Blue Moon

Language Fun

"I'm baaaaaaaaaack!"

As someone who has loved the English language for as far back
as I can remember, I've always enjoyed sharing with people the stories behind common words and phrases.

"Once in a blue moon" is a great example of this sort of thing, since the phenomenon to which it refers is happening tonight.

The idiomatic expression is used to describe something which happens quite infrequently. In celestial terms, a "blue moon" is the third full moon in a season which has four such moons (one more than normal). This happens every two or three years, which is how "blue moon" came to be used as a metaphor for "infrequent, but not unheard of."

"So, like one of your 'good' moods, then?"

I don't know what you mean...

One Down

Last night at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, my beloved Kansas City Royals won the first game of their weekend series with the division-leading White Sox, beating them 4-1 behind strong pitching and timely hitting.

"You can call me 'Gee Whiz!'"

Royals starter Dillon Gee went five solid innings, giving up just one earned run on 4 hits, with 5 strikeouts. His record improved to 1-1 with a 2.90 ERA.

The White Sox managed only four baserunners the rest of the way against relievers Luke Hochevar, Joakim Soria, Kelvin Herrera, and All-Star closer Wade Davis.

"Just doing what I can to contribute."

The offensive star of the game was RF Paulo Orlando, who continued his recent hot hitting by going 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs and a run scored. Paulo's average improved to .368, and his OBP is all the way up to an excellent .390.

The series continues with a game today at 1:10 PM CDT.

Sold!

New t-shirt design

Heaven knows I already own enough t-shirts to last me till the end of my days, but every so often I can't resist adding to the collection.

This morning I received an email message from my guitar hero Joe Bonamassa's fan club announcing the release of his latest video, "This Train." It is a song from his latest album,  
Blues of Desperation, and was the song with which he opened his recent show in Omaha (you may recall that I had front-row center seats to that show).


In conjunction with the new video, Joe's merchandising company is offering a cool new t-shirt design. Since it combines two of my favorite things (Joe Bonamassa and a classic F-series locomotive), and was on sale to boot, I ordered one immediately.

"No sales resistance at all this time, eh?"

None whatsoever...

Party Unity, Democrat-Style

From the incisive pen of Michael Ramirez, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

One of the things that keeps me going when life starts getting me down is music.
I honestly don't know how I would function if I couldn't listen to music pretty much whenever I want to do so. It is one of God's greatest gifts to us, and I consider the people who create music to be agents of His grace.

On May 4, I had the privilege of seeing one of His greatest agents, blues-rock titan
Joe Bonamassa, in concert at the Holland Performing Arts Center in Omaha. It was
a terrific show, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, an experience I conveyed in the next day's blog entry.

Joe and the "Mary Kaye" Strat on May 12 in Green Bay

The opening number for the show was "This Train," and Joe was playing his 1958 Fender "Mary Kaye" Stratocaster. In the six previous shows I have attended, Joe has featured Gibson guitars almost exclusively, but the sound he's going for on this tour features a variety of vintage Stratocasters played through an array of vintage Fender tweed amplifiers.


Today's send-off is the just-released official video for "This Train," filmed during the recording sessions for the song.  Enjoy...