So there I was in my white lab coat examining the 40 different vials and trying to determine which combinations to mix to get the best outcome. Admittedly, I wasn’t enacting some important scientific discovery or creating a medical breakthrough but it felt almost that significant. What if I screwed up, made ridiculous choices as to the most effective ingredients and came away with an awful smelling product. Yup, I was making perfume at the Tijon Parfumerie & Boutique on the French side (obviously!) of the Caribbean island of St. Martin.

When you grow up in a family where your father is known as Lil’ Howlin’ Wolf, the chances are pretty good that you may end up as a bluesman. If you come of age on Chicago's Southside and your band is forced to practice in the basement laundry room of the projects, you may end up as a bluesman. But when childhood memories include your dad taking you by the hand into some of the Windy City's most legendary bars and you witness B.B. King live for the first time at the Burning Spear on State Street, damn you have to be a bluesman!

After 45 minutes on the water, we wanted to explore beneath the waves. So when the boat docked, we walked a couple hundred yards to the world-famous Aquarium of the Pacific for another ocean adventure. It was a memorable and educational day in Long Beach, California. 

Desert Hot Springs has long been a destination for rest and rejuvenation. Situated 20 minutes from Palm Springs’ expansive golf courses, artistic rows of palm trees and desert estates, rustic Desert Hot Springs feels a world away. It is one of the few places on the globe with naturally occurring hot and cold mineral springs. The Mission Creek Branch of the San Andreas Fault bisects the wellness getaway where one side is a cold-water aquifer while the other a hot-water aquifer, naturally heated to temperatures as high as 180 degrees by geothermal forces thousands of feet below the earth’s surface.

Ask anyone what they think of when they think of Scotland and you’ll probably hear bagpipes, kilts, tartans – maybe Scottish Brogue and haggis (but more on that later). If the year were 1746, you would have heard the same thing. But it was in that year, after the Battle of Culloden when the British decimated the Scots, that the British set about to systematically rid the country and its people of their identity and traditions. It didn’t work, which makes it all the more remarkable that everything that defines the Scottish people today is the same as it was centuries ago – and it was my mission to explore them all: kilts, bagpipes, whisky. Even the Gaelic language.

I enjoyed just observing the California beach goers. You know the song --- “I wish they all could be California girls” --- oh behave! They came in all shapes and sizes --- chiseled vs. cellulite. From skins that were smooth and youthful to overcooked and leathery --- the vegans mixed with the fast food junkies. It's interesting how most sun bathers started out very demure --- unpeeling each layer of clothing but, as the day progressed, all inhibitions were thrown by the wayside. You know the old saying --- "When in Rome ..."

Hidden in the heart of West Los Angeles is a mini-Disneyland known as the Riot Games campus. No, you can't buy tickets to get in. No, you can't sign up to enter. The only way to enter is to know somebody who works for the company and who will sponsor you and act as your tour guide (there are some top secret, restricted areas you know). For a company that is Chinese owned (Tencent, the economic giant) this secretive imposition should not be surprising.

RJ Mischo has been dropping blues records and discs since the 90s and his latest is out right now. The new release was captured ‘live’ in Studio late, last year at Suprovox Analog Recording in Karkkila, Finland. That certainly comes as no surprise when you consider RJ’s popularity and fan base in Scandinavia and throughout Europe is just as wide-ranging as it is across the U.S.

Are you planning a week-long road trip or need a temporary ride while your car is in the shop? Renting a car for a week can be expensive, but fear not! With some savvy hunting and a few tricks, you can snag an amazing weekly car rental deal that won't break the bank. In this article, we'll share some relatable tips and advice on how to score the budget car rental in Denver, so you can hit the road without emptying your wallet.

One reason I joined the National Press Club in 1995 was that on various occasions before Hong Kong’s handover I’d darkened the door of the FCC. I hoped that the NPC’s substantial oblong bar might be cousin to the FCC’s main bar with diverse central casting characters including criminal barristers of the Rumpole flavour, cargo shippers, pilots, politicians and others seeking what was in the wind as journalists’ tongues loosened, and vice versa.

