Ristorante Lombardo

Date night. Becky and I went out for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants tonight.  We love going to Ristorante Lombardo. 

We've been going there regularly for the past twenty years and least several times a year. Sometimes a lot more. It's located nearby on Hertel Avenue and is about a five minute drive from home. We often go there for special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries but tonight we went just because we like to go there and have a nice dinner.

We first went there a few times in the 1980's but we were not particularly impressed at the time. We thought they were somewhat overpriced for an ordinary Italian restaurant. There were lots of them in Buffalo at that time. We stopped going there and I do think we went at all during the 90's. Then around 2000 they renovated the restaurant and significantly stepped up their game. The food became outstanding and the decor of the restaurant improved dramatically.

The bar was a lot more comfortable and they had high top tables in the barroom where they served wonderful pizza and small plates. The owner has always been the host which was a nice touch and then over the years his son began to take over the operation.

An outstanding restaurant.

Readings 1990

Readings 1990. Looking back on the list now I'm shocked that there is only one nonfiction book which was a history of the Vietnam War. I was reading about one book a month and I was also going to graduate school at this time so I had a lot of school reading to do in 1990. A lot of what I was reading here was in the summer and some of these books certainly look like summer reading well except for that Salman Rushdie which was a disappointment.

It looks like I discovered Tom Clancy and read three of his political techno thriller novels.  I also went back and read some Edgar Allen Poe and James Cain. I liked that H. P. Lovecraft collection of his and others writing some very weird horror tales. Of course I also had some science fiction reading list.

1. The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris, 1988
2. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie, 1988
3. Billy Bathgate - E.L. Doctorow, 1989
4. Burning Chrome - William Gibson, 1986
5. Red Storm Rising - Tom Clancy, 1986
6. Double Indemnity - James Cain, 1936
7. The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales - Edgar Allan Poe, 1839
8. The Hunt for Red October - Tom Clancy, 1984
9. Count Zero - William Gibson, 1986
10. Rama II - Arthur C. Clarke, 1989
11. Patriot Games - Tom Clancy, 1987
12. The Shockwave Rider - John Brunner, 1975
13. Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos - Jim Turner, 1990
14. Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam - Frances FitzGerald, 1972

Readings 1980

The books I read in 1980. I really wasn't a big reader that year but I did enjoy what I read. Probably too much going on. Not even one book a month.

Most of the books were bestseller types except for the Howard Zinn book which was influenced by a course I took at Temple in 1978. I had read some earlier works and we talked about his new book that would be published in 1980. I've always loved reading books on history and this one was unique. I really enjoyed The Year of the French which was a historical novel about Ireland and one of their wars of independence from England. I also very much enjoyed reading about the creation of the Panama Canal where I spent some time at in the Navy.

That Stephen King book The Stand was really something.

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams, 1979
2. The Book of Daniel - E.L. Doctorow, 1971
3. The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher - Thomas Lewis, 1974
4. The Year of the French - Thomas Flanagan, 1979
5. A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn, 1980
6. The Island - Peter Benchley, 1979
7. The Stand - Stephen King, 1978
8. Carrie - Stephen King, 1975
9. The Right Stuff - Tom Wolfe, 1979
10. Walden Two - B.F. Skinner, 1948
11. A Passage to India - E.M. Forster, 1922
12. The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 - David McCullough, 1977

Blue Minor - Jazz Night Mega Mix

Here we go with another 8 hour jazz mix that is part of my Jazz Night Mega Mix series. Classic jazz all night.

