‘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
 

 
 
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A Woody Guthrie Centennial Moment: Woody and Moses

Folkways founder MOSES ASCH regarded WOODY GUTHRIE as a meaningful artist, but Woody's undisciplined ways agitated him. A look at how two strong personalities meshed during a period when Woody recorded his most important music.
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
 

 
 
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NASA’S Fermi Measures Cosmic ‘Fog’ Produced by Ancient Starlight

Astronomers using data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have made the most accurate measurement of starlight in the universe and used it to establish the total amount of light from all of the stars that have ever sho...
by David McGee
 

 

 
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The Cautionary Tale of Jenny Wren

From his last published novel, Our Mutual Friend, comes the tale of Jenny Wren, a character Dickens uses to illustrate the damage adult alcoholics inflict on their offspring. Vividly drawn, altogether unforgettable, and the ins...
by David McGee
 

 
 
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Rocketship X-M

DEEP ROOTS THEATER: Now playiing--Rocketship X-M, a 1950 sci-fi opus starring Lloyd Bridges in a script by blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo that subtly proselytizes against the hazards of nuclear at a time when The Bomb w...
by David McGee
 

 

 
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Rossini on Rossini, Byron on Rossini

From his 1886 book From Mozart to Marvio V1: Reminiscences of a Half Century, Louis Engel discloses the composer Giochino Rossini's slightly jaundiced view of his own legacy; in correspondence to two friends in 1818, Lord Byron...
by David McGee
 

 
 
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A Master Returns to Bach, With Glorious Results

As a young pianist, András Schiff earned wide esteem for his 1980s recordings of the major keyboard works of J.S. Bach; in recent years, as part of his long-term relationship with ECM, he has gone back to Bach as a sage vetera...
by David McGee
 

 

 
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Farm Bill Update

The fate of the Farm Bill, the effects of its not being passed, and wither the conservation compliance provisions? Plus, a statement in support of Conservation Compliance by the American Farmland Trust.
by David McGee
 

 
 
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De Paris, Tout pour l’amour

Anticipation is building in Europe for the breakout prospects of 22-year-old Parisian songstress Juliette Katz, who is being favorably compared to Adele, although her sultry, silky, soulful singing and intense romanticism recal...
by David McGee
 

 

 
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Written In the Land

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of over 25,000 years of Aboriginal occupation within this area, and Kakadu's rock art (gunbim) represents the longest historical record of any group of people in the world
by David McGee
 

 
 
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Senza pedale ma con tanti colori

WITHOUT THE PEDAL BUT WITH PLENTY OF COLORS: in his self-penned essay the towering classical pianist András Schiff discusses the challenges and nuances of J.S. Bach's music poses for the contemporary musician.
by David McGee