Punk Rock's Tom Verlaine passed away Saturday (January 28, 2023.  He one of the two incredible lead guitarist with the band Television during the dawn of Punk, and had a long solo career as well.

I purchased Television's first two albums when they came out on vinyl when I was a young teenager.  Hearing the title track from the first LP, Marquee Moon, totally blew my fourteen year old mind.  It still does today, despite listening having listened to it at least two or three times a year every single year since 1977.  Gosh, that's over forty-years....

I have the many solo records Tom Verlaine released, most of them are really good.  I have the "reunion" record Television released in 1992, it also is a really good record.  But, those first two Television Albums are what makes me such a huge fan.

Television "Marquee Moon", 1977

Side one

1. "See No Evil" 3:56

2. "Venus" 3:48

3. "Friction" 4:43

4. "Marquee Moon" 9:58

Side two

1. "Elevation" 5:08

2. "Guiding Light" (Verlaine and Richard Lloyd) 5:36

3. "Prove It" 5:04

4. "Torn Curtain" 7:00

Television

• Billy Ficca – drums
• Richard Lloyd – guitar 
• (solo on "See No Evil", "Marquee Moon", "Elevation", and "Guiding Light"), vocals
• Fred Smith – bass guitar, vocals
• Tom Verlaine – guitar, keyboards, lead vocals, produciton
• (solo on "Venus", "Friction", "Marquee Moon", "Prove It", and "Torn Curtain")

Television "Adventure", 1978

Side A

1. "Glory" 3:11

2. "Days" Verlaine, Richard Lloyd 3:14

3. "Foxhole" 4:48

4. "Careful" 3:18

5. "Carried Away" 5:14

Side B

1. "The Fire" 5:56

2. "Ain't That Nothin'" 4:52

3. "The Dream's Dream" 6:44

Television

Billy Ficca – drums

Richard Lloyd – guitar, vocals

Fred Smith – bass, vocals

Tom Verlaine – lead vocals, guitar, piano, production

2023 Unsupported Trail Race Unofficial Challenge #2

Bear Hole Reservoir 11.2 km (7.0-miles)

This was my second Sunday running "hard" in a row.

I was feeling a bit "low" with a nasal infection and slight head cold, but I figured a late afternoon decent effort run couldn't hurt too much.

The first surprise at Bear Hole was the 10k course had some changes in it.  Off the paved forest road section and into more winding single-track.  Running this way, the mileage markers were almost a mile off (where we used to have mile-2 it was mile-3, etc).  Thinking that the end with the two grueling short steep uphills would be out - I decided to tackle the entire NET (Metacomet) section that once was from mile 3 onwards (today, it began about mile 4).  That didn't happen.

In the end, the 10k measured out to 7-miles.  I felt as though I was just crawling towards the finish.  Yet, I managed to run the 7 miles in 74 minutes, for an average pace of 5.69 mph or 10:34 per mile.  This was difficult, especially those last 3-miles.

• Mile 1     Averaging 6.4 mph
• Mile 2     Averaging 6.3 mph
• Mile 3     Averaging 6.2 mph
• Mile 4     Averaging 6.0 mph
• Mile 5     Averaging 5.9 mph
• Mile 6     Averaging 5.8 mph
• Mile 7     Averaging 5.7 mph

Ran in Loupinski Honey Pot Wildlife and Southwicks flats today.

Didn't feel awesome but completed 5.2-miles anyhow, with a small waterfall sighted.

McCann Family Farm in Somers after work on a darkening day...

Completed a slow 3.6-miles.

Black Lizard / Vintage Crime #03 for 2023...

"The Mourner " written by written by Donald Westlake as Richard Stark, published 1963.  

Book 4 of the Parker Series.

Cover Images

Completed a 24-Lecture Series on "The Great Courses" aka Wondrium tonight.

Excellent way to spend over twelve-hours learning about...

 "Ancient Civilizations of North America"

The lectures were taught by Professor Edwin Barnhart, Director of the Maya Exploration Center.

Totally immersed in each lecture, great jumping off points toward further in depth study as needed or as interested in.  Highly recommended.

L01     The Unknown Story of Ancient North America .

L02     The First Human Migrations to the Americas .

L03     Clovis Man: America’s First Culture 

L04     The Archaic Period: Diversity Begins 

L05     Late Archaic Innovations

L06     Poverty Point: North America’s First City 

L07     Medicine Wheels of the Great Plains

L08     Adena Culture and the Early Woodlands Period

L09     The Hopewell and Their Massive Earthwork5

L10     The Origins of Mississippian Culture

L11     The Mississippian City of Cahokia

L12     The Wider Mississippian World 

L13     De Soto versus the Mississippians

L14     The Ancient Southwest: Discovering Diversity

L15     The Basketmaker Culture 

L16     The Mogollon Culture

L17     The Hohokam: Masters of the Desert

L18     The Ancestral Pueblo 

L19     The Chaco Phenomenon

L20     Archaeoastronomy in the Ancient Southwest 

L21     The Periphery of the Ancient Southwest 

L22     Late Period Cultures of the Pacific Coast 

L23     Late Period Cultures of the Great Plains

L24     The Iroquois and Algonquians before Contact

There are a few local (New England and New York) ancient sites I hope to visit this year (2023).

