Katie Melua

Plucked from music school obscurity by songwriter/producer Mike Batt, Katie Melua saw her debut bolt up the U.K. charts upon its release there in late 2003. Melua was born in Soviet Georgia in 1984. Eventually, she and her family moved to Belfast, Ireland, and finally to London, where Melua entered the B.R.I.T. School for the Performing Arts & Technology. The record industry-funded school had a habit of graduating talented performing artists (Floetry, for example), and Melua became its next success when a 2003 showcase caught the attention of Batt, who’d been looking for a vocalist capable in both jazz and blues styles. Call Off the Search was issued in the U.K. in November ‘03 through Batt’s Dramatico Records imprint. A comfortable, extremely tasteful blend of jazz vocals, pop style, and adult contemporary sway, the album featured two cuts penned by Melua (including a tribute to one of her biggest influences, Eva Cassidy), as well as covers of material from John Mayall, Randy Newman, and the James Shelton classic “Lilac Wine.” The single “Closest Thing to Crazy” hit number one in December, and by January of the following year, Call Off the Search had gone platinum (300,000 units in the U.K.).

Johnny Loftus, All Music

The album has now gone 4X platinum in the U.K. and at least one copy in New Mexico.

An “expert” witness

From CNN.com:

Citing false testimony by a prosecution witness, an appeals court in Texas today ordered a new trial for Andrea Yates, the woman convicted in the drowning deaths of her five children. An expert witness for the state testified that Yates may have been influenced by an episode of the TV show “Law & Order” in which a woman who drowns her children in a bathtub is ruled insane. No such show ever aired. Yates was convicted in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison.

It’s the wedding anniversary

… of George and Martha Washington, married on this date in 1759.

… of George and Barbara Bush, married on this date in 1945.

New Mexico …

was admitted to the Union as the 47th state on this date in 1912.

Epiphany

Today is the Epiphany, one of the three major Christian celebrations along with Christmas and Easter. The Epiphany is celebrated by most Christians on January 6 to commemorate the presentation of the infant Jesus to the Magi or three wise men.

The celebration of the Epiphany began in the Eastern Church and included Christ’s birth. However, by the 4th century, the various calendar reforms had moved the birth of Christ to December 25, and the church in Rome began celebrating January 6 as Epiphany.

Epiphany is derived from the Greek epiphaneia and means manifestation or to appear. In a religious context, the term describes the appearance of a divine being in a visible or revelatory manifestation.

In Mexico, today is Día de los Santos Reyes, the day Mexicans exchange Christmas presents to coincide with the arrival of the three gift-bearing kings or wisemen.

Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi
The Adoration of the Magi, c. 1445
Samuel H. Kress Collection
National Gallery of Art