Now the first of December was covered with snow, And so was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston...

So I'm driving to the post office mid-afternoon and the radio is tuned to WFAN 660's Mike Francesa (formerly Mike and the Mad Dog until Dog took the money and ran) show and I hear the big, fat, self-absorbed one chatting with a man relating his experiences with the Beatles and Apple Records. James Taylor! What gives? Well, it's some kind of fundraiser (Children's Miracle Network) with Taylor auctioning off a guitar and signed copies of his new cd, Covers (is anyone NOT doing a covers album these days?). They are still chatting as I arrive home, so I turn on the television just in time to hear very cool acoustic versions of Leonard Cohen's Suzanne as well as the Taylor classics Carolina in My Mind (written while he was in England recording at Apple Studios, hanging with the Beatles) and Sweet Baby James (written for older brother Alex's first-born named after James).

Wikipedia factoid (heads up, Toddy): James grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where his father, Isaac M. Taylor, was the dean of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine from 1964 to 1971. His family spent summers on Martha's Vineyard.