Blogging from A to Z: Z is for Zoo

Well here we come to the end of another A to Z Challenge and I have survived! I will wrap up on a post about a book I read Zoo by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. Lately a lot of my reading has been inspired by movie and television. (Not all)

Reading the Dexter series, James Bond movies, The Finest Hours, adult comics and more. I was inspired to read Zoo from watching a few episodes of the CBS show on Netflix. The book is quite different from the show!

I enjoyed the book and recommend it. Looking at the reviews on Goodreads some would disagree. If you look deep enough the book has flaws. Some didn't like the short chapters. I disagree on that! I liked small chapters easier to read and put down in case you needed to. The short chapters made built in stopping points. 

The book kept my interest for the most part through out! The book entertained. It was fiction and I found it a fun read.

Here is a clip from the premiere of season 2 of the show..

Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoyed!

Blogging from A to Z 2018: Y not

Going to Jazz Fest tomorrow so I came to NOLA a little early. Y not. Decised ro gobtoba club ended up at the wrong one. Bit the line up is good so I stayed y not. So it will be a y not weekend.

Blogging from A to Z: X-Men

Opening up the post with the trailer from the first X-Men movie from way back in 2000. Trailer from the 2017 film in the series..

A clip from the first movie..

Well I will be back soon!

Blogging from A to Z: W for William Basie

You might be scratching your head wondering who was William Basie? Well he was better known as Count Basie and he died on this date in 1984.


"Swingin' the Blues" from 1941..

"April in Paris" well it is April ...

"Honey Suckle Rose"...with Ella Fitzgerald! 1979

A little bit of Count Basie to remember his jazzy ways!

Blogging from a to Z: V is for Verne Troyer

Verne Troyer is an actor who passed a way on April 21. He gained fame through his Mini Me role in the Austin Powers movie series.

His debut from The Spy Who Shagged Me....

Jailhouse scene from Goldmember...

The news from Inside Edition..

He will be missed!

Blogging from A to Z 2018: U is for Undertow

I just came back from fishing by the beach so a topic having to do with oceans make sense.


There is a movie called "Undertow" from 2004 that has nothing to do with the ocean.

More about real undertows and ripe currents. Beach season is coming might be important..

A diver in one..

Lot's of "Undertow" songs like this one from Mr. Big

Movies, information, adventure and a song that's what you get when you visit my blog. I hope you enjoyed. Don't get stuck in an undertow and visit again!

Blogging from A to Z 2018: T-Rex

The final week of the A to Z Challenge here so let's get it on! "Bang A Bong" T.Rex...

Going Big with dinosaurs and bands!

As The Who sings " and I drunk myself b-lind to the
sound of old T-Rex
To the sound of old T-Rex - who's next?"

Some Dino Bloopers

Oh I'm just a "20th Century Boy"

T Rex, Dinosaurs, and some prehistoric rock and roll!

Monday's Music Moves Me: Earth Day!

  Earth Day is today's topic on this weeks Monday's Music Moves Me

I am sure everyone will pick this song..."Mercy, Mercy, Mercy Me" Marvin Gaye...

Maybe we can take a "Big Yellow Taxi" to a tree museum..

"And all the fish that lay in dirty water dying" well with lyrics like that Led Zeppelin get on the play list with "That's The Way"

How about some Swamp Rock from the late Bobby Charles "Clean Water" 

Happy Earth Day! Stay tuned for new music!

Battle of the Bands Results:Valerie Carter by Unanimous Decision

My Battle of the Bands featured a song recorded by John Sebastion. Sebastion is best known for bein a member of The Lovin' Spoonful. The song "The Face of Appalacia" was co-written by the late Lowell George (Little Feat).

Valerie Carter was best known as a backing vocalist for a who's who of musical giants James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Neil Diamond, Glen Frey, Don Henley and more. She even sang with her rival in this Battle.

