When Robert Mitchum Was Like So…

In 1957, while filming in Trinidad with director John Huston, ROBERT MITCHUM became obsessed with Calypso music, so much so that he made an entire album of it, for Capitol, with Johnny Mercer's blessing. It's good stuff. Let's ...
by David McGee
 

 
 

First Global Topographic Model of Mercury

NASA’s MESSENGER mission has unveiled the first global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Mercury, revealing in stunning detail the topography across the entire innermost planet.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Light In Shadow

An interview with SHULAMITT OTTOLENGHI about the 10-year journey that produced her powerful new CD, FOR YOU THE SUN WILL SHINE: SONGS OF WOMEN OF THE SHOAH
by David McGee
 

 
 
 

It’s Got That Swing…: Alexandre Tharaud’s Swinging Paris Le Boeuf Sur le Toit

Recalling the glory days in the 1920s of the famed Paris nightspot Le Boeuf Sur le Toit, French classical pianist Alexandre Tharaud offers a program of material you might have heard in the club when it was sizzling, ranging fro...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Aesthetically Unified as One Romantic Brotherhood

On RHEINMÄDCHEN, France's all-female vocal chorus ENSEMBLE PYGMALION, conducted by RAPHAEL PICHON, assays, with an invigorating twist, Wagner, Schubert, Schumann, Johannes Brahms and others.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Evoking Afternoons in 17th Century Hereford

Composer Matthew Locke was born 400 years ago this year, and to mark this occasion the British viol consort FRETWORK are marking the happy occasion with an album featuring seven of Locke's suites that have hitherto barely made ...
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Music of Nature

From his outstanding 1878 book MUSIC AND SOME HIGHLY MUSICAL PEOPLE, the distinguished African-American author JAMES M. TROTTER exults in 'the music of Nature'
by David McGee
 

 
 

Contemporary Music

During a four-month concert tour of America in 1928, composer MAURICE RAVEL delivered a then-controversial lecture urging American classical musicians to incorporate African-American music into their compositions. Ahead of his ...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Last Stop on Market Street: A Visit with Matt de la Peña & Christian Robinson

JULES sits down with MATT DE LA PEÑA, author of one of her favorite new books of 2015, LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET, beautifully illustrated by CHRISTIAN ROBINSON.
by David McGee
 

 
 
 

‘You’ve Got To Chase the String While You Can’: Paula Poundstone Gains Wisdom From Her Vast Squadron Of Cats

Paula Poundstone has 16 cats. She loves cats. In the new installment of Talking Animals, the 'Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me' mainstay explains the invaluable lesson she's learned from her felines: 'You've got to chase the string wh...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Sniffing Out Revelations About the Canine Sense of Smell

After reading ALEXANDRA HOROWITZ’s 'Being a Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell,' it turns out that many of us may have severely underestimated just how much that nose knows. DUNCAN STRAUSS investigates.
by David McGee
 

 
 

The Night of the Blood Beasts (1958)

Deep Roots Theater presents a cheesy 1958 sci-fi chiller, NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST, from the brothers Corman. Selected short subject:; "Gertie the Dinosaur," the groundbreaking 1914 animated short from Winsor McCay.
by David McGee