"Because ignorance of your culture is considered uncool"
Covering some familiar territory tonight. Familiar composer, but a less familiar work. Jacques Ibert has enjoyed a popularity undiminished with time. Versatile and well regarded during his lifetime, his popularity has only increased since his death 50 years ago. Ibert pursued a successful composing career, writing (sometimes in collaboration with...
One of my favorite bands of the last 20 years, Portishead in concert are always an eagerly anticipated event. And they certainly didn’t disappoint this year at Glasto. Beth Gibbons‘ mesmerizing vocals, mistakenly considered doom-laden by some, but once you realize that one of her influences was Edith Piaf, take...
October 15, 1951 – A busy news day. A war in Korea and from Capitol Hill, a call for discussions and a workable solution with the Russians. The looming specter of the Atomic bomb always at the forefront. Meanwhile, President Truman also urged passage of a Universal Military Training law,...
With the Presidential Campaign of 1936 in its last weeks and at fevered pitch, President Roosevelt embarked on a coast-to-coast tour to bring his message home. In 1936, America was in better shape than it was in 1932. But detractors clamored to call the New Deal a disaster, that The...
Billed as “featuring live London performances of today’s top sounds”, the BBC launched Top Of The Pops in its radio version in 1964. No connection with the TV version of the show (oddly), the radio version featured bands, hit makers of the day, playing live versions of their hits and...
News for this October 9th in 1989 had to do with the growing protest movement in East Germany and the rioting going on in East Berlin. The riots erupted when East German police broke up a demonstration urging reforms from the hardline regime of Erich Honecker. Western Press were barred...
By 1956 it would be pretty safe to say America was headed well into nervous breakdown territory. Everything was on the rise – divorce, alcohol abuse, prescription medications, fear, paranoia and irrevocable change. And it wasn’t being coped with, other than via escape. And those issues were many. We had...
We can use the support: Become a Patron! News for this October 8th in 1941 had much to do with events taking place in Eastern Europe. The German push into Russia and the fierce fighting taking place all up and down the Eastern Front. Both sides were claiming gains, while...
A classic concert to start the week off – this time from Simon & Garfunkel in a rare performance at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, recorded by VPRO on May 2, 1970. With all of these classic concerts surfacing lately, you’d think someone finally got around to opening up the closet door,...
As a kid growing up in Detroit in the 1950s, I wasn’t really aware of how much Detroit was different than other cities. It was a place I lived with my family and I had no other frame of reference. I was however, aware that my father, who worked in...
Gordon Skene, two-time Grammy Nominee and archivist runs The Gordon Skene Sound Archive and this website, which is dedicated to preserving and encouraging an interest in history and historic news, events, and cultural aspects of our society. Past Daily is the only place on the Internet where you can hear a Nixon speech, listen to an interview with John Cassavettes or play a broadcast of Charles Munch rehearsing the Boston Symphony in 1950, all in the same place. It's living history and it's timeless.
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