Lee Lowenfish

Spring has come to the Big Apple with flowers blooming and increased daylight. The bummer is that temperatures are below normal - there have been more clouds and dampness than sun. Though I yearn to pack away my warm sweaters and mufflers. can't do it yet.  

 

I know you can't always get what you want.  But aha! the phrase is a nice lead-in to the wonderful church concert film "Amazing Grace" I saw the other day. You see, Mick Jagger is shown a couple of times looking awed at the renditions of Aretha Franklin who is backed by a gospel choir in the Rev. James Cleveland's LA Baptist church.

 

At 29 in January 1972, Aretha was at the peak of her powers. "Amazing Grace" was supposed to be released along with Aretha's album of the same name but technical problems prevented it.  Young director Sydney Pollack - years before his success with "Tootsie" - did not yet know how to coordinate spoken words with the sound of music.  

 

Thanks to 21st century technology we now can see as well as hear the precocious Queen of Soul. She is fascinating to watch, a picture of deep intensity and quiet confidence. One touching moment shows her father the famed Detroit Reverend C. L. Franklin wiping his daughter's brow after he delivers an impromptu sermon. 

 

I also enjoyed recently a sublime classical music experience. Young pianist Mackenzie Melemed gave a memorable recital at the Juilliard School in Lincoln Center where he has studied for the last six years. 

 

I first heard the 24-year-old from Worcester Mass. last fall in the Greene Space in Soho. He knocked me out with a rendition of one of my favorite pieces of classical music, Sergei Rachmaninoff's  haunting "Moments Musicaux." I was impressed when he told the WQXR audience that it took him eight years before he felt ready to perform that piece.

 

Last week at Juilliard he played the Rachmaninoff B-minor prelude Op. 32 #10 and an encore of "Moment Musicaux #5".  But the bulk of his ambitious program was devoted to brilliant and well-thought-out interpretations of varied masters of the classical repertoire. 

 

I was impressed by Melemed's choice of his opening piece, Beethoven's powerful and unusual two-movement Sonata in F major, op 54. It was followed by Scriabin's short but delicate Five Preludes. The Rachmaninoff prelude followed and the first half of program ended with the dissonant difficult Sonata #2 by the contemporary Israeli-American composer Avner Dorman. Though the piece was not as jazzy as Melemed claimed, the technical challenges were handled adroitly. 

 

After intermission Melemed performed the rarely heard "Trois Pieces" by Francis Poulenc (he said that maestro Vladimir Horowitz never played he last two). He concluded with Schumann's early masterpiece "Symphonic Etudes, Op 13. 

 

Do remember the mellifluous name of Mackenzie Melemed.  After performances in Finland and China, he'll appear again in Our Town on Thursday August 1 at the DiMenna Arts Center on West 37th Street (between 9th and 10th Avenue).  He'll make his Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall on Fri night December 13.   

 

Before I end this blog, I must put in my two cents of evaluation of MLB a month into the 2019 season. There are no surprises that woeful teams are woeful and will never glimpse the good side of .500 in 2019.  I mean the Orioles, Royals, Marlins, and the Giants. 

 

I hate to say "never" about the wonderfully capricious sport of baseball but I fear a permanent underclass is emerging in MLB.   The lack of productive farm systems with Baltimore and San Francisco could mean years in the wilderness.

 

The Royals and Marlins have better farm systems but it says here they lack the veteran core and the financial resources to compete. Kansas City is a good baseball town and fans will return if the team improves.  I really have doubts that Miami will ever support that team.

 

 

On the plus side in baseball, Tampa Bay is already 10 games over .500 and they could be for real. Sadly, they will play before sparse crowds in indoor Tropicana Field whose upper deck was just closed for lack of fan interest. 

 

The San Diego Padres are another surprise team so far.  They are fighting the loaded heavily favored Dodgers for first place in the AL West. 