She wrote songs for Judy Collins, Jackson Browne and Earth Wind & Fire. She has a Little Feat connection singing backup with them and Lowell produced a couple of albums for her. She passed away in March of 2017.


Here she is with "O-o-h Child"...

"Crazy"

Thanks for voting! I will be back soon with a new battle on May 15th.

Blogging from A to Z 2018: S is for Saturday

The A to Z Challenge is moving on and today is Saturday.

Live from my blog it is Saturday Night!

One of my favorite SNL skits...

The great late Chris Farley.   Some Saturday comedy to Saturday music. How about the great Elton John...

 

The good stuff some Sam Cooke!

A comedy skit, some classic tunes not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Blogging from A to Z 2018: R is for Relax

Life can be crazy! Life can dish out the unexpected. Life is full of ups and downs. However, it is Friday and the weekend is here. It is time to relax!





Hope you have a great day and wonderful weekend

Blogging from A to Z 2018: Q is for Queensryche

Easy way out for Q is with some music. Sit back enjoy the tunes.

"Anybody Listening?"

Good one to start with as sometimes I wonder.

We can rock with "Jet City Woman"

"Silent Lucidity"

Thanks for visiting! I will be back with a new post on Friday!

Blogging from A to Z 2018: P is Phoneless

In these times we live in phones are more than phones. They are computers, personal navigators, fitness trackers, message machines, portable gaming systems, recorders and more. They can even be used to tune a guitar!




The picture of the phone above is similar to the first phone I ever used.

Yesterday, I spent over 12 hours at the office and I forgot my phone! I was going to write yesterday's blog post on it. No checking email during my breaks. No shopping ebay! No notification of traffic delays! On the plus side my wife couldn't ask me to pick up anything on the way home.

Can you imagine a day without your phone?

Blogging from A to Z 2018: Ordinary

Joe Walsh opening the O blog post with "Ordinary Average Guy." Is ordinary really that bad? I find my life tends to be more ordinary everyday. Sure, I have done some cool things. However, there are a lot of people who have done cooler things.

I mean I was talking to this gentleman the other day and we were discussing occupations, "I work for so and so (stuck in a cubicle all day)." The other person "I'm a pilot." His job was much more interesting than mine.

If you ever look at what your friends are doing on facebook wow! They are living the life fantastic! Because most people don't post the ordinary things.


but you know you can come "Live A Live a Life Less Ordinary with Me"

Monday's Music Moves Me and Blogging from A to Z 2018: N is for Songs from Bands Starting with N

Since Monday's Music Moves Me is a freebie this week and I really didn't have anything in mind for my A to Z post I  thought I would just combine them into one.



Let's get started!

Nirvana  "Come As You Are"

Nazareth "Hair of the Dog"

Nine Inch Nails "The Hand That Feeds"

Night Ranger "Sister Christian" 

I felt like rocking a bit and I just wanted to keep it with groups/bands. What are your favorite groups starting with N?

Battle of the Bands: The Face of Appalachia

My Battle of the Bands post this month relate to my first post in my A to Z Challenge. So it relates to Appalachia but that's not all. It relates to a Christian artist, Little Feat, and Jimmy Buffett. Heck you can play the separation game all the way to Woodstock.

The song : Face of Appalachia by John Sebastian

Don't vote on the above one. That is where the song came from.

Contender One: Julie Miller

Contender Two: Valerie Carter

Vote in the comments for Julie or Valerie! I will the results soon.

Blogging from A to Z 2018: M is for Midnight

As Wilson Pickett sings it is "The Midnight Hour" and I am wrapping up my second week  of the Blogging from A to Z 2018 Challenge. Well today's letter is M  and that fits well with Midnight.

Is Midnight moving on from Friday the 13th a spooky time? Is it strange that today marks a transition in the challenge as the month is entering the halfway mark? After all midnight marks a transition between one day and the next.

The movie Midnight from 1939 is called a screwball classic. What is a screwball classic? Anyone ever seen the movie? If so any good?

