Aug 16, 2014
It's summer in New England, so why not some summer themed music for these lazy, hot days? Today is August 16th, the feast day of Saint Roch, the patron saint of Dogs, so why not celebrate the "Dog Days"?
The Romans referred to the dog days as diēs caniculārēs and associated the hot weather with the star Sirius. They considered Sirius to be the "Dog Star" because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog). Sirius is also the brightest star in the night sky. The term "Dog Days" was used earlier by the Greeks in Aristotle's Physics.
The Dog Days originally were the days when Sirius rose just before or at the same time as sunrise, which is no longer true, owing to procession of the equinoxes. The Romans sacrificed a brown dog (Sorry Angus and Hamish, my two miniature dachshunds)) at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather.
I've done two previous Dog Day postings, Podcast 292 and Podcast 225 if you'd like some more music. There's a few repeatsbetween those two posts and this year's model, but what the hey.
Podcast 442 features the following uninterrupted music:
Marc Johnson - "Summer Running" from The Sound of Summer Runnning
Bob Curnow's LA Big Band - "Every Summer Night" from Music of Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays
Sarah Vaughan - "Summertime" from Sings George Gershwin.
Sonny Stitt - "Summer Special" from My Mother's Eyes
The Rippingtons featuring Russell Freeman - "Summer Lovers" from Topaz
Quincy Jones - "Summer in the City" from You've Got It Bad, Girl
Michael Franks - "You Were Meant for Me" from Dragonfly Summer
Bob Baldwin - "Summer Breeze" from Cool Breeze
Phil Woods, Antonio Hart and Vincent Herring - "The Summer Knows (Theme from 'Summer of '42')" from Alto Summit.
Steve Reid -"Warm Summer Rain" from Water Sign
Amy Cervini - "Once Upon a Summertime" from Digging Me, Digging You
Hiromi - "Summer Rain" from Another Mind