1. It looks like chances of success are pretty good -- I told Debbie I'd work on putting together a Bandcamp page for her (at bandcamp.com). Today, I uploaded the three cds she wants to make available for sale on her page. The uploading took quite a while, but, while I got it done, I listened to more of The Pillars of the Earth on Audible, I watched the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the 1985 Chicago Bears, I watched much of Game 1 of the World Series, and I tuned into Bill Davie's weekly Tree House Concert. Now that the music is up, I need to work with Debbie on getting the page designed, posting a picture of her, and posting a very short biography of Debbie. Once we finish this, I should be able to publish the page, make it public, and get the word out that Debbie's music is available to purchase and download.
2. I'm no genius. It doesn't take a genius to say that the most valuable player on the Los Angeles Dodgers is Mookie Betts. He affects games in multiple ways: his speed, defensive prowess in right field, power, his throwing arm, discipline at the plate, and the spirit of joy and hard work he spreads among his teammates.
Going into tonight's Game 1 of the World Series, I thought the Dodgers would win it all. I was unwilling to say how many games it would take them to beat the Rays four times, but, basically, I thought the Dodgers' offense would be too much for the Rays, that the Dodgers' pitching would hold up fine against the Rays, who haven't been a strong hitting team during the playoffs, and that the impact of Mookie Betts would, in the end, prevail.
From my point of view, the Dodgers crushed the Rays tonight in Game 1. The final score was 8-3. Los Angeles pounced on the Rays in multiple ways: home runs, stolen bases, timely singles and doubles, and excellent pitching, especially in the first six innings from Clayton Kershaw. How'd Mookie Betts do? Not bad. He walked, homered, singled, stole two bases, and scored two runs. The first run he scored was with the Tampa Bay infield pulled in and with his lightning speed he slid into home plate ahead of Yandy Diaz's throw on a chopper to first base. When he scored that run, I thought to myself, yeah, it's that very sort of play that makes Mookie Betts so valuable to the Dodgers.
3. I poured myself a warming and refreshing hot buttered rum and tuned into Bill Davie's 27th Tree House Concert on my laptop. The World Series was also on, but I muted its sound. I had one more song to upload from Debbie's cd, Ninety Miles Out, but my home internet network didn't seem to like the load of me watching internet tv, being tuned into a live performance on Facebook, and uploading Debbie's epic"Auf Wiedersehen/Hamburg" all at the same time, so I returned to the uploading after the concert and after the game. No problem.
Every Tree House Concert has an element of suspense that Bill is good-natured and honest about because he's never quite sure, because he has Multiple Sclerosis, just how his left hand, in particular, is going to behave as he plays. He works out what he hopes will be a set list he can perform, sometimes finds out that his hand won't cooperate for a certain song, says, "Sorry!", and moves on to something else.
Tonight he had to give up on "Man in the Dead Machine", but he was able to perform a splendid cover of Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull's "Life's a Long Song", a song he had tried to perform in earlier weeks but couldn't. Tonight, Bill moved us with "Safe in the Sound", took us into the surreal world of "The Sky in Tacoma" (it's raining razor blades), sent many of us way back in time with his very popular tune, "The Mud Song", and reminded me of a February afternoon driving from Vancouver, WA to Eugene, listening to Bill's music, after an epic weekend with members of the KHS Class of 72, and being particularly touched by "Walk on the Day Before". When he played that song tonight, I relived that emotional drive to Eugene over ten years ago.
Bill read some wonderful poems he wrote about twenty years ago and then introduced us to some stirring poems by Ruth Stone (1915-2011) whose work I look forward to exploring more fully.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
Some people can surely drone on.
Seems they’ll talk until you are gone.
Blather on, mindless chatter,
Subjects don’t seem to matter.
Could be politics, war or their lawn!
Babbling Day 
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