Albert Cummings’ – Strong – Starts March Strong!

Albert Cummings - Strong

Ok so since September of last year my wife and I have spent most of our days babysitting our 4th grandchild, Emma.  We’re at my daughter’s house from 7 am until roughly 5 pm. The result is I don;t have a lot of time to blog and/or listen to music. But I’ve been trying to listen when I am out and about on the weekends and at night. Lately, the two blues albums that have been in my music rotation are the latest releases from two of my favorites. First came Albert Cummings latest releases Strong.  Then came Mike Zito’s  Life is Hard .  Read More

A Pain Free Run with Albert Cummings Ten

Albert Cummings Ten and a pain free run yeah !

Ok so now that this site is about all aspects of my life and not just about the books I read or have read. And one of the things you will be reading about is my running. Now you haven’t missed much over the last month and a half because I sprained my ankle on May 28th and I have been rehab since then! The physical therapy I’ve had at NovaCare over the last several weeks has really worked wonders. Over the last few days I have had virtually no pain. So I was hoping for a pain free run..

On my last two walks, I have incorporated half and quarter mile segments of slow running. The total distance of the walk/jogs have been two miles.

This morning,  I thought I would try and walk the first quarter mile and then run maybe a mile or a mile and a half. However, when the lady on my Runkeeper app said begin activity I instinctively started to jog! I made the first quarter mile with no pain! I also made it to the first mile with no pain. I knew at that point I couldn’t stop because I would be just a pile of sweat that wouldn’t be able to start up again.

So I kept going and altered the route I was running to maximize the shade and figuring if I could hold on I could finish the run in some shade! I was able to do just that and then walk home, which turned into walking another half mile. So the total workout was 2.5 miles with two miles of slow jogging! The best part was it was a pain free run and a pain free cool down!

Here are those Nerdy Details!

The Nerdy  Details

Total Dist: 2.5 Time  37:02 Pace: 14:44 min/mile

Splits

Mile 1 12:52 Mile 2: 13:02

Avg HR 139 Max HR 157 Cals Burned: 437 Cals

The Soundtrack 

The soundtrack for the run was one of my favorite albums of 2022 Albert Cummings April 2022 release Ten.  Now since it is a great album I think it deserves a post of its own. So until then here are four songs from Ten. Enjoy! Read More

Blues Wednesday – Albert Cummings

So today on Blues Wednesday I listened to an album that I had put on the mp3 player a while ago and haven’t listened to for a bit. But as soon as I heard the opening track “Working Man” I remembered how much I liked  Albert Cumming’s 2006 release Working Man. I think I came across Albert’s music on emusic where I read a review by Megan Frye of the All Music Guide. A excerpt from that review:

Often compared to Stevie Ray Vaughan for the tone and explosive improvisation style the two share, Albert Cummings’ Working Man sees the artist including more of his country music roots to the mix. Cummings played banjo for years, before he began playing the guitar in public. His understanding of bluegrass and country music shines through on the album’s sentimental closing note, “Last Dance,” and Cummings’ voice is at its finest on “Feeling End,” a song that’s blues-rock with country tones. “Party Right Here” sounds like it’s straight out of Nashville. A contemporary country song with a blues edge, from the lyrics, one can’t help associate it with Hank Williams, Jr.’s “All My Rowdy Friends.” The album’s title track is a blues version of country icon Merle Haggard’s “Workin’ Man Blues,” a song that was a number one single for Haggard in 1969.

And from Albert’s website:

Working Man (Blind Pig), Albert’s summer of 2006 blockbuster release, is the culmination to date of a guitar hero’s career just taking off. A punchy, stomping cover of Merle Haggard’s blue collar standard ‘Working Man Blues’ brings it all home for the master builder and musician. The swinging Texas blues of ‘Please,’ the instant barroom boogie classic ‘Party Right Here,’ the snaky slow drag ‘Rumors’ and the rousing rocker ‘Feeling End’ show variety well beyond the typical slow blues and shuffles of so much contemporary music. The deeply emotive ballad ‘Last Dance’ that closes the disc is so evocative that a Hollywood movie could be written around it. Read More