Pandemonium’s Michele Raffin: A Real Bird Brain

A chance meeting with an injured bird changed the course of MICHELE RAFFIN's life. Now the founder of PANDEMONIUM AVIARIES is committed to preserving endangered bird species, right in her own back yard.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Shakespeare, In Concept

CLARA SANABRAS has adapted SHAKESPEARE'S 'THE TEMPEST' into an operatic production and, now, a concept album with Britten Sinfonia and others. It's a beauty. ROBERT HUGILL reviews.
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Yuletide Report From the Chairman of the Board

Revised and updated, this appraisal of Frank Sinatra's Christmas recordings as an art form unto themselves was first published in TheBluegrassSpecial.com in 2008.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Jo: The Singular, Special Yuletide Gift

An appreciation of JO STAFFORD's holiday magnificence--the gift that keeps on giving.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Dame Kiri Turns 70, Bids Farewell to Opera (But That’s Not All, Folks)

Celebrating her 70th birthday today, DAME KIRI TE KANAWA is appearing at Covent Garden in a Donizetti farce--her last opera role, she says. But it's not the last we'll hear of her. Deep Roots pays tribute to a great.
by David McGee
 

 
 

The Wonders of the Beggar’s Kingdom

With its 2012 album, The Wonders of the Beggar’s Kingdom, Lithuania's Sutaras went beyond cheery celebrations of its native land’s music and culture and addressed the reality of the outside world where most live in 'uncerta...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Ghost Forest

RON HUNTER, founder/editor of Nature Writing.com, recently found a much different scene than he had anticipated when he encountered 'a self-healing natural cycle in the red fir-lodgepole pine forests of the Sierra Nevada.'
by David McGee
 

 
 

Overqualified?

Feeling boxed in and in need of new challenges at age 30, LEONARDO DA VINCI relocated from his native Florence to Milan, and promptly wrote to the Duke of Milan, touting 'certain of my secrets' he felt the Duke would find usefu...
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

Remade and reimagined (even on a Gilligan's Island episode) many times, Irving Pichel's 1932 classic original of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME uses KING KONG sets and its stars, FAY WRAY and ROBERT ARMSTRONG. Plus: Betty Boop's "Minn...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Juliet Menéndez’s Latinitas

In LATINITAS: CELEBRATING 40 BIG DREAMERS, author/illustrator JULIET MENÉNDEZ profiles women from all over Latin America and the U.S. and includes life stories that go back as far as the 17th century. Celia Cruz, Isabel Allend...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Where the Old Christmas Lives, and Breathes…

Timeless sacred and secular Christmas music, largely from the 16th and 17th centuries, by composers such as Michael Praetorius, impeccably performed on period instruments and with sensitive vocalizing by THE YORK WAITS. A lost ...
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