Category Archives: Random Topics
Happy Leap Day!
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, here’s a classic track from Count Basie & His Orchestra guar-an-teeeed to add more than a little lift to your Leap Day festivities: ‘Jumpin’ At The Woodside!’” “Jumpin’ At The Woodside” was recorded in … Continue reading
“O Holy Night”
I originally shared the recording of “O Holy Night” by The City of New Orleans on the occasion of sixstr stories’ first Christmas. On December 22, 2010, I wrote: This is my favorite recording/performance of Christmas music. Period. Hands down. … Continue reading
An Early Christmas Gift
Acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Ed Gerhard has performed in the Seacoast New Hampshire area during the holiday season every year for the past 33 years. For most of those years, “Ed Gerhard’s Annual Christmas Guitar Concert” has been held in the … Continue reading
These Wide Waters
Last July… I spent the better part of a Wednesday morning and early afternoon in the emergency room of my local hospital. Our 14-year-old family station wagon was suddenly reduced to a nearly-worthless pile of spare parts, scrap metal and … Continue reading
Tasting The Universe
On the evening of Wednesday, September 2, 2015, the weather in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was perfect: a bit more than seasonably warm and barely a cloud in the sky. Perfect for catching an outdoor concert in Portsmouth’s Prescott Park, the … Continue reading
September’s Songs
On the sixstr stories calendar of historic days in music, no month has as many dates commemorating individual pieces of music than September. Here’s the list! (Happy listening!) September 4th On this date in 1962, The Beatles – 21-year-old John … Continue reading
Thomas Edison’s First Phonograph
“Of all my inventions, I liked the phonograph best.” Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) Thomas Edison wrote the date – November 29, 1877 – in the upper right-hand corner of the piece of paper on which he had drawn the sketch of … Continue reading
Songs
Long before I started writing this blog, I wrote songs. Love songs, story songs, list songs, silly songs, songs about songs, songs without words, songs drawn from the day-to-day of my life. Thirty of those songs – including tracks from … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: Stephen Collins Foster
Stephen Collins Foster – America’s first professional songwriter – was born on July 4, 1826 in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania. Stephen Foster’s songwriting career started in December, 1844, with the publication of “Open Thy Lattice Love.” Over the next decade he became … Continue reading
“Father’s Day”
Eight different musicians/groups have each written and recorded a song called “Father’s Day.” Rap artist Father M.C. did in 1990 and Hip Hop duo Method Man & Redman did in 1999. Americana duo Barry & Michelle Patterson did in 2001 … Continue reading
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