Lisa Torem on the Anne Leighton Inclusion Interview Show

Live on YouTube is my interview with Chicago's Lisa Torem, author of five books on Billy Joel, Suzanne Vega, Tori Amos, including co-writes with Ava Cherry and Jim Peterick. She's also a music journalist, songwriter, public speaker. A big topic in our interview is resilience.

Christmas in July

Santa's Got a Brand New Bag Tom Ciurczak  male vocals, similar timbre as Bruce Springsteen, rock band with horns. This song is about Santa getting a new bag. The first few notes sound like James Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," but the song swings into theatrical rock. It mentions the children all over the world, way up in the sky.'' 

Christmastime in Hollywood Tom Ciurczak  upbeat rock with sleighbells, male vocals, looking for the soul of Christmas, thinking of "It's a Wonderful Life." trying to imagine life with snow in Hollywood, "None of this is real in tinsel town." "I just want my Christmas to be with you" jingle bells interludes. 

A Million Matzoh Balls Dean Friedman acoustic guitar with male singer and children, humorous folk-show tune, tall story about his mama making a million matzoh balls, and everywhere they were at his home! "There were so many matzoh balls I didn't know what to do!"

A Million Matzoh Balls | Dean Friedman

 Ave Maria (Instrumental)  Stephen Melillo instrumental, slow, strings of classical piece, “Ave Maria.” 

Glogg Emily Hurd  Clever lyrics like “Let’s go shovel the sidewalk in a relative sense.” There is an underpinning lyric “Because there’s wine” throughout the song. bells and electric guitar.    

 I Ruined Christmas  Refestramus  Contemporary art-rock band, female fronted-vocals like Miley Cyrus, bells, "I ruined Christmas this year...It's like I told you before, it won't happen again, my dear."  This is a list of things she's done to reindeer, family members, and the eggnog! 

Never Take Love For Granted Dan Berggren Shopping in the malls for Christmas. “You’ll never take love for granted if you always give love in return.”  Male bass/baritone and acoustic guitar.  Folk styled. 

 

Charu Suri on The Anne Leighton Inclusion Interview Show

Charu Suri, who is playing Carnegie Hall for the fifth time, is the guest on my Anne Leighton Inclusion Interview Show. We talk about the calming magic of ragas, family, travel, and kindness. Her concert is July 25. Lots of special guests, and she'll be sharing a new album, "Shayan" for our healing. https://youtu.be/3e3fxA_B3-k?si=WGDdvAjZ5N3Bz_ZK

Sharon Katz & The Peace Train - September 2025 East Coast Shows

 and get ready for a New Song Book!

Put on your Dancing Shoes, bring your singing voice & join Sharon Katz & the Peace Train Coast to Coast celebratory concerts and release of The Peace Train Songs & Stories Book!

Thursday Sept. 18th  - New York City

Joe's at The Public Theater (Joe's Pub)

425 Lafayette St., NY, NY 10003

https://publictheater.org/performances-jp/2025/s/sharon-katz-the-peace-train/

and

Saturday Sept. 20th – Philadelphia

The Folk Factory at the Unitarian Church of Mount Airy

6900 Stenton Ave., in Philadelphia

https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?ticketing=folk

Special Guests: Anna Crusis Feminist Choir

also

 Saturday & Sunday Sept. 28th -29th

South African Food, Wine & Music Festival at Grayhaven Winery, 4675 W. Grey Fox Cir, Gum Spring, VA

https://southafricanwinefestival.com/

For more information and tickets: SharonKatz.com

The Peace Train band features Sharon on guitar and vocals, Wendy Quick (vocals); Richard Hill Jr. (bass), Suzzette Ortiz (keyboards); Eric Roberts (Drums); Jan Jeffries (Percussion) and David Church (sax & flute).

World renowned for leading South Africa’s first 500-voice multiracial and multicultural performing group to help promote Nelson Mandela’s election in Post-Apartheid South Africa, Sharon Katz is a guitarist, singer and composer from Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth/ Nelson Mandela Bay) in South Africa. A multiple award-winning film, When Voices Meet was made about Katz’s social activism.  

