Updike at Easter, 2024 Edition

Seven Voices on 'Seven Stanzas" with new voices (including Updike's own) and appropriate gospel music interludes.
by David McGee
 

 
 

You Can Get Anything You Want (including Alice) from Arlo This Month

ARLO GUTHRIE is delightfully omnipresent in November, with a PBS broadcast of his 50th anniversary 'Alice's Restaurant' show and a new children's book to boot.
by David McGee
 

 

 

At the Intersection of Abbey Road and Tin Pan Alley (Field Notes From a Music Biz Life, Part 3)

In Part 3 of his autobiography,, MICHAEL SIGMAN recalls how his father Carl's song 'Ebb Tide,' which was the #1 hit in America in 1953, brought father and son closer when the RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS recorded it in 1965.
by David McGee
 

 
 

New Glenna Bell Album Underway

Glenna Bell has started working on the followup to her acclaimed 2010 release, Perfectly Legal: Songs of Sex, Love and Murder. Here's the first report from the artist.
by David McGee
 

 

 

We Review Roger Ebert

Remembering ROGER EBERT, a three-part tribute, including his Great Movies: The First 100 list & a tribute to Beneath the Valley of the Dolls
by David McGee
 

 
 

The First ‘First Thanksgiving’

THE FIRST 'FIRST THANKSGIVING'--More than half a century before the Pilgrims landed on American shores, Spanish settlers in what is now St. Augustine, Florida, celebrated a lavish Thanksgiving dinner celebration and Mass of Tha...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Updike on Easter (2018 Edition)

The Deep Roots Easter tradition continues with the 2018 edition of "Updike on Easter: Seven Voices on 'Seven Stanzas," being a septet of opinions on the import of Updike's powerful poem.
by David McGee
 

 
 

News & Notes – January 2013

In NEWS & NOTES: Gospel stalwarts unite on single to benefit MY SANDY HOOD FUND; 'CHINA BEACH' finally set for DVD release; BLAKE SHELTON consigned to Dunce's Corner, as RAY PRICE speaks out against ignorance; two SERENA MATTHE...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Peter Rowan Honors ‘Old School’ Bluegrass on 2013 Release

Bluegrass legend PETER ROWAN is in the studio with an inter-gernerational lineup of musicians recording his new album, The Old School, for a spring 2013 release. Session details and a teaser video from Compass Records comprise ...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Torn Between Two Bosses, Not Feeling Like a Fool

BOB AUSTIN and SID PARNES were partners as the owners of RECORD WORLD magazine but otherwise had no use for each other. As RW editor, MICHAEL SIGMAN had to get along with both.
by David McGee
 

 

 

The True Meaning of Passover

Author-essayist CHARLES S. WEINBLATT explains why Passover and Easter are occasions for people of all faiths to 'eradicate the evil that surrounds us,' and declares, 'The rebirth of this spirit is the true meaning of Passover.'
by David McGee
 

 
 

The Mythic Weight Of Phil Spector’s Christmas Gift: A Semicentennial Reflection

November 22, 1963, was a horrible day for the nation, and for PHIL SPECTOR, a personal disaster as well, as his ambitious Christmas album arrived and was promptly forgotten. A semicentennial look back ensues.
by David McGee