All posts by freealonzo

Friday Music Day

FMD — In Remembrance

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So today is the 5th anniversary of my wife's death. Wow, 5 years. Anyway, are there songs that remind you of those who have gone before? Maybe it was your dad's favorite song on the radio or a song from a concert you went to with your cousin or friend from high school. Perhaps the song just is evocative of the person, reminds you of their character or the journey they went through. I have many such songs with Elaine but Ghost from Neutral Milk Hotel is one that always draws strong feelings for me. On Facebook I posted another such song, River from Patty Griffin's latest album.

Do any songs move you to remember someone?

Also drop 'em if you got 'em.

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game 34: Minnesota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays

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So the Twins once again showed some resiliency by stomping on the Blue Jays 8-0 last night after a disappointing weekend at Yankee Stadium. This a characteristic that was in short supply of previous Twins teams and a nice switch. More please.

Jose Berrios up for the Twins tonight and has pitched about as well as advertised and as we all hoped: 5-1 record, 0.97 WHIP, a strikeout an inning, and an 8-46 walks to SO ratio. He’s establishing himself as easily the staff ace and a legitimate MLB #1 pitcher. Blue Jays have Aaron Sanchez who’s been pretty average this year. He got rocked last game he pitched which contributed mightily to his 1.49 WHIP. My hope is that these trends continue for tonight.

Vlad Jr. has been up to the bigs for about a week now and Blue Jays fans finding out that it’s not easy for a 20-year old to walk right into a MLB lineup and start mashing. An .152 average with no HRs and 1 RBI is pretty humbling no doubt, but the guy will eventually rake. Let’s just hope that it’s not for a couple more days.

Game time at 6:07p Central. C’mon Twins smoke the Jays, but wait until after you defeat Toronto on the field.

Lineup:
RF Kepler
SS Polanco
DH Cruz
LF Rosario
C Garver
1B Gonzalez
2B Schoop
3B Adrianza
CF Buxton

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game 21: Twins at Astros

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Twins up against the Astros again after a nice mashing last night. Michael Pineda up for the Twins and he has done as well as expected through four games with a 2-1 record and almost a SO per inning. Also at 6’7”, 265 lbs, I wonder if he had been born in the United States if Pineda would have played football or basketball, the dude is huge. Wade Miley on the mound for the Astros and if you’ve been forgoing anything in a Lent-like fashion until the Twins faced a lefty starter, well today is the day you can finally partake. Congratulations on getting this far with that. Miley has been serviceable but doesn’t throw a ton of strikeouts. He has held opponents to 3 earned runs or less for 20 straight starts, so he’s got that going for him. Which is nice.

Important game for the Twins to win as Verlander up for the ‘Stros tomorrow. Be nice to get a win tonight and not have to worry about Wednesday’s game. First pitch at 7:10p.

Twins Line Up:

C Garver
SS Polanco
DH Cruz
LF Rosario
1B Cron
3B Gonzalez
2B Schoop
RF Kepler
CF Buxton

Friday Music Day

FMD – Billy Bragg

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So Billy Bragg is in town for a 3 night stay at the Fine Line with a career-spanning set last night, his first 3 albums tonight, and albums 4-6 Saturday. In addition, he had a book reading at Magers and Quinn Wednesday and showed up at Driftwood Bar a couple times this week for a few songs. Quite the Minneapolis residency!

I’m going tonight and Saturday and I’m especially looking forward to tonight’s show as those first few albums were really important to me in my early 20’s. Punky urban folk that about politics, sexual relations, unions, war... all the stuff that makes an idealistic 23 year old tick. I saw him in 1986 at the 930 Club in DC and after the show he invited anyone who was interested backstage to talk about U.S. policy toward Nicaragua. Heady stuff.

Those first albums are on a collection called Back to the Basics and I would strongly urge you to take a listen. Great music that still resonates 35 years later.

Also drop ‘em if you got ‘em.

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game 14: Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins

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Twins and Blue Jays in game two of a 4 game tilt at Target Field. Blue Jays put up Aaron Sanchez who is 1-1 and pitched decently early in the season but still hasn't gotten out of the 6th inning. Speaking of short starts... Twins have Kyle Gibson who is 0-0 but an ERA of 7.71 and hasn't gotten out of the 5th inning yet. As usual, Gibby has looked good for a while then has one bad inning. Twins could use a good outing tonight as cracks in the bullpen starting to show up.

Game time 6:40. Beautiful night for baseball, hopefully more people show up tonight. First pitch at 6:40p.

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game 9 — MN Twins at NY Metropolitans

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Twins wrap up a long road trip with a visit to Queens and a two game series with the 6-3 New York Mets. Gibson up for the Twins as he comes off a "bad Gibby" performance of 6 runs in 4.2 innings in his season debut. Hopefully we get good Gibby tonight. It will be especially important as the Mets have reigning Cy Young awardee Jacob deGrom on the mound. deGrom is currently tied with Bob Gibson with for the MLB record of 26 straight quality starts so it would be cool if the Twins bats were active early and often. Mets have a few injuries with Yoenis Cespedes, Jed Lowrie, and Todd Frazier all out of the line up. Also the Mets added Robinson Cano during the off season? I swear I didn't hear about that trade. Huh. He usually plays well against the Twins so that's a bummer.

