Bob (not Weir)

So I'm a-gonna try to hopefully get back to posting Grateful Dead tunes tomorrow. Here's the finale of my tribute to legendary taper Jerry Moore. A deadhead he was, to be sure, but I think the guy also dug himself a little Bob... of the Marley variety...

Bob Marley & The Wailers June 15, 1975 Manhattan Center New York City

Trench Town Rock
Slave Driver
Burnin' And Lootin'
Concrete Jungle
Kinky Reggae
Midnight Raver
Lively Up Yourself
No Woman No Cry
Rebel Music
Them Belly Full
Natty Dread
I Shot The Sheriff
Nice Time
-encore-
Talkin' Blues
Bend Down Low
So Jah Seh
Get Up Stand Up

Some nice Bob... and not of the Weir variety. I'm not really sure what to say about these tunes. What makes one Bob Marley & The Wailers show better than another? Not like there's a ton of jamming to get into. Not like there's lots of spacey places to explore. So I and I just listen, mon... listen and enjoy the reggae.

Sound quality could be better but it's not horrible. Remember cassettes with hiss from multi-generations? Jah bless the digital age, mon! No hiss like that so all in all this ain't bad!

Download The Show Here (320 kbps) Part 1 - 6/21/75 Bob Marley ♦ Marley 6/21/75 - Part Two recorded by Dennis Anderson & Jerry Moore Audience > Cassette Master (Sony ECM 33P mics > Sony TC-152SD) > 7" Reel @ 7.5 ips w/Dolby > Tascam HD-P2 24/48 > CD Wave > Adobe 16/44 > FLAC

Where's the exercise gone, Alpha Blondy?

The last month has been... whew, there's been SO much going on (understatement!) that my head's practically spinning. Not Linda Blair spinning, just spinning, like a top or maybe a dreidel, take your pick. Exercise has gone out the door and I'm not happy about that. 21 days since I last ran is pathetic. In that time I think I've had one hike which lasted about an hour.

Exercise is important! What's happened to me then? It's been three+ years since I quit smoking cigarettes and quitting cigs without exercise almost seems pointless.

In the past few days I've been finding myself, every now and then, nearly struggling, definitely really reaching, to get a good yawn-type of deep breath. Breaths like that should come easily and shouldn't even be noticed because they're natural; they shouldn't have to be consciously helped along. When I go awhile without giving the ol' cardiovascular system a good workout, that's what happens. Not good. (Not that breathing is difficult but) I should be breathing easier. Not to worry, I don't need to be checked out or anything, I'm not gonna keel over at any moment. Aside from some extra poundage (evidence of too many yummy beers) that I should really work harder on removing from myself, I'm in overall decent health. Plus, from past experience, I know that running and/or hiking will easily alleviate the breathing thing and I'll feel like a million bucks again. If I'm lucky maybe even a million and a half, a million seven five!

It's just that in the past month, everything's been turned upside down and unfortunately shaken all the hell up in a rather not-so-swell way... also in a great way!!! But the not-so-swell is taking a toll on me.

I've really got to put an effort into turning this around. Or I could begin a new diet of Entenmann's (a fine Brooklyn company sadly gone Canadian) and Dunkin' Donuts, cheeseburgers and cannolis... and maybe some cannoli cheeseburgers! So easily I could flop myself down in front of the TV for 5 hours a day and "bulk" up to around 400 pounds or so.

That wouldn't be so good, would it?

80° @ 9:15 a.m... a little freakin' warm in the South Carolina Lowcountry

Thursday Morning Run: 10 minutes 50 sec

-like 11 minutes

XXXXXXXXXXXX ·June - 26 sec· XXXXXXXXXX

Running in July: 10:50 June: 1 hour 47 minutes May: 4 hours 46 minutes

Well, (running in) June got shot to shit.
Yeah, hooray for that.

New month, new beginning. New state, too.
Hotter temperatures, too.
Yeah, hooray for that.

Last night when I planned this morning's run, I knew that I did not want to try picking up where I left off on June 11. Actually, yes, I did want to but to be more accurate: I didn't think it would be prudent at this juncture.

