Sunday Thoughts about Pete Seeger, Abiyoyo and grandbaby Oliver Edward Karn

AbiyoyoSo sometime this month, my wife and I will become grandparents for the first time, when my son Andrew and his wife Meaghan have their baby, Oliver Edward Karn!! Well, it’s actually Meaghan doing all the work right now and Andrew just gets the congratulations!! A couple of weeks ago, they had Meaghan’s baby shower.and Oliver’s gifts from Andrew’s brothers and sister and my wife and I were books and not just any books, but ones that were special to us.The kids picked ones that were read to them and my wife and I picked either ones that were read to us or ones that we read to the kids! After my wife, whose idea it was first announced the idea. Peter immediately said “I’ll get Where the Wild Things Are” – though Bossy Boots may have been a better choice! What surprised my wife and I, was the first book that Elizabeth picked, which was Abiyoyo! The picture book based on the Pete Seeger song…. Read More

Book 5 of 2014 – Theodore Roosevelt and the Assassin – Gerard Helferich

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John Wilkes Booth

Ok so which of these men do you recognize?? I know that I would probably have a hard time identifying any of them. Each of these four men disrupted American politics between the years 1865 to 1912. Three were successful in their assassination attempts and assassinated an US President, while the fourth made an unsuccessful attempt to kill a candidate for President. They are clockwise from 3 o’clock – Charles_J_Guiteau assassin of President James Garfield, John Wilkes Booth – President Lincoln, Leon  Read More

The Safari Explores the Classical Side of Progressive Rock’s Jordan Rudess – All That is Now!!

The question of the day is: Can a prog rocker create beautiful classical piano music? My answer to that is a resounding yes – especially if that rocker entered the Julliard School of Music Pre-College Division for classical piano training at nine years old, like rock keyboard artist Jordan Rudess did!!. I think that the prog rock world is glad that in his late teens Rudess became increasingly interested in synthesizers and progressive rock music and left the classical world behind and set out to make his way as a solo progressive rock keyboardist!! Read More

The Safari Explores the World Fusion Music of Get Tribal – God of Drum!!

This morning the Safari decided it was a World Music kinda day, so  checked out the Zone Music Reporter’s Top 100 Radio Airplay Chart.. The first album that caught my eye was at number 3 – the self released album God of Drum by Get Tribal. The title of the album brought to mind the music of David and Steve Gordon, and the name of the band John Densmore’s Tribal Jazz. So I loaded the album onto the iPhone and listened to it while I was doing some shopping, The music was, in a word, mesmerizing! I found my feet keeping rhythm constantly and just totally became lost in the flow. I even had to ask directions out of Wegmans. Not really! Maybe I should have just stopped though and meditated on the music for a bit!! Read More

The Safari Encounters Mad Fellaz, an Italian Progressive Instrumental Band!!

Mad Fellaz is a five man is an instrumental progressive rock band from Bassano Del Grappa, Italy. The now five-man band started out in 2010 as an experimental unnamed trio consisting off:Emanuele and Paul Bason Busatto on electric guitars and Mark on drums. As the band developed, bassist Carlo Passuello, keyboardist Henry Brunelli and Rudy Zilio on flute and synthesizer were added to the band.The current line-up of the band is: Read More

2014 Americana – Rod Picott – Hang Your Hopes on a Crooked Nail!

Rod PicottRod Picott has been friends with Slaid Cleaves since they first met in the 2nd grade in the Maine town of South Berwick where they both grew up. Slaid left South Berwick went to Tufts University and eventually ended up moving to Austin, Texas with wife Karen in  1991, where he has lived and recorded since then. Picott left Maine and spent a few years in Colorado, before moving to Nashville in 1994. Where spent several years playing at local clubs and sharpening his skills as a songwriter, he wrote songs for the likes of Fred Eaglesmith and worked and occasionally opened for Alison Krauss. Read More

Rod Picott – Hang Your Hopes on a Crooked Nail!

Hang Your Hopes on a Crooked Nail - Rod Picott

Rod PicottRod Picott has been friends with Slaid Cleaves since they first met in the 2nd grade in the Maine town of South Berwick where they both grew up. Slaid left South Berwick went to Tufts University and eventually ended up moving to Austin, Texas with wife Karen in  1991, where he has lived and recorded since then. Picott left Maine and spent a few years in Colorado, before moving to Nashville in 1994. Where spent several years playing at local clubs and sharpening his skills as a songwriter, he wrote songs for the likes of Fred Eaglesmith and worked and occasionally opened for Alison Krauss. Read More