Abandoned Luncheonette - Hall & Oates in Concert

I first saw Hall & Oates in concert at the Main Point in July 1974. They were still touring the Abandoned Luncheonette album which was released in very late 1973.  John and I went there on a warm summer night to that small hot coffeehouse music club. The band was very tight and the music was awesome. They also played some songs with a little harder rock sound from their upcoming War Babies album which would be released at the end of the year.

I had already owned their album Abandoned Luncheonette and it was on very heavy rotation in our house on Seymour Street with both John and I both playing it regularly. It was, and still is, one of my favorite albums. 

John and I were going out and seeing a lot of music together from late 1973 into 1976. We still saw a few bands after that but not nearly as much as those first few years after I got out of the Navy. We would see Hall & Oates again a few months later at the Tower Theater opening for Lou Reed. At that time they were touring their War Babies album.

Glass of Beer - Lager For The Lakes

Enjoyed a wonderful lager from Bell's Brewery aptly named Lager For The Lakes. This is one of those very drinkable nice lagers.

Bells has been one of our favorite breweries since we first discovered it while visiting Katie and Todd in Michigan so many years ago. Then a few years later it was suddenly available in Buffalo. 

8,000 Tons of Salt

The first winter weather advisory of the season has been issued for the city of Buffalo this morning. On the news they said there were 8 tons of salt ready for the roads of Buffalo along with about 50 plows. I guess I should get my snow shovel out of the basement.

Only one day left in November and we came close to having a snowless month. First time in a long while for a November. Tomorrow, the last day of the month, is supposed to be partly sunny and 45 degrees which is more of what we had throughout the month this year. It had been an unusually pleasant November this year and not like the recent past.

The rest of the weekend is supposed to be rainy and then more snow as the week progresses. We are hoping to be able to drive over to Sean and Ashley's next weekend to see our new baby granddaughter but we will have to see how things go.

But today there is about an inch or so of snow on the ground here but a lot more just south of the city. The snow advisory expires at 9 am. Then I will do a little cleanup. Becky is going over to CVS to get her vaccine booster shot. Then it will snow a little more this evening around the time I will be putting out the trash.

Also this morning Becky and I were both woken up by a murder of crows. At first I thought there was a flock of birds flying overhead and passing by but it went on too long and too loud. I looked out the back window and the trees in our backyard were filled with black crows making loud squawking sounds. 

Diamond Dogs - David Bowie in Concert

Another album, another artist, another live show at the time. Diamond Dogs - David Bowie in Concert at the Tower Theater The album Diamond Dogs was on the radio all the time in Philly following the Aladdin Sane and Ziggy Stardust album. He was big. I deeply regret having only gone to one Bowie concert when I had other opportunities.

John, my friend and housemate at the time, and I saw David Bowie perform at the Tower Theater in July 1974. He played 6 shows in 6 days at the Tower. I don't remember which day we went. It was a fantastic show and we enjoyed every minute of it. These series of concerts were recorded and became the source material for the David Live album released later in 1974.

So why didn't I go see him again. I really wanted to on his Station To Station Tour in 1976 and then again after the Berlin Trilogy in the late 70's. Also many other times over the years. I had stopped going to large venue concerts in hocky arenas and stadiums. None. Ever again after 1975. I was just very tired and disappointed with those big fancy shows. I liked clubs and small venues like theaters. To me the largest venue was someplace like the Tower Theater or Shea's Buffalo.  I would go to some occasional larger shows outside like on a waterfront or downtown square but I was done with the big arena concerts. I'd much rather see up and coming artists than jam into a hockey arena to see tiny people far away on a stage or have to be satisfied watching them on a big TV screen. I was done with all that at a very early age but I continued to go to shows for the rest of my life.

The Bitter Taste of Murder - Book

The Bitter Taste of Murder by Camilla Trinchieri, 2021

What a great title for a murder mystery novel. Just finished this today. I read this wonderful book in about a week. This is the follow-up to her previous novel Murder in Chianti which I also read in about a week in June of this year. Both books are set in the Tuscan region of Italy. 

