So Solar Eclipse Madness is over for at least another seven years. Here in Phoenix, while we didn’t get a high percentage of coverage, it was still a very cool thing to watch. The sun stayed out throughout, and while it remained bright outside, everything took on kind of a hazy, eerie look. At its height I somehow was reminded of and played this very exotic and obscure Paul McCartney and Wings tune because it seemed to capture the mood perfectly.

…it’s hard to believe, but there actually was a time when Paul McCartney created some truly outstanding rock. “Junior’s Farm”, “Give Ireland Back To The Irish”, and “Hi Hi Hi” were exciting 45s. As for his albums, Ram, featuring the smoldering, raucous “Smile Away” (1971) was probably his best, but Wild Life (1972), Red Rose Speedway (1973), and Band On The Run, featuring the rocker “Jet” (1974) were also quite good. Of course, with McCartney you always had to sift through mushy, cloying love tunes, but they weren’t always embarrassing: “Maybe I’m Amazed” has a surprising ensemble-like, Beatle-esque sound, “Tomorrow” from Wild Life is saved by a rockin’ tag, and “Little Lamb Dragonfly” from RRS is lovely, with a lush, shimmering arrangement. But he lost me with Venus and Mars (1975) and the insipid “Listen To What The Man Said”, and it only got worse from there. By that time I had discovered The Beach Boys and re-discovered surf music and I never went back.

Very cool and not-so-cool: Oval offices through the years.

I guess lots of folks are rightly split over President Trump’s Afghanistan speech last night. Like a lot of people – on both sides of the political aisle, I’m guessing – my first impulse is that should get the hell out of there and leave it to whatever future awaits. But I get what the Prez is saying: if we leave, the country becomes an even greater haven for terrorists (which it would) and a further destabilizing force in an already-unstable region of the world. But if we’re gonna stay there, I like his approach using Pakistan as a wedge against the Taliban in Afghanistan (just as he’s trying to use China as a wedge against the nuclear aspirations of North Korea); if, in a year’s time, a lot of Taliban are dead and terrorists come to realize neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan offer a safe haven for their radical ideologies and terror-related goals that would be a very good thing. We’ll see.

And while we’re on the subject of terror: no, I won’t be attending the President’s rally in Phoenix tonight. Would like to, but I don’t feel getting punched and crap thrown at me by the leftist loons that you can bet will be out in force. I know that’s giving in to the mob, but I just don’t need the hassle. It could very well be a bad scene. Of course, you can bet the mainstream media and cable networks will skip the rally and cover only the protests and protesters, which only serves to feed the beast’s appetite for attention and violence even more. Modern-day so-called “journalism” is a disgrace.

I knew it. I knew it. Told y’all a while back David Price wouldn’t pitch again for the Sox this year, and I’m sticking by it. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m betting he’ll still end up getting Tommy John surgery sometime in the near future. What a bad signing…

…and speaking of the Sox, I watched last night’s Cleveland game on the MLB Network and knew – just knew – as soon as John Farrell brought in Matt Barnes to start the eighth inning the game was over. What Farrell sees in that guy is beyond me. I realize you need to use everyone in the bullpen over the course of a season, but I thought they brought that Mets guy in at the trading deadline for situations just like this, and where was he? I know Barnes (and Joe Kelly, for that matter) have had their moments, but I would never, ever put them into situations where you have to throw strikes right off the bat because neither of these guys do. What a waste of a game after a great comeback.