EKKARN

Articles posted by EKKARN

The Fifty Years Later Playlists (Then and Now Part I )

Fifty year plus years ago, I was discovering new artists, who would become lifelong companions. Today, many of them are still making music – and I’m still listening. This playlist The Fifty Years Later Playlist looks back at where they started.. and where they are now.

The seeds of this playlist were sown on Monday of this week (May 26th) when I used my 20% off Holiday discount at Goodwill to buy a JVC Dual Cassette deck for $8.00. As a result, over the next several days I searched for my old cassette tapes. read more

A Boz Scaggs Playlist Makes Those Two Plus Miles Fly By!

Over the last year and a half I have run, to say the least sporadically! Over that time span most days my wife and I were babysitting our granddaughter Emma. Emma was born in 2023 and turned 2 in February. Most weekdays we were at my daughters from 7:15 – 4:30! So i couldn’t run either before or after. Well -, Im could have after but I was too tired and dinner to make and clean-up. Anyway -, my daughter had her second baby on May 8 and is now on maternity leave from her job. Consequently while we miss Emma dearly we are slowly reclaiming our former life! For me that means maybe I can restart blogging and most importantly running. read more

Wes Montgomery- A Playlist from the First Wes Albums I Bought!

Wes Montgomery – The First of My Jazz Guitar Heroes

I go way back with Wes Montgomery. I discovered Wes Montgomery in the late 1960s around the time he was crossing over to “mainstream” music: Actually, I don’t know if seeing him on the Hollywood Palace had anything to do with my discovering Wes. Most likely I already already about him because of “Windy”.

Either way I know I went out and bought the three albums Wes recorded on the A&M label. A Day in the Life (1967), Down Here on the Ground (1968) and Road Song (1968). By the time A Day in the Life was released in read more

My Proposed January 2025 Reads…..

I did such a,sucky job of writing about the books I read last year. So this year I think I will write about what I am going to read and then write about what I thought about the book. So let’s go

My Proposed January 2025 Reads

Currently I have too many books out of the library. This has caused a problem. I was reading two books at once and I didn’t finish either before t they needed to be returned. luckily I was able to renew both of them . however they both have moved to the bottom of my library TBR pile. The books are the latest from Karin Slaughter This is Why We Lied and Angel of Vengeance the most recent,Agent Pendergast tale from Preston & Child. read more

Three-Inch Teeth – C.J.Box (Joe Pickett #24) A Great Addition to the Series!

Three-Inch Teeth – C.J.Box (Joe Pickett #24)

Book 13 for 2024

Three- Inch Teeth is the 24th book in the Joe Pickett series from C.J.Box, It is also the 23rd book I have read in the series. The only book in the series I haven’t read is Cold Wind. (Note to self read Cold Wind this year!). As a long-time fan of the series, while Three- Inch Teeth is one of his best books, it is for me one of the most disturbing.

About Three-Inch Teeth

The story begins when a rouge grizzly bear attacks and kills a fly fisherman in Joe Pickett’s territory. Everyone is surprised by the grizzly;s presence because they aren’t supposed to be in the area. The other surprise is the victim could have been Joe’s future son-in-law! read more

Robert Jon & the Wreck – Red Moon Rising

Red Moon Rising - Robert Jon & the Wreck

Ok yesterday I was browsing on Spotify when spotted a recommendation for me. The recommendation was for “Rager” a single release from Robert Jon & the Wreck. The single also included “Hate to See You Go” . After listening to the songs and liking them a lot I checked out their Spotify home page and saw they released a full album Red Moon Rising back in June of this year. So I decided to check it out! I liked it also and this morning it became the soundtrack for my granddaughter Emma’s walk! Here’s what I discovered about the band. read more

Tab Benoit – I Hear Music Soundtrack for a Dental Trip

So, I had a 35 minute drive Monday morning to get to a dental appointment, to have a wisdom tooth extracted. It was a good time to listen to one of the three blues albums that have been in my music rotation. I chose I Hear Thunder from Tab Benoit. And I’m glad I did! The more I listen to the album the more I like it

About Tab Benoit

If you are unfamiliar with Tab Benoit he is a Louisiana-based singer, guitarist, and environmental preservationist. His music has a Cajun-inflected blues-rock sound. While he first burst onto the blues music scene with his 1992 release Nice & Warm on the Vanguard label. I think I first found Tab Benoit’s music around 2010, when I started blogging.

The first album I picked up was Night Train to Nashville. I can remember listening to that album on my way to many a job site for my job. Since part of my job was delineating wetlands his music and actions to protect wetlands struck a chord with me.

Anyway, since then many of Tab’s album have found their way into my music library. The last one was Medicine released 13 years ago! Today, as I was researching for this post, I discovered the reason for the gap was tha Tab had to free himself from a horrible record deal with Justice Records.