This book is about the murder by poison of a prominent wine critic about a year after the previous murder that former NYC detective Nico Doyle helped to solve. Now he's at it again. I really enjoyed this book and it was a quick read with plenty of descriptions of wine and food in the Tuscan countryside restaurants which embellish the story. There are two more books in the series now and I will get to them soon. 

Boy - U2 in Concert

Here is another in my series about albums in my collection when I saw the artist perform the music from the album around the time it was released. The first of several times we saw U2 was at Uncle Sam's in Cheektowaga in May 1981 while they were touring the Boy album. The opening act was the local band Pauline & The Perils. This was my first time at Uncle Sam's which was mostly a hard rock club in the burbs. We were surprised at how young the members of U2 were. They really did look like a bunch of teenagers on the stage... especially Bono. 

They played and sounded great and it was a very good show. Some of the staff at the record store Play It Again Sam's convinced us to go check out this band after we bought the Boy album. It was definitely worth it. One funny thing was that the band really didn't have enough material for a show of their craft and abilities. They ran out of songs and had to play several songs over again during their encore. 

We would see U2 later in 1981 at Uncle Sam's again on their October Tour and then in 1983 at Shea's Buffalo on their War Tour.

Happy Birthday Clara - #5

We celebrated our granddaughter Clara's fifth birthday at our house on Saturday along with her other grandparents Dick and Iris. So we had a nice family gathering with Katie and Todd along with Henry, Clara and Violet. Her birthday was actually on Sunday but since that was the day they were driving back to Philly they decided to celebrate her birthday the day before.

Katie and Todd wanted dinner from Kostas so they took care of ordering the food. We had a table full of their classic menu choices including chicken souvlaki, spanakopita, moussaka, pastitso, greek potatoes, pita bread, and greek salad. Iris brought over a fresh fruit salad and Katie baked a chocolate pudding pie by special request from the birthday girl. 

We had a wonderful time and we especially enjoyed Clara opening her birthday presents although she did have a moment when she thought she wasn't getting what she wanted but fortunately that was a brief moment. Clara then loved her gifts. Violet loved them too and especially that special doll. 

Everyone loved Katie's birthday pie. Clara took care of the candles. 

It's hard to believe she is turning five years old. She's looking forward to going back to school next week to celebrate her birthday with her classmates and her mother baking cupcakes for the class.

Bitches Brew - Miles Davis in Concert

Another post in my series about albums in my collection when I saw the artist perform the music from the album around the time it was released. Miles Davis on his Bitches Brew Tour. I saw her perform the Bitches Brew album at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago in the summer of 1970. It was a great show with an amazing lineup of musicians in his band.

I was stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Base at the time and regularly took the train down to Chicago on weekends to see live music. I would stay at the YMCA

where they had special USO supported rooms from where I could walk over the Aragon Ballroom to see concerts. I saw a lot of bands during the months at Great Lakes. I believe the opening acts for the Miles Davis show were a couple of rock bands that day including the Steve Miller Band but I couldn't verify it. I saw a lot of bands around that time in that venue and also the Chicago Auditorium and over at the waterfront park.

Bells Mix Pack 2023

Becky came home from grocery shopping the other with a 12 can variety mix pack from Bells Brewery. Bells has always been one of our favorite breweries from Michigan. We became very familiar with their beers when Katie and Todd were living in Ann Arbor.

This particular mix pack contained two of their classic beers... Two Hearted IPA and Bells Oberon. It also had two beers I wasn't familiar with. Lager For The Lakes and Change of Heart Experimental IPA. I'm looking forward to trying them out and happy to have a couple of my old favorites around the house.

Thanksgiving Dinner @ Dan & Barbara's

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Dan and Barbara Schifeling's house. Normally we would have gone over to Dave and Donna's for the holiday meal but they decided to travel to New York City to spend the weekend with Jim and Cassie and there grandson Sonny. They took Mary with them also.

Katie and Todd had the Schifeling's invite us to their home for Thanksgiving dinner. We had been there once before for Thanksgiving about five or six years ago at another time when D & D couldn't do the dinner. They were very welcoming then and they were this time too.

