Deep Roots Magazine

 
 

 
Here Comes Summer

Surf in Verse, 2021 Edition

Return to one of our most popular summer features, SURF IN VERSE, four evocative poems about the surf experience. This year's edition includes the oldest known surfing poem, THE SONG OF THE SURF, circa 1867, by ADAM LINDSAY GORDON
by David McGee
 
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Sing We Now of Christmas

The Murky Origins & Everlasting Life of ‘Jingle Bells’

In 1850 JAMES LORD PIERPONT, inspired by one-horse open-sleigh races in his home town, wrote a Thanksgiving ditty for his father's Sunday School class. Thus the humble origin of 'Jingle Bells.'
by David McGee
 
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Sing We Now of Christmas

Ding Dong, Merrily On High, Indeed!

Returned to print by Real Gone Music, THE THREE SUNS' amazing 1959 seasonal effort, A DING DONG DANDY CHRISTMAS, is lounge exotica run amuck, a genuine Yuletide gem.
by David McGee
 
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Sing We Now of Christmas

Christmas 1974: Santa (USPS) Brings the 1st Self-Adhesive Stamp

Those self-adhesive stamps we so love? Christmas 1974 brought the first of what were then considered experimental issues, featuring the Dove of Peace weathervane from George Washington's Mount Vernon home. Much trial-and-error ...
by David McGee
 
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Sing We Now of Christmas

A Christmas Classic For A Nuclear Armageddon

The classic DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR, inspired by the Cuban Missile Crisis, was intended as 'a prayer for peace.' The story behind the story herein.
by David McGee
 
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A Charlie Chaplin Moment

‘Isn’t That a Lovely Thing?’

From his 1960 book MY FATHER, CHARLIE CHAPLIN, JR. remembers his father's 'ruthless determination for perfection' and its effect on the family when Chaplin pere was writing 'MODERN TIMES'
by David McGee
 
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Departments

‘He Brought a Certain Level of Class to the Blues’: Remembering Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, 1930-2013

American music lost a giant with the passing of BOBBY 'BLUE' BLAND. Our tribute offers an overview of his career and a guide to his essential recordings.
by David McGee
 
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Away Out There

Collapsing Star Gives Birth to a Black Hole

‘If future observations confirm this team’s findings, this would be the first birth of a black hole ever witnessed and the first failed supernova ever discovered’
by David McGee
 
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Border Crossings

Listen. Remember.

Canadian-born singer-songwriter ALEJANDRA RIBERA talks about one of this year's most mesmerizing albums, her own 'LA BOCA'
by David McGee
 
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Border Crossings

Balancing Cultures & Traditions

On his third album, Israeli artist SANGRIT continues to advance his multicultural global message.
by David McGee
 
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Classical Perspectives

Catherine (of Aragon) and Henry (VIII) Dancing? Imagine!

The ROSE CONSORT OF VIOLS, with mezzo-soprano CLARE WILKINSON, are dazzling on a new disc of music drawn from some of the earliest manuscripts surviving from the turn of the 16th Century.
by David McGee
 
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Classical Perspectives

Being About an Instrument ‘At Once Familiar and Unknown’

In ART OF THE MANDOLIN, AVI AVITAL offers a perspective on 300 years of music composed specifically for his instrument of choice. A range of perspectives--via reviews, interviews and first-person observations-help explain the a...
by David McGee
 
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