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Si Khan Home & The 30 Day Vinyl Challenge

So the other day I was watching an Instagram post from a young woman. She was listening to songs from her father’s album collection. He had see gently passed away.. Now whether or not that’s true or how long ago that was, I don’t know.Anyway. it started me thinking about all the new albums I’ve found at Goodwill and the Princeton Record Exchange over the last year and how I haven’t been listening to them!Then I read a post somewhere about collectors who rotate through their albums on a regular basis.

As a result, I’ve created a 30 day challenge for me to randomly listen to at least one album a day for my newest purchases. I have most of those albums in crates grouped by genre, with the albums in alphabetical order. So I picked a crate and then used a random number generator to pick the album. The number was 26 and the album was Home from Si Khan.

I must admit I don’t know mush about Si Khan. I always heard his music on The Gene Shay show in Philly. I liked what I heard but never sought out his music. The probably may be that the majority of his music was release after 1980. Which means it coincided with my parenting years! However,, from what I read about Si at AllMusic I should have….

The political balladry of Woody Guthrie, Tom Paxton, and Phil Ochs is reflected in the songs of North Carolina-based singer/songwriter Si Kahn. Although his love songs are nearly as effective, Kahn’s greatest strides have come with his lyrical looks at the unemployed, the racially abused, the sexually harassed, and the working-class oppressed. Kahn’s songs, including “Go to Work on Monday” and “Aragon Mill,” have become labor union anthems

Si Kahn (born April 23, 1944) and has released 21 albums over the course of his career.

Si Khan is about more than just music….

Kahn’s prolific output includes more than music and songs. He has written three plays including, Mother Jones, based on the life of the early union organizer, which featured Ronnie Gilbert of the Weavers in the title role when produced in the early ’90s. Kahn has also authored two books on political organizing: How People Get Power and Organizing.

Recorded during a 1993 concert, “In My Heart: Live in Holland” celebrated the 20th anniversary of Kahn’s first album and featured several of his best-known tunes. Profits from Kahn’s concerts continue to be donated to Grassroots Leadership, a political organization he founded in the mid-’70s.

About Grassroots Leadership

Grassroots Leadership founder Si Kahn gothis start as a young activist and organizer in the Southern Civil Rights Movement as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Si founded Grassroots Leadership in 1980 as a resource and training center for social justice organization building. Initially based in North Carolina, Grassroots Leadership worked throughout the South to help build progressive, multi-racial organizations to build power and create just organizations. Grassroots Leadership was one of the few organizations in the 1980s and 1990s to articulate in the board bylaws that no less than half of the board would be women and no less than half would be People of Color. Read More

My Bottom Line

The bottom line is I need to listen to the other Si Khan albums I bought and seek out more albums! So check out his music and his grassroots activism!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Music and More of Si Khan

Artist’s Website
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Emma and her Nap time Rocking Music…..

So I’m really trying to figure out ways to get more enthused about writing and doing such in a more timely manner, You see I started to do better over the summer but now with school opening my wife and I are back to being full-time babysitters for our granddaughter Emma. Emma is our fourth grandchild, She is the daughter of our daughter Elizabeth and her husband Marcus, Elizabeth is a school psychologist in a school district about 45 minutes north of her home. Consequently, we babysit from 7:00 in the morning to around 4:30, which is a long day for us! Anyway when we get home and I’m finished with dinner I’m pretty wiped out and don’t feel like writing. Anywa,y I’m going to try and write more posts wrapped around my day. Hopefully, this is the first of many.

How I Rock Emma to Sleep

On a typical day Emma takes a two hour nap anywhere from 11:00 am to 12 noon. Before then I usually take her for a walk around her neighborhood. We go anywhere from one to two miles. We hope that she stays awake during the walk and then goes to sleep shortly thereafter. The other day she did fall asleep on the walk. So today I kept an eye on her head and every time it started to go down, like she was going to go to sleep, I spoke to her. and her head would pop up! We actually did make the full mile luckily, And she is now asleep!

