Bums and Bummers

New York Values

"How DARE you use Uber and eat at Chick-fil-A? Monsters!"

I have a difficult time imagining what it must be like to live in a city where the mayor feels like it is his job to tell me what restaurants  
I should patronize based on his moral compass.




Frankly, if your mayor has enough spare time to go crusading against a fast-food chain and trying to stifle a popular new high-tech business, perhaps you should consider making the mayoralty a part-time gig.

"Daddy knows best."

Of course, the last guy New Yorkers elected wanted to regulate food content, and how big a soft drink you could buy.

When I hear the term "New York Values," a big part of what that means to me is the Big Apple's fondness for these fascist nannies.

"Does this mean we're not moving to New York City if you win the Powerball?"

I'd never live there, but if I won the jackpot I'd take a trip there just for the fun of peeing on Trump Tower...

Royal Blues

"Boom! BOOM! BOOM!"

Last night my beloved Kansas City Royals lost their third straight game, falling 10-7 to the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

The Royals pitching was abysmal, wasting three home runs and five RBIs from All-Star
CF Lorenzo Cain and
a two-run shot from
3B Cheslor Cuthbert.



Royals pitchers coughed up leads of 2-1, 3-2, and 6-5. And after Cain's third homer of the game tied the score at 7 in the top of the 8th, the bullpen promptly gave up three runs in the bottom of the inning. Ballgame.

The starting rotation is currently a mess. RHP Kris Medlen was ineffective again, and is now 1-3 with a 7.77 ERA. After an encouraging start to the season, Medlen has gotten blown up in three of his last four starts, and has only made it through two innings in the last couple.

The timing of Medlen's collapse couldn't be worse, as fellow RHP Chris Young has been so bad (1-5, 6.68 ERA) he just lost his spot in the rotation (he has given up 13 home runs in just 32 innings of work this season), and might be injured as well. Primary long reliever Dillon Gee (2.61 ERA over 21 innings of work) will be taking over Young's rotation spot, so it isn't clear what options the Royals have regarding Medlen's spot.
LHP Mike Minor, who began the season on the 60-Day Disabled List, begins his rehab assignment in AA today but won't be eligible to be activated until the end of May. It is possible that the Royals could well be buried in the standings by then.

"You forgot to mention that Yordano Ventura has been awful lately, too."

You're not helping...

Wild Kingdom Bed & Breakfast Update

Part of the fun of spring unfolding is seeing the various birds who frequent the B&B begin to show their mating plumage. Since red is my favorite color, it has been especially pleasing to see the cardinals, redpolls, house finches, and purple finches who have been visiting of late.

"Did you miss me?"

It was cool and rainy this morning, so perhaps he decided to check out the patio to get out of the rain, but this morning saw yet another redhead make his first visit of the spring season.

Time to start leaving out some stuff designed for squirrels, so he won't eat too much of the birds' food. All are welcome at the B&B, of course, so we strive to balance the needs of all of our customers...

"Are you aware that most people consider your 'customers' to be pests?"

My patio, my rules...

Party Unity

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

Until Next Time...

By the time Michael Wadleigh's Academy Award-winning documentary film Woodstock debuted in late March of 1970, the music festival it was based on was already legendary by word-of-mouth among fans of rock and pop music. I saw the film the way it deserves to be seen, at an old-school big-screen theater with state-of-the-art (for its time) sound. It was an incredible experience, and like most people who saw it I couldn't wait for the release of the soundtrack album. The hot rumor was that it would be a double-album, quite unusual for a movie soundtrack.

On May 11, 1970 Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More was released on Cotillion Records as a three-LP set. It was an immediate success, and spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart later that summer.

I bought it the first day it hit the local record stores in Kansas City, and listened to it obsessively for a long time afterwards. I own it on CD now,
of course, and most of its tracks appear in various of my iTunes playlists.


Although the bulk of the music on the album was recordings of the artists' performances shown in the film, not all of it was. There were a handful of songs included whose performances were edited out of the final film, as well as couple of studio recordings which were used as incidental music during some narrative sequences of the movie.

Today's send-off is the segment of the film which paired the studio version of the song "Wooden Ships," from the eponymous debut album by Crosby, Stills, and Nash, with a montage of scenes showing preparations for the festival, including the construction of the massive outdoor stage. Enjoy...