Author: ekkarn

“Into the Morning” with Kenny Barron and Dave Holland Part 1 – “Billie’s Bounce”

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Kenny Barron Dave Holland

So over the last few days, I have listened to the new album from Kenny Barron and Dave Holland The Art of Conversation and I will try to write about it tomorrow. But for now let’s go “into the morning” with a video of Kenny and Dave performing “Billie’s Bounce” and for folks like me, here’s a little about the song… from Wikipedia…

“Billie’s Bounce” (also known as “Bill’s Bounce”) is a jazz composition written in 1945 by Charlie Parker in the form of a 12 bar F blues. It was dedicated to Billy Shaw by the Yardbird. The original recording by Charlie Parker and His Re-Boppers was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.[1] Copyright 1945 by Atlantic Music Corp. Copyright renewed and assigned 1973 to Atlantic Music Corp.

The players on the original 1945 recording

Charlie Parker – Eb alto saxophone
Miles Davis – Bb trumpet
Dizzy Gillespie – piano (Gillespie also plays trumpet in other recordings from the same session)
Curley Russell – bass
Max Roach – drums

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Enjoy!!

Amanda Kyle Williams – Stranger in the Room (Keye Street Series #2)

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Stranger iin the roomOk so I did not really enjoy the first half of Amanda Kyle Williams The Stranger that You Seek, but the second half of the book was really good, and propelled me on to the second book in the Keye Street series Stranger in the Room. For me, there was no weak first half in this book, it grabbed me from the start and did not let go until the last page! Miki Ashton, Keye Street’s cousin returns home after a night on the town, puts the key in the front door of her house, before she can open the door, she hears footsteps in the supposedly empty house!! When she makes her way to the window in the front of the house, and peers in, she sees a slightly overweight man standing in the shadows, as he stands there he forms a gunwith his fingers and he pretends to shoot Miki!!  So begins this great twisting mystery!! Who was this stranger in the room?? Why was he there?? Is he the source of the mysterious calls, and noises that plague Miki??

Meanwhile. Keye’s boyfriend Detective Aaron Rauser is investigating the murder of a young baseball player on the cusp of good things! Soon the mystery man and the boy are entwined in an ever-growing murder investigation and Keye is once again drawn into the hunt for a murderer. Can she and Rauser put the pieces of the puzzle together before more lives are lost?  Soon Miki  and Keye become the focus of  the murderer’s wrath!! Why??

I imagine that one of the reasons that I liked this book more than its predecessor, is that now I know the players. All the characters from Book 1 are back including of course Keye and Rauser, along with Keye’s adoptive parents, her work partner, stoner computer geek Neil, Tyrone the bail bondsman who Keye does work for, as well as, Larry Quinn the attorney who supplies Keye’s PI firm work. In this installment Quinn asks Keye to  investigate into the actions of a North Georgia Crematorium. This subplot was better than the investigation of a missing cow in the last book!

But I think that’s only half of the reason I enjoyed the book more.  The other half is the story itself. In this book, I thought that Keyes profiling of the perp was more in-depth, and it really brought to life the how and why of the killer’s actions, but profiling alone does not capture a criminal, so the work of Rauser and hs team played a big role in the discovery of the identity of the killer.

Bottomline: This book was a real page turner for me. A good police procedural that coupled Keye’s keen profiling skills with Rauser’s dogged police work, kinda like Bones and Booth without the bones or the FBI!  Along the way there was also Keye’s addiction battle, juxtaposed against Miki’s love for both alcohol and drugs, and Keye’s mom’s  attempt to be the next “Paula Dean” which made the book enjoyable on more than one level! So I am now a fan and I am ready to move on to Don’t Tak to Strangers book 3  in the series!! Now watch when I checked out both Book 1 and 2 book 3 was on the shelf what do you want to bet that tomorrow, when I take back this book, book 3 will be gone!!

Grade: A solid  A – so check it out!!

Links

Amanda Kyle Wiliiams.com

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Amazon

((Book 32 of 2014)

Where Monsters Dwell – (Odd Singsaker Book #1) – Jorgen Brekke – Hop on the Brekke Bandwagon!!

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Where Monsters DwellWhen I first picked up Where Monsters Dwell by Jorgen Brekke, I knew nothing about the book, but when I read what Steve Berry wrote about the book….

“History pulses with life and excitement in this chilling and foreboding read. Jorgen Brekke delivers what thriller readers crave, or at least what this reader craves – action, history, secrets, conspiracies, and international settings. Couldn’t ask for anything more.”

