to get many runs. This is a freaking offensive explosion for the Angels, and if they lose this one, they might not win for another week.

Bottom 6: Great dive by Vlad. Which makes me think, God-damn our outfield is slow. They've looked like they were in their fifties tonight. Anderson loafs to ball and turns it into a triple. Vlad looks like he needs a cane half the time. Finley gets thrown out stealing. These aren't things you want to see in your outfield.

Shields, looking good. Again. Man, I love our bullpen, and I'm not afraid to admit it. Wow, a 3-2 curve ball. He's feelin' it. He strikes out the side. Well done.

Hey, is it just me, or is that redhead in the USPS commercial hot (the one where everyone in the office loads her up with boxes, which she eventually uses as cover so that she can eat a sandwich in peace) ? They do the glasses thing, and the overwhelmed look and whatnot to try to make us think that she's average. Sorry, not buyin'. She's hot.

Vlad - 3 for 4. Starting to wake up. Good sign. Then he falls asleep on the basepaths, costing the Angels a run. Bad sign.

Frankie gives up the jack, but does a good job of throwing the breaker for strikes. He gave Sizemore no chance but to swing at strike three. You could really see the difference to Boone and how effective the fastball is when he throws the slider for strikes. Boone could lay off the pitches way off the plate, but when Frankie came back close to the zone, Boone couldn't help it. Strike three. Great play by Cabrera to end the game.

Meme that nobody asked me to tackle

I wasn't going to do this, but the Angels have been pissing me off, and Norbizness did it without anyone asking him, so screw it, I'm gonna do it.

Top Five Lyrics that Move Your Heart

1) When the earth is ripe, all the worms wake up, in their stars and stripes, and their swastikas. There's a cure in sight, set your soul at ease, for the red and white, and the blue disease. - Grant Lee Buffalo from "Stars and Stripes" off of Fuzzy - Long before the right wing takeover, Grant Lee Buffalo knew what to expect.

2) Your prejudice won't keep you warm tonight. - The Smiths from "What Difference Does it Make" off of the first album - I always thought this lyric seemed a little misplaced, but somehow not. I can't really explain it.

3) You know they don't give a fuck about anybody else - Super Furry Animals from "The Man Don't Give a Fuck" single - Gruff and the boys knew of what they spoke when they ended the "Rings" tour with this one. Played while images of Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini played in the background on tour, they could have snuck in duh-bya, and no one would have noticed.

4) I'm on a three day binge on the lunatic fringe, from Riverside all the way to Livermore. - Michael Penn from "Like Egypt Was" off of Resigned - Having attended school in Riverside, and having just received a postcard from a good friend in Livermore, it's a good reminder that Michael Penn always brings home the L.A. references.

5) We look to Los Angeles for the language we use, London is dead - Morrissey from "Glamorous Glue" off of Your Arsenal. I grew up when Morrissey was at his KROQ peak, and although 'Your Arsenal' was released after that peak, as an Angeleno by birth (and at heart), this lyric has always sent chills down my spine.


Top Five Instrumentals

Umm, I'm not sure I can think of five instrumentals, but here goes

1) "Rob's Theme" - Charlatans UK from Tellin' Stories - Tribute to the late Rob Collins

2) "(A) Touch Sensitive" - Super Furry Animals from Rings Around the World

3) "109 pt 2" - Charlatans from Some Friendly

4) "People are Expensive" - Echobelly from People Are Expensive

5) "Electric Mainline" - Spiritualized from Pure Phase


Top Five Live Musical Experiences

1) The Charlatans w/ Black Rebel Motorcyle Club - July 2001
Right after the bar exam, this was the best Charlies show I'd ever seen. Previewing the new material was nice, but the tiny venue was the best.

2) The Exile Follies - Grant Lee Phillips, John Doe, and Kristin Hersh - When you can see three of your favorites in a small club with the type of rapport that they bring, you never forget it.

3) Super Furry Animals at the Abbey - A friend of mine tipped me off to this show before I really knew about the Furries. I dove into their recent catalog to prepare, and Gruff and the boys didn't disappoint.

4) The Dandy Warhols at the Metro- Three hours, no opening act. 'Nuf said.

5) Electrafixion at the Galaxy - Nothing compares to seeing a legend on stage for the first time.