 

I saw newcomer Manny Machado on TV Sunday afternoon make one of his patented astounding defensive plays to keep San Diego in a close game they ultimately did lose in extra innings.  With reportedly one of the best farm systems in baseball the Padres could stay up there for a while.  Again too early to say for sure. 

 

On the college front, Columbia and Harvard just completed a three-game series for the ages that Harvard won Sunday afternoon in a 9-8 14 inning classic in Cambridge.  The Crimson  are becoming masters of the comeback, winning this battle after falling behind 6-0 early and 8-3 entering bottom of the 7th.  

 

The two teams are tied for first place with Columbia at Penn this coming weekend and Harvard traveling to Brown in Providence.  Harvard owns the tie-breaker because of their series win.  The best-of-three championship series will take place on Sat May 18 with a doubleheader.  If split, there will be a championship winner-take-all game on Sun May 19.

 

Back in New York, St. Johns in the Big East and Rutgers in the Big Ten still harbor hopes for post-season play.  More on those developments in the next blog.

 

 

That's all for now - always remember: take it easy but take it. 

 

Well, it's the mid-way point of the long long major league baseball season. And after their second straight non-competitive loss on the road against the surprising Milwaukee Brewers, leaders in the surprisingly mediocre NL Central, the Birds are at their low point of the season, 40-43.

What is to be done? The farm system is not producing and the varsity is not producing and I haven't even mentioned the staggeringly bad starting pitching. Baseball is a game of streaks - you want to keep the good ones going and the bad ones short.

Chances for success depend largely on good starting pitching and with the slump of young Dylan Bundy there is nothing remotely resembling an ace on the Oriole staff.
The imminent return of ace closer Zach Britton from a long stint on the disabled list with forearm discomfort will help, but will there be leads to protect?

Oriole offense is spotty at best and Manny Machado is having his worst year at the plate. How long ago seems 2012 when he came out of the minors in August to fill the gaping hole at third base with timely hitting and sensational defense. I even bought my first Oriole jersey in his honor.

Along with reliever Brad Brach, Machado may be the Orioles' best trading chip before the July 31st deadline. But his value is not as high as it once was. And I don't appreciate his blathering to the press that the team is trying hard and always thinking of "passing the baton" to teammates.

Manny, I don't call swinging at the first pitch and meekly popping up when down five runs in the top of the 9th in the Birds' latest loss "passing the baton." Team leader and virtual captain Adam Jones is not having a great year at the plate either. He hit only his 9th double of the year today but later was thrown out overrunning third base.

Jonathan Schoop (pronounced "Scope"), the Orioles' one All-Star in 2017 did work the count in his 9th inning AB today. On a 3-1 pitch he homered to cut the lead to 6-2. At least there was no dugout celebration for that essentially meaningless hit.

I was reminded of Mike Shannon's solo homer in the 9th inning of the Cardinals Game Seven loss to the Tigers in the 1968 World Series. After returning from his home run trot, he kicked the water cooler in disgust as if to say, "Too little too late."

But I am happy that Schoop, one of the great Curacao contingent on the major league scene, is getting recognition.

He could be the Oriole shortstop of the future with J.J. Hardy out with injuries until late this month at the earliest. But Schoop is such a great second baseman I'd be wary of that move.

Another possibility is moving Machado to shortstop his original position and one he craves to play. They could put Chris Davis at third or even Mark Trumbo. Defense would suffer but I just hope the Oriole front office starts being creative about plans to bring back the Orioles to contention within my lifetime.

Let me end on a happier more whimsical note.
**Did you know that three MLB teams have a Barnes in their bullpen?
Matt with the Red Sox, Jacob with the Brewers, and Danny with the Blue Jays?

**And for a while this year there were two Daniel Robertsons on AL teams.
Second baseman Daniel with the Rays and outfielder Daniel with the Indians. But the Tribe's DR was recently demoted to the minors.

That's all for now. Always remember: Take it easy but take it!  Read More