Cleveland

Well, Cleveland is now in the past. I really enjoyed planning it out. The original plan was to possibly see the games on Friday and Saturday night. In researching events in Cleveland, I noticed that comedian Sheng Wang was going to be in town, so I bought tickets to both Sheng Wang and the Guardians for Friday night, just in case the weather didn't cooperate on Saturday. Eventually, the forecast bore out that there was no issue on Saturday, so I sold the Guardians tickets.

I'm glad about that on a couple of levels. 

First, a comedy show was the perfect thing to see after about eight hours of travel on Friday. The airport/airplane rinse-repeat really wore me out. I kept myself calm by imagining myself walking off the plane in Cleveland and being able to just walk out of the airport. Once I actually got out, I made my only misstep of the trip, which was taking a cab instead of an Uber. 

Secondly, after the game on Saturday, I realized that I really didn't need two nights of sitting in the stands at Progressive Field. One evening was plenty. I roamed around the ballpark and thought it was cool, but I think doing it on both nights would have been overkill. My patience for drunk people and loudmouths is dwindling and a lot of the ballpark experience can be determined by your neighbors in the ballpark. I had a couple of lightly obnoxious people in front of me and a family with young kids to the left of me.

Sheng Wang turned out to be really funny as well. His opener not so much, but that was OK since he wasn't on all that long. I love Wang's delivery. I thought he meandered a bit through some kitchen gadget stuff but his last 20 minutes were very solid. He ended on a grateful note and said that he learns a lot about his audience from the staff at the venues, who are complimentary of his audiences. And he went on promptly at 8 and was done at 9:15. I loved this, because I was beat after the travel.

I watched baseball after the show, which got me amped for Saturday's game, then went to bed.

Saturday morning, I woke up and headed downstairs for my free breakfast at about 8:30. There was some glitch with the system when I checked in Friday night, so the associate gave me a voucher. I had a French toast since I basically had had a breakfast sandwich for lunch on Friday. I walked around Lake Erie before my entry time at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was at 10:30. There was a walk and run for St Jude's down by the lakefront. 

The only thing that I didn't pack that came back to bite me was a hat. The sun beat down on me a bit while I awaited my admission time at the HOF and later when I was waiting for the gates to open at PF. But I managed in both cases. There's always something that I forget, and I'm just glad it wasn't my sunglasses or passport.

The HOF was enjoyable. I thought about my dad a lot and I thought he would like it, but he'd be disappointed in the lack of drum representation. There were only a few drums or drum paraphernalia in the displays and not very much in the gift shop. It seemed like the guitar was the only instrument featured. 

And the HOF was crowded. This mostly had to do with the fact that it was Member Appreciation Day. (Incidentally, it was Fan Appreciation Night at the ballpark). Lots of cramped spaces filled with people. The basement was really cool and featured several exhibits. One was about the various places that rock originated and the influence of those places on the sound. Another was on women, and another about SNL, which was OK but the exhibit that Sarah and I saw in Chicago about SNL was much cooler.

Eye In The Sky (Alan Parsons Project)

 What...the hell...is this album?

It starts with the ominous Sirius/Eye In The Sky and just gets proggier and weirder from there. Silence and I tries to be anthemic but is just kind of pretentious rock.

Across the Divide (Fireside Collective)

 So I liked Elements, the 2020 album by Fireside Collective. I'm honestly trying to figure out what to listen to, so I put on Across the Divide. It's got a few songs that I liked, but nothing that makes me want to get the entire album. The lyrics are a little awkward in spots. Decent album, but I'll grab a few songs.

Who Is the Sky? (David Byrne)

Summary:

I found this one tedious. I don't know what the count of questions is on this album, but David Byrne seems to be writing multiple versions of the same songs.

Don't be sad it's over. Be glad that it happened!

Just an amazing trip to the Dells. It's what Sarah and I needed, a nice reset. And I think we both needed the time away from the kids just to refocus. Sundara was the perfect place to relax, and I felt less tense just pulling up to the entrance. Our only hiccup of the trip was not saying where we were going to meet after changing, which led to Sarah eating my lunch. I had some of her salad, so I didn't go into our massage with belly growling.

My favorite part of the whole resort is the purifying bath ritual. To be honest, if not for that, if you don't book a few services, you're pretty much sitting in or around a pool the whole time. The bath ritual hits nearly every sense. The steam room was the most intense. It's suggested that someone spends 10 minutes in there, but there was no way I was hitting that goal. I made it maybe four or five minutes, but it's such a relief to exit that room and move on to the hot and cold tubs.

Cory Weeds Meets Jerry Weldon

 Really enjoyed this jazz album- got it off Bandcamp!

Death Cab for Cutie- Codes and Keys

So, the first few songs I really liked. Home Is A Fire, Codes and Keys, Some Boys are all really solid, but after that the album just seemed tedious and overly wordy. I want to try some new artists and new music.

The verdict on Death Cab for Cutie- it's a stop here.