Best news of the month

A reader e-mailed to say she can't take Barack's Drone War -- and the silence over it -- so she's given up on NPR and now just listens to music on the radio.  We understand what she's saying so much.  We are, collectively, a struggling nation -- caught between the ethics we once held dear and a White House that has surpassed the worst of Bully Boy Bush.

At times like these, we take comfort where ever we can.  And though we were greatly disappointed in the nominees for the upcoming Grammys, we are thrilled that Janis Ian was nominated for Best Spoken Word Album for Society's Child: My Autobiography -- her ninth Grammy nomination.




But we were even more excited to read in her monthly newsletter, "Started working new songs into the shows, refining them and blocking most of 2013 to write my next studio album, with an eye to recording and releasing in 2014."


This would be her first new studio album since 2006's Folk Is The New Black.  As Kat observed in real time, "what you'll note mainly is the care that's been put into each track and the voice that always seemed to blow in on a gentle breeze." And in the six years since, it's become a much loved classic with the powerful  "All Those Promises" only growing more haunting with each listen.

So news that Janis will be recording a new album qualifies as news worth celebrating.