Home Articles posted by ekkarn (Page 174)

Christmas Books to Add to My to Be Read Pile! Oh Boy!

So as we start 2013 let’s take a look at the boat load of wonderful books that I received for Christmas! First there’s the book I received from my daughter Elizabeth, that I am currently reading The Boy in the Suit Case by Lene Kaaberboll and Agnete Frillis. This is the first book in a planned three book series featuring Red Cross worker Nina Borg. Elizabeth picked the book because, I told her after I picked up book two of the series a month or so ago for her at the library, that it said on the cover “Fans of Nordic crime fiction rejoice”,and that I was a fan of Nordic crime fiction, so the book sounded good to me! So far I was right! Read More

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to My Uncle Johnny – We still miss you!

John, wife Jean and Jimmy Ashton

So January 1st for me was usually family get together time with my Father’s family, typically, at my Uncle Ott’s or Kenny’s place. I remember many a good New Year’s Day celebration! It was also Uncle Johnny’s birthday. Johnny was my mother’s oldest brother, born in 1923. Johnny would have been the fourth John Sherrington Ashton a name which dates back to 1814 when the John S Ashton the first was born in Holbeach, England. John’s middle name however, was Howard. I believe that my Great mother Charlotte Trout Regars had a lot to do with naming her grandchildren. John’s middle name was Howard, which is one of Charlotte’s brothers name and my mom’s brother James middle name was Elmer, which was Charlotte’s grandfather’s name. The name middle name of Elmer cased Jimmy to say that he was James “No name” Ashton. But back to Uncle Johnny. Read More

An Evening with Halestorm and Andrew – 12/28/12!

Yes a Halestorm hit Philly yesterday, well at least The Electric Factory, as Lzzy and Arejay Hale along with Joe Hottinger and Josh Smith thrilled a sold out house! My son Andrew called yesterday afternoon and told me they were playing and asked if I wanted to go (all you boomers who would go to a concert with their Dad raise your hand, hum, mine’s down) but things have change and I’m thankful for it and, of course, said yes! If you’ve read this blog before you’ll know that I am in the process of re-discovering rock and ProgRock and first gave Halestorm a listen a couple of months ago and really enjoyed their music! Andrew has seen them a couple of times before at smaller venues so this is the first time they headlined at The Electric Factory and the night was billed as An Evening with Halestorm” so there was no opening act! (Andrew said it would be an early night, wrong!) Halestorm became their own opening act. I knew things were going to be a little different when Lzzy appeared on stage in a white evening gown and her band mates were likewise dressed in white! Lzzy went over to the piano and started the night with a ballad “Rose in December” after which the band played an hour or so acoustic sent full of ballads and some rocking songs like a cover of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”. Most  of the songs were from either of the two Halestorm albums but there were also covers of songs by Heart and Fleetwood Mac. What the set really did was showcase Lzzy great voice and poignant songwriting ability, that was hidden until on drunken night when she recorded “Hate It When You See Me Cry” into her phone and sent it to her record company and their response back was Wow! we want more like that! She performed it last night the way she recorded it that fateful night! Read More

New Folk – Scrimshaw from Nels Andrews

So the other day I put several albums on the IPod to listen to, one I’ve already written about Tiger Maple String Band’s Coming Home and last night on the way to Target and back home I had a chance to listen to part of Nels Andrews latest Scrimshaw.The thing about listening to an album like this in the car is that you need to pay attention more to the road than to the music, when in fact the music demands more attention!! From the not real great listen that I gave the album, I could tell that it’s special. So special, that Jim Blum at NPR’s Folk Alley picked ‘Scrimshaw‘ in his top records of 2012 and Dutch popmagazine Heaven put Scrimshaw in its top 10 for 2012. writer Pieter Wijnstekers places it in fine company, with Iris DeMent, Phantom Limb, Rose Cousins, Glen Hansard, Husky, Gretchen Peters, Anais Mitchell and Kathy Mattea. Read More

New Bluegrass – Tiger Maple String Band – Coming Home

So last night I was checking out the Roots Music Report for some new music, and there at No 45 sat a band named Tiger Maple String Band. Their name looked interesting. I usually like bands with String Band in their name because that evokes in me thought of old timey music and tthat’s what I heard when I gave their recent release Coming Home a listen. I recognized a couple of old Appalachian standards mixed in with some great instrumentals. I love those instrumentals Here’s what they say about their music – from their website:! Read More

Today and Tomorrow – Birthdays for My Mother-in-Law and Son!

Originally posted Decemeber 20, 2012 – Revised December 19, 2016

December 19th and 20th – Birthdays for Mother-in-Law Ruth Browne and Son Peter Harrison Karn!!

Thirty years ago  my wife and I were sitting at Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Turnersville, NJ waiting for the birth of our third child. Well actually I was waiting, she was laboring! Anyway, we were wondering all day whether Peter would be born on her Mother’s birthday. Alas, Peter did not cooperate. He was born at 3:30 AM on December 20th. So Happy Birthday, Peter, your mom and I are very, very proud of the terrific young man you have become! (An interesting sidelight. Peter was born a day after his grandmother’s birthday, while his daughter Zoe was born a day BEFORE her grandmother’s birthday! Much to the chagrin of my wife!) Read More