Lost shocker

... When Kates and I arrived home Wednesday night I suggested we watch 'Lost.' It didn't happen.

... So I suffered all of Thursday as my cohorts went on and on ... and on about how amazing an episode it was. I had to avoid all the 'shocker' headlines on the Internet. And the stories coming in on the wire. And any e-mails I recieved from friends with 'Lost' in the subject line ...

And when Kates arrived home last night, there was nothing else on the agenda but watching Wednesday night's 'Lost.'

'Wow' is an understatement ... I had a feeling the big ending would involve Anna Lucia, and with the flashbacks of her and Jack's father -- which now seem pretty pointless -- I was thinking it might include some revelation that Anna Lucia was directly responsible for Jack's father's death ...

I never, never foresaw Michael turning on Anna Lucia and then Libby... Libby!!

... Then again, we can't really be that surprised that Anna Lucia, aka Michelle Rodriguez, is gone considering all her off-the-island troubles. That and nobody could stand her on or off the show. She had it coming sooner or later ...

... and although Libby's character was so likable, she was right there with Rodriquez ...As one friend said, at least we won't have to suffer any Hurley-Libby sex scenes

... But are they both really dead!?!? ... ah, the endless questions.

... So anyway, how bout those hippies on 'Amazing Race' ... they squeaked out again, thanks to another non-elimination round!! ...Thank goodness, they're the only team left worth rooting for ...

That's the game

... at one point last week, I think after Bonds hit homerun No. 711, I caught a story that projected him tying or breaking Babe Ruth's homerun record in Milwaukee. The next morning, I was buying a pair cheap tickets for Kates and I to sit aside Barry in left field at Miller Park, and last night, there we were ...

Whatever the circumstances, it's Barry Bonds we're talking about. Like him or not, people will flock to see him ... and I too, couldn't keep from the chance of seeing him in Milwaukee, taking in the crowd reaction and, perhaps, being part of history ...

... it's funny. A couple years ago, Kates and I were in the seats when Bonds was sitting on 699. ...it would be a couple days after he left Milwaukee that he hit No. 700. But the crowd reaction to him then was lightyears from what was last night ...

Simply: Bonds got booed and mocked every time he stepped to the plate or even got close to a ball in the field. The fans sitting in teh left field bleachers were relentless, chanting steroids at him nearly the entire game ... And at the plate, he looked terrible, striking out and skying balls to the Miller Park ceiling ... and in case you're wondering, we got their too late to see Bonds get boinked in the head during batting practice, but it sure sounded exciting ...

As for the game, well, it wasn't much more exciting ... Brewers pitcher Dave Bush and Giants ace Jason Schmidt were on their A-games and both went deep into the night. But Bush plunked Moises Alou in the second and on the next at-bat Pedro Feliz homered. That was it. That was the game ... The Brewers did try to make a run in the bottom of the ninth, but Schmidt was too good, and held on for the shutout.

Joining the Revolution

Had you suggested a few weeks ago I could become a fan of O.A.R. (aka Of A Revolution), I would have shook my head and looked at you like you had a monkey sitting on your head …

Last night, all of that changed. I officially became an O.A.R. fan …

… The wheels were set in motion, of course, last week when I got the assignment to preview and interview the band for the upcoming show in town. I started previewing some of their music on iTunes, and then got a copy of their latest 'Stories of a Stranger,' which I fell in love with almost immediately. The more I read, and the more I heard from Richard On during our phone interview Friday, the more intrigued I became …

Still, I headed to their show last night with barely any expectations …

…Although, it didn’t start off so great. … I rode over to the show on a shuttle bus that stunk like a boy’s locker room, and sitting across from me were a handful of high school-wannabe-frat-jocks who were fidgeting with the radio dial like a bunch of 4-year-olds… and the bus driver was allowing it! If I was him, I would have stopped the bus and made them walk …idiots. ...And while it was a little comical watching the endless stream of girls pulling up their pants because they’re so low-cut they might as well be wearing them at their knees, it was hardly amusing when I made a pit stop in the men’s bathroom and some 20-year-old kid stepped to a urinal and dropped his drawers for everyone to see his bald bottom …

