BCB After Dark: There’s nothing like October baseball

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the swingin’ spot for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and swing with us. We’ve got lots of end-of-the-season specials tonight. No cover charge. Dress code casual. There are some good tables still available. Let us know if we can get you anything. Bring your own bevverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

The Cubs seven-game winning streak came to an end tonight with a 3-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The Cubs only managed two hits tonight and while it’s not impossible to win with only two hits, it’s really, really difficult. Especially when you only draw four walks as well. The North Siders will just have to go out and get them tomorrow and continue to finish their season strong.

Last time I asked you to give a grade to the free agent contract handed out to right-hander Marcus Stroman this past winter. Sixty-four percent of you feel that the deal deserved a grade of “B.” Another 18 percent gave it a “C” and 15 percent thought it was an “A.” If I could, I would have given the first two months a “D” and the rest of the season a solid “A.” But considering he’s going to be back again for 2023 and that I expect him to build on that second-half going forward, I would have given it an “A” had I voted in these things.

Here’s the part where I talk about movies and jazz. You’re free to skip ahead to the baseball question at the end. You won’t hurt my feelings.

Tonight we’ve got a live performance from the great piano jazzman Kenny Barron from a festival in southwest France in 2010. It is a version of the jazz standard written by Johnny Green and Edward Heyman “Body and Soul.”

This version also features some soulful sax work by David Sanchez and a steady rhythm section of Jonathan Blake on drums and Darryl Hall on double-bass. (Sorry, Doug Glanville. That’s Darryl Hall with two r’s in his name. Different guy, but also a very talented musician.)

I have planned one of my favorite type of essays—one where I watch a classic old movie and then its later remake—but I’m not going to share it with you because I may not be able to get it done by Wednesday. I watched the original last week and I haven’t gotten around to seeing the remake yet. I have seen the remake before, but it was a long time ago and I need to refresh my memory. I do have a backup plan for Wednesday night/Thursday morning if I can’t get through the remake before then.

So I thought I’d ask what movies do you like to watch for Halloween? It’s that time of year again and the new horror and Halloween-themed films are coming out. I know there’s been a big deal made about Hocus Pocus 2 getting released last week and a lot of people on-line seem excited about that. I personally never saw the first Hocus Pocus so the hubbub is lost on me. I guess it’s kind of a millennial thing. Personally, I was in grad school in the nineties and missed most of the culture.

I did watch 2021’s Last Night in Soho with my wife over the weekend and thought it was a solid, stylish horror/thriller. It’s no masterpiece, but watching Anya Taylor-Joy decked out in period sixties fashions in London was certainly a thrill. Thomasin McKenzie also did a very good job in the “wide-eyed innocent in the big city” role who just happens to be haunted by her dead mother. My wife especially loved it, which surprised me because she normally backs away from horror and violence in movies. But she loves time-travel stuff (which Last Night in Soho has) and also, as she explained to me, she had never heard of the film and had no idea what it was about before watching it. She thought it was a “girl from Cornwall who is haunted by her dead mom comes of age in fashion school in London” picture when we first started watching it. (I guess it is sort of that.) She loved the fact that she had no idea what to expect when we started watching and that the plot twists took her off-guard, even though they were violent ones. It’s also the final film of the late, great Diana Rigg, so it’s a special film for that reason alone.

As far as what I watch for Halloween season, I always try to re-watch as many of the Universal Monster films (Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Mummy, etc) as I can. I usually can get three or four in for the month of October. (I do have most of them on DVD.) The original 1942 Cat People is also something I often watch in October. I always watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown every year, but obviously that’s not a film.

So do you have any watch traditions for the month of October? Share them with us in the comments!

Welcome back to everyone who skips the jazz and movies.

Tonight, since we’ve got all the playoff spots clinched with the Phillies win over the Astros, I’m just going to ask you about the postseason. Since the Cubs won’t be competing, it’s time for Cubs fans to find a new rooting interest in October. This is an experience that should be very familiar to people who have been rooting for the Cubs since before 2003 or so. Let’s hope it’s the last time we have to do this for a few years.

Tonight is all about the American League. I’m going to list the six American League teams that made the postseason and you’re going to vote on two things. First, vote for which team you are cheering for to represent the AL in the World Series. Second, vote for which team you think will represent the AL. You may think the Astros are going to repeat as AL pennant winners, but you might not want them to, for example.

So simple, right?

And . . .

That’s our show for tonight. We’re so glad you stopped by and hope to see you again. Bring a friend. Please get home safely. Take any bottles you may have brought with you or drop them in the recycle bin. If you checked anything, we can get that for you now. Please tip your waitstaff. And join us again next time for another edition of BCB After Dark.