Try a Dose of Music Instead of Dueling Pundits

Updated post-show: Amid the nonstop surge of imperious, wrecking-ball-style actions emanating from the Trump/Musk command center (it's not a government at the moment), it's essential to take a breath, dump the dueling pundits and news flood and simply convene to share songs, poems, insights, ideas and emotions.

That's what my Sustain What "Sunday Sanity" webcasts tried to do through the a previous tumultuous time - the pandemic years.

That's what we'll try to do again now. I reached out to a batch of the usual suspects and we shared songs, stories and solutions. Below you can also hear a few wonderful moments from past shows to get the idea.

Here’s the first Sunday Sanity episode of the new run - recorded February 9. Tune in LIVE weekly (with some exceptions when I’m traveling).

Also watch and share on Facebook, LinkedIn, X/Twitter or YouTube:

There was a magical wordless moment as the famed climate scientist Ray Pierrehumbert (whose accordion skills graced many past shows and my 2013 album!) played the somber, and sadly topical, Woody Guthrie song about the 1948 crash of a plane carrying U.S. migrant deportees (and others).

I hosted dozens of these shows featuring musical friends from my decades in the Hudson Valley folk circles around Pete Seeger as well as songwriters, poets and artists from as far away as Zambia, Hawaii and California.

Here are some higlights from past shows.

The percussionist and trad-infused composer Joachim Cooder plays blues on his oversize electric “mbira” - an overgrown variant of the African thumb piano.

Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner, who together comprise the longtime folk duo Magpie, play a song for these times, “Follow the Money.”

The glaciologist Karen Alley plays her hammered dulcimer (she was once a national champion).

You get the idea!

What music or other creative output helps keep you centered and sane?