Top Five Artists You Think More People Should Listen To:

1) Spoon: I think Britt Daniel is gonna hit the big time sooner or later, but we might as well make is sooner.

2) the Super Furry Animals: Enough influences to appease everyone, and they put those influences to use in the best possible ways

3) Earlimart: Lo- Fi, LA, everything that's good about music

4) The Wrens: Meadowlands might be the best album in the history of unintelligible lyrics.

5) AC Newman: No one does power pop better.


Top Five Albums You Must Hear Start to Finish

1) Radiohead - OK Computer

2) Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk

3) The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

4) The Super Furry Animals - Geurilla

5) The Beta Band - Hot Shots II


Top Five Musical Heroes

1) Ian McCulloch - Not only does he continue to write great music, but he's still the King of Cool.

2) Grant Lee Phillips - Incredible musician, and a super nice guy

3) Marc Bolan - Seems like a lot of my favorite songs are T-Rex rip-offs (The Dandys' 'Hit Rock Bottom' and Supergrass' 'Seen the Light' come to mind).

4a) Dominique Durand of Ivy - What's not to like?


4b) Sonya Aurora Madan of Echobelly- Incredible vocalist, and she once responded to an email. And she's purdy.


5) John Squire - Wrote all the best Stone Roses stuff.

I think that covers everything. I'm not passing this to anyone. I just figured it was a good timekiller, and I like talking about music.

Suck

That's all I can say. I'm pretty pissed right now, so I'm just gonna bullet point this one:

• Dear Comcast, there is a phenomenon that often occurs in Chicago in the month of May. It's called rain. It's not unexepected. SO WHY THE FUCK IS MY CABLE OUT!! I could live with the loss of the Angels game, mostly because they're really, really bad. But you also caused me to miss 24, which I wouldn't have cared much about 2 months ago. But now that we're down to the wire, you go and fuck up on a Monday night. You people are morons, and you suck.
• Darin Erstad - nice agressive at bat. Hey, ya seen one fastball, ya seen 'em all, right? Apparently not, because you needed to see two more go right down the pipe just to be sure. You suck.
• Dallas - I've been patient, and I've been rooting for you. I imagine that the fastballs that Erstad saw were so pretty, you must have felt like you needed to see one up close. I hope it was worth it. You suck.
• Jose Molina - Nice double. You don't suck yet.
• Lackey - Hey, give up one run, give up a hundred. They ain't gonna score, so unless you throw a shutout, you're screwed. Don't let it get you down. You might suck, but it doesn't matter.
• Figgins - Not your fault. When you strike out looking on a pitch over your head, it's not your fault. Angel Hernandez, you suck. But then, you've ALWAYS sucked, so it's no big surprise.

I can't watch this crap anymore.

Pathetic: Angels - something (maybe); Tigers - a lot more

Washburn has struggled in the first inning of his last couple of starts, but he's been bailed out by his defense. Jeter and Ichiro, respectively have both been thrown out at the plate in those starts. Well, you can't get bailed out by the defense when you let them hit it where the defense can't catch it.

Bad Washburn showed up in the third, giving up three straight singles, a three run triple, an RBI single, an RBI double, then I threw up and stopped caring. Scioscia, didn't however, and yanked J-Dub. Let's be charitable and say this wasn't exactly a quality start.

Understatement of the year by Rex Hudler after Kevin Gregg came in and walked four batters (walking in two runs in the process): "This in not what Mike Scioscia and Bud Black had in mind bringing Kevin Gregg in here." Thanks for the insight, Rex.

8-0 after two and a half innings. I may call it a day on this one.

No Comment

I shall defer to those who witnessed this debacle, as I was busy boozing it up with the likes of Jack Vincennes, IL P-daddy, Vince Galloro, scotto, Dejesus Freak, né True Blue, et al. I'm guessing Bonderman had it going, and the fat man got a little of the Kelvim treatment. Oh well, they're gonna lose sometime, and Bonderman will make a nice replacement for Lackey/Washburn/Byrd when Arte decides to bring him over.

On the bright side, this meant about 100 points for the Guzzlers, and I'm kicking some serious ass this week. Ah, first place. It will feel good to be back in your good graces.