Happy 78th Birthday to Buddy Guy! It’s been a year since he released Rhythm & Blues?

Rhythm and Bues

Originally posted on July 30, 2013……

Last year on his birthday Buddy Guy released he album Rhythm and Blues. Boy, could another year have flown by so quickly! (I must be having lots of fun because they keep flying by more quickly-right!)  Yes it has and on this date in 1936, Buddy Guy was born. For those of you non-blues fans here some background on Buddy from Wikipedia: Read More

James Rollins – Grant Blackwood – The Kill Switch – a Tucker Wayne and Kane thriller!!

The Kill SwitchI have been a fan of James Rollins since I read Map of Bones (Sigma #2) back in 2005. In addition to all the Sigma Force novels, except for the first one, I have read three of  Rollins early stand alone novels and all are great!  The thing that I like best about the Rollins novels is – the science,  no it’s the action, no the political aspects….- the whole package!!! The Associated Press writes…. Read More

Exploring the Symphonic Prog of Germany’s Traumhaus – Ausgeliefert and Das Geheimnis!

AusgeliefertSo one of the things that I really like about Prog Rock is that the genre is global in nature, and the bands can virtually come from anywhere in the world!! Typically, most of the vocals are in English making it harder to pinpoint the homeland of the band. That is not a problem with Traumhaus, whose vocals are in their native language – German!! I discovered the band on progstreaming, where I saw their latest release Das Geheimnis (The Secret) I listened for a bit and then went to Spotify to find the album so that I could download it, to listen to it more fully. The album was not a Spotify, I did find though a just released album Ausgeleiffert. The album is a re-release of the band’s self-titled first album, which was released in 2001. The re-re-release includes some new cover art work and two bonus tracks “Die Reise” (The Journey) and Die Andere Seite (The Other Side). Read More

Say “Happy Birthday, Gracie” – “Happy Birthday, Gracie” – It’s Gracie Allen’s Birthday – July 26,1895!!

Gracie Allen

So on this date in 1895, yes, you read that right,1895, one of the great comic actors of all time was born, Gracie Allen. From the time she began performing with her husband George Burns in vaudeville in 1922, until they finished production on their TV show in 1958, Americans loved the antics of Gracie. I have fond memories of the George Burns and Gracie Allen TV show. I remember watching it in the afternoon,so it must have been in the 60s when I was watching because the show ended its regular run in 1958, but reruns were shown on CBS in the daytime throughout the 60s. Read More

Rediscovering the Books of Richard Hoyt – Fish Story leads to his new book Crow’s Mind!

Fish StoryThe first year that I really started to make fairly detailed notes regarding the books that I read that year was 1988.  Recording the exact dates that I read the books didn’t start until March for January and February the books are only listed by the months. The first book of the year was Richard Hoyt’s Fish Story.  Fish Story is the fourth book in the John Denson series from Hoyt. From Goodreads….. Read More

Thoughts Re:Tom Petty Billboard Interview, Huckabee's Vicious Dog Comment, and Gov. Deval Patrick's Compassion!

 

tom_petty_billboard_cover_a_p

From The Hollywood Reporter


The other day I read a post about Tom Petty’s recent interview in Billboard. In the interview Petty spoke about  the church, and sex abuse, which forms the controversial message behind his new song “Playing Dumb”. Petty related that the song addresses the way that the church sat idly by, while child after child was sexually assaulted by members of the clergy, essentially “playing dumb” while children were hurt! Some of Petty’s quotes from the interview include Read More

Thoughts Re:Tom Petty Billboard Interview, Huckabee’s Vicious Dog Comment, and Gov. Deval Patrick’s Compassion!

tom_petty_billboard_cover_a_p

From The Hollywood Reporter

The other day I read a post about Tom Petty’s recent interview in Billboard. In the interview Petty spoke about  the church, and sex abuse, which forms the controversial message behind his new song “Playing Dumb”. Petty related that the song addresses the way that the church sat idly by, while child after child was sexually assaulted by members of the clergy, essentially “playing dumb” while children were hurt! Some of Petty’s quotes from the interview include Read More

Exploring Indonesia's Election of Joko Widodo as the Nation's 7th President!


On Tuesday 0f  this week Joko Widodo, often better known by his abbreviated name Jokowi was named President-elect of Indonesia. Jokowi collected 53% of the vote over his opponent Prabowo Subianto, who withdrew from the race prior to the completion of the count and is contesting the election! Currently, Jokowi is Governor of Jakarta, a post to which he will return, until the start of his official term as the 7th President of Indonesia, which begins on October 20, 2014.
Now the question becomes two-fold, first who is this Joko Widodo and the second does an election in Indonesia really matter. Well, maybe the second question should really come first, does an election in Indonesia matter, to answer that question let’s explore a little about Indonesia. From Wikipedia” Read More