This course will explore Greek Mythology and how, through the centuries, it has helped artists to communicate love, anger, loyalty, danger, justice and injustice. The Greeks did not worship ugly idols but created instead a constellation of beautiful radiant gods. We will discuss the most salient myths and legends of the Greek lore.

A photo tour of Greece like no other - eating, shopping, ancient and modern history, the people, the mountains and the beaches, skinny dipping, and sites you'll never see on a Carnival Cruise.  And for dessert, a quick photo tour of the rest of the Levant; Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank, Jordon, Egypt, and maybe even a dash through Tehran. Travels from 1970 through 2005 on military, business, and pleasure.

Popular music moved from albums to 45s, back to albums in the '60s. This class will explore eight of the albums that changed how we listened to music. We will listen to all or most of these albums all the way through because that is how we listened to them when we first brought them home from the record store. Then we will talk about what made them so significant -- and so meaningful to us. There should be a lot of opinions on the album choices!

The history of this revival is illustrated by using four musical acts to explain aspects of what Dave Van Ronk called "The Great Folk Scare". The Kingston Trio and others: making folk music safe; Dave Van Ronk and Joan Baez: the revenge of the "pure" folksingers; Bob Dylan: the rise of the singer/songwriters; and artist(s) to be named later: the folk revival evolves. This class will feature discussion, videos, and songs for all those who also love the music of this era or want to know more.

Take a trip down the an amazing highway, Colorado Route 149. Starting at 8000 feet, you will soar to almost 11,000 feet traveling over two passes and the Continental Divide. Learn about the geology that created some of the largest calderas in the West. Tales of wildlife, mining and a real American cannibal. For almost 50 years we have been returning to this area of the San Juan’s in the Rockies. Let us share this area with you. And while we do lots of jeeping, this trip can be done in a passenger car.

We remember our favorite songs from the '60s and who sang them, but seldom can we identify who wrote the song -- or care! But there would have been no hit without the songwriter(s). A surprising number of hits came from the same handful of writers, solos and teams. "Words & music by" is an unexplored area of '60s music. We'll explore it! 

Optional reading:  Always Magic in the Air, by Ken Emerson (New York: Penguin Viking Books, 2005). 

 Some of our favorite songs were actually the 2nd or 3rd version of that song on the charts, recorded by someone else before or after or maybe both. They are called "cover versions," and we're going to play not "Who Did It First?" but "Who else did it?" We will cover some of the best-known hits of the '50s, '60s, and '70s. Join us in this walk down Memory Lane.

Optional Readings: 1) Always Magic in the Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era. Ken Emerson (2005 hardback, reissued as paperback); 2)The Girl in the Song: True Stories Behind 50 Rock Classics. Michael Heatley and Frank Hopkinson (2010 paperback only).