Antonín Dvořák’s First Symphony Went Missing For Six Decades
Today in 1936, the premiere of Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 1. That was 71 years after the symphony was written, which is what happens when a symphony is thought to be lost.
The Marx Brothers Became Comedians Thanks To An Escaped Mule In Texas
Today was the birthday in 1890 of Groucho Marx, perhaps the best known of the comic geniuses known as the Marx Brothers. And yet, if it hadn’t been for a runaway mule, they might never have ended up doing comedy.
To Get Out Of A Record Contract, Van Morrison Made A Malicious Compliance Album
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.
Leon Theremin’s Musical Instrument Can Be Played Without Being Touched
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.
A Newspaper Called The Recycler Helped Bring Together Some Of The Biggest Rock Bands Of All Time
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
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
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
James Harrison gave blood about once a week for some 60 years, and because his blood included a rare antibody, his donations helped save millions of lives.
Rock Fans In The Soviet Union Turned Old X-Ray Plates Into Bootleg LPs
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.