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Life’s Soundtrack – Anders Osborne helps keep my Pace Up and the Effort Down with Peace!!

Well I proved tonight that Tuesday’s run was not just a result of having four days off!! I went into tonight’s run not expecting or really wanting to run as hard as I did on Tuesday! I had convinced myself that all I wanted to do was have a nice easy run. As I set out with those that thought in mind head and the music of Anders Osborne in my ears, I found myself holding a steady pace that was just under 10 minutes/mile and at times going down to 9:30 /mile. So I said ok let’s just let it roll and see where it ends up. Well it ended up again averaging under a 10 min/mile and only 2 seconds per mile slower than Tuesday run with an average pace of 9:53 per mile. So while I’m still not exactly where I want to be, I am running a lot faster and easier than I was back in August!! The music of Anders Osborne that was in my ears and the soundtrack of the run was his new release Peace. The album sits at number 4 on the Roots Music Report Roots Rock Chart, rising from number 25 last week. The first Anders Osborne album that became a part of my library was his 2010 release American Patchwork which I thought was terrific. That was followed into my collection by 2012’s Black-Eyed Galaxy, which was almost as good. Now comes Peace and I think this one’s as good as American Patchwork. While I liked it on my run, I enjoyed it even more listening to it a second time earlier tonight! So I can’t wait until I get to listen a few more times. After listening to and thinking about the personal struggles that form the foundation of his songwriting, I understand why….. read more

Life’s Soundtrack – A Positive Run and some Americana Music from Markus Rill!

So last night after work I ran. After the run I finished my post about Steve Strongman, I showered, went to the store, and then ate dinner. All the while I was thinking that I would write about the run in a few minutes. So as the minutes passed, my energy slowly slipped away and before long I was closer to sleep than coherent thoughts and writing!! Which is why I’m sitting here on Friday afternoon writing about it! I maintained a pretty fast pace (for me) throughout the run and my pace time continues to go down. There was one time during the run that I checked my pace and it was 9:06, so I sped up a little and sure enough the pace went under 9 minutes!! Unfortunately, I could only keep up that pace for a minute or less!! My pace, however, through the first three miles was just and shade over 10 minutes per mile!! And overall I ended the four-mile run in a time of 40:19 for an average pace of 10:05. I was a tired but happy camper!!! Now I couldn’t think of or find a Prog Rock album to use as the soundtrack for the run, so I selected an Americana album that I’ve been listening to over the last few days, My Rocket Ship from Markus Rill I really like this album. It’s full of great songs, husky, gravelly vocals from Rill and some fine music from his backing band The Troublemakers. Here’s some press from Markus’ website: “If voices were highways, Markus Rill’s would be gravel … like Steve Earle, Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams, Rill excels at songwriting” – PureMusic/USA “Europe’s premier Americana artist” – Rootstime/Belgium Yes, you read that last quote correctly, because… .. read more

Life’s Soundtrack – Another encouraging run aided by Thought Chamber’s Angular Perceptions

