To Get Out Of A Record Contract, Van Morrison Made A Malicious Compliance Album (Cool Weird Awesome 1077)

Today in 1945, the birthday of singer/songwriter Van Morrison. His biggest fans and his loudest critics can agree that the guy does not like being told what to do, and he proved it by recording one of the strangest albums in the history of music. 

By |2023-08-31T08:47:05-04:00August 31, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

Leon Theremin’s Musical Instrument Can Be Played Without Being Touched (Cool Weird Awesome 1074)

Today is, thanks to a long-ago calendar change, one of two birthdays in 1896 of Leon Theremin. He invented a very unusual musical instrument that you play without touching it. 

By |2023-08-28T07:49:09-04:00August 28, 2023|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , |

A Newspaper Called The Recycler Helped Bring Together Some Of The Biggest Rock Bands Of All Time (Cool Weird Awesome 1039)

This month in 1973, a newspaper in California known as The Recycler started publishing. It was mostly a list of classified ads, but those ads have had a pretty big impact on music. 

18 of my favorite songs from 2022

It took me way too long to put this list together, but at last here’s some of the music I enjoyed the most this year!

Florence Foster Jenkins Stunned Carnegie Hall With Her Singing (Cool Weird Awesome 873)

Today in 1944, the greatest concert in Carnegie Hall history, featuring a truly incomparable singer: the one and only Florence Foster Jenkins. Here's how the woman sometimes called the worst opera singer of all time ended up on one of the most famous stages of all time.

Portugal Once Moved Its Capital City To South America (Cool Weird Awesome 791)

It’s Portugal Day, and no doubt there will be celebrations across the country, including the capital city, Lisbon. Though there was a time in the 19th century when the capital of Portugal was not only outside Lisbon, it was outside Portugal.

James Harrison May Have Been The Best Blood Donor Of All Time (Cool Weird Awesome 769)

Today in 2018, Australian James Harrison gave blood for the last time. He had donated about once a week for some 60 years, and because his blood included a rare antibody, his donations helped save millions of lives.

By |2022-05-11T08:57:14-04:00May 11, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , |

Rock Fans In The Soviet Union Turned Old X-Ray Plates Into Bootleg LPs (Cool Weird Awesome 756)

In the 1940s and 50s, some people in the Soviet Union broke the law and produced makeshift records on old X-ray plates just to hear Western music that the government censored.

By |2024-04-15T10:00:30-04:00April 15, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

In Sweden In 1712, February Had 30 Days (Cool Weird Awesome 721)

Most years February is 28 days long. Every fourth year it has 29. But one time, in one country, for one year, there was a February 30th.

By |2024-02-06T08:52:30-05:00February 28, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , , , |

Keith Jarrett Improvised A Classic Live Jazz Album On A Not-Quite-Right Piano (Cool Weird Awesome 701)

Today in 1975, one of the best selling jazz albums of all time was recorded - a live concert in Cologne, Germany by pianist Keith Jarrett. And it almost didn't happen at all.

By |2024-01-24T09:22:24-05:00January 24, 2022|Categories: Cool Weird Awesome, Podcasts|Tags: , , , |
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