Category: Uncategorized

I went to several Preakness races

The Preakness is tomorrow (5/15/21) in Baltimore. I went to several of them in the 1970s and 1980s. Thanks to alcohol, I don’t remember too much. I only know which ones I saw if I have tangible proof like a glass or program. I know I saw the last Triple Crown Preakness for over three decades in 1978 because I have the program.

The infield got a lot more crowded and busier in recent years (until the pandemic). They had bands in the infield. There used to be potty races where people ran on top of the portable toilets. Attendance recently was about 50% higher than when I went. Attendance will be limited to 10,000. In 2019, the attendance was 131,256. By comparison, in 1978 it was 81,261.

I have also seen the race from the grandstand which is a lot more adult than watching it from the infield.

Racism in house appraisals

There are numerous examples

Home appraisal increased by almost $100,000 after Black family hid their race

Music: Stage Fright by The Band

Stage Fright, the Band’s third album, was released in 1970. I have always had mixed feelings about it. There are four great songs:

Strawberry Wine

Sleeping

Time to Kill

The Shape I’m In

The other six are mediocre or worse. On “Just Another Whistle Stop”, the Band sounded like lots of other bands instead of the unique sound of their first two albums. I guess this happened when they left the seclusion of Woodstock and got out in the world. “The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show” just repeats the historic sounding aspect of their earlier records. It’s not new. The would do it again five years later with “Ophelia”. These aren’t bad songs., they just cover ground they covered better before.

On the other hand. “The Shape I’m In” is one of their best songs. I didn’t really understand how they did it until I saw them later in 1970. They had one organ playing lead and a clavinet playing rhythm. In the concert, everything had the bright, crisp sound of the best songs on Stage Fright.

Covers: It Ain’t Me Babe

“It Ain’t Me Babe” is a Bob Dylan song from 1964 He is accompanied by his acoustic guitar. A rock version by the Turtles was a hit in 1965. Dylan has performed electric versions of it live, most notably on Before the Flood which documents his 1974 tour with the Band.

Similar to the Before the Flood version from the same tour

I listened to a lot of country music in the 1980s

Start with Rosanne Cash. “Seven Year Ache” was the title song of a great album and is my favorite country song from that era. A large part of what I liked was a return to more traditional country music with some rock elements thrown in.

The O’Kanes were Kieran Kane and Jamie O’Hara. They both made records after the O’Kanes split up following the release of three albums.

The Sweethearts of the Rodeo are sisters Janis Oliver and Kristine Arnold. Their first album was only about 24 minutes long and only had eight songs but it was excellent. “Since I Found You” was written by Radney Foster and Bill Lloyd.

Foster and Lloyd recorded three albums of their own. They each have had solo careers. Foster is more country and Lloyd is more power pop. You can hear both in their records they recorded together. They did a fourth album in 2011 and toured after that. It sounded like they picked up right where they left off. I saw them and they were excellent.

Dwight Yoakam is the most traditional of these artists and is heavily influenced by the Buck Owens style Bakersfield sound. I saw him a few years ago in a concert that also included Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle.

Steve Earle started out as a country singer but has branched out into rock, bluegrass and folk.

Lyle Lovett has acted in films in addition to writing and performing music. I saw him perform and he did a whole range of styles from country and bluegrass to jazz.

Compilations of primarily LA-based country music called A Town South of Bakersfield were released in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

I like “Hank Drank” by Bobby Lee Springfield which is clearly about Hank Williams.