I’m up early at Mark’s house. Today Eileen and I return to Holland. After we get back we have to madly start preparing for house improvements to happen this week. We get our ducts cleaned starting tomorrow. On Thursday they are scheduled to install our new furnace/ac. So today after we get back, we have to make sure everything is ready for the duct people, clearing the way to all the registers in the house. Then before Thursday I have some serious straightening to do in the basement, clearing out my old tool room which is the room where the furnace will go. This promises to be an active week!

Yesterday Mark drove me to Ann Arbor. He had some errands to run and graciously included a stop at Dawntreader bookstore and Encore Records. In between, the old men (Mark and I) rested at a lovely Korean restaurant. Encore records keeps boxes of used music on its floor. I always find stuff to purchase. Yesterday I found a bunch of piano duets, cello and violin solos, and a very cool old copy of a special issue of the journal Black Sacred Music: A Journal of Theomusicology. Articles in it by Micheal Eric Dyson, Cornel West, and Andrew Greeley. Topics covered include the sacred music of Duke Ellington, Rap Culture, and the Catholic imagination of Bruce Springsteen and Madonna’s challenge to her church. The last two by Greeley.

This morning after working on Greek, I combed the bibliography of a fancy book of Mark’s called Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia by Fiona Ritchie and Douglas Orr.

This led me down the rabbit hole of the interwebs and before I was done I ran across and bookmarked a bunch of interesting stuff.

including:

Hughes, Langston, I Wonder as I wander

Maccoll, Ewan and Peggy Seeger, Travelers’ Songs from England and Scotland Amazon link CDrom version on Peggy Seeger web site

I Wonder as I Wander: The Life of John Jacob Niles by Ron Pen, Rick Kogan

Ron Pen seems like an interesting dude. I requested his friendship on Facebook.

Ritchie, Jeanie, Folksongs of Appalachia Amazon link

I also ran across a very interesting issue of the journal,  American Music

This is not available online, but it’s tempting to purchase. $14 for the e version.