 

and Library Journal wrote’….

“Engrossing… grissly murders investigated by likable detectives. This mystery is perfectly grim without being bleak.”

 

About Where Monsters Dwell

I thought that this would be a book, right up my alley, and I was right, very right! I loved this book. The main action takes in Trondheim, Norway where the mutilated body of the former head librarian at the Gunnerus Libraryis found in the locked vault .The vault houses  the rarest books in the library’s collection.  While across the Atlantic the director of the Edgar Allen Poe museum is also found murdered. His body has been mutilated in a similar manner!  The two likable detectives, who are assigned to the respective cases, are Norwegian Odd Singsaker and Richmond’s Felicia Stone. Both of the characters have flaws. Singsaker’s flaws come from a brain tumor that has recently been removed. The tumor cost  him his family.  Stone’s flaws come from a rape that occurred in her senior year of high school, which sent her life in a downward spiral.

As the detectives investigate the murders, it seems, that both murders revolve around the Book of Johannes, a handwritten book bound in human skin that appears to be the journal of a sixteenth-century Norwegian serial killer!!   As the investigations progress readers are  introduced not only a variety of current suspects, but also the Norwegian monk and a variety of 16th century characters, not only in Norway, but also in Italy.  The investigations twist and turn and the American Stone joins Singsaker for the ultimate unraveling of the murder mystery.

Another blurb on the back of the book, from Kirkus Review says that the book is superb and is almost impossible to put down!!  Another statement that I totally agree with!! The pages flew by and the pace of the book never slowed down!!

Bottomline: A fine, fine read that left me eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. Evidently, Mr Brekke already has book two in the works!!!

Grade: A+  A must read for any fan of Scandinavian mysteries. For me Brekke has joined the ranks of fellow countrymen Jo Nesbo and Karim Fossum!

(Book 31 for 2014)

 

 

From the Archives: Book 33 of 2011 Lassiter by Paul Levine ….

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By Paul Levine

Through the years two of my favorite mystery series are the Jake Lassiter and the Solomon and Lord series both from Paul Levine. I haven’t read a book of his since 2011, when I read Lassiter. Here’s the review I wrote about it back when I finished the book

Tonight as I was re-posting this review I went to Levine’s page at Amazon and I see that books 9 and 10 in the Jake Lassiter series are both available at Amazon for only $3.99 each!! What a steal! Now I only have to find time to read them!!!! Anyway here is the review for Lassiter!

So a couple of years ago after reading Paul Levine‘s book Illegal I sent him a message on Facebook and told him that I liked the book but sill missed Jake Lassiter! He emailed me back and told me that his next book was going to be a Lassiter novel.

Well, that book, appropriately named Lassiter is Book 33 for 2011.Jake Lassiter is a “low-rent”  Miami attorney, whose clients are usually not from the upper echelon of the Miami social scene.

Lassiter also previously played for the Miami Dolphins and was featured in a series of seven books that started with To Speak for the Dead in 1990 and ended with Flesh & Bones in 1997. I’ve read six out of the seven – Number 1 is the only one I haven’t read. And now thanks to reissuing of the books as e-books  for the Kindle, that can be read for only $2.99!

But now back to the current book Lassiter. For his return Levine has crafted a story that starts in Lassiter’s past, from his website:

Eighteen years ago, Jake Lassiter crossed paths with a teenage runaway who disappeared into South Florida’s sex trade. Now he retraces her steps and runs head-on into a conspiracy of Miami’s rich and powerful who would do anything to keep the past as dark as night and silent as the grave. It’s a tale of redemption and revenge for the troubled Jake.

After a fourteen year lay-off Lassiter has lost none of his snap. Booklist one described him this way

 “Lassiter is smart, tough, funny, and very human. He’s coming on fast as one of the most entertaining series characters in contemporary crime fiction.”

I have enjoyed all the Lassiter books that I’ve read. The characters are always well drawn and the stories always entertaining. In between the Lassiter books Levine has written several standalone books along with another series (almost as good and in some ways better than Lassiter) featuring two other attorneys Steve Solomon and Victoria Lord. There are four  books in that series and like I said they’re all highly entertaining! So check out any of Levine’s books sit back and enjoy the ride!

Now I was all set with my next book. I went to the library the other night to pick up a book for my wife and came back with two books. The new John Hart book Iron House and  Collusion the follow-up book to Stuart Neville‘s fine début novel The Ghosts of Belfast. I figured I’d start with the Hart book and then the Neville novel.

