Lassiter – Paul Levine

By Paul Levine

So a couple of years ago after reading Paul Levine‘s book Illegal I sent him a message on Facebook and told him that I liked the book but sill missed Jake Lassiter! He emailed me back and told me that his next book was going to be a Lassiter novel. Well, that book, appropriately named Lassiter is Book 33 for 2011.Jake Lassiter is a “low-rent”  Miami attorney, whose clients are usually not from the upper echelon of the Miami social scene. Lassiter also previously played for the Miami Dolphins and was featured in a series of seven books that started with To Speak for the Dead in 1990 and ended with Flesh & Bones in 1997. I’ve read six out of the seven – Number 1 is the only one I haven’t read. And now thanks to reissusing of the books as e-books  for the Kindle, that can be read for only $2.99! Read More

Free to Breathe 5K – Run for Lung Cancer Awareness

So yesterday was my last tune-up run before the Free to Breathe -for Lung Cancer Awareness  5k Sunday in Philadelphia. The race is special to our family because my son Peter’s brother-in-law Will Marris was diagnosed in June of 2010 with Stage IV Lung Cancer. Will is 28 years old and was a classmate of my other son, Andrew. Will was diagnosed with the cancer about a month before Peter and Missy’s wedding. When Will was diagnosed with the cancer there were tumors in both lungs but through chemotheropy and radiation treatments the tumors were destroyed and Will since then Will’s cancer has been in remission. Recently though the cancer has returned and Will faces another round of treatments. Throught it all, Will and his wife Nicole have bravely fought the disease and Will has raised money for Lung Cancer research through his organization Willpower. You can read his story here. Read More

Memories of Days of Protest at the University of Florida 1971-1972

So as the Occupy…. protests grow and turn violent as in Oakland it starts me thinking about my more radical days almost 40 years ago. So I did a Google search and came up with these two demonstrations that I took part in at the University of Florida in 1971 and 72. I was there in the street when the police turned on the fire hoses and threw the tear gas. I spent most of that night leaving the street as the police made their charges and then moving back after the rush was over….. sometimes never evcn making it back to the street! Read More

Life’s Soundtrack – The Infamous Stringdusters – We’ll Do It Live

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to a Podcast of the Mountain Stage Show of September 23, 2011. The show featured The Weepies, The Punch Brothers and two bands I really like  by Turtles and The Infamous Stringdusters. The Stringdusters kicked off the show. Now I had listened to and liked The Stringduster’s 2010 release Things That Fly, but that album is on the MP3 Player that is a pain to listen to because you have to hold the headphones in a certain position or you only get sound from one side, so I haven’t heard it for a while! But listening to the set on Mountain Stage I thought boy I have to check that album out again! Anyway the other day I saw that the Stringduster’s had a new release titled We’ll Do It Live. So I quickly put that on the iPod and it became the soundtrack for today’s four mile run. Their music which is a blend of old-timey bluegrass with indie jamgrass is perfect for running. The majority of the songs are uptempo songs with some great picking, which means I can just go with the flow of the music which includes some longish instrumentals! The current line-up for the band includes: Read More