Nonetheless … the show did go on. Army of Me opened … Their songs occasionally were catchy, and they featured some cool guitar riffs, but the vocals were sub par and nasally… Meanwhile, I’m thinking, ‘these guys sound like Bush with members of the Monkees singing vocals’ .. and I’m not sure if the lead singer reminds me more of Rob Thomas or Chris Martin …’

… and as gigantic as the venue appears, it seemed empty. Granted there were no seats set up for this one, leaving the audience with few options other than to stand and crowd around the stage -- even then there had to be only a couple hundred people at the show, in a venue that spans about the size of two football fields and holds nearly 4,500.

By the time, O.A.R. hit the stage, I was actually entertaining the thought of leaving after a few songs …

Sha!

The band’s first song literally blew me away. It was explosive. The light show was spectacular!! …Guitarist Richard On and saxist Jerry DePizzo went off on dazzling solos and didn’t stop all … night … long … I knew the moment the opening song was over that I was in for a treat and wouldn’t be forgetting this show any time soon …

… and while I don’t yet know a lot of the words to a lot of songs, it didn’t stop me from doing my own little dancing and jumping around with the crowd. … several times throughout the show -- the concert, mind you, was taking place on the second floor of a huge field house/recreation center, above a pool -- you could feel the floor trembling beneath you and see the lights bouncing from the rafters like they were hanging from a bungy chord. And I’m thinking, ’well, this is great and a ton of fun, but please don’t let me be on the news tonight for a story about this floor collapsing …’

Nonetheless … The show continued on. ‘Love and Memories’ and ‘Hey Girl’ had the crowd going wild, not to mention a couple more sweeeeeeeeeet saxophone solos (there were a few times I thought I was watching Dave Matthews Band, not OAR ...) ... And after the band had been playing for more than an hour, all of the members left the stage except for lead singer Marc Roberge, who announced he was trying out a new song: Princess Valerie. A light, coffeehouse-type tune, he played solo, singing with his acoustic guitar -- and performed it beautifully. Yeah, this is about the time the lighters came out …

Finally, the rest of the band returned and it came time for the part of the show I’d been reading about -- the band playing the fan-favorite ‘Crazy Game of Poker.’ Personally, I don’t see the appeal of the song, but the crowd went crazy for it nonetheless. There were more soaring saxophone and guitar solos. And the floor continued to shake …

… But if my jaw wasn’t open enough by the end of the show, it hit the floor for the grand finale. The guys invited Army of Me lead singer Vince Scheuerman back on stage and rolled into a cover of U2’s ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday.’ … There’s no words to explain how great it was. It was loud, dead-on and it rrrrrocked!!

As I joined the herds to catch a bus back to the parking area, a guy behind me said to his buddy, ‘That was pretty much amazing.’ … ‘Yeah, that was straight-up,’ the buddy replied.

I’ll say.

(For the complete set list, links to downloads and more reviews of the show -- some of the aspects noted above, and some I didn’t catch on to -- are here.)

Dream ball

These are the kind of nights I live for ...working out and exercising with the clicker nearby and flipping channels to catch the baseball action ...

...On ESPN, I caught most of the wild one between thre Red Sox and Yankees, Johnny Damon getting booed, David Ortiz wacking a homerun, and Doug Mirabelli talking about his wild night, being traded from the Padres and changing into his uniform in the back seat of a police car as it sped at 100 mph, delivering him to Fenway in time for the first pitch ...

... then I turn it over to FoxSportsNet to see the Brewers squeak one from the Astros ...

... and Matt Murton (call him Mr. Clutch) did it again for the Cubs. Cubs win 2-1 ... woo hoo!