Nature Girl And The Slaver (1957)

When singer/songwriter Lori Lieberman wrote the worldwide hit ‘Killing Me Softly’ in the early 70’s, her life changed forever. She became part of the renowned West Coast scene that also featured artists like The Eagles, Joni Mitchell, John Stewart which led to collaborations with Leonard Cohen amongst others. Her new album ‘The Girl And The Cat’ sees her working with the Matangi Quartet, a Dutch string quartet well known for their groundbreaking collaborations with other musicians, both classical and popular. For this album, besides writing her lyrics and songs, she also arranged the scores and orchestrated for the string instruments with Stefanie Fife. The album release will be accompanied by a show in Carnegie Hall, followed by a Dutch tour.

Ismail Kadare has experienced a life of controversy. In his own country and internationally he has been both acclaimed as a writer and condemned as a lackey of the Albanian socialist dictatorship. Coming of age after occupation and war, Kadare (b. 1936) belonged to the first generation of new Albanians. In a land where writers were routinely imprisoned, Kadare produced the most brilliant and subversive works to emerge from socialist Eastern Europe. His work brings to an end the century whose literary beginnings were marked by the terror to which Kafka gave his name.

Ismail Kadare has experienced a life of controversy. In his own country and internationally he has been both acclaimed as a writer and condemned as a lackey of the Albanian socialist dictatorship. Coming of age after occupation and war, Kadare (b. 1936) belonged to the first generation of new Albanians. In a land where writers were routinely imprisoned, Kadare produced the most brilliant and subversive works to emerge from socialist Eastern Europe. His work brings to an end the century whose literary beginnings were marked by the terror to which Kafka gave his name.

Kay Kay and the Rays are a Texas blues band with soul, funk, jazz and roots rock influences fronted by former gospel singer Kay Kay Greenwade. Living Blues recently wrote "Kay Kay Greenwade has established herself as a leading light of contemporary blues". The group first hit the blues charts with the 2001 release Texas Justice which reached #15 on the Living Blues radio airplay report for May 2002. Produced by Johnny Rawls, it was described by Blues Revue as "a seamless blend of blues, soul and funk…one of the most auspicious debuts of the year". The Texas Jusice album opens with the controversial song Lone Star Justice and gave notice the band was going to write about more than traditional blues subjects of lost love, drinking and cheating although they cover those bases as well. The 2003 release, Big Bad Girl, was produced by multiple Grammy winner Jim Gaines. It reached # 10 on the blues charts in October 2003 and was still on the charts at #22 in November. It was the November Bluesville Pick on XM Satellite Radio.