Tonight on Jazz After Dark:
Helen Merrill with Gil Evans, Benny Carter & Oscar Peterson Trio (1952), Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Duke Ellington with Johnny Hodges, Art Pepper, Anita O'Day, Benny Carter (1961), Johnny Hodges, Lester Young, Count Basie and His Orchestra, and Benny Carter (1990).
Craig McNamara, 72, now grows walnuts near Winters, but he grew up in Washington, D.C., at the center of power. His father Robert McNamara was the U.S. defense secretary for presidents Kennedy and Johnson during the Vietnam War. In his new memoir Because Our Fathers Lied / a Memoir of Truth and Family, from Vietnam to Today, Craig writes about opposing the war, his love for his dad, loyalty to the Constitution instead of to a president, coexistence, and other aspects of his life shaped by this core conflict. We talk about his story today on Davisville.
Eric Jordan grew up in Davis, and while he was in high school he fell in love with the opera. The world ended up being his stage. Performing around the country and the world, he ended up with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In New York he suffered a massive stroke which eventually ended his career as an opera singer.
While performing in opera productions, he also had an alter ego (as The Opera Cowboy) and performed country music, especially Johnny Cash songs.
In this episode of Listening Lyrics, Eric joins us as we listen to some of his story and music, both in opera and as the Opera Cowboy.
This week: Tomato leaf diseases, energy sources and sinks in plants, summer dormancy of some plants, and more.
Tonight on Jazz After Dark:
Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman Orchestra and solo, Sidney Bechet and His Blue Note Jazzmen, Kenny Burrell Octet, Eddie Lockjaw Davis with Paul Gonsalves, Claude Bolling Big Band, Bill Evans, Toots Thielemans, Stan Getz with Kenny Barron, Dianne Reeves, Albert Tootie Heath, and Shirley Horn.
Billy Larkin, who lives in Davis, is an award-winning pianist/composer/arranger who has been bringing his individual brand of musical artistry to audiences for over 40 years. He defies easy categorization and helps define true expression through the collaborative process.
From his website: "Following his studies in piano, music theory, and composition at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Billy worked in New York City as music director for cabarets, and wrote and performed music for the modern dance company Cheryl Wallace Dance Works. He went on to co-found Stone Street Foundation for the Arts in Cincinnati, which received numerous grants from the Ohio Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts for large-scale original productions featuring dance and live music.
Today's topics: Late spring flowers including Alstroemerias (Peruvian lily), managing new pests, special advice on watering lawns under drought restrictions, the City of Davis weed information page, how to water newly planted trees, and more.
Prior to the 2018 midterm elections, Marc Erelli penned a song about America's problem with guns. With help from Lori McKenna, Roseanne Cash, Sheryl Crow, Josh Ritter and Anais Mitchell, Erelli released "By Degrees," with all proceeds benefitting Gabby Giffords' gun violence prevention organization. This morning, we dedicated two sets of music to this issue, with tracks also from Josh O'Keefe, Cheryl Wheeler, Steve Earle and Warren Zevon.
Tonight on Jazz After Dark:
From the 1940s, we’ll hear Earl "Fatha" Hines and Johnny Hodges, The Nat King Cole Trio, Ike Quebec Quintet, Peggy Lee, and Charlie Parker and His Quintet.
From the 1960s we’ll hear Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz, Pete Fountain, Oscar Peterson, Paul Desmond, Herbie Mann and Joao Gilberto with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Eddie Jefferson, and Ella Fitzgerald and the Jimmy Jones Trio with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, and then we’ll take it out with Stanley Jordan.
So here we are in Davis, starting another summer during a drought while also adjusting to larger changes in the weather. Don Shor (pictured) sees the impact of these changes from several angles, as the owner of the Redwood Barn Nursery in Davis, and as a certified nursery professional, landscape contractor, and lifelong gardener on his land near Dixon.
Local gardeners get the benefit of his advice on the weekly Davis Garden Show, which he co-hosts with Lois Richter on KDRT, and in his garden column in the Davis Enterprise. Today we extend the conversation to talk about how plants mediate heat, changes in what people are buying in Davis, why Davis is a good city for his business, and smart ways to use less water to get trees and plants through this drought.
