Aug 16, 2021
It's past the midpoint in summer in New England, so why not some summer themed music for what may still be 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"? Plus, Saint Roch's name is to be invoked to avoid plagues, so need I say anything more?
The Romans 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), as well as 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 (Apologies to 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 now done eight previous Dog Day postings, Podcast 292, Podcast 225, Podcast 442, Podcast 492 , Podcast 546, Podcast 588, Podcast 632 and Podcast 695 if you'd like some more summer-themed music. There may be a few repeats between these posts, but what the hey. It’s all grooving or relaxing music for soaking in those wonderful warming rays. As they said on Game of Thrones, "Winter is Coming", so let's grab all the warmth we can get.
Podcast 838 features the following uninterrupted hour plus of music, all with summer themes, featuring:
Joey Alexander - "Summer Rising"
John Brown - "When Summer Comes"
Madeleine Peyroux - "The Summer Wind"
Jon Irabagon - "100 Summers"
Horace Silver - "Summer in Central Park"
Kurt Rosenwinkel - "Summer Song"
Earl Klugh - "Summer Nights"
Patti Austin - "Summer Breeze"
Lonnie Liston Smith - "Summer Days"
Gilad Hekselman - "The Summer of Laughs and Tears"
Gil Paris - "One Summer"