Category Archives: Commentary

What’s New for the 11th of September: Chicago’s Lincoln Park Conservatory, an Oysterband retrospective collection, contemporary Estonian music, a Swedish porridge restaurant, a Tam Lin novel, card catalogues and other matters…

Posted on 11th September 2016 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

I can remember the title, author, and location of every book in this library, Matthew. Every book that’s ever been dreamed. Every book that’s ever been imagined. Every book that’s ever been lost. Millions upon millions of them. That’s what … Continue reading →

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And Reels: Johnny Cock/Johnny O’Braidslea  

Posted on 16th August 2016 by Diverse Voices

Chuck Lipsig penned this essay. One of the fascinating things about folk music is the variety that one song or tune can produce. Niggling purism aside, there has never been one folk style. That’s even more true these days with musicians … Continue reading →

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What’s New for the 3rd of July: Reese’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, SF from Lavie Tidhar and Warren Ellis, de Lint has a song for a us, a Charles Vess gallery in a book and other goodies as well!

Posted on 3rd July 2016 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

She is our moon. Our tidal pull. She is the rich deep beneath the sea, the buried treasure, the expression in the owl’s eye, the perfume in the wild rose. She is what the water says when it moves. ― … Continue reading →

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Summer Queen 2016, SJ Tucker

Posted on 20th June 2016 by Leona Wisoker

Any self-respecting lover of fairy tale, myth, and folklore winds up listening to music that can’t be found on the Top Forty charts (except, perhaps, the unofficial ones at science fiction conventions). There are, perennially, an astonishing number of efforts … Continue reading →

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Winter Queen Speech: The City in Winter

Posted on 21st April 2016 by Ellen Kusnher

Once, not so long ago – but longer ago now than it was then – it snowed in the city, and did not stop until everything changed. When we woke up, all the usual sounds were gone. No one was … Continue reading →

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Folkmanis Puppets: Basset Hound

Posted on 16th April 2016 by Robert

Basset hounds seem to generate the kind of passion normally reserved for sports teams, and looking at Folkmanis’ Basset Hound puppet, it’s easy to see why. This little guy (well, not so little — 14 inches from nose to rump) … Continue reading →

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What draws a Green Man into the desert?

Posted on 18th March 2016 by Kim Bates

What draws a Green Man into the desert? Melodies, bones, and ghosts, I’d say. We go on these pilgrimages from time to time, searching for our heart’s home, and often it’s the border country of the American West that calls. … Continue reading →

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My favorite recordings of 2015

Posted on 12th January 2016 by Gary Whitehouse

It’s a tradition for reviewers to draw up a Top 10 at the end of a calendar year. It’s also a tradition in an online music community that I’ve belonged to for about as long as I’ve been writing for … Continue reading →

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What’s New for the 6th of January: del Toro: Pan’s Labyrinth, Yugoslav folk music, Richard and Linda Thompson doing trad Irish music, Cape Breton music, a wee hedgehog puppet, Finnan hadddie, more chocolate, Armenian folk music, fantasy noir and a lot more!

Posted on 6th January 2016 by Iain Nicholas Mackenzie

Whatever happened next, good or bad, it would be wonderful finding out. — Mathew Swift, the Midnight Mayor, in Kate Griffin’s A Madness of Angels Ahhhh, plump pork sausages sizzling in their own fat, eggs any way you like them, palacsinta … Continue reading →

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Ellen Datlow on Spring

Posted on 2nd January 2016 by Diverse Voices

She has a detailed answer  in Sleeping Hedgehog why Spring is worth celebrating: I love spring in New York–even if it only lasts a few short weeks. I celebrate spring by trying to view the very few magnolia trees in … Continue reading →

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