Game time 6:10p locally. Looks like there might be some rain in the forecast but I bet they get this game in.

Twins Line up:

Kepler RF
Polanco SS
Astudillo 1B
Rosario LF
Garver C
Gonzalez 3B
Schoop 2B
Buxton CF
Gibson CF

Friday Music Day

FMD — Movies songs

24 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I watched the movie Wings of Desire at the Walker Art Center. I had seen it when it came out in (I think) 1988 and loved it, but I don’t think I’ve seen it since. The end of the movie is at a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds concert where they perform the song From Her to Eternity. (Attached video is the scene).

I loved this movie, scene, and this song back 30 some years ago and almost doubly so now. The song is a perfect summation of the movie, which if you're not familiar, is about an angel in Berlin who gives up his immortality to be with a woman he observed here on earth. They finally meet IRL at this nightclub where the song is being performed. The song was recorded in 1984 so it wasn’t made specifically for this movie but it fits so snugly with the message, I can’t think of how a different song would work better, even if one tried. Even though one could argue that this woman (her) drove the angel “from” eternity, in fact by actually experiencing humankind and earthly desires - instead of just observing them - the angel found true immortality. The song is a lot noisier than the vibe of the movie, but that also fits. Real life is a lot noisier, grittier than what the angels from their “heavenly” perches can observe and experience. I could go on but it really is a beautiful movie.

Anyway, what does that have to do with FMD? Well, we may have covered this topic before but are there other songs in a movie that “just fit?” They sum up the movie (or character) just so, that the movie could barely exist without that song? The Pixies’ Where Is My Mind at the end of Fight Club gets mentioned a lot. Also Jumpin’ Jack Flash as the Robert DeNiro character in Mean Streets is introduced is another. (the link below demonstrates one can do a whole post on Martin Scorsese and music in his movies). Any others?

The 20 Greatest Music Moments In The Films Of Martin Scorsese

And as usual, drop ‘em if you got ‘em.

2019 Twins Game Logs

Twins 2019 Game 4 — Twins at Royals

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So the Twins 2019 season has gotten off to a nice start with three strong pitching performances and taking two from the dreaded Clevelanders of Cleveland. Now the Twins travel on an extended road trip so that we can watch future games at Target Field in non-parka weather.

Jose Berrios on the mound tonight coming off a 7.2 inning, 2 hit, no run, 10k effort. More of that please. Twins play the Kansas City Royals who also won two of three at home from a division rival (White Sox). Brad Keller on the mound for the Royals who had similar numbers as Berrios in his first outing, but with half the strikeouts.

First pitch at 7:15p Central, weather should be pleasant with game time temps in the 50’s.

Twins lineup:

RF Kepler
SS Polanco
DH Cruz
LF Rosario
1B Cron
3B Gonzalez
2B Schoop
C Castro
CF Buxton

Parentgood

Father Knows Best — Transitions

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My oldest son Francis used to be my oldest daughter Frances. Francis is 25 and lives and works in Chicago so being the parent of a trans kid is somewhat removed for me at this point but it still presents unique challenges and opportunities for learning.

One of the challenges is who do you tell and when? Even though by this point many people know Francis is now a man, not everyone does. I find that some people I have an easy time telling but some people who I have a fleeting relationship with will refer to Francis as a “she” and I find myself not correcting them. It’s really hit and miss for me and as I’ve kept this quiet on the WGOM for nearly 3 years myself, consider this Father Knows Best posting my “coming out” as a Trans Dad.

Of course having a trans kid brings other concerns as a parent. Let’s face it, not everyone is comfortable with trans people; discrimination and even violence is not uncommon. I bring it up to dates in case they are uncomfortable with it. It is a parent’s worst fear that bad things could happen to their child because of who that kid is and basically are powerless to do anything about it. Luckily nothing like this has happened to Francis (that I know of).

It is, however, pretty amazing how accepting people are. For people under 30, it’s not even an issue. My youngest refers to Francis as his brother like it’s been rolling off his tongue forever and the nieces and nephews didn’t even bat an eye. Others that I have told have been more fascinated with the process than questioning the intent. Which has been nice for me.

One thing that I have learned these past 3 years is that sexuality is definitely not M or F but is in fact on a continuum. Francis is the same person he’s always been with the same personality, sense of humor, needs and desires. In fact he exhibits some characteristics that I would consider “feminine.” But having said that, I don’t question at all his identifying as a male.

So we are all in a good place. Francis is a very happy, young person, striking out on his own in Chicago. He has a good job, been in a relationship for over 5 years, and has matured greatly these past few years, like many kids in their mid-20s do. The three of us are going backcountry hiking at Glacier National Park this coming July and I’m really looking forward to it.

Do I have any Father Knows Best advice? Probably not, each of us will have to experience the world our kids bring to us as they grow up. All I can say is your kids are their own person and it’s quite fascinating to watch them grow and experience the world on their own terms. It’s quite a ride, just make sure you have something to hold on to.