Music Monday posts are usually a reflection of what I’m listening to at the moment; this week it is not. The older music video below was trigger after seeing Nicki Bluhm‘s name on a concert listing when Brenda and I were at the Taft Theater in Cincinnati. I’ve mention Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers several […]
Our family has a couple of artists (previous generations) and so we’ve inherited a few painting. I doubt any are valued anywhere close to the Montague Dawson (artist father Henry) "nautical" series of painting from the 1940s, but do remember how much I enjoyed one of the first paintings (same time frame) that my grandmother painted. […]
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Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers – Mr. Saturday Night – Loved Wild Lost – Van Session 29
Once upon a time I use to listened to music records, tapes and CDs. Now with hearing loss, I usually prefer silence or just “voice/talk/news” coming from speakers or the occasional online ditty … but there are a few exceptions. I still enjoy old favorites — from the best music decade, aka: 1970s, usually on […]
I’ve posted, and have been following, Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers for the last couple of years ever since hearing their first Van Session. I’ll keep updating since the new music continues to appeal to me … and might even check with Brenda to see if we should plan a night out on April 29th […]
With the popularity continuing to grow for Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, it is great to know that they still remember “the Van Session” as a way to share their music. Check out their Van Session version (below) of “Dire Wolf” — Grateful Dead – Workingman’s Dead album – 1970 — on the way to […]
Adding another interview from the hard working young band, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, that appeals to those of my generation — mentioned their van sessions in the past. I wish the music recording audio was better, but the HD video and interview from Baeble is excellent. (video below) Watch the full video at Baeblemusic.com
I’ve posted a few Van Session links in the past and figured why not at a SiriusXM Jam_ON session recording a “Little Too Late.” It has been fun watching the Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers expand their audience last year as they toured the country. The “cream rises the top” and it is great to […]
Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers continue to promote their talents as road performers on YouTube while touring which makes for enjoyable viewing and listening (here’s last year’s post). I regret missing their show during their two stops in Ohio last year, but think their Van Sessions exhibit more of their raw talent than any studio […]
Perhaps I’m not around musicians enough to appreciate their unique creativity when it comes to great ways to promote themselves … but Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers caught my attention with their recording sessions as they travel between gigs. A couple of my son’s talented friends might want to give the “Van Sessions” idea a […]
I started reorganizing the south wall of my basement workshop on Sunday afternoon, first, so that I could store a bit more lumber on my storage rack (the extra Oosta lumber!) … and second, so that I could clean up my old children’s workbench for my granddaughters to use when they come this summer. After […]
My current knife when it was new in 2012. As a previous post mentioned, my Grandpa Bluhm (photo with my Uncle Bob) gave me my first pocketknife when I was 5 years old (yes, 5). Believe it or not, I still have that “tiny” souvenir knife that my grandparents brought back from Florida. At one […]
A little bit of recipe reminiscing for Throwback Thursday #TBT this week. Over New Year’s Day, I enjoyed a “Bean Soup” recipe conversation with my daughter Katelyn. We discussed using the ham bone and pieces of ham from our Christmas dinner. I opted for a delicious Ham and Potato soup and froze a couple smaller […]
With inflation pushing grocery prices up, Brenda refuses to purchase store-bought croutons unless they are “on sale.” So since we had a quarter loaf of stale bread after our recent week away, I decided to cube and turn it into Rosemary, Italian seasoning, Garlic and Olive Oil croutons. After making them (bake 10 minutes at […]
This past weekend I started what is going to be a slow, but deliberative process of moving out of the basement and back into the upstairs home office. No window blinds yet, but we did move the oriental rug from our first floor to the upstairs (Brenda would like to get something new for the […]
My buddy Jeff Pitts is my go-to source for interesting books to read. For my birthday this year (we had lunch last Friday … a Mexican restaurant, of course), he gave me an older 1950’s era book by Robert Ruark called “The Old Man and The Boy.” I passed on reading my other books and […]
