Here’s a combination that I wouldn’t have thought of, Burl Ives singing Bob Dylan. Spoiler alert: it’s quite good. Ives is a complicated figure, much more so than his reputation as the host of “Rudolph” would suggest. He was a folk music pioneer who worked with Woody Guthrie and Peter Seeger, really menacing actor (and… Continue reading

I have an odd New Year’s tradition for the past 30+ years tradition: the first song I listen to every year is Artie Shaw and His Orchestra’s version of Cole Porter’s “Begin the Begiuine.” It happened because in the early ‘90s, my aunt had found a bunch of my paternal grandfather’s records and said I… Continue reading

Fifty-six years ago this week the three brave men undertook up to then was the most spectacular and hazardous journey ever undertaken: Apollo 8, the first trip from the Earth to the Moon. That took a lot of planning and guts, and think about it: This is a trip that we haven’t been able to… Continue reading