Missed It By That Much

Big night at the Bengies. Mike, Matthew, Jeff, Jeremy, Dan, Jim, Mary, Jayden and I went to see "Kung Fu Panda", "Batman: The Dark Knight", and "Get Smart". The place was packed, they even had people in the last row by the entrance. The movies were OK. Kung Fu Panda was funnier than I thought it would be. Batman started out good but lost steam towards the end but Heath Ledger was great as the Joker. Get Smart was pretty funny. I spotted a couple of actors from the original series in cameo roles.

Artscape 2008

Natalie and I went to went to Artscape twice this weekend. Friday night we got there late, but managed to catch some of Joan Jett and Roberta Flack. We heard Joan Jett do about six or seven songs and she was really good. Even Natalie liked her. She did "I Love Rock and Roll", "I Hate Myself for Loving You", "Crimson and Clover", the theme song from "That Girl", "Naked" and a couple of others before we left to go see Roberta Flack.


Roberta Flack played on the main stage, which is at the bottom of a hill. It was packed. We ended up standing inside a metal sculpture just trying to catch a glimpse of her. Natalie was disappointed. It sounded like light jazz to me. We wondered around checking out some of the booths till the place started closing up and then went home. If you want to avoid the crowds, Friday afternoon would be a good time to go to Artscape.

Saturday we got there about 12:30. Somebody was playing acoustic guitar on the main stage and we went to check it out. A couple were getting married there. Don't know what that was all about - did they originally meet at Artscape or what? We caught the parade of art cars as they drove down Mount Royal Avenue. The art cars are always cool. We saw a fashion show put on by the Fabulous Four. I saw that on the program and thought it was a Beatles tribute band. Natalie and I both liked it -there was even a Janet Jackson moment. Heading over towards Charles Street, we stopped to watch some demonstrations of pottery and jewelry making, calligraphy, drum making and, my personal favorite, belly dancing.


It was really hot on Saturday. By 3:00 o'clock we were both already wiped out. Luckily it was time for the BSO's free concert in air-conditioned Meyerhoff Symphony hall. That was a real nice break from the heat. The conductor was BSO/Peabody Conducting Fellow, Joseph Young. Here's a partial set list of what they played:

• Mozart - Marriage Of Figaro Overture
• Mendelssohn
• Rossini - Barber of Seville Overture
• Beethoven
• Rimsky-Korsakov - Flight Of The Bumble Bee

After the BSO concert, we headed back to Charles Street. This is the new section of Artscape. There was a Midway set up on the bridge over I-83, filled with all kinds of weird stuff, like a Freak Show and an Alien Space ship. The Freak Show was just Barbie Dolls and stuff like that but it still got to people. A couple of bands played, mostly just guitar and drums. And lots of audience participation. The Sensorama was creepy - little black boxes you stuck you hand into. The one full of warm water made me cringe for some reason. The Charles Theater didn't seem to be involved with Artscape at all, which was disappointing. I thought they'd take the place of "Shorts In A Tent" from last years show. We didn't make it the XXX show on North Avenue. By this time we had both had it, so we headed south on Charles Street to Brewer's Art for some liquid refreshment. We planned on going back on Sunday but since it was going to be another 95 degree day, we decided to go out Mom & Dads for a swim instead.

Click for Photobucket Album Of Artscape 2008 Photos

Baltimore Municipal Band Concert

Natalie and I went to see the Baltimore Municipal Band at Burdick park tonight. It was great, as usual. They always play some interesting stuff. I could do without the sing-along portion of the show but I guess that must be a tradition. They had some technical problems with the PA that pretty much drowned out the band while they were playing "West Side Story" but they finally got things sorted out and finished the show, although it was shortened. This is one of two concerts by the band this year. They used to do a lot more than that. The other one is at Northside Baptist Church, over where we used to live on Cedarcroft. Mitchell and Cheryl got married there.

