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R. L. Burnside (November 23, 1926 – September 1, 2005) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He played music for much of his life but received little recognition before the early 1990s. In the latter half of that decade, Burnside recorded and toured with Jon Spencer, garnering crossover appeal and introducing his music…

This bi-color image of the Orion Nebula (M42) was taken through Hydrogen-alpha and Oxygen-III filters. This celestial object combines emission, reflection, and dark nebulosity into one star-forming region. The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion’s Belt in…

Jesse Colin Young is an American singer and songwriter. He was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s group The Youngbloods. Young was born Perry Miller on November 22, 1941 and raised in Queens, New York. His mother was a violinist, and his father was an accountant with a strong interest in classical music. When…

James Minter Knepper (November 22, 1927 – June 14, 2003) was an American jazz trombonist. In addition to his own recordings as leader, Knepper performed and recorded with Charlie Barnet, Woody Herman, Claude Thornhill, Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, Gil Evans, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Lew Tabackin, and, most famously, Charles Mingus…

Hoagland Howard “Hoagy” Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. American composer and author Alec Wilder described Carmichael as the “most talented, inventive, sophisticated and jazz-oriented of all the great craftsmen” of pop songs in the first half of the 20th century. Carmichael was one of the…

Featuring Fandangos. The earliest fandango melody is found in the anonymous “Libro de diferentes cifras de guitarra” from 1705, and the earliest description of the dance itself is found in a 1712 letter by Martín Martí, a Spanish priest. The fandango’s first sighting in a theatrical work was in Francisco de Leefadeal‘s entremés “El novio…

Tribute to Bill Thompson. Passed on June 14, 2015. I published his album Cat Went Blind (interesting story) on YouTube. I played drum kit on the album and helped with Production and Editing. Recorded in River Falls, WI and mastered by Christopher Blood. This is my favorite tune Black Grate with the exquisitely haunting fiddle/violin…