In recent years, she has facilitated musical projects with children living on the USA Mexico border, who survived torture and trafficking rings in San Diego and Tijuana. Sharon has conceived and directed productions with orchestras, and choirs in South Africa, the United States, Cuba and Mexico and has many albums to her credit including the most recent “We Can Be The Change” and “For You.”      

This year she’ll be publishing a multi-media songbook, “Songs and Stories of Sharon Katz & The Peace Train” featuring ten of the Sharon’s songs along with choral parts, guitar chords, and archival photographs of The Peace Train project. The book also features QR codes and links to videos and recordings of the songs. Look for the book’s physical and digital release on all platforms on September 18^th.

Songs from the new Songbook will be performed at the upcoming concerts, as well as songs from other albums that have been on the Grammy ballot.  She will include favorite covers from South African superstars, most notably Miriam Makeba.

Sharon has worked with Ms. Makeba, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Pete Seeger, and is featured on the “Carnival!” album with Sting, Madonna and Elton John. In 2019 she received the Phil Ochs Award in recognition of her music and activism.

In addition to the September concerts on the East Coast, this October, the San Diego based Classics4Kids will present 7 concerts featuring Sharon Katz performing with the Classics4Kids Philharmonic Orchestra. Several of the songs in “Songs and Stories of Sharon Katz & The Peace Train” will be on the program that will reach thousands of San Diego school students.

Michael Veitch - The Lucky Ones

Here's a live version of Michael Veitch's reflective song "The Lucky Ones." It's one of the songs I'm plugging this week.

Robin Batteau's “Banned In Sparta”

Collaborative Album with Classical Greek Poets and Modern Folk Singers

On July 11, Robin Batteau is releasing “Banned in Sparta,” a new collaborative album of songs based on poems by Classical Greek poets, and recorded by friends Tom Paxton, Eric Andersen, Carolyn Hester, Livingston and Kate Taylor, Matt Nakoa, Robin Lane, 2-time Tony winning actor James Naughton and his gifted children Keira and Greg. Robin was inspired by an Ancient Greek History class he took when he returned to Harvard during the Pandemic to finish a degree he started in the 1960s. Robin earned the World Record of taking a 50-year break (between 1970 to 2021) to return to Harvard and finish his degree in 2022.   

“Banned In Sparta” focuses almost entirely on poets from Ancient Greece between 700 and 400 BC.  One poet, Gaius Valerius Catullus (84 – 54 BC), as smitten with the ghost of Sappho as Robin or Alcaeus, is from Rome during Julius Caesar’s reign, for whom Eric Andersen performs “Cross (of Gold),” an ode to interlaced and conflicted feelings, “Odi et Amo"— I hate and I love.

The title “Banned in Sparta” finds its name from Archilochus, the Bob Dylan of the 7^th century B.C., a warrior-poet so irreverent he was “Banned in Sparta.”  James Naughton sings the song “Archilochus Re-Deemed (I Am a Servant of the Lord God of War).” Kate Taylor performs “Telesilla’s On the Wall,” from the female poet Telesilla, who led her fellow women warriors to victory against those same renowned Spartans. 

“The Greek Lyric poets performed live, and were the stars of their day,” says Robin. “They were singer/songwriters, they played the lyre (hence "Lyric") and danced around the stage like Tom Paxton and Taylor Swift.”

Robin, who studied Ancient Greece and Integrative Biology at Harvard, found that most of what was left of the poems were fragments and myth, “So I mosaic-ed songs to reflect their expressions and intentions— who they were, and are to me.”         

A range of female poets contributed to the lyrical history of Greece including Corrina, whose “In Her Loving Arms” is sung by Carolyn Hester, and Praxilla’s “The Most Beautiful Thing in the World,” a hymn to Adonis, sung by Keira Naughton.  Sappho’s writing inspires “Terra Cotta Heart,” sung by Robin Lane.  Livingston Taylor sings “My Sappho, Sweetly Smiling” from the smitten neighbor and rival Alcaeus. 

