Earlier in the year Part 2

jaunary 13--It is time to pass on a pleasant tribute to Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers who recently died. The tribute was in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday and was written by Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, who recently rerecorded an early Everly Brothers album with Norah Jones. The tribute is at:http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/01/04/green-days-billie-joe-armstrong-the-dark-traditions-of-phil-everly/ 

Billie notes the beautifully straight up and often elegant harmonies of the Everly Brothers that were a great influence on groups such as the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and the Beach Boys. In addition to offering a pleasant contrast to the hard rocking rockabilly of Elvis in "Bye Bye Love" and "All I Have to Do Is Dream," the Everly Brothers also provided some innocent fun, and comic relief in "Wake Up Little Susie," and "Bird Dog" (although some parts of the country were not quite ready for "Susie" being up so late and not being home by 10, so they banned the record). Phil Everly was a key pioneer in the early days of rock and Billie Joe's tribute nicely captures the mood of that time.

December 14, 2013--Paul Simon shares some wonderful memories about his work on "Graceland" with South African musicians, and his connections to Nelson Mandela through Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba in today's NY Times. He is indeed "sharing diamonds on his soul," It is at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/arts/music/paul-simon-on-mandelas-role-in-graceland.html

For background, you may also want to read a Tom Friedman piece at: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/opinion/friedman-paul-simon-takes-us-back.html?_r=0

11/11--Music continues to flow through my veins after a great weekend of music in the Big Apple--Melissa Etheridge, Joan Osbourne, Counting Crows, Katharine McPhee, and Barbra ('like Butter') Streisand on Friday, and on Friday night and Saturday, wonderful folk and Israeli music, horas, and random spinning for the mind, body, and spirit at Romemu at a ruach-philled family bat mitzvah.

October 30--Winning pitcher John Lackey said it best: "A great team win for a great team." And it was great win for a great city--"Boston Strong; Boston Proud" First time in Boston for ninety-five years. Almost worth the wait.

December 8--

I want to recommend an interview with Santana that was on the PBS news hour tonight coinciding with his Kennedy Centers honors. He talked wonder-fully about the heart and power of good music of all kinds, and his remembrances of Nelson Mandala. The interview is at:http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/12/music-legend-carlos-santana-talks-to-jeffrey-brown-on-mondays-pbs-newshour.html

Music legend Carlos Santana talks to Jeffrey Brown on Monday's PBS NewsHour

www.pbs.org

Tune in online at 6 p.m. ET and watch a special online excerpt of the interview featuring Santana's personal story about Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.