• Gungywamp
• North Salem, NY Balanced Rock
• Lanesborough, MA Balanced Rock State Park
• Mystery Hills "America's Stonehenge", Salem, New Hampshire
• Stone Chambers throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts

Bands and Live Performances I've been a part of:

#1.

Early on, even before a driving license, I was playing music.  The first band that practiced and played was a quartet that I'll call the ABCD Band (or Alphabet Band) given for our last names.

First ever performance was at a birthday party in the early days of 1977 or 1978 era.

We played some Beatles (Get Back, Got to Get You Into My Life), some Eagles (Take It Easy, Lyin' Eyes), and I can't really remember much else.  Kick Out the Jams was the one song I sang while playing bass guitar.

2023 Unsupported Trail Race Unofficial Challenge #1

McLean Game Refuge 11.2 km (7.0-miles)

Seems like this is the first run of 2023 where I actually ran pretty darn hard, at least for some of it.

K2 and I drove out to McLean with a 90-minute limit to meet back at the car.

Roughly 3.5-miles into the run I was averaging 4.3 mph.  To cover the ground and trails I was hoping to I realized that I needed to "speed up".  From that point on, I began to push and run "hard".

Ended up with 7-miles (6.95 on the gps) in 83:45 for an average of 5.0 mph.  It felt great.

Honeypot Wildlife Management to run into Southwick's Flats for 6.9-miles. 

Cowles Park after work for a nice, relaxing 3.4-miles. 

Rock & Roll's David Crosby passed away today (January 19, 2023) - and through the years I certainly have enjoyed the music he made with Stills, Nash and Young.

Solo-wise, not so much with a big exception...

I really like his first solo album "If I Could Only Remember My Name" released in 1971.

1. "Music Is Love"

2. "Cowboy Movie"

3. "Tamalpais High (At About 3)"

4. "Laughing"

1. "What Are Their Names"

2. "Traction in the Rain"

3. "Song with No Words (Tree with No Leaves)"

4. "Orléans"

5. "I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here"

• David Crosby – Vocals, Guitars
• Graham Nash – Guitar, Vocals
• Jerry Garcia – Guitar
• Neil Young – Guitar
• Jorma Kaukonen – Guitar
• Laura Allan – Autoharp
• Gregg Rolie – Piano
• Phil Lesh – Bass 
• Jack Casady – Bass
• Bill Kreutzmann – Drums 
• Michael Shrieve – Drums
• Mickey Hart – Drums
• Joni Mitchell - Vocals
• David Freiberg, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick - Vocals

Black Lizard / Vintage Crime #02 for 2023...

"L.A. Confidential" written by James Ellroy, published 1990.  

Book 3 of the LA Quartet.

Cover Images

Music 2023...

Effort #01,  "Bits and Pieces"...  by my friend Rev. King.

Run fairly early with the Old Goat in Bigelow Hollow for 4.8-miles.

Dusting of snow made the climbs up and down difficult.

In the evening, I tuned into a zoom presentation of "Connecticut's Indigenous Communities: An Introduction by with Lucianne Lavin" offered by the Gunn Historical Museum.

Program Description:

Eastern North America was not a “howling wilderness” as described by the early English settlers.  It was a built landscape, managed by the first settlers of the land, its Indigenous peoples. 

Indigenous communities have long, rich histories that extend back to when they shared Mother Earth with mastodons and other extinct animals.  Through those thousands of years, Native Americans became experts in their natural environments, a necessity for their physical survival as well as their spiritual obligation. 

Our first environmental stewards, Native American communities had long been managing their physical environments to enhance plant and animal populations as well as their human communities.  Indigenous folklore and sacred stories promoted this ecological balance. 

This presentation provides a window into tribal history and culture before and after European settlement, including that of the Weantinock and Pootatuck peoples in whose ancient homelands the town of Washington now resides.

About the Lecturer:

Lucianne Lavin is Director of Research and Collections, Emeritus at the Institute for American Indian Studies (a museum and research and educational center in Washington, Connecticut), a position she held for the past 18 years. She is an anthropologist and archaeologist who has over 50 years of research and field experience in Northeastern archaeology and anthropology, including teaching, museum exhibits and curatorial work, cultural resource management, editorial work, and public relations.  Dr. Lavin is a founding member of the state’s Native American Heritage Advisory Council, and retired editor of the journal of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut, a position she held for 30 years.  She was awarded the Russell award by the Archaeological Society of Connecticut and elected Fellow of the New York State Archaeological Association for exemplary archaeology work in their respective states.  Dr. Lavin has written over 200 professional publications and technical reports on the archaeology and ethnohistory of the Northeast and received multiple awards for her outstanding book, Connecticut's Indigenous Peoples: What Archaeology, History and Oral Traditions Teach Us About Their Communities and Cultures.