Honeyboy Edwards

The blues world lost another legend when Honeyboy Edwards passed away. At 96 he lived a full life. I care because I love the blues. Mr. Edwards was considered by some as the last connection to the delta blues. He hung out with Robert Johnson in Mississippi, he settled in Chicago. He lived in played through the delta blues to the electric Chicago blues.I thank him for his music. I appreciate it and I appreciate how it influenced so much more.

I enjoyed reading the New York Times article on him. The picture shows the blues. I will defer to it as the obituary it is better than what I would ramble off in my blog. Hopefully, the younger blues players will keep the music alive.

Here is Honeyboy in action:

First College Football Rankings

College football kicks off this weekend. This first week of games is pretty exciting. Yes there are some obvious mismatches but there are some big time clashes as well. Oregon and LSU, Boise State and Georgia, and Miami at Maryland. There is at least one state rival with Marshall facing WVU.

This is the fourth season of me ranking the teams each week. Here is my preseason rankings for this season.

I'm ready for it to kick off are you?

Stevie Ray Vaughan

21 years ago Stevie Ray Vaughan died. He died too young. I blogged about his death last year and you can read it here. It is a shame he passed away and it would have been interesting to see what kind of music he would have came out with.

He was great at covering Hendrix. Here he is performing Little Wing.

He also had some great songs which were his:

Even on the covers he embellished them, added to them and made them his own. However, in doing so he still was able to give a nod to the original artist. Being a blues artist, they all cover a lot of past artists.

Stevie is still missed 21 years later.

Flirting with a Hurricane

It looks lie we will be spared from Hurricane Irene where I live. However, just a few miles east there are some Hurricane Warnings and Tropical Storm Warnings. Looks like we will just get some rain and thunderstorms. Where I live those could always create some flash flooding and some fallen tree branches. 

Looks like the beaches will be the worst hit. Which sucks for them I am sure. One of the last weekends of the season and being shutdown. Some of the cities to the northeast could get hit worse. It isn't the storm of the century or anything. It is just a Hurricane getting ready to brush an area that doesn't usually experience Hurricanes. Hey we will adapt since we already had earthquakes this week.

Mike Flanagan

I'm a sports fan. Those who know me, know I am married into a baseball family. Those who read this blog know I write about players such as Beau. This is different...

I followed baseball as a kid. I would watch the Braves or Cubs game on TV with my Granddad who I visited in the summer. When the family of my youth settled down outside of Washington, D.C well I would occasionally go to baseball games in Baltimore at Memorial Stadium..

 Mike Flanagan was a Cy Young Award winning pitcher for the team I got to see.So, today when the news came he died it was a little personal. It was a player from my youth passing away. It was the passing of a memory.

The way he died was terrible. You assume a person like him who is living a dream life wouldn't have problems. But he is human and he had his problems. Maybe i t touches me more since I have problems, I have struggles but I am not suicidal. Yes but till today Mike Flanagan wasn't either. Scary thoughts.

I feel for his family who lost a husband, a dad, and for the fans who lost a hero, to his teammates who lost a team member, and to his friends who lost a friend.

 Mike Flanagan RIP

Little Earthquakes

Yes, I am borrowing the title of a great album by Tori Amos. However, it kind of describes today. There was an earthquake west of Richmond, Virginia today it was 5.9 on the scale. I felt it at work in Frederick, Maryland. The monitors were shaking, then the building, and then it was like a wave moving under my feet.

It tied for the strongest East Coast earthquake. I had slept through the smaller earthquakes we have had before. I also slept through a minor one in California. I was finally awake to experience an earthquake. Thankfully, it was a little earthquake and not a devastating one like the one in Haiti.

Nature's Fireworks

I had to pick up Ben from his football scrimmage. It was good, I was able to spend some time with him. Anyway before the rains came, nature provided quite a lightning show. Lightning was filling the sky like fireworks on the Fourth of July.

It was quite an awesome display. Sometimes people miss out on awesome displays when they are caught up in the rat race. However, tonight was Nature's shock and awe. You couldn't help but notice.

In honor of the show, the Grateful Dead performing Lazy Lightning:

The Last Five Years

If you are anywhere near the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. and you like great musicals you should check out The Last Five Years playing at the Arts Barn in Gaithersburg. It is being produced by the Kensington Arts Theatre. I was expecting less and I was pleasantly surprised.

Two lead characters and a piano player produce a great musical. You can read my review here. Ryan Burke was as advertised, he can sing and he can work a lead role. Maggie Donovan can sing too, and she was wonderful.

Here is one of the original cast members performing a song with the play-write and composer Jason Robert Brown to give you a taste of the musical.

In Regards to Elvis

34 years today Elvis Presley died. Tonight my blog is kind of a tribute to Elvis. Sadly, I don't have any memories of his death. I knew of him as a child ,but I was only 6. So, probably my biggest Elvis memory was watching U2 covering "Can't Help Falling in Love." Here is a version of  them playing Elvis:

Here is Robert Plant sharing a story on the David Letterman Show of meeting the King/;

Here is a vintage video of Robert covering Elvis with Rockpile.

Anyone want to share their Elvis memories?

Alison Krauss

Cool, the blog is working again. Sorry, I haven't been posting lately due to some technical problems. A week ago, I had the privileged to see Alison Krauss and Union Station at Wolftrap in Vienna, Virginia a week ago Sunday.

A pretty easy review to do considering Alison's angelic voice and Union Station's talents. You can read my review here. Here is a taste of what I got to see and listen too. A taste of what you missed. She opened with this song:

The opening act was the band Dawes. I would have like to have heard more from them but they were only allotted about 20 minutes. Here is a song they performed but from another venue:

More blogs to come!