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Journey in Satchidananda by Alice Coltrane
Journey in Satchidananda by Alice Coltrane
1971 | Rock
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I thought I don't like it as much as the one I mentioned before, and maybe I still don't, but then once I heard it in the 'phones again, there's something. Then I was listening to that one a lot in the car when I was driving around LA. It just opens your mind. It's undeniable music, untouchable music. Those three people, you just can't really touch them. If you were supposed to pick the greatest musician in the world, I suppose I would have to say John Coltrane. But they're all lumped together because obviously Alice Coltrane does things that John Coltrane can't; same with Pharoah Sanders, it's an extension of John Coltrane. They were put on this planet, they were special beings. I'd appreciated jazz since high school, I played in the jazz band. Then I got some jazz records and enjoyed them, for sure. Growing up, I think the Miles Davis later records hit me first, when I was a late teen, early twenties, Bitches Brew, the classics like Kind Of Blue, and then someone in Boston that I knew turned me on to In A Silent Way, which I really like, it had that Fender Rhodes on it and Chick Corea. But then I read the Miles Davis autobiography, circa 2004: that's like a lesson in jazz in a way, in his cocky way; he saw it all. I remember when I was in Boston, I bought this Thelonius Monk record, Underground, and there's a scatty song on there called 'In Walked Bud' and that always blew my mind. I got heavy back into jazz, and then back into Coltrane circa 2005, 06, 07, I just had some resurgence recently."

Source
  
Sabrina Salter has escaped a past in Boston, hoping to enjoy her new life in St. John. However, trouble finds her in the US Virgin Islands when she arrives to clean one of the villas she maintains only to find the tenant dead in the outside hammock. Will the police see her as the prime suspect? Can she live through something like this again?

While the setting may be a paradise, the tone is more somber given Sabrina’s past. I enjoyed the juxtaposition and getting to know the strong characters. The plot unfolds differently than I am used to in a mystery, but everything we need to solve the crime is there, and we get two very dramatic and satisfying climaxes.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/08/book-review-no-virgin-island-by-c.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
WY
What You See (Jane Ryland, #4)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Reporter Jane Ryland is hoping that a freelance assignment she’s been given might be her ticket to a new job. She’s covering a stabbing in mid-day in a Boston park. However, she’s barely arrived on the scene when her sister calls with news that could lead to a family crisis. Can Jane balance the two?

Really, this book deftly blends two different plots into one compelling book. I did find it a little slow at first as it the stories build and the new characters are introduced, but once it gets going, I couldn’t put it down. Jane and her boyfriend, detective Jake Brogan, are fantastic lead characters, and it’s always great to see them back in action.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/02/book-review-what-you-see-by-hank.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
Stronger (2016)
Stronger (2016)
2016 | Drama
Based on the memoir of the same name by Jeff Bauman and Bret Witter. It follows Bauman, who loses his legs in the Boston Marathon bombing and how he must adjust to his new life.



I feel terrible that I didn't really enjoy this film. The story itself is such a powerful one, and moments in it are truly moving, but the film starts to drag a bit in places. I'm going to have to look into the comparisons between the movie and what actually happened, it's difficult to tell what they created for the script to make the movie chug along and what was real.

There are some very talented actors in this one though, and as I said, some very moving moments. For me though I think it's not quite the break from reality that I look for in a film.