Everyone knows that fashion runs in cycles. Everything from the sheath dress to the bell bottom jeans to pill box hats have been "in" and then "out" and then back "in" again. Music is no different. Jazz, country, rock...they've all seen their days come and go. And come back.

Now it looks like the blues is making its first comeback since the '80s when Robert Cray and B.B. King brought blues music back to the masses after decades of relative obscurity. Which is fine by me. It gives me an excuse to dust off all of my dad's old records (don't laugh — vinyl is also 'back') and relive memories of singing along with Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, James Cotton and all the greats while my dad pounded out the melody on the piano.

Who's making blues 'new' again for this generation? Some say it started when Amy Winehouse started adding blues grooves to her music. But in my opinion Elle King wears the crossover crown. Her song "X's and Oh's" was a surprise hit with its hard-driving, bluesy beat and lyrics. Leon Bridges also deserves some credit for his debut album "Coming Home".

Both artists were up for Grammy awards, though not in the blues category. Neither won, but no matter. They've combined their own sound with the historical underpinnings of driving Bo Diddley-style beats, lazy Memphis shuffles and Texas roadhouse guitar to bring back a sound that I've known and loved since I was a kid sitting in front of my dad's hi-fi and singing the blues at the top of my lungs.

If history is any indication of what will happen next, a whole new generation of artists will jump on the blues bandwagon, adding to the rich history of one of America's oldest and favorite musical genres. And chances are, they'll put down their new grooves on vinyl. Just like the old days.

I've never forgotten a single one of the train trips we went on as a family. Or the many that I took as an adult. There's just something special and magical about traveling by train — planes, buses and cars can't even begin to compete.

Listening to the clacking of the wheels against the tracks and feeling the gentle sway of the cars as the train carries you through America's cityscapes and countrysides is so much more relaxing than the hustle and bustle of air travel. Plus, you get to experience a little bit of history on your way to where you're going. Every train and every station has its own character, its own story.

But one of my favorite things about trains is the socializing. Sure train travel takes a little longer, but at least you can get up and move around instead of being forced to stay buckled up in a tiny, cramped little seat. That means there are plenty of opportunities to strike up conversations as people move from car to car or grab a snack in the café car. And since a lot of the passengers are train enthusiasts like me, there's always lots to talk about with all the new friends I make when I ride the rails.

I'm a dyed-in-the wool fan of the "Andy Griffith Show". And I'm certainly not alone! With 249 episodes to its credit, the show ran for eight full seasons between 1960-1968 and it still airs today —  all over the world. Some of my favorite moments were those quiet Southern evenings when Andy would play his guitar while a gently smiling Aunt Bee knitted in her rocking chair and Opie sat on the porch steps singing along with his dad.

I loved all the residents of Mayberry, but my favorite was the frantic, comically inept and utterly adorable Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife, AKA "Fast Gun Fife" who always cracked me up pistol-handling "skills". The one bullet that Andy made him carry in his pocket somehow always ended up in his gun, which he would then accidentally fire at the most embarrassing times — like in the middle of a gun safety lecture.

And you always knew if Barney went into one of the jail cells, there was a extremely high probability he would lock himself in. He was an alarmist, a dupe, a gossip and as high-strung as they come, but everyone in Mayberry loved him anyway. Even his boss could only shrug and say, "Awwww...Barn!"

On February 4th, 1938, Walt Disney released the trailer for what would be his first feature-length animated film: Snow White & The 7 Dwarfs. “See for yourself what the genius of Walt Disney has created in his first full length feature production,” the trailer boasted.

And genius it was. It was the first animated feature film produced in Technicolor and it wasn't meant just for kids. But his grand idea was met with more than a little skepticism, even from Disney's own wife, who thought that no audience — especially adults — would sit through a such a long "cartoon".

I remember the first time I saw it (not at the original release — I'm not that old!). I fell in love with Snow White, despised the evil queen and laughed my head off at my favorite dwarf, Dopey.

Since 1944, the studio has re-released the movie about every ten years. And every time they do, I go see it again. Not only is it an enduring classic film that influenced directors from Fellini to Orson Welles, it's just plain fun to watch. Over and over and over again!