They had 28 people at their home for Thanksgiving dinner with three tables set up. The guests mingled throughout the house but of course the kitchen was the center of activity most of the evening. We had a good time talking with the many different people. Of course we spent some time with Dick and Iris and talked at length with Dietrich along with Diedre and Peter from DC. We enjoyed talking with their two teenage daughters too. Their 9 year old boy has grown so much since we last saw them. Henry latched on to him throughout the night.

Our grandkids Henry, Clara and Violet had a nice time and Violet especially was the belle of the ball. She just loved being the center of attention and walked around the party greeting everybody, doing high-fives and fist bumps. Everyone loved it. The kids loved having both sets of grandparents together.

We would love to spend some time with Dan and Barbara and asked them about making arrangements to go out to dinner after the holidays. We didn't get to talk with Dan very much because he was so busy in the kitchen both before and after the meal. Barbara we did talk for a bit but it would be nice to spend some quality time with them like maybe at The Place or Trattoria Aroma.

Indigenous Continent - Book

Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America by Pekka Hamalainen, 2022

When I was reading this book I didn't realize that November was officially Native American Heritage Month and here I was reading two studies of American history by indigenous scholars. I have previously just read Ned Blackhawk's Rediscovery of America.

This book explains how the American history that we were taught in school and that had been taken as the standard long accepted truthful account of the "discovery" of America was actually based on myth and distortion. The so-called conquest of the "new world" was the centuries long onslaught of racist genocide and greed. 

The author explores the fascinating world of Native nations who dominated the North American continent for centuries after the first European arrivals. It was interesting to get a more realistic understanding of the various colonial powers scrambling amongst themselves to claim a vast continent controlled by indigenous nations. The author describes a so called "colonial America" actually being an Indigenous America that only very gradually and slowly over several centuries became colonial. He destroys many false claims about colonial America.

The book is very well written and researched. It was a staggering revelation of American history.

Autumn Catherine Emery

Our newest granddaughter Autumn Catherine Emery was born today. She and Ashley are doing well. Around 5:30 this morning I got a text from Ashley that her water had broken and they were heading to the hospital. The baby was born around 9:30 am. She is a healthy 6lbs 12ozs. Sean is a happy daddy with his new daughter.

I got a flashback to the morning when Violet was born nearly two years ago when we got a morning call that the baby was early. That time we had to get into the car and drive down to Philly on a cold December morning to take care of Henry and Clara who had been dropped off at a neighbors house. Fortunately for Sean and Ashley they have her dad living with them so he could take care of Andrew when they rushed off to the hospital for the birth of his sister.

We will drive over to their home sometime over the next couple of weeks to see Autumn. Probably the 7th or 8th of December and stay the weekend.

Katie, Todd, Henry, Clara and Violet should be here with us in about an hour and a half. They will be staying at our house for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Glass of Beer - Green Heart

Over the past couple of days we have been getting the house ready for the Thanksgiving holiday visit of Katie, Todd and the kids. Now this evening we are all done cleaning rooms and putting things away, etc. and time to relax a little. I just poured myself a glass of beer from the Resurgence Brewing 12 pack that Becky got me earlier this week. I'm enjoying a Green Heart New England Hazy IPA. This is my first time having this beer and it is delicious. 

I'm also toasting our new granddaughter who is scheduled for delivery early next week. Sean called Becky earlier today and announced that the baby's name will be Autumn Catherine Emery. A beautiful name and we are so excited.

I was also just upstairs getting a book off the shelf. I wanted to read some of the short stories of Irish myth that I occasionally look at. Then I found the box of multiplication flash cards on the shelf near the book. I never knew we had them. It's really interesting to come up with these cards because a few days ago our seven year old grandson Henry announced on his Christmas wish list that he wanted to learn multiplication and division. Wow, what a kid. He loves his various Pokemon cards and some other trading cards. I wonder what he will think when I give him these multiplication cards tomorrow.

More Than I Can Do - Back Porch FV

More songs on the back porch. I used to refer to these mixes as the Porch Sittin' group. A mix of country, folk and Americana country rock. This one here is mostly songs from the 1990's and 2000's in my collection with that country rock feel. Now they are part of my Back Porch Final Version series.

