Like a True Nature's Child

Presidential Tone Deafness

"Sure, we need unity, but being divisive and political is more fun."

To the utter surprise of precisely NO ONE, President Obama used his speech at the memorial service for five slain Dallas law enforcement officers as yet another opportunity to harangue Americans as racist and to call for more gun control.

In one of the more gobsmacking instances of flat-out lying in Presidential history, Obama said "[I]t is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock that get his hands on a computer or even a book!" This statement is not only laughably false, its presence in an address at a memorial service was inexplicable.

"Maybe he's just an ignorant jackass?"

It is getting harder and harder to make a case that he isn't...

All-Star Struck

Traditionally major league baseball's All-Star Game is viewed as the midpoint of the season, even though teams have played slightly more than half their games. It is a time when teams and their fans assess the season to date, and either begin seriously thinking about post-season play or resigning themselves to looking forward to next season.

My beloved Kansas City Royals don't seem to have much of a chance to make this year's playoffs to defend their World Series championship. There have been too many injuries, and the starting pitching just isn't good enough. They'll probably finish within a couple of games of .500 either way, but there are simply too many teams having better seasons for the Royals to overcome.

Oddly enough, though, at last night's All-Star Game at Petco Park in San Diego it was the Royals contingent who led the American League to its 4-2 victory and home field advantage in the next World Series.

"I'll take the pickup truck, thanks!"

1B Eric Hosmer, playing in his first All-Star Game, won MVP honors by tying the game with a solo home run in the 2nd inning, and driving in another run in the 3rd with a single.

C Salvador Perez accounted for the American League's other runs with a two-run homer in the 2nd. Hosmer and Perez are only the second pair of teammates to homer in the same inning of an All-Star Game, and the first in the last 41 years.

RHP Kelvin Herrera also appeared in the game and needed only 8 pitches to retire the National League in the 6th.

Mugged

Not long after the release of his Blues of Desperation album, my hero Joe Bonamassa issued a t-shirt design promoting the song "This Train." It featured an EMD F-series locomotive. As a confirmed railfan AND Bonamassa fan, I bought one immediately.

The newest coffee mug in my collection, which arrived yesterday, sports the same design.

"How many coffee mugs does one man need?"

When I have as many mugs as Joe has guitars and amps, maybe I'll stop...maybe...

Community Disorganizer

From the pen of Henry Payne, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

There are just a handful of artists whose music powerfully evokes a specific time and place in history for me. The Canadian-American band Steppenwolf is one of those groups. Whenever I hear their music I am transported back to my sophomore year of high school, the memories as fresh as if they had happened yesterday.

Their debut album had been released in January 1968, but the first single hadn't gotten much airplay. Just before my sophomore year began, though, that changed rather dramatically.

Original 1968 45 rpm single

On July 13, 1968 the band released the second single from the album, "Born To Be Wild." The record peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, and became the band's signature song. It was all over AM radio for months.

Steppenwolf enjoyed another 13 charting singles in their career, including 6 that were Top 40 hits. They eventually broke up as a group in 1972, although periodic attempts to revive the brand have been ongoing ever since.


Today's send-off is the original single version of the song, paired with some photos of the sort of motorcycle enthusiasts who adopted it as their anthem. Enjoy...