Tell me what I need to hear

This weekend, the Dodgers will be playing the Royals, the White Sox, and the Padres.

Yeah, that's what I said. BORESVILLE!


DO THIS INSTEAD

My band, The Shade, begins our first string of shows when we play at Pehrspace this Friday at 9 p.m. SHARP with great L.A. bands Seasons, Marvelous Toy, and Go West Young Man. The best part? You can BYOB.


Or you can watch the Kansas City Royals.

In The New Year

• In the new year, will the Dodgers meet the expectations that came with reaching the NLCS last season?

• In the new year, does Orlando Hudson's wrist remain strong, or does young Blake DeWitt make up for its weakness?

• In the new year, can Casey Blake's beard possibly be as magnificently hirsute as 2008's growth?

• In the new year, will the four-pack of Russell J. Martin, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and James Loney finally meet their potentials head on?

• In the new year, does our hero, Vin Scully, call his last game?

• In the new year, will the discs in Raffy Furcal's back bulge or will they be good?

• In the new year, will the pitching staff end up in shambles?

• In the new year, shall I don a Manny wig in a drunken stupor?

• In the new year, all of these questions will be answered.

The Walkmen, hailing from NYC since 2000, are a band with the kind of magic that will creep into your most wonderfully unexpected places.

Strange fascination, fascinating me

In a few hours, when Barack Obama visits The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he will become the first sitting U.S. president to make a late-night appearance.

Security is tight for the event, even for the swarm of photographers that follow the commander-in-chief around on a daily basis.

What does this have to do with the Dodgers? Nothing, really. Except hope. There is more of that than anything this year. Can you say CH-CH-CHANGES?!!



HOPE

"I'm Ba-aack" To The Old House

Earlier this week, in my gloom, I was reading the lyrics to The Smiths' classic "Back To The Old House" and I couldn't help but relate it to the unrequited and unsolved affections between Manny Ramirez, the Dodgers, and most importantly, all of us fans.

Then on March 4, I was reminded of how quickly things can turn from darkness to light...



Earlier this week, The Smiths were playing and Morrissey was singing:

When you cycled by
Here began all my dreams
The saddest thing I've ever seen
And you never knew
How much I really liked you
Because I never even told you
Oh, and I meant to...

And I sadly imagined Manny on his bicycle, dreadlocks flowing behind him in the wind, riding out of Dodger Stadium and our hearts forever.

Now thankfully, I don't have to.

At least for another year.

The '50s were cooler

With all the negativity surrounding the McCourt/Manny/Boras monster right now, it’s as good a night as any to reflect on the PLEASANTNESS that baseball season usually brings.

Harpo can help remind us of this.