Now to go to sleep I rock her. Mostly standing up but then transition to a rocking chair. I also sing to her (I think she falls asleep so I’ll stop!) First up is on of my all-time favorite songs Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles”. I start by swaying back and forth going “boom.boom, boom” to get the beat going. At a young age she would say “boom.boom” when she was tired! . After “Mr. Bojangles” if she’s still awake I transition to some Aztec-Two Step and their song “Baking” and finally if she’s STILL awake(like she was today!). I sing Harry Chapin’s “Taxi”

Anyway, on Monday it took all there way to “Taxi” before she gave up and went to sleep!

Here’s A playlist of her songs! I guess someday I’ll tell her I rocked he’d to a song about a New Orleabns street dancer in a drunk tank! LOL!

Since I can’t take a picture of Emma while I’m rocking her. Here is one Grammie took of Emma after a nap when Granddad is ready for one!

Emma after a nap with Granddad

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Robert Jon & the Wreck – Red Moon Rising

Ok yesterday I was browsing on Spotify when spotted a recommendation for me. The recommendation was for “Rager” a single release from Robert Jon & the Wreck. The single also included “Hate to See You Go” . After listening to the songs and liking them a lot I checked out their Spotify home page and saw they released a full album Red Moon Rising back in June of this year. So I decided to check it out! I liked it also and this morning it became the soundtrack for my granddaughter Emma’s walk! Here’s what I discovered about the band.

About Robert Jon & the Wreck

Robert Jon & The Wreck are a Southern California band which has taken the Southern Rock sound and made it their own. The band was formed in 2011 and the members include: Robert Jon Burrison (lead vocals, guitar), Andrew Espantman (drums, background vocals), Henry James Schneekluth (lead guitar, background vocals), Warren Murrel (bass) and Jake Abernathie (keyboards).

They have played all over the world and have shared the stage with the likes of bills with talent the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Blackberry Smoke, Peter Frampton, Joanne Shaw Taylor, The Mavericks, Buddy Guy and Rival Sons.

Red Moon Rising is the band’s eleventh release and appears to have a little harder edge than their previous releases. At there website I read that their release Shine A Light On Me Brother’ lead to a collaboration with Blues Rock icon Joe Bonamassa’s Journeyman Records. That collaboration has lead to new and exciting music. Their 2023 release ‘Ride Into The Light’ is a dynamic, multi-faceted album. It features material produced by GRAMMY-Award winners Don Was (Bonnie Raitt, The Stones, John Mayer) and Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Blackberry Smoke, Rival Sons), Kevin Shirley (Iron Maiden, The Black Crowes), along with guitar virtuosos Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith. Wow! I’ll be listening to that soon!

About Red Moon Rising

Red Moon Rising is a hard driving blues Rock album with lots of great vocals and soaring guitars. It also has some quieter moments, like the closing track “Give Love” . I slightly prefer the hard driving tracks. Bur I’m sure the slower tracks will grow on me the more I listen to the album.

So Check it Out! (Actually, with 67.2K listeners per month a lot of people already have checked them out!) So check out Red Moon Rising! As for me, I’ve got a lot of back catalog to check out! Anyone want to recommend where to start?

Links for the Further Exploration of the Music of Robert Jon & the Wreck

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Amazon

Here’s “Ballad of a Broken Hearted Man” from Red Moon Rising by Rbobert Jon & the Wreck

Tab Benoit – I Hear Music Soundtrack for a Dental Trip

So, I had a 35 minute drive Monday morning to get to a dental appointment, to have a wisdom tooth extracted. It was a good time to listen to one of the three blues albums that have been in my music rotation. I chose I Hear Thunder from Tab Benoit. And I’m glad I did! The more I listen to the album the more I like it

About Tab Benoit

If you are unfamiliar with Tab Benoit he is a Louisiana-based singer, guitarist, and environmental preservationist. His music has a Cajun-inflected blues-rock sound. While he first burst onto the blues music scene with his 1992 release Nice & Warm on the Vanguard label. I think I first found Tab Benoit’s music around 2010, when I started blogging.

The first album I picked up was Night Train to Nashville. I can remember listening to that album on my way to many a job site for my job. Since part of my job was delineating wetlands his music and actions to protect wetlands struck a chord with me.

Anyway, since then many of Tab’s album have found their way into my music library. The last one was Medicine released 13 years ago! Today, as I was researching for this post, I discovered the reason for the gap was tha Tab had to free himself from a horrible record deal with Justice Records.