More Than I Can Do - Back Porch FV

1. More Than I Can Do – Steve Earle, 1996
2. I’m Gonna Make You Love Me – The Jayhawks, 2009
3. Tennessee – Shawn Colvin, 1992
4. Chickamauga – Uncle Tupelo, 1993
5. A Thousand Miles From Nowhere – Dwight Yoakam, 1999
6. Somehow, Someday – Ryan Adams, 2001
7. You Make It Easy – Golden Smog, 2006
8. Picking Up The Signal – Son Volt, 1997
9. Black Magic and White Lies – Willie Nile, 1999
10. Go It Alone – Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, 2011
11. I Believe She’s Lying – Rhett Miller, 2006
12. California Stars – Billy Bragg & Wilco, 1998
13. Always A Friend – Alejandro Escovedo, 2008
14. That’s How Much I Need Your Love – Chuck Prophet, 2002
15. Jagged – Old 97’s, 1999
16. Say Goodbye – Chris Whitley, 2001
17. I Can’t Remember – The Thorns, 2003
18. One Big Love- Emmylou Harris, 2000
19. Can’t Let Go – Lucinda Williams, 1998
20. Buffalo River Home – John Hiatt, 1993
21. This Heart – Nanci Griffith, 1994
22. Kiko and the Lavender Moon – Los Lobos, 1992
23. What A Crying Shame – The Mavericks, 1994

Gris Gris - Dr. John the Night Tripper in Concert

I was all set to put up different Artist Performing the Album concert post when I saw that today was Dr. John's birthday so I switched to his first album Gris-Gris and my seeing him a few months later at the Atlantic City Pop Festival. His real name was Mac Rebennack from New Orleans. I really didn't know much about him before seeing his show except I had been hearing some of his music played on one of the Philly "underground" rock stations as Dr. John the Night Tripper. Songs like Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya-Ya and I Walk On Gilded Splinters.

There were a lot of bands playing that Festival in August 1969 but I was surprised and excited by the unique performance of his New Orleans blues style funky voodoo inspired psychedelic rock and elaborate theatrical stage show. His band members were wearing lots of feathered costumes and headdresses that reminded me of the Philly Mummers String Bands. There was plenty of dancing on the stage and some weird voodoo medicine rituals. It was a lotta fun. After the show I went out and bought the Gris-Gris album.

Rush and Beethoven

Now why or how could these two come up in the same sentence. In the same conversation. Anytime, anywhere in a discussion about music. The other day I saw an article on a news site where Geddy Lee from the Canadian band Rush was being interviewed about a memoir he has recently published. Lee made a really stupid and ridiculous comment about punk music and his music. He said "Punks band made us seem like Beethoven by comparison."

Time for a rant.

I should first be clear that I think Rush is maybe the worst sounding band to ever have been pressed on to vinyl and have no redeeming value whatsoever. IMHO. I have no Rush albums in my collection. The worst thing about Rush is that there is some talent buried down under all the bullshit. They are musicians but they just have no taste. They were one of the bands responsible for giving Classic Rock such a bad name. 

So this Geddy Lee, who is the Rush lead singer, bassist and keyboardist, obviously doesn't have any understanding about the evolution of rock music and his own place in that world. I guess maybe he really hasn't figured that the punk music is a direct reaction and response to dinosaur bands like Rush and their incessant self-important version of their own mind numbing boring stereotypical proggy parody of themselves. The vocals of Rush are horrid screeching and their lyrics are pompous self-important crap. The music meanders everywhere. Every time I've heard Rush on the radio I've changed the station or ran out of the room. I especially dislike their brainy confused overcomplicated sound and stupid lyrics. Just no redeeming value.

When one of my music friends brings up who they think is the worst band and ask me about my opinion I always come right out with Rush and their waste of talent.

Comparing themselves to Beethoven is some real pathetic shit. 

Rastaman Vibration - Bob Marley & The Wailers in Concert

Bob Marley & The Wailers played the Century Theater on Main Street in downtown Buffalo in the spring of 1976. This was during my first time trip to Buffalo visiting Becky's family. 

Going to this concert was a very last minute thing to do when some friends invited us to a night to out see some reggae music. It was very unexpected and last minute but a very special treat.

