Hello, I hope you are well.

As I'm sure you know, tomorrow is 4th July, so I thought I'd go all topical and find an American album with some relevence. Luckily, I managed to dig out a rarely seen American folk LP called America At Play. Few people are aware of it, but most people know of one of the performers, Peggy Seeger. The other player is Guy Carawan. Seeger's life (and family) is legendary, but little is known about Guy here in the UK - but he did introduce "We Shall Overcome" to the American people. A musicologist and activist, he died a month ago, and you can read about him here. And you can read all about her busy interesting life here. The album features a number of American folky dokey classics and there's even a number called "Fod" which I knew nothing about until I first came across the album. There are some truly lovely moments - America At Play can be found here. 

Anyone who tuned into the OST Show last week would have heard 5tatic Stan, a talented 16 year old very much into his music. He makes music at school, plays the piano but is also in a steel band who will be performing at the Notting Hill Carnival. I thought this was quite interesting, but then his dad sent me this, a short performance of the steel band he's in. I think this is awesome - a relentless 6 minutes. Great and inspiring to see a bunch of kids so totally 1) talented and 2) absorbed by what they are doing. 5tatic is the groovy kid at the front.

Sadly I will be missing the Spitz Record Fayre today because I have to go to Sports Day at the school, in the local park. I will not be active in the Dad's Race. But tomorrow I will be running the (wait for it) Craft Beer Nerf Gun Alley at the school Summer Fayre. Certinaly the middle class hipster high point of summer so far for me.

Thanks for listening

Jonny