Mike O'Connell

Before Ingrid Michaelson became a household name she was just another girl in the chorus at Binghamton University. Our stints there overlapped by one year, and oh for the days I used to see her perform in front of 10 people for a five-dollar cover charge.

Ingrid’s got a new release out today, “new” for completists such as myself. It’s been fun going through the 17 tracks on Songs for the Season (Deluxe Edition) figuring out which ones I’d heard before and which actually were new. Two out seventeen fit the latter category, but even two new tracks are like “Happy, Happy Christmas” for this guy.

For years I’ve used the phrase “ballpark singer” as a moniker of admiration reserved for a select set of vocalists. Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole. These are ballpark singers. That is, they are in the same ballpark as the master of them all, one Francis Albert Sinatra.

Ingrid Michaelson? I’m opening the gates to the stadium.

From Binghamton to the ballpark.

Told’ja this series would be great. That was the Houston Astros last night giving MLB at least one more chunk of change on national TV. One hopes it’ll be two, as a potential Game Seven looms as well.
This was a great weekend for watching sports, from a thrilling Thursday night NFL game (they always are) to the Top 10 Big 10 battle in Michigan to Notre Dame to a slew of close pro games Sunday.
And yeah, there was the World Series too.
All the more reason to keep on living.

It was the World Series nobody wanted.

And the first game was over in about 10 minutes.

But I still have hope.

It’s finally here.
That little purple button on your phone.
Math and Musings has come to Apple podcasts.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
It was just another Sunday for the Football Team.
Not sure who was reading Dickens at halftime.
Not a good idea.