It was a great show. I always seem to remember that George Thorogood and the Destroyers opened that show but I could not find any recent documentation of the opening act. I did find a poster about the show which had the Blues Busters as opening. I really don't remember them. 

We had been Bob Marley fans for a few years already and had never had a chance to see him perform. This would be the only time we ever saw him as he would die a few years later in 1981. It was a great show and he was spectacular. I had just recently bought his live album released in late 1975... Bob Marley & The Wailers Live!

Glass of Beer - Smash IPA and the Bills

Sitting at my laptop in the kitchen with the Bills game in one window, writing some  stuff in another window, music on the stereo, a glass of beer... multi-tasking.

The beer is a Smash IPA from Resurgence Brewery, a local. Very delicious, fragrant, hoppy and tropical but you gotta like an IPA. I do. 

BTW, those are CDs from the Motown Hitsville USA  box set collection which I've been listening to since reading the Detroit 67 book about the city of Detroit and Motown Records. The music sounds great and the Bills are actually playing well. They're winning because the Jets really suck.

It is good to see the Bills have some of their confidence back and they are winning a football game that they should be winning. It would not be good if this had been even close. They had to win significantly which they did 32-6. 

Home Security Battery Check

Around 4 am this morning our home security system which was not active began to beep. One beep every minute. Of course it woke both of us up and I went downstairs to check the system. I entered our code and saw that it was a battery check warning beep. The system wanted me to replace the emergency backup battery. That stopped it... for the time being. All I could think of is the grandchildren coming here in a few days and if that thing started beeping in the middle of the night there would be some problems.

Those system batteries are supposed to be replaced about every five years so I guess we were due. They are part of the emergency backup system in case we would lose power the alarms would still work and especially the smoke and fire detection devices. 

When I got up this morning the first thing I did was go down to the basement to check out the battery which is located in the box in the front shelf room. After unlocking it I saw that it was one of those big batteries. Somehow I thought it might be some regular type battery that we had in a drawer somewhere. Not. 

I went online to look up the battery for a Honeywell home security system like ours and found the size and model. I first took a picture of our battery to compare it with what I was finding online. That was easy. At first I thought I would go over to Value Home Center today and pick up a replacement battery but looking online convinced me to buy online too. I went on Amazon and saw exactly the replacement make and model I needed for about $20. I ordered it and it will be delivered on Tuesday. Two days from now and in time before the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday with the kids in the house. So easy.

Beautiful November Day

We had a spectacularly beautiful day today. It was a little cold but very sunny and now wind. The blue sky was beautiful all day. Today and for the past few days on my FB feed I was seeing memories postings of this day and others around this time with lots of snow on the ground. Turkeys running around the yard too and the birdfeeder covered with several inches of snow. 

I did a little clean up of leaves this morning and checked out the backyard cabana but it was only in the 40s temperature. Then by the afternoon the sun was hitting it and the temps had climbed up to 70 in there. I grabbed my laptop, notebook and tablet and set myself up in there for the afternoon. I spent about two hours in there. It was wonderful. I'm looking forward to more days like this throughout the winter. A backyard refuge.

I spent a lot of time today sitting back there watching the birds and squirrels do their fall thing. I was surprised how many woodpeckers and juncos I saw. Still no rabbits which is very unusual.

Today I put the birdfeeder up and filled it with seed. I hadn't done it before because the weather this fall has been nice enough most of the time that the birds really didn't need the seeds yet. However, I put it up today so that there would be birds around the feeder by the time the kids come in a few days for the holiday weekend.

Men's Club

I was talking to Patrick on the phone the other day to ask him about his playing out as a guest guitarist for one of his musician friend's band and it sounded so good to hear his voice. We really do need to get together and we agreed to make that happen very soon.

Talking with him reminded me of all our times hanging out together with a bunch of guys in what we called Men's Club. The group basically consisted of me, Dave, Tom, Patrick, John and Bob. Occasionally there would be another person at any given time but the core group had been getting together regularly since the early to mid 1980s. We started out going to rock shows, just a group of friends, a guys night out. We enjoyed the company. 