On Sunday I will have my monthly Battle of the Bands post which will relate to my very first A to Z post of 2018. I invite you to come back for that, visit and vote. Then of course there is the Monday's Music Moves ME post on Monday and the challenge continues with N.

Well I hope Midnight was nice! I am going to sleep a few winks and go right into a busy Saturday.

Blogging from A to Z 2018: L is for Lynyrd Skynyrd

A lot of classic Rock bands are throwing in the towel.  Lynyrd Skynyrd  is one of them. The band down to one original member but the band has been going strong with a revolving cast of characters. Well today's letter is L so why not celebrate from Skynyrd...

                                                       "Gimme Back My Bullets"

Perhaps my favorite song by them "Simple Man"

Sometimes you need to ask someone to "Gimme Three Steps"

                                             and the anthems "Freebird"...

                                                             and "Sweet Home Alabama"

                                           


                                                      

Blogging from A to Z 2018: K is for Coack K

Coach K sounds like a solid choice to blog about on the blogging from A to Z Challenge. He is a basketball coach so that would fit with my letter C post and he is an author of a book I read so that is related to a couple of posts.


Who is Coach K? Mike Kryzewski the head basketball coach for the Duke University Blue Devils. As a coach he was 1100 games which is more than any other college basketball coach. His teams have won the National Championship five times.

I read a lot of business books. It is what my degrees are in and I do work in business. Anybody who has read my blog for a while knows I enjoy sports as well. Sometimes a book fits a business topic and also fits another interest of mine. This creates in my mind a double win for me! Mike Kryzewski's book "Leading with the Heart" was one of those books I read last summer. I learned a lot more about Coach K, there was some good leadership advice and a lot about how he operates.




The legendary coach has authored at least five other books and if I ran across another book by him I would likely read it.

Join me tomorrow as A to Z challenge continues!

Blogging from A to Z 2018: J is for James Bond Movies

Yesterday I blogged about the creator of James Bond. You can read about that here. However, I discovered James Bond first through the movies.

Sean Connery's first appearance as James Bond in Dr. No...

Maybe a Ski Chase featuring Roger Moore..

Timothy Dalton with a little Aston Martin...

a bit of a jump in Golden Eye with Pierce Bronson...

Daniel Craig being tested in Skyfall..

Who was your favorite James Bond actor? Favorite James Bond movie? Feel free to share in the comments. I will continue the challenge tomorrow with a K related post.

Blogging from A to Z 2018: I is for Ian Fleming

Today's letter is I. I decided to go with the British author Ian Fleming who created the famous spy character James Bond. I became familiar with Ian Fleming through the film adaptations of his work, the blockbuster James Bond movies. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I actually read any of Fleming's novels. Why I was so late to the literary party I have no idea. My older brother had every James Bond book ever written. (Side note I have read three novels by Ian Fleming.)

A vintage interview with Ian Fleming from 1963..

Ian Fleming had an interesting life. He was a Naval Intelligence Officer during World War II, a journalist and moved to Jamaica. Ian Fleming like his James Bond character enjoyed alcohol and smoking. Fleming passed away at the age of 56 due to heart conditions.

Below a tribute to Ian Fleming..

Besides the James Bond novels Fleming wrote a non fiction book called The Diamond Smugglers published in 1957. He also wrote the 1963 travelogue Thrilling cities. Fleming also wrote a children's novel Chitty-Chitty-Bang -Bang. 

What is your favorite James Bond novels? Have you read any James Bond novels written by other authors? If so how do they compare? Please feel free to comment. I will be back soon with a J post.

Blogging from A to Z 2018: H is for Heart

It is late at night. H is a little tricky and since I didn't want to do a short post like I did for G. I will stay with a music theme. I will go with Heart, a female led rocking outfit currently on hiatus.

Let's  rock out to "Barracuda" from 1977...

