Just for Fun: What I Whistle When I Get the Blues

Just for Fun: "Oo-De-Lally" - Robin Hood

A true classic in American cinema.

The Battle of the Backwards Videos: Mutemath - "Typical" vs Coldplay - "The Scientist"

A friend of mine works for American University and was able to hook me up with a ticket to the 30 Seconds to Mars show from Bender Arena on campus last night. Since it was a last minute decision, we showed up for the tail-end of the second opening act's set. I wish we had gotten there sooner, Mutemath (pictured above) was disgustingly awesome.

Frontman Paul Meany's acrobatics on stage included some Rockstar Olympic Gold performances, hurdling over keyboards, band members, and the like. The big boom sound hit by drummer Darren King behind the set also dominated the Bender airwaves.

The percussion drumline break down sequence to close the set was spectacular and a musical force to be reckoned with. Not even Jared Leto's pretty face and pink mohawk could come close to toping Mutemath's memorizing stunt of a musical production.

[Writer's side note: Paul Meany has the James Dean of keytars. It's red, which signifies it's rebellious nature. Mix that with the sheer fact that it's quite the vintage piece of rock music instrumentation makes it equivalent to that of the likes of James Dean's red jacket from "Rebel Without A Cause" -- pure classic.]

So here's a battle (easily won by Mutemath, but I figured it was worth the watch for humor's sake) between "Typical" and "The Scientist" prompted by my friend showing me the "Typical" video in between Mutemath and 30 Seconds to Mars' sets.

You can choose for yourself, but I'm just gonna go ahead and call it here and now -- "Typical" wins.

Click here for "Typical" (Mutemath disabled the the embedding feature for the video, lo siento.)

And, for the "The Scientist", click here (embedding disabled).

Six Months At "We Love DC"

April 13 marked the official six month "anniversary" of my joining the crew at We Love DC to start producing some qulaity, personality driven pieces of writing. So far so good. I've had quite an experience thus far, dabbling in everything ranging from special events around town, theater reviews, behind-the-music interviews with local/touring bands, and (my first love) Major League Baseball.

If I hadn't stumbled upon We Love DC, there's no telling what my next route would have been when it comes to penning words to a page. So, as a token of my thanks for everyone who's been involved with my We Love DC experience, here is a compilation of my favorite posts from the past six months:

Eats & Drinks

1. Scotch: Not Just Ron Burgundy's Drink of Choice
2. DC, A Foodie Town? American Way magazine Says So.
3. Dude, Where's My Taco Bell?
4. Mory Krupin Hangs Up His Apron

On the Funny Side

1. Cocaine Smuggled Inside A Chicken At Dulles
2. Fist Pump Along With Cast Members of MTV's Jersey Shore
3. No Pants Party On The Metro Scheduled For Sunday
4. Cupid's Undie Run: Another Excuse For DC To Go Pantless

Culture Features

1. We Love Arts: A Christmas Carol
2. We Love Arts: Fiddler on the Roof
3. Adams Morgan: The Movie
4. Meet Noah Baron from Adams Morgan The Movie

Lifestyle Features

1. Why I Love DC: Rachel
2. National Sculpture Garden: Skate At Your Own Risk
3. Behind Cupid's Undie Run

Music Features

1. Got A Song Request? Jacqui Naylor's Got You Covered. Literally.
2. We Love Music: The Very Small
3. Jammin' Java: More Than Meets The Eye
4. We Love Music: GroundScore
5. We Love Music: Here We Go Magic
6. We Love Music: Midnight Spin

Baseball Features

1. NatsFest 2010: If You Build It, They Will Come
2. What It Takes To Be An American President In NatsTown
3. The 2010 Washington Nationals: A Chance To Finish Above .500
4. Five Baseball Lessons From Thomas & Billy Heywood
5. Washington Hosts Boston in the Nationals Dream Foundation Classic

The Cubs Have Some To-Do Work

Randy Wells Warming Up At Nationals Park, Summer 2009. Photo by Rachel Levitin.

I can't even remember the last time I trusted a Cubs bullpen. It might have been 2003, but even then I can't be so sure. The Cubs had a killer starting rotation in 2003 just as they've continued to try a recreate since then. Before that, I was either too young or too caught up with staring at Mark Prior's calves or Ryne Sandberg's face to notice.

This season is proving to be no different, only now it's Randy Wells and Ryan Theriot's faces that keep me pleasantly distracted from the horrific truth -- the Cubs bullpen is rotten.

With the exception of Carlos Zambrano's embarassing start to the 2010 season, starting pitchers Ryan Dempster, Randy Wells and Carlos Silva have a combined 1.00 earned-run average in their first starts.

That's beautiful but also heroic when you look at the past three games that the Cubs could have won and were winning, only to be blown by an array of characters from the sideshow that has become the bullpen.

Carlos Marmol seems get it though. As a relief pitcher, the job criteria reads pretty easy -- go and get some outs. Throw strikes. Don't allow earned runs. Done.

The Cubs stranded 13 base-runners throughout the game, three of which were after Derek Lee's solo homer that pulled the Cubs within one run of the Reds.

Lou's Cubs have got some work to do if they want to be a strong contender for post-season play in 2010. It's safe to say the NL Central will be locked up but not by the Cubs. That's why it's crucial to get the win count up, cultivate the youngsters in the bullpen so that they get outs instead of grand slams upsetting potential wins, and awaken those bats so they don't have to watch their teammates standing on the bases instead of high-fiving them in the dugout after scoring a run if they want to consider a run for the Wild Card.

Throwback Photo: Greg Maddux in the Pen

Photo by R.H. Levitin (2005).

Happy Opening Day!

Dear Baseball Lovers of America,

We join today in holy matrimony as the impending 2010 season is now in full-swing (pun intended). The Red Sox started the Opening Day festivities well with a beating of the Yankees at the hollowed grounds of Fenway Park, proving once more that baseball CAN be exciting when you've got two teams passionate enough to make the game a battle.

As we go forth, know that there are 162 games in which we cannot predict any of the outcomes. Come together, root ... root ... roooot for those home teams, if they don't win it's a shame.

But it's one ... two ... three strikes, they're out, god how I love this darn ball game.

The following is a gift to you, from me, on this Opening Day 2010: Marla Lerner Tanenbaum provides an insider's look at the Nationals Dream Foundation Classic vs the Boston Red Sox held at Nationals Park on April 3 & some words of advice from Thomas and Billy Heywood (of Little Big League), much thanks to Gregory K. Pincus and his writing ability.

Play Ball,

Rachel Levitin

A Day at the Ballpark: Pictures from the Nationals-Red Sox Exhibition Game

There are a few photographic highlights of today's exhibition game at Nationals Park between the Washington Nationals and the Boston Redsox.

For the rest of the game day photos, click here.

Exclusive Photos From Midnight Spin At The Rock & Roll Hotel

For more live photos and an exclusive live video clip of a brand new song from Midnight Spin, visit my Flickr Photostream.

Exclusive NEW SONG by Midnight Spin, Live from the Rock & Roll Hotel