So what happens tonight, I get an email that the new Alex Kava Maggie O’Dell novel Hotwire is now available for digital download to my Kindle!! So I guess I’ll check that one out too, start both books and see which one I like the most and finish that one first! Hum, too many books, too little time!!

P.S. I read both Iron House and Hotwire, but not the Stuart Neville book……

Your Life Calling:Reimagining the Rest of Your Life – Jane Pauley

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Your Life CallingWhen I saw Jane Pauley’s book.Your Life Calling in the library last week it was like, yes! This is the right book at the right time! And while it was not exactly what I anticipated, it was nevertheless a good read. See two months ago, I applied for Social Security, more out of necessity than actually wanting to retire. Throughout this past year, the work that I have done for the last 34 years,  has just not been there, and I have mostly been collecting unemployment and thinking about how I want to move forward with my life. I really don’t want to go out and find another job doing  the same thing that I have done, so when my unemployment insurance ran out, rather than just take any job, I applied for my benefits and upped my hours at Target. So far,it has been a good thing, but  I still keep wondering, is this all there really is, or is there something else out there that I would want to do!!

This is what  Your Life is Calling is all about, In the book Pauley provides ideas and thoughts about reimagining your life through the stories of those who have done it.  Pauley in her Dateline voice, tells the stories of folks like Betsy McCarthy who traded her executive briefcase for knitting needles, Gid Pool, who launched a career as a stand-up comic, Richard Rittmaster, who joined the National Guard Chaplain Corps: Trudy Lundgren who took her home on the road in an RV; Paulie Gee, who opened a successful pizzeria and many more. The two stories that were the mostly  inspirational were  the Jenny Bowman who established the Half the Sky Foundation which began with the adoption of an infant girl in China and the story of Ken Woods, who was selling his drill rig in Maryland and ended up  traveling to Ghana and drilling over a thousand wells, providing thousands with clean water, all at his own expense ! 

As I look back over the  book, while I’ m writing this, I am saying to myself, hey that was a good story and that one was too, and I wish I could do something like that! So I guess I did ‘like the book more than I thought! I think that the whole thing was that the book really wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, a nuts and bolts book on how to reimagine your life, but rather it’s a book that through the stories of those who have done it,  what you can do, if  you try…. maybe Michael J Fox sums it up best….

“Jane Pauley is a wonderful guide to all the different ways you can open new doors in life, many of which lead to unexpected places. She shows with humor and a great generosity of spirit why the journey to reinvention can come from all kinds of places and produce all kinds of joys”

then there’s Jim Lehrer who writes….

“Well, here it is – finally. The guide for baby boomers on getting from here to there – from a state of panic over how to live the rest of their lives to a state of passion and performance as they do so  with grace and pleasure. Read it and then go!!

While I still don’t have a plan about what I am going to do with the rest of my life, this book certainly made me think about what may be possible and that maybe now, instead of doing the work that I HAD to do, I can do the work that I WANT to do! (Figuring out what that is – is still  my problem!) Anyway, the book should be checked out by all us boomers!!

Book 30 for 2014

Exploring Dan Harris’ Quest to up his happiness in 10% Happier!!

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10 - HappierSo I finally finished Dan Harris’ book 10% Happier:How I Tame the Voice Inside My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge and Found Self-Help that Actually Works – A True Story  and it must say something about how  I feel about the book that it took me, probably, about a month to read a 221 page book, 237 pages if you count the appendix!! I guess if I realized that it was actually more of a biography than a self-help book it would have helped with my enjoyment of the book. However, as I wanted for the methods and things that I could do to reduce that voice inside my head, all I got really was another story about Dan’s quest to discover more about Buddhism and Mindful Meditation.

Now the stories were good mind you, mostly because Harris has through his job direct access to all the big names, so there were  stories about interviews and question sessions that Dan had with the likes of Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, and Mark Epstein along with having the money to pay for a nine-day retreat, all of which is something that I think we all wish we could have!!

But with that being said, I did enjoy the book and it did provide insight in to the benefits of meditation. some of which I am trying to put into practice, (Note to self go quickly back through the book and pick out the things of which you write!)

Anyway, here are a couple of the praise for the book from the back cover of the book….

