My Favorite Mullethead

This little tike, my #2 grandson, was two when this picture was taken of him in 1990.  He's now 25 and has twins of his own (a boy and a girl) who will be two in just a few months.  With all of today's varying cultures and social styles, I'll be interested in seeing their …

Tim McGraw’s “If You’re Reading This”

While driving from my home to my parents this morning, I heard a song on a country radio station that affected me so deeply that I had to pull off the side of the road until it had ended and I had composed myself again.  The music, lyrics, and singing were great, but its sentiment …

ISO Ancestral Gifts and Talents: I’ve Got the Music In Me, Part 7

This post continues a discussion I began on FaceBook about three months ago, "Has anyone documented gifts and talents, especially musicality of Bolling ancestors?"  The post received about 100 views and several responses from a dozen or so descendants of the Bolling family.  So, I thought I would summarize the anecdotal information below and include a …

“Rare Gems of Human Knowledge”

If you have read more than one of my posts, by now you know that I love to read, explore, and learn on my own from others--those who came before me and those living, who I may or may not personally know.  Over the past several months especially, I have been following those people/blogs who …

Ah Spring, You Have Come!

Today is Monday, March 25, 2013, and we're in Southern Maryland -- a few days into Spring --- and we awakened to newly fallen snow that promises to continue into tomorrow.  And when letting the dogs outside, it just seemed appropriate to enjoy yet another gift from above.  It was so crisp and clean it …

It’s a Small World…

A Follow-On to I’ve Got the Music in Me–and Oh, How it Moves Me! – Part 3 On February 25, 2013, I published a blog I’ve Got the Music in Me–and Oh, How it Moves Me! – Part 3.  It included a song with lyrics sung by C. Daniel Boling, who shares the surname,talents and heritage of the Boling family. …

I’ve Got the Music In Me… Part 5

Is musical talent inherited? Researchers are leaning towards that possibility--continued We always knew when my maternal grandmother, Loretta Lathrop Ford, was happy. She would be whistling like a canary, playing her harmonica, singing and dancing on the screened in porch with other family members, or "dancing up a storm" and "cutting a rug" at the …

I’ve Got the Music In Me…Part 4

Claude Bolling:  Renowned French jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and occasional actor. Claude Bolling, a pianist,  composer, arranger, and a conductor of jazz, entertainment and film music, is certainly one of the world's most famous French musicians of his generation--known as the "Father of Modern Jazz". His musical heritage stretches back to the reign of Napoleon …

…I’ve Got the Music In Me, and Oh How it Moves Me: Part 1

Musical Dynasties: It (Genetically) Runs in the Family "Genetics may account for musical predisposition and ability." The following article by Stephanie Sarkis, Ph.D. originally appeared December 31, 2011, in Psychology Today's Here, There, and Everywhere Blog. Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and former Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder discovered in his teens that his true biological father …