The only thing better than a great hotel room, is a great hotel room on the beach. And this is why Zachari Dunes on Mandalay Beach is one of my new favorite Southern California destinations. Located steps from the beautiful sand and ocean in Oxnard, California, the resort has everything one could want for a waterfront vacation.

Having recently read a story in the New York Times about the resurgence of roller blading acrobatics, I wanted to share a personal tale about the roller blading experience of a 45-year-old fellow, so long ago, while living abroad in Norway, so far away.

Earlier this year, I had the distinct pleasure of witnessing the West Coast swing of the Lurrie Bell and Jason Ricci tour. With the celebrated rhythm section of Rena Beavers on drums and Paul Loranger on bass, the bands cruise through the Southwest was both fast and furious. With stops in San Diego, Los Angeles and Arizona this All-Star lineup provided a blues experience unlike any other.

Cape May, New Jersey, the nation's oldest seashore resort, has been catering to vacationers since pre-Revolutionary days, although there were probably a lot fewer T-shirt shops at the time. There's evidence that even earlier tourists in the form of local Kechemeche Indians came there in summer "to hunt and fish." Later, the shady tree-lined streets and colorful homes of Cape May became the playground of presidents. Ulysses S. Grant, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Chester Arthur and Benjamin Harrison all sought refuge there from the humidity of D.C. summers. Those are not bad references!

The Palm Springs Aerial Tram is often called the 8th “Wonder of the World'' because of the groundbreaking engineering behind its construction. This year, the modern marvel is celebrating its 60th anniversary, so I thought it would be a great time to visit, while also spending a couple days relaxing in the warm paradise of Palm Springs.

I've been on several boat trips - a barge cruise in France, a Danube River cruise, a sail along the Nile - and always the accommodations have been lovely. Sometimes very lovely. But it took a Mississippi River Cruise from Memphis to New Orleans with American Cruise Lines to reach luxurious.

My nephew and I were swimming in the water a short distance away from our boat when a woman snorkeling not too far away from us suddenly surfaced and shrieked in terror. A whale shark was headed straight towards her, its faint outline gliding under the waves. I smiled knowing that whale sharks pose no threat to humans and feed almost exclusively on plankton. But when I dropped slightly underwater to snorkel and view the spectacle, I realized just how massive this animal is. No wonder that lady was frightened to death.

At first glance, the Timanfaya National Park in the interior of Lanzarote, the Eastern-most of Spain’s Canary Islands, seems little more than a desolate landscape of lava fields with volcanos rising over them. It is only once you look closer that you can see the austere beauty of the many lava tubes, calderas, and craggy peaks, the lava sea, all wind-worn over the centuries. The arid, rocky plains and the smooth, naturally wind-swept fields of volcanic ash hold an austere beauty all their own. Euphorbia plants and lichens, as well as lizards and insects, call this untouched, protected area home.

This tiny landlocked country in the heart of East Africa has a great deal to offer for the adventurous traveler!  Located near the equator, the country has a remarkably pleasant tropical highland climate, with average temperatures of just 70 degrees. 

The Latest T-Boy Film, Travel & Music poll is devoted to a positive cultural experience when visiting a new destination. Below you’ll find orignial content not found anywhere else on the globe by Richard Carroll, Audrey Hart, Ringo Boitano, Deb Roskamp and even two by yours truly. I hope you enjoy the entries as much as I enjoyed its compilation. – Ed

James 'Yank' Rachell isn't a name commonly mentioned or referred to in the blues community but he really should be. It might have been his instrument of choice; it wasn't a guitar but rather, the mandolin. Born Northeast of Memphis near Brownsville, Tennessee, on March 16th 1910, Rachell grew up as a farm laborer working alongside his family. The story goes he traded a pig for his first mandolin when just a child and lucky for us, he never put it down. Yank became an accomplished musician and also played guitar, banjo and the fiddle, but he always came back to his first love, the mandolin.