Home Articles posted by Ekkarn (Page 29)

Brandon Santini – Live & Extended!

Brandon Santini – Live & Extended! I love blues harmonica! I guess it stems back to listening to guys like John Mayall, Sonny Terry, Paul Butterfield and Sonny Boy Williamson in the 70s. Over the years, the list of my favorite harp players has grown to include: James cotton, Jason Ricci, Kim Wilson, Mark Hummel, Rick Estrin and others. One player who is quickly moving up the ranks of my favorites is Memphis’ Brandon Santini!! With a sound that has been compared to Mister Cotton and Mister Butterfield, this native of the Piedmont region of North Carolina is staking his…

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February Reads – 1995 – Bill Pronzini and more!

Novels from Bill Pronzini, Frank McConnell and Vince Kohler….   Tonight I started thinking about books that I’ve read, and decided to look at my Goodreads Bookshelf to see what books I finished in February of 1995, 20 years ago,yeah right!  On February 04, 1995, I finished Liar’s Poker:A Harry Garnish Mystery from Frank McConnell, the 21st I finished Vince Kohler’s  Banjo Boy and on the 25th, I finished Shackles a Nameless Detective Mystery by Bill Pronzini. Of the three Shackles was my probably my favorite. While I don’t remember all of the details I do remember that it was a…

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Revelation Space – Alastair Reynolds

Alastair Reynolds  – Revelation Space (Book 7 of 2015)   So as I was coming to the end of Alastair Reynold’s Revelation Space when I thought to myself; which character am I rooting for?? I image that it’s supposed to be Dan Sylveste, who throughout the book has been obsessed with the Amarantin civilization. A civilization that was destroyed 900,000 years ago! Sylveste has spent a lifetime on Resurgam trying to uncover what happened to the Amarantin civilization. From what he has uncovered it appeared that The Event that destroyed their civilization occurred shortly after the civilization had achieved space flight! I don’t…

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More Treasures from The Princeton Record Exchange!

A Trip to the Princeton Record Exchange Yields Seven New Treasures!   So on Wednesday night, my son Nicholas and I went bargain-hunting at the Princeton Record Exchange, armed with our Christmas Gift Cards. I had a $25.00 gift card from my birthday back in October,plus my $25.00 Christmas gift card. I came home with 13 CDs and my $25.00 Christmas gift card! Six of the thirteen albums were from the Cheap Jazz album shelves and you can read about them here. Of the remaining seven, four are Alt-Country/Folk albums, two blues albums and one New Age album. Here they…

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CARPE LIBRUM TBR PILE CHALLENGE 2015 ! I signed up!

So I haven’t made any New Year’s Resolutions yet, because like many people I don’t think they work. You make the resolutions stick to them in January and by February you’re back to being your old self. What I want to do is to take my time look at where I want to go, how I want to improve myself and then make monthly type goals ala The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. One thing I do know that I want to do is improve this blog…one way to do that I think is to make it more personal. More…

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Mystery Series Update: Books to Read to Start Three Great Series

As I looked down the list of Nook books that were on sale yesterday at Barnes & Noble I saw three books that are on my to be read (TBR) shelves, so here are those mystery series first books!! Maybe I’ll get to them this year!! 1. The Monkey’s Raincoat – Elvis Cole and Joe Pike – Robert Crais – I have read many of the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike books and the stand alone Joe Pike books. Holmes had Watson, Bolitar has Win, Joe Pickett has Nate Romanowski and ELvis Cole has Joe Pike, his right-hand man who can always…

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Steve Krase: Buckle Up

 Buckle Up for a rockin’ blues ride from Steve Krase! The title of the new album from Steve Krase is Buckle Up (featuring Trudy Lynn) and that’s just what you should do before you listen to the album!  Buckle up and get ready for a wild ride!  The worst thing about the ten track album is that it’s only 39 minutes long! The album had me from the opening rocker “Jolene” right on through to the closing track – an instrumental titled  “Now”, and there were not many times during the album that my feet were not in motion! About Steve Krase…

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Steve Krase: Buckle Up – for a rockin’ blues ride!!

The title of the new album from Steve Krase is Buckle Up (featuring Trudy Lynn) and that’s just what you should do before you listen to the album!  Buckle up and get ready for a wild ride!  The worst thing about the ten track album is that it’s only 39 minutes long! The album had me from the opening rocker “Jolene” right on through to the closing track – an instrumental titled  “Now”, and there were not many times during the album that my feet were not in motion! Buckle Up is the second album from Krase, who was born in New…

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Exploring the Chicago Blues of Lurrie Bell

Last year 2013 was a great year for Chicago Blues artist Lurrie Bell. Bell, the son of the great blues harpist Carey Bell released one of his most successful solo albums, Blues in My Soul.  Blues in My Soul, released on the Delmark label, was Bell’s return to electric blues after two albums which saw him playing in acoustic and religious styles. Lurrie Bell’s return was positively received by the blues community,  the Blues Foundation nominated him for five 2014 Blues Music Awards, and Lurrie won the 2013 Living Blues Award as the Male Blues Act of the Year! Here are Lurrie…

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1990 – I discovered William G. Tapply’s Brady Coyne and Elizabeth was born! A great year!

I started to keep track of the books that I read  in 1988. I kept record of themin   A Book Lover’s Journal  and wrote short blurbs about the books. Here is a list of the 54 books that I read in 1990. That’s the most books read of any year, since I’ve   kept records! Reviewing the list, I see that it was the year I discovered William G Tapply’s Brady Coyne. After reading  Dead Winter, the eighth book in the series, which was released in 1989, I quickly went back and read the prior seven books! Tapply wrote…

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