Later we started having families and the Men's Club became a boys night out and after a while instead of going to some club or bar we would take turns hanging out at one another's house. The focus was still music but then it became a time and place to share new music we had added to our collections. All of us had significant album collections and this was a fun way to listen to each other's new albums. We'd have an occasional joint too. At that point we were getting together every few months or so and at least about six times a year. Sometimes more.

This when on through the 1980's, 1990's, 2000's and then slowed down somewhat in the 2010's. Right now I'm sitting in out in our backyard cabana sunroom and there were many times when we would sit around in that room on a summer evening listening to music and talking sports and politics.

Many times when we came by someone's house for the gathering we would put the CDs we'd brought on the dining room table where everyone could peruse them. Then we would pick something out to listen and that would go on all evening. In the later years I would bring CD mixes and that was a lot of fun too. Nobody else did that and I was the king of the mixtape. Not everyone continued to add to their music collections over the years and the stack of new CDs on the table shrank over time. At some point I brought along a stack of mix CDs. I would burn extras and offered them to anyone who wanted to take one home.

At one point Patrick and his wife bought their cottage in Wilson because they wanted somewhere to go as a vacation place but they didn't like to travel. The cottage worked out for them on Lake Ontario. Very nice. Patrick invited Men's Club to come up there to spend the night together about once a year during the summer. We would hang out, eat some food, listen to music and then crash in the several bedrooms in the cottage. It was all very nice and we always had a great time.

It's been a few years now since we've gotten together and I miss the group. It's time to have a revival.

Cafe 59 Again

We had spent a lot more time at the Hunt Gallery opening reception and it was 7 pm by the time we got over to Cafe 59 on Allen Street for dinner. We had looked at several restaurant options earlier in the week but decided on one of our favorite restaurants in the area. We usually stop there before going to art openings but we had planned to spend just a small amount of time downtown and wanted to get in and out quickly. We didn't expect to be there an hour and a half. 

So when we got to Cafe 59 all the tables were taken and there were just a few seats at the bar. Well, we don't mind sitting at a bar for some food especially a place like this where we were planning on sandwiches or something like that and not a full dinner. But we were hungry. We sat there an ordered a couple of beers and they had plenty of great menu options to choose from. Becky ordered their spectacular turkey club sandwich and I got the fish and chips. We've had both of these meals before and everything was wonderful as usual. Wonderful service too.

The place remained crowded the entire time we were there and people kept coming in. All the tables stayed used and the bar was full of diners too. It took a little longer than usual for our dinner to come because the place was so busy but we usually eat there between 5 and 6 and not this much later.

I had a couple of very nice beers. A Zero Gravity lager and a really wonderful amber lager from Jack's Abby Brewing. Becky had a couple of Brooklyn Brewing's Hoppy Amber NAs. We always enjoy this place a lot.

Hunt Gallery Opening Reception

Tonight Becky and I decided to go check out that new art space Hunt Gallery. It's a new commercial gallery space located in the historic Brisbane Building across from Lafayette Square in downtown Buffalo. It was founded by Peter Hunt of Hunt Real Estate with a mission to support and represent WNY artists. It is also associated with the Buffalo Society of Artists. They have a program for emerging artists and a residency program in the lower level.

We had decided earlier in the week to go down there on Friday for an opening reception and then go get something to eat. We hadn't been there before and was looking forward to seeing what had been done with the building renovation and gallery expansion. One gallery had been located there for over a year and last night a second space had it's grand opening. The added gallery is called Beebe's at the Gallery. Parking nearby on the street was easy and a block away.

Becky and I has a wonderful time at the reception and spent a lot of time talking with friends. Lots of good artwork and people enjoying being together downtown. It was a spectacular building too.

We were a little tired when we got home from all of the socializing and that wonderful dinner at Cafe 59.

Speaking in Tongues - Talking Heads in Concert

Another in my series of posts about albums in my collection that I saw the artist perform the music from the album around the time it was released. Becky and I saw them perform at UB Arena in 1983. I had seen them in 1980 squeezed on a small club stage but this was very different. This was a performance show and they had an expanded group of funk musicians touring with them as part of the band including the incredible keyboardist Bernie Worrell.  Talking Heads plus. 

