Dave's Thoughts of the Day: August 20th

I went to a Taylor Swift concert last night.

I'd never do it if my lady friend did not convince me to go, so we went.  And it was pretty good!   I can't say she was all that great musically, but she was a tremendous *performer*.  She knew her audience and she even employed about two dozen (it felt like) dancers to choreograph some of her songs.  She went through costume changes and set changes and everything... very visual show last night at Staples Center.

A lot of jokers can sound great in the studio and be a joke on stage, but Swift was pretty consistent both ways.  My only complaint, as it always has been, was her limited vocal range.  It might be two octaves, maybe one and a half.   BUT, she honestly was on last night as was her backing band.

Bands will go on stage, and everyone on the band steps up to the front and has their moment.  Generally, when a single performer goes on stage the backing band is just that -- the backup.  So most of them just stayed behind her and once in a while their lead guitarist would roll out some solos up front.

Swift really has a way with connecting with her audience, which, I  admit, is primarily teenage girls.   But hear me out!  There were some adult babes in the crowd too!

Whole lot of families last night.   I think that part's pretty cool.   The only thing is -- NO ENCORE?!?!  Everybody in music does an encore... Prince did like 6 or 7 encores once.  I was absolutely *shocked* to see no encore in the concert last night.

So, a good night, an impromptu one, and now on to quickies...

An open message to the people at Fleming's:  can you calm down with the prices of desserts?  For goodness sake, a slice of dessert pie does *not* cost 13 bones... not now, not ever, and not on any planet.   That was a total ripoff.  I thought *maybe* they'd provide two slices worth or something but no!  It's a pie that would cost about $3.50 at any bakery.  Unbelievable.

MLB Media, you got your wish.  You wanted to bring down Puig and take him off the radar, well, 0 for 11.  YOU GOT YOUR WISH.  Jokers.

It is true what they say... when it's your team you get more sensitive about it than when it's other teams. Puig DOES make bonehead plays... he does take too many risks, but he's also a rookie.  People are acting like he's killing the team's season. People, there wouldn't *BE* a season without Puig!   All of the baseball traditionalists need to calm down.

Zone bars look like granola bars, and they taste like granola bars, but they're apparently super energy bars.   If an energy bar tastes like a granola bar, that's a pretty good bar.

I remember having a Power Bar many many years ago, about the Early 90s, during a tennis tournament, and man it was like eating paper pulp out of a wrapper.  It was weird.

Francesa and Russo used to spread lavish praise for this old Cop show called "Kojak."  Then they'd go out and compare other TV shows and ask if they were "Kojak Good."  The other day I finally got to see what the Kojak show *was.*  Well it was pretty good!

But it's tremendously hokey... that was the 70's par for the course.  I challenge anyone to find a 70's TV show that doesn't have at least a few grins/adjustsmic moments an episode.  "Kotter" was full of 'em.  "The Brady Bunch" was 30 minutes of grinning and adjusting mics.  I mean we're talking "S.W.A.T.," "Rockford Files,"  "Wonder Woman," "The Love Boat," and on and on and on.  The only one that wasn't, over all those years was "Barney Miller."  Barney Miller happens to be one of my favorite all time TV shows.

Anyway, going back to "Kojak," it's a bald middle age guy trying to be a bad-ass saying snappy lines and fighting crime in New York.  It was certainly entertaining, a little cheeky and over the top too.

That's all from here!  As Fun. says: carry on! ...til tomorrow.