Earlier
with Lee Rosevere

We start off with a track by conductor, pianist and composer Bramwell Tovey, who is receiving an honorary degree from UBC later this year..

...as is Buffy Sainte-Marie, and I had a call from Hope last December that the next time I play a tune from Red Box's The Circle and the Square, it should be a song Buffy wrote.

A post-Valentine's Day tune from Chloe Hall from Australia also on the show, as well as Catherine McKinnon, who had the top album on the contemporary charts for Flag Day in 1965.

And it's also the birthday of Henry E. Steinway, maker of fab pianos... and to help celebrate, Crazy Otto.

Today, a collection of Valentine's music that is not of the mushy variety... but it's not anti-love either.

Krista Detor has a Paris-ain't-what-I-thought-it'd-be type song from her album Cover Their Eyes, and The Magnetic Fields are coming to Vancouver with their sardonic anti-sappy love tunes.

Neil Young's Harvest album turns 40 today!

And one tune for those who don't like the corporatised Valentine's version... Nat King Cole.

And congrat's to Greg in Lillooet who got 15 out of 16 correct in the Valentine's Day Contest!



The Answers:

1. Henry Mancini - A Time for Us (from Romeo and Juliet)
2. Dickie Lee - Patches
3. Pat Boone - Moody River
4. John Leyton - Johnny Remember Me
5. The Goodees - Condition Red
6. Bobby Goldsboro - Honey
7. Bloodrock - DOA
8. Jimmy Cross - I Want My Baby Back
9. J. Frank Wilson and the Caviliers - Last Kiss
10. Everly Brothers - Ebony Eyes
11. Mark Dinning - Teen Angel
12. Ray Peterson - Tell Laura I Love Her
13. Skeeter Davis - Tell Tommy I Love Him
14. Twinkle - Terry
15. The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack
16. The Detergents - Leader of the Laundromat

Everyone who entered will received a Certificate Of Participation, and thanks for playing along again this year.

The news that Whitney Houston died on Saturday still in the headlines - and today on the program, going back into her musical background with tunes from her mother Cissy Houston, and her godmother Aretha Franklin.

Meanwhile, Peter Gabriel turns 62 today...and still keeping in the British artrock vein - XTC's English Settlement album turned 30 years old yesterday.

And as an interesting sidenote, head over to George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam's website (aka Boy Meets Girl) for the demo version of "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" [mp3]

Answers and the winner of the Valentine's contest announced tomorrow morning!

Birthday today for the great Larry Adler, passed away in 2001...

And another track from Kris Delmhorst's Cars cover album, and a brand-new track from Torontonian-now-in-Nashville's Adlai Waxman.

And Tarry emailed in about Hockey Day in Canada tomorrow (warning: that link will take you to a hockey site), asking for a not-often-played-tune about hockey by Stan Rogers.

And look who's here to take you into the weekend!

We begin with the calming "Spiegel im Spiegel" written by Arvo Part, and a lovely performance by Angele Dubeau with La Pieta.

Noticed the Juno noms the other day, and my fave Francophone album by Caracol was not on the list, but does have a Genie nomination, and I wanted to play another track from it anyway..

And happy birthday to Mr. Stompin' Tom Connors!

...that's a Nirvana in the Buddhist sense, not the band (or the other one)

And the music today kind of fits that sense of Nirvana in different ways - starting with a tune by Sharlene Wallace, a harpist from Ontario that was in Vancouver last year for the Harpist Convention.  The sound of the harp is usually associated with calmness..

And so is Kite Flying Day!  And the Free Design lift your spirits with their voices..

...and just when I start the get all new-agey, Ernie and Bert find enjoyment in Clinky and Clonking, as it is the 75th birthday of Joe Raposo, the man who wrote so many timeless songs like "Bein' Green", "ABCDEFG", "Would You Like To Buy An O?", "Sing"... all the great Sesame Street Songs (and the music to "Three's Company").

And Joe was also a big fan of Spike Jones, and I'll never miss an opportunity to get him on the show.

Charles Dickens turns 200 today, and thanks to Doug in Powell River who sent me a note yesterday (before Google told everyone), and requested something from the most musical memory he has of the writer... Oliver!

Plus Australian Shelley Harland has completed demos for her next album and is looking for help from her fanbase to record it, and another cut from the excellent album One Tree Less by British songwriter Judie Tzuke.

As the Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee today, I've got some music by the recent recipient of the Queen's Medal for Music... oboist and conductor Nicholas Daniel.

Then I haven't played much from Leonard Cohen's new one, so we hear something from that and today is the late Kate McGarrigle's birthday.

It's also the birthday of the late Thurl Ravenscroft, who had one of the best voices in the business, working for Disney, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch", the voice of Tony the Tiger and lots more to learn about him at this website All Things Thurl.

And the Valentine's Contest is up and running!  You have until February 13th to enter.

February 3rd, the Day the Music Died in 1959.

Tomorrow marks the 35th anniversary of one of the most popular rock records... Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.

And Ladysmith Black Mambazo are touring BC in March!

Oh, and all the details of the Extremely Difficult Earlier Valentine Day Contest 2012 will be announced on Monday!