Justice Records issued his first five albums. However, the label folded in the late ’90s. Tab’s contract and catalog transferred first to Vanguard, then Telarc, and finally Concord. All without his consent. Finally after releasing Medicine in 2011, he simply refused to issue another album without adequate compensation.

During the time span between Medicine and I Hear Thunder he founded Voice of the Wetlands, an organization promoting awareness of the receding coastal region of Louisiana. In addition, created Tab Benoit’s Lagniappe Music Cafe, situated in downtown Houma.

For the duration of this period, Benoit still performed at local and regional gigs. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival issued two of his live recordings from the event in 2016 and 20.

In 2017 he founded Whiskey Bayou Records. The label currently is home to a variety of artist including: Jeff McCarty, Alastair Greene, Eric Johanson, Dash Rip Rock, Eric McFadden, Damon Fowler, and JP Soars.

About I Hear Thunder

Now let’s get back to the aforementioned, I Hear Thunder. Currently the album is number 8? On the roots music Report’s Blues Chart. I don’t think it will be long before it will be number 1! It’s a winner all round great songs, great vocals and great guitars. All ten of the tracks are Tab Benoit originals. Four songs were written by Tab alone and the remainder were cowritten with either Anders Osborne or George Porter Jr or both.

While I’m starting to like all of the tracks on the album. After the first couple of listens my favorites were “ I Hear Thunder”, “Still Gray” and “Watching the Gators Roll In”

The bottom line is check it out now! As for me I’m going back and listen to some of the earlier albums I have from Tab Benoit!

You can read a more complete review at AllMusic Complete Album review at Allmusic

Links for the Further Exploration of the Music of Tab Benoit

Artist’s Website
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Here’s the title track from I Hear Music

Zac Harmon was great! The Run not so much

So more and more I am going to make this more a true Weblog! And by that I mean I’m going to make it more about what’s happening in my life, I will still be writing about books, music and turning back my biological clock. However, I usually struggle with analyzing why I like a book or even an album, so I have a hard time writing a review type post. I don’t like to write a complete analysis of each song on an album or a deep analysis of each book i read. I like to write a little about what the book is about, along with a little about the author. Hopefully, the posts I write may lead the reader to a new author or musician! With all that being said let’s see what happened today!

A Morning Walk/Run

My last full run was about two weeks ago. When I started the run the plan was to run the 2,5 mile course I ran on that last run. However, soon after I started even though I was doing okt mi, I just didn’t have it. So I chose to walk about mid-way through the first half mile. From that point on I ran a little then walked a little. I ran/walked the first mile in 14:24 and the second in 14:59, Then I walked most of the last .55 mile in 16:19. The overall pace for the run was 15:02. If I had been paying attention I would have picked up the pace a little to get under 15 min/mile pace.

The Soundtrack – Floreada’s Boy By Zac Harmon

Floreada’s Boy has been in my music rotation for a few weeks now and I like it more each time I listen to the album. Currently, the album made a big jump on the Roots Music Report this week. It rose from number 44 to No 3!Ir wouldn’t surprise me if it was No 1 next week. Zac sums up Floreada’s Boy as follows…

Floreada’s Boy is a reflection of my 50 years of musical performance. From the juke joints of Mississippi to stages all over the world. Not bad for an old countryests on Floreada;s Bo boy.

The Zac Harmon Band includes: Nate Robinson guitar, Gino Inglehart drums, and Corey Lacey on keyboards. Guests on Floreada’s Boy include: Texas Horns, Caleb Quaye, Sue Ann Carwell and Munyungo Jackson.

From Frank Matheis’s Review at Living Blues

Every song on Floreada’s Boyis a keeper. On the blues side, Harman kicks it into overdrive with slashing guitar and the horns to bring you firecrackers like Big Dog Blues, a deep blues that could take its place right next to the best classics of the genre. There is plenty of funk, as in Let It Slide and Stress.

