So for most of the summer, I hobbled through my runs and wondered if this is what it’s going to be like from now on… will I ever run as well as I did only a year or two before. But since the summer ended, my times have been steadily dropping and I obviously feel better. The two runs this week have been great Tuesday night was fabulous and last night’s four-miler was almost it’s equal. As it was, last night’s run was the fastest over my four mile out and back course this year (37:28) – 9:22/mile pace! The time is equal to what I was running a year maybe even two years ago!! Still not where I want to be, but certainly better than where I was. Tomorrow is another 5k, this time right here in Delanco, so we’ll see!
The soundtrack of the run was an album that was number 49 on the Roots Music Blues Chart last week The Lamont Cranston Band with Bruce McCabe by The Lamont Cranston Band, obviously! Now usually a self title album indicates a new band, but not in this case the Cranstons led by Pat “Lamont” Hayes have been around since the late ’60s- early ’70s and have shared the stage with the likes of:
….Muddy Waters, Luther Allison, Albert King, Albert Collins, Jimmy Rogers, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Charles Brown, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Thackery, Junior Wells, Keb Mo, Jonny Lang, Robert Cray, Son Seals, Charlie Musselwhite, Sam Lay, Earl King, Mighty Joe Young, Sugar Blue, Otis Rush, Elvin Bishop, Jim Belushi & The Sacred Hearts, Little Feat, Mick Fleetwood’s Blue Whale featuring Ron Thompson, Delbert McClinton, Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, Percy Sledge, Solomon Burke, Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown, Kim Wilson, William Clarke, Tinsley Ellis, The Climax Blues Band, Tower Of Power, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Animals II, Kansas, Yes, Jeff Healy, Wilson Pickett, Bonnie Raitt, The Blues Brothers and many many more. One of the biggest thrills was opening for The Rolling Stones on a leg of their North American tour in 1981.
Now most of them I’ve heard of , and if that’s not enough!
Pat received an invitation from Dan Aykroyd to be a special guest performer at a private pre-grand opening bash at Dan’s new ‘House Of Blues’ nightclub, where he performed with Charlie and his band the first night and with The Blues Brothers band the next. Pat has been hailed by Bonnie, Dan and many others as being one of the best harmonica players around. Dan even called on the boys to play the grand opening of his new Chicago House Of Blues in November 1996, Cleveland in 2004 and Atlantic City in 2005.
Now on the opening track of the album there’s some great organ that’s kinda’ missing through most of the rest of the album, but what I did realize throughout the run was that I was listening to some killer harmonica playing and that was confirmed with the above! I want to listen some more when I’m not breathing as hard or listening for cars and I’m sure I’ll enjoy the album even more, so check the Lamont Cranston Band out!!
Here’s are the Cranston’s with a performance from 2004 in St Cloud, Minnesota and here’s a link to a promo video about the band!