I should be sleeping so maybe "These Dreams"

Yes, I eventually discovered the classic Heart songs of the 70s. However, I was introduced with their 80s and 90's hits...like "What About Love"

"Never"

What is your favorite Heart song? Feel free to share. Tuesday's letter is I!

Monday's Music Moves Me: Songs about Easter

This week's episode of Monday's Music Moves Me features the theme related to Easter.

Well I heard the Easter Bunny is all ears! So let's do this..

I'll start off with a pre-Easter, Lent season hymn....

The song is certainly related to Easter. It is powerful, emotional with a lot of feeling. All those ingredients I find make a great song to my ears! Tatiana with the version above.

Below is "The Easter Song" by The 2nd Chapter of Acts..

Way back from 1974, some classic Christian Rock.

Speaking of classics Gene Autry taking us out with "Peter Cottontail"..

Well I hope you enjoyed my 4M post. This week I will be continuing the A to Z Challenge with 6 more posts and next Sunday I will have my Battle of the Bands post so a lot happening here!

Blogging from A to Z 2018: Goals

I am really busy today and away from a computer so my A to Z post is being done on my phone. My topic today is goals, specifically to the A to Z Challenge. Obviously the first goal is to complete the challenge. My second goal is to stay active inn my other blog hops. So far so good. I only have two so not that bad.

I want to make 300 visits to other A to Z blogs this month. I also want to visit some new blogs as well.

Well thoae are my goals!

Blogging from A to Z 2018: F is for The Finest Hours

A lot of my reading of late is influenced by television and the movies. My latest read is a prime example of that. The Finest Hours was made into a movie in 2016. A trailer for The Disney Movie is below...

The Coast Guard men in the book/movie came through in their finest hours. It was based on a true story and without a doubt they were heroes. Obviously the men had to enlist into thw Coast Guard. Second a bad storm needed to develop. The tragedy of two ships falling apart in the frigid waters needed to fall in place. Lastly the Coasties needed to rescue folks to be heroes. The book discussed one boat which was unsuccessful. The brave men where lucky to return to shore. The book went farther than the movie and discussed some if the guilt and other feelings that went with becoming heroes. The story had been told before and was choppy at times. However, the story did tell the tale of some courageous Coast Guard members. 

Blogging from A to Z 2018: E is for The Eagles

The challenge continues along with E. Well right be fore the challenge I wrote about Eric Clapton. Then I was going to write about Ernest Hemmingway but I have done that on a previous challenge. Well I hadn't posted about The Eagles in a challenge yet.

"Take it Easy" performed at their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

The Eagles "New Kid in Town"  live from 1977...

he latest new guy Vince Gil sings "Ol' 55"

Probably my favorite Eagles song is "Desperado"

Perhaps their most popular song "Hotel California"

Thanks for visiting! If you are doing your challenge I wish you well. What s your favorite Eagles song? Feel free to share in the comments.

Blogging from A to Z 2018: D is for Dolores O'Riordan

Dolores O'Riordan was the lead singer for the Irish group The Cranberries. She passed away on January 15. I was going to do a tribute post on her in January and then again yesterday as the letter C but plans change.

I guess I let it "Linger"

The cause of her death hasn't been released. I thought I would share some of the music he leaves behind.

Here is a solo song called "Ordinary Day"...

"When Your Gone" by The Cranberries..

I will wrap up the music with "Zombie"

Were you aware Dolores had passed away? What was your favorite song by The Cranberries?

Well thanks for visiting and I will have a new post up soon!

Blogging from A to Z 2018: C is for Champions! The Villanova Wildcats

I was planning to blog about something different today for the A to Z Challenge. I was planning to watch the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game last night. Those plans changed due to a family emergency. That my friends is called life. The curveballs that life tosses at bloggers during this challenge is perhaps the biggest obstacle to success in this challenge.

Last night the Michigan Wolverines were not a big enough obstacle for the Villanova Wildcats who had no trouble finding success! If the game was close I would have been more upset about missing the game.

Below is the game rewind in 10-minutes..