Blue Minor - Jazz Night Mega Mix

8 hours 25 minutes

1	Blue Minor	Sonny Clark	1958
2	Some Other Blues	John Coltrane	1960
3	Nefertiti	Miles Davis	1998
4	Out Of It	Gene Ammons	1971
5	Ralph's New Blues	Eric Dolphy	1961
6	There Will Never Be Another You	Jimmy Smith	1999
7	Soulful Brothers	Kenny Burrell	1995
8	Enlightenment	Sun Ra	2012
9	Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky	Lou Donaldson	2008
10	Ummh	Bobby Hutcherson	2007
11	Movin'  Wes	Wes Montgomery
12	One Finger Snap	Herbie Hancock	1988
13	Well You Needn't	Thelonious Monk	2001
14	Why Don't I	Sonny Rollins	1978
15	The Swingers Get The Blues Too	Johnny Griffin	2007
16	Hittin' The Jug	Gene Ammons	1960
17	Dedicated To You	Freddie Hubbard	2012
18	It Had to Be You	Zoot Sims	1959
19	Jeannine	Donald Byrd	1993
20	Night Mist Blues	Ahmad Jamal	1998
21	I Don't Want No One But You	Eddie Harris	1968
22	Star Eyes	McCoy Tyner	1963
23	Autumn Leaves	Bill Evans	2012
24	Since I Fell For You	Lee Morgan	1965
25	Strollin'	Horace Silver	1999
26	On Green Dolphin Street	Grant Green	1962
27	Poor Butterfly	Sonny Rollins	1978
28	My One and Only Love	Chick Corea	1968
29	I Surrender Dear	Thelonious Monk	1956
30	You've Changed	Dexter Gordon	2003
31	Dear Lord	John Coltrane	1963
32	I Waited For You	Miles Davis	2014
33	I'll Never Be The Same	Coleman Hawkins	2016
34	Melody For C	Sonny Clark	1961
35	Whisper Not	Junior Mance	2016
36	Photograph	Joe Henderson	2016
37	Easy Living	Clifford Brown	2002
38	Lady In The Lake	Charlie Haden	1992
39	My Song	Keith Jarrett	2002
40	Light Blue	Chick Corea & Gary Burton	2012
41	Chase The Clouds Away	Chuck Mangione	1996
42	Dance with Death	Andrew Hill	1968
43	The Ragtime Dance	Air	2014
44	Lluvia Azul	Gato Barbieri	1974
45	Blues For The Orient	Yusef Lateef	1961
46	Caravan	Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers	1962
47	Let's Cool One	Thelonious Monk	1968
48	Fat Judy	Big John Patton	2008
49	Greensleeves	John Coltrane	1961
50	Summertime	Miles Davis	1968
51	This Can't Be Love	Randy Weston Trio & Cecil Payne	1956
52	Billie's Bounce	Red Garland & John Coltrane	1958
53	A Night In Tunisia	Lee Morgan	1965
54	Black Diamond	Wayne Shorter	1959
55	Fly By Night	Rahsaan Roland Kirk	1967
56	Blackjack	Donald Byrd	2007
57	Groovin' For Mr. G	Richard "Groove" Holmes	2007
58	Bag's Groove	Ray Bryant	1959
59	No Blues	Wynton Kelly Trio & Wes Montgomery	1965
60	Solitude	McCoy Tyner	1998
61	Back to You	Erroll Garner	2016
62	Inside You	Eddie Henderson	2007
63	Passin' Thru	Chico Hamilton	1962
64	Tiny Capers	Clifford Brown	1998
65	Totem Pole	Lee Morgan	1963
66	Somethin' Special	Sonny Clark	1961
67	Tune Up	Grant Green	1962
68	Night Train	Oscar Peterson	2016
69	Moon And Sand	Kenny Burrell	2016
70	The Creole Love Call	Rahsaan Roland Kirk	1967
71	Lovely Sky Boat	Alice Coltrane	2006
72	Village Blues	John Coltrane	1960
73	You Go to My Head	Anthony Braxton	2002
74	Ahmad's Blues	Ahmad Jamal	1955
75	Blue Monk	McCoy Tyner	1998
76	Night and Day	Erroll Garner	2016
77	Do It My Way	Richard Groove Holmes	1962
78	Daahoud	Clifford Brown	1998
79	Spot Five Blues	Randy Weston	1959
80	All Night Long	Kenny Burrell	1959