A step back I'd have to take but a step back is better than not running at all.

I had planned for 3 songs / around 14 minutes or running -- I quit after 2 songs. Failure. But it's acceptable failure today as I didn't really know how this run would go. It wasn't so bad but the temperature, unfortunately, really began to wipe me out near the end. If I looked back through each run in 2008, the high temperature outdoors (versus a steady mid-70's indoors which I had gotten used to and was no big deal) might be only around 63-65 or so -- a little bit warm but not bad. Usually, if I recall correctly, rarely did I run when it was over 60!

This morning right around 9:15, as I stretched and took my first steps of running since June 11 -- and practically on the other side of the continent -- the temp was right about 80° (27 C.) Hot. Luckily I went in the morning when the sun was low on the horizon and not blaring down from right overhead. Holy crap, that would have killed me. I'd actually like to be able to get used to running under the bright & hot noonday sun... but not yet!

I suppose for now, this was a decent start.

Goal for July -- HAAA!!! I have no idea.

Revised Goal for July: run what I can at least 15 times.

1 down, 14 to go.

Running tunes came from this album o' the day...
	Alpha Blondy Cocody Rock!!! 1984

Cocody Rock
Téré
Superpowers
Interplanetary Revolution
Fangandan Kameleba
Bory Samory

Ahhh, Alpha Blondy. Once upon a time me and my friends -- or my friends and I -- we were into ski movies, wanted to ski like the people in them, be in them, and even make them. (Long time ago!) Our heroes were Glen Plake and Scot Schmidt and Mike Hattrup who starred in a bunch of mucho classico Greg Stump ski movies in the late 80's and early 90's (which would make a neat-o present someday (see Amazon link) hint hint!)

Anyway, great music is used throughout those movies and that included a song or two by Alpha Blondy. Great stuff and those two songs became a part of life back then. Since then, my exposure to other Alpha Blondy music has been non-existent... until now.

Running to reggae isn't easy because the beat is rarely fast enough to inspire... but with my run today this album worked out just fine. I gave this a few listens a few weeks ago when I first acquired it and was immediately drawn to how good these tunes are. I feel like a lot of reggae sounds so close to the same but frankly, if I like it, I don't care. And this artist from the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) I really dig... even if I can't understand it all. Half of the songs, I think, are in some sort of pseudo-French. While I have a basic grasp of français, it's not so easy for me to follow it all in song... but it's still good, fun music to listen to! More important than fun, maybe not so much here but apparently on his other albums, his music has messages on poverty, racism and other social injustices that people in this world should not have to put up with.

For some info on Alpha Blondy's charitable causes, check out:

Alpha Blondy Jah Glory Foundation

"Benefiting African Women and Children Charities in Africa and Haiti"

find a dload @ Rique do Reggae

320 kbps mp3 download

"Cocody Rock" - May 16, 2007
Montevideo, Uruguay

Bob, Rita, Ziggy... now Stephen

The world keeps spinning today. People've woken up... maybe grabbed themselves a beer, maybe gone to work, maybe stabbed or shot someone, committed genocide, worked on building a nuclear weapons program in order to commit genocide while essentially spitting in the face of the U.N., performed an operation on a cancer patient, had sex, ate a bag of Doritos for breakfast, fantasized about raising taxes in an effort to take more of the American citizens' hard-earned money to, against the wishes of roughly half of us, socialize portions of this country, layed down some tracks in a studio, fed their dog, or maybe indulged in some much needed exercise.

Here it's just another winter day in this sub-zero, sub-Arctic paradise that is Interior Alaska.

Up wayyyy too early for a day off from work...

Press Play. Run. Yada freakin' yada...

Tuesday Morning Run: 19 minutes 1 sec. (approx.)