Justice Records issued his first five albums. However, the label folded in the late ’90s. Tab’s contract and catalog transferred first to Vanguard, then Telarc, and finally Concord. All without his consent. Finally after releasing Medicine in 2011, he simply refused to issue another album without adequate compensation. read more

106 Miles to Chicago – The B Christopher Band – Keeps Me Running!

106 miles to Chicago - The B Christopher Band cover

The Nerdy Details as I Try to Start Running Again!

Ok so over the last two weeks I have semii-started to run again. I say semi because I have only run three times since July 26th. Oh, and I had a stress test on August 5th. The first two runs were actually run/walks. On both of those runs I basically ran a little and then walked a little.

On the July 26th run I covered 2.1 miles in 32:27. That calculates to a 15:30 min/mile pace. However, during the run I ran for 14:45 minutes and walked for 17:41 minutes.

Likewise on my July 28th run I walked and ran but did a little better. I covered 2.68 miles in 39:36 for a 14:46 min/mile pace. However, during this run I actually ran more than I walked. I ran for 21:29 minutes and walked for 18:04 minutes.

Finally, on my August 11 run I did better still. On that run I covered 2.16 miles in 32′:53 for a pace somewhat slower than the preceding runs. The final pace was !5:13 min/mile. The good thing though about this run was that I ran (ok,jogged) for 28:43 minutes while only walking for 4:07 minutes. I ran he whole first mile. Then I walked a quarter mile and almost ran the second mi le. Unfortunately I calculated how far I needed to run to get that last mile and came up a little short!

I’m planning on running again tomorrow morning and I’ll bore you with the details after the run! My goal may be to run for 30 minutes with no walking! Wish me luck!

The Soundtrack August 11 Run – The B Christopher Band

The soundtrack for the majority of the run was the latest release from The B Christopher Band – 106 Miles to Chicago. The last time an album from the B Christopher Band was used as a soundtrack for a run was back in 2019. when I was a soon to be 68-year -old. The run was a 4.16 mile run at an average pace of 10:28 min/mile. You can read about it here. Oh, how I long for those days!

About 106 Miles to Chicago

Anyway back to these days. Well I knew that there were a lot of old songs on this album like n”Hey,Bartender “{, “She caught the Katy”, Sweet Home Chicago” and “Gimme Some Lovin’.” But the reference to the Blues Brothers in the album’s title flew right over my head! Anyway here’s the quote that provided the title to this album that is a tribute to the Blues Brothers!

Elwood: It’s a hundred and six miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses. Jake: Hit it.

B Christopher is a fantastic guitarist and his band in this album is pretty dam good. It includes: Eddie Testa on lead vocals, Anton Fig on drums, Nick Douglas on bass and backing vocals. Bruce Katz on keys Andy Snizter on tenor and baritone sax, Ryan Keberle on trombone, Tony Kadleck on trumpet,Sharlotte Gibson provides backing vocals, and Studebaker John adds harmonica.

Additionally, Original Blues Brothers member Tom “Bones” Malone plays baritone sax on ‘Gimme Some Lovin’”,

The only bad thing about the album is it only contains seven songs. And it is only 26 minutes and change long! Anyway it is definitely and album that should be checked out!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Music of The B Christopher Band

Artist’s Website
Facebook
YouTube
Amazon

Here’s the opening track from 2106 miles to Chicago “Hey, Bartender”

Scott Carson – Lost Man’s Lane. His Best yet? Yes!

I have been a fan of author Michael Koryta ever since way back in 2003? And after two terrific books I am now a fan of his alter-ego Scott Carson. And I think Scott Carson’s latest release Lost Man’s Lane just may be Scott’s best novel. As such it also makes it Michael’s best!

The story grabbed me from the beginning, when Marshall Miller was pulled over by a policeman on the first time he took the car out after getting his license. The police man was very surly and while Marshall was receiving his ticket he noticed in his rear view mirror a young girl is sitting in the backseat of the police car looking terrified and crying. She was wearing a t-shirt of a restaurant that had closed years ago! read more

Village in the Dark – Iris Yamashita (Cara Kennedy Book#2)

Village in the Dark by Iris Yamashita is book number 2 in her Cara Kennedy series. It is a mystery thriller set in Alaska. Book 1 in the series is City Under One Roof. Cara Kennedy is an Anchorage Police Department Detective. She is on administrative leave after her husband and son disappear while on vacation in Point Mettier. Point Mettier is an isolated town where its residents all live in one high-rise. In book one Cara finds some of the answers to her husband and son’s disappearance and they weren’t pleasant. (I’m not spoiling things by telling you what she discovered). Anyway at the end of the book she makes another discovery that leads her back to Point Mettier to see if she can find the final answers! read more