The word “happiness” is pounded into our skulls from a young age. “If you’re happy and you know it,” we sing, dutifully clapping our hands. We’re greeted with “Happy birthday!” and “Happy New Year!” We’re cajoled with “Don’t worry, be happy.” Slightly misquoted: In spite of what you may have heard, Geography of Bliss author […]

When I was growing up, the birth of our nation meant one thing—and it wasn’t liberty and justice for all. Nope, it was hand-cranked chocolate-chip ice cream at my Aunt June’s annual Fourth of July party. Honestly, I still don’t think that sentiment is wrong. Much of what makes our nation worth celebrating is the […]

Dancer Joseph Watson grew up in Baltimore. When he was a child, his dad took him to see Tap, the infectious 1989 dance movie that provided little plot but plenty of platform for tappers Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr. The film had young Watson dancing in the aisles, “and I haven’t stopped since,” he […]

These days, it seems like everyone and his brother is a musician. If they’re not toting guitars around town and launching concerts on street corners, they’re cranking out albums on their laptops and releasing them over the Internet. It’s almost too easy. If you can’t stand the heat: A gentler Capleton has emerged, but this […]

It would take serious effort to miss all the buzz about the collaboration between Led Zeppelin’s front man (turned solo act) Robert Plant and Union Station front woman (turned producer) Alison Krauss. The unlikely duo’s Raising Sand (Rounder) dropped last fall and has been a subject of much philosophizing and rhetoric among music critics and […]

Purple, though most often favored by 12-year-old girls who also love unicorns and Hello Kitty, occasionally finds its way into fashion. There was a time when local Old Farmer’s Ball regulars (male and female) sported purple socks with their contra-dance apparel. It’s been associated both with the psychedelic 1960s and the MTV-obsessed 1980s. Poet Jenny […]