Episode Archive

Rossini’s Barber of Seville was the first Italian opera performed in the United States, but the first performance back home was met with boos and catcalls. (Literally…someone actually let a cat loose on the stage). All the animosity came from Barber of Seville fans…the first Barber of Seville opera, composed by Giovanni Paisiello. It predated ...

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no…it’s a borderline-abusive superhero!

Here’s an up-tempo tale of tailoring gone awry.

Whatever can explain the bikini’s popularity? I mean…It’s not rocket science…or, is it?

Yankee Stadium is commonly known as The House that Ruth Built, but in the 50’s, the same could be said of Atlantic Records.

Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann was, perhaps, one of music’s great inventors…and, probably, one of 19th-century Germany’s worst neighbors.

That's Stovepipe No. 1, If You Please

The Harlem Hamfats…born at the wrong time.

This favorite folk song is All American, but railways themselves predate the country…by more than 2,000 years.

You’re listening to Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra with Herbie Fields on sax.