The fun and frolicking “Shake your Hair (You Thracian Filly),” sung by Tom Paxton. Pianist and folk singer Matt Nakoa offers a Bruce Hornsby-like treatment for Simonides of Ceos’s “Theatre of Memory (Man of Gold).”    

Sharing Grammy, Emmy, Clio, and Gold Record Awards and an Oscar nomination, Robin’s recorded over a dozen albums with Pierce Arrow, David Buskin (Buskin & Batteau), and many others.  His jingles feature in long-running, award-sweeping advertising campaigns from "I'm Lovin' It" for McDonalds to “Can’t Beat It” for Coca-Cola to "The Heartbeat of America" for Chevrolet. He’s played his 1898 Scarampella violin with everyone from Yo-Yo Ma to Benny Goodman to Bruce Springsteen and has had his melodies sung by Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Judy Collins, Paul Newman, and more. His songs have supported charities and causes, including World Hunger Year, Ocean Alliance, Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, and Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for kids. The Boston Globe defines his music with David Buskin as "Acoustic Heaven."

“Banned In Sparta” songs

“Stolen in Love”  (Gorgias)  Greg Naughton (vocals: lead, harmony, background, descants),  Mark Dann (bass, synths), Robin Batteau— (acoustic guitar (custom 7-string Sigma), Greek Chorus oohs and aahs, fingerpop and heartbeat percussion). 

“In Her Loving Arms” (Corinna)   Carolyn Hester  (lead vocals), Jennifer “Genevieve” Vitanzo (harmony vocals), Jerry Marotta (drums), Mark Dann (bass, electric 12-string guitar, synths) Robin Batteau (violin (1898 Scarampella, muted), Sigma guitar).     

“Archilochus Re-Deemed (I Am a Servant of the Lord God of War)”  (Archilochus) James Naughton (lead vocal), Jerry (drums), Neale Eckstein (acoustic guitar), Robin (harmony vocals, handclaps, drums, Sigma guitar, violins).

“Telesilla’s on the Wall”  (Telesilla) Kate Taylor (lead vocal),  Mark Dann (bass, synths),  Jerry Marrotta (drums), Robin Batteau (violin, acoustic guitar (1948 Martin 0-17, nylon-strung), background vocals, descant).

“My Sappho, Sweetly Smiling”  (Alcaeus)  Livingston Taylor (lead vocal, acoustic guitar), Mark Dann (bass, synths), Jerry Marrotta (drums), Robin Batteau (violin, Martin guitar, synths, background vocals, descant).

“Terra Cotta Heart” (Sappho)   Robin Lane (lead vocal), Mark Dann (bass, electric 12, synths), Jerry Marrotta (drums), Robin Batteau (Martin guitar, drums, percussion).

“Shake Your Hair (You Thracian Filly)” (Anacreon)   Tom Paxton (lead vocal), Eric Schwartz (piano, organ), Mark Dann (bass, synths), Neale Eckstein (acoustic guitar, drums),Robin Batteau (Sigma, drums).

“Man of Gold (Theater of Memory)” (Simonides) Matt Nakoa (lead vocal, piano, synths, bass, drums, electric guitar).

“How Can You Love Me”  (Stesichorus)   Robin Batteau (lead vocal, harmony vocals, Martin, violins, synths, drums, percussion), Yani Batteau (harmony vocal, banjo), Neale Eckstein (drums, percussion).

“The Most Beautiful Thing in the World” (Praxilla)  Keira Naughton (lead vocal), Robin Batteau (Martin Guitar).

“Cross” (Catullus)   Eric Andersen  (lead vocal),  Abby Newton (cello-1897 Scarampella), Mark Dann (bass, synths), Robin Batteau (Martin guitar), violin, percussion (inspired by Marshal Rosenberg)

Anne Leighton Inclusion Interview Show on YouTube

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