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The Edison Tone Tests

Is it live, or is it…Edison?

August 25, 2021
Kerouac’s Moon

The moon has served as muse for countless numbers of poets, from the unnamed and unknown, to Shelley, Dickinson, and Kerouac. But only one of these had to worry about record label execs. You’re on the Sound Beat. You’re listening to Jack Kerouac reading his poem “The Moon Her Majesty”, on Dot Records’ Poetry for the Beat Generation, ...

August 24, 2021
“Take Me Out To The Ballgame!”

Play Ball! Baseball’s unofficial anthem gets the All-Star treatment.

August 23, 2021
The Ghost of Elvis Presley

Some believe Elvis liked Nashville’s RCA studio so much that…he never left. Presley recorded “I Was the One” as the b side to “Heartbreak Hotel”, his first RCA single, in 1956.  It was later converted to a TV studio, but some claim Elvis never, well, left the building. Legend has it whenever Presley’s name was mentioned ...

August 19, 2021
Oscar’s Blues

The National Film Board of Canada honored Oscar Peterson with a short film, “Begone Dull Care”, in 1949. It was  directed by Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart. Using drawn-on-film animation, McLaren and Lambart paint and scratch directly onto film stock to create a visual representation of Oscar Peterson’s jazz music. Check it out here!

August 18, 2021
Peach of a Pair

Who does the word “crooner” bring to mind? Sinatra, Bing, Buble? Well, if not for a terrible accident, Columbo might have headed that list.

August 17, 2021
Hymn to Apollo

You’re listening to the Palestrina Choir on a Victor 78 from 1927 And, you’re on the Sound Beat! The choir is singing the Hymn to Apollo, one of the Homeric hymns: a collection of thirty-three anonymous ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual gods. It’s thought to have been written in 522 BC. Apollo is the son of Zeus, God ...

August 16, 2021
The Kid Auto Races in Venice

Charlie Chaplin would become the world’s biggest star, but the first emergence of the Little Tramp played second fiddle to…go-karts.

August 13, 2021
The Flying Saucer

War of the Worlds…dj style.

August 12, 2021
Babes In The Wood

Little Einsteins, Mozart for Mommies…we’ve come a long way, babies!

August 10, 2021