Greetings from the land of flooded basements. Given the weather-related catastrophes all over the world as of late, if an overwhelming amount of rain and a failed sump pump is all I had to face, I can consider myself relatively lucky. To those out there coping with floods, fire, and more, our thoughts go out to you.

In the US, Monday marks the Labor Day Holiday, and frankly, I think many of us need a day off.

We will return next week, but I will leave you with a spark of joy until then. If you don’t yet know the music of Lucinda Williams, then boy do I have a treat for you. I’ve always thought of Lucinda as the Patti Smith of country music, a brilliant poet with the lived experience to back up her songs. During the pandemic, Lucinda put on a series of “live” shows online from the studio in order to raise money for music clubs and theaters. She’s now offering these shows, each a set of covers of other artists’ work, for sale through her website (downloads available now, CDs and vinyl to come — and you can find most of the shows on YouTube for free). They’ve been out for a while, but I just found out about them and wanted to share the good word with you. My personal favorite is her collection of Southern Soul: from Memphis to Muscle Shoals from which you’ll find below a gorgeous version of Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billy Joe”. The Rolling Stones collection (RIP Charlie) is also stellar, and I’m working my way towards Dylan, 60’s Country Classics, and Tom Petty. This is a treasure trove of great songs interpreted by a great artist. Just the thing to help get us through tough times.

See you soon. Stay safe.

David Crotty

David Crotty

David Crotty is a Senior Consultant at Clarke & Esposito, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategic issues related to professional and academic publishing and information services. Previously, David was the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He oversaw journal policy across OUP’s journals program, drove technological innovation, and served as an information officer. David acquired and managed a suite of research society-owned journals with OUP, and before that was the Executive Editor for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he created and edited new science books and journals, along with serving as a journal Editor-in-Chief. He has served on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc., as well as The AAP-PSP Executive Council. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.

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