As I write this, the winter solstice has just passed and cold, snow and ice envelope the Hanover Plain, along with much of the country. But by the time you read these words balmier weather will overspread the country as spring creeps slowly northward. 


We are all moving toward our ninth decade (some are already there), and it is inevitable that health issues rise in importance. My family doctor, a friend whom I’ve known for 25 years, says that growing old is like walking through a minefield, and the mines get closer and closer as you get older. 


Age does not mean sitting back in a rocking chair in idleness. Many of you have seen and enjoyed Mike Lasser’s first book, written with Philip Furia, America’s Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley. His latest book, America’s Songs II: From the 1890s to the Post-War Years, is now published as a companion piece to the first.


This one was written by Mike on his own. “It consists of plus or minus 300 standards,” he said. “How and why they came to be written, a little historical context, a little analysis. The idea is to inform, entertain and suggest some central ideas about American popular song—specifically the Great American Songbook.” Congratulations, Mike. Your book will stir up many memories and keep us humming.


Also keeping busy is Tony Pell. He reports that he is “working round the clock on a startup company to produce underground compressed air (CO2)” for turbines that can service a variety of power delivery systems. The goal is to provide low-cost, compressed-air energy storage to keep turbines going when power usage is extra high or when other means such as power stations, solar, wind or hydro can’t deliver enough to meet needs. 


News has been received of the death of Gene Stichman. Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family and friends.


—Bruce Sloane, 124 Hull School Road, Sperryville, VA 22740; (540) 987-8859; bsloane@wildblue.net