I have had this CD for a while but I just recently got around to listening to it all the way through without any distractions. When I was growing up Tony had a big hit with “Polk Salad Annie” (1969) I remember playing the 45 over and over again. You may not know it but he wrote “Rainy Night in Georgia” which was made popular by Brook Benton. I was surprised it was included on this CD, it was a great choice whoever was responsible. There is always some added feeling of emotion that comes through on a song when the writer plays and sings his own song. If you like southern blues - rock or what some call swamp rock then you will love this album. If you like good riffs and songs that let the guitar do some of the singing then don’t miss this one. The guest lineup is exceptional with Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), Eric Clapton, J.J. Cale, Waylon Jennings and Michael McDonald. This LP won’t be playing on the mainstream radio, it’s just too real. Visit Tony’s Website
Tony Joe White - Uncovered
December 19th, 2008
Buy it now!Blu Blu Christmas
December 14th, 2008At the request of my wife I was updating my Christmas list and 2 of the first 3 movies I looked for are not out on BluRay yet. I was happy to see they released Man On Fire (Denzel Washington) but then I looked up Heat (Deniro, Pacino) and Collateral (Tom Cruise) and no luck. Still no Minority Report on Blu-Ray either, come on, is there really no demand, is everyone really buying Planet Earth and Kung-Fu Panda? I get the appeal and top ranking of movies like Ironman, it has something for everyone and Robert Downey Jr. has that special charisma that would have turned any 1950’s actor into a screen legend but some of these Blu Disk releases baffle me. Hollywood! I need action movies with a plot and actors that can, well, act and I need them in HD. I don’t need Crank or The Transporter, you should be ashamed.
Switched To Wordpress
December 13th, 2008Well, I did it. I just dropped SubText for WordPress. I gave it a try and it does have potential but WordPress just has too much to offer to ignore it. My hat’s off to the WP team because there just is no competition from any DotNet and MS-SQL based blogging software. There could have been! Remember .TEXT? It somehow died and apparently spun off into Community Server. Then Microsoft handed over the reins for Community Server to Telligent and that was the end. It turned in to a huge commercial project with a lot of use restrictions and a high dollar price tag. You can read that story and why they forked .TEXT at the SubText Blog site.
Read my post about “Why WordPress on Windows“.
New Album From John Illsley
October 4th, 2008John Illsley of Dire Straits fame has released a new album titled Beautiful You. He has teamed up with an Irish singer - song writer named Greg Pearle. Check out John’s Illsley’s website and you can hear some of the songs. I couldn’t turn it off.
Mark Knopfler Movie Soundtracks
September 28th, 2008Fired up the Pioneer SX-780, Beogram 1602 turntable and my copy of Spin-It-Again and resumed my project of converting my vinyl to Windows Media Audio files. I forget how great some of Mark Knopfler’s soundtrack work was. Everyone knows Local Hero but the music he did for the movie Cal is mystic and peaceful as well. There are hints of this music in A Shot at Glory but make no mistake the two albums are very different.
No Minority Report on Blu-Ray?
September 17th, 2008I was looking for minority report on BluRay or HD-DVD and had no idea it wasn’t available until just now. What a bummer. I can get Rio Bravo on Blu-Ray or Christmas Vacation on HDDVD but not minority Report?
Don’t get me wrong, I like both of those movies but there is no reason for an old grainy western like Rio Bravo to be out on HD before Minority Report and Christmas Vacation has a choice of stereo or mono track on HD. Give me a break Hollywood.
The Bourne Identity
September 11th, 2008The Bourne Identity 
A great CIA movie. Good plot, good characters, good combat and weapons but not too far over the top like most modern action movies. Matt Damon is Jason Bourne. This is the best of the trilogy but Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum are not far behind. Very few sequels can pull off what they did with this trilogy. I only wish they would have stuck with Doug Wiman as the director on all three. One can only wonder if the “shakey cam” would have been under control if so.
Made in the Shade - Rollings Stones CD
September 2nd, 2008I just wasted some play time copying my old “Made In The Shade” (Rolling Stones) album to my computer jukebox. I haven’t checked in a few years but the last time I did check it wasn’t available on CD. I set up my Pioneer SX-780 (manufactured 1978-1979) and my Bang and Olufsen Beogram 1602 turntable. I then opened my favorite Vinyl-LP recording software. If you aren’t happy with your recording software or don’t have one I highly recommend Acoustica Spin It Again. I set my audio levels and started copying. Then I applied some filters and EQ and had one of my old 1975 favorites ready to listen to. After I finished, being a backwards thinker, I decided to check Amazon and guess what? It was finally released on CD in 2005.
Got a New Blu-Ray Player
August 18th, 2008My wife and 2 sons bought me a Blu-Ray player for my birthday. Sweet! I thought I would have to wait until Christmas. I got the new John Mayer concert, “Where The Light Is” and “The Punisher” both on Blu-Ray.
True Romance
June 7th, 2008True Romance 
Written by Quentin Tarantino but directed by Tony Scott. This is a thrill ride. If for no other reason, you must see this for Gary Oldman’s character portrayal of a white pimp (Drexel) that thinks he’s black. This isn’t your typical romance movie, it’s almost all action. A loner (Christian Slater) meats a prostitute (Patricia Arquette), they fall in love and make a one time drug deal that goes bad. The scene with Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken is a true classic. The cast includes other stars like Brad Pitt, Michael Rapaport, Val Kilmer, Bronson Pinchot, Tom Sizemore, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn, and James Gandolfini.