Shows from this tour would later be part of the concert film Stop Making Sense so it's nice to go back and watch it and relive this concert. We enjoyed the show very much and David Byrne was quite the performer in his large square off suit doing his crazy dancing. The band was awesome.

I had already seen them live and I had their 1982 live album The Name of the Band is Talking Heads double LP so I knew what to expect that night but they were way beyond expectations and were spectacular. One of my favorite all time rock concerts. The UB Arena had wonderful acoustics for that show too.

Later on we would see the film of this concert tour Stop Making Sense and the soundtrack live album of the same name.

First Holiday Ale

First holiday ale of the season and it was a really good one from Resurgence Brewing. I love their beers and this is my first time having this particular brew which they describe as an amber ale spiced with nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla and honey. It certainly expressed delicious holiday cheer. It was part of a holiday variety 12 pack that Becky picked up at the market this week.

This beer and another lager tasted great after a little hectic day getting my CATscan for my hip and spine today. A wonderful beer to relax to this evening. I also filled bag number 80 this afternoon but fortunately the last 5 were just leaves and no nuts so they were light.

Reading some of that Joni Mitchell biography too.

Random Album Effect - Quiet

An afternoon and evening of quiet music. I was working on my laptop and listening to another group of Random Album Effect. I still enjoy doing this and I'm always surprised and fascinated with what I hear. This time Random Album Effect - Quiet.

I started out with a Jesse Winchester tribute album. I have been listening to a few cover song albums recently and have been updating some of my cover mixes in my Final Version series. I wanted to check out this album which I hadn't listened to in some time. I immediately liked everything that I heard from artists like Elvis Costello, Rosanne Cash, Lyle Lovett, James Taylor, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Little Feat, Allen Toussaint and others. Lots of great songs and some real classics.

Next came up the band Houses which is a dreamy synth pop band from Chicago and basically a male/female duo. I really like their first album All Night from 2010 and have used a few songs on mixes. I really hadn't listened to this album here much but it is also very good and held my attention throughout. I'm going to use a few more of these songs on another mix.

Evening Hymns is a Canadian spiritual sounding alternative folk group which is basically a single artists with different backing musicians. I have a couple of his albums and especially like this one. I've used several songs from this album on mixes too. The music was moody and quiet and followed Houses nicely.

Then I was surprised to hear Roberta Flack's third album from 1971. She has such a beautiful voice and she fit right in with what I had been hearing the last couple of hours. I love her music and have five of her albums from 1969 to 1975. I haven't heard this much recently.

After this 70's gem came a very nice quietly soft album from Kings of Convenience. I guess these albums have all been working together because they all have "quiet" in their titles. This music was incredibly sublime, melodic and bittersweet. I love this band which is an indie folk-pop duo from Norway. I have four of their albums and they are all very good. One of them titles Versus is a remix version of songs from this album. I've used some of them in my Night Chill groove mixes.

The next album was a wonderful surprise. I forgot I had this Ben Webster compilation of ballads in my collection. This is all quiet romantic ballads collected from throughout his career and compiled by Verve Records in 2000. It fit perfectly into the groove of quiet music I had been listening to all afternoon and early evening. I will have this on again soon. Nice dinner music.

The finale of the set came from Nick Lowe. Suddenly there was a beat and the song What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding was the leadoff song for his greatest hits double CD collection released in 2009 that covers his career up to that point including solo albums and collaborations. A great way to end the set after about five and a half hours and not very quiet anymore. I didn't listen to all of this Nick Lowe as it's a two and a half hour set so I will get back to it another time.

Overall a great set of music and I enjoyed every minute of it.

• Various Artists - Quiet About It: A Tribute To Jesse Winchester, 2012
• Houses - Quiet Darkness, 2013
• Evening Hymns - Quiet Energies, 2015
• Roberta Flack - Quiet Fire, 1971
• Kings of Convenience - Quiet is the New Loud, 2001
• Ben Webster - Quiet Now: Until Tonight, 2000
• Nick Lowe - Quiet Please: The Best of Nick Lowe, 2009