So I am considering a new rule that all run soundtracks should be progressive rock albums! Well maybe not each run, but at least the tempo runs! I was going to run last night, but I spent most of the day trudging around farm fields and woods in Mansfield Township looking for wetland flags and when I came home I just didn’t feel up to it. I went back to the same site today and finished up, but I was able to move the truck a little closer to where I needed to locate the wetland flags and as a result I was not as tired tonight and I was able to run. And run I did, it was a nice cool night and I was under 20 minutes for the first two miles. Then I was able to hold on fairly well, finishing the 4 mile run with an average pace of about 10:12 per mile! That was a slightly faster pace than my last run. Overall I am encouraged by the improvement, a lot of which is due to the cooler weather!! I guess it’s about time to add some intervals on the track to my work out schedule!! So Angular Perceptions, the 2007 release from an American progressive rock/metal band Thought Chamber was the soundtrack of the run. Thought Chamber formed in 2006 after guitarist/composer Michael Harris teamed up with Ted Leonard. who was the lead singer for the band Enchant. (My son Nick pointed out that Leonard is now also the lead singer for Spock’s Beard!) Angular Perceptions, was the result of their union and the album with showered with critical acclaim landing it a spot on Mike Portnoy’s list of top 20 albums of the year!! The band’s follow-up album Psykerion is due to be released next Tuesday Sept 30th!! The current line-up for the band includes: Ted Leonard – vocals Michael Harris – guitars, keyboards, vocals Mike Haid – drums Jeff Plant – bass Bill Jenkins – keyboards After listening to Michael Harris’ great guitar work coupled with his skills as a composer with Thought Chamber, I do believe I will be exploring his solo work’s discography!! Now the reason that Prog Rock is good for running is that it prog rock usually incorporates many tempo changes, fast to slow and back again.So I find myself during the run, speeding up and slowing down with the music.I really do think that I will to explore Prog during my runs and I already know an album that may be on the iPhone for next Tuesday or Wednesday’s run!! Can you guess which one it is???? Here’s track number two “Sacred Treasure” from Angular Perceptions! I am listening to this video as I type, and you know the other cool?? thing about Prog Rock, headphones, and running is that first the music is in my left ear, then the right, before settling in the middle!! read more

Life’s Soundtrack – An Afternoon of Football and Music from Jon Shain!

So today was good and bad, my son Andrew invited to come down to his house to watch the Eagles play. He has a much bigger and nice than mine and as a result of his wife’s efforts to cut their cable bill, he has the new Xfinity package with Red Zone, and yes Meaghan, that is a good thing!!Red Zone is perfect for Andrew who is a master of flipping channels!! Anyway that was the good! Thanks, Andrew and Meaghan. The bad was the Eagles lost the game!! But they are fun to watch, at least the offense!! The defense wouldn’t be bad if the could either cover the center of the field or get to the quarterback!! read more

Life’s Soundtrack A Good Slow Run with Katatonia!

So I ran again last night. I was going to go Sunday but the temperature topped out close to 90 degrees. The forecast for Monday had the high at 81, which is more in my comfort zone,so I waited.
Before I ran I created a new loop course that was around four miles and took of with Runmeter marking the miles and Katatonia, a progressive metal band in my ears. Overall the first three miles weren’t too bad then my heart rate. started going up, so I cut my pace back to keep it under 170! While the run seemed faster and easier, the overall pace was around that same 10:45 min per mile pace. Hey, it was still fairly warm and I did it and that’s what counts! read more

Life’s Soundtrack – Good Knees, Slow Run with Americana and ProgRock!

So for the last several weeks possibly a month I have been without my glucosamine and chondroitin pills and my knees have felt the effects, particularly when I go up and down the stairs. I think this is one of the reasons that I haven’t run as much over this time, maybe not consciously but on some level it’s made me feel less like running! Last Saturday I finally bought new pills and boy, what a difference after a few days my knees felt great going up and down the stairs and yesterday I actually felt like running! I still suck but a least my knees feel good today!! While I didn’t feel bad throughout the run I did though have to keep slowing down to keep my heart rate down! I finished a 3.8 mile run just a little faster than last time with an average pace just under 10:30 per mile! Just building miles!! read more

Life’s Soundtrack – A tough run – but an Introduction to Pendragon makes it better!

This year has been a bad running year, I just find myself finding other things to do than ponding the pavement. But today I talked myself into getting out there and running for only the second time this month! I don’t know if it’s because my knees don’t feel right or I’m disappointed in how slowly I run. What I really have to do is just remember that Nike slogan and “Just Do It!” Like I’ve done over the last few runs is plot out a new course one where I get to run over the same roads, just in a different order! My time over the 3.6 mile course was about 10 minutes per mile for the first mile or two and then 11 minutes over the last two for an average of 10:30. Again I will repeat my mantra, I just need to build miles and maybe the speed will come around! read more

Life’s Soundtrack – Part 1 – Cal Scott – Carved Wood Box

So last night as I worked burning, washing and sieving asphalt and its component parts, I listened to two fine folk albums. The first was the latest release from Cal Scott Carved Wood Box and the second was Walk Along John from Canadian mandolin virtuoso John Reischman. Currently, Cal Scott’s album is number 29 on the Folk DJ Chart and Reischman is number 4!

