Full moon, full week, good music

Friday, that much-loved fellow and popular dude, has returned at last.  There is already the expectant energy of a weekend anticipated trailing in Friday's wake, and folks are prone to greet each other with the salutation, "It's Friday!"  The weather is cold (for us, meaning it hovers around the freezing mark), surfaces have some ice on them, and yet there are clouds (dark and heavy) hovering.  The moon, when I first woke, was large and bright and shining directly into our bedroom window.  If not full, then so close to full as to make no visible difference.

The soundtrack this morning was mixed and quite good.  Sinead O'Connor's rendition of My Man's Gone Now from Porgy & Bess is hauntingly poignant.  It comes from a collection CD (The Glory of Gershwin) put together by Larry Adler, of harmonica fame, on the occasion of his 80th birthday.  The venerable Wikipedia says of the collection, "The album featured an all-star lineup of artists, including Peter Gabriel, Oleta Adams, Elton John, Sting, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, Meat Loaf, Sinead O'Connor, Robert Palmer, Cher, Kate Bush, Elvis Costello, Courtney Pine, Issy Van Randwyck, Lisa Stansfield and Carly Simon, all of whom sang Gershwin tunes live with an orchestra and Adler adding harmonica solos."  If you like Gershwin, this is a must-have album.

Patrick Cassidy (the composer, not the actor) is an Irish-born composer of cantatas and film scores.  Today's track comes from his Famine Remembrance album, a beautiful and powerful album commemorating the Irish potato famine and its victims.  It, and his similar The Children of Lir albums are two of my all-time favorites.  One reviewer called it a modern-day requiem with Celtish overtones.  That works for me.

Today's full playlist:

 - Supertramp: If Everyone Was Listening

 - Matthew Perryman: Save You

 - Sinead O'Connor: My Man's Gone Now

 - Jeremy Fisher: Cigarette

 - Patrick Cassidy: A Supplication