NOW, the Shockers have to be willing to "lose" angry. It would have been a great story for them to go undefeated and win the NCAA's but there's the mystique of the "big name" programs and Kentucky found a way. So, we're down to the Sweet 16 and looming in the near future are the 2014 baseball season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If you like sports, it's not a bad time of the year by any stretch.
So, today's humstle is Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays' As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls. I can be as cheezy as anybody. It is a pretty amazing record, though.
As for music, a great event occurred Saturday night. The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank holds an annual musical fundraiser known as DJAM. My dear friends, TheCAUSE headlines at this event each year. TheCAUSE are: my pals, Eric "Pappy" Weingrad, "Professor David Tauberg, Mike South and Mike "TourPro" Tony. Accompanying them are two kick ass singers, Andrea Pearl and Jill Paone Simmons**. For the second time in the past three years, the band teamed up with Steve Kimock, who just finished a lengthy tour with Bob Weir's Ratdog. They treated a big crowd at Pittsburgh's REX Theatre to a great night and I am told, enough money was raised to feed a capacity crowd at Pittsburgh's PNC park; a remarkable achievement. I'm sure many excerpts of the show will be on You Tube shortly. Please feel free to donate to the GPCFB as you will like what you see and hear. The band is an honest and hardworking group of people who are emblematic of the Pittsburgh music scene. I'm proud to call them my friends. I think if I lived there, my dance card would be pretty full.
**P.S. Jill will sing the National Anthem on April 2nd prior to the second game of the 2014 baseball season at PNC, between the Pirates and the Cubs.
The PM of Malaysia announced that according to best evidence, that flight 370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean. Condolences go out to the families who lost loved ones. An event of this nature kept Chris Christie out of the headlines for two weeks and he can run, but especially, in his case, he can't hide. I also take note of this news, as it seems to debunk former Israeli Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren's contention that the plane was hijacked to Iran and was being weaponized for a possible attack on Israel. Israeli Intelligence Services have forgotten more than the rest of the world will ever know. This theory however, seemed a little over its skis. But happy will be Bill O'Reilly who just couldn't take CNN's wall to wall coverage of the event another minute.
Same sex couples can marry in Michigan---until they can't. Who got to who on that one?
The Dodgers are 2-0 and the Diamondbacks are 0-2 in "they count" ball games. The rest of baseball starts next week.
I am a new fan of HBO's VICE. It is tackling stories that most media are not and that is a very good thing. It's worth watching.
Voter supression is still alive and well. The Koch brothers are unhappy about the way they're being portrayed in the media, but their money is still pouring into battleground state's ad buys and will continue. The only difference I have as far as the Republican and Democratic parties is that for Republicans, I need more puke bags. This country needs a political upheaval in the worst way, but as long as dark money rules, it is unlikely to happen.
So, glad to be back in print after a little break. Please remember to tell Charles and David Koch no thank you when you go to potentially purchase anything they make. Catch TheCAUSE when you get a chance and if she's alive, call your mother. She worries, you know.