Set List:

• Pride of Baltimore March (Written by the Band Director, George Gaylor)
• Holst "Music for Band In F"
• West Side Story
• Three Italian Songs - La Strada, Venice in Summer, Anna Macora (Sung by Joe DiFranco)
• Respighi's Pines of Rome "Pines of the Apian Way"
• From Camelot "If ever I would Leave You" (Sung by Joe DiFranco)
• Souza "Hands Across The Sea"
• Plus the sing-along songs and of course, God Bless America

Orioles vs. Kansas City Royals

Fifteen of us packed into two cars today and went down to Camden Yards to see the Orioles play the Kansas City Royals. They won, 7 - 5. Jean and her crew were up from North Carolina and they wanted to see a game while they were here. Dad treated everybody to the tickets and even went to the game himself. We all got George Sherrill t-shirts except Alex and his cousin - you had to be fifteen to get one. We almost lost a few people after the game was over. Jocelyn was missing until somebody spotted her down at the Orioles dugout trying to talk to Brian Roberts (or was it Nick Markakis?). Little Mitchell also disappeared but we found him back at the cars on the other side of Raven's stadium.

Game pictures courtesy of The Sunpapers







WMAR Game Summary

Hernandez, O's top Royals
Ramon Hernandez finished 2-for-4 with two runs batted in, as the Baltimore Orioles held on to beat Kansas City, 7-5, in the second contest of a four-game series with the Royals.

Radhames Liz (3-0) picked up the win after giving up three runs on seven hits in six innings of work for Baltimore, which snapped a two-game slide. The Orioles have won five of Liz's six outings since he was called up in early June.

"I thought Liz probably had the best command since he's been with us," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "I thought he showed his breaking pitch and his changeup early in the game, which was a real plus for him. I thought he was wobbling there in the fifth. In the sixth I think he was up against the ropes and he was done."

Aubrey Huff went 2-for-4, while Brian Roberts hit a solo homer for the Orioles. Brandon Fahey had a double and RBI in place of shortstop Alex Cintron, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a strained left hamstring. Cintron suffered the injury in Monday's matchup.

Luke Hochevar (5-6) gave up six runs on six hits in six frames to take the loss, his first since a May 29 outing against Minnesota. Kansas City had won six consecutive games on the road, but has now lost three of four overall.

"He's still got to command the bounding ground ball to right field and the line drive to left," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "He has to locate better, no doubt."

Alex Gordon finished with a double and homer, while Mark Teahen also homered and drove in two to power Kansas City's offense.

The Orioles led by one entering the home third, and used a two-out rally to surge ahead. Nick Markakis led off with a single, and after a Huff ground out, Kevin Millar reached base. Luke Scott then grounded into a fielder's choice and Melvin Mora walked to load the bases with two down.

Hernandez then stroked a single to left to drive in Markakis and Scott, and on the throw Mora and Hernandez advanced to scoring position. An Adam Jones single to right drove them in, putting Baltimore up 6-1.

Teahen's leadoff shot to center in the fifth got one run back for the Royals, and his sacrifice fly in the sixth brought Gordon home to bring the club within 6-3.

Roberts' leadoff homer in the seventh, off Jimmy Gobble, restored Baltimore's four-run lead. The Royals, though, staged a potential ninth-inning comeback.

Dennis Sarfate began the inning for the Orioles and walked Ross Gload before getting Miguel Olivo to fly out. Then Joey Gathright walked, bringing Sarfate's stay to a close as George Sherrill entered.

Sherrill had blown two saves in a row, including Monday's game against the Royals. He initially got Mike Aviles to ground out, but that advanced the runners to scoring position. Mark Grudzielanek's single to right plated Gload and Gathright to bring Kansas City within two.

But Sherrill struck out Gordon to end the game, and nail down his 27th save in the process.

"I would have preferred to stay away from Sherrill. I said earlier if it was a save situation I wouldn't be reluctant to put him in," Trembley said. "If you got a guy down there that's a closer on this team and it's a save situation, he's going to get him."

Kansas City jumped out to the early lead when Gordon crushed a two-out solo homer to right in the first inning. Huff's RBI single in the home half, followed by Fahey's RBI double in the second put Baltimore on top, 2-1.

Game Notes

To replace Cintron on the roster, Baltimore selected the contract of shortstop Freddie Bynum from Triple-A Norfolk. Tuesday, the Orioles also transferred reliever Danys Baez from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL in order to make room for Bynum on the 40-man roster. Baez is still recovering from elbow surgery performed last September...The Royals left seven runners on base, while Baltimore stranded four...The Orioles' Daniel Cabrera (5-4) and the Royals' Gil Meche (6-8) are expected to start Wednesday's game.