A summer Friday. Another weekend is upon us - yea! People are recreating and planning their vacations, the pace of life is - at least hopefully - a little slower, providing time for more blogging, catching up on some recreational reading, and listening to music over cocktails on a patio as the heat (and for some folks, the humidity) subsides. So, with that in mind, here is what The Great White Shank has been ordering from the good folks at Amazon.com in recent weeks:
* Gerard Helferich's High Cotton documents first-hand the struggle of Helferich's cousin, a cotton farmer in the Mississippi Delta to make a living doing the work he loves. Helferich uses the seasons to combine the battles his cousin wages against the significant economic, market, and nature forces currently with a history of cotton and the Delta that makes for easy and highly enjoyable and interesting reading. A perfect summer book!
* Eddy L. Harris' book Mississippi Solo: A River Quest was wonderful reading. Harris writes of his exploits and adventures - both positive and negative - as a black American canoeing down the Mississippi all the way from its origin in northwest Minnesota to New Orleans. I enjoyed Harris' easy prose from the very first lines so much that I ordered (and just received) another book of his: South of Haunted Dreams that at first glance appears to have much more of an edgy feeling than his earlier work. It's certain to be an interesting read.
* On the other hand, John Stebbins' book, The Lost Beach Boy: The True Story of David Marks, a biography of one of the founding (but pretty much forgotten) members of the Beach Boys was, while informative and useful in filling in some of the blanks that have historically been part of the Beach Boys' legend, somewhat dry in nature. Stebbins' challenge was to focus an entire book on someone's life where only about 2 years or so of it pertained to his lfe as a Beach Boy. While some might found the rest of his life and his struggles with his musical identity, alcohol, drugs, and discovering his true musical muse interesting, I found myself thinking, 'who really cares'? Of course, that just me...
On this listening front, three recent purchases have been quite enjoyable to listen to - in fact, far more enjoyable than even I thought they'd be when I ordered them:
* The Doors' Morrison Hotel is a recent release featuring new mixes by the three suriving Doors and their original engineer, Bruce Botnick. The recordings are clear, exciting to listen to, and a big improvement sonic-wise over previous CD releases. Just to hear the new mix of "Roadhouse Blues" as if the band were playing it twenty feet in front of you is worth the purchase itself.
* The same holds true for L.A. Woman, the Doors next release after "Morrison Hotel", and their final album while lead singer Jim Morrison was alive (he died in Paris shortly after the album's release). This album features the same excellent sonic quality as "Morrison Hotel", but it was the music that impressed me, as I had never heard the album in its entirety before. "L.A. Woman" features the Doors going even further down the hard rocking blues road they started with "Morrison Hotel", and hearing the new mixes of "L.A. Woman" and "Love Her Madly" are alone worth the price of admission.
* Hawaiian Style Band's Vanishing Treasures is a cool disk, and one I suggest you sample over at Amazon via the link. I'd call it modern Hawaiian music with a pop edge to it - it's breezy, fun, and a great CD to listen to over a Mai Tai.
If any of these offerings sound intriguing to you, don't hesitate to check them out!
