Colin Allured, "Approaching Ali," And The Festival Of Nine Lessons And Carols

Always Music is the name of Winston-Salem-based singer/songwriter Colin Allured's latest LP. He says the album, carefully recorded over a period of two years in both his home studio and Red House studios here in the Piedmont, reflects his current stage in life as a new husband, and father. The music is also an artful blending of styles including those he heard growing up in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

You can hear Colin this Friday, December 18th from 7-9pm at Wine Merchants Gourmet/VIn 205 and Saturdau December 20th and 27th at Childress Vineyards.

Davis Miller and Approaching Ali: A Reclamation in Three Acts

What would you do if you met your childhood idol? What if your idol invited you into their home, signed everything you had brought with you, and told you to stay for dinner?

Well, that's exactly what happened when writer Davis Miller knocked on Muhammad Ali's door in 1988 in Louisville, Kentucky. It was the start of a lifelong friendship, and it was a friendship that allowed Miller to write about the Ali that not everyone knew (but thought they knew). Miller's latest book is Approaching Ali: A Reclamation In Three Acts. Miller's story "My Dinner with Ali" was judged by David Halberstam to be one of the best American sports stories of the twentieth century.

The writer is in talks to help produce a short animated film based on his story and anticipating the Ali exhibit in London this coming February. Davis Miller spoke with Bethany from his home in Asheville. 

Malcolm Archer and The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem celebrates the annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in much the same way as set forth by Kings College in Cambridge nearly a century ago, and including the tradition of a newly commissioned work. This year's premiere is an anthem for Christmas by English composer Malcolm Archer. He's the former Director of Music at St. Paul's Cathedral in London and current Director of Chapel Music at Winchester College in the heart of England. 

The annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is Sunday, December 20, at 5:00pm at St. Paul's in Winston-Salem, featuring the world premiere of Malcolm's Christmas anthem “A Sound of Singing Fills the Air”. Also on the program will be the beautiful Robert Parsons' setting of "Ave Maria," and a familiar chorus from Handel's "Messiah."

Malcolm spoke with David Ford by phone from his home in Winchester and David was joined in the studio by St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem organist and choirmaster John Cummins.