This is another one of those parent things. My toddler is obsessed with the Curious George cartoon on PBS. I hear that theme song a lot. A lot. I find myself singing along with an exaggerated bluesy accent. (No shame!) I google it and find out that none other than Dr. John sings the Curious George theme. Nice side gig, Dr. John.

Spring 2013 - Whoa, suddenly it's 65 degrees and sunny outside. It's like we never had a spring! Oh wait, this is spring. March and April's gloomy gray days (at least in NYC) bring lots of great music releases for May, June and beyond, including forthcoming albums by Reputante, Erostratus and Thor Platter (mixed by my pal Brian Thorn). Watch and listen for another phenomenal release from Awesome Tapes From Africa, Hailu Mergia, which I restored from the original cassette. By the way, ATFA's last release, Somalia's Dur-Dur Band, which I also restored from cassette, is receiving some pretty stellar reviews from Pitchfork, Dusted and NPR.

First two clues I got in this weekend's New York Times' crossword puzzle:

3 Down: 1984 "educational" Van Halen song (Hot For Teacher)

5 Down: 1998 Grammy-nominated song by the Verve (Bittersweet Symphony)

I always get the music ones first.