Monthly Archives: July 2022

WGOM Videos

Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris – Big Mouth Blues

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I don’t think two voices were ever meant more for each other than those of Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris. This video can’t convey the quality of their vocal mix, but thankfully we have Grievous Angel to document the exquisite blend the achieved. That we have any live footage of them at all is close to a miracle; video recording of any performance not intended for television broadcast was pretty darn rare in 1973. This is not the tune I would’ve chosen had any of my favorites been available, but beggars can’t be choosers.

While I was out in the Mojave, I stopped at a site I’ve passed an uncountable number of times, but never properly visited: the Joshua Tree Inn, the place where Gram departed from this plane of existence. The clerk at the desk was very gracious and let me wander through the public spaces, which have a variety of GP memorabilia, and, after obtaining a promise that I not knock on the door of Room 8, let me go out to pay my respects at the shrine outside the place where Gram spent his last days.

 

I’m glad I stopped. Grievous Angel is one of my favorite albums, and Gram came out to his beloved Joshua Tree after finishing the recording sessions that ultimately became that album. I put it on after exiting I-10 onto Route 62. The rest of the story from September 1973 is bizarre and more than a little sad; if you’re going to read about it, choose a reputable source. Gram’s musical dream lives on through people like Emmylou, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, Robbie Fulks, and (particularly, in my mind) Sturgill.

3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10)
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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–July 20

Heinie Manush (1901)
Bob Short (1917)
Mike Ilitch (1929)
Dick Stello (1934)
Tony Oliva (1938)
Mickey Stanley (1942)
Mike Witt (1960)
Charles Johnson (1971)
Bengie Molina (1974)
Jason Miller (1982)
Alexi Casilla (1984)
Stephen Strasburg (1988)

Bob Short owned the second Washington Senators franchise and moved them to Texas.  He also owned the Minneapolis Lakers and moved them to Los Angeles.

Mike Ilitch purchased the Detroit Tigers in 1992 and owned them until his death in 2017.

Dick Stello was a National League umpire from 1968-1987, when he died in a car accident.

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All-Star Game Log

2022 MLB All-Star Game

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If you decide to watch, the two Twins' representatives this year are  MLB BA league leader Luis Arraez and the AL starting centerfielder Byron Buxton (thank you, Mike Trout).

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The game within the game  -- if at any time the announcers discuss the Yankees' first half using terms like...

  • unprecedented
  • historic
  • monstrous
  • incomprehensible
  • daunting
  • untouchable
  • insurmountable
  • stellar

...drink!

Keeping Track

Minor Details: Players of the Week: July 12-17

ST. PAUL SAINTS

Batter:  Michael Helman was 5-for-15 with two home runs.

PItcher:  Mario Sanchez pitched five innings, giving up one run on two hits and two walks and striking out three.

WICHITA WIND SURGE

Batter:  Chris Williams was 12 for-26 with six home runs, three doubles, and two walks.

Pitcher:  Kody Funderburk pitched six innings, giving up one run on three hits and two walks and striking out eight.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS

Batter:  Kyler Fedco was 7-for-23 with a home run, two doubles, and a walk.

Pitcher:  Cade Povich pitched six innings, giving up no runs on three hits and one walk and striking out ten.

FORT MYERS MIRACLE

Batter:  Carlos Aguiar was 10-for-23 with three home runs, a double, and a walk.

Pitcher:  Mike Paredes pitched five innings, giving up one run on three hits and three walks and striking out three.

WGOM Videos

Orkesta Mendoza – Traicionera

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Let’s depart from the coast and head inland to Fallbrook, where we’ll start to wind north-northeast through the avocado & citrus groves and vineyards of De Luz Canyon, curving up into the Santa Ana Mountains on a private road along Sandia Creek. When we reach Temecula we join CA-79 to head out to the desert via Winchester and Hemet, and finally get onto I-10 at Beaumont. We head east into San Gorgonio Pass, the valley between the southern edge of the San Bernardino Mountains and Mt. San Jacinto, both of which climb from the pass floor to 9,000-foot peaks.

Here we find the climate transitions from one supporting Mediterranean-style agricultural crops into the Mojave desert. It gets hotter with each passing mile, but keep your window down and the A/C on your feet to help acclimatize. We’ll pull off at Cabazon to see the dinosaurs, of course. There’s plenty of wind — and due to that, the San Gogonio Pass wind farm sprawls across the open land on both sides of the freeway, the rows of wind turbines spilling out nearly to the horizon like enormous, rotating mecha-sunflowers.

What better than a tune with some big, gusty brass to push us from the pounding surf through the pass and into the beautiful, treacherous wastes? We get three trumpets, a trombone, and a flugelhorn-wielding accordionist on a ripping hot track. Pair it with some nopales, grilled onion, & charred corn tacos slathered with an extra picante chile guisado & lime crema. Just be careful despising that cactus…

(Oh, right; Sergio Mendoza’s other band is Calexico.)

2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–July 19

Jim Donnelly (1865)
Earl Hamilton (1891)
Bob Meusel (1896)
Mark Koenig (1904)
Jackie Hayes (1906)
Phil Cavarretta (1916)
Billy Gardner (1927)
Jayson Stark (1951)
Dan Graham (1954)
Mark Carreon (1963)
David Segui (1966)
Gus Gandarillas (1971)
Preston Wilson (1974)
Yorvit Torrealba (1978)
Rick Ankiel (1979)
Yan Gomes (1987)
Luis Avilan (1989)
Patrick Corbin (1989)
Jermaine Palacios (1996)

Jayson Stark is a long-time baseball writer and was an ESPN commentator for several years.

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MLB

Home Run Derby 2022

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We've got a derbys a-doin'! Here are this year's rules, per SBNation:

The Home Run Derby features a head-to-head format with an eight-man bracket. The champion will have to win three rounds by hitting more home runs than their opponent within the allotted time frame.

The first round and second round of the derby will have three minutes on the clock. The final round lasts for two minutes. Every competitor will be awarded 30 seconds of bonus time following each round. A hitter can earn an additional 30 seconds of bonus time if they hit a home run that measures at least 475-feet in the regulation period of that round.

Once a player surpasses their matchup in home runs, the clock stops and the round is over. Whoever hits the most home runs in each head-to-head matchup advances until a winner is crowned.

A home run counts as long as the pitch leaves the pitcher’s hand before the clock expires.

Hitters have one timeout to take in each round. Timeouts last for 45 seconds. Timeouts are not permitted during bonus time.

WGOM Videos

Twin Tones – Nómadas

Video

And that’s the way we start CH Week. My theme this week is music that formed my soundtrack to my recent trip to a conference in San Diego, which I followed with five days out in the Mojave & Sonoran deserts.

Let’s start with a sonic tribute to the drive I took up the coast from UCSD in La Jolla to Colima’s Mexican Food Oceanside. Surf rock is just what we need — we’ll pass three locations mentioned in “Surfin’ U.S.A.” — but let’s make it Latin-inflected in honor of the destination. The route runs straight along the coast, formerly the southernmost portion of Old US-101, now variously called County Route S21, N Torrey Pines Road, Camino del Mar, Highway 101, and North Coast Highway. It’s a beautiful drive — easily worth the extra 15 minutes it’ll take compared to a run up the Five.

Colima’s was the first place I think I can say I had “real” Mexican food, unless we count items made for family meals by dishwashers and prep cooks in various kitchens across the Cities. The Chicano guys in my unit preferred Colima’s to all other local options, and revisiting the hefty Baja and carnitas tacos confirmed they are every bit as delicious as they were sixteen years ago. ¡Gracias por la comida, amigos!

2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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