According to his website, Cal Scott is..

a singer/songwriter and composer of music for film and television. A master of many styles, his specialty is scoring to picture: creating the right music to tell the story. In addition to his dramatic orchestrations, he has developed a feel for folk music of many cultures, helping a film establish a sense of place and time. read more

Ana Popovic – Can You Stand the Heat

Today I traveled over the Burlington-Bristol Bridge and out Street Road to the Costco in Warminster,Pa. The reason I traveled all that way today was to see about getting new hearing aids! Why go to Costco? – well their cost for hearing aids is one-half price of their competitors! I will be getting two aids for less than the price I paid for one! Not only do I get a great deal but it’s from a company that pays their employees a decent wage and makes money!! The soundtrack for the trip was the new album from Serbian born Ana Popovic, Can You Stand the Heat Now if you like some great guitar with your blues, who doesn’t then you can’t go wrong with Ana! As I reviewed her biography tonight at her website, I saw some interesting facts! read more

Life’s Soundtrack – A Good Run with Prog Rockers Spock’s Beard!

So last night I came home last night and wasn’t sure whether I was going to run. I expressed that sentiment to my wife who reminded me that I feel better when I run! So that was the nudge that I needed to get me on the road. When I started my legs felt really good, and for the first time in a long time I didn’t feel like turning around and going home within the first half-mile! I hit the first mile mark in about 9:45 and the held on to average 10:02 per mile for the rest of the run! While my heart rate is still above where I’d like it throughout the run the good thing is that it’s almost under 100 within 5 minutes after the run! Now I just have to work on getting two more days per week in consistently! The soundtrack for the run was last year’s live album from Spock’s Beard, The X Tour Live. Now I have stayed away from Spock’s Beard because it’s one of my sons favorite bands. I know that should make me want to listen to the band, but somehow it has the opposite effect on me – now it may just be that I enjoy being contrary or that I’m afraid I won’t like them! Anyway the fear of not liking them has been removed! I thoroughly enjoyed the album. Now over this may not be the band that Andrew loves, because the band has had many personnel changes over the last ten years. The biggest being the departure of founding member Neal Morse. Morse founded the band in 1992 along with his brother Alan. left the band in 2002 to focus on his solo career. Therefore, the album “Feel Euphoria” released in 2003 was a new beginning. The band released Octane in 2005 and a self-titled release in 2006. They released the album X in 2010. The album that I listened to was The X Tour Live. Jimmy KEEGAN provided some additional vocals on that release and later followed the band on the promotional tour for the new material. After the release of X Nick D’VIRGILIO left the band to concentrate on his solo career. The line-up for the X Tour Live was: Nick D’Virgilio / vocals, drums, guitar Dave Meros / bass Alan Morse / guitar Ryo Okumoto / keyboards Jimmy Keegan/ tour drums The line-up for their latest 2013 release Brief Nocturnes And Dreamless Sleep is: ( I listened to parts of that album today) Alan Morse / Guitar & Vocals Dave Meros / Bass, Bass Pedals, Keyboards & Vocals Ryo Okumoto / Keyboards & Vocals Ted Leonard / Lead Vocals & Guitar Jimmy Keegan / Drums & Vocals Anyway, the run only got me through the first five songs on the album. The two tracks that really stood out for me were “From the Darkness” and “The Man Behind the Curtain” I’m listening to the album now and the track “On a Perfect Day” is on and it sounds great! Overall, the album has a 3.55 rating at the ProgArchives and is labeled as an excellent addition to any Prog Rock collection and the novice says: I agree. Now Andrew, you have to tell me what earlier albums to listen to, when Neal Morse lead the band! Here is a performance of the aforementioned “On a Perfect Day” read more

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