Happy Victoria Day weekend to all our Canadian readers. Mark will be back in his native land next month to receive the very first George Jonas Freedom Award. More details below. This Victoria Day weekend, meanwhile, was the first time the Sovereign's official Canadian birthday was also the occasion for a Royal Wedding. Mark celebrated the Royal couple in pictures, and will have some appropriate music later today.
Meanwhile, in case you missed it, here's how the last seven days looked to Steyn:
~The week began with the twentieth anniversary of Frank Sinatra's death. Mark considered Sinatra on screen, and a vintage performance.
~On Monday Steyn did double-duty on "Tucker Carlson Tonight". First up was the start of the second year of the "Russia investigation". Next came Michael Avenatti's java jive. Click below to watch:
~On Tuesday Mark returned to the Golden EIB Microphone to guest-host America's Number One radio show. You can find a few moments from the broadcast here.
~On Wednesday's Clubland Q&A Steyn took questions from Mark Steyn Club members live around the planet. Among the topics covered were which Russian dirt attracts prosecution and which doesn't; blackmail and black robes; Franchise Man and Burqa Girl; varieties of theocrat; and a word on the late Tom Wolfe, author of Bonfire of the Vanities. You can listen to the full show here.
~On Thursday's edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Mark and Tucker considered the Mad Max factor. Click below to watch:
~For the weekend, as part of this month's first-anniversary observances of The Mark Steyn Club, Mark launched the latest audio adventure in our series Tales for Our Time - and a timely one for the Royal Wedding weekend: Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King. For Friday's episode, click here. For Saturday's, click here.
Tales for Our Time is made with the support of members of The Mark Steyn Club, for which we are profoundly grateful. More details on the Steyn Club below.
As mentioned above, next month Mark will be returning to his home town of Toronto to receive the very first George Jonas Freedom Award from Canada's Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms on June 15th. This is a huge and very humbling honor for Mark, who treasures the memory of the late Mr Jonas, a genuine champion of liberty and a truly great Canadian. You can find more details about the event here - and, if you enter STEYNCLUB18, you'll get 15 per cent off your ticket.
As many of you know, Mark's Number One jazz bestseller Feline Groovy: Songs for Swingin' Cats, featuring his own groovy feline Marvin on the cover, has attracted dozens of rave reviews at Amazon. However, another Steyn album, Goldfinger, has gone comparatively unnoticed. So we are grateful to Max for this five-star review:
I received Mark's album Feline Groovy as a gift a few days ago. While I love Mark's writing and exceptional wit, I was not expecting to love his music. Wow, was I wrong! I liked it so much, in fact, that after listening I bought myself Goldfinger. How this album only has 3 reviews is beyond me. While different in overall mood, both albums contain delightful arrangements and vocals that can be enjoyed by everyone. Steyn's performance of 'The Very Thought of You' alone makes this album worth buying. Hoping there will be a new album sometime in the near future!
Thanks, Max. Mark's hoping he gets to finish his new album (interrupted by a year of litigation hell) very soon. Meanwhile, Goldfinger is available on CD - and, for instant gratification, via digital download from Amazon or iTunes. Or you can pick it up direct from the Steyn store. Incidentally, there's an entirely different Steyn performance of "The Very Thought of You" on Mark's live music special with Liza Minnelli, Paul Simon, Maria Muldaur, Everything But The Girl and other guests.
Much of our content at SteynOnline this last year has been funded by members of The Mark Steyn Club. Don't worry, none of our regular features are being paywalled, or anything like that: we're proud to say that there's more free content at SteynOnline than ever before in our fifteen-year history. But we are providing Club members with a few extras, such as our Sunday Poem, Tales for Our Time, participation in our Clubland Q&As, and the opportunity to sail with Mark on the inaugural Mark Steyn Club Cruise from Montreal to Boston this September at the height of foliage season.
You can find more details about The Mark Steyn Club here. And don't forget our Steyn Club Gift Membership (not to be confused with our SteynOnline gift certificates). As for our first-birthday Club competition to find something defamatory in this Song of the Week essay, Mark did not think it appropriate to announce the winners on Their Royal Highnesses' wedding day, so we're postponing that announcement until later this week.
A new week at SteynOnline begins tonight with our Song of the Week and Part Three of The Man Who Would Be King.