A SIxties Man Rants About Missing Art of Compromise!

Reading In Retrospect leads to thoughts about Government and Compromise

So I have not ever been a fan of former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, The obvious reason, he was Defense Secretary, at the beginning and the height of the war in Vietnam, in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. But as I  read his autobiography In Retrospect The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, I realize that the administrations that he served in were really in a no-win situation in Vietnam, and that he and others may have kept the US from being involved in the war far earlier. He also admits that the course the US chose concerning the war was the wrong one! At one point, he reveals for the first time what he thought John Kennedy would have done regarding the situation in Vietnam .. Read More

Reading Challenges for 2016

Renaissance Granddad’s 2016 Reading Challenges!

Well last year was the first time that I set a goals for both the overall number of books that I was going to read in the year and the types of books. I signed up for three reading challenges: Cloak and Dagger, Historical Fiction, and Nonfiction and created one of my own Science Fiction. While I kept track of the number of books I had read for each challenges I never posted at the websites where I had signed up for the challenges. I guess I should have but I was one of the few men who signed up for the challenges, so I felt kinda alone and funny posting! Also I’m lazy and a loner so it was easier just to post about the books I was reading here! Read More

Reading Challenge Update – Late December 2015

With 51 Books Read RGranddad Reaches His Overall Goal!

With the end of 2015 two days away, last night I finished the 51st book I’ve read for the year The Politics of Deception JFK’s Secret Decisions on Vietnam, Civil Rights and Cuba, thereby reaching the lofty goal of 5I books I set at the beginning of the year! Overall, it is the most books that I have read in a year since 2009! Read More

RGranddad’s Merry Christmas!

Time with Family + Thoughtful Gifts = Merry Christmas for RGranddad

So wow, a whole week has gone by with nary a post from RGranddad!! But then it was a rather a busy Christmas Week! Monday I babysat Zoe for a little while, it would have been longer because Dad Peter was home sick, but while he still felt bad, he said he could watch Zoe. So I went home and brought the tree in to start setting it up. Later, we went back so that Grammie could visit with Zoe! Tuesday and Wednesday I worked at Target and then Thursday was Christmas Eve and, of course, Friday was Christmas. Read More

Peter James – You Are Dead

Peter James – You Are Dead – Roy Grace # 11  ****

Book 50 of 2015

Peter JamesPeter James  has written eleven police procedural novels featuring Brighton Detective Superintendent (DS) Roy Grace. The eleventh installment in this series is You Are Dead and the first book that I have read in the series. I can tell you it won’t be the last!! You Are Dead is the 50th book that I have read in 2015. I am now one book away from my goal!! Read More

Alex de Grassi – AM Acoustic Mix – Part II

Alex de Grassi Provides the Middle of a Great Morning Mix.

So yesterday morning’s acoustic guitar mix began with a few tracks from Acoustic Alchemy’s album Blue Chip. The great acoustic guitar vibes continued with music from albums by Alex de Grassi and Brooks Williams, two of my favorite acoustic guitarists. Alex de Grassi‘s music came on in the middle of the commute I listened to a few tracks from the album A Windham Hill Retrospective. The music for the last part of the commute was composed of music from Brooks Williams’ album Little Lion a favorite of mine! Read More

Acoustic Alchemy Kicks Off a Morning Guitar Mix

Blue Chip and the Music of Acoustic Alchemy

So long ago and not so far away, before the iPhone and and Spotify I most would burn my music to CDs and listen to my CD player through the car radio. Last night as I was moving things around I moved an old CD case with some odd CDs in it. One of the CD was marked MIx One – New CDs,and the date was 12/31/2002! So now that I have a car radio that can play MP3 CDs I decided that the songs on that CD would be the soundtrack for this morning’s commute to babysit Oliver. Read More

The Smothers Brothers were dangerously funny!

Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour – David Bianculli

As we come to the end of 2015, I now have only two more books to read to reach my lofty goal of 51 books read. Book 49 for the year was Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour by David Bianculli. It took Bianculli fifteen years and countless interviews with the people involved to tell the story of these very funny and very volatile Brothers. To many of us who lived through the three years, their show was the only one that spoke to us!! They presented music that we wanted to hear, and spoke true words about a war that we didn’t believe was right! Read More

A Folk Soundtrack Kicks off My Friday!

A Good Mix of Folk Music Brightens My Morning Commute!

So this morning I decided that today would be Folk Friday. I made the soundtrack for my morning commute a mix of songs from the tracks that are in the folk genre in my music library. Through the years folk music and musicians have been a big part of the music that I listen to. Music from people like Tom Paxton, Tom Rush, John Prine and Steve Goodman makes up a large portion of my music library. Read More