This past Tuesday, the United Way that I work for hosted a special evening to thank some of our generous donors with a free concert featuring the local group the Fabulous Armadillos. As I helped with some of the preparations for this event, I found myself growing more and more eager for the night of the show to arrive. I had seen some of the members of this group perform many times at the Red Carpet in downtown St. Cloud as Slip Twister, but this would be the first time I'd get to experience the Fabulous Armadillos in person.
I helped with some set up tasks at the Pioneer Place that rainy night. Although I had to miss the social next door at D.B. Searle's, I did get to interact with some of our donors and a few old friends, including coworkers and even one of my grade school teachers. I was prepared to wait for any late arrivals just as the show was starting, until a coworker friend of me urged me to immediately join our group.
The eight-member group was quite impressive. Paul "Stretch" Diethelm was just as impressive on guitar as he was when I first saw him in Slip Twister when they opened for Jonny Lang at the Red Carpet back in the mid-Nineties. His Slip Twister bandmates, Mike Zeleny on bass and Jay O'Donnell on drums, were also great. Keyboardist Greg Armstrong kept the tempo even throughout the night, and horn players Mike Kreitzer and Patrick Thorn also kept the crowd going, particularly during a couple of memorable Chicago covers.
Pamela McNeill has a strong voice, which she showcased during the group's covers of Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin and Journey tunes. I was amazed by the vocal range of singer Billy Scherer, as he went from singing tunes by Prince, Chicago, Joe Cocker and Kenny Loggins with seeming ease.
Concert attendees were invited to vote for five of their favorite songs for the Armadillos to play during the evening's show, and the number one vote-getter was Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline," which was performed beautifully not long after the mid-show break. The group closed out their lengthy set of popular cover songs with a grooving rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." Needless to say, a particular Zeppelin-loving coworker of mine was in hog heaven! The band kept the audience, not to mention the fans who had already been dancing most of the night off to the side of the seating area, enthralled until the very last note and thank yous were finished.
I joined some of my friends and coworkers at D.B. Searle's after the show for "Dessert with the Dillos" and had some good conversations with friends and Stretch and Greg from the Fabulous Armadillos. I didn't have the endurance to stay for the entire after party, but after a long but very rewarding day, I was proud to have been part of such a wonderful experience. Makes me wonder what the next special event will be?
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Minnesota Twins 2012 Season in Review
Well, the third season of Twins baseball at Target Field has come and gone, and it's been a second consecutive disappointing season. It was nice to see a resurgence in the offense by Joe Mauer, Trevor Plouffe, a healthy Justin Morneau and new acquisitions Josh Willingham and Ryan Doumit, but again the main concern for this team is their starting pitching.
Last year's "ace" starter Carl Pavano went 2-5 with a 6.00 ERA in 11 starts this year, and never really looked healthy all year. With starter Scott Baker shelved all year with an injury and Francisco Liriano traded to the division rival White Sox during the season, the team tried many different starting pitchers this year, with mixed results. The one mainstay for next year's rotation appears to be Scott Diamond, who posted a 12-9 record with a 3.54 ERA in 27 starts. The rest of the rotation has are question marks, with Pavano and Baker not likely to be re-signed during the offseason and unproven starters Liam Hendriks (1-8, 5.59 ERA in 16 starts), Samuel Deduno (6-5, 4.44 ERA in 15 starts), P.J. Walters (2-5, 5.69 ERA in 12 starts) and Cole DeVries (5-5, 4.11 ERA in 17 games, 16 starts) all remain candidates at this point.
Another question mark for the Twins next year is their middle infield, particularly second base and shortstop. After the failed Tsuyoshi Nishioka experiment, the Twins plugged utility infielders Alexi Casilla (.244 avg, 1HR, 30 RBI and 21 SB in 106 games) and Jamey Carroll (.268, 1HR, and a career-best 40 RBI in 138 games) in at second base for most of the year. After shifting Trevor Plouffe from shortstop to third base following the disappointing play of now former Twin Danny Valencia, the Twins handed the everyday shortstop role to rookie Brian Dozier (.234 avg, 6 HR, 33 RBI and 15 errors in 84 games) before abruptly demoting him to Triple-A Rochester in favor of former Baltimore Orioles farmhand Pedro Florimon Jr. (.219 avg, 1 HR, 10 RBI and 7 errors in 43 games) late in the season.
The recent dismissal of coaches Jerry White, Steve Liddle,Rick Stelmasek and head trainer Rick McWane are somewhat of a shakeup. I'm comfortable with the reassignment of coaches Scott Ullger and Joe Vavra, especially since I never was a big fan of Vavra's approach to being a hitting coach. Now that Terry Ryan has removed the "interim" from his general manager title, I'd like to see him get down to business into making a team that can make a good playoff push. For this team to go from the first team in the majors to clinch a playoff spot in 2010 to being the worst in the American League each of the last two seasons is simply unacceptable for us diehard Twins fans. I'm hoping for a better performance next year, although I'm sure I'll go to at least a few more games at Target Field next year, simply because it's one of the best ballparks in the majors right now.
Last year's "ace" starter Carl Pavano went 2-5 with a 6.00 ERA in 11 starts this year, and never really looked healthy all year. With starter Scott Baker shelved all year with an injury and Francisco Liriano traded to the division rival White Sox during the season, the team tried many different starting pitchers this year, with mixed results. The one mainstay for next year's rotation appears to be Scott Diamond, who posted a 12-9 record with a 3.54 ERA in 27 starts. The rest of the rotation has are question marks, with Pavano and Baker not likely to be re-signed during the offseason and unproven starters Liam Hendriks (1-8, 5.59 ERA in 16 starts), Samuel Deduno (6-5, 4.44 ERA in 15 starts), P.J. Walters (2-5, 5.69 ERA in 12 starts) and Cole DeVries (5-5, 4.11 ERA in 17 games, 16 starts) all remain candidates at this point.
Another question mark for the Twins next year is their middle infield, particularly second base and shortstop. After the failed Tsuyoshi Nishioka experiment, the Twins plugged utility infielders Alexi Casilla (.244 avg, 1HR, 30 RBI and 21 SB in 106 games) and Jamey Carroll (.268, 1HR, and a career-best 40 RBI in 138 games) in at second base for most of the year. After shifting Trevor Plouffe from shortstop to third base following the disappointing play of now former Twin Danny Valencia, the Twins handed the everyday shortstop role to rookie Brian Dozier (.234 avg, 6 HR, 33 RBI and 15 errors in 84 games) before abruptly demoting him to Triple-A Rochester in favor of former Baltimore Orioles farmhand Pedro Florimon Jr. (.219 avg, 1 HR, 10 RBI and 7 errors in 43 games) late in the season.
The recent dismissal of coaches Jerry White, Steve Liddle,Rick Stelmasek and head trainer Rick McWane are somewhat of a shakeup. I'm comfortable with the reassignment of coaches Scott Ullger and Joe Vavra, especially since I never was a big fan of Vavra's approach to being a hitting coach. Now that Terry Ryan has removed the "interim" from his general manager title, I'd like to see him get down to business into making a team that can make a good playoff push. For this team to go from the first team in the majors to clinch a playoff spot in 2010 to being the worst in the American League each of the last two seasons is simply unacceptable for us diehard Twins fans. I'm hoping for a better performance next year, although I'm sure I'll go to at least a few more games at Target Field next year, simply because it's one of the best ballparks in the majors right now.
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