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Today is Friday the 13th. The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, NC, reported that an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of this day. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business on this day. “It’s been estimated that $800 to $900 million is lost in business on this day..” source John Roach.
According to Wikipedia, the actual origin of the superstition appears to be a tale in Norse mythology. Friday is named for Frigga, the free-spirited goddess of love and fertility. When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. It was believed that every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil – a gathering of thirteen – and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week. For many centuries in Scandinavia, Friday was known as “Witches’ Sabbath.” source: Charles Panati, Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things.

The APHC show this week is convening in Chicago, Illinois for a live broadcast from the Symphony Center Chicago with special guests sure to put the acoustically stunning hall to good use, Andrew Bird, Laura Marling, and comedian Beth Stelling. Plus: button accordion and concertina player John Williams joins the gang to showcase Chicago’s Irish musical roots; host Chris Thile is gearing up for another Song of the Week with the band (music director Rich Dworsky on keys, singer and multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz, guitarist Chris Eldridge , Brittany Haas on fiddle, bassist Paul Kowert, and Ted Poor on drums); and there will be scripts and scenes straight from the shores of Lake Michigan with the Royal Academy of Radio Actors, Serena Brook, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman. Flip the dial to your local public radio station and join in for two hours of music and comedy on Saturday evening at 5pm CST.
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” Albert Einstein