Discovering Natalie

One of the best things about subscribing to Sirius Radio is all of the new music you can find if you look. One of my favorite stations on Sirius is “The Coffee House” , which plays acoustic rock. I have discovered so many great artists specifically from this station it is  amazing. It is here that I first found Loudon Wainwright III, Luka Bloom, Amos Lee, David Gray, Tracy Chapman and now I add Natalie Merchant to this amazing list of talent. I have heard Natalie Merchant on Sirius several times and her haunting voice always catches my attention. Lately I have checked out a couple of her CD releases and they are peaceful, haunting and mythical in their prose. 

The first song of Natalie's that I ever heard was "Wonder". Every time I hear this song I am brought back to the birth of each of my boys.


To learn more about Natalie Merchant's music check out her webpage.

Martin Van Buren by Ted Widmer

Ok I had to take a break from all of those science fiction novels, especially after the weak Star Trek short story collection, “Constellations”. I decided to get back to some history and chose a biography of Martin Van Buren by Ted Widmer.  Van Buren who was president from 1873 to 1841 is not thought much of these days and he is often disregarded by most historians. However his life story and political weight warrants more attention dedicated readers. For one thing, Van Buren was one of the first to recognize to political potential of  Andrew Jackson and Van Buren subsequently played a vital role in helping Jackson obtain the presidency. Van Buren was awarded the vice presidency under Jackson where he faithfully served Jackson for 8 years. Van Buren won the presidency in his own right as Jackson’s hand picked successor. However, unlike Jackson, events controlled him, he did not control events. The Financial Panic of 1837 which stands as this nations greatest financial disaster erupted shortly after Van Buren’s election and clouded his entire time in the White House. If that was not bad enough the ugly head of slavery was brought to his desk with the events surrounding the Slave Ship “Amistad”. This short biography should be entertaining while shining some light on “The Little Magician”.  

Unfortunately I realize that many of you, my dedicated readers are bored by history and reading however I wanted to show you this short video. Did you know there was a whole episode of "Seinfeld" which featured our 8th president? Check it out dedicated readers.

Remembering Jefferson Starship

Dedicated readers I have good news. Although this holiday weekend was filled with graduation parties and a memorial day picnic at Ian's house I still found time to complete a lot of yard work as well as finding a "double stroller" for the wife and even unintentionally re-discovering Grace Slick & Jefferson Starship. I remember first hearing Jefferson Starship in high school and for some reason being completely infatuated with Grace Slick. I also remember that Jefferson Starship even played a role during the ill-fated 1978 "Star Wars Holiday Special" which was about the only thing cool about that special.

Check out the song, "Fast Buck Freddie" from 1975's Jefferson Starship masterpiece "Red Octopus". This was one of those songs I played over and over and over again as a a teenager and here I am again playing it for all of you, my dedicated readers. I had not heard this song in years but when I stumbled upon it this weekend.... wow. Grace Slick I used to love you so.

It's hard to believe that Grace Slick is 69 years old now. When I was in high school she rocked.