Fairport Convention - Kitchen Listening

Kitchen Listening. Fairport Convention. Meet on the Edge: The Classic Years 1967-1975, 1999. A nice two and a half hour set from one of my favorite British folk bands covering their peak years. I have quite a few of their albums in my collection including several compilation and live sets and they have influenced my musical taste over the years. This band also included two of my favorite singer/songwriters... Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny. I was fortunate to see this band live several times in 1969 and 1970 and the last concert I saw them was in 1975 at the Phila. Academy of Music when Sandy Denny rejoined the band. I've also attended solo shows from both Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny.

Still Life - A Novel

Still Life - Sarah Winman, 2021. Just finished reading this amazing and beautifully written novel of historical fiction with some incredibly developed characters and narrative. The story takes place during and after World War II and is mostly located in London and Florence.

This book was hard to put down and I read it in about ten days. The parrot was one of my favorite characters.

Kate Atkinson - Authors List

Kate Atkinson - Authors List. Her first novel I read was Life After Life in 2014. I then read a second book in that series. Then sometime last year I came across a review of an earlier series of her Jackson Brodie detective crime novels and I then read three books in that series which I enjoyed very much. I also liked that they are set in Edinburgh Scotland.

• Life After Life, 2013 - Mar 2014
• A God in Ruins, 2015 - May 2016
• Case Histories, 2004 - Mar 2025
• One Good Turn, 2006 - Apr 2025
• When Will There Be Good News?, 2008 - Jul 2025

Robyn Hitchcock - Kitchen Listening

Robyn Hitchcock - Kitchen Listening. I started off with his first solo album from 1981 and then followed it up with the next three albums. I ended the set with his live album Gotta Let This Hen Out from 1985.

Very interesting and quirky music. I recently started reading his memoir 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left, 2024 which I am enjoying very much.

• Black Snake Diamond Role, 1981
• Groovy Decay, 1982
• I Often Dream of Trains, 1984
• Fergamania!, 1985
• Gotta Let This Hen Out (Live), 1985

Ray Charles - Kitchen Listening

Ray Charles - Kitchen Listening. The Birth of Soul: The Complete Atlantic Rhythm and Blues Recordings, 1991. A 3 CD box set of his years recording with Atlantic Records 1952 to 1959. We've been listening to this collection over the past couple of days and just finished it this evening.

I was surprised at how many of these songs were so familiar. He had a tremendous amount of crossover hits during his career. Becky and I both really enjoyed listening to this collection which ran for about two and a half hours.

Ray Charles was a musical icon during my early years of listening to the radio. We heard him all the time. He was also on a lot of TV variety shows like Ed Sullivan.

I'm looking forward to a couple of additional sessions. One with a 2 CD Rhino collection that covers his career through the 1990's and another collection of his country western albums.

The Swerve - A History

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern - Stephen Greenblatt, 2011. A book I came across while browsing in the stacks of an academic library. It was a fascinating story of an ancient book, "On the Nature of Things", and it's influence on writers, thinkers, artists, etc. during the Renaissance after being lost for a thousand years. The return of the book changed the course of history and revolutionized the understanding of the modern world. It also made a huge impact on religion. It was like a trip back to 1417. 

Dinner @ Shango

Wonderful dinner tonight at Shango. Blackened Catfish Po Boy with Cajun Remoulade, Fried Shrimp Po Boy. Both with Creole Slaw and incredible Sweet Potato Fries too. And of course Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo with White Rice to start.

I had a nice glass of Broken Heels IPA from New Trail Brewery.

We always love going to Shango and this evening was no different. We've had this particular dinner many times and we looked forward to having it again when we decided to come here.

When we were leaving our house we were surprised by the amount of traffic on our street. It really took us a lot longer than usual to back out of our driveway because of the traffic. Then we saw that there was heavy traffic all throughout the neighborhood and all the streets were parked up. We had forgotten that today was the Corporate Challenge in Delaware Park and every year on a Thursday evening in the middle of June we have to deal with this situation in our neighborhood. It's crazy. Well, we got out of the driveway and made it over to Shango for our nice dinner anyway.

James Blood Ulmer - Kitchen Listening Blues

Another set of James Blood Ulmer - Kitchen Listening. Starts out with a live album from 1984 and then gets into his serious blues playing. 

• Part Time, 1984
• Blues Allnight, 1989
• Forbidden Blues, 1998
• Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions, 2001
• No Escape from The Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions, 2003
• Rock In Blues, 2015

Camilla Trinchieri - Authors List

Camilla Trinchieri - Authors List. I've read 5 books in her Tuscan Mystery series over the past few years. 

I especially love the food and wine aspect of this murder series and the ex-NYPD detective turned amateur chef involvement in the local scene.

They're all great and I'm looking forward to another one. 

• Murder in Chianti, 2020 - Jun 2023
• The Bitter Taste of Murder, 2021 - Nov 2023
• Murder on the Vine, 2022 - Feb 2024
• The Road to Murder, 2024 - Aug 2024
• Murder in Pitigliano, 2025 - Nov 2025

James Blood Ulmer - Kitchen Listening

Spent some time over the past couple of days listening to James Blood Ulmer from albums in my collection including some vinyl. These were from his early years 1979 to 1983. I saw him in 1983 at The Tralf, a small rock/jazz/folk club, in downtown Buffalo. He was awesome. I've always loved his unique guitar playing.

This set of music ran for nearly three hours.

• Tales of Captain Black, 1979
• Are You Glad To Be In America?, 1980
• Free Lancing, 1981
• Black Rock, 1982
• Odyssey, 1983