“An enormously smart, clear-eyed, brave-hearted, and quite personal look at the benefits of meditation that offers new insights as to how the ancient practice can help modern lives while avoiding the pitfall of cliché. This is a book that will help people, simply put ” – Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

 

“With startling , provocative, and often very funny candor, Dan Harris tells the story of why he urgently needed to tame the  voice inside his head and how he did it. His argument for the power of mindfulness – which he bases both on cutting edge science and his own hard-won experience – will convince even the most skeptical of reader of meditation’s potential.” – Gretchen Rubin

As I was typing these two quotes, I found myself saying yes, i agree with that…..so if you are like me and want to quiet that voice in your head then check this book out and hopefully the final percentage of increased happiness will be above the 10% from the title of the book!!

Book 27 for 2014 (Edward has to pick up the pace!)

 

Amanda Kyle Williams’ The Stranger You Seek’s strong ending leads to Book 2 of the series!

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The Stranger You SeekSo last week I wrote that I was struggling through The Stranger You Seek the first of the Keye Street novels from Amanda Kyle Williams. Tonight I went to the library to get book 2 in the series Stranger in the Room! It’s easy to explain the reason , stealing and editing a line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail “It Got Better!!

I guess that it took a while for the story to grab me, but once it did it didn’t let go until the last twist and turn in the plot! The protagonist of the book is Keye Street, an ex-FBI profiler who was a rising star in the agency, until her alcohol addiction brought her career crashing down. Now Keye is a working PI in Atlanta chasing down bail jumpers, catching adulterers, serving subpoenas, that is until her best friend Atlanta Police Detective Aaron Rauser calls her to help him out on a grisly murder case. The case’s profile quickly  rises soon turning into a hunt, for the “Wishbone” killer. As the killer taunts Rauser and Street, the hunt turns personal, with Keye and Rauser in the killer’s crosshairs.

Now, back to the problems that I see as minor and were overcome  by the storyline.  Elizabeth B. in her review at Goodreads didn’t see it that way though… she wrote……

… The main character was just the most annoying narrator ever. It was as if every problem a person could have was built in by the author. Flawed is one thing but you pretty easily degenerate into Mary Sue-ish and that’s exactly what happened here. Freakish name? Check. Bad family history? Check. Discrimination from childhood? Check. Drugs and/or alcohol abuse? Check. But I’m a survivor and will overcome everything all by my lonesome? Check.  Read More At…Goodreads

I really didn’t think it was that bad and by the end of the book, I liked Keye and Rauser, and saw them as a team that I could root for!

Bottom line: A strong twisting ending made the book a good read and a series that I will follow at least into the next book Stranger in the Room. so Check it Out!

Grade: B – over the first half of the book, A for the last so I guess that’s a B+!!

Book No 28 for 2014….

Here’s the trailer for the book!

After a Great Read – Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan – I can’t wait to begin Very Bad Man!

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bad things happenA couple of Saturday’s ago, I was browsing through the books at Barnes & Noble and I came across The Last Dead Girl, Book # 3 in the David Loogan series written by Harry Dolan.

On the dust jacket of the book I read that Stephen King called Dolan’s book Bad Things Happen   “a “great f***ing book“! When I came home, I went to my local libraries website and requested the book. I was captivated by the book from the opening sentence, the pages flew by and it quickly became Book 29 of 2014, and I agree with Mr King in is  a great f***king book!

The reader first meets the protagonist of the book, the mysterious David Loogan, while he is purchasing a shovel and some assorted gardening supplies, only David is not going to be doing any gardening,, no he is going to be digging a grave! A grave in which he and  his new employer Tom Kristoll, owner and editor of the mystery magazine Gray Streets, will bury a body. Days later, Tom Kristoll plummets from his sixth floor office window the victim of an apparent suicide. Was it really suicide or was it murder? David thinks it’s murder, as does Elizabeth Waishkey a top detective in the Ann Arbor Police Department, Soon the action in the book begins to follow the typical formula of a Gray Streets mystery “Plans go wrong, Bad Things Happen, People Die”  As more bodies pile up, David is determined to discover who killed his friend, and while Elizabeth wants to believe David is an innocent player in the mystery, ,after a detective from New York shows up and reveals that Loogan was once indicted for MURDER, that becomes a little harder!

This book was a real page turner for me I agree wholeheartedly with what Publishers Weekly says about the book in their starred review of the book

“Dolan gets everything  right in his debut….Pitch-perfect prose and sophisticated characterizations driven by the noirish plot, which offers plenty of unexpected twists. Fans of Peter Abraham and Scott Turow will find a lot to like…. The talent Dolan displays suggests he has a bright future.”

I couldn’t have said it better himself!

Bottomline: A great page-turner, written by an expert at simple prose that conveys way more, in way less! A book that sends you looking for the next book in the series, which I have already requested from my library!!

Grade A – Check It Out!!

