rla on July 22nd, 2011


We celebrate the first birthday of Cambridge105, and of the second series of Evening under Lamplight – with a triptich of songs about Parties. Are you from Philadelphia? Then you’re especially invited. And there’s  Alice at the Mad  Tea Party, and some reflective looking back and looking forward hoping we all stay forever young.

rla on April 25th, 2011


All Friends are invited to attend the latest episode, with (as illustrated) Pogo, Randy Newman, Carol King, Dr Hook, and the Fraggles. Also the great Quaker Friend Willima Penn. And the usual guests: Kinks, Dylan, RLS. And not least, two pieces from my friends, Marc Copland and Emma Chapourian.

Songs of Pogo [Soundtrack] (Walt Kelly, “Man’s Best Friend”)

Toy Story (Randy Newman, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”)

Tapestry (Carole King, “You’ve Got a Friend”)

Completely Hooked – the Best of (Dr Hook, “I Don’t Want to Be Alone Tonight”)

New York Trio Recordings 3: Night Whispers (Marc Copland, “Emily – Take One”)

The Kinks – The Ultimate Collection (Kinks, “See My Friends”)

Down in the Groove (Bob Dylan, “Rank Strangers to Me”)

John Wesley Harding (Bob Dylan, “The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest”)

Fraggle Rockin’ a Collection (Fraggle Rock, “Friendship Song”)


We celebrate the two energies of Springtime: Anger and Kindness, with the help of Dante and Shakespeare, and our usual panel of Dylan, the Kinks and RLS. Anger leading to self-knowledge and even to kindness – there’s an idea you don’t hear every day. Aha, but it’s a new way of looking at things, just what you expect from Evening under Lamplight!

Including RLA’s Spring meditation from Journey through the Seasons: Meditations on the Five Chinese Healing Energies.

Dante: Inferno (Penguin Classics)

The Tempest (Penguin Popular Classics)

Highway 61 Revisited (Bob Dylan “Like a Rolling Stone”)

Phobia (Kinks, “Hatred”)

In Concert – the Complete 1967 Anaheim Show (Donovan, “Lullaby for Spring)

rla on March 30th, 2011


Dante and the Hypocrites

We are looking at Actors and Hypocrites – the same game, different rules: people playing parts, sometimes asking us to play along, sometimes desperately keeping us from perceiving that this is not their true self. We hear from the usual guests: Kinks, Dylan, RLS, and also old friends like Leonard Cohen and Randy Newman. And a lot of attention on what Dante’s myth can tell us about these false faces people put on. Thoreau comes into it too.

Everybody’s in Show-Biz (Kinks, “Celluloid Heroes”)

Land of Dreams (Randy Newman, “Masterman and Baby J”)

Abbey Road (Beatles, “Carry That Weight”)

Biograph (Dylan, “Positively 4th Street”)

The Future (Leonard Cohen, “Be for Real”)

Dante: Inferno (Penguin Classics) (trans. Robin Kirkpatrick)

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror (Penguin Classics)

Walden and Civil Disobedience: (American Library) (Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience”)

The Fool


Attend to the fools, the jesters and the jokers. Fools in love, idiot winds, and three kinds of professional jesters, including the modern-day Stand-up Comic. Besides regulars Dylan, Ray Davies, and RLS, we have guest appearances from Frankie Lymon, Mothers of Invention, Danny Kaye, the D’Oyly Carte, Jonathan Swift, and a few others. The only way to be cool, is to let yourself first be a fool.

And take a look at our podcast on the Tarot Fool.

Essential Recordings 1955-1961 (Frankie Lymon and the Teenages, “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?”)

Cruising With Ruben & the Jets (Mothers of Invention, “How Could I Be Such a Fool”)

Blood On The Tracks (Bob Dylan, “Idiot Wind”)

The Maladjusted Jester (Danny Kaye, “The Maladjusted Jester”)

Other People S Lives (Ray Davies, “Stand-up Comic”)

Magical Mystery Tour (Beatles, “Fool on the Hill”)

rla on February 7th, 2011

Tashi & friend

RLA & Tashi


This our third show on Animals, a topic always good for interesting music and poetry. Several dogs here this evening, including the original “Hound Dog” – not sounding like you thought it sounded – and cats and a rooster (cockerel) and a bumble bee with a stinger as long as my arm, a spider, a tiger, some birds, and, yes, even a dragon. Our usuals – Dylan, Kinks, RLS – plus, well, listen along and you’ll see who else.

The Village Green Preservation Society (Kinks, “Animal Farm”)

Anthology 3 (Beatles, “Octopus’s Garden”)

New Morning (Bob Dylan, “If Dogs Run Free”)

Ulysses (Modern Classics) (James Joyce’s Ulysses, read by Jim Norton)

Songs from a Room (Leonard Cohen, “Bird on a Wire”)