A look at Russ Columbo’s Prisoner of Love in context of the slave trade of 1200 years ago, plus a sampling of Simone Kermes, Abbey Lincoln, Etta James and Billie Holiday.

A look back through the centuries to the origin of our musical motifs of being a slave to love.

A sampling of Mark Hoffman’s film version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

A look at the wildflowers that help make June the magnificent month it is, with music to settle, soothe and stimulate.

A brief explanation of the brain circuitry brought about by the kind of delicious musical programing we find here with Adagio.

A tribute to one of the most melodic creatures that shares our musical planet with us.

A tribute to one of the most melodic creatures that shares our musical planet with us.

A spring tonic for a return to base, and along the way, a glimpse into the prescient genius of George Carlin.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and summer’s lease hath all too short a date. Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines and often is his gold complexion dimmed.

A sampling of Helen Merrill, Jimmy Scott, Angèle Dubeau, Lang Lang and Jeff Buckley with a 5000 year-old vignette of Babylon.