Clowning Around

Cleveland, Day Two

At the moment I have two reasons to despise the city of Cleveland: the Indians are leading my Royals by seven games in the American League Central Division, and the Republican Party is committing institutional suicide at the Quicken Loans Arena.







As I predicted, the first day of the convention was a complete farce, featuring unseemly and thuggish behavior on a procedural vote, speeches from Z-list "celebrities," plagiarism by the would-be First Lady, and scheduling so inept the best speakers were left to address a near-empty arena well after prime time had ended. An epic fail in virtually every possible way...

"Cheer up! At least no one got hit in the head with a pipe wrench."

It was just the first day...give it time...

Better Late Than Never

Through seven innings last night at Kauffman Stadium, my beloved Kansas City Royals had been held scoreless on just five hits by Cleveland's All-Star and former Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber. When Kluber came out for the bottom of the 8th, though, his legs began to cramp, so the Indians went to their bullpen. The next thing you know, the Royals pushed across seven runs to beat the Indians 7-3 in the opener of a critical three-game series.

Royals starter Edinson Volquez pitched well, allowing just two runs on four hits in his seven solid innings of work.

RHP Luke Hochevar needed just six pitches to retire the Indians in the top of the 8th, and got the victory following the Royals' offensive outburst in the bottom of the inning.


RHP Chris Young wobbled enough in the 9th that manager Ned Yost was forced to bring in All-Star closer Wade Davis, who recorded his 20th save by getting the final out on just three pitches.

"BOOM!"

In the decisive rally, pinch-hitter Christian Colon tied the game with a two-run double, and RF Paulo Orlando had an RBI single that finally gave the Royals the lead.

The big blow, however, was CF Jarrod Dyson's first home run of the season, and his first career grand slam.

That made the score 7-2 and completed yet another wild late rally by the Royals.

"Is anyone even surprised anymore when they do stuff like this?"

They've done it a bunch, it's true...

Buyer's Remorse

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

Until Next Time...

The history of the music business includes a tremendous number of "happy accidents," where artists stumble upon something wonderful without even intending to. That was certainly the case with Elvis Presley's first single.

During a break in a recording session at Sun Studio in Memphis on July 5, 1954 Elvis started horsing around with an up-tempo version of blues singer Arthur Crudup's song "That's All Right." His band mates Bill Black and Scotty Moore soon joined in, and when producer Sam Phillips heard what they were doing, he made them start over again so he could record the song. Phillips knew a hit when he heard one.

Original 1954 45 rpm single

On July 19, 1954 Elvis's up-tempo cover was released as his first single, and a legendary recording career was launched.

The record didn't chart nationally, but some music historians consider this the first true rock and roll record. It is No. 113 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.





Today's send-off is original reverb-drenched 1954 release, paired with some vintage Elvis photos. Enjoy...