1961: The 50th Anniversary Mix Tape

"For a world on the brink of nuclear annihilation, there’s a lot to be positive about."
So begins Professor Mikey's homage to 1961.  JFK's inauguration isn't the only thing celebrating a 50th anniversary this year.  It's also the half-century mark for the first manned space flights, the birth of the Berlin Wall, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Freedom Riders, Roger Maris's 61st home run, and much, more.  And it all comes to us with a great soundtrack. Combining news actualities of the day with greatest hits and rarities, it's an audio time capsule like no other.  The Beatles and the Beach Boys make their first recordings, doo-wop rules, Lenny Bruce and Judy Garland play Carnegie Hall, and Dick Dale invents surf music.  Patsy Cline pours her heart out, Ray Charles hits the road, Bob Dylan arrives in New York, Gene Pitney ends up in a Town Without Pity.

Over 30 songs plus the stories that cemented the year into our consciousness.   Educational, entertaining, and big fun.  The music we rocked out to while we built fallout shelters.  Minimum wage is $1.25 an hour, 13 American presidents are alive (beginning with Hoover and ending with Obama), a high profile Nazi is on trial, and the Russians explode the largest bomb ever.  Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what you can put on the jukebox.