Fascinatin' Rhythm with Michael Lasser
No longer in production. Limited archives available online at wxxiclassical.org
WXXI's Fascinatin' Rhythm presents of popular American music from Stephen Foster to Stephen Sondheim, in the context of their relationship to American history. Every week, host Michael Lasser offers a rich mix of singers, songwriters and songs to explore the history and themes of American popular music. LISTEN to this past week's show below.
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Episode #2049 Dick Haymes Croons As one of the best singers of tender ballads during the 1940s, Dick Haymes established himself as one of the most…
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Episode #204811/28 In the Kitchen Songs set in the living room? Sure. The bedroom? Definitely. But the kitchen, too? You bet. Attitudes toward women, sex,…
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Episode #204711/21 Women on the Edge Most of these songs feature a woman speaking for herself. Sometimes she faces things and sometimes she faces things…
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Episode #204611/14 Early Cole Porter Cole Porter dropped out of Harvard Law School to write songs for Broadway musicals. He failed so utterly that he fled…
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Episode 204511/7 Charm Songs Talk about a ballad or a plot song or a character song or a production number, and people are with you. Say Charm Song and…
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Episode #2044 When rhythm songs were at their peak, we tell the story of the man who introduced the most famous of them. Cliff Edwards taught himself to…
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Episode #2043There’s ragtime and there are ragtime songs, the blues and blues songs, waltzes and waltz songs. And there are marches and march songs. A…
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Episode #2042It didn’t take long for Flaming Youth to find themselves on bread lines. Once the market crashed and the Depression spread, the flapper…
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Fascinatin' Rhythm Program #2041There are two George Gershwins – the writer of percussive pop tunes early in his career and then the composer of lovely…
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Episode # 204010/3 Canaries Through the 1930s and into the 1940s, big bands dominated popular music, but the band singers became increasingly important.…