On the soul side there are five beautiful songs, most notably the languid and slow That’s the Way I Feel about Cha, with a distinct 1970s vibe featuring the great SueAnn Carwell. Never Forget is a gut-wrenching, broken-heart love song that could have fit perfectly on a Marvin Gaye or Ray Charles record. The blues has always had something important to say, and Zac Harmon is saying it as clearly as ever. He closes the album with the stunningly heavy, powerful, socio-critical, anti-gun violence song Stop the Killing. If he had recorded nothing but that poignant and impactful song, so imperative in our time, that alone would stand as a masterpiece, his magnum opus. If only people took it to heart. Stop the Killing should win every songwriting award on the planet if there is any justice. Sing it from the rooftops. Read More at Living Be albumlues

The Bottom Line

Floreada’s Boy is a triple treat for me. First great songs,, Second great vocals and finally great guitar work! So check it out!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Blues of Zac Harmon

Artist’s Website
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Here is the closing track “Stop the Killing” the closing track on Floreada’s Boy…

106 Miles to Chicago – The B Christopher Band – Keeps Me Running!

The Nerdy Details as I Try to Start Running Again!

Ok so over the last two weeks I have semii-started to run again. I say semi because I have only run three times since July 26th. Oh, and I had a stress test on August 5th. The first two runs were actually run/walks. On both of those runs I basically ran a little and then walked a little.

On the July 26th run I covered 2.1 miles in 32:27. That calculates to a 15:30 min/mile pace. However, during the run I ran for 14:45 minutes and walked for 17:41 minutes.

Likewise on my July 28th run I walked and ran but did a little better. I covered 2.68 miles in 39:36 for a 14:46 min/mile pace. However, during this run I actually ran more than I walked. I ran for 21:29 minutes and walked for 18:04 minutes.

Finally, on my August 11 run I did better still. On that run I covered 2.16 miles in 32′:53 for a pace somewhat slower than the preceding runs. The final pace was !5:13 min/mile. The good thing though about this run was that I ran (ok,jogged) for 28:43 minutes while only walking for 4:07 minutes. I ran he whole first mile. Then I walked a quarter mile and almost ran the second mi le. Unfortunately I calculated how far I needed to run to get that last mile and came up a little short!

I’m planning on running again tomorrow morning and I’ll bore you with the details after the run! My goal may be to run for 30 minutes with no walking! Wish me luck!

The Soundtrack August 11 Run – The B Christopher Band

The soundtrack for the majority of the run was the latest release from The B Christopher Band – 106 Miles to Chicago. The last time an album from the B Christopher Band was used as a soundtrack for a run was back in 2019. when I was a soon to be 68-year -old. The run was a 4.16 mile run at an average pace of 10:28 min/mile. You can read about it here. Oh, how I long for those days!

About 106 Miles to Chicago

Anyway back to these days. Well I knew that there were a lot of old songs on this album like n”Hey,Bartender “{, “She caught the Katy”, Sweet Home Chicago” and “Gimme Some Lovin’.” But the reference to the Blues Brothers in the album’s title flew right over my head! Anyway here’s the quote that provided the title to this album that is a tribute to the Blues Brothers!

Elwood: It’s a hundred and six miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses. Jake: Hit it.

B Christopher is a fantastic guitarist and his band in this album is pretty dam good. It includes: Eddie Testa on lead vocals, Anton Fig on drums, Nick Douglas on bass and backing vocals. Bruce Katz on keys Andy Snizter on tenor and baritone sax, Ryan Keberle on trombone, Tony Kadleck on trumpet,Sharlotte Gibson provides backing vocals, and Studebaker John adds harmonica.

Additionally, Original Blues Brothers member Tom “Bones” Malone plays baritone sax on ‘Gimme Some Lovin’”,

The only bad thing about the album is it only contains seven songs. And it is only 26 minutes and change long! Anyway it is definitely and album that should be checked out!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Music of The B Christopher Band

Artist’s Website
Facebook
YouTube
Amazon

Here’s the opening track from 2106 miles to Chicago “Hey, Bartender”

Scott Carson – Lost Man’s Lane. His Best yet? Yes!

I have been a fan of author Michael Koryta ever since way back in 2003? And after two terrific books I am now a fan of his alter-ego Scott Carson. And I think Scott Carson’s latest release Lost Man’s Lane just may be Scott’s best novel. As such it also makes it Michael’s best!

The story grabbed me from the beginning, when Marshall Miller was pulled over by a policeman on the first time he took the car out after getting his license. The police man was very surly and while Marshall was receiving his ticket he noticed in his rear view mirror a young girl is sitting in the backseat of the police car looking terrified and crying. She was wearing a t-shirt of a restaurant that had closed years ago!

