Song: “Wayfaring Stranger” (1858) It’s a song I play on guitar and sing. It’s very beautiful, and it is one of the most highly recorded old Appalachian folk songs. Book: “Rats, Lice and History: A Chronicle of Disease, Plagues and Pestilence” (1935) by Hans Zinsser It’s a picaresque account of how epidemics have shaped...
Book: “The Charm School” by Nelson DeMille (1988) It’s a Cold War era spy story exploring the chilling possibility of Soviet spies infiltrating the US. A fun, thrilling tale of espionage. Movie: “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope,” (1977) dir. George Lucas I love good classic sci-fi action. Song: “Linus and...
Song: “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (2023) by Lana Del Ray I love “Take Me Home, Country Roads” covered by Lana Del Ray. I love Lana Del Ray. I grew up listening to John Denver sing that song, so when she released her cover of it, I just fell in love with it...
Song: “The Sanctus” from Gounod’s “Messe solennelle en l’honneur de Saint-Cécile” (1885) It is very like what my soul does when I am highly aware of the magnificence of God. But, a video of someone doing a shuffle dance is also not unlike that, either. Now, there’s also Bobby Bare’s “Dropkick Me Jesus through the...
Song: Chopin’s “Mazurka No. 15 in C Major” played by Martha Argerich It was one of the first pieces to convince me that I should listen to classical music. Argerich’s playing moves one to silence. Book: “A Time of Gifts” (1977) by Patrick Leigh Fermor The first of three volumes describing his walk across...