Vital Statistics

Aches & pains: belt sore

Current reading: The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons

Recent listening: When the Sun Goes Down, Century of the Blues, Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon, Hoodoo Man Blues, Blues From The Gutter, Lonnie Johnson, Sleepy John Estes

Recent viewing: The Daily Show, The Leftovers, L.I.E., Parks & Recreation, God Bless America, Hemlock Grove (Season Two)

Recent playing: 2048

Recently accomplished: Laundry, dumped CenturyLink, mowed lawn, pulled weeds, fixed shower head

Imperative To Do: Ride bike, contact Social Security, turn compost, plant grass, mow front and back, pull weeds, moss control, fix blog CSS, birthday party invites, re-assemble BigTV Room, send bikes to Thomas

Vital Statistics

Aches & pains: various bruises of unknown origin

Current reading: The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons

Recent listening: When the Sun Goes Down, Century of the Blues, Let Me Squeeze Your Lemon, Mississippi John Hurt, Taj Mahal, Hoodoo Man Blues, Queen, No New York

Recent viewing: Inside Man, Last Week with John Oliver, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Beatles Anthology, Her, August: Osage County, The Armstrong Lie, Metallica Through The Never, The Punk Singer, Muscle Shoals

Recent playing: 2048

Recently accomplished: Laundry, started transition from CenturyLink, wrote MP3 disc explanation, pulled dandelions

Imperative To Do: Ride bike, finish CenturyLink transition, clean roof and gutters, contact Social Security, turn compost, plant grass, mow front and back, pull weeds, moss control

The Stumble

Today as I was listening to A Hard Road by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers for the first time, the song that most caught my attention was their cover of Freddie King’s “The Stumble”. Since I had recently added The Very Best of Freddie King to my iTunes collection, I knew I probably had the original:

iTunes search for "The Stumble"

Sure enough I had the version by Freddie as well as another by Jeff Beck I immediately queued them to play next: Freddie followed by Beck. In the meantime, I pulled up the Wikipedia article to find out more about this rollicking electric guitar solo + what is the wah wah effect. There’s not much there but the article does have a list of artists that have covered it. My eyes immediately found Gary Moore who was more or less a disciple of Peter Green, Mayall’s guitar player on his version of “The Stumble”. Having just downloaded a chunk of Moore’s work the night before, I anxiously scanned the files for his version of “The Stumble”. I dropped it into iTunes just as Beck’s version faded out.

As Moore’s version blasted my ears, I went to YouTube for further insight. I wasn’t able to find the Freddie King version but I did find Green, Beck and Moore as well as a couple of interesting versions.
Continue reading “The Stumble”

Vital Statistics

Aches & pains: right ankle
Current reading: Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
Recent listening: B.B. King, Albert King, Freddie King, John Anderson, Eric Clapton, Booker T. and the MG’s, Bukka White, Electric Flag, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield Blue Band, Elmore James, Robert Johnson, Fleetwood Mac, George Harrison, Harlem Slim, Jimi Hendrix, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Jimmy Reed, The Band, Reverend Gary Davis, Dock Boggs, John Hartford, Pet Seeger
Recent viewing: The Middle, Community, The Civil War, Frontline, 60 Minutes, Kickass, Surface, Lord of the Flies (1963), Strange Days, Suck, Twilight Zone, Network, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Black Swan, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Dark City
Recent playing: DropZap, Words with Friends
Recently accomplished: Teacher meetings (Thomas), Troop 820 treasurer’s report, bank trip, Tivo hard drive replacement
Imperative To Do: Clean garage, clean gutters, new shelves for stereo, bark dust, doctor appointments

Vital Statistics

Aches & pains: sciatica, temperature sensitivity, left hip
Current reading: Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
Recent listening: The Chess Story, Eric Clapton, The Yardbirds, Beckology, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Steve Miller Band, Traffic, Boz Scaggs, The Rolling Stones
Recent viewing: CSI, God in America, Sin City, V is for Vendetta, Commando, Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey, Secrets Beneath the Ice (Nova), Real Time with Bill Maher, Japan’s Killer Quake (Nova), BBS: The Documentary
Recent playing: DropZap, Words with Friends, WSOP Hold ‘Em Legend HD
Recently accomplished: Couch acquisition, Troop 820 collections, mowed lawn, new couch prep
Imperative To Do: Clean garage, clean gutters, new shelves for stereo, bank trip, bark dust, doctor appointments

Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 2567
Aches & pains: itchy tattoo
Current reading: George’s Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking
Recent listening: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Sabbath, Michelle Shocked, Muddy Waters, Dio, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tom Waits
Recent viewing: Lost, Modern Family, Doctor Who, Glee, Fringe, Moon, Iron Man 2, Donnie Darko, The Big Lebowski, It Might Get Loud
Recent playing: Words with Friends, Plants vs. Zombies
Recently accomplished: Collected summer camp fees, finished Iowa vacation planning, learned to solder, fixed 1 of 2 broken LCD displays, unclogged traps in both bathrooms, job interview, endured first tattoo, setup Troop 820 website
Imperative To Do: iPhone application, pay speeding ticket, weed and feed, groceries