Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Kings of Convenience

Time for something a little more up-tempo from the Kings of Convenience to usher in the new year. You'll notice that even their more upbeat stuff is pretty mellow, so no worries there. The song is Misread, recorded at a concert in Germany in 2007. I hope you enjoy their wonderful music as we ease our way into 2009.

2009: International Year of Astronomy

Credit: NASA/The Hubble Heritage Team/A. Riess (STScI)

If there was ever a time to take an interest in the night sky and all its mysteries, this is the time - 2009 has been designated the International Year of Astronomy. This year-long celebration of the science of the stars includes many local and global events designed to educate and interest people in astronomy. The centerpiece is 100 Hours of Astronomy, a worldwide event in early April that will include live webcasts, observing events and more.

But for some immediate gratification, take a look at The World At Night, another project that is collecting beautiful night sky images from around the world. These photographers know what they're doing, and it shows. Their images are stunning.

And finally, on this first day of the new year, a video for you of the Milky Way moving slowly across the sky over Futago Lake in Japan. The videographer, known only as mockmoon2000, doesn't appear to be connected with the International Year of Astronomy, but certainly embodies its goals and ideals. May your New Year be full of celestial beauty and wonder!

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Mavis Staples

We're on the verge of saying goodbye to 2008, and based on some of the Christmas letters I received this year, it's not a moment too soon. Ready for 2009? Mavis Staples sends us on our way with this week's lullaby. Ready or not, here we go...

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Cornell Kinderknecht

This week's lullaby comes from a winter solstice celebration two years ago. Cornell Kinderknecht performs Night Path on the bansuri flute. Beautiful and haunting, it is a lovely, meditative work. I hope you enjoy it.

The Cold, Deep Night

© Ivan Kmit | Dreamstime.com

As we approach the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, I find that my conception of winter nights - still, hushed, all of nature covered in a deep blanket of snow - may not be quite right.

Last week I was driving home after my night shift job when I saw a crow on the wing, passing through the illumination of a street light. Crows will roost in large numbers during the fall and winter, gathering at sunset, raucous, even foreboding to some observers, until they settle down to sleep. But it was hours past sun down, and I wondered where this single crow was heading.

Then, completely by chance, I read an account on a local forum (scroll down toward the end) about "mysterious noctural conventions" of crows, where, on certain snowy nights, they fly in circles around some invisible, designated point, great numbers of them, but completely silent. Maybe the crow I saw was on its way to such a meeting, since it was, in fact, snowing. I looked for more information on the phenomenon, but found nothing to explain the mystery.

The enigma of these long, cold nights remains, and certainly explains the rituals of light so many cultures have developed to mark the solstice. Below is a video you might remember - a clip from Northern Exposure, where local artist Chris, after confiscating almost every light bulb in town, creates a light sculpture to challenge the long Alaskan night.



I wish you a wonderful holiday season and safe travels. I'll be posting lullabies this Sunday and next, and will pick up the Luminous Life series following the holiday week. Best wishes and peace.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Debussy

Time is getting away from me these days, for reasons I don't entirely understand. Time to slow down and relax to a gorgeous rendition of Debussy's Reverie, performed by pianist David Delucia. The videographer known as Spadecaller provides lovely images to complete this week's lullaby offering.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Odetta and Friends

Folk legend Odetta died this past week. An ardent civil rights supporter and musical master, she will be missed by so many. This week's lullaby is Hymn, by Janis Ian, sung by Ian, Odetta and Phoebe Snow, possibly the only collaboration of these three gifted singers. Easily one of the best lullabies you will find on this blog.

Luminous Life - An Intro to Bioluminescence

To me, bioluminescence, the ability of some microbes, plants and animals to emit visible light, is one of the most interesting phenomena in the natural world. It's time to explore how some life forms have developed this talent, which evolved first in the blackness of the deep sea, and then among land plants and animals that glow against the backdrop of the night.

Most people are familiar with the fireflies that grace summer evenings. But the greenish glow doesn't end there. The image above shows eerie fungi found in a state park in Brazil - as if the woods in the nighttime weren't mysterious enough.

To get started, here's a video that showcases some deep sea bioluminescent creatures, as well as some octopi camoflaging themselves in amazing ways. There's more to come as we survey the luminous life around us.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Meditations

The first major snow storm of the season has arrived. They're forecasting 6 to 8 inches by Monday morning. The snow made me think of this video, Meditations: A Year of Changes. Harry G. Pellegrin performs El Noi de la Mare, set to images he took along the Mohawk River in New York. I like that the images aren't the usual perfectly-lit, heavily composed nature pictures you see so often. They remind me of the parks near me - I'm still in nature, but need to look deeper to see the beauty and meaning of what is around me.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Tramuntana

The glory of autumn has passed, and we are faced with a brown and gray landscape, a chill in the air and the darkest day of the year still more than a month away. So here is a remedy - a lullaby featuring beautiful nature images from the island of Cres in Croatia. The lovely, relaxing music is New Born by Matt Chernishov. Enjoy the lullaby as we head into the holiday week.

Song of the Northern Lights

Seeing the Northern Lights dance on a clear winter night is a wonderful spectacle. But hearing the aurora is another experience entirely. In this video from the Minnesota Planetarium and Space Discovery Center, sound recordist Steve McGreevy discusses the aurora as a natural radio source and what it takes to record its strange song. Here's the location of the original YouTube video, which includes several links of interest. (And in case you're wondering, the video was originally designed to be projected onto the planetarium dome, hence the circular imagery.)

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Arlo Guthrie

Arlo Guthrie supplies our lullaby tonight - that classic American folk song, City of New Orleans. Poignant and nostalgic, it portrays a lost era, when rail travel was supreme, and all the romanticism that went along with it.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Gregory and the Hawk

Here's a lovely song from Gregory and the Hawk, entitled Boats and Birds. In its early days, this young band bypassed the usual music industry apparatus and relied on the internet to build a fan base. Now signed with a record label, they continue to produce original, wonderful songs.

Another Namesake

Well, it turns out, I'm back on the night shift, working second-shift hours again part-time. This means the usual time I blog is unavailable, at least for another week, when my permanent schedule kicks in.

So for this week and possibly next week, things will be a little quiet around here. After that, though, I plan to start a new series that I think will be fun and interesting. So stick around. And there will always be a new lullaby on Sundays.

In the meantime, enjoy this video, Night, the Beloved, which was sent to me by a friend. Since we had a "Lullaby for Grown-Ups" a couple weeks ago, it seems fitting to have a video named after the blog here as well.

This is the introduction of the film, meant to capture the mood of some of the videographer's dreams. I especially like the music and all the water images.

Lullaby for Grown-Ups - Andy McKee

Here's a smooth and mellow acoustic guitar lullaby. Andy McKee performs a song from his CD Dreamcatcher. McKee developed an international following after two of his performance videos were posted on the internet and went viral, achieving more than 17 million views. I hope you enjoy this amazing music.