(+2:34) · indoors ·

XXXXXXXX+++++++ 32 sec +++++++XXXXXXXX

Run Time February: 2 hours 35 minutes January: 2 hours 56 minutes

Running Goal -- 17:32
Approximate Achieved Time -- 19:01

What a bizarre occurrence this morning. I felt ready for a run, felt good, no worse, no better than any other day. About 2 minutes in I started seriously thinking: "Stop. Stop. Stop." Over and over. Successfully I put that out of my mind... but then all of a sudden I stopped. Just like that. Completely out of the blue I just halted my run (but continued walking around the track.)

Strange.

Always my goal is to start once, run, stop, good deal, exercise finished. This morning I failed. My mind was swimming in nothing but feelings of misery. I failed. But I was determined to run some more.

After some walking I started back up running again, finished out the song it was on, and slowed my pace back down to just a walk. Did that for a song and then once again ran for a song. Rolled with that one more revolution through and so I got a whole bunch of running in. Wasn't sure how much exactly. Twasn't until I got back and showered and sat down just a little while ago to figure it out... somehow it turned out that I ran LONGER than what I was planning to. Hmm.

So my failure was washed out by an extra minute and a half of running. Just a very weird morning as far as running goes.

Running tunes from
the album of the day...

Stephen Marley

Mind Control

2007






Mind Control
Hey Baby
Officer Jimmy (Interlude)
Iron Bars
The Traffic Jam
You're Gonna Leave
Chase Dem
Lonely Avenue
Let Her Dance
Fed Up
Inna Di Red

Everyone knows great reggae doesn't have to come from Jamaica, right? It can come from Wilmington, Delaware! Delaware?!?! Yeah... Delaware. That's where Bob's 2nd son Stephen was born. America's first state might have the same Atlantic Ocean that Jamaica has, they've even got a nice beach or two... but an island native this jah reggae mon is not... well, at least not by birth.

Stephen sure knows the music, that's for sure. It's in his soul. How could it not be?

Here on his debut as a solo artist, Stephen not only immerses himself in the roots of contemporary reggae but adds touches of hip hop, as well. Now I'm not one who digs hip hop -- as a general rule of life(!) -- but the hip hop and rap guest artists brought in help add a little different flavor to this overall body of work, separating it from the masses of roots reggae albums one can listen to and never really tell one from another sometimes.

As well as guests on the album, a nice portion of the family Marley is here, too. For some reason that helps give me more of a connection to the music. Listening to the First Family of Reggae, that's not just listening to reggae, that's special and that's what this album is... some great tunes without a doubt, mon.

One thing that's just amazing here is Stephen's voice and how similar it is to Bob's. If anyone ever thinks sometimes Ziggy is really close, so much so you might know which is which, Stephen is even closer sounding.

If I still smoked the ganja, this would have me lightin' a big ol' spliff to just kick back and... and just be.

Check out a professional review at Allmusic.

128 kbps dload @ Rique do Reggae

Rita Run

· Run Time -- 13 minutes 56 seconds (+0:23)

· back indoors

· Total Running Time for November -- 2 hours 4 min 28 sec
______________________October --- ______57 min 06 sec
____(starting Oct. 1)
· Weight Loss Goal -- 24 pounds (11 kg)
__________· So Far -- 9 lb... havin' a difficult time getting to 10.

This whole thing lately with above freezing temps during the day, below freezing at night -- it's really gotta stop. I mean seriously. People've gotta stop driving cars 'cause this damn global warming, I'm serious, it's gettin' on my nerves. 37 (F) during the day?! Melting half the snow, makin' life one holy mess... come on. Would have LOVED to have gone for a run on the trail in this temp... but slush is not good.

Not that it really woulda mattered anyway 'cause Geez, Louise, could my run tonight have been any more freakin' difficult?! Finally I woke up after sleepin' half the day... but I'm thinkin' I had such a hard time because I didn't get enough sleep after working that 24 hour shift. Not enough proper energy maybe? Somethin' just wasn't right. But mentally I felt I was ready to go. Got my butt over to the gym with just enough time to spare before they closed early for the Thanksgiving break... was really lookin' forward to gettin' that nearly 14 minutes of exercise. Stretched... Pressed Play... Started Running... and I made it all the way to my end cue... but twas not easy. I was simply practically dead at the end. Within a few minutes I had recovered just fine... but oi vay, ay caramba, Flander-dider-didly-o, life would be so much easier without this crap. I made it, though. Hopefully my next run will go a whole lot better.

