This week on Listening Lyrics: songs that a speaker manufacturer uses to check its sound quality. You can also use this great selection of songs to check your ears.

In April 1968, just a few days before the release of his iconic Live At Folsom Prison album, Johnny Cash appeared at the Carousel Ballroom -- precursor to The Fillmore -- at Market and Van Ness. At a time when the San Francisco counterculture was not yet very cool with country music, Cash faced an audience potentially much more hostile than those he had performed before at nearby maximum security prisons. High-quality audio recordings of the Carousel Ballroom show have now appeared under the auspices of the Owsley Stanley Foundation, and we share them today.

(Aside from his well-known laboratory work, Stanley was an ardent taper and sound engineer -- much like KDRT's own Jim Buchanan, but without the chemistry.)

Also on today's show: new music from The Spell Songs Project, George Jackson, Watchhouse, Seth Lakeman, Billy Bragg, Magpie Arc, and lots more Johnny Cash.

The New York Times recently posted a list of 115 new movies scheduled for release between now and the end of the year—way too many to track! Enter Derrick Bang, film critic for the Davis Enterprise and his blog Derrick Bang on Film, for our yearly talk about movies to see and avoid during this high season for movie-viewing.

The pandemic pummeled ticket sales in theaters this year, and movies are no longer the center of popular culture. Even so, Derrick says 2021 has been a terrific year for movies.

On today's program:

• winter flowers and hummingbirds
• colder temperatures are coming
• houseplant care in winter

and more!