Home Articles posted by Ekkarn (Page 45)

Books that “Rocked Your World”!

This morning is was thinking about reading and books that “Rocked your world”, well maybe not rock your world, but those that opens your eyes, maybe make you see the world in a new light. Books that touch you! One of the first books of mine that came to mind was, Jonathan Kozol’s Death at an Early Age. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve read but I remember at the time, this book revealed conditions that I really didn’t know existed and I remember being so touched by Kozol’s actions! Just recently that’s what Stones into Schools did…

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Book 17 of 2013 – The Imperial Cruise – James Bradley

In 1905 Theodore Roosevelt sent the largest diplomatic mission in US across the Pacific to Asia. The mission was led by his Secretary of War William Howard Taft and the group included his daughter Alice.  James Bradley’s book about this mission The Imperial Cruise is Book 17 of 2013. During the trip Taft on Roosevelt’s behalf negotiated a series of secret agreements – which were unconstitutional – that laid the groundwork for future Japanese actions over the next 30-40 years. The details of these agreements remained secret until after Roosevelt’s death and really have been absent from history books. The book…

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A Good Music Day ends in Knight Area from the Netherlands!

Yesterday was a Blues and Prog Rock day I. started the day listening to the new album Seesaw from Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa. This was my first listen to the album and. I liked what I heard!  Beth Hart’s strong blues voice and Joe’s powerful guitar are a perfect match! This album will get played a lot over the next  week! Next up were a couple of tracks from a blues album that I’ve been listening to lately Knockin’ Around These Blues from John Primer and Bob Corritore. You’ll be hearing more about this album in the next week!…

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Book 16 of 2013 Parnell Hall’s – Stakeout

There are several mystery characters in mystery series  that make me laugh, but two stand out first there’s Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum and secondly there’s Parnell Hall’s Stanley Hastings. Stanley’s latest caper Stakeout is Book 16 of 2013.. Stakeout is the 18th book in the series that I started reading in 1991! Like all the others this one is a fine caper, which had me out laughing out loud on more than one occasion! The Washington Post Book World says this about the series: “The charm in Stanley Hastings lies in his chummy, loquacious, self-deprecating commentary as the narrator of his adventures”…

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Morning Music from Ten Foot Polecats- Do That Thing!!

So yesterday I listened to a blues band, whose name caught my eye on the Roots Music Report Blues Chart, the Ten Foot Polecats Their latest release Undertow debuted on the Chart at 49.I think it should have a bullet next to it!! I’ll write more later, but here’s what they say about their music on their website: Their sound, though hard to define, has been referred to as “punk-blues”, “gutbucket soul”and “explosive stomp and groove”. This high-octane trio from Boston, MA has been touring the country for the past five years, taking their unique form of roots music (influenced by…

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An Unexpected Surprise on a Trip to the Library – A Book Sale!

When I was thinking this morning about last Thursday night’s  visit to the library, where the spring book sale was in progress, my thoughts went to the old Dorothy Parker quote. When asked by Franklin P Adams to use horticulture in a sentence, she responded “You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think!”. Now my thought was slightly different, it went something like, you can lead a book junkie to a book sale but you can’t expect him to come home empty-handed! Alas, Edward did not, but I did limit myself to spending only $5.00! Here’s what…

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Cotton Mouth Man from Mr Super Harp James Cotton

You know James Cotton’s career has spanned 69 years and his new release Cotton Mouth Man proves that there’s no quit in the man! Way back in the late 60s, the rock music scene was still in its infancy, young folks wanted to know where rock music came from Muddy Waters and Brownie McGhee told them in a song they co-wrote, “The Blues Had a Baby and They Called It Rock and Roll”. According to Cotton’s website: This song was on the “Hard Again” album on the Blue Sky label featuring Muddy on vocals and guitar, Johnny Winter on guitar,…

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2013 Blues – Cotton Mouth Man from Mr Super Harp James Cotton

You know James Cotton’s career has spanned 69 years and his new release Cotton Mouth Man proves that there’s no quit in the man! Way back in the late 60s, the rock music scene was still in its infancy, young folks wanted to know where rock music came from Muddy Waters and Brownie McGhee told them in a song they co-wrote, “The Blues Had a Baby and They Called It Rock and Roll”. According to Cotton’s website: This song was on the “Hard Again” album on the Blue Sky label featuring Muddy on vocals and guitar, Johnny Winter on guitar,…

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Today in Music: Birthdays for Robert Johnson and Joe Bonamassa – Very interesting?

  So how would you like to be a blues artist and share a birthday with the great Robert Johnson? Well if you’d like to know, just ask Joe Bonamassa. Robert Johnson was born on this date in 1911 and 66 years later along come Joe! Hum, Joe was a child prodigy. He caught the ear of the great B.B. King at the age of ten, King said at the time: “This kid’s potential is unbelievable. He hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface. He’s one of a kind.” By the time he was 12, Bonamassa was opening shows for…

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New Blues Coming – James Cotton – Cotton Mouth Man!

So I was checking out the newly released albums today at New Releases Now and I see that the great James Cotton has a new release Cotton Mouth Man. James Cotton (born July 1, 1935, Tunica, Mississippi, United States)[1] is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band. Cotton began his professional career playing the blues harp in Howlin’ Wolf’s band in the early 1950s.[3] He made his first recordings as a solo artist for the Sun Records…

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