Today felt like the first real day of spring here in NYC. It was the kind of day that allows me to lower my defenses and finally accept that spring is really here.  Being a native Southerner I am always on guard against the late season winter blasts that sometimes happen up North.  My defensive strategy against the winter doldrums is never to get my hopes up about warm weather until we are well into April.  Yes, I know The Purple One reminded us that “Sometimes it Snows in April,” but I think we may finally be in the clear on the East Coast.   And so, I celebrate with two versions of one of my favorite Sun Ra tunes, “Springtime Again.”  This is a song that I would offer up as an invitation for those who may have been led to believe that Ra’s music was all noise and cacophony.  This is one of his most beautiful melodies, and there are many more strange and beautiful songs just like this in the Sun Ra discography.