Talking about the Beatles' best cover on the Songs of Note.

Fun art for kids during the dog days of extended summer.

The frontlines of COVID-19 and the jazz classic, "St. James Infirmary." "We’re not exactly sure of the origins of “St. James Infirmary,” in which a broken man—or a man about to be broken by grief—goes to a hospital to see his “baby,” by which he means his significant other. She may or may not be dead, given that she’s “stretched out,” a term you really only want to encounter if you’re an athlete and all limbered up for the big game. She’s likely in a coma, and the time has come for a final farewell, something that often occurs these days over FaceTime. We’ll call this the early jazz version."

Buster Keaton, Popsicles, Christopher Cross's "Sailing," malaria, restarting sports, a lot more.

All things "This Boy," including girl groups, three-part harmony singing, jealousy, Little Willie John, live performances, and more.

Forgotten summertime Peanuts specials, discussion of a couple recent pieces, and why baseball catchers are so cool.

A close examination of the long medley from Abbey Road.

Hola, monsters. "The sun goes down, but it could have been erased from the sky, never to return, because the fear is the constant—the new prevailing orb. There is fear of an alien invasion, but as the accusations mount that particular concern is sidelined. What people most want to avoid is blame, causality. Humans ostensibly freaking out over otherworldly beings infiltrating our world instead lock in on each other. To not invade another person, as it were, is to be conspicuous—and thus guilty—by dint of unexpressed and unmounted outcry. If you wish to save your skin, you better become a veritable comet of righteousness and start torching whomever you can. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?"

On the strangest Fourth of July special ever made, in which Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is canceled by the mob. "Sometimes aspects of life become so royally fucked up, there comes a point when you say, “Eh, screw it, I’ll go along with this for a bit, let’s kick it up to another level.” 

July will feature five, hour-long episodes on the Songs of Note podcast exploring a different Beatles song. Up first--"There's a Place," the band's first mature work.

Ike Quebec! Elmo Hope! Blue Mitchell! Curtis Fuller! Tina Brooks!

About writing 200 short stories, 700 blog posts, and what, when features, essays, op-eds, a novel, are added in, was the equivalent of thirty books' worth of material in two years.

On a new documentary."Fitzgerald’s summation of what she did and what in turn made her everything she was, is contained in three words we hear early in the film. “I kept on,” she says, and she might as well be the sun speaking."

Favorite smells, favorite animals, favorite Beatles albums.

Mr. Elegant. "Cobb had the technique. In fact, he had the technique of a classical percussionist, someone who could have dashed across town from an engagement at the Village Vanguard to Lincoln Center for two gigs in an evening."

Tucking into Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks."

Christopher Columbus, Newhart, The Outer Limits, a Beach Boys summer concept album, Delacroix's Jacob Wrestling with the Angel.

And also torture porn, Joan of Arc, the Maysles brothers' Gimme Shelter, Orson Welles, Jesus Christ.

The cinematic techniques of The Last Dance.

On George Floyd and John Coltrane's "Alabama."

And also what MLB and NHL should do re: their seasons.

Covering a lot: Michael Jordan, The Blob (now streaming on the Criterion Channel), and Keats' "The Eve of St. Agnes" on its 200th anniversary.

Digging into the Doors' "Five to One."

Talking about a new short story, the release of a huge Gunsmoke box set containing every episode, and James Agee and Out of the Past.

This Side of Paradise as the anti-college college novel 100 years after its publication.