Kreativ Award, Favorite Guitar Posts, & B.R. Cohn Silver Label Cabernet

Well, whaddaya know. I was nominated by Rick Daley (http://mydaleyrant.blogspot.com/ ) for a Kreativ Blogger Award. Thanks Rick! Most of the time I think I’m just doodling along drinking wine and listening to guitarists while I struggle to write thriller novels. BTW, writing thrillers is great for stress relief. If you have a bad day, you can create the source of that bad day and kill it off…violently, painfully, unmercifully. You get the picture.


I guess this comes with some responsibilities (Damn! Shouldn’t have finished off the whole bottle of 2006 B.R. Cohn silver Label Cabernet!). First, I’m supposed to tell you seven things you might find interesting about me. Hmm.

1. I have a Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology…translated, I’m a geek. I did try to have a geekectomy, but it was unsuccessful. I love science, technology and pondering the impossible.
2. I’m a Christian. That may sound like an oxymoron, or maybe you think it’s just moronic, but it’s true. Please don’t send me questions about creation and evolution. My hair may be silver gray, but I’m not THAT old and I wasn’t there. I will say categorically that I’m not a young earth creationist. Most of what I see them spout is male bovine external solid waste. That was polite of me, wasn’t it?
3. I play both the bass guitar and acoustic guitar and have a deep appreciation for all kinds of music. Used to be a professional bassist and got myself through college playing in blues and jazz-fusion bands. I also write songs and sing with a voice that sounds like a goose with digestive problems on a hot muggy day. I love guitar music and my tastes run from Christopher Parkening (classical) to Joe Satriani (shredder). The latter sometimes shocks people, especially the younger set. One day while blasting Metallica’s “Enter Sandman, (a great psych-up song) in my car with the windows open, a teenager pulled along side me and said I had great taste…for an old man. Young whippersnapper!
4. I like, no, love, wine, cognac, and Armagnac. Lest you think I’m a lush, this stuff is too expensive to guzzle. You swirl, gaze, sniff, and sip delicately while sitting in front of a crackling fire with a good book, or out on the deck under a star-strewn sky listening to the serenade of the night. I’m also a beer snob. You won’t find Bud, Miller, or Coors in my house. Microbrews only. I read wine magazines and am amazed at the prices of the wines they review. Who has $100 buck to blow on a bottle in this economy? So I only drink & review wines that either list or are on sale for under $25.00.
5. My mid-life crisis is novel writing. I’ve completed three novels and am halfway through the fourth in a series of thrillers where the lead character is Liam Michaels, the Archangel Azrael, who lives in Chicago and is here to take out terrorist groups, etc., all of whom are actually led by demons and fallen angels.
ATTENTION: I AM GIVING AWAY E-COPIES OF THE “RISE OF THE FALLEN” FREE, FREE, FREE! SO IF YOU’D LIKE ONE, EMAIL ME AT dmichaelolive@gmail.com. Just trying to build readership.

6. Next, I ‘m supposed to nominate seven of my favorite blogs for the Kreativ award. They are, in no particular order, as follows:
The Blues Blogger: http://thebluesblogger.com/

Ron Clegg: http://ronclegg.wordpress.com/

Guitar god: http://www.blogcatalog.com/blog/guitar-god-guitar-blog

Tucson Bass Player: http://tucsonbassplayer.blogspot.com/

The Blog Wine Cellar: http://www.blogwinecellar.com/

The Intern: http://internspills.blogspot.com/

Krapsody: http://www.krapsody.com/  
7. I’ve emailed all the culprits to tell them they too will have to fulfill these “responsibilities”
8. Lastly, place the award on your blog site.
Now, in honor of the award, I thought I’d recap some of my favorite guitar pieces of the past year. I’m pairing it with 2006 B.R. Cohn silver Label Cabernet Sauvignon, about $20.00. You may recall I got a fantastic deal on the gold label version of this wine: $25.00 for a wine that’s normally about $57.00. It was one of the best I’d ever tasted. Well, the Silver label is no slouch either. It’s full and rich with explosive flavors of berry, cassis and black cherry along hints of vanilla. Tannins are delicate and aging in French oak gives it a bit of complexity. Very nice for listening to some great guitar.
1) Phil Keaggy, Salvation Army Band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDPM4-YIF9c
2) Eric Roche:
a) She Drives Me Crazy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-tO6IFwBXI
b) Van Halen’s Jump: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J045nbHuKrE
c) Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen spirit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zxZcUrfX0o
3) Antoine Dufour, thirty Minutes in London: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCJL3Buw0l0
4) Preston Reed, Ladies Night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=356ViUx1Ktc
5) Kelly Valeau, Another Brick in the Wall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gInwUzAOxj8
6) Eric Turnbull, Bomba Checka: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T90ELHF8rIM&feature=related
7) Andy McKee, Art of Motion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmE3QaGetn4&feature=channel
8) Don Ross, Michael Michael: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkidVP0AcQ8
9) Eric Mongrain,
a) Air Tap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbndgwfG22k&feature=related
b) PercusienFa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUQzXQhAgvw&feature=related
10) Rory Block, Crossroad Blues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqTUoV67M60
11) Larry Carlton, don’t Give It Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a23R6DYXWQI&feature=related
12) Tommy Emmanuel, Classical Gas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQJ1k2HMoRU&feature=related
13) John Goldie, Summertime: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHUHT95agXg&feature=related
14) Mark Knopfler & Eric Clapton: Money for Nothing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlPjxz4LGak&feature=fv0w 
Cheers!