Top 9 on Shazam

Shazam is a cool app that will listen to a song and tell you what it is.  I like using it in stores or places where music is playing and I like the song.  It also keeps a record of your tags.  You find some unusual as well as familiar songs.  So I looked over the list to make this Top 9 of 2017

Is this Love – Bob Marley - from Homer and Marienma's wedding

Only When You Leave – Spandau Ballet - the Bronski Beat station on iHeart Radio

I’m Real – Jennifer Lopez - she has a distinctive voice

Bad Man Walking – Gov’t Mule - some different country

Mr. Blue Sky – ELO - from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. 

Zanzibar – Billy Joel - Memorial H.S. reunion video

Better Man – Little Big Town - written by Taylor Swift

Heatstroke – Calvin Harris - featuring Arianna Grande

On and On – Brett Eldredge - a deep cut

Fort Worth

 it was a full schedule in Fort Worth Friday.  I went to the Filmmaker Session at the Worthington Renaissance Hotel.  My friend Mark the Producer as well as the lead actor Patrick Fabian gave a Q&A about the making of the movie.

Then we all went to lunch nearby at Del Frisco Grille - which I liked.  Mark and I had gone to Junior High together but had not seen each other since.

And it was cool to be with a real movie star.  You could see people turning around to look at Patrick.  Which was neat.

I stayed at the Sheraton on the other side of downtown.  My room had a nice view of the water "park"  - very unusual.

The movie Driver X was at 7:30 at AMC Palace Sundance Square.  Very nice downtown area.  Lots of stores, restaurants, spaces.  Afterwards we had a late dinner at the Reata Rooftop.  Very much of a movie star experience.  One of our group, who had also gone to junior high with us, Marnie was a former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.

I made it back to the hotel by midnight, got up at 8 and was on the road by 8:30.  So I made the most of 1 day in Fort Worth, TX.

Houston Astros Win 2017 World Series!

After many years, it's impressive to see the view from the top of the mountain.  My team since I was a boy growing up in Houston, the Houston Astros won the World Series in impressive fashion, Game 7, on the road, in Los Angeles over the Dodgers.

My early memories from 1975 or so were going to the Astrodome for a game with the Cub Scouts.  I also remember joining the Astros Buddies junior fan club and getting a sticker as well as a coupon for an upper deck ticket, which I had my dad go to the game with me.

Those were days that the Astros were in the N.L. West.  So they had to go against the glory days of the Reds, and the Dodgers.  The Dodgers beat the Astros for the NL West division in 1980 in a tough fashion.  Even Nolan Ryan in the 80s could not punch the Astros through, until they won the division in 1986 and then lost to the Mets in tough fashion again in the NLCS.

In the late 80s I moved back to Houston after college and remember feeling plentiful that I could watch the Astros on every game ( if you could find cable).  I watched a number of games at the Mr. Gatti's big screen on Voss, as well as the pool hall at Fountain View and San Felipe.  That was when two young players, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell came on the scene and played for 15 + years each.

With an ownership change, Drayton McLane reinvested and got the City and County to build a new ball park, baseball only.  Enron Field was a game changer in that it showed that downtown stadiums were the place to be.  In the early 2000s, I had part of 2 season tickets and saw 10 -12 games each season.  My daughter liked to go to the games and we had a lot of fun at that time.  We usually left after 7 innings since our games were usually on a school night.  I remember they were in section 327.

We moved to McAllen and I continued to be a fan from afar.  The games on not on TV so frequently.  One year I even bought the MLB Season Pass and the games were still blacked out.  

The 2005 World Series was over before it even got started.  But the run up to it was great, with having to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in their prime.  At the time, Astros were in the NL Central Division.  I saw a wild card game in 2001 but again, Astros were swept by Braves in 3 games.

I never thought there would be another World Series, but here it is.  I remember well the 2014 Sports Ilustrated cover and reading that article in a library in the Memorial Villages.  To think that it really happened.  And George Springer was MVP.  Pretty cool when predictions become reality.

I can understand how Cubs fans feel now.  It's good to be on top.  But we can't stay on the mountain top forever.  We'll make our way down.  

We'll always have L.A.

Wait Til Next Year! 

 Maybe we'll be like the Yankees or the Cardinals and multiple year winners!