3 reggae running tunes from this, my Album du Jour...


Rita Marley

Who Feels It Knows It

1980






A Jah Jah
That's The Way
Who Feels It Knows It
One Draw
Thank You Jah
Good Morning Jah
I'm Still Waiting
Play Play
Jah Jah Don't Want
Easy Sailing

After the death of her husband Bob, the soul of Marley reggae would not be silenced... Rita helped to carry it on. Here she makes her solo debut. Her sound is well-crafted; this is no amateur effort, not one bit. One Draw celebrates the ganja in fine Jamaican fashion and many tunes focus on the Oneness and the Greatness of Jah, or God, praising Him in a way any Christian would be happy to hear. All the while the ride is laid back yet alive at the same time with a playful and fun feeling.

Not great to run to because it didn't help give me a quicker pace that I wanted... but some really nice reggae and I'm lookin' forward to more Rita in the future.

128 kbps dload @ moot-soul

Jah Be Watchin' Over Me Tibia, Mon!

Another
Short Hike This Afternoon...

___· Trail Time --- 1 hour 45 minutes

__· Temperature -- 35ºF (2ºC)

· Trail Time in October -- 4 hours 20 minutes

· Weight Loss Goal -- 24 pounds (11 kg)
· So Far -- 1 lb. (1/2 kg)

What a freakin' sweet time on the trail earlier! Or what a freak I am to be so fascinated with weather. I mean, I'm not a nut about it, I don't have a barometer to study, I don't catalog cloud formations or anything... but I'm really diggin' this winter weather only a few weeks into Fall. Not being from here, it's just... weird to me and it hasn't gotten old yet. As I type this, it's in the upper 20's (couple degrees under 0 celcius.) My woodburning stove is fired up yet again, every night for about a week or so now. I've gotta go chop some wood (not right now, it's dark) or hope for a tornado. I don't think the latter's gonna happen, probably not, yeah, I'd be willing to lay some money on that not happening... so fine, some real man's work ahead, a little late but it'll get done none-the-less. If I'm caught without wood (for the stove) then I can just turn the heat up but that'll raise my gas usage and oi... more bills. I don't grow money on trees and if I started laser printing it, the Secret Service might get a little upset with me. Me no wanna go to Leavenworth! So I've gotta start chopping more wood before the snow flies or else I'll have to buy some. With an abundance of trees everywhere, that would just be dumb. I'm now typing too much about this... next paragraph!

Up in Anaktuvuk Pass today, twas a mere 1ºF (-17 C) ... the coldest known temp in the territory today. How awesome is that?! A.P. is up north of the [Arctic] Circle, on the northern edge of Gates Of The Arctic National Park, couple hundred miles or so north of here. Population: about 300. I think the honky population is about 25, while the rest is Eskimo. If I ever end up moving somewhere off the road system, Anak's very high on the list.

Anyway, I headed out on the trail again this afternoon. And now this sentence will contain a word I do not ever recall typing before -- the wind was completely blustery. Well, again, not truly hurricane force but stronger than yesterday and the day before when I was on the trail. Fortunately today I wore pants and brought along lightweight polypro glove liners and wore a baseball hat. Much better than yesterday when I almost could've passed for someone strolling the boardwalk in Sleezeside Heights, Jersey on a cool summer night. No more of that out on the trail, not this year. Cold's really settin' in.

My time out there was relatively short but then again, twas only my 8th hike (I accidentally checked) in the past FOUR months. My tibia seems to be holding up strong, at least so far. Copius amounts of milk over the past long, long while quite possibly have helped? I drank that stuff daily like it was medicine. Maybe it would be for me like what spinach is for Popeye.

All in all a great hike what is essentially still rehab for me. Like I said, tibia seems fine but I also haven't run more than 10 minutes yet so we'll see how it holds up.

