Past Reads: May 1987 – A First Encounter with Loren Estleman’s – Amos Walker!

So let’s all  go ….down to Dumas Walker!

No, no oh, yea of afflicted with ADD – Amos Walker not Dumas! you duma-ass…..

Motor City BlueOk so when I looked back at the actual dates in my Book Journal, I see that the first book listed IS actually Motor City Blue by Loren Estleman. The book was first released in 1980, and by that time Estleman was already up to book 6, but I went back and started at the beginning. It appears, I was underwhelmed! Read More

Past Reads: Blood Music – Sci Fi from one of the Best – Greg Bear

Since 1987 I have kept track of the books that I read. From 1987 through 2004 I kept hand written notes about the books, name, title, date read and a little blurb about the book. Between 2004 and 2010, I kept track of the books at Goodreads.com. From 2010, I ‘ve  kept my bookshelf at Goodreads and also posted at this site. Since this site is about the books I read and have read, I thought that I’d go back and start posting about the older books I’ve read. This will allow me to make more complete profiles of the various authors that I read. This post is the start of  posts about older books. Read More

Into the Morning with Ruf Record’s – Thorbjorn Risager “Precious Time”

Thorbjorn RisagerOne of the albums that has been on the iPhone for the last day or so is the new album from Thorbjorn Risager Too Many Roads. I have only given it a couple of listens, but so far I like what I hear. I hope to listen in a little more detail tomorrow and maybe even get to write a little more about Thorbjorn and the album, but for this early morning let’s just get a little taste of his music! Here’s a performance of the song “Precious Time”, Gotta love the band, sax, trumpet, organ ….and more…. Read More

Remembering S.I. Hayakawa (July 18, 1906 – February 27, 1992) and the San Francisco State College Strike!

SIHayakawaWhen I started reading Subversives by Seth Rosenfeld, I read that Clark Kerr was the president of the University of California, which started me thinking where did S.I. Hayakawa fit into the picture. I remembered him being involved in student demonstrations in California.  I even went to the index of the book to look for his name. Well today on 108th anniversary of Mr Hayakawa’s birthday I found out that I was in the right church (California) and the wrong pew (Berkeley). What I didn’t remember was that Mr Hayakawa was the President of  San Francisco State University during those turbulent years from 1968 to 1973. Some background on S.I. Hayakawa…. Read More

Night and Evening Thoughts about Yodeling??? An Art best forgotten?? Never! Well, maybe?

We'll Sing in the SunshineLast night after I came home from a run, I sat down at the computer and was trying to get back to normal, when my wife asked if I had watched the new parody video from Weird Al “Word Crimes”yet. I said that I hadn’t,  she made me come out and watch the video. The video is very funny and probably funnier if you know the Robin Thicke song, which I don’t and never will, because I can not stand Robin Thicke. Shortly after that, my wife said,  she now had the song stuck in her head. That set my mind to wondering about songs that get stuck in my head. The one that popped up was Gale  Garnett’s “We’ll Sing in the Sunshine”. So I went to Youtube to find a video of the song, which I did, from the 1964 Grammy Awards, but I didn’t like the video so I didn’t post it. But if you want you can watch it here.  Read More

A Captured Joan of Arc-handed over to Pierre Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais. July 14, 1430!

On this date in the year 1430,  a peasant girl, the daughter of Jacques d’Arc and Jona of ArcIsabelle Romée, known as Joan of Arc, was handed over by the English-allied Burgundian faction to the English and the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon. She would be held prisoner and then put on trial and eventually burned at the stake. From Wikipedia. Joan of Arc Read More