Babysitting Granddaughter Zoe leads to the New Age Music of A Beginner’s Mind – Thanks Zoe!

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MindustSo last week while I was babysitting my two month-old granddaughter Zoe, I had Soundscapes one of Comcast’s Music Choice  stations on the TV. My thought was that the instrumental New Age music would keep us both relaxed, and I think that for the most part it did the trick, at least for me. Some old friends like R Carlos Nakai and Peter Kater made an appearance with a track from their album Ritual, along with some music from David Arkenstone. There also was  a lot of music from folks that I didn’t know, like Armand & Angelina and their album Sacred Flute Journeys and a group named A Beginner’s Mind and their release Mindust. After I came home I went to Spotify and gave the album a listen and really liked the album a lot.

I went searching for information about the band and album,  but I didn’t find much. It doesn’t appear that they have a website, no Facebook or MySpace page, the only thing that I found was a page at BandCamp! At that page I read……

Peter Day and Ben Brooks have been playing music for over 30 years off and on. They are from Pasadena, California. Mindust is currently being played on Air Force One, the Soundscapes Music Choice channel and other outlets.

Ok so now we know that Peter Day and Ben Brooks are A Beginner’s Mind. Peter plays keyboards and nylon-stringed guitar
while Ben plays the flute!! Both of them are fine musicians in my ever so humble opinion. Here’s what Ben wrote about making the album…..

I don’t have a reference point to describe this collection of pieces. That’s because Peter and I were flying by the seat of our pants. No writing, no rehearsal, no idea what we were going to play. Peter would arrive at my home studio on a weekend afternoon. We’d talk about our lives for a little while….then punch RECORD. That’s the truth! That’s where these recordings began. We added the orchestration and percussion later. But, the original recording was just guitar or KORG KARMA keyboard (when Peter felt like playing it) and flute. We really had no expectations or agenda. Over time we accumulated quite a few recordings and narrowed them down to what you have here. Hope you like it!  — Ben Brooks January 1, 2014

The percussion they added later was provided by Rich Mangicaro!

So if you get a chance head over to their Bandcamp page I think you’ll like them! Here’s a short three track playlist from Spotify…….

Dad watches proudly as Elizabeth runs her first 10K!! Yes, our Elizabeth!!

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Cross-posted from EKKarn’s Explorations

A month or so ago our daughter Elizabeth surprised her mother and I, when she told us that on November 8th we had to go with her to Trenton, where she would be running a 10K!  It surprised us because she has never been athletic. She enjoys and follows sports, but never played any, or even showed any inclination to do so. When she had to run the mile in gym in high school, she mostly walked! Her brother Andrew ran cross-country as  did I, and I also continue to run, but not Elizabeth. This running surprise comes after we were surprised at her graduation party for receiving her Master’s Degree from the University of Delaware, At the party,  we were told by her friend, that Elizabeth is awesome when she works out with weights at the gym. Our Elizabeth???

Anyway, there I was on Saturday,  the coldest morning of the fall, walking down Cass Street in Trenton, to join the crowd of runners who would be participating in the 3rd Annual Trenton 5K,10K and Half-Marathon! I haven’t run for about three weeks so I didn’t join in the festivities, but I didn’t mind because this was Elizabeth’s day!

Here’s a picture of her at the start of the race and here she is at the finish inside Arm &Hammer Stadium!!

ElizabethsRun

She finished in about the time she thought she would 1 hour and 5 minutes, running at a 10:32 pace, which was good enough for an 8th place in her age group!!

Now I said I was surprised, but I don’t really know  why I was because Elizabeth has never been one to stay within her comfort zone. When she was in her senior year at high school, where she was number one in her class, she became her class representative to the school board meetings because she thought that it would help her to speak before people!  Both her mother and I would avoid a situation like that, like the plague!! Prior to that, she had attended a week-long Student leadership conference in Washington D.C. when she was in the 8th grade, and a three-week summer class at William & Mary when she was a high school sophomore!! Attending that class,  may have helped her to get accepted at William &Mary a few years later. At a minimum, as a result of taking the class, she knew she liked W&M!

So I say to Elizabeth, congratulations on your run,  your mother and I are very proud of you! Now if I can only learn from you how to live outside of my comfort zone maybe someday I’ll get to go to England and Ireland, or at least run that half-marathon that I keep saying I should try to run some day……how about the second Saturday in November next year, you think Elizabeth will be up for it!!

Hum, I think I’ll check out a half-marathon training schedule at Walk, Jog Run or Runner’s World!!……