Trail Tunes included:


Bunny Wailer

Blackheart Man

1976 debut





Blackheart Man
Fighting Against Conviction
The Oppressed Song
Fig Tree
Dream Land
Rastaman
Reincarnated Souls
Amagideon (Armagedon)
Bide Up
This Train

Some very nice sweet roots reggae from one of the three original Wailers -- Bunny Livingston. I'm definitely impressed and I'm definitely a fan of this sound. Bunny's a true Rastafarian, livin' life for Jah, and makin' some great, great music on this debut from his solo career post-Wailers, post-Marley & Tosh. I'm on about my fourth listen today right this moment and having this in my ears completely makes me feel like movin' to Jamaica, mon. So easily (almost) could I abandon a life of wanting to serve mankind just to go and groove on live sounds like this every single night in local dive bars by the beach, not dance clubs, not where tourists normally wander into, I'd blend in as much as a white guy could, become a local, drinkin' Red Stripe after Red Stripe and forgetting life exists anywhere outside of a few square mile radius. Yeah. This is sweet reggae.

128 kbps dload @ Rique do Reggae

Some tunes for Saturday...

Bob Marley & The Wailers - 6/18/75

Wollman Skating Rink
Central Park, NYC

Trench Town Rock
Slave Driver
Burnin' and Lootin'
Concrete Jungle
Kinky Reggae
Midnight Raver
Lively Up Yourself
No Woman, No Cry
Rebel Music
Them Belly Full
Natty Dread
I Shot The Sheriff
Talkin' Blues
Get Up, Stand Up

Schaeffer Music Festival

New York City was a graffiti, gang and mafia ridden crumbling metropolis in 1975. Any relief at all was surely welcome to those seeking even a moment of forgetting about the sorry state of the city. On this day in mid-June, the relief came from Jamaica in the form of some sweet, sweet music. The area around the Wollman Rink probably was purely a slice of heaven in Manhattan as the sounds of Bob Marley & The Wailers floated through the air. What a beautiful moment in time that must've been. And what a great show to fill my ears with! As great as these songs are in their studio version on LP or CD or in MP3 form, how much greater they are played live for people to enjoy. Just a terrifically mellow show! The quality, for an Audience recording, could almost pass for a Soundboard, with the instruments so clear. There's a slight electronic buzz noticeable, some voices near the mics at times and at times the sound's a little muddy but none of those problems are terrible enough to be a severe distraction... overall just a really decent listen that gives off a nice feeling, almost, of what it was like being there!

Listen Here (24/7) from SugarMegs.org
or download the whole show in one long .wma file
(sorry, the links are dead)

From Bobgruen.com, this was snapped at that show...

Pair of One Sevens

Sometimes a run the day after a day without a run is nothing less than a piece of cake. Today was exactly like that. Kinda felt like I was floating at times. The last couple minutes I had those urges that occur from time to time to speed up. So overall a great run!

Time on the trail: 74 minutes...

Running Time -- 17 minutes & 17 seconds (+ 10)



Ziggy Marley

Dragonfly (2003)



I Get Out
Rainbow In The Sky
DYKL (Don't You Kill Love)
Shalom Salaam
Melancholy Mood
Good Ol' Days (featuring Cedella Marley)
Looking
Never Deny You
True To Myself
Dragonfly
In The Name Of God

+


Jerry Garcia-David Grisman

4 songs from: Shady Grove



Dreadful Wind And Rain
The Handsome Cabin Boy
Down In The Valley
Hesitation Blues

Hmm. Ziggy, mon... the sound you chose to go with on your first solo album, Dragonfly... it be messed up, mon.

The album still has an underlying reggae feel but without the Melody Makers, Ziggy nearly completely heads off into this poppy-rock-reggae sound that does him no justice. I liked the album but then again, I'm not difficult to please... but while the music was and can be enjoyed, it pales in comparison to what the Melody Makers were doing on their albums.

Since Dragonfly was released, Ziggy's gone on to record another solo album which apparently has gotten only mediocre to negative reviews. So sad. No doubt he won't be down long.