After years of collecting a variety of tools and “tool” parts (bits, blades, etc), I’ve noticed that the mish-mash of storage containers have become even more interesting as the actual items being stored and saved (click photos for larger). Here are a few photos with a variety of storage items in a Where’s Waldo (or […]
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My wife is great … and her decorating and building taste as to what “looks” nice grows on a person after nearly 40 years of marriage … but I still grumble about some of the decision she makes. One of them was wanting a drywall ceiling rather than something removable when we finished the basement. […]
Since I expect to be busy with our family on Christmas Eve Day, I’ll prepare a post for Throwback Thursday #TBT with a few old handsaws from my families past and asked the rhetorical question to myself: “Why do you keep old handsaws that you never use?” Actually I don’t recall really needing to use […]
Since I’m pre-writing this by a few days for Throwback Thursday #TBT, I realized just before post it that it will also be Thanksgiving on Thursday. Our family won’t be getting together as usual (same for a lot of families for a COVID19 resurgence), but ours was planned that way since we rotate holidays; Katelyn, […]
Since I recently completed the bookshelves project this past spring and repainted our Library/Music room, Brenda and I have been discussing what artwork to put back on the walls. We’ve collected or have been given quite a few painting and likely will rotate them … but probably won’t include my favorites – the ones with […]
The “to-do” list is slowly being chipped away at as last weekend Brenda and I enjoyed the nice weather at home to work on yard chores. She is still struggling with a back issue, but felt good enough to use the Kubota (against my advice BTW – bumpy lawn) to mow the front lawn. I […]
I spent the weekend wasting time reorganizing, sorting and cleaning up my woodworking workshop this past weekend and realizing I have a few older “semi-collectable” tools that I really should comment on … or as Brenda says, write my notes down in a book while I can still remember things. Now as I mentioned to […]
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While working with my "travel tool bag" today, I pick up a open end wrench with SHAW on the handle. It brought back memories of my Grandpa Bluhm and where he once worked back in the 1950s or 60s. I sent a photo to my cousin Diane, but because it was a tool, don’t really […]
I’m chuckling at the “famous portrait” subject line, but then again, how many people actually have a portrait of themselves painted by an artist? (might as well make this a ThrowBack Thursday #TBT post) My grandmother, Ruth Walker Bluhm, was an artist and painted a portrait of her first grandson in the 1960s. She was […]
This past week the "Years Ago on this Day" center column of My Desultory Blog I noticed a Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers post from October 2014. The post was their first video after they moved from a "van" (aka: Van Sessions) to a larger bus. It was a fun "from the road" Brewer and […]
It is good day when projects get accomplished. Saturday was a sunny and dry for the painting of my GREAT grandparents’ two wicker chairs (unsure, but think they were from my Grandmother Ruth “Walker” Bluhm side). My Grandmother and Grandfather Bluhm used them for years on their Wright Avenue front porch in Toledo Ohio, then […]
My cousin (a loyal blog reader … a little embarrassing) exchanged a couple of text messages the other day after she commented on "our" grandfather’s photo and grandmother’s painting. It is nice to know that I’m not the only one who is sentimental about our grandparents, considering the very few years they were in our […]
The other day in Mental Floss I read that a "Study Confirmed What We Already Knew: Living Near Water Can Reduce Stress." I can attest to this since we lived by the water when I was a boy. My parents had a home on the shores for Lake Erie with a 150 foot private beach […]
As if the past couple of weeks were not challenging enough, my dad’s body finally had enough. He didn’t want any further medical miracles … or poking and tweaking to keep systems going AND had previously put in place a detailed “Living Will” in regards to what measured he did not want. After last weeks […]
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Ever since I can remember I’ve carried a pocket knife … in part because the first one was given to me by my grandfather when I was 5 years old. Yes … FIVE … and I can vividly remember cutting ants in a sandbox (where was Peta?). Although it was a small single blade tourist […]
Although her life was full and death was peaceful, it is difficult for me to say an earthly goodbye to my wonderful Aunt Lois. She was my closest aunt (my mother’s only sister) and growing up we were always together with her and her family. My brother and I were practically best friends with her […]