Soon posters are put up concerning a missing girl from a neighboring town, Marshall recognizes the girl, She was the one in the back of the police car. When Marshall goes to the police to report what he saw he discovers that there are no police officers with the name he’s reporting. As a result, Marshall sets out on a quest to discover what was happening. He is soon in contact with a private investigator who is investigating the case. The PI hires Marshall as an assistant for the summer.

The story takes many twists and turns as the investigation unravels. And the story because not only a horror/mystery story but also a coming of age story, with an ending that upturns Marshall’s life!

Bottom Line

The bottom line is go find and read Lost Man’s Lane, you won’t be sorry! It’s a terrific book on so many different levels. I think it would make a great book club read. If anyone else has read it I would love to know what you thought about it.

While your at it you can also check out Scott’s two other books The Chill and Where They Wait. All three books are high recommended!

As for me I have to wait until next April to read my next Scott Cason book Departure 37!

Book 22 for 2024 Finished June 11th

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Scott Carson

Village in the Dark – Iris Yamashita (Cara Kennedy Book#2)

Village in the Dark by Iris Yamashita is book number 2 in her Cara Kennedy series. It is a mystery thriller set in Alaska. Book 1 in the series is City Under One Roof. Cara Kennedy is an Anchorage Police Department Detective. She is on administrative leave after her husband and son disappear while on vacation in Point Mettier. Point Mettier is an isolated town where its residents all live in one high-rise. In book one Cara finds some of the answers to her husband and son’s disappearance and they weren’t pleasant. (I’m not spoiling things by telling you what she discovered). Anyway at the end of the book she makes another discovery that leads her back to Point Mettier to see if she can find the final answers!

Village in the Dark is full of great characters.The story is told through the eyes of three women. First is obviously the main character Cara Kennedy. Second is the owner of a hotel within the Point Mettier high-rise Ellie and finally Mia, an Indigenous woman who left the village she grew up in to enter the White man’s world. The plot of the novel interweaves the lives of all three women. It’s really hard to say more without revealing too much!

Bottom Line

The bottom line is Village in the Dark is a really terrific read. It;s filled with great quirky characters and a few twists here and there that kept me guessing, I really would recommend that you should read City Under One Roof before reading Village in the Dark. So check them both out!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Iris Yamashita

This Winter Machine – The Clockwork Man – This Winter Machine Neo Prog – 2023

One of the prog rock albums that has been in my music rotation for a while now is The Clockwork Man by This Winter Machine . This Winter Machine is a multi award-winning Neo Prog band from the United Kingdom. It was formed in 2016 by vocalist/song-writer Al Winter

About This Winter Machine

This Winter Machine began as a quintet originally comprised of :Al Winter (voices), Gary Jevon (guitars), Marcus Murray (drums), Mark Numan (keyboards), and Peter Priestly (bass) –

The band’s early influences included: the pioneers of 70s Symphonic Progressive or 80s Neo-Progressive scene. Major influencers of the band came from Marillion, IQ, Pendragon, Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Rush and Genesis. Their first album was titled The Man Who Never Was. It was released in 2017.

The Man who Never Was was well received by audiences, press and radio worldwide. Their second album ‘A Tower of Clocks’ solidified their standing in Prog Rock circles. ‘Kites’ the band’s third album saw a major revision in the musician line-up. The album garnered both critical and audience acclaim after its release in 2021. The album continued to expand their fan-base.

The Clockwork Man

The Clockwork Man was released in December of 2023. And is the band’s fourth album, This is the album I’ve been listening to and really like! The musician line-up looks like this…..

Al Winter / vocals
– John Cook / guitars
– Leigh Perkins / keyboards, whistles, backing vocals
– Dave Close / bass
– Alan Wilson / drums

With:
– Andre Saint / vocals (track 4)
– Ade Fisher / guitar solo (track 1, part 2)s.

I’m not going to discuss all of the tracks in this post. You can read a review that does that here I’ll just say like everything about this album The vocals are strong (with lyrics I can understand!), the guitar work is great and the songs are all interesting! So Check It Out! As for me I have three other albums from the band to check out!