I'm an adult now

It was 20 years ago today

The German Embassy, just a few doors down from where I work, is celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall today with its own wall made of ice. I remember sitting watching the Wall fall on TV and it seems strange to think it was 20 years ago.

It looked good during the day, but the evening lights made it look quite beautiful. The embassy was having a big celebration, I wonder if they’ll knock this wall down.

Thanks to Deb for taking the second pic

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Day 1, San Francisco

Last year, HSB was possibly the best festival I’ve been to. So would this year match up?

Unfortunately, thanks to BART/MUNI unpredictability, I arrive in Golden Gate Park just as the very last chord of Poor Man’s Whiskey’s set rings out

A short while later Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, in his The Nightwatchman acoustic troubadour-guise, takes the stage. His set is pretty dull until he is joined by Stever Earle, Allison Moorer and Boots Riley for a rousing encore of liberal America’s alternative national anthem - ‘This Land is Your Land’ “with all the words”.

Thankfully, John Prine is not a let down. He tells stories and plays great including ‘Souvenirs’ and ‘Angel from Montgomery’. I’d never seen him play a full set before, but will certainly try to again.

Lyle Lovett and his Large Band soon follow. The Large Band is indeed large - 14 musicians, I think - and they sound fantastic. I didn’t think I knew much of Lyle’s material, but it turns out that I know all but a couple of newer songs. Lyle is a great frontman and he is funny. He is joined by John Prine for a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s ‘Loretta’. It is the highlight of the first day.

Baseball 3

With a great pitching line-up - Tim Lincecum against Dan Haren - I made another visit to AT&T Park. Lincecum looks smaller than I expected for a power-pitching Cy Young winner (and he looks a bit like Wiley Wiggins in Dazed and Confused).

The Giants played like a different team behind Lincecum. He pitched great and got good support. Arizona played well too, but not well enough, and they seemed to be disturbed by getting their coach and manager sent off for arguing with the umpire.

Was good to see Randy Johnson again. He looks kinda lazy when he pitches until his arm whips through and the ball moves at 90+mph. Giants won 7-3.

If the Giants want to get to the playoffs they need to build something behind Lincecum, he is special.

National anthem note: Apparently the girl singing the anthem has a record deal. She was rubbish. The elderly lady sat next to me told her friend it was the worst she’d ever seen. I may not have seen as many but do not look forward to seeing a worse performance. It was excruciatingly bad.

Redwood forest

A day walking in the forest. The Redwoods are “second growth” - the originals all got chopped down 100+ years ago for housing etc. These trees are around 30 metres tall and not very big - not compared to the famous Redwoods anyway. The forest was quite tranquil but I guess it gets busy at weekends.

As I walked out of the forest the huge Mormon Temple was the first thing I saw. At night it is illuminated.

Baseball 2

A beautiful bright, hot and sunny day at AT&T Park. Unfortunately for the Giants they blow it. They were rubbish - batted badly, pitched badly and fielded badly. The Cubs deservedly won. It was hard to believe the Giants were in contention for a play-off place as they looked like a team that has given up and this result pretty much confirmed they were out.

Uribe was the Giants best player - he homered and singles in a run. Ramirez homered for the Cubs.

Sat with a lot of Cubs fans who were happy, even the Giants fans seemed resigned to their clubs fate. Cubs won 6-2.

National anthem note: unlike Oakland, which played a recording, the Giants have a live singer. A 15-year old girl who is brilliant. Huge ovation and deservedly so.

College Pride

In Berkeley for the day for CD shopping at Amoeba and Rasputin and I am astounded by the huge proportion of students wearing college branded clothes. This just does not happen at home.

However, here I’d guess 1 in 20 is wearing a Cal shirt and almost every shop sells them.

Maybe it is a result of the sports culture?

Baseball, Yeah.

Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics

With Five dropping baseball coverage this season I have been starved of the game. Short clips on ESPN and MLB do not make up for full games.

So here I am, less than 24 hours after arriving in California sat in the sunshine in the ugly concrete monstrosity that is Oakland Coliseum.

Both sides rest some key players, but the game is pretty good. Especially for the A’s fans. Did not start well with Texas getting on the board in the first and Feldman blowing through the A’s in 11 pitches. But then Oakland hit back in style and they kept Texas quiet.

A’s won 12-3. The people I met were friendly.

Whispertown 2000, Luminaire

Third time seeing Whispertown 2000 this summer and the most fun yet. There is nothing not to enjoy when seeing them. They look like they are having the greatest time on stage and their enthusiasm transfers to the audience.

Speaking afterwards they should have a new album in the new year, but in the meantime buy their current album Swim

Must mention the support act, Anna Calvi, who was stunning. The Luminaire with its velvet draped stage is perfectly suited to her moody songs and aggressive, surfy guitar sounds. Could be the house band for Twin Peaks’ Black Lodge.

Jackdaw4, Marrs Bar, Worcester, and Madhouse, Birmingham