What a year for Philadelphia! First the Eagles won the Super Bowl and now the Wildcats win the NCAA Tournament. There were some wonderful Cinderella stories that busted up many brackets. However, in the end a number one seed prevailed.

How did Villanova get there? First they crushed Radford.

Radford don't feel bad. Villanova beat every team they played in the tournament by double digits.

Next the Wildcats destroyed Alabama...

Next up was the West Virginia Mountaineers...

Followed by an upstart Texas Tech team..

In the Final Four Kansas went down by 16...

Thanks for visiting and come back to see what I pick for D!

Blogging from A to Z 2018: B is for Baseball

My Monday's Music Moves Me post certainly delivers a soundtrack for the boys of summer playing baseball. Welcome to my blog and my A to Z challenge. Today's theme is baseball.



The 2018 baseball has just started so the timing is appropriate for a blog post on baseball. Baseball has been called "America's Pastime." Where I live college football is probably king among sports. I'm pretty passionate about my favorite NFL team. College basketball is fun and March Madness is exciting. I could go on with other sports but baseball is special.

As my proceeding post showed there are great songs about baseball. It has a storied history. IT is a thinking persons sport. There is strategy and enough stats to appeal to the most analytical, number crunching nerd (and I know I have resembled that last comment.)

If  that "stats to appeal to the most analytical, number crunching nerd" appeals to you I would highly recommend the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis.



As I stated baseball is probably the most storied sport. There are so many books written about baseball. I just entered search at Goodreads and it came back with over 12,400 books! I've rad a few and have a few laying around waiting for me to read.

If books were not enough to make it storied enough how about movies.

"Field of Dreams"

"Bull Durham"

Even away players work there way up to the major league resembles working your way up the corporate ladder. Young athletes work there way through the minor leagues trying to make it to the Majors. Of course going to a game is fun. Minor league games are very interesting and have quite a few family events. While Major League games give you the big time experience.

A view to baseball field..

Well that's my post on baseball and the letter B. Tune into tomorrow as my focus will go on to the letter C.

Monday's Music Moves Me: Baseball Songs

I am being ambitious this April on my blog. Yes I am doing the A to Z Challenge. Also this month I am doing the Battle of the Bands post on the 15th like usual. I am also planning to participate in the Monday's Music Moves Me posts as well. Today's post in the 4M world is a freebie.  Certainly I could use this post as my A to Z post. I won't. My A to Z post will come out later and will be on the subject of baseball. My post in here will share the theme of baseball. Sit back, get ready and play ball!

"Take Me Out To The Ballgame"

The lyrics to the above song have changed a bit over a 110 years ago since that version was recorded. The below song is vintage as well. I don't think I have ever heard it before.

"It's A Beautiful Day For A Ball Game Song"

More contemporary and a wonderful story here is Kenny Rogers with "The Greatest"

We're "Talkin' Baseball" here, right Terry Cashman

I'm ready! Put me in coach! I can play..."Centerfield"

John Fogerty's song is easily one of my favorite baseball songs. What are yours that I may have missed? Are you happy baseball season is back? Well thanks for visiting and check out the other 4M participants here.

Blogging from A to Z 2018: A for Appalachia

No fooling, I am back participating in the Blogging from A to Z April (2018) Challenge. Starting on April Fool's Day and on a Sunday. It is Easter as well. My post today isn't about April Fools, Sunday or Easter. It is inspired about my upcoming Battle of the Bands I will have on the 15th.


Today's post is about Appalachia. It's a region I've spent some time in. The region is more centrally located than the whole Mountain Range (hill range for you true Mountain lovers).

Above a snapshot of Appalachia taken outside of Marion, Virginia in late December.

Below a white water trip down the New River...

A video of Blackwater Falls ..

Both places in the videos I have spent some time at and have many fond memories of some fun adventures.

The Great Smoky Mountains are included in the region..

So many great people there, adventures by foot, raft, and skis. Just a small taste of Appalachia.