I really started to explore jazz more in 2014. Prior to that time I had a few favorites I listened to regularly. Those artists included mostly Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith and occasionally Freddie Hubbard and McCoy TYner. When I set out to expand my jazz listening I would review both the Jazz Charts at both the Roots Music Report and JazzWeek. Additionally, I would review the Jazz Birthday Page at All About Jazz.
So I used the picture at the top of this post to introduce the new focus of this blog. All of the items were purchased on our last trip to Goodwill for the hefty total price of $6.00! I love the prices and I love to support Goodwill. They worked tirelessly with my son Nick to help him get a job!
Anyway, while the prices were great on both the CDs and books, the better aspect of the purchase is that the books and the CDs are all from favorites.
The two books I bought were =&1=&from the writing duo of Preston & Child and The English Spy by Daniel Silva.
=&2=& is book # 14 of the 19 book in Preston & Child’s Agent Pendergast series. While =&3=& is the 15th book in Silva’s Gabriel Allon series.
The lead characters of both series are outstanding characters. Here is a brief biography of Agent Pendergast from Wikipedia…
=&4=&
Everyone has them,you know those days when things happen that you can’t control, that scare you to death. Two of those days for me involve my two oldest sons,Nicholas and Andrew. The first day was the day that Nick had his seizure.He was 21 months old and it was just a typical day. My wife fed him spaghetti for lunch and put him down on the bed for a nap. She came downstairs and in a little while she heard a thud. When she picked him up, there was no response, she quickly called me at work. When I got home and picked him up, it was the scariest moment of my life, as I held him and talked to him, and got no response. He was breathing and awake but that was it! We rushed him to the pediatricians and after an evaluation, we were told that he had a seizure, and should be hospitalized. He was sent to close by Rancocas Valley Hospital and when he got settled he was sleeping and stable. I went home and got some books and other things. At around six that evening, he woke up, sat up and started to play with his books, like nothing happened. We were told that the seizure was localized in the right side of his brain, and there did not seem to be permanent damage. He was though put on medication for two years, because a another seizure could be life-threatening. Luckily he never had another one!!
Andrew’s day came when he was nine days old! When he was six weeks old he was sick and was diagnosed with a blockage on one his ureters from his kidney to the bladder. It was pinched at the end causing the tube to fill like a sausage.The urologist that we saw Dr. Goldstein had previously interned in Boston were they had pioneered a surgical procedure to repair the condition. Prior to the development of this procedure, the kidney was removed! So at nine weeks old, he was operated on. The operation was successful. He spent about a week in the hospital and then was discharged. The day after he was discharged, he was listless and his color was not good. We took him to the pediatricians and Dr Arkins could not figure out the problem. We were sent home with some medicines but Andrew ended up in the hospital later that night. Both Dr Arkins and Goldstein came to the hospital. Neither could figure out the problem., Andrew was transferred to Cooper late that scary evening. The 30-minute ride behind the ambulance was nerve-wracking! After numerous tests, including a spinal tap for the poor child, it was determined that he had a Shigella infection, which is an intestinal disease caused by a family of bacteria known as Shigella. In a hospital setting the infection is caused by a worker not washing their hands between patients! His sickness had nothing to do with his surgery,which pleased us and Dr. Goldstein to no end! On a follow-up visit maybe a year or so later Dr Goldstein said to us “You know I’ve never seen Howie Arkins so worried and perplexed as he was that night”!! That made three of us!!
Both of these days were tremendously scary days that ultimately ended well. Nick will be 36 this year and visited with me yesterday as I babysat Zoe. He works at PNC Bank. Andrew turns 33 today and is the loving husband of Meaghan and the father of Mister Man,Oliver!! Happy Birthday to you Andrew !!!
I guess I really shouldn’t write something like this on Andrew’s birthday but it was his birthday that generated the thoughts of these two stress-filled days and how fortunate we were that everything turned out okay!!
Yesterday I saw that Glen Campbell, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s three years ago, was in his best interest, moved to a Care Facility. According to the family, it Campbell’s care became too much for them. You can read about it here. Today Glen celebrates his 78th birthday! Glen was born on April 22, 1936 in Billstown, a tiny community near Delight in Pike County, Arkansas. He was the seventh son of 12 children. Way back when, in the late 60s, along with all the rock, and folk music that I was listening to, Glen Campbell’s albums found their way into my music library! He was a great singer, an equally talented guitarist and a seemingly all around good guy. Four wives and the drug and alcohol abuse tell a different story for many years of his life, but bout 25 years or so ago he was able to put that all behind him for the most part. Here is a good article about Glen from The Telegraph. For those of you who don’t know Glen, or those who need some reminding – from Wikipedia…..During his 50 years in show business, Campbell has released more than 70 albums. He has sold 45 million records and accumulated 12 RIAA Gold albums, 4 Platinum albums and 1 Double-Platinum album. Campbell’s hits include John Hartford’s “Gentle on My Mind”, Jimmy Webb’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, “Wichita Lineman” and “Galveston”, Larry Weiss’s “Rhinestone Cowboy” and Allen Toussaint’s “Southern Nights”.
Campbell made history by winning four Grammys in both country and pop categories in 1967.[2] For “Gentle on My Mind” he received two awards in country & western, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” did the same in pop. He owns trophies for Male Vocalist of the Year from both the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music (ACM), and took the CMA’s top award as 1968 Entertainer of the Year. In 1969 Campbell was picked by actor John Wayne to play alongside him in the film True Grit, which gave Campbell a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer. Campbell sang the title song which was nominated for an Academy Award. Read More
So as we near the end of his day of birth, let’s wish him a Happy Birthday and go “into the morning” listening and remembering the Glen we loved at the start of his career!!
